#virtual metal guitars

[krazetv]

Damage Guitars 2 by Heavyocity | Review & Playthrough

[soundbanks06]

Shreddage 3 Bundle Mac and windows Download

Introducing the Shreddage 3 Bundle – the ultimate virtual guitar and bass collection for producers and composers! Whether you're crafting heavy rock anthems, blistering metal solos, funky grooves, smooth jazz lines, or catchy pop riffs, this bundle gives you all the power and flexibility you need.

What’s Inside the Shreddage 3 Bundle?

This collection includes eight critically-acclaimed Shreddage guitars and three thunderous basses, all meticulously sampled for an authentic and realistic sound. These instruments work seamlessly with the free Kontakt Player plugin (VST, AU, AAX) and come packed with professional mix/amp presets, so you can achieve a polished sound right out of the box.

Guitars Included:

🎸 Shreddage 3 Hydra – A powerhouse 8-string guitar perfect for heavy riffs and leads. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Jupiter – Classic and aggressive 7-string tones. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Stratus – Versatile 6-string with single-coil magic. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Serpent – A brutal, metal-focused instrument. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Rogue – Gritty, hard-hitting rock and metal tones. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Archtop – Warm and jazzy semi-hollow guitar. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Legacy – The updated version of the original Shreddage. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Telos – Expanding sonic capabilities for modern styles.

Basses Included:

🎸 Shreddage 3 Abyss – Deep, powerful, and aggressive bass. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Precision – The ultimate all-rounder bass for any genre. 🎸 Shreddage 3 Fretless – Smooth, expressive, and soulful tones.

Features That Make a Difference

Cutting-edge virtual guitar and bass engine for ultra-realistic performance.

Realistic lead and rhythm playing to capture the nuances of a real guitarist.

CONSOLE modular FX rack and mixer, giving you full control over your tone.

TACT 2.0 articulation mapping allows you to fully customize your playing experience.

System Requirements

Make sure your setup is ready to rock:

Mac OSX

Intel Macs (i5 or higher): macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11, or 12 (latest update).

Apple Silicon Macs (via Rosetta 2 & natively on ARM in standalone or in compatible hosts): macOS 11 or 12 (latest update).

Windows

Windows 7, 8, or 10 (latest Service Pack, 32/64-bit).

Intel Core i5 or equivalent CPU.

Graphics hardware support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher.

Windows 10 strongly recommended.

Memory Requirements

6GB of RAM (higher amounts recommended for loading multiple instruments).

Kontakt Player 6.7.1+ required (compatible with the free version of Kontakt Player).

🚀 Take your music to the next level with the Shreddage 3 Bundle! 🎶 Grab it now: shreddage-3-bundle

#Shreddage3 #VirtualGuitar #MusicProduction #KontaktPlayer #RockMusic #MetalMusic #JazzGuitar #FunkBass #StudioTools

[tylorvaughanofficial]

New song demo out now on youtube

[submariini]

When Finland’s Käärijä took the stage at this year’s Eurovision, a star was instantly, explosively born. With an outrageous energy, infectious presence and that oh-so-catchy hook, the Vantaa-based rapper may not have won the contest but he certainly snatched the hearts of those in his home country and beyond. We ask Käärijä the million dollar question: what next?

[full article under the cut]

Last May, a peculiar frenzy engulfed Finland. Virtually all green foods – cucumbers, especially – were sold out from stores. Buildings across the land were bathed in vivid green lights. Social media brimmed with green-themed parties, while data obtained by Swedish fintech company Klarna showed a 570 per cent increase in the online sales of neon green shirts.

This phenomenon was all thanks to Käärijä, the rapper who represented Finland in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. His now-infamous, blazing green puff sleeve bolero – dreamt up by Finnish broadcasting company Yle’s costume design team and which he dons when performing the smash hit track ‘Cha Cha Cha’ – had taken on a life of its own, the lush hue uniting the entire nation amid the competition. “It was incredible to see it happen and so cool being part of it,” Käärijä says. “It wasn’t planned at all – it was the people who created the commotion. I’ll definitely never forget it.”

When we speak over Zoom, Käärijä, whose real name is Jere Pöyhönen, is lounging in his minimal apartment in Vantaa, a city just outside Helsinki. He appears on my screen shirtless, a chunky gold chain dangling on his neck. On his head sits a pastel turquoise cap adorned with little cat ears. As he gestures with his hands, I spot flashes of poison green nail varnish. Pöyhönen’s chosen attire, or lack thereof, is extremely fitting – he typically performs bare-chested (“It gets so hot during my gigs”) and his Instagram handle is @paidatonriehuja, or ‘shirtless rascal’.

Hot off a performance in western Finland, the 29-year-old is enjoying his first days off in a while. It’s been a sweltering summer of non-stop touring, with fans flocking to festivals and concerts nationwide to see his explosive live show. Things are not winding down either, with Käärijä heading off on his first-ever European tour this month. Some of these shows sold out in mere minutes, an indication of his immense international following. “It’s so exciting; I’m definitely jumping into a new territory with that tour,” Pöyhönen says. “But I don’t have any expectations – I’m just going to let everything happen organically rather than stressing about it.”

Although he created one of this year’s buzziest songs, the guy on my screen is humble and, save for his look, almost un assuming. I remark on the stark contrast to his fiery and flamboyant stage presence. “Through Käärijä, I get to channel all the craziness, quirkiness and hyperactivity I’ve had since I was a child,” Pöyhönen says, describing himself offstage as “just this ordinary dude”. Without delving into further details, he tells me that the name Käärijä (translating roughly to moneymaker) stems from a history with gambling. Despite the darkness of its origin, he notes that the moniker is to be taken with a grain of salt.

While it might seem like Käärijä exploded into the public consciousness from obscurity, Pöyhönen has a long journey in music behind him. Born in Helsinki but having spent most of his youth in Vantaa, he started dabbling in the medium at just three years old. Coming from a musical family (“My dad and big brother both play the guitar”), jamming sessions were commonplace in the Pöyhönen household, his instrument of choice being the drums. “I was playing with pots and spoons before I got a set of those plastic kids’ drums,” he says. “When we moved to a bigger house, we built a band room downstairs where me and my brother spent a lot of time practising.”

At that time, rap music hadn’t yet entered Pöyhönen’s life; he was strictly a self-described “metal guy”. His older brother had instilled in him a love for the genre, particularly metal icons Rammstein. Upon starting high school, his musical taste broadened and he began listening to Eminem and popular Finnish rap groups Fintelligens and JVG. “Me and my friends were filming our own music videos to old rap songs, learning the words by heart,” Pöyhönen says. “It [making rap music] pretty much started as this humour thing I did with my mates.”

