#the possibilities are limitless!!! fan artists we have the world in our hands!!!

[raan-miir-tah]

Ok since Daniel Kaluuya is voice acting Spiderpunk we are all soooOoOOo putting nope and get out references in his buttons and patches right? We’re all in agreement that this is nonnegotiable, correct?

[huayno]

from neon genesis evangelion, vol. 12

The Mysterious Stranger

The Anime, the Manga, and the Mark Twain Novella

"God will provide for this kitten." "What makes you think so?" Ursula's eyes snapped with anger. "Because I know it!" she said. "Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His seeing it." "But it falls, just the same. What good is seeing it fall?"

—from The Mysterious Stranger

There is a short novel by Mark Twain, written near the end of his life and published posthumously, entitled The Mysterious Stranger. The tale is set in a small village in 16th century Austria, where three boys one day meet a young man different from themselves: "he had new and good clothes on, and was handsome and had a winning face and a pleasant voice, and was easy and graceful and unembarrassed, not slouchy and awkward and diffident, like other boys."

The mysterious stranger starts to do small but amazing tricks for them—causing water to turn to ice; conjuring grapes and bread out of air; even making birds that can fly out of clay. At last one boy, the story's narrator, works up the courage to ask the stranger who he is:

"'An angel,' he said, quite simply, and set another bird free and clapped his hands and made it flyaway."

The angel then proceeds to really impress them by making an entire toy castle, complete with five hundred miniature soldiers and workmen that move around by themselves. Naturally the boys get involved with this ultimate playset, making their own knights and cannon and cavalry, and although they get rather nervous again when the angel reveals his name is Satan, he assures them he is not that Satan, but only named after the fallen one.

"We others are still ignorant of sin; we are not able to commit it; we are without blemish, and we shall abide in that estate always." Distracted by two of the miniature workmen, "Satan reached out his hand and crushed the life out of them with his fingers... and went on talking where he had left off: 'We cannot do wrong; neither have we any disposition to do it, for we do not know what it is." Horrified as the other boys are, "he made us drunk with the joy of being with him and of looking into the heaven of his eyes, and of feeling the ecstasy that thrilled along our veins from the touch of his hand.'"

Yes, Kaworu Nagisa made quite an impression on the fans of Neon Genesis Evange/ion, despite the fact that, in the original broadcast version of the TV show (before it got all director's-cutted, box-setted, special-editioned, and platinum-lined) he shows up for only slightly less than thirteen minutes of total screen time, the climax of which being an entire minute where nothing happens at all.

That's what being a beautiful angel will do for you, especially when you make the most of your thirteen minutes on Earth by having a Whirlwind romance with the main character that ends in a lover's quarrel with Prog Knives and finally a voluntary martyrdom at the hand of your boy here. Relationships don't come any more tragic than that of Kaworu Nagisa and Shinji Ikari, and when fans (including this one) first saw it on TV, the affair was so brief and shocking the story logic of it didn't click in until much later.

In the anime, Kaworu is acknowledged as the Final Messenger, and, of all the Angels Shinji has to fight, this is the most ruthless battle, won at the highest possible cost to himself. It took even longer for me to realize that the showdown in episode 24 had also taken us full circle from Shinji's first fight in episodes 1 and 2, which emphasized his personal helplessness against the looming Angel Sachiel. Against Kaworu, it is the Angel who becomes the small, helpless figure, while Shinji is represented only by the gargantuan, frightful helm and arm of his Eva Unit-O1. We never see Shinji's human face once throughout the whole final minute of decision.

So as Col. Trautman would have said instead of Major Katsuragi, "It's over, Shinji! IT'S OVER!" Kaworu v. Shinji (or Kaworu x Shinji, in the doujinshi) was the big final showdown between humanity and the Angels. And with the outcome leaving Shinji at his most wretched ever, wouldn't it be nice if everyone just died—your wish being Eva's command, as it turns out that fortunately humanity hardly ever needed the Angels to slaughter itself.

"I am perishing already—I am failing—I am passing away. In a little while you will be alone in shoreless space, to wander its limitless solitudes without friend or comrade forever...But I, your poor servant, have revealed you to yourself and set you free. Dream other dreams, and better!"

—from The Mysterious Stranger

Satan's words near the end of Mark Twain's story also uncannily prefigure the end of the world and the Instrumentality project, both of which follow his death in the TV show in such quick order you picture Anno as a hairnetted fry cook dinging the counter bell. By now you see Sadamoto's handling of Kaworu, and perhaps nothing illustrates the different experiences of the manga and the anime better than his handling of this critical character.

No longer the last Angel to be fought, Kaworu actually becomes an active Eva pilot and fights an Angel—the dude even has the nerve to observe the fight is fixed, based on his knowledge of SEELE's prophecies. Sadamoto of course introduces him at an earlier point in the narrative—at the equivalent of episode 19's end—and then sends him to NERV near the equivalent of episode 22's beginning—before certain important events, to put it mildly, can occur. When one notes this kind of thing, of course, it's important to restate that the Evangelion manga has always been a separate but equal "official" version of Eva, with no particular obligation to align itself with the anime, and indeed it was with Book Five, the first released after The End of Evangelion, that Sadamoto began to truly seem free to go in his own direction.

Nevertheless, as the "other" official version of the Eva story, it is reasonable for fans to view it as an "alternate history" relative to the anime, and the way Kaworu has been introduced makes us realize the manga may end very differently indeed. Despite the fact we know here that Kaworu is an Angel from the very beginning, he appears destined to at least hang around long enough to pick up a few paychecks. It's not clear when your health benefits kick in at NERV, although if Ritsuko is your primary caregiver it might be best to forego them.

Sadamoto's remarks upon visiting the U.S. in 2003 indicated that the Eva manga might (might) be planned as a twelve-volume series in all. There is still plenty of room for speculation, as the slow working pace to which the artist himself often refers has of late become almost relativistic—as of this writing, it has been eight months since Sadamoto has drawn a new installment of Eva in Japan, and hence a Volume Ten is nowhere in sight. It may be small comfort, but those of you reading this are pretty much in the same drifting boat as the Japanese fans.

"An angel's love is sublime, adorable, divine, beyond the imagination of man—infinitely beyond it! But it is limited to his own august order. If it fell upon one of your race for only an instant, it would consume its object to ashes. No, we cannot love men but we can be harmlessly indifferent to them; we can also like them, sometimes."

—from The Mysterious Stranger

And with Book Nine we see the most staggering difference thus far between the manga and the anime; Sadamoto's Shinji doesn't even like Kaworu, much less love him. Of course, you could say the less-ethereal Kaworu of the manga is harder to love. I can't believe Sadamoto had him tell Rei he thought she'd be "heftier." And yet he did.

I don't think any A.T. Fields actually got penetrated in the anime; while I do think Shinji felt sexually attracted to Kaworu, and that you the audience are supposed to feel that he felt it, what Kaworu himself thought was a very different matter. Like Rei, I believe Kaworu to be innocent—coyly, he appears not to be so, because while Rei needed to be reached out to, Kaworu has come to reach out; whereas Rei has spent her existence being observed; Kaworu has come to observe.

Indeed, in the manga, Shinji's irritation about Kaworu's invasion of his personal space seems almost a parody of his attitude in the anime. In the TV show, when Kaworu put his hand on Shinji's, he flinched but did not pull away; whereas in the manga it's easy to imagine Shinji slugging him. Instead he goes to run after Rei, hoping to get closer to her again.

I hardly think the change reflects any phobia on Sadamoto's part (after all, we even get to see Shinji's "Unit One" in the manga), but the fact the manga Shinji is less emotionally bleak and empty, and hence less vulnerable. Shinji's just as negative in the manga, of course, but it's an active variety, rather than the passive negative creep (in the best Nirvana song sense) we know from the anime. We don't have to imagine him slugging Gendo; from the look of surprise on Dad's face in Book Seven he would have smacked the beard off his face if Kaji hadn't stopped him.

Neither is Shinji in a positive emotional situation where we leave him here, either; indeed at this point in the manga there's arguably no one he can turn to—the more brutal fate that befell Toji has cut him off from his school friends, Rei has become hesitant, Kaji is dead, and his perennial self-esteem booster Asuka is going to need to rebuild her internal supply before she can even get back to calling him a loser and idiot.

So, like Misato trying to put her own hand on Shinji's, all I can do for now while we wait for Sadamoto-sensei is to recommend for your winter vacation reading list The Mysterious Stranger, which I can almost guarantee will give you new angles to think about Kaworu, and may even earn you class credit besides. A quick look at the novel's comments on Amazon list a teacher who says fundamentalist students walked out of his class when he taught it; another compares it to The Matrix; those who dislike it call it "sick," "bitter," and "twisted." Sounds like good old Evangelion to me!

—Carl Gustav Horn

[a drawing of Kaworu holding a kitten]

Although The Mysterious Stranger can also be found in a number of print editions, including The Portable Mark Twain from Penguin (haw haw), the story, being from the days when mp3s came on shellacked cylinders, is legally available online at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/TwaMyst.html. The same site has a book called The Holy Bible, King James Version, which fans of Evangelion might also enjoy, although it's technically "Editor's Choice."

[fyexo]

201203 The Powerful, Limitless Kai

EXO member Kai unpacks his solo debut, artistry, and how he learned to express himself.

“I wanted to show that Kai is limitless,” 26-year-old Kim Jongin, better known by his stage name Kai, tells Teen Vogue of his newly-released debut self-titled album. The word is multifaceted, conjuring up an unfettered existence or an endless void, as terrifying as it is appealing.

Kai leans toward the latter. His voice — soft, restrained, thoughtful, and at times giddy during our interview — is an anchor in that wide open space. He’s quite excited about the idea of limitlessness, of existing on more than one plane, of proving you’re more than one thing.

Kai, out November 30, is just the first step.

“Over the years I've been in the industry, many people have seen me as a member of EXO. I have performed in front of our EXO fans and SuperM fans. This is the first time I'm actually releasing something under my own name,” he says. “I want to show people who Kai is through this album. The name Kai means ‘to open’. So, I want it to be open and show a new side of me.”

The year was 2012 when EXO debuted with an intensely mythological, high-concept origin story. Shortly after the heart of the Tree of Life dried up due to the red forces’ incessant attacks, Kai descended to Earth — along with the rest of the members of EXO — as part of the legends that “see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies.” (A parallel to EXO’s original split into two groups, one focused on China’s pop market, the other on Korea’s.) Each member has his own superpower, and Kai’s is teleportation, although he doesn’t always know what to do with it. During the music video for “Lucky One," the rest of EXO use their powers to fend off villains, but Kai breaks out into dance. (Though if you’ve seen Kai dance, you’ll know that’s as much a superpower as anything.)

That may be Kai’s beginning, but he was brought to life by Kim Jongin, the youngest of three siblings, who grew up in Suncheon, South Korea, with an early interest in ballet and jazz dance. Taking on the persona of Kai at 17 years old, he began to set the framework for what he’d soon become known for: a fluid, captivating dance style infused with seemingly endless confidence, smirking through concept changes with ease. As EXO’s popularity hit the stratosphere shortly after their single “Growl” — with performances on world stages like the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the multi-million selling 9-member group remains one of the most revered acts in modern-day K-pop — so did Kai’s reputation as one of the most enigmatic performers in Korean idol music.

Duality is one of K-pop’s favorite concepts, and the endearing dichotomy between Kai and Jongin is a perfect example of where the person and the artist diverge. On stage, Kai paints a mysterious picture, flitting from lithe self-possession to seductive swagger, to borderline arrogance. Off stage, however, Jongin is uncharacteristically shy: he blushes when complimented by his group members, often forgets his own passwords (and asks friends to help out), and is obsessed with his niece and nephew.

While every gaze, every spin, every step with Kai is intentional, Kim Jongin is as free of the bounds of pretense as it gets. It could be as easy as turning a switch on or off, but that would be doing Kai’s ethos a disservice. It’s subliminal. “Kai is me in my dream state,” he says. “When I'm sleeping, it's like my dream character comes alive, and that would be Kai. I’m more of a normal, down-to-earth person. That's just me, but Kai is this persona that's on stage… I do notice that when I'm dancing and pulling off all these different concepts, [I’m] like a totally different person outside of myself doing that.”

And if EXO member Kai is one type of persona, solo performer Kai is another. He previewed Kai with a short film song-sampler, in which he “teleports” through a cinematic thoroughfare of concepts, each one diving deeper. In “Hello Stranger,” his voice is the lighthouse in the storm of the bustling city, asking to talk about the things that overwhelm you. “Reason” is a modern-day fairytale, with Kai as the quirky, attention-grabbing prince in a sea of droning conversations and pretentious debutantes. Hold his hand, turn the corner, and you meet Bad Boy Kai in “Amnesia,” sheathed in leather and a mullet (a hairstyle that continues to be one of the greatest things ever to happen to K-pop) and leaning into noble sacrifice: “Forget me before I know you,” he says. How can you?

We pass through scores of mirrors, each with a different version of Kai as he croons, “Don’t think about anything else.” He holds this attention until the mirrors open into a vast landscape. Now, he is the one looking at a mirror of his own — clad in lace and soft whites and vocalizing his desires openly, “Nothing On Me” is his version of suave vulnerability. The story ends on “Ride Or Die,” a throwback to yesteryears with its heavy, sensual synths and noir setup. It’s a full circle moment; this Kai is the same one we get a glimpse of within the first few seconds of the film, as a hologram. All this while, the mirrors that pull us through the songs have been windows, a journey through the hallways of Kai’s mind, ending in the confident reassurance that he will “ride or die” with us, till the end.

“[I wanted to show] that I can do anything and that anything is possible,” he says. “It’s the connection between teleportation and the limitless possibilities that I have as an artist, as Kai. I wanted to showcase that all of these different sides are Kai, are myself.” And he learned a lot about himself in the process of making the album. “To be honest, I was pretty stressed preparing for all of this on my own, but I think I learned a lot about myself throughout this process. Not just myself as an artist, but [also] a lot about myself as a person: my personality, how I deal with stress, and just... what I’m like as a human being.”

Teleportation is an apt comparison for Kai’s continued interest in embracing other art forms and expanding his artistic lexicon. If that comes with playing with the constraints of conventional style, fashion, and masculinity, then so be it. Like his artistry, his sartorial expression is boundless: whether it’s the slew of crop tops worn to highlight the chorus in “Don’t Mess Up My Tempo”, which gave us one of the most memorable fan-cams of 2018; to the shirtless red suit for “Love Shot” that, frankly, deserves its own museum; to the soft yet dangerous combination of flaming red and lace he’s sporting in the highlight medley for Kai. Every outfit is the period at the end of his words, mapping out his own zeitgeist.

“As my career progressed, fashion itself became a way to express myself on stage and the being that I am,” he says. “It's not just about expressing the song or the concept itself. I think it’s really important for me to try new things and have people notice what I've been trying. I actually want people to look back on the styles that I've tried as an example for them to reference later on. Fashion has become a really important thing for me to develop myself.”

At the heart of these many concepts, of both his Kai persona and his life as Jongin, is movement. Kim Jongin and Kai share a fundamental receptiveness to the world, and of course, a singular, synchronous rhythm that has become the bedrock of his artistry, whether as part of EXO or out on his own.

“When I was younger and I first started dancing, I think I just simply loved dancing itself. I was immersed in the art of dancing,” he says. “I loved doing it, but I think as I've progressed as a performer, as my career has grown, dancing has not only become something I love to do, but it's also become a tool [to] express myself on stage and to audiences. Dancing has been part of more than half of my life now. It’s like a friend that I can't live without.”

source: Tanu I. Raj @ Teen Vogue

[dailyexo]

[INTERVIEW] Kai - 201203 Teen Vogue: “The Powerful, Limitless Kai”

"EXO member Kai unpacks his solo debut, artistry, and how he learned to express himself.

“I wanted to show that Kai is limitless,” 26-year-old Kim Jongin, better known by his stage name Kai, tells Teen Vogue of his newly-released debut self-titled album. The word is multifaceted, conjuring up an unfettered existence or an endless void, as terrifying as it is appealing.

Kai leans toward the latter. His voice — soft, restrained, thoughtful, and at times giddy during our interview — is an anchor in that wide open space. He’s quite excited about the idea of limitlessness, of existing on more than one plane, of proving you’re more than one thing.

Kai, out November 30, is just the first step.

“Over the years I've been in the industry, many people have seen me as a member of EXO. I have performed in front of our EXO fans and SuperM fans. This is the first time I'm actually releasing something under my own name,” he says. “I want to show people who Kai is through this album. The name Kai means ‘to open’. So, I want it to be open and show a new side of me.”

The year was 2012 when EXO debuted with an intensely mythological, high-concept origin story. Shortly after the heart of the Tree of Life dried up due to the red forces’ incessant attacks, Kai descended to Earth — along with the rest of the members of EXO — as part of the legends that “see the same sky but shall stand on different grounds, shall stand on the same ground but shall see different skies.” (A parallel to EXO’s original split into two groups, one focused on China’s pop market, the other on Korea’s.) Each member has his own superpower, and Kai’s is teleportation, although he doesn’t always know what to do with it. During the music video for “Lucky One," the rest of EXO use their powers to fend off villains, but Kai breaks out into dance. (Though if you’ve seen Kai dance, you’ll know that’s as much a superpower as anything.)

That may be Kai’s beginning, but he was brought to life by Kim Jongin, the youngest of three siblings, who grew up in Suncheon, South Korea, with an early interest in ballet and jazz dance. Taking on the persona of Kai at 17 years old, he began to set the framework for what he’d soon become known for: a fluid, captivating dance style infused with seemingly endless confidence, smirking through concept changes with ease. As EXO’s popularity hit the stratosphere shortly after their single “Growl” — with performances on world stages like the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the multi-million selling 9-member group remains one of the most revered acts in modern-day K-pop — so did Kai’s reputation as one of the most enigmatic performers in Korean idol music.

Duality is one of K-pop’s favorite concepts, and the endearing dichotomy between Kai and Jongin is a perfect example of where the person and the artist diverge. On stage, Kai paints a mysterious picture, flitting from lithe self-possession to seductive swagger, to borderline arrogance. Off stage, however, Jongin is uncharacteristically shy: he blushes when complimented by his group members, often forgets his own passwords (and asks friends to help out), and is obsessed with his niece and nephew.

While every gaze, every spin, every step with Kai is intentional, Kim Jongin is as free of the bounds of pretense as it gets. It could be as easy as turning a switch on or off, but that would be doing Kai’s ethos a disservice. It’s subliminal. “Kai is me in my dream state,” he says. “When I'm sleeping, it's like my dream character comes alive, and that would be Kai. I’m more of a normal, down-to-earth person. That's just me, but Kai is this persona that's on stage… I do notice that when I'm dancing and pulling off all these different concepts, [I’m] like a totally different person outside of myself doing that.”

And if EXO member Kai is one type of persona, solo performer Kai is another. He previewed Kai with a short film song-sampler, in which he “teleports” through a cinematic thoroughfare of concepts, each one diving deeper. In “Hello Stranger,” his voice is the lighthouse in the storm of the bustling city, asking to talk about the things that overwhelm you. “Reason” is a modern-day fairytale, with Kai as the quirky, attention-grabbing prince in a sea of droning conversations and pretentious debutantes. Hold his hand, turn the corner, and you meet Bad Boy Kai in “Amnesia,” sheathed in leather and a mullet (a hairstyle that continues to be one of the greatest things ever to happen to K-pop) and leaning into noble sacrifice: “Forget me before I know you,” he says. How can you?

We pass through scores of mirrors, each with a different version of Kai as he croons, “Don’t think about anything else.” He holds this attention until the mirrors open into a vast landscape. Now, he is the one looking at a mirror of his own — clad in lace and soft whites and vocalizing his desires openly, “Nothing On Me” is his version of suave vulnerability. The story ends on “Ride Or Die,” a throwback to yesteryears with its heavy, sensual synths and noir setup. It’s a full circle moment; this Kai is the same one we get a glimpse of within the first few seconds of the film, as a hologram. All this while, the mirrors that pull us through the songs have been windows, a journey through the hallways of Kai’s mind, ending in the confident reassurance that he will “ride or die” with us, till the end.

“[I wanted to show] that I can do anything and that anything is possible,” he says. “It’s the connection between teleportation and the limitless possibilities that I have as an artist, as Kai. I wanted to showcase that all of these different sides are Kai, are myself.” And he learned a lot about himself in the process of making the album. “To be honest, I was pretty stressed preparing for all of this on my own, but I think I learned a lot about myself throughout this process. Not just myself as an artist, but [also] a lot about myself as a person: my personality, how I deal with stress, and just... what I’m like as a human being.”

Teleportation is an apt comparison for Kai’s continued interest in embracing other art forms and expanding his artistic lexicon. If that comes with playing with the constraints of conventional style, fashion, and masculinity, then so be it. Like his artistry, his sartorial expression is boundless: whether it’s the slew of crop tops worn to highlight the chorus in “Don’t Mess Up My Tempo”, which gave us one of the most memorable fan-cams of 2018; to the shirtless red suit for “Love Shot” that, frankly, deserves its own museum; to the soft yet dangerous combination of flaming red and lace he’s sporting in the highlight medley for Kai. Every outfit is the period at the end of his words, mapping out his own zeitgeist.

“As my career progressed, fashion itself became a way to express myself on stage and the being that I am,” he says. “It's not just about expressing the song or the concept itself. I think it’s really important for me to try new things and have people notice what I've been trying. I actually want people to look back on the styles that I've tried as an example for them to reference later on. Fashion has become a really important thing for me to develop myself.”

At the heart of these many concepts, of both his Kai persona and his life as Jongin, is movement. Kim Jongin and Kai share a fundamental receptiveness to the world, and of course, a singular, synchronous rhythm that has become the bedrock of his artistry, whether as part of EXO or out on his own.

“When I was younger and I first started dancing, I think I just simply loved dancing itself. I was immersed in the art of dancing,” he says. “I loved doing it, but I think as I've progressed as a performer, as my career has grown, dancing has not only become something I love to do, but it's also become a tool [to] express myself on stage and to audiences. Dancing has been part of more than half of my life now. It’s like a friend that I can't live without.”"

Credit: Teen Vogue.

[thelagendjz4]

NiftyPlanet (NFPL) Project

NiftyPlanet (NFPL) - Decentralized international NFT marketplace.

#NFT #NFTCommunity #niftyplanet #niftyplanetnews #NFTmarketplace #digitalart

About Nifty Planet project

NiftyPlanet is the world marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and unique digital items that you can actually own. What is NiftyPlanet? Our first NFT Drop successfully launched on June 19th! Stay tuned and subscribe on our social media for more upcoming events and news!

A platform based on blockchain technology, where your unique digital creations are protected, the love and authenticity of your creations is guaranteed.

BlockTalks x Nifty Planet AMA Transcript!

We recently hosted an AMA with Nifty Planet, on June 26th at 1 PM UTC. Many of you might have participated or many of not. But we make sure no one missed out from the knowledge shared by Toku Mei, CCO of Nifty Planet. So here we are up with the AMA transcript, for those who missed the live session, this blog post will be a saver & feeder of knowledge for them.

Introduction Questions Asked By Team BlockTalks!

Q1. Could you please introduce Nifty Planet to our community in layman’s term?

Ans — Yes. NiftyPlanet is a web.3.0 platform that built based on Ethereum blockchain. From the start it is place where users can buy NFTs from the famous people and original NiftyPlanet NFTs. In the future, our platform will be fully decentralized and be managed by a Foundation.

Q2. What are the advantages of Nifty Planet to other alternatives in the Blockchain field?

Ans — I would say that there are many differences between the NiftyPlanet and other NFT markets but 2 of them are the biggest to us. First of all we are preparing for any drop together with creators in advance. Including pricing, special mechanics, advertisement. That is why all NFTs have bigger values for the holders than NFTs from rest of the markets. Any creator have to pass Due Diligence process. But at the same time we are web.3.0 system it means that all the assets are under the user’s control.

Second biggest difference is that we plan to attract not just artists of creative people we plan to adopt NFT technology for many different industries and help to join crypto spase different companies and independent people. And our customization can help to make it easier for them and increase the value for their products (NFTs) for everybody.

Q3. What are the major milestones Nifty Planet achieved so far & what are in the future pipeline?

Ans — First of all, we created an Ambassador program and have already gained three Ambassadors to work with us. We have also started our first drop and already sold the majority of those NFT’s. Additionally, we have already built a solid team of more than 10 international team members. And we have our own system that was created by our own engineers based on proven smart contract technology. We have already contracted with a few famous artists to launch NFT drops on our platform starting next month, and we are also in negotiations with at least 10 more international creators.

We plan to be leaders in offering hybrid NFT’s by merging physical and digital offerings on our platform. We already have many offers from international creators and businesses that wish to use our platform to sell physical items as NFTs. Additionally, we will also offer what we call, “Functional NFT’s” which will provide the ability to offer an unlimited number of possible services and knowledge-sharing that will not only open up new channels of commerce and financial opportunity, but will also connect people that would never have been able to connect directly before.

Questions Asked on Twitter For Nifty Planet Team!

Q1. At this moment, which one the most Necessary for your project: 1. Investors 2. Community 3. Market/Exchange and why?

Ans — At the moment, for us, Community is the most important of these three. Of course, we welcome more investors ;) but Since we have the technology, a plan, and a growing list of creators excited to create unique and useful NFT’s together with us, what we need next is more people to share it all with, and to benefit with us as we create opportunities for everyone that gets involved with us. We hope in turn that our community will share their ideas about how we can grow and create more opportunities from the NiftyPlanet platform, and together we can bring more and more people around the world to join this incredible world of blockchain and decentralization, which is a big goal for us.

Q2. What other partnerships are you looking for and what is the focus of these partnerships?

Ans — Well, we really want to push the limits of NFT’s and so we are and will be actively seeking new partnerships with individuals and businesses that have great new ideas of ways to use NFT technology for Art, for business, for communication, for socializing and more. We don’t claim to know it all and we all know that there is power in numbers, and so we are open to the ideas, brains and creativity of all of those in our community and hope they openly share and offer their ideas with us. Think "functional NFT’s" and the potential is limitless.

Q3. Telling about real world adoption. Most of the user are still not aware about Blockchainchain and Blockchainchain related products. So, how Your project can raise awareness about their project with non-crypto users too?

