#australian native flower crown

[funkyflowers12]

Are You Looking Blue Orchid Bouquet ?

Whether you want to send flowers to a friend or loved one, or you need some inspiration for a beautiful floral arrangement, consider getting a blue orchid bouquet. These bouquets are an excellent choice to send because they are very unique, and will make anyone smile.

These bouquets are a great way to show your loved ones that you care, and they can be sent on any occasion. They are perfect for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas, birthdays and other special holidays.

There are many different types of orchids, from those that grow in bright colors to those that only bloom a few times a year. They are all beautiful, but blue orchids have a unique quality that makes them stand out from the rest.

The first known person to discover a blue orchid was botanist William Griffith, who discovered the Vanda coerulea in Northeast India in 1837. He was able to bring it back to England, but unfortunately, the plant died on the trip.

This beautiful flower is a must have in any garden and can be used in a variety of arrangements. The most common arrangement is a pot with a blue orchid mixed with pink, green, yellow or red flowers.

Orchids are also often associated with love, which is why they are a great gift to give on any occasion. They are also great for expressing sympathy, or showing love and caring for a person who is going through a difficult time.

Unlike roses, which can be bought anywhere, blue orchids are quite rare and hard to find. It is also difficult to keep them alive. If you do buy them, it is best to take good care of them so that they will last a long time.

Most blue dendrobiums and blue Phalaenopsis orchids are fake. They are essentially white orchids that have had a blue dye injected into the base of each flower. This blue dye is a permanent color and cannot be removed by the plant.

These fake blue orchids are found in grocery stores, florist caringbah, and big box stores. They are sold under the guise of being "rare" or "unique."

The only way to get a real blue orchid is to buy the true and authentic kind, which is Vanda coerulea. These are very difficult to find, and can be extremely expensive.

If you are looking for a real blue orchid, you should try and go to your local nursery or botanical garden. These orchids have a blue pigment in them that is natural, and they can be very stunning when paired with other colorful flowers.

Some of these plants can be very difficult to keep, so you should always ask for help if you are not sure how to care for them. These are a great gift for people who love to garden, or those who have limited space in their homes.

Orchids are also very popular in wedding decorations, as they are a great way to create beautiful flower displays. They can be arranged in vases, baskets, and other decorative elements for any event or party. To know more information visit at www.funkyflowers.com.au.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Australian Pokemon: non-natives

For this set of my fakemon set in the Goorda region, based on a combination of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, I focused on non-native species. Both countries have a lot of introduced and invasive species to draw on for ideas. I previously made a regional Buneary and Lopunny based on invasive rabbits. Previous posts: regional standards, creepy lines, regional variants, birds, early-game standards, misc, misc, starter variants, starters.

First up is Sprigorse, the Long-Beard Pokemon, fairy/grass type. These Pokemon were introduced from a different region and have become an invasive species. Their bodies are made of wood and they wear crowns of flowers and long beards made of branches and leaves. Both the flowers and beards will spread seeds, growing foreign plants that outcompete natives. Sprigorse live in colonies in the forest and are led by the member with the longest beard. They are known to prank and attack travelers through the forest.

Sprigorse is based on two plants that are invasive in NZ: old man's beard and gorse. Both were brought in from Europe and are now outcompeting the native plants. Like the plants, Sprigorse is foreign import. I based it on a spriggan, a mythical creature from England, where both old man's beard and gorse are native. Spriggans were usually depicted as wisened old men and were said to inhabit wild places and were often malicious. Srigorse's name comes from "spriggan" and "gorse"

Next up is Tahrkid, the Ice Horn Pokemon, ice-type. Tahrkid's horns are made of ice and regrow stronger when broken, so they repeatedly smash their horns to strengthen them. They are highly dextrous and can leap between peaks and climb nearly vertical surfaces. Tahrkid was first introduced to Goorda from a region far away.

Tahrkid evolves to Yodhatahr, the Ice Horn Pokemon, ice/fighting type. Their horns are made from nearly indestructible ice, allowing them to pulverize boulders with a single headbutt. When two fight, the slam their horns together until one's horns break or it submits.

Tahrkid and Yodhatahr are based on a combination of mountain goats and the Himalayan tahr, a species of wild goat found in the Himalayas. Yodhatahr also has ram horns and Tahrkid appears to be wearing a coat and ski mask. Tahrs are an invasive species in NZ, where they can outcompete local herbivores in the mountains. The line's ability to climb nearly vertical surfaces is something real goats do and real goats also headbutt when fighting. Tahrkid's name comes from "tahr" and "kid" (juvenile goat) while Yodhatahr's name comes from "tahr" and "Yōd'dhā", the Nepalese word for "warrior". Presumably this line would originate from the Pokemon world's Himalayas and would therefore be known in the Pokemon version of Nepal.

The final line for this post starts with Dimpole, the Ball Pokemon, poison-type. Dimpole were introduced to Goorda from another region and have become an invasive species. They bounce and roll on their spherical bodies in such numbers that they coat the land during breeding season, causing a trip hazard for humans. They enjoy bouncing and being sent flying, so humans will hit them with sticks and golf clubs to get them out of the way.

Dimpole evolves to Foretitoad, the Toad Pokemon, poison-type. Foretitoad are an invasive species in Goorda. They leak toxins wherever they go, allowing them to reduce fertile fields to bare ground, while also making them too toxic for predators to eat. Females have spikes on their backs that they use to carry their eggs. When the young hatch, they use their paddle-shaped tails to send the young flying into new habitats.

(Male on left and female on right)

The Dimpole line are based on cane toads and toad golf. Cane toads may be the most notorious invasive species in Australia. Because of how many there are, people have invented various ways to kill them, the most infamous being toad golf: hitting them with gold clubsPart of the reason cane toads are so invasive is because they're too poisonous for most native species to eat. Dimpole is tadpole merged with a golf ball while Foretitoad is a toad with a golf ball belly and throat bouch, gold visor shaped head crest, golf club shaped tail. and the females have spines shaped like golf tees. Also their eyes look like the logo of Golf Australia. Golf is also not originally from Australia and, like cane toads, is terrible for the environment. Dimpole come from "dimple" and "tadpole" while Foretitoad comes from "fore", "fortitude", and "toad". @reikomania helped me come up with the design for this line.

[the-autistic-agoraphobe]

My mum and I went to Maccas which is what we call McDonald's here in Australia. I felt like I needed to have a good stim as Maccas was being noisy and I was recovering from a mini panic attack that I had 20 minutes prior at the op shop.

Video Description:

I am sitting in Maccas. I am a white woman in my late 20s. I have dark brown hair that is tied up in a bun with a fringe. I am wearing a flower crown that is made up of pink roses. I am wearing frog earrings and a dark blue dress with koalas and native Australian flowers and leaves on it. I am wearing a green lanyard with sunflowers on it. There is a caption that says "POV: your Autistic and Maccas is noisy so you partake in some McStimming." I am moving my hands alot to sooth myself. End Description.

[post-futurism]

This rainy afternoon I spent 3 hours making a flower crown/tiara for a friend’s Birthday present. It’s made out of australian native flowers which are especially more fiddly than roses and British wildflowers.

[the-ethereal-serpent]

Rosemary

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Introduction

Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis, is a bush with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers. Native to the Mediterranean region, it is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes over 7,000 species.

The name "rosemary" derives from the Latin words "ros", meaning "dew" and "marinus," meaning "sea" - "dew of the sea". Rosemary has been in culinary use since at least 500 B.C.

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History & Mythology

In Greek mythology, it's said to have been draped around the Greek goddess Aphrodite when she rose from the sea. Another legend says that the Virgin Mary spread her blue cloak over a white-blossomed rosemary bush while she was resting, and the flowers turned blue. The shrub then became known as the "Rose of Mary".

The herb then made its way east to China and was naturalized there as early as 220 AD, during the late Han Dynasty.

Rosemary came to England at an unknown date; the Romans probably brought it when they invaded in the first century, but there are no viable records about rosemary arriving in Britain until the 8th century. This was credited to Charlemagne, who promoted herbs in general, and ordered rosemary to be grown in monastic gardens and farms.

The plant or its oil have been used in folk medicine in the belief it may have medicinal effects. Rosemary was considered sacred to ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. In Don Quixote, the fictional hero uses rosemary in his recipe for balm of fierabras.

The plant has been used as a symbol for remembrance during war commemorations and funerals in Europe and Australia. Mourners would throw it into graves as a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Australia, sprigs of rosemary are worn on ANZAC Day and sometimes Remembrance Day to signify remembrance; the herb grows wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where many Australians died during World War I.

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Health Benefits

Antioxidants & Anti-inflammatory

Rosemary is a rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, which are thought to help boost the immune system and improve blood circulation.

Laboratory studies have shown rosemary to be rich in antioxidants, which play an important role in neutralizing harmful particles called free radicals.

Improving Digestion

In Europe, rosemary is often used to help treat indigestion. In fact, Germany’s Commission E has approved rosemary for the treatment of indigestion. However, it should be noted that there is currently no meaningful scientific evidence to support this claim.

Enhancing Memory & Concentration

According to research outlined in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, the aroma from rosemary can improve a person’s concentration, performance, speed, and accuracy and, to a lesser extent, their mood.

Neurological Protection

Scientists have found that rosemary may also be good for your brain. Rosemary contains an ingredient called carnosic acid, which can fight off damage by free radicals in the brain.

Some studies in rats have identified that rosemary might be useful for people who have experienced a stroke. Rosemary appears to be protective against brain damage and might improve recovery.

Prevent Brain Aging

Some studies have suggested that rosemary may significantly help prevent brain aging. The therapeutic ability of rosemary for prevention of Alzheimer’s shows promise, but more studies are needed.

Cancer

Research published in Oncology Reports found that “crude ethanolic rosemary extract (RO)” slowed the spread of human leukemia and breast carcinoma cells.”

Another study, published in Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry, concluded that rosemary might be useful as an anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor agent.

Protection Against Macular Degeneration

A study published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, led by Dr. Stuart A. Lipton, Ph.D. and colleagues at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, revealed that a carnosic acid, which is a major component of rosemary, can significantly promote eye health.

This could have clinical applications for diseases affecting the outer retina, such as age-related macular degeneration – the most common eye disease in the United States.

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Magickal Uses

Rosemary is one of the most important Old World magickal herbs. There is an enormous amount of Rosemary folklore. It has been used for cleansing and purifying incenses since ancient times.

Especially in Old World witchcraft, Rosemary is burned to purify a room or ritual space before magickal workings.

Burn Rosemary and Juniper together to drive the staleness from a home after a long and lingering illness.

