#reflektor project

[afrenchaugurey]

Second post for today, a little snippet of my current WIP, a modern NewTina AU.

This one takes place a few weeks after Newt's birthday, when Newt and Leta reconnect after haven't seen each other since highschool.

It's not the best one, I wrote that on Wednesday, but that's all I have about Newt's birthday for now...

Meanwhile, they had walked to an art gallery, and an almost religious silence had suddenly fallen between them as they began to admire the few pieces they could see from the outside.

“So, you say your work is inspired by hers ?” had finally asked Newt, in a whisper, as his body was almost shivering as all the colors engulfed him, scratched on his skin and tinkled in his ears. Leta just nodded her head, quietly, almost imperceptibly, making him add “Then, I’ really love to see your work. Really. If you are agreeable, it goes without saying.”

Fighting against tears that would invade her eyes anyway, Leta hid them by rummaging through her purse, after another discrete nod. She took out a small package wrapped in some printed paper and gave it to Newt, all smiles.

“Happy birthday, Newt, I can’t believe I almost forgot !”

“Aww... Thank you. You didn’t have to, you know.”

“Well, I wanted to. And… it’s really nothing. Open it !”

As if it were the most precious thing on Earth, and maybe it was, Newt opened the paper, this symbol of their renewed friendship, with caution and delicacy, to discover a tiny stuffed animal which looked like a platypus. Of course. He burst out laughing. A brilliant, exploding laugh, as vibrating as the oscillation of the crystal. “You didn’t…” he managed to say between two uncontrolled hiccups.

“Oh, yes, I totally did. Even if I wanted to, I could never forget about the platypus, and the fact that for years people thought he was a chimera. Or that he’s the only mammal to reproduce by eggs, and that, during the reproductive period the male is venomous, or... No, Newt, I don’t think I can forget. I don’t think I won’t ever forget… So, YES, I did.”

Newt blushed, hoping that the pale light of the night would hide this. This species had been one of his fixations during highschool. Hard one. “Thank you Leta. And sorry about that by the way.” His hands were methodically patting the little toy, running through its fur, his eyes locked on his own hands, his thoughts soothed by the soft and almost tickling sensation on the tip of his fingers.

She brushed off his words with her hand. “Don’t be. That’s some nice piece of trivia. Oh, he needs a name …”

It didn’t take long for Newt to decide. “Shaw. As George Kearsley Shaw who was the first scientist to make a description of the platypus at the end of the 19th century.”

“I see.” she laughed gently. “Now, I count on you to give me updates about him. So you won’t wait another more than ten years to talk to me again. We’re friends. I guess. I hope. I want pictures of him. I hope he’ll travel. I hope he’ll travel as much as this garden gnome in this French movie…”

“Amelie ?”

“Yes, that’s the one !”

“Well, I’m not an air hostess, and I don’t know any.” 

“So you’ll have to travel, as you once said you would...”

[marbleleague]

“I’ve raced, I’ve won and DNF’d; I’ve had my fill, my share of losing,” they began, out of tone but well-synchronized, “and now, as tears subside; I find it all just ridiculous—”  “Boooooooooo,” came a voice from the seats adjacent. “Don’t change the lyrics!”  “Sorry, Quick—you can come up and sing it with us if you want!” Pollo Loco called out. But Quicksilver’s expression sunk into a sharp sneer.  “Absolutely not. Never in a million years,” they hissed. 

the second memo for this year's Marble Rally season, My Way, has been released by Project Marblearth!

[plantlacto2024]

basically some gameplay I made on "Way To Go."

link v

[grantjf6744]

big post teehee I got a little carried away tldr I like when concerts are memorable

$400 is crazy for a concert, but my sibling showed me three different live performances of tyler the creators "NEW MAGIC WAND" a while back and it had me rethinking a bit when bro walked out with a FLAMETHROWER MID SONG??? at camp Flog Gnaw...

I looooooove big crazy creative performances nomnomnom I eat them up you could never do too much for me in a concert

flamethrower is craaaaazy but I just love when artists do something unique or creative at concerts. like YES immerse me!!! do something memorable!!! my favorite concerts have been ones that are not necessarily more intense or crazy, but just have something interesting about them. porter robinson had his floor screen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THjekE5p2aw&t=505s), and taught an audience member the buttons for the main melody for sad machine. arcade fire had a man completely covered in disco mirrors walking around during reflektor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s41CaBbrmZk) and you should just see their hey orpheus live (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s41CaBbrmZk) regine (euridice) being projected behind win (orpheus) is yes... I just wish I remembered this concert better because I was THERE but my memory is so garbage... Even just a good stage presence is so memorable. I don't even listen to malcom todd, but went with my sibling so they wouldn't be alone. bro was SO interactive and fun with the audience. he was actively talking to the audience, taking peoples phones and taking pics before giving them back, someone gave him her graduation cap and he wore it a whole performance. I had a great time having only known a single song of his. I can't wait to see the decemberists live again, everyone has such a fun stage presence and I want to be there (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNsSsMdu-E)

I just love unique and fun performances. I love when you can tell an artist wants to be there, and has put love and effort into the way they present the music they've put all that effort into making. I can't really blame an artist for just singing their music but I just love when I see a performance that I want to go back and see again. Seeing tylers three different performances of new magic wand, I can tell he belts his soul into each one and has put a lot of thought into the way he performs it. the atmosphere is great and the intensity of it fits his music well. of course he has a much higher budget so I understand how impossible it would be for most artists to have such a big production. but even just the act of having a stage presence that tells people you want to be there is big.

