#love is the second 3rd tempo set

[sunburnacoustic]

Muse - Absolution (2003)

After years of waiting, loaded with trials and experimentation, apocalypse finally has a soundtrack. No, it’s not the angsty, heady crooning of yet another musician in love, it’s not the introspective Beatle having seen the Truth, it is not Johnny Rotten tearing down the Establishment (again), and it isn’t the self-destruction a James Hetfield would growl about.

Apocalypse as a genre has been claimed and made a natural home in, and by a seemingly unassuming young band hailing from the idyllic seaside Middle Of Nowhere, Teignmouth, Devonshire in England: alt-prog rockers Muse.

Muse’s 3rd studio album Absolution (released in 2003) picks up on the big sounds and potential the band had been showing throughout their second album and takes it twenty notches higher. The instrumentation is solid, the rhythms are tight, the guitars loud, the sound, bombastic in moments and delicate, vulnerable and beautiful in the next, the lyrical themes are exploratory, and the band themselves seem to find their feet and lay down the foundations of what even today makes up their signature ‘Musey’ sound.

Yet that little summary couldn’t begin to do justice to the grandiose and power this album packs. At it’s finest, Muse take you on a fifty-two minute trip out of the world (quite literally, as the titular track ‘Sing For Absolution’s music video features the band jetting off into outer space to escape the planet only to have their spaceship crash down into a burning, post-apocalyptical London), charming and haunting you with dark, sustained Rachmaninoff-esque piano breakdowns and blowing you away with larger-than-life drums, distorted guitar and bass working in perfect synch to build up a rising tide-wall of sound that may make it hard at times to remember that there are but three musicians in the recording rooms shaking up your world, as singer Matt Bellamy wails, sings and warbles on about facing death (‘Thoughts of a Dying Atheist’), running out of time (‘Time Is Running Out’), meeting up with the Devil himself (‘The Small Print’), and changing the world (‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’), amongst other things, with each song bearing as Muse-like a name as there comes.

And Matt Bellamy, contrasting this album with their previous efforts, said in an interview that Absolution “is more about us being personable, about us being normal people at home”. 

Well, normal Matt Bellamy at home, that is.

The album is introduced with a stomping, twenty second intro, the sound of boots getting closer and heavier, culminating in a single phrase: “Siege heil… marsche!” Twenty seconds in, the apocalyptical themes have already begun kicking in.

But before you have the time to breathe, the first song of the album, ‘Apocalypse Please’ begins, coming right at you with all of Bellamy’s pensiveness and despair, heavy ‘apocalyptical’ piano chords and drums crashing down on you as Matt declares that Earth needs a miracle and that “this is the end of the world”, layering the chorus as multiple Bellamy’s seal humanity’s fate.

The song’s mid/low tempo (around 80bpm) and loud vocals—almost cries of despair, really—and the closing bars with amplified, sustained single bass notes under forceful piano run-up chords, work quite well in conjuring up quite the image the band is looking to build and set the scene for the rest of the album to come.

Following this is one of the singles off the album, ‘Time Is Running Out’, starting with a low, almost choking yet flowing bassline with Bellamy almost breathing out lines like ‘I think I’m drowning/Asphyxiated/I want to break this spell that you created’, a song that starts out soft, restrained, then building up to the chorus as a tormented Bellamy tries to break free and realises that their time is running out, again employing the signature Muse technique of layering multiple guitars and vocals to build up a wall of sound, amplifying Matt’s thoughts, as does its twin later on the album, ‘Hysteria’.

On the titular track, ‘Sing for Absolution’, Bellamy seems to find a Muse of his own, turning inwards to a much more relaxed tempo. The band makes effective use of bassist Chris Wolstenholme’s staccato bass, offset and complemented by the almost dreamlike delayed, echoing guitars and pianos, to cook up an image of a lonely, reflective singer up alone in a room on the top floor of a house, sitting in the faint blue gleam of starlight, gazing out the window into space, thinking about his own life (‘Tiptoe to your room/A starlight in the gloom/I only dream of you/And you never knew’).

On ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, Matthew Bellamy takes the tried and tested ‘captor-and-captive-fall-in-love’ narrative, a darling of writers and musicians everywhere, and breathes new life into it by adding a new dimension of emotions to it, playing on the presumed captor-narrator’s guilt, confusion and sense of hopelessness (‘And she’ll scream and she’ll shout, and she’ll pray/And she had a name’; ‘We’ll love and we’ll hate and we’ll die/All to no avail…’; ‘This is the last time I’ll forget you… I wish I could’)

Muse use drummer Dominic Howard’s drums; pounding, loud and noticeable as a heartbeat in a quiet room; and Bellamy’s trembling vibratos to effectively paint the brutality and vulnerability; indeed, in the last chorus, behind the brute forces crashing on the guitars, bass and drums, one can hear the almost fragile, delicate piano arpeggios in the background, swallowed up by the guitars, almost hidden, protected, in a story that extends beyond the words.

Muse’s ability to switch from a light-hearted, fast-paced tone to a brooding, dark, haunting wail with effortless ease and grace stands out throughout the album and particularly on the sixth track on the album, ‘Falling Away With You’. The song, almost a hidden gem tucked away snugly in the middle of the album, is one of the few times the man who would go on to sing about conspiracy theories, the second law of thermodynamics and uprisings, turns inward and reflects on the people in his life and his relationships with them.

The song’s opening is slightly similar to Blackbird by the Beatles, with a quiet, reverberating guitar over a near-silent backdrop as Bellamy sings about his fears of forgetting a loved one and how relationships change, slowly building up and letting his bandmates catch up in a sort of relay-race, to a chorus that bursts to life with a screaming Matt falsetto-ing to a climax as the band fades to make space for Bellamy to calm down again, and the cycle continues.

It would be fair to say that the bass line drives the next track off the album, ‘Hysteria’. The song opens with a booming bass riff and all the straight faced extravagance that is both the band’s signature and legacy. A three-way harmonic melody solo rages on in the upper octaves that run in the background of the last chorus as a tormented Matthew tries to break free of his inner demons and Muse bring the song to a close in a manner worthy of a stadium closure.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Muse album without experimentation, and while Muse aren’t recording in zero gravity (for now), the band takes to string arrangements in search of new sounds and avenues on ‘Blackout’, dishing up a slow lament, complemented by fuzzy single note tremolos, and it only gets better on the next track, ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’, as Bellamy sounds off a call to arms to get up and change the world, and “use this chance to be heard”. The strings create a dystopian air, with a terse, fuzzy bass running underground and Wolstenholme’s backing vocals playing in the open skies as Bellamy commands his summoned army to action. His emotions seem to spill out of his fingers onto the piano in sudden gushes in a beautiful, flying, sustained solo that stands even today as a testament to Bellamy’s superior skills on the keys.

Absolution marks a sonic departure from Origin of Symmetry (2001) in that the production seems a lot more refined and cleaner. The band favours richer, fuller sounds: more gain-heavy guitars and bigger drums that would feel home in arena, as opposed to the “dirtier”, more grungey, piercing sounds used on their previous endeavours.

 However, there is tons for fans of the band to savour (in addition to a very musically accomplished record) on the track ‘The Small Print’. Bellamy returns to one of his pet themes as he takes on the role of the apathetic Devil (‘I’m a priest God never paid’), watching the world and its happenings with an omniscient eye (‘I hope you’ve seen the light/because no one really cares/They’re just pretending’), a nod back to Origin-era songs like ‘Hyper Music’. The band’s commendable execution, both with the lyrics as well as the rough, almost lo-fi edge in the production on this piece make it astonishingly powerful for a song with a niche theme and a simple guitar riff repeating over shifting root bass notes.

There really is never an uneventful moment on the fifty-two minute, thirteen-second record. The band throw familiarity to the winds on their next track, ‘Endlessly’, a song both very predictably Muse-like, yet something quite unlike anything the band had done before. Trading in the guitar for dampened, “muddy” synths, Muse give you the feeling of sitting underwater, drowned in the waterfalls of sound. Synth chords fall silently around you and ripple under the layers of arpeggiated synths that build up the wall of—excuse the pun—endless sound and lock you into Bellamy’s greyness as he promises a loved one the he’ll do anything for them but won’t leave them– until finally deciding that that moment never comes and calming down to a finish, internal turmoil now at rest.

Bellamy, mind wandering like a child, turns to more existential ideas soon after on ‘Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist’, a fast-paced, energetic and curiously happy-sounding piece, musically, for a song that is about an atheist at the end of their life, knowing that what lies ahead of them is nothingness (‘It scares the hell out of me/And the end is all I can see’) and seems to create an ironic contrast between the energy of the song and the narrator’s nervousness that works to the band’s credit.

Muse continue to shock and awe, haunt and bewitch you right up to the very last song on the album, ‘Ruled By Secrecy’. Lyrically perhaps the most quotidian song on the album, this track deals with the pressures in life and realising that you’ll never be on top. Lyrically and musically, it’s one of the darkest pieces in the band’s repertoire, beginning with low, quiet pianos. A ghostly, whispering Matt, sings with sustain and echo, recreating an almost surprisingly gothic, medieval church-like sound reminiscent of the Middle Ages, bringing to mind fear, uncertainty and mistrust (‘they’ll hide everywhere/no one knows who’s in control’), gathering force and building up to the signature piano crashing chord work that defines this album throughout. 

The song, and consequently the album, ends with a final touch to the cymbals, a subtle finish to an album with so much grandiose, its power and assertion leaving the listener reeling and the band flying high on yet another tasteful record successfully polished off.

Watch out Martians, Muse are coming.

------------------------------

A review for Absolution I wrote back in first year in 2018. Happy 20 years of Absolution! I'm happy to note that this time around, with the reissue, Fury will not be left off the album anymore, and my review will (happily) be out of date come November.

[jiminsass-istant]

Fri(end)s- observations and review

Acting-

As usual, Tae has done a great job at acting. But the actress's acting was just.. meh. Makes me really appreciate IU. And not just that, Tae's acting was fine but they literally had no chemistry. That happens when you don't take time to know your coworker. IU and Tae are great friends and great actors and hence their chemistry works so well. Tae is able to create chemistry with anyone as long as he knows them (as seen with bts members and in his acting works too), even when the other side isn't good at it. But this time, somehow zero chemistry.

Somebody pointed out that there was an 'intimacy director' at the MV set too. Seems like they directed intimacy for all couples except the main one.

Storyline-

From the teasers, I already knew the storyline was going to be fun and interesting. I think it's pretty obvious that the scenes and environment we witness throughout the MV was from Tae's POV.

At first, he perceived that everyone else was happy because they were in love and had partners. In his second life, he was in love (or so he thought) and somehow all his problems in life were non existent. And he stopped noticing other people. So this time we saw the actual state of people around him and no one was actually completely happy, because relationships take work and not all relationships are meant to be. But Tae doesn't know that yet, because he smiles smugly at the camera with the girl by his side.

(somebody teach this girl to act, i swear to god)

And then he dies for a second time, but this time, he is smiling. Because he has realised something finally.

In his 3rd life, he wakes up beside himself (selfcest lol). But basically it means self-love. The moral being that a relationship won't change your fate. And that people who depend on a relationship for all their happiness actually lack self-love.

This time he wakes up with a knowing smile. And you know what, he probably knows he won't die this time because he won't be distracted by any strong emotions of love or despair. He'll focus on himself and he'll notice the speeding car before crossing the road.

Audio-

Honestly, I expected that the song would be 100% english. We already know that Tae is heavily inspired by a lot of western artists and loves to sing in English. The song is good and has some new vocal flavours from him. And it does sound inspired from a couple of songs I've heard before. I can't remember which ones, but definitely inspired. I loved the outro and overall the song is pleasing to the ears.

Edit(+) I appreciate Tae for trying a new cadence and tempo. The words are fast paced in this song and for a non-English speaker, he did very well.

Lyrics-

He's not the writer. But he definitely knows what he's singing about. I'm seeing vminnies make endless connections and tbh, i like seeing theories lol. As a lore and as a story, it's interesting.

[styrmwb]

Favorite Final Fantasy Music (FFXI - Treasures of Aht Urhgan)

What do you do after you kill god? You go have an unrelated adventure! And then you get horribly abused by a terrible cat lady. (If Dawntrail really wants to be Aht Urhgan 2 they gotta have Naja in it) Anyways, this is the 3rd FFXI expansion! The whole thing takes place in a middle eastern type setting (or more like the fantastical arabian nights type) which I really liked cause I feel like you just don't see it often? At least in FF it isn't common at all. Also, unlike CoP, I think the soundtrack excels in both battle and world music, which I absolutely love.

