#that handclap though

[songbirdstew]

Listen/purchase: Alone Down There by Modest Mouse

[arcenergy]

disco elysium thoughts ......

[crustaceousfaggot]

So I've been thinking a lot about the setting of Disco Elysium. Specifically it being set in late winter/early spring. It's not something I've really seen anyone else bring up.

I mean, the symbolism seems pretty obvious right? Spring is the time of new beginnings, winter is ending and we're entering a time of potential and rebirth. Definitely nothing new. But I think it goes beyond that.

I live in one of the coldest major cities in the world. Not *the* coldest, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a city with over 1,000,000 inhabitants that gets colder than it gets here. Winters are long and brutal and difficult, and when the soil itself is frozen and covered in a foot of packed snow it's really hard to believe that the world could look any other way.

And don't get me wrong, winter is beautiful. The world is quiet and picturesque. There's none of the usual dirt and debris in the streets because it's all buried under the snow. The way that fresh snow sparkles under street lights at night is one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous things I've ever seen.

It's early April right now, and the snow is melting. It's not all gone, but it's getting there. When the air starts to warm up there's this feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air. Spring is here, and any second now the world will be bursting with new life and beautiful greenery.

But it's not. Not yet.

For about a month and a half after the snow starts to melt, the world is grey. No glittering snow, no budding flowers, no swirling red leaves, just puddles of brown water and lawns of brown grass. It's like winter had ended, but the world has yet to realize that it's supposed to be spring. Until it remembers, we're all trapped in a world where there is no season at all.

Sometimes it snows, but the snow never sticks around. Sometimes it rains, but the rain never brings flowers in its wake.

That last month of winter, that first month of spring, whatever you want to call it, is my least favourite time of year. I heard it described once as "the long-preserved corpse of autumn, finally allowed to rot", and that phrase stuck with me. There are eight month old leaves on the ground, skeletal and bleached grey by a winter trapped under the ice. Without the snow to cover it, you can't ignore just how much we've let our city go to shit. The trees are bare and skeletal, and even the evergreens look washed out and grey when they're not contrasted against the snow. Most of the birds aren't back yet, so the only sound outside my window is the ever-present hum of traffic.

It's impossible to ignore the movement and the sounds of humanity, but at the same time the world has never felt so stagnant.

I think there are all sorts of comparisons you could draw here, some of which hold up better than others. The one that first comes to mind for me is sobriety- the line "Full recovery will take years, though. It’ll be depressing. And it’ll be boring. Don’t expect any further rewards or handclaps." from the "Waste Land Of Reality"o thought is one which really stuck with me on my first playthrough, and one which feels especially appropriate here. But that's just one angle.

How much of this was intentional? I don't know. Probably not most of it. Part of me just wanted to go on a little tangent about the seasonal purgatory I'm trapped in once again. But I genuinely don't think there could be a better time of year to set a game like Disco Elysium. That bleak dusty shoulder season, where all the ugliest and most honest parts of nature and civilization are on display. The time of year where I've gone through the ringer and come out the other side, but everything still looks and feels like shit. It's just a different kind of shit.

Spring isn't here. Not yet. And when it does come, it won't fix anything. There will still be garbage on the ground and pollution in the air, there will still be class inequality and senseless violence and I will still be mentally ill.

But still.

For the first time in months, I can feel the wind against my skin without it hurting.

Whatever that's worth.

[doscharolastras]

Title: A Fine Romance (Marcus Pike x f!Reader)

Rating: Explicit

Word count: 2735

Warnings: Established, long-term relationship; no age gap; strong language; semi-public sex; oral sex (female-receiving); unprotected PiV sex; Reader identifies as female and has female anatomy but is undescribed otherwise; Reader has no name — Marcus and others call her by pet names (i.e.: “Songbird”, “my girl”); gratuitous use of Bruce Springsteen lyrics.

Notes: Part of the @pedgito / @chaotic-mystery / @amanitacowboy Summer Of Love challenge! I was given Marcus Pike at a concert and the moodboard above. This was not anywhere near the story I set out to write, but it’s the story that wanted to be told. I hope everyone enjoys.

Dedicated to @ladamedusoif, my beta, my lifeline (sometimes literally), and one of the best friends a girl could ask for… Thank you. 💜

(Dividers by @saradika-graphics)

You’re nervous.

You’re used to the feeling, and usually, it passes pretty fast. Once the lights hit your face and the mic’s in your grasp, it all fades and there’s nothing but you and the music and the crowd singing your lyrics back.

Maybe it’s because it’s a festival — your first one ever. You’re far more accustomed to dark little bars or the smaller concert venues you’ve recently graduated to. So this? This wide-open field with its hundreds of thousands of faces and unknowable reach thanks to a free online livestream?

This makes you nervous.

“Hey.” Marcus’ voice is clear even over the din of the crowd. “You alright?”

You turn to meet his deep brown eyes, shining with excitement for you. “Just a little shaky.”

His smile widens and his broad hand falls to your lower back. “You’re gonna be amazing, Songbird.” Just the sound of your nickname slows your heart rate a little. “And,” he leans in and kisses you softly, his lips dragging on yours a little longer than necessary. “I can’t wait to celebrate your success afterward.”

You feel the heat in your face though you’re sure no one heard Marcus’ entendre. Swatting gently at his arm even as you wink, you pull back. “Where will you be?”

“There’s a little family section in the pit. On your left from centerstage. I’ll be right there.” He presses another kiss to your cheek as one of the stagehands waves to you, your signal that you’re about to go on. “Love you,” he murmurs, catching your fingers and squeezing them. “Go kick some ass.”

“I love you, too,” you reply as he hurries away.

“You ready?” Dante Robbins has been your guitarist since the days of playing on the street outside the bars.

“Mm. Let’s do it.”

Your traditional pre-show handclaps are half-hearted, and you wonder if maybe Dante is just as nervous as you. But when the MC announces your set and you bounce onto the stage, things start to feel much more familiar.

“Thank you, New York!”

Dante’s nimble fingers slip into your über-popular cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Rosalita”, the festival’s backing band picking up immediately, and your gaze surreptitiously slips down to find Marcus in the exact spot he’d said.

“Spread out now, Rosie, doctor come cut loose her mama’s reins You know playin’ blind man's bluff is a little baby’s game You pick up Little Dynamite, I’m gonna pick up Little Gun And together we’re gonna go out tonight and make that highway run You don’t have to call me lieutenant, Rosie, and I don’t want to be your son The only lover I’m ever gonna need’s your soft sweet little girl’s tongue Ah, Rosie, you’re the one…”

As you dance and sing across the stage, your nerves all but abated, you catch Marcus again, bouncing and clapping like your very own Courteney Cox. He’s got such a smile on his face you can’t help but grin back, almost wishing you could pull him up to dance beside you.

“Rosalita, jump a little lighter Señorita, come sit by my fire I just want to be your lover, ain't no liar Rosalita, you're my stone desire…”

Your set consists of six songs, and you close it out with your first single, “Stone Desire” (which calls right back to “Rosalita” and, you think, is a perfect circle). The roar of the crowd is beyond deafening as you hurry off stage, and in the excitement, you realize — Dante isn’t with you. In fact, he’s been more than absent since you first got up on stage.

“Dante?” you call. You try to think — nothing unusual had happened since that morning. You’d done your little rehearsal in your hotel room while Marcus showered; you’d driven over together in the trailer bus…

And yet, since you’d gotten to the festival grounds, he’d been distant. The cold way he started the gig. The enthusiastic high-fives that had been your signature since the early days had been lacking. He didn’t even respond normally to the way you chatted and introduced him between songs.

What did I do? you think. Our biggest chance yet and he’s…

You step past the little curtains that separate the wings of the stage from the outside world, and stop dead in your tracks.

Dante is standing right there, acoustic guitar now strapped over his shoulder. You recognize the song he’s playing — Peter Frampton’s quintessential “Show Me The Way” — but it’s truly just background noise to the other thing happening…

Marcus, on one knee, holding up a simple diamond solitaire.

“I know you probably think I’m insane,” he says, his voice soft but strong. “But I’ve wanted to do this for so long and I just… Today felt like the right day. This feels like the right moment.” His eyes hold yours as you take slow, tentative steps towards him. “I want to be there for you every single time you sing, sweetheart. Your own personal fanclub — on and off that stage.” He reaches out and takes your fingers lightly in his free hand. “Will you marry me?”

