#gratuitous songwriting mention

[jittyjames]

🛏️ 🫘💥 for the ask game!

🛏️- I'm always open to using new tropes!! I feel like my style is very cookie-cutter and kinda predictable at this point, so I definitely want to try and explore some different and interesting tropes. I don't have anything specific in mind yet, but I'm definitely on the hunt for them

🫘- ooo a brand new project that i haven't mentioned yet!! i've been working on a jcs au set in the seventies where jesus is... well a superstar, and judas is his jaded songwriter. it's very long and idk when I'll get a chance to actually post it because I want to finish some of the fics i'm already working on before I start posting something new, but I'm very excited. it's heavily inspired by elton john so!!!! i also have a trans judas au that I've been working on for a while, but as a cis person, I'm taking my time with it and doing proper research. I'll most definitely consult a non-cis beta reader before I post that one, too! that one is set to be five chapters.

💥- OOOOOO ok so... it's still in the process of being written, but like i said in the notes of call me an admirer, call me a disgrace, that fic contains some of my personal favorites of my writing. it has all the romance, all the angst, all the found family, and just everything I love in general. it is very, very self indulgent and probably the project I'm most passionate about. very excited to get to post more of this one. I'll throw in a lil snippet but not too much bc i don't want to spoil it 🤭

He plucked a white peach from the gratuitous pile, letting his eyes flutter to the vendor with a sly smile, the edges quirking enticingly. The man on the other side of the stand beamed back, and that was the only thing there was to the exchange. Then, Judas was turning gracefully back to Mary, offering the fruit to her. "You didn't pay," Andrew provided almost dumbly. "That's not something I have to worry about with Micah," he responded. "Take it, Mary. You look half-starved. I would have expected your mystical rabbi to feed you."

[ksapphicbi]

tagged by tess @itsinjustbeing hehe <3

name - kayla

star sign - sagittarius sun, aries moon, virgo rising

hogwarts house - used to be a hufflepuff but now im a ravenclaw apparently!!

fav animal - cats 100000000%

cats or dogs - again, cats lol (sorry dogs yall are cute too but theres simply no contest)

blankets you sleep with - i sleep with a sheet and a comforter rn but its finally actually getting a bit chilly so ill prob add a soft throw blanket soon to be cozy (i live in california tho and i always get overheated so usually the blankets are only partially covering me)

explain your url - k(ayla)-sapphic-bi(sexual) lol its actually fairly straightforward (its my twitter @ too bc naming things stresses me out)

dream job - i am actually trying to pursue this (even tho i have no idea what im doing) but i just cant see myself as anything other than a singer/songwriter (ill take just songwriter if i have to tho) so i guess that’s it! wish me luck :’) ps. if anyone ever wants to hear any of my music pls pls pls dont hesitate to ask i would LOVE to share!! i dont have anything out atm but i have demos im working on hehe

why i made this blog - i hadnt been on tumblr in YEARS but i’d started to lurk on some spn/destiel blogs in like late october (mostly because my friend was sending me a bunch of posts from some of her faves) and then nov 5 happened and i simply had to get involved. truly never thought id be returning to tumblr EVER but ive actually been v happy to be back!!

and ok idk that many people here yet but ill tag @wholocksupersoupofpain @jus-a-lil-mouse @casdeservesallthelove @autisticandroids @procrastinatingbisexual and anyone else who wants to do it!!! no one has to tho haha no pressure either way :) hope yall dont mind being tagged!! (and anyone pls lmk if you dont want me to tag you in the future for whatever reason)

[gameofdrarry]

Wizards Hearts Recs: Odd Jobs

Wizards Hearts was a four-month-long Drarry reading fest. Players were given a playing deck of 52 tropes, and were asked to find 52 different fics to read and comment on to fill their decks. To prevent the same few fics from being read, fics were restricted to only being used for the game three times before being considered ineligible for further points. The tropes and submissions list can be found here.

Check out the masterlist of fics for this trope below the cut!

📜 Azoth by zeitgeistic Rated:  Explicit Words:  88,722 Tags:  Eighth Year, Alchemy, Animagus, Snark, Banter, Pining, Graphic Sex Summary:  Now that Harry is back at Hogwarts with Hermione for eighth year, he realises that something’s missing from his life, and it either has to do with Ron, his boggart, Snape, or Malfoy. Furthermore, what, exactly, does it mean when one’s life is defined by the desire to simultaneously impress and annoy a portrait? Harry has no idea; he’s too busy trying not to be in love with Malfoy to care. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 On Your Shore by xanthippe74 Rated:  Mature Words:  35113 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Mystery, Scotland, Dark Magic, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Pining, Sharing a Bed, First Time, Non-Explicit Sex, Demisexual Harry Potter, Bisexual Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy, Closeted Draco Malfoy, Curse Breaker Harry Potter, Antiques Appraiser Draco Malfoy, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Good Parent Draco Malfoy, Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Married Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, H/D Sex Fair 2020 Summary:  Clearing out a remote house full of cursed collectibles in the Outer Hebrides? Not a problem for an experienced curse breaker like Harry Potter. Spending a week with the straight, happily-married man that he’s starting to have feelings for? And sharing a bed with him at night? Surely Harry can handle that, too. But both the house and Draco Malfoy have secrets to uncover, and Harry might be in deeper water than he thought. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Of Matchmaking Owls & Second Chances by xErised Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  11219 Tags: Owls, Paris (City), Dancing in the Rain, Humor, Mutual Pining, Getting Together, Post-Hogwarts, H/D Career Fair 2017, Rekindled Relationships, Adorable Summary:  It's just Draco's luck to own an owl that's in love with Potter's owl treats. When Potter invites Draco's owl to be a taste-tester, Draco accepts. For the sake of his beloved owl, of course, not to rekindle that spark of attraction during their eighth year. Or because of how bloody fit Potter is. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Aural Gratification by author Rated:  Explicit Words:  10988 Tags: Aural Kink, Masturbation, Closet Sex, Coming Out, Dildos, Humor, Smut Summary:  Harry's not gay – he just likes listening to exciting stories about Aurors. It's not his fault that the narrator's voice is so smooth, so expressive... and really rather hot. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Draco Malfoy: Toilet Supremo by who_la_hoop Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  26189 Tags: Romance, Humor, flangst, HP: EWE, Career: toilet salesman Summary:  It must be a vision brought on by eating cheese sarnies too close to bedtime, Harry thinks. There's no way that Draco Malfoy can really be standing on his doorstep, calling himself a Toilet Supremo, and expecting Harry to buy not only this unlikeliest of scenarios, but also a new loo. But no: Harry's eyes do not deceive him. Malfoy, Lord of Toilets, is really there. Which begs a very important question: what the hell is he up to, and what evil scheme is he about to unleash? Because there must be an evil scheme . . . mustn't there? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 When Hippogriffs and Pygmy Puffs Collide by oldenuf2nb Rated:  Mature Words:  32755 Tags: Playboy Harry Potter, Tattoo Artist Draco Malfoy, Baker Harry Potter, Divorced Harry Potter & Ginny Weasley, Divorced Astoria Greengrass & Draco Malfoy, Bisexual Harry Potter, Magical Tattoos, Hand Jobs Summary:  Harry Potter bakes cakes, brilliantly. Draco Malfoy inks tattoos, brilliantly. Owls deliver post, including messages from clients, with an occasional lack of brilliance. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 It's Not Like Christmas At All by ProfessorDrarry Rated:  Mature Words:  29411 Tags: Christmas Fluff, Advent Calendar, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, Past Relationship(s), Mentions of Past Homelessness, References to Illness, estranged family, Poverty, POV Alternating, happy ending guaranteed Summary:  Draco knew his life wouldn't have been appealing in the eyes of his past-self; Muggle job that would make his parents shudder. Muggle flat with an inconvenient living situation. Muggle hairdresser and coffee shop and charity work. But it was perfect. Well. Almost perfect. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 (We'll Call This Fixer-Upper) Home by phdmama Rated:  Explicit Words:  52520 Tags: Rock Star Draco Malfoy, Artist Harry Potter, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post Traumatic Growth, mental health, Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), (all those are in the past), Recreational Drug Use, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Hooking up, Dating, Semi-Public Sex, Growth and Healing, Mention of Suicidal Ideation, Getting Together, Boys Kissing, Falling In Love Summary:  Draco Malfoy hasn’t set foot on English soil in ten years. After the war, he fled to America, where he found himself in a community, and healed himself through following his heart into music. He’s now the lead singer and songwriter for an internationally known band, who have come back to headline the Wiltshire Music Festival. But as Draco is about to learn, his past isn’t as far away as he might have believed, and his future may hold more than he ever could have dreamed. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 All Roads by korlaena, Saulaie Rated:  Mature Words:  36636 Tags: Minor Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley, Journalist Draco Malfoy, Animagus Draco Malfoy, Magizoologist Harry Potter, Desi Harry Potter, Bearded Harry Potter, Background Femslash, Horseback Riding, Italy, Cabins, Mountains, Walks In The Woods, Drinking, Hangover, Masturbation, Implied/Referenced Blow Jobs, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, Self-Hatred, Lucius Malfoy Being an Asshole, Friends to Lovers, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary:  Draco hates his job at the Prophet. He hates it even more when he’s assigned to write an article on Harry Potter, who left the country three years ago after their falling out. Draco doesn’t want to face the truth about himself, but he’s stuck between Harry and his duty, and he’s out of options. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 kiss me in the doorway by primaveracerezos Rated:  Explicit Words:  7787 Tags: Getting Together, Post-War, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Fluff Summary:  "At Draco’s trial, Potter testified that Draco had acted only in fear of his life, for his parents’ lives. When the Wizengamot announced his pardon, hundreds of eyes were on him, but he only felt one gaze. He found Potter’s green eyes in the crowd, where he was insulated by layers of loyal friends. The expression on Potter’s face was painfully open, studying, curious. Draco returned it. He had questions too." ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Quibbler Unsolved by leontina (Leontina) Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  17377 Tags: Post-Hogwarts, Post-Second War with Voldemort, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Minor Luna Lovegood/Dudley Dursley, Minor Astoria Greengrass/Pansy Parkinson, Buzzfeed Unsolved References, Alternate Universe - Buzzfeed Unsolved Fusion, Smitten Draco Malfoy, Oblivious Harry Potter, Oblivious Draco Malfoy, Matchmaking, World Travel, Redeemed Dudley Dursley, Explicit Language, Light Angst, Drinking, Getting Fired, Eviction, Masturbation, POV Draco Malfoy, Down and Out Draco Malfoy, Journalist Draco, Journalist Harry, The Quibbler, Sharing a Bed, Goats, The X-Files References, Ouija, Implied Sexual Content, Implied Switching, H/D Erised 2019 Summary:  Draco is down on his luck without a home or a job, and so he has no choice but to accept an offer to work at The Quibbler. He just didn’t expect to be searching for make-believe creatures in the Muggle world with Harry Potter. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Come A Little Closer by maraudersaffair Rated:  Explicit Words:  37787 Tags: First Time, Pining, Coming Out, slight angst, redeemed!Draco, gay!draco, unusual careers, Grimmauld Place, magical museums, Kayaking, Draco in the Muggle World, Snogging, Frottage, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, Drinking, Injury, Dirty Talk, Kid Fic, Sex Toys, Bisexual Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy, Kings Cross, Virginity Summary:  A few years after the war, Draco Malfoy works the service desk at King’s Cross and does his best to avoid his parents. He is also desperate to lose his virginity. Enter Harry Potter. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Critiquer by dysonrules Rated:  Explicit Words:  24260 Tags: Humor, Romance, HP: EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Photography, Secret Identity Summary:  When Harry submits his cock photo to a renowned Cock Critiquer and gets a terrible review, he decides to take a photography class to hopefully improve his skills. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Pathless Woods by onereader Rated:  Explicit Words:  30267 Tags: Wandmaker Harry Potter, Wand Wood Grower Draco Malfoy, POV Harry Potter, Found Family, Violet Wand, Magical Theory, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Slow Build Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Happy Ending, Dating, Puns & Word Play, Wandlore (Harry Potter), H/D Fan Fair 2019, Secondary Theme: Pottermore Fair, Handsome Draco Malfoy Summary:  “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods” Lord Byron. Harry finds himself unexpectedly reacquainted with Draco Malfoy when his work as an apprentice wandmaker takes him to Wiltshire. Amongst the trees Harry finds magic, growth, and a man who might finally be proving he’s worthy of the wand that chose him. Hawthorn, Unicorn hair, 10 inches, reasonably pliant. A story of found family, trees with feelings, belief in the power of growth, wandlore, and gratuitous description of Handsome Estate Owner™ Draco Malfoy swanning around in white shirts and leather boots. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Leaky Sinks and Proffered Services by parseltonquinq Rated:  Explicit Words:  4129 Tags: Top Harry, Bottom Draco, repairman!harry, draco needs to get a grip, harry needs to buy another shirt, i need to get some sleep Summary:  "It had only been a week and a half since Harry had fixed the bathroom sink. Draco knew he had a problem. The sink hadn’t even been broken. The thing was, he couldn’t stop thinking about Harry’s eyes or that smile or the way he filled out that plain white t-shirt. It was almost obsessive. So he did what any sane man would do and loosened some of the compression nuts with a wrench (he’d had to watch a couple of videos to learn how). He then proceeded to check out Harry’s ass while he worked, his mouth dry and his conscience taking the day off. " Draco breaks things. Harry is a hot repairman. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Scurrilous by Saras_Girl Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  25142 Tags: N/A Summary:  When Potter starts behaving more oddly than usual, Draco has no choice but to take an interest. After all, it’s his job. Sort of. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Walk in the sun by FreddieFoxBaxter Rated:  Explicit Words:  18239 Tags: Getting Together, Smut, Only One Bed, One Shot, Awkward Flirting, Drunken Confessions, Social Anxiety, Nude Photos, Dating, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Harry Potter is Obsessed with Draco Malfoy, Top Draco Malfoy, Bottom Harry Potter, Harry Potter in Panties, Model Draco Malfoy, Minor Neville Longbottom/Blaise Zabini, Minor Pansy Parkinson/Ginny Weasley, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, H/D Sex Fair 2020 Summary:  Harry is perfectly content with the life he built for himself; simple and private, it helps him heal the wounds from the war. He then accepts to go out with one of Neville’s acquaintances, never expecting that decision would bring him back to his obsession for Draco Malfoy. “That was his cue. Had Harry stopped to think about his situation, he could have left. Malfoy was nibbling at his neck, he had his hand down his pants. All things considered, a disaster incoming. And yet, his feet still refused to move. After all, he was not the stop-to-think-of-consequences kind of guy.” ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Salty Sweet by Aelys_Althea Rated:  Mature Words:  59795 Tags: Post-War, Not Epilogue Compliant, Baking, Pâtisserie, Sugar and Salt, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Apprenticeship, Bake-Off, Competition, change, Master and Apprentice, Character Development, French Influences, Muggles and Magic, Harry Potter Leaves the Wizarding World, Isolation, Patronus, Finding Peace, glamours, Workplace Relationship, Apprentice Harry Potter, Pastry Chef Draco Malfoy, H/D Career Fair 2017 Summary:  Draco was a Master. He'd always been one, but having a town of Muggles consider him as close to God's gift as they would ever receive was certainly validating. Except it wasn't enough. After years of settling, of conjuring masterpieces with his fingers and his prowess, Draco realised he needed a change. How hard could it be to find an apprentice pâtissier that did what they were told? As it happened, doing 'what was told' was about the last thing on his inevitable prospect's mind. Trust Harry Potter to be the one to turn Draco's life upside down. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Printed Press by Soupy George Rated:  Mature Words:  124993 Tags: Language, Themes, Sexual Content Summary:  Draco Malfoy was still slightly awed to be standing on the doorstep of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. He never would have thought that Harry Potter's very public and very ... sweary, emotional explosion would have led to him offering Draco, of all people, a job. ❤️ Read on FFN

