#sufjan recently put out this album

[sugaggukkie]

not to show up after literal weeks of being mia but I need need need to document this because HOLY SHIT

NAMJOON FUCKING POSTING SUFJAN STEVENS⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ NAMJOON POSTING GOODBYE EVERGREEN BY SUFJAN STEVENS SPECIFICALLY⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️ JESUS FUCKING CHRIST⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️

[nimuetheseawitch]

Thanks @marley-manson for tagging me to list 6 albums that I've been listening to recently!

I mostly listen to playlists/streaming "radio" or just put on an artist's entire discography, but I do sometimes just get really into an album. These are the ones my listening history and terrible memory have dragged up as most recently listened to:

Lights Out - Ingrid Michaelson

Illinois - Sufjan Stevens

We Are Pilots - Shiny Toy Guns

Trail of Flowers - Sierra Ferrell

Polaroid Lovers - Sarah Jarosz

Fifteen - The Wailin' Jennys

No pressure tagging: @hero-in-waiting, @sparrowsarus, @colonelshepparrrrd

[my-chemical-wheaties]

Albums That I Listened to in March 2024

This month started out pretty fast in terms of how often I listened to albums (As in, there were two days where I listened to three albums in a row), and then later as the month progressed, I noticed that it was taking me longer to actually get around to listening to something. I think for next time, I need to pace myself more so that I don't get burnout. I also lifted the genre and decade restrictions that I put on myself last month and allowed myself to just listen to any album that I thought I would enjoy upon first glance.

These are the albums that I listened to this month:

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel (1970)

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas (2020)

Heard It in a Past Life - Maggie Rogers (2019)

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay (2008)

Have You in My Wilderness - Julia Holter (2015)

What Now - Brittany Howard (2024)

Adventure - Oohyo (2015)

Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We? - The Cranberries (1993)

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow - Weyes Blood (2022)

Michigan - Sufjan Stevens (2003)

The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We - Mitski (2023)

You Forgot It In People - Broken Social Scene (2003)

Here's how I would personally rank these albums:

Michigan: The instrumentation is so unique; I love the usage of different types of percussion (Especially the bells) and a horn section on this album. The subject matter seems to mostly pertain to Sufjan's personal life, but as someone who was born and raised in Michigan, there are some parts that I can relate to and I definitely feel like the album sounds like Michigan, if that makes sense. This is the first Sufjan album that I've ever listened to, and I'm definitely interested in hearing the rest of his discography. 9/10

Heard It in a Past Life: Maggie Rogers has such a unique sound that fits my exact music tastes. This album scratches the itch really well for me and truly is a no skip album. I really like the fusions between house and indie rock on here. 8/10

And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow: This album sounds like a deeper, more refined version of Weyes Blood's previous album, Titanic Rising. Like with Heard It in a Past Life, this really is a no skip album for me and I respect Natalie for exploring deeper lyrical topics and themes. 9/10

Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?: This album instantly had me hooked. The instrumentation on it is dreamy and Dolores O'Riordan has such a unique and beautiful voice (Rest in peace). At least in the United States, this is a truly underrated 90s alternative rock album and I'm eager to hear what else this band has put out. 8/10

The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We: I saw Mitski live in concert this past month and so I decided to take it upon myself to listen to her most recent album in preparation. The songs themselves are pretty short, but they are all beautiful and have an almost gothic country feel to them that I really like. Plus, you cannot go wrong with Mitski's lyricism. I can confirm that a lot of these tracks sound as great live as they do as studio recordings. 8/10

Have You in My Wilderness: I feel like this is the objectively better album between it and the Mitski one, but in my head, their placements on this ranking are interchangeable. Some of the songs drag on for a little longer than I feel like they should, but I'm always down for a good art pop album and this one delivers. I especially like the usage of the harpsichord. 9/10

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends: The only song that I have ever heard from this album was one of the two title tracks, "Viva La Vida," before last month, so I decided out of sheer curiosity to give the whole album a listen. The album overall is pretty solid, and I like some of the switch-ups that happen in the middle of certain tracks. The lyrics could use some work, though. 7/10

What Now: The first I ever heard of Brittany Howard was when I was watching the Grammys some years ago and her former band Alabama Shakes did a live performance. I didn't really seek out any of Alabama Shakes' music, but I did acquire respect for Howard as a vocalist and songwriter. Just last month, she released her second solo album, What Now, and after hearing a brief radio interview that she did, I decided to go check it out. The album is fairly short at about thirty-eight minutes, but it is a wonderful listen all the way through. The soundscape is as colorful as the album's cover. It's still the same alternative rock music that Howard has been making throughout her career, but there are touches of psychedelia and house music mixed in that give this album its own unique personality (The saxophone on "Samson" in particular is just *chef's kiss* exquisite). This also marks the first album that I have listened to in this challenge that was released in 2024, the year in which I am doing this. I will probably be going back to this one. 7/10

Bridge Over Troubled Water: This is a pleasant album to listen to. I love the vocal harmonies, and the tracks manage to all sound different from each other without losing any sonic cohesion. It doesn't really stand out to me as much as some of the other albums that I listened to this month, but I wouldn't mind putting it on once in a while. 8/10

Lianne La Havas: Lianne is an underrated singer-songwriter and musical artist, and I feel like I was overdue for listening to a full album of hers. It's a pretty solid album, but I feel like some of the tracks don't have enough interesting things going on with them. It can get kind of overly repetitive at points. 7/10

Adventure: Continuing my venture into more indie, singer-songwriter Korean artists spurred by my listening of Modern Times by IU last month, Oohyo's sophomore album is a light, smooth pop album with some pleasant electronic elements thrown in for good measure. I wouldn't necessarily say that this project enthralled me as much as some of the other ones that I listened to this month, but it was a nice album to go through. Also, the track "UTO" sounds a little like "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to me. 7/10

You Forgot It In People: The melodies and guitar work on this album are wonderful and there are some genuinely beautiful moments, but the lyrics come off as extremely pretentious and honestly kind of problematic, if not outright offensive sometimes (For example, there is literally a song that has a homophobic slur in it. To my knowledge, no one credited with writing nor singing this specific track is LGBTQ+. Yikes). Additionally, there are some production choices that I disliked, such as that weird vocal effect they put over Emily Haines in "Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl." Overall, I feel like this album was mid and severely overrated by the indie crowd. 5/10

I already have a few albums that I want to listen to in April, so stay tuned for when I review those next month! :)

[ogerpon]

Rules: Shuffle your 'on repeat' playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag ten people.

Tagged by @catboyclarity THANK YOU i will always talk about music. Commentary and lyrics included because I am once again incredibly normal about music.

1.) Sleep by Slowdive - "When I see you drowning / I'll dream, dream away from you"

So apparently the version I have on my spotify is like, a reupload by a completely random user under a different name and I did not realize this was a Slowdive song until right this second. Interesting! Did not know that was allowed!

2.) Enchanting Ghost by Sufjan Stevens - "And if it pleases you to leave me, just go / Stopping you would stifle your enchanting ghost"

YEAHHH ENCHANTING GHOST!!! I was really obsessed with the All Delighted People EP a few weeks ago so I'm not surprised it's got some representation in my on repeat playlist.

3.) Two Lips - Choir Boy - "I don’t need a place to go when I give up the ghost / Tulips of the spring should grow"

Passive With Desire is a great album all around, no comments.

4.) Child I Will Hurt You - Crystal Castles - "Mercy, we abstain"

I used to be really into this album in 2013??ish. But somehow I missed this song back then, and wasn't until recently I came around to it.

5.) Big in Japan - Alphaville - "I had no illusions that I'd ever find a glimpse of / Summer's heatwave in your eyes"

This is fully because I went on a road trip with my friends and someone put this on the playlist and it was stuck in my head so I started looping it while cooking dinner one night. But really catchy song.

6.) Canine Teeth - Orchid Mantis & Fog Lake - "Tell me, what's the price of a broken dream?"

Crazy story about this one, the owner of a local record shop helped produce this album and we were totally geeking out about it together because I love both Fog Lake and Orchid Mantis.

7.) Archie, Marry Me - Alvvays - "You've expressed explicitly your contempt for matrimony"

SONG OF THE SUMMER‼️I looped this one for a good long time because it's just a satisfying listen. Those introductory lyrics are as smooth as butter.

8.) All Delighted People (Original Version) - Sufjan Stevens - "I’m not easily confused / The trouble with the storm inside us grew / But I had so much to give / In spite of all the terror and abuse"

I just KNEW something from this EP would make an appearance here again. This song is like a smaller version of Impossible Soul to me. I love the reuse of the melody from Sound of Silence, and the reinterpretation of the lyrics to be about a turbulent relationship.

