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dustedmagazine · 5 years ago

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Dusted’s Decade Picks

Heron Oblivion, still the closest thing to a Dusted consensus pick

Just as, in spring, the young's fancy turns to thoughts of love, at the end of the decade the thoughts of critics and fans naturally tend towards reflection. Sure, time is an arbitrary human division of reality, but it seems to be working out okay for us so far. We're too humble a bunch to offer some sort of itemized list of The Best Of or anything like that, though; a decade is hard enough to wrap your head around when it's just your life, let alone all the music produced during said time. Instead these decade picks are our jumping off points to consider our decades, whether in personal terms, or aesthetic ones, or any other. The records we reflect on here are, to be sure, some of our picks for the best of the 2010s (for more, check back this afternoon), but think of what follows less as anything exhaustive and more as our hand-picked tour to what stuck with us over the course of these ten years, and why.

Brian Eno — The Ship (Warp, 2016)

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You don’t need to dig deep to see that our rapidly evolving and hyper-consciously inclusive discourse is taking on the fluidity of its surroundings. In 2016, a year of what I’ll gently call transformation, Brian Eno had his finger on multiple pulses; The Ship resulted. It’s anchored in steady modality, and its melody, once introduced, doesn’t change, but everything else ebbs and flows with the Protean certainty of uncertainty. While the album moves from the watery ambiguities of the title track, through the emotional and textural extremes of “Fickle Sun” toward the gorgeously orchestrated version of “I’m Set Free,” implying some kind of final redemption, the moment-to-moment motion remains wonderfully non-binary. Images of war and of the instants producing its ravaging effects mirror and counterbalance the calmly and increasingly gender-fluid voice as it concludes the titular piece by depicting “wave after wave after wave.” Is it all Salman Rushdie’s numbers marching again? The lyrics embody the movement from “undescribed” through “undefined” and “unrefined’” connoting a journey toward aging, but size, place, chronology and the music encompassing them remain in constant flux, often nearly but never quite recognizable. Genre and sample float in and out of view with the elusive but devastating certainty of tides as the ship travels toward silence, toward that ultimate ambiguity that follows all disillusion, filling the time between cycles. The disconnect between stasis and motion is as disconcerting as these pieces’ relationship to the songform Eno inherited and exploded. The album encapsulates the modernist subtlety and Romantic grace propelling his art and the state of a civilization in the faintly but still glowing borderlands between change and decay.

Marc Medwin

Cate Le Bon — Cyrk (Control Group, 2012)

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There's no artist whose work I anticipated more this decade than Cate Le Bon, and no artist who frustrated me more with each release, only to keep reeling me in for the long run. Le Bon's innate talent is for soothing yet oblique folk, soberly psychedelic, which she originally delivered in the Welsh language, and continued into English with rustic reserve.

Except something about her pastoralism seems to bore her, and the four-chord arpeggios are shot through with scorches of noise, or sent haywire with post-punk brittleness. In its present state, her music is built around chattering xylophones and croaking saxophone, even as the lyrics draw deeper into memory and introspection, with ever more haunting payoffs. It's as if Nick Drake shoved his way into the leadership of Pere Ubu. She's taken breaks from music to work on pottery and furniture-making, and retreats to locales like a British cottage and Texas art colony to plumb for new inspirations. She's clearly energized by collaboration and relocation, but there’s a force to her persona that, despite her introverted presence, dominates a session. Rare for our age, she's an artist who gets to follow her muse full time, bouncing between record labels and seeing her name spelled out in the medium typefaces on festival bills.

Cyrk, from 2012, is the record where I fell in, and it captures her at something close to joyous, a half smile. Landing between her earliest folk and later surrealism, it is open to comparison with the Velvet Underground. But not the VU that is archetypical to indie rock – Cyrk is more an echo of the solo work that followed. There’s the sharp compositional order and Welsh lilt of John Cale. Like Lou Reed, she makes a grand electric guitar hook out of the words “you’re making it worse.” The homebound twee of Mo Tucker and forbidding atmosphere of Nico are present in equal parts. Those comparisons are reductive, but they demonstrate how Cyrk feels instantly familiar if you’ve garnered certain listening habits. Songs surround you with woolly keyboard and guitar hooks, and one can forget a song ends with an awkward trumpet coda even after dozens of listens. The awkwardness is what keeps the album fresh.

She lulls, then dowses with cold water. So Cyrk isn't an entirely easy record, even if it is frequently a pretty one. The most epic song here, reaching high with those woolly hums and twang, is "Fold the Cloth.” It bobs along, coiling tight as she reaches into the strange register of female falsetto. Le Bon cranks out a fuzz solo – she's great at extending her sung melodies across instruments. Then the climax chants out, "fold the cloth or cut the cloth.” What is so important about this mundane action? Her mystery lyrics never feel haphazard, like LSD posey. They are out of step with pop grandiose. Maybe when her back is turned, there's a full smile.

Who are "Julia" and "Greta,” two mid-album sketches that avoid verse-chorus structure? Julia is represented by a limp waltz, Greta by pulses on keyboards. Shortly after the release, Le Bon followed up with the EP Cyrk II made up of tracks left off the album. To a piece, they’re easier numbers than "Julia" and "Greta.” The cryptic and the scribble are essential to how Cyrk flows, which is to say it flows haltingly.

This approach dampens her acclaim and her potential audience, but that's how she fashions decades-old tropes into fresh art. She’s also quite the band leader. Drummers have a different thud when they play on her stage. Musicians' fills disappear. She brings in a horn solo as often as she lays down a guitar lead. The closer tracks, "Plowing Out Pts 1 & 2," aren't inherently linked numbers. By the second part, the group has worked up to a carnival swirl, frothing like "Sister Ray" yet as sweet as a children's TV show theme. Does that sound sinister? The effect is more like heartbreak fuelling abandon, her forlorn presence informing everyone's playing.

Fuse this album with the excellent Cyrk II tracks, and you can image a deluxe double LP 10th anniversary reissue in a few years. Ha ha no. I expect nothing so garish will happen. It sure wouldn't suit the artist. In a decade where "fan service" became an everyday concept, Le Bon is immune. She's a songwriter who seems like she might walk away from at all without notice, if that’s where her craftsmanship leads. The odd and oddly comfortable chair that is Cyrk doesn't suit any particular decor, but my room would feel bare without it.

Ben Donnelly

Converge — All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph)

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Here’s the scenario: Heavily tatted guy has some dogs. He really loves his dogs. Heavily tatted guy goes on tour with his band. While he’s on the road, one of his dogs dies. Heavily tatted guy gets really sad. He writes a song about it.

That should be the set-up for an insufferably maudlin emo record. But instead what you get is Converge’s “All We Love We Leave Behind” and the searing LP that shares the title. The songs dive headlong into the emotional intensities of loss and reflect on the cost of artistic ambition. The enormously talented line-up that recorded All We Love We Leave Behind in 2012 had been playing together for just over a decade, and vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou had been collaborating for more than twenty years. It shows. The record pummels and roars with remarkable precision, and its songs maniacally twist, and somehow they soar.

Any number of genre tags have been stuck on (or innovated by) Converge’s music: mathcore, metalcore, post-hardcore. It’s fun to split sonic hairs. But All We Love… is most notable for its exhilarating fury and naked heart, musical qualities that no subgenre can entirely claim. Few bands can couple such carefully crafted artifice with such raw intensity. And few records of the decade can match the compositional wit and palpable passion of All We Love…, which never lets itself slip into shallow romanticism. It hurts. And it ruthlessly rocks.

Jonathan Shaw

EMA — The Future’s Void (City Slang, 2014)

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When trying to narrow down to whatever my own most important records of the decade are, I tried to keep it to one per artist (as I do with individual years, although it’s a lot easier there). Out of everyone, though, EMA came by far the closest to having two records on that list, and this could have been 2017’s Exile in the Outer Ring, which along with The Future’s Void comes terrifyingly close to unpacking an awful lot of what’s going wrong, and has been going wrong, with the world we live in for a while now. The Future’s Void focuses more on the technological end of our particular dystopia, shuddering both emotionally and sonically through the dead end of the Cold War all the way to us refreshing our preferred social media site when somebody dies. EMA is right there with us, too; this isn’t judgment, it’s just reporting from the front line. And it must be said, very few things from this decade ripped like “Cthulu” rips.

Ian Mathers

The Field — Looping State of Mind (Kompakt, 2011)

Looping State of Mind by The Field

On Looping State of Mind, Swedish producer Axel Willner builds his music with seamlessly jointed loops of synths, beats, guitars and voice to create warm cushions of sound that envelop the ears, nod the head and move the body. Willner is a master of texture and atmosphere, in lesser hands this may have produced mere comfort food but there is spice in the details that elevates this record as he accretes iotas of elements, withholding release to heighten anticipation. Although this is essentially deep house built on almost exclusively motorik 4/4 beats, Willner also plays with ambient, post-punk and shoegaze dynamics. From the slow piano dub of “Then It’s White,” which wouldn’t be out of place on a Labradford or Pan American album, to the ecstatic shuffling lope of “Arpeggiated Love” and “Is This Power” with its hint of a truncated Gang of Four-like bass riff, Looping State of Mind is a deeply satisfying smorgasbord of delicacies and a highlight of The Field’s four album output during the 2010s.

Andrew Forell

Gang Gang Dance — “Glass Jar” (4AD, 2011)

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Instead of telling you my favorite album of the decade — I made my case for it the first year we moved to Tumblr, help yourself — it feels more fitting to tell you a story from my friend Will about my favorite piece of music from the last 10 years, a song that arrived just before the rise of streaming, which flattened “the album experience” to oppressive uniformity and rendered it an increasingly joyless, rudderless routine of force-fed jams and AI/VC-directed mixes catering to a listener that exists in username only. The first four seconds of “Glass Jar” told you everything you needed to know about what lie ahead, but here’s the kind of thing that could happen before everything was all the time:

I took eight hours of coursework in five weeks in order to get caught up on classes and be in a friend's wedding at the end of June. Finishing a week earlier than the usual summer session meant I had to give my end-of-class presentations and turn in my end-of-class papers in a single day, which in turn meant that I was well into the 60-70 hour range without sleep by the time I got to the airport for an early-morning flight. (Partly my fault for insisting that I needed to stay up and make a “wedding night” mix for the couple — real virgin bride included — and even more my fault for insisting that it be a single, perfectly crossfaded track). I was fuelled only by lingering adrenaline fumes and whatever herbal gunpowder shit I had been mixing with my coffee — piracetam, rhodiola, bacopa or DMAE depending on the combination we had at the time. At any rate, eyes burning, skull heavy, joints stiff with dry rot, I still had my wits enough to refuse the backscatter machine at the TSA checkpoint; instead of the usual begrudging pat-down, I got pulled into a separate room. Anyway, it was a weird psychic setback at that particular time, but nothing came of it. Having arrived at my gate, I popped on the iPod with a brand new set of studio headphones and finally got around to listening to the Gang Gang Dance I had downloaded months before. "Glass Jar," at that moment, was the most religious experience I’d had in four years. I was literally weeping with joy.

Point being: It is worth it to stay up for a few days just to listen to ‘Glass Jar’ the way it was meant to be heard.

Patrick Masterson

Heron Oblivion — Heron Oblivion (Sub Pop, 2016)

Heron Oblivion by Heron Oblivion

Heron Oblivion’s self-titled first album fused unholy guitar racket with a limpid serenity. It was loud and cathartic but also pure beauty, floating drummer Meg Baird’s unearthly vocals over a sound that was as turbulent and majestic as nature itself, now roiled in storm, now glistening with dewy clarity. The band convened four storied guitarists—Baird from Espers, Ethan Miller and Noel Harmonson from Comets on Fire and Charlie Sauffley—then relegated two of them to other instruments (Baird on drums and Miller on bass). The sound drew on the full flared wail and scree of Hendrix and Acid Mothers Temple, the misty romance of Pentangle and Fairport Convention. It was a record out of time and could have happened in any year from about 1963 onward, or it could have not happened at all. We were so glad it did at Dusted; Heron Oblivion’s eponymous was closer to a consensus pick than any record before or since, and if you want to define a decade, how about the careening riffs of “Oriar” breaking for Baird’s dream-like chants?

Jennifer Kelly

The Jacka — What Happened to the World (The Artist, 2014)

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Probably the most prophetic rap album of the 2010s. The Jacka was the king of Bay rap since he started MOB movement. He was always generous with his time, and clique albums were pouring out of The Jacka and his disciples every few months. Even some of his own albums resembled at times collective efforts. This generosity made some of the albums unfocused and disjointed, yet what it really shows is that even in the times when dreams of collective living were abandoned The Jacka still had hopes for Utopia and collective struggles. It was about the riches, but he saw the riches in people first and foremost.

This final album before he was gunned down in the early 2014 is full of predictions about what’s going to happen to him. Maybe this explains why it’s focused as never before and even Jacka’s leaned-out voice has doomed overtones. This music is the only possible answer to the question the album’s title poses: everything is wrong with the world where artists are murdered over music.

Ray Garraty

John Maus — We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (Upset The Rhythm, 2011)

We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves by John Maus

Minnesota polymath John Maus’ quest for the perfect pop song found its apotheosis on his third album We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves in 2011. On the surface an homage to 1980s synth pop, Maus’ album reveals its depth with repeated listens. Over expertly constructed layers of vintage keyboards, Maus’ oft-stentorian baritone alternately intones and croons deceptively simple couplets that blur the line between sincerity and provocation. Lurking beneath the smooth surface Maus uses Baroque musical tropes that give the record a liturgical atmosphere that reinforces the Gregorian repetition of his lyrics. The tension between the radical ironic banality of the words and the deeply serious nature of the music and voice makes We Must Become Pitiless Censors of Ourselves an oddly compelling collection that interrogates the very notion of taste and serves an apt soundtrack to the post-truth age.

Andrew Forell

Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society — Mandatory Reality (Eremite, 2019)

Mandatory Reality by Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society

Any one of the albums that Joshua Abrams has made under the Natural Information Society banner could have made this list. While each has a particular character, they share common essences of sound and spirit. Abrams made his bones playing bass with Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, Mike Reed, Fred Anderson, Chad Taylor, and many others, but in the Society his main instrument is the guimbri, a three-stringed bass lute from Morocco. He uses it to braid melody, groove, and tone into complex strands of sound that feel like they might never end. Mandatory Reality is the album where he delivers on the promise of that sound. Its centerpiece is “Finite,” a forty-minute long performance by an eight-person, all-acoustic version of Natural Information Society. It has become the main and often sole piece that the Society plays. Put the needle down and at first it sounds like you are hearing some ensemble that Don Cherry might have convened negotiating a lost Steve Reich composition. But as the music winds patiently onwards, strings, drums, horns, and harmonium rise in turn to the surface. These aren’t solos in the jazz sense so much as individual invitations for the audience to ease deeper into the sonic entirety. The music doesn’t end when the record does, but keeps manifesting with each performance. Mandatory Reality is a nodal point in an endless stream of sound that courses through the collective unconscious, periodically surfacing in order to engage new listeners and take them to the source.

Bill Meyer

Mansions — Doom Loop (Clifton Motel, 2013)

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I knew nothing about Mansions when I first heard about this record; I can’t even remember how I heard about this record. But I liked the name of the album and the album art, so I listened to it. Sometimes the most important records in your decade have as much to do with you as with them. I’d been frantically looking for a job for nearly two years at that point, the severance and my access Ontario’s Employment Insurance program (basically, you pay in every paycheck, and then have ~8 months of support if you’re unemployed) had both ran out. I was living with a friend in Toronto sponsoring my American wife into the country (fun fact: they don’t care if you have an income when you do that), feeling the walls close in a little each day, sure I was going to wind up one of those kids who had to move back to the small town I’d left and a parent’s house. There were multiple days I’d send out 10+ applications and then walk around my neighbourhood blasting “Climbers” and “Out for Blood” through my earbuds, cueing up “La Dentista” again and dreaming of revenge… on what? Capitalism? There was no more proximate target in view. That’s not to say that Doom Loop is necessarily about being poor or about the shit hand my generation (I fit, just barely) got in the job market, or anything like that; but for me it is about the almost literal doom loop of that worst six months, and I still can’t listen to “The Economist” without my blood pressure spiking a little.

