#they really were saving the best songs for the official release

[morgonorgo]

Just want to document the insanity that happen on my Instagram story tonight after listening to Take Me Back To Eden

[yvesdot]

Well, this is new! I watched the entire VMAs (just about) for the first time ever, and here is my official writeup—less so for Dots (certainly not a public-facing project), more for all my friends I want to gossip with. Here’s everything I’m going to be talking about for the next few days that happened at the VMAs, with helpful links to all the available clips.

Before anything happened, Kendrick released a new song on Instagram. This immediately trended alongside the VMAs for the rest of the night.

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Chappell Roan snapped at a photographer on the red carpet. It’s still frankly unclear to me what happened—in the video I’ve seen passed around, you hear a voice in the background say “shut the fuck up,” to which Chappell turns and retorts, “you shut the fuck up!” When they apparently protest, she shuts them down, saying, “not me, bitch!” It’s unclear whether the photographer in question was originally talking to her, or to another photographer, and also whether she was accusing him of saying anything to her. I’m not personally invested in finding out more.

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Eminem opened by performing “Houdini” and “Someone Save Me;” I showed up halfway through with the volume on mute and had no idea why that man was wearing the world’s worst blonde wig. I do think the obvious visual reference to his original VMAs “Slim Shady” performance is genuinely cute. It is unbelievable he still rapped the “If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me / Would I really have a shot at a feat [shot at her feet]?” lines with Megan Thee Stallion hosting.

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Megan was adorable and an excellent host. She is so funny, so genuine, so easy to watch and so good at balancing being personable and competent. Honestly, she and Chappell gave some very similar energy tonight and it made me wonder if they know each other (I am not very aware of Chappell things—yet!) She was also, naturally, exceptionally well-dressed. The crowd absolutely loved her.

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Taylor immediately won the “Best Collaboration” award for Fornite with Post Malone, which began a streak of 7 awards won that night, mostly for that one song, despite the fact that her latest album has been one of her worst-received by fans and critics alike. (This is not a comment on whether the songs on the album are good or not, just on the relative success in comparison with her past work and the reception of other projects nominated. It’s surprising.) Her seven awards were the aforementioned Best Collaboration, Song of Summer, Best Pop, Artist of the Year, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Video of the Year at the end of the night. This ties her with Beyonce for most VMAs ever won. She also claims a number of other records, but I am not going to list all that. 

I will tell you that she opened this acceptance speech with “Waking up this morning in New York on September 11th, I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago; everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost. That is the most important thing about today and everything that happens tonight falls behind that,” and then continued as if this had been a normal thing to say and/or she had not said it.

I’m still frustrated at the timing of her endorsement of Harris coincidentally last night. It feels too obviously set up to quell rising fan anger and ensure every award she won would be “untainted” by people’s criticisms of her.

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Megan recreated the iconic Britney-with-a-snake look.

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Sabrina Carpenter performed a lovely medley. She opened singing “Please Please Please” (with the “motherfucker!”) on a swing, descended to a couple of audio clips including the iconic Britney line about Titanic from her “Oops! I Did it Again” music video, performed “Taste” with an astronaut and an alien (she did kiss the femalien, though Britney Spears (!) commented she ought to have kissed a girl), and transitioned into “Espresso” with a few dozen astronaut backup dancers. I loved her outfit and especially the lipstick mark on her thigh (!!?!!), and I have to give her credit for doing this insane performance setup in front of both Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, about whom “Taste” was allegedly written.

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Katy Perry accepted the previously-announced Video Vanguard Award and performed a medley of tracks—in order, “Dark Horse,” “E.T.,” new track “I’m His, He’s Mine” featuring Doechii, “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl” (rock version), “Firework,” and “Lifetimes.” You may notice that “Woman’s World” was nowhere on this list. Also, during their performance of “I’m His, He’s Mine,” Katy and Doechii scissored in a possible reference to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s 2021 Grammys performance of W.A.P., and MTV cut directly to Orlando Bloom in a likely reference to the Britney/Madonna/Christina VMAs kiss where they cut to Justin Timberlake.

In my opinion, it was a great performance from the choice of tracks to the aesthetic(s) to her voice. She clearly still has it! However, people audibly booed when her name was announced and several times as she gave her speech, which, side note, opened with ““I did that all too on the first day of my period, if you can believe it!” It didn’t help that she chose to—well, look, here’s the whole thing, bold by me.

Can you believe it? Thank you so much to MTV for believing in my weirdness from day one and for helping artists extend their worlds beyond a song. There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decade-long accidents. (a long, meaningful pause, during which people booed) So I would like to acknowledge a few people: my team who have been with me for over 20 years, direct management, and my label Capitol Records.

Trust me, it takes a village of strong people, a lot of healthy discourse, and a lot of group chats. My parents and my family, the deepest roots I know. We don’t always agree, but what a lesson that those disagreements can still be full of love. Thank you to MySpace, Warped Tour, and all the bygone places where I found a voice, identity, and a community so early on. Thank you to the friends that were there when my Jetta was repossessed. My Katy Cats: You stood by me for a lifetime, and the LGBTQ community who I recognize I would not be here without and who show me that you can be both kind and [bleeped out—”cunt”?]. Thank you to Orlando for keeping me grounded, celebrated, and doing the dishes. And lastly for my Daisy [her daughter], the only flowers I’ll ever need.

I’m excited when I look around music today, and I see all the amazing young artists who are operating with confidence, agency, vulnerability and authenticity. I’ve heard a lot of “Do this, don’t say that, wear less, wear more now. Hey, don’t cut your hair.” One of the biggest reasons I’m standing here right now is I learned how to block out all the noise that every single artist in this industry has to constantly fight against, especially women. I just wanna say with my whole heart, do whatever it takes to stay true to yourself and true to your art. Turn off social media, safeguard your mental health, pause, touch grass. And do what you were born to do just like I was born to do this. 143 comes out September 20. I love you!

I probably don’t need to say it, but I find it incredibly upsetting and disappointing that she would frame the criticism of her, which has centered almost entirely on her working with Dr. Luke, someone whom numerous women have accused of being misogynist and generally abusive, as “noise that women artists have to deal with.”

Also, I don’t have video proof of this, but they played a truly bizarre intro to the award where they called her “the queen of camp” and said “she’s a mother and she IS mother” and I don’t know what to do about that. They did play the world’s briefest audio snippet of “Woman’s World” during that.

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Chappell Roan performed “Good Luck Babe” and nothing else, which nonetheless seemed to quiet upset fans whose shows were canceled with little notice last week due to the “scheduling conflict” of Chappell deciding to do the VMAs. I wish the mixing had been better; I could barely hear her voice! But the aesthetic was lovely (very Dorian Electra “Man to Man”) and the set was extremely well-used. She definitely seems unused to performing in this more regimented style, but there’s an infinite amount of time for her to either get comfortable with it or adapt it more to her usual performance method of running all over the stage.

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Tyla won Best Afrobeats for “Water,” obviously. Lil Nas X (presenting the award with Halle) could be heard saying “But we already knew, though, right?” as she approached the stage. She gave the world’s most diplomatic speech which acknowledged that African music is (obviously) more diverse than the label “Afrobeats.”

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Megan delivered an incredible medley performance: “BOA,” a sample of “Wanna Be,” “B.A.S,” a sample of “RATTLE,” “HISS,” and “MAMUSHI”—with a surprise appearance by featured artist Yuki Chiba, in a cool hat! And may I just say, for all-around stage presence, choreography, vocals, delivery, everything, Megan stole the show 100%. And that’s with all the ridiculous censoring she had to do! If you are not into Megan, you need to be, now. She is the moment.

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Benson Boone did a flip (1:29) while performing “Beautiful Things,” a song I found myself hearing for the second time ever. It is apparently the song of the summer to many people. That’s cool! I genuinely had never heard it in my life before this week. He’s clearly an exceptionally talented performer, so let’s see where he goes.

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Sabrina Carpenter won “Song of the Year” for “Espresso” and seemed genuinely shocked, somehow.

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Halsey did an absolutely gorgeous performance of “Ego,” a song I hadn’t heard before but found myself liking. I should get into Halsey!

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Camila, the other half (?) of the Camila-Shawn-Sabrina love triangle, with an album which underperformed (especially in comparison to Sabrina’s), faked out the audience (including her ex and his sometime-other-girl!) by pretending to play “June Gloom,” the closer from the standard edition of the album about why he runs back to her if he really likes Sabrina so much, and then cutting the recording off to actually sing “GODSPEED,” the closer off the deluxe version—and the latest single, dropped only last week. Apparently it’s the first track she wrote for this era, after a breakup with an entirely different ex. Point being, I give her a lot of props for just how much that moment rocked.

I suppose as a professional I ought to say all this is only allegedly what the songs are about. But, you know, we know.

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You know Glorilla rocked the house down. Having seen her in SF, I could tell just how much she’d improved since then, not just in her performing skills generally but in her confidence. You go, Glo.

