#aussie indie polish

[hazmatilda]

3

3: A song you’d choose to introduce someone to your favorite genre

Orrrrr

I think both of these bands have a very confident Aussie voice, and are a little more polished than some of the other indie bands I could recc. They're just so fun!

[typingquirk]

Femme Fatale Poison Garden Trio

-Valentine’s Day 2019

Today I’ve got a lovely trio to share- the 2019 installment of Femme’s Fatale’s annual Valentine’s Day trio! This year the theme was poison garden, and I’m in love with the aesthetics of this trio- not to mention that it’s super refreshing to see some Valentine’s polishes that aren’t strictly pink!

Bloodflower- A golden orange holographic with red iridescent flakes and fine silver holographic flakes.

I LOVE a good orange; I feel like it’s a color that isn’t often tackled, and this one is perfect! This polish was opaque in two coats! It’s also one of those neat polishes that looks totally different in sunlight and low lights; in the sun it’s basically a crazy linear holo, and in lower lights (which I wasn’t able to capture on camera because of lighting that day) the flakies really come out to play while the holo gives it a shimmery base.

It’s also gorgeous with a matte topcoat, shown above! Some colors I can only see myself wearing in certain seasons, but this is an orange I could wear all year round.

Lobelia- An earthy, foresty green foil with a slightly tealish base; and aqua shimmers.

I had trouble capturing the little blue shimmers in this one (you can kind of see them on the bottle in some pics) but it’s a gorgeous, shimmery green. It was mostly opaque in 2 coats, though I did need a 3rd to really cover my nail line and deepen the color.

I did notice that this polish had some brush streaks, but I personally didn’t find them distracting and I don’t think it takes away from the overall appearance! Shown above with a matte top coat.

Laceleaf- Juicy raspberry pink jelly with pink-gold shifting magnetic shimmer and green iridescent flakies.

So... I had a lot of trouble with Laceleaf. It’s a gorgeous polish, but I had one hell of a time getting the magnetic effect to show up on my nails, even applying all of the usual tricks and going above and beyond (shaking between every coat, extra thick coats, holding the magnet over until it was bone dry... you get the idea.) No dice. It magnetized wonderfully on the bottle, but I couldn’t get the effect to show up on the nail AT ALL. I was initially using my Tonic magnets which have worked beautifully, but they just weren’t cutting it.

I didn’t want to buy a bunch of new magnets when the ones I already had worked on everything else, but I caved and bought that crazy super magnet  that people have been raving about, and had MUCH better results. Sometimes special products need special tools, and this one needed the big guns!

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of the manicure using the jumbo magnet- I only have natural lighting and an iPhone available to me, and even tho I could see it on the nail, I couldn’t capture the magnetic effect in pictures. The magnetic color is just too close to the base color for my camera to pick up when it’s also being blown out by my lighting :( However, I did have the thought to do a quick swatch of one coat of Laceleaf over a dark base, and it shows off the magnetic effect SO MUCH BETTER! Please forgive me for only having a quick & dirty thumb swatch; I’d already done 3 manis while messing with different magnets and I wasn’t interested in doing a fourth all in one week lol. I would definitely suggest people try this one out as a topper too! I think it has a lot of potential.

There’s been many times where I’ve said that I feel like my pictures don’t do the polish justice, and this is definitely the worst of them all lol. This is the first time I’ve really felt disappointed by what I was able to capture, but that’s 100% on me, and not on the polish.

All of that aside, this is a delightful trio and I’m pleased with my purchase! Like what you see? This trio is no longer available on Femme Fatale’s website (it was a one time presale) but should be coming to their various stockists in the near future :) I’d recommend reaching out to your favorite stockist to see if they’ve ordered it!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics

International Stockists List

[berlinner]

This is a photo of some of the cast/ crew that my friend, Barry Keating (choreographer of Orchestra Luna) emailed me today. The participants in the Frank Height unfinished (we were busted and put in jail) movie, The Sad Eyed Lady. In Grenada West Indies. Below is what I wrote about it in #THEPARAGRAPHS. With Francesca Reitano (sitting next to me with cliche hippie beard, hair), Janie Hannigan (the muse/star of the whole deal), Helen Spielman (Helen Of Troy Eleanor Rosevelt Neilson Parker). It was also the very first time I ever played my songs with other musicians (LSD may or may not have helped).VERY LONG STORY:

BUSTED IN GRENADA1970. learning to act at the Yale Drama School (same time Meryll was there). starting to hate it. the perpetual ‘one’s body and one’s self is one’s ‘instrument’ and one needs to practice ‘it’ all the time’ was turning me inside out: ‘practicing’ accents, facial tics, postures. my friends wondered what- the-fuck was going on with Kinscherf? why does he seem so fake? when i heard that a friend of a friend of mine, a pot dealer from Amherst College, was shooting a movie in the West Indies and that i could have a part, it was the nudge i needed. i dropped out of Yale and got my pal Francesca to hop on the bus, bounce outta New Haven and fly on Amherst’s dime to the Caribbean. tough call, right? we taxied cross-island to one of several pink bungalow beach houses, were given our own rooms, our own Vespa scooters, our own cars to share andall the food, booze and drugs we could foie-gras-choke down. our homework the first week: ‘familiarize’ ourselves with the island. this meant getting stoned, drunk, tripped-out and pirate tanned on our own private postcard-perfect beach. twocrescent halves forming a white sand/black sand middle finger insinuating out into the Gulf with a chubby lighthouse at the fingernail tip. its beacon—a favorite LSD drop spot where kaleidoscopic film clips spit-fired out of gonzo foreheads. deep in the jungle we skinny-dipped in waterfalls, parrots swooping overhead, banana clusters plopping like puppies into our sated laps. seafood spreads and rum cocktails paraded on the cheap in open air St. Georges casbahs. natives laughing (at us? with us?). this was paradise and it was all ours all the time. one week in and against the inky blue-black of a starry starry night a sailboat, our sailboat, the schooner Janeen (re-named and re-painted The Sad-Eyed Lady) edged past the psychedelic lighthouse and dropped anchor in our tiny personal bay. a two-masted monster, tip top lights winking, full crew in dress whites, galley with a chef from Paris, lobster, steak and champagne on ice—the works. we were oared out to eat, drink, smoke, dance, whatever, not caring what-the-fuck this movie was about or when we would begin to shoot it. we were surfing an infinite rainbow. being here now was an induced reality. one night our main man from Amherst gathered us round and told a story, obliquely and slo-mo stoned. the plot: we were 21st-century pirates chasing leftover refugees after an earth kill nuclear freeze. our orders: seize any ship or person caught in the crosshairs. that was it?! who cared? we were down for the count. i became ‘lookout,’ awarded an all brass telescope which i polished obsessively and had macraméd bya Grenadian hippie so that i could wear it like cutlass. arrgh! i loved the thing. wore it all over the place, ‘getting intocharacter’ drug-induced Actor’s Studio-style. the first shoton the first day was of me, naked, at the top of the mid-mast spyglass-spotting a mom-‘n-dad sloop with a teenage daugh- ter who was booty bounty. that girl, Janie, was (not certain about this) the girlfriend of our benefactor and possibly the muse for his film-to-be. but who knew about anything for sure? i can’t emphasize enough that we were, most of us most of the time, skyscraper high on vitamin LSD. that first dayof the shoot i saw below my dangling legs, a deck so minia- turized it looked like a toy boat bobbing in a bathtub. when we cut through a 50-yard-diameter-dart-board oil slick so astonishingly beautiful my eyeballs hurt, i wanted to dive into the shimmering bull’s eye and shape-shift onto a mountaintop in Nepal. seriously. at night we skinny-dipped in a phospho- rescent sea so manifest that swimming felt like flying. or like finger painting. we’d anchor in St. George’s harbor, motor a dingy into town and get more fucked up and more outrageous by the minute. we set up a full band on deck and blasted end- less iterations of ‘Satisfaction’ ‘cross town, our girls topless. usually topless. all this behavior occurring without complaint. case in point: a young chiquita, a Grenadian, had herself rowed out to The Sad-Eyed Lady to see what was happening. just a kid, no more than 16 wearing a sequined Carmen Miranda pineapple turban with three rattlesnake maracas in each tight fist, eyes flashing. her name, i kid you not, Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson. her mom, a Grenadian, her dad a shipping baron from across the pond in Holland. Helen glommed onto us like a starfish, flitting in and out of our orbit and adjusting to our weirdness as best she could. as did handsome Australian sailor boys who, like us, wanted to gulp down the full feast of booze, weed, acid and hash that was all over the compound. 20th-century world-weary refugees who pulled into Port Wherever, worked, partied, fucked and then, after they had enough, hired onto a new rig, a new ocean,a new port. ‘round and ‘round the globe—a moveable feast, Aussie style. as much as any time in our lives this was heaven on earth, wild, heart-throbbing freedom all too soon to end. around the third/fourth day of the filming as i was monkeying about in the rigging, the one boat Grenadian ‘Navy’ putt-putted into our slip stream, armed and megaphoned. the charges: drugs and nudity. both true. we were whisked off the Janeen, driven to a dank, up-island prison (nerves on edge now that the drugs and booze had worn off) and dumped into a two-room, cinder-block jailhouse. boys in one hole, girls in the other. tin buckets to piss and shit in. the trial set for the next day. one minute, drug blind in our pre-fab nirvana, the next, incarcerated. and the next? court. would we be trapped and raped here for life? not to be. lucky result: Helen of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Neilson’s cousin, a guy named Maurice, signed on as our defense. he painted us as unwitting victims from good, American homes having innocent fun who had been caught at an awkward, unguarded moment. we were on a plane early the next morning. Helen came along for ride. she got married in Boston a few weeks later and became Helen of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson Parker—my dad Dick, her best man. the rest of us fled to a house by a river in Greenfield, MA, paid for and outfitted, again, by our pirate king. the plan: start a band and get famous fast. more acid, more weed, more insanity until one night, driving back from Janie’s house, i saw flames roman-candling the night sky. Plan 2, a one and done. coda: our lawyer, Maurice, was elected Prime Minister of Grenada. in 1983, the island was invaded by Castro Cubans and Maurice was assassinated. Reagan sent in the Marines making tiny war history. i moved to Somerville, started my first band, Orchestra Luna and wound up living in the same damn town for the next 40-plus. no more Kerouac road trips. coup de gras? Helen is now Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson Parker Spielman and lives in Hawaii. the movie? atrophying in a freezer somewhere in Brooklyn.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume Five, Number 11

Cold rain, dead leaves, political corruption, diplomatic betrayal…it’s been a bleak couple of weeks on the home front, but at least the music is good. This time out, we check in with the estimable Ezra Furman (pictured above) and his blistering punk rock album, as well as a smattering of shoegaze, a low frequency trio, a black metal endurance test, acoustic entropy and the sound of black holes colliding.  You know, same old, same old.  Our contributors include Andrew Forell, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw and Ian Mathers.

Blushing — Blushing (Wallflower Records)

Blushing by Blushing

Blasting out of Austin, Texas come Blushing (married couples Michelle and Jacob Soto on guitar/vocals and drums, Christina and Noe Carmona on vocals/bass and guitar) with their self-titled debut album, an impressively sophisticated addition to the shoegaze landscape. Blushing displays finely tuned dynamics, a keen sense of melody and joyous rushes of controlled noise. The interplay of twin vocals adds an ethereal Cocteau Twins sheen to the songs but Blushing aren’t afraid to let rip with layers of guitar. Producer Elliott Frazier of Ringo Deathstarr achieves space and separation in the mix that elevates this album above the basic quiet-loud-quiet formula. Underpinning all this is simply terrific songwriting and musicianship. Opener “So Many” starts with whispered vocals over strums and washes of guitar before the rhythm section enters, there’s a slow build before the track blossoms into a widescreen squall of almost psychedelic guitars and pounding drums then wanes into a feedback outro. Highlights “Dream Merchants” and “The Truth” bring classic shoegaze tropes and add a dreamy panoramic depth. Blushing is a band to watch and this is a gem of a debut.

Andrew Forell

 CARL — Solid Bottom (Astral Spirits)

Solid Bottom by CARL

“Bass, how low can you go?” CARL’s flow differs drastically from Mike D’s, but the question is undeniably pertinent. The Houston-based trio comprises three low end instruments — Damon Smith (since departed) on double bass, Andrew Durham on electric bass and radio, and bandleader Danny Kamins on baritone saxophone — hitting sonorities that range from ankle high to sub-sub-basement. But bulbous pitches can still be nimble, and so it is here. The interaction pits genre against genre, bow thrust against amp buzz, melancholy phrase against floor-rattling rumble, resulting in music that never feels at ease. Hey, Texas needs some opposition, and these folks are ready to show the way.

Bill Meyer

 Ezra Furman—Twelve Nudes (Bella Union)

Twelve Nudes by Ezra Furman

It was about the time that Ezra Furman started expressing his distinct identity—queer, cross-dressed, devoutly Jewish—that he turned into one of rock’s great songwriters. Today, freed of the need for self-abnegation, his songs balance a razor-stropped wit with sharp, assaultive hooks; he is not afraid to tell you his story, though he’s too literate and clever to deliver it unadulterated. His songs have a shape and a sting at the end like a good short story, but a punch that is considerably more visceral. “The kids are just getting started/they’ve only just learned to howl, and most of them throw in the towel/by the time that they turn 23,” he shouts raspily in “Evening Prayer aka Justice” and it leads into the kind of stirring, anthemic chorus that Titus Andronicus used to be so good at. “What Can You Do But Rock and Roll” rampages in a short-circuiting stop-start attack, like Green Day before they got so serious about themselves. In short, it’s a rock and roll of the sort that the culture has mostly abandoned, the kind that large men push to the front of Hold Steady concerts for, that causes Japandroids fans to punch the air. And yet it is not wholly of this man-centric tradition, simply because of who Ezra Furman is – lipsticked, cocktail dressed, smarter than you and willing to talk Torah. In short, here is a songwriter who has been killing it since Day of the Dog and Twelve Nudes, his latest, punk-est album (inspired equally by Jay Reatard and the Canadian poet Anne Carson) may just be his best. He is of the zeitgeist and also not, and you kind of wish more people were paying attention.

