#sonic plays the guitar your honor

[marinaiguess]

Don’t mind me, just trying to get the hang of writing again. I saw a video of a kitten getting scared by the sound of an electric guitar and thus, an idea was born.

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

He visits her often. More often than a few months ago. More often than he’d like to admit. It’s not that he doesn’t like it, quite the opposite really. He likes it a lot. Besides, what would be the point in searching for the Chaos Emeralds every time he wanted to travel across dimensions if he didn’t want this? The problem lies elsewhere. Why? Why does it seem like he can’t get enough? An answer he has been striving to find for a while now, a question that keeps him up at nights. 

“What is this, Sonic?”

At the sound of his name, he pushes his thoughts aside as his attention is quickly reverted to the feline in front of him. 

“What’s what, your highness?” he smiles sheepishly, cradling his electric guitar in his embrace as he watches Blaze get up from her chair and kneel on the floor, next to the hedgehog, to inspect the amplifier he brought along. His grin only grows as Blaze glares from below, before turning around again, curiosity taking the best of her. 

“This machine,” she says, never backing back from the foreign object. ��I’ve never witnessed anything similar to this.”

Her head tilts left and then right and then left again, in an attempt to gain more information about it. She brings her hand closer to it but quickly retracts it. With a frustrated huff, she sits on the floor, on the scarlet carpet that adorned her bedroom, allowing her face to rest on her palm. She seems very interested in it, way too interested, like she is trying to crack a code and her words finally make sense to him. 

“You don’t know what it is?” He raises a brow. 

She turns to him in response, her eyes flicking between his and the guitar he is holding on his lap. “No.” She shakes her head, but there’s not a hint of embarrassment in the notion. Only...curiosity, the need to learn about it. 

“Wow,” Sonic huffs amusedly. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. “You guys really are way too far behind on the technology department. You need to up your game if you ask me.” 

Blaze whips her head at the side and Sonic’s smile falls, replaced by a barely audible wince as he closes his eyes.

“Wrong topic.” he shifts on his seat. “Sorry.” 

Her gaze is now turned to him, to his emeralds eyes that are looking right back at her. She smiles softly, accepting his apology. 

He smiles back, unable to do anything else but that. “That’s an amplifier. You plug your guitar into it, so it can produce the signature electric sound.”

“You mean that’s a guitar?” she points at the instrument that is connected to the ‘amplifier’.

Sonic rubs his nose. “An electric guitar.” 

At that, both her arms fall to her sides as her jaw drops. Sonic cocks a brow at her. Playing the guitar is a great achievement (and it does make him look good) but it’s not that impressive. At least, not impressive enough to gain such a reaction from Blaze. However, he is reminded that he has mentioned that he is a guitarist from time to time when she’s been around, so, why was she so taken aback? Unless...

”Don’t tell me you haven’t seen one of these either?” he asks, taking his guitar in his hands to bring it closer to her. “You don’t have guitars here?”

Blaze pushes the guitar back to Sonic’s chest with a single finger. “We do have guitars.” She giggles at his relieved exhale. “Just- not electric ones.” She shruggs and Sonic fights down the urge to let his jaw drop to the floor. If he wants to be honest, it shouldn’t be as much of a surprise to begin with. But it doesn’t really matter.

He bends forward, closer to Blaze who stays perfectly still as she follows his every move with her golden eyes, shining as bright as a thousand suns, trying to understand what he is planning this time around.

“Then, Blaze,” he smirks confidently at her perplexed expression. “Allow me to demonstrate.” 

He reaches for the amplifier, turning it on without taking his eyes away from her, without moving back. And to her credit, Blaze didn’t flinch either, despite her eyebrows shooting upwards in apparent question which only added to Sonic’s satisfaction. It is always rewarding to see her expression turn into this wary one she has now, he can almost hear the gears turn in her head. 

“I’m all ears.” she says, smiling slightly as he sits back on her bed, right at the spot he was before. 

Sonic’s own grin never brushes off from his face. He places his fingers on the neck of the guitar and he strumms on the chords gently just once. The sound that plays through the amplifier is pleasant, not too loud but not too quiet; exactly as it should be and exactly as he was expecting it to be. 

What he wasn’t expecting was Blaze jumping backwards, her fur standing on edge, her ears and tail perfectly still and her eyes wide open, focused on the source of the sound.

Sonic doesn’t know what to make of that at first but he can’t help the snort that escapes him. Thankfully, she ignores him (or is too focused elsewhere to hear him), carefully crawling close to the object once more. 

But she shots back again, hands and feet quickly planted on the floor as Sonic plays the same chord again. This time, he cracks up, laughing at the scared cat who only now turned her attention to him. Sonic can’t seem to stop and Blaze joins him, as their laughter fills the room. 

When they eventually slow down and stop their laughing, they’re both laying on the ground, next to each other, catching their breaths. 

“You really are a scaredy cat.” Sonic wipes a tear away.

Blaze glares at him (at least, she tries to) and brings a palm lit in flames close to him. Sonic slowly pushes her arm away from him and that earns him a giggle. She extinguishes the fire from her hand and looks at her ceiling while he watches over her movements. 

“In any other case, I would be too embarrassed to speak. But that was unexpected, even for me.” she grins, giving him a side-glance. “It was funny if I’m being honest.”

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed.” He’s quick to interrject. “You, uh, you made me laugh, you made yourself laugh. That’s what counts.” 

“Well, what can I say? Your laugh is contagious.”

“Huh.” He’s lost in her eyes for a moment, the golden pools that always seemed to have the power to draw him in, like magnets, he couldn’t resist.

He shuts his eyes in a hurry, before he acts on a whim or does something stupid and clears his throat while getting up, gaze stumbling upon the discarded guitar on the bed. “Alright.” An idea pops in his mind and he smirks. “Don’t go anywhere.” he says in a sing-song voice.

“Where could I go anyway?” She rolls her eyes behind his back, whispering words she knows he is able to hear.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Sonic reaches for his guitar, adjusting the amplifier at the same time. “Maybe you’d want to test out other cat insticts and you’d jump from the window to see if you can land on your feet-”

“Sonic-!”

“Or maybe you’d want to find out if you really have 9 lives.” he finishes as he lays back down, next to her, guitar on his chest. 

She rolls her eyes again but this time he doesn’t miss it. “You’re unbearable sometimes.” she smiles.

“Oh, I know, trust me.” he winks in response. “I’ll play something. But can you not get scared? I don’t know how much laughing I can take after this.”

“Sure. No promises though.”

Mimicking his companion, he turns his gaze to the celiing, letting the fingers dance on the chords, letting them play a song he’s never heard before. He is happy Blaze seems to be enjoying it because he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. 

And if he lets his heart take on, leading the fingers to play a song that says all the words he wants to say through some notes, all the words he’d never be able to speak otherwise, he doesn’t let her know, too afraid to reveal his emotions to her but also to himself.

And so, he keeps strumming, he opens his heart to create a song at the spot just for her.

Even if she doesn’t know.

[miasudare]

New facts! 2

Characters:

-Undyne's family is rich af. She lives with them but already has a home of her own that she'll have when she's in university

-Nightmare owns Metal albums. He used to play electro guitar

-Catty and BP still acts like siblings to this day

-Sometimes Fuku helps her dad (Grillby) at the cafeteria

-Sans is owns a market and works there. He is Papyrus's guardian on paper and goes to parent-teacher meetings for him

-Papyrus is a huge Gordon Ramsay and Uncle Roger fan

-Blue is a huge Sonic fan. He forces (optional) Red to cosplay with him as Shadow

-Sometimes SG stays at Fuku's. Grillby and gets along

-Muffet works in the canteen and hates Red since his deals are better

-Outer is claustrophobic (why not)

-Killer isn't a nerd. He is just smart in general and he will shove it to your face. Killer also has a thing for knifes, especially karambits

-Asriel is in collage and he graduated Underhigh as the student of honor

-Nightmare usually controls Ink's nightmares just to fuck with him

-Error likes RuPaul's Drag Race

[overthinkingalchemist]

In Your Honor: Heartbreak Storytelling

"It's an album that appears to be telling a narrative: the story of a broken-hearted protagonist trying to navigate his confusing feelings in a lopsided relationship. Be it unrequited love or a toxic relationship, he struggles to get over this fractured connection that brings him anxiety and pain."

In Your Honor is, at first glance, your standard affair when it comes to Foo Fighters albums. Songs that speak in broad terms about feelings in relationships, with catchy guitar melodies, describe essentially the entire band’s discography. However, going back to it after the release of But Here We Are, an album with clear strong overarching themes of grief, made me appreciate the progression of emotions evoked in each of the songs a lot more. Particularly interesting is the fact that In Your Honor, in its first disc, seems to also have an overarching theme. It’s an album that appears to be telling a narrative: the story of a broken-hearted protagonist trying to navigate his confusing feelings in a lopsided relationship. Be it unrequited love or a toxic relationship, he struggles to get over this fractured connection that brings him anxiety and pain.

It all starts with the eponymous first track, In Your Honor — and it starts with the description of complete and utter devotion of the speaker towards this other party. And I mean some truly rock-bottom stuff; our guy is willing to outright DIE for them. There are no boundaries. As it is said in the lyrics “mine is your and yours is mine, there is no divide”. The protagonist doesn’t know who he is apart from the object of his devotion and he’s screaming towards the skies for anyone who’ll listen. Such is the emotional weight, that his life doesn’t matter apart from them.

“I will sacrifice In your honor, I would die tonight For you to feel alive”

No Way Back follows closely on the same track, but with a new sense of urgency. Maybe a bit of insecurity has creeped in, and now we’re looking for reassurance. Living in his head, pleading for a sign that he’s not fighting for nothing, he wants a response and some recognition for his love.

“I'm dying for truth Make me believe No more left and right, come on, take my side I'm fighting for you, I'm fighting for you”

It’s despair fueled by the thought that maybe things aren’t what they seemed to him. But the speaker has gone too far into his devotion, and he now knows it, but he’s still trying to bargain and get his acknowledgement. He is “breaking things” he “can’t repair”, because... well, there’s no way back from loving this person. The feelings are here and at full force, consuming his thoughts, in a borderline pathological sense.

Now, before paying close attention to the lyrics, the transition to Best of You can be a bit strange. At least sonically, it can feel like the album would flow better by going straight into DOA. But of course, in this narrative that we’re piecing together, there’s no better time for Best of You to come into play. This absolute ANTHEM represents the point of realization, where the protagonist comes to understand the one-sided nature of his love. And this realization is very much in everyone’s faces, as the first verse starts with a “confession” of how far they’ve fallen. In this moment of lucidity, there comes a want to break away from the chains that bind him to this unhealthy attachment. The protagonist feels like a fool, stuck between “life or death” — which is understandable after investing so much into something and getting your hopes suddenly swept off your feet. Seeing through the cracks, he wants to make an effort to regain his agency in life, validate his feelings, and heal. He uses chains, ropes, and death as analogies for the weight of his feelings, as he declares that this pain is a very real pain. And it is. Whether his agony is brought by his own doing as he obsesses over an unrequited love and feels hurt for being unwanted, or by being put-down by a toxic relationship, his feelings are real and need to be validated before he can go on a path of healing. It’s very appropriate for Best of You to be the most popular song from the album, as it perfectly encapsulates its feelings and conflict as a whole, bringing an intense and emotionally charged basis for it to build upon.

"He uses chains, ropes, and death as analogies for the weight of his feelings, as he declares that this pain is a very real pain. And it is."

DOA is a breaking point. Lover-guy has had it of his suffering and wants to tell everyone that he will move on. Imbued with some false confidence, even the song adopts a relatively fun, playful sound to represent this façade of a nonchalant attitude. But on top of that, a lot of aggression seeps in, as the protagonist antagonizes the other party (perhaps to make it easier to justify his feelings of hurt). After seeing through his situation, he regains a bit of his power, as he recognizes that he fell from grace, knows he must get out of this mental space and feels great for already taking the first steps to get away from it. And he does so by severing his ties to his love as best as he can for now.

“I'm finished, I'm getting you off my chest, made you come clean in a dirty dress” - Verse 2

“Take a good hard look for the very last time The very last one in a very long line Only took a second to say goodbye Been a pleasure, but the pleasure's been mine, all mine” -Verse 3

The following three songs seem to put the speaker in an anxious thought loop; they are a little chronologically disconnected, as if he is going back and forth on his thoughts as he tries to reframe his feelings, but he ends up getting caught further in them. The first one in the sequence is Hell, where the protagonist adopts an extremely cynical view on the relationship: “I’ll be right there, the buzz inside your head […] see you in hell”. Hell frames his experience as a toxic battle; the two parties in the relationship don’t want to break away from each other (he is still in their “spell”, after all), but the flame between them isn’t passion, but a burning hellscape.

