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doodlebug-aboo · 7 years

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A soulmate AU with Ralbert please?

I’m sorry this took so long!! I finally did it though!

Read it on ao3 here !!

Why Do You Listen To So Much ABBA?

Race knew from a young age that once you hit puberty you heard the music that your soulmate heard. Most people knew it from a young age, most people’s parents told them about the story of how they found each other and would tease each other about the horrible music taste the other one had when they met. Race was told by his aunt and uncle, but the story was still the same. He learned that his aunt had listened to musical songs even back then, and that his uncle hated it. Race, who had just started getting into musicals thanks to his aunt and older cousin, wondered if his soulmate would feel the same.

Around the time he would be hitting puberty and starting to hear his soulmate’s music, he got into some pop punk music too, not just musicals. He got introduced to all the bands thanks to his older cousin, once again. He got into most things because she was also into it. He looked up to her, in a way. Because of her he started listening to bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco. Later he picked up some bands on his own like All Time Low, State Champs, and Neck Deep. He had a very weird playlist on his phone he listened to that was a mixture of those bands and different musicals.

When he hit puberty he was thirteen, and he finally started hearing his soulmate’s music. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t the kind of stuff he was interested in. His soulmate listened to some old classic rock which was okay, but they also listened to blasting old 90s pop and it got annoying after a while. It was mostly the 90s pop. He tried blocking it out by listening to his own music sometimes, but of course it never worked. It especially sucked if it happened while he was at school. He didn’t know why his soulmate would suddenly be blasting ABBA in school, but they would on occasion. Sometimes it wasn’t ABBA though, sometimes it was the Spice Girls.

“I’m pretty sure my soulmate has got to be like, thirty, or something. The only stuff they listen to is stuff from the 80s and 90s!” Race was currently at lunch with Jack and their little friend group, Crutchie, Blink, Romeo, and Elmer. Jack laughed at him.

“People our age can listen to old music too, Race. It’s not only for thirty year-olds.” Race scowled at him.

“Yeah sure, but Jack we’re in the eighth grade! What eighth grader listens only to 80s and- gah! My soulmate is now playing ABBA again, amazing.” In the middle of his sentence, Race started hearing music in his head again. The whole table began laughing.

“Race, buddy you’re gonna have to deal with it. I have to deal with mine, and my soulmate listens to video game soundtracks. Those don’t even have words! Well, a few do, but most of them do not and I don’t appreciate that.” Romeo pouted. He’d complained about what his soulmate listened to a lot, because there was just a lot of wordless video game tracks and he didn’t get it.

“I just want to find mine soon so I can yell at them for playing music at the worst times. Does my soulmate really have to listen to music up until two in the morning sometimes? Who needs to listen to music that late? What are they doing?” Crutchie looked very upset, and also pretty tired. Race assumed his soulmate was listening to music late last night as well.

“I mean I listen to music that late sometimes when I paint, I never thought that it could upset my soulmate. Oops.” Race, Blink, Elmer, and Romeo all looked at each other. They all had talked about this before, and they all were pretty sure Jack and Crutchie were soulmates, they just were either too dense to realize, or kept denying that it could be them.

The music stopped playing in Race’s head a few minutes before lunch ended, and Race was thankful. He hoped it wouldn’t come back on again at least until he got home because he had a test in his sixth period. He figured with his luck that wouldn’t be the case though, so he prepared for the worst. In his fifth period though, he was given the option to listen to music in class, so he pulled out his earbuds and blasted his playlist. He did it almost out of spite, getting angry that his soulmate always listened to music during school. That wasn’t the best idea though, because he could tell that when the music started blaring during his test, it was his soulmate specifically wanting to get back at him. He had a hard time focusing on his test when Dancing Queen was being blasted in his ears, but he felt like he did his best. On his walk home from school, Race played his playlist again, and his soulmate would just have to deal with it.

