#xgau

[sivavakkiyar]

you know what’s kinda sad? Fantano is on average less insightful than the ‘great rock critics’ at their best, but he’s not that bad and he’s considerably less of an asshole and does less pseudo-sociology so it’s overall better

[bronskibeet]

it's simple. music critics are unimpeachable arbiters of culture when they agree with me (see: robert christgau writing a thoughtful article on jens lekman's 2017 comeback) and they're laughably irrelevant, basically the dregs of society, when they disagree with me (see: xgau calling danny elfman "the nastiest creep in rock'n'roll since ron mael" in his negative review of only a lad)

[baroquespiral]

The BTS Consumer Guide

Since the Dean of American Rock Critics, Robert Christgau’s probably never gonna review BTS (he won’t even answer my Xgau Sez question about them), I took the liberty of writing up reviews for all their major releases in his style, because I have better things to do but I’m not doing them. He’d probably switch around my ratings for Most Beautiful Moment In Life Pt. 2 and Wings, but these are my real opinions despite the style, and I’m a fucking Celtic metalhead - we clearly don’t have the exact same tastes.  The Christgau rating system 2Kool4Skool Three songs - two formalities, one disarmingly earnest - and 4 tracks of sweltering boys’ room banter atmospherics. *

O?RUL8,2? Immediately undermines the relatability of “oh, are you late, too?” with “never be late to what you wanna do”, which sums up both contradictions at the heart of this group’s charmingly awkward concept. The Easter egg is that it’s also a reference to “Late Registration”, the prototype (if somewhat crudely copied) for its injection of warmth and funky grandiosity **

Skool Luv Affair Improves on the formula of O?RUL8,2? with more song specificity both in sound and content. Highlights include “Just One Day” which repays Kpop’s debt to Motown in pure smoove and “Spinebreaker” which finally puts the gritty realism in the socially conscious moralism instead of the other way around. Low points include the on-concept tracks and the ones with guitars. B+

Dark & Wild Not particularly. (War of Hormone) **

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Pt. 1 Does every trick in the Kpop book (which is to say, the pop encyclopedia) more richly, deliberately, believably (that’s as far as I’ll speculate about their sincerity) and energetically than any of their peers.   B+

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Pt. 2 What their newfound ’seriousness’ really means is that their songs aren’t conceived primarily as single types or categories any more, like in so much of Kpop. ‘Silver Spoon’ isn’t just the generational anthem, it’s also the contrarian class statement, tribute to three generations of party rap in one and polyrhythmic noise experiment. ‘Run’ isn’t just the single, it’s a relentless drum-driven driving song. ‘Whalien 52’ is the lonely one and the goofy one. ‘Ma City’ isn’t just the tribute to the concept of hometown, it’s to the contrast between those hometowns, the voices of the rappers from them, and the specific ways they would go about making such a tribute (“You’re my summer, autumn, winter and every spring” vs. “My birth itself is Daegu’s pride, right?”). Which, special mention to those voices again - Suga’s desperation and verging-on-Thugger mannerisms, RM’s breathy oratory, J-Hope’s rocksteady confidence. A

Wings A concept album in more than the videos, this time, but this makes the songs song-ier, not less. The boys’ boundless ambition and their producers’ ruthless mercantilism complement each other in every creative decision, and each song is the sum of hundreds, each as careful as the measurement of parts on a spaceship. The Kpop romanticism that rarely crosses the culture barrier successfully is allowed to lead instead of pulling against the pop thrust of songs here, and the story’s about losing it anyway. A+

Love Yourself ‘Her’ Lightening up is a move that makes sense for them at this point, becoming more obscure at the same time intriguing. “DNA” is an instant classic not only for its ostentatiously original structure and shroom-fuelled video but the ineffable undercurrent of ambiguity underlying its implausible declaration of destined love, which won’t be reducible to whatever narrative gimmick it leads into. The rest of the album expresses the same in less concentrated forms; summer, adulthood, confidence, longing, the cool shadow of a cloud bigger than Wings’ loss of innocence, too big for pop songs. A-

Love Yourself ‘Tear’ Finely crafted, carefully distinguished, but Bighit could always launch a new group with a robot voice & icy synthpop gimmick if they wanted. B+

Love Yourself ‘Answer’ I’m not reviewing the other re-releases/compilations/cash-ins, but this one was supposed to be the finale of a trilogy and does contain more new songs than typical, all of which are noticeably their most transparently internationally marketed and least inspired material to date, so does mark a stage in their coming-of-age metanarrative - of a sort. *

Map of the Soul: Persona The rappers do Atlas’ job holding up this album because they’re the only ones whose voices are allowed to sound like voices. Even so some of their best performances ever (on trivial songs) are buried in bizarrely flangey EDM bullshit. You’re probably better off watching these live. *

[seravee]

image description: digital art of Lyle Dylandy from Gundam 00, as depicted in the [xenogundam] AU, kneeling down inside a mobile suit hangar. he has bright yellow eyes and is wearing white armor with black accents, and the plating resembles the carapace of a bug. there is a GN drive planted in his back, and two massive wings made of green light, which resemble those of a luna moth, sprout from it. end ID

turn your back on mother nature

[neildylandy]

wip folder

tagged by: @haptism

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips.  I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? DnD campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!

i don’t actually have a designated folder for these so here’s just all the loose ones i have from memory

[g00] the price of living on

[xgau] pale blue skies

[xgau] 0.1: [exia]

[dgs/tgaac] steel resolve

[hlvr:ai] press f to pay respects

tagging: @childhoodgrave @laora-ryn @ballpitbeast @tieria-erde @sunnymatsu​ and anyone else who feels like doing this :)! Consider Yourselves Tagged

[tieria-erde]

💕⚡️🎧?

