#reverb 2018

[brightfemurz]

guys don't listen to a song slowed and reverbed unless you're willing to let the normal version of the song sound squeaky and then you gotta do a whole damn detox to make it sound normal again

[ladyfauxhawk]

Listening to Humbug and Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino on a snowy afternoon

My favorite Arctic Monkeys albums are the ones that follow Last Shadow Puppets albums. These albums are my gems. My weird ones, the ones that people didn't understand, the ones where we get at least 50% lovesick Alex trying to navigate his situationship with Miles Kane after coming down from the rush of tour. These are the dreamy albums, packed with songs are about escaping and being haunted and being far away. These are the albums where the music lifts the words in ways we hadn't heard them play previously.

Humbug, with few song exceptions (Cornerstone I love you forever but you feel like you belong somewhere else), sounds like it was recorded underwater. The drums thud. The rough edges are smoothed off Alex’s voice and the songs are sinking into an unknown.

And nine years later Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino flips the narrative. It's the sound of a place that doesn't exist and can't exist. It's the mirror of Humbug, where Alex's lyrics float in a galaxy of shimmering reverb. The production is polished and layered and he's crooning high above the Earth.

I think as a fandom we spend a lot of time having fun with the conversations betwen Alex and Miles via their songs and albums. But I haven't spent as much time thinking about how Alex’s songs and albums are a conversation with himself.

I think I really fell in love with Miles’s songwriting because I saw it thru Alex’s eyes. I also had a lot of fun playing around with THEIR shared influences as songwriters (Marc Bolan, we love you). But I suspect I grew to love Miles’s work because I see the traces of him in Arctic Monkeys songs. This is ESPECIALLY SO on the post TLSP projects.

I'm going to have some fun, and I'd love your thoughts. I've intertwined portions of AM3 and AM6 albums and b sides in this playlist. Are these songs from 2009 / 2018 having a conversation? How would we as a fan community arrange this list?

[userparamore]

hi! genuine question - why is it a disappointment that pmore performed at eras tour? i’m very neutral on taylor swift so i don’t really know the issues surrounding it. thank you in advance ❤️

i'm no taylor swift stan so i don't really want to, or have the energy to mention everything. but from a paramore fan perspective it's disappointing bc it's makes them come across as hypocrites. i've talked about this before and i don't want to get into it again but they've spoken up about climate change, hayley even jokes about root being about our planet "running out of time", they've partenered with REVERB on their this why tour (which i guess is a little greenwashing-ish but better than nothing). but this ends up being ungenuine when you tour with the artist who releases the most co2 emission out of every celebrity. the fact that she sued the kid who called her out for this, i think says alot about her as a person. paramore preaches about the shows being a safe place for everyone; all poc and lgbtq+. but then they tour with the prime example of white feminism, who only speaks up/comments on things if it affects her. and again with paramore claiming to be more political during the this is why album cycle, and expressed multiple times how important the diversity of their fans are etc. it does not seem genuine when they're praising an artist like taylor swift as much as they have been doing. i think that saying of: if you want to know someone, just look at who they choose to spend their time with, is very true.

another part of this and i think this is probably the biggest one for paramore fans in general is that the tours during this is why didn't include europe mainland (or asia). they toured only in uk&ireland for this is why, and then in interviews said they did an european tour. is the european tour in the room with us now? anyway, the last european mainland tour was jan 2018, and had only 3 dates that wasn't in the uk out of 8. so the last real european tour was summer 2017 with 18 dates. 6 of them was in the uk&ireland and 4 of the rest of the european dates were festivals leaving only 8 "real" concerts in mainland europe. lots of the countries on the eras tours, like italy, poland, switzerland etc paramore haven't played in over a decade (aka during the self-titled era). to have waited this long for them to tour and then for it to cost close to 400 dollars for a nosebleed ticket, if you even get a ticket, does not feel great. another thing is that for some of these countries paramore have made 2 albums since the last time they toured, and they've never had the opportunity to hear any of the songs from those albums live. as the opener act on the eras tour, paramore played 9 song. most of these were their greatest hits. as a paramore fan you obviously want to go to a concert to see them perform, but for that amount of money i think it's reasonable to want to hear other songs than still into you, ain't it fun and misery business. the setlist was catered to reach non-fans, and that's fine honestly, it would probably be worse for them to play songs "nobody" had heard, than the one's that had commercial success and makes them be able to have some crowd interaction.

either way, i don't think people would've been as disappointed by this tour if they had also announced an solo european tour. the argument that this will get them new fans and make them a bigger name doesn't hold water in my opinion bc paramore are already a big band. they're already a band who can sell out tours and big venues on their own.

[thekingofgear]

Sam Petts-Davies's Setup for Thom's 'Everything' Tour

A photo of the setup, shared by Sam on his instagram account with the caption "tour begins tonight. i’ll be parked at front of house with this box of esoterics for the duration. it’s going to be something really special."

Thom's solo tour has just begun with a show in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Sam Petts-Davies is along for the ride!