Ans — You are exactly right. For the first time in maybe thousands of years, we "common" people have a chance to take back our freedoms from the "Mis-Leaders" and Elite classes, and create wealth without worry of being extorted by overreaching governments. So this is one of our big goals. We want to help more and more people become involved in blockchain and cryptocurrency and understand its implications and usefulness. By selecting our initial creators carefully by hand, we can select artists and creators and influencers that also are in line with our goals to wake more people up to the freedom, opportunities and benefits of blockchain, and are willing to reach out to their vast numbers of fans, most of whom are not aware of blockchain, and invite them to become involved in it by learning and talking about and buying and selling the NFT’s created by those artists and influencers. And we as a platform will do everything we can to onboard those new members by providing a friendly and easy to use platform.

Q4. You plan to have an IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China and Internationally. So,why did you focus first in Japan and China? Aside from this countries,which other country you plan to have an IDO? Can you share some details about your plan IDO of PlanetNifty?

Ans — The main reason is that we are big fans of Asia and have spent a lot of time in Asia living and working and playing. Thus we have a lot of friends and strategic partners that can, and want to help us grow both our business and our community organically and confidently. We love and know Asia well and are very comfortable working and creating in its markets. We also are lucky enough to have direct connections and relations with a large number of really wonderfully genius artists and creators whose work and ideas we want to share with the rest of the world. This why we focused on the Asian market to start business and our IDO’s as well. We will share more details about IDO very soon so please watch our Telegram group.

Q5. If I like Nifties but I am not a creator or artist, how can I be part of this project? Is it exclusive for those with creative skills, or is there an inductive one for beginners?

Ans — Thats a good question. To be honest, in order to build a strong business and community we are focused on well known artists from the start. But we do have plans to open up to more and more up-and-coming artists and creators over time, especially those that propose new and unique uses for NFT’s, and ways to use NFT’s create more interest and opportunities for our community. But even before that, we want to encourage people that want to start learning how to create NFT’s, so we plan to provide a way to access our NFT engine to create your own NFT’s for practice, or for fun, or to try and sell in any of the marketplaces that accepts brand new artists. We will also introduce our partner NFT markets where you can join right away.

Questions Asked by our BlockTalks Community Members during live Session to Nifty Planet Team!!

Q1. It is easy to claim that your project as well as the product is good, however it takes so much effort to prove. What are the qualities and security that Nifty Planet is worth investing for especially that you’re new and is anonymous, how will we able to assure the stability of the project and how will you stay up to date on the latest tokens and coins that the market has to offer?

Ans — Well to be honest, we here at NiftyPlanet have been around the crypto space for a while and we have seen a LOT of crap and scams, and we have also been left high dry by fake or undedicated project teams. One of the reasons we started this project, is not only because the idea of NFT’s is really awesome, but because we want to give back to all the people that were let down in the past, by creating a project that people could get excited about, become deeply involved in, that we could directly interact with and share ideas with, and build something that is not only fun and useful but creates financial opportunity for everyone involved so we can all become more free and happy.

Q2. How can I trust your project? If you can give any proper information about it, I would like to invest in your project.

Ans — Well, although we are keeping our identities quiet for now, we have gone to great lengths to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible. We have even published our and our investors wallet addresses and of course our contract address right in our literature (website and our medium blog), we intend to be as transparent, honest as possible and always, think of our community first.

Q3. Do you have any plans for ambassador programme role for your project growth and awareness? If yes how may I apply?

Ans — Absolutely! Please contact us through our Telegram group or through our website if you believe you can offer solid support that will enhance our growth.

Q4. Is your project a local or global project? How many communites, do you have for non-english users?

Ans — We are definitely global > our team is international, our creators are international, and our investors and users are international. At the moment, we already have English, Russian and Chinese communities. and we will keep adding more and more.

Q5. How will NiftyPlanet bring the digital and physical world together through blockchain technology? What strategies have you developed to achieve this goal?

Ans — We have a LOT of companies and individuals with really cool and useful digital and non-digital things that they want to make into NFT’s. we are working face to face daily with these people to brainstorm new ways to combine and connect real and digital and we have some very interesting cases in the works already.

Q6. How can we invest in the project? Do we have a minimum requirement to be eligible?

Ans — We welcome large investors and have various options to partner with us and we communicate directly about such details. We will be holding Both ICO and IDOs. Please watch our channels closely for more details about these to participate as an individual investor. And of course, please visit our platform and hopefully buy some of our original and creator-based NFT’s.

Q7. How big is your team ? Are you a public team or not? Please tell us more about team background?

Ans — We are more than 10 i think now. Collectively, we are a team of Crypto pioneers with experience in many different areas.

Between us, we have many years of experience with IT startups, blockchain technology, ICO’s, traditional Art & Music, marketing, fundraising, digital Art and Music production, show business, community development and social media.

Q8. Staking is one of the strategies to attract users and hold them long term. Does your great project have plan about Staking?

Ans — Yup we will have several ways for hodlers to earn with their tokens.

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Platform Roadmap

Buy our NFTs from the first Original NiftyPlanet drop!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1406979232463470599

#niftyplanet #digitalcollections #NFTs #ETH #Drop

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

Our first ever AMA session is live. Only for Chinese people!

#AMA #Niftyplanet #digitalart

For more information about niftyplanet

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

Author:

Bitcointalk UserName : Thelagendjz4

Bitcointalk Profil: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2577207

Telegram Username : @Thelagendjz4

ETH Address: 0x45365defCa88A8c888e9A67F57e0c315f2B1e5F2

[ayuwandira]

[NFPL] NiftyPlanet

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

About Nifty Planet project

NiftyPlanet is the world marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and unique digital items that you can actually own. What is NiftyPlanet? Our first NFT Drop successfully launched on June 19th! Stay tuned and subscribe on our social media for more upcoming events and news!

A platform based on blockchain technology, where your unique digital creations are protected, the love and authenticity of your creations is guaranteed.

NIftyPlanet Video Guides - What are NFTs?

https://youtu.be/DdElUos6MGA

#NFT #NFTCommunity #niftyplanet #niftyplanetnews #NFTmarketplace #digitalart

BlockTalks x Nifty Planet AMA Transcript!

We recently hosted an AMA with Nifty Planet, on June 26th at 1 PM UTC. Many of you might have participated or many of not. But we make sure no one missed out from the knowledge shared by Toku Mei, CCO of Nifty Planet. So here we are up with the AMA transcript, for those who missed the live session, this blog post will be a saver & feeder of knowledge for them.

Introduction Questions Asked By Team BlockTalks!

Q1. Could you please introduce Nifty Planet to our community in layman’s term?

Ans — Yes. NiftyPlanet is a web.3.0 platform that built based on Ethereum blockchain. From the start it is place where users can buy NFTs from the famous people and original NiftyPlanet NFTs. In the future, our platform will be fully decentralized and be managed by a Foundation.

Q2. What are the advantages of Nifty Planet to other alternatives in the Blockchain field?

Ans — I would say that there are many differences between the NiftyPlanet and other NFT markets but 2 of them are the biggest to us. First of all we are preparing for any drop together with creators in advance. Including pricing, special mechanics, advertisement. That is why all NFTs have bigger values for the holders than NFTs from rest of the markets. Any creator have to pass Due Diligence process. But at the same time we are web.3.0 system it means that all the assets are under the user’s control.

Second biggest difference is that we plan to attract not just artists of creative people we plan to adopt NFT technology for many different industries and help to join crypto spase different companies and independent people. And our customization can help to make it easier for them and increase the value for their products (NFTs) for everybody.

Q3. What are the major milestones Nifty Planet achieved so far & what are in the future pipeline?

Ans — First of all, we created an Ambassador program and have already gained three Ambassadors to work with us. We have also started our first drop and already sold the majority of those NFT’s. Additionally, we have already built a solid team of more than 10 international team members. And we have our own system that was created by our own engineers based on proven smart contract technology. We have already contracted with a few famous artists to launch NFT drops on our platform starting next month, and we are also in negotiations with at least 10 more international creators.

We plan to be leaders in offering hybrid NFT’s by merging physical and digital offerings on our platform. We already have many offers from international creators and businesses that wish to use our platform to sell physical items as NFTs. Additionally, we will also offer what we call, “Functional NFT’s” which will provide the ability to offer an unlimited number of possible services and knowledge-sharing that will not only open up new channels of commerce and financial opportunity, but will also connect people that would never have been able to connect directly before.

Questions Asked on Twitter For Nifty Planet Team!

Q1. At this moment, which one the most Necessary for your project: 1. Investors 2. Community 3. Market/Exchange and why?

Ans — At the moment, for us, Community is the most important of these three. Of course, we welcome more investors ;) but Since we have the technology, a plan, and a growing list of creators excited to create unique and useful NFT’s together with us, what we need next is more people to share it all with, and to benefit with us as we create opportunities for everyone that gets involved with us. We hope in turn that our community will share their ideas about how we can grow and create more opportunities from the NiftyPlanet platform, and together we can bring more and more people around the world to join this incredible world of blockchain and decentralization, which is a big goal for us.

Q2. What other partnerships are you looking for and what is the focus of these partnerships?

Ans — Well, we really want to push the limits of NFT’s and so we are and will be actively seeking new partnerships with individuals and businesses that have great new ideas of ways to use NFT technology for Art, for business, for communication, for socializing and more. We don’t claim to know it all and we all know that there is power in numbers, and so we are open to the ideas, brains and creativity of all of those in our community and hope they openly share and offer their ideas with us. Think "functional NFT’s" and the potential is limitless.

Q3. Telling about real world adoption. Most of the user are still not aware about Blockchainchain and Blockchainchain related products. So, how Your project can raise awareness about their project with non-crypto users too?

Ans — You are exactly right. For the first time in maybe thousands of years, we "common" people have a chance to take back our freedoms from the "Mis-Leaders" and Elite classes, and create wealth without worry of being extorted by overreaching governments. So this is one of our big goals. We want to help more and more people become involved in blockchain and cryptocurrency and understand its implications and usefulness. By selecting our initial creators carefully by hand, we can select artists and creators and influencers that also are in line with our goals to wake more people up to the freedom, opportunities and benefits of blockchain, and are willing to reach out to their vast numbers of fans, most of whom are not aware of blockchain, and invite them to become involved in it by learning and talking about and buying and selling the NFT’s created by those artists and influencers. And we as a platform will do everything we can to onboard those new members by providing a friendly and easy to use platform.

Q4. You plan to have an IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China and Internationally. So,why did you focus first in Japan and China? Aside from this countries,which other country you plan to have an IDO? Can you share some details about your plan IDO of PlanetNifty?

Ans — The main reason is that we are big fans of Asia and have spent a lot of time in Asia living and working and playing. Thus we have a lot of friends and strategic partners that can, and want to help us grow both our business and our community organically and confidently. We love and know Asia well and are very comfortable working and creating in its markets. We also are lucky enough to have direct connections and relations with a large number of really wonderfully genius artists and creators whose work and ideas we want to share with the rest of the world. This why we focused on the Asian market to start business and our IDO’s as well. We will share more details about IDO very soon so please watch our Telegram group.

Q5. If I like Nifties but I am not a creator or artist, how can I be part of this project? Is it exclusive for those with creative skills, or is there an inductive one for beginners?

Ans — Thats a good question. To be honest, in order to build a strong business and community we are focused on well known artists from the start. But we do have plans to open up to more and more up-and-coming artists and creators over time, especially those that propose new and unique uses for NFT’s, and ways to use NFT’s create more interest and opportunities for our community. But even before that, we want to encourage people that want to start learning how to create NFT’s, so we plan to provide a way to access our NFT engine to create your own NFT’s for practice, or for fun, or to try and sell in any of the marketplaces that accepts brand new artists. We will also introduce our partner NFT markets where you can join right away.

Questions Asked by our BlockTalks Community Members during live Session to Nifty Planet Team!!

Q1. It is easy to claim that your project as well as the product is good, however it takes so much effort to prove. What are the qualities and security that Nifty Planet is worth investing for especially that you’re new and is anonymous, how will we able to assure the stability of the project and how will you stay up to date on the latest tokens and coins that the market has to offer?

Ans — Well to be honest, we here at NiftyPlanet have been around the crypto space for a while and we have seen a LOT of crap and scams, and we have also been left high dry by fake or undedicated project teams. One of the reasons we started this project, is not only because the idea of NFT’s is really awesome, but because we want to give back to all the people that were let down in the past, by creating a project that people could get excited about, become deeply involved in, that we could directly interact with and share ideas with, and build something that is not only fun and useful but creates financial opportunity for everyone involved so we can all become more free and happy.

Q2. How can I trust your project? If you can give any proper information about it, I would like to invest in your project.

Ans — Well, although we are keeping our identities quiet for now, we have gone to great lengths to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible. We have even published our and our investors wallet addresses and of course our contract address right in our literature (website and our medium blog), we intend to be as transparent, honest as possible and always, think of our community first.

Q3. Do you have any plans for ambassador programme role for your project growth and awareness? If yes how may I apply?

Ans — Absolutely! Please contact us through our Telegram group or through our website if you believe you can offer solid support that will enhance our growth.

Q4. Is your project a local or global project? How many communites, do you have for non-english users?

Ans — We are definitely global > our team is international, our creators are international, and our investors and users are international. At the moment, we already have English, Russian and Chinese communities. and we will keep adding more and more.

Q5. How will NiftyPlanet bring the digital and physical world together through blockchain technology? What strategies have you developed to achieve this goal?

Ans — We have a LOT of companies and individuals with really cool and useful digital and non-digital things that they want to make into NFT’s. we are working face to face daily with these people to brainstorm new ways to combine and connect real and digital and we have some very interesting cases in the works already.

Q6. How can we invest in the project? Do we have a minimum requirement to be eligible?

Ans — We welcome large investors and have various options to partner with us and we communicate directly about such details. We will be holding Both ICO and IDOs. Please watch our channels closely for more details about these to participate as an individual investor. And of course, please visit our platform and hopefully buy some of our original and creator-based NFT’s.

Q7. How big is your team ? Are you a public team or not? Please tell us more about team background?

Ans — We are more than 10 i think now. Collectively, we are a team of Crypto pioneers with experience in many different areas.

Between us, we have many years of experience with IT startups, blockchain technology, ICO’s, traditional Art & Music, marketing, fundraising, digital Art and Music production, show business, community development and social media.

Q8. Staking is one of the strategies to attract users and hold them long term. Does your great project have plan about Staking?

Ans — Yup we will have several ways for hodlers to earn with their tokens.

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Platform Roadmap

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

Here are some important links of Nifty Planet:

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

Author: Ayu Wandira

Bitcointalk Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=3239934

Telegram Username : @ayuwandiraputri01

ETH Address: 0x0B2DbA0771d4b6562AEFFa7f9D9256c74ecD14dc

[hazylucas]

My Everything | Prologue

Words: 1.5k

Title: My Everything I Prologue 1

Pairing: Taeyong x Reader

Warnings:  Fluff

Prologue 1 2 3 4 5

The sun spread through the curtain, its glorious rays radiating throughout the wide room. You immediately turned the other direction, as an attempt to avoid the brightness. By impulse, you reached your small hand out to the right to meet another warm body. He looked stunning. He always did. As you smiled, he immediately opened his warm, inviting chocolate eyes.

"Awake already?"

"It's way too bright."

You grabbed the blanket and forced it on top of both your and Taeyong's bodies. As you looked over, he reached his long hand out to your face and gently traced your jawline lovingly. What you loved about him was not just his personality, but the way he spoke to you without any words. You didn't need words around him, he just understood. He knew you loved him, and you knew he loved you.

"Y/N, I hate to say it, but we should probably get up."

"I agree. I call the bathroom first though!"

You immediately threw off the ivory, satin blanket and sprinted towards the bathroom's grey door. Taeyong took after you, but you were too fast, and immediately the door was slammed shut.

"Y/N!"

"You should've run faster!"

"My shift is before you!"

"Does it look like I care?"

You heard an audible sigh at the other side of the door as well as a low chuckle. It had been two years since you had been dating Taeyong, and ever since you moved in, it was a tradition to have a competition of who could reach the bathroom the fastest. The idea was silly, but it was fun to show him your running abilities and beat him. You glanced at yourself in the mirror to ensure you weren't breaking out and opened the wooden drawer. After you finished washing your face and putting on your makeup, you opened the bathroom door.

"Finally."

"Taeyong, I took literally 15 minutes."

"Felt long enough though!"

You reached over to the bed while grabbing a pillow and slammed Taeyong in the head causing a few feathers to fall out and stick to his blunt red hair. He dyed it due to a music video shoot with his band and even though you never said it, he looked like a living god.

"OW! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!"

After 20 minutes of running around the room, throwing pillows at each other, the entire room was drowning in feathers.

"We should probably stop," Taeyong chuckled under his breath as he attempted to kick a few feathers under the shelf.

"Agree," you laughed.

You made your way to the closet and put on a light-pink off the shoulder top paired with cream-colored cotton shorts that had a feminine, professional bow at the top. It was one of the few days that you wore pink or even something feminine. One reason why Taeyong found you so fascinating was due to your ability to blend anywhere, with anything. You could wear a band t-shirt with a leather jacket and ripped jeans or a knee-length light blue dress and always look amazing.

"Wow. I have to say, that's one of my favorite outfits of yours." "Really? I'm glad you like it"

You spun around in your outfit, attempting to show off and giggled as Taeyong hugged your waist from behind.

9:10 a.m.

As Taeyong opened the car door, he reached out his pale, bony hand which you tightly squeezed as a sign of reassurance. Your jobs were utter blessings. Both of you worked at the same agency named SM in Seoul, South Korea. He was part of a large group named NCT which was one of the most successful groups of the country, releasing song after song and earning an endless amount of awards. He was a major figure in the group and he never failed to make you proud. As you entered the small elevator, Taeyong wrapped his arm around you and told you about what his group was planning. It was always exciting: world tours, fan signs, and interviews. However, it made you worried. Even though he put up a confident attitude, you felt that sometimes he felt down on things, down on himself. Yet, he always talked it out with you. You were always able to make him feel better about himself, and that's why you two worked out so well. As you walked through the corridor, you made your way to the wardrobe room, where you worked as a fashion stylist and makeup artist for the idols within the agency. Taeyong walked you to the door and waved to his friends sitting within.

"Don't have too much fun," he said while winking.

He kissed you once on the lips and it always made your breath hitch. His lips were plump near his cupid's bow and he always put just the right amount of passion into the kiss. In public, never too sexual and never too childish. His kisses were vanilla and honey mixed into one form with frosting on top. You could never get sick of him.

5:00 p.m.

After a long day of applying lipstick onto idols, you heard an attentive cough near the door.

"How is my princess doing?"

"I'm doing well. Just a lot of struggles with makeup on the boys. Oh, by the way, please don't let Taeil ever get mascara done. I'm pretty sure that he will end up losing an eye," you sighed remembering the two hours you spent on him.

"That's Taeil for you," he laughed.

He wrapped his arm around you once again, returning to his protective attitude and walked you out towards the matte, grey door. As Taeyong turned the steel handle, you immediately jumped, startled by the sight around you. Paparazzi swarmed every side of you, and the flashes repeatedly went off making you unable to see clearly. They had found you once again. Taeyong suddenly pulled you closer to him and lightly pushed your head down as an attempt to keep you safe from the sudden snaps of white light all around you. He quickly unlocked the door and the moment that you were in the car, you slouched down into the leather seat.

"I will never get used to that," you chuckled.

"Y/N."

"Yes?"

You glanced over at Taeyong to meet a solemn expression. His furrowed eyebrows and dark eyes stared at you while his lips were pulled in. He gripped the steering wheel with a death grip which was enough to indicate how agitated he was.

"Did they touch you?"

"No."

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Do you want me to do anything?"

"No."

He let out a small sigh. The public knew that you and Taeyong were in a relationship, but you two did your best to avoid keeping things mainstream. He was possessive and wanted the passion and love to remain on the low. Taeyong knew that other idols thought that you were attractive and he did everything in his power to give the media as little information as possible. However, you were a talkative person which made his job harder than usual.

"Damn Y/N... I'm sorry. I have no clue how they found out that we were here. I promise that I'll try to get the agency to add more security. I swear if I see one more light snap, I'll lose my shit."

"Taeyong, it's okay. When we got into a relationship, I knew what was coming. I literally signed up for this. Don't stress. It's actually a lot of fun seeing the paparazzi chase us. It's like our morning games," you replied, trying to lighten the mood.

His facial expressions lightened, and the boy you loved so dearly returned. On your way home, you and Taeyong blasted your favorite songs. As soon as Limitless came on, your favorite song by his group, you two were yelling the lyrics and attempting to do the choreography while in the car. You ended up raising your arm too high and slammed it against the roof of the car. You and Taeyong laughed to the point where breathing had become painful and he repeatedly asked you to stop laughing before he ended up crashing the car. When you finally got home, you exited the car and eagerly attempted to unlock the door. Until you noticed the small package lying on the doormat.

"Hey, T?"

"Yeah?" 

"What is this?"

Taeyong strode towards you, concerned. You pointed towards the box on the ground and his expression slightly shifted until returning to normal. You found it strange, and you could not identify what exactly his emotions were earlier.

"Oh, this is the rough copy of the album we are planning to release to fans this summer." 

"Wow, already? I'm sure it will be great."

Taeyong talked about how work was as he entered the door, wavering on one foot due to his lack of balance from holding the small cardboard package.  Once you entered the room, you kicked off your blood red Louboutin heels and jumped onto the soft mattress. Taeyong chuckled at the sight, gently put the box down on the wooden desk, and laid down on the bed. He wrapped his arm around you and moved your head so that it rested in the crook of his neck, leaving you warm in his embrace. That's how you and Taeyong's relationship was.  An utter fairytale. But not every fairytale gets to last forever.

[bonex87]

[NFPL] NiftyPlanet

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

About Nifty Planet project

NiftyPlanet is the world marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and unique digital items that you can actually own. What is NiftyPlanet? Our first NFT Drop successfully launched on June 19th! Stay tuned and subscribe on our social media for more upcoming events and news!

A platform based on blockchain technology, where your unique digital creations are protected, the love and authenticity of your creations is guaranteed.

NIftyPlanet Video Guides - What are NFTs?

https://youtu.be/DdElUos6MGA

#NFT #NFTCommunity #niftyplanet #niftyplanetnews #NFTmarketplace #digitalart

BlockTalks x Nifty Planet AMA Transcript!

We recently hosted an AMA with Nifty Planet, on June 26th at 1 PM UTC. Many of you might have participated or many of not. But we make sure no one missed out from the knowledge shared by Toku Mei, CCO of Nifty Planet. So here we are up with the AMA transcript, for those who missed the live session, this blog post will be a saver & feeder of knowledge for them.

Introduction Questions Asked By Team BlockTalks!

Q1. Could you please introduce Nifty Planet to our community in layman’s term?

Ans — Yes. NiftyPlanet is a web.3.0 platform that built based on Ethereum blockchain. From the start it is place where users can buy NFTs from the famous people and original NiftyPlanet NFTs. In the future, our platform will be fully decentralized and be managed by a Foundation.

Q2. What are the advantages of Nifty Planet to other alternatives in the Blockchain field?

Ans — I would say that there are many differences between the NiftyPlanet and other NFT markets but 2 of them are the biggest to us. First of all we are preparing for any drop together with creators in advance. Including pricing, special mechanics, advertisement. That is why all NFTs have bigger values for the holders than NFTs from rest of the markets. Any creator have to pass Due Diligence process. But at the same time we are web.3.0 system it means that all the assets are under the user’s control.

Second biggest difference is that we plan to attract not just artists of creative people we plan to adopt NFT technology for many different industries and help to join crypto spase different companies and independent people. And our customization can help to make it easier for them and increase the value for their products (NFTs) for everybody.

Q3. What are the major milestones Nifty Planet achieved so far & what are in the future pipeline?

Ans — First of all, we created an Ambassador program and have already gained three Ambassadors to work with us. We have also started our first drop and already sold the majority of those NFT’s. Additionally, we have already built a solid team of more than 10 international team members. And we have our own system that was created by our own engineers based on proven smart contract technology. We have already contracted with a few famous artists to launch NFT drops on our platform starting next month, and we are also in negotiations with at least 10 more international creators.

We plan to be leaders in offering hybrid NFT’s by merging physical and digital offerings on our platform. We already have many offers from international creators and businesses that wish to use our platform to sell physical items as NFTs. Additionally, we will also offer what we call, “Functional NFT’s” which will provide the ability to offer an unlimited number of possible services and knowledge-sharing that will not only open up new channels of commerce and financial opportunity, but will also connect people that would never have been able to connect directly before.

Questions Asked on Twitter For Nifty Planet Team!

Q1. At this moment, which one the most Necessary for your project: 1. Investors 2. Community 3. Market/Exchange and why?

Ans — At the moment, for us, Community is the most important of these three. Of course, we welcome more investors ;) but Since we have the technology, a plan, and a growing list of creators excited to create unique and useful NFT’s together with us, what we need next is more people to share it all with, and to benefit with us as we create opportunities for everyone that gets involved with us. We hope in turn that our community will share their ideas about how we can grow and create more opportunities from the NiftyPlanet platform, and together we can bring more and more people around the world to join this incredible world of blockchain and decentralization, which is a big goal for us.

Q2. What other partnerships are you looking for and what is the focus of these partnerships?

Ans — Well, we really want to push the limits of NFT’s and so we are and will be actively seeking new partnerships with individuals and businesses that have great new ideas of ways to use NFT technology for Art, for business, for communication, for socializing and more. We don’t claim to know it all and we all know that there is power in numbers, and so we are open to the ideas, brains and creativity of all of those in our community and hope they openly share and offer their ideas with us. Think “functional NFT’s” and the potential is limitless.

Q3. Telling about real world adoption. Most of the user are still not aware about Blockchainchain and Blockchainchain related products. So, how Your project can raise awareness about their project with non-crypto users too?

Ans — You are exactly right. For the first time in maybe thousands of years, we “common” people have a chance to take back our freedoms from the “Mis-Leaders” and Elite classes, and create wealth without worry of being extorted by overreaching governments. So this is one of our big goals. We want to help more and more people become involved in blockchain and cryptocurrency and understand its implications and usefulness. By selecting our initial creators carefully by hand, we can select artists and creators and influencers that also are in line with our goals to wake more people up to the freedom, opportunities and benefits of blockchain, and are willing to reach out to their vast numbers of fans, most of whom are not aware of blockchain, and invite them to become involved in it by learning and talking about and buying and selling the NFT’s created by those artists and influencers. And we as a platform will do everything we can to onboard those new members by providing a friendly and easy to use platform.

Q4. You plan to have an IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China and Internationally. So,why did you focus first in Japan and China? Aside from this countries,which other country you plan to have an IDO? Can you share some details about your plan IDO of PlanetNifty?

