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blysse-and-blunder · 8 months

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in lieu of a commonplace book: a new term

saturday, sept 2 — sunday, oct 1, 2023

been running around and then lolling around and then running some more, and the last time i really understood what day it was i think it was aug 28?? though i have gotten a new wall calendar for my room so hopefully that...makes a difference?

anyway. lots of things viewed, read, played etc., but this is the ilcb where i talk about michael sheen's sex show. y'all have been warned.

reading finished this month:

light from uncommon stars, ryka aoki — there was a lot about this one to like, and lots of things that i think...could have worked better? the dialogue stood out to me as weirdly stilted. the author got so much good, fluid, lyrical writing into the descriptions of the violin maker, all the meaningful resonances of the violin, and everything else kind of paled to that. a lot of vision in this one, and hopefully readers who are less picky than i am will be able to chill out and enjoy the representation, the demons and space and music and donuts.

the empress of salt and fortune, nghi vo (audio) — stunning. short, but suggests/captures an entire world. adored the emphasis on little artifacts and material details, the flashes of actual history and the absolutely elegant touches of fantasy.

clouds of witness, dorothy l. sayers (audio) — a lord peter wimsey mystery is always a wonderful excuse to listen to a voice actor just go nuts with posh RP accents, but i do miss my girl harriet even as i know that i'm reading all the prequels on purpose :(

one last stop, casey mcquiston —i didn't think i liked casey mcquiston before, but this book was genuinely a delight. is this how everyone felt about rwrb? the romance tropes worked for me this time, the dialogue here felt natural and fun (especially the secondary characters), and the little turns of phrase and comparisons and twists hit just like you'd hope. the history! the queer community! the roommates! and you know what, fuck it. a little tooth-rotting fluff can be good for the soul.

listening bounced off of the new olivia rodrigo (sorry 😥) and the new chappell roan (sorry sorry 😥) and won't be trying to articulate why for now, haven't spent enough time with the new mitski (liked it on the first listen though) so this section of the post is going to go to noah kahan's stick season, which i have listened to on repeat for the last few weeks. i think i've got a favorite song chosen, only to notice something new about another one—it's not just 'northern attitude' and 'homesick,' though obviously the lines 'i'm mean because i grew up in new england' and 'i was raised out in the cold' / 'i was raised on little light' do fucking resonate. but so does. most of it.

youtube

at some point i have added both 'halloween' and 'the view between villages' to my liked songs, and for some reason i get a real kick out of the line in 'new perspective' about calling an intersection downtown just because it's gotten a target. but anyway here's 'stick season', simply for the line 'and i'll dream each night / of some version of you / that i might not have / but i did not lose.'

watching masters of sex (2013). if i'm honest, this is a little bit of a dodge—i watched the entire first season of this show back at the beginning of the month, it fully took over my staycation cat-sitting gig time, and then i haven't been able to get back to it now that i'm home. i think i'm scared to dip back in, honestly? because i can't let myself get sucked back in that strongly.

this show is maddening. it's fascinating. don't ask me if it's good. it's based on this book by thomas maier, which i may have to actually read, because i keep getting distracted wondering about how much the script is changing, adapting, etc. i've taken my intro psych class (and then some), i had to read about masters and johnson, and i feel like the show must be taking liberties— but also, is it?

this show isn't mad men, but it does have that period midcentury / postwar aesthetic, and they do a very good job mentioning bits of history/current events that tie it to the actual history. and there is actual history here, and i love that. but also, i have never been this aware of a show making choices for baldly strategic reasons— you can so tell that this show was written for weekly release, plot threads come and happen for an episode or two at most, only then to be either dropped (for future use if necessary?) or solved.

then again, there's some very competent and tightly-constructed stories, e.g. the episode about the nuclear attack drill and how everyone behaved, how it did and did not matter to them, how their worlds were and weren't also symbolically ending in the intertwined subplots. also a big fan of the one where they're hearing about the new research on the female orgasm! and freud! it's so interesting to have this all framed as ~the frontiers of science!~ and then see how in some ways it's more progressive than you'd expect (than we are today still, on primetime).

the other lead, lizzy caplan, is new to me, but she kills it, kills it, as ginny johnson. allison janney is in this?! caitlin fitzgerald aka tabitha from succession is in this? see what i mean, like half the cast is people who either were in big prestige tv enterprises or who would go on to be, which to me says something about the way this show was viewed as a good move for your acting career in 2013. (link to a piece of historical journalism discussing this show and nbc hannibal as not-to-be-missed viewing for 2013. wild.)

