#Alex Cunningham

[zegalba]

Pawel Pysz for Vogue China (2011) Set Design: Alex Cunningham

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Opel Commodore B Cunningham Special, 1976. A second generation Commodore Coupé prepared for Alex Cunningham who was Director of GM's overseas operations and General Manager of Adam Opel AG. In addition to the bodywork modifications the car was fitted with an Irmscher built 2980cc Opel straight-6 engine with triple Weber 45 carburettors, tweaked suspension and Recaro seats. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 10, Number 5

Arab Strap

It’s lovely out. The lilacs are in bloom. The weather is warm enough to make a sweater/sweatshirt/coat redundant, and the bugs are swarming happily all over the garden. And yet, here we are, inside, ear buds in place, music on high, because however nice the weather, what if we missed something? What if, you, our readers missed something? Well, fear not, because we’re back with another set of short, impassioned reviews. Scottish lifers obsessed with their phones, South African jazzmen nearly forgotten, mumbling rappers, untethered improvisers—it’s all here for you. What, you were going out? Too nice to stay inside? Well, okay, it’ll be here when you get back.

Contributors include Ian Mathers, Justin Cober-Lake, Ray Garraty, Bill Meyer, Bryon Hayes, Jonathan Shaw, Andrew Forell, Christian Carey, Alex Johnson and Jennifer Kelly.

Arab Strap — I'm totally fine with it 👍 don't give a fuck anymore 👍 (Rock Action)

Even more surprising than this Scottish duo’s perversely triumphant return a few years ago is that in 2024 Aidan Moffat is writing more about the internet than about cheating and booze. (He’s still writing about those things too though, don’t worry.) Less shocking is that his laceratingly keen eye is no less effective when turned on his own relationship with his phone, or the way women are treated by the “fathers, husbands, sons and brothers” around them as soon as the deniability of a screen is in place, or the psychology of someone who turns to QAnon. And not just technology; with songs addressing those who’ve never recovered from the early-pandemic hit to their ability to go outside and those capitalism leaves to die in solitude, this might be the least relationship-y Arab Strap LP to date. Malcolm Middleton roughs up their sound again to match the bruised, heartfelt brutality of Moffat’s subject matter and the result is one of the most simultaneously empathetic and unsettling records from a band who’ve never been short on either quality.

Ian Mathers

Bad Nerves — Still Nervous (Suburban)

For their second album Still Nervous, punk rockers Bad Nerves take their ready-made formula and just amp everything up. Everything's loud and fast; the band clearly descends from the Ramones, but they've gone more manic. They secretly mix in flourishes of power pop. Underneath all the ruckus, they have a knack for catchy melodies, guitar solos and even vocal harmonies. Then Bad Nerves rough up the pop elements to make sure their disaffection comes through with enough spite to keep everything properly punk. The record does little to vary mood or tempo, but it doesn't need to. The band does one thing, but they excel at it. The Strokes comparisons the band's received mostly work, but the lo-fi production keeps everything sounding as if it's in an actual garage. “Plastic Rebel” offers a youthful rampage, bubble gummy enough to touch on Cheap Trick, but continually plowing forward. The Essex quintet closes the album with “The Kids Will Never Have Their Say,” an evergreen sentiment for the young and irritable. The point doesn't break new ground, but it's beside the point. Bad Nerves tap into something long running and rush the tradition on with plenty of verve and a hint of bile.

Justin Cober-Lake

Conway the Machine — Slant Face Killah (Drumwork \ EMPIRE)

If it wasn’t for Conway’s name on the copy to the album you’d think this was a long solo producer tapes with 40 guests on it, each mumbling about something nobody’s interested in except for the mumbler himself. It is not an exaggeration: it really lasts more than an hour, has close to 20 guests (depends on how you count) and even though Slant Face Killah is produced by a dozen of people the beats all sound the same. If it already sounds awful even for the diehard Conway fans, grip for the worst part of it. It ain’t even worth the trouble to skip all the tiring guest verses for the Conway verses because they are not good anyway. A total failure.

Ray Garraty

Alex Cunningham — Rivaled (Storm Cellar)

Remember October 2020? The time of still-subdued traffic, no shows and a looming election? Rivaled is an artifact of that moment. Nowadays, Alex Cunningham is an intensely active improviser, based in St. Louis but active all around the middle of the USA. Back then he was stuck at home and moved to make some noise. “Faith” and “Void” offer two paths to obliteration. The former is pretty plugged in, with electronic effects and appropriated radio noise turning Cunningham’s violin into a full-on electrical storm. The latter is unreliant upon electricity, but maybe even more dogged and savage. Originally released as an edition of 20 cassette, Rivaled is now a CD with a bonus remix that mashes both tracks together, both vertically and temporally, like a piggybacked highlights reel. Of noise relaxes you, you’ll want this close at hand when the next election rolls around.

Bill Meyer

Dun-Dun Band — Pita Parka Pt. 1: Xam Egdub (Ansible Editions)

Dun-Dun Band is an all-star cast of characters comprising some of Toronto’s most creative musicians and led by musical polymath Craig Dunsmuir. Dunsmuir is a shape shifter, trading guises and styles for decades: a guitar loop conjuror known as Guitarkestra, a purveyor of mutant disco vibes alongside Sandro Perri in Glissandro 70, a welder of minimalism, dub, and avant-garde weirdness as Kanada 70. His Dun-Dun Band collects members of Eucalyptus and Badge Époque Ensemble along with stalwarts Colin Fisher, Karen Ng, Josh Cole and Ted Crosby. Pita Parka is the group’s debut on vinyl and features three extended cosmic jazz jams that fuse multi-horn interplay to African-inspired polyrhythm. The music slyly winks at 1970s fusion but is more akin to that of modern ensembles such as Natural Information Society. The extended nature of the pieces allows the reedists to stretch their lungs and roam around, and for the rest of the ensemble to engage in creative interplay. Pita Parka is a stellar offering from some of Toronto’s finest players and one of the city’s most inquisitive and inventive minds.

Bryon Hayes

Roby Glod / Christian Ramond / Klaus Kugel—No ToXic (Nemu)

The three participants in this session are all veterans of middle European jazz that’s free in spirit, if not always in form. Bassist Christian Ramond and Klaus Kugel are from Germany, and soprano/alto saxophonist Roby Glod is from Luxembourg; their collective cv includes work with Kenny Wheeler, Ken Vandermark and Michael Formanek. Online evidence suggests that they’ve played together as a trio since 2015, which explains their easy rapport and nuanced interaction, but this is their first CD. Freedom for these folks means having the latitude to linger over a tune or to settle into nuanced timbral exchanges, but if you carded them, they’d all have jazz driver’s licenses. This music swings, often at speed, which is a very important aspect of their shared aesthetic; the excitement often comes from hearing Glod invent intricate, evolving lines that are lifted off by fast walking bass lines and kept in the air with light but insistent cymbal play. While the album is named No ToXic, the sheer pleasure of hearing these guys lock in could truthfully be labeled counter-toxic.

