#both the daniels' full length features. normal about them

[hawkesque]

tagged by the lovely @amrv-5 ! thank you!

very basic choices imo but perhaps thatll make it harder for everyone. tagging uhhh. @pomegranate @theloopus @theboost im not sure who else but feel free to do this if youd like and say you got it from me <3

[dustedmagazine]

Daniel Bachman—Almanac Behind (Three Lobed)

Almanac Behind by Daniel Bachman

Following the release of an EP of traditional guitar music (Lonesome Weary Blues, also on Three Lobed) at the beginning of the year, Daniel Bachman is back with a full-length, blending found sounds and manipulated noise with Takoma-school guitar and banjo playing in the manner of Morning Star (2018) and last year’s Axacan. This time, he delivers a series of relatively brief tracks that nevertheless have beginnings, middles and ends and follow a kind of narrative arc that encourages discussing them in sequence.

The liner notes indicate that the title is both an anagram of the artist’s name and an invocation of his concern about climate change. Accordingly, there is an apparent progression through the elements of air, water and fire followed by an uneasy resolution at the end. Throughout, noise and voices share space with music in ways that are sometimes complementary and at others confrontational. 

The experience begins with a barely perceptible electronic drone to which static and dribbles of treated guitar gradually adhere on a track titled ominously “Barometric Cascade (Signal Collapse).” The effect is immediately disconcerting as the ear and mind struggle to render the sounds more familiar—the static like a cymbal, the liquid guitar tone like an organ, and so on. The track gives way abruptly to a few seconds of field recordings of the AI voice of National Weather Service recordings (which returns at key moments throughout the record) and then abruptly to another track of static that sounds like a helicopter. Like the glitchy image on the cover, the play of noise and signal suggest both the inadequacy of the human response to the forces that drive global heating and human responsibility for unleashing them. 

The calming tones of a banjo on the fourth track feel like a refuge, though one windswept by static and overtaken by the “Supercell” of the next track. The storm, the threat of it, and its aftermath haunt the middle of the record. “Flood Stage,” one of the longer tracks at just over five minutes, builds with a blend of what sounds like electronics, a sruti box or fiddle and/or more treated guitar that swells like the waters about which the disembodied Weather Service bot has warned. 

The context shifts abruptly just over halfway through the record, with water giving way to its opposite in the form of a “Wildfire” sparked by the sound of a match, and “Think Before You Breathe” then hints at what is at stake. “When the Worlds [sic] on Fire” features more disembodied voices and what sounds like a cross between the “This Land is Your Land” and the Carter Family tune “Little Darlin’ Pal of Mine” on slide that grinds to a halt over bells. 

“Daybreak (in the awful silence)” brings more calming banjo, presented bare without the static in a respite from the chaos represented by the field recordings. The track serves as a transition back to the status quo initiated by “Grid Reactivation” and “Five Old Messages” (including the grimly humorous “Did you guys get storms today?”) from which music is absent. The narrative arc resolves in the haunting and grimly lovely closer “Reactivation-Normalization,” on which gentle fingerpicking blends with other warbly, somewhat ominous guitar tones swathed in static that gradually fade together. 

Overall, Almanac Behind is perhaps the most successful of Bachman’s “noise records” (though, in point of fact, his interests in this regard trace back through 2016’s self-titled release to his earliest recordings as Sacred Harp). The use of shorter tracks than the epic-length statements on Axacan and Morning Star gives this album a lighter, or, at least, more user-friendly feel, and the integration of the music into the static, drones and voices feels more organic to the compositions. Bachman continues to create some of the most distinctive and intellectual music in the Takoma school idiom, and the breadth of his vision is well represented by the pair of recordings with which he has begun and ended 2022. The future as he sees it seems murky and frightening but starred with tiny moments of beauty and understanding. 

Jim Marks

Thanks to untogether for pointing out that "The World's On Fire" is, in fact, the name of a Carter Family tune, which is, of course, why it was chosen for this point in the album. The melody resembles that of "Little Darlin Pal of Mine" and was among the many repurposed by Woody Guthrie.

[forever-rogue]

Honeyed Whiskey

A/N: This was not called for at all, but I was so inspired by THIS dress from yesterday. It’s just a little soft, gentle fluff. Enjoy! xx

Pairing: Jack Daniels x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: references to sex, but nothing graphic

Pedro Character Masterlist

»»————-　♡　————-««

By the time he's lulled from sleep, far later than he normally would have preferred, the first thing he notices is the golden sunlight streaming in through sheer curtains and open windows. Instantaneously, a smile is tugging on his features and he shifts onto his back, stretching limbs made stiff by sleep. He's content and comfortable, already enjoying his days off, knowing they'd be spent with you. 

As soon as the thought of you crosses his mind, honeyed brown eyes slowly open again and he's blinking away the bleariness while reaching over to your side of the bed. But you're gone already, he notes with a light huff, finding nothing but cool emptiness where you normally laid.

Before he can get too lost in his own thoughts, he hears you. Its faint - soft and barely audible over the steady stream of the shower, but it's there. Crystal clear and beautiful, at least to his ears, he hears you singing softly under your breath along to whatever you had playing on the speakers. Rubbing away the remaining sleep from his eyes, he pulls back the soft, warm blankets and slides out from underneath. 

He's still naked from the evening before, but he doesn't even bother to dress or reach for even a stitch of clothing. He already knows you'll just strip off in seconds anyway. A beaming grin crosses his features at that; you certainly knew what you wanted and when you wanted it.

Almost as if you could sense him, you stopped singing for a moment and he hears the tell-tale rustle of the shower curtain, "Jack? Honey, is that you?"

"Hi Sugar," he poked his head and found you staring back with excited eyes and a head full of shampoo lather, "you're up early...need a hand?"

"Its the Farmers Market today," you reminded him with a crook of your finger as he stepped into the warm bathroom, "I don't want to miss it, besides you're taking me to brunch and everything!"

"And just who decided this?" his tone was teasing as he stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed. You grinned up at him, pressing a kiss to his plush lips and batting your lashes innocently. He huffed in jest before reaching up and tenderly cupping your face, "I suppose I did, huh?"

"I'm sure that's what you were saying last night," you couldn't help but beam at him, "when I was on top - somewhere in between telling me how good I was and how much you love me."

"Well now, I definitely can't say no to you, Sugar," his hands slowly went from the side of your face and into your scalp as delicately massaged it to help wash the shampoo out.

"Jack, you don't have to wash my hair," you insisted but you definitely wouldn't have minded if he did. Showering with Jack was always an experience; something so intimate and sacred, especially when you took the time to wash and explore each other's bodies. You took the opportunity to shower together whenever you could, especially on lazy weekend days.

"I know I don't have to, baby," he insisted softly as he started to tender wash the lather, "but I want to. Let me take care of you, Sugar. You always take such good care of me, its my turn to love you."

"Well, who am I to turn down an offer like that?" a contented sigh left your lips as you keened into his gentle touch, "I am no fool. I love you, Jack."

"And I love you, honey."

»»————-　♡　————-««

You spent a long time in the shower, and by the time the two of you got you were both pruned. Jack's towel was slung low on his hips as he went to his side of the closet to grab some clothes for the day.

A sly little smile found its way onto your face as you dashed down the stairs and to the laundry room. You'd gone shopping yesterday and found something you'd planned on wearing today. As soon as you had seen it, you knew you had to have it, and you were positive that Jack would love it too.

"What happened?" Jack called down the stairs as you quickly slipped on your undergarments and the item of clothing.

"Nothing!" you promised as you bounded back up stairs to surprise him. Jack was standing in front of the full length mirror, buttoning up his shirt. The simple sight was still enough to take your breath away as you watched him for a few moments. His dark mop of hair was still damp and unruly, and you couldn't wait to run your hands through it.

You leaned against the door frame and cleared your throat in order to garner his attention. Jack slowly turned around, and when he was fully facing you, his jaw almost dropped. He slowly walked over to you, that look of adoration and devotion in his eyes that you were so fond of.

"You look beautiful, Sugar," he drawled as you slowly twirled to give him a look good at the beautiful yellow sundress you were wearing. It was breathtaking, and you had known from the moment you spied it that it was the one. Stopping just at your knees it was a beautiful, golden yellow with flowers all over it, with simple thin straps. The bodice hugged you just right and the little flare was perfect. You had a feeling Jack would like it too, "what a gorgeous dress on the most gorgeous woman in the world."

"Now you're just flattering me," you laughed lightly and put a hand on his broad, pushing him back ever so lightly, "do you like though? Really? I-I saw it and fell in love and couldn't help myself."

"Its not flattery if it's true," he insisted as he grabbed your hand and pressed a gentle kiss to your knuckles, "I love it - not nearly as much as you, of course, but it's beautiful. And you make it even more so."

"You really do know just what to say, don't you, my love?" you couldn't help but steal a quick kiss as you flounced past him to finish getting ready, "still up for brunch?"

"And then the farmer's market," he reminded you with a soft smile, "I couldn't think of a better way to spend my day."

»»————-　♡　————-««

Brunch was a slow, fun affair as the two of you ate and drank your way through probably too much food. You'd insisted that Jack could pick the place since you were technically forcing him to brunch. He'd agreed, but that quickly turned into him driving to your favorite spot regardless. A silly old fool you had lovingly deemed him.

By the time you'd reached the farmer's market, it was warm and everything was bathed in brilliant sunlight. Jack had quickly reached for your hand and laced your fingers together, as you walked around and looked at all the various little stalls. It was busy and bustling, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood today; funny what the first nice day in the spring could do.

Jack was the type of man that loved to show you off, but there was also a part of him that was fiercely protective, never possessive, over you. It comes from years as an agent; a tried and practiced thing. 

Whenever someone would stop the two of you, he'd always make sure you were front and center, getting all the attention you deserved. Today, in your new yellow sundress, that was no exception. There was something about today, how radiant and happy you looked, how kind and gentle you were, that set something off in him. Suddenly, as he watched you pick out some fresh oranges and apples from one of the stalls, he knew he had the answer to the question that had been on his mind. 

“Honey?” you turned back to him, finding him watching you with a dopey little grin on his face. You held out your hand to him, and Jack wasted no time in coming over and taking, effortlessly entwining your fingers, “what’s wrong, Jack?”

