#rat synth pop

[lunasanguismusic]

"Rat Nebula: The Interstellar Rat Bounty Hunter From Planet Rodentis-Alpha 6B" A rat wave song about a rat bounty hunter named Rat Nebula.

[razzyoftherats]

If you're wondering what all the fuss is about I've just uploaded the track here. Fuck it. But...

FYI before you get all outrage she's the predator…

Eye contact like I mean war / READ: -I- contact like I mean war

Heels sharp, voice well-trained / She's armed & has a practised magic bewitching voice

Private’s where the claws are / She has literally has CLAWS

You’ll never know unless you try / She's baiting him, and not just for sex

I don’t dress up—I dissolve / She literally becomes -something else- when she wants to

Calm on the surface—beast in my mind / She is a monster beneath her human shell

I say yes too fast… and fuck too deep / It's a trap!

I'm your history… you can't clear me / She's going to cause him perm damage

Soft voice, darker needs / She has DARK needs

And I’ll whisper thanks while I feed / She's going to FEED from him, steal his glamour, she's FAE

Some people not very good at English lit and subtext huh?

[imthatweirdratinthecorner]

PRAYING THAT WE FINALLY GET A TS ROCK ALBUM

[olenvasynyt]

Hi!! I was wondering what kind of music do the van bros listen to?

Alrighty I thought long and hard on this. You have no idea what you're actually asking for because I am crazy when it comes to music. I listen to too much music. (I'm also just crazy in general). I am going to throw a few bonus people in just cause it's relevant.

Eris...oh god this is so hard because I feel like he's not very outward on his music taste but he. Loves. Disco. ABBA and Boney M are probably his favorites but he also loves synth pop like Eurythmics and A-Ha. You guys can hate on me and disagree but come on. Look up Eurythmics' album Touch and come back to me.

Raivis. He would be so weird and pretentious I just know it. He would probably love goth music like Sisters of Mercy and Bauhaus. Keep it classic and overbearingly gloomy.

Elmar. Ughhhhh he would be pretentious too and probably have the worst music taste out of all the brothers (imo). He'll probably listen to classic rock that every white upper-middle class person knows and vaguely listens to: The Police, Rolling Stones, Rush, Styx...I'm being such a hater lmao I'm sorry but he's one of the people who's like "ugh the music today is so awful I miss the classics!" and listens to the worst type of classics 😂

Galeti is a club rat who is in his Brat era. He listens to a range of stuff including music for the girls and the gays (Chappell Roan, Addison Rae, Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie XCX ofc, Magdalena Bay, etc). He also loves the good ole techno, electronic, and phonk music, and can get into 00s music remixed, european techno, rave, etc. Anything you can snort a line to dance to. Look up SPFDJ and Sara Landry, I feel like they would be his girlsssss (because they’re my girls and I’m self-inserting for almost all of these answers)

Aatos is a stomp and holler guy. Gregory Alan Isakov, The Oh Hellos, Of Monsters and Men, Hozier, etc. The soft stuff you would listen to if you want to get emo while hiking in a park or something.

Jora is a basic bitch who secretly loves Taylro Swift and Sabrina Carpenter but is ashamed of it because Elmar makes fun of him, so he sticks with the basic rock or something. I feel like he loves podcasts too.

Lady of Autumn would loveeeee the very terrible and wonderful soft rock 70s - 80s hits such as Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Lional Richie, Roberta Flack, Andy Gibb, etc. It's such a vibe and idk I feel like it's perfect for the moms who reminisce the old lovers they miss when they were younger 😂😭😭😭

I feel like Lucien listens to everything, and I mean everything. He's got 10 different languages on one playlist: he'll flip between bollywood, early 00's American rock, hardcore russian metal, indie, stomp and holler (he would love mumford and sons because Tamlin got him into it), hip hop, Caribbean, disco, european club music (he would LOVEEEEE Eurovision and yes that is self-insert because same). He loves obscure music, popular music, soundtracks etc etc etc. He's not really trying to find something new, but he's just naturally an explorer so he really loves everything.

When he meets Jesminda in this modern AU where human music exists, she would ask him what kind of music he listens to and for some reason he blanks. He's like "uhhhh I listen to everything" (and it's true but that's a very basic non-answer). She says "okay dumbass what's your favorite artist? 🤨" and he is still stumped and he blurts out the first thing he can think of which is the music he listens to with his mom:

"Barry Manilow."

Jesminda laughs so fucking hard lmao and he has to explain and eventually they'll listen to one of his playlists and do a Spotify Blend or something but that gets me to:

Jesminda's music taste would be 2000’s music including but not limited to Amy Winehouse, Fiona Apple, Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey.  She also has an obsession with Back Street Boys.

[joe-spookyy]

what’s your favorite scent + what songs have you been listening to lately if any? :3

this is going to sound kind of weird but my favorite scent is rat. i would love to sniff a rat real hard right now. and i always liked the smell of the cage even when it was dirty. so. rat.

and i’ve been listening to So much music lately… i’ve been on a blues brothers motown r+b sam and dave kick but also a new wave synth pop gary numan kick but also a oingo boingo kick but also a llewyn davis folk kill yourself music dave van ronk kick. so. all over the place.

[thoughtportal]

I f you had been one of the two other shoppers browsing the trinkets at the empty Sherman Oaks Antique Mall in early April, you probably would have seen a couple who looked like they’d time traveled from the Renaissance era. They were staring at a two-headed taxidermied rodent with a cowboy hat and a hamster posing with a skateboard and a helmet.

“How do you ethically source a two-headed rat?” asks Lance Shipp, reading a disclaimer above the dressed-up dead animals. “They can’t be real, right?” he says, the sleeve of his pirate blouse flowing as he points at one of the creatures.

“I don’t know how to feel about this,” says his partner, Michelle Buzz, looking at a two-headed rabbit wearing a ruffled clown collar just like the one she has on right now. (She’s also wearing powder blue tights and bloomers. She’s hard to miss.)