5. Delve This is just one of those songs that is the epitome of the XI sound to me. The snare backing, the horns and strings, and also whatever instrument you'd like to call the main melody (it's like a weird wind horn or something but I like it). Not much else to say cause overall it's very similar to the base game Battle Theme but I like it for a lot of the same reasons.

4. Mercenaries' Delight Song That Plays As You Kill 1,000,000 Colibri. This is the other party group battle theme, but unlike Delve for dungeons, this is outdoors. I love the bass track sounding like a fun arcade-like hit, giving the song a unique sound with the rest of the instruments also being very classic XI. The flute trilling high at the top of the song is very addictive to listen to, and the fact that I'm not sick of it after several hours of grinding speaks volumes.

3. Rapid Onslaught -Assault- Speaking of addictive songs, this is absolutely one. I wish I was good at calling out what tempos are, cause I absolutely love this song's; it feels like constant triplets. The percussion and bass, as usual, is absolutely killer, then you throw in the main synth melody, and I could listen to this shit for hours. The piano in the middle is a beautiful little interlude, before going back into the synth again for a triumphant finale.

2. Bustle of the Capital Main city theme! I think a lot of the reason I love this song is because it reminds me of World of Warcraft, the drums being the same sound as the music in Zangarmarsh there. But this is perfect for where it takes place, sounding a lot different from the other city themes you've encountered so far, which makes sense! You're far away from all of them, engrossed in a different culture now. I love how on the second "loop" of the song it gets more upbeat, bringing in that bustle the title talks about, using more strange sounds for the melody that I can't quite describe cause I don't know words.

1. Eastward Bound... This is the song that plays when you're on the ship heading to Aht Urhgan. It sounds like... it sounds like you're riding an airplane. I get a picture in my mind of one of those really big fancy international planes with the 3 columns of seats and there's a tv for everyone and there's like two sets of stewards/stewardesses on each side, and then like the camera zooms out and shows the sky while the announcer for the commercial tells you to come fly with this specific brand of flight. Sorry, ramble, but hopefully you get what I'm saying??? Love the midi ass piano/guitar that starts the song, and the bwoo bwooooo sound used for the main instrument. This song ls literally perfect for international travel, which is what it's used for! So they killed it. Actually perfect sound, and I loved hearing this to start out the expansion.

Honorable mentions go to: Illusions in the Mist, Jeweled Boughs, Ululations from Beyond, and Run Chocobo Run!

[i-am-nickelbolt]

Bronze to Mythic: Khans of Tarkir, draft #1

I'll take a 6-3.

Pack 1, pick 1 the meme, the myth, the legend, Siege Rhinoceros. In other sets, getting married to the busted 3 color rare is a recipe for a trainwreck, but the fixing in Khans makes the exciting multicolored cards higher picks. The only other card in the pack I considered was Mystic Monastery. I'm considering Siege Rhino to basically be a black card, I will look to end up BW or BG and I'll probably have a white land at some point. I'm likely to pick lands pretty aggressively anyway.

Pick 2 Debilitating Injury over Bear's Companion and Hordeling Outburst. Red is a little far off what I'm doing right now, and Debilitating Injury is a premium tempo play in the Morph format. Pick 3 Bitter Revelation over Mardu Roughrider. Mardu Roughrider is good but there's a lot of action at 5 mana with morphs. I just don't prioritize this kind of thing. This is a disappointing 3rd pick out of a pretty bad pack. Pick 4 easy Blossoming Sands over nothing. Pick 5 Scoured Barrens over Bloodfell Caves and Burn Away. See? Siege Rhino mana easy. Pick 6 Rite of the Serpent over Goblinslide. Pick 7 Mardu Hordechief over Swiftwater Cliffs and Force Away. Pick 8 kind of a brick, Unyielding Krumar over Dragonscale Boon. I will say I got hooked up on the wheel: Rakshasa's Secret 9th, the Mardu Roughrider came back 11th, followed by Bloodfell Caves 12th. Perfect mana!

Aside on Rakshasa's Secret: this card is awesome. Mind Rot is awesome in this format. Khans is a little on the slow side and cards tend to sit in people's hands a little longer because they're flipping morphs. The mill 2 is also excellent with delve cards and Dutiful Return.

Pack 2, pick 1 Windswept Heath, which is fine ,but admittedly a bit of a rare draft. It's probably not better than Scoured Barrens, the other card I considered. The pack was good for others: Temur Charm and Jeskai Charm were kind of far from what I could do. Pick 2 Abzan Guide over Force Away, Feat of Resistance, and Bloodfell Caves. There was a sweet Jeskai deck I could have been on but I don't think there was ever a definitive way in. Pick 3 Blossoming Sands over Dutiful Return. Pick 4 Alabaster Kirin over Jeslai Student; the Kirin looks mopey but 2/3 vigilance blocks morph, Flying helps trigger raid, and 4 mana curves you from morph on 3 to unmorph on 5. Pick 5 Abzan Guide over Hooting Mandrills, Glacial Stalker, and Bring Low. Pick 6 pretty easy Feat of Resistance, I'm very interested in keeping my quality creatures alive. Pick 7 easy Dutiful Returned, with Jeslai Elder still there. That Jeskai deck is mocking me at this point. The rest of the pack was basically junk.

Pack 3, pick 1 Jungle Hollow over like 5 other medium playables. The Savage Knuckleblade kind of mocking me in the rare slot. Pick 2 Dead Drop, love to see it. This isn't the *best* Dead Drop deck, but it's pretty hard for it not to be good. And the ceiling is 1 mana Plague Wind. Pick 3 Alabaster Kirin. Pick 4 Abzan Guide. Pick 5 Mardu Skullhunter. Pick 6 Ponyback Brigade, which is exactly the kind of card I want to splash, and Bloodfell Caves came back from pick 1.

First loss, I just threw the game away by not reading/remembering my cards. Rush of Battle is a Sorcery, and I just chump attacked my team where every one of those blocks would have resulted in at least a trade. I still almost came back with Rush of Battle but they had Thousand Winds. It should have never gotten to that point but you know, busted rares do the thing.

Second loss, I'm still trying to figure out how... They were on the play, mulliganed to six, I hit them with Rakshasa's Secret *and* Dead Drop. But I never drew green mana to deploy Siege Rhino or Abzan Guide.

My sixth win was pretty epic. I went from getting to parity, but my opponent was sandbagging. I thought I couldn't win, then I sorta drew out of it to parity again. Then I saw the line to win but I needed my opponent to brick for a couple of turns, and at that point they had way more land in their deck than I, so it was just a probability game at that point where I was favored. It was a sick long game win.

Then I was rewarded with never drawing a black source and drawing 4 black cards in a row.

I love this set.

[fsbassist93]

Loathe wsg/ Static Dress, Omerta, and UnityTX. (Paledusk dropped off). Here is my review of the night.

1st Band, UnityTX: The singer comes out saying that his voice is a bit fried from the cold weather, but you could've fooled us as this opener got this night into fucking motion. From Dallas Texas, Unity set the tone for the night and did not disappoint. Hardcore vibes with a strong Nu-Metal influence (but not in a bad way by any means). 8 / 10 and only because I know the singer wasn't at 100%

2nd band, Omerta: Holy shit did this band throw down. I don't think there was even a second of reprieve, they laid down the law and got everyone violent (in a fun way 😎). At one point the singer switched places with the guitarist and that was killer. Definitely the heaviest band of the night and the one that brought the most energy and aggressiveness. They are also from Dallas Texas so I guess texas had some major representation. Oh, and Griffin Taylor (Corey Taylors son, singer of Vended) hopped on stage for the closer. Its crazy to have had that happen in such a small venue. 10 / 10

3rd band, Static Dress: Admittedly, the first couple songs didn't really vibe too much. These guys (along with Loathe) were easily the most accessible band of the night, woth more straightforward songs and steady tempos. After the 3rd song they started to get down with it and go harder as they went along and eventually won the crowd over. Solid set over all but sadly probably the weakest set, but not in a discrediting way tho. Still pretty damn good. 7 / 10 mostly because it just didnt vibe 100% of the time.

Headliner, Loathe: What can I say? A great band playing a great album front to back and sounding fucking amazing and clear? They were perfect! The softer songs of Is That Really You and Two Way Mirror sounded so fresh and intelligible, juxtaposed with the insane aggression of .. well.. Aggressive Evolution and New Faces In The Dark, shows an immensely talented band that weave and flow from singing you to sleep to the sound of nightmares. 10 / 10, as good as you would expect.

Walked away with a record and cd if I Let It In, as well as a photo book!

Venue review, the Sanctuary in Detroit sounded amazing and the layout worked in favor of the style of music presented. Sold out show and everyone was super chill, staff was welcoming. The only complaint is the area its located in is a bit shady so just be safe when walking to your car after a show.

This concert was a great send off to 2022 and I look forward to possibly seeing some of these bands again. Big love!!

[theheightofdishonor]

what are your top 5 kagehina moments?

1. Gotta be the second 3rd tempo set in the match against Nekoma. Mostly because I just wrote like a mini essay on it in my last ask.

2. The anime version of when they block the twins minus quick and the camera lingers on their hands. Tell me you ship it without telling me you ship it. I lost my mind when I first realized that scene wasn't in the manga

3. This is cheating but every instance of "I'm here". From the first one where it's a plea to which "as long as I'm here, you're invincible" is almost a response along with a promise to the beginning of the jackadlers match to the end of the jackadlers match when Kageyama says "you're here" first. It's such a loaded phrase for them.

4. "Gimme it here" "Fine" during the Kamomedai match. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a sucker for when Hinata leads Kageyama along during a match. This one just so happens to be most prominent in my head atm. If you caught me a month earlier, it would've been that one time Kageyama muses in his head about how he almost gave Hinata the ball without even thinking about it and how Hinata's such a dangerous decoy.

5. This one's hard but imma go with when Hinata falls during the Kamomedai match and Kageyama says "I'm going on ahead". It's his way of saying "you've gotta take take of yourself if you want to catch up" and "don't fall behind" and his face when he says it looks almost heartbroken

[satuguro]

tenshi | pt. 1

IN WHICH: your sudden return brings back tsukishima’s past emotions.

PAIRING(S): tsukishima kei x volleyball player! ukai! reader, possible kageyama tobio x volleyball player! ukai! reader

INSPIRED BY: sparks — coldplay, this side of paradise — coyote theory

WARNING(S): cursing, underaged drinking, angst, tsukki’s commitment issues

A/N: just to clarify, everyone’s in their 3rd year in this story! thank you all sm for the feedback <3

prologue, pt. 1, pt. 2

“this is the 17th voicemail i’ve sent.”

he was silent as he listened to you speak through the speaker of his phone. a shadow befell his face, hiding him from the guilt that was eating him up from the inside out.

“i’m sorry for not telling you about the probability of me leaving. i’m sorry i didn’t tell you sooner.”

his long fingers thrummed against his thigh as he sat with his head low. his glasses were seated next to him, lonely, perfectly clean, and unused. tsukishima didn’t need them for now.

“i miss you, you know. i miss you a lot,” your voice cracked, and tsukishima swallowed thickly at the sound. were you crying?

god, he missed you too. more than you’d ever know.

“i wish i was back home,” you spat, your words like venom against your tongue, “they’re terrible to me. i... i just wanna go home.” tsukishima listened to the sniffles that came from your end, struggling to keep his face as stoic as possible.

he wanted you to come home too.

tsukishima felt her intertwine her hand in his.

they weren’t together. to call it an official relationship would be a terrible mistake; frankly, tsukishima wasn’t sure what they were. tanaka, during one of his visits, called them “fuck buddies.”

sure. they were fuck buddies.

tsukishima removed his hand from her hold, instead sticking it in the pocket of his pants. “i need to go to practice,” he said bluntly, not even bothering to spare her another glance as he continued to walk.

why was she so touchy? they weren’t together— they both knew that.

he thought about her odd actions as he got ready. usually he avoided thinking about her unless they were meeting up later, but the unusual affection that she gave him worried him. was she getting feelings?

of course not. they had an agreement.

“what’re you thinking about?” yamaguchi asked as they walked to the gym. he was growing his hair out for third year, and his green hair was tied back into a neat half up half down that kept some of his hair back and away from his face. he walked alongside tsukishima, and could easily tell that he was acting iffy. there was a significantly less amount of snarky comments coming from him.

“suzuki’s just been weird,” tsukishima replied, and yamaguchi knew that was all he was willing to give him.

wordlessly, yamaguchi nodded. the familiar sound of squeaking shoes and yelling reached their ears as they neared the doors of the gym. the door was slightly open, and they coukd see the flashing silhouettes of their teammates inside.

it was a sudden yell that made yamaguchi perk up.

