#absolute deranged level nerd shit

[graphicnoises]

Strong vibratos are so pretty. I guess it makes sense they'd be pretty on spectrogram as well.

You can also see how it comes out so much more strongly near the ends of held notes, when the singer has stopped holding the note as tightly and loosens up.

Song: I Scare You - Roaring Girl Cabaret (Spotify)

[starlocked01]

Rivals to Soulmates Speedrun

AO3

Masterpost- Previous- Next

Summary: Logan is confident in his ability to compete academically. He's not prepared for the consequences of ignoring his team. Content Warning: Brief swearing, Kissing, one mild nsfw mention

Day 24 Loceit- When you first meet your soulmate you see a vision of the future. Modified so that the vision happens at their first touch.

"Alright I need everyone to focus. I don't know how we managed to get this far but we did and we are not going home empty handed," Logan looked each of his teammates in the eyes. He really did not know what miracle had gotten them all the way to the championship- no wait, yes he did. It was him. The unfortunate truth of attending a small private school meant that getting on the Academic Challenge team was not so much a matter of skill or knowledge, rather it was asking to be on the team.

Logan was used to pulling more than his fair share of the burden anyway. And at least Roman knew theater stuff and Patton- well, Patton was there for moral support.

"Just remember, all answers go through me," Logan stood straight and smiled confidently.

"Whatever you say, Spock," Roman sighed, more interested in his nails than the team captain's speech, "let's get this nerd royale over with."

"Remember to have fun, kiddos," Patton grinned and clapped his teammates on their backs as they made their entrance on stage.

Logan's first thought was to size up the competition. He wasn't intimidated in the slightest but one must know their enemy.

First was a boy who looked like he'd been dragged out of the alleyway and forced on the team. If his monochromatic outfit and terrible posture matched his enthusiasm he wouldn't pose any immediate threat to Logan.

The second boy looked, in a word, deranged. His large grin and wide eyes were out of place among the serious faces of the other competitors. Logan did have to note that the frilly black and green skirt complimented him well. The boy caught Logan’s eye and winked at him. Eugh.

The third, the team captain, was on a different level entirely from his team.  Logan immediately felt utter loathing for that casual smirk. Everything about him just screamed "pretentious asshole who thinks he's smarter than everyone in the room". Logan scoffed at his socially deviant attire, which included a bowler hat and black capelet. Logan adjusted his tie. How ridiculous looking. This boy thought he was a threat to Logan. That misconception would be quickly rectified.

"Welcome to the Academic Challenge District Championship! I'm your host tonight, Thomas Sanders," the man grinned widely at the seven people in the audience, "today's game will be three rounds. Team captains, if you would step forward and shake hands."

Logan stepped forward and met the other captain in the middle of the stage. He offered a yellow-gloved hand to Logan.

"Gloves?"

"You can never be too careful. May the best team win."

Logan grabbed his hand and shook firmly, "we will."

"We'll see," the other captain smirked and turned back to his team with a flourish of his cape.

Logan smirked and pivoted to walk back to Patton and Roman who were already set up at the podium. Both boys looked absolutely bored out of their minds already but Patton at least tried to give Logan a supportive smile.

Logan gave the host a self-confident smirk, "it's game time."

They quickly ran a buzzer check for both teams and started the categories round. The other team seemed pretty evenly matched with Logan and not many points were turned over while toss-ups became a matter of who was faster to the buzzer. By the end of the round Logan had a slight lead and felt very confident.

"Alright! Now it's time for the alphabet round! Today's letter is 'N' and all the answers will start with 'n'. Teams here are your sheets, you have 4 minutes starting… now!" Thomas declared and both teams quickly flipped the list of questions.

"'Musical about the effects of mental illness on a family'," Logan read the first question aloud, "Roman, what's the answer?"

Roman shrugged, "I dunno."

"What do you mean, 'I dunno'?" Logan hissed, "this is your area of expertise!"

"Just because I'm an actor doesn't mean I've seen every show," Roman scoffed, reading down the list of questions to himself, "well I don't know any of this. Try Hamilton."

"It has to start with 'N'!" Logan groaned.

"What about 'Next to Normal'?" Patton didn't look up from his paper where he was drawing.

"Okay fine. What are you doing?"

Patton showed him the doodle, "it's a nectarine for number 17."

Logan looked dumbfounded and scrambled for the last two minutes to answer as many as possible. He glanced over at the other team to find them all talking calmly while the green skirt boy scribbled down the answers.

The buzzer sounded and both teams handed their sheets to Thomas who quickly graded the answers.

"And with that round both teams are tied! It all comes down to the lightning round. To your buzzers everyone!"

Logan only started to mildly panic when the other team got the first three answers. He knew them but couldn't buzz in fast enough.