“Nothing’s wrong at all, Sugar,” he pressed a kiss to the side of your head before taking the large tote filled with fresh fruits from you, ever the gentleman. You used to try and fight him on little things like that, insisting that you were more than capable of doing things on your own, but it was always useless. Eventually you learned not to argue with your cowboy. 

“You’re just awfully quiet today is all,” you squeezed his hand in a sign of reassurance to let him know that everything was okay, “you can tell me anything, right?”

“Of course,” he stopped suddenly so he was facing you, a half smile on his handsome features. After studying your features in his aviators for a moment, you gently pushed them to the top of his head before leaving in to give him a gentle, saccharine kiss. When you pulled back, you found a light tinge of pink creeping into his cheeks, “whatever was that for?”

‘Just because,” you shrugged lightly before taking his hand again and tugging on it for him to follow, “I love you, Jack.”

“I love you too,” he shook his head at your playfulness but both knew the words were true. You’d both been jaded in different ways throughout your lives, but this was the one thing you were sure about. You really did love him more than anything - and he you.

»»————-　♡　————-««

You clutched onto your drink, or rather what was left of the smooth, honeyed whiskey, before turning to Jack and setting the glass down. You found Jack staring into the roaring fire across from you, his expression suggesting that a lot was going through his mind. 

You were across the small fire pit from him, the one he had lovingly built in the background for cool nights just like this and let out a small sigh. His drink wasn’t even touched and he’d hardly said more than a word or two the whole evening, leaving you to do most of the talking yourself.

“Alright, Jack, this is enough,” you stood up and flounced over to him, and sat down next to him, “what’s going on, Jack? Ever since this afternoon at the market, you’ve gone practically silent. It’s not like you, honey. I-is it something I did? Are you upset with me?”

“No, no, no it’s nothing like that at all, sugar,” he promised as he turned to you, a worried expression on his own face, “I am far from upset, or anything else for that matter. I’ve just had a lot on my mind today - lately.”

“What’s going on? I can help…” you watched with worried eyes as he stood up and moved in front of you, a thoughtful expression on his face as his hands dove into his pockets, “Jack?”

“We’ve been together for a long time now,” he started as you swallowed the lump in your throat, “honestly, it seems like there wasn’t any time in which I didn’t know you. It feels like we’ve always been together…”

“Oh my God,” you looked at him with pouted lips and a worried expression in your eyes, “you’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?”

“What on earth...how...no, Sugar, I am absolutely not breaking up with you or anything of the sort,” he quickly insisted and you relaxed at his reassurance. Then why was he so...off today?

“Then what’s…”

“I love you more than anything,” he reminded you, and your heart fluttered in your chest as you nodded slowly, “and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and only you. I don’t know a lot, but that is one thing I do know.”

“I want that too,” the corners of your mouth turned up into that brilliant smile that still made Jack weak in the knees. Radiant and golden as ever as nervous butterflies fluttered about his stomach; he was sure you would be able to hear the nervous beating of his heart, “you’re my one, Jack.”

“And you are mine, Sugar,” he slowly kneeled, almost eye level with you as he got down on one knee and reached back into his pocket. Suddenly you knew - all the quiet moments, the little secret he seemed to be hiding, all the extra declarations of love, it all made sense now. Your lip trembled with effort as you tried not to cry then and there. He reached for your left hand and gently held it in his, “I have never been more sure of anyone or anything, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to build and grow our family together, all of it - I want it with you.”

“Oh honey…” you looked into those soft brown eyes and found that they were glossy with tears as well, “I...love you so much. I want everything with you too. Only you.”

“Well then I just have one very important question to ask you,” he slipped his free hand into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He made quick work of displaying the beautiful ring inside. You looked between the ring and him, hardly able to believe this was happening, “Sugar, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and allowing me to be your husband?”

“Yes - yes,” you nodded as he slipped the ring onto your finger. He studied your face for a moment before delicately wiping away your tears, after which you put your hands on the sides of his face and pulled him in for a gentle kiss, “of course I’ll marry you, Jack. Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes.”

“And just like that, you continue to make me the happiest man in the world,” he scooped you up in his arms and spun you around as he held onto you tightly, “I love you so much, Sugar.”

“I love you too, Jack,” you whispered against his lips, “tell me what finally made you ask? Was it the dress? I always knew yellow was your favorite!”

“Of course not, darlin’,” he laughed lightly, “it was all you - the dress was just an added bonus. How lucky I must be to have the privilege of getting to gaze upon such beauty everyday.”

“And what about me?” you asked in response, “I must be pretty lucky as well. I get you all to myself, the best man, and soon I get to call you my husband.”

“I suppose that makes us a pair of lucky fools,” he mused as you beamed at him, “what do you say we do inside and grab some champagne to celebrate? Just the two of us for now, before we tell the world.”

“I love the sound of that,” you agreed, “this is perfect.”

»»————-　♡　————-««

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[shadowsof-thenight]

Had a voice: Chapter twenty

Story summary: For two years you had let him dictate your every move. Dictate your time, your friends, your work. Everything, literally. And for the life of you, you could not understand why you’d done so.

Now, here you were. In a beautiful but still strange city that had never become your own. And you were all alone. It was time to take back your life.

Ship: BuckyXreader

Words: 1706

Warnings: None I think.

A/N: I hope you like this one. it was hard to write. mostly because I just want to push past this stage and move on to the next.

Eventually Wanda's mission lasted for almost two months. And while she was gone, you had done a great job in being the perfect employee. You came in early and stayed late nearly every day. Except on Wednesdays, when you would leave early to visit Doctor Johnson. After your fourth meeting you had asked for a new timeslot. This worked out better for you. That way, after the session, you didn't have to focus on anything and could lounge in front of the television in your room. You could let all the new information sink in. Let yourself mull it over, hoping for new insights.

On Friday’s Tony would sent you home at six at the latest, claiming the need for a social life. As sweet as this was, you usually nodded and smiled, knowing full well that if Natasha, Pepper or Maria did not catch you, you'd spend the weekend either in bed or in town. Alone. Wallowing in self pity, over the current state of your love life.  

Sometimes, if Natasha was in between missions, she would join you. She would try to get you to do other things. Get out. Meet people. But you just wanted to be alone. Deal with all the information that the therapy had dug up, in peace. It wasn't easy to relive the death of your parents or subsequent years with Daniel, where you had erased your entire identity.

By the time Wanda came home, you had settled into the life of a hermit and Natasha had become exasperated. She had tried everything she could think off and she was at a loss. So to keep you at least a little socialized, she would stay with you as often as she could. Talk about her life, or on the rare occasions that you would talk about therapy, she would listen to you. She would give subtle hints on how she thought you could work through it, although she was careful. She did not want to offend you or push you away.

Doctor Johnson had already informed you of her thoughts on your current lifestyle. According to her this wasn't healthy. Though understandable. She did try to tell you to go out and have fun. Creating a new normal would be much easier, if you actually did something. She was right of course, but you obviously didn't like confrontation very much. Even less if the person you truly needed to confront was yourself.

Wanda agreed with Doctor Johnson, but wasn't sure how to help you. That was when the girls asked help from the one person that seemed to understand you better than any of them.

They asked you to join them for a movie night in the living room that Friday and you finally agreed.

Understanding that a change needed to happen and perhaps this was a small first step to getting out of your room and back into a more normal rhythm. Unbeknownst to you, their secret weapon would join your group for the movie.

“Hey” Bucky said softly as he dropped down next to you on the couch. You jumped at the sound of his voice, then shifted uncomfortably as you looked at him. He smiled, seemingly uncomfortable himself. The past two months you had done a good job at being civil, though aloof to one another. This was the first time the two of you had been this close. In fact it was the first time that you were in the same room for more than a minute.

“Hey” you finally replied, accepting the bowl of popcorn he handed you. He cleared his throat as he settled in beside you. You counted to ten in your head, before glancing at your friends. All of them kept their gazes fixed on the screen. Their rigid posture told you that this had been their doing.

Shaking your head slightly, you tried to gather your composure. After all, you lived in the same compound. No more than a hundred feet from one another. You couldn't keep avoiding him. You didn't want to keep avoiding him either.

“How have you been?” you asked, looking up at his eyes, trying too see how he was feeling. “Busy, you know.” he replied with a shrug, “you?”

“Yeah, me too” you nodded and turned back to the screen. Thankfully this was not awkward at all.

The next thirty minutes were spend in silence while the movie played out on the screen. What the movie was about, you had no idea. It was hard to concentrate. Though they tried to be inconspicuous, you could feel the eyes of your friends shooting glances in your directions every few minutes. It was distracting and made the situation more awkward, if possible. Eventually Bucky stood up and held out his hand for you to take. You did and silently followed him out of the room and up to the rooftop terrace. There he paced the length of the terrace, keeping his back to you, while you sat down on one of the chairs.

“I'm sorry” you muttered, once you realized he wasn't able to start the conversation. Upon your words he stopped and whipped his head to you, a surprised look on his features.

“What for?” he exclaimed as he stepped closer to you.

“For making this al so hard. I wish....” you weren't sure what to say next. You wished for many things. That you hadn't caused him pain. That things weren't this awkward. That you could love him, like you wanted to love him. That you weren't so screwed up. Bucky dropped down on his knees and grabbed your hands from your lap. Telling you not to be sorry. That it wasn't your fault. That life was hard sometimes. And it was up everyone else to be patient.

“I don't expect you to wait for me” you said upon those words and he dropped your hands like they burned him. Standing up he stepped back quickly and walked over to the door.

“I don't...I mean...” he muttered, not finishing what he was trying to say. You stood up and held out your hand to him. He looked so hurt and it broke your heart.

“Please, wait” you called out as he turned to open the door and go back inside.

“Why?” he wondered, his voice a mere whisper and his eyes downcast.

“I...you're hurt.” you stated and stepped closer to him, “I'm sorry” another step closer, “I just...” another step, “I want you to be happy”. By now you stood in front of him and you wrapped an arm around his waist and one around his neck, pulling him close into a hug.

You tried to convey all your feelings into the hug. How much you cared for him. That you wanted him happy. And wished you could be with him. He returned the hug, holding you close to him, gripping you tight. And a part of you hoped that heis feelings were similar to yours. That he still wanted to be with you too. You stood like that for several minutes, neither one willing to let go just yet.