Encouraged by his loved ones, Pöyhönen began writing his own songs, still playing it for laughs. Turned out he had a knack for it. “Since I was little, I’ve been an avid storyteller – my imagination ran a little wilder than the rest of the kids’ at my school,” he says. “So when I started making music, I didn’t even need inspiration; I was able to whip up the lyrics from my head.”

But then, at 15, an unexpected turning point came by way of a severe sudden illness. Rushed to the hospital with ulcerative colitis, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, Pöyhönen underwent emergency surgery to remove his colon. Had he not been treated immediately, the complications could have been fatal. “I was writing songs in the hospital – music became a source of strength for me,” he says. “I decided that if I make it through this, I’m going to give my all to music and be serious about it.”

After over a decade of hard work and countless hours in the studio, Käärijä released his first album, Fantastista (Fantastic), in 2020, but it would take three years for him to become a household name in Finland. After snapping up the top prize in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (the Finnish contest for new music) with his party anthem ‘Cha Cha Cha’, a song dedicated to a hedonistic night out fusing rap, electronic music and metal, he secured the coveted spot as his country’s entrant for the 2023 Eurovision, held in Liverpool. One of Pöyhönen’s craziest dreams had come true.

For Pöyhönen, Eurovision was “an amazing but immensely tough experience”. The event’s intense schedule and the little time carved out for practising surprised the artist. There was no room for errors or retakes once it was time for rehearsals. “They didn’t give much mercy,” he says. On the bright side, the long days filled with “lots of press conferences and waiting around” gave Pöyhönen a chance to get to know the other artists. “The group we had there was wonderful – there wasn’t a competitive atmosphere at all,” he says. One of the contestants he became especially close with was Sweden’s Loreen, with whom he exchanged numbers and promised to “meet up and talk about everything else but music”.

By the time the grand finale came, Käärijä’s explosive performance and infectious song had made him one of the favourites to win. Ultimately he came second, while Loreen nabbed first place. How did Pöyhönen handle the letdown? “It was a huge disappointment, but in the end, the feeling didn’t last long,” he says. “When I thought about how far I’d gotten, the incredible journey it was and all the new friends I made, I realised that these things are far more meaningful than winning.” Plus, he still achieved something major: ‘Cha Cha Cha’ made history as the first ever Finnish song to reach Spotify’s global most-listened charts. The track’s reach proved to Pöyhönen that language doesn’t matter; it’s all about creating a singular, infectious sound: “The mouth is just as much of an instrument as the piano or the guitar is,” he says.

Having made history, I ask Pöyhönen if he felt any pressure after the Eurovision bubble had burst. “Of course there are the thoughts of ‘what now?’ and ‘is this going to be it, will anyone be interested anymore next year?’ – I’m aware that the hype won’t last forever,” he says. “But I’m onto creating the next thing, trying not to feel any pressure for future releases. I haven’t done that before, so why would I do that now?”

Pöyhönen hints at a new album dropping sometime next year, but in the meantime, he’s enjoying the attention – including his Vogue Scandinavia debut. Shot at the extraordinary home of the late interior architect Antti Nurmesniemi and his wife, textile artist Vuokko Nurmesniemi, we find the space where Pöyhönen and Käärijä meet, the quiet confidence mingling with that more-is-more persona.

And while Käärijä might develop as a character (“I want to show that he’s more than just a bolero chap”), he’s adamant that he will stay true to his music and keep singing in Finnish, despite the sudden international attention. “In the end, I’m doing this for myself,” he says. “Also, why change something that works?”

Photographer: Karoliina Bärlund Stylist: Sanna Silander Talent: Käärijä Hair Stylist and Makeup Artist: Neea Kuurne Photographer Assistant: Milja Laakso Stylist Assistant: Nelli Korhonen

[procyonloser]

(Maybe This Time, extra snippet)

"Kickboxing?" Adam asked, making a face. "I've done enough walking and running and fighting as a guard, I don't need to do that shit on my spare time."

Lute just shrugged a shoulder, her gym bag hanging over it. He'd caught her while he was out, grabbing a coffee before he headed to pick up the boys after school. Adam had made some comment about not having hobbies like that anymore, and she'd suggested coming with her.

As much as he liked Lute, they weren't exactly close, and she was fucking his ex wife. Granted, he was getting plowed by the guy who used to fuck his ex wife too, so maybe he shouldn't be judgey. It wasn't as though Adam really had friends, besides Lucifer, and tentatively Lilith again. Adam didn't really think he needed them either, but there were days he got bored to shit at home. Lucifer may have cut down his hours, but Adam didn't have any anymore, and when the boys were at school it was just... Mind numbing.

Watch TV, do some chores, sit on his phone, play guitar for a bit, go back to his phone.

"Isn't there anything you like, though?" Lute wondered. "You play instruments, right? I remember you talking about metal bands when we were at the casino."

Adam didn't want to fuck with concert venues anymore, they were fun when he was drunk and young, but it wasn't his scene now. "What am I gonna do, join a band? I don't exactly get along with a lot of people." Adam commented, but in the back of his mind, he was beginning to wonder.

What did he like? What did he enjoy doing? Obviously, he liked hanging out with his kids, he liked going on trips and long car rides. He loved Lucifer, they talked a lot, went on dates, just took walks together, and Adam had started learning more about Lucifer's job. He'd taken some pictures of the newest event they had going over there.

Oh. Adam blinked. Pictures.

He'd always enjoyed playing with his camera, and Lucifer gushed over the photos he'd taken in the past. Adam thought his photos were pretty good, maybe not the ones of the twins when they were 3 and covered in spaghetti sauce, but still.

"Maybe... I'll take a photography class, or something." Adam mused, scratching his chin. In the back of his mind, he was already picturing driving, or even flying, out to scenic locations photographing things that spoke to him.

When Adam got home and told Lucifer his idea over dinner, Lucifer froze. For moment, Adam was worried that he'd think it was stupid, or tell him it was a waste of money. That was the good thing about dating Lucifer, virtually all of his fears, his deeply ingrained bullshit he'd gotten from his parents, from his town, from whatever - were proven wrong nearly instantly.

"That's an amazing idea, you know how much I love your work!" Lucifer beamed at him, though Cain made a gagging motion. "I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come back and take a few more photos for the event. I know you liked the Halloween theme, and the pictures you took came out great, the editorial board loved them. I'll pay you for your time, of course."

"I volunteer turning Cains room into a darkroom!" Abel said, raising his hand, only to get elbowed in the ribs.

"Just buy me something expensive on our next night out." Adam grinned at Lucifer, trying to keep it subtle enough the boys wouldn't pick up on some on the things Lucifer had bought him so far.

"I was going to do that anyway," Lucifer half purred, getting twin looks from the twins.

