#everything harmony

[nonsubstantial]

APRIL 2024 ART FASCINATION DIARY

This is another post about the art that I've been fascinated with this year. I make these posts monthly, so that I can look back and remember all the things that were keeping me happy and inspired! If you are reading this, then I hope it will be somewhat interesting to hear about. First, a collage of my interests this month, then there are descriptions below.

MUSIC / ALBUM I heard about Everything Harmony by The Lemon Twigs because Vinny Vinesauce liked it enough to feature it on his twitch channel four times within this last month. After checking it out, it quickly became a favorite of mine as well. It's inspired by 60's era rock bands like The Beach Boys and The Beatles, and the two brothers in charge of The Lemon Twigs were basically raised from birth to create this kind of music. They're excellent musicians, but I do have a few complaints, mainly that their band is a four person group that started as a two person group, and it shows. The musicians on their drums and backing guitar are unnoticeable most of the time, or even make their music worse when I really focus on the boring repetitive parts that they play in the mix. I think that it would improve things if we heard the other two members’ creativity shine a little more. On a different note, their lyrics also feel kind of hollow to me, sort of like facsimiles of themes that we heard out of the 60’s pop music that they’re inspired by. Maybe the brothers’ odd upbringing is what makes their lyrics feel like nothing more than dreamy imitations of other lyrics, rather than being something written from their own hearts? In any case, their vibe is really bizarre, but despite all my criticisms I did really enjoy this one album from them. (And actually, their new 2024 album is already out! It’s also fantastic, and I’ll talk about it on my May list.)

FANFIC / CREATIVE WRITING I've been working on a long fanfic for fun since last month, and every time I write a new scene for it I'm filled with a sense of creative euphoria for the rest of the day. It's not always perfect, but there's no real pressure to write something good, so it just ends up being an enjoyable outlet for my passions. Even if I never publish anything, being creative and exploring my own imagination is satisfying in itself, and I wish I had the time to do it every day! (HONESTLY, there could and should be time, if only our society actually prioritized taking breaks for mental health and personal wellbeing over making endless amounts of money and increasingly insubstantial products to be consumed by only the luckiest members of our parasitic upper class. I hate our unsympathetic workaholic capitalist culture with every fiber of my being, and wish that I could fucking end it all, but I digress...) Writing is just so fun. And I'll be working on the same projects for another few months, probably, as long as I can keep on keeping up with them.

REALITY GAME SHOW The finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 concluded this month, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Now that it’s over, we’re starting back from season 1 and we’re going to try to eventually watch it all! (We actually did finish season 1, right before posting this. It was interesting and groundbreaking in its own right, and it introduced me to Tammie Brown, who is now one of my favorite queens. Then, we started season 2 and I’m pretty sure that this is where the show’s bad reputation got its start, because I really can’t stand any of the season 2 contestants. Too bad, but we’ll keep on watching and see how it pans out anyway.) In season 16 though, there was just so much unique creativity and talent on display, and so many jaw dropping ‘holy shit’ moments, that I think it was one of the best things I have ever watched. It had the hypest final lip sync battle I ever could have imagined, and I had no idea which way it was going to end. In whole, I feel like the show was a wonderful watch, and I’m glad that our friends convinced us to give it a shot.

LIVE THEATER MUSICAL My partner and I were given a gift card to our local theater last year, so we finally used it to go see a live production of Annie! We don't live in a place where live musicals are very common, and I actually hadn’t seen any since highschool, so we had to make plans very early in the year to go watch it. And after having done so, I can say for certain that there is a unique magic to watching a live theater performance. I’m surprised that it was all performed so perfectly, even with children and a dog on stage, and remarkably, it sounded better than any recording I could find online before or after the event. It was so incredible all around that it totally transported me into a unique creative headspace. There were people of all ages there, some dressed up, some appearing more casual, but the atmosphere was delightful and jovial all around. I’m not going to comment about what was or wasn’t problematic about Annie; it’s not really that deep and you can probably figure that out on your own. But I will say that the magic of a live performance depends entirely on the energy in its room, and I was totally swept away by this experience. Without the discount, it would have been very pricey though, so I’m hoping that we can put away a little money to see a different live musical next year.

