#their recent album is very good but my favourite song if theirs will probably always be Drunk-Dazed. a classic

[llorom4nn1c]

♡ My indirect opinions on different bands! ♡

I've seen people do this kind of thing on sites like Quora where they'll say their opinions on something and you have to guess what person they're talking about, so I thought I'd try it.

🎀 Band #1:

Best pop punk band ever. Not only do they have one of the best vocalists in the genre, but their music is so timeless. I've listened to my favourite song of theirs hundreds of times over the years and I still get excited every time it comes on. There's a reason why their music is still so critically acclaimed to this day.

🎀 Band #2:

I'm sorry but this band has some of the most delusional fans ever. You guys really interpret everything as a sign that they're recording music together. I know most of it is jokes but just because the bassist posts a photo of his bass, that doesn't mean the band is recording together. He could literally just be playing for fun. I mean I'm dying for new music from them too, but come on.

🎀 Band #3:

This is a soloist, but I still wanted to include her. This person's second album is her best one and is way underappreciated. One of her most popular songs is from this album, but I think there are songs on that album that are far better. The opening track is especially great and I wish she had more songs that were that heavy. I love her pop punk stuff, but I still wish she made more post-grunge albums.

🎀 Band #4:

I really wish this band got more attention. I feel like people used to talk about them a lot during like 2012-2014, but now they've been kind of forgotten. It's really a shame because I love their music. It makes me really sad that a lot of the female-fronted emo and scene bands besides Paramore have been almost forgotten.

🎀 Band #5:

I think this band is an example of a side project that's better than the band that it's derivative of. Their vocalist's original band is also good and I have a few songs from them that I really like, but with this band, I just think their music is a lot more enjoyable. Their first album is probably my favourite dance rock album and I'm really glad that they've reunited.

🎀 Band #6:

I wish other songs by this band were as popular as their biggest one. I understand why it's their biggest, because it is very good, but their other songs are great too and they're still making good stuff to this day.

🎀 Band #7:

I honestly think this person's music is really good and really didn't deserve all of the hate it got when it was released. Everyone said that she was ripping off Avril Lavigne, and while there are definite similarities between their music, I think her music is pretty solid. Her first album is especially good. All of the songs are really catchy and I would love to see more music from her.

🎀 Band #8:

This band is so over hated. People hate on their vocalist for things that he did when he was a teenager, which I always thought made no sense. A lot of people also seem to hate this band because their most recent albums have been generic pop albums, which also doesn't make sense to me. There are people doing way worse stuff, plus you could also just listen to something else. Like the way people talk about their music makes it sound like they're being forced to listen to it, when they're not.

🎀 Band #9:

I think I like this band more as people than actual musicians. I do like their music, but I don't think it's anything that special and I can kind of seen why some people call it generic. Their lead singer is one of the most genuine people I've seen in rock and I loved watching the band's Bryan Stars interviews when I was a new fan. I don't agree with people who say their music is bad (their first album is way over hated btw), but I can see why some people might not like their music that much.

🎀 Band #10:

I seriously do not understand how people listen to this band. I know a lot of people stopped listening to them after the allegations, but their lyrics are still so gross and icky. And the fact that there are people who still listen to this band and post stuff about their lead singer like 'They don't make guys like him anymore' is so gross because most of their lyrical content is about literal grooming and paedophilia. Also, there are most definitely still guys like him out there, the only difference is they aren't hiding behind a scene boy façade.

That's it, byeeeee!! ˚｡⋆୨୧˚♡

[friend-of-a-cat]

--- Monthly Music Recs - May 2024 ---

Medic: A Doll - STEAKA

Got this idea from @high-lagaard, so thank you! My music taste is pretty broad so I feel like each rec list is going to be very varied lmao.

This month I've been listening to a lot of Nothing But Thieves (I also went to a concert of theirs at the start of this month) - mostly songs from their more recent album (Dead Club City) as I hadn't listened to much of it prior (I'm was more familiar with their older stuff). My favourites from that one are Welcome to the DCC, Pop The Balloon, Oh No :: He Said What? (I lost my mind when they played it live lol) and Time :: Fate :: Karma :: God.

A new Fox Stevenson single came out recently (Sorry), and I've been listening to it almost every day since it came out. I'm in love with the switch-up at the end. It also feels like it could easily transition into another track, which makes me think it might be part of an album in the future (I'm hoping so, at least).

I've been obsessed with Medicine by Sasuke Haraguchi and will continue to listen to it on repeat. It's just so catchy. I also adore this cover and this cover.

Parry by Miyamori Bungaku is also a huge banger. I'm a massive fan of electro swing.

Heat Abnormal by Iyowa has also been on repeat because I heard the Project Sekai version and fell in love with both it and the original (also this cover, this cover and this cover).

Medic: A Doll by STEAKA is so, so, so good and I've been obsessed with it for well over a month at this point lol.

I've also been listening to a lot of King Gizzard as per usual, mostly Witchcraft and Gila Monster (the music vid for the latter is so stupid and they know it and I love it).

Autre Temps by Alcest is also insanely good and I highly recommend both it and the band. Lots of shoegaze mixed with metal (dubbed 'blackgaze'). This song in particular is just very chill and magical.

The entire BlazBlue: Central Fiction soundtrack has been blessing my ears once again. I've literally only played the game a couple of times lol but the soundtrack is just so good. Bullet Dance II, Rebellion II, Lust SIN II, Gluttony Fang II and Oriental Flower II are especially good.

Lastly (I mean, there are so many songs I could recommend, but I'll stop after this lol), I've been listening to so much Polkadot Stingray, which is something I always do. I definitely recommend Free, Kenshin (probably my fav song of theirs), Denkousekka and Blue.

[tomorrowillbeyou]

i want to get into thrice, what albums of theirs do u recommend? i mean ill listen to the whole discography but i want to know which are ur faves/what order one should listen in

ok sorry 4 the late response i got really distracted. this is all just my personal opinion so take it with a grain of salt. also we are working on a like intro playlist type thing but it isn't done yet :)

umm basically thrice have kind of a lot of albums and they can be quite different so it's not super easy to recommend just one but if i had to i would probably say the alchemy index, it showcases a lot of different styles and like different aspects of their songwriting which is really cool :) there are 4 parts one for each element and each one has different lyrical themes and musical styles. then from there it kind of depends what u are into but i would say you should definitely check out the artist in the ambulance which i guess has a more classic emo/pop punk style?? i wouldn't really describe it as that but im bad at describing anything as anything tbh. but its like probably their most iconic album. it's really good i think .. very sick songs with cool and interesting themes. their more recent albums are more experimental/indie leaning u could say.. there r 3 since the hiatus and i wanted to pick one to put here but honestly they are all good .. maybe to be everywhere is to be nowhere that's pretty awsome. and vheissu just fucks so go there too. my personal favourite is the illusion of safety but that's not really as polished etc i dont really think its their best but im just attached to it like a barnacle and the lyrics abd guitar are crazyyyy :0 anywayi hope u like thrice i think they r sooooo good.. sorry for rambling this always happens and sorry for being so unsure i need to trust myself more to talk about this stuff. but ya :3

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #576

Top Ten Years for Music

Yeah I’m doing it again, and this was the hardest one to do. Because generally speaking I don’t really associate music with the year it came out. Almost all of the time I come to it a lot later – which is why there are hardly any recent years on this list. I’ll probably be into a half-dozen songs from 2022 in fifteen years.

Music, to me, was always a background thing. I never had a desire to seek it out or find out what I was into in the same way I’ve always wanted to know more about film. And as such, when I became a bit older, I felt very out of touch and ill-informed by what music was around. The first CDs I ever bought were soundtrack albums because I just didn’t know what bands I liked, and by then I was also infected by the teenage need to like the right bands. What if I accidentally bought something by someone who wasn’t cool? Or if I mentioned liking them but then exposed how I only liked them because I liked that one song of theirs that was in a Curly Wurly ad or something?

Despite this, we’re still going to see a whole lot of nostalgia on this list. Is it always the case that the music that really resonates is the music you listen to in your teenage years? Even if – like me – you weren’t going to concerts or buying tons of CDs, the music permeates your social consciousness from the radio, from hearing it played in stores, from seeing the artists on TV, and from your friends talking about it. I didn’t own a Blur CD until 1999 and I don’t think I’ve owned one by Oasis, but I could have explained the broad strokes of their music and their rivalry back when Country House and Roll With It released in the same week. So it all sticks and it becomes part of your DNA, the soundtrack to whatever dumb crap you were doing at the time.

Anyway, enough wallowing in the Our Price of history: let’s just look at the years of my life that I thought had the best music. And, yes, this is the most subjective because I think of all things, maybe music is the most subjective? So it’s stuff I liked. You don’t like it? Get your own blog, they’re free!

1984: yes! Seriously! 1984 continues to be one of the best years of all time. If it’s not enough that films like Terminator and shows like Transformers and comics like Turtles all came out, you’ve got the debut albums of both Bon Jovi and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – I mean, come on. Queen’s The Works gave us songs like Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free. Prince made Purple Rain. Springsteen released Born in the U.S.A., for cryin’ out loud! Dancing in the Dark, people! We had Spinal Tap! And speaking of movies, Ghostbusters! I mean, can you imagine? Flippin’ ‘eck, what a year.

1997: it’s tough to single out one year from the nineties, because there’s a period – ’93-’98 really – that’s just chock-full of absolute iconic bangers for me. But this is probably tip-top. We’ve got one of Nick Cave’s best, most soulful albums, in Boatman’s Call, which features possibly my favourite song – Into My Arms. Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape, Radiohead’s OK Computer, Savage Garden’s, er, Savage Garden. Robbie Williams – love him or hate him – did release two of his best songs, Let Me Entertain You and Angels. And a personal favourite of mine was Del Amitri’s Don’t Come Home Too Soon, the best song ever about football.

2016: woah, we’re getting right up to date here! Can you believe it?! But it was a cracker, despite Trump and Brexit and everything else that was happening. Both Bowie and Leonard Cohen released their final albums, and in a way delivered their own epitaphs with Blackstar and especially You Want it Darker, the latter of which is an absolute masterpiece. “I’m leaving the table, I’m out of the game”, for goodness’ sake. If you really want it dark, Nick Cave’s Skeleton Tree was haunting beautiful but also a wail of absolute grief; “They told us our gods would outlive us but they lied”. Slightly cheerier was Foreverland by Divine Comedy, with its propulsive revolutionary undertones and superheroic love songs. And rocketing right to the other end of the scale from all the mournful ballads was Lonely Island’s soundtrack to Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Is Finest Girl the funniest song of all time?

1996: yep, back to the nineties, and back to the Bad Seeds (Murder Ballads, which includes Cave’s famous duet with Kylie) and back to Divine Comedy (Casanova). Almost defnining my mid-teens, we had the Manics’ Everything Must Go and Spiders by Space, as well as the debut album from the Aquabats. Probably one of the most seminal releases – certainly for me at the time – was the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, featuring possibly my favourite song of the year, the Cardigans’ Lovefool. What else? Well we had two other big debuts: the Spice Girls and Eminem. What more could you want?

1993: still in the nineties and it’s back to another perennial year for me: ’93, the year of Jurassic Park and, well, tons of other stuff. Check out m other lists. Anyway, musically we had Bat out of Hell 2, which was nice as I wasn’t born when the first one came out. He’d do anything for love, y’know, but he won’t do that. Radiohead’s Pablo Honey gave us Creep, my favourite of theirs, because I’m basic. Crash Test Dummies released Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, a weird delight. We also got 500 Miles, Loser by Beck, Insane in the Brain – which everyone my age was singing in 1993 – and sort of Whitney’s I Will Always Love You, which technically released at the end of ’92 but dominated the early part of the year and was ‘93’s biggest song.

