#real bands are just four dudes independently doing their own thing. and not like. some sort of four headed creature

[professional-dragonsandmemes]

my tumblr blog is the perfect level of privacy in between my regular instagram story and my close friends instagram story

anyways i broke up with my boyfriend today and i cant believe im still fucking expected to reply to 2 classmates tonight and then work 9am-1pm tomorrow and then drove 40 minutes to school for a stupid midday intro-level class and then stick around until 6:45 for my grad level major class. fuck that man im playing a furry dating sim and daydreaming all night about telling my favorite local band all my deepest darkest secrets in a way thats just comedic enough to make me not seem like a creep next time i get korean bbq with them again

[nicknellie]

Anonymous requested: Julie and the Phantoms are on tour and Juke are dating, one stop on tour Luke gets sick  (woke up with fever, swollen glands, sore throat etc) and the doctor diagnoses him with strep and an ear infection and Julie takes care his stubborn butt back to the hotel because he doesn't like to let down the fans since they have to cancel few shows.

Anonymous requested: alive guys, out of school in the real world, now all living in an apartment together. The 5 Times Luke Was Sick, and The 5 Times Julie Cured Him and maybe add in the 1 time Luke returns the favour of taking care of Julie.

Anonymous requested: Luke and Julie are married and have a daughter (Rose, 3). Rose and Luke end up waking up sick with the flu and Julie takes care of them, and she gets worn down from doing everything and caring for them. And even with him being sick in bed he lays with Rose when Julie’s beat and cuddles her when she feels sick even though he feels the same. Cute family fluff basically.

We Will Fight To Shine Together

The entire week had been hectic. Julie – along with her boys, Luke, Alex, and Reggie – had finally got the keys to their new apartment and had spent the whole of the previous two days hauling their belongings there from their respective homes. Ray Molina, protective as always, had been breathing down their necks in a frantic and worried attempt to help them out, the presence of Willie and Flynn had resulted in less unpacking and more Cardboard Box Wars, and most of their things were strewn about in unlikely places after the chaos of unpacking; just that morning Julie had found Alex’s drumsticks in the fridge.

But they were finally there, they were finally home, and there was nothing to worry about. Everything in the apartment seemed to be in order, they weren’t set to go on tour for another six months so the stress of that was still a way off, and the band’s new-found sense of freedom and independence hung over them like a rainbow. There was nothing that could have gone wrong. Nothing except–

“Dude, you look sick! And not in the good way.”

Julie had been sat atop the kitchen counter, watching Alex prepare their breakfast, but she looked towards the door when she heard Reggie’s exclamation. Stood in the doorway, bundled in about four hoodies, his eyes bloodshot and his nose running, was Luke. Reggie was right – he looked as if he were about to keel over and die. His puppy dog eyes were wide and watery and he looked utterly dreadful.

“Luke,” Julie said, hopping off the counter and heading over to him. “Are you feeling alright?”

He shook his head and sniffled pathetically. “I’m sick,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, you look it,” Julie said. She took his hand and gently led him towards a kitchen chair. He collapsed into it with a relieved sigh as if he couldn’t have bared standing any longer.

To Julie’s surprise (and slight annoyance) Alex and Reggie were laughing.

“You must have the weakest immune system known to man,” Alex joked as he put the group’s breakfast onto plates.

“On the bright side, Willie owes me ten dollars,” Reggie said with a beam. “I bet him you wouldn’t last two weeks before getting sick.”

Julie put her hands on her hips and glared at the two boys who immediately ceased their laughter. She knew she could be quite terrifying when she wanted to and she didn’t like abusing that power too much, but this was a situation she felt called for it.

“You two are seriously lacking compassion,” she scolded, pointing to and from Alex and Reggie. “Your friend is ill and all you can do is laugh at him. It’s mean – he has it difficult enough right now.”

Luke, pouting pathetically, nodded in agreement.

Alex and Reggie, both looking suitably chastised, muttered, “Sorry Julie.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t apologise to me.”

“Sorry Luke.”

“That’s better,” she said. Julie took herself out of Mother Mode and returned to Supportive Girlfriend. She gently ran her fingers through Luke’s hair – he relaxed a little as her touch. “I’m going to take you back to bed, you’re going to get some rest while I look up your symptoms, and then I’m going to take care of you.”

Luke’s eyes widened. “It’s probably just a cold. You don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t, but I’m going to. Come on.”

Julie sent one more cutting glare to Reggie and Alex before helping Luke stand and leading him back through their little apartment to their shared bedroom. She eased him back into the bed, helped him make a half-nest-half-fort with the pillows and duvet, then grabbed her laptop and set up YouTube for him. Then, she pulled up a tab on her phone and sat beside him on the bed.

“Do you feel like you’re going to be sick?” she asked.

Luke shook his head.

“Are you feeling dizzy at all?”

“A little bit,” he croaked.

She smiled knowingly. “Sore throat too?”

He closed his eyes and nodded.

Julie asked him more questions, then determined that because of the stress of moving his immune system had utterly crashed and some nasty bug had seized the opportunity. According to the internet, he needed plenty of bed rest, he should have been kept warm, he needed a lot of water, and most of all he simply needed to not do anything for a while.

“But we’re supposed to go to the studio tomorrow to record a bunch of songs,” Luke protested when Julie told him. He sat up abruptly, but eased himself back down, a hand rested against his forehead, wincing.

“You’re not going anywhere like that,” Julie told him. “I’ll call the studio and let them know we’ll have to record your parts a different time. Don’t say anything,” she commanded as he opened his mouth to argue again. “I’m not changing my mind.”

He grumbled something she couldn’t quite hear but assumed was something childishly rude – it had certainly sounded as if he’d been mocking her voice. She ignored him and instead headed back out to the kitchen. Julie grabbed painkillers and a large glass of water and took them back to Luke who had started a long YouTube playlist of Bondi Rescue videos.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be sitting in front of a screen if you’re dizzy,” Julie contemplated, handing him the tablets and the drink. Luke looked up at her with a mixture of sadness and fury in his eyes.

“I’ve already lost my health, I can’t lose Bondi Rescue too,” he said.

She breathed a laugh and sat back down beside him. He immediately melted into her side, his head rested against her abdomen. She stroked her fingers through his hair and felt him sigh at the touch.

He was asleep within minutes.

*

Julie and the Phantoms were on tour. It was a moment they had all been anticipating ever since they’d inducted Julie into the band. The four of them had saved up enough money to buy their own tour bus emblazoned with their faces and the band’s logo and were spending nine months driving across the United States and Canada to perform their show to sold-out crowds. Julie could hardly believe it was happening.

Right that moment, part of her wished it weren’t happening.

Julie had been led to understand that before she joined the band and became the responsible one, Alex was the ‘parental figure’ who had kept Luke and Reggie (both far more boisterous by nature) in check. If anyone had told her that on the second leg of their tour, she would not have believed it for a moment. Alex was sat in the passenger seat beside her, but was leaning over the back of it to swat at Reggie who was kicking the back of his seat. Both were calling each other childish names and their hands were flapping about like they were having a catfight. Julie had given up trying to stop them about two hundred miles ago.

Looking after them sometimes felt like having a pair of toddlers. Though more often it was like having three toddlers because Luke would find a way to join in on the shenanigans. But right then, in the backseat beside Reggie, he was oddly quiet.

“Luke,” Julie called over Alex and Reggie’s squabbling, readjusting the mirror so she could see Luke behind her. “You okay?”

Luke nodded then tried to clear his throat. “Yeah,” he said, voice gravelly. “Sore throat, that’s all.”

Julie frowned. “Are you sure? You don’t sound good. Will you be able to sing for tomorrow’s show?”

His eyes widened frantically at the mention of the performance. “Of course! I’ll be fine, it’s just a sore throat.”

It was, unfortunately, very clearly not just a sore throat.

Julie pulled the tour bus into the parking lot of their hotel and the gang all headed to their rooms. Julie and Luke were sharing, partially to save money and partially because they wanted to. Before they went to sleep, Julie checked again with Luke to see if he was alright and again he told her in that rough voice that he was fine.

However, when they woke up Luke seemed distinctly worse for wear. He was radiating heat like the sun but shivering as if he were in the arctic, he was complaining of pain in his right ear, and when Julie looked down his throat she saw that his tonsils were swollen and covered in white spots.

“You’re not going on stage like this,” she said, shaking her head. “No way. I’m calling a doctor.”

“I don’t need a doctor,” Luke insisted, attempting to hoist himself into a sitting position but giving up quickly. “It’s just a sore throat.”

“You can try telling me that again when you can swallow more than a drop of water,” Julie said before picking up her phone and calling the nearest doctor.

Luckily, the doctor was able to come out to the hotel so Luke didn’t have to even get out of bed. The doctor took one look at his symptoms, then turned to Julie.

“Looks like strep throat,” they said, snapping their latex gloves off. “The pain in the ear is because of an ear infection that came after the bacteria travelled from the throat to the middle ear. I’m going to prescribe him a course of antibiotics, he’ll need to take them all otherwise the infection will come back stronger. I recommend he doesn’t perform for at least another month to give the infection ample time to heal.”

“A month?” Luke tried to yell, but it came out as an outraged breathy whisper.

“Yes,” the doctor said, looking down at him over their glasses. “Your infection is particularly severe, Mr Patterson, and if you want to finish your tour then I suggest you take my advice.”

“We can’t cancel shows,” Luke protested weakly. “Think of how excited everyone’s been…”

Julie smiled to the doctor and saw them out of the room. “Thank you very much,” she said. “I’ll make sure he gets those antibiotics and plenty of rest.”

Once the doctor was gone, Julie called Flynn, the official manager for Julie and the Phantoms and Julie’s lifelong best friend. “Cancel every show for the next month,” she instructed. “Doctor’s orders.”

“Are you alright, Jules?” Flynn said, immediately sounding concerned. “I can come over and take care of you, whatever you need, I’ll book a flight right now–”

“I’m fine, Flynn,” Julie assured her. “It’s Luke. He’s got strep.”

“Oh no.” Flynn’s worry morphed into something akin to disappointment. “He’s literally the worst one of you guys to get ill right now.”

“Tell me about it. He’s furious that we’ve even suggested cancelling the shows.”

“He gets it’s for his own good, right?” Flynn asked.

Julie shook her head even though Flynn couldn’t see her. “He knows that but he doesn’t want to let everyone down. He’s been more excited for the tour than the fans have – he doesn’t want any of it to go wrong and this is about as wrong as it could go.”

“I’m sure he’ll get over it once the ‘get well soon’ messages start arriving,” Flynn said.

“I think that’ll just make it worse,” Julie countered. “Anyway, it’s fine. There’s nothing we can do. Just make sure everyone knows the next shows are cancelled.”

“You got it, boss. Good luck with Luke.”

“I’ll need it.”

Julie hung up on Flynn and headed back towards Luke. He was still sat up in the bed, looking very sorry for himself as he pouted with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Hey,” she said softly, crouching down next to his side of the bed. “I’m going to make you some hot honey and lemon water – my mom always made it for me when I got a sore throat. It’ll help, I promise. Is there anything else you want?”

“I want to do the shows,” he said petulantly.

Julie shook her head firmly. “You heard the doctor – none of us are going on any stage for another month. Flynn’s cancelling the shows as we speak.”

Luke looked aghast. “No!”

“Yes. You’re sick, Luke. And think about it; if this were me or Alex or Reggie in your position, what would you say to do?”

“I’d say we should cancel the shows until you got better,” he said as if the answer were obvious, then he seemed to hear his own words and deflated a little. “Fine. I suppose this is for the best. I… I just feel like I’m letting everyone down.”

Julie intertwined their fingers and held his hand tightly. She gave him a soft, reassuring smile. “You aren’t letting anybody down, Luke. It’s not your fault that you’re sick and there’s nothing any of us can do about it now. All that can be done is for you to rest and take your meds so that the next shows we do are as good as they can be. Okay?”

He rolled his eyes sighed, but there was the tiniest smile playing about his lips. “Okay.”

*

Julie had said it was a bad idea from the very beginning, but the boys had insisted that they’d done it before and it was perfectly safe.

It felt good to be proven right, but less good to be vomited on.

The first problem was that there was definitely not enough room anywhere in their tiny apartment for three grown men to attempt the famous lift from Dirty Dancing. Julie had pointed that out. She had pointed it out almost a dozen times. Every time, Reggie had told her that they didn’t actually need a lot of space, trust me.

The second problem was that their heights simply didn’t add up to a safe lift. Luke and Reggie were of a similar build, but Alex was much taller and there wasn’t really anywhere for him to go – if he held up one of the guys, they’d be held at an angle; if he were the one on top, he would likely crush the other two.

The third and final problem was that none of the boys were dancers and had no training or experience, therefore none of them knew how to do the lift properly and safely. Julie had stretched this argument to its breaking point but the three idiots had not heeded her warning.

And so they had done the lift.

It had started out strong. They had decided that Alex would be the one in the air, so Luke and Reggie had got into position with their hands outstretched and Alex had taken a great running start and leapt at them. To their credit, the boys held Alex in the air for a solid three seconds before Reggie lost his balance and Luke’s grip slipped, and the three of them went tumbling to the ground.

Julie watched in unsurprised horror as Alex fell flat on top of Reggie and scrambled to get off him, while Luke dropped far too close to the dining table and whacked his head on its corner with a grotesque thud.

He was out cold.

Julie muttered a curse and hurried towards him. Alex and Reggie gathered around slowly too, warily looking down at Luke, clearly feeling guilty.

“Luke?” Julie said to the unconscious lump in her lap. He was heavier than he looked – she privately understood why they had decided to lift Alex instead. “Can you hear me, sweetie?”

After a few more minutes, Luke came to, groaning and cradling his head.

“Hey,” Alex said, smiling brightly. “You’re awake! Sorry about that, we–”

Alex didn’t get to finish his sentence because Luke interrupted him by loudly and violently throwing up on Alex’s shoes. A little bit hit Julie’s dress and she quickly yanked the fabric out of the way.

Alex looked at his shoes disappointedly. After a long while he said, “I am going to the bathroom. Either to shower or be sick, I’m not sure yet,” and then disappeared.

Reggie was a deathly shade of green, staring at Luke and the vomit.

“If you don’t like it you can go, Reggie,” Julie said. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

Reggie nodded and followed Alex out of the room, wide-eyed.

“Let’s get you to bed, huh?” Julie said. Luke nodded vaguely, his eyes far away, and she led him through the apartment to their bedroom. She only just managed to get him into bed before he started slipping into unconsciousness again.

