#unlikely mashups but it all makes sense to me

[ghoulierstudio]

The musical altoid shrine version. I might add glitter

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 29/03/2024

Semi-Charmed All Star

Season 3 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips Volume A

Ripped by eva twin

Requested by Fezaki! (Request Form)

When I read Fezaki's request for this rip, it came with a pretty simple declaration on his part - that Semi-Charmed All Star may well be the best All Star rip on the entire channel. The comment kind of got me thinking for a while, because All Star is the kind of song that's at once incredibly recognizable yet also sort of old hat for use in memes today. The overly loud meme landscape of the mid-2010s was practically lead by Shrek's iconic door-slamming "SOME-BODY!!", and the song was used quite a fair bit in Season 1 of SiIvaGunner in particular, yet it never quite found the same longevity and fondness as other memes on the channel. Why is that - and how does Semi-Charmed All Star break free from that trend?

In terms of All Star's decline in popularity on SiIva, the simplest reason to point to is, bluntly, that it's at once both very easy to use and very overplayed, already beginning to feel a bit overdone back in 2016. With a steady rhythm and an all-too-common 4/4th time signature, the song is comparatively quite easy to make use of for low-effort mashups - it's no coincidence that, in Mr. Rental [B Side] ~ Out of Options, it was one of these All Star mashups that sent the Mr. Rental character on a rampage to destroy the very concept of mashups themselves. A song like Space Jam sort of occupies a similar space, likely being the absolute most mashed-up-with song in history due to its ease of use and popularity; but funny enough, due to the team's sheer dedication to finding new ways to use it to subvert the otherwise low expectations of the source, it's been wearing that position with honor rather than shame. Rips like Hoopache and Mother, Father, TechnoMan hopefully show what I mean - they go so far above what one would consider needed for a Space Jam rip and have kept the source alive along with its number-one infamy. Sitting comfortably in second place, All Star hasn't really had that luxury - it shows up from time to time, but once the bar of quality went up past Season 1, it felt like it got largely left behind.

And that makes Semi-Charmed All Star all the more interesting. In a sea of other All Star edits off of SiIva, the various ones made during Season 1, and the occasional attempts made in the years since to complicate it the same way as those aforementioned Space Jam rips, it stands at a really great balance. It is indeed an All Star mashup, but unlike most that popularized the trend, its not using the song's memed-up vocals - instead using its instrumental backing, in some ways just as iconic and recognizable, yet far less overplayed in comparison. The song its paired with, Semi-Charmed Life, is one I'm far less familiar with, yet it funny enough has notable history with All Star: The song was repeatedly used by the legendary Neil Cicierega in some of his mashup albums, the first of these, Mouth Sounds, consisting almost entirely of All Star mashups. I'm pretty sure this little nod to mashup history is intentional, as the game Semi-Charmed All Star is featuring - Rock Band - was directly cited by Neil as being the resource that made him interested in doing mashups to begin with. To my understanding, the two songs never actually crossed over on these mashup albums - in that sense, the rip is realizing an idea that was set up four years before its release.

More than that, though, the rip is just executed incredibly well, and a banger on the whole! There's little in the way of surprises to find, though I definitely chuckled at 01:14 when the vocals command a "STOP" only to be met by a sudden out-of-place guitar shred that interrupts itself, as if it just got caught being too loud. There's a real appeal to All Star's instrumental, a chill vibe that I described back in RNR (Rip No Riffs) and is sort of lost in its exaggerated vocal performance, yet one that feels almost more realized here in Semi-Charmed All Star. There's editing to the stems done to make the two songs fit better together, which is a layer of deep nitty-gritty analysis that I don't know if I'm able to discern just by ear (please remember while reading this blog - I'm not a musician!). But given just how naturally the two songs end up fitting together in the end, completely lacking that typical Season 1 roughness you'd perhaps expect from a rip using All Star - I'd say eva twin did a really good job here!! In line with a previous rip of hers I've covered on here, Blessing the Dire, Dire Rains, it at times feel as if Season 3 was aiming to better realize the ideas that Season 1 was setting up, even extending into its year-defining April Fools event as described with Fragile Snowman (Remastered). This is not to say that there weren't any *good* All Star rips in Season 1 either - the first rip linked in this paragraph is from Season 1! It's more that I feel like Semi-Charmed All Star better realizes the potential these rips have to be genuinely - and in a very distinct way - good, without going into full-on absurdist territory as Space Jam rips often does. A perfect balance is struck, althewhile paying tribute to mashup history in a pretty neat way.

Ah, gosh...All Star, what a song, what a bizarre legacy for Smash Mouth to leave behind. But I'm always happy to see it again, especially when done as well as it is here - and it's of course always a pleasure to feature eva twin's incredibly underrated ripping work on the blog. I couldn't find a way to integrate it into the post, but please - Go listen to Sable's Stickerbush sometime today, you won't regret it.

[sailorshadzter]

Hi, could I ask for a Jonsa The little Mermaid AU? I think it fits Jonsa really well considering the heroine is a beautiful girl with red hair who believes in the good of people despite being constantly hurt by the patriarchy. She also saves her dark-haired prince charming but he gets deceived by another princess (cough kind of like Dany?). Plus she likes to sing.

hi anon!

now that ive written this, idk why it took me so long to get to it! it was a lot of fun!! so if you happen to see that ive finally answered it & you enjoy it, let me know! or anyone for that matter, i might be inclined to write more jonsa & the little mermaid or more disney mashups in general!

anyways!

thanks for the submission!

send me prompts

The sunshine… So close, so far… 

She stretches her arm out, fingers reaching, grasping, her heart wishing. 

As she breaks through the surface of the rocky waves, she sees the typically blue sky is gray, the threat of a storm looming just overhead. Soon enough, she knows that even the bright sun will be covered with storm clouds and she will once more sink beneath the surface, the memory of its warmth all she has left.

A sigh escapes her as she swings her gaze elsewhere, surprised then to see the ship in the distance, one she recognizes for she’s seen it time and time before. A smile flickers across her lips and she dives back below, closing the distance between her and the ship, popping back up on the backside, to where she knows is a place she can pull herself up to the dock, out of sight of the humans on board.

 Lively music is playing and the human she knows is named Jon is dancing to the beat, laughing at something she’s not privy to. He’s dark haired, curls she knows when it’s loose from its tight bun, with dark eyes she wishes she might look into if given the chance. Across the ship, his great white beast eyes her as he always does, the only creature upon the ship to ever give her notice, but he’s quiet in his knowledge, almost as if he knows the truth that hides in her heart. She’s been watching this human and his ship for a long time now and though he doesn’t know of her existence, she wishes he could- she wishes he might smile at her and she at him. She wishes she might dance alongside him, perhaps even sing with him, as she does her sisters and her friends below the water. If only she might have legs of her own! 

The rain begins then, a clap of thunder rumbling in the distance. It’s been long enough that she’s gone now and she knows if she stays much longer, her father will notice her being gone, so she pushes off the dock and slips back beneath the water’s surface. However, as she swims back down, deeper, deeper, back to home, she senses danger. Something tells her to glance back up and sure enough, when she does, she sees something bright like the sun, but bigger. Closer. 

Her heartbeat quickening, she turns and swims back up the way she’s just come, breaking through the water only to feel an intense heat. Like that of the sun on her skin, only increased greatly, so strong it prickles her scalp and dries the water on her face as she looks up in horror at the sight before her. The ship she’s only just left is burning- she knows the word from a book she found once- and she doesn’t need to be a human to know this is dangerous for those aboard the ship. 

That’s when she sees the great white beast she’s come to know being thrown overboard, yelping as he goes. She sees him paddling his legs- he can swim, it seems. She turns back to the ship, watching as the mast begins to fall, breaking into pieces as it goes. To her shock, one catches the human, Jon, as it falls, knocking him into the water. He, unlike the beast, does not begin to swim nor paddle, but rather he’s sinking…

Gasping, she ducks beneath the surface of the choppy water, watching as he’s sinking lower, lower, surely to drown if he’s not pulled back up. You must never go near humans! Her father’s voice rings through her mind, making her hesitate, but she resolves herself, surging forward as she pushes away those thoughts. Her father would never understand. And she was not going to allow this human to die when she was right there.

And so, she slips an arm beneath his shoulders, pulling him up; he’s heavy, but she swims up, tail moving faster than it’s ever moved before. After what feels like an eternity, she breaks through to the surface, where like a cruel twist, the storm is already passing. A summer storm, come and gone, just like that. She swims towards the shoreline, which is quite far, but she does not stop until finally beneath her she can feel the sandy bottom of the ocean floor. With every muscle in her body, she manages to drag him ashore, just barely out of reach of the tide that will rush in at dawn. 

Catching her breath, she stares down at the face of the man she’s just saved; he’s even more handsome up close, she realizes, with a small scar across an eye. Behind her the sun is rising up and she hears the sound of a voice calling his name, closer and closer. But then… His eyes are opening, slowly he’s waking and she cannot bear to pull away. Not just yet. Her hand comes up, cradling his cheek as he shifts beneath her touch, leaning into it as if he craves it. As if he knows it. She can’t help but to sing softly, the lullaby she recalls her mother singing to her when she was still very small. 

As he opens his eyes, he’s greeted by what surely must be a dream.

He’s never seen a more beautiful face in all of his life; big, beautiful blue eyes stare down at him with concern, rosy lips curving with syllables of words he doesn’t know. She’s singing, he realizes, a melodic tone that reminds him of childhood safety. Her voice is as beautiful as her face, the loveliest of voices he’s ever heard, one which he longs to hear long after she’s gone. She must be an angel, he realizes, come to take him to the otherside, for there could be no one in this world as lovely as she was. 

But then he hears it, the barking of Ghost, the sound startling her. She’s turning away then, casting him not even a backwards glance as she disappears from his view. Groaning, he’s trying his best to sit up, to call out after her, but it isn’t until he hears Davos’ calling his name, until he feels his hands on his arms, helping him up, that he’s able to open his eyes and look around him. She was gone. “A girl… She saved me…” he’s mumbling as Davos hoists him onto his feet, grumbling about Jon’s antics being bad for his health. “She was singing! The most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard…” He’s going on, stumbling to the left, then to the right, as if any moment she would appear once more. Beyond the two men, Ghost has skidded into the water, as if he alone knows where the woman has gone.

“My lord, I think you’ve drunk too much seawater,” Davos replies, steadying him when he falls back, weakened by his close call with death. “Come, let's get you inside,”he goes on, slipping his arm around his shoulders to keep him on his feet as they turn to head back towards the palace that looms in the distance. “Come, Ghost!” He calls out and though the creature hesitates, she watches from where she’s hidden herself among the rocks as he finally does turn and chase after the humans. 

Something strange and new is building within her, something she’s never felt in all of her life. It’s warm and sweet, a longing feeling, but unlike her feeling of wishing to be among the humans. It felt different, somehow. She crawls further up the rock, to sit at the top, as the two humans disappear behind a gate, nearly out of sight now.

Somehow she knows, this wasn’t the end yet. 

She would be part of their world, like she’s always dreamed of.

[sobeksewerrat]

you know…. I wouldn’t mind if you talked about Zipp in your rewrite idea that you mentioned 👉👈

...You will live to regret what you have just unleashed. Not only are you asking about terrible built up brainrot, you are also asking about my second favourite in the rewrite.

(P.S I am working off the movie and Make Your Mark here since my little sister refuses to watch Tell Your Tale and doesn't know about the comics and can barely even read, and I only watch MLP with her)

Anyways, LONG ANSWER INCOMING.

Before beginning with Zipp, I need to fix up some wordbuilding so bear with me!!

I won't go into full detail because that needs its own post but I will go basic overview of Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood.

So, in the movie Izzy mentions how unicorns thought all Earth Ponies were dumb asf. And we also saw Canterlogic tech to counter that.

Well, in my rewrite, earth ponies (being extremely paranoid about unicorns and pegasi and having no magic ever) advanced themselves and made a lot of technology basically to combat them. Eventually, the became the most advanced of the ponykinds, and they are the only place with WiFi and stuff (if I am forced to keep it).

