#but also Sideshow is how i was introduced to the album & is also very very very much Maddie & Jack coded

[fuckinart]

(they'll never understand) How could I ever understand? No, I don't have to understand. I don't wanna understand. So I will never understand. (we could have everything)

[path-of-my-childhood]

Taylor Swift: Pop Star of the Year

By: Jonathan Dean for The Sunday Times Date: December 27th 2020

Rather than hunker down, the singer put out two albums in 2020 and won over new audiences. She’s the pop star of the year.

Taylor Swift met Paul McCartney in the autumn for a big interview in Rolling Stone. The two would have headlined Glastonbury this summer. Who knows if they will do that next year. Anyway, both recorded albums in lockdown, working from home like the rest of us. When they spoke, though, Swift had a secret. As well as Folklore, released in July, she had a follow-up record in the pipeline — Evermore, which was released this month.

Swift noted that the former Beatle was still so full of joy. “Well, we’re just so lucky, aren’t we?” he said. “We’re really lucky,” Swift replied. “I can’t believe it’s my job.” And she is right. Being a pop star is an extraordinary way to earn the living she does. But rather than accepting luxury and letting this tough year tumble on, Swift is also keenly aware what music means. Sad songs soothe, happy songs make us dance, but as fans of most artists waited for something — anything — this year, this 31-year-old released two albums that broke chart records, were critically adored and introduced her to people who once thought that she wasn’t for them.

“I’m so exhausted!” she said to the American chat show host Jimmy Kimmel, laughing, a few weeks ago, when asked if she had a third new album planned. “I have nothing left.” In addition to Folklore and Evermore, she filmed a TV special and even started rerecording her back catalogue, after a volatile dispute over who owns her work. By October I’d just about cobbled together my first sourdough loaf.

A decade ago Swift moved firmly into the limelight thanks to a squabble with Kanye West entirely of the rapper’s own making. In 2009, when Swift — then a nascent country music star — won the best female video award at the VMAs, West stormed on stage, grabbed her microphone and said that Beyoncé should have won. Swift was 19 — West was 32 — and she looked scared. This wasn’t just about her biggest moment yet being stolen, but also about her position in the pop hierarchy being questioned, very publicly, from the off. She stood there as that man bullied her. Apparently she left the stage in tears.

Years later West released Famous, with its infamous lyric “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous.” The alt-folk singer Father John Misty also wrote about sleeping with her. Every time that sort of thing happened, a powerful man in Swift’s industry was reducing a successful, talented, younger female to the level of a sex object. It was back-in-your-box belittling — as it was when a TV host groped her. (She successfully sued him.) While Swift herself would retort to West, as her music became less country, more slick pop, such retorts felt forced and gave the rapper too much of her oxygen. A nod to him on Folklore comes with the “Clowns to the West” line, but it is a sideshow now, not a headline.

Not that Swift’s life is entirely her own. She’s been one of the world’s bestselling female artists for a decade, coupled with curiosities such as a well-orchestrated relationship with Tom Hiddleston that kept her in the spotlight. Like many twentysomethings, Swift spent her youth apolitically, only to receive flak for staying silent during the 2016 US election. This year she endorsed Joe Biden, but what if she had wanted to stay quiet? Would the media have let her? She is under so much scrutiny that, after she made an innocuous hand gesture in a recent TV interview, similar to one women make to draw attention to domestic abuse, this headline ran: “Some people think Taylor Swift is secretly asking for help in her latest interview.”

Like many at the start of the pandemic she felt listless. The world we were used to was a wasteland, and we could only find the energy to watch Normal People. Swift’s ennui, though, was, well, swift. Stuck in LA, she emailed Aaron Dessner of the beloved beardy indie band the National to see if he fancied writing with her. No fool, Dessner said yes and, mere weeks later, the duo — with help from Swift’s regular collaborator Jack Antonoff as well as Justin Vernon, from the beloved beardy indie band Bon Iver — released Folklore. The gang just carried on working and, five months later, gave us Evermore.

Creativity is not on tap. Indeed, this year is not one for judging what others may or not have achieved. However, the silence of many big pop stars is striking because they know that even a single would make someone’s day; distract for a while.

Everyone needed to adjust to working from home, but Swift was one of the only musicians who did and, by eschewing the arena pop of recent albums for something more subdued, organic and folky, she gave the sense that she was letting fans in more than ever. She was at home, like us. This is who she is, and the first single from these sessions was so cosy, it was even called Cardigan.

“I just thought, ‘There are no rules any more,’” she told McCartney. “Because I used to put all these parameters on myself, like, ‘How will this song sound in a stadium?’ If you take away the parameters, what do you make? I guess Folklore.”

Maybe it is tedious, for a deft writer with a career of varied, brilliant songs — Love Story, I Knew You Were Trouble, Blank Space — to find respect from some people only when artists who appeal to middle-aged men start to work with her. On the other hand, pop has never been particularly welcoming to many until it sounds like something you are used to and, with delicate acoustics and gossamer-like piano, Swift’s two new albums recall, sonically, Nick Drake or Kate Bush. Thematically, lyrics seem to come from anywhere. Daphne du Maurier, for one. Even the Lake District and its poets.

Some songs are personal. She is dating British actor Joe Alwyn, and on one track she sings, “I want to give you a child.” Make of that what you will. But these records’ highlights are not about herself, but others. “There was a point,” she told Zane Lowe on Apple Music, “that I had got to as a writer, [where I was only writing] diaristic songs. That felt unsustainable.” Instead, she does what the best writers do and mixes subjective with objective. The Last American Dynasty is a terrific piece of writing about the socialite Rebekah Harkness, who lived in a Rhode Island house that Swift bought and was, by all accounts, a bit scandalous. Swift tells her story almost with envy. Imagine, she seems to say, that freedom.

