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elitegymnastics · 3 years ago

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Q: What is this?

A: It’s a flyer for a virtual fundraiser on June 4th that Elite Gymnastics is playing. You can access the show at quietyear.com

Q: Hasn’t Elite Gymnastics been inactive for like, ten years?

A: Yes. This is the first Elite Gymnastics performance of any kind since November 30th 2012, at the Horn Gallery at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.

Q: Why did Elite Gymnastics stop playing shows?

A: Elite Gymnastics started out as me (Jaime) and a bunch of my friends agreeing to help me play my songs live back in 2009. I made a lot of weird demos in GarageBand and my friend Dominique Davis from the band Dearling Physique got tired of watching me sit on them. So, he booked me to play at a show he was curating as part of a small local music and arts festival called Clapperclaw. For several months that’s mainly what EG was. At some point the focus shifted to making recordings rather than playing shows, to participate in the emergent culture of new music distributed via MP3 file-sharing. The lineup winnowed to just me and Josh Clancy, who began creating digital EPs that we posted on this Tumblr page as ZIP files full of MP3s accompanied by a PDF of artwork. This is the incarnation of the group that most people are familiar with.

This was before Patreon existed. If Bandcamp was around, we’d never heard of it. Though MP3 file-sharing culture and file transfer sites like MediaFire and MegaUpload allowed anyone to distribute music freely across the world via the internet, it was still pretty difficult to get people to pay you for it. I think it was for this reason that a lot of internet music back then featured a lot of sampling. A lot of artists’ first forays into the world of DAWs and production took the form of mash-ups, bootleg remixes, and DJ mixes. Artists like Animal Collective, MIA, Kanye West, and Daft Punk for whom sampling was a pillar of their creative process were extremely influential. Elite Gymnastics was no exception - the first song of ours to gain traction online was “Is This On Me?” which made no attempt to hide the fact that it heavily sampled Faye Wong’s “Eyes On Me.” The fact that it was so difficult to make money off MP3s pushed people to make different creative decisions than they would have otherwise. It was sort of a free-for-all.

Eventually, all of this started to change. The major labels started getting a lot more aggressive about trying to destroy MP3 file-sharing culture. Platforms like MegaUpload were raided and taken offline. The replacements that sprung up to replace them were increasingly infested with ads and malware. Corporate platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud adopted Content ID filters to prevent the proliferation of copyrighted music there. Blogs and private torrent trackers being taken down meant thousands of hours of labor were wiped out in an instant. Some of the best archives of the history of recorded music ever created were destroyed without hesitation. Even the most devoted participants lost the will to keep repairing and re-making the stuff that cops and record companies kept obliterating.

Josh and I both dreamed of being able to make a living as musicians. We still do. Back then, we were willing to accept a lot of changes in order to make that possible, which seemed necessary. A lot of the stuff that we were great at just didn’t make any money. Once, we were asked to do a remix of a song called “Sa Sa Samoa” by the band Korallreven. I did the remix by myself, which was normal for us, and Josh was so inspired by it that he spent a week working non-stop to create a video for it. People loved it - the day the video dropped, Pitchfork designated the song as a “Best New Track” and New York Magazine wrote about it in their “Approval Matrix.” The video led to a ton of exposure, but from a financial perspective, it just did not make sense to put that much effort into promoting a remix of someone else’s song. The stuff we were personally excited by just seemed to have less and less to do with what actually makes money.

A lot of internet bands during this era began to palpably shapeshift in an effort to succeed in music as a career. Artists who’d first attracted notice for sample-based bangers they made on a laptop started posing with vintage hardware in their press photos and trading in their laptops for live bands and recording studios. It became harder to distribute DJ mixes or mash-ups that contained copyrighted music in them. Influential bloggers either closed up shop or were absorbed into the traditional music industry in some way. Feeds that once touted bizarre songs by laptop-toting weirdos with no industry connections started to become populated mostly by artists with labels and publicists. The bottom rungs of festival lineups started to consist mostly of new major label signings who have lots of money to spend on stage production but not much in the way of grassroots fan enthusiasm or media buzz.

Internet music and what people tend to refer to as “indie music” split off into two separate streams. Today, there’s a pretty intense firewall between internet culture and whatever you want to call the culture of vinyl records, mid-sized indie labels with publicists, and positive reviews from the few remaining websites that still pay people to write about music. I call it “publicist indie,” “lifestyle techno,” or “prestige electronica” depending on whether or not the music features guitars and/or vocals. The recent online kerfuffle about NFTs really emphasized this split. The worlds of digital illustration and game development campaigned aggressively against mass adoption of cryptocurrency - if you saw any Medium posts explaining crypto’s environmental issues, chances are they were written by someone from those fields. Every new announcement by an artist that they had minted an NFT was met with a swift and vocal backlash from fans. Though I’ve never really been much of an Aphex Twin fan, it was still pretty startling to look at the replies under his NFT announcement tweet and see hundreds of furious people announcing that he was now dead to them. That’s an artist who has seemed more or less unimpeachable for most of my life up until this point! All of that seemed to change in an instant.

There is a massive disconnect between the insular world of the industry establishment and the cutting edge of online counterculture. We saw this again a couple of weeks ago with the online response to the crisis in Gaza. We saw passionate advocacy for Palestinians from games journalists and developers much more often than we saw it from musicians. This is a very serious problem for music! I do not believe it is possible to please both sides - that is to say, I do not believe it is possible to be part of internet counterculture and the industry establishment simultaneously. The music industry is too conservative, too compromised, too corrupt. If it weren’t for the ocean of valuable copyrights that labels are sitting on, most of them would be bankrupt within a year. If the industry was forced to live or die based on how they handle what’s happening right now in the present, it would most assuredly die. The only people who don’t realize this are those who are being paid to stay ignorant.

Josh and I did not know this back then. From where we were standing, it looked like internet culture and established media industries were on track to converge. A career in the arts seemed genuinely, tantalizingly possible, right up until the moment that it no longer did.

In my case, I had really been struggling up until that point. My life had been this ongoing sequence of evictions and hospitalizations, and it seemed to be getting worse, not better. I donated plasma twice a week to pay for groceries and while I was sitting there with a giant needle stuck in my left arm for an hour I would see my picture in The Fader or my songs being recommended by one of the Kings of Leon on Twitter or whatever. Music seemed like the only thing the world thought I was any good at. It felt like my only chance at a peaceful, happy life was somewhere out there in a world I could only perceive through a laptop screen.

Gender, for me, was a big factor in all of this. The more invested in the craft of songwriting I became, the harder it was to repress or ignore my gender stuff. At that time I’m not sure I even knew what the word “transgender” meant - I just knew that when I showed up at a venue wearing a skirt, no one would talk to me or look me in the eye, and that reading about people like Anohni or Terre Thaemlitz or on the internet made me feel like if I could get out of Minneapolis maybe I could find a place where people would accept me. The internet was like, a pretty toxic place for someone in my position. When I tried to find people to talk to about what I was feeling, nobody tried to tell me to read Judith Butler or ask me what pronouns I preferred. The internet was just like, overrun with predators who just wanted to fetishize me and exploit me. Music seemed like the only way I’d ever have an actual life as myself. I was desperate for that. I was well and truly desperate.

Between all the big changes that were happening to us individually and the music industry moving farther and farther away of the anarchic free-for-all of MP3 file-sharing culture, the strain on us just got to be too much. We stopped trusting each other. We became the unstoppable force and the immovable object, crashing haphazardly against one another’s resolve in a dazzling display of youthful futility. Our partnership ended, and after finishing out the remaining live shows on the calendar by myself, I retired the name “Elite Gymnastics” and started making music on my own under other names. That was that.

Q: Why is Elite Gymnastics coming back now, then?

A: Over the years, Josh and I eventually started talking again. Though there was a lot we did agree on, and potential future projects were discussed, nothing truly felt right. We haven’t been in the same room since Summer 2012, and we’ve both changed a lot since then. We both have other projects and we’ve both developed other ways of working since we stopped working together. It’s a pretty big commitment to put all of that aside in order to join your fortunes together with someone you haven’t seen in a decade.

Recently, Josh decided to leave Elite Gymnastics. His reasons are his own, and I was very surprised by his decision, but after having had time to adjust, I’m really grateful to him. I had kept these songs at a distance for many years, because it seemed foolish to allow myself to get too attached to songs I didn’t feel like I was allowed to think of as mine, if that makes any sense. The songs felt like casualties of a conflict that I had to bury in the ground and try to forget about. Being able to embrace them again felt like re-growing a severed limb or having a loved one come back to life, almost. Feeling like it was safe to love these songs again made me feel whole in a way I didn’t expect to. I became really excited by the prospect of revisiting them, so that’s what I decided to do.

Q: Does this mean you’re going to put RUIN back on Spotify?

A: No. Taking the record off Spotify was the right thing to do. That record was only ever intended to exist during the era of MP3 piracy. I never envisioned a world where the music industry would be so aggressive about policing the way that copyrighted music is allowed to exist online. If we hadn’t opted to take the record down when we did, someone would inevitably have forced us to. If you want to hear those specific recordings again, you’re going to have to do it the way we originally intended: by downloading MP3 files from the internet. Try SoulSeek.

Q: What’s next for Elite Gymnastics, then?

A: Here’s the situation currently. There is no Elite Gymnastics music available to stream or purchase in an official capacity anywhere on the internet. It wouldn’t really be possible for me to put the old stuff on Spotify or Bandcamp now because of all the samples. Like I said before, it was a different time. Those records were created to thrive on a past version of the internet that no longer exists. They weren’t designed to be compatible with the 2021 internet.

Technically, Elite Gymnastics didn’t ever release a debut album. We had EPs, a compilation, and a remix collection. We didn’t make an album, a record that existed as the distillation of all that experimentation that contained all of the songs that fans of the EPs would want to hear, all in one place. It’s like we did Good Fridays but stopped before we made My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

So, I am currently working on the first Elite Gymnastics album. If you were following my stuff as Default Genders, you may have noticed me posting demos on my SoundCloud page from 2015-2018 that were all eventually reworked into the album Main Pop Girl 2019. The album I am making is taking that approach to all the old EG songs, including some unreleased stuff. I’m collaborating with others on some songs and I honestly feel like it has resulted in some of the best and most exciting music I have ever been involved with. It is a drastic reinvention, but iteration and reinvention have always been a big part of what I do. I want to make something that feels like the culmination of everything that came before, and so far, I think I’m succeeding.

