#mayday top 10 ep me thinks

[b0bbynash]

[tomsmusictaste]

Tom’s Top Ten | ALBUMS OF 2023

It's (belatedly) that time of year again, let's get into it.

10. Hotel Bleu - Broadside

I’ve made peace with the fact that Broadside record is likely to top Old Bones for me but Hotel Bleu is choc full of plenty of upbeat catchy tunes, a refreshing dose of positivity after their more sombre previous record Into The Raging Sea.

Favourite song: Dazed & Confused

9. Past // Present // Future - Meet Me @ The Altar

MM@TA have delivered a very solid debut record. One downside is the lack of easycore-style riffs and breakdowns (one of the main things that drew me to this band’s previous EPs) in favour of a more generic pop-punk sound - that said, all songs are plenty catchy and do a great job of showing off Edith’s vocal range, which is front and centre of this record.

Favourite song/s: Say It (To My Face) / It’s Over For Me

8. Childhood Eyes - Yellowcard

A big year for Yellowcard putting out their first new music since breaking up in 2016, and it delivers. It may just an EP but it's earned it's spot on the list and made me incredibly excited to see what else is on the way from this new era of Yellowcard. Also a collab with Dashboard Confessional? A Spider-Man 2 soundtrack reunion, you love to see it.

Favourite song: Childhood Eyes

7. Slow Burn - Conquer Divide

One of the later albums from the year but I'm glad that I didn't miss this one - Conquer Divide have been something of a 'background band' for me up until now, but this is a record I found myself listening to front to back over and over.

Favourite song: N E W H E A V E N

6. One More Time - Blink-182

I have to confess I have mixed feelings on Blink-182's big comeback album - great to see Tom back in the band and the band back to their classic lineup, lots of great emotion on the title track. Maybe contro but I do think some of the non-single tracks feel a bit pale or watered down compared to the singles, but the singles themselves do have a lot of what I love from that classic Blink sound.

Favourite song: Dance With Me

5. Postcard From A Living Hell - RedHook

RedHook were a new discovery for me this year, and a welcome one at that. This is one of those albums that soon as it came out I had on constant repeat, just banger after banger, not to mention a collab with Mik from Yours Truly; that gets a hell yeah from me.

Favourite song: Inarticulate ft. THE FAIM

4. Join The Club - As December Falls

One of my hottest anticipated releases of the year, As December Falls have come soaring this year, with this their third album and constantly selling out their tours (before i can get a ticket >:( ). Every single song on the tracklist is single worthy and the record makes no shortage of showing off Bethany's vocals, in particular on the emotionally driven 'Home.'

Favourite song: Mayday

3. A Call To The Void - Hot Milk

After knocking out of the park time after time with their EPs, Hot Milk finally released their debut full-length and brought everything that's good about them to the table. From the very first listen I knew this was gonna be a strong contender for AOTY, and indeed was only beaten out by two others.

Favourite song: Alice Cooper's Pool House

2. The Surface - Beartooth

It should be no surprise to my followers seeing Toof pop up on the list, there truly never has been a Beartooth album that hasn't made my top ten and The Surface is no exception. Going against the grain of their MO up until now and releasing an entire metalcore album full of love and positivity was an incredible move, and wonderful to see Caleb find himself in a place where he can write this kind of lyrical content and celebrate his own journey overcoming mental health struggles. The Surface is a welcome addition to the Beartooth catalogue.

Favourite song: I Was Alive

Before we get to the Number One, I'd like to shoutout some honourable mentions that didn't quite make the cut - those being 'Til The Wheels Fall Off - WSTR, Tear Me To Pieces - Story Of The Year, Power To Play - McFly, Untitled Mixtape - Carousel Kings and Linkin Park's 20th Anniverary Edition of Meteora

Also a special shoutout to Sum 41, Neck Deep and Green Day, for their singles off albums that will be released in '24. Good stuff.

With that all out of the way, let's get into my NUMBER ONE ALBUM OF 2023...

1. So Much (For) Stardust - Fall Out Boy

It was tough to crack down on the order of the top three here, but ultimately the number one album couldn't be anything else. I've made no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of the three FOB records prior to this, but here the boys return with a bang combining all that's good about both their pre-hiatus and post-hiatus sounds, resulting in an incredible record that has been definitive for my 2023. What more can I say? Fold Out Bed bloody did it.

