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slavghoul · 1 year

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Interview from Upset Magazine 6/2023

Words: Steven Loftin

Like an apparition manifesting within a dense fog, it was through radio static that Swedish rockers Ghost were formed. In the kindergarten he attended as a young boy, Tobias Forge found himself enamoured with the music crackling through the little toy speakers. From this point forward, he began picking apart the notes and melodies - his journey toward the lore and canon coming into focus as he sat, trying to figure out how this black magic could be summoned.

While it would be many years before he would don his garb as Papa Emeritus, the essence of what his future would sound like was being set through his exposure to a wide variety of music. If any proof were needed, just look to the impressive list of covers Ghost have put their ghastly mark upon, including 2016's 'Popestar' EP, which included the band's takes on Echo & The Bunnymen ('Nocturnal Me') and Simian Mobile Disco ('I Believe').

Ghost's latest EP is another covers bonanza. A five-piece offering of Tobias's backstory, 'Phantomime' plays out like a Greatest Hits radio playlist - a fitting throwback to Tobias' first dalliances with music. Of course, when a group more aligned to the metal/hard rock community bust out covers, including Genesis and Tina Turner, eyebrows are raised. To this reaction, Tobias scoffs. "In 1991, Genesis was one of the biggest bands on the planet! That was a huge hit. In the mid-80s, when I had an older teenage brother who rented every VHS movie that came out, of course, we saw the fucking Thunderdome, and that was a huge hit, and it's still being played on Swedish radio. It's an evergreen; it's not an eclectic choice at all," he declares. "I grew up listening to Stranglers because my brother liked them. What else do we have, Iron Maiden - I mean, are you kidding? I'm a metalhead!"

Originally conceived during the sessions for their fifth album, last year's 'Impera', there were two folders on his computer's desktop: one named 'Impera', the other simply 'Covers'. As the ideas for 'Impera' grew, Tobias would enter his usual routine of working on a cover or two. "At any point, when you lose a little wind in writing your own things, it's quite nice to say, 'Today let's go in and work on the covers'; you can choose anything you want, you can work on absolutely anything you want. And you don't have to finish it, you don't have to release it, you don't have to do anything, but just continue working."

He likens it to the freedom of being a theatre owner who, instead of trying to pen the next greatest Broadway phenomenon, opts to have a go at something already timeless and perfected.

"Maybe you're like, 'Okay, so this fall we're just going to do a reinterpretation of Hamlet instead, that's going to be fine, and that keeps everyone working, and that keeps a project moving along! And I find a similar thing with working on covers. So as I was writing "Impera', the covers folder was also growing exponentially and at a point. I had this idea that was going to be a full-length album."

With COVID restrictions meaning the original producer for 'Impera' was stuck in the US, Tobias had to source a replacement. It would be Klas Åhlund who stepped up to the plate. But, on one condition. "He was pretty upfront. He was like. Yeah, I only want to make the record; I don't want to work on covers," Tobias remembers "Fine, fine, fine, that's fine." he shrugs. "So, after the 'Impera' recording was done, I felt as if making a completely different, whole record again: I didn't have time for that. I didn't have the energy for that. But once I trimmed down the number of songs to only these five to make a very rocky record, it loosened up the screws a little bit for me in terms of like, "Okay, so now I know what the EP is going to be - it's going to be a full, full-throttle rock one."

Ditching some rumoured softer covers, including U2, Misfits, and Motörhead. 'Phantomime is instead a delectable slice of Ghost doing what Ghost do best: creating theatrically big rock. It's Tobias's mark upon some bonafide classics, including Iron Maiden's 'Phantom of the Opera' which feels as befitting to Ghost as it does seeing Papa Emeritus kick the bucket ready for his next iteration. While the focus was on creating this small dose of Tobias's musical DNA, it also served another purpose; to simply be "not very complicated." The project began with the mindset of "we can make this recording loosely - quick but stress-free - as opposed to making a record which is your hard fifth record that needs to live up to certain standards. So it was just a very inspired, very simple recording, actually."

After the complexities of 'Impera' which wound up requiring two studios simultaneously running in parallel "to be able to work efficiently" - Ghost was morphing into a taxing experience for the band leader, "It was just a bigger thing [and] way more stressful."

Deciding to strip that covers folder down to the five tracks, by all accounts, 'Phantomime was a measured and reserved effort. "It ended up being me, an engineer, and an occasional musician coming in and doing something. It was so much looser, so much more mentally Feng Shui," he smiles, relief glowing in his voice. "And I think that that reflected a little bit on the two different records. They're meant to be related - they are definitely related - they were made roughly in the same time, but they're completely different things."

'Phantomime' plays out like a ghoulish social commentary. Starting with a searing rendition of Televison's 'See No Evil, the journey traverses the scourge of Televangelism (Genesis' Jesus He Knows Me') with a delightfully-fitting NSFW video, the instant gratification humans require to feel (The Stranglers' Hanging Around"); the pull back into cruel reality (Phantom Of The Opera"), and the resulting undying hope from a degraded society (Tina Turner's 'We Don't Need Another Hero"). Each offering is bolstered with Ghost's dramatic, theatric rock licks and Tobias's powerhouse vocals.

With 'Phantomime' in the bag and the European leg of the 'Impera' tour imminent (Tobias is currently holed up in preparation), the idea of reflecting on how he came to go from a young boy listening to the static sounds of pop hits on the radio to orchestrating not only a feverishly adored band and its lore but finding the capacity to embrace his inner music nerd, couldn't be more timely. Tobias's relationship with music has always been one of intrigue. He's a pop songwriter with the ambition and ideas of a stadium rock band, which, in essence, explains perfectly why Ghost can sit in a unique, exponentially growing and expanding space.

"My earliest inclination of wanting to transform into something else was definitely Twisted Sister," he recalls. "You know, "I Want To Rock' and 'We're Not Going To Take It' - that was a huge record in 1984, and in 1984, I was three years old," he says. "My brother was 16, so everything that was going on pop-culturally amongst teenagers was happening in my home."

It was thanks to his brother that much of Tobias's relationship with music was formed. He's introduced him to various giants of the time, like tectonic plates being pushed around, impacting and shaping his musical landscape. Translating for young Tobias the attitude of punk at the time, as well as everything else that was 'in', he remembers, "When I was a kid, and he was supposed to babysit me, as a pacifier he would put me in front of [Sex Pistols mockumentary film] 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle"," he laughs. "And then when that was over, he would just switch to [X-rated cartoon] Fritz the Cat. And I loved that stuff, of course. That was as much [about] the expression and the attitude. Of course, I loved the songs, but it was also filtered or combined with big songs for me." Those big songs ("Men At Work 'Down Under'," he initially cites, "those sort of songs still have a unique place in my in my writing") would eventually entwine with his darker side that he'd explore as he grew older. "Whilst my whole adolescence was completely in the name of extreme metal, I always had a very soft spot for Top 40 rock and pop radio always," Tobias explains. "And I've listened to that all my life. So it's almost equal portions of Venom as it is anything. that was on the radio."

Also, witnessing shock and glam-rock bands explode intrigued Tobias. He became swept away in the idea that not only could you push a boundary to its absolute limits with convictions and over-the-top grandiosity, but you could do so with songs that quantifiably bop. But, as time has gone onto prove, it wasn't pop music that enamoured Tobias enough that he wanted to become a pop star. It's the mythology and mystery that has become his calling card.

Tobias remained an enigma under the disguise of an evolving form of the iconic Papa Emeritus (now in his fourth incarnation) until 2017, after a lawsuit from a previous iteration of his backing band's rotating cast, the Nameless Ghouls. Visual and video components to releases are often hoovered up by the fandom, stripped apart for meaning and potential. Instagram posts are referred to as a '[Message From The Clergy]" (a phrase later claimed for 2022's Best Of playlist), and lest it is forgotten, the Ghost 'Grucifix' - the prominent crucifix deconstructed into Tobias's gothic 'G' logo - which ties together the vision, religious imagery and satire that would become a core part of the Ghost experience.

His musical ambition and education colliding in the middle of his Venn diagram between dark metal and pop magic is thanks to the likes of the aforementioned Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P., as well as his teen years in the black metal community. "Their first record was also a huge impact in Swedish media," Tobias remembers. "There was this big sort of Satanic panic thing going on at the time in the fall of 1984. Where you had essentially all those things happening. You had Mötley Crüe 'Shout At The Devil', which came out a year earlier, and they were there because they toured with Iron Maiden in 1984, so there was a lot of focus on these shock-rock bands. I saw that as a kid, and I was immediately blown away - it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. And I think that that was the trigger that made me identify as that is how I want to express myself."

Decoding the songs he'd hear also became an integral part of that expression. "That was the only thing I did for years before I started writing my own songs." Recalling his time in kindergarten, they had a piano and guitar, which Tobias became infatuated with. Instead of playing with the other children, he would find himself enraptured, listening to the radio or flipping over whichever cassette happened to be loaded at the time. He would then imitate the sounds he was soaking up. "A lot of those early beginnings of how to learn and how I've learned how to understand music filters through everything I do now," he explains.

The early records he'd find himself trying to unpack included KISS 'Alive' and Pink Floyd's 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' - disparate matches, but undoubtedly Ghost fuel with hard rock melodies and psychedelic tendencies. "I had the first and the second Pink Floyd on a double LP that was called 'A Nice Pair'. And that's the shit that I sat and listened to and played guitar to," he says proudly. "That's weird music, that's really weird chord sequences and melodies that sort of went nowhere. And, that coloured me a lot in my vision of this is how you write a pop song. Of course, I knew more conventional writing as well. But I figured that this resonates with me, and I want to write more like that."

Tobias is the first to admit that the influence his musical exposure has had on him isn't the most straightforward. "For all the years that I was in bands, up until Ghost, basically when I was in bands not doing well, I got a lot of, I wouldn't say stick, but it was always like, 'You write weird songs, there's something weird about them, and it will never really become anything because it has that sort of weirdness to it".

As he grew, the songs he'd heard reflected this inherent strangeness he'd constructed. Before the days of mass formulaic pop factories, the music emanating from the radio abided by the strictest rule of needing to at least be approachable, but within these confines, artists of the 70s and 80s would push the envelope as far as they could. Citing Nik Kershaw's 'The Riddle' as one example, "Holy shit, if you would have taken that song and taken it to a chord structure masterclass amongst pop writers now who want to write songs for Miley Cyrus or The Weeknd or any of that sort of level they would say, no, no, no, no, that this will never work. It's too strange. It's too weird. You can't do that; it doesn't have the normal chord progression.

"There are a lot of songs from the 80s that are like that," he reckons, "compared to the now, more informative way of writing, the 80s was braver actually, and it worked well. And those songs are evergreens in a way that a lot of the top radio shit from seven years ago is forgotten, and that's the stuff that I grew up with when I started playing the guitar."