[imaginesbymonika]

From the dining table | Part 3

Pairing: Damon Albarn × Gallagher! Reader

Plot: Everyone's favorite topic during the '90s and 'OOs; Y/N Gallagher. The mysterious and beautiful younger sister of the two loud brothers rarely spoke during interviews but played the guitar like no one else. And even though she never said a word about her dating-life, the list of her rumored boyfriends kept growing longer with each passing year. Yet, there was one name in particular that just kept on popping up...

Read Part 2

(1995)

Damon hurries out of the venue. It’s simply too hot and packed in there. Yeah, they won a bunch of awards, yes he’s appreciative, please stop asking him about it. A shaky sigh leaves his lips once he finally steps outside the night. He leans against the now-closed exit door and shuts his eyes in happiness.

The cold air feels good on his sweaty skin. His hand automatically moves down to his jeans and he takes out a pack of cigarettes. Finally, a moment of peace and quiet.

However, that is cut short when he hears how someone next to him chuckles. His head twists instantly and he almost drops the cigarette when he once again meets eyes with Y/N. She stares at him before her eyes move down to his (now) trembling hands. They linger on them for a couple of seconds before they shift back up to his face. Damon swallows thickly.

He feels like prey as he watches how she brings her cigarette back up to her red-painted lips. She smokes reds, of course? Damon looks down on his blue cigarettes and lets out a sigh. He somehow feels less cool now.

„Need fire?“

He instantly looks back up at her. She smiles at him while holding out a small metal item. There’s hesitation flashing up in his eyes. „Come on. I don’t bite.“ Damon wasn’t too sure about that. How could someone, who’s this much younger than him be so intimidating?

„Thanks.“, he eventually says and reaches for the lighter. „You’re very welcome.“, she virtually purred.

He takes a very deep breath before looking at her again through his lashes:“ Didn’t know you could talk.“ She laughs and he wants to hear it again immediately. He stares at her and never wants to stops

(2024)

He packed his bags the same night. He doesn’t really know why, considering how he has no idea how she’s going to react when she sees him again. It’s been so long. What if she doesn’t recognize him anymore? What if she sends him away again?

The three-hour drive was primarily spent in silence. He lost count of how many times he turned the radio on and off. “Well, when you see her tell her I said hi.“, was the last thing Noel told him before he hung up, maybe Damon should begin with that.

“Your brother says hi, and I never stopped thinking about you.“ No, he couldn’t say that. „Your brother says hi and I still write all my songs about you in one way or another.“ Damon shakes his head as if he attempts to make his thoughts fall out of it, while he takes a right turn.

It makes sense to him that she moved to the seaside, he recalls how they used to talk about it late at night. She used to say that one day when she’s old she wants to keep three dogs and two cats, and maybe if she’s married she and her husband will always be sitting in their backyard; with a clear view of the ocean ahead.

Damon would always glance at Y/N‘s side profile and hope to be the husband in her story one day. He never said that out loud…obviously. He always yearned for more, even though he understood he wouldn’t get it- at least not from her.

The sun rises and he puts on a pair a sunglasses.

[oftenwantedafton]

prize | dave miller fluff

1.8k words, general audiences/no warnings

Inspired by @utoarts adorable fanart featuring Dave Miller losing his plush Bonnie prize in a claw machine

He’s almost got it.

The claws close around the upside down plush rabbit’s figure, sinking into the neck and clasping one loop of its dapper bright red bow. The machine has always been finicky, but hours of free time have allowed him to hone his skills, making him an expert on collecting memorabilia from the now defunct pizzeria. He knows precisely how much pressure to apply to each button; the finesse required to get those oft flimsy bits of metal to clutch in just the right places. Of course he has keys to all of the prize machines and he could simply claim everything outright, but there is no challenge in that. And if there’s one thing Dave Miller likes, it’s a challenge.

It had taken him some time to maneuver the replica guitar-playing mascot into the correct position, knowing to attempt to retrieve the purple plush in its original position resting upright would never work. So he’d had to move it a bit, pinching a limb here and there until he’d gotten it into this current ideal placement. He watches raptly as the arm lifts, the object of his desire dangling scant inches from the sharp nose virtually pressing against the glass case, when a loud crash nearby startles him, making him jostle the machine, the seemingly secure hold on the toy rabbit suddenly loosening. He curses, his palm slapping the window in frustration, staring in disbelief as the stuffed animal slips free after this final grievance, tumbling back down to rest atop its brethren. It is now close to the side of the case, where he knows the bowed out shape of the claws will interfere with getting a proper grip this time. Virtually impossible, even for a skilled person like himself.

With a final disappointed grimace at the arcade machine, he finally turns away, intent on finding out what—or whom—had interrupted his near perfect performance. There seems to be a great deal of noise coming from the kitchen, and if he didn’t know better, he’d swear it was Chica nosing around in there, but the animatronic is stationed onstage at the moment. All of the mascots were.

Which means this was someone else. An intruder.

It’s been awhile since the last break in, so he supposes it was only a matter of time before someone decided to invade the shuttered restaurant on some dare or in search of something of value to pawn. Whoever it was, they were clearly novice burglars; they were not even attempting to conceal their rummaging. The security guard has no trouble moving soundlessly into the kitchen, the beam of his flashlight training around until it illuminates the source of the disturbance.

A small cat is nosing around, searching for sustenance.

Dave relaxes his grip on the flashlight, frowning as the animal notices his appearance and turns to approach. He’s never really been a cat person, and he swears that all felines know this, still insistant on trying to convert him to be more sympathetic towards their kind. This one—young, not quite a kitten but not fully an adult yet, either—is clearly part of this group, letting out a soft cry and nudging his ankle with its head before rubbing the length of its body along his pants leg.

“Oh, don’t do that. Hey…” He sighs, already noticing the amount of hair it’s leaving behind on his ebony uniform pants. “How did you get in here, anyway?” He lifts the light again, shining it around the room, making the abandoned stainless steel shelving and appliances gleam briefly before discovering the panel covering one of the vents has been knocked loose. He moves closer, his new feline companion following, once again rubbing against his leg while he crouches down to examine the opening. “Rusted,” he murmurs, squinting at the screw he’s lifted from the floor. Well, that was remedied easily enough. He should probably check other portals of entry and egress like this during his next set of rounds. The building was getting older. Just like him.

The cat takes advantage of his new positioning to nuzzle his hand, mewing for attention. Dave frowns again. Easy enough to let the stray back outside, but…he can’t quite bring himself to do it. Getting soft, old man? he chides himself.