“In my anxieties,” she said in Rolling Stone, “I can often control how I am as a person and how normal I act. But I cannot control if there are 20 photographers outside in the bushes and if they follow our car and interrupt our lives.”

Then there is Epiphany. The first verse is about her grandfather, who fought in the Second World War; the second about frontline workers in hospitals now. Sung in a high register, it is suitably choral. Marjorie, on Evermore, is even better. It is about her grandmother, an opera singer who died in 2003. “What died didn’t stay dead” is the repeated line, and it is eerie, gorgeous. Swift sings how she thinks Marjorie is singing to her, at which point some vocals from the latter’s recordings waft in. Touching, but the real power is in Swift writing about vague memories of a relative who died when she was young. “I complained the whole way there,” she sings. “I should’ve asked you questions.”

In person she is warm like this, and funny. When Kimmel told her there were far more swearwords on Folklore and Evermore than previous records, she replied: “It’s just been that kind of year.” She is also odder than people realise. In the way pop stars should be. Obsessed by numerology, she wrote, on the eve of her birthday when announcing Evermore: “Ever since I was 13, I’ve been excited about turning 31 because it’s my lucky number backwards.” When I turned 31 I just wished to be 13 again, with all that youth, but then, maybe, she is just joking. “Yes, so until I turn 113 or 131, this will be the highlight of my life,” she said. “The numerology thing? I sort of force it to happen.”

Swift, of course, is far from the first pop star to become public property, or have a close bond with fans. This year, however, she was one of the few to show that such adoration is not one-way. She is, simply, a fan of her fans — from planting secrets in her artwork and lyrics, to recording two albums of new music as a balm for them when real life became too deafening.

“One good thing about music,” sang Bob Marley. “When it hits you, you feel no pain.” The 80.6 million who streamed Folklore on its first day will attest to that idea. So will the four million who bought it. Swift is pop star of the year, no doubt — leaving her peers in her wake, on their sofas, rewatching The Sopranos.

[sie-werden-nie-vergessen]

“Ruth and Ephraim as a couple” headcanons/AU, ft “Sarah in Boston”

@shapeshiftersandfire, so here it is. I finished way earlier than I anticipated, but I just started typing and here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muFFeiBUffQ (this song is required listening when reading these headcanons. It IS Ephraim and Ruth’s theme song. I recommend starting it at 3:14 because that point of the song is the section that really gives me Ruth and Ephraim vibes) 

First off, there is SO much covert flirting. SO, SO MUCH FLIRTING.

Ephraim is definitely having an identity crisis on the way home after the card game.

He gets home and Deodat asks him how the party went and he just kind of stands there like an oaf.

“It went fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“No Yes”

“...okay”

Deodat doesn’t believe him but he assumes that maybe Ephraim was just rejected by a date or something. Little does he know…..

“Fire Meet Gasoline” is a very good analogy to their relationship.

Because not only would it be passionate

But their relationship would probably also develop very quickly

They wouldn’t rush things, per se, but the “crush” phase is definitely very short for them

They’re both very outspoken and confident, so they very quickly open up about their feelings rather than beating around the bush.

They’re both very passionate people in terms of personality, and even when Ephraim is open-minded enough to fall for Ruth, they still inevitably clash with their opinions

They don’t fight but they definitely debate.

But in a healthy way. The debates can get heated but not in a hostile way. They’re just both very opinionated and they get very passionate about their opinions and their different thought processes.

 “I know I’m right!” “Yeah well I know that I”M right!” “Well I think I’m right because xyz” “Well my reasons are abc” “...that’s a good point. But I’m still right ;)”

So it probably looks like arguing to some people, but they both know that it’s all in good humor so neither Ephraim or Ruth are actually hurt by it or anything

They actually think it’s a good source of entertainment.

They once got into a heated debate about the correct color of socks in the middle of the new Mill Valley department store just to see the reactions of the cashiers

The aforementioned cashiers were horrified

Ephraim was arguing in favor of brown socks, and Ruth in favor of gray.

They ended up buying both colors.

Ruth now buys him brown and gray socks for a gag gift every Christmas (were gag gifts a thing in 1898? No clue, but I like the idea so I’m running with it and not researching something for once).

Ephraim keeps her a secret for a long time, for obvious reasons.

Ruth doesn’t mind this because she understands his reasoning behind it. 

She takes it as an opportunity to introduce him to her family and friends.

Ephraim gets along great with her brother Charles, and almost immediately the “future brother in law” jokes start.

Ruth is surprisingly embarrassed by this.

Ephraim teases her for days about that fact.

“Finally! I finally found something that embarrasses you!”

Ephraim goes to her performances and cheers her on (he always brings a bouquet too)

He sits in the front row right at the bottom of the stage and claps the loudest when she comes on stage.

Ruth is big into theatrics and has an entire setup of smoke cannons and mood lighting that announce her entrance.

She steps into this cloud of smoke and raises her arms dramatically and announces herself

Ruth loves to wear the color red because it looks so striking against her pale skin, but she secretly loves lighter shades of blue even more (they just don’t give off very strong “mystical” vibes, so she sticks to dark reds when she’s in the spotlight)

She works as a fortune teller and does card tricks as well

She loves to hear the ridiculous rumors and urban legends surrounding the “mystical powers” of albinos and then she incorporates that into her routine

“ALBINOS CAN READ MINDS” okay, well now she does mind reading as a new trick

In reality she’s just a very analytical person so it’s easy for her to pick up on small body language or vocal cues

Ephraim always asks her to tell him her fortune and it inevitably turns into some sappy “well I think you’ll end up marrying an amazing circus performer who just so happens to also be the most beautiful woman in Pennsylvania” thing

Ephraim definitely agrees with her “fortune”

He tells her about Sarah pretty early on in the relationship. He doesn’t want to hide anything from her.