Favourite song: Love From The Other Side

And there you have it! Those are my top albums of 2023. We're already a fair way into '24 at the time I'm posting this and this year too is shaping up to have some strong contenders... bring it on.

[noctswife]

while on my gbf kick i realized i hadnt posted pics of my artbook (Extra Works VI)! Extra pics under the cut + some thoughts

pic 1: Lots of pics from GBFes 2019! I wish they would release the art made for gbfes digitally, there’s a lot of cute, fun, and experimental stuff here that would be good for icons and edits.

Also there was a picture of grimmy in his cooking attire from grand blues!, and I tried to clean it up the best I could since he’s my son. The text reads “CHESTNUUUUT Rice!” (the joke being that “GRIIII” sounds similar to “KURIIII”, the japanese word for chestnut)

Image 3: I liked the different experimental paneling they tried out for korwa’s uncap art! I find this kind of stylistic choice very fun (I enjoy lunalu’s manga-type paneling uncap arts too)

Image 4: I especially liked the concept with cassius’ face being reflected in the ramune bottle, but I get why they didn’t use it. I do wish the actual uncap art was at night, though, with the contrast being more vibrant and having a more dreamy vibe.

Image 5: Grimmy!!! Honestly, I love all these concepts and their chuunibyou goodness. I do kind of wish they went with the bottom two, since they incorporate his lance better (Bottom right below since it’s out of focus)

Image 6: I just think the blue color looks cuter with a more sailor boy aesthetic, especially with the non-hood alt. There’s a boyish charm to it ww

Image 8: There was a lot of ladiva in this, which I didn’t expect but absolutely enjoyed! I loved the different layouts they tried, and each has their own charm! The first one has this teddybear ladiva, which is absolutely criminal that it didnt make into the final cut.

They also had these lines for ladiva’s sprites in her battle, which make me want to get the gbvs artbooks to see the attention to detail they put into the animations there

Image 9: There were a lot of front-back references for various outfits, which I didn’t expect. There were also a lot of concepts for vikala, first various ideas and then two pages of them messing with colors and bits for a more finalized one

The concept artwork for the chaos and promise albums was also included. I like the top artwork’s use of white (or I guess black) space and contrast, but I guess it wouldn’t make for an interesting back cover. I do think it would have been nice to reuse it for that belial ps4 skin that also was monochromatic. Speaking of belial...

Here’s an alternate concept for his adjutant outfit, with a slightly more armored look. the calf-high boots are quite nice!

All in all, I think this book is a good pick for:

WMTSB III concept art (Not a lot of deviations from the finalized stuff, but there’s a lot of it. Also quite a bit of maydays there)

Ladiva fans

Vikala fans (There’s like 10 pages of her. So much vikala)

Other stuff I didn’t include but is worth mentioning:

Eternals uncap art linework

Concepts for those side stories sketches that show up when you open the page

They considered giving uriel boxer-briefs for his swimsuit

Art for granblue channel eps 25 to 38

[pisc1s]

Best Albums Of 2018

Happy 2019, everyone!

Another year is officially behind us, and oh boy, what a great year it was for every music lover out there, leaving us with a shit-ton of exceptionally good records to enjoy. With that in mind, of course I had to compile a list containing my ten favourite albums that were released in 2018.

We gotta begin with an honorable mention: Living Proof - State Champs.

I don’t know if you’ll agree with me, but I think records of these sort tend to sound fairly similar between one another, which can get a bit monotone. Nevertheless, State Champs have managed to produce an enjoyable bunch of melodies. Really disappointed the band was forced to cancel their South American tour, if I’m honest, I was really looking forward to seeing them :( 

Dead And Gone is my absolute fave.

Okay, now to the actual list!

10. Sunnyland - Mayday Parade

Last place goes to Mayday Parade’s sixth studio album, Sunnyland. While it may not excel at being innovative both musically and lyrically, I think it’s widely agreed, the record is good enough, presenting a select mix between “angsty” and “soft” songs. This, in my opinion, it’s one the things that makes the pop-punk genre so distinguishable, and appreciated. The best of both worlds - pop and punk. 

