#heaven is a junkyard

[sinceileftyoublog]

Pitchfork Music Festival 2023: 5 Can’t-miss Non-headliner Sets

700 Bliss

BY JORDAN MAINZER

After four long years, yours truly finally returns to Pitchfork Music Festival. While the pandemic cancelled 2020′s iteration, contributor Daniel Palella filled in for 2021, and we entirely missed 2022 (I got married!), four years lacking Chicago’s most laid-back, yet forward thinking festival proved to be too many. While I can’t wait to see The Smile, Big Thief, and Bon Iver, I’d be remiss not to recommend these 5 can’t-miss non-headliner sets.

Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon; Photo by Tyler T. Williams

FRIDAY

Youth Lagoon, 4:15 PM, Green Stage

Last month, Trevor Powers released Heaven Is a Junkyard (Fat Possum) his first Youth Lagoon music since 2015′s Savage Hills Ballroom. If earlier, beloved Youth Lagoon records were miniature epics that embraced a sort of hazy nostalgia, Heaven Is a Junkyard is more subdued, soulful, and limited in scope. It’s also Powers’ most focused and best record, the deepest he’s dived into a world. In 2021, Powers lost his voice as a result of a horrific reaction to an over-the-counter medication, eventually losing 30 pounds and, temporarily, his ability to speak. As a result of the unfortunate circumstances, he went into a deep depression, but thankfully decided to focus his energy on Idaho, and ultimately, his songwriting and the return of Youth Lagoon. Heaven Is a Junkyard could be difficult to listen to, with images of blood-stained clothes and drug addicts sleeping outside on mattresses. It’s not because of Powers’ embrace of his surroundings. “Heaven is a junkyard / And it’s my home,” he sings on “The Sling”. His clear sense of empathy for the downtrodden shapes his familial perspectives, too, thankful for brotherly love, even if disguised as roughhousing, on “Prizefighter” and “Trapeze Artist”. And Heaven Is a Junkyard is musically adventurous, too, from the looped drums, handclaps, and cello of “Mercury” to the ghostly synth arpeggios of “Helicopter Toy” and disintegrating ambient instrumental interlude “Lux Radio Theatre”, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Boards of Canada album. Live, expect to hear much of Heaven Is a Junkyard along with cuts from the first two Youth Lagoon albums.

SATURDAY

700 BLISS, 2:30 PM, Green Stage

One of our favorite albums of last year was the sophomore LP from 700 BLISS, the venerable duo of poet/musician Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother) and DJ Haram. Nothing To Declare, their first record for Hyperdub, traverses genres (techno, noise, ambient) and moods (serious and political, facetious and sarcastic). Get there early on Saturday for some heady words and beats in the sun!

SUNDAY

JPEGMAFIA, 4:15 PM, Green Stage

In 2019, rapper JPEGMAFIA gave the most energetic set at Pitchfork. This year should be no different: Since then, he released one of our favorite albums of that year mere months later, a very good follow-up two years after that, and this year, a collaborative album with his favorite rapper, Danny Brown. He’s called the new one, SCARING THE HOES (Awal), a “practice album,” made with the SP-404--no Pro Tools--after learning it for a year. It certainly has that loose quality you’d think, alongside the exact amount of chaos you’d expect from the debut full-length join-up from these two. Of course, Peggy finds kinship in the deep cuts and the underground, from the underappreciated Bun B to old soul and funk, Japanese pop, and gospel. The samples and production are inspired. At the same time, Peggy knows he’s your favorite Twitter follow’s favorite rapper, so the title itself, referring to something a Very Online Man would say who thinks his taste is too esoteric for women, is tongue-in-cheek. “How the fuck we supposed to make money of this shit?” Peggy asks on the title track. “You wanna be an MC? What the fuck you think, it’s 1993?” The only thing better than effortless tempo changes, switches on a dime from maximalism to dreamy instrumentation, is self-awareness of his own idiosyncrasies. Bonus points for “God Loves You”, which juxtaposes a guttural, spirited gospel sample with the filthiest lyrics on the album.

Sarah Tudzin of illuminati hotties; Photo by Seannie Bryan

illuminati hotties, 5:15, Blue Stage

It’s been a big past few years for Sarah Tudzin, the frontperson of LA indie rock band illuminati hotties. Their 2021 record Let Me Do One More (Hopeless) was released to acclaim, one of our favorites of that year. She contributed a remix to the deluxe addition of the latest Stars album as well as production to a few songs on boygenius’ the record. Best, she’s apparently finishing up her next record. Perhaps the first taste of it is “Truck”, released yesterday ahead of the band’s Pitchfork performance and tour with boygenius. It’s a slice of gentle, lilting Americana, a song about chasing your dreams versus learning to live with reality. Expect to hear it during the band’s set at Pitchfork, along with some rambunctious, hilarious back catalog jammers.