“tenshi, over here!”

tenshi.

“fly, tenshi!”

tsukishima leaned forward in his seat, eyes set on you as you readied yourself to jump. your arms swung behind you as your setter set the ball your way with a simple look of understanding.

his leg was bouncing anxiously as you jumped. tsukishima saw it all play out in front of him as if it was in slow motion.

your legs lifted you off of the ground, making you fly higher than anyone on the court. it was as if you were an angel with your white wings spread wide behind you.

your nickname was ‘tenshi,’ after all.

the ball was fast, almost too fast, he feared, but you were determined to make it. your hand raised and your eyes snapped to the one spot on the court that no one was blocking. one side of your lips twitched up to a smirk.

perfect.

your hand slammed down on the ball, and it cut across the court and hit the floor with a large snap. you landed on the ground, letting out a steady breath. you heard nothing but your thumping heart and the sound of your shoes hitting the floor. the last point of the last set.

and suddenly, the world came back.

“tenshi!” people screamed, and you were suddenly tackled by your team. you let out a laugh as you cheered with them, heart swelling in pride at the win.

you looked towards the bleachers, your beaming smile widening at the sight of the karasuno boys volleyball team cheering you on. your dad was screaming like a mad man, as was the rest of the team. but your eyes were fixated on one blonde, who was looking at you with the most genuine smile he had. tsukishima looked at you with pure pride as he clapped with the rest of the crowd, and your cheeks hurt from the grin you displayed.

tsukishima’s blood ran cold.

tenshi.

tsukishima briskly walked forward and pulled the door open. his eyes widened.

your legs were quick as you ran to the tempo your grandfather had taught you ever since you could walk.

your face matured. in a good way.

your hand was raised as the volleyball kageyama had set to you flew quickly towards you. your hair was flying mid air, and again, it was as if time slowed down. the sun hit your face perfectly, showcasing the familiar determined look you had every time you spiked. you looked ethereal; hell, tsukishima thought you didn’t even look real. you looked like an angel from a victorian painting.

but he’d never tell you that.

your hand slammed down onto the ball like a whip, and the ball zoomed down to the ground. hinta dove for it, only to miss it by centimeters. the ball bounced off of the floor and out of the court, and you let out a loud cheer as you raised both your hands up to kageyama.

tobio (who was smiling. since when did he smile?) paused for a second, keeping his hands up similarly to you did. it was you who hit his hands in a high-ten, and the setter winced at the strength you had.

you were back.

“y/n?!” yamaguchi asked, dumbfounded as he pinched himself for good measure. he couldn’t believe it.

“tadashi?” your head snapped his way, and tsukishima avoided your longing gaze as he simply turned away. you tried to ignore the guilt as you ran up to yamaguchi, practically tackling into a hug that he quickly reciprocated.

“you didn’t— since when— how?” yamaguchi stuttered as he hugged you tight, making you laugh into his chest as he gently lifted you off of your feet.

“since this morning!” you lifted your head to look up at the freckled boy. he placed you down softly, and you grinned as you took in the new look tadashi was sporting. “dude, you look good,” you commented, making the green haired boy blush.

“you think so?”

“i know so.” you ignored the protective look your dad gave you as you turned your attention to tsukishima, whose back was to you as he pretended to pay attention to hinata and kageyama’s arguing.

but you knew him better than that. of course you did— 3 years of friendship didn’t just go away.

“it’s good to see you, kei—“

“don’t call me that.” tsukishima barely glanced your way before he stalked over to one of the newer teammates, as if he wanted to talk to them. his teammate looked terrified that tsukishima even approached him.

you watched him walk away from you, teeth biting your bottom lip harshly. of course he was still mad— he had every right to be.

“y/n...” tadashi murmured, looking at your sorrowful face. he knew that tsukishima was pissed at you (he had been for two years), but he also knew that you leaving ruined him more than he wanted to admit.

“what is wrong with you?”

“there’s nothing wrong,” tsukishima replied, voice eerily calm as he held the cup of alcohol in his hand.

the party was playing out behind them; one of tanaka’s. now that he was a third year, he had been hosting more and more parties. not that anyone really minded; they were usually a lot of fun.

the booming bass was muffled behind them as they sat out in the curb. yamaguchi had dragged tsukishima’s buzzed ass out of the crowd the moment he scoffed at the sound of you over the facetime. nishinoya called you, and while you didn’t see him, tsukishima was practically livid at the sound of your voice.

“don’t— don’t bullshit me!” yamaguchi was practically fuming; tsukishima hadn’t seen him this angry since first year. he was staring at the blond with a deathly glare, but his eyes were wavering with worry. “how many times has she tried to contact you?”

tsukishima stayed silent. the silence was uncomfortable. “i don’t know,” he responded quietly.

“it’s a lot, isn’t it?” yamaguchi stared at him, and it was as if his eyes looked right through him. as if he knew everything. “do you know how hurt she is?”

silence.

tadashi blinked. “you didn’t get to tell her, huh?”

“tell her what?” kei’s eyes refused to meet his. tadashi knew. how did he know? maybe it was the alcohol that was making tsukishima such a bad liar. maybe it was the alcohol that was making him want to spill his guts out, both through words and vomit.

“that you loved her. you didn’t get to tell her.” tadashi’s voice was firm. confident. nothing like his usual timidness; he must’ve been really serious.

“so what if it is?” tsukishima growled, unable to control his emotions as he gripped his plastic cup harder. he didn’t even know how he was feeling.

“she left. it doesn’t matter anymore.”

┈┈ 𑁍༅ཾ༚ ┈┈

A/N: thank you for reading! any kind of feedback is greatly appreciated <3

TAGLIST: @grapesauze , @neijiwave , @whothefuckstolemykeds , @sugakuns , @lexysclubhouse , @bakibakini

prologue, pt. 1,  pt. 2

[xxred-riotxx]

Love Bug Denki Kaminari x Reader

This is my first fic (drabble? one shot?) that I’ve posted. It’s not very good but it came to me while driving so I had to write something up. CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP TO 18. THEY ARE 3RD YEARS AT UA. 

Denki Kaminari has been your best friend since you both started UA. You fell in love with the electric boy, but his heart had belonged to Jiro. That is until she broke up with him. 

Based off of the song “Love Bug” by The Jonas Brothers. I do NOT own the song. 

Just pure fluff. Some strong language (cough cough Bakugou). Slightly detailed kissing scene. 

Word Count: 994

“Y/n! Hurry up before we’re late!” Mina screamed from outside your dorm. UA’s school concert was today. Anyone could perform so you had decided to sign up a few days ago. “I’m coming, babes!” you yelled back, stuffing your phone in the back pocket of your shorts. On the long walk to the field you came across many students with various different instruments, taking everything to the stage to set up. “I should probably text Denki to make sure he’s still coming after what happened with Jiro…” you trailed off, eyes looking at your shoes. 

Y/n: are you still coming to the concert?? I know youre still heart broken but i need my best friend there. 

Denki: ill be there. Bakubro is taking his sweet ass time. 

Denki: dont tell him i said that. Id prefer not to have my head literally blown off

“Come on, Y/N. Let’s just walk around and wait for everyone to get here.” Mina grabbed your arm, dragging you towards the multiple food and game stands. “I bet I can beat you at the ladder climbing game!” Mina squealed while pointing straight ahead. “You’re so on!” “Let’s make this interesting. If I win, you have to tell Kaminari that you’ve been in love with him for years.” Your mouth dropped. “I- uh- what?” your crimson cheeks weren’t helping any. “Y/N, everyone knows. It’s so obvious. Anyways, I win- you get a boyfriend FINALLY. If you win, I’ll pour glitter in Bakugou’s shampoo.” Determined to win, your y/s/c hand shook her’s. 

3...2...1… GO! The ringing from the buzzer echoed in your head. You had to win this. There was no way you were going to ruin your friendship with Denki. Left, right, left, right. You concentrated as best as you could on the rope below you- attempting to balance your weight to avoid shifting to either side. “Y/N, don’t look now but the boys are watching!” Mina’s voice broke your concentration as you felt your body tumble and land in the air filled floor of the game. “FUCK” Eyes searching, the boys were no where to be seen. “Mina you fucking liar.” you grumbled. “All is fair in love and war baby!” Mina continued up the ladder and smacked the bell at the top. 

“I can’t believe you did that, Mina! There’s no way I can admit that I love-” “-Love who?” Your conversation was interrupted by a familiar voice, sending butterflies to your stomach. “...that I love Bakugou’s cooking.” You wanted to smack yourself. What kind of lame ass cover was that? “But I guess he knows now. Just don’t let it get to your head.” You barely muttered. “Uh guys? We should probably head towards the stage. We don’t want to miss anyone’s performance.” Kirishima’s deep voice broke your thoughts. “Let’s go!” Mina’s bubbly response was all Kaminari needed to hear as he placed his large hand on your lower back. 

Many performances passed. Some of your classmates’ musical talents shocked you. “Hey, Y/N. We’ll be right back.” Denki’s hot breath tickled your neck as he spoke into your ear. Quickly scurrying off, you and Mina were left alone to watch Jiro finish her song. A mellow sound of a guitar caught your attention. Shocked, your y/e/c eyes locked with Denki’s as he stood on stage with Kirishima and Bakugou. It took you a bit before you realized what was going on. You could see his mouth moving- singing- but your brain wasn’t processing what was happening. 

“Now I’m speechless. 

Over the edge, I’m just breathless.

I never thought that I’d catch this

Lovebug again.”

You couldn’t help but just stare at him. Golden honey eyes burned into your soul as the love of your life continued his song. 

“I can’t get your smile out of my mind. 

I think about your eyes all the time”

A simple wink was sent in your direction, followed by a cocky smile. 

“You’re beautiful, but you don’t even try.”

Embarrassed, you tried your best to cover your rosy cheeks. 

“I told you he liked you back!” Mina shrieked. 

“Hopeless, head over heels in the moment. 

I never thought that I’d get hit by this lovebug again.”

Bakugou’s loud bangs on the drum caused your breath to hitch as Kirishima and Denki both shredded on the guitar. The tempo of the song sped up the beating of your heart. 

You watched him drop to his knees, fingers sliding up and down the neck of his bass. Secretly you wished you weren’t in the front row. 

The beautiful harmony of your three favorite boys caused your eyes to rip away from Denki. 

“Now I’m speechless

Over the edge, I’m just breathless. 

I never thought that I’d catch this 

Lovebug again.

Now I’m hopeless,

Head over heels in the moment.

I never thought that I’d get hit

By this lovebug again.”

Denki’s voice trailed off. Sweat dripped down his beautiful face. “Y/N. Come here.” It was like your legs had a mind of their own as you sauntered to the stage. Hastily, Denki jumped down from the stage. Within what seemed to be a second, his calloused hands grabbed your waist and pulled you into his chest. Your eyes locked, but before you could speak you were met with his plush lips crashing into your’s. The sensation was like nothing you had ever felt before. Your arms snaked around his neck, pressing your bodies closer than you thought possible. His tongue swiped across your bottom lip, begging for entrance. As soon as you opened your mouth, Bakugou’s loud voice belted out “OI GET A ROOM DUMBASS.” Removing one hand from your waist, Denki’s bright smile mesmerized you. “I love you.” You both said simultaneously, catching the other off guard. Words no longer needed to be said as Denki pulled you into his chest, vowing to himself to never let you go. 

[sakusas-personal-hole]

HIII SORRY FOR THAT ACCIDENTAL POST AHH, i am absolutely in LOVE “and they were roommates”

i just saw your prompt post and can i request soft dom sakusa 46,66,67 ?

SORRY IF ITS TOO MANY HAHA JUST IGNORE MY HORNY ASS 😭

Omg, thank you so much!! There is no such thing as too much when it comes to Omi heheh

46: “I haven’t even touched you and you’re already this wet.”

66: “I think thats the first time i’ve heard you moan…it was like a fucking melody.”

67: “I really want to kiss you right now.”

You stood at the front door of your apartment, looking up at Sakusa. Your 3rd date went extremely well, and neither of you were ready to end the night just yet.

“Sakusa-kun, would you like to come in? We can have some drinks?” You asked timidly, afraid of rejection. 

Sakusa gave you a soft smile and nodded, eager to continue a wonderful night with you. You unlocked the door and welcomed him in, offering him a pair of house slippers as you both removed your shoes at the entrance. You motioned for him to sit on the couch while you poured some wine into glasses for the both of you. 

The night consisted of you both talking about anything and everything, from past childhood pets to future plans, the conversation never went dry. After 2 and a half bottles of wine, the friendly distance you two kept between yourselves was gone. Your legs were draped over his own, and your head rested on his shoulder as you two simply enjoyed each other's company. You looked up at him to see him staring at you.