Having made that inner sanctum, he would enter kindergarten a reality, one where he can explore those recesses of his mind shaken by the musical earthquakes he experienced; now, he's matured and deeply entrenched in the reality. "Throughout the modern day of pop writing, I know a few professional pop songwriters, and we continue having these conversations because in pop," he says, "where some of them work prolifically on really high releases, they're like, it's strange how the business wants everything to be so informative. Everybody wants a weird song, but still, all the big songs are usually very, very formatted [and] very, very simple."

While unpacking the songs he'd heard back in the 80s offered Tobias a chance to comprehend what makes a good song, it, more importantly, helped him to set out doing it on his own. When digging into crafting a new Ghost number, Tobias explains that "each new song is a little bit like virgin territory with its own riddle to be solved, and is always a combination of the horror of maybe not solving the puzzle, with the thrill when you do. And it's never easy because each new song needs something new. And so you constantly need to feed your ability with knowledge about how other things are."

Breaking it down into a figurative example, he likens it to being like a detective. "I'm assuming that part of being a great detective is to constantly have an open mind, but also constantly learning about human behaviour and wha people do. If you just had 100 forensic classes, but you know nothing about people and how they live their lives, it's gonna be hard to solve crimes." The same rings true for writers who have to read to improve and further understand language, while comedians pull from real-life experiences - music is no different. Tobias's early days of stripping down songs to their basic parts and then rebuilding them have remained a constant endeavour. "But that's how you write songs as well; you go and absorb new things."

The covers process, as mentioned, is a release for Tobias. When things are stuck when trying to piece together a new chapter for the Ghost bible, a cover offers up a chance for something lighter. "Working on covers can be equally euphoric," he confirms, "because it's fun to understand a song whereas, on the other hand, it can be almost demoralising because you're like, I can't believe that this song is so much better than anything that I've written! And it's so much easier. It's so simple."

"I find myself overcomplicating things often, but you might not hear the complicated detour that I took to end up at the more understandable, straighter version that ended up being the actual recording," he continues. "That's a never-ending struggle because that's how it's supposed to be. It's not like you write the one song. I don't think I know anyone or know of anyone who's content with the idea of having written one huge song. And then you know, okay, that's nirvana for you. You don't write the one song the same way that if you're a comedian, it's not like, 'Oh, I just told the funniest joke. So now I'm done".

While Tobias is one for wanting to keep the ball rolling and on a constant endeavour to continue his musical evolution, he knows there's a limit. Every release of Ghost must have a purpose. Nodding to the 60s method of firing singles out on all fronts, eventually compiling them for a full-length release, Tobias acknowledges his relationship with his fans is based on a more long-term understanding. "That's not how we do things; we make an album, and off of that album, there are singles - it's a 70s/80s thinking. And I don't want to refrain from that - I don't want too many singles to be these autonomous little creatures."

But the world is different now. It's a Wild West where being in the masses' consciousness is key, so things may have to change for him. Admitting that right now, he knows he's post-release of Ghost's last canon entry, 'Impera', which arrived back in 2022, and while 'Phantomime' is a reasonable enough bridge, sooner or later, he's going to have to play the game of ensuring Ghost ramp up. Earlier this year, Ghost collaborated with Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on a re-release of 'Impera' cut 'Spillways' which, while a fantastic addition to their arsenal, adds to the same notion Tobias is fearful of. "I'm slowly preparing for making a new record that's going to come out in 2024, which is way too long for the current contemporary music climate; you need to be ever-present," the last phrase hanging in the air ominously.

That doesn't mean he has to lower his standards, however. No Ghost release will exist just for content's sake. Everything must have its place. He even reckons a 14-track album is "a lot of music", and he still sees an album as being "22 minutes of music per side" - true to form, currently, no standard issue of any Ghost album breaches 12 tracks. He's even ready to aim for the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles by swiftly lobbing a couple of spicy takes out. "Look, man, I don't even think that 'Exile on Main Street' is that good. Not even the fucking White album is that great - break it up! Both of those records would have been better if they were trimmed down to singular records."

That pop mind breaking through; Tobias is someone who knows that music is entertainment. Certainly, a medium which often leads to more bulky connotations, but it must entertain. It's why he doesn't pay any mind to those naysayers that yearn for Ghost to be more metal or to follow a different path. This is Tobias's game; we're just privy to the sermon. These days the floodgates are open and, when compared to previous decades, as Tobias remembers it, "you had to buy your own records. Whatever additional music you got, that wasn't maybe heard on the TV or the radio, when you took something from someone else, was usually a choice, so music styles could in some way be a little bit more insular back then just because you weren't subjected to as much." He mentions his beloved death metal as being a signifier of the changes happening. "Back in the day, when I was starting listening to extreme metal, that was completely embraced by a certain little subculture or group of mostly teenagers and 20-somethings. Whereas in the 2000s, when Vice started doing black metal reporting, all of a sudden you have indie personalities who were fans of Darkthrone, and so, obviously, what ended up that turned into this fusion, which was a positive and very natural thing."

This cultural shift is another reason Ghost's space is widening and its success growing. "Nowadays, people are a little bit more open," he admits. But, with this comes issues. "As time has progressed, metal and hard rock, as well as most genres that have been around for a while, [they've] gone from this youth culture to a conservative institution because so many of the fans are now aged." The passage of time waits for no one. But, more presciently for culture, it also means our understanding of what is 'good' and what should be where is moulded differently to when we were younger. "Unfortunately, that happens to most people regardless of who you were when you were 20," Tobias reckons, "or your ideals when you're like 40/50/60 years old. Your brain starts morphing into a slightly more conservative, slightly more nostalgic... You don't want things to change."

Tobias is the first to hold his hands up and admit the same has happened to him. He yearns for 1984 and even 1990-94. He would even be happy with 1987, back to those days with the crackling radio and a childlike spirit. "That would be so much cooler. I loved that way more than in this day and age. But I can't sit around and mope about that because it's not a problem that it's not 1987."

'Phantomime' is proof nostalgia can be a useful tool. It fuels with passion, and Ghost is Tobias's Neverland. "There's such a debate about what we are and why that is." Ghost are a band that, thanks to Tobias's musical education, transcend time. They exist on their own plain and with the evergreen, timeless sounds of yesteryear echoing around Tobias's head, long may Papa reign with his gloved melodic iron fist.

#the band ghost #tobias forge #interview #really good one 👍

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wvbaandtheboys · 9 months

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hi folks!! happy new year!! I’m Impatient ™️ so here, as a new years delight, have all the rest of the Branch A Pokemon descriptions/Pokedex entries I made :3

CW for graphic desc later on down the line!

Kaiser - Pumphund (The Firearms Pokemon)

Name derived from pump, the pumping motion of racking a gun’s slide (referencing the sfx in Kaiser’s contender fight) and the German word hund, meaning dog. A pure Steel type.

The second evolution of Kleinkuter, this Pokémon’s body rebuilds itself to create the form necessary for Pumphund. It is always billowing dark smoke from its mouth and ears as its body constantly burns fuel it acquires from its nutrition. The tail of a Pumphund is what allows it to utilize the storage of artillery within its body; when necessary, a Pumphund will wind up its tail to ready the mechanism, making a clicking sound. In one swift motion, it will move its tail downwards and open its mouth, unleashing a blast that will severely injure whatever is struck by it. If not eating or firing off its shells, a Pumphund will never open its jaws.

Despite the ferocious nature of Pumphund being quite frightening, this Pokemon can be surprisingly timid when not in battle. Trainers who own a Pumphund have said that the Pokemon tends to stay away from other Pokemon in their trainer’s care and refusing to interact with them, almost as if it were scared.

Disco - Frenzwatt (The Fluid Pokemon)

Derived from the word frenzy, periods of extreme excitement, and the term watt from electricity. A pure Electric type.

The second stage evolution of Groovolt, this Pokemon is renowned for its ability to dance. A graceful and animated creature, it loves to perform for and dance with other Pokemon. Even the most aggressive Pokemon can’t resist its infectious positive energy, hence wanting to and more often than not proceeding to follow suit with the dancing. When dancing, Frenzwatt’s curly fur on top of its head begins to progressively glow brighter and create sparks that fizzle as it moves. When threatened or needed to fight, Frenzwatt will weave through its opponent’s attacks and discharge the full force of the electricity stored in its fur that is powerful enough to shut down entire power plants.

This Pokemon is a positive influence for baby Pokemon and humans alike. As such, Frenzwatt is a decently popular Pokemon amongst older trainers with young siblings or children.

Hippo - Thalapota (Bearing Forme) (The Prosperity Pokemon)

Derived from thalassic, anything to do with the sea, and -pota from hippopotamus. A Water-Fighting type.

Thalapota is a Mythical Pokémon worshiped as a deity in the eyes of several adjacent islands in the South Pacific. It is said that it provided the islanders with conditions to survive, including sunlight, food and fire. Though it has rarely been seen in person by the residents, it is depicted to be adorned with different types of nourishment including fruits, marine life and protein. It is also said that though Thalapota appears to possess a cold expression and an air of royalty, it is incredibly merciful and will readily help any poor Pokémon or humans it finds. However, should any person bring disrespect or foul intent to the paradise Thalapota worked to prosper, it is rumored that it will swiftly punish them, and they shall become one with the land.

Thalapota allegedly possesses another form referred to as its Isle Forme. This form has been attested to existence by a group of islanders who set sail on a small boat one day on a fishing trip. In the midst of their trip, a fierce thunderstorm capsized their vessel. They claim that a mysterious mass of land suddenly rose up beneath them and lifted them out of the water, high above the vicious waves, carrying them back to their home. When one dared to peer over the side of the mass, they saw the face of Thalapota staring straight ahead.

Hondo - Lupushi (The Guarding Pokemon)

Derived from canis lupus, the scientific name for a wolf, and senshi, the Japanese word for warrior. A pure Fighting type Pokémon.

The evolution of the baby Pokemon named Koinution. The only known way for a wild Koinution to evolve into a Lupushi is for it to have its makeshift weapon, a thick branch, grow sharper through battles and training. However, it is also said that some Koinutions have been seen with a shadowy figure, resembling that of a much larger Pokemon than itself, waiting as the Pokemon sharpens their weapon for them.

Lupushi is said to be a wise and helpful Pokemon. It is spoken highly of by those who have traveled through woodlands. It is said that trainers and civilians alike who have encountered a Lupushi are always followed by it as long as they are in the woods, with the Pokemon politely leaving as soon as it has seen the person out. It possesses a frightening gaze beneath its headband that deters other Pokemon from attacking.

But, as docile as it typically is, it should be known that Lupushi are far more experienced sword users than their previous evolution. Its willpower prevents it from submitting to defeat, instead continuously and strategically attacking. Trainers who have attempted to capture a Lupushi have ended up having to flee after the Pokemon defeated their teams. However, those that have succeeded in capturing Lupushi say that it is quick to adapt to its new surroundings and grow bonds with its trainer.

Hugger - Mossardian (The Gentle Giant Pokemon)

Derived from moss and guardian. A Ground and Grass type Pokémon.

