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black-arcana · 29 days

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EPICA's SIMONE SIMONS Recruits ARCH ENEMY's ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ For 'Cradle To The Grave' Music Video

EPICA singer Simone Simons has shared the music video for the song "Cradle To The Grave" from her just-released debut solo album. "Vermillion", which was made available on August 23 via Nuclear Blast Records, is a collaboration with Simone's longtime musical partner Arjen Lucassen (AYREON).

The music video for "Cradle To The Grave" features a guest appearance by ARCH ENEMY's Alissa White-Gluz and can be seen below.

Simons and Lucassen comment: "'Cradle To The Grave' is about the universal experience of navigating life's ups and downs and the quest for meaning and purpose. It views the human condition as one of struggle and resilience, where despite efforts to build and achieve, there's an underlying acceptance that life is brief, finite and often cruel."

In a recent interview with El Cuartel Del Metal, Simons was asked how long she has been planning her debut solo project. Simone said: "Well, actively for, I guess, one and a half years, or one year even, with Arjen. We started, yeah, last year, I think springtime or so. But I talked to him about working together, I asked him if he wanted to work with me on my solo album already years ago, if he would be interested. And he was, but we were both just too busy. And last year, we also did the AYREON shows together; I was part of that. But already before those took place, we met up because he already started writing songs, and he always kind of wrote two, three songs and then I would come over to him to record vocals. And then a couple of months later he would have more songs. So it was not that all songs were there all at once. But we did it in a couple of sessions. And, yeah, EPICA was not touring a lot. And writing a new record for EPICA was kind of a little bit like at the end of the last vocal recordings for 'Vermillion'. EPICA was also in the studio, or writing camps, writing albums. So, for me, I guess this was the freest I could get my calendar, but I still had things going on. And in the past we were just touring too much. So the wish was always there, but not the time, also for Arjen because he's very busy as well. But now we were both motivated and had the time. The time was right now."

Regarding the first two singles from the LP, "Aeterna" and "In Love We Rust", Simone said: "Well, 'Aeterna' was the idea of Arjen to release as a first single track, because it is a little bit of a perfect blend of AYREON and EPICA; there's quite some similarities of both our music career, I guess. So it would be kind of a soft introduction to both our fans, to get warm with the project. But it's definitely not an indication of how the whole album sounds like; it's still very, very different. And 'In Love We Rust' is one of both Arjen and my favorite tracks of the album, and it's a beautiful ballad. Who doesn't like a ballad? And this month, there will be a third single, which will be a very heavy song. So I'm curious to see what people are gonna say about that. But all songs are brilliant and I like 'em all. They're like all babies in a way. But 'Aeterna', I felt a little bit sorry for Patric [Ullaeus] who did the video because it's a long song to do a video for. Nowadays singles are always three, max four minutes, and EPICA is always surpassing that, but, yeah, six minutes of supernovas, planets and many dresses. [Laughs]"

Simone and Arjen previously stated about "Aeterna": "'Aeterna' is the big, epic opener of the album and it comes with this amazing video too, directed by Patric Ullaeus. It definitely sounds the closest to EPICA and AYREON, blending powerful Latin lyrics with a touch of an oriental feel. We've tried to strike a balance between the mighty, bombastic sounds and the more atmospheric parts. Since it's the first track people will hear from this album, it's super important to us and we're really excited for people to hear it!

"'Aeterna' takes the point of view of a star about to go supernova to explore how everything in the universe is interconnected, like a cosmic web made from stardust. It deals our deep emotions, consciousness and other mysteries of life that science still can't fully explain. Essentially it's a reflection on our place in the vast universe and the connections that bind us together, as we're all, to quote Carl Sagan, 'made of starstuff.'"

About "In Love We Rust", Simone and Arjen said: "The video was filmed in just one take to keep it as pure and raw as possible. We opted to keep it in black and white so as not to distract from the song or the performance.

"'In Love We Rust' is quite different from our first single 'Aeterna', which shows how diverse this album is. This is one of our favorite songs. We hope you love this as much as we do."

For more than 20 years, ever since she was a teenager, Simons has been carving her own path as a woman within the world of metal. As a lead singer, icon, and role model for a whole generation of female metalheads, the EPICA lead singer remains one of the most prominent key figures in all things metal. After eight albums and countless global tours with her band, Simone Simons finally found the time to release her first solo album — a moment 15 years in the making. Her breathtaking debut "Vermillion" is a stunning feat chronicling her storied past as well as her rise to fame, and showcasing her many different influences ranging from prog rock to film scores to metal to electronic elements.

Of the timing for her eagerly awaited foray into the realms of a solo career, the Dutch singer says with a disarming grin: "EPICA has my priority and I always have the liberty to do other musical projects besides my career in EPICA. Yet I never had the time to dive into a project to this extent."

"Vermillion" track listing:

01. Aeterna 02. In Love We Rust 03. Cradle To The Grave (feat. Alissa White-Gluz) 04. Fight Or Flight 05. Weight Of My World 06. Vermillion Dreams 07. The Core 08. Dystopia 09. R.E.D. 10. Dark Night Of The Soul

youtube

#simone simons #cradle to the grave #vermillion #alissa white-gluz #Youtube

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rivetgoth · 10 months

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Nobody asked but over the last couple of days I decided to listen through every mainline Skinny Puppy album (all formal LPs + Remission which is for some reason considered an EP, never fully understood that) from beginning to end in order of release. I've listened to all these albums 5 billion times and know them more or less by heart but it occurred to me after the last show that I don't know if I've ever done this.

After each album I wrote a little Twitter-sized review of it and highlighted a few standout songs. This is, of course, because I originally did this on Twitter. It was a really fun little post-concert activity so I figured I would share it here too.

Maybe even a good introduction if I still have any followers putting off checking them out...? 👀

Remission (1984). The one that started it all. Kind of. Simpler than the rest maybe but still so iconic. “Far Too Frail” continues to be my favorite, hearing it live for one of the encores blew my mind. “Film” as the encore opener also brought tears to my eyes.

Bites (1985). Still simpler than later outputs but also still a classic. Has a ton of really underrated instrumental-heavy/atmospheric tracks, and “The Choke” and “Last Call” are perfect songs. “Assimilate” is legendary but unfortunately gets hardcore overplayed lol.

Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986). The addition of DRG is palpable. SP starts coming into their own and sounding less like a Cabaret Voltaire tribute band. Lol. Moodier, more complex, and lush with dark soundscapes. “God’s Gift (Maggot)” is one of the best.

Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987). From the first beat of “First Aid” onwards, this is one of THEE quintessential Skinny Puppy albums. IMO the real start of their “golden era.” Contains some of my favorite songs of ALL time. “Addiction” is easily a no contest top 5 SP track.

VIVI SECT VI (1988). One of the greatest. Noxious war zones, sterile hospitals, choking, burning, cold clanging cages in animal laboratories. One of the darkest, most nightmarishly psychedelic, heaviest, absolutely masterfully crafted albums. “VX Gas Attack” remains unparalleled.

Rabies (1989). Hi Al. This album just oozes sex appeal. I never get tired of it. It has a deranged masculine militaristic machine gun energy unlike anything else. I’ll never tire of “Hexonxonx,” “Worlock,” or “Tin Omen.” And ending on the dreamy delirious “Spahn Dirge”… Goddamn.

Too Dark Park (1990). A lot of people call this one THE supreme SP album. It’s legendary. Pure unadulterated Skinny Puppy. Sounds like home. An endless barrage of chaos and stormy monstrous polluted amorphous landscapes. “Grave Wisdom” is an all time favorite ever.

Last Rights (1992). The most utterly mindblowing devastating masterpiece of an album maybe ever made. The cohesiveness of the themes, sounds, lyrics, imagery—pure art. It’s a terrifying and desolate hellscape. Flung into sonic Knowhere. “Mirror Saw” is pure perfect transcendence.

The Process (1996). I have some trouble with this album—It can just make me very sad. You can both feel and hear the devastating loss. Barren and hopeless. Still, it’s TEEMING with absolutely rocking, heavy, guttural bangers. “Cult,” “Blue Serge,” and “Curcible” stand out.

The Greater Wrong of the Right (2004). A personal fave. Forever enthralled by the dreary smoking futuristic cityscapes painted by the various textures across each track. An epic journey through destruction of civilization and the mind. “Goneja” is an easy top 5 SP song for me.

Mythmaker (2007). Used to struggle with it, was even my least favorite, but it’s grown on me and I love it. A high octane reality-bending journey through alien dimensions and human mythos. If Ogre’s alien Other belonged to an album it’d be this one. I adore “Dal” and “Pedafly.”

HanDover (2011). Grossly underrated and constantly written off, I ADORE this album. It captures a sort of dreamlike melancholic sharp surrealism unmatched by anything else, like rain falling softly atop a rusting metallic dystopia. “Gambatte” is a stand-out forever favorite.

Weapon (2013). A fitting end. Nostalgic familiarity rejuvenated with sharp crispness. This one taps deep into my imagination; post-apocalyptic fantastical mechanical wastelands haunted by ghosts of the past. “Plasicage” is an all-time fave, and I love the reimagined “Solvent.”

#sorry for so much skuppy. actually no im not.

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goodbysunball · 2 years

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Best of 2022

Here it is: my yearly summation of the small labels working through rising costs and punishing manufacturing delays, the artists making music unafraid of chance, and the freaks supporting all of it in spite of the daily consequences of a ruling class increasingly detached from reality. Lots more that deserve accolades from more prestigious publications, and I'm sure they'll get 'em, but these are records that were inseparable from certain points of my year, including now. Yeah, they were all kinda my favorite at one point, and could be again tomorrow, but Kilynn Lunsford is #1 for a reason. Glad to be back at shows, however sparingly, experiencing all the awkward camaraderie and room-silencing/room-flattening performances that come with them. It all feels more necessary than ever. Up and up in a world of lava. Happy New Year, everyone.