Favourite tracks are Piece Of Your Heart and Never Sure.

9. Blue Madonna - BØRNS

Next is androgynous singer BØRNS’ sophomore record, from an entirely different type of music. I would definitely say he’s an underappreciated vocalist, and his work deserves far more attention. Blue Madonna it’s mostly uplifting and with few shortfalls present, such as the collaboration with Lana Del Rey. Other than that, the listener is captivated with the pop-influenced sound and its glam vibe, which combined with BØRNS’ beautiful falsetto produces an almost perfect result. 

Most recommended songs are Faded Heart and Sweet Dreams.

8. The American Dream - Trophy Eyes

Aaaand we’re back to pop-punk! This somewhat obscure Australian band had only gained some popularity a few years back, from the release of their sophomore album, Chemical Miracle. Hence why it might’ve come as a bit of a shock to some people how solid The American Dream is. 

It conveys a feeling of optimism and happiness, with so many bangers like Autumn, Something Bigger Than This, Friday Forever, You Can Count On Me, Lavender Bay… to name a few. A 10/10 album for sure!

7. Love & Loathing - With Confidence

With Confidence is a band that’s very near and dear to my heart, and since I’m very fussy (as you might’ve noticed lol) I was very worried they were not going to be able to top the  m a s t e r p i e c e ��that was Better Weather. Sincerely I’m not sure they did, but even so, Love & Loathing is filled with so many unbelievably awesome songs. They just can’t do nothing wrong, can they?! 

It’s hard to have preferences when it comes to one of your favourite bands, but I’d say Jaded and Pâquerette (Without Me) do the best job of portraying the wide range of variety, first one being more upbeat and “punky”, while the latter is more acoustic sounding and makes it easier to value Jayden’s soft and beautiful voice.

6. Little Dark Age - MGMT

It’s likely you’ve heard of this band from one of their most popular songs like Kids, or maybe Time To Pretend, and that’s what most people know them for, but to me they’re so much more than that. They’ve proven yet again, with their newest record, that they’re not just a one-hit wonder. Little Dark Age is their finest work to date, and to be honest, I’m amazed at how it pretty much flew under everyone’s radar. 

Songs like TSLAMP, When You Die, and even the title track are some of my favourites. They have the distinctive MGMT sound, like they’re from a different era, and they sorta portray a psychedelic vibe. Every song in the album makes me feel like I should be at a place like Woodstock maybe, dressed in floral and consuming LSD (lol), yet somehow they still manage to sound current and as something a crowd like Coachella’s would enjoy (not like that’s something to be taken too seriously haha). Very nice, indeed!

5. Youngblood - 5 Seconds of Summer

We’ve come to number 5 on this list, where we encounter 5SOS’ third studio album: Youngblood. Funny enough, this is another band that has a special place in my heart, and I gotta say, I didn’t expect at all the direction they took with their music, it really came as a shock to me. Being more inclined to rockish and heavier sounds myself, a pop influenced album is not something I would usually enjoy. With that being said, Youngblood for me was an acquired taste. The more you listen to it, the more you’ll fall in love with it. Gotta applaud the boys for coming up with so much more of a mature sound, and still managing to stay relevant and top some charts in the process. 

The record presents a perfect mixture of songs, where you have your sad and slow songs, like Lie To Me and Ghost Of You, while on the other hand there’s much more upbeat tracks like Babylon and Talk Fast. There’s something for everyone to enjoy! It seems to me like it would be such an experience in concert, so I can’t wait till I can see them! The best most underrated song is definitely Empty Wallets. 5SOS, stop paying it dust, please!

4. Composure - Real Friends

Not to brag or anything but… I’M SEEING THEM LIVE SOON! AND I HAVE MEET & GREET TICKETS! WHAT EVEN IS LIFE! Okay, let’s get back on track lol. There’s not a single song I dislike of Composure, which is so rare for me. Definitely a solid record from start to finish. Several songs touch up on the topic of mental health, which is always appreciated, as we all know, it is not talked about enough. 

If I had to pick, faves are probably Me First, From The Outside, Composure and Get By.

