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aqvarius · 4 years ago

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I never really cared for MD Always on Call. At first it was legitimately because of the art style. I hated it and the MC looked like she was 15 instead of whatever her actual canon age is. But then the story came out and the MC seemed like they tried to make her “quirky” but instead they made her obnoxious. Also, none of the LI caught my attention, but that’s mainly a minor detail.

you know what... this is such a controversial ask but i agree with so much of it hahahaha and i’m almost afraid to post bc i’m worried it’ll drum up drama bc i know this is an unpopular opinion as a whole. soooo once again, usual disclaimer: please don’t let my opinions affect your enjoyment of any titles or characters! we all have different preferences and different ways of engaging and relating to games, stories and characters.

but anyway yeah with that said, i agree. i’m kind of putting together my personal preference ranking of voltage title art styles for an ask (but..... there are so many games and factors to consider that it’s gonna take a while, plus i’m flying tomorrow so answer is delayed, sorry anon who sent that ask!!). and i have such mixed feelings about rmd. on one hand, i kinda like the character designs and i find the love interests can sometimes be really good looking and i like their sprites mostly (except for.. t-rex....).

like in the promo image:

to me, they all look really good here (ESPECIALLY hosho and ekuni) except for t-rex takado. but i actually really like takado’s normal sprites, except the one where his face is kind of turned to the side a bit bc then he turns into a t-rex again.....

but i really........... really dislike the mc sprite. i think in jp rmd, before you enter the route, you have the option to choose whether to have the mc sprite or not and i’m glad that when they brought it to l365, they just defaulted to not have her there bc you’re right, she legit looks 15 and this is so stupid of me but i can’t stand her eyebrows hahahha. it’s such a weird gripe but i also always cringe at her hairstyle bc i had that hairstyle both as a kid and as an accident about 5 years ago but also hers is so choppy/uneven???? i’m really #Shallow and i don’t really talk about this much bc it’s not like actual analytical discussion of the issues i have with her character buuuuuuut yeah i don’t like her sprite. and when i see rmd CGs with her in it i’m just like sigh this again???? i really don’t like the takado happy end CG where he’s kissing her bc (1) he looks like a t-rex (2) he looks like he’s kissing a teenager alskdfs it squicks me out. and i also hate the epilogue 2 CG bc it’s literally so low effort, come on voltage. maybe i’m just kinda picky but to this day, i actually don’t like any of the rmd CGs except for the first takado CG (the one where he’s yelling).

it’s such a shame because i actually do like the love interests? they have good chemistry and banter with each other, and i kind of wish the title was more about regular hospital life and less dramatic bc it’s honestly like... tiring... that they all have to be traumatised in one way or another. i genuinely think they could just be regular hot doctors at a hospital and still have compelling stories but it just seems like all their trauma comes from events that are only adjacent to their jobs. also it was so sad bc takado is so much more fun in other people’s routes than his own... they really did him dirty. i secretly love him but i don’t like his content bc he has zero romantic chemistry with his mc. literally all they had to do was copy kaga/mc’s dialogue/routes word for word and i would happily spend all the hearts on him but uhh..... life can’t always go my way i guess.

and yeah i’ve said my piece multiple times about the mc so i won’t go over it again too much (bc i’m afraid lmao) but i cannot read any romance md reviews on the app bc all of them are gushing over “omg finally an mc with brains!!” as if old voltage mcs haven’t been smart or creative or talented??? she is just a mary sue!! but also yeah i find her brand of quirkiness strikes me as rude rather than sassy/smart a lot of the time just because there doesn’t feel like there’s a balance between sincerity and empathy and having a smart mouth (unlike, for example, enchanted in the moonlight where she’s a cute and sweet girl but also knows when and how to shut those idiot airhead ayakashi down)

#romance md: always on call #rmdaoc #romance md #love 365 #voltage inc #otome romance #love choice #Anonymous #snow answers

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badbookreviewclub · 5 years ago

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Complete Review - Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates

DISCLAIMER: This review will contain spoilers. If you plan to read the book, I will leave a mark for when I go more in-depth on the book, so continue at your own risk, I suppose. If you want to purchase Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates, you can get it here. Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates is the first book in the series, Tomorrow Girls. It’s written by Eva Gray and published by Scholastic. Scholastic is a fairly well-renowned publishing company in the United States, publishing children's books and hosting book fairs in most elementary schools. Scholastic also hosts the Scholastic Book Club that teachers can take part in, where they have their students take part, reading a book of the teacher and school’s choice, and then continuing with the lesson plan and question guide that Scholastic provides with the books. Tomorrow Girls is a fairly child-friendly series, having been classified in the category of a teenager and young-adult novel. However, that doesn’t excuse poor writing or a poor story. That is not to say that Tomorrow Girls has a poor story, though the first book certainly isn’t amazing. The writing is definitely a problem, though I will discuss that point later. Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates is a fast read at 211 (short) pages, and it’s easy to understand. Summary: In a terrifying new world, four girls must depend on one another if they want to survive. Disaster and destruction are all thirteen-year-old Louisa has ever known. But now she and her best friend, Maddie, are among the lucky few being sent to boarding school, far from home. Finally, a taste of freedom! Country Manor School isn’t perfect: The girls’ roommates are tough to get along with, and the school is hard work. Still, Louisa loves CMSーthe survival skills classes, the fresh air. She doesn’t even miss not having TV, or the Internet, or any comfort with home. It’s for their own safety after all. Or is it? The summary isn’t written the best, but it’s still understandable and arguably better than some other summaries that I have read before, it keeps things secretive and is a good set up for the actual story of the book, even if there isn’t a clear and well-defined plot or end goal at the very least. It’s clear, concise, and would get any child’s attention. It certainly grabbed my attention the first time that I read this book as a teenager. I would like to mention now that yes, I have read this book before. I was fairly young when I read it and I can’t remember much from the series other than a few details here and there. However, I will be reviewing (and judging) this book from as impartial of an angle as I can. The book is written from the first-person perspective of Louisa Ballinger, the daughter of a neurosurgeon and the head surgeon at the hospital he works at. I’m still not quite sure if both of Louisa’s parents work at the same hospital or not, but from the way it was written, I can only assume they work at different hospitals. “Mom makes lots as a brain surgeon. Dad earns even more. He’s head of surgery at his hospital (pg 10).” A grip I do have with this book is that it’s written in such a choppy style it makes it hard to read at times, despite the book having been written for teenagers. Most of the ‘sentences’ in the first part of the book aren’t even fully formed thoughts, let alone sentences. It’s highly reminiscent of Donald Trump’s ‘Sad’ tweets. We meet Maddie, Lousia’s best friend and the daughter of two soldiers, soon after this and the two of them are off to CMS, or as it’s referred to in less than a handful of times, Country Manor School. I still can’t figure out the time period that this book takes place, though it’s fairly recently after 2018. From some brief googling, it seems that nobody is entirely sure when the series takes place, though we know it’s after 2018. The book itself was written in 2011, which makes some of the assumptions in the book absolutely egregious. For example, for some reason, Louisa doesn’t know what chalk is, but she knows what an ‘old school blackboard’ is. The characters have also apparently never written anything down since second grade, which is absolutely baffling to me and an absurd assumption. The story takes place during a dystopian mid-world war era. This acts as the basis for the entire book and for why things are happening, however, this idea grows increasingly frustrating as you read through the book. You learn absolutely nothing about the war aside from that is has caused a lot of destruction, inflated the economy massively, and changed the lives of many people. You also learn about one group in the war, called the Alliance. In fact, I wasn’t quite sure that they were the ‘bad guys’ until I was a good bit into the book. Essentially, Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates works as the set up for the entire series. This wouldn’t be a terrible thing if it weren’t for the fact that the entire book suffers because of it. The book wasn’t terrible, however and warrants a review of 4/10 stars. SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT The Main Characters: Louisa Ballinger - The main character Madeleine “Maddie” Frye/Ballinger - Louisa’s best friend. She poses as Lousia’s fraternal twin in order to attend Country Manor School. Rosemary “Rosie” Chavez - The leader and one of the roommates. Evelyn Posner - The conspiracy theorist and another roommate. Others: Alonso - A boy from the CMS Boys School across the lake. Ryan - A boy from the CMS Boys School across the lake. Mrs. Brewster - The headmistress. Devi - The outdoor survival teacher. Emmanuelle- The “nice” teacher. I believe she’s Mrs. Brewster’s right hand. Not really sure what she does. The Review: This book isn’t terrible, I will state that right now. It isn’t terrible and is certainly better than some other books I’ve read. But, it isn’t great either. Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates has its problems, and they’re rather big. The first thing that you come across when reading it is the writing style. As mentioned before, it’s choppy and can be a pain to read at times. The sentences are rarely complete and are hardly fully-formed thoughts. This gets better towards the end of the book but it’s more than annoying in the beginning. “Not even Mom and Dad get to know exactly where the school really is. It’s for their own safety. Like everything these days. Keeping us safe (pg 10).” The last two ‘sentences’ can hardly be considered sentences let alone complete thoughts. As I said, though, the writing does at least get better as it goes which is a mercy, I suppose. I’d suggest that perhaps it is written this way to show the development of Louisa’s character, but it doesn’t come off that way, as such, it’s more annoying than anything else. The description of everything is the absolute minimum that Eva Gray could get away with, and when Louisa does describe something in more detail it’s utterly pointless and rather annoying, actually. Louisa is constantly described as a swimmer, opening stating that she absolutely loves swimming, however, when presented with a large lake that would just be begging for someone to swim in it, we get absolutely no description whatsoever other than that she was staring at it. When there is more description, it’s Louisa commenting on the color of someone’s eyes or their hair color, or Louisa is describing the pattern of the tiles on the wall and floor. It is absolutely ridiculous and rather frustrating most of the time. The descriptions are so surface level and shallow that it becomes difficult to immerse yourself into the book. I want to know more about the war as well. As stated earlier, you learn literally nothing except a few surface-level details about it. Who is the war between? How long has it been going on? What else has it impacted? Is the United States still functioning as per usual? I have absolutely no idea what the answers to any of these questions are and the book just left me thirsting for those answers. I can’t say as to whether or not they are addressed in the other books, but considering this one is acting as a set-up for the rest of the series, it should have been addressed in this book. However, the book isn’t terrible. There are problems, but it has its pros as well. I can commend Eva Gray because, at the very least, she does know how to tell a story that will push you to read the rest of the books in the series. The descriptions of the main characters and their development aren’t terrible either, and while first descriptions may be shallow at best you do get to know them a bit more. It is enough to give them more than just a two-dimensional appearance. The book goes fast and at the very least, it is a good time killer if nothing else. It’s not painful to read and is arguably one of the better books that I’ve reviewed thus far. The Story, In-Depth: The book starts off introducing us to the current situation, where Louisa and Maddie are being sent off to a boarding school (Country Manor School) by Louisa’s parents. Despite the fact that Maddie has been stated to be living with Louisa and her family since both of her parents were sent to fight, they don’t know where she is at first. It would make sense that Maddie would have arrived with them, considering that the cover story is that she and Louisa are twins, but I guess not. Louisa’s mother gives her a locket with a photo of her and her father in it, apparently, it is a family heirloom handed down from mother to daughter with a photo of their parents in it. Maddie comes over and we learn that she’s a little scatterbrained when nervous, though this never comes up again in the story itself. Maddie’s parents weren’t rich, so Louisa’s parents paid for her tuition to the school. In order to do this, however, they had to get Maddie’s identity changed from Madeleine Frye to Madeleine Ballinger, as the school won’t let parents pay for someone else’s children to attend. The way that they did this is to have someone go in and wipe the information on Maddie’s identity bracelet and replace it with a different name and number. These identity bracelets are apparently “electronically attached to [their] wrists.” I don’t know how you electronically attach something to skin, but you know what, fuck it. I’ll just roll with it, I guess. On the bus to CMS, we meet Evelyn and get possibly the best literary description of anyone ever known to man, “Her black eyes are intense and her delicate eyebrows V with concentration as she types furiously on a notebook (pg 19).” Her brows don’t furrow, no, they V. I find this odd because Gray clearly knows the word ‘furrow’ as she says it later on. So why, in the history of every novel ever written, did she say ‘V with concentration’? I still can’t figure it out, but god, if that line isn’t the best one ever written I don’t know what is. /s Evelyn is tracking where they’re going on her laptop, which is constantly referred to as a notepad in the book. Her guess is that they’re on the Canadian border. This is worrying for the characters because I guess that Canada has been taken over by the Alliance. I still wasn’t sure if the Alliance were actually the ‘bad guys’ or not, though later on in the book it is confirmed that yes, they are the ‘bad guys’. We don’t actually see Louisa’s name mentioned until page 23, which, if you haven’t read the summary of the book, is rather frustrating and confusing. I have absolutely no idea why her name wasn’t mentioned until page 23, but it wasn’t. I thought I was going crazy as I was reading through the book because I couldn’t remember her name until I looked at the summary. After flipping through the pages, I confirmed that the first time her name is mentioned isn’t until page 23. I seriously don’t think that the main character's name should be mentioned that far into the book. Anyways, they arrive at the school and we meet Mrs. Brewster, the headmistress of the girls’ school. They have to put all of their electronics in a box with no promise of getting them back. Their identity bracelets are clipped off with a pair of special clippers (which supposedly was impossible up until this point) and she warns them that the woods are the natural habitat of some poisonous snakes. Mrs. Brewster also warns them not to swim in the lake because it’s highly polluted and would make them so sick they wouldn’t be able to swim back. We also meet Emmanuelle who cut the identity bracelets off of them. Not even that long after Emmanuelle, the “nice” teacher, leads Louisa, Maddie, Evelyn, and a new character, Rosie, to their dorm room. Rosie comes off as a jerk to the other girls and begrudgingly agrees to share a room and bunkbed with Evelyn. After that we mostly see them moving through their classes, learning outdoor survival skills, eating in the cafeteria, and attending regular classes like Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies. The