Ian Mathers

Protomartyr — Under Colour of Official Right (Hardly Art, 2014)

Under Color of Official Right by Protomartyr

By my count, Protomartyr made not one but four great albums in the 2010s, racking up a string of rhythmically unstoppable, intellectually challenging discs with absolute commitment and intent. I caught whiff of the band in 2012, while helping out with editing the old Dusted. Jon Treneff’s review of All Passion No Technique told a story of exhilarant discovery; I read it and immediately wanted in. The conversion event, though, came two years later, with the stupendous Under Color of Official Right, all Wire-y rampage and Fall-spittled-bile, a rattletrap construction of every sort of punk rock held together by the preening contempt of black-suited Joe Casey. Doug Mosurock reviewed it for us, concluding, “Poppier than expected, but still covered in burrs, and adeptly analyzing the pain and suffering of their city and this year’s edition of the society that judges it, Protomartyr has raised the bar high enough for any bands to follow, so high that most won’t even know it’s there.” Except here’s the thing: Protomartyr jumped that bar two more times this decade, and there’s no reason to believe that they won’t do it again. The industry turned on the kind of bands with four working class dudes who can play a while ago, but this is the band of the 2010s anyway.

Jennifer Kelly

Tau Ceti IV — Satan, You’re the God of This Age, but Your Reign Is Ending (Cold Vomit, 2018)

Satan, You're The God of This Age But Your Reign is Ending by Tau Ceti IV

This decade was full of takes on American primitive guitar. Some were pretty good, a few were great, many were forgettable, and then there was this overlooked gem from Jordan Darby of Uranium Orchard. Satan, You’re the God of This Age, but Your Reign Is Ending is an antidote to bland genre exercises. Like John Fahey, Darby has a distinct voice and style, as well as a sense of humor. Also like Fahey, his playing incorporates diverse influences in subtle but pronounced ways. American primitive itself isn’t a staid template. Though there are also plenty of beautiful, dare I say pastoral moments, which still stand out for being genuinely evocative.

Darby’s background in aggressive electric guitar music partly explains his approach. (Not sure if he’s the only ex-hardcore guy to go in this direction, but there can’t be many.) His playing is heavier than one might expect, but it feels natural, not like he’s just playing metal riffs on an acoustic guitar. But heaviness isn’t the only difference. Like his other projects, Satan is wonderfully off-kilter. This album’s strangeness isn’t reducible to component parts, but here are two representative examples: “The Wind Cries Mary” gradually encroaches on the last track, and throughout, the microphone picks up more string noise than most would consider tasteful. It all works, or at least it’s never boring.

Ethan Milititisky

Z-Ro — The Crown (Rap-a-Lot, 2014)

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When singing in rap was outsourced to pop singers and Auto Tune, Z-Ro remained true to his self, singing even more than he ever did. He did his hooks and his verses himself, and no singing could harm his image as a hustler moonlighting as a rapper. He can’t be copied exactly because of his gift, to combine singing soft and rapping hard. It’s a sort of common wisdom that he recorded his best material in the previous decade, yet quite apart from hundreds of artists that continued to capitalize on their fame he re-invented himself all the past decade, making songs that didn’t sound like each other out of the same raw material. The Crown is a tough pick because since his post-prison output he made solid discs one after each other.

Ray Garraty

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olivenight17 · 5 years ago

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Hi! How are you doing? I'd like to request a MHA matchup if that's alright (a relationship partner and an unofficial parental figure, or just the significant other if you want!). I'm 167 cm ), the same age range as the students, and a female. I've got ADHD, anxiety, severe depression, and bpd. I kinda bottle my issues/ negative emotions and keep up a mask of bubbly joy (the stuff just nags at the back of my brain). I'm in choir, I cosplay, write, draw, and I'm overall artistic. (1/?)

My zodiac sign is Ares. I like to describe my style as “I would be super punk rock/goth/emo but my mom won’t buy me the super awesome clothes so I’ll made do with what I have.”. I love punk music and rock music. On my bad days it’s really hard for me to get out of bed, I’ll often go nonverbal, I get insomnia, and just kinda stare off into space (it can take days for me to climb out of these holes). I have issues with my family and due to that I crave affection from others. (2/?)

I love stuffed animals and have like 23, have a habit of building ‘nests’, and I’m a bit of a goblin when it comes to shiny things and bones (I collect them!). Anyways, thank you so much and have a great day! (3/3)

Let me tell you hon, we’re almost cut from the same cloth, I relate so hard to you. I really hope you get to take on that full punk rock look eventually, I’ll be cheering for you!

Alright, parentally wise, I basically effective immediately knew who would be best for you and I give you, our lovely Emi Fukukado!

- This lady, let me tell you, is about to be all over you parentally.

- Her whole job basically consists of making people laugh, so she can tell when someone’s smiling face is real or fake.

- She sees right through that happy mask and immediately her heart says “No, this won’t do. The child needs to be happy.”

- From that point onwards, it has become her mission to have you smile a real smile at least once a day.

- She may seem ditzy and not good for parenting, but she is a teacher after all, she knows how to take care of kids.

- Becomes your #1 supporter, doing extensive research on all of your mental illnesses. She would never want to do anything to unintentionally harm you in any way and knowing is always half the battle.

- Is very just, kind towards you, understanding that this is hard to get through but she’s very patient and will never raise her voice at you.

- Wants to limit how much you’re bottling your emotions, so she tries to get you to talk about your day every time you come home from school. She makes it clear that you’re allowed to come to her for anything. She wants to know how you’re feeling because it best helps her.

- The nonverbal side is a little daunting for her at first. Only because she can’t help if she doesn’t know what’s happening. If it’s just a no verbal speech, she might ask you to shake or nod your head to her questions. But if it’s like no communication period, she’ll let you stay in bed, make sure you have your stuffed animals with you and just stay with you until you’re ready to talk. And, if you’re comfortable with it, she’ll hug you too.

- The good thing about Emi is that she’ll give you affection all of the time.

- She supports all of your hobbies, helping you to find the right wig or costume, good art supplies, listens to your singing. And have no fear, if you weren’t able to go full on punk before, you will now. Just because Emi doesn’t wear that herself, doesn’t mean she will not spoil you rotten and practically fill your wardrobe with leather jackets and dark clothing.

- Not to mention, she just loves your stuffed animals, and it only serves to love you as her daughter more.

- It takes her a while to adjust to the whole nesting thing and especially when some shiny things in the house go missing, but now she knows where to look if she needs said shiny things. And if she sees any shiny things while out on the job, she brings them home for you.

- Overall, she’s 10/10 supportive mom who will love you no matter what, support you, and always up to make you laugh and smile.

Now for your romantic partner, have none other than sunshine boi Mirio!

- The human representation of the sun is here to love you at all times and make sure you know it!

- 10/10 thinks you’re the most adorable person he’s ever laid eyes on.

- So, like any good extrovert, he roped you into friendship!

- Really loves to hang out with you and, like Emi, loves your stuffed animals. He thinks it’s super cute.

- In fact, the first date he took you on was at a carnival and it was purely just to get you more stuffed animals.

- Always brings you small little punk presents, whether it’s a cd from your favorite band, or an extra choker for you, he is all on board with that style and thinks it looks really good on you!

- Though, he won’t be too pushy with you. He is friends with Tamaki after all so at least with anxiety and self doubt, he’s all good on how to handle.

- With some of the other things, such as the bpd, ADHD and depression, he might need some help with. So, he’ll ask you about it, trying to get what works for you and what doesn’t, any signs he needs to look out for.

- Always has you eating lunch with him to make sure you eat, if you get hungry because you missed breakfast, he’s got a few snacks on hand for you. On top of that, he sends little reminders to eat dinner when you’re both at home.

- Rest assured, Mirio is on the lookout and making sure you’re taking care of yourself and he’s gonna try his hardest not to let you fall too hard.

- If at any time you go nonverbal with him, he understands. He’ll still be talking to you, but he’ll make it clear that you don’t have to answer him. Lol believe me, he’s got enough socialization to talk for the both of you.

- Super hyped for all of your hobbies. He wants to read all of your writings, he’ll go see all of the performances your choir makes, see your drawings, and he’ll love all of your cosplays. In fact, if you take that cosplay to a con, he might even dress up to cosplay with you.

- Need affection you say? Oh honey, it’s practically done and done. He has so much affection and love for you, just say the word and he will unleash it all upon you in words of affirmation and a lot of hugs and kisses.

- Overall, your relationship is filled with a lot of encouragement, love and support, you two look out for each other.

I hope you enjoyed!

#bnha #mha #bnha hcs #bnha mirio #mirio togata #mirio x reader #Emi #emi fukukado #bnha emi #bnha ms joke #bnha matchup #matchup request #romantic matchup #parental matchup

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josefasparrow2-blog · 5 years ago

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Checklist Of Most Standard Music Genres

What's higher than listening to a moody song on a rainy day, or a tear-inducing pop ballad while you're traveling alone on the subway, throughout every week while you just feel off? The most important surprise is this idea that LGBTQ music or LGBTQ artists didn't all of a sudden grow to be visible with Stonewall, that there were intervals or little pockets throughout the century the place LGBTQ individuals were making music, making data, were out in their own lives, had been performing as out and so they weren't receiving the censorship we'd expect. Clearly I knew of issues like the Weimar period of Berlin cabaret, however I really wasn't conscious of how massive that scene was and to find in just about each major forums.adobe.com metropolis in America at the moment, in every capital of Europe that related scenes additionally existed. I suppose this new sense of freedom that individuals felt instantly after the first World War allowed folks to be a bit more free, to precise themselves more openly and readily. By the point Hjellstrom first picked up the guitar, the boy-band wave had already crested, however Martin and his colleagues, taking Denniz PoP's mantle, had infiltrated all of pop music with their methodical strategy to songwriting and production. When journalist John Seabrook wrote a ebook about this motion, he referred to as it The Tune Machine: within a couple of years of Cheiron's demise, music, the business, had grow to be industrialized. Martin's once-proprietary pop process is now international gospel: Producers take beats and chord progressions, offer them as much as a sequence of "top-line" songwriters reminiscent of Hjellstrom to reward it with melody and hits are made. The GW-eight is packed with an enormous collection of styles representing a broad vary of music genres, from modern rock, pop, dance, jazz and beyond. Along with the wonderful library of up to date sounds and styles, the GW-8 is equipped with ethnic instrument sounds and authentic regional musical types, with particular focus on Latin American genres. Each backing model has 4 intros, four primary patterns, and four ending progressions so that you can craft your individual preparations stay.

The divas of the Nineteen Nineties artists, resembling Madonna, and Mariah Carey offered albums that prolonged their rule of the music charts. The Swedish celebrity Carola Häggkvist continued her rule of European charts. Different tendencies included Teen pop singers similar to Disney Channel star Hilary Duff. Pop punk acts reminiscent of Simple Plan and Fall Out Boy have grow to be increasingly widespread, in addition to pop rock acts such as Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne and emo music akin to Hawthorne Heights, Lostprophets, and Dashboard Confessional. Sarcastically, it could be music critics, in many ways the ideological culprits in Hamilton's story, who've completed the most — after the artists themselves, of course — to unsettle the racial categories which have stunted our understanding of rock historical past. Outlets from The New Yorker to The Fader to MTV Information now often characteristic music writing by young critics of color who strategy pop, rap, and rock with a far sharper, samirabranco543.mywibes.com subtler, and, above all, diverse racial consciousness than the white writers Hamilton cites. In the meantime, a lot of the most inept writing on race and music continues to return from white male critics. Even articulate and aware writers site visitors in previous, reified notions of soul" and funk," the immaterial essences by which they define, and otherize, black music. The tan-brick bunker was, for almost a decade, the finest hit manufacturing unit on the planet. It was founded in the early nineties by Denniz PoP, a remix pioneer with a present for melody who propelled Swedish pop band Ace of Base to global fame, co-producing All That She Desires and The Signal. He cared little for the divide between the membership and the radio, making music that bridged each worlds: beats you may't sit still for and melodies you possibly can't forget. To road-take a look at his prototypes, he'd blast them in empty discotheques within the dead of morning to assess their dance-flooring effectiveness. The approach gave radio pop, lengthy a crucial castaway, an unforgettable immediacy. Interest in music therapy continued to achieve help through the early 1900s resulting in the formation of several quick-lived associations. In 1903, Eva Augusta Vescelius based the Nationwide Society of Musical Therapeutics. In 1926, Isa Maud Ilsen founded the National Association for Music in Hospitals. And in 1941, Harriet Ayer Seymour founded the National Foundation of Music Remedy. Though these organizations contributed the first journals, books, and academic courses on music therapy, they sadly were not able to develop an organized medical occupation. First, the bias of the survey you mention: If pop music is what is being marketed to young girls then that will be the music they report liking. You see, they have been informed that is their music. If the media were to suddenly inform them that most pop artists are lame and that rock was the brand new thing for them, they'd start shopping for rock once more. Young people (female and male) are simply swayed by developments and once they reply to a survey the bulk will report themselves as being hip to the pattern. Lounge music refers to music performed in the lounges and www.magicaudiotools.com bars of hotels and casinos, or at standalone piano bars. Generally, the performers embody a singer and one or two other musicians. The performers play or cowl songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the times of Tin Pan Alley. Notionally, a lot lounge music consists of sentimental favorites loved by a lone drinker over a martini, although in observe there may be far more selection. The time period also can seek advice from laid-again electronic music, also named downtempo, because of the fame of lounge music as low-key background music.But even as the city continued to hyperlink its id to music made on guitars, artists tinkered with digital sounds and programmed beats in the local music scene. In 2010, singer Mikky Ekko launched his debut EP Reds. He parlayed its standout observe, a moody ballad with stunning turns called Who Are You, Really?" into mainstream pop success. Inside two years, he'd signal a major label deal, hyperlink up with slicing-edge producers like Clams On line casino, and co-write a song for Rihanna (Keep," a song the pair would later perform as a duet at the Grammys in 2013).

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linernotesandseasons · 6 years ago

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My 18 Favorite Albums of 2018

Well...Here it is again! 2018 was a...YEAR. One of the toughest I’ve had so far. But full of hard work, growth, challenges, & little victories. Here are some of the albums that soundtracked it. 18 releases that I loved & supported. Songs that helped me make it through. For the seventh year in a row...My favorite albums. Listed here in no particular order (unless you know/enjoy the english alphabet). Top 5 are probably Monae, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Field Report, McEntire, & Liza Anne, in that order. Music marks time & space. These are the ones for this year. Enjoy!

AMERICAN TRAPPIST / Tentanda Via

We start our 2018 journey in a comfortingly familiar place with the second official full length album from Toms River, New Jersey’s American Trappist. His self-titled debut made my 2016 favs list and his old band River City Extension (top 5 reunion tour wish list for sure!) were second to Fun. on my list way back in 2012. Safe to say Joe Michelini is one my favorite songwriters of the last 10 years. Lucky for us, 2018 found Michelini writing equal parts depressing & uplifting boardwalk rock & roll for/from the underdog/underground. Tentanda Via (Latin for “the way must be tried”) is a blast of an album; full of horns, drums (both jazzy & rock & roll-y!), inspired piano, & Michelini at the helm sounding altogether confident in his existential breakdowns. To me this reads like a coming-of-age album at heart (the way must be tried!), but a deeper, wiser sort of unraveling. A mid-30′s rock opus about learning to live with yourself. Learning how to make yourself better. These songs are inspiring and mix more than a little Springsteen ethos (maybe it’s the horns?!) with some late 90′s/early 2000′s emo/indie/alternative etc...