Jennifer Kelly

 Great Grandpa—Four of Arrows (Double Double Whammy)

Four of Arrows by Great Grandpa

“That’s why I hate you-ou,” cries Alex Menne in “Digger,” their voice catching in a hiccupping way that invites intimacy even at high volume. Her confidences are couched in an explosive swirl of country rocking countercurrents, concocted by the band’s two main songwriters, bassist and singer Carrie Goodwin and guitarist Pat Goodwin and executed alongside Dylan Hanwright (also guitar) and Cam LaFlam (drummer). The Seattle band’s second full-length is less brash and rock-centric than the 2017 debut Plastic Cough, which, perhaps because of their northwestern roots, elicited the term “grunge” from critics. This one is fuller, more elaborate and entirely devoid of Soundgarden references. It is decorated with lush, multi-voiced singing and baroque instrumental counterparts, and critically, uses a warmer more organic palette of instruments. That’s a violin and a banjo building out “English Garden,” not the buzz saw guitars of “Teen Challenge.” This rich, tuneful, grounded experiment might remind you of Ohmme, Hop Along or the Moondoggies, sleek but vulnerable, blown out but in control.

Jennifer Kelly

  Hatchie — Keepsake (Double Double Whammy/Ivy League/Heavenly Recordings)

Could it somehow be the fact that Harriette Pilbeam (late of Aussie indie rock band Babaganouj and here aka Hatchie, a family nickname) plays bass instead of the more standard frontwoman guitar that makes the singer-songwriter’s debut LP of new wave dream pop confections so singularly striking? Probably not, but Keepsake is assured and ingratiating enough it does leave one looking for the secret ingredient. Whether it’s the swooning likes of “Without a Blush” or “Secret” or the rougher emotional and sonic texture of “Unwanted Guest,” whether it’s playing against a sampled loop of her own voice on the chorus of “Obsessed” or achieving a particular kind of downward gazing transcendence through drum machine and synthesizer on “Stay With Me,” all of the songs here manage to hit on just the right combination of genre-appropriate beauty in texture with genuinely impressive melodic songcraft that whether Pilbeam sticks with this sound or not, she’s one to watch.  

Ian Mathers  

 Imperial Cult — Spasm of Light (Amor Fati/Sentient Ruin Laboratories)

Spasm of Light by Imperial Cult

This record consists of a single, 34-minute, largely improvised track, captured live in the studio. It’s all about endurance: the band’s, who must gamely thrash and bash at their instruments, with all of black metal’s requisite speed and intensity; and the listener’s, who has to commit a fairly significant amount of attention to the thing. Hailing from Holland, Imperial Cult are a new band, subscribing to the minimal web-presence policy of some other hyper-obscure acts, so it’s tough to say if they are of the “Satanists-and-we-really-mean-it” variety of continental black metal. If they are, the record’s grandiose gesture makes a certain sense. “Spasm of Light” may thematize the notion of eternal hellfire and torment. That, in turn, would raise other theological questions (do these guys imagine that declaring themselves devil worshippers and making this sort of music is their ticket out of forever in Bedlam? or are they looking forward to it?) that this reviewer isn’t all that interested in. More immediately concerning is the music. It’s pretty good, though to these ears, it’s more evocative of the epically inclined USBM bands of the Cascadian school — especially the early records of Ash Borer — than purposefully underground European occult acts like Novae Militiae (yes please) or Deathspell Omega (no thanks). Musically, that’s a good thing. Ideologically, who knows? Do these dudes wear cowls and sacrifice small mammals? Do you really want to know? Jonathan Shaw

  Minor Pieces — The Heavy Steps of Dreaming (FatCat)

Just gorgeous. Tape hiss master Ian William Craig and a Vancouver-based songwriter named Missy Donaldson join forces in an album that hangs right in the spectral other-space between conventional song and ambient soundscape. Craig, who is a classically-trained singer, sings lead most of the time. His clear, vibrato-laced tones with clouds and miasmas of electronic wash, mass-y harmonies and fragmented bits of guitar and piano. The effect in opener “Rothko” is both luminously polished and dream-like. “Bravagallata” reaches further up the register, twining Craig’s androgynous, unearthly tenor with the warmth of nestling, caressing harmonies; it shimmers in the interstices between icy modernity and comforting folk song. “The Way We Are in Song,” arises out of glowing, shifting electronic tones, yet feels wholly natural and unaffected. The way we are in this song is beautiful, touchingly human, but more so.

Jennifer Kelly

 The Pheromoans — County Lines (ALTER)

County Lines by The Pheromoans

The Pheromoans look at the world sideways, buttressing a workman-like rock and roll sound with murky embellishments of violin and synths. With a wobbly, wavery flavor of post-punk that might remind you, a little, of Blue Orchids, they match up dense woozy riffs with literate mumbles. They are the sort of band to ask “Sharia or Sheeran” and leave you shrugging, what’s the difference? This is the Pheromoans’ fifth full-length; their diaspora previously landed them on Upset! The Rhythm; but here the edges aren’t sharp enough, the punches not hard enough to evoke that label’s other bands. Yet there’s a disconsolate appeal to these wandering tracks. “Troll Attack” eviscerates electronic interaction against a Casio beat; both the music and the lyrics poke at unsatisfactory surfaces to find darker, truer muck underneath.

Jennifer Kelly

 Matthew Revert — The Inpatient (Round Bale)

The Inpatient by Matthew Revert

Some people get ready for surgery by making a bowl of Jell-o and making sure that the Hulu bill is paid up. Not Matthew Revert. His preparation for a date with the surgeon involved pitching himself into a new creative endeavor. None of his recordings to date, which have mostly involved acoustic entropy and electro-acoustic construction, will prepare you for The Inpatient. The album comprises ten improvised but structurally sound songs, all sung in nakedly emotional Spanish. Imagine Alan Bishop adopting a persona that is not immune to shame, and you’ve got an idea where this stuff goes. Prepare to be bemused.

Bill Meyer                        

 Marcus Schmickler — Particle/Matter–Wave/Energy (Kompakt)

Space is a place that has been exercising the minds of composers of late with recent releases by William Basinski (On Time Out of Time) and The Kronos Quartet (Terry Riley: Sun Rings) being two examples that use recordings from the deep cosmos. German experimental producer Marcus Schmickler, best known for his work as Pluramon, imagines the sound of galaxies colliding on his new piece Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy, a 37-minute block of immersive ambience based on Schmickler’s use of an algorithm to model gravitational data as a tool for sonification, a process that translates information into sound. The result is huge waves of tones that rumble, whistle and bleep like a swarm fleeing a storm. Through headphones this is an almost vertigo inducing experience as Schmickler evokes the sense of plummeting through a vast endless expanse of darkness. A fascinating and often unsettling piece, Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy works as a soundscape experiment rather than a casual listen, perhaps more to admire than enjoy, but it has a fluid physicality that rescues it from mere abstraction.

Andrew Forell

 Stein Urheim — Simple Pieces & Paper Cut-outs (Hubro)

Simple Pieces & Paper Cut-Outs by Stein Urheim

John Fahey barely made it into the 21st century, but his influence looms as large as ever. Stein Urheim, a guitarist from Bergen, Norway, is merely the latest to commit his confrontation with Fahey’s legacy to wax. He tips his hat to The Yellow Princess and other recordings of that vintage in this album’s accompanying book of tablature, but even if he hadn’t put it down in writing, you could hear it in his playing. Urhein is no rooky. He’s been recording with various bands since around 2004, working with singers and playing jazz, but this is the first time he’s anything quite like this. Urheim seems to be drawn to Fahey’s most virtuosic and lyrical work, and he has the chops to back it up, but also the performative confidence to let the music develop in its own time rather than chase after it. One has to put a bit of yourself into the music if you want to transcend the “sounds like Fahey” blanket that covers so many American Primitive guitar LPs. Urheim gets this, and he doesn’t take the easy way out by, say, applying his bluesy, acoustic picking to rustic themes or folkloric sources. Nor does he go for Fahey-esque textual obfuscation or faux-mythologizing. Instead he incorporates some samba gestures into the tunes, keeps them pithy and presses them on vinyl (by no means an assured thing on Hubro, which usually markets music via CDs and the internet). The album title proclaims this music’s simplicity, but Urheim’s is not simplistic so much as clear.

Bill Meyer

[joshbentley-blog1]

2018, A Year in Music

A year would not be complete without a list summarizing the sonic triumphs and escapades it saw birthed. Here are my thirty favorite albums from 2018. Enjoy.

30. Kurt Vile - Bottle It In

The singer-songwriter returned in 2018 with a follow up to his 2017 collaboration with Aussie rocker, Courtney Barnett. While I enjoyed Lotta Sea Lice plenty, I found its overarching themes to be a bit dry and the songwriting to be a bit lackluster from two experts such as Barnett and Vile. But Bottle It In is a return to form for the unique Vile. His drawl-y, laid back, groovy guitar cuts and folk-rooted storytelling is potent as ever. A truly beautiful entry into the artist’s discography, Bottle It In is a must-listen for any fan of folk rock and silky smooth songwriting.

Genre:  Folk rock / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  “Loading Zones,” “Yeah Bones,” “One Trick Ponies”

29. Neko Case - Hell-On

Neko Case’s storied career as an artist finds itself here, with 2018′s Hell-On. The album is a reflection on all that Case has experienced thus far, and its delivery is both introspective and cinematic. There are songs here that feel like a stream of consciousness, and others are a bit more straight forward. Still, it demands the attention of the listener, for there are things to pick up on with each listen. What Case, and Hell-On, deliver on the most is catchy and fun ballads that have run through my head like an infectious earworm since its release. “Last Lion of Albion,” “Bad Luck,” and “Curse of the I-5 Corridor,” are standouts in particular.

Genre:  Singer-songwriter / folk pop / country pop

Standouts:  “Last Lion of Albion,” “Bad Luck,” “Curse of the I-5 Corridor”

28. Car Seat Headrest - Twin Fantasy

I was, admittedly, not the biggest fan of Will Toledo and his project Car Seat Headrest when I first listened to Teens of Denial. I found his songwriting to be a bit uni-dimensional at times, and the sonic palette to a bit bland. But after re-visiting his works repeatedly, I’ve become a bigger stan of Toledo’s. It’s undeniable that his knack for melodies is unrivaled. And I’ve come to appreciate his songwriting more and more with each successive listen. His re-release of the cult Bandcamp hit, Twin Fantasy, is a true success though. The refurbished instrumentation and production is a welcome facelift to this Bandcamp classic. And the bodacious and bright new mixing brings new life into Toledo’s work. The support he has received from Matador Records has resulted in an improvement on all fronts, from the record’s origins. It’s a beautiful, and perhaps nostalgic for some, release from Will.

Genre:  Indie rock / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  “Bodys,” “Stop Smoking (We Love You),” “Sober to Death”

27. Vince Staples - FM!

It was released on 2 November 2018 but it feels like something straight out of the humid heat of July. Another entry into the short and succinct album list of 2018, FM! is short-lived at only 22 minutes. But the album has plenty to offer. Seamlessly flowing from track to track, Vince’s latest endeavor plays out more like a in-studio performance for a radio show (as can be heard by the short radio-esque skits played as outros and intros). The songs are braggadocious. Vince raps over silky smooth west coast hip-hop-inspired beats and punches with flows to match.

Genre:  West coast hip-hop

Standouts:  “Feels Like Summer,” “Outside!” “Don’t Get Chipped,” “FUN!”

26. Florence + the Machine - High As Hope

Florence Welch is a symbol of freedom for me. Her unrivaled passion for her craft, her presence on the stage evokes images of royalty, and her unimpeachable strength make her one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Her voice fills rooms, stadiums, and the ears of millions. A perfect example of this potency is 2015′s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful; an album that was cinematic, wide in scope and sound, and an important leap for Florence’s artistic career. But this year’s High As Hope is much more intimate. One could even call it a step backwards for Florence, but I would respectfully disagree with this statement. For me, High As Hope is a logical step forward for Florence. Following a loud and explosive release in 2015, a cathartic climax I’m sure, it makes sense to hear Florence make her descent down an intimate and minimal road. And down this road we see Florence explore and make available her struggles with loneliness, depression, and a myriad of other demons. She trades the titanic orchestral sets for pianos, sparse percussion, and cuts through these thin veils with her meteoric voice. But at the end of the day (and the record), there is an air of hope. Hope drives this record, and it’s what drives Florence, and that is more than enough for me.

Genre:  Chamber pop / art pop

Standouts:  “Sky Full Of Song,” “Hunger,” “June,” “No Choir”

25. Mount Eerie - Now Only

Phil Elverum has endured more than one can even begin to dream of. 2017 saw Elverum face the loss of his wife, it saw him begin to face single fatherhood. From that turmoil came A Crow Looked At Me, a beautifully tragic album that gave us a close up look at Elverum’s grief and loss. That album was succinct, precise, and to the point. Now Only is much more a stream of consciousness, a rambling of sorts, and it plays out much like Elverum is writing an epilogue to A Crow in real time. The song structures are varied, and some draw on into the ten minute range. It takes effort to really let this album sink in and marinate, and once it does it pays dividends.

Genre:  Singer-songwriter / indie folk

Standouts:  “Tintin in Tibet,” “Distortion,” “Crow, Pt. 2″

24. U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited

In a Poem Unlimited is a beautiful art pop record, filled with enveloping and gorgeous layers of instrumentation. It’s refined, it’s sharp, and its sound is unlike anything this year has seen. Art pop, folk pop, disco, soul, synth pop, and baroque pop are all genres that blend together and come through in U.S. Girl’s most refined piece yet. And if there’s anything that sticks out especially, it’s the record’s production. It is just so polished. Of course Meghan’s vocals are as cutting as ever, but it is the record’s beautiful construction that keeps me coming back to this one. Songs like “Velvet 4 Sale,” and “L-Over” are particular highlights for me. I recommend this to anyone who wants a diverse sounding record, or a record to just fall into.

Genre:  Art pop / synth pop / psych pop

Standouts: “Velvet 4 Sale,” “Rosebud,” “L-Over,” “M.A.H.”

23. Jonny Greenwood - You Were Never Really Here (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood first grabbed my attention, when it came to his work aside from Radiohead, with his score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread last year. Gorgeous string arrangements and orchestral builds are swapped out for synthesizers and heavy percussive elements on this latest soundscape however. And while I loved Greenwood’s work with PTA, this latest project sees Greenwood using these tools expertly. His soundtrack is one of the best of this year, and it adds to the immersive world that Lynne Ramsay built in You Were Never Really Here. Dissonant and sharp guitars, thunderous and warping synths pierce your ears and create a sense of unease, matched when experienced while watching the film. And while some scores and/or soundtracks fail to stand on their own without their cinematic partners, Greenwood’s work here is more than enough on its own.

