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MY DAUGHTER

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Clouds float over the Kikori River Delta in southern Papua New Guinea. Part of the Gulf of Papua, this coastal mangrove forest is considered one of the most important wetland regions in the Asia-Pacific due to its cultural and biodiversity value. It is a habitat for Indo-Pacific humpback and Australian snubfin dolphins, both listed as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

-7.428366°, 144.428927°

Source imagery: Airbus Space

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ARMAGEDDON (2024) dir. Rigend Film aespa

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aespa Supernova Eyes

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Right People, Wrong Place Review

RM of BTS

4.8 stars out of 5

I want to start this review out by clarifying that I am not an army. However, I have enjoyed a few of the members’ solo releases. J-Hopes Arson was very fun. V’s stuff is nice! RM.. this new album is pretty weird and I like it. Creative direction goes hard, I understand how people get into them.

What is clear about Right People Wrong Place is that this man listens to A LOT of music. I hear the Elliot Smith, the SchoolBoy Q, the Frank and Tyler, Outkast and SO. Much. Tom Misch. This man got on that Tom Misch train and mixed it together with our boy Doom, Madlib, and maybe some Franky Gibbs. Tash Sultana? Is that you? Omg… is that… Nine Inch Nails?  60s American rock and roll and 80s Japanese experimental jazz shine through.  Him and his team listened to so much music, and then added the RICH production techniques of K-Pop in there to make a truly cool album. Good for them. 

The first song shares it’s name with the album. It acts as a bridge from whatever reality you are living in into his world. I have listened to it now like 8 times in a row to review it. It has super lux production, almost similar to Hall of Fame by Skz. There's a fun angry sample in the back. He doesn’t say much but it allows you to see the sunrise of vision he is creating. Okay. I have stockholm-syndromed myself with this song.

Nuts comes next, with that baseline that takes me into a Vulfpeck song, with Tyler vocals. Looping sounds are obviously a theme in this album, as it is trying to hypnotize you into taking this album seriously. The song switches between Korean and English, using a sexy metaphore to convince you to join his team, even with the sinister sounds creeping around the listeners neck. I don’t know the feature, but the dark voice really allows the metaphor punch. It is weird to hear someone use the 2000s alt rap rhythm with such clean production. 

Lil Simz on Domodachi does a lot of leg work of certifying RM as cool, same with Moses Sumney on Around the World in A Day. I do wish they added some texture to his vocals. It sounds so clean in comparison to the absolute dirty production. The rhythms are wild.

I think overall this album tells a cohesive story that allows for RM’s vision to really latch on to the listener. This album breaks out of Kpop into genuinely good music, filled with references, homages, and good story telling. We do not get music as considered as this in KPOP. I am going to give this album 4.8 star rating. The missed bits come from too clean vocals and how I want to see more credit given to the producers of the album. Get an older microphone, RM.

This is a world class album, and I am just a little crazed that it came from such a high powered pop star. When you make enough money for your boy band, you are allowed to do what you want on your solo ventures. 

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I have questions on this

Joyce Neimanas 1980

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Bang Chan | W Korea

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Kiyoshi Saito, 1960′s

Color woodcut

more

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Early morning footage of the Caijia Jialing River Bridge (蔡家嘉陵江大桥), the highest elevated metro line bridge in the world, in Chongqing, a municipality-level in city in China.

Song: 大鱼 (Big Fish) by 周深 (Zhou Shen)

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positivity post 😁😁!!!!

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To The Substitute Art Teacher - Jordan Bolton

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Picking Up Pixels: Rüdiger Schlömer Designs Typefaces for Knitting

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CBR Building

Brussels, Belgium (1970)

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aespa 'Armageddon' CD PLAYER

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IVE - HEYA

We rise up above

Shouting as if to reach the sky, waking you up

Raise it up, aim for it, because you're mine

Every time I see you, I can't resist

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5 Star by Stray Kids Review

4.out of 5 stars

Strays Kids, the 8 piece boy group out of JYP Entertainment, are not afraid to experiment. The group is known for their producing unit 3Racha, who continue to push the group into new territories. Seemingly given creative freedom to explore whatever genre they feel, they make use of it extremely well in 5 Star.

Released June 3rd, 2023, the album gained critical and commercial success. Within the K-Pop community, the album won awards for the group, choreographers, and producers. It rose to the top of the Billboard Charts, and sold almost 5 million copies worldwide. It has been nearly a year since it’s release, and it continues to have an impact on music releases today. 

The album starts out by sending you into space. As a long time fame, I was blown away upon first listen. It has an almost dizzying quality to its composition, punctuated with bizarre rhythm changes and hard core vocalizations. The chorus highlights Seungmin’s, the lead vocalist, musicality, while the song lifts you into the atmosphere. Hall of Fame states their intention and self worth, who musically allows for a slow build that leads to “La La La”, the lead single off 5 Star. 

“La La La” is not an easy listen. The song pulls in many directors, linked only by a heavy drum and bass beat. One minute it goes from heavy, punctuated rap, the next to some bizarre chord harmonizations. The bridge is well placed with a beautiful melody sung by IN, however it is followed by some back and forth yell-rapping from two other members. This is not my favorite from the group, but I do find it fun to listen to. It is impressive and bold for a group to choose such a song, and it did do well on the charts. It’s sort of an epic poem in a way, which is why I believe it was chosen. It’s just an insane song.

From here comes “Item”, a song that literally makes you feel like you’re in a video game. Insanely fun, super weird, and immersive in its concept, it follows a continued narrative throughout, and musically makes sense. “Superbowl”, the follow up, does the same. Both songs show 3Racha’s mastery in production and songwriting skills. These two however, don’t feel like they take up as much space as “La La La.” While they are better songs, they don’t make you feel like you’ve been punched in the chest.

“Topline” does just that. From top to bottom, this song evokes a camaraderie that is impossible to ignore. It is often difficult to imagine how a song can be split between 8 people, and adding on a feature to make it 9 sounds insane. However, if Lil Wayne can do it with Bedrock, stray kids can do it as well. They sound their best, with vocals staying in perfect range for the rap line. Changbin’s chorus is fun, matched with Seungmin’s smooth voice. Tiger JK’s flow add’s much to the song's legitimacy. Han is at his best. This song is quite good. 

Two songs stand out as skips on this album. “FNF” and "Youtiful”. I find myself cringing at the lyrics, as they feel too soft and silly. “FNF” takes itself incredibly seriously, with references to Australia’s wildfires. It feels a bit performative. “Youtiful" is the boy band song that ruins the legitimacy of this album. Luckily, it seems to be written in jest. Something about it seems to encapsulate the energy of a 12 year old girl hearing One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” for the first time. It is impressive in its earnesty. They both make me slightly embarrassed, but that could be my experience as a Directioner talking.

This album is quite good. It explores many genres, and really feels like a party. I find myself listening to it all the way through at least three times a month, and “Collision” is consistently on my monthly playlists. This is Stray Kids at their peak, conquering new genres and solidifying their place as performers, artists, and master song writers. While there are songs that I personally do not like, this album performs as it is supposed to, and adds to their hype. I give this album 4.3 stars out of 5.