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Chappell Roan won “Best New Artist” in a moment everyone saw coming a mile away and read her acceptance speech from her diary. She’s so cute!

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Video of the Year went to Taylor and she shouted out “my boyfriend, Travis Kelce,” in her speech. This is not news, but people screamed like it was? She also told people to vote. None of this is really important to me but you need to know that I went to r/GaylorSwift again after several months’ abstention as a result of the way people were talking about it. People chanted Taylor’s name. Also, Megan initially opened the little card upside down, which was adorable.

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Best performances of the night: Katy Perry, Megan Thee Stallion, and Halsey.

Most deserved wins of the night: 

Chappell Roan (Best New Artist)

“Espresso” (Song of the Year)

“Water” (Best Afrobeats)

“Mamushi” (Best Trending Video, though any pick might have been good)

“BOA” (Best Art Direction)

Biggest snubs of the night: 

“Not Like Us” (Song of Summer, “Fortnight”)

“Paparazzi” (VMAs Most Iconic Performance, “Roar” — a case where any other pick would have been better)

Sabrina Carpenter (Artist of the Year, Taylor Swift)

Glorilla & Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wanna Be” (Best Collaboration, “Fortnight”)

Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter (Best Pop, Taylor Swift)

“Too Sweet” (Best Alternative, “Beautiful Things”)

“Von dutch” (Best Cinematography, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”)

“Rush” by Troye Sivan and “greedy” by Tate Mcrae (Best Choreography, “Houdini”)

Additionally, “Espresso” was not nominated for Song of Summer (“Please Please Please” was), and Britney’s “Slave 4 U” was not nominated for VMAs Most Iconic Performance.

Here’s the full list of nominations and wins. 

Here’s my compilation of favorite outfits. Katy Perry wore a QR code tramp stamp which led to preorders for her album.

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Other thoughts:

LISA and Anitta and Rauw Alejandro’s performances were also great! I don’t know that this was the best intro to their songs (my stream was not excellent quality) but I’m glad I stuck around!

Ads for HIV medication and Kamala Harris played throughout the night. There was one ad of Camila’s “I LUV IT” playing while she did insane things and drank Bacardi that almost made me dislike the song.

Charli not being anywhere near this event was criminal. I know she has the Sweat tour to rehearse for (I’m going to see her! AHHHH!!!!) but I really felt her absence. People also expected Taylor and Ariana to perform, and neither of them did—Ariana wasn’t even present! Lady Gaga wasn’t, either, which is a possible reason “Paparazzi” didn’t win Most Iconic VMAs Performance; apparently the VMAs prefer to give awards to artists who are present so they can give a live speech. Meanwhile, they gave Artist of the Year to Taylor Swift for the second year in a row and didn’t air it because she was walking in and out. Make of that what you will.

I successfully predicted the results of 5 awards (Best New Artist: Chappell Roan, Best Afrobeats: Tyla, Best Direction: Fortnight, Best Editing: Fortnight, and Video of the Year: Fortnight). Next year I might just start gambling and put it all on TSwift; it seems an easy victory.

Let me know if you want more of this sort of thing! I've done it for presidential debates in the past, too, though that was Patreon-exclusive. Heck, if I wasn't on hiatus, this might have been, too ^__^

[akookminsupporter]

JIMIN AND THE APATHY OF THE FANDOM TO SUPPORT HIM.

The constant apathy of the fandom in general to support Jimin's projects has made me question more than once if it's really his fandom too or if it's just a part - quite a big part I'm sure - of the fandom that is a fan of him. 

Here we are again. New year. New post. Same topic. ARMY's apathy to support Jimin. Different excuses, same result.

I haven't talked much about this topic on my blog these days because I'm honestly tired of the damn negativity and because I was dealing with more negativity in my normal life, but I want to say something about everything that happens whenever Jimin releases a song, no matter if it's solo or with someone else.

It's not the first time I've made a post like this and I don't think it will be the last either, but I'd like to be wrong.

The apathy, the disaffection this fandom, in general, feels about Jimin is disturbing. Jimin's achievements are good when they serve to show them off to an "enemy" fandom but when it comes time to support him, everyone has excuses.

It happened last year and it happened again this week.

The absurd fights between kpop fandoms have always seemed absurd to me, although some I can understand but for that to be an obstacle to support the one who is supposed to be your favourite artist seems stupid to me.

From what I could read over the weekend, and before the official release of 'VIBE', several people were saying that they didn't like the artist that Jimin decided to collaborate with. The reasons I don't fully understand and frankly, that's not the problem, the problem is that their problem with that artist and his fans outweighs the love and respect they supposedly have for Jimin and that's something my brain doesn't quite understand. To be honest, my brain has never entirely understood the reasons that many people use for not supporting Jimin's projects as they do with the projects of the other members.

I've always wondered why that happens, why that feeling of rejection almost, that many in this fandom feel for Jimin. I myself have said that it's envy, stupidity and fear and although I still believe it's all that, I think it's something else too. And someday I'd like to know what it is.

This week when many Jimin fanbase and fansites were asking to buy and stream the song 'VIBE' to take it to number one on the charts, many replied asking why, that they better do it for Jimin's solo album, that this honour should be won by him alone and not in collaboration with someone else, the answers are obviously stupid, but at the same time it's sad to read the excuses that many use only when it's about Jimin. That didn't happen with Jungkook, RM and Hobi's recent collaborations, none of them was for their solo albums, they were all for someone else's album and yet ARMY did the best they could, to support them.

The Korean press today basically confirmed that Jimin's album will be released next month. This may be the ultimate test by which many will measure this fandom and their support and respect for Jimin. Many used the excuse that they better save their efforts for Jimin's solo debut, well, let's hope they are true to their word, there will be no more excuses that will be valid, not that the others have any validity.

I've always said that Twitter is not the representation of the fandom, it's only a tiny part of it and while I still hold that opinion, I also understand that on Twitter are many of the most important accounts that organise everything from voting to chart tracking and even funding, so it's worrying and sad that those accounts and therefore their followers don't seem to put the same effort they do for other members when it comes to Jimin.

I am aware that this fandom is quite large and while there are many, probably thousands of "fans" who are apathetic to all things Jimin there are also millions who love him. Who supports him and is excited about whatever Jimin decides to show us on his album. I'm definitely one of them.

I was excited when the guys announced that they would be doing more solo projects, including albums. I can't wait for what they all show us, everything we've seen and heard so far has been great! And so, I can't wait to see and listen to what Jimin has to show. I know it will be unique, I know it will be great, and I know Jimin will once again prove why he is not only the IT Boy of Korea but also, the IT Boy of music.

[rabbitechoes]

first week of september!! fall is drawing near!!! there were some pretty cool tracks that dropped this week, two in particular that are on the shortlist for some of my favorites of the year. 2024 is drawing closer to the end, but this continues to shape up to be one of the best years for music in recent memory. In other words, NEW PHIL ELVERUM MOUNT EERIE ALBUM WOOOOOO WOOOOOOOOO YEAH YEA H YEAH YEAH!!!!!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

"Made Out of Memory" - Nilüfer Yanya

◇ released: Sept. 2, 2024 ◇ featured on My Method Actor (not yet released) ◇ genres: indietronica, alt-pop

Starting to sound like a broken record, but this new Nilüfer Yanya single is very solid. We're only a few weeks out from My Method Actor, but it's shaping up to be one of the most promising releases of the year. I love the subtlety she implements into these songs. Everything is given just the right amount of attention. The guitars on this track are buried, but crawl to the surface at the most opportune moment. Her vocals are also gorgeous, as are her melodies. Really good cut here, can't wait to dive into the full record.

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"Broom of Wind" | "I Walk" - Mount Eerie

◇ released: Sept. 3, 2024 ◇ featured on Night Palace (not yet released) ◇ genres: singer-songwriter, indie folk, slacker rock, post-rock

4 years after the biographical meditation of Microphones in 2020, the highly prolific singer-songwriter Phil Elverum is returning in November with a new record under the Mount Eerie name. This announcement was accompanied by these two brilliant singles, the brief jaunty "Broom of Wind" and the weird atmospheric "I Walk." As a massive fan of Elverum's work, these songs were exactly what I could've hoped for - especially the latter. Spacey yet organic atmospheric sounds held together very loosely. Everything feels free-flowing. The traditional rules of song-structuring are construed in subtle, yet effective ways. His lyricism, as always, is just amazing. He makes you feel so much, deep in your core, even when he's crooning what seem to be abstractions.

In the press-release for this record, Night Palace is referred to as a spiritual successor to The Glow Pt. 2 - arguably Phil's magnum opus and one of the greatest records of all time - it also states that "These are songs of re-surrendering to a state of wonder and abandoning the wrung-dry skepticism that this hard world can impose." It doesn't seem like a cheap way to get fans re-invested, he has no reason to do that. If you're a fan of Elverum's music, you're most likely locked in for whatever he has coming down the pipeline. This genuinely, like his previous record, feels like treading old ground with more experience this time around in order to reinvigorate the creative process. Anyway, I'll try to save my ramblings for when I can dive into the full record, but this is firmly my new most anticipated album of the year.