Edit: adding links to a few tyler lives because they're genuinely just fun to see even not being there .also would like to mention peter gabriel??? growing up we had a disk of growing up live, and it has stuck with me my WHOLE life. seeing his live performances is crazy and looks so fun

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYajBFraLJ0)

(https://youtu.be/ttSDOpYVkvQ?si=6xlcuGm41L37ldDd)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr00X0S-xz8)

[rabbitechoes]

wanted to post more over here and had the idea to do lil reviews for albums from years past. i'm gonna try to post a review for this series, as the name suggests, every thursday!! to kick things off we're taking a look at one of the greatest live albums of all time, LCD Soundsystem's The Long Goodbye! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

The Long Goodbye: LCD Soundsystem Live at Madison Square Garden - LCD Soundsystem

◇ release year: 2014 (recorded 2011) ◇ genres: dance-punk, indietronica, alternative dance

With LCD Soundsystem going on tour in a few months and a new album reportedly in the works, listening to The Long Goodbye in 2024 can be a bit awkward. This show in New York's Madison Square Garden was billed as their last. A year prior, the band had released This is Happening, an album that received rapturous acclaim from critics and one that frontman James Murphy prefaced by saying it would "be the last one." It seemed that after multiple critically acclaimed records, Murphy was beginning to lose interest in the project and decided to stop while they were ahead. Of course, it's never over until it's over, but The Long Goodbye acts as a damn good send-off.

You can experience this show in two forms. One being the concert film and the other being the live album released for Record Store Day in 2014. For the sake of this review, I'll mainly focus on the live album.

Across the over three-hour runtime, Murphy and crew provide a more than comprehensive look into the band's relatively short, but extremely fruitful discography. Very few stones are left unturned. The band rips through cuts from their debut, Sound of Silver, This is Happening, and even a detour into Murphy's 45:33 piece which he created for Nike. This can make it a little daunting for newcomers to their work, but I seriously doubt anyone would start that journey with The Long Goodbye.

The band opened the show with three incredible renditions of tracks from their then-most recent album. "Dance Yrself Clean" was the perfect way to start with the slow build into the explosive climaxes of the song. That moment when "part two" of the track kicks in and you hear the crowd just explode is one of the most magical moments ever put to record. It's insane how well these tracks work in a live setting too. Everything feels grander, everything has a bit more bite. The beat on "I Can Change" just feels so much bigger here than in the studio. Made even grander because you can feel the energy of the crowd at every moment. They're hooked onto every moment, they know they're experiencing something special.

From there, the band goes through material from their first two records. I love this little stretch of the show, they're locking in, especially on these versions of "Get Innocuous!" and "All My Friends." The ending of the latter acts as a perfect "end credits" kind of moment until you realize there's still so much more to go. Next, the band dives into the 45:33 portion of the show. They sound like they're having so much fun here, especially when they dive into the groovy "You Can't Hide / Shame on You" which leads directly into the title track from Sound of Silver. Just a great moment and so, so much fun. The off-kilter jam that is "Freak Out / Starry Eyes" closes this portion and the band continues to not miss a step. Jumping right into "Us v Them" which features an incredible bassline. The band starts bringing out some guests here, namely Arcade Fire who make an appearance on "North American Scum." Murphy would go on to produce some tracks for their album Reflektor a few years after. Their cover of Alan Vega's "Bye Bye Bayou" might be the closest the show gets to a "lull", but it's still a fun time.

Until the end, it's pretty much all killer, no filler. They enter a groove from "You Wanted a Hit" onward. I'm probably also biased because this section features some of my all-time favorites. The previously mentioned "You Wanted a Hit", "Tribulations", "Someone Great", and "Home" just to name a few. I adore these songs and the versions of them from this show might be definitive for me. Especially "Tribulations" which never fails to make me dance around a little bit. "Someone Great" sounds a bit different from its studio counterpart. It's a bit darker sounding and I think it works very well. I think it might be Murphy's best moment as a lyricist. The home stretch begins with "Home" as Murphy begins the song by thanking the audience "for supporting this weird thing." A very heartfelt moment delivered before one of the bookends of This is Happening. That callback to the "ah ahhhhh ah ahhh's" of "Dance Yrself Clean" gives me chills on both the studio and live versions of this track. From there, we go into "All I Want" which is another one of my favorites. The sweeping synths come alive in this version. The penultimate track here is a cover of Harry Nilsson's "Jump Into the Fire." A very inconsequential number, but you can tell the band is having a good time. Before leading into the final track, the band plays a version of the Twin Peaks theme while Murphy thanks everyone in the crowd. A really sweet moment.

