#mike ross album review

[rawrampmag]

MIKE ROSS Third Eye Open #AlbumReview #RawRamp

MIKE ROSS Third Eye Open #AlbumReview #RawRamp

On April 28, 2023, MIKE ROSS will release his rock-influenced, 12-track album, Third Eye Open. The Preacher, th first song taken from the album as a single, is really weighty but completely enjoyable. Darren Lee’s drumming and Derek Randall’s bass notes add dark intensity to a song that is already as hefty as a cruiser, while guest vocalist Jack J Hutchinson’s supporting tones make the mood…

[ghostcultmagazine]

ALBUM REVIEW: Death Dealer – Conquered Lands - Steel Cartel

ALBUM REVIEW: Death Dealer – Conquered Lands – Steel Cartel

Former Manowar guitarist Ross the Boss returns with all guns blazing on Conquered Lands (Steel Cartel), the third full-length release from his subtly named Death Dealer project. In a gloriously predictable manner, the riffs come thick and fast as gods, blood, battles and all other true metal necessities rain down like exploding magma from the skies.

(more…)

[planetmosh]

Death Dealer - Conquered Lands

Death Dealer – Conquered Lands

Ross The Boss is back with a vengeance as he unleashes Conquered Lands, the third studio album from Death Dealer via AFM and Steel Cartel Records. The quality shown from previous releases Warmaster and Hallowed Ground continues throughout these songs mainly from the astonishing drumming from Steve Bolognese as his footwork knows no boundaries. The twin guitar intro from album opener ‘Sorceror…

[thegreatimpersonator]

Hi everyone! Here’s the newest addition to my Creator Shoutout Series (december 4 - december 12)! For info about the series, I explained it in the first post here, but generally, it’s to show appreciate to editors and their creations that i love from the past week. To track this series or look at previous shoutouts, please check out the tag on my blog *creatorshoutouts. Have a great week everyone!

wednesday: season one epiosdes gifset by @seance

taylor swift: dear reader gifset by @dearreader

f.r.i.e.n.d.s: 1x08 gifset by @birthdaysentiment

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @xiexielians​

wednesday: wednesday and enid gifset by @shegos

taylor swift: sounds of the season vinyl design by @threads-of-gold

lucy dacus: night shift graphic by @promqueendyke

wednesday: season one gifset by @vanessacarlysle

taylor swift: midnight rain x champagne problems gifset by @cametotheshowinsd

halsey: badlands soundwaves graphic by @heyanobody

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @nikolatexla​

stranger things: nancy and robin gifset by @hopemikelson

taylor swift: haunted lyric parallels gifset by @heystephcn

little women (2019) gifset by @trainstationgoodbye

stranger things: eleven and mike gifset by @stydixa

taylor swift: hands gifset by @soaheadofthecurve

wednesday icons by @petersevan

stranger things: nancy and robin gifset by @hopemikelson

taylor swift: all too well the short film gifset by @midnightsdeluxe

selena gomez: tonight show gifset by @chriswevans​

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @lemoncupcake​

studio ghibli gifset by @starsbythepcketful

taylor swift: delicate gifset by @jonismitchell

wednesday: ‘every friend group should have’ gifset by @aryastaark

stranger things: robin and nancy gifset by @nancywheelor

taylor swift: lavender haze gifset by @antoniosvivaldi

stranger things gifset by @kaliprasad

halsey: studio albums gifset by @reputation

taylor swift: all too well the short film bts gifset by @chriswevans

stranger things: nancy and robin gifset by @ririvilliams

wednesday: season one episodes gifset by @jenna--ortega

taylor swift: midnights graphic by @ca11itwhatyouwant

pride & prejudice (2005) gifset by @buffysummers

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @thatwasthenightthingschanged​

paramore: the news music video gifset by @aleagueoftheirown

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @newrcmantlcs

stranger things gifset by @worldoffeelings

taylor swift: evermore anniversary gifset by @cametotheshowinsd

succession gifset by @arthurpendragonns

wednesday: edin sinclair gifset by @este

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @usermaroon​

halsey: if i can’t have love, i want power gifset by @h-f-k

taylor swift: welcome to new york gifset by @rogerhealey

paramore: the news music video gifset by @paramored

stranger things: season four gifset by @mistletoesteve

pearl (2022) gifset by @florencipugh

taylor swift: no body no crime x dear reader parallels edit by @missegyptiana

paramore: the news art by @paralol

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @melodramas​

phoebe bridgers: smoke signals edit by @thingsmk1120sayz

succession: shiv and tom gifset by @indistinctmumblings

taylorswift: evermore + musicboard reviews gifset by @thatwasthenightthingschanged

halsey: lilith performance at the game awards gifset by @catdadeddie

best of 2022 gifset by @goncharoffs​

taylor swift: evermore anniversary gifset by @userspeaknowtv

palm springs gifset by @justaleapoffaith

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @felicitysmoak​

wednesday: official playlist gifset by @ririvilliams

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @taylorallisons

halsey: lilith gifset by @h-f-k

f.r.i.e.n.d.s: ross and rachel gifset by @buffysummers

taylor swift: birthday gifset by @rogerhealey​

taylor swift: you’re on your own kid graphic by @theman

the 1975: being funny in a foreign language gifset by @madeline-kahn

taylor swift: back to december headers by @thatwasthenightthingschanged​

taylor swift: midnights as penguin classic book covers edit by @dangerous-swift

paramore: rose-colored boy x the news music videos gifset by @userparamore​

taylor swift: lavender haze edit by @moonlithour

taylor swift: evermore art by @architectdrawingtheplans​​

[allmusic]

AllMusic Best of 2017: Favorite Jazz Albums

Up and comers like Keyon Harrold, Jazzmeia Horn and Ross McHenry sat comfortably alongside stalwarts such as Chick Corea, Courtney Pine and Mike Stern in 2017, resulting in albums that both respect the jazz's origins while continuing to push its boundaries.

[wyattvsmusic]

Wale - Folarin II ALBUM REVIEW

Wale has built up quite the catalog over the years and although it is a it uneven at certain phases in his career, he has been on a good run since he put out Wow... That’s Crazy in 2019. That is definitely one of his best albums and was a big return to form after putting out Shine, easily the worst album in his discography. During a time of racial injustices and social unrest in 2020, he put out The Imperfect Storm EP which was a pretty solid EP and now he is remaining on a consistent run with his new album, Folarin II. The first Folarin was a mixtape released back in 2012 not long before The Gifted. Folarin II is Wale’s 7th studio album and even though it has been 9 years since the first Folarin mixtape, this album does provide a bit of a mixtape feel to it even though it is polished like an album as there are some notable samples used. It’s not like Wale just slapped the Folarin II title on the album because he felt like it; there is a bit of correlation between the two. I have spoken about my mixed feelings about using very prominent samples of big songs in previous reviews of mine because when an artist uses such a recognizable sample, its only real job is to remind you of the original and pay homage. I have also mentioned in the past that some songs that sample really popular songs are able to transcend the original but it is really a case-by-case scenario and in this case, I do think the prominent samples work because it is the sequel to a mixtape. Poke It Out with J. Cole obviously samples Q-Tip’s Vivrant Thing but it does not seem like an unoriginal money grab; it sounds like they wanted to have fun with an old classic and pay homage to it like what mixtapes would do back in the 2000s. I also think the added 808 kicks as an extra bassline in the production help modernize the beat a bit. The same goes for Down South with Maxo Kream and Yella Beezy, which samples Still Tippin with Mike Jones but it is clearly an homage to southern hip hop. The song Angles with Chris Brown samples P. Diddy’s I Need A Girl but I feel that Angles is so good that it transcends the original. The amazing beat produced by Hitmaka, $K, OGParker and LouXtwo completely reinvents the sample and Chris Brown’s hook is so good. Wale knows how to make quality songs with R&B singers and bring out the best in them and create a hit record with them as well. Angles is a perfect example of that. The song Caramel which samples Caramel Kisses by Faith Evans is another great example of reinventing a beat as Wale sounds amazing over it. Wale rapping over R&B/soul and gospel samples is a combination that is very hard to beat. The popular songs that will have chart success are one thing, but there is a whole other side of this album that includes what Wale does best: rap. New Balances does a great job at setting the tone. It sounds like the Wale that we know and love. Name Ring Bell however is a kind of Wale that we have never heard before. The somewhat dancehall-inspired beat by Trizzy is what makes this song and the way Wale flows on it. It has a very cool sample of Ting-A-Ling by Shabba Ranks in the beat as well. Tiffany Nikes was amazing. The way Wale floats over the incredible beat with the vocal loop and those horns is just phenomenal. This song would have sounded at home on The Imperfect Storm for an idea of what it sounds like. Fluctuate sounds like classic Wale as this song has some of the best rapping on the album. He also has always been good at incorporating these subtle melodies in his rapping and that is on full display on the catchy hook on this song. The same goes for Light Years with Rick Ross. This song is classic Wale and Ross sounds right at home over such a lush beat. While I do think that this is easily one of Wale’s best albums, it does lose its momentum towards the end as the song Jump In is pretty bad. It just sounds out of place and I don’t like the instrumental. Those are my only real issues with this album. Other than that, I think Folarin II is great. Like the cover suggests, Wale deserves his flowers for the great music he just gave us and all the great work he has given us over the years.