"Help me out here, guys," he hissed at the others.

Roman rolled his eyes and buzzed in halfway through the next question, "the answer is American Gothic."

"How could you possibly know that?" Logan was furious but turned to give their official answer, "uh Grant Wood."

"No, sorry, Team B?"

The boy in the cape leaned in to the others before responding, "American Gothic."

"Correct!" Thomas replied cheerfully.

"Told you, you're on your own, wonder nerd," Roman sighed and went back to not paying attention.

Logan did his best to keep up but was falling miserably behind.

"Okay last question, where did Descartes claim the human soul resided in the body?" Thomas waited for the buzzer.

"Shit!" Logan dropped his head in shame,then heard the buzzer ring and looked up to see Patton had rang in.

"The pineal gland!" Patton blurted out cheerfully. Logan’s head hit the podium. That was the dumbest-

"Correct! And with that the final score is Team A 350 to Team B 470! Congratulations to Dark Knell High!" Thomas led the scattered applause for the team.

Logan stood, furious, and walked back to the center of the stage where the other captain stood, looking smug as hell and holding the trophy. Logan stuck out his hand for the congratulatory handshake, scowling. The boy made a show of removing his glove before taking Logan’s hand.

Logan’s back against a brick wall with that smug face inches from his. The expression softens and a finger traces his cheek before he leans in to kiss Logan. A cacophony of conflicting emotions screams through his head and settles on "wait, am I gay?" just before he kisses back, anger and humiliation temporarily forgotten in the arms of-

"Janus, my name is Janus. Looks like I'll be seeing you behind the school," Janus winked at a stunned Logan. Logan quickly straightened up and returned to his team.

"What was that about, Specs? You two were standing there for like a minute," Roman looked amused.

"I-" Logan couldn't make himself speak.

"I'm sorry we lost, Lo," Patton smiled apologetically, "they worked really well together as a team. It was going to be hard to beat them."

"No- Patton you did marvelously. I'm sorry for doubting you. And Roman, I'm sorry for not trusting you and not working together as a team. I failed you both," Logan looked down to his feet, ashamed.

"Aw, it's okay, Lo! Maybe we can practice together more before the next tournament and work together next time?" Patton gave him a reassuring smile.

"Assuming I'm even still on the team. Honestly, this sucked. I'm out of here," Roman turned to leave.

"Roman…" Patton chided

"Ugh, fine, yes we'll do better next time," he waved the others off as he left the stage to talk with their advisor.

"He'll come around," Patton grinned, "but seriously were you okay up there?"

"Patton, I think I need to go meet my soulmate. Don't let Dr. Picani leave without me," Logan was distracted by Janus slipping out a back door.

"What?? Okay I'll stall," Patton looked incredibly happy for his friend.

Logan followed Janus out the back door and soon found himself reliving the vision he'd had.

"That was a close game. I wasn't certain we were going to win until your team fell apart," Janus smiled at him, hand still in Logan's hair.

"Well, I didn't expect- you," Logan's mind was whirling.

Janus slipped him a scrap of paper and kissed his cheek before turning back to the door, "call me."

Logan looked at the phone number, "I'm Logan. And I'm sorry you're stuck with me for a soulmate."

"I'm sure we'll make it work. I was quite impressed with your performance today. Until next time, Logan," with that Janus slipped back inside and Logan realized he needed to not miss the bus back home. He sprinted around the school and found Dr. Picani patiently dealing with Patton's antics. He climbed on the bus while their advisor was distracted and collapsed in his seat.

"So where'd you disappear to, L?" Roman asked without looking up from his phone.

"Janus is my soulmate. I saw the vision when we shook hands the second time," Logan confessed.

"Oh my god! Good for you, Lo! Maybe getting laid will make you chill out," Roman smirked, texting his own soulmate.

"Wow, rude. I expected nothing less from you," Logan smirked, fishing his phone out of his backpack and programming the number in his phone before calling Janus.

"Love you, Specs," Roman grinned as Patton and Dr. Picani finally boarded the bus.

"Nice job today team! We didn't win but you gave it your best, which is what counts! Did you all have a good time?" Dr. Picani gave them all a broad grin, genuinely proud despite the loss.

"Logan sure had a good time," Roman snickered.

"I had fun!" Patton beamed.

Logan held the still ringing phone away from his ear, "today was adequate. Thank you, Dr. Picani."

"Great, let's get home," Dr. Picani turned to the bus driver and they started driving back. Logan grinned as Janus finally picked up the phone.

"Hello, Logan."

Tag List: @stoicpanther @ifrickenhatedeverythingaboutthis @idontgiveafuckaboutshit @tsshipmonth2020

[doktordismemberment]

Roundup #4: Albums of the year II: Supersize Me Edition

Oh, I'm sorry, did you think all these stupid fucking albums were ever gonna fit into just one list?

