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primrooks · 5 years ago

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Wands of a Feather: An Elena of Avalor/Sofia the First Crossover

[Chapter 1] AO3 link here! *This was a chonker of a chapter, so I had to split certain events into two. There's still a lot to come, cuz it's gonna be one packed weekend for our two magic boys. Chapter 2: The Conjurer’s Conference

“With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse.”

Cedric repeated the words in his head as he finished drying off his face and replaced the towel by the washbasin. Weeks had passed since he last thought about the Amulet of Avalor; odd how some years-long obsessions could simmer like a soaked bonfire.

In one corner of the room, Quarry, his new eagle-owl familiar, still dozed soundlessly in his perch, peaceful as could be. Back when Cedric was scouring the local aviaries trying to find a suitable new companion, Quarry endeared himself immediately with his permanently-set scowl. The owl himself was actually very sweet and made for an eager assistant, but the dark brow lines extending from his ear tufts always made him look comically offended. The sorcerer smiled and scratched softly at Quarry’s black-and-white crest, knowing that he would be up soon. They had one more round of practice before the Tri-Kingdom showcase that afternoon, although by all means they were ready to give their audience a good show. But Cedric hoped, against all rational thought, that he wouldn’t run into that Mateo boy again. He was still annoyed at himself for that graceless display of shock when he realized the boy’s identity, but then he had to get carried away and introduce himself on top of that. As if the boy wouldn’t have heard from Princess Elena about the Amulet of Avalor’s history, including some of its less-than-rightful holders. He was fortunate enough that they’d parted ways soon after, and that Mateo didn’t recognize him instantly. Perhaps Princess Elena ultimately didn’t register Cedric as a threat. All of the ruckus from the last Conjurer’s Conference happened after she had been freed from the Amulet, and Sofia told him that she was keeping correspondence with her, though the Avaloran princess was understandably rather occupied in other matters. Yet if there was anyone who could spin his story in a positive light, there was no one else whom he trusted more. But that told him nothing about what Mateo might think of him, and how the young lad would feel about someone like Cedric being stationed so close to his country’s most valuable magical artifact. He thought that this year would be a nice do-over of last year’s fiasco, but now all he wanted to do was get through this conference without a hitch and return to his tower in Enchancia. He’d just put on his robe when Quarry flew up to the crook of his left arm. The owl hooted hesitantly, his amber eyes curious and alert. Cedric smirked, recalling how Sofia described Quarry’s voice and speech patterns as boyish, even though he was an adult bird. Even without magical animal speech, Cedric could gather that his familiar was nervous; today would be the first time he’d assist in a magic show in front of an audience. “Let’s not get cold talons now,” he admonished. Quarry replied with a quieter hoot. “I’ve been there before many, many times, and I will say... I can’t guarantee that it’ll go perfect.” The owl gave a fearful “H-hoo?” “But I know you’ll be marvelous, Quarry,” said Cedric, stroking his crest again, right up to the sweet spot on Quary’s head. If a bird of prey could somehow purr, he had no doubt Quarry would’ve done so. It surprised Cedric how quickly they had taken to each other, especially with all the bitterness left in the wake of Wormwood’s betrayal. But he knew that Quarry was his chance to start anew, to once again have a companion he could trust with his work and his life. “Now come along, we’ve still got an hour left before the show starts,” he reminded him. Quarry gave a trilling hoot, flying in place as Cedric went over to his armoire to collect the rest of his supplies. The conference site was about a twenty-minute walk from their villa, but outside was a perfect balance of blue sky and cloud cover. Hopefully the rest of the weekend would carry on with that same clement level of pleasantness. +++ Mateo had painted in his mind what the Conjuror’s Conference would look like once he finally stepped through the gated entrance, and the real thing didn’t disappoint. The spacious front lawn of the estate was already packed with stalls touting charms, familiar care kits, designer robes, sample wands, and enchanted toys and art pieces. Further down the lawn, the air grew rich with the heady scent of rare herbs and incense pots, and several stalls were just focused on selling gardening supplies for the aspiring apothecary. There were even a couple of sigil tattoo stands, showing off elegant designs of mystical animals, constellations and summoning circles. Mateo didn’t even have any interest in getting one, but he was still intrigued to see what designs were popular. He knew his mamá would have given him some serious side-eye for even looking at these kinds of stalls, but so long as he was by himself, he practically had the run of the place. And that was just the outside. Past an elegantly carved set of dark oak doors, the rose marble-floored foyer of the estate’s main house was where mages gathered to mingle, while the translucent hands of invisible servants went around with trays of finger foods and tea cups. Mateo noticed some enchanted portraits hung from the beige walls, displaying curious fairies, unicorns and dragons looking down at the assembly. It seemed as if spellcasters of every nation from Norberg to Khaldoun were present, and he could see the experience etched into their sharp eyes and deep laugh lines. Mateo had seen the day before that most decorated mages were close to Cedric’s age or older, but now he noticed something else: many of them were followed around by apprentices not much younger than himself. They ran the gamut from eager, wide-eyed children to nervous teenagers, and they stuck to their masters like ducklings waddling after their mothers. In their arms they held satchels, staves and familiar carriers, if those familiars weren’t perched on their masters’ shoulders or sitting at attention at their feet. These apprentices were obviously dressed for a public event, their robes spotless and fitted with not a wrinkle out of place. As he stood taller and carefully straightened out his maroon robe, Mateo felt a harsh bump against his hip. “Hey!” he cried. “Oh, pardon me. Maybe you shouldn’t be staring off into space so close to the doorway!” retorted a bratty voice somewhere around Mateo’s waist-level. He looked down to see a blue-robed boy no older than twelve, his freckled face pinched into a condescending smirk. “Wendell! That is no excuse for such behavior!” scolded a fancily made-up woman in white storming up to them. The boy’s smirk vanished, and he meekly ducked his head as the woman towered beside him and crossed her arms. “Well, Wendell?” she prodded. Wendell’s brow was set to a harsh V as he looked back up at Mateo, but he managed to eke out one “I’m sorry.” Mateo was just as eager to move past this as he was. “It’s fine. But I appreciate that you apologized,” he said, his tone more gracious than he really felt. “Please pardon my son’s behavior,” said Wendell’s mother. Her eyes then took on a discerning light, just as Cedric’s did. “And, beg pardon, young man, but I can’t recall seeing you last year. Have you just taken on your apprenticeship?” she inquired. Mateo blinked. “Oh... well no, I actually never was an apprentice. Where I come from, there weren’t any wizards around to teach me.” As soon as he said that, both mother and son stared as if Mateo’s hair suddenly turned green. That… was that the wrong thing to say? He’d only spoken the truth, but now he realized that he didn’t have time to go over Avalor’s troubled history with magic. “Wait, no! That’s not a hundred percent true,” he exclaimed. “I took a lot from my grandfather’s old writings and books, so I did have a master wizard to learn from, and.. well, circumstances being what they were, um...” What was he doing? He should have his introduction down pat! “You’re a self-taught wizard? Now that’s something you don’t see everyday,” the woman remarked. “That’s just how it worked out.” Maybe if he just kept his answers short and neutral enough, she’d lose interest. “Who is your grandfather then?” she asked, busting any wishful thinking. A short and neutral answer wouldn’t stop her reaction from being anything but. Mateo took a deep breath. “He’s Alacazar. The... the former Royal Wizard of Avalor,” he replied. “Avalor? You mean the country where-Oh, goodness!” she gasped. “I heard about you! You broke a painting spell, and helped save the whole royal family!” Wendell’s scowl vanished as he looked back up at Mateo with astonished eyes. “Lissabeth my dear, is something the matter?” asked an approaching enchantress in a silken yellow gown, accompanied by a small group of mages. Oh great, an audience. “I happened upon this remarkable young man. His grandfather was the last Royal Wizard of Avalor!” Lissabeth proclaimed. A middle-aged sorcerer in green laughed in surprise. “I’d heard through the grapevine that we had a guest from Avalor this year, but I’d taken it for the usual claptrap.” “Er-“ Mateo tried to answer, but Lissabeth interjected, “And he just told me that he learned all that he knows about magic by himself.” “Hm. That’s rather unorthodox, but given the circumstances, it probably couldn’t be helped,” said another sorcerer, stroking his short black beard. Mateo tried to laugh it off. “It’s funny, I was just saying that-“ “But wouldn’t some measure of qualification be needed? There should be records kept of the boy’s progress,” interrupted a younger woman in a shimmering dragonscale shawl. “Doesn’t that seem rather belated at this point, Professor Willough? There are only so many schools who’ll take in wizards his age, not to mention all the rigmarole involved in getting into magics universities,” said Sorcerer Shortbeard. “How about a kingdom-issued exam?” suggested one wizard that Mateo couldn’t even see. “Do they have any qualified individuals to oversee that in Avalor?” asked another. “We might be able to find someone within the Ancient Arts University Association,” said the first enchantress to approach them. “Would you be interested, young man?” asked Lissabeth, addressing Mateo as if he hadn’t been overridden in this exchange. “I…” Mateo’s left hand gripped the satchel holding his tamborita like a lifeline. The only way out of the deep end was to say something . Preferably something astute. Or at least coherent. He crossed his hands behind his back, straightened his knees, and tried to recall the last time he watched Chancellor Esteban or Gabe speak in public. “I hadn’t put all those factors into consideration. I only took on the title of wizard officially just last year.” That’s it, he thought. Short, neutral, but stay alert. “How has that been, lad?” Shortbeard asked with a kind smile. “I’ve learned a lot just from experience, and it helps that I have so much support back home,” he responded. “Er, how long have you been studying magic on your own?” asked Professor Willough. “Basically for as long as I can remember. Close to twelve years, maybe?” “I’d say he has the experience to at least speak with a university board member. I do know a few who should be about,” she said, looking around the foyer. “I’ll think about that after the conference,” Mateo added quickly. “It certainly would help to have something on paper.” And get all of you off my back, please. “Why don’t you come over to the soirée on the estate rooftop tomorrow evening? It’ll be just like this, only with a more casual atmosphere. I think it would be a lovely opportunity for you to get acquainted with more of the wizards here, and bounce off more ideas for potential decisions,” suggested Lissabeth. Something that was even more of this? “That’s very kind of you, my lady, but I’ve hardly packed anything suitable to wear for a soirée,” said Mateo, exerting considerable control to keep his voice from shrinking. “Oh tish tosh, like I said - it’ll be a casual affair. And rest assured, we’ll all be looking out for you, making sure you’re not bothered by some of the more talkative elders,” she breezily assured him. Not wanting to dwell on that statement, Mateo decided now was his time to bow out. “That sounds amazing, thank you. It’d be great to meet some of the people I see at the showcases and seminars today,” he said, praying that someone would take the hint. “Oh, we do hope to see you there, my dear boy!” “You have a wonderful day now!” “Would you mind stopping by the enchanted gardening stall this afternoon?” Mateo responded with as many “Yes”s and “Thank you”s as warranted, careful not to look anyone in the eye for too long as he ducked and wove his way across the foyer and into the main hallway branching off from the left. “Oh, Lissabeth dear, did you happen to catch the boy’s name?” asked Shortbeard. By the time they looked back, Mateo had made himself scarce. --- The doors leading to the courtyard were just within reach, and any second thoughts about slipping away scattered with the bracing scent of the sea. Turns out, when a former tourist attraction’s featured highlight was its expansive range with an ocean view, all of the event’s main attractions would be lined up there. As crowded as the foyer had been, this was where all the action was. Everyone here scattered in groups or as individuals, taking in live demonstrations of new illusions, mystic menageries, a cadre of fortune-telling tents, game booths, and a hedge labyrinth that took things to the next level with enchanted climate simulations. And no one could miss the focal point of the conference: a whole quarter of the great field was dedicated to a gigantic beige tent with a green banner flaunting the name “Marvels of Tomorrow” in shimmering white letters. Red, blue and green curtains coated the sides of the tent, and a length of red velvet carpet led up to the entrance. Mateo didn’t know what to expect as he stepped into the tent, and he was immediately struck by how vibrant everything was. The inner perimeter was bedecked with decorative flowering plants and towering tropical trees, creating the illusion of a jungle growing around the cleared expanse containing the booths and smaller tents. The effect was heightened by the tallest trees reaching the roof of the pavilion, though enough bare area was left for sunlight to filter through the tan canvas. Flittering across the trees were automated toy birds, lovingly crafted with silver and bronze filigree on their wings, tails and beaks. Their trilling songs echoed throughout the pavilion, carried over the bustle of the conference attendants. The spectacle before him drove off all his earlier unease from the foyer. This felt overwhelming in a good way; a surge of excitement that lit his eyes and powered his gait as he made his way to the showcase theater. The pavilion was split into two large circular areas, not unlike circus rings. The theater area was a raised wooden platform located in the second, larger circle, placed flush against the farthest end of the tent, with six rows of low wooden benches for the audience. A magenta curtain patterned with stars covered the stage proper. There was already a considerable crowd lounging and mingling on the benches, but thankfully, it wasn’t difficult for Mateo to find a good spot in the middle row. “Attention to all our esteemed guests and attendees: the Tri-Kingdom Sorcerer’s Showcase will now start in ten minutes,” announced a booming voice speaking over their heads. “The showcase will be the first of many displays of wonder that we’ve in store as part of the Marvels of Tomorrow exhibit, and we indeed hope you have a marvelous time during your stay. Thank you.” “You heard him, you majestic mages! Let’s find our seats and get ready to start the show!” shouted a perky voice from the stage. In a puff of violet smoke, a young woman with waist-length light pink hair, a pearl-studded diadem, and a flashy blue-and-white dress robe appeared before the curtain, raising a thin golden wand. With a flick of her wrist, she gathered the errant smoke into a floating ball, and then tossed it into the air. The smoke-ball spiraled upwards for a few feet before it burst into a shower of sparkling lights, and Mateo applauded along with the crowd. “Welcome, and what a wonderful morning to see you all here on the first day of our Conference! I am Isadora the Illustrious, your humble host!” shouted the sorceress. A few loud hoots and whistles pierced from the younger attendees, though they were met with reprimanding looks from their elders. Their host, however, paid no mind as she tucked her wand back into her sleeve. “It gives me great pleasure to introduce our esteemed line-up of Royal Sorcerers, because they’ve prepared quite the eye-popping show to get this weekend started! But before we get that going, a few points to keep in mind: we’ll want our sorcerers to give you the best show they can, so let’s keep our familiars at their best behavior.” Isadora went on to list some standard bits of protocol, none of which surprised Mateo save for the point about errant demon summonings. “But well, I think we all know what to do there, now don’t we?” jested Isadora with a knowing smirk. A handful of mages laughed in response, though Mateo felt the joke slip through his grasp like a hard-flung china plate. “Alright, let’s not keep you or our panelists waiting!” Isadora drew up her wand again, and with one dramatic flick, a mysterious violet light flooded the theater area. Everyone in the audience held their breath as the curtain began to rise on its own. Mateo’s smile grew, and his hands gripped at his knees as a silhouetted figure stepped forward.

