#they r three distinct kinds of sexy.

[quippip]

the eye of michael is an evil cult yeah sure but god if they don't churn out the sexiest men

[idolish7rabbitchats]

Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Wonderful Octave Rabbit Chat Part 2

Tsumugi: Everyone, thank you for gathering! I was thinking that we could collect requests for Tsunashi-san’s “RADIO STATION Twelve Hits!” here.

Tsumugi: Continuing from last time, I’ll manage the chat. Please take care of it!

Ryuunosuke: Please take care of me!

Anesagi: Ryuu is last in TRIGGER too huh! Everyone, please take care of us!

Okazaki: From me too, please take care of me!

Banri: We’ll be attending too.

Tsumugi: The requests gathered from everyone will be, like it has been up to this point, decided by a raffle pull in the show. So then, I’ll ask for the requests from the youngest!

Ryuunosuke: I’m looking forward to everyone’s requests…!

Gaku: Ryuu was a little bit restless before the group chat. (lol)

Tenn: He checked the time countless times and stood up and sat down a lot huh.

Ryuunosuke: Waah! You don’t have to say that here!

Gaku: He’s embarrassed huh (lol).

Tenn: He’s embarrassed.

Momo: Ryuu’s cute! Like a guy who’s waiting before his first date \(*´ω`)人(´ω｀*)ノ

Mitsuki: Going on a date with 16 people is huge lol.

Yamato: The gender ratio is unequal.

Yuki: It has nothing to do with guys and girls. Isn’t it fine if we can make a pair?

Iori: As expected from you, you have a freedom of thought.

Banri: I think he’s just lazy. (Lol)

Tamaki: Yeah! 

Tamaki: I’ll pair with Ryuu-aniki.

Ryuunosuke: Eh, is it fine? I’m happy but, why?

Tamaki: It’s almost your birthday so if we were together, we could eat cake.

Ryuunosuke: I see, you are tempted by food. lol

Sogo: Tamaki-kun, what are you thinking about with your senpai…!

Tamaki: It’s fine with So-chan too. 

Sogo: I’m glad that I won’t be alone but...

Riku: It feels like we are pairing up for P.E. class!

Anesagi: What have you been talking about?! We should move on to collecting requests!

Tsumugi: R-Right! Then, from Tamaki-san please!

Tamaki: Kaay.

Tamaki: Ryuu-aniki, who’s your fave in IDOLiSH7?

Ryuunosuke: Eh! My fave?! I mean, that kind of request is certainly…?

Gaku: That’s what you said during my turn isn’t it?

Tamaki: Because Gakkun said that he likes everyone and didn’t actually answer it!

Tamaki: [Angry Kinako Stamp]

Gaku: You’re still mad? (lol) I said sorry and gave you a pudding afterwards right.

Tamaki: I already ate it so I forgot.

Ryuunosuke: I see, so I’m your revenge huh! lol

Tamaki: Ryuu-aniki, I believe in you.

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Ryuunosuke: Since I got it so straight-forwardly, I might just make Tamaki-kun my fave!

Tamaki: Hurray!!!

Tamaki: [Sparkling Kinako Stamp]

Mitsuki: Tamaki, is that fine…?!

Sogo: You have to respect Tsunashi-san’s opinion too.

Nagi: If you asked Yaotome-shi and Tsunashi-shi, you have to ask to Kujo-shi too.

Tenn: Like it sounds like you want to take this opportunity to just complete them all.

Riku: I wanna hear it too! Yes! Yes!

Riku: It’s not only because of the opportunity!

Iori: It seems it would be difficult if he picked anyone other than the center...

Tenn: I would’ve answered it if you requested that during your month ^^

Riku: Eeeeeeeeeeeh!

Tsumugi: I’m also curious about Tsunashi-san’s favorite! 

Tsumugi: To continue, Iori-san please!

Iori: From me it’s a “Yes/No quiz”.

Iori: It’s the game where you should answer yes or no within 3 seconds to the questions that I prepared. If I ask about personal questions, listeners could know many sides of Tsunashi-san and it would be good.

Ryuunosuke: I would answer them by reflex huh? That seems fun!

Ryuunosuke: Would Iori-kun give me the questions?

Iori: That’s right. Of course, they would be checked by Anesagi-san though.

Momo: I also want to think of things to ask Ryuu~ (ノ´Д)ノ

Sogo: Um… If it’s alright, would you allow me to help too?

Mitsuki: Ah! I have something I wanna ask too!

Iori: That helps. Everyone has real questions they want to ask so it seems this quiz will be intense.

Yamato: Oooh. You are popular, Tsunashi-san!

Gaku: You’re popular huh, Ryuu!

Ryuunosuke: Somehow I’m happy…! The request corner is a great thing huh!

Tenn: You are a natural lady-killer. That’s a good thing tho.

Ryuunosuke: Eh! L-Lady-killer?! Are you praising me?!

Tenn: I am. I said that was a good thing right.

Ryuunosuke: Really? I’m happy to be praised by Tenn!

Ryuunosuke: Iori-kun and everyone too, please ask me anything that’s fine!

Tsumugi: I’m also looking forward to everyone’s questions for Tsunashi-san!

Tsumugi: So then, let’s have the request from Riku-san!

Riku: Yes! From me it’s “I want to hear an episode of bravery about bad things”!

Riku: Tsunashi-san is nice, cool, good at cooking, and really cool! But, actually I want to try asking if there was a time you were naughty!

Yuki: You said cool twice.

Gaku:  Just that, our Ryuu is cool huh!

Ryuunosuke: You think of me that way huh! I’m happy to be praised by Riku-kun.

Tenn: I certainly can’t imagine a naughty Ryuu.

Riku: Right! But I just can’t imagine what makes someone naughty at all.

Nagi: Like lining up all night for a big event in summer and winter?

Mitsuki: That’s certainly bad but Tsunashi-san wouldn’t do that right lol.

Ryuunosuke: If you’re participating in an event, it’s important to follow the rules huh!

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

*Tsumugi: Like running down a hallway…!

Ryuunosuke: That’s dangerous huh! It would be bad if you slipped and fell...!

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

Gaku: I knew that Ryuu wasn’t the bad boy!

Tenn: Actually, I’m a little curious about you having that sort of past or not.

Anesagi: No way, that sort of thing! I want him to be both calm and sexy even if he was carrying a backpack!

Momo: That kind of elementary schooler is too distinctive! lol

Ryuunosuke: I don’t think I wasn’t sexy or calm before… I was an energetic elementary schooler who was running around barefoot. Lol

Ryuunosuke: I don’t know if I have something you could call naughty but I’ll tell you after I look back at pictures from my childhood!

Riku: Thank you!

Yamato: That he tried to answer the request by looking back at his album, he’s not naughty at all, certainly he is an honest person.

Sogo: It’s a heartwarming episode where we can feel Tsunashi-san’s honesty!

Tsumugi: I’m also secretly interested in a naughty Tsunashi-san! Lol

Tsumugi: Next, Kujo-san, can I have the request?

Tenn: Yes. From me, “Let us hear if you have anything you want to say to TRIGGER”.

Tenn: More like to me and Gaku than to TRIGGER. Ryuu isn’t the type to strongly argue, so I want him to say anything in this opportunity.

Tenn: I’m fine with something like what you want us to do, what you want us to change, or a request for us.

Gaku: That’s a good request! Ryuu, say anything to us.

Ryuunosuke: Gaku, Tenn, thank you! Honestly, I think TRIGGER’s relationship for now is the best, I don’t have any request.

Tenn: See, that sort of thing. Even though you could say selfish things. 

Ryuunosuke: I want you to say selfish things. Tenn does all the jobs or household things by yourself.

Ryuunosuke: Before this, I thought you never left your room huh, but you’d actually caught a cold hadn’t you.

Gaku: That! We seriously would’ve wanted you to say it at that time.

Riku: Tenn-nii caught a cold?! Is he okay?!

Tenn: I’m okay. I recovered after I slept all night.

Riku: I’m glad…!

Gaku: Even for one night, medicine or food or something, there was something we could’ve done right?

Tenn: Are we still talking about this? We already talked about it enough.

Ryuunosuke: Because Tenn hesitated weirdly.

Tenn: It was just a slight fever, not a serious cold, and I can’t spread it to you guys.

Gaku: You’re still saying that sort of thing?

Ryuunosuke: Honestly, about this, I’m still a little mad now.

Tenn: Since Ryuu doesn’t get mad easily, you are persistent when you do.

Ryuunosuke: I had a reason to get mad so I got mad. 

Nagi: Were you three fighting?

Tamaki: Though you are adults, don’t fight-!

Mitsuki: Aah, not so much a fight… I understand how Yaotome and Tsunashi-san feel here.

Tenn: It’s not a fight. We’re already done talking about it.

Gaku: We’re not!

Ryuunosuke: How about we talk later? This group chat wasn’t to talk about that..!

Tsumugi: Not wanting to make your friends worry, but also wanting someone to rely on you, I understand them both...

Tsumugi: Nagi-san, please give us the request!

Nagi: Leave it to me. I’ll be an air purifier in this group chat!

Momo: Nagi being an air purifier sound strong lololol

Yuki: That’s a good one.

Ryuunosuke: Nagi-kun, sorry. Thank you for easing the tense atmosphere.

Nagi: I don’t mind. You can pay me in the request corner. :-)

Ryuunosuke: Got it! I’ll try my best to pull Nagi-kun’s request..!

Iori: Is he an air purifier or a schemer… He is tricky.

Nagi: You shouldn’t worry about tiny things! My request is “Impromptu☆Tsunashi-shi’s Haiku”!

Ryuunosuke: Haiku meaning that 5,7,5 haiku?

Nagi: Exactly. Along with the theme I prepared, I want Tsunashi-shi to make a haiku at that time.

Nagi: When you read your haiku, you need to use the echo effect.

Sogo: Somehow that’s detailed instructions.

Nagi: If I'm gonna do it, I need to produce everything perfectly.

Ryuunosuke: As expected of Nagi-kun. Thank you for thinking of it with details!

Nagi: Anyways, to prepare for getting any theme from me, please check out Magical★Kokona’s latest episode. 

Nagi: Especially, I’ll recommend that you understand the enemy character in last week’s episode, the Darkness Bear Secretary’s line.

Ryuunosuke: Th-That’s really quite detailed huh?!

Riku: Oh right, earlier while watching Kokona, he was murmuring “He has the same voice as Tsunashi-shi.” I think…?

Mitsuki: Then, you are thinking of making Tsunashi-san to act out that bear’s line isn’t it!

Nagi: (°3°)~♪

Tenn: I’m curious about how he is going to lead to acting as that character with a haiku.

Gaku: I feel his commitment to not just request him to act as the character.

Ryuunosuke: If Nagi-kun is expecting it that much then I’ll really try my best..!

Nagi: I’m looking forward to it. :-)))

Tsumugi: I couldn’t check recently but I’ll catch up to the latest episode too…!

Tsumugi: Next up is Sougo-san please!

Sogo: From me it’s, “Tsunashi-san is kind but I want to hear of a time when you got mad.”

Sogo: But, earlier there was the story of how you wanted Kujou-san to let you worry over him huh...

Sogo: I’m sorry. I said something to bring it up again..!

Ryuunosuke: It’s fine. Because it’s not like we were really fighting.

Gaku: Ryuu is generally a generous person huh. Even if someone says something a little sarcastic, or someone bumps you when you’re walking, you seem fine.

Ryuunosuke: There is no use in getting irritated over that right? 

Ryuunosuke: Maybe that person had a hard time and something bad happened to him.

Yuki: You are like a saint.

Sogo: But, I understand that feeling. Because I also have only a few things that will piss me off. 

Sogo: But I won’t forget the name and face of the person who did it to me.

Yamato: That’s even scarier! (lol)

Iori: I feel like that has a slightly different meaning to Tsunashi-san’s “not getting mad.”...

Sogo: I-Is that so?

Tamaki: I’ll be careful never to do anything terrible to So-chan.

Banri: Because he already remembers your face and name huh (lol).

Tamaki: [Sweating Pudding Stamp]

Sogo: It’s terrible to be this scared of me.

Tamaki: [Shaking Kinako Stamp]

Ryuunosuke: It’s important to understand what kind of person your companions are huh! It's proof that you are thinking about further things.

Ryuunosuke: Sougo-kun’s amazing huh!

Sogo: Thank you…! I’m very grateful for your compliment.

Mitsuki: Excuse me! Can we take a little break?

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, did something happen?

Mitsuki: Seems like Nagi wanted to see Kokona’s Darkness Bear’s episode, but he couldn’t find the recorded data.

Mitsuki: He looks so down and I feel sorry for him. Can we search for a hard drive together for a little bit?

Yamato: Seems like there are streams too. But he said it’s different from the recorded video.