You feel the grass under your knees before you even realize you’ve dropped down to meet him. “Oh, Marcus,” you murmur, your fingers grazing up over his stubbled cheek. You feel tears on your face and your smile doesn’t feel like it will ever falter. “Yes. Of course, yes.”

Dante’s soft guitar is all you hear as Marcus slips the little band over your finger and pulls you in for a kiss, his tongue parting your lips as his hand curls around the back of your neck. “Oh, I love you,” he whispers into your mouth.

“I love you,” you reply, the salt of your tears and his delicious taste mixing between you. You’re sure people can see you, that your little moment isn’t private in any way, but you just don’t care. The only thing that matters is the beautiful man wrapped in your arms.

The kisses are only broken when a thought hits you. “Wait, wait.” You push back, your palms pressed against Marcus’ shoulders. Marcus holds you, his face colored with concern. “Dante?”

You look up at him, and he smiles a little, shrugging, his long hair bunching against his shoulders. “Sorry.”

“Marcus,” you say slowly. “Dante knew this whole time?”

“I didn’t know who else to trust,” he replies, grinning. “Figured he was a good choice.”

“Wish it was anyone else,” Dante interjects. “I can’t keep a secret for shit.”

“I thought you were mad at me!” you cry. “You were so out of it!”

“Tell your fiancé not to make me lie to you!”

“A secret is not a lie, Dante.”

Guitar long since swung around his back, Dante folded his arms over his chest. “And that’s why you’re a government agent and I’m a damn musician,” he laughs. Leaning over, he presses a kiss to the top of your head. “Congratulations, babe. And you.” He points a finger in Marcus’ face. “Be good to my girl.”

Marcus salutes. “I will. I promise.”

With that, Dante is gone, and you and Marcus are alone — still kneeling in the grass, your new ring glinting against his shoulder in the sunlight. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

After a quick food truck meal and a couple of beers — interspersed with a handful of folks coming up to you for photos and autographs — Marcus holds your hand as you make your way back to the trailer. There’s a DJ on stage now, filling time between the late afternoon sets and the big time evening performers, and you hear your “Rosalita” remixed into an upbeat Mexican cumbia rhythm.

You laugh, but Marcus takes a different approach, pulling you in to dance with him. You’ve never been particularly good, but he is, and you fall into step with him as his hands curl around you and his body sways against yours.

“So hold tight, baby, cause don't you know daddy's comin’...”

His voice fills your ear, his breath hot on your cheek, and you press back against him, your hands wrapping over his where they rest on your belly.

Without another word, you turn and take his fingers in yours, pulling him to the trailer. You’re barely inside before your lips are on his.

“Easy, easy,” he whispers, but you fumble behind him to lock the door as you kiss him deeper.

“I want” — your teeth scrape over his full lower lip — “my fiancé” — your nose along the line of his beard — “to fuck me” — your tongue down the column of his throat — “right now.”

You know Marcus. He’s soft, gentle, romantic. Just the way you love him.

And yet, inspired by the song lyrics he’d purred in your ear and your proclamation of desire, a switch seems to have been flipped.

He grabs you, swinging you around so the backs of your thighs are pressed against the little table against the other wall. You take the hint, sitting back on it as he devours your mouth. “You’re going to have to be very quiet,” he whispers. “Even with the music outside.”

You nod, whimpering already as his fingers slip under the hem of your shirt and brush against your bare skin. He moves slowly, but soon the t-shirt is gone and so is the bra beneath it, and his lips have taken their place.

Carding your fingers through his hair, you toss your head back as his tongue circles over one of your nipples. “Oh, Marcus…”

“Shhh, love,” he whispers into your skin. He continues his path, pushing you carefully back to rest on your elbows as he dips into your belly button. His deft fingers work at your jeans, and he only pulls his mouth from your body long enough to release you from them.

He meets your eyes, wordlessly awaiting your agreement, and when you mouth, “I love you”, he grins and disappears between your legs.

It’s hard to be any kind of quiet when Marcus Pike is eating you out. In fact, it’s damn near impossible, and the only way you can control yourself is to grab the t-shirt you’d been wearing and stuff it between your lips.

Marcus isn’t all that quiet, either. His little groans and moans as he strokes himself through his jeans and as his lips and tongue probe your most sensitive areas are enough to make you come then and there. His hands are holding your legs apart even as every instinct inside you is telling you to close them; his nose is nudging your clit in the most delicious way possible as his tongue darts inside you.

You remove the material from your mouth to whisper, “Marcus, baby, I’m close.”

“I know,” he replies, looking up at you, his face shimmering with your slick. “Let go.”

And as he disappears again, you do.

You’re still shaking slightly, your breath in raspy gasps, when he — rather unceremoniously — pushes into you. The feeling is overwhelming and you can’t help but cry out louder than you’d intended, but he captures the sound in another bruising kiss as he lets you adjust around him. You tighten your muscles, relishing the fullness and weight of him inside you and on top of you, and he groans, taking the t-shirt from where it now rests over your chest and tucking it carefully behind your head.

As Marcus begins a slow but sharp rhythm against you, you discover that the little table is far sturdier than you’d have expected. His thighs slap hard against the bottom of your ass, and as he begins to speed up, you have the sudden image of the whole trailer shaking with the force of his thrusts.

It makes you laugh.

“What… What’s funny?” he pants, stuttering a little in his movements.

“N-no, don’t stop,” you breathe. “Just… If the trailer’s a-rockin’...”

“Oh, Jesus, sweetheart.” Marcus’ grin is real, even as sweat begins to bead on his forehead. “I must not be doing my job if you’re making jokes right now.”

As if rising to a challenge, he slips his thumb into your mouth and presses it to your tongue. After a moment, he pulls it free and uses it — wet with your saliva — to draw lazy circles around your clit as he fucks into you.

“Ohhhhhh.”

“That’s better,” he smiles. “C’mere.”

He slows a bit to allow you to push upright, your arms wrapping around his neck as he kisses you hard. “Can you carry me?”

“Mm, I think I can manage.”

He lifts you carefully, but he stumbles, and you both nearly collapse in giggles.

“Oh, Marcus, put me down.” You pinch lightly at his hip and he lets your feet hit the floor, his eyes taking in your whole body. “Like what you see?”

“Always.”

You smile and take his hand, leading him back to the little bed, only slipping away from him to push him onto his back. You stroke his cock a few times before repositioning yourself over him, angling yourself to take him in as deep as possible.

Your groans mix together in the heavy air, and when he’s fully seated inside you, you lean forward to shove his shirt up, encouraging him to remove it. When he does, you press heavy, hard kisses to his chest, slowly rolling your hips against his as you do.

“Ah, fuck, keep that up and I won’t last,” he hisses.

You grin. “That’s my plan, Mr. Pike.” You nip at a little cluster of freckles on the front of his shoulder. “At least, the first time.”

Marcus’ hands come to rest on your waist, gripping you just enough to give the impression that he’s in control despite you making all the moves on top of him. You hold onto his elbows, using him as leverage as you bounce and grind on him, keeping your rhythm steady as you watch his face redden, his freckles popping against the flush.

“Come on, Marcus,” you murmur. “Come inside me. Claim me; claim your wife.”

There’s a moment’s hesitation in his eyes, but just a moment, until he realizes you mean it completely. His fingers press so tightly into your skin you know you’ll feel the bruises for days but you don’t care, not one bit as you feel him shudder and arch beneath you. His body trembles and it’s enough to bring you over the edge with him, all pretense of quiet gone as you cry out and fall forward, your hand slamming into the wall over his head as he buries his face in the hollow of your throat.

You’re not entirely sure how much time has passed since you rolled off of Marcus and curled up under his arm. The music outside is less electronic, so you figure the DJ has finished and one of the bands is officially playing, but that could be minutes or hours, really.

Rolling onto your side, you slip your left hand over Marcus’ stomach and wiggle your finger so the little diamond glitters in the dim amber light of the trailer. “Marcus?”

“Mm?” He sounds sleepy, dazed, but he tightens his grip on you and you feel his lips brush over your forehead.

“When did you know you wanted to marry me?”

He’s quiet, just the sound of his steady breathing for a few moments. “Do you remember the first time I came to see you sing?”

