#paper rival

[symphony-of-the-mint]

basically 90% of what i listen to

[pigeon-playlists]

Monthly Music Diary #1

A project for myself, so I can remember the music I enjoy.

I've been on a Howard Jones kick for a few months now, but from the Howard Jones kick I've ventured into Nik Kershaw, Ultravox, Gary Numan, Simple Minds...I could go on.

I'm fully aware that my current interest in new wave is really credited to Goose, because she's introduced me to things I hadn't quite ventured into before.

So for my first Monthly Music Diary I'm looking at my January playlist - I make a playlist for every month and have been for...six years? Seven? I need to go back - there are months I didn't do it, as well. I also have been writing down all the full albums I've been listening to over the last few weeks as well.

Which is half the reason I made this tumblr for myself, because I wanted something I can go back and read.

Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola

I was having a little Nik phase before Christmas, which resulted in me trying to argue to people that The Riddle counts as a Christmas song. I mean, obsession with lights, general temporal confusion, references to wise men...it's all there.

So I listened to Radio Musicola, and now am obsessed with it and genuinely have listened to the actual Radio Musicola single every day since.

Of course, I've also been enjoying this performance:

I love everything about it.

--

Hall and Oates - Private Eyes

I've been kind of a Hall and Oates fan for a while, insomuch as I've always been a big fan of I Can't Go For That and Private Eyes as songs. So bearing that in mind I listened to the whole album, and quickly had Your Imagination on repeat.

The whole thing is kind of also related to Howard Jones, because he went on Darryl Hall's show and they did a cover of What Is Love together, and it was cute.

Also this Your Imagination performance is just...Darryl Hall really is a hugely talented vocalist. Somehow everything about this is the most 1980s thing ever.

--

Ultravox - Vienna

So I don't actually super care for the song Vienna. I can see why people like it, and I don't skip it when it comes on, but my favourite tracks off the Vienna album are All Stood Still and Mr X. There's something about Mr X that feels kind of similar to Gorillaz to me? Idk I think the soft speech in it sounds like Damon Albarn.

Also clearly this album had an impact on me because I started calling my favourite pigeon who visits the garden "Pijj (Pidge) Ure". I always know it's him because he's extra chonky and has a slight limp, plus he likes to get IN the ground feeder in a way the other pigeons don't seem to do. I love him.

--

Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85

This album isn't perfect, but for how much I like some of the tracks on it, it might as well be. This one wasn't new to me, but I do keep going back. Favourites are Hypnotize and Wood Beez, which I got into because for some reason the music Co-op plays on its in-store radio is extremely tasty?? Last time they went in they were playing my fave Kate Bush song...really just excellent choices all round.

--

Howard Jones - The 12" album

Everyday I listen to Howard, and I'm really not joking. If I don't listen to Like To Get To Know You Well at least once per day, it's a bad day. But also looking for performances led me to this absolutely mad episode of TOTP where for some reason Howard Jones is performing LTGTKYW on Platform 3 at Bristol Temple Meads????

This is so fucking funny for some reason. Also I've noticed that in performances where he doesn't get to sing live, Howard is always chewing gum.

--

Opeth - Last Will & Testament / Sorceress / Heritage

Opeth are my favourite band, and I got a copy of Last Will & Testament on vinyl for Christmas. I took a while to listen to it, because I was worried I wouldn't love it as much as I love some of their older stuff - I don't love their super early albums, because I'm not really a big death metal fan. I'm much more a fan of them when they got more folky and really leaned into the prog angle.

But, Last Will And Testament was great, and half the tracks made it onto my Jan playlist. Which is good, because I'm seeing Opeth later this month and now I know I'll definitely enjoy it.

But, this led to me listening to two of my top three Opeth albums - Sorceress, the first album of theirs I ever listened to, and Heritage, which isn't my top Opeth album but the one I consider their best. I'm really not a fan of Steven Wilson's music, but I really can't fault the man as a producer.

--

Paper Rival - Paper Rival

This band stopped existing extremely suddenly just after they dropped their second album, and I was obsessed with their first when I was a teenager. A Fox In The Garden was my favourite 'I'm so sad and i need something sad to listen to' track when I was about 15 years old, and I still have a physical copy of this CD in storage somewhere.

It just felt really comforting to listen to.

--

Elliott Smith - Either/Or

I'm a big Elliott fan, but when I listen to him I mostly listen to his self-titled album (the one with Christian Brothers, St Ides Heaven etc on it) and hadn't listened to this one in forever. I loved it, of course. I will never not be sad that he isn't still here, making music. Hope you're resting well, Elliott.

--

Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

I come back to this album every now and then, but it's another one where I think half of it is perfect and half of it is massively skippable. I did also find myself going The Legend Of Zelda: Bridge Over Troubled Water when I realised the acronym for this album is also BOTW. Of course, that's mostly because I'm still in the middle of replaying Tears of the Kingdom.

--

Daft Punk - Discovery

Now THIS is an album that is no skips. Even if, admittedly, I don't care for One More Time, but mostly that's because I heard it over and over and over and over on TV when I was about 7 years old. I have loved this album for what feels like my whole life, and I consider Something About Us to be a perfect song.

--

Inhaler - Open Wide

I went in not knowing what to expect, honestly. The firsy few tracks kind of felt like generic jangly indie, but then as I got further through it, the quality just got better and better and better. I'm gonna be thinking about this band for a while.

--

Simple Minds - New Gold Dream 81/82/83/84

Half of the tracks from this album got added to my current monthly playlist, but Promised You A Miracle is the one I feel really stuck on at the moment.