The Last Song is as straightforward — if not more — as Hell. This time it’s about a clear desire to break off from this person. The interactions are too conflictive and out of sync to handle (maybe that’s the hellscape we’ve been described before), so the protagonist is swearing to not speak of them again, as this is “the last song” about them. This might not be true because, even here, he says that they only “pretend it doesn’t matter”. It’s not easy; there are still feelings that bind. And this is further explored in Free Me, where the lyrics seem to evoke all the bad feelings and triggers that this rupture brings them. Their problems unresolved, unspoken, as the hurt buried deep within isn’t convenient to handle or bring up. Now is the time the protagonist screams at the top of his voice his desire to be free, to break the chains that he’s seen since Best of You. And he suggests that the other party should do the same.

“All of the words that we dare never speak All of our ghosts and the secrets we keep Gather them all, and we'll bury them deep Like a safe full of sorrow” -Verse 1

“Can you free what's keeping you? Well, I need somebody to” -Post-chorus

After what is essentially the climax of his anxiety and anguish, the speaker finally sees some relief and solace, softening up and looking back on his experiences in a more positive light in Resolve. Adopting perhaps a more mature outlook after some time and distance has been put from the relationship, the protagonist reflects on his past and reframes his experiences as part of life. The good, the bad... it was all necessary for his growth. He fully understands and accepts where he stands at this moment, which isn’t to say he is “through” everything; a part of him still wishes things were easier and it still hurts to distance himself from something that he was so attached to and that he used to wish worked differently, but he is wiser from it and is finally ready to move forward. Still, he looks for that resolve to keep going and learn to be himself again.

“Looking back to find my way never seemed so hard Yesterday's been laid to rest, changing of the guard I would never change a thing even if I could All the songs we used to sing, everything was good”

The Deepest Blues Are Black paints one of the most beautiful visual analogies from the Foo Fighters. The protagonist reflects on the lost love; perhaps some reconciliation happened, or the person still occupies some space on his mind. Either way, a bittersweet wave of feelings floods his thoughts. It’s undeniable that he loves or loved this person, even after all the pain and resentment he felt, so thinking about what could have been stings. And whenever he feels this person’s warmth, the qualities he admires and their seductive features, he compares those to the vast alluring blue sea. But just like the beauty of the sea, the bitter nostalgia and the overwhelming amounts of jealousy brought by those feelings can shroud him in darkness — and drown him — if he goes too deep. He thinks about how his loved one can easily seduce someone and move on from him, and it eats at him to think about how they’re with someone else. Even if it couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t work between them… it sucks.

“Shame on you, seducing everyone You faded jewel, you diamond in the rough You don't have to tell me, I know where you've been Shining once again” - Verse 1

“The deeper the blues, the more I see black Sweeter the bruise, the feeling starts coming back All the deepest blues are black” - Chorus

And finally, End Over End is the way out. The album’s closer hits with a subtle confidence; its soundscape brings a calm but firm resolve. End Over End is hope. Hope to rise again amongst the good memories. Taking what’s good, leaving what holds you back, learning, and evolving from the pain. A new beginning is due, but renewal comes with change, time, and distance. As the experiences mold the protagonist into someone new, and hopefully better, he reflects on how he’s older and “worn” out. Marked from the past, but eager for the future.

“I'm a revolvin' door I've seen it all before I will begin again But I can't start until I've seen the end” - Verse 1

“I’m feeling out of luck Maybe I just feel too much That old familiar touch Will always sting my skin” -Verse 3

End Over End gives the album a sense of finality and renewal. The protagonist understands that there is a possibility to move on and rebuild himself if he lets time do its thing and hangs onto hope. This isn’t an ending per se; as the title itself suggests, life is a cycle of cycles. Ups and downs have taught him everything that makes him who he is. With his new sense of self, the protagonist can now keep looking for his place and his happiness — and the Foo Fighters can keep evolving and trying new things and new stories. But after all he's been through and survived… I think he’ll be ok.

“The good in everyone The ties we've left undone The heart that moves your blood All the things that bring me right back here” -Verse 3

Now, whether the band actually thought of weaving this continuous narrative at any point during production is an unknown. It is possible that they had entirely different experiences in their heads while writing this, and just as is the beauty of art, the open-ended nature of their lyrics can always evoke different feelings on the listener. So, have no worries, this isn’t me trying to decipher any “true” meanings, but rather explore a specific way to listen to and experience the album.

To be the eternally in love person, wallowing in their fantasies of heartbreak mixed with what could have been… it’s tacky, but I’d be lying if I said I don’t romanticize some pathological passion. To feel like something means so much that it consumes you and transforms you into someone new and evolved is an immensely powerful feeling that can, in a way, sum up what it is to truly live. To dream, to be vulnerable, to be disappointed, to be hurt, to change and grow; all of those are moments that can cause pain but remind us of our humanity. And maybe there aren’t many that could capture this with the needed intensity as well as the Foo Fighters.

[egg-emperor]

Hello! I have one quick question. Who is your favorite dr eggman boss fight? Mine is Egg Emperor because of 3 reasons.

1 reason: he is the final boss of my favorite sonic game

2 reason: the music is just chef kiss

3 reason: i´ll show you what real evil is! I can feel the evilness in that line if it was real dr eggman and not metal sonic team sonic would not survive. Ok thats all goodbye have nice day.

Aaagghh it's hard to choose because he has so many great ones, especially when it comes to the designs! So I can't order them properly or possibly list all my favorites but I'll put some of the ones I think of and go back to the most for both design and actual gameplay here because not all of them have as great gameplay as they look but they're all cool.

My favorite that's actually controlled by the real deal Eggman has to be the Egg Dragoon. The way it has fire, ice, electric, drill, AND bullet attacks is super epic. The separation attack in Generations was pretty cool too. I like how the tail can throw things like when he'd try to swing it to through Sonic off him in Unleashed and throw rocks at him in Forces.

And it has a really awesome design, it's my favorite mech that wasn't modelled to look like himself 💜

My favorite version of the fight is the 360/PS3 Unleashed version of course, it's intense and I love how he gives it his all in throwing everything at Sonic that he's got, it still never fails to get me hyped. I also love how energetic crazy and angry Eggman sounds, he's beautifully threatening and it's my favorite Mike Pollock performance ever so 🥰

I'm still proud of my video of the fight in all three games with all S rank with no damage. You can tell I play them over and over a ton lol

The Egg Emperor is equally loved by me and that's why I have the name. It's metal as fuck, it's designed to look like him, and he made himself into the glorious emperor mech of his empire 💕💜💖💗

I'm just sad that he didn't get to use it himself (though I like to imagine he got to in Generations 3DS and seeing him use it in IDW was a delight). I love his lance and missile abilities and his super fast violent charge that used to make me jump. The music is hype and the way it changes to the repeated 3x loop of the guitar at the peak increases the intensity of the fight. All the teams would've been obliterated if it were actual Eggman in there for sure hehe

This is like looking into a mirror because we're both Eggman enjoyers, Heroes is both our favorite game, and my edit is your icon XD

Honorable mentions would be the Death Egg Robot and Nega Wisp Armor. They have simple gameplay but the Death Egg Robot is a classic with cool abilities to stomp on and shoot spiked arms at Sonic, and one of my favorite designs for being designed to look like himself. And the Nega Wisp Armor is always a blast to play with the speed, music, and the seconds you get to come face to face with Eggman hehe

The Egg Breaker is also actually really cool, I dig the different abilities it has in the different fights, like the mace he can jump and slam down on people and he runs and swings around, the laser beam eyes, and the bombs with his face on them are golden. And also the- okay I'm gonna stop otherwise I'll just be listing every single Eggman boss ever at this point because I love them all for their designs, gameplay or both wjhshksbgkshf

Thank you, hope you have a nice day/night too! ^^ And the Egg dollar bill is much appreciated XD

[skaruresonic]

Since you're the best SA2 fan, what's your favourite level music for each character? :>

SA2 has such unique track names for its OST <3 Sonic - Other than "Escape From the City," which is ofc a classic, Sonic's level themes don't strike me as particularly strong compared to the others. If I had to choose, I'd probably pick Pyramid Cave's "Keys the Ruin":

Certain songs in the SA2 OST have a very Bond-film groove to them, particularly in stages where you have to infiltrate a highly-fortified base (Iron Gate; Pyramid Cave; Security Hall) so naturally I gravitate towards them. :P

Tails - Prison Lane's "This Way Out." The drummer went so hard on that one xP

Eggman - It's difficult to choose just one, though for the opposite reason it's difficult to choose a single Sonic level theme. His level themes are decent at worst. Iron Gate's "Remember Me? M.F.M." has a certain Bond-movie swag, perfect for setting the mood to breach a maximum-security military facility. It also cleverly employs a wah-wah pedal to make the electric guitar sound like it's literally saying Eggman's name - how cool is that?

Sand Ocean's "Way to the Base" is decent and conveys the stage's overall mood well enough, but I honestly don't have a whole lot to say about it. Ditto for Weapons Bed's "Crush 'Em All" and Cosmic Wall's "Soarin' Over the Space."

Lost Colony's "Trespasser" perfectly sets the mood for exploring the ARK's dark, abandoned underbelly. I love how quietly the song begins, with a plethora of beeps and electronic chirps, as if to suggest the colony's general systems are still alive, if dormant.

An excellent remix:

Rouge - Security Hall's "I'm a Spy," baby! B)

Shadow - White Jungle's "Rhythm and Balance" is unique for a number of reasons.

It can't be forgotten that White Jungle marks the first time Shadow has explored the natural world on Earth: much of his surroundings are foreign to him. One of his idle animation quotes suggests that this unfamiliar location unsettles him ("Fog... doesn't bother me"). If it truly didn't bother him, he wouldn't have felt the need to point it out. The noticeable pause between "fog" and "doesn't" would imply the same. This sense of disorientation is reflected in the song's dreamlike quality. The lyrics are muffled, as though heard from underwater, or perhaps blunted by the roar of the nearby waterfall, contrasted by harsh record scratch and the barking of an unknown animal off in the distance. Cryptic lyrics like "Hurry through the unexplored land, not scared at all, are you scared of something?" reinforce Shadow's possible fear of the unknown, in tandem with his will to eliminate any obstacle in his path. What also makes this track very interesting imo is the fact that it is the only vocal track in which Shadow is directly addressed by another voice. Typically, his vocal themes are sung from his POV, but the sudden intrusion of another voice telling him "Shadow, don't make me upset" and "you are hiding something" introduces an additional layer of fridge horror. Who is becoming upset? Eggman? Shadow? Is this Gerald's reprogramming at work? "Rhythm and Balance" suggests Shadow is experiencing cognitive dissonance. It complements the previous cutscene in which he decides to save Rouge despite her being a "troublemaker," as well as introduces Shadow's internal conflict in an incredibly subtle manner: "I don't wanna hear you."

Knuckles - Aquatic Mine's "Dive into the Mellow" is a genuinely relaxing tune that I've often fallen asleep to. To quote a YouTube commenter, it sounds like something you'd hear on Adult Swim at 3 in the morning xP

Fun fact: it's also one of a handful of tracks on the DC disc that you had to download off the internet, as it wasn't natively included in the extras music menu. If you want to listen to it in the DC version, you have to actually play the stage. Death Chamber's "Deeper" deserves an honorable mention, too, for the interesting imaginary conversation in the chorus between Knuckles and Sonic:

Idk, I find it a little sad that Knuckles had to imagine Sonic, like... basically treating him with a little more decency? While there's always the possibility Knuckles is daydreaming because he's irritated that Sonic saddled him with this dangerous task without asking for his input, something tells me there's more to it than that. The overall vibe I get is that Knuckles wants Sonic's help and for Sonic to be a little more sensitive to his struggles, but he's too proud - or "stubborn," as the song puts it - to admit it. I find it interesting how the song almost implies Knuckles wishes Sonic were maybe a little more emotionally mature? Because Daydream!Sonic offers to help Knuckles recover the ME because he knows how much "it means to [Knuckles]" and to find the base keys together, despite their differences: "I don't think [our beef] is the point right now, Knuckles." In reality, however, Sonic buttered him up to go hunt for the keys because his lazy ass couldn't be bothered Knuckles is the "world's greatest treasure hunter" >.> Look, SA2!Sonic is a decent portrayal, but also, like. He could have stood to be a little nicer to Knuckles at certain points, imo

[johnpaulkeith]

I know I’ve been posting a lot of studio pics lately, but it’s because…well, I love it. Many of the world’s great analog studios are threatened by the march of time, but here in Memphis we are lucky to have some of the most significant recoding spaces in the world still in operation and making records every day. @samphillipsrecording is the studio Sam opened in 1960 after he sold Sun. They cut “Wooly Bully” by Sam the Sham there. The Yardbirds cut their version of “Train Kept A-Rolin’” at Phillips. It’s where John Prine made his “Pink Cadillac” album, with Knox, Jerry, and Sam producing. And I was fortunate to get to make a record of my own there a decade ago with the late Roland Janes, a special experience I will always treasure. So I’m especially honored to be playing some guitar on the sessions for the upcoming Jerry Phillips original project, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the killer rock and roll tunes he’s been writing. They’ve made a lot of exciting changes at Phillips recently, and I’m really happy it worked out for @electraphonic to be behind the desk - which is now the Spectra Sonic console that was originally at Stax Studio B, which can be heard on Isaac Hayes’ “Black Moses” album, to name just one. It is newly-refurbished and sounds fabulous. And there’s nothing like tracking live with reverb in your headphones from an actual echo chamber down the hall. Like the song says, “ain’t nothing like the real thing baby.” It’s also especially cool to get to work with the homies on all this, @dannybanksdrummer and the multi-talented @thewilsonmc, who brought along his camera last week for our session with @commonwealther, and got these nice shots. But more on that in a later post…stay tuned… #memphis #memphismusic #memphisstudios #recordingstudios #studios #analogrecording #analogstudios #spectrasonic #stax #staxrecords #samphillips #samphillipsrecording #sunrecords #samthesham #theyardbirds #yardbirds #johnprine #jerryphillips #isaachayes #blackmoses #rolandjanes #thescottmiller (at Sam Phillips Recording) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cltsb6VARge/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[singemall-stayallnight]

Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson on Led Zeppelin

Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart perform ‘Stairway to Heaven’ at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors. | Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images

The Wilson sisters love them some Led Zeppelin.