The show ends with an unbelievably great version of "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down." There is so much love packed into this version with Murphy bantering with the audience about how "this is his last long pause" in the song, showing that he almost doesn't want it to end. When the drums kick in alongside the piano things really get going. So many moments in this song give me chills. The closest thing I can relate those moments to is the beginning of "I Loves You, Porgy" from Nina Simone's live album In Concert. Even when you're not there in Madison Square Garden, or Carnegie Hall in Nina's case, you can feel everything. Just an indescribable feeling. It's the perfect way to close out this show and, at the time, the story of LCD Soundsystem. The Long Goodbye is one of the most comprehensive live albums/concerts ever. It covers pretty much every aspect of the band's catalog at the time and the band rarely ever gets lost in the process. Of course, the band would return years later, but that doesn't undercut how special The Long Goodbye is at all.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp (not available) SoundCloud YouTube watch here: LCD Soundsystem. Live at Madison Square Garden, 2011. Part 1

LCD Soundsystem. Live at Madison Square Garden, 2011. Part 2 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thanks for reading

[baliportalnews]

Honda Kenalkan Skuter Motocompact Versi Terbaru Yaitu Honda Motocompacto e-Scooter di Amerika Serikat

BALIPORTALNEWS.COM, CALIFORNIA – Honda memperkenalkan versi terbaru dari produk skuter motocompact nya yang diberi nama Honda Motocompacto e-Scooter di Amerika Serikat pada awal Oktober 2023. Honda Motocompacto e-Scooter menawarkan kepraktisan dalam hal mobilitas dimana kendaraan ini berdesain ramping, ultra-compact yang membuatnya dapat dilipat serta rendah emisi. Desain skuter berbasis listrik ini terinspirasi dari model Honda Motocompo yang diluncurkan pada awal tahun 1980-an. Motocompacto dirancang dan dikembangkan oleh para insinyur Honda di Ohio dan California sebagai pendekatan inovatif pada transportasi pribadi berbasis listrik yang telah mendapatkan 32 paten. Kendaraan ini dirancang dengan tujuan untuk mengurangi emisi karbon, disamping itu juga menawarkan kenyamanan dan kemudahan berkendara. Kenyamanan tersebut meliputi kursi yang nyaman, pijakan kaki yang aman, dapat dibawa saat di dalam pesawat, memiliki speedometer digital, pengukur pengisian daya, serta terdapat pegangan jinjing yang nyaman. Kenyamanan dalam penggunaan Motocompacto e-Scooter didukung oleh dimensi kendaraan yang ringkas dengan panjang 38,1 inci, tinggi 35 inci, lebar 17,2 inci, tinggi tempat duduk 24,5 inci serta berat 41,3 pon. Namun saat kendaraan ini dilipat memiliki dimensi panjang 29,2 inci, tinggi 21,1 inci serta lebar kendaraan yang menjadi 3,7 inci. Disamping dimensi kendaraan yang ringkas, skuter listrik ini memiliki kapasitas daya baterai dalam kendaraan ini adalah 6.8Ah dan memiliki waktu pengisian baterai selama 3.5 jam dengan daya 110v. Skuter ini kecepatan maksimum 24 km per jam dengan kapasitas jarak maksimum yang dapat ditempuh sejauh 19 km. Oleh karena itu, Motocompacto sangat cocok digunakan untuk berkeliling kota hingga berkeliling lingkungan kampus. Jane Nakagawa selaku Vice President of the R&D Business Unit American Honda Motor Co., Inc. mengatakan, Motocompacto merupakan salah satu keunikan Honda dalam hal strategi elektrifikasi kami untuk mendukung tujuan netralitas karbon dengan membantu pelanggan dalam transportasi tanpa emisi secara menyeluruh. “Kendaraan ini merupakan sebuah aspek yang menyenangkan, inovatif dan tak terduga,” ujar Jane Nakagawa. Nick Ziraldo selaku Project Lead and Design Engineering Unit Leader at Honda Development and Manufacturing of America menjelaskan, Motocompacto mudah digunakan dan menyenangkan untuk dikendarai, namun juga dirancang dengan mempertimbangkan keselamatan, daya tahan, dan keamanan. “Kendaraan ini menggunakan rangka dan roda aluminium yang diberi perlakuan panas yang kuat, lampu depan dan lampu belakang LED yang terang, reflektor samping, dan lingkaran kunci baja yang dilas pada penyangga yang kompatibel dengan sebagian besar kunci sepeda,” jelas Nick Ziraldo. Honda berupaya mencapai tujuan globalnya yaitu nihil dampak lingkungan pada tahun 2050 melalui pendekatan ‘Triple Action to Zero’, termasuk mencapai netralitas karbon untuk semua produk dan aktivitas perusahaan, pemanfaatan 100% energi terbarukan, dan sirkulasi sumber daya. Honda juga memanfaatkan 100% bahan ramah lingkungan dengan mengolah kembali produk menjadi bahan mentah dan menggunakan kembali bahan tersebut dalam pembuatan produk baru. Untuk mencapai tujuan ini, Honda akan berusaha menjadikan kendaraan listrik baterai-listrik dan sel bahan bakar mewakili 100% penjualan mobil di AS dan global pada tahun 2040.(bpn) Read the full article