Genre:  Film soundtrack / experimental

Standouts:  “Tree Synthesizers,” “Sandy’s Necklace,” “Dark Streets (Reprise)”

22. Kali Uchis - Isolation

Colombian soul singer Kali Uchis made her full-length debut this year with Isolation. A diverse roster came together to collaborate on this project; the likes of Steve Lacy, Boosty Collins, Damon Albarn, Thundercat, and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker appear on this record in some shape or form, and those are but a few to name. This amalgamation of artists and minds makes for a sonically diverse record, one that spans genres and emotions. And through it all Kali Uchis shines through as an up-and-coming talent. Still, there is plenty of room to grow, as the lyricism and songwriting on some tracks falls a bit flatter than others. But overall this record is so unique it stands above its contemporaries.

Genre:  Neo-soul / contemporary R&B

Standouts:  “Just A Stranger,” “In My Dreams,” “Feel Like A Fool”

21. Sons of Kemet - Your Queen Is a Reptile

London jazz unit, Sons of Kemet, delivered a revolutionary jazz record this year. Politically-fueled, unapologetically cultural, it is based in African music and African history yet brimming with ingenuity. Thunderous horns, bombastic drums and chaotic wind sections grow and pulse through this record. Broken up are these progressions by spoken word passages, which add depth and prose to the record. Your Queen Is a Reptile is surely a classic, and a definite listen for any jazz enthusiast.

Genre:  Afro-jazz

Standouts:  “My Queen Is Ada Eastman,” “My Queen Is Harriet Tubman,” “My Queen Is Angela Davis”

20. MGMT - Little Dark Age

Perhaps best known for their indie breakout hit Oracular Spectacular, with late-2000s anthems like “Kids,” “Time To Pretend,” and “Electric Feel,” MGMT was considered by some destined to fail to meet their success of 2007. Little Dark Age dispels these notions, with dark and gloomy pop cuts as well as a purposefully occult themes. MGMT never wanted to make mainstream pop music, and released Oracular Spectacular as an odd protest to such desires observed in their fans. This devotion to the subversions of mainstream pop followed them through their discography post-Oracular, but hits its peak here with Little Dark Age.

Genre:  Gothic pop / synth pop / psych pop

Standouts:  “Little Dark Age,” “When You Die,” “Me and Michael,” “She Works Out Too Much”

19. Adrianne Lenker - Abysskiss

Big Thief’s frontwoman, Adrianne Lenker, adds to her solo career with Abysskiss. Recorded within the approximate span of a week, the record has an air of urgency but is patient in its delivery. Lenker is reserved, yet determined in her delivery. The album is much like tramping on a trail or wandering through a city unknown. It winds, it hypnotizes. I found myself ensnared by Lenker’s finger-picking and her hauntingly beautiful voice. Fans of Big Thief will love this solo effort by Lenker, and I hope many others can find and appreciate its beauty in minimalism.

Genre:  Folk / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  “terminal paradise,” “womb,” “cradle”

18. Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

Scottish trio Young Fathers came out swinging with Cocoa Sugar. Blending a multitude of genres, Young Fathers have released their sharpest record to date. Its inclusion of neo-soul, conscious hip-hop, gospel, electronica, and R&B make for a sonic experience rivaled by few. The album builds and builds this chaotic wall of sound, finally reaching its release with tracks like “In My View,” and “Lord.” But the album is a engaging listen throughout.

Genre:  Indietronica / neo-soul / art pop / experimental hip-hop / gospel

Standouts:  “Fee Fi,” “In My View,” “Lord,” “Border Girl”

17. JPEGMAFIA - Veteran

DAMN PEGGY! 19 tracks. 47 minutes. This album slaps. Baltimore rapper/producer, JPEGMAFIA, has come out with one of the most experimental and abrasive rap albums of the century. Using sounds unnatural and inorganic to human ears, Peggy is creating songs unlike any of his contemporaries. It is difficult to put into words just how experimental and “out there” this album is.  His songwriting is excellently woven into these instrumentals and samples, making for catchy cuts and oddly comedic one-liners. There is a real texture to these songs, and the dynamic swells of sound make for a transcendent and mind-numbing experience. Veteran isn’t just one of the most creative rap albums I’ve ever heard, it’s perhaps one of the best rap albums I’ve ever heard.

Genre:  Experimental hip-hop

Standouts:  “1539 N. Calvert,” “Thug Tears,” “Baby I’m Bleeding

16. Jon Hopkins - Singularity

In the same realm of immersive listens, I don’t think there is one album this year that can reach the same heights (both literally and figuratively) as Singularity. This album feels like the genesis of a brand new world, like the exploration of the unknown reaches past our galaxy. It’s an odyssey of sound, an insurmountable summit of synthesizers, strings, percussion and much, much more. The album opens with the title track, “Singularity,” which sets the stage for what the album is meant to accomplish. The winding synths and electric drum beats create an atmosphere similar to the cold and unforgiving nature of space. Seamlessly, the album bursts into the song “Emerald Rush,” which slows things down at first, allows the listener to breath and grab hold of their whereabouts. But this feeling of ease and calm is sliced by the thunderous and monolithic bass-heavy bursts at around the 1:33 mark. From there on out the song becomes a tribal experience. The drum beats creating an almost religious evocation, of a religion foreign to Earth. “Neon Pattern Drum,” continues this ethereal theme and the song is a sonic representation of its title. Once again, tribal synths and drums entrap the listener, banishing them to a realm of neon and galactic enterprise. Jon Hopkins has created something truly special with Singularity. Its atmosphere and reach are indescribable.

Genre:  Ambient / tech house / IDM

Standouts:  “Singularity,” “Emerald Rush,” “Neon Pattern Drum,” “Feel First Life,” “C O S M”

15. Julia Holter - Aviary

While JPEGMAFIA may have released the most experimental hip-hop album of 2018, I firmly believe that Julia Holter released the most experimental and  dense album of 2018. Emphasis on “dense.” Let me repeat. This. Album. Is. Dense. Blending more genres than I can even think of, Aviary is layered and complex. Much like a tasting menu at a prestigious restaurant, Holter’s work demands patience and attention. But if you put in the time - for Pete’s sake this album is an hour and 30 minutes long - you will be rewarded. Holter crafts a universe of her own, and only she knows (or maybe doesn’t) how to traverse it, we are but left to helplessly follow in the hopes of finding our eventual way. And that’s what makes this album one of this year’s best. Julia doesn’t compromise here, and has the courage to craft an expansive and broad experience. In a year where succinct and short albums seemed to grab hold (e.g. Be the Cowboy), Aviary separates itself as a cacophonous cloud of grand and classical influences. Holter’s talents as a composer and multi-instrumentalist are present throughout the journey as well; she’s able to create a scape of her own, but one that reminds me of a futuristic world, one akin to that of the world of Blade Runner. The mixing draws up sour string arrangements and heavenly synths, her howling voice and earth-shattering basslines to great effect. She even sings in multiple languages, including: English, French and Latin. It’s mysterious. It’s frustrating. It’s painfully poetic. It’s a juggernaut of an album. But it is unapologetically beautiful in its own right.

Genre: Idk... to many (art pop / classical / avante garde)

Standouts:  “I Shall Love 2,” “Colligere,” “Les Jeux to You,” “Words I Heard”

14. Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine

The works of Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner are enough draw the attention of many indieheads. From Vernon’s ventures as Bon Iver and Volcano Choir, and Dessner being a member of the acclaimed rock outfit, The National, there are enough accolades between the two of them that any sort of joining of forces would result in a sure fire classic. And that’s exactly what Big Red Machine is, in the most un-classic way possible. Songs from the record have been floating around the Internet for some time now, with Vernon and Dessner playing some songs live at festivals like Eaux Claires. But it wasn’t until this year we formally received notice that a record would be surfacing. The self-titled debut is much more akin to the sound of 22, A Million or Sleep Well Beast. Fans of traditional National, or older Bon Iver, may be disappointed to find the album relies on synths and motherboards instead of solely guitars, drum and bass. But behind all of the bleeps and bloops are notes of the artists’ original sounds. “I Won’t Run From It,” sound like it could have appeared on Bon Iver, Bon Iver, and “Forest Green,” could have easily been on High Violet if Vernon’s vocals were traded in for Berninger’s. Big Red Machine is a leap forward for the two artists, and it marks a pivotal point in their careers, one should not miss out on this project.

Genre:  Folktronica / indie rock

Standouts:  “Forest Green,” “I Won’t Run From It,” “Hymnostic”

13. St. Vincent - MassEducation

A complete re-imagining of her own Masseduction, Anne Clark is always at the forefront of the music sphere. She’s an elite guitarist, a visionary songwriter, and a fashion icon on top of all that. To re-record, re-imagine, and re-produce your own album is already a bold task, but for Anne it must have just been a logical step forward for her. Where Masseduction was experimental, sour, and sharp-edged, full of futuristic progressions and dystopian engagements, MassEducation is not. It is slow, intimate, subdued and minimal. Featuring mainly piano and acoustic arrangements, Anne has created a beautifully classic sound.

Genre:  Singer-songwriter / acoustic

Standouts:  “Slow Disco,” “Smoking Section,” “Los Ageless,” “New York,” “Pills”

12. Ought - Room Inside the World

Montreal post-punk outfit, Ought, add to the post-punk front this year with Room Inside the World. An album that’s groovy and hypnotic, Ought have improved upon their works of past with this entry. Lead vocalist, Tim Darcy, has a unique voice that cuts through the colorful palette of guitars, keys, bass, and percussion. The record chugs along with a deliberate nonchalant vibe, up until the release during the album’s midway point in “Desire.” A strong contender for song of the year, “Desire” marks a pivotal point in the album. It takes the build up of the previous four tracks, and adds to it with its own two minute and forty second build up, crescendoing to a beautiful arrangement of Darcy’s own voice backed by an array of singers. Room Inside the World is a passionate piece, one that is even better when experienced live. A solid post-punk entry deserving of every listen.

Genre:  Post-punk / art rock

Standouts:  “Desire,” “Disgraced In America,” “Into the Sea,” “These 3 Things”

11. Against All Logic - 2012-2017

Nicolas Jaar’s debut project on the Other People label is a beautiful house record. Seriously, this album is a broad soundscape, utilizing horns, deep and guttural synth blares, percussive snaps, soul and R&B samples, and disco and funk flavors. The songs fade in and fade out beautifully, creating a sonic cityscape and sweaty, club atmosphere. Jaar opens with the stunning “This Old House Is All I Have,” a jammy and soulful house cut. Tracks like “Cityfade,” and “Some Kind of Game,” blend funk and disco seamlessly with the digital character of boiler room house. Where Hopkins uses Singularity to imagine a space-filled void, wrapping the listener in stars, comets and cosmic gas, Jaar opts for a more down-to-earth approach. Synthesizing an urban, concrete-jungle type of space, Jaar masterfully pulls the listener into the middle of New York streets, Berlin clubs, and French dance houses.

Genre:  House / boiler room house

Standouts:  “This Old House I Have,” “Cityfade,” “Rave on U,” “Some Kind of Game”

10. Father John Misty - God’s Favorite Customer

Father John Misty’s Pure Comedy (2017) was one of my favorite albums last year. No album so poignantly critiqued the state of affairs the country sees itself in, what the world sees itself in. No album so vividly expressed the frustration, sadness, hopelessness, and abandon that many of us - including myself - have felt since that fateful election of November 2016. But what strikes me so powerfully now, is the knowledge that J. Tillman wrote Pure Comedy well before the 2016 election cycle. Certainly, it was not difficult for anyone to picture the road we as a country were headed down, but for Tillman to so succinctly capture those emotions before we felt them, that is something truly special.

Gone were the intimate and personal ballads found on Fear Fun or I Love You, Honeybear. Pure Comedy opted for a more meta-analysis type of song structure, critiquing society as a whole and all the populations that inhabit it. It chose to express a different type of love, a love for mankind as a whole. It had a much broader array of instrumentation as well; strings, horns, orchestral units all culminated to form a cinematic, almost theatrical sound. These elements made for an expansive and full-breadthed listen. So when it was announced that Tillman would follow up this masterpiece of a project immediately in 2018 with God’s Favorite Customer, I was intrigued to see where he would take us.

Back are the familiar song structures and instrumental arrangements found in I Love You, Honeybear and Fear Fun, back is the personal and introspective songwriting. It is (in a sense) a return to form for Tillman, or rather, Father John Misty as a character. But now, there is a sense of discomfort and dismay in Misty’s voice and delivery. It is an exploration of turmoil and it is unfamiliar to us, since Misty often comes off as confident and saturated with cynicism. This darker road we’re led down opens us to the struggles of an artist trapped behind a character. While Tillman may not consider his moniker a trap all of the time, the lifestyle his art brings has certainly caused him his fair share of hardships. And it is this honesty that is so potent to me. A beautiful, beautiful addition to an already superb discography.

Many disregard Misty because of the veil he portrays so often. A veil of cynicism, pretentiousness and superiority. But what I think many fail to realize and account for is that the veil is just that: a veil. Any character or performance can run the well dry, but I believe Misty is only reaching his peak at this moment. What keeps me invested is knowing that behind that cynicism, Josh Tillman is a deeply caring, professional and upstanding artist. His continued philanthropy is a testament to this love. And perhaps that is why God’s Favorite Customer struck such a strong chord in me. Hearing that this man has faced some of his darkest times, and yet still finds the strength and courage to help others, it is inspiring. So while you are free to judge Father John Misty the character, I think Josh Tillman deserves more than a fair shake for having helped so many of us during such dark times.

Genre:  Singer-songwriter / chamber pop / piano rock

Standouts:  “Hangout at the Gallows,” “Mr. Tillman,” “Please Don’t Die,” “We’re Only People (And There’s Not Much Anyone Can Do About That)”

9. Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling

This album and artist are shrouded in mystery, as far as I can tell. There is not much I can find on Mid-Air Thief and his work that isn’t written in Korean. Regardless, one thing remains clear, Crumbling is perhaps the most gorgeously textured album I’ve ever heard. It mixes elements of folk, synth pop, glitch pop, and bedroom pop to create a warm and inviting sound unique to itself. At times the album sounds like something one would hear during a Studio Ghibli film, and at others it sounds like the soundtrack to a crisp autumn afternoon. Crumbling is bubbly, sincere and vulnerable. It sounds like looking through old photo albums, it sounds like walking through the park on a warm summer day, it sounds like sharing a meal with those you love. There’s no other projects I can really compare this album to for you, and ultimately I think that’s a good thing. You just have to listen to this one for yourself to truly understand what I am talking about.