The straightforward rockers “Death Wish” & “Nobody’s Gonna Get My Soul” bookend the nine track album with surprisingly nimble & crunchy electric riffs and off-the-charts energy! In between, the mid tempo drive of “Getting Even” & “Don’t Get In” lets Michelini’s emotional writing really shine. The words jump out of the songs, full of passion, desperation, & an urgency that makes me glad people are still making records like this. There’s also a unholy, weird interlude that you have to hear to believe called “Unfresh Dirtwolf.” American Trappist is a band that came from the ashes of another band. A band that seems reluctant to tour West of...Ohio. A band that stays under the radar. Michelini has been writing some of my favorite songs for awhile & it feels good growing older together. Here’s hoping for a new one of these every other (or just every?!) year for me to belt along to with the windows down in my Subaru. Joe, if you’re listening out East, don’t stop. This is why I love music.

“Driving through my hometown I feel the peace of the Lord / Ride up behind me on a blind dream from my childhood / Looking back again, it’s hard to understand / Getting older, I guess I do / Waiting on some waking dream like it might find you...”

BLACK BELT EAGLE SCOUT / Mother of My Children

I bought Black Belt Eagle Scout’s debut album at Twist & Shout Records the day it came out. I think I loved the cover art and the idea of Katherine Paul’s solemnly solo rock album, recorded in the dead of Winter in rural Washington, sounding like just what I wanted in my headphones to face the Fall. Then (as so often happens) I got a text a month later from my partner at 12:27am that read simply...

“I’m okay. Going to bed meow. Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout.”

From there we took Mother of My Children on a snowy road trip to Durango, Colorado. Crisscrossing mountain passes through snowstorms, & visiting Mesa Verde National Park, we let Paul’s earnest, determined, & emotional songs, sweep us into the gray. All this to say that this album has already marked some pretty specific time & place for me. There is a starkness to these songs, a simplicity that makes the songwriting stand alone. Where lesser lyricists would be revealed as phonies (or simply bad) Katherine Paul’s stark, powerful words are illuminated by her minimalist production. With a rhythmically mournful 80′s/90′s emo touch (for more modern emo fans I might even hear a little Manchester Orchestra) Paul doesn’t pull any punches. The guitar gets delightfully heavy on the outro to six minute epic opener “Soft Stud” and then twirls & spirals with the drums in the entrancingly sad “I Don’t Have You in My Life.” This is an important album for Paul to have written and there is a great power in her words. Oh also... she plays every instrument on the album!?! Guitar, bass, drums, vibraphone, keyboard, organ, various percussion, & all vocals. Very Vagabon. Very Caroline Rose (spoiler alert!)! With our world on fire, and full of threats (from our own government) to native lands & native people, it’s increasingly important to listen to and hear/heed the words and writings of people like Paul; a radical, indigenous, queer, feminist from Oregon. Thanks for speaking out KP. Listen to Black Belt Eagle Scout.

“Do you ever notice what surrounds you? When it’s all bright & tucked under / Do you ever notice what’s around you? When it’s all right under our skin...”

CAMP COPE / How To Socialise & Make Friends

Camp Cope is a GREAT band name. Camp Cope is a REALLY GREAT band. Camp Cope has a wit & an attitude that is so punk rock, so genuine, & How To Socialise & Make Friends is a powerful album. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Camp Cope rides a practiced garage-y sound and lead singer & lyricist Georgia Mac’s passionate howl and impressive writing. As someone who grew up on early 2000′s pop-punk, emo, & alternative (something I guess I probably regret more often than celebrate. Because toxic masculinity & white male fragility) there is something so bittersweetly nostalgic in these chord progressions, the earnest electric strums, the yell-sing vocals, that takes me back to high school. Georgia Mac has a way with words, sliding them in & out, over cascading, steady strums, & then sometimes building them up to a frantic yelling. These are songs that sound as if they had to come out, had to be sung this way, like no one else could write or sing them. With an equally muscular rhythm section, “The Opener” attacks music industry sexism head on (if you haven’t seen Camp Cope live, it is chill inducing hearing a whole room belt along to every word) with a bass riff that could fly a jetliner. The three members interact so well together musically and everything from the driving “UFO Lighter” to the lilting “Sagan, Indiana” sounds tightly rehearsed. Equally passionate in their social media presence and their willingness to engage and fight for social justice issues, Camp Cope represents the future. Bands like this are changing the game right now and it’s exciting to hear it in real time.

When I close my eyes for a second, as the title tracks rings out and the gorgeously, lightly sad “The Face of God” ambles in, I’m 17 again. I’m driving for the first time, crying at the moon by myself or laughing with my friends. I’m a freshman in college, skipping my Friday classes (and braving mountain passes!) headed west, headed home. Then I snap awake and I’m 32, it’s Winter here and Georgia bellows “Just get it all out, put it in a song. Just get it all out, write another song!” Thanks Camp Cope. This album is special.

“It’s another all-male tour preaching equality / It’s another straight, cis man who knows more about this than me / It’s another man telling us we’re missing a frequency / SHOW ‘EM KELLY / It’s another man telling us we can’t fill up the room / It’s another man telling us to book a smaller venue / Nah, hey, cmon girls we’re only thinking about you / Well, see how far we’ve come not listening to you / ‘Yeah just get a female opener, that’ll fill the quota’...”

CAROLINE ROSE / Loner

It took Caroline Rose four years from her weirdly rootsy-riffy debut album to find her true self, but Loner sounds every bit like an artist comfortable in their own skin & confident in their craft. Dialing up the synths, fuzz, and brilliantly tongue-in-cheek lyrics, Rose touches on all the big topics: drugs, death, sex (ism), and money! with a casual, conversational songwriting maturity that belies her 28 year old sophomore-ness. Favorites include “Jeannie Becomes a Mom” (check out that bouncy organ!), the steady build & twisty, head-turning songwriting of “Getting To Me,” & the electro warp & wend of “To Die Today.” I was finally convinced into falling for this album when my partner played it three times (or was it six?) back-to-back-to-back on a rainy Summer Sunday afternoon drive from Granby, CO back into Denver. Something about the pacing; the complex, yet immediate song structures that leave you wanting more. These are songs of tested confidence. But shining through it all, Rose is a wild card. A red clad rockstar with a palpable spirit, not afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve & laugh a little along the way. Loner is full of dance jams for the cool kids & the loners. At its core it preaches acceptance, and teaches us to love ourselves & love each other for who we are. Go Caroline! See you in a month in LA!

“Waitress sets the tables, two & four & six / Laying placemats, knife, fork, spoon, upon napkin / All the counter people, she knows us all by name / A counter people fission, everywhere we are the same... / & so you line ‘em up, a single cell, another one gone / Ostracon vase with your name on the line...”

FIELD REPORT / Summertime Songs

At some point during this year I begin to realize how important beloved songwriters releasing new works is always going to be to me, I was falling (& re-falling) for new works from long time favs Calexico, Gregory Alan Isakov, Florence & The Machine, & of course Phosphorescent. But somehow it was Field Report’s third release Summertime Songs that stuck and became perhaps the most meaningful of all. I fell in love with Field Report in the midst of a hard, hard winter (2012 I think). Their sophomore album Marigolden has been a constant companion since 2014. I first heard this set of songs (the ones that comprise Summertime) in the June of 2017, sweating in the familiar Eau Claire, Wisconsin heat. Hearing a set of 100% new, unreleased material is exciting and also kind of a risk. After the set I wrote that the new tunes “Sound like June. Like wet cement & flash floods. Like swollen rivers & mosquitos full of hard fought human blood. Like growing older & having kids. Intimate details stretched over skittery, percussive thunderclouds. Like grabbing an electric fence. Digging in &...replanting.” I was 100% in it. On a high in Wisconsin & falling deeper in love with music. Then Field Report went mostly silent & we had to wait till early 2018 to get the recorded versions. Adding even more drums (Shane Leonard deserves a shout-out here as a killer pocket player!) some electronic effects, and ramping up on the arm-out-the-rolled-down-window singalongs definitely serves Chris Porterfield (did you know the name Field Report is just an anagram of his last name?!) well. Whoever it was who asked him “why don’t you try Summertime songs” was on the right track. His songwriting is as electric as always on this set of heartbreakers & as usual he follows a lot the same threads. His lyrics here are visceral, wordy, & wise, & i can feel the songs growing up with me. Sometimes I lead, sometimes they lead me, but we always seem to find each other exactly when we need to.

“Time is a bird with a mean, hooked beak / & he’s just waiting around to work on you & on me... / Shotgun wedding, black on blue / The river’s swelling like a bruise...”

H.C. McENTIRE / Lionheart

Heather McEntire has been carving out a name for herself in the North Carolina music scene for years fronting old-school punk band Bellefea & more recently, the much loved Mount Moriah. But way way back in January, Lionheart roared in under her own name; all ferocious & tender, confident & wild. A true southern record, Lionheart is vocal & lyric forward. From the Sunday morning hymn swell of opener “A Lamb, A Dove,” to the driving swing of “Baby’s Got the Blues,” & the late night, red wine country of “When You Come For Me.” McEntire enlists all her talented musical friends on this effort. There are co-writes with the legendary Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill (whom McEntire credits with helping her find her individual voice), bgvs from Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Angel Olsen, & Tift Merrit, & inspired guitar work from William Tyler & Durham favorite Phil Cook!

Through it all, McEntire stays true to the thread that made Mount Moriah’s “How To Dance” one of my 2016 favs. Lionheart exudes the smells & scenery of North Carolina and reads like a map at times, referencing points from Stoney Creek to the Green River Gorge. Some of my favorite songs written over the last five years (or ever) have a very strong (& often specific) idea of place. If country music is going to representative of the country that I want to live in, it’s going to be sung by people like Heather McEntire. A powerful queer southern woman; vulnerable & brave, a true Lionheart.

“You’ll find me in the hollow, dosing anything that might / Make the map look any smaller, give me a dog in the fight / So call it off or call it God, call it anything you like / Do you see it in my eyes? / A levee on the rise, do you see it? / The tellin’ ain’t told gently, so pay your tab & pay your dues / The dogwood & the chicory & a silent wood stove flue / Your baby’s got the blues just like you...”

iZCALLi / IV

I was late to the party on Izcalli (a band from my own city!) and when I found them, it was magical, I think they were playing an opening set for Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas at Lost Lake and I probably stumbled in late from PS Lounge or Tommy’s Thai to shredding electric guitar & ska, latin funk, & pure Led Zepplin Rock & Roll. Frontman Miguel Avina was howling & stomping in Freddy Mercury-meets-Mariachi white pants, his long curly hair everywhere, all energy. I was immediately hooked. Calling them my favorite local band and finally getting to put them on this end of the year list. Izcalli joins some pretty good “local band” company here on linernotes&seasons. From Nina De Freitas’ EP last year; Yawpers, Covenhoven, & Rateliff in 2015, to Isakov & Covenhoven in 2013 & The Lumineers all the way back in 2012! Izcalli has been playing around Denver for 13 years and have slowly built up enough of a following to headline the Bluebird Theater last year. Their fourth album (aptly titled IV) comes out swinging and showcases plenty of heavy power chord riffs, violin, horn, & songs in both English & Spanish. Their heavier, more classic rock influenced songs (”Lightning Red” & “Eso Velocidad”) absolutely explode with fiery lead guitar and inspired drumming. When they dial it back and let their Mexican influences show through, like on the eerily crunchy, violin led “Quite de Mas” and the woozy saxophone breakdown of “Solo Se Morir,” they showcase depth and a real songwriting ability. There is an almost Muse-like thunder to the monstrous organ riff of “A New Lie” and closer “Si Estoy Contigo” sends everybody out dancing. With influences from all over (most notably their homeland Mexico City) & a live show that’s not to be missed, Izcalli embodies everything I think of when I think of a true Denver band.

“A frozen heart in me turned out to be my one way home / I swear I’ll leave, I’ll drive myself down to Mexico...”

JANELLE MONAE / Dirty Computer

Dirty Computer is my favorite album of 2018. Much like my favorite album last year (Lorde’s Melodrama) no one was as simultaneously honest & excavating in their personal songwriting; while still writing such absolutely shredding club bangers, as Janelle Monae. Dirty Computer acts as a coming out party of sorts for the 32 year Kansas City-ian, although, to be fair, her first two albums had already scored her Grammy nominations and the stamp of approval from Prince, Eryakah Badu, & Michelle Obama. Her debut The ArchAndroid and her followup The Electric Lady, found her creating elaborate alter egos, protest songs, and complex, critically acclaimed song cycles about life as a black woman in America. With Dirty Computer she is able to hold multiple titles at once. Schizophrenically on top of her game, tying all her alter egos together with stellar production, monster vocals, and some of the best, most interesting pop songs since...well...maybe since Prince. From the Brian Wilson assisted eerie sci-fi sweetness of stage setting opener “Dirty Computer,” she lets loose on some of her most fun, live-a-little anthems “Crazy, Classic Life,” and “Take a Byte.” Deeply personal, political, & inspiring “Django Jane” is stunning, & sets the stage for mega back-to-back singles “Pynk” & “Make You Feel.” Songs of my (and everybody else’s) Summer for sure. “I Got The Juice,” is light & bouncy, & personal favorite “I Like That” is rebellious & rides an immediately memorable instrumental into one helluva vocal take from Monae. She makes a political statement in closing with the anthem “Americans,” (anybody else think this one especially sounds like a lost Prince track?) but her strength is her ability to be both personal & political; a true diva with a purpose. These songs are Janelle creating and sounding exactly how she wants, pushing the limits of what a superstar can do, Her show at the Paramount in July was a highlight for me, and Dirty Computer is hands down my album of the year.

“Box office numbers & they doin’ outstanding, running out of space in my damn bandwagon / Remember when they use to said I look too mannish? / Black girl magic yall can’t stand it...”

LIZA ANNE / Fine But Dying

In a year where I seemed to gravitate to albums & songs about living in, and growing through, mental health issues; Liza Anne’s blistering (and epically titled!) Fine But Dying was definitely a top five album for me. A gifted songwriter, Dying finds Anne finally letting it out with a heavy band, a light touch, & a deep dive into the insecurities & struggles that seemed to be (gulp) some of the same ones I was going through this year. Songs about conversations, relationships (both romantic & platonic), and most importantly, about examining & improving yourself. No one on this list unpacks, observes, and mines their own heart & mind as well or as deeply as Anne does across these 11 tracks. When she really cuts loose, like in the ballistic breakdown of “Kid Gloves,” the fuzzy crunch of “Get By,” or the spiraling, swirling (& also epically titled!) “I Love You, But I Need Another Year” she shines. Fine But Dying is wise beyond its years and a no-holds-barred, place-in-time look at mental health & how we should all be addressing our issues & working things out. Her show at Globe Hall here in Denver back in April was cathartic, thoughtful, & one of my favorite of this year for sure. Yay for fearless songwriters, Yay for rock & roll. Fuck yeah Liza Anne!

“I ran once, took my flight across the ocean / I thought if I could make my way across the sea I’d find a place / Now I’m swallowed up by a city that doesn’t give a fuck / To whether I am up on time / Or whether if I am, well...alive / & I’m so good - getting too good at hiding / Too good at keeping to myself that I’m spiraling...”

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO / Ventriloquism

I think it was “Atomic Dog 2017″ that first caught my ear at some point last year. I didn’t know Meshell Ndegeocello, but I knew that what I was hearing was classic. The off-kilter guitar strums slithering into that bass drop, finally settling into a steady groove, that melody appearing (seemingly out of nowhere) into a rolling, & instantly recognizable chorus. Next thing I know I’m googling George Clinton and off into an 80′s funk youtube rabbit hole. A covers album to stand up to any other covers album, Ndegeocello has a masterpiece on her hands in both song selection & creativity. In a year where she turned 50, the sneakily titled Ventriloquism is her 12th studio album, Inspired by listening to oldies radio on car rides to her childhood home, influenced by Prince & Neil Young; Ventriloquism is a super smooth revamp of 80s & 90s R&B. What Ndegeocello does so seamlessly on Ventriloquism is take these songs and make them flow as a part of a whole. There is light in the darkness here. There are threads of continuation here. An appreciation for those who came before, those who paved the way. Ndegeocello is a true artist and these reinterpretations not only nod to classic songs & artists, but dig out their own little important niche in 2019.