📜 you made your mark on me (a golden tattoo) by tigerlilycorinne Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  6078 Tags: Fluff, Post-War, Post-Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Pining Draco, Tattoo artist Harry, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, sorta - Freeform, Getting Together, Sort-of Confessions, Kind Harry Potter, Humor Summary:  Draco wants to get a tattoo, but he can hardly do that when it turns out the artist of the shop he chooses is none other than Harry Potter. Draco would much rather leave, really, he would, because the last thing he needs is to be anywhere near Potter and his wild hair and green eyes, his shoulders and that bloody voice… what was he saying? Oh yes– Harry Potter is the last person he wants to be around. But it’s kinda hard to leave when he’s being so bloody distracting… ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 the potential of broken things by icarusinflight Rated:  Explicit Words:  10727 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Auror Harry Potter, Ex-Auror Draco Malfoy, Bisexual Harry Potter, Drinking, Kneazles (Harry Potter), Explicit Sexual Content, Intercrural Sex, H/D Erised 2020 Summary:  "Can you feel that? Some things want to be what they once were. The original spell is still there, and it wants to work again. All it takes is a little push and then"—Draco clicks his fingers of his free hand—"snap, everything will go back into place." Harry's feeling lost, but he finds Draco in a shop full of (not broken, just waiting to be repaired) items. He stays a while. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Touch by bixgirl1 Rated:  Explicit Words:  44791 Tags: Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Rimming, Switching, H/D Career Fair 2017, Sharing a Bed, Post-Hogwarts, Humor, Hallucinations, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sleep Deprivation, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Cuddling & Snuggling, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Resolved Sexual Tension Summary:  When Harry is referred to a professional cuddler for the soothing power of touch, he’s dubious — even more so when the Cuddler who shows up turns out to be Malfoy. But in the years since the war, Malfoy’s changed, and over the next several days Harry is confronted by how much he still doesn’t know about this new version of his old enemy — and by how much he wants to learn. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Special Delivery (previously Amende Honorable) by alittlebitAlexie Rated:  Mature Words:  11628 Tags: Post-Second War with Voldemort, Apologies, Misunderstandings, Accidents, Owl Post (Harry Potter), Bartender Draco Malfoy, Bartender Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy & Pansy Parkinson Friendship, POV Draco Malfoy, Unrequited Crush, Diagon Alley, Death Eater Trials mentioned, Letters, Love Letters, Gay Draco Malfoy, Flatmates Draco and Pansy, panic attack (mentioned), Nightclub, Confrontations, Running Away, Outing, Veritaserum, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Kissing, Snogging, Undressing, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Secret Crush, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant Summary:  After his trial, Draco writes apology letters to everyone he has hurt. Not so special. But he writes two to Harry. One to actually send, and one (that was never meant to see the light of day) to pour his heart out and admit things like thinking Harry has a fit arse and was his sexual awakening. What could go wrong? Well, Pansy could accidentally mail the wrong letter. That's what. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Sunseeker by shiftylinguini Rated:  Explicit Words:  15199 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Writer Harry Potter, Single Parent Draco Malfoy, Magical House Fixer-Upper Draco, Texting, Friends to Lovers, Banter, Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Divorced Astoria Greengrass & Draco Malfoy, Muggle Technology, Flirting, Long-Distance Relationship, Getting Together, Crushes, Pining, Drinking, Drunk Texting, Frottage, Grinding, First Time, Humor, H/D Erised 2020 Summary:  Harry is a struggling writer. Namely, he is struggling with: writing his next book, dealing with his agent, finding a decent tea strainer, fielding his friend's concern over the aforementioned book, and figuring out who the cat loitering in his garden belongs to. He also has a slight liking-Malfoy problem. Okay, he has a massive liking-Malfoy problem. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Charmed Confections by Alisanne Rated:  Explicit Words:  35967 Tags: Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Light Bondage, flangst, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Mild Angst, Character death (offscreen not Harry or Draco), Community: hd_erised Summary:  There’s a new bakery in town, and Harry is obsessed with the luscious lemon fairy cakes. And with discovering the identity of the mystery chef. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Open Up, Potter by heyitsamorette (AmoretteHD) Rated:  Explicit Words:  3276 Tags: odd jobs, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Blow Jobs, Dirty Talk, Bisexuality Summary:  Harry has never had gay sex; not surprising when he’s only recently admitted that he likes blokes. But he has to start somewhere, and Malfoy is more than happy to help. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 I bloom (just for you) by Ladderofyears Rated:  Teen and Up Words:  3910 Tags: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Enchanted Flower Business, Amortentia, Flower Shop Owner Harry Potter, Professor of Viking Magic Draco Malfoy, Misunderstandings, Oblivious Harry, Generous Draco, Falling In Love, Wealthy Draco, No Magical Florists Hurt In The Writing Of This Fic, Promise Summary:  Harry Potter is the proud new owner of Potter��s Blooms and Bouquets, the very first enchanted flower business on Diagon Alley. Harry has been tasked with designing and making the bouquets for the upcoming wedding of Draco Malfoy and his mysterious fiancée. There is one small problem though: Harry finds himself falling deeply in love with Draco himself. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Pensées d'Attirance by orpheous87 Rated:  General Words:  2256 Tags: Getting Together, Pre-Slash, Pre-Relationship, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Fluff, Oblivious Harry Summary:  Draco is working in his mother's flower shop when Harry wanders in searching for a plant for his office. ❤️ Read on AO3

[happymetalgirl]

September 2020

As quickly as I caught up, I fell behind, and I’ll explain it all later, but that’s why some of the review blurbs here are really short while others are much longer. I still tried to make the shorter ones as expressive and dense as possible, even though I personally don’t like that approach so much. Anyway, September 2020, still a hellhole.

Faidra - Six Voices Inside

Drawing very obvious influence from Burzum’s Filosofem for the ambient portion of its sound, Faidra’s atmospheric black metal debut manages to marry both the snow-hazy ambience of Norway’s second wave with today’s more full-bodied naturalistic ambient black metal in a ceremony rather respectably elegant for a debut.

7/10

Heathen - Empire of the Blind

One of the more anticipated thrash metal releases of the year, Heathen’s more intensely melodically focused and unbalanced approach only drags their lethargic Testament-sequel brand of melodic thrash down, as Empire of the Blind trades out the genre’s hallmark spitfire aggression for dull guitar leads and uninspired operatic vocal lines that leave only a desire for the former.

5/10

Oceans of Slumber - Oceans of Slumber

A demonstrably competent, but woefully soulless and bloated display of neo-classical prog metal chops, Oceans of Slumber’s self-titled fifth LP is one of many of the genre’s avatars for much of its impressive face-value and numb delivery.

5/10

Corey Taylor - CMFT

We all knew this day would come, the charismatic Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman has finally released a solo album. And you could tell from the rollout with the star-cameo-studded music video for the lead single, “CMFT Must Be Stopped”, that Corey was going to lean in on it. But honestly, for as much natural swagger Corey Taylor can wield and showcases on the track, his straightforward rock songwriting that has graced Stone Sour’s discography is astoundingly weak, and this song’s more exuberant egotistical indulgence amplifies it rather than remedying it. It’s definitely one of the worst singles I’ve heard all year, especially for a project so highly anticipated as this, and there’s really no excuse for it to be this bad. If the general goal of a solo project is to transcribe your creative DNA onto an album as authentically as possible, and if this is an honest portrait of Corey’s creative core, it really just affirms for the many people annoyed by his media omnipresence that his main talent is just being the great big mouth. It should be obvious, but I’m not saying this to disparage in any way his massive contributions to the legendary legacy of Slipknot or even the genuinely important role he’s taken up as metal’s de facto representative press secretary. It’s not unheard of, and probably more normal than the opposite, for group-embedded artists to struggle to get a strong solo venture going. Thankfully, the lead single is the lowest point this album stoops to, but with its generic 80’s hard rock and glam anthems, it frequently gets pretty damn close. And look, I can tell it’s an album that’s supposed to be more about having a good time than any of that other artist DNA shit I brought up earlier, but its only routes there are through cheap imitation of other artists’ styles, and this still wouldn’t be anywhere near my first well of songs to draw from if I were making the most drunken of tailgater playlists.

4/10

Skeletal Remains - The Entombment of Chaos

Relatively new on the wider death metal scene, the Californian four-piece show once again, on their fourth album, why there remains such an appetite for old-school death metal with effective beating sessions and shredding clinics like The Entombment of Chaos.

7/10

Messiah - Fracmont

Originally part of the movement of early intensifying that inched fast, heavy, growly metal closer and closer to, and eventually over, the line that would separate thrash from what would become the vast world of death metal before their lengthy disbandment, Switzerland’s Messiah are fortunate to return to a world still hungry for new and old flavors of death metal with the stylistically and compositionally vintage (if not rusty) but somewhat technologically updated death-thrash of Fracmont, but they will need to do more than just pick up where they left off and acclimate their approach to the modern era if they intend to stick it out in today’s harsher death metal ecosystem.

6/10

Stryper - Even the Devil Believes

The Christian glam metal outfit have really leaned into the power metal glory that their high-soaring brand was always kind of adjacent to over the past few albums, and to their benefit, and despite what their goofy striped outfit look back in the day would have led you to predict, the steadfast veteran Christian rockers have aged far better than most of their 80’s hair metal contemporaries. Nevertheless, the walking oxymorons’ cheesy, on-the-nose, and occasionally preachy lyricism remain a pesky turn-off to both the religion they espouse and the medium they evangelize through. Frontman Michael Sweet took a bit of a misdirected offense from another reviewer who pointed out exactly this about his band’s new album, taking some media time to play the insufferable persecuted god-fearing follower of Jesus that so many Christians so delusionally imagine they are as a majority religious group with more political power than any other. Now with Michael Sweet claiming that his band has it so rough because they’re openly Christian, I say it really comes down to how you present it, and he especially presents it kinda goofy. One of the songs I’ve been getting energized by a lot on my workout playlist is “Devil’s Den” by Impending Doom, an also openly Christian band. And apart from the nasty 8-string groove, the song’s central refrain “slaughter the demons that are clawing on my brother’s back, until my brothers fight back” about support through spiritual struggle against one’s vices is a thrilling lyric that frames that aspect of Christian spirituality in a much more relatable and sympathizable manner. I’m not expecting Stryper to go into gratuitous deathcore brutality to deliver their message, but they can’t be mad about receiving criticism when they haven’t evolved the 9th-grade-reading-level lyricism that was begrudgingly accepted in the 80’s. Sociopolitical stuff and frontman antics aside, Even the Devil Believes is an instrumentally solid, but exceptionally lyrically corny record full of Bible verse quotes and Sunday School rhymes. I’ll highlight the song “Do Unto Others” for beating the odds on this album with its invigorating sing-along power metal melody, but that song is perhaps the sole reason my feelings in this album are more neutral overall instead on negative, while the vast majority of this album is just begging to be instrumental or at least tuned out.

5/10

Mastodon - Medium Rarities

Mastodon really could have just saved the earth-quaking opening single for their next album or released it as a stand-alone single instead of with the other forty minutes of entirely unnecessary of instrumental versions and live cuts among the other worthwhile material to compile for an album like this.

Fallen Torches/10

Ihsahn - Pharos

The now prog-immersed enigmatic Emperor frontman put out a pretty solid EP earlier in the year, but I was still hoping that Ihsahn would come through with a more essential addition to his solo catalog, and even if it’s a small one, his second EP of 2020 is that addition. Pharos is a succinct, five-song display of proggy melodicism much more confident and infectious than the still-respectable Telemark, further bolstering Ihsahn’s prog credibility and proving to anyone skeptical that he was all esoteric experimental bark and no substantive bite that he indeed has the songwriting chops to thrive in the genre.

8/10

Uniform - Shame

The New York duo’s sardonic and noisy industrial metal neither progresses nor regresses on their fourth album, Michael Berdan’s nasty vocal delivery and the backing industrial instrumentation lose steam and effectiveness rather quickly and the numbing experience ends up being over before you know it for the wrong reasons. It has its moments, but they are brief and few in number.

6/10

Cloudkicker - Solitude

Through an eleventh album under the name of his occasionally djenty instrumental prog studio project, Ohio virtuoso Ben Sharp once again flexes his technical and compositional prowess in an entertaining rather than self-congratulatory manner.

7/10

Marilyn Manson - We Are Chaos

This was a bit of a weird one, and it definitely caught me off guard for a few reasons, mostly for how it flows and for my own not hearing the title track previously when it was released as a single. The iconic 90’s boogeyman of the religious right wing in America is on his eleventh album now and (I mentioned it when I reviewed his tenth album, Heaven Upside Down, in 2011) it seems like people are finally accepting that the Antichrist Superstar’s fire-stoking strategy of blasphemous industrial metal last century was something that served its purpose for a time that has now passed. With Manson now on the more mortally introspective side of 50, the more measured rock of the latter portion of his catalog is starting to outsize what so many see as his grotesque golden age, which has seen him dip occasionally into the sounds of his beloved trilogy, but mostly dabbling in glam and indie rock sounds to find a late-career footing to sustain him. And on this album’s collaboration with country outlaw Shooter Jennings, I think the aging provocateur has found a direction that could be promising. Now I say it that way because I don’t think they gave us more than a tantalizing taste of it on this album, but I would love for Manson to further pursue what he and Jennings pull off together at the beginning of We Are Chaos. It took me a little while to warm up to the hammed up spoken word intro and industrial rock body of the opening track, “Red, Black, and Blue”, but I do think it does kick the album off well, albeit deceptively. It’s easy to forget how well Manson can hold himself on a ballad, not just on his meditation on his own aging during “Running to the Edge of the World”, but also on several cuts in his famed trilogy like “Lamb of God”, “Man That You Fear”, and “Coma White”. But after the somewhat tame fire of the intro track, Manson jumps straight into three songs of completely unexpected indie rock balladry that capture his mission to soundtrack every listener’s individual apocalypse at this time. Going through a lot of changes in life myself, I had a bit of unexpected catharsis with these songs that I think I’m going to be unable to dissociate them from with future listening. Unfortunately, Manson doesn’t re-engage ballade mode until “Broken Needle” closes the album, with the middle portion of the album having some good moments of industrial rock swagger, like “Perfume” and “Infinite Darkness”, but also some songs like “Half-Way & One Step Forward” that are just too dry on energy to be worth the time. But overall, I think the brightness in this album’s best spots make it well worth more than just a cursory listen, and I just hope that this album is a turning point for Manson and a step toward finding his groove without the flagrant heresy that built his youth.

7/10

Derek Sherinian - The Phoenix

Meandering through a generic prog rock instrumental wasteland and picking up the occasional morsel from between the dried out cracks of desert floor, The Phoenix is barely even a hearty display of the prog metal skill and street cred we all know the talented keyboardist to have.

5/10

Napalm Death - Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism

British grindcore legends Napalm Death need no introduction at this point, and with plenty of excitement behind their most lengthily-awaited LP after 2015’s well-respected Apex Predator - Easy Meat (and the sizzling appetizer the Logic Ravaged by Brute Force EP gave us), the band’s fifteenth full-length onslaught of deadly grindcore, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is a satisfactory dose of the band’s usual black-pilled rage against political and societal ills at most, with a few odd, to say the least, stylistic choices to say the least that beg the question of why this took so long.

6/10

Finntroll - Vredesvävd

While its adherence to the band’s boundaries within the niche genre they occupy makes it unlikely to take its established Finnish masterminds to any new heights, Vredesvävd is a professional, yet still fun serving of Finntroll’s black-metal-flavored folk metal brimming with energy and optimism.

6/10

Proscription - Conduit

Another Finnish outfit making their mark on 2020, Proscription still have some important ground to cover in ironing out and more specifically differentiating their blackened death metal sound, but Conduit is hardly a timid debut, providing a solid foundation for the four-piece to build upon.

6/10

Carnation - Where Death Lies

Not the faintest hint of a dreaded sophomore slump can be heard on the Belgians’ unflinching, merciless follow-up to their sizzlingly nasty 2018 debut album, Chapel of Abhorrence. Where Death Lies is as unyielding of a continuation as it gets, and in the best way such a straightforward trajectory can be. Nothing but skin-shredding, means-tested death metal in its most fibrant Floridian Form from front to back, Carnation showcase their skills from groove to solo in another stellar all-around display of force that provides a perhaps necessary reminder to the fans and critics annoyed by its ubiquitousness of the raw power that can come from unadulterated death metal.

8/10

Fit for a King - The Path

Fit for a King deliver perhaps the most convincing pathos yet for their more brightly melodic brand of Architects-like metalcore on their sixth album, putting on an exquisite balancing act that could sway even the most stubbornly cross-armed observer who likes the breakdowns but hates the clean singing.

7/10

Kataklysm - Unconquered

Kataklysm’s 2018 album, Meditations has ironically stuck out to me in retrospect because it was the shortest full-length review I had ever done, simply because there was so little to say about the unmemorable melodeath on that record. The band have definitely bounced back with some potent fire in their belly on the metalcore-infused Unconquered. Boasting more infectious grooves and more crushing breakdowns with a notably greater sense of urgency behind them, it’s still a pretty unambiguous and unambitious record, but it makes a far more convincing case for itself.