i've never thought this much about how television has changed from the early 2010s to now. this feels like a bridge, connecting pre-peak TV to where we've ended up, where it's not as 'prestige-y' as it would be now, but is still going for the sophistication and intensity. michael sheen wears a funny little bow tie and got a golden globe nom for this, but he could not be further from aziraphale here—it's like watching a totally different person (acting_patrickstewart.gif), he smiles so little and is routinely so awful to various women in his life, including those he purports to love. i distract myself watching him make acting choices in response to some of the (frankly wild) things that they've given masters to say and do, and that's. all i'll say about that.

okay that was mortifying. let's move on.

playing have now completed (for the second time) the first act investigations in pentiment, with new scenes unlocked (the spinning bee! storytime with brother sebhat! midnight in the library!) and still not a solid answer to the mystery. methinks there is a message there, but we won't know for sure until i can next find a time for me to continue with either of my play-through companions. when i play with A, we make choices based on 'i would never pick that if i was playing on my own, but since you're here, you'll be the voice of chaos egging me on,' which if nothing else has led to a lot of cackling.

things this game also excels at, besides narrating women's stories and moral ambiguity: animating children and animals. we shook hands with this dog and it was perfect.

making hungry for a handicraft. sewed a bra back together (unpictured), glued a handle back onto this little ceramic pitcher, glued a hairclip back to its backing and a slipper sole back to its upper slipper (all hail having appropriate adhesives for a job!) watched as squirrels made a meal of the valiant, late-blooming tomatoes.

working on the court romances chapter has a new direction, but it does feel a little like an albatross around my neck at this point. i sent my committee the body and soul debates chapter, but at my most recent meeting it was clear most of them hadn't finished reading it so the discussion was largely 'where's chapter 2? why isn't that here also?' they still gave me the equivalent of a little pat on the head and said 'keep going', so. i'm taking drastic steps (enlisting other on campus resources, my therapist, etc.) to try and fucking make some fucking progress.

#ilcb #in lieu of a commonplace book #monthly roundup #this got longggg

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fuck-you-upmusicbracket · 10 months

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Paradise (Coldplay)

When she was just a girl, she expected the world/But if flew away from her reach and the bullets catch in her teeth/Life goes on, it gets so heavy, the wheel breaks the butterfly/ Every tear, a waterfall/In the night, the stormy night, she’d close her eyes/In the night, the stormy night, away she’d fly.

"Dreaming about being in a better place. When I listen to it, it always think of one of my characters who’s just waiting to leave behind all the despair she’s experienced in her life."

Poll runner: This song doesn't fuck me up necessarily, but I do love it. For one thing, Coldplay always makes me think of my dad and the improv-kareoke singalongs we have in his car. It's a nice song for when you want to dream of being somewhere else, someone else. Close your eyes and vanish into your personal paradise. Also I need everyone to go watch the music video because of how absolutely wild it is.

Homesick (Noah Kahan)

I would leave if only I could find a reason/I'm mean because I grew up in New England/I got dreams, but I can't make myself believe them/Spend the rest of my life with what could've been

"Small town vibes of never leaving the town you grew up in because of how trapping and cloying it is and feeling like no matter how far you go you can’t get its stench off of you and being secretly envious of those who did manage to escape and make something of themselves"

#fuck you up bracket #tournament #polls #coldplay #noah kahan

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woven-birds · 1 year

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{ last updated may 10th 2024 }

ೃ ⁀➷

hi there! welcome to my little cozy corner of the internet. i’m so glad you stopped by. <3

˚✿˖° i’m kristen. :) moonchild. avid daydreamer. vegetarian. mother. native american (mohawk) and irish. bookworm. goofball.⋆˚✿˖°

i am a twenty-something lady who lives in upstate new york. i read too many books and drink copious amounts of tea/coffee. i’m obsessed with anything antique or from a bygone era. i have two adorable sons named liam and riggsin (riggs for short). i love being a mother. i have two cats (lilith & mau), a bunny (papa, he’s a netherland dwarf rabbit), & a dog (ziggy). my hair is always messy no matter how hard i try to make it look decent. i’m forever sleepy and in love with nature. i still love playing on playgrounds. i often feel homesick for places that i’ve never been. my head is always in the clouds. i feel most at peace in nature. i love love love floral print, rainy days, the moon, sunsets, wildflowers, & daydreams. i am a makeup and true crime/horror junkie. i also love to draw/paint and take photos. <3

❤︎ i’d rather be thrifting. ❤︎

my head is always in the clouds; i’m perpetually daydreaming. ⋆｡°•☁︎

my favorite sounds: trains in the distance, birds singing, rain hitting the window, the keys of a typewriter, book pages turning, cats purring, clocks ticking, the sound of leaves crunching when you step on them in autumn, the crackling sound a record makes when the needle first touches it.