Kilynn Lunsford, Custodians of Human Succession (ever/never)

Joe Colley, Deformation of Tone (Total Black)

Kitchen's Floor, None of That (Petty Bunco)

Thomas Bush, Preludes (Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox)

Hissing, Hypervirulence Architecture (Profound Lore)

Tim Goss, Afterfly (Penultimate Press)

Carla dal Forno, Come Around (Kallista)

Rose Mercie, ¿Kieres Agua? (Celluloid Lunch/Jelodanti)

Incipientium, Belastning (Förlag För Fri Musik)

Siobhan, Body Double (Nostilevo)

7"/12"/Cassette/CD

The Body & OAA, Enemy of Love CS (Thrill Jockey)

Brain Tourniquet, s/t 7" (Iron Lung)

CIA Debutante, "The Punch" b/w "The Garden" 7" (Digital Regress)

Cube, Proof of Bells CD (H&S Ranch)

Darksmith, Imposter CD (Throne Heap)

Gaoled, Bestial Hardcore 7" flexi (Iron Lung)

Greymouth, Twilight Furl 7" (Kashual Plastik)

Horrendous 3D, s/t 7" (Black Water)

Incipientium, Inhuman CS (Kashual Plastik)

Primitive Man, Insurmountable 12" (Closed Casket Activities)

RRR Band, s/t CS (Petty Bunco)

Sprite, Epic Sundry CS (Tropical Cancer Rort)

Stomachache, Hiss Noise Whir CD (Lagniappe Exposure)

R.I.P. Young Slo-Be

Rap

42 Dugg & EST Gee, “Thump Shit”

BandGang Lonnie Bands, Scorpion Eyes (Anti Media/TF Entertainment)

Denzel Curry feat. Key Glock, “Walkin (Remix)”

Earl Sweatshirt, SICK! (Tan Cressida)

Lil Durk & Gucci Mane, “Rumors”

Maz G x GuttaFoe, “Win Some, Lose Some” - what is going on in Milwaukee

Starlito & Troy Money, Cheap Phones & Turkey Bags (Grind Hard)

Billy Woods, Aethiopes (Backwoodz Studioz)

Young Slo-Be, Southeast (KoldGreedy / Thizzler on the Roof)

Z Money, Back 2 the Blender (self-released) - thx @raygarraty

Pictured: Angels of Mons

Live shows

The Body at 529, Atlanta, GA (May 17)

Primitive Man, Mortiferum, Jarhead Fertilizer, Body Void & Elizabeth Color Wheel at The EARL, Atlanta, GA (May 20)

Brain Tourniquet, Excavate & Thirdface at DRKMTTR, Nashville, TN (July 16)

Reeking Aura at the Brickyard, Knoxville, TN (November 11)

Bitchin Bajas, Maspeth & Angels of Mons at the Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN (December 11)

Five songs that made my daughter dance every time they hit the deck

Bitchin Bajas, "Quakenbrück" from Bajascillators

Can, "Halleluhwah" from Tago Mago

Rose Mercie, "Cats and Dogs" from ¿Kieres Agua?

Träden, "När lingonen mognar (Lingonberries Forever)" from Träden

YL Hooi, "W/O Love" from Untitled

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danielsiegelalonso · 2 months

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How Music Guides the Shaping Process of Our Life | Daniel Siegel Alonso

Ever wonder why a tune from your high school prom can transport you back to that awkward, acne-ridden dance floor faster than you can say “slow dance”? Music is more than just a collection of notes and rhythms; it's a powerful conduit for memory and emotion. From igniting childhood memories to helping those with Alzheimer’s, Daniel Siegel Alonso examines how music uniquely shapes and enriches our lives.

Life’s Soundtrack

Music becomes a crucial part of the human experience from the moment we are born. Siegel Alonso reminds us that lullabies soothe us to sleep as infants and nursery rhymes help us learn language and rhythm as toddlers. These early musical experiences lay the groundwork for our lifelong affinity with music and memory.

Whether it’s “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” chances are, hearing it today brings back a rush of memories. These simple melodies are engraved into our brains, providing a comforting link to our past. No wonder songs from our early years remain vivid long after we’ve outgrown our baby teeth and bedtime tales.

The Teenage Anthem

Daniel Siegel Alonso fast-forwards to the teenage years when music becomes so entangled with our personal identities. The songs we listen to during adolescence often become lifelong favorites, forever associated with the extreme emotions of youth. This era is when we cultivate our musical tastes, influenced by friends, family, and the broader culture.

Remember that angst-filled summer when you couldn’t stop playing your favorite band’s debut LP? Those songs are now inextricably linked to the emotions and experiences of that time. Your first love, your first heartbreak, your rebellious phase—all have their soundtracks. When we hear those tracks years later, in a flash, we are taken back to those moments, experiencing the same wave of emotions as if time stood still.

In the Brain

So, what’s happening in our brains that makes music a potent trigger for memories? Neuroscience offers some intriguing answers. When we listen to music, multiple areas of the brain are turned on, including those responsible for emotion, memory, and even motor skills. This widespread brain activity helps illustrate why music can elicit such strong memories and feelings.

One key player in this process is the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in forming and retrieving memories. Music’s rhythm and melody stimulate the hippocampus, enhancing its ability to connect auditory experiences with personal memories. Music provides a rich, multi-sensory experience that makes memories more vivid and enduring.

Music as Time Travel

Music’s ability to evoke memories isn’t just limited to our personal experiences; it can also serve as a time machine, transporting us to different eras. Hearing "Be My Baby" might conjure up images of sky-high beehives and sock hops, while a disco number, like 1979's "Heart of Glass," might have you seeing neon lights and mirror balls.

This phenomenon is particularly poignant for older adults, especially those with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. Music therapy has become a powerful tool in assisting patients reclaim their past. Songs from their youth can trigger memories and emotions that seemed lost to time, giving the listener a feeling of identity and continuity.

The Universal Language

Siegel Alonso points out that music’s vast power to evoke memory isn’t restricted to a specific culture or society; it’s a universal language transcending borderlines and generations. Around the planet, people use music to celebrate, mourn, and mark life's milestones. Weddings, wakes, graduations, and holidays are all steeped in musical traditions that help us recall and honor these meaningful moments.

Even in scenarios where language barriers exist, music can bridge the gap. A sumptuous melody or an exhilarating rhythm can communicate emotions and stories that words alone cannot. Music's universality emphasizes its role in molding our collective memories and shared human experiences.

The Lasting Impact

In conclusion, Daniel Siegel Alonso argues that music is far more than mere entertainment; it’s a necessary part of the human experience, intricately woven into the tapestry of our lives and memories. From the lullabies of our infancy to the anthems of our angsty adolescence and the nostalgic tunes of our later years, music accompanies us on our journey through life.

So, next time you hum an old favorite or get emotional over a familiar melody, remember that you’re not just savoring a song. You’re tapping into the profound force of music to shape, recall, and deepen the memories that make us who we are. And that, is a tune worth singing.

#music #musician #artist #artists on tumblr #songwriting #new music #music industry #songwriter #artists #new album #psychology

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untilteddocument · 2 years

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After-Action Archive Phoenix Point 1st Gig - Why Did I Even Do This Mission I Wasn't Even Going For Their Ending Fuck New Jericho

Welcome again, one and all, to the After-Action Archive! I've been writing and posting these up in Discords I'm part of, and in the interests of archival and having easier access, now that I have a Tumblr I'm putting them up here with some edits and extra information where I feel necessary. Bear in mind, these are nowhere near plentiful enough to count as a full LP, but consider it a sort of highlight reel. With that in mind, let's take you to the story at hand.

So, quick bit of context first. As you do missions and so on, you engage diplomatically with each of the three factions, and your relationship with them determines the amount of access you have to their scientific research, how positively their affiliated havens view you, etc. When you reach certain thresholds, you can't advance their opinion of you until you do a given Diplomacy Mission. There are three such missions for each faction, which acts as the thresholds for Supportive (you discover their havens more easily), Aligned (you have access to their completed research), and Allied Status (you can actively research their unfinished projects).

This report concerns my Diplomacy Mission for Allied status with the militaristic and right-wing libertarian New Jericho. They are my least favorite faction, in no small part because they are…militaristic and right-wing libertarian, and their government is held together by a personality cult centered around a war-profiteering billionaire. However, their havens are populated by people, so I try to save them whenever I can.

So, the mission in question involves me extracting a scientist, Ravi Chaudri, who is hiding in a Synedrion haven. He has access to data that's vital to New Jericho's intended endgame scenario, and of course they want that data, and the Phoenix Project is their way in and out.

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::Record scratch:: And here, dear readers, is where I inject some commentary.

Back when I did this mission, I hadn't delved into any of the short stories they wrote for the game. In fact, the name at the center of this mission was part of what inspired me to look. Much to my later chagrin, I found out exactly what data my organization had on Ravi Chaudri.

Everyone back/still waiting patiently for me to sum up the story? Either way, let's get into it.

I hesitate. Humanity’s past is littered with examples of patriotic self-sacrifice and moments of self-recrimination. Oppenheimer’s famous quote from the Gita speaks to me – I am become death the destroyer of worlds… In his moment, he opened the way to this power, his research and achievements made it possible for Americans to destroy our world. What does that make me? Now, in my moment, my thoughts lingers over matters of pride, survival and destruction. For Oppenheimer there was no possibility of retribution, but for me, I know unleashing such force will bring retaliation. It is here, in the nadir that I suddenly understand the emptiness and impotence of power. I cannot be party to the destruction of our world.

Dr. Chaudri is, shortly put, a hero. One thrust into the role rather than taking it upon himself, but he understood the weight of his decision and he proceeded bravely. In the space of a few minutes, he not only put his trust in his mysterious assailant/assistant based entirely on his moral fiber, he also confronted her when her actions seemed to conflict with the conclusion she had just helped him reach.

As she speaks, the program finishes. I notice a set of new files have appeared in the drive’s root folder. The woman reaches for her device, but I get there first and close my hand over it. “Why should [I] let you take this?” I ask. “There’s a set of encrypted files on here. That means whoever have this drive will be able to reverse the process and reactivate these weapons.” The woman frowns. She steps forward, pressing the barrel of her pistol against my chest. “Circumstances may change,” she says. “One day we may need them.” I shake my head. “No. The world will never need nuclear missiles. I know that now. You can kill me if you want to.” ... Slowly, I pull the flash drive out of the machine. “Abayomi, you’ve asked me to make a hard choice. Now I ask you to do the same. Kill me and take what you came for or trust me and leave, knowing you’ve prevented a nuclear war.” Abayomi holds up her left hand, palm outwards and steps back. “Very well, Doctor Chaudhri, as I said, no-one will learn of your involvement from me.”

He put his life on the line twice over to make sure the world didn't scour itself in nuclear fire. A bit later, the Phoenix Project intervened on his behalf to get him and his family to safety, away from any possible reprisals. Him being in a Synedrion haven implies that he has at least some sympathy for their position, and I highly doubt his thoughts have changed much during that time.

Of course, knowing this, it's obvious what New Jericho wants him for.

New Jericho wants him to betray his principles because they think nukes will be a vital asset in West's planned military campaign.

Well...are they?