This Pokemon is said to be the reincarnated spirit of a kindly lumberjack that met an untimely demise in the forest. It is an overseer of all that goes on in the woods and a guardian of forest life. It is rather warm-hearted and friendly, known to assist lost people at night by comforting them with the voice of a loved one while guiding them through the forest. But, should one incur its wrath by bringing harm to the forest or its inhabitants, Mossardian will transform the offender into a small, defenseless Pokemon and leave it to perish.

The markings on Mossardian’s body emit a gentle glow that brings serenity to life around it. This Pokemon has never once been attacked before in the wild, having easily quelled the aggression of its foes. Mossardian is able to blend in with forest scenery thanks to the moss on its body, staying out of the sight of Trainers wanting to capture it. This Pokemon is hesitant to join a trainer on their adventure as they do not want to leave other Pokemon to potential harm in their absence.

Tiger - Dhundhather (The Astral Pokemon)

Derived from dhundhala, misty in Hindi, and ether, referring to the sky’s boundaries beyond the clouds. A Psychic and Ghost type.

This Mythical Pokémon is renowned for its immense power, being a common folktale shared amongst those who live in rural areas. It is said to only emerge during dawn and dusk, gracefully floating down from the clouds above. Those who are fortunate enough to witness Dhundhather gliding through their area are left with a sense of courage that lasts for hours, even days. However, those who have a face-to-face encounter with this Pokemon are blessed with good luck for an extensive period of time.

Dhundhather is especially revered in those places that are struck with natural disasters, as the fortune it brings along with it allows villages to recover swiftly. The empty hole on its forehead holds a plethora of different gems that marks the large artillery of power Dhundhather has. Being a misty animal-like apparition, the markings on its body begin to glow brightly with the selected gem color if it is on alert. Its spine and tail are adorned with jewels. Dhundhather itself does not seem to particularly show much emotion, being a rather poised Pokemon to encounter. Its regal like aura prevents other Pokemon from trying to attack it or steal the jewels on its back.

Don - Ferfuego (The Compassionate Pokemon)

Derived from fervent, displaying a strong passion, and fuego, the Spanish term for fire. (Literally means like “flames of passion.”)

Ferfuego is a Legendary Pokémon that has supposedly existed for over a millennium. History speaks of it preventing a series of world endangering events at the hands of human conflict and corruption. A tale that is often quoted said that when two forces were at odds with each other with hours remaining before a catastrophic war could be put into motion, a mighty chirrup was heard from the sky, from which Ferfuego fluttered down to the Earth for the first time. It radiated an aura of such intensity and compassion that it caused the congregation of fighters to weep uncontrollably.

Ferfuego is depicted as extremely loving and beloved by all living things. The few times Ferfuego was in battle, if it lost, though it would be upset for a while, would ultimately move on and strive to perform better. It is said to emerge in times of need, when humans become hostile towards other humans or other lifeforms such as Pokemon. As such, it has not been seen in decades. Its well cared for and vibrant plumage, while tempting to feel, is rather hot. Although Ferfuego is known to be very compassionate, breaking its heart has been observed to come with dire consequences. There was only one such occurrence in history where the effects of Ferfuego’s presence did not prevent a tragedy. In the end of such period, it is said that the Pokemon scorched the entirety of the settlement it took place in.

Aran - Gabbra (Buck Forme) (The Feared Pokemon)

Derived from gabhar, the Irish term for goat, and umbra, meaning the inner dark part of a shadow. A Dark and Fairy type.

Gabbra prances about the lands in search of trouble to cause. You will know when a Gabbra is near when you hear the chattering of its teeth, like chilling laughter. It takes a liking to frequenting hilly areas, targeting plantations and their farmers. Once it spots a plot of land, it will trample and uproot the crops, leaving it for the farmers to find. The soil Gabbra steps on allegedly becomes infertile, turning a desaturated hue and hardening like stone. Farmers have been forced to abandon from their old homes both in search of a new plantation and in fear of Gabbra attacking them, as there have been stories about the Pokemon doing so before in the dead of night.

This Pokemon always wears a smile on its face no matter the situation. It can also appear as other animal-like apparitions, altering its appearance for the sake of assisting itself in its mischievous agenda. Most commonly, it is seen in its Buck Forme. Beware a face-to-face encounter with Gabbra. If you have valuables on you, it will steal it and try to lure you into chasing it to get it back. Its arguably favorite thing to steal are Pokeballs. As such, Trainers who live in such areas where Gabbras roam are advised to stay away from the wooded areas, and if they need to go outside, to release a Pokemon from its Pokeball and take it with them.

Gabbra has 3 other forms: Jack Forme (a hare), Tom Forme (a cat), and Stal Forme (a horse). It is rumored to have an evolution, but none have been able to confirm this.

Soda - Slushzver (The Saccharine Pokemon)

Derived from slush, the term for slightly melted snow, and zver, Russian for beast. An Ice/Poison type.

Slushzver lives in the cold regions of the world. This Pokemon is made of a hardened material comparable to that of crushed ice used for slushies, one that requires the frigid conditions to properly flourish. It spends most of its day to day in solitude, as its large stature greatly frightens most that encounter it. The times that it emerges, it spends it helping those that have been trapped by the harsh elements of the cold, often digging lost Trainers and their Pokemon out of the deep snow.

Should any Pokemon decide to try and harm Slushzver, it has a defense mechanism: when attacked, this Pokemon will partially melt the part of its body being targeted. A chunk of its flesh easily comes off into a Pokémon’s mouth, or on its hand. The Pokemon will feel compelled to swallow it thanks to the sweet scent it gives off. However, this substance is extremely toxic: once it is ingested, the aggressor Pokemon will perish, bombarded with an overly sweet taste in their throat and their insides being frozen over.

Bull - Bruhaya (The Ruthless Pokemon)

(pronounced “brooh-hai-ya” lol)

Derived from brutish, and hayalet, Turkish for phantom. A Fighting/Ghost type.

Bruhaya is the reincarnation of a human who died long ago in a tragic event. This Pokemon is forever plagued with an intense rage, rising from the ground every night in restlessness. It is drawn to strong negative emotions, especially vengeance and grief. As such, Bruhaya may be spotted in places of tragic occurrences and graveyards. Its presence instills a horrible sense of dread into any near it. Despite its anger, Bruhaya does not attack unless provoked, seeing no need to commit unnecessary violence.

Bruhaya possesses fearsome horns on its head which it uses to fight. Once it is aggravated, it loses any sense of control and won’t stop its onslaught of attacks until it has violently ravaged its opponent. When wandering, any human or Pokemon that looks into its eye is immediately paralyzed with horrifying hallucinations, and is unable to move until Bruhaya retreats at sunrise.

However, it is said that Bruhaya has been spotted interacting peacefully with other Ghost Pokemon. It seems to feel a connection to them.

Macho - Peladraco (The Champion Pokemon)

Derived from pelagic, anything to do with the open sea, and draco, a word meaning dragon. (So basically, sea dragon)

Peladraco is a Legendary Pokemon revered for its countless victories in battle, as it has never once lost to any foe. It rides on sea currents at high speeds, using the motion to propel itself out of the water in order to fly. Once in the air, the scale-like markings on its body shimmer brightly in the light of the elements to bewilder its opponent. It is able to strike most foes down with a single, fierce blast of water from its mouth. Once its foe is defeated, Peladraco has been witnessed repeatedly emerging and submerging from the sea, doing various tricks while making a high pitched cry to celebrate its victory.

Peladraco seems to be acutely aware of its immense power, and even appears to be rather cocky. Its confidence in its power has even led it to stop mid-battle to taunt its opponent while leaving itself completely open to harm. Expectedly, this has led to Peledraco more than occasionally giving its opponents a free hit. This angers the Pokemon, who immediately dives back into the sea only to launch itself back out and spear directly into its foe, more often than not sending them and itself crashing into the water. Or also, sometimes, impale them with the sharp protrusions from its head.

However, it seems that Peledraco may have a lurking foe awaiting a rematch.

Sandman - Yanmare (Crib Forme) (The Vengeful Pokemon)

Derived from yawn, in this case meaning expansive or deep, and mare from nightmare. (Basically deep nightmares.) A Ground/Ghost type.

Yanmare is a dreaded Legendary Pokémon that has not been seen in decades much like Ferfuego. Once a prodigal hero-like Pokemon of immense power and adoration, it held the title of being undefeated with great pride. It was flattered when people dreamt about it, as it could tell when they were. The sand that fell from its body was said to bring restful sleep to those that spread it on their pillows. All this was until it fought a fierce and extensive battle with the challenging Peladraco before being defeated. After that day, no one had seen the Pokemon until long afterwards. And something was deeply, deeply wrong.

The loss against Peladraco brought Yanmare unspeakable amounts of anger that slowly boiled within it over a period of time as it watched them find its new idolized Pokemon. Trainers and all others forgot about it overtime, until the only one they admired was Peladraco. This anger eventually overflowed and caused its form to morph from it, developing into its Terror Forme. It emerged into the place it was once known, and caused a string of hysteria, which started from it tormenting a Pokemon professor to the point of near death with its horrid screeching and loud rattling noises of its cage-like container.

This Pokemon makes anyone it sees asleep have vivid nightmares of failing in their lives, most often at their greatest aspiration. A handful of Trainers have quit pursuing success as the nightmares were too intense, leaving them uncertain and afraid.

Mac - Minicidae (The Headstrong Pokemon)

(mi-ni-see-day)

Derived from mini and cercophithecidae, the scientific name for monkey. A Normal/Grass Mythical Pokemon.

Minicidae’s existence was questioned by much of the world even in ancient times, as it had only been sighted once scaling up a massive cliff side. In modern times, it had become a sort of urban legend as some had been able to supply a few blurry but decently readable photos of this Pokemon. It had been seen quickly swinging through trees in deep rainforests and battling Pokemon much larger than itself.

Minicidae is said to be extremely tough despite its lacking stature. It would fight those who seemed impossible for it to beat and actually put up an amazing fight. Seeking to grow bigger and stronger than it already is appears to be this Pokémon’s main goal. Though it looked to be training its arms so it could swing high into the air. Its reason for wanting to do this is unknown.

However, Minicidae was fully proven to exist when it was captured by Yanmare. It encountered the Legendary Pokemon when it was well above the stratosphere. Threatened by it, Minicidae attempted to stand its ground. However, Yanmare’s new form quickly ensnared the Pokemon in its trap, causing Minicidae to undergo a frightening transformation where its body became overrun with shadows, turning it into a wispy, black creature. It rattles the bars of the cage its in, screeching for help that will never seem to come.

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one-additional-time · 2 years

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Daft Punk in Chronic'art 2007/2008 - scans & translated interview

Here it is, the long-awaited monster interview that sat untouched on my bookshelf for 6 years. I bought this magazine on eBay in 2017, fresh off the Grammys performance with The Weeknd, and I was really excited when I realized it was a huge 10 page spread... Until I started translating and realized the content was extremely in-depth and complicated. So, it got put to the side and accidentally left there for many years.