Despite our pitstop at this booth, we’re not here looking for dead-animal decorations. Buzz and Shipp, who make up the band Haute and Freddy, are on the lookout for a nice parasol for Buzz, and they wouldn’t mind finding a fun prop or an accessory to use for their shows. We browse through antique head massagers, spot a vintage, faded bodice, ride an old-school scooter, and skip a stack of vintage Playboy magazines during our time here.

The musicians have always embraced vintage style and quirkiness. Since their song “Scantily Clad” came out last year, the duo have built a solid group of fans, who have been drawn to Haute and Freddy’s baroque, 18th-century-inspired fashion and Eighties-synth sound. The band is just getting started: Last Friday, the duo dropped their latest single, “Shy Girl,” written about breaking free of societal norms and “owning every part of yourself without apology,” in time for their first show in New York City on June 3.

Even if they’re just at the start of Haute and Freddy, it’s been a whirlwind getting to this point as a pair. Both Buzz and Shipp share similar stories of moving to Los Angeles to pursue songwriting as a career. For years, Shipp co-wrote and produced songs for Rauw Alejandro, Britney Spears, and Calvin Harris, among others, as part of a composer collective. Buzz, for her part, penned hits including Katy Perry’s single “Never Really Over,” Kylie Minogue’s title track “Magic,” and cuts for Bebe Rexha’s past two albums.

“Truly being at the end of your rope emotionally opens up some crazy doors,” says Buzz, who grew up near Houston. “When I got out here, I was writing songs with five other people in a room and lost that special feeling that you can only get from just being in more of a play mindset instead of ‘Oh, I got to write a hit.’”

Songwriting was a passion, but deep down, both of them felt that they were meant to be artists. While navigating the already-tough world of songwriters, the duo connected through a mutual friend. There was an immediate spark. Buzz and Shipp connected over their love for theatrical music, The Phantom of the Opera, and obscure avant-garde choral pieces.

“When we finally sat down and played each other music, we were like, ‘We basically have the same brain,’” says Shipp, who remembers listening to the Carpenters and Luther Vandross as a kid growing up in Detroit.

The pair started hanging out on weekends and after writing sessions, and later freestyling with different, obscure sounds in Shipp’s studio, creating tracks that “never made it to the finish line.” Shipp emerged as the quieter percussionist and instrumentalist, while Buzz took the reins as the vocalist. “It was just to feel like ourselves again,” Buzz says.

For nearly two years, the pair kept their music to themselves. Their process was a stark contrast to their writing sessions for other artists, which often involved more of a show-and-tell approach with A&Rs, artist teams, and other songwriters to gauge a song’s hit potential.

“I was very much at a low point, wondering, ‘Is music still for me? Is songwriting the thing? My soul isn’t feeling fed anymore because I don’t get to play while making it,’” explains Buzz. “We’ve been these kooky people pretending to be like, ‘Hello. I am normal,’ and it’s not true and it’s not working.”

Together, they started to develop songs with alt-Eighties synths, freaky toplines, and free-flowing lyrics. With that, the duo began to shape the foundation of Haute and Freddy, adding wigs, playful clothing, and role-playing. Buzz, who tells stories about leading her little neighbors in playground productions of Cats as a kid, says she found a picture of an antique circus and felt inspired by what she saw to develop the group’s fairytale world. “This is us,” she remembers thinking.

Drawn by the photo and that feeling of being outsiders in their writing session, they developed a storyline for their musical personas: Haute and Freddy grew up in an 18th-century carnival “long, long ago, far, far away” but failed to fit in because they couldn’t do basic circus tricks. So instead, they secretly formed a band and with the dream of performing their music, they ran away from the carnival, pissing off aristocrats in the process. 

“It’s the 18th century, but we’re allowed to wear shoulder pads,” jokes Shipp, who’s learning to play the lute to live the full fantasy. “We blur the centuries. It’s fine!”

It’s fitting, then, that the duo’s debut single opens with Buzz’s operatic Haute voice declaring: “The queen passed out in her balcony when I came out/The king ordered his men to close their eyes and say a prayer out louddd.” 

“We’re just fine to rain on their parade and upset the queen, upset the prim and proper, and just be these fabulous misfits.… We are going to offend the pearl clutchers, but all we’re doing is being ourselves,” Buzz says. “If you have a problem, goodbye!”

Sonically, the pair pulls inspiration from the Eighties, specifically, Pet Shop Boys, with touches of New Order, opting for stripped song-building over vocal stacking and elaborate productions they saw used for some of the stars they worked with.

For their debut single, “Scantily Clad,” Shipp dug the deep web to find old drum-machine libraries and found a perfect one they used for the song. “It’s just a melody line going, and then you’re doing your crazy, ‘Baaaaah,’ over the top of it,” says Shipp, mimicking Buzz’s Haute voice. “The most important ingredient is the one you leave out. We don’t want to overdo it.”

Lyrically, the band gives in to the medieval misfit energy of the band’s storyline. On “Anti-Superstar,” Buzz sings, “Save it for the vain/I could care less if anyone else knows my name,” over a driving synth-y beat with a shining echo. The song goes against the structures of pop that they were using to write for others. On “Fashion Over Function,” they imagine an outsider’s perspective on their looks: “The town crier testified/The second we walked on by like/Could they be from Venus or Mars?”

Their newest release, “Shy Girl,” is a rebellious anthem dedicated to unapologetic expression that feels straight out of a coming-of-age film. Buzz was inspired by her upbringing, where “a lot of things were painted as sins.” She sings the track as a reminder to herself and others to “not forget that you always knew how to be bold and that you were always a goof and that it’s OK to just be fully you,” says Buzz. Writing the song “was just the quickest little explosion,” she adds.