💕 do you have a favorite character to draw? lately, i gravitate towards either drawing lockon or xgau!regene (or sometimes my not-yet-a-vtuber-sona) when i'm doodling. in general if a character has fun hair i'll draw them a lot, it's my favorite thing

⚡️ who are some artists that have influenced you? @/iraprince!! please check out its art, it's super talented and one of my biggest inspirations of all time. i also really like @/kmgm-lux, shirahama komame, @/keycrash, @/sporesgalaxy... oh and of course my friend @childhoodgrave is one of the most talented artists in the world, monty is a constant inspiration to me, go look at monty's art. there's so many incredible artists out there that i love but i'd be here all day if i tried to list all of them so let's carry on

🎧 what do you listen to when you create, if anything? anything and everything. sometimes if i'm really trying to get into a certain vibe i'll put on specific songs to match, but most of the time it's really just whatever sounds good to me at the moment. listening to music is my default state

[nakedpersimmon]

Thought I would share with you guys that the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau recently shared his thoughts on The Monkees in his Xgau Sez Q&A newsletter. Unfortunately I can't post links here, but I was wondering of your thoughts on his answer?

So, for those who haven’t seen this, here are the thoughts in question (from the October 20th column):

The first thing to note is that historically, the Monkees have never gotten a fair shake from the mainstream rock press, and were subjected to harsh treatment by critics since their inception in the ‘60s (while, ironically, being welcomed with open arms and received very warmly by their fellow musicians, from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to Crosby, Stills, & Nash and beyond). 

There seems to be this idea that the Monkees are a band that most people either loathe/hate completely or “deify” (to use Christgau’s word) and uphold as perfect and beyond reproach. There is also an idea that bands--particularly a band like the Monkees--can only be validated as “good” when a critic (usually male) says they are, regardless of fans’ opinions. 

The actual reality is that the vast majority of Monkees fans love the Monkees’ music, but are fully aware that not everything they put out was great. Monkees fans also know that--regardless of the quality of their output--the Monkees had and do have a place in pop and music history.  Were they initially put together for the purposes of a TV show? Yes, absolutely. But what those producers caught was “lightning in a bottle” (to quote Micky’s autobiography), and that chemistry, that magic, that permanent alteration to our consciousness would not have happened with any other four guys. 

The Monkees exploded onto the cultural landscape in a way no one could have anticipated. Yes, they had songwriters like Bobby Hart, Tommy Boyce, Neil Diamond, etc. helping to craft that early Monkees sound, but it was the four of them who took things to another level, who wrested control of their musical destinies from the Powers That Be, recorded Headquarters, and showed the world who and what the Monkees truly are--both as a group, and as individually talented artists. 

The one fair point this “Dean of American Rock Critics” makes is that there are, indeed, other equally catchy groups out there. But what he fails to grasp is that it isn’t just the music that made the Monkees, that cemented their place both in history and in our hearts...it’s the men. It’s David Jones, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith--for good, for bad, and for everything in between.

(Also, “perverse absurdity” is a fucking harsh thing to say, and that he wants to categorize Monkees fans as “poptimist contrarians” shows how close-minded this douchecanoe really is, so, TL;DR: Robert Christgau can STFU and have several seats.) 

[shrimpkardashian]

I have a list of ~900 albums from 2019 that I still want to eventually listen to / review [IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT ALERT]

For this project (already 125+ releases deep), which is just impossibly daunting and makes me head hurt. IDK how to streamline this process or is any “critic” out there really listening to “all” the good music? It’s impossible I guess... BUT needless to say, these have made this list from an even larger pool of music that I either listened to briefly and immediately dismissed or (gasp!) never even came across my radar (radar = many many music blogs I follow via RSS). 

Anyway, because I’ll most likely never get to this (whatever this is, an Xgau parody or something)... Here is the list (please ignore some of my notations/typos):