Our fifth date. “Yes.”

“It was then.”

You furrow your brow, trying to remember the exact details of the night. “Because of my voice?”

“No.” He shifts against you now, shuffling down on the bed so your faces are aligned. “It was because you walked off that stage, right up to me, and said, ‘Let’s go get Chinese food, I’m starving.’”

“...you can’t be serious.”

He grins, his whole face lighting up. “As a heart attack. I knew right then.”

You laugh, loud and happy. “Oh, I fucking love you.”

Marcus pulls you in, and you wrap your legs around him, lining him up with your entrance. “Again, sweetheart?”

You nod, shifting your hips just slightly. “I said that was just the first time,” you reply, lifting your chin for a kiss. “Gotta celebrate tonight just right.”

As he slips inside you again, gentle and easy, you cuddle your face into his throat.

“I just wanna be your lover, ain’t no liar…”

[theanxiousbookdevourer]

Some of My Favorite Lines in Disco Elysium

Just a collection of quotes that resonated with me.

(Disco Elysium spoilers)

"'You don't get to choose your posse, they choose you. Mine are idiots, but they're mine.'"

"She prays, though she doesn't believe."

"'That we continue to persist at all is a testament to our faith in one another.'"

"Her laughter is throaty and warm. It rhymes with the waves and the cries of the gulls."

"'Love is terror.'"

"Then the ocean breaks. Out of the depths, a woman's voice emerges. Small. The dearest thing you've ever heard."

"'You're not a revolutionary, Harry... You're drunk.'"

"And above all, you let life defeat you. All the gifts your parents gave you, all the love and patience of your friends, you drowned in a neurotoxin. You let misery win. And it will keep on winning till you die -- or overcome it."

"Don't expect any further rewards or handclaps. This is how normal people are all the time."

"A white mourning. A modern death. Divorce, or something similar. All you can do is put more distance between you and him, make him smaller. Make him less *you*."

"'God, please...'"

"It's the living who are ghosts. The dead are silent. They don't rattle windows or write letters in blood. The living do. Leave them behind. Rest."

"He didn't like him -- that only makes it worse."

"'GOD. I'M ON MY WAY.'"

"'I want to be a good person again, not this. Not what you made me into.'"

"This was not about failure or success. This was always going to be horror."

"'This is real darkness. [...] Real darkness has love for a face. The first death is in the heart, Harry.'

"'See you tomorrow.'"

"This is just another black day, in a row of black days -- something *strange* is keeping him together, making him endure...

"... an idea. Told to him by grown ups, from radio towers and leaflets, in beautiful print when he was still a teenager: everything is possible. If we fight.

"And then he lost. So did they all."

"You are a violent and irrepressible miracle. The vacuum of cosmos and the stars burning in it around afraid of you. Given enough time you would wipe us all out and replace us with nothing -- just by accident."

And finally...

"Then all we can do is beat our fists against it? Day after day. With no answer."

"You can also eat it. [...] Yum yum."

[honourablejester]

Talking to my sister, we were remembering the clapping games we used to play as kids. This was mostly in the country school, now that I think of it I don’t think they were played in the town school as much. Though that could also have been because we were older when we went there. But you know those games kids play where you have to clap a sequence while saying a rhyme? Sometimes individually, often in pairs, and then there were group games?

This would have been small town Ireland in the 90s, but the ones I remember …

'Double Double' was a really easy one for pairs. “Double double this this, double double that that, double this double that, double double this that!” You stand facing each other, and on ‘double’ you bring both fists to their fists, on ‘this’ you bring palms to palms, and on ‘that’ you bring the backs of your hands to the backs of their hands. The aim is to repeat the sequence, getting faster all the time, until somebody messes up. It was fun because you started out raising both fists at each other for ‘double double’, like you’re about to start a fist fight (which was not unknown to happen).

Then there’s ‘Under the Bam Bush’, again for pairs. I can’t remember the clap sequence for this one. I can remember most of the rhyme and the rhythm: “Under the bam bush, under the sea, boom boom boom. True love for you my darling, true love for me. When we get married, we shall have a family. A boy for you, a girl for me, how many fishes in the sea? Twelve and twelve is twenty four, kick the teacher out the door. If she knocks, give her a box, and then she’ll have the chicken pox!” I know it had a more complicated sequence, cross claps and over-unders, but I can’t for the life of me remember how it went.

We also had ‘Miss Mary Mack’, which had you alternating clapping your own hands and double high fiving your partner, and then when words repeated you repeated the high fives. “Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black black, with silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back back …”

And, when you had a LOT of people together, there was always ‘Concentration’. Basically, everyone in the group got a number, one to seven or twelve or however many you had. The rhythm was two claps of your hands, two claps on your thighs, rinse and repeat, and everyone kept up this rhythm. You spoke on the hand claps, the thigh claps gave the next person time to prepare. “Concentration! (beat beat) Are you ready? (beat beat) If so! (beat beat) Let’s go! (beat beat) One to six! (beat beat) Six to three! (beat beat)” etc. It started with person one, and on your handclapped beats, you called out who had to pick up after you. They had the thigh beats to get ready, and then on their turn they had to call out a different number. People were eliminated if they didn’t answer to their number or didn’t call out a viable number on their turn. So as you went you had to keep track of which numbers were still in the game, and be ready to call them out the instant your turn came.

Concentration’s really only good if you have a big group. Like, minimum of five/six, but honestly you wanted around ten to fourteen for a proper game. It gets really boring when it’s just ‘One to two!’ ‘Two to one!’ ad nauseum at the end.

I always wonder if these are still going. They are a lot of fun.

[ladyduellist]

WIP Thursday

Tagged by the ever cool @verbenaa @elinorbard @xxnashiraxx @inkymoonbunny @roguishcat! You guys spoil me with your tags. Thank you always for thinking of me.

Here's the opener for Chapter 20 of Epistles of Saints & Sinners. Just some fun Shadowheart and Astarion interaction. I really believe these two goofs would be huge gossipers with each other.

Frankincense faintly wafted from the aging copper coin as it flipped round and round in the air like an aerialist, attempting to dazzle its one person audience despite an oxidizing teal grime coating its shine. It landed, as intended, on top of Astarion’s knuckles. He rolled the coin off each one, descending it as if his fingers were a set of moving stairs. When it finally reached its destination on his last knotted joint, he snatched it betwixt his thumb and index, putting into the funnel he created with his other hand. With an engaging grin and a maestro’s fluidity to his fingers, it was gone! Snap. Clap. Disappeared!  “Do those parlor tricks actually work on wowing people?” Shadowheart snickered, offering him a meager handclap for his demonstration.  He showed her the front and back of his hands, proving it was out of sight. “When you’re one of Cazador’s spawn forbidden to have any pastimes that invigorate visible delight, you have to get creative.” Rubbing his fingers together, he reached behind his ear to make the coin reappear, giving it a dramatic toss back into the air before letting it plop into his palm. “Unsuspecting street rubes were never the wiser. I emptied their pockets for my own amusement, while they were beguiled by my sleight of hand for theirs. An equivalent exchange, if I do say so.” Astarion flicked the coin back into the dried up fountain they discovered, tucked away in an alcove outside the monastery, from whence it came. Shadowheart mentioned it was likely to have once run with fragrant oiled waters, anointed by Rosymorn monks for those that wished to pay a coinage tithe to sprinkle upon their foreheads for renewed baptismal covenant. “Worshippers of Shar have similar traditions we uphold to the dark mistress,” she had told him, “except it’s typically paid in blood.”  “What hobbies did you have aside from your fangtastic follies?” she jested. “Another person that’s failed their comedic audition I see,” he sneered, turning his nose up at her as he remembered both Gale and Tav’s poorly executed jokes at his expense. “Though, if you must know, hand-stitching and books became silent pleasures that my master paid little attention to.”

I think everyone else has been tagged, but if not, pretend I tagged you and show your WIP.

[hit-song-showdown]

My favorite songs of 2023

I am putting together my favorite songs released in 2023. I started off doing a project where I listened to as many new albums as I could (and recording my findings in a spreadsheet), but that project tapered off around June when my move + school year started. But even though I wasn't able to listen to every album that came out, I still came out of 2023 with some of my favorite musical projects of all time. Also as another disclaimer: I am not a professional music writer.