The Haute and Freddy fantasy translates to their social media pages and during live shows as well. On Instagram, they write in thought-out Ren Faire English that their fans interact with in the same manner. “Dost thou have a favorite lyric to our lady on the run Shy Girl?” wrote the band under a recent post. And during a Valentine’s Day show at El Cid in Los Angeles, the duo included a voiceover introduction, presenting the band to the fans, which they’ve nicknamed the Royal Court, as their “humble jesters.” They even featured an interlude with a pair of vintage-style clowns. (Hayley Kiyoko was among the fans in the audience.)

“Come, here’s a place where we can dress up,” says Buzz of their shows. “I can’t wait to integrate more of that feeling for live shows, where it’s like maybe you receive a little role at the door and you have a part, and intermission is a play that we all participate in.”

What’s clear is that the duo just want to have fun. They’re making music freely, experimenting with their style, and building a community of queer people and misfits around them. It’s exactly what they’ve always wanted. “It’s just the deep hunger to be understood and to express myself,” says Buzz of her inspiration. “It’s a time where you can feel so much self-expression brewing, so much experimentation. I think everyone just needs that.”

We’re nearing the end of our thrift-hunting adventures, having sifted through a surplus of trinkets, Disney statuettes, and bedazzled cowboy boots. No working parasol, no real clothes were found, just a top hat Buzz found, removing her own feathered brown beret to try it on. As we approach the exit though, she spots something unusual at one of the last booths.

“Hello???” Buzz exclaims, her eyes lighting up. She’s found a Victorian-style phone with its rotary dial replaced by a number pad, and encased in what looks like jadestone. “That’s beautiful.… Oh, my goodness.”

Her ooh’s and ahh’s draw Shipp over, gears already turning. “I could probably turn this into a microphone,” Shipp says, picking up the receiver like he’s answering a call. “I don’t know if I can, but I’ll try.… We could stick it on a stand and have you sing into it onstage.”

“This is crazy,” Buzz says. “This is coming home with us.”

[seeker-of-truth]

Tag Game: Top 10 Albums

Tagged by @ghostoffuturespast! Thank you! Sorry it took me forever. I listen to soooo much music that this was legitimately hard. To make it easier on myself I am not letting myself select any EP's only LP's.

Rules: List your top 10 favorite albums, and (if you want) include a brief description for why each one made it onto the list. Then, tag 10 (or however many you want, really) others to do the same.

The Top 10... (in no particular order)

#1 Grapetooth (2018) - Grapetooth

Reasons: Excellent album super fun throwback synth-pop that still maintains a fresh edge. Has a good bit of noise, also just fun and dance-y Fave Track(s): Blood, Imagine On

#2 Bulls and Roosters (2017) - Together Pangea

Reasons: This is a bit of a hot take since its a more classic rock-esque album from them but I really love how sunny sounding this album is sonically where the lyrics often sit in contrast (But really if I were to select one work from them its the EP Killer Dreams) Fave Tracks: Gold Moon, Is it Real?

#3 INTERNATIONALLY UNKNOWN (2019) - RATBOY

Reasons: You may be familiar with RATBOY from the Cyberpunk 2077 Radio but this guy is really talented. It takes a bit of a pivot from his more straightforward indie rap stuff on SCUM to a more ska infused record with this one. He follows that ska track to his newest album but this one is the real sweet spot. Fave Track(s): FLIES, CHIP ON MY SHOULDER

#4 Dead Man's Bones (2009) - Dead Man's Bones

Reasons: FUCK I LOVE THIS ALBUM. It was one of the first more experimental albums I've come across in my life. From the messy production with no click tracks and minimal takes to the masterful inclusion of a children's choir. Its really beautifully done and it makes me happy that this album is getting more attention now days. Fave Track(s): My Body's a Zombie For You, Pa Pa Power

#5 No Life for Me (2015) - Wavves X Cloud Nothings

Reasons: On its tin a weird combo but tbh this collab album works so well. Excellent combo of two modern American punk bands. Fave Track(s): How It's Gonna Go, Come Down

#6 Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part I (2019) - Foals

Reasons: I wanted to cheat, I wanted to put both parts, but I didn't and I think we should be proud of that. Anyway this suckers punchier and harder than their past work but it still maintains the twinkling guitar work that is their trademark. Also - you ever seen Foals live? No? Do it, easily the most talented musicians I've ever seen live. Fave Track(s): Exits, White Onions, In Degrees

#7 War Room Stories (2014) - Breton

Reasons: You may be more familiar with this band than you think the song "Got Well Soon" was in the las ep of of Life is Strange. Anyway this album has sick production cool guitars, and sick synths. What more could you want. Fave Track(s): 302 Watch Towers, S4

#8 Too (2015) - FIDLAR

Reasons: I knew that a FIDLAR album had to be included on this list, and honestly this one took the longest to pick. But for the iconic surf punk group I had to pick Too. It has Zac's best production on a FIDLAR album imo AND has an actual recording of The Punks Are Finally Taking Acid (now titled to Punks). Fave Track(s): Punks, Overdose

#9 Viet Cong (2015) - Preoccupations

Reasons: Woof, the first album released by the remnants of Women and before re-naming to Preoccupations this album was released in a weird place. But it is AMAZING art punk with a good hunk of noise. Fave Track(s): Newspaper Spoons, Continental Shelf

#10 Acts of Fear And Love (2019) - SOFT PLAY

Reason: It was a real toss up between this beaut and their latest release but this one barely won. It was really was where they found that beautiful blend of abrasiveness and softness. Fave Track(s): Acts of Fear And Love, Magnolia

Tagging with no pressure: @koda-shoulda-woulda-but-didnt @medtech-mara @wanderingaldecaldo @cameronwolfe

And if I didn't tag you but you'd like to share your favorite tunes, do it!