“I suppose,” he says to his visitor, deciding that talking to the creature wasn’t really any odder than anything else that happens around Freddy’s, “that a dinner break is in order.” There’s a turkey sandwich waiting in the small refrigerator in his office. He could spare a few morsels. After that, though, the vagrant was on its own, he resolves. He absently strokes along the animal’s spine before he even realizes what he is doing. He can feel the vertebrae. Too thin, like himself. In the beginning, his weight loss had been intentional, a deliberate choice to help disguise his appearance. As of late, consuming food has become something he does at random moments. Many nights the food he brings—if he even remembers to bring it—goes untouched, simply because he is too distracted by other things.

Dave shakes himself, standing up with a noticeable click of protest from his knee joints. He’ll repair the vent later, he decides. First, the meal. He actually almost has an appetite this evening.

“Come along, then,” he invites to his companion. “I’m not going to carry you.”

He would, in fact, if the situation required it, but the feline seems to understand his intentions, eagerly padding beside him. He flips the desk lamp on when he returns to his office, glancing at the surveillance monitors to reassure himself that there were no other threats lurking while he’d been distracted by the stray, then retrieves his bagged lunch and a bottle of water from the fridge.

Sinking into the office chair, the security guard begins unwrapping his sandwich, his eyes resting on the bottle of spring water he’d already begun consuming earlier in the shift. He supposes he should offer the cat a drink as well. Which means he’ll need a bowl. Which means he’ll have to head back to the kitchen again. Might as well just fill it from the tap while he’s in there.

“You’re causing quite a ruckus,” he mutters, noting both pants legs have now been thoroughly covered in white fur. The Tuxedo meows in agreement, once again following him back to the kitchen and then accompanying him on the return trip to the office while Dave carefully balances the small ceramic bowl to avoid spilling it.

“Alright. Here you go. Give me a second and you’ll have your supper.” He sets the bowl down on the floor near the corner of the desk and the cat immediately investigates, taking a few grateful laps. Dave busies himself with unwrapping his sandwich, pulling the top layer of honey wheat bread away, then shredding some of the turkey piled inside with his fingers. The intruder instantly notices this activity, perhaps smelling the food, hopping up on the desk and padding around the controls for the security cameras, mewing in eagerness.

“No, hey, come on, not up here. Alright, fine. But you’d better not get anything on the equipment,” he admonishes, laying a few scraps of meat down which the young animal eagerly gobbles down, making a pleased chirping sort of sound and looking for more seconds later. “We’re not going to make a habit of this,” he murmurs, deciding the cat needs the protein more, removing the rest of the turkey and feeding it to his new friend. Bread, mayo, and lettuce for himself it is, then.

“Still hungry? The vending machines have long since been picked clean, I’m afraid,” he says around a mouthful of food, taking a swig from the water bottle to wash it down while the cat licks his fingers. He gives it a few scratches between the ears. “Not that there was anything in there that would have interested you.” The cat begins purring, its eyes sliding shut as he lightly scrapes beneath its chin with his fingernails. “That’s the spot, huh?”

Green eyes reopen, regarding the benefactor. The black and white animal is on the move again, this time seeking out Dave’s lap. It begins kneading the man’s thighs before it settles, the claws still unsheathing and retracting, the purring continuing at a considerable volume.

“Hey. I have to get back to work, you know.” He strokes the cat from its head down to its tail. He can’t recall the last time he had an animal snuggling against him like this. He’d never allowed pets into his home despite his children’s many requests, citing they were a lot of work and no one in the family would be around enough to give them the proper care they deserved. He still stands by that decision, but maybe just one wouldn’t have been so terrible. A cat like this one, perhaps. Well, it was a moot point now. There is no longer a family to contend with.

For a time Dave continues sitting there, petting the cat who appears to have now fallen asleep. He doesn’t have the heart to disturb it, merely watching the monitors, letting his thoughts wander. He’s startled when he realizes just how much time has passed. He should be doing rounds. Repairing that broken vent. Having another go at the claw machine. Bonnie was a lost cause, but Foxy seems like a possible win. He’s already developing a strategy to acquire it.

But his plan will not be implemented his evening. Morning, actually. Nearly dawn. The end of his shift. It seems the other duties and tasks will go unfinished as well. Tomorrow night, then.

For now, he has to decide what to do with the cat.

The creature has since woken from his nap, sniffing around for crumbs it might have missed on the desk’s surface before hopping down for another sample of water. The former pizzeria owner regards the animal solemnly. He can’t leave it to fend for itself in the alley outside. The interior of the restaurant isn’t safe without his protection. That really only leaves one option.

“Fine,” he grumbles, rising to his feet. His companion blinks at him, waiting for the door to open. “But this is only temporary. Got it?” He gathers his coat and car keys from the locker nearby, leading the feline to the main entrance. Once the front doors are gated and the lock secured, he escorts the stray to his car. The cat immediately takes up residence in his lap, its two front paws resting on the steering wheel.

“I’m not sure this was the best idea. Maybe I should have put you in a box or something.” Dave readjusts his position, trying to coax the animal into a safer spot. There. At least it was lying down now. Luckily he doesn’t have far to go. His apartment is just a few minutes away.

Of course, there is the matter of food. A litter box. He’s going to have to stop at the store.

“I’ll drop you off first, then I’ll run back out to get supplies. You see how much trouble you’re causing?” He shakes his head as the cat begins purring again and he can’t resist sneaking in a few more affectionate scratches before he starts the engine. Not the prize he’d originally intended on taking home, but a victory all the same.

[yabsthesquare]

JSABtober day 25 🔺️ Energy Drink: The Rocker

Status in my AU: 🟢Canon!🟢 But not too relevant

(DJ Ener, he/him)

The tallest and youngest member of The Pentagoons! Ener used to play the electric guitar and produce rock and metal songs, but after years of doing the same thing he wanted to expand his horizons, so he joined in on making EDM with his best friend Chao. Ener can be seen at parties often alongside him!

He never gave up rock tho, he just wanted to do more stuff too 😎

He is an expert in energy drinks and has tasted them all, but he's responsible when it comes to their consumption! He's not that responsible with other substances though, Chao is often.. a bad influence 🥴

And they were roommates 👀/sil

2/3 DJ beans ;] Love myself a slim tall x small round duo amiright?

Ngl this is one of the edm songs I've known the longest, I used to have it on loop :0 It was interesting to finally give it a shape

There's still 1 more pentagon left!

[dms-a-jem]

Depeche Mode - Interview with Alan and Martin

International Musician and Recording World - Nov. 1984

Leaving their beginnings as wide-eyed Popsters behind them, Depeche Mode have become masters of the art of noise and the science of the studio. Adrian Deevoy had a rewarding chat with the Basildon-to-Berlin boys, Les Drennan took some great pictures.