Bill Meyer

Göden — Veil of the Fallen (Svart)

Longtime listeners of death doom will recognize the name Stephen Flam, guitarist and co-founder of storied band Winter whose Into Darkness (1990) concretized the subgenre in the US; the record was great, and still is. For his recent work with Göden, Flam has dubbed himself “Spacewinds,” and his bandmates follow suit, with stage names that are equal parts risible and ridiculously gravid: vocalist Vas Kallas performs as “Nyxta (Goddess of Night)” (those parens seem to be her idea…) and keyboardist Tony Pinnisi appears as “The Prophet of Göden.” Okay. This reviewer’s inexhaustible appetite for Winter’s slim output disposes him to think kindly of Flam, and there’s nothing especially terrible about Veil of the Fallen — but that’s only because there’s nothing all that special about the record. The sound of the title track is appealingly austere, and the NyQuil-chugging riffs of “Death Magus” are sort of fun. But any listeners hoping for flashes of the inimitable, awesome awfulness of Winter would be well advised to recall the meaning of inimitable. Not even Flam, it seems, can provide a convincing replica of those energies and textures.

Jonathan Shaw

Mick Harvey — Five Ways to Say Goodbye (Mute)

Former Birthday Party and Bad Seeds member Mick Harvey looks back at his life on his autumnal new album “Five Ways to Say Goodbye.” Although he contributes only four original songs, his skill as an arranger and interpreter reaches its zenith. Harvey imbues his own and others’ songs with intense emotion that never tips into melodrama or histrionics. Augmenting his acoustic guitar with evocative string arrangements which provide counterpoint and color to his lyrics “When We Were Young and Beautiful” may be the finest song he has written; poetic in structure, elegiac in feeling, Harvey faces his past with dispassionate empathy for lost friends and acceptance of where he is now. His version of David McComb’s “Setting You Free” locates a Faustian menace in the song, using the strings to carry the dynamic thrust and emphasize the turbulent ambivalence of the original. “Like A Hurricane” becomes an intimate, piano ballad. By changing the tense from present to past and stripping the song of its rock roots, Harvey creates an emotional impact missing from Neil Young’s original. On “Demolition” Harvey replaces Ed Kuepper’s funereal drums with an off-kilter drum machine that clatters like an old projector to evokes the disconnections inherent in the lyrics. Harvey’s treatment of songs from The Saints, Lee Hazelwood, Lo Carmen and Marlene Dietrich are beautifully rendered. A wonderful summation of Harvey’s often underrated talent and an album that deserves a wider audience.

Andrew Forell

I Like To Sleep — Bedmonster’s Groove (All Good Clean Records)

This combo from Trondheim, Norway started out bridging the sound worlds of Gary Burton and Sleep. That’s a canny move if you’re looking for relatively untrodden ground, and as it turns out, a successful one. On Bedmonster’s Groove, which is album number four, the trio has dialed back the heaviness; you won’t hear a power chord until the beginning of side two. Instead, they have taken a turn towards experimentation. The microscopic applications of filters and effects give confer a variable glitter to Amund Storløkken Åse’s vibraphone, squeezable padding to Nicolas Leirtrø’s six-string bass, and some texturable variety to Øyvind Leite’s drums, which are all shown to good effect by some lean grooves and uncluttered melodies. Åse has also added some instrumentation; synths flicker and swirl in the empty spaces, and a mellotron heads a deliberate charge towards prog territory.

Bill Meyer

Kriegshög—Love & Revenge (La Vida Es un Mus)

Throughout the long existence of Kriegshög, it’s been customary to identify the band as a d-beat act. Love & Revenge is Kriegshög’s first release since 2019 and only its second LP in their (at least) 16 years of playing in and around Tokyo. Prolific, they ain’t, but the music is always worth waiting for. On this new record, the band rolls back the pace a bit and amps up the crusty, metal textures. Less squall and rampant chaos, more muscle and riffs that roll up in well-worn biker leathers — but all those qualifiers are relative. There’s still a raw edge to the production (if that’s the term we want…); the bass is laced with so much fat crackle that you’ll want to fry it and eat it. Sort of fun that one of the most volatile tunes on Love & Revenge is titled “Serenity.” Make of that what you will, but don’t spend too much time thinking about it. You’ll miss the next couple songs.

Jonathan Shaw

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard and Quatuor Bozzini — Colliding Bubbles: Surface Tension and Release (Important)

Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard is a composer based in Copenhagen. On his latest EP he joins forces with the premiere Canadian string quartet for new music, Quatuor Bozzini, to create a piece that deals with the perception of bubbles replicating the human experience. In addition to the harmonics played by the strings, the players are required to play harmonicas at the same time. At first blush, this might sound like a gimmick, but the conception of the piece as instability and friction emerging from continuous sound, like bubbles colliding in space and, concurrently, the often tense unpredictability of the human experience, makes these choices instead seem organic and well-considered. As the piece unfolds, the register of the pitch material makes a slow decline from the stratosphere to the ground floor with a simultaneous long decrescendo. The quartet are masterful musicians, unfazed by the challenge of playing long bowings and long-breathed harmonica chords simultaneously. The resulting sound world is shimmering, liquescent, and, surprising in its occasional metaphoric bubbles popping.

Christian Carey

The Ophelias — Ribbon EP (self-released)

Ribbon is stormy, scathing and often quite beautiful. “Soft and Tame,” the EP’s emotional center, is all three. It begins wistfully: easy acoustic guitar strums and Andrea Gutmann Fuentes’ layered violin, nostalgic and close to sweet. Vocalist Spencer Peppet also starts slow, talking us through the aimless sensory motions of missing someone – “the sun on my cheek/as I walk around/I pick up a pear/I put it down/the radio plays a song we loved.” It doesn’t take long, however, for the skies to darken and the scene to become bleaker. By the line “the hollow sound/my jugular makes as it rolls around,” Mic Adams’s foreboding drums and a percussive creep of electric guitar have stalked in. And by the time Peppet has shown us “an overturned bus on the highway,” heard a“tornado warning” and told her subject to “stay the fuck away” for the second time, the band has built to a blown-out, climactic frenzy, the violin finding operatic heights over mammoth cymbal crashes.