[dustedmagazine]

The Hard Quartet — s/t (Matador)

“Leave yourself behind and go into something where you’re actually listening to others and trying to come up with a solution to whatever kind of esoteric thing you are attempting to do in your life. You know what I mean?” — Emmett Kelly

Dragging on supergroups is practically a spectator sport among critics. So too is the idea that music that sounds like something from an ever-shrinking notion of the past is inherently suspect. The Hard Quartet explodes both canards on their debut recording for Matador. Emmett Kelly (best known for playing in The Cairo Gang), Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks), Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Superwolf), and Jim White (Dirty Three), have a combined discography that could practically fill a mack truck with LPs. The performances in the Hard Quartet are reflective of their prior associations, true, but the amalgamation of these creates something fresh and distinctive.

Kelly’s explosive guitar solo kicks off album opener “Chrome Mess,” which is centered around an undulating modal tune that is both played and sung. “Rio’s Song” and “Our Hometown Boy” have group vocals nearly throughout on memorable power pop tunes. “Renegade,” on the other hand, is a visceral alt-rock offering, with a wall of guitars, powerful drumming from White, and exuberant vocals from Malkmus.

“Heel Highway” changes the mood significantly. A Bay area ballad, it recalls both the sixties and nineties. These tropes combine in Malkmus’s rangy lead vocal, dulcet vocal harmonies, arcing guitars and syncopated drumming. “Hey” is one of the album’s standout songs, with Malkmus’s laconic vocals, lead guitar breaks, layered rhythm guitars, and a chorus that draws on the appeal of slacker anthems.

The center of the album sees the band stretch out on “Six Deaf Rats,” with stream of consciousness lyrics in a soaring vocal melody that alternates with equally effulgent guitars. In a marked contrast, “Action for Military Boys” channels rhythmically charged second generation prog, with intricate scales in the guitars and martial drumming. There is an oasis in the middle where White lays out and a vocal bridge ensues. White returns and the music drives towards its former intensity.

“Jacked Existence” is the most delicate song on the recording, with hushed vocals and economical, Latinx-inflected rhythms. “North of the Border” has a loose, jam-inflected arrangement and Malkmus’s most emotive vocal, with backing vocals once again supporting him. The improvisatory nature of many of the band’s arrangements provides imaginative qualities to the music. “Thug Dynasty” has a terrific arrangement, with repeated synth notes added here and there and guitar breaks abounding. Malkmus makes the lyrics about lost time in his role in Pavement. The final track  ambles through the last five minutes of the album, with flurried music for the guitars, White’s inimitable drumming support, and another vocal where Malkmus tests the limits of his voice.

The Hard Quartet is one of my favorite recordings of the year, a strong collection of songs made by established artists who refuse to be hemmed in by anyone’s expectations.

Christian Carey

[st-armand]

Disco Demolition

( Reposted from @armands-sanctum ) Summary: You're in a disco group, performing for your first time at a rock music festival as a special guest, you meet Hobie amidst the fray.

Author's Notes: Request for @barkbarkbo <3, not a song fic but definitely seems like one, I feel like this couldve been better but I've been sitting on it for days and I'm still getting used to writing and flushing out characters in each piece. CW: Fem!Reader, reader is the keyboardist and sometimes lead singer, the band is coded to be Chic and A Taste of Honey. Not beta read but ill be re-reading it after posting

Word Count: 1.9K Masterlist

People everywhere, and expectation hanging in the air. The music bellows through the street blocks, reverberating through the cement jungle. Bodies expertly navigating the space through music stands and merchandise booths.

Hobie’s band the Spider Slayers have already finished their seat, sweat drips from his scalp and down the nape of his neck, getting caught inside of his leather choker, causing the cow hide to slip around mindlessly and uncomfortably. Reeling from the high of guiding droves of people to an auditory paradise of striking chords, and vexed riffs, giving them all he can give, them taking it—and bestowing their adoration, an offering to their melodious liberators. The Spider-Slayer set ends, the dust settles, and everyone sobers from the experience, ready to participate in another. The groups boots thud together in a dulled tandem to the breakneck drumming of the other performers. They take in the goods offered at the festival, perusing street foods, festal drinks and garments. All in joyous moods, and aching limbs, ready to immerse themselves as the participants.

Two young adults stand in the fray of people, freshly printed, high glossed sheets in hand.

“ ‘IN VOGUE’ First performance Set D 12:30 Come get a taste of aural honey”

They stand out amongst the droves of punks and other alternative people— chic mini skirts, tailored satins, high waisted extravagant flares, that painfully snatch the small of the waist, sequenced gems, thick platformed boots, heels worn down from walking and dancing in place. A pair of rhythmic dancefloor idols amongst a cohort of hardcore fanatics. But regardless you all shared the space considerately, anticipating the cultural exchange of synths and shreds.

The two adults dance subtly to the high energy chords that decorate time and agitate their eardrums. You tumble back a bit, trying to comfortably balance in your platforms after a long period of standing, brushing your hip into an obscured figure. Before you can even croak out an apology, you watch your band member and best friend Zera perk up with some unrecognizable expression.

“Hey! Tall, dark and, handsome! Yeah you!”

Hobie doesn’t even register that you’ve bumped into him, so accustomed to people tripping over his streetlight frame, but he does pull a furrowed pierced brow to the call of your friend, he maneuvers through the rat-king of people, towards you and Zera, band close to his heels.

When your gazes locked, you’re drawn into a ruse of inaudibility, overtaken by the unnamed man’s beauty. Silver metal glinting and casting a bright shine into your eyes, a lopsided grin perfect to meld your lips into, and free emergent hair that shades you from the devastating gleam of the sun. You’re taken in by the strong undercurrent of his countenance, senses drowned in the visage of a god amongst men, like Mary of Magdalene taking in the image of her benevolent savior as she’s primed to be stoned. A punk prophet coming to liberate you from the pop music hoax.

“What’s all this then?”

Zera notices the trance Hobie coaxes you into and leads the conversation.

“We’re IN VOGUE, performing for the first time tonight!”

“You should come see us handsome, huh? Bet my friend would really like that,”

Hobie’s eyes rake down your form leisurely and thoughtlessly, consuming you in your exaltation a Venusian image of a human, body rocking and swaying, dancing effortlessly, heeled feet coordinating to every chord and hit of the drum. You draw him into a melodic perplexity of movement he didn’t know could be concocted from the heavy guitar, and you do so instinctively.