Kelela, 7:25 PM, Red Stage

The brilliant R&B artist’s second studio album, Raven (Warp), is a culmination of a period of reflection following her debut album six years prior, Take Me Apart. Despite electronic dance music’s Black and queer origins, Kelela’s feeling restrained within the music world as it exists today, within its white, male hegemonic power structure. She’s keeping on anyway, and on Raven, she delivers a brilliantly paced back and forth between club jams and slow burns, beat-heavy tracks and ambient expressions. There are plenty of songs about relationships and the dissolution thereof, but Kelela can control what she can control: her artistic voice. “Through all the labor / A raven is reborn / They tried to break her / There’s nothing here to mourn,” she declares on the pulsating, zooming title track, as the instrumentation gradually and masterfully builds with sprinkles of piano and dramatic strings. And on standout “Contact”, Kelela captures a night out, from the come-up to the club or party itself. It’s a dance song that could have dominated the charts in an alternate 90′s universe. One thing’s for sure: It’ll be a highlight at this year’s festival.

[lheams]

Can we walk the shadow right back?

Can we walk together down the track?

[mxdwn]

ALBUM REVIEW: Youth Lagoon - Heaven Is a Junkyard

https://music.mxdwn.com/2023/06/24/reviews/album-review-youth-lagoon-heaven-is-a-junkyard/

[stopthatfool]

thank you @im-sorry-what-ii for the tag!! sorry this took so long to reply! I was lost in. The Forest.

my current five favourite songs!

Idaho Alien by Youth Lagoon

Thirteen by Big Star

Kamikaze by PJ Harvey

Making Plans for Nigel by XTC

Deep Red Sea by Youth Lagoon

no pressure tags!! @girlwithheartsunglasses @bedbugsb1te @woodsywarbler @cannibalhellhound @fentomy @soggyfruitloopsforever and every tumblr user ever

[kimbap-r0ll]

Hi, just wanted to send this in! Headcanons for two characters of your choosing plus Chrollo about their reactions after their s/o’s death? Maybe like the grieving process. Bonus points if their death was caused in/directly by them 😈 angst angst angst

Hi, thank you for the ask! Ooh this is quite sad, I think I have two others that might be interesting to write for here

Chrollo, Feitan, Kurapika reactions to their s/o's death (inadvertently caused by them)

Chrollo

He had pushed you too far this time, telling you to go on the mission by yourself since you kept insisting you could do it. How foolish of him to let you go without thinking a certain chain user might be in the way. You hadn't returned after many hours. The mission shouldn't have taken that long, and the rest of the troupe was also agitated

The search started as soon as the sun began to rise. The troupe members scattered throughout the city to see if you were accidentally sleeping somewhere and forgot to come back. However, Chrollo stumbled upon your lifeless body in a rubbish dump. How fitting, you were from Meteor City, a junkyard.

"Y/n, are you sleeping?" He laughed, but as he kept calling out, you weren't responding. Touching your face, he felt his heart stop. You were cold. "Y/n," he breathed out. The sun's rays caress your face as if you were reached by the heavens. But this moment was nothing peaceful inside Chrollo's heart.

The troupe returned and saw Chrollo carrying you. The rest of them asked what had happened, he remained calm however. "We lost another it seems," he says quietly. Though he looks composed, the entire room fills with bloodlust that fades just as quickly as it came. He asks to be left alone and the rest of the spiders oblige.

Chrollo does not show his emotions to others, especially because as a leader he must be strong. But he breaks down, he had failed his role in keeping the spiders, no, you safe. Though revenge is something he wants, at the moment he wants nothing more than for you to hear his apologies of not keeping you safe

Feitan

He knew he was rough, that was why at first he didn't want to be in a relationship with anyone, especially someone outside of the troupe. You were just a regular person, you didn't know about anything related to the troupe nor nen, you were fragile. But maybe it was that fragility and that brightness that drew him to you.

This time however, you found out about his business with the troupe. You were upset at him hiding this fact from you, and this sparked a fight between the two of you. Feitan warned you to calm down, but it was really him that should have calmed down because the minute you threatened to let the officials know he quickly aimed his hand for your neck.

Had you been any other nen user or opponent he was used to, you would have survived and maybe had a sore throat for a few months. However, he punctured your neck, causing blood to spill and for you to splurt out a weak "Feitan" before slipping to your knees. Ater a split second he realized what he had just done.

"Y-y/n," it was the first time you had seen any emotion from him. It was fear. His eyes grew wide, he held you up, trying to keep you from falling. You tried tell him sorry, but blood kept spilling everywhere and your words were reduced to nonsense choking. Feitan kept telling you to shut up and that you had to stay alive.

It was an agonizing two minutes before you lost consciousness and eventually stopped breathing. Feitan stood up, not knowing what to do with your body. He was used to cleaning up corpses with what his job demanded, but this time he was lost. The next time the troupe saw him, he was a lot colder than usual. No one knew what had happened, other than that when Phinks asked where Feitan's lover was Feitan gave him a punch but his eyes held sadness more than anger

Kurapika

He shouldn't have prioritized his path of revenge over the lives of people he cared about. Sure, the Kurta seemed to call to him to avenge their deaths, but those that were living were also calling to him to not go down the path of destruction. He should've listened a little harder to those that were still with him in the physical world.

