#dance uk evolution

[karmaalwayswins]

Gormack Dione and Sasha Phillips dance salsa at Dance UK Evolution 2023.

Best wishes for recovery from his injury!

Video Credit: Star Dance Video

[cherrylng]

Matt Bellamy interview - Muse [ROCKIN'ON (December 2000)]

"If you ask me, our first album was a youthful rock experience at its ultimate limit….. Thanks to that, we've now reached a point where we don't even want to know what happens if we keep going."

So where are these horrid kids headed now that they've buried the ‘first Muse’, who froze the whole of the UK with their unbelievable live performances and insane falsetto? Matthew Bellamy, 22, talks about his next ambition!

Interview: Erica Yamashita / Photography: NAKA

Muse's performance at Akasaka Blitz on October 14th was a speedy one hour and 12 minutes long performance with 18 songs. There was no encore. At the end, Matthew rolled around at the feet of drummer Dominic and started messing around, waving his hands and disappearing to the side of the stage, and then bassist Chris went around destroying the drum kit one by one, so there was no time for an encore. But that was also a happy ending, with Matthew whispering something to the two of them just before. Matt was waving his guitar around a lot, but it was only the first day of the Tokyo show, so I guess he was thinking that he couldn't smash it here. Instead, he ran around the stage.

The show on this day was also very loud from the beginning. To be honest, it was a bit rough. Of course, as usual, their performance was impressive, but they seemed a little slack and were trying to intimidate others with their strength. The two ballads in the middle of the show, sung by Matt, sitting beside Chris with an acoustic guitar, completely changed the wavelength. Interestingly, what followed was a stage full of shadows and storytelling, even though it was a fast and loud world again. There was a relentless pull that is the essence of a Muse show. An unidentifiable energy emanates from Matthew, who is tiny even in Japan. A mass of emotion that you find yourself unable to take your eyes off.

Some have expressed concern about the future evolution of Muse, saying that they are too technically accomplished for their young age, that they are doing stage actions that are like rock conventions, and that they are becoming musically stylised. However, 22-year-old Matt Bellamy is wavering. This was his third visit to Japan in seven months, which inadvertently confirmed his wavering and self-examination. He has all the talent, technique, and brains. He has both desire and confidence. I would like him to soar into the second chapter of Muse, which is as bold as he can.

"With "Showbiz", I wanted to destroy purity and innocence. But on the next album we're going in the opposite direction."

Last night's gig was really intense (laughs). 「Yeah. I admit it. Sometimes we have gigs like that where we just blow it from start to finish. It depends on the mood of the moment.」

What was your mood like yesterday? 「Well, I was a bit confused and restless.」

Oh, why? 「Haha…… I had a lot of interviews and stuff during the day, so by the time I got on stage, a lot of things had built up inside me. Also, I changed the set of songs since yesterday.」

I see. You played four new songs, didn't you? 「I think three, to be precise. The opener was a new one and an old one that we did as a test for this tour.」

That was a very hard opener. Are the songs for the new album almost complete? 「Yeah, almost. The songs themselves are done, we just need to decide what form we want to take with each one. When we go into the studio, we listen back to everything we've played live and change the details and decide on the arrangements and instruments. I think a couple of the songs will be harder than any of the songs on "Showbiz", but overall I think there's a wider range. From the hard stuff to the softer, more subdued songs. There are at least two very mellow, emotional, and quiet songs. There are also about three songs that are not disco or dance music, but are more like early 80s electro-pop, with a lot of synths.」

One of these songs, "Plug in Baby", already has a title and was played yesterday. It sounded hard live, but it's quite a melody-driven number, isn't it? 「Yes, yes. We've already recorded that one. That one, and the one that doesn't have a title but starts with the keyboard that I played yesterday, we've finished recording those two songs. "Plug in Baby" is quite hard on bass and drums, but I think it's very melodic in its recorded form, including the vocals.」

By the way, what's a Plug In Baby? 「Hehehe…… (chuckles to himself). It can mean a few things, but, er, it might be a little strange…… There are various systems, like governments and big companies, and the idea is that the handful of people at the top of those triangles are all connected and have huge control. There are many smaller triangles in the world, and I am at the top of a very small triangle called Muse. And I'm learning what control is. What kind of influence can I have on the band members, on the crew, on the recording site, etc.? How my ideas flow through all these different people. And eventually, when the record comes out and people start talking about it. Some people take the time to raise their children and spread their influence. At the moment I don't want to have kids at all, but instead I can come up with ideas and concepts about the situation and observe how they flow through people and how things change.」

Does that come from the recognition that controlling what and how is a big issue in being in a band? 「Originally someone was trying to exert control over me, telling me to do this or say that. I've learnt little by little how to stand up to that and make the situation happen the way I want it to happen. That's one theme. But there's also a slightly weirder theme in the song "Plug In Baby", which is the theory that the people who run the big governments and royal families and stuff are not actually living things on Earth (laughs). It's not so much that they are actually people, but that forces we don't know about are controlling their thoughts. People at the top are always targeted and manipulated by these mysterious forces. I don't know if it's true or not, and I know it sounds stupid, but it happens sometimes. It's like you're being controlled by an uncontrollable force, or a creature, or something.」

Hmm (laughs). In our last interview, you mentioned that you sang a song in which you put yourself in the position of a young mother. Have you finished that? 「Yes, but it hasn't been recorded yet. It's just guitar and vocals at the moment, and I'm thinking about how to incorporate the band into it. I think I'll use a very quiet, acoustic guitar, and maybe a harp…… or some kind of tuned percussion. I'd like to make a sound that somehow conveys a sense of childhood happiness. But I haven't really settled on a concrete idea yet.」

Do you have any other thematic trends for the new songs? 「There are two or three songs, and the lyrics are about someone who I really love and want to love because of their personality, but at the same time I feel envious and jealous because the ideals they have are so pure…… I've got a song that goes something like this. I think the songs on the next album are very meaningful to me when I sing them now. But I also felt that way about the songs on the first album when I wrote them. So, well, I think it's normal for my feelings about songs to change over time.」

Is that feeling of envy for the ideal of perfection in others something that's been on your mind recently? 「Hehe…… For example, I think there are people who listen to Muse's music and get a sense of pleasure, but there are also people who find it painful and unbearable to listen to. So…… Hmmm (laughs)…… I think that's true. For example, if you didn't know what human sex is, you might think it's very painful to hear the voices and noises, right? But it's not like that, it's just a pure expression of humanity. But I think for some people it's too graphic or unacceptable or something like that…… Um…… Well, that's a matter of course (laughs). Well, what I was trying to say about ideals is that sometimes you meet people who aren't broken at all, right? They believe in certain things even when they grow up. It can be something very simple, like family ties. My parents divorced when I was 13 and I think that's the way it is, but some people don't know what it's like because they haven't been through it themselves. You're talking to someone and their reaction is that they don't know about it and they don't want to know about it. They don't want to hear about it. Well, that can't be helped. I think that if you don't have to see everything through in reality, that would be the best thing. Sometimes it's better to be able to believe in something like a dream.」

When you come into contact with something so pure and innocent, do you admire it and want to be like it? Or can't help wanting to destroy it? 「Oh yes…… I admire them and want to be one too. Probably. I think on the first album I was more of a person who wanted to destroy it (laughs). But on the next album, I'm going in the opposite direction.」

I always feel that way. I feel that you have a duality or two extremes in you, and that you just can't seem to separate the two. 「Yeah. Yeah, that's true. There's a part of me that always sees both sides of things.」

On the one hand, you want to believe in something really pure and good, but on the other hand, your experiences have made you feel that you can't? 「Another example of this ideal is religion. Something unscientific. I really think how nice it would be if, when you die, you could believe that you're going towards something. I wish there was something like that. Maybe there is, I don't know. But I can't believe in anything that isn't true, no matter how I try…… hehe…… But I wish I could. And maybe I can make myself believe that.」

It feels like that frustration and irritation is transforming into the extraordinary heightening of Muse's music. 「(laughs)…… It's like that for everything. It's also about life itself. Like love. I just can't believe that you love someone and you think it's going to last forever. For anyone.」

"Right now I'm choosing to do caricatures of rock. I think I'm still trying to figure out whether that's a creative situation or not."