As before, these are in no particular order.

-

Sigh - Shiki - I feel like Sigh are one of those bands like Merciful Fate/ King Diamond where you either just "get it" or the entire concept is totally alien and off-putting to you. As for me? I like it.

-

Strigoi - Viscera - Terrifying blackened doom with slight hints of crust and grind via ex Paradise Lost, The Secret, Extreme Noise Terror personnel.

-

Sumerlands - Dreamkiller - These guys sound like a modern era version of my favorite Ozzy album, to the point I find myself really wishing they'd cover Secret Loser.

-

Astronoid - Radiant Bloom - Soaring ambient-pop-metal from Lowell MA. If you reimagined Mew's "And the Glass Handed Kites" as a thrash album it would probably sound a lot like Radiant Bloom.

-

Aeternam - Heir of the Rising Sun - Avenger/ Crusher era Amon Amarth meets Blind Guardian with lyrics about the crusades.

-

Wilderun - Epigone - I have never been the biggest "symphonic metal" guy but for whatever reason this album works for me, probably because I'm a gigantic prog nerd and vast swaths of this album remind me of Genesis/ Yes/ Van Der Graaf Generator... I have to assume at least one of these guys is a BCOM student 'cos it sounds like a lot of the arrangements here are coming out of a "classically trained" headspace.

-

Cult Of Luna - The Long Road North - Isis are long dead and Scott Kelly pretty much shit all over any chance of there ever being a new Neurosis album, so it is in Cult of Luna that we must place our hopes.

Luckily, "The Long Road North" carries the apocalyptically heaving quiet/ loud post-metal torch admirably.

-

KEN Mode - Null - I feel like KEN Mode have been getting progressively more brutal and terrifying for the past 20 years with the end result being NULL... An album that sounds like the nightmare bastard child of My War era Black Flag and early Swans. God help us all if they ever top this.

-

Otoboke Beaver - Super Champon - Splattery Japanese chick-punk that gets stuck in my head mercilessly. I feel like almost any track on this album could be subbed in for the theme song to Dorohedoro if that's any indication of the level of derangement happening here.

-

Ereb Altor - Vargtimman - I stumbled across this album while I was in the depths of a months long Bathory kick and wound up really enjoying it. Total Twilight of the Gods/ Hammerheart/ Nordland vibes.

I've heard that Vargtimman is a bit disappointing compared to some of their older albums but it's honestly the only one I've bothered to check out so I can neither confirm or deny that statement.

-

Chrome Ghost - House of Falling Ashes - Massive sludge/ grunge/ doom from California. Packs kind of a Floor meets Yob punch.

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Freedom of Fear - Fairly straightforward 90s style melodeath/ melodic black metal with a touch of proggy technicality and killer vocals. My friend Jessie (RIP) would have absolutely loved this band.

-

Mordant Arrow - Rhythmic industrial crunch, icy washes of noise, and impeccable synth design combine with a rugged crust punk energy to create one of my favorite electronic albums in ages. A perfect soundtrack to the vast and inescapable surveillance state where we're all currently serving time.

-

40 Watt Sun - Achingly sad. Achingly beautiful. And oozing with a palpable sense of loss and desperately reaching for something as it slowly falls away from you.

"Wherever you are, the light will reach."

-

Major Parkinson - If Nick Cave's recent forays into electronic music had been a whole lot more successful they probably would have sounded something like Major Parkinson. YMMV but I really enjoy this album. This has kind of a Bowie vibe happening too, for whatever that's worth to anyone...

-

The Sawtooth Grin - Imagine Pg.99's Document #8 reconfigured as a Discordance Axis album and that's sorta the ballpark you're in with The Sawtooth grin. The lyrics to "What's Cremation?" fuck me up.

-

Grand Harvest - 90's Peaceville style doom 'n' gloom via mud-caked Bolt Thrower style death stomp and more than a slight hint of blackened snarl. More "At Last Light" than first light... A fitting soundtrack to a world that seems to be mostly on fire these days.

-

Lament Cityscape - Jesus christ why am I still writing? Anyway, I feel like this new Lament Cityscape is slightly more electronic sounding than some of the older stuff maybe? And the tracks are shorter. But it hits hard and gets out before you have time to get your bearings which is an approach I always appreciate.

-

Ok, I was gonna do Video Games too but seriously fuck that (for now)... Writing even this much has taken literal days and I haven't even copied the links yet.

I'm sure I forgot a ton of stuff I liked, and missed a ton of stuff you liked because how dare I, but realistically I can only make one of us happy so I'm gonna say fuck it and go hang out with my wife.