#r&b guitar solos always slap

[skzingitup]

ALBUM REVIEW TIME 👹

Today we are reviewing one of my fave kpop group’s new album MAXIDENT by Stray Kids with the title track Case 143

I just wanna say how I’m so proud of these dudes, they write and produce their own music and their skills get stronger with every release 🫶🏻 anyway on to the review

Case 143 - 7/10 - it’s definitely interesting. I was worried i wasn’t gonna like it all that much based on the snippet on tik tok but it’s much better within the context of the whole song. This song does what they set up in the previous release Maniac and improves upon it. Although the first section of the chorus is jarring, its a huge ear worm and im addicted to it. If Stray Kids were going to do a love song this is exactly how i expected them to do it 😭 (also give the music video a watch you won’t regret it, it’s quite funny, felix gets slapped by a cooked chicken 😀)

Chill - 8/10 - a song written and composed by our Hannie!! His songs are always so nice!! This is a cool jazzy style r&b song. It takes some similarities from lofi music too and some classic hip hop beats and overall its so good. Han’s solo written and composed songs have only improved since debut and i love it so much!!

Give me your TMI - 9/10 - This one is for all my living tombstone fans and fnaf fans!! The crunchy instrumental is everything and the drop into the chorus is so interesting. Also when Changbin starts the song with a strong rap that seems like complete nonsense, you know the songs gonna hit!! But yeah keeping up with hip hop sounds, the incorporate crunchy edm and alternative rock style sounds too and it just makes this song so funky I love it!!

SUPER BOARD - 6/10 - where do i start with this song… the intro itches my brain so hard. The “nada da shooom super board” gets stuck in your head so badly 😭 the song leans into a more rock style but instead of an electric guitar riff, you get these synth sounds and it adds that retro flare to the song. Although the repetition of nada da shoom super board can get a bit annoying and lessens the replay-ability of the song for me

3RACHA (Bangchan, Changbin, Han) - 5/10 - this is well and truly a Drill song. Like this is something straight out of the streets of south london. The raps of our producing unit are satisfying to my ears however this style of music just isn’t my personal taste and i don’t think i would listen to it often. Not a bad song tho ✨also ik chan is australian but im claiming changbin and han as honorary brits for this song

TASTE (Hyunjin, Felix, Lee Know) - 8.5/10 - when Hyunjin described this song as a cold version of red lights he wasn’t wrong. They need to keep this man in the studio his brain is amazing. 4th member of 3racha?? Perhaps. Whenever you put Danceracha (this unit) in the studio expect a hoe anthem honestly. I’m very proud of how Hyunjin and Felix’s vocals have improved. Lee Know really gets to use his more powerful vocals and that makes me so happy!! Also the drop in this song is insane. Listening to it isn’t enough i need it shot into my veins 😭

Can’t Stop (Seungmin, I.N) - 7/10 - my vocalracha 🫶🏻 this is a pop rock style song. They worked with one of day6’s producers for this track which you can tell!! But it suits them so much!! Seungmin and innie’s voices are so lovely the drums and guitars are so strong. You will absolutely catch me dancing about to this song 😭 however i will say that the mixing between the vocals and the instrumental feels a bit off. Idk how to explain it. Also they cut off Seungmin’s high note, gonna sob.

Circus (Korean version) - 8/10 - This was the title track for their lastest Japanese mini album so i’ve heard if before. Its a bop. But I will say i think the korean version flows a lot better between the english lines and the korean ones. Where as the Japanese version felt a little too sharp?? But yeah Circus would slay is every language if we’re honest

Anyways, Maxident Album of the year. Also is you ever wanna talk to me about Stray Kids pls send me an ask, I love these dudes so much 😭🫶🏻

[cafedanslanuit]

[ k i n k t o b e r ]  d a y   15    -   masterlist

↪ character: aizawa shouta [boku no hero academia]

↪ tags/warnings: +18, female!reader, punk/rock singer!reader, face-fucking, references to brat taming, light!brat reader, semi-public sex

↪ a/n: ahhhhh, i had this idea for so so long. punk/rock singer and aizawa have been living rent free in my mind for some weeks now <3

↪ featured playlist:

— bad reputation - joan jett

— paradise city - guns n’ roses

— hot for teacher - van halen

You took a second look at your broken fishnet, your fingers tracing the fabric. Memories on how it broke filled your mind making you smirk to yourself. You smoothed your faux leather skirt and stood up from your crouching position, looking at the other people on the stage.

“We’re good to go?”

The rest of the band nodded and you smiled. Passing a hand through your hair, you tapped the microphone twice and greeted the audience. They weren’t as enthusiastic or wild as the one you were used to, but after a long argument with your band you had agreed to accept performing in a higher-class bar. ‘It’s good money’, they had said. And they weren’t wrong, it definitely was better money than your regular shows at an underground bar gave you, but you felt like a caged bird. People with fancy shoes holding expensive drinks were looking at you like some sort of exhibition. And it kind of was. It was 80’s night for a reason.

The guitarist started the known riff and you did your best to put on a good show.

“And I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation…”

It was almost unnerving how people were still sitting down, shoulders slightly moving as they listened to you sing. You tried not to roll your eyes at them. Just one hour, you told yourself. One hour and you’re out of here.

You were in the middle of your fifth song and third beer when you started having fun. Your leather jacket was left behind on the floor and you were play-flirting along with the bassist, putting one hand on his shoulder as you sang to him.

“Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty,” you sang along with your longtime friend. You laughed at your antics and then went back to the center of the stage. For once, you didn’t care the audience was still sitting down. Fuck them. You were having fun enough for all of them and were going to take their money at the end of the night.

Suddenly, most people started looking at the club entrance. Imitating them, your eyes darted there as well, and saw a group of men and women making their way to a big table. You recognized most of them as they were pro-heroes, but wondered what they were doing there. A black haired woman put a birthday party on her head and you assumed it was her birthday. Your eyes kept focusing on every hero in the group until they stopped at a familiar face. A familiar, tired face, whose eyes were widened like a deer caught in the headlights. You winked at him and then looked away.

The song continued as you interacted with the band, rattling your hair as you did so, and twirling just enough for your skirt to rile up but don’t reveal anything. You never expected to see Aizawa again in a place like this, and definitely not tonight. You looked over at his table again and saw him back to his normal state, unamused eyes and just watching all his coworkers interact. He probably didn’t want to be there, and a part of you wanted to keep messing with that.

Before they could change to the next song, you asked the band for a particular one. They went with it, the drum solo filling the club as you propped up your right leg on one of the speakers, platform boots showing off. The guitar followed on the solo and you looked again at Aizawa, who now had an irritated look on his face directed at you. His friends were looking at the stage with a smile, ignoring his friend’s stare. You just smiled back.

“Wait-- wait a second man, what do you think the teacher’s gonna look like this year?” you asked your bassist.

You couldn’t suppress the cheeky grin on your face as you sang. You tried your best not to look too much at that particular table, instead you moved around the stage, probably doing one of your best interpretations of the song. You grabbed the unused microphone stand and used it as support as you crouched down singing the chorus.

“Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad, I'm hot for teacher. I've got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher.”

For the second time during the song you looked at Aizawa again and almost felt yourself getting wet from the look he was giving you. It was a mix of incredulity, anger and dominance that riled you up even more to keep on teasing him.

Faster than you had wanted to, the song came to an end, leaving you more hot and bothered than you had wanted to. The band kept on playing the rest of the songs planned for the night and you didn’t look at the table again, just focusing on finishing the set as fast as you could.

Your plans of going to the underground bar with the rest of the band went away when they decided to stay there to share a drink for a while. You stuck your tongue out at them and said your goodbyes.

The city streets were empty, but you paid no attention to that. You walked to the alley behind the club and lit up a cigarette. You watched the smoke slowly come out of your lips, dissipating on the cold air around you.

“That thing will kill you,” you heard a voice warning you. You didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

“I’ve put way worse inside my mouth,” you teased him, taking another drag. “Didn’t think of you as a fancy bar kind of dude.”

“I’m not,” he just replied, walking over and stopping in front of you.

“I’m guessing you’re here because you liked the show?” you said, a sly grin appearing on your face.You opened your mouth to say another joke, but Aiazawa grabbed the back of your hair and pulled it harshly towards him.

“You’re a fucking brat, you know that?” he growled against your face. You bit your lower lip and tried to take another drag of your cigarette, only for him to slap it away with his free hands. “You think you’re so fucking funny with your song,” he said, your eyes setting of his again. The hunger you had seen while you were singing on the stage were back there.

“But I am hot for teacher,” you whispered against his lips with an innocent voice.

That was enough for Aizawa to push you down, making you fall on your knees. He unzipped his pants in front of your face and you couldn’t help but lick your lips in anticipation. For the past couple of months, riling him up so he showed his more dominant side with you. Without the need to be ordered to, you opened your mouth and he quickly killed it with his cock, already half hard from your previous exchange.

Never letting go of your hair, he let you bob your head up and down his length, your hands roaming up his thighs as you did so.

“So many hours spent taming you and you still don’t know your place,” he grunted, tugging your hair, eliciting a moan for you. “Maybe it’s because you’re enjoying this too much. But you couldn’t take any more, could you?” he asked, pushing himself just the tiniest bit down your throat. You took him with a groan and nodded at his words, the implication of his words marking your thighs press against each other. Aizawa smirked at your affirmative answer.

Suddenly, you felt him tug even harder at your hair, pulling you closer to him. Your throat made way for his cock, your nose almost grazing his crotch. He started thrusting inside your mouth at a rapid pace, deep grunts coming out of his mouth. Your hands immediately went to hold onto his pants, trying to ground yourself as he fucked your mouth.

“How am I going to fucking tame you if you’re enjoying this?” he spat, looking down at you. Your eyes quickly filled with tears from the abuse to your throat, but at the same time you couldn’t help the moans from coming out. Having him use you like that on an empty alley seemed like something taken out of your fantasies, as you’ve always used the back room or the men’s bathroom of the underground bar you had met. You could see his teeth as grinding as his hips kept moving.

Drool started dripping from your mouth and falling on your thighs only covered by the fishnet he had broken the last time he had taken you in a bathroom stall after a show. The memory of his pressing your head against the door of the stall as he fucked you from the back plus the view of the hot, disheveled teacher as he lost himself inside your mouth made you moan needily.

The vibrations of your voice made him groan and he quickened the pace. Soon enough he was releasing inside your mouth, the hold he had on your hair tightening even more. Aizawa pulled himself off your mouth and a bit of his cum fell on your tank top as you panted to get some air. He held your cheek in his hand, and you looked at him with a soft smile as he cleaned the corners of your mouth with his thumb. You knew your makeup was probably a bit smudgy and your lipstick was surely gone, but he still smiled back, even if it was just a small twitch of his lip. 

Aizawa helped you stand up and watched you as you fixed your hair and checked your clothes, trying to clean off the stain on your tank top.

“I have to go inside now,” he said, his face back to his normal, apathetic self. You nodded, and fixed your jacket once more before leaning forward and placing a small kiss on his face.

“You know where to find me, teacher,” you winked at him, before turning on your heel and walking away.

[zaynmalikupdates]

With the release of his third solo album, Nobody is Listening, ZAYN has solidified his standing as one of the most distinctive and innovative artists in pop and R&B music today. Built around spare arrangements and intimate vocals, the album reflects the multi-platinum singer’s most pure and personal vision—given total creative control, ZAYN is now making the music he has always wanted to.

From the confessional, mostly spoken-word delivery of the opening track, “Calamity” (“I feel depleted/From the feelings I’ve been revealing”) to the closing “River Road,” which features ZAYN’s soulful voice accompanied only by a single strummed guitar, Nobody is Listening plays like a cohesive, bold next step in a remarkable career. Uninterested in the conventional media game—“I just want to do my music,” he once said, “and if people hear about me from their friend, it’s cooler than me being in their face all the time”—with this singular statement, ZAYN opens up a new chapter for one of the 21st Century’s biggest superstars.

In September 2020, ZAYN launched Nobody is Listening with “Better,” a stark and vulnerable song over a simple guitar and drum slap, which set the tone for the album that now follows. He served as Executive Producer on the project, co-wrote all eleven of the songs, and—for the first time—has a production credit on two tracks. The producers enlisted for Nobody is Listening indicate the album’s ambition: Other than Saltwives (who worked closely with ZAYN on Mind of Mine), who produced two tracks, every song was helmed by a different producer or team. These range from chart-topping veterans to unknown up-and-comers.

The results are distinctly modern and tightly focused (every song clocks in under four minutes). The sparse, dramatic arrangements highlight shifts in texture or precise touches of distortion and echo. ZAYN reaches from close-up murmurs up to his celebrated falsetto to convey his emotional truths. From the head-nodding beat of “Outside” or the propulsive “Sweat” to the slinky “When Love’s Around” (a duet with Syd, from the acclaimed R&B group the Internet), Nobody is Listening tells a story that’s bold but complicated, sexy but smart.

Still just 28 years old, with enough experience behind him for multiple careers, ZAYN doesn’t take the easy path. Rather than settle for following musical trends or coasting on his celebrity, he chooses to experiment and evolve. So when he does decide to surface, it’s because he has something to say, something to express—and when that happens, everybody is listening.

- Excerpts about Nobody Is Listening from Zayn's biography on RCA's website

[interesting-blog-name]

SLIGHTLY NEW ALBUMS I LIKED (Little Simz - GREY Area; Monsune - Tradition; Backxwash - God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It)

More loose reviews that I write and instantly want to get out of my Word document and into Tumblr without much of an overlaying theme between the albums or any planning as to which ones I’ll be releasing at which point, but it is what it is. This time I’ll be compiling some recent-ish albums I’ve enjoyed, two of which I’ve come to know from TheNeedleDrop (I try not to watch reviews before writing down my opinion btw), and one EP from an artist I like. Here it is.

Little Simz – GREY Area

Little Simz, the 26-year-old British rapper, is an artist I’ve loved the first time I heard her, when I listened to Selfish for the first time and saw her cover of Feel Good Inc. in triple-j’s Like A Version. Today, May 30th, I was planning on listening to White Chalk by PJ Harvey, but from what I read, it’s a pretty depressing album, and I’m not in the mood for that right now, so I picked GREY Area from my future listening list.

It’s really nice to hear a rap album like this once in a while. The instrumentation is organic and well thought out, her flow is amazing, and her lyrics have so much substance and personality to them, ranging from the happier, more reminiscent tone in 101 FM to the much more aggressive tracks Offence, Boss, Venom and Pressure, she’s always giving her take on life, telling the experience of what it’s like being a black person with big dreams in England, seeing friends die while she tries to go somewhere in life through music.