[thewretchedbringsentropy]

littlesilverdiscs

darkness amongst purest white

twinkling stars stored in a galaxy of dust all the stars are projectors, yeah, projecting down to this planet everyone wants a double feature

prism of white laser lightshow, prisoner’s dilemma tickers stored in clockers, clockwork of waveforms

“I thought I had found the Connektor, it was just a Reflektor”

will we escape on little silver discs, our love is plastic and you break it to bits

let me enter into your dawn, the Door opens the candle snuffs before it begins lit

holder of the light

a low way to goal, clone appeals encanto di infernos a sonia, es pliése vi dormio.   everyone seems to be asleep and forever machine, far in between, human lines the tennis court, where infinite games, of never-ending pawns, all clockwork cogs, bricks in walls and turning doorknobs Crystal Computers, Machines of Light, Photograph Information, With all their Kills. Lensed along fiber-alleles, genetic fiction Transmogrify data on the fly, performing tasks, With the Wink of an Eye. Computer Foetus Transmodify Data, Sculpt Bodies Quantum Parallelism, Hauntological Phantoms of Energy, at the fairy fountain fluid setoff, Enabling calculations, So quick and fine. Special Hyper-Fluid from Far Out Places the Outer-Spaces and their infinite Devil Processor, the pretty hatred machine Modernism Rainbow they Laugh in Sexologic-Heiroglyphic

In kisses way Grips wait, computing Cybernetic, computerized Terror, Crystallized <>

we are beyond blurred fiction, and reality post-post-postmodernism, where are the ages of mankind stamped reifications, drifting, bleeding, ending dynamite, lasers, defects, and mountains, fervor, graces methods to encode and crime, decrime, faith and heresy a low type of storage, a new age order, aquarium of life could come into sight, pico-pinot noire eon, genesis of sin hyper textual eliminations; bubblegum chewed, lapsed fevers clocker-tick storage, stopwatch grind coffee stain bound, moths dead in the summer grains could be all becoming of time, push credential so fine, High Capacity, durable after they are done with eternity: we pray, for Crystal Pharaoh was watching eternally

===

[psqqa]

god i’ve missed people

[clairecannormalize]

Keyshots, colorboard and an illustration/cover for Hey Orpheus, a personal project of mine that I started working on during a visual development assignment. It is about the story of Orpheus trying to get his lover Eurydice out of Hell, but based on the song “It’s Never Over (Hey Orpheus!)” from Arcade Fire and in a more general way on the visuals from the whole Reflektor era.

[reflektorjournal]

Inizio delle riprese, 19:10. Ultimo ciak, 06:23. Abbiamo fatto correre il protagonista del nostro video. Lo abbiamo riempito di inchiostro. Lo abbiamo piegato, e fatto girare su nastri a tutte le velocità possibili. Poi lo abbiamo fatto a pezzi, e ricomposto, poi lo abbiamo fatto girare ancora. E lo abbiamo tagliato ancora e risistemato.  Alla fine era bellissimo, e le nostre riprese anche. Una bellissima notte di luci, pizze, zanzare, Red Bull, biscotti, occhi stanchi e caffè. Grazie, Rotobook.

[afrenchaugurey]

I wrote this scene this morning, I guess I needed a bit of NewTina fluff...

It's supposed to fit in my non magical modern AU (that said, there isn't much to change to make that fit into canon), before Newt and Tina are together.

----------------

Newt tried to open a round metallic box, but it suddenly slipped from his hands, as if it had been alive. As in slow motion, the container fell on the ground, all its contents spreaded on the kitchen floor, staining the tiles with tea leaves.

“Bloody hell !” he muttered, before beginning to mumble, as he was looking for a broom. “Can you be bloody careful once Newt ? It’s not that bloody complicated to open a bloody box… I’m tired of you Newt, really… You should be able to make yourself tea without creating a storm in the kitchen…And not be such a failure.” He was almost crying over frustration, over despair at having wasted all his precious tea reserves, and over fatigue. Probably.

A door opened, revealing a feminine shape. Tina’s eyes were barely opened, as if her lids were protesting, manifesting, ordering her to go back to sleep. 

“Newt, ‘re you alright ?”

“Oh… I’m so sorry. Did I wake you up ?”

She softly smiled at him as an answer. “Is everything OK ? ‘re you hurt ?”

“Yes…all good… I just… messed everything up. As usual… But there is nothing to worry about. I’ll just have to buy tea in the morning, I guess. I’m so sorry I woke you up Tina.” He was rubbing the back of his head, looking sheepishly at the dirty floor. 

“Oh… that’s a chance that I actually bought some tea of yours a few days ago.” She opened a cupboard and stretched, her pajamas lifting up, revealing a bit of skin over her stomach. He hurried to look away, his cheeks abruptly burning. 

“I think it’s the right one ?”

A paper bag appeared in front of him. He took many precautions to open the bag and plunged his nose to smell the content. Straight away surrounded by the scent of orange blossom, he whispered. “You remembered… Thank you Tina.” He smiled at her, a golden sparkle in his eyes, and brushed her cheek with his lips. She was the one to blush, now. 

“What if I made that tea for you ? Does that sound great ? So you’ll tell me why you were up in the middle of the night.”

