#dice the second mini album

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

Happy 2nd Anniversary 'DICE' !

[fayeforrosie]

Karaoke Nights

Yunjin x Fem! Reader

Already stressed from all of the busy work Yunjin was required to do for her album promotion, she seeks an escape at a Karaoke bar she habitually visits, not expecting to find the possible love of her life

Warnings- Cannabis usage, swearing, sexual content, mention of alcohol

Word Count- 3.4k

Yunjin’s eyes began to lower as her face contorted into a lazy smile, hair spread messily on the floor as she stared up at the spotted ceiling above, almost convinced that it had been spinning nearly two seconds ago.

The idol brought her blunt back up to her parted lips, inwardly inhaling as she closed her eyes and subsequently sighed out the smoke, where she no later felt the ease of the cannabis flow towards her head.

It was a busy day for Yunijn, to say the least, and it was an evident need for Yunjin to come home to a newly rolled blunt sitting beside her ashtray. During promotions, it was always hectic, and Yunjin knew she could never get herself through such a busy schedule without smoking at least three times a week.

She initially quit just before she debuted, seeing it as a distraction and could possibly ruin her chances at fulfilling her idealistic dreams. Nevertheless, maybe a distraction is just what she needed, so just when the promotions began for their first mini-album, Yunjin picked up her habits once again.

Her members knew about her imperfect ways of coping with her stress levels, and did their best to handle her situation to the best of their ability, whether it be spending their time with her in her dorm as a way of keeping her mind off of things such as weed and alcohol (but mostly weed). Kazuha even offered to get Yunjin special help from one of her family members, claiming they were an addiction therapist and helped immensely with drug users in the past.

“It’s not an addiction, it’s just a divertissement”, Yunjin would claim, half attempting to convince her member and half trying to convince herself.

Maybe it was a dependency, but Yunin couldn’t care less. As long as it wasn’t effecting her work during the day, she could get as high as she liked at night.

And that is what she was, as high as she liked herself to be.

“I’m going out”, Yunjin claimed as she stood up, not realizing that there was nobody surrounding her in the room, and she had just formally spoken to herself. The idol laughed out loud for her mistake before she slides her shirt on, that had previously occupied the floor, and makes her way to the living room, noticing her leader playing an intense game of monopoly with the youngest of the group.

“Hi”, Yunjin smiles widely, eyes crescent as she patted her leader on the head.

“Oh hello Ms. Huh, I smell a little something on you”, Chaewon smiles after she sniffs her members hand, smacking it away after doing so.

“I wonder what it is”, Yunjin smirks.

“Why don’t you go take a shower and clean yourself up”, Chaewon suggests as she rolls the two dice ahead of her onto the board, pumping her first in the air when she came to realize she had rolled doubles.

“Actually, I was going to go out”, Yunjin claims, already walking towards the front entry door.

“Um, to where? Dressed like that?”

“Can I come with?” Eunchae exhorts cheerfully.

“Just to walk around the city, and no you can not come, my little cutie”, Yunjin imitates a frowny face before throwing her car keys up in the air and reaching to grab them, however failing to do so as it comes crashing onto the hardwood floor.

“Whoops”, Yunjin laughs at her antics and picks them up, “tried to be cool there.”

Chaewon huffs air out of her nostrils, shaking her head and laughing at how stupid her member looked at the moment. Her eyes half open and her outfit seeming more for a club than a casual stroll through the city.

Yunjin already knew where she was going. She had the familiar directions set in her mind as she drove down the shaded road, adjacent to a local bar she frequented.

As Yunjin parked her car towards the back of the building, so no cameras could secretly take shots of where she’s been, she began to make her entrance through the back door.

“Yunjin, what’s up?” The owner happily greeted her at the sight of the idol, holding his hand out naturally for a fist bump.

“How’s it going Diego?" Yunjin spoke to the man, kindly returning his fist bump.

The idol took in the sight of the karaoke bar, neon lights illuminating the interior, decorations accompanying the graffitied walls, and the many booths aligned symmetrically, where she could faintly hear the sounds of voices inside the rooms.

Yunjin would often come here when dealing with her stress levels reaching to the point of anxiety. She found this place to be an escape, where the owner allowed her the same private booth each time, leaving the girl alone, free of charge, as she would keep herself entertained in the room with the sounds of her obnoxious singing and the horrific stench of her half-finished blunt.

“It is open?” Yunjin questions, silently imploring that nobody had selfishly taken the only thing that could keep her alive.

“You know it”, Diego smirks, leading the way to the booth just down the hall, searching his pockets for the keys before he later opens the wooden door for the girl.

“You’re the best, I love you”, Yunjin offers one more fist bump before Diego shuts the door and leaves the woman at her peace.

Admiring the sight of the familiar room, Yunjin sighs in relief to herself for finally arriving at her peace. She hadn’t came to this place in some time, probably about a month already, as she was too busy with her promotions for her groups newly released album, and found no time in her schedule to fit her own activities in.

Yunjin finds herself seated on the singular couch, hands reaching out as she skillfully rolled a new blunt for herself, not that she needed it at the moment given how high she already was, but depending on how long she stays at the place, she may need a backup.

“Perfect”, Yunjin smiles, where she later grabs the remote to the TV ahead of her and scrolls through the potential songs she could sing. She clicks her tongue with each lyric video she passes over, already haven done them during her previous visits, and throws her head back when she realizes that she’s too high to even come up with a song to sing, and all the songs appearing on the home screen she’s sang already.

Just when Yunjin is about to attempt to regain her focus on the music she wants to sing, trying desperately to reach her sober self so she could experience some fun for the night, her head raises at the sound of the wooden door to the booth opening. Just before she could yell at the person to get out, not wanting any fans, or random customers, to ruin her only time to herself, she catches a glimpse of the most alluring girl entering the room, where she noticed the girls eyes catch Yunjin's before she retraces her steps, backing up and muttering an apology, saying something along the lines of not knowing the booth was occupied.

Although Yunjin thought she would want any person to back off and leave her to be by herself, she didn’t want such a pretty girl (or maybe she was only average, and Yunjin was just high and horny) to slip through her fingers that quickly.  

“Hey wait!” Yunjin announces, not giving her mind enough time to think through what she wanted to say.

She sees you turn around, hand still on the doorknob, and a hopeful look adorning your expression.

“Do you want to stay?” Yunjin questions, and if someone was to guess whether she was sober or high based on that sentence, they would unquestionably guess that she hadn’t touched a single ounce of cannabis in her life.

“Oh um”, you turn to look outside, seeing if the idol was really talking to you.

You knew who the girl was. You had seen her all over posters throughout your city, noticing her groups songs playing endlessly at specific places you would stop by at, whether it be a coffee shop, a thrift store, or whatever place you would occupy yourself with.

Huh Yunjin was insanely famous, especially where you are, and anyone could pick out the idols features in a room full of people. You had always been a fan of the groups music, having a few of their songs added to your playlist, but you didn’t know much about the members, or what their personalities were like.

Certainly, you had not expected one of the members to be alone inside the booth you had been recently going to, an escape for you to get your mind off of things such as uni or work.

“Are you ok with that?” You ask gently, not wanting to push any boundaries.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t”, Yunjin states, and she knew she would have been much nicer, and a lot less rude, if she weren’t intoxicated at the moment. Unfortunately, her words flew off of her tongue before she could give herself the chance to determine if it was something alright to say.

“Oh”, you looked around once again, “sure.”

“Ok”, Yunjin smiles and pats the seat beside her, “I was trying to think of something to sing but I couldn’t, have anything in mind?”

You waltz your way over to the couch, comfortably taking the open spot next to the idol, immediately sensing the smell of weed infiltrate your nose, and you found yourself less surprised than you should have been, deeming it inevitable for an idol that endures so much pressure to naturally resort to drugs as a coping mechanism.

Yunjin noticed when the smell of weed came to you, and she picked up the blunt and brought it to you, offering you a hit wordlessly.

“Oh”, you waved your hands before her, “I don’t usually smoke.”

Yunjin keeps the blunt in front of you, as if she was refusing your decline.

“You don’t usually?” She asks.

You nod your head, furrowing your eyebrows at what she was trying to get at.

“So does that means you have before, if you don’t usually do it?”

She keeps the blunt in her grasp, ready for when you change your mind. Yunjin wanted you to be high with her. You were so ethereal, that being this high in front of you was utterly embarrassing to the idol, so if you were to smoke a little yourself, you would at least be in the same state as her.

“I guess yeah, I just don’t do it too often. Only at like parties or with friends. Or maybe for a special occasion”

Yunjin scoots closer to you, her leg now brushing against yours.

“Well, you’re with me... so you can say it’s a special occasion”, Yunjin holds the blunt now closer to you, hoping you give in and eventually take it for yourself.