Rosemary is useful for all spells to accelerate learning in school or work. Sniff a sprig of Rosemary while studying to improve your performance on an exam.

A married woman may keep a sachet of Rosemary near the entrance of her home (or under her bed) to ensure a faithful and obedient partner.

Cleanse and consecrate athames, wands, and crystals with Rosemary oil. (Frankincense oil is traditional for this purpose, but Rosemary may be a better choice for the Green witch.)

Rosemary sprigs are pliable when fresh—weave them into garlands and wreathes for home blessings and handfastings.

A Rosemary ritual bath or “tub tea” is said to remove worries and invigorate the spirit. You can also drink Rosemary tea for this purpose, but the taste is quite bitter.

A Rosemary bush in the garden is supposed to attract elves and repel thieves.

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Correspondences

Rosemary grows in full sun and has a bright, assertive smell that overpowers everything else in a fragrance blend or recipe. The appropriate planetary correspondence is the Sun. (Citing Rosemary’s early Goddess lore, some writers go with Venus.)

Once the Solar correspondence is established, the attributions of Leo and Fire seem to be applied by extension. Rosemary does have the boldness of Leo, flame-shaped bushes, and the Fire-like attribute of spiny leaves. But it is altogether less noxious than pure Fire herbs.

And its traditional uses lean more toward cleansing/healing/clarity than to courage/protection/aggression. I prefer to assign the whole plant to Fire, and the brisk, stimulating fragrance to Air.

Spells

Love, protection, healing, psychic detox, banishing, sleep, memory, cleansing, lust, concentration, nightmare protection, purification, fertility

Deities

Aphrodite, Hebe, Persephone, Venus

Element

Fire

Planets

Sun / Moon

Zodiac

Leos

Chakras

Solar plexus, heart, crown

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Precautions

Taking large amounts of rosemary can cause vomiting, uterine bleeding, kidney irritation, increased sun sensitivity, skin redness, and allergic reactions. When applied to the skin: Rosemary oil is possibly sage for most people when applied to the skin for medicinal purposes.

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Sources :

http://aminoapps.com/p/t0i819

[shining-red-diamond]

THE BOYZ x OC Profiles

Disclaimer: I know Hwall left THE BOYZ back in October, but I created these characters beforehand. Just bare with me on it, please. This will be updated when needed.

Cheyenne

Full Name: Cheyenne Bethany Alberty

Birthday: May 15, 1997

Hometown: Gallup, New Mexico, USA

Height: 5’7

Nationality: Native American

Hair: Dark Brown

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Sangyeon

-Her designated color is sparkly red

-She has a mom, dad, and older brother

-She has tattoos on her left arm of Native American symbols

-She grew up on her family’s ranch

-Her family is decent from the Navajo Indian tribe

-Her favorite artists include The Rose, DREAMCATCHER, and Imagine Dragons

-She’s studying history.

-

Erin

Full Name: Erin Melissa Lee

Birthday: July 26, 1997

Hometown: Madison, Wisconson, USA

Height: 5’5

Nationality: Korean-American

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Jacob (married August 22, 2020)

Children: Lydia Bae (born June 29, 2021)

-Her designated color is sparkly yellow

-Erin is bilingual in Korean and English

-Both of her parents are American, but Korean decent

-She has a younger brother named James and a younger sister named Rebecca

-She met Jacob at the diner she worked at (she was his waitress)

-Erin is studying Fine Arts and Biology

-Her favorite artists are The Backstreet Boys, Ailee, EXO, and MAMAMOO

-She has a tattoo of a flock of birds across her upper back

-Her personality is what can be described as similar to Jacob’s

-

Hyejin

Full Name: Park Hye Jin

Birthday: September 21, 1997

Hometown: Hongdae, South Korea

Height: 5’4

Nationality: Korean

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Younghoon

-Her designated color is sparkly sky blue

-She has a mom, dad, and older sister

-She has a tattoo of her birthstone and flower on left hip

-Hyejin looks intimidating, but she’s actually a very sweet and kind person

-She’s studying to be a chef

-Her favorite artists include Chungha, VAV, LOONA, TWICE, and NCT

-

Ashlyn

Full Name: Ashlyn Patrice Reynolds

Birthday: January 25, 1998

Hometown: Vancouver, Canada

Height: 5’5

Nationality: African-Canadian

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Hyunjae

-Her designated color is sparkly silver

-She has a mom, dad, older brother, and younger sister

-She has a tattoo of a hibiscus flower on her right shoulder.

-She and Kevin grew up together

-She’s studying to be a nurse

-Her favorite artists include Zico, Stray Kids, Red Velvet, and BLACKPINK

-

Heeyeon

Full Name: Kim Hee Yeon

Birthday: March 15, 1998

Hometown: Jeonju, South Korea

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Korean

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: New

-Her designated color is sparkly clear

-Heeyeon is an engineering student

-She met New in high school, but they didn’t reconnect until after he had debuted.

-She has a mom, dad, and an older brother

-Heeyeon has a tattoo of roses on her left arm

-Her favorite artists include Demi Lovato, Monsta X, DREAMCATCHER, and Imagine Dragons

-She can come off as unapproachable at first, but she is very kind and a great friend

-

Stephanie

Full Name: Jung Si Hyeon/Stephanie Jung

Birthday: September 8, 1998

Hometown: Sydney, Australia

Height: 5’5

Nationality: Korean-Australian

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Juyeon

-Her designated color is sparkly blue

-She is bilingual in Korean and English

-She has played soccer since she was seven

-She and Juyeon met when she was visiting family in Seoul and saw him playing basketball on evening and asked him if she could join

-She has a tattoo of a small tulip on her right shoulder blade

-Stephanie is studying elementary education

-Her nickname is “Stephie”

-Her favorite artists include Day6, ATEEZ, KARD, and 5SOS

-She has a fun and comical personality

-

Jia

Full Name: Tsai Jiayuan

Birthday: October 14, 1998

Hometown: Taipei, Taiwan

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Taiwanese

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Q

-Her designated color is sparkly white

-She has a mom, dad, and younger brother

-She has a tattoo of the Chinese symbols for love on her left rib

-Her favorite artists include MAMAMOO, Sunmi, TWICE, AB6IX, and Monsta X

-She’s studying biology

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Sadie

Full Name: Sadie Marie Rogers

Hometown: Longview, Texas, USA

Height: 5’4

Nationality: American

Hair: Red

Eyes: Blue

S/O: Kevin

-Her designated color is sparkly gold.

-She has an older brother named Miles.

-She has a tattoo of a Prince of Egypt quote across her left shoulder blade: “Look at your life through Heaven’s eyes”

-She met Kevin at a music festival

-Her favorite artists are Kelly Clarkson, Red Velvet, DREAMCATCHER, and Day6

-She’s studying business and theatre arts

-She has a promise ring Kevin gave her, and it has both of their birth stones in it

-She has a bright and kind heart

-

Minnie

Full Name: Minnie Connelly

Birthday: October 5, 1999

Hometown: London, England, United Kingdom

Height: 5’3

Nationality: British

Hair: Light brown

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Haknyeon

-Her designated color is sparkly orange

-She and Haknyeon met in 2016 when she went with her dad on one of his business trips to Jeju and met Haknyeon on his parents’ farm

-She is studying business and cosmetology

-She is a beauty influencer on YouTube.

-She has a tattoo of a small piglet on her left rib

-She has a mom, dad, and younger brother named Wyatt.

-Haknyeon confessed to Minnie after he was eliminated on P101S2

-She is also part Portuguese on her mother’s side

-He favorite artists include Adele, ASTRO, BTS, Apink, and Imagine Dragons

-Minnie is known for having a kind heart and cheerful personality

-

Claudia

Full Name: Claudia Sofia García

Birthday: February 23, 2000

Hometown: Miami, Florida

Height: 5’3

Nationality: Cuban-American

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Hazel

S/O: Sunwoo

-Her designated color is sparkly purple

-She has a mom, dad, and twin brother named David

-She has a tattoo on her right wrist of a cross

-She was a mezzo on her school’s choir

-Her favorite artists include Jennifer Lopez, (G)-IDLE, Pentagon, VAV, and Selena Quintanilla

-She’s studying dance and is on the dance line at her college

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Aubrey

Full Name: Aubrey Catherine Harper

Birthday: March 15, 2000

Hometown: Canton, Texas

Height: 5’3

Nationality: American

Hair: Red

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Eric

-Her designated color is sparkly pink

-She has a mom, dad, and twin sister named Allison

-She has a tattoo on her left wrist that reads “A2”

-She was a drummer and lead vocal in her high school band called The Crowned Ones

-Aubrey met Eric in the summer of 2018 at a music store in Los Angeles

-Her favorite artists include The Electric Light Orchestra, Whitney Houston, Day6, DREAMCATCHER, The Rose, GOT7, and Selena Quintanilla

-She’s studying music education and business

-She is known for being a sweetheart

-

Eunkyung

Full Name: Choi Eun Kyung

Birthday: May 22, 2000

Hometown: Seoul, South Korea

Height: 5’2

Nationality: Korean

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown

S/O: Hyunjoon

-Her designated color is sparkly black

-She has a mom, dad, and older sister

-She used to be trainee, but left due to her being severely bullied

-She met Hyunjoon in 2018 in the hospital after she was recovering from a car accident

-Eunkyung has a tattoo of a diamond below her right ankle

-She’s studying psychology and counseling, and she does dance on the side

-Her favorite artists include Red Velvet, NCT, SNSD, and GOT7

-She can come off as shy, but she opens the more you get to know her

[optikes]

Christian Thompson  (b1978) South Australia; (Bidjara People)

1 Trinity 1 (2014) type C photograph 100x75cm

2 The Devil Made Him Do It (2011)  type C photograph 100x100cm

3 Untitled (Kangaroo Paws) (2010) from the series Australian Graffiti  C- type photograph 

4 Black Gum 3 (2008) from the series Australian Graffiti (2010) C- type photograph  

5 Portent Serac (2107) c-type print  120x120cm

6 Purified by Fire (2017) C-type photograph

the artist’s site  www.christianthompson.net

A    artgallery.nsw.gov.au    Thompson rose to prominence in the late 1990s with his performative works exploring various notions of identity. In his works he becomes a range of personas through carefully orchestrated poses, costuming, and settings. Thompson's artistic practice has been informed by his absorption of popular culture and his Indigenous heritage.

'Trinity 1' 2014 is influenced by Thompson's experiences of London while completing a doctorate in fine arts at Oxford University. In 'Trinity 1' Thompson transforms himself into a pale, blond female, who gazes directly at the viewer, bringing to mind numerous stereotypes, which he simultaneously draws upon yet questions.