#wands of a feather #elena of avalor #sofia the first #fanfic #disney fanfic #mateo de alva #cedric the sorcerer #cedric the sensational #eoa #stf #rooks writes #my writing

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jlf23tumble · 6 years ago

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1D Day, Hour Three

Almost halfway through this hour, which is almost halfway through this day, is the point where Louis Tomlinson stops having fucks left to give and starts getting real. He’s still a professional throughout hour three (not like Harry in hour two, oof), but god, how??? Everything here is a disaster, and it’s infuriating when you consider that a) this must have been somewhat planned out (the band is HUGE, allegedly 32 million people are watching), and b) it’s being produced in LA, presumably with easy access to professionals who have had some experience with live shows (since, what, the 1930s???). Anyway, I would have loved to hear the choice words Louis no doubt had for Ben Winston when he ran away during one of the Google+ Hangouts, lmao.

When I first watched this two years back, Niall’s nervous laughter nearly drove me insane, but this time around, I’m loving the subtle nuances w/r/t wtf is happening on this here day as Louis’s rage starts to climb and Niall’s Slytherin core starts to emerge. Deets under the cut.

Niall and Louis literally burst through a paper wall to launch hour three and reveal Niall’s lilac hair (also revealed: the fact that Niall’s “a diva,” according to Louis). The color’s hardly even noticeable, but Niall’s all worked up about it, and I’m betting he had to do this because he has no tattoos, so everyone wanted to freak his Virgo ass out with something “permanent.”

The first bit is so tiresome (Louis’s childhood friend, Stan, forcing the Milkshake City staff to perform the world’s sleepiest version of “Rock Me”), but I’m a huge fan of Stan’s for the Larry purple dildo video alone (ICONIC; ping me if you need a link), plus I love the tidbit about the time Harry came in for a milkshake for himself and “a friend back at home.”

After we survive this long-ass bit of fill, Louis and Stan take the piss out of each other and banter a bit with Niall, which is all pretty hilarious and also makes me sad in the key of “oh how I wish that was me.”

Because it wasn’t at all tedious in hour one, it’s time for another Guinness Book of World Records challenge (Louis: “Of course it is”), this time balancing coins on faces. Hey, speaking of faces, did you know that men are at peak hotness between the ages of 32 and 36? This guy is 22 years old, doing the stupidest task ever, help me, Jeebus:

Next up is the randomizer, which randomly pulls celebrity videos, and this is when the in-ears start acting up for Louis, who’s midway through Robbie Williams asking them for the best live performer they’ve ever seen, prompting Louis to give Ben the evil eye off camera and go off script to say Michael Buble, ha.

Some random sports man (update: Doncaster Rovers manager) demands that they do pressups up and burpees, and Louis gives us a surprisingly strong and steady nine pressups before proving why he’s most relatable:

After fits of unnecessary laughter from Niall, and a lot of exasperation about the technical problems so far from Louis (friend, you’ve seen nowt yet), we get the best VT from this entire day, the iconic bts video for “Talk Dirty to Me,” and if you watch nothing from any of this, please tell me you’ve seen it in full for Zayn the goofball! Liam’s hanky code shoutouts! Harry’s hip chub! Louis and his glorious torso! Niall in full Farmer Ted mode!

Next up, we get astronauts congratulating the D from space, and whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I mean, honestly, WHY? Are these astronauts fans? Is anyone besides Niall into space? I know there’s an intense interest in making space interesting for teens (how many times have people on the international space station beamed their way into MTV award shows at this point), but whyyyyy.

Scott tells us we’ll soon see Doctor Who (mild interest from Nouis) and Simon Cowell (Louis: “SIMON COWELL, WOO HOO, I LOVE THAT GUY!” Niall: “Simon GROWL”), but first up is Doctor Who, and this is where the wheels fall off the bus, technically speaking. First, there’s a 15-minute delay (!!), so Nouis are standing around while the Doctor handles some other interview for the BBC. Eventually, they connect, and Louis makes the understatement of the year (“This is gonna be tough”) as both the video and audio go full Inception and echo in and around each other to make us all woozy:

Louis again understates the chaos happening on screen by saying, “I think actually that this is not working,” and then begging for any VT, they don’t care, help (the VT is Niall being all humblecholy about their success and Ireland and something something, I’m not actually interested, sorry).

We come back to Louis still losing it, curious as to how they can have a link to space but can’t have a studio in LA link to the BBC, and yeah. YEAH. But enough about that, it’s Google+ Hangout (lololololol) time, and we don’t get too many answers to these vital fan questions because Ben is in Louis’s ear so much that Louis starts arguing with him about it and eventually runs off stage to yell at him in person, and god, it’s glorious. READY 2 FIGHT:

Because this is an utter trainwreck, the team decides to do another live link again, this time to the X Factor while it’s airing in the UK, and it’s…yeah, not good. Just awful, cameras out of synch, no sound, etc. Save us, random VT of Denmark!!

Hearing Louis say “tits up” is my new religion, but honestly, this chitchat with McFly is such a revelation. Apparently, they worked with Niall on something, so they gossip with Louis about what a diva Niall is (!) and how he brought a friend of his named Shawn around (!!), and there’s a lot of inside jokes I know nothing about, but I’m LIVING for Niall looking at all these boys on the screen and saying, “I feel like I’m alone in my bedroom,” and Louis’s response, “Okay, Niall!”

“Don’t Forget Where You Belong” is announced, but we don’t get to hear it (although we DO get to see some sweet Nouis dancing), and two more girls go into the call box of doom. Because this show’s producers can’t go ten minutes without a disaster, there’s increasingly urgent screaming from Louis to Ben to just roll the Zayn graffiti VT, which takes at least a full, tense minute to post.

Zayn is incredibly hot, but my heart breaks for him saying it’s their 127th show, and he’s feeling inspired and creative to make art, and I just wonder how??? How are you not banging your head against a wall instead of painting it? Anyway, it’s a lot of spraypainting/artist au Zayn come to life, with Liam working out shirtless nearby and heaping praise on just about every single thing Zayn puts on the wall (awwwww). Also some nice Flicker reference points (Niall: “Zayn, will you draw a picture of me?” Zayn: “No. I don’t like you”). Ouch.

We come back to Rebecca, an opera singer who’s here to sing some tweets, and this is a horrible idea that Ben Winston stole from Jimmy Kimmel, right? When he used to have Josh Groban sing tweets a million years ago? Anyway, this ripoff doesn’t work because nobody can really understand the words, but credit to Louis for trying to cheat and speed this whole thing up:

When Rebecca finishes, Louis says he got emotional (Niall just laughs), and this poor girl says not to worry, she’ll do more later, and lmao at Louis: “Oh, OH, there’s more in store, Niall” (Niall: “Can’t wait”), sighhhhh, it’s torture for us all, tbh. Anyway, time for some Belgian VT and reinforcement that Louis’s part Belgian, which is why it’s super relevant, I guess.

The last bit is back to Dynamo, to redo the magic bit that failed with Harry in hour two. I’m still curious about this trick because there’s a piece of paper locked in this box (Harry’s dick holds the key to it), and tl/dr, Harry says April for the month an hour ago, but Louis says November, and sure enough, November plus all the other details are in this locked box. HMMMMM. Me as Harry’s finger delivering the key immediately in this segment, meaning he’s literally right there watching all of it. Pick someone supportive, etc.

Anyway, back to the trick, there’s a bit where Louis says he told Dynamo all this information earlier (Niall starts chewing his nails a bit ferociously at that), but then he backpedals brilliantly later about what an amazing, stunning trick, etc., and this group of sneaky liars, god, I love ‘em!

We get more terrible highlights, which sucks, because I kind of liked the way Louis was asking Niall what HIS highlights were, but never mind, let’s get Ben’s. I’ll leave you with this picture that makes me think of Louis hosting Family Feud, you know, the final round, when you have to see how your answers stacked up with a family member’s and if, together, you cleared 200 (“Name someone a person may confess a crime to”):

#recap #1d day #hour 3 #i would totally watch louis host family feud

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brella · 7 years ago

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i feel like we always ask you about books so today i wanna ask you some anime recs :)

HOW INTERESTING THAT YOU SHOULD COME TO ME NOW, JUST AFTER I FINISHED ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE A TWITTER MUTUAL WITH A PHYSICAL CAKE SO THAT SHE WOULD WATCH AN ANIME I LOVE. i am always happy to share anime recs.

ping pong: the animation (dir. masaaki yuasa): effusive yutaka “peco” hoshino and reserved makoto “smile” tsukimoto have been best friends since day one, and both of them love to play ping pong. peco, a child prodigy at the sport, loves it with all of his soul, and is so confident in his own talent that he’s become arrogant; while smile, in spite of his natural talent, does not take ping pong seriously, seeing it as nothing more than a way to pass the time. things are shaken up for the boys by the arrival of wenge “china” kong, a chinese player sent to redeem himself in japan after being kicked off the national team, who skunks peco in their first match, sending him spiraling into crisis; meanwhile, smile catches the interest of the school’s coach, a former star player, who is determined to make sure smile does not waste his talent. also joining the cast are manabu “akuma” sakuma, peco’s belligerent rival since childhood, and ryuichi “dragon” kazama, vanguard of the elite ping pong team at kaio academy. when all is said and done, will smile and peco’s friendship—and the love of ping pong that bonds them—remain? i urge everyone to watch this anime; it is perhaps the best i’ve ever seen. a work of art, of joy, of sadness and failure and triumph—a tribute to being alive, and to what it means to love something so much you feel like there’s no point in being alive if you can’t do it. and the animation, voice acting, and score are outstanding! 11 episodes.

the tatami galaxy (dir. masaaki yuasa): an unnamed college student is perpetually dissatisfied with his life, bemoaning the fact that he can never seem to grasp that “rose-colored campus life” he was certain he would have upon attending college in kyoto. just about the only thing he has in his corner is his mischievous frenemy, ozu, who drags him into scheme after scheme that only seem to make his situation worse; and a fellow student, akashi, who the protagonist has feelings for, but can never quite seem to spit it out. after a bad break-up sends him over the edge into total cynicism, he starts to wonder if his college years would have been spent differently (i.e., better) if he had chosen to join a different club on his first day. unbeknownst to him, the desire to go back and do it over again does send him back in time—each episode is an alternate timeline based on which club he joined. no matter how things change, though, he always seems to keep running into ozu, to just miss akashi, and to get involved with a man calling himself higuchi, who claims to be a god of matrimony; a bone-headed popular senior named jougasaki; and a beautiful but intense dental hygienist named hanuki. in the protagonist’s quest for the perfect college life, however, will he miss what’s right in front of him? i really love yuasa as you can probably tell and this, just like ping pong, is beautifully animated, great fun, and unexpectedly moving. a testament to the little things, to seeing the beauty and wonder in what we have. and the opening and ending are GOD TIER. 11 episodes.

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun (dir. mitsue yamazaki): if you somehow haven’t watched this yet, please love yourself and do it. a romantic comedy series that follows 16-year-old chiyo sakura’s attempts to woo her crush, umetarou nozaki, gsnk, contrary to the shoujo form, actually begins with her confessing to him—but he misunderstands and gives her... his autograph?! yes, it turns out nozaki moonlights as a hugely successful shoujo romance mangaka, and he’s been needing an assistant, and sakura is in the art club... convenient! this show has it all—uproarious humor, masterful comedic timing, incredibly charming characters, and just the right dose of heartfelt romance to warm any heart. other cast members include mikoto mikoshiba, nozaki’s best friend, whose flirtatious antics constantly cause him to nearly die of embarrassment; yuzuki seo, chiyo’s best friend, a brash and oblivious jock with a beautiful singing voice; hirotaka wakamatsu, a mild-mannered basketball player constantly aggrieved by seo’s bullying; yuu kashima, star of the drama club and dashing prince of the school; and masayuki hori, drama club president and kashima’s ever-frustrated director. love is in the air not just for sakura, but for a few others, as well—it’s going to be an interesting year! 12 episodes.

kids on the slope (dir. shinchiro watanabe): kaoru nishimi is a shy and depressed honor student, classically trained to play the piano, who has spent his entire life moving from town to town due to the nature of his father’s job. at the beginning of the summer of 1966, he is sent to a small coastal town in kyushu to live with relatives, and is prepared for another year of loneliness until his world is turned on its axis when he meets delinquent sentaro kawabuchi. the two develop a strange and unlikely friendship, and kaoru soon discovers that sentaro, or sen, is an avid fan of jazz, then an emergent form of music in japan, and plays the drums in the basement of a record store owned by the family of his childhood friend, ritsuko mukae, with whom kaoru immediately falls in love. when ritsuko says that she would love to hear kaoru and sen play together, kaoru begins to acquaint himself with jazz, too, and finds that it holds more magic than he expected. part classic coming-of-age drama, part love letter to the jazz genre, this series was, fun fact, directed by the man behind cowboy bebop and samurai champloo—so, like, if that isn’t a testament to its quality, i don’t know what is. it will make you cry, though. just warning you.

silver spoon (dir. tomohiko ito): desperate to escape the pressures of his home life, beleaguered honor student yuugo hachiken foresakes his chances of attending an elite tokyo high school and applies to ezonoo agricultural school in hokkaido. at first holding himself a rung above his peers, due to his perception of them as bumpkins who have never had to work hard academically due to their security as farmers, hachiken quickly learns that there’s a lot he doesn’t know, and he’ll have to work hard if he wants to keep up with his peers. though initially withdrawn, hachiken comes to make many new friends, and soon begins to take his studies seriously, earnestly trying to learn all he can about the world of agriculture and how it affects the lives of his friends. this series is easily something i’d call “the feel-good story of the decade,” but it also has many profound and emotional moments, and a hugely relatable protagonist in hachiken. it’s definitely a comedy, but at its heart, it’s one of those special series that kind of takes your hand and smiles at you and says, “yeah. i get it. i know how you feel. but it’s all right. life’s pretty fun, even if you don’t notice.”