It's true that nukes are humanity's most powerful weapons at this time. Given the permeating and otherwise intractable nature of the Pandorans, perhaps Dr. Chaudri would agree that, in this extreme circumstance, unleashing the great fire on a clear foe is justified. Simply because Synedrion and the Disciples' endgames are proven workable in the end doesn't mean that West would know that given his limited viewpoint.

Important to note, we are taking aside that even if West knew they were, he would disagree anyway on philosophical grounds. The point here is Dr. Chaudri might consider West's argument sound. Abayomi even said that the arsenal might be needed in the future. Sure, he disagreed, but a lot has happened.

As we'll see in the mission proper, he's also under my control, implying that he's going along with us. Unless that's just a gameplay consideration to minimize frustration, we can assume it's not a kidnapping, at least.

Regardless, I can't shake the feeling that accepting this mission is tantamount to the Phoenix Project stabbing Dr. Chaudri in the back. He resolved to never be a party to the destruction of the world. He narrowly averted it coming from a cadre of government officials. Is it really so believable that he'll agree to grant that power to a billionaire war profiteer?

It's a thorny question, and the answer I always come back to is that, out of respect for Dr. Chaudri, I shouldn't undertake this mission.

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So, anyway, like the sleepwalking idiot I still am to this day, I bit my tongue and said yes.

Roll Call

On the plus side, I had a plan I'd been meaning to try out, and if it worked, it would minimize casualties, at the very least. The core of that plan is this: a Synedrion Aspida ground vehicle, which I named Zappa due to its paralyzing Tech Arms. The paralysis isn't anything to scoff at either. It's 40 points worth, which is more than twice the amount you get from the next-highest source. On top of that, it can also perform the best heal in the game. It takes up three slots in any aircraft I put it on, so this squad is on my Tiamat-class airship, a Disciples of Anu design that has the highest carrying capacity of any aircraft. By contrast, the Aspida only has room for one passenger (it is autonomous, though, thankfully), but it is fast, which is important for my strategy.

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Next up is the veteran of the squad, Jacob Eber, who was the soldier I encountered after Sophia Brown. Like many of my intial squad, he's an Assault/Sniper hybrid, though with the benefit of hindsight, I feel like I should have made him cross-train in another class. Either way, he is effective as-is, with a New Jericho Bulldog-class assault rifle and a Synedrion Hephaestus-class laser pistol. He's wearing a full suit of Synedrion Acheron-class sniper armor, making him squishier but more accurate than the usual.

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Next up is Jayden Morgan, an Assault/Infiltrator hybrid. He's got high stealth thanks to his Styx-class infiltrator armor, so I try to take advantage of that and his Biochemist personal skill by giving him a Disciples of Anu Iconoclast-class shotgun and an Arachni Spider Drone launcher. The latter spawns controllable spider drones that can crawl around for scouting purposes and blow themselves up for quick shredding and damage.

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Next up is one of the linchpins of the squad, Nimrod Azevedo. He's a Technician/Infiltrator, using the class's stealth abilities and access to spider drones to synergize with his intended role. Technicians specialize in laying down static turrets for space control and using those robotic arm attachments for combat support. The key here, however, is his Manual Control class skill. This lets him take control of any mechanical ally (I have not yet tested it with enemy spider drones)'s weapon, adding to spider drones' range or giving vehicle and static turrets a free attack. As you'll see, this can be extremely effective. Also, his armor kit is pretty patchwork. I've got him with Synedrion Mirage bionic legs, which add slightly to his speed and stealth. The body armor is standard New Jericho TechOps-class Technician armor, and the helmet is a Synedrion Styx infiltrator helmet. I kinda tried to balance the stealth with the Technician functionality.

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The last two soldiers, I wasn't entirely sure at that point if I'd keep both or sub one out for another technician. Anyway, this is Kato Garcia, one of my nascent experiments with the Terminator build, a bit of a gimmick class combo that relies on certain skill combos for terrifying combat effectiveness. An Assault/Berserker, she will eventually use the synergy between the Assault's Rapid Clearance class skill and the Berserker's Adrenaline Rush plus her proficiency with heavy weapons (granted by the Strongman personal skill) to run around the map and abuse the severely-lowered AP cost for the New Jericho Deceptor machine gun to one-shot everything in range and recoup APs to keep going. Regardless of where she goes, she will be a terror, eventually. In the meantime, for this mission, I had her with a basic Phoenix Project Ares-class assault rifle and a combat shield (not pictured, I took it off her after the mission). She's wearing a combo of Synedrion Phlegethon-class body and leg armor and a Phoenix Project Odin-class assault helmet.

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Last soldier is Greta Aziz, who in retrospect was a bit of a bungle, class-wise. She wasn't dead weight or anything, but I should have made her another Terminator instead of going for Heavy. Still, I made do with what I did...sort of. I kinda skimped on resources, so she lacked a helmet, but the rest of her armor is standard Disciples of Anu Aksu-class armor. She's got a Phoenix Project shock lance, a Phoenix Project Mercy shotgun, and a Synedrion Hephaestus laser pistol. She will eventually be a melee specialist, using blinding speed to close and beat enemies down, or else shotgun them.

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Anyways, with that squad together, I embarked on the mission. Thankfully I didn't have to search. I just started with Ravi Chaudri in my squad and we had to make it past the Synedrion defenders to the exit. Being that a lot of them were stealthy Infiltrators, this would be dicey if I had to push with my soldiers.

Thankfully, I had Zappa.

The plan I worked out (after a few false starts and boneheaded moves) was to have Ravi immediately run into Zappa and remain safe for the entire mission, and then I'd use Zappa's speed to scout ahead, locate soldiers, casually approach them, then use Nimrod's Manual Control to give Zappa a free paralyze on them, letting Zappa save its APs for movement.

This had multiple benefits. Being a vehicle, Zappa was extremely strong against the Infiltrators' crossbows, which were less effective against even the Aspida's middling armor and doubly so because they relied on poison damage, which...does not affect vehicles. This would have been trouble against spider drones, but we were able to neutralize the infiltrators fast enough. Zappa was also proof against the sonic shock grenades they tried, which is more than I could say for my soldiers.

In the meantime, Nimrod hung back behind cover and stealth to do all this manual controlling, and Jayden sort of hung back as well, relying on spider drones to soften up enemy positions with a minimum of risk. Jacob, Kato, and Greta followed up to finish off anyone that Zappa couldn't paralyze.

It was tougher to do this with enemies inside buildings, and Jacob did take some damage, but Zappa was able to heal it up no problem. We were also able to swipe a free Arachni launcher and a few spider drone ammo magazines from the fallen (we tried to minimize casualties, regardless of whether or not it actually affected my reputation, because Synedrion is cool), and after everyone was more or less dealt with, I was able to evacuate. Relatively clean, though I do wish I could have spared everyone.

To New Jericho's credit, they did not resort to torture, at least not immediately. A little bit of salt on their turd, there.

God, fuck off, Ms. Villanova. I don't even know why I did this misson. Fuck you.

#phoenix point #after-action archive #1st gig #long post #animated gif

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 3 years

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John Coltrane Quartet - Birdland, New York City, March 2, 1963

Spring seems to always kick off a Coltrane immersion for me — I’ve been revisiting those early classic Impulse LPs over the past few weeks. A rewarding activity that I highly recommend. I also dug around for some live tapes from that era that I hadn’t heard before ... like this one! Just a 24-minute snippet of a radio broadcast, but, of course, it’s brilliant, with the quartet spiraling into unknown dimensions on “Mr. P.C.” and “My Favorite Things.” At one point, Elvin Jones’ drums threaten to shake Birdland to its very foundations. And the recording cuts off in the middle of McCoy Tyner’s “Favorite Things” solo, which feels like a crime against humanity. Ah well! One more thing: As Symphony Sid notes, this show was notable for a certain guy in the audience — John’s former boss Miles Davis. Hi, Miles!

#john coltrane

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liquidtime · 4 years

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Fuck RT and that entire business and Ryan and everyone who isn’t Fiona tbh.

Controversy after controversy keeps coming out of that company. But, you know, I’ve watched so many hours of content from these guys and they genuinely seemed like they were always working towards self improvement, and the improvement of RT. Even though they weren’t perfect, they were trying, and in a community that can be as toxic as the gaming community, I thought their presence was a net positive.

But damn, I’m not so sure anymore.

I’ve never really been involved in the RT community side of things other than reblogging gifs on Tumblr or talking about LPs sometimes. I never had an account on their website, or followed their twitter pages. I’ve been straying from their content for the past handful of years, but I would still catch TTT or rewatch some old videos. But, I was pretty much was ignorant to the inner goings on at the company.

I had no clue Mica got bullied out until they were talking about it, and all the other issues with racism in the community, with Fiona on OT. I just felt so sick about the entire thing, but I wanted to stick around and support them because, again, they all seemed so dedicated to turn things around. Plus, Fiona’s there, and she was talking so passionately about standing her ground and staying no matter what shit was flung her way.

Basically, Fiona lended credibility to their pledge to improve. Enough that I was comfortable continuing to watch. That’s a lot of fucking pressure on one person, who is also suffering from the majority of their online harassment, and to a harsher level. It’s unfair.

I mean, she’s not the only one. Like I said, I’ve watched a lot of content and I believed that they were all good guys, they just needed to listen and learn better from women and poc in their company (and community).

But without Fiona, I wouldn’t have been so confident that improvement would be happening. Again, not really fair to make her carry that burden, but it is what it is for now.

Then, I found out about the abuse allegations against Trevor. (I’m like a year late because I never pay attention to what is happening in the community.) It made me side-eye everything again and take a major step back from their current content. I didn’t really know where I stood anymore.

Ryan sleeping with fans and sending nudes is the last straw for me. It’s hitting close to home, probably because Ryan was my favorite of the AH members. I would never have expected this type of behavior for him, and I guess it just made me see everything else as a facade as well.

I’m not stupid. I know that we don’t really know these people. They all have online personas that they lean in to, and of course they only share the aspects of their lives that they want online. That’s true for any internet celebrity. But, as I have repeated already in this post, you still feel like you get a sense of their morals as humans.

I was truly so caught off guard. I feel like I can’t support any aspect of the company because I’ll just be waiting for the next racist/abuser/misogynist/whatever person to be revealed. Like, Ryan’s not working there anymore. Good. I want to think of Michael and Lindsay, or Gavin or whoever, and be like: they would never do that. But how do I know? I would have never thought that Ryan would have either.

