#remi reviews

[artemisandhersilverbow]

Remy, literally dying and being ignored: “It’s important to me that we clear up the whole ‘vampire sex pet’ thing because you see we haven’t—“

[tinyreviews]

Tiny Review: X-Men ‘97 Episode 5. WOW. Such feels. Must Watch.

I can’t sing enough praise for this episode, after the last filler one.

I am blown away really. Excellent setups and payoffs. Excellent use of music. Excellent action. Excellent characterizations. Bold story direction.

I am really thrilled at how they are gonna continue the story after this mess!  

Every past and present X-Men fan Must Watch!

X-Men '97 is an American animated television series created by Beau DeMayo for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team X-Men. It is a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997), continuing from where that series ends.

[marvel-jesus1]

X-Men Animated Series Rewatch Review:

Season 1: Episode 1: Night of the Sentinels Part 1

I’m rewatching the series so I decided to do a review of it all. I’m gonna try and keep up with it but school’s starting soon so we’ll see.

So first things first, Jubilee is an amazing character. I have always loved her. Maybe not as much as Scott and Remy, but I love her. Her whole personality really fits in with the Magic School Bus vibe she’s got going on with the Miss Frizz getup and all that.

I’d rate the episode as a near 9/10. It’s a great opener for the series and really does portray the distrust of mutants by the public right off the bat with Jubilee’s foster parents, Trask, and the arcade manager.

Star of the episode is definitely Jubilee. She’s the main character for a majority of the time, and she’s the one I really connect with in the time given for us watchers to do so. Second star would be Storm, since she’s really the one who takes it on to introduce Jubilee to the world of the x-men first. Third star goes to Remy just for being himself and nailing the ‘oh no, I’m hot and I know it’ act.

Overall, definitely one of my favorite show openers when it comes to animated shows.

[2014-gif-creator]

[herequeerdontgivebeer]

Short review on new remi wolf album Big Ideas!!

[aliquistis]

New Skyrim playthrough starting with Irem at-Tavani who is a Redguard monster-hunting alchemist from Skaven. I love her but this post is actually bc my new favorite follower is also her husband,

Val Serano

I am being so serious right now, go play this mod.

Gushing about Val and more screenshots under the cut

So the thing I really like about Val as a follower is that he is here for the journey. He does of course have a fully fleshed-out story and personal quests but what I really love is I don't feel like I'm dragging him along to help me with my adventures, he's coming along bc he wants to be in on the adventure too (and, more importantly, the pay out,) I don't know if this feeling is an amalgam of how many lines he has (he has SO many lines reacting to quests) or his personality (relic hunter, knowledge seeker, arcane trickster on the lookout for that next big find that'll have us rolling in septims) but he doesn't just feel like a 'follower', he feels like a companion. The only other custom voiced follower I've really gotten that feeling with has been Lucien, and with how good that mod is I think that's a compliment that speaks for itself.

His personal quests are also really good and work so well with Elder Scrolls lore. I don't want to get into details bc spoilers but seriously, it's good food.

And all that is an aside from the romance, which is also excellent. I'm not roleplaying Irem as ace but I do love seeing some good middle-of-the-road options for ace people like myself who are not sex-averse and love a good fade-to-black. When I first started playing the mod I kept thinking to myself that Val reminded me of characters like Han Solo or Atton Rand (if Atton was way more charming and the writers didn't use him as a punching bag) The whole flirty reformed pirate with a heart of gold thing is ridiculously up my alley. The mod encourages roleplaying and has three paths to romance -- I went with the bickering-to-lovers path because I love a Pride and Prejudice plot and it fits Irem's character.

While your path is locked in at a certain point, you still get dialogue options, which is nice for the relationship I imagine with these two: one which starts contentious and softens over time. An issue I've had with other video game romances is that it treats one selected trait as your whole character (when they even give you the option to roleplay at all). I love that this doesn't see you being a sarcastic bitch 20 times and decide your whole personality is sarcastic bitch. I have layers ok sometimes I'm a sarcastic bitch who cries at the end of tangled

So yeah. The writing is great. The voice acting is great. The thought put into the character and the world-building is incredible. The romance is easily the best I've played in Skyrim (which. ok. low bar but the compliment stands.) tbh I only downloaded him originally because I had a skyrim itch and the Kaidan Revoiced mod isn't out yet, but I have been simply Floored.

Anyways mostly I am writing this because hurricane Milton knocked my home on its ass for a week and a half and I had a lot of electronic-less time to philosophize about how far modding has come and to write fanfiction. But also I'm just banging pots on my small corner of the internet to bring more attention to this excellent piece of work.

the fanfiction bit isn't a joke does anyone know how mod authors feel about cvf fanfic it feels weird to me like I'm playing with someone elses toys--

[remyreadsrandomly]

i have a subtle queer book find!!!!