The main tone she picks for her self-narrative is an unapologetic view of the world around her; she tells the listener: “’til now I ain’t ever been the selfish type, ‘till now I ain’t ever told nobody no, don’t get it twisted. This shit ain’t happen overnight” in the biggest song off here, Selfish, featuring the most calming and lavish pianos and violins in this album, and an amazing feature by Cleo Sol on the hook. Pressure features an amazing batch of verses all about. Same thing with the intro, Offence, with its bold, empowering chorus; although the track comes off more playful with its cartoonish sound effects nearing the end than the raw message of the track mentioned previously. A great, high-spirited track to start off the album.

What isn’t as high-spirited is the next track, Boss, or, to be fair, almost all the other tracks in the album. Boss is a big fuck you to anyone you might dedicate the song to: the hook has Simz’s most aggressive delivery in the whole record, and the entire message is about getting over those who hurt you and coming up.  The second verse is something else.

Wounds, featuring Jamaican singer Chronixx, deals mostly with the gun/crime problem ever-so-present in marginalized communities all around the world, and she tells the story from the perspective of both herself and as a companion of the “gun man”, repeatedly mentioned in the song (“When a gun man only knows self-hate, them bullets show no love”). I’m not super crazy for Chronixx’s hook, or the much slower tempo of the track, but it fits well with the groovy instrumental. Venom, on the other hand, is a super exciting, menacing song. She goes all out over the violins playing in the background, but unfortunately, the track burns twice as bright to last half as long.

To lighten the mood a bit, 101 FM brings the most electronic instrumental, with cheerful, banging 808s and synths, and lyrics about her come up as a rapper, probably the verses where her British accent and slang dominate the most, giving them a more personal feel somewhat. Pressure doesn’t feature the most compelling instrumental or hooks in here – the Little Dragon refrain is mixed very poorly and the vocalist just doesn’t do a great job -, but the verses compensate for that, especially the first one, probably one of the most heartfelt and important ones in this album. Therapy talks about Simz’s struggles with finding comfort in therapy. The instrumental is average for the project, but still slaps, so that’s nice.

Sherbet Sunset is an ode to a broken relationship, and a theme that could be handled so poorly by other artists is handled masterfully by Little Simz. In three verses, she displays so many sides to what I assume is one relationship, so many emotions and thoughts that she shares, it really feels like she’s transcribing something of a focused, bright mind rush over the track, and it amazes me how she can reveal her feelings so well on a track like this, progressing from the regret of not seeing how it’d go wrong, to the anxiety that comes from spending all that time for seemingly nothing, to coming to terms with it in the last verse (although not quite). It’s a stunning song now that I listen to it again.

To close it all off, we have Flowers, mainly a tribute to various artists from the 27 club, with mentions of Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse in the verses, trying to relate to their struggles with drug addiction and quick fame. It’s incredibly powerful and a great finisher.

I don’t dislike one track in GREY Area. It’s well conceived, a great statement, it really feels like she gives her all to make every track memorable, and even though her delivery is mostly monotone throughout the whole album, that also works to her favor, as she has a very unique and recognizable voice. So the lyrics are extremely well written, and the only reason I don’t give more examples of that is because I got a whole lot of school shit to do, the instrumental work is clean and precise, and I don’t have a whole lot to complain about. Check this shit out if you haven’t.

 FAVORITE TRACKS: 101 FM, Venom, Selfish, Offence, Boss, Pressure

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: lol nah

 8.7/10

“Why you wanna all dress lies as truth? Have you ever seen what silence do? I don’t wanna see no violent troops putting out fires that haven’t been started”

 Monsune – Tradition

Damn I did not expect to like this as much as I did.

Monsune is a Chinese-Canadian singer who has recently been gaining some popularity from his amazing song OUTTA MY MIND, which features a funky bassline and high-pitched guitar playing that some have compared to Childish Gambino, specifically his album “Awaken, My Love!”. I decided to check out this short EP by him to see if he had anything more to offer, and it’s safe to say, he does.

The first track off Tradition already shows what this guy can do with his production. It starts off with the same vibe off of his previously mentioned biggest track, but on steroids: a prominent bassline, pitch-altered backing vocals, sunny guitars, and drowned out drums. His voice is also reaching higher notes in this song than in OUTTA MY MIND, but then in the middle of the song it all slows down for a very welcome beat change that shifts the song from this summer anthem to a very chill R&B tune. It’s amazing stuff, although I don’t understand why he chose to put some very noticeable autotune in this part.

CLOUD is my least favorite from the EP, but it’s still a very solid song, it’s just not amazing. The bass is still very strong, and the bridge later on in the song is addictive as shit. After that track comes OUTTA MY MIND, and then his style completely switches in MOUNTAIN, which starts off with some solo guitar and his low, beautiful singing. It’s actually really moving for some reason lol. It then picks up in the hook, the drums kick in along with what I assume is a keyboard, and his voice reaches the top of his range for the backing vocals, it’s a very well-made song.

JADE finishes Tradition off extremely beautifully, with a smooth acoustic guitar intro over a nice-ass bass, some ethereal, trippy scenes of Monsune floating over the ocean and appearing out of thin air in front of you (probably not you, the listener). And then all of a sudden this madman screams off the top of his lungs in the middle of the track and I fucking love it.

The flaws this EP has are mostly related to the mixing, which I think can be a little too harsh in some sections such as the big breakdowns in JADE and MOUNTAIN. Plus, I know lyrics aren’t a focus on a project like this, but it would be nice to get something more than love songs in the future perhaps. Still, loving this EP, so glad I checked Monsune out. You should too.

 WORST TO BEST: CLOUDS, 1998, JADE, OUTTA MY MIND, MOUNTAIN

 8/10

“Don’t you wanna come down? Cause I’m so bored of walking on the same old sky”

 Backxwash – God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It

God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It is an album by American rapper Backxwash, who received a new wave of attention after Anthony Fantano reviewed this album in his channel and gave it a decent 8. I haven’t watched the review yet, but I was interested in checking it out because of the high score, and especially since when I looked it up on Spotify, the songs only had around 8000 views.

Dark subject themes and the whole dark trap aesthetic are the core of this album. I, personally, have always been a fan of aggressive, heavy rap music, from more underground names like gizmo and Fukkit, to the more mainstream variant of these sounds, like XXXTENTACION. This album, however, operates in somewhat of a separate lane.

Many of the dark, edgy rap I used to listen to religiously back in the day was borderline mindless. Shit about ripping someone open, hollow flexing, except separated from mainstream rap only because the rapper in question is screaming their brains out when talking about designer clothes, instead of mumbling like your average Lil Baby, and, of course, personal problems, depression, being mad about whatever it was. Unlike its other contemporaries, however, it seems Backxwash has much more thought and elaboration into what she wants to yell about. Instead of hiding behind bass-boosted rather formulaic instrumentals, she takes the more scenic route, with still very dark, but more intricate gothic beats, sampling various religious speeches and implementing them into songs about black magic and overall unhappiness. The Black Sabbath sample that opens up this album should be enough for any listener to immediately understand what they’re about to get into, as the title track brings heavy percussion and some of the most graphic lyrics in the album, which it already doesn’t lack. Lines about downing pills and vodka, contemplating suicide, and blank vocalizations of anger (“I want war with these bitches, I want corpses and weapons”).

The track that resembles an average edgy Soundcloud rap song the most is Black Magic right after, with its own interpretation of the “ay” flow, shouted with a tone reminiscent of someone like Craig Xen. The big difference comes with the much grander production, especially the growling guitars that get introduced halfway, reminding the listener of Backxwash’s skill as a producer. From what I could tell, she was responsible for the production of the tracks in here, and considering there are no vocal guests except for Malldate’s quick appearance in Into The Void, I’m assuming the features listed in the tracklist are all producer credits as well, the feature in this track being Ada Rook, providing the amazing guitar work for this song.

Spells is mixed for me. I don’t enjoy the attempted singing in the chorus, and it falls completely flat to my ears; the beat is hard as ever, but the lyrics feel slightly disconnected with each other. At one point, she’s talking about going to Hell to her mom, at the other she mentions doors opening and closing in an office and how there’s no one in some corridor, and it doesn’t go anywhere from that, with lines such as “heart is so dead with tissue” not exactly evoking any sort of emotion or imagery.

Black Sheep is the most effective song out of the first four; it seems to filter all the positive aspects of the other tracks and package them into one quick serving. The beat is chaotic and in a constant state of unrest, the lyrics are centered and aimed at various of Backxwash’s problems in life, such as her father, people who want to bring her down and put her “in line on the X and O’s”, and overall venting. After that comes a brief interlude, the first of two that don’t have much use in the album except as pallet cleansers. It’s followed by Into The Void, a track that mentions her paranoia of being harassed and possibly killed when walking around in the streets and the deli. It’s haunting, and definitely the best song in here; it is laser-focused in the exact way I wished the previous tracks would be. Her vocal delivery is extremely expressive, and she tells the story in a way that gives the listener a brief, but at the same time immense glimpse of the reality that trans people face and have to go through, in a morbid fashion.

Adolescence is very short and eases the pace a bit after the intense emotions of the last. It’s a message to her younger brother that quickly descents into a confession of her inner struggle, mentioning possible overdoses and being too old for the 27 Club and fearing going to therapy. What’s great about this song is the fact that, even in such a short amount of time and with a less explosive instrumental, Backxwash manages to evoke her emotions so well; this is definitely what she does best in this record, and it overcomes the times where her delivery is flawed and her words are slurred and hard to understand. After this comes Amen, and holy fuck is this an angry song. Criticizing the hell out of the church, Backxwash comes at greedy pastors and their irresponsible spending when the churchgoers who support him are in need. My big problem with this song is the fact that the hook, as impassionate as it is, doesn’t do much for the subject, and the verse is way too short to have any impact with its theme. Lines like “these politicians politicking” don’t help much either.

The very distorted second interlude, Heaven’s Interlude, takes us to the last track, Redemption, the least intense song in here, which is appropriate as a sendoff. She expresses her frustrations towards her dad’s frustrations towards her being trans, and while the entire sentiment of the song is great and well formulated, I can’t find a way around the lines “Fuck these fucking boomers, fuck these fucking losers. Fuck theses motherfucking fuckers in their fucking two truck. Fuck these fuck(sic)abusers, and fuck these fucking rumors.”, they just emanate Limp Bizkit energy.

God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It is a very passionate, real, well produced and well-conceived album; it bears themes that are immensely important to be brought to the music scene, and by mixing that message with its explosive and polished production, it amplifies it a ton. However, as powerful as her deliveries are, I believe Backxwash can go much further with her songwriting and song structuring in the future, as well as her intonation, because that was really all that was keeping this album from being legendary. If she can do more of this in songs that are longer and super focused around whichever topic she decides, she can make something legendary. And thank God she got reviewed by Fantano, I hope she can take this opportunity and make something huge out of this.

 FAVORITE TRACKS: Into The Void, Black Sheep, God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, Adolescence, Black Magic

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Spells

 7.7/10

“Chosen one, sad bitch, lowest scum. Coldest, huh, black sheep talk to ‘em. If the situation changed I would have said the same shit, exactly the same.”

[mythicpopularculture]

(via https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0DZde51pDngI8JNSIicbyt?si=v48_QK8aSNK_dUiTQ5Eaww)

SPOILERS AHEAD: BE FOREWARNED!

The Great Analysis of Song Styles in Steven Universe: The Movie!

So I have always admired how effectively Steven Universe uses music as a driving action for the plot. So the news that the movie would be a musical was heavenly! Ultimately, though, what’s most striking is the variety of musical styles that are employed for the songs, especially their wide diversity in inspirations, as far as I can see. So I got inspired to put together a comparison playlist for the songs in the musical. Feel free to disagree (or agree!) with my picks here, but here goes, song by song:

The Tale of Steven/Once Upon a Time

Stylistic mate: “Main Title/Cinderella” from the soundtrack to Cinderella.

Rebecca Sugar wasn’t kidding when she said the movie goes full Disney with the opening. These two tracks line up virtually identical to the opening of Cinderella, right down to their use in their respective movies (opening credits/open the book/tell us a story mommy).

Let Us Adore You

Stylistic mate: “I Want to Linger” by the Andrews Sisters

What says “three part female harmony” more than the classic Andrews Sisters tracks of the 1930s and ‘40s? This one in particular is a very thematically similar song, in that it’s asking someone to stay with the singers, much like the Diamonds are asking Steven to stay. (The reprise is not included in the list, since it’s almost identical to this version except for Spinel’s countermelody, but I would still match it up with “I Want to Linger.”)

Happily Ever After

Stylistic mate: “Bikini Bottom Day” from The Spongebob Squarepants Musical

Kind of a cheap cop-out, maybe. Both the SU song and the Broadway number written by Jonathan Coulton serve the same purpose, though, to give us a brief character introduction of our central cast of characters, by allowing each one a solo.

Other Friends

Stylistic mate: “Puttin’ On the Ritz” by Taco

I love electro-synth jazz numbers! The feel of Spinel’s introductory song felt so much like the ‘80s attempts to merge classic jazz songs with new-wave synths, so I had to include the prototype track of this type.

system/BOOT.PearlFinal(3).Info

Stylistic mate: “Go Go” by Smyang Piano

The goal here was very clear. Make Pearl sound like a music box, with as mechanical and steady as this song is, despite the chaos going on around her. 

Who We Are

Stylistic mate: “We Are!” from One Piece

Again, stemming back to Rebecca Sugar’s influences, considering that Spinel has powers very similar to Luffy, it’s only natural that the inspiring song Bismuth sings to rally the remaining Gems feels similar to the awesome first-season theme song to the longest-running anime in history.

Isn’t It Love?

Stylistic mate: “Is This Love” by Bob Marley & the Wailers

It takes a while to get started, and I mean fully rolling, but this song is clearly a reggae track. I picked this Marley song because of the thematic similarity to reborn Garnet’s questioning ballad.

No Matter What

Stylistic mate: “All For the Best” from Godspell

As soon as I heard this song on the soundtrack, the first thing that popped into my head was Stephen Schwartz’s musical retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, specifically this song with its peppy start-and-stop structure.

Disobedient

Stylistic mates: “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts; “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones

The two rock show tracks have multiple inspirations that I can hear, which makes them perfect pastiches of particular branches of popular music. For Sadie Killer and the Suspects’ song with Amethyst, it harkens to New York punk, and these two songs mashed together would probably give you something similar.

Independent Together

Stylistic mates: “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who; “Heroes” by David Bowie

STEG! STEG! STEG! He goes for British rockers in his influences in this song, of which these two are the clearest ones: one set of guitar arms sounds a lot like Pete Townshend, and the vocal is full Bowie butter. (Almost put in a third influence, as the other set of guitar arms has a Brian May feel to its solo, but I couldn’t find a similar Queen track; any suggestions welcome!)

