#this is the first song in the album and i like the isolated and desolate feeling it sets the mood with.

[anqelblccm]

BLESS  MY  HEART  —  a  song  about  someone  navigating  deep  emotional  pain,  hidden  struggles,  and  the  fine  line  between  sanity  and  madness.  through  a  journey  of  transformation,  isolation,  and  longing  for  connection,  the  protagonist  ultimately  faces  a  revelation  of  betrayal  —  serves as a pre-release single for HERO's upcoming mini album.

the  music  video  for the single was  released  in  three  parts during the month of june,  each  one  telling  HERO's  story  through  his  point  of  view.  the  first  part  —  THE  ENCHANTED  FOREST  —  focuses  on  his  initial  encounter  with  the  surreal  landscape,  the  emergence  of  the  wolves,  and  the  beginning  of  his  quest  for  understanding.

THE  ORACLE'S  GUIDANCE  —  HERO  seeks  counsel  from  the  enigmatic  ORACLE  who  resides  within  the  ancient  tree.  this  segment  explores  HERO's  confrontation  with  his  inner  demons,  symbolized  by  the  monstrous  wolves,  and  his  transformative  journey  through  the  mirror-like  portal  guided  by  the  ORACLE.

the  final  instalment  of  the  trilogy  —  DAWN  OF  A  NEW  BEGINNING  —  depicts  HERO's  return  from  the  mystical  realm  with  newfound  wisdom  and  clarity.  this  showcases  his  emergence  from  the  forest  at  dawn,  the  blossoming  of  the  ancient  tree,  and  his  acceptance  of  the  challenges  and  possibilities  that  lie  ahead.

the music video analysis.

( PART ONE )

on  an  ordinary  winter  night,  HERO  found  himself  alone  in  the  middle  of  a  desolate,  snow-covered  forest.  the  snow  wasn't  the  usual  white  but  shimmered  in  shades  of  blue  and  gold,  casting  an  eerie,  ethereal  glow.  HERO  had  no  recollection  of  how  he  got  there  but  felt  a  strange  pull  as  if  something—or  someone—was  guiding  him.

as  he  walked  through  the  forest,  the  snow  began  to  melt  beneath  his  touch,  turning  into  golden  droplets  that  evaporated  into  the  air.  the  cold  should  have  bothered  him,  but  instead,  it  felt  oddly  comforting.  the  forest  was  silent  except  for  the  soft  crunch  of  snow  under  his  feet  and  the  distant,  haunting  howl  of  wolves.

HERO  ventured  deeper  into  the  forest,  and  the  trees  seemed  to  whisper  secrets  from  the  past.  he  stumbled  upon  a  clearing  where  spectral  images  of  his  memories  floated  around  him.  he  saw  himself  as  a  child,  laughing  and  playing  with  friends;  he  saw  his  first  love,  a  girl  with  bright  eyes  and  a  radiant  smile;  he  saw  moments  of  triumph  and  sorrow,  all  swirling  in  a  ghostly  dance.

he  reached  out  to  touch  one  of  the  images,  and  it  dissipated  into  golden  dust.  a  sense  of  longing  and  regret  washed  over  him.  he  realized  these  memories  were  not  just  from  his  past  but  fragments  of  what  could  have  been,  paths  not  taken,  dreams  unfulfilled.

( PART TWO )

HERO  followed  one  of  the  paths,  his  heart  pounding  with  anticipation.  the  tree  in  front  of  him  was  unlike  any  he  had  ever  seen;  it  radiated  an  aura  of  wisdom  and  power.  at  its  base  sat  an  old  woman,  the  ORACLE,  her  eyes  blindfolded  yet  seeming  to  see  everything.

"why  have  you  come,  seeker?"  she  asked  in  a  voice  that  echoed  through  the  forest.

"i  don't  know,"  HERO  replied  honestly.  "i  feel  lost."

the  ORACLE  nodded.  "you  are  here  to  find  what  was  lost  and  to  understand  what  lies  ahead.  the  wolves  are  your  fears  and  doubts.  to  move  forward,  you  must  face  them."

as  if  on  cue,  the  wolves  began  to  transform.  they  grew  larger,  their  forms  shifting  into  monstrous  versions  of  themselves,  each  representing  a  fear  or  regret  that  haunted  HERO.  one  snarled  with  the  face  of  betrayal,  another  with  the  visage  of  failure,  and  yet  another  with  the  guise  of  loneliness.

HERO  knew  he  had  to  confront  them.  drawing  strength  from  deep  within,  he  faced  each  wolf  in  turn.  the  battles  were  fierce,  both  physically  and  mentally,  as  he  wrestled  with  his  inner  demons.  with  each  victory,  the  wolves  shrank  back  into  their  original  forms  and  then  into  harmless  golden  dust.

exhausted  but  triumphant,  HERO  turned  back  to  the  ORACLE.  she  gestured  to  the  tree,  and  a  mirror-like  portal  appeared  on  its  trunk.  "step  through,"  she  instructed.  "your  journey  is  not  yet  complete."

with  a  deep  breath,  HERO  stepped  through  the  portal  and  found  himself  in  a  surreal,  dreamlike  realm.  the  sky  was  a  swirl  of  colours,  and  the  ground  beneath  his  feet  felt  like  walking  on  clouds.  here,  time  seemed  fluid,  and  the  laws  of  physics  didn't  apply.

he  encountered  versions  of  himself  from  different  points  in  time,  each  offering  insights  and  lessons.  some  were  younger  and  more  hopeful,  others  older  and  wiser.  they  guided  him  through  the  realm,  helping  him  piece  together  the  fragments  of  his  soul.

( PART THREE )

in  the  heart  of  this  realm,  HERO  found  a  radiant  crystal,  pulsating  with  energy.  as  he  touched  it,  a  wave  of  clarity  and  understanding  washed  over  him.  he  saw  his  life  in  its  entirety,  the  interconnectedness  of  every  choice,  every  regret,  and  every  moment  of  joy.  he  understood  that  his  journey  wasn't  just  about  confronting  his  fears  but  embracing  every  part  of  himself.

with  newfound  wisdom,  he  stepped  back  through  the  portal,  returning  to  the  forest.  the  ORACLE  was  gone,  but  the  ancient  tree  now  bore  blossoms  of  gold  and  blue.  the  forest,  once  eerie  and  desolate,  was  now  vibrant  and  alive  with  the  promise  of  new  beginnings.

as  dawn  broke,  HERO  walked  towards  the  edge  of  the  forest.  the  first  light  of  day  painted  the  sky  in  hues  of  hope  and  possibility.  the  wolves,  now  gentle  and  watchful,  followed  at  a  distance,  no  longer  symbols  of  fear  but  of  guardianship.

HERO  whispered  to  himself,  "oh,  bless  my  heart,"  feeling  the  strength  and  wisdom  he  had  gained.  as  he  stepped  out  of  the  forest  and  into  the  rising  sun,  he  knew  that  he  was  ready  to  face  whatever  lay  ahead.  his  journey  through  the  mystical  forest  had  transformed  him,  and  he  was  no  longer  the  man  who  had  entered  it.

[greensparty]

This Month In History - November Part 2

This is quite a month for pop culture anniversaries. For Part 1 read here. Here is Part 2:

Nov. 10, 1969: Sesame Street premieres

In Nov. 1969, the children's educational TV institution known as Sesame Street premiered on public television. It was quite revolutionary. It was a show for kids with valuable life lessons, but told in a way that was also entertaining for grown-ups watching with the kids. Best of all it featured Jim Henson’s Muppets. More than anything, the show had and still has an important message about respect, decency and equality. A neighborhood where people and puppets of all different colors can play and work together. When I was growing up, I was a fan of the show. I especially liked Burt and Ernie, The Count and Kermit the Frog. Years after I outgrew Sesame Street, I would watch it as I babysat when I was a teen and realized some of their humor was really sharp, i.e. their Twin Peaks parody “Twin Beaks” or the Pearl Jam parody Fur Jam performing “Don’t Waste the Water”. In recent years I watched Sesame Street with my son, who liked the show too! How many TV shows began 55 years ago and are still just as good if not better than when they began? Happy 55th Sesame St!

Nov. 10, 2014: Sonic Highways released

In Nov. 2014, Foo Fighters' highly ambitious 8th album was released. The band went to eight different cities, studied the musical history of each city and recorded a song in each city with producer Butch Vig. There was an accompanying documentary series on HBO as well. The band remains themselves in each city and there's some serious bangers here and some cool guests like Scream's Pete Stahl. I included this in my Best Albums of 2014 list as well as my Best Albums of the 2010s. It's an album that doesn't get enough credit from them, but should. Happy 10 Sonic Highways!

Nov. 15, 1974: Desolation Boulevard released

In Nov. 1974, The Sweet's third and best album was released. I first discovered the British glam rock band through 80s glam metal, much of which was heavily influenced by them. As a teen, I checked this album out of the library, recorded it onto a blank tape and listened to it countless times. In addition to “Ballroom Blitz” (later covered by Tia Carrere for Wayne’s World, which also featured the original), the album had “The Six Teens”, “No You Don’t”, “Sweet F.A.”, and one of my favorites “Fox on the Run” (featured on the soundtracks to Dazed and Confused and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). In 2021, I got to interview guitarist Andy Scott about the band's album Isolation Boulevard and he said "What better way than creating a similar path that our 1974 album, Desolation Boulevard produced. With that in mind Isolation Boulevard in 2020 was a piece of cake and the results speak for themselves." Happy 50th Desolation Blvd!

