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vampirebutterflies · 1 year

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15 Questions!

tagged by the shrimply fantastic @not-nervous-jester (ꈍᴗꈍ)ε｀*)

1. Were you named after anyone?

…my first name is partially after a dog. yeah.

A show dog that my paternal grandparents bred and showed, so not just some random pet, but still. A dog. At least my full first name slaps so it’s not that bad.

I share a middle name with my paternal grandma not the biggest fan but I digress and I’ll be changing that to one of my chosen names (Asteroid) to keep the initial but also make it Mine yk? Orig just is Not the vibe for me. And also I keep forgetting if it’s spelled with or without an e (it’s without lmao)

2. When was the last time you cried?

Two days ago! I absolutely fucking hate crying and it’s taken me until the last few months to really. Be able to more freely. ‘Cause I’d repressed it all so heavily that I just straight up couldn’t 😌 My beloved beef is very patient and very kind in helping me though

3. Do you have kids?

Nope and absolutely never thanku very much

4. Do you use sarcasm?

Me? Sarcastic? Never! Can’t believe you’d ever think that

(……/s)

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Honestly? Visual appearance, I’m very quick to pick up on anything interesting like tattoos or piercings or what they’re wearing or their hair or eyes / mouth / makeup or jewellery etc etc. Not in a judgemental way at all, I just really like looking at people ??? that sounds weird. it is a lil weird. that’s fine it’s not mean or gross weird. I’m very much a complimenter too so if there’s something I like about you or what you’re wearing or if you’re just. really really pretty etc I’ll just. Say it

Online is probably things like your own lil spelling and grammar things (like u or you or if you capitalise stuff) and if you come across as kind / kinda dickish. Also your ✨aesthetic✨ if there’s one available to be perceived

6. What’s your eye colour?

Dark green?? Green-hazel?? Not to be that annoying person but truly struggled answering this for my photo ID card— asking four people got four different responses from dark blue to brown and they’re absolutely Neither of those so like. Shrug. Whatever you wanna call this one

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

I’m an absolute lily livered pussy assed lil baby WIMP so scary things can be very very good and very fun HOWEVER I’ll be making distressed noises and hiding behind a pillow and jumping and flap stimming when it gets even a lil too much

8. Any special talents?

god I wish uhhhhh floristry maybe? Not to toot my own doot but some of the pieces I turned out were fucking BANGERS

9. Where were you born?

I fell to this planet during a meteor shower, I was barely formed with no one but the worms and beetles for company until my parents unearthed me from the dirt after the fae requested their assistance in finding me

jk I was evicted in a hospital about half an hour away from here

10. What are your hobbies?

uhhhhhh running my damn mouth, thrifting and upcycling, amateur photography, silly lil outfits and makeup looks(? Does that count?) I’m trying to get back into art as well??

11. Do you have any pets?

Yes!! Technically Diva’s the only one who’s Mine tm everyone else is family owned but two cats (Brave— 3yo rescue fluff, and Diva— 11yo Burmese), two dogs (Tripp and Chia) and a yellow budgerigar called Chicken or Special Budgie

12. What sports do you play / have you played?

*horrified noises*

I played volleyball and netball in school though that wasn’t the worst

13. How tall are you?

5’2. on a good day. 🥺

14. Favourite subject in school?

English, science and art (specifically visual art and wearable art in highschool)

15. Dream job?

Is “pretty twunky femboy faggot living the dream with lots of people adoring me and giving me lots and lots of money just for looking pretty and being fun” an option? If so how do I get there and where do I sign up

That aside. I’d absolutely fucking love to work at the museum doing science communication and conservation work!!!! Particularly I’d love to specialise in the space / minerals / animals / plants / natural sciences sections. Absolute dream absolute goal

also because I’m not necessarily like smart enough to actually Work In Those Research Fields and that’s fine!! I’m glad about that because it means far less Huge Gigantic Super Smart Studying but there’ll always be a need for conserving and protecting materials and communicating all the super smart shit into Normal People Understanding yk??

Tagging: @chupacactus @nofeelingisfinall @turtles-on-turts @eye-scream-girls @blackbeardskneebrace @cononeills @ipomoea-batatas @enbiosaur no obligation as always 💕💕

#this was fun!!!!! kissing u jams #if y’all wanna see my flower shit or anything lemme know #should I make a pinned post bio?? maybe #idk if I’m popular enough for that KDHDKDBFKFB #I rambled so much I’m sorry if this took up like ur whole dash #well. half sorry y’all following me should know by now that I talk so much when I’m feelin chatty #mercury moments #tag game

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amoebo-id · 4 years

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a o t d !!!

no more than 1 release per artist to keep it interesting. selection and ranking is arbitrary and would prob be wildly different if i did this tomorrow. also i only went down to #42 cause everything after that didn’t feel like real aotd status - at least as far as the specific relationships i built over the past 10 yrs with the music i was listening to

#1 laurel halo quarantine

nobody did machine-body dialectic like laurel halo in 2012. i loved everything else from her this decade too but every time i listened to Carcass it made me leave my body physically. absolutely unreal album art too

https://laurelhalo.bandcamp.com/track/carcass-2

#2 e+e the light that you gave me to see you

2012 was a good year. pop/ambient/noise/radio-dj-tag sound collage ascended to spiritual intensity. makes you feel like a child experiencing awe. also fire-gut used to have probably my favorite music video ever but i think it’s gone now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-SSuwW9cw

#3 ilovemakonnen 5

not to be confused with Drink More Water 5, this one’s from 2010 during his mostly-forgotten diy outsider-pop phase. off-key singing and amateur beats and the sheer absolute joy of making cool songs. all 5 are perfect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORKpg_-z0Mk

#4 macintosh plus floral shoppe

would’ve made top 10 on album art alone. music, aesthetics, and cultural impact are inseparable here but going back to the album reminded me just how engaging its 2010s-updated chopped-and-screwed sound is, musically not just conceptually

https://vektroid.bandcamp.com/track/420

#5 jason lescalleet this is what i do 17

hard to pick a favorite from jason lescalleet’s semi-monthly document of his electroacoustic / field recording / tape loop practice but i’ve cried to multiple tracks on tiwid 17 so it gets the nod. couldn’t find any of them online so here’s something else of his

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t33x8OOm68E

#6 barrio sur बड़ा शोक (heart break)

dedekind cut guy’s weird one-off side project ended up being my favorite thing to come out of the last few years’ obsession w cowboy/western/country music/aesthetics. pure mystery

https://soundcloud.com/user-366783613/redemption-7inch

#7 cities aviv come to life

i think maybe people thought cities aviv was just another no-flow pseudo-”conscious rap” type rapper in 2014 but actually this album is nuts. hyper-energetic vaporwave rap? what if death grips were happy? idk

https://citiesaviv.bandcamp.com/track/url-irl-2

#8 beach boys the smile sessions

this cool fresh 1960s rock myth arrived fully formed and way more fun than the other ones. brian wilson’s concepts and songwriting got so unwieldy we had to wait 50 years to hear the sessions. i don’t care about conversations about his genius or whatever these songs kick ass

https://oldmasterpainter.bandcamp.com/track/surfs-up

#9 mindspring memories & intl. debris international memories

did this really only come out in 2017? i feel like i’ve been listening to it since i was born. tangential lateral kind of wormhole out of vaporwave into two meditative spiritual infinite-feeling loops that perfectly complement each other

https://noproblematapes.bandcamp.com/track/sad-horizons

#10 nyege nyege tapes sounds of sisso

absolutely obnoxiously insanely high energy high pitch high bpm dance music. i can’t believe this isn’t what people mean when they say future bass. set me down the path of historical and contemporary non-”global north” ideas about dance/rhythm/bass which i’m still on

https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/track/mshamba-video-mster