Drift Away

Stylistic mate: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by The Beatles

Spinel’s story is attached to a musical accompaniment that screams late-era Beatles, hence a track of the White Album that matches the song in mood.

Found

Stylistic mate: “Once Upon Another Time” from Love Never Dies

This is a really typical Broadway “express regrets” song, gentle and story-driven. While there are several versions of this type of song, I picked the best example I’ve heard in my experience, a newer Andrew Lloyd Webber number from his sequel to Phantom of the Opera.

True Kind of Love

Stylistic mate: “Still” by Macy Gray

Garnet’s big number in the musical is a very typical ‘90s R&B ballad, which to me stylistically feels like it could be a Macy Gray song. 

Change

Stylistic mate: “I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)” from Moana

At the other end of the Disney spectrum, Steven’s song to hype himself up and get his powers back is very similar in structure and tone to this track from Moana, written by apparent SU fan (if his Twitter is to be believed) Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Finale

Stylistic mate: “Finale: Bikini Bottom Day Reprise” from The Spongebob Squarepants Musical

I’m nothing if not consistent. Both songs have the same general effect and purpose, to wrap up the story and bring the house down with a spectacular final number which reprises a cheerful song from the beginning in a dramatic, heart-rending manner.

Bravo on you, Crewniverse, for having the courage to encourage this kind of variety and creativity in your songwriting and stylistic choices. This soundtrack seriously slaps.

[sippin-on-red-wine]

No. 6 Collaborations Project: A review!

It’s been a week since this fabulous album has dropped into our hands. Click “Keep reading to hear my thoughts on each track!

Track 1. Beautiful People Khalid ★★★★ Favorite Lyric: You look stunning dear/So don’t ask that question here

Thoughts/Reflection: Ed keeps referring to this song as ‘cozy’ and I completely agree. The vibe is cool. I love the tone of his voice here and I think it meshes really nicely with Khalid’s. The content isn’t super relatable, but I think we can all take something away from this one. It’s a good note on self-awareness and being able to see the reality in things that may look glamorous on the surface. 

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Track 2. South of the Border feat. Camila Cabello, Cardi B ★★★★★ Favorite Lyric: So join me in this bed that I’m in/Push up on me and sweat darlin’/So I’m gonna put my time in/Won’t stop until the angels sing

Thoughts/Reflection: This track is literally freaking scorching hot fire. TBH I’m surprised that they led the album with IDC and not this one. It feels like big radio potential to me. Regardless, this song is an absolute BOP - so catchy and so fucking sexy. 

I know Ed’s Spanish leaves something to be desired ☺ But I feel like we can cut him some slack after singing (yet another) song dedicated to going down on a woman. The ginger is forgiven! Five stars for him! And I’m going to have SOTB on repeat all summer (or for the rest of my life).

Oh, I also really like Cardi on this song. IDK if she’s problematic or w/e, I don’t really follow her in the media at all. But her verse is fun. (I think Ed got a lil jungle fever AY) bahahahah

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Track 3. Cross Me feat. Chance the Rapper, PnB Rock ★★★★★ Favorite Lyric: Know she gonna slide anytime you bitches talk shit/Keep a lil blade in her fuckin’ lip gloss kit 

Thoughts/Reflection: Love love love LOVE this one. It just makes you want to get up and DANCE the damn thing! I have to laugh a little at the thought of Ed being hard & tough, lol, but it’s a cool concept nonetheless. Like he said in his Charlemagne interview, it’s kind of a love song…. but a different tempo. It’s catchy as all hell and Chance’s verse is fucking cool. 

Full points. 

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Track 4. Take Me Back to London feat. Stormzy ★★★★★ Favorite Lyric: Coz you can win BRITS (it don’t stop)/And you can do Glasto (headline slot)

Thoughts/Reflection: Fuck. This song, though. IIt’s the first one that jumped out at me when I did my first full album listen. And I haven’t stopped listening since. The chorus is so syncopated. Stormzy is sick on this track, I love his voice so much. And it just feels like the two of them really play off each other nicely and probably had a blast making this song. 

Also, Ed flexing “Grossed half a billi on the Divide tour/No I’m not kidding what would I lie for” is BDE and I’m personally really here for it.

This song is a banger and you should dance in your kitchen to it while baking pastries. FIve stars for you, Big Mike and Teddy.

(Dear God please let Stormzy guest live in Ipswich)

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Track 5. Best Part of Me feat. YEBBA ★★★★ Favorite Lyric: it’s not a lyric but that part when Ed & YEBBA are harmonizing perfectly in the whoooaaAAaaaA 

Thoughts/Reflection: I love the sound on this song! His voice is so raw and tender here. It reminds me of Plus era, but grown up. I think it may be how delicately he approaches the syllables in his verse and the chorus. YEBBA’s tone is super rich and lovely, and they sound great together.

I’m taking a “star” off here because I don’t love the lyrics. I get that he’s being vulnerable and showing insecurities in verse 1, but then YEBBA follows that up with lamenting about misplacing things and being late for the train? It doesn’t seem to match up with admitting physical/bodily insecurities. Also, it could just be that I hate that Ed thinks of himself this way.

DUDE IS HOT AF

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Track 6. I Don’t Care feat. Justin Bieber ★★★★ Favorite Lyric: I don’t like nobody but you/I hate everyone here

Thoughts/Reflection: Oh god. When did this song come out? I’m trying to think back to my first impressions of it, LOL. It’s bright and poppy and of course it went and stayed #1 all summer (thus far). I remember thinking it was so cool that the melody is super mainstream and upbeat, but the underlying theme is around social anxiety. “Crippled with anxiety/But I’m told I’m where I’m sposed to be” 

I mostly skip this one now that the full album is out, but I think I listened to it for a full 48 hours on repeat when it first dropped. Bieber is problematic and shit, and honestly I don’t think he adds much to the song. I really like Ed’s acoustic version where he does the whole thing solo.

The bridge slaps. Literally. I love that clapping bit behind it. I wish that Ed hadn’t fucked up the lyrics to the bridge in the acoustic version lolololol

Four stars, will bop along for many moons to come

-

Track 7. Antisocial feat. Travis Scott ★★★★★ Favorite Lyric: So antisocial but I don’t care/Don’t give a damn I’m gonna smoke here/Got a bottle in my hand bring more tho

Thoughts/Reflection: DID YOU SEE HIM GUEST AT TRAVIS’ SHOW LAST NIGHT? This song was already one of my faves but holy shit. In interviews, Ed talks a lot about feeling awkward on stage without a guitar - but it didn’t look like that last night. He was bouncy as all hell, sounded great, looked great. Looked like he was loving the crowd’s energy too.

And the music video? That deserves a post all on it’s own.

This track is pretty short but it’s packed with good stuff. Ed’s intro is really strong here, the chorus is interesting despite the repetition. I physically can’t help but groove along to this tune. I’m sorry. I have no say in the matter

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Track 8. Remember the Name feat. Eminem, 50 Cent ★★★★★ Favorite Lyric: 20 years old is when I came in the game/And now it's eight years on and you remember the name/And if you thought I was good, well, then I'm better today

Thoughts/Reflection: YES. YES. YES.  The song intros with a reference to Ipswich, bitch. I love how Ed makes those connections back to his upbringing.

It’s a little unreal that these three iconic voices/styles can flow so well on a song and still sound so balanced. 

I’ve got this one on repeat too. I’m determined to learn all of the words damnit!!

Five stars for a tune that I would love to see performed live someday.

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Track 9. Feels feat. Young Thug, J Hus ★★★

Favorite Lyric: See you wigglin’, jigglin/If I have a bite will it taste like cinnamon?

Thoughts/Reflection: This song is fine. I like the feature verses. The song just doesn’t stick out that much for me.

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Track 10. Put It All on Me feat. Ella Mai ★★★

Favorite Lyric: I try to be strong but I got demons/So can I lean on you?/I need a strong heart and a soft touch

Thoughts/Reflection: Falsetto. Falsetto everywhere. I love that! Ella Mai’s voice is so rich. Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot more to say on this one. It’s not a song I’m playing on repeat, but I don’t skip it either.

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Track 11. Nothing On You feat. Paulo Londra, Dave ★★★★ Favorite Lyric: You and I/Whisky on ice/Maybe later we can turn down all the lights

Thoughts/Reflection: This song is SEXY and cool…. ‘smoke clouds and the scent of perfume’.... the imagery. Man. More falsetto here. Also, please go look up the translation of Paulo Londra’s verse. Thanks. I’m sweating. Is it hot in here? This album is *sexual* 

ALSO THE ‘BRRRP’ AFTER “they keep ringing my phone”  bahahahahah 

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Track 12. I Don’t Want Your Money feat. H.E.R. ★★★★★

Favorite Lyric: I need you here for the good times and the bad times/Yeah the pullin’ out my hair gettin’ mad times/Not just the when I’m in your bed on my back times

Thoughts/Reflection: THIS IS SUCH A GODDAMN TUUUUNEEEEEE!!!!!!! I love this song so much. 10/10 jamming out to this in the car at every opportunity. Finger snappin’ cool r&b vibe. I love the super quick tempo (but not quite rap?) in Ed’s verses. And I always appreciate the little double-meaning-references in Ed’s songs - like ‘diamonds, silver or gold’ means $$$ of course, but also just success in terms of album sales performance.

TBH when I saw the title on Ed’s tracklist reveal, I totally thought this would be a slow mushy love song about how Ed’s lucky to have found someone who wasn’t into him for his money. This was a pleasant surprise!! I love that it’s a little angsty.

Five STARS bitch I love this song and y’all are sleeping on it

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Track 13. 1000 Nights feat. Meek Mill, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie ★★★★

Favorite Lyric: Birds eye view/Pay my dues/For a two-mile queue

Thoughts/Reflection: i been ON for a thousAND NIGHTSSSSS NEW YORK TO LONDONNN DIFFERENT CITY EVERY DAYAYYY

1000 Nights: a flexy bop and I love it

This song is about the Divide tour which has been going for approximately 572 years. Not that I’m complaining.

But it’s cool (how many times have I said ‘cool’ in this post? don’t answer that). Ed loves touring and that comes out in this song. And Meek’s verse is so fun to rap along to!

Four stars.

-

Track 14. Way To Break My Heart feat. Skrillex ★★★★★

Favorite Lyric: I can’t stop thinkin’ bout her/And her lips on mine, so soft/Feelings I don’t know the name of

Thoughts/Reflection: biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch.

This song is NOSTALGIC and I simply adore it. It has that same… “cozy” feel that Beautiful People does. Which is strange, considering it’s a song about heartbreak. But it’s just so. Soft. And warm. 

We’re back to super soft placement of words and such pure tone. 

It’s hauntingly beautiful. And yet uptempo! Bless, Skrillex. I especially love the drums that come in during the chorus, after “you’re still gone, and i’ll say”

PS, the soft sound of mouth smacking at :13. Use headphones.

Some of my favorite Ed songs are ones about heartbreak, and I appreciate that he included one here. About an imaginary heartbreak 👀

Take another five stars from me, bud

- Track 15. BLOW feat. Chris Stapleton, Bruno Mars ★★★★★

Favorite Lyric: Hot damn/Pop it like a pistol mama/You got me down on my knees/Baby please?

Thoughts/Reflection: *laughing nervously*

Again, definitely not what I expected out of this track when the titles were all revealed. I LOVED release day on this one. The world collectively lost their shit. I need nothing more in this world than to see this song performed live, especially with a full band and Ed on an electric guitar. 

I’m still not over this loud, full, energetic song full of men bellowing about wanting to, well, fuck.

Bye

(five stars from me and also my 62 year old coworker Jan)

:::OVERALL:::

This album is SO GOOD MATE and I already cannot wait until the next collabs project! Ed blessed us with 15 amazing tracks to tide us over until Subtract comes out. They’re so different from his normal album stuff and I really love to see him try new sounds and get to create/collaborate with artists he admires so much.

it also has me real hot and bothered lmao

Thanks for coming to my tEd talk.

[hcmj]

HCMJ’s Favorite Albums of 2018!

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2018 End Of Year Mix

Honorable Mentions: 

LLLL - Chains Phase 4: Resemblance

Various - 慕情 in da tracks

Endurance - Shade Terrarium

Farragol x dropp - 楽感 / optimo

pool$ide - aquarius

FUJII - EUPHORIA

Andrew W.K. - You’re Not Alone

Stardazer - Vacation Dreams

Alex Crispin - Open Submission

Foodman - Aru Otoko No Densetsu

20) TUPPERWΛVE - To you baby, with love

As the years go by, sometimes I still crave that classic-style (or as Tech Honors once described SEAWRLDハートブレーク, “trash-ass”) vaporwave sound. It’s the usual fare of slowed down antiquated R&B with filter sweeps and side-chained kicks, but TUPPERWΛVE’s sample choices and looped snippets stay inspired throughout, building emotionally impactful arrangements and proving the artist has what 90% of contemporary vaporwave is missing: a sense of taste and purpose. NUWRLD vibes.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

19) The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time - Stage 4 & 5

Leyland Kirby released stages 4 and 5 of his six part, multi-year epic simulating a mind falling into dementia. It’s said the last memories someone suffering from dementia retains are the melodies heard in their youth, and on this year’s installments we find melodies from the first stages lost in a haze of static and noise. While not as easy to listen to as the first three stages, these 8 tracks lose the poetic titles of the previous installments and present an absolutely horrifying interpretation of the confusion that comes with a mind breaking down.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

18) Kate NV - для FOR

I won’t lie, I went into the new Kate NV hoping for at least a few heart-melting rib-cage exploding pop masterpieces like what she showed us on Binasu (my favorite album of 2016). However, the absence of conventional songwriting on для FOR ends up being its defining characteristic. The album delivers a set of impressionistic synth sculptures that slowly develop an album that blossoms into blissful organic structures with brushstrokes of vocals before skipping off into a brightly lit horizon.

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17) 忘れた頃に手紙をよこさないで - Tamao Ninomiya

There is an air of surreality drifting through the new crop of Tokyo underground post-pop. Tamao Ninomiya’s “lo-fi bedroom pop” is always performed in PJs and has a playful gloominess with a thousand-yard-stare kind of shyness that exudes a special kind of emotional resonance. Everything is gentle, subtly “off” - it’s an inventive and delicate pop sketchbook. 

