#plus most of his work is from the 90s and early 2000s and style/tone can change a lot

[mindshelter]

death in the family: robin lives is like some monkey's paw compromise for dematteis (what do you mean the guy who wrote spectre vol. 4 is doing the script) and leonardi (what do you mean the guy who did lines for sm2099 vol. 1 and nightwing vol. 1 is on pencils) to team up. murphy's law is circling the very concept of dc (re) exploring what would happen if jason lived like a shark that got a whiff of blood. but the creative team is also two consecutive wake-up slaps in the face and i'm kinda #seated

[creativityobsessed]

Be Brave Adachi, or the musical shaping of episodes 1-4

Part 1: Episode 1

Ok folks, buckle up. @ohmypreciousgirl asked me for more music meta and I need exactly ZERO arm twisting for that to happen, so I immediately put on my listening ears and musicologist hat and started my eleventy first rewatch. Since I’m currently only through episode 4 on this rewatch, and I have a page and a half of notes, I’m gonna put in a Read More so that I don’t take up the next 5 miles of the tags. You might be interested if:

You like music

You’re interested in detailed analysis of character development

You’re wondering why the heck those scenes where Adachi is having all the anxiety are so dang effective.

The answer, of course, is that the music helps to shape the exact moments that Adachi makes steps towards character growth. Under the cut, you’ll find out exactly how it’s doing that.

This will be a 4-part series, running over the next 4 days because I got halfway through episode 3 and realized that yall did NOT want a 10 page paper in a single tumblr post. Plus then I can extend the series to include the rest of the episodes later.

So. Without further ado.

Episode 1  (If you’d like to watch/listen along, cue up 19:45 in episode 1* now.) 

At the beginning of the show, we’re introduced to Adachi, the shy, introverted, anxious klutz. He tells us lots of things about himself, most of which include some reference to either his lack of bravery or his self-esteem which is currently so low that it seems to be floating somewhere in the Marianas Trench. Aside from the opening scene with the bike (which many of us, myself included, have hypothesized comes from some kind of future) the music is mostly laid-back, a little jazzy, and repetitive. Adachi’s office scenes come with a walking bass/guitar line that never really finds a melody, and reminds me of nothing more than generic 90s/early 2000s slice-of-life “this is every day” music. His Adachi-at-home music is gently strummed guitar, slow and kind of lethargic, mirroring the way Adachi just floats through life. The main exception is Adachi’s monologue on Kurosawa, which is fast paced, march-like, and jaunty - a reflection of how Adachi sees Kurosawa before the events of the show.

And then, at the end of the episode, that changes, and we get something new for the first time. Adachi is processing the new revelation that Kurosawa actually does like him, and he has just finished telling himself that Kurosawa must have gone crazy to like someone like him. There has been no musical accompaniment since they were in the office together. Kurosawa wraps the scarf around Adachi’s neck and Adachi hears Kurosawa’s inner monologue, cataloging the things he likes about Adachi.

This speech is obviously a turning point for Adachi, but we can be more specific than that. For Kurosawa’s first couple of points, we’re still in silence, and Adachi is looking down. We can imagine that he’s doing his own mental list that starts something like “yeah but…” But after the line “He’s actually an extremely kind and nice guy,” Adachi looks up at Kurosawa, and finally, after two whole minutes of silence in the soundtrack, a new kind of cue comes in.

This new cue is the antithesis of the rest of the soundtrack. It’s fully acoustic (with a little bit of reverb) and played on the piano, an instrument that the composer has not yet used. What’s more, the fragment that the piano repeats is completely unstable. We have no idea what key we’re in (yet. Spoiler, it’ll be A-major, eventually). [warning: technical stuff starts here, if you don’t care about specifics, jump to the /endTechnical tag] It starts with a first inversion D-major chord (in later iterations, IV^6) that attempts to resolve to G-D-A which is NOT a chord, or rather, it could be any number of chords but without a 3rd somewhere in there we don’t know which it is.

Ok, ok, so, resolution failed. Let’s try again! D-major^6 and then instead of going down to D, the A goes up a M3 to C-sharp, making G-E-C-sharp - WHOOPS that’s a tritone, less resolution than the first time. To be fair, the tritone is pretty far apart, and there’s an E floating around in the middle, so it doesn’t feel as teeth grinding-ly gross as your average Danse Macabre, but it SURE AS HELL doesn’t feel resolved either. [/endTechnical]

And we go back and forth between these two VERY unresolved phrases. It’s like we’re (read: Adachi is) stuck asking new questions that he doesn’t have any answers for. It’s unsettling and we spend almost 30 seconds just sitting there feeling unresolved, trying again and again in different octaves, with slightly different notes in the (almost inaudible) string parts-- nothing works. Adachi is not ready to move beyond the questions themselves, so the music doesn’t either, ending on a high unresolved note with Kurosawa’s “Wait.”^

And that’s IT. No resolution. The next musical cue is after enough dead space that our metaphorical ear palate has been cleansed (which is good, cause we jump from quasi-A major to a sequential figure with at least FOUR FLATS - about as distant a key as you can get). To get resolution for the Questioning cue, we’re going to have to wait.

And wait and wait, because that’s it for tonight yall! Episode 2 coming tomorrow!

Continue to part 2

[Although, real quick, before we move on to Episode 2, I just wanna mention that I love that Adachi’s fears about Kurosawa’s crush are scored with a very speedy bebop style cue while Kurosawa’s actual fantasies might as well be a Bach Oratorio COMPLETE WITH METRONOME, because if you needed to shorthand “antithesis” musically I’m not sure I could think of a better way of doing it, short of using screamo metal and Hildegard von Bingen lol.]

*All video timings and quotes are from Irozuku Subs videos. If you’re watching somewhere else, your mileage may vary slightly.

^As an English speaker I love the parallelism in how American English speakers use a rising tone to indicate questions, but I don’t know enough about Japanese to know if that transfers.

[dragaoel]

 Jun'ichirō, aka Jun (- Silverdell)

the volume of the radio slowly dwindles down and only static noise is left to be heard

"those are dangerous words"

"not for him " Anja replies, her head laying on her outstretched arm that's on the table , her whole posture the embodiment of laziness. "loved ones always have it easier here"

"Not always" Jun says grimly and glances out of the window" it's because he's an outsider that he's allowed more freedom than any of us"

"aren't you a loved one too?"

Jun sighs deeply and turns towards the albino girl. For a second ,pain , frustration and a hint of panic can be seen in his eyes before it vanishes. He lets out a bitter laugh.

"and you saw where that lead me to,half dead in a ditch"

INTRODUCTION JUN : 

half japanese half black

has waist long black thick hair and brown skin 

has a ‘’prince in anguish’’ aura but masks it with him being over the top ridiculous and dramatic

is 5′11

born 12th october (libra)

‘‘the risk i took was calculated, but man, am i bad at math’‘

Jun is my favourite character, i made him on a whim as a side character in a old story and then i started using him more and more as a background character until i realized the potential he had. He's also one of the character whom i put into a lot of  different aus, the most favourite one was where he was a vampire who loved laying in the garden and eat roses all day

Rukiya (-Though the god’s have left)

‘‘i have dreams about them’‘ Rukiya says and plucks a string on her bass. The deep note rumbles through the room and her short curls moves along as she drops her head lower 

‘‘i'm high in the sky, looking down onto a land that seems oh so familiar, with people screaming at me asking me to help them’‘

‘’do you understand them? ‘’ a band member asks

‘‘weirdly i do’‘ Rukiya answers ‘‘ it seems to be in my native language but also not, as if it was way before everything happened, you know, the ancient time’‘ 

INTRODUCTION RUKIYA :

Out of the both of them Rukiya is the older twin by 4 minutes

she’s also the artsy one than her sister whos into sports

wears black literally 24/7 and has dark circles despite sleeping enough

is 5′9

is black (kenyan) 

mole on the left side of her cheek

fluent in her native tongue kiswahili 

Majors in Film

loves anything that has to do with space nd aliens

born 24th january (aquarius)

has a sweet tooth

*cocks gun* ‘’basements haunted’’

i like the idea of twins that are completely the opposite of each other. Rukiya just like Imara have a big chunk of my personality in them, it's just that i lean more towards Rukiya than Imara. 

Akiho (-Though the god’s have left)

Kneeling down, she cocks her head to the side, her eyes cold and her lips pressed into a thin line ‘’ dont think your actions won't have consequences’’ she sneers ‘’ the next time i see you harassing another girl again i'll make you wish you were never born’’ 

Akiho dusts herself , picks up the bat , glances one last time at the boy laying on the floor and walks away, the echoes of her shoes the only noise to be heard

INTRODUCTION AKIHO :

is 5′4

majors in theater

her fashion style is y2k

is the other one of the dumbass duo

has freckles on her nose

is japanese

doesn't like sweet things usually eats traditional sweets made by her mom or things that are sour/bitter, but salty food has to be spicy asf

born, 14th april (aries)

her side teeth are really pointy

has long peach colored straight hair

‘‘I’d sell you to satan for one corn chip’‘

Akiho comes from a family of 3, she's the youngest sibling and she has that energy. She likes to play with her oldest brother children, doesn't want any on her own though. will fight anyone who is disrespectful, esp towards women 

Hyunjin (-Though the god’s have left)

The tall girl slumps her body onto her girlfriend shoulder, watching her fry the fish in the pan into charcoal. Hyunjin wrinkles her nose in a attempt to push the glasses up without having to actually touch them, before she sighs deeply. 