1995: sticking with the mid-nineties and it’s another belter. Alright by Supergrass; These Days by Bon Jovi; the Foo Fighters’ eponymous debut; The Bends by Radiohead. I could go on. And I shall! One of my favourite albums, Different Class by Pulp, gave us some corking class-warfare ballads like Common People. And, yes, it was Britpop’s holy year, with the Blur/Oasis clash and the release of both What’s the Story (Morning Glory) and The Great Escape. Quite possibly my favourite song of the year – sorry, Jarvis – was Alanis Morrisette’s You Oughta Know from Jagged Little Pill, one hell of an angry tune and my generation’s equivalent to The Winner Takes it All. But with a bit more swearing.

1982: right back as far as we can go in my lifetime, really, and it all starts off so well. Madonna’s first album! Bloody hell! And Jacko’s Thriller! Scary stuff. That alone could get it rocketing up the charts, but we also have one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs, Highway Patrolman, even if (whisper it) I kinda prefer the Johnny Cash version. Also there was Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast (spoiler alert: it’s 666), and Billy Joel’s Nylon Curtain, giving us tracks like Allentown and the phenomenal Goodnight Saigon. And – yes – Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger.

1998: another all-round classic year – Half-Life came out and I started going out with my wife – and the music wasn’t bad either. Space’s Tin Planet featured The Ballad of Tom Jones; we had Torn, Bittersweet Symphony, and You’re Still the One, just a bunch of stone-cold hits. Evanescence’s debt album provided turn-of-the-millennium action movies with great songs to cut scenes to. The Divine Comedy’s Fin de Siècle had some of the tracks that really drew my attention to the band. The hilarious One Week was a fast-paced good-natured highlight of a song, but let’s wrap up by lifting a glass to a genius movie ballad, Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing. I could stay awake just to hear them singing.

2002: another good year for Robbie, with probably – aw hell, definitely – his best album, Escapology, which has his two best songs (for me): Monsoon and Come Undone. Flight of the Conchords’ first album had so many all-time hilarious songs I don’t know where to begin. A Rush of Blood to the Head is my favourite Coldplay album, largely because of The Scientist. Avril Lavigne’s debut album was released, giving us both Complicated and Sk8ter Boi, and holy cats, can you get more millennial? But musically I have to say the year belongs to Johnny Cash and The Man Comes Around, an album full of incredible, emotional, resonant songs – including, of course, his cover of Hurt. 

1994: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Let Love In gave us a lot of tremendous songs (including the haunting and disturbing two-part Do You Love Me) but really it should be known most for Red Right Hand, one of the biggest and most important songs of my life (I first heard in The X-Files!). Also there’s Green Day’s Basket Case, Blur’s Parklife (in both cases the first albums I had from both bands), and the biggest song of the year, Wet Wet Wet’s Love is All Around. It really was everywhere I go in ’94. Sticking with movies for a bit, two of the best soundtracks of my life: Pulp Fiction and The Lion King. Yes, musicals absolutely do count; maybe I should have tried to look them up in a bit more detail. Too late now!

I very, very nearly had 2006 in there at the end instead of another nineties number, but despite a few good tracks that year I ultimately decided I was letting the sheer cosmic weight of Arctic Monkeys’ debut lift the year up too high. I’ve always tried to find a good balanced spread when doing this and not stick a year in there just because there’s one or even two things I like, and ultimately the epoch-shifting excellence of I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor was not enough to champion the whole year. But I’m mentioning it now, in dispatches, so to speak, because it’s still probably the most exciting and impressive debut of my life.

[dwellerinroots]

crocus— do you have any significant dreams that you remember? what were they about?

azalea— what is the most recent song you listened to? how do you feel about it?

snowdrop— would you say that you have been in love before?

If you're up for it!

I am, in fact, up for it! Questions answered with pictures of flowers, all below the cut!

Crocus in the wild of the Alps (6), Karl Gercens crocus— do you have any significant dreams that you remember? what were they about?

I actually keep a (semi-irregular) dream journal! But I'll choose to consider this one a comment on recurring dreams for that reason. A lot of dreams about various ways the world ends that are cosy, but are basically the same dream over and over (I choose not to read too much into them). Far less humorously (or depending on whom you ask, more,) I've had a repeated dream of dying trapped under cold ice floes? Apparently, it's not uncommon among my family, either, mysterious... Anyway, I have it once or twice a year. Watch as I bite it in a desert or something, bahahaha! And I used to dream regularly about - hmn, I could be harsh and call it a very generic fantasy setting, or kind and call it a young Dwells' wistful desire to be isekai'd away. There was enough story throughout the dreams (characters in recurring roles, I was usually watching through another character who might have been me, and might not) that I could probably wring a story out of it, but - I like to let it lay as a memory I'm fond of. If you're curious, I'll go through the details later..!

P4100834, John S. Quarterman

azalea— what is the most recent song you listened to? how do you feel about it? HEH, what a question. I listen to so much music that I actually - much like my reliance on hugs (physical or ephemeral) to get through the working day, did you know the average human body needs music to live? A fact, proven by empirical data, most likely.

Just going by 'most recently listened to,' I'm not entirely sure if it's accurate to call this 8-bit, but a chiptune rendition of Wolf at the Door that I somehow had on my digital audio player (because I refuse to use modern phones, like the curmudgeon I guess I am). I think 'Optimistic' would've been better suited for the workweek, but what do I know, bahaha... Apparently there's a fairly large argument about radiohead in the musical world, which was why I'm content to just devour all music and enjoy it even-handedly. It's good, and thematically appropriate. I'll take it.

The last track I listened to while doing writing, Ashes, by Dilate. A real two-disc wonder, which is unfortunate because both albums of theirs (his? I think it was basically one guy!) perfectly nail the two sides of my science-fiction aesthetic, aha. Cyclos is grim, militaristic, and feels like it's always lurking menacingly out of reach (but promising wonderful, unknowable things); and Octagon mixes ambient sound to create a feeling like drifting on frozen clouds. Both albums are good, would highly recommend if sci-fi ambient is your jam.

Finally, track I to last night while thinking about bird...

All the music in Nier/Automata is good, but I just really love A Beautiful Song, and piano instrumentals are a favourite. Truth is, I'm more a fan of an older game by the same writer/designer called Drakengard, but it seems to have largely been forgotten to the mists of time.

20, Britt Willoughby Dyer (for Gardenista) snowdrop— would you say that you have been in love before?

Mmn. I think I'd say I've been in genuine, heart-over-heels romantic love twice, and an unflinching platonic love once. The kind of love that - in all cases - feels so awful after you swear you'd never want to ever feel it again, and instantly regret thinking about it because you miss it. Simultaneously, I don't regret any of those loves. Though neither of the romantic loves really turned out, I learned more about myself through them, and hopefully the same for them. And I miss my best friend every day, so it goes. Love is far more beautiful then it is terrible, but it takes me awhile to warm up to it; I'd say I'm - despite coming across as a very romantic person - mostly aromantic. I just do the best I can to treat people fairly and with the same care I'd hope they'd treat others, and it often comes across as a bit more. In both cases, it took me some time to really reciprocate, but when I fall in love, emphasis on fall, bahahaha!.. I don't know if that's how I want to end this one, though. When I think of love, I think of all the parts of it. I think there's a tendency to say 'well, if love isn't easy, it's not real love,' but - love is more then just a relationship. It's doing the best you can for one another, and being able to help the person you love (or people, but I can't really imagine that outside of fiction, honestly) through their most difficult days. I still wonder if I'm capable of doing that much, and I think it's the sort of person I aim to be. Quick edit, VERY important, I am also deeply in love with a bird (fictional) and that is DEFINITELY the point to close on, nailed it

[purplesurveys]

1581

satiating my craving for bts-related questions part 1/5

what's the first bts song you heard? To be honest with you I don’t think I’ll ever know the True Answer to this because they’ve been mainstream for a while now, and I know I’ve caught some of their songs on the radio back in college. If I had to guess it’d probably be something like DNA or Boy With Luv; but I would say the first song I heard when I was starting to give them a chance in 2020 was Dynamite. I feel like that song was a massive entryway for many of the current fans.

what's the first bts music video you watched? The first time I willingly watched a music video of theirs was in December 2020 when I watched Dynamite. At the time I wasn’t invested in the boys themselves and only watched the video because I liked the song.

who/what made you start stanning bts? So Angela urged me very early on and was always telling me stories about the guys, but I was pretty unmoveable until my Facebook feed fed me a short video from the Hawaii season of Bon Voyage – it was a snippet from that episode where they entered a restaurant one by one to order and speak with the nice old lady completely in English, and from there it was color me smitten lol.

Literally right after finishing the video I rushed to ask my sister to teach me their names, which took me a good few days to memorize.

who was your first bias and is now your current bias?

So from that Bon Voyage snippet, I formed a Hobi bias, right off the bat. 

Then it turned to Jin, which I’d say was largely an influence of Angela’s since she’s a Jin bias hahaha.

Though once I started becoming a more invested fan and having my own thoughts about the group and all, it became Taehyung – and it was Taehyung for a really long time up until very recently.

Around a month ago I’ve switched biases and since then it’s been Namjoon.

you can only listen to one album for the rest of your life. which? the tweet i saw this from included photos of be, ly tear, mots 7, and dark & wild. This would be a very easy MOTS: 7 for me. Obviously I love the group’s entire discography, but personally Map of the Soul 7 is the album I’d listen from start to end without feeling like skipping any single song, ever. 

You’ve got the guys’ intensity shining through on every OT7 track, the vibe of every subunit in their respective songs, a taste of each member’s personal music taste in the solo tracks, idrk what else you can ask from such a great release. Big shame Covid ruined the massive hype that was building up around the album.

what's your favourite collab? Steve Aoki. I really can’t live without that Mic Drop remix. Who with Lauv is amazing too! I’m also a fan of Coldtan largely because of the mutual respect and bond within the two.

what's your favourite bts japanese song? Your Eyes Tell. I’m obsessed with their Japanese discography in general, but I will say Your Eyes Tell is an extremely easy decision to make.

you can only choose one cypher! Contrary to most Armys’ preferences I’m not actually the craziest fan of the cyphers hahaha since they’re all very in-your-face rap, but I have to say Killer is my favorite. Triptych is also great, idk why it doesn’t get nearly as much hype as Killer and Cypher 4.

if your @ is bts related what does it mean? Obviously my username here isn’t, but I do have a secondary Twitter account for BTS fangirling stuff – sparklythv. It’s pretty self-explanatory, it’s just me and my appreciation for all the times Taehyung has looked all sparkly and pretty.

whose birthday is closest to yours? Yoongi’s is a month before mine.

favourite rap line song? UGH! Another easy decision to make, but Outro: Tear also gives it a run for its money.

favourite vocal line song? The Truth Untold. 00:00 is another favorite on other days.

zodiac compatibility with your bias?  Idk and don’t care for this.

what’s your mbti compatibility with your bias? I actually researched this recently and saw that I’m apparently most compatible with Taehyung. I honestly thought it would’ve been Namjoon.

favourite songs in d2 and agust d? The Last from Agust D; Dear my friend from D-2.

favourite songs in hope world and jitb? Base Line or Blue Side from Hope World; Arson or What If from JITB. I’m just obsessed with everything j-hope lol

favourite songs in mono and RM? Joke from RM; everythingoes or uhgood from mono.

what official merch do you own? Uh...so many hahaha should I really delve on this?? I’ve got all albums in all their versions save for the LY series, MOTS Persona series, and MOTS 7 series; all the DVDs released starting April 2021 when I became a fan; a bunch of photocards and postcards I’ve bought individually; BT21 plushies; and a bunch of other miscellaneous merch like the BTS coffees, BTS Meal packaging, postcard books, mood light, a TinyTan V pen haha the list goes on, really.

ever seen the tannies live? I haven’t. The most beautiful moments in life take some time.

who are tannies to you? Best friends.

