#sort of going for the adventure path vibe here where its a series of short adventures strung into a campaign

[feycharm]

hey since im here, interest check: would anyone out there be into in runeterra d&d

[thesportssoundoff]

“So this card is damn good, eh?” UFC Fight Night From Brazil

Joey

Jan 27th, 2019

The first card for ESPN+ had a little bit of everything; there was a big title fight with two division relevance, a big clash between a rising LW contender and an old war horse, familiar faces, up and coming prospects and some good old fashioned low brow chaos for all to take in. This card is different across the board but that's not in a bad way. In the weirdest way, it's just a collection of really great fights up and down the marquee. You have a bantamweight #1 contender type clash as the headliner, Jose Aldo vs Renato Moicano as the co-main event in what should be a fuckin' great fight, potentially the last fight of Demian Maia's career and a collection of fights with prospects facing prospects, prospects facing proven UFC veterans and some good sleeper fights across weight classes like flyweight (both men and women) and lightweight. This card probably won't Ready to have some fun?

Fights: 13

Debuts: Sarah Frota, Talia Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Rogério Bontorin, Geraldo de Freitas, Felipe Colares

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 1 (Dmitry Sosnovskiy OUT, Jairzinho Rozenstruik IN vs Junior Albini)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 7  (Jose Aldo, Demian Maia, Raphael Assuncao, Marlon Moraes, Charles Oliveira, David Teymur, Thiago Santos)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 2 (Demian Maia, Junior Albini)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Marlon Moraes, Raphael Assuncao, Renato Moicano, Charles Oliveira, David Teymur, Ricardo Ramos)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC):  23-10

Raphael Assuncao- 4-0 Marlon Moraes- 3-1 Jose Aldo- 1-2 Renato Moicano- 3-1 Demian Maia- 1-3 Lyman Good- 1-1 Charles Oliveira- 4-1 David Teymur- 3-0 Johnny Walker- 1-0 Justin Ledet- 1-1 Livia Souza- 1-0 Sarah Frota- 0-0

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Bantamweight- 2 (3) Featherweight- 2 (2) Welterweight- 2 (4) Lightweight- 1 (4) Middlewieght- 1 (1) Flyweight- 1 (3) Light Heavyweight- 1 (2) Heavyweight- 1 (2) Women's Strawweight- 1 (1) Women's Flyweight- 1 (3)

2019’s Records We Keepin Track Of:

Debuting Fighters (0-4): Sarah Frota, Talia Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Rogério Bontorin, Geraldo de Freitas, Felipe Colares, Anthony Hernandez

Short Notice Fighters (0-2):  Jairzinho Rozenstruik

Second Fight (2-1):  Said Nurmagomedov, Livia Souza, Johnny Walker

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (2-0): Magomed Bibulatov

Undefeated Fighters (1-2): Sarah Frota, Anthony Hernandez, Talia Santos, Felipe Colares

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization:

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (2-3):  Said Nurmagomedov

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- The biggest "pondering" I have is whether or not the result of Cejudo vs Dillashaw wrecked the relevance for our main event. To be 100% fair and on the nose, the winner of this fight had to face TJ Dillashaw for the title should he have beaten Cejudo. Even if Raphael is a drab fight on paper due to Dillashaw dominating the second fight, Raphael would've been beyond every other potential title contender by a sizable margin with little room for debate. If Moraes became the first guy since Dillashaw to beat Assuncao over the past like four years? I can't imagine there being an argument about him as the #1 contender either. Cejudo finishing Dillashaw forces everybody to sit back down and try to reconfigure what this fight really means. Now it's no longer in theory a #1 contender fight outright since you're probably getting a Dillashaw vs Cejudo rematch soon. How soon and what weight class (rematch at flyweight? Cejudo going for two?) puts the winner of this fight in a potential year long limbo (if Cejudo vs Dillashaw happens in July, chances are we're not seeing Moraes/Assuncao vs Cejudo/Dillashaw winner until 2019). What a weird stupid spot to be in.

2- It's weird that the co-main event is eerily similar while also being completely different if that makes any sort of sense at all. This is a #1 contender fight that may not be one and yet I'm pretty intrigued in the number of ways it can go. It's like a weird RL Stein Choose Your MMA Adventure Book:

Holloway stays at 145 lbs, Moicano wins so you get Moicano vs Holloway eventually.

Holloway goes up to 155 lbs, Moicano wins means you have no Holloway so do you do Moicano/Ortega 2 or Moicano/Volkanovski or does Frankie Edgar come into play?

Holloway stays at 145 lbs, Aldo wins so it's down to either Edgar getting a shot at Holloway despite losing to Aldo twice (aka the UFC 222 main event on paper) or you go with Holloway vs Volkanovski or you try to convince yourself that fans will want to see Holloway scrub Aldo a third time.

Holloway goes up to 155 lbs, Aldo wins means all sorts of chaos. Can't do Aldo vs Edgar III when Aldo won the first two fights so you might go with Volkanovski vs Aldo but at the same time does Aldo get a title shot if he wants to retire so do you just ignore Aldo/Moicano and go with Volkanosvki vs Ortega or Edgar vs Ortega 2 or does Yair get involved or so on so forth.