3. Entertainment - Waterparks

It’s so funny to me, looking back at the same time last year, how I felt sooo different about this record. Somehow, here we are now, labeling it as my top 3 favourite album of 2018, what even. Definitely an acquired taste! 

The best songs for me will always be Peach (Lobotomy) and Lucky People.

2. Pray For The Wicked - Panic! At The Disco

Pray For The Wicked is absolutely deserving of this spot, in my opinion. Not to be dramatic or anything (who, me?) but never in my entire life I have loved an album sooo damn much on the first listen. Probably because it’s exactly my style, exactly what I enjoy most in music: theatrical, over the top, mostly upbeat and Broadway-like. Truly, Panic! At The Disco is an amazing band and Brendon Urie is such a talented man, they’ve been around for 15 years and it seems to me as if they’re becoming more successful everyday. 

I gotta stay true to the first song I loved of the album: Roaring 20s. Then of course, they’re all bangers, so it doesn’t really matter.

1. Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life - The Wombats

Finally, we’ve arrived to the cherry on top. Wow. Can we please talk about how this band and this album don’t get nearly enough recognition and appreciation?! What even are people doing if they’re not listening to The Wombats on repeat? Is so hard to find the adequate words to describe Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life, I feel like no matter what I say, it won’t do it justice. Every single song is so beautifully crafted, exceptionally composed, lyrically and instrumentally, just perfect. The music suits any occasion, I can listen to it if I’m feeling down and it cheers me up, if I’m unmotivated it gets me to do stuff, if I’m happy it makes me wanna dance, if there’s no one else with me it makes me feel less lonely. I don’t wanna get too sappy so I’ll just leave it at that haha. They need to come to South America asap, the thought of never being able to see them live makes me so miserable :(

Not to be that bitch who only appreciates the singles, but Turn is my absolute favourite. Clever lyrics accompanied by beautiful instrumentals. 10/10.

Bonus:

Ya thought we were done? Nah fam, just before I go, gotta give a quick shout to two of my absolute favourite bands and their masterpiece of EPs they released last year. Go give them a listen, I promise you won’t be sorry!

1981 Extended Play - IDKHOW

Ann - The Front Bottoms

:-)

[notaheromusic]

Well another year went by...

Hey everyone, anyone who follows me knows I’m terrible at posting anything on Tumblr so here’s another immensely delayed blog post.

So by the time I post this, it’s either just before midnight on the last day of 2017 or it’s already 2018, either way it doesn’t really matter.

To sum it up, it’s been mind blowing, ever since I graduated from Nottingham in the summer of 2016 life has just been throwing all sorts of experiences at me both good and bad! There were so many good times and a lot of bad ones too though I embrace all of it cos I know I’d rather experience life through its imperfections than to think everything is fine when it really isn’t. Everything has been a journey of self discovery and an endeavour to become better and hopefully inspire others.

The past year hasn’t exactly been easy, I mean mentally, there were so many curve balls and completely unexpected events that at times made me take a good moment to really reflect and reassess everything. I’ve realised more than ever now that I’ve made one of the best decisions of my life by cutting ties with someone, I’ve never felt such freedom in this way. This has also led me to learn that there’re people who I used to always make an effort for and for a very long time not once have they actively reached out willingly, so I decided to make a stand and basically show them I do not want to be expected to do everything anymore. Social interactions should come naturally not forced. So I hope they learn from this and become better cos I know I’m better than this.

I guess as much as there has been negative experiences, I’ve also been fortunate enough to have life offer a few genuinely good ones along the way. I truly appreciate the friends who I’ve made that have stuck by me all this time whether it’s all the way back from High School or even Post Grad. It honestly means a lot to me you still consider I’m worth your time. Thank you. It’s fun to see how our lives play out after being students.

This has also been my first official year working and it’s been great, my year out in 2013 didn’t really count considering I was stuck in a state of limbo, but work-life has been enjoyable especially with the things I get to do and the people who I work with. I suppose I’m quite thankful for everyone who has looked out for me, I seriously appreciate it.

The vacation to California was phenomenal, nothing has quite topped it since and it’s difficult to explain exactly why, it was just breathtaking. This year’s solo trips were fun too!