9.) Leave Me Be - Choir Boy - "When we both can see / Divergence warrants no hostility"

I am once again repeating that Passive With Desire is a great album and this is my favorite song from it. It's EXTREMELY catchy you have been warned.

10.) Happy 13 - Flotation Toy Warning - "Guess we can't really choose exactly where we land / But how fast you were bound is in your own hands"

Oh man, I discovered Bluffer's Guide To The Flight Deck probably less than 48 hours ago and I'm already concerned its on my repeat. Really fun, niche album with fantastic album art (we love you seabirds).

I don't tag people usually, but if you would like to do this then please feel free to tag me back! If anyone wants more music thoughts I recently made a Rate Your Music account and there's a few things like this up there.

[rabbitechoes]

didn't listen to as much new music as I wanted to this month, but there was still plenty that i loved! i was captivated by Sprain's new album The Lamb as Effigy all month which didn't help lol. also the new yeule album was amazing as i expected. two albums from this month that are in my top ten for the year!! feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter (i’m not calling it X)

"Born For Loving You" - Big Thief

◇ genre: folk rock

Another great single from Big Thief! This band is just so incredibly consistent while also raising the bar higher and higher for themselves. They're making some of the finest folk rock of today. Can't wait to hear their next full-length project!

"The Passenger" - Xiu Xiu

◇ featured on Spellbound - A Tribute to Siouxsie & The Banshees ◇ genres: darkwave, post-industrial

Xiu Xiu does a cover of the Siouxsie & The Banshees cover of an Iggy Pop classic. Like with all of their covers, Xiu Xiu put their own sinister little spin on it. Definitely worth a listen. (sidenote, i don't think this was released in september, but shhh apple music told me it was new)

"Will Anybody Ever Love Me?" - Sufjan Stevens

◇ featured on Javelin - Sufjan Stevens (not yet released) ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, indie folk

I'm extremely excited for this new Sufjan album. Both of the singles have been absolutely excellent. He fits this sound and style like a glove. Everything feels so familiar. Could be a strong album of the year contender. (I would also like to wish Sufjan a very speedy recovery <3)

‧₊˚✧ BEST SONG OF THE MONTH ✧˚₊‧ "Margin for Error" - Sprain

◇ featured on The Lamb as Effigy - Sprain ◇ genres: drone, post rock, neoclassical darkwave

This was the biggest surprise of the month. The Lamb as Effigy is probably my current album of the year. It is a colossal achievement and one of the finest post rock releases in recent memory. This track in particular floored me. A near 25 minute epic that never puts you down for even a second. Reminds me of Soundtracks for the Blind-era Swans with a more modern twist to it. This whole album is an essential listen.

"lacy" - Olivia Rodrigo

◇ featured on GUTS - Olivia Rodrigo ◇ genre: singer-songwriter

I was pleasantly surprised by Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore album! I enjoyed the singles leading up to it, but the album feels like a step-up from her last in almost every way. This track was one of my favorites. Definitely a different vibe than the rest of the album, but she knocks it out of the park.

"Meringue Doll" - Ichiko Aoba

◇ genres: chamber pop, singer-songwriter

This might've been released in August, but I'm gonna throw it on here. Whenever I hear a new song from Ichiko Aoba, I am blown away. I'm also reminded that I need to do a deep dive into her discography soon. This track is gorgeous as is to be expected.

"Nothing Left to Love" - James and the Shame

◇ genre: country

Its still wild to me that Rhett from the popular internet duo Rhett & Link is making some of the finest country music of the decade so far. This new single is further proof of that. Like his debut album from last year, this song is very introspective and personal. It feels like he's making these songs more so for himself rather than an audience. Really enjoyed this one and I can't wait to hear what he does next!

[juangallojongaro]

Recently, I spent a non-insignificant sum on tickets to see The Killers during their upcoming Las Vegas residency. A couple months prior, I bought tickets to see Death Cab & The Postal Service perform their now 20 year old breakthrough records. This is not to brag, but only to say: I am not relevant. I am a skeleton. I am an irrelevant skeleton. 

Once I looked at my music list as an Important Document of the Past Year. I’d try to listen to all the stuff, read the lists, and put together a coherent and definitive list. I didn’t do that in 2024; I didn’t try, I didn’t care to try, and, therefore, I just didn’t listen to that much stuff. This is fine! My life is no better or worse for the change! Also, no one gives a shit about what I listened to last (or any) year! 

So, a format change. I’m gonna list a bunch of songs I liked with the normal commentary. After that, I’ll rank my top ten movies of the year and my top five favorite books I read in 2023. Sound good? I think it’s fine.

2023 YEAR IN MUSIC!

Big Thief - “Vampire Empire” A slow dawning of just, like, oh, Big Thief is just one of my favorite bands. They’re hitting that mid-2010’s (teens? Twenty-tens? What are we doing with this one?) The National-zone where every record they put out is a unique and rockin’ bop. This track is a good example of the more aggressive yelly-stuff. 

boygenius - “Not Strong Enough” 2023 was the year of Taylor Swift and the guys were a part of it. My favorite supergroup was at their peak powers last year, releasing the ALBUM OF THE YEAR as well as MY FAVORITE CONCERT OF THE YEAR WHERE I CRIED A BIT DURING “COOL ABOUT IT”. I fucking love that record so much. Before they all blew up, Baker was the stealth star carrying the pathos while Dacus made us sad and Bridgers screamed excellently. Just watch them on SNL; they’re so happy. It’s nice.

The New Pornographers - “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” Not much to say about a middling album that produced this banger with the funniest line of the year, “Now you're clearing the room just like Pontius Pilate/When he showed all his home movies/All of his friends yelling, ‘Pilate, too soon’” Side note: You ever notice how English people don’t say “quotation marks,” but instead, “inverted commas?” Frankly, it’s fucked up.

Slaughter Beach, Dog - “My Sister in Jesus Christ” Really enjoyed this album by the former Modern Baseball co-frontman. He’s settled into a more shambolic pop-oriented sensibility which suits him fine.

Sufjan Stevens - “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” I kinda came to Javelin late but after sitting through several listens it’s definitely in the pantheon of Stevens albums. I’m not sure there’s anything on here that’s a hit, but it’s so lush, dense, and achingly beautiful. He’s a man genius. ALSO ALBUM OF THE YEAR; SURE, WHY NOT?

Taylor Swift - “Cruel Summer” I don’t care this song came out in 2022. I’m in my Lovers Era! It’s pop perfection! I love(er) it! I have a lot of thoughts about Taylor Swift but no one caaaaaaaaaares. Go Chiefs.

Wednesday - “Chosen to Deserve” A twangy, meandering tune about all the embarrassing things you did when you were younger and still torment you and will forever except now you’re in love so maybe it won’t be so bad anymore? BONUS: Really enjoyed MJ Lenderman’s live album; those Wednesday folks are doing great!

2023 YEAR IN CINEMA!

Best Pictures

Past Lives (*****)

Anatomy of a Fall (****1/2)

Godzilla Minus One (****1/2)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (****1/2)

The Zone of Interest (****1/2)

Poor Things (****1/2)

Barbie (****)

All of Us Strangers (****)

Oppenheimer (****)

Showing Up (****)

Four Daughters (****)

Honorary Mention

Stop Making Sense (****)

Best Short Film

Donald Trump NOOOOOOO

The First Twelve Seconds of the Maestro Trailer “If Movie List doesn’t sing in you, then nothing sings in you. And if nothing sings in you, you can’t make Movie List.”

2023 YEAR IN BOOKS!

(In no particular order)

Nixon Agonistes: The Crisis of the Self-Made Man by Garry Wills

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Goodbye People by Gavin Lambert

Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy

[likehephaestionwhodied]

🎶✨️when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)🎶✨️

It's pride month so no one can make fun of me for actually liking the Village People this song means so much to me for real

In a similar way, it's pride month so you can't make fun of me for Hot Space being my favorite Queen album

I recently converted to the church of Stephen Stills and I was so right for that

I want everyone and absolutely no one to get into Kyle Rising with me

no little midwestern gay boy's playlist is complete with out

[ifuckinglovestvincent]

St Vincent: “Pour a Drink, Smoke a Joint... That’s the Vibe”

Ding dong! Daddy's Home

By Johnny Davis

19/03/2021

Annie Clark, known professionally as St Vincent, picked up a guitar aged 12 after being inspired by Jimi Hendrix. During her teens she worked as a roadie and later tour manager for her aunt and uncle, the jazz duo Tuck & Patti. Originally from Oklahoma, she moved to Dallas, Texas when she was seven and later attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts for three years, before dropping out.