Somewhere, off one of the corporate corridors in the labyrinthine complex we affectionately term Broadcasting House, a woman sits alone. Her job is to create emotion, tension and atmosphere. Her key to this process is a PPG system. Although this is heartbreakingly unromantic it is the ultimate argument for machines in the Machine vs Human debate. It’s also quite a nice little story.

Depeche Mode like this story.

“All the sounds for Life Of Earth,” declares Alan Wilder.

“All those little animals,” beams Martin Gore.

After four years Depeche Mode are pretty bogged off with being told that they make inhuman music. They quite rightly believe this accusation to be untrue. They might accept that their first two albums weren’t cataclysmic – catchy, melody blip-bops if you like your lager warm but nothing to telex home about – but they remain adamant that last year’s LP, Construction Time Again, this years singles People Are People and Master And Servant, and their latest album Some Great Reward are anything less than stirring. For in the last 18 months Depeche Mode have discovered, embraced and subsequently immersed themselves in sound. With the aid of producer Daniel Miller’s matchmaking Synclavier a strange love affair has developed between the band and sampled noise.

Alan Wilder and Martin Gore, the songwriters, seemed most smitten to a meeting between themselves, and a micro-Walkman was promptly arranged in a horrendously loud video wine bar where they both bawled unashamedly of their love for sound.

“I’ll take you through all the sounds on People Are People,” says Martin, eyes glazed, sparing the machine no blushes. “The bass drum at the beginning was just an acoustic bass drum sampled into a Synclavier then we added a piece of metal to that – just a sampled anvil type sound – to give it a slight click and make it sound a bit different. That’s the beauty of the Synclavier, you can edit sounds together to make what we call combination sounds. The main synth sound is the actual ‘synth’ sound on the Synclavier, that’s the one that plays the bass riff. But the bass sound is a combination sound too with part of it being an acoustic guitar plucked with a coin, which sounds very interesting when the two sounds are sequenced together.”

“There’s very little playing going on in People,” adds Alan, “virtually everything is sampled into the Synclavier. With the guitar sounds we altered them slightly once they were in the Synclavier because you sample in one note and then you can alter the length and dynamic of every note in the sequence for the guitar part so it will give expression, but it will still be completely in time. You can justify all the rhythms, you see, so that you can have articulation but it’s all in time.”

Getting back to the People Are People breakdown Martin unveils a short sampling anecdote: Love on a plane.

“I took a stereo Walkman when I was going on a plane from England to somewhere,” he begins. “I originally brought it along to take the takeoff but while the air hostess was doing her safety speech at the start of the flight I decided I’d tape that as well. But as she was telling everyone to ‘Check the instruction cards under your seat,’ the door flew open and all this air rushed in which made a real loud noise and everyone laughed. Anyway I looped the end of what she was saying and the laughter so it goes, ‘…tion cards ha ha ha ha …tion cards ha ha ha ha,’ which sounds funny but I used it in conjunction with a choir sound and it added a really nice texture to the bridge on People.”

“There’s a Synclavier harp sound in the verses,” contributes Alan, “and an ARP sequencer playing very fast in the chorus and there’s some Emulator sounds that we used for adding a few frills here and there.”

The three throaty clunks at the end of each chorus is in fact Martin’s throat.

“That was a combination sound,” says Alan. “First of all we sampled Martin going, ‘Unk Unk Unk,’ with his throat then we added a bell sound and a timpani to give it depth.”

“I felt a bit of a berk doing that,” admits Martin. But love’s a bit like that.

The vocal line, “It’s a lot… like life,” at the beginning of Master and Servant was yet more fodder for the Synclavier. As Alan explains.

“Firstly we got a lot of people singing the high, ‘It’s a lot,’ and then a low, ‘Like life.’ You don’t have to play one slower or faster than the other to get the octave either because you make a patch on the Synclavier keyboard for each part and then you play the parts in their natural pitches and both at the same speed which is very handy.”

The lead vocals on People Are People and Master and Servant (or M&S as us Depechies call it) on the 7” mixes at least, were pretty well the only sounds that weren’t sampled.

“The vocals,” explains Alan, “were recorded in a big room. That is the vocals were sent down through a PA into a big, live room so we could not only get a great big sound but so we could put effects on the vocal while it was being recorded and afterwards on the disk.

“Although we sample all the snare sounds,” he adds as an afterthought on live rooms, “we always record the initial sound in an ambient space. We like to vary the snare sounds a lot so we record all different acoustic snares in various rooms and we close mike them or mike them from a distance depending on the width of the sound that we require. Simmons pads? No, I don’t like them. After you’ve done all that fiddling around to get away from that factory preset sound you might as well have got a really good sound on the Synclavier. Simmons pads just remind me too much of that Howard Jones factory preset and Drumulator syndrome. Really boring ‘synth’ sounds. They’re just not interesting, they sort of scream ‘DX7!’ and ‘JP8!’ at you.”

The latest Depeche album boasts a myriad of sounds, less overtly metallic than the socialist sentiments that they reflected on Construction Time Again but just as fascinating. Love is all about contrasts.

“We don’t think that we overdid the metal-beating idea on Construction Time,” says Martin, “but we wanted to make this one less obviously metal sounds. We wanted a little more subtlety…”

So instead of belting skips they belted concrete.

“Yeah, on one of the tracks on the album, Blasphemous Rumours,” elaborates Alan, “we sampled some concrete being hit for what turned out to be the snare sound. All that entailed was us hitting a big lump of concrete with a sampling hammer…”

“…I’m sure they’re not actually called sampling hammers,” interjects Martin giggling.

“Anyway,” continues Alan, “the engineer / producer we use, Gareth Jones, has got this brilliant little recorder called a Stellavox which we use with two stereo mikes and it’s as good as any standard 30ips reel-to-real but this is very small and therefore very portable. So we just took the Stellavox out into the middle of this big, ambient space and miked up the ground and hit it with a big metal hammer. The sound was… like concrete being hit. I can’t really put it any other way.”

“Professional Walkmans are good for sampling too,” claims Martin. “Gareth has always got his out. On trains… at home. They’re good because they get a very impure sound that can often be really interesting. But if we want a very pure sound then we’ll take the thing, say a bit of scaffolding, into the studio and mike it up in the proper conditions and get a clean sound.”

If an equipment list had been included in the mentions on Some Great Reward, apart from pavements, buildings, bottles and old people being stapled together it would have incorporated a long list of toy instruments which Martin divulged as he became more intoxicated; by love of course.

“One morning me and Andy (Fletcher) went down to Hamleys, the toy shop in London, and bought as many toy instruments as we could find. Pianos, saxophones, xylophones and we took them all back to the studio and sampled them. One we used a lot was a Marina (?), a toy one, very strange, but after we’d sampled it, it was great. It sounded pretty terrible as a toy but when we took it down a couple of octaves it sounded really good.”