I was struck by the fact that you said that your ideal gig experience would be one where you could experience imaginary death on stage, the ultimate ecstasy… 「I mean, I'd like to do more of a theatrical performance. But I still don't know how to incorporate that element and put on a good show. One possible way would be to go out on stage and change costumes and scenes to suit the mood of the songs, so that each song is a theatrical experience. Then each song would be closer to an extreme experience, and there would even be an experience of death in it (laughs). I'd like to do some theatrical performances, not just rock geek stuff.」

Even today, is there a certain amount of drama and theatricality in Muse's performances? 「Yes, that's what I'm trying to bring out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's a mess. Because sometimes you get into one character and you try to change into a different one, but it doesn't work. That's why I take a lot of time to decide on the setlist. Sometimes it determines the success or failure of the stage. Sometimes, depending on how the songs are arranged, I can't change the mood right away.」

How was last night, by the way? 「Hahaha…… Hmmm. Well, I think the middle part went well, very well. But the beginning and the end, I don't know, maybe it was a bit muddled. The middle part was focused and went as intended, and I think I was able to express what I was feeling about the song really well. Especially "Falling Down" and "Unintended".」

Ah, that ballad spot. Actually, something changed there, or rather, it became easier to understand what you were trying to do. After that, when you went into the storm again, it felt like you could see the flow. 「Oh, really? For us, it was totally the same. Especially with "Unintended", there was a feeling that you don't get very often. Most shows we're like, we slowly build up and get intense, then drop off and get intense again, but last night it started out intense, dropped in the middle, and then built up again at the end. So from the beginning I was in a whirlpool where I didn't know what was going on, and when it finally got quiet in the middle, I was able to calm down and grasp the situation, and I was able to return to that state.」

I see. You play with such tremendous energy that sometimes you get sucked into it and can't quite get yourself out of it. 「Hehehe…… Yeah.」

Are you at all worried that what you're doing might be perceived as a caricature of rock? 「……No, I don't think so.」

And what do you think spares you guys from being seen as caricatures? 「That's…… The fact that I know and have allowed myself to look that way, you know. It's something I've wanted to do. Yes, I think I've deliberately gone that way at some gigs and stuff. But I also know that I can always do something completely different. Other than just playing rock music. I can go in any direction at any time. But right now I'm choosing to do something like a caricature of rock. Because I want to try it. I want to know if it's really a creative situation. I think I'm still trying to figure out if it's a good thing or not.」

Destroying instruments, running around the stage, that sort of thing? 「That was probably the last time I did that, last night.」

Hmm. I've heard that before. 「What, did I say that?」

Not exactly, but something similar. 「Pfft. I see. I might have said that (laughs).」

I'm not criticising you, because even though there are some elements of that cliched tactic, Muse's stage is… 「(interrupting) No, but I agree with you. If I was in the audience, I would feel the same way. But everything I do, I do it because I want to. And I don't really think about whether other people will see it and think it's stupid or not. I do it for my own learning, and I'm still in the learning process. I don't think you can really decide if you want to be that person until you've experienced certain things. Sometimes what you see in people's eyes may not be my true nature, sometimes it's just something I'm doing on a trial basis. Sometimes, when I want to do something like this, I apply the idea to my surroundings and experience the situation. And it's something that, as I said before, you can stop at any time and move on to a different situation.」

Do you really want to stop performing like that, even if it wasn't just last night? 「But right now, I'm riding the acceleration of the first album, so it's hard to stop. We've done a tremendous amount of touring up to this point, and no matter how you do it, you have to become a caricature of rock ‘n’ roll. Life on tour has an effect on both the mind and the body. It's difficult until you cut it off somewhere. I'm trying to do that in November, when this tour is over.」

While you've written a whole new set of songs, you've also been re-experiencing the B-sides of your first and previous singles almost every night on stage. How do you feel about those songs that were released over a year ago? 「I still think they're good. But they've developed into something very different from the album version. It's changed so much over the course of the tour that it's become very extreme. But actually, most of the songs can be played just acoustically. Not for the next album, but at some point in the future, I'd like to release an album based on acoustics without using any electronics at all. Really, my main goal is to try different approaches. Our first album is about youthful rock taken to its limits…」

(laughs). 「There's always the temptation to want to know what life is like at least once. And then to experience it yourself, to experience touring this hard, including all the stereotypical aspects of band life. I've done that too, and thanks to that I've reached a point now where I don't want to know what's going to happen if I keep going like this…… ahaha……」

"As musicians of the same generation as our audience, we are shining a light on the extreme emotions of living in these times. I think that means how to accept yourself as you are."

(laughs). If you're done with the extreme rock of your youth, can you give us a preview of the tone of your next album? 「Everyone keeps asking about the new album—」

Everyone wants to know. 「Yeah, I know. No, I mean it's hard to predict the future, because if you try to force it, you get accused of being different in the end.」

What would you like it to be, in your opinion? 「Hmmm…… Music always reflects how I'm feeling at the time when I'm making it. So I'm sure it will be an honest reflection of how I've been feeling over the past year or two. What I care about more than anything else is honesty. I want it to be as honest as possible about what I'm feeling and what I want to say. I can't really say what that's going to be like until the moment the album is finished.」

You said that since you started writing again, you've lost all sense of who you thought you knew completely before, the path you were on, etc. Does that feeling still persist? 「I've recorded two songs and I've calmed down a lot (laughs). I'm still writing songs, but two or three months ago I was working so hard on them that I didn't know what was going to happen. But once we started recording and rehearsing and playing a few shows, I knew where I was going. I was able to explain "Plug in Baby" a little bit, like I did before. But I didn't really know what the hell I was talking about until I recorded it. I also want to do the artwork for the next album myself, and I've got some ideas for that now. So I'm thinking that after this tour, which goes from Japan to Australia to Scandinavia to Dublin, I'm going to go to the countryside for a couple of weeks in November, where I won't see anyone, to chill out a bit and really think about what I want to do and how I want to do it.」

When you say you don't know where you're going when you're writing, does that mean you don't know where you're going in life itself? 「Yes, it can be like that. You know, when you're writing a song, you just let your feelings out, it's a totally subjective state. I don't try to be objective about myself at all. But in general I try to be objective, most of the time. I keep my distance and think about what I'm doing. The only time I don't do that is when I'm writing songs. That's the only time I go inwards and get closer to myself.」

In a way, it's time to allow yourself to do that. 「Yes, yes, that's right. And in the process, you can't explain your own behaviour. In interviews, you probably try to interpret them as someone else's work, to understand the meaning and background, just like you do.」

Hmmm. Does the act of looking at your own work and creative activities objectively in this way help you? 「Yes, I think so. Trying to be objective…… I mean, I don't think it's good for the mind to be in a position like mine and be subjective all the time. This job can turn even good people into bad people.」

From that point of view, I sense a mysterious duality within you, or rather a sense of balance. 「(laughs) Well, I try to be as careful as possible to be like that.」

You look like you're on the verge of jumping off a cliff, but at the same time you seem to have learnt from history and have the good sense not to do anything really reckless. 「……There were some bad moments. I think. I did some things that I'd like to pretend later that they didn't happen. I mean, mistakes, you know. But basically, that wasn't my intention. Because, after all…… I don't want to die, haha…….」

You mentioned last time that you would ideally like to change the producer of the new album with each song, but how is it progressing in reality? 「Yes, that's reality, hahaha. I've finished two songs with Dave Botterill, who worked with Tool and Deus, and we've got two more to record. That's as far as I've got with him. Then we're going into sessions with John Leckie as well. For the first album, Paul Reeve recorded a lot of the demos and Leckie re-recorded them, but this time we're going to do a session with Leckie alone and record five or six songs. If that goes well, we'll probably continue and do the whole rest of the album with him. But Paul Reeve is not much older than us, and he's very innovative in his ideas and approach. Last time, I asked Leckie to join because he was still inexperienced, but I'd like to record a whole album with Paul someday. Maybe I could be a co-producer then.」

You're already used to playing to every size crowd imaginable, from clubs to festivals, but do you have any set goals for future success, such as how big a venue you want to play at? 「Well, for the next album we'd like to take it to a bit bigger level than what we're doing now. At least in Europe/USA we want to aim for 3-4,000 people. Then we'll do a show based on some kind of concept and see how it goes. But after that, I'd like to keep the audience size small again. I'd also like to be a bit more selective with our festival appearances.」

I heard that you played at 48 festivals this summer alone? 「I heard so (laughs). That's what I've been trying to figure out about the future, whether it's going to work out that way or not.

When I saw you guys on stage in Reading and at the gig yesterday, I thought that there is an overwhelmingly Muse generation audience. It's different from both the Radiohead generation and the Oasis generation. So what do you think your music speaks to and gives to these people? 「Yeah…… I think…… I think that artists of that generation, be they musicians, film directors or whatever, are reflecting back to them what they see around them. It's a reflection of the times. That's why I also…… (laughs) I'm shining a light on the ultimate emotions of living in this era. In other words, I think it's about how we accept ourselves as we are.」

Translator's Note: I actually like what I've scanned so far with this issue. I mean, Matt's blue eyes with his fading blue-dyed hair? Cute 💕

Please do support me on my Ko-fi! ☕

[baemon-ivy]

YG Entertainment Gives An Update About Ivy Amidst Speculations Of Her Leaving BABYMONSTER

There is still a question mark about the debut member composition of YG Entertainment's rookie girl group Baby Monster.

Recently, YG Entertainment released a coming-soon poster and confirmed the November debut of the rookie Baby Monster, who will lead YG's future. According to the agency, the members have started practicing the choreography of the title song and will be filming a music video at the end of this month.

However, the official statement released by YG Entertainment did not specify whether it was planned to come out as 'how many people'. Baby Monster decided to make a eight-member debut in the reality entertainment show 'Last Evaluation', which was released as an eight-part series since March this year, but not long ago, 'Ivy’s debut was rumored on the online community and SNS, which caused fans to worry.

Some netizens speculated that Ivy’s debut of the Baby Monster 8 was disrupted when she didn't show up on the group's official SNS and group schedules from July. In particular, only six people except Ivy and Ahyeon attended the Seoul finale performance of 'BLACKPINK World Tour [Bon Pink] (BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK])' held in September, igniting the ‘Ivy’s debut.