Ryuunosuke: I see…! I hope he has the data!

Mitsuki: Sorry, to cut it for a weird reason!

Tsumugi: So then, the group chat has also become long so we’ll take a little break. I’ll contact you at the time we could restart!

V2:

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

Tsumugi: Like customizing your school uniforms…?

Ryuunosuke: There were people who customized their uniforms secretly huh! I didn’t get it much, so I just wore it normally. Lol

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

V3:

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

Tsumugi: Like lip-syncing the Alma Mater at an assembly…?

Ryuunosuke: I was singing but some people don’t, so some people would feel embarrassed huh.

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

[tisfan]

Turn Down for What

Title Turn Down for What Collaborator(s) @tisfan​ / @27dragons​ @monobuu​ Link https://archiveofourown.org/works/23545609 Square Filled Tisfan: U2: Bucky/Tony / 27dragons: K4 - I Regret Nothing / monobuu - just wanted an excuse to draw Bucky in pink speedos Ship/Main Pairing Bucky/Tony Rating - Mature Major Tags/Triggers/Warnings: Meet cute, sexy dancing, revealing clothing Summary Tony’s driving down an unfamiliar road after a very frustrating day when he sees something... unusual. After that, things look up considerably. Word Count 1573

for @buckybarnesbingo​

It had been an utterly lousy day. The new alloy he’d been working on had turned out to be roughly as brittle as an eggshell, rendering it utterly useless. He’d gotten dragged into R&D to baby Team Four through trying to hold their own cocks. He’d rounded a corner too quickly and collided with a messenger hurrying in the opposite direction, which had resulted in him spilling his lunch all over his new suit. Curry stained, damn it.

And to top it all off, the new body armor contract that he’d been working for... had been awarded to fucking Hammertech.

So yeah, he had taken out one of his cars and cranked the music to eleven and was cruising the streets singing along at the top of his lungs, because the only other alternative was to scream in frustration.

On the plus side, he'd been working out of the upstate facility, otherwise he might well be sitting in traffic and screaming. 

Instead, he'd managed to find a nice bit of back road where he could dial everything up to eleven.

Which is why he was pretty sure he hadn't seen what he thought he saw.

A blur of pink and skin and lime green… he wasn't entirely sure that person wasn't entirely naked on the side of the road...

Startled -- apparently there were surprises still to be found on New York’s streets -- he slowed down a little. Enough to try to get a look.

Not naked. But all but. And emphases on the butt part of that sentence, since what Tony was seeing was someone's butt. Wearing a hot pink pair of Speedos. Lime green running shoes, and thick brown hair tied up in a half bun. 

Speedo jogged across the street and then did some very flexible stretches, holding on to a light pole.

He seemed in very good shape. Very bendy.

Tony couldn’t quite help himself; he got to the next intersection and made a U-turn, because Speedo was worth a second look.

And a third, and possibly fourth look as well. He was just coming out of his stretch when Tony got back around. Beautiful, really, with sharp cheekbones and a full mouth and a cleft chin. 

He glanced at the car, squinted, then grinned, dropped his hips and executed a -- perfectly in rhythm with Tony's music -- a Beyonce video worthy pop and swing, arms moving to show off biceps, hips jutting to show off everything else.

Okay, yeah, there was no way Tony was driving on by with that kind of show. He pulled to a stop and rolled the window down, the better to share the music, and let himself ogle. No man dressed like that could possibly not want to be stared at, right?

Speedo gave him a quick look, then continued to dance, lithesome and seductive and absolutely beat perfect. Muscles gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, lined with sweat. He danced all the way around Tony's car, shaking his hips, and ended up back in front.

Where he backed up that ass and treated Tony to an enthusiastic twerk. The music wound down and the dancer gave Tony a little wave with two fingers before jogging off down a side street, backside jiggling the whole way.

For half a second, Tony debated following him, but that would be creepy, right? Even allowing for the fact that the guy was running around public streets with the ugliest shoes Tony had seen since the 80s and a neon banana hammock.

At least his mood had brightened some and the day had not entirely sucked.

He hit the horn twice as he drove by the side street and headed for home.

 The next day was better. And yet, Tony found himself climbing into the car and heading toward that back road.

He told himself that the drive had cleared his thoughts and let him focus better.

He told himself that the cars needed to be driven to keep them in good working order.

He told himself that it was too pretty a day to stay inside.

But he couldn’t deny, as he turned down the street, that he was watching the side of the road for a flash of neon and skin.

The line green shoes were the same, but this time he was wearing some sort of tiger striped compression shorts and a black mesh shirt. When Tony pulled up behind him, he came to an abrupt halt, putting one hand to his ear. Turn down for what?

Tony laughed and cranked his music up, letting the bass thump through his bones like a massage.

The dancer was no less enthused than the day before. Given that he was dancing in running shoes, he still resembled a reject-from-the-80's ballet dancer, his core muscles obvious even through the mesh. He'd produced a pair of sunglasses from somewhere and was using them as a prop. Those bedroom eyes were something else, and the way he could dance without taking his gaze off Tony's face...

Tony was breathing harder, just watching him.

Tony couldn’t resist rolling his window down as the song ended. “You dance like that for all the boys?”

"You were playin' my song," he said, panting for breath. "Yesterday, I mean."

“Yeah? And what about today?”

He shrugged one shoulder, which made his body move enticingly. “You came back for a repeat performance. Wouldn’t want t’ cheat ya.”

“You knew it was me again?” Tony tipped his head, studying the guy. “Not too creepy?”

“I knew it was you,” the man said. “You’re driving a Zenvo ST1. All the horsepower goes to the rear wheels, which makes for a real distinctive engine purr. I could hear ya almost a block away. And that’s not to mention the music.” He winked. “Not too creepy. You start throwing one dollar bills out the window on th’ way by, that might be creepy.”

Tony scoffed. “If I start throwing bills, they’ll be better than ones. Especially for someone as talented as you.”

“Yeah? I’ll tell the troop leader you said so. Recommended, move Barnes out of the chorus line and into a lead role, according to--” He waved a hand at Tony as if for an introduction.

“Tony.” He offered a hand through the window.

“Nice to meet you, Tony,” he said, taking Tony’s hand. “James Barnes, although my friends call me Bucky.”

“Should I ask why they call you that?” Tony wondered. Bucky had a nice hand, firm and not too smooth. A little sweaty, but Tony had interrupted his workout.

“Probably, but not today,” Bucky said. He took a step back, gave Tony that sassy little wave again. “See ya!” 

And there he went again; man, hate it when you leave, love to watch you go.

 Bucky had practically dared Tony to come back. Tony had never been one to back down from a dare. He could hardly pay attention to the last meeting of the day, wondering if he’d see Bucky again. What Bucky would be wearing with those ridiculous lime shoes. Whatever it was, it was sure to be mouthwatering.

Tony all but flung himself into the car and sped through the streets, slowing down only when he reached that same road.

Bucky pushed away from the wall as soon as Tony drove up. He didn’t look like he’d been out running that day, wearing a set of short denim overalls with black boots and a tank top. He also had knee pads on, and when Tony pulled up, the music cranking, it was obvious why.

His dance moves for that day were exceptionally athletic, involving splits and twists, which weren’t exactly designed for use on a crummy backstreet sidewalk. He had brought out a folding chair for a prop, his legs moving over the back, twisting, and flipping over it like a circus show.

A very sexy, adult circus show, Tony noted.

Tony leaned heavily on his open window frame. “If you’re trying to impress me, then job well done.”

“Technically, I don’t jog on Thursdays, it’s weights day,” Bucky said, sitting backward in his chair and crossing his arms over the back. “But I thought you might be back. An’... I kinda thought if you were. You might want to go grab a coffee or somethin’?”

“Hot as fuck dance moves, an impressive knowledge of cars, and coffee? Be still my heart.” Tony grinned and jerked a thumb at the passenger seat. “Want to hop in?”

Bucky chewed his lip for a moment, then, “Yeah. I mean, I’m not gonna regret this, you don’t… look like a serial killer.” But he was smirking the whole time, so Tony could take it as a joke. 

Tony chuckled. “Neither do you. Come on, let’s grab a coffee. I promise I’ll have you home by curfew.”

Bucky folded up his chair and slid it into the very narrow gap behind the seats. “There’s a good place, two down, three to the left.”

“Two down, three left,” Tony repeated. “My treat, since you were kind enough to provide entertainment?”

“You got it, Baby Driver,” Bucky said, buckling his belt. “Although this is a sweet ride, an’ I feel like I ought to pay you for the privilege.”

“For five blocks? You want a ride, we can go for a ride after we get our coffee. You know, assuming you haven’t decided to regret this.”

“I regret nothing!”  

[fymonsta-x]

[INTERVIEW] Monsta X talk world domination and destroying masculinity

Hot on the heels of Blackpink and BTS, Monsta X are the sexy, outspoken South Korean boyband who love putting on a show and serving you bangers. Taylor Glasby sits down with the band to talk criticism and fetish wear

“Our dream was to be able to stand on a big stage. But we didn’t have any idea of how this would evolve,” says 25-year-old vocalist Minhyuk, one-seventh of the Korean pop group, Monsta X. They burst onto the K-pop landscape in 2015 and have since chalked up three albums, six EPs and hundreds of millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams.

Contrary to widespread belief that it’s a self-contained genre, K-pop is an umbrella term for an entire industry, producing everything from bubblegum pop to future bass, trop to trap. Monsta X have marked their turf with a mash-up of hip hop, elastic pop melodies and tactile R&B, such as their latest single, “Who Do You Love (ft French Montana)”, which, Hyungwon – tall, fine-boned, sounds as if he’s battling the onset of a head cold – says “is a song that doesn’t care what genre it belongs to. It exists the way it is.”

Off stage, they’re dressed in sneakers, tees and jeans. They drink iced Americanos: it keeps them alert through their packed schedules. Wonho (owner of one of K-pop’s most envied physiques, which he maintains with daily two-hour workouts), who teasingly strips down to his trousers nightly onstage, perches solemnly in his chair. There's a distinct lack of ego and they never fail to make eye contact when speaking. They're so lowkey it's easy to address them as you would a friend you haven't seen in months. It’s a 180 degree turn from the Monsta X of stage and screen, where they emanate a taut, powerful and grown-up sexiness, accentuating it with smokey eye make-up, embellished jackets, chokers and leather trousers, like a cross between Mötley Crüe and Jim Morrison. For their 2018 single “Jealousy”, they wore bondage-style leather harnesses under double-breasted suits. It was sensual, provocative and divisive but Monsta X have developed a proud ownership of their duality.

Hyungwon points out that, “We’re stage performers, so I like wearing something that shines from head to toe.” For IM, “Wearing a harness is just to express our song concept. Showing the audience what we want to show is the most important thing. We’re not ashamed. We’ve done a lot of sexual items, like harnesses and chains. We’re comfortable.”

Although K-pop’s male groups still have predominantly female fanbases, it doesn’t take much effort to find male Monsta X fans discussing them on Twitter, often with the same fervency that marks a Marvel fanboy. Kihyun sees no difficulty in attracting male fans. “It’s the same way when you see a good-looking actor on screen,” he says. “You can say, ‘Wow. That’s a good-looking guy.’ And that’s how you become a fan.”

K-pop might be marching into Western culture, where performative and gender-defying pop and rockstars have long been cultural icons, but male K-pop artists still receive an avalanche of hate about their race and perceived lack of masculinity. Monsta X know this is out there. They’re utterly unfazed. Minhyuk raises an eyebrow: “I don’t think the world appreciates things in the right way, in my opinion.” “What is masculinity these days?” muses IM. “I think it’s really hard to define it, overall. Everyone has their own meaning.”

But, for argument’s sake, where does your own sense of masculinity come from? IM pauses for a long moment. “Having a dick,” he says bluntly, sipping coffee as his bandmates’ jaws drop and shocked laughter ripples around the table. It’s rare to see this kind of candour in a K-pop idol. “But, you know, it’s also about loving yourself, caring about yourself. That’s first. And we don’t think that women should be like ‘this’ and men should be like ‘that’,” he adds.

For Joohoney, narrow-mindedness deserves only to be ignored: “People talk about masculinity and femininity but, at the end of the day, Monsta X is there to perform a show and we don’t let that affect us,” he smiles. “We do what we’re good at.”