‘‘Just-’‘ she starts and softly takes ‘‘let me do it, otherwise you'll burn the kitchen down like last time’‘

Praveena puffs her cheeks up ‘’that actually wasn't my fault, it was the gasherd-’’

‘‘i know i know’‘ Hyunjin chuckles and kisses her cheek ‘‘but i have a exam tomorrow and i would like not not have an indigestion’‘ she frowns and flips the fish over and sighs. It seems the fish can’t be saved anymore. 

INTRODUCTION HYUNJIN :

korean

has short dyed blue hair, but the back part is longer than the front part.

is ‘5′10

majors in engineering technology

born 14th may (taurus)

has literally no sense of style and wears glasses cause she has a slight astigmatism that you can't really see

has a mole next to her right eye

‘‘a financially unstable mess but at the liquor store they call me ma’am’‘

honestly out of all the characters i draw hyunjin the most. In the beginning  she  had shoulder length but then i shortened it because i liked it more. She's an only child and her mother runs a bakery while her father works in a office. She's the calm type that's constantly tired because she never sleeps 

Praveena  (-Though the god’s have left)

She shuffles the cards and lays them out on the table. The customers sees the fool, the moon and the star. Praveena touches them with her fingertips ‘’ you seem to be either at the beginning or at the end of a new journey ’’ she pauses and thinks ‘’but either way you're prepared for what is to come’’

The customers nods ‘’i'm soon moving away from this city’’

‘‘I see’‘ Praveena counters and points at the next card ‘‘the moon indicates that you’re hesitant  and fearful in your decision, there might be something from the past that is holding you back and influencing you in the present and possibly the future

the customer tenses up, her eyes fixed on the card and her lips tight

‘‘though’‘ Praveena continues ‘‘at the end you’ll be at peace and glad that you pushed through all the turbulences 

INTRODUCTION PRAVEENA : 

tamil ,dark skin with long wavy violet dyed hair

Hyunjin’s girlfriend

has calm energy but is also very erratic 

loves astrology & tarot

majors in psychology

5′5

born 20 july (cancer)

has droopy eyes

‘‘god cant help you now’‘

i made praveena cause i wanted a harmonious wlw couple, that have that ‘’old married pair’’ plus out of all the ocs those two are the ones that i drew first. Praveena has the tendency to blow things up how though is a mystery and hyunjin always has to clean up everything. 

Imara (-Though the god’s have left)

‘‘no listen, it doesn't make sense why would you wear a bra and some tight ass pants knowing you’re about to fight people who have knives and GUNS?’’ Imara asks perturbed.

‘‘Cause men are horny’‘ Rukiya retorts and raises an eyebrow

‘‘still doesn't make sense like wow!, some fucking boobs, like really? really? is that what gets you going? just some breast pressed up in a bra that is too damn tight and a flat stomach on a skinny ass girl that has absolute no muscles despite the training she went through?

Rukiya sighs ‘’ is this about-’’

‘‘lara croft yes’‘ Imara interrupts and slams her finger on the table ‘‘and im going to die on this hill that men shouldn't be allowed to create games!’‘

INTRODUCTION  IMARA:

plays games a lot, esp the loz series

has curly dyed blonde hair that's mostly tied in a ponytail  or a bun because she cant be bothered with it, though rukiya helps her all the time cause she never really learned how to deal with curly hair. 

Is on a baseball sponsorship because she's that good (she's a pitcher)

is totally tone deaf unlike her twin

isnt good with crows ie: strangers crowding around her after her team won a game

is kenyan

5′9

has a mole next to her upper lips on the left side

loves 90's rnb & hip hop music

‘‘he proclaimed his undying love and asked me to do the same, i had to overcome my desire to laugh’‘

Imara does have a slight complex about being a twin because she feels like Rukiya is the cooler one despite people loving her too. She's loud and boisterous basically a chad, but better. She's dorky and literally spends her free time gaming but she doesn't just play any game shes v specific when it comes to that. Her mom always has a headache because of her but thats okay but in the end her mom loves her to death.

Ava (-Though the god’s have left)

‘’do you you know how much it's sucks that at the end of all of this , i'm the one waiting for them?’’ Ava exclaims ‘’that i'm the one who will have to watch them go through the door to be evaluated? that i'm ultimately the end?

‘‘you’re not all alone-’‘

‘‘you don't understand’’ Ava interrupts, as she points at the short girl ‘’ i will have to watch my mom, my family that raised me go through that door and know that that will be the last time i will see them in that body!’’

INTRODUCTION  AVA:

She’s haitian 

keeps her hair in a short chin length dark blue bob

majors in sociology 

she and akiho are the ‘’comedy duo’’ of the group

is 5′6

born 4th november (scorpio)

‘‘my only crime was that i was down to clown’‘ 

When i make akiho i felt like she needed a companion so i made ava, both of them were inspired by the early 2000 shows characters. Although Ava likes to goof around she's also very studious and serious about her future. She comes from a family of 6 and she’s the second oldest. She and her older sister fight constantly 

Nïrnaya (Dawn over the horizon)

‘‘Magic’‘ the elf stars, her tall stature hunched over the herbs ‘’ is in the nature we’re surrounded in, in the mountains that stand high and the rivers that flow into the deep sea’’

she straightens up and walks over to Nïrnaya ‘’ we might lose everything.’’ She pokes the girl on the forehead ‘’but magic will forever stay with you because its the core of your being‘’ 

INTRODUCTION NÏRNAYA :

shes a mischievous 15 year old 

 has black curly long hair that are mostly braided

does not want to do this whole adventure thing because of how it reminds her too much of the ‘’chosen one trope’’ and thats too much responsibilities

born during the year of the earth dragon

‘‘snacking between meals is the least, but tastiest, of my problems’‘ 

i came up with this story and character because i wanted a book where a black girl for once was the main character, where she could experience the same thing as other mc (ie eragon etc) basically i wanted black representation in a medieval-esque world but with my own spin because the world itself is not very western like

[intoxicatingimmediacy]

Big Ups: Clipping Pick Their Bandcamp Favorites

“Right from the beginning, we always wanted to make a horror-themed record,” says Jonathan Snipes, a producer in the Los Angeles-based progressive noise-rap trio Clipping, alongside MC Daveed Diggs and fellow beatsmith Bill Hutson. The group’s third project for Sub Pop, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, updates the cult horrorcore hip-hop trend of the mid ‘90s in a thrilling and forward-thinking fashion. It’s a striking and deeply atmospheric record, powered by synth-based sonic experimentalism and grisly concept-focused writing that exudes a sinister and shadowy feel.

There Existed an Addiction to Blood adds to a stellar canon of work that kicked off with Clipping’s introductory midcity mixtape in 2013. “That one was really us learning how to be Clipping, and what we sounded like,” says Hutson, who helped mastermind the project’s metallic, glitch-afflicted beats. On the following year’s debut album, CLPPNG, the crew moved further towards what Hutson calls “dark and noise-tinged instrumentals.” The omission of the letter I in the album title represents the way Diggs avoids rhyming in the first person. Hutson maintains that if much of hip-hop involves MCs rapping about their own lives, Clipping’s music strives to be “a novel, not a memoir.” Case in point: 2016’s Splendor & Misery took shape as an Afrofuturist sci-fi adventure that explored an artificial intelligence world; 2017’s single “The Deep” inspired the author Rivers Solomon to expand the song’s environment into a novella of the same name.

Basing There Existed an Addiction to Blood around horrorcore and gory movies is a natural representation of Clipping’s influences and the way the trio approach writing songs. “Horrorcore is this forgotten and maligned subgenre of hip-hop that we’ve always had a tremendous amount of affection for,” says Hutson. “So much of Clipping is about referencing styles of hip-hop—almost all our songs were conceived as our take on a certain type of rap song—so this horror album was always going to happen.” Snipes adds, “We think of each of these songs as self-contained movie scores of vignettes in a specific genre.”

The original horrorcore movement that inspired Clipping’s latest album was spearheaded by RZA and Prince Paul’s Gravediggaz project, plus artists including Houston’s Ganksta N-I-P, Detroit’s Esham, and New York City’s Flatlinerz. ‘90s horrorcore lyrics were packed with macabre imagery and references to psychological disorders, satanism, and cannibalism; the gruesome verses were often relayed over willfully dank and grimey production. Clipping’s resurrection of the subgenre taps into the same lyrical themes—but this time Digg’s intense verses are backed by marauding waves of monstrous synths, sharp abrasive stabs of discordant noise, and snatches of field recordings that bring a chilling realism to There Existed an Addiction to Blood.

Key song “Run For Your Life” plays out like a frantic short movie. It co-stars Memphis MC La Chat, who used to roll with Three 6 Mafia and the Hypnotize Minds roster back in the ‘90s. “She’s hunting down Daveed and approaching and moving behind him in a car,” says Snipes. “Then in the third verse, we’re fully in the car with her.” To drum up the effect of the protagonist being chased to a bloody demise, Digg’s lyrics are surrounded by constantly shifting ambient noise: The sound of passing cars blasting music and dogs barking literally pulls the listener into the chilling scenario.