So, we have Mica and the issues Fiona has faced, Ryan and Adam’s relationships with fans, Trevor’s abuse allegations, Joel’s stupid BLM tweets and abhorrent behavior. They had to shut down their stream chat to non first members because of racist language (at least from what I can gather from twitter). Their animation department was accused of overworking employees.

Even thought most of the individual issues have been addressed (most, not all), the company itself seems broken. Like a leaky pipe where you keep cleaning the water, but don’t fix the pipe so new messes keep happening.

I’ve heard that rumors about Ryan sleeping with fans at cons and such would go around fan ‘inner circles’ or some bullshit, so it was kind of already out there, it’s just that the proof got leaked to the greater public. I think my non-participation in the community is honestly the only thing that kept me as a fan for so long. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

So, this is my departure from a piece of media that played a huge role in my life. Hell, I’m glad that AH Live West Coast Tour got cancelled because now I don’t have memories from that, that would turn sour. I certainly won’t be purchasing tickets once they reorganize another tour after COVID.

It’s so weird. I feel like Harry Potter and Achievement Hunter have gotten ripped from my heart. It sounds so dramatic, but these things impacted such a huge portion of my life, it feels odd to not be actively consuming media from them.

I hope Fiona leaves. I hope she leaves and does something better and becomes more successful. She deserves more that what the company can give her in its current state.

#idk I just needed to get my extreme feelings of disappointment and disgust out #personal #text #RT #I didn't really proofread this sooooo go off

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malusienki · 1 year

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more,,,,

no name yet sadly

#oc #humanizing lps my favorite activity #ferret 520

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tswiftdaily · 5 years

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New Reputation: Taylor Swift shares intel on TS7, fan theories, and her next era

Snakes begone. The 29-year-old superstar is back with a new album and a new outlook on life. We go inside the pop monarch's latest chapter.

THE PALM TREES ARRIVED IN FEBRUARY, seven in all, set against a pastel blue backdrop with superimposed stars. It appeared that a new Taylor Swift era was upon us — that the old happy-go-lucky Taylor was not, in fact, dead. Or did it? It wasonly an Instagram photo, just one more picture in an infinite content scroll. But it also came from a pop star known for prodigious hint-dropping, whose fans turn every piece of info into an online archaeological dig.

As expected, the summery post sent Swifties sifting through each detail with a fine-tooth comb. What did the trees symbolize? An overdue vacation? A recently purchased beach house? A secret palm-frond collection? Or maybe, as many surmised, it was new music. One Twitter user predicted that the number of stars in the background of the photo hinted at a single drop: “There’s about 60/61 [stars]️. There’s 61 days until April 26, FRIDAY, a SINGLE RELEASE day!” Another said it was the unofficial announcement of her next LP: “Okay so in this picture there are 4 palm trees on the left (4 country albums). There are two palm trees on the right (2 pop albums). There is one large palm tree in the middle. This represents her new album.” These may sound like ludicrous conspiracy theories — for the record, they were mostly correct — but they fit firmly within the Taylor Swift Musical Universe (it’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe but with more guitars and fewer Stan Lee cameos).

“I posted that the day that I finished the seventh album,” says Swift about the photo. “I couldn’t expect [my fans] to know that. I figured they’d figure it out later, but a lot of their theories were actually correct. Those Easter eggs were just trying to establish that tone, which I foreshadowed ages ago in a Spotify vertical video for ‘Delicate’ by painting my nails those [pastel] colors.”

It’s now April, and the 29-year-old pop star is in a Los Angeles photo studio, giving her first sit-down magazine interview in three years. She wants to discuss the art of placing hints inside her work, as well as the upcoming record, which she recorded as soon as she finished the Reputation Tour. She’s also keen on detailing her own obsessions, talking up the TV shows, books, and songs that help shape her outlook on life.

Over the past 13 years, Swift has perfected the pop culture feedback loop: She shares updates about her life and drops hints about new music, which fans then gobble up and re-promote with their own theories, which Swift then re-shares on her Tumblr or incorporates into future clues. It’s like a T-Swift-built Escher staircase of personal memories and moments that tease what’s next. “I’ve trained them to be that way,” she says of her fans’ astute detective work. Swift is a pop culture fanatic herself (see: the jean jacket she’s wearing on the EW cover) and has an innate understanding of the lengths her audience will go to be a part of the original creation. “I love that they like the cryptic hint-dropping. Because as long as they like it, I’ll keep doing it. It’s fun. It feels mischievous and playful.”

Through this approach, Swift has designed the ultimate artistic scavenger hunt — and it’s easy to get swept up in its drama, even if you don’t listen to her music. Her moments aren’t always hidden, either. Sometimes Swift highlights aspects of her world just so fans feel like they’re on the journey with her. Like the time in March 2018 when pop singer Hayley Kiyoko was accused of shading Swift after mentioning her name during an interview. On Tumblr, Swift re-shared a fan’s post, adding commentary that defended Kiyoko, which immediately dispelled any conflicts between the two artists; Swift’s post subsequently received more than 29,000 notes. Four months later, she invited Kiyoko on stage during the Reputation Tour to sing her hit “Curious.” Kiyoko returned the favor when she had Swift join her that December at a benefit on behalf of the LGBTQ organization the Ally Coalition to perform “Delicate.” Fans of both artists were elated by the mutual support.

The feedback loop also extends outside of music. In October 2018, Swift broke her silence about politics by publicly endorsing two candidates for office in her adopted state of Tennessee, while encouraging her followers to register to vote. She kept up the civic momentum through Election Day when she asked fans to post selfies after voting; Swift then eagerly re-promoted her favorites on Instagram stories.

This practice of sharing and re-sharing and sharing again is why listeners consider Swift one of the world’s most accessible pop stars, someone willing to not only interact with her audience but invite them to secret listening sessions, or make the occasional surprise visit to their wedding or prom. It’s a symbiotic relationship, one that, as Swift tells EW, helped her dig out of the darker era of reputation. “It’s definitely the fans that made that tonal shift in the way I was feeling,” she says. “Songwriters need to communicate, and part of communicating correctly is when you put out a message that is understood the way you meant it. reputation was interesting because I’d never before had an album that wasn’t fully understood until it was seen live. When it first came out everyone thought it was just going to be angry; upon listening to the whole thing they realized it’s actually about love and friendship, and finding out what your priorities are.”

Then, during the Reputation Tour, she had an epiphany: that despite the caricature that she thought had been created of her, there were many people who saw what others had simply refused to. “I would look out into the audience and I’d see these amazing, thoughtful, caring, wonderful, empathetic people,” she says. “So often with our takedown culture, talking s— about a celebrity is basically the same as talking s— about the new iPhone. So when I go and I meet fans, I see that they actually see me as a flesh-and-blood human being. That — as contrived as it may sound — changed [me] completely, assigning humanity to my life.”

At tour’s end, she channeled that positive energy into the studio, recording the new album in just under three months. But the fast pace won’t mean a short LP. Swift confirmed that her seventh record (she hasn’t announced a title yet; the working nickname among fans is TS7) will include more songs than any of her previous releases. “I try not to go into making an album with any expectation,” she says. “I started to write so much that I knew immediately it would probably be bigger.”

The project will also feature a mix of old and new collaborators (on the candy-coated lead single “ME!” Swift brought in Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie and coproducer Joel Little, both of whom she had never worked with), but she is unsurprisingly coy about doling out much more information, as if doing so would break the carefully honed T-Swiftian feedback loop. “There’s a lot of a lot on this album,” she says. “I’m trying to convey an emotional spectrum. I definitely don’t wanna have too much of one thing…. You get some joyful songs and you get the bops, as they say.” There’s also, she adds, some “really, really, really, really sad songs,” but “not enough to where you need to worry about me.”

She gives us one more clue: The true distinction between TS7 and reputation is in the delivery. “This time around I feel more comfortable being brave enough to be vulnerable, because my fans are brave enough to be vulnerable with me. Once people delve into the album, it’ll become pretty clear that that’s more of the fingerprint of this — that it’s much more of a singer-songwriter, personal journey than the last one.”

The past month has seen a deluge of Swift activity, from the release of the new single to dropping more hints in interviews about the record and its title, which is apparently hidden somewhere inside the “ME!” music video (current fan guesses include Kaleidoscope and Daisy). But if the Easter eggs from the pop star seem like a business-as-usual routine, she says this album does indeed mark a new era of her life, where she’s been better able to prioritize what’s important to her.

“Our priorities can get messed up existing in a society that puts a currency on curating the way people see your life,” she says. “Social media has given people a way to express their art. I use it to connect with fans. But on the downside you feel like there are 3 trillion new invisible hoops that you have to jump through, and you feel like you’ll never be able to jump through them all correctly. I — along with a lot of my friends and fans — am trying to figure out how to navigate living my life and not just curating what I want people to think living my life is. I’m not always able to maintain a balance, and I think that’s important for everyone to know about. We’re always learning, and that’s something that I also had to learn — that I’ve got to be brave enough to learn. Learning in public is so humiliating sometimes…. Do I feel more balanced in my life than I ever have before? Um, probably yeah. But is that permanent? No. And I think being okay with that has put me in a bit of a better position.” Strong words to live by, to quote, to re-share, to tweet back to her, and see if she’ll respond.

(x)

#taylor swift #ew #interview #article #ts7

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dustedmagazine · 4 years

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Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 1: Activity to Jeff Parker

Irreversible Entanglements

Six years ago, newly moved to Tumblr, we looked for a fresh take on the mid-year best-of list idea, partly to be contrary, partly because some of us had no interest in writing about the same records over and over again. After some discussion — well, a lot of discussion — we decided to turn our mid-year feature into a sort of secret Santa exchange. We’d each nominate two records and each review two records, but, here’s the kicker, they wouldn’t be the same records. We’d trade with our fellow writers, and if it meant that we had to listen to music way out of our comfort zone, so be it.

Since then we’ve had smooth exchanges and rough ones – last year’s was especially testy, but what can you do with such an opinionated bunch—but it’s become a favorite annual event. This year was no different, except that no one was truly revolted by their assignments.

Unlike some years, there was no clear dominant pick, though Six Organs, James Elkington, Makaya McCraven/Gil Scott-Heron, Cable Ties and Irreversible Entanglements all got multiple votes.

We’ll split our individual album write-ups into two posts. Today’s covers records by artists from Activity to Jeff Parker. We’ll get to the rest of the alphabet tomorrow. On the third and final day, we’ll post writers’ lists. Participants included Tobias Carroll, Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Andrew Forell, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Arthur Krumins, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw and Derek Taylor.