“Sometimes it snows in April / Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad / Sometimes I wish life was never ending / & all the good things they say, never last / Springtime was always my favorite time of year / A time for lovers holding hands in the rain...”

MIYA FOLICK / Premonitions

Every year I wait till the last minute (and beyond!) to finish this list. I write it up in November & December, agonizing & filling out what I think are my favorite albums (18 this time!) of the year. I enjoy whittling the list down to a manageable number, but I also enjoy reading everyone else’s lists; finding new finds & hearing what other people liked. Then, sometime in the middle of December, I am knocked out by something I missed over all the year of listening & reading. This year it is MIYA FOLICK! I was given a wintry new year’s mix of goodbye 2018 (and F*** you!) tunes from my partner (which I will probably post & write about sometime as soon as I finish posting this because it is goooood), and track 9 of that spotify mix. Bouncy horns, a killer beat, & lyrics that cut right to me but leave me smiling. Rhyming “self home” with “cellphone”?! Singing about leaving the party?! Yesssss!. This is for me! On deeper listens, Premonitions is a goddamn masterpiece. Starting slowly & melodically, openers “Thingamajig” and the title track are captivating, then it unexpectedly explodes into 80′s dance bangers about half way through. Most of the album is deeply personal and self examining, finding Folick digging into to her own weaknesses & fears, without always settling on answers. She is vulnerable yet grand; part Lorde, part Florence, part Stevie NIcks, part Regina Spektor...All Miya. At its core, Premonitions celebrates life, celebrates the little victories. If you want to know/hear what that sounds like, maybe I should let you read from Miya’s bandcamp page...

“Premonitions begins with ‘Thingamajig’ -- something you can't quite recall the name of, but you know exactly what it means and what it feels like. Like the pull of desire that comes with not quite remembering fully. The magnetism of something just on the tip of your tongue. I wanted the album to feel like that thing.

I think a lot about about memory-making as an act of creation, the words we use to describe a memory give shape to and sometimes mutate the memory itself. I believe that the way we choose to describe the events of our lives is not only a means of creative fulfillment, but an absolutely vital part of creating the world we want to live in. When we are dishonest in the present, we create a dishonest future. When we are honest in the present, we create a more honest future. I wanted this album to be the vehicle for a hopeful, truthful, generous, and loving world. I tried not to posture or pretend. I wrote about my life as I've seen it and how I'd like to see it, as both memory and premonition.

The producers, Justin Raisen and Yves Rothman, and I spent months collecting organic sounds to fill the world of this record. We threw away everything that felt false and tried to keep the soul of each song alive. I hope Premonitions gives you comfort and joy. I hope it feels like all the mysterious details of your lives, all your massive and mundane glories. I hope it reminds you that there is beauty in the details. Rainbows in your sprinklers. Drinking water from a hose. The way it felt to make a friend for the first time. Locking yourself in a bathroom to avoid everyone. Dancing until your shins burn. Leaving your phone in an Uber and making your best friend drive you an hour away to knock on a stranger's door after locating it on Find My Phone. Losing a friend. Losing yourself. Remembering...”

MT. JOY / Mt. Joy

I had almost finished making this list and nearly forgot about an album that marked a month-plus in the Spring when I listened to almost nothing else! Philly by way of LA’s Mt. Joy debut with an album that blends sunny California folk & smoothed out east coast pop-emo, into easy listening, easy singing indie rock. Named after a mountain in Valley Forge National Park (SE Pennsylvania); Mt. Joy’s songs similarly find geographic touch points across the US, making this a true road trip record. Multiple California references (San Fran, Mulholland, Hollywood, the ocean), make their way down to New Orleans, and end up on the east coast (”blood on the streets in Baltimore” & “the beaches of Chincoteague”). Without breaking any new musical ground, Mt. Joy sounds comfortable & confident, and their songs play bigger & stickier than your average radio friendly pop-saturated-folk. When the title track hits its festival ready build (”you can’t stop us, feel like Ziggy Stardust”) you’ll have a hard time not rolling down your window and singing along. “Way up over Mt, Joy. Where everyone’s free now. To move how they feel now.”

“Your life will change straight out of the blue / The clouds in your mind just passing through / Image the horses when you set ‘em free / Go tear down the beaches of Chincoteague...”

NONAME / Room 25 (& Song 31)

Room 25 kicks in innocently enough: smoothly humming wordless voices, steady drums, & jazzy piano flourishes. Like a lazy Sunday morning. Noname (Chicago’s 27 year old Fatimah Warner) introduces herself with a laid back, matter-of-fact, stream of consciousness “maybe this is the album you listen to in your car when you’re driving home late at night, really questioning every god, religion...” But then she says something that should make you pay attention.

“Nah. Actually this is for me.”

That creative confidence. That freedom, defines the rest of her album. No matter how much critical acclaim Room 25 racks up (I saw this album on a ton of end of the year lists!), no matter how downright fun & laugh out loud funny her breakneck rhymes are, this one is for Noname. I mean, you can still download (aka OWN...like for your ipod!) the whole album on bandcamp FOR FREE! Following in Chance’s footsteps, it’s free mp3s for people like meeee! Raised in Chicago’s slam poetry scene, she dabbles here in downtempo, smoothed out, futuristic jazz & soul. All the while she is unapologetically herself. Her words tripping over each other, too many thoughts, too much energy, too much passion to hold in. A clear blockbuster talent. One of my favorite new finds from last year’s Eaux Claires festival, her late afternoon set up on the hill was radiant & joyful. The artwork I used here is from her early 2019 single “Song 31,” as she has pledged to change the official Room 25 cover art, due to assault charges leveled in October against the artist who did the original cover. “I do not and will not support abusers, and I will always stand up for victims & believe their stories.” Noname said, and she has been proven to be as vocal in her personal life as she is on tape. As she says in the uplifting “Ace...”

“Globalization is scary, and fuckin’ is fantastic” And yall still thought a bitch couldn’t rap huh?...

“When labels ask me to sign, say ‘my name don’t exist’ / So many names don’t exist / Moved into Inglewood & the trauma came with the rent / Only worldly possession I have is life / Only room that I died in was 25...

Medicine’s overtaxed, no name look like you / No name for private corporations to send emails to / Cuz when we walk into heaven, nobody’s name gonna’ exist / Just boundless movement for joy, nakedness, radiance...”

RAINBOW KITTEN SURPRISE / How To: Friend, Love, Freefall

Rainbow Kitten Surprise made one of my five favorite albums this year (and probably the one that I sang along to in the car more than any other!) Imagine Modest Mouse growing up in North Carolina, in the 2010′s, writing smart, anti-lumineers-imagine dragons tunes, and going on to play arenas & rock clubs alike. This Boone, NC (pop. 17,000) five piece crank out catchy pop rock tunes; equal parts funky basslines, ooohs & ahhhs, and deceptively clever lyrics about religion, the south, and relationships both platonic & romantic. Huge single “Fever Pitch” rides rolling drums, background whoops, and finds charismatic frontman Sam Melo languidly recounting his religious upbringing and sing-rapping about getting to know you better. Other standouts include the acoustic blues (and Aha-Shake-era-Kings of Leon reminiscent!) “Painkillers,” the “Moon & Antarctica” rattletrap sing-song of “Possum Queen,” and the laugh-out-loud funny breakneck alternative pace of “Matchbox.” But it is song of the year contender “Hide” where Melo lays bare his feelings about growing up gay in a deeply religious south, when you get a peek at what Surprises these Rainbow Kittens are capable of. What starts as a bouncy love number takes a turn into some deep songwriting with “I’m running from a place where they don’t make people like me, I keep the car running, I keep my bags packed. I don’t wanna’ leave, just don’t wanna’ leave last.” This is Fruit Bats’ “Soon-to-be Ghost Town” written by someone who’s lived it. RKS packages it all up as emotional anthems, dancey-catchy choruse that stick, & an album that-while serious, is so damn fun to sing along to. They’ll be at Red Rocks next Summer so come hop on the bandwagon and get to know your new favorite band!

“You’re a master of passive-aggressive magic tricks like “that’s not the card that I would’ve picked, but it’s your life to live like how you’d like to live...’”

SUN JUNE / Years

Sun June’s debut record Years is an album that I never expected to be on this list, but one that pushed its way into my heart, ears, and mind a lot over the early Summer. I kept comparing it to Leif Vollebekk’s gorgeously haunting 2017 release Twin Solitude that made it on last year's list in that it managed to be rhythmically funky & interesting while being mostly SO quiet. Even the more “upbeat” numbers; from the gorgeously, golden swing of “Young,” to the steady backbeat of “Baby Blue” keep their composure meticulously. The writing is transfixing on Years and the band is so tight, with every member adding just the right amount of soft sound. I tried to explain it to somebody as music you have to “squint to hear.” It sounds good in the background, all sweet & rolling. But better up close, turned up in headphones. All together & bright. This is an album I would listen to sleepily, on my way home from work, driving Colfax in the first light of dawn at 5 in the morning. Sun June’s lack of an internet presence is refreshing (is there ANYWHERE I can find the lyrics for this album??!!), I think they’re from Texas, and I don’t think they’ve even played a show in Colorado yet! Regardless, Years is tied together with a quietly tight rhythm section, and Laura Colwell’s wispy vocals, grabbing at the edges of my brain, calmy insisting “Four in the morning, I could get used to this...”

“I was almost always leaving / Looking for the reason / Bedside hospital daylight / I go with the Southern mountains / Down the 405, I’m coming tell me you don’t deserve this / I was young...”

TIERRA WHACK / Whack World

I love me a good concept album, but even I would’ve thought that the idea of 15 one minute songs(complete with video accompaniment) making up an entire album, would be a tough sell. Whack World makes good on an innovative concept, delivering something breezy, catchy, & lasting, and making Tierra Whack one of my favorite new finds of 2018! My little sister showed her to me on a “Get-your-ass-to-the-gym” playlist and “Fruit Salad” was immediately stuck in my head for weeks. Mostly down-tempo, Whack is clearly a witty lyricist and creative mind, and at 23, a game changer in the music scene. Also an effortlessly cool, musical, badass. With almost no choruses, this is an album you can listen to over and over (and throw any tracks in mixes) without any clear singles. The bouncy gospel-tinged “Pet Cemetery” has hand claps & dog barks, and is followed immediately by the laugh-out-loud vocals of “Fuck Off.” Whack never takes herself too seriously (so many off the wall and laugh out loud funny vocals!) and the Philly native shows that one minute songs can turn a lot of heads and end up on a lot of end of the year best album lists! Whack World!

“Crispy clean and crisp & clean / For the dough I go nuts like Krispy Kreme / Music is in my Billie genes / Can’t no one ever come between yeah / Don’t worry about me I’m doing good, I’m doing great, alright...”

TYPHOON / Offerings

It seemed like a lifetime since Typhoon released their sophomore knockout, masterpiece album White Lighter back in 2013. I’ve grown a lifetime since, experienced everything since. In the first few weeks of January 2018, out of the darkness, out of the silence: came something darker, weirder, but still magical and at its core, celebratory. Typhoon is one of my all-time favorite bands, one of my favorite live shows, and frontman Kyle Morton writes about memory & loss, life & death, better than anybody in the game. With Offerings they have dropped the peppy horns, slimmed down to (only!) seven members, and zeroed in on the heavy, spiraling folk-rock that hearkens back a little to Bright Eyes or The Decemberists, Broken Social Scene or Arcade Fire. As a loose concept album, Offerings explores in four movements (Floodplans, Flood, Reckoning, & Afterparty) what happens to a mind stripped of memory. Or (side quest/plot/twist) a world willfully forgetting its history. From the hushed chanting that explodes into huge string swells, drums, and shouts of opener “Wake” to the rhythmic, glowing build of the 8 minute “Empricist,” to the mystical picking and ruminating of “Algernon” the first movement could almost stand as an album of its own. The rest of the album unravels at equal parts slow reflection (”Mansion” & “Beachtowel”) and sweeping indie rock (”Remember” & “Darker”). Although a lengthy (and at times not easy) listen, I think Offerings will go down as one of the most ambitious rock records of the last few years.

“& so the light fades / It’s still your birthday / So blow out your past lives like they’re candles on a cake...”

VALLEY MAKER / Rhododendron

There is a mysticism buried somewhere in the emotive vocals & break-in-the-clouds writing of North Carolina by way of Washington State’s Valley Maker. Austin Crane is the singular voice behind the Valley Maker project, painting time & space on a dark, slippery canvas, and hiding complex truths in the rhythmic tides of Rhododendron. This ground has been tread before; by countless folk singers & prophets, wailing of death, dark magic, & the myriad mysteries of time, but Valley Maker understand their place in the linear and bring a modern take to ancient stories. Part War on Drugs-highway-drone (check the double yellow rattle of “Light on the Ground”), part Ben Howard’s-foggy-British-countryside (”Beautiful Birds Flying”), Crane writes songs that stick. They claw and seep their way into skin, into veins, and haunt in a way that echoes of the past. This is songwriting as a conduit. These stories are Crane’s, but they are older; tales told since religion begin. From the first lines of the roiling, dark sky opener (”time is just a game I play / it’s written on the ocean’s waves / circling beyond my brain / something I could not contain.”) to the uncertain give & take of the earthy “Seven Signs” (”I’m cutting in line but I haven’t decided...”) the writing is equal to the musicianship Crane and his backing band clearly have in spades. With Chaz Bear (Toro Y Moi) providing stellar percussion and Amy FItchette (who I was lucky enough to see sing with VM at the Doug Fir in Portland) lending absolutely haunting, otherworldly harmonies, Crane has depth beyond his strange tunings and bleep & bloop electric forests. Through it all there is a steady rhythm to the darkness and like in “Baby, In Your Kingdom” when he tops a wonderfully simple, acoustic walk-down with “Baby are you satisfied? Take a decade, take a lifetime, I know we’re always on a one way street...” there is a timeless beauty even in the mystery. Oh, and saxophone. Rhododendron has some great saxophone.

“Baby in the next life / I can touch you, I can ride the light / Goddamn I wan’t where I thought I’d be / 29. Burn the world around me & I hide / Baby in your kingdom / Sink my roots in, I’m a tall tree / I know, wind is gonna blow again / I know, when I am with you...I am known...”

#black belt eagle scout #camp cope #caroline rose #field report #janelle monae #liza anne #meshell ndegeocello #miya folick #mt joy #noname #rainbow kitten surprise #sun june #tierra whack #typhoon #valley maker #izcalli #american trappist #h.c. mcentire

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wordsaremyenemy · 7 years ago

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Hubcaps & Ashtrays [Loki X Reader] Part 1

Pairing: Loki x Reader Prompt: “The thing is, I wasn’t pretending." Word count: 2,300+ Summary: (Fake Boyfriend AU) You’re a school teacher, eighth grade ELA in fact. School isn’t even in session yet and you already want to rip your hair out. Good news, it’s right before Labor Day and there’s a four day weekend before school starts. Which means plenty of time to finish that pain-in-the-ass lesson plan that’s being avoided. Bad news, your family’s annual reunion is this weekend. Opting out really isn’t an option. Aunt Dot is turning 89 this year and even though it’s not 90 it’s still a big deal.