#11 blithe field face always toward the sun

the most gorgeous implementation of the sorta-ambient guitar-looping vignette aesthetic. is this a real trope or did i listen to this album so much i convinced myself it was a thing? for me this is the sound of what its like to feel completely content with life and at ease in the moment

https://blithefield.bandcamp.com/track/zen-den

#12 anohni hopelessness

listening to this album and singing along while driving my car made me feel absolutely disgusting. unbelievable hooks, grossly hi fi sound design, and overblown drama add up to imo a scary effective type of explicitly political or ‘protest’ music

https://anohni.bandcamp.com/track/drone-bomb-me

#13 21 savage, offset, & metro boomin without warning

why is these 3 pop stars’ vaguely halloween-themed one-off collab my favorite trap album? 21 savage, offset, and metro boomin were all wildly corny in different ways but everything was perfectly balanced. i hope metro boomin makes like one seriously ambient album next decade

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWv-bR_X-VM&list=PLC1uUM4twa8i6zsD_Sn1LRUq4vhl_PLCx&index=11&t=0s

#14 laura les big summer jams 2018

‘crying in the club’ type bangers with no fear of ugliness and no fear of beauty and no fear of wildly unfashionable tropes like skrillex-y dubstep and guitar solos. so much input from other trans/queer artists it felt like a big t4t party

https://osno1.bandcamp.com/track/the-river-feat-scum-yung-skrrt-and-99jakes

#15 triad god nxb

the other triad god tape from 7 years later is just as good. what was this man doing in the intervening time? i just imagine him riding london public transit while it rains or something. i love knowing that most of his cantonese spoken-word/rap parts are insults and jokes rather than like, melancholy observations

https://soundcloud.com/hipposintanks/triad-god-remand

#16 dj koze knock knock

what if pop music sounded like this? somehow every song on here is wildly danceable, wildly sing-alongable, and also wildly detail-oriented. feels like a transmission from an alternate present where things are okay

https://djkoze.bandcamp.com/track/club-der-ewigkeiten

#17 ocora world of traditional music

box set of “world music” recordings from the label that french electronic composer pierre schaeffer started in the 1950s as a project to teach people in rural west africa how to dj. ethnography can be a fucked up idea but afaik ocora is one of the good ones and if you can sorta try to disengage from the tropes/cliches that get imposed on it, the music is phenomenal. hard to find a track specific to this box set but here’s another from the label

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJm8rn6gW5I

#18 oneohtrix point never replica

opn feels like an artist i’ve ‘grown out of’ i guess but samples never felt more alive or more dead than they did on replica. set a template for the kind of melancholy ‘soundscape’-y vibe that i spent years trying to find more of after

https://oneohtrixpointnever1.bandcamp.com/track/power-of-persuasion

#19 rihanna anti

the most perfect imaginable pop album. i keep trying to move it higher up. i almost put club chai vol 1 on this list purely cause of the Woo remix but then i remembered the original is better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dDCUKElEwk

#20 colleen a flame my love a frequency

colleen’s ultra deadpan singing and wriggly rhythmic synth put me in a trance. everything sounded dry as hell even though it was covered in reverb. i think maybe some people were put off by the corny song names and lyrics

https://colleencolleen.bandcamp.com/track/separating

#21 dj paypal drake edits

back when drake seemed like a sorta-shitty dude rather than seriously creepy, dj paypal used the power of footwork to expose both the melancholy-ambient modality and the serious-bass-music modality latent in his voice and beats

https://mallmusicinc.com/track/brand-new

#22 huerco s. for those of you who have never (and also those who have)

not really as ambient as it first seems imo, but rather like a really intense focus on what we mean when we describe things as ‘static’ or ‘dynamic’. i know it’s corny but i wanna say these tracks are fully both and fully neither

https://brianleeds.bandcamp.com/track/promises-of-fertility

#23 girls rituals reddishness

for a track so deliberately shitty-sounding I Know had no right to be so fucking danceable. persona and production synthesized into the only ‘singer-songwriter’ music i could really get into

https://temporaryenjoyment.bandcamp.com/track/i-know

#24 chromatics kill for love

fakeass 80s retro melancholia digitized and pushed so far past pastiche it turned into pure slime. the phone call in There’s A Light Out On The Horizon came straight from the void

https://soundcloud.com/johnnyjewel/chromatics-kill-for-love-album

#25 actress ghettoville

the only genuinely post-apocalyptic music. specifically the postapocalypse in wall-e but if there was no wall-e to clean it up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcCPdfUFq6k

#26 playboi carti die lit

every beat on this album was reducible to a 4-second loop that perpetually demanded its own repetition and playboi carti somehow knew exactly what to do with them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pjiKmhlAI

#27 charli xcx vroom vroom

the charli xcx that came after this was fun, but there was black hole levels of power compacted into when she said vroom vroom on Vroom Vroom

https://soundcloud.com/vroomvroomrecordings/charli-xcx-vroom-vroom

#28 pacific breeze: japanese city pop, aor & boogie 1976-1986

it’s kind of amazing to think that this compilation only exists because vaporwave aesthetics made ‘japanese grocery-store kitsch from the 80s’ a marketable thing in the us. anyway every single one of these is an absolute bop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl91bvEKj20

#29 young thug barter 6

i can’t get enough of listening to young thug’s voice. i’ve seen his rhythmic-melodic-textural sensibility described as virtuosic and i don’t know really if that term means anything but it feels right to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg9ZxQKSDuw

#30 magic eye babylon

smeared dreamy lo-fi guitar music w wistful buried melodies pushed to an extreme. every song sounded the same and i wish there was more than the one cassette

https://magiceye.bandcamp.com/track/flame

#31 tirzah devotion

you could say this was ‘stripped down’ r&b but i think more accurately what separated it was that every sound stood exactly and only for itself

https://tirzah.bandcamp.com/track/basic-need

#32 mount eerie clear moon

it’s amazing how well mount eerie navigated the move from a lo-fi sound/mode/affect to a hi-fi sound/mode/affect. clear moon wasn’t his first attempt but it was the one that most embodied the feeling of the new possilibities that had been opened up

https://pwelverumandsun.bandcamp.com/track/through-the-trees-pt-2

#33 kelela aquaphoria

this mix was such a good idea it immediately seemed shocking nobody else had tried afaik. and kelela executed it so well you forgot the tracks already existed in other contexts

https://soundcloud.com/kelelam/aquaphoria

#34 james ferraro skid row

not sure what it means that the only james ferraro i really love is also the one i think of as the least abstract/conceptual. his recited lyrics had a rare spoken-word-poetic power

https://breakworldrecords.bandcamp.com/track/to-live-and-die-in-la

#35 salyu x salyu s(o)un(d)beams

absolutely unbounded sense of joy and creativity and possibility hovering between bangers-lite and ‘soundscape’-y electronic manipulation

https://soundcloud.com/snouu/salyu-x-salyu-s-o-un-d-beams

#36 dj rashad just a taste vol 1

double cup got all the press but it was so smoothed-over it could never have done something as absurdly beautiful as Ghost or even Go Crazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuHPAbte9U

