#youtube metal cover artist?????? (is the most famous person you can think of a

[spooky-space-kook]

Bless the Many Wild-Ass Careers Of Modern AU Edward Teach.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #395

“suicide? i’ve already died  /  it’s just the funeral i’ve been waiting for”

Have you ever met a famous political figure? No. Have you slept for longer than usual today? Ugh, no. I officially have my APAP mask for my sleep apnea, and I chose the one that covers my nose and mouth considering it varies which I breathe from when I sleep depending on congestion. It is very hard to get used to. When is the last time that you experienced rejection–literal or imagined? Hm. Is there an artist or celebrity whom you admire for their craft but take issue with their personality or politics? Yeah, such as Marilyn Manson. He's a pretty gross person but by god do I love his music. What’s the last thing you made out of clay? An anatomically correct heart. Do you like bacon bits on your salad? Yes. What do you do to celebrate Earth Day? Nothing. :/ I wish I could think of something to do for it. Have you ever had someone try to intentionally bully you to suicide? Bro what the actual fuck. No. Who are your favorite kids that you’ve babysat? My nephew Ryder. Would you feel funny if you kissed somebody of the same sex? I've kissed a girl and it felt pretty great, so. Name three things in your room that others probably don’t have in theirs: 1.) a snake; 2.) a huge meerkat collection; and 3.) an APAP machine. Besides furniture, what’s the biggest thing in your bedroom? My snake, I think. Describe your feet: Ugh, the worst. My feet are horribly callused from when I used to walk all the time. I have small toes. What’s a pretty bird? Peacocks. Besides sleeping, what do you do in bed? Just about everything. .-. How do you like your hoodies? Loose/oversized. Can grills be sexy on a guy? They're hideous, if you want my honest opinion. Have you ever been in a Catholic confessional? Yes. How fucked up are those, honestly... I really hate the concept of teaching children that they have to tell some random guy things they feel bad about and let him ask God to forgive you or else you're going to Hell. What color was the hair of the last person you kissed? Brown. Can you do a backflip? No. Where are the last three places you went? The TMS office, a gas station, and my sister's house. Do you consider yourself a flirt? No. How old is the oldest person you’ve dated? I actually don't know, but at least close to 30 now for sure. I just know we were both in high school, but he failed I think two years. What’s something that makes you feel more creative? Music. Who has the best personality on YouTube? Guess who, lmao. Which YouTuber seems uber-confident? Mark is a very confident person. I envy 'im for that. What is the funniest YouTube video you have ever seen? I watch YouTube like... constantly, so I've seen thousands upon thousands by now. I really don't know. Have you ever been inside a Victorian mansion? No, but that's like a dream marriage venue for me. What was the most boring field trip you ever want on? I don't think I ever had a boring one. Man, I miss those. Do you enjoy watching videos of babies being born? NO FUCKING THANK YOU. Does ANYBODY? Are you a hoarder? No. If you were rich, what things would you get done cosmetically? I would say liposuction, but I honestly want to lose the weight myself. If/when I lose the weight I want to, I am 110% getting loose skin removal at LEAST on my stomach because I feel hideous with it. Also if I achieve my weight loss goals, I want to get a breast lift. Weight loss-related things aside, I'm pretty serious about getting laser hair removal on my legs because I HATE shaving and my legs are VERY hairy, and the hair is dark, so I'm extremely self-conscious about it. Are you the type of person who asks a lot of questions? It depends on who I'm asking. With some people, I'm afraid to look stupid if I ask too many. How many states have you visited in your lifetime? If you're excluding the ones I've merely driven through as well as lived in (which is only one), I've visited Ohio, New York, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, and Illinois, so six. I MAY have been to Michigan as a baby, but I don't remember. What is your biggest fear for the future? Ending up homeless after Mom passes. I'm scared my family will give up on me, which is completely unrealistic, but I'm terrified of living on the streets. Do you like seafood, or not so much? I only like shrimp. Have you ever cried from being so nervous? Oh, certainly. What is your favorite book series, if you have one? Hm... of all series I've ever read, probably the Shiloh trilogy. I adored the books and the movies. Have you ever had a parasite before? NO NO NO NO NO, DON'T MAKE ME IMAGINE THIS. I am PETRIFIED of parasites. Do you have a big heart when it comes to animals? Absolutely! Have you ever put your pets in a kennel for a while? I actually don't remember? It's possible when we've gone on an extended vacation, but I'm unsure. Whenever we've gone somewhere, friends have normally taken care of our animals. Where is your favorite place to buy clothing? Hot Topic or Rebel's Market. Do you enjoy listening to older music? I love classic rock and metal. What do you think is the most stupid song out there right now? "WAP" for fucking sure. I haven't even heard the whole thing, and I don't EVER want to. As a child, did you ever want to become a mermaid? Nah. Ariel was my favorite princess, but I wasn't obsessed with mermaids or anything. Can you compose sentences in any other language than your own? Some German, yes. Mainly just the basics. Have you ever met someone who was really racist before? Yes, many. -_- Do you have any celebrity autographs? No. If you could be a Disney character for a day, who would you be? Maybe Kiara from TLK. What is your favorite color of clothing to wear? Black. Did you ever build furniture forts as a child? Oh yeah, lots of times! I sometimes even pretended they were burrows and I was a meerkat, ha ha. What kind of dog is your favorite? I have a beagle bias. Do you prefer water or land? Land. Have you ever had a seizure? No. Do you plan on losing weight any time soon? Hunny, I've been trying to since 2016. -_- I lost like 70-ish pounds through 2017-2018, but recently I've gained almost like... all the weight back and it is upsetting beyond words. Have you ever been in a heated pool? Uh, a hot tub? Yes. Are you looking forward to anything? Getting Venus' terrarium, finishing TMS so I can maybe get a job, visiting Sara again... What was your GPA in high school? Over 4.0. Do you require a lot of private time? OH yes. What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? I hope achieving a sense of accomplishment and becoming content with my hopeful career, marrying a fantastic partner, and having a family of lovely pets. If you have a favorite television show, who’s your favorite character? I'll go through the very few I deeply enjoy: 1.) Mozart in Meerkat Manor; 2.) probably Hyde from That '70s Show; 3.) perhaps Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist; 4.) Jerome from Ginga Densetsu Weed; and 5.) Shiro from Deadman Wonderland. Did you use to watch Blue's Clues? OH yes. I loved that show as a kid. Do you stutter when you get nervous? BADLY. Your lunch consisted of...? What DID I have... uhhh OH leftover pizza. What is your favorite kind of chips? Hot, crunchy Cheetos. What is the best way to tell someone that they stink? I wouldn't. Do you have any embarrassing usernames? Some from the past, yeah. Do you have a backpack in a shape of an animal? No. I found a meerkat one once, but it was way too small for me to use in school. :( I was so disappointed. Have you ever waxed your legs? No. I've waxed my upper lip and eyebrows, but especially with how long and thick my leg hair is, I think waxing there would be excruciating, so no thanks. Do you own any shirts with a peace symbol on it? No, but I would if it had a cool design. Have you ever taught a little kid to flick people off? No, and I wouldn't. Children generally don't have a strong enough grasp on when profanity is appropriate and not. Have you ever itched yourself until your skin was raw? This is VERY common. Like right now, my right arm is the Sahara with how dry and raw it is. Do you always clear your history after using the computer? Nah, got no reason to. Have you ever eaten a Big Mac? No, because I know I wouldn't like it; I don't like lettuce on my burgers. Do you feel like you’re judged for your looks? For my weight, yes. Name one world issue that upsets you. Just one? Poverty is high on the list. Just... no one should have to live like that. Do you like Wendy’s frosties? After they thaw a little bit, oh yeah. It's physically impossible to drink them for a good few minutes because they're so damn thick.

[martianarctic]

Devin’s Playlist -2010s Part 1

This is an unfinished retrospective look at what I listened to during the 2010s. This decade was exceptional for me, as it was the first decade where, for almost all of it, I was not a musician myself. 

Being a musician forces you to listen to music like a musician, and being free of that, and able to listen as a listener alone, really made this a spectacular decade for me. I found dozens of incredible albums that were released during the decade, many of which received no significant recognition.

This was a very large project, and I did not finish it. I made it through Retrowave, Shoegaze, and Post punk. If anybody cares, I will finish the entire project, which will add Dreampop (the largest category), Vaporwave, and Dark Ambient.

Retrowave: Retrowave is electronic music that, at first listen, sounds like it may be from the 80s or 90s, mostly because the synths it uses to generate the music are either retro-inspired or literally retro equipment in some of the more extreme cases. It generally features original compositions, often, but not always, is instrumental. Rough vocals would impede the tightness and angularity of the music, so when vocals are used they are often pop produced and highly melodic. This genre gained significant exposure from Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 masterpiece, “Drive”.

Galactic Melt (2011) Com Truise

Electronic artist Com Truise rose to prominence off of this fantastic record, which rallies around the undeniable electro anthem of 2012, “Brokendate”. Starting with some found audio (chopped and screwed found audio becomes a big deal later on in Vaporwave) and then dropping in an absolutely thick beat we’re met with a song that eventually, as layers are dropped on, ends up being meditative, romantic, and melancholy. Emotions to that point, not well associated with dance music, but definitely would come to color the entire decade.

Era Extraña (2011) Neon Indian

Electronic solo bedroom pop was pretty cool at the end of the 00s being pushed hard by guys like Twin Shadow. I am not sure how I got ahold of Neon Indian but this album was, in a lot of ways, the true start of my musical decade. I had not been so excited and enthusiastic about a record since I had retired from making music. It really gives you a new perspective to not feel like you’re in competition with everything and trying to learn from everything- just as a listener, I was enthralled with this entire record.

Visitors (2012) Lazerhawk

I did not get into dark retrowave until after 2013 and thus discovered Lazerhawk and this record after the fact. Visitors is, in my opinion, the best dark retrowave album ever made, more consistent and listenable than competitors such as mega drive or carpenter brut. Also. This album absolutely sticks the landing with the street-strutting powerhouse “Arrival”.

I am the Night (2012) Perturbator

Made famous by soundtracking the indie game hit Hotline Miami (one of the best games of the decade), Perturbator carved a niche for himself with fast, brutal, high energy dark electronic music and absolutely bonkers live shows. Perturbator has a large catalog of content- I am the Night is definitely the starter kit. Starting off with a thick minor chord, a church bell, and a sample of Peter Finch’s speech from “Network” you immediately know what’s in store- dark, dystopian and undeniably French electronic dance music, complete with breathtaking beat breaks, big bass synths, and complex compositions.

Innerworld (2014) Electric Youth

I had mentioned that Drive was a major popularizer of retrowave- and one song in particular, a collaboration between another retrowave artist named College, who created the low fi, catchy bassline for the song “A Real Hero”, and the vocals and lyrics, created by an artist called Electric Youth. Their record, 2014’s “Innerworld”, is one of the best retrowave efforts, with the second track, “Runaway”, even better than the song that made them famous. The pop chorus “Maybe we could just run away for good/cuz we’re both mis understood” soaring over thick, atmospheric synth pads will have you slapping the roof of your car, as you race through the freeways of LA at 3AM.

Atlas (2016) FM-84

Speaking of roof-slapping bangers, “Running in the Night” is probably retrowave’s most popular anthem, boasting one of my absolute favorite vocal performances of the decade. A group claiming rock and roll city San Francisco as their home base (despite being both British), FM-84’s Atlas is absolutely packed with a mixture of the atmospheric instrumental Miami Vice type music suggested by the red and purple setting sun cover as well as vocal driven pop songs such as the single mentioned above.