Clark worked as a touring musician with the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, before releasing Marry Me, her first album as St Vincent, in 2007. By her fifth album, 2017’s Masseduction, she had become one of the most celebrated artists in music, the first solo female artist to win a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album in 20 years.

She became unlikely Daily Mail-fodder around the same time, thanks to an 18-month relationship with Cara Delevingne, and later Kristen Stewart. Her ever-changing music, dressing up-box image and head-spinning well of ideas have seen her compared to David Bowie, Kate Bush and Prince. To complete the notion of her being the "artist's artist", in 2012 she collaborated with David Byrne on the album Love This Giant.

Indeed, she is surely one of few performers today who could stand in for Kurt Cobain with what’s-left-of-Nirvana, performing “Lithium” at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, as well as cover “Controversy” at a Prince tribute concert in 2020, with such guitar-playing fireworks its author would surely have approved.

Following the glam-influenced pop of Masseduction, St Vincent has performed another stylistic handbrake turn. Complete with a new image – part-Warhol Superstar, part-Cassavetes heroine – she has mined the textures of the music she loved most as a kid: the virtuoso rock of Steely Dan, the clipped funk of Stevie Wonder and blue-eyed soul of mid-Seventies' David Bowie, on her upcoming album, Daddy’s Home.

The title refers to Clark's own father, locked up in Texas for 12 years in 2010, for money laundering in a stock manipulation scheme, one in which he and his co-conspirators cheated 17,000 investors out of £35m. It is also, in typical Clark style, a bit of saucy slang.

Back on the promotional trail, Clark Zoomed in from Los Angeles one morning recently – fully caffeinated and raring to go. “My vices?” she pondered. “Too much coffee, man…”

What question are you already bored of being asked?

There’s not one that’s popping out. There’s no question where I’m like “Oh God, if I ever hear that again, I’ll jump off a building.” I’m chill.

I mention it because prior to releasing your last record you put out a pre-recorded “press conference”, seemingly to pre-empt every inane question the media would throw at you.

It’s so funny. It didn’t really occur like that. Originally that was supposed to be a legit green screen conference. Like, “I’ll just answer these questions ‘cos when they need to have me on ‘The Morning Show’ in Belarus they can have this and put their own graphics behind it”. But then when my friend Carrie Brownstein [collaborator and Sleater-Kinney vocalist-guitarist] and I started writing it and it became very snarky. For some reason it didn’t occur to me that “Oh, that might be off-putting or intimidating to journalists” I just thought "This is silly”. So anyway… I understand.

We're curious about your dad and the American legal system.

I have had a lot of questions about that. For some reason it didn’t occur to me how much I would be answering questions about… my hilarious father!

How do you view his time in prison?

Just that life is long and people are complicated. And that, luckily, there’s a chance for redemption or reconciliation, even after a really crazy traumatic time. And also anybody that has any experience with the American justice system will know this... nobody comes out unscathed.

You recently presented an online MasterClass: "St. Vincent Teaches Creativity & Songwriting". One of the takeaways: “All you need are ears and ideas, and you can make anything happen”. Who’s had the best ideas in music?

Well, you’ve got to give credit to people who were genuinely creating a new style – like if you think of Charlie Parker, arguably he created a new style. This hard bop that was just absolutely impossible to play. It was, like, “Check me out – try to copy me!” So, that’s interesting. I think Brian Eno, for sure, has some great ideas about music – and obviously has made some of the best music. Joni Mitchell – completely singular. I mean: think about that. There are some people who are actually inimitable – like, you couldn’t possibly even try to imitate them.

It’s a brave soul who covers a Joni Mitchell song. Although, apologies if you actually have.

No, I have not. And there’s a reason why not. Come on – Bowie. Bowie never repeated himself. David Byrne also didn’t repeat himself. He took all of his influences of classic songs and the disco that was happening at the time, and the potpourri of downtown New York music from the mid- to late Seventies… and synthesised it into this completely new, other thing. I mean, that’s impressive. Those are the ones we remember.

How hard is it not to repeat yourself?

It’s whether people have the Narcissus thing or not. Like, it’s always got to be a balance where you’re, like, “Well, I need to believe in myself to make something and be liberated. But I can’t look at that pond of my previous work and go ‘Oh you! You’re gorgeous!’” So I don’t go back and listen to things I’ve done. I finished Daddy’s Home in the fall and it was, like, “This is done” and it felt great. I loved the record and it was so fun to make. But what I did immediately afterwards was to write something completely different. But then I don’t know, ‘cos there are people who do the thing that they do just great. And you just want to hear more songs, in the style of the thing that they do great.

Right. No one wants an experimental Ramones album.

Exactly. Or, like, or a Tom Petty record. I don’t want a tone poem from Tom Petty! I want a perfectly constructed, perfectly written completely singalongable three-chord song.

The new album has a very “live” Seventies feel. I’d read that some of the tracks are first takes. Can that be right? It all sounds very complicated.

That’s not right. I should say [rock voice] "Yeah, that’s right, we just jammed…" But, you know, I’ll be honest. There are some vocal takes in there that are first takes. But it really is just the sound of people playing. We get good drum takes. And good bass takes. And I play a bunch of guitar and sitar-guitar. And it’s the sound of a moment in time, certainly. And way more about looseness and groove and feel and vibe than anything else [I’ve done before].

Amazing live albums, virtuoso playing, jamming – those were staples of Seventies music. Have we lost some of that?

I mean, I can wax poetic on that idea for a minute. In the Seventies you had this tremendous sophistication in popular music. Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and funk and soul and jazz and rock…. and all of the things rolled into one. That was tremendously sophisticated. It just was. There was harmony, there were chord progressions.

What else from that decade appealed to you for Daddy’s Home?

It reminds me of where we are now, I think. So, 1971-1976 in downtown New York, you’ve got the Summer of Love thing and flower children and all the hippy stuff and it’s, like, “Oh yeah, that didn’t work out that well. We’re still in Vietnam. There’s a crazy economic crisis, all kinds of social unrest”. People stood in the proverbial burned-out building. And it reminds me a lot of where we are today, in terms of social unrest, economic uncertainty. A groundswell wanting change... but where that’s headed is yet to be seen. We haven’t fully figured that out. We’re all picking up pieces of the rubble and going “Okay, what do we do with this one? Where do we go with that one?” Being a student of history, that was one of the reasons why I was drawn to that period in history.

Also: that’s the music I’ve listened to more than anything in my entire life. I mean, I was probably the youngest Steely Dan fan. It didn’t make me that popular at sleepovers. People were, like, “I want to listen to C+C Music Factory” and I was, like, “Yeah, but have you heard this solo on [Steely Dan’s] ‘Kid Charlemagne’”? That music is so in me. It’s so in my ears and I feel like I never really went there [making music before]. And I didn’t want to be a tourist about it. It’s just that particular style had a whole lot to teach me. So I wanted to just dig in and find out. Just play with it.

Is there a style of music you don’t like?

That I don’t like?

You're a jazz fan...

I love jazz. Are you kidding me? I was that annoying 14-year-old who was, like, “Yeah, but have you listened to Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth?”

I love jazz. Are you kidding me? I was that annoying 14-year-old who was, like, “Yeah, but have you listened to Oliver Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth?”

That does sound quite precocious for a 14-year-old.

It’s annoying. Just insufferable. [Thinking aloud] What music don’t I like….? Here’s what can happen. And I feel like it’s similar to when an actor has some lines in a script and they’re not very good – not very well-written – so they overcompensate by making it very dramatic and really overplaying it. I would say that is a style of music that I don’t really like. Where somebody has to really oversell it and it all feels… athletic. Instead of musical or touching.

Did you put your lockdown time to constructive use?

If you need any mediocre home renovations done, I’m your girl. It was fun. I did – let’s see now – plumbing, electrical, painting. Luckily there’s YouTube, so you can more or less figure it all out. I did a lot of that stuff and I have to say it was such a nice contrast to working on music all day. Because when you’re working on music you have to create the construct of everything. You’re, like, “I need to make this song. But what is this song?” Everything is this kind of elusive castle in the sky thing. But then, if you go and sand a deck, you’ve done something. It feels really good. And it’s not, like, “What is a deck? And who am I?” You’re just, like, “This is a task and I get to do it and I can see how the mechanism works I understand it it’s not esoteric – it’s simply mechanical". I can do something mechanical. I loved it.

Which bit of DIY are you most pleased with?

Painting the kitchen cabinets. That’s a real job. We’re talking sanding. We’re talking taking things off hinges. We’re talking multiple coats. The whole lacquer-y thing at the end. That. I’m, like, “That looks pretty pro”.

What colour did you go for?

Oh, you know, it’s just a sort of… teal. But classy teal.

Of course.

