#i find i turn more to the folky types of singing more than the pop

[arlenianchronicles]

Hello!!💖💖💖 Can I ask if you have voices for the Silmarillion characters or for your Oc's?:D Idk if you think about it this way, but I'm trying to always find voices for them, so I can imagine it while reading XD Thanks for your answer!!!💖💖💖

Hi there! <33 Hmm voices for the characters, that’s an interesting question! Tbh I haven’t thought of it deeply enough, so I don’t have a real-life model for each and every Silm character and my OCs, but I do have a few!

For Elured and Elurin, I imagine they sound like Aurora when they’re young, and most especially when they sing. The same goes for Elrond and Elros (since their uncles disappear early on in canon, so I just reuse the model loll). They’re good at harmonizing with each other, and all in all they sound quite heavenly :D

With Aurora in mind, I imagine that Maedros sounds like Einar Selvik from Wardruna (mostly for the singing loll). This is because Wardruna and Aurora once sang Helvegen together, and I used that as a base for when Maedros would sing with Elured and Elurin in my AU (and the same would again also go for Elrond and Elros).

Something about Maglor gives me Tom Hiddleston-voice vibes -- something low and soft when he’s speaking, but also strong and clear, and elegant (and Tom did sing in the fifth Tinkerbell movie, so ... yeah XDDD)

I also just got an idea for Luthien while writing this. Maria Franz is an absolutely captivating singer in Heilung (here’s some excerpts), and I imagine her voice would be a good starting point for Luthien’s <33 OR another good one is Celtic Woman (my favourite of hers is siuil a run)!

That’s all for voices, I think! As for my OCs, I do have some models for them (if they were to be cast for a movie, for example). Noah Schnapp for Aurelydan, Rohan Chand for Meza, Sadie Sink for Rune, and (possibly) Anna Taylor-Joy for young Lullia.

The rest of the voices are usually just made up in my head ^^;; It can be quite tough to find a real-life voice that fits how you imagine it! The same goes for face models for me hahaa

I hope this helped, anon!! Thank you for this fun question! <333

[1-dollar-cd-sale-reviews]

Uncut: The Playlist (May 2006)

Today’s review is a little different. My first two reviews were for full albums by single bands - this is a compilation CD with songs that were released decades apart from each other, each with its own feel and niche. Compilation reviews are going to be a bit lighter than full album reviews, mostly talking about the songs I liked with less focus on how they all fit together.

I actually liked this compilation a lot. I bought it because it had The Funeral on it by Band of Horses, and I managed to find a few other songs that I liked as well. The theme of the compilation seems to be contemporary country/folk - there are some indie songs on here like The Funeral (which I think is indie?), a couple fairly straight country-sounding songs like Candi Statons’s “I’ll Sing A Love Song To You” and even a really charming song by Lambchop - which I had to google after hearing for the first time, to find that Wikipedia has listed the band as “closely associated with the alternative country genre”. Alternative country is a thing. I think I love it.

Uncut seems to be a music publication - the CD booklet (liner notes?) is actually an advertisement for a Johnny Cash compilation release, and the songs on the back of the case all have page numbers next to them. Judging from both the content of the compilation and the ad, I would wager that Uncut is a country music magazine.

Personally I’m not hot on Country, at least not the “Tractors and muddin’ and riding a wet hog” stereotypical sort of stuff. I try not to characterise all of Country music as this, but I have heard songs like this. It’s a cliche for a reason - that type of country music certainly exists. The closest I get to Country is Counting Crows, who have shown traces of folky country-type inspirations for years but have dived head-long into the Dad Rock category over their most recent releases.

Really, I was more into the indie-sounding songs like the Calexico song “Cruel” and - in my opinion - The Funeral by Band of Horses, though there were some notable exceptions. Lambchop, for example - I’ll admit that the singer’s voice turned me off to begin with, but the way this dude delivers lines is incredibly intriguing.

The Lambchop song on this compilation is called “All Smiles and Mariachi”, and there’s this knock-out line where the guy talks about going to get some dip, and tells his partner that while they’re gone he’ll try not to eat all the chips. It’s goofy, charming lyrics like that that made me smile, and the way he delivered the word “chips” just hit me in some stupid way, you know? For some reason, the word “chips” was delivered in a way that I really appreciated. I don’t know what else to say - it’s goofy on my part, but I just loved it so much.

Another song I liked was Say So What by Graham Coxon. This song sounds aggressively british - the guy’s accent is brilliant, and I was getting a Blur sort of vibe from the song. As you can probably tell, I have a bit of a thing for Blur - I’m not that familiar with British rock or pop, so Blur and a handful of Britpop hits are basically all I have to go on regarding contemporary British music of the 90′s and onward. But I think I might have a bit of a handle on the differences between British rock and American rock? Like I feel like if I hear a song that hits the same switch as Blur, it might be British - the style of the song, in both its composition and general sound, feels much different to me.