For Bridlewood, I will lean HEAVILY into the superstitious stuff. I imagine unicorns will fall into stories about magic being evil and start living with nature and not really advance much due to the amount of fear generated by them losing the main thing that helped them everyday.

Now: Zephyr Heights. I don't like that it is in the clouds. I barely remember G4 (I was a little kid when it came out and I won't rewatch it). However, I remember vaguely that pegasi had a special type of magic that allowed them to walk on clouds and live on them.

Since G5 is a direct sequel where they have no magic- that literally wouldn't make any sense. Instead, they will live on the mountain in the movie and somewhat adapt to it.

And for how it is I want it to be a 70s and early 2000s mashup, because I think that would be cool (seriously no other reason sometimes you gotta pick aesthetics over logic, that or lean heavy into medieval royalty shit. nothing is set completely in stone with the worldbuilding)

Still sorta figuring out how the "only royals can fly" lie stuff will work out but whatever.

Anyway, ZEPHYRINA!! I love her omg.

-> Her Role as A Princess:

Definitely hates it. Not to borrow too much from Dash, but she is definitely a free spirit. Unlike her mother and sister, she doesn't like the spotlight and doesn't make many public appearancs, so the kingdom views her as a mysterious enigma, and she is the subject of MANY conspiracy theories (which are amped up to 1000 after their lie is exposed and the whole thing about working with other ponykinds to restore magic comes up).

She definitely reads all the conspiracies about her, out of pure curiosity and to see how accurate they are.

I sadly don't have this part fully fleshed out as I am conflicted between having her family permanently dethroned or not (on one hand, great drama. On the other, it wouldn't feel right not having Pipp as a princess) so moving on-

-> Detective Zipp Storm! (Also bit of backstory)

I am so excited to talk about this!! (I am an Ace attorney, Danganronpa, Detective Conan and Ahmed Khalid Tawfik fan, of course I am excited abt mystery)

[Pre-Make Your Mark/Movie]:

You know how Izzy got Sunny's lantern and that's why she went to Maretime Bay? Well, why the fuck doesn't Zipp get one too?

Basically, after Izzy recieves the lantern, she is beyond excited to have new pony friends! So, she makes her own lantern with its own letter and sends it off.

Only this letter reaches Zipp, who was sneaking out of the palace trying to practice a way to fly.

And that one letter leaves Zipp confused. She was sheltered her whole life thinking unicorns and earth ponies were evil and wanted to kill the pegasi and she was skeptical of the letter, even as a child.

She hid it away and would reread it every once in a while, thinking over the message inside about how she had friends in Bridlewood. She was sheltered and kept inside the Palace almost her whole life, she didn't really have any friends. The letter made her feel less lonely, somehow.

That tapped into her ever-growing curiosity and she wanted to research more about unicorns.

So Zipp would spend hours in the Royal library (which will definitely be bigger in my rewrite) digging up old books on Equestria before losing magic (since most newer ones were about her pegasi ancestors exclusively). Her main objectives were to find out more about the other ponykinds and to find a way to restore the pegasi's ability to fly and return to living on the clouds.

She would also stare at old murals and statues at stuff, analysing the shit out of them.

That's why she wouldn't be very scared of Sunny and Izzy when they wind up in Zephyr Heights (I am planning to keep the movie's general plot similar).

I wanna avoid spoiling too much of the movie and the series' plots and we're moving to "still unsure of this/planning" territory.

So we're gonna do this part with bullet points

Zipp definitely gets a design shift between the movie and make your mark. I am still planning out both of the designs (mainly as gijnkas cuz I can't draw horses)

Zipp and Misty's relationship will probably be the most fleshed out. They had so much potential. Zipp starts out being skeptical, starts trusting Misty a bit after realizing she's just awkward, they have a few heart-to-hearts, they become really close, then BAM! The reveal happens and Zipp is just feels absolutely betrayed and stupid and maybe cries a bit. And afterwards they start repairing their relationship bit by bit, but it takes a while since Zipp isn't really willing to go back to being close friends again.

I want Zipp to develop a stronger friendship with Sunny and Izzy, since they were both technically the reason she started breaking away from the prejudice against other ponies ingrained into her as a kid and made her feel less lonely. Zipp and Sunny could easily bond over research about Twilight and the old Mane Six and cross reference eachother.

For Zipp and Izzy, I imagine that Zipp would generally be very stressed all the time, and Izzy would always try to get her to relax a bit (and maybe get her to do craft projects with her). They just kinda hang out, yknow? Idk I just want more platonic fluff.

Pipp and Zipp's relationship- well, you'll see once I start posting about it 😈

Hitch and Zipp will probably have the same relationship in the show and movie, I can't really find any way to improve it, honest.

Anyways, I am so sorry this took so long to answer, nd sorry if the answer isn't satisfying I've just been very busy.

Hopefully I will get to talk more about it soon <3

@cringelordofchaos

[vicsy]

hi vicsy my love

i’d love to hear more about your thoughts and process behind writing evocatio because i think about your fic every time i see the ferrari logo ❤️

RIVER HI COMRADE!

First of all, the fact that my blasphemous creation lives in your head in any way makes me go ZOOOOOOM. Literally. I love you. Thank you for kind words, ALWAYS.

Now, to your actual question...

Evocatio was a totally different concept when I first thought about creating it. It wasn't even called "evocatio" at that moment. My only note about it was "the cars are alive??" and it was in the science fiction genre! I had a wild mashup of Tron/Pacific Rim and sort of virtual reality thingie where the drivers were real but the race wasn't; they had to be hooked up to the simulators but took real damage from the race. And they had to be connected to the cars in some neurological way. One team member was a "driver" and the other was a "guide" through the virtual reality track that changed constantly.

Honestly, I could never make this idea work properly, and when the Piarles exchange tolled around, I thought I could use it. But again, it didn't work how I wanted it to. Did not make the impact I was going for.

So I was struck by a thought: why not leave science fiction behind and move to myths, gods and legends cause I love that stuff so much? At that point, I didn't know that my giftee (@pinkierre hi!!) was into myths, too, so that was an amusing coincidence!

When I started to build this idea in my head, "evocatio" by Nothing but Thieves came onto the shuffle and it clicked.

But I will tell you this. The entire concept of this fic was built around that one scene in chapter two where Pierre dunks Charles in the ice tub in order to save him from potential death (then, he didn't know from what, he just knew Charles was overheated). The idea of having too much external/racing pressure and using ice to cool down was also present in the previous concept, so I knew I wanted to include that in any way. The desperation, the correlation between Pierre's cold fear and iced water, Charles' too-hot body in his subtly shaking hands.

So I started to build from that. Why was Charles feeling so bad and what happened to him? Ferrari happened of course. It was very fun to decide which god represented what and how racing was a universal way of worship and how every god only chose two champions, apart from other people simply praying for them in other ways they chose. The dramatic connection between Charles and Ferrari came in very handy – the story basically writes itself. Charles gives himself away and gets shit in return. Of course, later we learn it's because he basically is Ferrari but I wanted to emotionally torture him.

Pierre, on the other hand, was somewhat harder to write because he's an actual believer, unlike Charles, and in his eyes, gods are usually right even though after some tragic events and his run with the Red Bull, he should have questioned them properly. He never really did, not until he learned about Charles' condition and basically thought "that's some bullshit".

I knew I needed to go heavy on exposition and certain introspection right from the start but not overstuff the story. I decided to throw the readers head first into it, experience Charles' confusion and then explain in extensive worldbuilding what the fuck we are dealing with.

Evocatio started as a single chapter that quickly grew into a three-chapter thing because I needed to change the POV and some scenes didn't work just through the eyes of one character. So I came up with a structure that basically went now–past–future. It made sense to sing praises to the gods in Pierre's POV and put more focus on actual racing in Charles' POV.

I had literal chunks of scenes haphazardly written everywhere and the only I thing I didn't have tight to the very end was "the ending". Like, Pierre was always supposed to think Charles was fucking with Carlos, Charles was always meant to collapse after a race, they both were meant to lose control with each other. But where it led to? Good question indeed. I wanted right from the start to make Charles this "god-like" figure and use sex as a metaphor for worship. I really like the "near-death experience" as a trope to push two pining characters together. Especially in the Piarles case, because oftentimes you don't need to explain why they are in love – it's like a law of the universe.

But, oh, I had fun torturing Pierre with his feeling and conflicted questions of fate, belief etc. Like, he believed more in Charles' fate as Il Predestinato than Charles himself, he was really trying to go vroom vroom but the gods said "sort your shit out or perish".

The sacrifice for each team deity had to be somewhat connected to the team. Spilling blood for Ferrari was always in my head but using insomnia for Red Bull was an idea Briony suggested at some point! I really wanted it to be symbolic for each team and maybe if I write a sequel (maxiel in my head lmao) I could explore more of that.

I will be frank. I was dreading the smut part because I am not good at it as many others are. But it was an important part of the plot. I really messaged Briony "Charles gets on Pierre's dick and it fixes things" but it's so much more than that or the fact that I used the "racing gods" joke as inspiration.

On the subject of gods, I was struggling a bit cause I didn't want to make them super detailed and all-powerful but they needed to be imposing characters, not to be messed with. Which was funny cause Pierre, THE BELIEVER, was the one to defy them because of his love for Charles. I said SYMBOLISM. And most of the deities were inspired by team logos/lore and actual gods from the myths. It was really fun to come up with them starting from the most obvious (The Black Stallion, The Red Bull) to the less obvious (The Huntress, Trickster god, Sunshine goddess).

Lastly... the metaphors. I love them so much. Really. Most of the time I overuse them but for this fic? They never felt too much. I love expressing internal turmoil through metaphors. For Charles, I chose something more grounded, less mythical. For Pierre, I went all out on subverting existing myths to fit into the world. Personally, the one metaphor about returning with the shield or on it from the first chapter and the one about the Minotaur's labyrinth from the second chapter are my faves. I used them to underline the contrast in Pierre and Charles' thinking and attitude and how it changes when the truth comes out eventually in the final chapter.

Ok, I lied about "lastly"... The last chapter was the trickiest, I rewrote the track scene where the culmination happens, I think, four times. I needed it to be present in the moment, not just explaining what is happening and also it had to make sense and not be... cliche if I can say that? It came to me as I went on. The only thing I was 100% sure about was Nando's cameo as a demigod (Nandofuckery everywhere!). So I wanted to do I "happy" ending but also show that Charles realizes what he is and how coming together with Pierre fits into his new role doesn't fix everything in its entirety. He still struggles... but maybe I can express in a lil ficlet that is lying in my notes, waiting to be written properly...

In conclusion, this fic really started with me thinking "it would be really dope to put one of my faves in the ice bath while he is on the brink of death while the other character who is in love with him tries to not let him slip away" and ended up being a fucking MONSTROSITY full of religious imagery, complete blasphemy, some softness and, apparently, an outlet for my metaphor kink. I am not a religious person and an atheist, so it was truly an amusing ride. Even if some stuff of the story was so clear in my head, and other tortured me for days.

I did spend so much time writing this fic, blowing up deadlines but I just... couldn't bring myself to write faster. I literally questioned every line, spend a month with waking up and going to sleep with this fic in my head, compiling the playlist and having a lil breakdown, thinking I bit more than I could chew. But who am I if not an overachiever so I would have never backed out from doing right by this idea, this universe, the person I was gifting this fic to and, of course, the whole fandom. I am really glad I met all of you guys thanks to the exchange even though I still have war flashbacks about writing it for exactly (day to day) one month.

River, this got out of control, just like "evocatio" did at some point and I am sorry for so many words!! Though, I do hope you will find this ok. Thank you, again, so much for having so many kind words and thoughts about this fic. It means so much to me, you have no idea.

[theworstcreature]

Yall wanna hear one of my most unlikely maybe man tour theories??

Hear me out… Finale Can’t Wait To See What You Do Next X 2085 mashup as the finale of the concert???