“Why is that so special?” You question, possibly flirting if you were to look at it in such a way.

“Is it not special to be in a private room with the Huh Yunjin?”

Yunjin wants to crack you. She wants you to give in to her charm, fall to your knees and do anything she wants. If she were sober, she knows damn well she would have already flirted her way into pinning you up against the wall, hand half way up your thigh while the other was attached to your neck. But, being in this state, Yunjin needs to choose her words wisely, cautiously get you to the point of desperation.  

“Why don’t you show me why it’s so special?” You lean closer, face inches apart from hers. You could tell she was as high as a kite, her eyes barely open as she glares at you with such desire. You could tell she was into you already, being the only reason behind your confidence. Or you possibly were overthinking it, and maybe she was just a natural flirter when she was on some sort of drug. Technically, you didn’t know if she was into you, but you chose to play the hand you were delt.

Yunjin, seeing how close your face was, takes it as a sign to do what she is about to do, and she leans in closer to you, her lips now inches away from yours, and just before she can connect them, you instantly pull away with a smirk, turning your attention to the tv.

“I know what song to do”, you state proudly, noticing in the corner of your eye Yunjin’s hand running through her hair in frustration and shame.

You stand up, typing in “Hypnosis”, a newly released song by Ive, and as you hit play, Yunjin tugs you back down onto the couch smoothly.

“At least take a hit first”, Yunjin brings the blunt up to her face, sealing the end with her lips, inhaling the smoke, and before you could protest, Yunjin grabs you by the back of your neck and pulls you in. You know what she is trying to do, and in all honesty, it aroused you, so you open your lips slightly and allow her to blow the smoke into your mouth, her top lip just barely grazing yours.

You felt a rush of excitement flow throughout your body, a response to not only the weed, but the proximity in which you were in with the idol. Her hand doesn’t leave the back of your neck, and as you release the smoke to float lifelessly in the air, your eyes open and connect with Yunjin’s.

“Another”, you state, and Yunjin wastes no time in bringing the blunt to her lips once again, this time taking an even longer hit than before.

You close your eyes and take in the smoke, the same elation from before redeeming itself once again. Your eyes begin to get heavy, settling to the same height as Yunjin’s, and you smile when the euphoria of the high knocks into your senses.

“Another.”

Yunjin does it once again, her hand never leaving the back of your neck, and after all the hits you’ve taken, the lust floating in the air finally catches onto you, and you feel yourself becoming desperate for the girl in front of you.

Yunjin can confidently say she has been desperate this entire time, throbbing as she blew the smoke into your lips and practically drooling in anticipation each time you made eye contact with you.

You were probably the prettiest, hottest, and sexiest girl she had ever seen, without a doubt, and even the weed can’t fog her mind into thinking so.

As Yunjin stares into your eyes, your expression matching hers, she feels as if she can’t hold it anymore, like she’s going to burst if she doesn’t have you at this exact moment.

The blunt is long forgotten on the table, knowingly being placed there, unbeknownst to you. However, you later find out the blunt is no longer in Yunjin’s hand when she brings her right hand up to your chin, her fingers holding the bottom while her thumb hovers over your lips.

You open your mouth slightly, seeing how close her thumb is, and Yunjin slowly brings her finger past your lips and into your mouth. You clasp your lips around her thumb, not breaking eye contact with the idol, and nor did she, staring into your eyes with evident and pure lust.

“Your the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen”, Yunjin mutters seductively.

“How sexy Yunjin?” You smirk after her thumb is released from your lips, now placed upon your cheek. You can guarantee yourself that if it wasn’t for the weed you had previously taken, you would have most definitely been on the ground by now, deceased by how flustered the woman made you.

Yunjin rubs the back of your neck with her other hand, “You want to know?”

“Tell me”, you respond, your attention now placed on Yunjin’s lips, as was hers.

“You’re so sexy, that all I’ve been able to think about the whole time you've been here, was how bad I need to be between your legs.”

If you weren’t already an aroused mess, that comment completely guaranteed how bad you needed this woman. How bad you wanted to taste her lips, and hear her speak to you so sexily while she was under you.

“All I can think about right now is how much I want to taste your lips”, you respond, and that’s what ignites Yunjin.

The idol leans in towards your lips, slowly connecting them to hers, smirking as she hears you moan into the kiss, anticipating for it to happen already. You grab onto her waist, opening your mouth to give her more access before she skillfully slips her tongue past your lips. You do the same, tongue brushing against hers as your hands roam her revealed waist.

Yunjin pulls you onto her lap, allowing you to straddle her while she brings one hand on your waist, guiding you to begin grinding on her. You do just that, allowing another moan to flow easily off your tongue when her lips detach from yours and move to your neck, Yunjin’s tongue running up and down your newly formed hickeys.

The music in the background has already shuffled to a few new songs, and you notice the one that began playing was Yunjin’s very own song, “Unforgiven”.

You giggle when you realize what was playing, and Yunjin breaks away from your neck to see what you were laughing at, instantly noticing the background music.

“You know this song?” You ask sarcastically, and Yunjin pecks your lips before saying she might know a little of it.

You laugh seeing Yunjin’s hurt expression when you climb off of her lap, looking as if she were a boy who’s balls had just been left blue. You reach across the table ahead of you and grab one of the microphones, putting it up to your swollen lips before you begin to obnoxiously sing along with the vocals originating from the tv.

“If you sing this song with me I’ll let you take me home”, you state with a sly wink, already walking over to her to hand her the disregarded microphone.

Yunjin roles her eyes, smiling shyly at how cute you were before she takes the microphone out of your hand, walking towards your figure, wrapping one arm around you as she sings her part of the song.

The two of you continue to sing the rest of the song, and a few more that follow along after it, and Yunjin had so much fun she almost forgot the time, and the gift of being able to take you home.

“Shit”, Yunjin states, and she releases herself from your hold before rushing over to her phone, hoping the time wouldn’t completely blow her away.

“Fuck Chaewon’s going to kill me!” Yunjin shouts, setting aside the sweaty microphone and swiftly throwing her jacket on.

“We have to go”, Yunjin states in a hurry, and your heart rather flutters at the thought of her truly taking you to her place, giving you the time of your life.

You grab your things from the couch with Yunjin still tugging on your hand, and the two of you erupt into a fit of laughter as you rush out of the building, hands still intertwining while you make your way into the car.

“My lady”, Yunjin jokes, holding the car door open for you with her arm extending out in one swift motion.

You giggle at her silly manner, leaning towards her and pecking the idols lips before you take your seat in her car.

While Yunjin feels the rush of heat rise to her cheeks, she shakes her head at the thought of how lucky she was to find a girl like you at such an unexpected time.  

And the two of you still have the whole night ahead of you.

~

DO NOT DRIVE UNDER THE INFLUENCE!!

Decided to take a break from the Karina series and write something for my girl Jen. I'm literally in love with her like it's not funny she's my girlfriend everyone else is delusional

[shineemoon]

ONEW•JONGHYUN•KEY•MINHO•TAEMIN… '15th Anniversary' SHINee's 'RACE'

Since the debut in 2008, SHINee has been considered a role model for many K-pop artists as both a group and solo artists. Not only did all the members release solo albums, but they also have a solid career in various fields such as entertainment, acting, musicals, and fashion. SHINee, who has been developing personal skills not only through the team but also through solo activities, announced that they will reunite to mark the 15th anniversary of their debut this year. While high expectations are being placed on the synergy that 'Complete SHINee' will show, we looked back at SHINee's brilliant solo career.

Unrivaled ‘VOICE’ Onew. Onew, who sang many drama OSTs and collaboration songs, released his first solo album ‘VOICE’ in December 2018, which was filled with his own lyrical music, once again proving his warm tone and outstanding singing ability. He solidified his position as a unique vocalist by presenting a fresh and refreshing charm with ‘DICE’ and a healing song that comforts the listeners with his first regular album ‘Circle’ Last March, he held his solo concerts in Korea and Japan, thrilling his global fans with a high-quality performance that combines colorful music, performance, and scent production. He also played the role of Haram in the musical 'Midnight Sun' and received favorable reviews for his delicate portrayal of his shy character. Unchanging team's ‘BASE’ Jonghyun Jonghyun, who was recognized for his solid skills early on with his refreshing vocals, has released his first solo album ‘BASE’, his first collection 'Story Op.1', his first full-length album 'She Is', his second collection 'Story Op.2' and his second full-length album 'Poet | Artist', the albums that show a wide spectrum of music have received enthusiastic responses from music fans. In addition, he participated in the lyrics and composition of various songs that cross genres, such as his solo album songs, SHINee's hit songs 'Juliette' and 'View', Taemin's 'Pretty Boy', and EXO's 'PLAYBOY'. For about three years from 2014, he communicated with listeners every night as a radio DJ and gave warm comfort, and he was active in various fields such as publishing the novel “Skeleton Flower: Things That Have Released and Set Free”.