“I really want to kiss you right now.” 

That was all Sakusa said before you brought your lips to meet his. He quickly kissed you back and brought his hand up to grab your face. You melted into his touch. He tasted like the wine, bitter with notes of sweetness, and you could get intoxicated from it. You grew addicted to it, wanting more from him. You grabbed his thigh and he broke away from the kiss, looking at you with his blown out pupils.

“Do you want to take this further?”

You nodded eagerly and jumped up from the couch, dragging him to your bedroom. Your lips were attached to his once again, and you were both removing clothes off yourselves. The scene could only be described as pure desperation for one another. You were both finally down to your underwear before you separated and admired one another. You looked at Sakusa, his toned and broad body made yours seem so small. He simply pushed you down onto the bed and made his way down to your panties, looking up to make sure he had the okay to take them off. Sliding them down your legs, you felt the cool air rush against your already wet pussy.

“I haven’t even touched you and you’re already this wet,” Sakusa said with a smirk. You hid your face in your hands, but you had no time to be shy when you felt Sakusa’s long, thick finger slide in suddenly. You gasped as your back arched off the bed, desperately trying to feel more. He moved it around slowly, watching your reaction. When he was content with them, he added another. You squeezed around his fingers, letting out small gasps and quiet pants as he curled them inside you.

“Please, Sakusa-kun, I need more,” you let out, needing to feel him more.

“Call me Kiyoomi,” he said as he quickly pulled down his underwear, revealing his impressive length. His cock stood proudly against his stomach as he started to unwrap a condom. After putting it on, he positioned himself in front of your entrance, pushing in slightly, only allowing the tip in. He continued teasing you like this, waiting for you to get frustrated. 

“P-please, Kiyoomi, I want you,” you said as you looked up to a smirking Sakusa.

“I thought you’d never ask,” he said as he completely bottomed out. You cried out his name, the slight burn being overpowered by the pleasurable stretch you felt. Sakusa gave you a minute before he started moving, setting a decent pace. He brought your legs onto his shoulders, making you feel even tighter as he continued to pound into you. You continued to pant quietly, too embarrassed to fully moan. He noticed this. He let one of your legs down and he put his thumb into your mouth. You instinctively began licking and sucking, but only for a second before he removed it and brought it down to your clit. You gasped as he pressed down and rubbed slow circles over your sensitive bud, finally coaxing a loud moan from you.

He suddenly stopped his movements and looked down at you. “I think that was the first I heard you moan, it was like a fucking melody,” he said, pure lust in the tone of his deep voice. Before you had a chance to say anything, he went straight back to it, his tempo much faster than before.

He was determined to get many more melodies from you tonight.

[t-underneaththeradardancing]

man that was sick - sam said as we walk offstage  - tom wanted to shower praise - i answered it was fucking intense - i need a friend el vy  - liam has heard the original once and went over the chords just b4 and one time we jammed starting  with  the chords - so by t ‘s usual standard a well rehearsed song  lol  - then crash and burn which i dont even know wat happen  - imma lissen to the vid - fuck its not bad  - sounds fucking like we rehearsed and meant to segue into a song of liams i vaguely think i have heard before - a new one prolly  - so hear wat rilly happen  - we start out fine - by we i me t  - liam is almost always spot on pro from the second he lets out a note - he process key chord tempo mood quick  - tho forcefully enuff to change  - certainly influence  - anywaze - t got lost ffs theres 3 fukken chords - oh the words  - anyway nobody in the audience had a clue how lost t was  - my fingers werent lost at all - i didnt even think not to trust and my guitar - never questioned the tuning fretboard electronics - sometimes onstage madrone monitor i cant really hear myself - i assumed i was mostly - and i thrashed out a bit - i thot i was lost or flailing but it dont sound it  - 3rd song - deep space 9 it totally - i ask for a key or chord B minor - i assume chord then wonder then say lissen and play - then i hear - well fuckked that up - look over liam at a failing loop pedalboard silence - i throw out a buncha  chords liam twiddles dials plays and viola sound and nobody know - then he pulls out some srs sick tones - and loops and i find a groove and join and fuck i dont know who playing wat except the efx  - then he sing like this was a long as fuck intro -  we end cuz i give him the look like idk how fukken long we played but we way the fuck over time and they always make time for us -  and clear the stage quick cuz we set up and tear down like mfin pros  - 1 of the reasons we get extra time often - and all slots r filled and running slightly late - and tom offers liam his own set at the end if he wants - we cool - we played did our thing - so casually made magic we didnt even know til after - tbh - i thot i prolly mostly sucked  w some good moments but all real as fuck and then some  - knew i wuz takin chances - starting w 1st time performing need a friend   -  i gave everything i had  and didnt even realize the energy exchanges - the communication - the connection - weaving in and out of so many trance states and levels  - feeling afar  - the ones who have sent the energy of thought my way  esp those vibes about performing - not to mention sent well wishes  - they in my bones now sustain me thru anything performance wise   

it changes the performance like quantum physics - recording it  - knowing its being recorded - that u can hear the bad note/s endlessly  - but in the right trance space - nothing external matters cuz it never even enters consciousness - there is only the note being played at that moment and the next perfect note

it happens   - cant plan it explain force it  - no it wuz not remotely a “perfect” performance  - it was quirky and a bit sloppy and messy  - ffs  - if u dont know and to a certain extent love my sloppy quirky  - well u prolly aint red this far lol 

when i can i will post the vids - but  alltogether now with feeling  - would 3 part harmony b too much ...

TEK HATEZ T 

laterz

love 

(liam will post the vids if t fail )

[mirandagoing4baroque]

Field of Streams: Ariodante, in Concert, While Making Lasagna

The English Concert was supposed to perform Rodelinda in concert at Carnegie Hall on May 3rd 2020. Obviously they did not. In some ways I am lucky--if the Met hadn’t done Agrippina I might have made plans come to New York to see Rodelinda instead. It wouldn’t be unprecedented. In fact, in 2014, I finally got to call in an IOU over a decade old. As I mentioned on this blog, when I was in kindergarten and first heard Alcina, I managed to get my father to promise to take me to see Alcina live whenever it came to the east coast. And more than twenty years later we finally got to see the English Concert perform it in concert in Carnegie Hall. In the intervening years there was a debate about whether Toronto counted as the east coast, but my father insisted that he had only meant the east coast of the United States. And when the English Concert brought Ariodante on tour in 2017 they were kind enough to take the show to the Kennedy Center which was considerably more convenient.

As a replacement for the aforementioned cancelled Rodelinda concert, they streamed a recording of the Ariodante in Concert recorded at and live streamed from Carnegie Hall in 2017. As I mentioned above, I was lucky enough to see this concert at the Kennedy Center when it was touring, and I also watched the stream at the time, and then I rewatched it when it was streamed again this past weekend (twice, I regret nothing). So I am, shall we say, intimately familiar with this production.

Opera in concert is an interesting phenomena. I’ve seen three operas in concert (Alcina, Ariodante, Zelmira) and a few others that were only ‘semi-staged’ (Don Giovanni 2x, Radamisto, Giulio Cesare at Boston Baroque). Well, Miranda, you say, “the monkey paw has curled, and you got what you wished for in the Acis and Galatea review, an opera stripped of any ‘razzle dazzle’ or distractions. So, can the emotional drama stand alone?” On this subject I cannot speak for anyone other than myself but I believe it can and it does. I am sure that there are those for whom the grand sets and costumes are an integral part of the experience, and that is a legitimate position to take, but not one to which I ascribe.

However, especially in these times, watching operas in concert (stay tuned for my review of the Boston Baroque Agrippina stream) makes me think about what the bare essentials of opera are. The sets and costumes are fun, sure, and all other things being equal, I would rather have sets and costumes and the full spectacle. And they can cover a multitude of sins. It is far more difficult to create an entertaining production when it is just the orchestra, the singers, and an empty stage. But this production is, to me, as moving as some fully staged productions I’ve seen. So what is the immutable core of these operas? What is it that I am searching for when I am “Going for Baroque?”

The value I find in opera is as an emotional touchstone. This is not a novel concept, and I am not the first, or even the thousandth to think it. Why it is Baroque Opera for me and Jazz or R&B for you, I cannot say,* but when I hear this music performed well my heart (or my soul, or my grey matter, or whatever the thing is that is that feels the feels) stirs in response. So what I am looking for when I am going to an opera is not a spectacle. I am looking for a conflict that put the characters through a variety of feelings, music that is performed with care in a baroque style, and singers and musicians who will sing or play with pathos, so I can have the transcendental experience of sharing an emotional response with a room of strangers, and most importantly, with my father. We have been watching many of the same streams, and sharing our thoughts over the telephone but it’s not the same as sitting next to him in a hushed auditorium and seeing, out of the corner of my eye, a small small creep across his face as the horns come in because he knows they are my favorite. I am counting down the days until we can share this again.

But enough philosophizing. Let’s review the stream. So we know the standard, how did this production measure up? Well, I watched it four times, so that’s a hint. In fact as to music performed in the Baroque style, this performance could be considered a gold standard (of course along with the Glyndebourne Giulio Cesare). I am such a sucker for period instruments. To my ear the difference between Baroque Opera performed with and without period instruments is the difference between your average red wine vinegar, and an expensive aged balsamic. The red wine vinegar is fine, but the aged balsamic has a far more interesting, layered, intense flavor. This is especially true with respect to brass, where the natural horn is basically a completely different instrument from the french horn. The English Concert has never once disappointed me. Harry Bicket is always a master of the correct tempo, but in this concert, the flowing dance rhythms that undergird the arias really shone.

So next up we have a drama that puts the characters through a variety of feelings. If you need a refresher on the plot of Ariodante, I covered it earlier here (and if you’re too lazy to click the link, think the Hero/Claudius plot from Much Ado About Nothing), but there is no debating that it certainly takes the characters on a roller coaster of emotional situations. The stellar cast dug deeply into the libretto and squeezed every drop of feeling from Handel’s brilliant arias. Ariodante was composed when Handel was at the peak of his operatic abilities and it contains some of his most sublime music. 

Mirroring the tasteful stylings of the orchestra the cast had subtle but effective ornamentations in the da capo sections that elevated the theme but did not obscure it (no mean feat in such arias as “Dopo Notte”).  The King of Scotland was played by Matthew Brook, who I do not believe I had seen before and nor have I seen him since. I really enjoyed his performance and he was an especially capable actor. He leaned into the paternal aspects of the role, and I found his emotional arc quite moving. David Portillo was a wonderful Lurcanio, and I still hope to see him again in something (hint, hint, DC directors). I particularly enjoyed his “Tu Vivi.”  In this aria Lurcanio tries to dissuade his brother Ariodante from choosing suicide after seeing a woman they believe (incorrectly) to be Ginevra let a man into her rooms. It is often sung in a rage, which allows for blistering speed and impressive displays of vocal prowess, but in David Portillo’s interpretation, it was a desperate plea to save his brother's life. By toning the aria down a notch, he accessed some very interesting interpersonal and emotional drama that added novel layers to a familiar aria.

This was my first time hearing Sonia Prina live, but I had fallen in love with her voice on many Baroque recordings. She has a wonderful vibrancy and fluidity  in her lower register, which is particularly critical for women playing Polinesso, in my opinion. Sometimes they can sound a little stilted in the low runs, but she had full power and flexibility. I also appreciated her aesthetic. The punk rock bad guy Polinesso she portrayed was believable as a love interest for Dalinda, and as a villain. It is not her fault that Polinesso’s arias are all a little one note (think Iago’s extensive monologues in Othello).

I absolutely adored Mary Bevan’s Dalinda. I hadn’t heard her prior to this concert, and I eagerly await my next opportunity (still waiting......). She was believable as a young woman who fell in love with the wrong manipulative man and made a mistake. I loved her portrayal of the rising horror throughout the second half as she realized what was going on. I always love "Neghittosi, or voi che fate?", the aria where she calls on the heavens to strike down the man who wronged her, but I found her interpretation to be a particularly affecting vision of female empowerment and rejecting the notion that she was culpable, and laying the blame squarely at the feet of Polinesso, where it belongs.

This was also my introduction to Christiane Karg, who was a vocal standout as Ginevra. I would have liked a little more emotion from her, but, as I’ve acknowledged above, I like my Handel drama cranked to eleven, so that may just be personal preference. Regardless of the acting, her singing was note-perfect and I have no real complaints.