Fav Tracks: Name Ring Bell, Tiffany Nikes, Caramel, Fluctuate, Light Years, Angles

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 08/05/2021 (Billie Eilish, DJ Khaled)

Whilst this is slightly busier than last week, I am genuinely surprised with how little is actually going on here on this week’s chart, a lot less than I expected or predicted. With that said, the top of the chart is where our biggest story comes from and that is “Body” by Russ Millions and Tion Wayne taking advantage of a weak chart with its star-studded remix and peaking at #1 for its first week, replacing Lil Nas X’s “MONTERO (Call Me by Your Name)”. Not only is it the biggest hit for both of these guys and their first #1s, but it’s the first #1 for the entire UK drill genre, which kind of came out of nowhere for me since I think the song’s pretty worthless but with a TikTok challenge and streaming numbers that have even placed it in the American Spotify chart, it’s gearing up to be one of the biggest British rap songs ever. Let’s hope maybe this one doesn’t stall out as badly as “Don’t Rush” outside of the UK. With all that out of the way, let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Our only new arrival from last week’s UK Top 75 (which is what I cover), “Come Through” by H.E.R. featuring Chris Brown, is gone on the next off of the debut. Well, at least we have more than one new song this week, as well as some interesting chart nonsense lower down, but also some notable drop-outs for “Mr. Perfectly Fine” by Taylor Swift, “Mercury” by Dave and Kamal., “Lemon Pepper Freestyle” by Drake featuring Rick Ross, “All You Ever Wanted” by Rag’n’Bone Man (which will rebound next week as that album makes its impact) as well as “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles finally making what seems to be its last exit. Our only return is in the form of “Confetti” by Little Mix getting a massive surge back at #15 after its Saweetie remix and the attached music video, though Saweetie doesn’t happen to be credited here.

We do have an interesting selection of gains and losses, as with the notable fallers – dropping five spots or more down the chart – we have “Titanium” by Dave at #23, “Wellerman” by Nathan Evans and remixed by 220 KID and Billen Ted getting ACR’d down to #29 (it had a surprisingly great run), “The Business” by Tiesto having the same happen to it at #32, “We’re Good” by Dua Lipa at #40, “drivers license” by Olivia Rodrigo at #43, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #45, “Don’t Play” by Anne-Marie, KSI and Digital Farm Animals at #51, “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK hit hard to #54, the same with “Up” by Cardi B at #59, “You” by Regard, Troye Sivan and Tate McRae shaking off the gains #63, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #60, “Heat” by Paul Woolford and Amber Mark at #66, “Solid” by Young Stoner Life, Young Thug and Gunna featuring Drake at #69, “Paradise” by MERDUZA and Dermot Kennedy at #71 and, sadly, “How Does it Feel” by London Grammar at #75.

Where it gets a bit more telling about how the charts are going to adapt into the Summer is in our climbers as we have solid gains for “Another Love” by Tom Odell making another run at #60, “Sunshine (The Light)” by Fat Joe, DJ Khaled and Amorphous inexplicably at #57 and now we get into the top 40 where we have more potential future hits. “Way Too Long” by Nathan Dawe, Anne-Marie and MoStack is at #38, “Don’t You Worry About Me” brings the Bad Boy Chiller Crew their first hit at #37 (although the song is only ever worth hearing for that chorus) and “WITHOUT YOU” by the Kid LAROI returns to the top 40 at #30 thanks to a remix with Miley Cyrus who is again not credited by the Official Charts Company. Boney M. are granted their first new top 20 hit since the 1990s, even if it is just a remix of a song that went #2 in 1978, as Majestic’s remix of “Rasputin” is at #18. Our final gain is for a song first entering the top 10 thanks to the remix with Ariana Grande finally making an impact – yet once again not given the official credit by the OCC – as “Save Your Tears” by the Weeknd makes its way up to #8, becoming his tenth top 10 hit here in Britain. That’s not the only song to first enter the top 10 this week but we’ll get to that in due time with our... odd selection of new arrivals this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#73 – “EVERY CHANCE I GET” – DJ Khaled featuring Lil Baby and Lil Durk

Produced by DJ Khaled and Tay Keith

Two of our new entries are from DJ Khaled’s most recent album Khaled Khaled, an album much like any Khaled album I found cheap and just dull. This record especially is just mixed horribly, with a budget spent exceedingly on getting big-name features instead of any worthwhile engineers to actually mix and master this 50-minute trainwreck. The album doesn’t have many highlights at all but if I had to choose some they would be the two debuting this week, the first of which is basically a Lil Baby cut, “EVERY CHANCE I GET”, with a verse from Lil Durk. Okay, so, yes, first of all, much like the rest of the record, this mix is compressed and just weak, with bizarre bass mastering and drums that sound like garbage, before we get to Lil Baby himself sounding even froggier than ever. I do think that gives the song part of its charm, though, as with a Tay Keith beat, it’s definitely going for a hardcore, old-school Memphis rap atmosphere, and with Lil Baby’s flow switches disguising paranoid lyrics about the typical gunplay and flexing, it does effectively make a pretty intimidating listen... okay, well, it would, if DJ Khaled didn’t have to pop in to convince Lil Baby to “keep going”. We also get a single verse from Lil Durk here, mixed like he recorded his vocals in his bath to the point where it’s clipping against the bass, but delivering a King Von-esque flow that sounds pretty great, and admittedly more detail than you’d expect. I also love that silly “mmm-mmm” flow he uses at the end. I do wish a song like this, clearly supposed to be menacing, did not have the ludicrous personality void that is DJ Khaled on it, and it’s not like they need Khaled to collaborate together – or with Tay Keith for that matter – so I don’t really see why the dude doesn’t just shut up and promote his albums as compilations instead. I understand it comes from his mixtape days, but if this is going to be a studio album, treat it like one and just be quiet for once.

#72 – “Oblivion” – Royal Blood

Produced by Royal Blood

Royal Blood got the #1 album this week for Typhoons and admittedly, whilst I am interested in this band, I haven’t gotten around to listening to it, so I’ll take this album cut as a preview of what to come. If I am doing that, I hope to be surprised by whatever else that album has in store as I’m not really a fan of this. That eerie choppy guitar loop being immediately crushed by this heavily distorted riff and stiff percussion just does not sound unique or interesting, especially if Mike Kerr is going to sound this soulless. The build towards the chorus feels pretty pathetic and unwarranted, and said chorus is just not catchy, before we get to content about how he knows his fate through how arrogant he’s been and he deserves what’s coming to him. I mean, sure, but there’s nothing that makes it obvious that these guys don’t care about what’s coming to them given the pained vocal delivery and monotonous instrumental. It doesn’t feel exciting, rebellious or whatever emotion this tries and fails to capture, just stiff and staggered in its execution. This does make sense for Royal Blood but seems to me like they’re resting way too heavily on ideas ran through the soil at this point. With all that said, this isn’t bad at all, just not as great as those other singles have been from the record. I think I’d be more forgiving if it didn’t come off as a Queens of the Stone Age tribute act writing “originals” that bomb at their shows.

#56 – “love race” – Machine Gun Kelly featuring Kellin Quinn

Produced by Jeff Peters, Jared Gudstadt and Travis Barker

I guess this might actually be a rock-heavy week – not that I’m complaining about more of a rock presence on the chart but God, I wish it wasn’t coming from MGK. I’ll have some choice words to say about this guy’s last attempt at a pop-rock hit by the end of the year, probably, but at least for this song he brought on someone with some kind of legitimacy. Kellin Quinn is the frontman of post-hardcore band Sleeping with Sirens, one of the most successful bands in their genre but not one unlike others that grew out of the metalcore-infused pop rock to anything more unique or experimental. With that said, Quinn is barely here and other than Travis Barker’s typical explosive drums, MGK is the biggest presence here in his raspy but borderline unlistenable vocal tone that I just can’t stand, especially if it’s going to stretch out “run” as long and as far as he did in that longing, desperate chorus. MGK barely even lets Kellin Quinn have his own verse, registering him as backing vocals throughout the entire song, dampening his vocals that sound a lot more unique and enthused, especially when he starts screaming. That bridge did give me trancecore flashbacks – not that I’m complaining if I’m fully honest – so I’ll admit the part of me that eats up emo-pop garbage did let this grow on me a bit, but, man, without a guitar solo to distract from pretty awful lyrics (not that I’d expect much more from this artist or genre) and without really letting Quinn loose on the vocals, it’s lacking a certain grit and punch I expect from post-hardcore. The song did, however, indirectly remind me of New Found Glory, for which I am thankful for.

#53 – “I DID IT” – DJ Khaled featuring Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby and DaBaby

Produced by Ben Billions, Joe Zarrillo, DJ 360, Tay Keith and DJ Khaled

You wouldn’t expect an artist line-up like this to continue this trend of rock in this week’s new arrivals, but you’d be surprised, and personally I’m pretty happy with how much rock seems to be creeping up back into the public consciousness as if there’s one thing I got back in touch with the most over lockdown, it was the rock music I was raised on and it led to me even further appreciating a genre I had kind of lost touch with over the years out of just a lack of interest. With that said, this isn’t a rock song per se, but it does heavily and lazily sample a classic like much of this Khaled album, going for “Layla” by Derek and the Dominos. I’m not going to lie, either, it sets up a pretty effective back-bone for a trap banger about being awesome, especially with those squealing riffs in the chorus. Oh, yeah, and the mixing is horrible as expected, but to be honest to me it does not dampen the boasting, anthemic nature of this track, especially with Post Malone being a perfect choice to croon that infectious chorus. Megan Thee Stallion has a pretty embarrassingly by-the-numbers verse over a switch in the beat that makes it sound oddly stunted, but she does have that swinging rock charisma that people like Lil Baby do not have. With that said, I think I’m at the point where I eat anything Lil Baby says or does, because the flow switches combined with his frog-throat delivery is just impeccable. Content-wise, I think everyone here realises they’re being squashed by the clipping beat as they just go off about complete nonsense that goes in one ear and out the other apart from Lil Baby’s misguided but still pretty funny line about how he contemplated going vegan but sees no point in it because he’s got ten karats in both of his ears. Sure. At least DJ Khaled as something to do as he... harmonises, I guess, with Posty on the chorus. DaBaby is as distant as possible from the microphone to the point where I can barely hear him, not that it matters when his verse is that basic and short. This is kind of a trainwreck in all honesty, but with four choruses and a beat this heavy, it’s hard to be annoyed by it. Overwhelming maybe but these performers are all characters by themselves and throwing them in this three-minute chaos of squealing guitars and trap skitters just fascinates me if anything. Does it count as a posse cut? I don’t know. Either way, this is hilarious.