Ans — The main reason is that we are big fans of Asia and have spent a lot of time in Asia living and working and playing. Thus we have a lot of friends and strategic partners that can, and want to help us grow both our business and our community organically and confidently. We love and know Asia well and are very comfortable working and creating in its markets. We also are lucky enough to have direct connections and relations with a large number of really wonderfully genius artists and creators whose work and ideas we want to share with the rest of the world. This why we focused on the Asian market to start business and our IDO’s as well. We will share more details about IDO very soon so please watch our Telegram group.

Q5. If I like Nifties but I am not a creator or artist, how can I be part of this project? Is it exclusive for those with creative skills, or is there an inductive one for beginners?

Ans — Thats a good question. To be honest, in order to build a strong business and community we are focused on well known artists from the start. But we do have plans to open up to more and more up-and-coming artists and creators over time, especially those that propose new and unique uses for NFT’s, and ways to use NFT’s create more interest and opportunities for our community. But even before that, we want to encourage people that want to start learning how to create NFT’s, so we plan to provide a way to access our NFT engine to create your own NFT’s for practice, or for fun, or to try and sell in any of the marketplaces that accepts brand new artists. We will also introduce our partner NFT markets where you can join right away.

Questions Asked by our BlockTalks Community Members during live Session to Nifty Planet Team!!

Q1. It is easy to claim that your project as well as the product is good, however it takes so much effort to prove. What are the qualities and security that Nifty Planet is worth investing for especially that you’re new and is anonymous, how will we able to assure the stability of the project and how will you stay up to date on the latest tokens and coins that the market has to offer?

Ans — Well to be honest, we here at NiftyPlanet have been around the crypto space for a while and we have seen a LOT of crap and scams, and we have also been left high dry by fake or undedicated project teams. One of the reasons we started this project, is not only because the idea of NFT’s is really awesome, but because we want to give back to all the people that were let down in the past, by creating a project that people could get excited about, become deeply involved in, that we could directly interact with and share ideas with, and build something that is not only fun and useful but creates financial opportunity for everyone involved so we can all become more free and happy.

Q2. How can I trust your project? If you can give any proper information about it, I would like to invest in your project.

Ans — Well, although we are keeping our identities quiet for now, we have gone to great lengths to be as forthcoming and transparent as possible. We have even published our and our investors wallet addresses and of course our contract address right in our literature (website and our medium blog), we intend to be as transparent, honest as possible and always, think of our community first.

Q3. Do you have any plans for ambassador programme role for your project growth and awareness? If yes how may I apply?

Ans — Absolutely! Please contact us through our Telegram group or through our website if you believe you can offer solid support that will enhance our growth.

Q4. Is your project a local or global project? How many communites, do you have for non-english users?

Ans — We are definitely global > our team is international, our creators are international, and our investors and users are international. At the moment, we already have English, Russian and Chinese communities. and we will keep adding more and more.

Q5. How will NiftyPlanet bring the digital and physical world together through blockchain technology? What strategies have you developed to achieve this goal?

Ans — We have a LOT of companies and individuals with really cool and useful digital and non-digital things that they want to make into NFT’s. we are working face to face daily with these people to brainstorm new ways to combine and connect real and digital and we have some very interesting cases in the works already.

Q6. How can we invest in the project? Do we have a minimum requirement to be eligible?

Ans — We welcome large investors and have various options to partner with us and we communicate directly about such details. We will be holding Both ICO and IDOs. Please watch our channels closely for more details about these to participate as an individual investor. And of course, please visit our platform and hopefully buy some of our original and creator-based NFT’s.

Q7. How big is your team ? Are you a public team or not? Please tell us more about team background?

Ans — We are more than 10 i think now. Collectively, we are a team of Crypto pioneers with experience in many different areas.

Between us, we have many years of experience with IT startups, blockchain technology, ICO’s, traditional Art & Music, marketing, fundraising, digital Art and Music production, show business, community development and social media.

Q8. Staking is one of the strategies to attract users and hold them long term. Does your great project have plan about Staking?

Ans — Yup we will have several ways for hodlers to earn with their tokens.

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Platform Roadmap

📷

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

📷

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

Here are some important links of Nifty Planet:

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

My name: Bonex87

My Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2193622

ETH:0xfe3E1AD3B40cfb843181f6682a6eFf8F97f29A57

[theswiftarmy]

#33 – The ‘Cool S’ Stands For Swift

“Skywalker Sound… here to check-in for the conference… wink, wink… nudge, nudge” The man spoke in fragments, as though he were cautiously entering a speakeasy. “You know, ‘The Movietone’ conference.” The man leaned closer, looked around, pulled out a special paper, lowered his voice, “I’m here about ‘The Finding’.”

“Ah yes, The Finding” The front desk clerk replied in a low whispery voice and winked at the man while handing him a secret nametag and access badge, “They also call it The Anomaly, or The SMPTE Problem, or The Movietone Discovery”. The man nodded, taking the nametag and access badge, then he grabbed his rolling suitcase and walked off. Billie stepped forward, next in line, she leaned on the counter.

“Excuse me! Young man! NO DOGS ALLOWED IN THE HOTEL!” The clerk yelled out at a boy walking a dog across the lobby.

“But this is Old Shep!” The boy yelled back.

“Oh… Okay, yes, terribly sorry. Carry on.”

The boy continued walking with Old Shep.

“I’m sorry about that.” The lady said to Billie, she smiled delightfully. “Hi, welcome to the Westin Bonaventure, Ms. Eilish, are you and Finneas here to check in?” A delightful lady sang out.

“Umm…” Billie Eilish wasn’t sure what to say, she wasn’t aware of any hotel reservation. She had a lot of questions going through her mind at the moment, but wasn’t sure just what, exactly, to ask. At the mention of her brother’s name, she suddenly missed her brother, a lot, and she couldn’t imagine how much Sashy must miss his older sister, probably a lot. And she couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be apart forever, to never be able to just pick up the phone and call. She got excited at just the mention of her brother’s name. She felt a rush of emotion run through her. “Is… Finneas… Is he here?”

“Let me check.” She typed on the computer. “No, he has not checked in, but we have a reservation for the two of you.” The lady smiled. “Would you like to check-in now?”

Billie shook her head no, then paused her head shaking, fixing her eyes on the painting behind the front desk.

It was then Billie noticed it… She hadn’t noticed it before, but it was then, that very moment that she did notice, all the colors were wildly vivid, color corrected. Technicolor, like an Instagram filter sitting over top of real life. In real life, every blue blowing up with blue, every green gushing with green. It was similar to the movie Limitless with Bradley Cooper, but at the same time, not—this wasn’t uniform, only some colors popped while others blurred. The world, a little blurry between color corrected pop and fizzle living in a stained-glass mosaic. Every surface shiny shimmery, florescent flare The Sixties jive mixed with an Eighties vibe. Nothing seemed stationary (if you really focused on it), even just looking at a surface or at an object, everything appeared to move ever so slightly, as though it were alive or fluid or gas filled, a plasmavision, like stars twinkling in space, or the surface of the sun. At first glance you wouldn’t think much of it, but if you really looked, it was most definitely there. Synesthesia on steroids. The painting behind the check-in desk, a flowery pastel painting reminiscent of Art Nouveau with a hint of psychedelia, long flowing feminine flower stems. Like strands of hair in the wind. Billie noticed the stans close behind her. Kymmie stood gazing at the painting, she had seen it in her mystery journal. She pulled the mystery journal out and flipped through it, there, she held it up, where the page ended, the painting began—a perfect match, like a piece of a puzzle.

“We’ve been waiting for you—” The clerk lady continued, “We have a note here for you from a…” She paused to read the name, “Mr. Way, William B. Way.”

The lady handed Billie the note. Billie read it out loud. “Find forever and evermore, when you do you’ll know what for.”

“Find forever and evermore???” The stans standing behind Billie echoed in a questioning chorus of voices.

Only the stans had followed Billie over to the hotel lobby check-in desk. The others, the adults, were talking amongst themselves a short distance away. Like a high school sports game had ended and the parents were chatting while the teens hung out with their peers, away from the “uncool” parents.

Kymmie wrote a note down in her journal.

Hotel lobby. Front cover.

She was trying to make sense of these occurrences, why were things in the journal showing up in real life?

As soon as she finished writing her note, it rearranged itself.

Front cover. Hotel lobby.

Incoherence. “What?” Kymmie yelled at the book. “Stop doing that!”

“Are you talking to your journal?” Jillie shot Kymmie a weird look.

“No. Maybe. It’s just that… It’s complicated.”

“No, I get it… I talk to mine sometimes too.” Jillie held up Billie Eilish’s face plastered across her autograph book and journal. “I pretend like it’s Billie and that I’m talking to her. I tell her about the good times, and she gets me through the bad times.”

Billie looked at her stan, Jillie, then looked at the autograph book in Jillie’s hand with her own face plastered across it. She smiled but then also rolled her eyes. These fans. No lie, some of them are borderline creepy.

“Well, this isn’t REALLY my book, I mean, I…” Kymmie tried to reply, to explain that she’d just found it on the ground and now couldn’t get rid of the stupid thing, but stumbled over her words. “There’s too much going on to explain. You just had to be there when it all began… anyway… yeah. I’m talking to my journal.”

“Are you here for the conference?” The front desk lady asked.

“Conference?” Billie replied.

“Are you with the Foley Artists? You know, to discuss... The Finding… and The Problem?”

“What problem?”

“The SMPTE problem... you know... “ The lady lowered her voice and leaned in close, “The Movietone discovery...”

“No we don’t know.” Billie tilted her head slightly.

“I mean, I know a little…” Jillie tilted her head slightly too and then pinched her fingers close together and held them up trying to signal with her fingers a pinch of knowledge. She stood beside Billie nearly a mirror of almost every movement.

“And if you’d paid attention to your parents, you’d know a lot.” Billie was critical of her stan.

Jillie shrugged back. “What can ya do? Sometimes you don’t know, and sometimes you know. And sometimes didn’t know and then you find out and now you know!” Jillie randomly started to sing, “You know very well who you are, don’t let ‘em hold you down, and if you don’t know, now you know!”

“I LOVE THAT SONG!!!” Kymmie screamed out. She joined in singing with Jillie. Stan smiled at Kymmie and also joined in. Even Sashy the sassy Swiftie started singing along, in a Taylor Swift sort of cadence.

The quartet of teen voices took over… “Reach for the stars, you had a goal but not that many, ‘cause you’re the only one, and if you don’t know, now you know!”

Billie narrowed her eyes. She looked at the singing stans and then off into the distance.

“So you aren’t foley artists?” The clerk shook her head ignoring the teenagers who had now stopped singing.

“No... I mean, yes, Finneas and I experiment with sounds through our music…” Billie crossed her arms, Jillie crossed her arms. “The movietone discovery? What discovery?” Billie asked. Jillie mimicked Billie’s facial expressions.

“We may not be Foley artists, but maybe we’re escape artists!” Jillie joked.

“Jillie!” Billie looked down at her stan like the obnoxious little sister she never had.

“What?” Jillie looked back at Billie like the overbearing big sister she never had. “Lish, it’s true! I mean, I escaped from my parents. And found you!”

Billie made an annoyed face.

“Nevermind then.” The hotel woman quickly changed subjects, ”Will you be getting a room?”

“Ummm…” Billie looked back to the clerk and shook her head no, to be honest she didn’t know what they would doing next. Jillie also shook her head no in sync with Billie.

Billie Eilish wanted to scream. Oh my gosh THIS STAN!

She pushed her frustrations aside and smiled pleasantly at her stan. A fan is a fan after all.

A conversation walked behind Billie and the teen stans, two men in suits. They looked to be middle aged. But they weren’t color corrected, they were faded, 50s looking, sepia tone.

“You mean to tell me that they knew about this and did it anyway?”

“Yes.”

“How many others know?”

“We’re not sure.”

“And those movies, all those movies… the kids movies, the animated movies… you say the fairytales, the folklore they are based on was cursed, or perhaps enchanted… and you think the movies might be too? That the enchantment jumped from the old stories into the new movies? And possibly… into the minds of anyone who saw those movies?”

“It’s very possible, yes…”

“And what about the memo? The memo left on the Xerox machine.”

“The Memo… Yes… well… there wasn’t anything we could do about that, it escaped, it wanted into existence, and it found a way…”

The two men continued walking on out of earshot.

A twenty something woman rushed in front of Billie and the teens. “Sorry I’m late!” She apologized to Billie then turned to the clerk, “Mallory… from French Woods.” She pulled out an invite and handed it across the counter.

“Ah, I’m sorry, the live theater portion of the conference has unfortunately been canceled.

“What?” Mallory huffed. “But why?”

“Not enough demand. It’s all streaming these days.” The lady shrugged.

“No! That’s impossible. It all starts with live theater! There is no acting without beginnings and those beginnings start on the stage in front of an audience.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay anyway, slip into any of the other presentations.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

“What’s French Woods?” Sashy asked the others in a whisper.

“It’s a summer camp. A theater and performing arts camp.” Jillie Jean said over her shoulder in a know-it-all voice. “Zooey D went there.”

“Who?” Sashy replied.

“You know, Desh! Deshy! Zooey Disney Channel!” The other stans shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders. “Zooey Deschanel!”

“Ohhhhhh.” They nodded in final recognition.

“ Ooooo, and that guy from Maroon 5 went there—

“Adam Levine?” Kymmie asked.

“Yeah. And like a ton of other famous people, The Magicians dude went there too, Hale Appleman, he’s sooooooooo dreamy, oh to be an older gay man.”

Billie made a “WHAT?!?!?!” face at her stan.

“What? He’s definitely not straight, I don’t stand a chance.” Jillie threw her hands up to accompany her ‘what?’.

“Jillie, you’re like half his age! Not even! Nevermind the fact that he’s not straight and you aren’t a gay man… wait… I’m not your parents, why am I even having this conversation with you.”

“In Loco Parentis.”

“No. Nope.” Billie turned to Carl Lyle Lawyer the Carlyle lawyer, “Carl… I’m not. You make a little lawyery note that I’m not. I know what In Loco Parentis means, Jillie, and I’m not your parental guardian in your parents’ absence. If any of them want to be,” Billie pointed to the non-teens of the group of chaperoning adults, “Then they can be.”

“In Lisho Parentis.” Jillie smiled.

“No!” Billie was over the top annoyed now.

“Are you casting a Harry Potter spell?” Kymmie asked Jillie.

“No. It’s Latin, it’s a legal term for ‘in place of a parent’.” Billie replied to Kymmie before Jillie could say anything more outrageous. Billie turned back to her stan. “ Just go back to what you were saying about Hale Appleman and Zooey Deschanel and Adam Levine and the French Woods kids. ”

“Well… Okaaaaaay fiiiiiiiine…” Jillie turned to the other teens, “Like I was saying, it’s like a summer camp for famous people, but, like… before they get famous. Acting beginnings. It’s where they literally all started out. It’s ‘the before’ time. It’s lit.”

“That’s really cool.” Kymmie nodded.

“Wow.” Stan added trying to be part of the conversation but unsure of what else to contribute. It was like he couldn’t think every time Kymmie spoke, or even looked at him.

“How do you know all that?” Sashy The Swiftie asked.

“I went there.” Jillie smiled at Sashy then smiled at Mallory. “Sup Mal.” Jillie waved at Mallory.

“Oh, hey Jillie!” I love the hair—makes you look like Billie Eilish.”

“Thanks.” Jillie smiled at Mallory. “I get that a lot.”

“You here with your parents?” Mallory asked in an over-the-top camp counselor-y voice.

“Yeah… they’re around here somewhereeeeuh.” Jillie pointed in all directions.

“Well, tell them I said hello!” Mallory smiled at Jillie a friendly smile.

“Will do!”

The clerk handed Mallory her check-in packet and name tag.

She turned to Billie. “I’m sooooo sorry to have cut in line, I love the hair, it makes you look like Mean Green Jellybean Jillie Jean. I LOVE her SOOOOO much! She’s like my favorite French Woods camper.”

Billie made a scrunched-up face. “Ummm… Thanks.” I need to change my hair. Billie thought. I REALLY need to change my hair. I WISH I HAD DIFFERENT HAIR!

Kymmie curiously flipped to the next page in her journal to find a woodsy scene. A building appeared on the page, it looked like a cabin nestled in the woods. The building sat beside a pathway with a fork in the road. Carved into two of the trees were arrows pointing in opposite directions of the forked path. Above one arrow the words “French Woods” were carved and above another “Folklore Forest”. It was nighttime. Light glowed from inside the cabin from small lamps. Two big windows let the moonlight shine through. The roof was covered in some sort of moss looking substance. Someone rested on the roof of the cabin staring up into the stary sky…

Shooting stars formed words… When you are young, they assume you know nothing…

Well, that’s true. Kymmie thought to herself. And I know a lot! I mean, I don’t know everything, but I know more than they give me credit for!

When you are young, they assume you know nothing…

When you are young, they assume you know nothing…

When you are young, they assume you know nothing…

Kymmie shook her head, the words continued to repeat like a loop.

When you are young they assume you know nothing…

When you are young they assume you know nothing…

When you are young they assume you know nothing…

“STOP!” She yelled at the book and she snapped it closed. The words in her mind suddenly extinguished.

Everyone stopped and looked at Kymmie. Her face flushed with embarrassment. “I, um… thought I…” She searched her mind for an explanation but couldn’t think of anything.

“You look like you could REALLY use some rest.” A second overly flamboyant male front desk clerk standing beside the delightful lady interrupted as he typed away on a computer. He smiled back at Kymmie, then stared down Billie.

The place was in full swing, light jazz music played, and guests toted bags to and fro. The rest of the party had finally walked over to join Billie and her curious cluster of Tik Tok Teen minions.

“I’m sorry,” Billie paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, “We were just, umm—” She looked at Sashy The Sassy Swiftie recalling the flock of Swifties in cardigans chasing them across the walkway above S. Figueroa Street then pointed towards the street, “We were just outside and you were closed—all the lights were off and the door was locked… Uh, I mean, looked like it was locked, not that we broke in or anything—"

“Honey, “ The male clerk leaned towards them, “It’s a hotel, we don’t lock the doors, we’re open 24/7.”

“Kind a like the L.L. Bean store in Freeport, Maine.” Jillie pointed out.

“Yeah. Exactly.” The clerk replied.

“That’s weird. When we were chased across the walkway we walked across to the pool deck. But, now that I think about it…” Billie trailed off.

“The walkway that crosses S. Figueroa doesn’t connect to the pool deck of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.” The lady clerk said to Billie. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Billie shook her head yes. But she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure of anything right now.

“Do you have any bags!?!” A man walked up beside them with a cart. “Because I’m the baaaaaaag guy.”

Billie blinked then shook her head slightly and made a slightly contemptuous ‘what?’ face. “No. We’re not staying.”

“Are you sure?” The clerk asked.

“Yes.” Billie said back, slightly perturbed.

“Did he just say… I’m the bag guy, but sang it like Billie’s song Bad Guy?” Jillie asked recognizing one of her all-time favorite songs.

“Yep. He said it earlier.” Billie replied. “It was before you showed up.”

“Oh, he says that all the time. He still thinks it’s funny. Poor guy. No one has the heart to tell him…” The clerk made a face like he was extremely sorry for the bag guy. “It’s not funny anymore.”

Billie watched the bag guy walk away, he was off to pick up more bags from some other hotel guests. How many ‘bad guy’ references have come into existence since her song percolated its way into pop culture? How many new bad guys since her bad guy. How many fictional bad guys? How many real life bad guys? But the idea for bad guy itself wasn’t exactly a ‘come out of nowhere’ idea… no… it was a synthesis genesis of amalgamated art… the artist takes all those tiny little bits and pieces, the fragments of life and the world, suggestions from an earlier time in life and assembles them into something new. And then that art hits other artists, and in turn, creates more art… a never-ending feedback loop. Even her bad guy came from somewhere, even if it started as just a tiny little spark of an idea. Ideas are funny like that… they grow from the tiniest little thing into something so big it becomes an unstoppable force—an unstoppable force from a few words written on a piece of paper, or a voice note on a phone. But where did it all begin? Where were the true bad guy beginnings on and off the Hollywood screen? Where do bad guys start?

Even this story started as… You know, I don’t clearly remember how it started, actually, I can’t pinpoint the exact moment the creative spark hit, I know there was a start somewhere, I think it was something Taylor Swift posted online, and I read I, and it went into my mind, into my thoughts… and a short time later, I just… started writing this thing, blindsided by a meteor shower of ideas raining down on me that wouldn’t stop… here we are… from the tiniest little idea into this, under the influence of Taylor and Billie’s creative works of art, and it in turn created all of this inside my brain. But if I’m being honest, this story feels a bit like the idea is coming from somewhere on its own and just using my creative outlet as an avenue to come into existence… it’s as though the story just wants to tell itself and it’s using me because I’m here and able to tell it. The art is alive and connected to all the other art of past and present and future, using me as a vector for transmission. And here we are. Wherever here is…

“What day is it?” Billie asked.

“3/4.” The delightful lady chimed.

“Like March 4th?”

“No. It’s 3/4.” She repeated.

“Maybe it’s British? So, it’s backwards. Like, April 3rd.” Billie’s stan Jillie attempted to solve the puzzle.

“No. It’s 3/4.” The lady said again with a smile, correcting the stan.

“What? Okay, that just doesn’t make any sense. Well, how about the time?” It was dark outside but inside looking outside it was the middle of the day. It can’t just suddenly go from night to day in a matter of moments.

“6/8. The time is 6/8.” The man said. “Honey, you really should get some rest. Why don’t you just let us book you a room?”

“6/8? What on EARTH is going on here?!” Billie muttered to herself. Jillie did the same. Billie tossed Jillian Jean an annoyed sideways glance. It’s not that she didn’t like her stan copying everything she did, but it was just weird. Really weird. Jillie weird.

“Wait, that makes sense, we were just in 4/4, we’re in a different time. It’s music time, we changed time.” Kymmie took a crack at solving the perplexing puzzling pandoras box of a current predicament. “Is that right?” She asked.

“If that’s how you interpret it. Then that’s how you interpret it.” The Clerk replied.

“Okay, so which is it, are we in 6/8 or 3/4?” Billie asked Kymmie.

“They’re really the same thing.” A random hotel guest said back.

“No they’re not. Don’t even get me started with that. One is a compound duple, the other is not… Don’t make me say it… You know what, I’m gonna say it…” Billie paused.

“DUH!” Jillie blurted out before Billie could.

“Thank you Jillie.” Still weird, but, she was getting used to the idea of having a minion. She looked at the other teen pop stans then back to Jillie and grinned… minions. I have minions. Millions of minions.

Jillian Jean Billie’s number one stan smiled back. Assistant minion.

“We’re in 6/8, but there’s a compound meter of 3/4 time. Hour within a day.” Oak was making a few mental calculations.

“So we’re traveling through time and space? Like, some kind of music time…” One of the stans asked him, they all stared up wide eyed and eager to know more.

“Just be thankful this isn’t an odd meter, if this were progressive rock, or Math rock, we’d be really lost.” Pop Wansel replied to the stans while Oak continued to calculate, trying to figure out where exactly they had ended up, and if they had possibly traveled inside one of Taylor Swift’s songs.

“We need to get back to common time. I think? Honestly, I have no idea. I’m just guessing.” Billie pontificated. “My brother would know, that much I know for sure. Fin would know.”

“Wait, I have an idea… Excuse me Sir, what key are we in?” Kymmie asked.

“C major.” The clerk replied.

“Okay. Key of C… ” Billie’s facial expression looked as though she were about to come to some sort of big ‘Ah HA!’ conclusion… take on me… take me on…

Kymmie continued, “Yeah, key of C! Okay, so we’re close. I mean, C major and 4/4 were probably where we were before our house landed in this munchkin land, right? So we’re in the same key, but a different time.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.” Justin commented. “Munchkin land? That’s something from the REALLY olden days!”

“Are you making fun of me?” Kymmie put her hands on her hips.

Justin Bieber just smiled.

“Whatever, yes, I know what the Wizard of Oz is… Everyone does.”

With more art than ever before coming into existence, does anyone find it odd that some art, such as the Wizard of Oz seems to transcend time so effortlessly, while other art is here and gone—no matter how hard anyone tries to market it or promote it. Why is that? Ephemeral art versus art that plays hopscotch across time…

And you put it in all those old movies?

Yeah. But that was before… BEFORE we knew.

“So, if we’re in Oz, then where is Oz?” Scott asked the group in a somewhat rhetorical voice, almost as though he were talking to no one, but also everyone.

Billie thought for a moment then looked to her stan. Jillie shrugged. Jillie looked at Sashy, Sashy looked at Kymmie, Kymmie looked at Stan.

He started to speak in an unsure voice, answering the question in front of the entire class but not entirely sure the answer would be the right one, “Time and space has been replaced with key and music time.”

“Stan, that’s it! You’re a genius!” Kymmie said to him in an excited voice. She ran over and hugged stan then hopped back to where she was standing, bouncing, filled with energy. “We’re in some sort of music time!”

Stan looked away then back at Kymmie, he smiled. He looked at the others and the others nodded and smiled back in a ‘see, you got it, kid, don’t doubt yourself’ type of nod. Kanye nodded an extra approving nod at his teen stan. You got it kid.

Kymmie looked back at the clerk. “Hold on. What year is it?”

“Twenty Swiftie”.

“That’s not a year!” Jillie yelled back.

“I mean… I don’t have a problem with it.” Sashy stood with a hand on his hip.

Kymmie laughed then asked another question, “What year were you born?”

“Young lady, I’m not going to tell you how old I am!” The male clerk put his hand on his hip the same as Sashy.

“Okay,” Kymmie looked up and around the hotel interior then back to the clerk, “—then what year did this hotel open?”

“Now, that question, that I can answer. Nineteen Swiftie.”

“Again, I don’t have a problem with it.” Sashy began to whistle a Taylor Swift song.

“What did Taylor Swift’s music do to the world? This is crazy. This is soo crazy you guys.” Kymmie’s eyes were wide with wonder. They weren’t in Kansas or and they certainly weren’t in Los Angeles anymore, that’s for sure.

“I don’t think Taylor Swift’s music did anything to the world. There’s something else going on here. But I don’t think it’s her, or her music, I think there’s something else entirely going on, something bigger than just one artist or musician, or Hollywood movie director.” Billie watched as someone with a camera bag walked up and checked in.

“Sarah… Sarah Jones.” She paused, “Not the actress. I’m here for—”

“Ah, yes, we have you down as a camera assistant. Sarah Jones, camera assistant. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“We were instructed to give you this note from an anonymous source.”

She read the note aloud to herself in front of the hotel clerks. “Midnight River meeting meets at midnight…” She looked up at the clerks and nodded, “Got it.”