Q: When will I be able to hear this new music?

At a virtual fundraiser on June 4th, 2021, where there is a suggested donation of $10. You can access it at quietyear.com

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samkat10423 · 4 years ago

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New day - new world!

If you read my last post – or live in the US - you’ll know that we’ve been freezing our asses off. It’s been 0 degrees F here, with wind chills in the minus twenties. So, of course, I decided to try a new world – an ice planet, no less! Makes perfect sense.

Anyway, this world, Ice Station – or some such name – was created a long time ago (before the Seasons EP) by rfllong7. Or whatever it is she calls herself now. It’s supposed to be a post-apocalypse world, but DAMN! It’s squeaky clean! And I like grunge. Yes, I do. Plus, she used basegame rabbitholes in this world. Well, she also included Late Night ones and the damn subway ones, but really? I mean, I get it. People complain about using the rugs, but they’re idiots, so why listen to them?

So, I am currently going in and re-doing yet another town. I will not be having all the rabbitholes, but just the ones I consider essential. That means no bistro, no movie studio, no frackin spa or stadium. Just government, business, military, science and hospital, and the grocery and maybe the bookstore. Plus, all these damn underground houses will go. After all, the ground is FROZEN!!!! Have any of you ever tried digging frozen ground? It’s a lot of work. And my Sims are nothing if not lazy. And, instead of the UNDERGROUND subway system, I’m using those new items Sandy created for her Snowy Escape set (Thank you, Sandy! The check is in the mail!).

So, that all said, this is my new government center. I found this lot – it was much smaller – over on Mod the Sims. I think it was created 12 years ago and was supposed to be an army base. But I plunked it down on a 64x64 space and added some crap to it. It now houses my business, politics and police rugs. Yes, you heard me. RUGS!!!!!! Otherwise, the buildings are just shells for now. And I know it’s all sparkly clean, but these are the offices of the planetary elites, and they like nice stuff. Sort of like in this country. But we won’t go into that here.

This lot started off life in Sunlit Tides. No lie! I like the whole quonset hut idea - I just wish it wasn’t so pristine. But since this lot belongs to the military, and the planet is currently under martial law, I guess they get to have nice things too. I need to find some terrain paints with snow tracks. So far, no luck. But I am persistent, so confidence is high!

This lot contains the town’s theater. Who knew the meteor would miss it? At first, I wasn’t going to waste time having non-essential jobs in this town, but I really like this build. So my Sims now get to go see 3rd-run movies. Anyway, this lot was created by the lovely Simsmidgen – again on a much, much smaller lot. This lot here, is another of those 64x64s. So, there was plenty of room to add other crap.

Like the new bookstore. I may change the siding to a mish-mash, but for now, it’s okay. I guess.

And this lovely al fresco dining area. Yes! That’s right! My Sims are stupid and dine outside in sub-arctic weather. Anyway, that bump-out behind this lovely arbor, is where I stuck my grocery rug. Other than the rug, it’s empty - unlike my bookstore, which has actual books and a register, on the ground floor: with the rug on the 2nd.

And – just in case you’re wondering – that barrel is actually a season food stand that Sandy, over at Around the Sims 3, created. Awesome, yes?

Today I built a new hospital. Then bulldozed it. It was getting way out of hand. And too pretty. Blecch! So, it’s back to the drawing board.

#sims 3 SNOW!!!! @simsmidgen - thank you! Ice Station or some such crazy name

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jbluphin · 4 years ago

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So in general, I was QUITE happy with the Animaniacs reboot. I think they in general did a solid job capturing the original spirit of the show. When they bust into the almost shot for shot redone intro (for the first verse, at least), and throughout the entire first ep, I was on a nostolgia high, laughing my head off, and generally that continued throughout the show! Lots of very clever jokes, tongue in cheek, meta... what you would expect from Animaniacs!

But there were a few things that niggled throughout.

Animaniacs spoilers below.

So yes, first, I really missed the expanded support cast. I get why they cut a bunch of them, I do. A decent amount of the original cast were based on stereotypes, wouldn’t work today, or were otherwise somewhat problematic. But I think they could have utilized some of them, re-worked a few more of them, and had more than the brief cameo that they did have (more on THAT later).

They alternatively could have started developing some more characters that we could get attached to! Frankly, the few shorts they did with *new* characters honestly made me question the line about “our brand new cast who tested well in focus group research”.

My BIGGEST complaint is what they did to poor Chicken Boo. I always really enjoyed the Chicken Boo sketches. As a kid, sure, it was certainly funny that it was a giant chicken disguising himself as a human. But the thing about Chicken Boo and his sketches is that: 1) he a giant chicken, poorly disguised and generally silent (or speaking nothing but clucks) 2) no one apparently can see through this obvious disguise (except one nay-sayer) 3) HE ALWAYS DOES A REALLY EFFECTIVE JOB -- he’s always a well-liked, efficient chicken who does his job (or whatever) well. The ONLY thing that the rest of the cast find fault with is the fact that he’s a giant chicken. So, when 4) he is revealed to be a chicken and driven out of town, there’s a certain inherent tragedy. He was an accepted member of society until this reveal, and suddenly everyone who previously adored him turns on him. It’s clearly an unfair reaction, and one could probably write some long analysis discussing his treatment and how society treats ‘the other.’

So, poor Chicken Boo is an outcast from society, and here they make him a villain? Who -- contrary to any sketch before -- actually does have an amazingly good disguise? And can actually speak? And does a terrible job doing what he’s trying to do? Which is that he apparently reacted to his alienation by becoming the cartoon equivalent of a serial killer??? Are you kidding me????? (Also, how the hell did anyone manage to catch Slappy?}

I did NOT see this coming because it was NOT in character for him, so my delight in the cameos of former Animaniacs bit characters (gruesome though the cameo may have been) was suddenly cut short.

Other more minor complaints include:

Brain is a bit more evil than usual (wanting to have children build bombs???). The dude wants control, not to destroy everything!

The animation style of non-classic characters didn’t really.... fit? Like, it was super angular and didn’t quite mash well with the Warners themselves. They looked like they always did! Which is why the new characters contrasted do much. They looked like different KINDS of cartoons.

The animation was also weirdly detailed. I kept noticing things like really pronounced nipples, overly bodacious boobs almost falling out of dresses, weirdly long and salivating tongues, hair protruding from the top of Odyssius’s kilt. And I don’t think there was a single episode without a bouncing bootie with individual butt cheeks doing a little dance. It just felt.... intrusively in-your-face. I might not have this issue if it were a completely different show, but I didn’t think it fit with Animaniacs well.

As far as a reboot goes, these are not the biggest complaints ever (bar characterization issues). It’s one of the better reboots I’ve seen! I will happily watch season 2. But. Pobody’s Nerfect.

Narf.

#animaniacs #pinky and the brain #spoilers #long post #this is mostly me nitpicking #ok one rant #chicken boo #look i generally liked it a lot #not getting into 'i want more XYZ'#because i'd happily binge watch another season of this NEXT weekend if it were available #and if I start going #'hey where's wheel of morality'#that might be a bridge too far!

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crazy-rich-king-of-mongrels · 5 years ago

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THE GUIDE TO FATE FRANCHISE

*just a short description of the series, not gonna explain as it will take time... Don't wanna admit my laziness

FATE/STAY NIGHT

▪︎Fate/Stay Night Trilogy (originally a VN)

• Fate (Saber's route)

• Unlimited Blade Works (Rin's route)

• Heaven's Feel (Sakura's route, the darkest) - has 3 parts which are (I) Presage Flower (II) Lost Butterfly (III) Spring Song

▪︎Fate/Zero (prequel to FSN = MAJOR spoiler to FSN)

▪︎Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (6 months after FSN, VN game only)

ALTERNATE TIMELINE

▪︎Fate/Apocrypha (originally a LN but has an anime adaptation already)

▪︎PRISMAVERSE (originally 5 seasons, the final should be animated soon)

• Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya (magical girls alternate timeline spin-off)

• Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: Sekka no Chikai

• Fate/Kaleid Prisma Illya 2zwei

• Fate/Kaleid Prisma Illya 3rei

▪︎Emiya-san chi kyou no gohan (more like Shirou's cooking show)

▪︎Fate/Unlimited Codes (PSP game)

▪︎Lord El-Melloi II Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note (spin-off. 10 yrs after the event in FZ so they are on the same universe as FSN, but this happened in London)

▪︎EXTRAVERSE

• Fate/Extra (PSP game, has 3 routes - ending may vary on your servant (3), alternate universe on FSN timeline)

• Fate/Extra Last Encore (adapts the reality of an alternate bad end of FE's original storyline: already adapted in anime)

• Fate/Extra CCC (PSP game- JP only, parallel timeline to Extraverse, has 4 playable servants, has 3 routes; normal, servant, ccc)

• Fate/Extra CCC Fox Tail (spin-off manga of CCC, parallel timeline to CCC events, ongoing)

▪︎EXTELLAVERSE (sort of sequel to Fate/Extra)

• Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star (PS4, alternative storyline that occurs post FE)

• Fate/Extella: Link (sequel storyline)

▪︎Fate/Prototype (original concept of Nasu's FSN, not genderbent arthur that's why it's prototype lol, short OVA and manga's ongoing)

▪︎Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver (prequel Light Novel ongoing)

▪︎Fate/Labyrinth (alternate timeline created by the protag of F/P inside a dream, same timeline as FA)

▪︎Fate/Strange Fake (Light Novel. Entirely separate timeline but mixed of different elements from other Fateverse. THIS IS THE FREAKING COOLEST ENTRY ON FATEVERSE!!!!*for me ofc 😎 Same author as DRRR and Baccano, Narita.)

▪︎Fate/Grand Order (mobile game. SALT, black keys, mapo tofu, master loves NTR but I still ship Ana and Kadoc. Spoils other fate franchises the deeper you go. Canon alternate timeline in Fateverse)

There are 5 anime adaptations to FGO:

▪︎Fate/Grand Order: First Order (movie)

▪︎F/GO: Camelot Agateram (movie in Aug 2020)

▪︎F/GO: Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia (21 eps. 7th singularity in 1st arc and the most interesting singularity in 1st arc hah! yes)

▪︎F/GO Final Singularity: Grand Temple of Time Solomon (confirmed that this would be adapted- trailer already released)

▪︎F/GO: Moonlight Lostroom (prequel to 2nd arc which is Lostbelt)

▪︎Fate/Requiem (LN ongoing, JP only)

▪︎Fate/Type Redline (ongoing manga. Mostly comedy gags on Okita and Nobu)

▪︎El Melloi II's Adventure (novel. Happened after 5th HGW but it does not have the same timeline with FSN. Only has Vol 1 and does not have tl as of now)

I just want to mention:

Carnival Phantasm (spinoff. Comedy OVA series based on TakeMoon. Probably more like a break from those stressful events on Nasuverse. These are all mash-up of characters mainly from Fate and Tsukihime)

Thanks to google for some of the confirmation although I was still confused of FSF since there are some debates of its timeline relating to FSN.