In her review of The Ophelias’ last album, Crocus, Jennifer Kelly described Peppet as sounding “like she’s tilting her chin up and squaring her shoulders.” Likewise on Ribbon, where the band seems resigned to but also quite prepared for a fight. If “Soft and Tame” is aimed to knock “love in southern Ohio” down for good, then “Rind,” the final song, may tell us why they’re in the ring at all. At a brief break in the dynamic, flowering arrangement — it could be a particularly bucolic Magnetic Fields instrumental, especially in Gutmann Fuentes’ spry riffs — Peppet bursts out, “There you go!/On tour with my hometown friends/fucking score/they must have all forgotten!/Look back at what I tolerated.” There’s more to the story, but Peppet pulls back from the fray, settling things ominously: “to name it/makes your life/a little complicated.” Whatever “it” is, The Ophelias seem to have landed their punch. I don’t think I’ve heard more cutting, triumphant “Oohs” than those that end the song and Ribbon’s multifaceted fury with it.

Alex Johnson

Paperniks — Oxygen Tank Flipper 7-inch (Market Square)

Jason Henn is a master of catchy psychedelic punk. Honey Radar, his highest profile outfit, has unfurled a constant stream of hook-laden gems for well over a decade. Paperniks is his newest guise, a solo home recording project that amplifies the Guided by Voices meets Syd Barrett vibe of Honey Radar and doses it with nuggets of guitar noise. This tiny slab of wax is the sophomore Paperniks outing, following a single-sided lathe cut that strayed toward the clamorous edge of the octopus’s garden. On display are a pair of tunes that bear a striking resemblance to Honey Radar. “Oxygen Tank Flipper” is a groovy dose of psych replete with a catchy riff and a roller coaster bassline. Handclaps up the catchiness factor, as does Henn’s honey sweet sigh. “Essex Poem Dial” is a punky, garage-inspired tune. Henn’s reverb-soaked vocal hides inside the propulsive guitar chime. A noise interlude leads to a mellow vignette that slowly fades away. Paperniks showcases Henn’s boisterous side, and the music is certainly engaging, so hopefully there are more songs on the way soon.

Bryon Hayes

Ribbon Stage — Hit with the Most (Perennial/K)

Ribbon Stages hits the giddy sweet spot between punk and pop, their raucous guitar-drums-bass racket pounding on sweet, wistful little songs. The mixture varies with some cuts veering into the snaggle-toothed dream pop of, say, the Jeanines, while others rage harder and more dissonantly. “Stone Heart Blue,” the single, pulls the drums way up in the mix and lets distorted guitars and murmured vocals do battle attention behind them. The result is an uncanny balance of urgency, angst and solace, which is exactly what you want from pop-leaning punk. “Hearst” pushes slashing tangling guitar racket up to the foreground, letting a billowing squall spill over crisp drums and shout-sung vocals, while “Sulfate” lets a sighing romantic croon loose over boiling lavas of rock mayhem. Nice.

Jennifer Kelly

Rio Da Yung OG — Rio Circa 2020 (Boyz Ent)

This is exactly what the title says: a compilation of Rio songs stashed on the label’s HDD, no more, no less. No filler but no hits either. The tape has a “Circa 2020” feel to it, reminding us of when Rio did what he wanted with no shades of doom hanging over the songs. It’s unlike the music he wrote after the trial when he knew he had to do some time. There’s a little bit of everything in here: three songs with RMC Mike, two tracks featuring Louie Ray, a song on a Sav beat, a song on an Enrgy beat and a song on a Primo beat. Yet it’s hardly enough to last us until Rio is free.

Ray Garraty

Spirits Rejoice—S-T (Fredriksberg)

Spirits Rejoice! by Spirits Rejoice

A remastered reissue of a 1978 recording, Spirits Rejoice captures boundary-crossing South African jazz scene, which touches on fusion, rock, funk, soul, disco Latin and African sounds. The ensemble includes some of that time and place’s pre-eminent jazz musicians, Sipho Gumede of the fluid, loping bass lines, breezy, insouciant reeds-man Robbie Jansen, South African pioneering percussionist Gilbert Matthews, keyboardist Mervyn Africa and a very young Paul Peterson on electric guitar. The music is ebullient and clearly tilted towards pop accessibility, and the gleaming sheen of 1970s often dilutes its heat and fury. This is especially true on “Happy and in Love” which could double as a lost Earth Wind and Fire cut. Elsewhere, though, as in “Woza Uzo Kudanisa Nathi,” fervid polyrhythms, tight squalls of sax and an exhilarating call and response light up the groove, fusing African chants with a swaggering samba rhythm. And “Papa’s Funk,” is just what it sounds like—a slithery, stuttery, visceral bass-led swagger that bubbles and smolders and twitches in a universal funk.

Jennifer Kelly

Various Artists — GmBH: An Anthology of Music for Fashion Shows 2016 – 2023, Volume 1 (Studio LABOUR)

GmbH: An Anthology of Music for Fashion Shows 2016-2023 Vol. 1 by Various Artists

LABOUR is a multimedia project of Iranian musician Farahnaz Hatam and American percussionist/composer Colin Hacklander. Based in Berlin, the duo has collaborated widely and eclectically to produce soundtracks for sustainable, underground fashion house GmBH. This compilation collates 12 examples and showcases a variety of work from an international roster of artists including Iraqi-British oud player Khyam Allami, Turkish born DJ Nene H, Kuwaiti musician Fatimi Al Qadiri, American performance artist MJ Harper and Indonesian noise duo Gabber Modus Operandi. The thread that runs through all this is cross pollinations between genre, geography, and chronology. Allami’s oud plays against LABOUR’s electronic washes and synthetic percussion with each element emphasizing and interrogating differences in modality and structure. On “White Noise” LABOUR contrast a 16th century harpsichord piece with static and effects dissolving into a robotic club beat which ends up evoking a cyborg Hooked on Classics. Their collaboration with Harper on the spoken word “ablution” is a reflection on love, religion, and abnegation with elements of gospel, eastern and creeping doom ambience. The Anthology has much of interest but is essential for Belgian composer Billy Bultheel’s “YLEM” featuring German countertenor Steve Katona who soars incandescent from a backdrop of industrial grind. The contrast between earthly weight of the music and radiant purity of the voice is breathtaking.