The clerks nodded back.

Sarah eyed another note behind the desk with ‘Casties’ sprawled across the front, “Is that note for the casting directors?”

The clerks nodded back.

Sarah smiled briefly, “Casting, just like screenwriting… pure intentions, an innocent dream of what could be… before it gets derailed by a train barreling into your movie set, into your life, at full force.” Her faced went emotionless for a moment and then returned to a smile before mixing with melancholy, then back to a smile, a forced smile. The clerks then glanced to Billie and her minions then hurried off with her bag of camera gear as though she were late for something.

“Who’s Sarah Jones?” Kymmie asked the other Tik Tok Teens, they shrugged back. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and then shook her head and growled at it, a ‘grrrrrr’ sound. “If only my phone worked and I could look stuff up! How did people ever live without cell phones?” Kymmie said in a frustrated tone as she tinkered with her phone hopelessly. “GIVE ME KNOWLEDGE NOW!”

“Kymmie. Chill.” Jillie said in a chill voice. “None of our phones work. Okay.” Jillie held her phone out for Kymmie, reassuring her.

“Yeah. We’re in some kind of phoneless land of Oz.” Sashy held his phone out for Kymmie to see as well.

Then Stan held his phone up too placing it beside the others.

Kymmie put her phone beside the others and they held it up in the air like they were trying to get a signal from the sky, or space.

“E.T. PHONE HOME!!!!” Justin Bieber yelled out.

“JUSTIN!” Billie scolded him.

“I thought it was funny.” Carl said then laughed, as did Scott. Carl was enjoying his daughter momentarily being weaned away from the dang thing, all his previous attempts to separate her from her phone had failed.

“Billie, they have no idea what that means.” Justin said smirking.

“Yeah we do!” Kymmie flashed a look of annoyance. “We know what E.T. is… or who E.T. is… whatever, we know about E.T.”

The Tik Tok Teens put their phones back in their pockets and nodded at one another. It was then that they made an unspoken agreement that they would figure out how to get life as they know it, back. For what is life as an aspiring Tik Tok Teen social media influencer without a working phone and social media apps to click on and type in and snap photos and feed with all sorts of daily life events!?

“Midnight River meeting meets at midnight?” Billie interrupted the teens by repeating the phrase from moments ago back to herself. She was trying to figure out its meaning.

“What does that mean?” Jillie looked up at Billie, Bilie shook her head in a sprinkler motion back at her stan indicating she wasn’t sure.

“Umm…” Scott interrupted, “Does anyone else see a lobster walking through the lobby, or is it just me?” He said out of the blue.

Everyone turned to look at the walking lobster. “Oh… we definitely see it. At first I just thought it was a dude in a lobster costume but it’s definitely an upright lobster the size of a human.”

“Okay, now I’m starting to question my sanity. Maybe this is phone withdrawal? Maybe this is what happens when you can’t use social media? I’m in social media withdrawal! I wonder if I can die from this condition?” Kymmie put her phone back in her pocket again giving up on the device. She needed something to keep her mind busy, to keep her thoughts occupied—too much idle time. She took out the mystery journal and flipped through the pages. It was there that she found the ‘Cool S’ or ‘Superman S’ or also known as the ‘Stussy S’. Or, perhaps it’s the ‘Swiftie S’. “Whoa… cool.” She immediately tried to replicate it on her own. Every time she drew another ‘Cool S’ the book would autocomplete adding the letters WIFT next to the ‘S’ to make the word SWIFT. “Sashy! Come over here.” She waved to the Swifite and he walked over. She showed him the ‘Cool Superman Stussy Swiftie S’. “Have you ever seen that before?”

“Whoa, cool. I think so? I think my older sister drew this for me once.”

“What are you guys looking at?” Stan asked.

Kymmie waved him over. “Look! It’s this… cool S.”

“Whoa. That’s cool. That’s a cool S.” Stan was mesmerized by it. They all were.

“Did you say the cool S?” Oak Felder asked trying to look over at the book. He’d nearly forgotten about ‘The Cool S’. Another S appeared on its own before their very eyes, Two sets of three lines, then another four lines—two at the top and two at the bottom, after a moment pause, the rest of the lines filled in. Fourteen lines total. The diamond “S” shape was then joined by “wift” immediately after the Cool S completed drawing itself.

“Yeah. I guess? Is that what this is called?” Kymmie held up the journal for Oak to see better. She pointed to the S.

“Yeah. That’s the cool S. Also known as the Stussy S, Super S, Superman S, Universal S, Pointy S, Graffiti S…”

“Wow.” The teens replied in unison.

“They say the origin of it is unknown.”

The Secret S

“Really?”

Oak nodded.

“Whoa.” They replied again in unison. Eyes darting from the S to Oak to the S and back to Oak again.

“Maybe Taylor knows the origin?” Kymmie said to the group then looked at Sashy. Sashy shrugged. “Taylor MUST know! I bet Taylor is behind this. All of this. She’s is The Cool S! She started it! THE COOL S IS ALL TAYLOR!”

The Swift S. The Swiftie S. The Secret Swiftie S. Sashy the Sassy Swiftie S.

“If Taylor is behind this mystery ‘S’ my sister never mentioned it.” He replied, thinking, trying to recall every memory from the far side of his mind. “I only ever remember her drawing it once. Right before she drew it she said she thought the S stood for secret, then she ripped a piece of paper from her journal and drew it in the corner of that paper. She folded it several times so the Secret S was on the top, then she opened it up again unfolding the paper. Inside she wrote a note. After she finished writing it she handed the note back to me with the S facing me. As she handed the note to me, she said to open it if I ever needed her when she wasn’t around. I told her I could only promise not to read it until I could no longer stand not knowing what she wrote—which may not be long. I took the note back to my room and hid it to stop myself from knowing the secret. I hid it so well that I had forgotten where I hid it. I found it after she died. The note said, You’re my favorite little brother… okay, yes, you’re my only little brother, but you’re my favorite anyway. I love you. Love, big sis.”

He wiped away a tear.

Billie looked sympathetically at Sashy.

No one said a word for an entire minute until one of the hotel clerks started giving them the stink eye.

“We drew that in high school… We’d write it between our notes.” Pop said slightly nostalgic. He laughed a nervous laugh, breaking the moment of silence for Sashy’s sister.

“Between? Like what do you mean? Was there an emoji for it? What app did you use?” Kymmie asked back.

Pop laughed again, a more comfortable laugh. “No. We just wrote notes. We didn’t have tablets—Pen and paper, or pencil from time to time.”

“I don’t think my notetaking software would let me do that. And the teacher took away rights to the doodle function. But we can pick from a list of school approved emojis.” Jillie made some sort of shape with her hands that was supposed to be a sad emoji.

Scott leaned over to look at The Cool T-Swift S, “I feel like that’s terrible for learning, there has to be some part of the brain that’s missing out, you can’t just draw creatively between your notes?”

“Nope. Just words and emojis. And the teacher ‘screenshares’ with us and deletes anything that isn’t class appropriate. I’m pretty sure this Cool S thing would get a biggie no.” Jillie shook her head no, a biggie no.

“That’s awful.” Oak said sourly.

“Tell us about it.” The TikTok Teens complained in unison. “We can’t do ANYTHING cool in school.”

“Well… Homesworks is cool.” Jillie smiled. “I do what I can to make it cool! Okay, that’s not really IN school, that’s AFTER school… point half made.”

“School approved emojis…” Lizzo shook her head disapprovingly. “Sounds to me like a system designed to stifle creativity.”

A man pushed between them apologetically explaining he was late for something and politely asking if he could just check in real quick.

The desk clerk worked away on the computer.

“Ah, Mr. Bennington, right this way, I’ve got you all checked in and ready to go, your hotel room awaits you, welcome to California. I do see you have a lunch meeting with someone, he’s waiting for you right over there. We’ve already reserved a table for you the two of you.”

Jillie froze. “Bennington. That’s Chester Bennington!!!”

“It can’t be... He died!” Kymmie shook her head tucking away her notebook. “Maybe I died? Maybe I died from social media and phone withdrawal?” Kymmie looked off into the distance blankly.

“I’m impressed that you know who Linkin park is.” Justin Bieber smirked at Kymmie.

Kymmie clinched her fists, breaking out of her stare. “It’s getting old Justin! I know a lot of stuff. Stop giving me a hard time because I don’t know who The Beatles are. I get it, everyone should know them. But I don’t. And I’m sorry, but you know what? I’m not sorry because I know a lot of stuff! I’m a straight A student! I have a perfect GPA and I plan to attend UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television to become a screenwriter. Or maybe a director, I’m not sure yet. Like, I want to be an influencer, but also an actress, but I want to do lots of other stuff too, like, an activist actress and director, and writer, producer, costume designer, makeup, special effects, and a social media influencer… live theater… maybe this Foley art thing too… Honestly, maybe I’ll just do it all!”

Justin smiled. “Kymmie, if you want to break Hollywood, then break it.”

“I will!” Kymmie nodded like she was serious. She is serious. “And once it’s broken, we can fix it. This is war.” Kymmie looked for a moment like she had war paint on… ready for battle. A gust of wind blew through the hotel lobby, as though an old window had just burst open during a thunderstorm. Justin took a step back and felt for a moment like he was on the edge of a cliff as he slipped Kymmie reached out and pulled him back. All of it felt real. It was real. It is real, really real.

“Whoa. That was really weird.” Justin said as goosebumps formed on his arms. “It was like we were just inside of… a dream.”

“Yeah.” Kymmie shook her head yes. Only the two of them had momentarily shared that odd blip of an experience. “Wow, sorry, I… I don’t know what just… happened.”

“Welcome to California? But didn’t Chester B live here in the big C, Cali?” Jillie continued her initial thought ignoring Kymmie and Justin. “Why would you welcome someone to California that lives in California?”

“Maybe he was traveling?” Billie replied to her stan.

“Okay, then wouldn’t they have said welcome back?” Jillie questioning.

“I think you’re reading too much into it.” Carl’s voice was very serious, a lawyerly tone reviewing the situation with his inside legal experience. As though knew something but decided to cover it up.

“Wait… If we’re in music time… I mean music transcends death. In music, an artist only dies when their music is gone forever… As long as their music lives on, they never die.” Jillie put on a thinking face. Smoke began to puff from her ears.

“Jillie… Is there smoke coming out of your ears?” Billie watched as the smoke

“Whoa.” The other stans watched Jillie in wonderment.

“What?!?!” She put her hands over her ears and shook her head back and forth, then removed her hands. “Is it still there?” She turned side to side showing her ears. “Did I get it? Is it gone?”

“Okay it stopped. That was weird.” Billie laughed with amusement. “There is something seriously strange going on here, like… really strange.” She gazed slowly around the hotel again trying to figure out is this the real life? Or is this just… fantasy.

“Would you like a complimentary bottle of water?” The desk clerk asked.

Billie looked at it and saw it was again, The Whale’s brand of water. Banksy water. She shook her head no but it wasn’t Billie the clerk was asking, it was Chester Bennington. He took the water and walked away. Billie Eilish watched Chester Bennington walk across the hotel lobby as he removed the cap from the complimentary bottle of water and took a few sips, then placed the cap back on the bottle, he stopped and shook hands with a man in a suit. The man looked at her for a moment but didn’t seem to see her, his facial expression remained unchanged—The Whale. It was as though The Whale didn’t even recognize the same group that had been in his office just hours ago But why? Was this the same man? Or maybe The Whale has a twin, or triplets, or quadruplets, clones, an entire pod… The Whales of Hollywood.

“Okay, what is this? Like, seriously… What the heck IS all of this?” She didn’t want to say anything further about The Whale. She didn’t trust him. She knew that he was probably behind all of this, Taylor told her he was, and she trusted Taylor. But how involved were any of the others? Was everyone just blindly following orders from someone else all of it coming from some mastermind at the top of a pyramid? But how did no one else see him standing there. How was it that the only person who seemed to know anything was Carl the lawyer? Carl Lyle Lawyer, innocent little Tik Tok Teen wannabe Instagram influencer Arianator Kymmie’s dad. And he wasn’t giving anything away. It was as though everyone, but Billie and the Lawyer had blinders on. No one could see what was going on, no one could see the writing on the wall… the writing on the computer screen. At what BPM does the computer curser blink. Blinks per minute. The final word count. Every coffeeshop in LA filled to the brim with laptops open to Final Draft, ideas flowing out of minds and into the real world... the craft escaping like the doors to a zoo of ideas unlocked and open, letting the animals run from the cages.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what it all is… I don’t know what this is.” Kymmie answered Billie, she looked down at the mysterious journal she found, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, she held one in each hand, the broken phone, and the mystery journal. “It’s something. That much I know.” She looked up at Billie.

“There she is again.” Scott said suddenly interrupting.

“Where’s who again?” Kymmie asked.

“Lana Clarkson.”

“Kelly Clarkson? Where!” Jillie squealed. “OH MY GOSH I LOVE HER SHOW!”

“No. Lana Clarkson.”

“Who’s that?” Jillie replied with a perplexed.

“She was killed by Phil Spector in the Pyrenees castle.”

Jillie Jean shook her head and said “I have no idea what any of that is?”

“I’ll fill you in later.” Kymmie smiled.

Lana walked across the hotel lobby and then continued towards an exit.

“This is ridiculous.” Billie said frustrated.

“You mean rediculish.”

“Jillie, not now.” She grumbled at her stan, “I’m trying to process at the moment. There are dead people walking amongst us.”

“Billie, I’m your number one fan and all, but don’t ever tell me ‘not now’.” Billie’s stan Mean Green Jellybean Jillie Jean rested her fists against her hips with her elbows stretched out. Her face also mean looking. “If you cross us,” Jillie pointed at the other Tik Tok Teens. “Just know, we’ll Tik-Tok-Toe you out of the equation.”

“What?” Billie replied to her teen stan flabbergasted.

“Lish. Listen to me, as your number one fan I’m telling you right now, us Tik Tok Teens have powers that you can only dream of. If we want you out of the equation, you can be canceled… like that.” Jillie snapped her fingers. “We will squash you like a bug. We make things go viral—” She smiled, a devilish grin, “—and people will believe everything we tell them to believe about you. If you ever cross me, and I mean this sincerely, no one will listen to your music, ever, again. Got it? All it takes it a little bit of edited video.” Jillie made a slicing of a knife across the neck motion. “Billie Lish Lish… CANCLED!”

Billie Eilish gulped and nodded.

“Lucky for you, we don’t have Tik Tok right now. But watch yourself. Because as soon as we get it back…”

“Okay… Jillie. Got it.” Billie smiled nervously at her fan. Man, fans can go from being kind of cool to downright scary really fast. Strangie scary.

Jillie flashed a smile and flipped from serious to silly like a flash of lightning. “Anyway, are you sure they’re dead people? Maybe they’re holograms, like those Coachella holograms. Look, there’s Tupac and Biggie just hanging out.” Jillie thought about how the Whales business card contained those wild visual FX illusions.

“Shut up. That’s not possible!” Billie was starting to lose her cool with this stan. Maybe she shouldn’t have just told Jillie to shut up, but you know what, warning or not, what are these Tik Tok Teens going to do, they don’t have Tik Tok right now… there’s nothing to be worried about, they don’t have their powers right now… and anyway, let’s be honest, viral video, people stop listening to her music, Billie Eilish canceled… please, THAT’s never going to happen. No one can cancel Billie Eilish, especially not some overly obsessed teenage Tik Tok stans.

“What’s not possible? That Tupac and Biggie are here, or that they’re hanging out together?”

“Both.” Billie grumbled at Jillie. She never thought one super fan could drive her to the brink of madness but she was sure if one ever did, it would be this one.

Jillie watched at Tupac and Biggie across the hotel lobby, “I mean they were friends at one point, before all the money and fame…”

“Money and fame has its price.” Billie said under her breath as she observed The Whale. If there’s anyone she should be worried about sabotaging her career with damaging edited viral videos, it’s not Jillie, it’s The Whale.

“Neither murder was ever solved, right?” One of the teens asked while watching Tupac and Biggie in what seemed like a friendly conversation.

“Yeah.”

It’s all about the inner circle. Keep your inner circle tight and fame can be handled just right. But The Whale knew that, he knew the way to someone wasn’t going after that person, but to infiltrate their inner circle. Any celebrity can handle fame as long as they have a solid circle of family and friends, but a celebrity on their own without a circle becomes vulnerable, lost. No celebrity goes it alone, find out who keeps them together behind the scenes, off camera, get to that person; the celebrity will become putty in your hands, to mold how you like.

“Okay, so, ARE we dead?” Kymmie asked wondering if maybe Billie was right.

“No I don’t think so...” Her dad replied.

“Then where are we?” The tone in her voice less curious than before and slightly more concerned, innocence dripping off her, starting to melt away just a tiny bit, like melting snow covering the true inner soul.

“I’m not at liberty to… “ He paused, “I’m not sure.” Kymmie’s dad corrected himself then looked around the room stopping once and making eyes with The Whale before continuing to scan the room. The Whale and the lawyer were feigning strangers, a charade of who could care less.

The Whale Song was loud and clear, and it sang out in a frequency no one could hear. It is indeed true that the best way to get to a celebrity isn’t directly, it’s through their support network the one they built to handle the fame, the foundation under them. No celebrity goes it alone, find out who keeps them together behind the scenes, then get to those people, and they will be putty in your hands. Send those Strangies in sideways instead. If you can get a Strangie or two into the inner circle, keep the celebrity guessing who they can really trust.… that’s when the game really gets interesting.

‘#FreeBritney’ momentarily appeared in a large mirror hanging on the wall followed by more words. The words glowed in the mirror, neon pink, the appearance of brightly lit LED lights… “PASS THE FREE BRITNEY ACT!” Below that another set of words… “Be free from financial conflicts of interest! FREE BRITNEY FROM THE WHALE!” Then as quickly as it appeared, the mirror message faded away before anyone knew it was even there.

“Billie, your hair!”

“ Whoa.” Billie replied, checking it in the same mirror that had just displayed it’s neon pink plea. Her hair was blonde.

“What happened!?!?!” Jillian Jean squealed. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?!?!”

“I don’t know.” Billie Eilish touched her hair with her fingers wondering if it were real. It felt real. “Unreal…” She stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Well, to be honest, I kind of was annoyed that you copied my hair, so I thought in my mind that I needed to change my hair, just go blonde—and now it’s blonde.”

“WHAT-uh?!?! LISH! That’s weeeeeeeeeeird. You wanted your hair to be blonde and poof, it turned blonde! Just like that!” Jillie worked out in her head but also outload.

“Yeah.” Billie continued to stare at herself in the mirror holding a lock of her blonde hair between her index finger and thumb, “ Weird.”

“But we don’t match anymore!” Jillie pointed to her now outdated Billie Eilish green hairstyle.

“Well… that’s too bad.” Billie smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get my hair to match yours soon enough!”

Billie ran her fingers through her new hair, “Take your time Jillie, there’s no rush.” She loved the new look, the new her.

Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne began to play overhead. The music whirled through the hotel like taffy stretching and tugging inside a machine. A warbled version of the song. Like it wasn’t supposed to be in the room, as though someone were pulling and pushing it into the hotel lobby, uninvited.

@taylorswift @wishuweregay

[wisestudentninja]

July 2018 Featured Creator

What is a Featured Creator?

Write Way Studio’s “Featured Creator” segment is my way of showing appreciation for the creators of the world.  Creative outlets are limitless, because there is no end to human imagination.  Every month shows the succeeding featured creator.  If you would like to be a part of this collaborative project, contact me at studiowriteway@gmail.com!

My tenth guest creator is an artist and writer known as Emi!

Introduction

This lovely lady goes by both Emi and Emily!  She was born the sixteenth of March, currently twenty-one years old.  Her home resides in New York.  At the moment, she is a college student going for Computer Animation and Interactive Media, with an Associate’s in Illustration.  She absolutely adores character design, complete with storyboarding and writing in the art of storytelling.  As an emphasis on her passion, Emi confessed that “you can always catch me with a sketchbook in hand and story ideas to discuss.”

She comes from a variety of educational backgrounds, from primary Catholic school, public high school and then the college she presently attends, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City (or FIT for short).  There is one year left for her Bachelor’s degree.  She is unsure of what she will do afterward, either to go to a community college to potentially gain a teaching degree or extend her Bachelor’s into a Master’s degree after the graduation from FIT.

What Sparked the Creator Passion?

Cartoons and video games influenced Emi early in life.  For television, she grew up on PBS Kids and KidsWB while her older brothers played with a Nintendo 64 and GameCube.  Nowadays, it’s mostly cartoons she watches, especially if it is animated.  She plays any video games she can get her hands on – new and old!  A family trait of hers that she inherited would be the artist’s eye, a characteristic that would influence her even today.

An Animated Beginning

Emi revealed that “the game that really sky-rocketed [her] love for the world of imagination, and still fuels [her] to this day, is The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask.”  There are numerous other games she played when she was younger.  Banjo Kazooie, Yoshi Story and Spyro name a small few.  Japanese-based games introduced her to the world of anime and manga after she discovered the Internet.  There were multiple phases as she cycled through an assortment of anime, from Sgt. Frog, Ouran High School Host Club, Black Butler, and Princess Jellyfish.  All of them have led to her current obsession, My Hero Academia.  Studio Ghibli also holds a special place in her heart.

She recently read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and thoroughly enjoyed the book.  She is currently invested in a book called Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates; it is a fictional story sharing the inner thoughts and feelings of the one and only Marilyn Monroe.  Emi confessed that Oates is her favorite author since “her level of writing is where I aspire to be.”

“We All Live In A Yellow Submarine”

Yet, there is one film that stands above the rest in her eyes.  As she called it, “the magnum opus of all animation, imagination, storytelling, creativity, illustration, and music [can only be] Yellow Submarine directed by George Dunning, produced by Al Brodax, Story by Lee Minoff, Art Direction by Heinz Edelmann, [and] based on the song of the same name by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”  The movie stands as a huge inspiration for her, and since it is based on The Beatles with their songs, only has Emi adoring it more.  The experience with the picture repeatedly “kindles [her] aesthetic and motivation to create . . . [because of] how much it means to [her].”

Interestingly, Emi possesses the uncanny fan-ability of quoting the object of the fanatics.  In this case, Yellow Submarine, complete with “accents . . . tones . . . and everything.” Oh, yes, being a dedicated fan can definitely come in handy, if you become creative with your resources.  Emi even confessed that, for the previous semester, she wrote a final paper of hers (AKA the grade-that’s-most-likely-to-be-OP for a college-level course) centered on the film. 

I pulled a similar power move with Studio Ghibli films for a Linguistics class.  But that is a story for another time.

Future Projects

For now, Emi is focused on improvement with lots of practice and taking time for herself.   Toon Boom is an animating and storyboarding software that she uses for 2D animation.  Besides working with the software, she has a plethora of other outlets to utilize.

As previously mentioned, this young lady is concentrating on her senior thesis to rightfully obtain her hard-earned degree.  This summer, Emi managed to actively participate with multiple zines as both a writer and an artist in order to remain imaginatively occupied.  There is also her summer internship position, where she works on storyboards and animatics for a production company called O.T.O TV. 

If you are intrigued to know more about the company, check their social media links down below!

·       Twitter

·       Facebook

·       Instagram

Where To Find You? Support You?

Luckily, Emi can be found on multiple online platforms!  There is also the possibility of supporting her creativity by visiting her online shop or even submitting a commission.  Don’t hesitate to ask her more about it!

Social Media

o   Tumblr

For her original story and characters!

o   Instagram

o   Twitter

      Portfolio Website

Various ways to support Emi!

o   Commission Information

o   Ko-fi

o   Tictail Store

Last Tidbits

There are a few random things to know about Emi.  To start, she is right handed and a Pisces!  Her favorite food is any form of a potato.  She listens to music every day in order to improve her groove.  Her favorite Beatle is Paul McCartney and her favorite Disney film is Beauty and the Beast.

Emily then concluded our interview with a message to all of you lovely readers, “I wish you all a lovely day.  Thank you for taking time to read up a little bit about me, my life, and my passions. Your support means the world to me.”

Important Notice

Please understand that some information will not be shared by the creator’s request.  If you cannot understand that, there is not much more I can do to help you.  Safety is a top priority here, and I am here to help the creators, not instigate negative behavior.

Collaboration Disclaimer

The information provided in my Featured Creator articles is, in fact, from the real people, not some random Internet bot.  I do not use random stock photos to fill an imaginary photo quota.  Any photos in the Featured Creator segment are provided by the creators with permission to use them in this manner.  I want to support the original person behind the work, not a random online copycat creeping around.

To Emi,

I honestly can’t remember how I found you on Tumblr, but I am so happy I did.  Not only are you a hilarious young lady, you also are creative and insightful.  I am not much older than you, and yet we will be both getting our respective degrees with the completion of the following school year.  Most of the other creators I’ve worked with before were, for the most part, already out of school and being full-blown adults.  So that was definitely a nice change of scenery I did not expect.

As a fan of both your writing and art, I was really excited to work with you on this collaboration!  Despite the problems we’ve encountered across this little project, please know that I don’t make a habit of it.  Truly!  I had a lot of fun working on this.  I hope that happiness shines through somewhere in all of this.

I wish you luck with your final year of school and I can’t wait to work with you again on a different project (if you’re interested, of course)!

Sincerely,

Jasmine Love

MLA Citation (8th edition)

Emi.  Personal E-mail Interview by Jasmine Love. July 2018 Featured Creator Collaboration, 18 June – 5 July 2018.

[aion-rsa]

Looking to The Future of the DC Universe

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The beauty of telling stories in a multiverse is the infinite possibility offered by the infinite places and infinite times to set those stories in. DC’s embrace of their multiverse has historically been one of its strongest features, but Crisis on Infinite Earths muted that ability for decades after, and only recently have comics creators started to enthusiastically dive into the concept again. And with Dark Nights: Death Metal wailing towards its conclusion, it looks like DC is set to go head first into the Bleed again.

Future State is the next big DC Comics event. Following the conclusion of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s explosive reintroduction of the infinite multiverse-slash-musing on what might happen if we let evil get a couple of high profile wins in (gee no real world analogue to that story at all no sir), the entire DC line will be taking a pause for two months, while a variety of creative teams jump forward in the DC Universe’s timeline to tell stories about what that future might look like.

