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rhapsodynew · 1 month ago

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#classic rock news

#new music

A book with memorable graphics of legendary bands. It is being prepared for publication.

Only 500 copies – such a limited edition will be released the book “Rock Visions: Rock 'N' Roll Graphics From The Print Age”, which is a collection of memorable artifacts of twelve famous rock bands and performers of our time. In this list: Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Elton John, BAD COMPANY, JOURNEY, KISS, LED ZEPPELIN, PINK FLOYD, QUEEN, THE ROLLING STONES, STEVE MILLER BAND and THE WHO.

The book presents their graphic legacy – from original tour programs, backstage passes and concert tickets to T-shirts, posters and record covers.

🌧 It's time for November Rain. November will delight us with a lot of good music. Courtesy of UCR News

November 1st

• The Cure – Songs of a Lost World ❤️

• Elvis Costello – King of America and Other Realms (6CD box)

• T. Rex – Bolan Boogie: The Best of T. Rex (2CDs or 2LPs)

• Todd Rundgren – Arena

Warren Haynes [Allman Brothers Band] – Million Voices Whisper

• Weezer – Weezer (The Blue Album): 30th Anniversary Edition (3CD set) ❤️

November 8

• Beach Boys – The Beach Boys' Christmas Album

• Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido (multiple format reissue, including 3CD/2Blu-ray deluxe box)

• Neil Young – On the Beach

• Paul Carrack [Squeeze / Mike + the Mechanics] – How Long Has This Been Going On?

• Pete Townshend [The Who] and Rachel Fuller – The Seeker ❤️

• Rick Wakeman – Yessonata

• Steve Perry [Journey] – The Season 3 ❤️

• Talking Heads, Talking Heads: 77 ( 3CD/Blu-ray или 4LP

• Widespread Panic – Hailbound Queen

15th of November

• Black Keys – Ohio Players (flying double act)

• Bryan Adams – Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024 (3CD/1 bLue-ray box)

• Burton Cummings [Guess Who] – Some good moments

• Don Henley – Creating the Perfect Beast (original 40th Anniversary vinyl edition)

• George Harrison – Life in the Material World (original edition of the 50th anniversary vinyl record)

• Iron Maiden – The Mighty Slave (original edition of the vinyl record with zotrope for the 40th anniversary)

John Cale [Velvet Underground] – "The Academy is in Danger"; Paris, 1919: Luxury Remastered Edition (VP)

• Linkin Park – From Scratch ❤

November 22nd

• Allman Brothers Band – Final concert on 10/28/14 (3 CD sets) ❤️

• The Beatles – American albums of 1964 in mono format

• Kan–Kan lives in Kiel, 1977

Chicago, I live at 55

• Don Henley – I Can't Stand Still; Cass County (Multi-voice editions)

• The Doors – The Doors 1967-1971 (box of 6£) ❤️

• Judas Priest – Rock and Roll: the anniversary edition for the 50th anniversary (in English) ❤️

• Motley Crue – Dr. Feel Good: Deluxe edition for the 35th anniversary of the group (set of 3 CD) ❤️

• Neil Young – On the Beach (opposite)

• "Smashing Pumpkins" – Aghori Mhori Mei (VP)

• Marilyn Manson – "One Murder under God" ❤️

U2 – How to Disassemble an Atomic Bomb: 20th Anniversary reissue (CD; limited edition super deluxe 5CD or 8LP box; cassette); How to Disassemble an atomic Bomb: Re-assembly edition (extended digital edition)

• Van Zant [Lynyrd Skynyrd/.38 Special] – Always look up ❤

November 29th

• Eric Clapton – Crossroads Guitar Festival 2023 (4CD/2 bLue-ray set) ❤️

• John Wetton – Concentus: The John Wetton Live Collection, Volume 1 (10CD box)

• Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes – Concert at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey - December 30, 1978 (series of 3 albums, including yellow marbled edition; Sovenoman Zandt)

• Status Quo - The Path to Glory (reissue in summary, including a limited section of "Autographed Vinyl Records")

• War - CD Collection 1977-1994 (set of 4 CDs)

• Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud ("Cold Sun")

🤘 New U2 track

The song "Happiness" was written during the session for the Irish rockers' 2004 album "How to Disassemble an atomic Bomb" and was included in the new album "How to assemble an atomic Bomb again" along with the Wound inspired songs "Rural Mile" and "Your Photo (X + W)"

The upcoming album will include new, previously unreleased songs found in the session archives of the original album. It will be released on November 22 in the room with the main version of "How to disassemble an atomic Bomb"

Tool Group announces the first ever all-inclusive "Live In The Sand" festival featuring Primus, Mastodon and others

Festification and Tool are pleased to announce the holding of the first ever "Tool Live In The Sand" festival at the luxurious five-star Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Royalton Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from March 7-9, 2025. "Tool Live In The Sand" will bring Tool fans from all over the world to the island

At this unique event, which will be headlined by Tool. There will be two nights featuring some of the most iconic and influential rock bands in the world, including Primus, Mastodon, Eagles Of Death Metal and Coheed And Cambria. The stars also include King's X, Fishbone, Wheel, Cky, Moonwalker, and longtime Tool collaborators Alex Gray and Allison Gray join as special guests.

Scorpions announce a concert in honor of the band's 60th anniversary in their hometown with Judas Priest

The legends of German hard rock Scorpions will celebrate their 60th anniversary on stage with a big concert in their hometown

The "60th Anniversary — Homecoming" event will take place on July 5, 2025 at the Heinz von Heiden Arena in Hanover and will include performances by special guests, including Judas Priest

Recall that as part of the celebration of their 60th anniversary, the legends of German rock will also visit Las Vegas

THE NEW CONCERT ALBUM TEARS FOR FEARS

Songs for a Nervous Planet is a live album that includes four new studio tracks, as well as live recordings by Tears For Fears during the tour and in their best moments. The album includes live versions of such hits as "Shout", "Head Over Heels", "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", "Mad World" and others. Covering all periods of the band's existence from The Hurting to The Tipping Point and beyond, this album will take you on an incomparable sonic journey, which is the Tears For Fears concert and their career to date

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astrangetorpedo · 5 months ago

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Julien Baker: Accomplish the Most with the Least

by Zachary Gresham | Photos by Nolan Knight

Julien Baker is more visible than ever. After her low-budget debut, Sprained Ankle, made nearly every best-of 2015 list, the 21-year-old Baker signed with Matador Records and went home to Memphis to record her next record at the legendary Ardent Studios. Turn Out the Lights was released in October of 2017 to massive acclaim from critics, and was met with extreme devotion from audiences. It is the rare record that one can wholeheartedly describe as both monastically spare and cinematically epic, putting her in the heady company of Tori Amos, Nina Simone, and Jeff Buckley. We caught up with Julien shortly after her return to Tennessee from a quick tour of Japan to talk about guitars, Ardent, Craig Silvey, reverb, and doing more with less.

Turn Out the Lights is really beautiful.

Oh, thank you!

I find it difficult to disconnect from it emotionally for a while after I've turned it off, which is the sign of a quality record.

That means a lot to hear. Thank you.

You made it at Ardent in Memphis, but you did your previous album, Sprained Ankle, at a studio in Virginia, right?

Yeah. Spacebomb Studios. Most of the songs on Sprained Ankle were recorded at Spacebomb, but there are two on there (two with percussion, "Vessels" and "Brittle Boned") that were recorded at Cody Landers' house. He's an incredible engineer.

Were you recording yourself before that?

When I was in high school, the band I was in [The Star Killers, later known as Forrister] put out a full-length [American Blues] album that we recorded entirely in Cody Landers' attic. We were all kids, and he took on this project because we were his friends. It was a labor of love, as well as a learning experience. We had no idea what to ask for and what sounded good. It's funny, looking back now on what we were trying to emulate.

What were you trying to emulate?

Well, Matthew [Gilliam] – the drummer and one of my closest friends – our biggest influences are probably Manchester Orchestra and Circa Survive. We wanted to sound big, bombastic, and theatrical, but with sinewy, reverb-y guitars. The other guitarist listened to Wilco, Guster, and folk-adult-rock. It ended up sounding half like Whiskeytown and half like Sunny Day Real Estate. Those are mixed very, very differently. Also, and this is true with youth, is that everything is more exaggerated. You want things as more drastic, colorful caricatures of themselves. I always wanted a 30-second reverb tail on my vocals. The guitars had to be super loud. Matthew had the biggest snare that was sold at the local music store, because everything had to be so powerful. A better way to put it is that it lacks taste or restraint. I learned so much every day, after school sitting in front of Cubase and crafting a record. Before I ever went to MTSU [Middle Tennessee State University], that's how I learned how automation works, why you track drums first, or why you don't want to put a whole bunch of reverb on the drum kit, even though it sounds cool as an idea.