1 matana roberts, coin coin chapter four 2 jeffrey lewis 3 negativland 4 camedor 5 the darkness 6 jai paul [leak] 7 shikoswe 8 anatolian weapons 9 cakedog, doggystyle 10 carly rae jepsen (LP, plus single w Gryffin) 11 parsnip 12 the comet is coming 13 girl in red 14 ezra furman 15 the kvb 16 freddie gibbs & madlib 17 say sue me (single) 18 denzel curry 19 fatamorgana 20 vivian girls 21 wobbly, monitress 22 helado negro 23 anamanaguchi 24 paul demarinis 25 comet gain 26 personal best 27 king princess, LP? big little lies single 28 marble arch 29 mini dresses 30 matt christensen 31 jade bird 32 black mountain 33 body meat 34 pat, Love Will Find A Way Home 35 acid arab 36 the 83rd 37 common holly 38 wicca phase 39 mark ronson 40 spirit in the room, single 41 rebe, “pienso en ti a todas horas” [just a single?] 42 a giant dog, neon bible cover LP 43 hey collosus 44 moon king (meh/ or *) 45 vanity productions 46 velvet negroni 47 g perico 48 budokan boys 49 skryptor 50 oscar scheller 51 the muffs 52 larry gus 53 these new puritans *** 54 angel olsen 55 bleu nuit 56 meatraffle 57 josephine wiggs 58 jennifer vanilla 59 big|brave 60 rico nasty 61 friendship, dreamin' 62 mike, tears of joy 63 bellrope 64 gbv 65 machìna, archipelago 66 toy, songs of consumption 67 ayankoko 68 the intelligence 69 drahla 70 corridor, junior 71 urochromes 72 david hasselhoff 73 aMAZONDOTCOM 74 kehlani 75 ne-hi EP (final) 76 avey tare 77 bonnie "prince" billy 78 battles 79 snapped ankles 80 mannequin pussy 81 toro y moi, soul trash 82 twen 83 self discovery for social survival comp 84 bad heaven ltd 85 eric frye 86 the mattson 2 87 duncan park 88 pure bathing culture 89 arthur russell, iowa dream 90 wild pink 91 flaming lips 92 pan amsterdam 93 flaural 94 knife wife 95 hannah peel & will burns 96 klein 97 meat puppets 98 tnght 99 james ferraro 100 royal trux / ariel pink 101 new rain duets 102 black marble 103 sui zhen 104 liam the younger 105 the mountain goats, welcome to passaic 106 frank hurricane and hurricanes of love 107 sebadoh 108 xylouris white 109 lindstrøm 110 franck vigroux 111 joyero 112 dorian electra  113 ride 114 crumb, jinx 115 nonconnah 116 cup, spinning creature 117 brutus 118 bjarki 119 khotin 120 alexander tucker 121 gunna 122 operator music band 123 tony molina 124 nanami ozone 125 sad planets 126 bemydelay 127 laurie anderson et al, songs from the bardo 128 teebs 129 deerhunter, timebends 130 tr/st (2 LPs) 131 dolores catherino 132 liturgy 133 floating points 134 sasami, LP + xmas EP 135 trikorder23 136 moor mother 137 have a nice life 138 la dispute 139 lingua ignota 140 lina tullgren 141 earl sweatshirt 142 entrail 143 alexander noice 144 shock narcotic 145 rakta 146 munya 147 el drugstore 148 buck gooter 149 caribou, single - more? 150 rosenau & sanborn 151 kevin abstract 152 pile 153 e for echo 154 animal collective, new psycho actives vol. 2 + live album 155 harlem 156 sudan archives 157 lil peep, posthumous ep 158 young guv, i and ii 159 orville peck 160 75 dollar bill 161 institute 162 tove lo 163 the chocolate watchband 164 foie gras, holy hell 165 french vanilla 166 chuck cleaver 167 kollaps 168 spirits having fun 169 game 170 badgirl$ 171 medhane 172 alberich 173 show me the body 174 the night watch, an embarrassment of riches 175 inus, western spaghettification 176 pregoblin, singles? 177 ra ra riot 178 de lorians 179 kool keith 180 kaspia & stride 181 glen hansard 182 dpeee 183 berlin taxi 184 foghorn 185 ionnalee 186 american sharks 187 sitcom, dust single 188 pip blom 189 j balvin & bady 190 fenella 191 tanya tagaq 192 sean o'hagan 193 j robbins 194 peter ivers (comp) 195 neon indian, not sure if single is part of larger proj? 196 triad god 197 yeule 198 roland tings 199 schoolboy q 200 ava luna EP 201 fried eggs 202 drugdealer 203 half japanese 204 todd anderson-kunert 205 emily reo 206 christelle bofale 207 brion starr 208 jan jelinek (reissue) 209 peaer 210 devin townsend 211 vik 212 young m.a 213 default genders 214 night lovell 215 rocketship 216 kim gordon 217 ellen arkbro 218 george clanton and nick hexum [single?] 219 the minus 5 220 penguin cage 221 felicia atkinson 222 take offense 223 moon duo 224 chemical brothers 225 nef the pharaoh 226 daniel norgren 227 unkle 228 pup (?) 229 baroness 230 velvet bethany 231 resavoir 232 gruff rhys 233 lana del ray 234 empath 235 burial and the bug, flame 2 236 russian baths 237 quelle chris 238 corpse flower 239 roy montgomery [reissue] 240 clinic 241 a.g. cook, [single] 242 why? 243 beck 244 francis lung 245 thom yorke 246 warmduscher 247 uv-tv 248 aa bondy 249 max richter, ad astra ost 250 younghusband 251 stereo total 252 julie's haircut 253 aa matheson 254 eartheater 255 kelly moran 256 mana (seven steps behind) 257 c.h.e.w. 258 sarah mary chadwick 259 midsommar ost 260 beabadoobee 261 life, a picture of good health 262 dumb, club nites 263 dame dolla 264 endless boogie 265 burna boy 266 lungbutter 267 wand 268 future punx 269 yves jarvis 270 kim petras [LP, halloween EP] 271 bts world 272 pikelet 273 panda bear, single 274 samiyam 275 red river dialect 276 ryan pollie 277 ryuichi sakamot (reissue) 278 jackie mendoza 279 dark blue 280 jay som 281 stephen mallinder 282 neutrals, kebab disco 283 foodman 284 capitol, dream noise 285 new pornographers 286 mark korven, the lighthouse ost 287 gauche 288 the japanese house 289 cave (re-issue) 290 ybn cordae 291 the vacant lots 292 arwen 293 rhucle 294 lil b, @ least 2 releases? 