Anyway, here we go. Buckle in for a long read! Please note that I did not translate the extra sections of the article titled "Discovered" and "Very Disco" as these are just basic information about DP's discography and samples they've used- they are not part of the interview.

My usual disclaimer- I am not French, nor am I fluent in French, so some of this may be incorrect or interpreted differently than the author intended. If you find any glaring errors, my ask box is open for feedback and I can update the post/files as needed. (Post updated May 2023 with corrections)

Feel free to repost to other platforms/social media sites, but I humbly beg that you link back here or give me credit because I really spent a lot of time slaving over this (like 50+ hours).

Thank you so much for sticking around my blog after so many years. I really appreciate this fandom and community and I'm excited to experience new music with you all soon!

(Trigger warning for discussion of suicide [Electroma] in the interview!)

Download full scans and translation at my Dropbox.

Full translation below the cut.

In ten years, from Homework in 1997 to Alive 2007 and Electroma, the electro duo Daft Punk have popularized electronic music, launched fads (the French Touch, filtered house, monumental live shows), and transformed a simple music project into a verifiable universal, even metaphysical, concept. Are Daft Punk dropping the helmets?

BY: WILFRIED PARIS & OLIVIER LAMM | PHOTOS: © MAUD BERNOS

SCANS AND TRANSLATION BY STEPH @ ONE-ADDITIONAL-TIME.TUMBLR.COM

(Please see the downloadable PDF file for translation notes/comments)

Everyone has been hearing about Daft Punk for the last two months, because their live CD (Alive 2007, from EMI) and the DVD of their robotic road-movie Electroma are being released for the holidays. We wanted to go a little bit beyond the obligated promo, and the repeated wooden language found in all the media, by trapping Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo for an hour and a half in a restaurant in the Latin Quarter, subjecting them to questioning, and if possible, making them drop the helmets a little bit, over ten pages and many questions.

We’re not going to harp on what you already know (the French touch, the robot helmets, the live pyrotechnics), we’ll just say that we wanted to do this thorough interview with Daft Punk because they’re more than a CD or a DVD, more than music, more than any current pop group. They are an essential symbol of our post-post-modern times, speaking in a very clear yet always paradoxical voice (between hedonistic joy and profound existential sadness) on the human condition, no less. Over the ten years of their career (Homework, like Chronic’art, again, decidedly, appeared in 1997), Daft Punk have invented a new way of presenting music to the world. The robot helmets reveal (social uniformity) more than they cover (buried humanity) and have given them perfect anonymity, which seems like the anonymity of those who succeeded, not in annihilating the self, but becoming self-less. This anonymity accentuates the dominance of the art over the artist, and it has made Daft Punk a universally well-liked and famous group.

A conceptual, pop, philosophical, even metaphysical group, Daft Punk mixes Andy Warhol (seriality, pop art, emptiness) and Friedrich Nietzsche (the man who wanted to die in Electroma, the superhuman for and against technology), mass culture (disco, Albator, Star Wars) and esoteric symbols (the masonic pyramid), the dancing body and thinking brain. In that respect, they are a purely manufactured product of our culture and likely represent the completion of the pop figure began by the Beatles: fragmented culture (the sample) and repetition, theatricality and abstraction, universalism and experimentation, technological innovation and advanced marketing, refusal of the embodiment and worship of the personality…

The current tour (Alive can also mean “en vie”) also refers to an interstellar voyage, like Discovery and Interstella, which seemed to mean that humanity is, by nature, dispossessed, that humans do not belong on Earth but came from Heaven and are destined to return there, that they are “stardust.” They themselves [Daft Punk] are probably not aware of the symbolic and almost metaphysical significance of their creations, and they always prefer to talk about “emotions” rather than thoughts, the heart instead of the head, and they act as the “guinea pigs” for their own experiments. Listening to them, we realized that Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo do not really theorize their work, their music, or their image, but that they react to the infinite accumulation of data from our culture of abundance, that they are indeed the guinea pigs of an experience that has outrun them, marionettes played by “high culture,” pop culture, and the entertainment industry. Maybe Daft Punk really are robots, and no one is pulling the strings, certainly not them.

Chronic’art: Between Homework, which would correspond to your schoolwork or your learning phase, Discovery, which would represent your adolescence, the discovery of the world, microscopic to macroscopic, and Human After All, a moment of reset before a new cycle, it seems to us like you have come full circle, which would be represented by the mirroring of your two live albums, in 1997 and in 2007. Could you have scripted your career?

Thomas Bangalter: It’s strange. We have never written out any part of our career, because even ten years ago we didn’t think we would do this for a long time. After the fact, without having planned it, we realize more that we had sort of reset prior to the live show from 2007. For us, these concerts, this tour, this CD, they are more of a new step than a conclusion. We had not done concerts for 10 years, and there was something very exciting about doing things that weren’t technologically possible when we started. With the last live, we wanted to produce something original, that could predict what might become the norm of tomorrow. We know that we’ve done certain things in the past that were five years ahead of their time, and we are happy to be trying something no one else has done right now. We feel like, during each album, we’ve started back at zero and have had to create a new process, even if it’s true that there is a consistency which emerges in the straight line of our career. But this consistency is not defined a priori, we just emphasize working on projects that can become sort of a realignment of everything we’ve accomplished until now. Interstella was consistent with Discovery, the live show was consistent with our third album compared to the two previous albums, but each step represents, in the moment, the desire to start a new cycle. As for Human After All and Electroma, they’re about something darker, less celebratory… Maybe the live show is a loop; our record label released a Best Of last year, but the concert itself and the way we worked on it is more a way of combining things and expressing them in a new way, rather than celebrating a sort of anniversary or something from the past. We definitely didn’t want to give people the impression that they were in 1997, in a continuation of past music: we instead wanted to give them the chance to feel like they were really in 2007.

During the live shows, you mix together your own tracks, referencing and quoting yourselves. It’s like being simultaneously and precisely between 1997 and 2007, as if the past and the present were merging. All of your songs evolving in a sort of loop…

T.B.: It’s almost the third generation of sampling: us sampling ourselves. At the same time, it’s like having created a universe and an aesthetic that is more than the music, or that the music isn’t actually a central vector. Our approach isn’t at all demonstrative, it’s entirely sensory. There isn’t another message to understand. That being said, there is a desire for cohesion, to make sure that each element added to the structure resonates with the others, with the little mythology that governs this universe. It’s a bit like in a video game, each new element opens a new level in a new environment rather than replacing an older element. We wanted, for example, to break these things with Human After All, but in the end we realized that the album was very cohesive in the continuity of our work.

There is a very strong sense of nostalgia, mixed with a strangeness, in the timeless juxtapositions listeners are subjected to in the tracks. They seem to be complementing and responding to each other, as much musically as thematically…

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo: It’s especially very exciting to see that twelve or thirteen years after our first maxi, our music has not aged too much. There is a sense of nostalgia1, but it still works in the present, and it’s very strange to see that we can mix four tracks from four different eras simultaneously, and not a single one kills the mood. Right after we started making music, we were seeking timelessness. It’s the same with Electroma. At our core, we are fans of timeless things. If you listen to the Beatles, aside from their very first period which is a little bit stuck in the past, you notice that time doesn’t touch their music. We are following that: we are trying to move through time without getting stuck in it. In the same way, we are trying to make sure that our music can be listened to by a lot of different people, without having to worry about languages or genres.

The Beatles were, for that matter, the first group to reference themselves, for example in All You Need is Love, where John Lennon sings She Loves You…

G-M.H-C.: We don’t compare ourselves to the Beatles, either…

T.B.: The idea is constructing a cohesive universe from a series of spontaneous attempts. If you watch Star Wars, people don’t seem to come from when the film was made. It’s as if the 70s have no effect on the film’s universe. Its atmosphere is its own, even if mixes a lot of things together. For about five or six years we have tried not to let the times we live in make an impression on us.

You are very privileged to be in a time when everything moves so fast, or everything ages so fast, right in the middle of acceleration. For example, you did a massive world tour without having an album to promote…

G-M.H-C.: The day before the first concert of the tour, at Coachella, we were terrified, we weren’t sure of anything. Every time we try something new, we start back at zero.

T.B.: It’s the live show that sparked the craze, I think, truly. The success was really unintentional. Separate from that, being immersed in a certain underground before our first album taught us a lot. We’ve seen all the trends come and go—jungle, speed garage, electroclash, new rave, French touch, revival—and we are really surprised to have slipped by all of that. We didn’t want to be specifically concentrated on music, we only released three albums in 15 years, and we had a lot of luck. The legitimacy of our music, the future of our music lives in the combination of different forms of expression, the scope of influences, the mixing of techno with funk, with metal, the intermingling of rules and cliches. A lot of important decisions have been roughly made; also by means of spending time solidifying this roughness in order to share it. In fact, electronic music, in the 90s, put you in a state of experimentation, urgency, innovation, it literally prohibited you from repeating yourself. Electronic music was still very elitist, because it was expensive—you had to go to the library to find out about these musicians, you had to go to Beaubourg to make photocopies of books on filmmakers, you had to go to small shops to buy old drum machines. We know what changed, we’re familiar with the saturation that followed. We were also lucky because actually there wasn’t much of that happening when we started out.

The permanence of Daft Punk is also really linked to your image. People don’t only dance to your music, they dance with your personas, with the robots, like you predicted the fatal characteristic of the embodiment of rock (John Lennon, Kurt Cobain). With your robot helmets, you have made the entire process of love, requisition, and the sacrificial reclaiming in your place impossible. You come across as impersonal and therefore verifiably impossible to sacrifice. Not gods, rockers, heroes, nor rulers. The helmet prohibits any kind of identification process. When put on, they show the listener-viewer their own reflection. By giving nothing, the helmet says (silently), “Know thyself.” Can your work be considered an invitation for people to know themselves?

G-M.H-C.: Yes, I agree with that interpretation. At least, that’s what happens with our concerts. Audience members, rather than being lost in the view of a far-off guy, Mick Jagger or another inaccessible idol above the audience, find themselves between us, or even with themselves. It’s kind of like a rave, without superstars, like in the era of anonymity. The robots don’t give the audience much except music. There are robots in a pyramid, but the audience enjoys it in a more selfish, more self-centered way.

T.B.: It’s a mixture—the chance to show the listener their own reflection, to respond to a question with another question, but also the opportunity to go back to a fiction, in a cult that isn’t the cult of a personality, but of an art, of an image, of an aesthetic. Without personification. Then we can let ourselves to be two robots in a pyramid of light. If our faces were uncovered, it would be the most megalomaniacal thing in the world; with the helmets, no one sees us because we stay within the fiction. And without wanting to make a joke, there is also a degree of separation, a distance. A distance from the reflection, like in Electroma, or a distance from the entertainment, softer.