There’s no time to vet a decent guy before bringing him home, so looks like you’re going stag. Again. Which means Mom and all of your aunts are going to make damn sure that your love life is going to be center stage all weekend. Although, a night with friends might have the answer to all your problems in the form of Hallmark movies. A/N: Okay... so.... this is my entry to @justsomebucky‘s (to whom I apologize for taking so long, please don’t eat me) writing challenge from like months ago. Retail + Holiday season = no free time for little old me. Honestly it still isn’t finished, but I’m trying to get my ass in gear and do shit. I honestly shouldn’t even be doing this. I have laundry. And Christmas presents still to make. I have three done out of like twelve. (I’m crocheting and making dreamcatchers. I’m a mess right now.)

I have to give fair warning. This was the shameless self-insert I've been dreaming of. I still don’t think I’ve done it justice though. And though I kept the descriptions of the main character fairly... vague, or at least tried to. The readers aesthetic is very much what I consider my own to be. Meaning "Basic White Female Hipster" meets "Emo Punk Rock Queen." And honestly there's not enough love for punk. The title comes from Sleeping With Sirens’ “The Strays.”

Big thanks to the most amazing woman in the world, who’s read this more times than I have at this point, and very kindly beta-d this for me. I love you, babygirl. Thanks for calling me out on all my shit always. Warnings: Mostly swearing

It all started Monday. You were running late, spilled coffee down the front of your brand-new cardigan, and remembered that you forgot to put deodorant on as you ran out of your Brooklyn apartment, nearly running over your neighbor-slash-best-guy-friend, Bucky. You end up fifteen minutes late to the very first staff meeting of the school year because you’d forgotten which way the conference room was. (It’s in a very peculiar place, okay? You would think it’s by the front office. It’s not. For some reason, it’s on the third floor right next to third-floor teachers' lounge.) At least you got to spend the rest of the day prepping your classroom.

Tuesday wasn’t much better. No big staff meeting, but you did have to meet with the two other eighth grade ELA teachers who were the co-chairs of the English department of the entire school. That was a trip and not in a good way. You’ve been teaching for four-going-on-five years. You knew what you were doing. Mostly. You liked to wing it the first week, get a feel for your students before you set down a structured lesson plan. Not that anyone really did anything that first week anyway.

Apparently, that wasn’t going to fly this year because Mrs. High-and-Mighty Jacobson and Miss I’m-so-much-better-than-you Atterbury insisted that everyone turn in their lesson plans for the first week by Monday. Great.

Wednesday started a little bit better. You remembered deodorant (you did on Tuesday, too; it’s the little victories). You didn’t spill coffee or run down Bucky. You actually had enough time to exchange pleasantries and be reminded to go over for your weekly movie night. There wasn’t a meeting, so it was pure setting up your classroom for the four classes you were teaching this semester. Of course, you agonized over that lesson plan but it was for the first week and you did just find out yesterday and surely it could wait until tomorrow, right?

Around lunch it gets hazy. Your mom texts you and reminds you of the upcoming plans you couldn’t escape that weekend.

It could be Aunt Dot’s last reunion, honey. You wouldn’t want to upset her, would you?

I told you last week, Ma, you text. I’m going.

You should bring that boy you’re always talking about. What’s his name?

You roll your eyes. Dirk. And we broke up months ago. I told you.

The next message comes a few minutes later. You pointedly ignore it and get back to your task at hand. Ironically, it’s also ignoring that lesson plan. Hopefully, there was going to be enough sangria at this weekend-long party to blur out the twenty questions that came with being single in your family.

You’re in the middle of packing for the weekend, jamming to whatever playlist you were last listening to on Spotify. It’s more on the punk side of your music taste than the pop side. There’s a knock at the door, causing you to jump.

“Y/N! Y/N, open up!” Bucky shouts from the other side of the door.

You pad barefoot to the door, clad in blue, fuzzy, penguin pajama pants and an old NYU tee that you definitely did not steal from Bucky a few heartbreaks ago.

“What?” you snap, opening the door in the middle of Buck’s persistent knocking. You’re surprised to find not only Bucky standing in the hall but Steve and Wanda too. Across the hall, Sam and Nat are standing in the doorway to Bucky’s apartment with their arms crossed. “Wait, shit. Is it that time already?”

Wanda grabs you by the arm with a playful smile and roll of the eyes, pulling you across the hall.

“No Vis tonight?” you ask, collapsing face first on the couch. Nat follows and flops down sideways in the armchair. You turn your head to watch Wanda as she answers.

“Vis is still away on business,” she explains with wistful eyes and a shake of her head. She was always like that when Vis was off somewhere that wasn’t wrapped around her.

“At least you have an excuse. I’m walking into this stupid reunion completely single. Again. And my mother is already on my case.”

Sam snorts, perched on the back of the couch by your feet. “Somebody needs a beer.”

“More like an entire bottle of wine,” Nat teases.

Bucky sighs from the kitchen, where he’s the sole person making pizza. “None of you are in here helping me make this pizza so I don’t want to hear anything from any of you if you don’t get something you like.”

That gets everyone up and around the island.

An hour later, everyone’s content and full of pizza. Even Steve, who always seems to be eating, has pushed his paper plate to the other side of the coffee table. Everyone’s gotten into their prime movie watching positions.

Nat is sitting sideways in the reclined armchair, bowl of popcorn sitting where her feet should go. Wanda’s on her stomach on the floor in front of her. Sam’s sitting on the end of the couch closest to them. Bucky’s on the chaise side of the couch; a picturesque view of relaxation. You’re in-between them, your head on Bucky’s lap, feet under Sam’s leg. Steve’s on the floor, between the couch and coffee table, leaning into the junction where your seat met Bucky’s.

They’re thirty minutes into the sixth episode of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reboot, adding their own commentary to that of Jonah and his robot friends.

“So, whatever happened to that guy you went out with? The one that took you on a date to the opera?” Sam asks. "Why don't you just ask him to be your date? People do it all the time for weddings."

You make a face that doesn’t last long because Bucky’s doing that thing where he plays with your hair and make you fell all warm and cozy inside.

“Wasn’t her type,” he replies for you. He’d heard all about the disaster that was that date. Just like he’d heard all about the ones before it, too. From the day you moved in across the hall, you and Bucky had been inseparable. He was your best friend. Hardly a day went by that two of you didn't share your daily torments with each other.

It was actually Natasha you’ve known the longest. She’d been your roommate when you first started at NYU. It was rough at first. You were the furthest from a city girl, having grown up in farming community, but it was under Nat’s wing that you grew to love the city.

You’d met Steve shortly after, literally running into him one day as he was on his way to class. Turned out he was in one of your Education classes. You’d just never paid attention.

Funnily enough, Steve really made your connection to everyone else in the room. It was Steve who found you the job at the school he was teaching at. He’d graduated the year before, miraculously found a job, and was already the students’ favorite art teacher.

It was through Steve that you met everyone else, but it was fate that you met Bucky. You'd been looking for a place of your own and he'd happened to know one with affordable rent that wasn't far from work at all. The rest was history.

So, Bucky had heard all about the failed blind date with Loki Laufeyson.

You'd been set up by Nat. After getting tired of hearing about your lack of love life after you'd ended the only serious relationship you'd had since moving to New York, she'd taken it upon herself to set you up with the occasional guy to get you to stop bellyaching. There'd been decent guys. Each one was better that the last, like Natasha was getting better about picking out these guys.

Loki had seemed like exactly your type. Tall, dark-haired, and handsome. Proclivity for the color black.

And, okay, to say it failed...is a little harsh.

It was actually a little bit cool. You dressed up in your best date dress and did your hair nice. Went above and beyond on your makeup. He was actually early picking you up at the agreed upon place. (There was no way you were giving him your address.) He was a gentleman and opened doors, pulled out your seat at dinner.

There was just something about him. The first thing you noticed was his accent. (He was British, which gave you shivers.)

The second was that he was more slick-looking than the guys you usually fall for. More eloquent, too.

Honestly, it wasn't his fault that your heart refused to fully give up your teenage crushes on the likes of Andy Biersack (Mostly now -- Juliet Simms was a lucky woman) or Ronnie Radke (more circa "Situations" from his Escape the Fate days, or maybe even early Falling in Reverse -- though you had to admit, Coming Home was a bomb ass album.)

You just liked musicians. It's a thing. Everyone you've ever seriously dated was in some kind of band.

Loki was hot and he had the looks...but the aesthetic just wasn't there.

Back to the really cool part. The opera.

You legitimately had never been to an opera before. So, you hadn't known what to expect. What you got, however, was a heart wrenching tale in sung Italian. You didn't have to understand what they were saying to understand what was going on. But the story had been amazing. So much better than anything you could've read out of a book.

But there was just no chemistry between the two of you.

Which you'd told Bucky.

What you hadn't told him was there was a second date too.

That one was a little bit better. Loki seemed more relaxed than the time before. Just a button down and slacks compared to the full-on suit and tie this time. You'd gone with a skater dress and Vans instead of the heels from the last time too.

It was just a dinner this time. Not as fancy as the last place, but still expensive. You actually struck up a decent conversation. It was mostly about how you'd both been forced to go on awful date after awful date by friends (or family, in his case). He didn't like disappointing his mother.

By the end of the date, you were sure there wasn't going to be a third. It seemed as though you were wrong originally. Loki looked the part, but in reality, he seemed to be like everyone else before him. There was just something missing.

You're brought out of your head by Nat's annoyed voice.

"I really thought he'd work out too. Have to admit, even I didn't see the opera thing."

"What about Bucky?" Wanda asks. There's a knowing grin on her face like she knows something you don't.

You look up at your best friend to find him smiling like he's holding back laughter.

"Yeah, what about Buck, Y/N? You guys have always been really close," Steve adds.

This time, you do laugh with Bucky joining in. "Do you want to tell them or should I?"

"You can," he says sobering up.

"We've tried that," you explain. "Very early on. Before I even met Dirk. It was actually really fun. We went to a Panic! concert. It was great. We even kissed. But guys, we're just friends."

"What do you mean you kissed?" Natasha hisses.

And that's when everyone's attention turns from the movie to you and every minute detail about your date with Bucky.

It's only a couple hours later that you're standing in the kitchen washing dishes as Bucky picks up the living room. Everyone's gone home for the night.

"You could always hire someone," Buck suggests, as he sets a couple of glasses beside you to be washed.

"Do I look like Deborah Messing? This isn't one of your rom-coms, Buck. Stuff like that doesn't really happen in real life."

He laughs. "Come on, Y/N. You know I'm only joking."

"Face it. There's no way for me to find a date for the weekend. Not this late anyway. Besides, I'd rather not be that person that brings a different date to every family function."

"Why is this such a huge deal anyway?" Bucky wonders.

You stay quiet for a second, wondering that yourself. It wasn't that you weren't happy with your life. Honestly, you didn't think you cared that much about your relationship status. But then again...

"I'm almost thirty," you point out as you rinse the pizza pan in your hands. You can feel his eyes on you, like he's about to ask you how your age has any relevance to the conversation at hand. "I know, I know. But it's different for guys. Women have a prime window for creating a family. And I know I don't have to, that women shouldn't be expected to have children -- yada yada. I'm about all that. But I want to. I had a plan. And it sort of fell apart, I guess. And my mom is on me all the time now. And maybe I'm not really all that happy with where I'm at anyway."

You wash and rinse the two cups and you're done, draining the water and drying your hands off on a dish towel draped over the oven handle.

Bucky gives you a gentle smile and pulls you into a warm hug and kisses your temple. "Hey. It's no time to give up. You might not find a date for this weekend, but that doesn't mean you won't find a date for the rest of your life, Doll."

You lean into him and breathe deep. Sometimes it sucked that you and Bucky weren't meant to be.

#Finally got a moment to do this #loki #loki x reader #Avengers #jsdchallenge #life sucks.#hubcaps and ashtrays

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dccomicsbookshelf · 7 years ago

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Bat Music

Bruce: Likes soundtracks. Like, old soundtracks. (Grey Ghost, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, Zorro soundtracks.) Also has a fondness for 80s soft rock and jazz that alternately puzzles and disturbs his children. (Batman humming along to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” is a surreal thing to witness.) Rhythm and Blues, my friend, rhythm and blues. Has a dreamy, deep singing voice that will make you melt. Sadly, he almost never utilizes it. (Yes, I am referencing that scene from JLU)

Selina: Is a classy lady who shares a love for Jazz with Bruce. (They may or may not have won an impromptu swing dancing contest once. In costume) Also likes Spice Girls and Screamo. (Sings alto or contralto. Isn't’ half-bad.)

Barbara: My girl is here for the punk rock scene. Celtic Punk especially is a favorite. Dick has more than once walked in on her dancing along to Flogging Molly. Loves Lana Del Rey. Also tends to play dubstep when she’s in the Oracle Zone. If she’s playing Cristina Aguilera than someone is in trouble. Is an okay-ish singer. Not completely tone-deaf anyway. Can play piano.

Dick: It would be easier to list the music that Dick doesn’t like. His top favorites are Eastern European folk and pop. All the pop. Especially Euro-pop. Django and Kaly Jag are emotional favorites. Hard Rock and Glam Metal are also emotional favorites, since that’s what he used to play with Joey Wilson back in their Titans days (They had an album). Dick plays the guitar (it used to be his dad’s.) and sings (roughly tenor) Becomes a holy terror every year at Eurovision time. Jason fondly remembers the days before he even knew Eurovision was a thing. (Those days are long gone.) Dick loves Eurovision. He has every single song ever, even the truly horrible ones. He was super-thrilled by the 2017 competition. Tim has promised murder if he hears “Yodel It” one more time.

Jason: This nerd is into classical, classic rock, indie rock, and k-pop. Grieves deeply for My Chemical Romance. Shamelessly listens to Sarah McLachlan, Enya, and Evanescence. He took piano lessons while he was with Bruce and is quite good. (If the Outlaws ever became a band he would be the keyboardist, Artemis would be the drummer, Bizarro would be back-up vocals, Kori the bassist and lead vocals, Roy is cowbell.) Has a pleasant singing voice that hovers between tenor and baritone, and is a little raspy from his smoking habit.

Cass: Ballet, opera, This girl is all about the dance music. Lyrics are hard for her to follow, so she likes music that is designed to convey emotions without them. Breakbeat is a favorite. She loves and adores Lindsey Stirling. She’s been branching out into other dancing styles with that as a bridge from her ballet. Imagine Dragons is one of the only groups she actively likes that features lyrics.

Stephanie: Cheery pop music. She understands the struggle of trying to find angry music that features female vocalists and isn’t about ex-boyfriends. Broadway, punk, techno. Halsey, Katy Perry, P!nk, Pentatonix. (Glee) Has no vocal training whatsoever but is actually a decent singer who tends towards the soprano range and has what has been described as an “emotionally raw” voice. Tried to learn ukulele at one point but dropped it because she just didn’t have time.

Tim: No matter how the timeline works and no matter what decade he ends up being born in, Tim is a 90s grunge child, this emo little proto-hipster. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam…He cannot sing to save his life but he did teach himself a little guitar. He plays his music very loudly and still somehow manages to fall asleep without warning. Has roughly 100 songs on his phone and plays them over and over.

Damian: Is still figuring out what he likes music-wise. Shares Cass’ love of Lindsey Stirling. Plays multiple instruments but violin is the one he chose to continue after coming to the manor. Refuses to sing in public as he is embarrassed over his singing voice. (You are ten, Damian. That’s how voices work.) Once he hits and passes puberty it will drop to a baritone just as smooth as Bruce’s.

Duke: Didn’t realize that his musical choices were going to be called into question. What even is with you people? Duke likes the classics. His mom used to play Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong etc… and he’s still fond of them. Also likes Bruno Mars, David Bowie, and Beyonce. Doesn’t sing much but he’s good. Roughly the same vocal range as Jason. Is a pretty good rapper, it takes the kind of mental dexterity that he is good at. He and Stephanie had a rap battle once. It was epic. (It was also on comms) Was the best kazoo player on his street when he was little. (On a completely unrelated note, they found out that Damian does not know what a kazoo is.)