In 'The devil made him do it' from the series 'Native Instincts' 2011 Thompson plays with the impersonations of Indigenous people that are to be found within popular culture and are presented as an authentic image of Indigeneity. Within his guise, Thompson appears in full ceremonial regalia, with lurid blue face paint and a crown of feather adornment. Appearing almost clown-like, he ridicules these representations while questioning notions of authenticity and what this means in Aboriginal culture today.

The uncertainty of truth or implicit intention defines much of Thompson's practice, with his photographs emerging from a performative and experiential process which allows him the freedom to interrogate. Of course influencing this technique is the historic positioning of photography as scientific and anthropological support material. Thompson explores the complexities of Indigenous photography and participation, by placing himself in front of the camera and carefully orchestrated props and movements. As both photographer and subject he has absolute control.

B     qagoma.qld.gov.au     Christian Thompson is an artist of Bidjara heritage, who works across video, photography, sculpture, performance and sound. Thompson is interested in the performative, and his works frequently present him adopting various personas created with costumes, adornments and disguises derived from history and tradition. Thompson grew up in an urban environment in the 1980s and 90s and he interweaves references to Bidjara culture (such as gestures and songs) with elements of pop culture to address issues of colonialism, sexuality and cultural representation. Thompson's most recent body of work was inspired by an archive of historical photographs of Aboriginal people held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. It constitutes a contemporary response to themes of the archive, spiritual repatriation and cultural hybridity. A suite of photographs from the 'Polari' series is accompanied by a video of the artist performing in the Bidjara language.

C     artguide.com.au    Thompson is perhaps best known for his series of large-scale photographs that depict the artist shrouded, crowned, obscured and ornamented by native flora, stones and objects.

As is often the case, the use of the artist-as-model developed out of convenience. In a Radio National interview in 2015, Thompson explained, “I don’t think of them as being ‘myself’, because I think of my works as conceptual portraits. I’m really just the armature to layer ideas on top of.” He continued, “I really like the idea of wearing history, I like the idea of adorning myself in references to history.”

In the series Australian Graffiti (2007), Thompson’s head is garlanded by bottlebrush, kangaroo paw and eucalyptus flowers; in some images his face disappears completely, his individual identity either generalised as ‘native’ or subsumed by country. A more recent series, ‘We Bury Our Own’ (2012), was made in response to the collection of photographs of Aboriginal Australians at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford’s School of Anthropology. Dressed in a crisp white shirt, the artist surrounds himself with objects of generic spirituality – candles, crystals, roses – and more specific references, including a model ship and an indigenous-print scarf. Thompson presents a complex picture of Indigenous identity, acted out through personal ritual before the camera. He has described the process as a “spiritual repatriation.”

Day says that the survey will include “a strong presence of works where [Christian] is performing, or the subject or carrier of the subjects. There are also works, like Heat [2010], featuring Hetti Perkins’ three daughters.” There will be a balance of iconic and lesser-known works. Day continues, “I’m interested in how in his practice there are very strong themes, for example playing with his identity and the nature of sexuality and gender… [and] over time he has become increasingly interested in broader cultural issues and histories, perhaps from living outside Australia for an extended period. You look at things differently from a distance.”

Although still in production at the time of writing, Day confirmed that the newly commissioned installation would include a sound component in Bidjara, Thompson’s father’s language, and a video component that focuses on the mouth. Regarding songs written and performed in Bidjara for his 2015 exhibition Refuge, Thompson has said, “I’ve tried to base [each song] around a traditional practice or idea… kinship, connectedness, camaraderie, rites of passage… I don’t translate the work, because then I think it starts to become didactic and explanatory. I want people to engage with the lyricism of the language, because it is an incredibly beautiful language.”

C     Jessica Bridgfoot    bendigoadvertiser.com     In 2010, Thompson made history when he became the first Aboriginal Australian to be admitted into the University of Oxford in its 900-year history.

Through the lens of his mixed heritage, Thompson’s work explores notions of identity, cultural hybridity and history in relation to landscape.

‘Purified by Fire’ relates to the land management practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the use of fire, smoke as a means of purification. Gum leaves are an important spiritual and ceremonial plant for Indigenous peoples in the south.

The act of purification by fire (or smoke) has existed for tens of thousands of years where Indigenous peoples had sustained harmoniously and in symbiosis with the natural world, prior to the extension of the white colonial arm which saw thousands of years of grass and soil change within a few years.

Through the lens of his mixed heritage, Thompson’s work explores notions of identity, cultural hybridity and history in relation to landscape.

Thompson appears within the image as a commanding presence, eyes burning with fire, illustrating the enduring and intrinsic relationship many Indigenous peoples maintain with the land.

Furthermore, Thompson’s work is a call to action, these exquisite Indigenous plants are sacred and precious – and need to be sustained, highlighting traditional Indigenous Australian agriculture and the need to decolonise our mainstream agriculture practices.

[aurora-daily]

Mother Earth’s Warrior

Interview: Aurora for The Line of Best Fit by Cheri Amour (September 28th, 2018)

Norway’s greatest pop export, AURORA speaks to Cheri Amour about her not-so-difficult second album and why it opens up a forest of thought for our future preservation.

There have long been popular culture characters in our midst hell-bent on saving the planet. Healing the world and making it a better place, for you and me and the entire human race. But there’s something different about AURORA Aksnes, better known as million-streamed Norwegian singer/songwriter, AURORA. Her latest release, Infections of A Different Kind, puts Mother Earth at its heart.

It feels fitting then to be sat in one of London’s luscious parks together, AURORA decked out in green amongst the evergreen sipping on her coconut water. She is slight but by no means shy and constantly alert, throwing out relatable anecdotes that seem to be skipping through her mind as she scans her surroundings. Her eyes are shining bright, often looking outwards rather than directly at me. Instead, she is constantly seeking out the sky, the clouds, darting at the path of a pigeon, beaming at a small child opposite us on another table. At one point, she becomes distracted by my stationary choices (“I have the same pen but in green”) and is immediately back in the bustling streets of gay Paris where she made the purchase, with her underlying care and compassion for all things, living or otherwise. “I should’ve brought mine and they’ve could’ve spoken”.

It’s been over two years since the singer sprang onto our stereos like a forest-spirit from the Bergen mountains with her debut EP, Running With Wolves. But whilst her musical mission might be led by a bold vision for a brighter future, her present still looks pretty rosy with debut full-length, All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend racking up a massive 200 million streams globally. It’s an almost magical might for an artist who only celebrated her 22nd birthday this year. But on speaking with AURORA, her emotional intelligence is undeniable. “I know the world is not a fairy tale and we’re just doing our best…” she happily admits, an astute admission for someone so renowned for her enchanting pop gems.

For the Bergen-based artist though, her strength clearly comes from the collective power of change rather than the sole-creator. She often refers more holistically to an issue than nitpicking specifics. Indeed, it’s this rallying sense of collective change that has gifted AURORA such a solid fan base of “warriors and weirdos” from the depths of South America to the smaller towns and cities of Australia. “It’s so important to fight for the things you care about”, she continues. “They have proven they can do that. They share my message. They stand up for me. If one person disagrees with what I do, they go to war”.

It reminds me of another story of a similarly impassioned figure wanting to make collective change in their world. Often admired as the crowning work of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli, Princess Mononoke powerfully paints the struggle between the gods of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. And, it seems unbeknownst to Ghibli at the time, over 20 years on from its original release, that same spirit hasn’t been lost in Infections of A Different Kind.

Her relationship with nature is woven throughout, a sort of Hansel and Gretel style breadcrumb trail through her mind’s eye of the world around us. Much like Ghibli’s tale which finds the main protagonist locked in a struggle for the future of the unspoiled forest and an elaborate moral universe, the sophomore record is rooted in Mother Earth. “We are killing incredible beauty without even knowing that we’ve already killed so much”, she reflects, her fingers playing with a small burgundy, woven scarf. It looks homemade, thin and narrow, entwined around her small hands. “We’ve killed entire species of animals. We’ve killed possibilities of making medicine. We’ve killed people”, she pauses, clearly upset by the thoughts. “It makes me sad because I know the planet will live. She will outlive us all and we will die because we’re just tiny ants on her big skin”.

But despite her worry, life and death feel like a natural cycle for AURORA, as you might expect from someone so clued up on the climate. She speaks confidently about nature’s balance, preferring the pragmatic output of an organism rather than anything overly fussy which could also be true of the sounds she makes. “I don’t really like flowers that much. They’re too pretty for their own good. People pick them and they get to die inside a vase”. If she were a flower, AURORA would be a dried white rose, perfectly encapsulated within a moment of time; pure, classic and radiating humility. Meanwhile, lavender for its medicinal properties and affection to bees gets a glowing write up. “That’s my favourite thing about Mother Earth actually”, she explains. “All the knowledge and all that she provides us; the fruit, the medicine. That’s why we need the rainforest but we tear it down”.

Only recently have we seen the devastating effects of illegal logging in the Papua New Guinea forests which provide a home for many of its unique species. Most timbers from New Guinea and its offshore islands are processed in China before being sold around the world, largely for use in furniture and flooring. Likewise, in the Amazon around 17% of the forest has been lost in the last 50 years, mostly due to forest conversion for cattle ranching. Sadly it’s the global brand giants causing most of the destruction with Greenpeace releasing a recent report that identified major palm olive producers such as Unilever, Nestlé, Colgate-Palmolive, and Mondelez, have destroyed an area of rainforest almost twice the size of Singapore in less than three years. The problem is, much like the Native American saying, what will happen after the last tree has fallen and the rivers have been poisoned?

Live favourite, "The Seed" encapsulates this idea. Her vocal is moving, selflessly offering herself up to restore what humanity has destroyed: “Suffocate me / So my tears can be rain / I will water the ground where I stand / So the flowers can grow back again”. "The Seed" acts like the nucleus of change for AURORA. It’s the birth of something. It’s thought or an act or a movement. “It’s the beginning of everything”, she explains, enthused. “The way the seed lies underground with no sun, nothing, darkness but it knows where to go and then it breaks through the stone, the mountain, asphalt, and earth. All these things they came from down there”, she insists, pointing at a nearby flower bed at which point her gaze is caught by a fluttering pigeon on the roof. After a few seconds, she apologises: “The pigeons are so distracting”.