Ann Wilson's favorite Led Zeppelin song If you ask Ann Wilson what her favorite Led Zeppelin song is, she’ll answer right away: "The Rain Song."

Nancy Wilson: 8 songs that changed my life

Led Zeppelin - The Rain Song (Houses Of The Holy, 1973)

"This is one of the most melodically sophisticated songs in the history of rock‘n’roll and also one of the most beautiful pieces of written poetry ever. It’s such an insightful meditation on life through the seasons, and it balances poetry and rock ‘n’ roll perfectly in a way that no-one but Led Zeppelin has ever been able to do."

"Along with the other artists I’ll mention here, Zeppelin were one of the bands that saved my life in high school. There’s a real magical mystery to this song. Every good guitar player that I’ve ever been at a party with knows how to play this song, but every one of them plays it differently, everyone had their own interpretation. Only Jimmy [Page] truly knows I guess."

"If I could write a song like The Rain Song, I'd probably sprout wings and fly away!" -Nancy Wilson

Ann Wilson on Led Zeppelin IV

Onstage, Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson were joined by Jason Bonham to perform an emotional, devastating version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven. So perhaps it’s not much of a surprise when you ask Ann about the album that changed everything for her.

"I think it’d be Zeppelin IV. I would listen to the Beatles and listen to the Stones and Elton John and the other groups that I was listening to in my teens, but that album really hit me where I lived.

"I knew from the first that I have to reproduce that. This is a teaching album, I said to myself.

"I know it had a lot to do with Plant’s lyrics. I mean that’s my favourite part of the gig is getting to sing those words, our words, Zeppelin’s words, whoever, is just getting to recreate the poetry in song.

"And that’s the album when he really started to write in a more masterly way."

“Timeless”: the Led Zeppelin song that inspired Ann Wilson to become a musician

A single tear rolls down Robert Plant’s face as Wilson and Heart take to the stage to play ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Wilson’s voice pierces the room as she nails the outro that cemented Robert Plant as one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time. Many singers can only dream of hitting those notes, but Wilson did it with such ease that it moved the original singer to tears.

It’s a song that meant a great deal to Ann Wilson as it resonates as a classic rock song, and it’s one of the tracks that initially got her into music. "One of the main ones, in the beginning, was ‘Stairway To Heaven’ – because of the lyrics and the epic nature of it,” she said, “It starts out acoustic and gets as big as it can be, and it takes you on a real journey. I love that song."

With this song in particular, while the words resonated because of their ambiguity, they profoundly affected Wilson. It wasn’t just about the literal interpretation of the track but was about how it made her feel. "I think it’s timeless and ageless and beautiful. "Do you get the lyrics?" "Yeah, but I don’t think you get it with your cognition; I think it’s a felt thing.”

The 10 albums that changed Heart founder Nancy Wilson’s life

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (1973)

The follow-up to the band’s saving grace, Led Zeppelin IV, it’s not outrageous to posit that Houses of the Holy can be digested as something of a sister record to its forebear. It sees the band expand on their sonic palette, both in terms of instrumentation and dynamics, and across Houses of the Holy we get stellar moments ranging from ‘The Crunge’ to ‘Rain Song’. Holding a nostalgic place in Wilson’s heart, she’s acutely aware of Zeppelin’s power.

"The summer I graduated from high school was the summer of Houses of the Holy. This album conjures up the exotic, misty magic of Old English lore blended with the riffs and beats of deep south American blues", Wilson recalled. "Led Zeppelin is a big weather system moving over hill and dale. They shift and turn together like a school of fish through some deep, magical current.”

Ann Wilson: 'Singing Led Zeppelin taught me how to sing rock 'n' roll - loud and high'

It took her a while to believe that she could sing rock ‘n’ roll. “I was maybe 23 or 24, and I was in Heart, but I was just like the chick singer in the band. But then I realised that by singing Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, covering those bands, it taught me how to sing rock ‘n’ roll – loud and high.”

Heart’s Nancy Wilson on their long road to the top, grunge friends – and that cover of Stairway to Heaven

Her favorite Heart guitar moment, however, is from a deep cut, Mistral Wind, the closing track on the 1978 album Dog & Butterfly.

"I really like the way Jimmy Page used dissonance, and his acoustic guitar playing, too," she begins.

"There’s that sort of element to the heaviness of Zeppelin. That made them one of the coolest bands on planet, because they were so versatile. So when I was working on the intro part of Mistral Wind, I was definitely channelling a Jimmy Page mentality, trying to evoke something darkly mysterious."

One of Heart’s most viewed videos is their 2012 Kennedy Center Honors performance of Stairway To Heaven for the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, including a visibly tearful Robert Plant. When Nancy remembers a moment from that night, she retains a sense of amazement.

"Jimmy Page came up later and said, ‘Wow, I love the way you play that song’. "I was like, ‘God, I could die now’". "I was just in shock to hear that coming out of him." "Then Plant said, ‘I’ve really come to hate that song. But wow, you guys did a great job.’" "Jimmy Page telling me he thought I played great was so incredibly life-altering! It made me want to get better. Keep working it!”

Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson: Our Life in 15 Songs

“Stairway to Heaven” (2012)

Ann: "When we were asked to come and participate in the Led Zeppelin tribute [Ed. note: Heart performed for the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, as well as President and Michelle Obama, at the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C.], I thought, 'Yeah, that's good. We should be there!' 'But I didn't think they'd ask us to do "Stairway." Maybe "Rock and Roll," something like that. A song that's cool, but not the ultimate anthem."

Nancy: "It was an interesting couple of days. It was beyond. It's like, Led Zeppelin … and the president! And it was Christmastime in D.C., so it was really cold. My hands were sort of frozen during the rehearsal. I could hardly play. And I hadn't really played the song too much in advance. So the rehearsal went very poorly. And the musical director was like, 'Oh, don't worry. I can just kind of shadow you during the performance. …' And I said, 'No, no, no. I'll just get my fingers warmed up first. I've got this!' And when we did it, we were just really, really nervous. But we looked at each other and took a huge, deep breath. Exhaled. Didn't hurry it and just stayed on it all the way through."

Ann: "Nancy and I went up there to do it and we were like, 'We cannot fuck this up. This has to be right on.' And to calm ourselves we said, 'Well, what's the most obvious meditation technique we can grab onto right now?' And it was the thing about holding the bowl of water in front of you and not spilling a drop. And that's what we thought about when we went out there. Then after we came offstage, we spilled the bowl all over the place!" [Laughs]

Nancy: "It turned out really cool. Afterward there was a dinner, and the Zeppelin guys came up to us individually to say how much they liked the performance. Robert [Plant] told us, 'I've grown to hate that song so much because people just murder it all the time.' And it's like, 'What?' But then he said, 'But you guys did a great job with it.'"

"And people like to tell us, 'You made Led Zeppelin cry!' But I think it was more about their family. The fact that Jason Bonham was drumming on the song with us, and wearing the bowler hat like his dad used to wear, was one of the things that really affected them emotionally. For them to see him up there was, I'm sure, the bigger reason for them to get emotional – more than just watching us!"

Heart's Ann Wilson Recalls How It Felt to Perform 'Stairway to Heaven' in Front of Led Zeppelin Members "'Let's just go out right now and keep our eyes on the ball and do the song the way we know we can and make it good.'" "The mission was to please the Led Zeppelin guys, really. And I think we did."

Led Zeppelin playing at the Sydney Showground, in Sydney, Australia of 1972.

Source: Twitter

[chorusfm]

Coheed and Cambria Announce New Album

Coheed and Cambria will release The Father of Make Believe on March 13th. Today they’ve shared the single “Searching for Tomorrow” and pre-orders are now up. Coheed and Cambria announces their forthcoming album The Father of Make Believe due March 13th, 2025 via Virgin Music Group. The new full-length marks the 10th studio album from the New York band and continues the narrative of The Amory Wars / Vaxis universe, following their 2022 album Vaxis Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind, which garnered critical success and the band’s first Top 10 radio single of their career with “Shoulders.” Alongside the album’s announcement, Coheed and Cambria shares the new single “Searching for Tomorrow,” which arrives alongside an Anthony Scheppard-directed and animated video. The Father of Make Believe will also include the recently-released single “Blind Side Sonny,” arguably Coheed and Cambria’s most aggressive track to date that was complemented by a Max Moore-directed video that unveiled a new villain in The Amory Wars realm.  Speaking about “Searching for Tomorrow” and The Father of Make Believe, bandleader, vocalist and lead guitarist Caludio Sanchez shares, "This song is a reminder that always looking for something better in your life robs you of being able to appreciate the good things you already have.  With every album I try to ‘outdo’ the one before, or at least make something that sounds different and evolved in some way.  I think that initial struggle added to the feeling of having a kind of musical midlife crisis…this constant internal battle of searching for creative release and growth…the being unsure if it’s the right path. This one took more effort in the beginning, but in the end I think the digging was worth it for the subsequent surge.” Additionally, the Vaxis Act III: The Father of Make Believe limited edition box set is available for pre-order today and features the CD and digital download along with various exclusives, including Blind Side Sonny's fully wearable and functional helmet and neuro-dynamic display goggles, Vaxis Act III: The Father of Make Believe hardcover illustrated novella coffee table book, neuro-dynamic display goggles app for display customization, 11.5” x 35” Vaxis III: The Father of Make Believe bedroom poster and a signed Death Certificate of Siv Trafinder. Box set is available for pre-order HERE. One way to look at The Father of Make Believe is Coheed and Cambria establishing a desire to move forward while honoring a remarkable history. Another: a series of questions, emotions, and thoughts at war with each other — “a war within myself,” as Sanchez puts it. The Father of Make Believe fits into the band’s sonic oeuvre with wailing guitars, drums that crack like fireworks, and Sanchez’s aching, powerful voice centering us through moments both placid and pinwheeling. Where the set forges new ground is in how Sanchez embraces the role of main character. He’s often used epic songcraft to mask the stories he wanted to tell: reflections on an addicted father, memories of his beloved grandfather, fears about raising a child in a cruel world, anxieties around losing the love of his life. This time around, he’s writing more directly about his life and, especially, his career. Sanchez is the Father of Make Believe, gazing down upon this world he's wrought. Next year, Coheed and Cambria will join Tool, Primus, Mastodon, Eagles of Death Metal and more for the Tool in the Sand festival in the Dominican Republic in March ahead of 2000 Trees with Kneecap, Taking Back Sunday, Alexisonfire, and more in the United Kingdom in July. Next November, Coheed will embark on their S.S. Neverender 2025 cruise with Thursday, L.S. Dunes, The Dear Hunter, Hail The Sun, Meet Me At The Altar and more. Tickets available HERE. Earlier this year, Coheed and Cambria traversed North America with Incubus, which saw the band play legendary venues across the country, including sold out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Allstate Arena in… https://chorus.fm/news/coheed-and-cambria-announce-new-album-3/

[moochilatv]

Silent Mass presents: Black Wing

The lead track ‘Black Wing’ is a song about the sadness of an unsatisfied life. The song itself is disorienting and at other times dreamy and almost illusory complete with tribal rhythms and a repetitiveness that draws the listener in.

Silent Mass invites disciples of Post-Punk, Ethereal Wave, Shoegaze, and 90s Alternative to a wailing wall of sound that is irresistible for anyone who has prayed for a darker and heavier Enya or is beckoned to embark on a sonic pilgrimage through territories claimed by The Cranberries, Chelsea Wolfe, Cranes, and Dead Can Dance.

In sun-drenched pre-pandemic Los Angeles, Silent Mass emerged as a solitary pursuit by Ammo Bankoff. Her debut single, a cover of ‘Total Recall’ that Big Takeover Magazine called “melancholic escapist dreamery,” was released in 2020 on Dune Altar as part of the charity compilation ‘Do You Feel That Way Too? A Tribute to Adrian Borland & The Sound.’ Shortly after, she relocated with audio engineer and guitarist Robert Duncan to join drummer and producer Alex Posell in NYC. 