7/10

The Ocean Collective - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic / Cenozoic

After a largely forgettable preceding act from all the way back in 2018, The Ocean Collective Return much more revitalized and sufficiently warmed up for a much more engaging 51 minutes of progressive metal that checks both classical and modern boxes.

7/10

Fires in the Distance - Echoes from Deep November

The debut album from the Connecticut four-piece offers a rather compositionallly directionless and standard take on the death-doom it offers. Even while taking a melodic approach very similar to that of a Khemmis or a Spirit Adrift, the attempted soulful guitar leads come off as aimlessly noodly and unplanned as the structures enclosing them, whose dynamic shifts feel more like repeated defibrillation attempts for unlively songs.

5/10

Darkcluster - Spirit of the Void

The debut album from this Canadian one-man-band studio project makes its intent to fill the sci-fi extreme thrash void that Vektor might not get to return to in the wake of the revealing David DiSanto’s domestic violence toward his girlfriend, and while Darkcluster’s mastermind clearly has the technicality down, the atrocious vocals across the rather lengthy and largely compositionally aimless project greatly hold this album back.

4/10

Swine of Dissent - An Uprising

A safer and more measured, but more successful black-metal-flavored thrash debut record, Swine of Dissent still have some work to do on the compositional floor as well, but with not as many glaring flaws, they have enough to start with and move forward with this type of thrash metal.

5/10

Gazpacho - Fireworker

The artsy Norwegian outfit returns to the more sprawling prog rock that hooked me into their music on Night for their eleventh album, but Fireworker is far from the kind tepid, nostalgic return to normal that a late-stage revisiting of older styles often suggests of other acts. Elevating their already lofty sound and massive scope to new cinematic, choral, orchestral heights with astounding ease, the soulfulness contained within the band’s clinical execution of such a daunting series of tasks makes Fireworker their most accomplished and enrapturing work yet.

9/10

Sumac - May You Be Held

While far from fatal, after the enthrallingly eccentric and humblingly heavy sludge experimentation of 2018’s Love in Shadow, the slightly tempered creativity and muddied production of May You Be Held is a mildly disappointing fourth LP simply for how high its creators have set their own bar. Nevertheless, Sumac continue to impress with a noisy, explosive, yet hypnotic approach to post-metal that thrives in the band’s love to draw outside the lines and with a deluxe box of crayons.

8/10

Obsidian Kingdom - Meat Machine

Priding themselves on their eccentricity, Obsidian Kingdom come through with one of the most stylistically diverse, genuinely experimental, and entirely entertaining sludge albums of the year, if not recent memory. Taking the thunderous sludge of Mastodon and going at it with the mindset of a band like Sumac, the quirky Catalans pack operatic vocals and even Slipknot-sequel passages into the intricate compactor that is Meat Machine, and it’s a feat they can certainly take pride in.

8/10

Deftones - Ohms

Coming from a big fan of both Gore and Koi No Yokan, Deftones’ plunge deeper into the elegant shoegaze of this later stage of their career on Ohms was bungled far too much by a lapse in the critical compositional organization that has allowed their ventures into spacey alternative metal territory to succeed.

5/10

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Try, Try Again (pt. 3)

Guess who saw the Lego Movie 2 again today?? I’m hoping the residual excitement will be enough to fuel a burst of writing, so that I can post stuff despite needing to complete approximately 12 billion assignments for school. We’ll soon see how idealistic of a notion that is... 

Anyways, here’s the chapter.

(Chapter 1) | (Chapter 2)

Chapter 3 (3001 words)

Lucy was currently perched in her favorite spot in all of Apocalypseburg. Up on Lady Un-Liberty’s torch, with her legs hanging over the edge and the cool wind ruffling through her hair, everything seemed to slow down momentarily.

On the city streets, which stretched out far below her feet, everything was constantly rowdy, chaotic, and loud. It was excitingly surely, and all wrestling and fighting could be fun, but sometimes, Lucy just preferred coming up here instead.

Of course, it also made an excellent spot for brooding.

For Lucy, brooding was an art form. It was edgy and mature and, if you did it right, people would recognize that you were edgy and mature as well. On a basic level, brooding was a bit like poetry. It all came down to the words that you used, and the way that you said them. It was a skill that Lucy had in bounds, and was one of the reasons why she’d been such a good songwriter when she was younger.

Reaching up, Lucy absentmindedly pulled at a strand of her hair. It curled around her finger, the dark color shimmering in the sunlight. She had moved on from her pop star career a long time ago, but sometimes she found herself expected to see a different color in the mirror. The dye job had been necessary, as she reminded herself frequently. She’d had no choice but to change herself in order to be taken seriously by the other Master Builders. When they’d first seen her, looking like the preppy idol on a Business-brand record label, they hadn’t seen a rebel or a freedom fighter. All they’d seen was a symbol of the establishment. They’d seen her as the girl she wasn’t anymore - the girl that she couldn’t be anymore.     

With a quick glance at her phone, she checked the time. Emmet would be arriving any minute with their morning coffee. If she started brooding now, she probably wouldn’t be finished by the time he got here, meaning that he’d likely try and join in again.

Emmet had… tried brooding with her a few times, but usually those attempts just devolved into him talking about a random topic in a slightly more gravelly voice. To be fair, the approach had worked reasonably well the time he’d aired his grievances with Jeff, but the rest of his topics, such as his views on toasters and hi-vis vests, had been significantly less successful.  

Lucy sighed. She wasn’t really in the mood to brood today anyways, and had basically resorted to waiting up here for Emmet to show up and help take her mind off things. She liked it here in Apocalypseburg, much more than she had ever liked living in Bricksburg. There, she had been forced to choose between either being a cog in the Business machine or a criminal constantly on the run for her life. In Apocalypseburg, she felt like she could be more herself than she had been for a while. Despite the newfound sense of freedom, the city could still get overwhelming sometimes.

Whenever it did, sitting up here with Emmet was like coming up for air.

She checked the time again. At some point during her ruminations, the clock had shifted well past eight and begun closing in on nine. A sharp sense of worry started seeping into the back of her mind. Emmet had never been late before. Ok, well, he had, but it had only been the once, and even then it was because he had fallen into the sewer baby pit and had taken over an hour to pick out all the little spikes.  

Not for the first time this morning, Lucy caught herself peering over the edge of the torch platform, down towards the base of the statue. Below her, a well timed tumbleweed trundled past, clearly signifying the lack of any happy-go-lucky ex-construction workers.

Uugh, she thought with a deliberate roll of her eyes, I’d better go find him before he gets hurt. The dread that had started building settled slightly at the thought. In a flash, she turned from the edge and started running down the statue. With a little under an hour left before she needed to meet up with Batman and patrol, she ought to have enough time to ask a few folks around town if they’d seen anything.

As usual, the streets of Apocalypseburg were populated with crowds of people, clouds of desert dust, and the odd barfight or two that had gotten wild enough to spill out onto the street. Lucy strode confidently through, easily sidestepping groups of wrestling people and hopping over the several prone figures that littered the ground. Emmet’s favorite coffee shop was down this way, just past Benny’s shop, which made him a good first candidate for her search.   

Predictably, Benny was out front of his shop, working as always on improving Metalbeard’s new body. His workshop consisted mainly of a fenced-in platform, which had been lofted for the twofold reason of avoiding the madness of the street below, as well as preventing Benny from accidently setting another passerby on fire.   

“Hey Benny,” Lucy called out, as she expertly leapt up onto the platform.

“Lucy!” Benny cheered. He whirled around to greet her, dropping the wrench he’d been holding in his excitement.

“Yar!” Metalbeard cried out as the tool tumbled down into the construct of his body, ricocheting off various components before clattering to the ground.  

“Oops,” Benny laughed. “Sorry about that...” Turned back towards the pirate, he floated up slightly, such that he could rummage around, searching for his wrench.

“So Lucy,” Metalbeard addressed her while staunchly ignoring the spaceman mucking about in his guts. “Are ye just popping by for a visit, or was there something ye needed?”

“I was wondering if you guys had seen Emmet yet today.” Lucy stepped forwards as she spoke, picking up the wrench from where it had fallen and passing it to Benny. “He was supposed to meet me at the top of the statue a while ago, but never showed up.”  

“Thanks,” Benny took the wrench from her and twirled it absentmindedly in his hands as he spoke. “Yeah, Emmet came by this morning. He had his coffee, was listening to his music, and told me that he appreciates our friendship. You know, the usual!”

Concern creased Lucy’s brow. “Do you know when that was?”

“Earlier than usual,” Metalbeard grumbled. “Much too early for that accursed ‘pop song’ he insists on playing...”

Benny chuckled in agreement. “Yeah, the line at Larry’s must have been pretty short. It was maybe a quarter to eight.” At the thought, Benny frowned. “Do you think something happened to him?”

“I’m not sure,” Lucy sighed, unable to keep the worry out of her voice. “Just… let me know if you see him, ok?”

“Can do, lassee.”

“Sure thing!”

“Thanks guys,” Lucy gave a weak grin and leapt over the fence, falling to the street and leaving the two to their work.  

In an attempt to follow Emmet’s footsteps, Lucy continued down the street, occasionally pulling someone aside to ask them increasingly worried questions. The sewer babies had seen him, but didn’t know where he’d gone. Similarly, neither Chainsaw Dave, nor Crazy Cat Lady, nor any of her cats had any idea where Emmet could have gotten off to.

She had just finished questioning Battle Debra, who hadn’t even actually seen Emmet at all, when a dark shadow engulfed them both. In the next moment, Batman swooped down beside them.

“Hey Lucy,” he growled, leaning against a nearby wall in a calculated effort to appear nonchalant. “You ready to go, or whatever?”

“Yeah,” Lucy sighed. “Let’s just make this quick, ok?”

Hurt by her dismissive tone, especially considering how cool his entrance had just been, Batman’s permanent frown deepened even further. “Uh, why?”

“It’s just that Emmet didn’t show up this morning. I’ve been trying to find him, but...” She trailed off momentarily, before adding bruskly, “I’m sure it’s nothing, but you know.”

Batman grunted. “He’s probably just working on his little house.”

Lucy snapped her head up in surprise. “His what?”

“His little house. You know, the one he’s building out in the wasteland.”

“No, I don’t know.” Lucy pulled at her hair in frustration. “What, did he tell you? Did you see him this morning?”

“Pshh, no.” Batman smiled. “It’s like, supposed to be a surprise, but I am the world's greatest detective after all.”

Lucy scowled at him, and his smug expression drooped slightly.

“Uh,” he faltered. “I also have like, a super huge telescope, so it was pretty easy to find.”

Lucy groaned. “Ok then, fine. It's just… weird that he didn't mention it earlier. Usually he tells me everything.”

Batman shrugged. “I mean, I think it was supposed to be a surprise, uh, for you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

“Um,” Lucy coughed into her hand, trying to clear her throat and in no way trying to hide the blush blooming on her cheeks. “I mean, I guess he’ll just tell me about it when he's ready…”

Noticing the emotion steadily creeping into her voice, she hastily changed the subject. “Uh, we should definitely stop talking about this and go patrol, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Batman said. He pulled out a remote control from his belt and, with the click of a button, the Bataclysm shot out of a nearby alley, screeching to a halt beside them. In a fluid motion, the two flipped up their respective doors, leapt inside the vehicle and clicked the doors back into place. With a gratuitous squeal of the engine, the sleek black custom vehicle revved up and took off into the wasteland.

The process of “patrolling” usually entitled driving around aimlessly and fighting any random aliens that showed up. Whenever she patrolled with Benny or Metalbeard, they would routinely get distracted combing through the wreckage for cool pieces. But Batman had long since had collected all the black and dark gray pieces that he needed, and as such, he now went on patrols mainly to beat up the alien creatures. He was, as he described it, simply “working out his inner rage and turmoil through meaningless physical violence.”

Lucy wasn't really sure why she went on patrols. She wasn't really looking for supplies or a fight. It just felt like… the right thing to do. Like something that she had to do it, so that someone else wouldn't need to. In a way, it made her feel like she could protect their new home.

It made her anxious, the way that Emmet kept asking to tag along. She'd told him multiple times that she'd bring pieces back for him, and she knew that he didn't like fighting, but still, he kept asking for some indiscernible reason. Glumly, she looked out the Bataclysm’s tinted windows, watching the ruined skeletons of shattered skyscrapers as they slipped past. What was it out here that Emmet found so alluring?

Regardless of his motivations, she already knew that Emmet would likely never get to run patrols. He was just… too sweet. He always had been. The way that he greeted everyone so cheerfully? The way that his grin never seemed to falter? The way that he still liked fun popular music? Like, who did that?

Not Lucy, that much was for sure. Lucy was cool and tough and edgy now.

And Emmet? He just wasn't.

She had loved that about him, but at some point it had just transformed into a source of worry. The world had made it abundantly clear that everything fun and colorful was in danger here and, instead of changing himself accordingly in order to stay safe, like any totally sane and rational person would, Emmet had just stayed Emmet.

Lucy sighed, pressing her forehead into the cool glass of the window.

“Are you brooding right now?” Batman asked, turning to glower in her direction. “Because it’s my car, and the rule is that only the driver gets to brood.”

“I’m just… thinking.” She mumbled in a half-hearted reply.

“Oh, good. I wasn’t planning on thinking, so you can do that if you want.” Turning his focus back to driving, he cranked a dial on the dashboard, sending a shockwave of pulsating heavy metal music blasting out of the back seats to help fill the awkward silence between them.

Ignoring him, Lucy went back to staring listlessly out the window. Maybe they'd encounter some aliens, and she could try distracting herself from her myriad concerns and personal insecurities with violence, like Batman always does.

Come on, she thought for perhaps the first time in the five years they'd been under siege. Come on, let's see some aliens.

There weren't any aliens.

In the end, all that Lucy had accomplished was sitting in a testosterone and leather scented car for two hours while listening to Batman talk about the power of abs or something. All in all, the experience had done little to help ease her thoughts on Emmet.

To make matters worse, her stomach had begun growling something fierce. Caving to her body’s demands, she decided to postpone her search for Emmet until after a quick stop at her favorite lunchtime cafe - Le Pain.

“Hey, Lucy!” As she entered, a familiar voice shook her out of her thoughts.

“Emmet!” She cried, a fond grin forming on her cheeks. “I’ve been looking for you!”

Emmet laughed, rubbing the back of his neck in that nervous way he does. “Sorry about this morning...”

“But! Um,” He gestured towards the table he was sitting at, which had been clearly set for two. “I was hoping that I might be able to make up for it with some lunch?”

“Sure,” Lucy said, taking the seat across from him.  

“How was your patrol?” Emmet asked.

“Eh, pretty uninteresting.” Lucy replied. She reached for one of the menus resting in the center of the table, and began perusing through the lunch items. “Apparently Batman has a kid now, but other than that nothing really happened.”

The waiter, a former french mime whose face had been repainted so to resemble a skull, walked up to take their orders.

“I'll have an abnormally large croissant and a black coffee, please.” Lucy ordered, passing her menu back to the waiter.

“Same for me,” Emmet added, earning him a skeptical look from Lucy.

“Are you sure?” She asked, doubt apparent in her tone. “I thought you didn't like black coffee?”

“Well,” Emmet said, with a crooked, almost shy smile. “I’ve decided to take it up recently. So that I can be tougher, like you guys.”

“Oh?” Lucy’s expression reflected her pleasant surprise. “I'm glad to hear it.”

After a minute or two, the waiter brought back their food, and the pair started to eat. As usual, everything tasted fine, but had a rather gritty texture. Living in a desert, there wasn't much a chef could do to keep out the sand - which, as everybody knew, was coarse, rough, irritating, and got everywhere.

“Hey Emmet,” Lucy said after a moment. “Was there… a particular reason you couldn't hang out this morning?”

“Oh,” he replied. “Well, I was going to tell you later, but I've actually started training. As part of becoming tougher, that is.”

“Training?” Lucy asked.

“Yeah, like lifting weights and doing backflips and stuff. You know, tough guy stuff.”  

“Ok, right. That makes sense.” Lucy chastised herself for worrying. Here she was, worrying over Emmet for being too soft and vulnerable when in reality he was off working at becoming better and stronger. She felt almost foolish now for having run all over town looking for him.