It was plain as day that Luke had a nasty concussion. Julie tucked him into bed, then switched off the lights and drew the curtains so that it was almost pitch black. She got him an enormous glass of water and readied all the painkillers she could find, as well as grabbing a large bowl so that he didn’t have to run to the bathroom if he needed to be sick again. Then she looked up concussion on her phone – it said that if he’d woken up after being knocked out then he needed to go to hospital; she wasn’t sure how she was meant to get him there now that he was unconscious again.

Julie decided to wait until he woke up again. She laid down beside him on the bed and pressed the gentlest of kisses to his forehead.

“You’re such an idiot,” she whispered. “I love you.”

*

Julie loved her boys usually, but sometimes she really believed they lacked the common sense necessary for general survival.

“You did what?!”

Luke, Alex, and Reggie looked between each other frantically, stuttering for excuses.

“Uuuuhhhh…”

“Nothing really out of the ordinary, I don’t think.”

“Pretty sure it was actually you who did something they shouldn’t have.”

Julie raised her hands and the boys silenced. She glared at them, half furious and half exasperated.

“Are you seriously telling me – or rather not telling me – that after all the times I specifically told you it would be a bad idea, you went and got hotdogs that were being sold out of the back of an Oldsmobile?”

“In our defence,” Reggie piped up, raising his hand like a kid answering a question in class, “they smelled really good.”

“Wish they’d tasted as good as they smelled,” Luke grumbled. Alex hit him.

“I have never met anyone with less common sense!” Julie yelled, waving her arms. “What is wrong with you? What made you think it’d be a good idea? How did you not think that it was the dodgiest set up for any fast food ever?”

“Relax,” Reggie said, “street dogs haven’t killed us yet.”

The highly questionable hotdogs did not, in fact, kill them. However, the next day all three boys were overcome with food poisoning so horrible that Julie simply could not take care of them all by herself.

That morning she sent a quick text to Willie to offload Alex to him: Come and get your dumb boyfriend, he and his idiot friends ate bad hotdogs and got sick, you can take one. Twenty minutes later, Willie showed up to take Alex back to his apartment, an ungodly amount of blankets in his hands when he arrived at the apartment.

Reggie was the least ill – he could pretty much take care of himself and at the very least he wasn’t throwing up everywhere. He stayed on the couch, watching some cartoon on repeat. Julie let him be.

Luke, on the other hand, was quite the task. He was feeling and looking absolutely dreadful, unable to move himself from his bed and being sick whenever he tried to do so much as drink a glass of water. Julie truly had her hands full trying to take care of him.

Despite his protests, she called the studio and cancelled their appointment with Luke today. He was in no fit state to record any hit songs right then; he could hardly even open his mouth without sick coming out of it.

Feeling particularly frazzled, Julie finally allowed herself a little break from rushing around after Luke to relax, just for a moment. She settled herself comfortably onto the bed beside Luke once his sickness had calmed down a bit and fired up Netflix. She could feel his doleful eyes on her as she selected a movie and let it play.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked.

“Are you apologising for being sick or for eating those hotdogs even though I told you not to?” she questioned.

Luke had the good grace to look a little ashamed. “Both.”

Julie shifted a little to wrap her arms around Luke’s midriff. “Don’t apologise for being sick. It is your fault, but don’t say sorry for it. I will accept your apology for disobeying me though.”

Luke rested his head against Julie’s shoulders, shuffling further into the covers. “We should have listened to you, I know. But if you could have just smelled those hotdogs…”

“Yeah, I’m sure they smelled great mingling with the stench of petrol,” Julie deadpanned. “I’m starting to think you three need constant adult supervision.”

“We are adults.”

“That’s why I’m so worried.”

Luke huffed a laugh, but then frowned. “I feel bad. You’re always the one taking care of me. Just once I want to take care of you.”

Julie raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you want me to get sick?”

“No, no, I didn’t mean that,” he said hurriedly, even though Julie had been joking. “I just meant that you do such a good job with this every time. I want to give you a break.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Julie assured him. “But… if I ever do get sick, I’ll make sure to come straight to you and you can take care of me. Deal?”

“Deal,” Luke said with a soft smile.

*

It had been many years since Luke had been really sick. Julie had naively thought that maybe they’d get lucky and he’d never be sick again. Maybe his laughable immune system had finally caught up and had strengthened itself against what most people could avoid easily.

Wishful thinking.

Flu season was set to ruin Julie’s life. She had woken up one Monday morning and followed her usual routine, heading to her daughter’s bedroom to wake her up for preschool. She had shaken little Rose awake, but the three-year-old had been extremely hot.

“Oh, sweetie,” Julie had said gently. “Are you feeling sick?”

Rose, rubbing her teary tired eyes, had nodded and cried very quietly.

Julie had pulled her into a hug. “Okay, honey. You go back to sleep. It’s alright.”

She laid Rose back down, tucked her back in, and encouraged her to sleep. It took a long time and a lot of tears from Rose, but eventually the little girl drifted back into a fitful slumber. Feeling like all she wanted to do was go to sleep herself, Julie headed back to her own bedroom and shook Luke awake.

“Luke,” she whispered. “Rose is sick. I’m going to call the preschool and tell them she won’t be in, but then I’ve got to get to the studio. You think you can take care of her today?”

Luke sleepily opened his eyes and groaned as he shifted into a sitting position. He held a hand to his head – it looked far too similar to him steadying his balance for Julie’s liking.

She sighed. “Please don’t tell me you’re sick as well?”

Luke tried for a smile. “No, no, I’m alright. I’ll take care of Rose, don’t worry.”

He tried to swing himself out of bed, but Julie didn’t miss the way that the sudden movement made him wince. That and the fact that he clapped a hand to his mouth, the other held over his stomach. Unsteadily, he got to his feet and headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he came back to the bedroom looking sheepish.

“I’m sick too,” he said quietly.

Julie sighed haggardly and looked to the alarm clock on her bedside table. She needed to be at the studio to start her recording session in half an hour, but no part of her was willing to leave her husband and daughter alone while both of them were seeming awfully ill. She quickly made her decision.

“You get back to bed,” she said gently to Luke, taking his hand and leading him back to the bed.

“No, I need to get Rose,” he said, but he grudgingly followed her.

“I’m going to get Rose,” Julie told him as she sat him down and tucked him in. “I’ll bring her here and you can stay snuggled up together. I’ll call the preschool, run some errands, and I’ll check on you both later, okay?”

Luke nodded and lifted Julie’s hand to his lips as if to kiss it, then seemed to think better of it and dropped it. “Okay. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Julie went back to Rose’s room. The little girl was fast asleep, wriggling around a little as she dreamt, her black curls that were the same as her mother’s spread out over her pillow. Gently, Julie picked her up and held her tightly to her chest, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head as she carried her to her own bedroom.

Luke smiled as Julie entered the room with Rose cradled in her arms. He lifted up the duvet so that Julie could lay Rose down beside him. As she put Rose down, the little girl woke up. She looked around, seeming surprised to have been moved. Then she began to cry very, very quietly.

“Dada,” she wailed, tiny fists clutching at Luke’s pyjama top. “Mama!”

Julie was exhausted. She could see a long day ahead of her, looking after both of the most important people in her life as they battled this disgusting illness. But as she looked at them – tearful little Rose snuggled up with Luke, who had his arms around her tightly, stroking her back soothingly as he whispered shushes – she felt a little bit of that exhaustion melt away, replaced with love.

She perched herself on the bed. “Rosie,” she whispered, tucking one of Rose’s stray hairs behind her ear. “If you quiet down, Mama will sing you a lullaby.”

Luke’s eyes widened. Behind the bloodshot sickness, Julie could see the love and admiration he had for her in them. She beamed at him, and he smiled back as if in awe of her. She felt her heart swell with love.

Rose hushed a little and Julie began the lullaby that her own mother had sung to her when she was little. It was a traditional little rhyme, simple and easy, but the beautiful melismatic notes strung together like bunting made the rising melodies sound ethereally pretty. It had always been one of Julie’s favourite songs.

Rose fell back asleep, huddled in Luke’s arms. Luke reached his hand out of took Julie’s hand.

“You’re perfect,” he mouthed, trying not to wake Rose.

Julie smiled, gently kissed his hand, and finally got up to phone the preschool.

*

Julie never got sick. It wasn’t in her nature. It just didn’t happen.

Except for that one time.

Julie woke up with the highest temperature the thermometer had ever recorded, her head was spinning like she was on a rollercoaster, and her muscles felt so fatigued that she couldn’t get out of bed.

And yet, she said to Luke, “I swear I’m fine.”

Luke, in a rare moment of knowledge and common sense, didn’t take her word for it. He seemed almost excited for her sickness – Julie wasn’t sure how to feel about that – and he pulled her into a tight hug.

“No,” he said firmly, “you’re sick. I’m going to take care of you.”

And he did. The very next thing Luke did was make Julie up a hot water bottle and bring it to her to help combat her chills, then he brought her three boxes of paracetamol and an entire pitcher of water. He called the doctor’s office for advice, then dragged the entire television set up to his and Julie’s room from downstairs. He got Rose ready for school and before he left the house he assured Julie that he would be back soon and she didn’t need to worry and, “If you need anything, just call me and I’ll come straight back.”

Julie couldn’t help but smile despite her tiredness and awful feeling. “I’ll be fine, Luke. Get Rose to school before she’s late.”

“I love you,” Luke said.

Rose, stood at the end of Julie’s bed, said, “Love you, Mama!”

“I love you, Rosie. Have a good day.”

Julie watched the love of her life and her perfect daughter leave the room and listened to their footsteps heading downstairs. Maybe she felt absolutely terrible and perhaps like she was going to be sick, but when she had someone like Luke looking after her it didn’t feel quite so dreadful.

[d6official]

Meet the indie kings of K-town, DAY6

DAY6 prove that there's more than one way to cut the K-pop cake.

If you think K-pop and think all singing all dancing big budget with bells on, you’d be… well, you’d be right, but that’s not all the genre has to offer.

Enter DAY6, the indie kings of K Town, who’ve always stood out among their label mates for writing and composing all of their own music, and favouring playing their instruments on stage over tightly choreographed dance routines. They’re signed to JYP, a Korean entertainment company, also home to Korea’s favourite girl group TWICE, multi-talented Wembley conquerors GOT7, and fast-rising young ‘ens Stray Kids and ITZY, meaning DAY6 get all the fun of the K-pop fair without losing their own artistic freedom.

When Dork meets vocalist and guitarist Jae, and vocalist and bassist Young K – remaining members Sungjin (vocals/guitar), Wonpil (vocals/keyboards), and Dowoon (drums) are getting ready for show time – it’s the day of their massive Brixton Academy show, about an hour before they go on, to be precise. Judging by our slot, they’re extremely busy boys.

It’s not their first time over here, in fact it’s almost exactly a year since they last played London, previously packing out the Kentish Town Forum.

“We’ve definitely taken a step to become a little bit more live music orientated,” says Jae. “We focused on energy before, but we felt even more importance of getting the energy in our live show, especially with the ‘Gravity’ album, and we used the ‘Entropy’ album to kind of aid us in generating that energy I guess, you know, the back and forth with the audience, and just to make it a better night. That’s definitely been our biggest evolution as a group since last time.”

The Brixton show is part of their ‘Gravity’ world tour – although there’s been another full length (‘Entropy’) since, crikey K-pop moves fast – which means we’re not treated to many of the new songs live, but to be fair, we’re not sure they could fit them into the already two-hour long set.

‘Gravity’ and ‘Entropy’ make up the ‘Book Of Us’ series, an EP and and album focused around being in a relationship.

“The first one was ‘Gravity’, which was the beginning, and then ‘Entropy’ was anything beyond that,” Young K says of the record. “So anything beyond the beginning, any changes, good changes, bad changes, especially the title song, ‘Sweet Chaos’.”

The song is definitely a representation of the whole record, if only metaphorically, as ‘Entropy’ weaves its way through every genre you could think of, it’s chaotic at least. ‘Sweet Chaos’ is the most pop-punk they’ve ever gone (think old Fall Out Boy), ‘EMERGENCY’ is big retro bop complete with video game sounds and a horn section, ‘365247’ could’ve come straight off 5SOS’s ‘Youngblood’ album, ‘About Now’ is a lo-fi little bedroom pop ditty, and that’s only four of the tracks. The huge mix of genres is a result of the boys writing their own bits everywhere and bringing the songs together in the end to create the album.

“We went into a song camp session, which is like, all of the members split up into different rooms with a bunch of songwriters, and so we came up with a lot of different songs, different genres, anything that we wanted to try, and that all added up being ‘Entropy’,” explains Young K.

“I feel like for every song, most of them came from the song camp, so each member would do one song per idea, so we’d have like thirty songs at the end of one session right, so I feel like with that being the case, everyone had different inspirations,” adds Jae.

“We wrote parts of the album individually, and the hodgepodge of all those songs became the album, therefore there was no genre continuation,” he continues. “So with each song, the energy might be a little different but overall, our goal in the end is just to put out good energy and be able to bring our listeners along for our journeys.”

They’ve always experimented with different genres, namely on their ‘Every DAY6’ project, where they put out two songs every month in 2017. They’re just having fun with it and enjoying showing all of the different sides DAY6 have to offer.

“I would definitely say ‘Sweet Chaos’ is the one I’m most proud of writing,” says Young K, “because it’s the most recent title song, and I think it represents the most recent DAY6. That, and ‘Like A Flowing Wind’, ‘Mine’, I think a group favourite was ‘Not Fine’, and ‘How To Love’ from ‘Gravity’.”

As the group’s primary songwriter, Young K wrote ‘Gravity’ in its entirety, and eight of the eleven songs on ‘Entropy’, with Jae and Wonpil chipping in for the other three. It’s pretty rare in K-pop for a group to get that much input in their own songs, with most companies hiring teams to write behind the scenes (not that that is much different from the way we do things over here in the ‘West’), but it’s even sweeter that the boys would open up about their relationships in song too, especially considering dating a bit of a taboo in K-pop. What can we say, it’s proper Real Music stuff, Dear Reader.

As a company, JYP Entertainment seems to give its acts plenty of freedom and input in their music. Alongside DAY6, members of GOT7 and Stray Kids have been given the chance to produce their own tracks; knowing that the artists are given some independence and an opportunity to present themselves musically the way they’d want to be seen removes some of those ideas that K-pop is extremely regimented. That being said, when we ask if they have a hand in the creation of the videos and concepts that are so vital in K-pop, we’re met with a straight “nope” from Jae, and hefty laugh. “Yeah we just focus on the music and let the company expand on it,” explains Young K. Fair enough, they’ve probably got plenty on.

We were also curious as to whether they felt any pressure to go down the EDM/pop route, like many other groups, but it sounds like they’re pretty comfy doing their own thing. Plus, they still get to do fun things every now and again, like the music video for ‘EMERGENCY’, which they jokingly put a little dance routine together for, and being part of a huge company has never negatively affected the group.