these are a few of my favorite things: flower crowns, old hollywood films, gardens, fairies, teacups & teapots, fairy tales, bunnies, squishmallows, sharks, outer-space, macarons, graveyards, dresses, handwritten letters, studio ghibli films, pressing flowers, strawberries, flowering tea, bookstores & libraries, cuddling, butterflies, sweaters, candles, when smells act as time machines, penny presses, everything about autumn.

music that i like: fleetwood mac, turnover, nirvana, mom jeans., neck deep, the front bottoms, say anything, dashboard confessional, hot mulligan, weezer, andrew mcmahon, bon iver, sonic youth, david bowie, modern baseball, death cab for cutie, yeah yeah yeahs, mitski, melanie martinez, alex g, the 1975, noah kahan, hozier, beach bunny, girl in red, system of a down, led zeppelin, ghost, the smiths, microwave, heart attack man, joyce manor, wallows, type o negative, chiodos, car seat headrest, pixies, the beatles, fleet foxes, rilo kiley, arctic monkeys, nicole dollanganger, lana del rey, ajj, ozzy, circa survive, fiona apple, a day to remember, $uicideboy$, sleep token, slipknot, brand new, mac demarco, deftones, title fight, soundgarden, the story so far, pup, taylor swift, pink floyd, bjork, black sabbath, tool, green day, balance and composure, movements, oso oso, slayer, bright eyes, real friends, florence + the machine, blink-182, & more! i listen to a lot of different genres; i really am that person that says they listen to “everything” haha.

p.s. if you’ve made it to the end of this i owe you a hug.

my side blogs: @teacuploveletter//@fairieslivehere//@arainyautumnnight//@snowandtinsel//@clumsyhoneybee// @grungyfairy// @porcelainmoons // @shesdaydreamingagain

other places you can find me:

instagram: magicwildflowers

snapchat: rainygirl53

tiktok: magicwildflowers

pinterest: magicwildflowers

{posts are mostly from my queue! feel free to ask me any questions!<3}

currently watching: rewatching gossip girl (on season 1) & sex and the city (season 1)

currently reading: icebreaker by hannah grace

songs/artists i’m currently obsessed with: espresso by sabrina carpenter is on repeat. as well as all chappell roan & taylor swift ttpd. <3

#about me #side blogs #about

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shaunashipman · 4 months

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username tag game

rules: spell your username with song titles and then tag as many people as there are letters

tagged by @crushcrushcrushs thank you heidi 😘

G - Girls Against God (Florence + The Machine) I - Iris (Goo Goo Dolls) R - Riptide (Vance Joy) L - Labour (Paris Paloma) B - Birds of a Feather (Fish in a Birdcage) U - Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield) T - Thique (Beyoncé) C - Cobra (Megan Thee Stallion) H - Homesick (Noah Kahan) E - Eat Your Young (Hozier) R - Railroad Track (Willy Moon) W - Wild Blue Yonder (The Amazing Devil) I - In The End (Linkin Park) F - Forget Me Too (Machine Gun Kelly ft. Halsey) E - Evolve (Phoria)

tagging @natscatorrcio @craintheodora @vinmauro @emilylprentiss @taiturner @capinejghafa no pressure

#tag games #so difficult not to duplicate artists #cause i basically listen to like the same 10 ppl over and over

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lululawrence · 2 months

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Okay so @voulezloux tagged me to share five songs I've listened to recently, so in no particular order here we gooooo

1: Yoyo by the Snuts

2: Homesick by Noah Kahan with Sam Fender

3: Galway Girl by Tophouse (i'm literally obsessed with their version of this song omg and live it's even better, but they're amazing entirely soooo)

4: Fake as Hell by All Time Low with Avril Lavigne

5: Hold Me Like A Grudge by Fall Out Boy

I dunno man, I've been mostly rotating between four playlists the last four months based on my mood, and most of it was punk but there was a lot of randomness thrown in too hahaha but this... kinda sums up what I've been listening to so I guess it's a decent selection lol (i just checked and two of these are in the top five of my on repeat playlist so yeah it's fair lol)

Okay so... now to tag people ahha I tag @allwaswell16 @londonfoginacup @2tiedships2 @somethingwittyorother and @moon-sun-thyme!

as a bonus, i'll leave you with my top louis song according to my on repeat playlist:

#music #playlists #i guess hahaha #i wonder what my on repeat looks like #it's probably mostly the playlist i made for my big bang but yeah lol #i also hope the spotify links don't just look totally like trash like they do at the moment lol #Spotify

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neo-persephone · 8 months

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ten songs from my on repeat playlist on shuffle <3 tag 10 people (that may be possible)

thank you to my dear @amethyinst for tagging me and exposing me like this 🫶🏻

homesick - noah kahan

punisher - phoebe bridgers

unknown/nth - hozier

girls against god - florence + the machine

the night we met - lord huron

abstract (psychopomp) - hozier

orange juice - noah kahan

would that i - hozier

work song - hozier

american teenager - ethel cain

uhhhh let's see, im gonna tag: @bonewhiteglory @sappsorrow @daenerysoftarth @newtness532 @lautlosgelebt @witchothewest @citrine-lighthouse @wings-scales-fire @the-horologist @flam-ingo yall have fun 🫶🏻

#listen theres a lot of hozier because the concert is coming up

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bi-bard · 2 years

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Stick Season - Noah Kahan Writing Challenge Masterlist

I was going to take a break after the last writing challenge, but then this album dropped, and I just kept coming up with ideas.