The Future State: Justice League titles include three minis with two stories in each issue, and five one shots or character-focused series. They have a mix of long time DC creators and some new faces, all of them trying to do some new things. The titles include:

Future State: Justice League #1-2

Justice League, by Joshua Williamson and Robson Rocha

Justice League Dark, by Ram V. and Marcio Takara

Future State: Green Lantern #1-2

Last Lanterns, by Geoffrey Thorne and Tom Raney

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, by Josie Campbell, Ryan Cady and Ernie Altbacker, with Sami Basri and Clayton Henry

Future State: Suicide Squad #1-2

Suicide Squad, by Robbie Thompson and Javi Fernandez

Black Adam, by Jeremy Adams and Fernando Pasarin

Future State: Aquaman, by Brandon Thomas and Daniel Sampere

Future State: The Flash, by Brandon Vietti and Dale Eaglesham

Future State: Teen Titans, by Tim Sheridan and Rafa Sandoval

Future State: SHAZAM!, by Tim Sheridan and Eduardo Pansica

Future State: Swamp Thing, by Ram V. and Mike Perkins

We had a chance to talk with Justice League group editor Alex Carr about that future: a broken speed force, a drained central power battery, magic being harvested, and…Red X!

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

CHANGE IS COMING TO THE DCU

Den of Geek: Walk us through Future State and the Justice League books. What were your marching orders for the creative teams? What got you excited at the beginning point of this event?

Alex Carr: Well, I don’t want to spoil anything for Death Metal. I can tell you that the events of Death Metal will leave the door open for a variety of really, really cool stories for us to tell beginning in 2021. Future State is one of those.

When we think about Future State, one of the things that I really got excited about was I looked at the Justice League’s list of titles and our list of heroes, and when we think about the Justice League, we cover such a wide breadth of heroes, of settings, of villains, of power sets, that when I started to consider what does the future mean for all of these characters? It just simply opened up because I thought, “We can tell stories in the near future, we can tell stories in the middle future, and then we can tell stories in the far, far future,” because we have characters who play to all of those time periods and all those possibilities.

Not just time as an element to get excited about, but then I thought, “We’re in the far future, where anything can happen, where storytelling possibilities are limitless,” so too does that mean approaches to our characters. While we don’t have a central hub as a setting, or even a central time period where all of our stories take place, what we did want to get across, through all the editors in our group, was a thread of change. That thread carries through, not just our heroes, but also again, their power sets, the way they approach villains, the villains that they interact with.

If we’re talking about new heroes, that’s a huge change. Then if we’re talking about classic heroes, what’s a new mission statement that we can give to a hero? What’s a new setting we can put this hero in? What’s a new perspective that this hero can have that will really give readers a reason to open up these books, and then secondly, to get excited about the stories that are unfolding therein?

Death Metal is, in its own way, dark and reflective of the times that we live in. From a 30,000 foot perspective, it’s a story about the anxiety of living through the world that we’re living through right now. Is Future State going to carry some of those themes forward, or is it going to be more of using the inherent hopefulness of the DC Universe and the DC characters to try and reflect something back onto the world?

First of all, I do want to say that while I agree with your assessment of Death Metal as it reads right now during our conversation, I want to make sure that we aren’t putting it in a box too tightly, because I think you’re going to be really surprised by where Death Metal goes and the way in which it’s perspective may change. I agree with the way you’ve assessed it right here and now. But I think by the time we get to the end, you’re going to be really surprised. Future State carries through both of those. Yes, I’m giving you an easy answer here in that you bet, when we look in the future, it’s easy to go dystopian, and it’s also really fun to do that too.

In Justice League Dark, for example, we’ve got a futuristic witch hunt going on where the Justice League Dark team are being chased because magic has become a commodity that is to be harvested. Who better to harvest than some of the greatest magic users in the DCU? In that regard, yes, we do see a dark future there for our heroes, but there are also plenty of stories in Future State, in the Justice League, in the supergroup, in the back group that will reflect different approaches to future possibilities.

Aquaman

Case in point, Aquaman for our group, really fun writer, Brandon Thomas, and editor, Andrea Shea, approached it specifically not to be a dystopian story. We get to see Jackson Hyde, who is coming off a two-issue arc in Aquaman by writer, Jordan Clark, really take a spotlight here along with Andy Curry, the daughter of Arthur and Mera. She comes into her own here as well. Again, we’re building on something that Kelly Sue DeConnick established in her fantastic Aquaman run, the birth of Andy, which is really one of the first babies to be born in the DCU in I don’t know how long.

We took that element of story that we all loved, and here we age up Andy in Future State, and you get to see her adventure with Jackson Hyde, again, a great character that we’re excited about spotlighting. Their story is full of drama and certainly danger, but it’s also got a really fresh perspective, a positive perspective on futuristic storytelling.

The Storytelling Freedom of Future State

You’ve got an interesting mix of some DC old hands like Josh Williamson and Javier Fernandez, you’ve got some fresh faces like Geoff Thorne and Josie Campbell. What were some of the challenges to assembling a team from all of these different backgrounds with DC into hammering them into an event like this?

Well thankfully, I didn’t have to hammer too hard. As soon as we talked about, “Hey, would you like to tell a story set in the future with some of your favorite heroes?” People were really, really excited and I started getting proposals right away.

Where there were challenges, it was getting writers to think very freely. I think all too often, we get really concerned about continuity, but one of the benefits of futuristic storytelling is that we can go wild here. Anything can happen from here to the year 5,000, so let’s find the best story to tell first and then we’ll figure out where it fits into a timeline and we can go from there. But let’s not worry too much about what [a] character’s boot colors will be in the year 2400. Instead, let’s figure out what are some great challenges and what are the goals? What do we want out of these stories and how are we going to ensure that readers feel like they got their money’s worth out of it before we go too deep into the details?”

But again, it really wasn’t hard. People were really excited to jump right in, especially someone like Ram V, when we talked about Swamp Thing, he and I got really caught up in Swamp Thing and Swamp Thing’s past, and what are the things that we want to cover with Swamp Thing.

But then we took a step back and we thought, “What’s a really great science fiction story that we want to tell that involves Swamp Thing?” Once we freed ourselves from all the other trappings, that’s when the story just dropped right into place, and that’s when we got to have a lot of fun with, “But who do we want from Swamp Thing’s past to fit into this wild story? Okay, cool. We can fit him or her or them here,” and then things just fell into place. I think once we took the approach with writers and artists, that you can be really as free as you want here, we saw the best results.

SWAMP THING: FUTURE STATE’S BREAKOUT STAR

That’s actually a great segue, because the next question I had was “let’s both take three minutes to just fawn over Ram V-

Yes, Ram V!

Because as he took over Justice League Dark, he’s found a new gear. As the group editor, you’re the guy who keeps the trains running on time, but you’re also the coach, right? You’re the one that’s trying to get the most out of your players that you can possibly get?

Exactly. I’m really fortunate in that I get to work on two books with Ram, Justice League Dark and Swamp Thing in Future State. We took very different approaches to both books. Ram’s storytelling really is… If you’re a fan of his, get ready, because Justice League Dark versus Swamp Thing, the way he approached the stories was very different. Justice League Dark, that the second script just came in today and I read it, it’s going to break your heart. But again, it will give you hope. Swamp Thing however, he just takes the concept to its furthest reaches. Working with him on both was not a challenge, it was just an opportunity for me to cheerlead Ram to stretch, to continue the great work that he has done on Justice League Dark.

I do think he is producing some of his best work in the most recent issues. They’re so much fun. We just continued that spirit through Justice League Dark. It’s going to be a seamless experience, even though we do have a time jump. Whereas with Swamp Thing, this is brand new Ram V. You get an element of it in the Legend of Swamp Thing Halloween Spectacular that just came out. He has two stories in there and you get a taste of what’s to come in Swamp Thing Future State there. If you like ghost stories, get ready.

What character are we going to come out of the other side of this event loving more than we’ve ever loved them before? Who do you hope we end up loathing?

It’s hard for me to pick a favorite here, but I don’t want to keep talking about Swamp Thing too much, but again, what we do with Swamp Thing is so wild, I really do think people’s perspective is going to change in terms of what is Swamp Thing, when it’s freed from Alec Holland? What does that look like? What does that mean for the character? The opportunities really open up, so I’m really excited about that.

Green Lantern

John Stewart fans, we’ve heard you. The Future State Green Lantern book, which is oversized, so it’s going to be about 44 pages. You get right around 20, 22 pages of John Stewart in a story called “Last Lanterns.” It’s what happens when the power battery dies. Think of it like The Magnificent Seven. What happens to all these green lanterns if the power battery dies? John Stewart and his ragtag group of former Green Lanterns prove that you can still do good without the rings.

In this future where the power battery is dead, John Stewart and what remains of the Green Lantern Corps, they come to a planet and that planet is just about to be overrun by a galactic religious cult. It’s their last stand against this group. How do a group of heroes who used to have powers now face a galactic threat and attempt to save a planet? It’s so cool how they do it.

Then the other 22 pages will be filled with tales across the Corps. What happens to all the other Lanterns? What happens to Jessica Cruz? What happens to Guy Gardener? What happens to the Teen Lantern and Mogo if they’re on a mission together and the power battery goes down? We’re going to get a wide variety of tones and admissions and artwork to across these stories that feature the tale of Green Lantern Corps. I think John Stewart’s going to get a great spotlight.

Teen Titans

Teen Titans introduces a really cool concept where we suggest that sometime in the future, a Teen Titans Academy was established, where the more classic Titans, Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, mentored characters that you saw in the new Teen Titans, like Roundhouse, Crush, et cetera. But these classic Titans were charged with protecting and mentoring the students who would become heroes tomorrow, but they’re faced with the students that they could not teach.

This is the aftermath of that betrayal. We see that Teen Titans Academy has fallen, most of its students are dead, we’ve got this mysterious betrayal, and then we get the first appearance of Red X in the DCU. That character will have his appearance in Teen Titans Future State. That’s really fun.

Shazam

Something that I really credit senior editor, Mike Cotton, with doing here, and his creative teams, was there is a direct story thread that ties through Future State Flash, Future State Teen Titans, and then Future State Shazam. You do get a continuing story there. It doesn’t mean that you have to read one to read the other, but if you do read all three, you see some really interesting pieces come together that involve Barry, when he and other speedsters are tied off from the Speed Force, you get Wally, then you have Teen Titans.

You also have an interesting plot that flows, particularly from Teen Titans into Shazam, involving the Rock of Eternity and the split of Shazam and Billy, which is a really fun idea that writer, Tim Sheridan, takes to a dark place. It’s illustrated by Eduardo Pansica in a amazing way.

What creative team surprised you the most?

Justice League written by Josh Williamson and Robson Rocha. This one was a big surprise to me because Josh and I talked a lot about the story here, along with our associate editor, Andrea Shea. The story was originally going to be one thing, and we were all excited about that story, it was fun, it was going to have a bit of nods to some classic stories that fans would have loved, but then Josh called me up one day and said, “I’m breaking this story and I’m turning it on its head.” What Josh didn’t want to do was present, “Here’s a brand new Justice League team, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re dysfunctional and they don’t get along and that’s where the drama lies.”

Instead, Joshua really turned that on its head. Here’s a team that has been together for a while, they’ve been crime fighting for a while. They do have a couple of new secret members, but these are heroes who are good at their jobs. The twist is that their identities are a secret, even from each other. They’re great at their jobs, but they’re not so good at the family aspect of Justice League. What happens is an evolved age old enemy comes forward, and uses those secret identities against them in a plot to, of course, take over the world.

We have this really grand scale plot at work, but then what Josh did was he brought the personal element to it, and we’re playing with a theme of imposter syndrome here. I think it’s really going to change the way people look at Justice League. For me, that was the biggest surprise, was the possibility that opened up. It’s just going to be a lot of fun.

The artwork by Robson Rocha is outstanding. Wait until you see him illustrate the new Wonder Woman we have, the new Batman, the new Superman, the new Green Lantern, the Aquawoman, and the new Flash. All fresh takes on costumes, powers, emotions, the character acting involved there is powerful.

By the time readers get to Future State, they will have seen how his run on Justice League Doom Metal, the Death Metal tie-in, ends, and Robson was a part of that too, along with Xermanico. We’ll get to see this evolution in wild storytelling, going from Death Metal into Future State with the same writer and artist team, was really rewarding. We pushed them both and they both pushed each other. It’s so cool. I’m really pleased with it.

CONNER KENT AND THE SUICIDE SQUAD

And Suicide Squad! We got a movie coming out next year! What’s really exciting about this is we get back to basics on Suicide Squad. If you want to see a Suicide Squad where you’re not sure who’s going to live and who’s going to die, the Future State book is the book for you. Because we’ve got Earth-One villains, but they’re led by Conner Kent. What we see is the ultimate evolution of Amanda Waller’s plan, because now they’re on Earth-Three and Amanda Waller is dissatisfied with her role in the DC Universe, so she says, “I’m just going to go for broke with my team,” but at what cost really, especially to Conner. At what cost is her ultimate goal?

We will see that. We’ve got a wild group of teammates here, one is, I’ll give a little surprise here, it’s Clayface morphing into Martian Manhunter, and a character that you will see in the Teen Titans Future State also shows up here, along with a couple other surprises. Black Adam, of course, Future State. If you’re a fan of Grant Morrison’s DC One Million, here you go. This is Black Adam in the 853rd century. It’s really wild storytelling.

Future State runs through DC’s entire line of comics in January and February 2021. For more on Future State, the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, or the future of DC’s multiverse, stick with Den of Geek!

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[spamzineglasgow]

(HOT TAKE) Notes on a Conditional Form by The 1975, part 2

In the second instalment of a two part HOT TAKE (read part one here) on The 1975′s latest LP, Notes on a Conditional Form (Dirty Hit, 2020), Scott Morrison ponders the tricksterish art of writing about music, before riffing on the history of the album as form, questions around genre, nostalgia and a sense of the contemporary, not to mention that saxophone solo and why Stravinsky would love this album.

Dear Maria,

> How pleasant it feels to begin a review with a note to a friend.

> Shoutout/cc:/@FrankO’Hara – I always liked his idea to write a poem like it’s addressed to just one other person. It strikes me as interesting to begin a piece of criticism in the same way. So, this is the mode I will try to inhabit throughout.

> As I read your words, and pondered, and learned, I was caught in the twin state of delighting each time you hit upon something already identified in my own thoughts – some of which I will expand upon here - and equally delighted every time you wrote something I could or would not. Such is the joy of conversation.

> I suppose in this preamble between speakers, which keeps up the pretence of our characters conversing - which will, inevitably, lapse as the form of this review gives way to a longer, more oneiristic, probably, onanistic, possibly, enquiry into the album (an act impossible in real conversation, by the way, imagine, imagine someone actually speaking for this long, how boring and alienating that would be, and yet that is usually what criticism is). Anyway, before all that, to help set the scene, I should mention a few ‘real world’ details. All of which happened either online, of course, or in isolation, because that, as you mention, is the real world now, during the violent interlude of Covid-19.

> I was delighted – that word again, repetitions and patterns begin anew already – to be asked to write this review. Firstly, because, like you say, I am a fan of The 1975. But also, because I am a writer and I am a musician and I am trying just now to forge a new mode of writing about music, one that can be both analytical (technically, socially, historically) and expressive (personally, lyrically, emotionally). And, most of all because I have always been, at best, suspicious, and, at worst, dismissive, of album reviews.

> I wrote, in our Messenger chat, ‘I usually find music reviews unhelpful’, which makes me sound like a bit of a dick, really. But what I meant is, what I meant is.

> There’s a saying I think about a lot, as the aforementioned writer and musician who writes about music: ‘writing about music is like dancing about architecture’ (Martin Mull, Frank Zappa, or Elvis Costello, or any of the other people that sharp quote is blurrily misattributed to.)

> Incidentally, I would love to see a dance about architecture. But sometimes I think the sentiment of the statement is true. Will writing about music always be missing the point? Will it, through words, ever really be able to get to the essentially wordless essence of music? But I am a writer. And I am a musician. And I like writing about music. (Incidentally, I like making music about writing less). Yet I do feel there is some truth to the saying, I guess. Twists and turns. Try again. Here is another way of saying what I am trying to say.

> Music reviews make me hate adjectives. And I love adjectives. But often commercial reviews – for dozens of reasons, many of them valid, most of them related to that capital prefix – become attempts to describe a sound, invariably an artist’s ‘new sound’, again related to that capital prefix. Often, the goal is to generate press, to entice people to listen – or not – and so feed the music industry and the market. And to describe these new sounds, adjectives are piled-up like car crashes. Trying to describe a sound at any great length is, I think, ultimately fated to fail. Adjectives, up to a point, can provide greater and ever-more strident clarity. But, after a certain point – that appears very quickly in most pop reviews - saturation point is reached, and the clarity disappears, and we are left very far away from the music we were originally trying to pile word upon word to reach. ‘Nothing Revealed / Everything Denied’, you might say, if you were into foreshadowing. Which I am (obviously).

> So, I suppose, to continue thinking out loud (in silence, at my keyboard) I am interested in writing around music. Not describing the sounds (‘Let sounds be themselves’, says John Cage, whispering in my memory’s ear), but I am interested in writing that can tease out some of the ideas in and around the music and extend them in new directions. That, I think, is a different and interesting kind of dance worth attempting.

> We understand a review, then, as this kind of dance: as a record of the reviewer’s experience of listening to a record, which will accept that it will largely take as its subject the listening, and not the record. Even better if it’s a dialogue between two. So, here’s what I think about the album.

*

> Ok, before I talk about the album, actually, I would like to talk about a book. I hope that’s alright. There is no objective correlation between the album and the book except the proximity in time in which I experienced them. Let’s get that out of the way at the very beginning. The book has nothing to do with the album. But it does have something to do with how I heard it.

> The book is called An Experiment with Time. I mentioned this to you once already over Zoom. It was written in 1927. My copy belonged to my grandfather, in fact, and his writing – and so his pen and then his hand and then his whole vanished being – appeared occasionally at marginal or pivotal points throughout the text. That was part of what I liked about it, I guess.

> The book – which I allowed Wikipedia to tell me only after I had pushed my way through it – is regarded as an imaginative curiosity, but one which science has never taken seriously. That’s fine for me, because I am far more familiar, fluid and fluent in the language and implications of the imagination that I am of science.

> The book, broadly in two halves, sets out in its first strange span experiences of premonitions in dreams. That will give you the idea of the kind of science book it is. The second half is an attempt at a logical, philosophical, and occasionally mathematical explanation of Time that can account for these premonitory fissures.

> It posits that, in addition to the three dimensions of space (height, breadth and depth, I suppose), that time is a fourth dimension in our universe. I’ve heard that said, but I never really got it before. I do now, and it is very beautiful, because it begins to make me imagine, how, like a sculptor, I can ply, fold and shape with this new dimension. You can imagine how this might be useful to a musician, music being an art that can only exist through time.

> Anyway, the book then goes on to posit that a fourth dimension in which something can be observed to travel (our consciousness), must necessarily imply an observer in a fifth dimension to observe that travel, and then one in a sixth dimension, and so on, ad inifitum, infinite regress, serial time.

> I confess this somewhat surpassed the boundaries of my metaphysics (and/or silently slipped over my head), but the image of the infinite regress has stayed with me, the clickanddrag of old Windows windows ossified and pulled to leave twisting, spiralling trails; the gold-tipped rhythm of tenement window embrasures, repeating, far off, clickanddragged up a hill (hints and twists of Escher), on my daily walks.

> Wikipedia later told me that an infinite regress is a shaky ground on which to base a philosophical proof. Again, this is fine for me: I am a bad philosopher, because I am not competitive, and so this does not bother me very much.

> The infinite regress is a beautiful image, with lots of possibility in it for further imaginings, and it entrances me. So, keep this idea of serial observers and the limitless extension it implies close, please (foreshadowing again, you’re welcome).

*

> I will switch now, briefly, too briefly, from critic to fanboy (I contain multitudes, etc.).  

> Notes on a Conditional Form as an album title made me smile a smile that was very close to a wince or wink. Classic Matty, was probably the thought that came next. You have already summarised dastardly, dear, endearing, calamitous Matty, so I will move on assuming that, Matty Healy, yeah, I know.

> Back to the critic. The conditional form, in this review has already been (drumroll, eyeroll) music reviews themselves. See part one.

> Now I would like to take the album as the form in question – not this album, but albums generally, as this album is an exploration of the album form. The Album, capitalised.

> Albums have become normalised. But let’s play dumb for a moment – one of the cleverest things we can do - and we’ll see that albums are anything but inevitable, especially in the boundless age of streaming.

> Before this, albums used to be defined as collections with physical bounds. The capacity of a CD; before that, a length of magnetic tape; before that, the edge of a vinyl, a shellac, a wax cylinder. That about takes us back to the start of recorded audio media, I think.

> After Edison’s initial, waxy curiosities, albums began - like most things we love and hate - as a product. The form of the album was a circle. The music was a line. The edge of the line was the end of time. Marcel Duchamp’s Rotoreliefs, as a fun aside. And, as another, did you know that there’s a funny B-plot in all of this to do with Beethoven. (It’s always to do with fucking Beethoven.) Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony became the arbitrary marker for the desired length of the CD. It had never before been possible to fit the symphony onto a single, uninterrupted piece of media. And so, the B-plot goes, this is why the standard CD holds the amount of time that it does.

> Anyway, regardless of who shaped them, physical recorded media have, since their staggered births, profoundly shaped culture. Pop songs, especially singles, are still 3 and a half minutes long because that was the maximum amount of time that could be squeezed onto a 78, in the shellac days. Time was short and simple then, seemingly.

> Notes on a Conditional Form is 81 minutes long. It had 8 singles leading up to it, released over a span of ten months. Clearly, physical boundaries and marketing timelines, are not being treated in the usual way. You could just release singles forever now. But the fact this ended up as an album shows some belief in the concept beyond the physical and, yes, the commercial. Let’s press on, look elsewhere.

> Since we’ve started talking about classical music – ok, since I started talking about classical music – I’d like to dwell there for a moment, because there are foreshadows of The Album, conceptually speaking (and this album specifically) several layers up, several parenthesis ago, criticism as serial digression, in classical music.

> Collecting songs as albums was a favourite pastime of the Romantics, early emos. @FranzSchubert, @ClaraSchumann, @JohannesBrahms – there’s another B-plot in that trio if you want to look it up, by the way. Also, Clara Schumann is overlooked, like all female composers, because the classical music world is deeply patriarchal. It’s important to say that whenever we can.

> Anyway, the Romantics did not develop the album as a physical form – the only available recording medium at that time was sheet music, which they did sell in a big way, actually. But really, they helped develop the album as a conceptual form. They collected a group of shorter songs to make a larger statement – Schubert especially. In the 19th century, this was known as a song cycle, a lovely phrase, that makes me think of cycling through meadows, which I have done more than usual recently, as part of my state-sanctioned exercises, though the meadow was in fact an overgrown golf course, and no less lovely for it.

> Schubert’s Die Winterreise is a classic example of the song cycle – and another example of the emo-Romantic - a cycle of poems set to music that take the listener on a journey over time. Sound familiar? Albums. Song cycles. Song spokes. Meadows. Grasses and wildflowers. Meandering journeys.

> Anyway, here we finally return to Notes on a Conditional Form. Collecting songs together allows for an exploration of ideas that can evolve or expand over time – a Brief Inquiry, you might say. Art as a tool of investigation. Process. And this album certainly does that. You already touched on some of the ideas in the album: the climate crisis, the Anthropocene, digital communication, social unrest, calls to action, my favourite lyric on that theme, while we’re here:

Wake up, wake up, wake up, we are appalling

And we need to stop just watching shit in bed

And I know it sounds boring and we like things that are funny

But we need to get this in our fucking heads-

> You explore these ideas well so I will not pursue them more for now. Thank you!

> The other effect of collecting songs – or anything together – is that it gives birth to form. (Gasp, he said the title of the movie!)

> Yes, collecting things together as an album is what creates the form in all senses of the word – physical, commercial, conceptual. Form, pure form, is not the things, or the arrangement of the things, but the relationship between the arranged things. Glimpsing this is like getting a delicious glimpse of time as a fourth dimension. As I may have already let slip, I am very interested in time. And so, I am naturally interested in musical forms, which can only be apprehended through time, with time, thanks to time – thank you, time. We don’t often say that.

*

> This is where I will, at last - god, imagine I had been speaking at you this whole time - this is where I will at last get into the main topic of this review. The remarkable form of this album.

> Wait, sorry, one more thing before I do. A really quick one. As well as time, musical form also needs contrast. For sections to appear as distinct, and thus for us to clearly apprehend the difference between them, and thus get a glimpse of Form, they must contrast with one another, for how else would we apprehend change, notice borders, know we are somewhere else. (An interesting digression here is process music, which I love dearly, and which has an entirely different relationship with form. Look it up, if you like.)

> Anyway, for our purposes now, musical form requires contrast. This could be achieved in many ways: traditionally, it was done with different melodies or harmonies; but it could be done with volume, instrumentation, tempo, texture etc. etc.

> The main way that this album delineates its striking – and, to my mind, for what it’s worth, unique and new – form, how it creates its contrast, is using all of the above tricks, but, even more so, by contrasting styles/genres. This was immediately what struck me and thrilled me about this album, and it’s kind of funny – for me as the annoying writer, perhaps less so for you, the reader, I mean listener – that it’s taken me 2,534 words to mention it. This I think is the brilliance of this record. This is why we can call it not just contemporary, but new.

> The 1975 have always been shifting, but never like this. This album contains, sometimes literally right next to each other: punk, orchestral music, UK garage, Americana, shoegaze, folk, dancehall, 80s power ballads – and, of course, pop, whatever that means. Stravinsky became famous for sharp juxtapositions of distinct musical blocks. He would fucking love this.

> I messaged you, after my first listen, to say that the album reminded me of one of Sophia Coppola’s soundtracks. That was an instinctive, emotional response, but, having thought about it, I can now demonstrate the reason for the similarity. The stylistically varied end products are similar to one another because the methodology is similar: soundtracks select music practically to achieve emotional affects. Soundtrack albums use music as a tool to heighten ideas that lie elsewhere, in their case, in the filmed scenes they accompany. If you believe Matty Healy, this is also what The 1975 do. They use beauty, in whatever style or genre they find it:

‘Beauty is the sharpest tool that we have - if you want someone to pay attention, make it beautiful’.

> What do you make of that, @Keats? No, really, I would love to know.

> I think this is a remarkable musical strategy, that requires flexibility, knowledge and skill. That there is such a high level of all these things in the band is what allows it the strategy to be successful.

> I would like to pause here and consider the implications of this strategy on a personal, social and cultural level.