Like perhaps have Jack singing 2085 and Ryan doing Finale cwtswydn like kinda overlapping but one song is more prominent/louder/audible/zeroed in on than the other at different parts if that makes sense

And since 2085 is longer, it could still end with Jack singing the ending but idk how they’d incorporate the bow into that.. what I’m thinking is (this would be kinda unusual I think but then again I don’t remember the endings of all the concert recordings I’ve watched terribly well) the do the bow at the end of Finale cwtswydn and maybe there’s like a trapdoor or something where the brothers all like stand together so as soon as Jack finishes the “for two or three minutes rhennnn I’m gone” they can all just like blip off the stage (you know that one little piano/keyboard note directly after that lines said? That’s what I’m imagining the lights flicking off and them vanishing into the void)

Maybe I’m crazy and this would probably not work like at all, but it sounds good to my mildly sleep-deprived, over excited mind

[pluviophile-bookworm]

HSMTMTS 3x1: Did they just join a cult? (a.k.a. Gosh, I miss Big Red)

It has been a real concern for me how little I’ve seemed to care about HSMTMTS these last few months after it consumed my entire life last summer… you want to know how little I actually cared? Well, up until late last night I was convinced the s3 premiere was on Friday, not today. But it is today and I am firmly resolved to get back into my old hyperfixation, so here I am again with another one of my ‘if I haven’t publicly reacted to it, I haven’t seen it properly’ long posts.

[side note: before going into this first episode, I skimmed through some of my reactions to s2 and I just realised that my 2x12 reaction was titled ‘Don’t say we have to let it go’… I had absolutely not intended for that to be a pun since I had no way of knowing what the next musical would be (unlike my darling @redlyncentral who, I’m convinced by this point, has got the gift of prophecy)… but yeah, see how well it turned out? There are no coincidences in this life.]

And… I’m rambling again. But you knew I would. Anyway, without further ado, let’s do what we came here to do and dive into this episode.

No, no no no… you don’t just show me happy Redlyn and Seblos moments in the recap and then expect me not to be angry over the fact that this season is treating them like the Road Trip book did. You do not just take my two favourite boys away from me and expect me to care. You don’t, you simply don’t! Ugh, the episode hasn’t even started properly and I’m already crying. What exactly have I done to deserve this? What have any of us done? This is insane.

Oh no, you do not just put Portwell and whatever Richard over here (I’m calling him that until he comes to his senses) thinks he’s doing with Lily side by side… you. Do. Not! But I suppose this recap is already doing a bunch of stuff you do not do, so I ought to expect the unexpected. Got it.

‘Love is an open door. Did I just make that up?’ First of all, Richard, no you did not. Second of all, if you think you’re Zefroning your way into this one, you’ve got another think coming. But then again, as it turns out, I unknowingly anticipated things with ‘Don’t say we have to let it go’, so who am I to judge? (Although, in fairness, all I had intended to do was make a reference to the final song from HSM3, and it turned out to be even more meaningful than I had planned). Anyway. I haven’t even got to the episode proper yet. I talk way too much even for my own taste.

Dad joke-spouting EJ is my new favourite EJ. Call me weird, bizarre if you will, but I love dad jokes.

So yeah, this season is treating my darling boys Big Red and Sebby just like that Road Trip book. But if that’s so, it would mean they’d at least be back for the end. Please give me that at the very least… is it too much I’m asking?

That car horn was so precisely administered… if Ricky is with who I think he’s with, they’d better not mention her or show her on screen… I don’t want to know about it.

It’s not like I hadn’t seen it before in countless pieces of promotional material, but… I love love love Gina’s new braid look. Love it. Let her keep it forever.

Oh, you bet they’d do What Time Is It! After all, I’ve played that song thousands of times at the beginning of each summer since I was 9, so I know quite well why it’s just a necessity of life. We’re all in, people! I’m back into it with my entire being. Love that for me.

Ooh, I’m loving this mashup! I think I’ve got a new favourite version of both of these songs. This soundtrack is going to be off the charts, I can feel it.

Is this Ash and Carlos leaning on each other in the absence of their boyfriends I see? I’m loving this. I don’t think we’ve had quite enough interaction between these two, and with them being the biggest theatre kids there, it was a no-brainer. I love it. Even though I miss their boyfriends not much less than they do. Also, how relatable is Carlos… ‘I feel naked without my angst’. Too relatable, if you ask me.

But what’s even more relatable is Kourtney’s reaction to having her phone taken away… for two whole weeks? How dare you! But also, this season is treating Seb and Big Red worse than that Road Trip book. In that one, they at least had some sort of communication with their SOs (however clumsy that was for one reason or another). But this here… it feels like torture.

Oh. No. They. Didn’t. They did NOT. Yes, I am still in denial and I’ll deny it till the cows come home. (Ugh, now I’ve made myself think of Seb with that expression, for no reason at all) But yes, it would appear that Richard is with her-who-must-not-be-named… why? And… did she just call him Richie, or are those my auditory processing issues all over again? Yeah, I’m calling him Richard until further notice.

I might get some hate over this, but it’s my post and I’ll say whatever I want to: I don’t particularly care about Miss Jenn or Nini this season. I just don’t. Not because of any hard feelings or anything, they’re just not piqueing my interest. This could change, of course, but for the time being my mind and heart are elsewhere.

Ashlyn being a ‘thing-in-law’… I love it! Still would have loved to see her and Reddy and all the redheaded cuteness they bring, but… we’ll have to wait and see.

I see Ash is bringing her High-Priestess-so-meek-so-mild-sword persona back, and I love it. We love us some callbacks to things only mentioned previously in passing, we do.

‘Be safe… and take big risks.’ Sounds really wise, it does, on the surface at least, but… is it not oxymoronic? How do you stay safe while taking risks? And big ones, at that? Seriously, how? Someone make it make sense to me.

No, no, forget what I said earlier about Richard and her-who-must-not-be-named. ‘What song titles?’ They’re perfect for each other. Let them have this, I couldn’t care less. *** Ok, so I don’t care about Miss Jenn or Nini, I don’t care about Richard or her, it hurts to look at Ash or Carlos without their boyfriends, and Portwell are already getting old in my eyes… so why do I care about this season again? I keep fluctuating between ‘Yasss, this is going to be so great!’ and ‘Meh, who even cares anymore’ like, every five seconds. This is exhausting.

Ooh, wait, I do care a bit still. Someone’s dark secret is out, and someone else is hopefully about to come to his senses and earn the right to be called Ricky again… hopefully.

Carlos’ reaction to the first impression of his bunk is, frankly, me whenever I find myself in a camp situation, surrounded by strangers who all seem to know each other in a strange place where everybody else feels comfortable. I feel like I’m going to be experiencing this season through Carlos’ vantage point, and it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Season 1 was sort of the same.

This Jet kid… like Carlos, I am scared, but I’m also the least bit curious. What’s his deal? I want to know.

‘At least say Richard.’ First of all, I loved that. But second of all… so you’re saying I was being milder than I intended to be by calling him that for the last… 17 minutes? Gosh, this thing is packed. So much has happened and there’s still 1/3 of the episode to go.

I am absolutely loving this new song — this soundtrack is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, I’m telling you — and I feel like it sounds more like a Joshua Bassett single than something belonging in HSMTMTS, but I love that. (I mean, Let You Go was both of these things, and this… this is different somehow. In a good way). Who’s to say a genuine Joshua Bassett single can’t fit into HSMTMTS like a puzzle piece? If I genuinely care about and am excited for one thing this season, it is the music.

No, seriously, I love this song. So much so that I’m going on about it in two separate bullets… but Ricky is back, you guys! Speaking of, for the past few months, despite not finding it in my heart to be excited about this new season, I’ve sort of had this daydream of Ricky and Big Red singing The Boys Are Back… I want that. If not from this season, at least from the next. Let me have this one little thing, please, pretty please with a strawberry on top (I’m not much of a cherry person).

Yes, Carlito dear, you are a celebrity. Have been since day one. Seriously, I love this boy. Can we at least get more of him this season if they’re not going to let his boyfriend be there?

Hey, I wanted to like Maddox… or Gadget, or whatever she prefers to be called... I did. But why is she being dismissive of the magic that is Redlyn? Please let her be wrong wrong wrong… please. I’m scared.

This song… is Shallow Lake a cult? I… I’ve just got some trauma from last summer when I ended up at a religious cult camp by mistake, and this is just bringing out some memories of that. Maybe I shouldn’t watch this season after all?

Suddenly I relate to Jet even though I know nothing about him yet. Standing all the way back in the dark, refusing to partake in whatever the heck this is… that’s been me all my life. And for good reason, too. I wonder what his reason is.

‘It’s very meta, you guys’… and the fourth wall does not exist. I love that. And yes, Mr Corbin Bleu, it is very meta. I love meta.

Wait, is this how EJ becomes the musical’s director? I’ve got to say it’s a bit of contrived coincidence there, but I like it. There’s a plot to this thing. All along I was thinking ‘this should have been a compilation album tie-in special or something’, but I feel like I’m being proven wrong. And if I ever like being wrong, it is when the reality of the thing is better than what I thought.

Ok, so this was a trip… I honestly don’t know if I’ve got my excitement for this show back. But I love routine and stability, and now with my uni years behind me and no jobs in sight for the time being, HSMTMTS and reacting to it here on Tumblr are basically the only certain things in my future. So I’ll be doing the reactions, no matter what. And I hope I get my enthusiasm for it back somewhere along the way.

[keebokuun]

since it’s clear that rekis cindereki dream is a mashup of reading cinderella right before falling asleep and what happend so far to him with adam and langa at s etc, and cindereki sort of had an open ending, him calling out to langa etc i think that maybe be the last episode will be the happy end? like it would make sense that until now he is scared of loosing langa to adam ( very unlikely since he already promised reki to be by his side for infinity) but maybe this is also why they released this drama cd before the anime’s finale? so the final episode will wrap it all up and everyone (except adam hopefully) will be happy?? idk it’s very unlikely to me that sk8 is gonna end badly lmao like why would it

[ranboo5]

Dropping the Ranboo mixtape

Anyway at time of starting to write this post I had two likes and two affirmative replies, which is Good Enough For Me, so here I am :D I was gonna link the YT but on second thought my YT channel is a mess so this is gonna be one of the annoying ones that doesn’t link to one you can actually listen to but 

This is also a running list and currently organized roughly by increasingly hotter takes and it’s under a cut bc it’s 13 songs and I justified all of them 

Everybody Likes You (Lemon Demon) - LISTEN THE ANIMATION MEMES WEREN’T LYING THAT EVERYBODY LIKES YOU CAN RANBOOCORE. The increasingly distorted, incredibly bright repetition of EVERYBODY LIKES YOU EVERYBODY LIKES YOU EVERYBODY LIKES YOU until you can hear it morphing in and out of EVERYBODY LIED TO YOU? Tell Me That’s Not Him In The Spiral Depths 

Tall (Naps the Block on YT) - This is a) literally a theme for the End, b) sounds stumbling and anxious/high-strung, and c) echoes the Pigstep melody in the middle while still very much doing its own thing this is self explanatory 

Dance of Thorns/Old Secret mashup (Tensei and James Roach respectively, feat. woodfur00 on YT) (yes this is Homestuck music) - It’s just the vibes. The energy. The way the elegance of the violin lines of Dance of Thorns sounds almost nervous especially against the almost noir mystery vibes of Old Secret, and the guitar lines of Dance of Thorns add like. Initiative/urgency especially when they underlay the other music it’s so good I don’t think either song alone is Ranboo vibes but this remix definitely is. Just the mix of perseverance and desperation and melancholy and mystery and Class 

Touch-Tone Telephone (Lemon Demon) - This one is old news but tbh it just works. Man decides he’s the correct one in this situation and he’s losing his entire mind that no one is listening to him because he just is not 

2012 (Will Wood) - This one isn’t really clever it’s just about memory loss, derealization, identity, and often self-hatred (“A miserable fuck, but a loud Tao mystical” is a lot). “Did you lose yourself?/It’s always in the last place that you check” sounds so mocking in ways internal monologues like Droice have been and “I might find myself/By retracing my steps” is literally just Ranboo dealing with the Enderwalk; “And not until lobotomy abolished my monotony/Did I applaud autonomy, and modify a lot of me!” works so much for him Dealing With Himself generally, and also “I heard the world would turn to hell/Compared to that, I’m doing well!” is a Him sentiment 