“People tend to think that if you’re using toy instruments then they have to sound whacky,” complains Alan, “but we put some to very good use because as soon as you sample them they take on a whole new quality and when you transpose them it puts them in a completely new context. Like the noises Martin was making with his throat, we only took those down a tone and it was unrecognisable as someone going, ‘Unk’, with their throat.”

But sampling, like love, isn’t all happiness and although Depeche have learnt to take the rough with the smooth, they found out the hard way. Alan breaks off in the middle of another ‘good combination sound’ story to tell how they were stitched up by a sussed, sampling percussionist.

“We were doing this combination with Martin doing his Indian voice combined with a bassoon type sound.”

“It was pretty ethnic,” says Martin launching into his Indian voice.

Alan ignores him. He has something on his mind that he’s not sure if he should tell us.

“I’m not sure I should tell you this,” he tells us, “but we got this percussionist in for the afternoon to sample his drums and the different techniques of playing them. We didn’t try to hide the fact that we were sampling him. We said, ‘We hope you don’t feel r*ped,’ and he agreed to be sampled literally just hitting one drum, once at a time. Anyway we sampled all his drums once, maybe twice. Now, the Musicians Union haven’t really caught up with sampling and this bloke had obviously contacted them when he got home because he gave us this bill for about 50 different sessions, plus sampling time plus a consultation fee. It was enormous and the stupid thing was that most of the sounds weren’t even as good as that (bangs two pint glasses together) and we only used about two for maybe two seconds each on a couple of songs.”

Another problem came when the band had to divide their recording time between Music Works in England and the 56-track, Solid State luxury of Hansa Mischraum in Berlin.

“There were all these builders in next door at Music Works,” moans Martin, “and we’d have the track running with us hitting skips and concrete and they’d be next door tearing a wall down and we couldn’t tell which was which. It was very confusing at times.”

Like love and marriage, sampling and timing tend to go together like the proverbial horse and jockey.

“Although it makes the whole process even longer, when you get into one you can’t really help but get into the other,” says Alan. “You can’t help, after you’ve been involved with sequencing for a while, noticing three millisecond or five millisecond discrepancies. So you end up time-shifting every sequence until it’s perfect. Then we got into consciously putting things slightly out of time. Like, for example, the choir sound on People again we used a combination sound of different choir sounds on different synths and then put them slightly out of time with each other. Like we took one sound from the Synclavier, one from the PPG and one was on the Emulator. Are you familiar with the Friendchip? It’s a time code reading clock that can monitor every single click output from all your drum machines and all your synths so when everything is going via the Friendchip you can adjust the feel by pulling something, say five or six milliseconds in one direction.

“The thing is so many things can’t play in perfect time anyway,” reveals Alan, “the Linn isn’t in time when it’s meant to be playing ‘drum machine’ perfect time without human error programmed in. It can go out by 20 milliseconds. We set an oscilloscope on several things to see how well they kept time. The one that came out best was the TR808 which only as a two millisecond shift. That’s better than the Synclavier. Rotten sounds though. But we actually ended up triggering stuff from the 808 just because it’s so tight within itself.”

“We always thought the 808 had a good feel,” chips in Martin before adding a bitchy, “even though Alan has a grade eight piano his playing is still incredibly out of time compared to the Synclavier sequencer… and even that’s out!”

All this and the Emulator II?

“Yeah,” admits Martin realising that his love has almost turned him into a technocrat, “the sampling time is about 17 seconds now, I think, and you can get more sampling across the keyboard, it gives better quality than the Fairlight and it only costs about seven grand which is a lot but it will be a big help to us live.”

And there’s a pianillow ballad, Somebody, to be sung love. Martin promises some. Kinda wonderful.

“We’re going to go for a completely human feel on that one. Just a piano played by Alan and Dave singing and Andy playing tapes on the Fostex X15. It’ll be very different.”

So the love for sound can take you backwards but what of the future?

“I don’t know,” confesses Martin, “the Synclavier can already go further than your imagination and they’re thinking of getting new software for that. Then there’s re-synthesis which might happen in a couple of years where you can take a sampled sound and change just tiny parts of it. It’s really impossible to say. Maybe we’ll just get the guitars out and make a Rock ’n’ Roll album. Who knows?”

…and somewhere, within the folds of Auntie Beeb’s ageing skin, a woman sits alone wrestling with a similar emotional predicament. Is she really in love with her PPG system is has it been David Attenborough all along?

Adrian Deevoy, November 1984 (some of the text is hard to read so transcribed to the best of my ability. Apologies for any typos)

[kayliraine]

🎸⭐️ EMA Band AU || origin headcanons (pt. 1):

pt.2 pt.3

It feels more socially acceptable to yap on this app so allow me to heavily indulge:

🎧🎼 | Mikasa and the Titans:

They all really like music—blasting it through the open windows of their cars and singing along horribly, karaokeing together on late weekend nights. Whenever they’re bored they’ll make music together in Eren’s garage for hours on end. In high school, Eren poses the idea of recording and posting covers on youtube for fun.

They upload under the name “E.M.A_covers” and it’s mostly just to show friends and family (Carla really likes to see them—never misses an upload).

One day they post a cover of “Everybody’s Fool” by Evanescence and it gains a bit more traction than their usual couple hundred views—reaching over 1,000 in under 24 hours.

Throughout the week, their numbers continue to grow until they soon reach 50k+ views.

Armin has the idea of starting an official band with original songs together.

It takes them a while to come up with a name for the band, playing around many different ideas until Armin gets frustrated.

He suggests they just stick with “EMA”.

Mikasa says it’s too boring, “What about ‘The Three Soldiers’?”

After Armin insists on making a chart of all the name possibilities, they eventually collectively frankenstein a few of the options together and get “Mikasa and the Titans”. It’s inspired by a dream Eren once had that they reference a lot in jokes.

Armin’s writing skill lands him a job as their designated lyricist. Mikasa and Eren occasionally pitch in with their own ideas and verses as well though.

Mikasa is on mic and guitar, Eren on drums, and Armin on keys.

Eren is initially very insecure about their lack of a bassist and tries to get their classmate Connie to play drums while he takes up bass, but it doesn’t work out. Connie lied about knowing how to play (he really didn't think it'd be that hard to figure out).

Armin makes up for the lack of bass by playing bass lines on the keys when necessary.

Their music definitely has a heavy indie and alternative rock/metal influence, but hey love to experiment with many different styles.

They’re pretty small but they quickly develop a very tight-knit, hardcore community through youtube. Eventually Armin figures out how to put their stuff on Spotify too.