Always new ‘FACE’ Key Key is showing off his versatility in music, entertainment, fashion, etc. to the extent that he is called 'all-around cheat key'. He opened wide the door as a solo artist with his first full-length album 'FACE', and with the so-called 'retro trilogy' leading to his first mini-album 'BAD LOVE', his 2nd full-length album 'Gasoline' and repackage 'Killer', he presented music and performances with a unique charm that can be heard. In addition, Key is displaying an excellent sense of entertainment in popular entertainment programs such as tvN's 'Amazing Saturday' and MBC's 'I Live Alone'. Accordingly, it was realized that he was receiving high public attention by winning the Male Excellence Award in the variety category at the '2022 MBC Broadcasting Entertainment Awards', and winning the '2022 Brand Customer Loyalty Awards' and the '2022 Brand of the Year Awards' for two consecutive years in the entertainment idol male category. Challenges with passion ‘CHASE’ Minho Minho, a 'passionate character' in the music industry, has played a prominent role in various entertainment shows, including sports variety programs since his debut, combining his superior physique, passion that burns like a flame, wit and sense. He also showed his smooth hosting skills as an entertainment MC, including various award ceremonies and the original TVing ‘Webtoon Singer’. In addition, Minho showed a variety of performances across the spectrum through dramas such as tvN's ‘The Most Beautiful Goodbye’ and Netflix series ‘The Fabulous’, as well as movies 'Inrang' and ‘Jangsari: Forgotten Heroes’. In December last year, he released his first mini-album ‘CHASE’ filled with hip-hop and R&B genres with his own emotions, filling the last puzzle piece of SHINee's solo album. K-pop ‘ACE’ Taemin Taemin announced his solo debut as the first member of SHINee with his first mini-album ‘ACE’ in 2014. With the hit songs ‘MOVE’ and ‘WANT’, he caused the so-called ‘Move’ and 'WANT' syndrome and won awards in the album and best dance performance solo categories at various awards ceremonies. In addition, Taemin is loved by fans all over the world for his excellent vocals and powerful performance skills, as he has various modifiers such as 'Yeoksolnam (all-time solo male singer)' and 'Taemdol (Taemin is also a role model)'. He has established himself as an irrefutable "ACE" of K-pop by proving his powerful global power by successfully completing his first arena tour 17 times in six cities across Japan in 2019.

SHINee is set to release a new full-length album to mark the 15th anniversary of their debut this year. (Source: xportsnews)

[necnnights]

undefined

THE SOUND OF NEON NIGHTS !

Neon Nights’ discography consists of two studio albums, four EPs, and four singles.

The band debuted for the first time on June 15, 2016 with the release of their single, YOU. At this time, it consisted of members Sungjae (leader, vocalist, guitarist), Eunbyul (vocalist, guitarist), Hwajung (drummer), Yumi (bassist), and Myunghoon (keyboardist). This lineup would release one more single, ASPHALT, on August 10, 2016. Both songs were subject to minimal promotions and sales, and tend to be overlooked compared to the rest of the group’s discography.

It would take until July 9, 2019, for Neon Nights’ next musical release. This came in the form of a pre-release single, WE ARE, from the band’s first Japanese studio album, INTENTION. The years in between saw changes in the band’s lineup, label, and producer. Eunbyul, Hwajung, and Yumi signed with current company Zenith Entertainment and added members Eden (vocalist, keyboardist) and Qiuyun (guitarist). Hwajung also became the band’s main producer, pivoting their sound away from indie rock. INTENTION’s second lead single, JEALOUSY, released two weeks later, on July 23. It was the band’s first track in English, and began to set the tone for their new sound. The rest of the album released a week later. INTENTION performed much better than anyone thought it would, peaking at number 9 on the Oricon album chart.

Neon Nights followed up their debut success a few months later with their first EP FIRST SIGHT and lead single “DICE,” released on November 10, 2019. As a song, “DICE” was received better than both of INTENTION’s singles, though their first album is considered to be better overall. The next year, they released another single, ORDINARY, and their second EP, ALIGHT. The latter’s lead single, “Lost My Way,” was a more experimental song that included Eden on the violin, and unclean vocals courtesy of Yumi. With four releases in one year, Neon Nights established a steady Japanese following.

They would eventually return to Korea for their third debut in 2021. On March 3, Neon Nights released their first Korean single, FLY AWAY. The promotions that followed were that of an idol group, until a sudden stop less than two weeks after the single’s release. Following that small debacle, Neon Nights disappeared for ten months. They entered and exited their electronica era with the release of another Japanese EP, NEW HEIGHTS, on January 27, 2022. 

Five months later, on May 6, the band released their first Korean studio album, New Island of Utopia, a concept album inspired by Thomas More’s Utopia. They managed to finish a full four weeks of promotion this time. The album is generally considered by fans to be the magnum opus of their career so far. 

Neon Nights’ most recent release came in February 2023 with their first Korean mini album, Midnight. The title track, “I Know I Love You,” features Fable’s Yejun and Mingeun. At the time of its release, it was surrounded by controversies of the featured singers having more lines than the band members themselves. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the two groups have never performed the song live together.

[musiccomplete]

Explaining each track of the Get The Message reissue bonus disc.

basically just in case you didn’t know Get The Message - The Best of Electronic is getting reissued on the New Order website and it comes with a bonus disk of a bunch of songs, most of which previously unavailable on streaming in North America. I will point out the ones that were already available.

Getting Away with It (Vocal Remix)

So, Getting Away With It (GAWI) has several versions. This one specifically was the twelfth track of the cancelled Best of Electronic album, but hasn’t been officially released since the GAWI cassette and CD remix single, though that was already on streaming since 2013. Nice to see it on a compilation album like it desperately wanted.

Lucky Bag

B-side to GAWI. This was the first promo single for this bonus disc with Electronic’s social media claiming that it’s the first time the song has been released to streaming. It was not it was also available on that digital single. They just lied. It is an instrumental.

Feel Every Beat (DNA Remix)

This is one of the… 6 remixes available on the US CD single. This is the sixth one on the single, just before Second To None. Like GAWI (Vox) this is the first time since its initial release that it’s been printed. Unlike GAWI (Vox) though this was unavailable on streaming.

Lean to the Inside (2013 Edit)

One of two B-sides to FEB. Albeit it is for some reason the 2013 edit from Electronic Electronic’s special edition 10 years ago? I can only assume this was for storage space or something..? The full version is unavailable on streaming too so... weird.

Get the Message (DNA Groove Mix)

A remix of GTM by DNA. Features on the GTM CD single. Available on streaming everywhere except North America and on the American 2022 Record Store Day Mini Album.

Free Will (Edit)

Free Will is the B-side of GTM. The edit itself is probably the 7" one and is probably only down by a few seconds. Anyhow this is also an instrumental. Available on streaming everywhere except North America.

Disappointed (808 Mix)

Ended up being the second promo single! This indeed was completely unavailable on streaming before. Was the fourth track on one of the Disappointed singles.

Idiot Country Two

A remix of Idiot Country (don’t know who remixed it…) from the Disappointed single (theres a lot of variations), also on the 2013 release bonus disk and the RSD mini album. The third promo single, to my chagrin. I don't know why it was the third promo when it was already rereleased twice. Sigh.

Gangster (FBI Mix)

This is also from Disappointed. Previously unavailable on all streaming. Was on the RSD mini album.

I Feel Alright

B-side of For You, originally was meant to be on the cancelled Best of Electronic but when Get The Message first released, its sister, All That I Need, was placed instead. Previously unavailable on North American streaming.

A New Religion

B-Side of Forbidden City. Along with Imitation of Life although ANR was never meant to be on Best Of. This song is especially important if you’re invested in Bernard because it’s the only one he wrote the lyrics to (and partially rearranged) on Prozac. Previously unavailable on North American streaming.

Turning Point

B-side to Second Nature. Was on 2013 Self Titled albeit edited, so this is the first time the full song will be on American streaming.

Until The End Of Time (Fluffy Dice Remix)

UTEOT has a few remixes for its promo single but this one was mixed by Bernard himself. Yknow, GTM’s original tracklist was made by Johnny and Bernard filled in two songs that were missing. Ythink this is a similar case?

All alternate mixes of UTEOT were unavailable on streaming before this, in all regions to my knowledge. This one makes the most sense to reissue.

King For A Day

Bside to Late At Night (which is on GTM album), LAN was a withdrawn single. Previously unavailable on streaming in North America. But was released to Twisted Tenderness' deluxe edition CD. Previously unavailable to stream in North America.

Radiation

Ditto but it’s the Bside to Vivid instead. (And Vivid was not withdrawn…) Radiation is an instrumental. Also released to TT's deluxe CD and previously unavailable in North America.

uhhm. i don't have a conclusion. bye.