Yeah. The wallpapering wasn’t as successful. But, you know, that’s fine. So that was really fun. And then I also went down a history rabbit hole. I realised I had some gaps in my knowledge about the Russian Revolution and life under the Iron Curtain and the gulags and Stalin and Lenin. So, I went down that hole. And then I was like “Oh I forgot – I haven’t read any Dostoevsky”. So I have been working on his short stories – which are great. And then Solzhenitsyn I really liked – I mean liked is a strange word to use for The Gulag Archipelago. I read Cancer Ward… All of them. I recommend all of it. And then, before that, it was a big Stasi kick. I can’t remember the last time I had time to brush up on the Russian Revolution.

There’s a lyric on “The Laughing Man”, “If life’s a joke… then I’m dying laughing”. It’s also on your new merchandise. What do you think happens when we die?

Nothing.

This is it?

Yeah. I mean, I understand that it would be comforting to think otherwise. That there might be a special place. It would be nice! The thought’s never really been able to stick for me. I would say that we are made of carbon and then we get subsumed back into the Earth and then eventually we become life again – in the carbon part of our makeup.

Well, that sounds better than an endless void.

I don’t think it would be an endless void.

In what ways are you like your mum and dad?

Let’s see. Well, my mother is a precious angel who has unwavering optimism. She is incredibly intelligent and also very nonjudgmental and able and happy to explore all kinds of possibilities. Saying that, though… it’s sounding not like me at all. I’m like my father in that I think we have very similar tastes in books, films, music and a very similar sense of humour. My mother’s so kind that it’s hard for me to… Her level of kindness and decency is aspirational to me.

How famous are you, on a scale of one to 10?

God, I mean, like, “TikTok Famous” probably a one, right? I’m gonna say – I don’t know about the number system – but I’m going to say I-occasionally-get-a-free-appetiser-sent-over famous. Which is a great place to be.

What do you look for in a date?

It’s been so long since I’ve been on a date. You know, I once read something, it might have been something cheesy on a card, but [it was]: if you don’t like someone, then the way they hold their fork will bother you. But, if you like someone – or love someone – they could spill an entire plate of spaghetti on your lap and you wouldn’t mind.

You play a zillion instruments. What’s the hardest instrument to play?

Well, I can’t play horns or anything like that. The French horn is supposed to be really hard. I don’t like to blag… but I’m an incredible whistler. Like, I can whistle Bach.

Is Bach a particularly tough whistle?

I think… yeah. It’s fast. And noodly.

What’s the first thing you’re going to do when we're out of lockdown?

I’m gonna get a manicure and a pedicure and a massage. Massage from a stranger. Any stranger.

What about a night on the tiles?

I will probably attend a dinner party.

That sounds quite restrained.

It sounds hella boring. Sorry.

Clubbing?

No, I don’t really go to clubs. I think in order to go to clubs you have to be a person who likes to publicly dance. And I don’t publicly dance. I mean I would feel too shy to dance at a wedding. But for some reason I will dance on stage in front of 10,000 people.

That’s why alcohol was invented.

Exactly! But I swear I would reach the point of alcohol sickness before I would be drunk enough to dance.

The effects of drugs on creativity: discuss.

Unreliable. Really unreliable. Sometimes after a day’s work in the studio you’re like, "I’m gonna have shot of tequila and then sing this a few more times, and then play". It’s okay but you peak sort-of quickly. You can’t sustain the level without getting tired. And then I would say that weed just makes me paranoid and useless. Every once in a while some combo of psychedelics can get you someplace. But, for the most part, you either come back to [the work] the next day and you’re, like, “This is garbage” or you get sleepy or hungry or distracted and you’re not really doing anything. I’ve never had opiates. Or coke or whatever. So I don’t know. I can’t speak to that. But with the slightly more G-Rated [American movie classification: All Ages Permitted] thing, it doesn’t really help.

What do you have too many of in your wardrobe?

I’m not a hoarder. I tend to have one thing that I get really obsessed with and then I wear it every day. Some people, having a whole lot of things gives them a sense of safety and security. It gives me anxiety. I can’t think if there’s too much visual noise. If there was a uniform that I could wear every day I would absolutely do that. And at certain times I have.

Like Steve Jobs?

Or, oh God, what’s her name? The Theranos lady… Elizabeth Holmes!

The blood-test-scam lady?

Well, I guess it was unclear how much of it was self-delusion and how much of it was, you know, actual fraud.

Another black turtleneck fan.

And – again, this is unconfirmed – she also adopted a very low voice like this in order to be taken seriously as a CEO.

Like Margaret Thatcher.

Did she have a low voice?

She made hers “less shrill”.

Oh yes. Yes!

What movie makes you cry?

The Lives of Others

That’s a good one.

Right. I rewatched that during my Stasi kick.

I’ll be honest, your lockdown sounds even less fun than everyone else’s.

I mean… Look, I had to educate myself. I went to a music college [Berklee College of Music] where I tried to take the philosophy class and the way that they would talk about it… it was taught by this professor who was from one of the neighbouring colleges in Boston. And it was very clear that he really disliked having to talk Kierkegaard to a bunch of music school kids. He was just so bummed by it. I’m trying to learn, “What’s the deal with Kant?” and he felt he had to explain everything only in musical terms [because he assumed it would be the only thing music students could relate to]. Like, “Well, you know, it’s like when Bob Marley…" I’m, like, “No, no, no! I don’t want that!” So I had to educate myself. This is where its led me.

Where should we ideally listen to Daddy’s Home?

Put it on a turntable. Pour yourself a glass of tequila or bourbon – whatever your favourite hooch is – and smoke a joint and listen to it. I think that’s the vibe.

Daddy’s Home is released on May 14

[searching-in-silence]

Dicon Jimin interview

Q: Your unique voice is charming. What do you work hard on for vocals? For example, ways to care for your throat?

Jimin : I don't have any methods other than continuing to let out sounds so that my voice can sound even more charming.

Q: You're especially known for having a pretty dancing line (figure/bodyline). What are you most mindful of while dancing? 

Jimin : I try to express the music at that moment, because I think dance is one way of expressing music.

Q: We can't not talk about Billboard. You're rewriting pop history. It's cliche, but we're curious about your thoughts (on it). 

Jimin  : I'm so thankful to ARMY. I want to make even better music to return this feeling of gratitude. I think, "I have do to better, I want to do better."

Q: Could there be any more dreams to fulfill? They say, "Now just the Grammy’s left". 

Jimin : Just like now, I want to keep doing this job happily for a long long time.

Q: I heard the members' participation in the new album was high. We're curious about the album preparation process. 

Jimin : We grasped the directionality while talking amongst the members a lot. The talk of "how about we put the emotions we're feeling now into the album" came up, so I think this album contains a lot of our stories. 

Q: BTS "goes on" from now on too. What things can we anticipate? 

Jimin : I think our music, our performances, and also ourselves may mature.

Q: Jimin always feels like "clarity (/brightness)". Even though surely, you must have times when you struggle too. 

Jimin : I confide in the members. Confiding (feelings) and saying them is the best way to stabilize them.

Q: From now, the smaller questions. What's the most recent thing you've "flexed" for yourself? 

Jimin : Hm, I bought and ate a lot of beef!

Q: If there's something that "I'm (at least/this much) the best at"? 

Jimin : I'm the best at being late/slow!

Q: Saved names of the members on your phone? 

Jimin : Moni hyung, Jinnie hyung, Suga hyung, Hoseokie hyung, Kim Taehyung, Maknae Jeon Jeongguk.

Q: Any artist or playlist you love recently to recommend? 

Jimin : I like the album by the artist "Sufjan Stevens".

Q: Again, a new sun is rising. "what kind of year do you wish it to be in 2021? 

Jimin : I'm going to improve my weak physical strength, and practice a lot too. Offline concerts will open again soon, won't they? When that happens I want to do all my best.

[paintedlight]

Supernatural Season 15 & Sufjan Stevens' “The Ascension”

Teaser: there’s a song on this album called "Die Happy” where the lyrics are just “I want to die happy” for 5 minutes and 45 seconds. yeah. yeah.

Disclaimer: yes it’s all a stretch and I’m overthinking it but also… am I? (yes) 

long post time! know that reading ahead may hurt you and yes it does get worse the further down the track list you get 💕 have fun kids

So just to start off, I think it’s funny that something Sufjan’s discography & Supernatural have in common is the 15+ years of the internet arguing if it’s gay or not, and the answer ending up being yes. PLUS there’s the obvious connection of American mythos + mythology + calvinist themes (I am hissing) + religious trauma prevalent in both. 

