#15 Rising Rock Bands

[rockrevoltmagazine]

BOURBON HOUSE Announce New Wave of Classic Rock Masterpiece, 'The Fourth Album'!

After revealing a series of outstanding singles coming into 2023, Heavy Blues Rock band BOURBON HOUSE has announced their newest LP, The Fourth Album. The 10 track New Wave of Classic Rock gem showcases the band’s incredible musicianship with soaring, soulful vocals from stunning frontwoman Lacey Crowe. “We’re always trying to outdo ourselves and I think The Fourth Album is our best yet. You’ll…

[fullaccessdetroit]

BOURBON HOUSE to Release New Single, “Runnin’ Hot,” on FRETBARD RECORDS!

BOURBON HOUSE is set to release their new single, “Runnin’ Hot,” on FRETBAR RECORDS, Friday Nov 17th. Captivating vocals with a driving rock feel makes “Runnin’ Hot” by BOURBON HOUSE one of the best female fronted releases of 2023! “BOURBON HOUSE has made a statement with their new single ‘Runnin’ Hot.’ I feel as if I’m being told to watch, pay attention because this band and this song, is…

[neil-perrys-suicidal-tendencies]

INTRO POST <3

Here's a long-overdue intro post.

NOTE - I LOVE RECIEVING ASKS AND I WILL ANSWER THEM AS SOON AS THE HORRORS WEIGH DOWN A LITTLE LESS.

LINKS SIDE BLOGS: @i-think-im-breaking-down-again - more personal blog @cappuccino-circa-capillaries - mental health stuff /pos @a-bitch-can-write-poetry - poetry and web weaving reblogs, will post my original work if I ever get the courage @honestly-im-honest- silly stuff @edwinpayneshomosexualtendencies - dbda side blog

MEDIA: Pinterest Spotify Storygraph stats.fm

DA BASICS- ABOUT ME: Name - Lisa Avenir (you can call me Lise or Liz) Nationality - Indian Languages - English, Hindi, a1 French, aspiring German, a dialect of Hindi spoken in my home state which is completely incomprehensible to anyone who does not speak it to the point its an entirely new language (which it is but I'm not going to reveal it because I don't want my home state to be known) Age - minor Gender - mostly female Pronouns - she/they Sexuality - ace-spec lesbian Religion - Atheist DNI: Homophobic, Transphobic, sexist, racist, ableist, any kind of phobic in general No assholes allowed either I love receiving asks just no freaky stuff FACTS- 🪶Only Child who keeps losing friends 🪶I love any form of Noodles Soup 🪶I have a huge crush on Maya Hawke 🪶I love biology and anatomy 🪶I need psychological help /srs 🪶I cry a lot, it's an art 🪶I might have a migraine issue which might be getting better :D 🪶I have brown ass basic eyes 🪶Reading mythology is my bae 🪶My vocabulary might be good but I can't spell for shit. 🪶I love making little collages on PowerPoint 🪶I'm touch starved but touch aversed. Yes, we exist. 🪶I'm a nerd fighter 🪶I love dissecting song lyrics 🪶My aesthetic is dark academia, dark feminine(excluding the femcel bs), witchcore and sickly victorian child dying of the plague core 🪶I am a hyper-organized person who might have germophobia 🪶I'm pretty sure I have trichotillomania 🪶I have these sneeze attacks on a daily basis where I sneeze like 15 times over the course of 3 minutes

HOBBIES- 🪶Reading 🪶Writing poetry or songs 🪶Listening to Music 🪶Talking about stars 🪶The Universe 🪶Literature 🪶Science (fuck physics)

INTERESTS- MUSIC: I love listening to albums(like a LOT of them) 🪶Genre - Indie, Indie pop, Rock, Alt-Indie, Basic white girl pop, Pop-rock, Pop-punk, Folk, Old Bollywood, Male manipulator, Female Manipulator, Lesbian Manipulator, ghazal, anything that slaps 🪶Artists - Ricky Montgomery, Lana Del Rey, Chappel Roan, Flower Face, Taylor Swift, Hozier, Phoebe Bridgers, Girl in Red, Clario, Conan Gray, Hank Green, Hayley Williams, Joji, Indila, Sabrina Carpenter, Adele. Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Jagjit Singh, Muhammad Rafi, Asha Bhosle etc etc 🪶Bands - Wallows, Florence and the Machine, Sir Chloe, Hole, The Smiths, Paramore, Beach House, The Jayhawks, The Neighborhood, Fun Guns, Cage The Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, Chase Atlantic, Radiohead, My Chemical Romance, Hayley Kiyoko. 🪶Albums(favorites) - evermore and folklore by Taylor Swift, Montgomery Ricky by Ricky Montgomery, Depression Cherry by Beach House, Ceremonials and Lungs By Florence and The Machine, Superache by Conan Gray, Emails I can't send frwd: by Sabrina Carpenter, Hozier by Hozier, Riot! and Paramore by Paramore, AM by Arctic Monkeys, Party Flavors and I am the Dog by Sir Chloe, Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers, Rainy Day Music by The Jayhawks, Petals for Armour by Hayley Willams, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan, Social Cues by Cage The Elephant, Live through this by Hole, Born to Die(The Paradise Edition) and Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey, Nothing Happens by Wallows, Baby Teeth and Fever Dreams and The Shark in your Water by Flower Face, Lilt by Hikes, Get up and Move by Fun Guns, The Black Parade by MCR. 🪶Artists that I lowkey neglect but should high-key eat - Nirvana, Tame Impala, Men we trust, Cavetown, Pink Floyd, blink-182, Green Day, boygenius, Mitski, The Smashing Pumpkins, Suki Waterhouse. BOOKS- 🪶Genre - Dark, War pieces, Dystopias, Young Adult, Depressing, Dark Academia, Classics, Psychological Thriller. 🪶Ride or Die- The Book Thief, The Perks Of Being a Wallflower, The Picture of Dorian Grey, MAUS, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, All the Bright Places, The Midnight Library, The Handmaid's Tale, The Diary of a Young Girl, The Boy In The Stripped Pajamas, Circe, Before the coffee gets cold, Sharp Objects, The Martian, The DaVinci Code, The Emperor of All Maladies, Turtles all the way down, And Then There Were None, The Catcher in The Rye, No Longer Human, Grandpa's Great Escape, Wild Bird, The Giver. 🪶Honorable Mentions from my TBR - A Little Life, Bunny, If We Were Villains, The Secret History, 1984, To Kill A Mockingbird, Six Of Crows, Lord of the Flies, Piranesi, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, Crime and Punishment, How it Feels to Float, Orbiting Jupiter, Normal People, Fahrenheit 451, The Myth of Sisyphus, Lessons in Chemistry, Slaughterhouse-five, Dark Matter. 🪶Poets - Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth. Sappho,