By their second year of college, they have a few dozen thousand monthly listeners on Spotify. They do shows in their local area whenever they’re free, (which isn’t often because Armin is very committed to his studies and does not like to take breaks) and start a little merch store. Their university even hires them play at events from time to time.

They're a huge hit in their community and virtually everyone in the town knows who they are.

As a group, EMA are extremely close with one another. They do almost everything together and use "band meetings" as an excuse just to hang out. Playing together feels like being on cloud nine and they wouldn't have it any other way.

thank you so much for humoring me if u read all of that :)) I have a playlist for this au too if ur interested:

[kittehxx]

hi hello! i'm a lesbian ace-spec trans autistic catgirl, she/her, 25 years old. feel free to send dms/asks/hatemail/whatever

more juicy tidbits below!

haiiii welcome to my secret bonus section! keep this just between me and you, but you're way cooler than all those people who didn't read this part :3

idk where to start tbh, so I'll start with saying i'm a gaymer girl. although the only two gaymes I've really played for a while are genshin impact and wuthering waves. i love gambling for virtual waifus apparently

and also i have a rapidly growing collection of genshin plushies (collei was the first one i got because she's my favorite character of all time, because she's so cute and precious in every way, collei best girl, and honestly i'd love to be her if i could), and i've plushified a couple genshin yuri things i like so yeah that's a thing

i also like to play guitar (and also drums, but i don't currently because apartments and drum kits don't exactly mix well) and write music (though i haven't done much of that in a while)

big fan of prog rock/metal. favorite artists include (non-exhaustive) dream theater, leprous, haken, ayreon, rush, and yes

currently a phd student in an engineering field. a bit of a math nerd

in the us, pacific time zone if you care to know

[rockandroar]

I adore the Steel Stampede! How did you come up with the appropriate animal designs? What are their characters? How do they act? Are they nice? They look very intimidating, and scary, like Clash!

That’s all! I’m quite excited to see their introduction and Clash’s introduction in the webcomic!

Thank you! :) Two of my lifelong obsessions are music and animals, so I guess it was inevitable that I'd end up caricaturing music genres as species or groups of animals. It's the premise that gave way to the entire Rock & Roar story, so I went wild with it. So with metal, we've got this loud, fast, heavy genre with chugging guitar riffs and drums doing blast beats, and all of that reminds me of powerful, charging animals and their thundering hoofbeats. Top that with the sign of "the horns" being a hand gesture associated with metal since the heyday of Black Sabbath, and it seemed clear to me that metal musicians and fans would be horned and hooved animals like the ones above.

I first drew Grant Ruffalo more than ten years ago and he was a buffalo/bison from the beginning. It's just the animal that intuitively felt right for this character. To his left is Onyx Slater, and I chose an oryx because their white face with black markings reminded me of the corpse paint some black metal bands wear.

To Grant's right are Billy Kidd the goat, and Gunnar Ramsey the black sheep. No specific reason for choosing those animals in particular, I just thought it'd be funny.

Steel Stampede became a band in the late 60s. These four guys take their music very seriously and are intimidating, for sure. They command respect and they don't mess around, at least not publicly. They're very much regarded as musicians of a very high caliber, a band that is cited as influential by virtually everyone else in the metal scene.

Grant is known for his short temper, Onyx is more restrained and keeps to himself, Billy is the funny guy of the bunch but also very brave for his small stature, and Gunnar is the most down to earth and easiest to talk to. None of them are actually mean though - that's more of an image they keep up. They're not going to go out of their way to bully anyone around or intentionally hurt someone. They just won't tolerate anyone messing around with them, or their gear, or their live performances. And frankly, I think they've earned that level of respect.

But backstage, if you're on a friendship basis with these guys, they're pretty cool. If Grant is in a good mood, he'll regale you with stories of all that he's experienced throughout his music career, and will enjoy listening to your own stories too. He might even pass on some of his wisdom, in the form of a guitar technique, or advice on stage presence. He wants his beloved music genre to live on and have a strong future beyond him and his band, and even if he won't outwardly show it, it really warms his heart to see young musicians pursuing their craft with passion and discipline the way he did. He wants small bands to succeed, and every once in a while he is known to publicly give a shout out to unknown bands whose future he believes in.

[invisiblequeen]

For @cawthorntales 's Luna BC: May I Introduce...Phillipe Ware?

Age: 28

Pronouns: He/Him

Occupation: Restaurant Owner

Aspiration: Seeker Of Secrets

Traits: Mysterious, Smug, Seducer

Likes: Red, Black, Brown, Baroque Music, Easy Listening Music, Metal Music, Guitar, Mischief, Cross-Stitch

Dislikes: Blue, Green, Yellow, Jazz Music, Focus Music, Batuu Music, Baking, Fishing, Horse Riding

Skills:

Charisma - 7

Cleaning - 4

Cooking - 6

Cross-Stitch - 4

Fitness - 4

Gourmet Cooking - 5

Guitar - 8

Logic - 6

Mischief - 7

Mixology - 5

Photography - 4

Writing - 4

Who is Phillipe Ware? Where did he come from? Willow Creek? Tomorang? Del Sol Valley? Who are his parents? I heard his mother was a chef and his father was that poor guy whose business was screwed over by the Landgraab company, but how do we know if that's true? Where did Phillipe go to school? Britechester? Foxbury? Or somewhere else entirely?

And how on SimNation did a virtual nobody with no social media presence and no recognizable past end up the Owner of the illustrious Chez Llama in under a year??

Those who are lucky enough to have Phillipe's trust know the answer from his own mouth: "The secret," he says with a sly smirk, "is Secrets."

Secrets are knowledge. Knowledge, when wielded correctly, is power. Power protects as you gather more secrets, more knowledge, and more power. Ever heard of Varys or Littlefinger? Phillipe Ware is just the dangerously attractive version of both. Same level of "nosiness," same circle of "little birds," and the same level of Power.

Which is nothing without the right person to share it with. Will Luna be the lucky woman who he shares HIS secrets with?

[stellacaerulea]

Shining Nikki music headcanons

(inspired by @localcapricosimp )

Let's cut to the cheese

Nikki: a regular teenage girl into common pop, except she breaks into a choreography whenever Born This Way comes on

Loen: drives listening to Fuel by Metallica

Lolory: can and will clear Barbie Girl on a DDR-like with zero misses, but Epica is her comfort band

Momo: knows Miku's virtually endless discography by heart but is horrified by PoPiPo

Helz: hi-key into electroswing, but also has a classical playlist for whenever Serena is near...