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"th1 [evnslower]" - Aphex Twin

◇ released: Sept. 4, 2024 ◇ featured on Selected Ambient Works Volume II Expanded Edition (not yet released) ◇ genres: dark ambient, drone, space ambient

Another track from the Aphex Twin archives has been officially released leading up to the deluxe edition of Selected Ambient Works Volume II. More savvy Richard D. James heads will probably know much more about this track than I, maybe it was leaked through a big Soundcloud dump or found in a trashcan behind his house. Whatever the case, this is pretty great. Very ominous ambient piece that sounds like it would fit on the soundtrack to a horror film set in space. It feels claustrophobic in a way, unlike the previous single "#19" which felt very peaceful and optimistic. "th1 [evnslower]" puts you on edge, makes you feel like there might be something looming just around the corner.

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"Magic I Want U" | "How to Teleport" - Jane Remover

◇ released: Sept. 4, 2024 ◇ genres: glitch pop, alternative r&b, breakbeat

Jane Remover is back again with another set of seemingly standalone tracks. Like the other two tracks that dropped a little bit ago, they're a bit of a departure from her last album - which is honestly a bit refreshing. I enjoyed that record a decent amount, but there's a bite to these songs that's irresistible. The star here is "Magic I Want U" with its hard-hitting production and tight melodies that just sound absolutely exhilarating. "How to Teleport" isn't bad either, it's got a ton of cool sounds. These new Jane Remover tracks are some of my favorites of hers and although these aren't attached to a new project, I really hope she pushes some of these ideas further in the future.

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"We Will Rock You (Megan Thee Stallion Version)" | "Neva Play" - Megan Thee Stallion

◇ released: Sept. 5, 2024 | Sept. 6, 2024 ◇ genres: southern hip hop, trap, pop rap, drift phonk

Big week for Megan Thee Stallion fans it seems! First, with the bizarre collaboration with Queen for a remix of sports stadium staple "We Will Rock You" ... it's fine. A bit gaudy and awkward, but I don't hate it. The next day she released "Neva Play" with RM of BTS, which is a bit better, but not particularly amazing either. I think it's the beat more than anything. I don't want to hear Megan over a phonk beat in all honesty. Neither Megan's or RM's verse stood out to me either. Oh well!

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"For Sure" - Ethel Cain

◇ released: Sept. 5, 2024 ◇ featured on American Football (Covers) (not yet released) ◇ genres: slowcore, dream pop, post-rock

Following Iron and Wine's indie folk reimagining of "Never Meant," Ethel Cain is the next to contribute to the new American Football covers album with her version of "For Sure." I definitely appreciate what she does with this one. The slow-burning, super lush sound just lulls you into a trance all the way until the big climax in the middle. I didn't have high hopes for this covers project - although I'm mostly just butthurt because I thought American Football were teasing NEW music instead of an anniversary celebration of their first LP, but I digress. This is a really great cover and I'm a bit more excited to hear what the rest of this project has in store.

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"Unt" - Pinhead Gunpower

◇ released: Sept. 5, 2024 ◇ featured on Unt (not yet released) ◇ genres: punk rock, pop punk, power pop

Green Day side-project Pinhead Gunpowder are back with their first new song in 16 years. It's a bit of a snoozefest to be honest. Billie Joe Armstrong has settled into his ways as a vocalist and everything he sings has this level of cleanness to it which is a bit unbecoming of a punk record. It sounds a bit rougher than what you would expect from Green Day proper, but it still just feels a bit toothless. Not doing much for me instrumentally either.

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"The Emptiness Machine" - Linkin Park

◇ released: Sept. 5, 2024 ◇ featured on From Zero (not yet released) ◇ genres: alternative rock, alternative metal, post-hardcore

Linkin Park are returning years after the unfortunate passing of former frontman Chester Bennington, but this time with a new vocalist Emily Armstrong - who definitely doesn't have ANY baggage whatsoever! Truth be told, I've never been a big Linkin Park fan and unfortunately that remains to be the case with this new single. It just feels way too drenched in dramatics to the point where it feels a bit sterile to me. Armstrong's verses were fine, albeit a bit generic. Yeah, I just don't think this is for me. To longtime fans of the band, I hope you guys like this!

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"Ego" - Halsey

◇ released: Sept. 6, 2024 ◇ featured on The Great Impersonator (not yet released) ◇ genres: pop rock, alternative rock, pop punk, power pop

Halsey is releasing her new fifth studio album soon, which will feature all of her singles over the past few months as well as this new one "Ego." I don't dislike this song or anything, but I'm not seeing the picture she's painting here. I guess these new songs have been eclectic, but I fail to see how they'll coincide on a full-length project together. This is definitely a departure from the nostalgic alt-rock of "Lonely Is the Muse," instead leaning more into poppier sounds. Her songwriting is very personal and intense across these songs, but I worry that these constant flip-flopping between sounds will obscure that. We shall see.

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"ELEMENTS" - wolfears

◇ released: Sept. 6, 2024 ◇ genres: post-punk, funk, afrobeat

This groovy new single from wolfears is really cool. There's this palpable anxiety to it that amps up the excitement so much, everything is in constant motion. The grooves are prickly, never giving you the opportunity to settle into them. Their vocals sound like they're reciting mantras and chants which adds to the uneasiness. It's a good feeling of unease though. Her musicianship is pretty impeccable on this cut too as she handles every bit of instrumentation here. I could've been fooled into thinking this was the work of a full band. "ELEMENTS" is a really solid track and if you're a fan of either the Talking Heads or Fela Kuti - hopefully you're fans of both - give this a listen!

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"Ruby Rosary" - A$AP Rocky feat. J. Cole

◇ released: Sept. 6, 2024 ◇ featured on DON'T BE DUMB (not yet released) ◇ genres: jazz rap, east coast hip hop, cloud rap

A$AP Rocky has released the third single leading up to his new record DON'T BE DUMB. This is a really good track, I'm loving the jazz rap production a lot. Rocky's verses continue to wow me during this rollout, more than they have in some time. They're not the most impressive, but they're undeniably smooth as hell. He's bringing some confidence into this one. Even J. Cole's verse wasn't that bad, he needed a verse that was at the very least good after "Grippy" and his rough MIGHT DELETE LATER tape. Yeah, I'm loving this. This is shaping up to be a really promising project, hopefully we get a concrete release date in the coming weeks.

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[premium-value]

this is not goodbye by Premium Value

i started making vaporwave in 2020 because ive loved vaporwave for a long time and it occurred to me that it seemed easy to get into just for fun. it was an easy creative outlet during the worst of covid, and it kept being satisfying. looking back a lot of the stuff i made early on was crap but it was still fun. in late 2021 i got reached out to for an opportunity to have one of my albums featured on this new digital label along with a release on cassette which id get a cut of. i had to make some adjustments which resulted in it eventually being a double-album feature to make it feel substantial enough, but i was really excited. essentially over the course of the next year and a half barely any progress was made on their end, id get very little communication, and while that was happening they were still releasing other albums from other artists. this sucked big time. i eventually got fed up and told them i was out, to which they responded seemingly in earnest, but it felt hollow and like they were trying to make amends far too late to save face. this year and a half led to me making probably some of my best stuff, but it was also the beginning of the end. i was running out of ideas. it wasnt until this year when i really started losing steam, both running out of ideas and motivation. again the stuff i have made this year is among my favorite releases, but lets be real including this i only released 4 completely original albums, 1 expanded re-release and one triple album re-release with just a handful of new songs. it feels like every new release i really have to strain to come up with stuff, let alone try and put it all in a cohesive album concept. when i started, up until early 2022, i was releasing an album every month. i was throwing everything i could at it, and then with the label deal sitting around and me burning through my ideas i finally slowed down to an album every other month. this year there were more and more gaps as i allowed myself some room to breathe and come up with stuff. and it was around the middle of the year when i finally cut my ties with that group and that label. if youre a part of that label and you see this and you figure out this is about you, just keep it to yourself. no drama, not necessarily any bad blood, it just sucked and im done with that part of my life. im now officially giving up on any official obligation to regularly make vaporwave. it served me as a huge passion while it lasted, and it is still fun to make stuff when it comes out good, but its just so much harder now. so maybe ill make another album next month, or the month after. maybe ill make another album in 3 months. maybe 6. maybe a year. maybe 5 years. maybe never. i dunno, i leave that up to future me. i still love vaporwave and id love to have more ideas. maybe i need to explore more rabbit holes of music to inspire me. maybe i need to explore making original music more. who knows. to sum up, this is not goodbye. it's "ill see you when i see you." so ill see you. love you. 

track list:

feeling - 6:46

Say You Love Me - 4:02

Talk to Me - 2:30

does he know - 6:34

感情 - 5:27

this is not goodbye - 3:26

released december 4th, 2023

all sample credits included on bandcamp page

[defaulttool]

me admiring the art of bemani PART ONE: "いちかのごちゃまぜMix UP！" event

so this is prob gonna be a new series where tl;dr i glaze the art of bemani because theyre f'ing good (sometimes, thanks konami), and also because even tho not many people care about rhythm games, at least care about the art of it lol

i would also post the artist's name, but konami stopped giving the names of their cover artists a long time ago... only the song artists are named.

to give some context of this event, its basically a mashup of two songs (or mix-up), to make a new song, in order to unlock the boss song. why? i dunno ichika wanted to get some food and somehow found herself at a mountain

im just gonna go order of the circle the event page is in lol (ill save the best one for last tho... lol)

[]DENTITY (I x perditus†paradisus)

ok before we start on this song... they shouldve named it ][DENTITY :3

i can definitely tell they were copying both of the series's artstyle (they really just used a 3d render of TRAN and pasted it in lol), its still pretty dang good. the cat ear shaped v-disk is so funny to me idk why. the song itself however is really good imo, pls give it a listen.