#fate stay night #fate stuff #fate strange fake #nasuverse #type moon #fate grand order #fate series #fate franchise

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nossbean · 4 years ago

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@sarahoftarth tagged me ages ago, thank you and sorry it’s taken so long!! So pandemic brain has been doing a number on me the last couple of months (few weeks? honestly time means nothing atm which is probably part of the problem!) but I’ve been getting my energy back up in fits and starts, and I remembered this comfort meme! It seemed like a great time to pull it out and have a go 💕

🌿 Favourite comfort food: rolling around in starch, basically! Bangers and mash swimming in gravy has been my main comfort food since I was a tot, also love pizza and nachos just HEAPED with tasty things and ice cream sundaes with nuts and hot caramel drizzle thank you

🌼 Favourite drink: loooove iced blended matcha drinks. Am trying to figure out how best to replicate these at home. Alcohol-wise, either a Pimms with UK-style lemonade and all the fruity/vegetably bits, or a rosé cider.

🌷 Favourite relaxing activity: long baths with candles and either fiction podcasts, or music and a good novel or fic

🌻 Favourite calming scent: rain, all permutations, by far.

🌺 Favourite relaxing/uplifting song: hmm the closest I can answer this is by revealing the contents of my ‘in case of emergency’ playlist, best played on shuffle: Mutha’uckas by Flight of the Conchords; Goodnight New York by Vienna Teng; Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman; A Million Dreams from the OST of The Greatest Showman; Across the Stars from the Star Wars OST; and rounding it out, two from Galavant: No One But You and I Love You (As Much As Somebody Like Me Can Love Anybody).

🍄 Favourite book to get lost in: Oh geez. This is hard for me to answer because I get lost in written stuff a lot. Instead of specifying a fave, I’ll just answer the last book I got lost in, which was All Systems Red by Martha Wells, the first in her Murderbot series. Best summed up as a robot security guard (refers to self as Murderbot) who just wants to be left alone to watch its shows but accidentally catches feelings for the humans it has been contracted to work for. Would v highly recommend, the story is a lot of fun, has great worldbuilding, and is in all ways a romp. Also, pro-tip, Tor.com’s newsletter gives away a free SFF ebook monthly, which is how I got this one (in fact, I’m pretty sure All Systems Red has been their free giveaway at least twice in the last 18 months or so, so a good chance it’ll come around again!)

💐 Favourite chill out TV show: a rotation of Mike Schur shows <3 Parks and Rec will forever be the show of my heart, but The Good Place is a close second, with Brooklyn Nine-nine bringing up the rear.

🍃 Favourite cheering podcast: I’ve added this one because I listen to loooaaads of podcasts and reckon I’m not the only one! That said, feel free to delete as needed! There’s two I’d definitively recommend, starting with The Good Place: The Podcast. Initially it was essentially episode commentaries done in podcast interview format, and now it’s expanded to a bit of additional content (they did an episode on the recent Parks & Rec special, for instance). It’s a really great listen, with lots of talk about all the things that make The Good Place wonderful with the crew & cast. I could honestly happily listen to hundreds of hours of Mike Schur interviewed by Mark Evan Jackson about the philosophical underpinnings of the show. It also has this bonus lovely segment at the end of every episode called, “What’s Good” wherein each guest shares something good in their lives/the world, and I’ve actually pulled that concept into my advocacy meetings because it’s so nice.

And the other is How Did This Get Made of which I’ve been listening to a lot the last few weeks. They’ve got a long back catalogue, a lot of their discussions go off the rails in the most delightfully cracky and funny ways, and particularly of late, they are a Safe Listen, in that they’re politically conscious and bring that into their discussions which is great because a lot of the films they watch are... hoooo-eeeee. Not. (Note this doesn’t hold for their earlier eps necessarily. They’ve been doing the podcast for 10 years and the hosts have Been On a Journey which is nice in a different way!) Bonus shoutout to The Guilty Feminist for your comedy/serious-discussion-of-feminist-concepts needs, and The Strange Case of the Starship Iris for your radio drama-esque progressive radical rebels in a space ship sci-fi needs (which, honestly, I didn’t know I needed this until I listened to it and fell in love)

🌹 The best advice you’ve ever had: oh gosh. Okay, I’m offering two since I am apparently in a rambling mood this evening! One of a more personal persuasion and then also the best piece of professional advice I’ve received. So personally: try to be gentle with yourself and remember you’re doing the best you can, and that is enough. I’m trying to remind myself of this on the daily, as pandemic brain has taken me the fork out for the last while and I’m feeling behind on All The Things. The compulsive worker in me caveats that there are times when being gentle with myself can be taken too far, but frankly, I’ve found I’ve never been in the brainspace to have that constructive conversation about when I need to push myself a bit, if I haven’t been able to acknowledge the time before has been as much as I can give (that’s a convoluted sentence and I hope it makes some sense!) So in case it’s helpful: you, yes you reading this: you’re doing the best you can. And that’s enough 💙

Professionally and relating to teamwork, as I used to work in a high-pressured and often very time-sensitive field where projects had multiple moving parts, often based out on location, and where teamwork was basically the only thing which could guarantee success: when things go right, celebrate responsible individuals as well as the team on the whole. When things go wrong, tackle it as a team only. (There are caveats of course: ‘go wrong’ holds a whole host. But assuming we mean simple human error as opposed to bigotry, harassment, or malice, then the point is that it does no one any good to point fingers, or pillory any individuals, particularly since sometimes/often it was a collective erring along the way in any case. And if needs be, there can always be a debrief later) In my experience: this works well to getting a team through some of the worst of situations, and creates a more cooperative working environment overall. Also, a related note, is that particularly when the error comes from someone lower on the hierarchy, who is probably overworked and underpaid, this approach is far better for encouraging learning and growth than anything else.

Tagging: @amuserobin @forbiddenfantasies1 @djeli-beybi @brynnmck @beesreadbooks @ajoblotofjunk @fireinthetwilight @twelvemonkeyswere @klingofff @pretty--thief @ilikeblue @ronordmann and truly anyone else who fancies it! Not sure how much this one went around so sorry if I’m double tapping you & would love to see your answers!

#play with me tag #mental health tag #honestly have mostly wanted to subsist on pizza alone these last few months #have mostly resisted this impulse #the recent Parks & Rec special was essentially a 25-minute in-character PSA but still I cried #also if anyone wants recs on where to start with hdtgm i have Opinions

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 5 years ago

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Dr Stone 17 - 18 | Shinchou Yuusha 4 | No Guns Life 4

Dr Stone 17

[origin of the mysterious light] – Yeah, but that’s assuming it moved across the globe in a perfect ring. What if it didn’t?

Whoa! In the OP, there’s so many graves…Update: Those are important…in this episode!

Byakuya = 100 nights, Senku = 1000 skies.

Why are Lillian’s songs getting subbed too…? They’re in English.

Aww…this ep’s too sad. Too many deaths (almost) at once, and yet I can’t cry.

So the real gift of Dr Stone is the friends we made along the way. Too cliché, but touching all the same.

Dr Stone 18

*fighting between Kinro and Tsukasa Empire* - It’s a bit late for that news now, Gen.

It’s trolley dilemma time…

The eyecatch seems to be hessian.

Specifically, the katana is mentioned in the captions to be a nihontou. The katana is only one of many Japanese swords, as Touken Ranbu can tell you. Update: Kudayari is a type of spear characterised by the hollow tube it uses as its base.

I’m still wondering how Gen got his clothes to be purple in a stone world. Then again, he probably knew the right chemical for dyeing clothes that colour, since he knows about nightshade, right? Update: …Maybe? Maybe not?

Shinchou Yuusha 4

[We hav less than 15 minutes before Deathmagla kills Mash.] – Considering this was said about 15 minutes in, yes, Seiya and Rista do indeed have less than15 minutes before Mash dies.

No Guns Life 4

Seeing Ende shot made me all melancholy…then again, I’m kind of sick right now, so I don’t know if my emotions are real or if it’s just a chill I have.

One of Juzo’s front “teeth” is scratched, I see.

#simulcast commentary #No Guns Life #shinchou yuusha #kono yuusha ga ore tueee kuse ni shinchou sugiru #Dr Stone #Cautious Hero #The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious #Chesarka watches Dr Stone #Chesarka watches NGL #Chesarka watches Shinchou Yuusha

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quarantineroulette · 6 years ago

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Minor Disappointments’ Least Disappointing Releases of 2018

Preamble: I had a bit of a low (not Low, although that would’ve been preferable) period in 2018 that went on for several months. I didn’t really listen to music during that time, and so I missed out on a lot of things. I’m kind of too scatterbrained from holiday hysteria to really take in anything new. So these lists probably don’t designate “the best”, but they’re decent documents of what I wasn’t too distracted or down to take serious notice of.

Secondly, my own band released an album this year, and that occupied a large amount of time normally reserved for listening to other bands. I won’t rank it because I don’t want to be that conceited...but if you want to check it out for yourself, the highlights for me are “For the Rest to Rest”; “Open Up the Ways”; “Screen Test”; and “Suspend Disbelief”. One of my favorite reviews of it described our sound as being a “unique blend of post-punk, brit-pop, indie, and a little post-rock too.” and said we’re “one of the smartest bands to come out of Brooklyn in a very long time.” This is both why people should listen to it and also why they might not.

Thirdly, one of the things I listened to the most this year was Protomartyr’s Consolation EP, but I’m refraining from listing it as it’s not a full-length. That said, I think it’s as good as nearly anything I’ve heard this year, Protomartyr are the best and both of their live sets I caught were my favorite gigs of 2018. TLDR: Protomartyr = good. Most other things on this list = equally good but not Protomartyr. Let’s get started shall we?