Nov. 16, 1979: Night in the Ruts released

In Nov. 1979, Aerosmith's 6th studio album was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019. Happy 45th NITR!

Nov. 16, 1984: Night of the Comet opens

In Nov. 1984 one of the best valley girl movies was released, this one a sci-fi horror movie. Here is my piece I wrote in 2019 and here is my brief interaction with star Kelli Maroney at the 2018 Rock and Shock. Happy 40th NOTC!

Nov. 16, 2009: Them Crooked Vultures released

In Nov. 2009 the debut album from supergroup Them Crooked Vultures was released. Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin came together for a rocker of an album. Even before this album was released, the band was announced and they did a mini-tour. I was lucky enough to see their 2009 show at Roseland in NYC and was highly impressed. The album sounds like Homme and his QOSTA tendencies took over much of the album which is too bad considering the other two, but it was a joy to hear these three playing and riffing off each other. Happy 15 TCV!

[thisworldisablackhole]

Inter Arma New Heaven

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

FFO: POST METAL, DISSO-DEATH, NICK CAVE. SOUND WEIRD? IT IS / LISTEN

As the old saying goes; one man's descent into despair is another man's post-metal masterpiece. At least that's what my grandma used to say, bless her soul. Inter Arma are a metal band from Richmond, VA, who have long since made a name for themselves by defying genre constraints and refusing to pigeonhole themselves as anything other than "the band who defies genre constraints". They seemed to hit a new peak of cohesivity with their kitchen sink blend of influences on 2019's Sulphur English, but whereas that album's sonic arc had some ebb and flow to it, New Heaven embarks on a downhill battle with no end to the bleakness in sight.

In a way, I feel lucky that this album was my first exposure to the band, because I had absolutely no idea of the ride I was about to embark on. New Heaven kicks off with a cluster bomb of dissonant stabs and spiraling harmonies before settling into a full on blackened-death pummel fest that spans the first three tracks. The guitars are sharp like razor wires, the drums of war boom with a threatening aura, everything echoes with a thunderous dark energy thanks to the cavernous production style. I would have liked to hear some extra oomph from the bass in the mix, but I digress. There is no sense of heaviness absent as Paparo growls and shrieks his abstract nihilism like the lone prisoner of a dying world - "You pluck your harp against the deathless echo of the driving rain, humming a joyless mantra not a single soul can hear".

Fourth track "Endless Grey" is where things start to get weird—gently ushering us to the dark side of the moon with an epic instrumental passage of dueling guitar leads and plodding funeral-esque drums before spitting us out into a cold wave of gothic post punk. In "Gardens in the Dark", Mike swaps out his growls for a baritone bellow as a wave of dismal synths wash against the steady rhythm of the bass and coalesce into cathartic crescendos. It's a stark shift in tone, but one that just feels right, as if we have just watched our protagonist descend through his reflection into the shadow realm. It's in this realm where Mike pens some of his most heart wrenching lyrical content on the record - "Were you attempting to calm a storm that wouldn't subside? God damn that suicide, and your garden in the dark".

The next two tracks continue this trend of doom and gloom post punk while seamlessly weaving back in passages of growling, dirgy black metal. "Concrete Cliff" in particular stands out as having the most balance between the two moods of the album, but then we quickly hit the bottom of the elevator shaft, and it opens it's doors to a neo-folk hell. "Forest Service Road Blues" somehow manages to out-misery every other song on the album, and closes out our journey with the most desolate and lonely note it could muster. Mike sings of dwindling mental health and the societal isolation it causes as acoustic guitar, piano, and violin weep in congruence. "They say they've tried to coax him down a hundred times or more, but he just points to the shovel layin' next to the door. They say sometimes you've just gotta let a man dig his own grave." It's the final nail in our coffin. We were born, we witnessed the ugliest parts of humanity, and now we've been laid to rest. Thus the album concludes. I told you it was bleak.

I can see how this type of album flow could be polarizing to veteran fans, especially following the aforementioned peak of cohesivity with Sulphur English, but New Heaven is simply a project that cares more of translating it's ideas with clarity than it does with feeling coherent. It has a narrative with a distinct arc that is brief, easy to follow, and offers plenty of replay incentive for those who don't mind feeling like they are listening to Portal, Neurosis and Nick Cave at the same time. That's a win in my books.

[ggtess]

I’ve been a fan of Hozier since I heard his song take me to church. Its intense religious scrutiny tied with its beautiful queer allusions roped me in instantly. It didn’t take me long to discover how talented this artist was, and how deep of an impact his music would have on me. He’s been a favorite ever since.

Following a steady increase of my love for Hozier, was a fast and intense love for the Inferno of Dante, a book that I was originally begrudgingly forced to read. I had already watched a youtube series on the comedia and figured that’s all I would really need from this story (sooo fucking embarrassing). But, as we delved deeper into the inferno and all the rich history associated with it, my english-subject-loving-brain was absolutely enamored. There was so much to digest and speculate and criticize and praise. I was in Heaven (haha).

Now obviously some months have passed since the release of this album, but I only recently discovered that Unreal Unearth featured the marriage of these two beloved interests of mine.

With all that being said, here’s are my incredibly belated, partially sincere and partially bullshit thoughts on Hozier’s Unreal Unearth:

De Shelby pt 1- (7/10) gorgeous guitar brought to us by a gorgeous Irish man. Desolate, chilling, sullen.

De Shelby pt 2- (7/10) absolutely insane transition. This bass is so catchy and rhythmic, really fun. I assume this is representative of the harsh descent into hell, running/hiding from the atonement of sins: throwing yourself into what is ungodly to avoid isolation.

First time- (8/10) this just sounds so fucking good, “some part of me must have died the first time that you called me ‘baby’ and some part of me came alive the first time that you called me ‘baby’” is so stark and relatable. God that is an absolutely devastating way to look at bouquets. A quick ode to the lost “remembering again/ the full extent of what forever is” because fuck. This is confusing and heart wrenching, a lover mourning his lost love and worshiping them all the same because they’re all he has in this eternity, this limbo leaves him lost and all he sees and all he knows is death, even through the kind gestures of flowers on his grave, desperate and lost

Francesca- (9/10) The first direct reference to the inferno via the storms of lust in the first circle. Listening has me confusing lust with love- is lust just an extension of love ?? Because this is a damn love song. “Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I” oh my fucking god yeah this is the favorite. Does Hozier know that he’s a lesbian or should I tell him

I, Carrion- (8/10) so, so beautiful. Consumed in consumption itself, prioritizing pleasure over what is right and moral. So many references in this one- the turtles holding up the world, Icarus flying and falling, atlas carrying the weightless feeling he is experiencing.

Eat your young- (8/10) this song is popular for a reason. Obviously representing gluttony, the lyrics are so disgusting and immoral, hungry for more wealth, more gain, more, more. Criticism to world leaders, criticism to capitalism, criticism to consumerism, criticism to those who take and take. “Eat your young” stealing the future of your youth, decimating the climate, sending your children to war, sending your children to sweep chimneys, all exploitation, all eating your young. Also head ???

Damage gets done- (7/10) everyone move this song is so upbeat I need to fucking dance. Brandi has a really powerful voice that complements hozier’s so well. For something being representative of greed, this song is pretty damn grateful, at least on my first impression. In a pessimistic perspective, it could be the oblivion of the youth to their damage on the earth. Just by existing in the world we live in we leave an irreversible mark on our climate, our environment, our wildlife, etc. Unknowingly, we’re greedy to want to thrive in our world in any capacity but specifically financially. Maybe the best of us are our youth that don’t want for more than they have. This song contrasts the previous one HARSHLY.

Who we are- (6/10) this song is a headache. Juxtaposing the deeply frustrating lyrics of navigating the dark, burning out, chasing mindlessly and the loud singing filled with a sense of catharsis and relief is sooo mind boggling. So much uncertainty and passion.

Son of Nyx- (7/10) god I love a transition track. So dejected and beautiful at the same time. These themes of loss are just constant throughout the album. Someone tell me how Hozier did all this world building without any words? I would have genuinely guessed that the river Styx is what’s being represented by this instrumental, he captured it exactly how I imagined.

All things end- (6/10) This is definitely akin to gospel music. Hozier’s influence from black artists is rich in this song, really fun listen. Also deeply ironic to use this style of music to write a song about heresy. Reminds me of his iconic take me to church.

Continued in next post ! :-)

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

World Domination or Death, Vol. 1 1990 Alternative Rock / Indie Rock / Goth Rock / Thrash Metal

So, according to a 1988 Rolling Stone profile that I just read about Björk's old band, The Sugarcubes, and the Icelandic music scene more broadly, the small island nation was pretty musically desolate until about 1981, when UK punk had finally made its way up there. And even after that, Iceland still only had one TV station and one radio station well into the 80s—both of which were state-owned—and the radio station almost exclusively played US top 40 fare.

So, given that landscape, it's then pretty remarkable just how downright weird Icelandic music managed to get so quickly by 1990, which is when this pretty eclectic sampler from The Sugarcubes' own label, Smekkleysa (Bad Taste in English), was released; because it wasn't like Icelanders had a collective easy access to any avantgarde traditions, and they certainly hadn't been organically forging their own either. But if all you and your fellow countrymen have access to for decades is US hits, then I guess the eventual backlash to that can and will turn out to be severe.