295 tea service 296 chai 297 black pumas 298 program, show me 299 marika hackman 300 sonny and the sunsets 301 lillie mae 302 mean jeans 303 the stroppies 304 poppies 305 twin shadow 306 vanishing twin *** 307 portrayal of guilt [EP + split single] 308 lucki [2 lps] 309 absolutely free 310 girl band 311 black midi 312 torche 313 perfume (best of) 314 white denim 315 clipping 316 the hu 317 big business 318 metro crowd 319 ex-vöid, 7" 320 broken social scene 321 lil pump 322 uranium club 323 doon kanda 324 hesitation wounds 325 sorry girls 326 bibio 327 red mass 328 the shins, single 329 lil keed 330 yeasayer 331 bts / blackpink KPOP 332 galen tipton, fake meat 333 the world, reddish 334 lanark artefax, ep 335 ladytron 336 g.s., schray 337 just mustard [single, more?] 338 mdou moctar 339 rangers, spirited discussion 340 tyson meade 341 dj nate 342 kelly lee owens 343 bambara 344 kilo kish 345 lusine 346 ralph heidel / homo ludens 347 psychic graveyard 348 homeshake 349 wives, so removed 350 proto idiot 351 let’s eat grandma, ost ep 352 foals 353 caroline shaw & attacca quartet 354 juan waters 355 mount eerie with julie doiron 356 mestozi 357 patio 358 oh baby, the art of sleeping alone 359 earth 360 haybaby 361 anna meredith 362 the caretaker (6) 363 rich brian 364 sunn o))), [two LPs] 365 alessandro cortini 366 ty segall 367 injury reserve 368 elucid 369 budos band 370 tim hecker 371 waqwaq kingdom 372 william doyle *** 373 innercity ensemble 374 filthy friends 375 prurient 376 shlohmo 377 bon iver 378 sean henry 379 yeesh 380 faye webster 381 megan thee stallion 382 squid, town centre 383 simulation (hausau mountain) 384 flying lotus 385 horse jumper of love 386 rap, export 387 lansky jones 388 the gonks 389 cate lebon 390 rome fortune 391 chain cult 392 empty set 393 big thief (2 lp's) 394 laura cannell [and polly wright album ?] or is there just a laura c album too ? }} 395 froth 396 thugwidow 397 organ tapes 398 the new pornographers 399 zonal 400 bbg baby joe 401 whitney 402 guards 403 anemone 404 sheer mag 405 nots 406 fujiya & miyag 407 kool aid, family portrait ep 408 frankie cosmos 409 kaputt 410 quelle chris 411 operators 412 marco benevento 413 elvis depressedly 414 school of language, 45 415 rob burger 416 pozi 417 redd kross 418 randy randall 419 yatta 420 hide, hell is here 421 bobby krlic, midsommar ost 422 planet england 423 kev brown 424 robedoor 425 tropical fuck storm 426 haram, 9/11 ep 427 candy, super-stare single 428 sly and the family drone 429 kevin morby 430 porches, rangerover [single] 431 odae 432 pottery 433 saint pepsi 434 slowthai 435 iggy pop 436 swans 437 iLOVEMAKONNEN 438 mukqs 439 feels 440 luke temple 441 oli xl 442 orphan swords 443 post pink 444 deli girls 445 nilüfer yanya 446 idk, is he real? 447 interpol 448 priests 449 galcher lustwerk 450 smokepurpp, various? 451 kindness 452 ex hex 453 sampa the great 454 methyl ethel 455 ellis, the fuzz ep 456 jeanines s/t 457 water from your eyes 458 twin peaks 459 sam cohen 460 fontaines dc 461 spiral stairs 462 the hecks 463 nicola ratti 464 four tet, various (inc. "wingdings" alter ego side proj) 465 holy ghost 466 half stack 467 cherubs 468 juana molina, forfun EP 469 jpegmafia 470 bedouine 471 fury 472 melvins/flipper 473 the curls 474 izambard 475 heart eyes 476 drinking boys and girls choir 477 big search 478 glenn branca 479 rose elinor dougall 480 bat for lashes 481 young knives, [single, more? 482 hot chip 483 alex lahey 484 hemlock ernst & kenny segal 485 dj seinfeld 486 joni void 487 rema rema 488 spencer tweedy 489 trash kit 490 dry cleaning [2 ep's] 491 mega bog *** 492 saudade 493 monster rally 494 wilco 495 chromatics, LP + EP 496 slayyyter 497 maral 498 blarf 499 pernice brothers 500 la neve 501 marie davidson 502 tredici bacci 503 deathprod 504 lowly 505 russian circles 506 angel witch 507 fires were shot 508 amy o 509 q da fool 510 clams casino 511 automelodi 512 paradox 513 dababy (2) 514 david kilgour 515 missy elliot 516 baby smoove 517 boris 518 thanks for coming 519 yves tumor [single w/] 520 ΜΜΜΔ 521 falcon/falkland 522 noel wells 523 ecstatic vision 524 amyl & the sniffers 525 barrie 526 bianca scout 527 katie dey 528 prince rama 529 control top 530 duster, comp + new LP 531 foxes in fiction 532 slowthai x denzel curry [single] 533 the murlocs 534 plaid 535 ela orleans 536 gobby 537 cfm 538 carla del forna 539 pale spring 540 pixx 541 širom 542 lightning bolt 543 cate lebon & deerhunter 544 channel tres 545 sigrid 546 help, s/t 547 shellac, live 548 crack cloud, pain olympics (ongoing) / s/t (2018) 549 notes underground 550 fat white family *** 551 gloop 552 equiknoxx 553 nakhane 554 czarface meets ghostface 555 the rubinoos 556 shannon lay 557 tim heidecker 558 droneflower 559 john vanderslice 560 your old droog 561 bats, alter nature 562 zvi 563 justus proffit 564 lower dens 565 anna of the north 566 yg 567 holly herndon 568 good fuck 569 clark, single 570 charli xcx 571 the nativist 572 low life 573 jonsi & alex somers 574 kazu 575 günter schickert 576 odonis odonis 577 kelsey lu (+ remix EP) 578 young thug 579 thaiboy digital 580 hatchie 581 hiro kone 582 cocorosie 583 sabiwa 584 oh sees 585 rex orange county 586 311 587 erland cooper 588 jtamul 589 the brilliant tabernacle 590 free love, extreme dance anthems 591 jeff lynne's elo 592 dutch courage 593 booji boys 594 giggs 595 ceschi 596 inter arma 597 psychic sounds ensemble 598 eli kezsler EP 599 thelma 600 haiku salut 601 julia jacklin 602 otoboke beaver 603 colin self 604 mark mulcahy 605 rosalia, single "a pale" more? 606 chris lott 607 royal trux 608 weyes blood 609 mikal cronin 610 hissing tiles 611 grace ives 612 vic bang 613 nick cave 614 sugar world [single] 615 herzog 616 offset 617 