#album: i'm having fun now

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 1: Halfnelson

This album is SO GREAT!! On my first listen I was immediately very impressed by it and I really love how it has this very particular early 70s rock sound that I'm a big fan of, while still being distinctly Sparks and its own special thing, at a time when Sparks was just starting to become its thing - the heart of it all was there from the very start! While it's not my top #1 favourite Sparks album or even one of my top 5 favourites (which is a nebulous category anyway that's likely to change and shift with time of course, and not even something I pay THAT much attention to) it's definitely still UP THERE and a very special album in my heart that I revisit quite often. Especially when I need something to simply relax but also appreciate some of that early Sparks' experimental and... almost whimsical? sound.

This album also reminds me of winter, a very snowy one at that, and that's in big part because of when I started listening to it for sure, but some of that vibe is already there in the music anyway if you ask me. Walking around a Christmas market in the city and hearing random tunes from this album playing in my head all the while, that's one great memory I have from last year. If I were to give this album some sort of visual representation it would definitely involve a lot of browns and other earthy tones - it would be very dark and mysterious without being scary or truly unnerving necessarily - think something like the Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) music video, but less colorful and involving more wooden materials (yes, this is VERY specific and also definitely an image that's supported by that wintery association, as well as the imagery that my brain came up with for Simple Ballet, but more about that below...).

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Wonder Girl

Roger

High C

Fletcher Honorama (the entire atmosphere this song has is incomparable with anything else)

Simple Ballet (this one was a later favourite but the IMAGERY and atmopshere here is, once again, very special, I actually developed an entire music video idea in my head for it at this point, even if it feels very vague)

Saccharine and the War (probably my favourite on the album)

No More Mr. Nice Guys (THAT guitar solo!! a real mind-blower on my first listen too)

[icantalk710]

Bracing myself for the post-concert depression in the morning

[aberooski]

I died on the altar waiting for the proof...

[fantasy-costco]

Can not stress enough the value of having physical copies of photos in your home. First thing we did at our apartment was put up a gallary wall and we've been adding a few more pictures over time and it's so nice. Really lovely reminder of the people we love and who love us.

[thedreadvampy]

I GENUINELY wish I understood the appeal of Taylor Swift I really really do. many of my friends do. but it's just. I don't think a single one of her songs has ever landed above 'ok' or 'nostalgically cheesy' for me and every time I think that I feel so incredibly like I'm trying to be snobby but I'm not? it's not about not liking pop or not liking the cool thing I love pop I love cheese I just also like music that has some...I guess energy and danceability or specific and meaningful rage and I have found nothing to hook into in anything she's made. Antihero nearly works for me. Blank Space works conceptually but not in practise. but other than that the last thing she made that did anything for me even as a throwaway pop song was. god it actually might be We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together or 22 which at least are catchy but I can't say ever made it to my playlists.

I want to get it, I genuinely do. I have listened to most of her releases at least once because I keep thinking if I try hard enough something will open up for me but nah however hard I try it's just extremely mid. like yes that certainly is music. I can immediately recognise it as Taylor Swift, it's not like it's utterly generic, but it absolutely just registers to me as background music. I want so much to understand what it is about her that makes her the biggest person in music for like 15 years now.

(I could say the same about Beyoncé who if anything lands worse for me. Break My Soul owns, but other than that I have landed everything I've heard of hers since like 2008 firmly in the Do Not Relisten pile it just lands like a ton of loose sand for me. and this is not mentioning the actual crime against music that was Jolene bc I don't think that worked for most people tbf. and again it's not that I don't like pop or r&b or rap cause that's like. between those genres about a third of the music I listen to. but her work is just so unengaging to me personally and I don't know why and I wish I got it)

[rotisseries]

i was tagged by @light-lanterne to share my top ten albums of all time!

💿 preacher's daughter / ethel cain

💿 razzmatazz / idkhow but they found me

💿 the dreaming / kate bush

💿 the fool in her wedding gown / the crane wives

💿 unreal unearth / hozier

💿 the horror and the wild / the amazing devil

💿 speak now (taylor's version) / taylor swift

💿 bury me at makeout creek / mitski

💿 sawayama / rina sawayama

💿 folie à deux / fall out boy

these are not in a specific order, it was hard enough to pick just ten albums I really like much less actually rank them😭 (although preacher's daughter would probably still be no. 1)

tagging (no pressure obviously) @inutaffy @yearninginblue @hella1975 @verdanthoney @cannibalismyuri @sockfus @yourlocalamoeba and @etchedstars

[talkurtalk]

I am soooo sick of this 'bonus tracks sequestered to certain versions of the album' thing, i'll say it with my chest. What ever happened to the Album (Deluxe)?? It feels so greedy, just a ploy to make more money and like... girlie doesn't need more money.

[graciousdragon]

y'all i'm so cooked i just got an idea for a NATEMARE FNAF AU in 2024 bro does anyone even fucking remember who that is????? middle school me is quaking rn

[liesonthefloordramatically]

On the phone with a friend Says worry where you're going Don't worry where you've been Sounds like he's Reaching out a hand Are you reaching back to him

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

can't wait to hear russ's new albums aaaaaaaa i want to know the track lists

[seaofreverie]

Every once in a billion years I suddenly get very lucky and pick up one band merch delivery on one day, and then get another band merch delivery from another band on the very next day

[maddy-ferguson]

maddy-ferguson -> shortndsweet

#temporaryurlchange

[mysticbeaver]

Everybody headcanons Ed listening to metal-type stuff, but how about Captain Beefheart being Ed-coded?