#37 yves tumor serpent music

i’m sorta put off by the high-gloss sheen of music like this but serpent music somehow had the right combination of total cohesion and a ridiculous density of impactful moments

https://soundcloud.com/pan_hq/yves-tumor-the-feeling-when-you-walk-away-pan-73?in=pan_hq/sets/yves-tumor-serpent-music-pan

#38 maral mahur club

lo-fi beat collage elevated to something that could actually genuinely be called world music

https://astralplanerecordings.bandcamp.com/track/avesta-khani-reggaeton

#39 lucki ecks watch my back

did not expect this super low-stakes sadboy trap to end up on this list but i love his min-effort flow and somehow every beat is exactly the vibe even when the tracks aren’t volume balanced

https://soundcloud.com/boob7/leave-wit-you-prod-plu2o-nash-clams-casino?in=boob7/sets/watch-my-back

#40 arca stretch 2

not sure why i get more out of arca’s nonsense broken-beat non-rap than any of her later projects

https://unonyc.bandcamp.com/track/tapped-in

#41 klein only

a new way to do fucked up noise w pop leanings. ‘audacitycore’

https://klein1997.bandcamp.com/track/pretty-black-2

#42 city arcadia

another mysterious transmission, this time w lots of harp

https://soundcloud.com/halcyon-veil/city-arcadia

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twobellsilence · 5 years

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Rating GLAY songs with wacky titles - Part 4

Crazy Dance

This the very first punk number the band ever made, brought back over a decade later as a B side song for DIAMOND SKIN, which is kind of surprising considering how Takuro liked to poke fun at how ridiculous it is in interviews and such. And he’s right, it sounds pretty amateur-ish despite all the adjustments... But y’know what I actually think about it? cRAZY DANCE CRAZY DANCE CRAZY DANCE CRAZY DANCE CRAZY DANCE CRAZY DANCE [Insert Teru singing as fast as Eminem here]. 100/10

Flowers Gone

And speaking of old songs, this is one that appeared on one of their original demo tapes, and was brought back OVER TWENTY YEARS LATER for their latest album. Which I’m extremely grateful for, because this is one of my favorite demos along with MOON GOLD. That said, it is worth noting that the lyrics are amazing. I, too, aspire to yell at flowers to be dry, especially when they’re gone. Where they went to and for how long is unclear, but trust me, it’s deep. 9/10

Binetsu A Girl Summer

Hisashi decided to write a song about a girl who wants to have fun in summer but thinks love is scary. And she also has a fever for whatever reason. Um, sis, you might want to get that checked before you go out there, mixing high temperatures with a fever doesn’t sound like a good idea. It’s a pretty odd song, but it’s Hisashi we’re talking about here, so it gets a pass - plus, it also kinda slaps, and if there’s anything you can learn about this band is that songs don’t need to make any sense to be top tier bops (looking at you, HIGHCOMMUNICATIONS). 7.8/10

BUGS IN MY HEAD

Did you mean: Lice. 10/10, a true banger (get it? because BANGxBANGxBANG? okay i’ll stop now)

JUNK ART

Slamming this song seems to have been old fans’ favorite pasttime. They say it’s got nothing going for it, that the lyrics are terrible... So, does the song live up to its name? Absolutely not. This song is great. People who can’t appreciate it have no dance vision and can not understand new fashion, and their heart beat speed is too low to truly feel the rush of adrenaline. Drug kings and women in the mirror are cool, these people just had no taste. plus, the title itself just EXUDES charisma. So bold. So daring. I love it. 8/10

#so uh those are all i can think of yeehaw #Feel free to add your own ratings / songs tho!!#GLAY #jrock #Luke rants

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cinderellaahhh · 3 years

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FIND TEAM NAMES

🏐🏐🏐🏐Funny Volleyball Team Names

1. Hit For Brains – Definitely not the smartest team out there.

2. Size Matters – Only if you’re short... or small, even.

3. Beavis and Bumphead – After Beavis and Butthead.

4. Ball Busters – The ball won’t be the same shape after playing this team.

5. Phantom Balls – Now you see them, now you don’t.

6. Setsaholics Anonymous – They’re going to sets you up.

7. Block Magic – After the South Park episode Cock Magic.

8. ACME Roofing – There won’t be a roof for long when you play this team.

9. Balls In Your Face – That’s got to be painful.

10. Safe Sets – How sets should be.

11. Practice Safe Sets – Practice every

day.

12. Where’s My Beaches At? – At the

beach?

13. How I Set Your Mother – Do tell.

14. The Dirty Half Dozen – Nice and filthy.

15. Hit Head – Why score points when you

can reduce your rivals’ brain cells?

16. Sand Eaters – They have a habit of

falling over.

17. Donald Bump – Bumping away

ignorantly of the rest of the world.

18. Nine Inch Males – So small?

19. Heads In The Sand – Stay away from

danger!

20. Good Volley Ms. Molly – Why thank

you!

21. Clever Beaches – Get ready to be

outsmarted.

22. Sand In The Vaseline – I’m sure

they’re having a great time at the

beach.

23. The Fighting Amish – Playing the old-

fashioned way.

24. Ball Bangers – Hitting balls a little too

hard.

25. Bros And Hoes – For a mixed team.

26. Public Sets Offenders – They’re not

allowed near certain places.

27. The Blair Hits Project – Getting

beaten by them is like a horror movie.

28. Ball Whisperers – They’ll get that ball

to go anywhere they want.

29. Setsy Time – After Borat’s

catchphrase.

30. Natural Disasters – It’s totally normal

for this team to lose.

31. Kinky Sets – The best kind of sets.

32. Men In Speedos – They make

everyone at the beach feel awkward.

33. Net Servers – For a techie crowd.

34. Touch And Go – Win some, lose some.

35. Caution! Low Roof! – About to leap

into space!

36. Wild Sets – These guys are passionate

about sets.

37. This Won’t Take Long – Beating their

rivals in seconds... or are they the ones

who get beaten?

38. The Joy Of Sets – Gotta love good

sets.

39. Set ‘Em Hussein – After Saddam

Hussein.

40. Spike Me Hard, Baby – It’s the only

way it should be done.

41. Setting Ducks – They have no idea

what they’re doing here.

42. Will Work For Sets – Nothing wrong

with that.

43. We Need Sets – We all do!

44. Hits Don’t Lie – After My Hips Don’t

Lie by Shakira.

45. Kiss My Ace – With pleasure.

46. Thongs And Dongs – Another perfect

name for a mixed team.

47. All Net – A team with no chance of

scoring.

48. The Blazing Sunburns – You’ll spot

this team a mile away.

49. Team Ibuprofen – They may be a little

sickly.

50. A Case Of The Hits – The only illness

that’s guaranteed to help you win.

51. Chicks With Digs – Why can’t chicks

have digs?

52. Trump’s Wall – Non–existent then?

53. Sonova Beach – Say it fast...

54. Sets With A Stranger – Players, 100%.

55. I’ve Seen Better Digging In A

Graveyard – Ouch!

56. Sand Castles – They might get a little

distracted.

57. We Showed Up – To what? To lose?

58. Chewblocka – After Chewbacca from

Star Wars.

59. Itsy Bitsy Spikers – Too cute to be

taken seriously.

60. Drunk, Stupid and Clumsy – And

honest.

61. Spiky Nips – For a girls’ team that’s got

that perfect spike.

62. Full Of Hits – They talk a lot of crap.

63. The Powerpuff Girls – Great for a girl

team made of three.