[stormofstarlight]

HI VIRGIL :D i hope ur having a great day!!!! here are some fun questions for you!!

what are some of your favorite meals to cook??

what are a few of ur favorite songs rn?

what’s your favorite season? what do you like about it??

Hi Peregrin!!!!! I've been doing well, but I've been rlly busy recently with gardening bc my mum has an allotment now!! Which is great but also there's lots of weeding to do n we're planting lots of things!! (Also I've had a lot more responsibility w looking after my family recently so I haven't had much free time outside of that)

I hope ur doing good!!

1. I rlly like making enchiladas, they're very tasty n also quite easy to make. I sometimes get a kit with nice sauces (which i honestly prefer bc I'm not the best at making sauces) but I can make them from scratch!! I also like making hunter's chicken and burgers!!

I usually cook quite simple things bc if I have several pans on at once it gets a bit difficult to manage, but I rlly like baking (even though I am usually very messy lol) I make banana bread and muffins quite often bc I always buy too many bananas (actually I'll probably make some this evening or tomorrow)

2. Well, I've been listening to MCR recently (obviously). I listen to Danger Days more than any other album, but my favourite songs of theirs are actually Helena and Famous Last Words! I also rlly like Weightless by All Time Low. Also, there's a specific female cover of Prince Ali that I listen to on repeat a lot and it still makes me lose my mind over how good it is every time

3. My favourite season is definitely summer!! Partly because I don't deal well with the cold, so I always like hot weather, but also it's just rlly nice to be outside in the sunshine!! Also, summer is when the summer holidays are, so I think that's also a reason it's my favourite season lol

[husberttee]

Choice Tag 🌵 🦋 🍀

Rules: Answer the questions (if you want to skip one, feel free to do that too of course!). Tag 3 people (or more or less, you choose really). Tag your post with #CHOICE_tag so we can find each others’ posts! Have fun!!

I got tagged by @slowlydiving thank you so so much I really wanted to take part in this one!!! <3

I'm tagging ... who? @morganasandhya ? are you a choice!??? I'm sorry I can't think of anybody WHO HASNT ALREADY BEEN TAGGED ADHVJLWDH if anybody following me considers themselves a Choice and has in fact NOT been tagged yet please absoloutely go ahead and say i tagged you.

1. Introduce yourself. You choose how much and how little!

Hello!~ I'm Alexander (or Alex. or Husbert as I use on tumblr) and I go by He/They pronouns.

2. How and when did you become a CHOICE?

Oof... so I actually already liked A.C.E predebut since I found their busking videos on YouTube. Back then I didnt know their names and just thought of them as 'guy with the cute smile' (donghun) or 'guy who's clearly just vibing' (Seyoon) or 'guy who knows he's hot shit' (jun) lmaoo.. so it must've been around 2016 that i discovered them? I only properly started stanning them when they actually had their debut though

3. What is your favourite part of being a CHOICE?

I'm actually not super deep in the fandom (so really thanks a lot for tagging me despite that!!!!) but I think overall we're a pretty civil fun little bunch of people who are generally nice to mope around and just simply stanning a wholesome group like a.c.e who continously put out great stuff is the best!

4. What is your favourite A.C.E song? Do you prefer their title tracks or b-sides more?

5. Who’s your bias? What do you like about them?

Oh god why would you ask me this... they don't have any bad songs nnnnnnghhh. I think recently I've been listening to Take Me Higher the most just simply because it fits the season so well? Underrated summer bop! <3 Also Stand by You. Aaaand the Butterfly Phantasy album is my favourite album of theirs generally that one was on repeat for like two weeks straight. bUT THEIR OLDER STUFF IS SO GOOD TOO LIKE SO SICK OR THE ENTIRE UNDER COVER ALBUM OR- cbwjefbhI SHOULDNT HAVE ATTEMPTED TO ANSWER THIS.

I like both their titles and their b-sides pretty equally.

6. What is your favourite thing about A.C.E?

uuuuhhh im a basic bitch so mr. junhee it is. He's 1. very very pretty (especially his smile bYE) 2. heavenly vocals 3. just the right amount of stoopid. 4. seriously what is he so handsome for.

Originally it was Donghun and I still regularily get wrecked by the rest of the groups so yeah they're just Like That

It's hard to pin point one favourite thing cause there's so many things.. It might sound funny but I like that they're only 5 guys and not 50 lmaoo. I also think they're one of the most well rounded groups out there. The full package of people who are genuinly skilled in vocals, rap and dance. Their concepts are always creative, their choreos are amazing and satisfying to watch and they all have great stage presence. And then they're ALSO funny and generally just. seem really nice and authentic? like they don't seem fake but they know to keep their private lives. well. private. good for them!!

7. Which concept has been your favourite? What kind of concept do you want them to try?

8. Which A.C.E friendship is your favourite? Which one do you want to see more of?

Another difficult one to answer. I like to call them concept kings cause they've really been putting out interesting stuff only from the beginning- Favourite boys definitely was super cool because I always love a traditional note like the hanbok or even in the sound (golden goose!!!) but I'll also never get over the Cactus hotpants. I want them back.

They can probably pull anything off really.... maybe something steam punky would be cool? its not a concept thats been done too often and they would definitely find a way to put an a.c.e spin on it.

I really like JunChan antics. Just a Fool trying to look after another slightly younger Fool. We love to see it. But besides that I can't really think of a dynamic I'm missing? Since they're only 5 they all seem really close :]

9. If you could tell A.C.E one thing what would you tell them?

Look after yourselfs and don't worry too much. Let's stay together for a long time! and Thank You!

10. Which A.C.E member would die first in a horror movie?

yeah uuuuuhhh r.i.p Junhee :/

11. Leave a small message for your fellow CHOICE!

Since I'm very multifandom i've seen my fare share of crazy so I really appreciate how chill and nice this small community is and I'd love to get to know more of you guys~ I hope we can keep this up even as the fandom grows, which for the boys sake I really wish to happen!

[indiumrubber]

SOPHIE!! i want to ask you essentially the same question about "the bends"!! i don't think i've ever asked how you rank the songs on it! i would also love to know your thoughts on the structure and themes of the album? i'm loving that album more and more, i think my current fave is "black star" :D

Ah! This is such a great question Alex, thank you! I’m gonna say A LOT so I’ll put it under a read more so people don’t need to scroll for aeons djsfhksjdhf

A great deal of the songs for me rank really highly, there’s only a few that I usually skip, which I’ll rank lower, but I still like them as songs, I just find them a little bit boring usually. There’s also the thing where it’s a sad album but I never feel sad listening and never have associated it with sadness in any way, probably because I always listen to instrumentation before lyrics, and Thom’s singing can sometimes be… indecipherable.

I’ve ranked the tracks on this album before, with one of those asks, and I feel like this ranking will remain pretty similar to that, but I think some reasoning is good.

Just is my undeniable favourite, as it’s both the first song of theirs I (knowingly) ever heard, and the first from this album, and I love its structure?? I didn’t even recognise the amount of chords in it, but it’s impressive (thirteen I think), and written as a competition between Thom and Jonny, so it’s really damn impressive imo for the fact it was only their second album. Also managing to fit in chords with notes lying outside the key and not have it feel clunky and out of place is really impressive (but then they as a group tend to prefer modes over keys so that’s where a lot of this comes from). I also love love the guitar on this song, it’s so powerful and genuinely gives me goosebumps, I love the tone of it, an wow the section with Jonny raising it two(?) octaves with the Whammy pedal is brilliant.

Next is My Iron Lung, which I found by accidentally leaving the album to run on from Just the first time I was listening. All this can be traced back to spotify and me being really pernickety about things. The first song was Just, which I only heard because of forgetting to change the playback settings to repeat (cause I hate when suggested music comes on, I just like listening to one album on repeat for a little while), and the fact that Just grabs you within two or three seconds - quicker than me navigating back to the window to glower whilst changing back to the album. So I was quite floored. Anyway I accidentally let the album play cause I also dislike when spotify shows recent artists you’ve heard, I prefer albums being shown. Anyway My Iron Lung has a similar vibe to Just and I love it a lot. It’s made better by the fact that all the instrumentation from the recording is a live take from the 94 Astoria performance. Holy shit.

Planet Telex is a fantastic way to start any album and I love it so much. Its introductory phasing/oscillating sounds can be played by Jonny either on the piano or guitar. I love him. Not that that needed saying. It’s just a great track, has a really specific attitude, one I don’t think could be replicated ever again, and I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that Thom was completely smashed, recording it flat on his back. Wow.

(Nice Dream) comes next. It starts off so pretty but it’s got such a bite to it, and again, it comes down to the guitars on this record, which I love a lot. Most tracks are very raw feeling, very angular and sharp, and it’s fantastic.

Street Spirit (Fade Out) is my next favourite. It’s definitely bleak, but it really forecasts their development sonically and lyrically. It’s pretty too, in an aching way, and when I worked out what the last lines were I found it so affecting. If you watch the performance of this from the Astoria again, you’ll see Jonny sing along to it, and that really touches me, as well as the fact that this is - as far as I’m aware - the first track with prominent synths: the fact that Jonny took the opportunity to incorporate this, having the confidence to branch out, makes me happy.

Sulk is my next favourite of note. I couldn’t quite tell you why, but I group a lot of songs on this album in pairs (maybe that they sound similar). Just and My Iron Lung, High And Dry and Fake Plastic Trees, The Bends and Bones, and Black Star and Sulk. Even though a lot of people probably wouldn’t agree with me so much, I really love Sulk, and it kind of came out of nowhere, given that on my first few listens, I couldn’t really remember the difference between it and Black Star. I still couldn’t tell you why I do love it so much, because it probably is one of the more generic ones from the album, but I do.

The next few songs sorta meld together for me, but definitely Fake Plastic Trees and High And Dry are two of my least favourites. That’s not to say they’re bad songs, they just bore me, but they definitely all fit the album and give it a brilliantly cohesive sound. I love this album an awful lot, given it’s my gateway to RH.

Structure-wise, I love the album, I think it tailors itself well to repeated listens, with the layers of instrumentation, but not making it too much of an impenetrable wall of sound that might otherwise push away some listeners. It’s just. So good. I think it’ll always have a very dear place in my heart!

[the-jade-goblin]

Hi! I've seen that you really like k-pop, I've been trying to get into k-pop but I don't know where to start. What was your first k-pop song? Or your favourite groups?

Hi Nonny! I’d love to help you out in your k-pop journey, there is a lot of content out there so it can be intimidating to get started. 

I’ll combine your questions to give you some solid recommendations - my first songs that I heard from some of my favourite groups, AND I’ll throw in my current fave songs from those groups so you can check them out! 

My very first k-pop song that I heard was Sad Tango by Bi Rain; I was in primary school (middle school) and teaching myself Japanese, so I went on this anime site to find some Japanese bands that I could listen to, and the Japanese version of Sad Tango was listed there. 