Hardwired (2018) Mitch Murder

Mitch Murder is a retrowave institution, having made the soundtrack to the viral youtube movie Kung Fury, and also, I suspect, the original music used by twitch personality Dr. Disrespect. However, he almost entirely releases 3-5 song Eps, making it tough to pick out a standout. However that all changed in 2018 with the release of Hardwired, the most accomplished mitch murder release to date. Starting off with the Jan Hammer style “Altered State”, it stays on brand throughout but tells a very unified instrumental story of cyberpunk dystopian adventure. Vangelis-style synths bring in the closer track, “Revision Control”, one of Mitch Murder’s greatest tracks. Evolving through different moods, different scenes, we can imagine the “human” protagonist confronting his cyborg nemesis he has been tasked to execute.

Retrowave Album of the Decade:

Dark All Day (2018) Gunship

As the decade wore on, retro wave slowed down for me. I thought it might be over but- without warning, Gunship, an artist I had listened to but not been completely impressed by, released what is probably the most accomplished album in the genre. Spanning various tempos and musical themes, utilizing several guest vocalists, the scope of “Dark All Day” keeps you listening to the record again and again. This record represents an evolution in a format that was at risk of being just a fad. “Come on lost boys, lets stay alive” over a ripping saxophone lead suggests mere 80s fetishism, but there is more substance than just that. The following track, “When you Grow Up, Your Heart Dies”, takes an upbeat electro jam, and really goes for emotional impact with a series of samples of characters from pop culture saying inspirational things, my favorite being “Everything worth doing is hard” which I think is just Teddy Roosevelt. My favorite track of the record, the slow ballad “Artemis & Parzival”, begins with swooning, Vangelis-style pads and then into guest vocalist Stella Le Page’s gorgeous vocals. This track definitely belongs on anybody’s make out playlist. “Were all gonna die that’s just how it is, there’s no escaping the future, nobody gets what they want in this world, even for you and me” is one of the greatest lyrics of the decade.

 Nugaze/Shoegaze-Adjacent: Shoegaze is a genre of music that features highly layered guitar effects (often run through 10 or more effects, creating a signature “vacuum cleaner” sound with a ton of distortion and white noise) and breathy vocals. Relying heavily on the depth of character of the sound, shoegaze guitar tone and production is a major creative point and almost all of these records are self-produced. Vocal themes are usually depression-inspired and lovelorn meditations, the music sounds, to most, dull and dreary, but to some, it speaks deeply to their feelings about the past and future. Shoegaze is often mixed with other guitar genres on this list, from Post Hardcore(Nothing, Title Fight), Black Metal(Deafheaven), and Thrash Metal (Astronoid).

Road Eyes (2010) Amusement Parks on Fire

Around 2010, I was promoted at my job to a new role that would require a bunch of travel. I was not a big fan of riding on airplanes. Also around that time, my brother had moved into my apartment, then out of it, and I only had a few months left on the lease. My favorite shoegaze band of the 2000s, Amusement Parks on Fire, played a gig at 330 Ritch, a club in san Francisco. I had a fantastic time at the show, and particularly loved their new material, which made it onto a record they called Road Eyes. 2 months later I moved out of my apartment in San Francisco and never would go back to living as a single dude.

Anyways, the travelling. The opening and title track to the record came to symbolize change for me. And it also was the song I would listen to every time my plane would take off. It helped me deal with the fear that something might happen- no matter how insignificant the chance – and if it did, while that song was on, it would be okay. Indeed, this was, and I will warn you I am not qualified to treat mental illness, but this actually really made flying much easier for me and it is a ritual I continue to do to this day, whenever possible.

Pipe Dreams(2013), Sway(2014), Feels like You (2019) Whirr

San Francisco nugaze/dronegaze band Whirr, large and complex, problematic, aggressive, are behind some of my favorite music of the decade. Their three album career reflects to me upon the primary feelings of youth: euphoria, anger, and sadness.

Pipe Dreams is a blissful set of jams, meditative, energetic uptempo and with almost totally co-ed vocals. Noisy production casts a hydrocarbon haze over the songs, raw vocal melodies reach out of the fuzz and suck you in. “Junebouvier” and “Toss” capture the euphoric and  youthful energy of a summer in San Francisco: starting off with breakups May thru July, and hot hookups until September or October when people settle into relationships. Two hungry eyes emerging from straight-bangs to make eye contact with you, and hold it- the exhilaration of touching somebody new.

Sway, the band’s masterwork, starts off with a heavily muff-distorted major 7th chord suspending us until the massive drums, now a hallmark of the band’s sound, kick off the beat into the opening rocker Press. The band switches up rhythms between drums, guitars, and bass to bring rock and roll-type turnarounds and breaks that really keep you on your toes and engaged. The lead guitar is classic legato shoegaze, using delay to achieve a long, sustained scream. Compositions are key on this record- not following just simple A/B patterns there’s some thought to the structure of the songs and record. “Dry”, in particular, demonstrates some of these ideas. A/B sections, underscored with “Drown me everytime… Dry”, give way to breaks, ethereal echo guitar solos, giving a hint of the powerful ending. A 4 chord progression accented by breathtaking drum fills finaly flourishes into a screaming cymbal-laden guitar finish.

Feels like You, the bands purported final album, starts off with some quiet echo piano. The melancholy major 7 chords the band has leaned on throughout their music are laid bare as we press play on the record. Add guitar. At a little after 90 seconds the band jumps in after with a thick blanket of lonesome self-reflection and chemical depression. The bands penchant for composition remains to the end, with changes keeping you engaged as the noise soothes your heart. “Younger than You” is one of the band’s greatest tracks, starting with an almost Smashing Pumpkins/Silversun Pickups esque clean unison guitar/bass into distorted and layered noise, ending with a drum-guided, rock and roll style outro.

 Guilty of Everything (2014) Nothing

One of the things I mention in my preface to this is, for me, the 2010s were the first decade of my life that ended with me not being a musician. And it opened some doors for me, creatively, to be able to hear music and think about it purely as a listener and a person. Something others have frequently described to me, that I had never really done, was just spend an entire weekend listening to an album.

I saw Nothing on KEXP 5 years ago when Guilty of Everything was out and they were on tour. I’ve seen them twice in person since them and bought every one of their records. The weekend that I got Guilty, I was attending a close friend’s sisters wedding, and pretty much was in a hotel room drunk in overcast-as-fuck santa cruz all weekend. And you know what was being played through headphones at practically all times.

Nothing is mostly the musical project of a guy named Dominic Palermo, a punk from the Philly scene that had spent more than a year in prison for a stabbing. He isn’t much of a vocalist or guitarist, but he is a fantastic artist, writer, photographer, and visionary, and the creative force behind what is now a rotating cast of other musicians.

Guilty of Everything is definitely their best record, opening with the massive meditation Hymn to the Pillory, into the definitive single Bent Nail, a perfect marriage of hardcore punk and shoegaze elements, falling apart into the 90mph crash, into a wall, final outro chorus “If you feel like/letting go…” repeated over and over over pure drone guitars, seamlessly flowing into the romantic slow jam “Endlessly” The closing title track is one of the best closers of the decade, perfectly sticking the landing on this brilliant lyric: “My hands are up, I’m on my knees I don’t have a gun, you can search me please. I’ve given up, but you shoot me anyway, I’m guilty of everything. I’m guilty of everything”.

Hyperview (2015) Title Fight

Nothing wasn’t the only Pennsylvanian post-hardcore band to bend their sound a bit shoegaze. Title Fight also sneaks onto this list with their outstanding record Hyperview from 2015. Appealing compositions and melodies combine with harmonized vocals, even some 16 beats on the hats- things we expect from post hardcore, but slowed down and smeared out a bit into the shoegaze aesthetic. My favorite track from the record, “Hypernight”, combines some screamo hype man chorus, math rock inspired guitar and bass lines, and is just all in all one of the most unique tracks to come out of the decade. “I don’t want to see things differently, its what I am taught myself to believe”.

Grandfeathered (2016) Pinkshinyultrablast

I admit that I bounced off of Russian electro-shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast the first time I listened to them a few years ago. There was just too much going on and I didn’t really have the inclination to jump in and grab on. Operatic female vocals, noisy djenty guitar, shimmery, clean guitar, all swirl together in what is undoubtably a great record for having a tinder date IF, and I say IF, you’re willing to run a musicological acid test on them.

Whether it was listening to a bunch more music, particularly ambient music, or just changing taste now I can’t get enough of this band. They do slam from idea to idea in a song, but it’s a controlled speed- it’s not pleasant to a lot of people, but once you get yourself situated, you’ll wonder how you ever missed this band to begin with, if you’re not one of the people reading this and thinking, naw dude, I got this shit RIGHT AWAY.

The compositions on the record are, in fact, carefully considered and composed, combining noise rock with clean ambience deftly and changing up styles repeatedly throughout each song and the record. Everybody knows we can no longer control dynamics via volume in today’s world of headphone/device listening,  ultramaximizing mastering, laptop speakers, etc. So Pinkshinyultrablast controls it with style. This record is definitely the more guitar-driven of the albums from this decade, with their release 2 years later being more electronic and vocal focused.

Slowdive (2017) Slowdive/My Bloody Valentine (2013) mbv

There are two bands that are credited with creating and or popularizing the Shoegaze movement during the late 80s and early 90s. Those bands are My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive. Both of whom released albums during the 2010s. And frankly, both records are damn good for two bands that have been basically on hiatus for 20 years. Neither has really stood the test of time for me, although I listened to both exhaustively upon release. 

The opening tracks of both records are absolutely mesmerizing, this slow, sexy intro is clearly the part of them that became stronger with age. The manic rock energy of their more upbeat tracks however is absent or at least forced, and I think is what keeps these from being really what I’d call strong records. Nevertheless, both albums belong on any shoegazer’s playlists both for the quality of the music as well as the nod to the progenators of the genre we love so much.

Time n Place (2018) Kero Kero Bonito

KKB was already one of the biggest indie rock groups in the world when they released this their second full-length album. Making a big move sound-wise from super squeaky clean hip hop style production to sloppy shoegaze guitars and drums, they alienated a lot of fans with Time n Place, but I don’t see how. For me, coming in for Time n Place and then going back in the catalogue to Bonito Generation, I see it as a very natural progression. As the artists become more confident and mature, it’s natural they should explore some other emotions and moods.

That said I am not the usual KKB fan. Actually at their show in San Francisco in 2018 I was probably in the top 95 percentile of being an old fart. Around me, mostly twentysomethings on the first half decade, casually doing key bumps right on the show floor, something scared old gen Xers like me, still remembering their friend’s divorced dads in cigarette boats they sold for coke in the 80s, are still too paranoid to do. The crowd definitely starting pogo jumping at the chorus to “Only Acting” a grungy, poppy metaphor between acting on stage, and being young and in love.

Right after that, “Flyaway“ is the upbeat shoegazey manic anthem that really got me sucked into the band to begin with. Combining fuzzy guitars that are more reminiscent of Japanese rock bands of the 00s than shoegaze with a crystalline clear melodic vocal line from Sarah, this is the track where I grab a handful of dirt from my dying hill, and say if you don’t like this song, you don’t like the band, the record, or my musical taste.