[shineearticles]

Key of veteran K-pop group SHINee has returned with his second solo album ‘Gasoline’ and its lead single of the same name.

In the theatrical new music video for ‘Gasoline’, Key sports a series of extravagant outfits as he dances his way through a barren desert, giant birdcage and luxurious throne room.

“It’s time, go go / Don’t you know, know? / Fire my gasoline / In the end, I always deliver,” the idol declares confidently in the upbeat new single’s chorus.

In addition to the title track, ‘Gasoline’ comprises a total of 11 songs, several of which Key previewed via SHINee’s official YouTube channel over the past week. These include the English-language track ‘Another Life’, album closer ‘Proud’ and B-side ‘Villain’, which features NCT‘s Jeno.

The singer had also penned several songs on the record, including lead single ‘Gasoline’, ‘G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time)’, ‘I Can’t Sleep’ and ‘Proud’.

Prior to the album’s release, Key surprised fans with the live debut of ‘Gasoline’ at SM Entertainment’s SMTOWN LIVE concert on August 20. Donning a gold bejewelled outfit also featured in its music video, the idol had performed the song and its choreography in its entirety.

In an interview with NME last year, Key spoke about the retro-futuristic aesthetics of his 2021 mini-album ‘Bad Love’. “That’s what this album is about: It’s not about creating something new, but more about bringing it back and reinterpreting it for today’s audience,” he said.

NME named the title track of Key’s ‘Bad Love’ number 3 on our list of the best K-pop songs of that year. “Key’s ‘Bad Love’ is a religious experience on similar levels, primarily because it’s so beautifully, unapologetically, liberally him that you can almost taste his life experience, his thoughts, his likes and dislikes on your tongue,” wrote NME’s Tanu I. Raj.

In May, SHINee marked their 14th anniversary, and in April, leader Onew dropped a solo project of his own, the sophomore mini-album ‘Dice’.

link

[yabai-erasure]

rip mixxpop ill always love you

wait i have to talk about nmixx for a second

young dumb stupid is itzycore in the worst way, so i wont talk about it too much because i simply dont want to listen to the song :)

love me like this bottom line the song is Fine. i've softened on it after learning some choreography, it's fun to dance to and the girls have great energy in their performances which does a lot to sell the track.

I desperately miss mixxpop though. i've been a kpop fan long enough that what really really excites me is being surprised, and nmixx's first two title tracks were surprising!! they had elements that would stick with you! big wave!! sure, the production felt like a wooden rollercoaster more than a smooth steel coaster (ive been watching so much defunctland help) but the ride is fun regardless and it makes me want to keep going back!

i saw someone compare this title track to wonder girls - like this and i instantly saw where they were coming from. which, thats the thing innit!! when i heard o.o it was like nothing i'd ever heard, but when i heard love me like this it was exactly like something i'd already heard.

I guess if SM can get away with reworking songs that are less than a year old JYP can drudge a decade-old wonder girls reject out of the vault if he wants to. love me like this feels far far more current than wg's like this, but it just doesn't feel like nmixx. all of the concept work around nmixx is so fantastical and otherworldly and this song is just...unseasoned teen crush. like im literally picturing that blank white room theyre dancing in. i'd rather them release bad songs than bland songs.

the mini album is also Fine! it sounds like a decent red velvet mini! besides young dumb stupid i like all of the tracks! but none of them stand out. if they want to rein in nmixx's sound they could have at least given us some chaotic bsides

after the era ends & im not dancing to it anymore i probably won't revisit love me like this too much. if making something boring is what it takes to get everyone on board with nmixx i guess that's what it takes but i'll keep listening to dice & o.o with bated breath

no one asked but since i mentioned rover here's a little review:

kai rover kai is hot

[kyunsies]

ok not even LYING when svt’s face the sun album came out i was like ‘yeah this is p good! only adding a few songs tho!’ but like unknowing to me back then i’ve actually added every song to my playlist and have been listening to it nonstop so ;______;

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

Happy 2nd Anniversary 'DICE'!

[minyo129]

220411 [News] SHINee's Minho hosting the online press conference to commemorate the release of Onew's second mini-album "DICE".

Naver news link

© iFlamesForMinho

[borkthemork]

This fanfic is based on the 48 Years AU, and could be found here! This is technically a very late addition to January’s Marcanne Week for the theme of Rain, so hope you guys enjoy.

---

Kamon knew that his bedroom was once a closet.

There were a lot of reasons to think this, many being simple facts he learned over the years. 

Before he ever moved in, their aunt had always called the place a storage room. It had been stuffed to the brim with boxes — choked up with patches, crud, and many other choking hazards — and reminded him of forests more than something livable. His aunt even said that a lot of it had been past things she had shared over the years.

Things that went back to the 2010s, the 2020s, and so forth, and made about as much sense as very janky vinyl sets or whatever else old people liked.

So when his ma and aunt gave him the room, the history of the place never went away when when it got scrubbed out. It still had the same blue walls, the same faded-out bi flag on the ceiling, and even with the towers of cases gone, a great deal of junk remained within the closet itself. Somehow all spotless when he checked for dust.

To him and his careful eye, Auntie Marcy’s apartment was a treasure trove of commodities. Not only were there old model planets hanging plenty from the ceiling, but there were a great deal of video game shelves and C&C posters to occupy the space.

There was the stuffy air. The ventilation. The clean windows his aunt definitely deep-scrubbed out with her bare hands. And every part of it still retained this mystical feeling to it, as if between the door’s doo-hickeys and the drawer’s model miniatures, these trinkets hung around like antiques. Stuff that his auntie had never wanted them to touch. Or not see them touch in her presence.

And it was funny. Because even if the rule had been said before, it sure wasn’t said now.

For Kamon, no one could give him rules when he locked the door for days on end, and no one could tell him to behave when his own private space had been a storage full of cool things.

Like the 3Ds releases. Or the current console charging at the port.

At some point he went through each and every one of these titles — binged through the movies, the Suspicion Island DVDs, the wooden dice in the boardgames — and gotten more curious with the seconds passed. There wasn’t anyone to stop him anymore. It wasn’t like his ma had the guts to tell them not to read. 

So in the peak of July, with the rain pattering down from outside, this impatience lead him here: 

To the closet space’s box piles. The frog Christmas decor. Books that hadn’t seen the sun in weeks, maybe years.

There was a mini crossbow, a badge, an old ocean shell. A cape burnt to the edges in black. He plucked drumsticks from beneath a leather drum and tic tic tic’ed  them against the metal frame, pulling more collectibles until they flooded his view.

Until Kamon fished a book out from a stack of novels. And coughed when he swept up the dust. 

It was a simple book with a simple design. With worn-out leather, plastic pages, and a weird-looking girl with straws in her nose drawn and taped to the back like a signature. He could’ve called the album stupid if it weren’t for the frog foot embroidered in the front corner. 

Or how all of it smelled too much of earth, fabric, and care.

Thunder rumbled from outside the windows, goosebumps riding his arms as they turned the cover, his mouth twitching at what he saw.

The album’s first page framed three girls. They lived inside the colors, smiling at the camera with peace signs and faded outfits, and in the background were the colors of a swamp. Where lanterns strung up like fireflies from treetop to treetop. Where a valley stretched out into a massive clearing from beyond.

Kamon found the date below it. 

April 14, 2022.

He flipped again. Found another frame with another set of girls. Then another and another. Until the pictures started to blur with numerous faces, smiles, and poses — every single caption a different time and a different place, all to the high school AVID kids to the movies with their pep rallies.

And then he jumped at the creak of his door.

“Oh, sorry, Kamon!” Auntie Marcy’s face had peaked out from the entrance. With the opening framing light onto her jaw, it wasn’t hard to know why Kamon could hear the kitchen’s exhaust, or the muffled talk from the TV. “Are you busy right now? Can I come in?”

Kamon peeked at the book in his hand, then the boxes stacked all around him. He must’ve forgotten to lock the door. 

And even then, there wasn’t a way to say no without being rude, wasn’t there?

“Oh great! Just wanted to tell you that your mom’s been cooking up some grub, and she really wants you to come outside this time.” 

His shoulders tensed. He hadn't touched the topic of his ma for a while. There hadn’t been much to say about her, and a lot of the time Kamon didn’t have anything else to talk about. They were in a new house. In a new place. And apparently it wasn’t their fault that everything fell apart, or that Ma somehow still liked them.

And when his aunt’s smile wavered, Kamon soured more and kicked at the carpet.

"Still not a good time?"

Kamon shook his head.

"Okay. Uhm, I'll definitely check in on Anne then. Thanks for the heads up." The last sentences piped out, almost a yell. "Ohohoh, wait! Whatcha got there, sprout?"