hyouka (dir. yasehiro takemoto): to this day i’m still a bit stunned that kyoto animation managed to come out with something as good as hyouka, since it’s so different from their other works, but the truth is there. it’s simple, with a cast of only four characters and few recurring side ones; a subdued score using mostly public domain classical pieces, a quiet high school as the backdrop, a close and intimate portrait of the four kids it brings together. the PV actually does a fine job of introducing the characters—apathetic houtarou, inquisitive eru, cheerful satoshi, and caustic mayaka—so i won’t go into that too much. essentially, houtarou is urged by his sister to sign up for the classics club after no one else does, since it will be disbanded if it does not have at least one member. much to his surprise, someone else already has signed up by the time he does—a curious girl named eru with an insatiable appetite for mysteries. though houtarou lives by a philosophy of what he calls “energy conservation,” eru has a power over him (read: he has a big, beautiful crush on her) that compels him to go along with her antics, and his penetrating intellect doesn’t help much. satoshi, houtarou’s best friend, and mayaka, a childhood... acquaintance of houtarou’s, also join the club, and hyouka chronicles all of the things that happen to them over the course of their school year. when asked about the meaning behind the title (”hyouka” means “frozen dessert”), the author of the novels said, “the colour of youth is like ice cream. its many flavours are like the spectrum of a rainbow, but no matter how it tastes, what doesn’t change is its richness and flavour. another distinguishing feature of ice cream is the short time one has to eat it, and how we must take care to avoid polluting it. it’s just like how youth is full of numerous possibilities, but its fragile and limited energy is easily challenged by the outside world.” i think that probably speaks for itself in alluding to the bittersweet tone of the series. it really is one of my favorites.

and, because my fingers are getting tired: yu yu hakusho is my favorite shounen series by a mile and one of the few for which i highly recommend the dub—it’s long though, 100+ episodes, but worth every minute. i’ll be glad to go into why yyh specifically is the best in a separate post if anyone is interested bc hoo boy. uchouten kazoku season 1 is great and one of my favorites but season 2 was kind of eh to me. if you like action and tragic romance, kyoukai no kanata is my second-fave kyoani series after hyouka, though it does have some fanservicey bits and fetishy humor that kind of date it a little bit. and if you haven’t started boku no hero academia yet—PLEASE GET ON THAT; IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

and, of course, the anime of my heart and soul: lovely complex, a romcom about a tall girl and a short boy, and their arduous, hilarious, heart-melting journey from vitriolic best buds to lovers. hits all the right notes. no other shoujo compares. it’s a series that anyone and everyone can AND WILL enjoy.

i hope that’s enough to get you started! :’D pls let me know what you think if you watch any

#long post /#anonymous #ask #Anonymous

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blizzardfluffykpop · 7 years ago

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(Zelo) Jun-Hong X Reader

Summary:You know all my life I never thought it end up how it has, and I’m content with that.

One-shot

Mentions of depression

Prompt: 32. “If I could grant one Christmas wish, what would it be?” “I wish you would dare me.”

Choi Jun-hong the name still rings in my head. The guy I had dated for years, dumped me. It’s like I can never escape, as I listen to the new song by B.A.P when I find out the guy rapping to the song is Zelo, his real name being Choi Jun-hong. And I realize how much I miss him, we dated all of our high school years.

He had dumped for the reason, believing that we were in immature love, that it would never last in the real world. That there was probably more to life than me. I was devastated for months, and I just forced myself to get over him. I’m still numb, now I can’t even listen to my favorite band that just comes onto my google play music, because I know he’s in it. You know how shitty it is the one thing that made you happy after years of being depressed. But no it seems life doesn’t like the idea of my joy.

The only thing I can really be grateful of is this tattoo job. Nothing could to deter me from that, at least that is what I thought. I’m working on a tattoo for this girl it was an intricate flower with music notes flowing out and then being swallowed by a piece of paper. I thought it was beautiful, it was saying she was the beauty that was broadcasting her voice, having it heard, and writing it down as she goes.

When I hear the one voice I hadn’t heard often other than hearing him rap or sing. Not that I really counted it, because it always sounded so different. It sounded like our conversations that would last forever. You have to be kidding me, I knew he always wanted a tattoo, but couldn’t he have gone to any other shop.

I finish it up as he starts going over the details and my friend says, “I’ll set you up with (Y/n). She’ll be happy to do this tattoo she’s really one for art. You can see her latest work if the girl allows you.”

I see him stalk over to me and my canvas as I would put it says sure, to him. And he says, “Wow that’s so amazing it speaks paragraphs about you.” She thanks him sweetly and goes over to, Lillian, my friend, the one who co-owns the store with me.

He looks up to meet my eyes finally and he says, “Wow. I never thought I’d see you again. You look good, (Y/n).”

“Save it, Jun-hung.” I say with so much venom I’d be a poisonous snake draining my own venom freely into a witches brew.

“Feisty as ever.”

“What do you want tattoo, so I can get this done and over and never have to see you again.” He rolls his eyes at me and says, “‘Relation in time’, you know that master piece right? I was going to get it because it used to be our favorite master piece. I was getting it because-”

“I don’t want to hear your life story, remember? I’m to immature to understand it.” He scoffs at me, and I ask him where he wants it. I tell him to sit on the chair and move to the next to room to work in piece. Not wanting to be near him for more than I needed. I’m sick of it. Lillian comes bounding over to me in the room and she says, “Remember today is Christmas wish day and I still haven’t heard you ask someone there wish. And he’s going to be your last customer so times a wasting.”

“Fuck off, will you?” I grumble and she rolls her eyes, “What can’t handle a hot guy once in your life?”

“You don’t understand, if I were to tell you, you’d kick him out. We need this money to pay for rent for this shop.” She rolls her eyes and goes back to her new customer that she gotten a few minutes ago, she lets me work in this back room, while she does it in front of customers. I finally finish it up, sigh as I grumble about this, we both wanted to do this once we grew our hair out longer. Mine was already at a reasonable length at that time he need to grow his out, seems he never did. I cut mine anyways, so doesn’t even matter.

I show him the piece and he says, “It looks amazing!” I give him the slight sign of a smile. I sterilize his stomach so he won’t get any infections while I do the tattoo before, placing the paper on him and pulling it off so the adhesive purple stayed behind.

I grab my black ink put it into the gun and put my purple gloves on. And start my tedious work. It wasn’t as hard as it could be, being as it was only one color, unlike my canvas who had so many different petal colors it wasn’t even funny.

While switching out the ink since I had a different model, I ask him, “Lillian started this thing where in December we ask our customers a different thing, it has to be at least to one. And woo-hoo guess who one that because it slipped out of my mind with the last customer. And yours is taking the rest of my shift. If I could grant you one Christmas wish what would it be?” I say with the most disinterested voice I could pull off and he replies, “Are you sure you want my answer?”

“I’m only do this because I was asked, its up to you to answer.”

“I wish you would date me… Again”

“Why, would you ask that if I was so immature, and you had so many possible choices???”

“Because I realized how wrong I was when I left you.”

“And it took you that long to realize that? I was left in an absolute depressive series, it’s like season nine now. And it’s been 4 years, you couldn’t have found me sooner. When you knew where I was the whole time, until you suddenly blocked me for no reason?”

“I’m sorry okay… I really am.”

“Yeah that really helps to know you’re sorry. Thanks a lot, and if you would like to know something, it was just a question. So I don’t have to grant your wish.”

“Please… Please, I’d hate to beg and you know I do. But I can’t find anyone like you, who makes me feel the things you do. Just one date, is all I ask for. If you decide to leave in the middle of the date, you can. Just this once.”

“You should be glad you’re receiving a second chance from me. I’m only giving you once, you fuck it up. You will never be allowed to enter here ever again, even with good paying money. Understand?”

He nods his head obediently and I go back to finish his tattoo finally. When I finish I place medicine on it so it heals nicely, and I leave a kiss right above it. I’ll let you in on something I did that because of how much I missed him, and that kiss meant so much to me. I place the tape and wrap on it so it heals nicely. I let Lillian explain the healing process to him.

I was sitting there shell shocked that he asked me to be with him on a date. I told Lillian and she said she was surprised that I said yes. Especially to the inconsiderate bastard, she likes to call him.

I sigh as I get ready for our date, he came into tell Lillian his phone number since I wasn’t there. I was getting groceries since it was my day off after all. He texts me he’s on his way over to pick me up. I should have told him to let me drive there by myself but I really do not like being alone by myself at night in a car.

I hear the door knock and I open the door after slipping on my jacket and my shoes, I open the door. To reveal the guy I had been crazy about for years, standing in front of me again. Like our first date all over again, just without my parents. It was surreal.

He gets in the car after opening and closing the door for me. And he starts up the car and he takes me to a place I hadn’t been since we broke up. I put boundaries on every place we ever touched and refused to go in them. It was our first date when he got a car, the place every guy wants to take every girl for as a date. The drive-in, the drive-in that displays the moves as you sit in a car and can order if you like. (I know they can’t drive till 20 but, I live in Ohio the age is 16).

I watch as he pays for the movie and he pulls in 3rd row, like every time we went. Oh my god I want to puke, my anxiousness is filling me. He looks over at me and it was like that date all over again. We were sixteen again, giddy sophomores, happy to be by ourselves. But except we were nervous it was like our first date mixed with this one.

And without much difficulty we are talking like we never broke up. He grabs my hand and lightly squeezes it, and I realize how much I miss his truck with the bench seat that you could slide next to the driver and cuddle. No, this is quite different, it’s like there is a wall keeping us from each other. A console in the middle of us, and I move on top of it not carrying anymore, I missed his touch, I missed his hugs, his voice, his nuzzles. And not that I really care about it, but the way he matched me in bed so well unlike the hundreds of one night stands, and a boyfriend that last a month couldn’t match. The rough but tender, fast but deep, soft but it felt like you were being split in two, sex. I missed it so bad. But I missed more over the top was him. Everything, and when he leaned forward and kissed me, I was in a state of shock and it was like our relationship never really did end. And we were back to square 541 I suppose and no longer at square -427.

And we watch the movie with comfort of popcorn, luckily it was snowing so the drive-in was open until it started up again. And we watched the sappy rom-com happen and just watch it spiral. And it made sense it was something we had always done together, and now here we are again doing it all over. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

When he brought me back to my house, and he left me with a deep kiss on my porch, and walked back out and I yelled, “Tomorrow, coffee?” Knowing he’d know where to be, our coffee shop. The one with the art work forever displayed on the walls, that will forever be on his stomach as well. Now I could listen to B.A.P. without wanting to cry because of how much I miss Jun-hong. How could you miss someone you already have? Well I mean… Not the point I’m making. And first time since we had broken up and now we are together again, I feel complete. And I still have that depression lingering in the back of my mind, but it seemed that boi didn’t matter as much to me as Jun-hong did and does.

#mentions of depression #zelo #jun-hong #b.a.p #b.a.p zelo #kpop x reader #x reader #christmas #fluff #angst #is this what you kids call angst?#a good amount of angst #nice amount of fluff #why am i so angsty?#15th day of 37 days of christmas #day 15 of 37 days of christmas #zelo x reader

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sleepykichii · 7 years ago

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11 Questions Tag

i was tagged by @pinkheichou @tiny-heichou and @salbelni so that's uh...that's 33 questions holy shit this is gonna be forever long lmaoo

Rules: 1. Always post the rules 2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you 3. Write 11 questions of your own 4. Tag 11 people

idk if it’ll tag you guys if i put them under the cut so! i tag: @tokyo-ghouls-eat-rawmen @kingtatsunari @bertoltssweat @sluttttysurveycorps @piningmarco @lesliebruhleria @iviarka @softymir @dallyingdivergent @levi-nyanchou @noodlesforlyfe don’t feel obligated to do this!!