Miserable Miracles (2018) Pinkshinyultrablast

Reinventing themselves record by record, Pinkshinyultrablast keeps on the cutting edge and doesn’t make a habit of anything. Miserable Miracles is more electronics driven, lead and pad synthesizers bringing in the music with their trademark soaring, operatic vocals. Guitars are present as well, but heavily stretched with cathedral reverb and long delay. A smoother sound than Grandfeathered, but well-poised to issue a majestic, meditative prayer such as “Find your Saint”, my favorite track. Like walking into a Germanic church on Sunday, the vocals rise to the ceiling forcing you to look up at the light breaking in through stained glass synthesizers. At about 100 seconds, all of the pieces drop in together to lift you into wherever it is you are going. “I used to talk- about it” brings the heavenly outro to bear, one of the most powerful musical moments of the decade.

Astronoid (2019) Astronoid

I am part of a few music groups on Facebook, and one of them mentioned this band, calling them “Dream Thrash”- a combination of dreampop and thrash metal. I’d say its more thrashgaze, with heavy effects/djenty guitar and the more whispery vocals than are a hallmark of the shoegaze genre, not the clear pop produced vocals that are the hallmark of dreampop.

That out of the way, this is possibly my favorite record of 2019. The opening track, “A New Color”, brims with energy and hopeful optimism and replaced Road Eyes as my airplane take off song. Right around 3 minutes in, when the plane is airborne and gaining climbing u to cruise, when we’re often breaking through the clouds, comes in possibly my favorite guitar solo of all time. On this record, Astronoid are unquestionably uptempo metal yet somehow at the same time being slow-changing enough to carry the emotional weight of shoegaze. The second track, “Dream in Lines”, is an aggressive, more metal-informed rocker, and the third is a power ballad that absolutely sealed the deal for me in terms of loving this album.

Other high points include the uptempo thrash jam “Breathe” and “Water”. Again infusing the metal, djenty mute strum guitar with soaring vocals and heavy backing harmonics, this record continues again and again to deliver head-banging jams that touch and heal a deep sadness in the soul. “Water” is a darker exploration, starting with a heavy chunky two-guitar & bass instrumental, virtuous breaks, and expansive echo and reverb. The band sounds like they are playing in the middle of an interstellar arena, fists human and alien in the sky.

The album sticks the landing with the penultimate track “Beyond the Scope”. This incredible song starts slowly, but upon reaching a turn, goes double-time as the melody and music climbs in pitch at 100 seconds in. This transition takes us into a greater urgency, with sustained, over-flying guitar notes keeping the harmony rich and complex.

Then, the beat drops out and a single guitar chord rings- “My hands are on my ears/They won’t stop ringing” smashes into your brain and your heart. Then again, the building section- “Feeble-minded/I can not decide/in my world, now I know/there’s no such thing as dying/so leave with a goodbye” and into another build and back to the chorus-

“My hands are on my ears/they won’t stop ringing”. I don’t think any lyric can better express the decade than that. If it were somehow possible for this album to end on this song, it would be at the head of this category.

Everything Starts to Be a Reminder (2019) Echodrone

As a former musician, I have a lot of friends who are musicians. I am very brutally honest about my feelings in music and that can make it awkward to have to comment on a friend’s hard work. Echodrone’s latest record made this very easy- the record is simply amazing. Echodrone’s earlier records bounced off of me a bit, but this one has just the right mixture of drone-drenched empty space, ethereal vocals, emotional anguish and euphoria, and a strong connection to the last 10 years in my mind. The tracks are named after the four seasons, starting with Winter and ending with Autumn. Interestingly, the tracks do not really stand out as being separate in my mind, much like how you cannot easily separate a season from another season in the same year.

“Winter” explodes with an epic, cymbal-laden meditation, that continues to grow and grow and expand, then finally becomes quieter, more melodic, and less drony in the second half of the 18 ½ minute song.

“Spring” features a finger-pick echo guitar interspersed with a beautiful co-ed vocal line guiding us down a pathway of different melodic and harmonic ideas. It then enters into a several-minutes long jammy contemplation that is utterly ecstatic to me- synths layered with effects-laden bass and more echo guitar into a full stop.

The best song on the record, “Summer”, begins with a vocal sample into a more or less straight-ahead rock and roll jam. This gives way to a downtempo effects section, then at right after 4 ½ minutes, gives way to a sound I can only call Olympian in hugeness. Fuzz bass, echoing guitars, and multilayered female vocals create this trance-like atmosphere that is rarefied and deeply marked with potent and everchanging imagery at the same time, like cream on top of coffee.

The sound continues to change and becomes quiet again once again with echo guitars carrying the music through. Back to a rhythmic return at 12 ¾ minutes. A synth flute melody flies over the whispered vocals, complex drum patterns- an opine to the end of life’s summer, the bitter sweetness of being old enough to not be hurt anymore by unlikely things failing to fly.

 Shoegaze Album of the Decade:

Sunbather (2013) Deafheaven

A single distorted guitar chord progression holding several notes through the chords for changing harmonics, exploding into double kick and even more guitars, into black metal screaming- this is the unmistakable beginning of Sunbather by San Francisco black metal band Deafheaven.

Due to its downtempo sections, overall distorted and layered production, and emotional scope, this album is loved not just by black metal fans but also by shoegaze fans such as myself. It is a perfect example of a successful crossover- not anticipated or forced in any way by the creators- but it just happens to work on so many different levels.

There are really only four songs on this record, the tracks in between them are much needed interludes. Something all Deafheaven songs do very well is compositioning. These tracks play out, in a way, like classical pieces, with many different sections, transitions, themes, changes, openings, closings, callbacks- it’s so incredibly dense and accomplished that you can listen to this album for weeks on end and still be surprised.

“Dream House” is the blazing opener of the record and puts on display everything we love about every song on here. To make this song the first track is insane, simply because of how over-the-top insanely powerful it is. After a brief interlude of just picked echo guitar, a single chord strum, the entire band comes back in a beat later, and this isn’t even the most emotional part of the song. That’s going to be at 7 minutes, 20 seconds in “I watched/It die!!!” screeches the vocalist as a guitar ostinado plays over the key notes that have been presented throughout the song in brutal crystal clarity. Then at 8 minutes- the vocalist and guitar break down, screaming and double picking guitar notes. It is difficult not to cry at this ending- and this is only the first song on the record.

“Sunbather” is both the title track and the album’s dark heart. Thrumming with a complex beat from the start, the other instruments are layered over this like a tangle of vines across an iron fence. Skillful use of double kick and drum fills keeps the band on target as we get to the breaks and turnarounds. The cymbals and guitars swirl creating complex patterns. Listening to this song from far away with extremely poor speakers would sound like static- similar to how Jupiter looks like a pale gold smear- turn up the volume a little, get a little closer, and you see the rich, threatening complexity of the swirling clouds of music and emotion. The song ends with a slow section about ¾ of the way through the 10 minute piece. An unforgettable echo guitar line plays sparsely over drums- invoking a Cure-like gothic sensibility. Then the band comes back in, playing the same melody and expanding upon it, a lighting bolt magnified to a thousand forks and twists going in all directions. It is the melodies at the end of Sunbather that were stuck in my head, unforgettable, after listening to this record. Unlike Dream House, this song ends on a down note, a question- the rest of the album is to give an answer, and incredibly, you will not be disappointed.

“Vertigo” is the longest song on the record at 14 ½ minutes, a blazing, minor key rocker that is meant to emotionally drag us down as far as we can go after Sunbather. The ending of the song invokes the Beatles “She’s So Heavy” before heading into “Windows” an ambient and spoken word piece featuring a drug deal gone bad- unquestionably a node to The Tenderloin, one of the more drug-laden districts in San Francisco and likely location of the band’s rehearsal studios.

Into “The Pecan Tree”, a song that has an seemingly impossible task: To somehow stick the landing of an extremely powerful and emotional record. We are looking for something coming into this track, but we are not totally sure what it is. We need something, but we can only follow the lights. The song opens up with insane double-kick guitar madness, 2 step rhythm, and then at 1:20 we see a glimpse through the storm, a hole of blue, that we can make it to, if we keep on going. Keep on going. Keep on walking. Smashing, swirling guitars and screams return, our view obstructed. Everything seems to be going at maximum at the end of this first section of the song.

At just after 3 minutes, the sonic assault finally begins to slow down, a march tempo into double kick continuous cymbals, back to march tempo, then, at 4 minutes 19 seconds, only picked echo guitar heralds us into the second section. The star of this section is a piano ostinato combined with the echo guitar, with a second guitar playing playful melodies over it. This is the starry night we can now see that the storm has cleared- this is the most optimistic and life affirming music on the record. A found audio recording of a detuned radio signals the ending of this section.

Eventually, this music fades just before four metal beats brings us to the conclusion- an octave-fingering guitar line and screeching vocal that is in my view one of the most awesome emotional turnarounds that I have ever experienced musically. The remaining outro sums up the entire record- life is big, difficult, unknowable, chaotic. Great albums stick the landing- and this ending does so, with incredible energy, on a record that did not even need it. Sunbather. One of the greatest rock records of all time and one of the very few of those albums to come out now, just about half a century after the 60s.

Post Punk Revivalists: The king of indie rock genres in the 00s, post punk was largely set down at the end of the decade with the major acts of the decade releasing milquetoast or downright laughable fare (are we human, or are we dancer?). However, post punk exploded back onto the scene in 2012 with The Money Store by Death Grips. Some returning groups from the 00s did end up releasing fantastic records, Roma 79 and Daughters being my favorites.

Cardinal Star (2014) Roma 79

I discovered north San Francisco bay area band Roma 79 through their single from the 00s, “Gold”, a sort of heavy, post-punk rocker with a few-thousand views on Youtube. I was very surprised when they reunited and recorded this followup album, which was one of my favorite records of 2014. Featuring a good amount of synth and dreampoppy guitar lines, the main standouts are the vocals and the brilliant drumming, which is a hallmark of great post-punk records of the 00s such as Fever to Tell or Turn On the Bright Lights. The strongest single on the record, “Seventeen”, features a complex drum lines, interlaced with vocals and synths. The song slowly builds up in emotional intensity and drops in layers of vaguely Phil Collins-esque drums and backing vocals, blossoming into a powerful meditative love song. “I’ll wait for it with you.” The final song on the record, is almost an answer to this track, closing the record on a strong point.

You Won’t Get What You Want (2018) Daughters

Daughters is another post-punk band that returned to release a followup nearly 10 years later with 2018’s “You Won’t Get What You Want”. Like all great post punk records, there are a number of characters in this room, and they all can be heard, each having their moments in the spotlight and their moments in the shadows.

One such character is the drums. A crushing combination of live and multitracking effects create a rhythm that provides both the constant heartbeat required by driving rock and roll based music, but also the texture, the complexity, that we seek out in the genre. Lots of tom toms used to keep the beat as opposed to cymbals, practically no hat. Invoking Killing Joke, except when they don’t want to right away, but bring it in later.

Another character is the vocals. Spoken word/sing song type delivery, where the mood and the words and more important than the melody. Lyrics invoke isolation, depression, contraction, abandonment, decline. It would almost be enough with just that, these drums and vocals- but this will also be added by another character, the music. The music seems to be generated mostly by guitar and bass, but there are clearly some synthesizer elements as well, used sparingly and to great effect. I can’t really describe the guitar tone, I would say, it shimmers, but not in an enlightening way. It’s like flashes in the dark, disorienting more than illuminating. The sound is like wood coming off a circular saw. It’s definitely this guitar sound that draws people into this record. All elements are moody, dark, aggressive, but it’s the guitar that really lays down flashes over the blackness.