He isn’t sure how she’ll take it, especially considering the fact that he was complacent in Sarah’s abuse for years until he really got out into the world and realized that everything he “knew” about albinism was wrong.

Ruth is definitely shocked but she assures him that he’s not some sort of monster, because he realized that what his parents trained him to think was wrong and he was able to grow from that.

One day when the rest of the family is out, Ephraim sneaks Ruth into the mansion (with the help of Sylvie and Lou Lou, of course) and she goes down to the cellar to meet Sarah.

Sarah is absolutely floored that there are others like her.

Of course she knew, because Ephraim told her when he returned from college and made amends, but when she sees it infront of her eyes it’s still a shock.

Ruth and Sarah hit it off instantly, of course.

Ruth promises to take Sarah to see a circus someday

Sarah can’t wait to see the elephants.

A few days after the secret meeting, Ephraim decides to tell his family about Ruth.

He tells Harold, thinking that maybe Harold would understand

But Harold just rats him out to Deodat and Delanie

They’re furious, of course

They don’t tell Gertrude because they claim that it would give her a heart attack

And tbh, it might

Gertrude figures it out anyways from the deranged yelling that comes from downstairs

“After all we’ve done to hide Sarah, and now you do THIS?!!”

“Mother, there’s nothing wrong with her.”

“She’s a circus freak!”

“By choice. She enjoys working in sideshows. That doesn’t make her a bad person.”

“Are you sure she isn’t just trying to mooch off of OUR money?!”

“She’s very wealthy, Mother. She works because she enjoys it.”

Deodat has more or less the same reaction.

Harold just can’t believe that Ephraim would “betray” the family in that way.

Ephraim tells Ruth the next day, and they decide to take Sarah away and leave for Boston.

Charles helps with the legal side of things, and pulls a few strings with his lawyer friends in Pennsylvania to have Sarah legally emancipated from her parents.

The trio moves to Boston and temporarily lives with Charles and his wife Louisa.

Louisa is smitten with Sarah from the start and insists on baking her ridiculous amounts of gingerbread.

(For no reason, really, but Louisa just has a thing for gingerbread. Sarah doesn’t complain)

Sarah gains quite a lot of weight in those first few months, and for the first time in her life she weighs a healthy amount. 

Ruth takes her clothes shopping often, and she insists on buying Sarah the nicest and newest fashions (even though she grows out of them so quickly now. It’s as if 18 years of growing have finally caught up with her at once).

Sarah hugs Ephraim for the first time after she and Ruth return from their first major shopping trip. Ephraim almost cries, and Ruth grins so hard that her face hurts. 

Ephraim wasn’t sure if Sarah could ever forgive him, but that was proof enough for him.

Ruth gives Sarah her first diamond necklace. It’s the one that Ruth wore the day she met Sarah. Sarah had said that it was the prettiest thing that she had ever seen, and Ruth saved it for her until they reached Boston. It was an informal adoption gift, really.

Ephraim and Ruth eventually buy a nice brownstone in Boston. It’s a few streets away from Charles and Louisa’s home, and there’s a large park across the street.

Sarah loves to sit in the park and watch the swans and ducks on the pond.

Sometimes Ruth and Ephraim go with her, but a lot of the time they let her go alone. They know that she’s been through a lot, and that sometimes she needs time alone to process everything. 

Sometimes she comes back with tears in her eyes, but no one mentions it. Ruth brings her a cup of tea or a piece of gingerbread (Louisa is always sending over fresh gingerbread) and offers her a shoulder to cry on, if she needs it.

Ruth takes Sarah to meet her fellow albino circus performers. For once in her life, Sarah feels truly accepted and understood when she stands in a room surrounded by people like her.

There are so many children in the room, and they’re all so loved by their family members, regardless of their albinism. It makes Sarah sad at first, but she’s also happy to see that they were raised in loving households instead of abusive and hateful ones.

For their first Christmas together in Boston, Ephraim buys Sarah a Kodak No. 2 Bullseye Camera. When the first Kodak Brownie camera is released a few years later in 1900, he buys her one of those as well.

He tells her that she can use it to document her new life in Boston.

The first picture she takes is a picture of a sleeping Ephraim.

He’s sitting in an armchair next to the Christmas tree, surrounded by wrapping paper and plates of half finished cookies.

Once the picture is developed, she puts it in her new photo album that Charles and Louisa gave to her.

When Ephraim woke up, Sarah asked to take a picture with him. 

Of course he obliged.

She keeps that one in a frame by her bedside.

Sarah has a whole pile of her “treasures” that she keeps beside her bed, but that picture is at the center of it all. 

Ephraim notices it one time when he’s helping Ruth collect the laundry, and it touches him more than he can say.

For her gift, Ruth arranges for Sarah to take some writing classes at the local women’s college.

Sarah is thrilled. She starts to write stories other than horror.

She still loves scary stories, but she finds a new love for children’s stories and romance novels.

Little Women is her favorite (Ruth is delighted! It was her favorite book too!)

In 1900 Ruth and Ephraim have a son. They name him Eli, in reference to Sarah’s middle name (Elizabeth).