“Does this ever get easier?” you wondered, your breath fanning the hairs in his neck.

“I sure hope so” he chuckled, finally pulling back and looking at you. He moved his hand to your cheek, his thumb caressing it. You weren't sure who moved first, but before you could blink, his lips were on yours, moving against you. Your hand moved into his hair as you pressed yourself closer to him. Your tongue licked at his lips, asking for entrance to his mouth. This elicited a moan from the both of you and you smiled into the kiss as he explored your mouth.

Then, as sudden as it had begun, he pulled back, turned around and walked away. Leaving you behind in confusion. Wondering what the hell had just happened? Perhaps avoiding one another had not been so bad after all.

By the time you had gone back downstairs and returned to the girls, you had decided that everything had to change. You could not go on like this. Staying in your room, not living. It wasn't making you better and it wasn't helping Bucky either. You had to figure out what was holding you back and how to get past it. This was not the life you deserved. And it was far from what you wanted.

You told the women around you as much. Explaining that you would not hide away any longer. Or push any of them away. Telling them that you were sorry for ignoring their good efforts. You were ready to truly work on yourself now.

And when you arrived at your Wednesday appointment with doctor Johnson, she noticed a change in your attitude. You beamed at her and told her that it was about time. She laughed as you said that and asked you exactly what had caused this change of heart.

“I realized that I am not just hurting myself, but other as well” you said and she chuckled. Telling you that it did not surprise her that your love for others inspired you. However the change had come about, she was glad that it did.

Again she asked you to tell her about your life. Though this time she interrupted you several times, asking you to identify recurring themes in pivotal moments. And finally after the third interruption, well into the meeting, you realized just how much you avoided conflict. You took the easy way out.

After a tough horrid childhood, where you had to grow up too fast, you never learned how to deal with normal life things. You had no coping mechanisms to help you further in life. You simply didn't deal with situations. And that had eventually led too give over all control to a man that liked power.

The meeting was eye-opening for you and you felt like you had a new lease on life by the time you stepped back into the compound. Perhaps you could finally get back to the real you.

[sonoilbastardo]

FULL NAME: Easton Craven

PRONUNCIATION: /EES-tuhn CRAY-ven/ MEANING: Easton | Old English: eastern settlement or eastern town. Craven | Irish: anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Crabháin (‘descendant (or ‘son’) of Crabhán’); English: contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly. REASONING: Stella Craven did not waste her time thinking of a name for a child that isn’t hers, unlike when her own darling baby boy was born, and she gave him the name Everett - which means brave as a wild boar. For her husband’s bastard boy, she refused to grant him a name, and so Gabriel shrugged his shoulders and simply wrote Easton on a piece of paper, feeling his heart sink as he wrote the last name Craven right after. This unfortunate boy will bear his name for as long as he lived, a reminder of his, Gabriel Craven’s, horrible mistake. NICKNAME(S): Edmund, East PREFERRED NAME(S): East BIRTH DATE: 30th March 1992 AGE: 26 ZODIAC: Aries GENDER: Male PRONOUNS: He/Him ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Heteroromantic SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual NATIONALITY: Italian ETHNICITY: Caucassian CURRENT LOCATION: Verona, Italy LIVING CONDITIONS: Comfortably living alone in a small villa with a terrace, garage, and a fireplace. Considerably smaller than the estate he grew up in, but prefers his own place than to live with his father (he already works with the man, he doesn’t want to live under the same roof as well.) TITLE(S): the shadow, il bastardo

BACKGROUND

BIRTH PLACE: Verona, Italy HOMETOWN: Verona, Italy SOCIAL CLASS: Upper-class EDUCATION LEVEL: Bachelor of  Business Administration & Master of Business Administration from the University of Milan. FATHER: Gabriel Craven MOTHER: (unknown), Step-Mother: Stella Craven SIBLING(S): Everett Craven ( Half-brother ) BIRTH ORDER: 2nd for his father, unknown for his mother CHILDREN: None. PET(S): None. OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES: None. PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: Two official. Both while in university. First one lasted three months, he was cheated on. Second one lasted two years. The woman is from another rich family, but in a much higher league than his, is brilliant and talented, and he felt intimidated by her command of language and intelligence. He broke up with her right before joining the mob. ARREST: Once when he was 22 years old, he crashed his car into a tiny storefront and he was arrested for drunk-driving. Was bailed out by Everett, and the store-owners dropped their lawsuit and were happy to settle. Everett didn’t really give them much of a choice anyways.   PRISON TIME?: None.

OCCUPATION & INCOME

PRIMARY SOURCE OF INCOME: Working at his father’s legitimate hotel and wine businesses. He holds a key personnel position (operations manager), and while Stella disapproves of this, Gabriel could not deny that he is capable. SECONDARY SOURCE OF INCOME: The mob, as a Capulet soldier. Thanks to his Captain, Tiberius, most of the work he does are boring, to the point that he’s a “glorified personal assistant”. This jobs pays well regardless, almost at par with his job at his father’s companies. TERTIARY SOURCE(S) OF INCOME: Fighting. He earns money through underground fights that he participates in, though he has blown some of that money anyway for treatment of injuries he’s suffered from them. CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: No, wants to own his father’s entire company one way or the other, and wants to rank higher up in the mob. PAST JOB(S): None, was accepted into his father’s business right after college, and did not have to work for his tuition since his father paid for it all. SPENDING HABITS: Spends a lot of money on alcohol and cigarettes, likes to dress well and buys new clothes at least once a week, whenever he sees anything that he fancies. Sometimes pends money on good ingredients because he likes to cook Italian food, but often is too lazy to do this and would simply head down to one of the restaurants in hotels his father owns. Spends money on books as well, mostly poetry, and likes to collect first editions. MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: Rare first edition of Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

PHYSICAL STRENGTH: Physically strong, but does not rely solely on it when he engages in fights. OFFENSE: Usually fights with open hands, which he believes are far more brutal than closed fists, using his body parts: elbows, knees, and others as weapons to deliver forceful strikes. Recently, as well, he has been mastering a new fighting style that allows him to make use of objects around him and allows him to fight in any given situation, a style with which one must also have a clear goal for his opponent: to kill? to maim? DEFENSE: Use of an opponent’s strength against them, which is something he learned as a child when he signed up for Judo as an extra-curricular. He has long since abandoned his formal Judo training for Muay Thai and most recently, Keysi, but this defensive technique could not be lost on him. SPEED: Quick on his feet, trusts his instincts. INTELLIGENCE: Easton has been blessed with a good head in his shoulders, but still somehow not a match for his half-brother’s. He did not graduate with any Latin honors, but did not have any difficulties in college whatsoever. That made it easy for him to deal with graduate school as well. He also enjoys reading, which sometimes surprises people, and he is somewhat a snob, preferring to read the classics and works of long dead poets. For the earlier years of his life he has been considerably sheltered, and only when he decided he did not need to impress his father anymore did he take to the streets of Verona and find Measure by Measure. ACCURACY: With the gun, fairly accurate. He likes to use his hands and fists in fights that let him channel his rage, but he’s had to learn how to shoot a gun for his job, and he can’t say he’s a champion marksman. AGILITY: Quite agile and coordinated, hyper-aware of his body parts and movements. STAMINA: High endurance. TEAMWORK: Considerably good, if he sees some use with teaming up. Most likely not good if forced to work together, and he does not see how he’d gain anything from it, and he would rather work alone in instances like these. Still completely loyal to himself only. TALENTS: Martial arts (from years of training as a child, and then later in underground fights), exceptional memory (helped him throughout college) and helps him keep up with work and the mob. SHORTCOMINGS: At times, lacks the “street-smart” attitude that someone working for a mob should have. LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: Italian, English. DRIVE?: Yes. JUMP-START A CAR?: Yes. CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: Yes. RIDE A BICYCLE?: Yes. SWIM?: Yes. PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: Used to. Learned piano to try and impress his father. PLAY CHESS?: Yes. BRAID HAIR?: No. TIE A TIE?: Yes. PICK A LOCK?: Yes. Just because he wanted to learn it.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE & CHARACTERISTICS

FACE CLAIM: Daniel Sharman EYE COLOR: Blue HAIR COLOR: Light brown HAIR TYPE/STYLE: A curly mop of hair GLASSES/CONTACTS?: None. DOMINANT HAND: Right. HEIGHT: 6′2 WEIGHT: 83 kg (183 lbs.) BUILD: Mesomorph EXERCISE HABITS: Jogs every morning before work, goes to the gym to train Muay Thai five to six times a week, goes down to Measure by Measure whenever he feels like it. SKIN TONE: Type II: white, fair TATTOOS: Lines of poetry on his left rib. PEIRCINGS: None. MARKS/SCARS: Birthmark on his lower back, looks like a misshapen heart. Scar on his right bicep, a small slash about two inches in length, from a knife fight with a gang member he was assigned to. NOTABLE FEATURES: That jawline? I mean? USUAL EXPRESSION: Either expressionless or scowling, eyes always intense and glaring. CLOTHING STYLE: Wears expensive suits to work. Wears leather jackets when not at work, along with jeans and boots. JEWELRY: Thin gold necklace always kept underneath clothes, simple columnar pendant. ALLERGIES: None. BODY TEMPERATURE: Normal? DIET: Lots of protein, moderate on carbs and fats, very minimal sweets. PHYSICAL AILMENTS: None.