Conversation turns to her own beginnings, painting a picture of her home back in Norway which sounds like something straight out of a Lord of The Rings novel. A fjord carved out by glaciers in the ice ages with a little island in the middle of it that she would often take a small kayak out to and sleep overnight on in the summer when the sun rarely sets. “On one of them lives quite an angry goat so don’t go there. He’s like a proper…”, she gesticulates the animal’s horns with her hands by her ears. “He’s intense. All the other ones are fine”, she laughs. The open water feels like it is a bit of a theme to her early years, spending much of her childhood on sailboats of some varieties, not surprising for a country that has the kind of tight relationship with water that Brits have with tea. Whether it's coastline, fjord, lake or river, water is everywhere in Norway and Norwegians make the most of it. Her father sailed the seas for four years in a row before she was born, she tells me proudly.

The other towering backdrop to her youth were those sturdy mountains and an ambitious walking regime. The latter almost certainly a contributing factor to her ingenuity and appreciation of the rambling flora and fauna so prevalent in her songwriting today. “We’d go for mountain hikes at least four times a week”, she states, matter of factly. “You bring some chocolate with bread and cheese to eat at the top. It’s kind of what you do together with your Mum’s friend and her kid, you know?” Perhaps not the same as growing up in the flatlands of Norfolk, I admit. “Well, it’s very normal in Norway, especially Bergen because you have the mountains everywhere”, she continues. There’s a mountain in every city at least. In every village. And in my village, we only have eight neighbours, there’s only us living there. And I look at the water and I have the forest behind me. She openly sighs and takes a moment, transporting herself back to the shimmering open waters, stood with lungs full of the fresh mountain air.

Surrounded by such a magical setting, it’s not surprising that AURORA tries to create a kingdom of her own for listeners. The first hint at the new record, former single “Queendom” is dedicated to “everything that’s alive”. Insistent that “Queendom” should be a place “with only love”, the song is also a celebration of our differences with an open innocence that tries to find the best in all of us. Again, Ghibli’s own ethical ethos rings true here, with Princess Mononoke heralded as for its ability to make heroes of outsiders and blurring the stereotypes that usually define such characters. It’s the same for AURORA. She is an artist breaking down huge barriers around inclusivity which shine through “Queendom”’s electro-pulse and call-to-arms. “It’s very much about giving hope, like being given the tools to become a warrior, a fighter to deal with the now. Not an escape but a way to really stay in the present, and make a change”.

Directed by Paris-based, Polish-Australian Director King Burza, the single’s video finds Aurora bathed in natural light exploring the cavernous surrounds of an old country home, the dappled light falling on her through the beaten window frames. She leaps through the high-ceiling hallways in flowing white cotton, much like the lyrics suggest, as our lamb. The pulsing chorus beat kicks in with a procession of women dancers weaving behind her arms like the Shiva herself, the fierce warrior Goddess. With Scandinavia often heralded for its gender parity, it’s not surprising that a huge part of “Queendom”’s rallying cry is being channeled into some sort of feminist anthem but as AURORA herself says: “it’s much more than that. I want it to be a song for people in need”.

“I began writing for Infections of A Different Kind the day after my first album was released...it’s good when it’s fresh when you’re still like a predator. You can still smell the blood from the prey."

With its timely post-#metoo-era release, it’s not surprising that there’s a strong focus on the strength of women in here though as well as flipping assumed gender norms and empowering an army, as she sings: “The women will be my soldiers / With the weight of life on their shoulders”. It’s an element of Nordic folklore that really spoke to her warrior instincts. “I like that it was often the women that hunted. When the men went out on a journey to kill and steal, the women stayed and were the boss which is kind of cool”. Similarly, she sees herself played back to her in scrappy forest-dwelling nymphs, the Huldra. “They had messy hair like I had when I was a child”, she jokes.

Propelled by our comparisons, talk turns into a bit of an education in Norwegian children’s tales as she boasts that many of them centre around a troll. Whether that’s a troll turning to stone in the sun before it eats the children or the story of a young boy from the village who challenges the troll to a porridge-eating contest. Tactfully tying his knapsack to his belly, the boy scoops more porridge into the bag than he eats himself and then, once full, slashes it open encouraging the troll to do the same so they can power through the porridge. Fooled by the boy, the troll cuts his stomach and dies leaving all of the gold and silver in the cave for the boy to take home to pay off his family debts. “Then you have the troll mother who has put her eleven troll children to bed. That’s the first song I sang when I was two years old in my Mum’s blue kitchen”, she recalls. A newborn with pink cheeks begins to whimper to its Mum on the table next to us now which lures the singer’s attention away for a fleeting moment, her mouth fixed in a wide-open smile. “Sorry, babies and pigeons. Very distracting”, she reasons.

After the brief introduction to Norwegian folklore, it feels apt to ask around the production of the new record which took place in a fairytale studio-cum-chateau somewhere in the South of France. Positioned in a vineyard surrounded by animals and a pond, the castle sounds like the right kind of pastoral setting for such a life-affirming record. AURORA details an almost Beauty And The Beast-like existence there, holed up in the huge house’s halls and libraries for just over a month. Chef Marie cooked a three-course meal, three times a day whilst the dog Paula and cat, Ginger amble through the corridors.

It becomes clear quite quickly that AURORA hasn’t faced the difficult second album syndrome. “I began writing for it the day after my first album was released because then the first album had been done already for four months”, she beams. “That’s why I always begin right after I release right after my previous thing. I begin on the next”. A natural hunter, she adds: “It’s good when it’s fresh when you’re still like a predator. You can still smell the blood from the prey. And you’re kind of just running after it and you know where to go, that’s how I felt”.

It was a fairly natural process then? “I found it way easier than the first because I really knew what I wanted. I’ve always known since I was an embryo what I want and now I have the tools to make it happen. I know how to produce, and how to play more instruments. I played the drums and the rhythms. The multi-instrumentalist played drums on all of the songs on Infections of A Different Kind, actually, it’s kind of a new passion for her. “I love it. It’s very energetic and you get quite tired afterward which I love. I love the feeling of exhausting myself”, she grins.

"I have my own dream language which half of the population understands...a fourth...an eleventh so I also had to learn things myself because I am the only one who can know."

Adding to her workload, AURORA took up a lot of the production duties on the record too which makes a powerful statement in a world for far too many women artists are corralled into working with male producers. She’s not afraid to tackle this in her own terms, often struggling to articulate what she wanted using the technical language, the singer offers up her own alternative parallels: “Make it sound like water or bellyache”. “I realised I don’t have the technical language. I have my own dream language which half of the population understands...a fourth...an eleventh so I also had to learn things myself because I am the only one who can know”. She’s adamant that crafting her music, much like her new love of drums, is one of her biggest pleasures. The ability to realise her imagined worlds into reality gives her a certain sense of belonging which, in the future, might remain a constant more so than the live show. “If there’s one thing I’ll do less of, you know in forty years, it’s touring. But not studio, I’ll always be there”, she adds resolutely.

But despite her preference, she knows the power of sharing her songs with her legion of fans and she confesses many of the new numbers have already made it into the live set. “I think at one point it was maybe a bit too many. I like all my songs better live just because of the energy so it’s always nice to know that the fans will get to experience that first”. And that’s exactly what AURORA has tried to do with the release schedule of the record, teasing one more single out last week ahead of today’s full-length. The stark opener of “Churchyard” finds AURORA’s sincere vocal layered over one another and doused in reverb as a solemn strings section soothes in with a morbid twang as she questions the fine balance between life and love. You can almost see the arms flailing theatrics of similarly environmental leaning, Kate Bush against the beat.

Indeed, AURORA isn’t the first artist looking to heal the world with their humanitarian ideals. Pop’s biggest ally, Cher donated more than 180,000 bottles of water to Flint, Michigan, in the middle of the city's clean-water crisis. Grammy Award-winning, Rihanna was named Harvard Humanitarian of the Year back in 2017 for her philanthropic efforts after funding the build of a state-of-the-art centre for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados. Infections of A Different Kind stands united with Mother Earth almost as a vocal shining a floodlight on the dire situation we’ve left her in.

At this point, playing with the tousled strands of her hair, AURORA is whisked off for another meeting and disappears into the trees of Holland Park, much like the Huldra into the Norwegian forest. Just from spending an hour with her, it’s clear how much the Norwegian songwriter cherishes real connections with the people she meets and is keen to create a shared space where we can all co-exist together; new technologies alongside sustainable ecosystems. Without national treasure, David Attenborough preaching about the plastics in our oceans, it’s sometimes easy for us to cut out the stark realities of climate change. But high up in those Norwegian mountains, with her ear to the wind, AURORA hears it all and is ready to lead.

Forget Princess Mononoke, AURORA is our modern day pop royalty.

Infections of A Different Kind is out now on Decca Records.

[tonguetiedmag]

music: weekly roundup (our favorite song submissions of the week)

The Astral Plane Parade - Swimming Pool

Hugo Costin, AKA The Astral Plane Parade, relishes in the simplicity of his guitar on “Swimming Pool.” The Australian singer-songwriter says he “wrote it to champion tenderness and compassion in relationships.” He is successful in doing so, immediately beginning his plea: “I want to fall into your sheets like a swimming pool surrounded by palm trees.” The song loops the line and a handful of others, emphasizing his dire need to be fully enveloped by his lover. 

Atari Ferrari - Born in the Wrong Time

Washington-native Atari Ferrari was born by way of the death of David Bowie. A plan for a one-night tribute has blossomed into so much more, including their song “Born in the Wrong Time” off their September release Rebel. “Born in the Wrong Time” sees the world as it is, dark, but remains optimistic: “Waking up in a world of sorrow… Where did all the peace and the love go? Maybe there is a better tomorrow.” Atari Ferrari separate themselves from the hokey and stale nature that could plague such a song. With an older rock sound, “Born in the Wrong Time” is just enough sugar to make reality go down. 

Lucy Neville - Wasting Our Time

Lucy Neville invigorates the electro-pop genre with “Wasting Our Time.” The Australian artist finds the right balance between singer-songwriter honesty and alt-pop fun in the form of a choral loop: “we were just wasting our time.” “Wasting Our Time” is the lyrical manifestation of when you find someone you think you’re into, but things don’t work out. Neville is here to save the day with a hypnotic funk to dance away such worries.

Sam Brockington - Breathe

It’s particularly refreshing to know when others face struggles. In “Breathe,” Sam Brockington sings about the hardships of keeping up in the music industry and how it takes over one’s life and emotions. “Breathe” is confessional indie pop for moments of crisis you need to sit through and let pass. Brockington sings, “be gone, steal my heart,” extending “heart,” his voice almost cracking to vocally display anguish. Nevertheless, the upbeat nature of the song makes everything feel like it’s going to be alright.  