Sarah is the proudest aunt you’ve ever seen. 

Ephraim and Ruth go on to have more children, but Sarah has a special bond with little Eli. He is the first baby that she ever held.

The odd little family on Pearl Street is probably the happiest family you’ll ever see.

Sarah eventually marries the son of one of Ruth’s circus colleagues. 

His name is Thomas, and he’s a quiet man.

He loves birds too, just like Sarah. 

He and Sarah go bird watching often.

They go on to have a large family. 2 out of the 5 children have albinism, but they love all of their children the same.

They live a long life.

Neither Ephraim, Ruth, or Sarah ever return to Mill Valley. They’re more than happy to let the past remain in the past.

Bonus: Harold In Boston Headcanons/AU

Once Ephraim does reach out to Harold, and he’s surprised to learn that Harold has also distanced himself from their parents.

Gertrude died in 1899, and shortly after that Harold’s fiancée Violet died of tuberculosis. With his ties to Mill Valley significantly loosened, Harold took an extended business trip to Philadelphia where he eventually opened his own publishing company. After the mercury scandal at the mill, Deodat and Delanie are essentially ruined and Harold is free to pursue his own interests independent of the mill.

He goes to visit Ephraim in 1900 to congratulate him on the birth of his son. 

It’s tense at first, when he see’s Sarah. He isn’t sure how she’ll react to him.

She’s wearing a white lace dress with small puffs at the sleeves, and pale blue ribbons at the cuffs and waist of the skirt.

Her hair is in a soft gibson girl-esque style, and Harold realizes that it’s the first time he’s ever seen her in anything other than the old gown she always wore back in Pennsylvania.

“Hello Sarah”

“Hello Harold”

He isn’t sure what to do at first, but Ruth quickly introduces herself to abate the awkward silence.

He’s never met Ruth, but he quickly understands why Ephraim likes her so much.

After he meets the baby and pleasantries are exchanged, he wanders off into one of the upstairs rooms of the home.

(Sarah left the room once Ruth brought out the baby. She loves Eli, but she feels awkward being everyone all at once, as if she’s intruding on something she isn’t, of course).

He accidentally goes into Sarah’s room, only to find her at her desk writing.

Her room is nothing like the dark basement she used to call home, and Harold is thankful for that.

“So, you still write?”

Sarah jumps in her chair a little, before suddenly whipping around. She’s still not good with loud or sudden noises, even after 3 years of safety.

Harold cringes when she jumps. He hates that he still scares her.

When she composes herself, she smiles a small smile. “Yes, I still write.”

Harold asks what she writes about these days, and she tells him that she writes children’s stories.

It’s a sad irony, considering the mercury scandal, but Harold doesn’t tell her about that yet.

She had left Mill Valley before the worst of it, and he knows how much she loved those children.

After they talk for a while, Sarah eventually invites him to sit with her.

They sit side by side on her bed and she shows him her notebooks.

He’s surprised by how much she’s grown since he last saw her. She’s a little taller now, and she’s gained a lot of weight. Her face isn’t hollow anymore, and her eyes are bright now. Her hair is shiny and thick, and she truly looks happy.

She only shakes a little when he’s so close to her. Harold still scares her a little, but Ephraim promised her that no one would ever hurt her again.

Sarah trusts Ephraim immensely, so she’s willing to trust Harold too

Still, it’s a little hard for her to have him in such close proximity.

Harold notices her discomfort and moves a few inches away (still close enough to see her notebooks, but far enough that it gives Sarah a safe buffer). Her nerves calm down once she has a “safe zone.”

Harold finally works up the nerve to say something.

“Sarah, I-”

“I know. Ephraim told me.”

“He did?”

“He did”

“Well...that’s...that’s good.”

The next thing that Sarah does shocks Harold to his core.

She reaches out, her hands shaking, and grabs his hand.

“I know that you didn’t mean it - what you did to me -...not really, anyways. I know you’re different now.”

Harold squeezes her hand in return, and she stops shaking.

“Thank you”

Sarah smiles

“Of course”

Ephraim happens to pass Sarah’s bedroom on his way upstairs and nearly dies of shock at the site of them. Harold doesn’t notice Ephraim, but Sarah does.

She bursts out laughing, because Ephraim genuinely looks horrified, shocked, and immensely confused.

“He said that he was sorry!,” she explained in a half yell in Ephraim’s direction.

Ephraim is still in shock, so he doesn’t say anything.

Harold is also in shock, but because of Sarah’s laugh.

The man genuinely didn’t think that it was possible, and yet here she was laughing.

When everyone recovers from their respective shocks, Harold is invited to stay for dinner.

This dinner invitation turns into a long term stay, and eventually Harold moves his business to Boston.

He buys the brownstone next to Ephraim and Ruth’s home.

He remains a bachelor all his life, never having truly recovered from Violet’s death.

Harold definitely earns the title of “World’s Greatest Uncle” in regards to Sarah and Thomas’ children.

By 1980 the neighborhood block is so full of Bellows descendants that it’s unofficially renamed Bellows Square

Ruth and Ephraim’s house becomes a local historic landmark, considering the fact that Ephraim went on to become one of the country’s early geneticists who (humanely) studied genetic disorders and medical conditions.

The house later becomes a museum in the early 90s, having been restored to the same state that it was when they once resided in it.

Sarah’s Kodak No. 2 Bullseye is put on display, but the crowning achievement is her collection of photo albums and notebooks. She went on to become a children’s writer and illustrator, basing many of her books on her experiences in Boston. 