“To be honest, in the beginning, a lot of people didn’t know we were part of JYP, so they didn’t expect anything from us,” says Young K. “To them, we were just a band in the beginning, then as it went on they realised we were from JYP, when we started doing more K-pop things.”

Jae adds, “In our first year, we went around the Hongdae area and got in the band scene, and after we played live for a while, the dudes from JYP were like what’s up, and we joined them, but at the start no one really expected us to sound any particular way.”

Since our chat, Jae has started releasing solo music under the name eaJ, working closely with 88 rising, an Asian-American collective of artists (Rich Brian, Joji, NIKI, ring any bells?) who he’s happy to big up. “There’s a lot of really good artists coming out, especially like with representation in the states,” he says. “There’s a lot of amazing artists coming up that we all listen to, and 88 has amazing toplines, a great vibe, they’re upping the standards for Asian representation.”

So with Jae experimenting with solo stuff, what’s coming next for DAY6 after they wrap this world tour?

He says, “To be completely honest with you, we’re not sure. We just keep on writing good music, but we’re just tryna make our path, make our next title song for our next album, so whether we complete the ‘Book Of Us’ concept or whether we do something else, we’re not sure. All we can say is that we’re focused on the music.”

Taken from the March issue of Dork, out now.

[artdjgblog]

Innerview: Cathy Fishel / Print Magazine August 2005 Image:​ Print Magazine​ Note: Interview for the Print Regional Design Annual.

Introduction: Cathy…Sorry you missed me. Sorry to miss you. Thanks for the message (sorry it cut you off in the middle of your phone number). Things are a bit intense as summer brings a new definition of BUSY. Work. Work. Work. Many thanks for the kind words about my work and I. It means so much. Yeah, I am sure it is chore to sift through all of the junk I’ve been dumping on the PRINT headquarters every March for the past three years or so…(I feel like a true failure if I send less than fifty entries). It is funny because just last week I was thinking about the upcoming PRINT Regional Annual and how I had not heard back on if I was selected��and I guess I have been…how many? And what? I am very curious. I had pretty much written it off. Thanks for informing me…I suppose I was supposed to receive notice upon that a while back…what happened there? Same thing happened to me last year. Out of curiosity I called somebody at PRINT last year and sure enough they had contacted me at the wrong address or something like that…I hope that wasn’t the case again. We need to get that straightened out…indeed. Certainly, I am thrilled to participate in this little questionaire. Wow, i’ve always wanted to. You don’t have to worry about smearing my name from anything said. I don’t care. Here we go… ​​01) How has the pace of business/number of jobs been in the past year as compared to the previous year? The pace is as thick as I want it and when I have sleep to deprive. I’ve always held other jobs and currently work a massive sixty-two hour weekly schedule as a groundskeeper and a janitorial supervisor…thus, cramming design into my pockets…and whenever I can squeeze it in my free time or find it under the pillow in the wee morning. I never actively seek my work due to time constraints and exhaustion…not yet, at least…and besides, the majority is word of mouth. Most of the time I just make stuff. Some of the time I get a nice little call or email and then just make more stuff. 0​2) Why is it up or down? The numbers (ups/downs) are slim if you stack them to my three previous so-called “professional” years…of course it’s due to my lack of time…fatigue…getting older…and mostly because I don’t really have a definite connection with my clients like I used to…and I don’t live with bands, attend concerts or am around my clients as much as I used to…(in case you’re wondering, my primary source of work is in the local independent music industry). Also, I am not as twenty-four-seven-gung-holike I was when I first started. I’ve accomplished most everything I set out to do at this point…(perhapsI’m just settling and need to mark a new planner?). 0​3) Has there been any surprises in the past year? Good or bad? Surprises in my work and thoughts come quite often. Sometimes it’s mush. Sometimes they come as sneakeries. The only real surprises come when I get random calls/emails from kind Print editors, designers requesting copies of posters, people wanting to put me in their books, seeing my work in books/magazines next to my inspirations/peers…and recent college graduates persuing job opportunities with my bedroom design operation. It’s all good…never bad…well, the only bad thing would be that I have to shell out good money for the good books that I’m in. 0​4) Has there been an influx of a new sort of work or client in your office? In the design community as a whole? Honestly, the only new things I approach are the things that come with each new day and in thought. I try to treat each design day new. Nothing I do is new to the worlds, other than in my own. I do thumb magazines a bit and I am a bit of a junky with design/culture and such…and I do keep my eyes open at all times…though, sometimes too much of it can make me not like design or anything. It’s getting to be way over-impacted with the idea that everyone thinks themselves to be a designer. Most of the only new sort of work that really kicks me (or I even consider new) comes from scraps of paper I find and hand painted ghetto signage. Though, if we’re talking professional work, I guess there is some good stuff coming out of the local climate. And of course I guess there is always good stuff coming out of the woods everywhere. Others might lump me in there somewhere. I don’t really know or care. 0​5) What is the economic climate like there in general? I was bummed when Quik Trip ended their “Cheap Drink Summer” so soonly…however, I’ve always got the Hostess thrift store two blocks away. I always find free junk in the streets and at work in the trash…and I always find great deals on paper and “whatevers” at thrift stores. No matter if I don’t cash in on design…I’ve always got cheap fuel to burn…and I will always barter for goods and services…if the price is right/not right. 0​6) Have any large clients closed or left the area? Who? Most of the rock ‘n’ rollers are skinny little dudes and I’m the one that’s gaining the weight around my belt and portfolio pit. There have been a few bands that have broken apart and some that have decided to play musician-designer to save money. And combined roles like that don’t always produce wickedly pretty offspring. 0​7) Has there been any changes in the ways that clients do business with designers (good or bad)? Not really any changes in clients. People still owe me money. Most people still don’t want to pay much or even pay at all for design…though, they are eager to push the products I slap myself onto and I give them free press in books/magazines. Oh well, that’s part of the deal and I knew that from the get go. It’s more than thant anyway. And I still love them…I am sure they still love me…I just don’t make enough from it to eat. But, I do have some wonderful clients that I hope to cradle and/or have them cradle me for a long time…we’ll see. 0​8) Is the design community tight-knit? Competitive? Friendly? What? I don’t really associate with other designers due to a lack of time and sometimes, simply want. I do have a few I check in on…but mostly I stick to my own guns. Therefore, I constantly hope my cats and girlfriend understand what the heck I’m talking about. It’s mostly mumbles I’m trying to say though…at least I’m entertained. In terms of the local design community…well, I guess the art/design here in Kansas City is looking pretty good. Even though i’m only in my fourth year, through the visual clutter I can see a few improvements. From what I understand, there is a tight-knit community that I’m not really associated with physically. From the outside, the knit appears to be extremely tight though. These days I like to sit at home and hunch my shoulders…and I like to think and be around people/places/things that aren’t necessarily directly connected to the design world, but they are in my personal one (whatever that means). In competitive terms I guess I fell victim to that last December. One of the best things I’ve ever done was stolen at an exhibition. Poor Mortimer was an only child and I’ve nothing to document him. Either I’m getting somewhat popular or I have a backlash. I’m also getting tired of most of the announcement boards to post posters being smaller than one of my posters (time to break out my little hands). ​0​9) What exciting things are going on in the design community? Honestly, I couldn’t tell you. Well, I’m kind of excited to see where this city is headed to as a whole. There are a lot of expensive things being built…new downtown developments/arena…and a ridiculous addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art that looks like a giant trash bin and/or trailer home. 10) What are you looking forward to in the next year? Any big changes? Anything that you hope will happen? Well, I am getting married this Fall and thus must condense my apartment. I must lovingly adapt to sharing my artifacts, junk, libraries, wall space and work space with a woman. I also plan to start sleeping on a real bed again…and to quit my night job. She is a good one though. 11.) Why is where you are a great place/lousy place to be a designer? Since I’m a one man show, I can take my design anywhere. Though, it helps to have an outlet to a music community…I guess…if I want to continue with that. I guess with this question, it’s mostly all behind the controller. You’ve really got to chop some trees down to be heard…or just put your head down, barrel through them and not really pay attention. And my real dream is to live in the woods outside of a small town near a big city and have the requests come to my porch via arrows…and to make things for myself. I’ve never been one to worry myself about if I’m in the right place or not. As long as my brain is not too sloshy and polluted, I will be fine. 12) What advantages does the midwest hold as a design source for clients? I was born and fed here. It is ok (at times a bit too honky and wonky). I’m happy with the way things have gone so far. I’ve got a meager following here that I suppose “gets it”…and the norm that says, “That’s different.” Though I haven’t really ventured off much in my design life, or simply, life in general. I hear it’s a mighty treat to get out. And I also hear good things about the midwest’s hospitality and friendliness from outsiders and/or people who get out. Perhaps I’ll pack it up one of these days and try some new turf to ooze between my toes. 13) What is the level of student/job applicant talent? Is young talent staying in the area or leaving? It’s really flattering, funny and somewhat depressing to me that I’ve received many offers from recent design graduates who desperately want to work for me. Some are really talented too…and I must paint my sad tale of no funds or time for me to even consider full-time employment with myself. Maybe I’ll just have them move in for therapy…or start my own school with fire poles to slide through the floors of my apartment building and heaping pile of posters to burn for warmth. -djg

[acehotel]

Interview: Justin Strauss with Joe Goddard

A founding member of Hot Chip, the 2 Bears, Greco-Roman Records and flying stag under his own moniker — he just dropped his solo record Electric Lines — Joe Goddard is considerately humble about his myriad of music-making accomplishments. Having produced some of the most sparkling, genre-defying electro-pop in the past decade and a half, he continues to flex his curiosity for sound through remixes and DJ sets. His is a wunderkind mind. For this episode of Just/Talk, renowned New York City DJ and music producer Justin Strauss sat down with Goddard to discuss the genesis of Hot Chip, his love for Destiny’s Child and what to do when there’s just too many good ideas. 

Justin Strauss: Can you tell me how Hot Chip formed and what inspired it?

Joe Goddard: Alexis Taylor and I had met each other when we were 12 at the playground at our school. We would eat our packed lunch and play football together. Owen from Hot Chip as well, the three of us, and a bunch of other people — our friendship group started that first year at secondary school in Southwest London in Putney. We became friends and both of us were already very passionate about music.

JS: What were you listening to? Was there a band where you both said, "Oh, you like that?"

JG: The Beastie Boys was one we bonded over very early on. And a lot of hip hop. I had an older friend, Samir, who introduced me to New York hip hop when I was really young so I was listening to a lot of New York stuff like Nas and Wu-Tang Clan, all of early 90s hip hop which I'm really passionate about. We bonded over things like Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul that Alexis was also into. He's got two older brothers who are massively into music themselves so he got passed down a lot of this great stuff.

JS: Was that music current at that time?

JG: It was mostly current. And Alexis introduced me to Prince — he's been passionate about Prince since he was a really small kid. And then we both got into a lot of the contemporary indie music like Pavement, Smog, Bonnie Prince Billy, Royal Trux, these American Drag City bands. We would go and see them live when they came to London and ended up going to shows together all the time. A lot of it was inspired by Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) who was two years above us at the school.

JS: Where was this all happening?

JG: It's a comprehensive school in Putney which is a little bit suburban, you know, a bit out in terms of the actual London. By no means the countryside, but a little out there. But we would travel together all the time into SoHo to buy records and go around Camden to see shows, all of that normal stuff. We used to get together on the weekends and play acoustic guitars and sing Neil Young songs or whatever. As teenage boys do. And pretty quickly that developed into making music together.

JS: Were you studying music at school, or is it something you just picked up?

JG: I never studied it. Alexis studied it. Alexis is more trained as a musician. He knows music theory. He had guitar lessons and piano lessons from when he was young. I just had an acoustic guitar that was at my house which my Dad kind of left around, but I was always into computers. My Dad had computers in our house when we were really young kids, so that stuff came pretty naturally to me, that's always been my kind of thing, being the dude at the computer.

JS: So were you in charge of recording early demos and things like that?

JG: We’d just get together after school and go to the local record shops. There was a Beggar's Banquet record shop in Putney that we always used to hang out in after school most days. Then we’d go back to my house and try to make music together. And some of it would be really kind of folky, gentle like Neil Young or Bonnie Prince Billy, something inspired by that sort of thing. But other stuff would be experimenting with beats, etc.

JS: And were you aware or listening to dance music at that time?

JG: In those very early days, talking about like 94, 95, 96, I wasn't really aware of dance music. The first dance music that I got into was jungle when that became super big and exciting in London.

JS: Kind of a natural progression from your hip hop.

JG: I feel like jungle and drum & bass have sonic similarities to rock music. It has that same kind of energy. That was the first dance music to really speak to me and I used to go to Drum & Bass clubs like Metalheadz which was in the Blue Note just around the corner from here. So that was the first time I experienced clubs and dance music culture, but that didn't really transfer getting into disco and house music and garage for another few years.

JS: So you're at school and you're hanging out; how did you start writing songs together?

JG: Well, the school was quite good at putting on events like concerts in the evenings. We would go see Kieran play in his first band at school and we would rehearse in the music department after school.

JS: It was the three of you at that point?

JG: Yeah. And maybe there were a couple more people. In those early days, there were a lot of different people in the band for a little bit and then they would drop out.

JS: This is Hot Chip?

JG: The band was called Hot Chip from like...

JS: Day one?

JG: Yeah, really, really early when it was just the two of us playing guitars.

JS: Any significance to the name or you just like the sound?

JG: I honestly don't remember. It kind of feels a bit stupid to me...

JS: It fits. I think you've grown into it.

JG: Most of the time in these early concerts we were covering other tracks. We covered the Velvet Underground and Pavement, Spacemen 3. And then we started to write stuff together. I think Alexis had already been writing songs, folk songs, really. And I started to do the same. We were probably writing our own material by 1996.

JS: Were you writing together or did you each bring your own kind of songs to the band?

JG: It's always both of those things.

JS: Like a Lennon/McCartney kind of vibe? You would help out with the middle eight or something?

JG: That happened with Hot Chip even in those days, the way it worked was some songs Alexis had just written and brought to me and I just helped to produce them. Other ones I wrote and Alexis would add a middle eight, another section, or some words. And then, generally, I would make the the more dancey, upbeat electronic stuff and he would listen to the demo and write words over the top.

Those were the ways we wrote together and it's always been like that. And it’s still the way it is today.

JS: How did it progress  from playing in school band to getting a record released?

JG: Again, it’s to do with the older guys at school. Kieran, Ardem and Sam had their band Fridge signed to Trevor Jackson's label Output pretty early. We used to go and see them play all around London in the pubs, The Bull Inn, The Dublin Castle, all the kind of classic pub gigs.