#5 – “Your Power” – Billie Eilish

Produced by FINNEAS

Decidedly not hilarious is this new single from Billie Eilish looking to be a smash from that upcoming album which now has a track listing and release date, with this functioning as I suppose the true lead single and her seventh top 10 here in the UK. It’s a brave choice too considering the lyrical content which is a pretty scathing attack on her ex-boyfriend and their abusive relationship, making several references to the gap in age and power dynamic that played into something really distressing for the both of them but especially a young, vulnerable Billie Eilish who found herself helpless in this relationship because of that “hero” quickly revealing himself as little more than his projected insecurities. The song’s detailed enough not to detach itself from Billie’s personal struggles but also works as what I suppose is a warning, as it’s retelling a story all too familiar with many girls of her age at the time who end up in these really scary situations. It does help that the song itself is great, relying on these layered acoustic guitars to form some kind of dejected groove behind Eilish’s vocals, whispery and cooing as always but in this case way too loud in the mix for my taste to the point where it kind of takes me out of the song as a whole. With a better master that blends her vocal take a lot better into the guitars, maybe going for a fuzzier, dream-pop angle, could work a lot better but with that said, I do understand the purpose of making it feel this intimate and minimal because Billie’s honest songwriting calls for a delivery like this, even if she ends up sounding shakier or even mumbling at times as a result. This is a big debut for Billie for a song not prepared to do as well as it did given its content and sound that is not exactly radio-friendly and oftentimes requires more heavy of a listen than a pop song would otherwise. I do love that final outro as her humming careens off the gentle guitars with just enough scratch but I do question how abrupt the ending is. Hopefully when the album’s out, we’ll have a bigger picture to as where this single in particular fits in.

Conclusion

With only five new arrivals and not much in the way of anything bad, I guess Worst of the Week goes to “Oblivion” by Royal Blood but giving a Dishonourable Mention would just end up as dishonest. Therefore, Best of the Week goes to Billie Eilish for “Your Power” but – and I cannot believe I am saying this for a 3/10 album with only fluke hits – but DJ Khaled – and Lil Baby for that matter – get a tied Honourable Mention for both of their songs, “EVERY CHANCE THAT I GET” with Lil Durk and “I DID IT” with Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby. Now to distract from the fact I just did that, here’s this week’s top 10:

I can’t really make any healthy predictions for next week. Maybe we’ll get some songs from Lil Tecca, Rag’n’Bone Man or Bebe Rexha? Maybe we’ll end up with some fluke Weezer smash hit, who knows? Regardless, thank you for reading and I’ll see you next week.

[spookyspemilyreid]

Happy Anniversary “One More Light”!❤️ (May 19, 2017)

One More Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on May 19, 2017, through Warner Records and Machine Shop. It is the last Linkin Park album to feature lead vocalist Chester Bennington before his death on July 20, 2017.

The band recorded the album between September 2015 and February 2017 in multiple studios. Band members Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda served as the album's primary producers. The sound of One More Light has been described as being more pop-focused, departing from the alternative rock and alternative metal sounds of their previous albums. The album features guest vocal appearances from Pusha T, Stormzy, and Kiiara, and production and songwriting collaborations with JR Rotem, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Ross Golan, Andrew Goldstein, blackbear, and Eg White. The album is also the band's first to feature a title track, as they felt that the song "One More Light" was the heart of the album.

The album's lead single, "Heavy", featuring Kiiara, was released on February 16, 2017. "Battle Symphony", "Good Goodbye", and "Invisible" were released as promotional singles prior to the album's release. "Talking to Myself" and "One More Light" were released as radio singles later on. The album performed well commercially, debuting at number one in several countries; it also became the band's fifth number-one album on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold in five countries. Despite a positive commercial performance, it received mixed reviews from music critics. This, along with accusations of selling out, prompted an angry response from Bennington.

The pre-production of One More Light began in mid-2015 during The Hunting Party Tour by Shinoda on his phone. The main production began as soon as the tour ended. In the process, the band decided to write songs with some external help. They worked with Zayed Hassan, which resulted in his song "Sailing Through the Clouds", Martin Garrix, Hot Karl, Mike Baczor of the band Her0, The Lonely Island, which resulted in "Things in My Jeep", and One Ok Rock. None of these collaborations, however, made the final version of the album. The album marks the second to be self-produced following The Hunting Party.

As a new concept to the band, all the songs featured on the album began with vocals being recorded first. They worked on the story first, then the hook, and finally the music. The albums features collaborations with songwriters and other artists. "Heavy" features vocals by pop singer Kiiara, and "Good Goodbye" features verses by rappers Pusha T and Stormzy. Genre-wise, the album has been described as pop, pop rock and electropop.

The band had been writing and recording mostly in Los Angeles but also had a few sessions in London and Canada where they worked with a few songwriters. In Los Angeles, the band started working at the Larrabee Studios where they had worked for their previous album. After noticing the band needed a bit more space they shifted to Sphere Studios. Starting in the early 2016 the band decided, for the first time, to open up their process to fans through social media by doing live streams, posting pictures and videos of their day by day in the studio, and sending studio updates to their mailing list. 

While working with Justin Parker in London, Mike also learned a different approach to songwriting: to write without any sound in mind and, instead, write with meaning in mind. Instead of writing tracks piece by piece, the band wouldn't leave a session without having a song. It would all start as a conversation, and out of those the songs would build progressively from a chord progression to lyrics. Among the collaborators are Justin Parker, Conner Youngblood, Jon Green, blackbear, Andrew Goldstein, Eg White, Emily Wright, Andrew Bolooki, Andrew Dawson, RAC, Corrin Roddick, and Ross Golan. American singer Kiiara also had a seven-hour session with Linkin Park to record her vocals for "Heavy", and rappers Stormzy and Pusha T contributed to the album with original verses. In the past the band had a different approach to collaborations, as explained by Mike: "Usually it means we’ve finished the song but we'll ask somebody to add something to the top of it." He added: "Generally, here's how it would work: we'd get in the room with someone, and start on something from scratch with them. We worked mostly in the same way we always write songs, but with extra firepower in the room."

Bennington had also reached out to Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle to collaborate on a song for the album. The two collaborated on a track titled "Eat the Elephant", but it was ultimately left off the album, not really matching the direction One More Light's sound. Howerdel completely reworked the song musically and lyrically, and recorded it with Maynard James Keenan on vocals for their April 2018 album Eat the Elephant.

In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Shinoda explained that the children seen on the album cover are those of a friend of the band and represent what the band members feel when their respective families get together. The photo was shot at Venice Beach by Frank Maddocks, who has previously contributed to artworks for Deftones and Green Day's Revolution Radio.

The band, specifically frontman Chester Bennington, lashed out in response to the negative reception of One More Light's material. As documented through Spin magazine, in an interview with Music Week, Bennington, at the accusations that the band had "sold out", suggested that those people should "stab [themselves] in the face" and "move the fuck on" from the band's past sound. Similarly, in a separate interview with Kerrang, Bennington, in response to claims of selling out with the album, said "If you're gonna be the person who says like 'they made a marketing decision to make this kind of record to make money' you can fucking meet me outside and I will punch you in your fucking mouth." In the same interview, Mike Shinoda also rejected the claims that they had made the album "for monetary reasons", responding, "that's not how I operate." Bennington explained that the accusation of "selling out" angered him because he saw it as a personal attack, concluding that "when you make it personal, like a personal attack against who we are as people, like, dude, shut up. That means that I can actually have feelings about it and most of the time my feelings are 'I want to kill you.'" 

In response to the comments, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor stated that he understood Bennington's frustrations, but advised him to "be fortunate for what you have, be fortunate for the fact that people are still coming to see you to hear the music. Give it a little time, you have to give it a little time." Bennington later responded that he agreed with Taylor's statements saying:"...I agree with him. I do appreciate our fans... I'm human and sometimes take things too personally. Most of our fans have been very positive lately. Some... not so much. Either way... there is a lot of passion on both sides and I am grateful to all of our fans. Corey is a good dude and I appreciate him too... Time to recalibrate my perspective. So I say to all of our fans... Thank you and I love you all. Peace, love and happiness."

[underachievers-please-try-harder]

Review // Teyana Taylor - The Album

For The Forty-Five. Read online.

At the age of 29, Teyana Taylor has now spent more of her life in the public eye than out of it. A precocious talent, the Harlem-raised artist choreographed for Beyoncé while barely out of eighth grade, and was scouted and signed by Pharrell Williams shortly after, even if it was the 2007-turn on MTV’s ‘My Super Sweet Sixteen’ that first put her on the radar of many.  

Taylor has more than proven her versatility in the interim, acting, directing, modelling, dancing and choreographing in addition to singing. And yet, in terms of her solo career, the various machinations of the music industry have meant she’s never quite fulfilled her early potential. Thanks to the legal wranglings required to liberate herself from Williams’ label, Taylor’s official debut album didn’t appear ‘til 2014, and the release of 2018’s Kanye West-produced follow-up, ‘K.T.S.E.’ wasn’t without controversy. Recorded during West’s Wyoming sessions and rolled-out last, after ‘Daytona’, ‘Ye’, ‘Kids See Ghosts’, and ‘Nasir’, the 22-minute record features songs reportedly truncated without Taylor’s knowledge.

Spiritually, then, you could argue that this 23-track strong, almost 90-minute long LP is the sound of Taylor saying, “Enough.” Certainly, ‘The Album’ finds the veteran performer firmly reclaiming her own narrative with a suite of songs intended to elucidate all aspects of her identity, and one that has been divided accordingly into five thematic sections: love, sexuality, self-worth, vulnerability, and triumph.