When Race got into high school, he was very hopeful that his soulmate would be from one of the other middle schools moving up to their high school. He thought that they at least had to be in their district because their classes and lunch seemed to get over around the same time, and they seemed to get out of school around the same time as well. He knew it was wishful thinking, but he still had hope. He lost that hope as the school year continued and he still hadn’t found his soulmate. He was at lunch one day and pouting about it. Jack was laughing at him, as was Romeo. Romeo happened to find his soulmate towards the beginning of the year, everyone called him Specs and after getting a read on his personality, it was easy to believe that he mostly listened to video game soundtracks.

“Race, you’ll find your soulmate eventually. I hear a new kid’s transferring over soon, perks of being an Office TA, maybe they’re your soulmate.” Elmer shrugged and Race scoffed.

“I doubt it, with my luck I won’t find my soulmate until I’m thirty.” Race went back to pouting, but what Elmer said gave him a little more hope. Hopefully the new kid would be in one of his classes.

The new kid was not his soulmate. His name was Davey and he was not a frequent listener to ABBA and the Spice Girls. Race’s hope was ever dwindling. By the end of the year he still hadn’t found his soulmate and he was beginning to really believe he wouldn’t meet them for a long time. He knew it was sort of stupid to believe he’d meet his soulmate in high school, but that’s when his aunt and uncle met, and he was hopeful. His older cousin, though, was a senior in high school when he was a freshman, and she still had yet to meet her soulmate. He knew that he should just be patient, but it was hard when at least once a day his ears were blasted with 90s pop. Sometimes he was lucky and it was some rock music, but his soulmate listened to pop more.

His sophomore year, some new kids had transferred over from a different high school in their district, Race was aware of this because Jack told him. He didn’t know how Jack knew but he trusted him, which was never a smart thing to do. Race met one of the kids that transferred over not too much later when he was introduced to the group by Blink. He said his nickname was Mush, and they went with that. Unsurprisingly not too long later, Blink and Mush found out they were soulmates. Race still had not met the other kid that supposedly transferred, he wondered if he even existed. Jack could have been mistaken and it could have only been one transfer, but he was holding out. Jack was still adamant that two transferred. One day they decided to ask Mush.

“Another kid who transferred from my school? Oh! I think Albert transferred over this year too. He kept to himself a lot but he talked to me on occasion. Why, do you want to meet him?” Jack and Race looked between each other and shrugged before nodding. Mush stood up and looked around, he couldn’t be expected to know where exactly he was or if he even had their lunch period, but he looked around anyway. After a second he smiled.

“Found him! It’s hard to miss his bright red hair. Cool that he has our lunch period. I’ll see if I can get him to come over here.” Mush then ran off towards the doors to the cafeteria but stopped at a table along the way that only had a few people. He stopped at a boy with bright red hair. Race decided he’d stop watching after him and join into the conversation at the table. Something about one of the classes that a few people at the table took. Mush came back not too long later and following him was the redheaded boy, presumably named Albert. Race’s eyes widened a bit when he saw him, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think he was cute. Mush went back to his seat and had Albert sit on the side of his where Blink wasn’t sitting. So now sitting between Race and Albert, was Crutchie. Race tapped him and motioned for them to switch spots, Crutchie nodded and they moved.

“Okay everybody, this is Albert. Albert this is Blink, Specs, Romeo, Davey, Jack, Elmer, Crutchie, and Race!” Mush went around the circle saying everyone’s names.

“Sup.” Albert raised a hand in greeting before setting it down again.

“Come on Albert, these guys aren’t gonna bite.” He nudged him a bit with his shoulder and Albert let out a little chuckle.

“Hey, you’re the one that grabbed me from my table right before I was going to put my earbuds in.” Mush scowled at Albert.

“Fine then, play your music for now, but tomorrow you’re sitting here again and you’ll talk.” Albert rolled his eyes.

“Fine, mom, I won’t listen to my music.” Mush gave Albert a big smile. Albert stuck his tongue out in response.

“So Albert! Tell us about yourself!” Crutchie smiled at him and he smiled back.

“I don’t know, not much to tell.” He shrugged.

“Aw, come on Al, there’s gotta be something.” Race gave him a little side smile.

“Did you just call me Al?”

“Yeah, that a problem?”