Moxie Raia - Shades of Blue

Moxie Raia’s “Shades of Blue” can also be categorized under “escape from reality.” The song is a fantasy of a healthy relationship, bringing momentary peace. She sings, “you make peace from all these pieces...“cool and warm like a summer night.” A pop song accompanied by an R&B groove, “Shades of Blue” feels not cold, but like being wrapped in a July sunset instead.

Moscow Apartment - Orange

Moscow Apartment already sound like an indie radio darling with “Orange.” The song begins with ease: “I didn’t like the color orange as it creeps across my floor at midnight. Now it takes on a new shape.” It picks up, eventually dancing its way toward a chorus colored by trumpets. Moscow Apartment describe the song as about “the weird twilight zone feeling,” which can be at sunset or when your surroundings suddenly feel like a movie. With “Orange” as the soundtrack for these peculiar moments, bizarreness must be like an indie dance party.

 Mimoza - Love for Days

Mimoza’s “Love for Days” is an unapologetic song of romance. It is properly unashamed of its feminine dreaminess, declaring “these days are made for love and I’ve got love for days.” The Kosovo-born singer explains “Love for Days” celebrates the moment two people are falling for each other, but haven’t taken that big step just yet. She sings, “If you fall first I’ll fall back and love you unafraid” over big drums and humming synth. Mimoza isn’t hiding from anything here.   

Leonie Kingdom - So Much More

There’s a lot to be sad about, and Leonie Kingdom’s “So Much More” is here for that. Kingdom denotes the song as for those experiencing the unbearable so they know will get through it. Over an acoustic guitar and simple piano-based instrumental, she sings: “Why can’t I let these demons lie? Oh, this life’s been glorified. While so much time passed me by.” Despite the song’s somber elements, Kingdom is generally cheery, pushing that “Life goes on. That’s the best part.” 

PINES - Speak

PINES “Speak” is the song you probably hear at a club when it is a little too late in the night when things aren’t exactly awry but are definitely a little weird. A rhythmic, dark EDM track, “Speak” is the anthem for those that deem connection as ruined by conversation: “Look in my eyes and please don’t speak tonight…please don’t tell me this feels right. Your words are all for show.” The female voice purs,  “conversation won’t make it right,” lightly seducing listeners to dance-- forget thinking and speaking. PINES’ song finds its place in the post-aughts techno boom and the melancholy nature of pop’s current state. 

Daniella Mason - Morning Mourning 

Upon first listen, unless you listen closely, it might not seem so obvious that Daniella Mason’s “Morning Mourning” is about the death of her mother. With a big choral finish and fuzzy vibrations throughout, the song appears as a mellow jam. However, aside from the title, Mason clues listeners in with the repetitive chorus: “What if it’s all I can do to get up in the morning?” She later sings, “All i have is left memory of your sweat and tears as you pursued right into the sky blue.” At the end, the repeating chorus builds with a choir as if Mason is working her way to defeat her grief.

Runrummer - Soul Wrinkles

The mellifluous “Soul Wrinkles” gives permission to not be ashamed of one’s life experiences, good or bad. Runrummer chose the song as the name of her EP and to close out the tracklist for that very reason-- “There's no point in having regrets, as those things molded you into who you are and we need to accept and embrace that." “Soul Wrinkles” of indie-glazed pop, too shy to be a full-out anthem, but sure enough to embrace the past. Runrummer starts, wondering, “Do you really wanna know about the wrinkles in my soul?” She makes her way to say, “Like a master you can roll around all the wrinkles in my soul.”

Isaac Dunbar - blonde 

Isaac Dunbar’s alt-pop bop “blonde” floats between its bitterness and playful hiccups, resulting in a song to sing along to when the person you are enamored with is a little too self-confident. Dunbar initially admits, “Crowned and cool, bound to drool over her.” In the chorus, he sings, “Lately I’ve been missing blonde… let her ruin my emotions,” closing the chorus off with a quick, synthesized, “Ew!” Playing “blonde” on repeat is definitely the way to get over your coky crush. 

Gaspar Narby - Words of July

Swiss producer Gaspar Narby features the gentle vocals of LEES on “Words of July.” The song starts with sounds of a storm, evolving into lyrics of a warmer nature, evoking summer nostalgia. LEES sings, “I’ll show you the flowers within my skin.” The rhetorical use of water sounds makes example again after “Hide me in the shade of your gaze. You know I’m here.” Like you might do when hiding away on a rainy day, LEES singing of memories elicits a fond, yet dark construction of the past.  

Listen to all of these songs on our playlist!

Article by: Haley Bosselman

[malleedesign]

New Post has been published on http://malleedesign.com.au/the-elegant-wilga-geijera-parviflora/

The Elegant Wilga: Geijera parviflora

This beautiful, weeping small tree is known as Wilga or Australian Willow and willowy it is, its long, narrow, pendulous leaves droop down creating a dense shade umbrella. Unfortunately this Australian native tree is used quite infrequently in gardens or urban horticulture, this is mainly due to availability issues but also as it is quite a slow growing species.

I have seen it only a handful of times planted in inner city Sydney as a street tree, I would dearly love to see it feature more often as a specimen tree in parks and gardens as its weeping habit is both striking and useful.

Geijera parviflora flowers from winter through to Summer with tiny perfumed flowers that are responsible for producing a delicious dark honey, its leaves can also be burnt to resell mosquitos.

As it originates from central NSW and QLD it is extremely drought hardy and makes a useful farm fodder tree.

However I mainly love it for the weeping branches and the way they move in the breeze, growing to only 8 or 9 metres tall and approximately 6 to 7 wide it will provide a nicely sized shade canopy for small to medium gardens. The thick crown also makes an excellent screening for privacy.

[post-futurism]

sunflower, painting, silk, white sheets :)

Sunflower: if there was a door that went to a city that was a good representation of you, what city would it be and would you go through the door?

gosh what an interesting question! i haven’t been to many cities tbh… it would be absolutely boring to say Canberra though i think it’s a fairly good representation of me in terms of it being a strong inspiration for why i wanted to be a city planner in the first place. It’s just a well organised city with lots of greenery and access to gorgeous national parks and everyone votes for the Greens! I’ve heard that Seattle’s city planning history is quite interesting and, architecturally, quite a stunning city so i’d probably like to walk through a magical door to Seattle given the opportunity! (The same for Chicago - the planners of Canberra based their designs off what was done there after the Chicago fires. Would be interesting to see the differences/similarities.) 

Painting: in what ways are you creative?

number 1 way is writing, although i’ve been too busy lately to do much of it. I’ve also been rather into making flower crowns lately! I found a shop that sells good material for extremely cheap so it’s become a more affordable hobby than it had been before - using native australian flowers is beautiful but very pricey! 

I also do photography both digitally and with analogue cameras. i’ve been meaning to compile all my photos into a kind of scrap book but haven’t gotten around to it. You and I are due for a craft day!

Silk: list songs you listen to for a jam

okay so this is specifically jams not bangers (aka rock music not electronica), in no particular order…

Night Swimmers - Foals

Giant Tortoise - Pond

Sell It - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Turn It Out - DFA 1979

Riot Rhythm - Sleigh Bells

300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues - The White Stripes

White sheets: where’s somewhere you would like to travel to? Why?

Over the past year i’ve made a few online friends who live in the US and i’d love to travel around and meet them all and go see the natural beauties of America. (Plus it’s very good for writing research!) Or I’d like to go to Perth - boring, i know, but it’s the only capital i haven’t been to and the music scene is bonkers there. I think, if anything, my next trip will be to New Zealand to visit family. I’d love to see the mountains there too!

thanks for asking

[eyesonworldcultures]

Thanksgiving Celebrations Around the World

The United States isn’t the only nation with a holiday dedicated to gratitude—here are eight different variations of the Thanksgiving tradition from around the world.

Canada

It may surprise you to learn that Canada’s first Thanksgiving celebration actually predates America’s—by more than 40 years. In 1578, an expedition led by the English navigator Martin Frobisher held a ceremony in what is now Nunavut, giving thanks for the safety of their fleet. This is considered the first-ever Thanksgiving celebration in North America, though in fact First Nations (the indigenous peoples of Canada) and Native Americans had been holding harvest festivals long before Europeans arrived. Loyalists who moved to Canada during the Revolutionary War introduced turkey, along with some other customs from the American Thanksgiving. Canada’s Parliament formally established a national Thanksgiving Day (November 6) in 1879; as of 1957, the date was changed to the second Monday in October. Thanksgiving traditions in Canada look very similar to American ones, including eating turkey and watching football (the Canadian Football League holds an annual Thanksgiving Day Classic) with family.

Germany

The German equivalent of Thanksgiving is Erntedankfest (“harvest festival of thanks”). This religious holiday often takes place on the first Sunday in October, which is often also the first Sunday following Michaelistag (Michaelmas) on September 29; different places mark the occasion on various dates in September and October. Though rural areas take the harvest festival concept more literally, churches in German cities also join in on the celebration, giving thanks for the good fortune their congregations experienced that year. During a typical Erntedankfest, celebrants may carry an Erntekrone (“harvest crown”) of grains, fruit and flowers to the church in a solemn procession, and feast on such hearty fare as die Masthühnchen (fattened-up chickens) or der Kapaun (castrated roosters).

Liberia

This West African republic may seem an unlikely place for an American-style Thanksgiving tradition, but only until you consider its history. Freed slaves from the United States established Liberia in the early 1820s with help from the American Colonization Society, a private organization that believed returning African Americans to the country of their origins would provide them with greater opportunity, help spread Christianity to Africa and solve the nagging problem of slavery in the United States. In the early 1880s, Liberia’s government passed an act declaring the first Thursday of November as National Thanksgiving Day. Today, it’s a largely Christian holiday: Churches auction off baskets filled with local fruits like papayas and mangoes after their services, and local families feast on the bounty. Instead of turkey and pumpkin, Liberia’s Thanksgiving tables boast items such as spicy roast chicken and mashed cassavas, and live music and dancing are part of the Thanksgiving tradition.

Japan

Japan’s variation of Thanksgiving, Kinro Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day) evolved from an ancient rice harvest festival, Niinamesai, the roots of which go back as far as the seventh century A.D. During the Meiji Era (1868-1912), the date of the festival was set as November 23, and it has remained the same since then. The modern tradition of Labor Thanksgiving Day began in 1948, just three years after World War II ended, as a celebration of the rights of Japan’s workers. Today, the public observes it as a national holiday, but with none of the huge feasting you’ll see on the American holiday. Instead, labor organizations lead events at which citizens are encouraged to celebrate the principles of hard work and community involvement. To mark the occasion, children often make thank-you cards for policemen, firefighters or other municipal workers.