Read full article on gq-magazine.co.uk

[coolgirl]

Jason expert rate Jason’s designs

sorry for being late i was busy with school but now i’m free so to celebrate. jason indulgence.

pre-crisis not robin

very cute. i like that it has a lil more of flair to it? the collar and the lines on the gloves and the shorter cape.. also love it has pants. king rlly king. wonder if they already knew he was gonna be robin anyways or if they were still considering nightbird. anyways, 8/10 bc its cute

pre & post-crisis robin (bc its basically the same)

i mean its a classic.. however it reminds me jason was the only robin who was simply given dick’s clothes rather than like. have an unique look? which sucks. 7/10 middle child syndrome is REAL

post-crisis robin (winter edition)

OKAY NOW THIS. i absolutely love. is it tacky? oh yes without a doubt. i still love the pants and the sleeves. finally winter clothes for this child, especially considering his new titans scene where he was bitching about the costume not being snow proof. he got what he wanted! 9/10

new 52/rebirth costume by

EPIC. IDC I LOVE IT.the circles on his arms and his boots.. the lines on his legs.. i just love it. i love the red mask too… it feels.. not more unique, but feels more jason-y than the other costume. 10/10

NOW. onto older stuff

hush

as u can see im VERY confusion about the pouches and the straps?? why??? whats the purpose.. generally its fine. the white strand moved a nation and i think the chest piece is cool, but everything else.. uglee. like the long as hell jacket and him looking 40 years old like why r u 19 looking like fifty? ugly white man. 5/10

winicks/utrh version

LITERALLY A CLASSIC. i love this costume sooo much. like jason obviously grew out of it, as in it wouldnt make sense for him anymore to go with something like this as his main costume because i feel like this fit the utrh mood (him not veing a vigilante/hero/villain whatver but trying to be a mob boss n shit) and it just. fucks. i love the helmet just being plain with no stupid mouth or nose shape. i simply love it. 10/10

nigthwing

its just. its just the nightwing costume. didnt even try he just stole that from dick. he still rocks it and looks better than dick, and u gotta give him points for accessorizing with his dagger. 7/10

red robin 

im not. a big fan of this costume.. i think the cowl is ugly, it just does not work for someone as big as jason… however i do like why he took this mantle and what it meant.. 6/10 no words head empty. 

oh brother. furryman

ITS SUCH AN UGLY COSTUME. muzzle batman walked so muzzle red hood could run. its just. ugly like ugly. i dont like the ears or again the muzzle or whatever the hell is going on in the arms.. its just so edgy. 5/10

WANNA KNOW WHAT A SEXY EVIL BATMAN COSTUME LOOK LIKE?

Injustice 2 batman

I2 HAD IT IN THE BAG BABY. i like that its like classic batman costume but again! with some jason touches! the red eyes, the electric tiddies making a comeback.. epic genuinely epic. 10/10

and if ur not into evil jason

100% dad ‘i have my life figured out’ batman jason 

just like the nightwing costume this is just. batman costume. nothing special or different from it so its like did u even try? BUT in this scenario it actually means smth that he stuck to bruces costume.. sweet.. but boring. 7/10

speaking of. evil ugly designs. ugh i hate this.

this motherfucker

ive never. ever. felt as humiliated by a costume than thetime jason wore this. like MORTIFYING RLLY. its DISGUSTINGGG. the helmet shape. the fucking WHITE. the SKULL PLEASE WHO DESIGNED THIS WHO HATES ME IN PARTICULAR SO MUCH??? THIS MAN DOES NOT FUCK! HES UGLY! HE STINKS!!!! the red guns are epic that much i can say. LOOK AT THOSE PANS GOD ITS SO HUMILLIATING. 0/10 WORST COSTUME EVER.

HOWEVER. winick and the artist spun GOLD from it, because next time jason wore possibly my favorite costume to date

this motherfucker…2!

like look how much better it looks with a little of swag.. the helmet without eyes.. the belts.. the fucking leather jacket.. keeping the red guns/gloves.. like seriously i dont know a better man. the skull is still awful and i wouldve replaced the white for black and MWAH best costume. like the black part at the top make it all red and the white make it black.. god this jason fucks massively i love him. 11/10 my favorite by a landslide perhaps

new 52/rebirth red hood

OKAY I KNOW theyre slightly different (rebirth has shorter sleeves and a more padded look) but to me its like. same thing. okay i think its.. fine. its not phenomenal but its not ugly.. i like the brown jacket more than the black jacket i have to admit, its more distinctive and i simply like the color more, however i do not.. like jason having the bat symbol.. but thats also a me thing about how badly written this is. anyways. the helmet with the mouth disgusts me and everytime its drawn like that its humilliating. like. 7/10. maybe 7+. when it has the mouth or like nose ANY FACIAL EXPRESSION RLLY its a 5. 

wingman

oh i absolutely despise that helmet. he looks like fucking. terminator. its the ugliest shape ive ever seen and the visor is.. huge. i dont like the shoulder pads either idk what the fuck its going on with the thing around his neck either.. like hes. knockout batman and i HATEEE IT. damians costume slaps tho. i just… its… ugly. like.. 3/10. 

get damian back arc red hood costume

oh im a HUGE fan of this design.i love how his costume is designed in a way thats like. if jason was a dnd character he absolutely would be a tank. the padding, the red undertones everywhere, i just.. love it. i like how all the costumes were done to reflect their personalities you know.. i like this robin red hood hybrid. 9/10 would even say 10/10 bc i just enjoy how gleason draws jason.

red hood/arsenal costume

its like. i dont hate it completely (i love the way the hood+helmet looks) and thats.. yeah thats pretty much all i like about it. i HATEEEE the vest i hate it fr.i hate how huge the sumbol is and idk this costume just does not spark joy. 5/10

outlaw costume

okay this one. this one drives me insane. because like. okay i dig parts of it. i like the lack of sleeves. i like the gloves thingies. i like the hood. i could get aboard him ditching the helmet - it breaks all the damn time anyways. i like the stripes on his pants in the boots. ALL SEPARATE? NEAT. now i hate. hate. the muzzle. like WHY IT LOOKS SO UGLYYY LIKE SO UGLY like unless the artist GETS IT and is SEXY it looks awful. look at this

AWFUL. also like it made sense for when he was on the run and he had to make do and assemble a costume from what he had but like now hes sponsored by lex, get that man a goddamn new suit already please. anyways. 6/10.. like i said i like many elements from it but its still.. kinda ugly all together and depends A LOT on the artist.

three jokers

im torn on this one.. i think its a bit boring.. i dont rlly like the top part, it reminds me SOO much of that one tt issue where he beat the fuck out of tim while wearing a robin costume like i understad the implications of him wearing a costume thats similar to the robin blouse but im not a big fan.. also i prefer the brown leather jacket. its like not his worst costume by far but not the best.. like pretty basic?  i would say 6/10

NOW SOME AUS.

tiny titans & lil gotham

okay these two are like. pretty much the canon versions of robin and red hood HOWEVER they both have details that are different from the original version and DESERVE a mention. the curls on robin jason and jasons red gloves/belt are ICONIC. whoever designed them knew what they were about, so 10/10 best bapy jason.

arkham knight

does the person who designed this know how much theyve done for the lgbt community? i hope they do. i love.. a lot about this costume. i love the ears, i love how techno it is, i love the layers to it.. im.. not a big fan of the whole military thingy but i have to admit that applying it to the design itself is kind of neat.. i love the colors too and how.. practical it is while being. well. kinda dramatic? the whole bat aesthetic.. yeah. i love it. 9/10

arkham red hood

this one.. when u think about it the outlaw version is VEEERY similar to this one: the pants, the hood, the jacket eve. however i like this helmet so much more, i have a weakness for eyeless (??) helmets.. i like the little details of it as well, i remember that pic going around of it being held together with like. fuckign stitches and bandaids. legendary. i love this look, i would say 9+/10

injustice 2 jason

okay gonna go ahead and say it: not a big fan of the helmet. it looks like.. a bug? the lenses do not spark joy. this bitch has many styles and like toners etc and i will no rate them all. i think its a pretty basic design, not the best but not the worst either. like if it was an exam i would make them pass but make faces at what im reading like eeehhhgh. 7/10.

hag jason

middle one is like literally, on the outside and superficial level, just. his usual costume. the jacket and the grey kevlar and the bat. now the gloves are sexy as hell.. and in the whit ebackground one u can appreciate the under costume better and i really like it?? i just.. like the design. I HATE HOWEVER the bat helmet. WHY IS IT HOLLOW?? BITCH HELLO?? AND THE BATMAN SYMBOL DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! and i like things making sense!!!. we will not talk about jason in this book. like.. 8/10. maybe 9 if im feeling it.

hag jason 2: the hagger and the furious

hes just.. a little old man.. he cannot change this.. i like this design. i like seeing jason grow old. wish it wasnt in this context. my father rlly. 8/10

—-

am i forgetting any jays.. i wont do all animated robins because they all look the same and the one that doesnt i do not like. SO HERES my thoughts..

[nerianasims]

Billboard #1s 1974

Under the cut.

Steve Miller Band – “The Joker” -- January 12, 1974

It always throws me when I remember how old this song is. Two years older than me, and yet I associate it with my own mid-20s partying. Okay, my "partying" was pretty mild. One of the things my friends and I often did was go to a dueling piano (really keyboard) bar, and they always played this song. I can taste the rum and Coke now. We had tipsy discussions about what "pompatus" meant. A guy tried to pick one of my friends up with "really love your peaches." Anyway, I love this song, but it's also so embedded into my life that I can't judge it fairly.

Al Wilson – “Show And Tell” -- January 19, 1974

1970s Philly R&B is great music. This is a pretty typical example of the genre; lots of strings, lots of horns, an adult with a voice he uses like an instrument to impart strong emotions. It's a love song, and the lyrics aren't anything spectacular, but they do the job. Very good.

Ringo Starr – “You’re Sixteen” -- January 26, 1974

GAH. Next!

Barbra Streisand – “The Way We Were” -- February 2, 1974

I was tempted to write, "GAH. Next!" here too, but I'm determined to save that kind of thing for songs that have elements to them that I don't want to discuss because of moral issues. That's not this. The problem is: I hate Barbra Streisand. Or I should say I hate her singing; though from what I've seen of her personality, I don't like that either. Every song she sings, she sounds like she's singing to the glory of the greatness of the only person who matters to her in the world: Barbra Streisand. I once read an article that called her singing "masturbatory," but that's not strong enough. It's full-on self-worship. I hate it.

The Love Unlimited Orchestra – “Love’s Theme” -- February 9, 1974

This is Barry White's orchestra, but sadly it's an instrumental, without his glorious voice. It reminds me so much of the Love Boat theme that now I'm wanting to watch it. Absolute kitsch, but as kitsch goes, there's worse.

Terry Jacks – “Seasons In The Sun” -- March 2, 1974

The singer is dying and saying goodbye to everyone. That kind of sentiment may be made to work in pop, I suppose, but I've never heard it done. It belongs in opera. This is schmaltz.

Cher – “Dark Lady” -- March 23, 1974

As one of only a couple dark-haired dark-eyed girls in my quite blonde high school graduating class, people used to call me "exotic." Apparently my high cheekbones had something to do with it too. I was asked where my family was from pretty regularly. I wasn't offended --  more bemused. The answer is "Europe," though I guess the dark hair and eyes are probably by way of France. It's rather tough to say, considering my mother's side of the family has been here since the 16th century (indentured servants), and were not the rich types who stuck to their own ethnicity. Anyway, this is to say that I feel some kinship with Cher, and how drawn she was to songs like "Dark Lady." Though in this case, the "dark lady" is someone Cher's character murders for cheating with her boyfriend. She kills the boyfriend too.

This song is dated ("gypsy music") Las Vegas cheese, and yet I like it. It's wildly melodramatic and fun.

John Denver – “Sunshine On My Shoulders” -- March 30, 1974

Bleeeeeh. I like big melodramatic songs. This is the opposite. Now, I do like small, sweet songs often too. But I just can't with this one. It's too slow, too simple, and feels aggressively, shallowly cheery.

Blue Swede – “Hooked On A Feeling” -- April 6, 1974

I learned from the Todd in the Shadows video about this song that its stupid "ooga chaka" thing was inspired by 1960's "Running Bear." Now I hate it even more! The original of this song is a nice, simple love song. Blue Swede made it shouty and dumb.

Elton John – “Bennie And The Jets” -- April 13, 1974

It's Elton John. Therefore I don't like it. I feel like it's too slow maybe? I feel like most of Elton John's songs are too slow maybe. I don't know. I'm bored.

MFSB & The Three Degrees’ “TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)” -- April 20, 1974

An instrumental disco track. It is one I find danceable, so there's that. Not bad.

Grand Funk – “The Loco-Motion” -- May 4, 1974

A rock cover of The Loco-Motion. Sure, why not. Though this version is not very good. It feels like they slowed it down, and they definitely made it extremely loud. I don't really see a reason for this song to exist.

Ray Stevens – “The Streak” -- May 18, 1974

Streaking was a fad in 1974. This is a comedy song about it. I had never heard it before this, and I hope never to again. It's deeply dumb.