Andrew Forell

Vertonen — taif’ shel (Oxidation)

taif' shel by Vertonen

Give the Oxidation label credit for radical truthfulness. One of the bummers of our time is the frequency with which folks on BandCamp and elsewhere will call a short-run, blue or green-faced disc a CD when they are selling you a CD-R. Oxidation, on the other hand, is named after the process that will eventually render its products unplayable. On to the sounds. Vertonen is Blake Edwards, who has been working around the edges of sound for over 30 years. On taif’ shel, he displays absolute mastery over the combination of collected, electronically generated and carefully edited sounds. His skill rests on three qualities; knowing where to place sounds, knowing how long to let them carry on and having some pretty good ideas about which ones to use in the first place. He can make a drone of infinite (but never unnecessary) complexity, or punctuate flipping film-ends with a precisely situated, never repeated sequence of chops and splices, to name just two examples found on this impermanent but thoroughly rewarding disc.

Bill Meyer

Villagers — That Golden Time (Domino)

That Golden Time is Villagers’ sixth album. The Conor O’Brien led project presents its most eclectic outing to date. A number of the songs are afforded pop treatment, consisting of memorable tunes and gentle, polished arrangements. The double-tracked vocals on “First Responder” is a case in point, about a relationship fragmenting while the singing coalesces, an interesting tension. “No Drama,” initially pared down to piano and O’Brien’s laconic vocals, eventually adds a coterie of Irish traditional instruments. “Keepsake” veers closer to mid-tempo electronica, with overlaid synth repetitions and treated vocals. The title track employs sustained violin lines, played by Peter Broderick, and an intricate form with supple harmonic shifts. “Brother Hen,” on the other hand, recalls the folk influences present from Villagers’ beginning. The diversity is diverting, even though That Golden Time feels like a collection of singles instead of an album statement.

Christian Carey

[burlveneer-music]

Cunningham / Nguyen / Shiroishi - Basket of Knives - free jazz from a violin/percussion/sax trio (Astral Editions)

ALEX CUNNINGHAM - Violin & Effects THOM NGUYEN - Percussion PATRICK SHIROISHI - Alto Saxophone & Effects Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Ryan Wasoba Art by Dylan Marcus McConnell

[ianchisnall]

More MPs concerned about Fire Services on Wednesday

More MPs concerned about Fire Services on Wednesday

Back on Monday there was a call from Mary Kelly Foy who is the Labour MP for Durham (so one of the North East MPs) for funding for Fire and Rescue Services across the whole of the UK which she submitted in an Early Day Motion document. The document can be obtained from here and on the same day that she submitted it Zarah Sultana who is the MP for Coventry endorsed it. The following day another…

[goodsirs]

One last thing, a... formality. A loyalty oath. We need you to sign it.

3 Body Problem 1.07 "Only Advance"

[realllllmew]

3 Body Problem

[mrfartpowered]

I view Howard in much the same way as Alex from Stardew Valley. he’s a much better person if he’s gay

[finald-pug12345]

Final Destination All Stars

Made By Me

Cast:

Alex Browning

Kimberly Corman

Wendy Christensen

Nick O'Bannon

Sam Lawton

Clear Rivers

Thomas Burke

Kevin Fischer

Lori Milligan

Molly Harper

Carter Horton

Eugene Dix

Ian McKinley

Hunt Wynorski

Peter Friedkin

Terry Chaney

Rory Peters

Erin Ulmer

Janet Cunningham

Candice Hooper

Billy Hitchcock

Kat Jennings

Julie Christensen

George Lanter

Nathan Sears

[alex-the-bringer-of-chaos]

The teens/young adults - my Stranger Things hcs

Argyle (he/any)

Intersex, Aporagender, Pansexual and Ambiamorous.

In a semiship with Eden. In a wavership with Jonathan. Polyaffective with Nancy.

Barbara "Barb" Holland (she/her)

Cis girl, Lesbian grayace and Mesoamorous.

Was in a passionate friendship with Nancy. Had a wavership with Robin.

Chrissy Cunningham (she/fae)

Demigirl, Omniromantic abrosexual and Monoflexible.

Dated Jason. Had a crush on Eddie.

Eddie Munson (he/they/it/xe)

Neurogender genderpunk, Amarity and Amatopunk.

Had a crush on Chrissy. And, if you want, had a crush on Steve.

Eden Bingham (she/any)

Fluidflux, Pomosexual and Gamyflux.

In a semiship with Argyle. Polyaffective with Jonathan.

Jonathan Byers (he/him)

Cis boy gnc, Bisexual and Divisuamorous.

Dating Nancy. In a wavership with Argyle. Polyaffective with Robin.

Kali Prasad (she/her)

Agenderflux, Enbian and Relationship Anarchist.

In a quoi-distinguishable relationship with her gang - the outcasts.

Nancy Wheeler (she/they)

Cis girl, Biromantic heterosexual and Divisuamorous.

Dating Jonathan. In a wavership with Robin. Polyaffective with Vickie and Argyle. Was in a passionate friendship with Barb. Dated Steve.

Robin Buckley (she/her)

Cis girl, Lesbian (canon) and Monogamous.

Dating Vickie. In a wavership with Nancy. In a qpr with Steve. Polyaffective with Jonathan. Had a wavership with Barb.

Steve Harrington (he/him)

Cis boy, Heteroflux and Monogamous.

In a qpr with Robin. If you want, had a crush on Eddie. Dated Nancy.

Vickie (she/fae)

Cis girl, Bisexual (canon) and Syndeamorous.

Dating Robin. Polyaffective with Nancy. Dated Dan.

Other hcs

The party and other "kids"

The adults

[m-0-lly-x]

It's been a while, rc9gn tag. Spiced up Alex's wardrobe this time =D

[bigdumbbambieyes]

cute hanningrove winter imagines 🍦🩰🖤

for my favourite enabler @aleksaidraws

☃️ the sharp little gasp Chrissy makes when Billy cups her face with his cold hands after coming in from a cigarette, grinning down at her as she pouts up at him

☃️ Steve cuddling up to Billy’s warm back after the blond has long since fallen asleep, feeling him scoot back against him with a sleepy sound

☃️ Chrissy’s pink cheeks and nose as she waits outside her house for Billy and Steve to pick her up, smiling when the Camaro finally pulls up and she climbs into Steve’s lap because she’s freezing

☃️ ‘Mitten Exchange’: the each have a pair of mittens and give one to the other two, so Chrissy has one from Steve and one from Billy, Steve has one from Chrissy and one from Billy, and Billy has one from Steve and one from Chrissy. It’s a tradition they start doing every winter.

☃️ the mistletoe at Steve’s front door has seen more kisses between them than any other; gentle pecks, lingering lips on a cheek, lips brushing shyly, familiar tongues licking at bottom lips.

☃️ they go ice skating on a random weeknight and Billy pretends to not have a sense of balance (c’mon he was a surfer) just so he has an excuse to hold Steve and Chrissy’s hands at the same time.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 8, No. 11

We like Patrick Shiroishi so much, we covered him three times. 