“It’s 5AM, not the…” She gave him a glare, making him stop his sentence. “Right. I couldn’t sleep, I’m up for hours already. I was working.” He kept the rest of his thoughts for himself, trying to avoid to incur her wrath again, even if he was endlessly spiraling. “And you’re right, I should sleep, or rest, or things won’t get pretty soon… As it always turns when I begin to lose my motor skills.” 

As Tina pushed him out of the kitchen space, he returned to his seat at the table, and got back to work… before being interrupted only a few seconds later, by her hand putting a bookmark inside the large volume that was in front of him.

“Certainly not Mister Scamander. We’ll have that tea together. But no work. I think that all of this proves to us that you need to rest. I’ve two free hours before I need to actually get ready for work. Do you want to watch that show we began last week ?” He looked at her, flabbergasted, then nodded imperceptibly. Then, as he began to grab the teapot, she stopped his move. “What about I take care of everything breakable today ? And you get us some pillows and plaids ?”

Newt snuck in his room to bring back the thick blanket made with multicolored squares they both loved. He joined her on the couch where they snuggled against each other, Tina finally using Newt as a pillow as he turned the TV on. 

[thekillerssluts]

The Story Behind Every Song On Will Butler’s New Album Generations

Will Butler has a lot on his mind. It has, after all, been five years since his solo debut, Policy. A lot can happen in half a decade, and a lot has happened in this past half-decade — much of it quite dire. Butler was in his early 30s when Policy came out, and now he’s closing in on 40. He’s a husband and father. And he’s shaken by the state of the world, the idea of being an artist and a soon-to-be middle-aged man striving to guide his family through the chaos.

At least, that’s how it comes across through much of Generations, his sophomore outing that arrives today. Generations is a big, sprawling title by nature, and the album in turn grapples with all kinds of big picture anxieties. Mass shootings, the overarching darkness and anxiety of our time, trying to reckon with our surroundings but the system overload that occurs all too easily in the wake of it. Then there are more intimate songs, too, tales drawn from personal lives as people plug along just trying to navigate a tumultuous era.

Butler is, of course, no stranger to crafting music that seeks to parse the cultural moment and how it impacts in our daily lives. Ever since Arcade Fire ascended to true arena-rock status on The Suburbs 10 years ago, they have embarked on projects that explicitly try to make sense of our surroundings. (Not that their earlier work was bereft of heavy concepts — far from it — but Reflektor and Everything Now turned more of a specific eye towards contemporary ills and trials.) But as one voice amongst many in Arcade Fire, there is a cinematic scope to whatever Butler’s playing into there.

On Generations, he engages with a lot of similar concerns but all in his own voice — often yelping, desperate, frustrated then just trying to catch a breath. Butler leans on his trusty Korg MS-20 throughout Generations, often giving the album a synth-y indie backdrop that allows him to try on a few different selves. There are a handful of surging choruses, “la-la” refrains batting back against the darkness, slinking grooves maybe allowing someone the idea of brief physical release amidst ongoing strife.

Ahead of Generations’ arrival, Butler sent us some thoughts on the album, running from inspiration between the individual tracks to little details about the arrangement and composition of different songs. Now that you can hear the album for yourself, check it out and read along with Butler’s comments below.

1. “Outta Here”

I think this is the simplest song on the record. Just, like, get me out of here. Get me fucking out of here. I’m so tired of being here. No, I don’t have another answer, and I don’t expect anything to be better anywhere else. But, please, I would like to leave here.

I can play plenty of instruments, and can make interesting sounds on them, but kinda the only instrument I’m good at is a synth called the Korg MS-20. That’s the first sound on the record. It makes most of the bass you hear on the record. It’s a very aggressive, loud, versatile machine, and I wanted to start the record with it cause I’m good at playing it and it makes me happy.

2. “Bethlehem”

This song partly springs from “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats:​ “What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” Like a lot of folks, I woke up after the election in 2016 mad and sad and scared and exhausted. This song is born of that emotion.

My bandmates Jenny Shore, Julie Shore, and Sara Dobbs sing the bridge, and it’s a corrective to my (appropriate?) freaking out — this isn’t the apocalypse. You’re misquoting Yeats. Get your fucking head on straight. History has not ruptured — this shit we’re in is contiguous with the shit we’ve been dealing with for a long, long time. But still, we sometimes do need an apocalyptic vision to make change. Even if it’s technically wrong. I dunno. It’s an ongoing conversation.

There’s a lot of interplay with backing vocals on this record — sometimes the narrator is the asshole, sometimes the backing vocals are the asshole. Sometimes they’re just trying their best to figure out the world. This song starts that conversation.

3. “Close My Eyes”

I tried to make these lyrics a straightforward and honest description of an emotion I feel often: “I’m tired of waiting for a better day. But I’m scared and I’m lazy and nothing’s gonna change.” Kind of a sad song. Trying to tap into some Smokey Robinson/Motown feeling — “I’ve got to dance to keep from crying.”

There’s a lot of Mellotron on this record, and a lot of MS-20. This song has a bunch of Mellotron strings/choirs processed through the MS-20. It’s a trick I started doing on the Arcade Fire song “Sprawl II,” and I love how it sounds and I try to do it on every song if I can.