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up with Me by Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up with Me is a ya graphic novel with a ton of charm and beautiful art.

i found this in my local library, and i put off reading it since i thought it was straight, but i was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t. the story focuses on a high schooler named Freddy, and her up and down romance with Laura Dean. i’m going to try to keep this spoiler free, but i just want to say that the ending of the book was amazing. i was shocked by reveal, and i couldn’t put it down.

also a major perk of this book is that the cover is straight-passing, (but the back is not, having quotes of people talking about it featuring lgbtqia+ characters).

all in all, great read for any person who loves queer books and/or graphic novels that focus on relationships.

[faidfluorite]

misao review!

going into misao, i had a lot of misconceptions and worries about the "totally unforgiving" game over system, but came out the other side like... completely obsessed with it. i can imagine finding myself super frustrated with this game as a teenager, but as an adult it became a lot easier to map out the patterns where things were probably going to kill me and just quick save before embracing the instant-kill HAHA

i think the protagonist, misao herself, and the death system were my favorite parts of the game. the story itself wasn't too compelling, aside from making me shake my fist at the screen and howl because misao just has the worst week at school EVER and everything she did was more or less justified and fair LOLOL. the teacher was SCUUUUUZZY scuzzy. that felt a little prolonged, but i'm glad in the true end he doesn't really get redeemed and reincarnated... only the best part of him left was allowed to pass on (the part that spared a helpless dying cat).

so basically, while the story didn't feel like it was crazy innovative (though, again, i'm playing in 2023) it just felt fun and almost cozy (???)... it was a fun few hours of running around with silly gags and a protagonist who was totally weird and memorable and i'm such a sucker for stories where the protagonist befriends the "monster" T_T

definitely going to have to play the definitive version soon!!

[artemisandhersilverbow]

Tell me how I’m supposed to breathe with no air

[tinyreviews]

The start was strong but the ending failed to deliver... if only they had paced the pinch points of Bunniguru and Blister closer, made them more impactful. Maybe I am expecting too much from a kids show.....

Scarygirl is a 2023 adventure fantasy animation directed by Ricard Cussó and Tania Vincent, starring Sam Neill, Jillian Nguyen, Anna Torv, Liv Hewson , Tim Minchin, and Remy Hii.

[borkborkheresadork]

“Why so balls?”

-The Juggler

[rabbitechoes]

there were some really exciting new singles that came out this month, but also a few that left a bad taste in my mouth! 2024 is still shaping up to be an amazing year for music tho. some great projects coming over the next few months and i can't wait to dive into them. anyway, here are my thoughts on some of the notable singles & songs from this month!! to check out my thoughts on some of the albums, EPs, and mixtapes that came out this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

"Prologue" - Kamasi Washington

◇ featured on Fearless Movement - Kamasi Washington (not yet released) ◇ genres: spiritual jazz, jazz fusion

Saxophonist Kamasi Washington, undoubtedly one of the most prominent figures in modern jazz, has a new album coming out in a few months. This isn't technically the lead single as "The Garden Path" is on the record and that track was released years ago, but "Prologue" is the single released alongside the announcement of the new record. This is an immersive and frenetic jazz fusion cut that just goes crazy. Washington's saxophone is obviously a highlight, but THOSE DRUMS! Really great stuff all around. Super excited for the new album after hearing this, even more so after looking at some of the guests on the record. George Clinton, André 3000, and Thundercat? I'm all in.

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"Wild God" - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

◇ featured on Wild God - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (not yet released) ◇ genres: art rock, chamber pop

A few weeks after I finished The Bad Seeds discography, they went and released the lead single to their first album of the 2020s. Their last three records have been some of their strongest. From Push the Sky Away to Ghosteen, they've just been on a great run. From the sounds of "Wild God," Wild God could probably continue that hot streak. It leans into the chamber music-y aspects of their last few albums, but a lot more rock oriented rather than the heavy electronic elements of Ghosteen. It has Nick Cave's trademarks, but it's always a treat to hear them. I was sort of on the fence about this track until the "Bring your spirit down" part towards the middle. Kicked right into the next gear that I needed it to go. Can't wait for this one.

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"One Night Stand" - Adeem the Artist

◇ featured on Anniversary - Adeem the Artist (not yet released) ◇ genres: americana, progressive country

I've been on the Adeem the Artist train ever since I heard Cast-Iron Pansexual back in 2021. Ever since then, I've always kept them on my radar so I can hear whatever they do next. This new single, and the lead to their upcoming album Anniversary, is just great. I love how they never shy away from embracing the country music sound. This sounds like a country music radio hit from years gone by, but with a queer spin to it. Finally a bittersweet country anthem that I don't feel ashamed to sing along to! Really loving this track and I hope the album is just as good!