64. Setsy And We Know It – And so does

everyone else.

65. Unprotected Sets – Not advisable.

66. Big Swinging Ds And Ts – Another

name for a mixed team.

67. Go Sets Yourself – Just not on the

beach.

68. Johan Sebastian Block – Composing

a win!

69. Scared Hitless – Is what the other

team will be!

70. Death Volley – Wordplay on Death

Valley.

71. Hit And Miss – Haven’t quite got the

hang of this game yet have you guys?

72. 2 Legit 2 Hit – Well at least you have a

reason...

73. One Hit Wonders – Will score and it

will be amazing, but only once.

74. We Like Big Balls – Big balls are more

fun.

75. You’ve Been Served – Will be in court

right after this game.

76. We Dig 4-Play – Looking for another

team that also enjoys a bit of 4-play.

77. Vertically Challenged – For a team of

shorties.

78. Salad Tossers – Good at throwing

things around.

79. Sand Slingers – Why play fairly and

lose when you could play dirty and win?

80. Not In The Face! – These team will

definitely get hit hard in the face.

81. Setsy Ladies – All the guys on the

beach are looking at them.

82. Bumping Uglies – Not the most

handsome team in the world.

83. Interracial Sets – For a team made up

of people of different racial

backgrounds.

84. Here For The Exercise – Not the most

athletic team.

85. That’s What She Sets – Wordplay on

the phrase ‘that’s what she said’.

86. Smack Your Balls – Painful.

87. Butt Sets – Kinky.

88. If Pigs Could Fly – A team of fat guys

who can jump amazingly high for their

size.

89. Wild Wings – Wordplay on the song

Wild Thing by The Troggs.

90. Sets On The Beach – A dream come

true.

91. Sloppy Sets – They need a bit of

practice.

92. Just The Tip – They’re gentle.

93. Ain’t That A Beach – It certainly is.

94. Six Packs – Great stomachs or a pack

of six beers?

95. Court Jesters – More interested in

making the audience laugh than

winning.

96. Couch Potatoes – They really get this

much exercise.

97. Sets Pistols – After the band The Sex

Pistols.

98. We’re All HIV Positive – And proud.

99. Blue Balls – You guys all need to get to

a doctor immediately.

100. Red Hot Silly Peppers – Another

bunch of comedians.

Cool Volleyball Team Names

A cool team deserves a cool name, the following are cool volleyball team names you can call your team.

101. The Tidal Waves – Invading the entire beach.

102. SWAT Team – Swatting that ball out of the way.

103. Score More – Than the other team.

104. Mission Unblockable – No ball gets

past them.

105. Cobra Kai – After the martial arts team

in The Karate Kid.

106. Atomic Block – Blasting that ball away!

107. Shaken, Not Stirred – Just like 007.

108. We Always Get Up – When this team

gets knocked down, they’re quick to get

back on their feet.

109. Big Digs And Hot Passes – You know

what to expect.

110. Arm And Hammer – For a tough team.

111. In Your Face – Winning and damn proud.

112. Bump It Up – That ball will never touch the ground.

113. Net Domination – The other team will never even get it past the net.

114. Soaring At The Net – Where they play best.

115. Air Force One – After the US presidents private jet.

116. In Motion – They can’t stop moving.

117. On Your Knees – The other team will

be...

118. That Hurt? – It probably did if it came

from this team.

119. Spin Doctors – They always think

they’re winning, even when they’re not.

120. On Fire – Just unstoppable.

121. Spider Chicks – They can reach

anything.

122. Net Results – Scoring at the net.

123. Killer Serves – The other team will be

flabbergasted.

124. Sabretooth Spikers – Aggressive

spikes, to say the least.

125. Pure Energy – The other team won’t

know where you get it from.

126. Attack Pack – They play like animals.

127. Hanging Loose – The most relaxed

volleyball team you’ll ever meet.

128. Prime Time Players – A team that’s

playing in its prime.

129. Gung-Ho – Ready for just about

anything.

130. Block Or Bleed – The other team will

be too afraid to do anything.

131. Bump, Set, Dismember – After they

beat you, they’ll cut you up.

132. Hit Me – If you dare.

133. Lightning Strike – When they hit that

ball they light up the sky.

134. Planet Volleywood – So good they

should be famous.

135. It’s Gotta Be Da Shoes – Nope, they

just play amazingly.

136. Now Serving – So get ready to lose.

137. Bumping Maniacs – Addicted to

bumping.

138. Elite Volleyball – The absolute best.

139. Set To Kill – The other team.

140. Sonic Boom – You can hear them

hitting that ball from space.

141. I’d Hit That – You really should.

142. Death At The Net – There isn’t a worse

way to die.

143. The Wall – No balls get past them.

144. Volley Girls – Girls who own this game.

145. The Lost Boys – Unruly savages.

146. Extreme Volleyball – Volleyball isn’t

supposed to be a leisurely sport, it

should be hardcore.

147. EZ Pass – Making the other team look

like amateurs.

148. That’s Some Serve – You bet it is!

149. Sand People – After the fictional

characters in Star Wars.

150. Hit-men – Hired to assassinate the

other team.

151. See Ya – Wouldn’t wanna be ya!

152. Block You Like A Hurricane – After

the song “Rock You like a Hurricane” by

The Scorpions.

153. Game On – Yeah, winning is great, but

these guys just love playing.

154. Court Hogs – Loving the game so

much, they won’t let anyone else on the

court.

155. Volley Vipers – They’ve got a bite

that’ll kill.

156. High–Performance Volleyball – Don’t

even think about playing this team

unless you’re in the same league.

157. Air Traffic Control – Spectators can be

forgiven for thinking that ball was a

plane.

158. Speedy Spikers – Fast and very spiky.

159. Flight Fight – Known to hit balls in mid-

air.

160. Team World Class – Should really be

playing in the Olympics.

161. Net Ninjas – Assassinating that ball

whenever it gets to the net.

162. Net Assets – They’re owning the

game.

163. White Lightning – Striking out the

other team.

164. The Challengers – They make the

other team want to play better.

165. Volleyball Above All – It is a way of

life.

166. All Set At The Net – Can’t pass this

defense.

167. It’s A Hard Bump Life – It is.

168. The WildCats – The most vicious team

you’ll play against.

169. Vision Quest – Playing to reach a

higher power.