1. Is there a book/movie that you’ve read/watched many times? Which one? i usually dont like rewatching/rereading things but my guilty pleasure is snk, i love to watch the dubbed episodes and compare it to the subbed episodes, i love going back and noticing details i couldnt bc i was reading subtitles, comparing manga panels to anime scenes, yknow, lil things like that 2. What do you love most about your friends? they try their best to cheer me up when they know i'm feeling down~ 3. Ever been a witness to someone doing something hella embarrassing? (You don’t have to tell anything about it) uh yeah, my best friend irl fell and literally slid down her stairs when she was drunk after prom last year and wanted to do it again 4. A fandom you didn’t think you would ever be a part of? tbh danganronpa. on my old blog, before i got back into watching anime, i thought their hair was rly...unique, to say the least, and didn't think i would ever give it the time of day 5. Do you have a “trash character” you like? komaeda :') and ouma, i know a lot of ppl rly don't like him lmao 6. Pastel or Black? black, i love pastels but i look rly good in black lmao 7. Pet peeves? when ppl ignore/interrupt me, unneccesary loud noises, lack of privacy, AND WHEN PPL CHEW WITH THEIR MOUTH OPEN OH MY GOD 8. If you had one free wish what would it be? (Wishing for xx/endless wishes is not allowed) i would wish to bring immense joy to myself and every person i crossed paths with! 9. What are your favourite tropes/AUs for your ships? holy SHIT im a slut for AUs. i lovelovelove actor AUs, zombie/post apocalyptic AUs, high school/boarding school AUs, college AUs, summercamp AUs, band AUs, coffee shop AUs, apartment AUs...i could rly go on but i'll stop lmaooo 10. Are you an emotional person? VERY 11. Are you more attracted to popular ships or rare pairs? i dont rly have a preference, if i see a ship i like, it's popularity doesn't concern me c:

1. Whats your favorite book? i rly don't know, i haven't read a book in forever fml i've already read all the books on my shelf and they're like...8th grade reading level :-// my most recent read was more than this by patrick ness and it was pretty good! 2. Do you collect anything? stickers!! i love stickers so much lmao what else...cute pins, and i'm slowly building a collection i call 'roadside paintings' where -- you guessed it -- i pick up deserted paintings on the side on the road. i currently have two hanging up in my room! 3. The last Song you listened to? sir sly - high 4. Do you like Tea? If yes whats your favorite kind of tea? fuck yeah!! tea > coffee, all day every day. i rly love blueberry acai green tea and papaya passionfruit black tea!! 5. Whats the first Anime/Manga you ever watched/read? if u wanna get technical, sailor moon was the first ever, but naruto is the first one i went out of my way to watch. the first manga was shugo chara! i would probably still read it bc the characters are adorable and the plot is interesting! 6. Whats your favorite childhood movie? pokemon 2000!! 7. Your favorite poem? the universe took its time on you crafted you precisely so you could offer the world something distinct from everyone else so when you doubt how you were created you doubt an energy greater than us both -rupi kaur 8. Your favorite Painting? i don't rly have one!! 9. Whats the most amazing thing that happened to you? still somehow being alive right this very second 10. Whats the Title of the last Fanfiction you have read? i wanna say it was something simple like 'roommates' or along those lines, i honestly haven't read fanfiction in a couple weeks;; 11. Write 3 Book, Fanfic and Manga Title that you totally recommend! i have the comprehension skills of a potato so idk if you mean three of each or three total so i'm just gonna do three total book: more than this - patrick ness (rly good, rly weird. makes you think about our reality a little more. worth a reread when you're finished so you can piece all the information together) fanfic: blue bear - afishoutofwater (snk/eremin - i was in tears by the end of this, it's so sad but very well written. major character death & angst, just a heads up!) manga: killing stalking (hoo boy. this isnt for the faint of heart, lots of dark themes along the lines of torture and murder. not everyone's cup of tea, and that's okay!! <3)

① What are you most proud of? this is probably stupid to be proud of but it's the first thing that came to mind even though i wasnt that good, i made it into my eighth grade talent show playing the keyboard i got up there in front of the entire middle school and fucked up tremendously BUT I DIDNT CHICKEN OUT! so!! +1 point for tay woohoo ② Have you ever been so impressed you were left speechless? if you mean impressed by someone's level of stupidity, yeah lmaooo, otherwise not rly ③ What’s your favorite time of day? 10AM - 2-3PM, i'm the only one awake during these hours (unless my mom has work) and the house is completely silent for once ④ Is there a certain song that gives you goosebumps everytime you hear it? history maker from yoi gave me goosebumps for a while but no song has consistently given me goosebumps lmao ⑤ Is there something, let it be a hobby/food/movie/book/song/etc., from your childhood that you still love today? i still collect stickers and i still rly love beanie babies...i also don't mind watching the berenstein bears/dragon tales with my niece bc those were my faves when i was a kid ⑥ What never fails to make you happy? my morning solitude and fluffy art/fanfics of my otps!! ⑦ Do you dream? If so, which one was most memorable? i dream sometimes, but my fave reccurring dream is where everything is neon, like the saturation has been yanked up 100%, and i'm just walking down a sidewalk minding my own business, and then it starts raining acid and everything starts melting away until i'm just kinda floating in the void lmao i usually wake up right after everything disappears ⑧ Who’s your favorite tumblr artist/writer/editor/etc.? Feel free to name/tag more than one! the first one that came to mind was @glassesgirl0401, rarepair mom for life ; v ; ⑨ What’s your favorite fanart? Could you please link to its source? omg i love every piece of fanart tht i reblog i cant pick just one!! i rly love how everyone has their own art style and ways of drawing certain things differently, the individuality is what makes art so amazing! ⑩ What’s your headcanoned sexuality/gender identity/romantic orientation of your favorite SNK character? omg there's so many tht i like aaaaa if i had to pick just one, it would be armin and he's hella gay :3 ⑪ ^May I draw them with their pride flag’s colors for you? AAAAAA PLEASE?? that would be so great?! thank you!!! <3

here are my questions, i tried to make them interesting! 1.) If you had one, what was your 'stereotype' in school? (jock, nerd, goth, etc) 2.) What are your favorite and least favorite foods? 3.) Who is your favorite character from your current fandom and why? 4.) If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 5.) What are your favorite hobbies? 6.) Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter? 7.) What's one obstacle you've overcome recently? 8.) Yes or no: Pineapple on pizza? Fries dipped in mayonnaise? Ketchup on eggs? 9.) What is your most resourceful skill? 10.) If you could pick three fictional characters to bring to life, who would they be and why? 11.) What is the end-goal for you; What do you want to do with your life?

thanks for reading this far lmao sorry that took a lot longer than i thought it would

#about me #levi.txt

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musicistheair-blog · 8 years ago

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Damon Albarn

An English musician born in 23rd of March 1968 in Leytonstone, East London.

First Steps

His mother, Hazel Albarn worked as a stage designer for Joan Littlewood's theatre company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London and was working on Mrs Wilson's Diary just before Damon was born. Damon's father, an artist Keith Albarn was mainly involved in TV arts programming and was interested in designing and making modern furniture. He eventually became the manager of art jazz-rock group Soft Machine. Hazel Albarn came from Lincolnshire and Keith Albarn from Nottinghamshire. When they had met each other, they decided to move to London to experience its wide cultural-scene. So Damon came in contact with music from the first day of his life, and never walked out of it. When Damon was growing up, his parents listened mostly to old blues, Indian ragas and African music. Damon didn't apparently like much of them. His sister, Jessica, also an artist, was born in 1971.

Damon was a relatively normal child. He was keen on football and his room was filled with the fossils. Since the age of six he has been wearing the glass beads, which he got from his mother. "They give me luck" he has later said. He was attending the George Tomlinson Primary School and at the later age moved to the Stanway Comprehensive School.

Ten years after Damon's birth Albarns moved to Colchester, Essex, where Keith Albarn had got a new job. Around the time of moving Damon was spending three months in Turkey with family friends. When he came back he began studying violin and piano and got interested in drama. Because of his unconventional background he was considered weird and vain and often got called "posh stroke gay" at Stanway Comprehensive. "I was weirdo", he recalls. At the time he was really keen on drama and took part in many school plays and quickly became one of the school's "stars". Damon was also interested in composing music and one of his compositions won a heat in the nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition. He has later claimed that classical composer Kurt Weill's music had a more effect on his musical development than any pop song writer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJKZyZCIYII&list=PLwDQF_pE3sOW0CEoiFkhpiX1Kd8-rejcP

Beginning of the Creation

At the age of 12 Damon met a year younger Graham Coxon. "Your brogues are crap, mate. Look, mine are the proper sort” were Damon's exact first words to Graham. They both liked The Jam, The Human League, XTC and Madness and soon became the best friends.

One of the first bands Damon was involved along with Graham was The Aftermath, which didn't get anywhere. The Aftermath's follower was Real Lives, where Damon was on the vocals and played the piano. The band made a few appearances in local pubs and clubs without any real success.

In the mid-eighties Damon lost his interest to music temporary, concentrated wholly in drama, and moved to Debden to study at the East 15 Drama School. After a year he thought he was "the worst actor in the world" and decided to go back home. At the time he was very depressed and having a bad time. He took a part-time music course at the Goldsmiths College in South London, where he met Graham again and worked as a barman in London's Portobello Hotel. Later, he worked at the Le Croissaint at Euston Station in London and soon after as a tea boy at the Beat Factory studio, owned by Graeme Holdaway. At nights, he worked on his music at the studio.

Blur

With the help of the Beat Factory he got involved in an odd synth-band called Two's A Crowd with Sam Vamplew. After writing a few songs, Damon withdrew the band and joined Circus in 1988. Circus was formed initially by Damon's college friend Tom Aitkenhead and Eddie Deedigan, who both quit the band later. Soon guitarist Graham Coxon, drummer Dave Rowntree and finally bassist Alex James were picked up to Circus. Due to Damon's accelerated musical development, Circus experienced many radical musical changes. The band evolved into Seymour, which later changed its name to Blur.

Blur were formed and signed with Food/EMI in 1989.

Announcing their arrival with debut album Leisure in 1991,

Birthday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGFa5_wdRsU ~ Birthdays are generally supposed to be happy celebrations but the lyricist doesn’t view things this way; it only reminds him of age and dying, it’s sort of ironic how actually when you think about it, we celebrate our deaths rather than our births.

Blur continued to revolutionise the sound of English popular music with second release Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993).

Miss America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maflDjy9dLU ~ Damon Albarn, an outspoken critic of celebrity culture, has an uncanny talent for imagining figurative characters. On ‘Miss America’, he makes a criticism on the commodification of beauty. Miss America herself wears a label and is an artificial champion for American women, especially because modern life is rubbish.

Five successive UK #1 albums followed - with Parklife (1994)

Parklife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSuHrTfcikU ~ “I came up with the idea for this song in this park. I was living on Kensington Church Street, and I used to come into the park at the other end, and I used to, you know, watch people, and pigeons…” said Damon Albarn

and The Great Escape (1995) helping to propel the band to mass popularity in the UK and beyond.

Ernold Same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-3_VVcwwaY ~ A straightforward song about the mundanity of modern life, probably referencing Arnold Layne (Pink Floyd’s first single). On some versions of the album The Great Escape, an instrumental reprise of ‘Ernold Same’ appears as a secret track at the end.

The eponymous Blur was released in 1997

Song 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk ~ This song is totally unlike all of Blur’s other songs. It’s actually supposed to be making fun of grunge and some suggest the “WOO HOO!” is a parody of the iconic American Homer Simpson.

and seventh album Think Tank (2003) was Blur’s first as a three-piece after the temporary departure of founding guitarist Graham Coxon.

Out Of Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkX1Up1vnc ~ The song is a bass-driven track with minimal drums and acoustic guitar accompanied by eastern and orchestral flourishes. The faint screaming noise at the start of the track is a sound clip from Doctor Who. Since the 2009 reunion, the song has been a staple of Blur’s live sets, albeit in a slightly different arrangement featuring Coxon playing electric guitar.

One of the most successful British bands of the last two decades, Blur have won a total of five BRIT Awards, and were twice nominated for the Mercury Music Award.

In 2009 Blur reconvened as a four-piece to play a series of UK shows including two sold out dates at Hyde Park and a historic Sunday night appearance at Glastonbury. A film about Blur No Distance Left To Run was made that summer and released the following year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN3rdPyjaGY

In 2012 the band received a BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and wrote two news songs ahead of their massive sold out show in London's Hyde Park to mark the closing of the Olympic Games. The songs 'The Puritan' and 'Under The Westway' were debuted live on Twitter via a worldwide video stream from a London rooftop. And twenty one years after the release of their debut album, 2012 also saw Blur 21: The Box, the band's body of work compiled and gathered together into one box.

Beetlebum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXnqjUfal4 ~ Damon Albarn has confessed that the song is about heroin and the drug experiences he had with his then-girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica. In the 2010 Blur documentary, No Distance Left to Run, Albarn confirmed this notion on film. The song’s title is a reference to the phrase “Chasing the beetle” which refers to inhaling the smoke from heated heroin, morphine, or opium that has been placed on a piece of tin-foil. Albarn has stated in an interview with MTV that the song describes a complicated emotion, sort of “sleepy” and sort of “sexy”.

The band embarked on a 30 plus date world tour in 2013 which saw them play to fans around the globe, with shows across Asia, Europe, South America, as well as a headline slot at the Coachella Festival in California.

The recordings for the band’s eighth studio album began in Spring 2013 at Avon Studios in Kowloon. Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree spent 5 days jamming together and carried on with their live dates while the recordings were put aside and the group finished touring and returned to their respective lives. Dave resumed his day job as a lawyer and Alex returned home to his farm in Oxfordshire from where he writes a regular farming column in The Telegraph and hosts the annual food and music festival The Big Feastival with Jamie Oliver. Graham, who has released eight critically acclaimed solo albums to date, continued to work on his own material and, in 2014, Damon released his Mercury-nominated debut solo album Everyday Robots.

Then, in November last year, Graham revisited the tracks and, drafting in Blur’s early producer Stephen Street (Leisure, Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, The Great Escape, Blur), he worked with the band on the material. Damon then added lyrics and the 12 tracks on The Magic Whip is the result.

The new album from Blur, titled The Magic Whip, started life in Hong Kong when the band had an unexpected break in touring in May 2013. It is released by Parlophone Records on 27rd April 2015 - 16 years since 13, the band’s last record as a four-piece.

Go Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp1ks7PTzng ~ “It wasn’t a jolly, winking, overfamiliar Blur thing. I realize that a lot of people love below because of those songs, and lots of people hate them because of it, and people from the camp who hate us probably don’t know much about the other stuff that we did. ‘Go Out’ struck me as being somewhere between the two – it’s sort of casual sounding, but it’s also quite powerful. For me, it felt like a place that we hadn’t really done before: it’s mildly familiar because of Damon’s voice, but sonically is quite different from anything we’ve done before.” Graham Coxon

Gorillaz

Gorillaz are a virtual band, comprised of four fictional animated band members: 2D (voiced by Blur vocalist Damon Albarn, and plays keyboard and sings lead vocals), Murdoc (bass), Noodle (lead guitar and occasional vocals) and Russel (drums and percussion). The band was created by Damon Albarn from the Britpop band Blur, and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator of the comic book Tank Girl.

Gorillaz music videos follow the adventures of the band members, so the music is written around the concept of them being within a certain environment for each album. The band’s music is a collaboration between various musicians; Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor. They style is broadly alternative rock, but with a large number of other influences - to quote one of their lyrics, they have recorded everything from "Rap, Hip-Hop, to Punk, and Ska".

They originally identified themselves under the name "Gorilla", and the first song they recorded was ‘Ghost Train’ (1999), later released as a ‘B-side’ on their single Rock the House and G-Sides.

Ghost Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YXbG5UKN_g The band's first release was the EP Tomorrow Comes Today, released in 2000. It was very well received in the UK underground music scene and generated a lot of word-of-mouth advertising, as well as a large shroud of mystery over who was behind Gorillaz and what could be expected from the band in the months to come. Promo outlets circulated a promotional booklet to promote the fictional backstory behind the cartoon band.

Tomorrow Comes Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiNdcBg3xC8 ~ Wishing for tomorrow to come today demonstrates being both simultaneously optimistic in the impossible happening and faithlessly depressed about the consequences that are to come.