MOVIES- Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Lady Bird, Whiplash, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, Forrest Gump, Duck Duck Goose, Rapunzel SERIES- BBC Sherlock, Orange Is The New Black, Brooklyn99, Dead Boy Detectives, Heartstopper, Derry Girls, Modern Family, House md?

RANDOM IMAGES-

USERBOXES-

MOOTS APPRICIATION!!!! @lv3buzzz, @noctilucaa(my wife), @wilsons-three-legged-siamese, @yourfavvgal, @1mlostnow, @arrr-im-a-dead-poet, @perksofbeingpoet, @mighthavebeenmurder, @take-me-to-the-rooftop15, @poetsinnyc, @joonof1989, @deadcrowcalling, @pingunaa, @xxcherryberriezxx @burgundykicks (text me if you would like your name to be removed <3333 ) -🪶

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, 3x9, A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving, Part IV

I just realized the winter carnival episode is next and tbh I'm pretty stoked about that one.

Ugh, someone left Gilmores on my front porch. Fetch me my broom. Shoo! Shoo! At Thanksgiving number one, we find out Lane is spinning yet another tangled web of lies to ensnare Soggy Rygalski (my new pet name for him, don't ask). Mrs Kim thinks Soggy is actually in a Christian band that Lane discovered through church and not a sinful rock band. Mrs Kim serves Tofurky and I feel as if our little vegetarian diner rat would have enjoyed that.

Welcome back, Soggy.

Dang. When Rory sees how people like her mother and Luke and Mrs Kim treat their employees, it's no wonder she doesn't want to get a job! Bad dum tssssh. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night.

Why did I remember that scene as being a lot longer than it was? It lasted less than three minutes. Weird!

Onward, from Soggy to Sookie.

"According to the National Fire Protection Association: deep fryer fires cause an average of 5 deaths, 60 injuries and more than $15 million in property damage each year. Deep-frying turkeys has become increasingly popular, but the new tradition is a recipe for holiday tragedy."

Men, eh? One minute they're lying about turkey preparation and the next they're lying about having a vasectomy.

Rory looking gravely concerned or lost in thought as usual. Thinking deep thoughts about frying. Asked Sookie not once but twice "What do you use the oil for"?

Granny creakily rising from her lawn chair to join the hordes of Jackson's screaming white trash relatives has to be one of my favorite bits in this episode (maybe the season?) so far.

Gather round, white trash young and old. Your king has arrived.

THE FACES!

This whole scene is top notch. I tip my hat to you, Miss AmyShermanPalladino. After departing the white trash jubilee, it's time to circle back to Lukes. I know small business owners are hard working people who don't always have the luxury of shutting down and taking a break, but do you think he ever closes the diner? For anything? Christmas Day? Yeah, I'm sure ya'll can name a few times on the show where he closes up shop (would actually be interested to hear what they were). It wouldn't matter. He'd try to close on Christmas Day and the Gilmores would show up anyway and demand to be served instead of drinking eggnog in their own home. For Christmas, Lorelai should buy Luke a massage. (A LEGITIMATE MASSAGE. You filthy readers).

Mommy Daddy please stop fighting

*smashes Jess and Rory together like I'm 9 years old forcing two Barbie dolls to make out*

Alarming to see Lorelai treat Jess this nicely because I worry she may be ill. Or possibly delirious from hunger (she didn't eat at Sookie's or Lane's, she threw out Mrs Kim's tofurky and just gawked at Sookie's house). It looks like Luke was nice enough to give Jess the day off, but Walmart (and its Hunger Games-style Black Friday festivities) may still be calling. Is this the first real, hot, home made, lovingly prepared holiday meal anyone had ever served him in his entire life? (I'll give partial credit to The Bracebridge Dinner). No street wieners for Jess Mariano this Thanksgiving! Jess says he's starving, but Luke told him not to eat until the Gilmores arrived first. That's some grade a bullshit.

All he wants this Thanksgiving is for his fellow white people to Check Their Privilege. Good luck with that, Lucas.

Serving lewks. Luke has just served the table four heaping plates of hot food and upon hearing that the Gilmores will be trotting off to the McMansion next, presumably to eat way fancier, he says they can just throw everything the fuck out and drink soda if they want. Kay... Jess: Please, Uncle Lucas, don't take away my hot meal. I'm ever so hungry.

A screen shot of Milo eating makes a great gift or any holiday or special occasion.

How DARE you Lucas. You are not going to make my poor tired boy serve coffee to the Gilmores on Thanksgiving Day! Lorelai's your ball and chain, you do it.

Yeah, what a pity that not everyone can kiss like Dean.

"You and Jess are a couple of chickens pecking each other." Yooo, it's about time you pick a lane, Lorelai. You're confusing the poor girl. The last time an adult got wind that Jess and Rory were about to peck like chickens The Incredible HulkLuke smashed down the door and put those two chickens out to pasture. Rory: Mind your own business. Lorelai:???????? I assure you she does not know the meaning of the phrase. R: I'm not good with public displays. L: You didn't have that problem with Dean Me: Trying fruitlessly to remember any scene where Dean and Rory passionately made out in public or showed any sort of affection with each other anywhere that Lorelai could see it R: I don't know how this first second boyfriend thing is supposed to go. L: Well he's your first second boyfriend so give it time. R: The whole town got used to me with Dean. L: It'll get easier, you'll have hundreds of men. Well maybe not hundreds. A couple. Three more. Dean again, Logan, then Logan again. L:They'll adjust to seeing with you Jess! R: What do I do about Dean? L: Well he'll move on too. All this sensible advice coming from Lorelai? It is truly the Thanksgiving of Miracles.