Here it is!

This is the masterlist for my Stick Season writing challenge, where every song has inspired a different story.

I hope you enjoy!

We'll All Be Here Forever Tracks - Writing Challenge Masterlist

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Northern Attitude

Forgive My Nothern Attitude, I was Raised Out in the Cold Will Graham X Reader [Hannibal] Summary: Will returns from Europe and Hannibal is caught. With a new sense of freedom, Will finds his way to (Y/n)'s doorstep in the hopes of fixing something that he thought had long-been broken.

Stick Season

I'm Split in Half but That'll Have to Do Dean Forester X Reader [Gilmore Girls] Summary: (Y/n) never thought they'd come back to Stars Hollow, but you can never plan for everything. Now, (Y/n) is forced to confront a part of their past that they never wanted to think about.

All My Love

You Got All My Love Duke Crocker X Reader [Haven] Summary: Duke never expected to grow as close to someone as he was with (Y/n). The two of them were partners-in-crime, described as trouble by most people around them. Not that either of them had the energy to care.

She Calls Me Back

I'll Love You When the Oceans Dry Malcolm Bright X Reader [Prodigal Son] Summary: Malcolm wasn't one to go out looking for love. When he met (Y/n), it simply hit him like a train. He felt like he was balancing on the line between healthy and obsessive. Maybe that balancing act wasn't as scary as he originally thought it was.

Come Over

But I'm in the Business of Losing Your Interest Robert Chase X Reader [House M.D] Summary: [Season 1] Robert and (Y/n) visit (Y/n)'s parents. Something about being home- about seeing him in their home- brought forward feelings and fears that (Y/n) was certain they had buried.

New Perspective

If I Could Fly, I Doubt I'd Even Do It Kara Danvers X Reader [Supergirl] Summary: Kara and Alex come home to visit their mom. During the trip, Kara reconnects with an old friend. Catching up begins bringing up old feelings between the pair.

Everywhere, Everything

I Wanna Love You 'Till We're Food for the Worms to Eat Arthur Broussard X Reader [Skam: France] Summary: (Y/n) and Arthur were almost attached at the hip. What they saw as friendship was seen very differently by everyone around them. It took years for them to even consider that there may be more between them.

Orange Juice

We're Just Glad You Could Visit Martin X Reader [Another Round] Summary: Martin gets the chance to reconnect with an old friend. They're talk reveals just how much both of them changed and how much they've stayed the same. All that's left is to accept those things.

Strawberry Wine

These Things I Miss but Know are Never Coming Back Angus MacGyver X Reader [MacGyver (2016)] Summary: An old face walks back into the Phoenix Foundation and isn't surprised to be met with anger. They are left for pick up the pieces of something that they had been forced to break.

Growing Sideways

I'm Terrified that I Might Never Have Met Me Hannibal Lecter X Reader [Hannibal] Summary: After Hannibal fled the country, the F.B.I combed through anything that was left. A collection of notes from an old patient reveals that Hannibal may have convinced said patient to do the unthinkable.

Halloween

Your Hands are All Over My Scent Dean Winchester X Reader [Supernatural] Summary: Dean has gone missing. While Sam and Cas are left to panic, Dean has checked himself into some small motel in the hopes of clearing his mind. In actuality, the trip only forced Dean to confront the truth that he had been willfully ignoring.

Homesick

I Would Leave if Only I Could Find a Reason Rhydian Morris X Reader [Wolfblood] Summary: After a particularly rough day, (Y/n) hides away from everyone around them. When Rhydian tracks them down, (Y/n) explains just how tired they truly are of the people they have to spend every day with.

Still

It's Like I'm Still Here with You Jack Kline X Reader [Supernatural] Summary: [Early Season 15] After Chuck kills Jack, (Y/n) is left feeling guilty for grieving. Sam attempts to comfort them, only for (Y/n) to confess to something that no one had properly considered.

The View Between Villages

A Minute from Home but I Feel so Far from It Tenth Doctor X Reader [Doctor Who] Summary: The Doctor showed (Y/n) the beauty of the universe. (Y/n) adored it all. Now, (Y/n) is mere moments from seeing their family and hesitates. The Doctor is curious why going home seems to terrify (Y/n) so much.