You went to MTSU to study recording?

I did. I went to MTSU because they had a really notable and reputable recording industry program, but my thing was always live sound. There's an audio engineering major, and within that you can specialize in recording arts or live sound. I don't have the meticulous drive to pick apart a waveform in a DAW. I make my own demos, but they're simply for mapping out songs. I can't sit there and master forever. When I was a kid I learned how to use a PA, and then they would let me run the console at shows. I thought, "Well, I could do that. I know how to do simple circuits, so maybe I could work at a repair shop repairing guitars." I went to school to learn that, systems optimization, and building stages at festivals. But because we were all in the same program – all of my friends who were wearing their headphones around their neck and mixing at the campus Starbucks – those were the people who would say, "Hey, I have some extra studio time. Do you want to come in and record?" I think that it is important to keep yourself open to opportunities to gain experience.

You've got to get in there.

Hands-on experience taught me so much. I took so many classes on systems optimization, signal flow, and live sound mixing. But what taught me how to find my way in a live sound setting was doing sound for bands at venues. What taught me how to act, how to vocalize what I wanted, or the protocol inside a recording studio, was being able to spend that time. I think that's a good thing that MTSU gives you. There are resources on hand to take the theoretical knowledge from the classroom and apply it in a real setting. Otherwise, I couldn't have gotten to meet [engineer Michael] Hegner and do the first demos of what would eventually become Sprained Ankle. He was sitting in the library and asked, "Does anybody have a song they want to do? I've got a session in 30 minutes and no one to fill it." I was like, "Yeah."

Of course, you had to put the time into having a song.

I didn't think about that. Writing is always a compulsory thing, so I always have literally hundreds of voice memos.

Is that how you make your demos, just voice memos on the phone?

That's how I make the very first part; the writing process. If there's an idea while I'm playing guitar that I think is worthy of being explored, then I'll make a short little 1-minute voice demo and save it as "cool riff 85," or whatever. Then later it will be fleshed out as a song with placeholder lyrics. I finally took the plunge and got a real DAW. I use Logic now and I do those little MIDI things for keyboards. I can plug straight into a little one-input interface and have my actual guitar sounds from my pedalboard. Before that, I was using a straight-up 2005 Audacity program that I found. It was free. It looked awful. No hate on Audacity. But my version was so old.

It's a great program for cutting up samples.

Yeah. It's really limited. I guess that's how you learn. I was also using a Toshiba computer from 2006, because I held off for so long, saying, "I'm not going to buy a computer. This one works fine." It's so hard for me to give in and upgrade my gear, because I get used to working within the parameters I've become familiar with.

From that perspective, let's talk about going to Ardent Studios. Listening to the record for the first time, I kept waiting for the gigantic production to kick in. Almost all the songs have a moment where I thought, "Here it comes." But it never does.

It's really interesting to me that you say that. I felt self-conscious in the opposite way. I thought, "There're eight vocal tracks and strings, and my buddy's playing clarinet. This is so much." By comparison, it's much more expansive than Sprained Ankle. I was worried. I had this oxymoronic fear that it would be too similar to my past material and also too different, but not in the right ways. I wanted to have it be very dramatic – and have the parts that seem like soaring ballad climaxes – because I'm a sucker for that kind of dynamic. I think it's very emotive. But I also wanted to be careful that I didn't take so much of a maximalist approach that I weighed the song down, or it got to this critical mass where there's too much going on.

That's an incredibly mature perspective. I don't mean this because you're a younger person, but just in general. There are people who never get there.

Thank you. I'm going to acknowledge your compliment; I didn't take it as a thing about my age. But I agree. I think that restraint is such an important skill in music. For a long time when I was playing guitar in a band – and I think this had a lot to do with my insecurities about being a female in a male-dominated scene – but every time we played a show, I had to rip a crazy solo so that everybody knew I was "good." Still, one of my primary lurking fears about performing the material that I have today is that if I have a song that's three chords of quarter notes, everybody's going to be bored and put to sleep. But that's the challenge. Restraint is such an important thing. Just because you have every single color in your palette doesn't mean that every single color serves the painting. I think there are artists where the maximalist approach serves them well. When you think about a Bruce Springsteen record, like Born to Run. Or have you listened to Kimbra?

Yeah. A lot going on there.

Or St. Vincent. There are so many sounds; it's insane. But I think the challenge with my music is figuring out how to make it interesting while still leaving it pretty sparse. It's an interesting interplay. How many points of dynamic can you introduce into the song, as subtly as possible?

Do you go into recording feeling like you're going to do what you do live, but with a little extra?

There was this reciprocal relationship between the live and the recorded for this record. Another thing I wanted was not to say, "I don't know how I'm going to pull this off live, so I'm not going to explore this possibility." Now I do the weird play-guitar-and-piano-at-the-same-time. I decided if I wanted to have clarinet in there, then it'd be worth it to add clarinet. I think I was a lot more particular about the instrumentation on this record because I knew that it would be received in a different way. With Sprained Ankle, I was recording the songs as they had formed in my free time, using my looping pedal or whatever. With these songs, I sat down with a spiral [notebook] and mapped them out. I thought, "This song is tedious. What small embellishment can I add that will change the song enough to re-focus the listener's interest, without detracting or obscuring the totality of the song?" One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten was from Josh Scogin [of bands The Chariot and '68]. We were at a show, and we were talking about how The Chariot's records are so interesting. They'll have this incredibly heavy breakdown, but it'll be free with no time signature at all. Or the song will completely stop and then something from Atlanta AM radio will play, and then the song will pick back up. "How do you know to do that? Is it just a novelty, or what?" Josh said, "I think you have to think of what will make people back up the track because they missed a thing." You don't want to make a song that goes on in a predictable fashion without introducing new elements.

You got an incredible guitar sound on the record. You tour with a [Fender] Twin and Deluxe, right?

Yes. We recorded a lot of Turn Out the Lights on my little 1x12 Deluxe, but I also have a 2x12 Blues Deluxe that I took the speakers out of and replaced with Warehouse guitar speakers called Veteran 30s. I got the higher-wattage option because there's way more gain room before it breaks up. My one gripe about Fender amps is that they break up too soon.

By design. A lot of people want blues.

Exactly. I get it. With the Twin, it's fine. It's a really sparkly break up. The Deluxe amps, I like the warmness of them. But when you start to break up such a warm, midrange-y amp, it gets fuzzy really quickly. I really like those speakers in that amp. I use so many of my instruments partly because they sound the way I want them to, but also partly because it took so much work for me to get them to sound the way they do that maybe my goal and my ability met in the middle. Especially with the wiring. I have a [Fender] Telecaster that I modded, and it took so long for me to figure that out when I was 18, trying to read a circuit diagram on how to get your pickups to go in series or parallel, and add that little option with the 4-switcher. Once I finally did it, I was like, "This is what I want, for sure." Whether or not it was what I was going for, I was so committed to doing it.

Do you go back and forth between series and parallel?

No. I have the blue guitar, it's a Mexican-made Tele, and then I have an American Tele, which is the butterscotch one. I leave it on series all the time. You have to put aftermarket pickups in Fender guitars. The Telecaster has the plucky clarity that I like; but I think everybody plays them so hot and bright, because that's the Nashville sound. I thought of Telecasters as country music guitars until I saw Now, Now and Circa Survive on tour. Both the guitarists were playing Telecasters. I was like, "What is happening? How are you guys getting this sound out of a Telecaster?" Then I used my next paycheck to buy a Mexican Tele. I love it.

Were you using Fender amps already?

Yeah. The first amp that I used was this Vox digital combo that was bad news. Well, it wasn't bad news, because I think those amps that have the effects built-in are good for learning. I wasn't playing big shows, so why would I need a $700 amp? The first real amp I bought was the Fender I replaced the speakers in. I had it for a really long time. Then I bought the 1x12 on tour when the tubes of my other amp broke, and now I play through stereo amps. It's interesting that the idea to do that never occurred to me, even though I had two amps on hand. Even on Sprained Ankle, I played through one amp.

You use so much reverb and delay, it's perfect for what you're doing.

Sometimes we'll be at a festival and I'll play through one amp. The way that my looping system is totally jury-rigged, I can use it into the first and second channels on a Fender amp.

It's a wonderful, underused feature, having the two channels on those amps.