White Stream (Four Leaves x Snowmelt)

so we basically turned back in time and stole the artstyle of Sound Voltex Vivid Wave and GITADORA Tri-Boost Re:EVOLVE lol. i really dig it tho lol, just like song (god they went hard on the vocal chops)

Kilonova (キヤロラ衛星の軌跡 x Pursuer)

so even tho this is one of the more forgettable songs (since no one other then ddr players care about ddr), they forgot to add in pursuer to this cover art lol. i dont like this one, but oh well lol

新蛇姫 (New Decade x BREDLI)

this is one of the more creative ones lol. New Decade (fyi released in 2010) with the 2020's art style, and BREDLI's snake obsession. i also like it how it conveys the songs dont like each other so they just show the mascots getting beat the shit out of lol

Dance With The Dead (Love 2 Shuffle x

Necroxis Girl)

OK WTF WHY DOES SMITH LOOK SO GOOD IN IN THIS JACKET HE HAS SOME MOVES 🔥🔥

even tho the font is... hard to read, they went crazy with it lol. they literally took the sick ass fit from love 2 shuffle and the goofy ass poses in Necroxis Girl. go wild.

Metamorphic (ロミとロボの宇宙飛行 x MONOLITH)

this is just the MONOLITH but with a cuter artstyle and added some animals to give it WoNdeR. i quite like it, shows off the two songs very nicely.

Indigo Nocturne (蒼氷のフラグメント x REcorrection)

jesus christ they represented both of the games and the songs in the best way possible. like... this is so calming, just like the genre of REcorrection, "Fluffy Pop". the song itself is such a bop too.

輪廻の鴉 (RINИE x 鴉)

the best one out of the bunch. holy shit they went fucking hard on this one. i think they know it because this song is the only one with vocals lol. like... even tho they dont really reference a lot of the two song's artworks, they really took the time and effort to reference both Pop'n Music and Beatmania IIDX in the best way possible. like tran and mimi... TRAN AND MIMI LOOK SUPER GOOD HERE LIKE THEY SHOULD BE OFFICIAL CHARACTERS YOU CAN PICK IN POP'N (ik they exist already, but like its the duo as a character, not just one of them)

BONUS EXTRA STAGE: VOLAQUAS (Valanga x 海神)

sooooo.. how do you make a boss boss song? just combine two boss songs together not that hard lol. okay but in all seriousness, combining two boss songs that you made, and then it "YOUR NAME VS YOUR NAME BUT DIFFERENT" is the biggest flex because dj totto vs totto sounds sick af. the song doesnt miss as well lol, the genre is literally "EMPYREAL HYDRO ARTCORE". i wonder why the legendary mountain is underwater in the cover art this time... /s

ENDING THOUGHTS

alright since the event happened like two years ago already (jeez its already been that long? i still remember unlocking it myself like it was yesterday)

even tho konami fucked up in 2016 and 2017 and lost most of the magic tbh, i think this is a good event nonetheless. like the collabs are insane. ill give it a 5 pepperoni pizzas / 19 grapes (mostly because the songs that are mixed up are also added to the other game as well... and thats like.. good :)

[prism-stone-planet]

Ok so here’s my long ramble-y thoughts about Idol Land Pripara after playing it for a bit. I’m just gonna write what pops into my head first lol so anyway:

Coordes

I really love pretty much all the new coordes I’ve seen, they’re all very cute and pretty and very Pripara esque imo however the only downside is that some of them cost real money and are pretty expensive, even the non new ones and the ones that cost silver Idollars can be quite expensive too

It also sucks that some coordes are locked behind the paid gacha and it’s rates aren’t the best (1.5% or something chance of getting a Premium Pripara Rare so good luck getting Amari’s Cyalume) and there’s no spark system. If you get doubles you get points that contribute to your gacha meter that can get you Silver Idollars, Promise Tickets, Exchange Tickets or Gacha Tickets but you’re mostly gonna get Silver Idollars and Promise Tickets which idk doesn’t feel like a fair exchange.

I do like the Coorde sorting system compared to the Switch game tho

Silver Idollars

One decision I’m baffled by is how Silver Idollars expire at the end of the month. I thought it was because Silver and Gold Idollars were the same except Gold are paid and they didn’t want people saving their Silver so they’d never need to pay for Gold but there’s some stuff you can only buy with Gold and some you can only buy with Silver and you can’t buy Silver Idollars or (to my knowledge) exchange Gold into Silver so why does Silver expire???

Live Promises and Songs

Live Promises are fine enough, it plays pretty much like the Switch game and I like that you can just tap anywhere on the screen to play and not the button. I also appreciate the screenshot button but idk it feels too small to me, I keep missing it when I try to click it. I also find my phone gets really hot when playing Live’s and a lot of Making Dramas aren’t in E.g Baby Monster just gives you After School Heart Dash or whatever it’s called

There’s a small selection of songs rn which is a shame especially since a lot cost money but I hope they add more soon especially ones not on the switch.

It’s nice you can pretty much play Pripara as much as you want by doing other people’s Promises but you get so little Idollars and Likes compared to doing one you created. I’ve also found that a lot of times when I go to join a promise, it’s already full. The promise list also loads slowly. It’d also be nice if it asked if you wanted to change your Coorde before doing a Promise.

Also this is a nitpick but only Lala’s voice plays with the new Welcome to Idol Land making drama and not mychara voices. Also found a glitch where mychara voices get put as Genki even though I set mine at Ootori or whatever it’s called.

It also sucks with Live Promises you can only play as anime characters if you do official promises that have them and even then you can’t change their Coorde.

Snapshot Promises

I really enjoyed doing these in PriChan but it’s a shame that they give less Likes than Lives (at least I’ve found) and you can only take one pose pic of your character and the rest are other players characters. Like, I don’t really wanna take pics of random strangers characters lol

Photo Studio and Photos

This one’s kind of a let down. I think it’s paid only via the Monthly Pass but I forgot to check before I bought it. There’s only a handful of poses and pre-existing backgrounds and the photo quality is so crunchy?? Also speaking of photos, I kinda hate that I have to upload it to Pristagram if I want to save it in good quality to my phone. I’ve found it takes forever to upload and it doesn’t even indicate to you that it’s uploading because the screen just freezes and I had to try and upload pics twice today because it wouldn’t work the first time

Anime

Talked about it a lot before so won’t talk about it a lot here but I’m still disappointed they didn’t decided to release official English subs for the anime especially after subbing Primagi and making the game region free.

But I think the anime is the best thing to come out of the game, Amari is a great character, new songs are great and the animation is great

Other

Nitpick but it’s a shame the rank system is different now. Now it’s just rank 1 or rank 2 instead of like “Fledgling Idol” or “Kami Idol”. Also the lovely Coorde change jingle glitch that plays even if you’re not wearing a lovely Coorde that’s from the Switch still exists :/

I think that’s all I can think of rn. Overall the game could definitely be improved especially with how it took 3 years of delays to release like this. I also hope we get more character parts soon especially the fluffy pigtails because I wanna make my character Dia. Sorry this is so long lol, if you made it this far then thanks for reading

[somethingshifted]

as i wrote, this became longer and longer, so i'm sticking it under a readmore to save your dash, i'm just waffling about the plot

as someone who feels like the band taking their own plot too seriously with plastic beach pushed the writing into a box ever since then, i still find myself wanting to connect each phase to each other. like surely there was an underlying point to be made between murdoc painting the plastic beach pink and the last cult's main color being pink. why is russel struggling again after they've set up shop in LA, his birth country but the other corner, in what i consider tumultuous times that in the end has Del return (even if unacknowledged). but then i kind of shrug my shoulders as canon is still a hodgepodge of 100 things marching in a circle. it's still easily entertainable in my head and i can't help but pick out tidbits i thought have meaning, and re-arrange them in my head like a dollhouse. i may actually dislike it if they did try to connect the two album phases officially and go down a serious route again but PB existing just makes those connections in my head. a fan interpretation is always fine but i think it's best left to the fans. that sounds haughty to say but, for the band to stay a band, i prefer it that way.