If you’re a fan of both like I am, it’s easy to connect them— notable connections being songs like “John My Beloved” and “The Owl and the Tanager” or even “John Wayne Gacy Jr.”, but I’m going to focus on Sufjan's 2020 album, “The Ascension” since even the arc itself seems so connected to season 15 of Supernatural, specifically. 

At least in my head it does <3 enjoy 

MAKE ME AN OFFER I CANNOT REFUSE

When interviewed about the meaning of this track, Sufjan explains that this song is about asking God, “what do you have to say for humanity?” That it’s about desperation, creation, and devastation. It’s about frustration with divinity. Also the vibes are 10/10. Need I say more 

RUN AWAY WITH ME

This song is beautiful, it makes me want to sit in some grass and stare at the sky. 

Some lines that make me Dean/Cas crazy are the two lines in verse 1 and verse 2 that mirror each other by being in the same place melodically:

Verse 1: they will terrorize us / with new confusion / with the fear of life that seeks to bring despair within

Verse 2: I will bring you life / a new communion / with a paradise that brings the truth to light within

Yeahhh so the words “Despair” and “The Truth” were mirrored in this song yes it was coincidental yes I’m clinging to it. It fascinates me 

But this song is about begging someone to stay with you.

sweet falling remedy / come run away with me / you’re all I ever need

VIDEO GAME

My first thought when I heard this song was about how it was such a song for enneagram 4s. If you don’t know what that means, I think Dean is a 4 and wrote a post about it here. 

AND @trapperjohnmcintyre also made the connection between these lyrics and Dean in this post, and honestly I don’t need to say much more than that??

The song is about feeling paranoid and angry that God is controlling your every move and you can’t escape it (aka hating the doctrine of predestination). Of course it’s also about not wanting to follow societal scripts. 

You just want to have an easier life instead of the weight of good and evil resting on your back!!!

I don’t want to put the devil on a pedestal / I don’t want put the saints in chains / I just want to make my life a little easier / I don’t want to play your video game

Also these painful lines, as a treat: 

I don’t want to love you if you don’t receive it / I don’t want to save the world that way

Oh, I almost forgot, also. At the end, the narrator gives up. He’s like well I guess I can’t escape. Gotta follow the procedure. Gotta be a puppet.

I don’t want it to go down that way / but in a way you gotta follow the procedure / so go ahead and play your video game

  LAMENTATIONS

I don’t have much to say about this one but this line always makes my heart ache idk:

I was only thinking of human kindness

TELL ME YOU LOVE ME

Here we gooooooo. Y’all aren’t ready.

Thesis: Tell me you love me despite the primordial darkness about to overtake me. And even if you don’t, I’m going to love you. 

15x18 Despair anyone?? 

I want to just paste the whole song but, here—

DIE HAPPY

Yep, "Die Happy" immediately follows "Tell Me You Love Me." Yes, the lyrics are just “I want to die happy” over and over for almost 6 minutes. 

First of all, the repetition mirrors the end of the song Fourth of July, from Sufjan’s previous album Carrie & Lowell, where Sufjan sings “we’re all gonna die” over and over.

Parallels, baby.

But I noticed something else about this recently though— in Die Happy, if you are listening to it in your headphones, there’s this weird sound that sounds like a wasp flying around your head (it made me uncomfortable which is why I noticed it, haha). After I felt unnerved for a moment, I had a realization— that this could be referencing one of Sufjan’s most beloved songs, “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out To Get Us!!” (yes that’s a real song title lol)

The Predatory Wasp is about how Sufjan fell in love with his best friend at the Bible Camp he went to as a teenager. The wasp is a metaphor for internalized homophobia and also his love and how he fears his love will hurt the boy he’s in love with. 

So, Die Happy references an iconic song from Illinois (2005) with these notable lines:

Tl;dr: 

I want to die happy vs. I can’t explain the state that I’m in / the state of my heart / he was my best friend

Here’s an Despair photoset with Predatory Wasp lyrics via @toneelspeelster. 

ATIVAN

So your best friend has just died happy by being in love with you. You feel like the primordial darkness is on YOU now:

I woke up in stereo—I spent the day in vertigo / I could not get the spirit off my back

You’re once again tossed in the waves of thinking that God is fucking with you. But either way you just want to be tranquilized at this point. 

Is it all for something? Is it all part of a plan / tranquilize me, sanitize me, Ativan

Is it all for nothing? Is it all part of a plan? / make my death wish, mind my business / do the best I can with what I am

Ativan asks, was the true leading woman all this time… substance abuse?? 

Ativan / my leading woman

Long story short, you’re drunk on communion wine, asking the shadows to come back.

fill me with the blood of Jesus / clean my plate 'til he receives us / separate the colors from the black / ... / tell the shadows near us to come back

 URSA MAJOR & LANDSLIDE

Not a lot to say about this (even though I love these songs) so I’m gonna skip mostly, but the narrator has decided he wants to love you, he can’t help it <3 

GILGAMESH

Oh boy. 

I mean you kinda know what’s coming because of the title. The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world’s oldest piece of epic world literature, and Gilgamesh was “the first hero of human history.” 

In the world’s oldest story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh and Enkidu are “very close friends” (their relationship is very homoerotic and this is barely disputed). Gilgamesh calls Enkidu his brother, and they are mutually selfless towards each other but when Enkidu dies, indirectly because of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh has a breakdown and mourns him like that of a spouse and then has to come to terms with his own mortality. 

The meta level of this is so obvious I’m not even going to go into it. Anyways… here are lyrics that make me want to scream! 

the repetition of “my heart”... the concept of singing a eulogy.... saying your heart is chained to Your Angel............ it hurts

DEATH STAR

Star Wars reference my beloved. Like many of these songs this has Fuck You God energy.

what you call the human race / expedite the judgement day / it’s your own damn head on that plate

vandalize what you create / ... / witness me resist your fate / it’s your own damn head on that plate

 GOODBYE TO ALL THAT

This song is a bop honestly 

When the lyrics were released a bunch of Sufjan fans contrasted Goodbye To All That’s here I am alone in my car / hopelessly infatuted / and I’m driving to wherever you are to Sufjan & Moses Sumney’s song, “Make Out in My Car”.

Yeah, I know, we’re all thinking of this:

Make Out in My Car is basically where Moses gave Sufjan a horny car guy chorus and told him to write the verses, and Sufjan proceeded to write the most liturgical shit ever (and we love him for it). ANYWAYS… Goodbye To All That also reminds me of Dean’s depression and the weirdness that started in 15x19 and goes into 15x20. For some reason he makes it seem more upbeat and happy than it is...

Despite this song being a bop, the lyrics are depressing. He’s alone in his car. He’s hopeless. He realizes it’s too late to have died a young man. 

He’s going to try to move on, even though nothing is left of him, he’s begging someone to turn around and show me his shadow.

He also references substance abuse again—

love me / and leave me / intoxicated

  SUGAR

The music video? Iconic. The mom of a family is making a pie, or she’s trying to. She ends up rubbing the filling all over her face, crushing the fruits, the oven catches on fire. 

But she does it! She makes the pie. 

Meanwhile the other family members are in their rooms, overindulging in sugar in all its forms. And then as she and her family eat around a dining table, occassionally being seemingly marrioetted by some unseen force, she looks angrily over her family, they all seem to kind of lose it, then the house starts to come apart until the chandelier falls on the dinner table. 

It’s the making pie + overindulgence in sugar + marionetted family metaphors for me ❤️ 

Ultimately, the song is about begging for affection, being desperate for domesticity, but you feel doomed, you feel like your defeat is predestined, that you can’t escape it.

You just don’t want to be heartbroken & you don’t want to be angry anymore!!!!

  THE ASCENSION

So you may be asking… does this guy get the domesticity he’s longing for?? Does he get his love back?? 

No. He dies. :/

The Ascension begins with just that. He’s dying.

THEN Sufjan decides to rhyme “confess” with “confess”, in two lines that mean almost opposite things:

When I am dead / and the light leaves my breast / nothing to be told / nothing to confess / let the record show / what I couldn’t quite confess

So does this guy have something to confess or not??? 👀

Moving on… 

He goes back to thinking about how his life was predestined all along, and now after all that, he’s dying. So he thinks about all the times he was kind of like this Mythological Icon. That he always had to be the one to show what was right, to lead by example. That that had been his entire identity. 

And he realizes he needs to answer for himself. 

Then he is frightened— realizing he was always asking what everything meant, what it all was for, but that all along he was just angry and depressed.

But even though he feels a like he should have just resigned himself to meaninglessness, that he only thought he could change the world for the better… it strengthened him to know the truth.

And even through the absolute shit of it all, and even though God & others did things from a place of so-called holiness and hopelessness...

He did everything out of love ❤️

So then he dies 🙃

AMERICA

So, as the end of The Ascension asked, what now? 