Once more we gather round the Dusted table (which is imaginary), giving thanks for all we’ve received and preparing to overindulge. We binge not on pie or stuffing, but music, noise rock and free jazz improvisation, black metal and distorted cello, synthesizer-altered violin and Michigan shoegaze, and we have a triple helping of Patrick Shiroishi, because, why not? Contributors include Patrick Masterson, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers and Bryon Hayes. God bless us every one.

Chat Pile — “Tenkiller / Lake Time” (The Flenser)

Hear those lurching, filthy tones in the background of the official trailer for indie horror movie Tenkiller? See the kid with the skateboard’s shirt? “Are you scared?” Well, if you’re a fan of Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile and not a fan of twang, maybe you should be given the b-side to The Flenser’s latest cassingle that excerpts two cuts from the film’s official soundtrack — all of which Chat Pile is responsible for. The eponymous a-side is far more in the expected vein of what the band most recently (and successfully) pulled off on God’s Country over the summer, but “Lake Time (Mr. Rodan)” is akin to how The Men opted out of harsher noise-rock territory for the breezier spaces of countrified/country-fried jangle. “This is gonna be fun,” says a character toward the end of the trailer. And doesn’t it feel that way when these guys are involved? Yeehaw!

Patrick Masterson

 Cunningham / Nguyen / Shiroishi — Basket of Knives (Astral Editions) 

Basket of Knives by Cunningham / Nguyen / Shiroishi

This cassette documents the first-time convergence of three busy American improvisers from as many time zones. Drummer Thom Nguyen lives in Asheville NC, violinist Alex Cunningham resides in St Louis MO, and alto saxophonist (this time, anyway) Patrick Shiroishi is a Los Angeleno. But they were definitely in the same space when they made this recording, tuning into each other’s idiosyncratic improvisational approaches. Nguyen’s body-blow drumming draws on heavy rock parameters, but retains the suppleness of free improvisation, and the other two make judicious use of effects to warp and broaden the resources of their respective instruments. On the final track, it’s hard to say exactly how Shiroishi makes the sounds that he makes, but the vocal quality of his contributions combine with a drizzle of gong and cymbal tones to impart a ceremonial air.

Bill Meyer

 Epectase — Nécroses (Frozen Records)

Nécroses by Epectase

<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=332432060/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://epectase.bandcamp.com/album/n-croses">Nécroses by Epectase</a></iframe></p>

Epectase’s terrific 2018 LP Astres was a continuous sequence of surprises and near-comic transitions, few of which should have worked and nearly all of which did: for example, from a recognizable variety of contemporary black metal to Southern-boogie guitar heroics, in a span of four minutes. This new record dispenses with those wacko ambitions and imaginative leaps, in favor of a much more consistent sound. It’s black metal, it flirts with a proggy cosmiche aesthetic and it mostly goes hard. On the LP’s closing track “Nécrose,” the more focused intensity is quite effective, issuing in a song that builds and thrills. But by that point, the record has already logged 34 minutes, including a scenery-chewing, goth-infused opening (full of pronouncements like, “Something calls my soul, a sacred truth / A divine black land,” delivered by what sounds like a young Francophilic Vincent Price) that’s hard not to giggle at. While the wide-open, pranksome environment of Astres could absorb that sort of thing, the more gravid sensibility of Nécroses sags under its weight. When guitarist Titouan le Gal is given space to riff and solo, the record cooks, but the histrionics fail to entertain.

Jonathan Shaw

 Lori Goldston—High and Low (SofaBurn)

High and Low by Lori Goldston

You probably think of the cello as a mellow, well-behaved instrument, its voice rich, autumnal and grounded. Well, Lori Goldston would like a word, because her cello, deployed for everyone from Kurt Cobain to Mirah to David Byrne, is an altogether unrulier beast. It’s prone to fevered moans and frantic saws, to intervals of peace bounded by wild scratch improvisations. She plays the cello like Paul Flaherty plays the saxophone, like she maybe wants to break it. High and Low captures her in full, mutinous form, slow moving but agitated in the long, freewheeling dissonances of “Real and Imagined,” taut and vibrating with unease in the whorl of “Crossing Over Place,” forthrightly mournful in the closer “We Miss You.” “Moss on Rock” is quite possibly as rock as a cello can ever be, buzzed with distortion and haunted with voice-like overtones and clattering with drums (that’s Danny Sasakie). Long live the disrupters, especially when they play orchestral instruments.

Jennifer Kelly

Raquel Gonzalez — Sonic Creations For Violin And Lyra (Trouble In Mind: Explorer Series)

Sonic Creations For Violin And Lyra by Raquel Gonzalez

The modern-day music obsessive may not be nourished by tunes alone. Recognizing that, Trouble In Mind has instituted the Explorer Series, a cassette sub-label devoted to figures on the fringe of sound shapery. Previous instalments have delved into drone, fingerstyle guitar, and home electronics. Raquel Gonzalez is a Chicago-based violinist and software engineer, but this electronic music recording is framed as a dialogue between two pieces of hardware. The titular lyra is not the ancient Greek stringed instrument, but the Lyra-8, an “organismic” synthesizer. Put crudely, the device has a mind of its own, and Gonzalez’ efforts to influence its output, either by playing the violin into the thing or tuning its knobs, are more conversations than acts of absolute control. One can hear the actions of bowing and knob-turning shaping the sounds, but there’s also an unruly quality to the resulting fizzes and buzzes that can be attributed to the synth doing what it’s going to do. For maximum effect, pop this tape into a safe-but-aged boombox, and feel the fuzz.

Bill Meyer

 Greet Death — New Low EP (Deathwish Inc.)

Michigan shoegazers Greet Death’s 2019 record New Hell (which some of us got to a bit late, ahem) was a strikingly hard-edged and bleak example of the form, with the extended workouts of the title track and “You're Gonna Hate What You've Done” leaving particularly deep bruises. As you might guess from the title of their new EP, their first as a quartet after adding Jackie Kalmink on bass, that bleakness hasn’t lessened a bit here. The surprise is that even as songs like “Punishment Existence” and “I Hate Everything” refine the mordant despair that makes Greet Death so distinctive (the band definitely makes music for listeners who can identify with lines like “I remember feeling relatively fine / part of me that died”), musically this new EP registers as much gentler than before, maybe even… pretty? Whether it’s the deceptively bright surge of “Panic Song” or “Your Love Is Alcohol”’s dissipated beauty, the result makes wallowing for 20 minutes or so feel more appealing than ever.

Ian Mathers  

 Party Dozen — The Real Work (Temporary Residence Ltd.)