The same blend of adventurous production techniques and concept-heavy writing present on Clipping’s latest album also runs through Hutson and Snipes’s Bandcamp recommendations. Blasts of abstract hip-hop lyricism mix with innovative thematic albums and avant-garde film scores, adding up to a smart representation of Clipping’s advanced-level musical DNA.

Bill Hutson

Dax Pierson - Live In Oakland

I first saw Dax Pierson play around 2003, when he was in a group called Subtle that was an Anticon side project with Dose One and Jel. Dax was also the secret weapon of the Themselves project, which was also Dose and Jel, and on tour he’d play keys and finger drum on MPCs. Dax is this compelling, creative performer and composer. This tape came out on Ratskin and it’s from a more recent show—I might have even been at the show! His music is fascinating, almost uncategorizable left-field dance stuff that’s blending all these ideas.

John Wall - Hylic

I was really enamored of improvised music in the early ‘00s, and it’s a lot of what fueled my ravenous collector habit, which came from having to track down these obscure records that came from Japan and Germany and Switzerland and England, where they were only pressing a couple of hundred copies. John Wall is very careful as a computer music composer, and he’d spend years and years cutting up tiny pieces of improvised sounds and turning them into these totally austere and totally alien compositions. I was fascinated by the disparity between how much intention there was behind it and how alien the result sounds. Hylic almost sounds like there’s no human brain making logical choices that would compose this music—it feels like it’s naturally occurring in some way, like you’re listening to the background radiation of the solar system—but there’s also the most extreme version of authorship going into it.

billy woods - Hiding Places

I think billy woods is a fantastic example of this very abstract and angular and strange rapper but with these really strong connections to the history of New York rap. It’s almost like he’s from a different timeline where southern hip-hop didn’t take over the mainstream in the ‘00s and we kept going with Nas and Wu-Tang, and it’s developed into this new form. [Producer] Kenny Segal is a buddy—we’ve toured with him—and he would have been a youngster in the Project Blowed days but came out of the experimental L.A. hip-hop scene that produced Abstract Rude and Freestyle Fellowship and, later with the beatmakers, birthed the whole Low End Theory and Brainfeeder movement. This album is a New York and L.A. collab record that seems to perfectly synthesize two different types of left of center aesthetics, but feels completely natural in a way we wouldn’t have expected maybe 20 years ago.

Kevin Drumm - 09082001 gtr​/​synth ‘solo’

I included this not because anyone needs me to tell them Kevin Drumm is a fuckin’ noise hero, but I wanted to include Drumm because I think what he’s doing is a really unique thing that Bandcamp can provide: A couple of months ago I bought Drumm’s entire discography for like $22, which was like a hundred or so releases! He puts out so much, and it’s all of such high quality. This specific recording is from my favorite period of his work in the early-2000s, but it wasn’t available [back then] until he started bypassing labels and physical copies and started putting everything up himself direct to the fans.

DEBBY FRIDAY - DEATH DRIVE

[The label] Deathbomb Arc put out some of the first Clipping stuff. I think of [founder] Brian Miller as A&Ring my listening habits because he’s out there finding new artists I wouldn’t come across and putting out their records. DEBBY FRIDAY completely blew me away—this release seems both out of nowhere and so fully formed. It’s just brilliant and sort of industrial hip-hop. It’s really like the best Skinny Puppy album we never got but with way better lyrics and content and performance. It’s so smart and dark—she’s a really great lyricist.

Jonathan Snipes

Missincinatti - remove not the ancient landmarks

Missincinatti was Jeremy Drake, Jessica Catron, and Corey Fogel, and they had this band for a short time in L.A. where they played these contemporary arrangements of sea shanties. They’re all incredible musicians, and their arrangements were always so off-kilter and smart. This album is only on Bandcamp, and it’s like a little monument to this band that I loved so much for a short time. One of my favorite things is arrangements of folk music that almost feel like critical theory about folk music and this project feels like it’s in this realm. I wish they were still around playing shows so I could go to them.

François-Eudes Chanfrault - Inside

I discovered François-Eudes Chanfrault when I saw the movie for which this is the score. Then, when I started looking into François’s music, I realized that I’d run across him in online nerdy computer music circles. He became one of my favorite composers, and I became obsessed with tracking his music down. The development of the Inside score is really slow and tasteful, and that’s hard to accomplish when working with film. I also score movies, and film music always feels like if the music’s following a picture. It wants to be fast and have abrupt changes—but François is someone who is somehow able to make these really long elegant cues that actually play against the action of the film in this really striking way. It’s probably the last score I’d expect anybody to write for that movie, and it hits exactly the right tone. His use of electronics and computers and his use of a chamber ensemble are perfectly matched.

Lauren Bousfield - Fire Songs

Lauren’s a really good friend, and this album’s only available on Bandcamp. She’s an incredible musician—an absolute genius. This is the album she released shortly after her house burned down and she lost all her possessions in the fire. It feels very personal. It’s easy to think of electronic and breakcore as just splattered breakbeats that feel mechanical and machine-based. But this one, with the context [of the backstory], feels very emotional, and almost makes me tear up when I hear it.

Bryce Miller - W A S P

Bryce Miller is someone I found through some Bandcamp journalism, which I read regularly. This album, which is based on the Stieg Larsson Millennium books, is elegant and precise. There’s a lot of this retro ’80s synthwave stuff flying around—I’ve made a fair bit of it myself—but somehow this really nailed the tone of feeling very contemporary, but also very ancient. It’s like what I wanted synth records in the ’80s to sound like at the time, but they never quite did. The sense of melody and structure and tension and release is really spot on. Bryce feels like a real composer in that realm.

Max Tundra - With Love To Mummy

I first heard Max Tundra on the double disc compilation Tigerbeat6 Inc. from like 2001. I was really into Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and Kid606 and Matmos, and I was trying to figure out who was doing weird electronic music and that comp came out and it ended up being a huge window into bands I’d never heard of. Max Tundra’s track [“The Bill”] sounded like a general MIDI soundtrack to a spy show that he’d recorded into his answering machine! I’ve been a lifelong fan of his since then, and this collection is, like, his teenage recordings—it’s really interesting to hear his old music. It’s charming and fun to listen to as a fan, and to note where his music took him after that. I suppose other people feel the same way about that Radiohead release.

[xavierfiles-blog]

When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing?

In AGE OF X-MAN: THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER #1 by, Seanan McGuire and Juan Frigeri everyone’s favorite blue and fuzzy mutant is the most popular and famous figure in the world. This is the best indication we have that this alternate reality is actually the utopia it is claimed to be. Over forty years past his introduction and it still shocks me the Kurt Wagner isn’t the biggest name, not just in comics, but in media as a whole. Nightcrawler possesses the winning combination of an incredible and visually exciting design alongside a charming and likable personality. He has been beloved by X-Men fans for generations but has not been able to teleport himself out of that bubble and into solo success.

It isn’t that Kurt has been ignored, writers pretty much immediately got the appeal. Nightcrawler was a pet character for his creator, Dave Cockrum. While Dave was drawing UNCANNY X-MEN and Chris Claremont was writing, Nightcrawler seemed to be the break-out character, pulling a lot of focus. This lessened after John Byrne began drawing the title and wanted to focus on the Canadian Wolverine. Still, Nightcrawler remained a popular mutant. He was the second X-Man to get a solo mini-series and briefly led the X-Men in the mid-80s. During the mutant madness of the early 90s, Nightcrawler was positioned as the lead character in Excalibur. But as time went on it became clear that no one was able to figure out what to do with the character.

Credit to Marvel, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Nightcrawler just started his 5th solo series, but none of them have lasted past issue #12. While the jury is still out on THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER (it had an enjoyable but imperfect first issue), only one of his solo series actually got to the core of what works about the character. Dave Cockrum’s 1985 NIGHTCRAWLER limited series sees Kurt on a swashbuckling adventure where he gets to become a pirate, save a princess, and live out his Errol Flynn fantasies. It isn’t a self-serious character piece or an examination on the human condition, it is just a beautiful drawn romp by way of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the sweet spot for Nightcrawler.

Other attempts to kick off a story about the character fell on their face by looking at the wrong aspects of Nightcrawler. Chris Kipiniak and Matthew Dow Smith’s 2002 NIGHTCRAWLER for the Marvel Icons line examined a relatively recent (at the time) development for the character, his ordination into the Catholic priesthood. Ignoring the fact that no one involved in this story knew how priest work, it is an interesting angle, but one that fundamentally changes the character and his appeal. Up until around 2000, Nightcrawler’s faith was an aspect of the character, but not the defining one. He was religious in the way most religious people are. It was part of his life sure, but it didn’t define every action he made. Kurt wasn’t one to go on moody diatribes about the existential nature of faith. This series focused on that at the expense of the joy and energy that normally comes when Nightcrawler is on the page.