girls also have to do chores around the school, like prepare and serve breakfast, lunch, or dinner, clean up after one of those meals, or they can sign up for the Student League where they can take part in the patrol duties. Evelyn almost immediately jumps at the chance to be part of the Student League and gets in after an interview. She does this to gain both the special access to rooms and the special gear that members of the Student League get in order to make sure that the other students are sticking to the curfew and have their lights out by the designated time of 8 pm. The other two duties of meal-prep and clean up are rotated around, yet for some reason, Maddie gets all pissed off because she’s stuck on cleaning duty. She insists that it’s because she’s poor, despite the fact that she’s under the Ballinger name and the Ballinger’s are very rich. Not only that, but there are plenty of other people who are rich and on clean-up duty as well. This alone makes Maddie come off as a complete brat. In general, most people in this story come off as rich brats, but they do develop to be at least a little bit more accepting of things that are going on later in the book, or at least, they become more accepting of what’s expected from them. Rosemary, better known as Rosie, and Louisa grow closer over time and Louisa learns that while Rosie acts like a leader when in a group, she is rather easy and nice to get along with 1-on-1. They mostly bond over the survival classes, where we learn that Rosie is a really good sharpshooter and Louisa, while not great, picks up on skills quickly. Louisa starts to drift closer to Rosie’s group of friends, the athletes, and away from Maddie and Evelyn. Maddie and Evelyn grow closer as they develop more theories about the school and essentially plot a way to get out if things start to go wrong. Then we get to essentially the ‘climax’ of the book. The outdoor trip where they have to spend a night surviving in the woods. They make a big deal out of starving despite the fact that they’re spending a single night out in the woods and part of two days. It’s absolutely ridiculous to me that they blow this so out of proportion but you know what, fuck it, I guess it’s ‘teenager logic’. When Evelyn, Maddie, and Louisa go to get some water from a stream they run into Ryan and Alonso, who have gotten lost from their own group. The five of them start to bond and they head back to the girls camp where Rosie gets more than pissed off because she believes that they’re going to get in trouble for bringing the boys back and eating the food that Alonso and Ryan had with them. After a bit, the two finally leave to try and find their way back to their own camp and everyone goes to bed. Come morning and the three girls find that Rosie and the rest of the camp have just completely deserted them, leaving them to try and find their way back out of the woods by themselves. The three girls run into the boys again, and with their help and some wandering, they find their way back out and split ways. During this time we find out that the lake isn’t actually polluted and the boys have been swimming in it. This is just the start in Louisa starting to lose whatever faith she has built up in CMS and what she has been told about it. After this Maddie and Louisa are called to the headmistresses office, where it is revealed that Maddie’s bracelet has two codes on it, one for Madeleine Frye and the other for Madeleine Ballinger. In order to figure this out and to keep Maddie and Louisa from making a story, they separate the two of them, putting Maddie into isolation. This was a giant fucking mistake on their part because Louisa has a breakdown in her room about this, and despite Rosie and Louisa being pissed at each other, Rosie has a moment of softness and goes to comfort Louisa. Rosie admits that she knew that Maddie and Louisa weren't twins because they didn’t really act like sisters, and Louisa admits that no, they aren’t twins. They explain this to Evelyn when she comes back from her snooping or ‘investigating’, and Evelyn admits that she has keys and found out where they were probably keeping Maddie. Louisa sneaks down to the basement and while going to get Maddie, stops, hearing a TV. Supposedly, there are absolutely no electronics on the grounds of CMS so she decides to listen to the TV and the teacher's discussion. This is where she learns that CMS is part of the Alliance and all of the students are basically being held for ransom, and that some of the students have parents who are agents for the Alliance. She freaks out, they break Maddie out and go to tell Rosie and Evelyn. Essentially they all freak the fuck out and gather up everything that they need to leave and to get out of Dodge. Louisa has a panic moment because she lost her locket but Rosie insists that they don’t have time to go back and find it, so they leave without it. And that’s where the book ends. Like I said, the story itself isn’t bad and is a good set up for the rest of the series, I just wish that there was more detail. If it’s a set up for the rest of the series, we need to know about the world and what’s going on. We know there’s a war, but we don’t know between who and why. We don’t know why the members of the Alliance are the ‘bad guys’ other than some very basic information. We don’t know what state the cities are in, how the people are reacting, or why everyone has identity bracelets. I know that this book is coming from the view of a thirteen-year-old, but I still don’t think that’s an excuse for poor exposition. The book isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great either. Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates could hardly stand as a stand-alone novel and doesn’t deserve the 4.5/5 stars rating it has on most websites. At best, it’s a 4/10. It’s a fast read and good to pass time, but I wouldn’t read it as a stand-alone novel. I’ll probably end up reviewing the rest of the series later on as I work through finishing Empress Theresa. I’d recommend you read it if you’re looking for something to pass the time, but I wouldn’t recommend paying the $12 price tag for it. It’s definitely not a $12 book. Once more, if you’re looking to buy this book you can get it here. I recommend buying one of the used copies because you’re usually supporting a book store when you do it, or a thrift store, and you’re not going to end up paying the $12 price tag.