“Names ‘obie, ‘obie Brown, but you can keep calling me handsome.”

Zera, Hobie and his bandmates chat amongst each other as you come down from the veil of delusion the tall man cast over you, as you return to your senses Hobie glances between the two of you noting the lack of musical instruments in your space.

“Don’t see yall wit’ any instruments?”

“I play the bass, my friend plays the synthesizer, but we all play a lil’ bit of everything.”

And that was the truth, depending on the songs played, others would take up a classical approach playing strings, or horns, other times you’d be the only instrument working the synth keyboard with your hands like a blue collared machinist while everyone else creates a vocal concoction alongside the electronic harmony.

“Alright, we’ll stay to see you play, good luck by the way!”

The group waves their goodbyes after a few more rounds of congratulations and good lucks to the first time performers, you watch the band saunter off, being eaten by the sea of other attendees.

Zera turns to you with a shit eating grin, “Sexy seemed to be real interested in you huh? The others look good too, I’ve got my eye on the drummer.”

As the evening settles into the night, time decorated with eardrum rattling rock music, In Vogue prepares backstage for their first performance, harmonizing, hydrating, cracking jokes, and gossiping about the inhumanely attractive members of the Spider Slayers, everyone is hyped to preform. But the most prominent thought on the minds of the band was the reality they were in, forced to perform at a rock music festival considering the climate of the Disco scene, criminally oversaturated with nepotism babies, industry plants, and drug bemused performers more concerned with the high than the art of musical conception. In Vogue stood out amongst their peers as a group of young adults consecrated with the talents of auditory synthesis and a certainty in their sound.

As the curtain call ends for another set of performers, In Vogue prepares for their entrance, being ushered in by the host,

“And today we have a special performance, a disco delusion, ready to get us all ‘jive’ to their rhythm, for their first performance ever we welcome, In Vogue.”

The crowd cheers, but some members seem disinterested at the idea of a pop music group performing at their festival, but luckily all are kind enough to give them an opportunity to grace their ears with something out of their normal.

You and your band step onstage, your respective instruments awaiting you, Zera takes her position on bass, and you take your position at the pair of synthesizer keyboards, fingers glossing over the worn keys preparing yourself mentally to give parts of you you’ve never given to anyone, to an entire maritime of people.

Zera the most extroverted is the first to speak into the mic, “We know we’re not the usual crowd of folks to preform, but today let us guide you through an aural mediation of funk!”

And with that, the high beam stage lights wash over you all like a summer rainfall, and you bask in it for a moment before you lead the group with the first hit of your key and an opening bassline.

The crowd begins to move and sway to the movement of the baseline and the synths until you all sing in accord,

“Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

Your eyes scan the crowd for a particular punk and his band, you mentally dedicate the song to him even when you can’t immediately make him out in the mass of battle jackets and plaid.

You move closer to the mic to sing, “One night in a disco on the outskirts of Frisco, I was cruising’ with my favorite gang,” “The place was so borin’ filled with out-of-towners tourin’ I knew that it wasn’t my thing.” “I really wasn’t carin’, but I felt my eyes starin’ at a guy who stuck out in the crowd.”

The viewers still seem to be assessing the performance before showing any negative or positive emotion, taking the music as it’s given to them raw. “He had the kind of body that would shame Adonis, and a face that would make any man proud.”

The crowd starts getting more excited at the tonal capacities you all hold, dancing to the drum snares and kicks, letting In Vogue conduct them through the aural honey of disco they’ve advertised, discothèque mystics mediating the movements of a sea of breakneck thrashers and moshers. Amongst the dancing alternatives, you finally find Hobie, in his Herculean beauty, dancing and swaying in tandem to song, your eyes lock onto each other, a lightening strike of excitement and a wave of inspiration furthers you to dance more, to sing harder, and to offer yourself as a sacrificial lamb to your audience. Zera smirks, watching the epiphany that graces you the moment you catch sight of Hobie.

“The champion of dance, his moves will put you in a trance, and he never leaves the disco alone.” “Arrogance but not conceit, as a man he’s complete, my crème d’ la crème, please take me home.”

Hobie looks upon you like a child being embraced by the tenderness of Christ, to him you’re an choral seraphim, bringing him to rapture and into a salvation from the punk rock everyday he experience. Hobie loves all music, especially made by black people, and today is a culmination of that, letting his body groove freely in a way he hasn’t done since dancing with his grandparents in the sanctuary of his childhood home while perusing their dust-stained records.

“He wears the finest clothes, the best designers heaven knows,” “Ooh~ from his head down to his toes,” “Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci, he looks like a still, that man is dressed to kill.”

As you preform, you’re experiencing a oneness that you’ve never felt before alongside your group, despite being friends for years the idea of creating a band was something sloppily put together, a smorgasbord of creatives looking to imprint space and time with their own colors, but today you feel like In Vogue, like this was something meant to happen, like the way the stars and the sun move in accordance with each other to create a surplus of astrological alignments.

“Oh, what, wow, he’s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh, what, wow, he��s the greatest dancer!” “Oh, what, wow, that I’ve ever seen!”

As the song ends with a few more minutes of instrumentals, the perfect time for you all to focus on getting as funky as your viewers, dancing and jiving, a few members abandon their original instruments to pick up violins, shredding the strings with shrill melodic cries before everyone else’s instruments return to the skirmish. You all play until there are no more notes, and no more lyrics to be offered, you all hold a breathe to wait for their reaction. And the audience’s response doesn’t disappoint, they whoop and cheer for you, the grueling work is over, and there is celebration to be had after the hard work.

“Thank you everyone for allowing us into your space tonight, we’re all happy to have a cultural exchange of music!”

You walk off stage, attendants lugging your instruments behind your group.