Since Radiohead's earliest shows, there's always been at least a few effects added by an engineer at the FOH (front of house) mixing desk to keep the band's sound clear and coherent. With Radiohead, that role was filed by Jim Warren. Even after Thom started bringing pedalboard full of vocal effects on tour, Jim continued to apply additional effects including plugins such as the Waves C4 multiband compressor for vocals. You can find more info on Jim's work in these posts.

For The Smile, even fewer hardware effects were needed at the FOH desk, in part due to Thom's expanded vocal pedalboard. In 2022, the Smile's mix engineer mainly relied on plugins from an Avid VENUE S6L-32D digital desk, supplemented only by a TUBE-TECH CL 1B Tube Optical compressor (presumably for Thom's vocals).

It's clear that when Thom is performing totally solo, a different approach is needed. But it's hard to imagine that any past FOH setup has been so full of hardware effects! And not just effects, but also modulators and an usual mixer, as we'll see....

For those who don't know, Sam initially served as a engineer under Nigel during the recording of Junun in 2015. He subsequently did engineering work on Spectre, A Moon Shaped Pool, and on the strings for the OKNOTOK singles. In 2018, he co-produced the soundtrack to Suspiria with Thom, and apparently Thom was a fan because Sam received a full production credit for Thom's soundtrack to Confidenza. He also produced both of the Smile albums released this year: Wall of Eyes and Cutouts.

For comprehensibility, we've divided the setup into four sections: the core, the modular, the pedals, and the rack. We'll start with the core setup.

Core Setup

This section is the nexus: receiving input from Thom's stage setup, sending it through various effects, and mixing it all together. The Matrix Mixer is using to both mix together and feedback the various effects in Thom's eurorack setup. The Yamaha DM3-D appears to be the central mixing console for the entire setup. Despite its small size, the Yamaha boasts 22 channels and a huge range of built-in effects, and on top of that it can also run VST plugins.

Death By Audio Echo Master delay

?

Roland RE-201 Space Echo tape delay

?

Erica Synths Matrix Mixer

Yamaha DM3-D Digital Mixing Console

Modular Setup

In the decade since Thom first used a Make Noise Shared System Plus to process his voice and piano, his eurorack effects setup has expanded quite a bit! The Shared System is designed to be both a sound generator and an effects processor, and since then Thom has created dedicated setups for each of those applications. This setup is the effects processor, with lots of delays, filters, and reverbs, plus some LFOs and CV sources to modulate those effects. The additional Doepfer case that Thom has on stage, might have some of his sound generators, but knowing Thom it could just as easily be even more Make Noise Echophon delays.

Row 1 (left to right):

Make Noise Maths (unused)

Intellijel Planar² joystick

Xaoc Devices Belgrad dual filter (unused)

4ms Dual Looping Delay

4ms SISM: Shifting Inverting Signal Mingler

blank panel (4hp)

Row 2 (left to right):

4ms QCD: Quad Clock Distributor (unused)

Soma Lyra8-FX (unused)

Make Noise Echophon delay

Make Noise Erbe-Verbe reverb

Vermona TAI-4 transformer-isolated I/O

Row 3 (left to right):

Intellijel µMIDI interface

Make Noise Richter Wogglebug random generator

Make Noise QPAS dual filter

Rossum Electro-Music Panharmonium spectral resynthesizer

?

Vermona TAI-4 transformer-isolated I/O

It appears that these are Thom's Rows 1 and 2 are kept in a Doepfer A-100P6 Suitcase 6U case. Rows 3 and 4 are kept in a Doepfer A-100PB Suitcase Base case. The modules on row 4 are impossible to identify at this angle, but Make Noise style knobs are clearly visible on the left-most module.

Pedal Setup

Furman M-8Lx power supply

?

Eventide Pitchfactor

?

Empress Effects Reverb

Rack Setup

We'll double back on this one once we have a better photo...

[deebeeus]

I have not posted in a while...very negligent! Here are a few recent shots:

2018 Custom Shop 1957 LP Junior TV Model Reissue with 1970 Marshall Lead 20

2002 Historic 1967 Flying V Reissue

1965 Duo Sonic with 1968 Traynor TR1 Reverb, 1969 Traynor YGM1 GuitarMate Reverb, and 1966 Traynor YGA1B Signature amp.

1961 Les Paul SG Junior

[autistme]

Laura + guitars souls

2008 IFeelSickToMyStomach blogpost 2016 She Shreds interview 2018 Making of Park Life Forever (reupload) 2020 Reverb interview

[bandhyukoh]

[Eastern Standard Times] Hyukoh and Sunset Rollercoaster: The Indie Collaboration of the Year

This interview belongs to Eastern Standard Times. December 5, 2024. By Andrew Yee.

Eastern Standard Times: How would you introduce yourself now? What is the most important thing to know about who you are today?

Kuo: I'll introduce myself as a lead singer, guitarist and music producer from Sunset Rollercoaster and the owner of my label Sunset Music.

OHHYUK: I'm OHHYUK from HYUKOH and I play guitar, sing, and I am also the producer for HYUKOH. While he (Kuo) owns his own label, I’m on the label DooRooDooRoo and I mainly focus on the creatives.