God bless you, Babette. God bless you.

The next scene, a Friday (Thursday) Night Gilmores Showdown at the McMansion goes on for around 8 minutes which is going to feel like more than an hour in Salty Time. I'm going to wilt.

[strawberrywinter4]

Fandom: Loki (TV 2021), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Relationship: Loki/Mobius. M. Mobius

Rating: Explicit

Characters: Loki Laufeyson, Mobius M. Mobius, Sylvie, Casey, Brad Wolfe, Hunter B-15, Ouroboros, Ravonna Lexus Renslayer, Thor

Notable Tags: Rock Star AU, Rock Star! Loki, Agent! Mobius, music industry, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, music festivals, Slow Burn, Romance, Explicit Sexual Content, Bottom Loki, Top Mobius, Traveling

Summary: Rising rock star, Loki Laufeyson, is having difficulty keeping his reputation in check. His manager hires him one of the industry's most wanted agents, Mobius. M. Mobius. Loki is displeased by this arrangement and does everything he can to change this nonchalant man's mind about being his agent. However, Loki is struck with a growing attraction to the agent in this process. To his secret enjoyment, Mobius seems to be experiencing the same feelings.

As this relationship grows, Loki and Mobius must conquer the world of fame by dodging reporters, dealing with toxic past lovers, and paving the way to the life they truly desire.

Playlist here

Read chapter 1 here.

Thank you @starrose17 for the inspiration!!

[blue-lollipops-and-ice-clouds]

Sleep Token's "The 100 Songs That Changed Our World" Article.

(Source - photos courtesy the lovely jawsofeden)

Transcript:

100 - Sleep Token

The Summoning

(Take Me Back To Eden, 2023)

The meteoric rise of Sleep Token caught us all by surprise. At the start of 2023, the mysterious masked band were one of the metal underground's buzziest names. Led by enigmatic vocalist Vessel, they were a band to watch, for sure, but firmly attracted the niche passion of a cult following.

Then came the song that would change everything. On consecutive days in early January, the band released two singles from their third album, Take Me Back To Eden: the burning, crashing Chokehold, followed by The Summoning - and it was the latter track that would turn them into an Earth-conquering, expectation-shattering phenomenon.

Veering between depraved tech metal, soulful vocals and shimmering electronics, an enormous, hymnal chorus gave way to an Earth-shifting breakdown and screams. Intricate and groove heavy, The Surmoning was more like three songs seamlessly crafted into one genre-fluid modern masterpiece. And it still had its trump card to play: a bendy, thirst-trap, funk outro that went viral on TikTok, turning the internet intoalusty Take1 puddle. Suddenly, Sleep Token were the most talked-about band on the planet.

"THERE ARE HINTS OF EARLY SLIPKNOT THERE."

COREY TAYLOR

"It took me three listens of [The Sumroning] to realise that when they do that whole psychedelic section at the end, that it's actually the same chorus as it was before, only in a completely different way," Evanescence's Amy Lee told Revolver. "And I love it even more that. I thought they just went a whole new direction and wrote a new part, and then I was like, 'Wait, that's the same...but not at all'."

Sleep Token weren't the most obvious choice for a commercial breakthrough. The success of The Summoning, an unconventional, seven-minute, brutal shapeshifter, bucks just about every music industry trend there is.

"It's going to a lot of different places, and I think there isn't any other band out there right now that's able to do that," Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford said earlier this year.

The Summoning set a chain reaction in motion that was unprecedented in modern metal. In just a few weeks, the band saw their Spotify figures jump from the thousands into the millions. To date, the track has been streamed more than 123 million times on Spotify and 19 million on YouTube. On release, Take Me Back To Eden went straight in at No.3 in the UK and was the most streamed metal album of 2023. When the band announced a show at Wembley Arena, tickets sold out in 10 minutes.

Earlier this year, they left the metal-heavy roster of Spinefarm Records for RCA, the home of mainstream megastars Justin Timberlake and rapper Doja Cat.

"In heavy music, or even in just rock, even in the last decade or 15 years, there's so few stories of bands ever breaking through," says Health bassist and producer, John Famiglietti, who supported the band at Wembley and sees Sleep Token's success as proof metal still can resonate on a massive scale. "This is one of the few times I've seen a band go from a fucking club to an arena in six months. And I don't know the last time that happened."

It's worth pointing out that in the social media era where celebrities and artists are more accessible than ever, Sleep Token have achieved all of this on their own terms. To date, they've barely done any press, while their masked mystique is all part of the allure. Last year, fans reacted with outrage when bassist III's identity and birth certificate were allegedly leaked online, seemingly leading to a decision to wipe the band's Instagram.

"There are hints of early Slipknot there," Knot vocalist Corey Taylor told The Allison Hagendorf Show in 2023, thinking back to the early internet days before Slipknot removed their masks. "At first, we were like, 'Nope. You get nothing. This is what you get, you figure it out. We'll let the music speak for ourselves.

Today, Sleep Token are being mentioned in the same breath as potential future Download headliners Ghost, Gojira, and Architects. The only difference? Sleep Token have managed to ascend to the same level as those bands in a fraction of the time. Metal needs new superstars who will push things forward, innovate and keep the scene relevant - and with Sleep Token we have a band we can believe in. DL

[rustybottlecap]

So recently I remembered that weird af game trailer from years ago during the PS5 reveal conference, featuring anthro characters one of wich I doubly-erroneously thought was a bird-girl.

Turns out the game is called Goodbye Volcano High and it got delayed several times, but it’s actually coming out in a few months as of this post, and something I read about its premise has me OBSESSED.

So the characters are actually anthropomorphic dinosaurs, and while I don’t prefer this kind of anthro animal designs (reptiles with human hair), turns out they are like this FOR A REASON:

The meteor is coming.