PSYCHOLOGY

JUNG TYPE: ENTP ENNEAGRAM TYPE: Type 8; Active Controller MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral TEMPERAMENT: Choleric ELEMENT: Fire PRIMARY INTELLIGENCE TYPE: Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence APPROXIMATE IQ: 125+ MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: None. SOCIABILITY: Fairly social when he believes it useful for him. EMOTIONAL STABILITY: Fairly stable. Is able to channel rage into “appropriate” avenues like fighting, rarely takes it out on anyone innocent. Is more likely to punch a wall than punch a person. OBSESSION(S): Getting revenge. Taking everything his father denied him. COMPULSION(S): Cursing. Sex and talking about it. PHOBIA(S): None. ADDICTION(S): Smoking. DRUG USE: Minimal. ALCOHOL USE: Occassional. PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: Yes

MANNERISMS

SPEECH STYLE: Low, throaty voice, always with a hint of arrogance. A slow drawl. He usually thinks carefully about what he says, and likes to speak in a “romantic” way that uses a variety of words showcasing his command of vocabulary. (Prime example of how he speaks is how Daniel Sharman speaks in Fear the Walking Dead. link ) ACCENT: Italian QUIRKS: Prone to reciting archaic lines of poetry both in Italian and English. HOBBIES: Aside from martial arts, reading poetry and reciting them. HABITS: Smokes to relieve stress. NERVOUS TICKS: Chewing the inside of his cheek, cracking his knuckles. DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: The idea of being able to take everything away from his father and his brother. FEARS: That he dies before he attains his goal. POSITIVE TRAITS: Passionate, driven, independent, assertive, confident. NEGATIVE TRAITS: Self-absorbed, dishonest, materialistic, resentful, secretive, vengeful. SENSE OF HUMOR: Insensitive and crude. DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: All the fucking time. CATCHPHRASE(S): None.

FAVORITES

ACTIVITY: Muay Thai. BEVERAGE: Black coffee. BOOK: You Get So Alone Sometimes That It Just Makes Sense by Charles Bukowski COLOR: Black. DESIGNER: Gucci. MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: Maserati Quattroporte MOVIE: V for Vendetta MUSICAL ARTIST: Queen QUOTE/SAYING: “I wanted the whole world or nothing.” SCENERY: Fights at Measure by Measure. SCENT: on himself | Hermès, on women | Yves St. Laurent (something that screams sophistication), in general | old books TELEVISION SHOW: Game of Thrones WEATHER: Autumn VACATION DESTINATION: places Game of Thrones have done filming in, tbh

ATTITUDES

GREATEST DREAM: To take control of his father’s empire and take control over Verona. GREATEST FEAR: Dying before he achieves his goal. MOST AT EASE WHEN: Alone and cooking up plans for his rise. LEAST AT EASE WHEN: Around his family or his family’s home. WORST POSSIBLE THING THAT COULD HAPPEN: Dying not only having his goals achieved, but dying with nothing left to his name. BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: Being recognized as one of the most capable Capulet soldiers and soon after, promoted by his own father. BIGGEST REGRET: Wasting time and energy ever believing he would be fully and lovingly accepted by his father. MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: Begging an ex-girlfriend to come back to him even after she cheated. One of the lowest points in his life, ever. BIGGEST SECRET: That he sometimes wake up to dreams of his entire family dead by his hands. TOP PRIORITIES: Himself

[aion-rsa]

From Mulan to She’s The Man—A History of Gender-Bending Movies

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A young woman pretends to be a man, fearful of what could happen if her deception is found out, but willing to risk everything to keep her father safe. This dramatic tension at the heart of Mulan is both the story’s main draw and the narrative element that makes it one of the most feminist and fascinating stories Disney has ever told. As in so many other gender-bending movies, Mulan’s plan starts out straightforward enough: pretend to be a man in order to keep her father home and alive. It snowballs from there, as she must keep up with training, win over her fellow soldiers, avoid nudity, and (in the animated version) process the feelings she develops for her commander, who thinks she is a man.

Mulan is far from the first film to use gender-bending (when someone pretends to be a gender other than their own) as a main narrative element. It is one example in film’s long history of gender-bending, and all the complicated dynamics it can bring. Gender bending on screen creates a world of possibility, one where we can see people doing and saying things they’re normally not “allowed” to, while also illuminating some of our own preconceptions about gender, as we process what, if anything, chafes about what we’re seeing, and why. 

An obvious appeal to gender-bending movies that feature girls or women pretending to be boys or men is that they allow young women to do things that they might not otherwise be allowed to do within the world of their story. But perhaps more importantly, the depictions can also mean strides for what women and girls can do on screen in general, or even in real life. As a historical drama, Mulan allows viewers to hold it at arm’s length rather than feel the full heat of the gender-based critique. Yet it’s noteworthy that this movie, of all Disney’s animated films and their live-action remakes, has one of the most independent protagonists, whose story is the least driven by a male lead. Mulan’s achievements while in disguise as a man help to create a film that is, overall, far more equitable to her as a protagonist.

Girls Will Be Boys

When women dress up as men on screen, it allows for men to break gender roles, too—even if it’s only a woman pretending to be a man who does so, at least at first. In the Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed (oh yes, we’re going there), Andy (nee Andrea) secretly takes her injured brother Andrew’s place on the motocross track. She cuts her hair to fit in, but forgets about her lime green nail polish. When a competitor asks her about it, she improvises an excuse about it helping her handle the bike’s vibrations. Since Andy, whose father wouldn’t let her compete because the sport is “too dangerous” for girls, is excellent at motocross, nail polish becomes a trend among the male riders chasing Andy’s success.

Another frequent flyer is the use of pads and tampons, like Amanda Bynes in landmark teen gender-bender She’s The Man sticking one in her nose (“I get really bad nose bleeds… Beckham does it all the time.”) Like Motocrossed, She’s the Man is based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, although it draws its parallels a bit more directly, with Bynes’s Viola transferring from her school of Cornwall to the boys-only Illyria prep when Cornwall cuts their girls��� soccer team. Her twin brother, Sebastian, is abroad, so she impersonates him in order to keep playing soccer. Viola, of course, falls for her roommate, Duke, while Olivia, the object of Duke’s affections, falls for “Sebastian,” and Bynes brings plenty of her signature physical comedy to the entire affair. 

Boys Will Be Girls

In the most compelling example of a woman’s gender-bending opening space for men to follow suit, in the animated original, Mulan’s own history of gender-bending sets a precedent for her fellow soldiers. At her suggestion, they (minus Shang) disguise themselves as women in the movie’s final act to help save the emperor and defend the imperial city. They literally use instruments of femininity, parts of their “women’s” clothing, to help them scale the walls, sneak up on the Huns and defeat them with strength. Her example opened a door for others to follow her lead and explicitly bend gender as it suited them in the moment, without losing any of their strength or sense of self. And like her comrades, Mulan uses a mix of the masculine and feminine – a fan and a sword – plus something uniquely her own, her clever mind, to save the day.

In other instances, gender-bending makes men more aware or even simply proximate to things associated with women and womanhood. Gender-bending classics Tootsie and Some Like it Hot both employed this, showing men who dressed up as women. In Tootsie, Dustin Hoffman’s out-of-work actor Michael Dorsey, with a reputation for causing trouble behind the scenes, decided to dress up as a woman he named Dorothy in order to get work in acting again. Dorothy is hired to act on a soap opera, but “her” new relationships quickly complicate things for Michael’s existing relationships. In the Hays code-flouting picture Some Like it Hot, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are musicians on the run from the mob after witnessing a hit. They join a women’s band to keep a low profile, where they befriend a fellow musician, played by Marilyn Monroe. In both movies, the gender-bending men wear period-appropriate bras, pantyhose, and other, increasingly complicated undergarments, to the amusement of the audience. The reversal often involves a joke-shot of a woman looking in either dismay or disgust at a jock strap. 

Beyond the simple trappings of gender, having an undercover representative of the “other side” (all of these films are presented with an assumed gender binary and heteronormativity, even if they accidentally chip away at both) introduces the social and emotional intelligence generally perceived to be feminine traits to men’s spaces. In Motocrossed and She’s the Man, our gender-bent heroine introduces speaking more openly about emotions to their new male friends, and while at first it chafes and threatens their cover, eventually it’s welcome and leads to positive results. As both films are loose adaptations of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, our “undercover” heroines also give advice to the objects of their affection on pursuing their own romantic interests, complete with insight from life as a woman and a bit of self-interested sabotage, as they balance a desire to win over their crush with their desire to help their crush win over someone else.

Gender-Bending in the “Workplace”

Breaking with tradition, Mulan’s main contribution to the army is not tied to femininity or any masculine physical strength but rather her intelligence, (a trait whose gender coding varies), represented in moments like her retrieving the arrow at the top of the pole in the “I’ll Make a Man out of You” montage in the animated film or her quick-thinking to induce an avalanche to stop the enemy during battle in both animated and live-action adaptations. Rather than doubling down on the gender binary and trucking in the benevolent brand of the same sexism it’s trying to thwart, Mulan invests in what its lead can bring to the situation as an individual character, rather than as a representation of her gender.

On the flip side, on the set of the television soap where she works, Tootsie’s Dorothy teaches her women coworkers how to assert themselves in situations with entitled male coworkers and bosses. While that makes a certain amount of sense, it also carries a frustrating implicit message that all women ever need to do to end sexism is lean in, speak up, and assert themselves. In reality, while a hefty dose of mediocre white man confidence is helpful, it’s not enough to overcome systemic oppression.

Mrs. Doubtfire, which features Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard, an immature dad going through divorce who loses custody of his children and regains access to them via a gender-bent alter-ego, elderly Scottish nanny Mrs. Doubtfire, teaches something more helpful and realistic. In large part, that’s because Daniel isn’t channeling his gender or his own personality through his performance as Mrs. Doubtfire, but rather an aspirational character that helps improve his non-Doubtfire life as well. After trying to rule the household both loosely and with an iron fist (and the film spending far too much time tut-tutting Sally Fields’s Miranda Hillard as a nagging harpy), Williams’ character learns to appreciate his ex-wife and lands on a more mature and effective version of fatherhood. Through Mrs. Doubtfire, the family tries to be more patient and loving with one another, while also leaving room for spontaneity and joy – the last bit being the real gift from their father.

Gender-Bending Lessons

When gender-bending, men and women characters learn different lessons – and so does the audience. When women and girls bend genders, for example, they often learn to wield the kind of born-a-straight-white-man confidence we see Michael Dorsey infuse Dorothy with when he refuses to allow a supervisor to call him the diminutive “Tootsie.” These characters often see that men have a more emotional side to them (while also doing significant emotional labor for the men they spend time with), and usually prove to the doubters in their lives that they’re just as capable as men. Mulan fares well in her gender-bending ruse, coming out with increased fighting skills, recognition for her strategic mind, and a crew of friends who mutually have one another’s backs. It’s also one of the few examples of this trope where the climax takes place after the hero’s gender bending has been exposed, and one where her newfound friends take an active role in helping her win the day, though a case could be made for the Illyria soccer team doing the same in She’s the Man.