170. Monster Spikes – Those are some mean spikes

#volleyball

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 26/12/2020 (LadBaby, Boris Johnson, Ed Sheeran)

It’s Boxing Day in the UK as I write this and I’m pretty tired but we still have to review those charts regardless, especially this chart as this is the Christmas chart – at least it’s being paraded around as such – and hence we have a Christmas #1. For the third year in a row, family vlogger, pseudo-comedian and amateur musician, not to be confused with DaBaby, Mark Ian Hoyle – more commonly known as “LadBaby”, has bagged the #1 for the holiday season. Every time I’ve covered the Christmas #1 it has been this guy and, yeah, I’m tired of it. At least this year he felt some stiff competition, and hey, the songs’ proceeds do go to charity. Oh, yeah, and this guy is the third act to have three Christmas #1s in a row, putting this nobody from Nottingham with a barebones Wikipedia page and a couple million YouTube subscribers on the level of the Beatles and Spice Girls. God, the UK Singles Chart never fails to amaze me. Anyway, that’s arguably not even the biggest story here so let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

As I said before, this is the “Christmas week” so throughout the UK Top 75 there are a lot of holiday songs re-peaking or reaching new peaks, before dropping off entirely the next week. Let’s start as we always do by listing the drop-outs from the chart, of which there are quite a few notable ones. Most of our top 40 debuts from last week are gone, like Taylor Swift’s “champagne problems” and “no body, no crime” featuring HAIM, as well as “Show Out” by Kid Cudi, the late Pop Smoke and Skepta. We can also say goodbye to “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” by Post Malone and Swae Lee, finally after 54 weeks and a surprise return earlier this month, in addition to other top 10 hits like “you broke me first” by Tate McRae, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio and “What You Know Bout Love” also by Pop Smoke, as well as some more minor hits like “Wonder” by Shawn Mendes, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur, “Golden” by Harry Styles and “Plugged in Freestyle” by A92 and Fumez the Engineer, but I can see almost all of these rebounding hard next week so I don’t think there’s much to worry about here. For fallers, since Christmas has really consumed everything about this chart this week, we have some big ones that’ll find themselves back in the top 10 or at least top 20 next week like “positions” by Ariana Grande at #19 (the first non-Christmas non-debut song to appear on the chart, by the way), “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix at #20, “Whoopty” by CJ at #22, “34+35” by Ariana Grande at #28, “WITHOUT YOU” by The Kid LAROI at #31, “Prisoner” by Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa at #35 alongside “Midnight Sky” also by Miley at #36, “willow” by Taylor Swift off the debut to #37, “Get Out My Head” by Shane Codd at #38 and “Paradise” by MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy. We also have “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #43, “Really Love” by KSI featuring Craig David and Digital Farm Animals at #45, even “HOLIDAY” by Lil Nas X at #49, “Mood” by 24kGoldn featuring iann dior at #54, “Loading” by Central Cee at #59, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK at #60, “Monster” by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber at #64, “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd at #66, “Dynamite” by BTS at #67, “Lemonade” by Internet Money and Gunna featuring Don Toliver and NAV at #72, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa with the biggest fall down to #73 and finally “No Time for Tears” by Nathan Dawe and Little Mix at #74. To put the dominance of holiday music on the charts in perspective, if we take the songs that are not either explicitly Christmas-related or a clear Christmas #1 campaign (i.e. LadBaby), the song at #38 would be at #10 and our #1 would be “positions” by Ariana Grande at #19. “Whoopty” by CJ, that entered the top 10 last week and dropped to #22 this week, would be at #3. There are 11 songs in the top 40 that never made an effort to take advantage of the holiday season. When we get into some of our debuts, it’ll be even clearer how big Christmas is in British pop music. Anyway, let’s skim through our gains and returning entries, most of which are Christmas or Christmas-related. For returning entries, we have the comically awful “Lonely this Christmas” by Mud at #71, last year’s scam attempt at a Christmas #1, “River” by Ellie Goulding at #69, “The Christmas Song (A Merry Christmas to You)” by Nat King Cole at #63 (which I’d appreciate more in the top 20 like it is in the US every year – this is a classic), “2000 Miles” by the Pretenders at #62 (again, incredible song that deserves a higher holiday peak each year), “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love at #58, “Santa’s Coming for Us” by Sia at #55, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Sam Smith at #53 and for whatever reason, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #41. In terms of notable gains – and I stress notable, since a lot of higher-up Christmas songs had small gains but still good performance - we have “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” by the Jackson 5 at #57, “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” by Frank Sinatra at #56, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby at #52, “Baby it’s Cold Outside” by Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor at #51, “Forever Young” by Becky Hill at #50 (both off of the debut), “Baby it’s Cold Outside” AGAIN by Michael Bublé and Idina Menzel at #47, “Love is a Compass” by Griff at #46, “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano at #44, “Cozy Little Christmas” by Katy Perry at #42, “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” AGAIN by Dean Martin at #39, “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes at #34, “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay at #33, “Santa Baby” by Kylie Minogue at #32, “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber at #29, “Jingle Bell Rock” by Bobby Helms at #27, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney at #26, “Holly Jolly Christmas” by Michael Bublé at #25, “All You’re Dreaming Of” by Liam Gallagher at #24 (thanks to a Christmas #1 campaign that crashed and failed), “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” by Andy Williams at #23, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with the Plastic Ono Band featuring the Harlem Community Choir at #21, “One More Sleep” by Leona Lewis at #18, “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade at #17, “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson at #15, and finally, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Justin Bieber illegitimately notching a spot in the top 10 at #8. Finally, we can get onto the new arrivals, although something about this next one tells me that we won’t be in line for anything all that good.

NEW ARRIVALS

#70 – “I’ll be Home” – Meghan Trainor

Produced by Meghan Trainor

...for Christmas. She’ll be home for Christmas. I guess she just can’t finish sentences, even though her cover art has the full title. Anyway, this is a 2014 original Christmas song that went nowhere except Sweden. It’s not anything like the Bing Crosby and wasn’t nearly as successful, mostly because it’s a jingly, inoffensive ballad tacked onto a silly Christmas EP that also features Fifth Harmony and Fiona Apple of all people – who probably should have charted her track instead – as well as the deluxe edition of that debut record Title that nobody liked. At least in this, she’s not going for a faux-retro style, or at least one that I can find the inspiration for, and is just singing over this oddly jaunty piano melody – which sounds pretty albeit bland – as well as some swells of strings and acoustic guitar that do work sonically. The content implies that Meghan Trainor is in contact with Santa Claus personally, and that he gave her the advice to be home with her lover this Christmas and... that’s why this charted, isn’t it? Well, it’s not her fault – it’s not a “stuck with u” moment, but it is dodgy that she decided to put this on her own Christmas record that was released in October of this year, which can’t seem unintentional. I’d be lying to say this isn’t a pretty little tune from Trainor and her voice does fit this instrumental, but a jazzy rendition from someone with a deeper, smoother voice, would work wonders with the content. Oh, and that Christmas record features guest appearances from both Earth, Wind & Fire and Seth MacFarlane, as well as her dad, because, you know, sure, 2020.

#65 – “Gnat” – Eminem

Produced by d.a. got that dope

I can’t tell if I’m underestimating Christmas or overestimating Eminem when I say I expected an album bomb – or whatever that equivalent would be in the UK and our land of silly chart rules – from the deluxe edition of his pretty damn terrible album, Music to be Murdered By. This 3/10 trainwreck consists of two hours I’ll never get back of either great beats wasted by Eminem’s corny, stiff flows and painfully unlikeable delivery or obnoxious, unlistenable beats that are dated enough for Eminem to start going on his Relapse “killing women in funny accents” shtick, which was awful then and even worse now when he tries to replicate it. Marshall, you’re 48, and I know that you’re just “messing around” but if you’re going to treat the album as a cinematic masterpiece within the album and its thematic Alfred Hitchcock interludes, you have to understand that the audience will see it as that way as well, so you having fun and being painfully unfunny in the process over cutting-room-floor trap instrumentals cannot slide. At least Kamikaze had some genuine anger and dare I say some actual balls in how it tackled controversy and dissed everyone he could think of off the top of his head. The last record was angry and bitter, this one’s just tired and lazy, and that’s before we get into some of the ugliest bars, instrumentals and cadences Slim Shady’s ever put on record, which is especially present on “Gnat”, a lightweight trap banger with some acoustic guitars not dissimilar to those that would appear on a Lil Baby mixtape, complete with questionable bass mixing and really bad hooks. On the verses, he sends a death threat to Mike Pence, but on the chorus, his bars are “like COVID” because “you get them right off the bat”. I don’t know about you, but in 2020, I don’t want to hear Eminem harmonising with producer tags, making topical and insensitive pandemic references, or spitting sex bars with coughing ad-libs. Before the beat switch, his flows are some of the sloppiest and drawn-out he’s ever used, and yes, I’ll admit, that second beat is a lot better and Em kills it over that instrumental – but only for a brief moment before we have a third beat, which Eminem is pretty great over, especially with that sax and sweet piano keys overlaid with hard 808s and Eminem’s rapid-pace, quick fire flow... and then he raps the chorus again and I want the song to end as quickly as it started – thankfully, it does end rather abruptly. Just wasted potential all throughout – if that beat switch and flow was a guest verse on damn near anyone else’s record (Em has made tracks with Don Toliver of all people, and he could work), this could be great. For now, Em, you know Kris Kristofferson? I think you should Piss Pissofferson. Forever. Look that up, by the way, that’s a lyric on the record because of course it is.