Paul McCartney & Wings – “Band On The Run” -- June 8, 1974

The wee-oo-wee-oo-wee-oo thing at the beginning of the song sounds neat, but then it goes on too long. That's my feeling about this entire song: It goes on too long. It does change up substantially multiple times throughout, but it's no Bohemian Rhapsody. Bohemian Rhapsody is, imo, perfect. The pacing of "Band on the Run," otoh, is a mess. The second section needs to be a lot longer and the final section needs to be a lot shorter. Paul McCartney needed an editor for this.

Bo Donaldson And The Heywoods – “Billy, Don’t Be A Hero” -- June 15, 1974

A young woman tells her boyfriend to not "be a hero" when he goes off to war (probably the Civil War.) Because she wants him to come home alive. As anyone who knows this kind of song can predict, he decides to be a hero and dies. Cliche and weirdly bouncy for the subject matter. Still, at least songs were acknowledging that dying in war was not a great thing. Unlike the putrescent "Ballad of the Green Berets."

Gordon Lightfoot – “Sundown” -- June 29, 1974

The singer is jealously obsessed with a woman. He knows this isn't a good thing, but he doesn't seem able to -- or be trying to -- move past it. This is about something real; Gordon Lightfoot was obsessively, violently jealous over Cathy Smith, the woman who was later convicted for injecting John Belushi with the heroin that killed him. The lyrics are mean, but the music doesn't go hard at all. Except, compared to the rest of the stuff I've looked at for 1974 so far, the music does sound a lot harder -- it's minor key and there's a distinct bassline. It still feels like a mismatch.

The Hues Corporation – “Rock The Boat” -- July 6, 1974

A disco song I can dance to some. Not entirely. It's a song asking you not to "rock the boat" of your perfect love with the singer. It's incredibly schmaltzy -- schmaltzy disco. Ugh.

George McCrae – “Rock Your Baby” -- July 13, 1974

The singer is telling you, "woman," to take him in your arms and rock him. I.e. fuck him. I have perfect pitch. George McCrae is no Ella Fitzgerald. When he goes to the high note, he does not hit it right, and it's like nails on a chalkboard. I can't listen to this song all the way through.

John Denver – “Annie’s Song” -- July 27, 1974

Ugh, 1974. This is a simplistic love song to John Denver's wife. Not just simple, which is fine, but simplistic, which is not. They divorced years later, and Denver became violent during it. (Denver's the one who brought that to light and he obviously felt terrible about it.) The Stereogum guy was shocked by this. I'm not. For one, celebrity is horrible for people. For another, I can't think of any of Denver's songs that have depth or complexity. Trying to live at the surface is also horrible for people. I do like a lot of simple love songs, but John Denver's songs have always made me go "ick," even when I was a child. I feel like there's nothing in them.

Roberta Flack – “Feel Like Makin’ Love” -- August 10, 1974

The music to this song, with the calm but interesting percussion and romantic guitar, combined with Roberta Flack's whispery vocals, is lovely. It gives me asmr feels and makes me want to lie down and drift off to sleep. So, uh. Not exactly what I consider a sexy song. I do like listening to it, as it's nice and calming, but I don't think that was the intent.

Paper Lace – “The Night Chicago Died” -- August 17, 1974

And I will definitely need some relaxation after this garbage. Okay so, this travesty was by Brits who: 1) Thought there was an East Side of Chicago. That's Lake Michigan. 2) Thought it would be cute to write a song in which Al Capone tried to literally take over Chicago by killing all the cops (he bribed cops, he didn't kill them, and he was a criminal, not an insurrectionary.) 3) Sing "glory be" because they obviously think that's a super American thing to do. "In the land of the dollar bill." WHAT? This song makes me want to punt Paper Lace into the East Side of Chicago.

Paul Anka – “(You’re) Having My Baby” -- August 24, 1974

Notoriously one of the worst pop songs ever. The singer thinks "you" (that makes it worse) are having his baby solely and only because you love him. Monumental narcissism, just completely heinous, plus it's musical glop.

Eric Clapton – “I Shot The Sheriff” -- September 14, 1974

This is not Bob Marley's version. Bob Marley's version is so much better, and it's the one I've heard a lot, so when I turned this one on I was confused for a second.

Barry White – “Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe” -- September 21, 1974

Oh thank god. Barry White is one of my favorite singers, and this is one of my favorite songs. This is a sexy love song by a great artist.

Andy Kim – “Rock Me Gently” -- September 28, 1974

Andy Kim's voice sounds incredibly mid-70s. What's with men asking their lovers to rock them this year? The chorus is pretty good, and has a real beat. He's asking his lover to be gentle, and "I have never been loved like this before." That's nice. It's cheese, but it's fine.

Olivia Newton-John – “I Honestly Love You” -- October 5, 1974

A lot of the time when someone says they "honestly" something without prompting, they're lying. So this song sounds weird to me. "I love you/ I honestly love you" -- um, you sure about that? Though the singer has no reason to pretend she loves the person she's singing to, and every reason not to, since they're both with someone else. She just wants to tell you she loves you and leave it at that. Yeah, that's likely. Olivia Newton-John is a good singer, and she's especially good at acting a song. I feel she should have been on Broadway. In any case, while this is a slow soft song in an era with way too many of those, it's one of the better ones. It's not overly slow or particularly goopy.

Billy Preston – “Nothing From Nothing” -- October 19, 1974

If there's such a thing as vaudeville rock, this is it. He doesn't want to be your hero or your highness, so it sounds like he wants an equal relationship. He also says "I'm a soldier in the war on poverty," which makes it sounds like he's saying you have to have money if you want to get with him, but maybe not. He sings "you gotta bring a little something, girl, if you want to be with me," which may or may not be monetary. It's bouncy and all, but Billy Preston's done better.

Dionne Warwick & The Spinners – “Then Came You” -- October 26, 1974

A song about finally finding love. Plenty of good orchestration, a good beat, and of course Dionne Warwick's voice. I like it.

Stevie Wonder – “You Haven’t Done Nothin'” -- November 2, 1974

The "you" in this song is Richard Nixon. Stevie Wonder is one of the most love everyone, let's all come together artists in existence. But here, he was angry. "We would not care to wake up to the nightmare/ That's becoming real life/ But when misled who knows a person's mind/ Can turn as cold as ice." The Republican Party is still Nixon's party -- they love him almost as much as they do Reagan. This song is funky and good and the only reason I don't feel it more is that it's not angry enough.

Bachman-Turner Overdrive – “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” -- November 9, 1974

They were goofing around in the studio, and lead singer Randy Bachman wanted to make fun of his brother's stutter. When this song became a hit, Randy was mortified. But even with nasty, juvenile intentions behind it, this song is good. It also sounds happy and not mean at all. It's a rather silly song about first experiencing sex, and it's fun.

John Lennon – “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” -- November 16, 1974

John Lennon's voice was always kinda nasal, but it's really nasal on this song. Anyway, this song may as well be called "you do you." It's a song that in theory I should not find boring, but in practice I do. I have finally found out why: Elton John helped him with it. It sounds very Elton John-ish. Which means I don't really have anything else to say.

Billy Swan – “I Can Help” -- November 23, 1974

Some old-fashioned rockability is a nice change. The singer sees that the woman needs some help, so "let me help." "I got two strong arms/ Let me help." I immediately think of a romance between a farmhand and a widow woman. "It would sure do me good to do you good." That's a pretty concise description of love. Billy Swain's voice is kinda thin; Elvis did a cover of this, and it's a lot better. Billy Swain's version is sweet and all, but Elvis' is irresistible.

Carl Douglas – “Kung Fu Fighting” -- December 7, 1974

This isn't a song about actual kung fu; it's about kung fu movies. It's a fanboy telling you all about the cool movie he just saw, though not telling you a thing about the plot. Just the "expert timing" and stuff. Trying to analyze "Kung Fu Fighting" feels really silly. It's a rare enjoyable novelty song by an actual musician.

Harry Chapin – “Cat’s In The Cradle” -- December 21, 1974

A cover of this song by Ugly Kid Joe became a hit in 1992. And it was massively overplayed, so I hate this song. This father/son stuff bores me anyway, speaking of overplayed.

Helen Reddy – “Angie Baby” -- December 28, 1974

This song is deeply strange, which is a mark in its favor. It's a story song about a girl who has no friends and had to be taken out of school because she's "a little touched." She lives in a world of make-believe, listening to the radio all the time. A neighbor boy comes along to rape her. But as soon as he walks into her room... "Toward the radio he's bound/ Never to be found." He becomes her "secret lover," trapped in the radio. "It's so nice to be insane/ No one asks you to explain." Is Angie really "insane," or is she a sorceress whose rock n' roll powers everyone looks away from? Both? I'm not sure what I think of this song, but it is interesting, and that's always good.

BEST OF 1974 -- "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" by Barry White WORST OF 1974 -- "(You're) Having My Baby" by Paul Anka

[maydaymemer]

Steam vs. Sledgehammer

Yep it’s time to review two songs in one. My favourite song ever: Steam (yes, Steam), as well as one of the iconic songs of the ‘80s: Sledgehammer. Both by Peter Gabriel, both heavily influenced by funk and both with music videos directed by the late Stephen R. Johnson.

Sledgehammer needs no introduction for anyone over 40, which means it does need an introduction here. The song is the lead single from Peter Gabriel’s 1986 pop opus “So”, and is his only American #1 (it only got to #4 in the UK, which makes me more ashamed to be from here than ever). It’s known for its pioneering stop-motion animated music video which is still well regarded today, heck it kickstarted Aardman’s career before they made Wallace and Gromit. The song is a loving tribute to Gabriel’s favourite funk and Motown songs he listened to in his youth, there’s even a funny anecodote a read about Gabriel in his early days going to a soul cafe or something and being the only white guy there. To be a fly on the wall on that day. Methinks he was there to pick up chicks, not just listen to the music, which only makes me love the guy even more to be honest.

Steam on the other hand I don’t think anyone who isn’t a Gabriel fan remembers. Sure, when it was released in 1992 it was a hit but was generally seen as a Sledgehammer II: Sledge Harder, and didn’t set anyone’s world alight. Plus, people weren’t listening to Peter Gabriel in ‘92, they were bumping Nirvana and Tupac. On the bright side we did get a fucking insane music video which I love showing to people to get a reaction out of them.

One of them highly acclaimed and the other mostly maligned, but both are typically overshadowed by their music videos. I’m here to dig into what makes both these songs great, and why they’re both intelligent, finely crafted pop songs. I’m also going to note the similarities between the two, and why I think Steam was a more than worthy follow up.

Let’s get down to the start of both songs. Sledgehammer begins with a synthesised flute that goes on for about 15 seconds, before launching into an opening tune that knocks you right off your seat like, well a sledgehammer. This sets up an appropriate atmosphere for a song that combines the clever soul with the sexy sounds of the ‘80s to create a song that transcends past dated into just a banging tune that holds up today. The song has an excellent bassline and feels simply big. Then we get Gabriel coming in with a prolonged “Heeeeeeey” followed up with a more muffled “tell me how have you been?” to take us into the first verse. The song sets a mood and it sets it well, this is bouncy and fun Peter Gabriel, not weird psycho Peter Gabriel (which is pretty much his default).

Steam, on the other hand, doesn’t introduce itself. The song just abruptly bursts into your door after a short bassline with the distinct drum and bassline with all sorts of sounds flung at you. Horns, electric guitar, you name it. Gabriel yells “Stand back! Stand back!” And you almost think “yeah maybe I should I shouldn’t really argue with Peter Gabriel”, especially in the video where he’s wearing a pimp suit to accompany this. He continues, shouting “what are these dogs doing sniffing at my feet? / They’re onto something picking up / picking up / this heat”. I still have no idea what this intro means, but then we transition into the abolsutely magnificent instrumented chorus as Peter sings “Give me Steam / and how you feel can make it real / real as anything you’ve seen / get a life / with the dreamer’s dream”. I’ve heard reviewers call this song overproduced, and I would agree the song is very maximal in terms of production, but I wouldn’t remove one instrument. The song’s various mood changes from chorus to verse to pre-and-post choruses take me where the song wants me to go emotionally every time. I find the “Give me Steam” part specifically to be rather exciting and really impressed me the first time I listened to this song, last year I believe, and it still impresses me now.

This is where we take a look at the verse structure of both songs, which are pretty much the same not just within the songs but between them. The first verses of both set up two metaphors:

“You could have a steam train / if you just lay down your tracks

You could have an aeroplane flying / if you bring your blue sky back” - From Sledgehammer

“You know your culture from your trash

You know your plastic from your cash” - From Steam

Peter then connects these to the message of the song at the end of the verse:

“All you do is call me

I’ll be anything you need” - Sledge

“Whenever heavens doors are shut / you get* them open but / I know you” - Steam (alright I’m cheating here, that’s three metaphors, but this illustrates my point better)

So as you can see this is where the two songs split off. Sure both include Peter’s patented silly sex puns, a Sledgehammer is long and hard while Steam is hot and wet, but the meanings of each song is different.