Eastern Standard Times: What were your first impressions of each other?

Kuo: Shy, but still brave. He does things. Just in a shy way.

OHHYUK: Very clever and talented, and very smart. When I first met him, I immediately realized he’s something really different, and he does his job very well.

Eastern Standard Times: Both group’s last releases were in 2020. Why did this feel like the right comeback project?

Kuo: It was really exciting. From the beginning, we didn't expect that we were going to do such a big project. 

We just thought we were going to just make some music, maybe two songs, three songs, a small special EP. But slowly the ambitions started growing during the process.

OHHYUK: I remember from 2017 to 2018, suddenly there were so many collaborations happening. I wanted to collaborate with the other musicians, but I didn’t want to make just one single or one track, and when I asked him (Kuo) to make an album, he agreed. I think it’s a very interesting collaboration, and was something I was waiting for.

Eastern Standard Times: Did you feel nervous about releasing music again?

OHHYUK: Are you nervous?

Kuo: No, not really.

OHHYUK: Yeah, me too. 

Eastern Standard Times: What are your memories of the first songwriting camp at Music Village 1939 in Gapyeong?

OHHYUK: Uh, the food was… bad.

Kuo: It's a small town. And I think we didn’t expect we were going to have really good food over there, but in the end, we found that we were eating the same food over and over again during the whole week. But I don't care about the food because we somehow still made really good music. So even though the food was bad, I think it was still worth it.

Eastern Standard Times: What is the process like creating music with ten different musicians? Did you approach every song in the same way?

Kuo: We created four songs in our jamming sessions in Gapyeong. And the other eight songs we created on the internet, file swapping. We also went to a friend's house, and he had tons of synthesizers set up, so OH and I just jammed over there and finished the arrangement of 'Antenna' (also listed as 'Aaaannnnteeeeennnaaaaaa'). I would say we had a lot of different approaches to making the album. 

Eastern Standard Times: How did traveling to Seoul and Jeju Island influence the songwriting process?

Kuo: When we went to Jeju Island, the album was almost done actually. We somehow agreed to make one more song over there, but we still don't know what to do with it yet. 

OHHYUK: The trip was actually a vacation. It was snowing, so we were stuck in the Airbnb, but there was a pool, and nobody was swimming. So we just used the pool as a reverb hole, and we were recording in the swimming pool and some other rooms. It was really fun.

Eastern Standard Times: What does ‘AAA’ mean to each of you?

OHHYUK: Something good.

Kuo: Something reliable, trustworthy. Your time is guaranteed.

Even though English is not our native language, somehow we still make music in English. We love the way we approached it and tried to build a space for all our written lyrics. We tried to describe a situation so it isn’t a narrative and everybody can project their own idea about the music or the album. 

I think AAA has multiple meanings and everybody can put their own idea into it. That’s how we interact with people. 

Eastern Standard Times: During an interview in 2020, Kuo talked about music being its own language that connects people. Why does this idea resonate so much with both of you?

OHHYUK: Because we are from different cultural backgrounds, even though I can speak Mandarin, we still have little differences. But music is really simple. If you play something, then you know whether it’s good or bad. I think this kind of approach makes everything easier. 

Kuo: I think music is a language for sure. It‘s even built into our genes or animal instincts; when you hear something, you will get emotional feedback from it. So it's a certain kind of communication, subconsciously, I would say. So that's why I think everybody has this ability to communicate, even through music or frequencies.

And I think that that's why we have this bond to make music, I think our frequencies somehow match together.

Eastern Standard Times: How are Australian audiences different from other crowds?

Kuo: We’ve been to Australia before. And I think in Asia, our fans are usually more quiet, but every time we go to Western countries, especially Australia, people get more excited. Australia is kind of special because it's mixed with Western countries and Asian countries, but I can tell people get more excited.

I think people move their bodies with the music more. In Taiwan, people just sit there and it feels like they're judging us. They're happy inside, exploding inside, but the way they enjoy the show is by staring at us and judging us, and that’s how it is. 

Eastern Standard Times: Where would you love to perform next?

Kuo: Antarctica. Play to some whales.

OHHYUK: Actually, India.

Kuo: Oh yes, he wants to go to India.

OHHYUK: I’ve never been, so I really want to have a show in India.

Eastern Standard Times: What’s something we don’t know about each of you?

Kuo: My and OH’s birthday is only one day different. Mine’s October 6th.

OHHYUK: And mine’s October 5th.

[bunnakit]

Not Me Episode 4 Music

Flares - Life in Colour

We immediately jump in with Flares as Sean is experiencing a nightmare. Stretch time but I guess if you wanted you could read this as Sean subconsciously sending up a signal flare for help.

Last Night, Last Night, Last Night - Well Then, Goodbye

This kicks in as Black is leaving Sean in the flashback; this could be a tie in with the 'Last Night' title as in it's a memory Sean is recalling that might feel like they just happened OR there could be a tie with the band name being 'Well Then, Goodbye' as Black very unceremoniously leaves Sean to his fate. (Either way, my ears don't particularly like this song, the reverb gives me ickies. Thank you misophonia.)