A lot of unique scenarios at play here.

3- The first Assuncao vs Moraes fight could be summed up as a better version of every big Assuncao fight. He neutralizes guys, does enough to win rounds, stifles their offensive gameplan and then leaves with a tight decision win. Moraes looked pretty nervous in his UFC debut, got dropped by Assuncao early and a late rally (in many ways punctuating a staring contest where the guy who did something gets the boost) wasn't enough. What changes has Moraes made to his game and can they be implemented against a bigger sturdier guy. For all of Assuncao's physical limitations (he looked like he was moving at Tim Boetsch speed vs TJ Dillashaw), his style works because of his size, how he implements his size/strength advantage and his ability to always get opponents to commit to fighting his style of fight. Assuncao beats you like the Patriots; he takes away whatever you deem to be your best path to victory and then asks you if you've got a good enough back up plan. Moraes didn't----so what's changing?

4- This is the first UFC card in quite some time that really seems 100% cool with loading up on Brazil vs Brazil fights without a short notice caveat (or a TUF finale). Your main and co-main events both have Brazil vs Brazil and outside of those two there are two other Brazil vs Brazil fights on the card. Wonder if that's just happenstance or the UFC is softening up on its stance of making these cards Brazil vs The World?

5- How ugly will rounds 2 and 3 of Good vs Maia be if it follows the usual Maia protocol?

6- Her debut went about as well as it could so color me intrigued in seeing Livia Souza again. This fight is a weird one though as rather than get a serious step up or some challenging middle of the road fighter who exists JUST for fights like these (looking at you, Randa Markos), she gets a DWCS debutante in Sarah Frota. There are some REAL Thiago Silva vibes from Sarah Frota from a fighter's perspective; the crazy tats, the menacing glare, the stalking with a heavy lead leg and the all power in every strike style she utilizes with extend-o arms to match. She's way too wild for Livia Souza in my estimation but if you watched Frota's Contender Series fight (as well as her SFL works), there's some danger here. It's a pretty compelling fight on paper.

7- The UFC rushing Johnny Walker into a fight with a guy who can strike really well but lacks any sort of power/wrestling game feels like the exact opposite of a set up fight. Ledet has boxed up heavyweights and while Walker's athleticism and versatility should lead him to the win, why put together a fight this dicey? Were there no OTHER clunky 205ers to find for the job?

8- Ricardo Ramos vs Said Nurmagomedov is a damn good fight but this feels like asking a lot of Said.

9- The UFC still wants Junior Albini to be a thing, huh?

10- Thiago Alves vs Max Griffin feels like a really weird fight to be excited about but alas I'm still with it. Griffin has developed pretty well in the UFC from the somewhat limited KO artist on the regional circuit. He's beaten Mike Perry, had success vs Curtis Millender in a losing effort and his fight with Elizeu Zaleski is one of those hidden gem sleeper classics. At this point in his career Thiago Alves is not the man who dominated the WW scene in 2009 and so forth but he's still got moments and glimpses of that guy. Griffin's improved everything but his striking defense as evidenced by him getting rocked in fights with Zaleski (multiple times), Millender and even a slim moment or two of trouble vs Mike Perry. This fight could be fun in a phone booth.

11- Kind of hidden on this card is Charles Oliveira vs David Teymur in a WHALE of a fight. Teymur came off of the failed TUF: Faber vs McGregor season where Artem Lobov and Ryan Hall were the two finalists. I think it's fair to say Teymur has eclipsed both of guys and in pretty short order. Wins over Drakkar Klose, Lando Vannata and Nik Lentz, all in fairly decisive fashion, have put Teymur in that weird breaking point spot other LWs have been before; he's good enough to be a top 10 guy but not flashy enough to get the fights necessary to creep into that mark. He's facing Charles Oliveira who is sort of the opposite of Teymur. Oliveira is a dynamic finisher with a slooowly developing middle game to get there whereas Teymur seemingly lacks the extra gear necessary to finish things against more competent opposition. This is fun stuff.

12- So does Lyman Good get RDA next if he wins?

[s-o-n-de-r]

A Rush of Blood to the Head: Sensuality and Substance in LIGHTS’ ‘Skin & Earth’ Era

Ruts and stagnation can be difficult to avoid for musicians as their careers progress if interest dwindles, labels lockdown, or plain old boredom enters the process, and you’ll hear it. 

You can flop, or you can go all out. For Canadian synth-pop trailblazer Lights Bokan (often stylized LIGHTS), she went all out.

Skin & Earth, the latest by the Timmins, Ontario native, doesn’t exist just as a music album. It’s also been given another life: Lights not only recorded the music but wrote and illustrated an entire comic series to go with it. She’s dabbled in the comic (and animation) world back in her early days with Audio Quest: A Captain Lights Adventure, but this is an all-in sort of endeavor.