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deadcactuswalking · 4 months

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 27/01/2024 (Noah Kahan/Sam Fender, Benson Boone, Becky Hill/Sonny Fodera)

I think it’s this week that I’ve realised Noah Kahan might be a bonafide star. We’ll get more to it later, but “Stick Season” spends a fourth week at #1 - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start with our notable dropouts, which I define as songs exiting the UK Top 75 (read the FAQ) after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40, and this week wasn’t too busy but it did come with some fair losses. Therefore, we bid adieu to “When We Were Young (The Logical Song)” by David Guetta and Kim Petras, “Stop Giving Me Advice” by Lyrical Lemonade, Jack Harlow and Dave (might be back next week given the album), “Won’t Forget You” by Jax Jones, D.O.D and Ina Wroldsen, assisted by a (bizarrely, credited) “donk” edit featuring The Blackout Crew, “One of Your Girls” by Troye Sivan, “Me & U” by Tems and FINALLY, “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift. It feels like it’s been there forever.

When it comes to our returns, we see the oddity of Sam Fender returning to #35 assumingly because of a boost to “Seventeen Going Under” that resulted from… well, you’ll see, but otherwise, we only have a handful of notable gains that, during a pretty dreadful-looking week, show some promise, and no, I don’t mean “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi somehow still here at #59, more so “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” by YG Marley at #51, “Scared to Start” by Michael Marcagi at #47, kind of grew on me, and “Nothing Matters” by The Last Dinner Party at #41… and less so “Toxic” by Songer at #32, please, let’s not do this, and on that same pleading note, “Alibi” by Ella Henderson featuring Rudimental at #26… why?! I suppose on a good note, Flo Milli is up to #17 with “Never Lose Me” and I can’t really complain about Natasha Bedingfield’s second wind at #13 with “Unwritten”, but it is majorly a mixed bag over here.

Our biggest story, however, rests in our top five, as “Homesick” by Noah Kahan debuts at #5, thanks to a version with Sam Fender who, surprisingly enough, is actually credited by the Official Charts Company, probably because, well, it would have no reason to as high as this without him. More on that later, but for now, it’s pretty standard elsewhere - Jack Harlow’s “Lovin’ on Me” at #4, “yes, and?” by Ariana Grande at #3, “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor at #2 and of course, Mr. Kahan still sitting at the very top. Now we have a… considerably unpromising set of new songs to discuss, so I guess we’ve just got to trek through that, and our starting point is…

New Entries

#75 - “Coal” - Dylan Gossett

Produced by Dylan Gossett

There aren’t that many new arrivals this week but the songs apart from one all fall into being either by singer-songwriter types or working as faceless EDM, and if you’ve been following this blog at all, you’d know those two styles really aren’t my thing, but hey, an independent folk singer racking up a streaming giant with a song from last year, notching him licensing with Republic, it could be promising in the same way I like Zach Bryan or even Oliver Anthony, who I assume we will never see again but appears as a recommended song in Mr. Gossett’s Spotify search terms. One has to wonder why and how but first of all, the elephant in the room: Diamonds aren’t made from coal.

I found several articles, both from sustainable energy advocacy outlets like TreeHugger and the people selling diamonds like With Clarity, clarifying that diamonds cannot really be made from coal. Coal is an impure carbon whilst diamonds are purer and whilst pressure is involved in the process, it is not a simple “one equals the other” sum, since coal has too much organic matter to be made into crystalline diamonds, especially since you can see vividly in the colour of rarer diamonds to what other chemicals may be found in them. Now I’m tempted to believe these articles as they’re backed by science, but if I’m wrong and these articles are just using words I don’t understand to spread a mythical debunking of an already existing myth that diamonds originate from coal, which is actually true all this time, then I’ll stand corrected. For now, the main conceit of this song, asking why under all this pressure, how the Hell he’s still “coal”, doesn’t really make much sense, and the rest of the song reads like listing off proverbs and sayings that fit the part but he doesn’t fully understand them or tie them together. Singer-songwriters are supposed to weave stories, when this feels like playing word association with common and universal wisdoms. For all of Oliver Anthony’s imperfect wording, at least you can tie them together to refer to a specific viewpoint, seeing where those views align, without becoming vague “woe is me” platitudes that don’t hold much reason for said pity, or really any narrative detail. You might see this as nitpicking but when it’s just a guy with a guitar, he opens himself up for interpretation and autopsy, possibilities he seems to willingly flail away by displaying disappointingly little to even work with, and as the song fills itself up with non-verses, as tightly as this kind of song can be produced without a particularly impressive vocal performance, one starts to wonder what the appeal in this even is. It’s a non-song, let’s move on.