Encompassing haunting vocals and lush guitar lines with primal percussive rhythms that nod to Ammo’s punk-infused youth, Silent Mass released two more singles, ‘Rose + Crown’ and ‘A Cold War City’ in 2021. “Ammo recalls so many different artists (Kate Bush, Jane Siberry, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive), while not sounding particularly like any of them very much. This is melancholic loaded reverie, capable of entrancing you into Lynchian territory” noted The Spill Magazine. Their latest single "The Great Chaos" "finds beauty in the spiral of self-discovery. It's a love song about mourning a version of your past self," proclaims Ammo.

Currently hailed as “ethereal Brooklyn goths” by Brooklyn Vegan, Silent Mass will get you into a “dreamy state” with a sound that has disseminated to sold-out shows as far as Berlin and Los Angeles. They have shared the stage with occult rockers True Widow and played NYC’s five-day New Colossus Festival. In honor of the Summer Solstice, their debut album ‘The Great Chaos’ is due to be released on June 20th, 2024. The songs unfold as a collection of vignettes, illuminating dark, hidden areas of consciousness. Each track channels themes of self-alienation, distorted emotions, restlessness, self-forgiveness, and realization. The memories from these periods emerge like stills taken from a film—sometimes blurred and disorienting, other times dreamy and almost illusory.

Follow in IG:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SILENT MASS (@silentmassmusic)

[sinceileftyoublog]

SPRINTS Interview: Personal to the Bone

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The first great album of the year came out five days into it, belying the post-New Year haze and bitter cold, walloping us into paying attention. Letter to Self, the debut LP from Dublin post-punk quartet SPRINTS, out via City Slang, is a tremendously assured collection of songs that the band describes as "to-the-bone" personal. They're led by singer-songwriter Karla Chubb, whose taut shouts, full-throated yells, and pained but deliberate lyrics match the utter tenseness of the compositions. She sings about her life, and topics ranging from depression and ADHD to sexuality and Catholicism, but without the overt autobiography that can plague even the most well-intentioned writers. Her singing sonically traverses the sinews of Colm O'Reilly's lead guitar riffs and bassist Sam McCann and drummer Jack Callan's brawny rhythm section. Each song is its own journey, and when they end, it feels like you've been holding your breath the whole time.

Though SPRINTS showed promise with their early material, they sound like a complete band with their debut. Working with Gilla Band's Daniel Fox in the studio helped them embrace the charged intensity that makes their live shows so thrilling. Letter to Self begins with "Ticking", the song that's been at the start of their live setlists, on which foreboding guitar, a double-tapped snare, and Chubb's chants build to a false explosion before the full beat truly drops. (Moments like this make it clear that the majority of the band are horror and sci-fi fans, but not necessarily obsessed with jump scares.) "Heavy" builds up similarly, with twangy guitar squalls and trilling drum fills, as Chubb asks pointed questions like, "Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?" before melismatic belting, lamenting that she's "watching the world go round the window beside me." Elsewhere, they combine the frankness of Fontaines D.C. with the cascades of Midwest emo ("Shaking Their Hands") and delve into swirling soundscapes ("Can't Get Enough of It"). As for Chubb, she knows when to scream; at her most full-throated, like on "Shadow Of A Doubt", she's a dead ringer for Courtney Love.

As much as SPRINTS' instrumentation purveys the spirit of their songs, Chubb is a deft lyricist, writing clever rhymes and cutting barbs alike. On "Cathedral", she chides the heartlessness of the Irish Catholic church when it comes to their views on queer folks like her: "He's singing from a hymn sheet, I'm singing for the others / They say I've gone cold while I'm sat drowning in the gutter." "Adore Adore Adore" bemoans the sexist double standards of the music industry, wherein anybody but a straight cisgender male is subject to only love or hate. "Am I everything you wish you had?" Chubb asks, "Or am I everything you detest?" Perhaps best is the album's closer, the title track, where Chubb honors her own ability to conquer trauma, generational and otherwise. "I can shake the leaves of hereditary," she sings, pronouncing the final word "he-re-di-tree" in a cheeky bit of wordplay, continuing, "I don't have to take the path that was carved out in front of me." On Letter to Self, Chubb and SPRINTS in general toss off a world of fear and shame in favor of self-love and acceptance.

SPRINTS plays Schubas on Tuesday night. Back in January, I spoke with Callan about Letter to Self, playing live, horror, and film scores. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity, and know the Irish band is excited to be in Chicago mere days after our raucous St. Patrick's Day celebration.

Since I Left You: One of the things I love about Letter to Self is that the instrumentation and the song structures engage the themes just as much as the lyrics do. Can you talk about creating a mood between words and instruments?

Jack Callan: That boils down to the songwriting process. It usually starts with Karla. It could be one riff on guitar or start with lyrics or melody. A lot of the time, and especially with the two opening tracks on the album, "Ticking" and "Heavy", from the get-go, we talked about building a literal feeling of anxiety. That's probably the case for most of the songs. We're trying to match the emotions of the music. The intensity of the song dictates the dynamics. It's quite natural: We all know each other so well.

SILY: As the drummer, specifically, you're at the forefront of toying with our expectations, especially on a song like "Ticking". You think it's going to explode into a rousing moment, but it pulls back. It eventually explodes, but there's a push-pull throughout.

JC: Yeah, absolutely, particularly with "Ticking". It's probably one of the oldest songs written on the album. We probably wrote it at the same time as the songs on our second EP. It didn't really sit well with those [songs], but we always knew we were going to come back to it. When we started properly planning for [Letter to Self], we knew it was going to be the opening track because it has such a slow build. You think it's going to kick in, but it doesn't. Live, we start sets with that, and it sets the tone nicely and builds the anxiety.

SILY: One of the most powerful things about Karla's lyrics is that she asks questions. "Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?" You don't know who she's talking to, but as a listener, it almost feels like she's talking to you. How do you feel about that confrontation when playing live?

JC: I think it's incredibly effective. The way Karla writes is very personal and vulnerable, but in a way it's not so specific you know exactly the circumstance what she's talking about.

SILY: The album title Letter to Self reminds me of a diary. It's a cliché album descriptor when writers say that a personal album is "like reading someone's diary," but this one truly is. If I were to pick up somebody's diary without knowing them, it wouldn't make total sense. I might be able to relate to vague feelings, but I wouldn't know the specifics they refer to. Do you think the record achieves an ideal level of abstraction?

JC: Absolutely. A lot of it was about dealing with those emotions or experiences. Since we've started out as a band, Karla's become more comfortable being vulnerable and open in her songwriting. Our first EP had some personal things, and our second EP was about the self and everyday life, but this is more to-the-bone personal. I think that felt very natural to Karla. There's an honesty to it. She's writing about her own experiences and how she feels about them.

SILY: How is playing the songs live from an emotional standpoint? Do you find yourselves in a similar headspace to when you recorded them, or do you let loose?

JC: I think the recording process, especially for Karla, was more taxing emotionally. Before recording, we rehearsed songs a bunch, and we messed around with demos for a while, but because the lyrics are so personal, putting down the tracks in the studio, that's when it hits you that the songs are going to go out into the world and everyone will listen to them. When you're in the studio, and there's no live audience, just us and Daniel Fox, our producer, it just feels a lot closer. By the time you get to the live set, the music isn't just ours anymore. People will interpret it any way they want. The live shows take on a life of their own, as well. It's more about the band at that point. The live shows have a lot of energy, a lot of fun. On stage, we've never really taken ourselves too seriously. We have a bit of a laugh, even when the subject matter is heavy.

SILY: Have the live versions instrumentally or structurally taken on a new life? Do you extend things or change things up at all?

JC: A little bit. Not as much with some of the album tracks yet, because we haven't been playing them as long. It's usually something that happens naturally. Some of the songs from the EPs we play differently. "Literary Mind" was recorded again for the album. It's is way faster than the original recording. We recorded it and started playing it live. How it is on the album is closer to how it is live.

SILY: Do you have a favorite of the Letter to Self songs to play live?

JC: Probably "Cathedral". The start of that song is a bit scary, but the chorus is proper all-out headbanging. We've played it a little bit live, but not for that long.

SILY: I can imagine that's a cathartic song for you to play live. You're just pounding along.

JC: Yeah. Loud and fast.

SILY: What's the story of the cover art?

JC: It was a still taken from the music video for "Adore, Adore, Adore". During the video, there's a scene where Karla has been abducted and wrapped up in gauze. If you look closely, you may notice the thick eyebrows and mustache: I'm one of the abductors. There's a plastic bowl with water in it her head was being dunked into. The photo was taken from underneath.

SILY: Something not everyone would realize just listening to the album is how much all of you--except for Sam--love horror films and sci-fi.

JC: It was definitely a big inspiration for the videos in particular. It was thematically linked to the "Adore, Adore, Adore" video, but also just a bit creepy and weird.

SILY: Over the past 10 years or so, there's been a resurgence of artful horror films that aren't just genre pieces, that deal with a lot of the same themes on this record. They use an aesthetic to explore themes that might be traditionally explored in different genres. Do you have some favorite contemporary horror films?

JC: I'm definitely a big fan of Hereditary and Midsommar. They were a reference point, slightly thematically, and aesthetically as well. Slightly creepy but not slasher horror. Stuff that's unsettling. Especially with the music. It's not jump scares, just that slight feeling of, "I don't feel right about this."

SILY: Have you ever thought about trying film scoring?

JC: I would absolutely love that. I saw the original Suspiria not that long ago that Goblin did the score to. It's super weird. The film's amazing, but the score is incredible as well. When I saw it, I thought, "I could totally see us doing something like this." It would be a lot of fun.

SILY: I know Letter to Self just came out, but are you the type of band constantly coming up with new songs? Or do you have to sit down and dedicate time to it?

JC: There's constantly new stuff knocking around. There are already demos for what could be album 2. Even from [Letter to Self], there are plenty of demos that couldn't make it in the end. You do eventually need to find time to sit down all together and work on stuff. It's increasingly difficult as we're on the road so much, but we need to block in weeks throughout the year so we have time to do it.

SILY: Is there anything you've been listening to, watching, or reading lately that's caught your attention?

JC: I just finished Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood. The last book I read was Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu, which came out 20-30 years before Dracula. It's similar, with vampires, but there's a lesbian love element to it. It's really good, only 150 pages. A lot of people reckon Bram Stoker stole a lot of his ideas for Dracula from it. There's a lot of what we now think of as vampire lore in it from what we [attribute to] Bram Stoker. There's a castle in vague Eastern Europe [in Carmilla], so he definitely lifted some ideas from it.

I went to see Spy Kids in the cinema last week. That was a lot of fun. I don't know why they were showing it, but it was a favorite of mine as a kid. I'm going to see Poor Things tomorrow.

[whatilistenedtoatwork]

From February 12th to February 16th, 2024

12-02-2024

SQUAREPUSHER “Solo Electric Bass 1”; PHOTEK “Modus Operandi”; EUROS CHILDS “Kitty Dear”; SPARKS “In Outer Space”; EUROS CHILDS “House Arrest”; ABBA “Super Trouper”; FOO FIGHTERS “In Your Honor”;TIM HARDIN “Tim Hardin 2”; TAKE THAT “Progress”; SONIC YOUTH “Murry Street”; WEEZER “Weezer (2016)”; THE DIVINE COMEDY “Live At The Cite De La Musique, September 2008”; GUIDED BY VOICES “Do The Collapse”

13-02-2024

REPUBLICA “Republica”; X “Los Angeles”; LESBIAN HORSE “Whatever Happened To Proper Music?”; THE CLASH “The Clash”; THE BALFA BROTHERS “The Balfa Brothers Play Cajun Music, Volume 1”; THE SUNDAYS “Static & Silence”; TRANS-GLOBAL UNDERGROUND “Dream Of 100 Nations”; TAMPA RED “The Guitar Wizard”; HAIR “The Original Broadway Cast Recording”

14-02-2024

CORNERSHOP “Urban Turban: The Singhles Club”; THE SUNDAYS “Reading, Writiing & Arithmetic”; TALVIN SINGH “OK”; GUIDED BY VOICES “Motivational Jumpsuit”; VARIOUS ARTISTS “Dr. Demento's Hits From Outer Space”; SQUAREPUSHER “Just A Souvenir”; JONNY “Free EP”; DEPECHE MODE “Some Great Reward”; LIONEL BART “Oliver! Original Soundtrack”

15-02-2024

ROBBIE WILLIAMS “Reality Killed The Video Star”; SONIC YOUTH “The Eternal”; STEELY DAN “Pretzel Logic”; ABBA “Arrival”; THE DELGADOS “Peloton”; KATE & ANNA McGARRIGLE “Matapedia”; ARTHUR 'BIG BOY' CRUDUP “Rock Me Mama”; ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION “Community Music”; JIMMY SMITH “Home Cookin'”; CAN “Landed”; LESTER FLATT & EARL SCRUGGS “1961, Los Angeles, CA”; EELS “Daisies Of The Galaxy”

16-02-2024

TIMBER TIMBRE “Creep On Creepin' On”; KYLIE MINOGUE “Light Years”; KANTE “Zweilichte”; OPETH “Damnation”; CLINTON “Disco And The Halfway To Discontent”; KRISTIN HERSH “Wyatt At The Coyote Palace”

[daggerzine]

Window Shopping with The Garment District: An Interview with Jennifer Baron (interview by Eric Eggleson)

If you’re a Ladybug Transistor fan like I am, then the name Jennifer Baron should sound familiar. She has been a part of it since the beginning. But what I didn’t know was that she has another musical outlet with her amazing band The Garment District. Thankfully, Gary Olson(see previous Dagger interview) told me about her new album. I had a chance to catch up with her and find out more.