The meteor that killed the dinosaurs.

Everyone in this game is going to die. And the protagonists are teenagers, who were made to believe they had a whole life ahead of them. And the adults would rather just have everyone go on with their routine like nothing’s wrong.

So the protagonists have to decide what to do with the short time they have left, confront their identities and be true to themselves. The pterodactyl protagonist Fang, for example, is non-binary and part of a rock band. Depending on the player’s decisions the rock songs they are composing and playing throughout the game will change.

The paralels with the pandemic and other recent events as experienced by today’s youth are inevitable, and likely played a big factor during its development... yet the original trailer I mentioned in the first paragraph (not the one I posted) came out in 2020. They already had this idea before the pandemic.

While doom and gloom can be found at any point in history, I wonder if at least some of the people involved in the game grew up during the 80s and very early 90s, near the end of the Cold War, back when mutual annihilation via nuclear weapons seemed inevitable, even to little kids.

It doesn’t take much digging to find examples of dinosaurs being used irl to cope with the Cold War fears of nuclear armaggedon. They could be used as metaphors, how nuclear weapons were going to “take us back to the stone age like in The Flintstones”, or comparing it with the meteor that killed the dinosaurs (The 1988 song “Walk the Dinosaur” by Was Not Was, wich many may remember from the old Super Mario Bros. movie and Ice Age 3, is actually about this; there are some clues in the lyrics but the band has outright confirmed it).

On the other hand, dinosaurs had a rise in popularity during the 80s due to new discoveries, and served as nice escapism. Why fear a nuke when you could be crying your heart out while watching The Land Before Time? The 80s was even the decade when the theory that it was a meteor that killed the dinosaur became mainstream. Associaction!

So anyway... the game is finally coming out June 15 August 29, but I want to play it NAOW!!1! Let me laugh in the face of the apocalypse with my dinofriends!

Also if you were turned off from this game due to some shitty content online, know that it was made by a vocal minority trying to sabotage it for being LGBTQ+ friendly. Just ignore them. Do not make this about them. The game will stand on its own.

[cherrylng]

ROCK'N'ROLL PREVIEW 2008! - Yannis Philippakis Interview - FOALS [ROCKIN'ON (May 2008)]

FOALS New horizons of art-rock pioneered by rising stars Foals. Interview: Yukiko Kojima

Foals are the 'most eagerly awaited' newcomers in the UK in the first half of 2004, alongside Cajun Dance Party. We wrote in last month's issue that their album 'Antidotes' has an atypical beauty and a novel beat that doesn't belong to any of the current UK/US scene's formulas, but Yannis, the central figure who embodies their sound world as it is, is a bohemian from a different culture who deviates from all common sense more than we expected. He grew up listening to his father's Byzantine folk songs in a village in the mountains of Greece until the age of seven, and at eight he moved to England with his anthropologist mother to attend a school full of middle-class kids. While receiving a traditional British education for gifted children, which was proud and rigid, he fell deeply in love with American hip-hop and suddenly transformed into a rebellious child. At the age of 12, he learnt to smoke, got a piercing, learnt to play guitar at around 14 or 15, became obsessed with US alternative, and spent his time playing live with his childhood friend Jack (drums) in a local mass-rock band that played a lot of noise. They later formed Foals and introduced dance beats and melodies because "we didn't know anything about dance music, so what would it be like if we made dance music?" was the reason. Normally, it would be impossible for a boy like this to get into the prestigious Oxford University in one shot! But he made light work of it, dropping out after just one year to concentrate on his work in Foals. Their subsequent popularity in the UK and US is well known. What a punk! It's the best.

The recording of this album was already finished in New York last summer. Why did it take so long between then and its release? 「Mainly because of the mixing process. When we recorded it in New York, everything sounded the way we wanted it to, but when we got back to the UK and heard the final mix, it didn't sound quite how we wanted it to. So we had to go back to the drawing board and re-mix all the songs ourselves.」

Up until now, David Sitek has been a producer who has mainly worked with US acts such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Was it your own choice to select someone with such a creative background? 「Yeah, we wanted to avoid a producer who was steeped in the so-called 'UK indie sound', so we turned to him, but he did the mixing on his own after we returned to the UK. The final mix was a lot more gung-ho with echoes and reverbs than we had expected…… On a human level, he and I were on the same wavelength, and the basic recording itself went well. But at the mixing stage, the essential view of the album was definitely different from what we both had, I guess.」

I have to confess that my first impression when I personally listened to the album was: "What a strange sound/album!" But around the third time I was gradually drawn in, and now I'm completely addicted (laughs). Every day your strange instrumental sounds and songs are going round and round in my head. 「(laughs). You're exactly where we want you to be.」

Yeah (laughs). First and foremost, the tone of the guitar itself has changed. Some songs sound more like mandolin or ukulele than guitar, and the beat pattern is an original mix of Afro, reggae, and rock beats, with many unusual instruments taking the lead. It's also a complete departure from the usual 'verse, bridge, chorus' formula/stereotype of a guitar band. For yourself, how would you describe Foals' music? 「For me personally, what we're doing now is ultimately pop music. I can understand why listeners who are used to listening to regular guitar bands might find this kind of music 'weird' when they hear it for the first time. But how would you categorise music like The Police, Talking Heads or P.I.L., for example, under the usual pop/rock yardstick? There are too many elements mixed in to be categorised as post-punk or new wave, and they are moving into new genres one after the other, so it's impossible to put them into any one genre. My motivation for starting this band was to create accessible pop music in a way that wasn't bound by any stereotypes. So we don't intend to create avant-garde music that is more noble than others.」

I see. So, for your part, are you aware that you are a "guitar band with elements of techno and dance"? Or, conversely, are you aware that you are a "dance band with elements of a guitar band"? 「At least at the moment, up to the point of this debut album, I'd say it's more the former. But the next album might be an album with no guitars at all, or with an emphasis on Mongolian drums. The reason why we introduced dance elements in the first place is because all of us have been doing music that has nothing to do with the so-called dance scene, so we wondered what we would get if we made dance music, what kind of thing would we create? That's how it all started. So for Foals, it's not so much about the predictable direction, but more about what kind of musical adventures the five of us might have together next.」