For Sledgehammer the song is about how sex can be used to communicate and brighten up the mood of someone where words simply can’t help. The philosophy of the song is that sometimes you just need some fuck. I imagine a narrative where maybe Peter and this lady friend he’s talking to through the song have just broken off some long term relationship, and they’re very good friends so they spend some time together playing with her bumper cars and his big dipper to take their minds off it. The song isn’t really about love, it’s about having fun, but as I illustrated with my interpretation it’s not about sex with someone you don’t love it’s about sex with someone you’re not IN love with. So kind of a FWB/rebound kind of thing, though not a romcom version where they get together in the third act. It’s a very different approach to an ‘Intercourse with You’ song and told in a very fun way. The song has a bounce to it and a sort of mature naivety, Peter comes across as genuinely joyful to the woman he’s narrating too, they aren’t using eachother but they’re not in a serious relationship either. Good stuff, Pete.

Steam on the other hand is about the relationship, it’s about that spark and connection with someone. Specifically it’s about a relationship where the woman is cultured, sophisticated and generally a classy lady but Peter isn’t. He’s talking himself down, except for one subject: when it comes to the lady, he knows her better than she does and that’s the most important thing of all. Maybe he knows how to please her, maybe he knows her deepest depths, maybe it’s both but the songwriting illustrates that Peter is just in awe of this woman and she might not be in awe of herself just yet. I always interpreted this as Peter writing about a relationship between classes, but in a smarter way than say Billy Joel. Peter grew up middle class but in this song it’s like he’s putting himself in the shoes of a working class guy who’s in a relationship with someone who should be out of his league, but perhaps because of those virtues have led to him knowing how to socialise he can get the depths of her heart better jan a thousand potential rich suitors and their relationship just works. I’m being a bit old school with the picture I’m painting but a genuinely smart way of basically writing Opposites Attract but without the cartoon cat (instead we get a CGI Peter Gabriel Chair, perhaps that’s not the best trade off). That’s why I love it so much, it writes a geniunely smart love song about a relationship working despite the differences which a lot of songs do but they never go into why they work together. Peter explains that while he can’t know a lot about art or money he does know a lot about humanity (and sex, as Sledge shows).

The rest of the verses follow this same formula, I’ll close the review by pointing out how the finales of both songs basically are the same again.

With the finale of Sledgehammer Gabriel refers to “shedding his skin”. He then says “this is the new stuff”, which probably sounds like a birthday suit reference to you but I have a more indirect interpretation. What I love about the line is that in a way it’s Gabriel saying “I’m the shit!”, predicting that the song will become ‘the new stuff’ as it did. Which is why it’s one of the things I do prefer over Steam, which goes for a more obvious orgasm innuendo:

“Roomshake, earthquake

Find a way to stay awake

It’s gonna blow, it’s gonna break

This is more than I can take!”

Tho back to praising Steam, it is my favourite song after all, I think that song does pace itself better. Steam is a minute longer and has way more variety, with a lot of change ups with an occasional pre-chorus peppered in. It’s a longer song that feels shorter and endlessly replayable. Granted a listen to both of these songs an unhealthy amount of times, so I wouldn’t recommend any of you reading this skip out on them. Listen to them however you can, they’re a great time. Heck, buy the albums they come from because the rest of the songs on there are great too.

Thanks for reading this review. It’s a very quick one drafter of hopefully many that I’m posting to sharpen my writing skills. Hope you enjoyed and I’ll make sure to improve these over time. I have ideas for little bite size and more cohesive reviews of the following songs: Uh Huh, Girl, Babooshka

*note: thought he sung “kick” but apparently not. Personally I think “kick” has a better kick to it, funny enough, in terms of annunciation.

[jazzviewswithcjshearn]

In depth live review: Pat Metheny Side Eye at Sony Hall, September 13, 2019

Pat Metheny Side Eye, Sony Hall, 9/13/19

Pat Metheny: acoustic, and electric guitars, orchestrionics, guitar synth; James Francies: acoustic piano, keyboards, electronics; Marcus Gilmore: drums.

Over the past few years guitarist Pat Metheny has been extending the tradition in jazz of mentoring young musicians on the band stand the way Miles Davis, Art Blakey, and currently, the way Wallace Roney, Herbie Hancock, Gary Burton and Chick Corea have done.  It's a practice that is rarer and rarer in the music as some of the  legends who have done so have passed on, and because the music got a boost in the 70's from academia, the kind of university of the street aspect of playing on the road has been minimized.  The guitarist's Side Eye project premise is simple: play with young musicians who've grown up on his music that have caught his attention and see the ways in which they can approach his massive catalog.   It is thoroughly in the tradition, albeit his own unique tradition and spawns from his invitation of young musicians to his New York home, and spending large amounts of time with a wide cross section of his own tunes.   On the evening of September 13th at Sony Hall in New York City flanked by cameras for an NHK Japanese broadcast, the group, spurred on by an appreciative sold out audience played a continuous two and a half hours of inspired music making.

Indeed, the sort of all encompassing approach of including his entire catalog under one roof has been in play for quite a long time now. For the past several years with his current quartet featuring pianist Gwilym Simcock, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Antonio Sanchez, and on the final Japanese tour of the Pat Metheny Group with the core quartet, Metheny explored rarely played classics to the delight of audiences all over the world. Though the cast of musicians has rotated including Nate Smith, and Anwar Marshall, James Francies on keyboards and synth bass has remained a constant. With the trio of  Francies  and Marcus Gilmore on drums for the summer tour not only did he investigate gems from his book of more than 500 compositions, he expanded on them, and wrote new music that took the band's individual personalities to full effect without sacrificing the selfless whole of the superior musicianship on display.

James Francies has been rising quickly on the jazz scene with his Blue Note debut Flight. He is among a cadre of musicians helping bring younger audiences to jazz blending hip hop, R&B, soul and gospel influences along with Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Chris Dave and Unity Band/Unity Group alumnus Ben Williams.  In Francies, not only has Metheny found an ideal partner that pianistically is a huge contrast to Hancock, Lyle Mays, Paul Bley, Brad Mehldau, and Simcock, but is equally fearless in presenting a borderless perspective to the music.  Marcus Gilmore the 32 year old grandson of the legendary Roy Haynes,  has logged valuable time with Chris Potter, Chick Corea's Vigil, and Vigelette trio, David Virelles, and Will Vinson. Like Francies he is deeply immersed not in only Metheny's universe but everything in the contemporary music scene.  

As the lights gradually faded up on stage, the guitarist uncharacteristically, and energetically began the evening by speaking to the audience, about how great his musical compatriots were and they wasted little time, getting into the first of a pair of Ornette Coleman compositions during the evening, the classic “Turnaround” that Metheny recorded on 80/81 (ECM, 1980).  Metheny dug right into Gilmore's medium tempo swing on the basic 12 bar blues form. Around the third or fourth guitar chorus, Francies dropped out so Metheny could stroll with Gilmore's support and with a chordal instrument like piano dropping out, there is no safety net with the harmony so things become totally open. Buoyed by Gilmore's insistent ride, the guitarist  swung harder, and harder.  When it was Francies turn to take the first of several dazzling solos, Metheny demonstrated a rarely shown aspect of his comping by playing four to the bar chords a la Freddie Green in the Count Basie band.  The only recorded evidence of Metheny applying the technique appeared on “The Moon Song” from Beyond the Missouri Sky (Verve, 1997) with Charlie Haden, and in the context of the Coleman blues, showed his deep love of the jazz guitar tradition.

Francies was transcendant on “Bright Size Life” with a turn on Rhodes that displayed some dizzying counterpoint between his left hand on synth bass, and right hand on Rhodes.  He is a very lyrical, melodic player and has chops in spades, but never overwhelms.  At 22 years old he is absolutely prodigious, not only with a thorough knowledge of the jazz traditional but equally at home in gospel and R&B. When the keyboardist moved to Hammond organ (playing a Hammond  XK-5, a digital, compact version of a B-3) for Metheny's rarely played “Timeline” from the late Michael Brecker's Time is Of the Essence (Verve, 1999) he revealed another sterling aspect of his musical personality. Boosted by Gilmore's deep pocket swing, he soloed with the right hand on the lower manual with first three drawbars out; percussion off, and went from the blues to gospel with ease, supported by his own solid left hand bass on the upper manual. The technique is the opposite of the jazz organ style and stems from Francies gospel roots.  The piece was a window into what a Metheny organ trio would have been like, entrenched in the established paradigm but pushing forward in it's own way.  Metheny  was relaxed, swinging and diving into his improvisation with fervor, mid solo, stepping on a pedal to let a note on his Slaman hollow body ring out emulating the shout, or drone pattern. The drone pattern is something  countless organists from Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, Don Patterson and Joey DeFrancesco have used.  It involves holding down the tonic (involving only notes proper to the prevailing key without chromatic alteration constructed from a diatonic scale) , and “shouting” with the other notes around it,  a technique originated from the church.  Metheny also used this technique on “Tune Blues” from The Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (2015) a throwback to his days of playing in organ trios coming up in Kansas City, and this exploration of another rarely heard facet of his musical personality was a joy, and shows how his playing is entering a new phase.

Over the first hour as the guitarist examined old favorites with gusto, the most striking revamp was on “Better Days Ahead”. Though the tune has early versions in collector's circles dating back to 1981 or 2, it was first recorded in 1989 with the PMG on Letter From Home.  Taking into account a zone that Francies, and Gilmore are well acquainted with, Metheny turned the sunny Brazilian inspired melody into a dark, smoky, sexy funky R&B backbeat that framed his signature lyrical delivery in a new way with the guitarist leaning deep into Gilmore's groove. The drummer, who had a smoking feature a bit earlier on Coleman's “The Good Life” took a bit from the Steve Gadd R&B feel, playing the kick drum on 1 and 3, complemented by streaming cymbals up top adding to the funkines.  It was easily one of the most radical transformations of a classic Metheny tune, and a highlight over 2 and a half hours.

After a tender “Message To A Friend” which debuted on John Scofield's I Can See Your House From Here (Blue Note, 1994) the center piece of the set was a suite of three new pieces composed for the band.  Metheny explained to the audience that the flexibility of Francies and Gilmore gave him free reign to go into the area that interests him humorously quipping “I can write a piece with 49 pages of written material”.  Francies set the tone with glittering sequenced synths, that served as an extension of the electronics heard on the title track of the Unity Group's Kin (<->) as some trademark Metheny harmonies from synths, wafted into the atmosphere.  The guitarist began with a descending melody line doubled by bass that transitioned into different sections aided by a baby version of the large Orchestrion, the acoustic mechanical instrument ensemble a part of his arsenal now for a decade.  Metheny took two solos on the venerable Roland GR300 guitar synthesizer, with the second in heightened intensity guided by the heavy African flavor of the Orchestrion in tandem with Gilmore's cymbals.  Gilmore demonstrated his fluency in Metheny's distinct bebop based camouflaged ride cymbal approach here, but was still infused with a looseness from his constant interaction with the guitarist.  Throughout, Francies punctuation with gorgeously ambient analog like synth, and organ provided colors not heard in the music since Lyle Mays' tenure in the Metheny orbit, but his use of these electronica spiced colors added something found in the Houston based pianists own music, that is new an fresh in Metheny's oeuvre.  After Metheny reprised the initial melody, the enthralling, cinematic new piece faded into the ether.

From there, Carolyn Chrzan, Metheny's long time guitar tech handed him a solid body electric that has been  rarely seen (though it is spotted in the Orchestrion World Tour 2010 poster) and the trio launched into a moody, blues-rock ballad.  Metheny started alone, playing a melody that at first vaguely seemed to suggest “Travels” but as it turned out was something completely new.  Fans who have seen Side Eye have reported the tune as sounding seemingly un Metheny like, more in line with Eric Clapton or Eric Johnson. While they are correct the tune is somewhat reminiscent of music from them, and improvisation wise took him to less traveled roads, the melody was pure Metheny.   He built into a distorted solo of raging intensity, Gilmore's rock beat and Francies' organ unyielding behind him.  From the shouts in the audience, and heads bopping, the tune was completely satisfying and would be a winner on a recording as would the first new piece. Metheny returned to the GR300 for the final new tune, starting with a Coltrane like meditation, and once more, building up to a slow tension and release, utilizing his favorite double time device with drums and Orchestrion.  His guitar synth playing this night was vibrant, energized, and he played more GR300 than perhaps any time I've seen him.  With the GR300 he can get into the range of an alto or soprano saxophonist and in small group settings, as with the closing, much faster than usual “When We Were Free”  (featuring a gorgeous Pikasso guitar intro) he can really channel the mid to late period Coltrane vibe, mixed with Ornette Coleman harmolodic asides. On both hollow body and guitar synth, the trumpet like aspect of his playing was on display more than ever as well.  The show closed with an evolved acoustic medley of favorites that has been played as a closer since the Kin (↔) tour.