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

16) Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place

The same way Pokémon Yellow was a video game based on an anime that was based on a video game, Kero Kero Bonito is a British group that has arrived at a sound closer to early 2000′s jrock than the British rock that crop of Japanese musicians were imitating. While the final 1/3rd of the album drags, there’s no denying the pop perfection of “Time Today,” the Blue-Album-Weezer thunder of “Only Acting,” the Parklife-era Blur artschool bounce of “If I’d Known,” the whimsical bubblegum of “Make Believe,” or the saccharin yet heartfelt “Dear Future Self,” a pop meditation complete with "Mr. Blue Sky” charm and melodramatic chamber orchestra arrangements.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

15) we could die here - we could die here

While “brooding ambient” is a genre I have drifted away from these past years, ‘we could die here’ reminded me of why I was once drawn to it. It’s all about creating atmospheres, and while so much of genre these days seems to be producing the same, boring, smoke-filled neon/black room, ‘we could die here’s lush sound succeeds in building a sprawling, haunting world with enough depth that it’s worth returning to.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

14) poemme - Moments in Golden Light

Similar in scope to ‘we could die here,’ Moments in Golden Light is as advertised - warm and soft. Blissful pillows of ambience constructed in the old style, poemme pulses and drones with the silkiness of Hakobune and the breadth of Steve Roach, featuring a track that even unabashedly layers in bird samples.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

13) Machine Girl - The Ugly Art

The Ugly Art is special, as it’s the first Machine Girl album that begins to capture the raw energy and power of their live shows by showcasing live drums. The insane breaks are intact and the blistering Dreamcast punk is more hardcore. It’s dense, unrelenting in its shredding, and culminates in the epic “A Decent Man,” a 10 minute violent rave masterpiece with more content than all 3 Matrix movies combined.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

12) Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of

Age Of is a complex concept album more convoluted than a Roger Waters solo project. The music itself makes the trip one worth taking, through 13 immaculately produced tracks painting a post-apocalyptic machine world. It has an ability to turn pop tricks on tracks like “Black Snow” and “Same,” while the sound remains distant from any of comfortable paradigm. Bits of static, broken samples, and walls of noise develop into larger-than-life ballads that seem eerily familiar despite being so alien. The arrangements are complex and the production is deep, it’s a cyber-western soundtrack that always commands full attention. 

SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC

11) Seth Graham - Gasp

Gasp has a charm and complexity that sets it apart from a lot of experimental composition. The tape cut samples of “Whisper - Slap” sound impossibly worked on, while the ASMR freakouts of “Binary Tapioca” and the restrained playfulness of “Flower Cheese” make the process sound like an artist working effortlessly. Deeply emotive and loudly expressive, Gasp has a sound that digs in its hooks and burrows deep.

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10) Equip - Synthetic Core 88

The long awaited followup to the seminal faux-ost I Dreamed Of A Palace In The Sky, Synthetic Core 88 delivers on the promise of Equip’s earlier work and brings it to a new realm of legitimacy. This is a 32-bit RPG I wish I could play - with all the themes of interwoven technology and magic revealing themselves in the clever score. The conflict between the cold steel and floral lushness emerges in the sound somewhere between Uematsu and a “Tales of” game. This album could only be made by someone who truly understands how music supports the worldbuilding an RPG needs to be a successful narrative platform.

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9) Utsuro Spark - Static Electricity

Utsuro Spark is a miracle. One of the highlights from the impressive output of the Japanese label, Local Visions, this mini-album is a collection of beautifully crafted metropolitan electro pop. Sharp instrumentals including studio-perfect guitar and on-point synth work lay a foundation for blissfully creamy vocals - pop music that is full of desperate longing and unpretentious charm. The katakana titles recall the old Japanese pop it draws inspiration from, but in many ways the soul of this music at the very least meets the bar set by the old masters. 

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8) Tsudio Studio - Port Island

I was lucky to play a show in Kobe with Tsudio Studio, whose brilliant songwriting and iconic vocal delivery completely won over my heart and soul. The jazzy coolness and gorgeous chord structure for tracks like “Azur” and “Snowfall Seaside” are absolutely intoxicating, while the hooky R&B in “Mikage” and the Phantasy Star Online space-shredding of the opener “Tor” make Port Island a mini-album where every single track is a stand out.

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7) Dinosaur On Fire - Populous Romantique

After a 6 year gap, dds cohort Tech Honors unleashed the second Dinosaur On Fire album in a maelstrom of prog rock and laser beams. It’s an ultra hi-fi production that bounces from stoner prog to krautrock to synthwave to operatic video game symphonies to Ray Lynch arp fountains and back again effortlessly. Populous Romantique showcases the expansive reach of Tech’s abilities both as a visionary artist and producer.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

6) Monari Wakita - Ahead!

While so much jpop has become aggressively intense and fast-tempo, Ahead! provides a soulful contrast. Monari Wakita is an ex-idol and alumni of Especia, a group known for capitalizing on 80′s/90′s nostalgia. Ahead! mostly pulls from the 90′s, with new jack swing aping and hyper-produced city pop so technically perfect that the instrumentals would sound at home on the soundtrack of a 90′s Sonic Team video game. It’s that FM bass, synthetic swing, and plastic instrumentation against Monari’s powerful and soulful voice that gives Ahead! its irresistible charm and made it one of the most addictive albums of the year.

VIDEO 1 / VIDEO 2

5) Ventla - Plugged-Matic/Sublingual Odyssey

After years of silence, Ventla returned in 2018 with 10 (!) new albums on his quest to release 100. Ventla’s music continues to be eclectic vignettes of scratchy pop music, utilizing a seemingly endless variety of instruments and synths. Of the 10, the “classic Ventla” sound of Plugged-Matic and the playful exoticism explored on Sublingual Odyssey were my favorites - but with an artist whose entire catalog of 477 songs is easily played on loop for days on end, picking only 2 albums is almost an act of futility.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: Plugged-Matic/Sublingual Odyssey

4) emamouse - Pigeon’s Point

emamouse’s genius visual art and surreal identity are accented by her equally forward thinking music. The iconic opener “01_PP2″ is a brilliant statement of purpose; a homicidal vocaloid squeaking words you can’t quite understand but frighten you nonetheless over a synth organ jamming out hypnotic post-pop you can’t help but dance to. This is music written by a true artist with a powerful vision of reality and instrumental chops informed by video game music deep cuts. “08_Pigeon’s Swipe” is another great showcase of emamouse’s ability to skew Dragon Quest baroque synths and contort them into the brilliant, unsettling world of her boundless imagination.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

3) TWICE - What Is Love?

Kpop can be a divisive genre, but its meteoric rise in the US is no fluke. The Korean pop machine has mastered the art of the pop song, and nowhere is it more evident than in TWICE’s “What Is Love?” Perfect structure, heart-tugging hook, surprising turns, and a chorus that sounds like 1000 girls yelling the lyrics from the bottom of the grand canyon, “What Is Love?” is technically perfect and sweetly endearing. It’s truly the most perfect pop song I’ve ever heard.

VIDEO

2) Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling

Crumbling is an album so in tune with my personal taste it’s hard to believe it exists. With a foundation of Lamp-esque dreamy pop labyrinths, Mid-Air Thief weaves complex arrangements peppered with ELO synths, chiptune fireworks, lo-fi indie folk revery, underwater voices and Elliott Smith whispers, even some Merriweather Post Pavilion electro-hippy clouds. It’s all the right flavors and textures coming together in a perfectly balanced, romantic masterpiece.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

1) Lamp - Her Watch / 彼女の時計

I discovered Lamp through a vaporwave album back in 2014 that sampled them heavily, and while those short samples of cooing vocals and breezy guitar looped with their heads underwater certainly worked in a satisfying way on that album, discovering the source material was a revelation. Lamp is the result of an algorithm to determine music that would be most appealing to me, and they hit new ridiculous heights of personal appeal on Her Watch. Their signature labyrinthine hurricane of Beatle-esque chord changes under soft voices and bossa nova rhythms is re-fitted into a nostalgic frame, sometimes approaching an almost city pop revivalist sound. The tenderness of “Slow-Motion,” the romance of “A Train Window,” the pop genius of “1998,” the borage of melancholic brightness that rolls from the opening chords of “At The Night Party,” all of it falls into place on the most sublime 36 minutes I have heard in a long time. It was the soundtrack to my life this year and my favorite album of 2018!

STREAM/DOWNLOAD / SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC

[onestowatch]

30 Artists To Watch on Tour This Spring 2019

Ah, what a season spring is. It is a time of rebirth, from the super bloom of poppies that are flooding Instagram feeds to even young love that will last at the very least until summer. Yet, one facet of spring is more magical than any pretty flower or whirlwind romance -- we are of course talking about spring tours!

This spring, the best of the best of rising artists will be embarking on tours across the world, playing world renowned festivals and likely a show in a city near you. Yet, with hundreds, if not thousands, of artists embarking on tour this spring, how could you ever decide who to see? No need to fret, as we here at Ones To Watch have already solved that problem for you. These are thirty of the best tours happening this spring 2019.  

LÉON with Morgan Saint

Genre: Left-of-center pop that is the just the right thing for any listening occasion 

We here at Ones To Watch could not be more elated to present LÉON’s forthcoming tour in support of her long-awaited, self-titled debut album. The fact that we are going to get to hear one of pop’s most soulful voices alongside one of our favorite musical discoveries of this year is all we could have ever asked for and more.  

Grab tickets!

Jorja Smith x Kali Uchis 

Genre: Two R&B visionaries sharing the same stage 

We would be lying if we did not admit that a solo Jorja Smith or Kali Uchis show would be more than enough to have us rushing to buy our tickets. So, when word hit that these two powerhouses of R&B were setting off on tour together, we already had our wallets drawn. 

Grab tickets!

Smino with EARTHGANG and Phoelix 

Genre: Hip-hop with substance 

A true hip-hop visionary, rapper and singer Smino will be embarking alongside EARTHGANG and Phoelix on the Ones To Watch presented ‘Hoopti Tour.’ Following the release of Smino’s acclaimed sophomore album, Noir, we are all expecting a tour rife with a wealth of phenomenal material to pull from. 

Grab tickets!

YUNGBLUD

Genre: Raw, explosive, and political alternative rock

It is no secret that YUNGBLUD is our favorite socio-politically-minded rocker, having invited the rising star out to our New York rooftop to demonstrate his talents for us first-hand. And with “11 Minutes,” a striking collaboration with Halsey and Travis Barker, YUNGBLUD has emerged as 2019’s breakout star.  

Grab tickets!

Wallows 

Genre: An otherworldly blend of indie rock and anti-pop aesthetics 

Comprised of Braeden Lemasters, Dylan Minnette, and Cole Preston, Wallows has yet to release their debut album, but the trio is already one of our favorite new obsessions. And the best news yet? The boys are just about to drop their debut album, Nothing Happens, and hit the road playing what is bound to be an album we will have on repeat.  

Grab tickets!

A R I Z O N A

Genre: electronic dance pop that reaches heavenly heights 

A R I Z O N A does more than transform guitars, keys, and vocals, into alternative dance pop. The trio transforms these sparse elements into anthemic musical worlds brimming with life. Currently gearing up to embark on the Ones To Watch presented ‘Find Someone Tour,’ you can expect to catch us at the front row of every show. 

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iDKHOW 

Genre: Pop-punk may just be the only type of punk that’s not dead 

I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, popularly abbreviated to idkhow for the sake of me not getting early onset arthritis, reminds us exactly why pop-punk is such an internationally loved phenomenon. Our sister site, The Noise, had the pleasure of capturing iDKHOW live, and it has us oh so pumped for this upcoming tour. 

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Sticky Fingers 

Genre: The illicit love child of Manchester rock and Kingston dub 

Our favorite chart-topping Australian rockers, Sticky Fingers, are currently in the midst of their Ones To Watch presented ‘Yours To Keep Album Tour,’ in support of their remarkable fourth studio album. Based on what we saw of their New York show, trust us when we say Sticky Fingers is a band you do not want to miss out on seeing live. 

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Pale Waves 

Genre: Iridescent indie pop with a healthy side of goth 

Pale Waves is akin to a modern-day The Cure. Adoring a gothic exterior, the UK-based quarter makes shimmering indie pop that is undeniably infectious. Add that to the fact that they are playing not only a series of their own headlining shows but touring alongside The 1975, and we are sold. 

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lovelytheband with flora cash and Jagwar Twin 

Genre: Indie pop anthems that speak to depression, anxiety, and the hardships of life 

lovelytheband is a band that has no trouble in resonating with the world at large. From their songs that are veritable earworms to their wholly relatable lyrics, we here at Ones To Watch could not be happier to be presenting the band’s ‘finding it hard to smile’ tour.  

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Leikeli47

Genre: Raucous rap with an infectious edge

Brooklyn rapper Leikeli47 is in a class all her own. At times experimental yet always slapping, Leikeli47 is chronicling life as a black woman through her empowering, humorous, sad, and thought-proving gift for lyricism. Catch us pondering and going off on ‘The Acrylic Tour.’   

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Alec Benjamin

Genre: Profound songwriting talent that belies the artist’s age 

A story or a songwriting genius like Alec Benjamin does not come around too often. From being dropped by his label to being praised across the globe as a stunning songwriting talent, Benjamin’s gift for weaving story into song is best experienced live. 

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Omar Apollo with ROLE MODEL, Ambar Lucid, Mk.Gee

Genre: DIY musical prodigy whose Spanglish bedroom rock meditations melt hearts 

Inspired by the likes of Cuco and John Mayer, Omar Apollo stood out in 2018 as a brilliant illustration of what the future of music looks like. And this spring, he is bringing a fair share of equally talented friends with him on the road for a series of shows that are not to be missed. 

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MorMor 

Genre: Versatile psychedelic pop belonging to a world all its own

Toronto singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist MorMor delivers music without a concert for established trends or conventions. Quite unlike anything we have heard before, it is a sound worth losing yourself in, and the same holds true for his live show. 

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Tom Walker 

Genre: World-renowned, critically-acclaimed alternative soul 

Tom Walker took home the “British Breakthrough Act” at the 2019 Brit Awards and it is not hard to see why. With a voice that carries a unique emotional gravitas and a critically-acclaimed debut album now under his belt, this is a tour poised to make this British sensation an international one. 

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The Japanese House 

Genre: The reason the moniker dream pop exists  

The solo project of London-based singer-songwriter Amber Bain, The Japanese House’s music exists in a plane of lush, atmospheric haze. 2019 saw the release of her highly-anticipated debut album, Good At Falling, and as personal fans of every single second of it, we cannot wait to experience it in person. 

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Matt Maeson

Genre: Absolutely haunting songwriting by an enlightened soul

Matt Maeson’s unforgettable songwriting often surrounds itself with themes belonging to the darker side of life, and in doing so, the Chesapeake Bay native paints narrative portraits that are likely to stand the test of time. Set to release his debut album, Bank On The Funeral, ahead of his mostly sold-out, first headlining tour, this may be your last chance to catch Maeson in such an intimate setting.  