You grew up with a mother who was an anthropologist living in Oxford, but despite that academic upbringing, why did you decide to be in a band in the first place? 「I grew up in a village in the mountains of Greece, my father's hometown, until I was about seven years old. In Olympos, where the Greek language is still spoken in an archaic dialect, there are many arranged marriages, and the old tradition that all the villagers are either acquaintances or relatives continues. My father still makes folk instruments there. So when I was a child, I grew up listening to Byzantine folk songs that my father used to sing at the dinner table. Then, when I was about eight years old, I came back to Oxford with my mum and was suddenly sent to a school full of middle-class English people. So it wasn't until after that that I came into contact with so-called Anglo-American pop music. At first I started to gravitate towards American hip-hop, like Wu-Tang Clan and Naughty By Nature, and I learnt to smoke at the age of 12 and became a problem child at school. I often skipped classes, hung around downtown, got piercings and beat up my posh classmates, and my mum was called out for it (laughs).」

(laughs). So it was during your rebellious period, when you went from a simple country boy to a delinquent, that you encountered pop music. But despite being a delinquent, you were smart enough to get into the prestigious Oxford University's English Literature Department in a single shot. What kind of bands/artists drove you to music, even after dropping out of such an elite course after just one year? 「After hip-hop, I started going deeper into bands like Skinny Puppy, Butthole Surfers, Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and maybe early Nirvana. It was around that time that I started getting interested in playing guitar and started playing shows with Jack (drums) in local bands.」

I remember that in the band you and Jack used to be in, Edmund Fitzgerald, you played guitar rather than vocals. 「Yeah, the Oxford scene at the time was full of so-called 'Math Rock' bands, which were experimental bands for the sake of experimentation, and we then formed Foals and started playing guitar. When we started writing songs with vocal melodies and choruses, we started getting shut out of the scene because people were like, "You're messing with low-class pop music". After that, I got out of the local scene and even moved to Brighton with the band for a while.」

Is "Mathletics" perhaps a sarcastic reference to the math rock that was prevalent in the Oxford scene at the time? 「(laughs). Maybe. It's a song about the ridiculous snobbism of the youth culture, represented by rock bands and the like, when they take themselves too seriously.」

Now let's talk about the specific songs on the album. "The French Open", which opens the album, refers to the famous tennis tournament? 「Yes, specifically the song was inspired by Andy Roddick (US professional tennis player). He's so good, but he always ends up second best in the most important matches, doesn't he? He lost the Wimbledon title to Roger Federer two years in a row. This is a song about losers. I don't know why I'm attracted to imperfect people and expressions like that that are somehow unfulfilled.」

What I found interesting about your lyrics was that for someone who used to study English literature at a top university, you didn't have an overtly 'literary' style. Is this intentional? 「Yes, because it's quite funny to see someone in a pop band pretending to be a literary person. I still like literature myself, but I don't want to bring that kind of pretentious style into pop music. So I personally try to concentrate on the visual imagery and describe it rather than the emotion of the song itself. I didn't put this band together to write about my daily grumblings about how I broke up with my girlfriend or how I'm having these problems.」

What kind of writers/poets fit your sensibilities, incidentally? 「I still like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams.」

You like the poets of the so-called early 20th century US modernist and imagist school. And more to the point, I recently saw the music video for 'Cassius' on your MySpace, and once again I held my head in my hands and groaned (laughs). What does that bizarre visual image of a mass of meat hanging from the ceiling, swinging around, symbolise? 「That lump of meat is the heart of a cow.」

I understand that, but I wonder how that image is connected to the song 'Cassius'? 「You know that phrase in the lyrics, "The wind is in, the wind is in my heart"? That's the image that came to me. 」

Ah, so that's why your heart is swinging in the wind. I'm starting to get a feel for it. Foals' songs often feature 'mysterious' motifs that rarely appear in ordinary pop songs, and the rhythms and song structures themselves are 'non-traditional', not unlike those of ordinary rock bands. In such circumstances, surprisingly beautiful, so to speak, "melodies and phrases rooted in traditional pop" can appear unexpectedly in unexpected places. Especially "Olympic Airways", "Tron" and "Red Socks Pugie". Where does this unexpected 'pop sensibility' come from? 「It probably comes from our non-techno side, where we like a more melody-oriented type of music too. I personally like Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, and I still listen to them a lot, and all of us like bubblegum pop with clean choruses and hook lines. It's that kind of thing that made us decide to disassociate ourselves from the local math rock scene, which rejects all of those elements, in the first place.」

You yourself commented earlier that the local Oxford music scene is "full of experimental bands for the sake of experimentation", but what you are trying to do with Foals is to be an antidote to this "elitist consciousness of the British indie tradition" and "to be an experimental band that is also popular"? 「Yes. I think it's fair to say that this kind of anti-climatic attitude towards the soil and trends that used to shape our musicality was one of our creative motivations. I think that's probably why our music still has a certain strangeness and complexity that is outside the usual pop song formula. There are still remnants of the way we used to form our band in that kind of soil. We really want to shake it off, but we can't because we're like the creators of it, and that's exactly what you're talking about, the "snobbism/elitism of the English indie tradition". Oxford, in every sense of the word, is a place where that kind of old traditional British temperament and culture is still there in an obvious way. It was the perfect target for rebellion.」

So, when you titled your debut album Antidotes, was it also meant as an antidote to all the 'bad traditions' that are prevalent in the UK and the national scene? 「Hmmm…………… I personally think the title is more about 'healing' in a broader sense.」

'Healing'? 「Yes, it's more like self-healing. One of the purposes of this album was to create a place and a sound world where people can heal and eliminate the toxins that have become distorted or deviated from their true selves as a result of living in this real world. How does it sound to the listener? How would the listener hear or perceive it? We can't even imagine how it will sound or be perceived by the listener.」

Translator's Note: In my previous post, when I said that there's more that this particular issue of ROCKIN'ON (May 2008) has in its pages, this is one of them.