I’m curious why external media choses to play up this aspect of the character. In both his appearance on X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and X2: X-MEN UNITED, Kurt’s defining characteristic is his piousness. Perhaps the creators see the appeal of exploring the duality of a demon on the side of angels, but in execution it never goes deeper than that. I wouldn’t advocate for eliminating his faith, it is an interesting dimension to the character, only to balance it with other aspects of his personality.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Darick Robertson tried again in 2004 with a book that leaned really hard into the supernatural. This is post-Draco, a horrible story when Kurt was revealed to be the son of a satan. It mixed those ideas with the well-established concept that his adopted mother, Margali Szardos, and his sister/lover were both powerful sorceresses. Again, this could be a fun concept if it was just Nightcrawler plus magic. Instead it became an overly dark and serious story about exorcism, abuse, and the destruction of relationships.

The crux of this twelve issue series deals with Nightcrawler’s brother Stefan Szardos. Kurt was forced to kill a demon possessed Stefan to prevent his brother from murdering children. This led to the formation of the mob the chased Kurt in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1. It’s a dark origin for the character, and one most writers tend to leave in the past. It doesn’t play to any of the swashbuckling strengths that Nightcrawler has and doubles down on some of the worst tendencies of mid-00s comics. The last issue is Nightcrawler having an existential crisis while talking to Mephisto. It isn’t what anyone wanted from the character and that tone is a big reason why it didn’t resonate with readers.

The closest we have gotten to a Nightcrawler ongoing that actually worked was Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck’s 2014 series. It came in the aftermath of Nightcrawler fighting his way out of heaven and hell to come back to life in Jason Aaron’s AMAZING X-MEN. Tonally, the book hit a sweet spot, while probably leaning into the X-Men elements of the character too much to make it stand out. The first arc dealt with magic thanks to the return of Margali Szardos, but it was done in a whimsical, Excaliburesque way. Claremont smartly built up a unique supporting cast around Kurt, including the students Ziggy and Scorpion Boy, and an antagonistic love interest in the form of The Crimson Pirates’ Bloody Bess. Nauck’s artwork elevated the series by providing a joy that is essential to the character.

Unfortunately, the series had several roadblocks to success. Claremont’s tone and character voices were as good as his plots were bad. It was a mishmash of canon that was better left forgotten with a writing style that never evolved out of the 80s. The market dynamics at the time did little to help the book last. AMAZING X-MEN had just recently begun, and it was already marketed as the “Nightcrawler book”. Many customers weren’t going to double dip on the character. At the same time, Marvel was starting solo series for MAGNETO, CYCLOPS, STORM, and DOOP. Those existed in tandem with five other X-Men team books, two Wolverine books, and two books featuring secondary X-Teams. The market was flooded with X-Men and Nightcrawler didn’t stand a chance.

Even with these failures, Kurt Wagner remains beloved and his current mini speaks to that. In the Age of X-Man, the only intelligent thing Nate Grey did was make Nightcrawler the biggest star in the world. He is a celebrity in every sense of the word. He is beloved and iconic as a movie star and the premier superhero. It is no coincidence that the book is titled THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER, or that the logo is a riff on Spider-Man’s. In the Age of X-Man, Kurt is as loved and well known as Spider-Man is our world. The trick is replicating that adoration.

Nightcrawler should be a slam dunk as a solo hero outside of the X-Men. If writers can lean into the swashbuckling adventure and away from existential questions of religion, they have a shot at making Nightcrawler a world-wide phenomenon. Let Kurt fight The Spot or Kraven The Hunter to get him out of the bubble of the X-Men. Let him join the Avengers and prove his mettle against the biggest threats. Let my dude be what Spider-Man is, the iconic character of the Marvel Universe. He deserves it.

PS: Give him his damn beard back!

[cryogenichusk]

Best Of 2018

Can I just not comment on the year overall and get to the good stuff? Cool.

Here are our top albums of 2018, in alphabetical order, with a few honorable mentions and a mix to download that cherry-picks a song from each of the listed albums. Cheers!

Actors - It Will Come To You Full kudos and props to Aversionline (who have been doling out primo reviews, resulting in many purchases since the early 2000s) to keying us in to this one... in fact he said it best, “Thoroughly impresses with its cinematically synthwaved brand of forlorn-yet-danceable post-punk that wanders through an early-2000's Interpol type of take on such influences; plus a lush, modernized air of darkness that brings individuality to Actors' approach.”

The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer This Portland duo continues the expansion of their sound, going beyond avant-noise-metal-experimentalism and further into electronic realms. The addition of female vocals on multiple tracks, ranging from angelic to war cries, along with carefully placed stringed instrumentation, expand their sonic palate even further. Post-future primitivism at its best.

Candy - Good To Feel Metallic hardcore that’s short, sweet, and to the point (oh, and pissed off). Most reviews/reviewers are really patting themselves on the back as they specifically codify the various genres/scenes this record touches on... However, the most telling thing: this album is nine songs in 18 minutes.

Convulsing - Grievous Admittedly, this is the album on our list, we still need to spend more time with (the average song length is about eight and a half minutes - usually that puts our guard up fast)... but it’s been captivating to see the balance between the visceral heaviness (and speed) when delivered with deliberate, unfolding song structures (RIYL: Ulcerate). 

Del Judas - Deity Dark, gothy rock/americana - not unlike King Dude’s earlier releases, but with higher production value and delivered with more impassioned vocals, like from some of the acts of the 80s that crossed over from this style into pop culture (e.g. The Cult, The Church, etc.)

Harm’s Way - Posthuman Metallic HxC that brings the meathead grooves, perfect for working out. Heavy.

Holygram - Modern Cults Drab Majesty didn’t put out a record in 2018 (booo!), but here’s the next best thing. Holygram add a little tweak to the gothy-dancy-yet-mopey post-punk/new-wave motif but introduce a little lightness via shoegaze washes ala White Lies or The Weekend.

Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods Zero innovation has never been more welcome. Icy black metal from the masters, no Abbath - no problem, with just a touch of the classic and anthemic mid-era Bathory. There might be a slight dose of monotony throughout the album as a whole, but when the nostalgia of this sound and style hits, it’s easy to be forgiving.

Jaye Jayle - No Trail And Other Unholy Paths Rustic Americana from the frontman of Young Widows. Vacillates between “dusty ‘ol west” and “noir movie scene with protagonist looking out the cab window driving by a rainy city and grimy neon lights” - each modality is weary and searching.

Jesus Piece - Only Self When there was a face we wanted to melt this year, the song turned to the most was “Punish” from Jesus Piece. Pitch perfect late 90s/early 2000′s metallic hardcore channeled through a modern lens (and yea, yea, some reviews will probably mention the latter half of the record experimenting with more noisy, doomy songs - they’re cool too).

Kælan Mikla - Nótt Eftir Nótt Icelandic trio that nails the coldwave balance, sometimes teetering into dance territory, sometimes pulling back into melancholic pop, often reminiscent of Ladytron (who we love).

King Dude - Music To Make War To Shouldn’t be a surprise to see King Dude on the list at this point if you’ve been following along for a few years... Also, not surprising: our pithy “review” of his new album... which is the broken record quip of his previous few albums, i.e. “A continued expansion of his sound, blah blah blah...” Dark occult rock with dashes of highly niche sub-genres (e.g. garage, gothy confessional, proto-pysch rock, etc.)

Our Place Of Worship Is Silence - With Inexorable Suffering Bestial blackened death metal that sounds feral and unhinged. Cavernous bellows, but tight and crisp guitars that can crunch as much as provide disorienting dissonance. It’s hard to put into words, but these guys are really doing something unique that is nuanced (at least to those who listen to batshit crazy metal regularly), and checks a lot of disparate boxes simultaneously.

Secret Cutter - Quantum Eraser Biggest surprise of the year. No real reviews or fanfare, just a recommendation or two from a reliable source. But wow! What a great sound and style here: blending downtuned simple, noise-rock riffs, think Unsane trying to play sludge, with flashes of adrenaline in monochrome. There’s something about the dry sounding production and drone-influenced riffs, which are oh-my-god heavy while being angular and repetitive, that gives the whole package a concrete tone and feel that’s very unique.

The Soft Moon - Criminal By this point, The Soft Moon should need no introduction, he’s one of the premiere acts of modern darkwave/post-punk. This go ‘round sees his formula augmented with some more industrial and psychedelic flourishes.

Thou - Magus You’ve already heard all about “The Summer Of Thou” in 2018, these NOLA avant-sludge masters released three EPs, a split, and this: their magnum opus all within the span of several months. That’s a lot to take in, hell, this album is a lot - almost impossible to take all in one sitting, but they’re really operating in a league of their own at this point. It’d be one thing if it was the heavy music alone: but knowing the songs grapple with deeper issues of existentialism, individuality, and philosophy make it resonate deeper.

Tomb Mold - Manor Of Infinite Forms Grimy deathmetal with no novelties or frills outside of nostalgia for the glory days of deathmetal’s arrival in the late 80s/early 90s. This notion is further cemented with an absolutely NAILED production job.

Unravel - Eras Of Forfeit Beefy, thick death metal that sees these Aussies meld the Swedish HM-2 sound with added muscle and heft. Muscular grooves, impressively burly vocals, and tempo changes galore. Plus, with 11 songs in 23 minutes, there’s absolutely no filler to be found. Also that Dan Seagrave cover art is FIRE.