Across from her, Rex continued to pick at his food. He hadn’t really eaten much since… before everything, and he was finding the experience more uncomfortable than he remembered. Logically, he knew that he should be making more conversation, asking Lucy about her day and her thoughts, and a billion other things like Emmet always had, but he was struggling to think of any conversation topics. He knew what kinds of questions he really wanted to ask her… but this Lucy wasn’t the one that had left him in Undar that had foiled his plans… so he knew he'd never get a satisfactory answer.

A moment ago, he’d seen the worry on Lucy’s face when she’d asked where he’d been that morning. Then, as he explained that he was training, that he was tough now, her concern  had vanished, replaced with a soft smile. And now, as he finished his coffee, her smile had only grown bigger.

She seemed overjoyed… ecstatic that “Emmet” was finally acting tough, just like she’d wanted him to be.

Rex understood, of course. His time in Undar had been educational in that way, constantly hammering in the fact that being tough was the only way to protect yourself. Emmet needed to learn that; he needed to see that his cheerfulness and his optimism were idealistic, unsustainable, and paving the path towards suffering.

But, for some reason, the thought was still upsetting. Anger roiled in the pit of his gut, turbulent and boiling hot, making it harder and harder to maintain Emmet’s constant dopey grin.

For a moment, it almost felt like he was resentful at how ready Lucy was to accept that Emmet was changing, how excited she was for him to totally overhaul his personality. Obviously, he couldn't be upset about that though, since he agreed with the sentiment. Rex had been responsible for sending Emmet away for training, after all.

He was just… still upset that she had ruined his plans last time.

That was all.

Confident in his identification of the feeling’s source, Rex could then manipulate it, burying it underneath layers of swagger and machismo.  He had years of practice dealing with these kinds of emotions and had long since perfected the art of hiding and ignoring them. As such, his disguise remained perfect, his painted smile never wavering.

[grapevynerendezvous]

The Id - The Inner Sounds of The Id

This is a story about The Inner Sounds of the Id. Perhaps two, or maybe even three stories. It is also a story about what were once the unknown musicians that made it happen. There was no mention of who the musicians were on the album, but they were finally identified many years later. One of the band members, Glenn Cass, wrote that it all began sometime in 1966. Cass admits he is “not sure of times and dates” in the Facebook page biography of The Inner Sounds of the Id. In that biography Cass says Arnold Sukonick approached Capitol Records producer/arranger Jimmy Haskell concerning a recording project he had in mind. Haskell put Sukonick, who started calling himself Paul Arnold, in touch with Jerry Cole. In turn Cole brought in musician friends Cass and Don Dexter and they started working with Arnold’s material.

Paul Arnold (Sukonick) was an avant-garde composer with some pretty eclectic ideas for a recording project. This included time signatures, such as 17/8, 20/8 and 7/4, that he could only verbalize about. Taking suggested composition from Arnold, Jerry Cole, Glenn Cass and Don Dexter started working from jams following the time signatures Arnold suggested. As things took shape the three musicians convinced Arnold that they form a band, adding Glenn’s brother Norm Cass on guitar, and Rich Cliburn on guitar/keyboards to the existing Cole on lead guitar, Cass on bass and Dexter on drums.

Some information contained in the next two paragraphs is from a portion of Don Dexter’s article, The Story of the Id, which was provided by Glenn Cass, who’s insights are also included in these paragraphs and beyond,

While Arnold took most of the credit for the album, most of the material was arranged and worked out by the band, including some of their own original songs. The band spent eight months writing, arranging and rehearsing in preparation for recording which eventually lead up to the album. Barry Stoller said in his article From Inner Sounds to Astro Sounds in PopMatters, “Recorded between 1965 and '66 (according to drummer Don Dexter), a massive collection of tracks was paired down to ten cuts and released by RCA.” (In the 2018 obituary for Don Dexter, it incorrectly says that The Id project occurred in 1968.) During that time all band members were busy with other projects. For instance Don Dexter played drums for Glenn Yarbrough for an album recording followed by a nationwide tour. Once Don returned in November he continued rehearsing with The Id until they wrapped that up later in the month. Dexter said, “We were well rehearsed.” They then went into the studio and completed recording ten songs. The sessions lasted less than three weeks, and included adding vocals and all overdubs.

All the while the band members were lead to believe that they would get credited for their work and artistic creation, and receive appropriate renumeration for it. Dexter said that “they were promised a large chunk of “front money” as soon as they signed with a record label, along with the royalties from sales.”, but they were never paid for the all the rehearsals and the recording of the album. While Arnold paid for the sessions, without consulting the band he had signed with RCA. Don Dexter complained, “The five of us opposed this because, when pressing the records, RCA had a history of putting the voices on top and then (using) filters that muffle the drums and bass so much that a person can hardly hear the rhythm section.” Glenn Cass further added, “RCA Victor took the group and gave Arnold $25.000.00 up front. We never saw a dime.”

The album by The Id was released in May 1967. The liner sleeve has limited information, but it does say that Paul Arnold created and produced The Inner Sounds of the Id. On the record it says two songs, The Rake and Butterfly Kiss, were written and arranged by Arnold, and that he wrote four others and was co-writer of one more. His songwriting credits are on the record by last name only, so it was presumed to be referring to Paul Arnold. Thanks to information retrieved much later the full names have come clear. Guitarist Jerry Cole wrote two songs while having co-written two more. The entire band is credited on one song, along with “Elijah”. The record also said this mysterious Elijah co-wrote one other song. It turns out that Elijah was Jack Good, who was the British co-producer of the American television show Shindig, among other things. The brief liner notes, which is a fanciful description of what Paul Arnold created in this music, have Jack Good’s signature at the end of them, but Barry Stoller, in his Feb. 19, 2015 article From Inner Sounds to Astro Sounds in PopMatters, attributes it to Paul Arnold.

The Id made its’ live performance debut to promote the impending album in Chicago IL at the insistence of the producer. Band members felt it would have been better to go to San Francisco, which was more open for a modern, experimental sound. The debut took place at the Happy Medium, an intimate theater club on Rush Street. There was a blurb in the Feb. 25, 1967 issue of Billboard Magazine saying, “The Id brings its "inner sounds" to the Pussycat Wednesday (February 22). Group includes Jerry Cole, Don Dexter, Glenn Cass, Rich Cliburn and Norman Cass”. Turns out Billboard was wrong about the actual venue. The Pussycat was in the basement. Glenn Cass says, “we were in the theater”.

The gig was scheduled to be an extended run and the first performance was for a special audience that included RCA executives, radio and media. It was a big deal. They were all on their own risers under spotlights with a light show with strobes. Hollywood fashion designer Harvey Krantz designed uniforms, that could be worn two ways, for them. Playing this music live in concert for the first times was quite challenging. The band wasn’t getting paid properly and Cass estimates within two weeks they were at Chicago O’Hare ready to fly back to LA to get back to other projects. “The Id was over.”

Or was it? It seems that while The ID may have been over, The inner Sounds of the Id was just getting off the ground. On March 11, 1967 a full page ad promoting The Id album ran in Billboard Magazine. In the same issue a Spotlight Singles review appeared predicting the single being released, Short Circuit, could hit the Top 60. The “New Album Releases” section of the May 6th Billboard issue announced that the Id’s album was arriving in stores. That was followed a month later in the June 3rd issue with a short album Pop Spotlight: “One of those groups that is experimenting in sounds. “Wild Times” borders on the non-musical, the tune “The Inner Sound of the Id” is weird enough to capture aficionados of the new kind of rock, and put this LP on the chart.” What was predicted failed to materialize. A week later Dave Diamond, a DJ at KFWB, promoted a concert featuring The Id at Valley Music Theater in LA on Saturday June 10. An ad for the show was published in the June 9 issue of the Los Angeles Free Press. When asked how that could be, Glenn Cass opined: “I think he tried to put together another Id.”

It is estimated that the sales of the album were in the neighborhood of 250,000. It continues to be of cult interest as an album ahead of its’ time.

TRACKS

Jerry Cole, Glenn Cass and Rich Cliburn, did the lead vocals on the songs. Each of them had at least one song on the album. At times Cole and Glenn doubled up on lead vocals, and Glenn also sang harmony on some songs. Jerry Cole was the lead arranger on all the songs. Everyone in the group contributed to building the “sound”, and such things as the rhythm of the 17/8 time signature. Don Dexter interpreted all the percussion, building all the drum breaks, tempos, and fills. Another statement has been made that Jerry and Glenn wrote most of the songs.

The opening song is The Rake. A challenging and frenetic piece (also called “hyperactive” in an album description by Bear Cat Records) written by Paul Arnold. It  definitely has a song structure with an unusual time signature. In a comment by tlow0510 regarding a blog called Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur, The Rake is called “a guitar reverb masterpiece, guitar and bass interplay pretty nicely and elevate the psychedelia experience.” In an album review in Rate Your Music - Sonemic Inc. (in association with Amazon), iauc comments, ”The Rake is precisely the best here thanks to its haunting melody and psychedelic guitars.” The Rake starts the record off with more of a question mark than an answer as to what else to expect from the album though. It was released as a second single in May ’67 b/w Wild Times with no documentation as to how it fared.

Wild Times just keeps one guessing. It is somewhat of a blues-rocker that comes on breathlessly until it suddenly shifts into a contrapuntal melody with a  different meter. Bear Cat Records offers that “different genres collided - check out the blue-eyed soul-meets Eastern sitar freak out.” Ritchie Unterberger referred to “gratuitous overlay of sitar sounds”. At the time Richie may have written this opinion he likely did not have this particular insight given by Glenn Cass , “By the way folks. There was no sitar on this album. Jerry was playing an Appalachian Dulcimer.” To be fair Unterberger called it sitar “sounds”, so perhaps he wasn’t being precise as to what instrument it really was. According to Glenn Cass, Rich Cliburn sings the first verse, and Cass the second one. After the dulcimer section it sounds like Cass sings the remaining verse. Harmonies are likely Cass and Rich, as well as Cass and Cole. tlow0510’ adds this positive comment in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur blog, “Wild Times has great flamenco guitar that Cole adds a short sound wavelength tremolo to”. Wild Times’ title, instrumentation and lyrics, leave little doubt that the psychedelic flourishes in this song are wild times indeed.

Don’t Think Twice was one of the two songs indicated as a Jerry Cole composition. While that is how it ended up getting published, Glenn Cass states that he co-wrote it, but received no credit. He is also the lead vocalist and he and Jerry sing the harmonies. Don’t Think Twice is the only straight-ahead rocker on the album and may have been the song that could have gotten some attention had it been released as a single. Glenn Cass’ bass is punchy, and Jerry’s guitar rings throughout the song. 

Stone and Steel, with a somewhat syncopated rhythm, tells a dark tale of childhood to maturity. It seems correct of Richie Unterberger to call this psych-folk-rock. In this case the psych may refer more to psyche than psychedelic.

Baby Eyes is the poppiest song on the album, and while not being particularly eclectic or unusual, it is shown to be written by Paul Arnold. In addition to referring to it as pop/rock, Richie Unterberger also calls it “garage”. tlow0510 comment in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur Blog  says “Baby Eyes" lets the bass player shine. Nice runs. He practiced his scales.” Not only that, bassist Glenn Cass was the lead vocalist as well.

If there is any doubt that Boil the Kettle, Mother is psychedelic, as it is considered by several sources, it most certainly qualifies as such. Richie Unterberger slyly calls it “nonchalant oddness”. The mysterious Elijah (Jack Good) makes his appearance with droning spoken word over a pounding beat and breath-taking guitar work by Jerry Cole. It’s no wonder that this song was an underground FM and college favorite at the time, and continues to fascinate cult fans of psychedelic and progressive music. In album reviews in Rate Your Music-Sonemic Inc. (in association with Amazon), this is a sampling of comments about the song: Tovan called it a “Barrett-esqe track, in reference to Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, iauc says "Boil The Kettle Mother" also marks another high point with its insane guitars and bizarre vocals”, and tlow0510 comment in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur blog refers to the “standout track”, which “has spoken vampire voice.”

Described as “crazed folk” music by Bear Cat Records, Butterfly Kiss is a love analogy that ends with a wish to fly away with a butterfly. Music journalist Eileen Kaufman’ July 14, 1967 article, “Latest AcidRock Groups Reach Multiple Mind Level” in the Los Angeles Free Press, calls it “a baroque ditty —— done with female vocal obligato and male voice on the melody. The accompaniment ranges from baroque chamber music to a Slavic beat at the finale.” In a Customer Review on the album site on Amazon, Gologanov Alexey calls Butterfly Kiss an “absolutely unbelievable masterpiece of baroque with fine strings, exquisite female singing and a harmony which endlessly evolves in spiral, without repeating itself.” Indeed it’s composer, Paul Arnold Solunek was an accomplished violinist. Since there were no credits to any musicians on the liner sleeve it can only be surmised that he was responsible for the string arrangement as well as the performance. The source of the female voice was unnamed, but it is possible that it may be Tsvia Abrabanal, of Tsvia & The Followers. She and Sukonick had met for the first time earlier in the ‘60s. They worked together on his Moon Express recording project following The Inner Sound of the Id. While those recordings were completed in 1969 it was not released as an album until Sukonick’s nephew completed it and released Prophetic Spirit posthumously in 2019. The voice in that music sounds similar to the one in Butterfly Kiss.

I

The first single released from the album, Short Circuit b/w Boil the Kettle, Mother, got the attention of Billboard Magazine as it was released in March ’67: “Off-beat weirdy has all the ingredients for a teen-identifiable smash. Clever, pulsating beat and production featuring far out guitar sounds and strong group vocal.” With Jerry Cole and Glenn Cass on vocals, Cole’s guitar is dependably evident, but it is Cass’s winding bass that leads the way through the song. That nothing came of the single afterwards may be explained, at least in part, by the fact that The Id had disbanded just as Billboard unveiled it. Both these songs, along with the long closing cut, The Inner Sound of the Id, became popular on underground radio stations in L.A. in the late 1960s.” according to the album description in Tasty Odds associated with label World of Sounds.

Just Who is the other number attributed to Jerry Cole. It is an energetic rocker that has rhythmic spoken word lyrics throughout, somewhat in the vein of The Troggs’ Wild Thing. A harmony chorus comes in at about a minute ten seconds until the conclusion of the song. It is again a display of Glenn Cass’ strong winding bass, but additionally he is the lead vocalist, in what he has referred to as a “shit song”. Some of the songs like Just Who, that are in the Youtube full album link included in references below, are in mono rather than stereo sound. There is a marked difference between the mono and the stereo versions, particularly with vocals. As tlow0510 in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur blog opined about the stereo version of the album, “… the vocals are awwwwwfffuuuuullll. They're only in the right channel. As a result they sounded distant and distracting compared to the mono version.”

There have been a variety of opinions in regard to the final track. The Inner Sound of the Id, composed by Paul Arnold, has had a very mixed critical reception. At ten and half minutes there is speculation as to whether it is a creative example of psychedelia, or  just filler. It moves through the instrumental intro, as Eileen Kaufman puts it, ”merging into the poetry recited by an eerie voice discussing Psyche, Libido and the Id - and how each affects your senses”. The afore-mentioned Jack “Elijah” Good is the spoken word vocalist over a slowly mounting instrumental build up until two-thirds of the way through The album’s first song, The Rake, plays in entirety and leads to a slowly fading finish. The Jerry Cole-played dulcimer is reminiscent of the album’s second song, Wild Times. Kaufman also had this to say about the last track of the same name, “The entire selection builds to a mysterious climax while the dulcimer solo blows your mind.” At least somebody knew those sitar sounds were actually made by a dulcimer.

—-Further opinions.

>ProgMusic Paradise blog calls it the “the high point of the album, "The inner sound of The Id", with a completely acidic atmosphere”.

>A “ten-minute final track is the stereotypical dark-indo-esoteric-sitar bungle” per wago album review in Rate Your Music-Sonemic Inc. (in association with Amazon).

>“Another standout track” according to tlow0510 comment in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur Blog, who goes on to say, “The Inner Sound of the ID" has samples from earlier tracks on the album and seems like it was written while they were exploring the id of their minds.”

>iauc album review in Rate Your Music-Sonemic Inc. (in association with Amazon) scathingly writes, the album “may have been a major addition to the extensive catalog of psychedelic rarities, but the final 10 bland minutes of "The Inner Sounds Of The Id" take away any chance”, and “the truth is that this failed recitation on a background with oriental overtones is a good sample of the excesses of the period.”