Frankly, I could be full of shit. Feel free to tell me if that is indeed the case. But I think I’m starting to distinguish between American and British rock aside from the vocals, and I have to say - I’m leaning more towards the British sound.

EDIT: Being the dunce that I am, I didn’t realise that Graham Coxon was a MEMBER OF BLUR TO BEGIN WITH. Fuck, I’m a moron sometimes. Alright, carry on.

There were a couple of oddities on the record - there’s a song by a band called Faust that’s mostly ambient noise, there’s a Bob Marley song called Soul Shakedown Party, and there’s kind of an ill-fitting song by a band called Denim that closes out the compilation. But overall, it was a good, chill compilation, and I liked having the chance to unwind and listen to some decent tunes. About half of the album was background noise to me, but it was background noise that I appreciated - and even if the album had wasted my time, I still get to own The Funeral for myself in some capacity, and now I know about Kurt Wagner and Lambchop.

You can buy this compilation on eBay, or look up the track listing on Discogs.com and track down the songs for yourself. I imagine the songs are on Youtube, so feel free to make your own playlist and recreate the CD for yourself.

I apologise for the especially shitty-looking CD box-art photo today, I’ll go back to the method I usually use with the next review. I like the shitty low-effort look I’ve been going with, but when the image quality is that bad, it gets under my skin. Look forward to a better quality picture on my next review.

[theshmaylor]

I meant to do real things this evening, but instead I spent 3 hours making a Tegan and Sara primer. Soooo enjoy if you want

Okay so Analise010 asked for a Tegan and Sara primer, but I didn't find any I liked, so I had to make my own. And then well...it became a lot. SORRY FOR THE EXCESSIVE LENGTH.  But also I'm lazy and didn't include photos, that was a step too much effort.

The Basics Tegan and Sara are a band. It feels weird to call them a band when it's just the two of them (plus whoever's in their backing band at the time), but wikipedia calls them an "indie pop singing duo" and that's worse, so let's go with 'a band'. They are both lesbians. No, they're not dating. They're identical twins. Their faces are incredibly similar so I don't know why I even have to say that, but a surprising number of people think they're dating, so. For a while it was very easy to tell them apart, but then Tegan took out her labret piercing, and their hair for the Love You to Death tour is more similar than it's been in years. But I think Tegan cut her hair sometime in the past few weeks, so hopefully it's simpler again. Sara has a narrower face than Tegan. You can also use their tattoos to tell them apart, but honestly we'll be here all day if I continue at this level of detail.  When they're preforming, Tegan always stands on the left side of the stage and Sara on the right (from the perspective of the audience). Both of them write songs, sing, and play instruments. Generally, they don't create together. They each write their own songs and then work together to polish and edit them. Whichever sister wrote the song is the one who sings lead vocals on it. They have EIGHT albums. So many! And as far as anyone knows, they're planning on making even more music.  We're gonna do this shit chronologically. 1. Under Feet Like Ours (1999) Listen, maybe don't start here. There are some gems to be found, but they were babies (only 19 years old!), and it shows. Plus, about half the songs also appear on their second album, so you won't be missing a lot.  It was initially released with the band name "Sara and Tegan" until they decided it sounded better the other way, changed it, and haven't looked back since. My fav tracks Clever Meals This is Everything 2. This Business of Art (2000) Again, about half the tracks come from Under Feet Like Ours and it was only released a year later, so it feels a little young too. But by picking the best bits of their previous album and adding in new material, it definitely feels like a step up. My fav tracks My Number Not With You Hype 3. If It Was You (2002) This is where we start to get a little less folky.  More pop-y, more electronic, and definitely more upbeat. More love and breakup songs, less undirectional teenage angst. My fav tracks Living Room - This is a Tegan and Sara CLASSIC. If they play it at a show, it's usually in the encore, and the entire room ERUPTS when it starts. Underwater I Hear Noises Terrible Storm 4. So Jealous (2004) This is kind of the beginning of their mainstream success. A lot more critical attention and some radio play for their singles. The first time I ever heard of Tegan and Sara was between this album and the next.  I was in high school and fell for them hard, and honestly they've been my favorite band ever since. My fav tracks I Was Walking With a Ghost - The White Stripes covered it, which honestly probably contributed to T+S's popularity a lot, but I think that fucking cover is awful Where Does the Good Go Speak Slow Fix You Up

5. The Con (2007) This is it. This is the album. This is the one that cemented their success and brought in many of their lifelong fans. And it's the reason I'm even writing this fucking thing in the first place. Today they announced The Con X - a tenth anniversary tour where they'll be playing an acoustic arrangement of all songs in album order, and I've been excitedly swooning about it all day, which is why Analise asked for a primer.