#71 - “Incredible Sauce” - Giggs featuring Dave

Produced by Payday and David Morse

The #1 album this week was Green Day’s best album in decades. I have a full first-impressions review of Saviors on my RateYourMusic listening log (exclusivelytopostown) and whilst I understand that sales factor in here, I’d have loved for the only song here that bucks the categorical trends I laid out earlier to be a cut from that record. Instead, we have a Giggs song from last year that I’m honestly surprised has yet to chart already, given the Dave feature and that it was released in August of last year. Apart from the… choice of a name, I still don’t really know what level of quality to expect from Giggs, outside of a comical menace that emerges largely from his attempt to be “laidback” that can more accurately be described as an active coveting of his natural voice to sound much more relaxed than he really is, considering he’s never sounded comfortable with a flow he picks out, which becomes especially clear with Dave on the hook as he actually pulls off sounding effortless. Giggs’ delivery honestly reminds me of Dean Blunt’s satirical British rap project Babyfather more than anything, especially with the half-asleep cadences leaving so much dead air in this eerie, stagnant trap beat. The song doesn’t end with a piece of classic Dave wordplay, though he’s not on his A-game here comparing himself to Sonic the Hedgehog, it just ends with “Lingerie on a special occasion”… okay. That’s barely even a flex, why does it punctuate the track’s final moments? This is just another ugly showing of substanceless pretence from Dave over a pretty minimal beat with an absolutely worthless performance from Giggs, whose verses feel double the length and really halt any possible fun that could be had from Dave’s bite-size verse. Somehow, this ends up much like “Coal” - there’s just nothing here.

#39 - “Whatever” - Kygo and Ava Max

Produced by, well, Kygo

Speaking of nothingness, welcome back, Kygo and Ava Max… Jesus Christ. Okay, well, if anything is the saving grace this week outside of #5, it will be this.

I have just checked the sample credits, I have bad news. To delay the suffering, I will say that I kind of like the production here, the acoustics remind me of Avicii’s pretty seamless blend of folk pop with the anthemic festival house that defined much of his catalogue. Kygo has always been a detailed producer who pays much attention to ensuring his songs are as easy as possible on the ears, and he succeeds in the sense of this being a very pretty little tune with depths of cute synth pads, guitar rolicks and plucky percussion. Ava Max herself actually impresses me a tad here vocally, mostly because since this is a Kygo song, she can belt without clipping unnecessarily in the mix for once. However, and this is a big however, the main hook of the song, its crux, if you will, is a direct interpolation and rewording of the iconic melody to Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever”, a 2001 single that debuted and peaked at #2 for two weeks in 2002 here in the UK, being kept off the top spot by Will Young’s double A-side of “Anything is Possible” and “Evergreen”. I can’t believe such a classic was blocked by not even Westlife, but a Westlife COVER, yet I digress, this is just a lazy and frankly obnoxious way of using the song’s chorus. Kygo is clearly dipping into the David Guetta pool of reskinning prior hits, and I will give it to him that he’s not just redoing a classic EDM track, this is largely a unique house single, but that may make the last-resort hook that much more disappointing. I’m disappointed in you, Kygo. Not you, Ava Max, you can just do whatever. Albania forever.

#36 - “Skin and Bones” - David Kushner

Produced by Rob Kirwin

Oh, we’re actually making David Kushner a thing, fantastic, that other song just had so much to offer, didn’t it? I feel like I can very quickly summarise this melodramatic, uber-serious noir piano ballad, deepened by some of the ugliest froggy-sounding snaps I’ve heard in pop music and only plunged further into sludge by Kushner’s insufferable lyrics, by just a stray observation. When I clicked on the Genius annotation for the first verse of this song, it was completely empty. At least to the first verse, there’s literally nothing there: an empty annotation box. It may just be a glitch on my part, or it was deleted for whatever reason, but regardless, I think this exemplifies how little this song has to offer: someone attempted to just touch upon the pretty self-explanatory first verse, attempted to offer some wisdom or deeper analysis that seems granted with the cinematic grandeur of it all, and couldn’t cough anything up. Once again, there’s just nothing here.