so whats the point of this post. the thing is, i'd genuinely be satisfied if gorillaz continued not taking their own plot so seriously, with the disclaimer that i do wish they'd be steadfast with characterization. like it'd be nice if any of them actually held commentary on cults practices considering theyre usually open about their view on world events, but i think enough griping about CI promo material is out there i have nothing new to say other than falling back to CI being a spur of the moment album with a release schedule out of the creators control plus the shitty fact that russel & noodle have been kind of nothing for almost 10 yrs OOPS. they could explore more avenues if they were freed from having to address past events as if they're characters in a storybook and not symbols that change with the times. and maybe if they remembered they can give characters new traits as russel's done things like pick up taxidermy and cooking but only one is referenced for several albums as his sole trait and *zips my lips*

i really feel like a bitch for wanting to harp on the lost chord as it's a beautiful, beautiful song outside of the characters, and additionally i'm a sucker for moments murdoc is faced with how he used to act, but i don't think i'd ever take it as part of a linear plot? which is why i can't fully feel like he's gone back on his word being a cunt to 2D again and falling back into the grandeur lifestyle and all that with the cult stuff.. like, let me wear my pretentious hat for a second but the lockdowns leading people to reminisce about so many things so openly and retreading memories in lieu of making new ones due to being cooped up, resonates more with my feels on the last chord, rather than uh blowing the island up and such and using portals. see, Song Machine can be written around easier bc you can say they're filming the MVs and they're metaphors, even the art reflects this (i didnt listen to the podcasts yet). but then it references the events of PB so openly that you can't just go "well thats the fake MV they shot" and that, incongruence, is hard for me. so was it refreshing to have CI not walk in circles of Murdoc is trying to say sorry guys? yes? i don't know what redemption would do for his character, as the topic of abuse and trauma (when explored with tact) is pretty important to me story wise honestly, but it's kind of... getting repetitive at some points. or maybe too much focus on murdoc 'redeeming' himself at the cost of 2D having traits stripped away and noodle & russ being silent. i don't want the events of plastic beach to be erased from both his and the band's history. having him be the villain of the plot du album is also meh, which is why i can appreciate the less serious canon on him where recent writing is concerned. 2018 is like yesterday to me and they (writers) were still poking fun at murdoc being not only assaulted in prison but also being in the psychiatric ward of prison. like what was that all about, i really really prefer peepaw livestreaming for attention to them taking harrowing events and making them the butt of a joke. i feel like it was handled better in pirate radio even if that itself wasn't meant to be all doom and gloom. it just made more sense. and theresssss my problemmmmm

all that being said i will always adore plastic beach. some of the plot heavy things contain my favorite moments and i'm easily baited with nostalgia so this isn't a bashing post at all... just looking back and wondering if the written material is best when they're dropping tidbits and leave it for fans to imagine up scenarios, rather than adhere to a canon timeline all the time. it's so hard to sum up my feelings on this and stay in perspective of the band because my genuine feeling is that i actually love a lot of the murdoc storylines and i can't reconcile that with feeling put off that it requires believing some MVs and story beats are "real". because i'm shaking the gorillaz dollhouse regardless. and writing angst in my head revolving around how recovery isn't a straight line. and how tbh russel's journey is a direct foil to murdoc's. because all the ingredients are there

like read that and call me a hypocrite, i am! i just have a lot of thoughts. i think if i knew how to write fanfic i'd just shut up and do that but my dialogue writing skills make me uncomfortable due to not being BRITISH.

TL;DR, i'd be satisfied if plot being canonically recognized wasn't a drawback on the band because they honestly suffer when they do fall back on addressing the timeline and treating the characters as Vessels who Had Someting Happen To Them rather than whatever symbol for the current topic of the album. i do think the current writing gets repetitive and sanded down. at the same time i will always encourage fan interpretations regardless because i find those very fun. in being non linear it opens their world up to diff. perspectives. and i #support peepaw listening to weyes blood

[thrilling-oneway]

I need to know your feelings about love live 2 global

SIF2 was a mistake.

God I have a lot of feelings about it. This is probably going to get rambly as hell.

Even if SIF2 kinda sucked I had still planned on getting EN just because I want to play a LL game again (i don't really understand linklike's gameplay so I'm hoping someone makes a guide now that SIF is dead in a ditch). I'm... probably not going to bother now. Maybe I'll get it to play some charts, maybe not now i've just remembered how much storage it takes as well.

Announcing your game's EOS date in the same tweet as announcing the launch month (not even a date) is insane. What the hell even. Like, this is genuinely such a PR disaster that it broke containment so badly. LL became talked about worldwide and... relevant, i guess, for the first time in years. We got on saved you a click. We got on gamesradar. Head in hands.

Like, I get why they're still launching it. Obviously staff have worked their asses off for over a year on this to the point they already had to push it back, and suddenly scrapping that plus telling fans who'd waited a year for this that they weren't even getting it is a bit shit. You can tell the only reason they're releasing it is because of this, because there's no reason for it to outlive the JP server.

I have no doubt that this was dumped on EN staff last minute. They retweeted the JP shutdown notice to the EN account for crying out loud. This wasn't meant to happen it clearly was JP staff deciding the game was failing and pulling the plug.

Even from the JP side of things it was a very last minute decision LIKE COME ON. Wien and Tomari were added last month and their only UR cards are their fucking birthday cards. That's it the event schedules have been released ahead of time they aren't getting more URs. They're having to release Shizuku, Kinako, You and Maki's URs early bc the game didn't even live to their birthdays. This wasn't meant to happen.

Not even just on EN side but SIF as a series dying is a massive thing. Like sure we still have Paradise and SIFAC wai wai, but Paradise is. well... and Waiwai is actually decent but outdated and doesn't receive updates because there's nothing to port bc they don't do SIFAC anymore. SIF dying also means u's is actually proper dead now. Like. yeah no more u's aside from the occasional LLdays illustration and annual new years stream (we don't even get thanksgiving fes anymore god). We're not gonna get N girl content anymore either bro it's so over for LL.

SIF1 was outdated and probably should've had a sequel game released that was still a similar enough game (aka not sifas) just updated to get with the times. Honestly to this day I still think SIF had the best F2P accessibility out of any game, as well as the best team building system (bc. well it actually had one like you actually had to strategically build your teams). If SIF2 wanted to be good all it had to do was add L2D (and like ACTUAL L2D not what they did in SIF2 where they slightly animated the sprites), update the gacha animation, give us cards closer to the quality of SIFAS (or even better bandori or proseka), and add 3DMV or something. Literally just make SIF1 with proseka/bandori features. You don't even have to make the story better because it isn't even canon. And what we got was SIF1 with better UI and card art, and everything else was worse including the gameplay because they broke sliders.

The fact they shut down the original game for this, and possibly even SIFAS. It's insane how poorly this was managed. Saw a tweet earlier about how fucked up it is how Nijigaku have several songs based on in-game stories from both SIFAS and SIF2 and both of them are just. Lost media ig now. Even SIF1 stories are lost media because no where archived them. God that's so fucked actually like so much content just gone forever. EVEN OFFICIAL NOVEL TRANSLATIONS WERE IN SIF1 AND THEY'RE JUST GONE.

It's insane to think that the best LL rhythm game now is an outdated PS4 arcade port (the best game is actually linklike but it's not really much a rhythm game). Other than that there's * checks notes * Tokimeki RunRuns, Blaze in the Deep Blue, Numazu in the Mirage, and the upcoming Niji game. None of which are rhythm games.

I saw some people discussing that maybe that cross-unit live that's bringing back saint snow will have a new game announcement and while I doubt SIF3 i honestly kinda hope there's something coming with that concert. Even if it's a fucking bandori/prsk reskin or even SIFAS2 I don't care I just want to have faith in this franchise because it means a lot to me.

Sasuga staff-san /neg

[nukenai]

Well it’s 1am but I absolutely have to finally write one of these posts, don’t read if you don’t wanna be teleported to a sad 1am post of mine from 5 years ago or be consumed by gigacringe (this post is not sad but cw for some as-expected negative mental health stuff/actions I’ll be mentioning, from my past.)

I really don’t think I can even begin to articulate how important Super Mario RPG is to me. When I was a kid - like I’m talking 2006-ish - my Thing(tm) was Earthbound. We didn’t say “fandom” back then. Besides Pokemon and Zelda, it became my THING and I fell so in love with it. A weird part of internet Earthbound culture back then was that you were mad at Super Mario RPG for making Earthbound sell poorly. I know, it’s insane, I was 15 cut me a fucking break.

So yeah that was all intrinsically linked with Smash, obviously. I was online during the pre-release of Brawl days, browsing places like /v/, and there was all this talk of this guy Geno. I didn’t know who Geno was! One time I did a Deviantart Journal “quiz” thing, and one question was, “Who is a video game character you hate?” My response was “I dunno, that Geno guy”. A friend of mine at the time was like “??? Like SMRPG Geno? How could you hate him?” and me being a teenager, I was like well, I’m annoyed that everyone talks about him.