2017 is probably my new personal best for concerts, so many unforgettable nights including a 10 year anniversary tour from Mayday Parade celebrating their legendary ‘A Lesson in Romantics’! My EP was probably my biggest accomplishment. It was the most honest set of songs I’ve ever written and an insane amount of heart and soul, blood sweat and tears have been put into it. Thank you for the support and for letting me be myself.

Ok I’m gonna end it here, hope you’ve enjoyed reading, have a smashing new year! Here’s to 2018 and beyond!! :) x

[jezfletcher]

1000 Albums, 2018: The Top Ten

10. Skerryvore - Evo

(Celtic rock) Right in my wheelhouse is the confluence of Celtic folk, pop and rock, and Evo from Skerryvore really delivers exactly that. It’s has a kind of rousing stadium sound to it, but performed with some trad twists that always makes it sound fresher than your average kind of pop rock. Much like my #1 album of 2016, The Space Between from Jamie Smith’s Mabon, this is the kind of album which was always going to vault up the ratings. My pick of the tracks it Hold On.

9. Orbital - Monsters Exist

(techno) A pretty monumental album from Orbital, 90s beatmakers extrordinaire, which manages to wrangle all of their dark, thumping electronica, and their humour into one tight little package. My pick of the tracks is the sprawling Monsters Exist, but you could just as easily fall in love with tracks like Hoo Hoo Ha Ha or P.H.U.K.. This sounds a little bit like their 2001 album The Altogether, which is one of my favourite albums of all time. This won the week easily the week it came out; so easily that I didn’t necessarily think about it much. But when it came time to relisten, I appreciated anew just what a fine album this is.

8. Dudley Benson - Zealandia

(contemporary chamber music) This was something of a revelation to me. This was one of Sam’s picks, and something that I’d failed to find in my screening. But this is really quite wonderful music, akin to the Mercury-winning Benjamin Clementine we listened to last year. It’s music with a real sense of novelty to it—music that sounds like music will sound in the future. It’s based around chamber music ideals and baroque instrumentation (harpsichord features prominently), but it maintains a kind of pop structure that adds an accessibility to it. That might make it less academically complex as Clementine, for instance, but it also makes it the kind of music you can devour wholeheartedly. I have two particular picks: Birth of a Nation and It’s Otepoti’s Fault.

7. The Fratellis - In Your Own Sweet Time

(indie rock) I’ve actually never listened to the Fratellis before, although they’ve had a somewhat illustrious career before now. Coming into this album fresh though is quite an experience though. You feel a little bit as though they’ve completed everything they wanted to complete, and now, with an album like In Your Own Sweet Time (their fifth), they can just let rip and have fun. And this absolutely comes through in the music—it’s riproaring stuff, just full-throated and unapologetic about what a good time they’re having. It’s also daggy, but it’s done with such abandon and sincerity that I was dragged along with it, grinning every step of the way. There’s lots of pick on an album like this, but even amongst all the goodness, there’s a big standout in Starcrossed Losers.

6. Cosmo Sheldrake - The Much Much How How And I

(baroque pop, art pop) A wonderfully quirky album from a very talented musician, The Much Much How How And I is the debut album from Sheldrake, after a teaser of his style in his EP Pelicans We, which we also listened to this year. A multi-instrumentalist, Sheldrake must play around 100 instruments on this thing, ranging from plinky strings to oddly tuned percussion, to clarinet, all backed up by his affected vocals. It’s chamber pop in some sense, but it’s also mixed with the music you’d find in a turn-of-the-century circus, or the soundtrack to the inevitable approach of the clockwork army. It’s utterly unlike anything else we listened to this year, and that’s enough to propel it this high in my list. My top pick is Wriggle, but I also rate Birth a Basket, Hocking and Egg and Soldiers.

5. Jeremy Messersmith - Late Stage Capitalism

(orchestral pop) From the first moments I started this album, I could tell it was going to be a yearly standout. It’s a kind of effortless throwback pop rock, which both manages to sound evocative of 60s pop, while having the clean, crisp edge that makes it feel fresh and modern. On top of that, there’s just some really classic songwriting in here—tracks like Purple Hearts feel like the kind of track which could have been a hit in any era since the 1950s. While Purple Hearts is a big standout for me, I’m also very fond of the melancholy ambivalence of Monday (“Monday, you’re not so bad”, he croons), and the swooning All The Cool Girls. It’s a really quite wonderful album.