Pat Metheny, like Miles Davis, has been constantly evolving as a musician.  His playing has been arguably better than ever and Side Eye is a wonderful forum to house all his instincts in one place, perhaps moreso than the Unity Group band and tour.  As great as that band and resulting albums were and are, Side Eye offers something undeniably vital.  Jazz is a music that thrives on adding to it's rich traditions and history. At it's best the music reveres it's tradition while moving things ahead into the possibilities of the present and looks towards the future.  While there are a segment of fans who pine for the return of the Pat Metheny Group, which dissolved in 2010 after more than 30 years, Metheny is giving younger generations who grew up completely familiar in his unique musical universe, the chance to make their mark in their voice, opening new vistas.  The thing that everyone loves about him is still there, Metheny can play densely or lyrically-- it's just expanded to greater capacity, eschewing the fat for more concise solos and tunes.  He's doing what every great jazz musician should do and that's move forward.  Side Eye very well may be the finest group he’s lead in years.

[nonasrandomthoughts]

My Most Favorite KPop Releases for the 1st Half of 2019

It’s a blessing that Kpop continues to give us beautiful songs through various artists and through various genres, too. I’ve always wanted to share to people the songs/albums I’ve put on repeat so far this year since their release because: 1) got stuck on my head; and 2) it’s just too good; and 3) good music should be shared!

I will be separating these into three parts: Albums, Title tracks/singles, and B-sides. Note that if I love the whole album, I won’t be mentioning them again in the title track/singles or B-sides list, and vice versa. And this list is chronological, because I don’t want to have a hard time ranking them. 

Disclaimer: This is a personal list, so if the album/song/artist you’re looking for isn’t here, it’s probably because I haven’t checked them out yet, or it hasn’t made much impact to me as much as the ones mentioned below.

Now, let me first discuss my favorite Kpop albums/mini-albums:

1.       ATEEZ – Ep.2 – ZERO TO ONE

ATEEZ is a relatively new Kpop group that I didn’t expect to have really good music. To be honest, every time they show up on my Youtube recommendations, I tend to not give it any attention because I thought they have a sound that I probably wouldn’t like. But when I see several reactors reacting to their songs, I tried listening to it and I WAS SHOOK OF HOW GOOD THEIR SONGS ARE. This album particularly is what caught my attention because of their title tracks and even the B-sides are great!

2.       HUTA (Lee Minhyuk) – HUTAZONE

BTOB’s Minhyuk proves that he is a well-rounded idol that should be greatly recognized. I still get chills how distinct his rapping voice is from his singing voice. If you are not fully familiar with Minhyuk and you listen to this album, you might think there’s a guy singing and another, rapping. But it’s just one person. I really love the title track YA and the B-sides Lonely and Waiting for You stood out to me the most.

3.       SEVENTEEN  - You Made My Dawn

Here comes the self-producing group SEVENTEEN dropping a mini-album full of bops. My hopes were already up since they released You Make My Day and they don’t disappoint! You can hear the versatility of SVT in every track, not just because of the unit songs. They’ve given different vibes and it’s ear-satisfying. Go listen to understand how I felt. Most favorites are Good to Me and title track Home.

4.       JUS2 – FOCUS

THE GOT7 UNIT I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED. If you’ve been a fan of GOT7 like me and subscribed to their Soundcloud accounts, you would know that JB and Yugyeom are R&B princes. And when these two joined forces, it’s a heavenly feeling. Imagine the sexiness of their voices, which are powerful yet chill, combined into an album! It’s definitely hypnotizing (Focus On Me, Touch, Long Black) and addictive (Drunk on You, Senses, Love Talk). It’s a reality that feels like a dream.

5.       Stray Kids – Clé1: MIROH

I’m not really a big fan of hiphop songs but there’s this element in Stray Kids’ songs that makes me anticipate for more. The Cle1: MIROH album signals a beginning of a new era in their journey but the meanings they convey in their songs just keep getting wider. The element I loved in this album is the complexity in the songs. Maze of Memories was the first to give a strong impression to me, because it feels like you’re listening to a song within a song. Chronosaurus also has this mysterious vibe. 19 is a laid-back track and I love the R&B sound here.

6.       PENTAGON – Genie:Us

THIS SHOULD HAVE EARNED THEM THEIR FIRST WIN. I have been a fan of Pentagon and their title tracks are really great. Sha la la is by far, their greatest title track. But if you listen further up to the last track of this album, you will fall in-love with the whole thing. Kino and Hui joining the rapline of the group for the song Lost Paradise is one of the best thing that happened to their discography. Feel-good song Alien kind of reminds me of their song Pretty Pretty, it’s just the beat is slowed down. In each album, they never forget to include a powerful ballad like Until That Moment (it’s been on repeat on my playlist) and fun-but-kinda-sad song Spring Time.

7.       BLACKPINK – KILL THIS LOVE

The unstoppable girl group! As I’ve always said, Blackpink may have very few comebacks but they make sure every comeback is high-quality. The girls also portrayed different vibes in this album. From Kill This Love with intense brass sounds, groovy dance tracks Don’t Know What To Do and Kick It, down the last track, a ballad named Hope Not–Blackpink surely know how to win our hearts with their songs.

8.       GOT7 – SPINNING TOP: Between Security & Insecurity

Every comeback these boys make always show improvement especially in the musical quality. The members of GOT7 have once again participated greatly in the compositions of the album. I love how they portrayed their personal insecurities through the album, incorporated them to the lyrics, and is depicted to the whole comeback concept. Eclipse it a great title track, but I am really curious of how it originally sounded when JYP haven’t made some polishing yet. I love how the album started strong with 1°. It immediately climbed up to my favorite GOT7 B-sides. End showed off the rapper’s cool vocal tone; Time Out has a bright sound and chill vibe; Believe, a hiphop/R&B song gives me a “Prove It” vibe; and Page is a party anthem.

9.       ATEEZ – Treasure Ep.3 - ONE TO ALL

ATEEZ once again proves that they do not run out of good songs to release through this album. They released two title tracks: ILLUSION and WAVE. This album gives off a chill and happy vibe unlike their previous releases and they pull it off in a great way. I really appreciate their vocals more in this album, and it really made me go ‘Hakuna Matata.’ I am also so proud of these boys for getting their first music show win through this comeback. Keep that great music coming, ATEEZ!

10.   SF9 – RPM

I have been following SF9 since debut, and in every album they release, there would always be an odd-one-out for my music taste. This is the first time I actually loved every song in SF9’s album. The title track gives off a signature SF9 sound, which is tough yet cool. Round and Round has cool sound elements and great vocals. Dreamer gives a dystopian-movie theme vibe. Liar is a great song with a chorus beat-drop that will almost leave you hanging but will satisfy your ears. See You Tomorrow is BEAUTIFUL. It’s the best SF9 B-side for me. Echo has a sound reminiscent of 2nd gen Kpop songs but with more electronic synths. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ALBUM TO EVERYONE. LISTEN TO THIS RIGHT NOW.

11.   Stray Kids – Clé2: Yellow Wood

This album wouldn’t have made it through this list since basically, it only has 3 new songs and a compilation of the previous mixtape tracks. But I have to put this here because those Mixtapes are OT9 versions of my favorite 3RACHA songs. (Note: 3RACHA is the rap line of Stray Kids: Chan, Changbin, and Han. They also produce their own group’s songs). MIxtape1 (Placebo) does not really go far from the original one and I really liked how the new sound fit every member. Mixtape2 (If there’s a Shadow, There’s a Light) became a really soft and soothing song. I expected the music will be changed since the 3RACHA track borrowed the instrumental of the song Far (멀어) by Primary, but I didn’t expected it to be almost mellow. Mixtape3 (For You) is my most favorite remake because the vocals really stood out, making the song more meaningful. Mixtape4 (Broken Compass) still gave off that strong feeling, but the richer sound of the song is evident.

This album especially the new tracks are perfect for parties. That’s all I can say for how big of a bop they are.

12.   CHUNGHA – Flourishing

Chungha came running through my playlist with her new album and all I can say is SHE’S AWESOME. She surprised me with her sweet vocals and great music. Snapping is a whole bop, as well as Flourishing. I love the ballad Call it Love, but my personal pick is Young in Love because of its fresh vibe. I haven’t actually kept track of her every release but starting now, I might. Maybe it’s safe to say that she is the next summer queen. 

   Top 10 Favorite Title Tracks/Singles

Astro – All Night

CLC – No

Mamamoo – gogobebe

Everglow – Bon Bon Chocolat

KARD – Bomb bomb

Twice – Fancy

Park Bom – 4:44

Oh My Girl – SSFWL

NU’EST – Bet Bet

(G)I-DLE – Uh-oh

   Top 10 Favorite B-sides

Astro – Bloom (from album “All Light”)

CLC – Like It (from mini-album “No. 1”)

TREI – Deep (from mini-album “Born”)

SF9 – Heartbeat (from mini-album “Narcissus”)

(G)I-dle – Give me your (from mini-album “I Made”)

Heize – Dispatch (from album “She’s Fine”)

N.FLYING – Leave It (from mini-album “Spring Memories”)

NU’EST – Segno (from mini-album “Happily Ever After”)

SOMI – Outta My Head (from single “Birthday”)

Red Velvet – Sunny Side Up! (from mini-album “The ReVe Festival Day 1”)

  Go and give a listen to all these albums/songs on any music streaming platforms!

Also, feel free to leave more music recommendations!

[harrisonstories]

First off, the 2018 Mix, Take 5 Instrumental Backing Track, and Esher Demo of Back in the U.S.S.R. are now on Spotify.

Secondly, Rolling Stone just published an article noting the “15 most revelatory moments” by Rob Sheffield, who was lucky enough to be able to listen to the Super Deluxe Edition of The White Album. You can read the full article here. 

[...]  The outtakes defies the conventional wisdom that this is where the band split into four solo artists. “Do you think the perception of the Beatles history has been tainted by their own commentary in the early Seventies?” [Giles] Martin asks. “That’s what I get. I think post-Beatles, when the champagne cork has flown out of the bottle, and they’ve gone their separate ways, they reacted against it. ‘Oh, to be honest we didn’t work well as a group,’ and that sort of thing. Yet they never slowed down creatively. I quite like the idea of them throwing cups of tea at each other in the studio. I’m mildly disappointed not to find it. But what they’re doing is making a record.”

The Deluxe and Super Deluxe Editions finally unveil the Esher demos, which hardcore Beatle freaks have been clamoring to hear for years. In May 1968, just back from India, the group gathered at George’s bungalow in Esher (pronounced “Ee-sher”) to tape unplugged versions of the new songs they’d already stockpiled for the new album. Over the next days, working together or solo, they busked 27 songs. The tapes sat in a suitcase in George’s house for years. Seven tracks came out on Anthology 3; others have never been released in any Beatle version, including John’s “Child of Nature” and George’s “Sour Milk Sea.” The Esher tapes alone make this collection essential, with a fresh homemade intimacy that’s unique. Martin says, “They’re rough takes, but spiritually, the performances stand on their own.”

Here are 15 of the most revelatory moments:

1. “Revolution 1” The legendary Take 18, a nearly 11-minute jam from the first day of the White Album sessions. The other Beatles were surprised to see someone new at John’s side: Yoko Ono, who became a constant presence in the studio. It begins as the version you know from the record: John’s flubbed guitar intro, engineer Geoff Emerick’s “take two,” John’s “okaaay.” But where the original fades out, this one is just getting started. The groove builds as John keeps chanting “all right, all right,” from a low moan to a high scream. Yoko joins the band to add distorted synth feedback, while Paul clangs on piano. She recites prose poetry, fragments of which that ended up in “Revolution 9”: “It’s like being naked…if you become naked.”

The story of this jam has been told many times, usually presented as a grim scene where Yoko barges in, sowing the seeds of discord—the beginning of the end. So it’s a surprise to hear how much fun they’re all having. It ends in a fit of laughter—she nervously asks, “That’s too much?” John tells her it sounds great and Paul agrees: “Yeah, it’s wild!”

2. “Sexy Sadie” As the band warms up, George playfully sings a hook from Sgt. Pepper: “It’s getting better all the tiiiime!” John snorts. “Is it, right?” Take 3 is an acerbic version of “Sexy Sadie,” with Paul doodling on the organ. Yet despite the nasty wit, the band sounds totally in sync. When George asks, “How fast, John?,” he responds, “However you feel it.”