Which brings us at last to Joyce DiDonato. Her performance in this production is one of my most treasured concert memories, and the kind of magic you are just grateful to bear witness to. Any performance of “Scherza Infida” is a miracle of acting and vocal stamina. As I said in my last review of Ariodante, the song is 12 minutes long, and contains four lines of distinct lyrics. To hold the audience’s attention with no prancing dancers in nude bodysuits, with only your voice and the music--that is a gift. But you can google reviews of this production and read critics who know far more about this than I do raving about her “Scherza Infida” and her “Dopo Notte.” I want to talk about the redheaded stepchild of Ariodante’s third act arias “"Cieca notte." This is the moment when Ariodante learns that he was fooled--that he was betrayed by his beloved, that in fact he has betrayed her. (Apparently I have a thing for arias in which Handelian heros realize they have been fooled, see also, “Mi Lusinga” from Alcina) To watch her sing this aria, and to see the distinct waves of realization rolling across Ariodante’s soul as the aria progresses is to watch a master at work. I will at some point write up my magnum opus on how, when properly performed, da capo arias should replicate the structure of the Hegelian Dialectic, but that is a problem for another day.

So there it is, how you can strip away all but the absolute essential bits from an opera and still have a dynamic, dramatic, engrossing evening (even when you’ve seen the thing three times already). Because for me, I got what I needed out of it. I felt that resonance in my soul. I found a little comfort in these times. It’s no replacement for live opera, but it soothed a bit my parched throat. Okay, I lied, I do have a few things to say about “Dopo Notte.” Ever since I watched this stream, I’ve been listening to “Dopo Notte,” the bravura aria Ariodante sings at the end of the show, rejoicing in his reunion with Genevra, almost every day, because it is the tonic I need during these times (you can listen here if you think it might be the tonic your soul needs too). It is a promise I make to myself; permission to let myself hope. A promise that the sun will shine again, that these dark and stormy waters will not drag us under, and that someday I will sit next to my father in a dark opera house, and we will once again share in the experience of Handel’s glorious music.

“After a dark night, the sun shines in the heavens and fills the world with joy...”

*It was definitely the brainwashing. 

[the-many-worlds-traveler]

In Good Company- Chapter 1

Summary: Virgil Harris had no real aspirations for a professional ballet career. After years of convincing himself there was no company who would accept him, a certain director made him an offer.

CW: Panic Attacks, cursing, food mention, mild drunken Virgil

Author’s note: Finally posting this here! The ballet au no one asked for. There is a glossary of terms and recommended reference videos at the end because I am a massive dance nerd and I adore teaching this subject (sorry). Enjoy!

-----------------------------

Act 1- Prologue

Lausanne, Switzerland

Prix de Lausanne Competition Finals

   Virgil Harris was never one for overstatement. Grand displays, flourish, pop, nothing. He prefers to keep it simple. Whether it be his words, if he chooses to speak at all, or his movement. Why spend thirty seconds exerting unnecessary energy when a simple gesture would suffice. A single word. A look. The sooner it’s done, the better.

Or rather, the sooner it’s done, the sooner he can retreat to the sidelines and pretend he were anywhere else.

Virgil, he likes to remind people, does not like being put on display. Practice was one thing, enclosed in a private studio, surrounded by walls, a door that closed, being around people he was at least passingly familiar with. In the studio he was safe. More importantly, his mind was quiet.

But there he was, moments to his entrance, music swelling, lights blaring and all he wanted was to dissolve into the heavy black fabric of the wings. Or perhaps climb the rope riggings up to the catwalks to make his stealthy escape. But no, his coach was there, hand firmly clasped to Virgil’s shoulder keeping him trapped in place until his turn.

This was not his studio or even a familiar theater. Instead he was thousands of miles from home, forced to perform in front of people who didn’t know him and didn’t care to. Those people out there were there for one purpose and one purpose alone.

To judge him.

The dancer on stage, a lovely, languid young woman in a dazzling white tutu, gossamer fabric floating from her arms, flitted playfully across the stage in the final moments of her solo, a selection from the 3rd act of La Bayadere, Kingdom of the Shades. The most minuscule of steps on the tips of her pointe shoes carried her effortlessly across the stage before bounding into a seamless grande jete leap, cutting through the air. The landing was perfect, utterly silent, taking a knee as if gravity were at her control allowing her to meet the ground like it were nothing at all.

She rose to her feet, applause carrying her to center stage. The young dancer took a deep bow, pointed foot trailing behind her, one hand to her heart, the other gesturing the audience and the judges.

Alright, idiot. Don’t fuck this up. Don’t do it. Don’t go out there. You’ll fuck it up. You’ll fall. You’ll be a-

“Virgil.”

He jerked his head away from the stage and looked to his teacher and coach, Louis Adley. Head buzzing, thoughts spiraling. “Virgil, you’re up,” Adley whispered, planting both hands on his student’s shoulders, eyeing him intently. “Ignore the voices. Breathe. You’ll be fine, kid.”

Virgil gave a ghost of a nod and turned to step to the edge of the wings, steeling himself for what was to come.

The applause died to a murmur, the sound of people shifting in their seats rattled in Virgil’s head, clashing with the god-awful buzzing. He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes and stepped into the light.

His selection of solo variation was an odd one, not commonly chosen for competition as it lacked the usual pomp masculine athleticism, but it suited Virgil and that was probably why it took him all the way to finals.

The Poet’s Dance from Les Sylphides, a ballet made famous by Ana Pavlova when it premiered in 1909. It had only two characters, white ethereal woman called Sylphs and the Poet. It was a simple ballet that relied on emotion and atmosphere over plot and decadence.

This was right up Virgil’s alley. Moody, dark, simple. It was an easy choice for him to make when the choice to compete in the first place clearly wasn’t his to make.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of the Prix stage was hardly befitting. Stark bright lighting, a plain brackdrop, prerecorded music set to competition-standard tempo. It felt cold under the blazing lights over his head, like an operating theater. Except he was the one being dissected. Every movement of the arms, every slight shift of his foot along the floor was recorded and boiled down to hard numbers.

Virgil caught the eye of his coach in the wings, an eager smile on his face urging him on. The Poet’s Dance asked for a certain feminine grace as he skimmed the floor with luscious turns and pillowy jumps. When he felt his best, Virgil felt like he was floating.

The buzzing in his head quieted and the thoughts melted away with the soothing lilt of Chopin’s score. For a moment, just one quick moment, he forgot where he was and what was at stake. Scholarships, job offers, notoriety on an international level. In that moment, none of that mattered.

But then his eyes caught the judges table, lit by small lamps. Their eyes watched closely, glancing down quickly to jot notes on stacks of cards, each with a competitor’s name and profile. It all came screaming back, the lights, the audience, the buzzing, the damned thoughts. He pushed through, forcing himself to refocus.

Hold on, dammit. So fucking close.

His foot slipped slightly under his weight, causing what Adley later described as the smallest of hiccups in what was otherwise a perfect performance.

The music came to an end and his chest hitched in a mix of relief and panic. He swallowed, stepped to center stage and took a bow before running into the wing, remaining in character until he was far enough backstage that he could no longer see the lights.

Virgil came to a dead stop at the door and leaned his back into the frame.

Breathe. Breathe. It’s over. You fucked up like you knew you would, but you made it. 

A low, choked laugh escaped his parched throat at the thought. He pitched forward, bracing his hands against his knees, willing his breath to catch up.

It wasn’t a difficult variation, so why in the hell was he so winded.

Because you’re weak.

He felt a hand rest on his back. Virgil didn’t realize his eyes had been screwed shut so tight so when he finally opened them he saw spots. But beyond that and the sting of sweat in his eyes he saw Adley, crouched down and gazing at him with a soft smile.

“You did good, kid,” his coach assured. “Those dancers out there are impressive, but you, Virgil? You’re a goddammed artist. A regular Baryshnikov.”

Virgil stood upright and smirked. “Man, what a cheesy line. Can we get the hell out of here now?” His coach righted himself and flung an arm around his student’s shoulders, turning them down to the holding rooms. “Yeah, kid. Let’s get you cleaned up. But you’re not allowed to leave until after the awards ceremony.” Virgil gave a petulant, guttural moan and Adley only sighed, patting his young charge on the cheek before giving him a light shove down the hall.

***********

The awards ceremony was always something Virgil actively tried to miss, either by faking some sudden stomach ache or by “getting lost on the way to the bathroom”. Someone always saw through his crap, tidied his hair, and all but pushed him onstage with the rest. The endless talking, the thanking of sponsors, the judges, the audience, the tired words of “how impressed they were by what was likely the most impressive showing of young talent in competition history”. He had heard it all before and he knew exactly why anyone was standing up there waiting through it all. Those cards in the Master of Ceremonies’ hands held the fates of a select few dancers. They were their tickets to the professional world.

Virgil didn’t care about all that. All he wanted was to get out of that sweaty costume, take a shower and sleep for a decade or two. He knew he didn’t belong with any company. No director in their right mind would want such a broody, anxious mess. Regardless, he stood there all the same, poised and “calm” with nineteen other young hopefuls all shaking from the raw, exhausted nerves. The gossamer girl from before his solo nearly jumped out of her skin when the first award was called.

Don’t get your hopes up, Virge. Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your-

**********

“The Audience Choice Award! That’s great!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t even place.”

Adley, wearing a crisp navy suit, sighed and pushed a flute of champagne in Virgil’s hand. “Look, you’re walking out of this with prize money and the adoration of the audience. What more could you want?”

“To go home,” Virgil said pointedly, scanning the room full of competitors and shoulder-rubbers. The gala. Almost worse than the awards ceremony. He took a healthy swig of his champagne, willing his chest to loosen up. Here’s hoping enough free drink will do it for him. At 18 it was more than acceptable to drink in times of celebration in Europe.

When in Rome, he thought, swiping another glass from a waiter passing by.

His focus drifted from person to person, catching pieces of stilted conversations. So many people speaking just as many languages- how anyone could carry on anything more than a simple chat was beyond him.

Virgil leaned into a table, not caring if his brand new black suit got wrinkles. He fiddled with the purple faux silk pocket square at this chest and took another gulp out of his glass. He watched Adley talk up a judge from the panel over a tray of cheese cubes. He just couldn’t grasp the concept of small talk. He would pull out his phone, but his parents wouldn’t shell out for an international plan, so stare into space it was. His coach would tire out eventually and walk him back to the hotel. He would have gone back himself if that asshole Adley hadn’t stolen his hotel key out of his pocket when he was changing clothes only to promise to return it at the end of the night. The man had him trapped. Crafty fucker.

He respected his coach. Hell, he even liked him. But damn it all, he was a pain in the ass.

Virgil ran his fingers through his bangs, ensuring his shield was at full strength. No one talks to the emo kids. He patted his back pocket, feeling for his iPod. Crap. That was gone, too. Virgil resolved to dip Adley’s hand in a bowl of warm water after he went to sleep tonight.

“This seat taken?”

Virgil snapped out of his reverie to find a man no older than thirty smiling at him, gesturing to the empty seat next to him. “No man, all yours,” he shrugged. But the man didn’t sit. He just stood there with a smirk, obviously waiting for Virgil to strike up a conversation.

You’re gonna be here a while, buddy. Better keep walking.

The man chuckled lightly and stuck out his hand. “Thomas Sanders. I’m with the Civic Ballet of Florida. You must be Virgil Harris.”

Virgil tamped down the on-coming sigh and the urge to walk away. Adley reminded him to at least be cordial, because “you never know who you could meet at these things.”

“Yeah? Who would want to meet me?” Virgil rebutted.

“Your future, Virgil, your future!” God, this man was a walking cheese fest.

He eyed Sanders from beneath his bangs and let his vision fall to his waiting hand. Fine. He took it and gave one steady shake before retreating a half step back, trying not to bump into the table behind him. “Nice to meet you Thomas Sanders of the Civic Ballet of Florida.” He looked over Thomas’ shoulder to see Adley watching him with a grin, giving him a thumbs up.

“So, uh,” Virgil started, trying to think of what to say next, “Are you a dancer with them? You seem a little old to be competing.” Thomas quirked an eyebrow.

Shitshitshitshit. Adley, his parents, and countless other teachers had chided Virgil for his sharp tongue. It had gotten him into hot water enough to try and keep it quiet, but it was his last-ditch defense mechanism that always seemed to kick in when someone just refused to get a clue and leave him alone.

He was shaken out of his panic by laughter. Thomas was nearly doubled over one moment and tossing his torso back the next with a laugh that can only be characterized as charismatic and… cartoonish? “Oooooh boy, I knew I liked you. No, I’m afraid I’m not a dancer with the company”. He took a steadying breath, righted himself, and looked Virgil in the eye, the effects of his laughter still present in his features. Everything about him was light and easy.

So, who is this guy?