The band's first single, ‘Clint Eastwood’, was released on March 5, 2001. It became a smash hit and put Gorillaz into the global spotlight. Due to this, the fictional band members' Hotmail accounts were abandoned (and later hacked) and the inboxes on the site were never updated. Later that same month, their first full-length album, the self-titled Gorillaz was released, producing four singles: ‘Clint Eastwood’, ‘19-2000′, ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’, and ‘Rock the House’.

Clint Eastwood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4 ~ The song’s title is a reference to Clint Eastwood, the actor who has portrayed icons of rugged manliness and badassery perhaps better than any other. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Gunsmoke are alluded to in the song. In the former movie, Clint’s nameless character says that he has “sunshine in a bag”, gold coins.

Each of the singles' videos contained humorous and often ridiculous storylines and imagery, though ‘Clint Eastwood’ and ‘19-2000′ were the only singles to break through the American music scene. ‘19-2000′ became popular after being featured in both an Icebreakers commercial, as well as in EA Sports' FIFA 2001.

19-2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq7Ovshz1UI ~ This song is also about the rise in commercialism of the 21st century. Everything but a person’s personality will speak for who they are, so if you want to be perceived better by other’s you’re better off buying fancy things for people to judge you by.

Also the trumpets from the song ‘Rock the House’ can be heard in various MTV shows. The only time the video for ‘Tomorrow Comes Today’ was played in the States was when Toonami broadcasted a Midnight Run special where they played animated music videos from Gorillaz, Daft Punk, and Kenna.

Sound Check (Gravity)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpclIzUwLk ~ the 8th track included on the self-titled Gorillaz album and definitely my favourite, the segment “Love is breaking” says, in other words, the definition of love is becoming more and more tainted, and he is just seemingly confused about it, (hence the “I don’t know”).

Double Bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ONnnlhrM-g ~ “All of which makes me anxious, all times, unbearably so” - Murdoc Niccals

I believe this song is a reference to Murdoc himself. When he was alone on plastic beach, playing his bass, he claimed to begin to interpret the noises the bass made. And we have seen Murdoc has always had bags under his eyes, which anxiety is a symptom of. This leads me to believe he has insomnia. And that this song is him describing the fear and insanity he feels everyday that drives him to be this way. We have also seen him use sex as an escape, and Satanism is him trying to embrace his insanity. So it seems Murdoc is actually a very troubled individual.

M1A1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twao9b_HXp4 ~ ‘M1A1′ is the final track (excluding bonus tracks) from the Gorillaz debut album. The song samples some of the music from the film Day of the Dead as written by John Harrison. This is the first song to sample music from a zombie film, a theme which would show up several times throughout Gorillaz' work, including the “Intro” from the album Demon Days as well as the name of the group Jamie Hewlett put together to help with the artwork, which was Zombie Flesh Eaters.

They were also rumored to work on a movie project which was abandoned later on because there was no script which was good enough for the group. "We lost all interest in doing it as soon as we started meeting with studios and talking to these Hollywood executive types, we just weren't on the same page. We said, f**k it, we'll sit on the idea until we can do it ourselves, and maybe even raise the money ourselves", Jamie said in an interview.

After stepping back from the spotlight for a while, Gorillaz came back in 2005 with another studio album Demon Days, features a variety of guests ranging from Shaun Ryder to MF DOOM. This album is primarily set on a floating island, which is prominent in the videos for ‘Feel Good Inc’, ‘El Mañana’ and ‘Dare’.

The entire album of Demon Days is about (amongst other things) how the general public respects false icons and about what humanity has done, the chaos that we rose out of and recreated ourselves

Kids With Guns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkFSe3voRc ~ What Albarn is trying to say in the song is that the recent generations that have determined the fate of the world have created a future in which people will have to arm their own children with guns so that they can protect themselves from the chaos and terror that will surely erupt throughout the world if we continue to prosper, as we are too smart for our own good, so to speak. Albarn is trying to say that, now that we have the ability to destroy our entire race (nuclear technology, etc.), and have the resources and equipment ready, we will surely use it, whether we should or should not.

Feel Good Inc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHNuVaZJ-k ~ It is a dystopian song that mocks herd mentality. The music video features computer generated imagery and 2D animation. The inspiration for the video came from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1986 animated film Castle In The Sky.

For the windmill to work, 4 parts must be working in tandem. There are 4 members in the Gorillaz, so if you take away one part of the windmill, it won’t turn right. Notice that Noodle is separate from the rest of the Gorillaz in the music video. “Is everybody in?” - Is everybody ready to join 2D’s revolution? Is everybody in on the plan?

Probably referring to Noodle’s windmill island. It is interesting to note that at the end of the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’ black choppers are seen flying towards her island. In the video for ‘El Mañana’ we again see Noodle’s island, only this time being attacked by the black choppers. According to the Gorillaz autobiography, Rise of the Ogre, the two helicopters that attack the island in ‘El Mañana’ are actually different designs than the ones from ‘Feel Good Inc’, indicating the possibility of the first two merely tailing Noodle before the other two move in to attack.

El Mañana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hji4gBuOvIQ ~ El Mañana is Spanish for “the future” or “the near future”. “Mañana” by itself can be translated as “Tomorrow”. In the video for this song, we see Noodle’s island being destroyed, and Noodle presumably dying.

White Light

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFjITwNRGGk ~ After the bright choir and instrumentation of the interlude it looks like alcohol as taken over. The song is getting chaotic and it sounds like our protagonist is in trouble. In the interlude it really sounds like if heaven is close, but all of sudden it falls. I think it’s a metaphor for the protagonist being finally called to Hell, because he has sinned (alcohol). He is doomed because of alcohol and will live in an eternal tourment.

Dare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAOR6ib95kQ ~ Featuring Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder. This song, in the overall narrative of Demon Days, takes place after the general depression spanning from ‘Feel Good Inc’ to ‘White Light’. Importantly, it is sung by Noodle rather than 2D. This is likely meant to convey a sense of a second perspective. The voice Noodle is delivering tells that of 2D if he is so distraught over the current state of the world, then he should take action because all he does is whine about it.

Don’t Get Lost In Heaven + Demon Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcKzlZHl7PY ~ From the Gorillaz Rise of the Orge book: “An homage to Brian Wilson’s genius for vocal arrangement, ‘Don’t Get Lost In Heaven’ is a gleaming confection of choir, piano, and glockenspiel. If sunshine had a sound, this’d be it; displaying a warm-hearted recreation of the Beach Boy’s signature layered choral sound”.

Demon Days as an album talks a lot about negative aspects of modern life, from the Iraq War and global pollution, to the plastic nature of an overly monetised music industry. It represents today’s era as being the “Demon Days”. The title and ending track off Gorillaz’s 2005 album, Demon Days, is a really uplifting end. It’s making the case that although things are bad, there is always time to recognise the evils of the world and improve your life.

From Gorillaz Rise of the Orge book: “The light at the end of the tunnel, the dawn after the longest night of the soul. Based around the same chords as ‘Don’t Get Lost In Heaven’, allowing the two songs to become one glorious crescendo, a real musical climax that guides the listener into a far more optimistic climate”.

Noodle: “As with the previous track, the vocal harmonies were provided by the London Community Gospel Choir. This is the final relief; the hope, the rapture and the reward for the journey”.

2D (reflective and thoughtful): “You remember when you were a little kid and you would look at the clouds in the sky as the sunlight bounced off them. And something that simple would make you feel a part of everything and all alone at the same time. And that feeling’s not something you can ever put into words so you spend your whole life chasing it; making music, taking pictures, painting… whatever in the hope that other people will understand that sense or… feeling. As creative entities we look for signs of life outside ourselves for a connection to… alleviate the sense of solitude. That’s why we all do what we do. whether we know it of ourselves or not”.

They scored their first No. 1 album in the U.K. with this record and cracked the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 200 by peaking at No. 6. By the end of the year, it had gone five-time platinum in the U.K., double platinum in the U.S. and triple platinum Down Under.

Following their worldwide success, the band planned to go on a holographic 3D world tour which was scheduled to be held in 2007 and 2008. They then previewed the gig during performances at 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards and 2006 Grammy Awards with the addition of virtual Madonna on the latter show. But the traveling show was scrapped later on due to logistical issue. "It was extremely expensive, extremely difficult, a million and one things can go wrong, every second that the thing's playing. We did that thing at the EMAs. That was a test of what it could be like", Jamie said during an interview. "And when we sat and watched that, everyone involved was literally gnawing their fingernails, because we knew of the 65 things that could go wrong any second. And when it finished, when the three minutes was over and nothing went wrong, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief. So we realized that if we did a tour, it'd be a logistical nightmare".

Instead of hitting the road, Gorillaz was busy making a documentary. After around two years in the making, they finally released in April 2009 a film titled Bananaz which was directed by Ceri Levy. This movie covered the antics of the “real musicians” behind the virtual band over the course of seven years and was screened selectively in 2008 at film festivals.

A year after debuting Bananaz, they step up bringing a new album Plastic Beach on March 9, 2010. It features the likes of Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed and Mike Jones. The lead single ‘Stylo’ is released months prior to the album and reaches No. 25 on Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0OVD0_YJnU ~ “Snoop’s the grandaddy, isn’t he? ‘Doggystyle’ was for many people the record that got them into rap and G-funk. The track also features The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a Chicago nine-piece brass group featuring eight sons of Phil Cohran (who played trumpet with The Sun Ra Arkestra). This is a proper soundtrack: brass-laden, pimped out, plastic funk, mixing the organic with the plastic to form something new and shiny. And who better to open up this world than Snoop?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Rhinestone Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYDmaexVHic ~ The song samples the unreleased Gorillaz demo ‘Electric Shock’ and the storyboard for the unmade music video. “This one was recorded in my little submarine. I nicked a bit of my own ‘Electric Shock’ track, and stuck it in here, with a little delay over the top. Came out quite well, don’t you think?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Stylo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPaWIeULKk ~ “This is a new sound for Gorillaz. An electro-ish “crack funk” sound, with a little bit of politics and a lot of soul going down. With ‘Stylo’, I wanted the music to feel euphoric, whilst still putting across how precarious our tightly packed situation is now, worldwide. Where we’re at as a species on this overpopulated planet (“Coming on to the Overload. Overload. Overload”). Bobby Womack’s chorus, he just explodes into the track. How good is it to get Bobby Womack on the record? This was the first recording he’s made in 15, 20 years, so what an honour. Bobby said he only returned to do this Gorillaz track because his granddaughter said Gorillaz were cool. Which is true. We are.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Superfast Jellyfish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6zPvkP5uVI ~ This song is an elaborate metaphor lambasting the music industry. Gorillaz take their time with their music, perfecting it and attempting to put out quality songs with depth and meaning, but the rigors of the industry attempt to force them into making cookie cutter pop songs like the rest of the musicians. According to the industry, the faster they can crank out the low-grade music, the more money can be made, and quality should be ignored. Gorillaz disagree.

“When you think about Gorillaz, it makes sense to have a Super Furry Animal on there, doesn’t it? I’ve always loved them, so I sent a jet over to pick Gruff up and take him over here. A lot of fun, this track. If you turn it up loud enough all the colours start spilling and washing out of the speakers. You could flood your room with a track like this.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Empire Ants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-yP9f0gadU ~ Albarn is more natural when working in the kind of ornate Village Green Preservation Society-style pop that dominates Plastic Beach. His collaborations with Little Dragon, ‘Empire Ants’ and ‘To Binge’ are two of the most arresting things here, they’re airy, elusive, and amazingly beautiful.

“A moment’s peace amongst the rush. I sampled a lot of this from the theme music to Tomorrow’s World, and the vocalist is Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, an electronic band from Sweden. It was actually 2D who got me into Little Dragon. He played me this lovely song of theirs called ‘Twice’, which he first heard on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Glitter Freeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N30cj9w6rw ~ This song features Mark E. Smith of The Fall and includes some Morse code at the beginning after Damon says “Where’s North from here” and it says “Plastic Beach”

“I’m really glad we managed to get Mark E. Smith on the record. I’m not sure he felt the same, but y'know. He wanted to do his part facing north. “Which way’s north from here?”. We used his question as a little intro, kind of like what we did with Shaun Ryder on ‘Dare’. Sometimes the greatest moments are those little mistakes that you catch in the mix when you’re just warming up. Like ‘Punk’ on the first album, and ‘White Light’ on Demon Days, this is the album’s rawkus section of chaos. Every album’s got to have one.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Some Kind of Nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvjjc18nB14 ~ “I grew up on Lou Reed, and The Velvets. And I loved Lou’s solo stuff, ‘Magic and Loss’ and ‘The Blue Mask’ and ‘Transformer’ of course. It’s funny. This track’s got a good ol’ sunshiny vibe. Like something off Sesame Street. Apparently Lou Reed is one of the only people to never appear, or refuse to appear, on Sesame Street. So it’s quite a coup that we got him on this. I recorded with Lou over in New York and he wanted to do his whole vocal thing in private, on his own. He ordered everyone out the studio. Me too. I love Lou, but y’know: this is my album. I wanna know what’s going down. Still, his track… wow! Solid gold.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

On Melancholy Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04mfKJWDSzI ~ This song is actually said to be about the not so good side of consumerism. The album itself in many ways criticizes society in a number of ways, but it is different from the rest of the songs because it has more of a “pop” feel to it. Lyrically it fits in with the theme of the album but it is more upbeat showing a paradox in the song because it sounds “happy” but is actually kind of sad.

“The melancholy hill – it’s that feeling, that place, that you get in your soul sometimes, like someone’s let your tyres down. It’s nice to break up the album with something a little lighter. It’s good to have something that’s a genuine pop moment on every album. And this is one of those.” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Broken

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MgzG2JiQ6Q ~ So, as it turns out, “him” is the narrator, who no longer sees himself from outside his body. He now sees himself as part of the story. It’s his own story, his own relationship that is broken. His lover has left him with no way to apologize, and their “space” is forever changed. They may wish for love, or still be in love, but something has changed and they can no longer go back to how things were.