So, here's a strange brew of alternative Icelandic tunes that were recorded and released between 1986 and 1990. This label showcase's biggest draw is, naturally, The Sugarcubes, who were one of the first bands to ever receive attention from outside of Iceland (the first was jazz fusion band Mezzoforte; h/t to @dropdead-celebration), when their song, "Birthday," managed to peak at #2 on the UK's Indie chart in 1987, which then caused industry types and journalists to flock to the country itself in order to investigate just what the hell the conditions were like in this small, isolated nation that could lead a band to make something that sounds like that.

But while their exclusive, "My March," received its own sticker on the front of the CD's jewel case—so you'd know that this album had The Sugarcubes on it without having to pick it up and then turn it around in order to view its tracklist—there's actually another band on here that plays the nutty, hall-of-mirrors Sugarcubes style on here too, and with a very similar type of touched little girl vocalizations as Björk as well, but their pair of contributions are, dare I say it, actually better?

Reptile is a band that comes with the following assortment of instruments: your standard drums, guitar, bass, and keyboards, but also a saxophone, a violin, a banjo, and a marimba too. And while that combination sounds like something a bunch of smirking college stoners would probably torture their fellow classmates with, this group actually seems to squeeze out the best sound that anyone possibly ever could with what they have. "Gun Fun," which also appears on their only album, 1990's Fame and Fossils, and their exclusive, "Ó," really do sound a whole lot better than you'd think; a pair of quirky tunes that are unpredictably fun as hell.

But this album's not just made up of a Sugarcubes-type sound; there's also goth rock, thrash metal, industrial, even rockabilly, and also a band called Daisy Hill Puppy Farm (named after Snoopy's home), who deliver a song that totally flies in the face of the vibe that you'd think a band with that name would have; "Young Blood," which also ended up leading their final release, a 1989 12-inch called Spraycan, is a great, ploddingly heavy, downtempo indie rocker that sounds like it came from the States.

So, truth be told, I did not really end up enjoying most of this album, but it's still definitely interesting and worth it to hear some of the varied sounds that this little country that seemed to be pretty culturally isolated from the rest of the world for a really long time for was able to muster in such short order. Other places with far more ease in their many avenues of cultural access seem to have taken a whole lot longer to get to a similar point of weirdness when compared to this small island nation. And while weird stuff tends to stay underground and indie most everywhere else, it seems to not only just rise to Iceland's mainstream, but it becomes their most popular music attraction, overall.

Highlights:

Reptile - "Gun Fun" Reptile - "Ó" Daisy Hill Puppy Farm - "Youngblood"

[dustedmagazine]

King Krule — Space Heavy (XL/Matador)

Space Heavy by King Krule

King Krule is a contradiction. It’s carrot-topped, tarmac-throated songwriter Archy Marshall, but also his band of stone-faced miscreants. It’s a slovenly, lugubrious mess, but also jazzy, sophisticated and delicate. It’s expansive and cathartic, but also anxious and claustrophobic. Discounting live double LP, You Heat Me Up, You Cool Me Down, King Krule’s last full-length was Man Alive!, which featured on my best of 2020 list, where I described it as “Smoky jazz, belligerent post-punk and stoned lo-fi… all stirred together into a murky and intoxicating soup.” Space Heavy is much the same, but less mired in the bleak realities of urban living, more reflective about finding a way out, passing through liminal environments such as the coast, or space itself.

The album’s sci-fi theme is immediately conjured via the thick synthesizers of opener, “Flimsier.” The chorused guitar lines circle woozily in semi-tonal shifts, before a gnarly guitar solo tries to break free of the song’s oppressive gravity. Heavy post-punk stomper “Pink Shell” introduces petulant blurts of saxophone and crunchy guitar chords, and is one of several moments on the record when the band really cuts loose. Single “Seaforth”’s shimmering kaleidoscopic guitars evoke a reflective frame of mind, echoed in the lyrics: “She’s sleeping… she’s sleeping… She speaks within my dreaming / I take her waist within my hands / And when I wake she melts away into the sand.” Marshall has rarely sounded so tender. The remainder of the first side is similarly diffuse and downtempo. “That Is My Life, That Is Yours” feels like a woozy, half-speed coda to “Seaforth,” the beautiful “Tortoise of Independency” strips back to voice and guitar, and “Flimsy” acts as an instrumental bookend to the opener. 

“Hamburgerphobia” opens the second side with some insanely dextrous drumming and brooding bass, injecting a crazed drum’n’bass feel into proceedings. Guest vocalist Raveena contributes dreamy, echoing lead vocals to “Seagirl,” which prove a welcome foil to Marshall’s despondent speak-singing. “Our Vacuum” feels like a sister song to side A’s “Tortoise of Independency,” and offers a stark example of one of the record’s themes, where isolation arises out of intimacy: “The space between us is dark / in the cage of your heart.” The title track contains both sides of King Krule in a single song, the first half reflective and pensive, the second a repeated, tortured wail of the line, “My plastic straw!”, alluding to a planet sinking into environmental devastation. “If Only It Was Warmth” is a singularly desolate moment late in the second side, a Mogwai-esque bassline cascading elegantly over disparate ride cymbal, as Marshall tells of how he “Walked two hours across empty space to fill the void.” 

Contradiction proves mesmerizing across Space Heavy’s tightly executed 45 minutes: in our need for freedom we’re left floating in space; in our intimate relationships, we’re stifled by a vacuum. Survival and fulfillment happens somewhere in the in-between. 

Tim Clarke

[doomedandstoned]

RUFF MAJIK’s ‘Elektrik Ram’ Full Review + Interview

~By Billy Goate~

Artwork by Anni Bouchner

'Elektrik Ram' (2023), the latest spin by RUFF MAJIK, is a quintessential rock 'n' roll album. The motley collection of tracks has an Adams Family feel, grabbing your attention straight away with the snaggle-toothed "Hillbilly Fight Song." A rude, jangly welcome to the world of rehab and mental health, when COVID-19 stalked the world, keeping us fearfully isolated in our desolate rooms, going out of our everloving minds.

On his path to freedom from the clutches of chemical addiction, Johni Holiday encountered a host of strange, alluring, and belligerent characters. The songs act as "sketches of the many faces he saw inside the white walls of the hospital." No surprise, then, that the first one is brash and in your face. "Shut your mouth, you'll catch a fly," a most disagreeable fellow warns, insisting that you "sit down before you bleed." His vocals, cast in the tradition of Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses) and Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), snivel and snarl with the portrait of a man you better not cross.

"She's Still A Goth" is an effective, up-tempo ride through the night. In my recent interview with Johni Holiday (which follows below), I asked him if this was a person he met in his recovery. He said it was emblematic of his wife, who has been a continual support and encouragement during the long, slow road to wellness.

"Mourning Wood" slows the pace for a doleful, introspective mood. Things pick right back up, though, with the footloose "Rave to the Grave,". The Monster Mash vibe really pops alive, thanks to spooky touches from an '80s-style synth. I was ready for a beach party after this one. Ooo-weeee-ooo-ooooo.

The great thing about Ruff Majik is just how they joyfully borrow from different rock and metal traditions, stick 'em in a blender, and make due with the pieces, like a Salvador Dalí canvas. "Delirium Tremors" is such an example, a wide-ranging cartoonish soundscape that teeters on the edge of sanity (as we'd expect from someone going through actual DTs).

"Cement Brain" brings us back into the warm, swampy southern-stoner territory that Ruff Majik is known for, here utilizing a trip-hop beat that is so welcoming to the ears. The keyboard accents work quite well, but it's those gorgeous twin guitar harmonies that really get to me, especially following this impassioned plea: Please don't let me go back again. Don't let me fall off the fucking wagon.

Title track "Elektrik Ram" has one of those take the money and run kind of rhythms, not unlike "Dread Breath" from 'Tårn' (2019) -- one of my top Ruff Majik tracks. While the band provides an underlying sense of agitation, the lyrics are drenched in despair and regret:

I used to be a blue eyed boy I used to be so full of joy Now I'm a cog in the machine A random access memory Just a counterfeit of me And I've got nothing to give

A number of the tracks are prefaced by the sardonic wit of horror actor Vincent Price. This works especially well in the case of "Queen of the Gorgons," which plays out like an ultimate tribute to those classic monster movies. It's a great song, too -- one of the standouts of the album, joining "She's Still A Goth" (both inspired by Johni's wife and Ruff Majik album artist Anni Bouchner). Let's pause to respect that two of the record's most successful tracks were inspired by love.

"A Song About Drugs (with a Clever Title)" is a weird, quirky, lopsided march that one might expect to hear in some dimly lit cantina in a galaxy far, far away. The shortest of the 11 tracks, I'd love to hear Ruff Majik do more in this vein. Meanwhile, "Shangrilah Inc" is a soulful, slow blues number where Johni's grimacing vocals really show us what they can do. Lyrically, the song may be a dig at the commercial industry that's grown up around Mental Health.

The last track, "Chemically Humanized" is the longest and most remarkable track on the record, thoughtfully choreographed from beginning to end. There are some interesting literary references in the lyrics, as well. I tried to steal the Devil's note -- a reference to the dreaded tritone, once feared to drive people mad. I even borrowed David's chord, by contrast, draws upon the story of David in the Bible, whose harp playing was legendary for driving away King Saul's evil spirits. Our protagonist laments that none of these things -- not even a seance and crystal ball -- could relieve his tormented state. "I wish I was dead," he confesses, "I'm a ghost after all."