“Anyway, I’ve come to make you an offer. As the artistic director, I’m duty-bound to seek out new talent even if it means trekking far and wide to find it!”, he said, gesturing widely around the room with gusto.

Hold on. Director? ARTISTIC DIRECTOR?!

The buzzing came back with brute force, pressure in his skull and chest building rapidly. He just insulted the artistic fucking director. To his face! His vision swam and the feeling in his fingers was nearly gone. He needed to sit. No, he needed to get the hell out of there. Find Adley, get his key, hide in his bed until kingdom come. Where was Adley? He scanned the room and couldn’t spot him. There was no time for this.

Time to cut and run, Virge.

He felt a hand resting softly on his shoulder and expected to see Adley there. Instead he saw Thomas, smile soft, brows slightly upturned, leaning down a bit to meet his eyes. “You alright there? You look like you’re going to be ill. Too much champagne?” Thomas guided Virgil to the chair the director never took and stole another from a nearby table, placing himself next to the young dancer.

“Can I grab you water? Are you here with anyone?” Virgil shook his head and attempted to level his breathing. He just couldn’t understand why this man was being to kind to him after being so clearly insulted by some snot-nosed kid. He could feel Thomas’ gaze on him but couldn’t will himself to look up.

He could hear the chair next to him creak with the shifting weight. Peeking out from under his hair he saw the man leaning back watching the crowd.

“I always hated these competitions. It’s always about the wow-factor, the tricks. They talk about artistry, but no one ever looks natural or even happy for that matter. No one really wants to be up there. Heh, no one really wants to be here” Thomas took a steady swig from his glass and set it on the table. “Honestly, I only ever competed because my teachers expected me to. And I needed the scholarship money to keep training. It’s exhausting. So, yeah,” he laughed, “I guess I am too old to compete. Just listen to me! I sound like an old man.”

A comfortable silence settled over them. Why this was comfortable he couldn’t pin-point. What was it about this guy?

When the feeling finally returned to his fingertips he sat up and watched the ebb and flow of the ballroom. “Yeah,” he started, “I only came to this because my instructor wanted me to. I’m... I’m graduating this spring and I guess he just wants me to have a fighting chance.”

“He sounds like a good teacher.”

Virgil smiled and rolled his eyes, finally spotting Adley in the crowd. “I guess he is. He’s good to me anyway.”

Thomas turned in his seat to face Virgil, features taking on a more serious tone. “That much is clear. He seems to have trained you well. Though,” he began, “what I saw up there wasn’t a dancer showing off every trick he’s got in one shot. I didn’t see a frantic grab for attention. I saw…” Thomas’ voice trailed off. “I saw emotion. And… a certain maturity that clearly goes beyond your years. You are technically strong, don’t get me wrong, and the polish will come with experience, but there’s another layer to your movement that I can’t quite put my finger on. You’re a bit of a question mark, but I like that.”

The director waited a beat, catching Virgil’s eyes. “I get the feeling you wouldn’t do particularly well in a strictly classical troupe and I’m guessing by your absolute enthusiasm about this whole shebang here you agree.” Virgil thought on that and he wasn’t wrong. He never saw himself dancing big impressive ballets and he definitely could not see himself fitting into the stereotype of machismo male danseur. He never really fit in anywhere, which suited him fine up until now. He would find his niche eventually, but this world of traditional classical ballet wasn’t it.

“Look, Mr. Harris, I’m not trying to sell you snake oil. I like what I see and I firmly believe you have a quality worth developing. And I’m curious to see what you become. Our company is not what you would call ‘traditional’. We’re always looking to explore new and, frankly, unusual ideas in dance. We don’t have to be stuck in the 1800’s staging the same three popular ballets to sell tickets. We’re not afraid to go against the grain and judging by your performance up there you’re not either. All I’m asking is that you give it some thought.”

Thomas stood, brushing off his trousers. Reaching into his pocket he handed Virgil a simple white card with a yellow star logo on the back. “It was a pleasure to meet you Virgil Harris. Hopefully this won’t be our last encounter”. With that, Thomas turned on his heel and stepped back into the crowd.

What the actual fuck just happened. He sat there, dumbstruck and not quite sure what to think next. Going against the grain? If anything, he was so afraid to go either direction that the grain was the least of his worries. Try to be unique and he risks getting rejected. Try to fit in and he’s miserable and will still get rejected. It seemed like a real lose/lose, but still…

Virgil downed the last of his glass and shook his head.  Shit, he just offered you a job and you’re just sitting there like a moron. Say something, you idiot. Quick, before he changes his mind.

“Mr. Sanders?! Hold up.”

Virgil stumbled out of his chair, the champagne obviously having gone right to his head. Thomas turned back puzzled as he watched the little drunk fledgling scramble free of the chair. “I’m sorry for earlier. I, uh, I’m not great in social situations.” He took a deep breath before soldiering on. The job was his. All he had to do was ask.

“Would it be possible to, uh um, you know… View rehearsals at some point? You know, (stop saying ‘you know’) to get an idea of what you guys do?”

Thomas took a step forward and held out his hand once more, unable to hide his excitement. “Come take company class over your spring break. I think you’ll find you feel right at home.”

Virgil slid his hand into Thomas’ and shook. In one month he would travel to Florida and see it all for himself.

--------------------------------

Glossary of terms: Prix de Lausanne- An annual international youth ballet competition in Lausanne, Switzerland for pre-professional dancers ages 15-18.

Variation- A short dance interlude common in classical ballets.

Grand Jete- (French) Large Throw- A “split leg” travelling jump that carries the dancer across the floor.

Wings- Large fabric panels dividing on and off-stage.

Video References: La Bayadere Shades Variation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8INJnPDzy4<br /> Les Sylphides Poet’s Dance (with Baryshnikov)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl0FIXUFTvM

[hylukotranslations]

FOOL'S MATE - May 2005 Album: Juusankai wa gekkou (13th floor with moonshine)

Hisashi Imai (Guitar) x Hidehiko Hoshino (Guitar) Interview by Yumiko Kakoi

I think it's the first time that an album of Buck-Tick is realized entirely on one theme. And the result is of a very high quality.

Hisashi : I think the result is practically the image or the conception of the world I had at the beginning.

Hidehiko : This time, with this concept, we realized a solid album and I think it's a good thing.

Since there is a great number of songs, haven't you payed careful attention to the structure and movement of the whole ?

Hisashi : This plagued us. We quarelled about it to the end (laughs). The melodies of the songs and also the lyrics are conceptual, so basing ourselves on their movement and in order not to bore, we thought about many things. I think this album's type is different from our previous ones like "Mona Lisa Overdrive". It's not like the sensation of having stirring songs, I thought above all about the total aspect.

In this meaning, the SE (note : sound effects ?) are really efficient. Interludes take place at each important point, this way the listener can go to the next scene naturally, like the movies and plays which progress changing the scenes.

Hisashi : At the beginning, I hadn't planned that there would be so many pieces. I thought there would be around 11 or 12 songs, and once the songs achieved it seemed it would be severe to just line them up. By introducing SE, I thought there would be more smoothness in the continuity. At first there were 2 SE made, and when it was about to decide on the order of the songs, I thought that if the last ended by an instrumental, it would be like a telop running in the end of a movie. So I hurriedly broke up a phrase to add one piece.

While composing, what points did you take care about in particular ?

Hisashi : I eliminated the sounds and phrases which were too refined to use vulgar ones, what wasn't what we call rock. And this time, we didn't include spacy noises coming from keyboards and synthesizers which seem to fly in all directions.

Hoshino-san, was there some particularity about composing for this album ?

Hidehiko : For example, in "Cabaret" the piano is the main instrument, in other songs we used orchestral sounds as theme, so we used this kind of classical feeling.

Clown, demon, doll, ghost, various characters take place. Did you make any suggestion for the content of these characters and lyrics ?

Hisashi : No, except for "Diabolo -Lucifer-", for the others there wasn't any kind of order. But it happened that some songs which had a temporary title kept the same title.

From the introduction "Enter clown" to around the 5th song, the world which is presented is very dense.

Hisashi : That what it became. I thought there was a right order, but from the 3rd song the opinions were divided. At the beginning we quarelled considerably. After a while I was bothered and didn't participate to the debate (laughs).

Then until "Doukeshi A (Clown A)" was chosen, all the members were getting heated ?

Hisashi : We wondered, so you have so many opinions men ? (laughs) Hide wanted to move immediately on to serious matters with "Gesshoku", while I said "Alive" would be better. At that moment there were already total differences, so I decided to look from above for a moment. Moreover, we were discussing drinking sake so it was impossible to reach a decision (laughs).

(laughs) Then maybe it's difficult to make a general image from the beginning. It's like to streghten to a certain point with parts and adjusting after.

Hisashi : Yes, like this one and this one form a set. This piece and this one have some parts which resemble somewhere so we moved them away from each other. We were proceeding like this, but it was difficult to find the right stuff among all that.

But thank to that, you obtained a structure in relief. With a clown as guide, there is the birth of the demons, a scene where music is played in a cabaret, we have a real impression of decadence.

Hisashi : I think that kind of story stands out.

The songs of Hoshino-san have a coolness which reminds me Bauhaus.

Hidehiko : About "Cabaret", I expected there wouldn't be speedy pieces in the album, so I wanted to do a song with a tempo which would be quite fast. "Ijin no yoru (Night of the stranger)" is a piece I had since before, but I changed it quite a lot to include it in the album. I added for example strings instruments.

At the 6th piece, the instrumental "Clown loves senorita" takes place and the atmosphere changes again.

Hisashi : For this piece, there was by chance an old pedaling organ at the studio and it suited quite well, so I made it with the manipulator Yoko(yama)-chan. I think we hear somewhere the grating noise of the organ.

The next songs "Goblin" and "Alive" are the most dynamic ones in the album, then after another SE we have "Doll". This song is the most gothic one to the highest degree.

Hisashi : The melody has a weird modulation and we had many difficulties for this one. This was I think the 4th time we transformed it. The drums pattern of the verse A became more solid and complicated. We had many difficulties during the recording. At the moment of introducing the guitar, I realized that I couldn't adjust the tempo to anything. I worry about the lives (laughs).

The next song "Passion" radiates I would say a very solemn image.

Hidehiko : For me this song is about something like the "crying".

The "Passion" has two meanings, one is about "feeling, ardour" and the other one "the Passion of the Christ".

Hidehiko : I was thinking about the first one.

Hisashi : What, really ? I thought it was "the Passion of the Christ".

Hidehiko : Then I change it into this one.

Hisashi : What's this then (laughs).

There is also the movie "Passion".

Hisashi : I've always thought it was that one.

Which kind of image had you at the origin ?

Hidehiko : I was thinking about a not too much heavy impression. It's majestic, but there is more humanity.

Hisashi : I knew there would be this kind of introduction.

Hidehiko : It's long isn't it. It became involuntary long (laughs).

The next one is, I would say a surprise, at the 13th piece we have a silence during 13 seconds. I thought : "I've been had !"

Hisashi : I did it at the very end. I wasn't aware it was the 13th piece, but I thought, after all why not letting a silence. But well, I took the idea from John Cage.

Didn't you have the intention to do one day a John Cage piece ?

Hisashi : Not at all. I thought that 13 seconds would be long, but when I listened to it at the mastering, I thought : "finally 13 seconds are quite short", so my mind was at ease.

Since I was convinced the previous song was "the Passion of the Christ", I thought this silence of 13 seconds was suggesting the death, I imagined many things.

Hisashi : I don't like this sinister impression (laughs). I hope nothing will happen.

I think the fact this album is completely fictional gives you the possibility to play with the figures this way. After the piece "13 seconds" comes the single "Romance -Incubo-". By the way, what means Incubo ?

Hisashi : It's the Spanish reading of Incubus. A title for the album version was needed, and since a title like something mix didn't suit, I thought a name of a demon would be good. So I looked in a kind of an encyclopedia of demons and thought Incubus would fit the best.

So you have an encyclopedia of demons. Have you consulted any books related to gothic for this album ?

Hisashi : No, I bought this encyclopedia a long time ago, and it's a book of a game, not a specialized book about demons.

Do you like evil stuff ?

Hisashi : No no (laughs). It's just interesting.

With this album, aren't you asked : "so you like gothic ?"

Hisashi : Yes, I realized that people surprisingly didn't see me like this. I could show I also have this kind of drawer, though I never opened it.

The previous month I said that at your beginnings you had dark and gothic oriented songs, but you seemed to more and more move away from this kind of world. So I was quite surprised.

Hisashi : That's was also what I was feeling.

So once more I ask you : "why now ?"