Men who walk a mile in women’s shoes usually learn something along the lines of “Wow! Women are human – who knew?” Some Like it Hot is most successful in making this feel genuine rather than frustratingly superficial, but there’s always something inherently vexing about this realization. Importantly, women bend gender due to lack of opportunity because of gender discrimination or to help someone else – a sick father, an injured brother – while men do it to help themselves, above and beyond their built-in superior social and cultural privilege – to rehabilitate their reputation/prove a point, to go on the run from the mob, all while taking a job from women, who we know already face workplace discrimination including hiring and pay. In this way, the direction of the gender bend is not politically neutral, either for a character to undertake or for a film to portray.

How Gender-Bending Queers Romance

Then there is the queerness of it all. Nearly all of these stories involve a romantic interest between a man and a woman. However, for the majority of the film, one half of that pairing thinks the person making heart eyes at them is the same gender, and a gender they didn’t previously think they were interested in, allowing gender-bent movies to present a version of gay romance on screen, albeit through a prism. Sometimes there’s an element of changing personas, so the unaware love interest falls for our gender-bent lead as their gender at the outset while also low-key falling for them as their gender-bent self. While other films dabble more explicitly in gay panic, assuring the audience of the straightness of the leads as often as possible, some movies, like She’s the Man and Some Like it Hot, have fun with this, showing Channing Tatum screeching and clinging to the dude version of Amanda Bynes when a tarantula is loose in their room.

While most other films try not to put too fine a point on same-gender attraction, Some Like it Hot goes farther, with Jack Lemmon’s Jerry accepting a marriage proposal as Daphne and happily planning a June wedding, his honeymoon, and how to win over his future mother-in-law. The script adds in a throw-away line indicating it’s a play for alimony from the millionaire, but it’s hard to ignore Jerry/Daphne dreamily referring to themself as a “lucky girl” at the beginning of the scene and how, when Joe (Tony Curtis) insists he remind himself he’s a boy, he says, “I’m a boy, I’m a boy. I wish I were dead. I’m a boy.” It’s not hard to imagine a version of Some Like it Hot where Jerry/Daphne realizes that Daphne is who they were always meant to be, and never goes back to being Jerry. After all, when Daphne tries to “come clean” to their fiance Osgood and get out of the marriage by declaring “I’m a MAN!” Osgood is undeterred, responding, “Well—nobody’s perfect.”

There are also side characters attracted to the gender they perceive the lead to be. The animated Mulan gave us Shang, who is now recognized as a true bicon for his interest in “Ping,” Mulan’s dudely alter-ego. In Some Like it Hot, beyond Osgood, it’s the men who hit on Joe and Jerry/Daphne in the speakeasy, on the train, in the hotel – not to mention the outright sexual harassment throughout the film. In She’s the Man, it’s the popular Olivia scheming over how to win over Viola-as-Sebastian, who told Olivia she wasn’t “his type.” In Motocrossed, it’s the teen fan girls who can’t get enough of Andy. It’s hard not to read this tacitly as an expression of queer attraction, given that it’s same-gender (even if they don’t know it), and that “Sebastian” looks like an awkward-cute baby gay, or perhaps someone considering presenting as masc, and Andy is much hotter (and frankly looks more comfortable) in their masc-of-center androgynous presentation. And, oh yeah, fans ship it.

Notes on Gender-Bending Cinema

It’s worth noting how often Tootsie is described as a movie where a man “dresses in drag” whereas drag isn’t invoked when women dress as men. That may be due in part to a general lack of cis straight knowledge that drag kings exist, but there’s also a greater overall cultural vitriol – and importantly, violence – toward men who dress as women, or are seen to. Trans women are killed at much higher rates than trans men, and stereotypically, trans women on screen are portrayed as either mentally ill perpetrators of violence or tragic victims of violence. To be clear: dressing in drag and being trans are not the same thing, though some trans people also do drag for the same reasons anyone else does. But there are many people who think they are, and in film’s long history the two have often been conflated.

Gender bending on screen creates a world of possibility, one where we can see people doing and saying things they’re normally not “allowed” to. It can illuminate aspects of characters we wouldn’t have seen otherwise, but – perhaps more importantly – it casts that same light onto what we, as an audience, bring to what we view. What chafes, what amuses, what confuses, and what excites when characters bend gender all reflect back to us more about our own expectations than they ever could about the movie we’re watching. 

The post From Mulan to She’s The Man—A History of Gender-Bending Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[kadobeclothing]

How To Wear A Denim Jacket In 10 Modern Ways

You don’t have to be a haulier to get a lot of mileage out of a trucker. Or a cowboy. The jean jacket (as its founding fathers call it in US) has, like a lot of workwear staples, gone from being a beat-up old-reliable of menswear to a go-to for more dress codes than you’d imagine.“A denim jacket is a fantastic option to have at your disposal for its versatility, especially at this time of the year,” says Daniel Rhone, stylist and personal shopper for a squad of top, top Premier League footballers – emphasis on ‘ballers’. “I like to layer one as a middle tier between my choice of outerwear and an underlayer of a tee or shirt. Particularly if I’ve underestimated the temperature outside.”You don’t have to take his word for it, although you should, because he’s a very cool guy, even when he wraps up warm. But to drive the point home, here are 10 different ways to pardner a jean jacket so that you can keep on trucking down the road.With ChinosYou’re effectively wearing jeans on your top half, and you know that double denim is dangerous territory. But so is going out half-naked. Enter chinos. They can be smart, with formalising features such as pleats, creases and a tab closure, but they can also be casual.Their military history and typically utilitarian cotton-twill fabric nevertheless make them a dependable denim ally; the original khaki – technically a colour, not a style – is a classic pairing. Add a white T-shirt (see below) and you’re Don Draper at the weekend.With A White T-shirtThis is another classic pairing enshrined in Americana. A crisp but fuss-free look, it’s not quite as easy as you might think.Its success largely hinges on finding the perfect white tee, which can be a Goldilocks-ian quest: not too slim, not too baggy; not too translucent, not too bulletproof; not too “gunny”, not too modest; not too much like a dress, not too much like a crop-top; not so high on the neck so that it’s an undershirt-cum-garotte, not so low that it’s a clavicle-exposing deep-U.Whoever called the white tee a basic was wrong.With Black JeansDouble denim can be doubly good even if you flagrantly transgress the ‘distinct shades’ rule: see Martin Sheen in Badlands. It can also be very, very bad: see Justin Timberlake in your nightmares. But for a fail-safe way to splice jeans, black and blue is hard to beat.Other colours of jeans can do the same trick: grey, for one, and even white, although that presents its own pitfalls, not to mention impracticalities. But like Wesley Snipes having a cheeky flutter on the Rugby World Cup, always bet on black.With Indigo JeansA shade more difficult than black jeans, but still not that hard, unwashed indigo denim will stand much less of a chance of optically bleeding into a lighter and/or distressed denim jacket than lighter and/or distressed jeans, for reasons that should hopefully be apparent from reading this sentence.It’s not like double, indistinguishably dark denim can’t ever be done, mind: we seem to recall Ryan Gosling looking fairly badass in Drive. But that said, he is Canadian, so may possess a home country advantage.With A Shirt And TieYes, you can mix business with workwear. Make the partnership less what-the-hell by dialling down the dressiness of the other elements to bring them more in line with your decidedly casual trucker: a button-down Oxford instead of a stiff-coloured poplin; a knitted tie instead of woven silk; chinos instead of tailored trousers (although they can work too – see below).N.B., even if your denim jacket isn’t overly faded, it’s still way more informal than any tailored equivalent, so may not be SFW at your place of employment.With Tailored TrousersSimilar to the shirt and tie, it helps if you can minimise the seeming discord between your casual jacket and smart trousers. That could be by jacking your jacket up in smartness with an unwashed dark denim, plus minimal bells and whistles such as contrast stitching or rivets.Likewise, you could pull your trousers down a notch in formality with a more substantial, nubby material that’s closer to denim on the spectrum. Or opt for a relaxed fit, a cropped length or turn-ups.With JoggersA denim jacket doesn’t exactly fall under the category of sportswear, unless you’re a rodeo rider. But it provides a degree of structure to offset the softness of your joggers, as well as more prosaically just not being another piece of jersey, thereby saving you from having to go full tracksuit or ‘Tesco tuxedo’.This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule (there aren’t many of those left in menswear) but you’re probably best to steer clear of cowboy details on your denim jacket. Style historians don’t record athleisure as having been a key trend in the Old West.With A Roll NeckAnywhere you can wear a shirt, you can rock a roll neck. Well, pretty much. But before you knit up, consider your denim jacket’s finish, whether pristine indigo or battered stonewash, and how that metaphorically stitches together with your jumper.If the latter’s too sheer and sheeny, there might be a dissonance with the rough, tough denim; too chunky and your jacket might appear insubstantial by comparison. (Generally speaking, layers should get thicker the further away they get from your body, and vice versa.)With A HoodieThis combo is a fallback for any menswear blogger attempting to look vaguely urban. Don’t let that put you off. A hoodie is a natural sparring partner for a denim jacket because they’re both low-key, chuck-on weekend staples.In that vein, don’t overdo it. Keep the colours neutral and don’t go too boxy with the fit of the hoodie. Avoid the brash logos of streetwear’s latest drops and stick to a navy or grey marl under a blue denim jacket.With An Overcoat Or TopcoatAs with a tailored blazer, your denim jacket should be slim fitting if you want to wear it under an overcoat. You should just about be able to get two fingers down it when done up and it should be narrow-necked so it doesn’t compete with your coat’s lapels.By its nature, even the smartest tailored outerwear has a degree of ruggedness so this is not as incongruous as you might think. Don’t be afraid to juxtapose, either: camel, which normally skews formal, can be a really nice combo. Bonus points if your jacket’s stitching matches the colour. Source link

source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/how-to-wear-a-denim-jacket-in-10-modern-ways/

[fashiontrendin-blog]

10 Modern Ways To Wear A Denim Jacket

http://fashion-trendin.com/10-modern-ways-to-wear-a-denim-jacket/

10 Modern Ways To Wear A Denim Jacket

You don’t have to be a haulier to get a lot of mileage out of a trucker. Or a cowboy. The jean jacket (as its founding fathers call it in US) has, like a lot of workwear staples, gone from being a beat-up old-reliable of menswear to a go-to for more dress codes than you’d imagine.