My fav tracks The Con Hop a Plane + Soil, Soil - two tracks that appear in that order on the album and you have to listen to them in a row. The mood change is just everything and so perfect.  I'm probably in the minority for putting Soil, Soil on my favorites list though, so do what you want with that... Burn Your Life Down Nineteen - listen, this probably isn't the best track ever, but it's so satisfying to wail along with. Great stuff at live performances Back In Your Head Dark Come Soon

(I know it's a lot, but count yourself lucky that I didn't just list the whole album)

6. Sainthood (2009) Getting even more electronic here! This was probably their most experimental album I think. It's also the first time they co-wrote a song, "Paperback Head".  That's not one of my favorite songs, but I'm glad they tried out something new.

My fav tracks Hell Alligator - which I mostly just love because Sara says it was inspired by Rihanna, which makes no sense to me when you listen to the song The Ocean Sentimental Tune Someday - for this one, I'm just gonna leave you with a quote the Autostraddle review, which imprinted on me very early after I first listened to it and now it's all I can think about every time I hear the song:  "At first listen, this track may sound like an anthem a garage band might   be inclined to write, one of those “fuck you, world! we’re gonna be   famous one day!” tracks – but IT’S NOT, and that’s partly why it’s so   great. This isn’t about how the world has wronged Tegan. It makes me   think of a 17-year old Tegan getting over a first relationship and   putting on a false bravado to prove she’s going to become something,   like she’s trying to convince herself rather than anyone else."

7. Heartthrob (2013) This is where people started throwing around the word 'sellout'. Which, in general, as a concept can just fuck off entirely. Yes, I think they were trying to reach for more mainstream success, but why is that a bad thing? More success = more chances to hear them live and a better likelihood of getting even more music. Plus, there seems to be this idea that musicians at the start of their careers have the most artistic freedom and are the most 'real', and after that they're doing what the record label wants. But that doesn't make any goddamn sense. Do you think 19 year old Tegan and Sara had any clue how to navigate the music industry and ensure that their artistic vision got out there? No. They've said in multiple interviews that they're originally piano players who were basically forced into the indie folk acoustic guitar thing. This album brings those keyboards to the forefront and they don't have to pick up guitars at all if they don't want to.  Plus, no matter the change in sound, the lyrics are pure Tegan and Sara. That's never going to change.

My fav tracks Closer - the music video is an amazing giant queer sleepover party and everyone should watch it I'm Not Your Hero Drove Me Wild How Come You Don't Want Me I Couldn't Be Your Friend

8. Love You To Death (2016) It's just over a year old and they're currently touring in support of it.  This is the album where (in addition to their songs about romantic relationships) they have some distance from some of the rough patches they've had as sisters over the years and can finally write music about that. White Knuckles and 100x are both songs inspired by those times. Plus, they made a video for every single song on the album.

My fav tracks Boyfriend - their queerest song to date, don't let the name fool you U-turn - oh god I love this song but the music video is terrible. Okay so it's not a terrible video in and of itself, but I don't like it at all for this particular song Dying to Know Stop Desire Hang on to the Night

Misc

Yay! You made it to the end of my babbling about each album, so do you know what that means? MORE BABBLING ABOUT OTHER THINGS. I'll try to keep it short though (mostly because I'm lazy and want to eat dinner soon)

- When they recorded The Con, they also filmed the entire thing and turned that into a movie with a 'chapter' (about 10 mins each) for each track. It is DELIGHTFUL and a great entry point for getting a feel for their personalities and learning more about them beyond just liking the music. A wonderful person has collected the chapters here and here

- Banter! A super important part of Appreciating Tegan and Sara is their concert banter. They talk more during shows than any other band I know of and a lot of it is fucking hysterical. It also feels like their way of setting boundaries, you know? They share so much and talk about things from their past very freely, which stops people from poking into their current personal lives more than they might otherwise.  Maybe at some point I will make a curated list of my favorites, but see above re: lazy etc. For now, just search youtube for Tegan and Sara best banters. You'll find plenty.

- Live screw-ups. There is always one song that Tegan can not remember the words to or play all the way through. As soon as she figures it out, it'll happen to another song (Admittedly, this is happening less lately as they play more festivals  and want to look good in front of randos who don't know much about them). Which leads to plenty of fabulous footage of Tegan fucking up a song and swearing. Sara also fucks up occasionally, but less often. Sometimes they power through, sometimes they restart, and sometimes they have the audience sing it.  And I can't explain why it's so adorable and precious but it just IS. Again, not gonna link to vids, but the song "Northshore" has some of the best because it's so fast.

And now I'm done typing for real this time :)