I really liked it and became obsessed with Bi Rain, but as I was young, my friends peer pressured me into stop listening to him and “Weird” stuff and instead I went back to listening to the Jonas Brothers and Nickleback bc I didn’t want my friends to stop liking me. 

It wasn’t until I was in yr10 of highschool did I re-immerse myself into k-pop. I was in the library and a girl I’d just met in math class the day before was listening to something on her laptop - she was watching an MV and I got curious and came over to ask her what it was. 

She told me it was called Lucifer, but a k-pop group called SHINee. My instant reaction was “oh that’s so weird?” but I took the earphone she offered me and watched it with her. I loved it. She then showed me other MVs from SHINee, and I was hooked. With a friend who was also into it I felt more confident in my passion for k-pop, and she became my k-pop supplier haha

She and I still best friends to this day, though we now have many more k-pop friends (and friends we’ve converted to k-pop *evil laughter*) and we’ve gone to so many concerts together to meet some of our favourite groups.

Now that my personal history is over with, I’ll get to the recommendations! 

I’ll go through my favourite groups, and the first songs I heard from them + my current favourite songs of theirs! I’ll go in alphabetical order to make things easier to navigate, and I’ll provide links to all songs listed

Under the cut because this is a LONG POST

1. B1A4 

My first B1A4 song was Beautiful Target, their debut song. My current favourite is not a title track but I love it, and it’s called Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix) from their first album It B1A4. My favourite title track is 걸어 본다 (Tried to Walk) from Into the Wind.

B1A4 was my very first kpop concert, I went to see them in Sydney in 2014 - their first Australia concert - with my friend, literally the DAY after we graduated from highschool - while others went to the afterparty after our formal (prom), we went to the airport

2. B.A.P

The first BAP song I heard was, once again, their debut song Warrior, back when we called them Blonde Asian People bc at the time they all had blonde hair haha 

My all-time fave BAP song is One Shot, but there are SO many others that could hold that title too - like 1004 Angel, Wake Me Up, Save Me, Honeymoon, Hands Up, Skydive, Young Wild & Free - there’s so many. I really recommend BAP for beginner kpoppers

I saw BAP in concert in Sydney in 2016 for their Live on Earth tour - their 2nd Australia concert

3. Boyfriend

I was with Boyfriend since debut (no surprise there I’ve followed many since debut lmao) so my first song of theirs was their debut song Boyfriend. My ultimate favourite Boyfriend song is Janus

I saw Boyfriend in Sydney, along with JJCC, in 2016 - their first Australia concert

4. BTS

BTS is one of my all-time favourite groups, I’m so emotional about these boys I love them to death. My first song of theirs was their debut song No More Dream. I have a thousand favourite BTS songs, there’s so many that I adore, but if I really had to pick I’d say currently my favourite title track is Save Me, and my favourite non-title track is Best of Me, but there SO MANY others I could have picked, like Serendipity, Dope, Fire, Danger, Boy in Luv, Hip Hop Phile, Let me Know, DNA, Dimple, MIC Drop, We On, If I Ruled the World, War of Hormone, Blood Sweat and Tears - ALL OF THE SOLOS Begin, Lie, Stigma, First Love, Reflection, Awake, MAMA - Lost, Spring Day, 21st Century Girl, Wings, Cypher 4, Not Today, I Need U, Converse High, Young Forever, Run, Butterfly, Ma City, Baepsae, Autumn Leaves, TO NAME A FEW  

I saw BTS in Sydney a few years ago, their first Australian concert

5. B2ST 

Beast is no longer called that, it’s called Highlight now since they lost a member and re-branded themselves, and tbh I haven’t listened to any of their stuff under Highlight (my bias was Hyunseung, the member who left) but I still love B2ST even if I don’t listen to them much anymore

My first B2ST song was, unsurprisingly, their debut song Bad Girl (when you watch the MV you have to remember this was 8 years ago, and kpop was…very different back then. Like Asian Eurovision. It was…bad)

My favourite song from B2ST is a non-title track called I Knew It, but my favourite title track is probably Fiction, it’s old but it’s good

6. CNBLUE

Again my first song of CNBlue was their debut I’m A Loner. CNBlue isn’t a dance group like most kpop groups, they’re an actual band so they play their own instruments. 

My favourite CNBlue song is a toss up between the non-title tracks Lie (tho I prefer the Japanese version) and Sweet Holiday. My favourite title track is In My Head I think, but again that’s a Japanese release

7. EXO

Mama was EXO’s deubt song, and surprisingly this was actually not my first EXO song. I came a little late on the EXO train, I wasn’t following the hype of EXO pre-debut, so my first song was actually their second single History.

My absolute favourite EXO song is Miracles in December from their first Christmas album, and will always be my fave

I went to see EXO at K-Con in Sydney last year

8. FTIsland

FTIsland is another k-pop band, and my first song of theirs was Love Love Love, which isn’t their debut song Love Sick. My favourite FTIsland song is an old one called Hello Hello

9. Girl’s Day

My favourite girl group! I wasn’t into girl groups for a long time so I came into Girl’s Day quite late; my first song of theirs was Something, which is still my favourite Girls Day song, tied with Expect

10. Infinite

My first Infinite song was Paradise, which is from their first album but not their debut song. I’ve had a lot of favourite Infinite songs, like Before the Dawn, Last Romeo, Destiny and Bad, but I think my favourite currently is Back

11. MBLAQ

MBLAQ are an old favourite of mine. My first song wasn’t their debut song, it was a song called Stay (again, kpop was…very different back then) and it’s probably still one of my favourite MBLAQ songs, but my ultimate favourite I think is This Is War (its a great karaoke song)

12. Monsta X

I love Monsta X with all my heart, though I got into them a little later. My first song was Hero from their second extended play, and is still a fave. I have many favourite Monsta X songs, most of them non-title tracks, Ex Girl, Perfect Girl, Incomparable, Amen, Broken Heart and Miss You to name a few, but for title tracks I think my favourite is a tie between Beautiful and Shine Forever - I also adore the acoustic version of Beautiful

I saw Monsta X at K-Con last year

EDIT: MONSTA X JUST HAD A COMEBACK LIKE YESTERDAY AND ITS’ THE BEST THING EVER

My new favourite Monsta X song is Jealousy, Destroyer, and Lost in the Dream - wait no Special, idk they’re all lit as fuck

13. NU’EST 

My first Nu’Est song was their debut song FACE. My favourite Nu’est song is probably Yeoboseyo, but I adore Not Over You and Good Bye Bye equally

14. Pentagon

My first Pentagon song was their debut Gorilla, and while my favourite used to be 감이 오지 it’s now Like This and Runaway

I saw Pentagon at K-Con last year

15. Seventeen

Seventeen is amazing; my first song of theirs was Shining Diamond, which is technically not their debut song Adore U because it’s not the tile-track, but it’s the first track on the album and I pre-ordered it before I listened to any of their material and Adore U was the second track is listened to so like idk point is I’ve been here since debut. Seventeen is made up of three sub-units that’s important, the vocal unit, the hip-hop unit, and the performance unit

I have a lot of fave Seventeen songs, including If I, Rock, 20, Say Yes and Adore U (vocal team ver.), and while Don’t Wanna Cry has been a long-standing fave,  lately I’ve fallen back in love with three songs in particular; 13월의 춤 from the Performance Unit, Trauma from the Hip-Hop Unit, and Change Up from the Seventeen leaders, a new unit made up of the leaders of each sub-unit

I saw Seventeen in Sydney a few years ago

16. SF9

I’ve been a fan of SF9 since their debut of Fanfare. I love this group and have so many favourites, like K.O, Easy Love, Jungle Game and Roar, but my favourite is O Sole Mio

I saw SF9 at K-Con last year

17. SHINee

SHINee was the first kpop group I fell in love with, my first song of theirs was Lucifer. There are so many faves I could list from SHINee. Dazzling Girl, Juliette, Amigo, Hello, In my Room, Romantic, SHINee Girl, JoJo, Up & Down, Electric Heart, A-Yo, Ready or Not, Love Pain TO NAME A FEW

My forever-fave is Replay their debut song and Quasimodo (and yes, I don’t listen to new SHINee stuff, I haven’t listened to any new songs since the Sherlock album, oh except like the title track Everybody and Why So Serious. I’m an old-school SHINee fan I prefer their old music)

If you’re going to get into SHINee you should be aware that their main singer Jonghyun recently committed suicide, so there’s a lot of pain in the community right now. I personally have not been able to listen to a single SHINee song since he died. I burst into tears when I tried to play Replay, and I did listen to Crazy, Jonghyun’s single debut, twice since then but I cried half way through both times and had to skip the song. 

18. Super Junior

MY ULTIMATE BIAS GROUP! 

My first song from SuJu was No Other, but since then I have loved all their other releases. I’ve bought every CD they’ve ever produced and practically devoted most of my life to them, so you could say I’m a bit of an ELF expert XD

My absolute favourite songs will always be Neorago, Evanesce and A-Cha (my must karaoke songs) but there are so many others.

Super Junior also has many sub-units including; Super Junior M (Chinese unit) Super Junior T (trot music unit) Super Junior Happy (cute concept unit) Super Junior K.R.Y (the vocal line unit consisting of Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung) and Super Junior D&E (dynamic duo unit with Donghae and Eunhyuk) 

Most of the members have their own solo careers too; Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung in particular, also SJM members Zhoumi and Henry. Heechul also has his own band with TRAX member Jungmo called M&D, they write their own lyrics and music, perform and film the mvs on their own - which is why they’re so weird xD Heechul’s a weirdo

A incomplete list of my favourite main group SuJu songs; Shake It Up!, Oops!!, 나쁜 여자, 사랑이 이렇게, Reset, What If, Dead at Heart, Happy Together,  Hit Me Up, Don’t Leave Me, Islands, Scene Stealer, Haru, Bittersweet, Daydream, So I, Over, Love U More, Sapphire Blue, Missin U, Our Love, 사랑이 죽는 병, One More Chance, Shirt, Opera (Japanese ver.), U, Don’t Don, Sorry Sorry, Marry U      

If you’re gonna check out the subgroups I recommend; D&E - Still You, Growing Pains, Sweater and Jeans, Don’t Wake Me Up, Breaking Up | SJM - Break Down, Perfection, Super Girl, Go, Strong | M&D - 울산바위, Close Ur Mouth, Springs Days of my Life (which is a cover I believe), Narcissus

and I’ll leave the other subgroups and solos to your own browsing pleasure, I’ve rambled about SuJu for too long already ^^;

19. Stray Kids

MY CURRENT OBSESSION! I LOVE THESE BOYS SO MUCH ;O;

Stray Kids originally appeared an a survival reality show for JYP’s next boy group. There was lots of pain and tears during the elimination rounds, and I won’t spoil it for you if you want to watch it, but I’m so happy the ot9 got to debut together - plus Chan and Felix are Australian! and Felix’s Aussie accent is thicker than mine xD it sounds so bad 

Since Stray Kids have only just debuted, as of like, freaking yesterday, they’ve only got a limited number of songs. But they’re all so good I HIGHLY recommend! Stray Kids released a pre-debut mixtape made up of the songs they wrote on their survival show, and yesterday they made their official debut with their second mixtape. 