Honorable Mentions:

Dead Can Dance - Dionysus Cold Cave - You & Me & Infinity Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha Mausolei - Horizont and Vorposten

                               Cryogenic Husk #82 - Best Of 2018

1) Holygram - She’s Like The Sun 2) King Dude - Velvet Rope 3) Jaye Jayle - As Soon As Night 4) The Soft Moon - It Kills 5) Actors - We Don’t Have To Dance 6) Del Judas - Of Love And Death 7) Kælan Mikla - Draumadís 8) The Body - Nothing Stirs 9) Thou - The Changeling Prince 10) Convulsing - Beaten 11) Jesus Piece - Punish 12) Our Place Of Worship Is Silence - Chronicles Of Annihilation 13) Candy - Good To Feel 14) Harm’s Way - Human Carrying Capacity 15) Secret Cutter - Trampled By Light 16) Immortal - Called To ice 17) Unravel - Carcinogenesis 18) Tomb Mold - Final Struggle Of Selves

[disappearingground]

Think Of Us As Bookends: Jenny Lewis Interviewed

Clash Music August 8, 2019

American songwriter on her hidden hip-hop roots, creative honesty, and collaboration...

By Sarah Bradbury

“We can’t do anything about the shit out there,” Jenny Lewis says from the stage at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in West London, “but we’re all OK together in here.”

Bravely clad in figure-hugging, head-to-toe rose-gold sequins in spite of the atypical British heat still burgeoning outside the ram-packed venue, the Las Vegas-born musician oozes retro-edged glamour in her flame-red beehive and delivers a glitzy, soulful performance, every bit the music and style icon her reputation dictates.

The image she cuts on stage is in stark contrast to the laid-back woman in t-shirt and trainers I had the pleasure of speaking to just days earlier from a hotel room sofa at the K West.

Throughout our freewheeling chat that touches on Ariana Grande’s towering heels at Coachella, her love of boxing, and whether you sneeze when you eat peppermint, amongst more heavy-going topics, I feel the counteracting forces of an effusive warmth with an intimidating otherworldliness, as if speaking with a Hollywood film star of yesteryear.

Husky-toned statements end in pregnant pauses with eye contact firmly held, each anecdotal answer to a question leaving me on tenterhooks of what might come next.

The American singer-songwriter’s life in the limelight began as a child actress, appearing in Troop Beverly Hills and Brooklyn Bridge, Baywatch and The Golden Girls, Jell-O and Toys R Us ads in the late 80s/early 90s, her earnings going to support her family after her parents separated.

She made her break into music heading up much-loved LA indie band Rilo Kiley from 1998, which saw success over four albums and tracks featured on the likes of Noughties teen obsessions The O.C. and Dawson’s Creek. As well as time spent in The Postal Service, Jenny & Johnny and Nice As Fuck*, Lewis has been pursuing a solo career since 2006’s 'Rabbit Fur Coat'.

Earlier this year came the release of her fourth solo studio album, 'On The Line', to rapturous acclaim, delivering yet another installment of the particular brand of country-infused indie rock she has carved out for herself, which she has since been touring the US, Europe and many a festival stage with.

The journey to the album’s completion wasn’t an easy one - while 2014’s 'The Voyager' was preoccupied with the breakup of Rilo Kiley, facing her father’s death and suffering the tyranny of depression and insomnia, the five intervening years before the release of 'On The Line' brought their own set of challenges: the break down of her 12 year relationship with partner and musician Johnathan Rice and her mother’s death from cancer.

Yet while these life events may have left indelible marks on the singer-songwriter, the songs produced in their wake are counterintuitively dominated by spangly sing-along choruses, lucid images and strongly-drawn characters in immersive narratives. In her explanation of what inspired the album, she’s impossibly understated:

“Just life as it happens. All the things that you would imagine that happened between like 35 and 40. A lot of stuff happens in that period. So my songs either predict or mirror or shadow real life. I never know what I'm going to write about, I just kind of write about it.”

In that respect, songwriting is often a kind of therapy for the artist: “I think it's a feeling that births a song,” she explains thoughtfully. “And it's usually a feeling of agony or pain. Music is kind of therapeutic. And in that way it's something to turn to. It doesn't have to come from that place but I feel like it's always a feeling and then hopefully something catchy pops up.”

“In order for me to remember it, it has to be incredibly catchy or it'll just disappear into the ether of my unfinished songs pile. From 12 years ago, I have this one called ‘The Scorpion and the Lily’, that's just this thing that keeps unfolding. I don't think it's very good. I better stop…”

The intensely personal nature of her music means that the experience of releasing them out into the public realm can be a double-edged sword: “The life of a record is so funny because in the formative stage, it feels so potent. Working on it takes however long it takes. But this one took a minute, so to have it done and out in the world and now starting to see people know the songs, it's really satisfying. But it's also like, ‘How do you know that? That's really personal! Stop singing along with that sir, it's inappropriate!”

There’s also a process of translating the album tracks to work live: “On the road with a live band, you’re not playing any backing tracks, it's all what we're creating organically. So sometimes it doesn't work, a record piece.”

In particular, she notes collaborator Beck, the first of many on the album, is a meticulous producer: “Everything is very deliberate. So unless you hit all those marks live, sometimes a song will feel not as great. It takes playing it out in front of people 20, 30 times where it's like, mediocre. And then one night, you're like, ‘we got it.’”

But it’s a collaboration she has found exhilarating, “to experience my own songs through like another artist’s prism, rather than like a straight engineer, there's a trust. It's exciting to just feel what is going to happen. It’s the room. It's the cast of characters. It's how you feel on that day. It's the song. If the song sucks, it's not going to fly. But once I had the songs, I was very open to send them off to college or whatever.”

Growing up with parents as lounge musicians in Las Vegas, music was always going to figure largely in Lewis’ life: “They had a band together. And so music is just in the genetics, like that's just been the family thing. I grew up singing with my mom and my sister, and my dad was a virtuosic harmonica player - genius - so music was just the family business. I also had this side thing as an actor, which was also the family business. But then I just started writing from a young age.”

Her mother’s singer-songwriter records were certainly a key influence but Lewis credits a love of hip-hop for her obsession and dexterity as a lyricist: “I think it was hip-hop that really got me into words. My mom was listening to Laura Nero and Barbra Streisand. But then it was my music, like A Tribe Called Quest, that was a huge, just poetic influence. It was Big Daddy Kane, it was like Run DMC. Souls of Mischief. EPMD - all this lyrical stuff. I’d write poetry and raps. And then someone taught me how to play a couple chords on the piano and the guitar and then that was it.”

It was then later that country music came onto Lewis’ radar, completing the “mixtape” of genres that define her output: “I got into Gram Parsons and the Byrds in the early 2000s, then into Bakersfield stuff a little bit later. It’s all about storytelling. I like very evocative storytelling.”

And it is that very love of storytelling that has led Lewis to sit apart as a songwriter, bringing the acute specificities of her experiences and musical education to bear on a sound that invites her listener into a distinct world via vivid imagery and often biting witty observations in each track.

Opening with ‘Heads Gonna Roll’, the “lyrical mission statement,” featuring none other than Ringo Star plus a narcoleptic poet from Duluth, sycophants in Marrakech and nuns from Harlem, Lewis sees 'On The Line' as a story “from front to back. It begins with a breakup. But it's really a rebound. And then a death and rebirth.”

“So the beginning, it's like a play in my mind: here are the characters, now go for it. And Ringo's on the first track. It's a little braggy to put Ringo on the first track. But that is maybe the coolest thing that's ever happened to me…”

Also featured on the record are Jim Keltner - “one of the all-time rock and roll drummers” - Benmont Tench, Don Was, Jim Keltner and Jason Falkner. Delectable melodies and nods to country-pop and 70s soft rock serve to seductively sugarcoat searingly poignant evocations of much darker subject matter, arguably the most candid reflections on her past her music has ever dealt with.

As Lewis admits, ‘Little White Dove,’ is the “funkiest song about mourning and grieving.” Tackling her mother’s heroin addiction, their decades-long estrangement and final reconciliation before she died in hospital from liver cancer, she sings, “A mother and child / Emergency behind a yellow curtain / On the second floor / All the guardian angels at the door / With their long white coats and stethoscopes” before leading into the line: “I’m the heroin.”

‘Wasted Youth’ ponders her years acting as a child, “I wasted my youth on a poppy / Doo-doo doo-doo doo, just because,” nodding to the hard-earned cash part-funding her mother’s opiate addiction. Stand out track ‘Red Bull & Hennessy’, hits on her painful break from Rice, “And we had it all / It's falling apart / Never getting back again without that spark.”

‘Party Clown’ brings us Fuji apples, scorpions, beetles floating in red wine, while asking: “Can you be my puzzle piece, baby? / When I cry like Meryl Streep.”

Amid heartbreak and grief, lust and infatuation, cynical detachment and raw emotion, there’s a thread of black humour, as is pointed to in the album opener: “And maybe after all is said and done / We'll all be skulls.”

Having become increasingly adept as a solo artist, Lewis still looks back at first leaving her band as challenging: “Those were the best times ever. It's so amazing to see things for the first time, especially with a bunch of your friends around. It was so potent, and so fresh, and so new that it was like as exciting as it ever has been.”