#34 - “Never be Alone” - Becky Hill and Sonny Fodera

Produced by Sonny Fodera

I mean… it has a pulse at least. In fact, this is much more interesting than I expected for Becky, and not necessarily in a lyrical front, simply because she does not need to do much more than recite boardroom word association over four-on-the-floor, but moreso with her vicious delivery, going into an attack that sounds like it was overpowering the mix before being blended a bit more clearly into the nostalgic breakbeat hardcore rhythm that punctuates a surprisingly long build-up into a… surprisingly unique drop. This is really just a flex show for Sonny Fodera here, but Becky stepped up to the plate to match his passion and energy, bringing more of a rough instinct to the trickling alien synth critter that grounds the 90s pads and rock-solid breakbeats into a killer pre-drop that genuinely took me aback, as did this drop, which completely ditches the breakbeats for a tense hardcore kick and more atmospheric, glitching pads that run through the mix like a spiralling staircase, as Becky’s vocalising becomes little more than an inhuman drone until it’s removed altogether. The intensity of the track, filling up the mix with padded quirks even when the breakbeats are relegated to simple fills, is genuinely unprecedented for Becky Hill, and I’m actually really glad that she is not only on hopping on much more effective and unique production, but stepping out of her comfort zone to riff and meander in a way that she never really lets herself do, even in her looser songs. I am honestly quite shocked, but this is fantastic. If this doesn’t smash like much of Becky’s tighter, more restrictive cuts have in the past few years, I will be immensely disappointed.

#18 - “Beautiful Things” - Benson Boone

Produced by Evan Blair

Sigh… one of my first thoughts when Kushner had success with “Daylight” was how much he seemed cut from the same cloth as Mr. Boone over here, and to be completely honest, the concept of the two charting the same week chased me in my worst of nightmares. Hey, at least my dreams have become reality! To be fair to Booner Boy here, he has what Khrushchev and Gossamer lacked: genuine lyrical detail in the verses. There is a certain dichotomy between the universalities of the choruses and pre-chorus compared to the pretty niche and incredibly lucky situation he’s found himself in during the verses, it almost reminds me of Tom Odell’s “Black Friday” given its wordy mundanity, but that’s only lyrically, as I don’t hear much here connecting the two sonically, especially given the faint bass and reliance on soaring guitars on “Beautiful Things” that makes it almost more of a pop rock tune, one that is surprisingly willing to ditch much of its initial build-up for a desperate screech over stop-and-start staccato guitar rhythms that go way harder than I expected. This is what I’ve been saying Lewis Capaldi should be doing for years, if these moan and drone singer-songwriter sadboys are going to have their voice fit over anything, it’s not basic adult contemporary swells, it’s melodramatic, no-holds-barred pop rock, and this honestly becomes pretty killer by that first chorus. The guy can let out a desperate cry, and I’ll be damned if he’s not convincing as he airs out his paranoia about this perfect relationship breaking down. The second chorus could use some deviation, but I’m a sucker for radio rock that takes itself way too seriously and considering his dire earlier material, this may as well be Mr. Boone: The Animated Series. I really want to hear more of this from this guy, and it seems that these last few songs may be the light at the end of the tunnel for an unpromising week.

#5 - “Homesick” - Noah Kahan and Sam Fender

Produced by Noah Kahan and Gabe Simon

Okay, it’s Noah Kahan: there is a base level of quality here and I am actually always excited to hear a new song from him because at least there’s always a lot to uncover and appreciate even if the song isn’t great or has some grating element throwing a spanner in the cogs. This is especially true with Sam Fender in play, as this raises the standard of quality to at least bearable and at its worst, it’s going to be an interesting and perhaps powerful narrative… and if we’re talking about lyrical detail, I mean, Kahan’s your man, almost too much so given some of the awkward wording in that original version from his Stick Season album. On hearing those church organs sliding just slightly off the careening heartland rock groove, I knew exactly why Mr. Fender ended up on this specific song, and this actually lets Kahan let out a little, have a little more fun as he vocalises playfully about his frustrations, delivered largely in the form of punchlines, about his slow small town, with the chorus being him breaking down and basically begging for a reason to grab him out of that place, even if it’s where he grew up, using an on-the-nose but still fun play on words with the term “homesick”. I do wish there was a bit more to its mid-section, it feels like it stagnates a bit once we reach the chorus for the first time, mostly structurally. I want to hear more of Kahan’s stray, funny observations, but we don’t really get more of that even with the ramped-up intensity and a guitar solo way too Weezer-coded for me to not get a stupid grin on my face.

As for the Fender version, well, this is the best-implemented anyone has been in these Kahan duets yet, given Fender brings a new verse giving a unique and personal story about the background of riots in northern England that informed his town, injecting further reason to why one may be Kahan’s form of “homesick”, but also, despite being more strikingly intimate and less darkly comic in his observations, finding a valid and heartfelt reason to live his life outside of that home town: the dreams his father set out for him lay far away from where they were instilled. It adds a lot of depth to the song, and whilst Kahan and Fender don’t play off each other incredibly well, they have a decent chemistry that from interviews with Dork and People seem to have arisen from very similar hapless upbringings and recurring topics in both catalogues. Additionally, I like Fender’s voice more than Kahan’s, and the harmonies fill out the mix so it’s a tad more impactful, so I think this new version actually beats out the original. I’m also pretty happy that this week, starting off with a lot of mediocrity and not exactly a promising set of artists for me, personally, ended up surprising me with that three-track run by the end, and trailing off with two killer rock songs is the best way to make me feel a lot happier about a week as a whole.