JS: And they kind of inspired you to say, "Oh, we can do this."

JG: Exactly. That was a pathway we knew existed, we knew how to do it in a certain sense. And Stephen Bass, who runs Moshi Moshi Records, became friendly with Kieran and Sam and eventually signed them to Go Beat Records — they put out one of their Fridge records on Go Beat. I think Adem passed Stephen our demo and then Stephen became an incredibly important supporter and helper. As well as running Moshi Moshi, which released the first Hot Chip record, he was essentially our agent for a while. He would get us gigs, he was kind of our manager.

JS: And then Moshi Moshi released the first Hot Chip single?

JG: Yeah, they put out “Down with Prince” and, prior to that, we kind of self-released a few Hot Chip things. We used to make fifty CDRs and take them to Rough Trade and ask them to sell them, that type of thing. We were inspired by small, independent labels and wanted to try and do it ourselves. So there are a couple of Hot Chip releases before Moshi Moshi, but that's when everything became a lot more serious. Stephen is really plugged into the music industry, he worked at major labels at times and worked at Island Records for a while — which I also worked for a short period after I left University. He really opened a lot of doors for us and helped us out.

JS: When the first single came out, what kind of reaction did it get?

JG: It was funny. It got a good reaction, it got good reviews and people were kind of into it.

JS: Hot Chip has a very unique sound. When you hear a Hot Chip record, it doesn’t sound like anything you've heard before.

JG: I think part of it's because we never went into a professional studio. For years, we never set foot in a real studio, we were doing it all ourselves and I had no experience of mixing records.

JS: Where you just using a computer to record on?

JG: Yeah. I had an early version of Cubase which is what I still use today. And I had a four track tape prior to that. But with Hot Chip, I was on Cubase; we just had a box full of crappy kid instruments that we got from charity shops and whatever we could find that was inexpensive. We had a couple of very cheap Casio keyboards and a tambourine, whatever we could get our hands on. I just did my best, you know?

JS: Did you use drum machines?

JG: In the early days, I did all the drums in Cubase, which is actually still kind of what I do often. Later on, we borrowed an MPC from Fridge and used that in the live show but yeah, I just did everything on Cubase, to be honest.

I was inspired by hip hop and Destiny's Child and when garage music became super big in London, I really loved that as well. So I was attempting to make records that sounded a little bit like that but, because I had zero experience, they came out a lot more rough and ready, the mix is pretty crazy. But I think that it helped the records to stand out in a certain way.

JS: Yeah. It's funny that you say you were influenced by those things because hearing it, I wouldn't have thought —

JG: No. It sounds more like beat happy trying to make an electronic record.

JS: Do you remember when your first record came out, was it super exciting for you guys? Was it like, "Wow. We're onto something here.”

JG: Oh yeah. Absolutely. That was the extent of our ambition at that point. As is the case for a lot of artists, I guess. You're just looking forward to the first 7 inch, and then the first 12 inch, and then a CD, and they all feel like incredible milestones. We were serious about it. We were ambitious, and the whole way through our teenage years, we worked hard at it. We used to record together all the time and play gigs whenever we could, rehearse, do everything that we could.

JS: Did you have a lot of songs to pick from that eventually became the first album?

JG: Yeah. There's tons of unreleased demos and other tracks and I have an archive of other stuff...most of which is not very good. It's kind of like outside finding our feet, I guess.

JS: The best stuff made it to the record.

JG: Pretty much, I reckon. There's a couple of unreleased things that Stephen from Moshi is always asking if we could do a special compilation of. But I don't think that there are many hidden gems.

JS: I had interviewed Jonathan Galkin from DFA Records and he was telling me the story of how he heard the Moshi Moshi album and was blown away and wanted to sign you guys to DFA Records, which was a very exciting label in New York for me because I was really uninspired with what was happening with dance music around that time. DFA came along and kicked it in the ass again. It made me want to get back into it, produce music, remix records and DJ — it felt really great. Were you aware of what was going on with them?

JG: Yes. It's really interesting because “House of Jealous Lovers” caused massive amount of excitement in London and I wasn't going to all of the early parties. “Return to New York” and some of the early London parties were playing that early 80s New York music again. That stuff became super relevant and fresh for people. I wasn't at all those events, but I remember them. We went to some, hearing Trevor Jackson play the Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers” seemed incredibly exciting to me and it was all over the press.

JS: Trevor Jackson’s label Output released the first DFA records in the U.K.

JG: Yes, of course. LCD Soundsystem’s “Losing My Edge,” that was a massively exciting track. I really love the sense of humor on that record and still love playing it.

JS: That's an amazing record.

JG: Yeah. I love it. And then when Yeah came out, that was a massive 12 inch for me, really inspiring. That became my blueprint for the Hot Chip music after the first album. I was hearing these DFA tracks and just being blown away by them and so I'm making things over and over, being inspired by those early DFA records. When DFA got in touch it just felt amazing.

JS: And how did Moshi Moshi feel about that?

JG: I can't remember. I think they were slightly worried about what was going to happen, but I think we had ambitions to move on to a bigger label anyway. We were excited about the possibilities and I was crazy excited about meeting Tim and James.

JS: How did it happen? I mean I heard the story from Jonathan, how he tried to get James to listen to Hot Chip because Jon Galkin really wanted to sign you guys and devised this whole plan he told me, having it playing in the office when James came in. And it worked and James heard it and loved it.

JG: Right, there was a time when we got asked in a magazine about how DFA heard our music and Alexis said, "Oh yeah, James discovered us and agreed to sign us." And I remember Jonathan being kind of pissed off, like, "No, man, that's not what happened. It was me. It was all me." We have a lot to thank Jonathan for.

JS: Then they flew the whole band over to New York to record the album?

JG: Yes, and we just hung out for a while. It was in January, really deep snow everywhere, and it was amazing. That's where we recorded this version of our song “(Just Like We) Breakdown.” We made that with James & Tim Goldsworthy.

JS: Jonathan was saying that at first the band didn't like the DFA version of the song.

JG: Yes, but what happened was that we were in a separate room, a kind of rehearsal room, and we were working on this version of the song which was pretty angular and broken, pretty off the wall. And we played it for them and they were like “okaaaaay.” And then, slowly over the week that we spent with them, they re-mixed it into more of a house track. I think James played the drums on it, and it kind of morphed into this thing. They made the bass line out of a Simmons drum machine, tuning the toms to make the bass line which was awesome.

And I stayed with that process. I was kind of into disco and house at the time and I went in every day and worked with them. But some of the other guys in the band kind of didn't get why they were changing the track. It was slightly awkward for a little bit. Actually, there was a period of time when everyone else in the band didn't want that track to come out.

Then, Tim Sweeney took the unreleased demo to some gigs in Germany and came back saying, “you need to release this, this is a good version of the track.” And then everyone listened again and was like, “okay yeah. Cool.” Everyone got a bit more used to the change.

JS: It’s hard at first being “produced” after you’ve done it yourself up till that point.

JG: Yes, it's hard at first. When you're a young band and you essentially have producers giving you that kind of feedback, it's hard to deal with at first. But it ended up great.

JS: It's an amazing record.

JG: Yeah I love that version. I think we already had a couple of the tracks when we went to New York that trip. We had already made demos of “Over and Over” and “Boy From School,” and the DFA guys heard them so we went back to London and finished that record.

JS: On your own.

JG: Just in my bedroom. I think I lived with Felix at the time in Camden, so we had a little recording set up in our living room. We finished that record and then it was mixed by someone else.

JS: So DFA didn’t end up producing the whole album?

JG: No. Just the “Breakdown” track. I would have loved for that to have happened but we just did it ourselves. And this was exactly the same moment that LCD signed to EMI. When LCD signed to EMI, it seemed like the whole DFA family was moving to EMI, then EMI got interested in signing us as well because DFA were interested in signing us. We ended up on DFA and kind of on EMI. It was crazy.

JS: That's a perfect kind of situation.

JG: Yeah, it was great.

JS: You have the DFA indie vibe with the EMI muscle.

JG: Exactly. It worked out great.

JS: And that was an amazing record. The thing about Hot Chip is that the songs are always just really good songs. Full of amazing chord changes and progressions but is still danceable. It's something lacking in a lot of dance music today. It's great to just have a cool track, but it's also nice to have something that you can sink your teeth into as far as a song goes. You guys are really good songwriters.

JG: That was definitely always my feeling. I wanted to try and give people a satisfying full package, something that's kind of funky, got some interesting sounds going on, but also has got those chord changes that really get you. And then lyrically, mostly it's Alexis; he's an amazing lyric writer so we’re trying to do something that's very entertaining on these different levels. I can understand people wanting to make dance music that’s more minimal and has less going on.

But the moments in clubs that I really gravitate towards are the ones where they're bigger songs, more emotion, a bit more epic. I love those moments. Sometimes you get a DJ who plays techno for an hour and 45 minutes and then at the end plays a big track that everyone sings along to. And I'm just like, “can we not just have that for the whole set?” I think it's why I love disco so much. Because they essentially do that. It's all the flow, the fun-ness.

JS:  You've been pretty prolific as a remixer yourself. Was that an unusual process for you at first or did it feel very natural?

JG: No. It was crazy. There were a few when we signed to Moshi Moshi. One of the other amazing jobs that Stephen Bass did for us was that, because he worked with major labels all the time, he would ask if we could have a go at remixing something for them and I saw it as a learning process. I really loved the idea of getting the stems to a track that was professionally made in the studio. And just listening through the stems and seeing how they did stuff. How they mic stuff and how things are supposed to sound and all of that. Took whatever opportunities I could.

JS: It is the best way to learn. When I started remixing, I was actually working with the original 2″ master tapes.

JG: Exactly.

JS: It's the best school for production I think there is.

JG: I still feel like I'm learning. Working on a remix right now and I'm learning from that as well. I was never taught how to engineer records so I still find it endlessly fascinating.

JS: Were you inspired by any remixers? Were there things that you aspired to when you started?

JG: We're talking about New York people like yourself and Shep Pettibone and Tom Moulton, all of the classic dudes, they take the track and change the context just slightly in subtle ways. Subtle extensions and dubs so that the track works perfectly in the dance. I really love the idea of not trying to change everything about a song and turn it into something that's completely unrecognizable, but just to do a good job of subtly changing the context and the mood. In the space where the record works, that's kind of what I go for. That idea of remixing is a really great way to look at it. Not stamping your own personality on it, but just going with the song.

JS: Back when the budgets were bigger and you had more time, we would always do a version that was more like that. And then do another version that was totally different where you would want to put your stamp on it. And I think that was a nice balance because you got to the people who wanted to just have a nice extended mix of the song, and then you had the people who wouldn't play that.

Nowadays, when you do a remix, many times you don’t even have the full session to work with. You get the acapella and you do your track — that's all well and good, but you're basically re-writing the song. And you're not sharing, most of the time, in publishing or productions.

JG: That's true. I enjoy remixing and see it as a nice challenge. I listen to the vocal, isolate it, and then re-write the chords around it. I like that.

JS: But as artists, Hot Chip and your solo records have had many remixes. How do you feel when someone changes your chords  and the original vibe of the original production? Are you comfortable with that?

JG: I think it's pretty difficult. With remixes, I often go back with pretty specific comments and I try to give good feedback. What I find unpleasant as a remixer is when people just come back and say “I want it to sound more golden. Where's the magic?”  And you're like, “well that doesn't really help me.”

So I try to give feedback which is specific like, “I loved this segment. This chord I don't feel works so maybe switch that.”

JS: And how do you feel when someone says that to you as the remixer? Have you had that experience?

JG: Yeah, I've been given every comment and every different kind of response. Basically it depends how the feedback is given to me. If it's given in a nice way and presented as constructive, “this is great we just need to work on it a bit more,” than I'm up for it. I'm into it and I'll do my best. But if someone just says “this is no good, I need it to be different,” then I just give up.

JS: You've got the wrong guy.

JG: You've got the wrong guy. Try someone else. But right now, luckily, most people know what they're going to get from me, so I think people are generally satisfied. I guess I generally do a pretty poppy, dance-y new version. I just try to do my best. And a good job of that. I try and do the best that I can.

JS: I think as remixer or as a DJ you have to make yourself happy and trust your instincts, know that they're obviously hiring you because you know what you're doing.

JG: I think I'm starting to get to that point where I think I know how to do this now.

JS: Were you prepared for the reaction the first record received? It was pretty successful.

JG: I think I don't think we were fully prepared.

JS: Was it on the pop charts?

JG: Vaguely. The next record, Ready For the Floor, got to number six on the charts for one week and that was pretty cool. I'm pleased that it got onto a Now That's What I Call Music compilation.

JS: At some point with Hot Chip the influences became more dance-y, then more rock-y and more hip hop. Was that just natural when you started to DJ?

JG: I think it’s that. We were all DJing more.

JS: Did you always DJ? Or did that come later?

JG: I used to DJ at school. When my friend was having a house party, I would take “Sure Shot” by the Beastie Boys and play it and then around 98, 99, I got into ESG and Liquid Liquid and would go and play that stuff at a party. So yeah, I've been doing it for a while. And when I went to University, I started to DJ a lot and started to get paid gigs sometimes.

But it developed more in 2005, 06, I started doing it more professionally and going to clubs around Europe, playing in a more house music environment. All the guys in Hot Chip were also getting into dance music in a more serious way at that point. We all started to do it more.

JS: And that kind of influenced the sound of the next records.

JG: Definitely. Because, and this is still true for me today, you get really inspired about what to make if you have a great DJ gig. I always come back the next day thinking “I’d really love to try and make a track.” And you're trying to make stuff that you would love to play out, you've got rhythmic ideas, things still in your head from the night before — DJing definitely really informs it.

JS: What's the state of Hot Chip right now? It would be great to hear a new Hot Chip Record at some point.

JG: We're excited about making another one. We've been talking about it. I sent Alexis a new demo last week.

JS: All you guys are busy. Obviously you started the 2 Bears. What was the concept behind that?

JG: It began as I was playing at the Greco-Roman parties by label I helped run. And Raf was a resident DJ for that, which is how I met him. He's the other guy in 2 Bears, and he would come and play this great house music. He's been into house for a long, long time.

He was kind of a resident DJ at the early Basement Jaxx parties playing loads of good new and old stuff, a lot of the New York stuff and a really good mix-up music. I really looked up to him as a DJ and felt like I learned a lot about house music from him. The 2 Bears was me wanting to explore slightly more proper house music, learn how to make it and how to create those arrangements.

JS: And then when did the Greco-Roman label start?