10 Songs That Were Good:

10) Neko Case & Mark Lanegan - Cures of the I-5 Corridor. How has a Neko Case / Mark Lanegan duet not existed until 2018?? No matter the year, something this gorgeous and heartbreaking is always worthy of making the cut.

9) Lana Del Rey - Mariners Apartment Complex . I remember Spencer Krug tweeting something kind of snarky about “Venice Bitch” a few months back, then deleting it, and damn well he should’ve because both that and “Mariners Apartment Complex” are blinders. “Venice” may be the most low-key epic ever, but the way “Mariners” takes hints of Leonard Cohen and Lee Hazlewood / Nancy Sinatra and places them in a pop context is perhaps even more admirable. It’s truly inspiring to hear mainstream music this nuanced.

8) Parquet Courts - Tenderness . I love the jaunty piano, and how Andrew Savage’s vocal take is simultaneously forceful and lax. But most of all I love how all its elements converge to create a sense of hard-won optimism.

7) Iceage - Thieves Like Us . Iceage do a swamp cabaret song and I just can’t love it enough.

6) MGMT - Me and Michael . Yes, it’s ridiculously ‘80s, but you would have to be a very dour person to not smile whenever that opening synth riff kicks in.

5) Shame - One Rizla . Riff of the year. Hands down.

4) Bodega - Jack in Titanic . One of the great things about 2018 was witnessing Bodega’s success. To me, they’ve always been one of the few up-and-coming indie bands with the charisma to be actual stars, and it’s been a joy seeing the rest of the world take note of this. From the moment I heard “Jack in Titanic”, I just knew it was destined to show up on a BBC Radio 6 A-or-B list at some point in the near future (and it did!). And yeah, they’re my good friends, but even if they were strangers I’d appreciate the smartness, melodic hooks, and sexiness all the same:

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3) Preoccupations - Disarray . Click on that link because the song is really good, but be warned -- the vocal melody is never, ever going to leave you.

2) Protomartyr - Wheel of Fortune . This song has everything: a nerve-wracking stop and start guitar part, an at-once badass and terrifying refrain, Kelly Deal, and the exact sense of urgency that’s needed right now. Powerful, timely, and a rare example of a song that puts its guest star to highly effective use.

1) Janelle Monae - Make Me Feel . This song combines about five different Prince songs but Janelle Monae’s personality is so strong that the end result is something wholly her own. And if the song weren’t a blast on its own, the technicolor video is almost lethally fun:

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10 Albums That I Loved A Lot:

10) Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino . I really loved this album but I’m ranking it as 10 just because it’s the Arctic Monkeys and I can’t believe I enjoyed anything they’ve produced *this* much -- especially a lounge album about a casino on the moon. I find Alex Turner overrated as a lyricist and cosplaying a Bad Seed isn’t endearing to me, but he obviously loves Scott Walker a lot so I guess he gets some sort of pass.

9) Moonface - This One’s of the Dancer and This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet . The only reason this isn’t ranked higher is because I haven’t been able to give it the attention it deserves. This is a concept album where some songs are sung from the pov of the Minotaur and others from Spencer Krug, and both these creatures are enigmatic are too enigmatic to be given mere surface reads. This all said, I’ve listened enough to glean that, as always, Spencer’s lyrics are awe-inspiring, the marimba is implemented well, the alternate version of “Heartbreaking Bravery” is excellent, and comparing and contrasting its themes with those found on Wolf Parade’s 2017 release Cry Cry Cry is a fun past time if you’re me or seven other people. Looking forward to delving deeper in 2019.

8) Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer . To be honest, I *was* a little disappointed in this. It’s not as cinematic or stylistically adventurous as Monae’s previous full-lengths, but I think Monae herself is extremely talented and I wish she was a much bigger star. Furthermore, when considered against the drek of the general pop landscape, this is still a bold, unpredictable, and intelligent pop record from a true enigma.

7) Luke Haines - I Sometimes Dream of Glue . Like “Kubla Khan” if it had been written after huffing a river full of glue, but instead of Xanadu it’s an English village full of miniature people having a orgy:

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6) Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! . No other song better captures the frustrations and anxieties of living in NY in 2018 than “Almost Had to Start a Fight / In and Out of Patience”, and for that alone this album would make the year-end cut. But it also happens to be brilliant start to finish, with the two closing statements, in the form of “Death Will Bring Change” and “Tenderness” respectively, being among PC’s best.

5) Low - Double Negative . Mimi Parker’s voice emerging from a sonic cocoon on “Fly” is one of the most gripping moments of Low’s fantastic career. This album challenged me the most in 2018, but it’s also one I frequently returned to, determined to crack its code.

4) Preoccupations - New Material . I suppose some would dismiss this as too trad. post-punk, but holy hell - these trad. post-punk songs have got some hooks! And there isn’t quite another singer like Matt Flegel, who somehow manages to channel Bowie and Mark Lanegan at the same time. I’ve listened to this so much that New Material already feels like a well-loved classic.

3) Gazelle Twin - Pastoral . I would argue that Pastoral is the closest anyone’s come to making something comparable to PJ Harvey’s Let England Shake. An electro-pagan examination of Britain’s heritage and history (and the whole Brexit thing) that manages to feel thorough despite only being 37 minutes long, Pastoral moves beyond being just “a record” and becomes something closer to contemporary art. Elizabeth Bernholz’s vocals, whether warped or unconstrained by processing, are remarkable throughout. A mash-up of folk traditions and modern beats that somehow works shockingly well:

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2) Idles - Joy as an Act of Resistance . Boyfriend / bandmate James and I have discussed this album more than any other this year, and it’s been a pleasure hearing his love for it and forming my own appreciation of it in the process. What sealed it for me was James’ description of “Idles” as pagan, and how the band’s use of repetition and simple melodies (as well as their bacchanalian stage presence) created an air of ritualism. In their primalness, they even remind me of The Birthday Party - a “woke” Birthday Party, but a Birthday Party all the same. My favorite musical moment of the year may very well be Joe Talbot’s first shout of “UNITY!” in “Danny Nedelko”, primordial, raw, unpretentious, and completely punk. We *need* these guys right now:

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1) Suede - The Blue Hour . There is a joke in the TV show 30 Rock in which Jack Donaghy -- Alec Baldwin’s network head character -- says he attended Harvard Business School, where he was voted “Most”. The Blue Hour could be considered “Most” -- it’s meant to be taken as one piece, it’s insanely grandiose and, like its predecessor Night Thoughts, listening to it makes everything in my life seem 18 times more dramatic and tragic. I don’t know how, but this bizarre mashup of Kate Bush, Jacques Brel, Pink Floyd, Scott Walk, Gregorian chanting, classic Suede, spell books and (of course) David Bowie somehow seems bizarrely in step with 2018. Seeing as this top three consists of albums that are arguably “pagan”, and folk horror’s representation in popular 2018 films like Hereditary, The Blue Hour feels accidentally on trend. It’s crazy to think that a band whose first release happened 25 years ago could still be relevant in 2018, but Suede somehow are so please give these dads a hand and then listen to The Blue Hour’s glorious closing trio of songs a lot, because boy are they “Most”.

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spector · 7 years ago

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WHAT would be yr dream moon knight content. like would it be a series or a single issue or even a movie/tv series? or a book? with words? what would it cover? what kind of story? any other characters u would want involved yes frank of course? Tell Us.

DREAM CONTENT would be a netflix show, one season with nice tight 9 eps, definitely no origin story, we get thrown into marcs drama and we have to make sense of it as viewers, i will allow occasional flashbacks to his past that are respectful of his history of mental disorders and jewish upbringing. he’d be also a great supporting character in HMMM PUNISHER SEASON 2 HMMMM. just dont make it 13 episodes, dont stretch it out just to fit the format, so many netflix shows do that these days, like fuc dudes just save the money and move on

comic-wise i would very much enjoy the mash up between ellis’ and lemire’s work. we take villain of the week approach from ellis and we add lemire’s character development (excluding the khonshu fuckery he introduced, we keep ellis’ khonshu). basically we tell the same stories in vol 5 (also known as vol 7) but we keep marc’s character from vol 6 (aka 8). each issue is a new story, but i can allow a few arcs that go on for 2 or 3 issues, new york-specific team ups welcome, so like. daredevil, heroes for hire, defenders, luke cage, jessica jones (esp jessica), moon girl… avengers allowed but only if marc can drag them for being stupid and self-absorbed.

and u know i would just !!! rly like single, short, focused stories with mk with dark urban fantasy twists, bc he’s a mystic-based antihero. so him busting lovecraftian cults in very violent ways would be the dream… helping out people with ancient egyptian curses… busting ghosts …. beating up nazis from time to time… IT SOUNDS SIMPLE BUT IT WHAT WORKS THE BEST i dont need stupid ass arcs with stupid underdeveloped villains (bemis im looking at u) !!!!! i dont need a main villain for mk because hes his own gdmn villain… and i would love khonshu’s lore to get expanded, i love the concept of him being an actual god being that colonized a mans brain, i love that so much… are there other egyptian gods still kicking around?? in wakanda they are !!! so like !!! GOD TEAM UP GO!!!!!

i could go on but ultimately i know i dont ask for much but the writers keep trying to out-do each other and it just sucKS

but yeah, no movies. no mk movie ever.

#sunshien

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soundsandsodak · 6 years ago

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june’18_bunches of flowers_SODAK

Holy shit. I’ll be honest with y’all. I didn’t think I was gonna be able to do this.

Sometimes combining lists of songs feel empty & egotistic. like deciding based on my completely_solely--see also, arbitrary--opinion, which songs are more deserving than others. While all that mIgHT by true, what stands is that I think these songs are connected by something other than my arbitrary opinion. These songwriters, producers and performers are **killing** the game. They are creating thought-provoking production, delivering performances sure to drive goosebumps, and networking with each other that cross-pollinates in a way that fans cannot deny. (EX: Kids See Ghosts, Charli XCX, EVAN GIIA, Rostam)

I pick songs that I think are meaningful on multiple levels. It’s my aim to showcase music that I think it breaking down sonic boundaries. I also hope to point out how the creative spheres of our world are smaller than we think. Thanks to the streaming age and the new internet age, artists are making more of what they want, with whomever they want. As audiences recognize and support this -- I think we’ll enter into a new golden age for recorded music.