The old Bellows Paper Mill is torn down in 1948 to make room for new housing following the G.I. Bill and the post-war Baby Boom.

None of the surviving Bellows are sad to see it go.

[stormyrecords-blog]

new arrivals and halloween

stormy records13306 michigan avedearborn, mi 48126 313-581-9322 halloween is coming. we will have trick or treating her eint he shop os saturday oct 28th from 4 to 6pm, and many shops in east dearborn will be participating also. bring your shildren or you dog and we will have treats for them. then on tuesday we will be closing up early so we can give out candy in our neighborhood. THIS WEEKEND WE CHANGE THE CLOCKS. it's fall back time. also a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors. new arrivals for 10-26-17 Alvarius B: With a Beaker on the Burner and an Otter in the Oven - Vol. 1 Natural Wonder LP $22.99Alvarius B. on With a Beaker on the Burner and an Otter in the Oven - Vol. 1 Natural Wonder: "Volume One of three new LPs I am releasing simultaneously called Natural Wonder, this is the more melodic, savvy one and you might like it. Maybe I'm lying and it's the innocent, straight record so maybe you should get Vol 3 (ABDT 059C-LP) instead if you're in a darker mood. But that's not really true either. Or maybe it's one of those records that grows on you the more you continue playing it... like a cancer. The musicians who played on all three albums don't deserve to be involved in these kamikaze promotional descriptions so don't blame them for any of this. They played so well on these records, in fact they play much better than you do, and their performances deserve a 'Whammy,' which is the awards show where I'm in charge and the winners get to shoot members of the music industry academy dead in their seats. That's where it's all headed you know. . . . The modern world of record making has become so fucking dull and obedient that someone has to ram a poison dagger up your asses and since you're all under hypnosis, I promise you won't feel a thing. I could pay Dougie Jones to write this piece to match your intellect or hire a publicity company to promote it but who really gives a fuck? I'm still making records for myself and the rest of humanity doesn't speak my language anyway. By deciding to write my own album promos, I can perform some market research. For example, this album description text will undoubtedly be copy/pasted by most online retailers onto their respective sites because they don't write their own new album reviews or get too excited about music, they simply want to create the illusion that they're in business to sell records. So I could put something like: Fuck all website retailers that copy/paste this description onto their site because they are too fucking cheap, lazy or chicken shit to have an opinion to write individual album reviews -- and they probably wouldn't even notice while doing it. Anyway, back to my new album. These songs are pretty good, most likely way better than your songs, and I don't even have time to be a real songwriter, so what does that say about you? It says that you suck. And most of you do. But you should buy my new three album set because it's probably as good or better than any other LPs that will be released this year. But if you aren't ready to go all-in with confidence, then forget it. I don't want any mudskipper sub-species of the crayfish to buy my records. There are always a few speculators who'll pick up the extra copies you won't buy anyway." One-time pressing; Includes printed inner sleeve with lyrics and credits. Baird, Laura : I Wish I Were A Sparrow  CD $12.99lp also available $23.99"With a musical timeline dating back to her early childhood, Laura Baird is an exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, best known for her projects with her sister, Meg, as The Baird Sisters, and guitarist Glenn Jones. Baird's own sound stems from the Appalachian folk tradition, and she connects to it via family lineage -- her great-great uncle I.G. Greer's folk recordings for the Library of Congress are a large influence. Also woven in are classical composers like Bach and Satie, and modern day musicians such as Opal and Yo La Tengo. With this debut solo album, I Wish I Were A Sparrow, Baird plays odes to the traditions from which she learned, combining Appalachian balladry and the roughness of old field recordings, but there is also a dose of dreaminess and solitude that captures sleepy central New Jersey. This is where she departs from tradition, leaving the communal origins of folk music to capture the singular self. The lyrics also present an amalgam of old and new, with half of the songs, including 'Dreadful Wind and Rain' and 'Pretty Polly,' being passed down from the folk tradition, and the other half, including 'Wind Wind' and 'Love Song From The Earth To The Moon,' coming from Baird's own hand. While the most salient part of her previous Baird Sisters project was the melding of familial voices and various instruments, Baird's solo effort is centered around the combination of her virtuosic banjo playing and prominent but airy vocals." Cipriani, Stelvio : Bay Of Blood LP $34.99A Bay Of Blood (1971) is a film directed by Mario Bava, known for explicitly inspiring the Friday The 13th saga as well as for being the forerunner of the slasher genre, is undoubtedly one of the most inspirational masters of horror cinema. His magical use of camera zoom, off-field, and out-of-focus, and cynical and crude death set pieces, make it a masterpiece in which every scene exudes very personal and expressive poetry. Stelvio Cipriani's score, which develops a rich sequence of different themes and genres, and all accented by the evocative melodies and excellent orchestrations of the maestro, is brilliantly supported by the excellent rhythm performance of Enzo Restuccia on drums and Mandrake Som on the tumba and bongos. It is the voodoo-style percussion and violin that introduces the splendid original theme played by the maestro himself who plays piano, celestial, spinetta, harpsichord, and organ in the arc of the soundtrack. All in all, 21 tracks that make up the score: "Evelyn Theme", the bossa nova "Due Amanti", the dramatic and psychedelic "Un Cadavere Nel Lago", the Italian-style samba of "Giovani e Liberi", "Shake Giradischi", whose title is well representative, the tension the pursuit of "Inseguimento E Uccisione", the abstraction of "Ritrovamento Dei Cadaveri", and so many others. First time on vinyl; Edition of 500 (hand-numbered). NWW: Swinging Reflective 2CD $23.99Out of print for 17 years, Nurse With Wound's The Swinging Reflective was originally released in 1999. Features collaborations with Coil, Diana Rogerson, Jim O'Rourke, William Bennett, Legendary Pink Dots, Foetus, Current 93, David Tibet, Tony Wakeford, Inflatable Sideshow, Aranos, Chris Wallis/Peat Bog, and Tiny Tim. All tracks are remastered and it is the perfect partner for Swinging Reflective II (DPROM 134CD). Also features Steven Stapleton and Stereolab. This set is packaged with all new artwork; Comes in a heavy board, gloss laminated six-panel digipak. Ty Segall Band: Slaughterhouse  2LP $29.99"A reissue of the 2012 debut release by the Ty Segall Band on In The Red, featuring a bonus song not on the original release! The Ty Segall Band is Ty Segall (obviously), Mikal Cronin, Charlie Moonheart and Emily Rose Epstein. While Segall has released many incredible solo releases, Slaughterhouse marks the first time he recorded with his touring band. For this mini-album (originally released as a double 10-inch, but now expanded to a double 12-inch) the band recorded with Chris Woodhouse at the Hangar, turned their amps all the way up, set their fuzz pedals on 'obliterate' and commenced to kick ass and take names. Seriously, this record will melt your face. All of Segall's usual psych-pop sensibilities are present but Slaughterhouse adds the full-throttle, go-for-the-throat bombast that the band delivers in the live setting. The fuzz riffs, bratty howl and Cro-Magnon bashing culminate with a feedback freakout that's clearly the only sensible way to end a workout of this magnitude in shit to announce the debut release by the Ty Segall Band." Durutti Column: Paen to Wilson  2LP $32.992017 blue vinyl repress. 