“Satan in the Wait”, one of the best single tracks on the record, features an off-balance drum beat, carried by toms, and an air-raid siren like guitar sound. A throbbing, distorted bassline in time with the kick drum. At 1:30 in we are given a guitar riff that is beautiful and invoking of a banjo, lending a sensation of urban, southern gothic emotions. Horror film soundtracks come to mind, a combination of unsettling ambience and clear, unforgettable melodies. “Their Bodies are open” the chorus goes, making me think of world-ending events, a transformational death as seen in Arthur C. Clarkes Childhood’s End.

Another of my favorite tracks, “Daughter”, begins with a “bela legosi is dead” kick and snare rim drum beat, possibly electronic, along with a shimmery, surf-rock toned guitar riff. As the song proceeds, more elements are dropped in, and the drums are of particular note here, at 1:23 or so, they drop into a complex beat involving toms, cymbals, and snare. At 2:05 they drop in a clear guitar riff on top of raw noise, building to a climax with the vocal “There’s a war!” At this point, the noise drops out, just a clear guitar riff reminiscent of “Satan in the Wait”, drums coming in at 3:15 or so are particularly impactful.

The final track, “Guest House”, opens on a nearly unbearable sonic assault, the lyrics invoking somebody trapped outside of a bomb shelter during an apocalypse. Once again the gap between unbearable noise and beautiful melody is bridged, as the final dissonant chords give way to deep, harmonic, peaceful orchestra swells.

Post Punk Album of the Decade:

The Money Store (2012) Death Grips

The first time somebody played “Get Got” for me, it was during a really chillwave phase in my music taste and I was completely lost, and didn’t really understand what people saw in Death Grips. I was intrigued enough though, and circled back on some tracks from Exmilitary, their prior record. The more laid back tone and empty space present in tracks such as “Culture Shock” kept me interested enough to give The Money Store another shot a year or so later.

As my interest in chillwave started to fade, and I sought more emotional substance to my music, I returned to the Money Store, and was hooked. Each track is a relentless blast of aggressive drum beats, synthesizer driven melodies, and of course the unmistakable rap vocals of MC Ride.

A strong comparison for me, is between this record, and Joy Division’s second and final record, “Closer”. Relentless beats, but never getting boring, always inventing new rhythms to cast a texture over the musical landscape. Short, fast songs, transitioning from one beat and tempo to the other, never giving you a chance to catch your breath.

The music is highly influenced by hip hop, appearing to be a chopped and cut style, with synthesizers combined with production on the vocals, adding vocals, filter sweeps, reverses, etc- so much energy and craft went into creating what is on its surface very simple music- drums, vocals, and production. Standout track “Hustle Bones” does a fantastic job of expressing what is so great about every song on this record. Everything barely makes sense, but then it all comes together in a singular moment that anybody can nod their head to.

MC Ride’s best is on display in the classic hit, “I’ve Seen Footage”. In his relentless, attacking rap style, he tells us the story of watching gore or wtf videos from reddit or 4chan (or Stile Project if you’re really old like me)-  describing what he’s seen, and then underscoring that with the chorus, “I stay noided”- the character Ride creates is deeply anxious and paranoid, while at the same time being insatiable in the quest for knowing more, something I believe is nearly universal to the experience of the internet-informed human, a phenomenon that would later in the decade lead to diseases thought dead brought back by anti-vax movements, and the election of conspiracy theorist and popularizer Donald Trump as president of the united states.

And that’s the formula to each track on Money Store- working around something more or less literal, Ride’s poetry brings us into the dark state the world was only beginning to enter at the start of the decade.

Closing track “Hacker” opens with a recording of Ride, yelling, presumably at a concert “No ins and outs!!! You come out, your shit is GONE”, then into a 4-on the floor dance beat to end the record on an absolute banger. The music, carried by the beat and Ride’s systematic delivery, is left to its own devices, with glitchy, cut-off synth arpeggios, everything getting out of the way of the beat. “Having conversations with your car alarm”, “you speak with us in certain circles, you will be dethroned or detained”, and “Gaga can’t handle this shit” are some of the lyrical gems that Ride has saved for last here, closing out a post punk record that stands alongside Closer or Turn on the Bright Lights as one of the best of all time.

[therionsymphonicmetalmasters]

Vinyl Sunday

When I was about to write this text I thought of one thing: It's weird that such a huge portion of the hard rock/metal history of Sweden comes from the same spot. In this case Upplands Väsby, a suburb to Stockholm that back in the days had barely over 30.000 inhabitants (today it’s around 45.000). Besides Therion, you also have Europe, Candlemass and H.E.A.T. (very famous band in Sweden, not so big abroad). Yngwie Malmsteen also lived there for most of his life in Sweden (all of his time being musically active). Plus a number of smaller bands that got local fame (two of them, Universe and Excruciate, even released albums).

To put things in perspective, there are 85.000 inhabitants in Andorra and they have only one metal band that few people have heard of and Greenland has 56.000 inhabitants and no metal band at all. Africa has 1,2 billion inhabitants and just a hand full of hard rock/metal bands with record deals (none that made it big). Asia has almost 4,5 billion inhabitants and have only two hard rock/metal bands that made some international impact, Loudness (now sadly forgotten, they did some great stuff) and Baby Metal (which are really cool, but I don’t think they would have made it anywhere if it would have been grown up women) - both from Japan. Sigh (again; from Japan) has done pretty well, but only in the extreme metal scene.

Africa and Asia combined have 5,7 billion (81%) of the 7 billion population on planet Earth and the suburb Upplands Väsby with its (back then) barely over 30.000 people gave birth to more people that made it in this genre of music than areas covering 81% of the population of the planet. That’s pretty remarkable when you think of it, even given the fact that hard rock/metal is a western cultural phenomena, because in other fields of influence from the west, Asia has often managed to copy us very well and often even surpassed us in for example technical innovations (the last 35 years no one talks of ”cheap Japanese junk” technology anymore). And given the vast amount of black artists that made it in the blues, rock/hard rock scene, there should have been plenty of role models for Africans to pick up the guitar and be the Nigerian new Jimi Hendrix or Phil Lynott (Nigeria has a whopping 200 million people and have actually several artists that made huge success in pop music).

Having said that, I never liked Upplands Väsby it self too much and it felt good moving out of there 1992.

Back to vinyl!

In 1988 a friend asked me if I wanted to join for a concert with a band called Candlemass. Their debut album had been released 1986, but it was a big flop and not many people knew of the band even in Stockholm. But they had released Nightfall just some months earlier (nov '87) and now they had just started to gain some success with their new singer Messiah Marcolin. But to me they were still new and I went there much because of the support act Agony, which was a local thrash band with one really good song I had heard on the radio. There was also a female heavy/thrash metal band called Ice Age and I was curious about that too. At the concert I ended up enjoying the two bands I came to see. I even stage dived twice to Agony! But it would turn out that Candlemass with that that fat crazy singer with the huge hair, monk clothes and operatic voice from hell TOTALLY blew me away! You just gotta love YouTube when you can even find obscurities like that available today (I’m somewhere in the audience head banging):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7ansj_O7mQ

I didn’t have cash to buy the album, so I got my friend to tape it for me instead (as often was the case back then when you were young and broke and there was too much good music). Some years later we were signed to the same label (Active Records) and I managed to sweet talk myself into a free copy of the vinyl from their manager Dave Constable who also owned that label (as I was still broke investing all cash into music equipment).

There are few albums that have intros good enough that you want to listen to it more than first 3 times (when CD’s came people would start skipping them) and there are few albums I’d give 10/10, but this is one of them. It was recorded poorly at Thunderload studio (owned by the Heavy Load guys) and they had to escape with the master tapes to Stockholm Recording to save the album. Technically speaking, the sound is totally terrible (especially the drums), but it’s somehow like with Black Sabbath - their murky lo-fi sound becomes a charming content that gives the music unique personality (something that never happened again once studios turned digital).

UPDATE: X-Japan should of course be mentioned as a successful Asian metal band as well. They are massive in Japan but also made it big in USA. But they actually never made it big in Europe (the main market for metal music after the 80's), ask random people at metal festivals here and most people won't even know the name. Which is a shame, because it's indeed a great band.

Also to clearify; with "making it" I refer to bands that sold at least over a million albums. There are of course some fantastic bands that made it in the smaller scenes

[songwriting-analysis]

Meaningless opinions from 2017 that will change in 2018

1. Favourite Riff?

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath from the album Black Sabbath

2. Favourite Guitar Model?

Gibson SG

3. Favourite Musical Decade?

1960′s

4. Favourite 60s Band?

Jefferson Airplane since Beatles is a cliche answer

5. Favourite 70s Band?

Black Sabbath, a cliche answer

6. Favourite 80s Band?

Van Halen vs. Hall & Oates, a battle royale in my imagination

7. Favourite 90s Band?

Nirvana or Failure

8. Favourite 2000s Band?

The Thrills

9. Favourite Album?

Fantastic Planet or Abbey Road

10. What was the greatest year for music?

1825 or 1967

11. Fenders or Gibsons?

Why not both?

10. Favourite Guitarist?

Matt Pike

11. Which side of the Atlantic (Britain or America)?

Britain for music

12. Rosewood or Maple Fretboards?

Rosewood with humbuckers. Maple with single coil

13. Greatest “1 album” bands?

The Rockwells

14. Crosby, Stills or Nash?

Young

15. Favourite Rolling Stone?

Most of those songs were collaborations. There’s a lesson there, kid.

16. Favourite Guitar Solo?

“Dirty Blue Balloons” by Failure

17. Who have you seen live?

Less than I should have but more than some

18. Greatest modern blues/rock guitarist?

Who cares?

19. Favourite drummer?

Ringo Starr

20. Favourite Bass Player?

Dennis Dunaway and Gene Simmons are both underrated. The Jacos, Jamersons, and Chris Squires of the world don’t need any more praise.

21. Favourite Keys Player?

Thelonius Monk

22. Favourite Male Singer?

Freddy Mercury

23. Favourite Female Singer?

Carmen McRae for voice alone. Neko Case as a songwriter

24. If you could own one famous guitar?

How about you give me an unknown one that sounds better?

25. Favourite Beatle?

Paul

26. Favourite Singer Songwriter?

Elliott Smith or Hank Williams

27. Electric or Acoustic?

Until 2014, acoustic. After 2014, electric.

28. Dylan, Electric or Acoustic?

Acoustic

29. Band you wish would/could reform?

Time is.

30. Top 3 dead musicians you wish you’d seen?

Time is.

31. Most underrated guitarist?

Eddie Hazel

32. What would your first piece of advise be to new guitarists?

The guitar is an extension of your penis/clit. Don’t wank it, tickle it til it spews.

33. Big venues or small venues?

Medium sized venues. The space needs to be big enough for low frequencies but not so big that the venue exerts too much influence on the sound.

34. What posters are on your walls?

None anymore. :-(

35. Vinyl or Digital?

Vinyl for sound quality. Digital for everything else.

36. Most Overrated Guitarist?

SRV

37. Which song do you wish you’d written?

Footloose

38. Which concerts do you wish you’d seen?

I wish I saw the Thrills when they toured the US but I was still in high school.