Activity — Unmask Whoever

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Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim said, “This music strains at the leash, held tightly in check by the motorik rhythms, while gaseous synths seek to permeate all corners of the soundscape.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

You wouldn’t know that it is a debut album, but then it’s a super band, so that doesn’t count. Vocalist Travis Johnson’s delivery reminds you a symbolist poet reciting some lines from his notebook, neither singing nor reading. Despite referring to violence in song titles and lyrics, this music is as far from violent as it can be. It’s too self-conscious to even carry symbolic violence but when on ‘Earth Angel’ the vocalist with the hook “I wanna fuck around” almost breaks into a scream, it turns into a whisper instead. It’s these small details that unmask the outfit’s postmodern disguise and show that Activity is the real deal, not a half-baked pastiche.

Decoy with Joe McPhee — AC/DC (OtoRoku)

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Who picked it? Derek Taylor.

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “Decoy is a working group and a heady amalgam that recalls a dream fusion of Atlantis-era Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett’s marathon electric stand with Miles at the Cellar Door, and Larry Young circa his Blue Note moonshot Contrasts, while still relentlessly retaining its own flight plan.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Wow. “A/C” is impressive enough with its wild unfurlings of trumpet and sax, its woozy meditations in bowed and plucked stand-up bass, its incendiary organ bursts, all rooted in jazz, but touching on the hot, experimental outposts of rock and soul and R&B, too. But the second side, “D/C,” is even more exciting, as the tumult of sounds gets more fevered and McPhee breaks out in song. Who can blame him? You want to join in. It’s a mind-bending swirl that boils up and over the edges, heady, excessive and exhilarating. So glad I got to hear this, Derek, and it reinforces the benefits of trading favorites, i.e. finding music that is way out of your normal circuit but, even so, exactly what you need.

Sandy Ewen — You Win (Gilgongo)

You Win by Sandy Ewen

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Andrew Forell’s take:

Experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen appears as much concerned with space as sound. On You Win, she treats her instrument as pure object to explore the minutiae of its potential. Patterns emerge like communications from distant galaxies or the gradual shift and warp of old buildings. The 5 tracks scrape and rumble as occasionally identifiable guitar sounds — feedback hum, plucked strings — flicker from the mix. Best heard through headphones, You Win demands concentration lest one misses the nuanced denaturing and subversion of Ewen’s work, which is as fascinating as it is challenging.

Fake Laugh — Dining Alone (State 51 Conspiracy)

Fake Laugh · Ever Imagine

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes Tim said, “These sharp, funny, warm-hearted songs are immediately endearing, yet shot through with bracingly sour ingredients.”

Andrew Forell’s take:

Dining Alone, Kamran Khan’s latest album as Fake Laugh, is a collection of pastel Day-Glo bedroom pop songs that breeze by leaving barely a hair ruffled in their wake. Khan has an ear for a melody, a wistfully pleasant voice and a talent for arrangement that make this album an enjoyable listen but there is a nagging feeling that he is holding something back. Tracks like the finely wrought “A Memory” and Supertramp update “The Empty Party” stand out but Dining Alone feels like an intermediate step on which Khan tries out ideas and seeks a way forward although there is enough here to be optimistic about what might come next.

Field Works — Ultrasonic (Temporary Residence)

Ultrasonic by Field Works

Who picked it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? Yes, in a May Dust, Tim Clarke wrote that “Stuart Hyatt’s latest compilation in the Field Works series is an absolute beauty — and timely given it’s being released during a pandemic whose origins may be linked to bats.”

Derek Taylor’s take:

Most of the listening that I do in the service of reviewing music revolves around discerning who’s, what’s and how’s. Those sorts of taxonomic identifications feel superfluous, not to mention futile when navigating the music on Ultrasonic. Sources I mistook as aquatic (“Dusk Tempi,” “Echo Affinity,” “Music for a Room with Vaulted Ceiling,” and “Indiana Blindfold”) are subterranean, specifically the echolocation emissions of bats. Harp and piano sounds dapple “Silver Secrets” and “Sodalis” as instrumental signposts, but they’re outliers in a program that feels largely electronic and beyond the scope of scrupulous inventory.

The closest, if admittedly antiquated, genre descriptors I have for these ecology-minded creations are ambient and new age. A seraphic, celestial quality suffuses most of them with sweeping washes of tonal color layering over more definable rhythms and progressions. The combination curiously reminds me of a distant temporal relic that served as childhood gateway to this sort of territory, my father’s vinyl edition of Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast. It’s another feeble attempt at a compass point and evidence of how difficult it can be to escape the ingrained habits that influence personal musical consumption.

The Giving Shapes — Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere)

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Who recommended it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “You feel like you’re being carried into a dream, familiar yet strange.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

There’s just something nice about a record where, a few minutes after putting it on, your partner suddenly remarks “you know, this is very calming”. It’s not that the work of Robyn Jacob (voice, piano) and Elisa Thorn (voice, harp) is soporific or somehow uninvolving, more that there’s a somehow centered kind of deliberateness with which they approach these songs that feels oddly reassuring. The way their voices often echo lines (or slightly altered lines) back at one another can feel vaguely Stereolab-ish, but rather than the coolly pulsing, layered grooves (and transient noise bursts) of that outfit, the simplicity of the arrangements here feels direct and clean and often comforting. But it’s the type of comfort that lets you see the difficulty you’re trying to tackle head-on, not the comfort that swaddles you away from having to deal with the world. It’s more bracing than lulling, in other words, and frequently beautiful at that.

Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (Don Giovanni/International Anthem)

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Who recommended it? Andrew Forell.

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Who Sent You? is an extraordinary statement lyrically and musically.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

I’m inclined to agree with Andrew Forell. When I first encountered the vocal-focused free jazz of Irreversible Entanglements in 2018, I was more taken by the band’s focused exchanges of energy onstage than I was by their self-titled debut LP as a listening experience. But its successor steps up their already powerful game by easing up just a bit. They’ve let more air and variety into the surging rhythms and interweaving horn lines, opening up space for vocalist Camae Ayewa’s words to land with even more impact and staying power. Ayewa, who also records as Moor Mother, is more of a poetic declaimer than a singer or rapper, and her expressions of cultural memory and existential survival in the face of remorseless racism and economic terrorism boom over the music’s ebb and flow with inspiring authority. While her words are always applicable, this record sounds like it was made to be heard in a time of plague and revolt; when people ask in years to come what record sounds like the middle of 2020 felt, a lot of people will hold up Who Sent You?

The Jacka — Murder Weapon (The Artist / EMPIRE)

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Who recommended it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes. Ray Garraty said, “this album confirms Jacka’s status among the greatest fallen soldiers of hip hop.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

Despite being a posthumous release whose title refers to the artist’s tragic death by shooting back in 2015, Murder Weapon by Bay Area rapper The Jacka is a surprisingly cohesive listening experience, largely thanks to the lush palette of old-school samples employed on many of these tracks. From the aching strings on early highlight “Walk Away” via the swinging funk of “Can’t Go Home” to the children’s choir on “We Outside,” there’s a warmth and humanity to this sad story that honors the artist’s memory.

Ka — Descendants of Cain (Iron Works)

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Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes, Ray said, “Descendants of Cain, Ka’s seventh album combines the epic bleakness of the Old Testament with Brownsville’s hopelessness.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Shamefully, this is my first exposure to the music of MC and producer Ka; it’s his sixth album overall, and I’ve got some catching up to do. For an album with a title and cover art that could just as easily fit on a doom metal album, what surprised me was how focused this all was. The album flows beautifully, with music that fits somewhere between sinuous soul and the art-damaged Americana heard on, say, Matmos’s The West — with a handful of cinematic samples topping it off. It’s a perfect match for Ka’s voice, which manages to be textured and beatifically smooth all at once. Some albums paint a picture for the listener; this one is wholly immersive.

Matt LaJoie — Everlasting Spring

Everlasting Spring by Matt LaJoie

Who picked it? Tobias Carroll

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

Matt LaJoie’s technical verbosity is on the spot here, as all the man-made sounds can be mistaken for something Nature produced out of its vast resources. Everlasting Spring is like a small water spring which flows and flows but can’t eventually flow into a river, being forever condemned to be just this spring. Everlasting Spring lasts almost for an hour (if we count a bonus track), and it’s six minutes for every string LaJoie’s guitar has. Not many men can admire nature for that long. The whole album has that New Age-ish feel, when you can start listening to it from any track, and nothing will change in your views on it.

Maybe it does give a good mimesis of what spring sounds like but we still need a change of weather from time to time.

Mamaleek — Come & See (The Flenser)

Come and See by Mamaleek

Who recommended it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan said, “Their dominant textures are still harsh and confrontational, vocals are still howled and shouted. But there are riffs. There are melodic structures.”

Justin Cober-Lake's take:

As black metal, Mamaleek would hold their own, but there's a persistent work to stretch boundaries here. Come & See keeps a core mix of sludge and anger, but the group's inventiveness keeps the album consistently surprising. The group finds brighter tones than anticipated, even while moving away from metal more toward alt-rock at times, and post-rock at others, and generally finding expressions that require a hyphen. An occasional breakdown touches on jazz or finds its roots in rock 'n' roll. “Cabrini-Green” functions like a suite — track the movements and break the track into its separate pieces — even as it avoids a sort of linear sequence. “Elsewhere” (and, indeed, much of the album) turns out a demented history of hardcore. The record probably won't find much of an audience outside of the metal scene, but listening past the obvious trappings reveals a wealth of influences and a complexity that makes for intriguing listening across genre strictures.

Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

Suite for Max Brown by Jeff Parker

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “Following the looped, electronic and eclectic New Breed, Jeff Parker’s latest album expands into an even greater range of off-kilter sonic experiments.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Before this year, my knowledge of Jeff Parker’s music came largely from his work with Tortoise. And that’s far from a bad thing; Tortoise is a fine band. But hearing Parker push further into the realm of jazz with Suite for Max Brown is its own form of delight, where precisely-played melodies meet instrumental virtuosity. It’s an eminently listenable album, and one where I’m still noticing new moments of subtle beauty in the mix.

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goodbysunball · 2 years

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1/4 Dead In 2023

It's a really bad time to try and cut back on buying music; here's four reasons why, and I've still got another eight or so waiting in the wings. Suck on these chicken wings like Steve Buscemi in Ghost World and I'll bring you another basket when you think you're through.