“No, just wasn’t used to it is all.” He shrugged again.

“Tell us about your soulmate! Have you met them yet?” Albert scoffed.

“No, I haven’t. Whoever it is, they have a very weird taste in music.” Race laughed.

“Join the club buddy. Romeo would also be a part of this club but he met his soulmate already, asshole.”

“Why am I an asshole for finding my soulmate? You’re just upset that you haven’t found yours.” Race glared at him.

“I just want to find my soulmate so I can yell at them for almost only listening to ABBA.” Albert whipped his head to look at Race.

“What’s wrong with ABBA?”

“Nothing’s wrong with ABBA on a moderate level, but when you’re forced to listen constantly it gets a little old.” Albert scoffed.

“At least your soulmate doesn’t switch from some musical song to a song by Fall Out Boy or something.” Race looked at Albert, offended.

“I’ll have you know musicals are great and so is Fall Out Boy. My main playlist is a mix of musicals and pop punk.” Just then a look of realization crossed both Albert and Race’s faces.

“Are you my soulmate?” They both looked at each other and said it at the same time, causing them to laugh.

“Here, we can test it.” Albert pulled out his phone but Race stopped him.

“If you are my soulmate and you make me listen to ABBA while sitting next to me, you’re getting kicked.” Albert held his hands up in defense. Race took his phone and earbuds out instead and began playing a Fall Out Boy song. When it started, it was very loud, and both Race and Albert jumped before Race could turn down his volume. They both looked at each other and laughed.

“Well would you look at that, Race finally found his soulmate!”

“I guess I did! Now about all the 90s music you listen to…” Race went into a rant that aimed at Albert about how many times he had been forced to listen to ABBA, specifically when taking tests, and Albert just laughed the whole time. Race was cute. Really cute. Maybe putting up with all the musicals and pop punk all the time could be worth it. Race felt the same, although he could do with a little less ABBA.

#newsies #ralbert #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #fic #soulmate au #request

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jazzworldquest-blog · 6 years

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USA: Mali + Tigray - Guitars = The Steady-Grooving African-Infused Jazz-Funk of Molly Tigre

Molly Tigre set out from Brooklyn to answer one tough question: What if the 70s vibes of the cult Ethiopiques series collided with Saharan desert rock and West African blues, but with no guitar to lead the melodic way?

Molly Tigre’s answer is audible in the quintet’s studio debut Molly Tigre(Very Special Recordings; digital and cassette release date: May 14, 2018). The sound is dark and slinky and mysteriously funky, brazenly open to the peculiar global sonic influences that wash over musicians on the streets of the outer boroughs. The premise sounds like some quirky and academic composition challenge, but the mashup has led to some seriously good music, tracks that explore and question without losing sight of the groove.

“I wanted to bring together some of the music and styles from Northern Mali and certain regions in Ethiopia, like Tigray,” the genesis of the band’s name, notes bassist and co-founder Ezra Gale. “I hear a lot of commonalities between them, like the pentatonic scales that are similar sounding. The fact that the rhythms they are using are based around groups of six. They subdivide that differently but there’s a thread that ties them together. When I started playing the music side by side, I thought it was fascinating and I wanted to mash them together.”

He tossed the idea around with sax player Mitch Marcus, longtime friend who has toured with the likes of Donovan and who was former bandmate in the West Coast Afrobeat/-pop group Aphrodesia. “We both realized we were big fans of that music, and not many musicians were doing anything with that at the time,” says Marcus. “That was what we wanted to try originally.”

Mixing two different sets of styles, timbres, and rhythms from opposite ends of a large continent wasn’t enough, however. Gale and Marcus wanted to shake up the approach to the instrumentation often found in many Afro-inspired, groove-oriented bands. “When we started thinking about these very different styles from two different regions, something else came up. I love the sound of no chords, when sax and bass are the only melody instruments,” Gale explains. “There’s a tradition of this in jazz, as people have done piano-less quartets. You get to imply harmonies without a guitar or piano spelling it out, which makes it open and free. It’s hard to do well and make it sound full.”