Hisashi : Well, the need of doing it came out spontaneously. I wanted to know how it will be to do seriously something gothic and theatrical now.

If we inverse, you would say : "it's now that we can do it".

Hisashi : Yes, so that I could see if we can work skillfully aiming this point.

Did you also have the self-confidence that with the current band's ability you could realize an album with a considerable quality ?

Hisashi : Yes. I think that before, we had some quite disjointed aspects.

I think that a world which is very imaginary can, if the worst comes to the worst, have the risk of becoming false, but when it's that in-depth, it's simply great.

Hisashi : Maybe the ones who don't like this kind of world won't be able to listen to it. They would feel ill at ease.

Hoshino-san, did you feel confused about making a gothic album ?

Hidehiko : Not at all. I thought it was interesting, and once into it, it was rather easy to work.

On which points ?

Hidehiko : It's something I had originally in me, and since there was a concept I could go straight forward.

It's true that for the young bands it would be difficult to do that. The next song is "Muma -The nightmare-"

Hisashi : I didn't expect the lyrics would look like this, I mean "the tundra" (laughs). At the origine this song had an image of a four-four time one, and it's the one on this album which is the nearest to "Mona Lisa-". I wanted it to be a solemn and grandiose piece. While I was trying various stuff, I obtained this synthe-bass pattern. I wanted this song to be exaggeratedly imposing.

And the end is concluded by "Diabolo -Lucifer-" and the instrumental "Who's clown ?"

Hisashi : At first, there was the inverse pattern of "Muma -The nightmare-" and "Diabolo -Lucifer-". I absolutely didn't want that it ends by "Muma -The nightmare-". I wished to avoid what looked like an ending. I thought it would be more scary if I inversed them. Talking about movies, it would look like a scene in "The omen" : "what, he is still alive ?"

Indeed, when it ends by "Diabolo -Lucifer-" we have the impression that all the characters come back to life in the end.

Hisashi : Like if all was going back to the start.

Personally, this song reminded me Tom Waits.

Hisashi : Ah, exactly. As an image or presence, it's Tom Waits.

I realized again your capacity to asemble under one concept so many various songs.

Hisashi : But I didn't expect it would become like this. So, I think it would have been impossible without this number of pieces.

I'm impatient to see your live. I wonder if you'll reproduce this or if you'll reconstruct everything differently from the album.

Hisashi : Yes, maybe we'll change the order of the songs and construct the live quarelling again (laughs). But it's from now that we'll do meetings and others for the lives.

This year correponds to the 20th anniversary of the formation of Buck-Tick. Do you feel any emotion about it ?

Hisashi : No, nothing at all. I thought, it's again that. There are two types of anniversaries, such years since the band is formed, such others since our debut, so I wish they chose just one. There are so often, it's not Winter Olympics (laughs).

Maybe the concerned artists don't care that much about it. Were these 20 years like a short moment or was it long ?

Hisashi : I didn't feel at all it was long. Just a banal : "is that so ?"

(laughs). And you, Hoshino-san ?

Hidehiko : About the 20 years ? I didn't feel any particular emotion. When I was told it I thought : "ah, that's true". I have the impression it was short. "So much time already ?" would be my honest impression.

--fin

translation: hyluko [livejournal] scans: tigerpal [livejournal]

NOTE: these translations are not mine also might not be very accurate. i took them from hyluko’s site using the wayback machine. thought they’re great to share. if the owner is around and wants me to take them down i will!

[sunshineyou]

Translate ...

3rd day of shooting, 3rd sequence between Axel and Maxence and not least. I dream of a movement from the early morning light in the curtains to our little ones kissing for hours. Xavier and his team put themselves in 4 to install a configuration that allows me to turn around the boys while a second camera will look for close-ups, this absolute carnal sweetness. The great complexity on a shooting at such a frantic pace is to be able to make these "moments" appear, to succeed in capturing the atmosphere of a room, the breaths, the least contact. When the technique takes such an important part on the set, it complicates the search for truth even more.

Axel and Maxence settle on the bed, a little impressed by this camera plunging and we finally launch the movement. I cut the first catch very quickly. I will cut just as quickly the 2nd and the 3rd. Sometimes it is the movement that does not go, sometimes it is the light, each time it is the boys, borrowed and badly connected. I leave my video back and ask for 5 minutes, a rare luxury on SKAM. I sit down in front of the little ones. We discuss the sequence, its importance in the story. They know it perfectly and it is undoubtedly this issue that stresses them. I ask them to forget that, wholeheartedly. Later when the sequence comes out, we will make sure that she is pretty, that both are in the right tempo or to their advantage. All that will count in the end is that it is true. Because outside there are people, many people who need it, for whom it is vital that we defend what is magic in Love, all Loves.

So we forget Axel and Maxence, we forget the scores. There are only two teenagers who merge into each other. I will never forget the boys' eyes at that moment. They are ready, I feel it. I ask to stay in the room while restarting the business. Xavier launches, the movement is perfect and slowly discovers the little ones ... in love. It is the catch that opens this sequence suddenly mounted by Jeremy.

cr : davidhourregue

I'm sorry if this translation is wrong.

[hcmj]

HCMJ’s Favorite Albums of 2018!

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2018 End Of Year Mix

Honorable Mentions: 

LLLL - Chains Phase 4: Resemblance

Various - 慕情 in da tracks

Endurance - Shade Terrarium

Farragol x dropp - 楽感 / optimo

pool$ide - aquarius

FUJII - EUPHORIA

Andrew W.K. - You’re Not Alone

Stardazer - Vacation Dreams

Alex Crispin - Open Submission

Foodman - Aru Otoko No Densetsu

20) TUPPERWΛVE - To you baby, with love

As the years go by, sometimes I still crave that classic-style (or as Tech Honors once described SEAWRLDハートブレーク, “trash-ass”) vaporwave sound. It’s the usual fare of slowed down antiquated R&B with filter sweeps and side-chained kicks, but TUPPERWΛVE’s sample choices and looped snippets stay inspired throughout, building emotionally impactful arrangements and proving the artist has what 90% of contemporary vaporwave is missing: a sense of taste and purpose. NUWRLD vibes.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

19) The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time - Stage 4 & 5

Leyland Kirby released stages 4 and 5 of his six part, multi-year epic simulating a mind falling into dementia. It’s said the last memories someone suffering from dementia retains are the melodies heard in their youth, and on this year’s installments we find melodies from the first stages lost in a haze of static and noise. While not as easy to listen to as the first three stages, these 8 tracks lose the poetic titles of the previous installments and present an absolutely horrifying interpretation of the confusion that comes with a mind breaking down.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD

18) Kate NV - для FOR

I won’t lie, I went into the new Kate NV hoping for at least a few heart-melting rib-cage exploding pop masterpieces like what she showed us on Binasu (my favorite album of 2016). However, the absence of conventional songwriting on для FOR ends up being its defining characteristic. The album delivers a set of impressionistic synth sculptures that slowly develop an album that blossoms into blissful organic structures with brushstrokes of vocals before skipping off into a brightly lit horizon.

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17) 忘れた頃に手紙をよこさないで - Tamao Ninomiya

There is an air of surreality drifting through the new crop of Tokyo underground post-pop. Tamao Ninomiya’s “lo-fi bedroom pop” is always performed in PJs and has a playful gloominess with a thousand-yard-stare kind of shyness that exudes a special kind of emotional resonance. Everything is gentle, subtly “off” - it’s an inventive and delicate pop sketchbook. 

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16) Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place

The same way Pokémon Yellow was a video game based on an anime that was based on a video game, Kero Kero Bonito is a British group that has arrived at a sound closer to early 2000′s jrock than the British rock that crop of Japanese musicians were imitating. While the final 1/3rd of the album drags, there’s no denying the pop perfection of “Time Today,” the Blue-Album-Weezer thunder of “Only Acting,” the Parklife-era Blur artschool bounce of “If I’d Known,” the whimsical bubblegum of “Make Believe,” or the saccharin yet heartfelt “Dear Future Self,” a pop meditation complete with "Mr. Blue Sky” charm and melodramatic chamber orchestra arrangements.

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15) we could die here - we could die here

While “brooding ambient” is a genre I have drifted away from these past years, ‘we could die here’ reminded me of why I was once drawn to it. It’s all about creating atmospheres, and while so much of genre these days seems to be producing the same, boring, smoke-filled neon/black room, ‘we could die here’s lush sound succeeds in building a sprawling, haunting world with enough depth that it’s worth returning to.

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14) poemme - Moments in Golden Light

Similar in scope to ‘we could die here,’ Moments in Golden Light is as advertised - warm and soft. Blissful pillows of ambience constructed in the old style, poemme pulses and drones with the silkiness of Hakobune and the breadth of Steve Roach, featuring a track that even unabashedly layers in bird samples.

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13) Machine Girl - The Ugly Art

The Ugly Art is special, as it’s the first Machine Girl album that begins to capture the raw energy and power of their live shows by showcasing live drums. The insane breaks are intact and the blistering Dreamcast punk is more hardcore. It’s dense, unrelenting in its shredding, and culminates in the epic “A Decent Man,” a 10 minute violent rave masterpiece with more content than all 3 Matrix movies combined.

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12) Oneohtrix Point Never - Age Of

Age Of is a complex concept album more convoluted than a Roger Waters solo project. The music itself makes the trip one worth taking, through 13 immaculately produced tracks painting a post-apocalyptic machine world. It has an ability to turn pop tricks on tracks like “Black Snow” and “Same,” while the sound remains distant from any of comfortable paradigm. Bits of static, broken samples, and walls of noise develop into larger-than-life ballads that seem eerily familiar despite being so alien. The arrangements are complex and the production is deep, it’s a cyber-western soundtrack that always commands full attention. 

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11) Seth Graham - Gasp

Gasp has a charm and complexity that sets it apart from a lot of experimental composition. The tape cut samples of “Whisper - Slap” sound impossibly worked on, while the ASMR freakouts of “Binary Tapioca” and the restrained playfulness of “Flower Cheese” make the process sound like an artist working effortlessly. Deeply emotive and loudly expressive, Gasp has a sound that digs in its hooks and burrows deep.

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10) Equip - Synthetic Core 88

The long awaited followup to the seminal faux-ost I Dreamed Of A Palace In The Sky, Synthetic Core 88 delivers on the promise of Equip’s earlier work and brings it to a new realm of legitimacy. This is a 32-bit RPG I wish I could play - with all the themes of interwoven technology and magic revealing themselves in the clever score. The conflict between the cold steel and floral lushness emerges in the sound somewhere between Uematsu and a “Tales of” game. This album could only be made by someone who truly understands how music supports the worldbuilding an RPG needs to be a successful narrative platform.

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9) Utsuro Spark - Static Electricity

Utsuro Spark is a miracle. One of the highlights from the impressive output of the Japanese label, Local Visions, this mini-album is a collection of beautifully crafted metropolitan electro pop. Sharp instrumentals including studio-perfect guitar and on-point synth work lay a foundation for blissfully creamy vocals - pop music that is full of desperate longing and unpretentious charm. The katakana titles recall the old Japanese pop it draws inspiration from, but in many ways the soul of this music at the very least meets the bar set by the old masters. 

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8) Tsudio Studio - Port Island

I was lucky to play a show in Kobe with Tsudio Studio, whose brilliant songwriting and iconic vocal delivery completely won over my heart and soul. The jazzy coolness and gorgeous chord structure for tracks like “Azur” and “Snowfall Seaside” are absolutely intoxicating, while the hooky R&B in “Mikage” and the Phantasy Star Online space-shredding of the opener “Tor” make Port Island a mini-album where every single track is a stand out.

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7) Dinosaur On Fire - Populous Romantique

After a 6 year gap, dds cohort Tech Honors unleashed the second Dinosaur On Fire album in a maelstrom of prog rock and laser beams. It’s an ultra hi-fi production that bounces from stoner prog to krautrock to synthwave to operatic video game symphonies to Ray Lynch arp fountains and back again effortlessly. Populous Romantique showcases the expansive reach of Tech’s abilities both as a visionary artist and producer.

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6) Monari Wakita - Ahead!

While so much jpop has become aggressively intense and fast-tempo, Ahead! provides a soulful contrast. Monari Wakita is an ex-idol and alumni of Especia, a group known for capitalizing on 80′s/90′s nostalgia. Ahead! mostly pulls from the 90′s, with new jack swing aping and hyper-produced city pop so technically perfect that the instrumentals would sound at home on the soundtrack of a 90′s Sonic Team video game. It’s that FM bass, synthetic swing, and plastic instrumentation against Monari’s powerful and soulful voice that gives Ahead! its irresistible charm and made it one of the most addictive albums of the year.