Cheater Slicks, Ill-Fated Cusses (In the Red)

The world's greatest active rock 'n roll band is back with their first studio LP in 11 years. Cheater Slicks could have very easily hung it up by now, especially following the tragic death of drummer Dana Hatch's son, but some mysterious impulse keeps the brothers Shannon and Dana Hatch (joined here by James Arthur on bass) churning after all these years. There are no other bands that can play garage rock with the abandon that Cheater Slicks seem to nail album after album, and their return to In the Red is possibly their best yet. The comfortable intro to "The Nude Intruder" soon picks up speed and careens headfirst into some solos that are the best I've heard since maybe Mordecai's College Rock. From there the band proceeds to lean heavily into guitar worship, sounding as paranoid and grimy as ever, barely-controlled outbursts of scuzz drenching "Fear" and "Flummoxed by the Snafu." Where previous albums seemed to opt for a sort of ballad to close each side, the band decides to try out "Lichen" to end side one, a feedback-laden stumble through the wake of "The Gift" but even more seasick and desperate. The band's hardly left behind the ballads from albums past; "Garden of Memories" and "Far Away Distantly" are gruff and affecting like the best of the Slicks' quieter moments. My favorite track here is "Coming Back to Me," which oscillates from Hatch's pounding drums and foam-mouthed shouts to zen-like group vocals repeating the title, and erupts in a ferocious guitar solo. It's songs like "Coming Back to Me" that show why Cheater Slicks have single-handedly rejuvenated garage rock and stand alone at the top of the heap. In a time where I've been leaning toward more abstract and indecipherable sounds, it feels really good to be leveled by a no frills rock 'n roll album, something familiar but wholly fresh, without pretension and effortlessly memorable. Cheater Slicks, now and forever. Highest recommendation; get yourself a copy post-haste, and maybe go see 'em blow the younger acts off the stage in a rare live appearance at Gonerfest this year.

Equipment Pointed Ankh, From Inside the House (Bruit Direct Disques)

The latest and greatest from this loose Louisville, KY collective, bringing some welcome cohesion to their brand of off-kilter omnivorous rock deconstruction. I've always found Equipment Pointed Ankh interesting, spiritually akin to fellow Kentuckians Sapat, but their albums can feel cluttered and overlong; on Without Human Permission, something like "Blue Folding Room" bowls me over, but then I've traversed so far by the end of side one that I'm disoriented and exhausted. Could have been a case of too many cooks/too many ideas, but whatever it was has been ironed out on From Inside the House, brought to us by the fine tastemakers at Bruit Direct Disques. "Rubber Slacks" snaps into gear at the front, but the song devolves into a noisy coda, feedback and droning synths fighting to wrest control of the song from the rhythmic backbone. What felt like genre-hopping exercises on previous records has coalesced into a no less confusing but exhilarating whole; off-kilter tunefulness emerges from rudimentary drumbeats, drone and jazz coexist with minimalist beats and modern classical. What emerges from the speakers isn't really as heady as that sounds, though: From Inside the House fits easily as background music and rewards close listening alike through it's rich, full production. The highlight for me is the drumless, airy seven-minute title track, which coupled with Jenny Rose's spoken lyrics brings to mind Cosey Fanni Tutti's "Time to Tell." It's a surprisingly arresting, moving track from a collective that seems mostly hellbent on upending genre distinctions with a permanent smirk. "I'm looking for something else," Rose says, and across seven tracks and 35 minutes, it sounds like EPA's found it on From Inside the House, a surprising early favorite record of 2023. Buy not only for the music, but the screenprinted jacket and Bill Nace artwork, too. Another left-of-center gem from Bruit Direct Disques.

Ustalost, Before the Glinting Spell Unvests (Gilead Media)

This was technically released at the tail-end of 2021, but I've only received my copy of the LP this month, and it's one well worth a year's patience. Ustalost is a side project from the Will Skarstad, one of the brothers behind Yellow Eyes, but there's not much to differentiate the two projects. It's nominally Will Skarstad's solo compositional outlet, though his brother, Sam, gets credits for the lyrics and production. The release, Ustalost's second, states that the project "has always been an exercise in indulgence," and that's probably as good of a descriptor as you're gonna get; it's black metal drizzled with the Skarstads' slowly twinkling guitar lines, drenched in Gregorian chant, keyboards and synthesizers straight out of the first wave of funeral doom (Thergothon comes to mind). I never much cared for keyboards in metal, but they're worked in nicely here: something like the jittery line at the start of "White Marble Column Air" adds to disorienting effect rather than distracts. The bass and drums are up front in the mix, this anchor allowing the record to violently lob between sickly sweetness and pummeling madness, something the opener "Enough Glass Will Cast a Shadow" deftly displays. Before the Glinting Spell Unvests, like The Spoor of Vipers before it, feels as approachable and lush as black metal could be while maintaining the icy, sharp aggression of the best Scandinavian forebears. It's a credit to the songwriting of Will Skarstad to maintain that delicate balance without succumbing to cheesy fist-pumping choruses or invoking war as a crutch; the psychedelic psychosis and decadence are vivid enough to warp one's reality. Fantastic record, one that pushes the envelope in exciting new ways without concessions. Let's hope there's not another seven-year wait for the next one.

Witness K, s/t (ever/never)

Cured Pink, one of several projects from Andrew McLellan, was and probably remains one of the most difficult and misunderstood bands from the contemporary Australian underground. The project's new/no wave laced with sharp commentary and wry humor is admittedly a tough sell, but a deep dive into their catalog, especially their LPs, is a worthwhile endeavor. Seems that McLellan may have retired the Cured Pink name for now, shifting to the gravely serious Witness K, pairing up again with NYC's ever/never records to once more challenge even the most seasoned listeners. On the self-titled debut, the band displays stunning restraint, creating a dour atmosphere befitting Carla dal Forno or Tindersticks. Vocals are hushed and often spoken, and even leaning in closely doesn't really allow me to crack the meaning of it all. The lyrics, or "poetry" as the credits on the release state, are obscured beneath a lush bed of single chord guitars, flute, accordion and a smattering of keys, and feels like the soundtrack to a Kurosawa film or dimly lit noir story bathed in shadows. It's a record that seeps into and takes control of the room, arresting even in its silences, moving carefully and speaking thoughtfully. I'm reminded, in spirit at least, of the Gerogerigegege's left-turn >(decrescendo) or the American Jobs' overlooked Carne Levare, music wielding a quiet power. But Witness K never feels fragile despite sounding gossamer-thin at points; the bass-rich production keeps things sturdy and churning, as on album highlights "Scream Across the Low Fence" and "Thank You, Harold." Notes linger in the air, billowing smoke refracted in late-day sunlight, sunlight that can't be enjoyed because of yet another man-made environmental disaster. Whatever's happening, it's grim. Witness K have made a record acknowledging native land that seems like it could actually do something about it, not just paying lip service to a complicated issue. Stunning, brilliant record; Witness K feels like a modern classic already. Between this and last year's Kilynn Lunsford LP, ever/never's swinging for the fences. Time to break out the binoculars and pay attention while this seasoned vet serves up taters at the dish.

#Cheater Slicks #Equipment Pointed Ankh #Ustalost #Witness K #In the Red Records #Bruit Direct Disques #Gilead Media #ever/never records

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path-of-my-childhood · 5 years

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New Reputation: Taylor Swift shares intel on TS7, fan theories, and her next era

By: Alex Suskind for Entertainment Weekly Date: May 9th 2019

Snakes begone. The 29-year-old superstar is back with a new album and a new outlook on life. We go inside the pop monarch's latest chapter.

THE PALM TREES ARRIVED IN FEBRUARY, seven in all, set against a pastel blue backdrop with superimposed stars. It appeared that a new Taylor Swift era was upon us — that the old happy-go-lucky Taylor was not, in fact, dead. Or did it? It was only an Instagram photo, just one more picture in an infinite content scroll. But it also came from a pop star known for prodigious hint-dropping, whose fans turn every piece of info into an online archaeological dig.

“Our priorities can get messed up existing in a society that puts a currency on curating the way people see your life,” she says. “Social media has given people a way to express their art. I use it to connect with fans. But on the downside you feel like there are 3 trillion new invisible hoops that you have to jump through, and you feel like you’ll never be able to jump through them all correctly. I — along with a lot of my friends and fans — am trying to figure out how to navigate living my life and not just curating what I want people to think living my life is. I’m not always able to maintain a balance, and I think that’s important for everyone to know about. We’re always learning, and that’s something that I also had to learn — that I’ve got to be brave enough to learn. Learning in public is so humiliating sometimes… Do I feel more balanced in my life than I ever have before? Um, probably yeah. But is that permanent? No. And I think being okay with that has put me in a bit of a better position.” Strong words to live by, to quote, to re-share, to tweet back to her, and see if she’ll respond.

You can read the original article HERE.

#the whole thing =)#taylor swift #interview #entertainment weekly #by taylor

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bigskycastle · 5 years

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ask

Yup! I’m gonna use this ask to answer the other ones finally lol

Hehe that’s a cute idea.. that’s sort of what I imagined the “special ready” effect is, but it would definitely be cooler if instead of just glowing/moving a bit their hair cycled through a bunch of colors

Hi! Oh that’s pretty broad uhhhhhhhh id say.. well. it’s N from pokemon bw but most of the characters I end up liking are just, like, silent protags lol

Honestly? at first nervous and uncomfortable because I very much forgot how to draw humans. But i’m feeling tons better about it now and having a lot of fun with it^_^

Awh thank you ! ❤ you’re also cool

Good at the moment! Got a 4 day weekend every week now so I should (maybe?) be able to be more active here. Also FINALLY have a doctor’s apptmt today so i can see someone about my mental health shit and possibly, perhaps, potentially actually get help lol

You’re sweet, thank you❤ I’d like to redo my spectrum piece at some point just because i think i’ve evolved a little stylistically since I finished it, but I still like it despite that. And ty again! They’re very relaxing for me now lol, I’m glad we (against all odds) got a zelda game with one

I think I first saw a streamer playing it when I dropped by their twitch page on a whim, and I saw all the clothing options and immediately decided “i must buy a switch just to play this game”. The fashion aspect is still one of my favorite things about it lol.

I think my Favorite part has to be the singleplayer modes, in partic agents though (predictably), bc they’re exactly the sort of “mostly blank slate” characters+worlds I get attached to.. I’ve always rly enjoyed sort of filling in the gaps left behind in media, even if that means what I end up loving at the end is 90% headcanon stuff. I think that’s the best way 2 interact with media anyway. making it more personal.