It’s familiar territory for her long-time fans, though. Those who have stuck with her over the years have come to expect her to push creative boundaries, or at least keep things interesting. Some of those ventures include stripping away her electronics to make gentle acoustic versions of her albums, selling original paintings, or religiously making vlogs and doing livestreams. But even as far her records go, you won’t get bored transitioning from one to the other. Each has its own character, from the dreamy soundscapes of The Listening to the cold adventuring spirit of Siberia to the pep of Little Machines. Even her acoustic albums have different structure and depth from one another. If there was ever a musician that you wouldn’t expect to get stale, it’s Lights. When you hear her voice, there’s no mistaking her for anyone else out there.

This is the case for Skin & Earth as well. Even disregarding the whole other world that the comic series brings in, Skin & Earth is another distinct chapter in her discography. Skin & Earth is a totally different Lights – sexy and groovy and unapologetic. Literally, too, as she emulates the aesthetic of her comic’s main character En, most notably with scorching, fire-red hair. But it’s also just enough like previous albums that you’re not going to be totally alienated. This is a line she has always toed well.

The album eschews the baked-in dance and synth elements of Little Machines for drum-and-bass pop, songs with r’n’b rhythm and trap beats and vocal flow we haven’t really heard from Lights before. This isn’t to say that classic Lights elements aren’t there (“Giants”), but there’s a definite theme to Skin & Earth. In fact, some of the songs that embrace this new direction the most are the best on the album. “Kicks” is the catchiest, “Skydiving” is titillating and adventurous, and “We Were Here” is wispy and mysterious, a song for late-night drives. But Lights is no one-trick-pony. Skin & Earth features some innovative meanderings, notably the emotional and gentle “Morphine,” the sludgy “Savage” (featuring drumming from Twenty One Pilots’ Joshua Dun), and the big closing anthem in “Almost Had Me,” perhaps her strongest album ender yet. Skin & Earth wears its best qualities on its sleeve.  “Morphine” and “Moonshine” are clearly not songs about substance use, but rather, intoxication is the messages’ medium. “Skydiving” may or may not be about sex, but it easily could be. The primal, tactile nature of the album’s title feeds directly into both its musical composition and lyrical content.

Lights’ personal re-invention, from the scorching red hair to her new musical direction, commands the mythology of this album. Many artists conveniently stumble into re-defining themselves for new record cycles; Lights has done so genuinely and with more authority than others by bringing her fictional avatar to life. Again, it’s an all-in approach. In fact, so much about Lights’ aura on and off stage defines and tints her career. Her motherhood (she has one child, Rocket), her feminism, and her creative independence may not always have a direct, one-to-one translation to her music, but it impacts how you view and understand her music.

This is why her live sets are so attention-grabbing. There are few musicians who catch your eyes and ears like she does – perhaps Tycho, with their immersive analog synths and invigorating visuals, or Twenty One Pilots with their frantic passion, but it’s a short list. Somewhere between campy over-indulgence and apathetic boredom sits a sweet spot for live performances, and Lights is part of the 10 percent or so in that sweet spot. Awash in vivid red, purple, and blue lighting, she played a range of songs from Skin & Earth and Little Machines, while alternating Siberia’s “Flux and Flow” every other night. On this tour opening for PVRIS, you won’t find many deep cuts or acoustic sessions or anything from The Listening era, which is unfortunate because those deeper paths through her catalog are the true Lights experience, usually relegated to headlining slots. In fact, the idea of her opening for PVRIS really shows the craze that band has cultivated and tapped into, even when Lights was halfway through her career when PVRIS started playing shows.

Her contrast with the moody and dark electro-rock band might seem counter-intuitive, but the juxtaposition is actually what separated her and made her distinct, especially with the aforementioned brawn of the new songs. Many of her songs are meant to groove to, and groove to them she does. She actually gets away from her keyboard and roams the stage more frequently than she has in the past – a good step for a show that is primarily carried by the strength of her unmistakable singing voice.

It did feel strange only getting a relatively small section of her discography after having experienced years of buildup from early tours packed with songs such as “River” or “My Boots,” but that’s the way these things go. Skin & Earth deserved the majority of her set list anyway, not just because it’s her brand-new record, but because it lives on such a larger scale through the comics.

The staggered release of the comic book issues (a few came out before the album, and a few are still due to be released) helps keep attention and interest alive in a way that’s useful and entertaining for the instant-stream, now-now-now music world. New issues give people a reason to go back to the album even after digesting it. But it will be interesting to see where the whole Skin & Earth package, from all comic issues to the album to the effervescent artist herself, is in another six months or so. In the meantime, there are still a few dates left to her tour with PVRIS where you can experience that whole package.

---

Article and photos by sonder editor Andrew Friedgen. Like this? Sonder is an independent music, travel and photography publication at sonderlife.com. Give us a follow here or at our Twitter, Instagram or Facebook if you like this!

SEE ALSO:

All of our photos and features from PVRIS’ 2017 North American tour

Retro vibes and neon drizzles from Los Angeles-based Party Nails

Our complete list of bands we’ve photographed