39. If you met your hero what would you say to them?

Thanks for doing good work but I have better things to do than jerk you off right now.

40. Flatpicking or Fingerstyle?

Apple or Orange?

41. Open tunings, yay or nay?

Yay

42. Favourite classic blues song?

If rock & roll is dead, jazz and blues have long since turned to dust.

43. Pick a King, Freddie, BB or Albert?

Eric Clapton ripping them all off

44. Who’s the most influential guitarist?

Hendrix or Chuck Berry

45. If you could play any song?

Dopesmoker. It’s not too difficult, just a lot to learn.

46. Who’s music has taught you the most?

Beethoven. It’s ‘Whose” btw

47. Best cover of a song?

Too many to choose. Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” is a good choice.

48. If Clapton is God then who’s Jesus?

God doesn’t let his children fall out of windows.

49. Why did you start playing your instrument?

I thought it was cool.

50. Favourite Eagle?

Leave the Eagles in the 70′s where they belong.

51. Favourite Les Paul Player?

Matt Pike

52. Favourite Stratocaster Player?

Hendrix.

53. Hollow bodied guitars, yay or nay?

Not for me but if that’s your bag, go for it.

54. What youtube comment really bugs you?

What the fuck kind of question is that?

55. Best person you’ve seen live?

New York Philharmonic or the Melvins

56. Best musician’s autobiography you’ve read?

Songs are more informative.

57. Band you’d most like to see?

Right now, Monolord or Electric Wizard

58. Favourite Stones’ Album?

Let It Bleed.

59. Favourite Beatles’ Album?

Abbey Road

60. Favourite Eagles’ Album?

Again, why are you referencing the Eagles along with the Stones and the Beatles? Have some respect.

61. Favourite Led Zeppelin Album?

II

62. Favourite Led Zeppelin Member?

John Paul Jones for being a great musician without being a terrible human being.

63. What band do you not listen to enough of?

Yours

64. What band is your guilty pleasure?

I don’t feel guilty about any of my musical tastes but if I did Max Martin songs and a lot of 80′s stuff.

65. What is your opinion of (insert bandartist)?

Terrible.

66. What is your opinion of (insert guitarist)?

Wonderful.

67. Beatles or Stones?

Beatles

68. Clapton or Hendrix?

Hendrix

69. Favourite ex-yardbird?

Jimmy Page

70. Favourite driving song?

Dopesmoker

71. Favourite Cream Song?

Sunshine of Your Love

72. Jack White or Dan Auerbach?

They are to legitimacy what Stranger Things is to the 80′s

73. White Stripes or Black Keys?

Neither but White Stripes I guess

74. What bugs you the most about your favourite artists?

In any time period, people who excel at selling themselves tend to do best. In the 1960′s a lot of hypocrites did this with flower power. At least in the 80′s they were transparent about their motivations.

75. Is Blues dead?

Yes. Long Live the Blues

76. Who would be in your ultimate band?

Boring.

77. Who do you wish had collaborated on a whole album?

I want to hear Bitches Brew with Hendrix on it.

78. Favourite cheesy but brilliant song?

How Will I Evaaaaaaaaaaaaa Eva Surviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive?

79. Favourite love song?

Can’t Take My Eyes off You

80. Greatest solo career?

Michael Jackson

81. Which musician have you learnt the most from?

John Cage

82. Worst musician’s autobiography you’ve ever read?

83. Best greatest hits album?

Rick James

84. What song is stuck in your head?

“Tom’s Diner” has been stuck in my head since the 90′s

85. What song makes you cry every time?

None

86. Telecaster or Stratocaster?

Tele

87. SG or Les Paul?

SG

88. Favourite Telecaster Guitarist?

Syd Barrett

89. Favourite SG Guitarist?

Toni Iommi

90. Favourite Firebird Player?

I don’t know who the fuck plays those.

91. What’s the most unusual guitar you’d buy?

One of the Electrical Guitar Company guitars made of metal. Ken Andrews and King Buzzo both have them and I’m that level of basic bitch.

92. What’s your earliest classic rock or blues memory?

My parents saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. I first saw them on the Muppet Show.

93. Best music documentary you’ve seen?

Show don’t tell

94. Best live concert video you’ve watched?

Not sure. The Sweeney Todd movie with George Hearn and Patti Lupone is up there.

95. What band t-shirts do you own?

I care less about that than the poor schlub who has to scroll past this cares about my opinion.

96. Own anything signed?

Sondheim vocal score to “Into the Woods”

97. Do your parents like this music?

I think so

98. Where would you most love to play a gig?

Somewhere “acoustically perfect”

99. If you could attend one festival?

I hate crowds. You can play in my living room though.

100. What’s the thing you last learnt on guitar?

“All I Want For Christmas Is You”. Speaking of, why wasn’t “Whitney or Mariah?” one of these questions? (My answer is Whitney btw.)

[jackwindsor96]

MD4314 Is rock dead?  An opinion by Jack Windsor

Since the 50’s rock music has been one of the most dominant music genres in the world from “Elvis” and “Johnny cash” to “the Beatles” in the 60’s to “Led Zeppelin” and “Pink Floyd” to then later with “Iron Maiden” that are still declaring they are making their last album the past 1000 times to now with “Foo Fighters” and “Bring me the horizon” releasing albums on all platforms keeping the CD and Vinyl in circulation.  

A few years ago a rock legend Gene Simmons caused outrage among the rock community coming out with the statement “rock music is dead” being the genre that made him famous in the first place when he was in the band Kiss, one of the most iconic rock bands in the 80s mostly famous for their cheesy songs and face paint.  This statement ended up fabricating a controversial question Is rock music really dead?  In my opinion I think rock music is very much alive and thriving every day.

As a culture the rock community is still living and breathing with a large collection of bands still headlining major festivals such as our beloved Glastonbury festival and of course having its dedicated festival to the genre “Download”. Mixture of new bands and old farts that still release albums, that are still embraced and worshipped to this day. Rock fans still wear their favourite band shirts and skinny black jeans and come down to the pub on a Friday night and give support to new bands performing a cover of “Chelsea Dagger by The Fratellis”  along with many over legendary rock songs that hit the charts back in the noughties. I would also say that it also brings a sense of nostalgia but with a more revived use of technology.  

The rock scene hasn’t changed a great deal, we still have insane guitar solos that can melt your face off and drum kits big enough that requires a person to have super speed abilities to play them all. The only thing that has changed is the amount of technology it’s constantly developing and improving the way musicians play even though this has so many benefits  it can also be rock music's reason for why it’s been considered to die out as technology is getting more complex  it’s difficult to have  song in the charts without a single bit of technology It’s exciting and scary at the same time.

Rock music as a genre has so much diversity in the genre itself with literally a family tree of subgenres that all have equally embraced their artform to consumers rock music itself it is constantly evolving to appeal to mainstream music that you hear in the charts on the radio and see on social media and streaming platforms. This is all down to society thinking rock music only consists of screaming and very aggressive vocals which has become the stereotype for the subgenre of rock metal. Which sadly had taken effect on the genre for quite a long time.  

The Idea of saying Rock music is dead is complete rubbish. Gene Simmons pretty much thinks rock music as a genre and culture is no longer existent. Thousands of bands to this day are releasing new music from heavily experienced bands such as Slipknot, Shinedown and Tool have not long ago released an album or are about to this summer. To less experienced artists performing at their first major festival for example “Parkway drive” and “Monster truck” are gaining popularity at a rapid rate among the more youthful audience. With an incredible number of followers on Spotify can also argue with the topic. Queen that no longer release albums have over thirty-two million monthly listeners alongside other very large old and new bands raking in millions of monthly listeners just on one streaming service. From just statistics alone rock music is still alive worldwide especially in the United states, the UK. Even in other genres of music that is falling into the category of pop music, Rock is the backbone of inspiration for new artists for example Billie Eilish and her brother still like to use instruments and not just what most pop artists do an depend on an electronic artist to create a backing track to make a hit. They do not hesitate to also break the boundaries by mixing acoustic guitars with heavy sub bass drops and to flourish their creativity. There is also the point of contemporary artists that use rock bands as their idols and influence them to create music with the same song structure. For example, Post Malone used to play for rock bands and says he was raised listening to black sabbath and iron maiden. Showing that even though rock music isn't as popular in the charts many artists that are popular today were raised listening to rock.  

The Billboard hot 200 of March 2019 My Chemical Romance album “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” re-entered the charts after around 15 years of its release this is a great example of why rock music is still alive, even albums that have been released well over a decade ago are still popular to this day with a consumer age range of around 10 to 60 year olds. Is it because teenagers still listen to young bands that date back into the emo culture.  

My personal experience with rock music has been introduced through my parents with bands like metallica, black sabbath and motley crue etc. Have helped persuade and grip me into playing guitar and to pursue a career in music and a very large majority of parents are still introducing rock music and other various subgenres of rock at a very young age and this has resulted in many kids becoming incredibly talented and going viral on YouTube very much like the discovery of the Justin bieber and with hundreds of guitar tutorial channels and rock bands still being having music videos shared out across social media.

It’s very hard to declare a genre being dead I would certainly say it has changed and evolved over time if it wasn’t for Punk and metal we wouldn't have bands like Slipknot,  Papa roach and Avenged sevenfold.

These bands are still producing music and performing live and using technology that is evolving to this day with not the worry of being mainstream as they have their own following and it continues to increase. With Slipknot recently released a single “unsainted” it's become trending on Youtube and with a featured live performance on the jimmy kimmel live show.

with so much popularity it is ridiculous to declare rock music is dead.

Rock music is not dead it’s just moved on from the mainstream charts for its own benefit.

[myongfisher]

20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube

YouTube is full of awesome designers who are doing amazing work not just with their art, but as creative entrepreneurs making it big. When you’re looking for inspiration, trying to brush up your design skills or you want advice on building your business from someone who’s been there, done that and came back to talk about it, YouTube’s got what you need.

If you’re looking for some great YouTube design channels to follow, check out these 20 designers and entrepreneurs. They’re some of our favorites and we think you’ll love them too.

Charli Marie —

Charli Marie is a London-based graphic designer and YouTuber who covers a variety of topics in her videos that are incredibly valuable to freelance designers: from creating mockups to making sure you get paid on time to frank discussions on burnout. To balance out the design and career advice-focused videos she creates, Charli Marie gives glimpses into her personal and professional life, like her series of videos on how and why she learned to code. On her channel, expect a first-person look into the freelance graphic designer life delivered in an easy, conversational narration style.

What to expect

Design tutorials, DIY projects, business advice, vlogs. Charli Marie does a lot of “talking shop” aimed at freelance creatives.

Watch CharliMarieTV on YouTube

Yes I’m a Designer —

Yes I’m a Designer is a design tutorial channel created by Martin Perhiniak, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. Instead of narrating his videos, he provides instructions and insight via text in the corner of the screen on each video. Each tutorial covers a specific technique that he explains through these text blurbs as he demonstrates the technique. Elsewhere on the channel, Yes I’m a Designer covers Photoshop updates, working with Illustrator, working with InDesign, product reviews and basic lessons in learning Photoshop.

Specific videos you’ll find on Yes I’m a Designer include:

Creating animal hybrids in Photoshop

New brushes in Photoshop for 2018

Shading and coloring vector illustrations in Illustrator

Symmetrical composition in InDesign

Learn how to draw anything in Illustrator

What to expect

Specific design tutorials, like creating line art avatars and working with perspective lines.