YG Entertainment briefly explained to the JTBC Entertainment News team that 'Ivy is also preparing for her debut', but this answer is rather a reaction that adds to the confusion. In addition to the assumption that Ivy will debut as a member of Baby Monster, it is interpreted that there is also a possibility of joining another girl group and a new project in Japan that executive producer Yang Hyun-seok mentioned in 'The Last Evolution'. It's also unclear in many ways that Baby Monster can't talk coolly because it's a seven-member debut.

Ivy was selected as one of the most prominent participants in the Baby Monster debut group at the time of her appearance in 'The Last Evolution'. She proved to be an up-and-outer with excellent vocal and performance skills, and even the visuals were perfect, securing a number of domestic and foreign fandoms even before her debut.

You'll know if you open the lid, but if Ivy leaves, the disappointment of the fans who have been looking forward to the eight-member debut for nearly half a year is the biggest disappointment. In addition, YG Entertainment, which has been silent about 'the failure to join Ivy', is also expected to avoid the arrow of criticism, even though there is enough time to explain to the public.

Baby Monster's debut has also been postponed. It was planned to debut last September, but it was postponed due to internal circumstances. Even with this, there was a reaction that there was a difference in the selection of the final debut member. However, at the time, YG Entertainment said, "We have been careful about selecting the title song in order to repay the best result, and we ask for your understanding that the debut was a little later than September, which was announced through the process."

Baby Monster is a girl group that YG Entertainment announces for the first time in about 7 years since BLACKPINK. Those who have high-level vocal, dance, rap, and visual capabilities in multinational compositions such as Korea, Thailand, UK and Japan are receiving expectations from global music fans as 'monster newcomers'.

[skellymom]

hello, i noticed you have "elder goth" written in your bio and im like. an infant bat. do you have any tips on anything (music, makeup, clothing, ect?

(srry if this sounds awkward, im just a very nervous person)

Whew! I DIDN'T FORGET YOU!!! It was an INSANE weekend at work...and I'm burnt. Plus, I like to write my fics and answer asks at my desktop computer and not my phone (fat fingers are clumsy).

Ahem...ok for the Goth Thing:

It's really just about the music. That's it. I mean SO MUCH has evolved and developed since the first wave of that "genre" music appeared on the scene back in the 1970's (Post Punk) underground. Even some bands labeled as Goth now didn't see themselves as such back in the day.

This next list has a lot of good Goth music, with some songs not necessarily in that genre, but close enough that MANY in the community love them. And, some of them showed up before the movement even started (a few after to help with it's evolution), but definitely helped to establish the genre later on (ahem...David Bowie). Btw Marilyn Manson is NOT Goth. However, a LOT of us still love his music as it fits with our dark aesthetic...and remember when I mentioned David Bowie? Well, I am quite sure he helped inspired Marilyn Manson. His Mechanical Animals album certainly looks as it was influenced by Bowie. But, I digress, again... This is just a start on your musical journey...a stepping stone.

People will tell you that if you don't dress or present physically a certain way that you aren't Goth. NOPE. You can dress dark and spooky and edgy but not be Goth. You can dress like a pink princess or "normie" and be Goth at heart. When us older Children of the Night were coming up we did a LOT of DIY (do it yourself) and wore a lot of things you might not consider even Goth. There wasn't the depth, breadth, and easy access of things available on the market like today. We were poor, felt different, non conformist, and just looking for community. That's another hallmark of being a Goth: community. Because back in the day someone might do a violence on you for looking weird (Wearing all black back in the day was seen as extremely socially deviant. ESPECIALLY in small town US or conservative UK/England. People literally were afraid of or hated us. Our brethren: The Punks, Rastafarians, Metal Heads, Rappers, New Wavers (prejudice was doubled if you were a person of color, a different sexuality/gender, poor, etc.) experienced the same thing in society. Then came along The Satanic Panic and OH SHIT what a pain in the ass that was! And The "Moral" Majority crap...) I digress: we were looking for people like us, BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO LOOK EXACTLY LIKE US. Just a bunch of nice, supportive people who got together to listen to music, dance, support the local bands/talent, and try to make it another day. You will find this in the FANDOM, LGBTQ+, and Communities of Color as well...and they overlap.

The presentation is secondary and up to you on how you want to look. You can do it up the max or just be simple in black. My favorite person from back in the day, who really doesn't specifically identify as Goth, but hung heavily in the scene back in the day: Neil Gaiman. The guy who gave us the character of Death from The Sandman Series, published as I was coming into my own Baby Bat phase (based on a real person named "Cinnamon"). Yeah...the character everyone aspires to look like (next to Siouxsie Sioux). He wears just plain black clothes and a long black coat. (Pic of him as a youngin')

Me, I go for "Lazy Goth". Everything black (even at work-black scrubs) with occasionally printed tee or a dark jewel toned piece of clothing. Usually I also mix in the Punk aesthetic too (I love the music and put patches on every damned thing). Punk is scruffy and imperfect, not fussy. I like comfort and ease of dressing. Especially in hot weather. And, I don't do a lot of face makeup, especially being older. Plus, I rather like my olive toned skin. Not every Goth needs to be pale. Google Goth People of Color. Beautiful and amazing looks.

Beware of Gatekeepers. Gothier Than Thou's. Don't let them crush your spirit. There is room in this subculture for everyone. If a particular club, group, or individual sets that tone, just move on. That shit ain't worth it.

Dropping a quote from my (sort of) GothFather creative Neil Gaiman:

"Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art."

This can also be read as the journey to "create" yourself. You are on a journey, my sweet Child of the Night. It will take a while to find your stride, whatever that is, and that's totally ok. Spread your bat wings and FLY!

Leaving you with one of my favorite songs:

[eddiediaaz]

Hi Ali! Weird question but you mentioned you went to london a few months ago and I was wondering if you any tips to where to check accommodation and places to visit (im checking the possibility of going next year with some friends fingers crossed )and like there’s a lot and is kinda overwhelming

hii! not weird! keep in mind that i went alone though, so these are my experiences as a solo traveler on a budget~

i stayed at a women-only called hostelle. it made me feel safe, it was quite cheap (for london), and it was close to the tube and a few restaurants. it was also very queer friendly, i saw multiple enby people there as well. i only stayed in london for 4 nights, but very good vibes while i was there! they have rooms of 4 beds and up, so you could book a full room with your friends? though they didn't have AC, so i would probably avoid it in the summer lol

as for activities, i didn't have a fully packed schedule, i mostly went with what i felt like doing that day. also i was quite lucky that it didn't rain at all (except one half day) while i was there! but here are some of the things i did and loved (in no particular order):

victoria & albert museum: so so large with a lot of art, you could easily spend half a day there (it's also where they shot that red, white and royal blue slow dancing scene hehe)

full day trip to the cotswolds: @lightasthesun and i embarked on a small tour bus to visit four old picturesque little villages in the country side an hour or two outside of london. it was kinda pricey, but the sights were lovely and the guide was really fun. it's a "lowkey" activity with multiple breaks on a bus if you don't feel like walking all day. i would avoid going on the weekends tho

free self-guided walking tour in notting hill: this neighborhood with all of the colorful houses and fancy buildings was SO pretty!! i really enjoyed spending half a day there and walking all over. this is the walking tour i did if i remember correctly (the google maps itinerary was really handy)

while in notting hill i also went to the little museum of brands, it was really nice and fun to see the evolution of brands in the uk. and i also ate the farm girl cafe, the food was absolutely delicious and it was such a cute place!

hopping on a red double decker bus (NOT a hop-on hop-off tour bus, just a random city bus downtown because it's wayyyy cheaper) to see the sights, especially in the evening. i don't remember which route i took, but i remember googling "best sightseeing london bus routes) or something like that

walk, walk, walk! i walked a lot while in london, especially to see some of the famous sights: walking on the london and westminster bridges, big ben, the london eye, etc etc. i didn't visit any of the interior of these places, seeing it from the outside was enough for me to be honest. maybe next time!

camden market in camden town: such an eclectic vibe!! the market has a lot of shops and food stalls, it was nice walking in there. i would definitely go as early as possible in the day tho, cause by midday it was quite packed. the streets around the market are also fun to just walk in and take in the sights.

soho: lots of shopping and nightlife there. it's not really my scene that much, especially alone, but i enjoyed walking in this area for a little while. i spent quite a bit of time in the huuuuge liberty london department store. i had a very yummy fish & chips at golden union for dinner. the portion was huge, price was fair, and service was great.

the graffiti tunnel under waterloo station was really cool to take pictures in, but it did feel a little creepy to go there alone haha. the art there was really fun to see

kensington: kinda bougee neighborhood, but it was pretty, had a nice vibe and a lot of restaurants

annnnd that's about it, i think? i hope it gives you some inspiration and ideas!! london was really fun, i cannot wait to go again :D

[louisupdates]

Singer Louis Tomlinson has embarked on a journey of finding his own voice and rhythms, outside of One Direction band, and he’s clutching on to his experiences as part of the boyband to help him navigate the music world.

After stepping away from One Direction, the 30-year-old made his solo debut with Walls in 2020, and is coming out with his second solo album, Faith in the Future, seven years after the band split.