Norfolk Island

This remote island in the Pacific Ocean, a former British penal colony and current Australian territory, is another unlikely place for a holiday celebration with American roots. In fact, its Thanksgiving tradition dates back to the mid-1890s, when the American trader Isaac Robinson decided to put on an American-style Thanksgiving service in the All Saints Church in Kingston in order to attract some visiting American whalers to the celebration. His plan worked, and parishioners on the island—otherwise best known for its namesake pine tree—continue to celebrate the holiday today, bringing fruits, vegetables and cornstalks to decorate the church and singing American hymns on the last Wednesday of November each year.

Grenada

Every October 25, people on this West Indian island celebrate their own Thanksgiving Day, which marks the anniversary of a joint Caribbean and U.S. military invasion of Grenada in 1983. The troops’ arrival restored order after an army coup ousted and executed Maurice Bishop, Grenada’s socialist leader, and put the island under martial law. While stationed on the West Indian island that fall, U.S. soldiers told local citizens about the upcoming American holiday and some of its traditions. To show their own gratitude, many people in towns and villages hosting the soldiers invited them to dine and celebrate with them, even surprising them with such non-native island foods as turkey, cranberry and potatoes. Today, the Grenadian Thanksgiving features formal ceremonies of remembrance in the cities, but largely goes unmarked in more rural areas.

The Netherlands

It’s sometimes forgotten that of the English settlers who traveled to the New World on the Mayflower, some 40 percent spent the years 1609 to 1620 living and working in the Dutch city of Leiden. As a result, some have claimed that the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving celebration was actually inspired by Leiden’s annual commemoration of the breaking of the Spanish siege in 1574. In any case, the people of today’s Leiden continue to celebrate their ties with the Mayflower’s passengers by holding non-denominational church services on the fourth Thursday of November.

Puerto Rico

After Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States in the late 19th century, its residents enthusiastically adopted many of the traditions of the holiday. They celebrate it on the same day (fourth Thursday in November) and embrace the same Black Friday shopping craziness on the following day. But Puerto Ricans have put their own twist on the traditional Thanksgiving Day feast: There is usually turkey—whether a roasted, seasoned pavochón or a turkey stuffed with mofongo (a mashed plantain dish)—but roast pork is also a common item on the menu, accompanied with more plaintains, rice and beans.

[diaspora9ja]

Australia: Scientists push to list platypus as threatened | News | DW

Scientists have known as for the Australian native platypus to be listed as a “threatened species” after a report discovered the habitat of the semi-aquatic duck-billed mammal  had shrunk  by as much as 22% over the previous 30 years.

Researchers from the College of New South Wales (UNSW) mentioned extreme drought introduced by local weather change, land clearing for farming and dam constructing are accountable. 

“The platypus continues to face ongoing threats throughout its vary. Unsustainable water extraction and land clearing will proceed to place strain on freshwater ecosystems and drive future declines sooner or later,” lead creator Gilad Bino mentioned Monday, including that elevated severity and incidence of bush fires can also be more likely to have contributed to the platypus’s decline.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Lengthy and pointy

The sword-billed hummingbird’s beak is longer than its physique. It has the longest beak of all recognized hummingbird species. And it wants it! One of many chook’s primary sources of meals is nectar, which it drinks from very lengthy, slender hanging flower crowns. With its beak large open, it may well additionally catch bugs.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Gobble, gobble, gobble

Two star-like shapes on its snout make the star-nosed mole a really well-equipped hunter. The appendages round its nostrils — a complete of twenty-two fleshy tentacles — are sensory organs. With these it may well study 13 potential prey animals per second. We will not even look that quick!

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Neither duck nor beaver — what are you?

An egg-laying mammal with a beaver‘s tail and a duck‘s beak. What appears like a fantasy creature truly exists — in Australia. The platypus boasts a big, versatile beak with a leather-like floor. A built-in snorkel can also be included: its nostrils are on high. This enables the animal to dive underwater and breathe on the similar time.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Vampire enamel

Don’t be concerned, as scary as it might seem, this vampire is vegetarian. The tufted deer prefers to graze at nightfall. If it senses hazard, it does one thing uncommon: it barks. Deer do that to warn one another. Whereas fleeing, they erect their white tail — an escape-signal amongst tufted deer.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Extra beak than chook?

This chook might appear like a personality from a comic book, however the shoebill truly walks amongst us — within the swamps of central tropical Africa. It typically stands immobile within the water and appears downward. When it detects prey, it strikes at lightning velocity. With the hook on the high of its beak, it grabs its prey. Even massive lungfishes are swallowed up complete.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

That is one huge mouth you’ve got bought

With a physique size of as much as 10 meters, the basking shark is the second-largest fish on the planet, after the whale shark. Regardless of its monstrous measurement, it is something however bloodthirsty; basking sharks eat only one factor: plankton. They swim with their mouths large open to catch and filter meals. Water that enters its mouth with the plankton is filtered out by its gills — 1800 tons of water per hour.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

A bit much less ferocious than its huge brother

Gavials stay in Southeast Asia. In distinction to the crocodile, gavials do not eat zebras or deer, however fish. Its snout is due to this fact lengthy, slender and residential to very many enamel. Excellent for catching fish!

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Turbo-charging by a sea of flowers

The sucking trunk of the hummingbird hawk-moth is just not solely very lengthy, it is also extraordinarily exact. The butterfly can suck nectar from as much as 100 flowers per minute. Whereas doing so, the moth hovers in entrance of the flower. With its lengthy trunk, the hummingbird hawk-moth can even attain the nectar of flowers with significantly lengthy calyxes — out of attain for others.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Only a spoonful

The spoonbill is supplied with the right device. Irrespective of fish, frog or different water-dweller, nothing escapes this beak. In looking for meals. the spoonbill normally goes into shallow water. Nonetheless, typically it additionally wanders the coast. Within the mud flats, it swings its head backwards and forwards, filtering meals from the shallow water.

Mouths, snouts and beaks: Probably the most bizzare mouths within the animal world

Garden mower on the backside of the ocean

Dugongs feed on seaweed. They like the a part of the crops that lay underground. They usually have developed a particular method for this: this manatee can dig. It digs out the plant with its higher lip, then the roots are pulled out of the bottom. It shakes off the dust after which sucks the plant into its mouth.

Creator: Liyang Zhao

Learn extra: Study says Australia’s bushfires harmed 3 billion animals

Droughts pose severe menace

The beaver-tailed, webbed-feet platypus stay largely throughout Australia’s jap coast, near rivers and streams. They can’t stay exterior water. As Australia dries additional, their habitat might get even smaller, the scientists warned.

Richard Kingsford, director of UNSW’s Centre for Ecosystem Science mentioned that platypus populations “will disappear from a few of our rivers with out returning, if rivers preserve degrading with droughts and dams.”

Learn extra:‘Wildfires are climate fires’: How to talk about climate emergency, global heating

At the moment, the platypus is listed as “close to threatened” by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature, however it isn’t listed as threatened beneath Australia’s Setting Safety and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Altering its itemizing would prioritize its monitoring and “additionally imply an elevated concentrate on what we are able to do to enhance the state of affairs,” Kingsford mentioned.

mvb/rt (dpa, Reuters)

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from Diaspora9ja https://diaspora9ja.com/australia-scientists-push-to-list-platypus-as-threatened-news-dw/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=australia-scientists-push-to-list-platypus-as-threatened-news-dw

[silver-and-ivory]

>When the Mexico City duplicate was commissioned in 1940, its identity as a royal “crown” seemed secure. More recently, art historians have cast doubt on the headdress’ identification with Moctezuma. Christian Feest, a former curator at the Vienna museum, has pointed out that Aztec emperors wore a gold crown known as a diadem instead of a feather headdress. Most now believe that the headdress was of a type used as an offering, worn by priests during ritual representation of gods. But it still seems likely to have been made in the royal workshops of Tenochtitlan before the arrival of the conquistadors. Certainly, the sheer extravagance of the piece suggests it was made for the head of a royal.

>In the words of the Australian historian Inga Clendinnen, the Aztecs, or Mexica, “passionately prized feathers” as “projections into this dimmed world of the light, color, and exquisite delicacy of the world of the gods.” They called their most valued feathers and feather work “the Shadows of the Sacred Ones.” The royal featherworkers, the amantecas, worked in a part of the emperor’s palace called the Totocalli or House of Birds. There they made the emperor’s feather garments, shields and fans. There they also kept hundreds of birds of various kinds alive in cages. According to the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, 300 men were employed solely in keeping them fed and cared for.

>Feathers were a much desired trade good. Conquered provinces paid tribute in feathers. Most magnificent of all was the quetzal, native to the cloud forests of Honduras and Guatemala.

>To us, they might appear green, but this is insufficient. One Mexica writer described them like so: “They are green, herb-green, very green, fresh green, turquoise colored. They are like wide reeds: the ones which glisten, which bend. They become green, they become turquoise. They bend, they constantly bend; they glisten.”

>The Aztecs believed that in the afterlife, warriors returned to life in the form of splendidly ornamented birds. They dwelt in a realm called the Place of the Flowering Tree. All things bright with color, whether they be sparkling gems, brightly colored flowers, or birds with iridescent plumage, issued from this higher plane of reality. Featherworks like the Vienna headdress were thus always about more than decoration or display. They were messages from another world.

>In the years after the Spanish conquest, the traditions that informed the making of the Moctezuma headdress underwent a process of translation. The Place of the Flowering Tree was reinterpreted as the Christian Heaven, and the amantecas of the palace were put to work crafting feather icons for the Catholic Church. Over the centuries, the Moctezuma Headdress changed meanings and identities as well as it passed from being a royal gift to curio to exhibit in an ethnographic museum. For the time being at least, it seems that it will be frozen in this current role.

[swimintothesound]

The First Annual Diamond Platters: Swim Into The Sound’s Ancillary End of the Year Awards

Whether you like it or not, it’s awards season. The time of the year when every music publication sits down to rank, order, and pass judgment on the last 365 days of art. As every outlet races to beat each other to those illustrious “end of the year list clicks,” I am only one man, and I just can’t compete. While Swim Into The Sound does still have an official “Best Albums of 2017” list in the works, this countdown is going to be a little different.

For the first time ever, I’d like to welcome you to Swim Into The Sound’s Diamond Platter Awards: an extravagant, ornate, and handsome way to recognize the past year of music. Grandiose, gaudy, and opulent, The Diamond Platters are the most exorbitant awards on the entirety of the internet, and the absolute highest honor of online music blogging awards.