Genre:  Synth folk / synth pop / glitch folk

Standouts: I mean, the whole album... but “Why?” “Gameun Deut,” “Curve and Light,” and “Crumbling Together,” for sure.

8. Amen Dunes - Freedom

Much like hallucinating on psychedelics or living through a fever dream, Freedom is a euphoric and shimmery listen. The off-kilter structure of many songs, the groovy basslines and percussion, topped off by Damon McMahon’s sensual voice sends the listener into a trance. The album builds and builds, creating an ethereal sonic atmosphere, wrapping the listener like a ghostly blanket. It draws the listener in and traps them in a haze of memory, emotion and soul.

Genre:  Psychedelic folk / folk rock

Standouts:  “Blue Rose,” “Time,” “Miki Dora,” “Believe,” “Dracula,” “Freedom”

7. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

Politically-charged, funk-woven rock anthems are certainly not a dime a dozen. Smart, catchy post-punk cuts are not easy to execute, especially when trying to interject political themes and commentary on sociopolitical issues. But Parquet Courts, a Brooklyn-based indie rock collective, have certainly accomplished the seemingly impossible with Wide Awake! Providing perspective on violence, agency in the modern age, disparities in our modern economy. The lyrical focus on this album is superb, and there is a clear attention to the writing here. But the instrumentation is equally illustrative. Slick guitar riffs, funky bass lines, snappy percussion, and a myriad of effects keep the songs flowing with character. There’s also an amazing fusion of many genres. Funk, soul, garage rock, post-punk, and jangle pop can all be heard in some form or another on this record. No song sounds like its predecessor or successor, making Wide Awake! one of this year’s best.

Genre:  Post-punk / indie rock

Standouts:  “Violence,” “Mardi Gras Beads,” “Almost Had To Start A Fight/In and Out of Patience,” “Freebird II,” “Wide Awake,” “Tenderness”

6. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer

Janelle Monae is an artist unlike any other. A musician, a model, an actor, a producer, and rapper, Monae’s talents and passions have combined to create unstoppable works. From her previous LPs, to her accolades for roles in films such as Moonlight, I was very much anticipating this latest release. It seems Monae is at her most adventurous right now, venturing out into modes and endeavors few other artists would dare explore. And she does so with such poise and strength on Dirty Computer. It is much more poppy and glossy than her previous works, but it is also conceptual and forward-thinking to a high degree. Exploring sexuality, love, individualism, and pride in all forms, the album is an exquisite listen. Songs like, “Screwed” and “Make Me Feel,” are overtly sexual, but backed by tangible passion and pride. Monae’s obvious inspiration from Prince is found on these songs as well, adding to the lust and mystery. The tracks “Django Jane,” and “Pynk” are infectious and inspiring anthems, preaching love for one’s self and hearkening to the struggles of being a minority in a tumultuous America. These are not the only songs with such impacts however. The entire project is a prideful piece of art, worthy of all the accolades it has received.

Genre:  Contemporary R&B / synth funk / art pop

Standouts:  “Screwed,” “Django Jane,” “Make Me Feel,” “Pynk,” “I Got The Juice,” “I Like That”

5. Mitski - Be The Cowboy

At her roots, Mitski is very much a punk icon. And what is more punk than the subversion of classic musical standards? Mitski opts for a much more brief and precise project with Be The Cowboy. At 14 songs and 32 minutes, it’s an album that sucks you in and spits you out in the matter of mere minutes. Songs average on the 2:30 length, leaving just enough to make you feel full but certainly not enough to leave you satisfied. And that intentional briefness is what kept me coming back to this album. The emotional climaxes that build are abruptly cut off, and I’m left feeling empty and yearning for more. The swells of love and loss keep you afloat for just a moment, only to drag you down and leave you gasping for breath. “Geyser,” opens the album, creating a sense of empowerment and vision. But I soon realized that Mitski is battling herself in this album. She is struggling to move on from the past, but more than certain that she has the power to do so. That’s what I think “Be the cowboy,” means. At least to a degree. That idea of capturing the symbolism and presence of the old gunslingers of the west. That idea of being strong willed and free flows throughout the project. Mitski is no longer apologizing for herself. She channels that energy of the cowboy and has created an album that speaks to the strength within us all.

Genre:  Indie rock / art pop

Standouts:  “Geyser,” “Old Friend,” “A Pearl,” “Lonesome Love,” “Me and My Husband,” “Nobody,” “Two Slow Dancers”

4. Lucy Dacus - Historian

Virginia native, Lucy Dacus, has had quite the year. From releasing her sophomore full length record, to joining forces with her contemporaries Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, 2018 has proved to be a pivotal moment in the singer-songwriters career. And I couldn’t think of an artist more deserving of such success and praise. Dacus is so humble and soft spoken, it is a revelation when she belts out on tracks like “Night Shift.” Her presence on stage and on her latest album evoke such emotion and personality, making Historian one of my favorite albums of the decade. From a distance, many could label Dacus as your run-of-the-mill indie singer-songwriter. But from the moment the album kicks off, you realize this is something else entire. “Night Shift,” is a perfect example of Dacus’ mature writing and song structuring, with the songs building with emotion and boiling over after a certain point. Dacus’ soft voice becomes increasingly more powerful as songs go on, and fill the room with energy and emotion.

Delving into self love, loss and facing the inevitability of time, Dacus finds herself facing mortality and wisdom at the same time. There is a sense of growth on this album, especially when compared to her debut album. The crunchy guitar lines, the smooth drums and bass, emboldened by Dacus’ one of a kind voice hypnotize the listener. Songs vary in length beautifully as well. Dacus can easily write catchy singles like “Addictions,” but she is more than capable of (and perhaps better suited for) writing expansive and fluctuating ballads that creep towards the six, seven minute mark. Overall, there is a real comfort to this record, and an unparalleled presence that is sure to stand the test of time.

Genre:  Indie rock / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  “Night Shift,” “Addictions,” “The Shell,” “Nonbeliever,” “Yours & Mine,” “Timefighter,” “Next of Kin”

3. Haley Heynderickx - I Need To Start A Garden

Much like a garden, music is delicate and requires the utmost care to thrive and intrigue. If cared for properly though, the fruits of your labor will be bountiful. Portland-born singer-songwriter Haley Heynderickx understands this dilemma and explores its effects and roots on her debut album, I Need To Start A Garden.

Prior to her full-length debut, Heynderickx had released an EP in 2016 titled, Fish Eyes. The four song venture was bright with intimacy and care. It was like a collection of cacti and succulents, rough around the edges yet beautiful beyond compare. Featuring muted guitar tones, subtle ventures into nature and love, and not much else, the EP was a highlight for me in 2016. Haley’s voice is so pure and emotive, it’s evident her own stories are folded into the weaves of her music.

This is why I was so excited for her full length record this year. When the folk sphere has been dominated by acts such as Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and other giants for so long,it is refreshing to hear a new voice in the crowd.

I Need To Start A Garden opens with the somber, “No Face,” a song about self-reflection and self-doubt. And while accompanying tracks like “Show You a Body,” and “Worth It” carry heavy ethos and mystery, Haley isn’t afraid to mix in humor and on-the-nose self-deprecation. “The Bug Collector,” “Untitled God Song,” and “Oom Sha La La” mix up the pace and taste of the LP, trading subtle guitar lines for bright electric rhythms. Haley’s word play and writing talents are evident across the record, but I think these three tracks really display her knack for balancing her lyrics and her esteemed wordsmith-ing.

Much like a garden, music requires the maker to understand the mercurial nature of the process. It doesn’t just happen overnight. No artist better understands these frustrations than Haley. I Need To Start A Garden represents its namesake; its beauty hides behind a veil of minimalism, and its strengths are at times mistaken for faults. Haley’s folk roots give this album space and air to breath, and her ability to tell enchanting stories brings this album to life. If I Need To Start A Garden is any indication, Heynderickx will be back with perennial success.

Genre:  Folk / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  “No Face,” “The Bug Collector,” “Jo,” “Worth It,” “Untitled God Song,” “Oom Sha La La”

2. Boygenius - Boygenius EP

First and foremost, I understand that this collection of songs is technically an EP, not an LP. But I could not make a year-end list documenting all of the projects that I found transformative without including the Boygenius EP. Six intimate and simple songs, written and recorded in the span of a few weeks, including three of the most inspiring and talented individuals in music right now:  Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. The sheer brilliance of this EP is in its simplicity, as well as its spontaneity and the comfort it so easily provides.

The joining of these three musicians and songwriters has been labeled as indie music’s next ‘supergroup,’ and it is difficult to refute such a label when their debut project and respective tour made such a lasting impact on my life, and I’m sure the lives of many others. When it was announced that Bridgers, Dacus and Baker were collaborating on a project together, I had no idea that the fruits of their labor would arrive within the year. But I am oh so glad it did. These artists are not unfamiliar to me, nor are they to each other. Bridgers and Baker have toured together in the past, and Lucy joined forces with Baker for some shows this year as well. However, I had no idea what any sort of project from these three would sound like, let alone how it would impact me.

Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus all have such unique sounds and distinct approaches to music. Baker is often associated with minimalistic arrangements; her debut solo LP featured only her voice, a guitar, a looping rig, and a piano. While her arrangements have grown and been fleshed out a bit more on her sophomore release, her style is consistent. Focusing on emotional releases through the exploration of here darkest times, Baker builds her songs to cathartic releases. Dacus is similar, but often chooses to flesh out her storytelling a bit more, and opts for a fuller instrumentation (e.g. bass, drums, and a second guitar). Her songs drift and sway, hypnotizing the listener until her progressions ultimately erupt. Bridgers is perhaps the most varied in her sound. Using a baritone guitar, an acoustic, slide guitars, drums, bass and synths. Her debut album was a joy to listen to because it flipped conventional indie rock and indie folk on its head. It didn’t revolutionize the sound per se, but her songwriting and humor shine through like few other indie folk records do.

These elements from each artist come together beautifully on the EP. The way each artist is able to harmonize with each other, work off each other and build the others up is incredible. Some songs highlight a different artist in some way. “Me & My Dog,” is a ballad featuring Phoebe on lead vocals and guitar, “Stay Down,” is forwarded by Baker and “Bite The Hand” kicks the EP off with Lucy’s velvety and somber singing. But there are also cuts that serve as vehicles for the three artists’ talents to merge and blossom. “Souvenir,” and “Ketchum, ID” in particular include exquisite harmonies between the three artists and verses are traded back and forth among the singers. This sharing of material not only allows the listener to experience each artist individually, but in a way it is the sonic embodiment of what this EP is all about. It’s about sharing, loving yourself and each other, and not being afraid to find comfort in the shared anxieties that life throws at you.

Genre:  Indie rock / indie folk / singer-songwriter

Standouts:  The entire EP

1. IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance

I’ve discussed how volatile and fickle heavily-political projects can be in this day and age. It is easy for the project to drown itself in self-righteousness or to lose itself in its own tone deafness. Political narratives in music can also become jumbled and indigestible if done poorly.  But this is not the case for Bristol punk outfit, IDLES, and their sophomore record here, Joy as an Act of Resistance.

Tackling UK-centric issues such as the Tory Party’s gaining grip on the nation as well as the recent Brexit controversies, Joy is very much rooted in the chaos and turmoil facing the UK today. However, the album’s messages can find relevance in the United States as well as a myriad of other countries. “Colossus,” the album’s opener, tackles toxic masculinity and its effects on the male mentality. “Never Fight A Man With A Perm,” continues this commentary with sour guitar licks and thunderous drums. Joe Talbot’s - the lead singer of IDLES - shout-like singing cuts through the mix to create a sense of urgency and resistance.

“I’m Scum” slows the record down a bit with rhythmic drums and subdued (for IDLES) instrumentation. It delves into the political and sociopolitical challenges that Britain is currently facing with its continued rise of the right wing party. Lines like, “I don’t care about the next James Bond. He kills for country, Queen and God. We don’t need another murderous toff,” and “This snowflake’s an avalanche,” deliver heavy social punches in such a vivid tone.

Joy’s political tone only continues to grow with “Danny Nedelko,” a ballad of sorts, praising immigrants and all the brilliance and love they bring to their newfound homes (where ever that may be). The song’s namesake is Talbot’s real-life best friend, Danny Nedelko, a Ukrainian immigrant to the United Kingdom. The track speaks on how every day immigrants bring immense value to their communities with lines like, “My blood brother is Malala. A Polish butcher, he’s Mo Farah.” Including the names of famous immigrants to the UK highlights just how one-sided and clouded many citizens’ views on immigrants are.

The album chugs along at breakneck pace, until “June,” the deeply emotional ode to Talbot’s daughter whose untimely passing proved to be a pivotal emotional moment in Talbot’s life. One that sprouted the genesis of this album, and one that will surely be held close for his entire lifetime.

Joy is a straightforward post-punk album with apt commentary that is applicable to any corner of the earth. But what makes this album my album of the year is its delivery of such commentary. Behind the chugging bass lines, the sharp and sour guitar lines, the pounding drums, and Talbot’s gruff voice is a message of love for one another. This juxtaposition only grows in effect with each repeated listen. From the outside looking in, it’s a rough-around-the-edges and jagged punk record. But once you peer deeper into the substance, it’s truly a representation of its title, a reaffirmation that joy is the simplest - and perhaps the most effective - form of resistance to those who work to spread hate and unrest.

Genre:  Post-punk / art punk / hardcore punk

Standouts:  “Colossus,” “Never Fight A Man With A Perm,” “Danny Nedelko,” “I’m Scum,” “June,” “Rottweiler,” “Television”

[11yearsofgoodluck]

Le monarque des Indes

Artist: Pierre Lapointe

Song: Le monarque des Indes

English

The King of the Indies

More than a week spent together,

I don’t know what we look like.

The hours we spent in bed

Defeated our boredom

And made life more beautiful.

 

You weave fabric of joy

With your laughter, with your voice.

You set fire to my battles

I don’t know which will win:

My fear, my vertigo or my faith.

 

I don’t know where we’re going.

I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t

Try to understand where they lead,

The stories that are worth it.

 

Your nail polish is pretty,

Your bright eyes and also your beard.

I am silent, fascinated

By your movements animated with that soft manliness.

 

Your King-of-the-Indies mannerism

Should have already made me fear

This entire astonishing trip

Launched into the firmament;

I’m scared of hurting when I fall.

 

I don’t know where we’re going.