Watch Yes I’m a Designer on YouTube

Gigantic —

Gigantic, whose real name is Marco, is a graphic artist based in Montenegro who creates flat character designs in Adobe Illustrator. His videos primarily focus on specific aspects of character design, like drawing superheroes or dragons. One thing you’ll notice about his videos is that he uses the word “easy” in many of their titles. He’s not underselling himself, he’s making his work look easy to viewers. Click on any one of them to watch him walk you through creating a type of character or going over an aspect of designing characters in Adobe Illustrator, step by step.

What to expect

Adobe illustrator tutorials with minimal narration and soothing music

Watch Gigantic on YouTube

The Simple Designers —

Like their name implies, The Simple Designers keep it simple. You won’t hear human voices at all in their videos, just beat-heavy music as you watch them turn basic shapes into cute 2D images in Adobe Illustrator. Their tutorials get super specific, so expect to learn how to make images like medical icons, calendar icons and beach scenes when you watch this YouTube design channel.

What to expect

2D design, quick-paced tutorials and icons—lots of icons

Watch The Simple Designers on YouTube

Dan Gartman —

From his videos, you might think Dan Gartman is just a tattooed pair of hands that can rip through a pencil drawing at a breakneck speed. And although he does do that, that’s not all. Dan also has a few tutorials on his channel, including one about using a grid as an illustration aid and one on making line art look great. But the bulk of his videos are his speed drawing videos. His fast-moving hands will mesmerize you as you watch him create quirky, video game-y characters and scenes. Prepare to feel inspired.

What to expect

Time lapse videos of highly-detailed pencil and watercolor drawings

Watch Dan Gartman on YouTube

Will Paterson —

If you want to know what’s wrong with certain famous logos, like the Google and Starbucks logos, look no further than Will Paterson’s YouTube design channel. Will Paterson’s not just a critic, he’s a graphic designer who does product reviews and provides valuable logo design tips that you can use to improve your own logo design skills. He also critiques his subscribers’ logos, giving a thorough “why” with every review.

What to expect

Logo critiques, logo design tips and product reviews

Watch Will Paterson on YouTube

Every Tuesday —

If you’re wondering when Teela Cunningham posts new videos, take a look at her YouTube design channel name. Every Tuesday features typography and watercolor effects. Her channel is mostly tutorials that show how to create certain effects in your work, like:

Seamless patterns in Illustrator

Paint streak typography in Photoshop

Confetti brush in Photoshop

Drop shadow effects in Illustrator

Watercolor textures for typography in Photoshop

Blending with metallic watercolor paints

Every Tuesday’s style is painterly. It’s flowy, streaky and fabulous whether she’s working on paper or on screen.

What to expect

Watercolors and text effects in Adobe Illustrator

Watch Every Tuesday on YouTube

Matt Borchert —

Matt Borchert, a designer based in Minneapolis, MN, is a designer who creates tutorials. His videos are technical, but don’t feel intimidated—his instructions are easy to follow and he walks the viewer through every step of each process he explains. A few examples of the kinds of design tutorials he publishes are:

Creating sliced text in Photoshop

Loading brushes in Illustrator

Exporting layers in Photoshop

Scaling patterns in Illustrator

Although most of his videos are tutorials, he also has videos that cover broader skills designers should develop, like improving UX with Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics and handling negative feedback on their work. He also gives advice about products designers use and helps viewers choose the right products for themselves. He’s covered buying the right hard drive, choosing between a PC or a Mac laptop and various part considerations for designers who want to build their own PCs.

What to expect

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials as well as practical advice

Watch Matt Borchert on YouTube.

The Futur —

The Futur isn’t one person, but a group of guys based in Santa Monica, California who make videos on a variety of entrepreneurship and lifestyle topics, covering everything from how to supercharge your personal brand to duplicating likes and comments on Facebook ads to really determining what you’re good at. The Futur aims to prepare and pump up new and aspiring entrepreneurs who need confidence boosts and tactical advice to pursue their goals.

What to expect

Pep talks, practical advice and tips on how to maintain a successful business

Watch The Futur on YouTube

Pixel & Bracket —

Pixel & Bracket is headed by Spencer, a designer from Indianapolis, Indiana. His videos fall into a few categories: Adobe Illustrator tutorials, spotlights on free goods available on Creative Market (an online marketplace for design assets) and discussions on topics that are relevant to creative entrepreneurs, like setting goals and developing ideas. This third video category also includes discussions about Spencer’s personal experience, like why he chose to quit his previous job and why he spends his time creating relatively basic Illustrator tutorials for his YouTube channel. All of his discussions are delivered in a conversational, easy-to-follow manner that makes Pixel & Bracket’s videos feel more like a conversation with a friend than an instructional channel.

What to expect

Design tutorials, breakdowns of the weekly free goods on Creative Market and entrepreneurship advice

Watch Pixel & Bracket on YouTube

Made by Mighty —

When you want to learn how to create really cool effects in Illustrator and Photoshop, queue up Made by Mighty. Their videos are all about applying futuristic effects like an animated glitch and powder blast effects to text to give it a fun, engaging feel. Made by Mighty doesn’t have nearly as many videos as some of the other channels on this list, but you can use their effects to nail the exact aesthetic you’re going for, whether that’s cyberpunk spaceman or avant garde papercrafter.

What to expect

Photoshop tutorials, Illustrator tutorials and speed art

Watch Made by Mighty on YouTube

Spoon Graphics —

Chris Spooner is the creative genius behind Spoon Graphics. His YouTube design channel is all about creating cool effects in Photoshop and Illustrator, but unlike Made by Mighty, Spoon Graphics gets into specific kinds of projects like creating a VHS-style poster and colorizing black and white photos.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials

Watch Spoon Graphics on YouTube

Dansky —

Dan White, known on YouTube as Dansky, is a professional designer who left the world of commercial design to devote himself to creating YouTube tutorials full-time. Dansky’s tutorials cover working with specific tools to create original images as well as working in Photoshop to edit existing images, like his video on “alienizing” portraits and his video on removing and softening highlights. Dansky’s focus is on teaching the viewer, rather than showing off his own skills.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials focused on working with specific tools

Watch Dansky on YouTube

Tutvid —

Nathaniel Dodson, the creator behind tutvid, has been a serial entrepreneur since he was 12 years old. A photographer and graphic designer, his current focus is on creating valuable content for designers and entrepreneurs. His video library includes tutorials for working with various Adobe programs, like Premier Pro, Photoshop, Audition, Illustrator and Xd. He also talks about entrepreneurship and business topics on his podcast, the Dodcast, that he records visually and posts to his YouTube design channel.

What to expect

Adobe tutorials and business discussions with entrepreneurs

Watch tutvid on YouTube

Ste Bradbury Design —

Ste Bradbury Design is headed by Stephen Bradbury, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. His style has a bit of an edge to it, with a focus on graffiti-style typography.

YouTube isn’t his full-time gig like it is for some of the other YouTubers on our list. When he uploads videos, Stephen often features projects he’s done for clients. He also showcases his speed art and posts video tutorials.

What to expect

Speed art and tutorials

Watch Ste Bradbury Design on YouTube

Nobu Design —

One of the first things you’ll notice about Nobu Design’s videos is the soothing lo-fi hip hop soundtrack. The next thing you’ll notice is how thoroughly they walk you through each tutorial. A lot, but not all, of their tutorials are focused on typography effects. Don’t expect narration in Nobu Design’s videos, because you’re not gonna hear it. Instead, you’ll feel the trance music relax you as Nobu walks you through their creative process. We like to call it trance meets typography.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials

Watch Nobu Design on YouTube

AIGAdesign —

AIGAdesign is a bit different from the other YouTube design channels on our list. Instead of featuring one specific designer or small group of designers, AIGAdesign is the official YouTube channel for the Professional Association for Design. Here, you’ll see interviews and discussions from big names in design like Milton Glaser as well as discussions led by emerging voices in the design world. AIGAdesign’s channel covers topics related to living and working as a designer, tackling issues like imposter syndrome and diversity in the design field.

What to expect

Discussions on personal and professional issues designers face

Watch AIGAdesign on YouTube

Swerve Tutorials —

Swerve Tutorials, as their handle implies, publishes video tutorials. These tutorials are a lot of fun. They’re modern, a lot of them are cartoony and they’re engaging. Swerve Tutorials make graphic design feel fun and easy to learn. If you’re interested in building your Photoshop skills to a hip-hop soundtrack, definitely check out Swerve Tutorials.

What to expect

Tutorials for Photoshop & Illustrator and roundups of great designers

Watch Swerve Tutorials on YouTube

Draw with Jazza —

Draw with Jazza is a fun, eclectic YouTube design channel. Unlike many of the other designers in this list, Jazza, whose real name is Josiah, works in a variety of media. He’s got videos on polymer clay, videos on working with watercolors and even some out-of-the-box media like condiment art and drone-aided painting. Draw with Jazza is fun, irreverent and provides high quality content without taking itself too seriously.

What to expect

Weekly videos, speed painting, art product reviews and challenges

Watch Draw with Jazza on YouTube

Roberto Blake —

Roberto Blake’s channel is all about building and launching a career as a freelance creative. As he puts it, he “motivates a new generation of creatives to not be starving artists.” His videos largely fall into two categories:

Practical business-building advice, like choosing the right camera and lighting equipment for your YouTube videos

Personal advice for entrepreneurs, like overcoming performance anxiety and staying mentally healthy

Roberto Blake is direct, candid and focused on helping his viewers build financially lucrative creative careers. A must-watch if you’re looking to jump-start your freelancing endeavors.

What to expect

Real talk, direct interaction with the audience in the form of Q&A’s and responses to comments on social media and previous videos.

Watch Roberto Blake on YouTube

Feeling inspired yet? —

Time to bookmark this article and check out these channels one after the other—we promise you’ll feel inspired in no time. Follow these Youtube channels to learn new skills and stay on top of your creative game. We’re loving the videos these YouTubers create, and we’re always looking for great new design channels to follow on YouTube.

Do you have a favorite design-focused YouTube channel you’d like to share with us? Tell us about it in the comments.

The post 20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube appeared first on 99designs.

20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube published first on https://www.lilpackaging.com/

[pamelahetrick]

20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube

YouTube is full of awesome designers who are doing amazing work not just with their art, but as creative entrepreneurs making it big. When you’re looking for inspiration, trying to brush up your design skills or you want advice on building your business from someone who’s been there, done that and came back to talk about it, YouTube’s got what you need.

If you’re looking for some great YouTube design channels to follow, check out these 20 designers and entrepreneurs. They’re some of our favorites and we think you’ll love them too.

Charli Marie —

Charli Marie is a London-based graphic designer and YouTuber who covers a variety of topics in her videos that are incredibly valuable to freelance designers: from creating mockups to making sure you get paid on time to frank discussions on burnout. To balance out the design and career advice-focused videos she creates, Charli Marie gives glimpses into her personal and professional life, like her series of videos on how and why she learned to code. On her channel, expect a first-person look into the freelance graphic designer life delivered in an easy, conversational narration style.

What to expect

Design tutorials, DIY projects, business advice, vlogs. Charli Marie does a lot of “talking shop” aimed at freelance creatives.