JG: Well, I came out of University in 2001 or 02 and I was doing Hot Chip but I didn't have a job. I was at home a lot, making demos and just having zero money. And then I did some work at Island Records and met the two other guys that I run Greco-Roman with there. One of the guys, Dom, was an assistant in the A&R department and the other guy, Alex, had a job in the marketing department.

We hatched plans to start a label and started to put on warehouse parties around London. It started off mostly as a party, very ramshackle and badly organized. It was around the same time that Hot Chip became a bit more serious. I quit my job and we just doing it full time. I guess it all kind of happened together at the same time. 

It's our ten year anniversary this year so I feel really happy it's survived as a label that long because it's super tough to keep a label going and not end up losing a lot of money.

JS: You have the 2 Bears, you have your solo records, you have Hot Chip. How do you differentiate? When you guys get together now for a Hot Chip record, Each one of you have been involved in various other projects. How will that affect the next Hot Chip record?

JG: That's actually one of the best things about it now. Al Doyle spends a lot of time in New York and touring with LCD Soundsystem helping to write and produce that album and play in the band. And when he comes back to Hot Chip, he's got this wealth of new skills — his playing as a guitarist and a bass player has really benefited from being in that band.

And James is, as you know, very particular about the way everything should sound, so I think Al really learned how to play disco guitar and bass from doing that job. It’s always incredible to see how he's progressing. And Alexis is off doing the William Onyeabor band and making crazy jazz records and improvising records, listening to Alex Chilton and coming back an amazing player as well.

And it's the same for all the other guys in the band. Everyone's doing this creative good stuff and it means that when you come back to make a record together, there's loads of good ideas from instruments to use, or techniques, or just the ways to do the recording.

JS: Are there ever times when there are too many good ideas?

JG: Well, we do have moments where we disagree about how something should be, but mostly the way it works is that Alexis and I get together beforehand and make a bunch of demos here or in Alexis' home studio and I do some beats and some bass lines so we’ve built a kind of skeleton of the songs.

Sometimes the songs don't change that much from the demo. We just take them into a proper studio and work on engineering all the sounds to make them better, fuller, and we'll sometimes replace synth and add some live drums sometimes.

JS: And how did you decide that I wanted to do a Joe Goddard solo as opposed to making it a 2 Bears or Hot Chip song?

JG: I started renting this studio so I had all of my gear that I've been buying over the last few years. When it was in my bedroom at home, it was all stacked up and not plugged in. So now I have all the gear ready to use at the drop of a hat and I started really enjoying coming in here and just doing it myself. Seeing how it felt to completely finish the tracks just by myself rather than collaborating.

I wanted to just push myself a little bit and try. It was really exhilarating doing that. And also kind of stressful, I had moments where I just didn't know what to do and I didn't have someone to turn to to give me inspiration or make a suggestion. It was difficult at times but it was cool.

JS: It seems to be working.

JG: I'm really pleased by how people have responded to it.

JS: I've seen you play the live show a couple of times and really works well. It's great to see people singing along with your tracks, they're very catchy. You seem to have really good sense of writing a good hook or something that people can latch onto as well as dance to.

JG: That's important to me. I'm a sucker for pop music, you know.

JS: You have pretty much do it all yourself these days, as the technology has made it possible and the shrinking income from producing music has made it necessary.

JG: I guess that's why a lot of people turn to being a DJ or a dance producer where essentially the idea is you do everything yourself. I do feel like that's an issue, I feel like music has lost something from the days when there were a lot of people involved in the process. You mentioned having a decent budget to do a remix and that you could afford to pay someone to engineer it and help you mix it, having musicians come and feel like it was a collaborative process — the work becomes richer for it. Even though people do incredible stuff on their laptop.

JS: Well, you do both. You have the best of both worlds, you have an amazing band you work with, you get to do your own stuff and you DJ. But it is hard that you have to be a jack of all trades these days just to exist as a musician.

[theseventhhex]

The Gotobeds Interview

The Gotobeds

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

The Gotobeds return to the fray with their third full length, ‘Debt Begins at 30’. The esprit de corps and anxiety-free joy that permeates their other LPs and EPs remains intact. The octane is high-test, the engine still has knocks and pings and the battery is overcharged. The Gotobeds - as Pittsburgh as it gets, the folk music of the Steel City - have more tar for us to swallow. ‘Debt Begins at 30’ is an old-fashioned blast furnace and the liquid iron flows. The album's first single, Calquer the Hound, features guest performances by Kim Phuc singer Rob Henry, and Evan Richards of The City Buses. (The album has guests on all eleven tracks. The song has euphony, a sly bridge, plenty of trademark bash, and a spacey outro. It's a sanguine album opener, more Al Oliver than Starling Marte, to put it in Pittsburgh Pirates terms. ‘Debt Begins at 30’ is an old-fashioned blast furnace and the liquid iron flows… We talk to Eli Kasan about writers block, 80s nostalgia and YouTube binges…

TSH: For your current record ‘Debt Begins at 30’, what sort of experiences and perspectives were you mostly impacted by in the lead-up to this release?

Eli: Most of life’s real shit happened to the four of us both cumulatively and independently. Death, divorce, debt, alcoholism, fatherhood, surprise fatherhood were all on the table before this record. It became a time of great reckoning for us, and one that I’m not sure how we’ll top. It did however come together as a group triumph: we’ve managed to hit the 10 year mark of some of us playing together (in various forms). We also managed to try to distil the feeling of adulthood and its horrors and high-points in a punk record.

TSH: You guys recruited a ton of guests to sing and play alongside you on this release, how pleasing was it to have collaborations leading to such amazing results?

Eli: Well, very pleased that you said amazing results – it still boggles our minds that we were able to pull this off. It always makes it more interesting when you can have some outside assistance from folks you admire so highly. It really began as a joke: we had Joe from Protomartyr sing on a song, the idea being when we would tour together, as we often did, that you would be able to hear that song live with the two voices. While writing this LP, we were all listening to trap mixes, Cary suggested guests on every song and I set about carving space for folks to contribute, both big and small. Every person asked said yes, sans John Sharkey who got busy and missed his deadline - though missed, the song made it out alive.

TSH: Also, which collaboration would you say was most intense and unique?

Eli: Hard to say, as I’m loathe to pick a favourite as they all contribute something worthwhile, though Victoria from Downtown Boys’ contribution is notable here because she was the only person who got a blank check to make something. I gave her the song and my lyric inspiration and told her to make her version, so that was thrilling getting such a killer vocal performance back of which we didn’t direct.

TSH: You’ve previously touched on having a preconceived notion of what you want the band to sound like. How has this outlook evolved over time?

Eli: Interesting question and not one I think we or I’ve ever kept top of mind here. Writing interesting pop songs with junk on top ala the Swell Maps was the only real lodestar, so we’ve maintained that through-and-through. Gavin (our bassist) did describe one thing helpful here: Tfp is our third guitarist and changed the sound markedly because he contributes to songwriting and has a different process than mine. Gavin described Tfp as liturgous and scientific in his chasing down iterations of song before “perfecting” the final product (he is a scientist professionally so this is not a stretch), and I’m much more haphazard to which he called “lightning in a bottle”. Harder to do every time, but a thrill when you do.

TSH: What’s the backstory regarding a track like ‘Bleached Midnight’?

Eli: Funny you ask about this track because it relates to the previous question. This track is all Tfp’s baby as he wrote the entirety of it. It came to us mostly fully formed (sans ending) and we had it earmarked from day one that it would bookened the LP. Alex from Protomartyr heard us playing it on tour with them when it was new and would request it off us, which was very kind. The other interesting thing to note here is that it on the surface lacks a guest contributor. I had writers block shortly before entering the studio, but I chanced upon a book written by a friend of mine. He lived with me off and on, and is a brilliant writer. The title and the chorus are his words – words about being addicted to heroin, but seemed perfect for my “war” story (war on the world, war on the self, war internally, etc.). Think the final track was 4 takes – we had it down.

TSH: Also, what sort of memories come to mind when you assess the track ‘On Loan’?

Eli: I can instantly picture the river by Electrical Audio studio in Chicago where I wrote ½ the lyrics. Writers block and nerves had rendered me useless writing the lyrics to it – I knew the theme was being out on loan as a counterpoint to the theme of ‘debt’. I think I had to sing it in like 20 minutes and I sat down and saw our overflowed ashtray - and wrote damn near all of it. We took a break and walked to the river to try and climb down into some weird tunnel (just for fun) and I wrote the end “the radios thrown in the deep // can’t let the dead see you weep // I want a future worth more than mine” and had to keep reciting them on the walk back to not forget them. Another one of Tfp’s solo writing ventures and a very fine one indeed.

TSH: How key has it been to be humorous and not take yourselves too seriously as a band over the years?

Eli: We take the music and writing seriously but not ourselves, I think it has helped us not develop into entitled assholes. Also, the sheer joy we get from writing and playing live I’d hope comes through since we aren’t people taking themselves too seriously – cause that shit is painful.

TSH: Does it feel at times like you’re competing with the best version of yourselves to get the best possible output?

Eli: More like I’m competing with the best LPs I own and their looking over their shoulder the whole time wondering how much of the store they’re gonna let me steal before stopping me. Trying to top your influences is a heady goal and one you likely will always fail at – but that failure is what makes the interesting stuff happen. I sometimes think the opposite of our best selves: in some ways we’re our worst selves when we’re in the band, having Peter Pan syndrome trying to avoid ageing, drinking heavily as a crutch, and playing loudly to cathartically escape whatever ails us.

TSH: ‘Twin Cities’ was shot entirely on VHS. When you think of 90s nostalgia and VCR reminiscences, what comes to mind?

Eli: That was a happy accident and one that makes sense for 30 year old dudes. Though I’ll quote Lou Reed that “I don’t like anyone’s nostalgia but mine” – I think it’s important to shut the fuck up about this point and I’ll tell you why: when I was a young buck working in a record store I had a friend always chiding us over our 80s hero worship. He would joke “you’re freaking me out! You’re dressed like you went to my high school and you’re buying all these records” – but when you’re a kid that perspective does not matter at all to you, so I try to temper my worst impulses to hate on the current trend of 90s revivalism. My opinion on youth culture is unimportant.

TSH: Speaking of VCR, what led to the following tweet ‘If I had a derby horse I’d name it “My Parents VCR”…

Eli: Haha! Twitter is great, it’s like a landfill, all my old thoughts go there to die, though I’m glad that trivial synapse registered with you, even though I have no idea what I meant by it…

TSH: Whilst on tour, how does the band like to chill out?

Eli: We’re preternaturally mischievous so we’re always getting into some shit to make each other laugh. I’ve had friends in different cities note that when we go somewhere together that “it looks like you like each other” which is something I didn’t realise was missing in other bands. Alcohol is a good lubricant in the van – passes the time. Our van has a high ceiling so you can kind of stand up in the wheel-well by the door - so we stand up and dance a lot. The driver gets choice of music and it’s too varied to note, however, we do have these strange ingrained rituals where when we get 20 minutes out from the venue we have to put on rap music and you have to drink a beer – brings the energy up. We have tons of these strange rituals that spring forth from nowhere and only make sense to us, kind of like a bunch of kids who grew up on a dead-end. If only Azzerad or Bob Mehr would contact us to write a book, we could fill that fucking thing with hilarity and tragedy.

TSH: What did you watch on your last YouTube binge?

Eli: It’s been mainly live Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave interviews and Scatman John’s ‘Scat-man’s World’ which is an insane video that Cary has me obsessed with. Watch it, it’s germane in the way it grows on you and you’ll piss your pants laughing at his scat solo!

TSH: Finally, what’s the most important dynamic you feel as a band you’d like to maintain heading forward?

Eli: Managing interpersonal bullshit to keep the squad getting along (which is fairly easy). We all like and buy new music and aren’t curmudgeons about the best stuff already being written, so I think that keeps us vital. Wouldn’t hire a member that didn’t do that.

The Gotobeds - “Twin Cities”

Debt Begins at 30

[bruceedickinson]

Maiden adventures part 1: San Bernardino aka "Maidenfest"

Wow. Yesterday was absolutely insane, in both the best and the worst ways possible, but I'll go about it in chronological order.

The day had come: I was finally going to go to a concert with my best friend. Jaidyn and I had been trying to go to one together for years; from King Diamond to Rob Zombie to Ghost, something always came up and either one or none of us could make it work, until now.

We left town around 11 and got to the venue around 1:15, I was shocked at how many people were tailgating in the parking lot but I imagine most had reserved seats or lawn general admission. There was a merch stand at the beginning of the trail up towards the gates, so I went and picked up four different designs, one of which was the venue-exclusive design for the California shows in Oakland and right there in San Bernardino, buying an additional couple shirts for friends. Walking up the trail, I was eager to meet up with Jamie/ @gedddylee and her sister, we’d been planning to hang out in line the moment we bought tickets in January and we were minutes away from doing so. After a few minutes, Jamie saw me and we totally freaked out, it's amazing when you get to meet up with online friends you've known for ages and then see a band you both love together. The wait for doors to open at 3pm seemed to take forever, venue employees always lag on opening them right at the scheduled time, but eventually, the gates were opened and we all piled into the venue, making our way to the stage… until we discovered that the pit was closed until 4pm, and we had to get entry wristbands at the entrance. Luckily, we had about 35 minutes left to do so. Setting my water down, I dragged myself back to the gates and acquired wristbands for myself, Jaidyn and her dad, then made it back to the line and waited for 4pm to come. It came faster than initially thought, and we were off! I led the way for the pack to follow me, flashing my yellow wristband to venue employees before sprinting to the right side of the stage and making it to the same exact row in the same exact position I was in the first time I saw Maiden last year, second row right in front of Janick and Steve. I couldn’t believe it! The same place twice in a row, more than 14 months apart. Could’ve been luck, could’ve been fate, but either way, we were all there and ready for the metal madness to unfold.

Exodus, Kamelot and Ghost were the opening bands; Exodus went on first, and they were incredible, I'd missed them twice over the past two years and I'm happy that they were the first thrash metal band I got to see because they're my favorite band (in that genre) of probably all time. I was right in front of the legendary Gary Holt and I'm so grateful I was able to see him because he has double guitar duties for both Exodus and Slayer, there's always a chance he's off touring with Slayer when Exodus are as well, but this was the only show Exodus has done so far this year so he was able to be there. There were a few issues with Zetro's (Steve Souza) mic during the opening song (Bonded by Blood) but luckily it was fixed by the second song. There was so much energy and it was borderline overwhelming, everyone was headbanging and throwing up the horns and I kinda wish I'd been able to headbang more but my hair's too heavy for that haha. They had Fabulous Disaster in the setlist and it was probably my favorite in the set apart from The Toxic Waltz since both songs are from my favorite album of theirs so that was pretty cool. Zetro actually pointed at me during Blacklist since there was a parting between the first and second rows and I was in plain sight. I was in shock for a few seconds afterward; it's always hard to register that you just had your existence acknowledged by a band members, let alone the lead singer of your favorite thrash metal band. They only played for 45 short minutes but it was so worth missing them twice over the years. I hope to see them again soon.