CHECK OUT THE FULL LIST HERERERERERE: : :

OR HERE E E E E

Or even H E RRRE E E E

Key Tracks:

“5 In The Morning” - Charli XCX

Mixtape-Era Charli has been getting a lot of press recently. FINALLY. As an artist and creative in her own right, Charli has captured the art of the re-invention cycle. Since the top of 2017, she’s reentered the public sphere to delivers consistent strong releases--mixtape, music vids, singles--and to invite the world into her collaborative projects. Charli embraces the spirit of the streaming age releasing projects at her own pace, and at whatever volume she desires. Ex. see Number 1 Angel, “Boys”, “Focus”, Pop 2 etc etc etc. Charli’s departure from the normal album cycle, and the personal dialogue she shares via Twitter describes how her struggle to breach the norm in fact creates meaningful artistic energy. Wow. She rules.

Also watch the music video here: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qyUb4OU_P8

“Panic Room” - Au/Ra, CamelPhat

This song has taken quite the trip. Au/Ra, a brilliant songwriter in her own right crafted the creepy, mysterious OG version of Panic Room. House music hot shots, ChamelPhat catapulted the track to every house playlist/set in the year 2018. CamelPhat took the sly and coy feelings of anxiety and mashed them into a slurry house bassline to create a pulsating jam that grooves at any time.

“Lost” - MorMor

This Canada-based songwriter released his debut EP at the end of June. With a tuned ear for hooks, MorMor carefully layers clipped guitars, air-tight percussion and wavy basslines to move the listener through a variety of emotions. Much like a genuine job interview, MorMor has give us a look into his world and left me wanting and waiting for more.

“Let’s Find An Out” - Snail Mail

Budding songwriter, Snail Mail has just released her long-awaited full-length, Lush, via Matador Records. Reading like writing in a diary, Lindsey Jordan creates emotional intimacy that pulls the listener in with crafty hooks and soothes them with raw, emotive language. While this whole record is a must-listen, “Let’s Find An Out,” hits me square in the feels of finding an end to a situation that simultaneously hurts and heals.

“Yikes” - Kanye West

Yikes. While this was many of our first reactions to West’s latest solo release, Ye. This track and album has carved a special place in this current run of G.O.O.D. Music releases. Offering something way different than Daytona or Kids See Ghosts, Ye shows a West in mid stride; making crazy mad beats and talking about the current state of his life. In ALL of its messy glory. Yikes stands out as the most potent summation of his situation. TMZ, political affiliation, and mental health references liter the track as they’ve littered his Twitter feed since April. Yet, as an artist, West harnesses the energy, and ability of this music economy to record, produce and release a project that, while messy, embodies an creator in their natural element.

#music blogs #MorMor #indie #Charlie xcx #William Card #bunches of flowers #Kanye West #Snail Mail

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radramblog · 4 years ago

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Album Discussion- Viva La Vida- Coldplay

Oh shit, is Rad gunning for the throat of what was once one of the biggest bands in the world again, no actually, I really like this album, why would I talk about albums I hate. I’m not sure I have the comedic acumen to manage that yet, but I guess we’ll find out when I inevitably try.

Viva La Vida is Coldplay’s 4th studio album and one I have a lot of personal nostalgia for. It’s permanently associated with a particular time in my life, where I got the album added to an MP3 player I had and listened to it constantly over and over, and somehow didn’t get sick of it. It’s also the last album from the era in which they were actually good (haven’t listened to Everyday Life yet though), though it’s kinda a major departure from the sound and tone of the previous 3.

It’s also the first one where they really start getting up their own ass. Like, that font? And the French Revolution imagery? I guess there’s something to be said for such but relatively clean band having artwork featuring someone’s entire tiddy out on their album, but I suppose it’s considered a tasteful nude given the context of the original painting. Anyway.

The album opens with Life in Technicolor, spelled without the u despite them being British because fuck me, I guess. This instrumental really quickly establishes that this is going to be a different one- Coldplay’s previous work is extremely solid if vaguely generic alt-rock instrumentation, and here comes this song with a…. (looks it up)…santoor? Which sounds completely different to anything else they’ve put out. It’s also, again, an instrumental, which is pretty unique for the band considering how heavy a focus Chris Martin’s vocals tend to get. What we end up with is this short and sweet little introductory piece that I don’t have much else to say about other than I really like it. What I can briefly comment on is Life in Technicolor II, the version released as a single and on the EP immediately following this album. It’s like, twice as long, as full on vocals, and as a result overstays its welcome by quite a bit. It’s not like the vocals are bad, but they really do feel tacked on.

Cemeteries of London is next up, a ghost story of a track with heavy Christian themes and folk influences. There’s this echoey guitar in the backdrop of this that gives it an eerie edge, even with the relatively chill acoustic lead. I think putting so much clapping in such a minor-key track is a bold play, and it seems to have paid off for them. This song feels almost bleak, even desperate at times, like the vocals’ peak describing an encounter with God that doesn’t quite work out. There’s an unspoken tragedy here. It’s another of the album’s better tracks.

Lost! (exclamation point is part of the title) is a bit more uptempo, but not really any more upbeat. I don’t know what instrument is making that beat, but it sounds neato, and they just have a church organ running through this whole thing, because why not, sounds aight. It’s kinda U2-ey, which isn’t really a compliment coming from me. I would be very interested in another artist’s take on this track- and I don’t mean Lost+, that’s awful and doesn’t fucking count.

42 is the next track, and I don’t think that’s a Hitchhiker’s Guide reference. It’s again, extremely moody, or at least, the first part is. The composition of this is actually really interesting, it’s basically three separate songs mashed into one. The first part is the moody piano bit, the middle a banging instrumental bit, and the last bit this really fun collision of both types of instrumentation. Ultimately, 42 is an experiment that was probably for the best, since I’m entirely confident any part of this being the full song would get old real quick. But the split means none of them overstay their welcome.

Speaking of overstaying welcomes, Lovers in Japan is almost 7 minutes, and as a result was the track I always skipped as a kid. This is because the album version contains a second song in it, “Reign of Love”, which isn’t its own track for reasons that are completely alien to me. Much like Lost!, Lovers in Japan feels extremely U2, soaring guitars and choruses, but I just did not vibe with that as a kid and it’s hard to come back to now as a result. Reign of Love, on the other hand, basically just feels like 3 entire minutes of piano-based outro, and is really not worth sitting through Lovers in Japan to experience.

Yes is the title of the next song and it opens with violins in a rock song fuck yes! It’s also one with two songs in it, this time with “Chinese Sleep Chant” (uhhhhh) attached at the end for a total track length of 7:06. This doesn’t bother me as much as weith Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, because I actually like both halves of this one. Yes feels like VLV-era Coldplay’s take on something grungier, with Chris Martin going lower than I think he does on any other song in their discography. This simple vocal switch makes the song seriously stand out from their other works, a more traditional rock instrumental standing out from the rest of the album in its relative simplicity. There’s still a lot going on, but it feels tighter and more restrained. I do think Yes might be my favourite track on the album. Chinese Sleep Chant is…an ethereal wall of sound, with heavily affected vocals to the point where they feel more like part of the instrumental than anything. It’s otherworldly, and hardly the best example of a song like this, but it’s more than satisfactory.

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The next song is the title track, Viva la Vida, and I’m not really sure what there is to say about this that hasn’t already been said. It’s just such an incredible piece of music, orchestral and sweeping, emotional and moving. Aside from being tied to some awkward memories (I used it to audition for a musical in middle school, something I haven’t managed to forget try as I might), I don’t really have any complaints about it. Actually, that’s a lie, I have one. It’s fucking criminal that it’s largely associated with the CaptainSparklez Fallen Kingdom Minecraft song, which I never liked (compared to Revenge/TNT at least), to the point where every time VLV comes up in a SiIvagunner rip people are referencing that instead of the original. It’s just kinda shite, basically.

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Violet Hill, then. This rocks hard enough that it was in Guitar Hero III, standing proud alongside Through The Fire and Flames and The Number of the Beast in rock history. It’s pretty low-key for that lineup, of course, but it’s the heaviest thing on this album sonically, and probably lyrically, too- took me until googling it to find out it was an anti-war song, though some of the lyrics are more understandable (and decipherable) than others. The close of the song is soft and kinda heartbreaking, but the rest of it just goes. It used to be my favourite on the album. Not so much, I like Yes more now, sorry.

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The penultimate track is Strawberry Swing, another one I didn’t connect to as a kid. It’s got a bouncy, “tribal” beat, some really panned out double bass (?) for the bassline, and sounds almost sugary sweet. This song is so unbelievably relaxing, which is a really odd thing for a Coldplay song to be, but it works pretty well. I’m genuinely finding it hard to write listening to that, I just kinda keep getting lost in it. I swear it’s not just my ADHD, this song just chills you out. That’s probably a good sign, right?

The final song is Death and All His Friends, is another bloody double song- except I’m not sure it was on the version I had as a kid? I might be remembering wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’d not heard The Escapist before going back to this as an adult. Regardless, Death and All His Friends spends a long time in this low piano mood, serene and reassuring, it’s about a minute of that. It then spends like, another minute building up into what I’d call the song proper, an instrumental bit that eventually breaks out into this just desperate cry against what I can only assume is life, or death, one or the other. The lyrics are relatively brief before the song folds in on itself and ends, taking what I thought was the album with it. I do particularly like the line “I don’t want a cycle of recycled revenge”, that’s just fun to hear. And then we get to The Escapist and-wait this is just the start of Life in Technicolor again. But Chris has some vocals on some of it. I guess it bookends the album, but this is kinda pointless. And if you’re listening to the Album+EP version, it runs right into Life in Technicolor II, which gets a little repetitive.

In essence, Viva la Vida is an artier, more variable take on Coldplay, with a somewhat up its own ass aesthetic that at least backs it up with interesting music much of which is absolutely worth the time. It is also the last gasp of Good Coldplay, with every release afterwards (again, I haven’t heard the latest album, it’s apparently decent) being not especially great- while most agree that the poppier direction of Mylo Xyloto alienated most of their fanbase, and it sure did me, I actually don’t like Prospekt’s March either. But that’s a story for another time.