Alfred: Was quite pleased when Duke joined the family, as they share some music tastes. (He met Ella Fitzgerald once.)

#BatCanons #BatFamContentWar #Music #Long Post is Long #I have lots of music headcanons #Bruce Wayne #Selina Kyle #Barbara Gordon #Dick Grayson #Cassandra Cain #Jason Todd #Stephanie Brown #Tim Drake #Damian Wayne #Duke Thomas #Alfred Pennyworth #My Posts #My Headcanon

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momentsinsong · 4 years ago

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Moments In Song No. 023 - Kotic Couture

Authentic. That’s one word that can be used to describe Kotic Couture’s current mindset. From their music, to their marketing, Kotic is making sure to put their genuine self in everything that they do, regardless of who cares. We talk to the artist about intersectionality in Hip-Hop, their love for relatable lyrics, and the never-ending journey towards authenticity.

Listen to Kotic Couture’s playlist on Apple Music and Spotify.

Words and photos by Julian.

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Julian: The first thing I noticed about your playlist is that a lot of the songs are introspective and thought provoking. There’s maybe only one or two celebratory party songs on there. Was that a conscious choice you made or just something that ended up happening?

Kotic: It’s funny because I didn’t realize how introspective I was until the beginning of the year when I put a song and my friends were like, “You’re very conscious of yourself when you write.” Looking at the songs on the playlist, it does include songs that I casually listen to, so it wasn’t really a conscious decision, but it was interesting to see the artists that I like and how they reflect on things and how that comes into my everyday life. I feel like I’m always thinking about shit or being conscious of how I move. I didn’t realize how much that was reflected in the music I listened to until I started looking at my playlist.

Are those reflective songs new songs you’ve been listening? Or are some of them songs you’ve always loved?

I’ve always always always always listened to “Save Me” by Nicki Minaj. Since “Pink Friday” came out it’s been one of my favorite songs. I’ve literally been listening to “Ctrl” for the last 2 months. That’s why “Drew Berrymore” is my go to song right now. It’s just such a great song. Even “Family Business” by Kanye and “Daddy Lessons” are songs I’ve always cycled through. But as of recent “Drew Berrymore” has been on repeat everyday.

You mentioned earlier the reason why that song sticks out so much is because it puts into words what you may not always be able to?

Music is such a beautiful thing. A lot of times you think you’re the only person who’s experiencing something and I just think that SZA....SZA and I are very close in age and so I think that album and the way that she wrote it is for people of our generation. It’s very relatable. So as I’m growing and experiencing more things, and experiencing relationships, or different career goals, that was one of those songs that makes sense. It puts my emotions into words. I didn’t know how to say it but this song says it.

When working on your own music, is expressing those not-so-easy-to express emotions through writing a skill you’ve developed over time or is it something you’re still developing? I also know that you are really into the club music scene, so is that more introspective side something that was always present at the beginning of your career?

I’ve always loved singer-songwriters, but it always felt like I had to make party music or club music because I was always in clubs. But as of late, and especially since we’ve all been quarantined, I feel a little bit more adventurous with expressing myself and wanting to challenge my writing. When I look onto the internet, or look on Twitter, or talk to people, a lot of people feel underrepresented and they want those songs to make them feel how “Drew Berrymore” makes me feel. They want something real, they want something relatable. This is what’s going on in my life. Just recently I came to terms with the fact that I’m not on the radio right now. I really don’t have a desire to be on the radio right now. I want to make music that feeds people’s souls and means something. That’s been a recent shift that’s starting to be reflected in my writing a lot more.

I honestly think that’s where you find longevity. Searching for just that radio play….

It’s going to fizzle out.

Yeah, and like you said earlier when you’re really making that impact on people’s lives and speaking to what they want to hear, that’s how you reach longevity and stay on people’s ears and minds.

People just want to be understood. And they want to express things to others, and sometimes that’s through music. It can be a conversation starter as well.

Are some of the artists on this playlist big musical influences when you were growing up? Or are there some not on this playlist that you could tell us about?

Definitely coming up as a rapper Nicki, Missy Elliott, Left Eye. Missy and Left Eye are the reasons I started rapping. Even M.I.A. I always knew club music, but even outside of that I didn’t have a lot of exposure to different types of music. So my friends would hear Electronic music and say, “Oh that’s white people music.” So when I heard “Galang” for the first time and saw the visual I was like, “Oh shit!” And then I found out about Santigold and all these other artists, and it kind of opened up another world for me. It let me know I can make these different types of music, and pull from these different influences.

As of right now I’ve been experiencing a lot of influence from R&B music. Along with “Ctrl” I’ve been listening to “Shea Butter Baby” by Ari Lennox non-stop, literally. Tidal does a “most listened to” playlist for the month and my July playlist was one song and then the whole “Shea Butter Baby” album and “Ctrl.”

What about Missy Elliott and Left Eye specifically inspired you to make music?

I never connected with male figures growing up. Male rappers never talked about anything that I thought was relatable, or anything that I really liked, until Kanye came out. So hearing Missy, and hearing Left Eye, these artists are talking about things that I was relating to. They’re both super creative. I feel like they’re opposite ends of the spectrum where Missy is so out there and iconic visually and is dangerous as a songwriter, Left Eye was very upfront and vocal about her beliefs and the way she felt about things. I feel like it was the marriage of the two of them that built me as a person, even to the point of me standing up for what I believe in. I remember listening to a TLC interview and they said in the “Creep” video Left Eye didn’t agree with the message so she wore tape over her mouth and didn’t want to put a verse on the song. So it’s things like that that remind me to say what I feel and to always be ahead.

I feel like you can also see that with some of the newer artists you have on your playlist. I feel like CHIKA falls into that category you just described as far as doing her and saying what’s on her mind regardless of what other people are saying.

If you haven’t listened to anything else, you should definitely listen to her Tiny Desk. I love listening to EP’s, but my favorite thing is performing. So watching people perform something in a more acoustic way is always interesting to me. And the way the production was done, with the background singers being brought out for the Tiny Desk is really dope. So CHIKA is someone I really love. I love her, I love Tank and the Bangas, that's just what I enjoy. I enjoy poetry, I enjoy art. I’m very receptive to people who make art with their words.

Do you have any other artists that you admire as far as their live performances go?

I saw NAO at Afropunk, she is amazing live. Jill Scott, she is amazing live. And very captivating. I did theater in high school, so performance is a very important thing to me. Watching how people put things together, I love instrumentation, I love bands. Someone who I think is very slept on is Azealia Banks. When she performs live it’s crazy.

You brought up Azealia and it’s really crazy what happened to her. She’s an incredible artist but I feel like all that extra stuff overshadowed her talent and music. You could honestly make the argument that she laid the groundwork for a lot of the female, and male artists even out today.

I think Azealia is a great example of how the industry, and more specifically the Black community, responds to mental illness. How they respond to mental illness coming from Black women versus Black men. Because you can make the comparison of Kanye and Azealia and it's going to be two different things. I think that when you hear Azealia and some of the things she went through, and then look at some of her actions, she’s someone that’s been hurt. You can tell she’s someone who has issues with mental illness. But I think that the way the world attacks women, and demonizes women, especially darker skinned Black women, it says a lot about the way the industry carried her out.

“Broke with Expensive Taste” was an amazing album. I don’t think the label pushed her the way they should have. There’s a lane of people who craft the way artists move, especially underground artists, and I feel like Azealia opened the doors for Black people to come back to Electronic music, to come back to House music, to rap and to sing. And then visually and aesthetically, I feel like Azealia laid down that groundwork which made people more receptive, and opened up the doors for someone like Rico Nasty to take it to the next level.

I feel like Rico doesn’t get the recognition she deserves. For alternative girls in Hip-Hop Rico changed the aesthetic and the sound. And I think it just says a lot about how this industry handles and disrespects Black women. People are just so used to that being the way, they don’t think about it or question it. But yeah Azealia is just super talented, and she’s opened up a lot of doors and pushed a lot of envelopes, and I don’t think she gets the respect she deserves for that.

She definitely helped pave the way for like a Rico Nasty, and even then you were saying Rico doesn’t get the recognition she deserves. She’s very in your face, with that almost angsty punk rock, emo rock type of energy, and not to pit them against each other, but that doesn’t get the same type of love and recognition as a Cardi B or Megan the Stallion. So that goes back to your point of making sure the playing field is level and everyone gets the shine and attention they deserve. And like you said it’s a societal issue, not a Cardi or Meg issue. They’re not trying to be the one and only voice for female rappers out here.

Even Cardi just recently said, when they were talking about “WAP” and someone made a comment about conscious female rappers and Cardi was like, “Y’all don’t listen to them!” There’s a lane for everybody because there’s something everybody wants to listen to, but I think that if you are a femme-identifying person and youre not selling sex then people don’t want to hear you. Or you have to play the game a certain way. Even if you think about Nicki she was like I’m going to put these blonde wigs on and give you this bubblegum pop shit but I’m also going to put rap songs on my albums because I recognize where I come from. So I guess it’s about learning to play the game, or wanting to play the game because some people don’t want to.

At the end of the day some people are like, look I just want to make what I want to make, create what I want to create, and if they like it they like it, if they don’t they don’t. And I feel like now it’s hard to have these conversations because some people in our generation and younger are conditioned to think that their opinion is the only thing that’s correct. So when people are trying to have a conversation or debate it’s automatic, I don’t agree with you let’s shut it off. And there’s a lot of tension and things that get involved. Like Rico and Meg can exist within the same world but the world tells us that they can’t. And I think people hear what they want to hear, and see what they want to see out of that and just cut it. It definitely says a lot about society, but things are changing.

Women are running the rap game right now. Between City Girls, Meg, Cardi, even artists like Mulatto coming up. I don’t care what anyone says CHIKA is the best rapper in the freshmen class. Women are really starting to be like, look I’m running this shit, I’m making the content, I’m bringing everything to the game that other people aren’t. A lot of the other younger rappers that are coming up are lazy. Because for 5 minutes when Black Lives Matter happened everyone wanted to be an activist, but now everybody is like let’s go back to playing party music. And it’s fine you don’t have to, everybody don’t want to express it in their art. So I just think it goes to show the wave, and who’s real. And people are leaning towards authenticity now.

I would make the argument that this decade of rap, the 2020’s, is going to be leaning towards women taking over, and them taking the spotlight, and their voice taking priority. I feel like the 2010’s was when it just started being ok for you to not be rapping about trapping or gangbanging. You saw the Drakes and the Tylers and all of those guys come up this decade, so I feel like the 2020’s now will have women come in and take that role. Plus some of the male rappers are getting lazy. The last three albums you put out sound the same. Nothing is new, nothing is different. You’re still talking about the same stuff.

And I always question artists who put, not to question their creative process, but if you’re putting out two or three albums in a year or year and a half did you really take the time to craft that? There’s certain people now who I’m really starting to listen to more. Amine I’m starting to listen to more, and his visuals are really dope. I really like Saba, I like Smino, I like Noname. I think we’re breaking out of that time of there can only be one. It took almost 10 years of Nicki being out before someone was like, oh we can have multiple women. She was like, Ok I’ve been telling y'all there doesn't have to be only one. Or you have like J. Cole who was the only “conscious” rapper that people were paying attention to but now people are realizing you can like more than one person and it’s ok to diversify what you take in.

It’s making room for people to create. And I think people have always been afraid because I think back to watching Jay Z “Fade to Black'' and there was a point where they were in the studio and the guy was like, “I don’t want to talk about the shit that I’m talking about but that's the only thing labels want to push and hear,” and Jay Z was like “Y’all hear that? Y’all got people afraid to be themselves because y’all won’t listen to it.” And I think we’re out of that time because the internet has grown, the internet is more accessible so people can go find exactly what they want to listen to.

I feel like that goes back to the piece you were saying earlier, like when you’re making music to impact people’s lives. There’s an audience for everyone, there’s a space for everyone. If you’re making music to get on the radio your audience is only gonna be so big, but when you’re making music to impact people’s lives, that’s going to increase the size of your audience tenfold.

I like to think of my music as a book, and each song being a chapter. Like overall, what do I want this book to be about, and who do I want this chapter to relate to? But away from everything else, how do I want to express what I’m feeling and how do I want to be vulnerable to help someone else is my biggest thing. I just recently realized I’m not going to be Beyonce. That’s not my role, I love Beyonce, but that’s not my role. I can still love somebody’s work and their art and respect it, and want to go in another direction. So I think the realization of like, “I’m cool being like the Saba, the Smino, the Mac Miller that does the festival stage, that sells out shows, but I might not be on the radio,” that’s fine. It’s more important for me to create something that I can perform for 5 to 10 years and still be happy with it. And I’ve just come to that realization, and I think that’s changed a lot of the music I’m creating.

Would you say your latest release, “Pink Durag” embodies that new message you're trying to get across?

Yeah I feel like that was kind of a spiritual graduation for me. I think the reason why that song was different was because I produced it. So even making the beat, I’m making this knowing what I want to say, knowing what I want to do. I just think it was a different connection with the music. I think more now I’m in the realm of, “If you don’t like it, it’s not for you but I love this.” I’m making music for me, that I hope touches other people. But if it doesn’t, I want to make sure the stuff that I release, I can look at it and be like you know what people weren’t receptive to it but I’m 1000% proud of what I put out. And that’s just the mind-frame that I’ve been in. I’m not trying to sell myself to anybody else anymore. Labels don’t know how to sell me. Marketing teams don’t know how to sell me. So I’m just going to do it myself, and in order for me to do it myself it has to be authentic. It has to be something I believe in.

Connect with Kotic Couture

https://www.instagram.com/koticcouture/

https://twitter.com/KoticCouture

https://koticcouture.com/

Connect with Moments In Song:

https://www.instagram.com/momentsinsong/

https://twitter.com/momentsinsong

https://tinyurl.com/MISAppleMusic

https://tinyurl.com/MISSpotify

#Moments in Song #what are you listening to #azealia banks #nicki minaj #Missy Elliott #dapper dan midas #sza #beyonce #m.i.a.#chika #baatchoy #kanye west #hip-hop #electronic #r&b

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tofu-beifong · 7 years ago

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BNHA headcanons - Class 1-A kids’ music tastes

I had some ideas in my head of what kind of music the Kiddos like so here we have it (also may or may not being biased and revealing my own music taste oops)

Midoriya Izuku / Mashirao Ojiro:

They like to listen to rock music, mostly pop and upbeat rock/Indie rock and also calm rock. Mashirao likes more of the upbeat pop rock type and likes Spyair/The Oral Cigarettes/Hello Sleepwalkers, it puts him in a good mood and he likes to put it on when he’s practicing martial arts.

Izuku’s more of an indie/calm rock type of guy, especially Japanese indie music and he likes to listen to UVERworld and Galileo Galilei and he cries whenever he googles lyrics and finds out they have deep and powerful meanings especially if they’re uplifting and inspiring

Iida Tenya:

He likes listening to mellow rock and instrumental music, like guitar songs and mellow pop music

Probably a big fan of Sungha Jung and Kotaro Oshio or other popular guitarists, Tensei taught him how to play the guitar and he’s a natural at it

Uraraka Ochako / Tooru Hagakure / Ashido Mina:

Ochako and Hagakure and Mina are all into pop, mostly K-pop and J-pop although I feel like they’d be into One Direction as well

Ochako is more into the girl K-pop groups like Red Velvet/TWICE/AOA/f(x) while Hagakure is more into the boys, like BTS/Super Junior/SHINee (probably is obsessed with EXO too), and Mina loves both equally, they all try learning the dances and singing along to the music and probably tried doing a photoshoot/K-pop music video once

All of them love Little Glee Monster (who is the artist who made the BNHA S2 ending)

Asui Tsuyu:

Listens to everything, is very opened minded and has a wide variety in her music library. She gets her doses of K-pop and J-pop from Ochako, Hagakure, and Mina and accepts music recommendations from her other classmates. She probably likes Indie rock the most.