I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t

Try to understand where they lead,

The stories that are worth it.

 

Is it a passion of the body

Or love riding a swallow?

The distance which separates us

Makes us put off till later

The verdict, faced with our hopes.

 

You draw walls, ceilings;

I get drunk on songs.

Separated by an ocean,

We walk on a line of silver.

I would like to be giant.

 

I don’t know where we’re going.

I keep telling myself that I shouldn’t

Try to understand where they lead,

The stories that are worth it.

 

Submitted by Édana on Sun, 15/12/2019 - 23:36

Last edited by Édana on Fri, 21/02/2020 - 03:52

Author's comments:

‘King of the Indies’ was a title used by Charles V since 1521 to reflect his sovereignty in the Americas (called ‘Indies’ at their discovery).

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Indies

Le monarque des Indes

Plus d’une semaine passée ensemble,

je ne sais pas à quoi on ressemble.

Les heures qu’on a passées au lit

ont eu raison de notre ennui

et font qu’elle est plus belle, la vie.

 

Tu tisses des étoffes de joie

avec tes rires, avec ta voix.

Tu fous le feu à mes combats,

je ne sais pas qui gagnera :

ma peur, mes vertiges ou ma foi.

 

Je ne sais où on s’en va.

Je me répète qu’il ne faut pas

tenter de comprendre où mènent

les histoires qui valent la peine.

 

Ton vernis à ongle est joli,

tes yeux vifs et ta barbe aussi.

Je suis silencieux, fasciné

par tes mouvements animés

de cette douce virilité.

 

Tes airs de monarque des Indes

auraient déjà dû me faire craindre

ce grand voyage étourdissant

propulsé dans le firmament.

J’ai peur d’avoir mal en tombant.

 

Je ne sais où on s’en va.

Je me répète qu’il ne faut pas

tenter de comprendre où mènent

les histoires qui valent la peine.

 

Est-ce une passion corporelle

ou l’amour à dos d’hirondelle?

La distance qui nous sépare

fait qu’on doit remettre à plus tard

le verdict face à nos espoirs.

 

Tu dessines des murs, des plafonds;

moi, je soûle avec des chansons.

Séparés par un océan,

on marche sur un fil d’argent.

J’aimerais pouvoir être géant.

 

Je ne sais où on s’en va.

Je me répète qu’il ne faut pas

tenter de comprendre où mènent

les histoires qui valent la peine.

[mikenips]

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy

I got back into bed after having my morning cigarette at three in the afternoon.  Still half a cup of coffee.  Just the right amount of Kahlua.  Enough to catch the notes of rum through the vanilla hazelnut cream.  But not overpowering to the point where you feel like shit for spiking your first drink of the day.  It’s not even five o’clock here yet.  A cigarette always tastes better when you smoke it in bed.  But you gotta get your fresh air somehow.  Probably won’t leave the house today.  Lots of editing to do on the documentary.

Crawl back under the fleece pineapple blanket.  Spoon a lump of sludge into my mouth.  Oatmeal.  Spent a lotta time avoiding the junk.  A coworker turned me onto it during a morning shift when I drank too much coffee on two hours of sleep and couldn’t see cause I hadn’t eaten at all.  I was always under the impression it would fill me up more.  But it’s fuckin’ oatmeal.  Just sits there.  Clumps up in your stomach.  Doesn’t do shit for ya.

Flip open the laptop.  White rocks stuck in the holes over the speaker.  Kief covered keyboard.  I really should finance for a better grinder than that shitty plastic thing I’ve used since high school.  Old reliable.  Works wonders on grinding.  But everytime you shove the top piece back in, clouds of kief mushroom around it.  Settling in puddles of sweat.  Every now and then the fingertips come back stained after a long editing session.

Camera lays next to the bed.  Sitting directly in front of the trash can.  A wall of VHS tapes stacked up next to the black cylinder.  Can only distinguish the different objects by the masking tape.  Chicken scratch Sharpied onto the cream backdrop.  I really should’ve dated all of them.  Not just the subject.  Can better timeline the filmmaker’s journey by knowing when each segment of the film was shot.  And now I won’t be able to track the dates.  Who the fuck saves emails and texts anyways?  Might be able to find a few from Instagram DMs.  But that’s all up to how the artist wants to portray the story.  Should the viewer discover chronologically?  Or should they piece it together and learn with the filmmaker?

Check the Hamtown Rats Facebook group.  It sounds like some gentrifier bullshit.  Young white people moving into a two square mile city.  Starting a Facebook group with all their friends that live there.  Very elitist.  Especially for a town where the majority of the population is below the poverty line and speak English as a second language.  But after all this shit.  More and more people come begging to live in the city that once had a dumpster running for mayor.

That’s literal too.

At least it’s a good way for neighbors to share shit they can’t afford to get on their own.  Posting which alleys have the best furniture to trash pick.  Or what bars have a pop-up kitchen each day.  Or other general bullshit.  Closest thing you can get to commune living here.  Never know what you’re gonna see walking through this town.  Which makes it so much more interesting what the citizens find to be newsworthy.  That’s what you gotta love about this city.  It’s a community of people that didn’t know where else to go.  From the Polish immigrants that founded it.  To the now growing middle Eastern population.  To all the artists and drunks that can’t afford anywhere else.  Everybody is a part of this community.

Last week people were tracking the journey of a wild turkey roaming the streets.

Today.  The first image that pops up through drops of Stroh’s dried up on the screen, the image of a local legend.  Sporting a fur coat.  Mardi gras beads slouching his back.  Bugler and beer in hand.  Only eye contact with the camera was the eyeball earring a friend had made.  Weird how it always looked to the side like that.  Sparkles shimmering in the purple skin around his eyes smeared by a finger with blue eyeshadow.  You never really were sure if he had gotten into a fight or just hadn’t slept in weeks.  Come to think of it.  Nobody ever had heard stories of him getting into fights.  He had a collection of handguns.  But no bullets.  Anything was possible with Bart though.

Barf.  That’s what his friends called him.  The nickname dated back to high school.  The burnouts he was friends with mocking him for puking when they introduced him to grass his freshman year.  Boys will be boys.  A good vomit joke always gets the laughs.  And of course when you tell any guy to stop, they never do.  So the name stuck.  I can still hear him in the interview.  “Fuck the name your family gave you.  Blood don’t mean shit.  I can get a transfusion whenever I want.  A nickname reflects the person others see you as.  And isn’t someone else’s perception of you better than your own?”

He had moved to the city after getting busted with a script full of Vicodin his first year at Wayne State.  Grandma bailed him out.  Mom said he could keep living with her after the bust.  He was an adult now.  Had to make his own decisions.  But he couldn’t bring any junk into her house.  So he got his own place in Hamtown.  Moved in with a girl he was seeing.  The split would happen not much longer after that.  But she didn’t wanna keep the shitty apartment split front and back.  So he took it over.

Sad to see the image.  It was taken at one of his house parties.  Nobody could pinpoint which one.  Not surprising though.  Anything was possible with Barf.

Skim over the stack of tapes.  Find the one labeled “Barf.”  Pop it in the VHS player.  Something about capturing all that stuff on tape.  Seems more real.  Seeing the actual tape move from reel to reel broke down the illusion to me more than watching the Instagram story highlights or YouTube videos that circulated the internet.  With all the fake news out there, you can never be sure where reality and illusion separate.  But wasn’t that kinda the point of art?  Or at least Barf’s body of work.  Pushing the boundaries of reality and illusion.

He was a magician.  Hard way to crack through the art world.  But somehow Bart managed to slip through the cracks.  To the bewilderment of some of the old heads that still were active in the DIY scene.  The urban legends that inspire locals to pick up the axe and start shredding away the stump that still remains.  Bart was slingshot to their status by his peers.  Many of them leaving a much bigger dent on the stump of culture than Bart.  Still, they cited him as a major help to their careers.  As he kept standing in front of the stump.  Curtain held over it.  Hoping one day he’d pull away and it would all be gone.  Some of us, kids my age that were sneaking into his shithole bar underage, believe the stump was never really there in the first place.  These notions were all just in our head.

The snow gives way to the glimmer of a bottom lip grill.  No top.  Mouth hanging open.  Gasping to the tune of “Zig Zag Wanderer” by Captain Beefheart.  Black octagon sunglasses still on in the room dimly lit by rock god prayer candles and ritual candles melted straight to the glass table top.  Greasy hair falling over his face.  Hiding the chain stretching from the industrial piercing in his left ear to the diamond at the lobe.  A knot of baby hair tangled in his right eyebrow piercing.

His head sinks into the penguin pillow.  A gift his grandma gave him when he was a kid.  The white face now gray.  Almost as black as the outer color.  Color chipping off his cracked fingernails.  Purple kimono barely covers his sunken stomach.  Skin detailing the texture of bone.  One floating rib on his right side.  Never was sure how that happened.  “Can’t hold onto everything that hurts you.”  It’s eerie thinking in other people’s voices.

“You ever do quads brooooooo…”  His now baritone voice trails off as the nitrous canister falls outta the cradle of his arms onto the dirty carpet.  The fiend in me wants to Hoover his carpets with my nose.  Someone like him probably doesn’t give a shit how much he spills.  Less getting in his bloodstream.  But part of me says he does regular cleaning on his own.

From the TV you can hear Scooby-Doo scratching his ears.  Doesn’t mute the PS2 game.  Just turns the record player up over it.  Gotta have that full sensory overload to really get in the head space.  “You wanna know the real story of how I lost this tooth?”

“Sure.”  It’s always a shock hearing your own voice on recording.

“So I woke up one day with the worst tooth pain I have ever experienced.”  He rips a line of blow without even lowering his shades.  Looks up and smiles.  “Like ‘em?  My buddy left them after a house show at my place.  His going away party on Devil’s Night when he joined the navy.  Used to run this really cool cassette label.  Always did my part by providing him a venue for releases.”

His palms thunderstrike together.  Shakes his hair violently.  “Anyways.  I shoved my whole phone in my mouth.  Capture a nice pic of the inside of my tooth.  Solid black.  So I get it yanked out.  Smoked three packs of Camel Blues through my nose while I waited out the dry socket.  That was when they did that Camel through the decades promo.  Still got some of the packs on my display of empties in the kitchen.

“Anyways.  Fuckin’ sidetracked.  What most people don’t know is I chipped the tooth at Jenkem.  Managed to get this insane Aussie garage band to play while they were touring the US.  Sold out show.  And this one fuckin’ asshole I knew.  Ian.  He fronted some shitty indie band.  Mac DeMarcore type sound.  Until I opened the bar he only knew me as the bowling bartender.  Even though I met him several times before working there.  And the asshole had been to my house for parties!

“All these shitty indie bands lived in the burbs.  But they loved coming to Hamtown and seeing the garage bands.  Made them feel like they were doing something they shouldn’t be.  And they’d smoke cigs at the bar.  Play pinball and pool.  Stand at the front of the pit.  But stand completely still.  Just kinda romanticizing our filth and flaws without having to see it at home.  Ya know.  Where daddy could pay to get them on Spotify playlists for publicity.

“So he begs me to let his band open.  And they didn’t fit the bill.  But they wanted a fuckin’ shit show.  So we gave ‘em a fucking shit show!  Sparked a joint during their set.  Tried passing it to him while he played.  But he refused.  All the homies booed.  Just dumb shit to make them uncomfortable.

“So the headliners go on.  I’m tanked by this point.  I mean.  I was tanked when I unlocked the bar that day.  But now I was just obliterated.  And somebody hit me from behind in the pit.  I fell forward.  Bust my tooth on this asshole Ian’s leather jacket.  That is standing completely fucking still front and center.

“Lost a third of the tooth.  But left a pretty nice scratch on the leather jacket daddy got him that afternoon for his ‘big gig.’”  I’m gonna miss that beautiful smile.  The kind of innocent smile of a child unsure what’s going on.  But knows he’s enjoying it.

[dealgemeneverwarring]

The twelfth episode of De Algemene Verwarring was broadcast on Monday November 18 on a cold evening in Kortrijk and you can listen to it by clicking on the Mixcloud link above. Pictured below is the Australian band These Immortal Souls with the legend Rowland S. Howard. So yeah I did an all Aussie band special last Monday but unfortunately the broadcast wasn’t recorded by the radio Quindo software, so I was not able to upload it on Mixcloud for your listening enjoyment. That’s why I decided to make a mixtape with all the music that I played in this episode #12 so you can at least discover the bands without my boring explications in-between sets. Instead of that, you can find some extra information below, in the playlist.  I hope that you all are interested to read this, and that you like the music too, of course. Enjoy!

Playlist:

Cosmic Psychos: Back At School (CD “Blokes You Can Trust” on Amphetamine Reptile Records, 1991)

There is no better way to start an Aussie special with a cracking punk rock song from these blokes you can trust. Still going strong, because the opening track of their most recent album that was released in 2018 has as a title “100 Cans Of Beer”. Santé!

Vintage Crop: Coming Up (LP V/A “New Center Of The Universe Vol. 3″ on Anti Fade, 2018)

Most punk song from this compilation that features some usual suspects such as Exek, The Shifters, Parsnip, Terry and The Stroppies, but also rather unknown names such as Gonzo, Permits, Billdozer (good name!) and Sleepyhead. Volumes 1 & 2 were only released on cassette and CD, so this is the first vinyl compilation. Vintage Crop are from Geelong.

Straight Arrows: Make Up Your Mind (7″ on Agitated Records, 2014)

Sydney based garage punk band. I actually played another song in the show from their split 7″ with French garage rockers The Creteens, but didn’t find a good quality mp3 from that song, so I downloaded this cracking track from their band camp page. They did a European tour earlier this year but unfortunately didn’t play in Belgium.

Cereal Killer: Your Punk Scene Can Suck It (LP “Beginning And End of Cereal Killer!” on Drunken Sailor Records, 2019)

Cereal Killer is an Australian hardcore punk band from Geelong, Victoria, and this is their first full length on vinyl. The band was brought to my attention by DJ Alexanderrr who brought one of their singles to a De Radio Is Gek Geworden episode and I’ve been looking for that 7″ since then.

The UV Race: Hot Dogs (7″ “Queens Of Punk” on Eighteen Records, 2014)

If you don’t dance to this song, you can not be my friend. Sorry.

The Stroppies: The Truth (7″ “It’s A Hit” on Hobbies Galore, 2017)

This is from the debut 7″ from this young Melbourne based indie/pop band who have recently released their debut full length called “Whoosh!” on Tough Love Records. We already played a song from that record a few weeks ago. “The Truth” is the very first song I ever heard from this band and it’s still one of my favorites.