I've never listened to Foals before, but I translated this interview article because I know one or two of my mutuals who love Foals a lot and show their love of it on my dashboard, so I decided to scan and translate this so that they'll enjoy something that comes from Foals' debut album era. So if you see this, please enjoy it :)

[black-arcana]

EPICA's SIMONE SIMONS Releases Music Video For Second Solo Single 'In Love We Rust'

EPICA singer Simone Simons has released the official music video for her second solo single, "In Love We Rust". The track is taken from her debut solo album, "Vermillion", which will be made available on August 23 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Simone, who has been a pioneering force within the world of metal for over two decades as part of EPICA, worked on "Vermillion" with her musical partner and longtime collaborator Arjen Lucassen (AYREON).

Arjen is no stranger to Simone's soaring operatic voice, one that can stir even a gargoyle's stone heart to tears. Together they have crafted a sonic universe that befits the influential figure she is. "Vermillion" emerges as a gargantuan goose-bump generator, a universally touching, stellar tour de force.

Simone and Arjen state about "In Love We Rust": "The video was filmed in just one take to keep it as pure and raw as possible. We opted to keep it in black and white so as not to distract from the song or the performance.

"'In Love We Rust' is quite different from our first single 'Aeterna', which shows how diverse this album is. This is one of our favorite songs. We hope you love this as much as we do."

For more than 20 years, ever since she was a teenager, Simons has been carving her own path as a woman within the world of metal. As a lead singer, icon, and role model for a whole generation of female metalheads, the EPICA lead singer remains one of the most prominent key figures in all things metal. After eight albums and countless global tours with her band, Simone Simons finally found the time to release her first solo album — a moment 15 years in the making. Her breathtaking debut "Vermillion" is a stunning feat chronicling her storied past as well as her rise to fame, and showcasing her many different influences ranging from prog rock to film scores to metal to electronic elements.

Of the timing for her eagerly awaited foray into the realms of a solo career, the Dutch singer says with a disarming grin: "EPICA has my priority and I always have the liberty to do other musical projects besides my career in EPICA. Yet I never had the time to dive into a project to this extent."

When "Aeterna" was first released a month ago, Simone and Arjen stated: "'Aeterna' is the big, epic opener of the album and it comes with this amazing video too, directed by Patric Ullaeus. It definitely sounds the closest to EPICA and AYREON, blending powerful Latin lyrics with a touch of an oriental feel. We've tried to strike a balance between the mighty, bombastic sounds and the more atmospheric parts. Since it's the first track people will hear from this album, it's super important to us and we're really excited for people to hear it!

"'Aeterna' takes the point of view of a star about to go supernova to explore how everything in the universe is interconnected, like a cosmic web made from stardust. It deals our deep emotions, consciousness and other mysteries of life that science still can't fully explain. Essentially it's a reflection on our place in the vast universe and the connections that bind us together, as we're all, to quote Carl Sagan, 'made of starstuff.'"

"Vermillion" track listing:

01. Aeterna 02. In Love We Rust 03. Cradle To The Grave (feat. Alissa White-Gluz) 04. Fight Or Flight 05. Weight Of My World 06. Vermillion Dreams 07. The Core 08. Dystopia 09. R.E.D. 10. Dark Night Of The Soul

This past March, Simone told Mexico's Summa Inferno that EPICA's follow-up to 2021's "Omega" album will likely be released in 2025.

"I love the songs so far that we've written," Simone said. "There's more [songs that have been written] than fit on the album. So it's gonna be cool. And we won't tour that much this year. So we are focusing on the EPICA album and the 'Symphonic Synergy' shows [where EPICA will play alongside an orchestra], which is a lot of work."

In November 2022, EPICA released "The Alchemy Project" through Atomic Fire Records. The EP was co-written and performed with diverse guests ranging from extremists like FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, Niilo Sevänen (INSOMNIUM) and Björn "Speed" Strid (SOILWORK) along with melodic masters like Tommy Karevik (KAMELOT),keyboard legend Phil Lanzon (URIAH HEEP) and Roel Van Helden (POWERWOLF) to a once-in-a-lifetime song with Simons, Charlotte Wessels and Myrkur.

Just one day after the release of its anniversary reissues "We Still Take You With Us" and "Live At Paradiso", EPICA celebrated 20 years of existence live in September 2022 at 013 in Tilburg, Netherlands, the same place where they played their first show (supporting ANATHEMA) back in 2002.

EPICA was formed by guitarist/vocalist Mark Jansen after leaving AFTER FOREVER in 2002, and the band quickly gained attention outside their home country, taking big steps towards becoming the leading symphonic metal superpower they have long proven to be. After their ambitious debut "The Phantom Agony" (2002) and the surprisingly eclectic sophomore work "Consign To Oblivion" (2005),the road took them to new heights via their first concept masterpiece "The Divine Conspiracy" (2007) and their global breakthrough "Design Your Universe" (2009). 2012's opus "Requiem For The Indifferent", 2014's bedazzling "The Quantum Enigma" and "The Holographic Principle" (2016),cemented their reputation as not only one of the hardest-working metal bands in the business but also as one of the best. With "Omega", the final part of the metaphysical trilogy they began with "The Quantum Enigma", they reclaimed the throne without so much as the blink of an eye, amassing three million-plus streams during the first week of the album's release.

[psychedeliclush]

( INFORMATION AND EXAMPLES OF EACH GENRE UNDER CUT )

NOISE ROCK !

Artists: Sonic Youth, Melt-Banana, Big Black, The Jesus Lizard, Boris

Most popular Era: Late 80s

Basic definition: Noise rock is a genre of music known for its abrasive and dissonant sound, characterized by extreme distorted guitars, feedback, and unconventional song structures (commonly associated with no wave). Rooted in punk and experimental music, noise rock pushes the boundaries of traditional rock music by incorporating elements of noise and avant-garde soundscapes. Bands in this genre often prioritize raw energy and intensity over polished production, creating a chaotic and rebellious experience for listeners.