We’re drawn in close from the offset, with an introduction interpolating audio recordings of her husband Iman Shumpert’s public proposal and of his panicked 911 call following the unexpected homebirth of their daughter, Jumie. Now four years old, Jumie appears on ‘Come Back To Me’ alongside – and billed before – Rick Ross, while NBA star and sometime rapper Shumpert contributes a verse to ‘Wake Up Love’. The liquid groove of the latter is characteristic of the neo-soul-centred first movement, which reaches its natural conclusion in the Erykah Badu-starring and sampling ‘Lowkey’.

Though West returns to co-produce on ‘Made It’, stylistically ‘The Album’ represents a marked move away from the old school samples and lo-fi beats of ‘K.T.S.E.’ For the most part, this is sleek, soulful, 90s-referencing R&B, be it the Aaliyah-referencing ‘Try Again’ or the Mase-sampling ‘How You Want It’. There’s a palpable sense of Taylor reconnecting with her own musical roots, having previously been used more as a foil for other people’s visions.

Considering the calibre of collaborators across the record – be it guest stars like Badu, Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, or producers Timbaland and Mike Dean – it’s telling that Taylor is never outshone, such is her charisma and variety as a performer. Trading come-ons with Kehlani on ‘Morning’ she’s simultaneously seductive and vulnerable, while the ‘Rude Boy’-esque ‘Bad’ finds her leaning into her Trinidadian inflections and delivering a supple yet steely vocal performance. ‘Still’ is even starker, a true emotional standout, climaxing in the sort of ragged breaths only caused by real tears. Equally, the performances she coaxes from her guests are startling, be it a rare sung-cameo from Elliott on ‘Boomin’, or Hill’s motivational voice note played out at the climax of ‘We Got Love.’

The latter proves an apt conclusion to a refreshingly personal album in which the overriding message is self-love, regardless of the circumstances. Like its creator, ‘The Album’ is by no means flawless, but this is as honest a reflection of Taylor as we’ve encountered yet. And taking into consideration the context of the record’s release – timed to coincide with Juneteenth, and unwittingly arriving in the midst of the #BlackLivesMatter marches taking place across the globe – this defiant celebration of Black excellence feels especially vital.

[hillbillyhippiemusicreview]

POST #24- J’s Year in Review 2019

Jesus Christ it’s 36 degrees and dark at 5:30. The most depressing time of year for me. I owe my friends a few reviews and keep putting them off. I’ll do them tomorrow. Hell, maybe when I have time over the weekend I’ll get that one out I promised a few weeks ago. Here I am, sitting on the couch trying to figure out which record I want to highlight next. It’s a daunting task. A lesson I’ve learned over the past year. I need to get those reviews out but my mind (and ears) get the best of me. What do I do instead? I listen to a couple of records and skip right to the end. What I mean by end is that cliche year in review article that all music journalists put out with their favorite artists, songs, records, and shows of the year. This is all new to me. Shortly after the new year I decided it was time for me to get in the game. I don’t have much to offer but I wanted to put my perspective on paper. My first article was a piece about Tyler Childers raising awareness and getting a large donation of bottled water for the citizens of Martin County, Kentucky. I knew about Martin County. I didn’t know how deep it went. It wasn’t the meet and greet and small solo set that made me want to write about my experience. It was Tyler’s words. It was the raw emotion and the choked up words that inspired me to be a writer. I wanted as many people to know about this event as I could possibly get the word to. Be it 5, 10, 20 or even 30 people that read the article and learned about the plight of the citizens of Martin County have been in for years. That maybe 5, 10, 20 or even 30 people that may learn how to contact their representative and ask questions. I hope it inspires people to learn about their community and lend a helping hand to those in need. That event was last year, but it inspired my path this year.

Let me begin by saying that I have met some of the most amazing people over the past 12 months. I will touch on as many of those people as much as I can. I am going to highlight the music that has moved me over the same amount of time. I’m gonna forget people. I’m sorry in advance. I could put a list of my top 10 albums out but that just wouldn’t be fair. To be honest, there is one album that stands head and shoulders above all others. It’s not even a competition. How do you compete with amazing art? I look at it like its a steady stream of good shit coming out and keeping my playlist full.

Album of the Year (Any Genre)

Sound and Fury - Sturgill Simpson

Why?

It’s f*cking amazing. Earth shattering. Ground breaking. LOUD!

Sturgill Simpson took everything you thought you knew about him and his music, threw it out the window of his muscle car, and backed over it about a hundred times. This man does not give a shit. I screwed up on my first listen. There are two ways this album should be heard. 1) On a turntable with the volume turned as loud as it can possibly go. 2) Watching the accompanying anime movie with the volume turned as loud as it can possibly go. Unfortunately I did neither. Most of my first listen was a track at a time on my phone or in my truck. Dead. Wrong. If I had it to do over again I would most definitely start with the anime.

I get it. Anime is not for everyone. If I could give someone a starting point with anime, it would most definitely be Sound and Fury. This album is The Wall of our generation. After my first listen I posted, “Album of the Year Any Genre”. I fully stand by that assessment.

Favorite Albums of the Year

This is where I will most definitely make someone mad or make myself mad for leaving off someone who deserves to be included.

Home - Billy Strings

Favorite Tracks: Away From The Mire and Watch It Fall

Country Squire - Tyler Childers

Favorite Tracks - Creeker and Peace of Mind

Stranger In The Alps - Buffalo Wabs and the Price Hill Hustle

Favorite Tracks: Buffalo’s Canon and Stewball

Between The Country - Ian Noe

Favorite Tracks: Barbara’s Song and Methhead

Seneca - Charles Wesley Godwin

Favorite Tracks: Hardwood Floors and Seneca Creek

Chris Knight - Almost Daylight

Favorite Tracks: I’m William Callahan and Go On

The Wind - Eric Bolander

Favorite Tracks: Closer to that Flame and Ghost

Josh Nolan - Kind Heart to Follow

Favorite Tracks: Makin’ Eyes and The Honeysuckle

Nicholas Jamerson - Floyd County All Star

Favorite Tracks: Patience and Floyd County All Star

High Expectations - Sean Whiting

Favorite Tracks: Melody and Misery

Songs Only A Mother Could Love - Wayne Graham

Favorite Tracks: By and By and Every Evil Thing

On The Hilltop - Nic Allen and the Troubled Minds

Favorite Tracks: Cheap Pills and Wine and For Heaven’s Sake

Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold - Mike and the Moonpies

Favorite Tracks: Cheap Silver and Danger

The Gospel - The Local Honeys

Favorite Tracks: Amazing Grace and Let the Church Roll On

Full Moon/Heavy Light - Ona

Favorite Tracks: Young Forever and True Emotion

Trial and Error - Vintage Pistol

Favorite Tracks: Lay It Down and Leave Me Behind

The Pilot Light - Derek Spencer

Favorite Tracks: The Witches of Appalachia and Lit By Moonlight

We Fall, We Break - Walter DeBarr

Favorite Tracks - Wicked Eyes and We Fall, We Break

Alive at Hillbilly Central - Arthur Hancock

Favorite Tracks - Take Me Back To The Country and Kenton’s Outdoor Seating Area

Cuz I Love You - Lizzo

Favorite Tracks: Truth Hurts and Juice

I have to give a shoutout to some amazing visual artists for their work on some of these records. Jimbo Valentine and Colonel Tony Moore did an absolutely amazing job on the Country Squire album art. With Valentine’s futuristic hillbilly aura and Moore’s gritty comic book background, their collaboration is my favorite album artwork in some time. Honorable mention goes to Nashville Tattoo Artist, Squishy Eyes. His work for Billy Strings’ home is colorful and visually stimulating. I definitely want some skin art done by this guy!

Next. Let’s talk festivals. Jon Grace burst onto the scene this year putting on not one but two music festivals. Jon and I go way back. We’ve been to country shows, rock shows, heavy metal shows, nu metal shows, Ozzfest. You name it and we were probably in the vicinity. Laurel Cove Music Festival was Bell County’s first foray into the music festival scene and it started with a flash of lightning, then another, then a shit load of rain. An outdoor music festival being held at a beautiful natural amphitheater turned in to an indoor show in the conference room at Pine Mountain State Park. It was a tough decision to make, but in the end, it was worth every minute. The lineup came together in short order and provided us with two days of blistering sets. Jon then put together the FREE Cumberland Mountain Fall Festival in downtown Middlesboro, KY. Featuring local and regional talent for another two days of fun and music. 2019 set the bar high for live music in Bell County.

Festival of the Red is located in the heart of the Red River Gorge area and put on three days of camping and music. The only downside was that I was only there on Saturday. My buddies Blake and Dave packed in the truck with Dave’s little boy Waylon to make the two hour trip to Slade to catch up with old friends and new.

Master Musician Festival is a yearly mainstay in Somerset, KY. Tiffany Finley and company put together a stellar lineup year after year. My wife and I went for the day on Saturday and returned home with memories that we still laugh about months later. I first want to give a shoutout to the staff of MMF for enduring a brutal storm and having the integrity to cancel the headlining act in the face of severe storms. We were devastated that we missed out on a Jason Isbell set, but we are also blessed that we were not injured in a stupid storm. The party rolled on to Jarfly and into the wee hours of the morning.

This brings me to the granddaddy of them all.

Kickin’ It On The Creek.

The Roberts do it up right on Ross’ Creek. The 5th Annual Kickin’ It On The Creek held on Byron Roberts’ farm is something every music fan should experience once in their life. I went to Irvine in June to attempt to buy tickets in person. I left the house Saturday morning around 4:30. My anxiety hit when I got into town and parked and saw the line stretched nearly a half mile down the road. What do you do though? You hop in line! My friends Jon and Daniel arrived about an hour and a half ahead of me and were about 15 people in front of me. Throughout the morning we made conversation with both veterans and newbies alike. The vibe was jubilant. It was almost like a family reunion atmosphere, and this was just the presale. Long story short, about 3 hours later we get to the front of the line when Byron exits the store to announce the tickets were sold out. My friends who were 15 people in front of me were the last group in. It made me ill to realize I was that close. Never fret, the next step was an online sale that supposedly sells out in seconds. Over the next few weeks, karma would smile on us as we were able to purchase enough tickets so everyone in our group of friends were able to procure tickets. Now the wait.