The album ends on this long track, which Sufjan describes as a protest against all that America has been and has become. 

It’s a protest against capitalism, of destroying humanity for the sake of some cold machinery. 

I have worshipped / I believed / I have broke your bread / for a splendor of machinery

And in true Sufjan fashion, he makes this song about protesting somehow both horny and religious, god bless

I have loved you / like a dream / I have kissed your lips / like a Judas in heat

I have worshipped / I have cried / I have put my hands in the wounds on your side / I have tasted of your blood / I have choked on the waters / I abated the flood / I am broken / I am beat / but I will find my way / like a Judas in heat

I am fortune / I am free / I’m like a fever of light / in the land of opportunity / don’t do to me / what you did to America / don’t do to me / what you do to yourself

  to finish out, here’s a DeanCas post by @eggcessive with lyrics from America ❤️ I HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY WEBWEAVING :)

[potatoleeksoup]

ok HI so im trapped in the mountains of colorado with internet so slow it takes an hour to load one image and im afraid my “blog” has been suffering for it - SO i have decided to Engage with my Audience. @newsom tagged me (thank u!) to list 10 favorite debut albums and 5 songs i've been listening to recently. albums in no real order:

songs of leonard cohen - leonard cohen

the charm of the highway strip - the magnetic fields

rites de passage - émile bilodeau

touch up - mother mother

life in cartoon motion - mika

revival - gillian welch

fear fun - father john misty

castaways and cutouts - the decemberists

bon enfant self titled

5 recent songs:

diabolo menthe (version 1979) - yves simon 

blow the house down - darlingside

empty frame - brian eno & john cale

reach out - sufjan stevens & angelo de augustine

deep sea diving suit - the magnetic fields

i will tag ummmm @fiffyivy @anamendieta @tomatosoup2001​ @kennedyandheidi @imaginarycondor and anyone else who sees this! i recently went camping with some coworkers and had to listen to their awful awful music for like 24 hours straight so i WILL be listening to whatever you guys put down immediately as a palette cleanser. ok thanks love u bye <3

[desertislandcloud]

Ulrik Munther is the first to admit that self-doubt can get the better of him. But you might be daunted too if you were about to release the most honest and thought-provoking work of your career.

At just 27, Munther is already a seasoned artist with years of industry experience. Signed as a teenager to Universal Music in Sweden after winning the prestigious Melody Grand Prix Nordic competition with an original song, he also achieved viral fame with his endearing cover of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”. Three albums followed, all charting in the top five in Munther’s home country. “I grew up in the public eye… I was sort of a teen idol,” he says, wincing a little at the term. “I've been seeking an audience that digs a bit deeper into lyrics and has more of the same shared world view.” He adds, laughing: “I want to make new friends!”

Fans of Munther’s old music would have trouble recognising him now. His new album, Put Your Self Out There, is an astounding work that shows a young man grown wise from experience, but one who is still deeply curious about the world. Munther has a philosophical mind. He thrives on ideas, and on a willingness to challenge and be challenged on important subjects. This music shows him standing on the edge, ready to set sail on a new adventure.

“What I want to say most with this music is probably, be yourself and be honest,” he says from his home in Gothenburg. “To think about things a little more.” While he always knew he wanted to create music, his introduction to the industry at such a young age meant that he was, perhaps, steered in a direction that didn’t quite fit. “At that age you’re very impressionable,” he says, nodding. “It’s easier to trust someone older than to trust yourself.” Feeling somewhat jaded, he took a break from his flourishing pop career and began writing with renowned Swedish author and comedian Jonas Gardell. This marked the first step towards the most personal project of his career to date. “I want this album to lay a foundation I can build on,” he says.

Listeners will recognise the clear influence of Bon Iver in the quirky opener, “Apartment Girl”, on which Munther’s voice appears distorted, both youthful and brittle with experience. Album single “C’est La Vie” is an uplifting track that has the narrator pushing aside his fear of the unknown and embracing a newfound optimism: “I’m cleaning out my closet/ Some I’ll keep but some I’ll toss and/ That’s alright you know, gonna have to let things go/ Say goodbye, say hello.” It’s a feeling that Munther knows all too well. “I’m quite introverted, and I have a tendency to get stuck in my own head,” he says. “But if you overthink things too much, you’ll never do anything with your life.”

Put Your Self Out There has, ironically, a distinctly insular feel, providing the sense that Munther has created his own world in which to express himself. Despite this, the music itself is expansive, bringing to mind a landscape painting where, the closer you look, the more detail you discover. This was achieved with the help of a tightknit team that includes producer Johan Eckeborn (known especially for his work on Swedish artist Jonathan Johansson’s critically acclaimed record, En Hand I Himlen). They found themselves discussing philosophy and religion alongside music, and Munther took on new ideas that were fed into these songs. “We’re in a strange climate right now, where we tend to want to find people with the exact same values as us,” he says. “But if you judge others, you judge yourself. That’s something that’s really sunk in, in the last couple of years. I'm trying to be a lot more open-minded, and I think that's what I'm trying to inspire people to be as well.”

Munther’s ability to express himself transpires in his bruised but stoic music; the piercing, emotional tones of his voice are heightened by deftly constructed compositions. “Don’t Worry” opens on a soft flurry of piano notes falling like autumn leaves. You hear the sharp, steady clack of the percussion, a clock hand announcing the inevitable passing of time. An infinitesimal change in tempo marks a resolution to be swept up, as Munther delivers the title in a soaring falsetto then a comforting murmur until it becomes a mantra. “Gloom” is his letter to himself – a disarmingly candid one – in which he questions what’s left once the trappings of fame and fortune are removed. As the song reaches the close, his voice becomes muffled, yet the synths push through, like rays of sunlight breaking through the clouds. “I’ll meet you at the summit,” he promises. “When I’m out of this gloom.”

Throughout the album, Munther reminds us that we can be our own worst critics. Yet he takes his own advice and never obsesses over making this music “perfect” – as a consequence, he achieves something very close to it. The songs are beautiful precisely because of their flaws, recalling the experimental nature of Ben Howard’s most recent, and best, work. Sufjan Stevens fans will revel in the succinctness of Munther’s lyrics, the frankness of his declarations. “It’s not as complicated as I tend to make it,” he sings on the gospel-influenced “Man in Need”, “But I overthink everyf***ing thing.”

“I’m trying to be very honest,” he says. “Not in a dramatic way, but reflective. And I definitely didn’t want the music to sound too polished.” To avoid the risk of overwhelming his audience with such candour, Munther injects a wry tone into some of the songs, such as the self-aware closer, “Come Find Me”. Others are misnomers designed to surprise the listener, or even provoke them into a new way of thinking. The memorably titled “Big Dick” was the last song to be written during sessions at a studio based just outside of Stockholm. Munther found himself on a train observing a man and his girlfriend: “He was a really cocky guy, the crotch-first type, you know?” Rather than mock him, Munther chose instead to pen a tender acoustic number that seeks to understand what some might dismiss as toxic masculinity. “There are too many walls/ And I don’t have the tools or a number you can call,” he sings.

“This song came from the knowledge that there are so many people you can’t reach, you can’t get through to them,” Munther explains. “These people who feel they have to be smart, the ones who place value in material things. They’re often actually very insecure.” At the time, he recalled the saying, “Hurt people hurt people.” He still thinks about it. “People who need to show off, they must be so lonely,” he says. “Not able to be vulnerable, or be wrong.” Watching this man provoked feelings of frustration in Munther, not at the man himself, but at a society that, despite all its modern methods of communication, often fails to do precisely that. As a multilingual musician, Munther knows all too well the frustrations of feeling unable to translate his innermost feelings. Yet he refuses to preach: “I’m so aware that everything I know, I’ve learned from someone else.” The album title is a cliché for a reason, he says, smiling. “I just want to be courageous enough to have hope.” https://twitter.com/MuntherUIrik https://www.youtube.com/user/UlrikMuntherTV https://www.instagram.com/ulrikmunther

[muteoilydiscolour]

Year in Review

Yes I’m posting this way into January. HOWEVER, time isn’t real. I started making this post in Dec and then left it in my drafts, which is something I do pretty much every year! So let’s pretend ‘this year’ means 2020

a picture of you taken this year

This was at an fun exhibition in a huge decrepid warehouse, when things were briefly open in October

talk about movies this year

I work in a cinema so usually watch a lot of movies, but that hasn’t happened as much this year! I managed to miss out on two films because of lockdown 1 + 2 - And Then We Danced and Saint Maud, which I still really want to see!