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Dennis Lloyd

Genre: Anthemic music that transcends genre

Dennis Lloyd is the very definition of a multi-talented threat. The producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentality from Tel Aviv ignited a fire with his breakout single, “Nevermind,” a hypnotic track that has been streamed over 450-million times to date. And it is a fire he is keeping ablaze with his follow-up single “Never Go Back” and a series of shows. 

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Lolo Zouaï

Genre: The future sound of pop

Lolo Zouaï is a worldwide phenomenon in the making. The French-Algerian-American trilingual queen makes music informed by her diverse background and upbringing, and the result is a sound that feels wholly refreshing. Zouaï is a name we expect to be seeing a lot more of after this upcoming tour wraps. 

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Picture This 

Genre: Anthemic alternative pop with a profound emotional gravity 

Picture This is hands down one of Ireland’s hottest musical exports, having claimed the title of the best-selling band in Ireland for two years straight. Now, Picture This is taking their talents worldwide on a monumental North American tour this Spring.

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Ella Mai with Mahalia 

Genre: Commanding UK R&B that is not afraid to bare its soul 

What is better than catching one of the best rising artists in the realm of R&B? Catching two of them in fell swoop. Breakout star Ella Mai will be joined by fellow UK R&B phenom Mahalia on ‘The Debut Tour,’ and we could not be more excited. 

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Lennon Stella 

Genre: YouTube star turned veritable pop sensation

Ontario, Canada, native Lennon Stella may have first gained international attention covering songs on YouTube with her sister, Maisy, but it is her own works of pop magic that are keeping people hooked. Heading out with Valley and Anne-Marie this spring, we cannot wait to fall under Stella’s pop spell.  

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Soccer Mommy

Genre: Folk-leaning indie rock that sprawls out like a beautifully written diary entry 

Soccer Mommy left quite the impression in 2018 as one of the most critically-acclaimed artists of the year. An artist who cut her teeth on the DIY scene and released the phenomenal album that is Clean, we could not be happier to champion this new face of indie rock at every one of her future shows. 

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Dermot Kennedy

Genre: Soulful, poetic, and picturesque songwriting 

Dermot Kennedy’s rise over the last few years feels particularly meteoric yet undeniably deserved. The Irish talent simply has the sort of voice you cannot ignore and the songwriting acumen to back up such a commanding voice. It is a voice that when heard live never fails to pierce your heart. 

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LANY

Genre: Breathtaking and exhilarating alternative pop 

LANY’s rose era may have to come to an end, but the moon era is everything we could have ever asked for. The band’s latest album to date, Malibu Nights, is pure synth-driven perfection that deserves to be heard live, over and over again. 

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JID

Genre: Hip-hop that is cinematic in scope 

There are no two ways about it; JID is one of the most technically and lyrically skilled rappers in the game right now. The Atlanta rapper’s sophomore outing, Dicaprio 2, is an album that launches JID into a pantheon few other hip-hop artists can touch. It also doesn’t hurt that it is filled with music perfect for an explosive live show. 

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Cub Sport 

Genre: Pop that carriers with it an irresistible, airy charm 

Self-managed, entirely independent, and some of the finest pop out there, Cub Sport is a band that you cannot but help but cheer for. The Australian quartet creates atmospheric pop that sounds like a dream but is deeply rooted in sentimental, often deeply personal songwriting. 

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Olivia O’Brien 

Genre: A velvety fusion of atmospheric pop and R&B 

Olivia O’Brien first entered the public consciousness with her viral hit “hate u love u,” and her gift for poignant pop songwriting has cemented her as a lasting force in the music world. Hot off the heels of a series of successful singles, 2019 is poised to be a monumental year for this pop powerhouse.

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Wet with Kilo Kish 

Genre: Poignant music that is constantly evolving 

Wet and Kilo Kish are two artists who have consistently escaped simple classification, so it only makes sense that they hit the road together this spring. And whether it be the ethereal pop-leaning work of Wet’s early discography or the folk-evoking meditations we were graced with in 2019, we here for every moment of it. 

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Billy Raffoul 

Genre: Beautifully unapologetic songwriting for the ages

There is a timeless quality to the music of Billy Raffoul. Through the sole force of his raspy, jaw-dropping voice, Raffoul delivers refreshingly sincere works of sonic art that are minimalistic yet never feel sparse. It is the sort of music that stays with you long after a song fades or the show the finishes. 

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[tinymixtapes]

Music Review: Yves Tumor - Safe in the Hands of Love

Yves Tumor Safe in the Hands of Love [Warp; 2018] Rating: 4.5/5 What does it even mean to be “experimental” anymore? It’s a term that’s supposed to connote some kind of wading into uncharted territory, a willingness to push beyond our most subliminally held beliefs when it comes to how we perceive music and, to a larger extent, the world. But the word has increasingly become shorthand for a specific scene of artists today who fit just as neatly into predetermined boundaries as any other genre tag. Sometimes it even feels like these “vanguard” artists are simply catching up to what mainstream culture has been privy to for years, as if the reassessments of nu-metal, EDM, country, or what have you are just the results of somebody finally deciding to slap the art sticker on what they deemed to be previously “lesser” forms. Maybe we would’ve just been better off not turning our noses down at so many manifestations of expression in the first place, as if any style of music isn’t inherently a nesting doll of gateways into understanding who we really are. Part of what’s made Sean Bowie’s music so captivating over his many scattered projects is that he’s never seemed to put too much stock into being any one kind of artist. Sure, he’s all about that shadowy “who is he?” ambiguity that us critics just can’t ever seem to get enough of, but as Safe in the Hands of Love proves, even he’s willing to cast off the dark shroud of mystery around his work if it means that it’ll set him free. Despite all the disturbing imagery that’s accompanied his debut release for Warp, Yves Tumor’s latest record is shockingly accessible, a huge, explosive rush of song and sound as layered and textured as it is pure and simple. For an artist who’s demonstrated a remarkable ability to evoke moods of melancholy and fear in his music, Safe in the Hands of Love thrives on its intensity and excitement, revealing a side of Yves Tumor that we’ve never seen blossom so fully like this before. The most striking thing about Safe in the Hands of Love is how utterly straightforward it is; compared to previous Yves Tumor records, which could flit between layered field recordings, slinky R&B, smudged beats, and overwhelming static without batting an eyelash, Safe in the Hands of Love plays like an outright pop record. Tracks like “Noid” and “Lifetime” could be mistaken for a strange approximation of English big beat and early-2000s indie rock with their pounding drums and surprisingly in-your-face vocals, but these moments are ultimately more fascinating for their sheer energy and hookiness than they are for any sort of aesthetic repurposing. Even in its most upbeat moments, there’s always a hidden layer beneath the frame — on the warped 90s pop of “Noid,” Bowie fears for his own life as a “killing spree” rages on outside, while the ruminative chamber music of “Recognizing the Enemy” builds to a voice-shredding climax as Bowie chants over and over, “I can’t recognize myself.” All these nebulous paeans to identity, love, spirituality, and freedom that dot the lyrics and track titles are as immediately relatable as they are obscured by their own vagueness, producing the woozy effect of feeling both closer and more distant from Yves Tumor at the same time. But even if Safe In The Hands of Love’s deadliest weapon is its simplicity and its rock friendliness, the craft here still feels as nuanced as anything Bowie has ever done. You can hear his love of deep, moody loops in the smeared “Faith In Nothing Except Salvation” and “All The Love We Have Now,” each of which sound like the result of stacking so many low bitrate recordings atop one another until their ugliness becomes its own kind of beauty. Although Bowie only ever seems to deploy his diced-up beats when the moment truly calls for it, “Honesty” demonstrates his fearsome approach to club rhythms, click-clacking back and forth as Yves Tumor asks, “Is this you or your persona?” All this questioning and self-discovery only adds to Safe in the Hands of Love’s almost glam-rock sense of roleplay; even when Bowie dips back into the harsh noise of his past on the bridge of the sensuous trip-hop dirge “Licking an Orchid,” it sounds less like abstract expressionism and more like his twisted version of a sky-tearing guitar solo. There are traces of the old Yves Tumor here in the sighing, deconstructed R&B of “Economy of Freedom” and the pulverizing feedback assault of “Hope In Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness),” but when did we ever really have a grasp on the old Yves Tumor in the first place? Every project Bowie has pursued over the years has felt like an attempt to realize a different facet of himself, with the wild divergence from album to album (sometimes even from song to song; sometimes even within a song) only helping to give us a more detailed portrait of the artist. Although Yves Tumor’s rise to prominence has put a target on his head for every blog and algorithm out there to attempt and nail down exactly who or what he is, Safe in the Hands of Love proves that no amount of definition can really encompass a person’s ever-shifting essence. Bowie’s only consistent trajectory has been one of tearing down his mythos even as his builds it, and his latest manages to knock down yet another wall as he steps more fully into the light than he’s ever dared tread before. On Safe in the Hands of Love, Yves Tumor isn’t concerned with being “experimental;” he’s simply concerned with being. http://j.mp/2MDF0LC

[uncannygears-archived]

Tagged by: stolen from @battlewitted because of underwear

A    —    AGE : 24 B    —    BIRTHPLACE : Aix-en-Provence.  C    —    CURRENT  TIME : 23:03. D    —    DRINK  YOU  HAD  LAST : Tap water. E    —    EASIEST  PERSON ( S )  TO  TALK  TO : The people I talk to in my head because it’s easier than making conversation to real people. F    —    FAVOURITE  SONG ( S ) : I have many favourites but a constant number one is Layla, by Eric Clapton. That bass line and that guitar solo get me every time, bro. G    —    GHOSTS ;    ARE  THEY  REAL ? : No, but it’s coolif they are. H    —    HORROR  YES ,   OR  HORROR  NO : Horror fuck yes, but also I’m a coward and I hide behind my pillow. I    —    IN  LOVE  ? : I’m too aro for this mess. J    —    JEALOUS  OF  PEOPLE ? : Sometimes, then I slap myself in the face and it gets better. The occasional jealousy outburst, not my face. My face gets worse. K    —    KILLED  SOMEONE ? : With kindness. L    —    LOVE  AT  FIRST  SIGHT ,   OR  SHOULD  I  WALK  BY  AGAIN ? : Walk by and to the next person over there and don’t come back, it will save us both time and energy. M    —    MIDDLE  NAME ( S ) :  Julie and Sophie - so fancy I have two. N    —    NUMBER  OF  SIBLINGS :  One brother, one sister (22 and 9). O    —    ONE  WISH :  To persist in practising and to eventually one day maybe become good at drawing. Also to have a cool job I’ll have fun with every day and that I actually chose instead of feeling like it’s a temporary thing until something better comes up. P    —    PERSON  YOU  LAST  CALLED   /   TEXTED :  Brussels Airlines’ Customer Support.  I think the agent’s name was Virginie. Q    —    QUESTION  YOU’RE  ALWAYS  ASKED :  "How tall are you?” R    —    REASONS  TO  SMILE : A good movie or a good tv show. Also cowboys. S    —    SONG  YOU  SANG  LAST :  I have taken the terrible habit to sing along the songs I listen to on youtube at home. I just sang “Marching of the Ents” by Clamavi de Profundis and a cover of System of a Down’s “Chop Suey” by Waxx and Siobhan Wilson. T    —    TOP  THREE  FICTIONAL  CHARACTERS :  The Doctor, Sherlock Holmes, Maeve (Westworld). U    —    UNDERWEAR  COLOUR :  Goshdarn dark pink and dark green. V    —    VACATION :   In the middle of nowhere. Anywhere will do as long as it’s nowhere and quiet. W    —    WHEN’S  YOUR  BIRTHDAY ? : December. X    —    X - RAYS :  My teeth? Y    —    YOUR  FAVOURITE  FOOD :  Mozzarella. Z    —    ZODIAC  SIGN : Sagittarius.

Tagging: S te a l.

[waraupiero]

I love your metas

aww thank you!! i’m glad you like them!! and sure thing, i’d be happy to! here are a list of my Big Time Faves, but if there’s are specific genres that you like better, please let me know and i can give you even more suggestions!! i used to volunteer as a translator/journalist for a j-music webzine :) so i know quite a few bands haha

out of all the bands that i listen to, the most popular are probably the gazette and dir en grey. they both lean more on the heavier side, i’d say their music is mainly metal/punk. the gazette’s new song ‘falling’ is pretty emblematic of their style, very heavy stuff but also with a transcendent/emotional vibe. one of my favourite dir en grey songs is ‘lotus’, and it’s slightly more artsy and compositionally unusual, like the rest of their stuff. both bands also have softer/less intense songs, like ‘gentle lie’ for the gazette, and ‘glass skin’ for dir en grey.

if you’re into something even more artsy than dir en grey, the lead singer for dir en grey, kyo, has another band called sukekiyo. it’s also metal, but more of the melodic and experimental vibe. i really love their songs ‘anima’ and ‘aoguroi hysteria’.

on the more ‘rock’ and less ‘metal’ side of things, this is kind of basic but i really love one ok rock. their music is very accessible but still packs a very iconic punch. they draw a lot of influence from western emo and pop punk bands, but their music is usually more upbeat. their lyrics feel very ‘shōnen’, but i like that. my favourite songs by them are ‘jibun rock’, ‘onion!’, and ‘re:make’.

in a similar vein are a band i recently discovered, the oral cigarettes. they’re more funky and similarly upbeat, but with less of an emo/pop punk influence. their vibe is really cute and all their songs are bops lmao. ‘kishikaisei story’ and ‘kizukeyo baby’ are great songs!

for something that’s rock but has a little more edge, i’d really recommend miyavi, who is also quite famous. he’s known for his unique slap-guitar playing technique, and his music blends influences of rock, funk, r&b, latin, and hip hop. he’s called it ‘kabuki rock’ and ‘samurai rock’, haha. he’s one of the most prolific and innovative artists in the industry, and his music is very much Relevant to the times. i love ‘what a wonderful world (subarashikikana, kono sekai)’, his guitar vs. rap battle with kreva ‘strong’, and this wonderful funky bop about social media called ‘real?’.

something similarly playful is mucc, which kind of skips between the line of experimental metal and dance rock. it’s hard to describe their style, but i’d say that it’s goth with a sort of sardonic, cynical humour? and it’s hella danceable, for the most part. i love their old classic, ‘moumoku de arugayue no sogaikan’, and their nihilistic anthem ‘kokoro no nai machi’ is my go-to shower song ngl

if you like emo music!! i definitely recommend girugamesh!! the raw emotion and fiery beats in their music really fires me up!!! i’ve sort of fallen out of the loop with them but i still love them very much. some of my favourites by them are ‘crying rain’ and ‘arrow’.

if you like more softer stuff, plastic tree is definitely one of my top bands, ever. i’m not exactly sure how to categorise their style, i guess it’s more shoegaze-y, very dreamy. it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but their songs really carry you off to some faraway place. there’s an element of soft fantasy in their imagery, and it’s sweet and aching at the same time. the lead singer arimura ryutaro’s lyrics are also absolutely singular. sadly some of their newer stuff is not available on american youtube, but some good old songs they have are ‘makka na ito’, ‘sanatorium’, and ‘moonlight’. arimura ryutaro has also released a solo ep which is excellent, and some good tracks off of that are ‘manegoto’ and ‘mata, otsukisama’.

in a slightly more elaborate style is 9goats black out. same sort of dreamy vibe, but way more gothic and slightly sharper. they draw a lot inspiration from things like fairy tales, biblical stories, and gothic literature. their music is pretty amorphous; the melody always takes you somewhere you’re not expecting. so some of their stuff is a little inaccessible. but out of the more standard stuff, i really love ‘lilith’, ‘sink’, and ‘den lille havfrue’.

and lastly, for something that’s really, really japanese, i very much recommend kagrra,. kagrra, uses a lot of traditional japanese composition in their music, and their band name is a reference to kagura (神楽), a genre of traditional japanese music. they’re also a softer band, but their music is absolutely haunting and lovely. my favourites have got to be ‘utakata’ and ‘shiki’.

sorry this was so long!! i hope there is at least something here that is to your taste, haha. i’m not sure what your taste is so i tried to cover most of my bases when it came to japanese rock. of course if there are specific genres that you do like that aren’t mentioned here, please let me know! i also listen to a fair bit of pop/pop-rock, electronic, more experimental weird metal shit, and even classic japanese rock from the 80s and 90s – whether it’s dad rock, or underground rock. i also know some meme bands/air bands, so if you’re into stuff like that too i can also suggest some. if there’s something here that you like especially and want some other bands/some more songs that sound similar, let me know and i can do that too!!