“When you’re in a band, there’s always an element that you’re one out of five. While you’re still yourself, you remain conscious of everyone else,” Tomlinson continues, “Now, the good thing about being out on your own is that it gives you a chance to show who you are as an artiste, and who you truly want to be.”

Talking about his evolution since the band members went their own ways, the singer, in an exclusive conversation tells us, “With every song I write, I feel like I grow as a songwriter. For me, just to be in a position right now, and to be able tour with this next album, is definitely something I didn’t really expect at this stage of my career.”

[…]

We all are really close. The bond that we shared growing up through such a crazy amazing experience but chaotic at times… That’s a bond for life,” he gushes.

Meanwhile, Tomlison is busy making a career as a solo artiste. Less than a year after the split, he released his first single, Just Hold On, with Steve Aoki. He feels his evolution as a singer reflects in the music of the second album, which ranges from pop to punk to dance music to emotional, with songs such as Silver Tongues, Bigger Than Me, and Out Of My System.

“It’s a better representation of who I am as an artiste... For instance, when I listen to Silver Tongues, it’s one of the songs that I’m proud of. I could imagine it being on an album that I was listening to growing up, or on my playlist. As a music fan, that was a good moment while creating something. I was really excited not just to sing, but also to listen,” he explains.

And the singer credits his time in the band for preparing him for survival in the industry. “It definitely taught me a lot. It was pretty much like a crash course (to be) in the music industry because we did so much in five years,” he says, admitting, “But, there’s also a part of that experience which makes this solo part challenging at times. That’s because you’ve got different expectations and you’ve to work out where you are in the industry.”

Talking about the pressures of fame, the singer says while there are days where it’s more challenging, “I’m used to the pressure; it definitely motivates me and keeps me ambitious”.

Mention about enjoying artistic freedom as a solo artiste, Tomlinson says it was a revelation for him.

“I didn’t really know until I started my solo career how much I wanted to do this and how much I enjoy it. Being a solo artiste definitely gives me a moment to express myself and give fans better insight as to what they saw me in the band and who I really was. So, it has been good,” concludes the singer, who recently announced a UK and European Arena tour for 2023.

[dontlookdown]

Nick’s Favourite Music of 2023

It’s that time of year again (three weeks into January because to hell with arbitrary deadlines) where I look back at the music I enjoyed from the previous year. Once again, I’m sticking with the single post, capsule review format I used last year, because it turns out working full-time leaves you with less time to spend on other stuff (seems pretty fucked up if you ask me).

It never feels like my listening habits are changing year on year, but it’s interesting to note the differences in hindsight. For instance, this will be the first time I don’t crown an “album of the year”. Ultimately, there wasn’t a full-length release that broke through my admittedly ridiculously high standards. That said, 17 of the songs on this list come from albums I really enjoyed listening to, and the other 3 are standalone singles, so it’s fair to say the overall quality of 2023’s music was pretty good. I had to put in the time and listen and re-listen to a lot of different artists to come to that conclusion, but it feels like I’ve gone on a similar journey for the last four years in a row now. And, because I always end up discovering plenty of new acts and settling on 20 songs that I truly love that I’m excited to share, I never feel like that time and energy has been wasted!

Below, you’ll find the list of my 20 favourite songs of 2023 (YouTube links in the headings, Spotify embed at the bottom), along with a few words about why I love each particular one. Let’s go!

Foo Fighters – “Under You”

I wish it had been under happier circumstances, but I was seriously impressed with But Here We Are. I’ve never thought of Foo Fighters as an album band (great singles though), but this might the strongest, most-focused one they’ve done. “Rescued” was an instant knockout, and the title track is a potent reminder that Dave Grohl is still probably the best yeller in rock (as anyone who’s attempted to shout along with “The Pretender” in a crowded club will attest). But the song I kept coming back to was the simplest, and probably the most straight-forward rocker they’ve ever made. Something about the chorus of “Under You” really tugs on my heartstrings, even beyond its clear intention as loving tribute to Taylor Hawkins. I always tend to start these lists with a big bright firework of a song. This was the biggest and brightest of the year.

Ratboys - “Black Earth, WI”

I love a big rock song that wanders off into the horizon and takes its time to get where it’s going, slowly growing before your ears. It seems like we’re getting more bands lately that specialise in that kind of thing, in the wake of The War on Drugs’ breakthrough, and apparently the kids on TikTok are getting into shoegaze so there’ll be more to come. Good!

Big Thief – “Vampire Empire”

Another Big Thief classic to add to their growing pile. This is apparently one they’ve been workshopping in live performances for a few years. That work has paid off beautifully.

Geese – “3D Country”

Another rock stroller. This one has some strong Exile on Main Street vibes, with the soulful backing singers and steely guitar touches really making it stand out from the crowd. The video is just as fun as the song.

Yard Act – “The Trench Coat Museum”

I've commented before on the small explosion of post-punk bands we had in the UK a few years ago. In many cases, it felt like the bands were yet to reach their full potential. Some are beginning to get there. Both Black Country, New Road and Black Midi blew me away last year with bold and unique evolutions of their respective sounds. Yard Act might be the next group to level up, this time by flirting with dance music while keeping the ironic point of view from their previous work. “The Trench Coat Museum” is another track that allows a band to stretch their musical legs, and I love that the song has been stretched to 12” remix length, with all the little shifts in tone you’d expect from dabbling in Madchester town.

Jessie Ware – “Freak Me Now”

Speaking of songs I’d want to hear in the club, Jessie Ware adjusted the disco recipe she was serving in 2020 to add a French house flavour this year. The result was even more delectable.

Olivia Rodrigo – “love is embarrassing”

It seems like I’m going against the grain with this pick. Not that people were disappointed with Olivia Rodrigo’s second album (quite the opposite, she delivered on GUTS), but I haven’t seen anyone else highlight this particular track. I’m not complaining. I’d normally expect a song like “love is embarrassing”, with its fast tempo and new wave-inspired guitars and gated drums to be a perfect pick for a single. The fact is isn’t one (yet) is testament to how good this album really is.

Fireworks – “Veins in David’s Hand”

I’m a simple man. If you start a song with a loud, ringing solo guitar riff, you’ve got my attention. Everything else Fireworks do on “Veins in David’s Hand” holds onto it. Exhilarating stuff.

Model/Actriz – “Mosquito”

As I mentioned at the start, I’m not declaring an “album of the year” this time around. Instead, I want to recommend one specific album that I’d like more people to check out: Dogsbody by New York noise rock band Model/Actriz. When it came time to put together a shortlist from all the 2023 tracks in my collection (trimming down over 400 songs to around 50), I ended up putting five tracks from this album on it, the most from any act by some distance. That’s quite an achievement for a debut release. “Mosquito” is the most attention-grabbing track, due to its pounding industrial chorus, but there is so, so much more where that came from. Check them out.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Supercell”

Since getting my socks blown off by “The Dripping Tap” in 2022, I have now listened to everything King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have released. Good band! I will confess that I prefer the harder, more rocking stuff that they do less frequently, but that means I was eagerly awaiting PetroDragonic Apocalypse after hearing it was a return to the thrash metal sound of Infest the Rats' Nest. It did not disappoint!

SOFT PLAY – “Punk’s Dead”

In 2022, having been on hiatus for a few years, the band Slaves changed their name to Soft Play. Being a punk band these days comes with the baggage of people projecting their own weird ideas of what “punk” means onto you, and some of their fans (the kind that like to use words like “snowflake” as insults) had did not like this change. So, Soft Play did what any self-respecting punk band would do in that situation: take all of that bad-faith criticism and hammer it into a red-hot poker of a song. For what it’s worth, I think "Soft Play" is the better name for this band. While some punk bands do have lofty aims about sharp political commentary and challenging discourse, this band has never really had those aspirations. Their biggest song on streaming is about forgetting where you parked. Musically, they’ve always sounded like rowdy kids on a bouncy castle copying moves they’ve seen on WWE (I say this as a compliment), and based on the video for “Punk’s Dead”, the band might agree. At its core, “punk” is just about airing frustrations. Sometimes that just means having fun while making a racket. Which is exactly what this band has always done. Isaac Holman stills snarls like a wolf and pounds the shit out of his floor toms which, combined with Laurie Vincent’s chainsaw guitar work, gives the song the impact of a steam-powered sledgehammer. Blunt? Sure, but “Punk’s Dead” is not a song that’s aiming for subtlety. It’s a purposeful spit in the eye of people who cling to a narrow view of a genre that outgrew them a long time ago: “JOHNNY ROTTEN IS TURNING IN HIS BED! I WAS GONNA SAY ‘GRAVE’ BUT THE FUCKER AIN’T DEAD!” Welcome back, lads.

White Reaper – “Fog Machine”

Speaking of things not being dead, any old fart complaining about the lack of rock music being made these days needs to listen to White Reaper and shut the fuck up.