I’m not a festival virgin by no means. I was fortunate enough to go to three Bonnaroo festivals in the early 00’s. Needless to say, I had an idea of the festival life. However, I can’t begin to explain the giddiness that my wife and I felt driving to the festival that Thursday evening in late September. We made it just in time to set up camp and catch Bedford Band and one of the acts I most looked forward to, Buffalo Wabs and the Price Hill Hustle. The family atmosphere was in full effect. We were home. On Friday we were treated to sets by a variety of artists handpicked by the Roberts family. Favorites included Luna and the Mountain Jets, Crownover, Laid Back Country Picker, Green Genes, Jericho Woods, Vintage Pistol, Magnolia Boulevard, John R Miller and the Engine Lights, Town Mountain, and the ‘Lectric Wooks. Saturday favorites included Abe Partridge, Padre Paul Handleman, Wayne Graham, William Matheny, Senora May, Ona, The Wooks, Arlo McKinley, and festival headliner Tyler Childers. I’m already thinking about KIOTC 2020.

This year was magical. I heard amazing music, saw amazing music, introduced my children to amazing music, and most importantly shared with with my wife. I met lifelong friends and have several shows to look forward to in 2020.

Upcoming shows I’ll be attending are The Wooks, Arlo McKinley, Eric Bolander, Charlie Woods and Deep Hollow, and Dave Shoemaker at the Bell Theater on December 21st. 2020 brings Morgan Wade/Kelsey Waldon, Town Mountain/Buffalo Wabs/Geno Seale, Billy Strings, and Sturgill Simpson/Tyler Childers. The festival circuit is also ramping up with dates set for Laurel Cove 2020.

-Josh Trosper

*This is an independent review. The Hillbilly Hippie Music Review was not compensated for this review.

*The opinions expressed are solely that of the author(s).

[typologicalmusings]

Monica Geller: ESFJ

Extraverted Feeling (Fe): Monica is “always the hostess” (The One with Rachel’s Crush, 4x13). She loves throwing parties and cooking for her friends – when Phoebe’s apartment burns down, she affectionately names her own apartment “Hotel Monica,” and takes delight in creating a guest bedroom so that Phoebe is comfortable (The One Where Ross Dates a Student, 6x18). She is upset when the group stops spending time in her apartment and refurnishes Joey and Chandler’s place so that she can play the “hostess” role once again (The One with Rachel’s Crush, 4x13). Monica is the glue that holds the group together and is always there to offer emotional support for others, such as counselling Ross through his feelings for Rachel, supporting Chandler through his breakup with Kathy, or advising Rachel about her feelings for Joey (The One with the Soap Opera Party, 9x20).  She values group harmony, and frequently makes personal sacrifices to ensure everyone is happy, such as cooking different kinds of potatoes for her friends so that they could all enjoy Thanksgiving like they had as children (The One Where Underdog Gets Away, 1x09). At times, Monica can feel undervalued by others for her group sacrifices – she refuses to cook Thanksgiving dinner one year because she “doesn’t think it’s fair” the burden falls on her each year (The One with the Late Thanksgiving, 10x08), and is upset when Rachel doesn’t appreciate a birthday she throws (The One with the Two Parties, 2x22). Monica has a strong understanding of social rules. When Phoebe invites a stripper to Rachel’s baby shower, Monica is aghast, calling Phoebe’s actions “totally inappropriate” (The One with the Baby Shower, 8x20). Similarly, she is shocked when Phoebe plans to wear a bohemian dress to meet Mike’s conservative parents, urging her to buy something more suitable for the social setting (The One with Ross’s Inappropriate Song, 9x07). Monica is mortified when she breaks social rules, such as forgetting to invite Rachel’s mother to her baby shower (The One with the Baby Shower, 8x20), and is equally mortified when others break them too, being aghast that she wasn’t invited to her cousin’s wedding, a major social faux pas (The One with all the Cheesecakes, 7x11). At times, she uses her understanding of social rules to manipulate others, such as wearing a white dress to a wedding to spite her cousin for not inviting her (The One with all the Cheesecakes, 7x11). Her manipulative capabilities extend to other areas of life, where she tricks Chandler into having sex with her (The One with Phoebe’s Birthday Dinner, 9x05), and writes a speech to make the audience cry at her parents’ wedding anniversary (The One in Massapequa, 8x18). Monica desperately wants to be liked by the people around her, and often goes to great lengths to receive positive regard from others, such as making candy for everyone in the building so that she would be liked by her neighbours (The One with all the Candy, 7x09), flattering Rachel’s mother in an attempt to win back her approval (The One with the Baby Shower, 8x20), or continuing to wear a pair of uncomfortable boots because she “loved the compliments” (The One with Monica’s Boots, 8x10).

Introverted Sensing (Si): Monica describes herself as having an “eye for detail” (The One with the Joke, 6x12). She has a knack for noticing differences in the environment, immediately being able to tell that the apartment has been cleaned after Chandler employs a maid (The One with the Stain, 8x07), and that the green ottoman has been moved when Rachel vacuums (The One with the Butt, 1x06). She frequently uses past experiences to assess the present, such as comparing a previous thanksgiving dinner to one she had made the year before to assess how much her cooking had improved (The One with the Late Thanksgiving, 10x08). Monica is uncomfortable with change in her environment – she immediately dismisses Rachel’s suggestion that an ugly lamp be added to the living room (The One Where Heckles Dies, 2x08), and feels uneasy when Rachel moves the green ottoman to a different location because she wants things in her apartment to stay the same (The One with the Butt, 1x06). She also struggles with changes in her personal life – when she and Richard break up, Monica shuts herself inside her apartment because she is unable to adjust to life without him (The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy, 3x01). Likewise, she is deeply upset when Rachel has to move out, calling it “the end of an era” (The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel, 6x02). Monica takes comfort in the familiar and the predicable – when times get tough, she tends to turn to things from the past for comfort, such as smoking cigars to feel close to Richard after they break up (The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy, 3x01). She is deeply aware of her past, and is often haunted by her negative childhood experiences – when Rachel and Ross kiss on her engagement night, she is reminded of being overshadowed by Rachel through childhood, and thus accuses Rachel of “stealing her thunder” (The One with Monica’s Thunder, 7x01). Likewise, when Chandler mentions he ended a relationship with a girlfriend because she was overweight, Monica is reminded of being rejected by a boy in fifth grade because she was “too fat” and becomes upset (The One with the Nap Partners, 7x06). Monica is a very sentimental person. She enjoys collecting and reminiscing over past memories, and loves keeping old photographs – she is delighted to share an album full of childhood pictures with Emily (The One with the Fake Party, 4x16), and vows to take more photographs as a new year’s resolution so that she can remember important moments with her friends (The One with all the Resolutions, 5x11). Monica values past relics that hold personal significance – she keeps an antique cabinet because it belonged to her grandmother (The Last One: Part 2, 10x18), and is excited to receive her aunt’s dollhouse because she always wanted to play with it as a child (The One with the Dollhouse, 3x20). Likewise, she is devastated when her childhood memories are destroyed through flooding of her parents’ garage (The One Where Rosita Dies, 7x13). At times, Monica is inclined to project her sentimental streak onto others, who may not always appreciate it – she hires a bunny costume for Chandler because his favourite childhood book was The Velveteen Rabbit, failing to realise that the costume would make him embarrassed instead (The One with the Halloween Party, 8x06). Monica has an excellent memory for details – at one point, Rachel berates her for her ability to remember “every little thing” (The One with Joey’s Dirty Day, 4x14). For example, she remembers each step of a dance routine she and Ross invented as kids and is able to perform it perfectly several years later (The One with the Routine, 6x10). She also has a love for detail which manifests in her approach to planning – she organises a party for Rachel with detailed sketches of the cake and an alphabetised list of music (The One Where Rachel Smokes, 5x18), and plans the seating arrangements for her wedding through strict adherence to a detailed seating chart (The One with Rachel’s Big Kiss, 7x20).

Extraverted Intuition (Ne): Monica is able to see situations not only for what they are (Si), but for what they could be (Ne). When she is offered a job at Alessandro’s, Monica agrees to take it on because she can see the potential of the restaurant, despite giving it a negative review several days previously (The One Where They’re Going to Party, 4x09). She is well aware that the food is bad, her co-workers are unkind, and the restaurant has a terrible reputation, but she embraces what the restaurant could be with an optimistic opening speech (“with a pinch of excitement, a dash of hard work, and a dollop of cooperation, we can have the recipe…”). This ability to see the potential in things is a persistent trait that manifests itself throughout the series – when Monica is forced to move into Joey and Chandler’s apartment, she sees it’s potential as a comfortable living space, and works to transform it into one despite her initial disgust (The One with the Embryos, 4x12). Similarly, she senses the potential in the fake chocolate product “mockolate,” and seeks to improve it by incorporating it into a series of baked goods (The One with the List, 2x08). Monica is open to new opportunities, especially when it comes to her career – she drops her catering gig with Phoebe to accept a job at Alessandro’s (The One Where They’re Going to Party, 4x09), and declines moving with Chandler to Tulsa because she is offered a position at Javu (The One with the Pediatrician, 9x03). She is fairly flexible when it comes to her work, and is willing to try several alternatives (Ne) if it means being able to address more practical concerns like maintaining a steady income (Si). For example, she accepts a job as a kitchen hand (The Pilot, 1x01), a caterer (The One with the Dirty Girl, 4x06), a waitress at a diner (The One with the Two Parties, 2x22), a food critic (The One Where They’re Going to Party, 4x09) and a head chef (The One Where They’re Going to Party, 4x09). At times, Monica is undaunted by change – she views Chandler’s unemployment as “exciting” while he is terrified by the lack of security (The One Where Rachel Goes Back to Work, 9x11). She’s also quick to make connections, realising that Phoebe and Rachel know about her relationship with Chandler without it being overtly stated (The One Where Everybody Finds Out, 5x14).