The Scientists: I’m Looking For you (LP “The Scientists”, reissue on Numero Group, 2015, originally released in 1981 on EMI Custom Records)

Very first incarnation here of the band as a trio with Kim Salmon, Ian Sharples and James Baker. The band is mostly remembered as the swamp rock band it became after this debut album with core members Boris Sujdovic and Tony Thewlis, but I also very much like the jingly jangly punk sound of this self-titled debut album.

Lubricated Goat: Bad Times (LP V/A “Dope Guns & Fucking In The Streets Vol. 4 - 7″ on Amphetamine Reptile Records, 1990)

One of the more notorious bands on the AmRep roster with main man Stu “Spasm” Gray. Charles Tolnay from King Snake Roost was another member of this band. Apparently the band disbanded after Stu Spasm was stabbed in 1991, but later reformed with other members including some people from Cop Shoot Cop. 

Negative Gears: U.M. (12″ “Negative Gears” on Static Shock Records, 2019)

Very nice debut 12″ by this young Sydney based post punk band. A short record too, which makes me curious to hear more.

Repairs: Decay (7″ “Repairs” on Hozac Records, 2015)

Synth punk yeah! Based in Melbourne and not a very active band as they have just 4 releases in eight years, two cassettes and two seven inches. Last release was in 2017, so it’s about time for a new single, boys!

Carla Dal Forno: The Same Reply (LP “You Know What It’s Like” on Blackest Ever Black, 2016)

Carla Dal Forno was born in Melbourne but is currently based in London. This track is from her debut full length, but she also has a new album called “Look Up Sharp” on her very own label Kallista Records, and he’s playing this Friday 22/11 in Brussels at the Botanique. 

These Immortal Souls: Hey! Little Child (LP “Get Lost (Don’t Lie)” on Mute Records, 1987)

Apparently this band was formed in London after Rowland S. Howard, his brother Harry and Epic Soundtracks (from Swell Maps fame) were not invited for the recordings of the Crime & The City Solution album “Shine”. They recorded two full lengths, this is the first one and the second one was released in 1992. That last one is very hard to find, so hit me up. This track is an Alex Chilton cover, by the way.

The Triffids: Wide Open Road (LP “Born Sandy Devotional” on Megadisc, 1986)

My favorite song from The Triffids, but it’s not from my favorite album, which is “Calenture”. Probably because I saw them around that period (1988) at the Pukkelpop festival, where they must have made quite an impression on this young fellow that was discovering strange bands at that time... Their sound is polished and clean and not comparable at all to all those other wild Aussie bands I played in this episode, but yeah, I still do love them.

Naked On The Vague: Happy Endings (12″ “Twelve Dark Noons” on Sacred Bones Records, 2011)

Two-piece girl-boy act out of Sydney, Australia. Matthew P. Hopkins plays eerie bass and Lucy Cliché plays keyboards, and both do vocals. “Happy Endings” is a great track that contains elements of post punk and no-wave. They played Noisefest II which was a bit weird, but I still remember that show as a very good one, for a small but happy crowd.

HTRK: Into The Drama (LP “Venus In Leo” on Ghostly International, 2019)

Another duo: Jonnine Standish & Nigel Yang, with the opening track of their recently released new album. Their second record was produced by Rowland S. Howard who became a bit of a mentor of the band. 

Fabulous Diamonds: Wheel Of Fortune (LP “Plain Songs” on Alter, 2019)

After seven years of silence, Fabulous Diamonds are back with a new album on the British Alter label. Contrary to previous releases, there is not one rhythmic track on this record. It’s eerie, mysterious, strange and to be honest I had to listen a few times to completely get the feel of it. Definitely a new direction for the duo of Nisa Venerosa and Jarrod Zlatic. This Jarrod guy used to have band called Oh! Belgium!

Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv: Malaria Europa (The European Sickness) (LP “Leichenschrei” on Side Effects Records, 1982)

Legendary industrial band formed in Sydney. Original member and New Zealander Graeme Revell changed the band later into a synth pop band and made a career as a critically acclaimed soundtrack composer. Leichenschrei is one of the early loud and gnarly albums, excellent for ending this episode of De Algemene Verwarring. Hope you all are confused now.

[loudieapp]

Aussie quartet Last Dinosaurs deliver a sound that harks back to the rhythmic 2000s indie of bands like Phoenix, the Kooks, and Two Door Cinema Club, serving sharp and polished dance-rock at Webster Hall this Sunday!

[coolbloggerthings]

27 top character design tips

Character design can be a tricky beast to tackle in animation world. Creating your own character from scratch involves a lot of creative thinking. Although many of the classic characters familiar to us all through cartoons, movies and advertising look straightforward, a lot of skill and effort will have gone into making them so effective.

From Mickey Mouse's famous three-fingered hands – drawn to save production time when he was first developed for animations in the 1920s – to the elegant simplicity of Homer Simpson, character design has always been about keeping it simple.

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But aside from clean lines and easily readable features, what else do you need to consider for your character design? There's knowing what to exaggerate and what to play down, what to add to give a hint of background and depth, and what to do to develop personality.

And then there's the matter of the technicalities of how to draw your character design. If it's going to be used in motion or as part of a comic strip, you'll need to make sure it works from any angle (easier said than done, as this unsettling top-down view of Mickey Mouse proves).

For this article, we asked a range of leading artists and illustrators their advice on creating memorable, unique character designs. Many of these tips come from Pictoplasma, an annual character design festival in Berlin.

01. Don't lose the magic

Make sure you don't polish all the charm from your characters [Image: Laurie Rowan]

Many character designers will start their project with a sketch. And most agree designers agree this is often where the essence of the character is captured. So when you're working up your design, make sure you don't lose that magic.

"I try to stick to my original drawing style, because the instinct is to try and clean it up," says Laurie Rowan. "I don't like to feel like I've created by characters; I like to feel like I've kind of just encountered them."

"When starting out on your character design, don’t get caught up in the details," says Pernille Ørum. "Decide what you’re trying to communicate, then create loose sketches with movement, acting and flow. As soon as you start to tighten up the drawing, you’ll automatically lose some of the dynamic, so it’s important to have as much life in the early stages as possible. Movement is all but impossible to add later, so make sure it’s in the initial sketch."

02. Step away from the reference material

While inspiration needs to come from somewhere, the aim is to create something original. So Robert Wallace – known as Parallel Teeth – suggests not having the reference material right in front of you as you work.

"If you look at something and then you try and hazily remember it in your mind, that's when you end up making something new, rather than a pastiche of something," he says. Above you can see Wallace's new take on well-known festive figures, created for a Hong Kong department store.

03. Research other characters

For guidance, it can be helpful to try and deconstruct why certain character designs work and why some don't. There's no shortage of research material to be found, with illustrated characters appearing everywhere: on TV commercials, cereal boxes, shop signs, stickers on fruit, animations on mobile phones, and more. Study these character designs and think about what makes some successful and what in particular you like about them.

"When you work with characters you need to be inspired," advises Ørum, "and you can do this through research. Your mind is a visual library that you can fill up. Try to notice people around you – how they walk, their gestures, how they dress – and use that in your design."

04. ... but also look elsewhere

It's also a good idea to look beyond character designs when hunting for inspiration. "I like birds' mating rituals a lot," laughs Rowan. The odd movements can spark unique character behaviour.

"When I begin a project, I often start with the feeling I want to evoke," he adds. The process begins with the designer taking videos of himself as a reference, trying to capture something of the character idea's movement or posture.

Other inspirations include ceramics – an organic texture and muted colour palette stop his work feeling too clinical – and folk costumes.

05. Don't lose sight of the original idea

Sea of Solitude is an upcoming game by Jo-Mei studio [Image: Jo-Mei]

It's easy to subconsciously let our favourite designs influence us. Cornelia Geppert, CEO of indie games studio Jo-Mei, is a huge fan of The Last Guardian, with its unique aesthetic and great video game character designs.

At one point one of her team members had to say to her that their Sea of Solitude design was looking a little too similar to The Last Guardian. She looked back at her initial artworks, and it brought back the feeling she had when creating them. The project shifted back on track.

06. Exaggerate

Exaggerating the defining features of your character design will help it appear larger than life. Exaggerated features will also help viewers to identify the character's key qualities. Exaggeration is key in cartoon caricatures and helps emphasise certain personality traits. If your character is strong, don't just give it normal-sized bulging arms, soup them up so that they're five times as big as they should be.

The technique of exaggeration can be applied to characteristics, too. Anna Mantzaris' hilarious Enough film (above) shows everyday characters in mundane situations, doing the things we've all dreamed of doing on a bad day. "I think it's fun with animation that you can push things further, and people will still accept it as real," she says. "With live action it would look absurd. You can also push the emotion further."

07. Decide who your character design is aimed at

Nathan Jurevicius' Scarygirl features in games and a graphic novel [Image: Nathan Jurevicius]

Think about your audience. Character designs aimed at young children, for example, are typically designed around basic shapes and bright colours. If you're working for a client, the character's target audience is usually predetermined, as Aussie artist Nathan Jurevicius explains.

"Commissioned character designs are usually more restrictive but no less creative. Clients have specific needs but also want me to do my 'thing'. Usually, I'll break down the core features and personality. For example, if the eyes are important then I'll focus the whole design around the face, making this the key feature that stands out."

08. Make your character distinctive

Whether an animator is creating a monkey, robot or monster, you can guarantee there are going to be a hundred other similar creations out there. Your character design needs to be strong and interesting in a visual sense to get people's attention.

When devising The Simpsons, Matt Groening knew he had to offer the viewers something different. He reckoned that when viewers were flicking through TV channels and came across the show, the characters' unusually bright yellow skin colour would grab their attention.

09. Create clear silhouettes

A silhouette helps you understand the character's gesture [image: Pernille Ørum]

Another good way to make your character distinct and improve its pose, says Ørum, is to turn it into a silhouette. "Then you can see how the character ‘reads’ and if you need to make the gesture more clear. Do you understand the emotion of the character and see the line of action? Can things be simplified? Try not to overlap everything, and keep the limbs separate."

07. Develop a line of action

A line of action is the backbone of a character drawing [Image: Pernille Ørum]

One key aspect to consider when creating a character design is the line of action. This is what defines the direction of your character, as well as being a useful narrative tool and bringing a feeling of movement.

"Try to bring the line of action all the way out to the extremities," says Ørum. "A ballet dancer is a good example: they emphasise the line from the tips of their toes to the tips of their fingers. The line of action is also easier to see in creatures with fewer limbs, which is why mermaids are an ideal subject for developing a strong line of action."

08. Make it personal

Geppert's Sea of Solitude video game is an exploration of her experiences of loneliness. Intensely personal though it may be, the game hit a chord with audiences when it was previewed at E3 earlier in the year, because it deals with an experience that is so universal yet still strangely taboo.

"The best art is based on personal experiences. People can relate better if it's based on the truth," says Geppert. "It's not a made-up story, even though it's based in a fantastical setting."

09. Find the posture first

Posture can say a lot about a character [Image: Félicie Haymoz/Wes Anderson]

Félicie Haymoz has worked with Wes Anderson on both of his animated features: Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. When embarking on a new character design, Haymoz likes to start by finding the individual's posture. This element can start the ball rolling on the whole feel of the personality. "I try to capture the stance of the character. Are they hunched over, or are they sitting straight and proud?" She also notes the face is important to get right.

Read more of Haymoz's film character tips here.

10. Consider line quality

Straight and curved lines are read by your eyes at different speeds [image: Pernille Ørum]

The drawn lines of which your character design is composed can go some way to describing it. Thick, even, soft and round lines may suggest an approachable, cute character, whereas sharp, scratchy and uneven lines might point to an uneasy and erratic character.

Ørum recommends balancing straight and curved lines. "Straight lines and curves gives your character design a rhythm. A straight line (or a simple line) leads the eye quickly, while a curved (or detailed line) slows down the eye.'

It's also worth considering the balance between stretch and compression. "Even a neutral pose can lead the eye by applying these two approaches, resulting in an effective character design," says Ørum.

11. Use a joke structure

Rowan grew a name for himself by sharing humorous clips of his characters on Instagram, and went on to work on projects for Disney, the BBC and MTV, and earned himself a BAFTA award and nomination in the process. However, it was his less successful years doing standup comedy that provided inspiration for his trademark character animations.

"It's through standup I learned brevity. It's kind of a joke structure," he explains. Knowing how to frame the clip comes from past failures and successes on stage: "You very quickly learn how to hit certain points," he laughs.

12. Keep it simple

As well as knowing when to exaggerate, Ørum is also keen to highlight the importance of simplicity. "I always try to communicate the designs with the fewest lines possible. It doesn’t mean that work hasn’t been put into creating the volume, placement and design of the character, but I try to simplify as much as possible and only put down the lines and colours that conveys the necessary information."

13. Consider all the angles

Hilda needed to work from all angles to appear in a comic strip [Image: Luke Pearson/Flying Eye Books]

Depending on what you have planned for your character design, you might need to work out what it will look like from all angles. A seemingly flat character can take on a whole new persona when seen from the side if, for example, it has a massive beer belly.

In the Character Design Crash Course workshop at Pictoplasma 2019, Jurevicius and Rilla Alexander asked attendees to sketch their character in poses held by other attendees, life drawing style.

And if you're going to turn it into a comic strip, a la Luke Pearson's Hilda, it'll need to not only make sense from all angles, but look good too.

"How to draw Hilda from behind without her hair swallowing her silhouette", how to draw her beret from above; a long and drawn out battle with how her nose should look… these were all issues Pearson had to deal with when creating his character. The problems all ultimately led to design solutions.

14. Build it in 3D

If your character is going to exist within a 3D world, as an animation or even as a toy, working out its height, weight and physical shape is all important. Alternatively, go one step further and create a model.

"Even if you're not someone who works in 3D, you can learn a lot by converting your character into three dimensions," says Alexander. It's a key part of the process the students follow at the Pictoplasma Academy.

15. Choose colours carefully

Complementary colours create a pleasing balance [image: Pernille Ørum]

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Colours can help communicate a character's personality. Typically, dark colours such as black, purples and greys depict baddies with malevolent intentions.

Light colours such as white, blues, pinks and yellows express innocence and purity. Comic-book reds, yellows and blues might go some way to giving hero qualities to a character design.