Here’s the opening track from The Garment District’s new album:

What do you think of the current music scene? Any new bands we should know about? Some newer and newish contemporary music that is frequently on my turntable and in my ears: Surface to Air Missive, Carl Didur, Zacht Automaat, The Frowning Clouds, Traffik Island, ORB, Locate S,1, Gloria, Etran de L’Air, Paint, Large Plants, Euros Childs, Emma Anderson, Heather Trost, flypaper, Colored Lights, Cindy Lee, Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network, The Murlocs, Cindy, Jacco Gardner, Tim Presley, The Cromagnon Band, Licorice Root Orchestra, Bong Wish, The Orange Alabaster Mushroom, Cut Worms, Hot Apple Band, Liam Hayes, Belbury Poly, Samantha Glass, Jackie McDowell, Chris Cohen, Golden Apples, Cory Hanson, The David Tattersall Group, Mike Donovan …

What is your musical background? Do you have any musical training? I create music as The Garment District and am also a founding member of Brooklyn’s The Ladybug Transistor (Merge Records). As The Garment District, I write and arrange the music, play multiple instruments, and write the lyrics. When I was in elementary school, I took piano lessons from a woman who lived on our street, and I still have some of my Leila Fletcher Piano Course Books. I dabbled in guitar lessons in Amherst, Massachusetts, while attending Mount Holyoke College and was also a DJ at WHMC 91.5 FM South Hadley, one of the oldest broadcasting facilities in the U.S. run by women. Really, I learned to play music in a self-taught experiential way, like the musicians I admire most, by starting a band. For me that was in Brooklyn, playing guitar in Saturnine. Soon after, I helped form The Ladybug Transistor, quickly learning to play bass for our tour with Sportsguitar in Switzerland, which flipped a musical switch to permanently be on in my psyche and life. As The Garment District, I have previously released albums on Night-People Records and Kendra Steiner Editions, as well as a single for La Station Radar (France) that features a remix of my song “Nature-Nurture” by Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.). I have also contributed songs to compilations on Moon Glyph, Crash Symbols, Crafted Sounds and Kill Collector Culture. I’m ecstatic to have my brand-new full-length album, Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World, released on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records after knowing Mike Turner through Athens, Georgia, and Elephant 6 bands, for many years. It has been such a meaningful way to reconnect, and a deep honor to be label mates with The Primitives, The Wedding Present, Great Lakes, Fred Schneider, Outer World, Swansea Sound, Katie Lass, and many others. It was a dream come true to have the expertise of Warren Defever (His Name Is Alive) oversee the vinyl production and cut the lacquers for the new LP at Third Man Pressing in Detroit. I also love having opportunities to merge music with other art forms I am passionate about, especially film and video, which I have been invited to do through the Pittsburgh-based SYNC'D series. For both in-person and online events, I composed original soundtracks (ranging from 1-5 minutes) for the series, which pairs filmmakers and video artists with musicians for live shows and online broadcasts. My music has also been featured on the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Pitt Med Podcast, and I contributed music and photography to Brooklyn-based ESOPUS magazine. In the art realm, I have also contributed an audio installation, a cassette tape and photography for group exhibitions curated by designer Brett Yasko at SPACE Gallery in Pittsburgh. In Spring 2023, I was invited to create a special DJ set for the opening celebration of “The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studio Sessions” exhibition at The Andy Warhol Museum and play my grandparents’ collection of tamburitza 78s at the Maxo Vanka Murals Community Block Party in Millvale, PA. 

Lucy and Jennifer (photo by Nicole Czapinski)

List all of the instruments you play. With The Garment District, I play keyboards live (Wurlitzer electric piano, synthesizer, melodica). On the new album, Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World, I play a variety of organs and synthesizers, electric piano, guitar on several songs, bass on some songs, melodica, glockenspiel and percussion, and sing backing vocals throughout. With The Ladybug Transistor, I play bass, guitar, keyboards, and melodica live. 

What instrument do you begin writing songs with? (guitar, piano, etc.). I write music and make demos at home typically using my Roland JX-3P synthesizer, Hohner organ, Rickenbacker 360, and Hammond M3 organ. I love the raw somewhat warbled vibe of demos and the sensation that the construct of a song is amorphous or precariously trying to hold itself together as it emerges, and the way demos can reflect the creative process. Whether I make demos using my Boss digital 8-track recorder or iPhone, I try my best to save them (I’ve even been revisiting and digitizing old Ladybug Transistor and Frock 4-track sessions!). Most of the songs on the new Garment District album emerged as demos I recorded at home, playing the core keyboard parts, and mapping out song structures, vocal melodies, lyrics and ideas for instrumentation and arrangements. I love having analog instruments around the house to encourage a spontaneous writing process, inspired by where an instrument takes you as much as by lighting, ambient sounds, time of day, seasons, and shifting vantage points. Many are incorporated into the new album: Vox Super Continental organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond M3, vintage Casios, Fender Vibrolux Reverb amp, Rickenbacker 360, and melodica. Adding to these, I was fortunate to be able to incorporate a range of analog synthesizers on loan that I consider to be the holy grail in terms of the golden age of the analog synthesizer universe, like a 1970s Roland 505 Paraphonic, Roland System 100, Farfisa Syntorchestra, and a Sequential Pro One, plus 1960s and 1970s guitar pedals I borrowed from Gregg Kostelich of the garage rock band, The Cynics.

I love both experiences of creating intimate, experimental and spontaneous demos at home, and then seeing how they evolve into a permanent piece of recorded sound within the studio setting. I am especially motivated by layered melodies that come to me when experimenting with instruments, making demos, and working in the recording studio. To me, there is a kind of alchemy inherent in the art form of music, that can emerge when a song takes an unexpected direction, but remains true to its core, such as being anchored by a melody, an instrument, a rhythm or an arrangement. I am drawn to the duality of producing and arranging music, but also being open to letting the creative process itself, and the limitations or potential of instruments, guide your vision -- not always being totally in control of the final result because it’s being created in a very particular context, time, and place. A central, guiding inspiration for me comes from nature, swimming, and observing the world around me through photography.

Lucy and Jennifer (photo by Nicole Czapinski)

Here’s another video from the new album:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXCRv4XxgSA 

Were you in any other bands? In the 1990s, I cofounded the Brooklyn band Saturnine (Dirt Records).

Saturnine at the Bloomfield Bridge Tavern (RIP) in Pittsburgh, 1990's

Here’s a Saturnine video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW03_LtH5fo  

In Pittsburgh, I also played organ and percussion with The New Alcindors, with whom I recorded an album at the legendary Castle Recording Studios in Nashville. My current bands are The Garment District and The Ladybug Transistor. 

Do you have a day job? Yes. I work as a writer and an editor, and I also am a writing tutor for teens. My professional experience includes working in art museums and co-running arts and community events. 

The Garment District live in Pittsburgh at the Andy Warhol Museum

(photo by Sean Carroll)

When did you realize how important music was in your life? Music surrounded us from our earliest days. My mom would sing Peter, Paul and Mary's "Stewball" (she went on to name her first dog after the song and he was the most loving majestic creature) to us as one of our lullabies. Growing up, our house was filled with LPs, CDs and radios, and our car had a tape deck for our many road trips to see our relatives in Philadelphia and at the beach in New Jersey (where my brother Jeff and I were born). Our parents’ record collection supplied some of our very first and favorite toys, so we were fortunate to have a private listening library to explore. So many memories of gazing at fantastical album covers: The Beach Boys, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Donovan, Leonard Cohen, The Byrds. My mom taught a high school English course called “Poetry & Rock Lyrics” and I loved writing song lyrics out on index cards used to decorate her classroom.

Our home contained mind-blowing concert posters by legendary Fillmore West artist Bonnie MacLean, including a hypnotic Pink Floyd poster. Our mom grew up in Philadelphia with Bonnie’s sister Valerie and told us stories about Fillmore posters and postcards arriving at their Penn State dorm room. We also had the lyrics to Dylan’s “Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands” written out in calligraphy and framed hanging in our house, so that gives you an idea of the backdrop that led to having music of the 1960s and 1970s in our DNA. Watching shows like “H.R. Pufnstuf” (RIP Marty Krofft) and “The Electric Company” and singing along to “Free To Be … You And Me” and “Puff, the Magic Dragon” cemented the power and value of music in our lives and definitely planted the seeds for the kind of music I make along with a particular creative aesthetic and cultural mindset. As kids, my brother and I would make up our own radio shows, playing the parts of DJs and performing commercial spots, recording them onto Maxell tapes. Our first records bought for us by my mom were songs like “The Muffin Man,” which fueled my interest in offbeat folk music and melodies. As a family, we have attended many concerts together over the years: Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch, Bruce Springsteen, The Replacements -- and it is a special bond to share with your parents. I think that empowered and inspired us to see many seminal concerts as teenagers at storied Pittsburgh venues like the Syria Mosque, Electric Banana (all-ages nights), Graffiti, Sonic Temple, Civic Arena, the Beehive and more.

Riding the T Downtown to shop at the iconic record store Eide’s for albums by New Order, The Smiths, the Go-Betweens and on and on, was a rite of passage and a teenage pilgrimage in a pre-digital era where gathering in public spaces to share the thrill of discovering new music was transformative. My deep love of music in a vast array of style and genres is something I do not separate from any aspect of my life or my identity. I have always been fascinated and moved by music because it is an art form that you cannot see or touch, yet it can transport you so powerfully through places and times and thoughts and feelings. It is both time-based but also beyond time, both fleeting and permanent, if that makes sense. 

The Ladybug Transistor live at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2023.

What artists have influenced you? On any day, I am listening to a vast range of music: 1950s-1970s psychedelia, pop, garage, freakbeat, and folk-rock; 1950s-1960s rocksteady and ska; early electronic; free jazz; 1980s hip hop; 1970s-80s pop and new wave from the U.K., Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia; soundtracks … I am deeply inspired by creative mediums beyond music: film, design, photography, material culture, especially from the 1960s-1970s. Film is extremely inspiring to me, especially 1970s filmmaking, British folk and Italian giallo. I am also very drawn to instrumental and interstitial music because it allows listeners to access visceral worlds through non-verbal communication. From Library Music to free jazz to Jamaican Rocksteady to early electronic music to albums by Yellow Magic Orchestra, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Manuel Göttsching, Delia Derbyshire, Jack Nitzsche, Hailu Mergia, Alice Coltrane, Harmonia, Broadcast and the Focus Group, and so much more. 

If you could work with any other artist (dead or alive), who would it be? Lee Hazlewood, Yoko Ono, Peter Weir, Alice Coltrane, Remy Charlip. 

What was the first CD/record you ever bought? Among the first albums we bought (literally the very first were the brightly colored plastic records for our Fisher Price Record Player my mom bought for us) were compilations of hits and novelty songs from the 1950s-1970s. I have such vivid memories of singing along to songs like The Coasters’ “Yakety Yak” (1958), Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs “Li’l Red Riding Hood” (1966) and Napoleon XIV’s “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” The combination of catchy melodies, interesting arrangements and evocative narrative imagery certainly sparked our childhood curiosity and imagination. 

What was the first concert you ever went to? Peter, Paul and Mary with my mom at The Stanley Theatre in downtown Pittsburgh. 