4. “I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know”

This makes a pair with “Close My Eyes” — shit is obviously fucked, but “I don’t know what I don’t know what I don’t know what I can do.” I’m not a proponent of the attitude! Just trying to describe it, as I often feel it. In my head, I know some things that I can do — my wife Jenny, for instance, works really hard to get state legislatures out of Republican control. Cause it’s all these weirdo state legislative chambers that have enormous power over law enforcement, and civil rights, and Medicaid, and everything.

The image in the last verse was drawn from the protests in Ferguson in 2015: “Watch the bullets and the beaters as they move through the streets — grab your sister’s kids — hide next to the fire station…” It’s been horrifically disheartening to see the police riot across America as their power has been challenged. I’ve got a little seed of hope that we might change things, but, man, dark times.

More MS-20 bass on this one, chained to the drum machine. This one is supposed to be insanely bass heavy — if it comes on in a car, the windows should be rattling, and you should be asking, “What the heck is going on here?” Trying for a contemporary hip-hop bass sound but in a way less spare context. First song with woodwinds — rhythmic stuff and freaky squeals by Stuart Bogie and Matt Bauder.

5. “Surrender”

This song is masquerading as a love song, but it’s more about friendship. About the confusion that comes as people change: Didn’t you use to have a different ideal? Didn’t we have the same ideal at some point? Which of us changed? How did the world change? Relationships that we sometimes wish we could let go of, but that are stuck within us forever.

It’s also about trying to break from the first-person view of the world. “What can I do? What difference can I make?” It’s not about some singular effort — you have to give yourself over to another power. Give over to people who have gone before who’ve already built something — you don’t have to build something new! The world doesn’t always need a new idea, it doesn’t always need a new personality. What can you do with whatever power and money you’ve got? Surrender it over to something that’s already made. And then the song ends with an apology: I’m sorry I’ve been talking all night. Just talk talk talking, all night. Shut up, Will.

Going for “wall of sound” on this one — bass guitar and bass synth and double tracked piano bass plus another piano plus Mellotron piano. The “orchestra” is about a dozen different synth and Mellotron tracks individually detuned. And then run through additional processing.

6. “Hide It Away”

This song is about secrets. Both on an intimate, heartbreaking level — friends’ miscarriages, friends’ immigration status, shitty affairs coming to light — and on a grand, horrible level: New York lifting the statute of limitations on child abuse prosecutions, all the #MeToo reporting. There’s nothing you can do when your secret is revealed. Like, what can you do? You just have to let the response wash over you. If you’ve done something horrible, god-willing, you’ll have to pay for it in some way. If it’s something not horrible, but people will hate you anyway, goddammit, I wish there were some way to protect you.

This song has the least poetic line on the record, a real clunker: “It’s just money and power, money and power might set them free.” But it’s a clunky, shitty concept — the most surefire protection is being rich and knowing powerful people. But even then, shit just might come out. Even after you’re long dead.

Came from a 30-second guitar sample I recorded while messing around at the end of trying to track a different song. I liked the chords, looped them to make a demo. And the song was born from there. This is the one song I play drums on. Snare is chained to the MS-20, trying to play every frequency the ear can hear at the same time on some of those big hits.

7. “Hard Times”

[Laughs] I sat down and tried to write a Spotify charting electro-hit, and this is what came out: “Kill the rich, salt the earth.” Oh well. Written way before COVID-19, but my 8-year-old son turned to me this spring and asked, “Did you write the song ‘Hard Times’ about now, because we’re living through hard times?” No, I didn’t.

In Dostoevsky’s Notes From Underground, the narrator is a real son-of-a-bitch—contrarian, useless. Mad at the strong confident people who think they’ve got it figured out. And they don’t! And neither does the narrator — but he knows he doesn’t, and he at times yearns for some higher answer, and he’s funny, and too clever, but still knows he’s a piece of shit. I read Notes From Underground in high school and kinda forgot how it shaped my worldview until I sat down with it a couple years ago. The bridge on this song is basically smushed up quotes from Notes From Underground.

I was asking Shiftee, who mixed the record, if there are any vocal plug-ins I should be playing around with. He pointed me toward Little AlterBoy, which is basically a digital recreation of the kind of pedal the Knife use, for instance, on their vocal sound. It can shift the timbre/character of a voice without changing the pitch. Or change pitch without changing character. Very fun! Very much all over this track. Tried to make the bridge sound like a Sylvester song.

8. “Promised”

Another friend song masquerading as a love song. I’ve met a handful of extraordinary people in my life, who stopped doing extraordinary work because life is hard and it sucks. People who — I mean, it’s a lottery and random and who cares — could be great writers or artists, who kind of just disappeared. And it’s heartbreaking and frustrating. I don’t blame them. Maybe they weren’t made for this world. Maybe it’s just random. Maybe they’ll do amazing work in their 60s!

We tracked this song before it was written. Julie and Miles came over and we made up a structure and did a bunch of takes, found a groove. Which I then hacked up into what it is now! The bed tracks are lovely and loose. Maybe I’ll put out a jammier version of this song at some point. The other big synth on this record is the Oberheim OB-8, and that’s the bass on this one (triple tracked along with some MS-20).