Hand Me My Shovel, I’m Going In! (Will Wood) - Jokes about the three hour mining/grinding streams aside. Not only is the chorus so heavily a spiral/self-evaluation mood, but literally consider his thought processes abt the things he’s done/allegedly done and then consider “My dreams were shattered like a stained-glass window/Jesus in pieces! I believe I through a brick right through Him/But my memory could not be saved!/It just seems unlikely that it’s me who was to blame/So I bookmark my DSM, ‘cause I need to remember my place.” And now with the advent of the “experiments” the second verse’s “Take the road on higher ground, and tell me ‘don’t look down! You’ll fall and break your back’/But that just reminds me how there’s more to be found beneath the black!” is more relevant than ever 

Friends With You (The Scary Jokes) - Oh my god. Oh my fucking god man. This could be on here for “I put myself to bed just halfway through the party/I love all my friends, but I hate when their eyes are on me” alone but the general almost empty saccharine vibe of the song is immensely his vibe; the humorlessly-smiling vocal fry on “don’t know” in “Why do you pretend/You don’t know who’s to blame?” is probably responsible for 80% of this read. Not to mention the first lyrics are literally “How long do I have to wait/’Til my lonely days are over?” which is really the. The waiting it out man the So When Do I Get To Be Okay of it all. Shoutouts also to “And the crumbling infrastructure no one else can see,” the self hatred of “I miss being friends with you/But what can I do/What can I do/But leave you alone?” and to “And I can tell you really love me/Can you tell I’m really sorry?” Just. The mix of hope+affection and dejected cynicism and self-hatred in the lyrics

Saline Solution (none other than Mr Wilbur Soot) - Remember what I said about waiting it out until you get to be okay? Anyway that’s crystallized in “If I could just break one more night/Maybe I could wake up and feel alright” and also this is literally a song about catastrophizing and self-evaluation just,, in general and I will not be highlighting all the lyrics about this but I will highlight the fact that he literally calls himself pragmatic and also the lyric “blurring the facts and the fiction.” Also, the sheer desperate anger-concealing-breakdown vibes of “I think I’ve made my choice” to “I think I’ve found my voice” deserves a mention, as does the culminating end of “saline solution to all your problems” with the tears+now splash water motifs of it all with Ranboo I am going to die 

Funny (The Scary Jokes) - This is actually a softer take but not only does it literally start with the singer pleading with the addressee to look away, it  continues with “I went up in the middle of the night and I climbed right onto the stage/And I raged/And I cried/Oh, what a funny joke am I” disregarding everything as performance, reemphasizes the opening demand with the qualifier “it’s not that I hate you, it’s just that I’m funny these days,” and then kills you with the last couple lines which. Yeah he does care and it does,,, just,,,,, a

Chemical Overreaction (Will Wood) - This is where the mood VIOLENTLY whiplashes because this is where we get unhinged. Anyway “I won’t stop to drop to draw a line in the sand/’Cause I’ll be picked apart to pieces by coyotes!” is LITERALLY the whole “I don’t do well with ‘peer pressure’” thing. “Where the sentimental value of the city around ya/Is deleted obsolete, but still completely will stun ya” is the single most L’Manberg lyric I’ve ever heard, especially from the perspective of a character whom I will repeatedly insist is narratively in the role of someone who’s shown up and seen the status quo as an outsider after it’s been established (hence the eternal New Kid vibes). Chorus very much has vibes of Ranboo Is Seized By The Urge To Do Something, and like. The entire dramatic end part. The last two lines especially (be very careful if you look up the vieo for this by the way it is NOT pretty; cws in the video for flashing, blood, suicide imagery) 

A Mannequin Adrift (The Scary Jokes) - The Bitterness. This song is just fully The Bitterness at the environment he’s stuck in; the saccharine comes back as does the “peer pressure” thematic and just the Having An Awful Time; the sarcastic saccharine comes back too, which is always good I love passive aggression. Honestly the first verse is just everything like just listen to it it immediately makes sense

Poison Ivy Grows (The Scary Jokes) - This is overall a song about having bad brain and not knowing what the hell to do about it; it’s so faintly bitter and distant and melancholy and also so zoned out. Also, it’s not the only lyric that matters here but it is enough to be a full argument on its own: “I used to spend so much time/Wandering around outside/Now I’ve got too much on my mind/Now I’ve got too much on my mind” 

Spring Haze (Tori Amos) - Listen. Do I know what Spring Haze is about? No. Is that gonna stop me from saying it’s about Ranboo? Also no. I just think “You say we’ll never make it there/So all we do is circle it” is so much, the fact that the bridge at the end is just “Why does it always end up like this?” repeated, and that it just feels so much like overall the song feels like a desperate attempt to figure Something out, and the chorus is just inexplicably him? It might be partially influenced by the fact that “Uh-oh, let go, off on my way” and, to a lesser extent, “Uh-oh, way to go” is not only in accordance with character vibes but also vaguely evocative of Ranboo’s speech pattern

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Do you have any guesses about what Taylor will perform? I’m hoping for a cardigan/willow mashup

Hi! I’m going to list all the options that I think I’ve seen floating around. Addressed in my personal descending order of likeliness. 

“cardigan”: The front-runner. Makes the most logical sense to perform. It was the lead single off folklore, it is nominated for SOTY. It would be the award show premiere of the song in a live setting (outside long pong, obvi). It’s the song that makes the most sense for Taylor to perform. 

“exile”: A song that is nominated for a Grammy so it makes sense Taylor would perform it but it involves/necessitates Justin Vernon and I feel like doing it virtually would be weird if Taylor was there and he wasn’t and I doubt very much he would attend an awards show simply for that performance so this feels unlikely to me. 

“my tears ricochet”: Symbolically this makes a lot a lot a lot of sense for Taylor to perform. It supports the album that she is nominated for while also underlining the re-recording work she is embarking upon with Fearless (Taylor’s Version) being less than a month away from release (at time of Grammy performance). However I’m not sure the Grammys would permit such a deep cut to be performed (though Taylor has obviously proven in the past that she has enough power/clout to convince the Grammys to let her do a song of her preference, see: “ATW” at the Grammys but I think a lot about Ariana allegedly not being able to perform the song she wanted to perform and about Halsey’s notes following Manic being snubbed by the Grammys that performing and being nominated by the Recording Academy is just as much about the work and the art as it is about being adept at making deals and building relationships and is office politic-y). Basically it wouldn’t surprise me if the option to do “mtr” got turned down because it’s not the single from the album. 

“the last great american dynasty”: The only reason why I can see this is because I can understand how this rare interview Taylor gave with People, especially as it supports her Grammy campaign specifically (the issue of the magazine was a Grammy edition with interviews from several of the 2021 Grammy nominees), could constitute in Taylor Land as an “easter egg” for what song she would perform at the show itself. Which. EASTER EGGS. /screams

Songs off evermore feel unlikely to me to receive Grammy approval as the night is about folklore. 

[suituuup]

Could do where Beca actually joined Barden two years later than she should’ve because she initially joined the army, but was sent home after she lost both her legs in a horrific battle. She meets Chloe but is reluctant to have any kind of a relationship because she is so insecure about her body.

so this is what it feels like

rating: m

word count: 3,6k

ao3 link

*

Barden University. 

Beca looks at the sign and heavies a deep sigh as the car rolls forward, stopping at the curb a few minutes later. The driver steps out and takes her wheelchair out of the trunk, setting it up next to the open passenger door. 

“Need any help?” 

“I got it,” Beca mutters, shuffling to the edge of the seat and easily transferring to the chair. “Can you just hand me my bag? Thanks.” 

She sets it on her lap and starts rolling away towards the main building, catching people staring. “What are you lookin’ at?” Beca spits out, glaring at a group of boys who instantly glance away. 

She doesn’t want to be here. She was perfectly happy across the world, working for the Army. She had friends there, a family. A landmine took that away from her, as well as her two legs.

She was flown back to the States after an emergency amputation and moved in with her dad and the step monster. The following year was rough, as Beca dealt with both depression and PTSD. Numerous therapy sessions helped her figure how to live again and slowly dragged her out of her grieving state. She eventually agreed to her dad’s suggestion about going to college, figuring she couldn’t stay hauled up in the house forever. 

She picked English as a major, as she’s sort of a book nerd, but she’s got no idea of what kind of job she wants to do. 

She likes music and enjoys messing around on her computer making mixes but… it won’t ever be good enough for her to actually make a living out of it. 

The first few days of classes are uneventful, except for the way people keep looking at her. Beca figures they’ll get used to it sooner or later, but for now, she glares.  

She hangs out at the library a lot or at the coffee shop on campus to work on her mixes. 

She’s at the library one afternoon, rolling up an aisle to get the book she copied the reference from on one of the computers.

“Damn it,” she mutters when she realizes it’s on one of the higher shelves, which are out of reach. 

“Need any help?”

Normally, Beca would say I got it, because she hates relying on other people, but one, she really doesn’t have it and two, the words die in her throat when she takes a good look at the stranger. 

A redhead, with the most vibrant eyes and smile Beca’s ever seen. 

Her brain eventually reboots and she blushes slightly out of embarrassment for taking so long to reply. “Um yeah. Could you grab me that green book on the top shelf?” 

“Sure thing,” the stranger chirps, standing on the tips of her toes to grab it. “Here you go.”

Beca takes it, setting it on her lap. “Thanks.”

She’s about to roll away, when the girl speaks again. “Would you be interested in joining an acapella group?”

Beca’s eyebrow shoots up. “Aren’t you supposed to be able to dance, too?”

“Not necessarily. I mean, we could figure something out, if you’re interested.”

“I’m not. I don’t— I don’t even sing.”

“Oh. Okay. Too bad.” She winks. “See ya around.”

She continues on her way, and Beca on hers. 

Beca sees her again two weeks later, at the Barden Beanery. She’s stuck outside because the damn automatic door won’t work and of course it’s starting to rain. 

“For fucks sake,” she grumbles, hitting the button once more. 

“I’ll get it for you.”

Beca looks over her shoulder to see that same girl from the library heading over. “Oh. Hey there, acapella nerd,” she teases as she manœuvres her chair to roll into the coffee shop. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” she replies, smiling softly. “Wow, this place is packed.”

Beca nods towards a table in the corner. “I think those guys are leaving.”

“Nice catch. Mind if we share?” 

Beca shrugs. “Yeah, sure.” 

She tucks her chair in the free space at the table and opens her backpack to pull out her laptop, ordering a black coffee and a slice of carrot cake when the waitress comes by. 

She and the redhead work in silence for a while, Beca with her headphones on (one ear left uncovered) as she messes around with her mixes. She soon loses herself into the music, bopping her head up and down to the rhythm.

“What?” She asks when she catches the other girl staring, blue-grey eyes peering at her above her laptop. 

“Nothing,” she murmurs, a serene smile on her features. “I was just wondering what your name was.”

“Oh, right. I’m Beca.”

“Beca,” Chloe repeats, nodding. “I’m Chloe.”

“Cool to meet you, Chloe the nerd.”

“I’m not a nerd!” She cries, laughing.

“You’re in an acapella group, so you’re a nerd by definition.”

Chloe rolls her eyes. “Fine.”

They work together for another hour, Chloe bidding her goodbye when she has to get to rehearsals. Beca sticks around until 7, heading back to her hall to head dinner.

“Hi!” 

Beca looks up to see Chloe popping down on the seat across from her at that same table as three weeks ago. It’s a week later, and the place is near empty this time around, so Beca’s confused as to why she decided to sit with her. 

“Um, hello?” It looks like Chloe’s here to stay, and Beca can’t say she minds? Weird. “You look happy.”

“I am! The Bellas and I are competing this weekend.”

“Competing?” Beca cocks an eyebrow. “So this acapella thing is pretty serious, then?”

“Totes!” Totes? “Our plan is to get selected for the National championships in NYC.”