>And finally, Bear Cat Records says the “ten minute title track, complete with extended sitar, marshal drumming and earnest chanting is must-hear hysterical.”

—————————-

While there are differences in opinion, a case can be made that much of the music on The Inner Sound of the Id was quintessentially psychedelic., even though the band did not set out to make it that. Richie Unterberger questioned whether this was done artistically, or rather was an exploitation of the developing  psychedelia culture. Reflecting back, Glenn Cass intones, “Psych my ass! As far as I can remember, we never looked at this session as psychedelic. We went into this to do an album with different time signatures that no one had ever done. We knew nothing about psych, we were almost all playing country (music). We agreed to do this between us cause we had done everything else so why not try this.” As to it being exploitive of the expanding psychedelia culture, the only thing that Cass had to add is that they were “also thinking the big break and money was possible.”

In regards to Unterberger’s thought as to it was done artistically, one need only review the long and thoughtful efforts that were put into preparing for and creating this album, which happened to occur in the midst of what came to be known as psychedelic music. After the fact, many things have come to be associated with psychedelia in music. These can include disjunctive song structures such as time and key signatures, modal and drone concepts, lyrics that can be surreal, esoteric, whimsical, inspired by literature, unusual instrumental and studio effects and enhancement and the use of exotic instrumentation, and extended instrumental parts, or jams. Most of this can be found in the work and results of what went into The Inner Sounds of the Id. It seems safe to say that none of the participants were drugged out young people tripping out over mind-expanding substances, even if that may be what happened with some of folks who ended up listening to The Id’s music, be they younger or older.

As to other comments:

-Richie Unterberger used terms like “weird in a forced, mediocre fashion”. “makes it sound more like an exploitation of psychedelic movement than a genuine part of it”., “chanted pseudo-séance vocals” emulating “freakishness, or a “kind of mediocre California psychedelic band”, “strange on-the-sleeve efforts”, “gratuitous overlay of sitar sounds”, “outlandish lyrics, poker-faced spoken vocal”.

-D&J blog in Wings of Dream June 22, 2011 “By 1967 psychedelia had become trendy and commercial. Major labels released goofy, self-conscious experimental rock records that didn’t have a chance to make the charts, obscure major-label psychedelic product of the time, psychsploitation, cash in on a fad rather than sincere ambitious musical endeavor, strange guitar reverb and distortion, dashes of sitar, pseudo-Eastern musical and mystical influences, shortage of good songs and ideas, aura of strained attempt to be freaky. The presence of well-traveled Los Angeles session guitarist Jerry Cole on the LP makes one wonder if the Inner Sound of the Id were a studio-only group.”

-ProgMusic Paradise blog September 11, 2019 says “by 1967 and at the time of their album release, the musicians of The Id were a bit older and more experienced than other ordinary psychedelic artists. The album starts with weak pop compositions but gradually sinks deeper into psychedelia with fuzz, distortion, echo effects and meditative chants. the high point of the album, "The inner sound of The Id", with a completely acidic atmosphere.”

-Bad Cat Records album description says, referring to “psychedelic touches”, “Interestingly, when I first heard the album it didn't strike me as the year's most original package.  That was before I realized when this thing was recorded - 1967!, Upbeat, varied and enthusiastic, major psych reference books describes the set as "Beatles influenced”.

From Rate Your Music-Sonemic Inc. (in association with Amazon) album review comments:

>Tovan review September 26, 2007 says good, trippy psychedelia with some odd twists and turns. A bit maldirected at times, but with some really nice tracks.

>wago review December 2, 2007 loaded with compound meters (in agreement with “Don Ellis”), style is typically garage-psych, but the songs feature very strong melodies and a wonderful Sixties/Beatlesque/Love allure, A bit ingenuous at times, but never sounding unaccomplished, ten-minute final track is the stereotypical dark-indo-esoteric-sitar bungle.

>iauc November 21, 2008 says “it may have been a major addition to the extensive catalog of psychedelic rarities, but the final 10 bland minutes of "The Inner Sounds Of The Id" take away any chance, ailed recitation on a background with oriental overtones,” ”The Rake" is precisely the best here thanks to its haunting melody and psychedelic guitars”, "Boil The Kettle Mother" also marks another high point with its insane guitars and bizarre vocals, other consistent and more conventional songs in a predominantly garage style and a few folk touches.” 

>tymeshifter review January 29, 2011 says “actually a great punk/psych album, considerably more talented and better sounding (through better production) than most typical punk groups, little denying the presence of a punk element on this record, inclusion of famed session man Jerry Cole in their personnel was also a guarantee this was going to be interesting.”

>CooperBolan October 2, 2015 says “underground garage psych band, pretty raw and simple psychedelic rock tracks.”

>tlow0510 comment in Mono and Stereo Comparison (thread) by imgur Blog 2018 says style is “Psychedelic Rock, Garage Psych”, “fantastic psychedelia masterpiece, bass and vocals compliment the reverberated flamenco and jazz influenced guitar playing, guitar/sitar psych album.” “It seems like a lot of organ was ham-fisted into psych records back then.” “guitar and bass interplay pretty nicely and elevate the psychedelia experience.”

BAND MEMBERS AND PRODUCER

Jerry Cole (born Gerald Kolbrak September 23, 1939 Green Bay WI-died May 28, 2008 Corona CA) was raised in Chicago, but by his late teens had returned to Green Bay. He and Glenn Cass met up at the time Jerry was playing guitar in jazz and swing bands. They started playing some rock and country music together. Cass, who was a guitarist as well, said he helped Jerry learn rock guitar licks. Jerry formed a band called Jerry Cole & The Flaming Coals with Cass, Tom “TC” Gebheim, Larry Russell and Fritz Rueblien. After Gebheim left the band Don Dexter joined as the drummer. They played for about a year at a local club called the Piccadilly. In 1959 The Champs came to town  while on tour supporting their hit, Tequila. After playing at the Riverside Ballroom they stopped in at the Piccadilly and ended up sitting in with the Flaming Coals.

After some time following the end of the Flaming Coals’ gig at Piccadilly, Jerry Cole along with Cass and Dexter played in the Johnny Pike Quartet at the Caravan Club in Colorado Springs CO for awhile. Jerry then moved to Los Angeles where he had been invited to join The Champs as lead guitarist. Glenn Campbell also joined to replace Johnny Meeks. Cole and Campbell later left the band and ended up putting out a single together as The Cee Gees called Buzzsaw Twist b/w Annie Had a Party.

Jerry started finding work in the energetic LA music scene. He became pseudonymously involved with several budget record albums released by Crown Records, with some that actually included his name . In the meantime he lead the surf rock band Jerry Cole & His Spacemen and had three albums released by Capitol Records. Glenn Cass was in the band, as was TC Gebheim. They were the first to cover the song written by Michael Z. Gordon, Outer Limits, which was first recorded by Gordon’s band The Routers. In subsequent versions the song was called Out of Limits after Rod Serling sued because of the non-permitted use of the four note motif from Twilight Zone. Gordon founded The Marketts, who had a No.3 hit version of his song. The Ventures followed up with another popular version.

Cole became an in-demand session guitarist by the time The Byrds went into the studio for the first time. Their producer Terry Melcher was not confident in their capability at that time and brought in members of the Wrecking Crew to back up Jim McGuinn, who sang lead and played 12-string guitar. The studio musicians included Cole as well as Larry Knechtel, Leon Russell and Hal Blaine. The songs recorded, which went on the first hit single, were Mr. Tambourine Man and the B-side I Knew I’d Want You. During this time period Cole also recorded on Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ and Paul Revere & The Raiders’ Kicks, among others. He was with bands on TV shows Hullabaloo and Shindig while leading or participating in bands with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Roger Miller and Ricky Nelson. Cole was first-call guitarist in TV bands for Andy Williams, Sonny & Cher, Smothers Brothers, Laugh In and Dick Van Dyke. As part of the Wrecking Crew he recorded on Phil Spector productions. Additionally Cole was often part of the Gene Davis and Red Rhodes incarnations at the Palomino and other clubs off and on through 1969.

In the process of “becoming the most prolific session guitarist in history”, as mentioned by Barry Stoller, Jerry Cole once again got into the nebulous world of pseudonymous record albums courtesy of Alshire Records of 101 Strings notoriety. Session tracks and/or outtakes from the Id recording sessions became at least part of the basis for several "psychsploitation" budget recordings. Cole’s  involvement, as well that of other musicians, perhaps was  inadvertent, but there no way of knowing whether it was, or not.

Alshire’s owners, Al Sherman and DL Miller decided to cash in on the new music happening in the mid-to-late ‘60s. The first act to release an album on the label other than 101 Strings was The Animated Egg. All album tracks are attributed to David Leonard Miller and Al Sherman. In one of several descriptions Barry Stoller says of the music, “A mad pastiche of bump-and-grind, transcendental arpeggios, proto-metal swagger and laser-beam leads reaching a crescendo of post-punk deconstruction (on "Sock It My Way"), the uncredited instrumentals suggest slapdash genius. That's exactly what it is. These tracks are the missing masters from The Inner Sounds of the Id sessions.” He further suggests Paul Arnold’s responsibility for “missing” Id masters once they disbanded prior to their 1967 album release. Jerry alleged that to Stoller back in the early 2000s. Quoted by Stoller, Cole said, “Paul Arnold absconded with the RCA royalties from The Id and then proceeded to sell that other material to a lot of people at various labels.”

Sherman and Miller then took it even further, releasing Astro Sounds From Beyond the Year 2000 using the Id rock music now enhanced with string arrangements. Despite it’s superior production, according to Stoller, it was neglected due to being credited to 101 Strings. This material continued to be recycled by various labels beyond the year 2000. When first told of this, and finally hearing his “work” on The Animated Egg, Cole told Stoller, "No doubt, that album is entirely me - iron clad - every tune.” "All they really did was add phase shifting through a Leslie speaker throughout the album. You know, I'm really gonna have to have my lawyer look into this Alshire business.” And then again, Cole may have been involved, hard to say.

Glenn (sometimes billed as Glen) Cass (born Kastner May 27, 1939 Green Bay WI, and grew up in Oconto WI). He got his first guitar when he was 10 years old. After high school he played a few beer bars while working a regular job. He met Jerry Cole, who was playing jazz and swing gigs around the area in 1959 and helped him learn rock guitar licks. When Jerry Cole and The Flaming Coals came about he switched to bass as there were already two other guitarists. Tom “TC” Geldheim, the drummer of the band, left and Don Dexter, who had returned from the service, started playing with them. They played for about a year at a lounge called Piccadilly.

After an extended gig with the Johnny Pike Quartet at the Caravan Club in Colorado Springs CO, along with Cole and Dexter, Glenn and Don returned to Green Bay. Glenn got back together with TC Geldheim and toured the midwest for about a year and a half. Thereafter Glenn got a gig with the Johnny Rivers band at a club in New Orleans for a few months. Glenn then ended up going to Los Angeles, arriving about the same time as Jerry Cole. They often played together during their time in LA. He recorded on some of the pseudonymous Crown Records albums, and on the surf albums on Capitol Records with Jerry Cole & His Spacemen which also included TC Gebheim.

Glenn was involved with an album on Capitol Records in 1964 called Black Boots and Bikes by a band called The Kickstands. The cover described it as “Hillclimbing instrumentals and Vocals”. Vocal Surf and Surf Rock are genres that later were used to define the music. It is possible Jerry Cole may have also been involved. Glenn was in on The Byrds demo tapes made in mid-year to November 1964, but eventually were released in the album Preflyte in 1969.

Glenn brought his brother Norm Cass out to LA in ’64 and they played together at The Palomino Club in North Hollywood CA with The Gene Davis Band (aka The Palomino Riders, and Gene Davis & the Star Routers) while also being on the (Cal) Worthington Dodge TV show. In the meantime they were part of a band with drummer Sandy Nelson and Jerry Inman that was in the 1965 movie, Wild on the Beach. In addition to them the Astronauts were also part of the onscreen cast as well as it being the film debut for Sonny and Cher. Glenn Cass found a movie poster of the movie that shows the band Sandy Nelson, Glenn, Norm and Jerry Inman.

In later 1965 Gene Davis joined Roger Miller’s road band for a time and steel guitar player Red Rhodes fronted the band, called Red Rhodes & the Detours. When Gene returned Glenn left to play with his new band at a club called Starland, then Clouds in San Fernando Valley, and finally on TV in The Brand Motors Ford Show. Gene left again in early 1966 and Glenn put his own band together and played some clubs.

On his own again Glenn started working at the Ban-Dar club in Ventura CA. When the owners sold he took over the band and began bringing in big names like Willie Nelson, George Jones, Merle Haggard and Glenn Campbell. It was at this time that The Id project was going on. After the The Id disbanded in 1967, Glenn had returned to the Ban-Dar for a short while and then joined with Glen Kiener in taking over a place they renamed the Corral. Gene Davis was hired by Glenn after he had returned to town and the Corral became very popular. Glenn was asked to fill in for Waylon Jennings who was unable to play a gig at the Golden Nugget in Vegas. Billed as the Glenn Cass Band, he left Gene with the Corral for that run. Upon returning he was asked to join up with Red Rhodes & The Detours at the Palomino.

In 1969 Happy Tiger Records released the album Live at The Palomino. Glenn said in his Facebook page that the band members, which also included Norm and Jerry Cole at the time, got no recognition on the album itself, although the cover includes a photo of the band. A single on Happy Tiger, The Conspiracy of Homer Jones b/w Divorce, by Glenn Cass featured two songs from the Live album. Also that year Red Rhodes & The Detours, with guest Dave Dudley, played at the Tomorrowland Terrace stage in Disneyland. It was the day of the first crewed moon landing, July 20, 1969. Glenn said that the landing was shown on a large screen at the Tomorrowland Stage. They also played as a back-up band for fifty-two big name artists at the Cow Palace in Daly City CA, as well as with Eddy Arnold at the Hollywood Bowl. Before the year was out the band left the Palomino in a pay dispute.

Glenn and his brother Norm returned to Green Bay and took other work for awhile before Glenn decided to get back into country music. Around this time Glenn had a single, What Color is a Man b/w Hurry Up Sundown released by Target Records in 1971. He got a band together and shot a pilot TV show which was picked up by WFRV-NBC. It was called The Glenn Cass Country Show and held a number one position on local Nielsen ratings for two years. The Country Christmas album by he and the show’s female vocalist, April Walker, was released back in this period as well. In 1973 Glenn recorded Country Girl b/w Sweet Sweetheart on DBL Records. He said it was engineered by Sam Philips with the instrumental tracks at Muscle Shoals Alabama, and later voices added in Memphis. It was mixed by Charlie Tallent. Backing vocals were by Paul Anka’s back up group, Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes. Charlie McCoy played harp on Sweet Sweetheart.

Due to health issues Glenn had to give up the show to April Walker. A year later he got an offer to play in a club called Flower Drum in Portland Oregon, playing there for the last thirteen years of his career. He was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame on October 8, 2010. Glenn released a private label CD of the original ten songs from The Inner Sound of the Id in the 2000s. It is billed as Glenn Cass Bassist “The Id” After Fifty Years The Original Ten Songs. There is an album by he and Dave Dudley called Sixteen Hundred Miles released on Compose Records which appears to be recordings from the Crown Records days in the early ’60s. Information about it says it was released December 10, 2018, but there is evidence of it on Glenn’s Facebook going back to at least 2015.

Norm Cass (born Norman Richard Kastner on September 2, 1945 Green Bay WI died July 18, 2012 Alvin, TX) joined his brother Glenn in Los Angeles CA in 1964. In that year he was involved with a pseudonymous budget album on crown records called Buckaroo and Other Guitar Country and Western Favorites. Norm and Glenn played together at The Palomino Club in North Hollywood CA with The Gene Davis Band (aka The Palomino Riders, and Gene Davis & the Star Routers) during the mid-to-late sixties. In 1966 steel guitar player Red Rhodes fronted the band after Gene Davis joined Roger Miller’s road band. In the same period he played with the McGinnis Brothers at The Cape Room and other clubs Norm was working with The Id project as rhythm guitarist and back up vocalist. After this he eventually played with his brother in Red Rhodes & The Legends at the Palomino again. -see other information about that in the Glenn Cass bio above.