#Compete review #entire book #tomorrow girls #behind the gates #bad book #review #bad book reviews #okay book?#still better than others #book one #i don't actually want to die #not this time at least

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willandandy · 7 years ago

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Igorrr - Savage Sinusoid by Will Ft. LoneJuggernaut

Igorrr – Savage Sinusoid:

Hello my name is Will Stubbs and I love music. I feel that music is the best medium for creativity. People can explore new ideas and emotions with the help of music. I am here to talk about music that interests me and maybe start a great conversation. Thanks for reading and remember to love music forever.

“Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.” - E. Y. Harburg

Igorrr is a music project revolved around the French musician/composer/producer Gautier Serre. Igorrr is gaining a ton of traction for its weird eclectic blend of metal, Avant Garde, trip hop, operatic vocals, and many others. Gautier has stated that he wants to be known for his music to be “form of total musical freedom”. I found Igorrr through his side project Corpo Mente, which is sort of a spin off project of this band. I thought I would go back to the source and I wasn’t disappointed at all.

For this album I had some help from a friend. I think that this album is very meaty and has a lot of substance to talk about so I thought I would get another opinion. He goes by the name LoneJuggernaut. He has done a Piece for the blog before and he did a superb job.

The link to that: http://willandandy.tumblr.com/post/155147448419/my-most-important-tracks-of-2016-by

His WordPress: https://lonejuggernaut.wordpress.com/

His Twitter link: https://twitter.com/LoneJuggernaut

I want to say before I get too deep into this review, I do not speak French. I have read around and tried to find the best translations and definitions for the track titles and lyrics. So if I don’t get it completely right, please correct me and I will amend. I am going to say the track titles in French, and the put parenthesis which hold the rough translation.

This record has a quality that is not uncommon within my listening routine. I was perplexed because I wasn’t sure if I liked it at first, but I didn’t hate it either. Avant Garde, by its definition, is difficult to understand. I listened to this a few times and couldn’t put my finger on why I came back. While I found this record to be abrasive and strange at first, I thought it was refreshing and fantastic.

I don’t usually start a review with a negative aspect of an album, but this record doesn’t deserve a generic review so I will be honest. I thought the first track was terrible. I think “Viande (Meat)” was a bad way to start. It’s overly abrasive, uninteresting, and not noteworthy in its production. I wish the following track was the first track. Now that I got that out of the way we can review this genuinely.

I love the second track on this album, “ieuD (odg)”. I could see this being in my songs of the year list. Let’s look at the name itself to start. If you move the letters around in ieuD to Dieu, it translates to God. I’m not going to pretend to know the significance of that, but I thought the way it was written fits with the song well. The song starts off with this twangy keys and then these Nick Cave style vocal inflection. The way that the singer sings is very emotional and thick. I love the way that the screaming can fit in with the keys so well, but then transitions into this break core drum pattern. This album is very theatrical and loud. The drums are extremely punchy and the guitar is drowned out to an extent, but the way it’s done is very unique and creative. After the breakdown we get to this woman singing very beautifully to the same piano. The way that this song melts down all the influences is smooth and fluid. Nothing feels out of place and it always keeps you guessing what’s going to happen next. Even the lyrics are very strange. They are very spatial, ethereal, and worthy of thought. What a fantastic track to start off this album.

What I love about this album is that every track feels completely different, but always seems to fit. I think that all of the tracks seem to revolve around an influence and that’s the foundation. The track “Houmous (Hummus)” starts off with an organ playing in this punchy off beat pattern, and when the guitar and drums come in they sort of are a feature not the main focus. The screaming is hilarious and manic. Not that I would expect any less. There are many Middle Eastern sounding instruments within the track and it sets up the tone for most of the track. Towards the end you hear an accordion with many break core beats to give them some life. The choral chants at the end are so intense and gorgeous, but then are followed by this weird 8 bit version of the track. What a great song.

The following track “Opus Brain” is another fantastic track. I would highly check out the music video for this song. Yet again the track title is fantastic. If we take the definition of opus “a separate composition or set of compositions by a particular composer”, it gives the title of this track much more meaning. I think that Gautier took time to name these tracks instead of having vague pretentious words that mean nothing. The track starts with a break core drum rhythm. It becomes intense very quickly. The screams paired with the beautiful operatic vocals are very angelic, almost holy. It seems to flip on the concept of hell, then to heaven. The first half of the track is very loud, abrasive, and harsh. But then at about halfway we get a woman singing very passionately behind the guitar and choral backing chants. Then towards the end, you get these very guttural and exaggerated vocals and it becomes very chaotic and heavy. I love this track

The next track “Problème d'émotion (Emotion problem)” starts off with a much needed break. The track is very quiet and thick. The production is insanely good. It’s like I’m listening to the score of an Italian noire movie. I know I am reading into the titles a bit, but I think they are very significant to the songs themselves. This song is very emotional and has a lot of character.