So because they’ve only got those two albums so far, I’m going to link the entire albums here, along with their performance videos of Young Wings, Grr,  because honestly I can’t pick a favourite song from the two I love them both so much. Needless to say my first Stray Kids song was both their pre-debut title track Hellevator, and their official debut title track District 9 xD

Their first mixtape can be found in its entirety here, and their second album “I am NOT” here

AGAIN, I CANNOT RECOMMEND THESE BOYS ENOUGH

I HAVE SEEN THEM GO THROUGH SO MUCH PAIN AND ANGUISH TO GET TO THIS POINT AND I’M SO FUCKING PROUD OF THEM OKAY I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THESE SWEETHEARTS

Ahem, moving on...

20. Teen Top

Teen Top is another old school fave of mine. My first Teen Top song was Crazy, which wasn’t their debut song Clap, but they both remain very nostalgic faves for me. 

My favourite Teen Top song is probably Love Is, tho it used to be I’m Sorry and Missing

21. UKISS

Ukiss debuted the same year as SHINee, so they were sort of overshadowed in their debut. My first UKISS song wasn’t their debut song, it was Man Man Ha Ni, which is most Kiss Me’s first song. 

Ukiss have lost a lot of members over the years, and gained new ones in return. Mostly they’re active in Japan rather than Korea so they have a lot more Japanese releases than Korean ones, tho my favourite remains 0330, a Korean release.  

Other of my faves include, Love On You, Mysterious Lady, She’s Mine, Quit Playing, Heartless, Tick Tack, Forbidden Love, DoraDora, Alone, Sweetie, Believe, Standing Still, Every Day, I Don’t Understand and Neverland

While I haven’t seen UKISS live, I did meet one of the members, my bias Kevin, at K-Con last year. He was the host and I got to meet him during my hi-touch event with UP10TION briefly - best day ever

Speaking of UP10TION...

22. UP10TION 

Another group I highly recommend, all the members are such talented sweethearts. My first UP10TION song was their debut song So Dangerous and it’s still a solid fave of mine, as well Runner 

Currently my fave song of theirs is tie between Going Crazy and their latest release Candyland in terms of title tracks, it used to be Catch Me! and Wild Love tho. Non-title tracks, I love Everyday, Be My Luck, Come With Me, and Holic  

I saw UP10TION at K-Con last year - I told Sunyoul he was really cute and he got so shy it was adorable, but I digress

23. VIXX

We’re nearly there just bear with me haha

VIXX is life, VIXX is love. My first song of theirs was their debut song Super Hero, which was..fine, I mean I’m very glad they’re where they are now they’ve progressed so much. 

My fave VIXX title song is probably Error, but I die for Fantasy, Hyde, The Closer, Shangri-La, and Chained Up too. For non-title tracks I adore Love Me Do, Eternity, Rock Ur Body, Six Feet Under and The Romance is Over. 

I saw VIXX last year in Melbourne    

24. Winner

Winner is the forgotten group of YG, who’s only interest lies in Big Bang let’s be real. Personally I prefer Winner, but that opinion seems to be controversial in the kpop fandom (Big Bang is overrated, there I said it). Winner is the product of a reality survival show, who won their debut that way over their competitors iKon who debuted later under the same label.  

Anyway, my first Winner song was their debut song Empty, though my favourite remains Different. For title songs my favourite is a tie between Really Really and Fool. I love their first album the most so I can only rec my faves from that album, Don’t flirt, I’m Him, Love is a lie and Color Ring.

25. Day6

I know this is D but it’s down here bc they’re not on my playlist I was working from and I forgot to add them earlier. 

Day6 is another band group, from JYP the company Stray Kids has just debuted from. They have consistently released a comeback every month for the last year so they work hard to get where they are and we need more fans for these sweethearts. 

My favourite Day6 is also my first song, I Loved You, which isn’t their debut song but I got into them a little late. From them all their songs are stellar, but I recommend Free, How Can I Say, When You Love Someone, What Can I Do, Man in a movie, I Wait, I Smile, Out of my Mind, I Like You and First Time  

ps most of the mvs tell the clearly obvious one-sided love story between Wonpil and Sungjin and no one can tell me different

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

For groups that I love but didn’t make it into the top *counts* 25 apparently 

NCT, including their sub-units NCT U, NCT Dream and NCT 127. My favourite are NCT U and 127 

For NCT U I recommend Without You, The 7th Sense, Baby Don’t Stop and Boss

From NCT 127 I recommend Cherry Bomb, Mad City, Good Thing, Whiplash, Baby Don’t Like It

Wanna One - a product of another reality survival show called Produce 101, out of 101 trainees these boys from various companies were picked. Their contract has been extended but it does end this year, so they will be disbanding and returning to their companies. Still, they have some good music that I recommend, Energetic, Boomerang, Burn It Up, and Beautiful   

VAV - ABC, Flower, Under the Moonlight

GOT7 - also from JYP, I recommend Girls Girls Girls, Just Right, If You Do, Look, and Never Ever  

VICTON - Eyez Eyez, Blank, #Begin Again

ROMEO - Love Sick, Miro, Without U, Hustle

MYTEEN - Amazing, Mr. Misery

Madtown, who have sadly disbanded now - OMGT, New World, Lie

iKon - Rhythm Ta, Dumb & Dumber, My Type

JJCC - BingBingBing, Be Good, Insomnia, Fire, Trauma, Where you at

Cross Gene - Billion Dolla, Shooting Star, La-Di Da-Di, Sky High, Black or White

History, who have also disbanded recently - What Am I To You, Queen, Might Just Die, Psycho    

[chaos-and-recover]

all the asks. all of them.

I KNEW IT.

1: name 11 bands you listen to regularly

1. AFI2. Brian Fallon3. Anberlin4. The Gaslight Anthem5. Lucky Boys Confusion6. Jimmy Eat World7. July Talk8. The Rocket Summer9. 36 Crazyfists10. The Used11. Glen Hansard

2: is there a band with only one song you like?

Right now I have that stupid Sofi Tukker song from the iPhone X (red) commercial stuck in my head so that one. It’s catchy as fuck but I’m SO OVER the song of theirs from the original iPhone X commercial. So. That one I guess?

3: what is a very unpopular band you’re into? tell a little bit about them

Plain White T’s. Listen to me, I know they are not good and I know if we never heard Hey There Delilah live again we would all die happy but they are my boys, they have been my boys for 16 years, and I will always stand by them. They have never been anything less than great to me over those 16 years and I would take a bullet for each of them.

4: name a great band you recently discovered

I wanna say Creeper, whom I love, but there are also two bands who’ve been around a while I’m finally realizing how great they are/were - The Arkells and the Tragically Hip.

5: which rare recording of any band would you like to possess?

The Stranger Ways 7″ by Anberlin. It’s the ONLY THING I need to have a 100% complete Anberlin discography and it was only released as a bonus item for people who bought VIP on the Australian leg of their final tour and it HAUNTS ME. I fucking... need it. There’s been one for sale on discogs for a while but it’s like $200 and I cannot but eventually I’m gonna cave.

6: is there an artist whose solo career you prefer over their work with their band(s)?

I... can’t think of one? I love Glen Hansard solo more than I have ever been able to get into The Frames but The Swell Season is just... still... so good.

7: which is you favourite side project by any band member?

I probably have to be basic as hell and just say Blaqk Audio.

8: which song do you think should everybody listen to at least once in their lives?

Mourning Ritual - Bad Moon Rising (with my mans Peter Dreimanis of July Talk singing lead. It’s such a good cover. I love it so much.)

9: explain why your favourite song is your favourite song

I actually don’t know if I have just one favourite song but I guess Falling Slowly qualifies and I just... think it’s gorgeous? I just really love the line “You have suffered enough and warred with yourself, it’s time that you won.”

10: any bands you got into after seeing them live?

Milk Teeth would be the most recent, but also that’s how I got into Plain White T’s and it was from seeing them that I got into Lucky Boys Confusion and The Rocket Summer, so.

11: any bands your friends got you into?

I actually have a wildly different musical taste than most of my friends but I blame @sinceubeenjon for the 5SOS thing. Also 1D a little. And I got into Creeper because of a friend.

12: a band which is the only band from their genre you like?

clipping. is probably the only hip hop act I’m really into.

13: an unpopular opinion on which is your favourite song by any band?

The 1D fandom on this hellsite for some reason cannot appreciate the fact that Diana was the best song they ever had and I will not stand for it.

14: _th favourite song by your _th favourite band?

THESE NEED MORE SPECIFIC NUMBERS NICOLE. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ANSWER THIS.

15: _th favourite album by your _th favourite band?

SAME.

16: favourite album artwork?

I still think the simplicity of Worship & Tribute by Glassjaw is brilliant.

17: favourite booklet design?

Anorexia & Nervosa by Showbread. Technically two different albums but similar in design and I just love having the story there to go with the music.

18: favourite concept album?

...Anorexia & Nervosa again. Criminally underrated. Y’all broke their brains not appreciating them lmao.

19: which bands would you like to see live one day?

I think I’ve actually seen pretty much everyone I’ve ever really wanted to?

20: which was the longest concert you ever attended?

I mean, aside from festivals, I did see Eric Church play for like three and a half hours straight. That was a time.

21: a musician whose music you enjoy but whom you dislike as a person or vice versa?

Music I enjoy but dislike as a person - I mean 3/5 Backstreet Boys are on thin fucking ice, so...

Person I like whose music I don’t - Ariana Grande kinda sounds like she’s good people but god am I ever not the target audience for her.

22: list 10 favourite songs by your top 10 bands (each)

LORD.

AFI:-Narrative of Soul Against Soul-Days Of The Phoenix-Veronica Sawyer Smokes-Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings)-Still A Stranger-Malleus Maleficarum-17 Crimes-Of Greetings & Goodbyes-The Interview-A Deep Slow Panic

Anberlin:-The Unwinding Cable Car-Atonement-A Day Late-Autobahn-Naive Orleans-Younglife-Losing It All-There Is No Mathematics To Love And Loss-To The Wolves-City Electric

Jimmy Eat World:-Dizzy-Firefight-Big Casino-Work-Kill-Drugs Or Me-The Middle-If You Don’t Don’t-A Praise Chorus-For Me This Is Heaven

The Gaslight Anthem:-Blue Dahlia-Mulholland Drive-The 59 Sound-Great Expectations-Here’s Lookin’ A You Kid-45-Boxer-Rollin’ and Tumblin’-We Came To Dance-Handwritten

The Rocket Summer:-Movie Stars & Supermodels-White Fireworks-FL, CA-Brat Pack-200,000-Skies So Blue-The Rescuing Type-Cross My Heart-You Are, You Are-Never Knew

MxPx:-I’m Ok, You’re Ok-My Life Story-Responsibility-Southbound-Middlename-Teenage Politics-Punk Rawk Show-Chick Magnet-Yuri Wakes Up Screaming-Move To Bremerton

36 Crazyfists:-Slit Wrist Theory-At The End Of August-Song For The Fisherman-11.24.11-I’ll Go Until My Heart Stops-The Heart And The Shape-We Gave It Hell-Rest Inside The Flames-Bloodwork-Time & Trauma

Lucky Boys Confusion:-Burn A Little Brighter-Stormchasers-Hey Driver-Mr. Wilmington-Fred Astaire-Do You Miss Me (Killians)-Commitment-Breaking Rules-I Slept With The Devil-Medicine & Gasoline

Plain White T’s:-Radios In Heaven-Stop-Breakdown-I-88-What If?-Please Don’t Do This-Take Me Away-Revenge-Penny (Perfect For You)-Shine

July Talk:-Johnny + Mary-Lola + Joseph-Strange Habit-Having You Around-Summer Dress-Headsick-Push + Pull-Beck + Call-Picturing Love-Guns + Ammunition

23: favourite singer (only for voice?) and favourite drummer/guitarist/bassist (only for playing their instrument)

Singer - Davey Havok, Peter Dreimanis or Adam LambertBassist - Alex Katunis (formerly of Incubus and bassist on all my favourite Incubus songs)Guitarist - Ian Docherty (July Talk)Drummer - Travis Barker, or my soft bird boy Danny Miles from July Talk who is so good and so pure.