#61 – “In the Bleak Midwinter” – Jamie Cullum

Produced by ???

I had only briefly heard the name “Jamie Cullum” before this, but he is an English jazz-pop singer and pianist who’s basically useless and uninteresting but, hey, at least he has a radio show on BBC Radio 2. Sure, I mean that might have been the reason that Amazon Music picked him up for an exclusive project for which this is the biggest single. It’s not on Spotify, it’s not even on Genius, and it’s barely on YouTube but since it is, I should tell you that this is his first charting single since 2009 and it’s a remarkably uninteresting rendition of a Christmas carol done a lot better by Jacob Collier – and that one’s on Spotify – so yeah, your sleepy piano arrangement and tone that makes you sound like Robbie Williams half the time and Beck the other, doesn’t interest me. Goodbye.

#30 – “Afterglow” – Ed Sheeran

Produced by PARISI, Fred Again and Ed Sheeran

If we inexplicably remove everything Christmas-related on the chart, Eminem’s “Gnat” would have debuted at #20, and this new track from Ed Sheeran, already stunted from being released on an unconventional day, would have hit #5. Regardless of chart position, Ed Sheeran’s back with his first solo single since Divide. Yes, I’m purposefully ignoring that collaborative project he put out in 2019 because as far as I know, it doesn’t exist. At the end of the year, when things are looking as if he could start touring again, Sheeran predictably releases his lead-off single. This song in particular is a heartfelt ballad from Ed to his wife, who he wishes to be there forever and even if they aren’t together at any moment, whether he’s touring or they separate for whatever reason, he’ll “hold on to the afterglow”. I won’t lie, it’s a really sweet and convincingly sold love song from Ed, even if it’s not anything new, it does feel like a different approach since he’s a newly-wed man now. Although I’m not a fan of this somewhat muddy mixing that somehow messes up just a guy and his acoustic guitar, making what should be a really pretty, ethereal and mellow track sound almost ugly, which doesn’t flatter Ed and his limited delivery at all, especially when he starts getting multi-tracked in the second verse and whooshing sound effects of strings pop up in the mix, and, yeah, it just sounds cheap and gross at this point, which is really a waste of incredible content and a great performance from Ed, who sells everything as well as he can. I understand how this is supposed to be down to Earth, so a perfect mix wouldn’t make sense, but if you’re going to make him harmonise with his own background vocals and even show signs of belting, give him some more grandiosity and go full out instead of restraining him so that it just sounds jarring. With a different mix this could be one of Ed’s best tracks since the melodies are on point, the song feels really heart-warming and sincere, especially coming from Ed to his wife, but we won’t get a remaster anytime soon, I imagine, so for now this is just pretty damn good. I love the cover art as well, painted by Ed himself, and released alongside the single as a bit of a Christmas gift to fans, as well as the start of what I’m pretty sure will be a promo cycle. If this is a good peek into what that album will sound like, it’s safe to say I’m more than excited than ever to hear from Ed Sheeran.

#5 – “Boris Johnson is a Fricking Jerk” – Kool & the Gang

Produced by ???

Okay, so the song’s calling Boris Johnson something stronger than a “fricking jerk”, and the song is decidedly not by soul legends Kool & the Gang, although I’d love for that to happen sometime. This is a family show, of course, so we have to take some liberties. This track originates from a comedian from Basildon, Essex of all places, and whilst we don’t know his name, the songwriting credit on Spotify is given to contemporary British poet Wayne Clements so maybe he’s behind this, who knows? Whether he is or not, I can tell you the history behind this comedian’s music, as he has been making crude short singles about controversial topics in British society and politics for a while, including some about Nick Clegg that charted, although never higher than #63. He retired in 2016 but after writing an autobiography, the guy’s back and he released a compilation of punk rock tracks, all of which are small and profane, with a “band” of puppets that I also can’t name. State-controlled Russian television networks – because, sure, again, it’s 2020 – say that he will start touring in 2021, mostly because he’s finally reached that mainstream audience with this family-friendly tune about Boris Johnson. Here’s how Vick Hope and Katie Thistleton introduced it live on air during the mid-week chart reveal.

Now at #19, we've got a track about Boris Johnson that has so many bad words in it, we can't play it on daytime Radio 1.

Ah, you cowards. Wait... Anyway, I’m pretty happy that the British public can stick it to Boris and the heartless Tories that follow him and currently rule the country, even if it is all a bloody stupid joke from an anonymous punk rocker. We can dig into Boris for his failures on Brexit, mishandling of the pandemic, disgraceful reality-star-esque personal life, that he wasn’t even born in the UK yet is basically a nationalist, his history of Islamophobic commentary, his crap excuses for journalism back in the 2000s or even his clown-nose, blonde bowl-cut “hair style” he adopts whilst addressing us on live television feeding us lies and misleading statements that turn into retcons the next time he has to address the nation, whether it be on Brexit or COVID-19 tiers and regulations, both of which are a confusing mess to both sides of Europe that exist to drift us away from where we should be going as a nation, and further into the realm of political party tribalism that we know absolutely does not work in the States and that we mock the Yanks for. We’re more than the sick man of Europe, we are the America of Europe. I guess you could say Ireland is our Canada, but we don’t even have a Mexico to make us look better, we just have other western, central and northern European countries that may be flawed but are far ahead of whatever the hell this shell of a union is in 2020, less than 80 years after the creation of our National Health Service. People will look to pundits and newsreaders like Piers Morgan, entertainers like Phillip Schofield, war veterans and charity-givers like Captain Tom Moore, and even politicians like Boris Johnson, as the “heroes” of Britain’s 2020 but it’s increasingly clear that absolutely no-one is a hero, and it’s the people’s right to be upset. Hence, nearly exactly a year after Boris Johnson cheated his way into power by smear campaigns and elitism, we have this song debuting at #5. Unfortunately, the song doesn’t go into any of that. It just repeats the title in an anthemic – and considerably agreeable – refrain that is an undeniable punk hook. The riffs and guitar work here isn’t of any interest, but the guy’s delivery is powerful and furious, so I’ll give the song credit: it’s not just correct but it’s really good, especially for a one minute runtime. He also released some satirical MIDI-level synth-pop remix with gross Christmas sleigh bells and hi-hat skitters, because, say it with me, it’s 2020. I wouldn’t recommend the album though, it overstays its welcome by the time you get to “Jesus Died of a Stranglewank”.