Kamon clutched harder to the album. With Auntie Marcy staring back, she didn’t seem mad about the boxes everywhere, or that he was looking through the middle of the mess. Not by a long shot with how she strode forward and leaned over him, eyes focused to the album cover.

And much to their relief, Marcy's eyes lit up in delight, laughing as she grabbed the book from him. "Oh wow! I remember this."

She did?

“It’s my old photo album. I bought one sometime when me and the girls got back to LA, I can’t believe it’s still in here, I thought I misplaced it but—” Marcy cracked a section open, a cheeky grin on her “—guess I didn’t.”

With Auntie Marcy settled on the mattress, Kamon followed suit. The pages she turned to weren’t too wrinkled or bleached. In fact, a great deal of them looked intact.

One photo had a girl with a frizzled mane. Another had a girl in Final Fantasy cosplay. The third with a jean jacket, sprawled in front of a wall of graffiti. All of them were familiar, younger, and all-around weirder.

They didn’t look like family but kids his age.

Absolutely snooty in the decades fashion they were clothed in.

“Ouch, did we look that bad?” Auntie Marcy commented, a teasing tone in her voice. “I think we looked pretty good for a couple of tweens.” She then leaned in and whispered. “I mean, the only things really outdated were your ma’s outfits. Sash kept asking her to change them, but you know how she is.”

Auntie Marcy sighed dreamily. “Too stubborn to quit.”

With each photo, there came an era and a history. Some of the kids turned into teenagers, lanky in legs and height and everything. Some became adults, harbored swords strapped to their backs, what looked to be university tags around their necks as they did peace signs in front of a building.

There were captions that flitted by — 2023 Dance, Sasha’s Promposal :D, the Rubber Duckening — and Kamon didn’t question it. Mainly because the photos that went along with each made sense, or at least made sense enough with the stories in his head.

Like the dance was a dance. Auntie Sasha had everyone in a limo. The rubber duckening was putting ducks in one of their cars for some reason.

There was Pá hanging out with Ma. Auntie Marcy a few rows back at a Ted Talk. Auntie Sasha glaring at an employee as they played a game of cards (“A game of Magic, actually!”).

And time returned back when he pulled a specific photo into his hands. One that was dusty, spotty, under the bedroom light.

Physics Dissertation Award!!! Professor Stralof Aloysius. Los Angeles Venue.

“Ohhhh, that one.” Auntie Marcy stuck out her tongue and tapped a finger to the two figures in the frame. Her and some dusty-headed science man. All worn in clean dress and suit. “That essay got my entire future planned out. It’s one of my proudest moments in my whole life as a matter of fact.”

Kamon wrote down a question onto his phone. When his aunt peeked at what he said, she grinned, as if reliving a distant memory.

“Well, this essay was a senior thesis,” she said. “Other than my CompSci minor, this was the only thing stopping me from getting my PhD, and the big question was what the heck I wanted to write out of every cool thing out there in the universe.”

“I mean really.” She motioned her hands at Kamon, then to her. “You’ve got UV radiation, the trajectory of light, the way sound travels and gets interfered, you can’t just choose one and be okay with it! It’s bananas.”

“So I had to think about it, and think about it I did.” Auntie Marcy bit the inside of her cheek, and mumbled a few incoherent things under her breath. “And I remembered when your ma and I went to Newtopia, back when we were just your age. And your ma made a really cool discovery.”

She turned a few pages back, back onto a darkened set of snapshots. One full of dots, bright and glimmering, almost fogged in the corners.

Stars?

“Yepperooni, they’re constellations.” Aunt Marcy motioned a hand over his head, swinging it toward the ceiling as if she cradled the building on her palm. “Not just constellations, but our constellations. If you look closely it doesn’t look similar to any of the sets we have on Earth, but they do.”

“And do you know why?” she asked.

Kamon peered down at the inky sets. They plucked their phone out and started to compare each star set, trying to find any matching pair, form, and shape — anything that could answer their auntie’s question.

Because did Auntie Marcy want him to talk about the clouds? Light pollution? The fuzz of the photo outlines?

Or did she mean…

“They’re in a different angle.”

“Exactly!” She’d gotten more comfortable on the mattress, the photo’s sheen reflecting from the limited light when she pulled it out from its plastic. All so Kamon could see the exactness of the dots. The way it looked skinnier than any constellation he knew. “I had buttloads of Newtopian documents talking about their respective constellations, but I never considered them to be in the same universe. Or atleast, a universe similar to ours.”

She nudged him. “It’s Canis Major, by the way,” she added. “Your mom told me it looked dog-shaped, and I thought she was being wistful back then but she was onto something!” 

Auntie Marcy then smacked excitedly onto the bed, voice higher than before. “All we needed was a method to actually identify a constellation from numerous angles, then we can basically develop a future tool in distinguishing different galaxies that we’ve never seen from up-top!”

And with her flopping back against the mattress, the energy escaped her. More relaxed now. “It took a whole community of human and Amphibian astronomers to get the thesis done without it compromising the government non-disclosure, but hey!” Aunt Marcy sighed. “What can ya’ do?”

Kamon pressed a thumb to the picture, pulling the visual to his eye.

She was right. The words on the back had been  written out as Canis Major, all the way back to 2020. Years before he was ever born. Before the return of snowfall to Los Angeles, of Ma and Pá together, with family all back when they were just young — in a world he’d never be able to see.

It made him feel small. As if they’d barely scratched the surface of their pasts.

Something vibrated. With a quick shuffle, Auntie Marcy pulled out the phone from her pocket, smiling more at the notification that came in.

“Alright, Kamon.” He watched his auntie slip off the bed’s edge, right back onto her slippered feet. “Your mom’s done with the crickets, let’s go. Don’t want to keep her waiting, right?”

With some hesitation, Kamon slipped out too. There was still a murk in his brain, something Kamon couldn’t really brush off, but the sweet smells of broth had caught up to them now. And he couldn’t really fight it, especially when his stomach growled.

And when Kamon placed the picture back to its frame, auntie’s voice piped up again.

“One last thing.”

When they locked eyes, Kamon swore that their aunt’s fingers began to fumble. Her eyes skittish from him to the album. “Don’t tell your ma.”

What. Why?

When Kamon whispered the question, their aunt just rubbed her neck, laugh weak compared to the heavy downpour outside.

“If she hears about it, she’s gonna be pretty embarrassed.”

And even when that explanation digested well in Kamon’s brain, mouth occupied with the crunch of cricket legs, he had no clue on what that meant.

[gaykey]

ONEW The Second Mini Album 'DICE'

[soshinee]

dice the second mini album thank you lee jinki for keeping the tradition alive. i love you

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 7, Number 4

Axel Ruley x Verbo Flow

A little bit of optimism is creeping into the air as Dusted writers start to get their shots. We’re all starting to think about live music, maybe outside, maybe this summer. But as the spate of freak snow storms demonstrates, summer’s not here yet, and in the meantime, piles of records and gigs of MP3s beckon. This early spring version of Dust covers the map, literally, with artists representing Pakistan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, the UK and the USA, and stylistically with jazz, rock, punk, rap, improv and many other genres in play. Contributors include Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Bill Meyer, Ray Garraty, Patrick Masterson, Tim Clarke and Bryon Hayes.

Arooj Aftab — Vulture Prince (New Amsterdam)

Vulture Prince by Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab is a classical composer originally from Pakistan but now living in Brooklyn. Vulture Prince, her third full-length album, blends the bright clarity of new age music with the fluid, non-Western vocal tones of her Central Asian roots. “Last Night,” from an old Rumi poem but sung mostly in English, lilts in dub-scented syncopation, the thump and pop of stand-up bass underlining its bittersweet melody. An interlude in some other language shifts the song entirely, pitting vintage reggae reverberation against an exotic melisma. “Mohabbat” (which is apparently Urdu for sex) soothes in the pristine instrumentals, lucid guitars, a horn, scattered drumbeats, but smolders and beckons in the vocals. None of these tracks feel wholly traditional or wholly Western and modern day, but sit somewhere in a well-lit, idealized space. Timeless and placeless, Vulture Prince is nonetheless very beautiful.

Jennifer Kelly

 Assertion — Intermission (Spartan)

Intermission comes from an alternate timeline. Founding drummer William Goldsmith started his musical career in Sunny Day Real Estate and had a notable stint with Foo Fighters. To cut the biography short, Goldsmith took a decade off from the music industry. He's returned now with Assertion, joined by guitarist/vocalist Justin Tamminga and bassist Bryan Gorder (both of Blind Guides, among other acts). This band picks up in the late 1990s, imagining a new path for post-hardcore/post-grunge music. The trio's name suits, as the songs' energy and the lyrical assertiveness develops the intensity of the release. The group works carefully with dynamics, neither parroting the loud-quiet tradition nor simply pushing their emo leanings toward 11.