mike adams at his honest weight 618 real life buildings 619 aldous harding 620 pye corner audio 621 doja cat 622 bleached 623 book of shame 624 kate davis 625 i was a king 626 pendant, through a coil 627 joseph arthur 628 great grandpa, four of arrows 629 modern nature 630 stef chura 631 spaza, s/t great 632 the alchemist 633 pond 634 aiden baker, etc 635 kirin j. Callinan 636 possible humans 637 greys 638 kizuna ai 639 little simz 640 big bend 641 membranes, what nature gives… 642 young nudy 643 car seat headrest (live) 644 seahawks 645 dumbhop's party 646 julien chang 647 pacific yew 648 pharmakon 649 lomelda 650 versing 651 olden yolk 652 mekons 653 the dream syndicate 654 the gotobeds 655 amy klein 656 bABii 657 bill callahan 658 grlwood 659 van dale 660 ziúr 661 delicate steve 662 debby friday 663 dehd 664 south city hardware 665 kesha 666 (sandy) alex g 667 computer slime 668 fka twigs 669 rob halford, celestial 670 dean hurley 671 school of language 672 nicolas godin 673 blue hawaii 674 leggy 675 ceremony 676 his name is alive 677 third eye blind 678 sadgirl 679 ariana grande 680 skepta 681 dylan moon 682 jay mitta 683 the drums 684 kero kero bonito, ep 685 charly bliss 686 lee renaldo etc 687 rina mushonga 688 ulla straus 689 cherushii & maria minerva 690 slaughter beach, dog 691 maps 692 dj shadow 693 tool LOL 694 diiv 695 pixies 696 cuco 697 black peaches 698 subhumans 699 gurr 700 cashmere cat 701 brockhampton 702 fire-toolz 703 lambchop, LP + EP 704 messthetics 705 neuland 706 westkust 707 haelos 708 sturgill simpson 709 maria usbeck 710 king gizzard (2) 711 earthgang 712 paranoid london 713 fet.nat 714 bethlehem steel 715 neil young with crazy horse 716 tengger 717 guerilla toss 718 spelling 719 lizzo 720 wiki 721 dr00p, mkULTRAHD 722 ghost orchard 723 jane weaver 724 usa/mexico 725 carl stone 726 richard dawson *** 727 rafael toral 728 test dept 729 sacred paws 730 big krit 731 mallrat 732 jenn champion 733 moE/Mette Rasmussen, tolerancia picante 734 facs 735 yung lean, single (blue cup) and ep, more? 736 pissgrave 737 moodyman 738 sing sinck, sing 739 tyler the creator 740 sleater-kinney 741 dean blunt, zushi 742 cursive 743 barker, utlity 744 gemma 745 octavian 746 pronoun 747 girl ray 748 julia shapiro 749 nodding god 750 daniel saylor 751 jakob ogawa 752 richard youngs 753 diät 754 w00dy 755 omar souleyman 756 vōx EP 757 topdown dialectic 758 penelope islea 759 gbv 760 glass beach 761 james hoff, hobo ufo 762 euglossine 763 dream ritual 764 terry allen 765 office culture 766 ghostie, devour 767 beat detectives 768 red channel 769 octo octa 770 julien baker [toyko single] 771 shackleton as "tunes of negation" 772 sons of raphael 773 lena raine 774 fitted, first fits 775 velf 776 cvn 777 black country, new road, [2 singles only?] 778 chief keef 779 andrew bird, LP and EP 780 tamaryn 781 vagabon 782 zelooperz 783 brian jonestown massacre 784 angel dust 785 pere ubu 786 vatican shadow, church... 787 spencer radcliffe 788 mr muthafuckin exquire 789 earth to mickey 790 beak> 791 byron westbrook 792 major murphy 793 nicole yun 794 the divine comedy 795 sote, parallel persiao 796 the radio dept. 797 prince daddy & the hyena 798 mudhoney 799 truth club 800 shura 801 underworld, drift 802 lil texas 803 that dog 804 gary wilson / r. stevie moore 805 divino nino 806 spiral heads 807 claire cronin 808 devendra banhart 809 c.y.m. EP 810 dude york 811 sangri 812 vegyn [2 lp's?] 813 brooke candy 814 caroline polachek 815 hurt valley 816 O.L.I.V.I.A, modo avion 817 ziúr 818 pepper mill rondo, it's christmas time 819 ben vida 820 nick hexum/george clanton 821 meara o'reilly 822 tyler holmes, devil 823 blood incantation 824 guenter schlienz 825 gavilán rayna russom 826 loraine james *** 827 lithics, Wendy Kraemer EP 828 navel, ambient 2, in space 829 the proper ornaments 830 jon hopkins & kelly lee owens, single 831 julianna barwick 832 park hye-jin 833 bea1991 834 men i trust 835 erika de casier 836 ducks unlimited 837 lyzza 838 refused 839 jim o'rourke, to magnetize ... 840 analemma, 2 singles on a comp? 841 zack fox, "the bean kicked in" 842 real life rock n roll band 843 prefab sprout 844 daniel lopatin, uncut gems ost 845 kaytranada 846 the voidz, 2 song single + video? 847 grandaddy, single (add scissors icon) 848 dark thoughts, must be nice 849 loose nukes 850 sam mallet 851 very good, adulthood 852 henge, nothing head 853 kaleidobolt 854 nebula, holy shit 855 terminal cheesecake 856 uzeda 857 wet tuna 858 sean mccann 859 black dresses, love and... (2nd LP) 860 nefew 861 taylor swift ??? 862 lala lala, the lamb 863 jenny lewis 864 33EMYBW 865 blood orange, angel's pulse 866 caterina barbieri *** 867 yusu 868 white reaper 869 rozi plain 870 bamboo, daughters of the sky 871 seragina steer 872 clear channel, hot fruit 873 patience, dizzy spells 874 mope grooves, desire 875 current affairs, object & subject 875 comfort, not passing 876 bill orcutt 877 bonnie baxter 878 carl stone 879 thurston moore 880 alameda 5 881 john zorn 882 the membranes, what nature gives... 883 meemo comma 884 ana roxannne 885 whistling arrow, s/t 886 dis fantasy 887 giant swan, s/t 888 buck young, buck ii 889 abdu ali 890 ifriqiyya électrique 891 $hit and $hine, doing drugs, selling drugs 892 ghold 893 theon cross 894 yao bobby & simon grab 895 solange *sure whatever ok 896 the comet is coming 897 the utopia strong, s/t 898 karenn, grapefruit regret 899 brìghde chaimbeul 900 nav, bad habits 901 chance, big day 902 nostalgia critic's the wall 903 uboa, the origin of my depression 904 hobo johnson 905 ana frango elétrico 906 dorian electra