Stuff got weird pretty quickly. An artist I had a goofy little crush on drew Geno. And I went, huh. Okay.

Then Brawl came out. I won’t even get into all of that because this is about SMRPG, but people ripped data off the disks and found unused stuff. Like unused music. I was mad about the unused Earthbound music, and the Ballad of the Wind Fish. Boo!

But then someone made a fun little album, called “Brawl - The Lost Tracks”. They got together “as official as possible” versions of the songs that had gone unused and only existed as text files on the disk. This included Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms (I’ve made angry posts before about how wrong the Cutting Room Floor page is about this track NOT being BTFM - ask me about it sometime and I’ll start screaming)

So one day I downloaded this little album. And I remember exactly where I was sitting, I listened to a couple of the EB songs like yeah, alright. Then there was a nice remix of the ballad of the wind fish. Then I saw beware the forest’s mushrooms and I thought, well. Why not. It’s a song. I like music.

It was the official arrange from the arrangement album. Until Memoria it was 100% the most beautiful rendition of the song to ever exist. And I lost my goddamn mind. I had never heard a song so gorgeous and I was instantly so upset with myself for being such a stubborn dork about SMRPG for so long (imagine that, me, stubborn!!)

So it all kinda hit me like a truck. I remember the day I first saved a piece of Geno fanart, like a day after I heard the song, and I was GOT. I thought oh, maybe he’s kinda cute, and it all just spiraled into hell. When I was a kid I was all into people drawing him as a Cool Anime Bishounen, but now I’m extremely cool and am like “Doll only, please!” unless it’s the goofy cute human design I have for him. But really I prefer doll. ANYWAYS.

During my high school years my life was... uh, rough. I was dealing with domestic violence in my home and we were more than once kicked out of our house and had to scramble to find a place to stay temporarily. While I was still just going to classes. I wound up failing my 11th grade English class because I often didn’t have access to a computer with internet or a printer and couldn’t do my assignments. My teacher didn’t ask why I was suddenly not finishing assignments, she just failed me. I went to summer school and it wound up being one of the best experiences of my life though. So, you know.

Throughout all this bullshit I like, had Geno. I had a reason to look up at the starry sky and make wishes and track meteor showers. It was something to like, keep my going again. Unsurprisingly I was DEEPLY struggling with my mental health. I was self-harming, and was just in general doing Very Fucking Not Great and felt like I had nowhere to turn. To this day my family like, doesn’t let me talk about this situation, and I received no help or support from any of them during this. Things are better now, but holy fuck, man. It was just my mom and I dealing with domestic violence and homelessness and no one was helping us.

But I had him. I had the “will he be in Smash someday?” shit. I had the Smash speculation community. I had SMRPG fans who were all like-minded cool people who loved how much I loved Geno, because they loved him too! He was like a fucking life raft for me in one of the worst periods of my whole existence and always felt like an anchor when things were spiraling out of control.

And it feels so corny to talk about it, because oh Nuke, you’re always dramatic about characters. But damn, did it fucking hurt when “friends” were just straight up fucking mean to me about Smash stuff for years on end. Damn did it hurt when I tried to express how important this shit was to me, and it was written off as me being ridiculous about a Video Game, you know? Would therapy have been good? Maybe. I tried it as an adult after being pressured into it by my ex and it was an actual nightmare because the only therapist in my area with hours compatible with my job who took my insurance was like 24 years old and told me straight to my face she didn’t want to talk about things I liked because she didn’t understand them. So maybe not! But I had this something, something so important to me, and it felt like everyone around me was so fucking Tired of me caring so much about something. It felt like everyone was tired of ME. And I was tiring of myself too, and it fucking sucked! It really did.

A couple years ago I finally let go of all the rage and sorrow in my heart and I’ve been doing so, so well. I found myself so suddenly surrounded by people who fucking care about me, and who are like “Oh, I don’t know that character, tell me about them! You love them so much!”, and people who invite me over to their house to just sit and watch Transformers or build model kits. People tell me to my face “I don’t think you’re annoying” when I compare myself to Rodimus, and I get actively invited to things. Wow! It’s been so fucking NICE. It sucks to have such nightmares in my past to compare this all to, but man, the difference is insane.

So it’s like. I wanted this to happen years ago. I wanted them to announce a SMRPG remake, or something, a few years ago when I was at my worst, when people were treating me like shit, when friends of my SO were being huge assholes to me only for my SO to say “hmm I think you’re making that up because you’re dramatic”.

But it didn’t. And I got through everything with my own strength. And now I’m at my absolute best, and I get this now. I get it once I’ve moved past all those miserable negative people who treated me like garbage. I don’t have to rub it in their faces and be like “Look, I got this far, I’ve made it and I won over all the SHIT”. Because none of them are here anymore and they don’t matter to me.

I got so many messages across all my social medias, even from people who I haven’t actually spoken to in some time (but still exist in internet circles with, you know how online friendships are), so many people saying oh my god, Nuke, I’m so happy for you, holy shit congratulations, this is amazing I can’t believe it.

I love you all so fucking much, I love Super Mario RPG so fucking much, all of you and this game are so important to me I don’t even know if 4k more words of rambling nonsense can express it. I am at such a good place in my life now, I want to spread that positivity and do my best to be good to people and to the world that has been so good to me these past few years. Despite how this year started, it hasn’t felt like a negative shroud over me. Just another challenge to overcome, and I’ve overcome literally everything put in front of me so far. Nothing is phasing me anymore and I’m doing so GREAT.

I’m so happy the remake is happening at a time when I’m at my best. I didn’t need anyone to save me before, and now this will just lift me higher. And I can truly enjoy it, as a joyful gift, as opposed to hoping it will be a life raft getting me out of a flood. I can truly enjoy it for what it is and what it’s meant to be.

A beautiful, delightful, very funny little video game, about Mario and all his weird little friends.

I don’t think I’ll even mind having to say goodbye to Geno at the end, again. Because I know now, there’s nothing stopping him from coming back.

And hey, SMRPG’s not a very long game. I can always replay it. And Geno will always be there.

Always.

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

Volume 15: Technology Alert! 1995 Indie Rock / Downtempo / Alternative Rock / Indie Electronic / Trip Hop

Alright, let's talk about Volume! Volume was a UK music publication that was focused on quality. Every few months or so, between the years of 1991 and 1997, their readership would get supplied with a brand new 192-page-thick issue in the shape of a CD booklet that was packed with biographies and interviews with artists from all across Britain's wide-ranging and very eclectic indie spectrum. And along with each issue came a CD too, but not just some cheap, little sampler; no, these CDs were solely comprised of exclusives. Every song that was included on a Volume album had never officially appeared on any other release beforehand, and every act that appeared on a Volume CD received coverage in that CD's respective issue; proper context was being provided for each artist you were listening to as you perused through the mag itself.

And while sometimes that meant that you were gonna get cutting-room floor material, because artists preferred to save their best stuff for their own releases, it also opened up opportunities for these Volume CDs to come laced with some rare, beautiful gems as well.

And this 15th volume of Volume from 1995 happens to have a handful of those gems on it, while also managing to serve as a neat, little snapshot of a mid-90s UK indie landscape, overall, that was far more diverse than the US' own at the time, due in large part to its complete openness to, and indulgence in, electronic and dance music. A lot of indie fans and writers in the US simply turned up their noses at a lot of that stuff at the time, but the Brits had a history of embracing it, from their late 80s and early 90s days of pirate radio, acid warehouses, and the Madchester scene that soon followed, which saw bands like The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays fusing their alternative rock sounds with psychedelic dance beats.

And as this CD shows, electronic music—either as standalone genres like downtempo, trip hop, breakbeat, or techno, or used in order to be combined with rock— was still very much sewn into the UK's own indie fabric in 1995, whereas in the US, it was far less embraced and much less incorporated by indie bands themselves. It still existed stateside, of course, but electronic music at that point was more or less regarded as its own cloistered off, peculiar, little sideshow, rather than the wellspring of unique creativity and sonic ingenuity that the UK took it for. The only ones who *really* managed to effectively break through that US-made firewall at that time were Björk and Moby. So, Brits really got down with what electronic music had to offer, while Americans largely side-eyed it, and as a result, the UK continues to be, by far, the most musically eclectic country in the entire world.

So, with all that in mind, let's get into some of the sweet mid-90s indie gems that you can find on this ephemeral CD here. First is a song that comes courtesy of the reigning champions of that far-ahead-of-its-time ethereal dream pop sound: Scotland's very own Cocteau Twins. They bring forth an enthralling tune in "Circling Girl," which never ended up appearing on any of their albums, but was included on their single, Violaine, the following year. Then there's a futuristically jangly piece of alternative folk-rock from a band called Babybird, who've now gone on to release gobs of music since, but this "Alan Ladd" song of theirs doesn't appear to have ever been included on any other release, and seems to actually be their debut song 🤔?! And after that is an Icelandic indie-trip hop group who call themselves LHOOQ, whose "Vanishing" predates their official debut album on London's Echo Records by a few years, and smacks deeply of a band like Portishead.