Kamelot were next and they were unfortunately plagued with the worst of the audio difficulties; there was feedback left and right but luckily my earplugs reduce the most harmful frequencies to your hearing so it didn't really bother me. They were my least favorite opener out of the three; as a whole they were okay, but they're American power metal and I prefer the European variety. They had a couple female guest singers come out for a few songs and they honestly stole the show; I cannot remember the blonde singer's name at all but she slayed my life oh my GOSH. Ghost came on about half an hour later, and you would not believe how amazing they were; I missed them twice last October and there is no better feeling than finally getting to see your third favorite band for the first time. Papa Emeritus and the Ghouls were on fire and they sounded fantastic, the Ghouls looked like they were having a blast and they really got the crowd going the most out of all the openers (they're the main openers for Iron Maiden this year and they've really won over a lot of the fans, which is amazing because Maiden fans are typically super snooty about opening acts, they just want to see Maiden), Exodus were an extremely close second. Papa was so charming and funny and lewd and it was my favorite thing, I love him so much let's be real. Fire Ghoul (lead guitarist) pointed at me and Papa waved at me and I can honestly die happy. I cannot wait to see them two more times in over two weeks. And then things started nosediving really quickly. After Ghost left the stage and their and Maiden's road crews came out to change stage sets, security was trying to divide the pit up so they could get to someone who was trying to start a fight or something, I have no idea; security were pulling a handful of crowdsurfers and bozos doped up on who knows what from the pit mostly during Exodus' set, but it was really getting more and more frequent once it came to be time for Maiden to hit the stage. Once Doctor Doctor began playing over the PA system, we were all squished together like sardines and I wound up having to put most of my weight on the First to the Barrier guy in front of me, I felt so bad for him since he was taking so much of the overall crushing and weight and was hunched over most of the time but there was honestly nothing anyone could do. I did wind up having a very clear view of the stage but I could barely enjoy it since I was just fighting to hold myself upright and trying not to die. I lost count of how many crowdsurfers/people who wanted out went over me; my neck and shoulders took a serious beating, I lost my hat twice but got it back both times, my glasses got knocked off my face constantly (I actually had makeup smudged into a lens after being knocked around particularly hard) and I had quite a few strands of hair ripped out from being crushed like a soda can against the people in front of and in back of me. I actually almost went down a couple times from trying to avoid crowdsurfers and it was honestly a miracle I managed to get myself back up again, the fact all my buttons and pins managed to stay on my battle jacket as well is probably due to black magic. It felt like I had every drunk and crackhead in the venue shoved up against me, I literally could not move on my own and I barely had the strength to hold my camera up for pictures and video as I was using whatever I had left to wrestle tall sweaty dudes off me, some of the ones I did manage to get aren't as great as I would have liked them to be since it was impossible to get a constant steady shot from being thrashed around nonstop. I was so exhausted that I only smiled a few times throughout the entire two-hour set and I wasn't even singing along most of the time, I was only mouthing the lyrics and I looked so miserable that Janick actually mouthed, "Are you okay?" to me but I think I lied and nodded that I was. There was also a pro photographer that scoped my section frequently so there might be a chance of me finding pictures of myself looking like an actual zombie lol. Luckily I was able to make it out of the venue in one piece, thanks to a very nice shirtless guy from San Diego; I'm just very sore and tired and my upper arms will be completely bruised by Independence Day. I didn’t lose my voice since I didn’t shriek very much during Maiden so that’s a plus I guess. Even though I barely remember anything of last night and the pit was the worst I have ever been in, it wasn't all bad, I do remember that the boys' performance as a whole was just as good if not better than last year’s show at The Forum; Bruce sounded the best I'd ever heard him, his scream during The Number of the Beast was on par with the one from Flight 666, which blows my mind because NotB is in the encore this tour and it was in the middle of the set for Flight 666. What a man. He made a bunch of horrible dad jokes before Children of the Damned and I could literally feel my soul leave my body when he made a Fifty Shades of Grey reference 😂 I made lots of eye contact with Steve and Janick, who may have recognized me from last year, he pointed his guitar right at me while shaking his head and smiling/laughing. I also got to see Bruce's bare stomach when he covered Janick's head with his hoodie during The Red and the Black, I unfortunately didn't get footage of that but I was pretty much yelling "GOD BLESS AMERICA" the whole time when it happened because it was toned and glorious and it cleared my skin lmfaoo Someone threw a bra at Bruce at the end of NotB and he joked how he has a collection of hats, “some of which are questionable” and I died hahaha. Bruce threw it to the floor afterward and Janick picked it up and hooked it onto his headstock and it was my fave. I almost caught a drumstick from Steve after Wasted Years but I was too far out of reach, had I been at the barrier I most certainly would’ve caught it. Maybe it’s a sign for things to come.

Overall, Maiden themselves never ever disappoint, they mean the world and beyond to me and I'm glad I did see at least some of the show, but I will definitely think twice about doing the pit at this venue or even going to see them at this venue again. I’m just grateful I have two more shows in Mansfield and Brooklyn to look forward to later this month, they’ll make up for this fiasco for sure.

[deadlyarcanist]

13 reasons why.

I just finished the Netflix's show "13 Reasons Why", after spending the past two days literally doing nothing with my free time but watching it.

This show, based on a book series, caught my attention (and so many of my friends) for being one of the most realistic, hurtful, ugly portrait of what having emotional and mental issues can do to you. What people can do to you. What men can do to women.

One of my best friends told me she couldn't keep watching, because it brought up things that she buried inside herself a long time ago. Another friend told me he would feel anxious everytime he tried to watch it. Many others told me they got their mental illness smashed on their faces within every episode. And I lost count on how many tweets, reviews and facebook posts I read where girls would share their deepest traumas regarding sexual abuse and slut-shaming and how the show opened up those wounds a little bit, all over again.

As for myself... I try to not talk about my personal life, and specially about my past, on social media. Or in life, to be fair. I always divert attention to other situations, maybe social interactions, maybe other people, so I can avoid talking about me. I might even pretend to talk about myself a lot - without actually telling you anything that matters. I'll talk about my exchange program, I'll talk about my travels, my music, my make up; I might even talk about my religion or even some of my friends. But, in the end of the day, I didn't said anything about myself, really.

My point with this is, first of it all, to take some weight out of my chest. To make my mind a little lighter than it's been, to maybe get someone who is going through shit (or put someone through shit) to understand how everything can change and how much small things can affect you while growing up.

Or maybe, if you can relate to any of this, you'll feel like you're not alone.

I wanna try and discuss a few of the topics that the tv show approached, and how it affected me and might be affecting people you know or even yourself.

Today's subject will be sexism, the rape culture and the slut-shaming shit we face everyday, regardless where you live in this world.

Let's start saying that if you're a male, when it comes to the sexual part of this, you won't ever understand. Not completely. But I appreciate you're trying.

EVERY girl has been put through some kind of abuse, at some point of her life. I know I did.

I was the girl who wanted to grow up really fast. I had more boyfriends than I could count, I made out with people I don't even know the name. I was the 15 year old kid dating a 23 year old guy. Guys, actually. I lost count on how many older dudes I dated between my 15 and 17 years. That's not only pathetic, it's fucking revolting that I had male adults all over me when I literally just got out of middle school. As you can imagine, none of this turned out that well. I was a child. I was imature, I had no idea of who I truly was and I had no idea on how I should be treated. I let men, full bearded men, take advantage of me (and i'm not even talking strictly about sex here), but to influence on how I grew up.

I grew up with this fucked up sense of needing a male to be by my side or else I would be meaningless. I thought I was weak, dependent. Older males. Adult males taking advantage of a fucked up teenager. They made me believe I was their property. They made me believe I was nothing without them. That this messed up sense of protection was all I needed to be happy. And let me tell you this: some of those guys now play on some of your favorite bands and preach about respect on stage.

So, to all of the guys who walked in my life at that time: I hope you understand that what you were doing was abuse. That I was a fucking girl thinking I was a woman. Who thought it was awesome to have a 20-something boyfriend to tell my friends how cool I was. I didn't knew any better, BUT YOU DID. You were the adult and you should have walked away.

And to all the creeps in their 20s (or over) who think it's okay to flirt, interact or actually date an underage girl: I hope you understand you're a scumbag. And honestly, just to think about all that shit makes me want to throw up.

------

Still in the subject abuse, now let's talk about rape, about consent. I was lucky enough this one never happened to me, but it did happened to more than one of my closest friends, and to a extremely close family member.

And this haunts them every single day.

They were blamed for their own abuse, they were laughed at, slut-shamed. They had to hear that if they didn't drink that night, it wouldn't happened. If they wouldn't walking by themselves at night, they wouldn't have been abused. That maybe they should have dressed better if they didn't wanted male attention. This is no news to you, i'm pretty sure. I'm 100% sure you heard all of this kind of shit, if you didn't said it yourself.

I just want to tell you that this moment, those five, ten minutes where those girls were being abused, they marked them forever. They changed because of that. Some of them could never get close to a man again in their lives. Some of them have nightmares about being raped again, some of them lost the support of their families, some of them lost their loved ones. All because one guy couldn't understand the concept of NO. Because that one guy couldn't accept the fact that they didn't wanted him. Because the couldn't control himself. Or because he didn't cared. Because they, my friends and my family, weren't people to his eyes at that moment - they were a thing; a piece of meat.

You know, I never been raped and I thank God everyday for it. But I've been abused in so many other ways. I've been touched against my will, I've been forced kissed, I've been chased on the street, I've been pulled by my hair in the middle of clubs, I've been cat called, I've been stalked, I've been sent many unrequested dick pics, I've been threatened to have my private pictures leaked. I almost got thrown in a car by four guys when I was only 14, while I went to one of my school friend's house, literally 5 minutes away. I was wearing my school uniform, which was an oversized tee and boy shorts. Was I "asking for it"? Was my way to dress to provocative to those pervs? I've been called a whore, i've been called a slut, I've been called crazy, I've been called easy. The most recent one is that I post sexy pictures because I seek male attention and that "isn't that what I wanted?" when I got unrequested nudes. Oh, also that i'm a "homie hopping whore", because I liked some pictures on the instagram account that happens to be friends with a guy I went out last year.

My point here: if you're a girl, i'm pretty sure you've been through some sort of situation like that before. You might be going through it right now. That shouldn't be a routine, this shouldn't be normal.

If I didn't had the right people coming to my life, I would never understand how strong I really am, who I really am; I would never be independent and well resolved with my own terms. And more important of it all: that what people did to me, what I believed it was just fine, was completely wrong. And how that made my life as a teenager so much harder than it needed to be.

On the show, Hannah (the main character) commits suicide after being cyberbullied, slut-shamed, objectified and, ultimately, raped. But this is a tv show, right? But I'll get you wondering... How many real Hannah's are out there? How many young girls gave up their lives over unkind words, over mean comments, over being violated? How many girls had their feelings - and their bodies - so hurt that they decided to stop all that by opening their wrists, hanging out their bedroom ceilings, jumping off buildings? How many cis, trans, old, young, black, white, rich, poor girls were so emotionally and psychologically destroyed that their thought that suicide was their only option?

Think about it. Do your research.

Your words, your attitudes, showing your support to friends and people you might not even know can change their whole life. It can be the difference between another day at school or a funeral next morning. It can change the mind of a girl who thought she was nothing more than a piece of meat to actually realizes that she's worth something. That she has more to offer than her body. It can build up or completely destroy someone's self-esteem and the way they cope with daily struggles. Your words and your attitudes can stop your friend from taking advantage of that drunk girl at the party, or to get justice for a victim. It can help your "bros" to understand what's right and what's wrong.

You have no fucking clue on what's happening on someone's life, so be kind. Be patient. Be respectful. Don't cover up for sexist, predatory attitudes. Don't judge, don't blame the victims. Be there for them.

[gigsoupmusic]