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"symptom of life" - WILLOW

◇ genres: indie rock, art rock

WILLOW has made so many really good songs. "symptom of life" is definitely one of them, but I've been burned so many times. She'll make a banger song and then the next thing she releases is a collab with like Yungblud or MGK. Then the full album those good singles lead up to is pretty disappointing. Maybe "symptom of life" will break that cycle! I'm all in on her art rock era and she really fits this sound well. The skittering piano throughout the verses juxtaposes her vocals in a really cool way. The chorus is good, but I wish it hit a bit harder than it does. All in all, this is really good and I hope her next project can tap into her full potential.

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"Alley Rose" - Conan Gray

◇ featured on Found Heaven - Conan Gray (not yet released) ◇ genres: post-britpop, piano rock

I haven't been crazy about Conan Gray's music over the years and while "Alley Rose" isn't terrible by any means, I just find it ... off-putting, for lack of a better word. Everything is just so overproduced and hardly any genuine emotion can emerge through that barrier. It also makes it difficult for me as a listener to connect with the song. Like I can hear Gray singing his damn heart out, but it just feels so plastic to me. It sort of sounds like an Elton John song, but not classic Elton, like ... recent Elton. That kind of grand music that just fails to portray anything earnest.

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"This Is Nowhere" - The Black Keys

◇ featured on Ohio Players - The Black Keys (not yet released) ◇ genres: pop rock

I was a pretty big fan of The Black Keys when I was in middle school and I have a lot of nostalgia for their early 2010s stuff, but they've been coasting for so long now. That sort of boring, too clean blues/garage rock that just gets so exhausting after a while. "This is Nowhere" has them shaking up the formula a bit, but it's very much an "in one ear and out the other" type song. It'll probably get some airplay on your local alternative station and then it'll be phased out in favor of their hits from a decade ago. I do like the subtle psychedelic flavor to this song though, I just wish it was more memorable on the whole.

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"Incognito" | "Saturnine" - Justice

◇ featured on Hyperdrama - Justice (not yet released) ◇ genres: french electro, synth funk

Justice have released two more singles in anticipation for their new record. They're both pretty good. "Incognito" is a pretty solid electro track and "Saturnine" adds some funk to the mix which shakes things up a bit in a cool way even if it can veer into computer commercial territory. For some reason though, I find myself not returning to these new singles of theirs all that often. Like they're good in the moment, but nothing really compels me to revisit them. These two singles are a bit weaker than the previous two overall as well. I'm still gonna give the record a shot though, I have a feeling it'll be a pretty fun listen. Hopefully these tracks stick with me more when that time comes.

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"sir princess bad bitch" - Yaya Bey

◇ featured on Ten Fold - Yaya Bey (not yet released) ◇ genres: dance-pop, alternative r&b

I don't really know much about Yaya Bey. I was just looking through some new releases and this single looked intriguing. "sir princess bad bitch" is a nice lowkey R&B cut delivered with a ton of confidence. She sounds so cool here. I do wish the song was a bit longer and shook things up a bit more, but I still had a good time with it. I'll keep her upcoming album on my radar for sure!

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"Looping" - RiTchie

🥇 BEST SONG OF THE MONTH

◇ featured on Triple Digits (112) - RiTchie (not yet released) ◇ genres: experimental hip hop, neo-soul, nu jazz

RiTchie is three-for-three with these new singles. The former Injury Reserve MC is gearing up for his debut solo record and it's shaping up to be an exciting one. "Looping" is quite different from the previous two singles. The playfulness is traded out in favor of something more meditative both lyrically and production wise. This atmospheric jazzy beat pairs with his passionate delivery wonderfully. I'm even more excited for the new album now. Excited to hear just how dynamic he can get. Could be one of the best records of the year for sure.

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"Classical" | "Mary Boone" - Vampire Weekend

◇ featured on Only God Was Above Us - Vampire Weekend (not yet released) ◇ genres: indie rock, chamber pop, baroque pop

Vampire Weekend have released two new singles leading up to their new album coming next week and they have all been pretty great. "Classical" has this off-putting lushness to it. It sounds like a deconstructed version of something from their earlier albums. "Mary Boone" is a fuzzy, sparse ballad that eventually blooms into an almost baggy direction. Sort of reminded me a bit of something from George Clanton's last album, except a bit less immersive. I'm really loving these new singles and I'm super excited to hear the new record.

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"Cinderella" - Remi Wolf

◇ featured on Big Ideas - Remi Wolf (not yet released) ◇ genres: synth-funk, contemporary r&b

Remi Wolf has sort of passed me by over the last few years. I've been meaning to listen to her last record for a while now, but I just haven't gotten around to it. After hearing this new single, "Cinderella," I definitely need to go back and check it out before this new record drops. This is such a jam. If this is what she's been cooking up all this time, I've really missed out.