Branching out at first filled her with trepidation, she recalls: “I was terrified. Making my first solo record, my friend asked me to make it for his label. That wasn't something that I would have done at that time. So I feel like I've been encouraged by people throughout my career. I've had these little spirit guides that have kind of like pushed me, like, ‘go do it. You can do it on your own.’”

That encouragement led her to surprise herself of just what she could achieve: “the art itself is the surprising part. When you realise you can do it. I remember hearing Rabbit Fur Coat off the tape in the studio after we had just cut. It was like live music. It sounded exactly like my dreams. It sounded like my soul. Band music is a collective soul but it’s different, it's everyone's experience. This was so personal.”

And now, she thrives on being, “the creative director of my world. I feel more comfortable doing it, you know, designing the set and directing the music videos. Like I directed the ‘Just One Of The Guys’ video” - a brilliantly fun ensemble of Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway and Brie Larson donning Adidas tracksuits and fake ‘taches - “which wouldn't have happened in my band, because it would have been a co-directing thing. So I feel like as far as a full artistic vision goes - good or bad, it could suck! - now I want to be in charge of the whole thing. I don't want to really, like, share.”

She reluctantly accepts a need to engage in the promotional side of the business, “though it is annoying, sometimes. But it is part of the whole thing. If I want to get my music out there, this presence is really important. So I try not to not to grumble about it. Because if you're not making like top 40 music, how are people going to find out about your music?”

At least with Instagram, she’s determined to have a laugh with it: “I've tried to curate my Instagram in a way where it is 100% authentic. It is 100% me. So whatever you see on there, if it's lame, it's my fault,” she says with a laugh.

I get a preview of the latest of her surreal Insta Story videos, “shot at the Queen's tennis centre. We opened for Death Cab For Cutie there a couple weeks ago. And that's where Wes Anderson shot part of the Royal Tennenbaums. Then we had these rabbit costumes...”

In the span of her career, the 43 year old reflects she seen the industry and environment both for artists and audiences shift. She herself had to distance herself from Ryan Adams who had worked on 'The Voyager' and the early stages of the current album, after allegations were made against him of sexual manipulative behaviour.

“I think it's evolving and I appreciate the dialogue,” Lewis says. “I was one of fewer women on the road when I started. Now there are way more women out there. But there's still those moments. Like, this camera guy at this festival I played. I wanted the cameras to be in my aesthetic. So I go back to talk to him with the set list and he just rolled his eyes from the moment I opened my mouth. I could tell he didn't want to do it. But I've learned over the years, to just not bat an eye, and just be patient, and get exactly what I fucking want. But you still feel those moments of resistance.”

While she does joke that becoming an “icon” of any kind usually implies “you’re kind of old”, she has no doubt of the importance of inspiring the next generation: “When I saw my first proper concert, on my own, without my mum, it was The Cure and PIXIES were opening. I must have been 11 or 12. And I saw Kim Deal on stage playing bass. She was maybe the first woman I'd ever seen playing an instrument. And that really resonated with me.”

That’s not to say she fully embraces role model status: “I never think of myself in a leadership context. I'm trying to just be myself. I'm not trying to be perfect. I try to be responsible with what I say. But sometimes, I talk shit,” she says with a wry smile.

Were things more wild back in the day?

“I went to a bunch of Grateful Dead shows as a kid. And like the even the parking lot was wild. You know? I mean, it was like drug culture. That was the 90s. We still have fun. Although it's like pretty rated PG-13. I mean, I've never been invited to an orgy. So I don't know. I'm trying to be less of a square…”

While she might not literally be taking things day by day - “I’m a hippie but that big of a hippie that much of a hippie” - there’s a resistance to overengineering her forward path: “I don't have goals ever. I've got like, song ideas. I've got 10 or 12 songs I'm just starting. Like the kombucha thing, you’ve got to let it ferment.”

And there’s also a sense that having pretty much experienced it all, from child-acting to band life to solo artist, playing all festivals from Glastonbury to Coachella, becoming artistic director of all her output, she can take the time to relish in this moment.

The week previous she was at Latitude: “I love Latitude. Our set was so fun. But then afterwards, we got stoned and went out into the crowd to watch Khruangbin, which was the best festival sets I've seen since like, Tame Impala at Coachella. It was absolutely dancey. We were like we found ourselves in the middle of like a steampunk 30th birthday party where everyone was dressed up and dancing around us. And we were like, this is amazing.”

Later that week, watching her delight, charm and coax her summer’s evening London crowd into being wrapped around her finger as pink and blue balloons filled the air, I saw that this is a Jenny Lewis who’s survived significant turbulence in her life, faced her demons and gone from strength to strength as an artist as a result - and now gets to enjoy the pink and blue-hued view.

Does she have any advice for young women looking to for the success she has enjoyed?

“I'd say: wear what you want. Sing what you feel. Write what you know. Stand flat-footed. Don't take no shit.”

Wise words, well said.

[annettazick42961-blog]

The Finest Music Books Ever

Genres in music are like branches of a tree. Many kinds of music, equivalent to traditional blues and people music were not written down in sheet music ; as an alternative, they were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs have been handed down orally , from one musician or singer to another, or aurally, in which a performer learns a tune " by ear ". When the composer of a tune or piece is not identified, this music is commonly labeled as "traditional" or as a "folk tune". Totally different musical traditions have different attitudes in the direction of how and the place to make changes to the unique supply material, from quite strict, to people who demand improvisation or modification to the music. A tradition's history and stories can also be handed on by ear by means of tune. Two mid-вЂ90s albums outlined these ideological threads better than some other. In 1994, Gravediggaz†debut 6 Ft Deep found RZA and Prince Paul collaborating at the peak of their powers together with StetsasonicвЂs Frukwan, plus, um, a fourth man. The end result was dusty, violent, humorous, and endlessly creative, valorizing unhealthy PCP journeys and imagining a suicide hotline that talked you into it. A 12 months later, Memphis†Three 6 Mafia released its eerie, lo-fi debut Mystic Stylez, www.audio-transcoder.com a druggy exploration of 35mm, oversaturated haunted-home music. ItвЂs an album of just about ambient violence, its warbling synths a pink fog that creeps in from underneath your door and subtly normalizes its lyrical malevolence, like the gradually reworking worlds of JacobвЂs Ladder or Silent Hill.

Individuals, stop voting for that ineffective R&B, Pop music. It rots the brains of youngsters of this technology. microhouse : Microhouse is a mix of house music and minimal techno. With origins within the '80s and '90s, microhouse gained recognition in the early 2000s with its minimalist tackle house music. Microhouse makes use of quick samples to switch drum machine sounds with clicks, static, or on a regular basis noises. Quick: How Many Totally different Genres of Popular Music Are There? No. You are Improper. One of the best music anime actually tends to characteristic an incredible soundtrack to go with the motion of the present. However oftentimes what drives the story ahead and retains viewers intrigued is the drama behind the music; the motivation, struggle, romance, and friendship between characters are very important elements to what are often very emotionally charged narratives. Here are 15 of the perfect music anime for lovers of music, and an excellent story. This line of research thus implies the next general proposition: despite the growing complexity of style designation and elevated reliance on further-genre sorting mechanisms, genres should however persist as important strategies of sorting and sense-making in musical spheres. With established brands in native markets related to sure genres and formats, radio stations could earn a key place within the sensible speaker market by building out their digital presence. Below is the record of the High 10 best musicians in Italy, great singers who each Italian music fan should know and adore for their superior talent in the genre.

Nice love songs I've pay attention in R&B. most romantic musics. nothing shout like different genres. Amuse is the only music distribution service that lets you launch music direct out of your phone. Obtain the Amuse app to upload your music, most famous music Genres 2017 monitor your development and withdraw royalties. Nonetheless, Bluegrass music normally retains to its origins and has a really particular sort of sound, often generated with a string instrument, which consists of a really quick plucking in excessive-pitched tones, sometimes combined with the excessive lonesome sound". It is considered to be more free regarding rhythm as nicely, usually associated to improvisation. That final half is mostly the principle focus of the music. The music genres that Analyst character varieties have a tendency to understand greater than the other Roles - rock (80%), classical (76%), jazz (fifty four%, tied with Diplomats), punk (46%), and metal (forty four%) - additionally are usually the ones which are most frequently respected for the sheer technical expertise at work as a lot as for the extra emotional qualities of those songs. Not to say that other genres are lacking in musicianship, however Analysts could nonetheless discover these five forms particularly likely to prize efficient, precise virtuosity for its personal sake. In spite of everything, the one thing an Analyst loves greater than a superb problem is seeing that challenge bested by way of talent alone, whether the problem is a dazzlingly intricate guitar solo or a whole movement of a difficult concerto. The chillout music sometimes called chill-out is an electronic music subgenre and umbrella time period for electronic music characterized by mid-tempo and mellow style beats. The music began within the mid-Nineteen Nineties at dance club chill rooms where a relaxing music might be performed to allow a dancer to relax out from a quick tempo music that performed on the dance floor. A few of this music's notable artists embrace Moonbotica, Moby, Paul Kalbrener, and air. The genres related to this music are ambient, down tempo and nujazz. Dub step is growing increasingly extra standard of late and has pushed EDM into the spotlight, introducing digital music genres to many people who might not have been conscious of them beforehand. After all, just because it has become standard not too long ago does not imply that dubstep as a style hasn't been around for a great long whereas. This is a little more easy than the examples above. Feeling relaxed may be very subjective, which implies that songs for rest and de-stressing is dependent in your musical tastes. Allways use the large picture and follow logic and scientific criteria. The reality is that every one those genres you hear arround you (this rock or that rock, or this jazz or that jazz) are SUB-genres, not genres, they use almost the same language and fluctuate solely in details. I thought it could be useful to share a playlist featuring one song from every of the genres listed. Given the varied range of content material we have covered, it's a actually blended bag — but it's positive to get you serious about all of the obscure genres that you just're at present lacking out on.