SORAIA's New Album 'DIG YOUR ROOTS' Out Today

Personal growth, rebirth, even revolution – such transformative concepts are the heart of what Soraia is all about. These heady themes inform the songs on Dig Your Roots, the band’s latest album, out March 13 on Wicked Cool Records. “I look at Dig Your Roots as a continuation of what was begun on Dead Reckoning,” says singer and frontwoman ZouZou Mansour of the new album’s relationship to their 2017 Wicked Cool LP. That record’s release prompted Rolling Stone/Mojo scribe David Fricke to write Soraia’s “searing guitars, burning soul and true CBGB grit…are the rock you need, in your face now.” “Dig Your Roots is coming to terms with the light and dark inside myself and in the world,” ZouZou shares. “I come from a diverse multicultural and multireligious background – my father was Muslim and Egyptian, and my mother was Belgian and Catholic. I was ‘different,’ and I hid some of my background from people, thinking I wouldn't be accepted. Digging my roots is being proud of who I am, letting it come before me even at times, being proud of where I come from, and asking the listener to do the same. “Dig Your Roots also refers to loving what grounds you: the people, the lifestyles, the places you live, where you grew up. It’s being willing to dig up your roots and re-plant if where you are no longer keeps you free – metaphorically, of course. Inherently, I want this to be the message of the record: if you're down, get up.” As a spiritual descendent of iconic women in rock such as Patti Smith and Joan Jett, ZouZou’s Philadelphia-based band also embodies elements of kindred spirits of the ’90s and beyond - like PJ Harvey and The Kills, with more than a sprinkling of ’60s Garage Rock and Soul. Their primal sonic attack spreads a message of perseverance through trials of love, loss and letting go. Bassist Travis Smith continues to be a crucial root of the Soraia tree, co-writing five of the album’s new songs with ZouZou, including “Superman Is Gone” and “Wild Woman.” “Travis delved into places on this album that we didn't go to on the last record,” she reveals. “That's scary. But he did it, which ultimately made me do it, too. It's like, ‘Hold my hand, we're going into this dark cave, and who knows what's going to happen…” Roots also finds drummer Brianna Sig with her first Soraia co-write, the enchanting “Don’t Have You.” “Her melody for the choruses reminded me of how The Sirens would lure sailors in Greek mythology,” ZouZou relates. “It was haunting and beautiful – and if Soraia isn't both of those things, then I don't know what we're doing here.” The band faced an unexpected challenge when guitarist Mike Reisman, who co-wrote four Dig tracks, including 2019 single “Evergreen,” left the group. “Mike can’t tour for longer periods of time anymore,” says ZouZou. “It hurt. He still works with us and we still connect. But you grow closer with who remains, and grow yourself.” Going forward, Nick Seditious is handling guitar duties. Further nourishing their roots is the continued support of Wicked Cool’s Stevie Van Zandt. The label head has been an advocate ever since naming their breakout track “Love Like Voodoo” the Coolest Song in the World on his syndicated radio show and SiriusXM channel Little Steven’s Underground Garage in 2013. In January 2020, Dig Your Roots' opening cut “Dangerous” becomes the tenth Coolest Song they’ve earned. Van Zandt has even become a creative collaborator, penning “Why” for Dead Reckoning and co-writing two Roots tunes: 2019 Coolest Song “Still I Rise” and forthcoming single “Darkness (Is My Only Candle).” “I trust him more than anyone in knowing what I'm trying to say and who I am,” says ZouZou. Complementing them in the studio once again is producer/engineer Geoff Sanoff, whose credits include notable work with Bruce Springsteen, Fountains Of Wayne and Dashboard Confessional. “He’s a member of the band when we’re in there,” ZouZou acknowledges. Soraia has come a long way since their punked-up cover of The Kinks’ “(I’m Not) Like Everybody Else” hit #1 on Rock radio in South America in 2015. Their independently released debut album In The Valley Of Love And Guns from 2013 features five songs co-written with Jon Bon Jovi. “I'm all about playing a fun song and throwing myself around, that's Rock ’n’ Roll at its heart,” ZouZou remarks. “But I'm also about telling the stories of resurrection and life and hope and darkness.” And now, the songs of 'Dig Your Roots' in ZouZou’s own words… 1. Dangerous I was listening to a ton of Jet and The Vines at one point, and just loved the recklessness – especially in the screams on those songs – and the pure Rock eruption of it all. It's less than three minutes and explodes the entire time. “Dangerous” was born from that specific decision to write a song with those kinds of explosive dynamics and lyrics – and as always – easy and passionate conversations about the things we love. 2. Wild Woman I had been listening to this female preacher talking about being “born inside the wild” and not knowing where you were – but that strong women thrived in the wild. I fell in love with that idea of birthing yourself – which is one way to put it – over and over when you enter into situations you're uncomfortable in, or have never been in. An added bonus is the notion of being a “wild woman” in that way was a different take on the idea I think social consciousness has on being a “wild woman.” Empowering instead of denigrating. Travis had written this swampy, mysterious riff, so we took that and made it the forefront of the song, and took the subject matter – pieced them together – and VOILA! WILD WOMAAAAAAN!!! 3. Evergreen Mike played this riff that became the verses and said he heard this drumbeat like “Howlin’ For You” by The Black Keys for it. I had been watching the movie Black Snake Moan and heard this line that the main female character “had the devil in her.” That conjured up this old South feeling for me, so I wanted to put that in and give it that vibe. The story is told with a sometimes playful and teasing attitude, and sometimes aggressive and frustrated tone. It really felt freeing and gave the speaker the power back she didn't feel she had in the first place. 4. Foxfire Travis had this intriguing idea of “foxfire” for a title line. I didn't know what it meant, so he told me all about it. It’s this phosphorescent light emitted by certain fungi on decaying timber. It’s beautiful when it glows, but it isn’t real, it’s a momentary thing. And when people would see it in the woods, many got lost being guided by it. We thought it would be interesting to write a song about depression from the standpoint of “foxfire” – or these glimmering thoughts that lead you astray and only give the illusion that everything's alright. The struggle to believe in any one thought, to characterize the confusion of that type of struggle from the speaker's point of view. 5. Darkness (Is My Only Candle) Again, a song written almost together in a room. There's a line of a Rumi poem, “Darkness is your candle.” At the time, there had been the Charlottesville riots, and lots of violence that seemed horrifically reminiscent of the racial injustices of the ’60s. I remember thinking “Where are we?” and being really upset about all the hatred and racial slurs. This song came as a result of anger, pain, sadness, worry, and ultimately the idea we can't be separate anymore or stay quiet. It took a few sessions to write because Travis and I were both so impassioned about making sure we told the truth and stayed with the times as we saw them. 6. Nothing Compares 2 U I had always felt so strongly about the Sinéad O’Connor version of this song. But despite being a big Prince fan, I had never heard his version. When I did, and heard the first line lyric change – “It’s been seven hours and thirteen days” – I knew immediately this was the one. Those numbers alone and the darker, more soulful approach he took to the lyric and melody spoke to me in a different way than the more popular version by Sinéad. In the studio, Geoff Sanoff really wanted to bring this Mott The Hoople vibe to it like “All The Young Dudes” – which added a lot more to our style of approaching it. 7. Superman Is Gone Another Travis and I song, this one was specifically about the idea of being high and feeling like “Superman” when you did that first line of anything. I'm a recovering person, so it was important to me that I also tell the story of the anger I had at my father over being absent when I was going through that. I have already forgiven him and me about that, but I wanted to tell the story honestly. And there's a part of me that still questions where were a lot of different people in my life when I was busy getting high. That idea that you wonder where people were and what they were doing when you were hardcore in this addiction – with no feeling attached to it – just a human curiosity. 8. Way That You Want It It's really just about this guy who is frustrated by a girl he digs but can't have. It's based lyrically off the same idea as “I Hate Myself For Loving You” by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, but from the viewpoint of another character – where I'm singing as the storyteller/observer instead of the person it's all happening to. 9. Still I Rise Based on a Maya Angelou poem. I live my life in no particular time, almost in a time vacuum. And no matter what, you get up. Mike and I had originally written the song, and called it “I Am (Rise).” But Steven Van Zandt got a hold of it and loved the story of the song, so we rewrote the lyrics, and he rewrote the music to it, to really tell the story of people getting up after falling. I had taken a few lines from actual conversations or experiences I had. Then, Steven and I tried to pay homage as much as possible to the original poem. We rewrote it together in an afternoon – one of the best experiences I've had with him. 10. Don’t Have You This was officially the last song written for the album. Brianna sent me two separate song ideas that ended up becoming “Don't Have You.” This was also the last song recorded for the album, and Geoff knew right away the approach to the piano. It became something really beautiful, and I wanted to keep it simple and stripped in the front end, so the lyric could pull in the listener. This was about my own heartbreak, and that little feeling of hope and possibility still inherent in the relationship is really powerful in the middle of the song. It was Geoff's idea to speak that part instead of sing it, and I was thrilled with how it came out. 11. Euphoria “Euphoria” was written by myself and Travis. I loved the bluesy and spacious riff he came up with. I felt it left a space for some sort of testimony – so I told the story of all these experiences smashed together. Though each line seems to stand alone in some parts, they weave a truthful story of this woman coming back from the dead. I love the lyric in this one. Brianna had this great idea to end it in a church-y way, since it's mainly about wanting this high experience in life. And what a great way to end the record! Read the full article

[theworstbob]

yellin’ at songs, week forty-two

10.25.1997 10.27.2007 10.28.2007

10.25.1997

81) "You're Not Alone," by Olive

Context matters. I react poorly to a lot of these European dance anthems. But real talk, if I heard this song in Eurovision, this would be extremely my shit. This song would finish fifth place in Eurovision and part of my shit is really loving the fifth place finisher in Eurovision. And this is at least somewhat subtle, it nicely builds to the moments of loud synthy garbage. I'm down with this! No, it's not good, but a song doesn't have to be good for you to like it.

95) "Sunshine," by Jay-Z ft./Babyface & Foxy Brown

How come there aren't any hip-hop love songs? Thre aren't any rap songs that begin by saying, "Yo, I'm takin' my best girl to the Japanese place downtown!" and THEN describe how big her ass is and how lovely her breasts are. There's been a long and steady devolution to this point where dudes are singing "I know you wanna love but I just wanna fuck" and all that, and I don't wanna seem like a prude, but songs about going out for sushi are way more interesting than breaking sex down into this animalistic transaction of pleasure from which no pleasure is ever actually derived because the singer is sad all the time and sex is meaningless.

97) "Pushin' Inside You," by Sons of Funk

OK. OK, I wasn't saying music wasn't crass in 1997. Of course there was shit going on, but you at least had counter-points to the more explicit songs.

98) "When Love Starts Talkin'," by Wynonna

Hey, remember the LeAnn Rimes song for a few hours ago? That was a lovely up-tempo hoedown, and I said I wouldn't mind to encounter it again, and guess what! I encountered it again, and I didn't mind! I love that 1997 put a fast country track with a dope female vocalist in my path! Good work this week, 1997, even if I don't have much to say about anything you offered. A B can win you most of these weeks, though.

10.27.2007

74) "As If," Sara Evans

So this week, Garth Brooks becomes the 37th member of the Decade Dance Club and the twelfth country dude, and the ratio is 12 country dudes to 2 country gals, and it's kind of weird that Keith Urban has made a decade-long career making perfectly cromulent songs that sometimes have a fiddle, but I haven't seen Sara Evans on this chart this year! This song is at least as OK as "Everybody." I wonder why Sara Evans didn't last in the country culture for as long as Keith Urban has! Very weird that country radio would just discard a woman, usually they treat women with a ton of respect and also as equals, it must absolutely be something she said. I am not going to look up what she said because I'm convinced it's her fault she couldn't find enduring success in a genre with as much equality as country music.

89) "Stay," Sugarland

The last country song had the phrase "blue jeans" in the first line and this song has the phrase "praying, PRAYING" in the second line and OK while modern music is all same-y and one song is indiscernable from the next at least it doesn't feel like pandering. You can make the argument that Post Malone is making an effort at honestly portraying his life (his "mood," as it were), and while his music is absolutely garbage, he's chosen a style of music he believes is consistent with his state of affairs and not the style that will make him most rich. I would have respected this song so much more if it were just an acoustic guitar and the vocals the whole time. What's that in the background, an organ or something? It's bullshit. It's dumb that you put it there.

91) "Clumsy," Fergie

I have made the argument before that Fergie's songs are actually good and that we have trouble separating art from the artist, have trouble considering "Glamorous" independent of the Humpsy context. I am not making this argument here. This song is horrible on every level. It's like someone half-heard an Amy Winehouse song in a grocery store and was asked two days later to write their version of that song.

95) "Pictures of You," The Last Goodnight

Real talk: I own this album. I have no idea why I bought it. I have no idea what about this song made me want to buy an entire album by this band. I think I just related to a dude with a mohawk making shallow pop music about how nice it is to remember someone you like, because hey that's pretty much me. "Yeah, man, I'm punk as fuck, I think capitalism is a failed experiment and I post on Facebook about Pokemon Christmas Bash."

10.28.2017

20) "Almost Like Praying," by Lin-Manuel Miranda ft./Artists for Puerto Rico

Help how you can.

55) "Pray," by Sam Smith

A MID-tempo Sam Smith song?! My stars! I didn't know he had it in him! Someone must have tricked him into eating a candy bar, or gave him one of those things that come from the granola bar companies that is real talk just a candy bar. "This is covered in chocolate." "It's Nature Valley, Samuel, a brand you can trust." And while he was in his sugar rushed state, they got him to agree to perform a song that had drums in it. Sam Smith: I don't go to church. A choir: NOOOOOO this song is stupid

60) "How Long," by Charlie Puth

It seems redundant that Charlie Puth is a thing while Maroon 5 is still a thing. My theory is that, when Adam Levine said "I hate this country so much" on a hot mic when his The Voice children were in a bad situation, Maroon 5 was Not A Thing for long enough that a new Chosen One was allowed to activate, and now there's two Maroon 5s wandering the earth and fighting evil with absolute peak sexiness. Is Charlie Puth hot? I think he might be hot in the sense that he's a music celebrity and there's a team of people making sure he looks at least acceptable when performing even mundane tasks like getting a Coke from a gas station, but would you give him a second thought if he were just a dude? Like, Adam Levine, you'd fuck that dude even if he weren't famous. You wouldn't give Charlie Puth the time of day if you didn't know his name from his dumb songs.

72) "Heaven," by Kane Brown

I'm back to being OK with this dude. His voice is pleasant, and I appreciate a small dose of sacrilege in a country song. I want this dude not to try for pop/country stardom and try for that Chris Stapleton stuff. Like, if this dude could add a convincing growl, he'd be unstoppable. But this needs to be the last time he makes a song like this.

91) "Dear Hate," by Maren Morris ft./Vince Gill

listen, country music, you can't say "Dear hate, I saw you on the news today" and then not name names. you also can't say "Dear hate, you sure are colorblind" and expect me to think you stand for anything. draw a line. tell me what you believe so i know if i can fuck with you. if you're gonna make a song called "Dear Hate," it's gotta do more than say "it'd be nice if people liked love!" it's "FDT" or nothing, y'all.

95) "Lights Down Low," by MAX ft./gnash

I appreciate that two young men with such different approaches to the caps lock key were able to bring their perspectives together for this song. This song was fine! I like that it goes somewhere and that MAX actually did things with his voice beyond lazily whisper over some EDM nonsense. I'd like to hear more from this guy, though I'm probably not gonna seek it out! He seems to really have a handle on how to make decent pop songs, and I'd like to hear what he does with less slow-jamzy stuff. Congratulations, MAX! You made me forget you put gnash on the track!

97) "Too Hotty," by Quality Control ft./Quavo, Takeoff & Offset

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy is this not credited as a collaboration with migos? did we all just sort of agree that migos isn't a thing and the three members are now only solo artists? This was about as good as any other Migos song. And that's fine! Migos is good! I mostly like what they do, I just, I'm just typing words. At this point, y'all give me trap, I'm just gonna type until it looks like there's enough words and decide the content is substantive. Here you go. Hot content, fresh off the fingertips.

Who won the week?

Uh... Honestly, this week was more or less acceptable for everyone. No truly standout tracks, but nothing I’d be angry to ever hear again. I think 1997 takes it because light-hearted Jay-Z is such a rare and delightful version of Jay-Z we don’t really hear from that much, so yeah, ‘97.

Current standings: 1997: 16 2007: 12 2017: 14 Next time: we consider the Dawson’s Creek theme song, we listen to four songs people made in 2007 because they were out of ideas, and I get to find out what Russell Dickerson is. What a dumb name! I know he’s not a country dude because there’s no way you’re making it in country with a name like Russell Dickerson, too many syllables.

[makeitlookliketheydidit-blog]

two

C: You know, i'm struck by the idea that the reason so many of those books turn up at oxfam is maybe, actually, you. The coincidence of coming across books you've recommended in lectures is maybe not so eerie - jesmond is a real student area and, when it comes to leaving newcastle at the end of degrees or moving house at the end of term, that oxfam will likely be the local charity shop for people looking to shed some of the books and things they've accumulated over the years that they maybe don't want to lug around on buses, trains etc. And as the the only lecturer teaching those types of modules (on hip hop or jazz or subcultures etc), and setting those types of reading lists, as part of the only popular music degree in the city, it's maybe no surprise those books are turning up... its (probably) your students putting them there. It's a pretty good little racket you have going tbh.