Quirky and enigmatic, Elektrik Ram showcases Ruff Majik at an exciting stage of creativity. Because of its thematic nature, the album begs to be considered not on the first track or even the singles, but as a collection united by an overarching theme.

Ruff Majik's new album is out now in digital and vinyl formats via Mongrel Records (get it here). Stick it on a playlist with Queens of the Stone Age, The Heavy Eyes, and The Tazers.

Give ear...

Elektrik Ram by Ruff Majik

Interview with Johni Holiday from Ruff Majik

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[gnusnoteunuchs]

papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

i'll be perfectly honest and say that this is a slightly troublesome ask, because i listen to music weirdly. i have a single playlist on my phone composed of 451 songs that is 33 hours long. i play this whenever i drive somewhere. this isn't really my "these are only songs i absolutely adore" playlist, it's more like a whole batch of songs that are vaguely cool, and plenty of ones i don't recognize show up regularly.

also, i listen to music that i've ripped from CDs (to put on my phone) with itunes on my computer. i don't really have any playlists that i deliberately listen to, usually i just sort of put together a queue of things that i'm feeling at any given moment.

but also i listen to a lot of music through youtube, because it's free and doesn't require me to buy like six sabaton albums just to have something to listen to while doing dishes. this is also my source for music that i listen to at work.

so there's a number of answers i could give you that all vaguely fit the spirit of the question, so in the interest of fairness (and savoring actually getting asks for once) i'll give you all of them.

first, i'll shuffle the huge playlist on my phone:

Ultravox-Accent on Youth I'm not gonna lie, I have no fucking idea what this song is about. It just sounds vaguely cool and I like the album it's from. See? This is the consequence of having a playlist this huge, there's quite a few songs i love and then a whole shitload that are like "oh yeah that's cool"

next, i'll shuffle my Top 25 Most Played on itunes (desktop). this is not an accurate representation of my tastes, but may be the closest i'll get in terms of music I physically own. that gives us:

Stan Ridgway-A Mission in Life This song is basically the sequel to Piano Man by Billy Joel. Ridgway excels in constructing songs that give you little glimpses into the lives of variously mediocre, moribund, and horrible peoples' lives, typically set amid the misery and isolation of contemporary Americana. A Mission in Life is a barkeep's elegy for his ambitions; he had a mission in life to provide for people, to give them a space they could cherish and enjoy themselves in, but that's not how it turned out. Instead, he's stuck with a dive bar that exists purely to pump liquor into increasingly desolate people, because that's the only way they know how to seek comfort. but despite this, despite the knowledge he's only dooming people further, helping them along on their headlong slides towards absolute destruction, the narrator of A Mission in Life still just wants to help. he's a caring person who wants to give but all he can give is poison and all he can afford to care for is himself.

finally, I'll shuffle "My Mix" on youtube, the auto-generated playlist or whatever that's meant to reflect my music interests.

Mcbaise-She's a Big Boy I'm not gonna lie, I don't have much to say about this song, next to the fact that it's a little gender. I think this only came up because it was the last song I was playing while doing the dishes. Not much to say here, but the music video for this song is pretty wacky. You should watch it.

[bearsuitrecords]

Eamon The Destroyer - “We'll Be Piranhas” (BS061) - review from Aural Aggravation: Just a little over two years since the idiosyncratically-monikered Eamon the Destroyer arrived with his debut single ‘My Drive’, he’s gone from strength to strength – to the extent that his output has erupted, Godzilla-like, expanding and flexing immense musical muscles. Sort of. Because Eamon the Destroyer’s work is, despite the connotations of a raging beast laying waste to entire civilizations with a single roar, incredibly intimate, with tension building from the introspective minimalism of the songs. With the release of the debut album A Small Blue Car and a remix / reworking of said album landing in quick succession, the arrival of We’ll be Piranhas seems swift.

We’ll be Piranhas finds Eamon the Destroyer (any truncation of the name feels wrong: Eamon too casual and to cuddly; the Destroyer simply unrepresentative) pushing the parameters of experimentalism, conjuring the sonic equivalent of the surreal oddness of the album’s cover, which looks like a three-way split-screen of medievalism, Anglo-Saxon fable, and a deranged reimagining of some of Captain Cook’s sketches of newly-discovered species with what appears to be a polar bear resting its chin on a narwhal, while gulls look on and rabbits look away. Or something.

‘The Choirmaster’ is both droney and playful, quirky, and mellow, until it spins off its axis and into a whole other world of spiralling prog and doodling daftness. It certainly packs a lot into five strange and disorientating minutes. Single ‘Rope’ is glitchy, awkward, and feels like it doesn’t belong to anything, and suddenly, it lurches too life with a loping rhythm and fuzzy synths which provide a backdrop to tense, almost strangled vocals, hushed, strained, and gravelly. Not for the first time, I long for a lyric sheet as the scratchy vocals render the words difficult to decipher, but this is perhaps his most vitriolic piece to date; more often than not, Eamon the Destroyer croaks melancholy: here, there’s a fire, and it carried through into the wheezing clatter of ‘Sonny Said’. There’s a moment around the mid-point I get a pang of Seventeen Seconds-era Cure. But it’s fleeting, and nothing is pinpointable, particularly in this swirling maelstrom of a piece.

When it comes to Bearsuit releases, I often find myself using and reusing the word ‘weird’ as a descriptor – mostly because it’s the thing that really defines the label. While the likes of Harrold Nono spin Eastern hues into spirals and spin drifts of experimentalism, We’ll be Piranhas finds ETD really going all-out to try stuff. And the result is brain-bending.

‘Underscoring the Blues’ somehow manages to melt fairground oddness with The Doors and prog and, well, all sorts, to blur into a curious cocktail.

It’s difficult – if not impossible –to listen to this album and feel ‘normal’. It feels like the soundtrack to a dream: one of those weird dreams where familiar places aren’t quite right – the walls of familiar rooms are different, doors and windows are in the wrong place, and continually moving, and you look to make your way out and suddenly the door has vanished. The floor is moving and familiar faces warp and acquire new, alien aspects. You don’t know who you are or what’s going on, but you know that this isn’t what you expected as the sights and sounds of the familiar melt into one another. You feel your sense of time and space begin to crumble. Where am I? What even is this?

It feels like isolation. It feels like… like… like numbness, confusion. You feel your body tense, the backs of the legs growing taut. The title tracks sends everything spinning and whirling every which way, and there is no easy way to assimilate this, and the same is true of the woozy glitchings of the desolate ‘A Call is Coming’. Ignore the call; decline it. Look inwards. Woah, something isn’t quite right.

We’ll be Piranhas leaves you feeling detached, askance, apart, removed, not quite right. It’s an introspective work delivered from on the cusp. On the cusp of what? It’s hard to say. Perhaps it’s best not to. Christopher Nosnibor Aural Aggravation (1.11.23) https://auralaggravation.com/2023/11/01/eamon-the-destroyer-well-be-piranhas/?fbclid=IwAR2IO2WnY1TG633GiFRJzAlAGAl1YH1IbJHzbIvuGvQ4NoR5lFfpFzRVAjg

[thebrokestblog]

Atmosphere in Art

I think one of the most beautiful elements of artistry is how a piece can drop you into an environment and let you soak up the emotions, the feelings, and the energy of it. Being able to look through the author's or a character's eyes for a few moments and experience their setting.

Atmosphere: the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art.

Utilizing this definition in this post I want to discuss some of my favorite atmospheric pieces of art and also find how they achieve this affect.

Pink in the Night - Mitski

Track 10 Pink in the Night is one of the deeper cuts off of Mitski's 2018 hit album Be the Cowboy but it's a personal favorite of mine. In line with the theme of being a cowboy this song sounds like Mitski is alone in the desert, yearning for someone, glowing Pink in the Night with frustration. The rain of her love pours down from the desert sky, and while rain is celebrated in the desert; hers' is torrential, pouring without end.

With every drop of rain singing "I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you I love you, I love you, I love you"

This desolate feeling pairs perfectly with the production and vocals of the track, Mitski's desperate repetition and haunting tone paired with the production that is minimal enough to provide a feeling of space. Not just space, overwhelming and suffocating space. Mitski's unrequited love has flooded her surroundings and she's drowning in it herself. The desperation, isolation, and inundation of Mitski's desert in Pink in the Night has always stuck out to me.

Attack on Titan - Hajime Isayama

Attack on Titan is one of the series I hold as our generation's peak of fiction, our Shakespeare. One of the few series I would say best represent the strides and advances of storytelling over the past century. If you're unfamiliar, Attack on Titan takes place within the walls of the Eldian Empire, the last remains of humanity after titans destroyed the rest. These titans are man-eating, uncanny 3-15 meter tall creatures that eat humans; not for any biological need, just to do it. Society has insulated itself from the outside with the use of a 3 wall system.

As you can imagine, a setting like this would lead to an unprecedented amount of despair: and it does! However what I find most beautiful is how Attack on Titan displays hope and joy. In such an apocalyptic story the moments of triumph and the small successes add up. Whether it's our protagonists sharing banter over their rations of bread, or seeing everyone risk their lives and protect a character as they march forward towards Wall Rose (middle) to patch the hole in it. The spirit of hope within the first season is intoxicating at its highest and beautifully compliments the OFTEN dark and drab moments seeped into the show.