Serena: ... while she is deep into Beyoncé

Aeon: canon states he's into metal and EDM, there's little to state on the matter - that said, he most definitely listens to Starboy to chill

Marina: has a playlist with a chiptune version of every song in existence

Ashley: can sing AND play Lithium on the piano while blindfolded

Lilith: pretends to prefer '10s pop but has the whole Evanescence discography hidden in her phone

Aphrodia: either Madonna or Aerosmith, no inbetween (not that there's a lot between them to begin with)

Mercury: gunfire ASMR

Zoey: commonly 100% every DragonForce song in Guitar Hero on the controller with one hand to relax before sleeping

Cersei: Disney songs - from Nightmare Before Christmas back

Desire: has a band that covers Nightwish songs, composed solely of disembodied hands (Nightbane is the hired groupie)

Caprico: has a cooperative playlist with Aeon and loves Terminator soundtrack - specifically Terminator 2

Hestia: trained androids to sing ecumenical chants in a choir

Glow: not-so-secretly listens to chiptune remixes of said choir

[dustedmagazine]

Mdou Moctar — Tears of Injustice (Matador)

The 2024 album Funeral for Justice starts in an obliterating blast of guitar, a blitzkrieg riff that jets off to the stratosphere, returning to earth in molten metal and ashes. It’s a startling demonstration of Niger-ian guitarist Mdou Moctar’s facility at shredding, and when Dusted writers convened, virtually, to talk about the album, the phrase “everything at 11” came up repeatedly.  Now, a year later, the desert blues foursome would like you to know that there’s more to Mdou Moctar than guitar solos, that indeed, their songs work at a mournful whisper as well as they do in enraged, cathartic explosion. The band re-recorded eight of nine Funeral for Justice songs acoustically (only the brief “Djallo #1” is missing), for the ruminative Tears of Injustice. Now, hand drums pace the acoustic tangle of “Funeral for Justice.” Here “Imouhar” smolders like a far-off desert mirage. Fury gives way to an elegiac resignation. If you came for six-string pyrotechnics, you might have to adjust your expectations and learn to appreciate a smoky mystery instead.

Not that Mdou Moctar’s music didn’t haunt and loom before. “Takoba” from the earlier, electric album, slants in from an alternate dimension, its blues guitars raining through clouds of heart-sore group singing. Still, the new version zooms in on a bright, pristine acoustic guitar line which curves and flowers like a tropical vine. The tune gets spine from hand drums and clapping, not a full-on kit, and, if anything, the singing sounds more definite and present, right in front of you, where before it drifted in from far away.

“Oh France,” Moctar’s fiery anti-colonial anthem, also gets a makeover, tamping down the wall of guitar that Funeral’s version began with, and instead inserting the rolling sway of desert rhythms, the exploratory yearning of a single guitar line. The old version violently rejected oppression, the new one quietly totes up the damages. Both are valid approaches, and both are musically satisfying.

Jennifer Kelly

[terubakudan]

SILLY GOD DISCO ~✨ Be Crazy For Me ✨ ~A Nightclub-inspired playlist ~

An EDM playlist for recreating that tense, exciting atmosphere at nightclubs. I'm super introverted and hate crowded places, so nightclubs are a no-go for me. And yet I adore the fast-paced songs played in nightclubs xD

This idea was inspired from an underrated gem of an anime called Paripi Koumei (Ya Boy Kongming!). In which they described how clubs usually start with low BPM songs then gradually ease into higher BPM songs throughout the night. I love my ballads but I think the "high" you can get from listening to EDM and metal can be attributed to BPM.

Title taken from the GazettE song, SILLY GOD DISCO.

EIKO starring 96貓 (96Neko) - Be Crazy for Me

I had the same reaction as Koumei when I first listened to this song xD I was amazed by Eiko's vocals and this song makes for a great opener and introduction of Eiko, it just blows you away. Eiko herself being a real 'diamond in the rough', you can't help but be crazy for her!

2. Yakuza 6 OST - Theory of Beauty

Composed by Saori Yoshida, the BPM of this song gives me such a high xD But the slower 'cooldown' parts of the song with piano and guitar make this song god-tier. I consider it canon that Joon-Gi Han definitely had this song blasting on the speakers when fighting Kiryu at Club Stardust.

3. UuultraC OST - uprise!!! (vocals by 川名唯 Kawana Yui)

ED1 of ADELTA's kaiju boyfriend (yes really) game UuultraC. It gives me such good vibes and as a commenter said it's 'jubilant'. It makes a perfect theme song to the relationship between Shoutarou and Kozuka in the game. I also just have to say that Shoutarou is an absolute cinnamon roll and Kozuka is such an affectionate boyfriend.

ADELTA? Sounds familiar? None other than the creator of Hashihime of the Old Book Town! (a game by which is not perfect yet one I still recommend to BL lovers everywhere - it's especially impressive considering ADELTA is virtually a one-man developer team).

4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 OST - Clan Battle

Composed by either Hidenori Shoji/Yuri Fukuda/Chihiro Aoki/Saori Yoshida, the bopping-fantastic theme to the Clan Creator mini-game in Yakuza Kiwami 2. It was such a bop that it got my little brother to finish the entire Clan Creator sidequest. He's always liked those strategic games...I on the other hand prefer beating the shit out of goons. xD

5. Manuel - GAS GAS GAS

One of the many addicting songs featured in Initial D. It just makes me want to step on the GAS GAS GAS xD

6. m.o.e.v - Gravity

The 'they didn't have to go this hard yet they still did' insert song in the Inital D parody scene from Lucky Star. I have never watched an episode of Initial D but drifting to eurobeat just screams cool. My dad used to have the whole manga collection sitting on his bookshelf, maybe another day I'll give Initial D a try.

7. GOATBED - Masculine Devil

The ED song to Trash and Garbag-*cough* Virus and Trip's ending in DRAMAtical Murder. I lovingly hate the two xD GOATBED did such a great job on the OST and it really helps build the science fiction-atmosphere of the game.

Also Masculine Devil is just such a cool song name, I also find it a fitting name for a perfume. Maybe one of these days Nitro+chiral will release a perfume line based on their games...

8. GOATBED - Ai Catch

The opening song to DRAMAtical Murder. Because somebody left a gold nugget of a comment I'm just going to leave it here:

Me too, me too.

9. Casey Edwards - Devil Trigger

It's been almost 2 years since I last played DMC5 and this song is still so damn earworm-y. Casey Edwards did such a good job on composing such a banger song and of course I recommend his other songs like Bury the Light, Fire Inside, and Vacant Surrender.

10. Rosa Walton - I Really Want To Stay At Your House (80s Remix by Levi Doron)

An absolutely lovely remix of the soul-crushing insert song from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. While the original song had a sense of melancholy, this remix just sounds like happier times.

A great closer to one night at the nightclub just hanging out with friends if you ask me.