All the lines from Human After All work in the same way. They recall Kraftwerk, but Kraftwerk developed a precise message about celebrating, in a way, the immediate future. Your messages are a lot more ambiguous: are they critical, ironic, devoid of meaning? Like we see so well in Electroma, your helmets are, above all else, mirrors…

T.B.: Ambiguity is good, because it allows for a certain interaction between the viewer and the artist; between what the viewer interprets and what the artist is trying to depict. It’s very participative, and that comes from a desire to go against the demonstration. We are the first consumers of our music, and we hold the view that we can’t make any judgement values by calling things into question. In speaking about technology, about consumer society, which completely inhabits our art, we don’t want to teach a lesson, or offer a point of view or a judgement, we just want to find paradoxes and point them out as is. For example, we’re dependent on consumer society and it’s so appealing, productive, optimized, and at the same time totally terrifying, horrible, and very funny.

Your work is dialectical: sometimes it seems to denounce a sort of robotic totalitarianism (like in the Technologic video which depicts propaganda of a robot on top of a pyramid) and at the same time it plays with this imagery, strikingly. The video for Around The World also shows how robots surround and surveil the population; they are in the last circle, and they are the ones who chant the phrase “Around The World.” Does the video denounce the surveillance of us by nonhumans, or does it condition us to accept it? We never know if you’re denouncing a conspiracy against humanity or if you’re participating in it. You use of language is equally dialectical. Your language is refined, born from catchphrases and words of totalitarian order (Technologic), and if taken literally, it’s this: the phrase “Television Rules The Nation” can be taken as the assertion of an established fact. It then becomes constraint, manipulation. At the same time, the distance imposed by the performance can give the words a double meaning, and adds to them a critique of this established fact, even the denunciation of a totalitarian power. This recalls the “doublethink” in Orwell’s 1984: the capacity to simultaneously accept two opposing points of view and thereby put critical thinking on the back burner. Where do you situate yourselves in this in-betweenness?

T.B.: But it’s inside this paradox where we progress. In terms of our experimentation, we are in fact the heart of the system; it would be totally obscene to lean more to one side or the other, to claim to be part of a totalitarian system, as if we were giving lectures. It’s because this is so interesting that we refused to do any promotion for Human After All, because there couldn’t be a willingness on our part to encourage people to buy the album, because of this paradox. Because it’s like an unbiased opinion on technology, on consumer society. The video for Technologic actually gives you the keys to derive an ironic and scary message from the track, but it has since been used by Apple in a commercial for the iPod, and there the lyrics turned into blind praise for technology! It’s funny seeing to what extent the double meaning has effectively functioned. That’s why we so often refer to Andy Warhol who had an experimental approach through his connection to pop culture that, depending on the project, had as much a place in very elitist and private circles as it did on supermarket shelves. Creating with perplexity, in short.

Nevertheless, you use very strongly significant symbols, like the robots or the pyramid. The pyramid that you use on stage is a Masonic symbol. It is on the dollar bill, with George Washington and the note, “New World Order.” The pyramid represents the structure of society, from the masses up to the elites and the leaders. The cornerstone with the “all-seeing eye” surely represents the summation of technology which, though it could be plainly operational, will make sure that the “New World Order” can truly start coming forward and establishing itself on Earth. Some interpret it like the construction of a new technology, a technologic eye that would see all, through a generalized surveillance. With that said, the presence of robots like operators of this pyramid makes a lot of sense. How do you fit in with regard to these symbols and this story?

T.B.: We work a lot with the senses, with the power of symbols on the subconscious, and the pyramid, in effect, is a very heavy symbol, in terms of the senses. We don’t want to discuss the details of the symbolism, but to question its power without its history. The pyramid has become a symbol because, geometrically, harmonically, it’s a magical, occult, mysterious object. There is also this mysterious and occult, on the verge of paranormal, power in music. No one can really theorize about the effects of music on the body and mind, so it’s incredible. We just try to pass on that magic in a rather empirical way. Moreover, we could carry out experiments on the way in which light or sound intensity acts on the body and on crowds, to see which types of sensations or emotions are provoked by one frequency or another. But we could never really explain the reason for these effects.

G-M.H-C.: We are the guinea pigs of our own universe. We managed to create a sort of self-sufficiency between the two of us, which lets us experiment with a consistent voice, and what works for us tends to work for the audience, it’s like a small miracle. We put a pyramid on stage because we think it’s cool, and it makes everyone trip out.

When you talk about guinea pigs, it’s as if you were manipulated from the outside, by a mysterious third-party, as if you were also puppets. There is a determinism there, but one that serves humanity. According to the Laws of Robotics by Isaac Asimov, it’s humankind who constructed the robot, and the robot is at its service…

T.B.: Above all we want to express a paradox on the discussion of human dependency on technology. We’re not virtuosos and we rely on technology like a crutch. We could never do it without technology, and at the same time, we try to value, like any artists, the human element in our work. The process we’ve used for these fifteen years has been to try merging the machines and us. We are the operators of these machines, the editors of the experiments: we select them, we choose them, and we decide to keep them or not. Daft Punk is the product of a tug of war between human and technology, always questioning the place of technology in the project.

Electroma addresses this discussion between human and machine, in a sort of grand general inversion. Electroma seems to be the account of a traumatic experience: in the world of robots, the two characters presented a human face to the others, in openness, generosity, expressiveness. The result of this demonstration of humanity leaves them ostracized, chased, and reduced to aimlessness and suicide. Do you think that showing your humanity is dangerous?

T.B.: Yes, that’s the background of the film. But speaking more broadly, formally, it’s part of the same approach as what we’ve been able to do before; to know how to create emotion while using machines, in a creative process. Without actors, without a script, without a real plotline, but with photography, color, framing, made from machines, objects, just like a still life. We began with creating an environment around the spectator, who is almost like the only actor in the film, and wondering how to make them experience these emotions, which are not the same as those on the dancefloor, but aesthetic emotions, where the spectator can project onto themselves. The film is totally open, and we thought a lot about Magritte when making the plans. What you can see in Electroma is essentially sensation, that’s a lot more at the level of the gut or the eyes than of the brain…

Robots After All by Philippe Katerine was clearly inspired by your album Human After All and touches on the idea that human society has attained such a degree of conditioning and conforming that humanity became a species of robot, a determined creature, ruled by automation, in their language as much as their everyday comportment. When we recently asked what he thought about your music, Katerine told us, “I hear nothingness in it, so I want to find a place there.” Is the universality of your music due to the fact that it’s also, in a sense, empty?

T.B.: It’s empty because it’s more sensory than significance, yes. Theoretically devoid of sense, it allows people to see something from nothing and project themselves there. We just heard Katerine’s single. Our music is open, it can be interpreted and taken in different ways.

The musical abstraction and loops that by and large make up your music allow each person to take possession of the music and go beyond it. There is a shamanic aspect in this usage of emptiness and repetition. As a matter of fact, musicians like Animal Collective, who were inspired by shamanic trances, now cite you as an influence. Also, you could interpret the end of Electroma, when the two robots die by explosion and combustion, as referring to shamanic initiation rituals, in which one goes through a symbolic death by division of the body or self-combustion. Could you say that the end of Electroma represents, in some sort, this symbolic and initiatory death? In other words, do you perceive a shamanic side to your music?

T.B.: Yes, it’s a trance: the loop, the heartbeats… We use samples to express the desire of prolonging a strong sensation that comes during one or two seconds in a track, and wanting to repeat this sensation, not only feeling it for ten minutes, but also seeing what consequences come from ten minutes of that feeling, how everything unfolds. Visually, with Electroma, our desire is the same: to create images or an assembly of images that produce a physical sensation, a feeling of hypnosis, wandering, or weariness; in any case a state of mind that you can only reach by feeling this sensation for a certain time, for quite a long time.

Wandering, loss of identity, and expropriation are pop themes in a sense. If you think of the Beatles, the “Magical Mystery Tour,” the transformation of the Beatles into the “Lonely Hearts Club Band.” As of now, you are a group that “turns,” that travels, to those “lonely hearts.” Is there a “trip” pop?

T.B.: It’s true that during this tour, we felt a little bit of a psychedelic thing: there are people who saw and re-watched the concert multiple times, almost like a Grateful Dead concert, with this idea of there being, during the concert, something imperceptible that you can never capture on disc or on film: an experience which was unique and can only live in reality, at a time where everything is virtualized. We felt like people wanted happenings, concrete experiences, which could consequently be produced by advanced technology: we could multiply the giant screens, have a very strong sound, and combine everything into these unprecedented audiovisual processes, which had never been seen anywhere before. Even a film projected in an IMAX theater could be no more than the “ghettoblaster” from another experiment with new technologies. Our music is moving: it was within an industrial system which ended, it was dependent on the economy. And the economy was destroying itself, it influenced new formats and new ways of creation, like the tours we’re doing currently.

Today, music needs to find new ways for distribution, with the death of the record industry and the virtualization of music. The live show, as a unique experience, is a response to this situation. You were the first to start a download site on the internet, with the Daft Club in 2001, which didn’t work out. Was it five years too early?

T.B.: Being current five years too early is really better than we can hope for. It’s good to be precursory, it’s almost our principal objective. Speaking about the musical economy, I think that music has never been as important as it is now, and the concert isn’t a response to difficulty selling CDs nowadays, because live shows are also very expensive. Economic upheavals are interesting: I read a book recently by Jacques Attali, Bruits, which talks about the musical economy and its power since the Middle Ages, and if you look at the place of music in the world in the last 2 thousand or 3 thousand years, the place of the record and pop music industries will have not been an end in itself, compared to music as a whole. It’s interesting to try to find out where music will go and what it will generate, in the sense that it is often a precursor of the relationship to come between social and economic powers. But we define ourselves less as musicians than as artists and creators, in trying to combine things and experiment with new formats and new technologies. We aren’t uniquely musicians.

Homework represents a sort of pinnacle of the age where a certain technologic novelty was expressed directly through music. You could literally hear knobs being turned. Does Daft Punk necessarily have to excel technologically in an age where all these methods have become normalized? Were the concerts from your new tour sort of like an advantage?

T.B.: It’s not an advantage, it’s a set of challenges that could be technological, actually. You wind up with a concert that looks sort of futuristic, like a remake of Close Encounters of the Third Kind or a mix of a Grateful Dead and a Kraftwerk concert. Making something that we couldn’t make before. We pick up the tools, we manipulate them, we try to progress. Electronic music in itself, in 2007, doesn’t seem to me to be very conducive to experimentation from a strictly musical point of view. I’m waiting for the new generations to prove to me otherwise… We pay attention to technological developments because we’re interested in them, and because they are at the heart of our art. Musical instruments are advanced technologies which have continuously reinvented music.

Since Human After All was released online, there were a lot of rumors about the album, which was an indication that people were waiting for you. In that context, are you able to feel free as musicians? Have you produced things in reaction to the public’s expectations?

T.B.: Actually, we aren’t free relative to our own expectations. We can’t totally set the public aside, but we have our own demands and we respond to our own vision of what we make, while taking into account paradoxes, contradictions, restarts, new beginnings. But we don’t think about the public: it’s both selfish and more respectful for people because we don’t have the pretentiousness of putting ourselves in their shoes.