[cureforbedbugs]

Xgau Sez Again

MOUNTAINOUS

V/A: Puerto Rico [Putumayo World Music, 2000] These earnest craftspeople you never heard of feed off and into a folkloricismo of uncommon naturalness and grace--fueled by a Third World economy with loads of loose money in it, and lubricated by ease of movement between two different worlds. Too hip to the States to mess up their cultural pride with xenophobia, on good terms with the commercial danceability of their salsa-pumping Nuyorican cousins, they choose to serve the bomba of the black settlements, the plena of Ponce, the seis of the mountainous center. Although these tracks abound in indigenous percussion and don't shun horns or pianos, their defining sound is the lilt of the 10-string cuatro--rural yet sophisticated, romantic with a beat. Would that preservationists in Cuba and West Africa could float such a utopian groove. A-

RECONDITE

Miles Davis's '70s--beginning with the widely admired modal shifts of 1969's In a Silent Way and ending with the widely disparaged funk sprawl of 1976's Agharta--are the most incompletely understood period in the recording career of any major jazz musician. This is mainly because the job of understanding jazz musicians falls to jazz critics, who until very recently were neither inclined nor equipped to put much heart or mind into such recondite records. For if this music is any good at all, it's not good the way jazz is supposed to be good. Altogether lacking in that casually hyperintelligent aura of guys sitting around talking to each other that is the great legacy of bebop, it offers little sustained improvisation and less brilliant composition. Like the distantly respectable "free jazz," it's not arranged, it does nothing with harmony, and doesn't swing properly; it table-hops and races to nowhere and spaces out staring at the ceiling. But unlike "free jazz," this music was electric, beat-heavy, and marketed to kids--and thus obviously worthy of suspicion if not contempt. (from Miles Davis's 70's: The Excitement! The Terror!)

NUMBERLESS

Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali: A Better Destiny [RealWorld, 2001] You bet I A-shelved The Rough Guide to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Music Club's Ecstasy even better. Nevertheless, my basic attitude toward the prolific late great is enough already: We atheists need only so much Allah, and a little marginal differentiation helps the Sufism go down. I didn't notice the first two albums by this group, led by two more of Nusrat's numberless nephews, and I might like the first, by the label's account "traditional" rather than the "hypnotic fusion" of the Count Dubulah-aided follow-up. But when I grabbed this one blind, I had a reconversion experience. Even by qawwali standards Rizwan and Muazzam have big voices--rival nephew Rahat is distressingly reedy by comparison. They're at once more forceful and more eccentric than fraternal competitors the Sabri Brothers. And they're also lively, leaping higher and crazier than nephew Basrat on his latest speed-qawwali venture, the imaginatively titled Lost in Qawwali III. A-

TENUOUS

Skip James: Blues from the Delta [Vanguard, 1998] James isn't all he's cracked up to be, especially in the '60s. If the catwalking guitar line of "I'm So Glad" could still give Eric Clapton penis envy, his piano had lost its atonal abandon; if the song he wrote for his D.C. M.D. has God in it, "Careless Love" is barely filler. But always carrying the music is a tenuous falsetto that's been through a lot of bad medicine, a voice that's looked at death from both sides now and done what it could to aestheticize the terror. A-

CAPRICIOUS

Paul McCartney: London Town [Capitol, 1978] McCartney's lyricism is so capricious, so given to inanity and icky-poo, that only at its very best--"With a Little Luck" and the affectionate goof on "Famous Groupies"--does it come on strong. But from its slices of life to its romantic reassurances this is nowhere near as feckless as the old Band on the Run claque claims--even on the one about the fairy who'll invite us to tea Linda adds a few harmonies that are as charming as they're meant to be. And at the very least you have to be impressed by how steadfastly Paul has resisted supersessions--he's been loyal to his group, which has now recorded longer than the Beatles. B

[ch-dld-bft-brit-omm]

Lou Reed DJs on WPIX (1979)