BOOK / AUDIOBOOK About a month and a half ago, I started Leo Tolstoy's epic work of historical fiction, War And Peace. I love a book that I can get completely lost in, and War and Peace is one of those books. I made it about 1/4th of the way through it this month, and even though it started slow, I’m now sure that it’s going to be an all time favorite. I read Anna Karenina years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I expected to like this one too, but there was still a sort of learning curve to overcome at the start. After over a month of engaging with it, I feel like I’ve finally gotten over its barrier to entry, and now I’m picking up the pace. Most people have heard of this book before, so let me tell you that its high-sounding title is no false advertisement. It’s a Russian slice of life book set during the Napoleonic Wars, dealing with a huge assemblage of political and philosophical conflicts, and it will have you exasperatedly crying “time is a flat circle!” as you realize that humans today have nearly the same brains and political interests that they had over 200 years ago. It is already a masterpiece, in my opinion, and I’m going to be reading this book for the entire month of May also, so that’s something to look forward to. If you’re interested in checking out an audiobook, I’m also listening to the Maude translation, narrated by Neville Jason, and I think it’s quite good! (That's it for April! But we're already a few weeks into May, so expect more Lemon Twigs and more War And Peace. Thank you for caring about me, and I hope you have a good day! ♡)

[glimmerbolan]

“Every day is the 14th 🌹💌”

The Lemon Twigs photographed by Stephanie Pia

[manitat]

Slušam...

"The Times characterized The Lemon Twigs as 'a modern-day band combining the melodic, harmony-rich soft rock of Wings and Supertramp, the underground cool of Big Star and the Ramones, and the theatricality of Broadway musicals.' The Guardian cited the 'humbling beauty of their songs' and their 'sumptuous harmonies.' The band was signed to British alternative music label 4AD in 2015… A number of diverse pop music figures have publicly expressed admiration for the Twigs: Elton John, The Zombies, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Marc Almond, Iggy Pop, Todd Rundgren, Flea… Their musical style has been described as indie rock, power pop, glam rock, indie pop, baroque rock, art rock…"

[reckonslepoisson]

Do Hollywood (2016) Brothers of Destruction (2017) Go To School (2018) Songs For the General Public (2020) Everything Harmony (2023) The Lemon Twigs

By my ears’ reckoning, there are two main features to The Lemon Twigs – despite, obviously, them being a double act. First up, in the mixing, instrumental tones and general sound, the duo offer up some of the most direct nostalgia I’ve ever heard. Plenty of retroists rip-off the past; the Twigs sound like they’re trying to implant themselves in it. 

The other thing is the band’s restlessness. These songs are mobile to an odd extent, there’s an unwillingness to let anything sit or stretch out – and that’s been the case from the very beginning, both within single songs to over the course of the duo’s discography, from the jaunty shifts of Do Hollywood opener ‘I Wanna Prove to You’ through to Go To School’s insistence on a wildly strange concept.  It’s endearing, that anxiety to not sit still, not be dull. 

Neither of those main features are negatives, exactly, but when both are dulled a little, that’s when the Lemon Twigs really hit their stride – culminating in last year’s Everything Harmony, their most measured, patient and finest overall work yet. 

Pick(s): ‘I Wanna Prove to You’, ‘Night Song’, ‘Never In My Arms, Always In My Heart’, ‘Fight’, ‘What Happens to a Heart’

[hotblindearth]

What You Were Doing, The Lemon Twigs

5/5/23

This is the best impression of Alex Chilton I have ever heard, to the point where it might as well be a lost and found Big Star track. They do a pretty great Arthur Russell in the song that follows, I Don't Belong To Me. When such incredible homage is paid in phrasing, delivery and character, embedded in such wild and free playing, there ceases to be a case for comparison or copycat-calling, it is just celebration, flinging into the future the things we love, let them not be lost.

[mxdwn]

ALBUM REVIEW: The Lemon Twigs – Everything Harmony

[senorboombastic]

Live Review: The Lemon Twigs at New Century Hall in Manchester 31 May 2023

Words: Andy Hughes Whilst we like nothing more than discovering a band from day dot, there’s a lot to be said for picking up on someone well established, then having the joy of working your way through their back catalogue and devouring everything you can. Such was the case for New Yorkers The Lemon Twigs and their fourth full-length studio release ‘Everything Harmony‘, a record we’ve been quite…

[complexdistractions]

The Lemon Twigs : Everything Harmony

Brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, aka The Lemon Twigs, hail from New York and since their first album in 2016 have made a name for themselves as the preeminent purveyors of 60s/70s power pop. Combining elements of garage, psych, power pop, and 70s AM these brothers have built a discography that looks and sounds as if it was pulled right out of the Nuggets vault. Besides looking the part in…

[glimmerbolan]

The Lemon Twigs photographed by Stephanie Pia on the set of “Any Time of Day”

[manitat]

The Lemon Twigs - In My Head

[simcardiac-arrested]

day 30 - videogame (undertale, fnaf, etc)

somebody get this man some chapstick

[lightbulb-warning]

to be so passionate it takes your breath away

oh darling, love's gonna choke you out!!!!!!!!