G-M.H-C.: We are our own fans. We work until we find moments of pleasure in our work, and when we save those moments and explore them on an album or in a film which we release, that resonates for people. But within those moments, which are like lightning, we are like spectators—we feel like we’re revealing something, and discovering something we created at the same time. In this way we are ourselves in the position of spectators and fans. I imagine that this process is even more evident in painting: you have a piece of canvas in front of you, and there is a tangible process of creation. Creation is a mystery and you can really speak about magic when it comes to music or art.

Could the image of the pyramid that you use be a graphic representation of your music? With its foundations, progressions, ascents, and its climax? Bercy, it so happens, also has a pyramid shape…

G-M.H-C.: Not all of our songs follow a progression. We have flat songs, square songs, round songs… And in the live show, there are a few final moments where the tension comes back down. Bercy really does have a pyramid shape, but the top is missing. And it’s true that we would have really liked to play on top of it (laughs)…

#daft punk #HAA #interviews #translations #thomas #guyman #PHEW it's finally done #I really spent so many nights poring over this #including painting out cat hairs and ink spots in photoshop :')#ifcwdjd- master- how did you do it so many times

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dissociationswagcompetition · 2 years

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Welcome to Round 2 of the Dissociation Swag Competition!

The Dissociation Swag Competition is a for-fun Tumblr tournament where nominated characters are competing in a friendly competition to celebrate those of us of the dissociative spectrum, including but not limited to: Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder (DPDR), Dissociative Amnesia, Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD), Unspecified Dissociative Disorder (UDD), or simply anyone who experiences dissociation on a recurring basis!

As a note, this is not meant to romanticize mental illness, but rather push for more positive representation of our conditions. As someone with DPDR, I think it's important to be able to look up to characters who are like me and not just scary serial killers, and we deserve positive representation just as much as those with anxiety, depression, or other mental illnesses!

As a reminder, be kind during the competition, this is all for fun and has no stakes! Cheer on your blorbos, but don't be mean to the other competitors nor those rooting for them please!

Round 2 Matches

Round 2 will be split up into 2 groups, with the following matchups and dates their polls will go up:

Group A - Monday, February 20, 2023

Crona (Soul Eater) vs Darcy Wu (Amphibia)

Kris Dreemurr (Deltarune) vs Ferb Fletcher (Phineas and Ferb)

Maxim Kischine (Castlevania Harmony of Dissonance) vs Sunny/Omori (Omori)

Harrier Du Bois (Disco Elysium) vs Razputin "Raz" Aquato (Psychonauts)

Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood) vs Yellow Guy (Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared)

Laudna (Critical Role) vs Mae Borowski (Night in the Woods)

Raphael Hamato (Rise of the TMNT) vs Alfendi Layton (Layton Brothers: Mystery Room)

Sora (Kingdom Hearts) vs Cecil Palmer (Welcome to Night Vale)

Group B - Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Shallan Davar/Veil/Radiant (Stormlight Archive) vs Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama (Mob Psycho 100) vs Mafuyu Asahina (Project Sekai)

Madotsuki (Yume Nikki) vs One-One (infinity Train)

Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Marvel) vs Nagisa Shiota (Assassination Classroom)

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII) vs Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Blitzwing/Icy/Hothead/Random (Transformers Animated) vs Kayano Mikoto (MILGRAM) vs Mike/Chester/Svetlana/Vito/Manitoba/Mal (Total Drama)*

Sayo Yasuda (Umineko No Naku Koro Ni) vs Ingo (Pokemon)

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs Chara Dreemurr (Undertale)

*Blitzwing and Mikoto perfectly tied in Round 1, which is why they will both compete with Mike in a three-way poll in Round 2

#dissociation swag competition #round 2 #pinned post #long post

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newstfionline · 1 month

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Tuesday, August 20, 2024

‘Looking for a change they’re not getting’ (Washington Post) The historic inflation that hit the United States and every other advanced nation over the past three years helps explain voters’ ire. But conditions in Erie—a bellwether county that voted in turn for Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden—show how long-term developments also are to blame. The county has fewer jobs and residents today than it did in 2001. Though the 3.9 percent unemployment rate in June was lower than the national 4.1 percent mark, that’s in part because many people have dropped out of the labor force because of age or disability. The poverty rate is higher than the national average; a larger share of people rely on government assistance, including food stamps; and job opportunities for the young are scarce. Almost 1 in 5 Americans live in a “left behind” county like this one, according to the Economic Innovation Group, a nonpartisan research outfit. These roughly 1,000 U.S. counties grew their population and household income less than half as fast as the nation did between 2000 and 2016. “It seems like right now the whole country is looking for a change they’re not getting,” said Joe Sinnott, a Democrat who served three terms as Erie’s mayor and now heads the county’s economic development efforts. “They’re looking for a stability they don’t have and they’re trying these different ways to get it, to get back to the stability of the Clinton years or maybe even going back to the Reagan years.”

The Hotelification of Offices (NYT) Visitors to the Springline complex in Menlo Park, Calif., are surrounded by a sense of comfort and luxury often found at high-end hotels: off-white walls with a Roman clay finish, a gray-and-white marble coffee table and a white leather bench beneath an 8-by-4 resin canvas etched with the words “Hello, tomorrow.” Springline’s signature scent—hints of salty sea air, white water lily, dry musk and honeydew melon—linger in the air. But Springline isn’t a hotel. It’s a “work resort,” meaning that its office space designs have taken a page from boutique hotels. The complex is a 6.4-acre town square steps from the Menlo Park Caltrain station in San Francisco’s Bay Area. It includes two premium office buildings, nine restaurants, outdoor work spaces and terraces where people can mingle and connect, gym facilities, a high-end golf simulator, an upscale Italian grocery store and a 183-unit residential building. And like any good resort, it has a calendar of community events from craft cocktail fairs to silent discos. With an office vacancy rate at about 20 percent in the United States, downtown business districts are trying whatever they can to get workers back—including resort-like work spaces that match or surpass the comfort of their homes.

Protesters Are Converging on Chicago. City Leaders Say They’re Prepared. (NYT) As delegates arrived in Chicago on Sunday night ahead of the Democratic National Convention, protesters gathered along Michigan Avenue. On Monday, as the political show begins inside the United Center, demonstrators say they will gather by the thousands outside. And as the convention goes on, activists say, so too will the protests, every single day, showcasing divisions on the left during a week when Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to project Democratic unity and enthusiasm. From the moment the Democrats chose Chicago as the site for their nominating convention, it was a foregone conclusion that protesters would show up in large numbers to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to a war that Gaza health authorities say has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians. The city has a long tradition of left-wing activism, and nominating conventions tend to attract demonstrations.

The Mennonites Making the Amazon Their Home (NYT) Groups of Mennonites, seeking inexpensive land far from modern life, are carving out new colonies in the Amazon. After weeks of living in jungle tents, the handful of Mennonite families trying to make a new home deep in the Peruvian Amazon began to despair. Wasps attacked as they tried to clear forest. Heavy rains turned the road to their camp to mud. Running low on supplies, some wanted to turn back. Instead, they worked harder and eventually carved out an enclave. “There’s a place here where I wanted to live so we came and opened part of it up,” recalled Wilhelm Thiessen, a Mennonite farmer. “That’s what everyone did to have a place to live.” Today, seven years later, the cluster of homesteads is now a thriving colony, Wanderland, home to roughly 150 families, a church—which doubles as a school—and a cheese-processing facility. It is one of a string of Mennonite settlements that have taken root throughout the Amazon, turning forest into thriving farms.

Ukrainian president says the push into Russia’s Kursk region is to create a buffer zone there (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the daring military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border. It was the first time Zelenskyy clearly stated the aim of the operation that began Aug. 6. Previously, he had said the operation aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling. This weekend, Ukraine destroyed a key bridge in the region and struck a second one nearby, disrupting supply lines as it pressed the incursion, officials said.

Lawmakers in Turkey draw blood in brawl during debate on jailed colleague (AP) A brawl broke out among Turkish lawmakers Friday during a heated debate over an opposition delegate currently jailed on what are widely considered to be politically motivated charges. Televised footage showed Ahmet Sik, a representative from the same party as the imprisoned deputy, being approached and attacked by a lawmaker from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party while speaking at the chamber’s podium. Sik had just called members of the ruling party a “terrorist organization.” In a subsequent scuffle involving dozens of deputies, a female lawmaker was struck, leaving drops of blood on steps leading the speaker’s lectern. Another opposition member was also reportedly injured. Physical tussles are not uncommon among Turkey’s lawmakers.

Thailand’s king endorses Paetongtarn Shinawatra as new prime minister (CNN) Thailand’s king endorses new prime minister. King Maha Vajiralongkorn endorsed Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thailand’s new prime minister on Sunday, two days after her election by the country’s parliament. The daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Paetongtarn becomes the youngest Thai prime minister and the third of her family to occupy this position. Her government faces several challenges, including reforms of the economic and universal healthcare systems.

Chinese and Philippine ships collide at Sabina Shoal, a new flash point (Washington Post) Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided early Monday near the Sabina Shoal, according to officials from both countries and security analysts tracking ship movements, opening a new flash point between the countries in their territorial dispute in the South China Sea. While skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine ships have been increasing across the South China Sea, Monday’s incident marks the first time the countries have clashed directly over the Sabina Shoal. China claims the vast majority of the South China Sea as its territory, although it has no legal backing to do so. Its claim includes all of the Spratly Islands archipelago. The Sabina Shoal, 86 miles from the Philippine island of Palawan, is one of the closest maritime features in the Spratlys to the Philippines. It is within the 200 miles that the Philippines considers its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Blinken pushes for cease-fire in his 9th trip to Mideast since war began (AP) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says now is “maybe the last” opportunity to reach a Gaza cease-fire agreement that would return hostages held by Hamas and bring relief to Palestinian suffering after 10 months of war in Gaza. Blinken on Monday was on his ninth urgent mission to the Middle East since the conflict began. His visit came days after mediators, including the United States, expressed renewed optimism a deal was near. But Hamas has voiced deep dissatisfaction with the latest proposal and Israel has said there were areas it was unwilling to compromise. The trip also comes amid fears the conflict could widen into a deeper regional war following the killings of top militant commanders in Lebanon that Iran blamed on Israel.

Kuwait, in grip of desert summer heat, announces power cuts after fuel disruption (AP) Tiny, oil-rich Kuwait on Sunday instituted rolling blackouts in several residential neighborhoods despite high summertime temperatures in the desert emirate. The state-run KUNA news agency blamed “a fuel supply disruption” for the blackouts, which shut down desalination plants and some power stations. The forecast high for Kuwait on Sunday was 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit). Weather forecasters warned it could feel like 53 degrees Celsius (127 degrees Fahrenheit).