The next track “Spaghetti Forever” starts with guitar showcase that has nothing to do with the rest of the track. I think it was more of a transitionary period between the two songs. Afterwards it has many of the influences that we have come to expect. It goes back to the punchy break core, metal, and dramatic vocal contrasts. The Track ends off with the same guitar showcase and I think it was the best part of the track.

I love the way that the next track “Cheval (Horse)” starts with the accordion that resembles a French café, but then comes in a funky bass that keeps the rhythm. Then comes in the guttural screaming and metal influence. This track does a great job of keeping the accordion along with the metal influence and doesn’t lose sight of where it started. Yet again, I am impressed that this track could stay cohesive with so many seemingly conflicting influences.

The next track title is hilarious to me. From what I could find, the track “Apopathodiaphulatophobie (Apopathodiaphulatophobia)” means that you are afraid of being constipated. Maybe I am too crass, but I took this to mean that you are afraid of being full of shit. It immediately caught my eye as being interesting and made me laugh. The track doesn’t mess around either. The general foundation, and influence of this track is metal. This song seems to blend the break core and metal almost seamlessly. As far as the album goes, I think this album seems more stripped of its overall influence and just cuts the shit in a matter of speaking.

The following track, “Va te foutre (Go fuck yourself)”, fits well with the previous one. It starts with this weird abrasive bass that reminds me of a videogame boss level and plays more like an interlude.

The next song “Robert” is very much a break core song. In the beginning, he uses many elements of this album. It’s very choppy and weird. I think it’s an amalgamation of all the elements that make this record. He is stripping them down into small samples and then making this conglomerate of soundscapes. I take this track as a summary of the whole record right before the ending.

Now the last track “Au Revoir (Goodbye)” is a great way to end the record. First you start with the piano accompanied with the elegant vocals with many layers and harmonies. Then comes in the chugging guitars and blast beats. They blend very well like on the self-titled Corpo Mente record. The production is very radiant and precise. I think that this track was the perfect way to finish of this record. The rest of the record is very complex, sporadic, and intense, but this track feels like a dessert. It’s simple, sweet, and leaves you satisfied.

I loved this record as you can tell. What a great way to get into a band. What’s even better is that I think this is the best record I have heard by them. I don’t think I could listen to this album every day, but it’s fantastic.

Top Tracks: ieuD

Opus Brain

Problème d'émotion

Au Revior

Rating: 9/10

Now For LoneJuggernaut’s review

Gautier Serre is afraid of monogamy. He has many loves and is unable to or unwilling to commit fully to any one of them. His affinity for metal, classical, folk, electronic, and hip-hop are obvious, and try as he might to coin new genre-terms (e.g., Baroquecore) for his main project Igorrr’s musical style, it is unlikely that he will ever fit into one genre, even an integrative one like breakcore. And nor should he, for he manages to represent his influences fully and loyally. While any good musician draws from many and varied sources, few do it as explicitly or as well as Igorrr. While similar artists like drumcorps and Bong-Ra use samples to compose their broad-reaching audio-collages, all of the sounds in an Igorrr piece are original, and on his most recent album, Savage Sinusoid, his ability to amalgamate is more effective than ever before.

Though it is safe to assume most musicians pursue writing songs with a broad stable of influences behind them, record labels and performance venues resist “eclectic” artists as they are difficult to market and/or add to a bill. Thus, artists generally start with an ambitious list of “sounds like” or “FFO,” and this list is pared down as they “refine” their sound, fitting more solidly into their assigned genre and, consequently, growing less distinct. Igorrr, however, stays true to his name, continuing to play Dr. Frankenstein with any category of music that strikes his fancy.

Artists who continue to draw from many styles are rare, and those who do it well are even fewer. A band who does about as much to equally represent metal and electronic music is Mindless Self Indulgence, but the band who most closely relates to Igorrr’s eclecticism is Mr. Bungle. Though they sound dissimilar, the wine-tasting approach is common to both artists. In fact, the track “Cheval” (featuring Travis Ryan from Cattle Decapitation, himself a true audio-chameleon) draws pretty clear sonic comparisons to the Mike Patton group, while track “ieuD” sounds like Nick Cave exploring some J. S. Bach piece that was lost when it was used to wrap fish at the local market. Serre even dips his toes into chiptune on the track “Houmous,” and it manages to inspire eyebrow raises rather than eye rolls.