VIDEO 1 / VIDEO 2

5) Ventla - Plugged-Matic/Sublingual Odyssey

After years of silence, Ventla returned in 2018 with 10 (!) new albums on his quest to release 100. Ventla’s music continues to be eclectic vignettes of scratchy pop music, utilizing a seemingly endless variety of instruments and synths. Of the 10, the “classic Ventla” sound of Plugged-Matic and the playful exoticism explored on Sublingual Odyssey were my favorites - but with an artist whose entire catalog of 477 songs is easily played on loop for days on end, picking only 2 albums is almost an act of futility.

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: Plugged-Matic/Sublingual Odyssey

4) emamouse - Pigeon’s Point

emamouse’s genius visual art and surreal identity are accented by her equally forward thinking music. The iconic opener “01_PP2″ is a brilliant statement of purpose; a homicidal vocaloid squeaking words you can’t quite understand but frighten you nonetheless over a synth organ jamming out hypnotic post-pop you can’t help but dance to. This is music written by a true artist with a powerful vision of reality and instrumental chops informed by video game music deep cuts. “08_Pigeon’s Swipe” is another great showcase of emamouse’s ability to skew Dragon Quest baroque synths and contort them into the brilliant, unsettling world of her boundless imagination.

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3) TWICE - What Is Love?

Kpop can be a divisive genre, but its meteoric rise in the US is no fluke. The Korean pop machine has mastered the art of the pop song, and nowhere is it more evident than in TWICE’s “What Is Love?” Perfect structure, heart-tugging hook, surprising turns, and a chorus that sounds like 1000 girls yelling the lyrics from the bottom of the grand canyon, “What Is Love?” is technically perfect and sweetly endearing. It’s truly the most perfect pop song I’ve ever heard.

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2) Mid-Air Thief - Crumbling

Crumbling is an album so in tune with my personal taste it’s hard to believe it exists. With a foundation of Lamp-esque dreamy pop labyrinths, Mid-Air Thief weaves complex arrangements peppered with ELO synths, chiptune fireworks, lo-fi indie folk revery, underwater voices and Elliott Smith whispers, even some Merriweather Post Pavilion electro-hippy clouds. It’s all the right flavors and textures coming together in a perfectly balanced, romantic masterpiece.

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1) Lamp - Her Watch / 彼女の時計

I discovered Lamp through a vaporwave album back in 2014 that sampled them heavily, and while those short samples of cooing vocals and breezy guitar looped with their heads underwater certainly worked in a satisfying way on that album, discovering the source material was a revelation. Lamp is the result of an algorithm to determine music that would be most appealing to me, and they hit new ridiculous heights of personal appeal on Her Watch. Their signature labyrinthine hurricane of Beatle-esque chord changes under soft voices and bossa nova rhythms is re-fitted into a nostalgic frame, sometimes approaching an almost city pop revivalist sound. The tenderness of “Slow-Motion,” the romance of “A Train Window,” the pop genius of “1998,” the borage of melancholic brightness that rolls from the opening chords of “At The Night Party,” all of it falls into place on the most sublime 36 minutes I have heard in a long time. It was the soundtrack to my life this year and my favorite album of 2018!

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[graemeruns]

Manchester marathon, and the journey to a PB

I think, by now, most people I know expect that I am going to run the London marathon each year, so a fair few that I talked to were surprised when I told them that I was actually going to run the Manchester marathon first, and then London three weeks later. To be fair, their surprise was not unjustified, as I entered Manchester as a late decision; I was already three weeks into my London marathon 18 week training plan when I had this major concern that the following four months of hard work could all end in disaster if the weather turned out as hot as it was last year at the end of April. With Manchester being at the beginning of April, it also fell nicely at the beginning of the school Easter break, so it didn't take long to decide to enter it and have a week away near Manchester at the same time with the family. My wife, Yasmin, set about the task of finding us somewhere to stay, and all I now needed to do was compress by 18 week plan into 15, and we had a target set.

I had decided to be even more aggressive with my training this year, base it on the 55-70 miles/week plan from Pzitzinger and Douglas' book "Advanced Marathoning", but with all rest days being recovery runs, and tweaking it using my own experience of how I like to train. Since Abingdon marathon in October last year, I had kept my mileage ticking over at around 40 miles/week, so was hoping that this base fitness would help me as I moved into my new marathon training plan. Two weeks before the plan started I increased my mileage to 47, then the following week 50, so that 60 miles in week 1 would not seem too much of a step upwards.

Loosely, my training plan went something like this:

Monday - 3-4 mile recovery run (8:45 - 9:00/mile pace). I really needed these runs to be as-slow-as-you-can go recovery otherwise they would be counter-productive. Tuesday - intervals or tempo (6:20/mile) - around 10 miles in total with warm up and cool down. These were sometimes moved to Wednesday if I was still feeling tired from the weekend, in which case they would be an easy 9- 10 miler (7:40 - 7:55/mile pace). Wednesday - medium long run, 15 - 17 miles, usually as a double run because just finding the time to run it in one go was too difficult. Sometimes these would be a workout and a recovery run later in the day if I had moved the workout from Tuesday. Thursday - easy run - around 10 miles. This is about 7:40 - 7:55/mile pace. Friday - 3-4 mile recovery (8:45 - 9:00 pace) Saturday - parkrun, of course, as fast as possible! I think I ran to and from nearly all of them to some get extra mileage in (usually 9 - 11 miles total). Sunday - Long run - 16 - 23 miles (7:40 - 8:15/mile pace). In all honestly, I didn't run as many 20+ mile runs as I'd have liked, as two of the Sundays were used for tune-up races. But I did do seven runs over 17 miles (the longest being 26 miles which was a bit too far!). My legs were also usually tired from the previous days' parkrun too, so running on tired legs was something I got used to, and I think is crucial for the latter parts of the marathon.

Lets look at the tune-up races:

Wokingham half marathon. This fell 9 weeks into in my calendar on 24th February. I wanted to have a go at my current half marathon PB (1:23:44) in this race, so I dropped the workout that week, cut back the mileage a little and rested the day before. The day was perfect, being cool and bright with only a little breeze. After a bit of a congested start, I was able to get into my rhythm and run consistently around 6:20/mile, which would get me a time under 1:23. My 5k splits were good: 19:42, 19:42, 19:48, 19:54, but slipping just a few seconds in the last 10k meant I crossed the line just short of my goal in 1:23:09. But I'd given it everything, so was content with the result. You can see my run on Strava here.

The Big Half. This race fell just 2 weeks after Wokingham. The previous Sunday my long run had accidentally ended up as 26 miles, and this meant I took a couple of days early in the week to recover, and what with running a steady parkrun on the Saturday as well, meant I was not that fresh for the race. The weather was cold, wet at the start, and very, very windy. Overall, it was a bit of a disaster really, as I queued so long for the loo I started too far back, which required a lot of weaving through slower runners, and while this probably didn't cost a huge chunk of time, the speeding up and slowing down was using an unnecessary amount of energy. I ended up running a negative split because of this, in 1:26:05, which was a bit disappointing, but deep down I knew I wasn't flat out and that this was closer to marathon pace than half marathon pace, so took that away as a positive. It had also given my potential marathon shoes a good outing, so the decision what to wear for the marathon had been made too. You can see my run on Strava here.

My training plan also includes some marathon paced runs. Always run on a Sunday on tired legs, these can be tough but honest workouts. Striders had arranged for a group of us to met at Kenley aerodrome for exactly this sort of training, so the 13.1 miles I ran there at marathon pace two weeks before Manchester was my final big effort. It ended up around 1:27:30, approximately 6:40/mile pace, and I felt fairly comfortable during the run. This was a good confidence boost for me, and gave me an indication of what to aim for on the day. A big thanks to my Striders mate Martin for being my running pal for that effort.

Fast-forward two weeks and I'm at the start line. We had booked accommodation in the lovely village of Old Glossop at the base of the Peak District. Travelling to the race start had been fairly easy - a 25 minute drive to Didsbury East where I parked and boarded the tram to Trafford Bar, the nearest tram stop to the start. The whole journey was just over an hour, and quite stress-free. I didn't hang about though: this year they were expecting around 20,000 people to run in the various races, and it was quite crowded, so I quickly dropped my bag off and made my way to the start line, which being the 'A' start, was also the furthest away; even so, I was in the pen with 15 minutes to go. The weather conditions were near perfect (8 degrees, overcast with a little breeze) and I was raring to go.

When I race marathons I like to plan my pacing based on 5 mile intervals. It's easy to remember just 4 split times, and an overall average time per kilometer (at this point I should apologise for mixing miles and kilometers, but I do tend to think in both when running). My intended splits were:

5 miles in 33 minutes and 10 miles 1:06 (average 4.06/km), 15 miles in 1:39:30 (average pace now falls slightly to 4:07/km due to natural slowing), 20 miles 2:13:00 (average pace now falls to 4:08/km) Which leaves just a 6.2 mile (or 10k) sprint to the finish, which I'd hope to cover in around 42 minutes, and will mean I have run a 2:55 marathon. That was the goal, though I really thought 2:56 - 2:57 was more likely.

At 9am on the dot we were off, and being so near the front I was across the line almost immediately. There's the usual overtaking, and being overtaken, that goes on in the first few kilometers as runners find their pace. I went through the first kilometer in 4 minutes dead. "Hmm, that's a bit fast", I thought, "but it's probably just because it's the first kilometer". I went through the second kilometer in 4:03: "Hmm, that's still a bit fast". The third kilometer took 4.01, then 4.03, then 3:56, passing 5k in a little over 20 minutes. I was in a real dilemma - the pace seemed far too fast, but I just didn't seem to be able to reel it in. It didn't actually feel that fast, and my heart rate was averaging around 142bpm, which is pretty low for me.

Kilometer 6: 3:59, kilometer 7: 4:04, kilometer 8: 4:00 - I went through 5 miles in a little over 32 minutes, much faster than intended. But I couldn't slow down - somehow I was being pulled along by the runners around me. So it was at that point I did something I've never done before: I threw away my pacing plan and decided to stick it out at this faster pace and see if I could hang on at the end. I'll either crash and burn, or run a very fast time.

The Manchester marathon route is pretty flat, although there are some long gentle inclines where you unexpectedly lose time, and the first time that happened (at kilometer 17 when I ran a 4:10) I immediately worried that this was where the slowing up starts, but then I ran 3:58 in the next kilometer, so equilibrium was maintained.

I passed half way in 1:25:55, much faster than intended (and quicker than the Big Half!). The simple maths said that I just had to run a 1:30 second half (4:14/km) to achieve my 2:55 goal. But I know marathons - they aren't that easy to predict.

Between 25 - 30k I was still running well, averaging about 4:09/km pace, and 20 miles came up in 2:11:40; I was over a minute up on my time. The 20 mile (32.2km) sign is my friend: it says “you’ve now completed the 20 mile 'warm-up', and it's just 10k to the finish, which you will run as fast as you possibly can”. But in the latter stages of a marathon it is never as simple as that: I was tired, and I had a lot of pain in my right foot*, which was worse on the inside camber of the road, so I tried to run in the middle of the road. This did help ease the pain a little, but in the grand scheme of things it was not a big issue, and it wouldn’t prevent me from getting to the finish line, which I’d like to see soon, please. (* It turned out to be an enormous blood blister on my 3rd toe).

Yasmin and Chloe had made the clever decision not to get up at 6:30am and travel to Manchester with me, but instead got the train into Manchester later and were going to be just past the 25 mile sign. It's amazing how much of a boost seeing someone familiar is, and just looking forward to that point in the route gives you something to focus on. After waving frantically at them and trying to smile, with 1 mile to go I just got my head down and headed for the finish - which is quite torturous because you can see the finish line from 500m away. It looked a long way!

With 200m to go I realised that I was closer to sub 2:54 than anything around 2:55, so found a sprint from somewhere but it wasn't quite enough. I crossed the line in 2:54:02, a 4 minute 25 sec PB. I had surpassed my expectations, and, to be honest, was a little shocked to have run quite that fast! You can see my run on Strava here.

A week later, and recovery has been slow. My racing flats did the job, but I attempted a run the Saturday after the marathon and my calves were still very tight and sore, so I will be giving them some more rest. I've enjoyed the break from running though, as it does take over my life in a big way when marathons are looming. For the 13 weeks proper training I did for the Manchester marathon (not including the 2 taper weeks), I averaged 63 miles/week, and there were 3 weeks in there where the mileage was reduced due to upcoming races and a niggle. But attaining a PB at half marathon and marathon at the age of 51, I am not complaining at all. I love running, and there were few runs or workouts I didn't enjoy. It was worth every moment I spent doing it, and you know what, I think I can go faster!