My fav films I watched this year are The Lighthouse, Parasite, David Copperfield, My Own Private Idaho, Ema (I guess, the plot was wild but the production is great), Shirley, Sunset Boulevard and Nausicaa

talk about television this year

GUYS. It’s taken 6 years but I have nearly finished The X-Files! Or, I’ve made it to season 9. I’ve been a bit put off because I hate Doggett but Reyes is cool and there’s still a lot of fun eps! Other faves from this year: Drag Race UK, What We Do in the Shadows, Succession, I May Destroy You, Feel Good, BoJack Horseman, Schitt’s Creek, Ratched, and Pose (not from this year but I finally watch s2 and loved it!)

talk about books this year

I have literally read 3 books this year: Convenience Store Woman, Song of Solomon and The Body Keeps the Score. All good, esp the latter 2. I bought a bunch of books just before lockdown but then my brain dissolved into a fine mush. I’ve just started The Brothers Karamazov, which I’m enjoying! I didn’t realise Dostoyevsky could be funny.

talk about food this year

food is lyf

My birthday is at the end of March so I spent it essentially alone (my housemates were around but they don’t count), and I spent several hours making and icing my birthday cake.

At the beginning of lockdown I got into making myself nice breakfasts of waffles or pancakes with lots of fruit/yoghurt/honey.

Some recipe recs:

Leek, Pesto and Squash Pie (I made this with added peas/kale/veggie sausage, and mashed potato on top)

Jambalaya (I make this without chicken and use veg stock)

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca (I have only recently started to appreciate the greatness of spaghetti)

Salted Caramel Pear Cake

Carrot Cake

talk about music this year

Spotify playlist of songs I’ve enjoyed this year!

Fav albums:

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension

Porridge Radio - Every Bad

Rina Sawayama - SAWAYAMA

Moses Sumney - Grae

Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind (this is currently on repeat!)

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Jessie Ware - What’s Your Pleasure

Dorian Electra - My Agenda

Having some of my favs release albums means I’ve been able to read lots of interviews with them, such as this Fiona Apple interview.

talk about art this year

I was lucky enough to do a London trip at the end of Feb (and met @angelsofashes IRL!) so I got to look at a bunch of art then, although I think just went to the White Cube Bermondsey and the Tate Modern extension which I hadn’t got round to visiting before.

OH and in the National Portrait Gallery I discovered young Charles Dickens is my doppelganger which I still find hilarious.

something that made you proud this year

I finished my Graphic Arts MA in January and got a distinction! I worked so hard on my final project so it was nice to have that recognised even though it’s essentially meaningless. I also was lucky enough to have a final show.

Other than that, proud of everyone for making it through I guess!

something that made you laugh this year

A lot of bad memes, such as:

something that made you sad this year

*Gestures at everything*

something that made you happy this year

Friends, sunshine, watching people walk their dogs

your favorite photo this year

idk, I take so many photos - but here’s a nice cat refusing to face the camera

what you learned this year

I’ve kind of learned how to use After Effects! Slowly getting better at animation

travel you did this year

I managed to do a few trips around Devon/London/Kent in Feb/Mar, which was pretty lucky. Aside from that... uhhhhhhhh

I also bought a railcard in Feb lmao, and they’re not refunding or extending them, of course

Something which caught your interest this year

I’ve been listening to podcasts all the time (as a substitute for actual company I guess!) Literally one of the few things keeping me sane. Some recs:

You’re Wrong About

Museum of the Vanishing Dog (shoutout to tumblr user @boyhood!​)

Caraboo Projects loops

talk about politics or current events this year

uhhhhhhhhh

tbh the US election was a welcome distraction, esp as it happened when I had to Covid isolate - nice for an election result to not be disastrous for once

3 goals for next year

Find somewhere to live (I’m being chucked out of my current place this summer because, mysteriously, they want to make it a student flat)

Survive/stay healthy if possible

Maybe search for that elusive 5-figure salary

talk about things you are excited for next year.

uhhhhhhhhhh

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[sawdustandgin]

A Year of Happiness, Joy and Sarcasm: My 2020 in Review

Absolutely nothing needs to be said about the year of our lord 2020 that hasn’t already been shouted from every social media platform like a shrieking alarm alerting us that the ship is sinking. We know. We’re all wet. 

I will not remember 2020 as mask-clad because I didn’t take any photos while wearing one. 

Every December, I reflect on the year through a short essay, allowing myself many opportunities to gush about the music that I didn’t include on my best-of lists but that I still loved dearly. (Though I guess I skipped last year. I found an abandoned draft the other day…) And consistently, I have regarded each year as one of transition. 

I don’t have clear career aspirations outside of wanting to engage with music as deeply and personally as I can; my only concrete life plan is to profile small towns across the country through the lens of its local music scene. So, with this nebulous image of a future endeavor, I have had a tumultuous time with money since losing my job two years ago. I realized fairly quickly, after only a few months of foundering at it, that I was unable to freelance my way to a liveable income. And in all honesty, this was for the best—nothing hurts worse than realizing the activity you are most passionate about has become a chore. I stopped worrying about pitching editors and trying to rub elbows, and I got to work applying for jobs. I, incredibly luckily, secured one after a few more months. The adjustment to being unemployed was a leap for me and my deep desire for a routine, but the adjustment to being employed and trying to maintain a balance between day job and side gig was even harder. 

Then I loosened up a bit. Toward the end of last year, I tried to make a vow to be more consistent with the blog, but instead, I prioritized sleep. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was an either/or scenario and probably would have made a greater effort to avoid my television if I had. But ultimately, I had to accept that my relationship with music journalism was on my terms. And regardless of how [in]frequently I ‘discovered’ new artists (for myself), I wasn’t ‘missing out’ on anything. 

And let’s be real, I wasn’t overly eager to listen to new stuff starting around April. I put so much energy into not losing myself in quarantine that I tuckered myself out before shit really hit the ceiling. When I began thinking toward my year-end lists in November, I began to worry that this would be my most deflated best-of season in recent memory. 

That’s ok, Zoë, no one really cares about top ten lists, I can hear you thinking, colored by a fascination with my determination. But as a double cancer and pisces moon, I like to cling to the art that moves my soul (read: ~nostalgia~). And so I take great joy in spending all of December and most of January repeatedly listening to my favorite music until I conjure a partially arbitrary ranking system and create playlists galore. It really is the best time of the year. 

Of course, there are always a few titles that need no additional spins, whether due to automatic disqualification or simply because I listened so much that I know it intimately. The automatic disqualifications this year were particularly striking. 

A few easy omissions were Chromatica, Positions, and Fetch the Bolt Cutters. Lady Gaga delivered her skip-less album around the time when it became clear that the pandemic was not even somewhat close to containment; my roommate and I cooked to Chromatica every night, singing along to every word. With each new record, Ariana Grande becomes a more graceful songwriter, and it also helps that Positions is a plain ol', boot-knockin’ good time. And the raw power Fiona Apple wields in Fetch the Bolt Cutters would be frightening were she not the perfect vessel to deliver it to us. 

Then there is the category of albums that simply didn’t need my (albeit dim) spotlight: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, græ, and KicK i are each masterpieces in their own right. They each move purposefully through diverse landscapes, each song a new adventure not bound by genre or expectation. Interestingly, Perfume Genius and Moses Sumney were never mainstays in my music rotation, while my love for Arca is unquestioned. 

That leads us to Re-Animator, I’m Your Empress Of and The Mosaic of Transformation, all of which I actively feel bad for disqualifying. I’m too much of a fan of Everything Everything to impartially write about their new album, though it was one of my most frequently played. I have been writing best-of lists for six years now and I would prefer to write about a constantly expanding, diverse group of artists. That means I can’t keep doting on Empress Of, despite her status as one of our best contemporary artists. Me and Us were truly just prelude to her 2020 record, whose title is a formal introduction. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith is also the most talented analog synth musician that I personally have ever engaged with, and her latest album is everything I could have wanted.  

It took some self-control (aka strict time management) to not write a few thousand words about The Ascension. Let’s recall my massive thesis on Carrie & Lowell… Yes, I am a former Catholic who thrives in the ambiguous invocation of Scripture, especially from a songwriter who quite literally shaped my taste in music. Luckily, I’m not nearly as pent up with anger and existential dread as in 2015 when I was, for the first time, processing the physical and emotional distance from my family. This elongated emotional breakdown was spurred by drama between my parents, but was also due to an irrational fear I held about my own mother’s death. Listening to Sufjan Stevens forgive his mother on her figurative deathbed has stayed with me. 