“The Lamb to the Slaughter Pulls a Knife” epitomizes the album. The track sounds like Foo Fighters decided to get dirtier rather than more arena-friendly, while the lyrics mix violence with emotional persistence. First single “Supervised Suffering” finds triumph in endurance, turning the aggressive chorus into something of a victory. “Set Fire” closes the album with something more delicate, but it's just the gauze over a seething anger. Goldsmith's time off seems to have served him well, as does collaborating with some new partners. Assertion makes its case clearly and effectively, and if the intermission's over for Goldsmith, the second half sounds promising.

Justin Cober-Lake  

 Michael Beach — Dream Violence (Goner/Poison City)

Dream Violence by Michael Beach

“De Facto Blues,” from Michael Beach’s fourth solo album, is a barn-burner of a song, rough and messy and passionate, the kind of song that makes you want to take a stand on something, who cares what as long as it matters to you. It snarls like Radio Birdman, slashes like the Wipers and follows its muse through chaos to righteousness like an off-cut from Crazy Horse, just back from rockin’ the free world. It’s got Matt Ford and Inez Tulloch from Thigh Master on guitar and bass, respectively, Utrillo Kushner from Colossal Yes (and Comets on Fire) on drums, and Kelley Stoltz at the boards, and it’s a killer. The rest of the album is varied and, honestly, not uniformly astounding, but there’s a nice Summer of Love-style psych dream in “Metaphysical Dice,” a slow-burning post-rocker in the title track and a driving, pounding punk anthem in the opener “Irregardless.” Beach has been splitting his time between San Francisco and Melbourne, Australia, and lately settled on Melbourne, where he will fit like a native into their thriving punk-garage scene.

Jennifer Kelly

 Bloop — Proof (Lumo)

Proof by BLOOP (Lina Allemano / Mike Smith)

The trumpet is already a catalog of sound effects waiting to happen, and Lina Allemano knows the table of contents by heart. So, to shake things up, she has paired up with electronic musician Mike Smith, who contributes live processing and effects to Allemano’s improvisations. A blind listen to Proof might leave you with the impression that you’re hearing a horn player jamming with some outer space cats, and we’re not talking about hip, lingo-slinging jazz dudes. In fact, everything on these eight tracks happened in real time. Smith’s a strategic intervener, aware that too much sauce can spoil the stew, so he mixes up precise layering and pitch-shifting with more disorienting transformations. It’s hard to say how much Allemano responds to the simulacra that surround her brass voice, but there’s no denying the persuasiveness of her melodic and timbral ideas.

Bill Meyer

 Bris — Tricky Dance Moves (TrueStory Entertainment)

Bris left some music behind when he died in 2020, but it took almost a year to shape these recordings into a proper CD. The label CEO Mac J (a fine artist himself) could easily capitalize on his friend’s death, stacking Tricky Dance Moves with features from the artists Bris never would have worked with. Yet the album was prepared with the utmost care, not giving an ugly Frankenstein monster feel. Bris’s references to his possible early death are scattered throughout the whole tape: “Heard they wanna pop Bris cause they mad I’m poppin.” Almost every song could be easily turned into a prophetic tale (a cheap move one wants to avoid at all costs). Nonetheless, something is missing here. Or maybe it is just an image of death that disturbs the whole picture, making us realize that this is the last we’d hear from Bris.

Ray Garraty

 Dreamwell — Modern Grotesque (self-released)

Modern Grotesque by Dreamwell

I recently read an interview with Providence’s Dreamwell breaking down in almost excruciating detail the influences that led to the quintet’s sophomore full-length Modern Grotesque. I kept scrolling past Daughters and Deftones and Deafheaven and increasingly disconnected influences like The Mountain Goats and Nina Simone. I went back to the top and looked again. I typed Ctrl+F and put in “Thursday.” Nothing. This is preposterous. I may not be in the post-hardcore trenches the way I once was, but even I’d know a good Full Collapse homage if it swung a mic right into my face the way this one did; hell, just listen to “The Lost Ballad of Dominic Anneghi” and tell me singer Keziah Staska doesn’t know every single word of “Paris in Flames.” That may not look like flattery on a first read, but too often, bands striding the emo/pop divide have chased the latter into sub-Taking Back Sunday oblivion; what Thursday did was much harder, and Dreamwell has ably taken up the torch here. That they did it unintentionally is a curious, bewildering footnote.

Patrick Masterson

  Paul Dunmall / Matthew Shipp / Joe Morris / Gerald Cleaver — The Bright Awakening (Rogue Art)

It’s a bit perplexing that reeds player Paul Dunmall hasn’t spent more time playing with American musicians. He’s firmly situated within the English improvisation community, where he’s perhaps best known for his longer tenure with the quartet Mujician, and his ability to double on bagpipes has allowed him to establish links between improvised and folk music. But

his jazz-rooted approach makes him a natural to work in settings such as this one. When Dunmall toted his tenor to the Vision Festival in 2012 (even then, it could be costly to lug multiple horns on a plane), he found three sympatico partners in Fest regulars pianist Matthew Shipp, double bassist Joe Morris and drummer Gerald Cleaver. They all hit the ground running, generating a barrage of pulsing, roiling sound for over 20 minutes before the piano and drums peel off, leaving Morris to sustain momentum alone. Dunmall’s gruff, spiraling lines find common cause with each of his fellows, and the gradual addition and subtraction of players from that point makes it easier to hear the exchange of ideas, which often seem to take place between dyads operating within the larger flow.

Bill Meyer 

 Editrix — Tell Me I’m Bad (Exploding in Sound)

Tell Me I'm Bad by Editrix

Wendy Eisenberg’s rock band is like her solo output in that it snarls delicate, self-aware, mini-short stories in complex tangles of guitar, hemming in high, sing-song-y verses with riffs and licks of daunting difficulty. The main differences are speed, volume and aggression (i.e. it rocks.) and a certain communal energy. That’s down to two collaborators who can more than keep up, Josh Daniel on surging, rattling, break-it-all-down percussion and Steve Cameron, equally anarchic and fast on bass. The title track is an all-out rager, thrusting jagged arena riffs of guitar and bass forward, then clearing space for off-kilter verses and time-shifting, irregular instrumental interplay. “Chelsea” follows a similar chaotic pattern, setting up a teeth-shaking cadence of rock instruments, with Eisenberg keening over the top of it. “I know, perfectly well, that we’re not safe, safe from the men in power,” she croons, engaged in the knotting difficulties of the world as we know it, but winning.

Jennifer Kelly

Elephant Micah — Vague Tidings (Western Vinyl)

Vague Tidings by Elephant Micah

The new Elephant Micah album, the follow-up to 2018’s excellent Genericana, has an apposite title. Vague Tidings conveys an atmosphere of feeling conscious of something carried on the wind, a story passed on that may have shifted through various iterations, leaving only a sense of its original meaning. All that can be sure is that this is sad, sober music, unafraid to brace against the chill of mortality and speak of all that is felt. The instruments — guitar, piano, percussion, violin and woodwinds — move around Joseph O’Connell’s voice in stiff yet graceful arcs, distanced by an unspoken etiquette. Repetitive melodic figures, stark yet steady, gradually accumulate weight as they roll along like tumbleweeds. It’s a crisp, forlorn country-blues, in no hurry to get nowhere, carrying ancient wisdom that seems to acknowledge the empty resonance of its own import.

Tim Clarke

 Fraufraulein — Solum (Notice Recordings)

Fraufraulein’s music is immersive. Anne Guthrie and Billy Gomberg beam themselves, and us along with them, Quantum Leap-style directly into multiple environments in medias res. Through the clever employment of field recordings, they transport us to a hurricane-addled beach, performing a voice/piano duet as driftwood missiles careen through the air. In another “episode,” the manipulation of small objects conjures up the intimacy of a water garden filled with windchimes. Partners in both life and art, Guthrie and Gomberg are also consummate solo artists. He is a master of spike-textured drones, while she explores the intimate properties of physical entities. Like a child tends to resemble one parent while borrowing subtle traits from the other, Solum identifies more with Guthrie’s electroacoustic tendencies than it does with Gomberg’s electronics. This is in stark contrast to 2015’s Extinguishment, which felt a little more balanced between those two modes. Both approaches work, yet Solum feels more meticulously crafted and nuanced. Careful listening unveils multiple subtle tones and textures, and each piece is an adventure for the ears.