Traditional music is carefully tied to a folks's language, environment, and social customs. It's the oldest and most prevalent category of music. Popular music is primarily leisure and is usually not restricted to particular makes use of or settings. Senegalese singer & percussionist, Youssou N dour was born in the busy city of Dakar. He is without doubt one of the pioneers of the favored music type known in Wolof as Mbalax. As a celebrated singer, songwriter, and composr he is regarded very extremely internationally. His fusion of Mbalex with Cuban, Latin, Hip-hop and parts of pop has earned him a world following.

[wbwest]

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 8/25/17

  In movie news, there was quite the controversial casting this week, as the color lines blurred for some comic book adaptations. First up, it was announced that English actor Ed Skrein would be portraying Japanese character Ben Daimio in the upcoming Hellboy reboot. Now, according to what I’ve read, Daimio’s Japanese heritage heavily influences the character, so this whitewashing of the character doesn’t seem to be in the best interest of the character. I mean, after the problems with whitewashing in Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, Aloha, The Great Wall, and Ni’ihau, you’d think Hollywood would avoid shit like this. Yes, movies are made to make money, but it’s not like Skrein is a bankable star worth slotting into the role, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Usually this is done for the film’s STARS. Damon, Johansson, Stone. This is a secondary character, so it really wouldn’t have hurt them to seek out an Asian actor. Normally I’m just like “Well, Hollywood’s gonna Hollywood”, but this decision just doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Next up, 24: Legacy’s Anna Diop has been cast as Starfire in Warner Bros’ Titans series, slated to air on DC’s upcoming digital service. Some folks are saying they should’ve cast a Latina, but she’s gonna either be painted or CGied in orange, so it’s not like it’s gonna matter at the end of the day. Personally, if they wanted authenticity, I think they should’ve cast an actual orange alien princess. Right now there are just too many unknowns for me to get excited about this. I mean, DC announced the digital service without a lot of information. What’s gonna be on it? What will it cost? How much of the DC library will be available to be housed on it? As for Titans, this is the show TNT passed on. Ya know, the home of such illustrious shows as The Librarians and The Last Ship. I mean, they’re basically just about a notch up from what we got in the 90s from Universal’s Action Pack lineup. If Titans couldn’t fit anywhere on that schedule, then it probably just isn’t “ready for primetime” yet.

Speaking of aimless Warner Bros decisions, they announced 2 different Joker movies this week. First up is an origin tale, directed by Todd Phillips of Old School fame, and produced by Martin Scorsese. Hmm, one of those things is not like the other. I mean, why would Scorsese touch something helmed by the dude who gave us Road Trip? And who even WANTS a Joker origin story? First of all, it’s reportedly not even going to be part of the DCEU, so why confuse the audience with a story that won’t even really “count” in the grand scheme of things? Nobody needs a standalone origin of a take on a character they’ll likely never see again. This is just as foolish as Sony’s Don’t-Look-For-Spider-Man-To-Appear Venom movie. Next, the guys behind This Is Us (SO hot right now!) and Crazy, Stupid, Love are working on a Bonnie & Clyde-style Joker and Harley film, with Jared Leto and Margot Robbie reprising their roles from Suicide Squad. Since this would sort of negate the empowerment that Harley gained by the end of Squad, it’s believed that this actually means that the planned Gotham City Sirens film, also slated to star Robbie, is now dead. Honestly, I could do without either of these movies. I found Leto’s take on Joker to be…interesting, but Less is More with that character. Plus, I don’t really think the DCEU would be strengthened by this sort of movie. It’s not the world-building they need to be doing right now, as they haven’t even figured out the core of their star characters like Batman and Superman yet.

In TV news, Christopher Sebela’s comic Heartthrob has been optioned as a TV series by Felix Culpa – a production company launched by actress/Elvis’s granddaughter Riley Keough. Now, comics are optioned every day, and the final product never comes to fruition, but I hope this series sees the light of day. I’m actually a big fan of the comic, which is published by Oni Press. Set in the late 70s, it focuses on Callie, who’s received a heart transplant while the process is still in its infancy. Given a new lease on life, but still told she’s basically living on borrowed time, she decides to change her life when she meets Mercer, a charming guy with a shady side. She immediately falls for him, and he teaches her how to be bad, like rob banks and commit other crimes. She gets off on the rush. Pretty soon, however, she realizes that Mercer isn’t real. No, he’s actually the ghost of the guy whose heart is now in Callie. So, it’s a Bonnie & Clyde story where Clyde’s calling the shots from the afterlife. The book is published in “seasons”, so the first 5-issue miniseries wrapped up back in early 2016, while season 2 is hitting stores now. If you’re looking for a new comic not from the Big Two, I highly recommend it.

In music news, Taylor Swift did a whole social blitz to announce that her next album would be called Reputation, and would be released Nov 10th. On top of that, the first single was released last night, with rumors that the video will premiere at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards. Ya know, the same awards hosted my Taylor’s enemy Katy Perry. Yeah, that should be pretty interesting to watch. Anyway, the new song is called “Look What You Made Me Do”, and I’m not too impressed. It lacks a real hook, while the chorus itself is basically spoken. I feel like it has all the ingredients for a great song, but it’s not living up to its full potential. If this is an indicator of what to expect on Reputation, though, I’ll admit I’m curious. It can’t be worse than Perry’s Witness.

Speaking of Katy Perry, we got the premiere of her video for “Swish Swish”, which was reportedly her diss track against Taylor Swift. After a lot of backtracking and sucking up, though, it seems Katy wants to put that feud behind her. That’s why this horrible video does everything it can to take the bite out of a song that was never really that biting to begin with. I mean, just look at it – Molly Shannon? Terry Crews? Even Nicki Minaj was clearly CGied in, as I’m sure she didn’t wanna be anywhere near this shitshow. The sad thing about the Perry/Swift feud is that Katy bailed on it the minute she realized the Swifties were a more powerful lobby than she had thought. Nobody was feeling her SNL performances, and Witness didn’t exactly fly off the shelves. She realized that she can’t really survive by making enemies, so suddenly she became conciliatory to save her ass. Plus, it’s kinda lame that this blood feud started just because Taylor stole a few of Katy’s dancers for her tour. Anyway, you’ll never get those 6 minutes back. You’re welcome.

I had the pleasure of joining my buddy Zac for his new podcast, The Zac Shipley Show. He’s treating these first few episodes as pilots for ideas he’s wanted to try, so our ep was called Streaming Pile, where we talked about the worst things we could find on streaming services. I talked about a Star Trek: Voyager episode where formerly perky pixie Kes returns all middle-aged and bitter. You should check it out, and give a listen to his other episodes while you’re there!

Song of the Week

I’ve been a big Maren Morris fan since she released “My Church”, and I was really into her next single, “80s Mercedes”. With this song she continues not to disappoint, as I love the groove on this thing. Listen to the bassline. It’s not a dance song, yet you can do a MEAN two-step to it. Hell, I think you could even do a casual version of The Hustle to it. This will definitely go to #1 given time.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

NBC’s planned reboot of Xena: Warrior Princess – which would’ve featured a full-on lesbian relationship between her and Gabrielle – is officially dead, as they said “it didn’t warrant a reboot”. Man, if only other studios would realize this about some of their projects…

Director James Gunn mentioned in a Q & A session that the 3rd Guardians of the Galaxy film would set up the next 10-20 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yup, you’re just now realizing your own mortality. I’ll give you a minute to deal with that.

Speaking of Gunn, he’s attached to write the pilot for (and possibly direct) a reboot of 70s series Starsky & Hutch. This adaptation is supposed to be similar in tone to CBS’s upcoming S.W.A.T. and not comedic in tone like the 2004 Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson movie.

Surprising every critic in Hollywood, Netflix has renewed the maligned comedy Friends From College for a second season.

Known for controversial publicity stunts, Alamo Drafthouse is reportedly organizing a Clowns Only screening of the new adaptation of Stephen King’s It.

We got a new poster for Thor: Ragnarok. So many colors!

Michael K. Williams has reportedly been cut from the Star Wars Han Solo film, as Ron Howard’s reshoot schedule conflicted with another role that Williams had accepted.

There are, like, 8 different Knight Rider reboot treatments floating around Hollywood, but the latest rumor is that one of those productions is looking at John Cena as Michael Knight, with Kevin Hart as the voice of K.I.T.T. Of course, it would be a comedic adaptation, a la the popular Jump Street franchise.