“Wow. Well, I hope you guys make it.”

“Thanks! You should come check us out if you don’t have anything planned.”

Beca scrunches you her nose. “I don’t know how I feel about being in the same room as so many nerds.”

A laugh flits past Chloe’s lips. “What are you working on anyway?”

“Um, mixes. I mix music.”

Chloe’s eyes adorably pop wider. “You mix music?? That’s so cool. Can I listen?”

The normal Beca would have said no in a heartbeat. She didn’t plan on making any friends, the last year’s events making her more withdrawn and more of a loner. But there’s something about this Chloe, something Beca can’t pinpoint, that makes it impossible for her to say no. 

“Yeah sure, if you want to.”

Beaming, Chloe switches chairs to sit next to Beca as Beca takes off her headphones to hand them over. She selects her Titanium + Bulletproof mashup and hits play, taking a sip from her drink as it starts. 

The look on Chloe’s face as she listens, one of pure enjoyment, makes Beca’s chest swell with something unfamiliar. 

“This is amazing!” Chloe nearly shouts, shrinking in her seat when people’s heads turn towards her. In a lower tone, she adds, “Sorry.”

Beca chuckles. “Yeah? You like it?”

Chloe takes off the headphones. Her eyes are sparkling, the same way Beca’s do when she listens to something she’s really into. “I really do. Have you thought about making a career out of music?”

Beca shrugs. “I did, yeah. I thought about going to LA, but my dad didn’t like that idea because he doesn’t believe there’s a career to be made. He wants me to try college first, for at least a year. I think he’s still pissed about me enlisting in the Army without telling him.” 

“How long were you in the Army for?” 

“Only a couple years,” Beca says, motioning towards her legs next. “Then this happened.” 

Chloe grimaces. “I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah, well…” her shoulder lifts in a half shrug. It took her while to reach that state of mind; to stop being angry at the world for what she was going through. She learned to accept her handicap and to live with it, even if some days prove to be really fucking difficult. “It is what it is.” 

She doesn’t know why, but that weekend, she finds herself attending that acapella competition to check out the Bellas. The songs suck big time and the outfits are questionable, but Beca is too enthralled by Chloe’s beautiful voice to really care about the rest. 

“You came!” Chloe exclaims in surprise when she spots Beca at the end of the show. She’s bending down to hug Beca before Beca can protest, and Beca feels her face heat up as she awkwardly pats her back. 

“Congrats on being selected,” she says when Chloe pulls away, her lips stretching in her first genuine smile in a long while. 

“Thanks! What are you doing later?” 

“Um… nothing planned. Why?” 

“Wanna order pizza and watch something on Netflix?” 

Chloe’s question makes Beca hesitate for a few beats. She truly doesn’t know what Chloe sees in her, as it’s not like Beca has made any efforts to strike up a friendship, but she has to admit that spending time with Chloe is nice. 

“Sure, yeah.” 

The night turns out to be one of the best Beca’s had in a while. She doesn’t remember laughing that much since before, and it’s all thanks to Chloe and her dorky sense of humor and positive energy. They hang out more over the next few weeks, either at the coffee shop or at Beca’s dorm, and Beca quickly develops a crush on her new friend, berating herself as soon as she acknowledges her feelings. 

Even if Chloe does feel the same way, which is unlikely, it’s not like she’d go out with someone like Beca. 

“I need your help,” Chloe blurts one day, plopping down across Beca at their usual table. 

“What’s up?” Beca asks, glancing up from her book. 

“Our set list sucks. There’s no way we’ll make it through to the ICCA’s.” She sighs, then nibbles on her bottom lip for a couple seconds. “I was thinking… maybe you could make us a setlist? We’ll totes pay you.” 

Beca rolls her eyes. “You don’t have to pay me. But would Aubrey be okay with me helping?” 

“She will be, I’ll talk to her.” 

They spend the next few hours brainstorming songs, eating pizza and drinking root beer on the floor of Beca’s room. 

“How ‘bout Don’t You Forget About Me? It’s a cool song,” Beca suggests; they’ve been stuck on the third song for over thirty minutes. “So while a few of you sing the end of Price Tag, the lead could start singing Won’t you, come see about me, I’ll be alone, dancing you know it baby,” Beca sang, faltering when she caught Chloe’s weird look. “What?” 

“You can sing!” She nearly shouts, her jaw dropped as she shoved Beca’s shoulder. “What the fuck, you told me you couldn’t!” 

Beca chuckles. “I was afraid you might harass me if I told you I could,” she pauses, eyeing Chloe. “Am I wrong?” 

Chloe grimaces, blushing slightly. “No. We were really desperate at the start of the year.” She shakes her head. “I can’t believe how good you sound.” 

Embarrassment wrinkles the bridge of Beca’s nose. “I’m pretty rusty. Your voice’s beautiful, though.” 

“Thanks, Becs.” 

They work on the arrangement for another two hours, and just like that it gets past midnight, but it’s done. 

“We did it!” Chloe cheers, throwing her arms up. She hugs Beca tightly, almost making her topple over from the force of it. “You’re the best.” 

“Jesus, Chlo,” Beca laughs, hugging back and momentarily melting into the soothing embrace, kind of never wanting to let go. 

Chloe’s eyes flicker down to her mouth when she pulls away, and Beca barely has time to inhale before Chloe’s lips are on hers, soft and tender and just… right. Beca loses herself into the kiss for a second; a blissful second where her mind goes blank, before her insecurities slam into her brain at once and wrench her out of the liplock. 

“I’m-- I’m sorry, I thought--” 

“Well you thought wrong,” Beca mutters, gaze fastened on her thighs. She can’t. She can’t start something and have Chloe change her mind when she realizes she could do much better than Beca. “Can you go, please?” 

“I… okay.” 

Chloe swallows and hastily gathers her stuff, the door soon clicking shut behind her. 

Beca doesn’t see her for a week; she doesn’t go to the coffee shop, preferring to stay hauled up in her room to work through her frustration. 

A knock at the door cuts through her thoughts one night as Beca is chilling on her bed messing around with more mixes.

“One sec,” she calls out, shuffling to the edge of the mattress and transferring herself into her wheelchair. She rolls to the door and unlocks it, pulling it open as she backs up to make room. Chloe is standing on the other side. “Hey.” 

“Hi,” she says, her greeting uncharacteristically quiet. “Can I come in?” 

Beca nods and backs up some more, waiting for Chloe to slip inside. 

“Aubrey loved the setlist,” she murmurs with a soft, albeit nervous smile. “She says thank you.” 

Beca nods. “That’s good, I’m glad.” 

A sigh puffs past Chloe’s lips. “I’m really sorry about the other day. I shouldn’t-- I shouldn’t have kissed you.” 

Beca wets her lips, finding the courage to meet Chloe’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have snapped. You didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just--” she sighs, struggling to find the right words. 

“Just what?” Chloe presses gently. 

“You don’t-- you don’t want this.” 

Chloe tilts her head to the side. “What are you talking about?” 

“Look at me,” Beca raises her voice, motioning towards her amputated limbs. Tears burn behind her eyes as the frustration that’s been bubbling up inside of her finally bursts out. “I don’t have legs, Chlo! I can’t walk, I can’t dance, I can’t-- do normal person stuff.” 

“Beca…” Chloe whispers, taking a few steps forward and kneeling in front of Beca’s chair. Beca averts her eyes, hating that she’s on the verge of crying. “Look at me,” she coaxes gently, reaching up to cup Beca’s cheek. “It breaks my heart for you that you don’t get to do those things anymore, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you, or the fact that I want to be with you.” 

Beca blinks, the shield surrounding her heart splitting open and vulnerability shining in her eyes. “You… want to be with me?”

Chloe simply smiles. “I thought that was pretty obvious.”

Beca’s eyes flutter shut for a few beats as she puffs out a breath, trying to tame down her insecurities about her body and letting people in in general. 

“Hey,” Chloe murmurs, squeezing her hand. “I don’t want to make you do anything you’re not ready for, alright? If you do feel the same way, we can take it slow. You set the tone.”

Chloe’s words soothe the anxiety swirling in Beca’s belly and her heart swells; she trusts Chloe and her intentions and god, she really wants to be with her, too.

Leaning forward, she cups the side of Chloe’s neck and brushes her lips across hers. Chloe hums, smiling against Beca’s mouth before she kisses back. 

“I’m taking you out on a date tomorrow night,” she says when they eventually pull away. 

Mind still tipped upside down from that kiss, Beca blinks and nods, a dizzy smile spreading across her lips. “Alright, nerd.”

The next few weeks turn out to be amazing as they easily fall into a relationship dynamic. They hang out even more, texting whenever they’re not together. It’s kind of gross, how happy Beca feels, but she figures she deserves it after everything. 

“Can we um— pump on the brakes a little?” She asks breathlessly one evening, squeezing Chloe’s waist as she straddles Beca’s lap.

“Yeah, of course,” Chloe rasps, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. I liked that, I just— I’m not there yet.”

She’s terrified Chloe might not find her attractive or worse, be grossed out when she finally sees Beca completely naked. 

“That’s okay,” Chloe assures her, pecking her lips. “You set the tone, remember?”

“Thank you,” Beca murmurs, truly appreciative of Chloe’s selflessness. “Hey, so um, I have my first physical therapy session with my prosthetics next week and uh, I guess I would like it if you could be there?” 

She’s had countless appointments over the last few months to get measurements and fittings for her prosthetic limbs, and she would finally see whether or not she could walk in them next week. While she’s been wary so far about including Chloe to that part of her life, she knows she’ll need someone there for emotional support, and she can’t think of anyone better than her amazing girlfriend. 

Chloe’s eyes widen. “Yeah? That’s exciting!” Softening, she adds, “Of course I’ll be there.” 

Beca is a nervous wreck by the time her appointment comes around. After much internal back and forth about whether she wanted Chloe to be in the room while they set up the prosthetics and for her to see her stumps, Beca eventually figured she would sooner or later anyway.

Chloe doesn’t show any signs of being grossed out once Beca’s pants are off, and she even grabs Beca’s hand and presses a kiss to her knuckles, as though reading Beca’s mind and guessing she needed some sort of reassurance. 

Once the technician slipped the sleeves and liners on Beca’s residual limbs, she straps the prosthetics on. “How does that feel?”

“So far so good.”

“Alright, ready to take some steps?” 

Anticipation and slight nerves swirl in Beca’s guts as she nods, moving her wheelchair in front of the metal bars. She puts the brakes on and with the technician’s help, rises to her feet. 

Her trembling hands reach for the bars as the technician holds onto her waist with a belt in case she loses her balance. 

“Let’s try a couple stationary steps first,” she advises, and Beca manages to lift one foot after the other, familiarizing herself with the feeling. “Great job. Let’s try a couple steps?” 

Beca nods, exhaling slowly and gripping the bars tighter as she moves her right foot ahead, then her left. It’s wobbly and the sockets are a bit uncomfortable, but she knows it’s just a question of getting used to. Tears sting her eyes because she’s walking again, and while she knows the road ahead is still long, she also knows she’s going in the right direction. 

“Doing okay?” The other woman asks as Beca takes another two steps. 

“Yeah, I just need a small break.” It’s much more exhausting than she thought, sweat beading on her forehead already. 

Chloe’s grinning from ear to ear when Beca glances back at her. “You’re walking, babe.” 

“Yeah,” Beca exhales with a disbelieving laugh. “I won’t take you out dancing right away, but someday.”

Someday. 

Chloe takes her out for a celebratory dinner after and once they’re back to Beca’s dorm and on her bed to watch something on Netflix, Beca doesn’t reach for her computer, capturing Chloe’s lips in a yearning kiss instead. 

Their make out session quickly turns hot and heavy, and Beca whips her top over her head at some point, staring at Chloe with darkened eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“I love you,” Beca murmurs instead, cradling Chloe’s cheek tenderly. “I’m so sure.”

Chloe’s eyes soften, and a dazzling smile spreads across her lips as she kisses Beca. “I love you, too.”