3. “Long, Long, Long” George’s hushed hymn has always been underrated—partly because it’s mastered way too quiet. In the fantastic Take 44, “Long, Long, Long” comes alive as a duet between George and Ringo, with the drums crashing in dialogue with the whispery vocals. Giles Martin explains, “I suppose, as is documented here, George was Ringo’s best friend, as he says. That song is kind of the two of them.” George starts freestyling at the end: “Gathering, gesturing, glimmering, glittering, happening, hovering, humoring, hammering, laquering, lecturing, laboring, lumbering, mirroring…” It closes with the spooky death-rattle chord, originally the sound of a wine bottle vibrating on Paul’s amp. “It still gives you the fear when it comes.”

4. “Good Night” Of all the alternate takes, “Good Night” is the one that will leave most listeners baffled why this wasn’t the version that made the album. Instead of lush strings, it has John’s finger-picking guitar and the whole group harmonizing on the “good night, sleep tight” chorus. It’s rare to hear all four singing together at this stage, and it’s breathtaking in its warmth. “I do prefer this version to the record,” Martin admits. (He won’t be the last to say this.)

John plays the same guitar pattern as “Dear Prudence” and “Julia.” That’s one of the distinctive sonic features of the White Album—the Beatles had their acoustic chops in peak condition, since there had been nothing else to do for kicks in Rishikesh. In India, their fellow pilgrim Donovan taught them the finger-picking style of London folkies like Davey Graham. “Donovan taught him this guitar part. John was like ‘great!,’ and then in classic Beatle style, went and wrote three songs using the same guitar part.”

The other “Good Night” takes are closer to the original’s cornball lullaby spirit. In one, Ringo croons over George Martin’s spare piano; in another, he does a spoken-word introduction. “Come on now, put all those toys away—it’s time to jump into bed. Go off into dreamland. Yes, Daddy will sing a song for you.” By the end, he quips, “Ringo’s gone a bit crazy.”

5. “Helter Skelter” This Paul song inspired endless studio jams, lurching into proto-headbang noise—they started it the day after the Yellow Submarine premiere, so maybe they just craved the opposite extreme. This take is 13 minutes of primal thud—remarkably close to Black Sabbath, around the time Sabbath were still in Birmingham inventing their sound.

6. “Blackbird” Paul plays around with the song—“Dark black, dark black, dark black night”—trying to nail the vibe. It isn’t there yet. He tells George Martin, “See, if we’re ever to reach it, I’ll be able to tell you when I’ve just done it. It just needs forgetting about it. It’s a decision which voice to use.” He thinks his way through the song, his then-girlfriend Francie audible in the background. “It’s all in his timing,” Martin says. “There’s two separate things, a great guitarist and a great singer—he’s managed to disconnect and put them back together. He’s trying to work out where they meet.”

7. “Dear Prudence” Of all the Esher demos, “Dear Prudence” might be the one that best shows off their rowdy humor. John ends his childlike reverie by cracking up his bandmates, narrating the tale of Prudence Farrow that inspired the song. “A meditation course in Rishikesh, India,” he declares. “She was to go completely berserk under the care of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Everybody around was very worried about the girl, because she was going insaaaane. So we sang to her.”

8. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” There’s an early acoustic demo, but Take 27, recorded over a month later, rocks harder than the album version—John on organ, Paul on piano, lead guitar from special guest Eric Clapton. (George invited his friend to come play, partly because he knew the others would behave themselves around Clapton.) The groove only falls part when George tries to hit a Smokey Robinson-style high note and totally flubs it. “It’s okay,” George says. “I tried to do a Smokey, and I just aren’t Smokey.”

9. “Hey Jude” Recorded in the midst of the sessions, but planned for a one-off single, Paul’s ballad is still in raw shape, but even in this first take, it’s already designed as a 7-minute epic, with Paul singing the na-na-na outro himself. Another gem on this box: an early attempt at “Let It Be,” with Paul’s original lyric showing his explicit link to American R&B: “When I find myself in times of trouble / Brother Malcolm comes to me.”

10. “Child of Nature” Another treasure from Esher. “Child of Nature” is a gentle ballad John wrote about the retreat to India: “On the road to Rishikesh / I was dreaming more or less.” He scrapped it for the album, but dug it back out a few years later, wrote new words, and turned it into one of his most famous solo tunes: “Jealous Guy.”

11. “JULIA” One of John’s most intimate confessions—the only Beatle track where he’s performing all by himself. You can hear his nerves as he sits with his guitar and asks George Martin, in a jokey Scouse accent, “Is it better standing up, do you think? It’s very hard to sing this, you know.” The producer reassures him. “It’s a very hard song, John.” “‘Julia’ was one of my dad’s favorites,” Giles says. “When I began playing guitar in my teens, he told me to learn that one.”

12. “Can You Take Me Back?” The snippet on Side Four that serves as an eerie transition into the abstract sound-collage chaos of “Revolution 9.” Paul toys with it for a couple of minutes, trying to flesh it out into a bit of country blues—“I ain’t happy here, my honey, are you happy here?”

13. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” Paul spent a week driving the band through this ditty, until John finally stormed out of the studio. He returned a few hours later, stoned out of his mind, then banged on the piano in a rage, coming up with the jingle-jangle intro that gets the riff going. This early version is pleasant but overly smooth—it shows why the song really did need that nasty edge. A perfect example of the Beatle collaborative spirit: John might loathe the song, Paul might resent John’s sabotage, but both care too deeply about the music not to get it right.

14. “Sour Milk Sea” A great George highlight from the Esher tapes—“Sour Milk Sea” didn’t make the cut for the album, but he gave it to Liverpool pal Jackie Lomax who scored a one-shot hit with it. (It definitely deserved to rank ahead of “Piggies,” which remains the weakest track on any version of this album.) “Not Guilty” and “Circles” are other George demos that fell into limbo—“Not Guilty” sounds ready to go at Esher, yet in the studio, it was doomed to over a hundred fruitless takes.

15. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” A tricky experiment they learned together in the studio, with John toying with the structure and his mock doo-wop falsetto. “Is anybody finding it easier?” he asks. “It seems a little easier—it’s just no fun, but it’s easier.” George pipes in. “Easier and fun.” John replies, “Oh, all right, if you insist.” It’s a moment that sums up all the surprising discoveries on this White Album edition: a moment where the Beatles find themselves at the edge of the unknown, with no one to count on except each other. But that’s when they inspire each other to charge ahead and greet the brand new day.

[grimelords]

My May playlist is finished and it’s got everything from Rachmaninoff to Peaches across 3 and a half hours, I hope you enjoy it.

If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead - James Blake: James Blake has got such a big brain and this song is unbelievable. He has such a way of taking things that could be gimmicky like this vocal stuttering, or looping vocals and making them totally heartrending.

The Boxer - The Chemical Brothers: The central melody of this song is constantly stuck in my head and complete proof that you can make an incredibly catchy hook with just three notes if you need to.

known(1) - Autechre: I think this is maybe Autechre's most straightforward song but it still sounds like a harpsichord concerto getting sucked into a black hole. The way the violin-ish part swoops around throughout the whole thing, disintegrating and reforming before your eyes is hypnotising.

Sundown - Boards Of Canada: Guess who started crying this month listening to an ambient Boards Of Canada song thinking about how the end of soil is within my lifetime and we have destroyed our only home the earth!!

Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys: With their new album coming out I went back and listened to AM for the first time in a while and it's still really astonishing what they pulled off. This and R U Mine? completely blew me away when they came out. Having the audacity to completely change your sound and style and have it work perfectly is amazing, and then disappearing for five years and trying to do it again? Bold.

FML - Kanye West: I was listening to this a lot when Kanye was off his lexapro and fucking his whole life up. And now there's a sequel to this on the new album where Kim's begging him not to fuck the money up, which I think is a very good kind of storytelling.

United P92 - Venetian Snares & Daniel Lanois: I love the idea of ambient Venetian Snares and this is the song on the album where their two ideas meet in the middle the best I think. Also the way this builds and builds into total chaos I always forget that it's coming and get surprised when it says 'the machine can cum', what a funny song.

Turnstile Blues - Autolux: I saw Autolux's drummer in Jack White's band when he played on SNL a couple of weeks ago and suddenly remembered how perfect this song is. A true testament to the power of a simple groove that sounds like it was recorded in a concrete garage.

Young For Eternity - The Subways: Yet another great song about being a vampire and all the benefits that vampirism can bring to your life! Thank god for Dracula! He sucked the shit out of me, now I can leave my work for nights and leave my days for sleeping! Young for eternity!

Oh Yeah - The Subways: I bought a 7" of this song a couple of weeks ago in honour of the time it inexplicably caused me a mental breakdown and made me sprint out of my house to drive around town crying and listening to it on repeat for some hours about 5 years ago. Not sure what that was about!

The Blues - Defeater: As far as songs that go for less than a minute go, I really can't fault this one. Pure power, it does absolutely everything it sets out to do and still manages to get two choruses in under the wire.

Bombay - El Guincho: I saw Holy Mountain this month in a double feature with El Topo, and although El Topo kind of sucked I loved The Holy Mountain a lot. There's a part where there's been a battle and a whole lot of protesters are dying on the ground bleeding, except you can see that the blood and guts are obviously special effects, you can see the hose that she's using to pretend to cry and the guts are green balloons and things like that. Hold on I found it on youtube anyway I know I've seen it before and I thought it was in the video to this song or another one of CANADA's videos but I watched them all and can't find it! If anyone can tell me the music video I'm thinking of, thankyou. This song is also, of course, good.

Swim Good - Frank Ocean: Honestly has there ever been a better song about wearing a cool suit and driving your car into the ocean?? Never. This is perhaps the best sing along song ever because you've got to do your smoothest voice ever until he does his little emo yells of 'I'm goin out!' near the end.

Batphone - Arctic Monkeys: I think this is my favourite song off the new Arctive Monkeys, it's the most '3am slamming away at a club piano' type vibe of them all, but most of all I love the little spiralling into space guitar noise that keeps happening whenever he finishes a line.

An Open Letter To NYC - Beastie Boys: I'm almost always thinking about the time Beastie Boys made a very serious song about how good New York is after 9/11 and they said 'dear New York I know a lot has changed, we're two towers down but we're still in the game'.

Black Car - Beach House: I can't get enough of the new Beach House album, and this song in particular. It's some of my favourite lyrics of theirs ever, a good song for when you're trapped in a dark labyrinth of your own creation.

Midnight Radio 1 - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: Got quite heavily into Bohren & Der Club Of Gore again this month. This is from the album before they got rid of their guitarist and replaced him with a saxophonist, which pretty dramatically changed their sound from 'extremely brooding night music' to 'film noir soundtrack', which is still very good but really not the same. Anyway this song goes for 20 minutes and it feels illegal to listen to it any time before 2am.

House In LA - Jungle: I am so excited that Jungle are finally back and with such an amazing song too. I love how spacious this is, it feels very different to their first - a lot more grown up and I really can't wait for the album.

Lemonworld - The National: Someone had a tweet a while ago that was like 'the guy from the national sounds like he's been going through a divorce for ten years now' which is very true, but this song feels like it's from happier times when he went to see his sister in law and had an morosely horny time. This song feels like the entire experience of reading a literary novel condensed into 4 minutes: a depressed older man in New York having a sort of backwards, confusing sexual thought. This is a song I regularly listen to on repeat and sing along to, it's a very specific feeling and I think "it'll take a better war to kill a college man like me" is one of the best lines he's ever written.

Rigamortis - Zomby: I put off listening to the new Zomby album for so long because his last one was just so boring but he's completely redeemed himself on this, it's really something. It feels like one long piece, which is amazing when any sort of thematic coherence is a rarity for Zomby albums. There's a lot of recurring sounds and motifs, and almost zero drums in the traditional sense. It feels like a really mature reflection on grime that he's been building up to for years.

Indoors - Burial: Whereas this song sounds like you're waiting outside a club in hell.

Segeln Ohne Wind - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: Another Bohren song but from much, much later. I love the way the brass sounds in this when it finally comes in, it's so rich and overpowering.

Isle Of The Dead - Segei Rachmaninoff: Wikipedia says "The piece was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin's painting, Isle of the Dead, which Rachmaninoff saw in Paris in 1907. Rachmaninoff was disappointed by the original painting when he later saw it, saying, "If I had seen first the original, I, probably, would have not written my Isle of the Dead. I like it in black and white." and it also says "Prints were very popular in central Europe in the early 20th century—Vladimir Nabokov observed in his novel Despair that they could be "found in every Berlin home". Folks what is going on with this spooky painting.

Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction: For a long time this was the emergency dead air song on Triple J, which is an inspired choice in my opinion because there'd be ten seconds of eerie silence because something's gone wrong at the station and then suddenly two huge loud chords! and dogs barking! A BEEN CAUGHT STEEL IN! ONCE!

Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel: I was sitting on the toilet when I saw a news article that said Peter Gabriel has finally made his music available on Spotify and I said 'yessssssss' loudly myself and then played Sledgehammer. Honorable mention to the best ever sample of this song in Contemporary Man by Action Bronson, which is unfortunately still unavailable on Spotify.

Reaching The Gulf - Dylan Carlson: I saw a review of this album saying Dylan Carlson is the only choice for soundtrack if they ver make a movie of Blood Meridian and they're completely right. I'm also so glad that he collaborated with Emma Ruth Rundle on this, it feels like the closest I'll get to bonus tracks to her Electric Guitar One album.

T-1000 - Swarms: I have no idea where or why I first heard this album but it's been in my rotation for a long time. It's in the general canon of post-Burial dubstep before dubstep got americanized and it's just very nice. When the vocals finally come in on this it's a very emotional moment for me.

Casino Trem - Tyondai Braxton: It's really surprising listening to Tyondai Braxton's work after Battles because he has such a distinct melodic style it's shocking to realise how much he brought to that first album. After listening to a lot of his solo stuff it becomes so recognisable it almost feels like you can go back through Mirroroed and pick out every single guitar line of his making. Anyway this song is great. Starts out sounding like what it feels like to be trapped in a pokie and ends up like you're trapped in a databent Banjo Kazooie cartridge.

Kick It - Peaches & Iggy Pop: The first time I ever heard this song, and the first time I ever heard of Peaches or Iggy Pop was on the soundtrack to Midnight Club 3 so I didn't really know what the fuck was going on. I still don't really. I love that this is supposed to be like a dangerous sexy song but the whole time Iggy Pop is just rebuffing her advances and bullying her. Then she's like 'go to berlin' and then the song ends. Still not sure what this one's about still!

If You Know You Know - Pusha T: GOD this song is good, I've been listening to it on repeat. What I love about Pusha T is where a lot of other rappers talk sort of frivolously about drug dealing and everything, he often feels like he's putting his hand on your shoulder and looking you straight in the eyes saying 'I am not fucking around. If you need drugs of any calibre or kind I can get them for you in massive quantities.' The impish way he's saying 'if you know you know', absolutely kills me, like he's a cartoon man winking at me while hiding drugs inside a tennis ball.

Hacker - Death Grips: I think I put this on my playlist last month but I'm still on it so. My new favourite part of this song is when he says "The table's flipped now we got all the coconuts bitch / Burmese babies under each arm / Screaming beautiful songs".

Cavity - Hundred Waters: Hundred Waters feel like a really underrated band to me, I've been listening to their last two album a lot this month and they're just stunning. The long build up towards the end before the two note melody comes back and kills me? What a moment.

Music For The Long Emergency - Polica: I didn't love this album when it came out but I've been listening to it more and more and it's really growing on me. I think I put this song on a playlist a month or two ago so I won't write more but let me say this: Polica rules.

On The Grid - Lime: tfw you turn the knob and you do a good job and you wind up on the grid :/

Elephants - Them Crooked Vultures: I feel like Them Crooked Vultures gets forgotten when people talk about Queens Of The Stone Age albums. People bring up Desert Sessions and Kyuss but somehow forget that this giant album happened. Anyway this is far and away the best song on it because it just keeps on giving and giving. It's just a huge jam about riding an elephant and having cool hair(?).

Particle - Hundred Waters: This song feels like it could be the EDM hit of the summer if it was structured slightly differently, but instead it's the biggest brain pop song I've heard in a long time. I love how much power the bass has in this, it really feels impactful when it comes and goes. The vocal performance is obviously incredible as always but I really love the distorted vocal line that sort of tears itself apart now and then, against how clean everything else in this song sounds it really makes it.

Me Or Us - Young Thug: Thinking hard about when Young Thug sampled First Day Of My Life by Bright Eyes and made it into a really really good song.

Because I Love You - Montaigne: God this song is good. All the time the lyric 'I ate a salad today, I ate one yesterday too' pops into my head and makes me laugh. She tweeted about this song a couple of days ago and it really made me laugh: "My ex-boyfriend & I once watched BBC Sherlock & during the ep he paused & basically soliloquised about how he’s a tortured genius just like Sherlock & I’m his Watson in as condescending a way as you’re probably imagining then poured a shot of whiskey & now you know the story"​

listen here

[cocona]

hey! i wanna at least try to get into kpop, to see what all the fuss is abt, and youre the first blog that comes to mind abt that stuff. do you have any recs!? or comments?? anything really, i'm interested in what you have to say

i have recs!!! first of all ty for asking me abt it hdgfs !! i’ll make u a list !! i will try to stay concise but i have bolded n linked the most important stuff since i tend to blabber a lot! there r groups i purposely didnt recommend! also! i advise you to look up who did what if you want to know why idcs abt certain artists that r big in kpop (like big//ba//ng, su//ju, bl//ock//b, ma//ma//moo & so on) tl;dr: kpop basics (spotify) + @tearera (my kpop sb)

i’ll start w some RECS but jsyk kpop as u might have heard of it is mainly composed of groups! which is why i’ll start w groups then soloists! of course u can check out most of them on spotify (u can listen to their playlist of the most famous songs atm!). please notice that the kpop industry is very ‘classic’ when it comes to concepts (cute r for gorls! badass r for boys!) so um. yeah. yikes. if i had to argue abt all the things i find wrong in this industry this post would become a manifesto, u can always pm me if u want to hear me complain lmao 

GIRL GROUPS

honestly…. TWICE are the first one that came to my mind when i thought of ggs to rec. they’re a 9 member group labelled under jyp entertainment n have debuted in 2015 with the bop like ooh aah… that u can listen to! their genre is mainly cute songs but dont be fooled!! they have extremely powerful songs & lyrics as well! some good starts with their music are LIKEY (2017, a bop, great melody, great rapping, one of their ult feel good songs, played @ the olympics), TT (2016, queens of halloween!), and also their most recent song WHAT IS LOVE (2018, iconic!! gay!! bop!! sweet!! great album!!). as twice are the kind that can set you off by their cuteness and playful vibes, i recommend you to check out some of their side tracks. personality wise, the girls r very fun and sweet! they’re all angels and i love them all THIS MUCH!! if u want to know, sana & dahyun r my favourite members!         

also queens, but from sm entertainment this time, Red Velvet are a 5 member gg who have debuted in 2015 with the song Happiness (at that time they were only 4 but the youngest member, Yeri, joined later on!). some very famous songs of theirs are… basically all their title tracks but i’d mainly recommend Russian Roulette, Dumb Dumb (also my fave rv music video!!), Peek-a-boo (what’s better than lesbians witches slaying men and eating pizza), Bad Boy (honestly… one of their best songs… title track of their repackaged album…good shit if u will). of course! there are some side tracks i will recommend! i will frankly say that i listen to a lot of their music and they’re my favourite musically! some faves in no particular order are automatic, cool hot sweet love, huff n puff, something kinda crazy, about love, kingdom come, little little and talk to me! they have very versatile genres and have two main themes of music, the red and the velvet, though these mix often! rlly! their music really good. they have amazing choreographies too!!!!

the third gg i will rec are one that have not debuted yet, it’s LOONA! get ready bc they are a 12 member group with one girl for every month. each girl was revealed every month staring from 2016 with a single album composed of one song and one side track that usually features another member! as this group has yet to debut, i cannot show you anything with all twelve members but! they work with units, there are three: loona 1/3, odd eye circle, and yyxy (tune in for their debut scheduled for may!) that each have an album. 1/3 r more of a cute girly concept, while odd eye circle have played strongly on the girl crush & rnb concept. we have yet to see what yyxy has for us n im frankly v excited!!! my fave singles are Around You (hyunjin), Let Me In (haseul), Singing in the rain (jinsoul, best girl), Eclipse (kim lip), and Heart Attack (by chuu!! also best girl). they have already released a lot of music so go ahead & listen to it! their music videos have a plot and it’s one of those theories fandom (loonaverse)! the positions that all the members will have wasn’t been revealed yet!

then here’s a list of ggs that’s not as detailed bc it would be too long: clc (they r…the girls….), exid (vocals, social criticism, sexy), blackpink (5 songs out but theyre all top notch), f(x) (v good music! bring them back from the war), gfriend (cute & refreshing concepts! v tight choreographies! sweet girls!), aoa, & many more! groups i dont rec bc i dont stan but that u should know of: snsd, 2ne1; that have disbanded but shouldnt have: sistar

BOY GROUPS

ok i stan two boy groups so that’ll be quick! i’ll also rec plenty of music!

the main group i stan is BTS aka the bangtan boys and yes… they’re everywhere… they deserve it tbh… so theyre a 7 member boy group and they’re the first kpop group i ever stanned! they have released a lot of songs already but i’ll just mark something! bts are known for their cinematography and plot in their music videos as well as their politically/socially engaged songs. they debuted in 2013 with the youth-conscious song no more dream and um. forget the mv. the message is what’s important. secondly! my favourite eps & albums are DARK&WILD (forget abt war of hormone), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt2, WINGS, and Love Yourself 轉 Tear (which will be released on May 18th so stay tuned!). here’s a beginner’s list to bts & their music videos: spring day, blood sweat & tears, run, fire, i need u, and intros: singularity, serendipity. i cannot recommend bts songs bc i’d be unable to pick some, but here is my bangtan favourites playlist and spotify’s This Is BTS! n their most known song atm, still on charts, DNA. another thing!! they dabble in a lot of genres! there is a constant symbolism in most of their songs and music videos, which is why there are theories! also, here are my fave choreos (x x x) & non-official releases (x x x)! also! j-hope recently released a mixtape! check it out! it’s v good! the bad thing is that the fandom is massive n it is filled with young fans so a lot of fan-created content is cringey. apart from that! theyre lovely as a band n i’m not ashamed to say that they bring me most of my joy these days!

then there is… NCT. ok, let’s dive into them. nct is the acronym for Neo Culture Technology, they’re currently an 18 member boy group but hey! don’t be scared! they too work in units and have only released one song which features all 18 of them! it is likely that the band will expand later on & that the name NCT will become a brand (like akb48 u know). so far! there are three units! NCT DREAM (based on age, with the youngest members who r still minors), NCT U (the first unit to have debuted, aka nct united, a rotative unit with no fixed genre or members list) and NCT 127 (seoul based unit, fixed, with 9 members). they’re known for their experimentative and diversified sound, which goes from ballads to… this. while each unit have their distinct genre and vibe, they’re all under the same label of nct! and um, check out spotify’s nct playlist if u want! here r some songs that are basics! bolded r the faves! jsyk i hated their music & their clothes @ first bc it’s so unique so dw if u dislike them! 

127: cherry bomb, limitless (gross hair but spectacular song), touch, back to u, 0 mile, sun & moon, angel

dream: my first and last, we young, go, dunk shot, trigger the fever, la la love

u: the 7th sense, boss, baby don’t stop, without you, yestoday

solo tracks/sm station: dream in a dream & new heroes (ten), around (taeyong)

the last group i’ll present in length n that u should know about is SEVENTEEN. they’re a 13 member boy group & work in units as well but mainly promote w all the members! they’re the fun, sweet, talented, heartfelt refreshing boys we all love tbh! so! seventeen debuted in 2015 with the bop adore u and since then it’s been great song over great song… they also have great choreos! they’re the easiest group to listen to imo bc their songs are mostly light and very similar to what you can hear on teen top radios! then, they get stuck in your head very easily! here are some songs u can listen to that will make your day! mansae, very nice, pretty u, clap, don’t wanna cry, change up, n there are many more! some of my faves are when i grow up, trauma, still lonely, rocket, crazy in love, lean on me, and uhgh rlly all of their songs tbh! three units better known as teams: hip-hop, performance and vocal, with a leader in each. they put up great performances!!

then there is shinee, mostly nicknamed the kings of kpop, i’d make a very long desc but! i suggest you to see for yourself as the fandom is v helpful!

here are some boy groups that i rec but wont go in length with: pentagon (i stan!), monsta x (edm, powerful dances), shinee, exo (great vocals, great choreos, v good music), astro (bubblegum but v heartwarming! vocals), day6 (rock band, great songs), wanna one & many more! rlly um bgs arent the thing that’s lacking in kpop! 

a bit in the middle: KARD (mixed group!!! great music & genderless, breaking the usual hardcore is for boys & cutesy is for girls concept)

SOLOISTS

more of a solo person? check out artists like hyuna (ex member of both wonder girls & 4minute), iu, heize (a personal fave!), sunmi (ex member of wonder girls), taemin (member of shinee), amber liu (current member of fx! also released a mixtape recently!) hyolyn or dean… tbh there r many! these r just the ones i can think off the top of my head! theyre honestly easy to listen to so just look up their names on yt & u should find some good things!

if u read all of this!! uhh kudos to u!! it was v long n i didnt expect it to be that long!!