There’s a lot of different directions you can take a sax-and-drums duo, and the Sydney-based Party Dozen (Kirsty Tickle on saxophone, Jonathan Boulet on drums and sampler) have gone with a decidedly aggro one, as is evident as soon as “The Iron Boot” opens their third LP by kicking the listener in the face. This tight, noisy 35 minutes doesn’t lack dynamic range though; in addition to ragers like “The Worker” and “Major Beef” they deftly handle the noir-ish atmospheres of “Earthly Times” and lost 1970s horror soundtrack vibes on the closing “Risky Behaviour.” Even when they bring in Nick Cave for a brief, Birthday Party-style cameo at the end of the raucous “Macca the Mutt” one of Australia’s most indelible performers kind of just folds into the duo’s assured and frequently abrasive sound. It’s hard work, but they’re very good at it.

Ian Mathers

 Pile — “Loops” (Exploding in Sound)

Don’t let the professionally shot video and polished studio overdubbing of “Loops” fool you: Rick Maguire’s still one of America’s best songwriters, still a musician capable of contorting rock conventions amid weathered lyrics and his band’s formidable backing chops. What at first sounds like it’s going to be on the thrashier side of the quartet’s oeuvre instead mutates a different way, holding steady as a sludgy midtempo rocker that adjusts for Maguire’s slurs and soars (“Tell me, are you being honest? / ‘Cause they deserve the truth from you” he stretches out toward the end) before an almost elegiac outro hinting at a whole other solo interpretation that might, in fine Pile tradition, be the best part of the whole thing. Tracked and mixed almost a year ago now, All Fiction will see a release in February; anyone with an iota of sense ought to be excited for it.

Patrick Masterson

 PinkPantheress — “Do You Miss Me?” (Warner Music UK)

Gemma Victoria Walker broke out of the TikTok trenches with the featherweight “Pain,” but her self-christened "new nostalgic" sound that amounts to wistful bedroom dance-pop akin to Air France, Doss, Clairo, Sally Shapiro or Doja Cat when she's being coy without the pyrotechnics is slowly cohering, as evidenced by “Do You Miss Me?” The template of sneaking in a couple of verses before a hummable chorus that she immediately backs away from is still here — that half-remembered feeling could arguably be the foundation of her whole ethos — but even at a slender two minutes, you get the impression this is something more fully realized, more thought out. Maybe it’s just that there are a ton of words packed into not a lot of space to Kaytranada and Phil’s muted yet insistent thump, all airy propulsion, all tension and longing. It’s clear she’s coming into her own, even if the baby steps make it harder to see at close range.

Patrick Masterson  

 Chris Pitsiokos — The Art of the Alto (Relative Pitch)

Art of the Alto by Chris Pitsiokos

Chris Pitsiokos approaches music from several directions, using a variety of tools. But his primary piece of hardware is the alto saxophone. The Art of the Alto is not his first solo recording on the instrument, but it is, as the title suggests, a window onto his efforts to move beyond being a guy who plays the horn into the realm of being an artist who makes statements with one. This is not an easy in 2022. Giants like Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell have already stomped giant footprints into the earth, and the self-aware artist knows that they stand inside the behemoths’ footprints. Pitsiokos also has an eye and ear on the work of non-alto saxophonists; in particular, one can hear the influence of Evan Parker upon “Shale” (all eight of this CD’s tracks are named after rocks). Pitsiokos may not be making unprecedented imprints upon the landscape, but he navigates the territory adroitly, ably connecting points of tone, contour, and rhythm like a navigator learned enough to know where the stars are on a given night without looking over his shoulder. The saxophone is his astrolabe, but his headspace confidently contains the star chart.

Bill Meyer

  Seawind of Battery — Clockwatching (Island House)

IH-001: Clockwatching by Seawind of Battery

Mike Horn, a New York City guitarist who has made music with Goldkey and Sunblinders, spins out radiant, slow-moving clouds of lingering tone and this first outing as Seawind of Battery. Melodies push forward shyly out of long, pensive drones, yet the mix feels light as air and unconflicted. In “Summer Hymn,” the notes hang on, so that what you hear is a blend of what has come before and what’s happening now. Still, there’s no murk in the mesh of tones, just a bit of ambient glow to them. “Levels” sets a trebly tremor on repeat, then ruptures it with muscular runs of electric guitar, giving the whole piece an aura of anticipation and immanence. This is an extraordinarily serene and lovely album, which spreads calm all around it. As is often the case, Clockwatching makes time stand still.

Jennifer Kelly

The Senders — All Killer No Filler: 1997-2001 (Left for Dead)

The Senders shared stages with punk and proto-punk legends like Johnny Thunders and Wayne Kramer, were friendly with Blondie and played all the clubs that birthed NYC punk rock, but they weren’t punk rockers. Instead, this ragged four- (sometimes five-) some played a feral sort of blues rock, stripped down and ferocious. Though it occurred at basically the same time, their music was utterly at odds with the big ticket blues rock of ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin. Phil Marcade, a Frenchman, led the band in a hoarse, incendiary growl and also played harmonica. Wild Bill Thompson played Chuck Berry-nodding riffs. Steve Shevlin, a former boxer, played bass and Marc Bourset drums. Some nights, Danny Ray blared on saxophone. The band covered blues classics like Howling Wolf’s “Killing Floor” and Fats Domino’s “I’m Gonna Be a Wheel,” and swaggering originals like “The Living End” with equal abandon. It was as raw as punk but bent like blues. This two-disc set captures the Senders in their late 1970s fury and, notably, includes previously unreleased live tracks with Johnny Thunders sitting in. The sound isn’t great, but the fire is unmistakable. A worthy, mostly forgotten chapter in New York City rock history.

Jennifer Kelly

 Patrick Shiroishi — Evergreen (Touch)

Evergreen by Patrick Shiroishi

Ed. Note: Due to some miscommunication and disorganization, we have two takes on this album.  Enjoy!  

Bill Meyer:

Throughout its 40 years of existence, Touch has carried itself more like a nexus of cross-platform, independent artistic practice than a record label. It has celebrated its 40th anniversary with a series of site-specific events, and not many artists have appeared at more than one of them. Patrick Shiroishi performed at two, in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and has followed up with this digital-only release. Best known as an improvising saxophonist, Shiroishi’s work actually spans several genres and explores concerns with relationships, social justice, and personal and national history. Evergreen represents Shiroishi’s reaction to the Touch catalog. Made mainly from field recordings made at Los Angeles’ Evergreen Cemetery, which is the resting place of several of his relatives, and slow-moving synth melodies, it projects an uneasy ambience. Periodically a sax or clarinet surfaces in the mix, giving a sharper focus to the music’s diffuse melancholy, but the source of the sadness only materializes near the end, in the form of a relative’s recollection of the trials that Shiroishi’s ancestors faced during World War II.   