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"Like That" - Future, Metro Boomin & Kendrick Lamar

◇ featured on WE DON'T TRUST YOU - Future & Metro Boomin ◇ genres: indie rock, chamber pop

I decided not to write a full review of this new Future and Metro Boomin' record because I don't have too much to say about it. It's got some good stuff, but it's a little bloated. This song definitely stood out though. The beat is pretty basic, but effective. Future holds his own in his verses, but the real highlight is Kendrick Lamar's guest verse. He's just so good, everyone knows that by this point, but it's still so true.

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"The von dutch remix with addison rae and a.g. cook" - Charli XCX

◇ genres: electropop, bubblegum bass

A few weeks after Charli XCX released her middling house cut "Von dutch," the remix featuring Addison Rae and A.G. Cook is here. Call me crazy, but I think this might be the superior version. A.G. Cook's production here really kicks it into that wild next gear that I wished the original did. Charli's performance stands out a lot more here too, as does Rae's. This still isn't one of my favorite Charli tracks, but this is a definite improvement.

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"How We See the Light" - John Cale

◇ featured on POPtical Illusion - John Cale (not yet released) ◇ genre: art pop

I'm still kinda new to the world of John Cale's solo music. I only just listened to Paris 1919 and Fear for the first time, but I loved them both. He has a new record out this June and this lead single is pretty decent. Cale still has an ear for interesting melodies and sounds. The more I revisit this one the more I enjoy it. It's nice to hear an artist of like Cale still experimenting and playing around. Definitely gonna check out this record when it drops.

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"World on a String" - Jessica Pratt

◇ featured on Here in the Pitch - Jessica Pratt (not yet released) ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, folk pop

Another really good single from Jessica Pratt leading up to her next album. This one sounds a bit more like what you would expect from her, but the formula is far from broken. Few are making folk music as dreamy as Pratt. Many of Pratt's songs sound like what ripples in a small pond look like, "World on a String" is one of them. Looking forward to Here in the Pitch for sure. It could very well be one of her strongest albums to date!

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"The Seasons Reverse (Live)" - Gastr Del Sol

◇ featured on We Have Dozens of Titles - Gastr Del Sol (not yet released) ◇ genres: post-rock, ambient pop

Jim O'Rourke and David Grubbs long dormant post rock group Gastr Del Sol are returning with a new compilation of unearthed material soon. Admittedly, I haven't listened to much of their work, but I'm a huge fan of Jim's so I decided to check this out. This is a nice instrumental piece with an interesting arrangement. O'Rourke's guitar is accompanied by these sometimes harsh, sometimes gentle synths. Hard to recommend this for everyone, but if you're a fan, this is probably really cool.

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"I LUV IT" - Camila Cabello

◇ genres: jersey drill, baltimore club, electropop

This is a mess. It’s a mish-mash of sounds that Camila Cabello just doesn’t have the sauce to pull off well at all. Also the lyrics are trying way too hard to be tongue-in-cheek and it falls so flat. When that snippet of the track was getting some attention on Twitter, I assumed it had to be a bit. No, that annoying “i love it, i love it, i love it, i love it” is the chorus. Carti’s guest verse isn’t good either. Just an impressively bad song! Like all of the pieces of the puzzle are there, but they're jammed together in such a way that the entire thing is a jumbled-up mess.

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"Take Me to the River" - Lorde

◇ featured on Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense (not yet released) ◇ genres: new wave, pop rock

The singles leading up to the A24 Talking Heads tribute album have been underwhelming for the most part, but I was really looking forward to this one. Lorde’s take on the Talking Heads cover of the Al Green song “Take Me to the River” is alright. This kind of production is new territory for her, but she holds her own pretty well. There’s nothing remarkable about the track and it pales in comparison to both the original and the cover it’s covering, but not bad at all.

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"Next Semester" - twenty one pilots

◇ featured on Clancy - twenty one pilots (not yet released) ◇ genres: post-punk revival, indie rock, pop rock

I wasn't crazy about the last single twenty one pilots dropped, but this is definitely a step-up. Does that make this song amazing? Not really. I feel like I'm grading on a curve. This is one of the best twenty one pilots songs for sure! I don't know if it stands out beyond that distinction though. Some of the verses are a bit awkward and not in the good, nervous energy kind of way. However, the instrumentation has some good moments, namely Josh Dun's drumming. This song is alright. I see a lot of people hyping up this new record and I'm hoping I can hop on that bandwagon, but I'm just not fully clicking with these songs.