Who plays on your latest album?  Where did you find them? Family and friends (new and old) and members of The Garment District live band are featured on the new album. One extremely rewarding aspect of recording the new album was working with my cousin Lucy Blehar, who is a vocalist. I have always been drawn to the concept of family bands (I play in The Ladybug Transistor with my brother Jeff) and what can arise between relatives who collaborate on creative endeavors. For the two of us, we are able to sing backups and harmonies and double certain melody lines together. We share a very close bond personally, so the recording process was a very organic and fulfilling way of enjoying the studio environment together. This continues my family’s music-making heritage, as our grandfather, great-aunt and great-uncles on my dad’s side performed in Croatian tamburitza orchestra family bands in the Monongahela Valley towns Braddock and Rankin, and in Benwood, West Virginia, often for boarders who worked in area steel mills. To have Shivika Asthana (Papas Fritas) play drums on several songs on the new album is deeply special to me and to the identity of the drum sound. Our bands played shows together in the past, including at The Knitting Factory in NYC. It has been a tremendous joy to reconnect through music and the indie craft scene now that we both live in Pittsburgh. Another meaningful thread on the new album that also connects several dots, is one of the drum kits we used – a beautiful sounding 1966 Slingerland belonging to Laura Rogers (our bands, Saturnine and Ruby Falls, also played shows together in NYC and I am close with Laura’s sister and former bandmate Jennifer, who also lives right near me in Pittsburgh!). Though its provenance has not been confirmed, Laura was told that the kit, which she bought from a collector in Detroit, was used on the Nirvana “Unplugged” recordings. I love that our lives have intersected in these ways. It is also incredibly special to me that the new album features horns by my Ladybug bandmate and close friend Gary Olson on trumpet as well as Ladybugger Kyle Forester (whose solo band we just played with in Brooklyn in November) on saxophone. So, Flowers Telegraphed to All Parts of the World brings together people I adore deeply, whose gifts and energy helped the music come to life, including Dan Koshute (guitar, vocals), Corry Drake (bass), Sean Finn (drums), Shivika Asthana (drums), Alex Korshin (vocals), Nathan Musser (violin, cello) and David Klug (drums). And my constant close listener: my husband Greg Langel. 

Who is in your backup band when you tour? The current Garment District live band features Corry Drake (bass), Mike Kelly (guitar), Sean Finn (drums), Alex Korshin (vocals), and Erik Cirelli (guitar). We just performed in December for the new SYNC’D Presents series at one of my favorite Pittsburgh venues, Spirit. The event included an incredible liquid light show accompanying the music in real-time created by Billy Gruber, who runs SOS Lightshow in Dayton, Ohio. On January 28, we are thrilled to be opening for William Tyler & The Impossible Truth at Bottlerocket Social Hall. Past live show highlights for The Garment District include performing at the VIA Music & New Media Festival, The Andy Warhol Museum Sound Series and Silver Studio Sessions; Ladyfest, Deutschtown Music Festival; and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Music SPACE series; opening for Parquet Courts, Julia Holter, Soft Moon, A. Savage, Jack Cooper, The Essex Green, Jenny Hval and Mr. Airplane Man; performing at the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark for the THRIVAL Festival; playing in an abandoned 1900s-era Czech Church on the Allegheny River for the SYNC’D series; and filming a live video segment at the Mattress Factory museum (where I used to work) for Doug Aitken’s Station to Station project. 

Where can people find your music? The vinyl and digital LP is available from Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. The LP is also available in shops, with U.S. distribution through Midheaven Mailorder / Revolver.  https://www.hhbtm.com/product/flowers-telegraphed-to-all-parts-of-the-world/

Distribution for the new LP overseas is through: UK: Plastichead     Germany, Austria, Switzerland: Cargo     Border Music: Scandinavia     Goodfellas: Italy     Australia/New Zealand: Planet MGM/Groove Merchants     Benelux: Suburban   All of my current and past releases are available digitally through Bandcamp. My music is also available for listening on all streaming platforms (please support independent musicians when you can!) 

Video still of Jennifer by Sandy Loaf.

Are CD releases a thing of the past? Not in my particular world. Based on the number of people who purchased (or requested) CDs on our Ladybug Transistor tour in November, I would say no. I still have most of my CDs from the 1990s and we often listen to them on car trips. A few years ago, I actually released a CD of all-instrumental solo music, “Luminous Toxin,” via Kendra Steiner Editions, the Texas-based experimental label run by acclaimed writer Bill Shute.

How was the concert in Norway? (Egersund Visefestival) Absolutely dreamy! After having the magical experience of performing at the Egersund Visefestival in 2019 (where we joined Elf Power, Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift, The Essex Green, I Was a King and others), we were invited to return to the sublime southwestern coast of Norway for this past summer’s festival. It was especially fulfilling after the frightening pandemic years. In July, we performed at the festival along with Teenage Fanclub, Elf Power, The Minus 5, The No Ones, Colored Lights, The High Water Marks, Euros Childs, Honey Radar, The Rishis, and more. It was also the international premiere of the new Elephant 6 documentary, so there was a screening and panel discussion (that my brother Jeff participated in with Hilarie Sidney and Andrew Rieger). A blissful experience and also a total whirlwind of activity, including marathon rehearsals in a historic Norwegian house, sneaking in crisp lake swims, and not sleeping much during the midnight sun! One of many highlights was getting to play melodica (me) and flute (Sasha) with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey during The No Ones' closing set.  Since we had our November 9 show at The Andy Warhol Museum scheduled well in advance, we decided to book a Fall mini-tour for November 2023. It was truly a dream to be back on stage and in the van  (aka a massive sprinter!) with Gary, Sasha, Julia, my brother Jeff, plus Derek Almstead on drums and Ake Strömer (of the incredible Strömer Mutroniks) helping us with driving and merchandise sales. The shows at Public Records in Brooklyn and The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh were particularly moving and thrilling, with sooo many old and new friends (we missed you, Tim!) and family members in attendance. It was fantastic to be back at Schuba’s again in Chicago and see Eric and his daughter. One unexpected highlight was discovering how incredible the Bell’s Brewery venue and facility are in Kalamazoo! We hope to be back on tour again in 2024. 

Sasha Bell and Jennifer on stage with No Ones at Egersund.

Tell us about your involvement with the Elephant 6 film? I contributed some archival footage that is used in the documentary, from our extensive late 1990s U.S. tours with Of Montreal. The digitizing continues! I also participated in post-screening Q&As with Derek Almstead when the film premiered in Pittsburgh at The Harris Theater in September 2023. 

Will you be touring your new album? I absolutely hope to soon, and would love to see Dagger readers out there along the way. The Garment District has only played locally so I look forward to more shows and some touring. Stay tuned please and stay in touch! 

What are your future plans? It has been a true joy to rebuild the live band after overwhelming pandemic interruptions. I look forward to performing more regularly and celebrating the new LP. I plan to continue my cross-country collaborations with artist Nicole Czapinksi, who created the music video for “Left on Coast” (filmed at an abandoned Nike Missile Site in Western Pennsylvania). Nicole would love to project live visuals, responding to our music in real-time using techniques we experimented with in the video. Likewise, I expect to continue collaborating with Asheville, North Carolina-based artist Peter Speer, who I have known since our shared NYC days, who created the music video for “Following Me,” our cover of the 1967 song by The Human Expression. I have started conversations with Pittsburgh artists Johnny Arlett, Michi Tapes and Sandy Loaf about working on new music videos for The Garment District. This winter, I will be contributing a track to a compilation planned for 6612 Tapes, the label run by Elephant 6 co-founder Hilarie Sidney (The High Water Marks, The Apples in Stereo), with all proceeds going to a blue candidate in a vulnerable state during the 2024 U.S. election. I have some new Garment District demos emerging and hope to be back in the studio soon! 

I hope you enjoyed learning more about Jennifer as much as I did. We can only hope she will bring her band out on the road in the future. It was such a fun time seeing The Ladybug Transistor in Chicago. Here’s hoping a new year will bring a new tour.

www.thegarmentdistrict.bandcamp.com

www.hhbtm.bandcamp.com

www.mergerecords.bandcamp.com

[space-colony-snark]

Rating Metal Gear Rising Songs By How Well They'd Fit In A Shadow the Hedgehog Game

In honor of that one guy on twitter who couldn't tell them apart. I'm rating all vocal boss tracks based on narrative (how well they match Shadow's cannon), tone (how much they sound like Shadow's OST), and general badassery (this should be obvious). I have never played a Metal Gear but I do have a PhD in Shadow the Hedgehog. All results are final and totally subjective. Here we go.

Rules of Nature: This would make a great opening to Shadow the Hedgehog 2. Tone and badassery are there, but it's lacking a certain "je ne sais hog" in the narrative category. 7/10.

I'm My Own Master Now: Perfect. Incredible. Show stopping. Shadow's hero arc in a nutshell. 10/10.

Stranger I Remain: Again, damn good when it comes to Shadow's narrative. You've got the amnesia. The fighting in a strange war. The outside influences. If SEGA weren't such cowards and put female vocalists in Shadow's game I'd give this a perfect score. But they are cowards, so, 8/10.

The Hot Wind Blowing: The stupid amounts of angst are there, but otherwise would make no sense in a Shadow game. Unless he got really lost in Knuckles' level and decided to have a narrative arc about it. 4/10.

The Stains of Time: Huge points for kickass drums and electric guitar. Additional points deducted for too much mud and rain. 6/10.

Red Sun: Red Sun is my favorite goddamn track in this OST but I gotta stay true to my ranking metric and say. It's D-tier in terms of narrative. But the VIBE is there. The DRUMS are there. The instrumentals and vocal quality are identical to a Shadow OST. I have to give it a 7/10.

The Only Thing I Know For Real: Every time I listen to this song my brain switches off and I enter Teen Angst Headbang Mode. It's got it all. The lack of memories. The drive to fight. The absolutely bonkers lyrics found in any good Sonic the Hedgehog game. 100/10.

Collective Consciousness: Huge GUN vs Shadow vibes, especially if Shadow's game went even further into the "military sucks" theme. But that's the game we could have, not the game we were given, so it only gets a 6/10.

It Has To Be This Way: YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Can you IMAGINE a Shadow vs Sonic Bad End brawl to the death with this song blaring in the background???? I'd play the shit out of that and then ascend. 1000000/10.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk on this subject. I highly recommend listening to the Shadow the Hedgehog OST and the MGR OST until a Hot Topic manifests inside your skull. They're great.

[aceofvase]

scream suspiria saw

Scream: what’s your favorite movie? Hang on, let me think about every movie I’ve ever seen. This is tough because I like a lot of different movies for different things, so picking just one is really hard. I’m gonna go with Mad Max: Fury Road for its simple but effective story, likable cast, and obviously incredible stunts. We just rewatched it again, and for some reason I absorbed a lot more of the dialogue and interactions this time? There’s way more to that movie than explosions, dudes on poles on cars, and guitar guy. But also, like…guitar guy. Honorable mention goes to both Blade Runners, which I mostly really enjoy, but which also have one scene apiece that I really don’t.

Suspiria: what’s your favorite book? Okay this one is even harder, because honestly I haven’t finished a book in like six years. I remember liking Misery, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and a couple short story collections, but I don’t know if any of them are necessarily a favorite. I’m gonna go with Misery, largely because I remember it more, but this is with the notable qualifier of “I remember really liking this when I read it in high school.”

Saw: give a controversial opinion. It’s okay that games that used to be good aren’t good by today’s standards. Halo CE, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Sonic Adventure, GoldenEye, Morrowind, whatever you’re thinking of, it’s alright to acknowledge that they don’t really hold up anymore (because, to be clear, they don’t). There’s this weird perception in media culture that because something was good—or even better, important—when it came out, that it has to always be considered as good or important now. A key factor of a piece of media being influential is its successors looking not just at what it did right, but what it did wrong. Halo CE has some infamously shit level design throughout its second half; Bungie looked at critiques of the Library and learned what not to do in the future. Then they used that knowledge to make games that were just plain better than Halo CE (which is to say every other Bungie Halo). I don’t think we should forget that CE walked through its many identical hallways so that ODST could run through one of the most atmospheric environments I’ve ever seen in a game, but I get so irritated when people say that CE was better than ODST simply because without the former, the latter wouldn’t exist. Zelda is especially bad about this because the games are almost all so close in design, so people just say Ocarina is the best one by virtue of it being the start of the 3D Zelda formula (even though by this point it looks and plays like ass). I’m really not sure if this makes sense? I just really hate when I see people comparing games on entertainment quality, and then they start putting cultural relevance into the conversation, as if I’m gonna enjoy a game more knowing because of its contribution to the zeitgeist. If you don’t like that, then my controversial opinion is that I don’t like any of the games I listed at the beginning of this answer.

[all-an-act]

Possibly another adopted by tokomaru hcs but if they were all adopted together?

I gotchu~

~ Mod Noire

"We'll Save You"

(TokoMaru x Platonic!Warriors Of Hope)

They heard that they were going to be adopted by Komaru and Toko, and were all instantly ":O" faced.

Masaru and Nagisa immediately take on the protective roles of the rest, stepping in front of them at all times, as if ready to accept a beating in order to protect the others.

This deeply saddens Toko, who reassures all five kids that they have nothing to worry about.

Monaca gets shunned for a while by the other four, despite deeply regretting all she had done to them prior.

This is intervened by Komaru, who stages a mini "intervention", so to speak. She basically allows Monaca to express her regret, and the other Warriors to hear her out.

"Deal with it." - Komaru, in the middle of a peaceful argument with Toko.

Masaru, surprisingly, broke down crying, and the other Warriors were not happy.

Kotoko WAS READY TO THROW HANDS-

Honestly, if it weren't for Monaca and Nagisa, both Komaru and Toko would have probably gotten killed by Kotoko's wrathful self-

Jataro was the comfort to Masaru, and Monaca joined in on that after mediating the fight.