Super Troopers 2, the sequel to one of the most overrated films I’ve ever seen, will hit theaters April 20th, 2018.

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson will star in Nasty Women, which is a female-led reboot of the Michael Caine/Steve Martin classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Independence Day: Resurgence‘s Jessie T Usher will star in Son of Shaft, with Samuel L. Jackson potentially reprising his role as John Shaft (from the 2000 reboot film), the nephew of the original John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree, who is also in talks to join the movie. Man, that gave me a headache.

Always on the cutting edge, here’s Sesame Street’s parody of 2017’s song of the summer, “Despacito”

According to the creators, the Netflix series Stranger Things will most likely end after its fourth season

The actress formerly known as “Andrea Zuckerman”, Gabrielle Carteris, has been re-elected to a 2-year term as the President of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

Ryan Gosling will host the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, with musical guest Jay-Z, on Sept 30th.

Jamie Bell is developing a Jumper TV series, based on the 2008 film about teleporters

Suicide Squad 2 is reportedly being fast tracked, but I hope they fast track it right into the garbage. I mean, I enjoyed the first one, but I don’t need a sequel.

I like Nick Kroll, even though I never saw even a second of Kroll Show. Anyway, he’s got a new animated series about puberty called Big Mouth coming to Netflix and after watching this teaser I am ON BOARD!

We’re a month away from the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, and it was revealed that it will be rated TV-MA, for Mature Audiences. Now, it doesn’t mean there’ll be tits and phasers, but it does mean they can tell more complex stories. That said, I still feel like they don’t truly understand the source material.

After a scathing essay from his ex-wife went public, accusing him of adultery and other generally shitty behavior to women, Joss Whedon went underground and the fan site, Whedonesque, shut down after 15 years.

We got a new teaser for Netflix’s The Punisher. With the rate I’m getting through these Marvel shows, I’ll probably get to it just before Evie goes off to Hogwarts.

There was a national solar eclipse this week, which was the first occurrence since 1918. I’m sure you might’ve heard something about it. It was kind of a big deal. Folks were pimping out special cardboard glasses on Craigslist for insane amounts of money, and the American President made news by looking directly into it. It seems that it had a strange effect on different folks. For example, Netflix viewership went down 10% as people went outside to view the phenomenon. Not everyone understood what was going on, bless their hearts. At work, a frantic parent called in and said “Y’all watching the news? You hear about this eclipse? Is it serious?!” Apparently she thought it posed some sort of danger to her kids and the school. No, ma’am. It’s just a beautiful sky ballet. Anyway, the eclipse was EVERYWHERE. I didn’t get to see totality, but it was still nice to stand outside for a bit on a nice day. What am I saying? I hate the outdoors! Well, it was nice to not have to work for a few minutes. You couldn’t escape the Eclipse Fever at the start of the week, so that’s why the Solar Eclipse of 2017 had the West Week Ever.

[xavierfiles-blog]

When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing?

In AGE OF X-MAN: THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER #1 by, Seanan McGuire and Juan Frigeri everyone’s favorite blue and fuzzy mutant is the most popular and famous figure in the world. This is the best indication we have that this alternate reality is actually the utopia it is claimed to be. Over forty years past his introduction and it still shocks me the Kurt Wagner isn’t the biggest name, not just in comics, but in media as a whole. Nightcrawler possesses the winning combination of an incredible and visually exciting design alongside a charming and likable personality. He has been beloved by X-Men fans for generations but has not been able to teleport himself out of that bubble and into solo success.

It isn’t that Kurt has been ignored, writers pretty much immediately got the appeal. Nightcrawler was a pet character for his creator, Dave Cockrum. While Dave was drawing UNCANNY X-MEN and Chris Claremont was writing, Nightcrawler seemed to be the break-out character, pulling a lot of focus. This lessened after John Byrne began drawing the title and wanted to focus on the Canadian Wolverine. Still, Nightcrawler remained a popular mutant. He was the second X-Man to get a solo mini-series and briefly led the X-Men in the mid-80s. During the mutant madness of the early 90s, Nightcrawler was positioned as the lead character in Excalibur. But as time went on it became clear that no one was able to figure out what to do with the character.

Credit to Marvel, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Nightcrawler just started his 5th solo series, but none of them have lasted past issue #12. While the jury is still out on THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER (it had an enjoyable but imperfect first issue), only one of his solo series actually got to the core of what works about the character. Dave Cockrum’s 1985 NIGHTCRAWLER limited series sees Kurt on a swashbuckling adventure where he gets to become a pirate, save a princess, and live out his Errol Flynn fantasies. It isn’t a self-serious character piece or an examination on the human condition, it is just a beautiful drawn romp by way of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the sweet spot for Nightcrawler.

Other attempts to kick off a story about the character fell on their face by looking at the wrong aspects of Nightcrawler. Chris Kipiniak and Matthew Dow Smith’s 2002 NIGHTCRAWLER for the Marvel Icons line examined a relatively recent (at the time) development for the character, his ordination into the Catholic priesthood. Ignoring the fact that no one involved in this story knew how priest work, it is an interesting angle, but one that fundamentally changes the character and his appeal. Up until around 2000, Nightcrawler’s faith was an aspect of the character, but not the defining one. He was religious in the way most religious people are. It was part of his life sure, but it didn’t define every action he made. Kurt wasn’t one to go on moody diatribes about the existential nature of faith. This series focused on that at the expense of the joy and energy that normally comes when Nightcrawler is on the page.

I’m curious why external media choses to play up this aspect of the character. In both his appearance on X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and X2: X-MEN UNITED, Kurt’s defining characteristic is his piousness. Perhaps the creators see the appeal of exploring the duality of a demon on the side of angels, but in execution it never goes deeper than that. I wouldn’t advocate for eliminating his faith, it is an interesting dimension to the character, only to balance it with other aspects of his personality.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Darick Robertson tried again in 2004 with a book that leaned really hard into the supernatural. This is post-Draco, a horrible story when Kurt was revealed to be the son of a satan. It mixed those ideas with the well-established concept that his adopted mother, Margali Szardos, and his sister/lover were both powerful sorceresses. Again, this could be a fun concept if it was just Nightcrawler plus magic. Instead it became an overly dark and serious story about exorcism, abuse, and the destruction of relationships.

The crux of this twelve issue series deals with Nightcrawler’s brother Stefan Szardos. Kurt was forced to kill a demon possessed Stefan to prevent his brother from murdering children. This led to the formation of the mob the chased Kurt in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1. It’s a dark origin for the character, and one most writers tend to leave in the past. It doesn’t play to any of the swashbuckling strengths that Nightcrawler has and doubles down on some of the worst tendencies of mid-00s comics. The last issue is Nightcrawler having an existential crisis while talking to Mephisto. It isn’t what anyone wanted from the character and that tone is a big reason why it didn’t resonate with readers.

The closest we have gotten to a Nightcrawler ongoing that actually worked was Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck’s 2014 series. It came in the aftermath of Nightcrawler fighting his way out of heaven and hell to come back to life in Jason Aaron’s AMAZING X-MEN. Tonally, the book hit a sweet spot, while probably leaning into the X-Men elements of the character too much to make it stand out. The first arc dealt with magic thanks to the return of Margali Szardos, but it was done in a whimsical, Excaliburesque way. Claremont smartly built up a unique supporting cast around Kurt, including the students Ziggy and Scorpion Boy, and an antagonistic love interest in the form of The Crimson Pirates’ Bloody Bess. Nauck’s artwork elevated the series by providing a joy that is essential to the character.

Unfortunately, the series had several roadblocks to success. Claremont’s tone and character voices were as good as his plots were bad. It was a mishmash of canon that was better left forgotten with a writing style that never evolved out of the 80s. The market dynamics at the time did little to help the book last. AMAZING X-MEN had just recently begun, and it was already marketed as the “Nightcrawler book”. Many customers weren’t going to double dip on the character. At the same time, Marvel was starting solo series for MAGNETO, CYCLOPS, STORM, and DOOP. Those existed in tandem with five other X-Men team books, two Wolverine books, and two books featuring secondary X-Teams. The market was flooded with X-Men and Nightcrawler didn’t stand a chance.

Even with these failures, Kurt Wagner remains beloved and his current mini speaks to that. In the Age of X-Man, the only intelligent thing Nate Grey did was make Nightcrawler the biggest star in the world. He is a celebrity in every sense of the word. He is beloved and iconic as a movie star and the premier superhero. It is no coincidence that the book is titled THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER, or that the logo is a riff on Spider-Man’s. In the Age of X-Man, Kurt is as loved and well known as Spider-Man is our world. The trick is replicating that adoration.

Nightcrawler should be a slam dunk as a solo hero outside of the X-Men. If writers can lean into the swashbuckling adventure and away from existential questions of religion, they have a shot at making Nightcrawler a world-wide phenomenon. Let Kurt fight The Spot or Kraven The Hunter to get him out of the bubble of the X-Men. Let him join the Avengers and prove his mettle against the biggest threats. Let my dude be what Spider-Man is, the iconic character of the Marvel Universe. He deserves it.

PS: Give him his damn beard back!

When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing? was originally published on Xavier Files