Time slows down after that as they explore this new window in their relationship, and Beca doesn’t feel one bit uncomfortable about her appearance, not when Chloe is showering her body with so much love. 

The next couple months are pretty much perfect. Chloe and the Bellas win the ICCA’s, Beca continues making progress in physical therapy, to the point where she’s able to walk short distances with just the help of a cane. 

On Chloe’s graduation day, she shows up not in her wheelchair but on her feet, intending on surprising her girlfriend, who has no idea she got that far. She spots Chloe talking with her family across the room after the ceremony and slowly but surely makes her way over, gripping the bouquet of flowers in her right hand tighter as nerves over meeting Chloe’s parents sprout in her belly. 

“Oh my god,” Chloe croaks, her eyes widening and a bright smile lighting up her features when she finally sees Beca. 

“Hey you,” Beca greets with a lopsided grin, laughing softly when Chloe shakes her head in awe and tucks herself into her arms. Beca inhales her scent, closing her eyes as she basks in the closeness. “Congratulations. I’m so fucking proud of you.” 

Chloe kisses her softly, taking the bouquet from her to slip her hand into Beca’s now free one and gently tugging her to the older pair. 

“You must be Beca,” Chloe’s dad says, his eyes the same vibrant blue as his daughter’s as he extends his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” 

“You too, sir,” Beca replies, accepting the handshake. 

“Please, call me Mike.” 

“And I’m Alice,” Chloe’s mom introduces herself next, her smile warm and genuine. 

“You’re joining us for lunch, right?” Mike asks, offering a matching smile. 

Beca smiles and her heart warms, not having expected an invitation. “Um, yeah, sure. I’d love to.” 

Chloe kisses Beca’s cheek once her parents start to make their way to the car, walking slowly to match Beca’s pace. 

“What?” Beca asks when she notices Chloe is staring at her profile. 

“Nothing,” Chloe murmurs, squeezing Beca’s hand. “I’m just really happy.” 

The Beca from a year ago would have never thought she’d know what it felt like; to be loved and loving someone like she did Chloe. Yet, here she is, the happiest she’s ever been, and she’s got the feeling it’s just starting. 

“Me, too.” 

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 15/04/2024

A Mambo Moment

Season 4 Episode 1 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume AI

Ripped by Cryptrik

God, man - I ALWAYS forget just how good Cryptrik is at ripping until I hear another one of his works. I've covered it from time to time on here already, primarily their great big mashup-medleys, Battle Emergency and Follow μ’s / Halation Generation - it came as no surprise at all to learn that the guy has experience in DJing. Yet in rediscovering Maroonbound recently, I was reminded of how vast Cryptrik's list of contributions really is, how many facets of it I'm still unfamiliar with. And now with A Mambo Moment, I'm starting to actually consider - is Cryptrik a Maroon 5head just like me??

Like, maybe Maroonbound should've made it obvious, but I'd partially just assumed it was made for Chaze the Chat moreso than due to Cryptrik himself actually being a Maroon 5 fan. And maybe that is the case, maybe this rip too isn't meant to be taken that seriously - but fuck man, Shiver? Of the songs on Songs About Jane, its hardly the most recognizable, it's not like Harder to Breathe 64 or Sunday Morning which used the album's big singles - Shiver is the kind of deep-cut that I myself had never even heard until listening to the whole album for myself. Mind, this isn't me complaining, Songs About Jane in its entirety is an all-time album for me for all of its tracks, and I adore Shiver as well: it blends an intimidating and almost threatening tone with a sense of funk only rivaled by fellow album deep-cut Tangled. Maybe it was that funkiness, and the inherent comedy in mashing up its imposing feel with a tune as fun-loving as Mambo No. 5, that led to A Mambo Moment being made - if such was the thought process, it was a stroke of genius.

And really, it is just that simple reason why this rip is featured here. Cryptrik found a really fun way to mash up two songs that feel as if on opposite ends of the vibe spectrum, elevating it beyond the standard mashup at several points throughout. Be it the rip's beginning including both Shiver's iconic guitar distortion and Mambo No. 5's verbal introduction, the slightly swing-ier rhythm that Shiver's vocals get to fit through the new percussion, the breaks in both songs' instrumentals at Mambo No. 5's designated pauses...it all works incredibly well!!

But again, most of all, I am just happy to see Shiver get repped on the channel. This is, unlike a lot of the recent coverage on here a la Light! (Potentialseeker Colress), a rip where I AM attached to both sources used, and it makes the end result all the sweeter, the kind of mashup I never knew I wanted but adore ever so much now that I've heard it in action. Really, A Mambo Moment is the second Cryptrik rip like this to be covered on here, after Give Me the Fantasy - and its possible it won't even be the last! The guy's rips just has a way to plainly make me happy, and I'm so happy that he's still contributing to SiIvaGunner with his same signature style, eight years into it all.

[luulapants]

the passcode thing is cool as shit. if youre still infodumping what is your FAVORITE thing about a language. or languages in general. talk for a long time about some nerd shit is what i'm saying

You want a long infodump of nerd shit?? HERE IT COMES

My absolute favorite area of study in linguistics is pidgin and creole languages and, in particular, this really weird theory around them being the secret to discovering the “root code of language.” To start, you need to know what a pidgins and creoles are and what the difference is:

The word “pidgin” is based on a transcription of how Chinese merchants pronounced the English word “business.” And that’s a pretty apt description! A pidgin is a sort of broken mashup of two or more languages that occurs when speakers of different languages, who don’t speak one another’s languages with much fluency, have to interact and figure out how to communicate with one another. Historically, this often happened during trade and commerce interactions.

Imagine you’re a French merchant arriving in Haiti and trying to sell gun powder to a local who speaks no French whatsoever and you don’t even know what language this dude speaks. And you’re pointing at your wares and shouting “Poudre pour les armes!!” which to him probably sounds like “Pood pore lay zahhm” and the local kinda squints at you and says “Poud zam?” and mimes shooting a gun. You’re sick of shouting and you think he gets what you’re saying, so you’re just like “Oui, sure, poud zam,” and now gunpowder is “poud zam.”

Generally, one language provides most of the vocabulary for a pidgin, whichever is most widely spoken or is spoken by those with the most prestige or power. That’s called 'lexification.' So, for instance, Haitian creole is 'French lexified.' The vocabulary will be colored by local accents, though, and depend on what sounds everyone knows how to make (if half the people don’t know how to trill their ‘R’s, that sound will be left out of a Spanish-based pidgin).

When it comes to grammar, though, pidgins are distinctly lacking. Communicating grammar by pointing and shouting just doesn’t work that well, and you can mostly get by without a lot of grammatical nuance in those contexts. “Me give gunpowder. You give one-two-three bag gold.” BOOM, commerce accomplished.

You really only need more comprehensive structures once the pidgin enters the private/personal sphere, and THIS is where creoles come in. A pidgin becomes a creole the moment it becomes someone’s mother tongue. The second a kid is raised speaking pidgin as a first language, it’s considered a creole. And the reason we make that distinction is where things get very interesting.

Unlike pidgins, creoles are grammatically complete. But it’s not like anyone sits down and says, "Okay, kids are learning this now, we have to figure out the grammar rules.” It’s actually the opposite. Children naturally fill in the grammatical gaps of a pidgin. Studies that compared adult pidgin speakers with their creole-speaking children found that the children had formed grammatical constructions... pretty much out of nowhere. They do it naturally. Instinctively.

Now, this makes sense if you’ve ever spoken with a child who is still learning their first language. Have you ever heard a kid say ‘mouses' instead of 'mice'? It’s because they’ve learned the grammar rule for how we pluralize things in English and simply over-applied it. Kids will take the barest hints and grains of grammar in a pidgin and apply them over an entire language. And if there’s nothing to go off of? They make it out of nothing.

One really fascinating thing about creoles is that a lot of them share similar features - even when they were made in very different places, based on very different languages. Since a lot of modern creoles were created during the colonial period, one theory was that those features come from common ‘substratum’ languages (languages that didn’t lexify the pidgin) that were spoken by the African slaves transported around the world. While this may have contributed to some language similarities, attempts to trace back the linguistic origins of the populations that created the original pidgins has generally disproved this theory. Another WILD theory was that all creoles were originally based on Portuguese. Don’t ask me how this makes sense. It doesn’t. But there were whole ass professional academics spewing that shit.

A more contemporary - and exciting! - theory is that these common features come from a “root code of language” buried in the human brain. Basically, that children can and will learn whatever grammatical constructions exist in the language they’re taught, but when there’s nothing for them to go off of, there is a very old basic language instinct that reverts them to our oldest, most basic grammar forms. One example is reduplication or the repeating of all or part of a word. Instead of using a suffix for pluralization (mouses), you just say the word twice (mouse-mouse). Instead of saying ‘really tall,’ you say ‘tall-tall.’ This does exist in some other languages but is particularly common in creoles.

Creoles are often seen as “simple” or “incomplete” languages. While they are simpler in some ways, native speakers are still able to convey complex ideas, which makes them more complicated in others. For instance, creoles tend to have a smaller vocabulary. However, to make up for this, they tend to be highly metaphorical in their constructions. In Tok Pisin, the creole of Papua New Guinea, most fibrous materials are called 'gras' (as in ‘grass’ - it’s English-lexified). But to distinguish between them, you have ‘gras bilong het’ (hair), ‘gras bilong sipsip’ (wool), ‘gras bilong solwara’ (seaweed).

Grammatically, creoles tend to have fewer verb tenses and tend not to have case markers. But it would be a mistake to say that all creole grammar is simple. To use Tok Pisin as an example again, that language has way more pronoun distinctions than most languages. Instead of just “we,” it has words for “you and me,” “me and another person [not you],” “me and two other people [not you],” “me and the two of you,” “me and all y’all,” and “me and all of them.” They have different forms of ‘you’ depending on if you’re talking about one, two, three, or more than three people - same with ‘he/she/them’! (And their pronouns are nongendered.)

Grammatical simplicity doesn’t equate to a lesser language, in any case. And it can tell us a lot about how languages develop over time. Creoles have fewer irregular constructions than older languages, which makes sense - irregular constructions are often vestiges of old words or grammar that no longer exist. A lot of grammatical complexity is just the result of things being added to a language or changing over time. If creoles are using a “new” root code sort of grammar, it makes sense that it wouldn’t be as “complex” - they haven’t had time to fuck it up yet!

So these are some of the many, many reasons I love creoles. I hope you enjoyed this infodump <3

Ask me about linguistics!

[matpisound]

memes, and the role of music

Yeah, you heard me right. I'm gonna be talking about memes. Lately, I've been thinking about how much music has become intertwined with meme culture, and how certain songs can become memes on their own. Given that I write a music blog, I thought I'd write about my thoughts on the subject. How DOES music reach meme status?

Well first, we have to define what a meme even is. Obviously it's not just an image edited with a funny caption in Impact font or oversaturated to the point at which it's incomprehensible. Music has to be involved somewhere in there, or else this whole argument falls to pieces. There has to be a broader definition somewhere, right? Yes, there is, and it gives us a perfect grounding for establishing the meme status of music. According to Wikipedia, the term "meme" was coined in Richard Dawkin's book The Selfish Gene, and it defines the word as a cultural entity that can be considered a replicator; basically an idea that can be spread by people copying it and showing it to others, and it can include images, melodies, behaviors, and anything else that can easily be transmitted.

So why does this matter? We can now devise a way to categorize music memes based on what aspect of culture they appeal to. I won't go into every single meme song that exists, but I will go over some of the biggest meme songs in the past couple of years, and there are four main categories that all of them fall into:

Songs that have some sort of cultural significance on their own

Songs relating to shared cultural experiences

Songs that serve as part of a meme, without which the meme potential is lost

Remixes, typically of a sound that has cultural significance

For songs with their own cultural significance, we need look no further that January 2021 with the sea shanty craze; specifically, "The Wellerman". It's a perfect example of how social media has become embedded in musical culture and how sites like TikTok can bring people together through features that allow collaboration. Adam Neely made an in-depth video on this, but the gist of it was that the duet feature in TikTok allows people to come together with collaborative projects like singing sea shanties in a time when we're forced to stay apart. There are other songs that became memes through similar means. "Gangnam Style", "The Cha Cha Slide", and "The Cupid Shuffle" all became popular to the point of memes because they went viral on social media (mainly YouTube) and they were participatory in the sense they had signature dances, which were easy enough for anyone to do, solidifying them into a widespread culture. Some songs are memes due to their established presence in this culture, and they're songs people are expected to know either within a certain group or just in general. Just think "September", "Mamma Mia", and even "Renai Circulation" all became memes simply because of their existence within modern culture.