I am also limiting this list to 1 song per album/project.

1. Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMafia and Danny Brown. I wish I could go back and experience again what happened to my brain when I first heard this track so I could properly convey it with text. When I first saw this project was announced, I knew it would take over my life. When I heard this track before the album was released, I knew I would have to form some kind of religion around it. The reason why I'm limiting this list to one track per album is because Scaring the Hoes has 14 tracks so I wouldn't be able to fit them all (other songs I would have given the number 1 spot include Burfict!, Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up/Muddy Waters, God Loves You, and Kingdom Hearts Key). But the title track is the perfect introduction. It's less of a single and more of a thesis statement for the entire project. The production throughout this album is incredible, but STH hits different. The rhythmic, almost menacing handclaps (fun fact: those aren't handclaps--that's the sound my asscheeks make when this song comes on) and the horn sample which I can only describe as Blood Money era Tom Waitsian, it is by far my favorite beat of 2023. Combined with Danny and JPEG's charisma and the way they bounce back and forth, this song is a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. Also I saw them live and that experience elevated a 10/10 to a 20/10 for me.

2. Prof. Aronnax' Descent into the Vast Oceans by Ahab. I started seriously listening to German nautical funeral doom metal band, Ahab around early 2022 so this was the first new release I got to experience. Even though I loved what I heard previously, nothing could have prepared me for this. The opening track is everything I want from a doom metal song. It starts out with a frantic onslaught of screaming and inhuman growls before mellowing out into a serene instrumental before the mournful vocals kick in. It really feels like the initial shock of your body slamming into the water, then having to slowly drift among the waves as your muscles give out and you're taken deeper into the depths. That's what I like about doom metal: it's music to decay to. This track (and by extension this album) hooked me from a story-telling perspective right away, which shouldn't be a surprise as it was based on Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The story presented in this album intrigued me so much that I had to read the book for myself. Then I read it again. Then I read two different translations. Now I'm working on a visual novel adaptation. I know metrics for album rankings are subjective, so I'm willing to give an album an extra bump if it gets me to read a 19th century novel at least five times in less than two months and learn Python coding. (Other tracks I would have included: the album is at its strongest as a single listening experience, but I especially enjoyed Mobilis in Mobili and Ægri Somnia).

3. What A Man by Debby Friday. This is a track off of Nigerian-Canadian electronic musician Debby Friday's first album Good Luck and holy shit, what a debut. This is such a well-formed project I can't believe it. I was already enjoying the album throughout the first few tracks. It brought me back to listening to 2000s club music and thinking "wow I wish I got invited to parties." But then I got to What A Man and the world screeched to a halt. I think I was posting on my main blog at the time, so anyone unfortunate enough to follow me had a chance to see my incoherent screeching in real time. This track is incredible. Debby's warm and sultry voice, the spacey production, THE ELECTRIC GUITAR? The first time the guitar kicks in, that's just a teaser for what ended up being one of my favorite music moments of the year. The electric guitar feels like an oncoming storm and Debby is standing strong before it, taking on the wind and rain as her voice becomes louder and almost yearning. Then the song builds with Debby yelling to the high heavens as the guitars wail around her before fading back down into the low bass and rhythmic breathing motif found throughout the album. This track is an experience, and the music video is gorgeous too (the picture I chose for the banner is from the video itself) and the fact that it has less than 20K views hurts me. (Other tracks I would have included: I Got It, So Hard To Tell, Let U Down)

4. Bite Back by Algiers (ft. billy woods and Backxwash). Speaking of songs that build... This is the sixth track off of Algiers' album, Shook and by this point I was already feeling pretty good about the release. I was already prepared to put the opening track, Everybody Shatter on my top 20, but when Bite Back kicked in, something changed. Here's a recreation of my initial reaction: "this sounds pretty good, I like the way this intro...is that billy woods??") Just to be transparent: billy woods' involvement would have been enough to give this an automatic top slot for me, but it helps that his verse is fantastic. His flow is slower than the introductory verse, but that only makes his lyrics stand out more. From the opening lines "One hand wash the other, they both wash the face / Centrifugal force and inertia keep everything in its place / Slowly, spinning in space, speeding, lead foot on the brakes" I knew I was in for something special. One thing I really appreciate about this track is the production. billy woods has a very steady flow with an almost menacing quality to it depending on the subject matter of the lyrics, and the beat shifts during his verse to reflect that. It sounds like it could be a billy woods beat, but it doesn't sound like one of his beats was carelessly shoved into an Algiers song. It's like the beat ebbs and flows with the artists involved. The production gets gradually more intense as billy picks up more ferocity in his delivery. A detail I really like is when billy says "claws rattling, delicate as roaches' wings," the percussion on the backing track picks up an almost rattling quality, but it doesn't sound corny or too obvious. Then billy continues, the backing track picking up even more intensity until it feels like each noise is blasting at full power...and then the tension releases and settles down with Algiers frontman, Franklin James Fisher, delivering the second verse. His delivery contrasts wonderfully with billy woods' too, with his faster, almost whispered vocals allowing the track to pick up momentum again after the previous release of tension. This track knows when to breathe and it's fantastic. But it also knows when to take the air from your lungs as Fisher goes all out with the vocals in the hook and third verse, reinstating what an absolute powerhouse vocalist he is. And just when the track is at its peak ferocity, in comes Backxwash with the steel chair! If billy and Fisher were allowing the beat to gradually shift under their performances, Backxwash grabs the song by the throat and makes it do whatever she wants. Her verse then trades off into Fisher delivering the outro, operating at full power in his delivery. This song is so well-crafted and none of the artists feel out of place. (Other tracks I would have included: Everybody Shatter, A Good Man, Irreversible Damage)

5. Billions by Caroline Polachek. As of writing this, I haven't been keeping up with other people's year end lists, but I know this album is going to make everyone else's. So I feel a bit intimidated to talk about it, but I will try. The production on this album is so good my brain can't even comprehend how it was crafted. I've seen it described as "maximalist," but that doesn't fully capture how well this album knows when to pull back and let the tracks breathe. Billions is one of the more sparse tracks compared to some of the others, but that only makes each production decision stand out more. The second time Caroline says "give me the closure," you hear a little musical sting in the background (probably some kind of synth, but at first listen I thought it was an electric guitar) which didn't show up after the first time that lyric was sung. It's that attention to detail and letting the production build on itself that makes this project incredible. And it goes without saying that Caroline is an outstanding vocalist. She sounds like a siren. It's ridiculous. (Other tracks I would have included: Welcome to My Island, I Believe, Hopedrunk Everasking)

6. The Black Seminole by Lil Yachty. Opening track off of Lil Yachty's psychedelic rock album, Let's Start Here, and what an opening track on a fantastic project. It should be clear by this point that I love songs that build, and holy shit does this song build. I first listened to this album while I was on a plane, and this track synced up with my takeoff. So while the plane was lifting off the ground and I was being pressed against my seat, Lil Yachty gave the final line before the electric guitars and the female vocalist kicked in, both wailing with equal ferocity. Top 10 music experiences of the year, but even going back to listen to that same track when I'm not on an airplane delivered the same euphoric experience. (Other tracks I would have included: Drive Me Crazy, Should I B, We Saw the Sun)

7. Xena by Skrillex and Nai Barghouti. I debated whether to put this song or Hydrate on the list, but Xena was the first track that made me fall in love with this album. With vocals by Palestinian singer, Nai Barghouti, Skrillex delivers an absolutely outstanding dubstep track. Like Billions, it's the kind of music production that makes me have to step back and fully appreciate the craft. The song is incredible at building intensity, but he also knows when to pull back to let the tension build again. And Barghouti isn't just a feature--she is the heartbeat of this song. Her voice melds with the production so well, but in a way that sounds like she's commanding it. My absolute favorite part of the song is when she starts singing in her lower register as the production turns to more naturalistic instruments. Sometimes I see electronic producers robbing their singers of their voices for the sake of cohesive production, but that isn't the case here. Nai Barghouti's voice is crisp, unique, and perfect. It's a fantastic melding of producer and vocalist that makes way more sense than it should. (Other tracks I would have included: Hydrate, Rumble, Ratata)