"To choose effective colours, it’s important to understand the basic rules of colour," explains Ørum. "Become familiar with the primary, secondary and tertiary colours, as well as monochromatic and complementary colours. One technique for generating an effective colour palette is to chose two complementary colours and work with them in a monochromatic colour scheme."

"You’ll create balance because complementary colours create dynamism, while monochrome colours invoke feelings of calm. You could also try a tertiary colour scheme, which adds a third colour (for example, violet, orange and green), and then work with monochromatic versions of those colours, but it demands more planning and skill for it to work well. If you’re new to colour, try and keep it simple."

To read more on this, see our post on colour theory.

16. Don't forget the hair

Shape, divide and hairline are the secrets to drawing good hair [image: Pernille Ørum]

"Some years ago I went from hating drawing hair to loving it," Ørum. "Previously, I used to view working out all the details and directions of the hair as a tedious endeavour. Now I think of it more as a large, organic shape, which like a flag in the wind indicates and emphasises the movement of the character or its surroundings.

"Start by creating a large shape and divide it into shorter sections, while thinking about where the hair is parted and where the hairline is. Every line should help to define the volume, shape and direction of the hair."

17. Add accessories

Props and clothing can help to emphasise character traits and their background. For example, scruffy clothes can be used for poor characters, and lots of diamonds and bling for tasteless rich ones. Accessories can also be more literal extensions of your character's personality, such as a parrot on a pirate's shoulder or a maggot in a ghoul's skull.

[shannrussell-blog1]

Toronto has a lot of names. The ‘Foodie City’, ‘the Baby New York’, ‘T.O’ (T as in Toronto and O for Ontario), are just a handful of them. I never categorise a complete city experience into one label, I certainly do see why Toronto is the city you come to, to eat… or get an entree of the Big Apple, but served up on a friendly plate.

With a population of nearly 2.8 million, it’s a sizeable city. I must admit, when I first arrived last month, I was a little, let’s say, confused. Sure, I had come from New York (and we seem to have a special talent for comparing every city to NYC after living there), but I was surprised at how spread out Toronto is.

“People leave the city to do things, actually”, a new friend said, when I was looking for Toronto’s ‘Manhattan equivalent.’ The penny dropped.

Welcome to Toronto, the baby New York.

Toronto’s lively neighbourhoods & nooks

Alright, this is where the action happens. Just like New York (sorry, I can’t help myself), you can pick where you hang out, according to what you feel like doing (or eating).

I’m smack-bang in between ‘Little Portugal’ and ‘Little Italy’, which could easily be mistaken for the ‘burbs. But, wandering around the main streets and you’ll find coffee shops, bars and boutiques a-plenty.

Explore the coffee shops, boutiques and bars in the city. 

West Queen West

My two favourite spots so far are West Queen West and Chinatown. Follow two main thoroughfares, Queen Street and King Street, which connect the two areas.

Having an affinity for street art, which both neighbourhoods are known for, I enjoy tackling sections of these two main streets, stopping in the various eateries and shops along the way.

Explore the streets and check out the street art along the way. 

Chinatown

In Chinatown, Graffiti Alley is worth a look (especially if you’re familiar with and love Melbourne’s laneways). Slightly north is the Kensington Markets – the famous and colourfully quirky area that attracts both tourists and local weekend market-goers.

Distillery District

St. Lawrence Market, further east in Toronto’s trendy Distillery District (a spectacle in itself with its 19th Century whiskey distillery buildings), is another Saturday activity, as it’s shut on Sunday. Meander at your ‘market-pace’ around the 100+ vendors, bakers, butchers, artists and collectors.

While the quaint Distillery District has enough indie restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, outdoor sculptors and music performances to keep you occupied, you’re in for a special treat if you visit in November or December – as this is when Toronto’s Christmas Markets is on. Picture a big Christmas tree, fairy lights, mulled wine, sweets, carols and, most probably, snow.

Again, there’s plenty of opportunities for more food eating, but that’s okay!

Wander through the old distillery district to see what it has to offer. 

Where else should you visit?

If you’ve got time, visit the world’s tallest free-standing structure in the western hemisphere – the CN Tower.

And, if it’s warm enough, head to the Toronto Islands which is only a short ferry ride from downtown Toronto.

The CN Tower is an iconic landmark to visit in Toronto. 

Poutine, pancakes & coffee

You can literally eat your way around the world without leaving Toronto… Latin American, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Indian, Chinese, Polish as well as many Canadian-themed dishes.

Get ready to eat more than you should (but it’ll be worth it) consuming triple-stacked pancakes, sweet Canadian bacon or poutine – french fries, cheese curds, brown gravy and usually some delicious meat.

And yes, it’s as good as it sounds. Forget the calories.

Toronto is known for its food, so sample as much as you can!

Enjoy some craft beer tasting

Brunch is also religion here, as is craft beer tasting. Check out Bellwoods Brewery, Kensington Brewing Company and Junction Craft Brewing.

If you’re stuck in food choice paralysis, Blog TO is a great resource for finding somewhere to dine.

Daily brunch is not to be missed during your visit. 

Organising your trip to Toronto

Life in Canada is pretty darn close to home, culture-wise. You don’t need to worry about vaccinations or learning the basics of a new language.

Organising and planning a trip here is fairly straightforward. 

Transport to and from the airport

When you’re booking your flight, keep in mind there are two airports. If you’re travelling from Australia, you’ll most likely arrive at Pearson International Airport. Jump in an Uber to the city, which should only be around CAD$24 vs. a $55 taxi.

However, if you’re connecting in North America, you might land at Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island. Walk 10 minutes in the underground tunnel and you’ll come out in downtown Toronto.

Getting around the city – Uber Pool and the Subway system

Getting around the city depends on two things: the weather and where you want to go. I use Uber pool most of the time, but there is an underground subway system, Toronto Transit Commission, and something locals call ‘the trolley’, which is like Melbourne’s tram system. Visit TTC for more information.

But given that Toronto’s public transport is notoriously poor, many Torontonians ride their bike. And yes… that’s in sunshine, rain, hail or snow.

Ride, walk or use ride-sharing services when getting around the city. 

Booking accommodation – where should you stay?

As for pre-booking your accommodation, don’t assume that you need to be right in the city’s downtown (near the water). Remember, the outer neighbourhoods are where it’s at. I’d suggest looking for AirBnb’s around Chinatown, Little Portugal, and King West Village. I spent most of my time in the Chinatown district. It’s always best to book a week or two earlier, especially during the warmer months.

Packing for the weather

The last part of your preparation, and probably the most important part, is packing for the weather. The summer sits at a perfect mid-twenties, but as soon as we get closer to November, it gets chilly… and I mean bone-aching kind of cold. Rug up, Aussies.

Pack your warm down jacket, a beanie and a scarf to keep yourself warm. 

What gear to bring to Toronto

Thermals

Thick socks

Gloves

A scarf or /shoes

Daypack for sightseeing

It’s cold here, particularly in winter! So pack accordingly. 

Visas and getting there

As for the visa, Australians can enter Canada (and stay for up to six months) on something they’ve recently introduced called an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA).

You can apply for your eTA through the Government of Canada website. As for the currency, they take Canadian dollars, which is virtually one for one with the Australian dollar.

  What’s your favourite city in Canada? 

The post The Essential Guide to Visiting Toronto appeared first on Snowys Blog.

[lapeaudelamemoire]

From Bubblegum to Sky's Even the Sunbeams - I still listen to it, even after all these years. Lying in bed with T - whether it's because of a 8-year long history or not, that's a long fucking time no one can deny us, which comes with its own privileges on both our ends - while he's telling me about music and putting on his favourite bands. This is indie-r than indie, because of who he is and what he loves. He's not a hipster, just a music dude, a little kooky and too chill, but what can you say, he's Aussie - though he stunts on that chill scale even then. He's telling me about how Breakfast at Tiffany's soundtrack came about, and that Moon River was specifically composed for Hepburn's vocal range. He gets excited about songwriting skill and why the Beatles are great, and about storytelling in a song, and how it goes. He puts on Chopin in the morning light, and finds and buys two records out of the charity shop down at Fairfield near my apartment in Melbourne. I lie on his chest and he plays classical music; it seems as if Chopin is his favourite. He finally one-ups me on something 'cultural': Not knowing Chopin was Polish. He's flabbergasted and pleased that he knows this and I don't all at once. I argue that it's French and is pronounced French. But of all things, he plays Fryderyk Chopin. I'm thinking about how this whole 'women want to change men' thing is. It's been 8 years and he has never read my favourite book(s, only a handful really, if not two main ones), to my knowledge. In fact, I don't think anyone I've ever dated has. I think women assimilate more to men's interests than men ever do about women's. I think women are supposed to be supportive always of their husbands' or partners' pursuits, but men have historically tamped down their wives' or girlfriends' aspirations. And if they haven't done that, then they've barely taken an interest in any of the 'girly whims' that women participate in. Except of course it's fine to speak of sartorial fashion so long as it remains in the realm of 'tailoring' and not anywhere near 'women's flimsy fashion' and all other such cleavages. I know T's type of music; where he'd go to hang out with friends. I know what he listened to back when he was 15. In 8 years, I've been to Sydney... four times? Five? Not once has he ever come to Singapore. I don't think men put in as much effort in their relationships; in their partners; in any kind of intimacy - almost at all. I don't think men know what it is to actually pay attention. Earlier this year, out with my 40-year-old American Navy friend, who'd asked me sometime last year: What do women want? And I tell him straight: Just treat them like people. Listen to us. Listen to her - and I mean really listen, not just nod, but actually pay attention. That night, we're out with one of his crewmates, who asks the same thing, and my friend sagely relays to him what I'd told him before. The crewmate just laughs and says 'Yeah man, you mean just nod in the right places and look at her, right?' It's not hard to tell what I like, at least I don't think so - and so many answers would be forthcoming if someone just bloody asked - but it's always either silence, waiting for you to say something yourself, or bumbling it up. I could run a list off of what my ex-boyfriend likes, doesn't like, what he takes to drink, what he doesn't. (Beer out of a bottle is better than a can, and it's best when it's Perła; no ice in his drinks; doesn't like tea and only takes it when there's something more than just the tea in it (i.e. lemon and ginger, which he likes); Aeropress coffee; no greens on pizza but corn, but then corn isn't green anyway I guess; that ever-present Polish cherry cordial that every mother in Poland seems to know how to make and sends over in little jars; drinks mostly lagers I think, not ales, definitely not IPAs... loves sushi, especially salmon; like most Westerners, chicken katsu over pork, doesn't care for the curry, favourite stall that sells this is in Camden nearby; doesn't eat veggies, like me; prefers the meat pierogis, doesn't like the mushroom ones, like me; not mad keen on fish; steak is his favourite thing to eat; where do I stop now? - and that's just the food and drink section -) But - has he ever made the effort, or anyone else I've dated, really - to find out what authors I love best, why what's inked on my skin is inked, or - what tv shows I watch, what artist I love, what my favourite city is. Do they remember? I don't think women always want to 'change' men. I think women just want their partners to be as invested in them as they are in their partners. Because I swear to god, if I asked - if I asked them what my favourite book was, what my favourite film was, what changed me, moved me, broke my heart, made an impact on me, or even just to pick out something I'd wear - they'd be dead wrong.

[typingquirk]

Femme Fatale Psychokinetic

I’m finally back home after the holidays and have two months of polish to play with! So today I’m taking a look at Femme Fatale Psychokinetic from November’s HHC- better late than never, right?

This bold, kooky polish was the second to last installment in the brand’s Stranger Things theme!

Psychokinetic- a clear (warm) to teal (cold) thermal with soft pink sparkles, scattered holographic silver microglitters, and a variety of matte/neon glitters in orange, yellow, purple, teal and pink.

These days I’m honestly not super into chunky glitter bombs. I’m also not super into anything that boasts a clear base because of that prominent nail line I like to complain about. But there was something about this thermal that really drew me in, and I had to give it a chance anyways- it was just so weird lol. And you know what? I’m super freaking impressed and totally in love.

The base is definitely clear, but a cloudy kind of clear that hides my VNL super well- I honestly wasn’t expecting to like the warm state so much, but I actually love it just as much as the cold and transition colors! Pictures show 4 coats + topcoat, I forgot to take a picture of layer build-up this time, sorry! Most people could probably stop at 3 coats, but I really needed that last one to put my VNL in it’s place lol. I did need an extra layer of topcoat to smooth out the glitters, but that’s just how it goes when you’ve chunky ones like this.

And did I mention that it’s absolutely STUNNING matte? This polish is so bold and funky and I loved it as a shinny jelly; usually I only really like flakie or shimmer polishes matte, but I LOVE the frosted effect this has on the warm state. I might just have to start mattifying everything!