I'd love to chat about the snare thing. In that series of "in the studio with Slayer" videos i was talking about the other day, the current drummer (i forget his name, not Lombardo but someone who has been in the band before...) spoke about the time they took to decide on a snare for the record, because (paraphrasing) "it really defines the character of the kit, and ultimately the record as a whole". I wonder if that idea, the snare becoming an important character on a record, is somehow established in that 80s moment? It probably makes sense given the shift in technology and production, but even beyond those monster reverb gated snares synonymous with the 80s as you say, there's also the way the 808 becomes a definitive characteristic of hip hop at that time too. I guess i'm wondering if there's something about "snares in the 80s" as a way into a discussion of aesthetics (and how they're established) more widely?

You mentioned boogie's response to synth pop and its angular bass-lines too, and in that sense i suppose the snare thing probably has something to do with technical sonic concerns as well as aesthetic ones. I wonder if by using those particular production tricks producers are using the snare to help fill out an area of the frequency range left exposed by those "angular" bass-lines, an area that would conventionally be occupied by "traditional" bass playing? That frequency range stuff is the type of thing understood by the engineer (and/or producer) and felt by the listener i think. The wask once explained the 808 to me in terms of its strict separation of the kick, snare and hats across the frequency range and the effect that has sonically (and compositionally), so i imagine he might have some hot takes on this.

I know you're going to pick up where you left off discussing those four records, but i might just jump in and say a little about my thoughts about sampling as a practice now...

Beyond it being a lot of fun (which i think we both acknowledge is v important) i feel like sampling is a really important part of my practice in exploring and figuring out ideas around the things that i'm drawn to or the things that tend to preoccupy my thoughts i.e. minimalism/efficiency and potential "political" implications of that; hip hop and its resourcefulness; performance; engaging in the world in a way that is critical and relevant, and continually reassessing and interrogating those positions etc. (it actually feels pretty strange to list those there, because we talk a lot and i know you know that's what i'm thinking about a lot. But i feel the need to "establish" that now given that we're writing; even though i know this is for you, writing somehow also implies an ambiguous "other" reader who needs to be kept abreast of context and our prior conversations etc)

I'm into thinking about how efficient you can be in music making, and particularly in pop music making which is explicitly trying to communicate with an audience in some way - to get people out a show, to have a good time, to dance, to feel... something...

So i guess the first thing to say is that i generally use one loop per "song" which will typically be a couple of bars grabbed from one of my own recordings or from youtube. I impose this "one loop per song" creative constraint on myself partly because I like the game of finding the sample that has enough about it to sustain itself over five minutes (or however long) while i sing/talk over it and is able to do that thing of evolving and becoming something else simply through its repetition. And part of my "research" is about exploring the elastic potential of that idea, seeing how far you can push it before it breaks, and thinking about the "songwriting" strategies you can deploy to maintain interest and delay the point when it does break. It's a subtle thing to negotiate i think: a stripped down repetitiveness that is powerful rather than just flat and boring. And there is an efficiency to it which i like to think has a political resonance re: the aspirational acquisitional ideologies and narratives surrounding us...

One of the thing that continues to excite me about sampling is finding loops that can add new layers of meaning to a piece, that the loops themselves can take on new meanings and (more romantically) that you might unlock a latent potential in the original work that has been overlooked. This is all informed from hip hop and signifyin' really, and it seems like such a great distillation of the creative act and artistic ingenuity - in the seemingly simple act of grabbing a sample, so much meaning (or whatever) can be unearthed. There are definitely the ethics of this to consider (me as a cis white dude) and the point where this is no longer cool and becomes appropriative, but i'm trying to figure out how to acknowledge that in the work while also committing to a music making that refuses to ignore the impact hip hop has had on popular music and culture, too many conversations in "academia" or "underground music" still treat hip hop, and pop music more broadly, as cute and refuse to consider that it might actually teach them something, that both hip hop and pop music could radically influence and reimagine their own practice. It seems really important to reckon with that as a music maker in our contemporary moment. But with regard to sampling, again, it's a careful area to negotiate: at what point does this tip over into Kenneth Goldsmith plundering the Michael Brown autopsy, and when does my approach ultimately represent a culture of entitlement where the whole world is there for white dudes to use? I suppose i'm aware that when discussing the inherent politics of sampling i also need to acknowledge that my use of it is also inherently political.

I did just want to quickly mention the microsampler, with it being a sampler we both use. One thing that i realised when thinking about my use of it was the fluidity with which the more "conceptual" ideas intersect and swirl around the thoughts regarding the hands-on practicalities of using the instrument. So when i slow down a loop it might be a practical performance thing - ie moving that one sample onto a different key because i already have a sample looping on there and want to be able to play them both at the same time - but in that same moment i am acutely aware of the effect (affect) slowing down/pitching down the sample has: the way it extends the length of drum hits to make snares (for example) sound bigger, or the sense of dreamy hauntological nostalgia it seems to evoke, particularly on voice. Maybe that's not the best example actually. But, all those thoughts are happening at the same time in (what seems like) the same part of the brain. I just feel that is something important to point out, as those practical concerns and conceptual/artistic ideas are usefully separated and discussed independently of each other. I think there's more to be said about what is going on when you slow down/pitch down a sample too and i'd actually be really interested in hearing your thoughts on it?

I'm in the middle of some recording now and one thing i always struggle with is mastering, what's your "process" when it comes to that?

Btw i'm writing all of this while travelling on trains and metros and feel like i'm channeling so much of you.

[edibleflowerseu]

SOUNDS

Alexandre Bazin / Full Moon (2016) [Umor Rex]

“Eleven stunning compositions with a neo-classical signature, an obsessive focus on structure and a refined sense of melody. Emotional compositions serve as interludes to relaxing, post-new age moments, with plenty of space for intuitive beat journeys. An independent-minded composer attuned to the society that surrounds him, he channels the fury of the world into exceptional music marked with poetry. With a free-thinking approach to writing, Alexandre transcends context and genres. Full Moon is the meeting point of early electronic analog exploration and classical minimalism.” (---)

...

What the fuck does that quote even mean. I dunno, bruh. I'm feeling kinda sick and beat af. Need to sleep. Didn't do enough of that last night or the two nights before.

Anyway I've only listened to like four tracks off this but its a lot of fun, I think. I think its fun. I can't tell what is fun anymore, but I still try to have it. U know??

I wanna listen to this more when I have the time but rn gotta meet up with a gal, u know how it is. I honestly just wanted to include this cause it has bangin' artwork I'm very into. An aesthetic I would like to emulate for my own work, whatever or whenever that will be. A reminder to return here when the weather improves.

Burial / Rival Dealer (2013) [Hyperdub]

“Few electronic artists from the last decade have been pigeonholed like William Bevan. Since the London producer behind Burial gained widespread attention with 2007's epochal second album, Untrue, listeners and critics alike have spoken of "the Burial sound"—pitched-down vocal samples, rustling noise, blocky garage rhythms in perpetual decay—as if it were straight gospel ... As imitators big and small have lined up to pay respect, the phrase 'sounds like Burial' escaped the connotation of wishful thinking and started sounding almost like, well, an insult.

Insulting because, as this decade so far has proven, one person who doesn't sound like Burial anymore is Burial himself.” (---)

...

Burial has long been in the domain of “shit I fuck with if I ever decide to fuck with it.” I've known about him a long ass time, been in my radar, and showered with praise in every corner of the internet in which his named is dropped. Good dude, mysterious dude. Wintery dark type dude.

I don't know shit about this genre front as I may. But I like the way it makes me feel, and I want to feel like this more.

Max Richter / The Blue Notebooks (2004) [Fat Cat]

“Conceptually, Max Richter's The Blue Notebooks – German-born composer mixes contemporary classical compositions with electronic elements in a dreamscapy journalogue featuring excerpts from Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks as narrated by Tilda Swinton – reads like a relentlessly precious endeavor, as new age music for grad students, the sort of record that sagely pats you on the back for being smart enough to seek it out. And yet in practice, despite the fact that it is exactly as outlined above, Kafka quotes and all, there is absolutely nothing exclusive or contrived-feeling about it.” (---)

___

“[U]nlike his influences, he's not remotely interested in subverting the traditional rules of composition. Short of one very beautiful moment that plunges an electronic sublow bassline into a deep sea of harpsichords and violas (see: the literally perfect "Shadow Journal"), there is nothing here to suggest that Richter is concerned with anything other than melody and economy. It's a formula he singlemindedly exploits with staggering effect.” (---)

...

I have a problem with Max Richter. Back in college, I took a summer semester film course in which – among other things – I had to watch old ass movies. One of those old ass movies was a bit called Intolerance, which was D.W. Griffith's attempt at redemption after he massively fucked up with the famously racist Birth of a Nation**. Within, it's a handful of unconnected narratives set throughout history (Babylonia, the Renaissance in France, Jesus getting his ass whooped by a cross, and one set in “modern” times a.k.a. 1916). It's pomp, it's pretentious, it's James Cameron in the 1910s. But most importantly, it's two hours and silent. I had to watch a shitty two hour silent film for class. I guarantee u I was the only one who actually did it.

I survived by endlessly looping Richter's Memoryhouse as a quasi-score for the film. It worked incredibly well and I got very into the movie. But now, every time I hear that album or anything from it, an image of a huge and horrifically expensive historical set piece being set on firefor some weak high art film snobbery wedges itself into my subconscious.

The Blue Notebooks wholesale revisits some melodic motifs here and there, which instantly conjured up my past woes. That being said, it was still a killer, moving album. It has Tilda Swinton reading some excerpts from Kafka's journals, which teeters between “ooh this is fun” and “try-hard city.” Generally it is the the former, and upon multiple listens, maybe its always the former.

**ok looked this up actually an urban myth, he apparently made this film in reaction to the intolerance he perceived the NAACP and others had for him after making the famously racist Birth of a Nation. deadass this is Griffith's “you're the real racist for calling me racist.”

UPDATE: briefly checked out Richter's 24 Postcards in Full Colour and its probs my fav thing by him so if u wanna fuck with this dude start there, is what I say.

The Pharcyde / Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde (1992) [Delicious Vinyl]

“Nearly two decades after it was released, Bizarre Ride's dizzying mix of SoCal 420 culture, jazzy bohemianism, self-conscious rap smarts and postmodern pop-cult potpourri is still as entertaining and emotionally satisfying as ever, and with the benefit of hindsight, stands as a perfect snapshot of rap's rapid, diverse ascent to pop status in the early 1990s.” (---) ___

“"We're serious about certain things, but everything is basically a joke. We live through hard shit, but we can laugh about it." (---) ___

“She keeps on passin’ me by”

...

The landscape of the 90s rap canon is some shit. People cite The Pharcyde among the secretly smart, playful-type about-some-regular-shit school of rap, as opposed to the hard, violent and larger-than-life drama of gangsta rap. But there are holes in that view and p much everyone got down w/ Pharcyde despite or because of their foolish fun times. The group is class clowns with classics. “Oh Shit” is one of those transphobic “found out she had a dick, DAAAAAYUM” rap songs that really don't hold up in 2017. Or rather, you can forgive it as a relic from a less-informed time, but it still sours a room if u play it in mixed company.

Anyway, my boi Jesse sometimes reminds me of The Pharcyde (very much without the transphobia), and every disciple of REAL RAP knows wassup. I think I'm getting a fever or some shit can't think straight at all rn. Oh well, I'm still chugging forward. Progression n shit.

Royal Headache / High (2015) [What’s Your Rupture?]

“The ferocity of punk intimidates some. For those entering the field, High is a pair of training wheels. Even the album’s title track, a good-natured romp through the park with friends at your side, sounds like a muted clink of beers in celebration of revolt to come. It’s cheap, sure, but mediocre songs level out the uproar on others.” (---)

...

Another thing involving my boi Jesse. When he was in Budapest he ran into an Australian dude in the Hungarian equivalent of Staples. They became buds and he was visiting him the other weekend. We talked music for a minute and I name-dropped one of the few Australian bands I was legitimately about and the dude lit the fuck up. He was a huge fan of Aussie garage rock and his sister was a pretty big name in the Melbourne scene. Every time the conversation veered back to Royal Headache, I mentioned how huge they were in the US in terms of the scene. Every time he would say, “Royal Headache? Really? Of all bands??” He showed me some music and a lot of it was just Australian versions of Wavves and videos of dudes drinking and smoking. Nothing I was wild into but I saw the appeal.

Later on, high af w/ him and some dudes from my friend's pop punk band and the frontman/drummer asks if the Australian dude knows Royal Headache. Once again, Australian dude was like “of all bands??” People who know whaddup know that Royal Headache is one of a kind. Pop punk frontman tells me Joyce Manor fucks with them. And that's some cred right there.

Soulful croon-shouts, lo-fi power chords, sweat + beer.

Sleater-Kinney / Dig Me Out (1997) [Kill Rock Stars]

“A life-or-death seriousness is omnipresent with Sleater-Kinney, but they never rejected rock's base desires—sex, dancing, proverbial milkshakes—although sometimes they vaguely mocked them. Sleater-Kinney stole from men what men had in turn stolen from the margins: electrified blues that all still made girls scream.” (---)

...

While it's not going swimmingly, I continue my reacquaintance with quintessential guitar rock of the 1990s. I banged through the first couple of Sleater-Kinney albums and was semi-into em. Not something I would reach for immediately but something I would be down with if I was in the right mood.

This is the first album I listened to that sounded like it was made by a band as revered as Sleater-Kinney. The vocals are a clear precedent to the howling vibrato of Screaming Females (Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein share vocal duties and I'm pretty sure the aforementioned howl belongs to Tucker?), and the guitar-work sounds deft and deliberate, something by people who knew what they were trying to do. This is in contrast to the earlier albums I had heard, which were good but banked more on raw guitar slamming and ~rebellious~ lyrics. I get the feeling that once I poke around Sleater-Kinney's catalog more and get a real feel for their sonic world, I'll be able to confront older albums I was mixed on with new insights and appreciation. Let’s see what happens.

Sleater-Kinney is a monumental band and I wanna do them justice.

Other shit:

Mobb Deep / The Infamous

DJ SVYATOPOLK / Original Moscow Sound

DJ Camgirl / Problems

Merchandise / A Corpse Wired for Sound

Swum / Runway

Saiko / Breezin’

Jinsang / Gratitude

Jinsang / Solitude

Especia / Gusto

Mounika / Basket Sound