#1 – “Don’t Stop Me Eatin’” – LadBaby

Produced by who cares?

I can’t get mad at this lazy “parody” of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” about sausage rolls, or even its Ronan Keating remix, which is LadBaby doing a favour to Ronan Keating, if anything. Sure, my blood boils with the idea that this incompetent Internet personality from the East Midlands – which I think I’m sadly also able to describe myself as – got the #1 over Mariah Carey, or even that Boris Johnson diss track, but it’s going to the Trussell Trust and it’s ultimately an inoffensive, vaguely happy track that even gets the vegans involved. I, for one, prefer “Boris Johnson is a Sausage Roll”, a version of our #5 you can – and should – play on the radio even after Christmas. I don’t have anything more to say about this guy so piss off, LadBaby, you can’t even get the album cover right to the song you’re parodying, thrice in a row.

Conclusion

Best of the Week is definitely going to the Somethings for “Boris Johnson is a Something Something”, with an Honourable Mention to Ed Sheeran’s “Afterglow”. I can’t bring myself to give a charity single Worst of the Week so I’ll spare LadBaby the honour and grant it to Jamie Cullum for his greedy Amazon exclusive trite, with a Dishonourable Mention for “Gnat” by Eminem, for just being wasted potential all across the board. Next week, everything Christmas-related will be gone and we’ll get a bunch of returns and hopefully some new, interesting returning entries. We might even get the impact of Playboi Carti’s long-anticipated album – and I hope so because it’s fantastic – but that’s wishful thinking. Anyways, I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. Here’s our top 10:

Thank you for reading. You can follow me @cactusinthebank for more rambling about pop music and occasionally politics, and I’ll see you next year.

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pantsaretherealheroes · 7 years

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Current Music Obsessions

RULES: List the top 10 songs you’re listening to nowadays and tag 10 mutuals!

Thanks for tagging me @nimmieamee love these music meme things 😊

1) Dust My Shoulders Off – Jane Zhang I found this on youtube a while back and was sucked in by its cool art nerd music video (i’m only an amateur art nerd but I love a gallery) but the song grew on me, it’s actually a banger (timbaland produced it though so it was never gonna be garbage)

2) Fox On The Run – Sweet - I recently re-watched GOTG vol. 2 and it is such a GOOD trailer song for that movie. It’s just got such a bombastic opening and now I listen to it whenever I need to get pumped up for cooking or putting washing out.

3) Seashore – The Regrettes - This was another youtube find, and the music video is great, but also the song is a great indie music feminist fuck you, and I love it.

4) Final Song – MO - I did not have any thoughts on the girl from Lean On and then I saw her interviewed on british music tv and I heard this song a lot and it grew on me and then I associated it with something I was writing and now I’m still listening to it a year later.

5) Sun/Changing Of The Seasons – Two Door Cinema Club – I’m gonna do an obnoxious subtle brag here so sorry but I saw them live overseas kind of by chance and it reignited my love of them. I couldn’t pick a song but these are the two I love a lot.

6) Kids – OneRepublic – I saw this in a best of video, liked it, forgot about it, remembered it and associated it with a certain ship and now I’m very fond of it. I do this a lot and my phone is full of songs I used to be obsessed with and am too lazy to delete

7) Hoops – The Rubens – This is the only Australian band on this list I should be ashamed of myself. It’s just a solid, moody rock jam that I rediscovered a few months ago and is a great writing song for creating a specific mood.

8) Where Are You Now? – Lady Leshurr ft. Wiley – Traveling alone is fun except for when you’re in a tiny hotel room in the country by yourself, that can get a bit echo-y, so I often had the tv on the one channel I knew, the music channel, and it played this song and got me psyched up for the day – so I downloaded it and listened to it a lot where I went, and now , I’m very nostalgically fond of it. Also it’s a solid banger, with another bombastic opening.

9) I Feel It Coming – The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk – When Starboy came out I thought they would never do a better collab. I was wrong. This might be the best version of The Weekend, romantic without being sappy, sexy without being misogynistic, backed by the assured production skills of two French DJ robot men. It’s like peak MJ. It’s been a year and I’m still obsessed with this song.

10) Take On Me - Aha – I live my life in a constant state of never getting sick of this song, but this year for some reason I’ve been listening to it a lot, and accidentally getting it stuck in my head and annoying my poor friends who are in class with me. I’m sorry everyone, it’s just too strong of a banger.

This was originally a different post but tumblr mobile ate it and I’m petty so I left it a few hours and did it again. It was very fun to do though! Harder than I thought, I listen to a lot of stuff on repeat, and I’m sorry I said banger so much I can’t help it.

Tagging if you’re into it @manycoloureddays @mistressoftroy @napolecnsclc @jellicle-ball @spaceportfloozy @sonhoedesrazao @timberwolfoz

#musics #asks

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bradleyhartsell · 6 years

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Ghosts Make Better Friends

Radiohead- Amnesiac 2001 (3rd of Top 100)

By my recollection, since I started keeping track over a dozen years ago, only three records have been earmarked as my all-time favorite: The Moon & Antarctica, Slanted & Enchanted, and Amnesiac. Considering how inauspicious Radiohead’s 2001 album had begun with me, I always took personal pride in what I perceived as the album’s meteoric rise. I took a certain pride in claiming Amnesiac superior to the band’s joint masterpieces, OK Computer and Kid A, not in order to be provocative, but because I genuinely believed it to be technically perfect.

My admiration swelled so highly that it overtook Slanted & Enchanted as my favorite album, a distinction that actually stood for a few years. Pavement reclaimed the top spot when I kept finding myself watching Slow Centuryand daydreaming about the kinetic, almost amateur-like energy that I privilege in music; that resonance, even if it’s an effervescent “cool factor,” had to stand for something, I reckoned. Talking Head’s Remain in Lightjumped Amnesiac for many of the same reasons that saw Amnesiac’s initial surge—aggressive ambition met with technical proficiency. Ultimately, though, I attribute a higher “cool factor” to Remain in Light, largely aided by the charisma of David Byrne, who yelps and squanders in captivating fashion. Thon Yorke couldn’t so easily be described as charismatic, yet unlike another former fallen #1, I don’t see Amnesiac having its tail between its legs like The Moon & Antarctica (clinging to one of the final spots on my list). For starters, Amnesiac still lords over 96 other records, including every other Radiohead album. But what’s more, Yorke may not be the Malkmus or Byrne level of cool but his haunting way of conveying paranoia, impotence, and oppression is never better aligned than the jazz-tinged purgatory of Amnesiac.

For all the talk of Amnesiacbeing the little brother to Kid A, there are distinct differences. Kid Ais fairly evenly split between the astral (i.e. “Kid A”) and the industrial (i.e. “Idioteque”), while Amnesiacespouses some netherworld, like negative photographs of what the band did (OK Computer, Kid A) and would do (Hail to the Thief). The digitized backbeat and synth melody on opener “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” sounds akin to “Everything In Its Right Place,” until electric guitar squalls and garbled samples give the song a psychedelic edge. You nod along with the subdued but shuffling beat, agreeing with this “reasonable man” who wants you to “get off [his] case.” Though the opener has to set the table, it is one of the few moments on the album not overtly informed by jazz. The song is true to a concurrent aesthetic of Amnesiac, however, in how it seems like an alternate, trippy take on what could pass as aKid A song, like Radiohead is existing in a parallel universe.