I also love - and this is kind of just something Goose and I talk about - that a lot of stars from the 80s now look like someone's dad at this point in their lives. I think it's really sweet that Jim Kerr from Simple Minds looked like someone's dad in 1985. Genuinely adorable.

--

Malice Mizer - Merveilles

I must have been listening to Gackt again recently, because the YouTube algorithm suddenly gave me a load of Malice Mizer live videos from the Merveilles album tour. I wasn't quite sure what to think, because my forays into J-Pop haven't extended that far, and there's only been one visual kei group I've been sorted of interested in before this point. Even then, it was mostly because they had a song that was a Bleach opening/closing theme.

ANYWAY, after realising that this album is just not on Spotify at all, I managed to find it on YouTube. I was working until 7pm the week I found it, and it was really good at giving me the energy to keep going. I really enjoy Illuminaty particularly - the live of it is so fucking extra. The use of the whip crack as percussion is also just so??? Idk it scratches my brain just right.

--

I have a ton of stuff on my To Listen radar right now, but right now I'm checking out a lot of new stuff for writing/review purposes. That's it for now.

xo Ells

[simplepotatofarmer]

merry dreblr christmas, @dreamieebb! i hope you enjoy your rivals duo in cozy winter clothes! <3 <3

thank you @dreblrsecretsanta for hosting!

[serendipity-by-chance]

sometimes i see the hate for kaisagi and the reason for it and i think "im old" cause u hating kaisagi just cause isagi threw a tantrum at the idea of ppl shipping them together isn't a reason for me. instead its more of a reason for me to ship them. like yes ofc ill ship them??? can u imagine isagi's horror at the realization that "fuck hes hot" and then "fuck i LIKE him" and the comedic struggle after that? like sorry some of us like actual rivals to lovers/haters to lovers. not the silly pretentious hatred u guys think were theyre secretly in love and its one sided hatred no. i need my ships to genuinely hate each other so i can ship them for shits and giggles.

also bold of u to assume ill be respecting the wishes of men. the more isagi is against the idea of kissing kaiser the more ill make sure he kisses kaiser.

also the most important reason for me shipping kaisagi?

i think isagi deserves to have hot boyfriends. its why im a isagi multi shipper.

also michael deserves a pretty bf too and id rather die than ship michael with a hideous beast (will not drop any names thanks but use ur imaginations!)

[tealmaskmybeloved]

Been playing some Super Paper Mario recently and I'm noticing a pattern with characters I really like :)

Granted TC!Kieran is just an AU but it counts in my heart :D

[chipwillish]

"This man doesn't even have a house"

I have watched no DSMP save for this one specific moment which is caught in my chest like a steel trap.

Anyway, here's some paper art.

Reflection on progress under the readmore.

Putting some lessons from my last attempt at paper art into practice, I actually put down stuff in the CORRECT ORDER (for the most part), and planned out things better.

The small details in the foreground need significantly better planning and more attention. I should have put it down once I felt my ADHD meds wearing off, and me getting tired but I felt constantly like the finish line was just around the corner.

The good news is I need to get more paper, which means IM ACTUALLY DOING STUFF

[tequiilasunriise]

bitches really be out here publicly divorcing as if they weren’t in a secret relationship

[ositojpg]

in a moment i figured out why i'm alive

[ultraluigi]

Pride Month drawing before it ends!

Also here are the separate drawings of each character ^ ^

Penny

Vivian

Chef Pee Pee

[stardusted-petals]

Now that I'm done with university for the year unless I fail, I can finally keep experimenting with things I tried using in some of my drawings last year. This time, I practiced by drawing my new fave Pokémon character! c:

[yo-yo-yoshiko]

Artfight has begun... Taking some wild swings at my teammates to start things off!

@claiborneart 's Bitch the Paper Wasp and The Protagonist

@ultrainfinitepit 's Constance

(You can find me here!)

[28turnips-in-a-trenchcoat]

Arven from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (that I almost called Pokemon SVU today)

[hell-is-cozy]

Marvel Rivals Psylocke (ignore the blue, a plane crashed into the page)

(other pic shows the shading better but it wasn't finished)

[laotwormz]

tiny. thanks

[flare-the-pyrowing]

FROGS FROGS FROGS FROGS FROGS

Aka a ninja, a monk, and a confused punchy boi.

(Ramblings under the cut)

Hehehe artists commentary time. Cause idk I wanna talk about it.

This took me a long time ngl. I mean part of that was a took a break and then had to actively make myself sit down and finish it, which I don't regret.

This was the first time I've drawn Ranno and Liligator (as well as greninja from the front), so between that and the character spacing, posing, lineart, the fact I didn't have an actual lineart pen for most of this, and attempted color matching (cough cough perfectionist cough), it was a challenge. Dude color matching Liligator's blue was really frustrating for a while, but I'm happy with how it turned out. And its As Close As I Can Get™. Ranno's bubbles gave me hell when I started coloring them. I swatched a lot of potential strategies before I tried on the sketch, so eventually it worked out and I think they work pretty good. I've drawn greninja a couple times cause they're my main in ssbu, but MAN. Drawing them from the front. Not doing that again anytime soon I'm doing just great with a three quarters angle thanks. I still think their face looks off, but I redrew their eyes at least 50 times and had to just Leave It if I ever wanted to continue.

Despite all of that, I had such a clear image of this idea in my head so I went and put it on paper. Honestly this was really fun and I like having a project I can chip away at for a couple days.

Anyway here's some alt versions cause I wanna put them here.

W/o question mark

Individual frogs (can you tell I went from left to right lol)

And I know absolutely zero (0) people care but if you wanna use these for icons you can just credit me ig.

Seeya