#hand is bad

[dustedmagazine]

Luggage — Hand Is Bad (Amish)

Hand Is Bad by Luggage

Luggage clanks and rumbles, with force but no particular hurry. Its songs, and indeed itself as a band, combines the minimum number of elements for maximum impact. The three piece—that’s all-rounder Michael Vallera (Cleared, COiN, Maar and solo) on guitar, drummer Luca Cimarusti and Michael John Grant on bass—has been honing a corrosive, minimal wallop since the teens. They’ve got it down to essence: the steady throb of bass, the rupturing simplicity of drums, little torrents of guitar dissonance and words half-sung, half-moaned in the background.

The sound is very much like 1990s noise. It has the buzzing, bare-wire intensity of Shellac, but doesn’t run as fast or introduce as much rhythmic complication. There’s something of the Jesus Lizard here, too, though in a self-effacing way with far less frontman drama. You could also draw connections to Luggage’s Chicago contemporaries in FACS. They share a certain punchy, blistering desolation, a carefully deployed violence with lots of negative space in it. 

This is Luggage’s fourth album, according to Discogs, and it’s not radically different from 2019’s Shift, despite all the upheaval that’s come in between. “Hand Is Bad” follows a burly, bass-led riff into blinding firestorms of guitar noise. That’s likely the best part live, the part when the sound just rolls right over you. But it’s not uncontrolled excess. There’s structure and architecture in even the most overdriven intervals. And you can’t get lost. Cimarusti whacks the drums so hard it cuts right through the most extreme obliteration.

“Mirror It” sounds a little brighter, a little more major key. Its sawing, industrial strength riffs work laboriously up the scale, take a look from the top, and plunge back down like Sisyphus. Vallera is singing way down in the mix, something about mirrors and “exactly like it,” but it gets lost in torrents of mid-tempo agitation. You are not going to be humming these tunes in the shower, but you won’t forget them either.

Luggage’s music is heavy and full of distortion, but it also allows for contemplation, even lyricism. Listen, for instance, to how the guitar line goes exploring in “River,” finding a thoughtful path through monumental riffage. Or how the ground-shaking, steel-booted rhythm of “Sunshine through Your Teeth” allows for pensive, even introspective, leads. There’s a sensitive soul at the center of this massive machine, and whether it’s driving or trapped there is hard to tell.

Jennifer Kelly

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[citricacidprince]

Was forced to get a new phone today

[wanologic]

sorry danny, sam will never think you’re cool

[bluebeesknees]

Public Nuisance Nr.1

[soaked-doors]

when it rains, it pours

[ironinkpen]

the rat grinders getting whomped because they don't know how actual combat works is exactly what I've been waiting for all season. fabian taking down ivy in one turn bc they have no hp, them grouping up bc they don't know they're not supposed to and getting immediately shit on by adaine, riz's attack of opportunity doing more damage to kipperlilly than her actual attack did to him, gorgug taking down oisin by the end of round 1 bc they didn't protect their wizard, kristen and k2 both bringing all their friends up while keeping themselves strategically hidden bc they know better, riz diving into the lava like it's nothing bc he's a badass, adaine slapping jace's counterspell out of the air, fig tanking that hit from porter and casting that clutch fireball. just. beautiful. iconic. poetic. exactly what the rat grinders deserve after xp grinding for three years instead of actually adventuring. you fucking suck at this game kipperlilly!! you might be high level but you're shit at pvp!!!!!

[mylittleredgirl]

okay tumblr’s exclusion from the twitter social media ban list is hilarious but genuinely we do not belong on there. if a real human person asks “where can i find you on social media” and your choice is a swift death or revealing your tumblr, most of us would simply expire. half of y’all change urls every week like you’re in witness protection. just imagine for one second attaching your wholeass government name to your latest two am clownposting and tell me that didn’t send a cold chill down your spine. the only place i ever want to see the words “connect with me on tumblr!” is on the ao3 profile of an author i’m actively stalking. anyone in the world can follow me except anyone i personally know. antisocial media.

[emberglowfox]

birds of a feather

[abracadaze]

i feel so bad for nikola tesla like imagine spending years beefing with a guy who has conned the public into believing he's some sort of supergenius when in reality it's his overworked employees developing all of his world-changing inventions and you end up dying broke and starving and alone and then 100 years later another guy cons the public into believing he's some sort of supergenius when in reality it's his overworked employees developing all of his world-changing inventions and he's doing it all IN YOUR NAME. he must be rolling in his grave like a fucking rotisserie chicken

[egophiliac]

(looks at upcoming card releases)

I'm in danger :)

[lotus-pear]

partners in crime or smt idk

[hinamie]

long way home

[saragrosie]

Sketching while streaming s5...

Jonathan Sims I will learn to draw you (this is my doing. I could draw him however I want and I choose to stick with an image of him in my brain that is difficult for me to draw. Masochism.)

Not s5 Mahtins below I enjoyed drawing cuz hes neat:

(Edit: I yassified Martin in the do not separate cuz I wanted his hair fluffier)

[creekfiend]

I saw this on FB today and I wanna try and express something about it. Like, you know the curbcutter effect? Where when curbcuts are put in it benefits everyone (bicyclists, people with baby strollers etc) and not just disabled people?

There is also whatever the opposite of the curbcutter effect is. And this is that.

This isn't just anti-adhd/autism propaganda... this is anti-child propaganda.

Kids have developmentally appropriate ways that they need to move their bodies and express themselves and sitting perfectly still staring straight ahead is not natural or good for ANY CHILD.

Don't get me wrong, I was punished unduly as a kid for being neurodivergent (and other types of kid will ALSO be punished unduly for it... Black kids come to mind) and thus UNABLE to perform this -- but even the kids who ARE able to perform this type of behavior are not SERVED WELL by it. They don't benefit from it.

This is bad for everyone.

The idea that bc some kids may be capable of complying with unfair expectations, those expectations don't hurt them... is a dangerous idea. Compliance isn't thriving. Expectation of compliance isn't fair treatment.

[obey-me-but-bad]

3 : Home Sweet Home

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