#ramble #music #coldplay

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ncislaficexchange · 7 years ago

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Postmortem

AN: Post-ep for Unleashed (8x24). Deeks and Kensi visit Sam and Kamran.

~~~~~~~~~~

Kensi rang the doorbell, the diamonds of her engagement ring sparkling in the midafternoon sun. Sam knew they were coming, but Kensi would have been only mildly surprised if he didn’t answer. According to Callen, his partner hadn’t taken up any of his numerous offers to visit.

It had been nearly three weeks since she and Deeks last saw Sam and the kids. They’d hugged goodbye on the day of Michelle’s funeral and promised to be available anytime, for anything. They’d meant it, but assumed that their teammate wouldn’t reach out to them.

Taking matters into her own hands, Kensi left Sam a voice mail earlier in the week reminding him that she had experienced the loss of a parent in her adolescence and reiterating her offer to talk with Aiden and Kamran. Sam texted back that he thought Kam could use her support, and they agreed on today.

“What if he doesn’t open the door?” Deeks asked, his thoughts obviously running along the same path as hers.

“Pick the lock? When the alarm sounds, he’ll come out.” She was only half-joking. Deeks thought they should have waited a little longer before reaching out to the Hannas, but Kensi was adamant that too much time not pass.

When the door finally opened, Kensi and Deeks both did their best to hide their shock at Sam’s appearance. Whether they’d been successful they would never know, as Sam barely looked at them.

The former Navy SEAL, one of the most squared away men Kensi knew, looked like hell. His face and head were still clean shaven, but that was probably the only thing that reminded her of “their” Sam.

He’d lost weight, so his shirt was roomier than they were used to seeing. His eyes were bloodshot and the bags beneath them could carry all of Kamran’s clothes to Keating next month. The skin of his face appeared dull, as if he’d recently been ill. Sam’s normally military bearing was replaced by slightly slumped shoulders and eyes that dragged the floor rather than meeting theirs. He looked like he was about to fall asleep standing up.

“Sam,” Kensi said on an exhale, wanting nothing more than to wrap her arms around the man. She fought the impulse because she thought it would make her cry, and she and Deeks were here to support the Hannas, not the other way around.

Sam was mute as he opened the door fully and stepped back to allow them entrance. When Kensi and Deeks remained silent as well, preferring to take their lead from Sam, he finally spoke. “Thanks for coming. Kam’s in her room, Kensi. You remember where that is?”

“Yes.” It was clear Sam was not in the mood to talk. Kensi felt bad for Deeks, about to be left here with their teammate, but figured if anyone could occupy both sides of a conversation, it was her fiancé. Giving Deeks a reassuring look, she said, “I’ll head on up then.”

Watching her go, Deeks thought about a course of action. He didn’t know what he expected to find today, but it wasn’t this. Sam seemed so preoccupied Deeks wondered if he would just leave the room and forget someone else was even in the house. “Mind if I get some water?” Deeks asked, nodding in the direction of the kitchen.

“No, go ahead. I’m going to the garage,” Sam said before he left.

Walking toward the kitchen, Deeks scanned the rooms he passed along the way. He was relieved that place was as clean and organized as ever. Pulling a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, Deeks made his way to the garage, unsure of his welcome.

Sam was at a workbench, cleaning a gun. There was a collection of firearms displayed in a cabinet on the wall. Deeks put a water on the table and used the other to point to the small armory, “Need a hand?”

Sam stopped what he was doing and looked briefly at Deeks, and the detective was almost sure his teammate was on the verge of asking where Deeks had come from. Sam didn’t speak, but pulled a gun from the case and placed it in front of him. He then pulled open a drawer and Deeks helped himself to the supplies he would need to clean the weapon.

They worked, the room quiet but for the sounds of them brushing and rubbing metal, for several minutes before Deeks settled on what he hoped was a safe topic of conversation. “Aiden doing okay? I mean, as okay as he can be?”

Sam didn’t answer for long enough that Deeks was about to give up hope he would respond at all. When he did, his voice was low. “Aiden would have been here; I wanted him to have the chance to talk to Kensi too, but he has to find volunteer work ASAP.”

“What is that for, some sort of honor society?” Deeks observed.

Sam shook his head. “He had a summer internship lined up at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, but with Michelle’s death the commandant at Keating arranged for Aiden to intern part-time at LA AFB instead so he could be at home. He needs to make up the rest of the time with community service hours.” Deeks was glad to notice Sam’s voice becoming more powerful with use.

“How about at a soup kitchen?”

When Sam looked at him this time, his eyes were clearer and focused on him. Deeks was relieved to see it. “That could work.”

“Kensi and I volunteer at one downtown a couple of times a year, and usually at Christmas. Earnestine Lewis runs it; she’s a great lady and I’m sure Aiden would be a big help. She’ll have him doing everything from mashing potatoes to scrubbing pots to picking up donations. When he’s impressed her with that, Earnestine will let him show off his manners on the food line. They’ll love Aiden, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he loves it too and we end up seeing him there sometime during Christmas this year. You want me to reach out to her?”

At Sam’s nod, Deeks pulled out his phone and hit a few buttons. “Hey Ernie, it’s Marty Deeks, how are you, sweetheart?” He smiled as he listened to the woman on the other end. “No, not right now, but I have someone better who can easily do what Kensi and I can get done. His name is Aiden Hanna, and he attends military school during the year, but for the summer he’s looking to do some community service while he’s not interning at Los Angeles Air Force Base…Yeah, he’s a great kid, very responsible, smart, respectful, and able and willing to do anything you need…Does he have a driver’s license?”

Deeks looked at Sam, who nodded in the affirmative. “He sure does. He’s actually out right now looking for a place to volunteer, so I’ll text him and see if he can meet you this afternoon.” Deeks raised his eyebrows at Sam, who took his own phone out and began typing. “So how’s Colton doing?” Deeks walked away from the workbench as he listened to Earnestine catch him up on her husband’s welfare. “Kensi’s great, thanks for asking. All healed from her accident and back to work full time, so she’s happy as a clam at high tide.” Deeks sneaked a peek at Sam before answering the woman’s next question carefully, “Uh, yeah. Yeah, there might definitely be something there next time we see you.”

Sam said, “Aiden can be downtown in an hour.”

“Hey, great news, Aiden can be there in about an hour, ready to interview…Let me just send him the address and hopefully the two of you can work something out…You got it, Earnestine, same to Colton…I will, you too. Bye.” Deeks took Sam’s phone and typed in the soup kitchen’s location before handing it back to him.

“Thanks for that, man. I really appreciate it. Aiden does too,” Sam showed Deeks his phone, complete with his son’s message of thanks to the detective.

“No problem. At least it’s something I can actually do.” Deeks glanced quickly at his teammate and continued, “I wish there was some way we could help you though this, Sam.”

“Really nothing you can do,” Sam assured him.

“That’s what Kensi said, some things you just can’t make better for someone else. I’ll take her word for it since she’s had a loss like the kids. But if there’s anything, even the smallest thing that you guys need, you’ll let one of us know?”

“Sure,” Sam said.

Deeks didn’t think he would, but he sounded more sincere than he had weeks ago at the luncheon. “Is it okay if Kens or I reach out to you periodically, just in case you think of something but don’t want to ask? I mean, hell, Kensi can come by and mess up the place a little – okay, who am I kidding, a lot – give you more cleaning to do, for when you’re done with the guns.”

Sam almost chuckled, “Doesn’t mean I’ll pick up the phone or answer the text, but yeah. And if I forget later, will you make sure to thank Kensi for talking to Kam? This has been so hard on her. I really hope Kensi can give her a little perspective.”

Deeks agreed and the pair was quiet again as they returned to the care of the guns. Deeks broke the silence a while later with a whispered question, “If you knew then how things would end, would you change the life you lived with Michelle? Your careers, kids, any of it?”

His response was an immediate, “No.” After a few seconds, Sam continued, “Knowing what I know now, I would have killed Tahir Khaled last year at Keating, or any time before that when I had the opportunity.” His voice gained strength as he said, “I’m grateful for every second with Michelle and our children.” Sam paused and looked at Deeks suspiciously, “Why? Are you having second thoughts about proposing to Kensi?”

Deeks grinned, “That ship’s already sailed, brother. She popped the question and I said yes.”

The smile on Sam’s face, while small, was the best gift Deeks could have received just then, and he welcomed the handshake and brief hug his friend offered. “She got tired of waiting for your grand scheme to come together, huh?”

“Something like that,” Deeks hedged.

“Well I’m glad for you both, however it happened. You guys deserve all the happiness you can grab, for as long as you’re fortunate to have it. Don’t let what happened to Michelle scare you off marriage and kids. Let it remind you to make the most of every day.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The door to Kamran’s room was closed, but Kensi could hear the beeps and chirps of what sounded like a video game. When she knocked, the noises went silent and seconds later, Kamran said, “Come in.”

When Kensi did, she found Sam’s daughter sitting cross-legged on the floor, her back against the bed. Her phone was face-down on the carpet beside her, and Kensi assumed that was what she’d been playing with.

“Hey, Kam,” Kensi said.

“Hi Kensi.” Kamran’s voice was unsurprisingly sad.

“Can I sit?” When she nodded, Kensi sat down next to her and mirrored her position. Kensi said quietly, “I’m not going to ask you how you are, because it’s a stupid question.” That got the girl’s attention. “But I will ask what kind of day you’re having. An okay day, a bad one, even horrible? It’s way too soon for a good day, so don’t even think about saying that.”

Kamran shrugged. “A bad day, I guess. Pretty much like all of them.”

“Yeah,” Kensi commiserated. “Listen Kam, I just want to let you know that I get it.” When the tween looked up questioningly, Kensi continued, “My dad died when I was fifteen. He was murdered too.”

“I’m sorry,” Kamran said with sincerity for Kensi’s loss. “But it’s not really the same thing. This was my mom.”

“No, it’s not the same thing. I don’t think any two people’s grief ever is. But I was a real tom-boy when I was a kid, and I was much closer to my dad than my mom growing up. He was my best friend.”

“What happened to the person who killed him?”

“It took me a very long time to find him. But I did, and he’s dead now.”

“Did you kill him?”

“No, but I wanted to.”

“My dad said the same thing. And that what’s important is that he can’t hurt us anymore.”

“But that’s not exactly true, is it? He took your mom away from you, and that will hurt forever.”

“Does it ever get better?”

“It does, eventually. For me, the first two years were the hardest, because everything reminded me of my dad, and sometimes just thinking about him was like a punch to the gut. I can’t tell you how many times I thought, I have to remember to tell Dad that, only to have it hit me that he was gone.”

The tears started down Kamran’s cheeks, “I go to look for my mom or text her about ten times a day! And I get so mad, because it’s like, how could I forget that she’s dead, you know? But it’s not that I forget, it’s just not right in the front of my head for a second or two, and then when it comes back it hurts all over again.”

“I know, sweetie, and I’m so sorry,” Kensi pulled Kamran into her arms, and the girl came willingly. She cried freely, while Kensi held her and rubbed her back.

When Kamran’s tears started to ease, Kensi said, “One day it didn’t hurt as much to think about him. I like talking about my dad now, sharing happy memories of him. But to this day, almost twenty years later, sometimes I still miss him so much I want to cry.”

“Like when?” Kamran asked as she pulled out of Kensi’s embrace and wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeves.

“Mostly the big events in my life. When I joined NCIS I desperately wanted to be able to tell him and see the look on his face, to know that he was proud of me. My biggest regret right now is that he never got to meet Deeks.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “Your dad may or may not know this by now, but Deeks and I got engaged a little while ago. That night in the shower, I blubbered like a baby because I couldn’t tell my father. When we get married, I know it’ll be impossible to think of him and not cry. When we have a baby of our own, I’ll be sad that he’s not there to meet his grandchild.” Kensi’s eyes were watering now too. “It gets easier, but I’m not sure it ever goes away. And honestly, I wouldn’t want it to.”

Kamran nodded. They sat quietly for a minute or two, each lost in her own thoughts. Kensi finally asked, “What things do you admire most about your mother, Kam?”

The girl’s face lit up in a smile even as the tears began again, “She was the best mom, and she always helped me with my homework until she knew I could do it by myself. She was beautiful. And so smart and brave, and she gave the best hugs and cuddles.”

“Those are the things you’re going to remember forever, and they’ll always make you happy to think about. I don’t know what kind of hugs and cuddle she gave, but I can believe that she was an incredible mother for those reasons and a million others. And I agree, she was beautiful, smart, and brave.” Kensi paused. Looking at the sad young lady, she decided Kamran probably needed to hear this right now, more than much else Kensi could tell her. “You take after her, you know. You’re beautiful, smart, and brave too.”

Kamran looked down, embarrassed by the compliment, or perhaps surprised by the comparison to her mother. “Mom always told me how smart I am, but I don’t know about beautiful, and I’m not brave at all!”

“Well I’m not going to try to convince you that you’re beautiful, since it won’t work anyway. But I will tell you to think about your mother, father, and brother, objectively if you can. They are some fine-looking people, and if you ever tell your dad I said that, he’ll never let me live it down,” Kensi chuckled. “And then think about how unlikely it is that you’re not just as beautiful too.”

The shy smile on Kamran’s face was enough to convince Kensi she’d said the right thing, but would leave it at that. “And as for brave, I know you are, and I know that because your mom told me.”

“Really?” Kamran’s voice and face were full of wonder now.

“Remember that Christmas Deeks and I were here with our moms? Your mom and I spent some time chatting, and she told me that you had just announced an interest in attending Keating. She was so proud of you and awed by how much courage it took for a young girl to even think about leaving home to go to a military academy.”

“She said she was impressed with me,” Kamran whispered.

“She really was, honey. I’m sure there are plenty of people who can tell you what your mom thought or felt about you, and anything else you want to know.” Kensi tapped Kam’s hand with a finger. “That always made me feel good: hearing about my dad from other people who knew him.” Kensi stopped again, debating if she should say what had just popped into her mind. “Would you like me to tell you the story of how your mother saved my life?”

“She saved your life? My dad says you can kick anyone’s ass –“ Kamran stopped abruptly, realizing she just cursed to an adult.

Kensi laughed lightly, “Don’t worry about it. I won’t tell your dad about that lapse in language if you won’t tell him about mine. Your mom kicked some serious ass herself. And on that particular day, she saved her own life and mine…” Kensi shared a less dramatic version of how Michelle Hanna pulled herself up from dangling thirty floors above the ground and then took out the Barbie who was about to grab the gun she and Kensi were both scrambling for. “Your mother was an amazing woman, Kam, and you should always remember and be proud of that.”

“I will,” Kamran said, still somewhat amazed by what she’d just heard.

“Good,” Kensi took the pre-teen’s hand in her own. “I need to tell you one more thing and then I’ll leave you alone if you want.”

“Do you have to go?”

“Not if you don’t want me to, no. We can keep talking about your mom, or about anything but your mom, or nothing at all, but I’ll give you the choice, okay?”

Kamran nodded and Kensi blew out a quick breath. “You and I are members of a club no one wants to be in. We know what it’s like to lose a parent at a young age. But you were right before when you said that it was different because it was your mom. Even though I was closer to my father than my mother, there’s still something about a mother-daughter relationship that’s special, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, Mom and I fangirled over some of the same cute actors. Can’t do that with my father. Or Aiden,” she wrinkled her nose at the thought.

“That would just be weird,” Kensi agreed. “My parents divorced the year before I lost my father, and I chose to live with my dad. But after he died I refused to live with my mother, even though she was all I had left.”

“Who did you stay with?”

“How about if we save that story for another time?” Kensi suggested. “But let’s just say that when my father died, I basically lost both of my parents. And even though I was a tomboy who idolized my father, by the time I was older and dating, or falling in love for the first time, and things like that, I really wished I had my mom around to talk to.”

“I was thinking about that the other day,” Kamran’s voice cracked as she held back tears.

“Your father, and I’m sure your brother, are willing to do anything and answer any question for you, and you may have to rely on them for some of the things that you would have done with your mom. Like buying a dress for the winter formal or teaching you how to drive.”

Kamran rolled her eyes, “Dad had no patience teaching Aiden to drive. I’ll probably ask Aiden or Uncle Callen.”

Kensi smiled, knowing Sam would never allow her to teach his daughter that particular skill. “But there may be some things that they can’t do because you’re a twelve-year-old young woman and they’re guys who just don’t get it or really won’t know. I know you have an aunt in San Francisco and your grandmothers, and I’m sure they’ve already offered this as well. But I’m closer than they are when you’re at home, and if you need help with something that you’re not comfortable going to your dad with, and the women in your family are too far away, I want you to know that you can come to me, okay?”

Kamran was happily surprised. “Thanks, Kensi.”

“I mean it, Kam. Any time, day or night. Deeks and I are used to being woken up at all sorts of crazy hours, so don’t ever worry about that.”

“Okay, I promise.” This time it was Kamran who initiated the hug. Kensi could feel the girl’s hold tighten just as Kamran blurted, “Wait a minute, did you say you and Deeks are engaged?”

At Kamran’s suggestion, they spent a while talking about the proposal – Kensi not mentioning exactly where and when she asked Deeks to marry her – and ideas for the wedding. Hoping Sam wouldn’t mind, Kensi finished their conversation by asking Kamran to be her junior bridesmaid, a decision made on impulse, but one she guessed was right judging by the excitement on the pre-teen’s face.

“You can go if you need to,” Kamran offered soon after the wedding talk wound down.

“You’re sure?” Kensi asked. There was plenty more she wanted to share with the girl. Words of experience, if not wisdom, about it being okay to cry and not be embarrassed, or laugh and not feel guilty. But they’d just spent an emotionally charged hour or so together, and Kensi didn’t want to overdo it. She would just have to make sure to do this again a few more times over the summer if Kamran was open to it.

“Yeah. I’ll text you if I need anything,” she said.

“Maybe we can make plans to grab ice cream some night next week, or lunch over the weekend if you want. Do you like to bike or surf? We can do that too if you’d rather. We could talk about your mom and how things are going, or not. Whichever you’re in the mood for.”

“I’d like that,” Kamran said.

Kensi smiled. “Me too. Is it okay if I check in with you a couple of times a week, ask what kind of day you’re having?”

“Okay, bad, or horrible?”

“Yeah.”

Kamran nodded in agreement then asked in a small, unsure voice, “When will they start to get good again, Kensi?”

Kensi let out a sad sigh, “I wish I knew, honey. But that’s different for everybody. What I can tell you is that you’ve got a lot of people who love you and want those good days for you. They’ll help you get them back. And I know your mom would want not only plenty of good days, but lots of great and incredible days for you too.”

“Dad says she’ll be watching over us, so maybe she’ll send some of those days our way.”

Kensi smiled, “I bet she will.”