Then in the second half, we're treated to a couple sweet bits of purely electronic music too. One comes from the duo of Ultramarine, whose "Altered Ego" makes for a nice and somewhat minimal acid-dubby downtempo groove, and the other comes from a London duo called Joi, whose "Everybody Say Yeah" gets a remix treatment from another London duo called Spring Heel Jack, resulting in a spectacular piece of Asian Underground breakbeat that feels like it was made for a balmy South Asian summer sunrise 😌.

There's a lot of other fine songs on this comp too, but those five are the absolute cream of the crop to me. And an honorable mention goes out to State of Grace's "Perfect and Wild" as well. It's a new wave-synthpop stunner of sorts, as it lays down a thick slab of intensely glimmering synths in the choruses, but its overall lack of ample audio quality ultimately ends up betraying it, relegating it from what could've been perhaps the best song on this album, to not even making it to my own coveted list of highlights for this post 😔.

Unfortunately, I don't currently have any more of these Volume CDs on hand, but if this particular installment is any indication, then this whole series appears to be a really rich treasure trove of underheard and cutting-edge 90s UK indie ephemera. Rare cuts from critically acclaimed entities alongside super cool songs from acts that only ended up existing for a few fleeting seconds.

Highlights:

Cocteau Twins - "Circling Girl" Baby Bird - "Alan Ladd" LHOOQ - "Vanishing" Ultramarine - "Altered Ego" Joi - "Everybody Say Yeah (Spring Heel Jack  remix)"

[lbigreyhound13]

I'm back with more ROTG art!! This time, it's based on a show Stranger Things. Without going into too much spoiler territory, it's based on this scene in its most recent season. I also wrote a little "drabble" to go along with it. Hope you enjoy!

“Jack!”

“Jack, wake up!”

“Sweet Tooth, please, wake up!”

He heard the voices, and he looked over Vecna’s shoulder…he could see an opening to the real world. He could see his sister’s gravestone…his body was sitting there…not moving, and the Guardians and Jaime were all around him trying to get him to wake up. He wanted to call out to him…to tell them that he was here with Vecna but that he was trapped, but the vines around his neck kept a good grip making it impossible to talk.

Vecna turned and saw what Jack was looking at, and Jack felt his heart drop to his stomach. “They can’t help you, Jack,” he said menacingly as Jack struggled against the vines. “There’s a reason you hide from them. You belong here with me.”

Jack glared at the monster as he struggled against the vines even more. He refused to go out like this. He refused to let this monster get to him. “Y-You’re not really here,” he said.

“Oh, but I am here, Jack,” Vecna retorted as the vines tightened around Jack’s neck. Then…he raised his clawed hand. “I am.” He slowly moved his hand in front of Jack’s face, and his eyes rolled back.

———— Back in the physical world, the original Big Four and Jaime refused to give up in trying to awaken Jack. They had to break Vecna's spell. They just had to. North refused to lose his son like this...to some mysterious sorcerer. He could hear Jack's favorite song blasting through Jaime's headphones. Pippa and Cupcake said that music should work as a way back to reality, so why was nothing happening? Why wasn't Jack waking up?

Then...suddenly, as he and Bunny shook Jack's shoulders...Jack began to move upward...almost as if he was standing up. However, his eyes remained rolled back, and his head moved back...as his body began to...float up into the air...away from his family.

They could only stare at the sight in shock and horror. Bunny was so taken aback that he fell back onto his bottom as they all watched the Guardian of Fun ascend into the air...about to become the next victim. He remained high above them...out of reach, but they refused to give up.

"JACK!" they all shouted in unison trying with all their might to wake Jack up.

---------- "JACK!" he heard them call out to him begging for him to come back.

He could see past Vecna's clawed fingers...over his shoulder. The opening was still there. Only this time, his body was now floating in midair...with North, Bunny, and Jaime all shouting from where they stood on the ground...and Tooth and Sandy trying to pull him back down...begging for him to wake up...to come back to them. He couldn't believe this was happening...He was about to die at the hands of this...monster...He was about to leave his best friends...his family behind...another family behind...just as he left his human family behind.

He closed his eyes listening to the music and to their voices as memories flooded through his mind...memories of his human family...of the day he saved his little sister...the day he officially became a guardian...North and Tooth's hugs...his talks with Jaime and Sandy...Baby Tooth...all the times he and Bunny roughhoused each other...his group hugs with the other Guardians...his family. No...no...he couldn't just leave them...leave all that behind. He refused to. He opened his eyes again and reached out grabbing a vine off Vecna's neck causing him to yell in pain.

The vines released him, and Jack fell to the ground. He looked up seeing that the opening was still there, and he wasted no time and stood up. He ran...ran for his life toward the opening away from Vecna. The Guardian of Fun felt the mud splashing on his legs, but he did not care. All he wanted was to be back in his family's arms...to be with them again. He looked over his shoulder once to see that Vecna wasn't following him, and it made him only run faster when he saw the monster just standing there.

However, he wasn't out of the woods yet. Debris came crashing down around him clearly trying to make him stop, but he refused to stop. He wanted to go back to his family. He needed to go back to them. Nothing was going to get in the way of that. Tears flooded his eyes as he saw how much closer he was getting. He was almost there. He was so close... He let out one gasp of air...and then...

It was black...

Until...

"JACK!"

Jack's eyes shot open, and he barely had time to realize that he was floating in midair. He barely had time to call upon the Wind, Tooth, or Sandy to help as he fell to the ground.

As soon as he landed, the voices returned and were louder than ever...

"Sweet Tooth!" Tooth...

"Frostbite!" Bunny...

"Jack, are you okay?" Jaime...

He screamed as he scrambled about looking around to see if there was any trace of Vecna, but there wasn't. He was back in the physical world. He made it! He barely had time as there was someone else who came up from behind...

"Jack!" North shouted as he wasted no time in gathering the boy into his arms holding him tightly. "My boy! My boy, I'm right here! I'm right here!" He hugged Jack tightly refusing to let go, and Jack gladly leaned into his adoptive father's embrace as North rested his head on his. "I thought we lost you..."

"I'm still here...I'm still here..." Jack said over and over...closing his eyes and taking in the feeling of North's warm embrace...and the other Guardians and Jaime's presence around them... "I'm still here..."

[thraveenperera]

Nearly 10 years after it aired and it’s still one of the best sets I’ve ever heard. I wonder what the next 10 years will be like and what music will help get me through it.

Would love it if everyone who came across this post would take the time to listen to this whole set.

Tracklist

1. One More Chance/Stay With Me - Remix by Notorious B.I.G.

Biggie is the first rapper I ever liked. I remember loving this song as a child, funny how as a teen this beat came back around to me. I believe the sample was also used by Ashanti on ‘’Foolish’’ which is what probably made me like Biggie’s version mo much. The chopped and screwed portion of this song at the end is so mind melting. I miss the sounds of 2011 when different artists like A$AP & SALEM would expriment with those deep vocals. Drake made a similar sounding experimental track last year ‘’Screw The World - Interlude’’.

2. 21 Questions - 50 Cent & Nate Dogg

50 Cent was probably the second rapper I can probably remember. I remember saving up enough money to buy his album ‘’The Massacre’’ in 2005. G-Unit used to be so cool, before we guys my age started calling each other fags, the ultimate diss was to be told you were ‘G-UNot’. That shit would hurt me to my core. I wanted to write out some of my favourite lyrics for this one but I’d end up having to give you the entire song.

3. Some of Your Love - Partynextdoor

I’m gonna be repeating myself a lot but I love this song. The Partynextdoor tracks on this playlist never released officially. Maybe only 1 of them did. These are such hidden gems. I remember freaking out in 2015 the night it aired.

4. Just A Rider - Partynextdoor

‘’I think that coupe wasn’t meant 3….’’

Favourite Partynextdoor song. 20/10

5. Make It Rain - Partynextdoor

Great song to drive to but it’s more of an interlude track.

6. I’m Single - Lil Wayne

7. Cameras / Good Ones Go Interlude - Medley - Drake

Such a great era of Drake. 2011-2016, before Toronto really got a ton of exposure with the Raptors and stuff in the coming years of 2017, 2018 & 2019. Toronto’s scene used to be really underground, niche and grimey. I miss that feeling in the music but Take Care era Drake is almost unmatched, prior to all that gangster cronie brodie shit got way too carried away.

8. Only You (feat. The Notorious B.I.G. & Mase)

One of my all-time favourite songs, top 5. 10/10.

9. Wait For You - Partynextdoor

10. Unknown Track/Verse - Unknown Artist

Good verse, wish I knew who it was.

11.