Persona 5 - ATLUS

Last but not least, where the name of my blog comes from. This game is a beautiful living, breathing, artistic expression. Stylized to a T and every detail is attended to. This game is a JRPG with action, religious symbolism, and political commentary but some of its most potent moments are... the quiet ones. Like walking down the streets of Shibuya in the rain. Making coffee in the café you live in. Strolling the Red-Light District at night. And spending an evening with someone you know. Persona 5's down time is beautifully executed and makes an amazing moment of rest between intense story beats. And this blog gets it's name from Café Leblanc in this game! I will go into further detail on my appreciation for this game in a future post, but this game's atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you for reading my first post of many to come! Have a beautiful day, afternoon, evening, night, or 3 AM; I have no clue when you're reading this.

[girlsbtrs]

Sinner Get Ready Album Review

Written by Peyton Lawrence. Graphic by Moira Ashley.  

Horror, love, and God all coexist in the decaying kingdoms of rolling fields and remote settlements of Appalachia. 

It’s been two years since Kristin Hayter released her album, CALIGULA, under the name Lingua Ignota. The rage-filled tracks used religious imagery and musical motifs such as ambient organ and choral tracks paired with piercing screams to examine the long term pain and trauma of abuse, betrayal, promise, mercy, and vengeance. God is “almost always interchangeable with the abuser or the lover.” The record feels claustrophobic and complex. The brutal anger in her music refuses to let itself be dampened or silenced by the expectation of an “appropriate” or “polite” response, and the end result is tremendous. We’re viewing divine rage sans the lens of propriety. 

Hayter’s music is characterized by haunting, echoing vocals and up until now, influences from noise and extreme metal. (It is important to note, however, that these are just influences, and Lingua Ignota really does transcend genre.) Many fans expected a continuation of the sound heard in CALIGULA, but with the release of the new album, the music has taken a more raw, intimate tone. It relies heavily on her powerful voice, piano tracks, traditional folk instruments, and carefully placed moments of disquieting silence. An audio clip professes in the first song, “Everything has a rhythm and a beat and the silence is one of the most soothing one.”

Despite the new album’s departure in sound, it still ties back into Lingua’s previous works. In fact, the album title, SINNER GET READY, comes directly from the lyrics of her 2018 song “All Bitches Die.” The artist stated “I wanted the listener to pay attention to the way the lyrics from these two worlds were interacting with each other, and what that meant.” She has also said that her three albums can be viewed as part of a trilogy, they are “all building on the same world, approaching different emotions using different means but still all in the same language.”

The album is filled with nuance, at first seeming like a tale of rural religious fanaticism and submission to an all-powerful, vengeful God. Upon closer listening, it reveals itself to be much less black and white and much more personal. Hayter was “was living the record as it happened,” and each song reflects the emotional state that she was experiencing as she wrote it. The album starts with declarations of power and calls for violence before winding through a fruitless search for God and culminating in a quiet acceptance of loneliness, all set against the backdrop of rural Pennsylvania. 

The album begins with “THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS,” a track that sets the tone for the rest of the album, both thematically and musically. We hear the first choir-like layered vocals, dissonance, and most importantly, we hear the first references to eternal devotion, relentlessness, and the seed is planted for the fear associated with silence and solitude. The song is a tie to CALIGULA, bridging the gap between the electronic synths and the subverted traditional instruments, preparing the audience for what’s to follow.

Listening to “I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES” feels like listening to an enraged preacher leading a congregation as they plead with God for retribution. It is despairingly brutal and feels like a call home to the rage of “All Bitches Die” and CALIGULA, albeit in a different way. This rage feels like it’s bubbling beneath the surface, masked behind attempts of pacifying the higher power being addressed. The rage bares itself in both the words and the way they are sung in the lines, “I don't give a fuck, Just kill him, You have to, I'm not asking.” (Side note: the first time I heard the aforementioned lines, the impact was so physical that I actually had to go lay down for a while.) We also first encounter the symbol of fire in the lyric, “fiery arrows studded with stars,” a symbol that reappears time and again throughout the album. 

“PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE” references the Pennsylvania Dutch folktale of an ironworker who threw his dogs into a furnace in a fit of rage, only for them to return and drag him to hell. The artist released a statement on her instagram saying the song, “is about loneliness, absence, and the inevitability of God’s judgment.” The legend embodies the rural Pennsylvania landscape that inspired the album’s creation. Hayter moved to the area due to a relationship, and became transfixed with the isolation and rejection of modernity that many religious sects there prescribed to. Fire is juxtaposed as a cleansing, formative, and destructive force, and in the entirely self-produced music video, Hayter uses red smoke to represent both this “alchemizing force,” and the blood of Jesus, explored as an all-powerful agent of absolution in the track “PERPETUAL FLAME OF CENTRALIA.” 

“MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER” is desolate and hopeless. It compares the heart of man to an open gulch, a gate of hell, a fiery pit, and a burning barn upended. The music is hauntingly complex, with layers of banjo, mourning vocals, and building rhythms. It is the culmination of all of the previous tracks, a realization being made that can only mean one thing.

The final track of the record is a fitting conclusion to the journey taken. The song, “THE SOLITARY BRETHREN OF EPHRATA,” has the cadence of a hymn. It is the quiet contrast to the beginning songs, despairingly asking for forgiveness for the brash anger shown before. It accepts the inevitable home that must be found in loneliness and solitude, and the despair that accompanies that acceptance.

This record is devastating. The entire Lingua Ignota discography feels like being stepped on squarely in the chest. It manages to be both transcendent and have a physical presence, and it cannot be listened to passively. Every single choice was made intentionally, and every single choice carries such an impact that cannot accurately be described. There’s nothing that exists quite like this, and I sincerely doubt there ever will be again.

[sam-roulette]

rip to the alt Sasha survives s3 “the slaughter ritual is a battle of the bands wherein one of the 4 main mechanisms albums has the key to ending the world” crack au for being quite literally impossible to write 

so here’s how it was meant to go down:

- Jon gets kidnapped by Alfred Grifter himself and when he’s returned to the archives he has all 4 Mechs albums and also punches Tim in the face in a slightly slaughter-induced haze

- Jon immediately snapping out of it and being so apologetic he tells Tim to punch him back so they’re even. Tim, tiredly, tells him that no. He is not going to punch him back. “You don’t have to worry about if it hurts,” that’s. Not The Point.

- there’s some slaughter juice on the albums so everyone starts getting a little bloodthirsty, a fact that becomes apparent as the Archives splits along party lines- Jon is convinced High Noon Over Camelot is the world-ender, while Sasha insists that it’s The Bifrost Incident. Tim’s on  Sasha’s side; Martin says he’s impartial but implies Jon may have a point, and only chooses Once Upon A Time to keep up the veneer of not being biased. 

- Sasha manages to convince Tim to grab Ulysses Dies At Dawn so that none of the other possible combatants have it Just In Case that’s the one that ends the world so that she can stop him. Tim questions who’s gonna stop Sasha if he can’t get close once Red Signal starts and she says not to worry, I’ve got a plan

- the plan is she gets Not!Sasha out the basement to be her bandmate, promises it that it can eat her after the competition and (it can’t because of ) threatens it with a suspiciously high voltage taser. She has no plans to let it eat her later. She is a liar 

- Tim, predictably, does not take this well. Sasha tries joking that he doesn’t get her “artistic vision” and Tim says he doesn’t know what he’ll do if Sasha gets taken again. The argument gets more heated from there.

- Turns out, things between Sasha and Tim didn’t get magically better once Sasha was spat out the table at the start of s3

- and in fact Tim has been more distant and unsure of how to act around her, since even if she’s His Sasha, he has NO memories of her- just what Sasha says and vague half-recollections that he can’t tell if its something the Stranger put in him or if its the hazy remnants of this woman that he loved once. 

- Sasha finds herself being treated like a stranger by Tim, and while it’s not really bad per se- Tim isn’t cruel to people- it still Hurts when she tries to reach out to him, when it looks like he’s obviously hurting, and he just. Doesn’t Open Up. It doesn’t help that he can’t be in the same room as Jon for long and that he can’t look Martin in the eye, and it doesn’t help that it’s only after Literally Threatening To Leave that Jon cracks and admits everything that happened in s2

- The day of the contest is getting nearer. Martin is suddenly very suspiciously good at the violin despite never having lessons growing up, which he jokes is a “natural affinity for strings”. He’s been on the phone a suspicious amount.

- The day before the contest and tensions are high in the Archives. Jon’s locked himself in his office to do “vocal exercises”. Martin hums everywhere. Tim and Sasha are coordinating on The Bifrost Incident, but Tim keeps it strictly professional and terse, and it’s slowly driving Sasha up the wall.

- Finally, Tim says, “During this... we won’t hurt each other, right? While we’re in there- we can keep our heads on straight.”

- “Of course not.” Sasha replies, immediate. “You’d never hurt me.”

- “... Right.”

- The day arrives and it’s revealed that Jon, Martin, Sasha, and Tim are the Only combatants. It was Grifter’s game to get them to fight each other the entire time, in a strictly organized battle-like way. Not!Sasha gets a pass as Sasha’s “pet” and Sasha very quickly steps on its foot to keep it from saying anything that might disqualify them.