Igorrr’s easy moving from genre to genre means that listeners are kept on their toes, made to attend to each shift and each unpredictable style combination. This discouragement of complacency means that Serre is accomplishing a near impossible task: holding his audience’s attention in an age of smart phones and multi-tabbed browsers. When the black metal song you’re listening breaks into Ennio Morricone-style Spaghetti Western guitar riffing for two measures before shifting to a trip-hop beat, you don’t have a chance to get distracted.

This variety show of an album succeeds in the complex goal of uniting these disparate elements into something cohesive without losing the charms of any individual ingredient. One envisions Serre as an eccentric chef, throwing a dash of Balkan gypsy in to a stew of power metal and old school house music. His greatest strength is in all likelihood his greatest limitation, at least in terms of his long term “household name”-level success. It would be difficult to recommend his music to a metal fan, or to a fan of electronic music, as any enthusiast of one of these genres might not find it represented completely enough in Savage Sinusoid or any other Igorrr release. Rather, the likeliest fan of Igorrr is a person like Serre himself: a genuine fan of music in all its shapes and flavors, someone who is constantly looking for something that expands genre boundaries, redefines style descriptions, or—as is the case with Igorrr—demolishes the lines between musical ideas.

Rating: 8/10.

Top Tracks: Viande

Houmous

Opus Brain

Cheval

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piratejeni · 8 years ago

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How to Choose your First Tarot Deck

Choosing your first tarot deck can be a daunting task. There are SO MANY out there and it seems like every day, someone is making a new one. When I got my first deck, it was 1987-ish and the internet wasn’t born yet. I lived in a rural area and my access to anything other than Waldenbooks was very limited. Now, anyone can easily design a deck, have it printed, and market it. AMAZING.

I didn’t even choose my first deck. It was a Christmas gift when I was a teenager and I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t remember if it came from my mom or my grandmother. One of the two, anyway.

My first deck was the Mythic Tarot which is loosely based on the Rider-Waite-Smith deck (RWS). The Mythic Tarot takes it’s inspiration from Mythology which is pretty cool, but also very specific to those stories. Many of the cards are similar in imagery to the RWS, but not in meaning. The book was very detailed into things like “this bird symbolizes Zeus… and this Devil is actually Pan… oh and this lady here? this is Persephone.” Cool, but difficult to read if you try to shoehorn the images and symbolism into modern day life. It can be done, for sure, but it requires a LOT of memorization.

The Mythic Tarot: the Devil, The Heirophant and the Chariot.

The Mythic Tarot: Ace of Pentacles, Six of Swords, Five of Wands and Eight of Cups

As you can see from these images, they are pretty specific to individual personas. There is Persephone there in the Eight of Cups. Yes, her leaving the physical word behind and moving into the darkness does sort of mirror the idea of the Eight of Cups so that’s good. Poseidon is the Ace of Pentacles, which I personally find confusing because Pentacles is traditionally the Earth Element and Poseidon lives in the water.. but sure.. bursting forth with new energy.. ok. The Six of Swords here is Orestes who I know nothing about.. and the Five of Wands is Jason’s battle with the Dragon over the Golden Fleece so, yeah, it’s a fight.

But, basically, there is too much here for a beginner, in my opinion.

Seriously Consider the Rider Waite Smith in the Yellow Box

The RWS (unless you read Thoth) is what a lot of decks are based off and the beauty of the RWS deck is that it lends itself to an intuitive interpretation. The cards evoke an emotion and a feeling and provide a lot of detail to explore so you don’t have to learn something by rote.

Rider Waite Smith

See how the Five of Wands is evoking an emotion of conflict among people? And the Six of Swords feels like a family leaving the choppy waters headed towards smoother sailing? (Yes, the Ace is hard to get an emotion from.. I know.. but you have keywords to fall back on to kick your intuition into gear ~ it’s a good idea to know the “traditional meanings” but don’t be limited by them. Think of it like the drugs that were prescribed for depression also work for smoking cessation. They were intended for one thing but also work for another.. follow me?)

A word on intuition: if you want to be a tarot reader it really benefits you to work with your intuition. It gets your left brain out of the way and opens you up to the message from the Universe. The Tarot is a TOOL to facilitate your connection to the Information Highway. (and it’s not as old as people claim.. at least not as a divination tool)

The RWS is a great place to start. The other thing is that a LOT of books, teachers and websites reference it. If you will be looking for support from others, it’s good to have a working knowledge of this artwork. Also, I can’t help it. The wands look like giant penises to me. They just do. Take a look at the Ace of Wands and then tell me I’m wrong.

Look at a lot of decks to find artwork that appeals to you

I don’t enjoy the RWS artwork and I really don’t like the overt Christian overtones. I think it’s super important to find artwork that appeals to you. It’s difficult to find the message in the card when you don’t like looking at it. I actually got rid of my first RWS deck because I just couldn’t read with it. (I have since purchased a new one to work with for study only. But I have no intention on reading with it)

The deck I worked with for YEARS was the Morgan Greer. It’s a close up image of the RWS artwork and it’s borderless, which I enjoy.