~~~~~~~~~~

As they pulled away from the curb in front of the Hanna house, Kensi asked, “So how was it with Sam?”

“He wasn’t very talkative, and I didn’t push. But we cleaned every gun in his arsenal. And I hooked Aiden up with Earnestine, so now he’s got a place to do his required community service for the summer.”

“That’s a match made in heaven.”

“I thought so. How’s Kam?”

“Hurting. Missing her mom. Pretty much what you’d expect. But she seemed receptive to me, and I’ll be checking in on her periodically to see how she’s coming along. I think I’ll try to take her out somewhere once a week if I can. She was really excited about the wedding. Oh, and she’s going to be our junior bridesmaid.”

“Great. Except I didn’t know we were having one.”

“Well, we are now.”

Deeks took Kensi’s hand and kissed it. “That’s awesome, then. It sounds like you two really connected. I wish I could say the same for me and Sam”

“Kids tend to be more open in general, I think. And except with Callen, Sam’s never been a Chatty Cathy, so you had the tougher job of the two of us by far. I was really worried about him when we first got there.”

“Me too.”

“Do we still have reason to be?”

Deeks let out a long sigh. “I think so, yeah. The only thing that got any real response from him was when I asked about the kids. Honestly, I don’t know how he’s going to handle it once they’re both at Keating.”

“Coming back to work will be a good distraction after Aiden and Kam leave,” Kensi assured him.

“He’s plenty distracted now, Kens. After today I’m wondering if he’ll even want to come back,” Deeks admitted.

Kensi shrugged, “Maybe he needs to find something else to do, then. He left the SEALs to join NCIS. He might decide he wants to be out of the field altogether, especially after Michelle.”

Deeks looked at her, unconvinced. “To do what, clean his weapon collection all day long?”

“He’s all Aiden and Kamran have left, Deeks. Maybe Sam’s should focus on staying alive long enough to watch Aiden and Kamran get married and have kids of their own one day. We’re planning to find another line of work when we have children, it’s really no different.”

“Except that we’ll be leaving to move onto another chapter in our lives. I’m afraid that if Sam does it, he’d be closing the book entirely. I don’t know if it’s because they’re more resilient or because they have each other and Sam to lean on, but the kids seem to be doing much better than their father right now, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon unless something’s done about it.”