8. Babylon by Bus by billy woods and Kenny Segal. I already talked about billy woods, but he was a feature so this still counts. Everything I already said about billy woods' skills applies here as well, especially now that he has full control over the track. billy's flow sounds both effortless, and that he knows the perfect word to use for each line. And he uses interesting words. "Glistening waterbug on clean counter / Plague mask, gave the place a cursory glower / He ran away, I gave chase but gave up and sat on his gate for hours" I love this series of bars. He is a storyteller. And then, the beat pauses after billy's first verse, with low menacing notes, a clattering of naturalistic metallic percussion, and then the switch up??? Seriously the way the beat ramps up for SkrapKnel's verses takes the song to another level. The way the Curly Castro and PremRock pass the mic back and forth to each other is outstanding. This doesn't feel like a guest verse; this is a fully realized project. The shamelessness is even more apparent when billy takes the mic again for the final verse, but now with more ferocity in his delivery as if he's building off of the energy created by SkrapKnel. This song is masterful. "I take care of these words, Munchausen by proxy / Somehow beat the tox screen / God save the queen, but that train doesn't stop here anymore" (Other tracks I would have included: FaceTime, Year Zero, Soft Landing)

9. Drain You Empty by Cannibal Corpse. I listened to this album right around midterms and I needed it. But this was the song I kept coming back to. For one, it's fun. Obviously: it's Cannibal Corpse. But I love the way the song opens with a full minute of just blasting you before the drums, riffs, and screams really kick in. Good god the drumming on this album is so good. I absolutely love Corpsegrinder's delivery on this track. The way he shifts from bellowing growls to shrieks, the way he speeds up his delivery to match the pace of the drums, it's so good. I'm sorry I don't have a better analysis. It's fun. (Other tracks I would have included: Chaos Horrific, Overlords of Violence, Blood Blind)

10. Crossing Guard by Model/Actriz. This is a song that made me wish I went to gay clubs more. Yes, it's a killer dance song, but what draws me in is how chaotic the production is. It starts out slow and quiet, then bam! The production starts screeching at you in a glorious onslaught of noise, held together with a fantastic bassline. I love the vocalist too. He can be monotone and subtle, but he also knows how to raise his voice to match the ferocity of the production. I listened to this song countless times last year (often while crossing the street and trying not to get hit by cars), and the line "Like Germanotta, Stefani / Pull the weight from under me" will be stuck in my head forever. (Other tracks I would have included: Donkey Show, Amaranth)

[thesinglesjukebox]

NEWJEANS - "HOW SWEET"

Breaking up: it's like sugar sometimes...

[6.69]

Rachel Saywitz: NewJeans has found a comfortable home in the production of DJ and electro-trot producer 250, whose musical style has become so singular that I'd start putting him up there with some of the other K-pop producing greats like Brave Brothers, the late Shinsadong Tiger, or Sweetune. His method continues to work well on "How Sweet": adding a little shimmering twist to American club genres (Miami bass in this case), seamless transitions from section to section, and the light vocal touch of every girl's vocals. But, as with the greats, I sense a slight loss of luster with the constant repetition. How many underground genres is 250 going to fish out of the Western world's murky waters to can up and ship out with a shiny new label? The catches are going to dry up eventually. [7]

Kayla Beardslee: NewJeans’ early singles smashed, bringing them ridiculous and unprecedented success for a first-year K-pop rookie group, because they delivered masterfully crafted pop songs in deceptively simple packaging. "Hype Boy" plows through enough memorable hooks for an entire album in a minute and a half, yet sounds so breezy and youthfully optimistic that the music doesn’t feel like work at all. Beneath the soft swells and whispers of "Ditto" is an instrumental that has a beautifully subtle touch with intimacy and a topline that stays in constant motion even as it tantalizingly holds itself back. In comparison, “How Sweet” is more of an underachieving graduate of the Tortured Poets school of songwriting. In each section of the song, they pick one melody with a limited dynamic range, hammer it into the ground, then tick the box and move on. For a Coca-Cola ad, it’s pretty flat.  [5]

Mark Sinker: Chirpy song about how breaking up with u is great and also v easy bcz u suck and I never liked u! Happily the real-world backdrop (MASSIVE INDUSTRY DRAMA pitting label against manager) cannot possibly ground this as a metaphor. The delivery turns the tale of the change from oops non-allegory into smilingly blank-faced stonewall. [7]

Iain Mew: They stretch simplicity as a virtue further than ever, relying almost entirely on immaculate floaty vibes. The almost is crucial, though; the "...now that I'm without you" kicker adds just enough bitterness to keep this from  feeling completely blank. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: "How Sweet" is one of the most powerful kiss-offs we've had in years because it treats the end of a relationship as something so effortless, so natural, "like biting an apple." Even when lines are acerbic ("toxic lover, you're no better"), they are delivered with the exact amount of lift needed to signal both disgust and nonchalance. NewJeans do not care about this ex anymore, and they wield their restraint with grace; this is living well as the best revenge, and the song is potent because it feels like mist on a hot summer day. Producer 250 has always known how to excavate the potential of a minimalist pop song, and he's found an especially strong avenue here with the skeleton of an Atlanta bass track. The regional style (and specifically the Ghost Town DJ's track "My Boo") has had a large impact on K-pop since "Body Party" got big, but 250 makes it a more congenial affair: the hi-hats are low in the mix, the handclaps have more pop than the kick, and it all feels muted so the bubbly synth melodies and percussion—the latter approximating the "Triggerman" sample used in bounce classics—can flutter about. "How Sweet" is the most everyday that NewJeans has sounded, and it's all the more biting for it. [7]

Ian Mathers: It's devastating enough to get a "I'm doing better without you" message delivered with such nonchalant cool, but to make it a bop too? Really drives the implied "I probably didn't care that much in the first place" home, ouch. [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: A very NewJeansian take on the break up-come down song; it's a harder feeling to make sound giddy, but they pull it off here. The fragments jutting out from the sing-talk ("like biting an apple"; "no drama, it's good karma"; "little demon in my storyline" most of all) are thrilling and deranged, the kind of phrases that become involuntary mantras and mutterings when you make your way out of something all-consuming and are faced with the shock of the new. Most of the writing about NewJeans centers on their musical trappings, but the Miami bass riffs here are more perfunctory than their prior dalliances with drum-n-bass and Jersey club. That's not to say that it's a bad song — that bassline itself, rubbery and grooving, is gorgeous — but that it shares less with the perfect grooves that "OMG" and "Ditto" than first appears. [9]

Oliver Maier: Unusual for NewJeans both in that it is kind of a retread (think "OMG" 2: Not As Good) and that the performances are really quite listless. The thing about girl groups from anywhere in the world is that their songs tend to implode the moment it sounds like they aren't having fun. [5]

Jonathan Bradley: There's not the great shock of the new provided by genre experiments like "Super Shy" or "Ditto," but the R&B-lite of "How Sweet" gets some extra mileage from burbling percussion runs and photon-light electro textures. Switching between English and Korean lines in the hook is smart songwriting as well as smart globalization; it adds variation to a melody that threatens to run out of ideas after a mere three-and-a-half minutes.  [6]

Michael Hong: Initially put off by how weary the vocals sound -- NewJeans have always been low-key, but they've never sounded so spent. But it starts making sense when you consider that NewJeans are just as much about the experience of sharing these milestones as they are living them. Backed by a laser show of synths, "How Sweet" is about convincing yourself that you're okay after a heartbreak and proving it to your friends. This exhaustion makes the sharper moments more effective: the wistfulness of "it's like biting an apple" longs harder, and the snarky "I'll see you out" that closes the track is a truly satisfying line read. With every chorus, the bitter tartness lessens and the the sweetness pops brighter. [7]

Alfred Soto: The relaxed sensuality is what I wanted from this week's Tinashe track. The melodies are sticky and sweet. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: The drum programming is a bouncy, yet flimsy kick snare pattern full of glittery lasers and clinking closed hi-hats. At first, it overwhelms you, with the rising hit arriving every four bars and doubling during the post chorus, but once you pay attention to the looping, ghostly synth melody, you feel toward a handhold in the wind. [6]

Isabel Cole: I get so excited by the aliens-attacking space-laser sounds at the beginning, and then it all mellows out to make room for an uninspiring vocal line delivered uninspiringly. Things perk up a little in the chorus (I remain a sucker for handclaps!), but unfortunately the actual melody continues to be the worst part of the song, to the extent that I think I'd prefer an instrumental version. [5]