- Listen the actual battle itself ? Is messy as fuck to figure out. like we never actually properly figured out the rules. we have a spreadsheet of like which number placement every song in all 4 albums were and everything and while some combinations would’ve made for some SICK turn based combat would’ve been an absolute Nightmare to actually carry out

- each song actually has an effect and transforms both the stage and audience as the show goes on- so there’s a bit where Jon has The Hanged Man Rusts and that garners complete silence as it accidentally prophesies the rest of the story, Thor causes Sasha to actually begin to spark with lightning, cool stuff

- the only truly comprehensible bit was round 4. Hellfire, Sirens, Cinders’ Song, and Sigyn.

- Hellfire sees Jon give into the Slaughter energy more than any other point as the entire audience starts fighting each other in religious ecstasy, the other stages where the assistants are isolated beginning the melt and warp. Sasha helps Tim back up just before he slips into the flame below and Martin tries to climb higher as the hands of congregation reach for him, or past him, or to grab Anything

- Sirens cuts through the last bit before it all goes truly to hell as Tim picks up a guitar and starts lulling everything down to a sense of normalcy. There’s a moment, at the intersection of when Jon stops trying to scream the last dying cry of Gallahad’s maddened ramblings and the audience returning to their seats and his voice acapella filling the hall- we can chase away your worries- where there is Perfect Clarity. Tim could stop after this moment. Before the end of the verse, he could stop, and maybe it’d put an end to this.

- His eyes land on Sasha. Before he can stop himself, the verse is finished. Sleep in peace and serenity. Then he can’t stop singing anymore, and Sasha watches the drowsy smile suddenly bloom across Tim’s cheeks

- It’s when Martin, never once looking in Jon’s direction, jumps from his platform to Tim’s that Sasha knows something’s wrong. Because she wants to do the same thing. So she takes a page out of the real Ulysses’ playbook- she has the Not!Them tie her to one of the beams on her stage and promise, no matter what she says next, to never untie her. Not until someone else starts singing

- Just as Sasha predicted, she starts getting odd herself. Tim is looking in her direction, so longingly as he sings that she Knows it could only really be for Her, that he wants her to just lay in his embrace and be well taken care of- and she stops wanting anything beyond it. So she struggles. She hisses and bites and kicks and screams to try and break free of the rope while Tim smiles, beckoning, so they can finally have that reunion they’ve both wanted. The one where they hold each other and say that it’s okay, that they have each other, that it’s Safe

- Someone unties Sasha. It feels like Tim’s arms around her and she melts, no longer recognizing the pretty man singing on stage. Not!Tim looks back at Tim from across the gap, holding Sasha tenderly, and grins. Tim stops singing, for just a moment, surrounded by legions except for the sole person he wants to see most in the world, in  the arms of something that doesn’t even look remotely like him

- The moment’s enough and, as Martin sees Jon looking strangely adoringly at Tim, he realizes that wait a fucking minute. And immediately gets so jealous he hijacks Tim’s spotlight and restores actual equilibrium with Cinders’ Song. Tim is once again left alone on stage, strangely desolate against the large setting.

- Sasha regains her balance and tries to answer it all with Sigyn, but the Not!Them refuses to stop looking like a mockery of Tim. Jon is kind enough to take Lyf’s narration while Not!Tim is “kind” enough to take Loki’s lines. Sasha tries to appeal- why back away? This time I’ll stay; come stand at my side as we make them pay... 

- When she sings “remember your wife!” Not!Tim says, “I don’t recall,” playfully, mocking. He mocks when he says “She’s still enthralled,” one part disgust for Sasha’s feelings and one part gleeful accusation to Tim- look what you did to her. She still feels the effect of your song, even now.

- anyway long story short everything gets more and more screwy as everyone is magically made to forget that they’re supposed to be stopping this thing and start only wanting to be the one to get to their finale quickest. Blood and Whiskey sees Sasha nearly lose an ear from a bullet. Underworld Blues has Tim nearly causing hell to freeze over with his chilling plea as Orpheus. No Happy Ending signals the first of the audience member deaths.

- It also signals when Grifter leaves weapons on the stage and has the team go at it. It’s not really so bad, at first- Jon and Martin forget about fighting somewhere along the way and kiss, Sasha is knocked out for a few seconds and is somewhat conscious, which is Not a good state to enter Red Signal in, and Tim is trying desperately to figure out where to go next

- Tim has Ties That Bind as a last attempt to gain control of the situation and very nearly manages to snap Sasha out of the absolute maddened hell state she’s about the enter. If only he could find it in himself to omit some lyrics- if only he could find it in himself to be less bitter when singing I was betrayed by the one I was to wed.

- There was no more love there - my heartstrings long since cut...

-There was no more love there.

- “Ah.” Is Sasha’s last coherent thought, “I see.”

- “So that’s how it is.”

- Martin’s mic cuts out. Jon’s mic cuts out. Tim’s mic cuts out on the last line.

- Sasha picks herself off the ground, slowly. Far more slowly than the words falling out of her mouth. Not words- an incantation. A Chant.

- y’ai ngah Yog-Sothoth...

- turns out Jon’s not the only one who can do a mean incantation. And unlike Jon, Sasha’s had some vocal training at some point in heavy metal. Make of that what you will

- The guitars kick in at the end to dive straight into Ragnarok I and Alfred Grifter announces that the winner is Sasha James amidst the screaming and destruction of the roof caving in reverse, showing a blood red sky. The Not!Them has disappeared, presumably already running into the faceless crowd to find a new body for the incoming new world Jon’s trying to get to safety and Martin’s begging Tim to hide, that there’s not gonna be getting through to Sasha now

- But Tim knows the album because he worked with her on this. For this scenario. Just in case. He knows it’s safe enough to move when Sasha-as-Sigyn questions I know this man, why is he here...? Knows to hold still, make himself as small as possible, when she begins Ragnarok II. The crowd isn’t so lucky and they melt into each other, a mosh pit of rock n roll violence that flashes and gleams with pocket knife and piercing and heels and nails. Just barely manages to make a run for it as Sasha takes on the final lines as the Void.

- Envy your dead for now unfurled / this madness follows to consume / your world. 

- Tim is just close enough in ear shot to yell, not even attempting to sing at this point with a throat as dry as his is, “You- don’t I know you?” The world tries to skip Ragnarok III to get to IV. Tim tries to be louder even with the rubble giving way under his hands, “Weren’t we friends?”

- The gentle piano kicks in instead. Tim could nearly cry with relief when Sasha turns his way and, even if she doesn’t look like she fully gets it yet, answers, “Once- I remember. And now, when it ends...”

- In harmony. The first they’ve managed in a long while. Where are you going?

- “For vengeance...?” Sasha left uncertain. Answered in a songbird lilting voice, “For love.”

- There is no mention of death. Only an immediate harmony as they both sing Perhaps that’s enough!

- The guitar that comes on isn’t the end of Ragnarok III. It’s the lonely riff of Thor as Sasha hauls herself up with a drum mallet she steals from the broken down remains of backstage. Sung, almost like a tune a soldier marches to, fury like thunderbolts burns in my veins...

- She smashes Grifter over the head and feeds him into the mosh pit to be torn to shreds. As his shriek of laughter echoes off of the walls, she takes the mallet to the lonely speaker at the back of the hall, playing the final riffs, and destroys it.

- The world stops ending. Everyone is left in the wreckage, passed out and bloody. Jon pokes his head out from a trap door in the ground. Martin mutters from offstage somewhere. Sasha is heaving out breaths as she stares at the broken equipment, still clutching the hammer she threw in the works.

- Cue the moment where she finally turns to face Tim. They look at each other. Then, they’re grinning, and they’re starting to run. They end up toppling onto the ground together, laughing with wild relief, arms tight around each other the entire way through as Tim’s the first one to let loose the first catharsis tears.

- Tim tells her that was the coolest damn thing he ever did see. Sasha says she’s sorry for almost ending the world to have him see that, and Tim’s just going are you kidding ??? This was the best way this could have ended up!

- And Sasha says that it wouldn’t have happened if not for Tim stepping in like he did. And Tim says he’s sorry too, for everything. For the way he acted, and Sasha says that none of them were in their right minds, but Tim still insists that being in right mind or Not, he made some shitty choices there-

- and of course Sasha kisses him. Tells him he was simply brilliant. And Tim grins and kisses her and tells her that no no no SHE was absolutely brilliant, she had TRUE star power-

- and it’s not like before. Tim still can’t remember everything, and the memories Sasha has of the Archives before the Not!Them leave a sour taste in her mouth after she’s released. Tim is gonna need a long time before he can really go back to being his cheerful self, and Sasha needs time to come to terms with missing so much of her own life. But 

- But at least they can lay together at night and find a little peace and serenity in the interim.