“A denim jacket is a fantastic option to have at your disposal for its versatility, especially at this time of the year,” says Daniel Rhone, stylist and personal shopper for a squad of top, top Premier League footballers – emphasis on ‘ballers’. “I like to layer one as a middle tier between my choice of outerwear and an underlayer of a tee or shirt. Particularly if I’ve underestimated the temperature outside.”

You don’t have to take his word for it, although you should, because he’s a very cool guy, even when he wraps up warm. But to drive the point home, here are 10 different ways to pardner a jean jacket / denim jacket (delete as appropriate) so that you can keep on trucking down the road.

With Chinos

You’re effectively wearing jeans on your top half, and you know that double denim is dangerous territory. But so is going out half-naked. Enter chinos. They can be smart, with formalising features such as pleats, creases and a tab closure, but they can also be casual.

Their military history and typically utilitarian cotton-twill fabric nevertheless make them a dependable denim ally; the original khaki – technically a colour, not a style – is a classic pairing. Add a white T-shirt (see below) and you’re Don Draper at the weekend.

With A White T-shirt

This is another classic pairing enshrined in Americana. A crisp but fuss-free look, it’s not quite as easy as you might think.

Its success largely hinges on finding the perfect white tee, which can be a Goldilocks-ian quest: not too slim, not too baggy; not too translucent, not too bulletproof; not too “gunny”, not too modest; not too much like a dress, not too much like a crop-top; not so high on the neck so that it’s an undershirt-cum-garotte, not so low that it’s a clavicle-exposing deep-U.

Whoever called the white tee a basic was wrong.

With Black Jeans

Double denim can be doubly good even if you flagrantly transgress the ‘distinct shades’ rule: see Martin Sheen in Badlands. It can also be very, very bad: see Justin Timberlake in your nightmares. But for a fail-safe way to splice jeans, black and blue is hard to beat.

Other colours of jeans can do the same trick: grey, for one, and even white, although that presents its own pitfalls, not to mention impracticalities. But like Wesley Snipes having a cheeky flutter on the Rugby World Cup, always bet on black.

With Indigo Jeans

A shade more difficult than black jeans, but still not that hard, unwashed indigo denim will stand much less of a chance of optically bleeding into a lighter and/or distressed denim jacket than lighter and/or distressed jeans, for reasons that should hopefully be apparent from reading this sentence.

It’s not like double, indistinguishably dark denim can’t ever be done, mind: we seem to recall Ryan Gosling looking fairly badass in Drive. But that said, he is Canadian, so may possess a home country advantage.

With A Shirt And Tie

Yes, you can mix business with workwear. Make the partnership less what-the-hell by dialling down the dressiness of the other elements to bring them more in line with your decidedly casual trucker: a button-down Oxford instead of a stiff-coloured poplin; a knitted tie instead of woven silk; chinos instead of tailored trousers (although they can work too – see below).

N.B., even if your denim jacket isn’t overly faded, it’s still way more informal than any tailored equivalent, so may not be SFW at your place of employment.

With Tailored Trousers

Similar to the shirt and tie, it helps if you can minimise the seeming discord between your casual jacket and smart trousers. That could be by jacking your jacket up in smartness with an unwashed dark denim, plus minimal bells and whistles such as contrast stitching or rivets.

Likewise, you could pull your trousers down a notch in formality with a more substantial, nubby material that’s closer to denim on the spectrum. Or opt for a relaxed fit, a cropped length or turn-ups.

With Joggers

A denim jacket doesn’t exactly fall under the category of sportswear, unless you’re a rodeo rider. But it provides a degree of structure to offset the softness of your joggers, as well as more prosaically just not being another piece of jersey, thereby saving you from having to go full tracksuit or ‘Tesco tuxedo’.

This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule (there aren’t many of those left in menswear) but you’re probably best to steer clear of cowboy details on your denim jacket. Style historians don’t record athleisure as having been a key trend in the Old West.

With A Roll Neck

Anywhere you can wear a shirt, you can rock a roll neck. Well, pretty much. But before you knit up, consider your denim jacket’s finish, whether pristine indigo or battered stonewash, and how that metaphorically stitches together with your jumper.

If the latter’s too sheer and sheeny, there might be a dissonance with the rough, tough denim; too chunky and your jacket might appear insubstantial by comparison. (Generally speaking, layers should get thicker the further away they get from your body, and vice versa.)

With A Hoodie

This combo is a fallback for any menswear blogger attempting to look vaguely urban. Don’t let that put you off. A hoodie is a natural sparring partner for a denim jacket because they’re both low-key, chuck-on weekend staples.

In that vein, don’t overdo it. Keep the colours neutral and don’t go too boxy with the fit of the hoodie. Avoid the brash logos of streetwear’s latest drops and stick to a navy or grey marl under a blue denim jacket.

With An Overcoat Or Topcoat

As with a tailored blazer, your denim jacket should be slim fitting if you want to wear it under an overcoat. You should just about be able to get two fingers down it when done up and it should be narrow-necked so it doesn’t compete with your coat’s lapels.

By its nature, even the smartest tailored outerwear has a degree of ruggedness so this is not as incongruous as you might think. Don’t be afraid to juxtapose, either: camel, which normally skews formal, can be a really nice combo. Bonus points if your jacket’s stitching matches the colour.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, And More

New Post has been published on http://otakudome.com/first-look-harbinger-wars-2-0-quantum-and-woody-1/

First Look: HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 & QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1

Valiant has released first looks at HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 & QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1:

First Look: Matt Kindt & Doug Braithwaite Declare HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Shipping in December!

As first revealed at Newsarama, Valiant is proud to debut your first look inside HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – an exclusive, limited-edition prelude to the publisher’s powerful 2018 crossover event that will only be made available EXCLUSIVELY to fans that redeemed mail-away coupons in HARBINGER RENEGADE #1-4! This December, the march toward the biggest and most ambitious Valiant event ever attempted starts right here with a standalone introduction from New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O MANOWAR, DIVINITY) and explosive artist Doug Braithwaite (X-O MANOWAR, ARMOR HUNTERS) that will set the stakes for next summer’s seismic comics conflict!

Available only to fans that have redeemed four mail-away coupons included in HARBINGER RENEGADE #1-4, HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 will lay the foundation for the bloodied future that has been foreseen by the world’s most high-powered threat: Alexander Solomon, Toyo Harada’s former protege and the Renegade’s newest adversary! But there are those that even Solomon fears… And, as the march toward HARBINGER WARS 2 builds over the coming year, a new and terrible force is about to reveal itself to the heroes of the Valiant Universe!

Featuring the Harbinger Renegades, H.A.R.D. Corps, and surprise guests assembled from throughout the Valiant Universe, HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 has been produced as a reward for Valiant’s most ardent longtime fans and the events of the issue will be entirely self-contained. As such, HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 will enhance, but not directly impact comprehension of, the primary HARBINGER WARS 2 comics event coming soon to comic shops everywhere.

THEN: On May 2nd, 2018, two of the most powerful creative minds in comics today – New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O MANOWAR, DIVINITY) and Academy Award nominee Eric Heisserer (SECRET WEAPONS) – join the powerhouse artistic team of Tomás Giorello (X-O MANOWAR, NINJA-K) and Raúl Allen (SECRET WEAPONS) for the FIRST ISSUE of the summer’s biggest comics event in HARBINGER WARS 2 #1 (of 4)!

Utilizing an expansive, new and never-before-attempted comics format, each issue of the HARBINGER WARS 2 event will come fully loaded with 48 pages of content and two complete, full-length 22-page stories chronicling dueling fronts in the nationwide battle that will soon consume the Valiant Universe’s most powerful forces. The first, by writer Matt Kindt and artist Tomás Giorello – the blockbuster creative team that launched X-O MANOWAR, the most successful independent series of 2017 – will feature the head-on collision of the Harbinger Renegades and the newly returned X-O Manowar. The second, by writer Eric Heisserer and artist Raúl Allen with Patricia Martín – reuniting the all-star creators behind SECRET WEAPONS, 2017’s most successful independent limited series – will thrust Livewire and her new team of recruits into the center of a power struggle with the potential to tear America apart…

For the rare and immensely powerful subset of humanity known as psiots, their unique abilities have come with an enormous cost. Once, their existence was known only to a select few. Now, the revelation that thousands of these latent telekinetic “harbingers” secretly live among us…with the potential to become active any moment…has led the American government to a dramatic tipping point…

Armed with new extra-governmental authority, the deep-black military contractor known as OMEN has been authorized to identify, evaluate, and, if need be, eliminate all super-normal threats to the homeland. H.A.R.D. Corps units have been deployed into cities and towns across the United States to enforce their orders.

In the east, one of the most powerful minds on Earth, Peter Stanchek, is leading his band of Renegades across the country, activating any potential psiots willing to join them, and building an insurrection force of ultra-powerful and unwieldy new powers that will soon bring war to OMEN’s doorstep…and the unstoppable force known as X-O Manowar raging back to Earth…

In the west, Livewire – the telekinetic technopath with the ability to bend machines and computers to her will – will be forced to choose between her former allies…or her newfound team of Secret Weapons. As the situation escalates beyond human control, the United States will be plunged into darkness from coast to coast, launching Bloodshot and Ninjak into a dangerous mission to neutralize their one-time teammate – and setting the stage for the most shocking, most violent, and most consequential clash of powers ever witnessed in the history of the Valiant Universe!

Next summer, the cataclysmic comics event of the New Year erupts in full force as X-O Manowar, Livewire, the Harbinger Renegades, Bloodshot, the Secret Weapons, Ninjak, and a cast of thousands draw their battle lines in HARBINGER WAR 2 #1 (of 4) –  featuring covers by superstar artist J.G. Jones (Final Crisis) and more top talents soon to be revealed!

For more information, visit Valiant on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and ValiantEntertainment.com.

For Valiant merchandise and more, visit ValiantStore.com.