*

> Musical genre and personal identity have been as fused for as long as pop music has existed. This could be a trick of the market, or it could be a need of the individual psyche, or both. I think there is some truth in theory that in the increasingly widespread absence of God – by which I mean organised religion – people need to find both a guide for their metaphysics and morals, and a structure for their community, as these are some of the most effective tools we have discovered for constructing our Selves, making sense of our lives and the world. Art can provide the guide for many people. It also provides community. These communities, collections – albums? - of political, moral and aesthetic views, then become subcultures.

> Until very recently, subcultures were fixed. ‘Hardcore till I die’, ageing ravers, old punks. Interestingly one never really sees ageing emos. But that’s a subject for another essay.

> This, I think, is perhaps what is so striking here: musical genres are normally culminations (or roots, depending on how you look at it) of lived sub or counter cultures. These usually result from a fixed viewpoint about life and society, shared by the individuals that comprise them. The individuals identify with what the music says, how it is presented and how it looks as much – or perhaps even more - than how it sounds.

> Before now, it would have been shocking to imagine a band switching effortlessly from one style to another – this occasionally happens over the course of a career, between albums, but almost never in the same album itself - because it would feel like a betrayal, if we accept that bands and styles represent fixed ways of life and viewpoints and that neither lives nor viewpoints can change. Which, obviously they can. And which, obviously, they do, nowadays, with increasing speed, @Coronavirus.

> Matty’s appearance is a perfect demonstration of this. Minging Matty, Hearthrob Matty, Matty in vintage jeans, in a skirt, in a pinstripe suit. If we accept the old association of musical style/subculture and the clothing/uniform each produces, what would the ideal garb of a The 1975 listener be? A screen. A real, working search engine, fused with their body.

> Previously, the model was that bands had ‘influences’ which they ‘blended’ to create a ‘new’ sound. Here, The 1975 don’t really focus on blending sounds at the level of individual songs: the blend, boldly, happens at the level of the album. If the album is like a soundtrack, it is the soundtrack to the algorithmic age of effortless consumption of media.

> And I would like an examination of that idea to be the final track on this album. I mean, review. I mean conversation.

*

> The 1975 are inseparable from recorded media. Not just their own, but recorded media from the past. They are not able to invoke and inhabit this startling panoply of styles, to my knowledge, because they have studied in individual places or with masters of each craft or tradition – they are able to do it because they, like us, are able to consume recordings of these styles, and they, like us, have done so all their lives.

> When The 1975 invoke these styles, they are not evoking a tradition, or a way of doing things, or even seeing things. They are invoking personal memories of experiencing recordings, encountering media. We can take a look at a few examples of this.

> Let’s start with the classical stuff. The orchestral interludes do not sound like they are written by classical composers, or even composers of film soundtracks - the use of orchestration is different. It sounds, to my ear, like acoustic instruments playing what were originally MIDI parts. Which, I imagine, is what happened. That would usually be called bad orchestration. I am not interested in saying that. I am slightly interested in the effect of getting classical musicians, with their classical training, to play music written by people without classical training on a computer. What are the implications of writing for the flute as a soundfont, rather than a person, instrument or tradition?

> And what is the significance of placing an orchestra, playing instrumental compositions, on a pop record. These are not backing arrangements in an existing pop song, as we commonly encounter; nor are they classical arrangements of a pop song (see Hacienda Classical et al).

> These are standalone orchestral compositions on a record that also includes shoegaze, UK garage, two-step, Americana, punk. What, then, is the significance of this? The instruments, I believe, are being chosen less for their own sonic timbres, and more for their social or cultural timbres. I will try to explain this thought.

> Matty has often spoken about ‘Disneyfication’; he said he wanted ‘The Man Who Married a Robot / Love Theme’ on A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships to sound like a Disney movie. What does that mean? It means, I think, he wants it to sound like old movies, childhood, nostalgia. The orchestra is a sinecure for the ‘symphonic’, the cinematic, the dramatic; the orchestra is used like a banjo, which is, elsewhere on the album, used to conjure the exoticism of Americana as heard by someone listening to it in the UK, to paraphrase Matty’s words.  

> The stylistic references in the album are as much references to media as much as they are to music. Disney: orchestral sounds, likely filtered and wobbled through VHS cassettes. The orchestra, already made symbolic by its association with movies, made a double symbol, a reflection of a shadow, being invoked through the original sound not really for this sound but for our associations with it. The banjo invoked as both an instrument of yesteryear and over there. The music constructs frames of otherness to facilitate wistfulness, longing, memory.

> The chart success of ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’ is that it’s a modern bop that sounds like 80s bangers. Its artistic success is that it contrasts the feeling of halcyon safety created by its imitation of 80s bangers (experienced for millennials usually as triumphant climaxes in movies, jubilant moments on oldies stations), and rubs this up against some of the disturbing parts of the present: the angst of online relationships, nudity with people you don’t know and have not and may never meet. This is a simple but highly effective juxtaposition.

> ‘Bagsy Not In Net’ does this too: a quotidian, painful experience of childhood (not wanting to play in goal in a football game), expressed as a yearning and grand orchestral statement. This is true, too, of ‘Streaming’. This is pop music Pop Art: the contemporary quotidian expressed in the language of an old tradition and invested with the significance of an Art it simultaneously questions the power and validity of.

> And, to linger on ‘If You’re Too Shy’ for just a little longer, what is the meaning of a saxophone solo in pop music in 2020? It is symbolic: a shortcut, practically a meme. Saxophone solos exist in a present in contemporary jazz - they are a living history making new futures. But saxophone solos almost always only exist in pop music as ghosts (careless whispers) of the past. This particular sax solo is so euphoric to us less because of its musical content and more because of the emotions we have learned to associate with sax solos through other media.

> The final, most perfect example of this, of everything I have been getting at, really, is the UK garage references. These are themselves references to artists like The Streets, and Burial, who, themselves, were referencing the primary records of UK garage which they (The Streets and Burial) never experienced in clubs, but as recordings. And The 1975 experienced these recordings of recordings. Layers and layers of reference. And here, abruptly, we find ourselves back at the opening image of the infinite regress.

> At times, this album wants to express the present moment back at itself, and so prompt reflection and action. The fright of the zeitgeist. In this we can include Greta Thunberg, ‘People’, and the overtly socio-political statements on the album. I hope these tracks will be successful. In the future, they will take on the significance of historic artefacts: preserved truths from a vanished time, fixed and rich, like amber.

> But there are long swathes of the album, that do not have this intent, and which will, I believe, have a different longevity. These are the (often wordless) lyrical sections: the abstract, the vague, the instrumental sections – in all senses of the word. Records of the individual imagination listening to another individual imagination listening to another individual imagination. What will these tracks become in time, in Time?

> There is something ethereally delicious about the thought of people in the future coming across people in the past’s nostalgia of another past, now three links distant to their present, compoundly insubstantial, glittering, compelling. Fifth, sixth, seventh dimensions - serial nostalgias.

Notes on a Conditional Form is out now and available to order.

~

Text: Scott Morrison

Published: 26/6/20

[tinymixtapes]

Feature: 2017: Favorite Labels

When I was a shithead high school kid playing in my first punk rock band, I’m pretty positive that my cohorts and I dedicated much more time to hanging out in a Denny’s booth sketching logos and fine-tuning our astoundingly under-researched shortlists of the record labels that would ideally release our first earthshaking longplayer than we ever dedicated to, ya know, “writing” and “practicing” songs. But strangely, I don’t think this sort of thing happened because we were “lazy.” I think it’s because, a lot of times, the brand name counts even more than the music does. And I guess we all kinda understood that, even back then. Sure, we may all walk around our lives most of the time pretending like our choices and justifications are all pure and internally driven… but — as the introductory statements to three solid years’ worth of these Favorite Labels lists all ably point out — that shit is a straight-up hallucination. What we all really need at the end of the day is to feel assured that we’re part of a bigger story. We want those choices backed up by some weird, impossibly infallible guarantee. On a grand scale, this whole project represents nothing less than the most utterly serious of metaphysical business: nothing and no one stands on their own. Individuals are forgotten. Lines have endpoints. Organisms wither and die. We see this. We know this. We hate this. Brands, on the other hand, endure. Those glorious abstractions known as “classifications,” “families,” “institutions,” and so on can’t be killed. In other words, we’re not just talking comfort here; we’re talking Immortality. But even on the level of our day-to-day exploitation and/or enjoyment of culture, it holds true. For example, even now, as I try to reconstitute the narrative, some of my favorite records of 2017 didn’t just “come out.” They “came out as editions on Sean McCann’s Recital program.” As a writer, I found it downright difficult to parse and explain the evolution of certain monikers without using Hospital Productions as a scaffolding or to discuss this-or-that artist without shouting-out Posh Isolation. And I’ve got to fess up to the fact that, as a fan, I attended several shows and bought several records based on their Don Giovanni tag alone. Is any of this compulsive brand-association particularly justified or fair? Objectively, no, I guess not. But that’s exactly the point: categorizing frail, transient little things into grand structures that transcend the worth of each of those little peons when tallied individually not only provides a nice distraction, but it also helps cocoon us — however temporarily and delusionally — in a cozy and structured-yet-flexible hammock rather than leaving us all sailing naked through the silent, freezing, soulless, limitless, and immeasurable depths of deep space at a million miles an hour. So, um, if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll just go head and keep clinging like grim death to all the delusional institutions I can get my mammalian hands on. In fact, here’s 14 or so that you might find handy too. Take ’em or leave ’em. –Dan Smart --- Noumenal Loom [$EGA & THE RAINBOW STREETS · TOIRET STATUS · PASCALE PROJECT] Since 2013, Noumenal Loom, run by Garrett Crosby, a.k.a. Holly Waxwing, out of Birmingham, Alabama, has been pogoing around the globe to gather together all sounds exciting and excitable. So far, the label has pepped us way up with seminal releases by aggregative electronic wizards Foodman, Giant Claw, and Seth Graham, while concurrently winding down with gentle albums from the lovably chill likes of Tuluum Shimmering and Angel Dust Dealers. Their 2017 roster opened with an addictively danceable cassette from DJ Voilà, and whether the label has been exploring techno, funk, smooth jazz, or muzak, it’s been an idea of bodily movement that has unified all of this year’s tapes and albums. We’ve window-shopped with Haha Mart and loosened into a swaying groove with Jasper Lee and Earthly. Bouncy releases from Pascale Project and $3.33 scrubbed the dance floor clean, and, to round out the year, the label just dropped two back-to-back bath bombs by $ega & The Rainbow Streets, a new project from Kenji Yamamoto, and some mind-boggling impishness from Toiret Status. Amidst all kinds of paralyzing madness outside, spaces and sounds that invite such movement feel distinctly joyful and freeing. –Cookcook --- Hands in the Dark [BYRON WESTBROOK · BRIAN CASE · MATT JENCIK] Even French label Hands In the Dark’s name dallies with the corporeal, alluding to a sense beyond the visible, a prickle or a tickle when the lights are off. Label founder Morgan Cuinet has compiled a walloping roster of experimental artists whose work mines the occult affect of sub-bass, the pilomotor reflex to binaural wizardry, and the pineal proprioception to the encounter between ambie(/a)nce and the human ear. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that the artists represented — among them Matt Jencik, Brian Case, and Byron Westbrook — positively bodied the electronic music scene in 2017. Even from the pirouetting opening seconds of Westbrook’s “Dance and Free Fall,” the opening track off Body Consonance, tendrils of sound coagulate and consummate with the ear, consonate with the flesh, palpitate along with the temple’s pulse. Mastered by Helmut Erler and TMT favorite Rashad Becker at Berlin’s Dubplates & Mastering, these delicately fashioned transmissions massage and clench, stimulating the viscera and churning the gut. Hands in the Dark has quietly built a catalog of ambient music with gumption, a dance music for the synapses and for the goosebumps. The future is now: forget your antidepressants and anhedonia. With hands and feet and neck and back — in the dark or in the light — we’re getting sensual. –Benjamin Eckman Bieser --- Nyege Nyege Tapes [RIDDLORE · OTIM ALPHA · MAKAVELI] Luck’s acute attribute is having enough faith in letting go of the good and/or bad; a bird shits your in hair: half-think you won the lottery, but you keep thinking, a bird shit in my hair. Communication will forever be sharpened through adverse arts. Nyege Nyege Tapes bugged on 2017 with some excellent cultural deep-dive for listeners to gnash. What hit first was the jux-flow of “Ukuti” by Disco Vumbi. Immediately after, Riddlore’s Afromutations banged so hard, listeners lost direction of “Why?” and pursed immediate: “What timeline does Nyege Nyege Tapes abide by?” The third release defined another unique MC’s entry, Gulu City Anthems by Otim Alpha, baring a certain soul that comes more with the certainty of songwriting than production. Mysterians’s Joyride on Judgment Day was a gem that power-washed nodes on a level of intellect we won’t find until all the pieces of blasted-ambience have fit. But most importantly, Sounds of Sisso vibes on such a level of reappropriative, cultural instinct, one forgets to even find the magnitude of hype, purely grappling at the textures of rhythm. Nyege Nyege Tapes defines the stripped-down airfare to where prestige and lister-expansion take the next step. –C Monster --- Recital Program [ROGER ENO · DICK HIGGINS · MARY MAZZACANE] Whatever happened to the classics? Did we just get over them? Or rather, did they get over us? Is it still possible to remain just a little bit old-fashioned in a world that’s progressing at an exponential rate, when what happened even yesterday is archaic, forgotten, meaningless? For one, maybe study up on Sean McCann’s Recital Program, which spent yet another year shattering the glass walls between “high” and “low” art, proving again that everything is fascinating if we just look a little closer. Between exploring the lost lineage of the Mazzacane/Connors family, exposing the ever-tumbling wordplay of Dick Higgins, and issuing regal, flowing piano works from the likes of Michael Vincent Waller and Roger Eno, Recital kept its cool amidst a musical landscape that continues to self-implode. In reclaiming the opulent world of the classical for the underground of today, McCann’s label creates its own sort of beautiful order out of chaos, a theater in which the mundane and the ornate can freely converse and even trade places for a while if they so choose, unshackled from the class boundaries that so often keep the two camps railing against one another. Whatever happened to the classics? They’re living among us now. –Sam Goldner --- Music from Memory [BENE FONTELES · DUB OVEN · GAUSSIAN CURVE] “Music from Memory” is a misnomer and double entendre both. The records released by the Amsterdam label can’t be from memory in its most common meaning, simply because they have almost never been heard by “the masses” before. The music does, however, come from what could be called a place of memory. It has the ability to instill nostalgia for mysteries, to create attachments to unlived experiences. What started with the phenomenal Vito Ricci full-length in 2015 and was constituted with the Dip In The Pool reissue in 2016 has, this year, become a stalwart of archival transcendence. Although it’s often titled a “reissue label,” every 2017 release out of Music from Memory feels incredibly new. Psychedelic Brazilian music comps feel dime-a-dozen these days, but 2017’s Outro Tempo pillars over them all. The clunky disco of Dutch DJ Richenel feels a step ahead of contemporary house nostalgics. What the label provides is a sort of one-way mirror, looking at a past that was dreaming of its future. The attention to detail and arduous curation that goes into every record from Music from Memory highlights not where we went wrong, but what was done right. –E. Fosl --- The Worst [MINOGAME · X.NTE · ANCIENT ORIGIN] The Worst couldn’t be more misnamed. Since January, the Tennessean netlabel has birthed a baker’s dozen of the squelchiest/geekiest/sugar-sludgiest breakcore the bowels of SoundCloud have to offer. Spearheaded by visual-artist-cum-producer Minogame, the imprint functions as the post-internet era’s answer to the Smithsonian Folkways, cataloguing cyberpunk transmissions from the web’s uncharted territories: aside from surface-level nods to Warp’s cheeky humor and penchant for cluttered drum-breaks, much of the label’s output represents the hyper-individualism within a late-capitalist state that has driven us deep into our own curated aesthetics for solace. The aforementioned Minogame’s a tribe of one, signified by their Lascaux-like scribblings and math-rock source material. The prolific Ancient Origin is also a culture unto itself, one informed as much by Animal Crossing’s pastoral tradition as it is by mid-aughts crunk mixtapes. Visit The Worst’s Bandcamp, click a record cover, and assimilate: this is an expansive charting a miniature world. –Jude Noel --- Profound Lore [BELL WITCH · SANNHET · FULL OF HELL] I’ll be real: last year, I hadn’t heard of Profound Lore Records. Sure, I knew a ton of their past releases, like those of Krallice, Altar of Plagues, and Nadja, but I wasn’t fully conscious of the brilliant and gnarled web that tied them all together. The fateful moment that changed all that was the December release of Ash Borer’s superb The Irrepassable Gate, which was one of the most truly badass black metal records I’d heard in years. I became obsessed, and I started paying attention to Profound Lore (run by the great Chris Bruni). Enter 2017. I came into this year ready to chomp on anything Profound Lore released, and what a fucking year they’ve had. Pallbearer’s Heartless was a thrilling, prog-tinged doom journey that was as compelling as anything the band has done. Full Of Hell’s Trumpeting Ecstasy was an impeccably produced and excellently paced grindcore album, one of the year’s best in the genre. And then there was Loss’ magical doom odyssey Horizonless, whose grizzly howls brought an appropriate sense of melancholic yearning for listeners in 2017. And let’s not forget Sannhet’s aggressive and relentless So Numb, a refreshingly powerful exercise in instrumental metal. But, in my opinion, Profound Lore’s crowning achievement for the year was Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper, a breathtaking, bass-laden drive through the great beyond via glacial doom metal. The label capped the year off with this month’s epically unsettling 7xLP Rainbow Mirror by Prurient, a release that delivered a whole new set of mysteries and moods for us to relish as we slide gracefully into 2018. I raise my glass to you now, Profound Lore, as I have many times in my life, whether knowingly or unknowingly. You have brought a significant amount of beautiful music into the world this year. Thank you. –Adam Rothbarth --- End of the Alphabet [AKE · OMIT · MARHAUS AND MEEK] I have often wondered the existential meaning behind Noel Meek’s End of the Alphabet label. I can conjure many shortsighted missives about the location of New Zealand, the idea of the letters X, Y, and Z being largely ignored and underused, or perhaps the notion that those same letters are quite weird and therefore loosely lumped together. So I’ll stick to a combination of all three, which is why EotA is such an ear-opening experience. Whether it’s via Meek’s own releases and collaborations, or those spotlighting both his New Zealand and its surrounding — and equally ignored — regional sounds. Considering how stuck Western culture seems to be, I’d rather delve into the XYZs of our globe than the ABCs. –Jspicer --- MOTOR Collective [KLEIN & LACK · SABERTOOTH · R. GAMBLE] Tucked away in the fogs of the Pacific Northwest, this year the gang at MOTOR Collective did not “break through” so much as further refine their version of dance music — moody, spacious, and deep, yet grounded enough that you can actually move to it. MOTOR releases (as well as their excellent parties and podcasts) feel less like music for the club as we know it and more like the jump-off point for some head-trip gathering in the forest; the sense of a group yearning for this vision carries across records as varied as R Gamble’s Realistic Spaces and Heidi Sabertooth’s The Hear Of Now (both highlights for the year). That you can still hear the tape hiss on many digital versions of MOTOR tracks (as opposed to the hyperreal, LOL-perfect rendering of so much modern electronic music) speaks to what the label is going for. Like mighty ponderosa left in the rain, it’s imperfect and gently warped, still sturdy, and full of personality. –Dylan Pasture --- PERMALNK [DETENTE · LEO HOFFSAES & LOTO RETINA · BENOIT B] The Parisian label PERMALNK has been offering what it calls an “empathetic image of the world” since 2014, but it wasn’t until this year, with three strong releases, that it brought that image into clearer focus. The empathy of DETENTE’s Basic Dwell is reserved for the world’s smoldering and static-charged bits, where its energy is locked up, and from whence it manifests in stuttering impact and action-movie fidelity, accompanied by the grungy tremolo of guitar. Léo Hoffsaes and Loto Retina collaborated on Early Contact, the intimate story of a woman’s day out with her son and husband as her second child squirms in her belly, with uterine gurgling joining airy string melodies in a duet of nervous anticipation that spreads, as if contagiously, from narrator to listener. Far from both the incidental onslaught of Basic Dwell and the human intimacy of Early Contact, Benoit B’s Ethereal Drops addressed itself to the world as if to a fantastic, New Age-adjacent vision of nature. Its tracks, like the standouts “Sparkling Stream” and “Diamonds Rain,” combined a high, animalistic chirp with pads colored in shades of balearic and trance, constructing an image that, like artist Tavi Lee’s album cover, carries about it a worldly air, even in its bold color palette and surreal bending of the edges of its “natural” forms about one another. In 2017, PERMALNK has accomplished something rare in releasing three albums with little in common aside from an adherence to the label’s noble mission statement and, more importantly, an uncanny coherence as individual works of art. –Will Neibergall --- Posh Isolation [CROATIAN ARMOR · DAMIEN DUBROVNIK · KYO] In some secret file on Loke Rahbek’s hard drive, one can find my full frontal nudes along with a genetalia garden of many other bodies, desecrated and devalued, for they all were exchanged, vulnerability for vulnerability, with a cassette tape of Croatian Amor’s 2014 album The Wild Palms. In the commodification of the world, all things are abstractly identified with an exchange value, where even vulnerability has a value, for the body is as expendable as every other image. Yet, here we give one’s inability to give as a gift — one’s vulnerability. The self-interest of commodity economy is abdicated in preference of a gift exchange. Here, Rahbek creates an artificial space to find other people. Posh Isolation’s forays beyond noise and industrial to lyrical ambient and minimal techno belie industrial music’s foundation in the incommunicable dissonance of the world of industrial capitalism, where seeking to be heard above the din is a project worthy of art. By fetishizing the empty object in the artificial space of performance, this bubblegum industrial forges impossible connections that, though artificial, become pleasurable and therefore real. Through pain directed inward, as if pierced by a great many arrows, we confirm that one’s self is irreducible to the abstract identification of the commodity, as Saint Sebastian his beauty. The ultimate need to make contact snaps one out of artificiality. In 2017, the cold has become a little bit warmer and a sort of sincerity is resuscitated. –Evan Coral --- Don Giovanni [SCREAMING FEMALES · AGUA VIVA · LEE BAINS III & THE GLORY FIRES] What’s opera, doc? Opera is text by tune splitting story, Italian for “work.” Opera is Don Giovanni, some Austrian seraph’s diminishing sevenths flicking humans into shouting until the sound shakes our hearts. Hearts and mouths shout, so listen: Joe Steinhardt and Zach Gajewski played in a bad band at Boston College, made their own 7-inch, and voila: opera via Don Giovanni. It’s music label as New Brunswick new alternative, nixing commercial interruption so artist and audience are fleet free as a Mozart minuet to trade roles and help each other. “Anyone can do anything and not just that, everyone can do everything. No one’s fucking special,” Steinhardt reminds us. In an ashen historical moment, those words are totem for remembering the good work of “nobody lives unless everybody lives.” Don Giovanni is Aye Nako’s rim shot disrupt-punk and the geography-atomizing Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires. It’s Irreversible Entanglements, unmetered jazz outfit as union collective and A Piece of Water, the Buenos Aires tidal pool dream of Agua Viva, a body’s buoyancy over oppression. It’s La Neve’s American Sounds, a non-binary bodying the electric song as new national anthem sans strict script and the breaking “Glass House,” Screaming Female’s yowl of a collective body’s mission to re-member shards of 2017’s ill-reality into something better for every body. The music label model is the original resisting force, the libretto punk show, a two-fold work of labor output and piece created. Don Giovanni refuses repenting like the title character and screams high C’s into hell, a Looney Tunes promise that everything is movable except good work. Don Giovanni is the good work, opera for us by us. No one’s fucking special. Everyone’s fucking special. –Frank Falisi --- Piratón [MINICOMPONENTE · UPGRAYEDD JESSICA · AMAZONDOTCOM] OK, you caught me; Piratón Records isn’t as prolific as some of these other labels. As far as I can tell, it currently only exists as a Bandcamp page, and since its founding in 2015 by Mexico City musician and music journalist Carlos Huerta (a.k.a. Josué Josué), there are only four releases, all available for free streaming with a “name your price” option for download. One of them, Ruido’s 2015 FUN LP, is a totally bonkers instrumental hip-hop/chip-tune/synth punk thing. Two of them are compilations in a series called No hay más fruta que las nuestra, which means, “There is no fruit other than ours,” a play on a quote by Mexican social realist painter David Siqueiros: “No hay mas ruta que la nuestra” (“There is no other route but ours”). This year’s No hay más fruta que la nuestra 2 is why I’m writing this blurb. Like its 2016 predecessor, it features all kinds of music by female artists from Latin America and Spain. TMT favorite (Upgrayedd) Smurphy is on it, along with 11 other incredible ladies whose work spans pop, punk, rap, techno, and folk. It’s basically all I’ve listened to this year (besides, like, DAMN. and A Crow Looked At Me, so you know it’s good but ultimately responsible for way fewer tears). Snarkiness aside, I hope that somebody finds this at least half as empowering as I did this year. Life fairs a little better when your music’s this good. –Jazz Scott --- Hospital Productions [LUSSURIA · RAINFOREST SPIRITUAL ENSLAVEMENT · NINOS DU BRASIL] 2017 was the 20th year in the business for Dominic Fernow’s Hospital Productions. The label celebrated with tastefully grim releases that fit nicely under the three categories of Fernow’s own projects, Vatican Shadow, Prurient, and Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement. Like Demdike Stare’s DDS and Oneohtrix Point Never’s Software imprints, Hospital Productions never strays far from Fernow’s infernal circle of influence. The label eschews the convenience of modern platforms, preferring physical record stores and distributors like Boomkat and Bleep to platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Aesthetically, the labels seems to occupy a razor-thin void that exists between the chic, palatable throb of ambient techno — the sort of jilted, swooning sound that intellectual architecture students in horn-rimmed glasses and ket-heads in crop tops can bond over — and the always unpalatable, unpredictable underground noise scene. The latter is the spawning pool of Hospital Productions, a realm of cut-and-paste cassette art and “noise tables,” which basically kept the National Audio Company in business until avant-garde electronica and Urban Outfitters found tapes to be a fashionable medium again. It’s a dangerous game Fernow plays: with every high-bias, 180g limited-edition release at the luxury price point, he runs the risk of playing to the “market,” whether ironically or for personal gain. Industry politics aside, the music is of scrupulous quality and gluttonous proportions. Hospital Productions is committed to releases of staggering, atmospheric scale: the monolithic physical LPs and cassette boxes are like dense artifacts, adding to the imprint’s quasi-archaeological mystique. Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement put out a few large cuts, coming over two hours on a reissue of Green Graves. The project also put out an eight-cassette compilation titled Water Witches, one of many such bricks of tape that the label would drop. Another eight-hour box set of 8xCS was released for Dust Belt’s brooding, dark ambient on Ecocannibalism, and then of course there was the 6xLP release of Prurient’s massive Rainbow Mirror, which was co-released with Profound Lore. The club side of Hospital Productions is equally grim: Ninos du Brasil released their second full-length, Vida Eterna, a bludgeoning set of trance-inducing Latin rhythms, as well as another 12-inch. Natural Assembly put out The Fantasy of Love, a mix of post punk and deep house. Shifted drew a converging plane between metal grooves (the rhythmic kind) that sound like they’ve been rubbed out of literal metal grooves and outsider techno beats on Appropriation Stories. As much as I hate the “outsider” term, there’s still not much of a vocabulary for the sort of undanceable, fringes-of-the-club-basement beats that Hospital represents so well. –Ross Devlin http://j.mp/2iT0sDJ

[surveysonfleek]

518.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 28

2601. Do you think cell phones cause cancer? apparently everything causes cancer these days. i don’t know anyone personally who doesn’t have a cell phone, would that mean the chances of getting cancer at at its highest? Are cell phone users more likely to get into car accidents? while using the phone while driving, yes. Do cell phones really interfere with a plane's navigation equipment? apparently so. Are cell phones immune from computer viruses? i don’t think so? Can using a cell phone at a gas station spark a fire? apparently. geez, five questions within one question. cool.