It is. So much of my musical knowledge is very de facto and functional, and it doesn't result in a logical understanding of the mechanisms I'm using. On my Deluxe, there're two input jacks. I'd say, "Oh, I always plug into input 2 because it sounds different, and I like that sound." I didn't know until October of 2017 that one of them is high gain and one of them is lower gain. I had no idea. It sounded different. Now I have two A-B-C-Y splitters on my board; I send out from those two channels a dry channel and a reverb channel on one amp, and then yet a third reverb channel into a different amp.

Is the reverb channel 100 percent saturated?

It's all the way on, all the time. The dry channel is there in case the two stereo outs of my looper go off, because I'm paranoid about my loop breaking and there being no safety net for me to play through. I was not always that wise. I have been brought low by humiliation, the great teacher. Now I have one fail-safe channel. The rest of my loops come out on different outputs.

Do you use the amp reverb?

I used to have it pulled up to quarter to two almost all the time, but now I like the flat character of the amp enough, and I have three or four different reverbs. The Strymon blueSky is always on. I forget that I have it on my board, because it stays on. It's the staple of my tone.

I read that you used a [Neumann] U 67 for recording your voice. Is that right?

Yeah.

Did you do a shootout, or did you know going in you wanted a 67?

We tried out that mic because Calvin Lauber, engineer for Turn Out the Lights] suggested it. On Sprained Ankle, I recorded part of it on a [Shure] SM7B. We used a couple of different microphones on that one. I don't remember what the other one was. With the Neumann, I'm very reluctant to use mics with so much crispness, because I think my voice has a tendency to get really nitty and bland.

I respectfully disagree, but go on.

Well, okay. Maybe I'm hyper-critical of my voice. But that vocal mic sounded really nice, especially in the room. Once we started tracking with that, I was like, "Yeah, I'm really, really happy with this vocal sound." It's an incredible microphone. It sounds like it's capturing what's happening to your ears with intense clarity. Whenever I make my little Logic demos, I go in there and notch out 2.5 to 3 kHz, because it sounds really annoying. When I started singing in a band, I wanted the vocals to be pushed all the way to the back and ‘verbed out. I was self-conscious about my voice. I never really wanted to be a singer. I wanted to play guitar. Then our first show came up, and we didn't have a lead singer, so I said, "I'll sing until we find a singer." Then I became the singer. Every single time we performed live, someone would say, "That was really good. You should sing louder!"

Did you try to change the way you sing?

By the time The Star Killers had been a band for a while, I would do the shouty scream thing. But then that became a gimmick of my voice. It was atonal. It was less about the pitch and more about the intensity and having the gang vocals part where everybody sings along. It took touring for a while as a solo musician for me to become completely comfortable with my voice as an instrument. That was also probably because I still smoked at the time we recorded Sprained Ankle. Singing was really taxing on my voice. When I had not smoked for a little over a week, the way that my vocal control and the timbre of my voice changed was amazing. I thought, "This cannot be real." That made me much more confident, and it made me take singing seriously. My voice was no longer just a vehicle for poetry that I was using to "Leonard Cohen" out my lyrics. I think that's also what made recording this record a lot different. I was more ambitious with what I could do.

How long did you have at Ardent Studios?

I booked out six days, intentionally. We ended up staying there 12 hours a day. Time flies when you're in the studio, because it's fun, and exciting, and interesting. I think I limited it that way because of that fear of overproducing the record. If I gave myself too much time, I would fall into a paralysis of option anxiety. In hindsight it might have been good to have a deadline, but also take a rest. Record for a week, take a month off, let the tracks sit, and then come back with fresh ears. Maybe I was over-restrained, like I was overcompensating for my fear of overproducing.

It sounds like discipline is a huge part of your whole process.

Oh, definitely. I talk about this with so many of my friends in music. This land of words like discipline, motivation, and obsession are all fluidly bound. For any of the players on the record, like Cam [Boucher] from Sorority Noise, or Camille [Faulkner], who tours with me, the way that those people interact with music is almost obsessive, but in a way that drives them to be the most optimal players they can be. Not in a competitive way. I really don't think that trying to be the best you can be means that you have to be obsessed with being the best musician out there, or being superior.

It's its own reward.

Exactly. I think the fact you say that discipline is a huge part of the record is because maybe it wasn't that I had to apply an effort to sit down and map out the songs in a spiral notebook, or think about them and listen to them over, and over again. It's what preoccupies my mind all the time, so the only way to abate the anxiety of creating is to be engaged with it. But, at the same time, that's why I only wanted to book out six days. It's really important to get a great raw sound. We did a lot of setting levels for what would basically be how the record sounded.

It's a huge advantage not to "fix it in post."

Exactly! Get it right the first time. This thing that Calvin and I would say to each other all the time is, "It's worth it." When I would record a vocal track and it was almost what I wanted, and I felt I could live with it, we could nudge a note, or we could comp it. But I had the time. I'm not flying out to L.A. to do a two-hour recording session and we have to comp it. We had the time to get it right, and it's worth it. We ended up tracking a whole bunch of weird piano, guitar, and keyboard tracks that didn't make it on the record. But what if it had been awesome? It's worth it. When you start with good ingredients and you do less work on the back-end to try to wrangle it into sounding good, it's so much easier. And it sounds very pure and more organic, because I think you can tell when a song has had to be manipulated.

You can. It's almost never going to be as good as it would have been.

Exactly. There are so many great records that are tracked live. That's how recording used to be. Now I'm going to sound like one of those people who thinks that antiquated methods of recording are the only way and swears by tape only. No, there are amazing things we can use Pro Tools for. But I think the ethos of old-school recording is getting a great live sound. I watched a documentary about Tom Dowd [Tom Dowd & The Language of Music]. He plays the faders like a keyboard. It's so cool. Whenever I watch those documentaries, I'm amazed at that process, because it's happening to those people in real time; it's just their job. They have this very colloquial relationship with the music. Chilling out with Aretha Franklin and not knowing that it would change history. What I think you glean from those is not that it was better in the past, and we should only record to tape, and only use old vintage equipment. I think the process is that you should be able to accomplish the most with the least. You should know how to utilize a room, or you should know when it's enough. I think sometimes the necessity of having only four tracks, or having only eight channels, or what have you, makes you be more discerning. The options aren't endless. The time is not endless. You make a leaner, refined version.

Craig Silvey mixed Turn Out the Lights?

Yeah. We had a mixing day with Calvin; then he and I shot some mixes back and forth. I had very specific things I wanted out of the mix. It was really observable what Craig changed, but he didn't necessarily remove or add anything. I was amazed at how much he was able to add to the tracks. I think the people we involved on the record were all ones we wanted to use, either because of their prior work, or our prior history with them, indicated that they know how to be tasteful. Especially with Craig Silvey. I knew a few of the notable records that he had done, like Arcade Fire, but when I started to look at the breadth of the work he had been a part of, it was amazing.

Did you choose Craig, or did Matador say they wanted him?

Matador brought the idea. I was reluctant because I wanted the least tampering. They said, "We have this guy we think you'd really like. Give it a chance." I'll give anything a chance; but if I didn't like it, I was ready to say, "No." We sent a test mix, and when I got it back, I was like, "We should have the record mixed by this guy." It was ultimately a collaborative effort between Calvin being so personal and central to my life as a person and a friend, and knowing what I wanted, as well as Craig's expertise and impeccable ear. It made for a really special thing.

(link)

#this offers an interesting look at jb’s recording process #i bought this issue to gain access to the full interview so please don’t repost to twitter thx <3 #boygenius #julien baker #calvin lauber #tape op magazine #2018 #may 2018 #interview #archival

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prettybluelites · 11 months ago

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Story Time!

Hey OFMD friends, gather round, I'm going to tell you a story. Long ago, in 2001 (yes, people were alive then), a band called Wilco made a really great album. It was super interesting musically, touched a lot of new ground. The band was really excited about it. Everyone was really excited about it.

Their record label heard it and said, "Nah."

And Wilco said, "Um, what?"

And the label was like, "It's neat, but the world is not ready. We don't know what to do with it. Or with you. Here, you can have it back. Goodbye and good luck."

And Wilco said, in effect . . . "Alright Pop-pop, have it your way."

Wilco took their really great album, called Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and streamed it on their website for free. People listened and talked about it. A lot. The record wasn't even officially released yet and fans knew all the songs when the band played them live. It kept gathering steam.

Eventually Wilco signed with a new record label and properly released Yankee Hotel Foxtrot in 2002 to thunderous acclaim. Fun fact, the new record label was owned by the same parent company as the old one. So Wilco got paid twice for this album that supposedly nobody even wanted. Heh.