Norm played guitar with Gene Watson & The Farewell Party Band, and was on both albums the band recorded between 1982 and 1984. The band also backed Gene on a solo album and released an album under their own name. He may have played with Watson before that period, but was with him further into the ‘90s and perhaps beyond. The song Carmen from the 1985 album, Memories to Burn, has a video performed by Gene and the band live at Wembley Arena in England in 1986, featuring Norm playing Spanish style guitar. There are a few other videos showing Norm playing with Gene Watson as well.

Don Dexter (born Donald James Dexter December 17, 1937 in Appleton WI died October 3, 2018 Canon City CO) started playing drums at age ten. He lead his first band, Don Dexter & The Downbeats from 1954-56. Tom TC Gebheim was a member of his band. After a turn in the service Dexter became a member of Jerry Cole and The Flaming Coals, replacing Gebheim as drummer. He was the first one, in what became The Id, to go to Los Angeles. He then returned to GB, and soon joined Jerry and Glenn when they went to Colorado Springs to play in the Johnny Pike Quartet at the Caravan Club for a time. After once again being back in Green Bay for awhile he headed back to LA, where he became a regular session and band drummer. He played and recorded with Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, Glenn Yarbrough (with whom he toured, and got to play with at Carnegie Hall), Mason Williams, Joe & Eddie, Del Shannon, Nino Tempo and April Stevens, Sonny James, and the Smothers Brothers. He was in the bands on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, a Bob Hope special, rock and roll specials on ABC, made for TV movies, and six Frankie Avalon movies, two of which were made for TV.

Before moving to Colorado from Los Angeles, Don was director of film and video for music legends Warner Bros. platinum artists Seals & Crofts. He also became a noted director/producer of television film documentaries. He taught film and video at UC-Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, the Colorado Film School, and The Art Institute of Colorado. He received numerous honors and awards including six of nine Emmy nominations resulting in Awards. He formed and produced film and video for twenty years with his Wolf River Productions company. Don was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2003.

James Richard “Rich” Cliburn (born March 1, 1943 Mt. Olive MS) played guitar and keyboards with The Id. He went on to play lead guitar with Smith, a band he helped form in 1969. Smith evolved from a band called The Smiths (not to be confused with the later English band), which had recorded a song that didn’t chart well. After scouting for a different lead singer, Gayle McCormick was tapped to join the band. While Smith was the house band at the Rag Doll Club Del Shannon discovered them and helped them sign with Dunhill Records. He also did an arrangement of The Chiffons’ song, Baby It’s You, for Smith with which they had No.5 hit on Billboard. The album, A Group Called Smith, was released and included Cliburn and bassist Jerry Carter on vocals as well as McCormick. Cliburn and Carter, along with one other person, were apparently the writers of a 1966 song called Dance With Me. which was released as a single by by The Trippers on Ruby-Doo Records.

Paul Arnold Sukonick (born August 3, 1933 Philadelphia PA died February 18, 1991 Los Angeles CA) was a celebrated classical violinist who won the Young Artist competition of California playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Sukonick, after moving to Los Angeles, studied with Russian virtuoso violinist Toscha Seidel and became the United States representative to the second Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962. Seidel helped Sukonick find work in film and music recording studios in Hollywood and Los Angeles. It is documented that Sukonick was a violinist in Frank Sinatra recording sessions including March 1961 recording sessions for Capitol Records’ album Come Swing With Me!, and May 1961 recording sessions for Reprise Records’ album I Remember Tommy.

Arnold eventually began the work on The Inner Sound of the Id after which he started another project in 1967 which was named Moon Express. He worked with Yemen-born, Israeli-raised Tsvia Abarbanel and other musicians. As the album neared completion in 1969 Paul Arnold & Moon Express was part of the line up in an NBC special called 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee. They contributed a piece called Only The Fittest Shall Survive for a psychedelic dance performance. The female voice was Yemen-born Tsvia Abrabanal of Tsvia & The Followers. Tsvia was a member of the Inbal Dance Theater, which may have been involved with this production, but that point is conjecture. In addition to the Monkees, Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Buddy Miles Express, The Clara Ward Singers and We Three were also featured. The special was created and produced by Jack Good.

Shortly thereafter Sukonick was severely debilitated when struck by a car. Eventually his Moon Express project was completed by his nephew, David Sukonick in 2019, fifty years after the accident ended his quest. Moon Express’ album, Prophetic Spirit was released on Sundazed Records with the help of Mike Vernon. Paul Arnold is heard performing spoken voice and violin. Tsvia & The Followers were of course on it as well. That group was once on a 1967 Andy Williams TV special, and they also opened for Donovan at the Hollywood Bowl.

—————————-

This was the first (of many) records that I obtained with no clue as to what it was. Although I had already purchased albums that I hadn’t actually heard, or knew little about, I did so knowing  something about the musicians and/or music in them. I knew nothing about The Id, but the record intrigued me. Of course in those days there was nothing like the internet to assist with finding out more about the record itself. I was not familiar with the word “id” but thought I should go home and look it up in the dictionary. The result made it appealing enough to try out the record and I returned to the record store located in Menlo Park CA to buy it.

I have to admit that my initial thoughts on it were not overly positive. As I have previously described there were some unusual things done with this record; some worked, some not so much. I didn’t listen to it near as much as my other albums. I was put off by some of the vocals. I thought it was because they sounded distant, perhaps muted and reedy, and the spoken word stuff was unusual for me. After reading one of the opinions I found in my research I realized that the vocals coming out of one channel in the stereo version were the main issue. It made them sound more distant and unclear seemed a definite factor in my perception. I wasn’t used to such adventuresome signature meters either. Again, later research highlighted that they were indeed quite different, even for the musicians.

Three years before this final edit, I found a certain amount of information on the internet regarding The Inner Sounds of the Id. In particular I found some comments about the album on Amazon. Along with three or four other sources, for the first time I discovered who the musicians were. While making the decision to revise and update blogs I had previously posted, I didn’t realize it would result in my unearthing so much more regarding The Id and the album.

I want to thank Mr. Glenn Cass, one of two band members still around as of this writing. Fortunately he commented on Amazon back in 2014. This gave me the insight into who the hell all these people were, and an idea of what went on. This time around, thanks to him, I was able to garner so much more through his personal Facebook page on which I went back eight years, finding special new nuggets all the way through. More recently I became familiar with Mr. Jason Odd, a music historian who had much to add to the subject, and is the creator of The Inner Sounds of the Id Facebook page. Thanks to his fresh, as well as Glenn’s even newer, perspectives, I was convinced to once again delve into the story.

As I absorbed the information on all this, I realized the importance in adding an in-depth view of the artists. I also felt it was important to address some of the opinions regarding the relationship of psychedelic music to this band and their record. Coupled with some researched information, I expressed my own opinions in regard to this. While not claiming vast expertise, I think there is some validity in my opinions, and that’s where I am going to leave it.

With all this intense familiarization, I now have a much stronger appreciation for what transpired. There seemed to have been a sincere effort by these professionals to create something fresh and different. With a change in fortune it might have risen to the level of other contemporary offerings. While completing my previous effort on all this I commented, ‘An album shrouded in mystery and inconsistencies’. I no longer consider this applicable. To that I had concluded that it was ‘the stuff that legends are made of”, which remains true indeed.

Glenn Cass https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R9VJ9B2FID67F/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001CESP9Q

David Sukonick nephew of Paul Arnold https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R14AUP2ZBHIOCB/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001CESP9Q

Golonanov Alexey https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2TQELH3948JZF/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001CESP9Q

New Album Releases page 51 https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard%201967-05-06.pdf

Mention of Id concert in Chicago Ihttps://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard%201967-02-25.pdf pg. 58 From the Music Capitols of the World

The Id Ad & Short Circuit Spotlight Singles https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard%201967-03-11.pdf

Spotlight Album Reviews page 44 https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard%201967-06-03.pdf

Id Concert Poster 6-9-67 Ad https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BGJFHJH19670609.1.11&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1 

Eileen Kaufman article 6-14-67 page 9 https://voices.revealdigital.org/?a=d&d=BGJFHJH19670714.1.9&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1

https://www.popmatters.com/060220-astrosounds-2496104391.html

https://www.tastyodds.com/en/Compact-Discs/Relics-from-the-past/The-Id-The-Inner-Sounds-Of-The-Id-CD.html

https://www.discogs.com/The-Id-The-Inner-Sounds-Of-The-Id/release/2838941

https://www.discogs.com/The-Id-The-Rake-Wild-Times/release/6984973

https://www.discogs.com/The-Id-Short-Circuit-Boil-The-Kettle-Mother/release/8242097

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-inner-sound-of-the-id-mw0000875937

http://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/ID.htm

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-id/the-inner-sounds-of-the-id-2/reviews/1/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/8c5bkq/the_inner_sounds_of_the_id_the_id_1967/

http://musicofsixties.blogspot.com/2011/06/the-id-inner-sounds-of-id-1967.html

https://www.adsausage.com/freep6/

https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/the-id-short-circuit-boil-the-kettle-mother

https://isthmus.com/music/vinyl-cave/vinyl-cave-the-inner-sounds-of-the-id-by-the-id/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Champs

https://pandora.com/artist/moon-express/prophetic-spirit/AL5qXqkm2Jd2Pw2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Cole 

Id page Kastner https://www.facebook.com/basemannn/

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/GlennCass.html

http://www.rockinroundthevalley.com/2019/09/featured-song-sweet-sweetheart-by-glenn.html

Topic15 1/2019 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.music.country.classic/dnDcgi26qZYhttps://www.legacy.com/obituaries/canoncitydailyrecord/obituary.aspx?n=donald-%22don%22-james-dexter&pid=190423841&fhid=3551

http://rockabillyhall.com/DonDexter1.html

Arnold Sukonick https://books.google.com/books?id=yqth52rImHQC&pg=PA328&lpg=PA328&dq=paul+arnold+sukonick&source=bl&ots=YutzMRK-Jm&sig=ACfU3U0iBni1MbqaAUIGJVOXi_-aCVvT4A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjtn-u2l8bpAhUSCM0KHYAjDkoQ6AEwBXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=paul%20arnold%20sukonick&f=false 

Moon Express-Prophetic Spirit https://sundazed.com/moon-express.aspx

http://www.rockabillyhall.com/RiversideBallroom.html

Cole/Wilson/Lewis-Shindig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfJnT4C1gXM

Cole-Pretty Woman-Shindig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii-yJZRAwX0

Cole-Spacemen-Outer Limits https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=517pXh73H1U 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Limits

Glenn/April Walker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYfOnNfoutE

Norm/Farewell Party Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJPBIuBps5s

Norm/guitar-Gene Watson-Carmen live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5V9GeQcpiM

Cliburn-Smith-Baby It’s You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee9cs_JZ-Ro

Cliburn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_(band)

Cliburn https://m.facebook.com/SimpsonCountyHistorical/posts/1081706975531117

Paul Arnold-Moon Express spoken word https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wvZxUOTXhY&list=PLgPMmC48fEdvwxZJrbAbuojr-rJN5rR0O&index=1

Sukonick-violin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_tkPrrbDw

Arnold/Moon Express music for dance (at 17:38) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYSssfG7Gy8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33%E2%85%93_Revolutions_per_Monkee

Full album less track 3 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7fo5Un7FZkbJ2Z_oxjGzwSU0

Track 3 - Don’t Think Twice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llw32IpttPM

Id Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=ms.c.eJwzNDAyMjQ0NzM3NjIxMjEwN9UzRIiYm5gYWBgDAH01Bv8~-.bps.a.10207379571663679&type=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0MCRxld8bY alternate The Rake in mono

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdsZ2zduGMU alternate Wild Times in mono

LP23

[blankspaces]

Some Rolling Stones podcast thoughts cont. Gratuitous caps lock abuse ahead again. 

SIDE NOTE: WHEN IS SOMEONE GOING TO HIRE ME TO BE A TAYLOR SWIFT/POP MUSIC SCHOLAR. I will write for next to nothing because I love it and it will be better than this hasty scribble. 

16. I think retaining that child-like sense of wonder and excitement about things is important to Taylor and one of the endearing things about her. It’s what redeems WTNY and I like how they related it to McCartney and how when they get excited about something, it’s like they’ve invented it. How many times do you think someone that talks to Taylor has heard some variation of the phrase, “omg, I just found the best new thing!?” come out of her mouth. 

17. How many times has WTNY been used in a film montage? That song is practically made for the montage of ‘small town person goes to the Big Apple and is wandering around the streets, wide-eyed and the music stops when they step out into the road and almost get run over by a taxi’ cliche. I can only recall it being used in that movie Rebel Wilson was in, but maybe more? 

18. I LOVE MELODRAMATIC SELF_DRAMATISING TAYLOR. Her life is her own self-written play and so much of 1989, in particular, is structured like a play. I love how sometimes Taylor calls attention to the fact that she is the writer of her own ‘fiction’, see literally the entirety of Story of Us. 

19. PEOPLE DO FORGET ABOUT EYES OPEN. WHYYYYYYYY

20. TBH I feel like in some ways Speak Now has some very distinctive rock elements to it musically that never get mentioned ever. There’s a lot of heavy guitar on some of those songs (Sparks Fly etc.) that are different from the (to my ear, cleaner sounding) stadium rock on Red. 

21. TBH x2 I ALSO REALLY HAD MY HEART SET ON TS6 BEING ROCK BUT MOSTLY BECAUSE TAYLOR GOT MY HOPES UP WITH THE ROCK VERSIONS OF SONGS ON TOUR. THE WANGBT ROCK VERSION ON THE 1989 TOUR INCREDIBLE. It is so fucking good and it makes the song sound angry and dramatic rather than silly. Taylor, you tease. 

22. This wasn’t in the podcast but I like how the list had 22 at number 22 and 15 at 15. I feel like that is the kind of quirk that Taylor would do/like. 

23. I WILL 100% BUILD AN ALTAR AND PRAY ON MY KNEES EVERY DAY FOR ROCK TAYLOR. I DON’T CARE WHAT I HAVE TO DO. I WILL START A CULT. I WILL MAKE A BLOOD SACRIFICE IF THAT’S WHAT IS REQUIRED. 

24. The Lucky One is another one of Taylor’s songs that sound upbeat but is kind of sad. I wonder if the verse, “And they still tell the legend of how you disappeared/ took your money and your dignity and got the hell out / they say you brought a bunch of land somewhere / chose the rose garden over Madison Square” is prophetic. Yikes. 

25. The Best Day - “another song that is broader than people want to imagine”. It’s so painfully obvious how people want to believe that all Taylor writes about is being wronged/dumped by boys and dumb celebrity feuds because it’s an easy and cheap way to dismiss her (her songwriting, her talent, her experiences) when if you actually listened to her discography you would know that’s not true. 

26. “NOPE THIS IS SAD AND TRAGIC”. HAHAHA SUCH A TAYLOR MOVE, I LOVE IT. THE WRITER IN ME WOULD HAVE AGONISED FOR DAYS OVER WHETHER USING BOTH TRAGIC AND SAD WAS TOO WILDLY SELF INDULGENT BUT TAYLOR DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK. 

27. Someone write a thesis on Morrissey / Taylor. I would but I’m already writing a thesis and it’s killing me. Probably why I wrote this instead of doing actual work. 

28. ‘Our song is a slamming screendoor’ IS A KILLER HOOK!!! IT’S SO EVOCATIVE. WE STAN AN AMAZING SONGWRITER. 

29. YES I LOVE HOW THEY MENTION HOW LONG THE SONGS ON SPEAK NOW ARE AND HOW THEY GET TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL AROUND THE 4MIN MARK. I love how this is something that distinguishes Speak Now and solo written Taylor songs mostly, you can bet the label might have tried to cut some of these or how an editor with a strong hand would’ve demanded she chop time off of these. The only thing that makes me believe in the 10 min All Too Well version is that, it’s exactly the kind of thing Taylor would do before someone like Liz Rose would rein her in a bit or help her edit. 

30. FINALLY SOME LONG LIVE LOVE. TAYLOR SHOULD NEVER STOP PLAYING LONG LIVE AS THE FINAL SONG OF THE WHOLE TOUR. CRIES FOREVER. 

31. EVERYONE AGREES NEW ROMANTICS SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ALBUM OPENER OF THE MAIN ALBUM AND THE TOUR OPENER. AND GOTTEN A PROPER VIDEO. WHY DID TAYLOR DISRESPECT NEW ROMANTICS LIKE THIS??!!?