Katherine St. Asaph: The melody on the verses sounds like something off PinkPantheress's Heaven Knows, which is some real influencer-becomes-influenced ouroboros shit. But "How Sweet" settles into a chorus that's undeniably itself, frenetic but small: kind of like "Let the Music Play" recreated by one of those miniscule Helmacron ships from Animorphs in tiny zaps and little plinks. And I do mean "settles": there's less fizz in the pop than there could have been, and NewJeans' vocals range from effortless to affectless, unbothered to unengaging. [6]

TA Inskeep: I'm absolutely here for NewJeans giving us a little bit of ecstasy. If this kicks off a revival of second-wave freestyle, I'll be very happy. (Someone call Sabrina Carpenter to the white courtesy phone, stat!) [8]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: “How Sweet” is the most subdued and pedestrian newjeans have sounded. The beeps and blorps and percussion taste sweet, but the vocals are bitter and dull. But when the production has so many dynamic flourishes, and the meta-narrative around the group is so interesting, the score floor is high.  [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[quodekash]

fifteen minutes left of the episode. how long will it take me to watch 15 minutes? let's find out

shake of friendshipppp

VERY different to the shake of PURE sexual tension we got from guynava in ep5

this one is FRIENDSHIP

and I LOVE FRIENDSHIP

(altho I do also love sexual tension)

you can't stop staring at him

well frick

either he's really clumsy, or that absolutely SHOULD be a foul and yellow team SUCKS

YES

FRIENDSHIP

PLATONIC HAPPINESS COMING RIGHT UP

THEY DID THE DUDEBRO HANDCLAP BACK PAT THING

I PERSONALLY LOVE THIS

the commentator is so valid and so is the guy recording him lmao

I am both of them

(but not in the context of sport, I never know what's going on in sport)

BSHDBFHJVSADVBG

AGAIN????

IM LOSING IT

THIS IS LIKE EXACTLY THE SAME AS LAST EPISODE

how funny would it be if he misses

LMAO

sorry I care so little about sport that this is downright hilarious to me

he MISSED

ITS SO FUNNY

I love him and hes gonna be so disappointed in himself for ages and stuff. buT LIKE. HE MISSED. I MEAN CMON YOU GOTTA ADMIT ITS FUNNY

HERE COMES THE SCENE HERE COMES THE SCENE HERE COMES THE SCENE GHEKRBGJREBAAAAAAAA

(here comes the scene, doo-doo-do-do)

PFFFFT

GEU4KJRWLGNOREL

HES RIGHT YOU KNOW

oH MY-

I SAID THE SAME THING

AGES AGO I SAID THE SAME THING

AND IT REMINDS ME OF SOUNDWIN

AND THEY FULLY JUST PULLED THE SOUNDWIN LINE RIGHT THERE

CMON MAN IM GONNA LOSE MY MIND EVEN MORE THAN IVE ALREADY LOST IT

BUT YEAH

BASICALLY IM AWESOME

I love him

also I love how short auto is

it makes me feel represented

(even though im pretty sure he's still taller than me. bUT LIKE BY 2 CENTIMETRES I MEAN COME ON)

KICKING MY FEET SHOUTING SCREAMING

THISSCENETHISSCENETHISSCENEAAAAAGOIEGOPIJBE4RIOGJB4OEIB

here it is. prepare for me to explode bc when soundwin did this it killed me and I know its gonna do the same thing when they do it

EIOJGHVNOWIEPLSJDGVNIOERJLDSKGHVNOEIDS

THEIR SMILESSSSSS

GJIKERBGJREB IM SOBBING

HE FOOLED HIM A G A I N

KANG YOU IDIOT I LOVE YOU

bitches be stimming so hard rn

(its me. im bitches)

THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO ME

IM SO TOTALLY NORMAL ABOUT THEM

IM LOSING IT

AAAAAAAAYUTKFUGUYUIGYDTUYE56RDTYCGUHIBHYTRF87YGUIHTTFUYGTGYIFUYIGUYHVIUHJGIUGFTYUR4E56URFTYUKVG

A

AA

idk bout you, but I happen to be an avid lover of all things cheesy and corny, so im having a SPECTACULAR time rn

PLS I LOVE HIM

several days later????

ITS STILL GOING??????

oml I ran out of images. again. but there's like one minute left so you're just gonna have to imagine the screenshots

[grandma in the car]

SHES BACK!!!

[kang's shoes]

oml kang's platforms I love them

[grandma saying 'and I also have a new caretaker']

ah frick it better not be who I think it is

[saifah's evil little grin]

YUP

AH FRICK

MR THIEF ROBBERY MAN IS HERE TO ROB SOME RICH PEOPLE AND GET ARRESTED AND MAYBE SHOOT KANG'S DAD

I mean fair enough. but also cmon man

[grandma saying 'he'll be taking care of me at this house from now on']

come on man

now saifah's gonna be annoying when sailom and kang want to be gay and in love

cos im guessing saifah and grandma aren't leaving the house much

I guess kangsailom will have to go to sailom's house or just not be in the mansion or smth

its so convenient having a mansion thooooo

come on saifah, youre ruining all the gay little plans I had made up in my head

YEEEE SO MUCH HAPPY FLUFFY COMFORT COMING OUR WAY NEXT WEEK IM SO EXCITED

as for today: comfort episode, unlocked

and for those who were curious, it took me 45 minutes to watch the last 15 minutes of this episode

its 2:30am. the episode came out 3 hours ago. what the hell is wrong with me.

[jeidafei]

Komui's Lounge: Vol. 28 (Part 4/4)

>> Part 1

>> Part 2

>> Part 3

Q16: I would like to know if Hoshino-sensei ever felt super hyped while drawing a scene?

Hoshino: Lavi’s “Infinite Flame!! (火加減無し!!)” scene (vol.13)

(T/N: Lavi vs Road battle, below)

Lavi: Whoa! Hoshino just popped outta nowhere!

Allen: Goes to show we’re already screwed in regards to the word count, I guess.

Hoshino: If you know, then watch it!

Reever: She was also pretty hyped during Krory’s “I don’t need no coffin” scene, as well (Vol.11). (T/N: Krory vs Jasdevi battle. Thanks @looniecartooni for the raw!)

Q17: So Jasdevi has been called “monster” before?

Lenalee: Krory did mention them when we had a tea party some time ago. “Those Noah twins and I, we’re similar, so I have this feeling we’d meet again someday,” he said. I guess he must have been thinking what you’re thinking at some point.

Lavi: They’re weirdly simple-minded for their age. I guess it’s possible they’re nursing a wound in their heart.

Q18: Are there ever instances where a new accommodator eventually appeared for the Innocence shards of exorcists who died in the line of duty?

Reever: Yeah. Loads of them, in fact. Next!

Lavi: That was quick!

Allen: Mr. Reever, are they that strict about the word count limit this time?

Reever: The designer’s already at their limit from the looks of it, Allen. Whether we get to do this Lounge again next volume could depend on this!

Q19: Does Fo consume human food?

Allen: Fo doesn’t eat anything. That’s what I’ve heard back at the Asian Branch.

Lavi: Aaah, the Asian Branch’s Guardian Deity system is so interesting, really. Even Bookmen of old regarded the Chang Clan as a subject requiring special attention. Any clues on why they had their guardian deity take the form of a young lady?

Allen and Lenalee: Eh? No.

Kanda: …Didn’t Branch Head Bak’s great-grandfather who created the Guardian Deity system have it take the form of his late daughter?

Lavi: Wait, so Yu knew!

Reever: Who have you heard that from, Kanda?

Kanda: Alma said so.

Q20: A question for Allen-kun! If Kanda and General Cross were drowning in a river and you could save only one, whom would you save?

Reever: Al~righty!! Let’s wrap it up with this question.

Lavi: Welp, can’t be helped!! Welp, can’t be helped!! (T/N: Try reading it with a rhythm XD)

Allen: There must have been a better one in there! Come on!

Lenalee: Looks like Ms. Hoshino’s so nervous about the word count, she’s on the verge of a panic attack…(sweating). Let’s make do with this one for her, okay?

Kanda: If she’s gonna panic that much, then don’t do this Lounge thing, then.