Introverted Thinking (Ti): Monica has a solid understanding of how things work. As a chef, she knows the flavours that complement each other, and is easily able to pull a recipe apart and put it back together again, such as deconstructing a cookie to figure out the recipe for Phoebe’s grandmother’s cookies (The One with Phoebe’s Cookies, 7x03). She is excellent at troubleshooting – when Joey admits he is unfit for a role because he has been circumcised, Monica helps to solve the problem by fashioning him a range of foreskins from processed meat (The One with Ross and Monica’s Cousin, 7x19). Similarly, she creates a series of baked goods for Mockolate in an attempt to improve their taste (The One with the List, 2x08).  She is curious, sometimes even obsessive, about finding out how things work, on one occasion destroying Joey and Chandler’s apartment in a search for where a switch was (The One with all the Rugby, 4x15). Monica is fairly logical, and often hands out quite frank advice to her friends. When Rachel confesses that she wants to fool around with Joey, Monica advises her not to follow through with it because she believes it “will never work” (The One with the Soap Opera Party, 9x20). Likewise, when Phoebe ditches plans with David to go out with Joey as a way of upholding her personal values, Monica informs Phoebe that her actions are ridiculous (The One with all the Cheesecakes, 7x11). Monica is equally capable of applying the same logical principles to her own life – for example, she breaks up with Richard because she knows a relationship between them is futile when she wants children and he doesn’t (The One with Barry and Mindy’s Wedding, 2x24).

Note: Like Rachel, Monica was incredibly difficult to type because she appears to use Te and Fe equally prominently. Truth be told, I’m not completely sold on ESFJ, and could possibly be convinced by a solid ESTJ argument. This problem can be attributed to inconsistent writing – Monica is generally warmer and kinder as the series begins, before becoming more brash and competitive in later years. I chose ESFJ because Monica appears to use Ti more than Fi – she’s logical, good at troubleshooting and tends to be externally directed with her feelings. If she used Fi, Monica would be less concerned about group harmony and more influenced by her own feelings.

[rawrampmag]

MIKE ROSS @spindriftmike — #TheClovisLimit Pt.2 #AlbumReview #Americana #BluesRock @propermusic1

MIKE ROSS @spindriftmike — #TheClovisLimit Pt.2 #AlbumReview #Americana #BluesRock @propermusic1

English roots & blues musical genius and multi-instrumentalist MIKE ROSS will release his genre-straddling ten-track solo LP: ‘The Clovis Limit Pt.2’ on Friday 30th October (on both physical CD format & Digital release) via Taller Records. 

It may be a one-man show, but you’d never guess, from the sheer compass, scope, and breadth of this adventurous mix of open-air blues, arrogant rock, &…

[ghostcultmagazine]

ALBUM REVIEW: Ross The Boss – Born Of Fire

ALBUM REVIEW: Ross The Boss – Born Of Fire

Telling you all you need to know in one gaudy technicolour piece of cover art, the new album by metal legend Ross the Boss features chains, fire, exploding rocks, a semi-naked woman and a giant winged demon. In fact, the only missing items required for a True Metal Bingo are muscular warrior types and a giant eagle. (more…)

[fitnesshealthyoga-blog]

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/best-all-time-celebrity-met-gala-fashion-outfits/

Best All-Time Celebrity Met Gala Fashion Outfits

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For serious fans of fashion, there’s no bigger red-carpet affair than the annual Costume Institute Benefit—a.k.a. the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala, or Met Gala for short—where celebrities and high fashion collide in a bonanza of couture gowns that more than rivals the Oscars in unabashed glamour. Part of the evening’s fun—even for us spectators—is seeing what attendees choose to wear on the red carpet at the Gala, which will be held Monday night. Considering attendees’ high-design attire is typically loosely inspired by the exhibition’s theme, we have a feeling this particular red carpet will be one for the record books, and we’ll see some of the best Met Gala dresses yet.

However, before we can look ahead to this year’s extravaganza, we decided to look back at some past memorable Met Gala gowns that we’re still talking about.

From supermodels (Karolina Kurkova in a head-to-toe custom Rachel Zoe creation that resembled liquid gold, Gisele Bündchen’s red-hot Valentino, Anja Rubik’s skin-baring Anthony Vaccarello) and starlets (Beyoncé in showstopping Givenchy, Diane Kruger in Jason Wu) to the fash pack (Alexa Chung in Marc Jacobs, Ashley Olsen in vintage Dior, Zoe Kravitz in Alexander Wang), there’s no denying that everyone who shows up to the year’s most major red carpet does so with a serious fashion moment in mind.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

Rihanna, Met Gala 2017

As an annual Met Gala favorite, Rihanna didn’t disappoint when she wore a Comme des Garçons structured flower-like dress by Rei Kawakubo, a Japanese designer who was honored with that year’s theme. The look, which was straight from Comme des Garçons’s Fall 2016 runway, used floral fabrics, which were layered and pulled apart to look like petals.

Jackson Lee/FilmMagic.

Zendaya, Met Gala 2017

Though Zendaya strayed from 2017’s avant-garde theme, she still shut down the red carpet when she showed up in a colorful Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda ball gown decorated with vibrant orange and blue parrots. Z complemented her look, which boasted a floor-length train, with a voluminous Afro.

Andrew H Walker/REX/Shutterstock.

Cardi B, Met Gala 2018

Cardi B’s 2018 MOSCHINO Met Gala look (with the theme Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination) was beyond iconic.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images.

Taylor Swift, Met Gala 2016

As 2016’s Met Gala chair, Taylor Swift created chatter on the internet for the metallic minidress she wore in honor of that year’s theme, Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology. The look consisted of a robot-like Louis Vuitton dress with cutouts and a ruffled skirt with knee-high lace-up heels and black lipstick complementing Swift’s electric-blonde hair.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for People.com.

Solange, Met Gala 2016

Solange didn’t exactly fit 2016’s technology-inspired theme, but many fans considered her lemonade-yellow David Laport dress, which featured accordion-like pleats, to be a nod to her sister Beyoncé’s album Lemonade, which came out a month earlier. Solange completed her look with matching latex leg warmers and clear sandals.

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock.

Lena Waithe, Met Gala 2018

When Master of None’s Lena Waithe showed up to the 2018 Met Gala in a literal rainbow cape, we knew it was going to be a good night.

Karwai Tang/WireImage.

Lupita Nyong’o, Met Gala 2016

Lupita Nyong’o stunned on the Met Gala red carpet in 2016 when she wore a jade sequined Calvin Klein shift dress with a near-translucent train. But it was her hair that caught the attention of the internet. Shortly after Nyong’o walked the red carpet, Vogue published an article comparing her sky-high bun to Audrey Hepburn’s in a 1963 Vogue photo shoot. The actress later called out the magazine on Instagram, explaining that her hair wasn’t inspired by Hepburn, but by traditional African hairstyles and Nina Simone.

J. Kempin/Getty Images.

Kendall Jenner, Met Gala 2017

Kendall Jenner definitely turned heads in 2017 when she showed up at the Met Gala in a near-naked La Perla dress. The sheer look, which featured a large diagonal cutout on Jenner’s torso, was flecked with glitter and featured a low-scooped open back, revealing Jenner’s derriere.

J. Kempin/Getty Images.

Katy Perry, Met Gala 2017

As one of 2017’s Met Gala chairs, Katy Perry raised the bar when she wore an avant-garde red-tulle dress by John Galliano. The look, which featured a floor-length veil and sleeves embellished with large jewels, also included a crown-like headpiece with the word “Witness,” which would later become the title of Perry’s 2017 album.

Jamie McCarthy/FilmMagic.

Claire Danes, Met Gala 2016

From a first look, Claire Danes’s 2016 sky-blue Cinderella-like Zac Posen ball gown looked like another pretty dress and far from that year’s technology-inspired theme. But in the dark, fans learned that the one-of-a-kind dress was sewn with dozens of fiber optics, allowing it to twinkle with lights when it was pitch-black. Posen revealed the high-tech effect on his Instagram.

Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

Cara Delevingne, Met Gala 2017

Cara Delevingne took advantage of her freshly shaven head at the 2017 Met Gala by glazing it with slick silver paint. She paired her metallic buzzcut with a sci-fi-inspired pantsuit by Chanel with bold shoulders and a futuristic, star-like pattern.

David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock.

Rihanna, Met Gala 2018

Rihanna really stuck to the 2018 “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” Met Gala theme when she game dressed as the literal Pope. We’re still screaming about it.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage.

Madonna, Met Gala 2016

Madonna earned mixed reviews when she wore a sheer and skin-baring Givenchy dress to the 2016 Met Gala. The look, which exposed Madonna’s butt and breasts, was criticized by some for being too revealing. Of course, Madonna had the last word. After the controversy, the singer took to her Instagram to explain that her dress was a “political statement” against “an ageist and sexist society.”

Andres Otero/WENN.com.

Kim Kardashian, Met Gala 2013

A pregnant Kim Kardashian didn’t exactly stick to the PUNK: Chaos to Couture theme of 2013’s gala, but her Givenchy dress spawned 10,000 memes—and was of particular significance, given it was the first time Anna Wintour allowed her to attend.

Getty Images.

Diana Ross, Met Gala 1981

Diana Ross’s 1981 Met Gala gown would look right at home on the 2018 red carpet, given fashion’s recent obsession with ruffles and off-the-shoulder cuts.

WENN.com.