Bryon Hayes

 Gerrit Hatcher / Rob Magill / Patrick Shiroishi — Triplet Fawns (Kettle Hole)

Triplet Fawns by Gerrit Hatcher / Rob Magill / Patrick Shiroishi

The album’s title implies a crew you wouldn’t want on your yard; while those adolescent ungulate appetites do a number on your bushes, the hooves are hacking up your grass. But if they knocked on your door, saxophone cases in their respective hands, you could do worse than invite them around the back for some blowing. Hatcher, Magill and Shiroishi present with sufficient lung power to be heard fine without the reflective assistance of walls, even when they aren’t making like Sonore (that was Gustafsson, Vandermark, and Brötzmann, about a dozen years back). This album, which was released in a micro-edition of 100 CD-Rs on Hatcher’s Kettle Hole imprint, builds gradually from restrained melancholy to pointillistic jousting to a climactic blow-out, and the assured development of each piece suggests that each player was listening not only to what each of the others was doing, but where the music was headed.

Bill Meyer

A.Karperyd — GND (Novoton)

GND by A.Karperyd

On his second solo release, GND, Swedish artist Andreas Karperyd broodingly ruminates on snatches of musical ideas that have been percolating in his consciousness over extended periods. Anyone familiar with his 2015 debut, Woodwork, will find these 55 minutes similarly immersive, as Karperyd manipulates live instruments such as piano and strings into shimmering, alien tapestries. Opener “The Well-Defined Rules of Certainty” appears to take Fennesz’s Venice as its blueprint, issuing forth cascading, percolating tones that tickle the ears. “The Desire to Invoke Balance with Our Eyes Closed” and “Failures and Small Observations” have a Satie-esque elegance to their piano lines, albeit refracted via a hall of mirrors. The 12-minute “Reminiscence of Tar” sounds like a slow-motion pan across the hulking mass of a shadowy space station. And closing track “Mummification of an Empire” slowly fries its piano in static, then unfurls wistful melodica and throbbing synth across the wreckage.

Tim Clarke

  Kiwi Jr. — Cooler Returns (Subpop)

Cooler Returns by Kiwi jr

Kiwi Jr.’s brash, brainy indie pop punk vibrates with nervy energy, like the first Feelies album or Violent Femmes’ 1983 debut or that one great S-T from the Soft Pack. Those are all opening salvos for their respective bands, but this one is a second outing, suffering not a bit from sophomore slackening. Instead, Cooler Returns tightens up everything that was already stinging on the Toronto band’s debut and adds a giddy careening glee. An oddball thread of Robin Hood-ness runs through the disc, with Sherwood forest getting a nod in the title track and “Maid Marian’s Toast” tipping the love interest, but these songs are anything but archaic. “Undecided Voters,” the single jangles harder than anything I’ve heard since Woolen Men, slyly upending creative pretensions in a verse that goes: “You take a photo of the CN tower/you take another of the Honest Ed sign/Well, I take photos of your photos/and they really move people.” Has it been done before? Maybe. Does it move us. Yes indeed.

Jennifer Kelly

 Kool John — Get Rich, Die $moppin ($moplife Entertainment)

A year ago, Kool John was shot six times. Yet you wouldn’t know about it from the general mood of Get Rich, Die $moppin, his first tape since then. He does name one song “6 Shots” and explicitly mentions the shooting accident a few times on other songs, but his bouncy music says he wasn’t hurt bad after all. The beats perfectly match the rhymes, playfully ignorant and ignorantly playful. Kool John still doesn’t mix with broke people, doesn’t return calls if it’s not about money and “doesn’t get stressed out.” Instead, he gets high. His new tape is nothing groundbreaking, even though he’s pretending that is: “If I had no legs I’d still be outstanding.”

Ray Garraty

Nick Mazzarella / Quin Kirchner — See or Seem: Live at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival (Out Of Your Head)

See or Seem: Live at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival by Nick Mazzarella / Quin Kirchner

 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this recording is that the titular festival happened at all. While most festivals either canceled or went on line, Chicago’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival dealt with COVID by spreading out. Instead of big stages and indoor shows, last September it staged little pop-up events on sidewalks and in parks. So, if the sound of See or Seem feels a bit diffuse, it’s because it was recorded with a device propped in front of two guys playing on a grassy median. There are moments when the buzz of bugs rises up for a second behind Nick Mazzarella’s darting alto sax and Quin Kirchner’s brisk, mercurial beats. But the thrill of actually playing in front of some people (or actually being surrounded by them; when there’s no stage and social distancing is in effect, it makes sense to walk slow circles around the performers) infuses this music, extracting an extra ounce of joyousness from Mazzarella’s free, boppish lines, and adding a restlessness charge to the drumming, as though Kirchner really wanted to squeeze as much music as possible into this 31-minute set. This release is part of Out Of Your Head Records’ Untamed series of download-only albums recorded under less than pristine conditions. A portion of each title’s income is directed to a charity of the artists’ choice; the duo selected St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Bill Meyer

 Dean McPhee — Witch’s Ladder (Hood Faire)

Witch's Ladder by Dean McPhee

Finger-picked melodies cut through haunted landscapes of echo and hum on this fourth LP from the British guitarist Dean McPhee. Track titles like “The Alchemist” and “Witch’s Ladder” evoke the supernatural, as does the spectral ambient tone, reminiscent of Chuck Johnson’s recent Cinder Grove or Mark Nelson’s last Pan•American album. Yet while an e-bow traces ghostly chills through “The Alder Tree,” there’s also a grounding in lovely, well-rooted folk forms; it’s like seeing a familiar landscape in moonlight, well-known landmarks suddenly turned unearthly and strange. The long closing title track has an introspective air. Pensive, jazz-infused runs flower into bright bursts of notes, not quite blues, not quite folk, not quite jazz, not quite anything but gorgeous.

Jennifer Kelly

 Moontype — Bodies of Water (Born Yesterday)

Bodies of Water by Moontype

Margaret McCarthy’s voice swims across your headphones like being on an innertube drifting languidly downstream. Typically, saying someone’s vocals are like water indicates a degree of timidity or laziness, obscured in reverb or simply buried by the mix, but on Moontype’s debut LP, it’s a compliment: McCarthy floats across the different styles of music she makes with guitarist Ben Cruz and drummer Emerson Hunton. You notice it not just because she often sings of water or because it’s right there in the title, but also because the Chicago trio hasn’t settled on any particular style yet — just listen to the three-song stretch at the heart of the record where achingly beautiful alt-country ballad “3 Weeks” leads into “When You Say Yes,” a sub-three-minute power-pop number Weezer ought to be jealous of, followed immediately by crunching alt-rock swoon and first single “Ferry.” All the while, McCarthy lets her melodies drift to the will of the songs. I’m reminded of recent efforts from Great Grandpa, Squirrel Flower and Lucy Dacus, but the brief, jazzy curveball of “Alpha” is a peek into whole other possibilities. Bodies of Water is a fine record, but perhaps its most exciting aspect is how much ground you can see Moontype has already conquered. One can’t help but wonder what sonic worlds awash in water await.

Patrick Masterson   

 Rob Noyes / Joseph Allred — Avoidance Language (Feeding Tube)

Avoidance Language by Rob Noyes and Joseph Allred

The 12-string guitar can emit such a prodigious amount of sound, and there are two of them on Avoidance Language. If Joseph Allred and Rob Noyes had planned things out in order to avoid canceling each other out, they might never have picked their instruments up, so they just started playing and listening. The result is not so much a summing of two broad spectrums of sound, but an instinctual blending of similar textures that ends up sounding significantly different from what either musician does on their own. Even when Allred switches to harmonium or banjo, as he does on the album’s two shorter tracks, the music rushes in torrential fashion. Their collaboration is so compatible that it often seems more like a recital for one big stringed thing played by one four-handed musician than a doubled instrumental duet.

Bill Meyer

NRCSSSST — S-T (Slimstyle)

NRCSSST by NRCSSST

There’s no “I” in NRCSSSST but there’s plenty of swagger. The Atlanta-based synth pop band, formed around Coathangers drummer and singer Stephanie Luke and Dropsonic’s Dan Dixon, taunts and teases in its opening salvo “All I Ever Wanted.” Luke rasps appealingly atop Spoon-style piano banging, and big shout along choruses erupt from sudden flares of synths. It’s all hedonism, but done with conviction. You haven’t heard a big rock song kick up this much fun in ages. “Love Suicide” bangs just as hard, its bass line muttering like a crazy person, unstable and ready to explode (and yet it doesn’t, it maintains its restraint even when the rest of the cut goes deliriously off the rails). Dixon can really sing, too, holding the long vibrating notes that lift these prickly jams into anthemry. It’s been a while since a band reminded me of INXS and U2 without sucking, but here we are. Sometimes guilty pleasures are just pleasures.