2D’s and Paula Cracker’s relationship is broken. Paula was caught having sex with Murdoc, by Russel resulting a break up. Their love now is- broken. “Erm….I don’t really know what to say about this track, y’know, like Frank Zappa said “talking about music is like fishing about architecture”. This track just works. I don’t want to talk about it. Is that, OK?” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Plastic Beach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGM8BMqBcTo ~ “It’s a special moment for fans of Gorillaz and The Clash. How did this come about? Well, I had commandeered Paul Simonon from the Good, The Bad And The Queen. And it made sense. Gorillaz were always influenced by The Clash. They were always my favourite band, I loved how they took the heart and soul of punk and reggae smeared it in London graffiti and paint and then sailed it round the world. I don’t think that’s a million miles from what Gorillaz do now.“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

To Binge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMnrFiG8FRo ~ This is a song about Alcoholism and how it can ruin relationships. In the video, the liquid seems to look like orange juice, but it is revealed at the end to be beer, which tells you the whole concept of the song.

In both drugs and love, it’s never healthy to binge, feeling too much after feeling too little. She’s expressing that binge-ing doesn’t feel the same as when things were steady. Her feelings are changing and she can’t figure out if she wants to quit. She feels bad doing the drugs/being with him, but she falls right back to how she wants it to be and is once again caught up in the good feelings the drugs/relationship temporarily give her.

In the last verse, 2D by using economy to symbolize his heart is undergoing a sharp decline because of his addiction. His “autonomy” is the free will he possesses, but can’t do much with because he’s so dependent on his alcohol. 2D is in the neverendin cycle of his alcohol addiction, and as hard as he tries to free himeself he always finds himself back with the alcohol in his hand. Again, apply Alcohol to a relationship. This song is a dual meaning.

“Another collaboration with Little Dragon, ‘To Binge’ ends up as a beautiful duet between vocalist Yukimi Nagamo and 2D. A Hawaiian version of melancholy, yeah? You don’t see a lot of miserable Hawaiians, do you? It’s not known for its grim outlook on life.” – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Cloud of Unknowing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S02Sb_KnndQ ~ “This track’s a mirror of the opener, a final reflection on the Plastic Beach. Bobby Womack’s performance on this song can still bring tears to my eyes. That mixture of hope and uncertainty in his voice – the age and the experience, the fear and the joy… ‘scuse me. This song, like the Who’s ‘Love Reign O’er Me’ is the moment that gathers together the events of the album – and pauses for reflection: ‘Waiting to see what the morning brings, it may bring sunshine on its wings…’“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME

The Cloud of Unknowing is a religious document from the middle ages. Penned by an anonymous author, it urges the reader into believing that the best way to feel god’s touch is through deep meditation. While during meditation, he tells us that we must forget everything we think we know about god. Only then, once you are on “The Cloud of Unknowing”, can you truly experience god in his purest form, and feel his touch. So, the subject of this song may be that state, in which we are less susceptible to bias, and more open to the true nature of experience.

Pirate Jet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqqb0LGVKiI ~ The plastic eating people refers to how poisoned our foods are. Animals have been eating plastic as it enters the environment. We eat the animals, eating our own poison.

“‘Pirate Jet’ takes the album out swinging, a finale with shuddering jazz hands: “Did you like the show? It was called PLANET EARTH”. We’re finished and now everyone’s evolved into plastic. A new breed of human. But y’know, I want to clear this up. Plastic Beach. It’s not a green record. It’s not a judgement on the world. It’s just a picture. Plastic Beach: it’s another place, another way of looking at the world. And this is its soundtrack….“ – band member Murdoc Niccals in an interview with NME.

Doncamatic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJQyTnD74gk ~ This song is featured on the digital download version of Plastic Beach. The music video is set after the ‘On Melancholy Hill’ video as Gorillaz are waiting for Daley to arrive. The song is named after the first instrument created by Korg, the Donca Matic is “the groundbreaking Japanese-designed drum machine which started the Korg Musical Instrument Company in 1963!”

“Claim back the boy you left behind” is Daley’s way of encouraging people to regain their youthfulness. Too often, children sacrifice their creativity and innocence to seem mature. Daley believes this is where people go wrong as he later encourages listeners to “Close the white book” and “Unplug the brain from the game” where the white book can be interpreted as the rules of society and the games are the acts that occur within society. Interestingly enough, Daley has some scientific backing, as depression and stress has been linked to excessive technology usage according to research done at the University of Gothenburg.

The Fall is the Gorillaz fourth studio album released in 2011, a year after they released their third album, Plastic Beach. According to the story of Gorillaz, The Fall was made solely by lead singer 2D, on his hiatus from Gorillaz between the making of their 2nd and 3rd albums. 2D finished recording when Murdoc gassed him while he was in Beirut in order to kidnap him to bring him to the plastic beach to work on their third album.

Phoner to Arizona

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAeUwuUGSaM ~ Recorded in Montreal, Canada on the 3rd of October 2010. The lyrics are almost impossible to understand as it is an automated computer speech that has been distorted.

Revolving Doors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePoSILQJeOg ~ Damon Albarn - 2D wrote this song in a hotel in Massachusetts after seeing revolving doors, which reminded him how far he was away from home and how out of place he was. This song is about how the music industry is constantly changing, usually for the worse, and all the stress and depression caused by it or fuelled by it.

2D has come to the realization or is trying to deny the fact that he was born depressed and un-amused with life. That no matter what amount of drugs he takes, how much “sunshine he has in a bag” or whether or not people care for him. He will always have a cynical swing of depression that revolves around in his mind like a revolving door in a building.

Little Pink Plastic Bags

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvqfEURv-P4 ~ Features additional keyboards by Jesse Hackett. Recorded in Chicago, Illinois on October the 16th 2010. People don’t have any goals in life, but are just along for the ride. They don’t know where they’re going, they’re just going to go.

Amarillo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKtNaVaqAKk ~ This song is named after the place in Texas, USA, called Amarillo where it was recorded.

In this moment Albarn was seriously thinking about leaving the Gorillaz project to focus on his group Blur alone , but the choice was quite a hard one , which also explains why it was a particular moment in his life. A single prayer, asking for a response from God. The song is deeply involved with the concept of personal development and change. “I got lost on the highway” signals that the narrator has strayed from his path, becoming something he doesn’t want to be. This is made clear in the next line, “Forgive me for what I’ve become”.

The Speak It Mountains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXmahzlugdI ~ The lyrics mean that it is the beginning of the day and it is getting harder to live as time moves on even though there is new life being made and the world, although beautiful, can be deceiving and cause death and lack of life.

Bobby In Phoenix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFgR7js-H3k ~ The Fall was recorded by Damon Albarn on an iPad over the course of a month during a tour through the US and Canada. Albarn said of the recording, “I literally made it on the road. I didn’t write it before, I didn’t prepare it I just did it day by day as a kind of diary of my experience of America”.

It’s a love song by Bobby to his favourite place in the USA. And how in his old age he can feel the dread of death looming over him, and how even his beloved Phoenix can’t quite calm that dread.

California & The Slipping Of The Sun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aHc5Fn5IrI ~ This song features a train station announcement being made when Damon was at the train station talking to Jamie Hewlett, Mick Jones, Tanyel Vahdettin and Darren “Smoggy” Evans.

Do Ya Thing

~ This song, made by the Gorillaz, Andre 3000, and James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) was part of Converse’s ‘3 Artists, 1 Song’ music series. The song is also the starting point for a limited edition Chuck Taylor All-Star Collection designed by Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett. The shoe designs feature artwork from other projects related to Gorillaz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_PmmlCiso

It was released in two different versions: the approximately 4-and-a-half-minute radio edit, and the explicit 13-minute version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn4A0Onfjkg

The former was released as a free download on Converse's website, while the latter was released for streaming on Gorillaz's website.

“Andre 3000 murders this track, but that’s an understatement. He doesn’t just murder this track, he kidnaps it, and he ties it up, and then he brings it to his van, and then he drives it down to his evil lair were he tortures it for like 3 weeks, and then chops it up into little pieces and tosses it into the ocean. Serial Killer style.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfu4j0mILCY

The music video opens to a video of a crocodile scaring a herd of antelope. It then cuts to a scene where 2D wakes up and changes clothes in 212 Wobble Street, London, SW21 7QJ. He exits his room and checks another one, finding other band member Noodle fast asleep. After that, he looks in a bathroom and finds a masked figure representing André 3000, surrounded by light blue-skinned "sweat collectors". Disgusted, 2D looks in another room that turns out to be shrouded in complete darkness with the sounds of sheep, chickens and a man crying, which in turn is a reference to a Motorola commercial which band member Murdoc Niccals appeared in. Murdoc then scares 2D by popping up in the room, and he proceeds to go down the stairs using a stair lift as 2D goes to the living room as the Doncamatic submarine makes a cameo appearance behind him, and finds a previous character from the album Plastic Beach named the Boogeyman reading a newspaper (while the ‘Dare’ music video plays on the TV). He goes down to the kitchen and opens a cabinet, only to find the masked figure stuffed inside it. Calmly shutting the door on him, he cooks toast and puts it on his plate along with, without realizing, a human ear from a bowl of them near the toaster. 2D then opens a refrigerator and finds the masked figure stuffed inside it, who gives 2D a milk carton and jelly. At the dining table, he reads a fictional newspaper comic entitled ‘The Gorillaz’, showing comics called ‘The Funnies’ which features a comic of Murdoc hugging 2D. Murdoc, having finally finished going down the stairs, goes up to 2D and angrily hits him with a Gorillaz Converse shoe, unlike the comic, leaving the former very upset. 2D decides against eating the toast upon realising that it has an ear on it, turns off the radio (which also cuts the song) and leaves the house, while Murdoc starts a transmission from his radio station, playing the intro to the Gorillaz song ‘5/4′. Once outside, he receives a notice of eviction from a baboon mailman representing James Murphy, and smiles, looking relieved. The car from the music video of ‘Stylo’ is "parked" outside. The camera points up, revealing a still-giant Russel Hobbs sleeping on the roof of the house and the remains of the windmill island (nicknamed "The Slowboat") from the ‘Feel Good Inc.’ and ‘El Mañana’ music videos floating in the sky.

Following hints in the media that Gorillaz were back at work, their Instagram social media began uploading updates on each band member as short stories. It’s been six years since Plastic Beach and it would seem that 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, and Russel have a lot of catching up to do.

The Book Of Noodle

“She drifted away from Plastic Beach to safety, or so she thought. years later Noodle is face to face with pure evil ... Will she prevail?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wrYpbV8ft4 ~ On October 3, 2016, Gorillaz uploaded updates on their Instagram page concerning guitarist Noodle’s travels since Plastic Beach (2010).

This is not the first time Noodle has disappeared from the band following an attack. She also survived a deadly attack during the filming of the video for ‘Feel Good Inc’. She was last formally seen in the video for ‘On Melancholy Hill’ where she was attempting to reunite with her bandmates. Storyboards for a cancelled video for ‘Rhinestone Eyes’ show another attack on the band by The Boogieman. This time, her disappearance led her to her home country of Japan.

The Gorillaz Instagram story shows a murdered Maazu with Noodle holding her bloodied sword in a busy Japanese bar/restaurant.

Noodle’s return to England is reminiscent of her original introduction to the band way back in 1998, when she was smuggled by Japanese scientist Mr Kyuzo: After temporarily clearing her memory of the project, Kyuzo smuggled Noodle to the United Kingdom in a FedEx crate and falsely reported her death (along with the other 22 children) to his superiors. Noodle arrived at the doorstep of Kong Studios in 1998. Once the crate was taken inside, Noodle sprung out of the box and performed a guitar solo (which 2D described as “200 demons screaming in Arabic. Brilliant!”). She ended her solo with a 20 foot high karate kick before bowing and saying the word “Noodle”. This resulted with her earning the name “Noodle” (her only currently known name).

The Book Of Russel

“Discovering that life in a glass dome is not all it's cracked up to be, Russel shakes off his mistaken identity but will he ever make it back to safe shores?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMsje5xNW1E ~ One week after the release of ‘The Book of Noodle’, Gorillaz posted an update on the whereabouts of drummer Russel on their Instagram. ‘The Book of Russel’ explains Russel’s imprisonment in North Korea as a literal giant local tourist attraction before his release and return to England.

The posts came accompanied with videos and military music of a stylised North Korea. This drew some criticism for its racist/frivolous attitude to the real-life famine and oppression taking place in actual North Korea.Russel grew to an unnatural size due to all the radioactive fish he ate on his way to Plastic Beach. In an interview with Puss Puss Magazine in October 2016 he said of his giant growth:

“The biggest challenge was people judging me. Because yeah, I get it, I was big – but I’ve got an overactive thyroid. People see a sixty-foot giant and assume they’re up all night crying and spooning cookie dough into their faces. It was my THYROID.”

The hip-hop hard man rescued Noodle during the attack on Plastic Beach, but after being mistaken for a whale and harpooned, Russel was separated from Noodl and ended up in North Korea and achieved celebrity status after locals concluded that he was Godzilla. However, when he shrunk back to normal size (due to meagre food rations), he was released and made his way back to England and ultimately reconnected with Noodle.

It’s clear that Gorillaz are now reunited. “The band was getting back together”, the book concludes. When asked about the new album, Russel replied: “You can expect whatever you like. What is coming will come, whether you expect it or not.”

The Book Of Murdoc

“Murdoc abandoned the pirate-infested Plastic Beach. With only a cyborg Noodle for company, and nowhere near enough booze, what will he do when it runs out?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFxwCuEiNjA ~ Focusing on Murdoc Niccals, the latest story from the band sees the band member leave Plastic Beach after a pirate attack, fleeing on his own in a rusty submarine. The Battleship is named after The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, also referenced earlier as Muroc navigated through the Octopuses Garden. Packing only a crate of rum and cyborg version of his bandmate Noodle, Murdoc remained safely below the waves until his supply of booze ran out. Upon surfacing, he encountered a fleet of steel ships sent by record label EMI. Gorillaz have a long-standing working relationship with label Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI (up until 2012) and Warner Music Group (2013-). They have evidently been scouring the world in search of their greatest songwriting asset, Murdoc Niccals. Taken hostage by the label, he was jailed for three years and was freed upon agreeing to write a new Gorillaz album.