The anxiety I felt about 2020 was almost entirely external, so the gorge formed from the current of The Ascension was not nearly as deep a canyon in my heart as C&L, though it is still an affecting 80-minute journey. Stevens’ production, when coupled with his lyricism, is a breakthrough, though I do hear murmurs of folktronica from earlier in the decade. (I’m begging everyone to listen to Under Our Beds by Consilience.) And for perhaps the first time, there were songs that I occasionally skip. If I still had to commute to work, I bet they would have grown on me. In fact, this would have been a perfect driving album—one that wouldn’t cause me to weep while on the interstate. (oh Carrie. oh Lowell.)

Then there was VOL.II by my dear friend Lauren Ruth Ward. She gave me an opportunity to write a unique interview with her about the record to be printed on the inside of the gatefold, making it a permanent fixture on this most exciting of sophomore albums. I could not justify writing anything more about it, if only to preserve the sanctity of that interview, which I gave more effort and attention than any other piece of writing I had done. It was a wonderful and inspiring experience that I hope to replicate. The most heartbreaking part of the pandemic’s onset, from a social perspective, was not being able to visit Lauren after the record was released. 

With all that said, 2020 was about so much more than the music I listened to. All the digital replacements for physical intimacy during lockdown made me realize that my legacy (aka all my music writing) is fragile, locked into the impermanence of the internet. So I took it upon myself to build a physical archive; in the fall, I finalized a zine template, and the first eight issues are in the can. (So far, I have 19 zines planned. Email me if you are interested in having one!) 

I’ve also been living without a front tooth since mid-March. On one hand, it’s been convenient to wear a mask to hide the hole in my mouth, but on the other hand, all I want to do is bite into an apple. (For almost two years before I even knew I had to have my tooth removed, I had been forced to slice apples before being able to eat them. The abject humiliation.) The journey with my dentists and oral surgeon has been excruciating, to say the least. Who knew three people in the same medical practice could have such mightily different styles of care? [Author’s note: I got my crown after writing this essay! :grinning-emoji:]

In sum, it was my image of myself that I was able to see a bit clearer this year. Each year I think that I’ve figured something else out about myself, which had always led me to believe that I am a most-complex, divine being. But I think a more accurate interpretation is that, put simply, I am not static. My thoughts and emotions adapt to life and life doesn’t seem to stop throwing me around like sneakers in a tumbling dryer. My pronouns are now they/them and while I don’t have many specifics as to why, I just know that this feels right. 

I hope your year was at least acceptable; 2021 promises a host of new challenges, but I think we can take ‘em. 

[ladiesladiesladies-inactive]

i was tagged by @alitneroon to post my top 7 albums 🌟

thank you!! 🥰 this was a challenge lol! my favorites change all the time and I also listen more to playlists than full albums so I just put ones that I keep coming back to so no new albums (=from this year) or albums I recently discovered! so maybe fetch the bolt cutters or folklore or set me on fire immediately or a bunch of other stuff should be here but I had to set out some rules. (I also limited myself to one album per artist) also I wasn't sure abt Igor cause I haven’t listened to it in a long time and im not sure I like it as much anymore but I did obsessively listen to it when it came out and I had to pick something 🤷‍♀️ but it might as well be something else. ALSO choosing my favorite mountain goats album was impossible, it was between this and the sunset tree...... im sure I'm forgetting another album thats really important to me or that I listen to all the time but yeah. if I did this list tomorrow or yesterday it would be different sdfghjk

blonde - frank ocean

the idler wheel - fiona apple

all hail west texas - the mountain goats

ctrl - sza

veteran - jpegmafia

the age of adz - sufjan stevens

igor - tyler the creator

I'll tag @1934boyfriend  @emobarn  @cordeliachace  @lunarmagpie @pollyjean​  @dogdayevening​ and whoever else would like to do it <3<3 

[limentum]

It’s that time again! I’ve recently gotten really into making these ten-track playlists that have an overall theme/emotion, and this is no exception! As I did on Christmas day last year with a similar playlist entitled “C1″ this is my first playlist of this format for the 2021 year! Noticing a pattern with the playlist titles? Yeah, me too! Keep in mind, this isn’t a tier list, I essentially tried to just make an album out of ten random songs, so their placement is entirely based on how they flow into each other both musically and thematically!

This time, I tried to provide an actual explanation for each track and why I put it on the playlist. Forgive me if I ramble or say stupid stuff sometimes, that’s just how I am!!

1. Song of Trouble - CARM (feat. Sufjan Stevens)

If you scroll through my page for more than five seconds, you’ll find that I’m a pretty huge fan of Sufjan. This track came out yesterday, as a matter of fact, and is the song that inspired me to make this playlist! I love CARM’s soothing horns for the first forty-ish seconds, which leads right into the muted piano and Sufjan’s beautiful voice! I also found out that the lead singer in the band Hippo Campus does some of the background vocals in this track, which is an interesting fact!

2. To You Alone (Acoustic) - Tom Rosenthal

Something about this dude’s voice is just really great to me. I don’t know a whole lot about the track. But have been listening to this song very frequently for the past week or so, and thought this would be a great follow-up to the previous track in terms of sound and such. Also, the last lyric of the song “How do we get to the sky?” absolutely crushes my soul every time I hear it.

3. It’s Working - MGMT

I have always been a fan of MGMT’s first album, but it wasn’t until about November 2020 that I started getting into their other projects (Little Dark Age, Congratulations, Self-Titled). I loved the idea of following up “To You Alone” with this track, cause it starts so suddenly with a faster tempo and stronger energy, I thought it’d act as a great jump-scare type situation. Also, it just sounds really awesome! You can really hear the 60s/70s inspirations in this song, and I’ve been listening to it a lot recently!

4. Rhythm of Devotion - Sisyphus

I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard of Sisyphus before, the one-shot trio released their self-titled in 2014 (Son Lux, Serengeti, and Sufjan Stevens) as a mix of Rap, IDM/Electronic, and Indie Pop. Don’t let the first two minutes keep you away from this song! After the brash beginnings of the track bring excitement and mild confusion, it all comes together around the 2:47 point, and only gets better from there! I love this entire album, but this track seems to be the most significant out of them all.

5. Gilgamesh - Sufjan Stevens

Yes, the first song actually made entirely by Sufjan! I know there’s a fair amount of him in this playlist, but this track really serves to bring back the emotional capacity of the first two tracks while keeping the Electronic/IDM style! A track about the epic of Gilgamesh that loosely connects with the artist’s own life, as he loses the person he cares about the most on a quest for immortality (Metaphors, much?)

6. San Clemente Glass House - Matt Easton

There’s a few versions of this track available on the internet, but the one with the guitar piece is absolutely the most required version out of them. A song about a troubled relationship and, what I can only assume, the “glass house” being a metaphor for himself. I love listening to this song when I’m feeling quietly dramatic, haha.

7. Middle of Nowhere - Vancouver Sleep Clinic

I have been a huge fan of this guy since he released Closure, and I’ve always loved his more chill tracks since then. This song is a relatively new release, from December. I haven’t really done a whole lot of analyzation with the lyrics, but from what I’ve considered so far it seems to be a lot about death and feeling inadequate (”And then I'll write a few songs that just go nowhere, Like this one”), like you haven’t lived up to your expectations and wish you could live “In the middle of nowhere”.

8. Blue - Angelo De Augustine

A song that, once again, I haven’t analyzed too deeply. He sings of how “All my life I’ve been so low, I don’t know why”, and how his father left his mother when he was five. Angelo has been a favourite of mine for quite awhile, and this song cements that even further!

9. Dawn Chorus - Thom Yorke

The frontman for the band Radiohead, Thom Yorke, released this track in the album ANIMA in 2019. The ethereal simplicity in the track along with Yorke’s spoken-work lyrics provide a deeply sad perspective on trying again, (”If you could do it all again, big deal, so what?”). Interestingly, despite the depressing nature of essentially delivering the idea that change is impossible and that second chances are futile, it seems to also come around to the idea that changing oneself is possible and to keep moving forward. Absolute simplistic masterpiece of a track.

10. My Rajneesh - Sufjan Stevens

Oh boy, here we go, another one of this guy!!! If you aren’t familiar with the name Rajneesh, he was essentially a spiritual/religious leader who created a settlement in Oregon back in the 1980s. However, this track seems to be focusing on Rajneesh himself, and his obsession with the Divine and power, to the point of fault (”You stare at the sun to see the sublime, forgetting the light that makes you go blind”). As his followers looked to him for spiritual awakening, they were blinded and could not see his faults (Fun Fact! This cult also committed the largest bioterrorism attack in US history). I could probably go on about this track for at least another few paragraphs, but want to keep this concise, haha. If you want to know more about all that fun stuff, there’s a Netflix original documentary series about it called “Wild Wild Country”.

And that’s about it for this playlist! I’m starting to get more interested in making these playlists, so you might be able to expect more in the coming weeks/months! If you actually read all that nonsense, thank you!

(Playlist Cover Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)