Former Saudi official alleges Prince Mohammed forged king’s signature on Yemen war decree, BBC says (AP) A former Saudi official alleged in a report that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman forged the signature of his father on the royal decree that launched the kingdom’s yearslong, stalemated war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the allegations made without supporting evidence by Saad al-Jabri in an interview published Monday by the BBC, though the kingdom has described him as “a discredited former government official.” Al-Jabri, a former Saudi intelligence official who lives in exile in Canada, has been in a yearslong dispute with the kingdom as his two children have been imprisoned in a case he describes as trying to lure him back to Saudi Arabia. The allegation comes as Prince Mohammed now serves as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, often meeting leaders in place of his father, the 88-year-old King Salman. His assertive behavior, particularly at the start of his ascension to power around the beginning of the Yemen war in 2015, extended to a wider crackdown on any perceived dissent or power base that could challenge his rule.

Libya’s central bank ‘suspends operations’ after official abducted (Guardian) On Sunday, the Central Bank of Libya announced that it would be “suspending all operations” following the kidnapping of Musab Msallem, the bank’s head of information technology. It’s currently unclear who exactly is behind the kidnapping, but the bank said that Msallem and other executives had been “threatened with abduction” by “unlawful parties,” adding that it would “not resume operations” until he’s released. Last week, a group of armed men besieged the central bank’s headquarters in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, which local media said was an attempt to force the bank’s governor to resign. Currently, the African nation is still split by a power struggle between the NATO-backed official government centered around Tripoli in the west and a rival administration operating out of the east.

Trekking With Grandpa, Scuba Diving With Grandma (NYT) Rick Rhoads, 80, was “training like crazy” last spring, walking six miles a day—“all hills”—to get ready for his summer vacation. Mr. Rhoads, of Orcas Island, Wash., and Lucy Erent, his 15-year-old granddaughter, who lives in Prague, were planning to trek 85 miles in eight days along Scotland’s West Highland Way. Mr. Rhoads wasn’t daunted by the distance, or by the age difference. He said he was looking forward to continuing discussions the pair has had on video calls, on topics as varied as stage drama, cosplay, pandemics and family dynamics. “I’ll get her to do the talking when we’re going up hills,” he joked. When they finally did the trek, in early July, Mr. Rhoads said the adventure was challenging, but he was eager to do another, perhaps a route “that passed by cafes.” Sixty may or may not be the new 40, but it’s clear that many older adults are enjoying longer “healthspans”—the time they are active, fit and healthy. This shift is adding a new dimension to traditional grandparent-grandchild vacations: adventure. Think bike trips instead of cruise ships, wilderness treks instead of bus tours.

#headlines #news

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findurmuse · 1 year

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Rock et Femmes badass

Style : Grunge, Punk, Punk-Rock, Pop-Punk

A la fin des années 80 dans l'état de Washington au nord ouest des USA il y avait peu de concert de groupe connue L'état était considéré comme vide et les groupe préférais d'autre destinations pour leur tournées.

Dans ce contexte à vue le jour une scène très local notamment autour de Seattle avec de nombreux groupes qui se connaissent et se supporte entre eux.

Et après ça a explosé. Grâce au Label SubPop et des petits groupe genre Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden ou Nirvana deviennent mondialement populaire et la scène local trouve son nom : le grunge.

Mais a côté des super groupe y'a tous plein de pépites et moi je vais vous parler d'une facettes trop oublier du grunge a savoir les groupe de meuf badass.

Des femme engagée dans la musique il y en avais déjà dans les décennies précédentes bien sûr mais la scène de Seattle a permis l'émergence d'un vrai mouvement autour de sujets politique, des inégalités, des violence, du racisme qu'elles rencontrais dans leur vie mais aussi simplement le fait qu'elle avait autant leur place sur scène que leurs homologues masculins.

Voilà pour l'intro, maintenant place à la musique avec tous d'abord les groupe plus populaire, puis des deep cut qui méritent d'être plus connues et dans la et enfin des groupes actuelle parce que les femmes ont pas arrêté de faire de la musique badass en 1994.

I. Les groupes les plus populaires

Et on commence par celles qui est clairement plus connue pour son mari que pour son très bon groupe de musique : Courtney Love. Parce que celle qui fût la femme de Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) est aussi la frontwoman de Hole.

Des guitares bien saturé et une voix tantôt mélodique tantôt rauque dans les cris de rage de Violet ou Pretty On The Inside. Je conseil aussi Celebrity Skin dont le riff rentre en tête très vite.

Ensuite place a la leader du mouvement riot grrrls : Kathleen Hanna et Bikini Kill Je vais me répéter a ce sujet mais avec sa voix inimitable sur un rythme très punk avec des chansons qui dépasse rarement 2m30 elle parle d'émancipation et de féminisme comme dans Jet Ski, Alien She ou ma préférée de leur disco : Rebel Girls

Si les cris c'est moins votre trucs mais que vous voulez quand même du bon punk rock engagé, écoutez The Gits un de mes préféré de ce genre notamment pour sa guitare dont j'adore le ton et sa chanteuse Mia Zapata a la voix reconnaissable entre milles et au paroles souvent personnel et sombre comme dans Second Skin ou Bob - Cousin O. Malheureusement le groupe n'a pas duré longtemps a cause de la mort de Mia dans des conditions absolument ignoble . Je rajouterai Drinking Song parce que la terre a besoin de plus de chanson d'amitié.

Un petit dernier pour la route ? L7 est aussi un groupe connue et le seule de cette liste encore en activité. C'est moins "punk" mais tous aussi bon avec des mélodie entraînente et des paroles acide. Je conseil Shitlist, Fighting The Crave et surtout Pretend We're Dead

II. Quelques autres groupe de cette époque à connaitre

Pour la suite de cette série de recommandation je vais vous parler d'autre groupe de cette période. Elles sont moins connues mais mérite sans hésitation leur place dans cette liste.

Et je commence tous de suite avec 7 Years Bitch. C'est un de mes groupes préférés de cette période, leur son punk sans concession et leur parole franche qui attaque directement les problèmes de la société (souvent les mecs lol) me donne envie de renverser des gouvernements et de tuer le patriarcat.

Elles n'ont sortie que deux albums mais il sont excellents, notamment Viva Zapata dédié à la chanteuse de The Gits, tous comme M.I.A que je recommande vivement. J'ajouterai Icy Blue et le grand classique Dead Men Don't Rape.

Groupe suivant, Hammerbox, Ici on a des grosse guitare bien grasse presque métal elle la voix profonde et rauque de Carrie Akre dont j'adore le timbre.

Vraiment du grunge a l'état pur et un groupe qui mérite une meilleure reconnaissance ! Je vous recommande Bred, Hole et Hed en particulier.

Je pourrais continuer très longtemps mais je vais terminer avec un dernier groupe, Bratmobil. Que j'aime beaucoup pour la manière dont Erin Smith joue sa guitare de manière aussi simple qu'entrainante et efficace.

C'est un autre groupe qui n'a pas une longue discographique mais leur appartenance au mouvement riot grrrls et leur paroles féministe leur valent entièrement une place ici. Écoutez notamment What's Wrong With You, Cool Schmool et Bitch Theme.

III. Récents et toujours badass

Dernière partie de cette trilogie de recommandations grunge/punk/punk-rock et cette fois je veux vous parler de quelque groupe plus récents, qui continue d'être badass avec des grosse inspirations des groupes citée plus haut.

Et d'abord le groupe qui sort peut-être le plus des sonorité de ces recommandation : Meet Me @ The Altar. Iels sont tous récents et on sorties leur premier album cette année (sur le même label que Paramore soit dit en passant)

C'est du pop-punk avec des airs de la scene 2007-2013 et les paroles tournent autour des émotions de la chanteuse Edith Victoria souvent avec un son assez joyeux qui donne envie de chanter à tue tête avec un peigne en tant que micro. Je vous conseil Say It (To My Face), Kool et T.M.I en particulier.

Deuxième groupe de cette liste : The Royal They. On retourne dans un son plus punk avec de la grosse distorsion et une voix entre chant et crie sur des paroles acerbes et super bien écrites et un rythme effréné ça a vraiment l'air d'être le genre de groupe qui peut mettre le feu à un bar. Vraiment une petite perle qui je suis bien contente d'avoir découvert. Écoutez notamment C.N.T., Full Metal Black et Kamikaze

Et enfin le dernier groupe de cette looooonnnnggggguuuuuee liste que je veux vous faire découvrir, Destroy Boys C'est un espèce d'entre deux des deux groupe ci-dessus, moins vénèr et engagé que The Royal They mais plus punk que MM@TA et à mon sens c'est vraiment le descendant direct des mouvement grunge, riot grrl et tous ce dont on à déjà parler. Je trouve les paroles toujours très drôle, c'est bourré de sarcasmes et de refrain qui reste dans le crane dès la première écoute je recommande vivement Escape, Locker Room Bully et B.F.F.

Voila pour toutes ces recommendation sur mon intérêt spécifique du moment j'espère que ça vous plaira autant que ça m'a plus de vous envoyer ces pavés.

Je vous ai même fait une petite playlist avec tous les groupes dont j'ai parlé et quelques autre qui aura pu me faire écrire un post encore plus long https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1oXvDxiiiJ9FKsD8DtXO1O?si=065ab65f140c47e4 - A 🤘

#grunge #punk #punk pop #riot grrl #badass #music

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jase-is-barely-alive · 4 months