[cod-rum]

okay so as is tradition I wrote down my thoughts of each song as I listened, and I’m gonna dump them all here as I guess a kinda review but without any kind of actual intelligence involved. idk if it counts as spoilers but I’d say maybe don’t read it if you haven’t heard the album yet? anyway here are my thoughts on song machine season one

please god let this readmore work

Strange Timez (Robert Smith) This really is perfect as the opening song of the album. It sums up the feeling perfectly and I love when Damon does his prose in songs... and even tho Robert Smith sings like six lines they're fucking baller

The Valley of The Pagans (Beck) I only heard the early leak of this song once so idk how similar or different it is to this final version... but oh my god this FUCKS HARD. 2D and Beck's vocals play well off each other, I like how it kinds toes the line between song and prose, I like how... busy? the instrumental is it fits really well. I also rly love the autotune on the chorus. I kinda wish it was longer but also it feels the perfect length. I just wanna listen to it on repeat

The Lost Chord (Leee John) Man this one starts out ETHEREAL. It has a similar kinda opening vibe to Strange Timez, along w some of the funk of Pagans, while also being entirely its own thing. its so funky and psychedelic and otherworldly... 2D's vocals seem different to any style he's sung in before, Leee John has a BEAUTIFUL voice that fits perfectly. I wanna get lost in this song

Pac-Man (Schoolboy Q) I absolutely love this song. this has been one of my favs since I first heard it, I love the kinda... bitter arrogant energy it has while also being funky as hell. and ofc Schoolboy Q's verse fits perfectly, and I rly like that the song p much ends on his last line

Chalk Tablet Towers (St Vincent) ngl I kinda like that 2D is usin a bit of autotune on some of these songs? I think it really adds to the vibe. this one actually sounds p similar to the stuff i get recommended on spotify, which I assume is bc of St Vincent bc my tastes are v adjacent to her kind of music. my only complaint is why didn't she get to sing solo... pls

The Pink Phantom (Elton John, 6LACK) This is tied for my fav of the Song Machine songs that have been released. I've always liked Elton's music, I love the vibe of this song, and all the piano. Elton's vocals in this are AMAZING I can't get over his voice. I like 6LACK's part a lot, I feel he gets a little overshadowed in this but his part balances the song out imo, and I cannot get enough of the part at the end where his vocals overlay 2D's it's just... chef's kiss

Aries (Peter Hook, Georgia) lmao I thought the start was just for the MV but no it really starts like that... I like this song, it feels like a good Driving Song, n kinda has Now Now vibes. man 2D likes singing about isolation huh. ngl I've never thought this track was Standout or anything but it's a good solid song and I like it and it gives me the vibes of sunshine in a thunderstorm

Friday 13th (Octavian) I really love the vibes of this song. it took me a couple listens to properly warm up to it, but now I really like it. again this feels like another driving song, but more one for when you're driving through a tunnel at night and the air is cold and you can see the stars when you finally emerge. the end of perks of being a wallflower but it's this song

Dead Butterflies (Kano, Roxani Arias) ok I am Weak for hearin the musicians comments being made into part of the song so I like that lmao. I'm not a huge fan of how slowly it starts but once it gets going it is really smooth. another song where I like 2D has some autotuning. kinda wish Roxani's part was a little longer. this feels like a continuation of the Driving Songs streak, this one is def for after midnight. probably in a car with someone you do not want to have feelings for

Desole (Fatoumata Diawara) This is my other tied fav Song Machine track so far. I am sooo glad they included the extended vers from the video, I'm not usually a fan of long instrumental outros but for this song it feels absolutely perfect. 2D's verses are cool, I love the mix of French and English. I absolutely adore Fatoumata's vocals on this song they are just. perfect. that being said WHY have they changed how 2D pronounces contraband in the first verse?? seriously. go back and watch the music vid and then listen to this. they changed it to sound more english and it's so WEIRD and I HATE it

Momentary Bliss (slowthai, Slaves) ahh... the one that started it all. I think? this is the last song on the standard cd, and I do kinda like that it was the first episode but the last song. its a nice bookend. it also feels a good way to end after the last few slower songs. like it's still kinda fuckin depressing lyrics-wise, or at least cynical, but it's way more upbeat about it. I like it. I'm ngl the thing slowthai did at that awards show has forever tainted this song for me a little lmao, but I can't deny it's a fucking banger and still really good

Opium (EARTHGANG) ohhh the percussion on this one is FUNKY. this is definitely a slow starter, and given it's the longest track on the album it has the space to be, but tbh I have a v short attention span so I will admit it lost me a little in the intro. but once the vocals start it really hooked me in. the song ended up goin in a direction I didn't expect, but I really like it. 2D doesn't show up until like halfway through and I don't even care it slaps so hard. this song def gives me Rocket Juice vibes. despite the slow start I am really into this song, I think it's one of the best on the album

Simplicity (Joan as Police Woman) this one has a nice laid-back chill energy. idk what the fuck 2D is mumbling but I'm into it. also a big fan of... whatever that wind? instrument is in the background. this song has an energy I can't quite describe but it's a very good energy. it sounds dumb but kinda... very earthy and natural? also wow it ends abruptly

Severed Head (Goldlink, Unknown Mortal Orchestra) firstly I wanna say Unknown Mortal Orchestra is a cool as hell name. after the more 'natural' vibes of the last song, this one feels almost futuristic. also 2D's... chorus? bit makes one hell of an impact. that image is gonna stay with me a while. this song almost feels quietly panicky. actually this song feels v relatable like anxiety-wise

With Love To An Ex (Moonchild Sanelly) I really love the cadence to Sanelly's vocals in this song. the frantic energy of the last song gives way to this kind of... mildly unearthly low but determined feel. it has a slightly ominous tone to it too. and god the ending instrumental swell is incredible. was 2D even on this song? do I care? this slaps

MLS (JPEGMAFIA, CHAI) also wanna say I love the name jpegmafia too. WOW this song is... a lot? the cutesy tone of the start, with lyrics that to me sound a lil barbed, going surprisingly seamlessly into the rap that's more upfront but still fits really well with the upbeat tune. also good GOD do I love the slightly unhinged laugh in this song. it feels like all the elements of this song shouldn't work together, but they do, and they work together really well

How Far? (Tony Allen, Skepta) Last but definitely not least... I love how darkly ominous this song is. It sounds weird to say but this feels reminiscient of Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head? same kind of ominous orchestra and a narration warning of corruption. and I adore Tony Allen's vocals, they're brief but they add this perfect element. Demon Days and Humanz both had this kind of Cautionary Song right at the end, and while those two had slightly more upbeat songs as the actual finales, I think it works that this one doesn't. for a year consumed by a pandemic, government incompetence, and the protest of the people, it feels like a good note to end on. less of a finale... more a cliffhanger before season two. ending on the laugh of one of Damon's closest friends. I like that

IN SUMMARY considering this album was designed to be one-song-a-month, with no overarching narrative or structure, I think it fits together really well. it feels like waking up in a world where everything's different, pinballing between the sudden intense loneliness and isolation and the newly refreshed vigliance against those in power, before reaching the day's end and lulling into the night with the driving songs, having a moment of helplessness in the dark before dawn before waking up maybe not happier, but more accustomed to the strange new world. and then the deluxe tracks kinda show this new, almost jaded perspective on life after living in this weird limbo for so long, ending on an almost ominous note that questions what the future holds this feels probably the most indie rillaz has ever gone? but it is still very uniquely them. there is truly not a bad song on this album. imo this album in a way feels a little similar to the now now, but with the one thing I so dearly missed from that album: collaborators. I think this is possibly the first album that has a collaborator on every song, and I love it. I would argue, while every album has its own unique feeling and message, I think Demon Days, Humanz, and now Song Machine S1 kind of make up a trifecta of this kind of... Pure Gorillaz Essence? if I were to introduce someone to Gorillaz, it'd be through those three albums anyway in short: this album goes hard as hell, I love it, and I am really excited for season 2

[lochsides]

evermore: Track-by-Track review

I didn't think I'd be writing another review for a Taylor Swift album so soon after folklore but here we are. Truthfully though, evermore feels more like a figment of my imagination than a real album, and as a result this album has been a grower for me. When Taylor said evemore would be the sister record to folklore, I was curious as to the distinguishable differences between the two, because Taylor wouldn't simply give us the same album twice. evermore is, strangely, both the wild younger sister that's more experimental and the wise older sister with a mature outlook on life. Where folklore was a product of isolation, evermore is a product of creativity and that can be felt in the music.

I’ve written my thoughts and theories on each song, and bolded my favourites, below the cut, if you’re interested. I also included my current ranking at the bottom.

Taylor has been very good at picking leading singles for the folklore/evermore era. willow is brilliantly catchy while maintaining the alternative folk sound that she established in folklore. Her vocals suit the song so well, especially on ‘follow’/“hollow” in the chorus. They pair so beautifully with the mesmerising production. The reason this song is one my favourites is purely because of the rhythm and the guitar. The lyrics are, for once, a bonus. As an entry point to evermore, willow does not ease the listener in, the song instead throws the listener in the deep end — which I feel was intentional, as Taylor said evermore was the product of wandering further into the folklorian woods.

champagne problems is easily my favourite song on this album. Storytelling is Taylor's biggest strength as a songwriter and I think this song is a achingly beautiful example of what an emotive storyteller Taylor is. It would be so difficult for me to pick a favourite lyric from this song but I love how she sets in train in the opening line, "you booked the night train for a reason, so you could sit there in this hurt / bustling crowds or silent sleepers, you're not sure which is worse." The accompaniment is gorgeous and the composition of the bridge is breathtaking. Every time the bridge plays I get chills.

gold rush was a grower for me. I'm still not a fan of the intro/outro but I enjoy the production in the rest of the song once the beat kicks in. I think it's one of the more experimental sounds on evermore but it's very catchy. I won't even talk about how the chorus called me out with "I don't like slow-motion, double vision in a rose blush, I don't like that falling feels like flying 'til the bone crush."