01 Want Ads (Honey Cone) _ Gimme Some Lovin (Crazy Elephant) 02 DJ talk 03 Could This Be Magic (The Dubs) _ Smokey Joe's Cafe (The Robins) _ Nowhere To Run (Martha & The Vandellas). 04 Lou speaks 05 I Wonder Why (Dion & The Belmonts) _ The Closer You Are (The Channels) 06 Lou takes a call 07 I've Had It (Dion & The Belmonts) _ I Can Hear Music (Ronettes) 08 Lou takes another call 09 I Can Hear Music 2 (Ronettes) 10 Lou Grades Xgau 11 unknown doo wop 12 Xgau diss 13 unknown doo wop continued 14 DJ talk _ interview about Rainbows 15 Oh My Soul (Garland Jeffreys) 16 Lou speaks again 01 Lou speaks some more 02 Disco Mystic (Lou Reed) _ River Deep Mountain High (Ike & Tina) _ I Wanna Boogie With You (Lou Reed) 03 Lou on lead guitar, taxis, Vietnam, aquaphobia 04 Crazy Little Mama (El Dorados) 05 Lou on Rolling Stone magazine 06 Sexy Ways (Hank Ballard and the Midnighters) 07 John Cale arrives 08 I Feel Good (Al Green) _ It Was A Pleasure Then (Nico) 09 Lou & John 10 Miss Otis Regrets (Bobby Short) _ The Width of a Circle (David Bowie) 11 Cale Intro 12 Jack The Ripper - Live (John Cale) 13 Evidence - Live (John Cale) 14 Leaving It Up To You - Live (John Cale) 15 Outro (via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc3b1BbLIzU)

[sivavakkiyar]

as xgau said about one of my favorite albums, cheap sarcasm is forever

[boltcutterss]

3unshine's recommendation to Xgau

I noticed you that you’ve been exploring music from third-world countries so I was wondering if you’d want to try some Mandarin pop music? I’ll have to say that contemporary pop music in mainland China is pretty boring and that’s why I’d love it for you to listen to 3unshine. 3unshine is a group of 3 teenage girls born in 2000, and they actually started out as a joke-ish thing. In 2015, a set of amateur photoshop of Sunshine was posted on Weibo (Chinese twitter) and surprisingly received numerous responses, though most of these were attacks on their appearances and ignorance. Later on they were signed by a manager who had them appear in small variety shows for views. Two of the girls left leaving only Abby, Cindy and Dora in Sunhine. The 3 of them met Kerin, a musician who has been in the music industry for a while but hasn’t really been famous or anything like that. Due to legal issues with their previous label they had to change the name from Sunshine to 3unshine and started to sing songs produced by Kerin. There’s been 13 songs released by 3unshine from 2016 to 2019 but they’ve lost the attention from the general public. For that very few really listened to their music, and the general public only had some ideas about their appearances. Cindy who is definitely not the typical Asian beauty, Dora who literally cannot sing and Abby with depression because she couldn’t handle those attacks. However, at the same time, luckily, 3unshine’s gathered some favors especially from the LGBTQ community and indie music lovers. The group did make some solid songs and visuals working with independent artists, songwriters and producers, and in my opinion they really made the best contemporary pop music in mainland China and people have been saying that too. Theses songs were released as an album called ‘We Are 3unshine’ via vinyls and CDs but not yet on streaming services. Luckily, they were released as singles gradually so really the album is out there already. I made a playlist on Spotify with the correct track list order, and we would really want you to give it a try and tell us how you feel about it.

listening link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3N3ZQsiCJvdS8bLwCAPDWO?si=6hiXnmdHSf21MUTmPu3low

Here’s the lyrics:https://boltcutterss.tumblr.com/post/615846571119083520/we-are-3unshine-lyrics-rough-translation

[daniel-browne]

The idea is to let the music reach your ears unmediated insofar as that is possible, and although that’ll always mean relatively unmediated, there are various ways to trick yourself into being more spontaneous about it. I’ve made it a discipline to figure out the real reasons I enjoy individual pieces of music and put my conclusions into writing for over half a century. I’m real good at it and never perfect. It’s a contingent world. It’s also the only one we got, and music generally makes it better.

Robert Christgau, “Xgau Sez”

Teach me your tricks, Dean!

UPDATE: Great conversation about this very thing on the new Music Exists podcast.

[timrileyauthor]

#alanlight #tomcarson #chuckberry #halblaine #greilmarcus #robertchristgau #davelaing #xgau @minimusiccritic #creem #chuckklosterman #CameronCrowe #SimonReynolds #EricWeisbard #retrorockism #bbcmusic #musicjournalist #musiccritic #spotify #mojo #LSUG @chrissmithermusic #creem #rrindex https://ift.tt/2TQpfc2

[tinymixtapes]