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"Flea" - St. Vincent

◇ featured on All Born Screaming - St. Vincent (not yet released) ◇ genres: alternative rock

Another really good single from St. Vincent! A lot less industrial than the last cut, but it's still dark and noisy. There's some really cool production moments here. I love the multi-layered vocals on the "Once I'm in, you can't get rid of me" part. The chorus is explosive too. The rhythm section, consisting of Dave Grohl on drums and Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass, are also killing it. Giving this song this sort of prickly groove. Definitely looking forward to hearing whatever she has in store next, these singles rock.

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[roseshavethoughts]

Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

Ghostbusters 2 (1989) #FilmReview

Synopsis – Having gone bankrupt and out of work, the Ghostbusters have now retired. But their services are required again when a series of events involving ectoplasmic slime threaten the city and Dana’s baby. Director – Ivan Reitman Starring – Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Remis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver Genre – Comedy | Fantasy Released – 1989 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of…

[thesinglesjukebox]

REMI WOLF - "PRESCRIPTION"

Ask your doctor if Remi Wolf is right for you. Aaron, who brought "Prescription" to our attention, did...

[6.40]

Aaron Bergstrom: Boots Riley starts big. His new show I'm A Virgo comes with the contradictions pre-heightened, a masterful Afro-surrealist fun house with every absurdity stretched to its breaking point, amplifying a message that has never been more timely: real change doesn't come from painstakingly crafted anti-capitalist rhetoric or even aspiring revolutionaries with questionable superpowers, as convenient as that might be. It comes from community. It comes from solidarity. It comes from other people. Remi Wolf starts small. "Prescription," written at Riley's request for a very specific plot point in I'm A Virgo (I won't spoil it, but the episode is called "Balance Beam"), opens on spare drums and descending synths, Gen Z Prince working through some social anxiety issues. Wolf said that the song is about "being in love and being really, really scared about it," and it's that underlying fear that underpins the subsequent ascent into ecstasy, the horns and the key change and the climax that probably only works if you're just a little bit nostalgic for Macy Gray. It all hinges on giving up control. This isn't the kind of joy you can find on your own. It comes from connection. It comes from other people. Riley and Wolf arrive at the same place: whether your revolution is personal or political, you're going to have to let yourself be vulnerable. You're going to have to reach out. [9]

David Moore: Remi Wolf, the little pop engine that couldn't -- thanks to the peculiar vagaries of Spotify's algorithms and curated playlists, I think I've heard almost everything Remi Wolf has ever released, and every time I hear a song, I'm really into it for about 15 seconds before the pleasure slowly ebbs. (My favorite Remi Wolf song is this Little Dragon remix of "Disco Man," which must employ some kind of Energy Star plugin to keep things humming along consistently.) At the same time, I don't know that there's a single bad Remi Wolf song either -- there's something sort of captivating about Remi Wolf's oeuvre, all these little candles emitting a few dazzling flickers before inevitably snuffing themselves out. [6]

Peter Ryan: A smidge more narratively straight-ahead than the gnarly, motormouthed Juno or its predecessor EPs; here Wolf's sonic freak-out puts a point on the exhilaration of the lyric -- you couldn't really call it mellowed, but it's less wickedly hedonistic in sound than a lot of her work, more a snowballing sugar overload. In three-minute form it's a bit of a band showcase, a rich thicket of soul-pop horns punctuated by Wolf's increasingly enraptured vocal breaks and ad-libbing. I'll take the seven-minute version, of course, indulgent and luxuriating in the thrall of yearning while affording the arrangement more time to unfold and Wolf more space to settle into it, goofy jam-interlude and all. At any length it might sound like a stopover for one of pop's most chaotic, inventive voices, but that restless energy at the core of her work would enliven even the most dependable of tropes. [8]

John S. Quinn-Puerta: A sex jam with more than cursory shout outs to depression, "Prescription" pulls off one of my favorite tricks, layering instruments progressively with each chorus. Wolf's squeaky half shouts play nicely off a rich round bass guitar, which in turn plays off the bouncy, just buzzy enough acoustic. The layered vocals in the bridge feel earned, breaking through into a lush horn and piano-scape. [9]

Nortey Dowuona: The way this song opens up with flat demo synths and drums, with Remi's high voice catapulting over thin guitar, made me feel like we were not going to go anywhere. Then the bass slid in, the horns started stabbing and punctuating certain lyrics and sidewinding during the chorus and the piano riff appears at the tail end of the second verse, and I was hooked. The lush and muscular bass rumbles below the mix and girds an otherwise very thin song with a strength it needs. But the extended version, which has an extra verse and refrain and chorus, feels both less abrupt and more vivid, allowing the song space to become bigger and bigger and delightful, while Remi -- even in all the lushness -- is still visible at the roots, her thin keening voice which was allowed no space on the standard version spreading far and wide, at ease, excited, delighted to refill. [8]

Ian Mathers: "Effortful" is not necessarily a synonym for "bad." [7]