“If that’s the case, I think you should tell Callen about today, let him know what’s going on. If Sam will respond to anyone, it’ll be him.”

“I hope you’re right,” Deeks said.

“They’re partners. And about as close as two people in our line of work can be without being married,” Kensi stated with confidence.

“Callen’s going to have his work cut out for him. Maybe Nate can drop into the country for a visit.”

“That’s a good idea. But it won’t just be Callen and Nate, babe. You understand what Sam’s going through. Maybe not to the same degree, but you’re the only other person on the team who’s experienced anything close to losing a wife. Nate and Callen can’t say that. I think in the end we’ll all have a role to play in Sam’s healing.”

Deeks nodded. “You’re right. We’re family. This is what we do.”

by - @psyched1328

#2k17 ncisla fic exchange

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iheartmoosiq · 7 years ago

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I HEART MOOSIQ interview : GRYFFIN

ID10T Music Festival + Comic Conival 06.24.17

-interviewed by Nick

We'd like to thank Los Angeles based multi-instrumentalist and producer Gryffin for taking the time to speak with us after his killer ID10T Festival set and after coming off a tiring weekend of closing out stages at Fire Fly Music Festival and EDC Las Vegas.

GRYFFIN: My (EDC) set was at 4:30am. I had the sunrise set and I had just come from Firefly Music Festival the night before.

IHM: So you flew across the country.

GRYFFIN: Yeah, it was really intense. It was fun though. It was so late though. I got into Vegas, soundchecked in the afternoon, and we didn't sleep from the night before from closing the dance tent there, and I had to sleep or else I'm not going to be energetic at all for this 4:30 set. So I didn't get to see anyone. I bailed the next day. Well, I saw a little bit of Slushii, but that's because he was on right before me. Man, it was so hot.

IHM: When I came back from EDC to the Bay Area, I was thinking it's going to be cooler weather. But it was still like 100 degrees over here.

GRYFFIN: Oh yeah, wasn't there recently a pretty extreme heat wave.

IHM: Today's basically the first day that's cooled down. We're thankful it's only low 80s finally.

GRYFFIN: My parents were talking about that too. They were saying it was like 95 degrees here.

IHM: Like I said, not much of a change from Vegas. Was that your first EDC experience?

GRYFFIN: It was my first one. Well, I guess I've done the other. I did EDC Japan, so I guess the big one really is the Vegas one so I'd consider it my first one. It was freakin' awesome. I always heard that you know EDC is going to be crazy but I didn't really understand it from a production stand point. How many people actually show up and go to it. I don't know. You kind of have to go and experience it to understand how big it is.

IHM: I remember our first time seeing you was at SnowGlobe.

GRYFFIN: That was actually my first live show that I had ever done and it was literally like minus 5 degrees outside. And I'm like trying to play the guitar and I can't even feel my fingers on the fret board. And this is ... if I can make it through this then I can make it through the live shows any where else. Man, it feels like such a long time ago, but I love that festival and I love Tahoe.

IHM: So you play a bunch of instruments. Were you self-taught or how did you learn?

GRYFFIN: Em, well, kind of. I started taking classical piano lessons when I was seven. I played all the way through high school. In that sense, I wasn't self taught. I learned classical music playing Mozart and all that kind of stuff. Maybe when I was 11 or 12 I was getting really into rock music. Ironically Weezer, maybe we'll see them here tonight (at ID10T Music Festival), and that kind of music. I decided I wanted to start jamming, playing guitar and with friends, and that was self taught by just looking online for tabs and videos on how to play guitar and stuff. Then in high school I'd jam around with friends. So that's really where all the music kind of came from.

Then as I got to college that's when I really started to get into dance music. I remember listening to Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers and that kind of stuff, and I was into it, but it wasn't until I got to school that I got into the big players like Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, when he was coming up. And I remember the first time hearing Skrillex, it was like, “oh my gosh, what is this music?” It's so insane, it's so futuristic sounding, and that's when I decided I should try to make it just for fun.

IHM: Would you go to a bunch of shows?

GRYFFIN: Yeah I did. I would go to the shows at The Shrine, HARD Day of the Dead...

IHM: So basically all these SoCal shows?

GRYFFIN: Yeah.

IHM: And it's pretty awesome, for music, in LA.

GRYFFIN: Yeah it is. For that scene it was bubbling at that time, I mean it still is, but it was cool going to Together As One. I went to Coachella. I remember being at Coachella when DeadMau5 revealed his mask that lit up for the first time. I was in the crowd thinking, "Oh my God, this is insane." That was when I was like, "I want to try and do this." Not as a career necessarily, it was that same mentality as in high school where I just wanted to make music.

IHM: Well you still have White Panda don't you?

GRYFFIN: I'm not part of it anymore. I don't talk about that too much. That was really where everything started, making mash-ups in college. Then I realized I wanted to do more than make sample based music, because, I know how to play instruments. I want to make music and I don't want to just sample stuff. That was how the Gryffin project spawned.

IHM: Gryffin is obviously a play on your name, but does it symbolize anything to you. Are you a big Harry Potter fan?

GRYFFIN: Hahaha, I wasn't at the time but I am now. My girlfriend is a huge Harry Potter fan. And I'm glad I picked the good one, GRYFFINDOR right? It's not like I was Slytherin or anything. But yeah, I based the name off... well it is my last name, but a griffin is a mythical creature. It's majestic, and since it's a half eagle it conveys a lot of flight, uplifting, soaring type of energy themes. That's what I try to do with my music is make it uplifting and beautiful, kind of a sort of floating feeling. That's why I went with this creature, because I love everything that it represents and the mythology behind it. It just felt like a good fit.

IHM: And with your Flight Log mixes, that's perfect.

GRYFFIN: EXACTLY. I'm still trying to figure out the debut name of my EP. I still want to keep the aviation flight theme going so if you guys have any ideas, let me know. I'm going to bring back the Flight Logs this summer actually. I've been getting a lot of flack from fans about it, "it's been a year dude, like come on."

IHM: I've been telling my friends too, "At least he did a Night Owl Radio mix".

GRYFFIN: I did do that! But I want to do another Flight Log because I have a lot of new music I want to put on there. A lot of remixes of the singles and stuff. And that's definitely going to come this summer.

IHM: How far along are you with that EP?

GRYFFIN: It's almost done. So it's three of the singles that have already come out and three brand new singles. I actually played one of them tonight, or a snippet of it. But they're basically done from the production stand point. I got to find a vocalist for one of them.

IHM: How do you go about that? Do you hear a voice and you're like, "I got to have that"?

GRYFFIN: Yeah, at this point in the record, the production and the songwriting is finished. It's just the singer, she's a songwriter and she has no aspirations to be an artist. She just wants to be behind the scenes, which I totally respect, but she's got an amazing voice. It sucks because she sounds amazing on the record. Now I'm trying to reach out and talk with other artists and getting them to take their impression of the song and put their own flavor to it and see if it's the right vibe. So I've been doing a lot of sessions in LA when I'm not on tour. But it's basically done and I'm hoping to put everything out in August.

IHM: So have you started reaching out to people asking them to remix certain songs?

GRYFFIN: Actually, no. Not for the new records. But the 'Feel Good' remix package is coming out next week, which there are some really good remixes out there.

IHM: Do you get in contact with artists or they reach out to you to do a remix?

GRYFFIN: It kind of goes both ways. So half the remix EP was people that reached out to me or cold submitted it and I just loved them. And the other half, I personally asked Crankdat, I personally asked Brooks, and they have really sick remixes.

IHM: Great! So we're here at ID10T fest, and it kind of feels weird that it's comics and music put together. It kind of feels like a segregated crowd.

GRYFFIN: Yeah, it was definitely a bit eclectic. I was talking with Hugo earlier and they were asking me right as I got off if it was alright. And, you guys are right. It is segregated where some people came here for the comedy but others came here for the music. But the fans that came here for the music are fans of all three of us (Gryffin, Jai Wolf, Madeon). 15 minutes into the set I look back to David who's doing video and I'm like, "Yo, this is pretty lit. People are really into this right now." It ended up being... and I didn't want to downplay the festival, but the crowd was awesome and Jai Wolf and I were saying the hospitality's been really good by the festival.

IHM: Jai Wolf is playing right after you. At Lollapalooza you guys are doing an after party together.

GRYFFIN: Hell yeah!

IHM: How does that come about?

GRYFFIN: We’ve been homies for awhile. We have the same agent, and when I was living in New York he was living in Long Island, and I went over to his house several times. We kind of just became friends. That whole crew of Manila Killa, Louis The Child, Jai ... I'm like super tight with all them now. I love seeing them and doing stuff with them.

IHM: You're friends with Brett [Blackman] right? (URL2IRL CEO/founder, mgmt Moving Castle for AOBeats, Manila Killa, SAKIMA, Hotel Garuda)

GRYFFIN: Yes! I love Brett!

IHM: Brett is awesome!

GRYFFIN: He is the man. I'm going to see him in LA. Manila has a show at El Rey Theatre in like a week. I haven't seen Brett in months.

IHM: I'm going to see Manila Killa at The Regency Ballroom on July 8th.

GRYFFIN: Yeah! It's going to be amazing. I love Chris (Manila Killa), dude. I would honestly say he's one of my closest friends out of producers. He's a really good person.

IHM: I love watching him on stage, even when he's not performing. He's a really good hype man.

GRYFFIN: But yeah, Jai [Wolf] and I were briefly talking about what kind of production we wanted for that. It should be a really fun show.

IHM: Can we expect any b2b?

GRYFFIN: I'm going to start off the night, then he'll come on. Depending on how the vibe is we may come on together. We just want to make it a fun vibe because we're homies outside of music.

Gryffin is looking forward to time off next month. He’ll be spending it in the studio working on new music and preparing for his tour this fall. He’s also released an official remix today for Kygo & Ellie Goulding’s First Time, which can be streamed via Spotify, here. Watch the video for his latest original with Illenium, Feel Good, featuring Daya, below.

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We had a great time chatting with one of our favorite artists, a versatile songwriter, dexterous musician, and captivating performer. His scintillating live performance in the Mad Decent dance tent at Chris Hardwick’s ID10T Music Festival + Comic Conival was colossal. Thank you, Gryffin!

You can catch Gryffin’s live set at Lollapalooza in August. We’ll be on the look out for further details regarding his tour later this year!

Gryffin: Website / Facebook / Soundcloud / YouTube / Twitter

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