Music Review: FCS North - Vocabulary

FCS North Vocabulary [Self-Released; 2019] Rating: 4/5 By the time I was a kid, “jazz” equated to the trappings of A/C radio, a “punchy funk,” maybe, with spicy Mediterranean colors, a couple “ooh-la-las” thrown in like sweet barbs; Chrysalis Records, etc. It was a bloated, overproduced, objectively ugly sound. But I came to love it with all my heart. And so I’ll never forget the first time I heard “Rainforest.” The jazzbos never liked fusion, branding it something like a sort of kind of heresy. And so, to paraphrase Xgau: boo-boo on them, that’s fine. Every once in a while, though, I guarantee you, jazzbos, you get an itch and notice a second figure in the mirror… --- Like good noodles, it can be hard to find fusion that doesn’t wilt into self-parody, for better or otherwise. And so I, playing the screen game, happened upon Vocabulary, prepared for the best and hoping for the worst. But it is a unique record: It doesn’t just recapitulate the phylogeny of Seattle jazz itself; it also carries this sonic history with a considered, individual gait. With its experimental, techno-inspired flavor, it gives new meaning to the term club jazz. It must be said: though Seattle has a rich history in jazz, you probably wouldn’t know it today. In the post-war era, police tolerated a burgeoning after-hours scene in what is now the Chinatown/International District. At its peak, more than two dozen jazz clubs existed along Jackson St. alone, including ones like the Black and Tan. A who’s who of greats all got their start here: Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Bumps Blackwell, Ernestine Anderson, et al. Vocabulary by FCS North It is this heavier-than-heaven tradition that Vocabulary initially seems to tackle, which is a tall order to be sure. But it nails cold fusion: after a bait-switched introductory statement (“feat. Phil”), Vocabulary gets going with a flourish of keys. Like a medieval mode, it outlays the outset. It’s soon matched by blunt, refracted rays of percussion, rapid-fire thrums rum-a-pum-pumming against your bare shoulders. And it’s all uptempo: a positively frightening start, all arpeggiated, falling short of barre-bary. The following tracks initially seem to retrace this model in their own ways. That is, until we reach “Things Will Change,” where, with that coprophagic grin of a title, things really begin to change. The record gets funkier. Eric B.-like scratches emerge like charmed snakes. With precise spin and velocity, the blunt rhythmic repetition enforces the un-codified, unspoken jazz constitution: change over time. Summery sus chords abound. And so Vocabulary embraces a careful, but hardly turgid, experimentation. The music, while dabbling in various genera, manages to remain true to its own musical center of gravity. As if aware of its place on the shelf, Vocabulary expresses a sonic vision of what jazz can be, but doesn’t necessarily have to be. And so it is modestly produced. Hardly rote, the improvisations feel righteously inspired, but never arrogant or bloated. The sketches are certainly complex, but still feel loose enough to swing. And isn’t that what jazz is about? Swing? Gil Evans once said, “jazz has always used the rhythm of the time, whatever people danced to.” In that spirit, Vocabulary reflects the richly variegated rhythms of our time. http://j.mp/2oIFUAP

[neildylandy]

can you talk about my best friends pale blue skies and 0.1 pleaaaase <|:-) (wearing a funny hat)

well how can i say no to a funny hat...

edit: i wrote WAY too much here's a readmore

pale blue skies and 0.1 are both gundam 00 fics, specifically in (the? are we putting in an article) xenogundam au. the synopsis to that au is technically here but at this point that post is kind of out of date. still it gets at least an adjacent point across so it's what we'll go with until we make a new one!

0.1 is the easier one to explain: it's the "chapter zero" segment in which soran ibrahim finds the gundam exia and becomes the innovator setsuna f. seiei. because it comes first in the telling of xg!au (much in the same way that setsuna's meeting with the 0 gundam comes first in canon), there's a little bit more explaining of what the gundams are like and their effects on human beings, but a lot of it is still left on the table to be explained by later entries since well. setsuna mostly doesn't care enough to think about the fiddly details until they come up lmao

there's a focus on memory and language in 0.1 and how they can promote both understanding and (pardon the pun) alienation in a group of people. this is notable, for example, in the fact that soran ibrahim, being a child from krugis, speaks only kurdish, while the azadistani citizens he passes by in azadistani settlements would speak only farsi. xgau is, at its core, about Communication and Connection, and disconnects like these between soran/setsuna and the human beings around him are exactly how i want to start this story.

to assign 0.1 to a point in the show, it's essentially the prologue and first episode of season 1.

—

pale blue skies is a fic that focuses on xg!au tieria, and on the events leading into the Trans-Am "metamorphosis" that transforms virtue/nadleeh (written as one being that has multiple names for its various forms) into seravee/seraphim. xg!au tieria is...essentially what would happen if you took early- to mid-s1 tieria and put him in s2 with not only no time to grow but an outside force actively pushing him constantly to not grow, because the innovator he was built to be is already exactly who he needs to be.

pale blue skies demonstrates that this is not at all the case. to put it at a point in the show, it'd be during that four-year gap after operation fallen angels—though in xg!au, that timespan is a LOT more condensed, ending up at around six months and change. through various character arcs of their own, exia has become 00, kyrios has become arios, dynames has become cherudim...and nadleeh is still stuck half-melted in the ground because it and tieria can't figure out the "method" for activating trans-am, and none of the other innovators can help them understand it (because it's a completely personal experience, and none of them are nadleeh and tieria).

tieria argues with nadleeh for the first time in his entire existence, nadleeh has to shut itself down to conserve power, and tieria decides that the innovator he needs to be, the innovator he is, has proven insufficient. the problem isn't that they can't activate trans-am to repair themselves, it's that he can't. and if he can't do that, he's nothing but an obstacle.

while nadleeh is still shut down and no one else is awake to stop him, tieria sneaks out of the innovators' camp and goes into the desert alone to clear that obstacle once and for all.

and while he fades, he thinks about music.

pale blue skies is named after a combination of the famous Pale Blue Dot that is earth from space and the song Mr. Blue Sky by electric light orchestra. the fic is non-chronological, and jumps between tieria's current state to his memories of one strange, human little moment between a bunch of people who aren't human at all.

this is a fic about tieria erde trying to die alone in the desert and it's also extremely a fic about the Hivemind Karaoke Night that changed the course of history. i made an actual real playlist for it and everything and every song in that playlist is involved in the fic somehow and i have made mr. blue sky the funny song mr. blue sky be plot-critical and i am having an Absolutely Phenomenal Time

did i mention lyle dylandy is here too? he's an innovator now. he pilots the 0 gundam. he's responsible for this. he's responsible for the fact that both bohemian rhapsody and potential breakup song [explicit] is featured in my gundam 00 alternate universe fan fiction on-line

thanks lyle