To Whom It May Concern - Rap Against Dictatorship (ft. Liberate P, Nazesus, and GSUS2)

The first time I saw the dance scene I got goosebumps and I could tell the show had done something big here. Allow me to infodump a bit. Rap Against Dictatorship uses their platform and their music to bring attention to the ongoing state of Thailand under military rule, especially during election time. They were founded in 2017 and released their first single in 2018. After the release of their single the members were threatened with arrest by police who later backpedaled after the music went viral and the group gained the support of the public. In 2019 they were awarded with the Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent* at the Oslo Freedom Forum. During the 2020-2021 Thai protests one member was arrested with other pro-democracy activists and later charged with sedition. Their music is often censored in Thailand due to it's anti-goverment and anti-monarchy message. (I love them so much, your honor.)

*Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent is an award established in 2012 by the New York City-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF). According to HRF President Thor Halvorssen, the prize recognizes individuals "who engage in creative dissent, exhibiting courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live in truth"

Downloaded Truth - Marten Moses

As White and Todd are discussing Eugene and Todd is persuading White to reach out to her this song comes in. It could be just a neat song, it could be that White found this downloaded little piece of truth in the video on Black's phone.

Crushed by A P O L L O

I'm fairly certain this, or a remix of it, is what is playing as White is on his phone texting Eugene? I know I've heard the song before and I have it stashed somewhere, Crushed sounds very close but I can't tell if it's quite right? Sometimes they put a little filter over the song or play an arrangement that's midway through the song and it trips me up a bit. If it isn't Crushed then it's very likely another Apollo piece (though none of the ones on that album, I checked.)

As Gram and White discuss the aftermath of the fire we get a little more Downloaded Truth.

As Nuch, Gram, and White all meet in the garage a bit more of Crushed's beat plays in the background.

3 (Instrumental Version) - Bambi Haze (ft. Lu Ni)

Just as White is hugging Eugene and trying to placate her this song comes in. There are truly no connections to be made here, no leaps or stretches to be found. (Though both this and several of Marc Torch's songs are on Epidemic Sound, a host for a lot of royalty free music, so this could be where GMMTV sources a good chunk of their music.)

Closer - Morphlexis

As Eugene climbs in White's lap this song plays and it could be a nod to Eugene wanting to be closer to Black or that she is physically closer to White, again, if we want to make some big stretchies.

When Eugene wakes up we're gifted with another appearance from Tripping over Danger which also wraps up the episode.

thank you so much to everyone who reads these! i recommend checking back at some older posts as i have made some updates (sometimes i miss songs and realize it later.) i promise to make a masterpost of these once we're done and i'll put together a little list of my favorites!

[johnkatsmc5]

Foot  "Foot" EP 2016 + "Buffalo" 2018 + "The Balance Of Nature Shifted" 2020 +  "You Are Weightless" 2022 Melbourne Australia Heavy Psych,Desert,Stoner Rock

full spotify

https://open.spotify.com/album/2mkmhAVyB6EW6hnKP9Di5m

https://open.spotify.com/album/3SNcjE3rheX4c51Ewtocaq

https://open.spotify.com/album/2QSgynFKYbD7SIXr9gy2Zt

https://open.spotify.com/album/4nTtPwwTkTBeqWE3O2r1Ju

Foot "Buffalo" 2018

Credits Bass – Shaun Stolk Drums – Jack Eddie Guitar – Pete Wallder Keyboards – Tom Thomas Lead Vocals, Guitar – Paul Holden Tracklist Thunder Cave 7:31 Cactus 5:27 Live Laugh Love 5:29 Buffalo 2:26 Sweet Stuff 5:35 Lied 4:54 Maningrida 3:13 Low Mist 7:42

Foot "Foot" EP 2016

Tracklist Rupert Turdoch 3:59 Ribs 4:30 Hulk Brogan 6:13 Dahl 5:21 The Answer 4:31 Gunning For Your Heart 2:56