Watch CharliMarieTV on YouTube

Yes I’m a Designer —

Yes I’m a Designer is a design tutorial channel created by Martin Perhiniak, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. Instead of narrating his videos, he provides instructions and insight via text in the corner of the screen on each video. Each tutorial covers a specific technique that he explains through these text blurbs as he demonstrates the technique. Elsewhere on the channel, Yes I’m a Designer covers Photoshop updates, working with Illustrator, working with InDesign, product reviews and basic lessons in learning Photoshop.

Specific videos you’ll find on Yes I’m a Designer include:

Creating animal hybrids in Photoshop

New brushes in Photoshop for 2018

Shading and coloring vector illustrations in Illustrator

Symmetrical composition in InDesign

Learn how to draw anything in Illustrator

What to expect

Specific design tutorials, like creating line art avatars and working with perspective lines.

Watch Yes I’m a Designer on YouTube

Gigantic —

Gigantic, whose real name is Marco, is a graphic artist based in Montenegro who creates flat character designs in Adobe Illustrator. His videos primarily focus on specific aspects of character design, like drawing superheroes or dragons. One thing you’ll notice about his videos is that he uses the word “easy” in many of their titles. He’s not underselling himself, he’s making his work look easy to viewers. Click on any one of them to watch him walk you through creating a type of character or going over an aspect of designing characters in Adobe Illustrator, step by step.

What to expect

Adobe illustrator tutorials with minimal narration and soothing music

Watch Gigantic on YouTube

The Simple Designers —

Like their name implies, The Simple Designers keep it simple. You won’t hear human voices at all in their videos, just beat-heavy music as you watch them turn basic shapes into cute 2D images in Adobe Illustrator. Their tutorials get super specific, so expect to learn how to make images like medical icons, calendar icons and beach scenes when you watch this YouTube design channel.

What to expect

2D design, quick-paced tutorials and icons—lots of icons

Watch The Simple Designers on YouTube

Dan Gartman —

From his videos, you might think Dan Gartman is just a tattooed pair of hands that can rip through a pencil drawing at a breakneck speed. And although he does do that, that’s not all. Dan also has a few tutorials on his channel, including one about using a grid as an illustration aid and one on making line art look great. But the bulk of his videos are his speed drawing videos. His fast-moving hands will mesmerize you as you watch him create quirky, video game-y characters and scenes. Prepare to feel inspired.

What to expect

Time lapse videos of highly-detailed pencil and watercolor drawings

Watch Dan Gartman on YouTube

Will Paterson —

If you want to know what’s wrong with certain famous logos, like the Google and Starbucks logos, look no further than Will Paterson’s YouTube design channel. Will Paterson’s not just a critic, he’s a graphic designer who does product reviews and provides valuable logo design tips that you can use to improve your own logo design skills. He also critiques his subscribers’ logos, giving a thorough “why” with every review.

What to expect

Logo critiques, logo design tips and product reviews

Watch Will Paterson on YouTube

Every Tuesday —

If you’re wondering when Teela Cunningham posts new videos, take a look at her YouTube design channel name. Every Tuesday features typography and watercolor effects. Her channel is mostly tutorials that show how to create certain effects in your work, like:

Seamless patterns in Illustrator

Paint streak typography in Photoshop

Confetti brush in Photoshop

Drop shadow effects in Illustrator

Watercolor textures for typography in Photoshop

Blending with metallic watercolor paints

Every Tuesday’s style is painterly. It’s flowy, streaky and fabulous whether she’s working on paper or on screen.

What to expect

Watercolors and text effects in Adobe Illustrator

Watch Every Tuesday on YouTube

Matt Borchert —

Matt Borchert, a designer based in Minneapolis, MN, is a designer who creates tutorials. His videos are technical, but don’t feel intimidated—his instructions are easy to follow and he walks the viewer through every step of each process he explains. A few examples of the kinds of design tutorials he publishes are:

Creating sliced text in Photoshop

Loading brushes in Illustrator

Exporting layers in Photoshop

Scaling patterns in Illustrator

Although most of his videos are tutorials, he also has videos that cover broader skills designers should develop, like improving UX with Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics and handling negative feedback on their work. He also gives advice about products designers use and helps viewers choose the right products for themselves. He’s covered buying the right hard drive, choosing between a PC or a Mac laptop and various part considerations for designers who want to build their own PCs.

What to expect

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop tutorials as well as practical advice

Watch Matt Borchert on YouTube.

The Futur —

The Futur isn’t one person, but a group of guys based in Santa Monica, California who make videos on a variety of entrepreneurship and lifestyle topics, covering everything from how to supercharge your personal brand to duplicating likes and comments on Facebook ads to really determining what you’re good at. The Futur aims to prepare and pump up new and aspiring entrepreneurs who need confidence boosts and tactical advice to pursue their goals.

What to expect

Pep talks, practical advice and tips on how to maintain a successful business

Watch The Futur on YouTube

Pixel & Bracket —

Pixel & Bracket is headed by Spencer, a designer from Indianapolis, Indiana. His videos fall into a few categories: Adobe Illustrator tutorials, spotlights on free goods available on Creative Market (an online marketplace for design assets) and discussions on topics that are relevant to creative entrepreneurs, like setting goals and developing ideas. This third video category also includes discussions about Spencer’s personal experience, like why he chose to quit his previous job and why he spends his time creating relatively basic Illustrator tutorials for his YouTube channel. All of his discussions are delivered in a conversational, easy-to-follow manner that makes Pixel & Bracket’s videos feel more like a conversation with a friend than an instructional channel.

What to expect

Design tutorials, breakdowns of the weekly free goods on Creative Market and entrepreneurship advice

Watch Pixel & Bracket on YouTube

Made by Mighty —

When you want to learn how to create really cool effects in Illustrator and Photoshop, queue up Made by Mighty. Their videos are all about applying futuristic effects like an animated glitch and powder blast effects to text to give it a fun, engaging feel. Made by Mighty doesn’t have nearly as many videos as some of the other channels on this list, but you can use their effects to nail the exact aesthetic you’re going for, whether that’s cyberpunk spaceman or avant garde papercrafter.

What to expect

Photoshop tutorials, Illustrator tutorials and speed art

Watch Made by Mighty on YouTube

Spoon Graphics —

Chris Spooner is the creative genius behind Spoon Graphics. His YouTube design channel is all about creating cool effects in Photoshop and Illustrator, but unlike Made by Mighty, Spoon Graphics gets into specific kinds of projects like creating a VHS-style poster and colorizing black and white photos.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials

Watch Spoon Graphics on YouTube

Dansky —

Dan White, known on YouTube as Dansky, is a professional designer who left the world of commercial design to devote himself to creating YouTube tutorials full-time. Dansky’s tutorials cover working with specific tools to create original images as well as working in Photoshop to edit existing images, like his video on “alienizing” portraits and his video on removing and softening highlights. Dansky’s focus is on teaching the viewer, rather than showing off his own skills.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials focused on working with specific tools

Watch Dansky on YouTube

Tutvid —

Nathaniel Dodson, the creator behind tutvid, has been a serial entrepreneur since he was 12 years old. A photographer and graphic designer, his current focus is on creating valuable content for designers and entrepreneurs. His video library includes tutorials for working with various Adobe programs, like Premier Pro, Photoshop, Audition, Illustrator and Xd. He also talks about entrepreneurship and business topics on his podcast, the Dodcast, that he records visually and posts to his YouTube design channel.

What to expect

Adobe tutorials and business discussions with entrepreneurs

Watch tutvid on YouTube

Ste Bradbury Design —

Ste Bradbury Design is headed by Stephen Bradbury, a graphic designer based in the United Kingdom. His style has a bit of an edge to it, with a focus on graffiti-style typography.

YouTube isn’t his full-time gig like it is for some of the other YouTubers on our list. When he uploads videos, Stephen often features projects he’s done for clients. He also showcases his speed art and posts video tutorials.

What to expect

Speed art and tutorials

Watch Ste Bradbury Design on YouTube

Nobu Design —

One of the first things you’ll notice about Nobu Design’s videos is the soothing lo-fi hip hop soundtrack. The next thing you’ll notice is how thoroughly they walk you through each tutorial. A lot, but not all, of their tutorials are focused on typography effects. Don’t expect narration in Nobu Design’s videos, because you’re not gonna hear it. Instead, you’ll feel the trance music relax you as Nobu walks you through their creative process. We like to call it trance meets typography.

What to expect

Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials

Watch Nobu Design on YouTube

AIGAdesign —

AIGAdesign is a bit different from the other YouTube design channels on our list. Instead of featuring one specific designer or small group of designers, AIGAdesign is the official YouTube channel for the Professional Association for Design. Here, you’ll see interviews and discussions from big names in design like Milton Glaser as well as discussions led by emerging voices in the design world. AIGAdesign’s channel covers topics related to living and working as a designer, tackling issues like imposter syndrome and diversity in the design field.

What to expect

Discussions on personal and professional issues designers face

Watch AIGAdesign on YouTube

Swerve Tutorials —

Swerve Tutorials, as their handle implies, publishes video tutorials. These tutorials are a lot of fun. They’re modern, a lot of them are cartoony and they’re engaging. Swerve Tutorials make graphic design feel fun and easy to learn. If you’re interested in building your Photoshop skills to a hip-hop soundtrack, definitely check out Swerve Tutorials.

What to expect

Tutorials for Photoshop & Illustrator and roundups of great designers

Watch Swerve Tutorials on YouTube

Draw with Jazza —

Draw with Jazza is a fun, eclectic YouTube design channel. Unlike many of the other designers in this list, Jazza, whose real name is Josiah, works in a variety of media. He’s got videos on polymer clay, videos on working with watercolors and even some out-of-the-box media like condiment art and drone-aided painting. Draw with Jazza is fun, irreverent and provides high quality content without taking itself too seriously.

What to expect

Weekly videos, speed painting, art product reviews and challenges

Watch Draw with Jazza on YouTube

Roberto Blake —

Roberto Blake’s channel is all about building and launching a career as a freelance creative. As he puts it, he “motivates a new generation of creatives to not be starving artists.” His videos largely fall into two categories:

Practical business-building advice, like choosing the right camera and lighting equipment for your YouTube videos

Personal advice for entrepreneurs, like overcoming performance anxiety and staying mentally healthy

Roberto Blake is direct, candid and focused on helping his viewers build financially lucrative creative careers. A must-watch if you’re looking to jump-start your freelancing endeavors.

What to expect

Real talk, direct interaction with the audience in the form of Q&A’s and responses to comments on social media and previous videos.

Watch Roberto Blake on YouTube

Feeling inspired yet? —

Time to bookmark this article and check out these channels one after the other—we promise you’ll feel inspired in no time. Follow these Youtube channels to learn new skills and stay on top of your creative game. We’re loving the videos these YouTubers create, and we’re always looking for great new design channels to follow on YouTube.

Do you have a favorite design-focused YouTube channel you’d like to share with us? Tell us about it in the comments.

The post 20 inspiring design channels you should follow on YouTube appeared first on 99designs.

via 99designs https://99designs.co.uk/blog/creative-inspiration-en-gb/must-watch-youtube-design-channels/

[theconservativebrief]

Pornhub has 80 million daily users and more pornographic videos than any other site in the history of the internet, and now it wants to be Playboy.

More specifically, what Playboy was in the ’90s. “A lifestyle brand, a fashion brand,” explains Alex Katz, co-founder of the Madrid-based creative agency Officer & Gentleman, which has been leading the brand strategy for Pornhub for the past four years.