Leah Isobel: Surprised to not hate a Tones & I-style vocal affection in 2023, but I think it's because the production's vaporwave synth textures and aggressively contained snare hits aim at an equally unreal emotional tone. It's not soulful, but "soulful": aware of its own absurdity and desperation. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: An absolute vocal ordeal. [1]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: She's singing her damn heart out, maybe even literally. [3]

Alfred Soto: No way I'd listen to this indie playroom "Purple Rain" meets "Brownsville Girl" again, but the soupy mix in which a brass section and pattern bob and turn complements the deliberately unhinged vocal performance. If I'd watched it on a busy street corner I'd look over my shoulder once. [6]

Brad Shoup: On the one hand, isn't pumping your devotional funk ballad with enough vocal fuckery to induce hypoxia a perfect Prince tribute? Some of those hoots in the post-chorus made me rip my headphones off, not because they were bad (they were), but because I thought one of my kids woke up. In places it sounds like she's trying to triangulate the Troutman talkbox through sheer vocal layering. Still, as insistent as she is, the arrangement of oozy synth/banjo pluck/brass hits is easy as hell, even if it's hard to pick out. Like she says, it makes my skin crawl in the best way (Adderall). [7]

Will Adams: All those vocal pyrotechnics only for them to be shoved way down in the mix. Why? It's not like the instrumental's ~chill vibes~ are particularly attention-grabbing. [5]

Hannah Jocelyn: I love that Remi Wolf stretches her voice as far as it can go and she's never actively grating for most of the song. Maybe it's because Nathan Phillips places Wolf (and the choir of Remi Wolves) far back in the mix; I can't explain why, but the effect is less someone screaming in your face and more witnessing Ken barely step out of frame to yell "SUBLIME!" The outro goes too over-the-top and bright -- the situation calls for Brittany Howard, someone who Remi Wolf is decidedly not -- but until then, there's a lot to love.. [7]

Vikram Joseph: Turns out the difference between "classic-sounding" and "derivative" is largely just charm, which Remi Wolf has in buckets and which turns a song that could have been a rote gospel-pop exercise into a full-hearted, grin-inducing joy of a song. It has shades of "I Try", and while it's not quite as beautifully constructed it more than matches it in endearing vocal acrobatics and in exuberant dorkiness -- "Prescription" is a love song that's totally sincere but which doesn't take itself remotely seriously. It feels like walking through your city in the sun and being weightless; it feels like "climbing over the walls I made"; it feels like giving yourself completely to someone and it not hurting at all. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: I do not believe that one's background inherently determines one's future but as a Californian I must call it as I see it: this is exactly the kind of song you make when you go to Palo Alto High School and then USC Thornton. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[mywifeleftme]

227: Jim Sullivan // U.F.O.

U.F.O. Jim Sullivan 1969, Monnie

Jim Sullivan’s U.F.O. has become one of the best-known private press records of the late 1960s, thanks largely to the tireless efforts of Light in the Attic’s Matt Sullivan (no relation), who by his own admission became obsessed with Jim’s music and the mystery of his 1975 disappearance in the New Mexico desert. Backed by members of the Wrecking Crew, the session aces who served as Phil Spector’s house band, U.F.O. is a fine folk rock record that at times leaps up into something more (“Highways,” “Jerome,” “Sandman”). Since Jim’s finally received the flowers that eluded him in life, I wanted to use this space to highlight six lesser-known private press folkies you might also want to explore.

Tarp Clancy

The reclusive Clancy recorded a series of 10” EPs in the early 1960s at his rudimentary cabin studio in Muhlenberg County, the heart of Kentucky coal country. An elderly former miner who had lost most of his picking hand when a vial of nitroglycerine he was transporting ignited in his glove, Clancy homebrewed a mechanical strumming prosthesis. He would loop a cord around his neck that allowed him to cleverly control the tempo of his metal claw by moving his head and shoulder, though over time he began to suffer from nerve damage and light-headedness from the way it constricted blood flow to his brain. The EPs, recorded solo on acoustic guitar and dulcimer, have a poignant jerkiness to them that matches his lyrical obsessions with isolation, tribulation, and grisly industrial accidents. They were distributed in extremely limited quantities through ads in the local Baptist church’s circular and were forgotten until one of the discs was discovered by Brooklyn DJ Anathius Taylor at a goodwill while visiting his family home (Beechland Plantation). Clancy himself disappeared (nearly) without a trace sometime around 1970, though in 1985 a claw of his design was discovered buried under the Jefferson Davis memorial in Fairview, Kentucky during routine maintenance on the obelisk.