9. “Not Gonna Die”

This song is about terrorism, and the response to terrorism. I wrote it a couple weeks after the Bataclan shooting in Paris in 2015. For some reason, a couple weeks after the shooting, I was in midtown Manhattan. I must have been Christmas shopping. I had to pop into the Sephora on 5th Avenue to pick up something specific — I think for my wife or her sister. I don’t remember. But I remember walking in, and the store was really crowded, and for just a split second I got really scared about what would happen if someone brought out a gun and started shooting up the crowd. And then I got so fucking mad at the people that made me feel that emotion. Like, I’m not gonna fucking die in the midtown Sephora, you fucking pieces of shit. Thanks for putting that thought in my head.

BUT ALSO, fuck all the fucking pieces of shit who are like, “We can’t accept refugees — what if they’re terrorists?” FUCK OFF. Some fucking terrified family driven from their home by a war isn’t going to kill me. Or anyone. Fuck off. Some woman from Central America fleeing from her husband who threatened to kill her isn’t going to fucking bomb Times Square. You fucking pieces of shit.

In November/December 2015, the Republican primary had already started — Trump had announced in June. And every single one of those pieces of shit running for president were talking about securing our borders, and keeping poor people out, and trying to justify it by security talk. FUCK OFF. You pieces of shit. Fuck right off. Anyway. Sorry for cursing.

I kind of think of the outro of this song as an angry “Everyday People.” Everyday people aren’t going to kill me. Lots of great saxes on this track from Matt Bauder and Stuart Bogie.

The intro of the song we recorded loud, full band, which I then ran through the MS-20 and filtered down till it was just a bass heart-pulse, and re-recorded solo piano and voice over that.

10. “Fine”

I kind of think that “Outta Here” to “Not Gonna Die” comprise the record, and “Fine” operates as the afterword and the prologue rolled into one. An author’s note, maybe. It was kind of inspired by high-period Kanye: I wanted to talk about something important in a profane, sometimes horribly stupid way, but have it be honest and ultimately transcendent.

In the song, I talk semi-accurately about where I come from. My mom’s dad was a guitar player who led bands throughout the ’30s and ’40s. In post-war LA, he had a band with Charles Mingus as the bass player. Charles Mingus! One of the greatest geniuses in all of American history. But this was the ’40s, and in order to travel with the band, to go in the same entrances, to eat dinner at the same table, he had to wear a Hawaiian shirt and everybody had to pretend he was Hawaiian. Because nobody was sure how racist they were supposed to be against Hawaiians.

Part of the reason I’m a musician is that my great-grandfather was a musician, and his kids were musicians, and their kids were musicians, and their kids are musicians. Part of the reason is vast generations of people working to make their kids’ lives better, down to my life. Part of the reason is that neither government nor mob has decided to destroy my family’s lives, wealth, and property for the last couple hundred years. I tried to write a song about that?

Generations is out now via Merge. Purchase it here.

https://www.stereogum.com/2098946/will-butler-generations-song-meanings/franchises/interview/footnotes-interview/

[bolachasgratis]

Review: Vodafone Paredes de Coura ‘18

What can we put into a list of “things that do not happen often” when talking about a music festival? What about this: there’s this festival - our favorite festival, for reasons that extend beyond the lineup - that, faced with another cancelled Björk gig, decided to go for the jugular and announce, in her place, giant “stadium indie” act Arcade Fire, thirteen years after playing there in the 2005 edition while touring Funeral. Nothing could take the spotlight away from them, right? But imagine there was this kid from the Lisbon suburbs that self-produced his albums at home and played his first gig only six months before this festival. Could he relegate one of the most sought after bands of our world - whose show was quite spectacular, at times - to the footnotes of our festival review? 

Playing for a completely packed Vodafone.fm stage on the first night of the festival, after a lukewarm, absolutely forgettable headlining The Blaze show in the main stage, Conan Osiris and dancer João Reis Moreira revealed themselves to really be a force of nature - although a divisive one, exactly as we expected to. Even those who watched from a distance as the bizarre show went on will remember, in ten years, that they witnessed the pinnacle (we think!) of the invulgar rise to fame of two complete outsiders that already inserted themselves - and rightfully so - into the mythology of the festival. Just check out Canal 180′s video of the happening. Earlier that afternoon, Conan Osiris had a huge opportunity to promote himself in a secret show organized by Vodafone, but decided to prop up his protegè Sreya instead to a room full of press and festival goers. That’s what a proper idol does, guys. 

Marlon Williams. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

But they were not the only highlight of the first night of Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2018. Earlier on, Marlon Williams was raising hell as he and his band threw hit after hit from the much lauded Make Way for Love - oftentimes with a ballad, with a more rock-ish number shaking up things every now and then - and we can tell this is the start of yet another loving relationship between a songwriter and the Portuguese public, following the footsteps of Kevin Morby who seems to play the country every single summer. He left the FC Porto shirt at home (maybe he thought fans of the local club would kick the shit out of him if he did), but a few of his fans didn’t. I might have been one of them, but don’t let SC Courense fans know about this. 