4. Moon Taxi - Let The Record Play

(indie pop) I’m pretty surprised to see this so high—it’s the highest album on this list which didn’t end up taking out an Album of the Week award the week it was released—but on relistening I was shocked at how bloody good it is. This is, absolutely, the kind of album which I have just devoured in the past. It’s pop rock with jazz and funk influences. It’s got a prominent horn section. I mean, even just look at that cover art. You know it’s going to be fun. But the even better part is the density of top tracks. Even many months after hearing it, I not only get my top track stuck in my head (Two High, which is awesome and you should go listen to it), but I find myself humming along to Let the Record Play, Good As Gold, Nothing Can Keep Us Apart and Trouble. This is the sort of thing that’s going to get me in just about any week of the music project. And yet it didn’t win the week when we listened to it. Funny about that.

3. Kyle Craft - Full Circle Nightmare

(glam folk) Kyle Craft had my #2 album of the year in 2016, with his debut Dolls of Highland, which was a revelation, and just a bloody good album. He’d released a couple of respectable, but somewhat underwhelming filler singles in 2017, so I was approaching his sophomore effort with some trepidation. But boy oh boy was I wrong to worry. This is every bit as good as his first effort, recapturing all of the energy and glam swagger, and putting it forward with his brassy bombast. Here we have tracks like Fever Dream Girl and Heartbreak Junky which run the gamut from melancholy introspection to punchy full-throated sass. This was absolutely the album I wanted from Craft to follow up on his exceptional debut: it’s more of the same, to show that he can pull out the same style and verve that made the first album so good. If there’s one reason that this is #3 of the year when the previous album was #2, it’s that it does lack that delineation from the first album. But that, as I said, is a strength as well. I feel like I’m expecting something new from album number three though, and given Craft’s talent, I can imagine a bunch of ways it could go where he really ratchets it up to the next level. I’ll be waiting.

2. Jukebox The Ghost - Off to the Races

(power pop) This is an amazing collection of music, and has a density of quality songs that beats just about anything on this list apart from my #1 album. Unsurprisingly, that’s why it’s in my #2 position of the year. You know you’re in safe hands from the very beginning, with the Queen-channelling, raucously complex opening track Jumpstarted (which will also be featuring prominently in my Top Tracks of the Year list). But the hits keep coming, with the power pop Fred Astaire, almost chamber-work like Time And I and plaintive Diane. There are more I could mention. This is just exactly the kind of music I’m here for—and for them to give me so many different flavours of it across the album is a real treat. A very worthy #2 of the year from me.

1. The Go! Team - Semicircle

(vaguely alterna-J-hip-poptronica) In the end though, I can’t go past this pretty awesome album from stylistic provocateurs The Go! Team. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed some of their previous work (although I’ve not done a proper deep dive into it), but even this album is pushing them somewhere different. Recorded with a youth choir and what sounds like a high school marching band, it manages to capture their same style but package it up in a different way and the results are fascinating. But beyond being academically interesting, it’s just great fun. We have tracks like the steel-drum infused If There’s One Thing You Should Know, the plunderphonic Mayday, which incorporates a Morse code beeping into its main driving rhythm, the tight jazz-rock stylings of All The Way Live, or title track The Semicircle Song, which climaxes with a bunch of the singers introducing themselves with their name and star sign (because why. the hell. not). This was a strong winner of Album of the Week the week it was release (and the reason why Moon Taxi didn’t get a look-in that week), and I think I’ve always been quietly considering it my Album of the Year from when it was first released. But there’s nothing like making it official, and it feels good to finally make an honest album out of Semicircle. There we have it for another year. There were genuinely some amazing albums this year, and I find it very, very satisfying to look over the best of them. It absolutely makes the effort and the time we spend on this project worth it. Tomorrow, I'm going to post my top tracks of the year, without commentary, and also post a public playlist of all of my top tracks, in case you want to give it a whirl. Believe me that 2018 (like 2017 and 2016 before it, and maybe even years before we did our 1000 Albums project) was an excellent year for music.