Conclusion

I’m relatively predictable, especially when we get alt-rock on the charts, so I feel like despite how much I liked the Becky Hill song, it’s no surprise that Benson Boone ends up snabbing an insanely close Best of the Week for “Beautiful Things”. It was pretty much neck-and-neck with “Homesick” by Noah Kahan and Sam Fender, which is of course the Honourable Mention, and whilst I think that it is lyrically more insightful, there’s an instinctual raucousness to the emotion in The Booney One’s track that just hits that bit harder. As for the worst, I mean David Kushner obviously gets Worst of the Week pretty much effortlessly with “Skin and Bones”, but I do think I was just frustrated enough with Dylan Gossett to grant his song “Coal” with the Dishonourable Mention. At least Giggs wasn’t trying to say anything profound, and if he was, then I sincerely worry for him.

What’s on the horizon next? God knows, it’s January, but Justin Timberlake has a comeback single, Tom Odell has an album, it may be the week of even more whiny white dudes. Story of my life. Thank you for reading and I’ll see you perhaps a bit earlier than next week.

#uk singles chart #pop music #song review #noah kahan #sam fender #benson boone #sonny fodera #becky hill #david kushner #kygo #ava max #giggs #dave #dylan gossett

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cosettepontmercys · 4 months

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Hi Cossette! I've been spending the last few days gathering some 2024 media releases that I hope to check out this year and I'm looking forward to (to name a few!):

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

and ooh! I'm also very intrigued about Allison Saft's upcoming adult debut!! I hope it will be good 🙏

I also prefer standalones! While there are times where I'd love to revisit my favourite worlduilding + characters, I tend to find the storytelling & character development more properly fleshed out within a standalone (comparing to books within a long series).

That's totally valid! It certainly took me some time to get into Alix E Harrow's writing - not that's it's poorly written (it's very artfully written), but it's pretty dense and the story pacing is on the slow side. Also as much as I enjoy taking notes / annotating beautifully written prose, I feel you effort required to analyse the writing 😅

Speaking of The Starless Sea, the aesthetic / vibes of the book reminds me of Taylor Swift's Midnights - very atmospheric and with a strong focus on storytelling. I've been meaning to make something showcasing parallels between songs from Midnights & sections of The Starless Sea since late 2022 (this was pushed back for various reasons), so I was very happy to post the edit today :D

If you could assign your favourite books as music albums (based on thematic / aesthetic similarities), how would you pair them up?

P.S. Yes!! I love the album & vinyl artwork for Kali Uchis' new album and I hope you have the chance to listen to Orquideas later this year! (and I hope you all the best with the 365 albums challenge 💖)

hi jennifer!!! i have an arc of a tempest of tea, but i don't know if i'll get around to it before publication date 😭 i'm really intrigued by the premise, but struggled a bit with the fantasy in we hunt the flame (i struggle a lot with fantasy/have to be in a very specific mood for it)! i haven't read any of katherine arden's stuff, but have seen a lot of it on the internet over the years; maybe i'll check it out!

i feel like a common question i see on bookstagram is "what's your favorite series" and i always struggle to answer this because i am just not a series girlie! i think the few favorite series that i love (that aren't duologies) are probably either the raven cycle, or series of romance books that are set in the same universe but follow different characters so they essentially operate as standalones! i wish i was a series girlie, but i just ... am not one. i actually just put alix harrow's ten thousand doors of january on hold on libby — it might work better for me as an audiobook! sometimes i do better with fantasy via audiobook than physically reading it, for some reason.

i saw your starless sea/midnights gifset and am obsessed. i know i've told you this before but i loveeeee your gifsets so much, especially the ones where you find parallels between things!

oh this is so hard! i feel like it's easier to assign specific songs for me, rather than entire albums to books, but here goes:

beach read: honorable mention to emails i can't send by sabrina carpenter (title track) for january's relationship with her father, but unsure of what album would fit january/gus best!

normal people: i think either sam fender's seventeen going under, or noah kahan's stick season? i think both albums have a similar theme of being homesick and also home sick, which i feel like plays a big role in the plot of normal people!

honey girl: i feel like paint my bedroom black by holly humberstone? like the themes of growing up / moving away / being lonely / figuring out your life?

the starless sea: maybeeeee evermore but this does not feel like a good fit to me still!

les miserables: ... going to cheat here and say the les mis cast recording

i'm still stuck on portrait of a thief, and book lovers though! what about you? what book/album pairings do you have in mind?

#post: answered #mutual: jennifer

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