Like What you see? Unfortunately this shade is no longer available for purchase, but you might be able to find it in some destash groups! If you’d like to check out other offerings from Femme Fatale of HHC’s upcoming selection for February, you can check out their websites below!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics

Hella Handmade Creations

[berlinner]

busted in grenada: the janeen

1970. learning to act at the Yale Drama School (same time Meryll was there). starting to hate it. the perpetual ‘one’s body and one’s self is one’s ‘instrument’ and one needs to practice ‘it’ all the time’ was turning me inside out: ‘practicing’ accents, facial tics, postures. my friends wondered what the fuck was going on with Kinscherf? why does he seem so fake? when i heard that an friend of a friend of mine, a pot dealer from Amherst College, was shooting a movie in the West Indies and that i could have a part, it was the nudge i needed. i dropped out of Yale, got my pal Francesca to hop on the bus, bounce outa New Haven and fly on Amherst’s dime to the Caribbean. tough call, right? we taxied cross-island to one of several pink bungalow beach houses, were given our own rooms, our own Vespa scooters, our own cars to share and all the food, booze and drugs we could foie gras choke down. our homework, the first week? ‘familiarize’ ourselves with the island. this meant getting stoned drunk tripped out and pirate tanned on our own private post card perfect beach. two crescent halves forming a white sand/black sand middle finger insinuating out into the Gulf with a chubby lighthouse at the fingernail tip. it’s beacon — a favorite LSD drop spot where kaleidoscopic film clips spit fired out of gonzo foreheads. deep in the jungle we skinny dipped waterfalls, parrots swooping overhead, banana clusters plopping like puppies into our sated laps. seafood spreads and rum cocktails paraded on the cheap in open air St Georges casbahs. natives laughing (at us? with us?). this was paradise and it was all ours all the time. one week in and against the inky blue black of a starry starry night a sailboat, our sailboat, the schooner Janeen (re-named and re-painted The Sad-Eyed Lady) edged past the psychedelic lighthouse and dropped anchor in our tiny personal bay. a two-masted monster, tip top lights winking, full crew in dress whites, galley with a chef from Paris, lobster, steak and champagne on ice — the works. we were oared out to eat drink smoke fart, whatever, not caring whatthefuck this movie was about or when we would begin to shoot it. we were surfing an infinity rainbow. be here now was an induced reality. one night our main man from Amherst gathered us round and story-told, obliquely and slo-mo stoned, the plot: we were 21st Century pirates chasing leftover refugees after an earth kill nuclear freeze. our orders: seize any ship or person caught in the crosshairs. that was it?! who cared? we were down for the count. i became ‘Lookout’, awarded an all brass telescope which i polished obsessively and had macramed by a Grenadian hippie so that i could wear it like cutlass. arrgh! i loved the thing. wore it all over the place, ‘getting into character’ drug induced Actor’s Studio style. the first shot the first day was of me, naked, at the top of the mid-mast spyglass spotting a mom n dad sloop who’s teenage daughter was booty bounty. that girl, Janie, was (not certain about this) the girlfriend of our benefactor and possibly the muse for his film-to-be. but who knew about anything for sure? i can’t emphasize enough that we were, most of us most of the time, sky high on vitamin LSD. that first day of the shoot i saw below my dangling legs, a deck so miniaturized it looked like a toy boat bobbing in a bathtub. when we cut through a 50 yard diameter dart board oil slick so astonishingly beautiful my eyeballs hurt. i wanted to dive into the shimmering bull’s eye and shape-shift onto a mountaintop in Nepal. seriously. at night we skinny dipped into a phosphorescent sea so manifest that swimming felt like flying. or like finger painting. we’d anchor in St. George’s harbor, motor a dingy into town and get more fucked up and more outrageous by the minute. we set up a full band on deck and blasted endless iterations of Satisfaction cross town, our girls topless. usually topless. all this behavior occurring without complaint. case in point: a young chiquita, a Grenadian, had herself rowed out to The Sad-Eyed Lady to see what was happening. just a kid, no more than 16 wearing a sequined Carmen Miranda pineapple turban with three rattlesnake maracas in each tight fist, eyes flashing. her name, i kid you not, Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson. her mom, a Grenadian, her dad a shipping baron from across the pond in Holland. Helen glommed onto us like a starfish, flitting in and out of our orbit and adjusting to our weirdness as best she could. as did handsome Australian sailor boys who, like us, wanted to gulp down the full feast of booze weed acid and hash that was all over the compound. 20th century world weary refugees who pulled into Port Wherever, worked partied fucked and then, after they had enough, hired onto a new rig, a new ocean, a new port. round and round the globe — a moveable feast, Aussie style. as much as anytime in our lives this was heaven on earth, wild heart throbbing freedom all too soon to end. around the third/fourth day of the filming as i was monkey-ing about in the rigging, the one boat Grenadian ‘Navy’ putt-putted into our slip stream, armed and megaphoned. the charges: drugs and nudity. both true. we were whisked off the Janeen, driven to a dank up-island prison (nerves on edge now that the drugs and booze had worn off) and dumped into a two room cinder block jailhouse. boys in one hole, girls in the other. tin buckets to piss and shit in. the trial set for the next day. one minute, sky high in our pre-fab Nirvana, the next, incarcerated. and the next? court. would we be trapped and raped here for life? not to be: lucky result. Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Neilson’s cousin, a guy named Maurice, signed on as our defense. he painted us unwitting victims from good American homes having innocent fun and who had been caught at an awkward unguarded moment. we were on a plane early the next morning. Helen came along for ride. she got married in Boston a few weeks later and became Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson Parker. my dad, Dick, her best man. the rest of us fled to a house by a river in Greenfield, MA, paid for and outfitted, again, by our pirate king. the plan: start a band and get famous fast. more acid, more weed, more insanity until one night, driving back from Janie’s house, i saw flames roman candling the night sky. Plan 2, a one and done. coda: our lawyer, Maurice, was elected Prime Minister of Grenada. in 1983, the island was invaded by Castro Cubans and Maurice was assassinated. Reagan sent in the Marines making tiny war history. i moved to Somerville, started my first band, Orchestra Luna and wound up living in one town for the next 40 plus. no more Kerouac road trips. coup de gras? Helen is now Helen Of Troy Eleanor Roosevelt Nielson Parker Spielman and lives in Hawaii. the movie? atrophying in a freezer somewhere in Brooklyn.

This is an excerpt from my book, The Paragraphs — Cutlass Press

About The Paragraphs and how to order

Link to buy

Or here

[englishdisco-blog]

The Babe Rainbow || Moth Club, London

When I first saw the short film Midnight Ramblers - an incredible paean to the passion and glamour of rock groupies - last year, I was instantly struck by the music. It was perfect. Breezy, retro-tinged, dreamy, energetic - it fits exquisitely into the art film duo Wiissa's groupie wonderland. Of course, I had to know who’d provided the soundtrack. Turns out it was The Babe Rainbow, a groovy Aussie band boasting titles like Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest and Peace Blossom Boogy. They sound like drugs and sunshine, and are with Australia’s coolest indie record label, Flightless Records, whose roster also boasts King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Hearing from a colleague that they’re playing in Hackney in just a couple of days, it seems like fate. 

Moth Club has become one of my favourite venues over the past year, with it’s Lynchian clash of dated pub furniture and gold glitter ceiling. It’s not quite Byron Bay, but somehow it’s perfect for The Babe Rainbow. When I arrive – early – there are pockets of young people in spangly silver jumpsuits and gasoline faux fur congregating in corners, drinking warm beer from plastic cups. I lean against the bar, alone, hoping one of these kids – so much cooler than me – will be attracted to my aura and start talking to me. It doesn’t happen, so I wait for the band. 

  I don’t have to hang around long. Within half an hour of my first sip of spiced rum, lead singer and ‘troubadour of consciousness’ Angus Dowling prances onto the tiny stage, clad in a green-and-black onesie. Following him out are bass guitarist Dr. Elliot Love Wisdom and ‘guitarist with mystique’ (one for you, Almost Famous fans), Kool-Breeze. They take a second to observe their audience. I’m at the front, in an oversized Grateful Dead t-shirt tucked into a Seventies suede patchwork mini. Next to me is a group of three excitable, long-haired boys, seventeen perhaps, who’ve squeezed their way to the front and who seem equally as enraptured by the hipster girls next to them as they do the band. I wonder if we’re an appealing crowd. 

  The band’s first song is a new one, but it doesn’t matter. We’re already grooving. The energy is instant, manic, and it’s emanating from the group and out into the audience. You can feel the electricity passing through the crowd, from the stage all the way to the stragglers in the back, like a dynamite trail.  By the time they get to Johny Says Stay Cool, six songs in, we’re all thrusting back and forth, stamping on each other’s feet, smashing into one another to Angus’ cries of ‘breathe in, breathe out’. The front of the stage is a psychedelic mosh pit. BREATHE IN – I collide exuberantly with the teenage boy next to me – BREATHE OUT – he steps on my toes – BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT! ‘You’ve got to dance. You’ve just got to,’ the boy shouts into my ear. I nod. 

  Later, after the band perform a particularly trippy rendition of Blondie’s Heart of Glass, they break for twenty, giving me a chance to head outside for a smoke and a think. King Gizzard, this band certainly is not. Something’s missing – they don’t seem to have quite come into their own yet. But I’m into it. They’ve got a lot of groove and charisma, and they’re causing everyone in there – me included – to lose their minds a little bit. Who cares if they’re not quite polished yet? I spot Angus, Dr Elliot and Kool-Breeze, a few feet away with some female fans. They look like three blonde angels. Or cult leaders. Everyone’s playing it cool, even the fans. I’m momentarily transfixed. 

  Back inside, I get myself another rum and cranberry. There’s a girl next to me, shy, looking like she doesn’t want to be alone. Eye contact, earnest smile. The bar maid’s counting my change - I ask the girl if she’s having a good time. She nods with nervous enthusiasm. ‘I love them. There’s no one else like The Babe Rainbow. Anywhere.’ Good soundbite. The barmaid hands me my rum and my change, and the girl and I find an easy route to the front, next to the trio of teenage boys again. The one in the yellow t-shirt – the foot-crusher – smiles at us. We’re just in time. The funky intro of Love Forever swirls from the stage. Angus writhes like a snake around the stage, perhaps a little self-consciously. And then it’s over. The lights stay down, and I get a beer from the bar, keen to stick around and lap up any last phantoms of psychedelia. I’m a bit disappointed – what am I looking for? – when the room all but empties. Even my new pal, the nervous girl, is out the door without as much as a parting smile. To the station, then, I guess. 

  I wait at Hackney Wick. A flash of yellow and excitable babble – it’s the boy and his friends. I wonder briefly how they discovered the Babe Rainbow (poseurs?), but I don’t ask. I don’t speak to them at all. Outside of the protective walls of the Moth Club, the normal London rules begin to apply again. No speaking to strangers. No feelings, other than frustration. He points at me. ‘Hey, she’s got a Grateful Dead t-shirt!’

[thisdaynews]

Ashes 2019: Ben Stokes performs the impossible to give cricket another golden chance

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/ashes-2019-ben-stokes-performs-the-impossible-to-give-cricket-another-golden-chance/

Ashes 2019: Ben Stokes performs the impossible to give cricket another golden chance

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Highlights: Ben Stokes keeps Ashes alive for England

Much changes for all of us in the aftermath of great sporting deeds. They have a long, lovely tail. You float along happily in their wake, wanting to stare from all angles all over again.

You don’t really want to move on because it was all so good that everything else seems a little tame in comparison.

You got the sense from Ben Stokes, in the giddy hours after his extraordinary solo rescue mission at Headingley on Sunday afternoon, that he hasn’t quite realised how much has changed for him.

When sportsmen and women pull off superhero displays like that, it no longer matters in some ways what they do next. They’ve cracked it. They have defined a day that those in the nation intoxicated by sport can never forget.

Nothing can take it away. Maybe Edna Mode can design him a new costume. The rest of it is already sewn up.

Ian Botham after Headingley ’81, Jessica Ennis-Hill after Super Saturday at London 2012, Andy Murray after that baking July day at Wimbledon in 2013.

All three would go on to further triumphs – Botham in Ashes series home and away, Ennis-Hill winning back her world title after time out for the birth of her first child, Murray winning a second Wimbledon singles title at a dreamy canter three years on.

Each was wonderful but the summit had already been scaled, just as whatever Stokes may do after this summer could surely only buttress what he has built rather than top it.

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For those who were in the ground on Sunday it will be the same. Any late-night anecdotes about sporting occasions experienced will always have to begin with one particular ‘I was there’.

Richie Benaud famously described one of Botham’s mighty sixes 38 years ago as going straight into the confectionary stall and out again. Stokes’ reverse-sweep six into the Western Terrace went straight into the sweet spot too.

To be in the ground was to be part of a collective agony and ecstasy that no-one present will leave behind. To be following on radio, TV or phone was to abandon anything else that was meant to be happening, unless of course you took the logical step of walking away with 73 still required and Jack Leach walking in.

Just as there are Manchester United fans who left the Nou Camp in 1999 before Sheringham and Solskjaer ripped up the night and Manchester City supporters who fled Wembley before Horlock and Dickov intervened that same mad May, so there are England cricket fans who knew nothing of Stokes’ heroics until well after they were complete.

Car journeys where the radio channel had been angrily changed. Dogs already walked taken out for another. Phones lobbed on to the sofa and TVs switched over to the football.

These memories are as much a part of the communal experience because they underline the impossibility of it all. The frozen moments of hope and fear as another six skimmed the outstretched hands of Aussie fielders, the shared horror of the run-out that never was and the lbw that should have been.

Through it all was the disbelief. A man at one end who had scored two runs from his first 50 balls hitting 74 off his last 45. The control of nerves and situation, the mad acceleration of a man gone from patiently putting in place the corner pieces of a jigsaw to suddenly bulldozing the house.

A man at the other who was not only wearing glasses but had to keep polishing the condensation from them, who has a batting average in the County Championship this season of a couple of decimal points above four.

Disbelief everywhere but at that striker’s end. The stubbornness of refusing to accept it was all over. The pure determination: this is my match, not yours.

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Stokes is at that rare point where he has the ability to create accidental sweet magic in little improbable moments – the two that became a six in the last over of the World Cup final, the ramp shot off a flat-out fast bowler that sailed for another six in the dying moments on Sunday.

It shouldn’t be possible but with Stokes it can be. It’s why there are those comparisons with Botham and with Don Bradman at the same ground as he and Arthur Morris chased down 404 in 1948.

Which was better? You risk taking the lustre off any of them by finding any faults. When Botham came to the crease in 1981 England were five down and still 122 runs away from avoiding an innings defeat. Bradman and Morris stuck on 301 as part of the biggest run-chase in Test history.

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Then there is Brian Lara’s 153 not out in Barbados in 1999 when the West Indies – humiliated 5-0 in the preceding series – needed 308 against an Aussie attack spearheaded by Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. The home side had appeared cooked at 105-5; Lara dragged them close and then found the last 63 runs in the company of his numbers 10 and 11, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Botham, Bradman and Lara. It should be fanciful or sacrilege but those are the parallels that make statistical sense. Stokes has made the jump.

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Maybe England have to win the Ashes from here to ensure his 135 not out is remembered as catalyst rather than glorious resistance.

Botham went to Edgbaston after his century in Leeds and took five wickets for one run in 28 balls as Australia, chasing just 151, were blown from 105-4 to 121 all out. He made another century in the fifth Test at Old Trafford and took 10 wickets in the final Test at The Oval.

Maybe Kevin Pietersen’s 158 in south London in 2005 wouldn’t mean the same had Ashley Giles perished early and Australia snatched a win from the jaws in the final session instead. Bradman’s team were the Invincibles for a reason. Headingley was their finest hour but they garlanded the whole long summer.

Maybe we should just be grateful for what we have. In a nation saturated by football, front pages as well as back have been about cricket. The grassroots game is withering but kids in the street are talking about someone most had never heard of a year ago.

Stokes cannot single-handedly save cricket in this country. The Test grounds are full but you step outside the bubble to indifference and ignorance. A continual failure to reach beyond private schools or truly exploit the British Asian love for the game leaves it a sport at the heart and within the reach of too few.

But that was as true before Sunday as it was afterwards. Stokes has rescued England and he is giving cricket another golden chance.

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