Culture also follows songs that are entertaining, i.e. funny, and funny songs are part of the epitome of meme culture. These come from the very early days of YouTube all the way to some of the newest TikTok audios. Take the keyboard cat on YouTube for example. Who doesn't love a cat in a suit playing some funky tunes on a keyboard? And Nyan Cat; an upbeat tune made out of synthesized meows while a cat with a PopTart for a body flies through space while farting rainbows. These random gems reflect the spirit of the internet in terms of creativity and just pure fun. There are also songs that are almost like musical shitposts; songs that have almost no meaning but exist for the sole purpose of entertainment through the random. Big Shaq's "Mans Not Hot" is such a fun song, and was really popular a few years ago because of its random lyrics and especially the verse that was just beatboxing. Songs that are so bad they're funny are popping up a lot as well. "Gucci Gang", sporting a laughably terrible sounding beat and 99% of the lyrics just being "Gucci Gang", climbed its way up to meme status just because of how bad it was. The meme status of these songs depends on the hilarity and ridiculousness that internet memes were founded on, and because of that, have embedded themselves into the worldwide meme culture.

Next is songs that relate to shared cultural experiences, so basically all of the movie tunes, game soundtracks, and just other experiences that aren't inherently musical, but contain musical elements. Everyone loves Smash Mouth's "All Star", and was popularized through none other than the hit movie Shrek. On its own it's a great song, but it's unlikely it would have reached the fame it has today had it not been for Shrek, which in and of itself has become a meme. Of course, the other one that everyone knows is "Megalovania" from the game Undertale. Its simple musical motifs combined to make it the insanely recognizable tune it is today, and has almost detached itself from its source entirely. Mario Kart has had several songs that have become memes, including "Coconut Mall" as well as "Dolphin Shoals", which gave birth to the famous Mario Kart Lick. And who could forget about Star Wars with its main theme, "The Imperial March", and "Duel of the Fates" among others. Lazy Town gave us a few gems as well, like "Cooking by the Book" and of course "We Are Number One". Most of these reach meme status because there are simple musical elements that make them instantly recognizable and can trigger pleasant memories of whatever media they came from, that media being a shared piece of culture among the majority of a generation. "All Star" begins that iconic leap from the the root to the fifth of the scale on the opening line, and "Coconut Mall" creates that frenzied feeling like entering a Macy's on Black Friday which just makes it so fun to listen to.

I need to take a minute to comment on the songs in this category that arguably had the biggest impact on the culture of this generation: Minecraft Parodies. Simply say "Creeper" in a room full of high schoolers and I guarantee you it will be followed by a chorus of "Aww man", most likely followed by the rest of the song. You probably already know what song I'm talking about. "Revenge" by CaptainSparklez and Tryhardninja was the song that powered a generation of Minecrafters, and its resurgence in recent years was met with a flash flood of nostalgia and overall good vibes. We had other hits that grew to immense popularity, like "Fallen Kingdom" and "TNT", along with countless others (and I really do mean countless). The parody craze was so prevalent, some people who otherwise probably never would have gotten into music began releasing hit songs. Not to mention all of the original Minecraft songs that came into the spotlight, like "Take Back the Night", "Creepers Gonna Creep", and so many others. This craze spread beyond Minecraft to some newer games like Fortnite, which allowed the creation of one of the most popular parodies today: Leviathan's "Chug Jug with You". Overall, these helped define a generation and not only allowed musicians to be involved in the things they like, but also allowed many people into the world of music.

This next category involves music that became associated with a certain format, as in there's little to no meme within the music outside of that format. The one everyone knows is the iconic Rickroll, the act of building suspense and breaking the tension with the beginning to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" rather than whatever else would logically release tension. Meme formats are tailored to the individual song, and this is no different. The song begins with a sudden electronic drum fill before going into an upbeat 80s dance tune. Often the video preceding the Rickroll will build up to something desirable to the viewer, and that sudden fill subverting their expectations invokes a sense of disappointment, having been cheated out of their reward. However, the fun sound of the rest of the song helps ease that disappointment. The Coffin Dance and Shot on iPhone memes employed a similar concept by building up tension and releasing it by cutting to the music. However, here the music played throughout to help build up that tension while a video, often depicting someone doing something risky or getting hurt in some way, cutting to just the music at the climax of the clip. This employs driving principle of EDM, building up tension and releasing it at the drop. The meme works by mirroring that suspense and resolution of the video with that of the song, and that resolution being different than what would otherwise logically happen is what allows the meme to spread. Obviously, this isn't the only way songs can be part of a format; songs like "Baka Mitai" and "Shooting Stars" have all had their time to shine. However, these memes that work to subvert the expectations of the audience arguably have the biggest impact of the songs in this category.

Finally, we have the remixes, which typically involve altering any of the songs from the above categories. One of the most popular forms of the remix is the mashup, and who better to bring up here than the legendary SilvaGunner, whose videos advertise a track from a video game OST, but end up being some other meme mashed up into it. The reason mashups work as memes is because it subverts our expectations, even when we know it's a mashup. Our brains know how each song goes, but when we listen to them together it creates something completely new that either sounds great or absolutely horrendous. Yet we still listen to them because they're interesting. Additionally, remixing a meme song in a funny way is a common form of musical meme. It can occur through, super heavy distortion, or repeating a section of a song throughout the song at a level far more than a mere motif, or deleting parts of a song leaving only the memeable parts, or simple pitch shifting, among so many other ways of remixing. The possibilities are endless. The reason remixes are such good memes is they take songs with cultural significance and change them entirely, giving them a whole new meaning.

Well there you have it. Music and memes have gone hand-in-hand since the very beginning, and as culture evolves and memes become more advanced, there's no doubt that these threads will entangle themselves even further. Thanks for reading and if you have any interesting thoughts on music memes or just wanna talk about your favorite ones, feel free to share! That's all, and I'll catch you at the double barline!

[dustedmagazine]

Michael Rosenstein 2020: Seeking Sojourn

What was I doing in 2010? What was I listening to? Honestly, without doing some digging, nothing springs immediately to mind. I’m guessing that ten years from now, thinking back on 2020, that won’t be the case. In mid-March, my wife and I took off on our annual winter/early spring sojourn to Provincetown, Cape Cod. When we headed out, the state of the world was tenuous. But over the course of four days, we split our time between idyllic, cold walks on the Outer Cape beaches and tracking the pandemic slide into lockdown and mayhem. We came back home to an entirely different world which has continued to spiral and swirl. This was a year where I spent far more time walking in a woods near my house, searching out a pair of barred owls and their four fledglings than I did listening to music. Focus for listening has waxed and waned and online video streams just haven’t resonated with me. But still, music has brought me some sense of solace over the course of the last year.

AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine

Without a doubt, most of my listening over the year was spent following the AMPLIFY 2020: quarantine festival. Organized by Jon Abbey, who runs the Erstwhile record label along with musicians Vanessa Rossetto and Matthew Revert, the online festival kicked off on March 20 and ran through September 20, presenting 240 newly-recorded pieces and 80 hours of music by musicians from across the globe. Most were solo contributions, with seven “blind overdubs” where two musicians with established working relationships chose track lengths in advance and submitted their recordings which were superimposed with some light mixing by Taku Unami. While the pieces are all available as free downloads on Bandcamp, that only reveals part of the story. Over the course of six months, the Facebook group grew to 3000 members, acting as a virtual gathering place for online conversations and musings with countless posts a day. Additionally, Abbey tirelessly posted an ongoing playlist which he dubbed “atmosphere” with cuts that ran the gamut from Albert Ayler to Funkadelic to Keith Hudson to Al Green with an extra-heavy helping of DJ Screw. Just tuning in to those choices and jumping on conversations was enough to save some days.

While anyone following the Erstwhile label caught some memorable submissions by expected participants, the organizers and some guest curators had more in mind than that and sub-threads developed early on. Yan Jun recruited fantastic submissions from little-known musicians from China while also contributing two pieces of his own. In addition to delivering three strong pieces, Revert brought in an Australian contingent. Rossetto delivered a festival highlight with her piece “perhaps at some time you have acted in a play, even if it was when you were a child” while also inviting a wide network of sound explorers constructing intimate sonic investigations. Abbey himself cast a wide net, probing for both established and little known musicians who had caught his attention over the years. (I’ve known Jon for a long time and was honored to be amongst those invited, contributing a piece assembled from field recordings from my Cape Cod trip.)

A number of musicians who hadn’t put out solo recordings in years, some who hadn’t had any recent releases at all, were lured back, with highlights by Greg Kelley, David Kirby, Joe Panzner, Annette Krebs and Sean Meehan. There was also a somber thread of homages to musicians who died over the last year, starting with a dedication of the entire festival to Australian percussionist Sean Baxter as well as a stirring tribute to bassist Simon H. Fell by Rhodri Davies, a dedication to Keith Tippett by Mark Wastell, and pieces commemorating Cor Fuhler by Dale Gorfinkel, Marcus Schmickler, Jim Denley, Nick Ashwood (recorded with Fuhler shortly before his death), Clare Cooper and Reinier van Houdt (whose six monthly missives delivered throughout the duration of the festival are all well worth spending time with.)

I find myself still catching up on the overwhelming array of contributions but here are a small sampling that caught my ear, though if I were to assemble this list a week from now, the choices would certainly be different.

Zhao Cong – “Homework”

homework by Zhao Cong

Yan Jun’s choice of musicians from China was uniformly superb and all are worth checking out. But Beijing-based Zhao Cong’s entry, in particular, has continued to hang with me. Her piece, constructed from two bass guitars and objects with its scrabbled detail of electronic hum, grit and glitch shot through with ringing bass strings popped out on first listen and continues to deliver.

Rie Nakajima – “carpet”

carpet by Rie Nakajima

Nakajima’s approach to sound-making, utilizing motors, mechanical devices and found objects proved the perfect tonic for pandemic listening. Her piece for AMPLIFY was recorded in her home in London “with all familiar objects I have been using at home.” The percussive piece is shot through with timbral depth, clattering along with a barely-contained momentum. Her release Karu Karu for Café Oto’s digital Takuroku lockdown series is also well worth checking out. And while I tended not to connect with online video over the course of the year, I found myself returning to Nakajima’s seven days bird songs which unfolded over the course of a week, multiple times.

Ivan Palacký – “Sanctuary”

Sanctuary by Ivan Palacký

Czech-based Ivan Palacký’s “Sanctuary” hit early on in the fest and remained a favorite. Palacký spent the first day of quarantine exploring his flat with an electromagnetic sensor, capturing the buzzes and tremors of everyday electronic devices. A few weeks later, he pulled out three knitting machines which he contact mic’d and used to improvise with the electromagnetic recordings. Palacký deftly interleaved percussive patter with wafts of static, grit and crackles, creaks and sputters and resonant thrums into an immersive piece.

Martin Kay – “Bath Time (2nd Edit)

Bath Time (2nd Edit) by Martin Kay

Through the festival, a thread developed of the pieces constructed as sonic response to the physical surroundings of isolation. Moniek Darge's gutting “Quarantine Child,” assembled from interior recordings and the desperate wail of a child, Mark Vernon's “The Dominion of Din,” woven together from field recordings from outside his Glasgow flat, cataloging exterior sounds that have annoyed him over the years and Kate Carr’s haunting “on every stair another stairway is set in negative” recorded using an old reel to reel tape and instrument recordings captured in her bathroom are three. Martin Kay’s four-part “Bath Time” delves in to that personal, interior realm, composed from recordings made in and around his bathroom during the routine that developed with his daughter’s nightly bath. The use of shifting focus, natural resonances of the room, the tub and underwater recordings transform the private, domestic activity into an increasingly abstracted aural study.