Key song: “Cold Fingers”

Remy “Mad Crawdad” Beauregard

Beauregard grew up in a vibrant 1920s Louisiana Cajun community and learned to play guitar from his father. His parents raised him to venerate Governor (and later Senator) Huey Long, and the day Long was assassinated was the day Remy Beauregard would say he lost his innocence. “It was like being told they killed Santa Claus,” he later wrote in his journals, “I felt all the magic and hope in the world drain from me in a matter of seconds.” Hopelessness drove the young man to street crime, joining the infamous Les Gamins gang, and he soon ran afoul of the law. A boy called Remy Beauregard went into juvie, and a violent criminal called “The Mad Crawdad” came out, albeit one with a remarkable gift for the accordion.

Remy had a few close calls with greatness: after visiting 439 Baronne a few times, and even getting to jam with the legendary George Girard, Orin Blackstone made moves to begin recording the young man. Only two recordings survive, “Where, Mother?”/ “Dandelions” and “I've Got Nine” / “Life Will Screw You,” the latter an extremely rare shellac 10" thought lost for decades. Unfortunately, another run-in with the law hampered his burgeoning musical career, as Remy bludgeoned a man to death in a drunken bar fight, spending the next six weeks in prison. While in the slammer, Remy found Jesus, and upon his release the newly sober musician recorded the Forgiveness LP. It is a desperate and cynical record, the product of a self-loathing man seeking a salvation he knows he will never achieve. His sobriety would be short-lived, and he drank himself to death in 1957 having lived a life in near-complete obscurity. His final single, released posthumously, was titled “Why Did You Leave Us, Mr. Long?”

A career-spanning compilation is set to be released by Light in the Attic records in late 2024, titled Crawdad Sings! with liner notes by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. — D.J.C.

Key Song: “Life Will Screw You”

Jeramie Laramy

The Vietnam War inspired some of the most powerful protest songs of the 20th century, from “Eve of Destruction” to “Napalm Sticks to Kids.” But Jeramie Laramy stood virtually alone in 1975 when he sang the words “first my mother left me / with a man called Dan / then my country abandoned the brave people / of South Vietnam.” Laramy was a Canadian who renounced his citizenship and moved to San Francisco, California in 1967 in hopes of being drafted, but due to his complicated residency situation he was deemed ineligible. Referred to in Jerry Garcia’s memoirs as “a vicious simpleton,” he nevertheless took up the guitar and began busking, with primitive yowlers like “Mr. Saigon” and “Hippy Dachau” anticipating punk rock by nearly a decade. Laramy's music won him few admirers in the burgeoning counter-culture, but he was embraced by Hells Angels-affiliate Andre “Baby” Jane, who bought him studio time he used to record 1972's Jungle Mower LP, a commercial failure. After an intense, inadvertent psychedelic experience at the Berdoo Angels' clubbouse, Laramy's music became more abstract, culminating in the geographically-confused psych-folk double A-side “Seoul Stealers” / “I Wished Upon a Machine Gun.” He disappeared in 1976.

Key song: “I Wished Upon a Machine Gun”

Liesl Eddy

Alan Lomax called Liesl Eddy “the only woman prison singer who mattered.” Mississippi Fred McDowell called her “that miserable mute bitch.” Eddy was no one’s idea of a sweetheart, but even a cursory scan of her biography makes plain why she had to be tough. Raised Liesl Edzurbriggen by stern Swiss-German Calvinist tenant farmers in dustbowl-era Kansas, her parents forbade her from speaking in the belief that the family was being spied upon by papists. As she aged into young adulthood, Eddy’s muteness brought her into frequent, violent conflict with townsfolk in the nearby community of Arkansas, and she was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison after braining a local furrier with a cast-iron skillet.

Despite suffering from Marfan syndrome, Eddy was tremendously strong, and there was concern that she was too dangerous for women’s prison. Thus, in 1934 she became the only female inmate at Georgia’s notorious Lillyfold Penitentiary, where she worked breaking rocks on a chain gang. It was in prison however that Eddy’s unusual vocal talents were discovered. Despite her continued refusal to speak, she possessed a deep, southern-accented singing voice, and it was said that she alone could drown out a 20-man gang. Certainly it’s her lungs that stand out on the Lomax-recorded album of chain gang songs and spirituals Let Us Be Released (From Her) (1937), on which the tension between Eddy and her fellow prisoners is palpable.

Following a violent brawl that saw six men injured, Eddy was moved to solitary confinement, where Lomax was able to convince prison authorities to allow her use of a cigar box guitar. Eddy’s surprisingly vulgar, raunchy country blues tunes like “Hogmeat Driver Rag” and “No’ Mo’ Cone Pone” led the blushing musicologist to suppress her recordings for decades, though due to a clerical error “Liesl’s Idyll” was included on some early pressings of Lead Belly’s Negro Sinful Songs in 1939 before the mistake was noted. Eddy’s trail goes cold after her release in 1942, but following Lomax’s death her work was rediscovered. Her catalogue was issued for the first time in 2015 as Sugah On Mah Tongue: The Silenced Sessions on Lena Dunham’s Muff Trade Records.