Militarie Gun – “Never Fucked Up Once”

The thing about punk singers is that they don’t so much “sing” as “chant”, as in the vocals are more designed to be sung along with, rather than just heard. So, if a punk band slows things down a bit (but keeps it loud) and gets everyone involved in belting out the chorus? Instant anthem. Despite its title, “Never Fucked Up Once” is a song about regrets. But, somehow, yelling along with it makes those regrets disappear.

boygenius – “Not Strong Enough”

Words can barely express how happy I was to see Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus regroup as Boygenius and break through to the mainstream this year. Having previously sung the praises of their debut EP, my expectations for a full album were high, but the ladies dropkicked those expectations into the sun and scored a boatload of Grammy nominations in the process. As all three members have distinctive voices, people tend to pick apart the songs to identify who wrote what. That’s missing the point, as the songs on the record are stronger than the sums of their parts (regardless of how good those parts are), and it’s the songs that are clear results of the three of them working together that are the strongest. “Not Strong Enough” is one of them, and it just fucking soars. It sounds exactly like the cover art, with Baker, Bridgers and Dacus all extending their reach to the sky. I’m excited to see them rise even further. Song of the year.

Anohni and the Johnsons – “Rest”

By contrast, “Rest” feels like Anohni is digging into her soul for some real catharsis. It recalls the Muscle Shoals soul sound of “Fistful of Love”, but a thousand times rawer. You can feel every cubic centimetre of the studio it was recorded in as the guitars and drums smash into each other and echo off the walls. Spiritual and spellbinding.

Nation of Language – “Spare Me the Decision”

An echo of a different kind, now. I last spoke about Nation of Language back in 2021, when they were specialising in the kind of upbeat synthpop tunes that I enjoy a lot. In 2023, they got darker on their third album Strange Disciple, with sparser arrangements that sound more unsettled. Single “Weak In Your Light” was a genuine shock when I first heard it. “Spare Me the Decision” is brighter than that, but still carries a deep sadness with it. It deliberately holds back from giving too much. Even as multiple synths start to build up, they mostly only play single sustained notes, giving everything a sense of trepidation that befits the title.

Julie Byrne – “Portrait of a Clear Day”

It’s hard to add anything when the title of a song tells you everything you need to know. This is atmospheric and beautiful and the most graceful thing I heard all year.

Sufjan Stevens – “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”

The incredible thing about Sufjan Stevens is that, despite working for decades within his own specific niche to the point where you could’ve guessed that “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” was a song of his based solely on the title, he’s still finding ways to push the boundaries of that niche. Like all of his albums (even the ones that are supposedly about specific American states), Javelin was full of beautifully delicate songs of longing. But these songs were more direct than usual, and supported by expansive arrangements that allow them to grow and blossom into much larger statements on life.

Indigo De Souza – “Younger & Dumber”

There’s plenty of great moments across these 20 songs, but none quite as meaningful as the 2:50 mark in “Younger & Dumber” where Indigo De Souza spreads her wings and sings “And the love I feel is so powerful it can take you anywhere”. This is a slow burning fire that will leave your soul singed.

Joanna Sternberg – “I've Got Me”

I hesitate to call this one “cute” considering how much it focuses on self-deprecation, but that is my first thought when hearing songs as understated as this. It feels like every line should be punctuated with an exclamation mark that is both ironic and earnest at the same time, especially as a bouncing bassline makes an appearance and Joanna’s grows in confidence. It’s a song that can be interpreted in opposing ways depending on your mood. As a closer, I think it’s pretty perfect.

Thanks for reading! If you fancy reading more from me, I’ve done similar lists/series for every year going back to 2011 (and basic lists for 2008-2010). Just copy and paste this link (https://dontlookdown.tumblr.com/tagged/best-of-20xx) and edit the year to see them!

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: See Jazz

See Jazz, the recording project of Brooklyn-based songwriter Aaron Pfannebecker, uses drum machines and synthesizers to construct warped bedroom collage pop guitars and earworm vocals. Jennifer Kelly liked the single “1982” from Pfannebecker’s Is This Anything? a whole lot, noting its “vertiginous balance between tremulous, astral ideality and wounded, grounded vulnerability, the same contrast between ragged doubt and heavenly solace.”

Some songs that stick to me lately

Cyndi Lauper — The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough

I’ve always loved this song and I recently rediscovered it on a dive into Lauper’s music again and it always puts me in a great mood. It just makes me happy like a lot of Motown does especially The Jackson 5. It bops.

The The — This Is the Day

This is a top 3 song of the 1980s and probably was the biggest influence on this record I just made whether I knew it or not. I could listen to this on repeat forever and never give sick of it.

The Osmonds — Denim

No one’s written a better song about a decade.

Minnie Ripperton — Les Fleurs

One of my favorite songs. It has the biggest chorus that hits like 20 “Smells Like Teen Spirit’s.“ It’s epic. It’s holy. Minnie Ripperton’s voice is one the most beautiful I’ve ever heard. Maya Rudolph is her daughter and Ripperton died way too young.

Jeff the Brotherhood — Camel Swallowed Whole

Jake and Jamin have always made great music, but this is by far my favorite thing they’ve ever done. It’s great. Everyone should hear it. Kunal Prakash also plays on this I think, and you couldn’t ask for more awesome people to be making great art together.

Bob Dylan — Precious Angel (Live at the Warfield Theatre)

One of the things I think we all take for credit is Bob Dylan’s ability to always evolve and change a song. People use to slam him for not being able to recognize classic songs they wanted to hear because he plays them entirely differently than their record versions. I think people are coming around now and we all should. Its’s rare and it’s brave and no one owes anyone anything especially in art. This take isn’t too different than the recorded version except for one thing. It’s got 100x more soul.

New Order — Regret

This is probably my favorite song by New Order. Although that could change. It’s got everything I love about them. Incredible drums over great drum programming. Peter Hook’s the best melodic bass player from the UK. He shines here. The tones of the keyboards fit perfectly and Bernard Sumner’s guitar is perfect. His direct lyrics are perfect.

Haruomi Hosono — Sports Men

Philharmony is a record I keep coming back to. It’s dense and still open and very much a vision of one person. YMO is great but this one hits me harder and “Sports Men” is the poppiest song on the record. It’s straight ahead in an unusual way or unusual in a straightforward way. Whatever you want it to be, it is.

Discovery Zone — Dance II

This is the last new song I’ve heard that’s still my favorite new song I’ve heard. It’s been a couple years and it’s still my favorite new song. It’s the perfect pop song. Discovery Zone is the recording project of JJ Weihl. She’s brilliant.

R.L. Burnside — Let My Baby Ride

This is a great genre collision. 1 + 1 = 3. It’s still new and it’s evolution. It’s got a very early Beck feel. I love everything about it.

[joemuggs]

Dance Your Way Home

This is my WIRE magazine review of Emma Warren's book from earlier this year....

👇🏻

Appropriately enough, this book is in constant movement. Its framework is simultaneously memoir, history and exploration of the human mind and body, and it oscillates between these modes, shifting perspective and location endlessly. In any page you’ll find multiple voices, the action flipping from Orpington to Rwanda and Stoke-on-Trent to Chicago in a moment, a zooming in and out from broad historical sweep to images of moving crowds to micro personal detail or insight. 

But for all that, it keeps returning to one place: the dancefloor. And even more specifically, to long-established journalist Emma Warren’s own feet, on specific dancefloors, and to what they were doing: how her feet moved, what shoes she was wearing, what those floors were made of, how it felt. It’s hard to think of a better, or more literal, way that a complex narrative could be grounded. This book dances around, but is also firmly rooted in, the very experience of dancing.

It draws us from Warren’s parents’ youth on the English south coast, through her own childhood in Kent, student days in Manchester, working for Jockey Slut and The Face, parenthood, community organising and on. Each time we get a sense of where dance was in her life, from infant school tap and ballet, through youth club discos, funk and soul clubs, acid house, 90s superclubs, drum’n’bass, dubstep, UK funky and into the myriad of jazz-adjacent fusions of the past decade.

But every step of the way it fires off backwards in time and across continents, digging into the roots of specific dance moves and styles, the functions of dancing for social groups and movements, it’s effects on the human brain. First and second hand sources are quoted constantly – from those Warren shares specific memories with through keystone musicians and promoters to academics and scientists with insight into the dance. 

In this way, it feels very similar to Jude Rogers’s The Sound of Being Human from last year, which also used memoir as a springboard to examine the science and social function of music. But where Rogers was looking the echoes and abstractions of memory, Warren keeps the focus tightly on physicality – of experiences and the building blocks of culture passed from hand to hand, body to body. And her language has a deeply satisfying physicality to match, as in “Our gestural polyphony changed the temperature, too, heating venues up with human-generated humidity.” 

Despite its omnidirectional approach, this core keeps its momentum like a groove running throughout, and it really works on all its intended levels – and simply as a polemic in favour of dancing, whether in clubs, at home or professionally. Looking at subcultural evolution through the dancer’s lens – reminding us, for example that some of the most crucial dance musicians like A Guy Called Gerald and Shut Up & Dance were trained, even professional dancers – provides endless vital insights. And Warren’s phrase making provides plenty of pithy reminders of her fierce sense of purpose. “Culture matters when everything else falls away,” she says. “You can’t eat culture and it doesn’t pay the rent, but it does provide pride and history, which are useful starting points for recovery.” 