2013 RSD release. Paean To Wilson is arguably Vini Reilly and the Durutti Column's most important and consistent piece of work since the demise of the original and seminal Factory Records in the early 1990s. It was commissioned by the MIF (Manchester International Festival of Music), in July of 2009. Vini had already composed pieces for Tony to listen to while he was ill in the hospital and it was from here that the project developed. The bonus disc first appeared in 2005 via Wilson's project F4, the fourth version of Factory Records. Originally it was a download-only release, Heaven Sent (It Was Called Digital, It Was Heaven Sent), then was issued on CD in 2010. Goat: Fuzzed In Europe LP $30.99When the masked Swedish collective Goat toured Europe in the autumn of 2016 to promote their then recently released third album Requiem, the band came up with the idea to record every show. On returning back to their home town of Korpilombolo, Goat painstakingly went through all the recordings and picked out six tracks to be released on a limited live album presented here, Fuzzed In Europe. Goat picked these six tracks in particular because they are different versions to what is found on their releases. Goat's live reputation is second to none -- since their first public shows in 2012, they have stunned audiences across the globe. The band's brand of danceable, tribal psychedelia is guaranteed to create mass hysteria from the wanting crowds -- Goat know how to create music that is made for the "head" as well as the "body". There are rumors of Goat disappearing into the hills, that they have hung up their masks now for good and have slipped away as quietly as they arrived on to the scene. Whether this is true or not, it can't be said, but even if they have or have not disbanded from public view, this is a great document of their immersive power to cherish. It celebrates a band completely at the top of their game. The eye popping beautiful artwork for Fuzzed In Europe was created by the great poster artist Adam Pobiak who has worked with everyone from Soundgarden to Justice and Swans to the Flaming Lips. Green/black splatter; Edition of 2000. Nocturnal Emissions: S/T 2LP $29.99Double LP version. Led by Nigel Ayers, Nocturnal Emissions was one of the first bands to use tape cutting, avant-garde art, and underground video works to create a stage experience that was cultivated by like-minded artists like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. The band moved on to using samplers and electronic noise in their early '80s work, creating a twisted funk sound that would go on to influence everyone from Foetus to Negativland. They still utilized their former tricks, upping the ante with extremist performance art and more professional video displays. The group avoided signing to a major label, instead focusing on releasing their own music more effectively. They followed this path into the '90s when they started www.earthlydelights.co.uk, an incredibly detailed website that promotes their various ideologies -- they are strongly against the British monarchy and believe that citizens should have unlimited access to space travel -- and constant release schedule. The band has released countless tapes and CDs of their material, and continues to unleash their noise through their website. Nocturnal Emissions is a compilation of classic tracks from the early to mid '80s. Track selection by Alessandro Adriani. Graphic artwork by Simon Crab. Audio mastering by Rude 66. Battiato, Franco : Pollution LP  $32.99"Franco Battiato is often heralded as Italy's answer to Brian Eno. A quizzical composer/lyricist, Battiato turned pop music upside down in the early '70s with three classic LPs -- Fetus, Pollution and Sulle Corde Di Aries -- that formed a confluence of avant-folk sensibilities and analog electronics. Pollution from 1972 is the captivating follow-up to Fetus. Like its predecessor, the album features Baroque textures, motorik rhythms, weird tape effects and Battiato's perfectly oblique vocals. Upon hearing Pollution, Frank Zappa joyfully proclaimed it 'genius.' While Battiato's core group of collaborators remains largely the same as on his debut, this phenomenal band (joined by an eighteen-year-old Roberto Cacciapaglia on keys) appears even more in the foreground on Pollution. Out of the Ash Ra Tempel-like riffs and urgent guitar strumming emerge hypnotic grooves and cinematic flourishes, suggesting a futuristic meeting point between Stereolab and Ennio Morricone. Dedicated to the Centro Internazionale Studi Magnetici, Pollution touches on themes of environmental catastrophe. Futurist allusions seep in through eccentric lyrics (at times sung backwards) about hydraulics, magnetic fields, etc., yet listeners don't need to speak the artist's language to grasp his melancholy vision. With Pollution, Battiato solidifies not only his cult figure status, but also many of his forward-thinking ideas on rock 'n' roll. Superior Viaduct is honored to present the first-time domestic release of Pollution on vinyl. Reproducing the original gatefold jacket, this reissue is part of an archival series that chronicles Franco Battiato's masterful body of work from 1971 to 1978." Roach, Steve : Structures From LP $25.99"Steve Roach is one of the defining American artists of new age music, perpetually on a quest for silence and the suspension of time in his music. Structures From Silence is his third album originally released in 1984, and is his first purely textural album, with a smooth, dark, gentle atmospheres unlike any of his other albums. 'Full of purring drones and high notes that shimmer and fade. Like a desert mirage, these structures hover forever at the horizon, an oasis from the din surrounding it' --From Pitchfork's 'Best Ambient Albums Of All Time'. 'Steve Roach's Structures From Silence remains one of the most important ambient albums ever crafted. It isn't as high profile as similarly poised records from Brian Eno, but its enduring influence has been unmistakably visible in the three decades since its release.' --FACT Magazine. Remastered from the original tapes, this is the first vinyl reissue of the album since its initial release in 1984." Nazoranai: Beginning To Fall In Line Before Me, So Decorously, The Nature Of All That Must Be TransformedLP $29.99"Nazoranai is the supergroup of Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley. For close to four decades, Haino has been a legendary figure in Japan's avant-garde community through his commanding presence in the band Fushitsusha and numerous solo ventures. Ambarchi, a prolific electro-acoustic composer of heavy ambience and hypno-rock, has long stood at the leading edge of Australia's experimental music scene, while O'Malley remains a principle architect for the drone / doom metal project Sunn O))) in harnessing extreme sub-harmonic frequencies. Collectively, Nazoranai operates as a live recorded collaboration, although Haino is quick to point out the difference between the words 'nazoranai' (which in Japanese calligraphy means 'not repeating,' as in developing a distinct, individual style) and 'sokkyō' (referring specifically to improvisation). In this parsing of terms, the group separates themselves from the free-music scene, which can be just as convention-bound as the established genres from which improvisers hope to escape. On the trio's third album, Beginning To Fall In Line Before Me, So Decorously, The Nature Of All That Must Be Transformed, Nazoranai explore two side-long tracks of superb abstraction. Ambarchi and O'Malley provide the perfect brute-rock rhythm section to Haino's recklessly pure expression through instrument and voice. Blurred noise, dark hurdy-gurdy and thunderous harmonics build an accretive mantra of jagged electricity. While Haino's extensive discography resists easy interpretation, he constantly challenges himself to further his art by channeling the unknown. Shifting from his native Japanese to English, he asks: 'Do you still have a mystery?' This existential plea could apply to the artist's own deep inquisitions or stand to confront his audience about that which eludes their understanding. W.25TH / Superior Viaduct is proud to present Nazoranai's latest work, recorded at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo, which marks the band's first release on an American label."