2602. What makes a guy see a chick as less of a cute little girl and more of a woman? i guess if they look older? 2603. What is it about football that makes people want to watch it? the passion, the atmosphere and the game itself? i hate football though lmao. 2604. What is the best show on tv? tbh i think it’s the office.  2605. Are you more of a tape dispenser or a stereo speaker and why? i’m... not sure. 2606. What do you think is overrated? instagram models and most youtubers. What is underrated? people out there trying to make a difference in the world. 2607. Can spiders ump? huh? Did you interpret that as 'jump' or 'hump or 'bump' or other? jump. 2608. What's the matter with adults today? we’re too reliant on technology. 2609. Have you ever worked 'off the books'? no...? 2610. Have you ever worked 9-5? i have before. If not do you think you ever will? i don’t right now, but i’d love to have a normal working schedule like that. i hate working nights. 2611. Do men or woman make better bosses? it honestly just depends on the person. 2612. Do you believe that people should more up through a company or that the higher up positions should be filled by people hired from outseide the company? i think people should be offered to move up in their company since they’re more likely experienced with the ‘smaller’ things. 2613. Why is it that no one seems to care about their job? it’s just a grind, need to work to live, right? 2614. When I go into a store, why doesn't anyone know anything about what they are selling? that just means their training wasn’t in depth enough. 2615. Have you ever seen those people that get that blank, lost expression when they go into a store and kinda shuffle along like zombies? not really? Do you wonder how they got up, dressed themselves, and made it to the store in the first place? ... 2616. When did you/will you graduate college? i graduated in 2013. 2617. When will Eminem stop whining about his bad childhood and move on?? i haven’t heard him whine about that in a long time. 2618. I am drug free. Are you drug free? yes. 2619. I have piercings and am getting tattoos. Do you have either? i have my ears and nose pierced. no desire to get tatts. 2620. Can you REALLY say that your way is the right way? sometimes. Maybe there is a different way for everyone? sure. 2621. What do you think of the song 'Imagine'? it’s soothing and thought provoking. 2622. Can you think of any reason i might have written this, other than I am bored with too much time on my hands? no idea. 2623. What is the purpose of art? i guess to get our visual senses running. How about movies? Music? 2624. Do you think that anything has lost its value because it's become too 'commercial'? What? instagram. before it was just a way to share photos but now it’s a popularity contest. 2625. Have you ever been promoted? no actually lol. fired? not really, more like ‘let go’. they didn’t need me anymore coz their business was failing. 2626. What do you call your private area? Does it have a nickname? vag. and no. 2627. What parts of your body are shaved? armpits, legs and down there. 2628. What is a peachclam? female genitals? 2629. What is the american dream? being successful in america. Is it the same as your dream? no, i don’t like there. 2630. Do you need to be right all the time? no. 2631. There was a sculpture that was supposed to be displayed for a week in the Rockafeller Center in NYC of a falling woman - designed as a memorial to those who jumped or fell to their death from the World Trade Center. It was complained about as grotesque, innopropriate and describe as 'not art' What do you think? 9/11 is still a very sensitive topic, i believe it could be considered art but the negative way it’ll make people feel overpowers its artistic message. It was taken down early because it was seen as 'offensive'. What do you think about that? that totally fair enough. The artist, Fischl, said in a statement. ``It was a sincere expression of deepest sympathy for the vulnerability of the human condition. Both specifically towards the victims of Sept. 11 and towards humanity in general.'' Are people just too sensitive? Or maybe people are NOT sensitive ENOUGH to the idea that others may have different views from them (or from the majority)? i can see it from both ways. She these different, opposing or offensive views be allowed to be expressed freely and openly? Why or why not? i think it’s best if it were in an art gallery instead. more like-minded people would visit it and appreciate it how the artist wanted it to be portrated. 2632. What letter's sound do you like the best? i’ve... never thought about that. 2633. What is one movie charater you identify with and why? none really. 2634. Do you act the same when you are alone as you do when people are watching? not really. 2635. Why is everyone so obssessed with superheros? i don’t knowww. 2636. What cliches do you hear over-used the most? meh. 2637. Do you handle inconvieniences well? not really. i’ll most likely complain. 2638. Are you a fan of Jackie Chan? yeah, he’s funny, talented, charming and does his own stunts lol. 2639. Is a promise a big deal? to me, yes. i don’t take them lightly. 2640. What is your place in the universe? right here. 2641. Once some scientists dug up a woolly mamoth, frozen in ice. It was still completely whole, not rotted or fosilized. The scientists decided to have a dinner party. It was a very posh affair. they served roast woolly mamoth steaks, the rarest meat in all the world. So, if you were invited, would you have eaten it? no. 2642. What are 3 things you DON'T want to know? when im gna die, any ‘truths’ in my family that would make me think differently of them and sob stories in general. 2643. It seems to me that a lot of people don't value their lives, or life in general very highly. Why do you suppose that is? it’s just the way the world works i guess. not everyone wants to eat healthy, work out, strive to be the best person they can be etc.  Are you like that? sometimes. 2644. Do you celebrate the harvest moon? no. 2645. Do you believe in out of body experiances? possibly. 2646. Why does so much depend upon a red wheel barrel glazed with rain water beside the white chickens? ok. 2647. Why do so many people get jobs that they dislike? because it’s all about earning money. 2648. Do you think that in THIS world, being creative is a handicap? no? Why or why not? being creative is a blessing and a way to express yourself. 2649. Do you ever get chills or shivers during movies? What movies? not really. 2650. Do you believe in the collective unconsiouss(that people are like onions..the outer layers are individualistic and the deeper you go the more similar we all are)? lol haven’t thought about it that deeply. 2651. Do you think that most people have the qualities you look for in friends/intimate relationships or do you feel alienated? the people i surround myself with are enough. i’m not really looking for new friends. 2652. Are you very critical: of others? yes. of yourself? yes. 2653. Is there such a thing as expecting too much? definitely. 2654. Would you rather take an hour lunch break or skip lunch and get out of work early? ski[ lunch and get off work early, always. 2655. Do you believe that happiness is equal to fakeness? shallowness? joy? something good that happens? an attitude you have inside no matter what happens? idk. 2656. Can you control your emotions? for the most part, yes. have you ever tried? yes. 2657. Imagine you are 34 weeks pregnant. You are healthy and you didn't have any major problems in your pregnancy. Would you consider flying from the UK to Germany, which takes one hour, without a bad feeling that something could go wrong or the baby decides to come out earlier? there would have to be a really good reason that i’m flying in the first place. i usually wouldn’t risk it. 2658. How long do you think it would take you to jog a mile? forever. i’m really unfit. 2659. Word assciation: twilight: wolf. garden: gnome. warm: sun. stars: sky. crash: bandicoot. mold: bathrooms. gold: leaf. green: leaf. lush: garden. 2660. Picture a triangle: Quick! What color is it? orange. Picture a square. Quick! What color is it? blue. Picture a circle. Quick! What color is it? yellow. Why do you think you saw these shapes as these colors? idk lol. 2661. What things are endless? nothing. 2662. Are you ever subtle? i can be. 2663. Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood...some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't conceive of your life without it? How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? How can you fully appreciate these moments, every moment, when it all seems limitless? ~Paul Bowles excerpt from The Sheltering Sky 2664. Do you never have an ordinary day? yes. 2665. Do you embrace every single thing you've never known? not everything. 2666. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a satanist? no lol. 2667. Can stress sometimes be good? if you work well under stress, then yeah. 2668. Write something random, just whatever flows out of your head without thinking. Forget punctuation just try to type as fast as you think: okay, this is getting boring.  2669. Are you a musical snob? yes. How about a film snob? no. 2670. When you were in school did you learn to think or repeat? think. 2671. Do you have everything you need to be happy? not yet. If not, what is missing? a direction. 2672. Would you take a very casualy dropped 'maybe I should just kill myself' as a warning ssign? yes, for sure. 2673. What does the word 'ironic' mean? Can you give an example of an ironic situation? no. 2674. What did you see today that was beautiful in an ordinary way? a plane flying through the sky. 2675. Have you ever been on the edge of the night? no? 2676. Do you feel oppressed in some way? no. 2677. Who do you think shot JFK? idk. Who do you think shot Martin Luthar King? idk. Why do you think they got shot? haters. 2679. Are you aware that although only about 14 percent of the american total population is black, that about 70 percent of the people in jail in america are black? Why do you think that is? a large part of it is racism, surely. a lot of the stuff in the media basically proves it. What conclusion can you draw based on this? whatever. 2678. Do you think that the culture you live in is completely open to all ideas and forms of expression? hell no. australia is one of the most narrow minded countries that’s very developed. tell me otherwise, please. 2680. What do you think of the character (muppet) on sesame street that has aids and should this kind of a theme be explored in children's television? it’s good. and yes, i feel like children should be educated on the different backgrounds and situations people in the world can be in. 2681. Are you dyslexic? no. 2682, Can you construct a bong out of: household objects? sure. an apple? sure. your cat? i dont have a cat. 2683. Starwars, star trek or star gate? none. 2684. Windows or mac? mac. 2685. Do you start conversations or wait for other people to start them? it depends who it is. 2686. How many phallac symbols can you think of? plenty. 2687. Would you but tickets to see the top ten american idols sing live? no. 2688. A bird may love a fish...but where would they live? on the shore. 2689. Are you a hologram or a misfit? none. 2690. How are you oriented sexually? straight. Do you agree with the people who say that everyone is bi-sexual even if they don't want to admit it? i think preferences are purely dependant on the person. you can’t label anyone but yourself. 2691. If you are the only human on the planet of the apes do you have sex with an ape? i don’t know. 2692. If you are making out with a sex someone and you reach down and find they have a fish tail instead of legs do you still fool around with them? no. 2693. Does superman wear kryptonite condoms? idk. 2694. Do you know exactly where you are? Do you know the meaning of it all? Do you know the distance to the sun? Do you know the echo that is love? *yawn* 2694. Do you believe you are: extraordinary? Blessed? Cursed? Won? lame lol. 2695. What are you doing this weekend? not sure yet. definitely going out on sunday night though.  2696. Do you believe that black people should get money to make up for their previous enslavement? the ones who have been freed, yes definitely. Do you believe that all oppressed people should get money to make up for their oppression? yes. 2697. What's a quagmire? that guy from family guy. 2698. Is philosophy a science or can everyone have their own philosophy? to each their own. 2699. Are you a big fish in a small pond? no. 2700. Would you like to read an entire novel written in stream of consciousness form? idk.

[chorusfm]