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Virgin's 21st Anniversary Sampler 1993 New Wave / Alternative Rock / Progressive Rock / Alternative Dance

Pretty essential listening here if you want a quick and dirty rundown of one of the most important independent record labels in the history of contemporary and popular music. Chronologically woven, this one-CD, UK-released 21st Anniversary Sampler from Virgin Records tracks the label's growth and evolution in 18 songs, beginning in 1973 with Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells"—which also served as the theme music for The Exorcist—and closes out in 1991, with an offering from the phenomenal and innovative electronic-new wave-synthpop group Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark. Can't say I'm too fond of the track that was chosen to specifically represent them, though.

Truth be told, billionaire business magnate Richard Branson may be a tax-evading ass who's like a baby boomer version of Elon Musk—although a lot less abhorrent in many ways—and his seemingly heartfelt desire to help rid the world of its existential crises seems to often be at odds with his own practice of hyper-capitalist entrepreneurialism, as well as his extravagant lifestyle. But still, like him or not, before there was Virgin Airways, Virgin Megastores, Virgin Mobile, and all of his other many, many ventures, the guy definitely had an ear for good music. And Virgin Records ended up marking the highly successful start of his quite absurd and sprawling business empire.

So, with this release, you definitely will not be getting a full representation of Virgin in its first 21 years, as it's missing contributions from quite a lot of people, including the Krautrock bands that fueled a lot of the label's initial success, like Can, Tangerine Dream, and Faust, and essential new wave and synthpop groups like The Human League and Culture Club too. But be that as it may, when taking on the nearly impossible task of boiling down this label to just 18 songs, this CD still definitely goes, and it really shows just how large Virgin managed to get and how impactful their roster was on music in general.

Virgin had originally started out as a relatively small enterprise, but after being able to nab such a controversial act as The Sex Pistols in '77, things only proceeded to grow from there, and they then ended up becoming quite a force for British alternative, prog, and new wave, with bands like Genesis, Madness, Simple Minds, and XTC leading the way. Following the dissipation of that era in the late 80s and early 90s, they then landed acts like Soul II Soul, Lenny Kravitz, and Enigma too, whose own early successes of "Back to Life," "Let Love Rule," and "Sadeness," respectively, showed that Branson had developed a label that had clearly been built to last and could adapt to popular music's changing and expanding landscape, all while managing to maintain a certain air of alternative coolness—despite the cringeworthy "21 year-old virgin" joke that comes along with this album itself 😒.

Highlights:

Mike Oldfield - "Tubular Bells (excerpt)" Roxy Music - "Love Is the Drug" Sex Pistols - "Pretty Vacant" XTC - "Making Plans for Nigel" Phil Collins - "In the Air Tonight" Madness - "Our House" Genesis - "Mama" Simple Minds - "Waterfront" Public Image Ltd. - "Rise" Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer" Soul II Soul - "Back to Life" Lenny Kravitz - "Let Love Rule" Enigma - "Sadeness"

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2022: #10 - #6

10. UNITED KINGDOM Sam Ryder - “SPACE MAN 2nd place

Decade rank: 18/79 [above Last dance, below Je me casse]

UP IN SPACE MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

There are moments I forget Sam Ryder and Space Man are real things that happened. A good song representing Union Jack colours, by an influencer who looks like a labrador superimposed onto the face of Janice the muppet through deepfake software. Are we sure this was not a fever dream? 😳 Are we sure this is the BBC ? 

So uh yeah, the UK had a pretty good entry last year. 🙂 At last, a British hopeful who isn’t embarrassing right out of the gate and could unironically be described as enjoyable. If The UK were winning a jury vote any year, then 2022 was that golden opportunity.

The crazy part is that they did AND it felt earned? “Space Man” is so unequivocally British-sounding. The score effortlessly conjures up that unique Brit-rock vibe that we know from Queen, David Bowie, the Beatles, and turns it into something that sounds like a clarion of triumph thundering gloriously over the Turin 2022′s remaining proceedings.

I feel like Space Man’s inherent sense of achievement and of victory - despite the lyrics dealing with the dark side of success and the return to the simple life - (you know i love a clever lyrical contradition) made so many people flock to it. There WAS some lameness to be found (”searched around the universe / been down some black holes” did the songwriters look at grindr bio’s for their material?) but overall Space Man stood up as the rare Good UK entry.

So if you have all that empowerment jazz in your song, you need a good act to bring it out? Fortunately, the BBC for once did well there too. As soon as I saw they had built a spacecraft out of scaffholding (clever lateral staging btw), had stuffed in Ryder into a swarovski-studded leotard and forced him to perform a cheesy guitar solo I knew. I knew they had managed to summon the spirit of Ziggy Stardust to bless Ryder with winnerness and that he would steer his rebar rocket into a top finish. And so he did. 

Now, as for my reservations because I have a few

One, Ryder. Yes, Ryder had the best vocal out of anyone this year, period. I have no doubts he’s a genial young man too. Cool if you care about these things. I however do not, because I don’t find him charismatic. 🙂 First of all, he does fucking look like a deepfake what the hell is up with that? Secondly, the adlibs. Normally I like it when contestants go full ham but here I find it irritating. Space man is good and doesn’t fucking need embellishment. Therefore the adlibs must be some kneejerk instinct Ryder inherited from his influencer days, which ew. The BBC have taken Ryder out of the TikTok but they have not managed to take TikTok out of the Ryder. 

Two, The Social Media Craze. You already know I feel about that stuff and how it interacts with Eurovision, although I mind it not so much here - Space Man came fifth in the televote and not first (and thankfully, also not seventeenth), and was also adopted by the radio stations ahead of its viralness. Also Space Man went less viral than Snap. Its popularity was a natural evolution.  All of these things are preferable when you’re solidly into “Good Not Great” territory. 🙂 Still, any mileage derived from braindead spyware apps is a sin on principle, so ::ding:: 

Three, Irrespective of anything else I’ve written above, I’ve always solidly liked, but never fully loved Space Man. This applies to both the song and its staging. I don’t mind that it got second, but it did beat better entries while doing so. Eleven months later I still feel that way, and as we go forward in this ranking, it has to leave within this update. If I have to choose who to rank higher between an annoying influencer with a good song and a bunch of lovable randoms with clown fiesta music, the randoms always win! 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

09. IRELAND Brooke - “That’s rich” 34th place

Decade Rank: 16/79 [Above Destiny, below Natalia Gordienko]

NO TITLE SCREEN?! ROBBED!!!! RIGGED!!!

God I wanted it for Brooke, I really, REALLY wanted it! In the same vein as Ryder, finally an entrant for Ireland that isn’t a walking cringe, or a dead on arrival lamus or an offensive sap. Finally an Irish entry that isn’t fucking HOPELESS. (um ignore that I believed in Maps until it crashlanded into last place lol)

But of course, less hopeless than the average Irish entry only meant "another solid NQ, just not in last place this time”. lol. 😥 

I greatly enjoyed Brooke though. Here’s yet another flawlessly flawed combination of song and singer, united in holy floptrimony. “That’s rich” is a trash baby of the finest camp qualité, and at least half of its sassy vernacular belongs in an Almanac for All Time Eurovision lyrics. LOSER LOSE YOUR ATTITUDE I’M DOING GOOD YEAH THAT’S ON ME and BYE BYE FOOL are and will forever be a part of my brain-to-post jargon from this Brooke onwards. Me and the friends even conjured up a French version called “C’est Riche” which is the ultimate high honour you can get, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

The way Brooke and That’s Rich synergize together spoke to me. The song is very sassy and feisty and playful, whereas the singer is kind of... a dorky shrew (<3). Reminder that Brooke is a friend to all Spanish Customs Officers and dedicated enough towards maintaining that friendship to greet her Italian audiences with  “OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ” . She went ALL IN on channelling ALL the emotions during her live performance. Unlike Ryder’s, Brooke’s adlibs felt genuine enough to adore. Let the GIF reel commence: ´

É, CRETIN

C’EST RICHE, J’EN AI EU ASSEZ DE VOUS

C’EST RICHE, T’AS UNE AIRE DE CLOUN

C’EST RICHE; TU N'AS QU’AUCUN CLOU

DONC C’EEEEEEEST RIIIIICHE

VA T’EN, CON 🙂

Ryder dead in a ditch. Brooke broke from her betadom to live the ALPHA LYFE on that stage and based on merit, I thought she had it. Yet almost nobody (of relevance) cared?! How? Well ok I know why (it’s eurotrash <3) but honestly how difficult was it to just penalize all the cheaters on the spot? I guess garbage like Fade to Black and River absolutely DESERVED those algoritm points!!! In the end, I can accept this outcome because WRS also served edible fun and I sorta nibbled, but Europe denied us a feisty feast here! Another year were Ireland deserved better! WILL IT EVER END?!

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08. AUSTRIA Lum!x ft. Pia Maria - “Halo” 36th place

Decade rank: 14/79 [Above Natalia Gordienko, below Senhit]

LEMME BE YOUR HAY-LA HOOOOOOOOOOOOO

There you have it. This year’s best non-qualifier. And its journey was through Eurovisionland was WILD. 😍

Where to start? Like always and more pressingly than usual, at the selection.  Imagine waking up to Austria declaring that a 20 year old Gabry Ponte protégé with no solo experience will be their rep, accompanied by something or someone called “Pia Maria”, a name that gave you zero hits if you put it through google or spotify. So of course me and the gang instantly started spec’ing whether “Pya Mariyah”  was a huge untapped talent discovered through chance by Lum!x (not implausable! Janet Grogan is, after all, a better vocalist than Adele), a highly advanced neural net or Philipp Kirkorov in disguise.