Song examples:

POST PUNK !

Artists: Joy Division, Television, The Cure, Magazine, Talking Heads

Most popular Era: Late 70s - early 80s

Basic definition: Post-punk is a genre of music that emerged in the late 1970s, following the initial punk rock explosion. It combines the raw energy of punk with elements of art rock, electronic music, and funk. Post-punk bands often veer towards darker and more complex themes, both musically and lyrically, than their punk predecessors. The music is known for its dissonant chords and rhythmic intricacies. Some key bands associated with the post-punk genre include Joy Division, Gang of Four, The Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. It's commonly associated with the rise of other sub-genres, such as gothic rock, no wave and synthwave.

Song examples:

[strawberry-s0ap]

literally no one asked, but if anyone’s looking for video essay recommendations, here’s a list of some of my favs! there’s some iceberg videos in there too :))

literally anything by thafnine (especially ‘the world of five nights at freddy’s)

the quiet sadness of mario galaxy - jacob geller (11:17)

how midsommar brainwashes you - acolytes of horror (27:31)

the rise and fall of girls go games - izzzyzzz (25:01)

the path: psychological horror in the woods -izzzyzzz (1:07:54)

an exhaustive look at pokemon omega ruby - ShayMay (7:15:29)

why you get spooked from 4th wall breaks - Daryl talks games (18:15)

why you should watch disturbing horror movies - super eyepatch wolf (25:18)

the silent hill everyone hated - totallypointlessTV (1:05:27)

the silent hill everyone really hated - totallypointlessTV (1:07:43)

silent hill: the full series retrospective - yourfavouiteson (8:45:16)

how media scares us: the work of junji ito - super eyepatch wolf (22:53)

the feminist horrors of jennifer’s body, teeth and a girl walks home alone at night - elle literacy (32:48)

the bottom of the rabbit hole iceberg - parallel pipes (1:30:11)

the aquatic anomalies iceberg explained - wideeyedwiseguy (40:55)

the desire to be sad: “tragically beautiful” art and romanticizing mental illness - oliSUNvia (35:09)

how hollywood demonizes ultra-femininity- shanspeare (13:34)

the crime of being basic, the illusion of being unique- shanspeare (27:28)

a deep size into the path - izzzyzzz (40:02)

the video game hoaxes and rumours iceberg explained - sourcebrew (1:11:46)

hitogata: japans most mysterious PSA - blameitonjorge (24:44)

the mariokart wii iceberg, explained: supercut edition- seedButter (1:06:35)

why ace attorney is a classic- nezumiva (3:36:08)

Saki Sanobashi - The Lost Deep Web Anime (Go For A Punch) - pezle (30:03)

the most disturbing anime you’ll never see - blooky. (16:46)

the rise and fall of america’s next top model - elle literacy (1:19:07)

the manga that lies to you - schnoz meister (36:07)

the best bad game ever made - totallypointlesstv (1:28:25)

a comprehensive history of internet horror - Redlyne (43:48)

silent hill called to me - liam triforce (2:08:06)

guitar hero and rock band retrospective - liam triforce (1:10:01)

i care very deeply about mario kart - liam triforce (1:36:03)

nintendo ds retrospective- liam triforce (51:51)

super mario galaxy- an impossible masterpiece- liam triforce (53:52)

super mario sunshine is… weird (and i love it) - liam triforce (1:01:51)

super mario 64 - more than a game - liam triforce (1:51:17)

digital horror:rebirth of creepypasta - sagan hawkes (2:35:39)

so, what’s up with don’t hug me, im scared? | an analysis- sagan hawkes (1:12:16)

the lost media of creepypastas - blameitonjorge (35:58)

the complete history of horror movies- magikarpusedfly (2:27:29)

a complete history of the A button challenge- Bismuth (5:22:14)

the complete cursed image creepypasta iceberg explained - Sacrow (2:51:41)

a lot of these are horror based, so sorry if that’s not your thing!

[kpoptimeout]

K-Pop Debuts and Comebacks for the Second Week of September 2024 (Sep 9 - Sep 15 2024)

Sep 9

BOYNEXTDOOR - Nice Guy

Rising boyband BOYNEXTDOOR drops a fun and vibey track!

MADEIN - UNO

143 Entertainment's rising girl group with Mashiro and Yeseo comebacks in this refreshing and youthful electropop performance!

NCT WISH - Dunk Shot

The NCT Japan Boys drops a Korean release.

Xdinary Heroes - iNSTEAD! ft. YB

JYP's resident rock band collabs with Korean rock legend Yoon Do-hyun of YB in this metal comeback!

Sep 10

naevis - DONE

SM's AI idol naevis drops a mysterious EDM track.

Sep 11

Yein - Dance with me

LOVELYZ's Yein releases a soothing city-pop track!

Sep 12

BAEKHO - NUTTY NUTTY ft. Jessi

Baekho drops his viral Waterbomb collab with Jessi featuring GABEE's dance performance!

RESCENE - New World

Promising girl group RESCENE continues their recent comeback promotions in this cute and laid-back performance!

Yang Da Il - about you

Vocalist Yang Da Il returns with his sweet vocals!

Sep 13

No releases.

Sep 14

Loossemble - Confessions

The 5 members of LOONA under CTDENM drops this RnB-infused dance pop track!

Sep 15

No releases.

What is your favorite song of the week?