How do I know all this? Children, I was there. Watched it unfold, followed all the news. Just like we're all doing now with OFMD. Somewhere I'm pretty sure I still have a home-burned copy of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

What's my point? Situations like OFMD's can end happily. Grassroots efforts work. Keep talking, keep posting, keep streaming. Keep fighting the good fight. We can #SaveOFMD! (And if you need a break from campaigning, chill out and listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, it's really great.)

#ofmd #save ofmd #save our flag means death #renew as a crew

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phoet · 1 year ago

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JUNOVERSE SPECULATION TIME since the final season is almost releasing (sobbing, crying). slight spoilers ahead if you haven't caught up with the latest season!

so juno is on the run after peter, right? i think one of two things might happen:

juno spends the whole season looking for peter (unlikely)

juno finds peter early-ish on and they work together to figure out the whole slip thing

HOWEVER... unless harley and kevin are working with disney rules — i don't think slip is going to be alive. why not? because my theory is that the same people who peter owes the debt to own the company (??) that mick had resurrect his dog wilco dr frankenstein style. and if he gets his way and they do bring slip back to life.... will he really be alive?

moreover, on the off chance that slip survives and somehow still has everything about his personhood intact, i don't know if he'll be all that jazzed about what peter has been spending his entire life doing, and i don't really want him to be. peter spending his whole life trying to pay off his debts and 'save' slip (who, let's be honest, has been alive on technicality for decades) doesn't feel like an act to save someone you love, but more like a selfish act to stave off survivor's guilt.

so i think that the season will more likely than not end up being juno and peter (maybe slip too, who knows) trying to take down this... conglomerate? and stop whatever is going on there. not exactly a well-crafted prediction or anything, but i'm just spitballing here.

#juno steel #the penumbra podcast #tpp #peter nureyev #jupeter #this show has me unzipped #i don't know how i will make it through

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feltpool · 2 years ago

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Psychological Torture

We see A LOT of it happening in Ep 03.

Three basic tenets of this are Separate, Isolate, and Dominate. You can also thrown in dehumanization, humiliation, and lots, lots more!

Now Crosshair took care of Separate all by himself. He’s just spent 32 rotations alone on a platform on Kamino with nothing but wind sheer and pouring rain for company.

And once he was recovered it’d have been easy to keep him Isolated in the med bay, to only have droids tend to him and not any human doctors. Once out of there the other troopers won’t interact with him. And why not? Those aren’t conscripted troopers wary of killer clones taking their jobs. He isn’t a part of Clone Force 99 now, he’s a soldier in the army of the Galactic Empire. So what grounds do other clones have for shunning him apart from following orders to do just that?

We’re led to assume that this is simply a follow on from CF99 being shunned back in Ep 01. But who benefitted from them being Isolated back then, from being Separated from the other clones? Who was Dominating them? All good questions, but not the point here.

Anyway, they sprinkle in a little Dehumanization here too. The cell-like room with a solid looking bed which is likely slightly shorter than he is tall, no blankets, no pillow, and no control of any sort. The lights come on and the alarm blares, his whole existence dictated to him by the whims of others.

His clothes differ to what everyone else there is wearing, both in his civilian dress and in his armour. There’s no mistaking him for someone else, so they all know who to avoid even if they can’t see his face or the burn on his head that hasn’t been healed up even though we know that it could be.

And even the simple pleasure of a good filling meal is denied to him. Repeatedly. But this is just a funny reference to Ep 01, right? Poor old Crosshair can’t get to eat his dinner in peace, lol!

Right?

But keeping someone hungry and weak is a well known way to break morale, to grind someone down, to make them more compliant.

Which brings us to the Dominating part. And it’s important to note that this entire episode should be viewed through the lens of knowing that Rampart already knows that the Batch are still alive. Just before Crosshair walks into Rampart’s office the first time we get a nice clear look at the datapad in his hand so we can see what it is that he’s looking at.

He knows, and he wants Crosshair to admit to knowing about it. And Wilco already knows just how well that’d be likely to turn out for him. Maybe not right away, Rampart wants to wipe out the Batch first, but that fate would be waiting for him.

So Rampart is making his life hard in order to try to make him crack, to be willing to give up any information on the Batch that he knows. Contacts, friends, hideouts, resources, habits, any scrap of anything that they might have revealed to him when he last saw them.

Because he knows the team like no one else does, their tactics, their weaknesses. Just what it is that they do, and how. Cody knows them as in he knows who they are, but he hasn’t worked with them. He tried to once before but that didn’t work out as planned.

But Rampart wants them destroyed and he isn’t about to trust Crosshair with that job again, not after his previous failures. So he’s going to try a different tactic

So, stripped of his name and his former rank, and receiving some mild mockery in the process with a side hint that if he’s a good boy he could get one of those things back, he gets sent off to meet a familiar face. Probably the only person on the whole of Coruscant who knows Crosshair in any way at all

Which is where Cody is sent in. To play the role of The Friendly Face, the offerer of sympathy, of someone to talk to, someone who understands.

And Crosshair waits for him, watching troopers pass by together. How long he has to wait there with the longing to be a part of that again growing we have no idea

But when he does show up Cody repeats the exact same line that Rex drops when he runs into the Batch again in the bar. Aww, how cute. Nice and familiar, and such a subtle way to make us associate him with someone we know to be a good man fighting the good fight.

And he tells Crosshair he specifically asked for him, tries to make him feel wanted, then gives him an opportunity to volunteer information on the Batch having gone rogue, Cross counters with it not just being them going AWOL and says they’re traitors. Drops in the quip about the Jedi having been traitors too.

Sure, he knows it’ll hurt Cody to hear it, but they’re both sounding each other out here. Each one trying to see where the other’s loyalties actually lie. Neither one of them wanting to look the other in the face while they do it, only allowing themselves sliding sideways glances. Trying to see something in the other without giving anything away themselves.

Cody sees that this isn’t getting him anywhere and drops ‘good soldiers follow orders’ followed by Cross’s ‘mm-hmm’ of neither agreeing or disagreeing and the accompanying scowl at Cody’s back.

And off they go to Desix, directly mirroring the scene where Cody explains the first mission we see them go on all the way back in S7.

And this is a nicely familiar job isn’t it? Battle droids. Just like the old days. How touching!

Now, Cody doesn’t just look around and give orders here, he turns to Crosshair, treats him like an equal, allows him to make suggestions, to be a part of the mission he’s commanding. But when Crosshair asks him to trust him he sounds far from thrilled at the idea. Says he makes life ‘interesting’ But he has a job to do here so he goes with it. What choice does he have?

And Crosshair does his job, and does it well. Never misses a shot and headshots every time. Even as out of practice as he currently is after all that time away. And Cody is quick to compliment him. Good shot, good boy, pat on the head and a biscuit for you my lad!

But Crosshair stays mission focused, doesn’t preen or pose even though he knows how excellent a shot that was, doesn’t let Cody distract him with praise.

And Cody drops it.

And then they’re on the stairs, and this time it’s Crosshair’s turn to test Cody. Because that droid has him by the throat, but he doesn’t draw his sidearm and shoot it, he doesn’t kick it or push off the wall behind him to try to throw it down the stairs, and we’ve seen him throwing droids around in the past. He’s no weakling. But instead he calls to Cody, appeals to him to help.

And he does help him

But that’s when Crosshair messes up. Exposes himself. He lets Cody see the trick with the reflectors and you can practically see the cogs turning in his head as he suddenly realises how come the Elite Squad didn’t take down any of the Batch back on Kamino. Knows that one shot from Crosshair is all he’d need to take down all 4 of them in one go, all he needs is a line of sight. ES-02 might have been able to report that the Batch and Crosshair were fighting a bunch of combat droids in that room, that she herself had to flee to survive. But she couldn’t have explained how come all of her squadmates had gone down and no one else had done.

But now he knows, or is at least starting to.

In the Governors office Cody then does his best to appeal to Tawni Ames, to persuade her to roll over and let the Empire have what it wants. Oh sure, it all sounds reasonable, who wants a war? But she’s being offered nothing in return for her surrender with or without the Untitled Goose Game meme reference.

And as soon as Grotty threatens Cody with being reprimanded for disobedience Crosshair shoots her. But only once a brother is threatened. And Crosshair already knows what that’s like, being unjustly punished for disobedience. We’re told from the start he disobeys orders. But never what orders, or why he’d choose to, only that he does. And if there was a legit reason for it, they’d have told us what orders he’d refused to obey in the first place.

But Crosshair had Cody’s back, just like he had Hunter’s back in the training room.