“I Might Be Wrong” is another aspect of diverting from the jazz through line, but it’s a formidable rock song, relatively speaking, which Radiohead previously struggled incorporating (see “Electioneering” and “Optimistic”). Its buzzing steel-cable guitar riff is assured over a drum machine backbeat, emitting the essence of what would become Hail to the Thief two years later. Colin Greenwood’s funky-infused bass line comes in nearly halfway through, adding to this buoyant rhythmic sensation in the middle of an album that’s largely spacious. As if aware and suddenly shy about its rhythmic outlier, the song’s final minute provides a captivating ambiance, where the riffs and backbeat are stripped for parts, while Thom’s falsetto hovers over the now-spare outline of what was “I Might Be Wrong” proper.

An unsung hallmark of Amnesiacis it’s no one thing; it’s not just an intersection between the Kid A-era and the Hail to the Thief-era, thus aptly linking the electronic and industrial with art rock, and it’s not simply just their “jazz” album, but Amnesiacis Radiohead at their most avant garde. Consider “Idioteque,” which is a full embrace of the mechanical dystopia that constitutes much of the B-side of Kid A. As much as a thematic and artistic underscore as it is, it’s also highly accessible and considered by many to be the highlight of the album. It may not be a Top 40 summer hit, but “Idioteque” is a banger.

Amnesiacmakes a similar proclamation of a mechanized dystopia on “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors,” but this one is far less accessible—in fact, it’s haunting. “The Pyramid Song” actually transports us there, with its lurching, stacked piano line and Phil Selway’s odd, complex time signature; these husks of the song could be transposed onto a swanky hotel lounge act, thus providing the album with the first hints of jazz. The final 15 seconds, though, sucks in like a black hole, which is fitting for the ominousness of the song proper, in which Yorke, surrounded by Jonny Greenwood’s ondes Martenot, sings of “black-eyed angels” swimming with him. The vacuum releases into the tyrannical apocalypse of “Pulk/Pull,” with its onerous drum ‘n bass, and swirling, radioactive programming that has a dangerous shimmer to it. The song sounds like the inside of a tornado, with Radiohead providing calmness inside of the chaos, like the pleasant piano chimes that try intermittently escaping, only to be suddenly engorged back into the netherworld.

The perfect intersection between the parallel universes in Amnesiacand the bedrock of experimental and jazz is the stunning closer, “Life in a Glasshouse.” The song can be seen as a negative copy to Kid A’s wonderful jazz screech, “The National Anthem,” which I say sounds like 100 jazz musicians careening into each other on a highway. Its Amnesiacquasi-kindred spirit is nimbler, airier, and brisker, even as its drenched in the trumpet of famous late English jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton. Led by Yorke’s patient piano melody, the accompaniment in the verse whisks about like a fresh spring morning, only for the chorus to swell with loud, almost-gossiping horns, as he insists that he’d “love to sit around and chat / only there’s someone listening in.” In the final chorus, Yorke repeatedly pleading “only, only, only, only” is the best, most affecting moment of Radiohead’s already-sterling career.

That final movement is the breathtaking culmination of a song that fundamentally pushes Radiohead to their extremes—into uncommon spaces that are further away from the art rock they perfected and into, say, the ambience of “Treefingers” or the dissonant avant garde of “Pulk/Pull” or the full-on jazz of “Life in a Glasshouse.” As spritely as the closer may be musically, and paranoid and/or suppressed as Yorke is, it feels like a celebratory climax of the jazz that’s festering and seeping throughout the album. After “Pulk/Pull” detours from the jazzy time signature of “The Pyramid Song,” the jazz chords and upright bass of “You and Whose Army” gives the album its first pop-adjacent song. In fact, as stellar as “Life in a Glasshouse” is, Amnesiacdoesn’t stand up as a whole without the pop-adjacent middle of “You and Whose Army,” “I Might Be Wrong,” and “Knives Out.”

As I’ve intimated, I hatedthe album for years after I first got it burnt for me along with The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, and Hail to the Thief, all of which I really liked (even if I’ve since cooled on The Bends and Hail), except Amnesiac’s aforementioned middle three songs. The reason I disliked that album is among the leading reasons of why it’s now my favorite: it’s the most challenging and inaccessible Radiohead album. The harrowing “Pulk/Pull,” the malevolent stroll of “Hunting Bears – (TRUE Instrumental), and “Like Spinning Plates,” which itself is a classic Radiohead minor key ballad, only again in a parallel universe—more specifically, it’s the heartfelt balladry of “Exit Music (For a Film)” or “How to Disappear Completely” evaporated into the Twin Peaks Black Lodge. With lesser versions of Amnesiac’s three middle songs—without those entrancing hooks—or even another experimental detour akin to “Pulk/Pull” or “Fitter Happier,” Amnesiacrisks being an inhospitable collection of sonic exploration. But because those three songs can be seen as pop music (even if you’ve got to squint), the same essence that compelled me to play just those three songs a decade ago is what provides the necessary shred of humanity in the most barren music Radiohead dared (and likely ever will dare) to make.

The band didn’t do themselves any favors, of course, when they elected to include the original version of “Morning Bell” on Amnesiac, which only heightened the public’s feeling that the album is a collection of Kid A B-sides. It doesn’t help that “Morning Bell/Amnesiac” is the weakest song on the album, though to the band’s credit, it’s not nearly the wincing misstep that their other essential albums have (again, see “Electioneering,” “Optimistic,” and “House of Cards”). Rather, “Morning Bell/Amnesiac” is a warmed-over, lurching dirge that at least feels true to the album, as again it’s an overt negative copy, this time of the Kid A “Morning Bell”; the Amnesiac version is stripped down, with a slower tempo and a continuous march that’s far less bustling and compartmental as the one on Kid A.

Quite simply: there’s too many great songs and no oversights. The greatness of “Knives Out” has been alluded to, but it and the underrated “Dollars and Cents” both make tremendous use of Selway’s jazzy cymbal shuffle—the latter with an orchestral rise and fall, the former with side-AKid A,or even an In Rainbows sparkling arpeggio. These two songs especially highlight Yorke’s singing and songwriting, in which “Knives Out” has a soaring melody that contains the frontman as threatening as he’s ever been: “If you’d been a dog / They would have drowned you at birth.” Meanwhile, “Dollars and Cents,” features Yorke’s yowling climax that evokes the caterwauling OK Computerin a far fresher (and still in line with Amnesiac) way than it seemed “Optimistic” hoped to do on Kid A.

There’s the apex of artistic creativity alongside global recognition. I don’t doubt Radiohead achieved this rarified status due to how accessible they made their disparate influences and overt sociopolitical leanings. On a visceral level, any brooding high schooler can get down to “Karma Police”; after all, challenging ideas behind catchy songs seems to be the apex of art. The jazz explorations, stripped down structures (good luck finding a thinner Yorke lyrics sheet than Amnesiac), and harrowing aesthetic easily makes Amnesiacthe album Radiohead furthest strays from accessibility. Yet the album provides signs of life whenever needed and ends with as strong a song as any artist has ever created. While there’s much to appreciate in a band’s ability to merge art with accessibility, sometimes it’s more exhilarating to venture into dark, cragged spaces. Sometimes ghosts make better friends.

#Radiohead #amnesiac #Kid A #ok computer #hail to the thief #in rainbows #the bends #Thom Yorke #Jonny Greenwood #modest mouse #pavement #talking heads

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shaycoldiron8-blog · 6 years

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Ostentatious Activity.

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