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Spruce up the Truce

Chapter 3

~~~

Izuku tossed and turned in his bed in the middle of the night. The week following his encounter with Narazumono was a lot to process. His fight with Chisaki to save a little girl who was currently staying with Aizawa, Eri. The classmates who accompanied the pro heroes all felt the weight on their shoulder from what they were all forced to endure. Some came out with more scars, emotional and physical, than others. Some didn’t come out alive at all. Well, one man didn’t make it. Sir Nighteye, the man Mirio and Izuku interned with. Mirio didn’t take his passing well but still tried his best to remain positive.

The young hero sighed as he placed both arms over his forehead, closing his eyes. He tried to find a semblance of peace knowing that Eri was now safe and in the care of the heroes around them. But the overbearing anxiety of other crime groups causing havoc worried him. Villains were getting more bold and pushy recently, Narazumono being the prime example of a sudden spring in the crime rate.

After being traumatized by one of his classmates, Yuga Aoyama, and his little “cheese surprise” Izuku became friends with the former. It was time to focus on the upcoming school festival! All the students at UA were ecstatic to show everyone an enjoyable time. It was an effective way to loosen up the students who went on the special mission during their work study internships. Izuku and Mirio decided to invite Eri, to show her how to smile since the poor thing had never had the pleasure of enjoying normal things like festivals.

The only catch was no one besides those who attended the school may enter unless granted special permission. Also, if there was any breach in the campus security, whether it was a false alarm or not, UA would have to cut the school festival short. It was the only way to ensure no more villain related incidents would occur on the campus. It was for everyone’s safety.

Despite this, the students still strived to work hard and provide fun attractions to all attending. Some wrote plays, others held beauty pageants, and class 1A had decided to have a musical performance. Izuku was recruited onto the dance team for the beginning portion of the song but would go backstage to help with lifting Aoyama like a freaking disco ball. It was a great idea that was sure to put a smile on Eri’s face.

The day of the festival, Izuku had to make a quick run to the store to buy more rope, as the safety rope he had used before was not in the best condition to be supporting Aoyama for his living-disco-ball segment. Of course, Izuku was dealt an unlucky card that day as he encountered a villain who was on his way to ruin the festival, Gentle Criminal and his petite assistant, La Brava.

They went back and forth, explaining their individual world views as they fought and scuffled. Izuku couldn’t help but feel pity for Gentle criminal, but he could not condone his current actions either. The fight dragged on longer than the boy would have liked but he was eventually able to over power the older man, much to the little assistant’s dismay.

The Pro Heroes who happened to be patrolling around the area, detained Gentle Criminal and La Brava, and agreed to let the UA school festival continue, to Izuku’s relief. He had to dash back quite literally into town to retrieve the rope and then made a beeline back to UA. Making it backstage in costume minutes before class 1A had to perform. He got scolded for almost being tardy afterwards, but he didn’t mind it.

He saw Eri beaming with joy in the crowd during the performance, so it was all worth it to him. The little girl ran up to him when they were cleaning up the set, happily explaining all her favorite parts to Izuku and the boy had to hold back tears from how his heart was overwhelmed with relief seeing Eri smile for the first time. Mirio, who had accompanied Eri, seemed overjoyed as well. The three of them enjoyed the festivities together, checking out all the other attractions.

Eri, spotting a few animals by the bushes outside, became curious, wandering away from the two teens when they weren’t looking. She got caught up in exploring, she ended up lost. The little girl blinked and looked around for Izuku and Mirio, her friends, but couldn’t see them. She tried to remain calm but ended up getting anxious and sprinting high and low to find her companions. She ended up running into one of the teens attending, making her fall onto her bottom, wincing. She looked up and was met with a tanned teenage boy, wearing heart shaped sunglasses and dusty blonde hair. He kneeled down to the girl’s level and hummed. “Where are your parents, sweetheart?” He questioned as he helped the girl onto her feet. Eri nervously fiddled with the dress the teachers of UA had given her. “I lost my friends.” She informed the teen.

He stood up to his full height, placing his hands on his hips as he tilted his head. “That’s no good. Do you remember where you last saw ‘em? Try to retrace your steps.” The boy suggested to Eri. The little girl thought back, she was by the entrance of the school, she saw some cute animals and ended up lost. “Maybe, I need to go back to the entrance?” She looked up at the teenager, who nodded. “Want me to help you? If you can’t find your friends there, we can get a teacher to find them.”

Eri smiled gratefully and nodded quickly, “Yeah!” And with that, he took her hand and led her to the front doors of UA. Her friends weren’t there. “Hm. Maybe they noticed you were gone and started looking for you.” The boy pondered. “I’ve got an idea.” He looked down at the girl, her ruby red eyes met his hazel brown eyes. “What is it?”

Before she knew it, she was clinging onto the boy as they floated above the large crowd. She was beaming and giggling as she felt the gentle breeze on her face. The boy’s quirk involved levitation it seemed. “See your friends yet?” He asked, making Eri look down. She strained her eyes to try and find a familiar face.

Eventually, she spotted a boy with curly green hair, who was running around frantically. “That’s him! That’s Deku!” She pointed towards him. The teen glanced over and couldn’t help the smirk that started growing on his face. “Deku, huh?” He chuckled, making Eri glance up at him. “You know Deku?” She asked curiously.

The blonde boy glanced at her as well. “You could say that.” He smirked.

“Mr. Deku!” Eri called out as the floating boy slowly started to land on the ground. He placed Eri down so she could run up to Izuku. “Eri! Oh my gosh! I was so worried when you disappeared! Mirio and I were looking everywhere!” He kneeled down and let the child embrace him as he picked her up into his arms. “I’m really sorry. I saw some animals and then I saw a bunch of cool things that the other kids were setting up. I didn’t mean to walk away like that.” She frowned, feeling remorseful for worrying her friends like that. Izuku gave her a soft smile. “Hey, it’s alright, Eri. I’m just so glad your safe.” He reassured her, tucking a strand of her pearl white hair behind her ear.

Eri returned the smile. “This your little sister?” The blonde boy interrupted, tilting his head. Izuku glanced at the other teen. He furrowed his eyebrows at him. “No. I’m a friend. I think I know you…” He muttered, looking deep into the tan boy’s hazel eyes. The blonde smirked, “Yeah, you do.” He replied smugly.

Izuku held Eri closer to his chest. It was definitely Narazumono. But he looked different than when Izuku accidentally ran into him weeks ago. Back then, he had black hair, blue eyes, and a paler complexion. Now he was blonde, tan, and had hazel brown eyes. Surely one person couldn’t change their entire wardrobe and appearance that quickly, right?

“How bout you just call me…Seven for now.” The villain whispered, walking up to Izuku, patting Eri’s head. “Why don’t you show me around the best attractions, friend?” He smiled, convincingly kind enough to fool Eri but not Izuku. He knew the look in his eyes didn’t match the tender smile.

“You’re going by Seven?” Izuku whispered, raising an eyebrow. The blonde teen hummed. “Just a nickname I was given. Nothing too deep.” He grinned. Izuku didn’t want to provoke the situation as much as his heart begged him to. He couldn’t. Narazumono somehow managed to bypass the security protocols and avoided being caught by the pros. He had to play along for now, at least until he could get information on the villain’s motives and possibly even his identity.

“Sure. I can show you around.” Izuku forced a smile. Narazumono nodded. “Lead the way, Golden boy.” He whispered, letting Izuku take the lead. Once the hero placed Eri back on the ground he felt, Narazumono placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down, keeping his voice low enough so that only Izuku could hear. “Try to detain me, and I won’t hesitate to give these students a festival day to remember.”

Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat but nodded. “I won’t. Can I at least inform my friends that I found Eri? They’ll be worried sick.” He requested quietly as the little girl wandered ahead, but not too far this time. Narazumono thought for a moment. “You can. Don’t try anything funny. You still don’t know what my quirk is. I’m sure you don’t want your friends to find out right now either.” He warned the hero. The hero chewed on the inside of his cheek as he texted Mirio that he found Eri but would be running some errands with her. Luckily, his excuse was convincing enough. Mirio texted back, saying that Izuku better get some treats for him as well.

The villain gave him a deceivingly joyous grin. “Awesome! Now let’s enjoy the day!” He cheered, earning a shout of agreement from Eri. Izuku was dragged around by Eri and Narazumono, avoiding the heroes and his peers like the plague. Once they had hit about every attraction, Narazumono turned to Izuku. “That was fun! I even figured out all sorts of loopholes around this campus! You’re such a helpful friend, Sweet boy.” He wrapped his arm around Izuku’s shoulder, pinching his cheek as he gave him a condescending grin. Izuku grumbled, glaring at the villain. “Don’t be so moody. Little Eri might get suspicious.” Narazumono whispered. The young hero shoved the other boy off of him. “She’s not even looking. What the hell do you want, Narazumono? Why are you even here?” He demanded, keeping his voice as level as possible so as to not attract unwanted attention. The villain smirked. “Hey, golden boy, I already told you to call me Seven. Why don’t you try saying it, hm?” He tilted his head, offering puppy dog eyes. Izuku deadpanned before rolling his eyes. “Seven.” He seethed through grit teeth. “What the hell do you want?”

The blonde hummed, smirking impossibly wider. “I like how you say my name…” He said under his breath. “But anyways, I’m not here to cause trouble. Hell, I’m not even gonna attack UA. I just like learning about my surroundings. Every little detail entices me.” His eyes trailed over to Izuku. “…and every little hero.”

Izuku felt a shiver run down his spine, but he steeled himself. “I don’t believe you. You must have some kind of plan.” He muttered, glancing to make sure Eri wasn’t looking at them. She was distracted, watching an artist paint on other teens’ faces. “I really don’t.” Seven shrugged. “I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to override the security database and get away with it. But here I am. I spent all day on this campus, and no one knew a thing. No one but you, of course.” He smiled.

Izuku clenched his fists but remained as calm as possible. “Is this a game to you?” He asked, anger boiling through his blood. “Bingo!~” Seven winked, pointing finger guns at the hero. Izuku felt his anger bubbling up to the brim. “Messing with Pro Heroes and threatening the lives of politicians? Petty theft? All of it is just to cure your boredom?” He glared dagger at Seven, who was completely unphased. “Pretty much. I don’t really have a reason to do it. I just want to.” He revealed, making Izuku’s jaw drop.

Admitting to it like it was nothing.

Izuku saw his friends approaching. Eri spotted them first and ran up to them. Now that Eri had some others to watch over her, Izuku made his move. He grabbed Seven and forcefully dragged him away, somewhere secluded so they could actually talk.

Seven let it happen, smiling all the while. Once they were away from the crowd, the boy turned around, his grip tightening as he glared at the villain. “You made a mistake coming here.” He let out lowly, earning a chuckle. “Oh? What’re you gonna do? Arrest me and ruin the fun for everyone else?” He raised an amused eyebrow.

“I will.”

At that, Seven placed his pointer finger onto Izuku’s bottom lip. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, sweet boy.” He said in a hush. Izuku flinched at the contact but held his stance. He would not be tricked again. “And why wouldn’t I?” Izuku tilted his head away to speak.

Seven smiled. “I’m not against hurting you, y’know. I’m not against hurting your close ones either. I just wanted to fuck around today, and I did just that. So be a good boy and let me leave in peace. Or do you want to start a brawl and get Eri caught in the middle of it?”

Izuku’s gaze hardened when Eri was mentioned. “You will not lay a finger on her.” He seethed. “I won’t. If you’ll keep the peace that is.” Seven replied, muttering.

It was then, Izuku noticed how close the two had gotten. They were merely inches apart and none of them wanted to back away from the confrontation. They both stood their ground. “I can’t just let you leave. You are a wanted criminal. If I let you escape, I’d be aiding you. I cannot in good conscience do such a thing.” Izuku pulled on Seven’s wrist, pulling the villain closer.

Seven didn’t seem to mind it, in fact he was enjoying the proximity quite a bit. “Then I’ll help you deal with it. Look, you just wandered off when you fell down the stairs and got knocked out cold.”

“Wha-“

Before Izuku could blink let alone react, Seven punched him as hard as he could, sending the boy down the stairwell they were standing by. “It’s been lovely spending time with you, but I’ve got plans. Later!”

That was the last thing Izuku could hear before he hit his head during the fall, knocking him out cold just as Seven had said.

~~~

Chapter 2 / Chapter 4

Masterlist

#mha #hattori nara #mha oc #my hero academia #narazumono #oc x canon #tori #bnha oc #boku no hero academia #izuku midoriya #spruce up the truce #mha fanfic #mha au #mha:sutt #deku x oc

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