It’s always very cool seeing everyone’s different takes on the agents/splat world, and it’s Very cool how I can post a pic of, like, agent 3 and have a bunch of different people each see a totally different character, you know? But yeah i like the shoes in splatoon

Honestly kinda rough but I’m trying! I’ve started college now and the people there are nice enough, plus it’s got incredibly cushy hours and is pretty light on actual “learning”, but it’s good, I needed some kind of break from academia before I straight up died

I’m happy you enjoy it anon!!!!!! I will :-)! I’ve got a lot planned for zelda art in the near future, i just have to finish some commissions and stuff before I can properly work on it

I’ve never “studied” officially, but i’ve been drawing for like, 5-6ish years now? I didn’t pick it up until I was about 10 and didn’t rly commit until I was maybe 12. The course i took at college is meant to be art-focused, however, the stuff they’re teaching is like.. not a brag! but stuff I do already know. Like, a tutor tried to explain what “pixel art” is to me on my first day. I mostly took it to try and learn some Maya skills because I do want to pick up 3D art one day!

Ty! This question’s pretty similar to the last so i’ll put it here. I’ve been slacking on my actual studying a bit, most of what I do is force myself to draw anything every day. Doesnt matter if its a wonky doodle of a face on the back of a napkin or if its a full illust, its practice, it counts. Also, trying to shove myself out of my own comfort zone by doing things like environments and very detailed things (motorcycle.). It’s very rewarding just to look at something you made and think “I thought this was impossible before right now”.

hmmmmMm... I can’t think of any just off the top of my head but my friend @nickymemer (I think?) put the idea of Zelda, whenever shes sick of link and her dads’ collective shit, just running off to gerudo town to hang out with urbosa and the rest of the gerudo court, in my head and i love that a lot

Thank you thank you! As of rn it’s botw but that’s probably because it’s the only one i’ve played by myself. I watched a 30 hour longplay of twilight princess and really loved that though. I did watch an lp of both majora and ocarina but I get the feeling i’m missing a big part of the experience of both bc i’m not playing them. (That or they’re overhyped.) If i get a bit more cash at some point I’ll probably get both on my 3ds.

Alright that’s all I think! Thank you everyone ❤

#joask #there's like 20 under this readmore I'm sorry if it doesnt work oh god #long post #just in case #Anonymous

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jamiefairfaxisntcool · 5 years

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/mu/core album review | Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

/mu/core album review #1

this week on /mu/core album review, we look at:

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Ah yes, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The album that’s mostly known as either, “that one weird album from the 90s,” or, “/mu/ basic bitch meme music.” If you’re anywhere past a casual music fan, you have most-likely heard some songs off this project, if not the whole thing, doubly so if you’re into 90s culture, Indie, or any sort of Art-Rock or Folk movements. As I type this, the most popular YouTube rip of the album has about 4.3 million views, a playlist separating each track stands at 500,000 views, and the title track has a remarkable 40,733,956 plays on Spotify. Holy shit, to put that into perspective: AV Club writes that, “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea was originally slated to sell about 7,000 copies,” that’s roughly 5,819 times the predicted sales numbers of the album on just that song. This also means that this song has been listened to for approximately 131,163,338 minutes, a total of around 131,163,299 more minutes than the actual album length. Humanity has spent a collective 249 years listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Oh, and that’s just the title track.

If I couldn’t spell it out so clearly there, this album is fucking outrageously popular.

Even if you haven’t heard any material off the LP, this album is memed pretty heavily in the music corners of the internet. I don’t think I can find a single music meme page or forum that hasn’t jumped upon the ITAOTS or NMH bandwagon.

At this current point in time, ITAOTS has became a permanent resident in the zeitgeist of internet music culture. NMH, and by extension, it’s creator, Jeff Mangum have been elevated to a cult of personality status. The band and this project are accompanied by a never-ending choir: 15-25 year old sad white boys who cry while sing-screeching about semen and Anne Frank and poorly play open chords on their detuned Ibanez acoustics.

It’s oddly beautiful.

The album is so deceptively simple, so creatively cryptic and has all the elements of a slog faux-folk fest filled with whining that would bore me to so many tears that they could rival the sad boy indie kids who lose their e-girls to their more socially active explore-page bait counterparts. To a person not familiar with it, ITAOTS could look like an over hyped, masturbatory depression tape. It looks boring. It looks like it should be boring.

If it should be boring, then why have I only listened to it and absolutely nothing else for the last two days?

This isn’t a joke, I revisited the album of course to refresh myself before sitting down and writing this review. I kept listening, over the course of a school day, in-between production and songwriting sets, while playing games, and as I write this, I just finished my eighth spin of the record. Before those last two days, I had only listened to the album probably twice.

I remember listening to it back in seventh grade and not particularly disliking it. I was really into Yes and a lot of other Prog and Psych bands, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the almost yuppie voice that Jeff had used on the record compared to vocal beasts like Freddie Mercury, Bowie, and Jon Anderson. Later on, I listened in freshman year, and I appreciated it much more, and had a few songs come up in my shuffle play, but thought nothing much of it.

Now, war had changed.

part 1: i’m the fucking carrot king

As I plopped down in my computer chair, my window crackled and banged like a distant firecracker with the smack of heavy rains on a Summer afternoon. I placed my headphones firmly atop my ears, closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. I heard the opening chords of The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 and tried not just to hear the instrumentation, but also pay attention to the lyrical content of Mr. Mangum.

When you were young, you were the king of carrot flowers And how you built a tower tumbling through the trees In holy rattlesnakes that fell all around your feet

Okay, so what the fuck is actually happening here?

Upon my listens, I inferred that Jeff is speaking to another party here, most likely a female love interest, in what seemingly starts in a nostalgic tone. This sounds almost like a picturesque, coming-of-age, Americana film. Maybe one starring Molly Ringwald and River Phoenix, with a surprise cameo from someone famous back then like Jack Nicholson. Maybe John Candy, with a John Hughes script. Everything would have those faded out, classic colors, a hearkened back era. Quickly, by halfway through the first act, the tone shifts. A darker mood, a stark, grim reminder that life wasn’t always sunny and shinning in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

And your mom would stick a fork right into daddy's shoulder And dad would throw the garbage all across the floor As we would lay and learn what each other's bodies were for

The Mang informs us of a horrific family life, specifically about what seems to be his dad’s, stepmom’s, and stepsister’s interpersonal relationships. The lines are obvious and straightforward, the life of our protagonist was rife with unhealthy familial and sexual relationships, and a sense of love and sweetness was not found there. Keep that in mind when thinking about later songs such as Oh Comely.

After the somber intro of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1, we reach my personal least favorite track on the album: The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 and 3.

Look, I know the meme. “I LOOOOOOOOOVE JESUUUS CHUHRIEEEIISSSSTT,” and all that shit. I’m not even worked up about that line in particular, I just dislike Pt. 3. It’s the weakest of the upbeat songs on the album, with the weird yodel-screech voice that Gumman performs with really takes me out of the experience, which sucks because the buildup and atmosphere of Pt. 2 felt pretty amazing. Luckily, Pt. 3 is fairly short, so we don’t have to worry about it too much.

part 2: earth angel’s thesis

The title track for this album is one of the best songs on this album, no fucking contest. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Oh Comely, The Fool, and Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2 are top contenders when discussing this album. If you like the faster, fuzzier, upbeat songs you could probably substitute The Fool for Holland, 1945.

The title track has a familiar sounding chord progression and we can hear Gum from Jet Set Radio’s saccharine but yelp-y voice belt out from atop the mountains his undying love and admiration for... Anne Frank?

What a beautiful face I have found in this place That is circling all round the sun What a beautiful dream That could flash on the screen In a blink of an eye and be gone from me

In the first verse, Geoff mentions meeting or viewing a beautiful person on this fleeting rock circling round the Sun. He also matches this with the idea that it’s truly futile for him to chase after this beauty, as it is only a dream that could escape him when he awakes. El Jefé has actually mentioned that some of his surrealist lyrics are derived from dreams. Perhaps these lines could imply a more literal dream fading? I don’t exactly know, all I know is what I interpreted.

The instrumentation of this piece is nothing straying from NMH’s usual repertoire: Mandrake on Guitar and Vocals, Scott Spillane on the Horns, Robert Schneider on Bass and Production, Julian Koster playing... something. What is he playing? Wait, give me a second.

He’s playing the Singing Saw? I thought it was like, a Theremin. What the fuck is a Singing Saw?

Oh.

Okay sure, you can play that, however the fuck you do that.

And finally we have Jeremy Barnes on Drums.

The personnel handle the music with a light, bouncy feeling, and the tone and timbre remind me of a faded, old, seaside town on the east coast. Another thing to mention is that the chord progression is G-Em-C-D; I-vi-IV-V. A funny thing I noticed is that this song shares a chord progression with tons of songs from the 50’s and early 60’s, which adds to the waning Americana feeling, but it more specifically shares that progression with Earth Angel by The Penguins. In the 80’s film, Back To The Future, Marvin Berry covers the song with his band for the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance where Marty’s dad and mom have to dance to ensure that the future stays intact. There’s no further real connection, but I thought that was kinda cool to mention.

After looking through the lyrics for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, I will admit, as a brainlet Two-Headed Boy Pt. 1 eluded me. Patrolling through Genius and some other reviews, I guess the consensus about this track was that it was about Anne Frank again? Manta Jeff’s cryptic lyricism continues to fool me. Besides the lyrics, this track mostly remains a piece of really good filler.

part 3: stop the military occupation of my brainwaves

The Fool is amazing, anyone who says it’s filler is wrong. I know I might anger some people by literally implying that Two-Headed Boy Pt. 1 was filler, but seriously The Fool just makes me a feel a way. My brain creates a scene reminiscent of a depressing diesel-punk Les Misérables. Even though Scotch Spillage’s fantastic piece for horns is beautifully imperfect, it lacks lyrical content and is short and length. So, let’s instead talk about Holland, 1945.

This awesome, uptempo, almost punk-like piece of fuzzy brass is groovy son. It’s probably the song you could show someone not familiar with this project and they’d be like, “Oh, is this Cake? Why is the lead singer singing so high now?”

Holland, 1945 is a song that you can just listen for the instrumentation. Holland, 1945 is a song that promotes peace and love. There’s so many great things I can say about Holland, 1945. How it’s theme is so perfectly fitting for today’s political climate, how it manages to blend these psychedelic and bluesy timbres with a fast and loud sound and how well it continued the semi-conceptual narrative of Joff’s admiration and love for... Anne Frank.

Okay, fuck it, I have to say it. It’s bothered me ever since I discovered it.