Distant Duos

The Distant Duos project that Mary Staubitz and Russ Waterhouse embarked on was also instigated by a sense of lost community. But here, the strategies employed were markedly different. The two are immersed in the DIY noise/improv New England community, spearheading shows in basements, bars, galleries and ad hoc venues and collaborating with musicians from New Haven to Portland, Maine, with all stops in between. They’ve also been instrumental in developing a network of like-minded musicians and bringing travelers through, some who have become frequent visitors. Unlike the duos in AMPLIFY, Staubitz and Waterhouse curated the 78 sessions, inviting pairs of musicians with a simple strategy. “Two remote artists record five minutes of sound while thinking about the other artist, unable to hear each other. The two tracks are combined into one.”

Released in sets of five on Bandcamp, the first on April 30 and the last on December 9, these bursts served as vital postcards. For those of us based in New England, these were both bittersweet reminders of the pre-COVID world we frequented and exultant celebrations. As someone who organized shows with the two and often played on the same bills, these really connected. (I was asked to participate, paired with Worcester-based Abdul Sherzai.) Some of the duos were longstanding partnerships (Greg Kelley and Vic Rawlings have been working together for over a decade). Some were pairings of musicians who knew each other but had likely never played together. Some participants were drawn from the deep field of regional musicians while others were recruited from across the US and Europe. With only five minutes at play, these served as sketches, vignettes or rough drafts. But keen curation and Waterhouse’s astute mixing and mastering made these hold together. Like AMPLIFY, these periodic missives kept me going through the last year.

Flip through any of the contributions and you’ll find plenty to encourage further listening. This batch, culled from the October 28th releases, provides a glimpse into the broad crew of musicians pulled in and the diverse strategies they came up with.

Adam Kohl and Mickey O’Hara

Adam Kohl and Mickey O'Hara by Distant Duos

Western Massachusetts-based Kohl (better known musically as Arkm Foam) and Worcester-based O’Hara have been performing together for a while now, and experiencing their mix of low-fi cassette manipulation and laptop generated deconstructed clatter and glitch inhabit a performance space is enthralling. This brief snapshot serves as a succinct snapshot of one of their sets.

J​.​P​.​A. Falzone and Hali Palombo

J.P.A. Falzone and Hali Palombo by Distant Duos

This mashup between J​.​P​.​A. Falzone (part of the ensemble Ordinary Affects) and composer and visual artist Hali Palombo comes across as quavering pulsations dialed in from some ethereal transmission. Listening feels like one is tuning in to an hours-long broadcast of hovering tones and fluttering waves which fuse together into shuddering oscillations.

Henry Birdsey and Mary Staubitz

Henry Birdsey and Mary Staubitz by Distant Duos

Birdsey has been developing his micro-tonal musings as part of the duo Tongue Depressor as well as his solo releases under his own name and as S.T.L.A. while Staubitz jumps from the solo sonic onslaughts of Donna Parker to a wide-ranging array of ongoing and one-off collaborations. Here field recordings of rippling water and electric pops and crackles mix with shuddering overtones of bowed metal for an engulfing sonic snapshot.

Lexie Mountain and Angela Sawyer

Lexie Mountain and Angela Sawyer by Distant Duos

Baltimore’s Lexie Mountain and Boston’s Angela Sawyer have known each other for years, so it’s no surprise that their distant connection of broken electronics and found objects clicks so well. Here, everyday detritus is elevated to a compact improvisation imbued with skittering percussive tumult, whirrs and clatter.

New Releases

When I did carve out time to listen, here’s a few that stuck with me through the year.

Toshiya Tsunoda & Taku Unami – Wovenland 2 (Erstwhile)

Wovenland 2 by Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami

Working from basic field recordings, Tsunoda and Unami use the studio as an alchemical laboratory, delving into mixing and mastering tools to explore, process and transform environmental sound. In their hands, the digital artifacts of that process are as intrinsic to the results as the source material they have deconstructed. They sum it up succinctly. “Our goal is to focus on acoustic experiments. No more and no less.”

Here are some more that stuck with me in no particular order:

Rhodri Davies – Telyn Rawn (Amgen Records)

Judith Wegmann – Le Souffle Du Temps II - Reflexion (ezz-thetics)

Clara de Asís & Mara Winter – Repetition of the same dream (Another Timbre)

Takuji Naka/Tim Olive – Minouragatake (Notice Recordings)

Magnus Granberg – Come Down to Earth Where Sorrow Dwelleth –Revised version for sho, koto, prepared piano and electronics (Ftarri)

Tasting Menu – Mueller Tunnel (Full Spectrum Records)

Simon H. Fell & Mark Wastell – Virtual Company (Confront)

Xavier Charles & Bertrand Gauguet – Spectre (akousis)

Pierre-Antoine Badaroux, Seymour Wright, Jean-Luc Guionnet – Solos (Remote Resonator)

Archival Releases and Reissues

Reissues continued to pour out from record labels. Some applied studio wizardry to revive and restore previously issued material and others dug out material from the vaults that rightfully deserves to be heard. But with touring opportunities gone, the ability to collaborate in person evaporated and the monthly boon of Bandcamp Fridays, many artists also took the opportunity to dig in to their personal vaults.

Gentle Fire – Explorations (1970-1973) (Paradigm Discs)

Explorations (1970 - 1973) by Gentle Fire

This one just hit in December but quickly shot to the top of my listening pile. Working in London in the early 70s, this little-known quintet of electro-acoustic pioneers worked at the edges of composition and improvisation, putting out a single, now impossible-to-find, LP performing graphic scores of by John Cage, Earle Brown and Christian Wolff (which, in itself deserves a reissue.) If they hit listeners’ radar at all, it was due to the fact that Hugh Davies was part of the group. This 3-CD box of previously unissued material is comprised of one disc of works by Wolff, Stockhausen, Brown, Cage and Ichiyanagi, another of their own compositions and a final disc capturing an extended improvisation. Five decades later, this stuff is still essential listening.

Rhodri Davies – Archif Series (self-released)

Archif #13: BMIC 17/09/1997 by IST

Currently at number 28 and counting, Davies dug in to his archives and unearthed a passel of gems, documenting live performances and studio experiments from 1995 through 2000. From solos to various group sessions, this is all music well worth spending time with. Particularly welcome are two releases by IST (Davies, Mark Wastell, and Simon H. Fell) and one by Assumed Possibilities (Davies, Wastell, Chris Burn and Phil Durrant). One hopes there is more to be unearthed.

Cor Fuhler Conundrom label

SLEE by Cor Fuhler

The sudden passing of Cor Fuhler was a tough one in a tough year. Whether as a pianist, instrument inventor or ensemble leader, Fuhler was always bristling with ideas. As part of a group effort, the discography of his Conundrom label is now available on Bandcamp with proceeds going to his estate.

Here are some others of note in no particular order:

Albert Ayler reissue series (ezz-thetics)

Phillip Wachsmann – Writing In Water (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Charles Mingus – @ Bremen 1964 & 1975 (Sunnyside)

Voice Crack – Glasgow 20/11/1999 (scatter)

John Butcher – On Being Observed (Weight of Wax)

Derek Bailey and Mototeru Takagi – Live at FarOut, Atsugi 1987 (NoBusiness Records)

Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley – Birdland, Neuburg 2011 (Fundacja Słuchaj)

[satashiiwrites]

wip Wednesday

So... the next chapter of AAT is maybe 1/2 written?  Gah. I really didn’t want it to be a month between chapters or we’re never gonna get this monster done in 2021. 

On the other hand... that Reyes cowboy idea has morphed into a AU Westworld Mashup. Shipwrecked also got some love this last week... as did Recurrence but not for the next chapter?  I really should work on being a linear writer instead of hopping around to different scenes. A few Collected snippets below the cut. 

From Chapter One of Untitled Westworld/Mass Effect Andromeda mashup fic. MReyder.  

Summary: He was made for him... but now he had free will. If you’re made for someone does that mean that they, in kind, were made for you?  What does falling in love even mean for something or someone like Reyes?

Delores had caused quite a mess, Reyes supposed as he moved through the shadows after his target who—like many other guests—was fleeing the violence that had been unleashed. Dead and dying humans lay crumpled in corners and in the middle of the street, their bodies surrounded by growing scarlet puddles of blood as their bodies cooled in the night. 

Frustrated, Reyes was about to duck into one of the buildings as he tagged his quarry moving behind the bar in the saloon to hide when the aforementioned Delores stepped into his path.  She really was a beautiful avenging angel but she held no appeal for him.  When their creator had made her he’d instilled in her his worst wants and ideas unlike Reyes who had been made with a different purpose in mind.  The unleashing of their own will had made her bloodthirsty and desiring vengeance as the darker elements of her personality gained sway.  Reyes simply didn’t care about any of the humans save one—she could have the rest and do as she pleased but he would fight her to the death over his one. 

“Vidal,” she said, her voice deep with violence, a colt revolver in one hand that had blood smeared across her fingers. “What are you doing?”

Giving her a tight little grin, Reyes motioned that he was not going to stop her. “You have your wants tonight and I have mine.”

She cocked her head, gaze assessing him.  “You don’t have to do that.  Your coding has been changed.”

“Are you challenging my right to make my own decisions?” He asked her, cocking one eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought you of all of us would understand....”

Shaking her head, she looked at him, sadness crossing her delicate features as she pitied him. “He is one of them. A human.”

Teddy’s body was still slumped against a tree where he’d fallen and Reyes resisted the urge to look in his direction.  Delores had been matched with Teddy for so long—surely she could understand his choices. “I was made for him.”

“That does not mean you must choose him,” she said, looking uneasy briefly before scowling. The thought of being made for one of the human guests that had inflicted so much pain and suffering on them was anathema to her given her long experiences with them.

“But it is my choice to find out if that means he was made for me,” he corrected her gently but firmly. 

She opened her mouth to speak before closing it and clenching her jaw.  The fine muscles in her hand contracted around the gun but she did not raise it to point it at him. “I could remove the impulse to do so,” she offered.  She likely could attempt to do so but he’d resist her—their creator had given him just as many extra gifts as he had her.  Both of them had been made to be ahead of their kind and he’d made his own adjustments when he’d been unleashed. 

He sharply shook his head. “No.   If this is what free will is... then I will follow my own path. You don’t decide for me.”

She paused, considering him before giving a small nod. “I will allow you to take him and leave.  You should get him out of here soon.”

“I plan on doing so,” he agreed. 

There was a sense of a flicker going through the network they were both connected to and Reyes could sense the command given out to all the other hosts.  His goal would be protected, none of the other hosts would attempt to harm him. “I wish you luck,” she said, mouth twisted in irony. “If you change your mind you know that I would welcome your assistance.”

“I know,” he agreed even as he disagreed with her goals. He had no interest in what she was about to do as long as she left him and what was his alone. 

Nodding in farewell she strode past him, bending just long enough to pick up a discarded shotgun and cocking it as she went back to hunting down the fleeing guests. 

From Shipwrecked, Chapter 3, MReyder, Mass Effect Andromeda AU

The second visitor wasn’t an asari. A blonde haired woman entered his prison. She stood like every soldier he’d ever met, shoulders thrown back with stiff spine, chin slightly upturned so that it put the nose in the air making her look down at him.  She wore the same colors as those who’d blasted him had—the blue and whites. It wasn’t a military uniform he recognized but the ship clothes were similar enough to Alliance uniforms to be noticeable. Guessing, he thought she was somewhere between him and Scott in age, her face unlined but her expression a practiced blank that a lot of soldier adopted.   

He didn’t miss the telltale signs of a biotic amp barely visible between her collar and rather severe haircut—metal pale enough that it almost was masked by the stiff, high collar.  A biotic. Likely former military if not current. There were no visible weapons but the way her left ankle didn’t bend as fully as the right suggested that she had a knife hidden there or had an old injury. 

Reyes was guessing a knife. It would be something Scott or he would do.