Being someone from Meteor City, someone that was close to the troupe didn't exactly translate to you being sympathetic to the spiders. But an argument got heated, and he lost control. You were trying to get him to stop his fight to hunt for the rest of the Kurta eyes and even the troupe but he thought you didn't understand his pain. Nen was involved soon enough.

Though you tried to fight him, he was skilled. Being Kurta made Kurapika much stronger too even in terms of sheer physical strength. He couldn't use Emperor Time on you, but that didn't stop him from using his chains in general. When you thought he was done with his chains, you rushed to restrain him from continuing his anger but he only grabbed for a nearby pen.

The anger blinded him from seeing what had just happened. The next thing he remembered after you told him that he should stop his revenge was that he had a pen in his hand that was stabbed into your chest. You were coughing violently, eyes wide and brimming with tears. You told him you were sorry and that you should've understood him better. Weakly, you reached up to his face, meeting his red eyes that soon faded back to brown. But you were too weak, your eyes closed and you slumped.

"No," Kurapika breathed out, "No no no no, y/n, y/n don't leave me," he shook you, holding you up and trying to get you to wake up. His actions took someone's life once again, another burden to shoulder. He knew his anger could be deadly, but never did he think it could kill you. How was he to forgive himself any longer when he was already feeling the anguish of his clan? Kurapika cried as he held you, repeating apologies and refusing to let go of you.

[cristalconnors]

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR, 2023

Best Songs of 2023 can be found here.

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical): Black Rainbows, Corinne Bailey Rae // Heaven is a Junkyard, Youth Lagoon // Love in Exile, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily // New Blue Sun, André 3000 // Radical Romantics, Fever Ray // Rat Saw God, Wednesday // SAVED!!!, Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter // Scaring the Hoes, JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown // This Stupid World, Yo La Tengo // trip9love…???, Tirzah // With a Hammer, Yaeji // WOW, Kate NV

20. *1, RẮN CẠP ĐUÔI

19. GIRL WITH FISH, FEEBLE LITTLE HORSE

18. THE LAND IS INHOSPITABLE AND SO ARE WE, MITSKI

17. ATLAS, LAUREL HALO

16. BURNING DESIRE, MIKE

15. CENSUS DESIGNATED, JANE REMOVER

14. WHY DOES THE EARTH GIVE US PEOPLE TO LOVE?, KARA JACKSON

13. DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU, CAROLINE POLACHEK

12. OH ME OH MY, LONNIE HOLLEY

11. DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE’S A TUNNEL UNDER OCEAN BLVD, LANA DEL REY

10. SUNTUB, ML BUCH

9. PICTURE OF BUNNY RABBIT, ARTHUR RUSSELL

8. SPACE HEAVY, KING KRULE

7. RAVEN, KELELA

6. PRAISE A LORD WHO CHEWS BUT WHICH DOES NOT CONSUME; (OR SIMPLY, HOT BETWEEN WORLDS), YVES TUMOR

5. MY BACK WAS A BRIDGE FOR YOU TO CROSS, ANOHNI AND THE JOHNSONS

4. MAPS, BILLY WOODS & KENNY SEGAL

3. JAVELIN, SUFJAN STEVENS

2. FOUNTAIN BABY, AMAARAE

1. SOFTSCARS, YEULE

[tangent101]

Rachel Amber was buried alive...

I've always been curious about Rachel's death and the finding of her body. The way putrefaction works, there wouldn't be much smell left to the body after six months. For that matter, that region of the junkyard should have stank to high heaven for some time. She wasn't buried that deep - maybe a foot of earth at most on top of her.

But the one thing that was oddest to me is... her limbs were rather loose when "posed" with Nathan in the open grave. But here's the thing. Rigor mortis sets in within a couple of hours of death. (I can attest to this personally, as my spouse's body had undergone rigor mortis by the time I found them the morning after they passed.)

Here's the image of Rachel (and Nathan) that Max and Chloe found:

I mean, other than the fact her fingers are clenched in fists, her limbs seem fairly limber. And it takes a couple hours to dig a grave - and I very much doubt Nathan did much digging there, or was even very useful in that situation.

So then... I'm left to wonder. Was Rachel still alive when Jefferson buried her? Because that would make it even more horrifying... and would suggest that Jefferson did this deliberately, probably so that Rachel couldn't tell anyone else. (And he lied to Nathan.)

Alternatively, she could have been dying from the OD, and Jefferson just made a judgment call. That's still horrifying, because you can save people from ODs. And you know? If she woke up in the hospital and she found out Jefferson and Nathan had brought her to the hospital, she might not know how to react to that. Was what she experienced just a weird drug trip? Might the authorities handwave it away as "she was tripping" or the like? We don't know.

Still, it makes for some interesting fodder for fanfics now, doesn't it.