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Quality Vs Quantity in Video Games

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Quality Vs Quantity in Video Games

Video games are one of the maximum famous kinds of entertainment, now rivaling the movie and music industries. Compared to movies and music, video games are much more pricey in line with the buy. On iTunes, an average album is going for approximately $10 and DVD films typically are under $30. Meanwhile, complete retail video games normally move for $60 on each the PS3 and Xbox 360 ($50 for PC and Wii). The current monetary downturn has harm most groups global, and video games aren’t any exception. Game sales are down significantly from just multiple years ago and plenty of organizations are being compelled to layoff workers and entire development teams. For customers, it is more crucial than ever to pick games which are an awesome fee. Determining what precisely makes a game a terrific fee is a tough question to answer, as validated via the drastic distinction in income from one sport to some other.

Video Games

A lower fee is a sure way to increase cost. Digital distribution does permit for this as publishers do now not should price for the fee of shipping a sport to stores. Every most important modern gaming platform (PC, 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and PSP) permits in a few capacity for digitally downloaded video games. The newly introduced PSP Go will most effectively allow for downloadable video games. This is virtually a good trend however it isn’t quite the solution, at the least now not yet. For starters, the extensive majority of games are nonetheless bought at retail.

There are some motives for this. Console manufacturers are simply beginning to combine fully featured games into their download offerings and so most of the primary titles can not be purchased this manner. Console gamers will even want an adjustment duration to get used to the concept so even as greater video games end up available thru Xbox Live or PlayStation Network, there will still be a time period that retail purchases outsell their downloadable opposite numbers. Secondly, there has but to be a noticeable cut in rate for buying the downloadable releases.

Buying a brand new launch on the Steam download provider for PC generally, saves a pair greenbacks, but isn’t, always the drastic cut that was predicted. Also, games designed with the downloadable market are still normally less fleshed out than popular releases. Battlefield 1943, for example, is a down load-most effective sport lately launched that has the equal fashion gameplay because of the retail variations inside the series inclusive of Battlefield 2 or Battlefield 2142. However, it only has four multiplayer maps and 3 training to apply. This is ways fewer than the preceding entries. So although Battlefield 1943 is cheaper, it’s far cheaper due to the fact there is much less content material.