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 4, Number 3

Dark Blue covers the Anti-Nowhere League in this edition

Another few weeks of accumulated dust spans genres from classic jazz to no wave skronk to guitar-centric country blues. Dusted writers including Isaac Olson, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers and Jonathan Shaw write about the near-famous and the purposefully obscure. We hope you’ll find something to intrigue you in this mid-March collection.

Advertisement — This Is Advertisement (Self Released)

This is Advertisement by Advertisement

Successful revolutions enable freedom, including the freedom of salvaging what is worthwhile from what was overturned. There’s been a smattering of punk bands recently who, thanks to the death of rock as a driving force in global pop culture and the enabling of increasingly omnivorous tastes by the internet, are doing away with old tribal notions of taste and proudly tracing their lineage to both Sticky Fingers and Damaged. Seattle’s Advertisement, on their debut tape, This Is Advertisement, follow in the footsteps of fellow travelers Milk Music in stripping Thin Lizzy and Crazy Horse for parts and wiring what they’ve found to a lean, hardcore-influenced sound. This day-drunk, punks-on-a-road-trip sound is increasingly fashionable, and at this point, Advertisement isn’t doing anything that, say, Sheer Mag hasn't done before, but the two best songs here, opener “Past is Alive” and closer “Cryin’ Wild” fuse the joy of the unironic guitar solo with the joy of the mosh pit successfully enough to be optimistic for what they’ll do next.

Isaac Olson

 Jaap Blonk & Terrie Ex — Thirsty Ears (Terp)

“Are you listening?” Those are the first words you hear from Jaap Blonk on Thirsty Ears, and he poses the question with full knowledge that the question will be definitively answered before the track is done. He goes on to describe the process of listening, catalogs sounds quite like the ones you will hear throughout this record and then describes the vanity of trying not to hear him. “You block your hearing but it won’t work,” he crows. Rest assured, you will either give this record your full attention or turn it off; there is no middle ground. Blonk is a master sound poet, his voice an elastic instrument that can groan, croon, gargle, or articulate so flexibly that he could have voiced every machine and critter in contemporary non-live-action Hollywood if he would only consent to being told what to do. But he is a free man, abetted here by another man just as free. Terrie Ex is equally unwilling to be boxed in, even by his own extensive history of free, punk and African-derived music making. He matches Blonk’s utterances and ultra-theatrical speech with detuning adventures that make his guitar sound like a time-lapse documentation of a the sounds of a suspension bridge’s slow deterioration in the centuries after the humans clear out.

Bill Meyer

 Boneshaker — Thinking Out Loud CD/LP (Trost)

Thinking Out Loud by BONESHAKER

Boneshaker does not want to keep you in the dark. The trio includes Chicago free jazz veterans Mars Williams and Kent Kessler plus citizen of the world Paal Nilssen-Love. The band’s name tells you what they aim to do, and album’s title tells you how they do it. Their collective cv includes work with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide and Hal Russell; these guys have learned from the best about how to shiver timbers, and given they longevity of their involvement with high energy improvisation (the Americans are in their 60s, Nilssen-Love is in his 40s), they’re teachers too. The ability to blow as hard as Albert Ayler, to launch a percussive barrage that’ll stop a bus and to propel the whole affair with resonant bass patterns is necessary, but not sufficient. You also have to think while you’re doing it, so that soul and exhilaration come together with coherence and logic. Listen and learn.

Bill Meyer

 Dark Blue — Fight to Love b/w For You (12XU)

Fight To Love by Dark Blue

“Warning: This song is going to be rubbish.”  That’s the first thing you hear on John Sharkey III’s latest single, a young boy managing expectations for, most likely, his dad. But no need for that, because the a-side is a grand and gothy guitar fest, with giant arc’ing chords and fizzing smoke-pot riffs that sound more like 1970s radio metal than anything punk. Sharkey sings, as always, in a hollowed out baritone that’s somehow snide and doomedly romantic. The second side is a cover of the Anti-Nowhere League’s 1982 single “For You.” Even the original was far less scatological than the band’s big hit “So What” but Sharkey has turned it into an existential anthem, slower, more echo-ridden and full of frustrated longing.  No rubbish here, just a reminder of how good Dark Blue can be.

Jennifer Kelly

 Ravyn Lenae — Crush (Three Twenty Three)

Totally unhinged and memorable ululations herald the arrival of many great songs, and Ravyn Lenae's at the beginning of "Sticky" ranks among them. Not just that, but syrupy organ and snappy guitar capture the total abandon and carnal pleasure in getting sticky, however you might please. Inventiveness, especially experimenting with texture, is de rigueur in R&B lately, and Lenae and producer Steve Lacy explore their own sound through layered vocals, punchy but smooth production and unexpected key changes. Lenae attempts to sustain the magic of the EP's opening number throughout, but both of Lacy's vocal turns are distractingly blasé, and the unique pose of first sound never surfaces again as assured. There are enough creative risks here to suggest that 18-year-old Lenae could further develop this sound into something that can be better sustained. For now the abandon of "Sticky" and the music that follows is like diving into an ice-cream on a hot day: It feels great to let loose and let the sugar drip all over, but after that there's nothing much special about having sticky hands.  

Bryan Daly

   The Lovely Eggs — This Is Eggland (Egg Records)

“Wiggy Giggy” is maybe the most exuberantly silly song you’ll hear all year, from its chanted backbone of “wiggy, wiggy, giggy,” repeated ad infinitum, to its giant  clanging guitar riffs, to its sweetly demented vocals, courtesy of Lovely Eggs diva Holly Ross, who is married to David Blackwell, the band’s other half. The song is so much fun, and so ridiculous, that it could only have come from a band completely unconcerned with public reception – a band, perhaps, the records and releases its material completely on its own. And this, in fact, is what we have here, a band that has completely immunized itself to popular opinion and can consequently do what they like. What do they like? Think of the Breeders joyful riffery, crossed with Imperial Teen’s way with a hook, with a bit of Flaming Lips spliced in, and you’ll be close. The Lovely Eggs don’t care if you like their music, but if you have any fondness for psychedelically tinged pop rock, you will. Marc Riley does, and think how many DIY bands he has to wade through on an average work day.

Jennifer Kelly

 Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio w. Jamie Saft — Midtown Tilt (Shhpuma)

Midtown Tilt by Desertion Trio with Jamie Saft

Desertion? Hey, why not? Anyone playing western-themed music in Philadelphia probably has some kind of evacuation in mind. But even the desert’s likely to be left behind when this combo gets cooking. Guitarist Nick Millevoi kicks off Midtown Tilt with a skirling line bold enough to light up a dune-studded horizon. His lead, however, is more of an anchor than a spotlight. Drummer Kevin Shea’s pummeling attack seems bent on blowing the music off course, and guest organist Jamie Saft’s references are more storefront church than arid vista. And that’s just the first tune.  

Lucky for Millevoi, bassist Johnny De Blasé has a healthy respect for the pulse, because he’s often the guy holding the center. Sometimes he can lure Shea into the pocket, but Saft takes full advantage of his guest soloist role to detour around and redirect the guitarist’s stark melodies at every opportunity.

Bill Meyer

 Meshell Ndegeocello—Ventriloquism

If someone told you that bad-ass bassist Meshell Ndegeocello was covering Prince on her next album, the last track you’d expect her to revisit would be “Sometimes It Snows in April,” a strummy, acoustic ballad from Under the Cherry Moon that sounds, for the Purple one, downright folky. Yet her soft-focus cover of the Artist Formerly Known As’ least funky cut is just a taste of the chilled out vibe Ndegeocello brings to formerly nasty grooves including TLC’s megahit “Waterfalls” and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.” The covers on Ventriloquism share a bleached out vibe that comes partly from Ndegeocello’s soothing voice, but also from cool temperature arrangements that favor pastel tone-washes over slap and pop. Maybe that’s why Ndegeocello sounds the most comfortable in reservedly powerful “Private Dancer” or, once the silly spoken word is over, Sade’s quiet storm classic “Smooth Operator.”  Yeah, maybe a little too smooth.

Jennifer Kelly

 Overmono — Rinse FM, Boiler Room live sets

What is it about Overmono’s sublime blend of junglist memories, lead foot techno and airy ambient that puts them a cut above their contemporaries? The latest answer to that question comes in the form of these two live sets just days apart, the former in support of Derrick Carter in Moscow (ably assisted by Irish up-and-comer Or:la, also worthy of mention here) and the latter on Hessle Audio’s usual Rinse slot. Starting with “U-Plastics” from the mammoth #savefabric comp, I can say with confidence that there’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more consistently over the last year and a half than London-based brothers of a single mother Ed and Tom Russell, aliases Tessela and Truss, who have been reliably plying their trades in the orbit of R&S, Poly Kicks and Perc Trax for years now. As the Arla triptych on XL and Water the Planets giveaway mix demonstrated, Overmono is a collaborative leap from the marginalia of heady British rave investigations into the wild blue yonder of open-ended rhythm, noise and melody —  a less seamless but altogether more fascinating affair on every level. It’s a poor dancing experience but a great listening one, in other words, as they guiltlessly ransack genre and era alike with equal fervor. It’s also without equal in this sphere right now.   

Patrick Masterson

 Parasight — At Leve Som Hvis der Var et Håb (Indisciplinarian)

This first full-length release from Danish d-beat band Parasight sends a number of provocatively mixed signals. Not musically — Parasight plays straightforward metallic punk, driven by the signature rhythm Discharge canonized in the early 1980s. Occasionally the band experiments with a breakdown, as in “Grådigheden Selv,”or a more mid-tempo intro, as on “Håbløst.” On the whole, the songs are well structured, passionately executed and compelling. The more interesting stuff operates at the level of suggestion. Unlike a lot of European bands that play heavy music, Parasight insists on composing lyrics in their native language; they up the ante by not offering translations on inserts or on Bandcamp. In interviews they’ve suggested a desire to position themselves in the tradition of Danish heroic poetry. All that sounds pretty nationalist, which isn’t great news if one is looking for the leftist stance that has always dominated d-beat and crust. But the album art references the tragic drowning of a Syrian Kurdish boy, Alan Kurdi, rendered internationally infamous through a series of photos of the recovery of his tiny body on the Turkish shoreline. The title of the record translates, “To live as if there is still hope.” All of that begs the question: what forces have eradicated hope? Where can we find the resources to continue living? What does Alan Kurdi have to do with it? It’s the sort of conundrum that our instant, digitized and indiscriminate access to art and information makes painfully evident. The way the pun in the band’s name focuses those issues — am I seeing clearly? — in its English presentation only increases the provocation.

Jonathan Shaw

 Preening — Greasetrap Frisbee (Ever/Never)

Greasetrap Frisbee by Preening

Erratic rhythms jitter manically, bass and drums punching out dance figures for odd numbers of flailing, electro-shocked limbs. Free jazz sax splatters in skronky blotches during the intervals between inscrutable chants. Preening, trio out of Oakland, churns a no wave noise just playful and rhythmic enough to incite a St. Vitus dance. (Members go by single names, but a little googling reveals that they are music critic Sam Lefebvre on drums, Max Nordile on saxophone and Alejandra Alcala on bass.)  On a limb, I’d call “Associated Press” the catchy single, its off-tempo drum and bass racket punctuated by frantic reed abuse and chanted madness. See-sawing “Face On” serves as the crowd pleasing hit, as it teeters on tipsy bass, skitters to speed in double-time nervous attacks and earns a round of live applause. “P.O. Box,” which is literally about a band member’s mail receptacle, channels Preening’s unruly energy most effectively, but things are always apt to fall apart, never more so than on the title track, a collection of bleats, drum crashes, spoken asides and inchoate noises pieced together out of studio outtakes.

Jennifer Kelly

Sonny Rollins — Way Out West (Craft)

Sixty years after Way Out West’s release, the cover still makes it look like a gimmick (and it's still hard to tell if it's best read as camp, kitsch or subversion). When drummer Shelly Manne opens the album with a hoof beat rhythm, the strangeness continues, but as soon as Sonny Rollins' saxophone begins, it's clear that there's no joke here. The album marks the first jazz album of a sax-bass-drums trio (ditching the piano and its chords), a startling shift away from the work Rollins had just done on Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners and a forerunner of his later unaccompanied experiments. 