The Book Of 2D

“The attack on Plastic Beach forced 2D into hiding, but he wasn't alone. Washed up on a desert island with Massive Dick and faced with starvation, will he go native or find his way back to civilisation?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVJLjRpIrRs ~ Starting once more from the attack on Plastic Beach, the story reveals that vocalist 2D had hidden himself away in his underwater quarters. It wasn't much safer below the waves either: a great white whale known as Massive Dick swallowed him in one bite and swam away into the depths. The story then reveals that a lifetime of eating garbage in the ocean caused Massive's sudden death, washing 2D and the whale's carcass ashore on a desert island. With limited survival skills, 2D had no other option but to eat the body of the whale.

The story isn't all doom and gloom however, as 2D soon finds he isn't alone on the island after following a plane along the coast right into the middle of a beach rave. Deciding to "have a gap year and find himself," he was soon fired from his job as a friendship bracelet weaver and decided it was time to fly home.

There was the announcement that both De La Soul and Snoop Dogg would appear on the new Gorillaz album a couple of months back. “With Damon, it was easy because we love working with him”, Posdnuos told The Guardian. “We’re about to be on the new Gorillaz album. Snoop was also performing on the record when we were over there. He pulled us to the side and said: “Hey man, we’ve never worked together, can we get this going?” Usually the lawyers will say: “You can pay this artist or maybe we can swap?” and then it goes from there.”

Hallelujah Money

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d3yeszApV8 ~ Released one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration. A protest song against the global political atmosphere of 2016 - particularly with regards to the influence of money and race politics in the U.S. elections. It describes the dream-like America that Trump promised his voters, and uses a tree as a symbol of western prosperity.

English composer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist Benjamin Clementine and his fairy tale-like narration add to the sense of wonder surrounding this dream. Clementine hones in on Trump’s plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, a topic that continually resurfaced during the elections.

The video was directed by Giorgio Testi and Gorillaz, and edited by Sebastian Monk. It features stirring images of La Candelaria brethren, African tribesmen, and dancing geishas flashing behind Clementine as he “stands in the gold-plated elevator of Trump Tower”.

Following the 2016 U.S. election, Donald Trump’s ability to win the electoral vote left many voters disillusioned with the democratic process. His anti-establishment platform seemed paradoxical considering his personal wealth and relations with other big money parties in the U.S. Clementine ironically exhorts listeners to worship money—it can be their new god, just like how President Trump worships and uses money for his own personal interests.

The scream at the end of the song is taken from Spongebob Squarepants, specifically from season one, episode fourteen, ‘Karate Choppers’. Spongebob is reacting to Mr. Krabs telling him “you’re fired”, which was Donald Trump’s catchphrase on The Apprentice. While the inclusion of the scream is a playful nod to Gorillaz’s cartoon existence, it’s also a way of expressing genuine fear at the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Everyday Robots

Speaking about working with XL Recordings owner Richard Russell on the Everyday Robots album, Albarn told Rolling Stone: “In an ironic way, it’s sort of the most collaborative record I’ve ever done when it comes to songwriting. Some of the songs just came from the two of us experimenting in the studio.”

Russell handled the drum programming while Albarn took on the singing, piano and guitar parts. “We did it in just three months at my studio”, he said. “We’d work five days a week, 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.”

Everyday Robots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjbiUj-FD-o ~ Starting with a Lord Buckley sample, Damon Albarn’s ‘Everyday Robots’ is an interesting mix of hip-hop production with piano ballad pop rock that’s right in line with his work in the Gorillaz. The track almost sounds like a cross between Radiohead and Jay Z, and this shows how Damon can adapt his creative work to today’s music in the UK, with this “postdubstep” going on (like James Blake or Mount Kimbie).

Recorded in 2013 at the Damon’s West London studio 13, ‘Everyday Robots’ was produced by XL Recordings head Richard Russell. Albarn came up with this song while stuck in a traffic jam in California. He explained to XFM’s John Kennedy. “I was just watching everyone around me and everyone is so lost in their little worlds: on the telephone, listening to music.”

The song’s music video was created by Argentina-born, London-based artist and designer Aitor Throup, who said that he used, “CGI software and actual cranial scans and facial reconstruction techniques to explore and reveal the process of building a uniquely personal portrait of an artist and individual.”

Hostiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY0LhRZtQIs ~ Damon Albarn told The Guardian that he wrote this song after spending Christmas at his mother-in-law’s house, “spending hours on the sofa playing The Dark Knight video game with my daughter, just zapping these endless characters with no real humanity.”

Written from the perspective of a gamer who is going to spend the day killing digital enemies. “The hostiles are sort of in those shooting games that character that constantly get up on each level and you’re given no character other than they’re hostile to you. They’re completely soulless things and there’s something in that relationship that we have with the world when you’re in a sort of altered state and the blankness of just killing, that sort of passive aggression that exists in computer games.” - Damon Albarn

Lonely Press Play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9MMJgFKv24 ~ This dirge-like ballad finds Albarn crooning lyrics of isolation and loneliness. It is one of several satirical rants on Everyday Robots against 21st century tech obsession. The video is made up of scenes from Albarn’s travels filmed on the Damon’s iPad. The clip visits Tokyo, Dallas, Utah, North Korea, Iceland, as well as London, Devon and Colchester in the UK.

“That starts really strangely with arrhythmia, which means when your heartbeat is irregular. It’s about accepting that you live with uncertainty.” Albarn explained to The Sun. “The ‘press play’ refers to abstractions in an everyday sense, whether it’s watching a DVD or putting on the radio or passing time playing a game on the tube“, he added. “We live in a world where the symbols like the (press play) triangle has become synonymous with time out”, Albarn continued. “It goes back to the Egyptians and their esoteric take on the whole universe.”

Mr. Tembo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODG3VRkncBc ~ This is an ode to a baby elephant that Albarn met in a place called Mkombozi, in Tanzania. He recalled to Rolling Stone: “It was recently orphaned and walked onto this aerodrome; the people I know took it in and called it Mr. Tembo. I was there, and I met this little elephant, and he was very sweet. I sang it to him. It was recorded on a phone, and in a lighthearted moment, I put it on a list for Richard. He said, “I’d really like you to try that”, so I did.”

The song features backing vocals by The Leytonstone City Mission Choir. “Back in Leytonstone, there was a Pentecostal Church at the end of my road that belonged to the city mission. I remember standing outside with my bicycle listening to the singing, but never being able to find an entry point. But it was a very strong childhood memory that I’ve carried with me. I got in contact with that church, and they’ve still got a small choir, so they very kindly agreed to sing on the record a bit.”

The Selfish Giant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI8_Jz2SwbE ~ Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes sings a ghostly echo of Albarn’s voice on this narrative of a night spent at Dunoon in Scotland. Dunoon used to be a nuclear submarine base. Albarn recalled to The Sun: “Blur did a gig there. It was a ghostly place, shrouded in melancholy and had seen better days.” This also samples horns by Kenny Clayton from The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde.

The Oscar Wilde story, the song was named after, is about a giant who doesn’t let children enter his garden, but after a while, he helps one of them to climb a tree in his backyard. The giant smashes the wall around his garden and other children come to play in the garden, but the very boy the giant helped has left. The giant is heartbroken. Albarn’s song seems to play with this story a bit: the narrator feels like a selfish giant, and he let someone get close to him, but he can’t stand the idea of being left.

You & Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XdqfD9xSY ~ Damon Albarn shouts out the West London road of Westbourne Grove, which has been his manor for a number of years. It serves as the main road on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival in August. He told Uncut magazine: “Always after Carnival, there is this enormous residue of energy that hovers around for a few days. It’s a Post-Carnival Apocalypse song!”

This is actually an amalgamation of two different songs, the first being titled ‘You’ and the other being ‘Me’.

‘You’: Refers to using heroine: the lighter is used to make the heroine dissolve a vapor, and if you inhale that vapor, you’ll get high. This method is often called chasing the dragon. Damon began his relationship with heroin at the height of Britpop. He acknowledged to Q magazine the role that the drug played in his artistic growth. “I hate talking about this because of my daughter, my family. But, for me, it was incredibly creative… A combination of heroin and playing really simple, beautiful, repetitive shitt in Africa changed me completely as a musician. I found a sense of rhythm. I somehow managed to break out of something with my voice.”

Instrumental intermezzo: Around 3:30 some steeldrums kick in, giving the song an estranged feeling, which probably echoes how you feel when you’re on drugs. The steel drums break in the middle of the song was played by a local London musician. Albarn explained on a Reddit AMA that “his pans represent to me the true ghost of carnival”. This middle section is followed by the second part of the song, which sounds more like a distinctive song, though it has the same gloomy feel as the first part.

‘Me’: He is saying the addiction may have been his fault and he should be blamed. He is also using twilight in the sense of light caused by the setting of the sun as well as the other meaning of the decline of his career meaning the addiction has made him not only a worse person but a worse musician thus he quit though it was hard and was several relapses. “All goes round again” could also show how repetitive things can become and the fact that those lyrics were used repetitively adds to the effect.

Hollow Ponds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6q1Uf5Cgac ~ Damon Albarn takes us on a walk through his personal history on this song, taking in key moments that have shaped him such as the drought of 1976, the road he once lived in being severed by the M11 link road in 1991, and seeing the graffiti “modern life is rubbish” sprayed on a wall in 1993 (also the same year Blur released their album titled Modern Life Is Rubbish).

“1976 is a long time ago really. There’s that realisation that a lot of things have been quite interesting in the way I turned out. They seemed to be worthy of some kind of meditation. That’s what I’m trying to do in ‘Hollow Ponds’: go back and then realise that it’s now. In a way, how do we know that we exist other than that beam of light that’s our history?” says Damon Albarn.

The song contains a sample of the Central Line underground train leaving Leytonstone Station.

The History Of A Cheating Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcoR_-4g2Mg ~ This song deals with finding inspiration to write music and how that can be hurtful at times. Albarn explained the song’s meaning to The Sun: “I’d talk about relationships with my family, from childhood to now”, he said. “It’s driven by mistakes, happiness, dreams, expectations. How you find yourself locked in cycles and how you get out of them. I know that my experience is very similar to other people. I’m offering some of the more difficult stuff. I’m posing a question to everyone else as well.”

Uncut magazine asked Damon if he thinks the pursuit of an artistic vision is damaging to emotional stability, to which he replied: “I think it definitely can be. Because, as a songwriter, you need to feel stuff for it to come out honestly. And how do you do that? You do that by being curious, and curiosity is a very open book for a lot of fuck-ups in life.”

Heavy Seas Of Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCUfitpIsW8 ~ This song is a duet between Damon Albarn and Brian Eno. Brian Eno is better known as a producer than a singer. It was Everyday Robots producer, Richard Russell, who suggested that he sung on this track. Albarn told The Sun: “He said, “No one asks Brian to sing, everyone asks him to produce.” And Brian is such a fan of singing – he has a vocal group who meet every Tuesday. He has such a clear, crisp voice and mine is such a different tone, so it was interesting to put the two together.”

“As above, so below” is an important saying in the Pagan philosophy of Hermeticism. Essentially, your “spirit” mirrors the real world, and the real world in turn shadows a greater spiritual world beyond that.

The song features The Leytonstone City Mission Choir, who also contributed to ‘Mr. Tembo’. Albarn felt that the choir held a nostalgic importance to him and asked the Church if he could record with the collective.

The artwork for the song’s single release features the Palacio Salvo building, which is located in the Uruguay capital of Montevideo. Albarn explained during a Reddit AMA: “I found my whole stay in Uruguay quite affecting – the view from my hotel was completely dominated by the Palacio Salvo. I spent a lot of time looking at it”. The music video was directed by Damon Albarn and edited by Matt Cronin.

Personal Life

Albarn is now in a relationship with the artist Suzi Winstanley. They have a daughter together, Missy Violet, born in 1999. Albarn described becoming a father as "witnessing a life force" and saying that "it massively changes you. It slowly sort of shaves off the unpleasant thorny bits and hopefully creates a nicely rounded... I don't know, having a kid, you just become far more, inevitably you look to the future far more and, you know, it's desperate sometimes when you have a particularly bad few weeks of the newspaper just reminding you about this is wrong, this is wrong. We've got ten more years everyone."

Albarn has been an active supporter of various charities and philanthropic efforts throughout his career as a musician and has been involved in various charity albums and singles. DRC Music, a collective formed by Albarn, released their debut album Kinshasa One Two as a charity album in which all of the money earned is given to Oxfam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMy4Rzd1cTk&index=1&list=PL0FB6F34A16A6DE1C

Albarn has also formed a collective with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos to make a charity single with the money earned from that single also donated to Oxfam.

In 2013, Albarn alongside fellow Blur bandmate Graham Coxon performed live with former rival Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of The Jam to play Blur's 1999 single 'Tender' in support of Teenage Cancer Trust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqMbI3o7Ps

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iky92791 · 8 years ago

Photo

So FINALLY I get to show these two pieces off.

The originals can be found on my DeviantART here and here:

http://fav.me/dau0alj

http://fav.me/dau0fpy

After doing a lot of the art for Renegade Rhetoric and Echoes and Fragments, I was on a GoBots high…probably mostly because before all this I knew little to nothing about GoBots, so it was fun breaking into something new and being a part of breathing new life into this underdog franchise. I had expressed to Jim Sorenson my overly ambitious goal to eventually draw and redesign every GoBots character, if for no other reason, just for fun. Eventually Jim approached me with just the opportunity, except for something actually canon…so that was a huge plus. He told me that Andrew Hall was interested in a huge poster of literally everybody from GoBots…so I was down.

While it still wasn’t exactly clear WHAT the poster would be used for, the project evolved into a set of two posters: one for all the Guardians and one for all the Renegades. And more specifically, they were to homage the “Goodbye Convoy” and “Goodbye Megatron” posters that came with the respective gift sets.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attachments/10-jpg.27332166/

So my mission was to complete both of these posters, include every GoBots character, and makes them all recolors/retools of existing Transformers designs so as to avoid any copyright/trademark fiascos. (Actually, any Hasbro-owned design was at my disposal, though I was able to manage sufficiently within the realm of Transformers.) Oh, and the amount of time I originally had to complete the posters decreased significantly, offering me only two months to complete them both. (And having a family, full-time job, and not being an amazingly quick/efficient artist made this quite the challenge.) But I sold my soul, and got to work…and HOO BOY did I work, but - dear fragging Primus - I actually did it! Finished each one in exactly a month…and I must say that these posters have been my most grandiose artistic undertakings, and I was quite astounded and impressed with myself for actually completing something so damn huge AND doing it on time (OK, well…each one went like a day over my deadline, but whatevs :P) Drained as I was at the end of it all, I was also at the same time super invigorated to start doing some more art to help out with Beast Wars: Uprising, and my confidence in myself as an artist had increased drastically. Also, with the enormity of these projects, everything after that seemed thoroughly achievable. (Oh, and I later found out these posters would actually be used in the Spatiotemporal Challengers finale…so that was really exciting…and then literally 10 minutes before the story went live, they were apparently cut from the story. But Jim was still so kind to use them for Renegade Rhetoric. So either way, I’m still quite enthused!)