[f-agagegea]

It was the album that was supposed to be released after Set Me Free (2007), and there haven’t been any solid reasons as to why it got shelved. Allegedly, Eleven Seven, the record label that Marion was on at the time, went bankrupt, but I can’t verify if this is true. The only source that implies this is most likely true is where an article talks about the label going through a new name in 2019. Marion, herself, has actually also talked about Nevermore in a Norwegian podcast, but a reliable translator who used to be part of the fanbase mentioned that she was extremely vague. So unfortunately, there’s not much to go off from that actually explains why Nevermore got shelved. But regardless of the reason, it is such a shame that it never got to be officially released. After Nevermore, Marion released Songs from a Blackbird, which meant we never got a sendoff for her rock career. And Nevermore could have been that. Allegedly, again, Marion wasn’t happy with how Nevermore came out, but for me, I think it’s still a great album. It showed Marion’s range in not only as a singer but a songwriter too. If she was given more time to do some revisions and replace some of the weaker songs, this could’ve been her best body of work. Some of the weaker songs were actually the ones that managed to be released, Flesh and Bone and Found Someone, but they’re such a misrepresentation of the rest of the album. Flesh and Bone has a more electronic, pop sound, meanwhile Found Someone can be described as a Christian song. They just don’t fit with the hard rock/post grunge songs or darker themes. Some of these songs are the hardest she has ever gone in any of her discography. The most obvious one, Backstabbing Bitch, has a guitar riff that’s very reminiscent of early 2000’s post-grunge (think of Meant to Live by Switchfoot but harder.) It’s a song that probably wouldn’t do well with today because of the lyrics, but I really enjoy how Marion belts out here. Very melodic chorus too. We Are Dead is also a great hard hitting ending to the album. It does seem like it’s a commentary on society—it actually is VERY relevant today still—lyrics like “We have silenced ourselves” and “Just change the channel til you’re comfortable and numb” remind me that Marion has a lot more range than people think. Another great song—and my FAVORITE song Marion has ever made—is Rosemarie. This song was inspired by the Rosemarie Fritz case, which to summarize the song, it’s about how Rosemarie turned a blind eye to her husband’s horrible doings to their daughter. It’s such a dark topic, and it’s the second time she had written a song about a famous case—the first time was For You I’ll Die, which was inspired by the girlfriend of The Door’s frontman Jim Morrison. It shows that Marion can actually be a very interesting songwriter when she wants to be, and it’s a shame she hasn’t wrote such a unique song like Rosemarie since then.

This post is already so long, but one more thing that I do want to bring up, which is the song Heartless. It was leaked years ago at the time, and it was /allegedly/ supposed to be on the Twilight soundtrack (I have some random facts about Marion and Twilight, but I’ll share them in a different post eventually.) But since the Twilight soundtrack was under Atlantic, Marion’s chances were pretty much zero. Which again, another unfortunate blocking of Marion’s career launching. Sometimes I wonder how Marion’s career would have gone if she was on the soundtrack. Give her an actual high quality music video and then follow up with a single that might appeal to Twilight fans (in this case, I think Vital Signs would have been a good option), and promoted herself and show off her personality, and she might have a chance. But as a stands, the album remains extremely underrated and known mostly to fans. 😔

There’s two more songs from this album that I want to talk about, but I’ll save it for last ranking. I have so, so much to talk about for the last one. I hope everyone has enjoyed it at least learned something new.

[ericleo108]

12/29/2023 Click here for Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. “Praises” is my 66th official release. This song is energetic, romantic, and intellectual all at the same time. This song is about praising Gaia as if she was your lover. The song officially features Headband Henny and unofficially features Sam Peters who also mixed and mastered the track at La Luna Recording and Sound in Kalamazoo Michigan. It was self-recorded and the beat is by That Kid Goran who I shout out in the song. The cover art is by xoxodesigns from fiverr.

I talk about this blog post and other updates in the latest Sunday update here:

I wanted to make a song basically thanking Gaia and telling her if she brings me more good fortune I will rap her praises in the same way you want to rap the praises of your girlfriend or boyfriend.I’m really talking to Gaia and vessel’s of Gaia about how I wanna rap their praises. And considering the theory is that Gaia influences through inferences of love especial romantic (aka eros) it is appropriate to talk to her as if she were your significant other.  “Get naked” is a metaphor for “baring it all.”

Lyrics: Rap your praises Rap your praises Eric Leo 108 Check it Wow girl, you fine, go ahead and get naked Rappin what I do, never into fake’n  My heart, from your love is what’s been taken I just wanna give it back, and rap your praises Shout out to my producers That work on my music Like That Kid Goran Thanks for this beat dude let’s  Get this money and endorsements Stack it high til it abhorrent Feel’n Amorphous Like the energy course’n (I said) Feeling amorphous Like the energy course n Through my veins and orifices While connecting the Forrests The spirit bomb is real dawg The Egyptians have revealed y’all  Energy and we evolved Connected and involved We can’t even talk to plants Or communicate to dolphins How we gonna talk to aliens Or the earth, even if we wanna So I’m gonna abide And live my life Enjoy the ride And focus my eyes Cuz Not every one observes  The starry nights in verse I step left (right) to learn How To connect with earth Like flowing water streams I see you in my dreams How you treat the people see Is the reason we agree Wow girl, you fine, go ahead and get naked Rappin what I do, never into fake’n  My heart, from your love is what’s been taken I just wanna give it back, and rap your praises Wow girl, you fine, go ahead and get naked Singing what I do, never into fake’n  My heart, from your love is what’s been taken I just wanna give it back, and sing your praises I just want to give it back and rap your praises  This space is where I’m gonna be for now  Matter of fact it’s so amazing  Mother Nature  Nurtured me  And I’ve been patient Ly waiting for  The days in store That earth is worth saving for  We need to treat you like you treated us  We’ve always needed you, you ain’t needed things from us  We’ve been ungrateful and neglectful thus far  So now it’s time for us to get to doing our part  Cuz I know it’s bliss  But I want all of this around for my kids  If it’s hurting you then I ain’t rocking them kicks  Everywhere I go, I can’t help but take a pic  Cuz being picturesque  Is yours best  dang feature  With all the creatures  Chilling and relaxing  But you’re still the teacher  Telling us what to do  I’m seeing all the signs  And we just want you  To be healthy and all fine Wow girl, you fine, go ahead and get naked Rappin what I do, never into fake’n  My heart, from your love is what’s been taken I just wanna give it back, and rap your praises Wow girl, you fine, go ahead and get naked Singing what I do, never into fake’n  My heart, from your love is what’s been taken I just wanna give it back, and sing your praises Rap your praises Rap your praises Rap your praises

[freakinbads]

Piper Choi drops "Who is She", as a single on youtube. After some digging, netizens found the original demo on ARZE's SoundCloud, with the final product being both produced and written by ARZE and co-produced by Morgan of The Band Atelier. This prompted an official release with a statement from Sky House, Piper, and ARZE aka Ezra Park as this follows a release of extremely pointed songs released that have been co-written/written/produced by ARZE. Statements read below as follows.

"Hello, this is Sky House LLC. We want to thank everyone for their support of Sky House and our subsequent musical acts. We have been lucky to have received some of the most talented musicians in the industry under our company, whether solely signed to us or jointly with Two Star Entertainment. There have been many rumors surrounding the release of Piper's single, "Who Is She" and the situations surrounding with one of our producers, ARZE. ARZE and Piper are not dating, and we ask that you not speculate, as we do allow for our artists to express themselves freely. We spoke to ARZE and know the backstory for the demo, and while he will be making his own statement, he does wish that no one try to find out who songs are written about as that's not why the songs were written. Should any malicious rumors pop up, we will not hesitate to file a court document for defamation. Let this be your one and only warning. Thank you. Brian Ahn, Public Relations, Sky House LLC in tandem with Lee Hyungseo, CEO of Sky House LLC."

From Piper Choi

"This is Piper. I honestly didn't realize what would happen when I recorded the demo. When Ezra brought the song to me, I loved it. The hard-hitting feelings are something that I like to write about in my work, and with a little help to clean up the production and rewrite the song, I was able to be very out of my element and try something different. Ezra is a good friend of mine, he's friends with my brother and he is really a kind man. He has a writer's heart, and he's so talented. Please keep supporting my career as well as his. Thank you."

From ARZE

"This is ARZE. Thank you so much for the support on all of my music. I know that while my music may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's been amazing to see the support I've received with my EPS as well as on the 'How Did we get here' Podcast. I want to thank the guys who have stood by me since the get-go. You all are the best family a guy could ask for. Now to address "Who is She". The original title of the demo was "Who the Fuck Is She", which wouldn't work for Piper's work but as a demo, it worked well for me. The song was originally written about a situation in my last relationship with my ex-fiancee. I had originally thought about writing it as one of my club songs but when Piper had told me that she was looking for something angsty, my demo was the one that she liked the most. The song is mostly unchanged, save for some names. I don't want anyone tracking down my ex and pulling a 'oh look you suck' movement on them, as I really don't want to have to deal with them back in my life. Just enjoy the song, alright? My company has stated any malicious rumors will be dealt with so make sure to behave yourselves and make me proud. Always, ARZE."