As you wade backstage while another group goes to perform, heavy footfalls shake you out of your reverie. And there stands Adonis himself, Hobie, his eyes glazed over, and a wide grin etched onto his marble features.

“Did p’etty damn good out there ‘f I do say so myself!”

Zera takes the time to introduce the groups to each other, as they chatter amongst themselves Hobie pulls you aside, a piece of paper with something sloppily scrawled onto it, he urges it into your hand with a telling twinkle in his eye.

“Maybe next time we can all groove together, yeah?” “Yeah I’d love that.”

[spectrallik]

Specter Learns Guitar, the Hard Way

Big things often start small

I may have made a terrible mistake.

I’m a lifelong keyboardist. Not a great one, but an OK one. And I’m finally comfortable enough with the instrument to write my own music. Just one problem: the kind of music I want to make, the stuff that’s running through my head all the time, is on the dream pop/shoegaze end of post-punk. Keyboardists have a place in dream pop, and some of my favorite dream pop acts like Alvvays and Hatchie prominently feature synths. But any genre that descends from punk rock, even something this far-removed, is still fundamentally a guitarist’s genre. Plus, the songs in my head are on the heavier side like The Joy Formidable - no keyboards there, unless you count getting on your hands and knees and playing your effects pedals like a keyboard.

My synth has guitar tones, but they come nowhere near replicating the real thing. And I have some guitar-playing family members who are willing to help me out, but I don’t really know how to communicate my ideas to a guitar player. They don’t read sheet music, they just play everything by ear. How could I communicate how to play a part, or even what tone I’m going for, when I didn’t really know how a guitar works?

The only halfway decent guitar tone on the Roland Fantom, and it only sounds good after you shove a fuckton of reverb and delay after it.

So, I decided that the only way to get that knowledge was to experience the guitar firsthand. I don’t want guitar to become my main instrument or anything, but I want to at least get comfortable with it. Once I understand how a guitar truly works, it will be much easier to write for it. 

Unfortunately, the guitar I want to get - a G&L Fallout - is backordered for a few months. So, in the meantime, I got a cheapo starter guitar to screw around with and hopefully get some of the basics down. I’ll trade it in for a pedal or something later.

This is the Eastrock 39, and it is a piece of shit. It barely stays in tune, the pickups sound thin and lifeless, and the frets are rough. You have to actively fight this thing to get the strings to ring properly. Some of my tone problems are because I still need to build finger strength, sure, but I’ve read reviews from veteran guitar players that say that this doesn’t play easily. Not great for a supposed “beginner” guitar. On the bright side, it came with a ton of extra stuff that doesn’t suck - a nice guitar bag, beginner picks, a solid capo, audio cables, and luthier tools to replace the strings and adjust the action. It even came with a practice amp, but I live in a studio apartment and have an audio interface for my synth, so I don’t have much use for it. 

So… goals. My first goal is to get the basic chords down, figure out how barres work, and learn ONE simple song. I’m not too worried right now about memorizing the fretboard - I’m not gonna do any solos anytime soon - but I need to understand chords to actually play songs. Luckily, guitar sheet music is more commonly written in an alternate form called tablature that is WAY EASIER TO UNDERSTAND THAN TRADITIONAL NOTATION, HOLY SHIT, WHY ISN’T THERE A VERSION OF THIS FOR PIANO!? I’m still not great at reading sheet music, despite my ClAsSiCaL SuZuKi MeThOd training, but it took all of 5 minutes to pick up TAB.

So, what’s my first song? Well, a few months ago, I got a picture of one of my characters playing air guitar and singing along to a song:

As it turns out, this song - Future Me Hates Me by The Beths - is very beginner friendly. 90% of the rhythm part is the same power chord shape, and the lead guitar part is pretty reserved and minimalistic by Jonathan Pearce standards. Plus, the guitar I'm waiting on is the exact same model that Liz Stokes played on that record. So it should sound perfect, especially once I get a RAT on my pedalboard.

So yeah, we'll see where this goes. I do want to keep track of my progress somewhere, and I'm planning on getting the fuck off Twitter once and for all, so I guess it will go here.

[razzyoftherats]

So the local press picked up my single...

📰 The Southcroft Chronicle

“Gh0stn3t Single Causes Outrage: ‘Porn Disguised As Poetry’” By Ellie Parnham, Culture Editor

Concerned parents and local councillors are calling for the immediate removal of a new single released by shadowy imprint Gh0stn3t Records, describing the track as “filth disguised as fashion” and “a calculated attempt to corrupt digital youth.”

The single, entitled “INCOGNITO (WARNING)” by a figure known only as RAZ, is gaining traction on fringe streaming sites and encrypted social media feeds. Critics say the lyrics “cross every line of decency” while hiding behind “intellectual wordplay and smutty performance art.”

Among the lyrics being quoted in fury:

“I may look like a nerd— But I f** like a pornstar*”

“Pull my hair—your soul might spark And I’ll whisper thanks while I feed.”

One anonymous parent told the Chronicle:

“It’s not music—it’s softcore porn with a backing beat. There are teenagers hearing this thinking it’s okay to behave this way. Where are the adults in the room?”

A local MP has even raised the issue in council, asking Spotify to review whether Gh0stn3t should be allowed to publish further material without a formal age-check mechanism.

RAZ has not responded to requests for comment.

Hi Ellie, cheers babe xxx

[thethistlegirlwrites]

Afterlife

The steaming mug of coffee sits untouched on the table in front of Nico.

It’s not what his body wants.

Not anymore.

The waitress who set it down had a defined blue vein snaking across her jawline.

He wraps his hands around the mug and swallows a scalding gulp.

Rain ticks on the windows, each drop that slides down reflecting the pink and yellow neon of the sign that proclaims the establishment is open twenty-four hours a day. 

Grease hisses in a fryer in the kitchen. Dishes clatter and people chatter in a mixture of languages and a radio plays a scratchy, fading in and out pop song about a cheating lover. Cars outside splash by through the puddles, water trickles down the storm drains with strangely metallic, echoing plops, horns blare and sirens scream. 