Solange, Met Gala 2015

When every other star was tripping over themselves to prove their dresses were the most naked, Solange rolled up to the 2015 Met Gala in this round Giles dress—and killed it.

Mari Sarai/Wireimage.

Amber Valletta, Met Gala 1999

Amber Valletta looked every inch the supermodel in shiny gold at 1999’s “Rock Style” gala.

Andres Otero/WENN.com.

Sarah Jessica Parker, Met Gala 2013

Sarah Jessica Parker, patron saint of the Met Gala, can always be counted on to show up in something fabulously OTT, like this Giles Deacon gown and Philip Treacy Mohawk headpiece in 2013, proving that she truly gets the spirit of the event every year.

Tom Gates/Getty Images.

Diana Vreeland, Met Gala 1981

Legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland and Bill Blass at the 1981 gala, whose theme was “‘Eighteenth Century Woman.”

Flashpoint / WENN.

Lauren Santo Domingo, Met Gala 2008

In 2008, socialite and fashion It-girl Lauren Santo Domingo wore a silver glittering Nina Ricci gown—created by then-designer Olivier Theyskens—end of story. But it wasn’t, because the dress caused a bit of a scandal when the house dressed SJP in the same exact dress months later for the premiere of the “Sex and the City” movie. The brand responded to the controversy by saying LSD isn’t technically a celebrity, so they didn’t recycle.

Andres Otero/WENN.com.

Lupito Nyong’o, Met Gala 2014

Fresh off her fame-making red-caped-dress moment, Lupita Nyong’o made a dramatic grand entrance at the 2014 gala in flapper-inspired Prada.

Getty Images.

Zoë Kravitz and MIA, Met Gala 2010

The cool crowd—also known as MIA and Zoë Kravitz—arrived on the arm of Alexander Wang at 2010’s “American Women”-themed gala.

WENN.

Florence Welch, Met Gala 2012

Florence Welch brought it to the 2012 gala honoring Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli, although she opted to wear a stunning multitiered McQueen dress. She showed up on several “worst-dressed” lists, proving again that the masses just don’t get it.

Toby/WENN.com.

Anja Rubik, Met Gala 2013

Supermodel Anja Rubik rolled up to the 2013 punk-themed gala in a mini red leather Anthony Vaccarello number—and it promptly went down in the annals as one of the coolest, most memorable looks ever.

WENN.com.

Karen Elson, Met Gala 2015

In 2015, supermodel-turned-rocker Karen Elson debuted a jaw-dropping Dolce & Gabbana look on the red carpet. Whether it played into the night’s theme—”China: Through the Looking Glass”—is debatable, but the glamour is not.

Andres Otero/WENN.com.

Anne Hathaway, Met Gala 2013

Anne Hathaway shed her goody-goody image at the 2013 punk-themed gala, replacing her long brown hair with a cropped platinum cut and debuting an on-theme Valentino gown.

Lia Toby/WENN.com.

Miley Cyrus, Met Gala 2013

A logical step in Miley Cyrus’s 2013 emancipation from Hannah Montana? Attending the punk-themed Met Gala on Marc Jacobs’s arm in a  totally sheer dress and with blonde spiky hair.

Evan Agostini/Getty Images.

Diane Kruger, Met Gala 2004

A lot of the looks at 2004’s “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century” gala look wildly outdated now, but Diane Kruger—in Nicolas Ghesquiere—still looks chic and sexy.

Lia Toby/WENN.com.

Nicole Richie, Met Gala 2013

Nicole Richie stunned due to the simple fact that she made both a Topshop gown and silver hair look ridiculously chic in 2013.

WENN.com.

Kim Kardashian, Met Gala 2015

In 2015, Kim Kardashian caught major flak for wearing a dress nearly identical to the one Beyoncé wore in 2012. Granted, they’re by different designers and were different colors—Beyoncé’s black and purple gown was Givenchy, while Kim’s white dress was part of Peter Dundas’s first collection since returning to Roberto Cavalli, but the similarities were shocking, down to the sheer nakedness, the curve-hugging fit, and—of course—the feathered train that Bey worked like a pro on the Met’s red stairs when she made her dramatic entrance three years ago.

(And let it be known, Kim—who was on the event’s host committee that year—also showed up toward the end of the carpet, just like Ms. Knowles did.)

WENN.com.

Rihanna, Met Gala 2015

Perhaps the most memorable gala gown—and the most memorable example of a star sticking to the theme—was at 2015’s “China: Through the Looking Glass”: Rihanna showed up in an imperial-yellow fur-trimmed caped number with a multifoot-long train created by Chinese couturier Guo Pei. “I was researching Chinese couture on the Internet, and I found it,” she told Vanity Fair.

Getty Images.

Ashley Olsen, Met Gala 2011

Ashley Olsen didn’t wear McQueen to the 2011 gala, whose theme was in his honor, but looked absolutely perfect in a vintage Dior with puffy sleeves.

WENN.com.

Beyoncé, Met Gala 2015

Beyoncé turned heads in revealing Givenchy Couture at 2015’s gala, though some critics slammed the look for being too shameless in its approach to grab headlines. In the year of the “naked dress” on the gala’s carpet—J.Lo and—predictably—Kim K. also showed up in similar styles—we kind of hoped Beyoncé would have risen above the fray and had fun with her look, much like Rihanna did that year.

WENN.

Gisele Bündchen, Met Gala 2011

Part of one of the best-dressed couples of all time, supermodel Gisele Bündchen made jaws drop in 2011 with her dramatic red Alexander McQueen.

Getty Images.

Bianca Brandolini D’Adda, Met Gala 2012

Italian It-girl Bianca Brandolini D’Adda stunned in a serious gold Dolce & Gabbana ensemble in 2012.

Rose Hartman/Archive Photos/Getty Images.

Elizabeth Hurley, Met Gala 1995

Quintessential ’90s couple Elizabeth Hurley—in her signature curve-hugging gown style—and Hugh Grant at 1995’s gala.

Evan Agostini/Getty Images.

Amber Valletta, Met Gala 2004

It’s hard not to applaud Amber Valletta for fully embracing the 2004 “Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century” gala theme.

WENN.

Diane Kruger, Met Gala 2011

In 2011, Diane Kruger was the picture of modernity—instead of an OTT gown, she opted for a sleek black slit-skirt and embellished top by Jason Wu.

Billy Farrell/BFAnyc/Sipa Press.

Rihanna, Met Gala 2011

Been there, done that: Rihanna was doing the naked-dress thing long before Kim, Bey, and J.Lo. Here she is in Stella McCartney in 2011.

Getty Images.

Karolina Kurkova, Met Gala 2012

Karolina Kurkova brought some serious Studio 54 vibes in 2012 with her gold beaded Rachel Zoe number.

Getty Images.

Kirsten Dunst, Met Gala 2012

Kirsten Dunst might have worn prim Rodarte to 2012’s gala, but the look did its part to play into the Prada and Schiappareli theme.

Getty Images.

Alexa Chung, Met Gala 2013

It-girl and style-setter Alexa Chung took the “real fashion” route in a buttoned-up Marc Jacobs look in 2013.

Getty Images.

Nina Dobrev, Met Gala 2012

Actress Nina Dobrev looked glamorous in a serious Donna Karan Atelier gown in 2012.

  A version of this story originally appeared in May 2016.

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HOLIDAY FLYER: Quiet was the new loud- the band talk about their beginnings, the end and the forthcoming reissues of their first two records!

John and Katie, the early years.  

Holiday Flyer were truly something special in their 1990’s heyday. Hailing from Sacramento, but even in a scene that boasted bands like Tiger Trap and Rocketship, Holiday Flyer seemed to be off on their own island doin’ their own thing. Formed in the early 90’s by sibling John and Katie Conley (now Katie Haley), they released four LPs and several EPs and singles before calling it a day (and forming their next bands, California Orange for John and Sinking Ships for Katie,….now those bands are John’s Desario and Katie’s Soft Science).

 I still remember them driving a few hours from Sacramento to Santa Rosa, where I was living and booking shows (circa 1994-’95) and introducing themselves to me at a show I had put together (I think it was Codeine) and telling me about their band, which got me immediately interested. The music was soft, spare and pretty….not quite folk music but close (with decidedly non-flowery lyrics). As the band went on and they added band members the sound got a bit denser but no less personal and still very melodic.

 This year the Darla label is reissuing the first two albums, 1995’s Try Not To Worry and 1997’s The Rainbow Confection on limited edition vinyl (500 copies each).  It’s the first time on vinyl for both and the download for each one includes several extra unreleased tracks.

 So, here a few weeks before their 2/14/19 release date, I shot John and Katie some questions re: the origins of the band and what they’re doing now.

 Quiet was the new loud.

 Did you guys grow up in Sacramento or nearby?

 John: We grew up in Rocklin and Roseville. In my early 20s I moved to downtown Sacramento. I have lived in or around the area ever since. Currently, I live in West Sacramento. I’m still really close to the downtown/midtown area of Sacramento which I like. I still try to go to as many shows as I can here in town.

 Katie: So the Rocklin/ Roseville area is about 20 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento. It has grown a lot in the last several years with a major expansion of business and residential development. When we were young and growing up there the area still had a small town feel and some parts of the community were considered pretty rural – including our backyard ;-). I too eventually made it downtown and stayed for many years while I finished college. I still live in the Sacramento area.

 What did you get into first…punk rock? New wave? Something else? What was the progression like?

John: The first genre of music I got into was Metal. The first album I ever bought was Blizzard of Ozz - Ozzy Osbourne. I met Mike Yoas (Holiday Flyer, Desario) in 1985. He introduced me to Punk and New Wave. One of my favorite bands he turned me on to was Naked Raygun. They are still a favorite. Around 87 or 88 Katie and I started to listen to similar bands. We both loved The Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Echo and the Bunnymen etc. When she turned 15, our parents would let her go to shows with me, which was cool. Looking back now, she was pretty lucky. She got to see some killer show. A venue in Sacramento called the Cattle Club booked some amazing bands in the 90’s. We saw Ride, Lush, Slowdive and Nirvana there, just to name a few.