Yaoyorozu Momo:

Likes listening to anime/movie soundtracks and orchestral pieces, especially Ghibli soundtracks. She cries when hearing the Totoro theme song and “One Summer’s Day” from Spirited Away, soundtracks from Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle always cheer her up.

Kyouka Jirou:

METALHEAD. She probably is low key into Visual Kei and J-Rock, probably a big fan of the Gazette/Diaura/Dir En Grey other bands, and likes alternative rock bands like One Ok Rock/My First Story. Owns like 3 electric guitars, a bass, a drumset, and a mic stand and dreams of starting her own all-female band one day which would kick ass. She’s tried to get the other girls to join, is kind of disappointed no one shares her music taste or likes metal as much as she does.

Bakugou Katsuki / Kirishima Eijirou / Todoroki Shouto / Hanta Sero:

All of them like more hardcore stuff, like heavy alternative rock and rock bands. Bakugou and Todoroki were probably into Evanescence at one point (wake them up inside); for Todoroki the music helped him cope and get through hard times, Kirishima, Sero, and Bakugou love One Ok Rock and Spyair because it seriously gets them hyped and pumped up and ready for a fight, probably spar each other with music blasting on speakers to get into the mood.

Bakugou probably had an emo middle school phase where he listened to Fall Out Boy/My Chemical Romance/Evanescence when he was the supreme Edgelord

Fumikage Tokoyami / Mezou Shouji:

Goth punk boysssss! Probably metalheads, they jam out to heavy death/progressive metal and punk rock, they like Visual Kei and are the type to blast music on full volume with huge ass headphones. They love the aesthetics of it, the dark looks and black clothes

Yuuga Aoyama:

Listens to French music all the time and picks up his French vocabulary in the process which is why he’s always mixing it in with his Japanese like the funny dude he is, possibly into Italian opera and classical music bc that shit is elegant af

Kaminari Denki:

I’d say he shares the same taste as The Bakusquad (with Kirishima/Bakugou/Sero), but the kid probably also has a guilty pleasure and listens to dubstep/electronica/vocaloid, probably a huge fanatic of Hatsune Miku and listens to lots of vocaloid covers by Utaites and dances to them alone in his room, what a loser

He’s also probably into some various K-pop girl groups, probably Red Velvet and Girl’s Generation because, pretty girls amirite

Jirou knows all of this and makes fun of him for it

Koji Koda:

I like to think he doesn’t really listen to music but is the type to put on soundtracks of just nature sound effects like rain/waterfalls/crickets at night or the ocean waves

Minoru Mineta:

Doesn’t really care for music as much. Probably too busy watching hentai. Goddamit Mineta.

#bnha hc

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sirchrisjaxon · 7 years ago

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Will There Ever Be Another White Rapper Like Eminem?

When Eminem first came out, the entire rap world was turned on it’s head. He was not the first white rapper. But he was the first to grow up into rap (The Beastie Boys started as a punk group), battle his way to the top, earn full respect of both white and black rappers, and stay among the greatest to ever do it. Anyone who questions Eminem’s authenticity is just ignorant. He was born in the ghetto. He made a name for himself out of nothing but pure skill. Dr. Dre, one of the most significant figures in hip-hop ever, signed Eminem (not knowing he was white) and helped him become the biggest artist in America. Saying Eminem only got as big as he did because he is white is just straight up wrong, but it was definitely a factor. Sure, anyone in the industry who heard him knew he was great. But what about the average person? The most famous rappers are not the best out there. There is usually something beyond their skill that makes them stand out. Of COURSE a white rapper is going to grab the public’s attention, especially once they are backed by people like Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Skin color can grab attention, but it can’t hold it for long. His lyrics were incredible, but they were also extremely explicit. Never had there been an artist of his caliber who had gotten away with saying such offensive and out-there shit. This made him more hated by some and more loved by others (tell a kid they can’t listen to an artist and guess what? They will). Was he able to say these vulgar things and remain a star because he was white? It’s hard to say for sure, but that definitely caused people to continue talking about him. Many black consumers weren’t sure what to think of him, acknowledging he was great but unconvinced that he deserved to be up there with the great black rappers before him. Many white consumers were also split. On one hand, you had (kind of racist) white people who held him to the made-up standard that because he was white he was supposed to be more respectable than black rappers, and was making white people look bad. On the other hand, (kind of racist) white people felt more comfortable relating to him because he was white. But most of all, there were the normal people who just genuinely saw him as a great and interesting artist. Add this to the fact that he was actually one of the best AND one of the most controversial lyricists in the mainstream, and there was no way people would stop talking about him.

Since his rise, Eminem’s legacy can be seen in countless rappers from 50 Cent to Tyler, the Creator. But will there ever be another white rapper with as much respect, success, and influence as him? It seems like he basically ruined anyone else’s chances of leaving as much of an impact as him. White rappers are much more common now (although they are not always authentic) and are rarely as lyrically interesting as Eminem. But many of them are very influential and successful, and may prove to be as great as him one day.

Below I attempted to list every current white rapper I could think of (in no specific order) off the top of my head and evaluated how I think they stack up to Eminem. My main points for judgement are 1. Skill, 2. Success (the longer-lasting, the better), 3. Respectability among the black community (since they invented rap and all), 4. Influence, and 5. Controversy. Are there any white rappers I missed? Do you disagree with any of my points about a particular rapper or white rappers in general? Is this whole list pointless because race shouldn’t matter? Let me know!

Iggy Azalea: White, female, and incredibly successful. Although she may not be able to carry a freestyle, she certainly knows how to get attention and cause controversy. She’s from Australia and raps with a Southern accent, which many saw as appropriation (although nobody in America would sign someone who raps in an Australian accent so I don’t entirely blame her). But she was picked up by T.I., who is a respectable rapper and gives her some legitimacy. People seemed to focus on her voice and appearance more than her lyrics, so that’s not a very good sign for a lasting career. But people certainly find her attractive and when she does put out something good its pretty damn good, which helps. Realistically, she has probably peaked with “Fancy” and will likely not be the next Eminem.

Yelawolf: Got signed by Eminem himself, so that’s pretty helpful. Great rapper and very respected overall, but probably won’t have enough traction to really leave a mark.

Macklemore: Incredibly successful, but like Iggy his first hit has proven to be his most successful. However, I think he still has a long career ahead of him. Although not as controversial as a human being as Iggy, he definitely is unique in his lyrics. He stands up for the LGBT community and spreads a positive message against racism, drugs, and other hot topics. And he is actually a good rapper, but nowhere near Em. But he does seem to have respect from a lot of black rappers, so I wouldn’t totally count him out from being in the running.

Lil Peep: One of the newer rappers on this list. He stands out from the pack since he is almost always singing, which brings up the conversation of whether or not he is really a rapper. He is not nearly popular enough to be compared to Eminem’s legacy, but has some strong points going for him. He is lyrically dark, which has caused some controversy. He came out as bisexual, which definitely got people talking in the notoriously-homophobic rap community. Physically, the dude is tatted all over, with very striking ink on his face. But he definitely isn’t as good of a rapper. He doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention from the black community but works with Lil Tracy often. Although maybe not on a worldwide scale, but Lil Peep is actually very influential in the underground emo-trap scene that is becoming more and more popular. Overall, I think it’s too soon to really judge, but I’m guessing his success will hit a ceiling due to his niche style of music.

Mac Miller: A great rapper who is definitely respected by black rappers. He isn’t very controversial once you get past the fact that he’s white. He is very successful, but his album releases are consistently overshadowed by bigger releases and he doesn’t generate a lot of conversation because of it. He seems to be somewhat influential among some of the newer rappers, but overall I don’t think he is going to leave quite the stamp that Eminem did. But I don’t think Mac Miller is going away any time soon.

Lil Dicky: Definitely funnier than Eminem, who is hilarious himself, and a really skilled rapper. He is respected by black rappers for his skill and ability to entertain, but is definitely not seen as being authentic since he makes rap seem like something he chose rather than something he felt born to do. Although very new himself, you can see his influence in rappers like Ugly God. I think he has a great opportunity to leave a huge legacy, but I still don’t think people take him seriously enough.

El-P: Great lyrics, political, and Killer Mike’s homie. He is certainly hyped about, but moreso because of his affiliation with Run The Jewels rather than as his own entity. But he’s relevant as fuck so sure I’ll give him a chance.

G-Eazy: Respected by blacks but definitely seen as a “white rapper”. He is definitely not a bad rapper, but his songs (at least the popular ones) give me a sense that he is just going through the motions of what he has seen other successful rappers do. However, he has fully embraced and been successful with the angsty ballad style that Eminem created (for better or worse) so I would say he is at least carrying the Eminem torch. Overall, I don’t think there is enough conversation about him for him to be a contender. Fun fact: He’s 6′4...so that’s interesting.

MATT OX: Definitely way too young to really judge, but for his age this kid is doing great, let’s just see if he can develop and stay on that path despite young rappers rarely being able to do so. If he somehow stays at this trajectory he might be the next fucking Eminem. Who the hell knows.

Riff Raff: Short answer, no. He is in no way the next Eminem. But he is funny, interesting, and successful. But nobody takes him seriously as a rapper. However, he does seem to have helped pave the way for a whole generation of bad rappers...and a lot of black people fuck with him...so maybe he is kinda like the anti-Eminem? All I know is that there’s gotta be a better choice.

Watsky: Probably won’t ever be successful or interesting enough to be compared, but he’s a great rapper with his own unique sound. Overall I think he is a bit too niche and I don’t see enough black people fucking with him for him to create a significant legacy. But as he said, “I don’t need the whole pie, just wanna have my little slice” so I guess he’s okay with that.

Felly: Personal friend of mine. Great rapper, although some may question his authenticity being from Connecticut and his adoption of Carribean styles. However, that in a way is controversy. I believe he can be influential, but he is still on the come-up and it’s really hard to say for sure. I do think he is pretty unique and relatable, and if things work out for him I can see him leaving a legacy. Probably not crazy enough of a rapper or lyricist to get to Em’s level.

Machine Gun Kelly: Another pretty obvious Eminem torch-carrier, I personally think MGK has the most legitimate shot of anyone on this list. Like Eminem, he came from a rough background in middle America and used rap as his outlet. He is a great freestyler and has a very technical delivery. He has respect from the black community, but it seems that most of his fans are white. He also embraces the angsty ballad style of Eminem. He is diverse, having performed with rock acts like Linkin Park. I think his main issue might be leaving his own unique style that can be traced back to him. At this point, any rapper who would be influenced by MGK is probably already influenced by Eminem for the same reasons. If he can find something that makes him really stick out (maybe playing guitar is enough?) then he has a good chance.

Aesop Rock: Lyrically the most skilled rapper on this list. However, thats about where his comparison ends with Eminem. Not super successful, controversial, or influential (as far as I know). Black people might fuck with him though.

Cage: REALLY started from the bottom. Amazing lyricist and is super dark like Eminem. But definitely won’t reach the mass appeal like Eminem.

Slim Jesus: It’s him. He wins. Just kidding. But he was super controversial.

Twiztid: LOL.

Insane Clown Posse: Super controversial and have a really dedicated fanbase and honestly aren’t as terrible as people think. But still LOL.

Action Bronson: Great rapper, successful, and has gotten a lot of backlash for certain lyrics. But that controversy hasn’t really helped him in any way. Plus, his songs are pretty old-school and not very innovative style-wise. But hey, a lot of people fuck with him for that reason alone. Black people DEFINITELY fuck with him though.

Paul Wall: Good rapper, influential, and respected by the black community. Plus his grills certainly turned heads. He just might have been a contender if his fame lasted. (I’m getting tired)

Mickey Avalon: Highly Successful at one point, pretty unique and controversial, and certainly had people talking about his lyrics at one point. But no.

Kid Rock: Bad rapper, but controversial in his personal views rather than his lyrics. Also from Detroit. I certainly hope black people don’t fuck with him.

Asher Roth: NO

Brother Ali: Great rapper and people also thought he was black at one point. Has controversial lyrics, but the overall public doesn’t really pay attention to him.

Andy Milonakis: I mean, Chief Keef fucks with him...

Kreayshawn: That’s it. I’m done.

WELP that’s all I’ve got right now/I’m writing this at 2:30am and don’t really want to keep going. But basically I don’t think any of them are going to get to Eminem’s level except maybe Machine Gun Kelly. Hopefully no one else has to do this now. But still, feel free to post other white rappers you think could get as big as Eminem, or just rappers in general who you think could be the next Slim Shady.

Check out my last article here on how our standard for “bad” rappers has changed:

http://sir-chris-jaxon.tumblr.com/post/164697297841/how-our-standard-for-bad-rappers-has-changed

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everysuperherofighting · 6 years ago

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The Best Music of 2018

2018 was a strange year for me. It should go without saying that the politics were grim, as the United States continued to embrace gestapo-esque tactics and concentration camps as a way of dealing with the “immigration crisis” (a lot of this happened under Obama too of course). The planet continued to slide into a dystopia of global warming as more and more animals became endangered or went extinct all-together. The mid-terms happened, with typically mixed results. Elon Musk called someone a pedophile on twitter for some reason.

On a personal level, in 2018 I moved to Ohio from Oregon (again). My band put out an EP. And I lost my father, something that I still grapple with on a daily basis, though it gets less present over time.

I’ve become interested in how I discover new music, as I’ve gotten older and can’t really consider myself to be fully plugged into any sort of youth culture, sub or otherwise. Finding new music has become a very intentional process; if I didn’t seek it out deliberately, I probably wouldn’t end up hearing much of anything. But that’s always kind of true for arty-weirdos like me.

For better or worse I discovered a lot of music the last two years through Youtube. As you probably know, if you play a song or an album on Youtube, there’s an autoplay feature that will automatically play something else when it’s done. I’ve found a lot of my favorite music lately this way, and in some ways it’s kind of filled the role that “cool record store clerk” or “late-night college dj” might have filled in the times past. This is not necessarily a good change. I’ve heard you can find a lot of white supremacists that way too.

Youtube has also become invaluable if you’re someone who wants to make a list like this one, and can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars on albums. I think sometimes the artists even get paid a minuscule amount for the clicks! Hooray free information! I hope we can all find decent jobs someday.

1) CAMP COPE - HOW TO SOCIALISE & MAKE FRIENDS

I debated with myself about whether to put Camp Cope at number one, as they’re not the most musically complex or adventurous of my favorite albums this year. However I can’t think of another band that felt like it lyrically captured the zeitgeist of the times in such a powerful way. The whole album is great, catchy and upbeat jangly indie/punk with tinges of early 90s midwestern emo, made by three woman from Melbourne, Australia. Singer Georgia McDonald has a great voice, imbued with urgency, and her accent is a lot of fun to listen to too. Her lyrics have that same emotional rawness and honest specificity that early emo has as well - on “The Omen” she sings about loving someone since they were 17 and wishes for rescue dogs and a house by the sea, while on “I’ve Got You,” she bounces from the death of her father to police shootings, the loss of her childhood home, and the grappling with mental illness, and it all feels thematically relevant as this great moment of exhaled catharsis.

The stand-outs for me, however, are “The Opener” and “The Face of God.” “The Opener” is a scorching indictment of the indie music scene, as McDonald calls-out all the garbage women in bands have to deal with, from accusations that they only succeed based on their gender, to men continually explaining things, to men showing up to lay down a big steamy pile of unrequited love BS. These aren’t new observations, but hearing them all laid out in a row like this highlights their invulnerability and their ubiquitousness, the daily microaggressions that lead up to a larger picture of persistent inequality. On “The Face of God,” McDonald narrativizes the Me Too movement from the perspective of an abused fan, musing “could it be true? You couldn’t do that to someone. Not you, nah your music is too good,” her tortured delivery capturing the rage, shame, disbelief, and sadness of all the Me Too revelations about artists that we liked, and who abused that power again and again and again and again and again and again and again an

2) IDLES - JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

Image by Paul Hudson via Flickr

Idles was one of my favorite discoveries of last year. I was actually a little concerned with this album since I’d heard the band was “embracing positivity” , and what I loved about Brutalism was their raw, unhinged sound and clever but cynical and pissed-off lyrics. There’s also a recurring thing for me of finding a really cool raw sounding band, punk adjacent but not necessarily fully in the scene, who then get less “punk” (and to me, less interesting) with each subsequent release as they sort of turn into just another indie dude band who like Big Star or the Replacements. This band sounds raw as fuck, I’ll say, and then later they’ll put out their fucking mandolin album.