The sounds are the worst.

He can sort of block out the smells. Apparently, having had your nose busted a decade ago on a hunt does in fact make a dent in even vamp super-senses. He can pick out the bacon grease and the yellow peppers and olives and sweat and perfume, but it’s almost a manageable level.

Sight isn’t really a problem. He’s been highly attuned to small movements for all of his adult life. It’s like being twenty again, able to catch a rat’s tail whipping around a corner.

But the sounds. 

The sounds are overwhelming.

He shouldn’t have come here.

It’s too soon. He’s not ready.

He shoves a few bills under the barely-touched coffee mug and bolts out the door, pulling up the hood of his sweatshirt as a protection against the driving rain, and against whoever might recognize him as the man who used to be a teammate.

He has to get this under control. 

This isn’t what he wanted.

But it wasn’t his choice.

His family was so desperate to have a little more time with him that they let him turn. 

And then he almost killed them.

Memories of his hands around Vanessa’s throat, Ricky screaming at him and trying futilely to pull him away, the hot, salty, iron-tangy blood gushing from his son’s arm when he caught it in his teeth pour down on him, colder and more brutal than the rain.

He’s not sure either of them want to see him again.

He’s not sure trying to get himself clean and get the hunger under control is worth it. They wanted him back in their lives then, but they might never again. Not after seeing what the monster he returned as is capable of. They have every right to bar him from their door forever. To cut him out of their lives like a cancer that would eventually destroy them. 

Maybe he should just stop running and hiding from the Sunrisers. Let one of his old friends stake him through the heart and end this.

But something in him wants to survive. Desperately, like a feral animal caught in a trap.

He’s not sure he should listen to it. Vampires who give in to their urges are the most dangerous predators in the world. He’s staked dozens of them. Captured countless more. 

And now, he is one.

A disaster waiting to happen.

A massacre with a ticking timer on it.

A bloodthirsty creature that can hurt even the people that meant the most to the dead man whose face he’s wearing. 

He can hear the heartbeats of every person who brushes past him.

He can smell the blood on the chin of the man who must have cut himself shaving, under the Avengers bandaid on the finger of a kid with a blue rain slicker. 

He turns aside into an alley, crouches behind a dumpster, and pulls his last packet of synth-blood from his pocket.

Four hours.

He made it four hours between feedings this time.

It’s not good enough.

He swallows down the cool, slightly bitter saltiness and squeezes every drop he can from the plastic before tossing it into the trash. 

He lowers his head into his hands, shoulders shaking, tears burning his eyes. This is what he’s become. This is all he has to look forward to. 

The scent of something earthy and not quite canine enough to be right drags him back to the present. His head snaps up, eyes scanning the alleyway.

There’s a man there who wasn’t a second ago. Not particularly tall, wearing a long coat and a flat wool cap that’s spilling rain down over slightly sharp-tipped ears.

Fae. A shifter. The closest thing to a real werewolf that really exists.

Nico snarls.

He may want to die, right here, right now, but the thing inside him will be damned if it goes down without a fight.

Truth be told, it’s damned already.

“Not sure who you are, but seems like you could use a little help,” the shifter says, his voice carrying the distinct sound of Bay Ridge born and raised, but a life spent in various slices of the city’s underbelly. Probably one of the unregistered fae making a living doing private detective work for cash.

“Why don’t you scram and leave me be.”

“Not really my thing.” 

Actually, he thinks he knows who this might be. At least as far as family affiliations. One of the Phelan pack. His Sunriser team crossed paths with them a few times. Sometimes, they had the same objectives. Sometimes, at odds. 

He’s not sure which this is going to turn out to be.

“Fae and vampires don’t mix.”

“You saved my dad’s life once on a hunt. The pack owes ya.” The wolf crouches on his heels in the alley, coming down to Nico’s level, clearly none too worried about being outmatched in a fight. “Word of advice. Get outta this borough, sooner rather than later. Sunrisers are plannin’ a huge dragnet operation. Too many people complainin’ about vamp activity.”

“Thanks.” 

The wolf turns away, disappearing into the wind-whipped rain.

Where he was standing, there’s a chipped slice of shale stone with a few numbers and letters scratched on its surface.

The calling card of an earth-fae.

An address.

Nico almost tosses it down the closest storm drain.

He tucks it into his pocket instead.

He can’t be sure these fae would actually trust a vampire. They’ve warned him he’s in danger. To them, that might mean their life-debt is cleared up, and that he has no favors left to cash in with them.

But if he gets desperate enough, maybe at least they’d kill him quickly.

He can’t say the same for the Sunrisers.

(You can read this story and more from this universe on my WorldAnvil here!)

@catwingsathena @nade2308 @the-one-and-only-valkyrie @telltaleclerk @ettawritesnstudies  @writeouswriter @whump-place @the-lovely-wren

[gutzjunkie]

Mod Introduction because How Have I Not Done This

Hiii, I'm Lee, texture artist, Fu Hua appreciator & enby (they/them) with the 'tism! My username is the same basically anywhere and everywhere under the sun but I will pop my carrd and my neocities here as a just in case for those who wish to find me, let alone after all the years I've spent lurking here. This post will be updated and edited as time goes on

Now for the Dos and Don'ts...how...how to put these

MY BLOG IS A SAFE SPACE FOR ME, NOT FOR YOU and I cannot stress that kind of thing enough

Do be forewarned I Am Autistic so there is a 99.9% chance social cues can and will bounce off my brain like world's bounciest trampoline.

If you are openly homophobic, transphobic, or ableist, I can and WILL be blocking you. This also applies to Trump supporters and the like. If you post full-on gore or send me gore this also applies to you

A light quote from the words of my husband, "if you believe mental health is a sham, Go Outside™" because I guarantee you're not a medical professional if you're spreading that on the internet.