If anyone says the word "gentle", I kid you not, Nagisa socks them in the jaw so fast-

NOBODY gets to hurt HIS little sister. His words, not mine.

Kotoko helps Monaca bedazzle her wheelchair with cute jewels, stickers, and googly eyes!

The first time a Warrior called one of them "mom", it was completely an accident.

And it was, surprisingly enough, Jataro who said it.

Toko was helping Jataro sew up his mask after it had come apart, when he blurted it out.

"Thank you, M-M-Mom."

Toko's heart felt like it could burst right then and there.

But it shattered when he began apologizing for it.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what g-g-got into me... I didn't mean t-to... I'll never s-say it again, I p-p-promise..."

Toko hugged him so tight, she almost squeezed the oxygen out of him.

"N-No! No! I like that you see me as your mom, because that's what I a-am now!"

Jataro was confused. All his life, his mother hadn't wanted him. The idea that someone did, especially someone so kind and sweet, baffled him. It just seemed so foreign to him, and the warm affection almost seemed to burn.

"N-N-Naegi-San, too?"

"Yes! Naegi-San is happy to be your mom, too! We love you! We both love all of you!"

The first secret came from Monaca, where she revealed that she had faked her disability. She was willing to give up the faking, but wanted to keep her wheelchair for comfort. Komaru agreed to this, and allowed her to keep her wheelchair as a comfort item.

Kotoko and Nagisa were a bit upset about that, but they eventually forgave Monaca, understanding that she only used it to obtain sympathy enough to escape from the abuse of her brother and father. Masaru and Jataro forgave her right away.

Nagisa revealed once that he was getting picked on in school, and that he wanted to be homeschooled because of it.

Genocide Jack was NOT HAVING IT.

He showed up at the school, and threatened the kids' lives with scissors had a talk with them.

That was when Nagisa realized that he really could depend on the two women. He did begin to show affection, albeit in his own kuudere way, much more often.

For example, he was a lot less snarky when correcting their grammar, math, etc., and he genuinely smiles and compliments them all the time.

Kotoko gave the first hug. She was so overwhelmed with emotion, that she shamelessly, unapologetically hugged both Komaru and Toko!

Uncle. Makoto. Is. Their. Favorite. Person. In. The. History. Of. Everything.

NOW, LET'S GET INTO HOLIDAYS WITH THIS FAMILY-

Komaru and Toko totally put all five of the kids in therapy for their trauma.

None of them are upset with it, though. They actually appreciate it.

New Year's is a surprisingly fun holiday with this family!

Kotoko, Masaru, and Monaca stay up to watch the ball drop with Komaru!

Nagisa, Jataro, and Toko are all out before eleven o'clock.

The four that are awake do fun things while waiting for the ball to drop!

For example, Monaca reads them her favorite books! She takes requests, though, and if one of them requests a specific story, she will try her best to read it. Komaru makes sure not to request anything too difficult for someone her age.

Masaru gets them all to play ping-pong with spoons and mini cupcakes.

The rounds are as follows: Masaru vs. Monaca, Masaru vs. Kotoko, Masaru vs. Komaru, Komaru vs. Monaca, Komaru vs. Kotoko, and Kotoko vs. Monaca.

Kotoko paints all their nails. Yes, even Masaru's. Masaru genuinely doesn't care, and he wants his the brightest, boldest red color she has. Komaru goes for a paler green. Monaca goes for bright green. Kotoko gets her nails painted by Masaru and Monaca; one hand for each of them.

Kotoko ends up with a half pink, half black handset, courtesy of Monaca and Masaru, respectively.

Toko and the others are disappointed that they missed all the festivities, but Komaru reassures them that there's always next year.

Valentine's Day is another fun holiday for them!

Jataro saves up all his allowance for almost four months in order to buy everyone presents!

Precious babey-

Jataro ends up giving Komaru a Ouija board, tuna eyeballs, and a new electric fan to talk to.

Yes, Jataro has witnessed her strange habits, and is curious of them.

He gets Toko a little clip-on nightlight to help her through her fear of the dark. She clips it to her shirt twenty-four-seven, and always makes sure that it has batteries.

Masaru is given a cool red basketball with his name written in white letters. He never plays with it, though, preferring to keep it in a safe place, where it won't get dirty or broken.

Nagisa is gifted a large encyclopedia. It's a simple gift, but he appreciates it, and gives Jataro a long, genuine hug.

He gifts Kotoko with a cute book with kawaii, adorbs stickers. Surprise, surprise, everybody wakes up with their faces stickered, and there are stickers all along the walls, floors, and appliances. Anybody who comes over thinks it's cute, and that only encourages Kotoko to "spread [her] adorbs-ness everywhere"!

He gives Monaca a sewing machine, because Monaca had brought up her love of fashion. He thought that maybe she would want to design her own. Monaca burst into tears, exclaiming that she felt so selfish for accepting a gift from someone she used to treat so cruelly. Of course, Jataro reassures her that that's in the past, and they're siblings now. Monaca ends up with a soft smile, and hugging the life out of a very blushy, flustered Jataro.

When St. Patrick's Day rolls around, Monaca puts her Valentine’s Day present to use! She makes cute green outfits for everyone, and takes their senses of style into account. Masaru's is designed like a jersey, Kotoko's has lots of glitter and frills, Komaru's and Toko's are designed like schoolgirl uniforms, Nagisa's is formally styled, Jataro's is leathery, and her own looks steampunk.

Kotoko convinces everyone to go look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or at least some leprechauns.

They didn't find any. :(

April Fool's Day is a D A N G E R O U S day to exist, as long as they live with Masaru.

Masaru is basically a miniature Kokichi Ouma when it comes to pranks.

He switched the sugar for salt once, and Kotoko ended up sick for two weeks, considering she eats too much of it, and probably eats it in spoonfuls.

Mother's Day is a fun one! They split Mother's Day up into five days, that way each kid got to spend time with each mother.

On the first day, Toko took Masaru to a basketball game that she had scored third-row tickets to prior to Mother's Day. He cheered so loud, and it warmed her heart to see his joy at her surprise. Masaru ended up giving her a pack of colored chalk for her to write on her chalkboard with. Komaru ended up taking Nagisa to watch Harry Potter in a theater with her, after realizing they had both read the book. In return, he gave her a meal of tuna eyeballs that he cooked, himself. They weren't perfect, but... he tried. :'3

On day two, Toko took Nagisa to go write short stories together. They googled writing prompts, and each used the same one to comprise a story of under five thousand words in ten minutes. Then, they judged and gave constructive criticism to one another. He gave her high-quality pens to write down her ideas with. Meanwhile, Komaru took Jataro to plant a garden of vegetables in the backyard, and tend to it everyday. Sometimes, Jataro talks to their plants when he feels lonely. He gave her a pretty rock. Again, he tried. :'3

On day three, Toko took Jataro on a food tour, where she drove around and they got a small snack from every food place they drove past, eventually ending up with a whole big meal! He gave her a pretty flower. All the while, Komaru took Kotoko to a fashion show where they showcased pretty glittery idol clothes and lolita clothes. She gave Komaru a song she had written in her honor. Yes, Kotoko actually spent weeks writing a song for Komaru, and even got the other Warriors to play the instruments for the music. Masaru played guitar, Nagisa played the piano, Jataro played the drums, and Monaca played the bass. Of course, Kotoko was the vocalist. (Band AU?)

On day four, Toko took Kotoko to a Morning Musume concert. I swear, everyone must have had bleeding ears from how loud Kotoko screamed for it. She ended up getting an autograph and a picture with Tanaka Reina, so she was a very, very happy girl. She gave Toko a pink card that had a painted sweet message on it and was practically swimming in pink glitter. Meanwhile, Komaru took Monaca to play video games and order Monaca's favorite food. It was something simple, but something Monaca really appreciated. They played Pac-Man, Super Smash Bros., Sonic The Hedgehog, and Crash Bandicoot. And they had tons of fun. Monaca gave her a cute new outfit, made in steampunk design, that she made, herself.

On day five, Toko took Monaca to a planetarium, where they looked at all the beautiful constellations. Monaca, being the smart cookie she is, told her all their names, what they represented, etc.! And at night, they went stargazing for real, Monaca pointing out her favorite constellations again. Monaca gave Toko an invention of hers: a program she designed that filters out spelling errors, grammar errors, etc., and suggests new ideas when writer's block comes around. Meanwhile, Komaru took Masaru to play laser tag! Komaru got "shot" sixteen times, while Masaru got "shot" three times. The two made jokes about it the entire way home, and it was just an overall fun day. He gave her the baseball that he had batted to hit the final, winning home run in his last game. It was the only winning baseball he had ever hit, so Komaru felt quite special receiving the gift.

Now, onto Father's Day~!

Genocide Jack takes an hour to spend with each kid!

He plays soccer, basketball, and baseball with Masaru for the first hour!

He reads stuffy, boring novels with Nagisa for the second hour.

He cooks the best, most fanciest meal with Jataro for the third hour!

He acts out movie and show scenes with Kotoko for the fourth hour.

He helps Monaca make inventions and sew for the fifth hour!

He refuses all of their gifts in return, however, as he doesn't believe that children who have been hurt in the past, just as Toko herself was, should be allowed to pay homage to adults.

Despite them not technically being his kids, he cares enough to step into that role for them, Toko and Komaru allowing him to do so.

The fourth of July is great!

Genocide Jack brings up the idea of taking the kids to a carnival for it, to which Toko and Komaru agree.

They all get facepaints, funnel cakes, and they ride all the rides!

They play most of the games as well, and win eight or nine stuffed animals!

It becomes an annual tradition to take the kids to the carnival for the Fourth Of July!

For Halloween, of course they're all the cutest things!

Masaru is Yasutaka Okayama. Nagisa is Albert Einstein. Jataro is Frankenstein's Monster. Kotoko is a Fairy Princess. Monaca is female Izuku Midoriya.

Kotoko has no issue using her cuteness to get extra candy.

When Thanksgiving rolls around, it's always fun!

Toko and Komaru prepare dinner the night before, while the Warriors aren't allowed downstairs. They have to call if they want something, like water, and there is a bathroom in the attic.

In the morning, when the actual cooking happens, Kotoko and Masaru beg to help, but only Nagisa is allowed to, because Nagisa is the responsible one.

Even so, they invite their family members that they are still in touch with, such as Uncle Makoto, Aunt Kyoko, Aunt Aoi, Uncle Byakuya, Uncle Yasuhiro, and even Genocide Jack makes his "grand appearance".

Honestly, it shouldn't even be surprising at this point.

Christmas is another fun time!

They do Secret Santa, but Komaru and Toko make sure that they get each other.

Masaru gets Jataro; he ends up getting Jataro a whole new array of spices and flavorings for his cooking hobby! Jataro appreciates this greatly, and uses it whenever he cooks.

Nagisa gets Kotoko; he gets her a toy microphone that works like a real one, just on a smaller scale. Nagisa can now consider himself the reason "One Room Sugar Life" is belted through the house at two in the morning every day.

Jataro gets Monaca; he buys her a whole stack of fashion magazines with her beloved Big Sis Junko in them, along with new fabric to sew with. She appreciates the gifts, and assures Jataro that he can revel in despair with her when she obtains it.

Monaca gets Masaru; she gifts him with a ping-pong set, a table tennis set, and an air hockey set. Masaru is surprised that she cared enough, to which Monaca replies, "Monaca is a changed person now. Monaca cares about you now."

Birthdays are the same as Christmas, but all their efforts focus on that one person.

They grow to all love each other very much, and all of them would happily die in defense of the others.

Monaca even eventually gives up on her obsession with Junko, hope, and despair, with their help.

All the Warriors will forever appreciate everything that Toko and Komaru have done for them.

Overall, just a completely wholesome family.

[cardest]

Japan playlist

Are you turning Japanesa? I don’t think so! This, I believe is the ultimate Japan playlist. One of my favorite countries in the world to visit. it truly is a fascinating place in the world. The music from this region is just so. Crazy even! I have been a few times and cannot wait to get back over there again as soon as Crap-19 takes a hike and leaves this planet already. Meanwhile, here is the Japan playlist to keep us happy. Perfect for those of you out there in lock down.