Aside from poking fun at the seriousness of list season, these awards do have a purpose: to talk about music that may not be discussed otherwise. It’s always fun to see how everyone ranks albums each year (even if they start rolling in around November) but more often than not, most website’s “best of the year” list ends up coming off as rote rambling. A half-hearted and inconsistent ranking that merely regurgitates a months-old review with a few outlandish placements to get people talking. It’s the music blog equivalent of roll call, and it’s getting stale.

So with that said, The Diamond Platters don’t go to the “best” music of the year, but things that are worth celebrating for some other reason. Albums that triumphed in their category, artists that surprised their audience, or moments that were worth remembering. Hopefully funnier, punchier, and a little more out of the box than your average end of the year listicle, here’s my off-the-cuff (but official) ranking of several hyper-specific categories of my own creation. Enjoy.

Best Acoustic Reimagining

Winner: The Wonder Years - Burst & Decay

After a two year absence and an album that I wasn’t too hot on, the pop-punk gods return with an acoustic EP that reworks some of their best songs into a tender acoustic offering. Taking cues from lead singer Daniel Campbell’s solo outing, Burst & Decay marks the beginning of a new day for the band. The artistic fulfillment of the direction that they’ve been heading in for years now, all packaged up in a lush EP that allows the songwriting to shine as the crown jewel that it always has been. It’s a fantastic “fall album,” and the perfect soundtrack to warm lattes, wool scarves, and crunchy leaves. The album’s final track will leave you ruminating, thoughtful, and pensive, but that’s precisely what the band was going for and always has been.

Runner-up: Jeff Tweedy - Together At Last

The Wilco frontman treats long-time fans to a career-spanning album that culls the best songs from 30-years of music and reworks them beautifully.

Biggest Surprise of the Year

Winner: The Dirty Projectors - The Dirty Projectors

As is a recurring theme with this blog, The Dirty Projectors were a group that I’d never heard of until very recently. When the band’s futuristic self-titled LP dropped at the beginning of the year, I had no context. No knowledge of the band’s dissolution, bad blood, or previous relationships. I went into the record blind, only having the internet’s reaction to go on. Hailing the album as “3017 shit” I hit play on the album not knowing what to expect and emerged blown away. It indeed sounded like future music with crazy autotune, glitchy instrumentals, and bizarre vocal deliveries as far as the eye could see. As I learned more about the group and the backstory I grew to dislike the man behind the music, but that didn’t keep me from loving the unconventional left-field arrangements on this record any less. The Dirty Projectors is unlike anything else I’ve heard in this year or any other.

Runner-up: Ugly God - The Booty Tape

When XXL unveiled their class of 2017 freshmen, I was underwhelmed to say the least. Aside from elevating genuinely deplorable human beings, I hadn’t heard of most of the artists that made the list. Of the ten up-and-coming rappers that the magazine showcased, I came out liking Ugly God the most. His late-summer debut The Booty Tape is a 23-minute banger-filled escapade that combines a conceptual sense of humor with modern trap stylings. It’s what Das Racist would have made if they were around to witness the rise of Lil Yachty. Nothing on the tape overstays its welcome, the production in on-point, and Ugly God is surprisingly proficient throughout. It’s a joy to listen to, and that’s not something I thought I’d ever say about a dude who “only wants to sing about dumb stuff.”

Most Stank Face-Worthy Beat

Winner: Flume “Enough (feat. Pusha T)”

After last year’s immaculately-produced Skin LP, the Australian musician continued his flower imagery in 2017 with two companion EPs alongside various singles and numerous remixes. The high point of this era came at the very beginning of Skin’s second companion EP on the Pusha T-assisted “Enough.” Featuring abrasive blown-out instrumentation, “Enough” is a jaw-clenching and muscle-inflating track that will flood your speakers and blow out your eardrums. Perhaps the ultimate gym song, “Enough” is one of the nastiest beats I’ve ever heard in my life, and Pusha T is used masterfully. This track is a force to be reckoned with.

Runner-up: Kendrick Lamar “DNA.”

After two minutes of scene setting on the album-opening “BLOOD.,” an ignorant Fox News clip gives way to an aggressive Kendrick who begins “DNA.” by shouting “I got, I got, I got, I got / Loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA.” The song sees Lamar coming out of the gates swinging, but midway through the song, just as you think it’s winding down, the beat cuts out and switches. With only one minute of the track left, a countdown begins, and Kendrick starts spazzing out over an allegedly-improvised beat, created after the fact to cater to his flow. Placed over a sample of 1982 Rick James, the beat becomes swells to monstrous proportions, spiraling and booming, taking control of every muscle in your body and eclipsing every pure thought you’ve ever had. It’s one of the best moments in music this year and an absolute marvel to behold.

Best Album From Last Year That Took Until 2017 To Discover

Winner: Pinegrove - Cardinal

Listening to everything in one year is impossible. Sometimes albums and bands slip through the cracks, and in 2016 Pinegrove was one of those for me. The Run For Cover signees have seen an astronomical rise in 2017, becoming indie darlings within the space of a single calendar year. It took me many listens to discover what’s so unique about Pinegrove, but after I realized they weren’t just another Emo band, I began to fall in love with them in early 2017. With fantastically-composed songs like “Aphasia” and “New Friends” the group’s sophomore album is a fantastic jumping off point for a band that’s poised to continue to grow exponentially.

Runner-up: Camp Cope - Camp Cope

Much like Pinegrove, this Melbourne-based female trio also released one of the best emo records of last year. While it took a while to sink its hooks into me, this fall I hit a point where I couldn’t go one day without listening to Camp Cope’s self-titled record. If their second album’s single is anything to go off of, the group may already have one of 2018’s best albums on their hands.

Most Satiating B-Sides Collection

Winner: Angel Olsen - Phases

B-side releases are an interesting beast. Often created primarily to satiate the die-hard fans, it’s rare that an artist’s best work would be on a collection of things cut from a record, but here we are. While Angel Olsen’s My Woman was an easy choice for my Best Of list last year, 2017’s Phases represents a thoughtful punctuation to the end of this chapter. Featuring unreleased cuts from each of her albums, Phases is a perfect sample platter of Olsen’s broad and diverse sounds proving, once again, that she’s one of the most powerful women in indie.

Runner-up: Sufjan Stevens - The Greatest Gift

While Phases gets points for being comprised entirely of unheard material, Sufjan’s Greatest Gift should be commended for striking a near-perfect balance of B-sides, demos, and remixes. The “mixtape” collects outtakes from 2015’s landmark Carrie & Lowell, all of which bear the same brand of soul-destroying, death-ridden meditations and grievances. While Sufjan’s other 2017 album Carrie & Lowell Live represents a maximalist reimagining of the album, Greatest Gift represents the exact inverse: stark, subtle, and haunting renditions of the same tracks. Occasionally even more hard-hitting and impactful than the full album, The Greatest Gift is an incredible contrast to his 2015 record and the perfectly-placed bow atop this career-defining work.

Most Essential “Portland Anthem”

Winner: Drake “Portland”

As a native Oregonian, this year’s music has been a noticeable boon to our city. From local boys done good to songs specifically about our town, the Rose City has been blessed throughout 2017. God knows as Seattle’s Napoleon-complexed younger brother, we’ll take all the confidence we can get. 2017 may have been the year of flutes, but Drake’s “Portland” takes that woodwind-based phenomenon one step further into absurdity by heavily-utilizing the recorder. Assisted by Travis Scott and Quavo, “Portland” is an outlandish and bouncy anthem to life in PDX. While the album cut is fun, seeing the two perform the song live in May was a meta and goosebump-inducing highlight of my year in live music.

Runner-up: Sufjan Stevens “The Hidden River of My Life”

While almost all of Carrie & Lowell’s tracks depict life in Oregon, “The Hidden River of My Life” is a heartfelt (and surprisingly-catchy) song of in-jokes, references, and observations that can only come from having lived life our rainy state.

Reddit Commenter Who Should Be Reviewing Music

Winner: wonderbitch26 on Melodrama

When Lorde’s Melodrama dropped in June popheads across the world rejoiced. As often happens, that joy frequently translates into gay men acting so unbelievably extra that it begins to feel like an infinitely-renewable source of energy that we should be harnessing. In Melodrama’s album release thread on the /r/popheads subreddit, user wonderbitch26 posted an in-depth comment depicting an explicit and erotic tale of sexual dancing and BDSM-esque spanking that also managed to accurately portray what listening to the album is like. It’s a journey worth taking.

Runner-up: plzaskmeaboutloom on More Life

Drake isn’t exactly the internet’s favorite artist. While 2015’s If You’re Reading This represented a career-defining high note, his subsequent releases have been middling at best. In fact, in May I wrote 8,000 words over a series of four posts in which I simply tried to reconcile my love for Drake despite his recent downward trajectory. While I perceived 2017’s More Life as a slight bounce back, not everyone agreed with me, least of all /r/indieheads user plzaskmeaboutloom whose Simon Cowell-esque takedown of the album is meaner (and funnier) than anything I could have ever come up with.

Most Gallery-Ready Cover Art

Winner: Spoon - Hot Thoughts

It’s not often that a band’s ninth record is their best. While Spoon’s Hot Thoughts finds the group reaching a refreshing creative peak, one of the most memorable aspects of the album is actually its gorgeous cover. Created by Portland’s own Christine Messersmith, Hot Thoughts’ album art is a striking depiction of a human skull. Painted in vivid watercolor, you can spot the pattern of the canvas running subtly throughout the background providing the perfect texture and consistency to the entire piece.

Runner-up: Turnover - Good Nature

To be quite honest, I was disappointed with Turnover’s Peripheral Vision follow-up this year. While their 2015 album represented a jaw-dropping emo reinvention, 2017’s Good Nature seems to be content with simply extending those ideas into another release. While I’m not yet sold on the album’s musical contents, one thing is for sure: Good Nature’s cover is absolutely stunning. Featuring a child-like array of jungle animals underneath a bright pink sky, it’s a memorable and eye-catching display that also manages to be an excellent encapsulation of the music that lies behind it.

You Are America

Winner: Cardi B

Out of all the glo ups of 2017, none have been more astronomical than Cardi B. While her monumental hit “Bodak Yellow” tells her story quite well, she has gone from stripper to dethroning Taylor Swift and marrying a Migo all within the space of a year. When she’s not breaking records, her time goes towards being one of the most magnanimous and personable Instagram purveyors on the planet. From iconic raps to inspirational social media videos, Cardi B is a force of nature. In one year she gave us a chart-shattering anthem of empowerment, togetherness, and upward mobility. She’s the embodiment of the American Dream. An endearing story of success. The bitch everyone wants to be. Her story is what this country was founded on.