Foot "The Balance Of Nature Shifted"2020

As much as I love the psychedelic side of life, there’s one thing that always trips me up about it. Why does this kind of sound always seem fresh? To me, as long as you’re not obviously just aping another band, stoner and psychedelic takes on music just seem more interesting and artistic to me. Maybe it’s the depth produced by the recording process. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s just not aggressive and that seems like a breath of fresh air these days. Perhaps this is all a conversation for another day, but it’s a really great way to start talking about Melbourne’s Foot. Foot does exactly what I’ve just described: some feel good stoner and psychedelic infused rock. Sometimes it leans more toward spacey desert rock stylings and occasionally dips into more doom metal ideas. But a lot of it is that straightforward riff rock with a whole lot of reverb that makes you tune out the world and put on a cool pair of shades. The Balance of Nature Shifted, the band’s third record since 2016, is a whole lot of that. It was hard not to listen to this record while imagining myself road tripping through the desert. One instantly notable thing about this is that the production quality is pretty high. Stoner doom or psychedelic rock don’t really need many bells and whistles to help it out. In fact, that can often have the opposite effect, making the record and the style completely incongruous. However, just a little bit of studio magic always goes a long way. That space the tracks have need just a touch of clarity and definition. It really does go a long way. My favorite aspect of The Balance of Nature Shifted is the fact that Foot doesn’t tie themselves down to some specific kind of sound. They’re not try-hards going out there to impress you with how they “do a little bit of everything” or something like that. The band explores the entire spectrum of this kind of music, but they do it in their way. They play the heavy-duty doom style on tracks like “Green Embers,” but they’re just as likely to play into more riff rock with tracks like “Investment”. Those heavily fuzzed and reverbed guitars and ephemeral-sounding echoing vocals are the sign of the band on every single track. It’s a nice trip on the stoner side of life and a record for anybody who likes any aspect of that kind of sound. If you couldn’t tell by now, Foot is an all-around fun band, and The Balance of Nature Shifted was a nice and light trip down a sound I personally enjoy a lot. Is this record going to blow your mind with how new and different and wholly original it is? No, probably not. But is it fun to find a new band who explores the fuzzy slow and low? Hell yes, it is! In a time of horrible bullshit going on all over the world, we need the fun escapism of The Balance of Nature Shifted. I couldn’t think of timelier record.....Pete Williams......~ Tracklist Despair On Hope Street 4:47 E-Sports 4:25 Green Embers 5:28 Ride It Out 3:34 Investment 6:27 Break The Altar (Light/Shade) 5:39 Neighbours 3:51 Manic Progression 5:55 High 6:03 Collection Plate (Demo) The Coldest Budweiser On Earth (Demo)

Foot "You Are Weightless" 2022

Following on from 2020’s lockdown masterpiece, The Balance of Nature Shifted, the band return this June with the sonic equivalent of a heavily wrought, fuzz-lined straitjacket in new album, You Are Weightless. Channelling the dynamic spirit of acts like Queens of the Stone Age and Alice in Chains, they envelope their music with social commentary and grand visions that help tip the scales in favour of the heavier, more visceral cradle of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a sight and sound to behold and make no mistake, Holden, along with his band of merry sessioners, have quite possibly crafted their boldest and most revelatory album to date.....~ Third song Fire Dance is a more action packed Stoner Metal song with a DOOM based attitude with it's early showing of progressive sounding guitars. Maybe not as warmly addictive as the opening two songs, FOOT still play a winning style of modern Psych Rock with catchy vocals to match. A fantastic sounding Spaced Out background allows this to be one of my favourite songs on the album. FOOT bring the "FUZZ" to this song and everything sounds more cinematic and fully complete towards the later stages of the track. Tracklist Bitter Caged Animal Fire Dance Gold Lion I'll Be Just Fine Impossible Scared

Foot  "Foot" EP 2016 + "Buffalo" 2018 + "The Balance Of Nature Shifted" 2020 +  "You Are Weightless" 2022 Melbourne Australia Heavy Psych,Desert,Stoner Rock

https://johnkatsmc5.tumblr.com/post/771496194376646656/foot-foot-ep-2016-buffalo-2018-the

[fantastickkay]

Album Review of the Week: The Monkees - Christmas Party (2018) ☆☆☆☆

After the success of the group's 2016 comeback, they released their final album - Christmas Party. Produced by Monkee mainstays - Adam Schlesinger, Chip Douglas, Christian Nesmith, Peter Tork and James Lee Stanley - we get this cute little romp through Christmastime in Monkeeland!

I absolutely LOVE Michael Allred's illustrations throughout, the elements of classic merch (Monkee fingerpuppets!) and classic outfits (Monkeemen!) are so much fun.

50 years later, Monkee albums still have the feeling that each member has their own distinct thing going on with whichever song they are singing. Most of the album is led by Micky Dolenz, with contributions here and there from the other members. They never quite found cohesion as a group. That does not take away from the overall quality of any album - including this one - just interesting that it is the same after all these years! This album is a mix of traditional covers and new originals, and marks the first Monkees album in which no member has any writing credit.

We start off with a soft, bouncy intro of Christmas bells that bound into Unwrap You At Christmas. Quite saucy! This opening track does well to highlight how well Micky's voice has developed over the years. He was one of the best male vocalists 50 years ago, and still is today!

What Would Santa Do is a super silly track lamenting Scrooges and Grinches. "Makes me want to clench my fist and sock him in the mouth!" is a notable lyric that always makes me chuckle, then asks if Santa would strike back or keep his cool if he were faced with such grouches. The high energy melody is tons of fun!

Mele Kalikimaka brings us our first posthumous contribution from our dear Davy Jones. He recorded his own Christmas songs in the early 1990s and they were able to remaster the vocals and create updated instrumentals. His voice really suits Christmas music! The slight tropical mood is also a fun change from the general wintry mood of the record.

House of Broken Gingerbread is a really interesting song. It seems to deal with what it is like to grow up in a divorced family for Christmas. I have been blessed not to have to experience that, so it is an interesting perspective I hadn't considered. It is also different to have a darker subject tackled on a Christmas album!