Katie: Yep, as little sister, John pretty much always had an influence on my musical taste. He's got great taste so why not follow! But I have to say I never really got into the punk rock. As a young child I really loved Olivia Newton-John, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac, and Madonna (I must confess). Later The Bangles and the Go-Go’s were pretty big in my world. By my mid-teens is when John and I really started seeing eye to eye again regarding music. We watched a lot of 120 Minutes on MTV together. I remember that the first music posters on my bedroom wall in high school were Depeche Mode, The Cure, The Smiths and R.E.M. Those bands pretty much sum up the start for me. And yes, I was seriously lucky my big brother didn't mind taking his little sister with him to shows. The Ocean Blue and The Mighty Lemon Drops in San Francisco is one of the stand out shows John let me tag along on that comes immediately to mind.

 Was it pretty early on that you and Katie began making music together?

John: Katie was always singing, even when she little. I started playing guitar when I was 13. I had a band my last year of high school and Katie would occasionally sing with us. We didn't start playing together until after Katie graduated from High School. 

Please tell me about the early days of Holiday Flyer? Was it pretty easy to make music with your sister or did it take some coaxing? 

John: After High School, I had a couple of bands that didn't last very long. I kind of lost interest in playing music for about 6 or 8 months afterwards. I didn't stop listening though. I think one of the records that got me to pick the guitar back up was Today by Galaxie 500. There was something so different and special about that album for me. I started writing songs again and Katie would just come into my room and start sing with me. That was sort of the beginning of Holiday Flyer.

Katie: Yep, I pretty much forced my way in with harmonies that were not asked for.

John, still rocking it today. 

 What kind of stuff were you guys listening to at the time the band started?

John: I was really into a lot of shoegaze stuff. Ride, Lush, Slowdive. I think the band Moose had a huge influence on our writing. I had the early Moose EPs and remember buying an import copy of their first album. It was so different from the EPs, not shoegaze at all. It was really 70s folk influenced but still dreampop. At that time we were also really into some unfashionable 70s soft rock like Al Stewart, Bread, early Chicago, early Bee Gees ( Katie learned to play the snare/ride cymbal set-up playing along to Chicago and Carpenters records). 

Katie: Bands I recall listening to quite a bit during the early days of Holiday Flyer, include The Red House Painters and Belly. Looking at both of our lists, I think its clear that the bands we regularly listened to at the time were quite different that what we were. We never really set out to replicate a sound. If anything I think the influence or take away we always had from whatever we were listening to was melodies, lyrics, and song structure. This was put through our filters and out came HF songs. 

 Had either of you been in bands before or was Holiday Flyer your first band? At what point did Verna come into the picture? Who else was in the band other than the two  of you?

 John: I had a short lived punk band in High School. After that I had a band for a couple years called The Boon with Mike Yoas (Desario), and then another short-lived band called Ellie. There was a band called Light Iris that Katie and I were in with Jim Rivas ( Rocketship, Holiday Flyer, Desario). Katie and I both felt we were better able to achieve what we wanted to do musically as a duo so we left. Jim went on to play in Rocketship. That's how we met Verna. We played shows with Rocketship and Dustin Reske engineered all of the early Holiday Flyer recordings. Katie and I worked as duo for the first year. The early recordings are layered guitars and Katie and I singing. We didn't play live that often at first. In fact, we didn't play a show until after we started sending out demos. We got asked to play a showcase for Alias Records in LA, and I had to wrangle a show at a cafe just to make sure we could pull off the songs before we went to LA. We continued to played shows as a duo (electric guitar and vocals). Katie added the snare drum and cymbal after we released our first 7". When Rocketship broke up we asked Verna to play bass with us. This was the core band for most of Holiday Flyer. We had guests on most of the records. Our friend Toby Marshall played lead guitar on the Sweet and Sour EP. Ross Levine (Soft Science) played trombone on "The Rainbow Confection". Mike Yoas played bass and Matt Levine (Soft Science) played guitar on "You Make Us Go". For "I Hope", we expanded to a full band with Jim Rivas on drums, Mike Yoas on bass. 

Katie singing with Soft Science. 

When did it feel like a real band? When the first record came out or even before that?

John: It started feeling like a real band after we released "Try Not To Worry". We were getting good reviews for the album and doing fanzine interviews. We were also playing shows in San Francisco and LA and opening shows for Red House Painters, America Music Club, Low and Smog.

 Lyrically were there any specific themes you were exploring?

Katie: Looking back at the lyrics, some of them I really love, and a few of them I think oh no...can't listen. They are lyrics only 19 year old me could have written. But overall, I think the HF lyrics are really just kids trying to make sense of it all in a somewhat sweet naive way. I think that might be part of the appeal? They are very honest.

John: I agree with Katie, I think most of the lyrics, especially on the early recording and first couple of records were us just writing what we knew. Some of it is difficult to listen to now, for numerous reasons. Ha Ha! That being said, I'm really proud of what we did in Holiday Flyer.  

Katie: Me too. 

 When and why did the band break up?

Katie: Oh boy, why do you have to bring up old shite? Ha, Ha. 

John: Well, it was my decision to end Holiday Flyer. It was just a good place to stop. We had made our most polished album, I Hope and I wanted to do something different. Verna and I had already released the first California Oranges album with our friend Ross Levine on drums. After a couple of show as a trio, we added Ross's twin brother Matt on lead guitar and started working on our 2nd album "Oranges and Pineapples". During that time Katie and Verna started recording a record with Ross and Matt which ended up being The Sinking Ships. About a year later we decided to merge the two bands and Katie joined California Oranges.

  Soft Science blowin’ minds.  

Sacramento is kind of a low-key city but has always had a great indie rock/pop scene throughout the years with all of your bands plus Rocketship, Tiger Trap, etc. Why do you think that is? Something in the water?

Katie: Perhaps the area somehow cultivates shut-ins? Ha, Ha.  

John: Not really sure it's big enough to call it a scene (ha ha). I think there might be a one degree of separation for most of the indie bands from Sacramento.

Please tell me about the reissues that Darla Records is doing?

John: James Agren at Darla has been wanting to reissue Try Not to Worry and The Rainbow Confection for a long time. Both albums were originally released on Silver Girl Records and have been out of print/unavailable for many years. With these reissues the entire HF catalog will now be available through Darla Records. About a year ago James was finally able to get me to start the process. I felt it was a good time to reissue them. It took us awhile to gather all the miscellaneous tracks which will be included with the digital downloads of each record. I'm looking forward to them being available on vinyl for the first time. Both albums have been remastered by Mike Yoas along with all the bonus material including demos and songs we recorded for compilations. I'm really happy with how it turned out. The LPs sound really good. I think people who like the records will be happy with them. I designed new sleeves for both records too, which was fun. They also have liner notes written by Jack Rabid and Dave Heaton, which is super cool.

The new covers for the reissues. 

Katie: Yes, we really appreciate everyone who helped make the reissues happen! Even our friend Scott Cymbala from Fingepaint Records (the label that released the first HF 7”- also Beck’s first 10”) dug through boxes at his house to find original copies of old songs that were remastered and are included with the bonus material.

Will the band be (or have you been?) playing any gigs for the reissues?

Katie: I love singing with John it is a special experience that I really appreciate now that I have more perspective on what we did. But, we will have to see. We are both pretty busy with our other projects right now.  

John: Katie and I played a few show over the last few years. One was opening for Mark Eitzel which was cool. We played a show with Mike Yoas on bass and Jim Rivas on drums for a local Summer concert series last year. Our current bands come first at this point, but if the right opportunity came up I'm sure we'd make it work.

What are you two doing musically these days?

John: I've been in Desario now for going on 15 years, which seems crazy. It's not as easy to find time for music like when we were younger, but I'm glad to still be playing. Desario are going to start recording a new album in January and hopefully play some shows out of the Sacramento area next year. 

Katie: I am in Soft Science. Our 3rd album Maps came out in June of 2018. It was released through Test Pattern Records which Ross and Matt Levine run, and I help here and there on occasion. John does most of the graphic design for the Test Pattern releases as well. We are all very fortunate for that! This last year was a pretty amazing year for Soft Science. A couple highlights include playing Paris Popfest and traveling to Michigan to play at the Kalamashoegazer fest. I enjoyed seeing you there Tim! I also enjoyed seeing my old pen pal from the HF days, the wonderful Janice Headley, who created the Copacetic zine in the early 1990s. I had not gotten to see her in many moons so that was fantastic. She was there playing in Tears Run Rings so that was an extra treat! For 2019 Soft Science will just be doing whatever we can with the current momentum we have. All in consideration of our normal lives of course ;-). But we all love it so, new songs, and more live shows are in the works! 

  Desario bring the noise. 

 What are some current Sacramento bands that we might not know about but need to?

Katie: Soft Science played with Rosemother this year and I thought they were quite good!

John: Arts & Leisure are working on a new record, which I'm excited about. Two other Sacramento bands I really like are Ghostplay and The Surrounded. Ghostplay has and EP out now, and The Surrounded are working on an LP or EP. 

Any final thoughts?  Closing comments? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask?

John: Thanks Tim for all the support and interest over the years for our music. I'm also thankful to still be playing and look forward recording and playing live in 2019.

Katie: Just thanks for asking us to do the interview! We are thrilled there is interest in the reissues of our old HF albums. There is an overwhelming amount of music out there so when anyone listens and likes you it is best to be grateful. That we are!

Please visit the links below both for the reissues as well as what John and Katie are doing today. 

https://darla.com/products/holiday-flyer-the-rainbow-confection

https://darla.com/products/holiday-flyer-try-not-to-worry

www.testpatternrecords.com 

https://www.facebook.com/desarioband

https://www.facebook.com/softsciencemusic

 More more more Desario.