Runner-up: Perfume Genius

This year has been hard for most of us, but for Mike Hadreas things have been near impossible. His 2017 record No Shape is the tale of seeking out happiness and holding onto it for dear life. About finding joy and warmth in the face of homophobia, discrimination, hatred, and a world that seems stacked against you. As a society, America should consider ourselves lucky to have humans like Hadreas amongst us. If even a fraction of our future population is comprised of people like him, then we’ll be living in a utopia one day.

Most Impeccable Samples

Winner: Lil Aaron - Soundcloud Singles

While I gushed about Lil Aaron’s music in a post earlier this year, his combination of trap lyrics over 2000’s-era emo samples remains one of the most intoxicating things I’ve heard all year. From “My Own Worst Enemy” to “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” Aaron’s Soundcloud is a treasure trove of millennial nostalgia. Each song follows a familiar pattern, first luring the listener in with a sense of familiarity, then flipping expectations end over end as he hits you with clever wordplay, catchy melodies, and gut-busting bars. It’s a combination that I never would have thought of in a million years, much less imagined working as well as it does here, but that just goes to show the brilliance of Lil Aaron’s mind.

Runner-up: Jay Z - 4:44

Helmed entirely by No I.D., Jay-Z’s 4:44 represents a return to his earlier sound, once again embracing booming, chopped up soul samples. It’s a match made in heaven, and the samples pair with his voice so well that you begin to wonder why he ever got away from them in the first place. Thanks to this sense of familiarity, the entire album feels both comfortably familiar and brand new at the same time. 4:44 manages to capitalize on Jay’s past success while also standing on its own merits, and that’s all thanks to the record’s strong sample-based foundation.

Worryingly Prolific Output

Winner: Brockhampton

When I say “prolific output,” the distinction here is output that also maintains a high quality. So sorry King Gizz fans, 5 albums in one year is in an achievement, but we both know they’re not all winners. Texas-born, Cali-based BROCKHAMPTON is a group of 20-something 20-somethings who label themselves as a boyband. This year alone they’ve released three albums, one documentary, a TV Show, and embarked on a nationwide tour. They are young creatives incarnate, and I hope they never stop.

Runner-up: Sufjan Stevens

While not everything he released is from 2017, Sufjan Stevens has given fans more than enough new music this year to tide us over until his next record. From live reimaginings, b-sides, soundtracks, and space-themed originals, Sufjan has given us 3.5 albums of new material this year alone, and all of it’s great. And in the time that it took me to write and edit this he tossed out a Tonya Harding-themed loosie. The hits keep coming, and Sufjan is a true blessing.

Most Iconic Social Feed

Winner: Lorde’s Instagram

One of the few people I have notifications turned on for, Lorde’s Instagram has proven to be a never-ending waterfall of iconic tour pics, beautiful faces, and incredible fashion. In fact, my “saved” section might as well be renamed “Just Lorde” at this point because that’s 95% of all I ever save. She can do no wrong.

Runner-up: There is no runner-up

Best Incongruous Use of Hard Rock

Winner: Feist “A Man Is Not His Song”

I can’t believe I’d so severely misjudged Feist as a pop act. Like most of the world, I was first introduced to her in 2007 with the unparalleled (and unexpected) success of “1234,” and until this year I’d assumed that one breakout single was indicative of the Canadian songstress’ discography, but in reality, I could not have been more wrong. Feist’s Pleasure is an album that rides waves of aggression. Often focusing only on a guitar and Leslie Feist’s voice, it’s one of the rawest and most personal albums I’ve heard all year. A shock comes at the end of “A Man is Not His Song” where the chorus bleeds into a quick 22-second hit of Mastodon’s “High Road.” It sticks out like a sore thumb, yet somehow fits into the song and album so perfectly. This was only one of many revelations that I had while listening to the album, and a moment that truly needs to be heard to be believed.

Runner-up: Brand New “No Control”

While the whole of Brand New’s Science Fiction is pretty hard-rockin', the Emo trailblazers tend to shift between two styles on the record: sad, slow tracks and aggressive kickass rock. Late-album cut “No Control” lies somewhat between the two, featuring a whiny crooning chorus alongside distorted guitars. Around two and a half minutes in, the song fades out and slowly sputters out into quietness. There’s a brief pause of silence, and then a booming bass, fuzzed-out guitar, and aggressive set of drums are slowly turned up in the mix. Gradually gaining volume as they play, the instruments become louder and louder until the track ends in earnest. While it only hangs on for a minute before fading into the next song, the riff still remains a standout groovy moment on the band’s career-defining final record.

Most Charming Human Being

Winner: Claire Cottrill of Clairo

Claire Cottrill has been making lo-fi bedroom pop songs for years now under the name Clairo, but it wasn’t until this fall that her song “Pretty Girl” blew up. Having accumulated nearly 5 million views at the time of writing, the music video is simple, delightful, and impactful. Created on a day when “her hair was greasy, her skin was bad, and she didn't want to leave the bed” the video sees Clairo alone in her room singing and dancing along to the simplistic pop track. It’s utterly pleasant and completely disarming, a refreshing breath of air from the world around you. Still a student in college, I can’t wait to see what kind of art Clairo is able to unleash once she’s able to entirely devote herself to creative pursuits.

Runner-up: Alex Luciano of Diet Cig

The high-kicking, dog-loving, outspoken frontwoman to New York-based Diet Cig is a pom-pom-clad ball of energy and fury. With one of the most charismatic social feeds on the internet, Luciano is a treasure of a human being. Someone who’s joy and passion bleeds over onto anyone and everyone that she comes in contact with. A badass of the pop-punk scene.

Best Music Video

Winner: Charli XCX “Boys”

When Charli XCX dropped her video for “Boys” over the summer, the pop culture world collectively went mad. From trying to spot all the celebrity cameos to drooling over everyone displayed in the song, it became an internet-wide obsession. The song itself is a catchy earworm of a pop track, but the video is a sugary pink and instantly-recognizable classic that managed to get the internet talking, which is a feat in and of itself.

Runner-up: Jay-Z - “The Story of OJ”

On the polar opposite end of “Boys,” we have “The Story of OJ” which is a dark black and white video about race relations in America. While all of Jay-Z’s 4:44 is packed with urgent addresses like the one found here, “The Story of OJ” remains the best encapsulation of the album’s wide-ranging topics accompanied by pitch-perfect emulation of Fleischer Studios’ animation.

Best Collaboration

Winner: Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Lotta Sea Lice

Maybe 2017 is bringing us together after all. From Atlanta trap stars to long-lost fables, and indie darlings, this year has been host to countless fantastic collaborations. Among dozens of great crossover albums, Lotta Sea Lice from Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile remains the one that sticks in my mind most prominently. Featuring breezy Sunday morning songs, this meeting of indie minds a genuinely pleasant listen that will take your mind off even the harshest realities of the day’s news. Sea Lice offers an escape into a world untouched by misery where continental breakfasts are always available, and it’s easier than ever to let everything go.

Runner-up: 21 Savage, Offset, & Metro Boomin - Without Warning

Filed under “things I didn’t expect to be this great,” Without Warning is a joint effort between three of the biggest names in hip-hop this year. Hot off a string of successful albums, this collaborative release finds the two rappers trading verses over some of Metro Boomin’s darkest beats of the year. Sprinkled with a handful of solo tracks and a couple of guest features, there’s just enough variation here to make for an incredibly compelling listen.

Most Fabulous Christmas Bop

Winner: Sia “Santa’s Coming For Us”

The chandelier-swinging popstress returned in 2017 bearing gifts in the form of Everyday Is Christmas, a collection of 10 original holiday songs. Kicking things off, the album’s lead single “Santa’s Coming For Us” is a jubilant and dancy track with just enough of a dark undercurrent to be enjoyed by all. If this song isn’t a Christmas classic next year, I will be severely disappointed in us as a civilization.

Runner-up: Phoebe Bridgers “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Introduced on social media with the caption “this emo cover brought to you by the atheist who loves Christmas,” this post-album loosie sees Bridgers reworking one of the best holiday songs in her trademarked remorseful delivery. Accompanied by a lone guitar and bare instrumentation, this is the one Christmas song that’s guaranteed to make you cry at least one or two tears into your hot chocolate.

Best Use of an Englishman Doing Spoken Word Narration

Winner: King Krule “Bermondsey Bosom (Right)”

Framed as the later-album counterpart to “Bermondsey Bosom (Left),” “Bermondsey Bosom (Right)” is a jazzy and fluid track that uses Archy Ivan Marshall’s father to weave a brief but illustrative tale of darkness. Only one minute long, the song is a fantastic and moody diversion in an album that’s brimming over the top with unique ideas.

Runner-up: Feist - “Century”

As much as I like Feist’s Pleasure and her use of Pulps’ Jarvis Cocker on “Century,” this entry gets dinged solely for its mathematical inaccuracies. Next time you get this specific about the length of your dark night of the soul, make sure you fact check beforehand.

Most Anticipated Release of 2018

Finally, let’s end by looking forward at two records that I can’t wait to hear in 2018.

Winner: Snail Mail - Unknown Debut

From Tiny Desk performances to Matador co-signs, it’s been a banner year for Lindsey Jordan. Lovingly documented in my guide to female-fronted music in 2017, I first discovered Snail Mail back in May as they opened for Girlpool in concert. For the last song of their set, the group’s drummer and bassist left the stage, leaving frontwoman Lindsey Jordan alone in the spotlight facing a rapt audience. With just a guitar and a mic she played “Anytime, ” and I was left with my jaw on the floor. It was an awe-inspiring performance, one of my favorites of the year, and a moment that I’ll always remember. To see the traction they’ve gained over the past several months has been nothing short of incredible. Watching Jordan grow has already been rewarding, and her success is incredibly well-deserved. Snail Mail’s 2018 debut LP should be something else.

Runner-up: Shortly - Unknown Debut

Fronted by Alexandria Maniak, Shortly is a reverb-dripping emo act that I’d never heard of until I saw her open for Aaron West live. While Shortly only has two songs currently released, she’s already signed to Triple Crown records with a debut record scheduled for next spring. To say I was blown away by her live performance would be an understatement. Perhaps one of my favorite sets of the entire year, she took the whole room by surprise and had everyone listening with a hush by the time her first song was over. Based on what I saw, she’s currently on track to be the world’s next Julien Baker with sadder music, slower tunes, and more colorful hair. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the future holds for this promising artist.

[wild-flag]

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