'tis the damn season is the non-holiday-holiday song that still has a classic sound and production. I know this song is Dorothea's perspective but I get a lot of illicit affairs parallels with this one as well: "don't call me baby" / "you could call me babe for the weekend", "what started in beautiful rooms ends with meetings in parking lots" / "the road not taken looks real good now, time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires".

tolerate it is a hard song for me to review because I literally zone out every time I listen to it. I think it's my brain's way of protecting me from toxic relationship trauma 🙃 but it's another gut-punch track five, what else is new? I mean she literally said "now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life, drawing hearts in the byline, always taking up too much space or time," and broke my nervous system.

no body, no crime is the best country song Taylor has ever written, period. The sirens at the start, the storytelling, the way it sounds like an old-school murder-mystery movie. HAIM on the backing vocals were great, though I do wish they had at least a verse of their own. That's literally my only critique of this song. It's that good.

There's so much maturity in Taylor's outlook on happiness. I connect this song to her tarnished relationship Sc*tt/BMG and how she's happy after leaving but she was also happy during the time she was with them. I really enjoyed the simple addition of the piano and the way it built up to add depth to the production. Taylor's delivery of the line "no one teaches what to do when a good man hurts you and you know you hurt him too" really hits me.

dorothea is a really nostalgic, retro school-dance-vibe, kinda playful song with a personality, which I adore. The production is absolutely timeless. I woke up today with the chorus stuck in my head. I think "if you're ever tired of being known for who you know, you know, you'll always know me" is fun word play and I'm a nerd of that type of thing. (Side note: to me, this song feels very reminiscent of her friendship with Karlie Kloss, right down to the "selling makeup in magazines.")

coney island gives me desolate, abandoned theme park vibes. The simplicity of the production only enhances it. It's everything I could've hoped for in a song titled "coney island" and featuring The National. Matt Berninger's vocals are absolutely astounding. What does it say about me that my favourite aspect of this song is the feeling of despair laced into its bloodstream.

ivy is another favourite but what did I expect from a song filled to the brim with longing and mentioning the crescent moon? The instrumentation and her vocal styling is similar to willow. There are also lyrical parallels of "... your freezing hand, taking mine" / "I'm begging for you to take my hand" and "how's one to know I'd meet you where the spirit meets the bone" / "I never would've known from the look on your face" and she echoes both those sentiments in a different way after the respective bridges and I wonder if that's intentional. Knowing Taylor Swift, probably.

cowboy like me belongs in the center of a country/folk/slow blues Venn diagram. It's the perfect blend of the three genres. Marcus Mumford's back vocals sound so good with Taylor's. "We could be the way forward, and I know I'll pay for it" and "the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up" are great lyrics.

I'm not all about the way long story short stars but the song quickly settles into its skin. This is easily the most pop-sounding song on evermore but it's still somewhat experimental in comparison to Taylor's existing discography and I think it's cool that she can find space to experiment within a musical space that she has all but mastered. Say what you will but Taylor Swift knows how to make hits no matter the genre. The lyrics "he's passing by, rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky and he feels like home" reminds me so much of Call It What You Want.

marjorie gave me chills on the very first listen when Taylor sings about how her grandmother left her backlogged dreams to her. I love that they used her grandmother's actual vocals in the background, that's a really heartwarming detail. This song comes with some really solid advice too. It just feels very personal. I love the way production builds on "what does didn't stay dead" right to the bridge, which is my favourite part of the song.

closure is easily the most experimental song on the album with that the scratch tape sound and those drums. I love the sheer pettiness in her tone and the lyric "don't treat me like some situation that needs to be handled" is brilliant. That said, this is probably my least favourite. I think it's a cool song but just not for me.

evermore has some of the most beautiful lyrics on the album. "I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone, trying to find the one where I went wrong" and "barefoot in the wildest winter" are some of my favourites. I'm not a big fan of the sudden shift in tempo on either end of the bridge but Justin Vernon's falsetto makes up for it. The production is otherwise beautiful.

Note that the bonus tracks are currently at the bottom because they have not been released yet.

[theseventhhex]

Glassing Interview

Glassing

Cold sand on a barren coastline. Spectral blackness. Godless nights. The calmness of undisturbed water. The illusion of belonging. Death As A Gift. These are but a minute illustration of the vast array of themes and explorations deliberated upon by Austin, TX trio Glassing on their sophomore opus ‘Spotted Horse’. Weaving together layers upon layers of dense textures, swirling blast beats and looming atmospheres, Glassing excel at the art of organized chaos through sound. Across 10 songs and 44 minutes, Glassing blend elements of black metal and post-hardcore with ambient explorations, dream-pop sensibilities and grinding walls of sound that defy categorisation. ‘Spotted Horse’ is, at its core, a construction of dynamic, beautifully unsettling soundscapes and nothingness unsurfaced... We talk to member Dustin Coffman about fusing genres, the growth of the band and hobbies…

TSH: What sort of discussions and direction did the band outline as ‘Spotted Horse’ was coming together?

Dustin: We wanted the songs on ’Spotted Horse’ to share a collective headspace. In order to keep it as consistent as possible we decided to write the entirety of the record in one location. After we wrote the songs, it felt only natural to name the record after the ranch we recorded it at. The first album was a collection of aggressive songs with a hint at some introspective ambience. ‘Spotted Horse’ though, is an album to us that has movements and a pacing that is much more deliberate this time around.

TSH: What would you say informed the bulk of the instrumentation this time around – riffs, vocal lines, jamming sessions?

Dustin: We developed the songs nearly from scratch with no ideas prior to us visiting the ranch. In our case, normally one instrument or member controls the progression in writing a song, maybe someone starts off with an idea or riff, but this process allowed all three of us to feel equally responsible for our contributions to the overall album. The first record was much more a "one person brings most of a song written entirely" deal, and Spotted Horse was a team effort more so.

TSH: What was the level of focus like in the studio on a daily basis?

Dustin: We were working with an amazing sound engineer, Andrew Hernandez. Andrew made the studio feel like a temporary home to us. What normally would have been a stressful intense few days turned out to be so relaxing and fun that we were bummed when it was over.

TSH: Can you give us an insight into the themes and subject matter that come into play for this record…

Dustin: Diminishing faith, loss and isolation.

TSH: Which track took the longest to get right?

Dustin:’When You Stare’ it’s a pretty long song in general, but when we were listening back to it in the studio we realised we had forgotten an entire verse and had to re-record it!

TSH: What sort of motivations do you draw on to pen a track like ‘Coven’?

Dustin: We’ve had a fascination with the idea of bridging beautiful and desolate together. ’Coven’ came from Cory playing along to a trance-like electronic sample we had made, the sample itself sounded really bright, but Cory’s guitar tone and note choices gave it the type of contortion that resulted in ’Coven’ sounding slightly like an ominous trance.

TSH: Also, what does a track like ‘Way Out’ convey to you overall?

Dustin:’Way Out’ lyrically, uses light and blindness as metaphors for intemperance and disassociation. More specifically, through excess we’re offered a temporary refuge from the pain of our human experience. The adverse of that is just as appealing, feeling content in being purposeless because existence is purposeless. Absolute brightness and absolute darkness have the same end result in the metaphor which is the inability to see the common experiences in which we derive our humanity. Musically we tried to represent this concept by creating something that sounded triumphant and bright with sections that were as harsh as we could possibly make them, possibly to convey that there is salvation from both absolutes but not without sacrifice.

TSH: What sort of emotions did you guys feel upon applying the finishing touches to the record?

Dustin: Relief and a profound appreciation to the people that helped us do it.

TSH: Is it pleasing to know that your range on this release covers mid-tempo shoegaze, aggressive post-hardcore, black metal and post-metal – a fusion of so many genres…

Dustin: It’s nice to know that we’ve managed to somehow make that amalgamation work. There are many great bands out there that brought a lot of inspiration to the table.

TSH: Knowing that you at times struggle with knowing when to finish with a song – did end up with several variations of certain tracks?

Dustin: Yes, definitely. We actually played ‘Sleeper’ on the tour with This Will Destroy You with a beginning that was wildly different than what ended up on the record, which we're much happier with. Also, the first and last songs on the record went through many variations up until the point that we were rearranging parts the day before we went into the studio.

TSH: You pushed yourselves a great deal with this album, but the growth came naturally. How rewarding was this factor?

Dustin: I think it helped shed some light on how this machine is supposed to work. We get to reflect on the process that helped us work together to make something we’re proud of, it’s not always easy finding compromise with one another but the coherent aspect of our growth as a band helped solidify that as something we can remember for the future.

TSH: What are your primary hobbies outside of the band?

Dustin: We all play in other music projects. Cory plays in a pretty heavy band called ’Zyclops’ and performs ambient sets at a Yoga studio. Camacho plays in a band called ’Windows 1995’ with one of the members of ’Troller’. I just finished working on the soundtrack for a table-top game called ’Planet Kamra’ and have an upcoming project with one of the members of ’Boyfrndz’ called ’Gnarly Parker’.

TSH: What would you say defines the band’s ethos as you look ahead?

Dustin: Our city shapes us a lot. Our scene is alive and well. Bands like Exhalants, Portrayal of Guilt, Grivo, Easy Prey, etc. are all just so badass so we're really just trying to throw down as hard as they all do. But in general, we’re going to try and not take ourselves too seriously and just keep playing what we’re into.

Glassing - “Sleeper”

Glassing - “Follow Through”

Spotted Horse