The Chorus.fm Staff’s Top Albums of 2018

I don’t know how to sum up 2018. At the end of most years, it’s possible to look back and see certain themes or narratives or big ideas coming through in the music from the past 12 months. 2018 was not one of those years. Most of the industry’s biggest stars sat the year out, and music critics couldn’t agree on a consensus album of the year pick. Instead, 2018 as a music year was chaotic. It was a dozen jukeboxes playing in the same bar at the same time, one blasting a starry-eyed country album about love, the next broadcasting a rock ‘n’ roll anthem about how it would be great if the human race didn’t fuck up the chance we’ve been given to, you know, exist. But music years like this are thrilling for their seeming lack of structure or narrative. They are chances for underdogs to fight their way to the top, or for new superstars to be born in place of the old ones. 2018 was that kind of year for music, and it was dazzling to behold. The only option was to dive headfirst into the chaos and embrace the many disparate triumphs that came along the way. This list, of our 30 favorite albums of the year, is symbolic of that leap of faith, a wildly dynamic set of records that includes callbacks to this community’s roots, monuments to how we have grown over the years, and signposts to where we are going. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this site for another year, and to see the way we all share the music we love with one another. This list was made in that spirit, of discovery and shared passion, and I can’t think of a better way to sum up such a chaotic year. Note: Check the bottom of this post for links to individual contributor lists. Also, a playlist of all the “key tracks” can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. 1. Kacey Musgraves – Golden Hour How do you make a “falling in love” album sound fresh, poignant, and emotionally satisfying in 2018? How do you do that, when everyone is cynical, when the 24-hour news cycle is a constant shitshow, and when virtually every songwriter in history has attempted to capture the humbling miracle of falling in love, to wildly varying degrees of success? I’ve listened to Golden Hour probably 100 times this year and I’m still not sure how Kacey Musgraves managed it. She used to be cynical, too: the snarkiest, wittiest singer in country music. Her songs made it clear that she wasn’t afraid to tell someone to fuck off, but that she might be a little afraid of letting her guard down. That was then, though, and this is now. Golden Hour may start with a song called “Slow Burn,” but there’s nothing slow about the feeling it chronicles. This album captures the dizzying, alarming, whirlwind sensation of falling for another person with quick and reckless abandon. Wrought with aching melodies and shimmering production, the songs here call to mind the way you feel at the beginning of a relationship, when the colors seem brighter and the sunsets seem prettier and the entire world looks just a little bit different. They contain traces of past hurt and heartache, the acknowledgment of what happens when you put all your chips on the table and lose. But they also crescendo with foresight and steadfastness as the album moves forward, just like real relationships evolve from shy crushes to first kisses to honeymoon stage infatuation and beyond, all the way to something strong enough to stand the test of time. The album will stand the test of time, too. It’s the surest classic from 2018, an album that won over fans across the musical spectrum and put a country artist at the top of trendy year-end lists for maybe the first time in the history of modern music criticism. It turns out that, in this age of cynicism and endless bad news, there’s still nothing more universal than love songs done right. [CM] Key Track: “Love Is a Wild Thing” 2. The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships Throughout my career, I’ve been lucky enough to watch the rise of quite a few bands as they move from “talked about on a message board” into the mainstream and public consciousness. It’s a treat every time it happens and watching The 1975 become the next in a line of those bands has reinvigorated a feeling I was uncertain I’d see again. There have been piles of ink spilled on this album across the internet, but what I keep coming back to is that it feels like a band that saw the occasion in front of them and didn’t shy away from it. And in the process, they created a collection that could very well define this entire year. It’s bold, brash, and unrelenting in its statement, but it does this while musically shapeshifting across a variety of genres. The 1975 are the band of this moment, and they embrace the mantle, the pressure, and the expectations with almost singular confidence. On its face, an album like this shouldn’t work. But the genius of the band is how they can turn qualities that often ruin albums—too lengthy, too sprawling, too ambitious, too cheeky—into a cohesive whole. But what impresses me most is how The 1975 always seem willing to try and push the boundaries of what came before. While other bands have sprouted up and copied what The 1975 were doing on their previous two albums, to varying degrees of success, they have pushed forward and continued to evolve their sound. And while I’m sure that at some point this ambition mixed with the band’s brazenness will result in something that doesn’t quite work, this is not that time. I’ve long been fascinated with the idea of the “three-album run” and the bands that are capable of maintaining a high-level through it. Building in popularity and avoiding a creative rut while pumping out a large amount of music is extremely hard. Right now, I’d hold this three album stretch up against just about any in recent memory. The 1975 have just been that good. [JT] Key Track: “Love It If We Made It” 3. Foxing - Nearer My God Foxing’s mindset going into recording Nearer My God was “make a classic record or die.” Nearer My God completely eschews the played-out blueprint for “Indie Band LP3.” Instead, it blends all the band’s favorite genres and influences into a single spacious canvas to create one of 2018’s most daring records. A whirlwind of soundscapes throughout, Nearer My God is immaculately produced by Chris Walla and guitarist Eric Hudson. The album’s twelve tracks rarely stay the same for long, effortlessly flowing from one sensory experience to next and showing a fearlessness toward taking risks of any sorts. One of Nearer My God’s biggest influences is Frank Ocean’s Blonde, even if very little of the record sounds like it. Because it’s bigger than music, it’s a mindset: the way Ocean weaves stories while effortlessly switching vocal gears, creating transparent, vibrant emotional music all within a highly meditative space. That same mindset is what fuels Nearer My God. And my god, the unforgettable moments on this album are endless. There’s the first time Conor Murphy shrieks “I’m shock-collared at the gates of heaven” during opener “Grand Paradise.” Or how about the bagpipe-paced power anthem “Bastardizer,” which unleashes some of Murphy’s brashest vocals? Or how the M83-tinged title track blossoms into a booming, soaring crescendo? Don’t blink or you’ll miss miss the brilliance of “Lich Prince” transitioning from oft-kilter indie-rock sprawl into one of the most killer guitar riffs recorded this year. And finally, there’s the thrilling way closing track “Lambert” paces itself before swelling up into sprawling riffs that conjure up Mr. November spending a weekend in the city. With Nearer My God, Foxing’s ambition became limitless, and it was thrilling to hear. [DB] Key Track: “Lich Prince” 4. The Wonder Years - Sister Cities Since the release of The Upsides in 2010, The Wonder Years have found success in making the universal out of the personal. Dan Campbell emerged as the de facto leader of the new-school pop-punk wave by writing about South Philly basements and the local landscape of churches and parks that line the band’s hometown suburb of Lansdale, Pennsylvania. In the process, he wrote songs that resonated with an international audience of people who knew how it felt to grow up listless and anxious in small towns. With Sister Cities, Campbell has written his most personal record yet, which naturally makes it the band’s most resonant. Written while the band toured the world on the back of 2015’s No Closer To Heaven, Sister Cities is an examination of borders and boundaries, empathy, and the ways that humans interact with each other in an era of cultural divide. To a greater extent, though, it is also an album about the many forms grief takes, the stresses of distance, the loss of loved ones, and the complexity of feeling everywhere and nowhere at once. These lyrical themes are accompanied by the darkest, loudest, and most delicate moments of the band’s decade-long career. It all culminates in their greatest closer to date, “The Ocean Grew Hands To Hold Me,” a massive and overwhelming rock song about a quiet, mournful moment spent watching waves crash on the beach. The song is wonderful because it proves how gigantic resonance comes from the smallest instances. [JB] Key Track: “The Ocean Grew Hands To Hold Me” 5. Now, Now – Saved Minnesota indie rockers Now, Now made a stunning return in 2018 with their first album in six years. Most impressively, the duo managed to create an album that bears many striking resemblances to 2012’s Threads, while still presenting itself as a fresh take on the band’s sound. We get a modernized version of Now, Now’s signature moodiness with tracks like “Can’t Help Myself” and “SGL”, while cuts like “Drive” and “Yours” take on poppier elements and showcase the impeccable production skills that drummer Brad Hale has been sharpening in the band’s absence. These songs are spacious, creating room for each instrument to stand out on its own and putting you at the center of a kaleidoscopic embrace. This type of environment also proves to be ripe for a great hook, which singer KC Dalager absolutely did not shy away from here. Her hushed vocal performance across the board can conceal how strong these melodies are at first glace, but when the album is long over and you catch yourself still humming the infectious chorus found in “MJ”, I’m sorry pal, but its over for you. You’re in this now. And just like a good record should, this one keeps on giving with repeat listens, as the lyrical themes and melodies from song to song begin to intertwine and reveal Dalager’s masterful craftsmanship. It’s an album about the struggles of being queer and in love, and how the love from another person helped Dalager to find herself when she needed it most. If you’re still sleeping on Now, Now, do yourself a favor and go for a night drive with this. You’ll thank yourself later. [TG] Key Track: “SGL” 6. mewithoutYou – [Untitled] Seasoned veterans mewithoutYou have never been an easy band to pin down. Even from their 2004 sophomore album, Catch For Us The Foxes, which veered from the band’s post-hardcore roots, it was clear that mewithoutYou would never stagnate. [Untitled], their seventh album, is everything that makes mewithoutYou great. Aaron Weiss’ vocals have found an old rawness, the kind we haven’t heard since 2002. The invigorating folk-rock of past releases is somehow stronger, while the band also introduces grunge influences on “Julia” and toys around with ambience on “Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore” and“Break on Through (to the Other Side).” If there’s one thing that mewithoutYou have wholeheartedly embraced on [Untitled], it’s a focus on creation through disarray. There is pain and beauty in chaos. If 2015’s Pale Horses was the calm before the storm, [Untitled] is the eye of the storm. It’s not all rage and fear. It’s also the solemn, reflective moments. “Someday, I’ll find me” are Aaron Weiss’ final words on [Untitled], and that sentiment has consistently brought me back to this album. I’m on my way to finding me. Here’s hoping mewithoutYou get there, too. [MV] Key Track: “Julia (or, Holy to the LORD on the Bells of Horses)” 7. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness – Upside Down Flowers Andrew McMahon is no stranger to the spotlight, or to the music industry—a fact he embraces immediately on his nostalgic new album, Upside Down Flowers. Most listeners remember McMahon from his first two major projects, Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. Opener “Teenage Rockstars” is a tip of the cap to those fans, and the perfect starting point for an album that feels like growing up, like entering (and exiting) your twenties, and like coming to terms with real adulthood. There’s a palpable journey to be found on this record: in the nostalgia of “Teenage Rockstars”; in “Ohio,” a tribute to McMahon’s midwestern roots; in “Blue Vacation”, “Monday Flowers,” and “Paper Rain,” songs that feel like pages out of a storybook you read once; in “Goodnight Rock and Roll,” an ode to lost heroes; in “Careless,” a hard look at how we sometimes lose people simply because we can’t see past ourselves; and in “House in the Trees,” a reflection on lost friendships and the bonds that always seem to stay in place—even when you’ve said goodbye. Upside Down Flowers is a love song to growing up, a dissection of one’s own humanity (and flaws), and an exploration of why it’s important to let go of the versions of people and things we’re all still holding onto. It’s one last look back, before you shut the door. Boiled down, the album feels like a toast to having the strength to look forward and not back. After all, that’s the only way any of us can go. [AA] Key Track: House in the Trees 8. Spanish Love Songs – Schmaltz Earnest, to-the-point songs are the bread and butter of the punk and pop-punk scene. It’s what sets the genres apart and ropes listeners in, and the fact that it’s so commonplace is what makes it so remarkable when a band comes along with an album that seems to speak directly to you. In a field where every song seems to be engineered to be relatable, designed to evoke emotion and be sing-alongable, Spanish Love Songs managed to craft a set of songs that speaks directly to the angst and anxiety-ridden nature of the millennial population. It’s an album about this generation’s constant search to figure out an answer to the all-consuming question of “why?” Schmaltz manages to touch on things that are small and insignificant, but seemingly so important, like haircuts and self image. In the same breath, the album speaks to the very real and almost unconquerable issues of gentrification and gun control. The band’s insistence on asking these questions in spite of the lack of answers, coupled with their energetic and unrelenting instrumental energy, results in a landmark album that feels achingly relevant and new while still maintaining the tried-and-true formula of unruly distorted guitar tones chugging underneath sing along choruses. Schmaltz is not a place to look for answers, nor does it have any particular moments of positivity or hope. But damn if it doesn’t feel good to have a collection of songs that makes you feel a bit less alone in the constant contemplation of the world you live in. [AJ] Key Track: “Beer and Nyquil (Keep it Together)” 9. Brian Fallon – Sleepwalkers Over the past ten years, I’m trying to think of an artist that’s been featured on our end of the year lists more than Brian Fallon. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any. From his work in The Gaslight Anthem, to The Horrible Crowes, to now his solo career, Brian Fallon has been a staple of our lives for most of the past decade. And even more telling? His output has been consistently excellent. Brian’s latest album, Sleepwalkers, finds us visiting many of the common themes found in Brian Fallon songs, but there is an undeniable new energy to the music. It’s this refreshing quality that shines through and elevates these songs amongst the best of the man’s already impressive career. Between Fallon’s instantly recognizable voice and his instantly relatable lyrics, it’s been an absolute pleasure to spend this phase of my life being serenaded by his music. At this point, I’m confident that no matter what name Brian Fallon’s music is released under, my ears are just thankful it’s here for me to get lost in. [JT] Key Track: “Forget Me Not” 10. Ruston Kelly – Dying Star Dying Star is the sound of a man at the end of his rope. Desperate, desolate, and achingly sad, this record chronicles singer-songwriter Ruston Kelly’s battle to beat addiction and put his life back together after an overdose and a series of messy mistakes. It’s the year’s most heartbreaking album, weighed down by drugs and alcohol and the ghosts of former lovers who Kelly himself can see left him behind for good reasons. But there’s silver lining around the edges, both in the actual text of the record (songs like “Dying Star” and “Brightly Burst into the Air,” which end the album with a reach for redemption) and in the subtext (Kelly’s own life story, which took a happy turn recently with his sobriety and his marriage to Kacey Musgraves). But Dying Star is powerful because of how unflinching it is in depicting the darker moments. Kelly doesn’t shy away from talking about the loneliness that his past life bred: the empty shame of morning hangovers after spending nights keeled over puking outside of barroom doors, or the soulless expanse of deserted highways as seen from a tour bus window after leaving the people you care about for the umpteenth time. Kelly said that he wanted this record to be “a raw transcription of a particular time in [his] life,” and he was so successful in that mission that he made what is arguably the most honest and human record of 2018. [CM] Key Track: “Anchors” 11. Hop Along – Bark Your Head Off, Dog There is no voice in modern rock and roll as unique or indescribable as Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan. Quinlan undertakes a variety of different approaches on Hop Along’s incredible third album Bark Your Head Off, Dog, creating a constant and fascinating see-saw between something beautiful and something ugly. The result is that every song on the album feels like an unique sketch, each one threading together to encapsulate a catharsis in the most imperfect yet perfect ways. Tracks like “How You Got Your Limp” and “Not Abel” prove that you don’t need to be abrasive to be impactful, channeling the tender yet spastic density of the band’s music. Bark Your Head Off, Dog may be the most visceral record of 2018, innately sticking with you long after the final track has finished playing. [DB] Key Track: “Not Abel” 12. Pianos Become the Teeth – Wait for Love Wait For Love isn’t as abrasive as Pianos Become The Teeth’s earlier material, but don’t mistake that as a lack of intensity within the band’s fourth LP. Love picks up where 2014’s Keep You left off, closing one chapter and starting another. The focus is on Kyle Durfey’s experiences of being a husband and becoming a new father, including all the exhilarating highs and devastating lows of trying to balance the two. The record is as emotionally complex as you’d expect from a Pianos Become The Teeth LP, but Durfey’s melodies have never been more powerful. They are surrounded here by the band’s increased gracefulness in their musicianship, and enhanced by David Haik’s pulsating and brilliant drumming. From the initial euphoric wave of “Fake Lighting” to the gorgeously intense closer “Blue,” Wait For Love is bursting with some of 2018’s most heartfelt, vulnerable tracks. It’s the sound of Pianos Become The Teeth fearlessly marching into the next thrilling phase of their career. [DB] Key Track: “Charisma” 13. Mitski – Be the Cowboy (Mary) When I first heard “Geyser”, the lead single and album opener to Mitski’s fifth album, Be The Cowboy, it felt to me like the culmination of all her previous efforts. The song contains the abrasive distortion that defined breakout hits like “Townie” and “Your Best American Girl,” but also reintroduces keys, last seen on Mitski’s adored sophomore album, Retired From Sad, New Career In Business. Familiarity is seeped through Be The Cowboy, despite the fact that the album sees Mitski taking a step back from the raw recollections on mental health and spiritual identity that outline much of her past work. Here, she embodies the fictional character of a swaggering cowboy, in order to capture the essence of bombastic confidence and epic romance. Mitski is deceptively calm and collected in the lively “Me And My Husband”, while “Two Slow Dancers ”sees her bask in youthful nostalgia. And then there’s “Nobody,” a song that features not just one, but multiple, glorious key changes. “I’ve been big and small, and big and small, and big and small again, and still nobody wants me,” Mitski despondently croons, against a cheery clap and bouncy disco beats. Be The Cowboy sees Mitski embarking on sonic departures from her last album, Puberty 2, but her stirring voice and dark humor remain intact, as distinguishable as ever. [MV] Key Track: “Nobody” 14. Thrice – Palms Thrice came out swinging from a five-year hiatus with 2016’s To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, an easy win for fans that had feared they may never hear from the band again. Settling back into the normal record cycle routine, they’ve returned two years later with an album that not only treads the ground paved by its predecessor, but uses the tools found along the way to explore even further. This growth is evident the moment Palms kicks off, as the arpeggiated synth notes of “Only Us” show up like fervent knocks on a door, insisting to be let in. Dustin Kensrue wastes no time getting into the meat of the album’s theme, bellowing in the song’s chorus: “Finally when will it be enough/to find there is no them/There is only us”. A revered singer in the alternative music scene for nearing two decades now, Kensrue has never been known to tackle songwriting without a passionate motive and something to say. With Palms, though, we hear him finding his place within the polarizing nature of world issues, opening his mind, and reexamining a restrained ideology. And while the past few years have made it especially nice to hear a straight-up call-to-arms type of song like “The Dark”, or its more aggressive sister song “Hold Up A Light”, it’s refreshing to hear Kensrue assess the way he attempts to mold his understanding of the world around him, rather than just digging his heels in. Meanwhile, Teppei Teranishi continues to impress by laying out riff after hypnotic riff, as the brothers Breckenridge unleash perhaps their most consistently stellar rhythm section performance to date. “Just Breathe” offers a vantage point of these qualities, as a blistering bass riff and tricky pull-off guitar lead pull the listener through verses that explode into dissonant choruses with a completely different time signature. It’s hard to make songs with this dynamic groove in such a satisfying way, but Palms has no issue demonstrating for us time and time again that Thrice is absolutely still capable of firing on all cylinders. [TG] Key Track: “Just Breathe” 15. Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer Since her first full-length studio album, The ArchAndroid, arrived in 2010, Janelle Monáe has been shattering barriers and defying conventions. She’s earned accolades for her work both as an actor and musician, and even decided to delay the release of Dirty Computer to focus on acting in 2016 and 2017. It was well worth the wait. The album continues Monáe’s habit for weaving futuristic themes and metaphoric devices into her work. On the opening track, she declares herself a buggy, broken computer in search of a hard drive fix. For any millennial, it should be easy to relate to this metaphor. On “Take a Byte”, Monáe sings about falling in and out of toxic relationships, and the way we use each other despite knowing we are bad together. She does so by drawing on terms like “byte”, “RAM” and “code,” using them as stand-ins for human processes in a way that will feel uncomfortably familiar to the first generation that grew up plugged in. Ultimately, Dirty Computer uses its metaphorical subtext to walk a delicate line: between pure, unabashed joy and the stark reality of Monáe’s experience as a queer black woman in America. The album is a love letter to the American promise, while also lambasting the hypocrisy and brutality that exists in the American reality. As Monáe reminds us: “I am not America’s nightmare/I am the American dream.” She isn’t here to be polite. She isn’t here to be a representative of any one of her identities, though it is inevitable that she will serve as an inspiration for those who come after her within those identities. Instead, she simply is. If Dirty Computer is any evidence, that’s a pretty spectacular thing to be. [AA] Key Track: “Screwed” (ft. Zoë Kravitz) 16. Death Cab for Cutie – Thank You for Today My first listens to Thank You for Today felt underwhelming. It had been hyped as a return to form for Death Cab for Cutie; as the best thing Ben Gibbard had done in 10 years; as an album that captured the spirit of the band’s mid-2000s run. As someone who adored 2015’s pristine Kintsugi, though, Thank You for Today felt like a step backwards. But somehow, as the fall wore on, this album proved to have a mysterious gravity for me, drawing me back in time and time again. The reason, I determined, was nostalgia. The word “today” might be in the album title, but this record is occupied thoroughly with yesterday. “You can’t double back to your summer years”; “It didn’t used to be this way”; “When you’re looking in the mirror do you see/That kid that you used to be?” These songs delicately peel away the coats of fresh paint and varnish that have been layered over our past selves, finding their way back to the kid that we all were when we heard The Photo Album or Transatlanticism or Plans for the first time. Many of these songs actually sound like those records, with the gorgeous “Your Hurricane” most accurately mimicking the weightless beauty of songs like “Passenger Seat” and “Brothers on a Hotel Bed.” But Thank You for Today isn’t an album about trying to recapture old glories. Instead, it’s an album about looking back in time and recognizing the beauty of the things you took for granted when you were young. The result is the band’s most fully formed album of the decade, a record that grapples with what the years can do, both to a once-trendy rockstar and to the fans who used to seek refuge in his music. [CM] Key Track: “Your Hurricane” 17. Pusha T – DAYTONA 2018 was a difficult year to navigate—socially, politically, and otherwise—and perhaps no other album is more emblematic of that than Pusha T’s third LP. There is a darkness that hangs over DAYTONA, and a large portion of that can be attributed to the presence of Kanye West. The once-inspired producer and artist fell out of public favor this year by supporting a number of alt-right pundits and abusers (alongside Donald Trump himself). As the first release in West’s quintet of 2018 albums, DAYTONA arrived shrouded in controversy and seemingly inseparable from its producer. But where West’s new LP failed to offer much explanation for his controversies, Push uses DAYTONA as an opportunity to transport listeners into the middle of his own world. There’s a fair amount of commentary on Push’s background and current viewpoints on hip-hop (including his unforgettable beef with Drake) on highlights like “The Games We Play” and “Infrared,” but the MC often sounds best here at his most confident and comfortable. “A rapper-turned-trapper can’t morph into us, but a trapper-turned-rapper can morph into Puff,” he declares on melodic lead single “If You Know You Know,” before later proclaiming, “I’m too rare amongst all of this pink hair, ooh!” on “Hard Piano.” Push’s greatest asset is his ability to shapeshift from beat to beat, delivering extraordinary bars against a collection of synthesizers, guitars, and soul samples. Some will say he’s a villain, and others a realist, but somewhere in between lies the truth, preached so successfully on Push’s best project to date. [AM] Key Track: “The Games We Play” 18. Father John Misty – God’s Favorite Customer Somewhere along the way, Josh Tillman lost some folks. Some would say it had something to do with the rewarding yet trying runtime of 2017’s Pure Comedy. I would venture to say it was between his polarizing political meltdown at WXPN Fest and that eyebrow-raising interview with Pitchfork where he referred to pop starlets as “prisoners.” Regardless of where he lost you, there were many listeners that were simply not ready for another year of irony-fueled debates over whether or not Father John Misty was a “character.” Fortunately, that’s what he gave us. In 2018, Tillman politely turned down press and interview requests, claiming he wanted the music to do the talking. God’s Favorite Customer is the result of an artist reacting to their previous work without losing any of the initial spark that made it theirs. It’s a short collection, running at 10 songs and just under 40 minutes, but it’s also a largely forward one, at least in comparison to the rest of his work under the Father John Misty moniker. While I continue to contend that those first few records are as genuine as they come, even skeptics are likely to come around to the dazzling, George Harrison-esque “Just Dumb Enough to Try,” or emotionally devastating and dynamic ballads like “Please Don’t Die” and “The Palace.” They say the songs you grow to like never stick at first, but as a thorough meditation on heartbreak, alienation, self-improvement, and acceptance, there’s more than enough substance beneath the surface of God’s Favorite Customer to impress fans and naysayers alike. [AM] Key Track: “Just Dumb Enough To Try” 19. Wild Pink – Yolk in the Fur Wild Pink conjure up the ghost of Tom Petty and invoke the spirit of Springstreen on their expansive second LP, Yolk In The Fur. The New York trio follow up their 2017 self-titled debut by expanding on those influences while also creating intoxicating soundscapes that will engulf listeners during late night highway drives. There are no gimmicks in Wild Pink’s earnest rock and roll. Frontman John Ross is unashamed of sharing his dreams and failures over the album’s luscious, swelling instrumentation. What separates Yolk In The Fur and Wild Pink from their peers, though, is how seamless this record flows through various moods, making it the perfect listen no matter the surroundings. [DB] Key Track: “There Is a Ledger” 20. Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino I need to confess something: I never really paid much attention to Arctic Monkeys before this past year. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the ever-popular singles from 2013’s AM; it’s more that I seemingly incorrectly lumped them in with The Black Keys and other garage-rock acts that were never really on my radar. The album that changed my mind is this one, the positively unique and (inter)stellar Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. For all intents and purposes, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is a visual album, a collection of cinematic stanzas that transport you to a time and place (specifically, a hotel and casino on the moon). The kitschy, retro-fitted opener “Star Treatment” treats you to diatribes about monogrammed suitcases, rocket ship grease, and karate bandannas. It’s the introductory monologue to a dense, 40-minute rabbit hole of sex (the title track), drugs (“Four Out of Five”), and “warp-speed chic” on the lunar surface. The record is seemingly out of left-field for the band, but it’s the kind of art that draws from recognizable pop culture just enough to make it timeless, from the cheeky musings of Leonard Cohen to the current king of irony, Father John Misty. At this rate, the only thing that could improve this album cycle would be a Coen Brothers film adaptation. [AM] Key Track: “Star Treatment” 21. Caitlyn Smith – Starfire Starfire is only the debut album from Caitlyn Smith, but it’s a mighty impressive one. This Nashville singer/songwriter released an EP by the same name back in 2016, but this record feels more fully formed in every way. Smith shows off her (considerable) vocal chops while showing us all that she’s a hell of a songwriter to top it off. Similar to artists like Chris Stapleton and Lori McKenna, Caitlyn Smith is an artist who started out by writing songs for some of the biggest names in country music before making a big debut of her own. Not too many of the albums on my mid-year list stuck with me, but this one did. From the start, I was hooked, and that feeling stayed with me through the entire year. By mixing upbeat songs with ballads and shifting through a variety of moods, Starfire provides a good taste of what all Smith is capable of with her vocal range and her skills as a songwriter. It’s not all hits all the time, and it doesn’t have to be either. [DC] Key Track: “Don’t Give up on My Love” 22. Lord Huron – Vide Noir Vide Noir—French for “black hole”—is an apt album title for Lord Huron’s third LP. The lyrics are pessimistic, the band’s lush soundscapes have taken a turn for eerie, and just about every track references the stars, the moon, or some other aspect of the twirling cosmos. In the opener, “Lost in Time and Space,” we’re introduced to a woman who “went west to chase her dreams,” leaving the narrator to work his way through the depression and heartbreak that inevitably follows. Spoiler alert: Things get dark real fast. It’s not long before lead singer Ben Schneider declares, “If I don’t find her, gonna tie that noose.” It sounds bleak, but the indie rock group’s cinematic sound—complemented by a healthy helping of reverb and echo—draws you in to Schneider’s starry-eyed world. The waltzy “Wait by the River” (recently namechecked by Barack Obama as one of his favorite songs of 2018) makes way for atmospheric doo wop, while “When the Night is Over” is the perfect soundtrack to a late-night drive. After two hymnal, acoustic-heavy albums, Vide Noir is by far Lord Huron’s most ambitious work to date. Perhaps the band wanted to change course for their first release on a major label, or maybe it’s a result of working with some big names, such as Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips) and Sonny DiPerri (Portual. The Man, Animal Collective). Either way, it’s nice to hear the band evolving as they incorporate more electric elements and explore new musical styles without losing their integrity. It’ll be exciting to see what they experiment with next—but in the meantime, turn up Vide Noir, look up to the stars, and ponder the universe that’s all around. [CG] Key Track: “When the Night is Over” 23. Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love Deafheaven has never adhered to the “rules” of black metal. 2013’s Sunbather should be enough evidence of that fact. Still, it’s striking that the band’s fourth LP, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, acts almost in pure defiance of expectations. Not only is it the band’s prettiest, most lush record to date, channeling the aura of 90s favorites like The Smashing Pumpkins and Oasis, it’s also their most aggressive…just not always in the way one would expect. Opener “You Without End” is Queen disguised as black metal, while “Near” shows off a shimmering Slowdive-like intellect. But tracks like the fiery “Glint” and the colossal closer “Worthless Animal” remind listeners that Deafheaven still can flex that muscle when necessary. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love serves almost like a reintroduction to Deafheaven in 2018, a band that’s kinder and wiser but also at its creative and transcendent pinnacle. Key Track: “Glint” 24. The Sidekicks – Happiness Hours It’s been a cliche for a while to say that the best songs are always depressing. Hell, there’s even a shirt for it! Happy songs just can’t give you that same feeling. But, while The Sidekicks themselves indulge that trope, with frontman Steve Ciolek telling listeners, “Summer sang a sad [song] and it felt good to sing along,” they also seem determined to disprove it with their fifth full-length. It’s called Happiness Hours, and it is an unabashedly sunny pop-rock album. The cover depicts a bright field of yellow and and pink flowers, and the songs themselves are filled with tales of drinking lemonade, going dancing, and summertime drives (accompanied, of course, by your favorite mixed CDs). All the happiness is almost saccharine, but The Sidekicks sell it. The result is perhaps the band’s finest hour, a bright light in a garbage year, and a testament to the solace one can find in music, be it sad or happy. Happiness might not come in hours, but it definitely comes in forty-minute, twelve-track records. [ZD] Key Track: “Don’t Feel Like Dancing” 25. Underoath – Erase Me Underoath returned to the rock scene in a big way in 2018, coming back from a lengthy eight-year hiatus to deliver a stellar album. From the thrilling opening notes of “It Has to Start Somewhere” to the closing breaths of the tender ballad “I Gave Up,” Underoath uses Erase Me to take full advantage of the renewed interest surrounding their band. This is an accessible yet dynamic collection of songs, and it sounds poised to ring in the next few chapters of the band’s already storied career. They earned their first Grammy nomination for the hard-hitting first single “On My Teeth,” and other accolades and critical acclaim made the comeback that much worthwhile for this Florida unit. Underoath had teased a new direction pre-hiatus with Disambiguation, an album that introduced a clean vocal approach from frontman Spencer Chamberlain. The band has only evolved further on Erase Me, which boasts more shared vocals between Chamberlain and Gillespie, not to mention terrific harmonized vocals in songs like “Wake Me.” Simply put, this is a record that should not be written off or taken lightly as a minor blip on the radar. Instead, mark 2018 as the moment that Underoath regained their composure and brought a new sense of direction in their already brilliant sound. [AG] Key Track: “On My Teeth” 26. Lucy Dacus – Historian Lucy Dacus has a bolstering voice that feels like her music has been in your life for years. It’s that warm quality that transforms the already-great songs on Historian into songs you want to revisit, over and over again. “Night Shift”, the album’s opener, sees the 23-year-old Dacus mend the pieces of a broken heart. The song is in turns biting (“you don’t deserve what you don’t respect”) and empowering (“in five years I hope the songs feel like covers/dedicated to new lovers”), and it’s just part of what makes Historian special. This is a dynamic album by a spirited young artist. It begins with a breakup, and ends with the death of a loved one. Somehow, Lucy Dacus ties these two entirely different themes together into the same story. She thrillingly embraces dry humor and vibrant guitar licks; she consistently gives her songs time and space to breathe; and she outdoes herself every single time she opts for unreserved, jaw-dropping honesty. Both on Historian and as part of the supergroup boygenius (which also features Phoebe Bridgers and Julian Baker), Lucy Dacus has proven that she’s a masterful storyteller and a songwriter to watch. And I’m all in, ready to follow every step of her journey. [MV] Key Track: “Night Shift” 27. Matt Nathanson – Sings His Sad Heart Matt Nathanson has written what is ostensibly a break-up album. It touches on themes of lost love, longing, regret, and moving on. But mixed within this common musical ground, we find a songwriter at the top of his game. These songs are impeccably crafted and together create a collection of “sad” songs that feel built to be played loudly on a long drive on a sunny day. That’s not a combination that always works, but this album is proof positive of the magic that happens when it does. I’ve liked a lot of Matt’s previous albums, and a few have even grown to be regulars in my listening rotation, but this is the first album of his that grabbed me immediately. Subsequent listens only confirmed that Nathanson had captured something special here. This specific style, right between pop and a little alt-country, seems so ideally suited for his talents and voice. [JT] Key Track: “Mine” 28. Twenty One Pilots – Trench It’s been quite a year for Twenty One Pilots. After a summer of cryptic teasing and numerous fan theories, the duo released their biggest and arguably best album to date in Trench. The album spans fourteen tracks that blend multiple genres, taking the signature sound this band does so well and elevating it to new heights. The now-Grammy-nominated single “Jumpsuit” is the perfect opener, setting the tone for the rest of the album. The lyrics of the song reflect the new levels of stardom and success that the band has experienced since being catapulted into the spotlight with their previous effort, Blurryface. “I can’t believe how much I hate, pressures of a new place thrown my way, Jumpsuit, Jumpsuit cover me,” Tyler Joseph sings. Tracks like “Levitate,” “Morph,” and “Pet Cheetah” showcase the duo’s rap/hip-hop side, while “Bandito” and the album closer “Leave the City” represent the slower piano tracks on the album, the latter leaving things up in the air on what’s next for the band. “Smithereens” is a fun song with tongue-in-cheek lyrics, reminiscent of “Tear In my Heart” from their previous album, and dedicated to Joseph’s wife. “Neon Gravestones” is a somber track that tackles serious issues about mental health and suicide, all while looking for hope in the celebration of life. And “Chlorine” may be the catchiest song the band has put out to date. [EW] Key Track: “Chlorine” 29. Lori McKenna – The Tree Lori McKenna is one of those artists who has spent a lot of time throughout her career writing hits for other artist. Her latest smash is “Cry Pretty,” the lead single and title track from Carrie Underwood’s latest record that she wrote with Underwood, Hillary Lindsey, and Liz Rose. However, it’s McKenna’s own music that stood out most to me in 2018. I have to credit Craig Manning for pointing out her solo work to me. Admittedly, I didn’t listen to McKenna until her previous album, 2016’s The Bird and the Rifle. Her style is markedly more subtle than the hits she writes for some of country’s biggest stars. The Tree exudes emotions of all kinds from the acceptance of people getting older to the pain that comes with being angry, all the way to poignant nostalgia for home. It’s a solid record and if you’re looking for some good country music that doesn’t feel mainstream, this album is a must listen. [DC] Key Track: “People Get Old” 30. Fall Out Boy – Mania “We were never supposed to make it this far,” sings Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump in the first verse of “Young and Menace.” In a lot of ways, it is pretty astonishing that this mid-2000s pop-punk band has survived this long, or that they’ve continued to reinvent themselves. However, since their hiatus, Fall Out Boy have kept on cranking out quality hits and memorable albums that keep their fans coming back for more. Their latest album Mania continues this pattern of reinvention by keeping the trademark elements of their sound that made the band famous in the first place. Fall Out Boy experiment with R & B elements on the crooning track “Heaven’s Gate” and crank up the guitars on songs like “Last of the Real Ones.” From stadium-ready anthems such as “Champion” to the synth-laden beats found in “Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea,” there really is something for everyone to enjoy on this album. As shown on their stop-gap of an EP in Lake Effect Kid, Fall Out Boy are never short on great ideas, and I look forward to seeing what the next chapter holds in store for the Chicago foursome. [AG] Key Track: “Last of the Real Ones” --- Note: A playlist of all the “key tracks” can be found on Spotify and Apple Music. --- Contributor Key * [CM]: Craig Manning * [JT]: Jason Tate * [DB]: Drew Beringer * [JB]: John Bazley * [TG]: Trevor Graham * [MV]: Mary Varvaris * [AA]: Anna Acosta * [AJ]: Aj LaGambina * [AM]: Aaron Mook * [DC]: Deanna Chapman * [CG]: Chrisanne Grise * [ZD]: Zac Djamoos * [AG]: Adam Grundy * [EW]: Eric Wilson --- Individual Contributor Lists * Jason Tate * Craig Manning * Adam Grundy * John Bazley * Mary Varvaris * Zac Djamoos * Trevor Graham --- Please consider supporting us so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/features/articles/the-chorus-fm-staffs-top-albums-of-2018/

[14102018-blog]

I remember the day I promised that I don’t want to get married, or that my highest expectation of being a father figure is, well, being an uncle to my nephew. I also remember feeling like how impossible it is for me to love fully after everything that happened, or to give my all, to be so committed that I just want to quit everything and start a new life with someone special in a small village somewhere in Italy. 

Even on my happiest, most positive day, the best hope I could think of when it comes to my love life is just an uninterrupted lunch at an open restaurant where I can spend all afternoon listening about the things she loves like a normal person. I was happy, most days, but at the same time I know something was missing. It felt like walking around with no heart attached. I was a dead man walking. 

But October 3rd 2016, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, I saw you on the corner of the museum. You smiled at me, and I felt alive. We only met for five minutes but you have no idea how in that brief minutes you managed to make me broke my own promise. For the first time in so many years, I want to commit, and as cheesy and cliche as it sounds, right then and there I knew I found someone I want to be with for the rest of my life.

Before, you told me you’re not exactly the easiest person to love. I know that. You cry a lot and easy. Sensitive. You talk a lot, sometimes too much. Crazy, and not the cute kind of crazy but the I-will-kill-you-with-a-spoon-if-you-don’t-come-home-for-dinner kind of crazy. Let’s not forget you snore and love to round kick me in your sleep, alright? But you’re also someone with the biggest heart I’ve known. 

You have the warmest touch. You radiate positivity to those around you. You pack so much power, will, and compassion for someone as small as a beansprout. You care so much. You put others before you, even those who have hurt you. You’re just…..full of sunshine. You calm my storm. You fill every little to the biggest black hole in my life with so much light that it makes me easy to love you and for me to see you past your self-claimed “negativities”. 

You make me want to love you more and more each day and that’s something I don’t have to promise myself because I know I will, and that loving you comes naturally.

I love you with every little working or dead cell in me. I love you so much. Thank you for being the rock that grounds me. Thank you for keeping me sane, keeping my boat afloat. I love you, and I can’t wait to grow old with you.

sweetheart, the day when i can publicly profess my love for you has finally come.

a year ago, i would never have i imagined that this day would be possible. how could i, of course? when i was just a nurse, simply admiring my mother’s painting. and then, you found me. looked at me with your bright eyes and your handsome smile - what i see right now, is exactly how you looked like on the day we first met.

there is no doubt that this memory will forever be memorable for the both of us. truth be told, bringing it up is one of your favourite ways to tease me. you never fail to point out how i avoided your gaze, or how i ran away from your sight, or even how i often left you hanging on your attempts to talk to me. it’s crazy, isn’t it? me? avoid you? when now, the second you’d leave my sight, i’d be sending you a sad face.

i was always in a hurry to cut things short because, i couldn’t wrap my mind as to why a busy person like you would waste their time on me. but shortly after a midnight conversations, a few dates, pastries eaten, and empty wine glasses, your arms soon became my home. suddenly, i couldn’t think of anything else but you holding me after a long day of pacing through the hospital hallways in those atrocious crocs you always made fun of, pffft.

you can call me silly for gravitating towards them, even if there’s a better looking pair. it’s just that i choose to wear it because it reminds me of you. and i will always choose you. it’s easy to choose when you’re in love, they say. to me, it’s almost as natural as breathing. how can i not when there is so much to adore about you - especially when in my eyes, you are the most charming man there is.  

you are a loving son to your mother, a caring brother to your sister, a funny uncle to your nephew, a thoughtful hyung to your members, a hardworking artist who has limitless talents to share his fans, and most especially: a patient and understanding lover to a stubborn nurse—the sole person who has the ability to chase her demons away with only the sound of his laughter.

my darling, i want you to know that i did not only love you for your winsome qualities. in fact, it is your imperfections—the things you do not like about yourself—are the ones that made me grow to love you more.

likewise, our relationship hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. but from now, until the day we have to depart from the physical world, i vow to keep on choosing to walk down this rocky path with you, hand in hand, with no fear in my heart of whatever we may encounter in the future. to cherish you not only when the sun shines upon our way, but also on the days when it storms - as long as i get to share my umbrella with you and if we’re left with nothing, then i am just as content with standing under the rain with you by my side. to always let you win, whenever you insist that you love me more, because i trust that you do. even if in my mind i know i love you just as much.

i am not afraid because i have you along with god’s grace. knowing that alone gives me the strength that will last me a lifetime of protecting you, our marriage, our current family of five, and even our future family in case the blessing knocks on our door.