If the album marks a pivotal moment, it should also be remembered on its own terms, hence the 60th anniversary two LP reissue. Rollins remains amazing, and the record catches him in peak form. Bassist Ray Brown, unfortunately too low in the mix, keeps up, but this set is Newk's show, his tone rich and his melodies — whether in the playfulness of “I'm an Old Cowhand” or the increasing heat of “There Is No Greater Love” — surprising. The bonus record, among other tracks, includes a couple unreleased takes, and the extra-hip extended version of “Way Out West” feels most necessary of this material, all of which makes for as inspiring a current listen as it does a historical study. Cowboy hats are optional, but beneficial.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Chris Smither — Call Me Lucky (Signature Sounds)

It's a little strange that a songwriter's album would be most notable for a cover and for reworkings, but not necessarily a bad thing. In Call Me Lucky. Smither reworks Chuck Berry's “Maybellene” as a deep blues number, changing the song from a teenage bit of hilarity into something truly dark and sad, recasting the entire narrative. The performance is less a gimmick and more an insight. Smither follows it with “Down to the Sound,” a complex number full of realism, hurt, and a taste of unlikely optimism. Even the upbeat country-blues of “Nobody Home” reveals the loss of human connection in our culture, whether in a neighborhood, a church, or the public square.  

Smither's tight songwriting drives the album, but Call Me Lucky comes with an unusual second disc that includes one Beatles cover (“She Said She Said”) and five new versions of originals from the first disc. It feels a bit like a bonus disc, but these versions are fully fleshed out. In the context of Smither's songwriting and his covers, the new performances provide a look into the way small decisions (or large ones in the case of “Everything on Top”) can shape the experience of a song, and helping to differentiate between terms like “song,” “track,” and “performance.” It doesn't need to be a heady experience, though. After all, they're just good songs well-executed, sometimes twice.

Justin Cober-Lake

Tangents — Stents + Arteries EP (Temporary Residence)

As the title suggests, this release from Australian group Tangents is concerned with matters of the heart a little more literally than most, the pulse and thrum of that muscle inside all of our chests whether it’s racing or soothingly steady. Comprised of two new tracks plus an extended version of soon-to-be-album track “Arteries”, the EP blends together varies threads of jazz, electronic and post-rock music so effortlessly and compellingly that it might take a couple of listens for the boldness of their approach to really sink in. You can catch hints of influences, everything from the Necks to Can to IDM, but what makes this EP such a joy to listen to is how Tangents make their sound simply their sound, and how natural it feels. More than anything else, the 20 minutes here indicates that June’s New Bodies is going to be worth waiting for.

 Ian Mathers

[lenin-it-to-win-it]

the lorax, but everytime a character appears its bnha and every time u read it u want 2 die

summary: oh you know damn well whats coming, sweetie 

notes: its 2:35 am. i spent over an hour writing this. pls clap. 

*****************************************************************************************************

it was a suny day in thneedville and the sun was shining but it was COLD and DARk in dekus hart as he gazed sadly off intot he distance. “mommm wy doesnt todoroki senpai-san NOTICE me???”” he lameneted to his mom.

“maybe its ur ugly little pissbaby child face” inko suggested as she cooked up a spaghety for brekfast.

“how can i impress him??” deku questioned

“try lifting, cucklord” said his grandma recovery girl as she casually bench bressed 600 pounds of rocks.

“how bout i find him  a plant insted?” deku sugested thinking about the tre todoroki painted on his house. he had asked todoorki if he liked trees and he sed ‘ya sur i gues’. “bitches lov plants”

“yeeee i kno wat u mean giv him some *lettuce*” recovery gorl winked

“wat a bout a tree” “but TREEs are DEAD” inko exlciamed! she threw the spagheti on the floor for dramtic effect and cltuched dekus head in his hands. “Son do not SPEAK of such things or The All For One’HAre Corporation Copyright TM wil BUST thru the ROOF and kill you! Now sit down and eat ur capitalism! Consumerism is god hallejeuluah amen!”

“tree” deku whisperd

the hose exploded and every1 died but they were okey. avaracious all-for-one’hare, a tiny liitle with a shiny bowlcut and tiny little man feet bitchslaped deku across the face. “NO TREES ALLOUD!!1!”  he shrieked. he bloo a kiss ot dekus mom “that plate of capitalism u have is cooking upped looks lovly mam”

inko blsuhed. “thanks”

“just make sure to keep the kiddo here away from any” all-for-one’hare, lowered his voice, which was hard bc he was already so short and low and close tothe flor. “trees”

inko gASPed! “of CORSE! i wil keep him away from the place where the trees once were by the Forbindden WAll u buildt with ur money to keep out the Bad COmmunist SentimentsTM”

recovery girl made shifty suspicious looks on her face “sure yea me too”

all-for-one’hare, was convinced. “I AM CONVINECED” he sed “by felicia!” he hopped on his hoverbord and hoverborded away.

inko cleaned the spaghety off the flor and recovery girl pulled deku by the leg into the backyard. “YO FUCKER U BETTER RUN UR ASS OVER THE COMMIE WALL AND GET A TREE SO U CAN START SLINGIN SOME MAD PUSS”

“but gramma im gay”

“then start slingin some nuts my d00d the POINT is get a TRE e” she scremed. “when i was, a yung boi, my ffather, took me over the wall, to see a bunch of trees, he sed son when, u grow up, dont kill them , the trees, and bring the nonbelievers, to come and plant new trees”

“k”

she siezed dekus sholders “GO FORTH CHILD BRING THE TREES SO WE CAN MAKE THEM GROW ANEW AS THE PROPHECY HAS FORETOLD, OUT BEYOND THE WALL LIVES A MYSTERIOUS MAN CALLED THE ONCE-FOR-ALLER, FIND HIM, HE WILL TELL YOU HIS TRAGIC TALE OF TREE AND BRING NEW LIFE TO THIS BARREN CAPITALIST HELLSCAPE, NOW GO”

“k” deku hopped on his totaly radicel scooter headed 2 the wall. a robot cat watched him forehsadowingly.

it was hella empty over the commie cuck wall with not even a bORger king in site!!!1! tree stumps covered the flor and clouds of smonk from a thousand vape pens darkened the sky. a ded bird lay deadly on the ground while its bird children cried over its bird corpse. it was sad. deku took a sad face selfie with the ded bird then did a sick ollie over the corpse and headed toward the mysterious shack in the distants.

the shack had  a bucket in front of the dor labeled “piss”. deku hopped on in the piss bucket “YO ONCE-FOR-ALLER U GOT KIK??” he cried. wind wistled past his ears and he coffed from the vape smoke but then the pis buckt got pulled up on a ROPE and deku found himself hOISted up to a wINdOW!!!! he stareed face to face at a pair of black eyes with blue spots in the middle like limpid tears and some long bony arms with glvovs and yaoi hands reached out to slap him.

“WHAT” he yelled “ARE YOU DOOING” he leaned closer “IN MY SWWAAAAAAMP!????”

deku wet his pants and criied. “i sutjj,,, i jstu  wann, t  a t;rree,,” he said sobbily. “i,m tr yiyng to get s enpai , t o noticnse me,, an ,n  and i  thgout,, i fi  got, hima   t,r,ree, he wo uld liek me”

“fucken millenials” snarled the once for aller “its always senpai this, thrussy that, my neck my back, my snapping-chat, wy wold i giv u a tre??”

“b-because i,, i brought u a SPAGHETTY” deku exxclaimed, pulling pounds of spagheetyi out of his pockets

the once for aller slorped up the spaghetti hongrily “ya ok i gues i can tel  u my storey now. its a dark and trageic tale of capitalism, like the star wors preqols” a tear ran down his bony old cheek. “but insted of jar jar binks thers only me, booboo the fool”

there was  a crossdissolve and suddenly they were in the once-for allers past where he was a big bara man with bara tiddies and twinky skinny geans no where near the size needed to accomodate for his phat dong. he rode along in a cariege puled by a single muel

“FASTER AIZAWA KUN” cried the once-for-aller hapily. “those proletariats arent gonna exploit themselves!”

aizawa the mule grunted sexily and plowed on, workin that tight little mule ass.

the once-for-aller started shredding out a sick nasty solo on an elextric guitar and it was RAD AS HELL as he blasted out the opening cords to jake pol’s magmnum opiss “its everyday bro”. “we gotta dab on those haters aizawa kun” said the once-for aller with  a very gay wink

aizawa the mule grunted in annoyance. he could not dab, for his sexy mule bodey had no arms.

they fond a metric shitload of trees and there were like wildlifes and shit running around. bears (like endeovor) froclikced int he woods with their hairy bara nippels exposed 2 the world, tsuyu and her frog pals swam in the woter, and tokoyami the borb boy  floo in the sky wich was pure and clean without a single trace of vape smoke. the tres looked fuckable so the once for aller busted a nut against one trunk then wipped out a glock and started shootin them down “YEHAW fuCKERS iTS HIGH NOON” he screamed in texan, his native language, as he mowed downt he trees the way present mics sexy voice mows down the pussey.

sudenly DANY DEVITO IN A FURSOOT APEARED. he was tiny and magestic and orange and so fucken valid. also he was grand toledo. “CUNT” he yelled kicking the once for aller in th e kneecaps. “THIS IS THE ENVIROMENT!!!!1! YOU CANT JUST START WEED WACKIN THES TREES WITH YOUR YANKEE DONGLE DANDY AND SHOOTING THEM WITH GUNS!1! THAT IS BAD AND WRONG! CAPTIN PLANET DIED FOR OUR SINS”

the once for aller looked down at the tiny orange man then down at his own big bulgin bara tiddes “i cold crush u 2 deth with my tiddys, maybe u shuld stay out of my way dude’

dany deveto gasped angrely. “how DARE!!1!” he screamed, punching the once-for-allers big toe. “BUDDY I WILL PERSONALLY FUCK YOUR GRAVE WITH MY OWN TWO ASSCHEEKS IF YOU SAY ONE MORE FUCKING WORD, I DEFY U TO TALK SHIT, COME AT ME SCRUBLORD IM RIPT”

“try me gardfielf” the once for aller laffed “iv ben drinkign plenty of nut milk so my boneses are helthy and Stronk”

daney devito pulled out his 20 inch thunderdong and beat the once for aller in the head with it until he was past oout on the ground. the woodland crreatures danced hapily around the bodey but then he woke up

“u kno wat” he moaned “mabye capitalism isnt so good, lets al liv together in communism and friendship, and i wont cut and/or fucc any of the trees”

danny deveto was mostly appeased. “ya ok, but if u try anymore fuckin shit ill go back in time and cuck ur grandparents.”

dannneie dievoto tried to hav the once-for aller killed on at least 10 separate occasions and the once for aller did slip in some clandestine tree fuckage now and agein, but other than that the communism and friendship was good. but everything changed went he fire nation atteacked, they defeeted endevor esily but then the once for allers slutty, sluty family showed up to REEK HAVICK :0 !!!1!

the once for allers ugley mom, sir nighteye, stepped out of their cheap car and did the anime glasses thing “toshi u commie thot” he said with distaste “stop being poor”

“but MOM” the once for aller wined “i HAV to be por! its good for the envorionemnt and my new animal frends and if i dont dany devito will beat me over the head with his massive meaty man-canoe!”

“dont b lil bitch, do a capitalism.”

the once for allers loud cosin hizashy jumped out of the wagon. “YAINT” he shrieked at 1000000 decibels, killing 90% of life on erth. “ARE WE GON FUCK SOME TREES OR WHAT”

the once for aller looked at his disproving mom, then at his loud cosin, then at the very fuckable trees. his eyes lingered on a sexy sap hole. “yea we are” he said, pulling out his gitar sexily. “how bad could it posbiley be??”

the answer was prety fucken bad as it turned out. a metric fuckton of people paid to watch the once for aller and his family fuck trees to deth by throwing moneey at them like they were stripers, but then al the tres were fucked ded!!11! the bears starved into ity bity twinks, unable to maintain the THicc, tsuyu and the frogs choked and coffed up water ful of human piss as they peed in the water while laughing in delite at the once for allers antics, and tokoyami and the birbs coffed out their organs from the clouds of vape smoke filing the sky.

soon ther was no one left. the once for allers familey left with al the money, aizawa the fuckable mule was ded, and it was just the once for aller allone in the rouns of his former capitalistc glory with only the bright yellow banana suit on his back to remind him of those days.

dani devioto looked at the once for aller with sad eyes before kciking his own ass so hard he got sent rocketing thru the stratusphere, leaving behind an imapct crater with a single word

“cunt” deku whispered softly in the present as he gazed into the crator.

the once for aller sighed sadley. “iv wondered for years and yeers wat he ment by that, but i think i understand now. unless some1 like u stops being a cunt, then nothign is gona get better, u nut”

“shit fam thats deeep” sed deku

the once for aller looked at dekus pissbaby child face. “i lost evrything to capitalism, my friends, nature, my family” teers rolled down his cheks “i even sold my organs to buy cocane and strippers so now i hav a total of 2 orgens in my hole bodey.”

“kinky”

“but we can change that!” cried the once for aller passionetely. “i am going 2 giv u a tree to plant in thneedvil so communism can return and bring back the life stole from this world with my big stick diplomacy. go now, young midorieya-shonen my boy, GO FORTH IN THE NAME OF COMMUNISM AND UN-CUNT THIS MISEREBLE WORLD!!1!”

ther was an epic radicel chase seen wher deku had to fite the The All For One’HAre Corporation Copyright TM and his grandma recovery girl did sik triks on her moped and deku almost but not quite got to kis todorki senpai but they made it to the town square.

deku held todorokis hands and tenderly put the baby tre in it “here” he sed “take my seed”

todoroky noded solemly. “i hav never wanted anything more than to be given ur seed midoreya” he was about 2 plant the seed in the ground when all for one’hare appered! “NOT SO FAST FUCKHOLES” he yelled capitalistically. “this TRee is COMMuNISM!!1!” he cried to the townspeople. “do u RELLY want to be FILTHY COMMIES???”

“Commies hate micdonaleds!!1” screamed one impassoned townsperson.

“LETS BOIL THEM IN OIL” some one else agred.

“but guys wait!!!” deku cried “dont u want like, nature n shit?”

“CAPITALISTS WANT TO REPLACE EVERY REMOTELY FUCKABLE PERSON WITH A TREE” all for one’hare screamed

teh twonspoeple gasps, thens tarted chanting for deku todo and grandma to get boiled in oil

deku sweated nervosly “um but,, treees,, r good?”