[sharkneto]

whats ur top 3 orville peck songs!!! top 5 if thats too hard. Im looking for new music to listen to :))

Orville Peck my beloved

First, Bronco as an album is just Perfect. There are no misses it, it's a beautiful piece of art. I would recommend giving it a listen all the way through.

But picking actual songs, oh man. Alright.

Daytona Sand

Lafayette

Hexie Mountains

Hope to Die

Turn to Hate

Any time I do this and pick a song, I then go "oh but this one! and this one!" But those five are regularly on. Honorable mentions to "Come On, Baby Cry", "Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)", "Drive Me, Crazy", "Buffalo Run", "Winds Change"...

[lady-harrowhark]

What do you imagine weddings in the nine houses are like? Do you think they still wear white or abide by any more traditional pre-resurrection customs? Since Jod drew so much inspiration from both Rome and Catholicism (Catholic wedding doctrine is based on the ideas of free will marriage that were tradition in ancient Rome) I think it's likely but there has to be some insane necromancy element too. Maybe a riff on the eucharist from wedding masses? Also, how do you think it varies from house to house? You always have really fun and creative ideas about the world, so I thought I'd ask your opinion about one of my favorite random headcanons to think about. (P.S. I hope the eras concert was fun!!)

Oh gosh, first of all, that is incredibly flattering lol. Second... I actually hadn't given this just a ton of thought before getting this, so it's been fun to thing about!

I think they probably resemble Christian/Catholic wedding ceremonies enough to be recognizable as such, but I would love it if they were like, the funhouse mirror version of that. I LOVE the idea of the Eucharist being involved prominently, but maybe even at a more symbolic level? Like we could obviously tie that to the whole "consume the flesh" thing, but I just feel like Tamsyn could come up with a really cool play on that concept that would never even occur to me lol.

I kind of doubt they wear white; I don't really have a good rationale for this other than vibes. Just thinking about how we see a decent range of aesthetics across the clothing of the Houses, especially in color, it would track that they have differing customs for wedding/ceremonial attire as well. Like, I can't really imagine that the Sixth whole gray librarian thing translates into formalwear the same way that say, the Third does (although using the Third as an example feels like cheating, because I suspect they go over the top for EVERYTHING so no one was gonna be doing it like them anyway lmao).

As an aside, I'm pausing for a moment to push one of my most indulgent AtN bingo card items, which is Harrow wearing white. I know the Lyctor robes are like, iridescent white, but I mean purely white. With Alecto getting so much imagery around light, and how Harrow describes her in the Tomb as wearing wearing "a white shift", it could be a cool parallel. Oh also, now that I think about it, the whole thing about Harrow being a nun, i.e., "betrothed to the Locked Tomb". Plus like, there's something there about the way it would be close to but not exactly like the iridescent white of the Lyctor robes, like, John was trying to emulate that and could only achieve a flashy approximation. And something something Harrow setting aside the black of the Ninth something mumble. But mostly, I'm heart eyes over more wedding/marriage imagery for her and Gideon 🥰 (Idk what to make of that in contrast to the white that the Tower Princes wear, but it's entirely hypothetical at this point, which means that I can ignore anything that doesn't fit my agenda.)

On my last reread, one of the little details that I was actually really taken by was that Magnus is noted to be wearing a wedding ring. So that tradition still stands, at least for the Fifth, and I absolutely melted over it.

I would kind of assume the vibe of a wedding ceremony varies from House to House, maybe along the lines of what we know about the cultures of each and what they tend to emphasize. If that's the case, I would LOVE to see a Seventh wedding; I bet it's gorgeous and deliciously fucked up. I'm really really curious about the wedding that Tamsyn has mentioned being in AtN, especially because she mentioned party dresses, and you know how I love putting blorbos in outfits. I suspect that her saying that is a bit of a red herring... Like if I'm giving my best guess, there WILL be a wedding (an actual one, not just a symbolic Lyctorhood whatever wedding) BUT I don't it will be the focus. I could see it being used really neatly as backdrop for some heisty business, more of a plot device to get people all in one place or as a distraction. I'm not getting my hopes up to see the actual ceremony, I guess is what I'm saying. The real action might be happening in the next room over.

(and P.S. THANK YOU! It was AMAZING and honestly, probably the best night of my life and also I cried for basically the entire thing, I still cannot believe I was lucky enough to be there. I got to go with my best friends, who live quite far away from me and I hadn't seen since January, which made it that much more fun. We went to the second night, and we mostly stayed off our phones/away from any social media so that we could go in and be completely surprised without having seen anything about it, and I'm so glad we did! I wouldn't have held out if we were going to a different date lol.)

[seventeendeer]

I wish people on here talked more about social media addiction without finishing off with “and that’s why you guys are acting like idiots, go fix that so you’ll stop embarrassing yourselves and inconveniencing other people”

addiction is addiction. it doesn’t usually appear out of nowhere, it’s a coping mechanism someone develops because they’re trying to survive something else - stress, loneliness, illness, the usual. survivors of substance abuse get a decent amount of support on here, but I really think we need to extend that same understanding and support to people who, say, fell in the twitter scroll hole because they’re stuck in an abusive job with no way out that won't lead to homelessness.

that new gorillaz song, sillent running, completely blindsided me because it may well be the first time I’ve seen anyone talk about what causes social media addiction and the emotional journey from “here’s somewhere I can escape to” to “this isn’t an escape anymore, it’s worse than what I was running from, but now I can’t get out.” in so many years of overhearing this discussion, why is this the first time I’m seeing someone fully empathize with the actual people we’re talking about without shaming them in the same breath