The Christmas Song is Michael Nesmith's first lead vocal on the album. This has a very atmospheric instrumental and his vocal mixing has a slight reverb to contribute to that mood as well. Makes me want to take a nap! Very calming.

Christmas Party is introduced by some vintage chatter. I love the chorus, it really builds the mood. The verses have kind of a watered down 90s alt-rock vibe (very watered down, don't @ me). Other than that, it is a little one note without any bridges.

I always skip Jesus Christ, it is too slow and repetitive for my taste!

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is a really cute bop. It is not doing anything too exciting, but it's just a cute little track for the happy Christmas mood.

Silver Bells is one of my favorite Christmas songs in general. It really evokes that feeling of walking on the street in the dark, cold winter surrounded by Christmas lights. It always makes me think of my hometown's small downtown area. Davy's voice is again quite suited for the mood.

Next we get a cover of the Paul McCartney classic, Wonderful Christmastime. This one is pretty famous for becoming annoying quickly, but I think that Micky does a good job keeping it engaging and enjoyable.

Snowfall is another one that I don't listen to very often, it is very very slow and sleepy.

As much as I love Peter Tork as an actor and musician, his take on Angels We Have Heard On High is rather difficult to listen to. Done primarily acoustically with a banjo, it is just kind of abrasive - although the addition of the harpsichord is always a high note. This is also just a notoriously difficult song to sing and should be left to the church service - sung as a group.

The album closes with Micky's rendition of the ultra-bluesy Merry Christmas, Baby. His delivery is quite sexy and they are not skimping on the blues! Great album closer to a very good Christmas album.

[subbykittyboythoughts]

im not done talking about how weird color bass is. it's seriously the only genre where the best free tutorials come from the big names, artists like Chime have been giving advice about small sound design things for years. brostep, complextro, anything that HAS tutorials has them by smaller youtube channels. ASH (or, as known back then, Foxhunt) made 2 incredible videos about making complextro and is very obscure compared to artists like Feed Me, Nitro Fun, Wolfgang Gartner, etc. it's also a very weirdly-spawned genre, where the term was coined by Chime in ~2018 to name the fusion of melodic and heavy styles in bass music, as the divide between the two had been steadily growing, as well as between bass music designed for live shows and for at-home listening. then, around the same time Ace Aura pioneered the use of harmonically-designed basses with resonators, creating melodic riddim. some started deviating from riddim, or using new techniques like vocoders, fft repitchers, or convolution reverb, and slowly "color bass" came to mean a style of bass music focused on rich, chordal bass synths. some view color bass as identical to melodic riddim or as an offshoot of it, like as riddim is to dubstep.

also chime is fucking based and he/they agender like me?? rad

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Klainebingo 2023

Thank you for hosting this event! I’m an old school reader and admittedly haven’t read much new stuff post-2016 or so, so it’s been absolutely lovely to find some new stories and authors!

1 Reverb (2018) by Fickelodeon

2 Wouldn’t Change a Thing (2020) by nontarelationship 

3 You Will Be Found (2020) by kurtswish

4 Avian Series (2020) by kurtswish (Occupation: Superhero Costumer)

5 Even Better Than the Real Thing (2020) by gleekto

6 Andante, Andante (2020) by fionapear 

7 Courting Royalty (2022) by hundredindecisions (Challenge: 3-2-1 Prompt Bang 2022)

8 (N/A)

9 Head Versus Heart (2020) by dizzywhiz (Trope: Hurt/Comfort)

Thanks for your list!!  Find them on ao3.  Rules here

1. Debut fic:  Reverb by Fickelodeon

Post-Michael thru Season 4, Blaine’s just a little unwell, and it’s not long before everyone can tell. Physical and Mental illness. Hurt/Comfort. If Robin Cook wrote for Glee and General Hospital, the story would probably go like this. Universe Expansion for Seasons 3 and 4 wherein I add some elements to canon and leave some out but manage to get everyone back to place where they can still have the endings they got in canon. Honestly, I just wanted to write H/C, but the more I hurt Blaine, the more I realized he wasn’t going to handle that very well, so I added in diagnosed mental illness. All in all, it’s everything I love to read in fic all in one epic story, just in case I don’t ever get the chance to write these characters again.

2.  Page turner:  Wouldn’t Change a Thing  by notarelationship

On the eve of his junior year at Dalton, Blaine’s dad kicks him out of the house, dumping him at the bus stop, cutting him off, and leaving him homeless. This is the story of how he survives, meets Kurt, and ultimately triumphs.

3. Need Tissues:  You Will Be Found  by @kurtswish

While on a National Broadway Tour, Kurt meets an intriguing man. With more than just miles separating them, they must make a choice. Will they go back to their different lives, or will they let themselves be found?