Then “Halo” was released, and it doled out BpM at a faster pace than most nightcores and had an absolute word casserole for lyrics. 😍 “Philosophers like Socrates go find something to get on your feet. Go sharpen your teeth” lmfao what?! 

 And like that, the journey dove head-first into hilarious absurdity. WHAT IS THIS ENTRY?! This was chosen by the SAME people that bored us with Cesár Sampson and Vincent KinderBueno? HOW did ORF land on Pia Maria? Where did they find her? Did they select her via a raffle, or was she in the room when Lumix realized he needed a vocalist? Was she a random they snagged off the streets? Is she someone’s secret nepobaby? It honestly fries my brain that this was deemed a serious attempt at a qualifying entry by the fandom.

So yeah the second they had set a foot in PalaOlimpico,  Pia and Luca immediately immolated themselves to death in a blaze of chaotic neutral. I hope everyone saw this coming because I sure did and relished every nanosecond of it. Pia became winded approximately 40 seconds into the performance and spent the rest of the performance running a losing race against her vital capacity.

Luca meanwhile, oh man. Pia gets a bad wrap for her vocals, and she was Not Very Good, but like what do you expect from a newbie cajoled into performing a litany of jibberish. What really took “Hayla Ho” on a ride down Hysteria Lane for me were Luca’s jubilant adlibs juxtaposed to Pia’s visible failure. Every time Pia missed a note she at least looked a bit disappointed with herself. Luca went on a fucking runner’s high with every passing beat, blissfully unaware to the hellscape forming itself around him and Pia.

He absolutely CANNOT contain himself. 😍 So much so that his voice cracks THREE SECONDS INTO HALO. 😍 The true insane asylum heights of fusedmarc were never reached, but they came sorta close.

So yeah, like That’s Rich, Halo was instantly ironic eurotrash. Unlike That’s Rich, I not once thought Halo would do well lmfao. How could anyone think that?! Its entire purpose at Eurovision was to be a great and memorable trainwreck. They passed with flying colours <3

Oh and as all great morality tales go, this one ends with Pia deleting Luca off her social media mere hours after the live performance, having accomplished her goal of getting a three-week free holiday 😍  If that doesn’t cement her as the most relatable neural net of this decade, then idk what will. 

K and now for a MASSIVE leap in quality: 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

07. THE NETHERLANDS S10 - “De diepte” 11th place

Decade rank: 11/79 [above Manizha, below TBA]

🦉😂 -- S10, me.

Yep, above Manizha who was top five for me in 2021. 2022 is strangely top-heavy, where the good entries are all GREAT and the rest of the contest simply doesn’t exist. 

So yeah, time to discuss a few Real Songs before the final countdown. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Eurovision is a music contest. This selectful forgetfulness is achieved when great music fails to reach the top 10! 🙄 And people wonder why juries are important. Forget the Die Togethers and Fade to Blacks of this world - THIS is sort of interpretation juries ought to reward. 

Anyway, “De diepte” is kind of my jam and you may think this would make the write-up easier and you’re so so so wrong. Stien dwells deeply (ahem) in that Victoria zone where the quality is so obvious it renders further words redundant. WHICH IS PERSONAL RANKER HELL!!! 

 “De diepte” is not some dreck-wreck featuring several layers of mass hysteria (some of which only exist in my head <3) that I get to describe in various degrees of colourful language. "De diepte” is a song. A real song. It’s emotionally layered, intelligent, well structured and easy to listen to on repeat, and I have for several hours total. The moment RIGHT after the big note, when S10 looks almost overwhelmed with emotion and is about to cry man, I Felt That. I Felt it in my core, in my bones, in my soul. I’m not made of concrete. The contrast with Botmanda couldn’t be greater:

Now as far as my random things I specifically loved about S10 go, they include: her nom-de-plume which caused several people (including Matt 🥴) to pronounce her name as “Season Ten”, the fact that AVROTROS wanted to push a song in Dutch and then came up with a chorus that can mostly be summarized by two emojis, and of course this:

It’s not quite the Tinkara sorcery, but the intent is there, and I appreciate it. 

Other than that, “De diepte” is a very good showcase of Dutch indiepop, which -living 30 km from the NL border- is a genre I know very well and fucking love. It’s what I would call A Real Song, a song that actually speaks to people and has legs outside of the contest. It’s defo something I would listen to during the off-season when i’m detoxing from ESC if it had not been ESC itself.

However, I have to also put my Big Ranker’s Pants on and make my Big Ranker decisions: When picking who I rank ahead of other entries I like roughly the same, I need to assess the contest. 2022 was light on europulp spectacle and heavy on the”“Good Musical Quality” type of entry. So in a sense, I feel like i need to prioritize spectacle over song to a certain degree. Or at least those I am able to praise with more profound terms than “this is very good, not a top 10, REALLY, Europe?”.

And on that note~

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

06. PORTUGAL MARO - “Saudade, saudade” 9th Place

Decade rank: 10/79 [Above S10, below TBA]

Ok so, S10, Maro and the 5th placer are basically three acts I like equally much, and they’re ranked based on how much I can talk about :-) 

THOSE ARE THE RANKER’S RULES, SORRY! Speaking of things that rule, I present Maro: a woman who forgot to stage her song in the semi of FdC because she assumed nobody would like her and then won the final in an overwhelming landslide <3 

and for good reason because “Saudade Saudade” is berry gud. Like “De diepte” i feel like its appeal is just very obvious? It’s clever, it’s emotional, it’s very well performed. It is one of those songs that would find their way to an audience even without the exposure of the Eurovision Song Contest.

That said, Maro *very* narrowly edges out S10 for me for a handful of reasons. First off, while beam sorcery is a nice staging trick, I do find the circle of wymyn powah a slightly stronger visual representation. It creates some interaction on the stage,which translates to spectacle, which translates to good television. 

Secondly, the vocals: Systur’s harmonies were already outstanding. Maro and her backings are even better. Maro’s own hoarse vocals holy heck. t’s difficult to fully engage into praise because Cornelia exists and we’ll get there in the next post, but talk about a song whose rawness came alive through sheer vocal timbre. Anyone who can sing is able pull off a “De diepte”. The list of people that are capable of doing a “Saudade Saudade” is very short.

Thirdly, both songs deal with break-ups and letting go, but I find Maro’s methods more wholesome.  “Saudade, Saudade” is literally an attempt at unspooling raw thoughts being put into little word blankets, and coming to the realization that the best memories and strongest emotions cannot be turned into lyrics. They exist in the heart. And that I can feel.

Ok some other little details here include Maro recruiting her former rivals Ginger Ale Lady and Woman’s Corpse Lady into her backing cabal, the fact that her fucking insta handle is or was @ItsAMeMARO and her growing disbelief that people really *truly* liked her as much as they did, and you know you have a pretty awesome contestant on your hands. Maro feels humble in a genuine and endearing way that you rarely see in Eurovision where most contestants are inexperienced, ambitious or huge fans. 

Overall though, Maro runs into the same ranker curse as S10. There just isn’t much to discuss beyond the music, and the music is really darn good. Still, it’s a very positive sign that the juries recognized that by giving her 5th place (without a single 12? lol?) and countered her bad position in the R/O. In the full picture she falls a bit short for me though. 🤷‍♀️

CONGRATULATIONS TOP FIVE!!!

WHO. WILL. WIN?!

[duran-duran-less-official]

Sometimes I genuinely forget that duran duran is an Actual Thing and not just a silly little name one of my mutuals (you <3) has. I should rly look up some of their stuff at this point shouldn’t I

What kind of music do they make?

I hope, as one of my mutuals (no idea which one!), you're ready for an infodump.

Duran Duran is a New Wave band who have been making music steadily since 1981. New Wave is a term that very loosely encompasses everything that happened after punk in the late 70s and early 80s. In the UK, Thatcher had just taken over and started running the country into the dirt - Reagan would come along in the US shortly - and the response of many artists was to use their newfangled "synthesizers" to just... have a lot of fun with it! Duran Duran's own lead singer said they were a band to dance to when the bomb drops, and that seems like a pretty good description of New Wave in general. One of their songs even includes a tongue in cheek reference to nuclear war.

What I'm saying is, if you like most 80s music that people still remember today (The Safety Dance, Bette Davis Eyes, Take on Me, the synth-heavy stuff), you will probably enjoy at least a few of Duran Duran's early songs (1981-1985)

But Duran Duran also changed up their sound a fair bit, not just in the way that you might evolve from album to album. I can't pretend that I'm well-versed in music theory enough to know all the specific sub-genres at play, but Notorious (co-produced by Nile Rodgers) sounds very different from The Wedding Album which sounds very different from Medazzaland, and Astronaut sounds more like an evolution of the sound of The Wedding Album but nothing like Paper Gods (also co-produced by Nile Rodgers, but still very different from Notorious) and it's hard to know what to recommend to people who ask!

But I'm sure I can't cover everything that Duran Duran has put out over 3 incredibly varied decades, so I'll just list my favourites by year.