In that case, it comes right down to the sport itself while looking at value. Some games offer superb amounts of content. Supreme Commander takes approximately 30 hours to finish, The Orange Box should take even extra to complete all the covered video games, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ought to close for over a hundred hours if a player selected to look all it has to offer. Then there are multiplayer targeted video games that would offer a limitless quantity of replayability. Call of Duty four has gotten over a hundred hours of online play from certain people and World of Warcraft has so much to it that Blizzard prices $15 in step with a month to play it and nevertheless sees thousands and thousands of users play for years.

Quantity Examples

On the flip aspect, Call of Duty four takes underneath 10 hours to plow through its tremendous, but short single player campaign. The God of War games are seriously acclaimed but none of them are very lengthy and do no longer offer any multiplayer gameplay both.

This ends in the critical query. What makes a sport worth buying? If it’s far the quantity of hours to complete than role playing video games which include Final Fantasy and Fallout three are truly on the top of the listing. However, it is not possible to measure the hours required to finish a multiplayer sport. Going lower back to Call of Duty 4, you could see all the maps and modes in just a couple of hours, however, some people hold coming returned for more.

The answer to the question will absolutely range from man or woman to man or woman. For me, the satisfactory value is a high-quality, excessive-content material experience. I actually have presently played Oblivion for over 40 hours, have not finished it, and still revel in playing it. That is undeniably correct value. It receives tougher to select when it comes to video games which can be quick however candy and games which are lengthy but mediocre.

Braid, a downloadable sport for Xbox Live Arcade and PC is a Super Mario-fashion platformer with a twist that your character can manipulate time to clear up puzzles. I bought this recreation and completed it after simply four or five hours of play. The recreation even has a style to try and beat in forty-five minutes, acknowledging how brief it surely is. There isn’t any multiplayer either and so I actually have now not long gone lower back to it after completing it. That stated, I, in reality, loved the game. Everything from the specific gameplay to the soundtrack, to the storyline, fits sincerely properly together. The sport charges money although, and I were given a long way fewer hours of it than I did with different games.

I had been told that Titan Quest for PC can take up to forty hours to complete. While I admire the developers looking to enlarge the duration of the sport, I for my part did no longer fall in love with the sport. I put in approximately 5 or 6 hours into it and despite the fact that there wasn’t something especially incorrect with it, I ended up moving directly to another recreation and never completed it. It might have the capability to be a worthwhile purchase, but I did not get plenty out of it as I had was hoping for the price I paid.

This is the risk developers discover with making their games longer. With a constrained range of hours to play video games, I will not finish games that I locate move on for a long term if I am now not a large fan of them. This decreases its cost for me because I will by no means get to see the conclusion of the tale or square off towards the hardest boss enemies that the game has to offer.

Is there an ideal sweet spot for games to reach, where they provide sufficient content without getting tedious midway thru the game? Should all video games have a minimal period, say 10 hours? 15 hours? Should shorter games be cheaper because of their period? Is it higher for a sport to be short and first-rate or long and true, however not wonderful? I don’t know if I can solve these questions however I would love to listen from every body who has an opinion on the subject.

Play Pokemon Games Online

  Pokemon is one of the present day-day characters that many youngsters have come to like. Pokemon is man or woman monsters that children can use as a puppy. But they’re not actual pets, of the route. They are function-playing video games that have been created by means of the Japanese leader in video games, Nintendo. Pokemon is very popular, and it is 2nd simplest to Mario, the satisfactory-selling game Nintendo has ever produced. Play Pokemon video games via a console, online, or over the internet. Whichever sports mode you pick, you’re positive to experience this journey game that kids of nowadays prefer.

The Pokemon games come in different types and versions. There are adventure games, Pokemon card video games, puzzles, and position playing video games as well. The unique Nintendo model involves the struggle between the special Pokemon characters. Players act as trainers that lead their pets into the conflict. The higher instructor wins the sport.

Quantity Synonym

Pokemon characters have special innate abilities and talents. Their capabilities additionally grow as they benefit greater experience in their battles. Every battle gained adds notches of enjoying to the Pokemon, which in flip, would permit them to evolve right into a more potent and loads more talented puppy.

Play Pokemon online and recognize how the sport progresses. The most famous Pokemon recreation version is the role gambling game, wherein you are taking on Ash’s role of being the monster’s teacher. Your quest is to come to be the high-quality Pokemon instructor with the strongest and maximum disciplined pet in the entire world.

Kids typically play Pokemon via a recreation console like the Nintendo Game Boy and the lots more modern Nintendo DS. However, there are numerous Pokemon video games on line. These video games may be played without spending a dime and you may practically analyze the whole thing about Pokemon characters via it.

Since a maximum of those video games is made from Flash programming, the video games are completely interactive and work very in addition to the original Pokemon sport that youngsters had come to realize about. Join the more youthful era as you start your quest in finding the rarest Pokemon in the jungle. Play Pokemon by training Pikachu, or any of your favored Pokemon individual, to emerge as the most powerful in the complete land. Beat your enemies, more mainly the participants of the Team Rocket and their evil mission to use Pokemon to facilitate their depraved plan of taking on the sector.

Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle are the most famous Pokemon characters used in the sport. There greater than one hundred Pokemon in the league. You’re loose to gather them all and keep them for your Pokedex. It could all rely on the type of sport you are gambling. Some games are restrained on the subject of the sideshows and consciousness more at the Pokemon battles.

To play Pokemon on-line, select the right game that fits your understanding. Beginners are counseled to engage in a fairly easy recreation to be able to hone your competencies as an instructor. There are more complicated video games on-line that could paintings flawlessly to the ones who have performed a comparable recreation before. Adults will locate Pokemon games interesting and unique. Just check out what makes this game a large hit to the children these days. Play Pokemon proper now and enjoy the sport like each child does.