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0* Written by MATT KINDT Art by DOUG BRAITHWAITE Cover by CLAYTON CRAIN $3.99 | 18 pgs. | T+ | Shipping DECEMBER 2017

*Available only to fans who submitted the four mail-away coupons included in HARBINGER RENEGADE #1-4

HARBINGER WARS 2 #1 (of 4) Written by MATT KINDT & ERIC HEISSERER Art by TOMAS GIORELLO & RAUL ALLEN Cover by J.G. JONES $3.99 | 48 pgs. | T+ | On Sale MAY 2nd, 2018

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Cover by Clayton Crain

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #0 – Interior Art by Doug Braithwaite

HARBINGER WARS 2 #1 (of 4)  – Cover By J.G. Jones

Valiant’s QUANTUM AND WOODY! #1 Adds Even More Excess to THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! Due to Popular Demand! Now with Extra-Added Glow-in-the-Dark Goat Action!

Oh no, look at what you made us do!

Valiant can hardly believe it’s announcing that THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! – an unholy and experimental combination of comic book history’s most noted, notorious, and obnoxious cover gimmicks adorning one highly-limited edition of December’s QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1 – is adding yet another classic to its record-setting battery of comic-book enhancements!

That’s right… For the first time anywhere, Valiant can now confirm that QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1’s THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! will now feature a fully GLOW-IN-THE-DARK rendition of the one and only Goat, officially merging NINE OF THE MOST POPULAR COVER ENHANCEMENTS EVER PRODUCED onto one collection-busting variant cover that will forever live in infamy!

They said it couldn’t be done. More importantly, they said it shouldn’t be done. And, every step of the way, we refused to listen. Now, there is no turning back…and the variant cover to end all variant covers will adorn select copies of the FIRST ISSUE of the ALL-NEW and UNTRUSTWORTHY ONGOING SERIES from rising star Daniel Kibblesmith (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and explosive artistKano (Daredevil) once and for all time! Featuring cover artwork by Valiant superstar Clayton Henry (ARCHER & ARMSTRONG) and a cabal of top-secret special guests, THE MOST VARIANT COVER OF ALL TIME! will be the first-ever embossed, lenticular, die-cut, individually hand-numbered, chromium-enhanced, and (now) glow-in-the dark comic book cover – all before being hand-stickered with a randomized fourth Valiant hero, and printed with two unique foils and iridescent fifth ink!

Attention retailers: One copy of the QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time! may be ordered by retailers who place a qualifying order of 250 copies or more. The QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time! is strictly limited to one copy per qualifying store. For instructions on how to qualify for the QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 Most Variant Cover of All Time!, please refer to the Diamond Retailer Site under order code: OCT171908.

But, hey, there’s an awesome story inside, too! (Crazy, right?) The most heartfelt, most eye-popping, and most punching-est superhero-action-family-drama-buddy-comedy throwdown of the year starts right here on December 20th when all-star creators Daniel Kibblesmith and Kano throw the comic book industry’s sense of propriety straight into the wood chipper for QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1!

Sometimes…you embrace your destiny. And sometimes…you and your trouble-making adopted brother find yourselves trapped in a scientific lab explosion that grants you $@&%ing awesome super-powers. As a result of their accident, Eric and Woody Henderson – aka Quantum and Woody – must “klang” their wristbands together every 24 hours or both dissipate into nothingness. Which makes superhero-ing pretty awkward when you’re not on speaking terms at the moment. See, Eric has been keeping a pretty big secret: He knows who Woody’s birth father really is…and where he’s been hiding all these years.

PLUS: In honor of Quantum and Woody’s upcoming overthrow of comic shops everywhere, each of the new series’ first 12 issues will also feature “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS — a dynamic, new(ish) cover treatment featuring artwork by superstar artist Geoff Shaw (God Country), EMBOSSEDand ENHANCED with AUTHENTIC COMICS FOIL FROM THE ‘90s!

Available at the standard cover price with no minimum order qualifications for retailers, relive the face-melting radditude of the era that gloriously birthed Beavis and Butthead Ren and Stimpy Quantum and Woody into comics history as Valiant’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL VARIANTS kick nostalgia in the nards!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Fans and collectors can get their chase on with Valiant’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL CHASE VARIANT subset! Each month, in the tradition of comics’ most highly sought-after oddities and error editions, Valiant will produce a single, STRICTLY LIMITED-RUN VARIANT of Geoff Shaw’s “EXTREME” ULTRA-FOIL artwork with A RARE, SPECIALIZED and SUPREMELY WACKY ‘90s FOIL!

On December 20th, big trouble is coming to a comic shop near you in QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – featuring covers by Julian Totino Tedesco (Original Sin), Geoff Shaw (Thanos), Nick Pitarra (The Manhattan Projects), Neal Adams (Green Lantern/Green Arrow), and Clayton Henryalongside every gimmick known to man, now including state-of-the-art GLOW-IN-THE-DARKtechnology!

For more information, visit Valiant on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and ValiantEntertainment.com.

For Valiant merchandise and more, visit ValiantStore.com.

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Cover A by Julian Totino Tedesco

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Cover B by Geoff Shaw

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Interior Art by Kano

QUANTUM AND WOODY! (2017) #1 – Pre-Order Coupon

[stormyrecords-blog]

new arrivals 9-29-17

stormy records

13306 michigan ave

dearborn, mi 48126 313-581-9322

so many great new releases this week!!! wow!! call or email us if there is something you would like to place on hold or do mailorder for. we use realy great mailers!! THESE ITEMS IN STOCK NOW!! "ACID NIGHTMARES"   Various Artists Double LP ($26.99)    Re-stock of this excellent brand new offering from Numero Group as part of their 'Wayfaring Strangers' ongoing series.     VERY psychedelic artwork in a gate-fold cover & includes a heavyweight comic book-style insert. 

"DARKSCORCH CANTICLES"  Various Artists Double LP ($26.99)     Back In Stock after a very long absence.   KILLER double LP (from Numero Group) of mainly undergound Heavy Rock Metal bands     from the 1970's into the 1980's.   Includes great tracks by the likes of MEDUSA, AROGANCE, STONEHENGE, HELLSTORM     and more.   Blue Foiled Gatefold Cover * 17 songs

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR:  "LUCIFERIAN TOWERS"   LP ($23.99)     Re-stocked a few more copies of their fine new release.  Comes with a poster & a dowload redemption code.

PROTOMARTYR:   "RELATIVES IN DESCENT"     Blue Color Vinyl LP $17.99 / Cassette Tape $7.99 / CD $11.99    Free Button with purchase of either format

  REAL ESTATE:    "IN MIND"  LP ($17.99)    Released earlier in 2017 * 1st time in stock  

TIMMY'S ORGANISM:   "EATING COLORS"  LP ($18.99)    Brand New Full Length Album!  w/ Download new items for friday SEPTEMBER 29th 2017 FUNKADELIC  Maggot Brain (Clear & Blue Vinyl)  LP  $28.99 "1971's Maggot Brain is the all-out Funkadelic masterpiece. Absolutely no one working in soul and funk at the time had the scope, or vision, to pull off the kind of record that George Clinton and his collaborators have made here. Eccentric funk jams are book ended by two of the heaviest tracks ('Maggot Brain' and 'Wars of Armageddon') ever committed to tape. The title track, and album opener, is nothing short of mind-blowing, Eddie Hazel's guitar is a revolution brought on by Clinton asking him to play 'as if your mother just died.' Maggot Brain is an essential classic and the deepest album to come out of the Parliament-Funkadelic camp. Clear & blue vinyl in a deluxe classic style gatefold sleeve. Limited edition of 1,000."   