32. I have nothing to say about All Too Well being top. It’s a no-brainer. 

[lifeonashelf]

CLAPTON, ERIC

Before we get started, I should probably mention that it might be helpful to regard this piece as sort of a “to be continued…” affair. A handful of entries from now, the subject on my docket will be Cream, whose work is such a vital part of Eric Clapton’s canon than any appraisal of them will unavoidably qualify as a supplemental appraisal of him. I’m sure I will have some nice things to say about Cream since I think they were a pretty excellent band (although time will tell… as you’ve surely gleaned by now, these essays often encompass topics that have absolutely nothing to do with the artists I profess to be evaluating; I can’t predict where my mind will be when I get around to writing about Cream, so it’s entirely possible I’ll end up writing about Mork & Mindy or something instead). However, for our purposes here, I think it will serve us better if I focus exclusively on Clapton’s work as a solo artist. Which is likely to engender a far different climate than the forthcoming Cream-slash-Mork-slash-Mindy piece since I think 85% of the music Eric Clapton made after Cream disbanded is dreadfully fucking lackluster.

When I was learning to play guitar as a teenager, there were several monthly magazines devoted to that pursuit, all of which I perused religiously. (For the benefit of any millennials reading this: “magazines” were similar to books, except they were shorter and usually had more pictures in them—and “books” were similar to the missives your hyper-dramatic friends constantly post on Facebook, except they took a little bit longer to read, were written with proper grammar, and the stories in them weren’t all a bunch of histrionic bullshit—also, “grammar” refers to the coherent presentation of words that aren’t abbreviated or misspelled).

Much like any periodical dedicated to a singular subject, magazines like Guitar World regularly featured articles which graded the luminaries in their particular field—in GW’s case, these usually took the form of arbitrary ranking reports on “The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time!”. I assume modern publications still rely on similarly banal and undemanding space-fillers: “The 10 Most Lethal Armor-Piercing Shells!” in Guns & Ammo, perhaps, or “The 4 Hottest Members Of  5 Seconds Of Summer!” in NAMBLA Monthly (for the benefit of any tweens reading this: if you ever encounter anyone who subscribes to this magazine, get out of their van immediately).

Of course, discerning readers must surely recognize the flaws inherent in any classification system which surveys qualifications that are subject to myriad personal tastes and biases—in other words, lists like those are completely goddamn meaningless (after all, designating any member of 5SOS as the hottest is utter lunacy; who could possibly make a firm decision between such dreamy candidates with any degree of certainty?). In the post-internet world, such items would qualify as your basic gratuitous clickbait. Yet at the time, I scrutinized those rankings with great interest, and I even took an undue amount of pride in finding some of my favorite guitarists logged at prominent positions on the docket—whenever Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil cracked the Top-20, I figured maybe the editors who put that particular list together actually knew their shit.

The cast of musicians who regularly occupied the apex slots in these polls never changed all that much—it seems to be universally agreed among everyone who reads magazines like Guitar World that the greatest player of all time is either Eddie Van Halen or Jimi Hendrix, which is a verdict I don’t have a strong argument against. Jimmy Page was usually ranked around #3 or so, and I never had any problem with that either because he’s Jimmy fucking Page. The rest of the Top-10 was a bit more fluid, with different architects wandering in and out of contention based on what was happening in their contemporary careers when the list was published. A few guitarists were ubiquitous placeholders who merely shifted numbers from year to year, like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, who seemed to always be classed in the Top-10 despite neither of them ever recording a single piece of music I would listen to on purpose.

Another omnipresent figure on these rosters was Eric Clapton, who was perpetually enumerated in the uppermost echelons of the guitar-god hierarchy, sometimes even slotted way up in the Top-5. A recent poll on ranker.com with 500-thousand tallied voters escalated the matter by rating Clapton as the THIRD greatest axe-wielder of all time, just below Jimi and Jimmy. And despite my cognizance that these standings are fundamentally inconsequential, the net result of Slowhand’s recurrent designation as one the most prodigious craftsmen in the history of his art-form is that for my entire life I have been systematically instructed to distinguish Eric Clapton as one of the greatest musicians of all time. Which is an assertion that rings as patently incorrect when you actually listen to his music.

There’s nothing incendiary about Clapton’s guitar playing, nothing particularly inimitable about his style. He didn’t develop a new musical language for his instrument to sing with—Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, and Jimmy Page all did that, but not Slowhand. The two main things Eric Clapton did exceptionally well were splicing a strain of safe white-boy blues into a strain of nonthreatening AOR rock and building the bulk of his career on serviceable renditions of songs written by other people. Whether this particular musical aesthetic appeals to you is irrelevant; no matter how much you like his version of “I Shot the Sheriff”, a modest benchmark like that is not indicative of genius, it is merely indicative of a seasoned session musician plying his trade. Make no mistake, Clapton is a very good guitar player, and I get the sense he’s a nice enough dude. Nevertheless, while the ability to knock out solid cover tunes might curry plenty of favor on Tequila Tuesday at the local dive bar, that skillset alone does not signify any form of virtuosity.

Timepieces—the 7x Platinum-selling 1982 greatest hits album most likely to represent Eric Clapton in the collections of casual fans—features ten songs culled from his 1970’s harvest, the most acclaimed era of his solo career. Of those ten tracks, Clapton is only credited as a songwriter on three cuts, and only one amidst that trio names him as the sole songwriter. This seems to reveal that out of all the most enduring tunes he released during his most enduring era, this musician alleged to be among the greatest of all time was only able to piece together one outstanding song when left to his own devices. Sure, “Cocaine” and “Layla” are fairly strong by any standards (although, Clapton didn’t write the former and merely co-wrote the latter), but the rest of Timepieces is notably unremarkable as far as best-of showcases go—unless the one major thing your life has been missing is the opportunity to hear Eric Clapton tackle the novelty number “Willie and the Hand Jive” like he was submitting it for the opening credits of a sitcom.

Then there’s the knotty matter of “Wonderful Tonight”, the only song on Timepieces credited singularly to Clapton—and, arguably, the only one of his solo period creations that has prevailed in a comprehensive cultural sense. You won’t meet too many wedding DJ’s who don’t have “Wonderful Tonight” in their arsenal, and I’m positive plenty of couples have selected the track to accompany their first dance at the reception. The tune has been widely appropriated as a naked avowal of love and devotion—and, hey, why not? Is there any woman in the world who doesn’t appreciate being told she’s wonderful?

However, sometimes songs get borrowed for things that don’t necessarily match up with their essence. Consider Green Day’s “Time of Your Life”, which will probably be played over every high school graduation slideshow in the civilized world for the next several decades because of its lyrics about turning points and forks stuck in the road—this, despite the fact that the proper title of the song is “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and the refrain “I hope you had the time of your life” was actually penned as a derisive fuck-you aimed at an ex-girlfriend who jilted Billie Joe Armstrong. In some cases, the intended meaning of a tune doesn’t really matter; once it becomes transcendently popular, it means whatever the people who made it transcendently popular want it to mean. And before you know it, teenagers are dancing to a song about a bitter break-up at their senior proms without any apperception of irony.

This is why I’ve always been fascinated by the quixotic ideals that have been ascribed to “Wonderful Tonight”. Though the swooning masses have evidently chosen to accept that song as a chronicle of the profound romance nurtured by two lovers throughout a night on the town, to me the lyrics tell a far different story.

My sad tale is about a woman fretting woefully as she dolls herself up to attend a party with her carping husband, nervously asking him, “do I look alright?” She’s well aware that to this imperious man, her physical attractiveness is her primary asset; he regards her as a prop, an arm-candy accessory that buttresses his inflated sense of prestige. When the couple arrives at the gala, the caddish groom basks in the attention of the numerous leering men who crane their necks to look at his trophy (“everyone turns to see this beautiful lady that’s walking around with me”). Each swiveling head substantiates his ego, confirms that he is a superior alpha-male because he has managed to ensnare such a stunning female specimen—“I feel wonderful tonight,” he tells her, and this declaration might as well be a cackle of triumph.

His supremacy established, he then proceeds to get absolutely shit-faced. The song doesn’t specify whether his recreation of choice is alcoholic or narcotic or both, only that by the time he’s finished indulging in his spree of hedonistic rapture he’s “got an aching head.” The brevity of the account doesn’t allow a verse which elaborates on his conduct at the festivity, but we can reasonably assume this sort of character becomes a boorish lout when he’s intoxicated—just imagine the undignified behaviors a man like that adopts under the influence while his unfortunate wife helplessly watches on, mortified; perhaps Clapton is being kind by sparing us that part of the saga.

When the bender is over, he is too wasted to drive, so the onus of shuttling him home falls upon his submissive mate. And she is further demeaned when she has to then assist him as he staggers to bed. There, just before slipping into black-out unconsciousness, he slurs to her, “you were wonderful tonight.” A backhanded compliment, surely, reminding her of her place, letting her know that shutting up and looking pretty while he has all the fun is precisely what’s expected of her. “You were wonderful tonight,” he gabbles again, twisting the knife, reiterating that the evening is now over and she will once again curl up on her side of the mattress neglected and unsatisfied and cry herself to sleep while his insensate carcass snores and farts beside her.

[Okay, I made all that shit up. But now that I read the lyrics again, they don’t necessarily contradict my facetious analysis, so the above interpretation might actually be right on the money. Besides, if twelfth graders can slow-dance with their sweethearts to the soundtrack of a disintegrated relationship, then I can make “Wonderful Tonight” be about a doomed and loveless marriage if I want to.]

The other most obvious benchmark in Clapton’s solo catalog is his MTV Unplugged release, which shifted over 26-million copies and still holds the distinction of being the best-selling live album of all time. (For the benefit of any millennials reading this: “Unplugged” was a program that MTV produced during the prehistoric age of their existence, back when they had to lower themselves to airing rubbish like music videos and concerts because there weren’t enough quality reality shows being made about teenagers who have babies and get plastic surgery to fill their broadcast schedule). The network’s marketing strategy for the Unplugged series was actually quite ingenious: in addition to airing hour-long presentations of sets like Clapton’s in prime time, select songs from these shows were earmarked as “singles” and those individual performances were slotted into heavy rotation among the other hit videos of the era, a model which allowed MTV to essentially promote their own albums as frequently as they wanted. Since the channel’s driving ethos at the time was to pummel their audience with constant spins of even the most mediocre clips until viewers decided those songs must be cool because MTV played them all the time, plenty of latently unexceptional offerings like Clapton’s Unplugged were given a ready platform to become smash hits (lest we forget: this approach was so insidiously effective that even Mr. Big and Wilson Phillips achieved Platinum sales figures in 1992).

Hell, even I bought the fucking CD (I never bought those Mr. Big or Wilson Phillips records, though). I’ve listened to Unplugged a couple times while shaping this write-up, and I still have yet to locate a shred (pun possibly intended) of persuasive evidence that Eric Clapton is one of the greatest guitar players of all time anywhere on this disc. The revue has a couple of high-points—the version of “Tears in Heaven” here is indubitably definitive and “Layla” fares surprisingly well in a slower, stripped down form—but as a whole the album is an unadulterated slog, laden with an abundance of instantly-forgettable renditions of unessential blues tunes that are reduced to benign dentist-office white noise by the neutered arrangements which were integral to the Unplugged format. What these moments actually demonstrate—rather than Clapton’s mastery—is that a style of song-craft which was initially channeled straight from wounded souls into ragtag instruments doesn’t translate very convincingly to a fleet of $5,000 guitars; in a fundamental sense, Unplugged’s glossy and pristine studio-audience presentation, every chord perfectly EQ’d and in-tune, strips away whatever raw immediacy cuts like Son House’s “Walkin’ Blues” may have possessed in their primal form. I’m not earnestly criticizing Eric Clapton for his professionalism, but since the thrilling quintessence of live music is the anything-can-happen spontaneity of the stage, it’s difficult to get overly invested in the meticulously premediated and pokerfaced routine captured for this specific document.

The album does indeed embody Clapton’s mien—capable musicianship and a batch of songs unlikely to offend anyone’s sensibilities—but the guitarists who truly belong in the realm of the immortals are those whose work sounds like an existential search for deeper sonic truths. The notes they strike broadcast more than chords, they transmit fever and fire, each one eddying uncontainable passion from their hearts to their fingertips. This is why procedural players like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have never been engaging: their main artistic drive has always seemed to be showcasing how many arpeggios they can execute, and the soulless military precision of that execution doesn’t convey any sincere affection for their craft—listening to Satch and Vai et al do their thing is kind of like watching a squad of soldiers marching in lock-step; you get the sense the last thing on those lads’ minds is how pleasant it is to be getting some fresh air. And my reaction to Unplugged is similar: Slowhand’s rigid delivery of tried-and-true fret phrases he can undoubtedly strum in his sleep by now doesn’t rouse much in the way of excitement; since Clapton doesn’t sound like he’s overly interested in challenging himself, he doesn’t challenge me either.    

Ironically, at this very moment, my heart is seized by the precise melancholy sensations that are metaphorically denoted as “the blues.” I won’t go into a whole thing about it, but I assure you I am sad as fuck right now. Yet, even though I always seek out music I can relate to in times of pathos, somehow hearing Eric Clapton chirrup about drinking “Malted Milk” isn’t doing a whole lot to make me feel better—hearing Greg Puciato shriek his way through The Dillinger Escape Plan’s tempestuous masterpiece “Farewell, Mona Lisa” might do the trick, but not this shiny and innocuous enactment that would sound equally at home on a Jack Johnson record as it does on Unplugged. And this is usefully underscoring why Clapton’s work is so profoundly dull to me: despite being an artist who has devoted most of his catalog to the blues, a genre whose lyrical dominion deals exclusively in heart-borne emotions, his music doesn’t make me feel a goddamn thing. When I get low like this, I know from experience that I can release some of those negative energies by weeping, or wailing, or screaming my fucking head off. But try as I might, I can’t think of a single occasion when the balm my soul cried out for was twelve tasteful bars in the key of E with some gentle, susurrated crooning on top.

So you 26-million consumers can keep your guitar-hero, and his bubbly acoustic blues, and his songs about rakish men who disgrace their wives at parties. I don’t give a shit if Slowhand is ranked 16 spots higher in Guitar World—fucking give me Kim Thayil any day.

 August 4, 2018

[thesinglesjukebox]

HALSEY - YOU SHOULD BE SAD

[5.60]

Please, no one tell Halsey where Jukebox HQ is...