If you have any problems with me please let me know in dms before starting drama. I'm old, booze legal, and mentally tired from people spreading misinformation on purpose because they get a kick out of it.

Do not slide into dms without proper context because if you send something not on topic I will literally sit there like "????"

Do bring a good attitude to your asks, because as aforementioned earlier the 'tism will not grab proper social cues

Please do send asks about my special interests and hyperfixations because I Will Not Hesitate To Gush About Them (especially if it is the wife)

Onto the special interests because Smart

Honkai Impact 3rd

Honkai Gakuen 2/Guns Girl Z

Honkai Star Rail

Angelic Layer

Genshin Impact

Kingdom Hearts

Vocal Synths (Vocaloid, UTAU, & the like)

Rats. Yes as in the animal (They need to start living for more than 3-5 years or else I Will Cry)

2D & 3D art (I dabble in both)

Voice Acting

VTubing

Battlebots

MikuMikuDance

Unity (The game engine)

Old Tech

J-rock

HTML coding

List of commonly used tags:

#Gutzspeaks is as the name suggests, a general tag for when I say something or respond to an ask

#The Wife is anything Fu Hua related

#The Husband is for hubby dearest @noxs-daydream heehee

Those who visit my blog often will more likely than not get their own tag :) anons will be tagged as they are

[hancocksbestgirl]

The Ballad of Elle Douglas, Chapter 24

See Chapter 1 for Whole Work Summary Chapter 24

Chapter Summary: Elle and Nick try their hand at solving a 200 year old crime.

Whole Work Rating: Explicit

Whole Work Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death (described in detail), Rape/Non-Con (implied threat of)

Category: F/M, Gen

Fandom: Fallout 4

Chapter Word Count: 3.3k

Whole Work Relationships: John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor (Main Pairing), Paladin Danse/Female Sole Survivor, Edward Deegan/Female Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready & Sole Survivor, Sole Survivor & Nick Valentine, Arthur Maxson & Sole Survivor, Deacon & Sole Survivor, Preston Garvey & Sole Survivor, Sturges & Sole Survivor, Mama Murphy & Sole Survivor, Sole Survivor/Sole Survivor's Spouse, Father | Shaun & Sole Survivor, Synth Shaun & Sole Survivor

Whole Work Characters: John Hancock, Sole Survivor/Original Female Character, Paladin Danse, Edward Deegan, Nick Valentine, Robert Joseph MacCready, Arthur Maxson, Preston Garvey, Mama Murphy, Father | Shaun, Deacon, Elle Douglas (oc)

Additional Tags and Excerpt Under the Cut

Additional Tags: Commonwealth Minutemen, No Beta We Die Like Kellogg, Porn With Plot, Smut, Monogamy, Multiple Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Not Canon Compliant, Drama, Romance, Action/Adventure, Pining, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Found Family, Suicidal Thoughts, Hancock is Endgame, Break Up

_________________

Nick bent over the terminal in the Malden Police Department, his metal and plastic fingers creating two slightly different clicking sounds as they danced across the keys. 

Every few moments the Synth would speak softly to the computer, alternating between sentiments that made it sound like a baby was crawling towards him: “come on! yes!” and ones that made it sound like he had nearly caught a rat in his bare hands: “I’ve almost got you now…”

Elle smirked into the filing cabinets as she pulled open the drawers, lifting rotting papers with her dust-grimed hands and poking her fingertips into the far reaches of each cabinet. She had come up with a few pieces of useful salvage, including some ammunition and a few handfuls of caps, but hadn’t come up with any holotapes in her search, nevermind one of Eddie Winter’s. 

She squatted, opening the lowest drawer of the final cabinet when Nick caught her attention:

“I have a list!” He said triumphantly, rising to his full height and backing away from the desk.

“How many places?” Elle asked idly, lifting a baseball mitt out of the drawer in front of her and tossing it onto the floor next to her.

“The BADTFL office is confirmed on this list," Nick said, "Then East Boston, and then uh, Quincy, is another one.”

“Quincy,” Elle said quietly. “Jesus.”

“I know,” Nick sounded equally as concerned. “I’m hoping the BADTFL office will have a another list with more places to check. Maybe we can save Quincy for when we have a few more guns with us…” he trailed off.

Elle sighed, prodding a what looked like a finger bone with her own, living finger. 

“We might have to hire some folks,” she replied carefully. “I’d rally some Minutemen, but the few we have…” she shook the thought out of her head. “Quincy is a sore subject. Maybe if this were a few years in the future, but things are precarious for us in the south.”

“Makes sense,” Nick said softly.

Something yellowish orange and plastic caught her eye. The object was wedged in the back left corner of the drawer, and partially shaded by the angle of the room’s single light. Elle gasped an expectant breath and reached for it, her fingers alighting on a small rectangle that was definitely a holotape. She freed it with a sharp tug, and felt Nick still next to her as she exposed it to the light.

Elle flipped it over. It was unmarked save for a single number etched into the plastic. She lifted her left hand, pushing down on the eject button of her PipBoy with her right. The player popped open with its satisfying mechanical clunk, and she plugged the tape in, rising from her crouch as she did.

Continue Reading on AO3

[theoriginaleppieblack-blog]

Love this lad(y),

#glam rock #indie rock #new music #original music #Lady Charles #Manic Pixie Dream Boy #of Montreal #David Bowie #Kate Bush #Ariel Pink #Late of the Pier #MGMT #musician #songwriter #nonbinary #nonbinary artist #nonbinary musicians #Manic Pixie Dream World #Genderfluid #Spotify #Full Album #Progressive rock #experimental music #indie pop #synth pop #synthesizers #independent artist #Four Beautiful Rats #Debut album #Music that wouldn't go over well in Tennessee apparently

My new album is finally out! For fans of David Bowie, MGMT, of Montreal, Kate Bush, and more! Streaming embed below this silly infomercial.

Thanks so much for all of you who have supported this journey, and also to the people who hate-reblogged because honestly I'll take that too.