[guitarlessonsbobbycrispy]

40 Rock Songs, 3 Chords Guitar Lesson: 1) Rock Around the Clock - Bill Haley and the Comets 2) Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys 3) Hound Dog - Elvis Presley 4) Surfin' USA - The Beach Boys 5) Kansas City - Fats Domino 6) Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry 7) The Last Time - The Rolling Stones 8) Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry/The Beatles 9) 409 - The Beach Boys 10) Twist and Shout - The Beatles/Phil Medley and Bert Berns 11) Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan/Gun's N Roses 12) Wild Thing - The Troggs 13) Bad Moor Rising - CCR 14) Gloria - Van Morrison 15) Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan 16) Bye Bye Love - The Everly Brothers 17) Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon 18) Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash 19) What I like About You - The Romantics 20) Old Time Rock and Roll - Bob Segar 21) I'm Gonna Be - The Proclaimers 22) Down on the Corner - CCR 23) The Joker - Steve Miller Band 24) All Shook Up - Elvis Presley 25) Midnight Special - CCR 26) La Bamba - Ritchie Valens 27) Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins/Elvis Presley 28) In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry 29) Tutti Frutti - Little Richard 30) Keep Your Hands to Yourself - Georgia Satellites 31) Goin' Up the Country - Canned Heat 32) Sloop John B - The Beach Boys 33) Crossroads - Robert Johnson/Cream 34) Long Tall Sally - Little Richard 35) Cover of a Rolling Stone - Dr. Hook 36) Great Balls of Fire - Jerry Lee Lewis 37) Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash 38) Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves 39) Spirit in the Sky - Norman Greenbaum 40) Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin

[steampunkforever]

In film the concept of "style over substance" is a tricky one, because this is in a visual medium where leaning wholly into "style" is artistically viable, and often encouraged.

Famed director Wes Anderson gets pinged for being "style over substance" for this very reason. The entire "brand" he commands is hyperstylization, and the substance of the characters, plots, and his films often use the more two-dimensional character work to hyperstylize further. This contributes to basically any center-framed pastel filter shot on instagram getting marked "Wes Anderson Aesthetic," but analysis of the philosophy and deployment of Anderson's visuals clearly demarcates a line between "style over substance" and "style *becoming* substance." Which is to say that the style/substance argument is still viable when applied to Anderson, but is not in fact the silver bullet for categorizing every film he's made since the Life Aquatic.

In contrast, the film Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a more concrete, if nuanced example of true "style over substance," but this time thanks to studio meddling, not due to the single-minded pursuits of a twee auteur.

The movie itself is solid. Performances from very young Diane Lane and Laura Dern are spot on, visually the film looks great (minus some unconvincing cinematic rain), and its message of girl power is tempered in its saccharine messaging by the nuance of Diane Lane's character arc. Art at least the nuance of her arc right up until the end, which was ruined by the studio.

The Fabulous Stains are a girl group led by Diane Lane's Corrine "3rd Degree" Burns, a 15-ish year old girl made famous by quitting her job as a fast food worker on national television, now leading young punk girl group to fame and infamy. She's immensely unlikable in an interesting way that I appreciate, and balances the fact that 15 year old girls suck with a performance that eschews the annoying child actor trope. It's well written and well delivered, and tells a tale of the rise and fall of punk rock. The ending just renders it hollow.

This is a film about ego and making it. The start of the movie has the Stains opening for a washed up glam metal band whose bassist, the only member of the group with true talent, overdoses in the ladies toilet. This is the way of the rocker. You will hit the height of your fame one day. It's all downhill from there until you finally meet your demise. A sellout. Uncool. Old. The rocker's death gives the Stains their big break but also foretells Corrine's demise. All those cigarettes will catch up to her one day. And at the end of the movie The Stains must pay the piper.

Except they don't. You have the studio to thank for this. They wanted a happy ending, and threw out an engaging evil woman narrative for-- I kid you not-- an MTV music video. The struggle for fame, fortune, and artistic ethics is wiped away in favor of a message that boils down to "if you fail to keep your artistic integrity in the face of success you can always sell out." Which feels much emptier than what the first half of the film was setting us up for. With the substance gutted the film becomes solely style.

That said, it's a much better girl band film than Josie and the Pussycats or that one Jem and the Holograms movie with Hayley Kiyoko. Plus the sanitized ending gave us the inspiration for that one Ex Hex music video. Despite what it could have been, it's a solid film for some casual viewing.

[jesus-is-lord-and-savior]

1 O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth!

2 Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!

3 O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?

4 They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.

5 They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.

6 They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;

7 and they say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive."

8 Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?

9 He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10 He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge-

11 the LORD-knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.

12 Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

13 to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14 For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage;

15 for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

16 Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?

17 If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.

18 When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.

19 When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

20 Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?

21 They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.

23 He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.

(Psalms 94, ESV)

[graveyarddirt]

The punk rock treat that tricked its way into the heart of punk rock fans everywhere in 2017 returns with a brand new volume of Halloween-themed songs recorded by modern and legacy bands!

01. The Vandals - Curse Of The Unripe Pumpkin 01:55 02. Down By Law - Buried Alive 02:24 03. Pulley - Grim Grinning Ghosts 03:00 04. The Queers - Down In The Shadows 03:20 05. Tsunami Bomb - Dead Man’s Party 03:38 06. Reagan Youth - (It’s A) Monster’s Holiday 02:22 07. The Casualties - Pet Sematary 03:06 08. Amber Pacific - Calling All The Monsters 03:45 09. Ship Thieves - I Think Of Demons 02:48 10. The Members w/John Perry - Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps) 04:41 11. Black Valley Moon - Return Of The Ghost Of Johnny Ramone 02:45 12. The Vibrators - Wolfman Howl 02:33 13. Dave Smalley & The Bandoleros - Don’t Fear The Reaper 03:20 14. Punchline - Ghostbusters 04:07 15. MDC - Zombie Love 04:11 16. Shattered Faith - The Omen 02:11 17. Splinter - Werewolves Of London 02:34 18. Starving Wolves - The Number Of The Beast 04:24 19. Chief State - Zombie 03:28 20. The Spears - Hallowmean 01:44 21. Parasites - The Killing Moon 03:10 22. Unsteady Heights - People Who Died 05:33 23. Walter, Etc. - I Remember You Loved Halloween 02:25 24. Slap Of Reality - Bad Moon Rising 02:25 25. The Widows - Curse Of The Hearse 02:31 26. Bankrupt - Jason Ruined My Halloween 02:39 27. Down And Outs - Killer On The Loose 02:59 28. Johnny Thunders - In Cold Blood 02:29

* Listen to/purchase: PUNK ROCK HALLOWEEN II - LOUDER, FASTER & SCARIER, by Punk Rock Halloween