And we close in on Cody looking down at Tawni Ames smoking body while dramatic music plays in the background. His face shifts slightly as he stands there thinking things through, and juuuuuust as the screenwipe is about to happen, just for a few frames, Cody starts to frown.

Blink and you’ll miss it

By the shuttle he gives a pained look after Crosshair passes. He hasn’t made what comes next easy for him, but he has a job to do and he’s going to do it.

Does he have a pang of conscience seeing the fresh troopers arrive, seeing Grotty overseeing them, knowing that he helped to make this possible? It sure looks that way, doesn’t it.

And we return to the memorial where Cody questions whether he’s doing the right thing, whether they’re making the world a better place. Talks about making choices and having to live with them too, while not being able to do more than glance at Crosshair while he says it.

Because he already knows he’s about to go straight to Rampart’s office to report in and tell him all about how Crosshair took out his Elite Squad with just one shot and this super special trick he’s super good at.

To sell him out completely and utterly.

Because Cody is a soldier of the Empire, and he’s doing the job he’s been ordered to do. And good soldiers follow orders. Whether they like them or not.

And we return to the torture process once more. Separation, dehumanization, and the denial of basic needs. And he looks scared when his number is called, just for a moment. But he steels himself for what’s about to happen, for how badly this might be about to go.

And boy has Rampart’s attitude to Crosshair worsened when he sees him in his office the second time. Far more mocking and dismissive of him than before. He’s refused to be Dominated, has stood his ground regardless of the opportunities presented to him to take the easier way out.

So Rampart doesn’t so much as look up at him when he enters, keeps turned away from him, only glances at him as and when the conversation requires it. Keeps his attention fixed on the datapad in his hand despite the fact that there can’t be anything left on that report that he hasn’t already read by this point. Pretends not to know Cody’s name, smug little grin, laugh and tut from Rampart. Oh these silly clones, acting like they’re actual people, with names and such. Lol!

Oh no, Cody isn’t here anymore, and isn’t it weird how these clones around you just keep on disappearing. (Like I don’t know exactly where this one just went)

But don’t worry, I’m still going to assign you work. And I won’t at all be trying to give you enough rope to hang yourself with, to see if you can be caught in the act of doing something you shouldn’t, or trying to get a good close look at how you what you do. Oh no, of course not!

Now go away.

And with Cody reported as being AWOL Rampart is free to deny that any action he partakes in has anything to do with him or any order he issued, and he won’t hesitate to Wilco him when he’s done in order to keep it all secret.

#tbb #crosshair #commander cody #torture tactics #episode 3 #analysis #personal opinion

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victorluvsalice · 1 month ago

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AU Thursday: Valicer Severance AU Time

Okay, so, it's been a while since I talked about this one -- blame various things in my life being distracting and having trouble getting all of my thoughts together, for there are a loooot of thoughts. But I am here now and we are going to talk about it, damn it. Let's go --

-->To recap from my previous post, this is a multi-fandom crossover AU using the premise of the "Severance" (2022) Apple TV+ show, where a group of workers for the Lumon company have their consciousnesses "severed," splitting their minds into Innies (who only exist on Lumon's "severed floor" and are perpetually at work, with no memories of their outside lives) and Outies (who only exist outside the floor and have no memory of what they do at work), with the switchover between the two happening in the elevator that goes to and from the severed floor. My AU would focus primarily on the Innie versions of Victor, Alice, and Smiler, who together with their supervisor Wheatley make up the Macrodata Refinement team on the severed floor of Aperture Science. Because I can't see corporate malfeasance and not think "Aperture Science." XD

-->Some worldbuilding for you about how the severance procedure came about in this universe: When Cave Johnson got sick and started demanding that, if they couldn't successfully shove HIS consciousness into a computer before he died, they shove CAROLINE'S into a computer instead, one lab boy, seeing how reluctant Caroline WAS to become a computer, went, "Well, what if we try copying your brain into a computer instead?" Caroline was more on board with that, and they gave it a go --

And got GLaDOS, a computer intelligence that had most of Caroline's personality and intelligence, but none of her memories. This version of GLaDOS did indeed still try to kill the scientists (pissed off by them insisting she was an "imperfect copy" and yet trying to force her to work for them regardless), but they managed to shut her down -- and Caroline, despite the danger, thought there was something to this. They thus started experimenting with scanning the brains of various employees, turning them into artificial intelligences, and seeing what resulted. Some were -- imperfect (one "personality core" wouldn't do anything but recite cake recipes, while another wouldn't stop going on about space), while others were almost perfect replicas of their human counterparts, just without any memories of who they were before. Which made them more amendable to doing jobs that their human counterparts might have balked at. Caroline was all for having a workforce that couldn't REMEMBER why they might not want to work at Aperture and do inadvisable science, and thus the severance chip was born!

-->And one of the first test subjects for that chip? Why, none other than Test Subject 0001, aka Chell! Who was just as intent as escaping THIS version of Aperture as she is the canonical one. The scientists at Aperture were hoping that her Innie would be much more amendable to doing all their tests without complaint --

Instead, they got an even angrier Chell who, upon realizing she couldn't fucking remember anything, rebelled by refusing to even talk to anyone and tried even harder to escape. The scientists decided to try and put her under the supervision of one of their newly-made personality cores -- a scan of one of their janitors, Stephen "Wheatley" Wilco -- to see if the talkative robot could maybe convince her to be more compliant --

Instead, Wheatley -- who, having overheard some scientists talking about the outside world and grown very curious about it -- ended up befriending Chell and helping her escape. The IDEA was that he would join her in the elevator to the surface world once he got her safely inside -- but when he disconnected from his rail, Chell failed to catch him. And of course, once the elevator went up, Chell swapped to her Outie form, who had no idea that Wheatley even existed, and Outie!Chell just fucking ran for it when she reached the surface. Leaving poor Wheatley still trapped in Aperture. The angry and embarrassed scientists promptly wiped his memory of the whole incident and moved onto new test subjects, figuring maybe they should start with office workers instead...

-->Bringing us to the "present day" and the Macrodata Refinement team! So why exactly are Victor, Alice, and Smiler all down there when they're not canonically Aperture employees? Well --

Victor signed up after the death of his fiancee Victoria Everglot and their mutual friend/secret third Emily Merrimack during a mugging perpetrated by Emily's old boyfriend Barkis Bittern. The poor guy ended up extremely depressed after their deaths and even tried to take his own life, which led to him (unwisely) allowing his parents to take more control over his life and finances to stop that happening again. They were told about the program by one Dr. Kellard Kelman, one of Aperture's chief psychiatrists and "social compliance officer," and they talked Victor into trying it so he'd have at least eight hours a day where he wasn't moping about his lost love (William also wanted to see how it worked because, well, as owner of Van Dort Fish, he was interested in the procedure for his own employees...).

Alice was signed up for the program after it was offered as a "rehabilitation program" -- to the prison she was currently in. Yes, unfortunately in this reality, while Alice did successfully shove Bumby in front of a train for what he did to the children of Houndsditch and her own family, she was subsequently caught and convicted of murder. (With the silver lining being that Bumby was exposed for all the horrible things he was doing in the process, so the public is pretty sympathetic to her reasons for murder.) She wasn't exactly keen on the program, as you might admit, but as a prisoner of the state and an orphan with no one really speaking up on her behalf (not even Nanny, who thought it might be good for Alice to forget Wonderland, even for a short time each day), she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

And Smiler -- well. Smiler, aka Marmaduke Kelman, had no interest in joining the program, having no real idea it existed because they'd gotten away from their asshole father as soon as it was possible for them to do so. They were happily living on their own, hanging out with their friends and working a barista job they loved while studying chemistry in college --

And then Kelman, with the help of his assistant Miles Cedars, managed to kidnap them and forced the procedure on them because a) he thought it would make his "son" more socially compliant and b) it would look good for Aperture for his kid to have gone through the procedure as well. Smiler, as you might imagine, was furious about the whole thing, but unfortunately they were also trapped inside Kelman's "Sanctuary" and unable to do anything about it. The most they were able to do was to convince Kelman to let them keep their purple-tipped hair and yellow contacts -- and that was only because Kelman decided that Smiler asking for a haircut "would be a good sign that you're becoming more socially compliant." (Smiler made a vow right then and there that they would do ANYTHING they needed to maintain their haircut.)

-->As for the order they were "hired" -- Alice entered the program first, then Victor came along about a month later, and Smiler a month after that. However, despite being the second employee hired, Victor is in fact the Team Lead of Macrodata Refinement (aka MDR) because Nell insisted he have some sort of "managerial" role, and that was the best they could offer under the circumstances. Innie!Victor has no freaking idea why he's Team Lead and doesn't actually want the position, basically ignoring it as much as possible.