4. Unusual occupation: Avian Series by @kurtswish

Kurt Hummel always felt separate from his world and being the only one without a Soulmark didn’t help. Just as he is ready to end it all, something happens to change the course of his life.  Parts 1 - 3

5. Your choice:  Even Better Than the Real Thing by @gleekto

College AU/Famous!Blaine and Fanboy!Kurt - Kurt POV

Kurt really doesn’t have time to figure out the dating world between being a freshman at prestigious theatre school, LAADA, and his active but secret blogging life in the Sing!Fandom. So what if Sing! ended last year? There are still fics to read and actors to follow. Especially the uber talented heartthrob lead, Blaine Anderson. He can act. He can sing. He can even dance. He’s gay. He’s out. And he’s only 24. Kurt is willing to twiddle his thumbs and click refresh until Blaine Anderson’s next project.

He just didn’t expect the next project to be on his roommate Rachel’s new TV show.

6. Summer story:  Andante, Andante  by fionapear

Burt settles himself down in the chair of the vanity, peering up at the wall-mount TV at the movie. He fishes in his pocket for the piece of paper from the restaurant earlier. His fortune cookie fortune reads: “With time comes understanding.” It feels a little apt, even if he can’t place exactly why.

(Or: In which Burt Hummel, slowly, begrudgingly, grows to accept Blaine’s presence in his life.)

7. Written for a challenge:  Courting Royalty  by hundredindecisions  @thnxforknowingmeme

During Kurt’s senior year, his friend Rachel gets some surprising news: she’s the princess of a tiny European country, and she has a twin brother to share the throne with. The summer after graduation, Kurt visits his newly-royal friend in the country she’s heir to before they head to New York for college. Staying in a castle and rubbing shoulders with European nobility is pretty overwhelming, but the most remarkable part is meeting Rachel’s brother Blaine, the new prince who Kurt instantly begins crushing on. This summer is either going to be a fairy tale come true, or result in multiple diplomatic catastrophes.Inspired by Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series and the movie adaptations, but no background knowledge is needed to understand the fic.

8. n/a

9.  Genre/trope you wouldn’t normally read:  Head Versus Heart by @dizzywhiz

Blaine gets hit by a taxi and ends up in the hospital - so naturally, as his best friend and long-standing roommate, Kurt visits him at every possible opportunity until he gets to come home.

It only takes a couple of visits before Kurt notices something impossibly endearing: the beeping of Blaine’s heart rate monitor speeds up whenever his friends come to visit. At least, Kurt assumes it happens with all of Blaine’s friends, until Sam has no idea what he’s talking about.

#Jen

[thisworldisablackhole]

Listening Log, November 2024

November is always kind of like the last month of the year in terms of big exciting new releases. There should still be a few sleeper releases in December, but I'll mostly be spending December catching up on older stuff and putting together my year end list. Anyway, lots of good stuff to get through.

FFO: HARDCORE AND CRUST INFLUENCED DEATH METAL Hardcore death crusters Mammoth Grinder have made an absolutely glorious comeback after a six year hiatus with their heaviest and most atmospherically dialed in release yet. These songs are just so crushing, definitely some of their most crust influenced songs too (especially "Decrease The Peace"), but the production on this thing harkens back to 2013's Underworlds; just the perfect amount of reverb to beef up the cosmic dread of each riff and guttural bellow. A beautiful return to form that fans of modern bands like Gatecreeper and Ripped to Shreds should love. Read the full review here.

FFO: EMOVIOLENCE

drive your plow over the bones of the dead might have a really long, attention grabbing name, but their riffs and songwriting chops completely speak for themselves. This band is insanely talented, no doubt. drive your plow effortlessly balance chaos and melody into a maelstrom of octave chords and fretboard mashing, but each song still retains unique properties that really reward attention and repeated listens. I highly suggest keeping the tracklist open for this one, because the songs fly by so fast and are connected by strings of feedback in a way that makes each song flow into the next like you're really watching a live performance. Not only is this one of the best screamo records of the year, it stands up against the classics that defined the genre. Read the full review here.

FFO: METALCORE

Counterparts dropped a surprise EP early November that sent vibrations throughout the heavy music community. Counterparts have been one of the most beloved and consistent bands in metalcore for years now, but I always felt like they were consistent to a fault—always good, but stagnant, never really pushing the envelope or expanding upon their established formula. Well, this EP changes that. Heaven Let Them Die seemingly takes influence from Brendan Murphy's other band END and ends up being the heaviest damn thing the band has ever done. The melodic leads have been pared back significantly, but these songs are still punctuated by swellings of grief and unrestrained rage that makes this just as memorable as anything else in their catalog. If this marks a new direction for the band, well, it's about time they switched things up.

FFO: ACOUSTIC FOLK

Haley Heynderickx's long awaited follow up to 2018's I Need to Start a Garden has arrived, and it's beautiful. To be honest, I never got into her last record, despite the obvious fanfare, but when this one dropped I jumped at the opportunity to get acquainted. Seed of a Seed just feels like an instantly classic folk album. Timeless, subdued—an expression of quietness that hides a rich world of emotion to uncover. The music really matches the album cover too, it just has a really earthy, grounded tone to it, like I can smell the soil clinging to the roots of every guitar strum and drawl of the strings.