“OIL OIL OIL”

“BACK IN MY DAY WE FUCKED TREES AND WE LIKED IT” recovery girl rored!

that was acomeplling argument. the boil in ooil chanting slowed

all for one turned to his henchperson stain “STAIN” he yelled “TEL THESE HIPPY DIPPY COMMIE TREE FUCKERS WHAT WE REALLY THINK OF THIS CAPTEN PLANET B-ROLL BULLSHIT”

stain cleered his throt and burst into magnificent song “let it gro let it gro, so we can have trees to bone” he sang. he was The Ultimate ChadTM so every1 agreed with him imediately. they throow all for one’hare into a pit of spiders where eh was eten and killed and planted the seed in the fertile butthole of the earth wher it could blosom and gro.

in the folowing yeers trees started groiwng beyond the wals and the once for aller crawled out of his shame sahck to water them with his nut as an act of penanc.e

slowly, magesticsally, danny devito in a fursewt flew down from the sky. “ya done good cunt” he grunted, tenderly slapping the once for allers boney ass with his furry orange old man boner. “ya done good.”

they both floated up to gay heaven by their ass skins wher the once for allers big bara past self greeted them with open arms. “all of ur trubles are ogre” he whispered tenderly in their tidditlyated ears. 

the once for aller caressed his past self “oh oncey” he whispered sweetly “are u shure we should do this?? can u even,,, oh, how can u love me in this broken down form??” 

past once for aller smiled and did the kabedon thing with his future self who whimpered arousedly and blushed carnelian. “its not who we are on the outside” he shoved his entire arm up his entire ass“its who we are inside” 

danney devito cheered the once for allers on as they fucked together for all of eterneity and it was very communiest teh end 

[kateyes224]

Independence Day

A/N: Fourth of July fluff and nonsense, inspired by some anons I’ve gotten recently about whether Mulder is capable of giving Scully a meaningful gift.  Timeline:  Post-IWTB, Pre-Revival

Mulder knocks on her door and goes to straighten his tie before he remembers he’s not wearing one.  Hasn’t worn one in years.  He tries not to fidget, suspecting she may be eyeing him through her peephole, but he ends up shifting back and forth on his feet the longer it takes her to answer the door.  

He triple-guesses his outfit for the eighteenth time that night, and berates himself for it, feeling ridiculous for feeling ridiculous.

He hears her soft, even footfalls as she approaches the door, then a long moment of silence. She is peeping.

When she opens the door, her apartment seems to exhale at the exact same moment he does.

“Hi.”

“Hey, Scully.”  Scully in her angular new suits and jewel-toned scrubs seems a completely separate being from this creature.  This woman’s hair is pulled up and away from her face and off her neck.  She’s wearing a sky-colored sweater that deepens the blue of her eyes to a dark violet in the low light, and jeans that he knows for a fact have been worn in from years of washing in hard water. He’d washed them a few dozen times himself. She’s hardly wearing a stitch of makeup.

Fuck losing nine minutes.  For a moment, he thinks he might have lost a quarter of a century.  “You look good.”

She knows. Blushes anyway.

“Thanks.  You look pretty good yourself.”

“Ladies always love a man in a polo.”

He keeps his eyes trained on hers, deliberately not looking over her shoulder.  I need a space of my own, Mulder, she’d said, a little over a year ago now.  He’d hated her for it then but he’d respected it just the same.  He still hates it, and he still respects it.  He doesn’t want to taint it by seeing it without her say-so.

“Would you like to come in for a minute?” A polite and completely insincere invitation.  She hadn’t even wanted him to pick her up tonight, he reminds himself.

“Nope, I think we can just go.  Otherwise we’ll be late.”

She looks cautious, but grabs her purse and her jacket from the table by the front door.  “Late?  I thought we were just going to grab dinner?”  

Mulder waits while she turns to close the door.  Her old housekey for their country home jangles on her keyring next to the one she uses to lock up.  

He doesn’t have a key for her new place.  

“We are going to grab dinner.  But I have a surprise later tonight and we’ve got to get a move on or else we’ll miss it.”

She makes a show of slowing and sighs audibly, predictably skeptical and apparently willing to play her old part for old time’s sake.

He walks her out to the pickup truck and circles to her side, opening it for her and handing her in.  She chuckles. “Mulder, you’ve never been this solicitous. What have you got planned? Not another haunted house, I hope.”

Closing her door, he smiles down at her through the half-closed window.  “You know I only save those for Christmas, Scully.”

He drives them back out of town the same way he came, threading his way from interstate to highway to two-lane country road before stopping to pick up dinner. She smiles when he pulls in front of her favorite barbecue joint and hops out of the truck to pay for a couple of messy brisket sandwiches dripping in tangy sauce and wrapped in foil and white styrofoam containers of coleslaw and baked beans.  Two thick slices of cornbread are immediately set upon by Scully when he returns to the truck, and he laughs and slaps her hands away.

The sound of her giggle bouncing around the cab of the truck before it’s snatched out the window and into the night air nearly wipes the smirk right off of his face. He’d been almost sure he’d never be able to make her laugh again.

Another twenty miles past the house he’s still trying to think of as his and not theirs and he pulls off the main road and into a dirt lot that is already filled with cars.  They’re a few hundred yards from where the local high school campus sprawls out in the dark.  Mulder grabs a blanket from the bed of the truck and ties the handles of the plastic bag of food into bunny ears. At her questioning look, he nods in the direction of the football field glowing under floodlights in the distance. Smells and sounds from booths selling all manner of deep-fried food, kettle corn, and funnel cake waft towards them in the heavy July air.

A dunk tank, a pony ride, and a small petting zoo are set up in the home team’s end zone.  An emu is being walked around on a leash, to the delight and horror of many small children.  And just beyond that, a wooden stage and dance floor. A band of morose young teens is going about the serious business of setting up their equipment, plugging guitars into amplifiers and strumming chords that twang offkey.

The lead singer and DJ, a girl with a shock of a bright turquoise pixie cut, stands in front of the speakers and clicks around on her laptop in the meantime. The dance floor is almost full with couples swaying back and forth to an unpredictable mix of R&B and country.  Children of all ages dart in between them in an endless game of tag.

“Mulder, what are we doing here?”

Mulder keeps walking just beyond the stage where other families have set up their own circles of chairs and picnic blankets.  He makes a show of unfurling the Navajo blanket on the ground, smooths the wrinkles before setting the plastic bag of food in the center.  “Just make yourself comfortable. You want anything to drink? Some funnel cake? We have about twenty minutes before the show.”

Scully crosses her arms and stares up at him. “Mulder,” she repeats, “what are we doing here?” She sounds, for all intents and purposes, like she’s just surveyed a crime scene and found it conspicuously lacking in what he’d once half-ironically referred to as a distinct paranormal bouquet.

“What, you don’t trust me?” Mulder asks, blinking down at her, and he nearly chokes on the question like a popcorn kernel has lodged itself in the back of his throat when he remembers that no, she probably doesn’t.  Not anymore.  Mulder shakes his head when it takes her a second too long to answer. “Don’t worry, Doc. Have a seat, I’ll go grab us a drink.”

Scully purses her lips at him and glances over her shoulder as the band strikes up a rousing, if overly-metal, rendition of Yankee Doodle.  “Hurry back,” she murmurs, then bends to sit cross-legged on the blanket and starts untying the plastic bag.

Mulder hustles off, taking a wide berth around a game of cornhole to where a keg and a cash booth have been set up.  He pays $10 for two light beers in red Solo cups and turns, almost knocking over a man and his wife in their late 30s.  

“Mr. Scully?” the young man asks, hesitant.

 Mulder sputters, trying to hide it by taking a sip of his beer.

“Uhhhh, no, I’m Fox Mulder. Dr. Scully is my…” Shit.  This was always the hard part.  “...my partner.”  It’s never not been true.  “Are you Mr. and Mrs. Fearon?”

The young man nods and glances at his wife, who smiles up uncertainly at Mulder.  They both turn. Behind them sits a boy in a wheelchair. “And this is Christian.”

Christian is pale, with huge, almond-shaped blue eyes and a tangle of messy brown hair.  He’s got a crocheted afghan tucked around his legs and a beanie on his head despite the humid July heat, but two rosy spots color his cheeks, belying a fragile bloom of health.

Mulder smiles down at him, bends to look into the boy’s eyes.  “Hi, Christian.  My name is Mulder. I’m a friend of Dr. Scully’s. She’s been wondering about you.”

Christian’s eyes crinkle, a grin lighting up his face. “I’ve been wondering about her, too.”

Mulder leads the way back over to where Scully is sitting on their blanket, the Fearons following slowly but surely behind him. Just as he calls out to Scully and she turns, the lights around the makeshift fairground all dim simultaneously, leading to whoops and hollers and lascivious catcalls.  In the dark, Mulder settles in on the blanket next to Scully and hands her a beer.

“Mulder, who was with-”

“Shhhh, Scully,” Mulder whispers, just as the band gets going with Ray Charles’ version of America the Beautiful. The drummer starts military cadence on the drums and the teen girl with the turquoise hair starts belting out the first verse in a honeyed alto.

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved, In liberating strife, Who more than self, our country loved, And mercy more than life

Just as the chorus gets going, the first pops and whistles of fireworks start echoing from a couple of hundred yards down the way.  The crowd draws in a collective gasp as blue and green and red and white sparks erupt overhead.

Scully’s eyes are trained on the sky for a long moment before she turns back to Mulder.  The wide smile on her face lights over him just as the next round of fireworks explode in a shimmer and a pop of noise. But her eyes slip past him and catch sight of the profile of the young boy who was trailing in Mulder’s wake. Christian’s hands are planted firmly over his ears, transfixed by the showers of color blazing overhead.

“Christian?” Mulder sees her mouth silently before looking up at him, confused.

Mulder bends close to her ear, loud enough that she can hear over the gunshot blast of the next round of fireworks.

“Last week, you got a voicemail at the house from his new treating physician, a Dr. Rajkumar. She thought you’d want to know...he’s been doing well enough as result of your treatment plan that his parents were going to take him to see the fireworks this year.”

Scully can’t seem to tear her gaze away from the boy’s face. His eyes, saucer-wide, haven’t left the sky, and his smile can’t get any bigger.  

Mulder watches Scully watching Christian for the next ten minutes, as the fireworks and the band get louder and more intense.  When the final crescendo and the finale culminate above them, she looks up at Mulder, whispers her thanks, and wraps an arm around his waist.

As she settles into a spot that feels more comfortable than it should for going without the weight and shape of her for so long, he hopes she feels free, if only for tonight.

[theteenagetrickster]

The 10 Best R&B Bassist Of All Time-- The Pluginin Swap

10. Louis Johnson

April thirteen, 1955-- May 21, 2015

Louis Johnson(April 13, 1955-- May 21, 2015) was an American bass guitar player. Johnson was actually best recognized for his group The Brothers Johnson as well as his treatment playing on numerous hit cds of the 1970s as well as 1980s, featuring the most effective marketing album of all time, Thriller.

As a result of his distinctive type, Johnson was nicknamed "Thunder-Thumbs". His put bass playing gotten here not long after Larry Graham carried it in to the mainstream, as well as both are actually thought about the "grandfathers" of slap-bass having fun.

9. Bootsy Collins

Oct 26, 1951

Climbing to importance along with James Brown in the very early 1970s, as well as later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins's driving bass guitar as well as funny vocals established him as one of the leading names in rut.

He belongs to the Rock as well as Roll Venue of Fame, inducted in 1997 along with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.

8. Chuck Rainey June 17

, 1940

A United States bass guitarist who has actually conducted and captured with lots of famous shows, consisting of Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and also Quincy Jones.

Rainey's design has always been to deliver a balanced and also ariose bottom that collaborates with the drummer for the perk of the track. His books on bass research pertain to a "sensitivity to popular music" and a dedication to researching the essentials of popular music concept. While his "sideman" approach of bass has certainly not carried him the amount of recognition of celebrity gamers such as Jaco Pastorius, Rainey is without a doubt additional taped than his more popular contemporaries.

7. Meshell Ndegeocello

An American singer-songwriter, rap artist, and bassist. Ndegeocello developed her skills on the D.C. go-go circuit in the old 1980s along with the bands Forecast, Minimal Bennie and the Masters, and Rare Significance She unsuccessfully tried for Residing Colour's bassist setting, left in 1992 by Muzz Skillings. Going solo, she was one of the first artists to authorize along with Radical Records, where she discharged her launching album, Vineyard Lullabies.

6. Bernard Edwards

Oct 31, 1952-- April 18, 1996

An American bass player, singer, songwriter and also file producer, known mostly for his function in nightclub songs along with guitar player Nile Rodgers, along with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was actually picked as the 53rd ultimate bassist of all opportunity through Bass Gamerpublication.

His bass line from Chic reached "Really good Moments" has actually come to be one of the best duplicated parts of songs in history, and also had a large impact on performers of numerous styles when released as well as was actually the inspiration for "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen.

5. Nathan East December 8, 1955 An

United States jazz, R&B, and also stone bass

gamer and also singer. Along with additional than 2,000 audios, East is looked at one of the absolute most recorded bass gamers in the background of popular music. Nathan East has said his very early effects

included Charles Mingus, Radiation Brown and also Ron Carter on ethical bass; as well as James Jamerson, Paul McCartney and also Chuck Rainey on electrical bass. 4. Verdine White July 25, 1951 An American musician, most effectively recognized as the

long time bassist for Planet, Wind & Fire

. White was placed at No. 27

on Bass Player's checklist of The 100 Greatest Bass Athletes of All Time. Verdine states he learned every little thing about the bass guitar from Louis Satterfield, as well as several of his early bass impacts were actually James Jamerson,

In Nov 2008 White was actually offered with Bass Player journal's Life time Success Honor by Nathan East. 3. Marcus Miller June 14, 1959 An American jazz composer

, producer and multi-instrumentalist, most effectively recognizedas a bass guitar player. He has actually teamed up with trumpeter Far Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock

, singer Luther Vandross, as well as saxophonist David Sanborn. Marcus Miller has participated in bass on over 500 audios consisting of

those of Luther Vandross, Grover Washington Jr., Roberta Flack, Carly Simon, McCoy Tyner, Weldon Irvine, Bryan Ferry and also Billy Idol. He won the"Most Belongings Gamer"honor(provided through NARAS to recognize workshop entertainers

)3 years in a row as well as was consequently granted"player emeritus" condition and relinquished qualification. 2. Larry Graham August 14, 1946 An American bassist and singer, both with the psychedelic soul/funk band Sly and also the Household Rock, and as the owner and frontman of Graham Central Station. Larry Graham is ascribed to with the innovation of the slapping procedure, which drastically expanded the tonal combination of the bass, although

he themself refers

to the technique as

"thumpin'and pluckin '". James Jamerson January 29, 1936-- August 2, 1983 An American bass gamer. He was actually the anonymous bassist on many of the Motown Records

reaches in the 1960s and early 1970s(Motown carried out not listing treatment musician credit ratings on

their releases till 1971), as well as is now related to as one of the most significant bass players in modern songs record. He was actually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Prominence in 2000. As a session performer he used twenty-three Advertising board Warm 100 top hits, as well as fifty-six R&B leading reaches. In its own exclusive issue" The one hundred Greatest Bass Athletes "in 2017, Bass Gamer journal positioned Jamerson primary as well as the most influential bass guitarist. In 2011, Jamerson positioned 3rd in the"twenty Most Underrated Bass Guitarists"in Insert magazine. Allotment this:

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