24: favourite songwriter/lyric writer

Brian Fallon, Glen Hansard, Davey Havok

25: somebody you absolutely adore as both a musician and a person

Bryce Avary, aka The Rocket Summer, who is the light of my life and a literal ray of sunshine, whose music is so, so uplifting even when it gets a little dark and who has never not been a joy to be around. He’s so kind and so genuine and I love him so, so much.

[gigsoupmusic]

Daddy Long Legs (24 Feb 2020)

Daddy Long Legs. We ain't fans of the spider variety, but when it comes to the ass-kickin' harmonica-blowin' foot-stompin' maraca-bashin' bluesy rock from Brooklyn, NY…. Bring 'em on!

You can't keep us away from Paper Dress Vintage for too long. In what has rapidly become our favourite small independent venue in London (see our recent review of Madonnatron, Opus Kink and others here), last night we were shakin' it all around again, though this time there was even less room than last. To think that they initially thought they only needed one night (the original date is tonight, Tuesday)! They could probably sell out every night from now till Easter if they wanted to. However, that wouldn't be fair on the lovely and patient people of Belfast, Derry and Dublin, who are to be the next lucky citizens to enjoy this outstanding import from across the pond.

The band took to the stage to raucous applause, as Brian Hurd lifted his harmonica to his lips. They kicked off with "Long John's Jump", the first track from their much-loved Blood from a Stone album from 2014, a fantastic intro for the uninitiated. Accompanied by his trusted bandmates Murat Aktürk on guitar and the crazy hirsute Josh Styles bashing his drums with a drumstick and a single maraca, everyone immediately started a-stompin' and a-jumpin' and a-spillin' their drinks and a-shoutin'…. No slow build-up here. It was high-octane from the get-go.

There then followed a couple of tracks from their latest album Lowdown Ways, which came out last May, followed by the actual track "Blood from a Stone" from the aforementioned eponymous album. The band then treated us to "Evil Eye", the track that closes their début album Evil Eye on You from 2012, one of our favourite tracks of theirs. Proper blues, which ends with one of the best harmonica performances we have seen recently. While Lowdown Ways is a fantastic album, we were so happy that we were getting more than our fair share of the early stuff too. A few more tracks from the new album followed, starting with "Winners' Circle", which isn't really bluesy enough for us. But it was when Josh started moving his drums towards the front of the stage that we knew that "Theme from Daddy Long Legs" (the opening track from Lowdown Ways) must be on next, so we got our camera ready. We have uploaded our video footage of it for you here, which we hope (we know!) you are going to enjoy. https://youtu.be/JZ6UySZ4duI This is the best song for us from the new album, it's so tribal and it showcases so many different elements of the band. A track written by all three band-members in collaboration with Jimmy Sutton (owner of Hi-Style Studio, which actually produced Lowdown Ways); this is a track that we hope will always remain in the band's live repertoire.

A few songs later we got another treat: their cover of the fantabulous song made famous by the Flamin' Groovies, "High Flyin' Baby". It was one of our favourite renditions of the evening, and one where Brian could put down the harmonica and get to show off a bit on slide guitar. We had originally seen footage of them playing this at last year's Montréal Jazz Festival, but we have to say that they played it even better here, and we loved the little pause in the middle that they did, which they didn't do in Canada. It's a track that has a lot of foot-stompin' in the final third and gets faster and faster. But it's that slide guitar, an instrument on which normally Murat takes the lead in his faultless open-tuned style, that really worked us up into a frenzy. While we love the original Flamin' Groovies version, there is always room for a cover version, especially one as good as this.

Then it was back to some more early stuff, starting with a real hillbilly classic of theirs, "Shackin' Up", which got us hot and sweaty, followed by a lot of stompin' and clappin' from both the audience and the band during "Big Road Blues" from Blood from a Stone. Then, Brian put the harmonica to his lips again and made the sound of a choo-choo train, in a way that only he can. Yep, we were getting at last the first track from their very first album, "Death Train Blues", that Muddy Waters-tinged beauty which reminded us why we fell in love with them all those years ago.

The set officially ended with their version of the Link Wray classic "Fire and Brimstone", which has been covered by Nick Cave and countless others, but of course Daddy Long Legs put their own special stamp (and stomp!) to it. We knew there had to be an encore. The band would not have been allowed out of Hackney without obliging. We weren't, however, expecting such a long one. One of the (many) highlights of the evening was at this point, when Brian got off the stage and made his way into the middle of the crowd, with his harmonica, and started playing along with the band, to a song we were unfamiliar with but which we think was called "Call the Doctor" (correct us in the comments below if we got this wrong). Credit must go out to the fantastic sound engineering tonight. There was not a single bit of feedback, every sound could be heard clearly and everything was balanced excellently – even when Brian unexpectedly ran amok into the moshpit.

Their final encore song was a classic. As soon we heard Brian growl 'brrrrrrrrrrr' through the outstanding speaker-system, there appeared a wave of recognition upon the faces of everyone who was in attendance. We were going to be treated to "Motorcycle Madness", another great track from that marvellous Blood from a Stone album, a song that often doesn't get played at their sets any more so this was well and truly an unexpected treat. We love this paean to the free-wheelin' life of the biker, espousing the philosophy that 'we don't care if we live or die'. It's a rebellious song, and a perfect end to the proceedings. There couldn't really be any other track from the trio's back-catalogue to follow that. The night was over, and everyone slowly dispersed into the cold London air, happy that they had been lucky enough to bag themselves entry to the hottest ticket in town.

If you were fortunate enough to buy tickets for tonight's second helping at Paper Dress Vintage… my, are you in for a treat! If not, then perhaps it's time to check out whether there are any cheap flights across the Irish Sea, because after February they are heading back over the ol' U.S. of A., and who knows when you'll next get the chance to see them again here on your doorstep. You'll only have yourselves to blame. Read the full article

[tsuyoi-hikari]

My KinKi Kids’ Collection

Happy 20th Anniversary KinKi!! 💕 Because of this special occasion, I decided to take pictures of my KinKi Kids collection over the years. ^^v 

SINGLES, ALBUMS & DVDS

The top shelf is their singles from Garasu no Shonen until ~. I mostly collected the limited edition ones but I started collecting all versions starting from Family ~Hitotsu ni Naru Koto single. I mostly proud of my collection for the limited edition singles circa 2003 to 2008 as to get them nowadays is almost impossible esp for international fans. The second shelf is their albums and concert DVDs. I particularly love KinKi's concert DVDs' covers since they usually so pretty and about the same size, so its always nice to arrange them side by side. For concert DVDs, I also get the limited edition versions as Ko-chan's birthday MCs every year are too priceless. I always feel bitter that they only release concert DVDs regularly every year only after their Phi concert. I want their G concert DVD so badly but J&A never release it so we will never get to see Tsuyo’s sexy long hair in all its glory. :P Speaking of songs, I have too many favorites from them but I try to pick my favourite 3: Single Songs: 1. Ao no Jidai (First love. The first KinKi song I ever heard and fell in love with and it stays special in my heart until today.) 2. Hakka Candy (I SUPER LOVE THIS SONG. Everything about the song is perfect esp their voices at that time.) 3. Kagi no Nai Hako (A fairly recent single of theirs. When I first heard the song, there's no turning back since the song is truly awesome especially the lyrcis. KinKi had many amazing singles so its hard to chose favourites tbh. I didnt include Anniversary, Ne, Ganbaru yo or Jonetsu that I super love as well) Coupling Songs: 1. Yukimushi (Yukimushi translated as 'Snow Bug' in English haha. But the song is so sad about waiting for your loved one to come back home and the lyrics used 'Snow Bug' to show how time has passed and how long the wait has becomes.) 2. Kimi to Boku no Uta (Cute song with a very nice melody accompany it. I just cant stop listening to it when it first released.) 3. Seppaku no Tsuki (All KinKi fans must love this song. It got #3 for their 39 album despite it being a coupling song. The way they ended the song; 'When you weren't around, I knew the meaning of happiness, for the first time.' is just too cruel. Satomi is truly a pro in writing really awesome love songs.) Album Songs: 1. Rhapsody (Probably my favourite song ever. Could listen to it nonstop. The lyrics literally describe the love I experienced with KinKi (as a fan). :P) 2. I Will (The lyrics is sooo sad. Basically the song is about telling your loved one to stay strong even when you are gone. I think I cried the most listening to this song lmao.) 3. Kono Mama Te Wo Tsunaide / Setsunai Koi ni Kizuite (Can't choose between this two. Kono Mama Te Wo Tsunaide because I want to keep holding Tsuyo's hand. :P While Setsunai Koi ni Kizuite because it's the first sad ballad song that they sing which later become their main expertise. :P Such a beautiful song with really sad lyrics.)

Basically all Ko-chan's releases (the rest of his albums are behind his mirror album). Again, for their individual works, I mostly collect the limited edition versions. Since Ko-chan didn't release solo works as much as Tsuyo, I didn't spent a lot on him. :P For my favourite song of Ko-chan, its Spica. hahaha I bet many people didn't know about this song.

Tsuyo's singles and albums starting from Domoto Tsuyoshi, ENDLICHERI☆ENDLICHERI, 244 Endli-x, Tsuyo-shi, and Domoto Tsuyoshi again. I love his WAVER cover so much that's why I put it in the front. The rest of his 10++ singles are behind the WAVER single while his limited edition albums are arranged at the side. Original Color is my favourite song from him.

CONCERT PAMPHLETS

Out of all my KinKi collections, I think I most proud of my concert pamphlets collection. :D This is because the pamphlets are sooooo big (double the size of normal book) and the photoshoots in there are among the best KinKi has ever done. I love their 1999 Summer Concert pamphlet as Tsuyo has his To Heart's hair at that time. 8D And Their D concert (upper right), has their best photoshoot to date. The cover may look very simple but the pictures inside are very nice.

Aside from the big size of the pamphlets, KinKi used many different design / texture for the pamphlets. Take the plastic ice cube pamphlet for an example. Or the velvet texture of their 1999-2000 Winter Concert pamphlet. I love that they try to be creative with the designs each year.

I LOVE the classic hardcover pamphlet of ~ fond de Anniversary ~ Dome Tour or the file type package of their 24/7 G Tour pamphlet.

Over the years, unfortunately their concert pamphlets have become smaller with the evidence of H and I concert pamphlets (which is the size of normal book). Their 10th Anniversary Concert has plastic package on it while KinKi You Tour pamphlets are hardcover with some really pretty studio pictures (white cover) and concert pictures (red cover) inside.

J Concert Tour pamphlet is hands down the most pretty pamphlets they have ever released. Not only for it elegant simple design, it is big in size, it is hardcover and there is pretty ribbon on the side of the opening. While I LOVE the photoshoot in King.KinKi Kids concert pamphlet.

-Thank you for 15 years- concert pamphlet photoshoot is among my favourites as well. And L concert pamphlet has a truly creative design. While their latest 2015-2016 concert pamphlet's photoshoot is so pretty (despite the simple black cover). I really love the black and white concept they did at that time.