Morgan Greer

But still, lots of Christian overtones. Since the explosion of Tarot interest, I’ve had some great opportunities to get decks that are still RWS based but with a twist.

Modern SpellCasters Tarot

Modern SpellCasters

Check out the Chariot! Talk about moving forward without really knowing where you are going… but doing it anyway. And there are more Alchemical symbols here and the deck has more of a magickal feel to it. Which is intentional since it’s meant to also work Magick. And the Eight of Cups has a slightly different vibe to it. I also love this deck because many of the images show people of different colors, sizes, races and sexual identities.

Modern images for modern times can sometimes read easier.

This is my newest deck for my collection and it totally updates the images. This is the Everyday Witch Tarot and I’m really digging how easy this is to read. You may not feel that all of these images are modern (cloaks, cauldrons etc) but they are a lovely mix of Modern images and NeoPagan Traditions. This deck just sings to me because of this mash up. I suspect there is a modern deck out there for you that fits your path. (Some of us do have actual magick brooms and wands and cauldrons in our homes.)

Everyday Witch Tarot

New Readers should probably avoid decks with pips

Tarot was a game, originally. If you go back to before the RWS deck, you will find the Visconti Deck named after the family that had the cards. See, paper was expensive so only rich people had decks and only rich people had time for actual games. I picked up this mini deck at the J.P. Morgan Library gift shop, where you can view three of the original Tarot cards from this deck.

I don’t read with it.

Visconti Deck

Pips Only.. you can’t even really tell the swords from the wands

These decks don’t give you anything to work with other than numbers. That’s more than half your deck that you would need to memorize meanings for. Not an easy task and not really an intuitive task either.

Probably steer away from Novelty Cards/Promotional Material for your first deck.

Have you seen Penny Dreadful? Vanessa has a beautiful deck that was made just for the show.

I own it. I don’t read from it.

Penny Dreadful Tarot

It’s amazing but limited in it’s ability to spark intuition. Also, all the minor cards 2-10 are pip cards. Nope. Just really neat to have it and look at it. (And I will admit that I’m currently waiting for my Twin Peaks Tarot deck to ship and I probably won’t read from that one either).

Which brings me to..

Probably best to avoid highly stylized/non-human decks to start.

There are some great non-human decks out that that probably read just fine. But they can be hard to read for beginners and can feel a bit off putting to friends you may want to read for as practice. Let’s face it. Some people still think the Tarot is Evil with the Capital E. I adore my Deviant Moon deck but I’ve only used it once in a reading for a client because.. well… look at it.

Deviant Moon Tarot

The only time I used it for a client was when they made a point of telling me they identify as non-binary and most decks are well.. Binary. And actually a lot of decks are very…. white.. and straight. Many of the images in the Deviant Moon deck are not gender specific. (I admit, I didn’t pick the best cards to demonstrate this but I was rolling with a theme)

Where do you go from here?

I think the best thing you can do is to get your eyes on some decks before you decide. Some great places to look at decks before you buy are:

Your local metaphysical shop: Sometimes the owners will have decks open for you to look at. This is fantastic! But buy your deck there, ok? Don’t fondle the merch and then get a deal online. Spend the extra bucks to support your local seller.

Aeclectic Tarot : An astonishing number of decks with a good sampling of each card in each deck. Plus reviews from actual readers.

YouTube: A google search for YouTube Tarot Reviews will get you a ton of hits and a lot of folks will show you every single card. You will also get a lot of info about things that might be important to you like, card stock or boxes or the book that comes with it.

Amazon reviews: lots of readers will put pictures of the cards in their reviews and are not shy about sharing their thoughts. (which reminds me.. I have a few reviews to do)

Other readers: Opinions are like assholes. We all have one. What I think about a particular deck may be very different than what your friend and favorite reader thinks. Ask us. We LOVE to talk about our decks.

It is impossible to buy the “wrong” deck.

Truly. Every deck will tell you something about yourself. It will help you find what you are comfortable with and what you aren’t comfortable with. Discomfort is educating in and of itself. If you outgrow your deck or decide you don’t want to read from the one you bought, there is a healthy market out there for second hand decks. Many of us pooh pooh the idea that you shouldn’t read a used deck. If you really want to unload a deck you don’t like, someone will buy it.

What it really comes down to is this…

Buy the deck that speaks to you .. and if it doesn’t speak to you in six months, that’s ok too.. See, people evolve. What you like today, you may not like tomorrow. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Your time with the Tarot will change your perspective on things.. on people.. and on yourself.

How to Choose your First Tarot Deck was originally published on Jeni Reads Tarot

#how to choose your first deck

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