Key song: “Liesl’s Idyll”

Cleodora Thanks

Raised by roving bead peddlers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Cleodora Thanks relocated to Greenwich Village in the late 1950s and founded a rooming house where a number of the brightest names in folk music spent time, including Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, and Horace Plenty. Although her cooking was so noxious Laura Nyro was reportedly briefly hospitalized by a casserole, Thanks was regarded as a mother figure by many of her tenants. Dylan made her the subject of his unreleased song “Big Momma I Don’t Know Blues,” while Joan Baez has claimed Thanks made uncredited contributions to a number of early Joni Mitchell songs. Thanks’ own culinary-obsessed music, which joins the earthy blues of a Bessie Smith with the subtlety of Bette Midler amid hints of gypsy jazz and klezmer, was largely unknown in her time, and she vanished in 1983 on her way to a state fair near Syracuse. New York-based archivist Karl Nard of Swede Nothing Records discovered a cache of unsold LPs in the basement of Thanks’ former rooming house after his uncle purchased the property. Thanks' soon to be reissued work represents a crucial missing lunch in the story of mid-century American folk music.

Key song: “Peanut Brittle Elegie”

Jimmy Whaley the Folk-Song-Singing Crocodile

Jimmy Whaley was a crocodile that sang folk songs. Believed to be an urban legend for years until his existence was confirmed by Desmond Morris, the man who discovered an elephant who could paint and made a BBC documentary about how women don't know what bicycles look like and desire horses. As Jimmy was only able to speak English while singing, most of what we know of his life is what has been parsed from those songs that have been tentatively identified as autobiographical. He was probably born in the Nile River, before stowing away in a cargo ship in the Suez Canal and making his way to Boston, and then the Appalachians, where he lived and sang for locals with a banjo he plucked with a back claw. His life was cut short when he was tragically shot after being speciesally profiled as an alligator by a poacher in East Texas. His remains are displayed at the Stephen Foster Folk Music Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the form of a handbag. An anthology of Jimmy's early work comprising several selections from the Great American Songbook, AmeriCroc, is forthcoming from Smithsonian Croakways Records. — D.J.C.

Key song: “America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)”

Prepared with the assistance of D. John Christie, Osgoode Hall Law Special Collections

[faidfluorite]

mermaid swamp (remake) reviewwww

prefacing this by saying i can count the amount of rpgmaker games i've played on one hand (SADLY)... gradually changing that by going through a friend-vetted list >:3

mermaid swamp felt super confined which really lent itself to the stories super spooky atmosphere... i love lakeside horror and this definitely cranked up the notch with the bog body mermaids and swamp fume craziness. after my first playthrough i wasn't super crazy on the protagonist aside from the fact that i love women who are written as sort of unapologetically brash and headstrong, but in my playthrough (true ending) i wasn't huge on her being a history major with 0 interest in actually researching what the hell was happening in that house

and then it totally hit me that i went to college for animation with people who didn't know how to use the fill tool and a lot of stuff made sense LOL. rin feels like the kind of character that learns through doing, and a fundamental part of the her escape from the trap the main cast find themselves in is learning, through multiple horrific experiences, to put trust into her friends even when she's beginning to not trust herself.

with yuka, it's trust that she'll survive- that if they find a way out of the mansion and to a hospital yuka will pull through and their struggles won't have been for nothing.

for yuuta, it felt like trust that he could break through his episode once rin destroyed the paintings holding him hostage. there's a small order you have to follow, new house's paintings to old house's and if you rush off in a frenzy to try and lose him, he almost senses that franticness and you get a game over as he kills you at the swamp's edge. when you find a way to calm him down, he's able to rest and regain his strength to bring you all home! something you can't do if yuka or yuuta don't survive.

with seitaro... you sort of have to battle with this line of trust and intimacy throughout the entire story. without him, rin loses her motivation and some of her grounded sanity (in an ending where yuka, yuuta and rin make it to the climax without rin, she still completely loses it and throws herself into the swamp). when seitaro has an episode and tries to coax rin into staying by his side, she has to trust in who she knows he is to break through her confusion and defend herself to keep them both alive.

to give the "mermaids" peace and to find closure herself, rin has to trust her gut and bury them underground. they have to share in their suffering, accept that the only way they're leaving the mansion is if they leave irrevocably changed and that in itself is how the old man can also find closure from his families prolonged "curse"...

i have a lot more thoughts about folklore and urban legend, generational trauma and the passage of time as a means of healing old wounds but i only played the remake tonight so i would want to play the original game before writing more so i can compare the two and see how the story has been changed and developed ^_^

all in all a really fun, short game! if any of you like rpgmaker games, i would love some more reccs!