CONCERT GOODS

Okay, I tried to collect one item per concert but I obviously fail haha. I obviously love Tsuyo's Bigaku concert goods so I bought 3 of those; the deer strap, tea cup and t-shirt (which is like the most pretty concert t-shirt ever :D). ^^v

BOOKS & PHOTOBOOKS

Basically all books & photobooks KinKi has ever released~ I'm so happy to get my hand on their first photobook (the age of the book now is like 20 years? :O)! Since the cover is scandalous (haha) and I don’t want to be accused as hentai by anyone, I throw away their shirtless cover. :P

I proudly have all books and photobooks Tsuyo has ever released including his illustration storybooks featuring his late dog, Kenshiro. ;_; I also managed to get the novels on Tsuyo’s dramas written by Komatsu Eriko; Ao no Jidai, To Heart and Summer Snow. I also managed to collect all his yearly calendars but I just capture in picture his first calendar only (which is my favourite).  

DRAMA DVDS 

I managed to get mostly all Tsuyo's drama licensed DVDs that ever released even including his drama SPs. Ko-chan's dramas seemed to be less popular so I only got 2 of those. For their dramas together, I only managed to get Wakaba no Koro. Talking about favourite drama from them (solo or together), it got to be the amaaaazing Summer Snow. Summer Snow is truly one of the very best Japanese dramas I have ever watched. Everything about the drama is amazing even the sad ending. ;_; There, all my collections over the years. Since I'm a perfectionist, I tend to collect everything. That is why sometimes, I do spent a lot to complete my collection -- this is a bad habit that I know I must get rid of. :P 

[surveysonfleek]

212.

1. When you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? more cereal than milk so the cereal doesn’t get too soggy too quickly.

2. Do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a winter day? the first hit of cold is always nice. after awhile it gets annoying.

3. What random objects do you use to bookmark your books? nothing too interesting, random pieces of paper etc. or i’ll just fold the corner.

4. How do you take your coffee/tea? coffee: two sugars with milk. tea: one sugar and milk.

5. Are you self-conscious of your smile? i’m happy with my teeth, they could be a bit whiter though.

6. Do you keep plants? my mum loves plants, our backyard is huge and there’s gardens everywhere. there’s also some plants inside in the front lounge and then our dining room. none in my room, not enough sunlight lol.

7. Do you name your plants? no.

8. What artistic medium do you use to express your feelings? none. do tumblr surveys count?

9. Do you like singing/humming to yourself? only if i’m really into the songs.

10. Do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? side or stomach.

11. What’s your inner joke you have with your friends? there’s too many but one of the more recent ones is millus. there’s a guy at work named milos and it’s correctly pronounced ‘milosh’ but everyone says ‘mi-loss’ which is also fine. one of our workmates called him ‘millus’ the other day ever so innocently and we thought it was hilarious. so his name is millus now. lol.

12. What’s your favourite planet? earth.

13. What’s something that made you smile today? getting a new candle!

14. If you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like? definitely loft style. huge space with high ceilings. our room would be open on like a second level and then everything on the first level would be studio-like, not many walls apart from the bathroom.

15. Go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! no.

16. What’s your favourite pasta dish? ugh i hate pasta. if i had to choose, probably gnocchi.

17. What colour do you really want to dye your hair? nothing in particular. wouldn’t mind some highlights. but my hair is super dead, it needs a break.

18. Tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up. tomorrowland and coachella alwayssss come up in conversation. 

19. Do you keep a journal? What do you write/draw in it? nope.

20. What’s your favourite eye colour? hazel is always pretty.

21. Talk about your favourite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. hmmm i change handbags every year and they all go through hell and back with me lol. but i’d have to choose my hand carry luggage. that shit is super old, one of the zips are broken, the handle struggles to pull up but i still take it with me everywhere. one time i checked it in and it went missing. i thought it was the end of it but thankfully it was found and delivered to my front door lol.

22. Are you a morning person? nope. but if i have to wake up early i can do so easily.

23. What’s your favourite thing to do on lazy days where you have no obligations? i clean my room a bit, rearrange stuff, cook something new and watch netflix.

24. Is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets? probably my boyfriend.

25. What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? i don’t think i’ve ever broken in anywhere.

26. What are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit? i have a lot of favourites that i’ll wear until they eventually break lol. 

27. What’s your favourite bubblegum flavour? watermelon.

28. Sunrise or sunset? sunset. but sunrises are just as beautiful.

29. What’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? when my boyfriend geeks out about certain things like game of thrones lol. loser.

30. Think of it: have you ever been truly scared? yes, of course.

31. What is your opinion of socks? Do you like wearing weird socks? Do you sleep with socks? Do you confine yourself to white sock hell? Really, just talk about socks. i only wear socks when i’m wearing boots or sneakers or if it’s winter and my feet are cold. i own more black socks than white coz of work.

32. Tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with your friends. that’s what i call a dope games night hahaha.

33. What’s your favourite pastry? i honestly love all pastry.

34. Tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. What is it called? What does it look like? Do you still keep it? this cabbage patch doll. she was black with dreads and had a flower tee. my grandparents got it for me, not once did i think she was different coz she was black, i just loved her! i have no idea where it is now sadly.

35. Do you like stationery and pretty pens and so on? Do you use them often? i love stationery, i just don’t use them enough to buy heaps.

36. Which band’s sound would fit your mood right now? no idea. none right now.

37. Do you like keeping your room messy or clean? organized chaos tbh.

38. Tell us about your pet peeves! i could make an entire list. but my main one are people who cough without covering their mouths.

39. What colour do you wear the most? black.

40. Think of a piece of jewellery you own: what’s its story? Does it have any meaning to you? my diamond bracelet my boyfriend got me for my 21st birthday. i love it but it’s super flimsy, it’s broken twice now so i don’t wear it anymore.

41. What’s the last book you remember really, really loving? harry potter. all of them.

42. Do you have a favourite coffee shop? Describe it! starbucks.

43. Who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? i feel like i’ve never done this before lol.

44. When was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything? ugh idk never.

45. Do you trust your instincts a lot? yes.

46. Tell us the worst pun you can think of. i’d tell you but it’s not very punny.

47. What food do you think should be banned from the universe? none.

48. What was your biggest fear as a kid? Is it the same today? dogs. haha no, i love dogs now.

49. Do you like buying CDs and records? What was the last one you bought? i don’t buy them anymore. i don’t even remember the last cd i got.

50. What’s an odd thing you collect? nothing weird.

51. Think of a person. What song do you associate with them? marc, get buck. so random.

52. What are your favourite memes of the year so far? haha idk. i like memes but not as much as everyone else on my facebook feed.

53. Have you ever watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show? Heathers? Beetlejuice? Pulp Fiction? What do you think of them? none.

54. Who’s the last person you saw with a true look of sadness on their face? omg this girl at work last night. no customer service whatsoever. i hope i don’t look like that.

55. What’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? idk lol.

56. What are some things you find endearing in people? just their dorkiness.

57. Go listen to Bohemian Rhapsody. How did it make you feel? Did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? i didn’t listen to it. but i do enjoy that song.

58. Who’s the wine mom and who’s the vodka aunt in your group of friends? Why? this is incredibly fitting. sara is the wine mom 100%, and irene is the vodka aunt, she’s even russian ffs hahaha.

59. What’s your favourite myth? unicorns lol.

60. Do you like poetry? What are some of your favourites? no. the only time i ever read poetry was in school.

61. What’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? The stupidest one you’ve ever received? idk lol. there’s been plenty both ways.

62. Do you drink juice in the morning? Which kind? nope.

63. Are you fussy about your books and music? Do you keep them meticulously organised or kinda leave them be? not fussy at all. i used to be when i was younger. my itunes library would have all correct details and i managed to cut the genres down to under 10. now i don’t care. my books are everywhere too.

64. What colour is the sky where you are right now? black.

65. Is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? yes.

66. What would your ideal flower crown look like? white, pink and purple.

67. How do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? i love staying inside during those days.

68. What’s winter like where you live? it’s nice during the day and freezing at night.

69. What are your favourite board games? cranium. its an everything boardgame lol.

70. Have you ever used a ouija board? no.

71. What’s your favourite kind of tea? honeydew milk tea with pearls.

72. Are you a person that needs to note everything down or else you’ll forget it? no.

73. What are some of your worst habits? i get annoyed easily. i also have no patience.

74. Describe a good friend of yours without using their name of gendered pronouns. i am theirs and they are mine.

75. Tell us about your pets! he’s my first and probably last pet dog, sky. he’s sooooo cute and super old but he still has the spirit of a puppy. physically you can see signs of old age in him but i hope he’s okay.

76. Is there anything you should be doing right now but aren’t? nope.

77. Pink or yellow lemonade? neither. they’re too sour.

78. Are you in the minion hateclub or fanclub? neither?

79. What’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? organized a present for me overseas. lol.

80. What colour are your bedroom walls? Did you choose that colour? If so, why? turquoise and light grey.

81. Describe one of your friends’ eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. striking.

82. Are/were you good in school? yeah i was good i guess.

83. What’s some of your favourite album art? all of rihanna’s shit.

84.  Are you planning on getting tattoos? Which ones? nope.

85. Do you read comics? What are your favourites? nope.

86. Do you like concept albums? Which ones? is lemonade one?

87. What are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? sound of music.

88. Are there any artistic movements you particularly enjoy? modern shit. cubism, futurism, surrealism, pop art.

89. Are you close to your parents? fairly close, yes.

90. Talk about one of your favourite cities. san francisco is a dream. it’s the first city my boyfriend and i ever went to overseas. i love it so much, i want to go back.

91. Where do you plan on travelling this year? this year nowhere, only coz i’ve traveled twice this year already.

92. Are you a person who drowns their pasta in cheese or a person who barely sprinkles a pinch? it depends on the pasta and the cheese.

93. What’s the hairstyle you wear the most? ponytail.

94. Who was the last person you know to have a birthday? my boyfriend’s dad.

95. What are your plans for this weekend? no ideaaaa.

96. Do you install your computer updates really quickly, or do you procrastinate on them a lot? procrastinate, duh.

97. Myer Briggs type, Zodiac sign, and Hogwarts house? i forgot, sagittarius, ravenclaw.

98. When’s the last time you went hiking? Did you enjoy it? probably diamond head lmao. i hated it but the view up top was amazing.

99. List some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. noo.

100. If you were presented with two buttons, one that allows you to go five years into the past, the other five years into the future, which one would you press? Why? errr neither. i guess i’d lean towards going back though. i don’t wna miss all the things the next five years could bring me.

[beckettsthoughts]

what are your current music recommendations?

This is such an amazing ask, thank you for sending it! I’m sorry it took a while to respond but I had to actually collect together the music I wanted to recommend. I’m going to present a bit of a weird mix here because my music tastes are in flux from one day to the next. So expect weird indie pop, edgy alternative, glam rock and also a little bit of classical towards the end, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

(As you may have previously have picked up, I have a special interest in Fall Out Boy and will therefore be keeping their music off my recommendations because there is nothing that could stop me from recommending their entire discography. Just count ‘Fall Out Boy’ in general on this list)

Individual Songs

There are a lot of particular songs that have been stuck in my head these last couple of days. They’re mostly seventies and eighties tracks, so forgive me for not including anything “new”. Firstly is my favourite song from French pop singer Guesch Patti, ‘Étienne’. ‘Étienne’ is a song that I have loved for several years, and it’s recently popped back up in my head and gotten firmly stuck there. It’s very daring, especially considering the time in which it was released, and it was a top ten hit across various parts of Europe. 