--As stated above, their supervisor is Wheatley, post-Chell memory wipe, with the scientists wanting to see if his "deviant" behavior of "wanting to escape the horrible basement" comes back despite the change in circumstances. Caroline especially wants to keep an eye on this experiment after the whole "Chell" debacle, so she takes on the persona of "Miss Glados" for the Innies, serving as their terrifying and misanthropic boss. She finds it a great way to blow off steam after having to play up the perky "Ms. Caroline McLain" persona for the rest of the world. Dr. Kelman rounds out the department as their "social compliance therapist," monitoring the group for unwanted behaviors and pushing them to become happy corporate drones with the help of "guard core" Rick (who keeps hitting on Alice, to her annoyance). (And yes, Rick has a human counterpart upstairs -- ironically, he's the security guard who swipes all the severed employees into the elevator at the start of their day. And yes, he still hits on Alice, to her annoyance.)

-->The AU would "officially" start with Smiler's hiring, with their Innie self ("Marmaduke A" according to their badge -- Dr. Kelman thought it best not to even hint that they might be his kid) waking up on a table in a conference room and being asked a series of questions to confirm that all their personal memories have been locked off by the chip (as per "Severance" canon). Once that's been sorted, they're introduced to the rest of the team by Wheatley, and learn from them what exactly it is they do -- which is stare at files full of various numbers on their computers and try to sort them into bins based on if the numbers make them feel scared, happy, angry, or sad. (Smiler: ...we sort numbers based on vibes? Alice: [sarcastically] The work is mysterious and important.) They also learn the incentive system for sorting these numbers -- at 10% file completion, you get an Aperture-branded eraser; at 25% done, you get an Aperture-branded finger trap; at 75% done, you get a "Music & Dance Experience" (a five-minute dance party for the team); and at 100%, there is a Cake Day for everyone. Though -- well, I'll let Alice explain it --

Smiler: We get cake if we complete a file? Victor: Ah -- theoretically. Alice: Yes, don't get your hopes up -- for whatever reason, these files mysteriously vanish on us after a while, and we have to start new ones. Victor and I have never been able to fully complete one. Smiler: Really? Victor: [shaking his head] 73% is the closest I've come. Alice: 74% for me...so while earning the "Music & Dance Experience" is probably possible -- I think the cake is a lie.

Oh, and there's also the possibility of earning a "waffle party" if the entire team does really well, which Wheatley is mildly obsessed with.

-->Speaking of food, the Innies have lunches provided for them by Van Dort Fish -- tuna fish sandwiches and carrot sticks! Every single goddamn day! Victor has made it clear that, if he ever meets him, he is punching "that asshole with the mustache" on the label. XD There is also a vending machine, with each Innie allowed two tokens per day to get snacks -- Victor, however, immediately warns Smiler off getting any of the pudding cups in there. Reason being, Victor got one of the blue puddings shortly after he was brought in, only for Alice -- annoyed with him for some reason, I haven't quite decided why yet -- to grab it from him and throw it on the floor -- and the damn thing BOUNCED all the way up to the CEILING. There's still a small blue stain up there. Among the "safe" snacks are dried blueberries, cubed ginseng, roasted peanuts, and "Raisins (Shriveled)." Smiler is naturally like "what" and Alice tells them "this place is so weird I bet they HAVE made unshriveled raisins."

As for drinks, the Innies have their choice between water, lemonade, and coffee from the coffee machine. Smiler feels oddly drawn to the latter, and it is quickly discovered that they are mysteriously amazing at making coffee -- to the point where, after allowing Smiler to make her a cup, even Miss Glados has to say "...good job." XD They cheerfully take over all coffee duties going forward, which everyone is happy to let them do.

-->Anyway -- after some time spent as part of the MDR team, dealing with the baffling work and the fact that they're trapped on the severed floor (because every time they get into the elevator, from their perspective, they just end up getting right back out again in different clothes -- Smiler had a bit of a hard time adjusting to that the first time it happened), Smiler goes "I am assigning myself the duty of keeping us all sane so we don't snap" and goes to raid the supply closet for stuff to decorate their cubicle with, settling on grabbing as many colorful Post-It notes as they can. Victor and Alice are initially reluctant to join in, but Smiler points out that there's nothing in their employee manual that says they can't decorate their cubicle -- and when Wheatley protests, saying they can't "deface company property," Smiler shows him how the notes just pull right off. And then gives him an orange Post-It note with "Supervisor" written on it, which makes him MUCH more amendable to the whole idea. XD The gang ends up having a lovely time using the Post-Its to make pictures on their walls, and even manage to suss out what they think are their favorite colors (Smiler yellow, Victor blue, Alice red).

-->Not long afterward, Smiler comes up with the name "Smiler" for themselves (they'd been going by "M" previously because, well, their name is fucking Marmaduke) and uses a label maker they found to update their name badge appropriately. Wheatley insists THAT is defacing company property and gives them their first write-up for it --

Smiler: What exactly happens when I get written up? Wheatley: It means you can't earn any incentives -- no erasers, no finger traps, no nothing -- for a week! [beat] Alice: [holds out her hand] Give me the label maker.

Yes, it's not exactly a deterrent. XD However, unfortunately, not long after that, Miss Glados shows up and starts making snide comments about their decorations -- and a fed-up Smiler deliberately tears a hole in their cubicle wall. Victor immediately is like "I'm sorry, I didn't onboard them well, please don't punish them," but Miss Glados will not be deterred, and Smiler is taken to the Break Room. Which, as per "Severance" canon --

is the place where they break you. Usually by having you recite an apology over and over and over again until they're content you mean it, but occasionally Miss Glados gets -- creative. Smiler gets the apology, though, and ends up staying in there three hours until she's content they're truly sorry. They slump back to their cubicle feeling miserable, and with the "Smiler" label on their badge scraped off. Victor and Alice immediately offer them water and comfort, talking about the first times they ended up in the break room (Alice actually ended up in there on her second day after trying to smash her way through the fire escape door with a fire extinguisher; Victor ended up there at the end of his first week for threatening to take his fingers off with a paper cutter unless they let him go home) -- and Wheatley, who was being a bit of an ass about the "Smiler" thing before, starts using their preferred name because now he feels bad.

-->From there, we have a bunch of random Innie adventures and discussions --

A) Victor taking the group on a trip to the "Johnson Memorial Wing" as a "team-building exercise" when Smiler asks who the hell "Cave Johnson" is anyway -- the little museum features such things like the giant singing "stone" head from the Desk Job game/tech demo, causing Smiler to go "Are we in a cult?" (Alice: "I haven't ruled out the possibility.") Grady from that game is also there as the local "Maintenance Core" -- Wheatley hates him because he gets to have an arm and Wheatley doesn't XD

B) Smiler discovering one day while playing with index cards that they can fold hopping frog origami, and the Innie trio wondering what other skills they have that they might not know about -- notably, Victor discovers that he can speak French when Wheatley tries to show off his command of languages (telling the core that he said "Please consult your user manual for help using this translation software"), and Alice realizes she seems to know a weird amount about photography

C) Relatedly, the trio wondering who their Outies are and why they would go through severance -- notably, Alice's theory is that they are all in jail and were made to get severed to make sure they remained "productive citizens." Smiler goes "like we're all murderers or something?" and Alice goes, "oh no -- you robbed a bank, and Victor probably committed tax evasion." An amused Victor goes "what about you?" and she replies, with a big grin, "Oh, I totally killed someone."

D) Alice dealing with hallucinations still, because being severed does NOT cure her mental illness -- most often, she sees horrible black goo dripping from the ceiling, and the walls being covered in rotting pink flesh, with occasional glimpses of this weird grinning cat and this white rabbit with a pocket watch observing her. Victor and Smiler do their best to support her as she deals with the weirdness

E) Smiler getting the orange pudding cup of the vending machine one day just to see what the "pudding" does -- after determining that it massively speeds up anything rolled across it after painting some on a piece of paper, the gang end up making rally cars out of office supplies and holding a race. Unfortunately, Miss Glados catches them partway through -- and while she doesn't force any of them to go to the Break Room, she does give them all a second-level write-up. Which means they don't get any vending machine tokens at all for the rest of the week. As you might imagine, they spend the rest of that week kinda hungry

F) The gang having "social compliance sessions" with Dr. Kelman which don't really make them feel any better about their lives -- Smiler in particular does not understand why the guy seems so annoyed by them using they/them pronouns, or why he's utterly obsessed with their haircut...