Joy as an Act of Resistance is dope though, as their music continues to embrace a raw, chaotic sound of guitars that both swirl and jab like shards of glass, pounding “Lust For Life” toms, and stripped down basslines, while frontman Joe Talbot howls sarcastic indictments of masculinity, homophobia, and racism. In a similar way to last year’s Pissed Jeans album, they tackle ugly toxic masculinity with ugly, tough sounding music, hearkening back to a punk rock that was less rigid in sound. There’s this infectious positivity that runs through the whole thing however, a joy that comes from casting off the fixed roles that the patriarchal society tries to put upon us and embracing our (ironically) gentler natures. “I wanna be your best ever friend forever” Talbot says, sincerely on “Love Song.” “Let’s hug it out,” he repeats on “Never Fight a Man With A Perm,” and though the song is making fun of a coked out bruiser, I have a feeling it’s a sentiment he would share.

3) THE ARMED - ONLY LOVE

The synthesis of hardcore punk with electronic music is something I’ve been anticipating. There’s definitely been forebearers (Horse the Band comes to mind, though there’s probably other stuff in the underground), but this is the first time I’ve heard it done so well. The Armed sound like if you took one of the better mid-2000s screamy hardcore bands and mixed it with the noisiest and most frenetic parts of a chip-tune song. That may sound like a nightmare to a lot of you, but again, it’s done so well here that it just sounds like a noisy chaotic mess in the best and most elegant possible way. This is not to underplay the tightness of the song-craft at work here - the chaotic sound seems to me to be carefully orchestrated. Glitchy, brutal, climatic, and beautiful. (And the parts where the lady sings remind me of Blatz. The world could use more Blatz.)

4) SCREAMING FEMALES - ALL AT ONCE

Image by Jason Persse via Flickr

This band is kind of a mainstay on my year end list at this point, but I feel like they continually top their previous efforts, a rare quality for most bands. Incredible vocals, incredible song-writing, incredible guitar playing, as they reach ever greater levels of accessibility and hookiness, while still maintaining that slight edge that would put them forever as at home in a basement as a venue.

5) KALI UCHIS - ISOLATION

Kali Uchis lands at that sweet spot where pop, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and psychedelia intersect that’s occupied by similar weirdos like Janelle Monae, Miguel, and the Internet. It’s no wonder that one of the all-time prophets of future-looking pop, Boots Riley, shows up on one of the singles. There’s a real bossa-nova, latin jazz vibe on a lot of these tracks, and a kind of retro-sheen even as it pushes into the future. “It’s no fun to feel like a fool,” Kali Uchis croons while straight up wall of sound style saxophones blurp in the background. “Pussy is a hell of an addiction.”

6) THE INTERNET - HIVE MIND

Another year-end list staple for me, the Internet have been consistently putting out some of the best, solid-ass R+B since 2011. The whole thing is smooth as hell, but weird or tasteful in all the right places; the “hoo hoo” on “Humble Pie” or the building horns on “Mood.” And retaining just a hint of that old Odd Future off-kilterness around the edges. OG Dungeon Family poet “Big Rube” shows up on “It Gets Better (With Time).”

7) JEAN GRAE AND QUELLE CHRIS - EVERYTHING’S FINE

Quelle Chris is a new one for me, but I rocked Jean Grae when I first started getting into indie rap back in high school. I always wondered what happened to her since then, but apparently she’s been putting out a steady stream of mixtapes and underground releases pretty much the whole time, self releasing a lot of them through bandcamp. She’s a wicked lyricist, and her and Quelle Chris trade off bars of dense wordplay and biting commentary on the current age of “self-care” and neoliberal hellscapes over beats that are just weird enough. Much of their verses are delivered through a lens of ironic detachment, but it’s especially affecting when the irony cracks into real urgency or emotion, as in “Breakfast of Champions,” a reflection on the grueling, consistent presence of racism in America. “It’s bound to wreck your body or straight burn your body out” they muse, and then later, as if realizing the gravity of it all, “it’s like damn, shit, fuck, wow…”

Also Quelle Chris apparently taught himself to program 8-bit video games for one of the videos.

8) SELF DEFENSE FAMILY - HAVE YOU CONSIDERED PUNK MUSIC

Yeah dude, you know I like punk rock that don’t follow no rules. This is definitely more in the vein of Fugazi, or maybe even a slightly more jagged Wilco, than a NOFX or 7 Seconds, with nods to Americana and a vocal delivery that reminds me of a raspier Craig Finn. A central preoccupation of the album seems to be the delicate balance between art and maturity, made all the more so when you’re tied to a subculture that’s only “supposed” to last you through your early 20s. There’s some great lines throughout: “ “Explaining motherhood to a man, cold observation but he’s not capable of understanding; detailing math to a dog, won’t retain a word but if you’re lucky he may be a good boy and nod” and “The world’s not turning for you and the road never rises, you’re eking out a living like every other asshole” are highlights for me, but I think my favorite bit of cleverness is actually just the juxtaposition between the titles of tracks 6 and 7. “Have You Considered Punk Music?” asks one. The other: “Have You Considered Anything Else?”

9) SINGLE MOTHERS - THROUGH A WALL

Image by CRUSTINA! via Flickr

And here we have a release that’s a little more meat and potatoes, with steam-rolling drum beats, distortion, and yelled vocals about the desperation to be found in modern life’s mudanities, “dog parks and IPA.” This album’s just some fucking ferocious non-screamy hardcore, with that same relentless quality that the best hardcore albums have. “Catch and Release” even has some double kick on it. Interestingly, I find some of the core anxieties the same as in the album above however: “Better people than you or I have lost that spark for life,” Andrew Thomson bellows on 24/7, a Cassandra portending the potential pitfalls of age.

10) HOP ALONG - BARK YOUR HEAD OFF, DOG

Singer Francis Quinlan has an incredible voice, powerful and worldly, and she paints quick snapshots of narrative with her lyrics like a Lydia Davis story. The music has shades of mid-western emo, with some kind of funky, almost Jackson 5 style guitar lines. This one is definitely a step up in terms of instrumentation from their earlier records, with strings, acoustic guitars, and other orchestral touches. The title refers specifically to a dying dog from one of the tracks, though it also seems to apply to all the characters briefly given voice throughout the album.

11) CINDER WELL - THE UNCONSCIOUS ECHO

Beautiful, haunting folk from Amelia Baker of Blackbird Raum (and a few other fellows mostly from the folk punk/bluegrass scene). A little more straight folk than Blackbird Raum’s high energy mix of folk, metal, and hardcore. Stripped down and evocative, with one foot firmly in an irish folk tradition. Like Blackbird Raum, there is a foreboding quality to much of the music, like a warning of dark things to come.

12) NONAME - ROOM 25

A micro-trend I noticed in hip-hop this year was short albums, notable from a tradition that often includes massive releases and mixtapes stuffed with skits and interludes. This is the first of example of this on my list, clocking in at a respectable 34:48. Noname is a great rapper with an intricate flow, technical without being too dense for a more casual listener, keeping her ideas and narratives clear and present over funky neo soul beats. At times she can be extremely candid, rapping about her sexual escapades, emotions, and insecurities. In one of my favorite moments, the track titled “No Name,” she discusses the spirituality behind her stage name: “When we walk into heaven, nobody’s name gon’ exist; just boundless movement for joy, nakedness radiance.” She’s funny too though. “I’m just writing my darkest secrets like wait and just hear me out; saying vegan food is delicious like wait and just hear me out.”

13) JEFF ROSENSTOCK - POST

More noisy power pop from former Bomb the Music Industry frontman Jeff Rosenstock (though I suppose by this point his solo career is at least as significant; Bomb albums never made it to Pitchfork). I think this one’s a little less varied than “Worry” before it, and a little rawer around the edges. The title is seemingly referring to the time post-2016 election, though it seems to often be more interested in profiling the anxious mood than making specific political points (which you probably all know anyway). I can’t think of another song writer off the top of my head that more consistently exemplifies the anxieties of the millennial generation, whether it’s the mid-20s woes of joblessness and friend loss often detailed in Bomb the Music Industry, or this current outing. On “Yr Throat,” he talks about the ease he has talking about relatively frivolous matter like video games and vinyl records, verses more important matters. One of my favorite lines in the song is a little more direct however, commenting on you-know-who: “It’s not like any other job I know; if you’re a piece of shit they don’t let you go.”

14) DEATH GRIPS - YEAR OF THE SNITCH

Image by Montecruz Foto via Flickr

Supposedly the album title has something to do with Charles Manson, at least according to their very vocal and sometimes uncomfortably affiliated online fanbase. It’s pretty rare that I can fully decipher what a song is about, other than generally surreal lyrics that hint toward a dirty and unsettling underground, whether urban, suburban, or solely online. Death Grips, if you don’t know, make experimental and abstract hip-hop, featuring dark and somewhat unconventional beats, with a live drummer, seeming to draw as much from the tradition of noise music than from rap. For as weird as all this is, however, there’s usually a pretty solid song structure underlying each track, and they create some sticky hooks out of all the electronic chaos and bellowed raps. This time around there seems to be a bit of a shoegaze influence as well, which…. doesn’t quite fit their aesthetic? But is pretty interesting all the same.

15) RAVYN LENAE - CRUSH

Steve Lacy from the Internet (the band) produced this 5 track long EP of retro/future funk and R+B. “Sticky” is as catch a song as ever there was, and Ravyn Lenae does a great job kind of floating over the beat, mixing up her delivery. These artists nod a lot to 70s R+B and funk, and I love that they preserve the strangeness of a lot of that stuff, that otherwordly vibe, whether it’s the “oooo-HOO-hoo-hoo” on “Sticky” or the blunted synth stabs on “4 Leaf Clover.”

16) HINDS - I DON’T RUN

Image by Paul Hudson via Flickr

Indie rock from Madrid with several lady vocalists that’s just a tad sloppy, in a good way. Catchy and relationship oriented, but scratching at something deeper beyond the surface. I love the way the vocal mics all seem to distort slightly. Maybe I’m just an old now, but it makes me nostalgic for college in some way, smoking cigarettes and being heartbroken. Which was probably not actually as fun as I remember it.

17) JPEGMAFIA - VETERAN

Hard as hell raps over jittery noise beats that sometimes merge into moments of dreamlike beauty from a hip-hop auteur who handles all the production himself. This kind of reminds me of when Pitchfork called Odd Future “/b/ boys” (referring to 4chan). This is the new Extremely Online hip-hop, endlessly irony poisoned, vaguely left-wing but mostly cynical, inside jokes upon inside jokes. It seems like there’s some real anger in here too, and his raps often involve promises of violence, usually upon various members of the alt right: “Look, it’s the young alt-right menace; What’s the pistol to a pennant?”

18) MILO - BUDDING ORNITHOLOGISTS ARE WEARY OF TIRED ANALOGIES

Milo reminds me of the best of the older backpacker rappers, dropping classic lines so fast that you miss about 2/3rds of them the first couple times through. Equally at home dropping a reference to a video game, a philosopher, the harshness of race in America, and the Guggenheim fellowship, like one of those memes that eradicates the distinction between high and low culture by putting references to existentialist philosophers over a picture of Spongebob. Of course, hip-hop has always been doing that, hasn’t it?

19) EARL SWEATSHIRT - SOME RAP SONGS

Image by Anna Hanks via Flickr

Another notably short album, at a brisk 24:39. The songs are short too, often coming across as sketches, though really this is the kind of project made to listen to in one sitting. Like a lot of the rap albums on here, this is a project that takes the beats as well as the rhymes seriously, pushing forward into avant garde territory, but in a mellower way than JPEGMAFIA or Death Grips. They have an almost hypnotic quality to them, as Earl raps in his slightly aloof manner, though here the aloofness feels more like a mask only thinly hiding a deep sense of melancholy. The samples on here are thick with that old record hiss - even the vocals are hissy, like a transmission from someplace far away.

20) SUDAN ARCHIVES - SINK

Sudan Archives is a violinist from Cincinnati who makes pop music that sounds like nothing else out there, though it takes cues from hip-hop, R+B, electronica, and world music. The beats are stripped down but still lush sounding, the violin often leading in a way that sounds strange and otherwordly, utilized for it’s ability to create rhythmic hooks, while her lyrics meld the personal with the empowering with the political.

21) TEYANA TAYLOR - K.T.S.E.

Kanye West produced 5 different 7 to 8 track albums this year, with mixed results. A lot of people stan Pusha T’s Daytona, but this one was my favorite, a short and sweet album that’s mellow, romantic, and a little dirty. Teyana Taylor puts in a very versatile performance, and her voice is perfectly suited to ride over the old soul samples that make up the bulk of the production. Kanye’s musical output was of course overshadowed by his various bizarre political statements and right wing flirtations, but it would be a shame for this gem to get lost in the fray.

22) CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL - SCIENCE FICTION

I don’t always love heavily conceptualized “revival” type bands, but this one is so much fun, not just doing pitch perfect 70s hard rock, but also spoofing (at least, I think it’s a spoof) the phenomenon of 70s cults. The members seem to dress in all white, and look like they just stepped off some Jesus-dude’s farm/compound. Of course it wouldn’t work if the music wasn’t so damn hooky. Harmonies, heavy organs, and hella riffs.

23) VINCE STAPLES - FM!

And another super short hip-hop album from one of contemporary rap’s best. Vince’s projects usually feature stripped down beats that would sound good in a car or a club, but the lyrical matter is dark as hell, another example of what a strange genre gangsta rap is when viewed from the outside. It’s hyper-masculine and braggadocios, but also equally often an expression of black pain that is then commodified into bangers for clubs, cars, and house parties full of white frat boys to dance and drink to. The contrast is all the more apparent every time Vince mentions one of his dead friends. I dunno dude, maybe I’m just getting old.

24) JANELLE MONAE - DIRTY COMPUTER

This didn’t grab me as immediately as her previous two full lengths, trending a little too close to mainstream pop for my tastes. But underneath the added sheen, it’s still a Janelle Monae album, bouncing gleefully from Prince-style funk jams to buoyant electro tunes. Monae drops the cyber-punk robo future concept to make an on-the-nose, album length celebration of queerness (though I think there may be some sci-fi on the Dirty Computer short film, which I haven’t watched yet.) The celebratory nature fits the larger, more conventional pop moves here, a sort of “queering” of mainstream pop. There’s also more rapping here than ever, and it’s always fun to hear Monae drop some bars.

25) FUCKED UP - DOSE YOUR DREAMS

Image by CRUSTINA! via Flickr

Similar to the above, this is an album from a long time favorite of mine that didn’t grab me as much as their earlier efforts, and that also seems to be making some moves toward a more mainstream pop sound, though here of course it’s pop music featuring a bellowing, gravel voiced hardcore singer and a bunch of loud Cock Sparrer style guitar lines. This is a concept album, apparently about a character who quits his job and goes on a drug fueled odyssey through the nature of reality, learning to reject an oppressive capitalist society, which sounds like the plot of an 80s British comic book, and hey, the cover is basically ripped straight from the pages of Watchmen, so there you go. They try out a lot of different styles here, which can be a bit hit or miss, but the core of Fucked Up, the interplay between Abraham’s bombastic bellows and huge sounding guitars, is as raucous and triumphant as ever, if a little more familiar.

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