FFO: MELODIC ANARCHO-PUNK

Without an ounce of hyperbole, Straw Man Army are simply one of those once-in-a-generation punk bands that are truly pushing the envelope of what punk can be. Not by reinventing the wheel, but by casting aside the self-perpetuating constraints the genre imposes upon itself, and grasping for influences that fall outside the fault line. At the end of the day, Straw Man Army are just doing what everyone else does: combining different aspects of the wheel into something that hopefully displays a shred of novelty, but it's the way that they do so while still remaining arguably more punk than any other band in the scene that is so damn impressive. Earthworks is one of the most original and thought provoking punk albums ever made, and will probably remain so for quite some time. Read the full review here.

FFO: METALCORE, BREAKCORE, FROMJOY, STATIC DRESS

Combining metalcore with dance music is not a new idea, bands have been doing it since the early 2000s, but there's been a few bands popping up lately that are doing this in increasingly tasteful and unique ways. No more ham-fisted trancecore please, we want breakcore, vaporwave and glitchy IDM. fallingwithscissors display a lot of cool ideas on this EP, but also a ton of potential that the band has not quite tapped into yet. This is as enjoyable as it is clunky. They are clearly just throwing things against the wall right now to see what sticks, so it's hard to fault them for what feels like a necessary step in their evolution. I'm very excited to see if they succeed to tighten up the concept for their next release.

FFO: POST-HARDCORE, EMO, POP PUNK

Interpersonal came out of nowhere and blew me away. This little-known band from Missouri deserves to be huge, and I think they will be one day if they maintain this quality of production and songwriting. This is their debut full-length, but it feels like it was made by music scene veterans. The Long Bright Dark morphs in a few different directions during it's run-time, but all of its ideas are executed to perfection, and they maintain a surprising sense of cohesion considering the diverse range of genre aptitudes that are covered here. It all adds up to a package that is slick, memorable, and endlessly replayable. One of the best post-hardcore albums of the year, hands down. Interpersonal has a Long Bright future ahead of them. Read the full review here.

FFO: BRUTAL, TECHNICAL DEATH METAL

Defeated Sanity are one of the most celebrated brutal death metal bands alive, and it's easy to see why. They utilize the same addictingly grotesque production techniques as some of the most vile slam bands, but when it comes to pure musical proficiency, these guys are leagues ahead of almost everyone else. Just look at the second half of 2016's Disposal Of The Dead // Dharmata, that shit is basically just free-jazz played by metal musicians. These guys could easily be a world class band if they toned down the abrasiveness, but Deafeated Sanity's refusal to dumb down or reject brutal aesthetics to make their music more accessible makes them one of the greatest underground acts of all time. Endless respect. Chronicles of Lunacy is easily one of the best death metal albums of the year.

FFO: METALCORE, POP

I talked about Poppy's new album in my last roundup, but now that it's out in the world, I'm putting it in here again, because this album ended up being way more diverse than I could have ever expected. While I enjoyed the first few singles for this album, I was a little worried that FIFTEEN tracks of metalcore Poppy would get stale super fast. Thankfully, Negative Spaces retains a significant amount of Poppy's signature synth-pop weirdness, and ends up sounding more like a proper follow-up to 2020's I Disagree. The difference is that this time around, Poppy's metal influence is given ample room to blossom into fully formed ideas instead of being restrained to a collection of rock opera mashups. The track list ebbs and flows between moments of blistering aggression and dancefloor bangers that coalesce into a theme park ride that never gets boring, despite it's moments of derivative indulgence. If you look closely, it's pretty easy to see which tracks are just imitations other bands (BMTH, Knocked Loose, Loathe, Evanescence), but Poppy brings everything together with her individual charm into a package that is just so much god damn fun, and that's all that matters.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

SETTINGS INCLUDE: "BLAST," "MIX," "BOOST," "COW," "MED," AND THE FUNNY AF, "HIGH AF."

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a first edition [blue] Hilbish Design Pessimiser Distortion guitar pedal, a King Buzzo/MELVINS collaboration, c. 2017. Only 150 made worldwide.

Sources: https://reverb.com/item/68904671-hilbish-design-pessimiser-king-buzzo-melvins-first-edition-blue-86-of-150-2018-blue (Reverb 2x).

[deep--dive]

Fallout Ride through the sky remaining blue Delayed echo reverbing all night long Fallout with me, Galvanize your soul Delayed echo I soon will embrace you

We were always to be crawlers I was always a hard faller Stay close to me as I will fall in Fallout

from ARMORED CORE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 20th ANNIVERSARY BOX Special Disk 2 (2018)

[embellishedbookworm]

D --> Too nerdy for a python script you are so cute

oh my god i am not too nerdy for a python script. i'm talking about the music! like did you know pokemon gold and silver never got any kind of soundtrack release? red and green got one but it's got a ton of reverb because game freak had never released a soundtrack before, at least as far as i know. they figured that out with the hoenn games, and even gave fire red/leaf green, and heart gold/soul silver soundtracks, but then in 2018 they stopped releasing game soundtracks entirely. no sword/shield, no legends arceus, and no scarlet/violet soundtrack release.

which is fun. but that's what fan communities are for. they solved the problem, btw.