G) The gang going on a trip through the hallways after getting utterly bored and disgusted with their jobs, taking Wheatley with them on a handcart after it's revealed his management rail doesn't go to the places where they want to explore They find on their wanderings two people named Dan and Trish making a video of some sort (a reference to the "Smile Always" ad campaign for The Smiler); someone named "Des J." inspecting toilets in a room with a giant conveyor belt (aka the protagonist of Desk Job); a room of defective cores, including the aforementioned Cake Core and Space Core; a room full of musical instruments, with Smiler discovering they can play guitar and Victor piano; and a random guy who is taking care of baby goats and insists they're "not ready" when the MDR group shows up (this is something that actually happens in "Severance" itself -- though unlike in the show, the MDR team here gets to pet the goats). Unfortunately, all this wandering causes them to get lost, and they're unsure how to get back to their department --

And then Alice spots the mysterious white rabbit waiting for her at the end of the hall they're in. She asks Victor and Smiler if they trust her, and when they affirm they do, she goes "then maybe I can trust myself" and chases the rabbit. Rabbit, naturally, does successfully lead them back to their own department -- though unfortunately Miss Glados catches them as they return. Smiler immediately takes responsibility for the trip, having been the one to suggest the "mental health walk" -- however, Miss Glados decides that this is actually a failure of their Team Lead and punishes Victor instead, knowing that this will get to them worse than if she punished Smiler. Victor's actually in the Break Room for the rest of the day, to the point where, when he goes home, he has lost his voice from repeating the apology -- leading Outie!Victor to think maybe he's getting sick and take a day off. Smiler and Alice are naturally a bit freaked out by their coworker not showing up for work, and only calm down when Victor reappears the next day (a bit freaked out himself after he realizes they experienced a whole day without him).

H) On the opposite end of that, Smiler actually gets to 75% on a file and earns them all a Music/Dance Experience -- cue the gang actually having corporate-mandated fun with five minutes of "defiant jazz" played through Wheatley's speakers and learning which of them can dance XD

I) Victor doing something to piss off Miss Glados and getting one of the "creative" Break Room punishments -- namely, he's locked in a pitch black room and left to stew on his own baffled terror for a while. He ends up in the kitchenette afterward, curled up on the floor having a panic attack -- Smiler finds him in there and -- without really knowing how they're doing it -- hypnotizes him to calm him down (having Victor picture an image of that swirly-eyed smiley face they keep doodling when they're bored). Having thus discovered the talent, they end up using their surprise hypnosis skills on Victor and Alice at their request whenever they come in a bad mood thanks to their Outies or after a bad Break Room session or the like (yes, Alice too -- no memory of Dr. Bumby's hypnosis shenanigans, remember?). Victor and Alice are very grateful for the chance to turn their brains off for a bit and do their best to return the favor however they can to Smiler (Victor, it is eventually revealed, is quite good at shoulder massages).

-->Now, this is a Valicer AU, so we must have Valicer content -- so how do the romantic times start? Well, at one point after the hypnosis stuff is discovered, Smiler and Alice both help Victor coming in with a nasty headache thanks to his Outie. Victor desperately wants to pay them back for all the good they've brought into his life afterward, so he gets Wheatley to distract them right before their lunch break and tapes up a bunch of green and blue construction paper in the corner of the kitchenette by the vending machine and spreads more paper on the ground for a "blanket" for their sandwiches so they can have a picnic together (as it's the closest they'll ever get to going outside). Alice and Smiler are naturally touched, and the three enjoy a lovely lunch together...and during said lunch, Victor goes "fuck the fraternization policy" and kissing happens. Alice and Smiler fully reciprocate, and the trio become romantic partners as well as coworkers. Now, there are some initial worries about them getting punished when they realize their accidental "date" got recorded on the security camera --

But then they come in the next day, and discover Miss Glados giving Wheatley shit for practicing his "hacking" skills on the security footage, which reveals that he deliberately deleted the footage to stop them getting in trouble. :) The trio thank him, and keep their romantic activities (mainly just making out, though I have some ideas related to the "Kink Discovery" prompt on this year's Polyship Week prompt list...) to the storage closet from then on.

...and holy HELL this is getting long! O.O Like I said, lot of thoughts here. So let's take a quick break to have our tuna fish sandwiches, and we'll pick up after lunch for Part II -- The Rest Of The AU!

#severance #valicer severance au #tw: suicide mention #tw: suicide attempt #suicide mention #suicide attempt #portal #corpse bride #alice madness returns #the smiler #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #wheatley #aperture science #I think I said in previous posts about this subject that I have a LOT OF IDEAS for this AU #I thought I could fit all of this into one post but between all the world building #and all the scene ideas I wanted to get down #yeah it felt smarter to split things between two posts #yes Caroline's last name comes from her voice actress Ellen McLain #it felt right #and also YES I HAD TO DO THE JOKE #I REGRET NOTHING XD #and yes I had to put Repulsion and Propulsion gel puddings in the vending machines #they were EXPLICITLY sold as food products in Portal canon #of course they'd try to offload some on the poor Innies #good thing Alice threw that one pudding cup huh?#anyway yes lots going on here #and even more going on in Part II let me tell you #queued

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paulisded · 5 months ago

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The Ledge #626: Laurie Lindeen Tribute & New Releases (Pt. 1)

Earlier this week, fans of Minneapolis rock and roll were stunned by the news that former Zuzu's Petals leader Laurie Lindeen had passed away on July 1 due to a brain aneurysm. Besdies that wonderful 90s band, Lindeen later published her memoirs, Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story, in 2008. Of course, we had to memoralize her passing with a few tracks from her band.

Since it's also the first Friday of the month, it's also new release night, so the second half focuses primarily on "friends of the show". There's the monthly new tracks by White Rose Motor Oil, Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin, and Moss' other project, ROBOTOM, Ltd. There's a trio of brand new tunes from our friends at Rum Bar Records, and towards the end of the show there are two cuts from records that are bound to do very well on my end of the year charts!

Also, please head to YouTube and subscribe to our channel - Public Domain Classics 888. We have close to 300 classic films from over 110 years of releases!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!

1. Zuzu's Petals - Cinderella's Daydream

2. Zuzu's Petals - Poor Little Rich Girl

3. Zuzu's Petals - Star Baby

4. Zuzu's Petals - Brand New Key

5. Zuzu's Petals - Standing By The Sea

6. White Rose Motor Oil - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

7. Rob Moss and Skin-Tight Skin - The Next Time (I See You)

8. ROBOTOM, Ltd. - Below the Sea

9. Dave Strong - I Wanna Know

10. Numb Surprise - Girl

11. Speedfossil - Silver Lining

12. The Pszenny Project - I Get Lost

13. Girl With A Hawk - Way With Words

14. Joe Jenning's MVP's - Doing Time on the Company Dime

15. The Shang Hi Los - Morganatic Panic

16. Jesse Malin - State of the Art (Live)

17. Soul Asylum - Trial By Fire

18. Wilco - Hot Sun

19. Mark Ward - Pixie Girl

20. Raised on TV - Road Dogs

21. Redd Kross - Candy Coloured Catastrophe

22. Redd Kross - Terrible Band

23. Guided by Voices - Dear Onion

24. Guided by Voices - Timing Voice

25. Ahem - Sunroof

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didyoulookforme · 7 months ago

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welcome to my music playlist series:

b-side beats

i love making playlists so if you want one, dm me 3-5 bands / artists / songs you love & i can make something happen :)

vol 4. is for my dearest belle, aka @sugar-coat-it. i've never told you, but you were my first follower on this blog and i'm forever thankful you decided to send me a message. i always look forward to chatting with you about our delusional thoughts and sharing photos with each other.

for this playlist, i decided to share some of my favourite songs which have kept me company in previous summers with the hopes that maybe you find some joy in them during your summer break, too :)

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"set the ray to jerry" by the smashing pumpkins it just felt fitting to start out with this band. probably one of my favourites by them.

"never stops" by deerhunter a song that’s like a warm, big hug for when you need it the most.

"oily water" by blur me having a blur song on a playlist?! absolutely (not) unheard of. i know you like dino jr. and that made me think of this track. for some reason back in '92, the universe played this amazingly cruel joke on humanity when blur, dinosaur jr., the jesus and mary chain, and my bloody valentine got together for some show across the uk. it was known as the rollercoaster tour. this song was from around that time and captures the grit and fuzziness which i imagine was a big part of those months. this whole album encapsulates what blur is all about.

"nothing's wrong" by miss grit this is the one exception to the playlist as i only discovered this record when i saw her live last winter. this album will for sure be part of my 2024 summer rotation.