Why Anne Frank? Like, I know why Anne Frank, but I mean like, why, y’know? I’ll say I admire Anne Frank, she was trying her best to live a normal life in a terrifying time to be alive, but I never wanted to fuck her. xxJeffxx’s mentions of Anne kind of make me raise an eyebrow. Especially because the album’s not just about her either. When he gets sexual, it’s difficult to determine whether he is mentioning a third party or Anne, which would be pretty weird, as she was 15 when she died and Heff was 28 when he wrote this. Maybe this is just some patrician music shit that I’m too plebeian to understand, like heated toilet seats or drinking for fun rather than to drown the pain. Maybe I haven’t sat down and watched enough flowery-squarespace-sponsored-lofi-hip-hop-muzak-using-pretentious video essayists to understand it, but what do I know.

part 4: the proletariat cries

To wrap on the second half of the album, this is the half that I cried in.

Communist Daughter is a good song, but with how short it is, it left me wanting more. This track is one of the few that actually features a soft-spoken Jeffen, and its open and dark but dreamy atmosphere left my jaw agape. The mountaintops weren’t the only thing stained.

Oh Comely, Oh Comely. Oh Comely is a song that deserves its own review. The lyrical chops of The Mangum Magnum are on full display as he belts somber, brutal verse after verse, with plenty of juxtaposition between sickening, sexual and vile situations alongside a description of a sweet, innocent young girl, just trying to survive with a guitar by her side. This beautiful, lovely girl gets taken advantage by someone, some people, perhaps even Yeff himself, only seen as an easy lay, a whore, like the ones her father visits often. He disgustingly describes semen in the garden, and her making miracles with her mouth, but I didn’t get a tone similar to so many songs about “sexual-empowerment.” The song is about self-deprecating depression leading to her being used, perhaps even abused. A situation all too real, too close to many of us. As I type this, I don’t know what to think. A woman should of course have individual sexual freedom, but this song doesn’t describe that. It describes trauma, emotional, psychological trauma. Meaningless sex, a rotten smell, staining the flower of a woman, all of this language that could be simply described as gross. This isn’t a happy song about fucking bitches. This song is about how a girl wanted to play music, pluck vines and was taken advantage of, reduced to her roots, and deflowered. Fuck. I wish I could save her. In some sort of time machine.

Two-Headed Boy could refer to a number of things. I have a head canon. This girl, Comely, is being used by the Two-Headed Boy for sexual favors. The Two-Headed Boy then “repays” her in friendship and music, playing their silly little songs. On the surface, Comely assumes the Two-Headed Boy trusts her and cares for her, but really all he wants is sex. Comely, living in a broken home and without a proper male figure in their life, is conned by the Two-Headed Boy, and just wants to live a normal life. Comely is trapped. She’s living in a place that is surrounded by the texture of scum and she knows it, she just can’t call upon the strength to leave. She’s trapped in a home, a ghetto, wanting to live a normal life, but she’s been placed here by the Two-Headed Boy, who knew her mother and father were broken, and she would be too. The Two-Headed Boy broke in, claimed to be her friend, and supports her, before defiling her. Comely was pretty, bright, and intelligent. She was just in a bad situation.

Comely was Anne Frank.

Not to say that they were literally one in the same, but I mean J. Mangum (private eye) is comparing two children, ripped from their lives by this awful world, and intertwining them, blurring the lines.

Who’s the Two-Headed Boy? As I said, it could be a number of people. Nazis, Peter van Pels, hell, even Jeff Manga himself could be the Two-Headed Boy. It doesn’t matter as long as we realize the relationship between oppressed and oppressor.

There is a glimmer of hope for Comely though. Read the closing words from Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2:

Two headed boy, she is all you could need She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires And retire to sheets safe and clean But don't hate her when she gets up to leave

Comely and the Two-Headed Boy split away from each other. Comely leaves the Two-Headed Boy, and the narrator says not to hate her when she leaves. On a deeper level, this could be an introspective Jeff Mangum relating on his past. I don’t really know.

outro

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

9/10

What did you think? Was I way off the mark, or do you agree? What should I have covered? What did you like, what did you dislike, I’m all ears. Leave a follow and a like if you liked it and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

#neutral milk hotel #music #music review #james fairfax #mu #/mu/core #folk #fuzzfolk #rock #anne frank

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theeverlastingshade · 5 years

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Favorite EP of 2019: Feet of Clay- Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt’s masterful 2018 LP Some Rap Songs may have cemented his status as one of the greatest rappers alive, but with his recently released second EP Feet of Clay he proved that he’s much further beyond his contemporaries than anyone could have realized. On a purely technical level he’s been among the most talented rappers alive since he was 15, and while his writing has only gotten better with each release, FoC, like SRS before it, actively pushes the form to new heights. FoC is dense, deconstructionist rap that fundamentally challenges what can fit within that context. Earl’s rapping often sidesteps the beats entirely, and his vocals aren’t mixed neatly over them so much as they simply collide through them. FoC is hip hop first and foremost, but like SRS it incorporates elements of avant-garde jazz, noise, and ambient, and to strictly refer to the music as the former betrays the intricacies of his approach. Understandably, it’s been the most polarizing release of his date. Even while clocking in at 15 minutes there’s an absurd amount to unpack, but spend some time with FoC and it will reward your patience several times over.

FoC is the ideal follow-up to SRS in that it’s a work within the same vein as the latter but it pushes that same aesthetic towards embracing more abstract compositions, flows, and imagery. The production is handled primarily by Earl (with The Alchemist having produced “Mtomb” and Ovrkast having produced “El Toro Combo Meal”) and like its predecessor the beats consist of loop-based compositions defined by jarring, dissonant textures and murky ambience. FoC was described by Earl as “a collection of observations and feelings recorded during the death throes of a crumbling empire” and that sense of gloom and decay is realized to great effect on songs like “74” and “Tisk Tisk / Cookies”. It’s still a marvel to hear not only how Earl manages to rap over such seemingly counterintuitive beats, but also in the way that he’s developed as a producer. The conversation around Earl doesn’t acknowledge the impressive producer that he blossomed into nearly enough. Whether it’s the blaring accordion wail that perpetually threatens to unravel “East” at every turn or the loops from what sounds like a decomposing piano that frame “Tisk Tisk / Cookies” Earl’s never made bolder strides as a producer and the sonic lane that he’s carving out for himself is increasingly sounding like the work of no one else.

More so than anything else, the biggest draw here is once more the thrill of simply listening to Earl rap. There’s no other rapper alive that writes and raps as thoughtfully or as sharply as Earl. FoC is the latest in a progression of releases that finds him continuing to chisel down his ideas until only the barest essentials remain. The songs are succinct and economical, and feature some of Earl’s most unconventional flows with writing as clever and bleak as he’s proven capable on each of his past releases. While “Peanut” and “Riot” off of SRS were conceived after his father’s passing, FoC is the first release that Earl wrote and recorded in the wake of his passing. Unsurprisingly, FoC is the most insular release within a career that’s been defined by that descriptor. Earl tackles substance abuse, depression, healing, mourning, and memories of the person he once was with his sharp eye for detail and an increasingly wise beyond-his-years perspective. Nothing is heavy handed or mopey, but there’s a rawness to it that pervades even the most seemingly carefree moments. Given the greater context under which it was conceived, FoC feels like the most honest release that I’ve heard all year.

“Come get to know me at my innermost/My family business anguish, now I need atonement” Earl raps on “OD” referencing the family strife from his father leaving him when he was a child up through his death on January 3 2018. The song ends with a look back on his youth which was abruptly cut short when his EARL mixtape blew up “Feeling rushed, grew up quick/Trip around the sun, this my 25th, give it up/Gin and rum/We wasn’t supposed to be alive, no funny shit”. On “East” Earl reflects on losses and severed relationships in addition to the desire for his actions in life to live on after him despite believing in the inherent meaningless in the actions of humans “I wait to be the light shimmering from a star/Cognitive dissonance shattered and the necessary venom restored/As if it matters if you think it matters anymore”. On closer “4N” Earl strives for perseverance while holding down his ideals “Bend, we don’t break, swing we don’t miss/We just might be okay, the same voltage/Hold the charge like the phone lit/No regards for the bullshit” and ends FoC with a remark on the emotional purging that birthed it while suggesting that there’s still more than he can do for himself and others “It’s all I could spill/There’s more I could do”.

Although FoC doesn’t match the consistency of SRS the highs are just as strong as anything that Earl has ever released. Album opener “74” perfectly sets the tone for what’s to come with Earl unloading a barrage of bars the second the song starts over morose, lo-fi organ loops. It’s immediately jarring to hear how thoroughly he disregards the instrumental, approaching his delivery almost like free-jazz. “El Toro Combo Meal” finds Mavi delivering one of the EPs three features (the others being Mach-Hommy on “4N” and Liv.E on “Mtomb”), and it’s a rare show-stopping moment where an underdog actually holds his own before Earl finishes with a strong verse that touches on the isolation that he’s felt throughout his life. He shouts out recently passed beat music pioneer Ras G, references the Hayao Miyazaki film Spirited Away, the 04-05 Detroit Pistons, and Harry Potter, and reflects on the unfortunate human tendency to reignite old feuds. And on the phenomenal “Tisk Tisk / Cookies” Earl delivers one of the best verses that I’ve heard all year as he reflects on the loss of a loved one “Reelin’ from loss, yeah/Inner remorse, divorce your spirit and corpse, corpse/I tell you I’m hearing it all/The wisdom that’s in your remarks/The silliness in you I Mourn/The moments that’s tender and soft/I’m in ‘em, the memories got strong”.

FoC is unlikely to be embraced by anyone that was left cold by SRS, but those that are completely on board with Earl’s artistic growth have likely found plenty to love here. Every song on FoC demonstrates an unrelenting willingness on Earl’s part to forgo complacency and push his claustrophobic music to bracing new heights. FoC, like SRS before it, is heavily influenced by contemporary New York City underground hip-hop, and on both releases Earl pushed that scene’s lo-fi jazz-flecked grit in compelling new directions. FoC successfully distills the tension of noise music, the fleeting romanticism of ambient, and the chaotic unpredictability of free-jazz, resulting in music that’s far more exciting and unpredictable than what the vast majority of his contemporaries are doing. There’s no question that FoC is an inaccessible, and even alienating listen, but I’ve heard very few releases from 2019 that have packed as much compassion, intelligence, and humanity into them despite necessitating such patience. Earl has transitioned from being one of the most compelling rappers alive to transcending the form entirely.

Essentials: “Tisk Tisk / Cookies”, “El Toro Combo Meal” ft. Mavi, “74”

#earl sweatshirt #feet of clay #tan cressida #warner bros records

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