Allen: No can do, huh…Or rather, these two don’t look like they’d ever find themselves drowning, seriously! Erm...Let’s see…I’ll save Master.

Lavi: And your reason behind that?!

Allen: Because Master could’ve been squirreling away the secret stash I’ve been saving!

Reever: Aaaaand we’re done! Thank you so much for being with us today! Now break it up! Chop chop! (Two big handclaps)

Lenalee: Would be nice if we managed to scrape a pass on the word count this time.

Allen: Which I reckon…we probably didn’t…

Lavi: Gave it our best shot, though……Alas, poor Hoshino……

Closing T/N:

Aaaand that’s it! Thank you so much for all your comments and tags. I had so much fun reading them.

@shashaspeaks The original Japanese dialogue for Allen cussing is the following:

ラビてめぇこの野郎なに口走ってんだよコラァ（ドス声）

(Rabi temee kono yarou nani kuchi hashitten dayo koraa//threatening voice).

It’s written with no punctuation, likely indicating he said it all in one breath XD.

//Don’t even get me started on Lenalee’s records gaaaaah what’s up now, Hoshino-sensei?!!

@candy-crackpot Again, thanks for the raws! Also super happy someone got my sneaky ATLA reference XD.

//Don’t worry, I know Komurin’s weakness is at the nape.

//Nah I think Cross is fascinated by the heartbeat of living beings precisely because he doesn’t have one. /ooooohh I think General Tiedoll would have approved of that burn.

//Highest Sci. Div. turnover rate prolly during Akuma Egg arc /oof!

@sauvechouris Yeah, I’m confused about the “kids OK but lovers NO-K” thing too. Like aren’t kids supposed to be even harder to leave behind, idk? LOL poor Bookman’s children, must have been one hell of a Daddy’s Issue for you all. Anyway, Past!Allen is Bookman’s kid headcanon anyone lmao?

@metiredlr YAAAAAAS MILF LINK

[aftermathing]

"Congrats – you're sober. It will take a while for your body to remember how to metabolize anything that isn't sugar from alcohol, so you're going to be pretty ravenous soon. Eat plenty. You can expect your coordination and balance to improve in a couple of weeks. In two months, you might start sleeping like a normal person. Full recovery will take years, though. It’ll be depressing. And it’ll be boring. Don’t expect any further rewards or handclaps. This is how normal people are all the time."

This quote goes so. I was going to say hard but it really goes gentle. It's a firm and necessary reminder from inside yourself, you, who knows intimately that you don't respond well to either extreme: "life sucks always get used to it" or "you're doing amazing and everyone loves you."

Your life has been agony, every part of it lived in fear and pain. No one will congratulate you for not killing yourself last night or for getting out of bed this morning. No one will take pity on you for stumbling at every step you take or tell you how brave you are for enduring the thoughts your mind conjures up every day. No one will call you poor baby and cradle your head when you admit to not eating. not drinking. not sleeping. not taking your medicine. not moving much at all. Or for eating too much. drinking too much. sleeping too much. working yourself to exhaustion. No one thinks like you and no one ever will.

Recovery is the hardest thing you will ever do and you deserve to sit atop the throne of heaven for the amount of strength you've shown to even try. You are doing this all on your own and no one is going to notice the sparks of progress other than you. I wish it was a glamorous victory, overcoming as much as you have, I wish there was fanfare and singing or at least hugs and knowing smiles, I wish your favorite person was there and saying you did it you did it and I'm so proud of you. But when you finally wake up healthy, it will just be another day.

You have to make it to another day. You just have to.

[cityandking]

3, 5, 19 for dai, minah and vesper!

thanks my dear! // oc ask meme: roots edition

3. How did your OC feel the first time they left home? Why did they leave?

DAICHI — he felt nervous, definitely, but also a little proud. he was sure that the leavetaking was the right decision. it was when he was stationed at the northern garrison, so it was a part of his training and he'd known it was coming—he was nervous for the change in routine and structure and work, but he also knew what to expect and was looking forward to the chance to work and help and (im)prove himself. he even had a good couple months of routine before things went. well. you know. MINAH — felt miserable when she left home for the first time, alone and afraid and confused and overwhelmed. she left out of fear, and because she couldn't stay. VESPER — the first time vesper left home was when she was about eight or nine and her family moved from their countryside home to live in the family estate in Ostwick. her uncle had died and her father inherited his title, and vesper remembers the grief of it—not for her uncle's passing as much, because she hadn't known him well, but because her father was angry about the burden and nobody wanted to go and she missed the greenery and the space in the high stone city walls. even as a girl she'd known that the move—from country to city, from space to walls, from freedom to responsibility—was a cumbersome and unwelcome change, but she'd had no choice but to bear it. a lot of things in her life got worse after that move. the magic was the cherry on top.

5. What did your OC think their life would be like when they grew up? Has it lived up to that expectation?

DAICHI — dai thought he'd do his time at the garrison and move back to Skysong Keep and perform his duties and see his father on leave and go where the Skysinger sent him. it was a very simple, structured life, and he was content with it. it has... really truly not lived up to that at all, but he's grateful. that life seems such a small and sad thing now, and he's glad he's had the chance to learn and see and do more. MINAH — her life was meant to be a simple thing, lived according to her family and society's expectations. she'd get married, she'd be a good wife and eventually mother, she'd do her part to take care of her family and her community. it was going to be a proper, dutiful life. everything changed when the fire nation attacked her father died VESPER — vesper didn't think a lot about it, truth be told. she knew there were expectations placed on her as the daughter of a noble house, but when she was young that didn't really solidify into any specific kind of expectation. then her magic manifested and she knew she'd end up in a tower eventually, or on the run—but either way, not quite noble anymore. she gave up on deciding her own future in any meaningful way a long time ago. (the circle ended up being more palatable than she had expected, though she never loved it. the inquisition was a surprise)

19. What traditions or stories does your OC carry forward from their childhood to the rest of their life?

DAICHI — his father told (or read) him stories growing up, probably some mix of drow tales and folklore and battle exploits, and I think there's a bit of romanticism in there that has rubbed off on dai, even if he doesn't entirely realize it. there are a few smaller ones he picked up from his father or soldiers in camp as a boy—the way to be grateful for a meal, the right way to sit when he prays, how to fix his hair. it's all little things. MINAH — minah has honestly done her level best to shake off the stories and traditions of her childhood, but there are probably a few marcher superstitions she practices in an idle, reflexive sort of way. she also probably knows a bunch of handclap games actually. VESPER — when her family moved to ostwick and everyone got kind of miserable, she took to hanging out in the kitchens with their elvhen cook, and vesper picked up so many tales and stories and traditions from that old elf. she remembers most of them; it was the start of her interest in the more esoteric and historical stuff that she spent a bunch of time with in the circle. listening to solas' stories takes her back, a bit. it's nice.

[livebloggingkidshows]

Love What You Do as a Promposal Song

I think I mentioned it off-hand in another post but I want to go a little deeper because I think about it all the time. Full details below the cut because this got Long.

Okay, so it's well known that The Next Step songs are often based on popular songs (See AM Radio and HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums among others). But the one that sticks out to me the most is Love What You Do. Specifically because it's Henry's promposal song.

Importantly, season 6 of The Next Step started airing in September 2018 and was filmed during the summer of 2017. Also worth noting, as stated in a BTS for A Tale of Two Auditions, they don't always have the songs ready for filming, but due to the nature of the scene Love What You Do had to have been written and at least a rough demo for them to perform to while filming.

These dates are extremely important for the next bit. Because the opening for Love What You Do sounds extremely similar to the opening for You Happened from the musical The Prom, which is, very importantly, their promposal song. However! The Prom didn't go to Broadway until October of 2018 and the cast recording wasn't digitally released (widely available to listen to without going to see the show) until December of 2018.

This is where things get really interesting. See, based solely on those dates it would seem as though The Prom took inspiration from The Next Step. It's important to understand though that shows (almost) never go directly to Broadway, there is usually some sort of tryout elsewhere, often in La Jolla, CA, Seattle, WA, or Millburn, NJ. The Prom had their tryout in Atlanta, GA in 2016.

In my opinion, the most important part of this story is the fact that there is rehearsal footage of You Happened posted by Alliance Theater in Atlanta (the theater where the tryout happened) in August 2016. The lyrics changed from then to Broadway, but the opening melody has stayed the same.