Pussy Riot. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

But the highlight of the third night of the festival had to be the mythical ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, playing one of the essential indie rock albums of the 21st century in its entirety, Source Tags & Codes in the Vodafone.fm stage plus two straight to the point tracks off their back catalogue: Worlds Apart’s magnificent “Will You Smile Again?” and set closer “A Perfect Teenhood” off Madonna, igniting a riff-hungry packed tent. Earlier on, Lucy Dacus presented her sophomore album for the first time in the country with a more than competent early afternoon show, certainly collecting a few hundred new fans along the way - expect her to keep visiting us in the next few years. Imarhan were already killing it in the smaller stage as Dacus finished her set. I was lucky to see them alongside Blonde Redhead and Snail Mail at Paradiso Amsterdam a few days after Paredes de Coura, and what a show it was. Later on, Slowdive sounded, once again, crystal clear, but the magic of their first reunion tour seems to be wearing off; fortunately, the songs off their latest, self-titled album, are a breath of fresh air in an otherwise unremarkable show for such a late hour time slot. Fortunately, Skepta has turned up the volume (except during that 15 minute set interruption as overly enthusiastic people were allegedly throwing shit on stage) to set us up for the bizarre world of the umpteenth - and probably the most entertaining - coming of Russian activist collective Pussy Riot. Thank God they and their band seem to have sold their guitars and bought turntables, as their punk rock past was mostly a schadenfreude generator: this Slav-heavy hard bass suits them way better, and the projections were hilarious at times. Yes, this is what punk can be in 2018 and there’s nothing wrong with it: Internet memes can sometimes be more effective than meaningless shouted angry words.

Shame. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

Back to Thursday. Shame were our top pick for the day, and although we would prefer them in the cozyness of a small stage, the main stage wasn’t certainly an obstacle to a young band that’s on their way of establishing themselves, alongside IDLES, as one of the British powerhouses of angry, anthemic, anti-establishment rock music. And, well, who doesn’t love a band that takes themselves so seriously to the point of taking the stage to the sound of the great Vengaboys? On the other hand, Japanese Breakfast was a bit too lukewarm for our taste. Another case of a good songwriter that cannot make it in the 20:30 time slot on the second stage at Paredes de Coura, our music festival equivalent of a decent football team having to play Stoke City away on a rainy Tuesday night (Frankie Cosmos would suffer the same fate the following day, as Waxahatchee, Algiers or Cigarettes After Sex did a few years back). At night, Surma tried to battle this history presenting her beautiful, intricate recent album Antwerpen, and we cannot say she failed, although her delicate music certainly fits a seated, proper theater instead. On the main stage, Fleet Foxes were competent, without shining too bright. But we can blame both the difficulty of capturing the complexities of the Seattle folk band and delivering a consistently good quality sound to a natural amphitheatre, and the usual troublemakers that think buying a festival ticket entitles them to having loud conversations ten rows from the stage. Jungle seem to be only a little more than a one hit wonder, but then we remember that one hit is the massive “Busy Earnin’” and everything’s alright with the world once again.

Dead Combo. Picture: Hugo Lima / Festival Paredes de Coura.

The most emotional moment of the festival had to be Dead Combo’s incredible show in the last night. A much deserved prime time show for the best band coming out of Portugal in the 21st century in a delicate time for one half of the founding duo, as Pedro Gonçalves appears to be struggling with disease; we really hope this is not the last we see of him. Mark Lanegan, who’s featured in their latest record Odeon Hotel, has joined the six-piece outfit for part of the gig, his contributions being way more interesting than anything he has done on his countless Portuguese shows over the past few years. A huge version of “Lisboa Mulata”, towards the end of the set, was the highlight of this show. It’s not like we merely want more of them in the future, we need Dead Combo alive and kicking. Just a couple of hours earlier, Big Thief have confirmed their status as the best indie band of the past couple of years. Yes, this is a big statement, but anyone who’s familiar with their work knows it’s the truth, even without main guitar player Buck Meek, who’s focusing on touring his solo debut album. Listening to their masterpiece “Masterpiece” should be enough, but as Adrianne Lenker et al. launch into tearjerker “Paul”, we know we’re witnessing something special. She’s surprised she’s playing for so many people; we’re certain they’ll be playing for a crowd like this daily on their next summer festival tour. Later on, Arcade Fire brought the big guns in the beginning of an euphoric show (“Everything Now”, “Neighbourhood #3″, “Rebellion (Lies)”, and “No Cars Go”) before dwelling into less interesting territory, interrupted here and there with well received incursions into less played material (pre-Funeral deep cut “Cars and Telephones” and Neon Bible’s “Intervention”). But we had to wait much later for a spectacular, ecstatic “Reflektor”, before going into an encore closed with the very first song they played, in that same stage, 13 years before: sing-along favorite “Wake Up”. Between hardcore fans and people they lost along the way through their journey from an unknown (but hot prospect) Canadian indie band into a huge outfit capable of filling up arenas and headlining massive festivals like Rock in Rio, few could say they were not entertained. But could they do it against an unknown 20-something kid from the suburbs in a cold, early evening 20:30 slot in Paredes de Coura?

[mudpuddling-moved]

albums that remind me of @twines pt ii

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[wekillitwithfire]

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