Molly Tigre went for it, nonetheless. Marcus and Gale recruited sax and flute player Chris Hiatt (Japonize Elephants), drummer Joey Abba (The Ramones), and percussionist Ibrahima Kolipe Camara (National Dance Company of Guinea, Kakande), with occasional blurts of Farfisa provided by a battered old organ one of their recording engineers dragged out of the trash. “We’ve had chordal players sit in with us live,” remarks Marcus, “but not having the chords spelled out adds this space to the songs that’s really nice.”

Instead of the guitar-guided sound common to both Mali and some Ethiopian groups, Gale and Marcus often look to percussion sounds and ideas for inspiration. “From the start, percussion was a really vital element in our writing,” muses Gale. “We’re not just writing a horn melody and a bass line and, okay, whatever the percussion wants to do over that is fine. I think of it as another line in the composition that’s integral to the performance and has a lot of the range of a piano or guitar.”

Percussion lines and rhythmic hooks sparked tracks like “Hello Bolly,” Marcus’s rollicking, rolling tribute to Bollywood soundtracks but with an Afro-diasporic twist. Gale was also moved by the groove to craft “Slush Fund,” a song he swore was a copycat of a Kenyan James Brown-esque track he would spin at a regular DJ gig. “When I went and listened again,” he laughs, “it was nothing like it, except it was in 6/8.”

Though the pieces on the album were inspired by a somewhat abstract premise, once they get down and dirty, it’s all about the music. The film-noir funk of “Lebanese Blond” pits two melodies against one another, leaving plenty of room for improvisation as they weave in and out. “Ethiofreaks” adds vibes to the mix, a tip of the hat to Ethiopian jazz master and vibe player Mulatu Astatke, for an original take on the Ethiopiques sound. Some tributes are even more direct: Astatke’s 70s gem “Yekermo Sew” keeps its serpentine, modal feel, but winds up with new harmonies. “We ended up accidently reharmonizing it,” says Marcus. “I handed out a chart to the band in a particular key; the alto and tenor sax are in different keys. Chris was playing the wrong thing, for lack of a better word, as he was supposed to transpose his line. But it sounded really good in fourths, so we ran with it.”

Running with that open space left where guitars might be, with that room to stretch out and improvise, means combining untold numbers of influences, the kind of thing New York musicians absorb just from walking down the block, past the bodega, the stoop or car stereo speakers, the singing neighbor, the subway violinist.

“Even if we wanted to make this a tribute to these styles, it would never come out that way. We live here, with so much swirling around,” says Gale. “We’re playing Africa-influenced music, but filtered through these lenses,” he adds, “and we love it because it’s original.”

“When you add improvisation into the mix,” Marcus adds, “you’re going to get something different out. “

Molly Tigre marries the rhythms and melodies of African music– especially the entrancing styles from Ethiopia and Mali- with a uniquely progressive and exploratory jazz sound. Featuring the compositions of saxophonist Mitch Marcus (Donovan, Dave Dreiwitz) and bassist Ezra Gale (Super Hi-Fi, Aphrodesia), the band also features saxophonist Chris Hiatt (Japonize

Elephants), drummer Joe Abba (Dave Douglas, The Ramones, Donny McCaslin) and percussionist Ibrahima Kolipe Camara (National Dance Company of Guinea, Kakande). The New York City based-quintet has been stewing since 2015, but their wide-ranging sound hasn't been captured on tape until now. Their debut album, recorded at Nine Lives Studio in Jersey City and at The Creamery in Brooklyn, features eight ear-popping tracks that range from the imaginary Bollywood-meets-West Africa mash-up "Hello Bolly" to the searing funk of "Lebanese Blond" to the outer space jazz of "Y Knot" to the winking homage to classic 70's Ethiopian groove, "Ethiofreaks," which even comes complete with guest vibraphone (from Tommy Mattioli) and Farfisa organ.

Memorably described as “Ethiopian funk drinks a progressive jazz cocktail at Miles Davis’ 1970’s loft party,” Molly Tigre’s polyrhythmic stew is music for the body and mind.

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