AMBARCHI, OREN  Stacte Karaoke II   12"  $21.99 What happens when Oren Ambarchi is backed up by the world's greatest monster riff legends from his beloved homeland? Find out in the second volume of this infamous series where endless riffing and ecstatic shredding is the order of the day. Bonus intro track features some band from New York. Yah Boobay! Deluxe sleeve with photography by Crys Cole and Theresia Pfaender. Design by Stephen O'Malley. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. VABollywood Bloodbath: The B-Music of the Indian Horror Film Industry   2LP on Finders Keepers  $29.99 this is one of carl's favorite records - he says it is absolutley essential 2017 repress; Double LP version. After what seems like a thousand years of blood, sweat, tears, and a lot more blood, the zombified disc-disciples at Finders Kreepers unveil one of their most exquisite, exhumed, ectoplasmic, and existentially essential collections yet. This musical mausoleum of malformed freak funk and dreadful discothèque pop has been resurrected from the maligned cinematic subculture of Bombay's bloodthirsty horror film industry and witnesses the cognoscenti of the Bollywood pop scene at their most creative, destructive, and experimentally effective. Bollywood Bloodbath features India's finest composers, such as Bappi Lahiri, R. D. Burman, Sapan Jagmohan, and Laxmikant-Pyarelal, making the kind of radical risk-rock that would, under normal circumstances, have studio security escorting these overworked maestros off-set for a well-earned break or a relaxing exorcism. You've heard Italy's most famous composers when they soundtrack unwatchable Roman slasher flicks on their own uncompromised and underpaid terms? Well that blueprint just turned blood-red with sub-shoestring, low-budget studio wizards gambling with rigor mortis rock, disjointed disco, and low-voltage electronics for seldom-screened scenes of desi Draculas, lycanthropic ladykillers, and psyched-up swamp monsters. The factual history of the untraveled Bollywood horror phenomenon is fully re-exhumed with this compendium in true Finders Keepers style. Carefully documenting the drummy theme from the first-ever 1949 Indian ghost film, this benchmark collection follows the sinister lineage as directors of bloody thrillers take chances on shuddering synopsis and haywire special effects. Leading up to the inauguration of the notorious Ramsay Bros film company (whose sibling revelry in the '70s and '80s lead to the inclusion of flight-style puke bags in participating picture houses), this compilation pulls no punches and plunges the "B" of Bombay into the heart of the B-movie, squirting a masala of bloody ketchup and red wine onto the sets of Bollywood's glorious filmic musicals. Licensed exclusively from the independent Indian film music companies (revealing incidental tracks that they didn't even know they owned), Bollywood Bloodbath is the result of avid stomach-turning research via VHS tapes, chewed-up cassettes, and LPs, 12''s, and 45s, remastered from some of the only existing master tapes; presented for both the hairy home listeners and daring DJs. Also includes tracks by Rajesh Roshan, Hemant Bhosle, Ratandeep Hemraj, Usha Kanna, Khemchand Prakash, and Nadeem & Shravan. LARAAJIAmbient 3: Day of Radiance  LP+CD  $27.99 LP version. 180-gram vinyl. Gatefold sleeve. Includes CD. 2015 remastered reissue. Includes lengthy interview with Laraaji. Laraaji's glistening 1980 debut Ambient 3: Day of Radiance has from the beginning been considered an outlier. Though widely celebrated at that the time of its original release (as the third installment in Brian Eno's emerging ambient music series), the album also brought with it an aura of mystification. Where did it fit in? An uncharted synthesis of resonating zither textures, interlocking hammered rhythms, and 3-D sound treatments (courtesy of Eno), Day of Radiance seemed to push open many doors at once, ambient music being only one of them. Though there are certainly aspects of the album that find sonic common ground with other Eno-related "ambient" projects (on the tracks "Meditation #1" and "Meditation #2" in particular), the album is not easily boxed into a singular genre. Day of Radiance also mines the ethereal spiritualism of late-'70s new age music (of which Laraaji is considered a pioneer), the harmonic and rhythmic repetitions of American minimalists Terry Riley and Steve Reich, and traditional global sounds from India and Java (particularly gamelan music). And while Laraaji never explicitly embraced the "Fourth World" theories of fellow visionary and Eno collaborator Jon Hassell, Day of Radiance echoes a kindred exploratory exoticism. In the late '70s Brian Eno had relocated to New York City from London and had begun a period of fertile intersections with musicians in his adopted home. Laraaji recounts how he and Eno first crossed paths: "I was playing [zither] in Washington Square Park and I usually play with my eyes closed because I get into meditative trance states that way, and opening my eyes and collecting my little financial reward from that evening, there was a note, on notebook paper -- it looked like it had been ripped from somebody's expensive notebook -- there was a note that says 'Dear sir, kindly excuse this impromptu piece of message, I was wondering if you would be interested in talking about participating in a recording project I am doing, signed: Brian Eno.'" The album was completed in two sessions; the first one produced the faster, pulsing "Dance" compositions (on the A-side) and the second session yielded something closer to Eno's own ambient constructs -- slow zither washes and waves with more pronounced sound enhancements (on the B-side). While the album is deceptively simple in its construction, closer listening reveals its extraordinary depth of field and its polymath influences. ELODIEVieux Silence  LP   $23.99LP version. Stephen O'Malley on Elodie, the project of Andrew Chalk and Timo van Luijk, and their album Vieux Silence: "Having been entranced by both Andrew Chalk's work with Mirror (and back to his solo works as Ferial Confine, plus multiple collaborations with David Jackman, The New Blockaders, Daisuke Suzuki, etc.), and Timo van Luijk (as Af Ursin, In Camera, La Poupée Vivante, and collaborations with Kris Vanderstraeten and others) for many years, I was naturally intrigued to hear about and hear their duo project Elodie. The project formed in 2010, and has spanned eleven beautiful albums already, to date. Vieux Silence for Ideologic Organ is their first release presented outside of their own record publishing nook, Faraway Press and La Scie Dorée. However this is not the first encounter between Ideologic Organ and Elodie, they performed at a night in London I curated in February 2012, alongside Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang. Elodie's performance was among the most delicately engaging and savant I have witnessed... so very quiet, with snow falling in London outside Cafe Oto's windows, the audience palpably entered a high intensity listening focus. The impression of this vivid memory is striking, considering how spare each of the individual elements present that night were. Vieux Silence, and Elodie in general, provoke a visual imagination in an instant, perhaps filtered through aged watercolor, tape grain, antique lenses, forgotten levels of listening, and observational patience. On this gorgeous album, Chalk and van Luijk also collaborate with piano, pedal steel, and clarinet (played by: Tom James Scott, Daniel Morris, and Jean-Noel Rebilly, respectively). Each detail carefully considered and coloring step-by-step, like an impressionist watercolor." Personnel: Tom James Scott - piano; Jean-Noël Rebilly - clarinet; Daniel Morris - guitar pedal steel. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering. 75 DOLLAR BILLWood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock  LP  $23.99 2017 repress. 75 Dollar Bill, a project by Che Chen and Rick Brown present Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. "Che's interest in the Arabic modes of Mauritanian music has marked our sound quite a bit but I have brought some things, too. The plywood crate I play is a big factor, defining, by its positive qualities (a nice warm 'boom' sound) as well as by its simplicity, what we're likely to do in the percussion realm. Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock, this new record, differs quite a bit from the previous one, notably in the rhythmic 'tone.' Wooden Bag (2015) was all forward momentum, stomping and shaking, but the new record explores a long-standing interest of mine: odd and 'compound' meters. In most of my previous musical activities, I've convinced my partners to delve into this, but in 75 Dollar Bill it has just felt natural and I believe Che's modal investigations and melodic/harmonic tendencies enhance (and are enhanced by) this combination. The current record differs from the last in another big way: reinforcements! Over our few years together, Che and I have frequently had friends play with us at some of our gigs. There have been all sorts of permutations of instruments and some great friends/players who don't all appear on this record but here we are lucky to have a bunch of them: Cheryl Kingan (of The Scene Is Now) on baritone and alto saxes, Andrew Lafkas (of Todd Capp's Mystery Train) on contrabass, Karen Waltuch (of Zeke & Karen) on viola, Rolyn Hu (of True Primes) on trumpet and Carey Balch (of Knoxville's Give Thanks) on floor tom. Please enjoy Wood/Metal/Plastic/Pattern/Rhythm/Rock. 'Earth' saw is one of our earliest tunes and, I think, the first result of this 'compound meter' approach. It's a slow 9 beat phrase Che came up with for this odd groove. 'Beni Said' has no fixed rhythmic cycle but a roughly unison melodic phrase and a pulsing, loose feeling of 3s and 4s played using a box full of bottle caps. 'Cummins Falls' features Carey Balch on Diddley-beat floor tom and me reprising the maracas. 'I'm Not Trying To Wake Up' is another of our compound meter songs, this one using an 18 beat scheme." - Rick Brown TURRONERO, ELNew Hondo   CD  $17.99Pharaway Sounds present a reissue of El Turronero's New Hondo, originally released on Belter in 1980. There were two labels in Spain during the '70s which were essential to understand the birth of the rumba-flamenco-pop genre: Belter and Discophon. Thanks to the work of adventurous in-house producers and sound engineers like Josep Llobell, Joan Barcons and Lauren Postigo, funk, rock, disco and jazz arrangements were incorporated to recordings of folkloric flamenco singers and rumba bands. The result was explosive and the Spanish market was flooded with "gipsy-rock" or "rumba pop" 45s and LPs, some of them highly sought-after today by international DJs looking for exotic beats. New Hondo is an otherworldly mix of cosmic disco, funk, boogie, and traditional flamenco styles by Spanish "cantaor" El Turronero. New Hondo features the legendary Josep Llobell (Oliver's Planet, Enterprise) at the controls. Including "Las Penas" and more. Remastered sound from the master tapes; Includes insert with photos and liner notes by Txarly Brown (Achilifunk). "A flamenco singer with pedigree like El Turronero lost in Studio 54 on a hangover day" --Txarly Brown. HARRY PUSSYA Real New England Fuck Up  LP  (this item will be in NEXT week)Previously unreleased mid-'90s live recordings of Harry Pussy in peak trio formation, with extensive eye-witness liner notes by Siltbreeze label-head Tom Lax and Tom Carter of Charalambides. Edition of 500. "The 1996 Shadow Ring / Harry Pussy / Charalambides 'Rose Watson' tour. . . . There were two vans, three bands, two drivers. Tom Lax was at the helm, rationing the booze and blasting Killed By Death Volume Whatever all through the Midwest. I walked out of a gig in Ypsilanti and tripped on a large dildo. Soundmen held their ears in Cleveland. We rolled out of Rochester (after Adris and my bandmate Jason blew an entire soundcheck screaming insults at each other in Spanish) and the soundman stuck his head in the car and yelled 'don't ever come back!' Byron Coley booked a show in Amherst with an audience of zero. Harry Pussy and Shadow Ring played, we didn't, and everyone was hanging out afterwards in front of the Unitarian Church when the local bus pulled up. Its lone occupant stepped out, looked around, and asked 'Is this where the Harry Pussy show is?' The TT's show, snipped from the end of this tour, was a shambolic near disaster. The fact that a recording survives at all is a minor miracle. We arrived to witness openers the Cotton Kings fleeing the venue after eating a bunch of acid, destroying the PA monitors, and swiping Adris's cymbals, which one tripping, bathrobe-clad member slunk back to return later. . . . Mr. Lax tried to calm me down by feeding me bourbon shots. We played. The PA was shot and we couldn't hear each other. I hurled my guitar across the stage, poured my beer over my head, and threw a pair of slides into the crowd, narrowly missing Wayne Rogers. Harry Pussy took the stage and sandblasted the night into oblivion, while I hid in the van (Mac: 'What the fuck is your problem?') until I was sober enough to attempt to find the Greyhound station and catch the first bus back to Houston. Christina spotted me wandering off and forcibly dragged me back into the club." --Tom Carter VAEgypt & Lebanon: Cosmic Arab Disco & Searing Dance Floor Bangers 1974-1985 LP  $21.99Egypt & Lebanon: Cosmic Arab Disco & Searing Dance Floor Bangers 1974-1985 is a monumental introduction to some of the hippest proto-electronic music from the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s. These are some of the prime cuts that electrified dance clubs throughout the Middle East, from Cairo to Beirut, featuring psychedelic synths and organs, break-neck percussion, and mind-bending beats. The music is a flowering of experimentation with synthesizers, complex electronic flourishes, hard-disco funk, and swirling innovative melodies based on traditional forms. This LP compilation proves some of the most forward-thinking music being made in Arab world was conjured by absorbing everything that radiated from European and American discos and then furthering the dialogue, with sublime results. Features twelve, secret weapon tracks to set ablaze any dancefloor. Features Joseph Nemnom, Iman El Bahr Darwish, Isahn Al Munzer, Mohammed Jamal, Assa'd Khoury With His Oriental Electronic Organ & Band, Ammar El Shariyi, and Farid Atrache.