Jennifer Kelly

 Zeena Parkins / Mette Rasmussen /Ryan Sawyer — Glass Triangle (Relative Pitch)

Glass Triangle by Zeena Parkins, Mette Rasmussen, Ryan Sawyer

Harpist Zeena Parkins and Ryan Sawyer have a long-standing partnership in the trio substitutes Moss Garden, a chamber improv ensemble with pianist Ryan Ross. But swapping in Danish alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen brings about a change, not just in instrumentation, but attitude. She plays free jazz like a punk, impatient and aggressive, and Parkins and Sawyer are up for the challenge. This music often plays out like a battle between two titans, one blowing and the other pummeling, while Parkins seeks to liquify the ground upon which they stand. She sticks exclusively to an electric harp whose effects-laden tone is disorientingly alien, blinking beacon-like one moment, low as a backhoe engage in earth removal the next. The combination of new and old relationships promotes a combination of instability and trust that yields splendid results.

Bill Meyer

 claire rousay — A Softer Focus (American Dreams)

a softer focus by claire rousay

In film, soft focus is a technique of contrast reduction that lends a scene a dreamlike quality. With A Softer Focus, claire rousay imbues her already intimate compositions with a noctilucent aura. She has created a dreamworld with sound. One glimpse at the glowing flowers that grace the cover art created by visual artist Dani Toral, with whom rousay closely collaborated on this release, and the illusory nature of the record is revealed. The reds, oranges, blues and purples of deep twilight are reflected in both the textures rousay weaves into her soundscapes and the visual themes that Toral conjures. Violin, cello, piano and synth are the musical origins of this warmth, which rousay wraps around environments crafted from the sounds of everyday life. She recorded herself moving about her apartment, visiting a farmer’s market, observing kids playing and just existing. These field recordings of the mundane, when coupled with the radiance of the musical elements, are magical. Snatches of conversation become incantations; auto-tuned vocals are the whisperings of spirits; fireworks explode into brilliant shards of crystal. With A Softer Focus, rousay takes a glimpse into the beauty of the everyday, showing us just how precious our most humdrum moments can be.

Bryon Hayes

Axel Rulay x Verbo Flow — Si Es Trucho Es Trucho / Axel Rulay (La Granja)

Axel Rulay must be kicking himself right now. With more than three million plays on the original version and more than five million on the remix that adds verses from Farruko and El Alfa into the fray, the Dominican is cruising into our second pandemic summer with an unbeatable poolside anthem — and to think, after years of clawing his way up through the industry dregs, working to get his name out there, all he had to do was make himself the chorus over Venezuelan producer Manybeat’s 2019 tropical house trip “El Tiempo.” Presto: Massive visibility in the Spanish-speaking world and a song that ought to transcend any linguistic barriers unlocked even if the best I can manage is a title that translates as “If It’s Trout It’s Trout.” Expect that long-desired Daddy Yankee collabo to follow any day now.

Patrick Masterson

  Rx Nephew — Listen Here Are You Here to Hear Me (NewBreedTrapper)

Rochester rapper Rx Nephew trailed brother-turned-archrival-turned-back Rx Papi’s coming out party 100 Miles and Walk’in by just a few weeks with the 53-minute all-in proposition Listen Here Are You Here to Hear Me. Unlike Papi’s Max B-ish smoothness, Nephew is all rough n’ tumble through these 17 tracks, provocative pump action with narrative bursts of violence and street hustling delivered with a verve most akin to DaBaby or, in some of his more elastic enunciations, peak Ludacris. A recent Creative Hustle interview provides some insight: The first time he went into the booth, “I didn’t write anything. I just started talking about selling crack and robbing people.” The stories haven’t stopped since. If he can keep putting out music as engaging as Listen Here…, Rx Nephew is destined for more than just the margins; until then, we have one of the year’s densest rap records to hold the line.

Patrick Masterson

 Nick Schofield — Glass Gallery (Backward Music)

Glass Gallery by Nick Schofield

Nick Schoefield, out of Montreal, composed these 13 tracks entirely on a vintage Prophet 600, the first synthesizer to designed to employ the then-new MIDI standard established by the instrument’s inventor Dave Smith and Roland’s Ikutaru Kakahashi. The instrument has a lovely, crystalline quality, floating effortless arpeggios through vaulting sonic spaces. Though clearly synthesized, these pieces of music resonate in serene and peaceful ways, evoking light, water, air and contemplation with a simplicity that evokes Japan. “Water Court” drips notes of startling purity into deep pools of tone-washed whoosh and hum. “Snow Blue Square” flutters an oboe-like melody over eddying gusts of keyboard motifs. The pieces fit together with calm precision, leading from one beautiful space to the next like a stroll through a museum.

Jennifer Kelly

  Archie Shepp — Blasé And Yasmina Revisited (Ezz-thetics)

The Ezz-thetics campaign to keep the best of mid-20th century free jazz on CD shelves (yes, CD, not streaming or LP) breaches the walls of the BYG catalog with a disc that issues one and a half albums from Archie Shepp’s busy week in August 1969. Blasé is a stand-out for the participation of singer Jeanne Lee, whose indomitable and flexible delivery as equal to the demands of material that’s be turns pungently earthy and steeped in antiquity. But the rest of the band, which includes Philly Joe Jones, Dave Burrell, some harmonica players, and a couple members of the Art Ensemble, is also more than equal to the task of filtering the blues and Ellingtonia through the gestures of the then-contemporary avant-garde. “Yasmina,” which originally occupied one side of another LP, makes sense here as an extension of the raw, rippling “Touareg,” the last tune on Blasé, into exultantly African territory.

Bill Meyer

 Juanita Stein — Snapshot (Handwritten)

Juanita Stein was the cool, serene, Mazzy Star-evoking vocal presence in the Aussie dream-gaze outfit Howling Bells, and she plays more or less the same role on her third solo album. Yet she is also the source of mayhem here, kicking up an angst of guitar-freaked turmoil on “1,2,3,4,5,6” then soothing it away with singing, hanging long threads of feedback from the thump-thump-thumping blues-rock architecture of “L.O.T.F.” and crooning dulcetly, but with a little yip, in the trance-y title track. This latter cut reflects on the death of her father, a kindred soul who wrote a couple of Howling Bells songs for her and passed away recently. It distills a palpable ache into pure, distanced poetry, finding a cool, dispassionate way to consider the mysteries of human loss.

Jennifer Kelly

 The Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums — Wabi Sabi (Sowiesound)

Wabi Sabi by Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums

Over its 30 years together, the Tiptons Sax Quartet has done less to hone its sound and more to figure out how many styles to embrace. The group (typically a soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax joined by percussion and even including some vocals) can dig into trad jazz but sounds more at home in exploration, adapting world music or other traditional American styles. The title of their latest album, Wabi Sabi refers to the Japanese concept of finding beauty in and accepting imperfection. The Tiptons, despite that sentiment, don't approach their play with a sloppy sound; in fact, they're as tight as ever. The understanding of impermanence and imperfection does help contextualize their risk-taking. When they turn to odd yodeling on “Moadl Joadl,” they find joy in an odd vocal moment that highlights expression and discovery over formal rigor. When they tap in New Orleans energy for “Jouissance,” we can connect the dots between parades and funerals, celebrating all the while. The whole album serves as a tour of styles and moods, always with an energetic potency. If it's more of the same from the Tiptons, that just means continuance of difference.

Justin Cober-Lake

[jjangidalyrics]

DKB (다크비) Discography

YOUTH – First Mini Album – February 3, 2020 YOUTH 미안해 엄마 (Sorry Mama) Go Up Elevator Samsung LOVE – Second Mini Album – May 25, 2020 오늘도 여전히 (Still) Tell’em Boys 퐁듀 (Fondue) 호기심 (Curious) Rose GROWTH – Third Mini Album – October 26, 2020 난 일해 (Work Hard) Tell Me Tell Me 잘 지내 (Take Care) 지우게 (Eraser) No More (위로X) The Dice is Cast – First Album – March 30, 2021 줄꺼야 (ALL IN) Flower Less Real…

[ask-moonlightentertainment]

Comeback Schedule

We here at Moonlight Entertainment are proud to announce two pieces of news that may excite fans.

First of all, the vocalist line [Morality, Logic, Creativity, & Anxiety] of the Sander Sides (BTS/KDA) will be releasing a new single on April 13th, 2020. The single being called Popstars.

The second and most exciting piece of news, Sleep Therapy (BLACKPINK/RED VELVET/TXT) will have a comeback on April 20th, 2020! The boy group has been absent since their release of Kill This Love in April of 2019. They are very pleased to announce the news and have given us permission to name the album/photobook and tracklist.

Album Name: How I Felt

Tracklist:

Bad Boy

Pyscho

Peek-A-Boo

Cat & Dog

Rookie

Kiss & Make-Up (Featuring Thomas Sanders)

Solo (Sleep's Solo)

An MV for Kiss & Make-Up is in the making and the boys are working extremely hard on the album. An MV for Popstars is also in the making and the vocalists are very excited to release it soon.

We hope you enjoy the upcoming single and mini-album.

-

CEO Min Violet

Manager Kevin Dice