I have no idea how that video ended up in front of somebody at TNS, but I do think it's very funny that somehow somebody found this rehearsal footage from a musical that, at that point in time (probably) wasn't headed for Broadway, it was just some random show that most people probably hadn't heard of.

[bigsnzstanacct]

Speaking of old characters, what about Alice Xenobubble and Bob Fossé from "Dr. Brown’s Interdimensional Time-Travelling Sneezing Clinic" ? Are they still exploring the upper limits of Alice's respiratory system? Has there been any new close call with her planet terrorizing sneezes? Also, considering Bob is also harmonian, does he ever join Alice during her sneezing sessions (even if she always wins the competition)?

(As a Bonus, has Dr.Brown received any new notorious patient? Or did any of his patients ever happen to have a particularly dangerous buildup inside or blow up his clinic with one of their sneezes?)

Okay so this is another one I had to go back and re-read to have a real answer and the answer is absolutely yes. They have been exploring the upper limits of her respiratory system AND because her really big sneezes—now she thinks of the fit back on Hothouse Five as a little one, barely a sneeze at all—have both demolition and terraforming applications, they’ve gotten extremely wealthy off of her sneezes. So wealthy that they have a very powerful staff telekinetic that follows them basically everywhere and contains the damage when Alice has to sneeze (of course she also has to hold it back some herself, as even they couldn’t afford a telekinetic that could deal with the FULL force of Alice’s sneezes), and yes there absolutely have been close calls. But it’s not so much close calls about her sneezing, but close calls about her having to let loose one that’s so big that their staff telekinetic can’t manage the damage. At this point, they think she just likes testing their limits.

Anyway, yes Bob does share some of her allergies. In fact, he let off some real firecracker sneezes himself back on Hothouse Five—all harmonians sneeze loud, it’s the lung capacity don’tcha know. But yes, even though Bob was actually known even back on Harmony Nine as a particularly loud sneezer, you literally cannot even hear him sneeze when Alice lets loose. It’s like a loud handclap next to a sonic boom.

Doc Brown has done a few Sneeze Reduction Therapy house-calls since then, one in particular to a Victorian Oldworld in which he helped solve a Sherlock Holmes-esque mystery about someone who seemed to be vandalizing stores and homes via an explosive device that sounded curiously like a sneeze (spoiler alert it was a sneeze). The good Doctor has, unfortunately, lost three offices so far, two to the same client—interestingly also Far Fielder DNA but in a totally different cross-species genetic mashup, but thankfully one of the advantages of meta-sentience is that you always have several dozen consciousnesses to rally to your assistance in an emergency. And the Sneeze Reduction Therapy really has brought quite good money into the Doc Brown network, so none of his many consciousnesses really mind.

[anger-ey]

NSR AMA FILE 2 (part 1)

How did you find your voice talents? In Malaysia the usual pattern is to go to a voice recording studio and have them find an actor for you, but they wanted to open opportunities so they on facebook, twitter, etc.

Differences between English and Japanese VA? According to Daim, the biggest difference is the Japanese VAs are punctual (though Su Ling was very punctual). Japanese VAs are also super professional. Ayane Sakura (Mayday's VA) finished the recording by 8 PM on the dot, every single line done. Steven and Su Ling helped coach less experienced VAs as well.

Did the game Jet Set Radio influence NSR's game design? Not so much as just the style of it. It's hard to draw the line between what affects game design and game experience. One of the ones that count is the grafitti that starts showing up the more you progress in the game.

Can Neon J dance? Yes, he is actually a dancer. He was in the Navy but his true passion has always been dancing. In the 1010 fight, what they wanted to do on the final phase was him dancing on the factory as well, so the factory is mocapped by him. Unfortunately due to limited resources they couldn't afford to include that. If you beat 1010 and talk to Kayane again she will say that Neon J is the best, so she actually saw him dance.

What do you look for in a concept artist? A good concept artist must be able to problem solve for what the story and the game needs. Good basics and a sense of lighting. A concept artist must understand what the final result looks like, so the art is also a communication tool not just for art's sake.

What do you look in a musician/music associate? Hazmer wanted Falk on board not just for good sense of rhythm and music, but also technical know-hows. The music isn't just for soundtrack, but the experience must fit the music and vice versa. Having a musician that understands looping and dynamism was the key.

What is the nature behind DK's shadow puppet powers? Is it passed down in the family? Does Zuke have it too? It might have (Daim doesn't want to lock the lore in) been a family thing, so Zuke might have it too. But what they wanted to do in the game is to showcase how despite the two brothers going different paths, they both dabble in percussions (Zuke drums, DK West handclaps). There is a hint of similarity in their craft. The idea to make DK Zuke's brother came from a staff member a few months into the production, previously he was just supposed to be some random guy who came and left.

Is Neon J added in the midst of 1010's development? Neon J and 1010 were both designed way later than the other bosses. So no, 1010's boy band concept was the idea since the beginnning, it's just that they took a while to finalize. There was a sequence in early development where you had to platform up towards the factory while fighting 1010/NJ. Compared to other NSR artists, 1010 was a mix of a lot of ideas from many people in the studio, which also means that many of their themes were added in later including their army theming. Their development is a reflection of manufactured boy bands, the studio members are like the manufacturers of the characters.

Yinu's animation style is different from the rest of the 2D commercial segments. Was this on purpose? Yinu and DJSS's commercials were originally done by someone else (Jerry?) before LZBros came and did the rest.

Any favorite OCs? There's so many… but they were very touched when seeing the end product of the Citizens of Vinyl City project. The fact that they were able to inspire OCs at all is extremely humbling and they didn't think it would have this much impact.

Why is the 1010 stage a moving limo? When Hazmer was thinking about NSR before they even started, he listened to music and tried to imagine what the action stages would be like. Somehow a moving platform is always what comes to mind. Then someone brought up "what if we had all the stages in different directions", e.g. DJSS goes in a circle, Yinu moves upwards, etc. The 1010 stage was troublesome to work with since the side buildings was hard to work with and caused some motion sickness, even within the team. They referred to Uncharted 2 for the tech, a mobius/figure 8 effect where the environment only changes depending on how much progress the players make. There was supposed to be a cutscene where you ride the helicopter to bring B2J to drop them on a moving car in 1010 approach.

How do you feel about speedrunners? Do you prefer glitchless runs or the glitchiest possible run? Early on when discussing the features of the game, they did take into account speedrunners. Haz thinks speedrunners add a flavor into game design and he wanted to tackle the demographic. To be honest glitches cause them a lot of stress (because they have to patch them) but they are also fun to see.

Will we ever get animated shorts? LZBROS WHERE ARE THE ANIMATED SHORTS- (Daim: would be nice lol)

Which NSR character was Ellie's favorite to design/draw? Sayu (very fast answer, but apparently Ellie just really likes drawing mermaids) and Eve.

What is Neon J/DJSS/Mama's real name? Neon J has no real name (they never gave him one). DJSS does presumably have a real name but he insists to be addressed by his stage name. Yinu's mama also has no canon name.

Will there be a sequel? When the opportunity arises! They're definitely considering it, but they also want to explore new grounds.

How did you get the themes for the bosses? They came up with the concept before drawing the characters. Sayu had an interesting story because Ellie designed her like a schoolgirl bunny rabbit, but later Daim realized Ellie likes mermaids so they switched courses. The direction also helped set Sayu apart from Hatsune Miku.

Less obvious symbolisms in the boss designs? Yinu's mama has yellow pupils because Yinu is her life. As the battle progresses, her pupils disappear to symbolize that she's lost sight of what she loves. Hence at the end, her pupils come back to show that she has regained her humanity. Sayu's arena represents going deeper not just into the ocean, but also into geek culture and the deep web.

During the game auditions, it says everything in the world follow music. Is this only for Vinyl City or for the world? It refers more to the game design itself, not the lore.

Was Yinu's father an NSR artist? No.

Do the 1010 members have their own personalities, memories, and ways to express themselves? Personalities and expression is covered in the previous AMA but they do have personal memories.

The game mentions that Eve was the first NSR artist, in what order did the other bosses join NSR? If they had to guess, Eve and 1010 were the original members. Neon J is like the Soundwave to Tatiana's Megatron. They don't know about the rest because it's not actually locked in.