Skipping back a decade, one glam rock track that always catches my attention is ‘Ballroom Blitz’ by the Sweet. I love a lot of their songs, if I’m honest, and the first song of theirs I heard and loved was ‘Wig Wam Bam’, but I feel like ‘Ballroom Blitz’ is the best introduction to glam rock and the Sweet that I could possibly suggest. It is fast and loud and slightly fantastical, which is how I like all my glam rock. This should not be a surprise, given how much I love Queen. My second seventies glam rock suggestion is David Bowie’s ‘Rebel Rebel’. If I could be any song, just have my existence be any one song, it would be this one. I think that says all that I want it to.

Again, my other favourite Bowie tracks are ‘Starman’, ‘Ziggy Stardust’, ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Life on Mars’. ‘Life on Mars’ will become relevant later, too.

Albums

If you like soft, emotional, alternative pop music, these first two albums are two of my favourites to recommend. Marina and the Diamonds’ ‘Froot’ is the first, though her previous album also totally counts. ‘Froot’ just feels completely mesmerising, every track is absolutely beautiful and while at first it wasn’t my favourite compared to ‘Electra Heart’, it really has become an album that I can go back to again and again. The second album I’d recommend is ‘Evergreen’ by Broods. ‘Evergreen’ is equally entrancing, a little more electronic than ‘Froot’ but prone to make me cry sometimes when I listen to it. Again, each track is so pleasant to listen to and I couldn’t pick a favourite, but I adore the soft vocals and the synth.

A more pop-rock interlude now, because I’d also recommend Paramore’s latest album ‘After Laughter’. This album is already a favourite of mine despite how recently it was released, and I love the duality between the upbeat instrumental and the lyrics that are best described as really, really sad. Every single song on this album has been stuck in my head at least once since I first heard it, if I’m honest, which in my opinion is a good sign that it’s a solid album.

The next two album recommendations I have for you could not be more different from the previous suggestions, or from each other. Firstly, picking back up on my glam rock tangent from earlier, Queen’s ‘A Night at the Opera’. It begins with my favourite ever diss track and continues into a fabulous album of songs about love, friendship and also science fiction. It should come as no surprise that Queen’s more fantasy-influenced music makes up a fair amount of my list of all-time favourites, and ‘A Night at the Opera’ does not disappoint.

Lastly, and as I said, completely different, I’d recommend Gorillaz’ new album ‘Humanz’. Gorillaz are pretty iconic when it comes to their sound, and ‘Humanz’ carries this up to new heights and man, it is amazing. While I do like hip-hop as a genre, it’s far from my everyday listening habits, making Gorillaz stand out pretty strongly against these other suggestions. I’ve loved the band since their second album ‘Demon Days’ and I always enjoyed seeing the story, the lore and the characters that the music revolves around. ‘Humanz’ was released to critical acclaim and if you listen to it you’ll see why; there’s not a single weak track on the album. It also contains some interesting social commentary, if you’re into the political side of music.

Miscellaneous 

I said I’d get to classical, and here we are. If you’re up for something a little more out-there compared to my more mainstream pop recommendations, how about listening to Gustav Holst’s suite, ‘The Planets’? ‘The Planets’ is absolutely my favourite classical suite and apparently the same goes for many others, considering how often you can hear Holst’s influence in film soundtracks and video game soundtracks alike. My favourite in the suite is ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’, though I admit being biased because ‘Jupiter’ is the only movement in the suite I have actually played in an orchestra. ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’ is a close second, though.

Something a little more conventional to my tastes, I would highly recommend listening to Patrick Stump’s cover of ‘Life on Mars’ live in session with BBC Radio 1. See, I told you ‘Life on Mars’ would be relevant by the end. You can find this cover on YouTube, and it absolutely blows me away every time. I really don’t like covers in most cases, but this cover is so well performed that I want to cry, it’s so good. Trust me on this.

Now last, but by no means least, more instrumentals. Film scores, this time. I recommend listening to any and every single one of Joe Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli scores. The music in these films is often astoundingly good and also very emotionally evocative, all thanks to Hisaishi’s amazing composition. My favourite is hard to pin down, and the first that comes to mind emotionally is ‘The Merry-Go-Round of Life’ from Howl’s Moving Castle. The second is probably my favourite technically, and that is ‘The Legend of Ashitaka’ from Princess Mononoke. The other contender for a place on my ranking of favourites is ‘One Summer’s Day’ from Spirited Away, which is my favourite of the movies by a fair way.

Thank you again for asking, I hope you made it to the end and you like at least some of my suggestions. This was really fun to write and I had to think pretty hard to narrow down my choices, I really appreciate it.

[justnoise-blog1]

Live at Leeds 2017

Live at Leeds is a festival dear to my heart, having either worked, photographed partied or taken ill at it, I've been every year since 2009 and I show no sign of stopping. It is an award winning metropolitan festival that takes place across various venues in the city and just beyond, and personally this is my favourite type of festival. Lots of walking, drinking, and listening to great music with great people.

Every year I attend this event with one of my closest friends, and it’s just become that thing we do, and just recently have added another similar event to our line-up but i’ll come to that in another post. We start the day with bacon and egg butties, strong coffee, sturdy shoes and an open mind and always have a quick run through of our schedule so we don’t miss anything.

This year we kicked things of in Oporto with Faux Pas & Joy Room. As is usually the case, tickets sell fast and these small venues fill up and spill out, so when Faux Pas came on stage there was a brick wall between their performance and my eyes, but this wasn’t so bad as the sound that came through the gridlocked doorway was enough to get my feet moving. Ironically my stand out track from these guys, and the reason they were on my list is ‘I Hate Dancing’. The Jangly guitar riffs behind some semi-grungy vocals marry perfectly to give your bum a bit of a wiggle, and their live performance of this track didn't differ much from the recording, which is always a bonus. When they had wrapped up their set, we managed to slink further in to the venue to actually see the next band Joy Room perform.  As they set up, the room started to fill with a crowd looking to be 10 years our junior so we weren’t really sure what to expect. I couldn’t help but think of an early Kings of Leon, Kick the Bucket kind of vibe, which i love so this band we’re a nice little addition to our day. As we hadn’t actually scheduled them in i haven’t got a stand out track, but check them out on Facebook via the link i have provided and make your own mind up.

Still having some time to kill before our main line-up kicked in we headed to The Belgrave Music Hall to see a band called Indigo Husk who claim to be a high energy grungy punky bluesy get up. Not having heard any of their stuff before we had this gig alone to go on, and the high energy thing i get, but only from half of the band, it seemed a bit disjointed as a performance but as the set went on the music grew on me and yeah i guess i’d give them a listen again.

After this we headed off to one of our most anticipated acts of the day, White Lies. This is a band I had wanted to see for many years having first listened to their debut album ‘To Lose My Life’ in my first year of university and had recently missed on a tour just a few months before the festival. They were a late addition to the line-up for Live at Leeds but a very welcome on in my eyes. We rushed up to the venue to get there with plenty of time in order to attempt a front row position, being a photographer I like to assume the best position even if I am just whipping out my iPhone. I’m going to be completely honest about this one, I wasn’t wowed where the stage presence was concerned, but vocally it was pretty damn good. I wasn’t immediately taken in by their latest album ‘Friends’ so at this gig I was holding on to the hope they would do a bit of a throwback to their earlier sound, my favourite track being ‘Farewell to the Fairground’ and I wasn’t disappointed. I must admit I didn’t stick around to the end of their set as the vibe on stage was a bit lacklustre, but I heard what I wanted to, and since the festival their new album has really grown on me and I urge you to give it a listen. The intense booming vocals are still an evident theme throughout, but the twist of the synth gives it a subtle nostalgic 80’s vibe.

Our next stop was Leeds University Refrectory for a bit of a wild card ‘The Hunna’, We’d heard the name but weren’t too sure on what we were getting, yet it turned out to be the best show we saw all day. My first thoughts were, this is the sort of band you listen to when you’re in that teenage in between stage of not knowing whether you’re really that in to rock yet so you’ll settle for a stepping stone. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it though, the atmosphere was incredible, the crowd were throwing themselves at one another whilst singing at the top of their lungs. Every song was just as catchy as the last, with simple lyrics with just the right amount of arrogance, punchy guitar ringing throughout each track and a consistent beat to keep the crowd moving. The stand out song for me was and still is definitely ‘Bonfire’ which structurally is pop perfection. Starting off slow with some strong vocals and gradually getting more upbeat, introducing new instruments at just the right times to peak your interest, when  you get to the chorus you already feel like you know the words and by the second bridge you’ve nailed it.

The next couple of artists on our line-up were Fickle Friends, chosen for their similarities with HAIM, and Clean Cut Kid for their upbeat indie vibe. At festivals like this I like to inject as much variety in to my day as possible, and these two choices following on from one another reflect that.

Fickle Friends boast a strong female vocal sitting on top of a synth heavy backbeat with some subtle guitar leads thrown in, which was perfect for their mid-afternoon scheduling. I think what I like most about this band are their consistent toe tapping beats throughout each track, allowing the vocals to carry the drops and the soothing pitch of vocals dominate each track with a subtle hint of vulnerability. It was hard not to have a wiggle at this show with their slinky stage presence flowing with the beat, and family members up on the balcony hanging on every word.

We didn’t stick around for much of Clean Cut Kid’s set, but I put them on the list for their track ‘Pick me up’ which isn’t their most recent track but it kicked off the set perfectly and if you are looking for a bit of a pick me up then it’s definitely worth a listen.

The final stop after 9 hours of queuing, listening, dancing, drinking and walking was one I’d been looking forward to since having to leave half way through the set the first time I attended the festival 8 years ago. Frightened Rabbit were one of the main headline acts this year taking stage at Church and I wasn’t about to miss it this time. The first time I was introduced to this band was back in my first year of university where I was discovering a new life in a new city so there is a lot of nostalgia attached to their music for me. We arrived an hour early to this one expecting a packed to the rafters experience, this wasn’t the case but I wasn’t complaining as it meant I got an unspoiled front row spot to the gig I’d been waiting 8 years for. The illusion that this would be the stand out gig of the day, and probably of my Live at Leeds experiences over the last few years was quickly diluted when the words out of Scott’s mouth upon taking stage were filled with self-doubt, but I didn’t want to let that cloud my reasoning for turning up.

They compiled a set list of tracks trailing throughout their entire back catalogue which made it quite refreshing to hear some of my old loves being mingled together with new ones. From their 2008 album ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ to their most recent release ‘Painting of a Panic Attack’ it is clear that the band have taken a darker turn lyrically, but they manage to peak an interest with their melodies which make you hear some of the more sombre lyrics as beautiful and thought evoking rather than just a bit depressing. It’s hard for me to pick a favourite track of theirs because each tells their own story, but I do have a choice lyric ‘Bare your teeth to me please, Maneater’ which even to me doesn’t make a lot of sense sat by itself but just take a listen to ‘The Wrestle’ which is the track it hides in. I don’t really have a reason why I like it so much, but I’m not sure I need to.

Maybe I was watching this gig through rose tinted glasses, but despite the opening statement, I still hung on to his every word, and it wouldn’t stop me from buying a ticket to their next show.

From start to finish this event for me was as it always has been, a day to discover new music, rekindle old loves, and revel in previously missed opportunities to see some great artists. No performance will ever be completely what you expected it to be, whether that be for better or worse, but whatever happens Live at Leeds is always a festival that I can’t wait to go to again even before it’s over. Until next year….

All photo credits are with www.jennysneap.co.uk