I hope you dig the list of songs I put together. You can even let me know what songs or bands I forgot and let me know! 私はあなたがそれを掘ることを望みます Arrigato! Hit play right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_IcliLasW5eajllU8pA5Gh

JAPAN

001 Fantomas - 4-30-05 002 INXS - I Send A Message 003 LADYBABY - candy 004 Babymetal - DoKiDoKi MORNING 005 MOMOIRO CLOVER Z vs KISS - YUMENO UKIYONI SAITEMINA 006 The Cure - Kyoto Song 007  Kill Bill Vol.1 - Isaac Hayes - Run Fay Run 008 CHAI - GREAT JOB 009 Mutant Monster -  Barabara 010 Sigh - Inked in Blood 011 The Vapors - Turning Japanese 012 Fantomas - 4-7-05 013 Ocean Machine -  Night 014 Masayuki Sakamoto - Psy'chy 015 Astro Boy - 1980 English Intro Theme 016 Go Misawa - 悪魔人間 (デビルマン) - 不動明 017 Red House Painters - Japanese To English 018  八十八ヶ所巡礼「仏滅トリシュナー 019 Acid Mothers Temple - Floating Flower Shizuku No Youni 020 Ween - Japanese Cowboy 021 Otoboke Beaver - Don't light my fire 022 Gojira's Godzilla Theme Song 023 Cavalera Conspiracy -  Bonzai Kamikazee 024 Ultra Bide - DNA vs DNA 025 David Bowie - Crystal Japan 026 A Flock Of Seagulls - Tokyo 027 Sakura - Cherry blossoms 028 BON JOVI - Tokyo Road 029 Aneka - Japanese boy 030 Endon - Boy Meets Girl 031 Junko Ohashi - Dancin' 032 Ike Reiko - Yoake No Scat 033 Shohjo-Tai - Flamingo Island 034 Chthonic - Kaoru 035 Herbie Hancock - Nobu 036 Akiko Yano - Dogs Awaiting 037 Inoyama Land - Glass Chaim 038 Fantomas -  4-14-05 039 Hide - Dice 040 Japan - Talking drum 041 Sabbat - Samurai Zombies 042 Brian Ice - Tokyo 043 W.A.S.P. - Tokyos on fire 044 UHNELLYS - SWITCH 045 Boris -  LOVE 046 Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Battle Without Honor or Humanity Tomoyasu Hotei 047 eX-Girl - Pretty You Ugly 048 Gonin Ish - Shagan No Tou 049 Banana Erectors - Fed Up With Highschool Days 050 Strapping Young Lad - Japan 051 Yoshida Brothers - Ibuki 052 Zeni Geva - Total Castration 053 Flower Travellin' Band - Satori, Pt. 1 054 MOMOIRO CLOVER Z - GOUNN - 055 Tom Waits - Big In Japan 056 ABIGAIL - A Witch Named Aspilcuetta 057 Sigh - The Tombfiller 058 Marty Friedman-Dragon's Kiss-Dragon Mistress 059 RIOT - Tokyo Rose 060 Fantomas - 4-13-05 061 Guitar Wolf - High Schooler Action 062 Becoming a Geisha - Memoirs of a Geisha Soundtrack 063 Seven Samurai- Ending Theme 064 Miki Sugimoto - Rei's Ballad (Theme from Zero Woman Red Handcuffs) 065 Yoshida Brothers - Rising from Best Of Yoshida Brothers 066 Ruler - Jeanie Jeanie Jeanie 067 Kill Bill Vol. 1 OST - Twisted Nerve - Bernard Herrmann 068 Fantomas - 4-23-05 069 Shonen Knife - It's a New Find 070 Polish National Radio Symphony OrchestraKrzysztof Penderecki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima 071 ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE - Helen Buddha; Miss Condom X 072 Shugo Tokumaru - Decorate 073 PiGu - Bye Bye Honey 074 Hello Kitty Theme Song - Hello Kitty 075 ACUTE -  生き地獄 076 Sabbat - Karmagmassacre 077 Yellow Magic Orchestra - Tong Poo 078 Yojimbo OST -  Main Theme 079 Anpan-man (Red beans bread man)theme song 080 Ex-Girl - The Crown of Dr. Keroninstein 081 Kate Bush - [The Whole Story] Breathing 082 Coffins - Hatred Storm 083 The Books - Tokyo 084 Fantomas -  4-19-05 085 男の一生／松方弘樹 086 Azuma Kabuki Musicians - Dojoji 087 Saxon -  Walking Through Tokyo 088 Kill Bill, Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack - The Flower of Carnage - Meiko Kaji 089 Les Rallizes Denudes - Now is forever 090 G.I.S.M. - Nih Nightmare 091 Mono - Silent Flight, Sleeping Dawn 092 Deftones - Romantic Dreams 093 Strapping Young Lad - Zen 094 Dead Can Dance - Kiko 095 Kinoco Hotel - キノコホテル「キノコノトリコ」 096 Esashi Oiwake - Ensemble Nipponia 097 Naitemo idayoi - bcmomoiro clover 098 Bryan Ferry - Tokyo Joe 099 Suzuki Junzo - Crying Out Double Suicide Blues 100 Iron Maiden - Sun and Steel 101 Kikagaku Moyo - Dripping Sun 102 Fantomas -  4-3-05 103 BARBATOS - Tokyo Rock'N Roll Show 104 BABYMETAL - MEGITSUNE 105 Eternal Elysium - Shadowed Flower 106 The Erections - stupid punk 107 The Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop (Original Soundtrack 1) 108 Rush - Manhattan Project 109 Today Is the Day - Samurai 110 Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST - main theme 111 Japanese War Music - Samurai Battle March 112 Steel Panther - Asian Hooker 113 The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation -  A Place For Fantasies 114 Guitar Wolf - FIGHTING ROCK 115 HEAVY METAL ARMY - That's Hammurabia 116 Michale Graves -  Godzilla 117 Noriko Miyamoto - My Life 118 Loudness - Ashes in the Sky 119 Mary's Blood- Save the queen 120 Mellvins - One Fine Day 121 High On Fire - Bastard  Samurai 122 Shakuhachi - The Japanese Flute 123 Luna Sea - IN SILENCE 124 Tatsuro Yamashita - Sparkle 125 PIG DESTROYER - Kamikaze Heart 126 Tomoko Kawada - Akanegumo 127 Sodom - Kamikaze Terrorizer 128 Carlos Toshiki and Omega Tribe - Sky Surfer 129 TOKKAEBI - cheon mun 130 Pere Ubu - 30 Seconds Over Tokyo 131 Wanda Jackson - Fujiyama Mama 132 Witch Cross - Night Flight To Tokyo 133 F.O.E. - Total Eclipse 134 Coffins - The Frozen Styx 135 Sword of Doom (1966) - Main Theme OST 136 Sigh -  The Transfiguration Fear 137 Yondemasu Yo, Azazel san - Opening song 138 Thundercat - Tokyo 139 GHOST IN THE SHELL O.S.T.2 - i can't be cool 140 Japandroids - No Allegiance to the Queen 141 YAMANTAKA - SONIC TITAN - Hoshi Neko 142 Doraemon 2005 Opening - Sha La La 143 Akira Soundtrack - Kaneda's Theme 144 Anatomia - Morbid Hallucination 145 Traditional Japanese music - Honno-ji 146 Kodo - Lion 147 Tomita Planets - Mercury, The Winged Messenger 148 Yuji Ohno - Lupin The Third Theme '78 149 Ninja Scroll TV Series Soundtrack - Jubei's Theme 150 OKAWARI_BOY show me your space 151 Boris - The Woman on the Screen 152 Sepultura - Kamaitachi 153 X Japan - X 154 L'Acephale - Hitori Bon Odori 155 Zilch (hide) - Inside the Pervert Mound 156 Fantomas -  4-12-05 157 Kodo - Akatsuki 158 Sigh - Hunters not horned 159 Pucca Theme song 160 Tujiko Noriko - Solo - Magic 161 MYSTERY KINDAICHI BAND - THEME OF KOSUKE KINDAICHI 162 Akiko Yano -  クマ 163 Sooo Baad Revue - バッド・レビュ 164 Pharoahe Monch - Simon Says (instrumental) 165 Imaginary Flying Machines - Sanpo (My Neighbor Totoro) (feat. Living Corpse & Yoko Hallelujah) 166 Mutant Monster - kamisama o negai - pv with romaji lyrics 167 Mount Fuji - Neun 168 Kumi Sasaki - Tanchame Bushi 169 Yakuza - Yama 170 Chai - Choose go! 171 Goto Mariko – Drone 172 Blue Oyster Cult  - Godzilla 173 Kinoco hotel –  F No Junkai 174 ASS BABOONS OF VENUS - Jet Unchi 175 James Bond you only live twice OST - Aki, Tiger and Osato 176 PJ Harvey -  Kamikaze 177 BABYMETAL - Awadama Fever 178 Alcatrazz - Hiroshima Mon Amour 179 Tokyo Blade - Warrior of the Rising Sun 180 TIK & TOK - TOKYO GIRLS 181 Queen - Hammer To Fall 182 Nana Kitade - Kibou No Kakera 183 Gallhammer - Blind my eyes 184 Yellow Magic Orchestra - Kai-Koh 185 Chikyuu Kyoumei  Resonance of the Earth 186 Hoodoo Gurus -  Tojo 187 John Waite - Euroshima 188 Tommy Snyder / Yuji Ohno) - ザ・マリン・エクスプレス (The Marine Express) 189 Boris - Riot Sugar 190 Yellow Machinegun - Again 191 Kill Bill, Vol. 1 Original Soundtrack - The Lonely Shepherd 192 Church of Misery - Chilly Grave 193 Jimmy Takeuchi  - Yasuki bushi (Shimane) 194 Yuji Ohno "Andromeda no kanata ni" - (OST - Captain Future) 195 Bo Ningen - Henkan 196 Blood Stain Child - Electricity 197 Crime - Yakuza 198 Tatsuya Yoshida & Satoko Fujii - Feirsttix 199 Ike Reiko - Kokotsu No Sekai 200 Fantomas -  4-9-05 201 David Bowie - It's no game 202 Manon - xxFANCYPOOLxx 203 Sparks - Here In Heaven 204 MAD SPYAIR - samurai heart Gintama 205 Terror Squad - Nightmare Rider 206 Fantomas -  4-6-05 207 Mutant Monster - Hanabi 208 Jimmy Takeuchi - Akita obako 209 NAKED CITY - OSAKA BONDAGE 210 Death Panda theme 211 Crossfaith -  Monolith 212  OMD - Enola Gay 213 Dir en Grey - Obscure 214 LADYBABY Age-Age Money 215 Fantomas -  4-17-05 216 S.O.B. - Deceiver (Napalm Death cover) 217 Jimmy Takeuchi - Time Of The Season 218 Dark Mirror Ov Tragedy - Thy Sarcophagus & Unwritten Symphony 219 Laurie Anderson -  Kokoku 220 THOMPSON TWINS  - TOKIO 221 Electric Eel Shock - Killer killer 222 Kodo - Nanafushi 223 Ningen Isu - Heartless Scat 224 Amachi Shigeru – Showa Blues 225 BlackLab - Insanity 226 TENGGER - achime 227  Riot - Narita 228 Martin Denny - Japanese Farewell Song (Sayonara) 229 LADYBABY - Renge Chance 230 Tokyo Electron  - She Keeps Me Shut 231 Kan Mikami - Anata Mo Star Ni Nareru 232 Kraftwerk - Radioactivity 233 CHAI - N.E.O. 234 Fantomas - 4-27-05 235 Gacharic Spin - Next Stage 236 Loudness -  Crazy Nights 237 David Bowie - Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 238 The Presidents of the USA -  Japan 239 Fantomas -  4-4-05 240 Kyary Pamyu P - Fashion Monster 241 Wagakki Band - Senbonzakura 242 Deep Purple - Woman From Tokyo 243 Krokus - Tokyo Nights 244 Kyoto - Venetian Blinds 245 Happy End - Natsu nandesu 246 Motohiko Hamase - Plateau 247 Boris - Tokyo Wonder Land 248 Asia - Countdown to Zero 249 Hiiragi Fukuda - Me And My Marshall Amp 250 Marty Friedman -  Ai Takkatta 251 Kodo -  O-Daiko (japanese drummers - Taiko - tambours geants Japon) 252 Sonic Youth - Tokyo Eye 253 Otoboke Beaver - Anata Watashi Daita Ato Yome No Meshi 254 Y&T - Midnight in Tokyo 255 Metalucifer -  Heavy Metal Samurai 256 Urami Bushi - Meiko Kaji 257 Alphaville -  Big in Japan 258 M.O.D. - Godzula 259 Akiko Yano - Hitotsudake 260 Japan - Life in Tokyo (Giorgio Moroder Version) 261 Boris with Merzbow - Sometimes 262 Dragonforce - Power Of The Ninja Sword 263 Fantomas -  4-10-05 264 The Guyver Dark hero Theme song 265 Minami Deutsch / 南ドイツ - Futsu Ni Ikirenai 266 Yukihiro Takahashi - Drip Dry Eyes 267 ZooBOMBS - Doo Bee 268 SIGH -  Shingontachikawa 269 Burt Bacharach - Me Japanese Boy I Love You 270 Kay Cee Jones - Japanese Farewell Song 271 Dhidalah - GRB 272 Kikagaku Moyo - tree smoke 273 The Fall - I Am Damo Suzuki 274 Ryuichi Sakamoto - Thousand Knives 275 Yasuaki Shimizu - kakshi 333 Godiego - The Birth of the Odyssey (Monkey Magic) 666 BABYMETAL -Headbanger

Here are the songs to listen to: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC1_IcliLasW5eajllU8pA5Gh