Bryon Hayes:

Evergreen is Patrick Shiroishi’s debut for the UK-based Touch label. Here he’s dialing back his reed vibrations in favor of ambient emanations in line with the imprint’s oeuvre. The music treads a similar path to that of Across Water, a split release with Jessica Ackerley that arrived earlier this year, in that it is as subtle and eloquent as it is passionate and poignant. Shiroishi’s visits to the eponymous cemetery, in which generations of his family lay resting, yielded the field recordings upon which he constructed this lengthy piece. He augmented these with synths and additional recordings, as well as his voice, sax, and clarinet. There is a bivalent nature to this composition, as Shiroishi used both diurnal and nocturnal field recordings to form the emotional core of the music. The daylight half is airy and expansive, while the sunset brings harsher timbres along with it. Each of these modes carries with it a distinctive beauty, and together they demonstrate Shiroishi’s mastery of emotional expression through sound.   

 Heather Trost—Desert Flowers (BaDaBing)

Desert Flowers by Heather Trost

“Frog and Toad Are Friends” whorls and billows with euphoria, its giddy synths twining out like plastic tendrils, its vocals denatured to breathy “ahs” and buried back in the mix. There is no audible trace of Heather Trost’s other instrument, the occasionally melancholy violin. This hand-clapped, wordless tribute to a well-loved children’s book has a fantastical air, as does, indeed, the rest of this wide-eyed with wonder collection. Trost’s voice is high and calm and uninflected, a la Julee Cruise; she could be singing for children. “Blue Fish,” the one from the Flux Gourmet soundtrack, proceeds in a stately, harpsichord-ish fashion, its weirdness (which, by all accounts, echoes the film) subterranean, unconfrontational and unsettling. Trost works again with her husband and Hawk and Hacksaw Partner, Julian Barnes, to create tiny, glowing paradises that are just a little off.  

Jennifer Kelly

 Use Knife — The Shedding of Skin (Viernulvier)

Use Knife started out as a Belgian modular synth duo, but before this, their debut album, they met Brussels-based Iraqi musician Saif Al-Qaissy, who quickly became part of the band. The Shedding of Skin definitely still has plenty of that original focus on analogue, outsider electronic music, but a significant and successful infusion of influences, forms, and instruments from Arabic music gives the trip real distinctiveness and bite. Mixed at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango by Jerusalem in My Heart’s Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (who also plays buzuk and synth on the Coil-esque centrepiece “To Feed the Gentry”), the six songs here (including a brief, yearning reading of traditional song “Ed Wana Ed”) aim somewhere between the club and the experimental atelier, or possibly some kind of ritual space. The real success here is making music that feels like it would work equally well in any of those areas, even if you’re just listening on headphones.

Ian Mathers

 Yard Act Vs. Mad Professor — “Pour More” (Rough Trade)

Post-punk’s affinity for dub goes right back to Public Image Ltd.’s earliest experiments fucking around on Richard Branson’s dime (RIP Keith Levene), so there shouldn’t have been any shocked faces in the house hearing how Leeds’ Yard Act enlisted legendary producer Mad Professor to remix The Overload as The Overdub (natch). The latter — who’s worked with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly and Robbie, Sade and Massive Attack — gives “Pour Another” the dub touch by minimizing James Smith’s garrulous observations and emphasizing the rhythm section in a rework that wouldn’t sound out of place at a DFA party 20 years ago or upstairs at Eric’s 20 years before that. Available exclusively on vinyl through Rough Trade at the moment, but like everything else, that’ll surely change in due course.

Patrick Masterson  

 Yleiset Syyt — Toisten Todellisuus (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Toisten Todellisuus by Yleiset Syyt

This raucous compilation release from rousing punks Yleiset Syyt may have you flashing on 1984 — not for the street punk vibes (although you can hear some echoes of Oi! in this Finnish band’s sing-along choruses), more so for the thrilling realization that many 1980s kids (ahem) had upon reading the international scene reports in MRR. “Holy shit! There’s hardcore bands in Ljubljana! A-and in Helsinki!” Yep, still are, as this record evidences, and Yleiset Syyt are a mighty outfit. The band synthesizes some of the best elements of street punk, melodic hardcore and anarcho-punk, creating songs with hummable parts and lots of lose-your-shit moshpit moments. Toisten Todellisuus (roughly “the reality of others”) includes the band’s S/T EP from 2019 and Umpikujamekanismi from 2021, for 20 minutes of unstoppable punk energy. These Laplanders play fast and hard, providing as much pleasure as punishment in their tough tunes. Check out the killer guitar work in “Bileet Ohi” and the crazy great riffs in “Jatkuvaa Sotaa.” Punk’s not dead, America. Better listen up.

Jonathan Shaw

[pleasantpaw7-13]

Indie Multimuse RP Blog Felinia Muses Comic Made By Rainy-Bleu

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HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA:CHAPTER ONE (15)

HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA: CHAPTER 1 (15) Director: Kevin Costner Runtime: 3h1m Cast: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Owen Crow Shoe, Tatanka Means, Ella Hunt, Tim Guinee, Danny Huston, Colin Cunningham, Scott Haze, Tom Payne, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Will Patton, Georgia MacPhail, Douglas Smith, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jamie Campbell Bower, Alejandro Edda,…

[faofinn]

No. 15 "I don't need you to help me, I can handle things myself."

@whumptober-archive

Makeshift Bandages | Suppressed Suffering | "I'm fine."

Alex had laughed at Fao when he’d said he wanted to take Finn camping over the summer. She’d asked if Afghanistan hadn’t been enough for him, if the English summer was the extra level of suffering he craved. He’d told her to piss off, that it would be a nice holiday, something to enjoy. He had his house, they could camp there, swim in the lake, and there were always showers, and warm beds if the weather got really shit. They’d buy a big tent, Finn could bring Jess, and Fao even invited Hars and Marcus. They both had time off, and had agreed, though Hars grumbled if he got cold overnight he’d be going inside and nobody was stopping him. 

Sure enough they’d all driven down, hiked out to the camping spot next to the lake, and set up the big tent there, all cosy with airbeds and duvets. It was luxury compared to being on tour, that was for sure. Finn’s seizures were a worry, of course, but Steve had made sure they had the meds they needed, that plans were available if needed, and told them to enjoy themselves. After all, they had enough medics there to make sure he was safe. 