Songs that Duran Duran are actually well-known for:

Girls On Film (1981) (just about SFW)

Rio (1982)

A View To A Kill (1985)

Notorious (1986)

Ordinary World (1993)

Songs Duran Duran made that most people don't know about but I still like them:

The Chauffeur (1982)

My Antarctica (1990)

Last Day On Earth (2000)

Beautiful Colours (2004?) (officially unreleased)

Girl Panic! (2010)

Paper Gods (2015)

Tonight United (2022)

[lonely-soul-02]

Actually DOYS charted better in the US than their previous albums in the 00s! No 5 on Billboard 200 (DBTT was 12, HC - 23) - not that bad for the UK band past its prime and that was with half-arsed promotion and half-arsed everything really (I don’t like it sorry) The trend was raising. Better album with better promotion could ve done better

And it was myth that Liam didn’t let Noel be more adventurous with music - the myth perpetuated by Noel much later, in his disco years not so long ago . If you read an interview posted by Devilsrefugee some time ago I think he said in 2008 (or bit earlier) music wise he and Liam on the same page, their issues is purely personal. If you listen to the songs he wrote in that period there was nothing not “Oasis-y”, it wasn’t like he wrote disco or whatever songs and shelved them because the evil Liam made him, they didn’t exist. It was Liam who bring Death in Vegas in their studio. because he wanted the next Oasis album be different, at least in the 2000s he wasn’t against changing their sound a bit. Sooo that’s just another Noel lies. Oasis was criticized for their lack of music evolution or whatever and Noel instead of taking responsibility for it like “the chief” and the main songwriter of the band, put the blame on Liam

Yeah it was my point about Amsterdam, there was potential for the band for growth at least on the European market back then (and even the US wasn’t hopeless case), Liam wasn’t wrong

Even if they’d had a ‘better album’ as you say (what would have made it better?) with better promotion, how far do you think they could have gone in an era when rock was in decline? And they weren't Coldplay, or the Arctic Monkeys. The trend wasn’t rising. For rock as a genre, it was falling. By 2010 with a few exceptions, rock had largely given way to pop, dance and hip hop/rap. So we'll probably have to agree to disagree on that one, but that's fine, it's all opinions/speculation!

Re: Liam and Noel's musical differences. Yes, Noel lies and spins narratives to suit himself, but that doesn’t mean there is no truth in anything he says. At any rate, I think Liam's issue was less to do with not liking Noel's offerings and more to do with him trying to assert some control in a situation where he felt increasingly insecure. Saying that, would Liam have supported Noel taking Oasis ever further down the melodic pop and strings route; would he have championed Noel taking Oasis into Who Built The Moon territory? Bearing in mind that Liam has said WBTM isn't even all that 'far out' (he's right) yet he still hates it. I could see Liam wanting more psychedelia and less romantic pop to be honest.

In any case, Oasis was not the vehicle for Noel to branch out creatively, and Noel knew that. With his penchant for pop and dance and his collab with The Chemical Brothers, it's not surprising that after he left Oasis Noel turned to Amorphous Androgynous. He got cold feet on that collaboration (the divisive fan reaction to WBTM confirms he was right to get cold feet). But listen to the beautiful Ibiza infused AA Shoot A Hole Into The Sun. Can you imagine Liam approving that for the next Oasis album?

Let’s not forget that Liam’s opinion and his ‘great set of ears’ mattered to Noel. It was Liam’s opinion that Noel sought first. If Liam said a song was't good enough for Oasis, Noel listened.

This is not to say that ‘evil Liam’ made Noel shelve songs. It wouldn’t work like that. Noel was constrained by being in Oasis. Being in Oasis meant writing certain songs in a certain way for a certain crowd - you said yourself you don’t like DOYS. You’re one of many. As Noel has said, over time, the pressure to please everyone gets to an artist. I don’t believe that Noel really wanted to leave Oasis. What he wanted was a creative outlet where he didn’t have the pressure of Oasis hanging over him and time away from brotherly conflict. And Liam didn’t want Noel to have that outlet because he was understandably terrified of losing him, along with his purpose in life. Now he sees he should have let Noel have the outlet but as young man with his own issues and insecurities, he couldn’t see it then. 

They were bound to have creative differences as they grew. Liam is his own person with his own ideas, of course he wouldn’t agree with Noel’s ideas all the time, of course they would disagree. That’s just bands for you. But with those two, their personal differences exacerbated any musical differences.

I adore this version and wish we could hear the whole AA album.

[xomby]

tagged by my dear friend @fancy-a-dance-brigadier

3 ships- benton/yates OBVIOUSLY they’re the world to me i literally can’t even begin to explain the amount of over analyzing i’ve done to make their relationship complex and incredible, nyssa/tegan the most sickening little gutting loves on earth, 3/delgado IM SORRYYY i’m not immune to thoschei and they’re by far the best and most interesting take on it (yes i only engage in the dr who fandom at this point)

first ship ever- god maybe quicksilver/nightcrawler from x men evolution lol?? the first one that changed my life was monty/jasper from the 100 which is DARK DAYS 😅

last song- jennifer by faust 😁 bit of a faust kick again

last movie- just watched paprika w/ my sibling which was pretty cool!! before that was either la grande bouffe or rewatching el topo, i can’t remember which

currently reading- the upanishads tbh, also the orgone accumulator handbook, but i’m reading them so slowly that it barely counts

currently watching- i’ve been watching fear factor uk which is the pits but i like a bit of mindless reality tv while i make art. still trying to get through twin peaks which is great but i’m so slow at it

currently consuming- jalapeño + mango cocktail 😋

currently craving- a fanfiction/fanart driven all nighter to make me feel alive

9 people to tag- ummm uhh idk whoever wants to!!!

[twinsimming]

Music Meme

Thanks for the tag @pudding-parade @puffkins2000 @enable--llamas and @joojconverts! Sorry if I’m a little late 💙💙💙

▶ Rules:

🎶✨ When u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, and publish. then, send this ask/tag 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)✨🎶

Tagging @heldhram @olomayasims @jamiegirlposts @carversims @desiree-uk @omedapixel @simsdeogloria @hurricanesims @martassimsbook @bietjie​ and anyone else who sees this and wants to share! No pressure 🤗

1. The entirety of RENAISSANCE by Beyoncé!! I can’t just pick one song! Every track is a hit in its own right, her vocals are INSANE, and the album has had me in a vice grip since it came out. Easily my album of the year, album of the decade, actually.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzrMYyHmLhGA9MJNeIMOPrciPVTbnk48M

2. Sharks by Imagine Dragons - I’ve been listening to Imagine Dragons since their first album (11 years ago 😵) and they’re still surprising me! The guitar is truly the star of the show on this track and the opening notes remind me a bit of MySims Agents music (my simmer brain at work!). It’s dethroned my longtime favorite song of theirs Roots as my favorite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j7twuejxvU

3. Fun At The Alley by Labrinth - Hands down my favorite male artist and my favorite song by my favorite male artist! Definitely an electronic song (there is a theme 👀) but it also feels stripped back with its percussion. It reminds me of going roller skating and bowling as a teenager. Every track he makes always feels fresh and innovative and this one is no different. Not sure how he managed to capture the essence of a bowling alley in a song, but I won’t question his methods!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPlM7AxhUjw

4. Sweet Melody by Little Mix - Another song from another group I’ve followed since their debut! This is from their sixth album Confetti and has a huge electronic dance vibe to it. Gosh there’s so much I could say about Little Mix and their music and their evolution as a group over the last decade, can you tell I’m a fan? Lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4P-WOOUPk4

5. How You Like That by BLACKPINK - My introduction to the world of K-Pop girl groups! This song gives huge girl power vibes and the beat is punchy in a way the reminds me of my era of listening to bass boosted versions of songs on YouTube. 10/10. No notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioNng23DkIM

[tsconcerttour]

Taylor Swift Set to Conquer London in 2024 with Epic Stadium Concert

Global pop sensation Taylor Swift is gearing up for another massive world tour in 2024, and fans in London are buzzing with excitement about the possibility of the singer returning to conquer the British capital once again. Sources say Swift may be eyeing dates at the iconic Wembley Stadium, home to some of the biggest acts in music history, as part of the worldwide run.

With her sweeping catalog of emotive pop anthems and chart-topping albums, a Taylor Swift concert London is an unforgettable experience for the passionate Swiftie fanbase. From potential surprise guests to the likelihood of the singer showcasing her masterful songwriting in stripped-down acoustic renditions, a Taylor show in London encompasses the full spectrum of emotion and energy. Fans can expect to laugh, cry, dance, and shout along to Taylor's catchy choruses - sometimes all in one song!

After the record-shattering success of Swift's most recent studio albums, speculation is already swirling about the potential for new music to accompany the 2024 tour. Will Taylor gift fans with her next pop opus just in time for stadium shows in London? Or perhaps she will come armed with acoustic reinventions, mashups, and medleys highlighting her evolution as an artist through the years.

One thing is for certain - Taylor plans her live shows with care and creativity, ensuring an intimate connection with fans in every corner of massive venues like Wembley. With a career spanning well over a decade and 10 genre-hopping albums, devoted UK Swifties are hungry for the iconic singer's return to London. Get ready, London - Taylor Swift is poised once again to show the world exactly why her stadium concert spectacle is unmatched in the game.