But I won’t get into everything else regarding my adventures doing Fun Pub art right now. The focus of this post is on the GoBots posters and some things I’d like to share about them.

So I did a ton of research and did my best to include every (or nearly every) GoBots character in these two posters. I made sure to include every Guardian and Renegade from the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon (including show-exclusive characters) as well as every toy-exclusive character as well - and not just the ones from the “main” toy line, but the obscure, miscellaneous ones as well. I specifically begged Jim to include Scooter Bot (which he fortunately supported), so I threw in the other weirdos like “AM Radio”, “Laser Gun”, “Trans AM”, and the other non-RoGun Arco GoBots. Considering these guys were factionless, Jim and I had to group them accordingly…so they’ve now been sorted onto their appropriate for these posters. We also agreed that the model kit character “Turbo Teen” was TOO weird to justifiably include, so he’s been left out.

Jim said I didn’t HAVE to include Rock Lords, Jewel Lords, and Fossil Lords, but I was feeling REALLY ambitious (and I’m a self-destructive completionist at heart), so I did my best to include them. In the end though, due to time restraints and the fact that it would visually be very difficult to include THAT many additional characters that weren’t even GoBots proper, only the major ones made the cut. Boulder, Nuggit, and Magmar were the most significant Rock Lords, so they got to squeeze their way into this cacophony, and Solitaire was the representative Jewel Lord. Sadly, none of the Fossil Lords or Narlies made it.

Regrettably, its been several months since I’ve finished these posters, and I’ve very recently discovered some more super obscure characters from play sets and other merchandise that I would’ve included had I known about them previously. There’s A-Tak from the HO Train Set, the little dude from the Mystery Tunnel Roller Coaster, the four different colored Bubble Blowers, the 3-in-1 Communication System, and some little guy that literally turns into the GoBots logo. (OK, so that one would probably have been too weird to use too…but still.) I’m sure one day I’ll draw them, though.

Now more specifically regarding everyone I did draw, I’ve compiled a guide to who’s who and what bodies they’re modeled after. Also to note, in order to resemble the original GoBots characters as much as I could beyond just a paint job, I chose different heads from OTHER Transformers characters that most resembled the original heads of the GoBots characters…or at least the ones that most readily came to mind when I referenced the GoBots characters’ original designs.

So here’s a list of everybody (with numbers matching the above images):

Guardians

1. Command Center - CW Sky Lynx (with the legs out) 2. Flip Top - CW Alpha Bravo 3. Guide Star - Generations Payload with G1 Beachcomber’s head 4. Bent Wing - CW Powerglide 5. Ace - DotM Powerglide 6. Bolt - TF 2010 Highbrow with Armada Oval’s head 7. Bullseye - G1 Windsweeper with G2 Hooligan’s head 8. Sky Fly - Armada Ramjet 9. Steamer - Go-Bots Randy with G1 Bumper’s head 10. Blaster - Armada Wreckage 11. Baron/Professor Von Joy - Alternators Camshaft (modified so the top of the car becomes his head) 12. Solitaire - Armada Thunderwing with Animated Red Alert’s head 13. Bullet - G1 Shouki 14. Night Ranger - Cybertron Lugnutz 15. Boulder - BW Under-3 with Infiltration Ratchet’s head (specifically Guido Guidi’s cover for issue #2) 16. Nuggit - BW Eggbot with MTMTE Fulcrum’s head 17. Good Knight - TF 2010 Hubcap with Armada Incinerator’s head 18. Small Foot - G1 Gears 19. Dive-Dive - Cybertron Deepdive 20. Shotgun - WFC/FoC Shockwave with MTMTE Rung’s head 21. Rifle - TR Galvatron (modified to have G1 Sentinel “guard” head) 22. Scope - Universe 08 Nightstick 23. Squirt - CW Shockwave with Armada Stormcloud’s head 24. Pistol - AM O.P. 25. Tic Toc - Movie Meantime 26. Scooter Bot - Generations Metroplex (with a modified face) 27. Spay-C - OC Raker with TF 2010 Sea Spray’s head 28. Path Finder - G1 Cosmos 29. Royal-T - CW Quickslinger with Prime Vehicon head 30. Treds - G1 Warpath 31. Man-O-War - G1 Seaspray 32. Beamer - G1 Windcharger 33. Dart - RotF Knock Out 34. Raizor - G1 Rotorstorm with Armada Gunbarrel’s head 35. Road Ranger - G1 Huffer 36. Motosan/Mr. Moto - Armada Sureshock 37. Defendor - Movie Brawl with Classics Jetfire’s battle mask head 38. Dumper - CW Long Haul 39. Dozer - CW Bonecrusher with CW Scrapper’s head 40. Tri-Trak - DotM Backfire with Cybertron Ransack’s head (with an added mouthplate) 41. Jack Attack - Classics Bumblebee with Armada Iceberg’s head 42. Rest-Q - G1 Hubcap 43. Leader-1 - CW Air Raid with CW Quickslinger’s head 44. Twister - Energon Bulkhead with CW Onslaught’s head 45. Hitch Hiker - G1 Omega Spreem 46. Courageous - OC Sky Sweeper 47. Mach-3 - CW Fireflight 48. Wrong Way - G1 Spinister 49. Space Hawk - Prime Star Hammer 50. Major Mo - Universe 08 Prowl with his head from Echoes and Fragments 51. Super Couper - TF 2010 Hubcap 52. Rumble - BM Blastcharge 53. Tail Pipe - Masterpiece Sideswipe with Cybertron Red Alert’s head (with an added mouthplate) 54. Zeemon - G1 Firecracker (modified so the top of the car becomes his head) 55. Turbo - CW Breakdown 56. Scratch - G1 Trailbreaker with G1 Arcee’s head 57. Throttle - Cybertron Offshoot with CW Counterpunch’s head 58. Hi-Way - modified TF vs. G.I. Joe “Bus Decepticon” 59. Scooter - CW Groove 60. Hans-Cuff - CW Streetwise 61. Van Guard - G1 Skids 62. Sparky - G1 Runamuck with Universe Roulette/Universe Shadow Striker’s head 63. Street Heat - Universe 08 Sunstreaker with MP Ironhide’s head 64. Trans AM - G1 Roadhandler with RID01 Hot Shot’s head 65. Wrecks - Armada Scavenger with Timelines Strika’s head 66. Ridge Runner - Spittor’s Cybertronian form from BW: The Gathering 67. Heat Seeker - G1 Dreadwind 68. Spy-Eye - Classics Jetfire with G1 Whirl’s head 69. Apollo - Armada Sky Blast 70. Pumper - CW Hot Spot with CW Hook’s head 71. Staks - CW Optimus Prime with his head tucked in 72. AM Radio (who I’m calling Radio-Head) - Spychanger Prowl 2 (modified so the top of the car becomes his head) 73. Tork - Cybertron Dirt Boss with Armada Spiral’s head

Renegades:

1. Thruster - Victory Thunder Arrow 2. Twin Spin - PCC Searchlight 3. Quick-Step - Hero Mashers Grimlock 4. Traitor - Animated Waspinator with G1 Ransack’s head 5. Geeper-Creeper - Energon Strongarm 6. Grungy - OC Sky Sweeper 7. Bad Boy - G1 Powerglide 8. Bug Bite - Classics Bumblebee 9. Nemesis - Prime Bumblebee Battle Suit 10. Chaos - G1 Flywheels with Armada Jetstorm’s head 11. Decker Decker - Bendy-Bus Prime 12. Scales BM Thrust (modified so the cycle-mode’s head becomes the robot mode’s head too…except it’s G1 Rippersnapper’s head) 13. Slicks - G2 Double Clutch with Cybertron Hardtop’s head 14. Pow Wow - G1 Crankcase with Armada Blurr’s head (with the “side wings” removed) 15. Psycho - TR Blurr (modified so his cockpit becomes his head) 16. Magmar - Protoform Optimus Prime with LSotW Impactor’s head 17. Stinger - Masterpiece Tracks with G1 Searchlight’s head 18. Destroyer - Classics Broadside (with his turret turned around so he has a cannon for a face) 19. Fly Trap - RB Salvage 20. Herr Feind/Doctor Go - G2 Blowout (modified so the top of the car becomes his head…and added a monocle) 21. Fitor - Classics Ramjet 22. BuggyMan - G1 Beachcomber 23. R-Navi (BM Technorganic Waspinator) 24. Laser Gun - Masterpiece Shockwave with G1 Onslaught’s head 25. Crasher - Classics Mirage 26. Cy-Kill - Generations Wreck-Gar with CW Dragstrip’s head 27. Monsterous - IDW Monstructor with BW Tripredacus’ head (specifically based on Don Figueroa’s design): — Fright Face - Slog — South Claw - Wildfly — Weird Wing - Bristleback — Heart Attack - Birdbrain — Gore Jaw - Scowl — Fangs - Icepick (They’d probably all have different heads, but obviously I didn’t need to figure them out for this project.) 28. Sky-Jack - G1 Talon with Armada Jolt’s head (with no mouthplate…as per his appearance in the PS2 game and pack-in comic) 29. Zero - RotF Ransack with SotW Ostaros’ head 30. Breez - PCC Searchlight with G1 Pipes’ head 31. Puzzler - modified CW-styled Combiner with RB Chase’s head: — Tic Tac - TF 2010 Tracks (modified to transform into a Combiner body) — Pocket - CW Breakdown — Crossword - CW Dead End — Zig Zag - CW Streetwise — Rube - CW Wheeljack — Jigsaw - CW Blackjack (They, also, would probably have been given different heads had it been necessary.) 32. Water Walk - CW Powerglide (with modified “sunglasses-styled” eyes/visor) 33. Stallion - G1 Trip-Up with BW Manta Ray’s head 34. Gunnyr - Armada Jetstorm 35. Evil One - RotF The Fallen 36. Tank - BM Tankor with MTMTE Trailbreaker’s head 37. Destroyer (the other one) - RotF Depthcharge 38. Clutch - Movie Dropkick 39. Cop-Tur - Energon Bulkhead with Universe 08 Jolt’s head 40. Vain Train - G1 Yukikaze 41. Crane Brain - CW Hook 42. Screw Head - UW Nosecone (modified so his drill becomes his head but with G1 Soundwave’s face 43. Binoc - Movie Longview 44. Odd Ball - RB High Tide with Armada Thrust’s head 45. Tux/Stretch - Animated Stretch (without the mustache) 46. Spoons - RoTF Dirt Boss with G1 Hook’s head (with an added mouthplate) 47. Gong - Movie Meantime 48. Re-Volt - G1 Doubledealer with Action Master Treadshot’s head 49. Blast - BM Blastcharge 50. Night Fright/Blades - TF 2010 Tomahawk with Armada Dune Runner’s head 51. Snoop - Armada Terradive with MTMTE Nautica’s head (without the antenna) 52. Zod - G1 Trypticon 53. Warpath - Classics Divebomb 54. Rogue Star - Prime Sky Claw 55. Spoiler - G1 Freewheeler 56. Dactyl - Armada Laserbeak 57. Loco - RoC D-Go 58. Block Head - CW Mixmaster 59. Bladez - Cybertron Unicron (slightly modified so his claws extend on the side of his hands and not over them) with BM Thrust’s head 60. Hornet - Animated Slapper (with added wings) 61. Scorp - Energon Scorponok (with a slightly modified head design) 62. Pincher - Energon Slugslinger with BW Manterror’s head (specifically based on his design from The Gathering) 63. Klaws - Energon Sharkticon with G1 Venom’s head 64. Vamp - Cybertron Megatron with G1 Chop Shop’s head 65. Bugsie - BM Scavenger with BW Retrax’s head 66. Creepy - Cybertron Scrapmetal with BW Tarantulas’ head

Additional notes:

Anyone who had already been given a design in Spatiotemporal Challengers kept it.

With Courageous, Grungy, and Nemesis…due to the fact that they’re really just combining battle suits rather than the characters themselves actually combining, it wouldn’t have really carried over properly to represent them as recolored Transformers Combiners. But instead, since they all have vehicles modes as well, we found some TF molds that fit the bill decently enough. And since the Sky Sweeper is made up of Combiner kibble, the design still hints at the notion of combining. And using the Bumblebee Battle Suit for Nemesis carried the whole…well, battle suit theme. So I think those worked out pretty well.

While it it’s PRETTY difficult to tell in the poster, Scales in actually in Thrust’s “3-wheeled robot mode”…since that would be more fitting for Scales than having legs. In a similar vein, Rumble and Blast are in Blastcharge’s “wheels-for-legs” robot mode.

Tic Toc and Gong display a little Easter egg. Tic Toc diplays 10:29 1984, which (after Jim and I did some digging to make sure it was actually accurate despite other reported information) is the original air date of the first episode of the Challenge of the GoBots cartoon. Also his pose is lifted from the 12th Doctor’s iconic stock pose. Gong’s display date of 10:27 1986 is (according to Vector Prime) the air date of “season 2” of Challenge of the GoBots, as recounted by Cy-Kill himself in Renegade Rhetoric. To parallel Tic Toc’s pose, I wanted to give Gong an iconic pose of The Master…but there doesn’t really seem to be one. But I did kind of use this as reference:

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/themasterthumbsup_8908.jpg

Oh, also I’m an idiot and just noticed a couple days ago that I didn’t color Geeper-Creeper’s right arm all the way. I’ll fix that eventually.

But I guess that’s about everything I can think of currently that worth mentioning about this project. It was quite a momentous undertaking, but it was a blast to do, and I’m super grateful to Jim, Andrew, and Fun Pub for giving me the opportunity to do it!

- IKY

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