They were sat around the campfire that first night, looking up at the stars as they toasted marshmallows, listening to the crackle of the fire. Finn had brought his guitar with him, and his soft strumming broke the night air every so often as he tried to work out what he wanted to play.  

After a few hours just chatting and singing along to Finn’s guitar they all headed to bed, snuggling down under warm duvets. After a slap up breakfast the next morning, Fao insisted they at least go for a walk and enjoy nature. There were loads of footpaths leading off his land, and some of the walks had some amazing views. Alex teased him and told him he was turning into Fred, and Finn said the same, but Fao didn’t care. They were going to enjoy their holiday, and the countryside was perfect to unwind. 

Mornings were far from Harrison’s favourite, the air still cold and not quite fixed by Fao's breakfast. He grumbled half heartedly as he ate. Marcus was much more of a morning person, laughing at the state of his boyfriend. He'd never been to Fao's, and was quite excited to go explore, even if Harrison wasn't.

Food was packed, as well as drinks and Finn's meds - it seemed everyone had double checked that one - and soon enough they were on the trails. Harrison had brightened up, happily joining in the conversation as they went. Finn was slightly withdrawn as they picked their path, a little tired and worried he'd ruin it as he always did. Jess, of course, told him to stop being daft, linking their fingers and swinging their hands as a distraction. 

It didn't take long for Finn to start complaining he was hungry, so of course they had to stop for a snack. It was easier than listening to his complaining, that was for sure. Once Finn was happily chewing away, they continued, glad of the five minutes' peace.

Despite Finn’s grumblings, it was a nice walk, up into the hills and then down to the stream that cut through the land. They’d been going for a few hours now, and they were all in need of a rest, so Fao paused to sit on a large rock, digging around in his backpack for some water. 

Finn had been trailing behind, having been distracted by a butterfly on a plant, crouched close to the edge. He'd sent a few photos to his dad, knowing he’d love to see them too. On his way back, his stomach twisted, his phone falling from his hand. He shook his head, swearing softly. It wasn’t a full aura, just a partial, nothing to worry about, he was sure.

Finn’s quiet swearing had caught Harrison's attention, frowning at the other man too close to the edge. He brushed it off, assuming he was just being overly cautious. But then, he caught the look on his face, all too aware of Finn’s seizures - tonic-clonic or not, Finn was too close to the edge. He jumped up, rushing to grab him before he just walked off the edge. 

Finn made no move to stop himself, not even a frown as Harrison grabbed him. He pulled him away from the edge, Finn tripping over his own feet. He landed on his arse in the grass, dazed and disoriented. 

Harrison, however, wasn’t so lucky. Everything happened all at once, his ankle twisting as the edge of the riverbank gave way. He gave a surprised shout, hands scrambling at the side to try and stop himself from falling. It was no use.

A sudden stab of pain in his palm saw him lose his grip, blood immediately dripping down his arm. It wasn't his main priority for long, finding himself dunked under the cold water. Instinctively, he gasped, river water in his lungs making him retch and cough. Head under water, it took him a moment to realise what happened, forcing himself to try to kick to the surface. As his head finally raised above, Marcus's hand grabbed at him, dragging him to the edge.

Harrison collapsed onto his side, his whole body shaking. He continued to retch and cough, Marcus trying to help by smacking his back. It took him a moment to realise he was speaking to him, crouched by him with soft words and gentle hands. He gratefully leaned into him, closing his eyes. They were both wet, soaked through, but it was the least of Marcus' worries.

Fao and the girls had been just too far away from the edge of the river once they realised there was an issue, as everything fell apart and Harrison ended up under the water. At least Marcus had been close to him, and as Fao scrambled to his feet to get over to the edge he’d already hauled him out and onto the bank, Harrison coughing and retching at the water he’d taken in. Jess had gone straight to Finn, fussing over him where he was still rather confused. 

“Fucking hell.” Fao commented, moving closer to the pair. Harrison was pissing blood from a cut somewhere, too, and he looked shocking. “Are you hurt, Marcus?” He asked, eyes flicking over both men. 

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He said quickly. "Hars? Sit up a bit for me, yeah?" 

Harrison shook his head, surprisingly exhausted. He continued trembling, unable to stop himself. 

Harrison had properly shut down, Fao could see it in his eyes. He knelt in front of him. “Hars? Did you hit your head?”

He shook his head again. His throat was too raw to speak, and he wasn't sure he even had the energy to. He managed a weak smile as Marcus brushed his hair from his forehead, stopping the water from dripping in his face. 

“‘Lex, did you bring the first aid kit?” Fao called over his shoulder. His girlfriend dug around in their bag for it, and then shook her head. 

“Must’ve left it.”

“Fuck’s sake.” Fao muttered, and then pulled his t-shirt off over his head. “This’ll have to do, otherwise you’re going to bleed everywhere.” He paused, and then ripped a couple of strips from it with some difficulty. 

Harrison flinched away from him instinctively, turning into Marcus for protection. 

"It's alright. You're okay." He hummed, pressing a kiss to his hair. "Just relax."

“Sorry, Tomcat.” Fao said gently. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Can I have a look at your hand? That’s gotta be sore.”

Marcus took Harrison's arm, holding it out for Fao to sort. "You're okay."

“Thank you.” He murmured, glancing up at Marcus. “I’m gonna sort it, yeah? And we’ll look at it properly when we get back. He wiped the worst of the blood away as gently as he could, and then set about wrapping it tightly. It wasn’t ideal, but it would do for now. As he did it, he turned to look at his brother. “Jess? How’s Finn?”

It was Finn that answered. "I'm fine. I didn't mean for Hars to get hurt. I don't know what happened."

“Just an accident Finn, not your fault.” Fao told his brother. 

"Is Hars okay?" His voice wavered with guilt and worry. 

"Just a bit bruised, I think." Marcus replied, glancing at Fao. It was obvious Finn was blaming himself, and it wouldn't help anyone if they let it. 

“Bruised and dazed. He’s alright.” Fao told him. “Think we’ll head back to camp though.”

Harrison pulled away from the pair of them, turning away to cough and vomit. He instinctively reached for Marcus to steady himself, crying out as he used the wrong hand. 

“Careful, careful.” Fao said. “Maybe he did hit his head. We’ll keep an eye.”

Harrison shook his head, his back still to the pair as he retched again. He tried not to be sick, but it was no use, bringing up more water. 

"Swallowed it." Harrison managed, breathing heavily as he all but collapsed against his boyfriend. 

“Yeah, okay.” Fao said, wanting to reach out and comfort him but knowing it would just make him worse. “We’ll stay here a bit, let everyone get their breath back and then we’ll head back.”

Marcus wrapped his arms around him, holding him close. "We're okay, yeah? We're okay."