#flat five

[dustedmagazine]

Nora O’Connor — My Heart (Pravda)

Nora O’Connor makes countrified songs with city suavity. They’re heartfelt but never maudlin, simply conceived but masterfully arranged and played. They feel direct and personal and authentic, but they evidence a great deal of craft, too. Nora O’Connor is a pro, but not spoiled by it.

Even if you’ve never encountered O’Connor in her solo guise, you’ve likely heard her in the background. She tours regularly with Iron & Wine and plays and sings with Andrew Bird. At various times, she has backed up Neko Case, the New Pornographers, the Decemberists, John Wesley Harding and Mavis Staples. She’s a member of the doo-wopping, barber-shopping, 40s-radio quintuplet the Flat Five, and along with Kelly Hogan, Jon Langford and Sally Timms, a staple of Chicago’s thriving alt.country scene. This is only her third solo album, but never mind that. She’s been busy.

With My Heart, O’Connor treads agilely across country styles, from slow rocking heartbreakers (“Sore”), to dusky, organ laced waltzes etched by experience (“Grace’), to a sprightly, bluegrassy ramble the heart of blue America (“Cambridge Cold”). A lone, finger-picked instrumental (“Winwoof”) showcases O’Connor’s Takoma-style skills.  A handful of these songs—and some of the best—hardly sound like country at all. “My Heart” plunks down a terse piano line into its tale of romantic disappointment; it conjures art-song, cabaret music as much as twang. And “Follow Me” with its devastating pedal steel—that’s Jon Rauhouse, by the way—finds a Sadies-like magic interval between country and psychedelia.

O’Connor brings in her Flat Five bandmates for vocal and instrumental support—Casey McDonough on bass and guitar, Scott Ligon on keyboards and guitar, Alex Hall on drums and piano and Steve Dawson on guitars and keyboards. The arrangements are varied, interesting and expertly executed. These are not the kind of people who ever miss a note.

But mostly it’s Nora O’Connor with her wry, side-eyed view of the world, the clean, gorgeous lines of her melodies and that voice full of strength and vulnerability. She’s been off in the corner for a while, but not because she’s bad. It’s past time for her to come center stage.

Jennifer Kelly

[stormyblue90]

Behold, the Domino Twins

Absolute finest troopers!

[teratocore]

Lamen fanart is so funny sometimes because looking at you might be tempted to think Laurent is tiny but it’s actually that he’s a normal sized man next to his brick shithouse co-king. And Laurent is the one wearing the pants in the relationship for the most part. Both literally and figuratively lol. Hes not waifish by any means he’s built compact and he’s kinda scary actually. He’s killed a man larger than Damen with a chair. And he would do it again. But he’s also very kind and sensitive and intelligent. God I love Laurent what was I saying.

[extasiswings]

Reasons why Buck being bi is groundbreaking: bi male characters are still very rare and it’s been almost unheard of to have a canon male bi main character who was not planned to be queer from the beginning of the story.

NOT reasons: anything suggested in that article, including the idea that before this season 911 was queerbaiting (it wasn’t) or didn’t have other canon main queer characters (it has from Day 1).

[queenofbadlands]

It feels like the start of a movie i've seen before

[derpiedoxie]

Finally made a mer Eclipse design!

He is big, he is mean, and he’s cocky as hell

I love him :)

[agardenlife]

when you're racing head first towards something that'll kill you in five seconds flat

when I'm racing head first towards everything that I want back

taís' endless list of favorite albums: Five Seconds Flat (2022) - Lizzie McAlpine

[toxictoxicities]

I got bored at work- using a pen is funky

[pocketramblr]

you know im thinking. im thinking maybe Yoichi wasn't even that into captain hero as an adult, but AfO kept bringing LITERALLY every conversation back to that because he decided to Be The Demon Lord and so Yoichi like, can't get an argument in unless he uses the same material so he's like 'oh my god i haven't even thought about that comic in ten years but even i know the bad guy didn't win. you should not be basing you whole identity, business model, and world destruction plan on your five-second impression of a comic book bad guy who didn't even win! also you shouldn't kill people!'

[ask-the-colony-tree-siblings]

how is survivor doing after all the... recent drama? seeing his friend hurt like that must have been scary

Survivor: I… I was scared. You’re right. I should have done something, I-I could have tried to help him, but I didn’t know what to do a-and I… I just froze up. I feel so bad about it. I wish I wasn’t such a coward. 

[ricky-mortis]

A portrait of Sir John Herschel because I‘m normal about Pulp Musicals

[spelllingandthemysteryschool]

play ball flats by double standard nyc

[aceinacloset]

A child accompanied by her father's monsters.

[toxictoxicities]

Drew this for somethin- may or may not be used shrugs

but this raises the question- I still don't fucken know which one I wanna go with when I draw Pebbles, I like both of them :( , one feels more canon but the other got a snoot to boop and also s h a p e d

Fuck it, first poll I've done I'm just curious

[reguluslovesspelunking]

rip lily evans you would’ve loved lizzy mcalpine

[labyrinthofcrystals]

new fnaf game just dropped, percy jackson on my dash....i never left middle school