"the crystal lake" by grandaddy on a somewhat similar wavelength as built to spill and wilco. i wish i knew how many times i've played this song throughout the years as i'm sure it's up there with one of my most listened to tracks of all time. the fuzzy, distorted guitar at 3:52 gives me life.

bonus track: "roser park" by merchandise a long song, but it feels like a daydream every time it's played. the perfect mix of shoegaze, new wave and post punk. if my place ever went up in flames, this is the one record i would save.

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hope you enjoy @sugar-coat-it. can't wait to hear what you think; truly hope you enjoy some of the songs on here :)

#b-side beats #playlists #Spotify

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loversofthegrave · 1 year ago

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BALLAD OF A SELFLESS BOY - dean playlist X

he ain't heavy he's my brother donny hathaway 2. carry that weight the beatles 3. behind blue eyes the who 4. back down the black boy & bear 5. changes black sabbath 6. simple man lynyrd skynyrd 7. knockin' on heavens door bob dylan 8. please call home allman brothers band 9. history book dry the river 10. blood brothers bruce springsteen 11. hurt nine inch nails 12. ten years gone led zeppelin 13. waiting around to die the be good tanyas 14. bad company bad company 15. soul to squeeze red hot chili peppers 16. rivers and roads the head and the heart 17. soldier of fortune deep purple 18. the boy who blocked his own shot brand new 19. mama said metallica 20. lost in my mind the head and the heart 21. big black car gregory alan isakov 22. two coffins against me! 23. road to nowhere ozzy osbourne 24. brothers in arms dire straits 25. francis haley heyndrerickx, max garcia conover 26. murder and crime sufjan stevens, angelo de augustine 27. losing my religion r.e.m 28. no quarter led zeppelin 29. oh daddy fleetwood mac 30. so he won't break the black keys 31. nobody loves you (when you're down and out) john lennon 32. happiness is a warm gun the beatles 33. when a blind man cries deep purple 34. army dreamers kate bush 35. welcome to the cruel world ben harper 36. brendan's death song red hot chili peppers 37. end of the night the doors 38. dark child - single edit marlon williams 39. solitude black sabbath 40. i gotta get outta here alice cooper 41. you keep moving on deep purple 42. black cat power 43. about today the national 44. i'd love to change the world ten years after 45. my friends red hot chili peppers 46. come pick me up ryan adams 47. these days jackson browne 48. happiness grant lee buffalo 49. i appear missing queens of the stone age 50. anne john frusciante 51. all my love led zeppelin 52. these days the black keys 53. nobody's fault but mine led zeppelin 54. i am the highway audioslave 55. cowboys counting crows 56. if i ever was a child wilco 57. lose your soul dead man's bones 58. lazarus david bowie 59. play with fire the rolling stones 60. my mind is ramblin' the black keys 61. you don't know how it feels tom petty 62. to be with you in heaven the scorpions 63. i never cry alice cooper 64. lonely people america 65. here, air john frusciante 66. rock 'n' roll suicide david bowie 67. it'll all work out blake mills 68. all shades of blue gregory alan isakov 69. silver stallion cat power 70. sad cowboys and rock and roll van andrew, victoria bigelow 71. i am all i got the dead brothers

#dean winchester #songs that make me think of him<3 #a mixture #and some songs i think he'd like #spn #supernatural #playlist

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vinxwatches · 1 year ago

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the bad batch season 2

really liked season one, trough probably too much because i headcanon Omega as trans.

Omega is badass now? cool.

Cid is damn manipulative... by having a valid point.

the call for adventure of the season: help people. they are good people, helping when the opportunity arises, seems like they'll be making the step to looking for places to help.

i just realized something i really like in this over clone wars: people can't die. don't get me wrong, it was neat, but it also meant you wouldn't get to know the cast. in this the cast is an actual cast.

oh, that's one fucking cliffhanger, strong opening.

stop being stupid, you can't run on a broken leg... i mean you can, but you shouldn't.

they were hunted by Wilco... the name sound familiar, but my memory for names is ass. also he's dead now, so not that it really matters. i literally caught it on his death grunt.

i do like the message, but i wonder where they'll be going with it.

Crosshair episode? also cody again, probably about to die too.

there's always something neat about a sniper just sniping overly well.

maybe not, maybe cody is able to leave and live. more likely not. the only reasonable way to achieve that is by linking up with Rex or task force 99. and i don't recall him being with Rex in rebels.

well damn, he went awol. hope we'll see him again.

i love a good race, especially layed out well, and it was. good episode

ok i'll admit it my gay hart is losing it over phee, worried she'll turn out to be the villain, or at least not trustworthy.

pre jedi stuff. how will not force users make it trough here. also they're going big with the music.

i was sure it would be a kibar cristal (lightsabre core). oh, it's big.

so i really did recognise him... HOW?!

the message of the show seems to me "people need their people". now this isn't a bad message, but is easily malformed.

ah, so wookies are argonians.

"don't stand where i'm flamethrowing"

i really like where she moved. how she seems to have grown... it's probably going to get her killed isn't it? ep 7 btw.

i love the leitmotifs.

damnit two parter? i need to prepare, not need to watch part two... oh well.

Echo's role is always the most questionable to me, but here they really found a role for him.

fuck he's such a politician. (yes that is obviously an insult)

feels fitting for Echo, the old squad reuniting... yet also we know this isn't where he ends up. after all i watched rebels.

hello purple hair, should i know you already?

and it's given proper weight, nice.

tech is autistic isn't he? because my god can he be almost stereotypically oblivious. damn growth for tech. also yea you'll always lose against water.

oh, this really just is the neurodivergent episode... and i think it's handled pretty well. episode 9. Techs and Omega's conversation around 22 minutes is very good.

nope purple hair is not someone we know, and definitely doesn't have cool feather hair.

ugly and disabled means evil... not a fan.

the workers suffer while and to increase the profit of the company? what a new story, good thing such things never happen in the real world /s. if only the solutions were ever more realistic. revealing the truth never changed anything. but obviously disney doesn't want to tell that.

a broken space dropping out of hyperdrive?

oh shit, they're continuing with what i thought was a dropped plotpoint. but why though? what do they plan to do with this plot now?

Rex? doesn't look like him, but certain talks like him. and i don't just mean same voice. i mean how and what he says. ep 12

oh, is this the deserting episode? they have been building it up.

in case it wasn't obvious enough the empire was evil and a bunch of dicks.

welcome to cold, the cruellest, slowest killer. the cruellest part may be the hope. there's nothing you'll survive better then cold, because while it kills you it also preserves you. you can hope to make it, until the moment you die. and the people who find your body will feel that same hope until your corpse is warmed up. it's a blessing too, for you'll survive it more often then drowning, but the hope is cruel.

damn that ending though.

are they planning to split to group up further? i mean probably the right decision, but not healthy for the series i think. they are making this play too idyllic, like 80% sure it'll either be destroyed or secretly evil. the only reason i'd say maybe not is because they seemed to have put too much afford into the assets to throw it all away. of all the enemies to throw at the it, this is one of the most mundane and with that cool. especially in it's accuracy.

also did they hint at this ship before? i didn't notice it but i'm notoriously bind to this type of ship. or did they introduce it in this episode.

that ship sure looks like the ghost.

"i suggest i you proceed before i come to my senses"

two things i still really like: Wrecker is allowed to be afraid of heights and it's not a flaw. a hinderance and a weakness, sure. but everyone has those. it's not something that's wrong with him that must be changed. Omega is trusted with important tasks and is competent. she's not just a tag along kid, she's an actual member of the team with useful skills like any of them.

there's going to be more then one team working here, that'll be a problem. called it, and called it... fuck. this season won't end in a successful rescue. they better be getting a season 3.

on no. i see the solution, Tech does too. please don't. yet you must. fuck. come on, it's too early in the episode for a mayor character death. right? unless the rest of the episode it to come to terms with the loss. i'm wrong... right? i mean... the start of the episode did set it up, but, like.. no?

this feels like an episode where they all die... but that can't be. they have an unresolved plot. whatsit fuck face needs omege, she needs to be captured and then rescued. that's how those plots go. everyone can't die, not yet at least, the plot demands it... right?

ok... they "salvaged" him. that has to mean he's alive... right? fuck i already know a friend of mine would call out my hopium.

another female clone? the fuck? also how can you be here? do what you do? that just doesn't make sense? trying to improve the system from the inside? that won't work with the empire, and if you were a mole you'd be a shit one. they're really hoping they'll get another season.

#the bad batch #the bad batch season 2 #capitalism #capitalism is the worst

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