Kayla Beardslee: Halsey does not have enough to say. Well, correction -- it sounds like she doesn't have enough to say. Maybe working with another songwriter or two (the only ones credited are her and producer Greg Kurstin) might have helped coax out some more vulnerable, detailed lines, but as-is this song is desperately lacking in material, both musical and lyrical. "I wanna start this out by saying/I've gotta get it off my chest": as a well-known singer-songwriter, that's your opening line? Egregious filler? The only lines with narrative value in the first verse are "Got no anger, got no malice/Just a little bit of regret," and I don't even believe them -- this is an intensely petty song, and there is no pettiness without a bit of lingering anger. She then repeats "I'm gonna start this out by saying" in the (very short) second verse: the song has started, Halsey, and you're clearly treading water to make it to the chorus. Even the bridge, typically the best point to add new meaning to a song, is wordless. "You Should Be Sad" is just a prechorus and chorus, and as for the actual material in those parts, well, it's okay. Halsey tries to characterize the guy as selfish and cold through admittedly catchy abstractions ("you're not half the man you think that you are") and tropes ("money, girls, and cars"), but her focus on all the things she tried to do for him, rather than his specific transgressions -- like cheating, which is never mentioned in the song -- makes "Sad" feel more like gratuitous punching down. And Halsey can do pissed-off: "3AM" is a highlight from Manic, and I've learned to love "Nightmare." The problem with the lyrical pettiness here is that it's supported by an underwhelming chorus and a guitar riff so limp it needs medication. I have a lot of respect for Greg Kurstin as a synthpop producer, but between this and the loud-but-flat "GIRL," I have little faith in his work with country. Halsey cited "Before He Cheats" as an inspiration for the "Sad" music video, but can you imagine Carrie Underwood singing about keying her ex's car over a track this empty? Angry, loud Halsey and completely stripped, confessional Halsey convince because those versions of her feel raw and believable and don't rely on nuance. When she dials it back to this awkward midpoint on "You Should Be Sad," the finesse just isn't there. [4]

Nortey Dowuona: Halsey has slowly become a better artist over the last few years she's been on top, and this sandcastle of shape-shifting acoustic guitar and windy soft pedal vocals, with lurching, loping drums pulling the mix ahead, stands as tribute to that -- not just that it fits Halsey's shimmering croon, it also swirls blunt observations ("I tried to help you, it just made you maaadd") and pointed ones ("I'm so glad that I never had a baby with you, cause you can't love something unless there's something in it for you") into a rising glass tower, studded with river stones. [7]

Tim de Reuse: Deconstructed 21st-century country, riding entirely on the strain of Halsey's overproduced vocal harmonies. There's something in the directness of "I'm so glad I never ever had a baby with you," but between the bombastic swells of strings and effects and her every-syllable-deserves-emphasis delivery, none of it has any room to breathe. [4]

Brad Shoup: It's country the way Avicii pictured it, with one major innovation: those sheets of guitar, shaking with rage. Country tends to mask its rage as sorrow, but here Halsey and Kurstin give the arrangement as much punch as the line "I'm so glad I never ever had a baby with you." [6]

Alex Clifton: "I'm so glad I never ever had a baby with you/cos you can't love nothing unless there's something in it for you" is such a beautifully vindictive line, up there with "I hope you meet someone your height/so you can see eye to eye/with someone as small as you." "You Should Be Sad" is by far one of the more surprising and successful sonic experiments on Halsey's third album, feeling simultaneously understated like a good country song and anthemic like a Sia number. Manic is the closest I've ever come to understanding the appeal of Halsey, in part because she's not hiding under layers of storytelling and persona -- this is far more raw emotionally than she's written previously, and I'd argue it's more daring than creating an elaborate Romeo and Juliet album-long retelling. I've not been one for persona!Halsey, but if this is the music she releases from now on, I'll gladly become a fan. [8]

Isabel Cole: There's an interesting tension between the music's gentle, mournful prettiness and the ugliness of the story depicted, a tension echoed in the lyrics: the way she announces she harbors no anger nor malice before tearing into a devastating takedown. (That line about the baby is deliciously spiteful.) Halsey's performance also embodies this split, sometimes crooning efficiently alongside the melody's delicate turns, sometimes snarling with such spite you can almost see the spit; the creak in her voice sounds by turns sweet and bitter. [7]

Michael Hong: Perhaps there's no song quite as affecting on Manic as "More," a lament to the child Halsey never had and to the one she hopes to have one day. Then, retrospectively, "I'm so glad I never ever had a baby with you" becomes all the more scathing, especially from a woman who once told Rolling Stone, "I want to be a mom more than I want to be a pop star." The rest of the track doesn't cut anywhere as deep as that line, sounding petty and lost rather than biting. Halsey's jump from alternative to pop to country makes "You Should Be Sad" sound like a lost A Star is Born-cut and equally as performative. [5]

Thomas Inskeep: Does the acoustic guitar indicate that this is her Lady Gaga-circa-Joanne bid for "serious artist" cred? I appreciate the nastiness of this, at least, and that brief little explosive note that leads off each chorus. [5]

Ryo Miyauchi: Words say one thing over laid-back faux-country, but Halsey's performance suggests the very opposite, and "You Should Be Sad" sounds like a bomb waiting to go off because of it. Staying with generalities feels like a favor to not rock the waters, and the rare moment she does lay out the specifics, it sounds aggressively personal. [6]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: So boring, emotionless, and bland, it's hardly worth finding specific traits to complain about. [2]

Alfred Soto: With Greg Kurstin digging the hook into listeners' necks, it's impossible to dismiss the craft of "You Should Be Sad," nor would I want to. Halsey, like so many predecessors male and female, revels in her malice as if she had to endure the terrible relationship for the sake of writing well about its demise. Her best single since "Strangers." [7]

Vikram Joseph: Whenever I hear Halsey I just think of the time when someone quote-replied to a tweet (from a Lana stan account, naturally) saying "Without Lana there would be no Halsey, Melanie Martinez, Billie Eilish or Lorde" with "You mean to say we could have avoided Halsey?" Cruel, but more memorable than a Halsey song. [4]

Maxwell Cavaseno: At some point last year, some net teen in my feed called Maren Morris "an even worse Halsey" and I proceeded to kiss my teeth and remind myself that as I've grown up, cyberbullying brats off the timeline is unbecoming to my zen lifestyle. Nevertheless, there is some unintentional synergy here given that Morris's frequent collaborator in Greg Kurstin helps make the lesser of two evils to that random geek hit the nail on the head. "You Should Be Sad" is maybe one of my least favorite of the singles off Manic thus far; it does the most light-hefting lyrically and the vocal performances feel the most stitched together. It ends up reminding me of Post Malone's "Broken Whiskey Glass," where you have Hex-era Earth-style doom spaghetti western guitar screaming raw power at you while the subject is more interested in conveying indignation and contempt than a emotion that suits the tension it hopes to convey. Thankfully there's other and better Halsey singles that do this without trying to get all Red Dead Redemption on you. [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Halsey's voice has a tone well-suited for this balance between verge-of-tears introspection and fist-clenched perseverance. The songwriting and production bolster her pain and redemption in equal measure: the steady, mid-tempo beat grounds her emotions so the screeching guitars can simultaneously vindicate, provide solace, express rage. You can register all those feelings in Halsey's delivery of the titular line, and you can sense how strong she is underneath the composure. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: It's a nice enough acoustic take on the melody of "Let's Talk About Sex." I hope that's conciliatory enough to not get accidentally wished 9/11 upon again. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[blouisparadise]

Upon request, here is a list of bottom Louis/top Harry fics where their size difference is emphasized. As always, happy reading!

1) If It Hurts To Breathe, Open The Window | Explicit | 4406 words

In which Harry is a rock star, Louis is a tattoo artist, and one night stands are never really just one night.

2) You Slow It Down | Explicit | 4550 words

Harry just wants to be what Louis needs.

3) Forever, Uninterrupted | Explicit | 8578 words

Harry finds a mysterious picture in Louis' bag one night and drives himself crazy over it. It's definitely not what he thinks.

4) I’ll Make This Feel Like Home | Explicit | 12992 words | Sequel

Harry can't sleep because the cat next door won't stop meowing. He goes over to confront its owner, things go surprisingly well, and the cat ends up being the cutest thing that he's ever seen. Well, besides its omega owner.

A love story quickly blossoms.

5) I Know You Have A Heavy Heart (I Can Feel It When We Kiss) | Explicit | 14368 words

In which Louis is spending New Year’s alone in France but he’s definitely not running away, and Harry is a french florist with an ever present smile who cares a lot. They meet a cold night in the outskirts of Paris.

6) Undertow | Explicit | 15507 words

As if Harry's world wasn't already on the brink of change, a twist of fate turns the man he once photographed in the streets of Paris and never forgot from faint memory, to a one night stand, to even more.

He wishes he could say he fought harder not to be pulled into the undertow, but he really, really didn't.

7) This Play Between The Sheets | Explicit | 15746 words

The totally gratuitous BDSM fic where Louis' is a drama queen and gets far too excited to pay attention to who he's texting.

8) In A World Like This | Explicit | 19980 words

Just when Louis' given up on love, Niall makes him download Tinder. He's skeptical but he goes along with it. Nothing could have prepared him for the moment he swipes right for Cute Boy in his class.

Or when Cute Boys swipes right too.

And it's an instant match.

9) I Would Follow You (To the Moon and Back) | Explicit | 20355 words

The one where Harry and Louis have been dating for six months, Harry is a werewolf, and it's a full moon. This time they're going to get it right.

10) Smaller Than Me | Explicit | 22935 words

Harry's just finished his first year of uni on his way to becoming Dr. Harry Styles, Neurosurgeon. He's young, he has endless potential, three amazing best mates, a new love and the world at his fingertips. The fact that his new boyfriend may or may not be a sex-worker, of course, throws a wrench into the works. But it's not true. Really.

Probably.

It most definitely might not be entirely true. And that's all Harry needs to know.

11) Peaches and Cream | Not Rated | 64742 words

Louis is allergic to peaches, Harry smells like peaches. Louis just came for the money.

12) Louis Lucas | Explicit | 67999 words

Pornstar!AU. Louis is a pornstar with more issues than he can drink away. Harry is a bisexual singer/songwriter who is desperate to be signed to a major label. Zayn and Liam are Louis's long-suffering best friends (who also happen to be pornstars, and also happen to be dating each other). Niall just wants to play his guitar.

13) Elysian | Mature | 81866 words

Harry is running out of time to fall in love, but with Louis, it seems as if there’s all the time in the world.

14) Here In The Afterglow | Explicit | 88649 words

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

15) You Drive Me Crazy (But It Feels Alright) | Explicit | 102036 words

Note: There is a mention of BH.

“Harry is not short for Harold,” he corrects, his voice as thick as molasses. He lowers his eyes to Louis’ sequined lapels, rubbing one between two fingers. “Is this small or extra small? It looks lovely.”

Louis breaks away from his grip with a petulant huff and pushes him back with two fingers.

“You’re mocking me. Again.”

Harry smiles and it's a real honest swoop of his lips this time. Louis’ stomach swoops with them.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

[shanethvarosa]

2018: In Review

At this point in time, I feel like my blog is 100% reblogs of memes and ridiculous videos of animals and maybe some gratuitous selfies. Originally, Shaneth Varosa was supposed to be a place for me to publish some of my articles about music and try to facilitate discussion about these releases. Unfortunately, life gets in the way, and I can’t write like I used to. While here on Christmas break from work, and with the next hour or so of free time I have, I wanted to go over some of the artists that did The Most this year and recommend their work in case you’re in need of something new and exciting. See more after the cut! 

I’d like to start with about five honorable mentions and then move in to the ten artists who did the best job at promoting their craft and developing something sincere and meaningful. These honorable mentions all had really great releases, but overall didn't feel very impactful to pop culture overall. 

1. Florence And The Machine - High As Hope  was absolutely one of my most anticipated albums this year, especially after the amazing lead single was released out of the clear blue sky. The follow up single, Hunger, is one of the most relatable tracks in her discography. However, the lack of overall energy was somewhat disappointing despite the lyrics being 100% on point. 

2. Miyavi - I’m not sure I’m as big a fan of the Samurai Guitarist as I used to be, however he really is expanding upon his talents and schmoozing with the right people. A feature from Samuel L. Jackson was no small feet and he really did some neat guitar work on his third collaborative album this year. 

3. Crystal Kay - A Japanese/American pop star with a voice like Janet Jackson, but does not always make the strongest choices when it comes to album tunes. Her singles for this era were almost entirely ballads, so when she released an album with actual bangers for the summer, I was very impressed.

4. Cher - Usually, when Cher releases an album it is a shoe-in victory for album of the year. However, she really only did a cover album of songs, even if they were completely amazing songs. Here’s hoping she has a collection of original material to release soon. 

5. DADAROMA - A newer VK mainstay, but they haven’t actually released a full collection in over two years. Instead, they’re focusing on singles and EPs. This year, they began with “This is Live” which really blew me away following their lackluster third installment of the Dadaism series. They rounded out the year with the fourth installment which was also a significant improvement. However, in 2019, they should consider an album. 

Without any further ado, the top ten artists who really Did That this year:

10. Troye Sivan: I am a sucker for a good Gay Tune and “Bloom” had 12 of them. It’s rare when you find an album that has no tracks you want to skip, and maybe I’m biased, but there isn't one track that isn’t relatable to me and most of my pals. Highlights: Plum, Dance to This, Animal. 

9. CHVRCHES: Every couple of years, I’m guaranteed an over-the-top synth album from this group. Their debut found me at just the right time and their follow up found me at just the right time as well. These two albums really struck a chord with me personally and so naturally I was through the roof the Love is Dead was announced. While the production and vocal performance was totally still there, the lyrical content didn’t quite get me the way the previous albums did. Highlights: Graffiti, Graves, Deliverance.

8. Kamijo: Interesting how my favorite male singer and my favorite female singer both released albums this year and how neither of them made top five. Well, of course they were both excellent, but something stopped them from being everything they could be. Kamijo’s newest solo effort came in four parts and they were all a little confusing. Sang’s main storyline seemed to insinuate Napoleon Bonaparte was a vampire and the third installment of the album was a duet with vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Not to say the vocal performance and composition weren’t top of the line, but I just don’t know what he was trying to do with this era. Highlights: Sang II, Emigre, Nosferatu. 

7. Dir en grey: The world’s most iconic shock-rock band finally returned to us after a four year hiatus. This year’s Insulated World really did give us something to behold: A concept album that wasn’t completely based on mindless violence and fake-deepery. Sure, Kyo does his standard noise-making throughout a lot of the album, but I firmly believe this is their best work in about ten or more years. Highlight: Ranunculus, Keigaku no Yoku (Ravenous Greed), Ningen wo Kaburu (Suffering Human Beings). 

6. The 1975: A recent favorite of mine. Their singles for this era really enraptured what it is to be in your late 20′s in today’s day and age. Their whole album ended up being somewhat bizarre and ballad-heavy, but everything they put out before the main LP was fire and deeply, personally relatable. Highlights: Give Yourself a Try, Love it If We Made It, I Like America and America Likes Me. 

5. David: Most who will read this post will probably not know that “David” is a pseudonym for VK heavy-hitter Sui. This man started out in Metis Gretel many years ago, moved to a band called Megaromania, worked briefly with Lin before ultimately achieving his solo project which is easily the best thing he’s ever done. Probably because it is produced by Kamijo, but I digress. This year, he gave us his first solo album released in too-many parts, but the overall product was outstanding. His visuals even made him look like a true-blue cartoon character. Highlights: Confession (Awakening and Genesis), Genesis (In Bible), Metempsychosis. 

4. Panic! At the Disco: This band, whom we all know is just Brendan Urie, blew me away several years ago with Death of a Bachelor and the only way he could go at the time was down. DOAB was one of my top 25 albums of all time and I didn’t think he could outdo himself, but the energy given to us on Pray For the Wicked was genuinely dumbfounding. His lyrics were and are always at the forefront of what makes him special and for that reason I’m ecstatic that I have “Filthy as Charged” on a t-shirt. Also, he managed to make the title track of “The Greatest Showman” into the banger hit I knew it could be. Highlights: Dancing’s Not a Crime, Dying in LA, Old Fashioned. 

3. Asagi: For those of you who don’t know, Asagi is another heavy-hitter in the VK world. He did attempt a solo project back in the day, but it didn’t take off. This year, thankfully, it really did in the biggest way and he didn't let his main project, D, suffer at all. Fans were getting bored of D’s constant Vampire and/or Alice in Wonderland themes and so he basically said “I hear your pleas, here is what we give you” and released a traditional Japanese album with a modern twist in January as the true beginning of his solo presence. The man then followed up with several incredible singles with D including Revive and Deadly Sin, both of whom had insane B-Sides. Highlights: Madara (Chestnut Tiger Butterfly), Gekkai no Miko (Children of the Moon World), Homuzakura (Hidden Cherry Blossoms). 

2. the GazettE: An absolutely legendary band, one of the fewest VK success stories to be told. They’ve released so many concept albums over the years with stacks and stacks of successful singles, but 2015 really was their comeback year. They revamped everything about themselves and gave fans the darkest album in recent history. How do they follow it up? With their 9th LP of varying intensity, which was actually quite refreshing. My personal favorite aspect is how absolutely self-gratifying it was. Highlights: Ninth Odd Smell, The Mortal, Sono Koe wa Moroku (This Voice is Weak). 

1. BoA: My favorite multi-national pop-star had a... Kind of ridiculous last few years. In 2014 she released a Japanese comeback album that was literally a collection of singles that came out since her last album. In 2015, though, she brought us back with a Korean album really showcasing her talents as a singer/songwriter and then in 2018 she did THE MOST!!!! She starts the year with a Korean EP called “One Shot, Two Shot” which was all bangers, and then followed up with a Japanese LP called “Watashi Kono Mama de ii no Kana (I Wonder if I Can Remain this Good).” This album was a little less perfect than the EP, however it will be forgiven as it had a perfect selection of ballads with one of the hottest tracks of the year: Mannish Chocolat. Don’t ask me what that means. Almost immediately after, she released an EP called “Unchained” which was an acoustic set of some of her recent ballads. Most notably, “Close to Me” was released as a completely acoustic piano ballad. Several months go by, and she comes back with a Korean LP called “Woman” which was almost completely perfect as well. “Encounter” and “No Limit” are probably the hottest tracks, but the title-track really showcases her feminist nature. She rounded out the year with yet another Japanese single called “Amor” which is, truly, the hottest dance track of 2018. I hope she keeps this momentum up next year!