Co-founder Javi Iñiguez jumps in: “The girls were wearing sweatshirts and purses with the Playboy bunny even though they might not have seen a Playboy magazine in their lives.”

Fair enough. Who doesn’t want the cultural clout of Hugh Hefner, literally everything else about Hugh Hefner aside?

It may be a small shock to discover that Pornhub even has a brand strategy, but it makes sense. The company has spent the past several years doing what anybody would do once they become superrich: buying their way to coolness. And, by extension, buying their way to women, whom the company has historically had a hard time appealing to.

I mean, who doesn’t see the connection between lifestyle brands and chicks?

Pornhub’s first website launched in 2007 and was acquired by the MindGeek conglomerate in 2010, at which time it merged with YouPorn, RedTube, and Xtube to become the Pornhub network. From there, it easily consolidated power to become the biggest porn distribution platform ever, but its new challenge was to become a brand that anyone would talk about out loud, and just maybe, someday, wear on a T-shirt.

Models from the ’90s-inspired Playboy fashion line launched last year by Joyrich. Joyrich

In 2014, the network held a contest asking advertising and creative professionals to submit concepts for safe-for-work, PG-13 Pornhub ads that could run in traditional media spots. The move was a reaction to a year of mainstream misses and only two hits: In 2013, Pornhub finagled a centerpiece montage (with clips handpicked by VP Corey Price) in the heart of the porn-focused Joseph Gordon-Levitt rom-com Don Jon. It also nabbed dozens of headlines in outlets from BuzzFeed to SBNation when CBS refused to air a 20-second, completely innocuous ad spot during the Super Bowl. By the time anyone bothered to point out that Super Bowl ads are only sold in 30-second increments, the scam had done its work.

Thanks to the contest, Pornhub buddied up with both Officer & Gentleman and Vendetta Studios, an LA-based viral video production house headed by Dave Lehre — an anxiety-inducing internet personality best known for one of the first viral YouTube clips, “MySpace: the movie,” and more recently for an elaborate stunt in which he fashioned himself into “the first white American K-pop star.”

For Pornhub, Lehre made a litany of viral videos, mostly ads for Pornhub’s new product releases: a VPN service, a “BaDoink” VR headset, a $1,000 robotic twerking butt, and so on.

“Make the brand accessible to the world” was the brief, Lehre says. Make it PG-13; make it live on YouTube; make it shareable. “When we came in, it was all potential. Nobody had tapped the power of Pornhub.” He pauses. “Damn, that sounds epic.”

Officer & Gentleman’s first projects were also tech-related: videos for a cryptocurrency called Titcoin and a (real) piece of wearable tech that would recharge your phone while you masturbated. It was called Wankband. At Christmastime last year, noting the success of gift cards for streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, they started selling Pornhub Premium gift cards. “We thought it would be the perfect Secret Santa present at workplaces and stuff like that,” Iñiguez says.

(Please don’t give a Pornhub Premium gift card to anyone you work with.)

So, is Pornhub … a tech company? “Depends who you ask,” Katz says, though he seems uninterested in the proposition. “But I think the brand … it’s an entertainment company. You don’t see anyone wearing Facebook shirts because they’re cool.”

Right, right. Cool, we’re doing cool here.

“[In online porn], everyone has the same product, so the only way you can differentiate yourself is by building a brand,” Katz explains. “We only want to create advertising that can go viral.” That means safe-for-work content. “[Pornhub] has enough porn; they need content that’s shareable.”

“Everything has to go viral,” Iñiguez points out. So you throw a lot of shit at the wall to see what sticks. The list of what Pornhub has not been willing to try in the past four years would probably be more expedient, but here we are.

It launched its own lube brand, then the world’s largest lube slide. (One of Lehre’s projects, of which he says, “They didn’t come to set, they just said ‘Oh, we have these 5-gallon drums of lube we can send over.’ We got this huge slide. They sent all these porn stars to hang out and slide down it. That was a magic day.”)

“[In online porn], everyone has the same product, so the only way you can differentiate yourself is by building a brand”

At one point, the company started a record label and hosted music video premieres for California rapper Mykki Blanco and Michigan metal band King 810. It hosted a porn film festival in New York, featuring soft-core entries from Miley Cyrus and James Franco. It made an “adult adult coloring book” featuring X-rated sketches from Instagram and Tumblr artists, which it then sold exclusively at the Think Tank Gallery in LA, Verso Books in Milan, and the menswear boutique Off the Hook in Montreal. It launched a line of sex toys, then commissioned Spanish electro-pop band Perlita to create a song from sex toy noises.

The high-end Italian denim company Diesel became the first fashion brand to advertise on a porn site in January 2016, kicking off a much-covered official partnership with Pornhub. Creative director Nicola Formichetti told Dazed, “We all go on websites like Pornhub, you know? So before you start jerking off maybe you can stop and look at our new pants.” For New York Fashion Week in 2017, Hood by Air sent a Pornhub-inspired line down the runway (models wore their hair stylized as if it were coated in semen, and jackets reading “HUSTLER” and “NEVER TRUST A CHURCH GIRL”).

In September that year, the New York streetwear brand Richardson announced a capsule collection featuring Pornhub-branded hoodies, hats, swimsuits, jackets, and T-shirts — one featuring porn actress, poet, and Pornhub spokesperson Asa Akira, and another featuring the flags of countries in which Pornhub is banned. Two months later, the New York outerwear brand Moose Knuckles debuted a limited-edition Pornhub bomber jacket that was sold through the Rihanna-blessed SoHo streetwear staple VFILES.

VFILES is also beloved by Pornhub’s most important woman: Kim Kardashian.

Last summer, the team stopped by the De Re Gallery in Los Angeles for “Make Me Famous,” the first exhibition by “professionally provocative” Instagram-famous twins Allie and Lexi Kaplan — just to pick up a painting of the Kim Kardashian–Ray J sex tape, which is now prominently displayed in the company’s LA office.

Pornhub loves Kim. When she was robbed at gunpoint later that year, Pornhub offered $50,000 “in exchange for information leading to [the] arrest and conviction of criminals who robbed Kim Kardashian.” The press release said that everyone at Pornhub was “deeply saddened” by the “horrible incident,” and reminded the world that Kim Kardashian’s sex tape with Ray J “remains the most viewed video on Pornhub with 110,198,725 views and counting.”

“We consider her to be a member of the Pornhub family,” Pornhub VP Corey Price tells Vox. “As such, we wanted to extend a helping hand and do all that we could to help bring the wrongdoers to justice.” Ultimately, the police didn’t need Pornhub’s help, but it’s a nice gesture. The video now has more than 143 million views!

Pornhub hosted a sci-fi art installation in LA’s De Re Gallery last summer. Maggie West/Pornhub

This June, the company sponsored an elaborate sci-fi art installation at the LA nightclub Union — handing the reins over to LA photographer and activist Maggie West (best known for her “Fluid” series, containing abstract images of blood, saliva, and semen) and New York artist Ryder Ripps (best known for creating the branding for Soylent and using the Ace Hotel’s artist residency to hire two Craigslist sex workers for a widely-reviled project called “ART WHORE”).

Then it partnered with the editorial arm of luxury fashion seller SSENSE to produce an avant-garde photo shoot and literary companion essay called “The Data of Desire,” using Pornhub analytics to figure out which sneaker brands are most fetishized in porn. (Converse, Nike, Adidas, Vans, and Yeezy, in that order.)

Then last month, Kanye West told Jimmy Kimmel he “still looks at Pornhub” and the company reached out via Twitter to offer him a lifetime subscription to Pornhub Premium. Two weeks later, he was serving as creative director for the first annual Pornhub Awards in Los Angeles, which were reportedly a disaster but came off, anyway, as a major coup.

West debuted a new music video featuring the currently incarcerated Lil Pump at the awards and brought G.O.O.D. Music signee Teyana Taylor along to perform. He dressed porn stars in the latest Yeezy collection (when he bothered to dress them at all) and arranged them onstage to accept futuristic-dildo-shaped award statues he also supposedly designed. The next day, he announced a line of Yeezy sweatshirts featuring the night’s winners, including “Nicest Tits” honoree Kendra Sunderland and “Hottest Female Ass” honoree Mia Malkova.

“Where do these [partnership] decisions come from?” Katz parrots back to me. “Well, we can’t be in mainstream spaces, so we become this outsider brand that’s doing out-there things. That’s what attracts these other brands like Richardson and Yeezy. Pornhub has an outsider quality that draws people to them.”

Here’s the rub (sorry): Per Pornhub’s own data, as of December 2017, just 26 percent of the site’s users are women.

This is not really a problem, as what Iñiguez pointed out is true: Girls didn’t have to read Playboy to buy the clothes. But it is kind of a problem, mostly because women make up a large share of the people on earth, and Pornhub has basically nowhere to go within the demographic it already serves.

So far, Pornhub has tried selling Mother’s Day–specific cardboard VR headsets, publishing site traffic insights from the day of the 2017 Women’s March, and weighing in on International Women’s Day to announce that it would change the “female-friendly” tag on its site to “popular with women.” It also pointed out that searches for Amy Schumer rose 513 percent in tandem with her Instagram post about the holiday.

“More than ever before, women are coming forward to express their desires more openly,” Price says. “And we want to provide resources to support that.”

So, this January, Pornhub debuted “F*ck Your Period.”

“There are two types of women: women who have sex on their period and women who don’t,” Katz tells me. “It’s 49 [percent] to 51,” (based on an informal Pornhub survey of its female users). With that, uh, fact in mind, Pornhub launched a campaign with the goal of explaining the health benefits of having an orgasm during your period. It made its own period calendar app and encouraged women to fill it out so that each month, they would receive a free login code for Pornhub Premium for the duration of their period. “[The goal was] to get girls to experiment with Pornhub for the first time in case they hadn’t,” Katz says. “Pornhub is a sex-friendly, female-friendly company.”

Pornhub’s cryptocurrency launch in New York. Officer & Gentleman

Yet the campaigns aimed at women are rarely the ones that blow up. In March, the site started accepting cryptocurrency as payment and had models stroll through the Financial District in Pornhub-branded ski masks, tossing plastic coins and licking the Wall Street bull’s balls. This worked: It got press.

The following month, Pornhub launched a program called “The Visionaries Director’s Club” with the aim of “[diversifying] porn production” and gave rapper Young M.A. a budget to write and produce her own pornographic short film. The company described the film in a press release, writing that it would appeal to “our progressive generation,” and adding, “While high production level lesbian content is often clearly created with the male gaze in mind, M.A’s debut film is authentic and genuine to her taste profile.”

Last month, it gave a similar budget to pansexual singer and rapper Brooke Candy, who wrote of her film, “We had the most next level crew of fine artists from all over the world and the cast of actors that I chose really had an inner beauty which they unleashed on film. It’s queer, it’s sex-positive and it’s super-hot.” This didn’t work — it got no press. But the data says that female usership of Pornhub grows every year, Price points out. So it’s fine.

As a woman who menstruates, did I know that orgasms make period cramps less painful and bleeding cycles shorter? I mean, as a woman who drinks water, did I know it keeps my organs running?

Pornhub’s brand strategy is elaborate, multifaceted, funny, and cool. It’s also as simple as a bunch of straight boys chasing what straight boys so often chase: a projection of ease and edge that makes them appealing to other boys like them, and a veneer of caring that they hope will grant them an in with women.

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Original Source -> Pornhub wants to be a lifestyle brand

via The Conservative Brief