#partly in reference to the taylor lyric but also to go with the (much much cheaper) E initial one he got me for our one month anniversary

[jakeperalta]

my boyfriend has been talking about how he's got me a moving in together gift which is fairly standard for him he's a big gift giver but then he gave it to me today and it's a necklace from tiffany's?!!? I feel so fancy

#specifically it's the initial one that taylor used to wear #partly in reference to the taylor lyric but also to go with the (much much cheaper) E initial one he got me for our one month anniversary #(long before the ciwyw lyric was even conceived) #so now i have one with his initial to go with my one of my own initial 🥹🥹🥹 #also he said he found the specific one by going on taylorswiftstyle on tumblr hahaha i have taught him well #talking

[vitaminwaterreviews]

IU - The Winning

Wow. Like, just Wow. The song average is 9.2, which is the highest I’ve ever given by a mile. There are of course some stipulations. The music by itself would be closer to a high 8, but the MV’s were so well done that it would feel wrong to not include them in the scores of the songs. Holssi in particular really wowed me when I first saw it, Love WIns All had the nice disability representation – actually wait, isn’t that a theme here?

Yeah let’s think about that. Shopper didn’t have any marginalized representation that I caught on a first listen. Holssi featured all sorts of ethnicities, black adults and a diverse set of children. Love Wins All was about a disabled couple, and the title itself is an obvious (questionably intentional) lgbt reference. It does make me wonder if the intent was for the original title to be a reference lgbt catchphrase, but they included the word “all” in the lyrics just to be safe, in case of backlash. Clever if true.

That’s all super meta though. In terms of the songs themselves, Shh.. was definitely the standout. I like jazz and I also like songs that Go places and Do things, and Shh.. was all of the above. I stan U was a nice surprise, it was good to have a rock song, we don’t see IU doing rock much. Shopper and Holssi had me worried that every song would be NewJeansy, but thankfully IU doesn’t disappoint. And that’s not to say that those songs were bad, either; they were excellent. But a mini of exclusively that vibe gets particularly boring after a bit (see: Easy).

IU is just so good at the kpop thing. The songs are great, the MV’s are great, the promotion was excellent. Featuring a NewJeans in one of the songs was clever, and it’s like the least NewJeansy song on the album which is funny. Watching the interview definitely helped me appreciate the album more, and I hope she does more promotion in the coming weeks. I also hope we get a Shh.. MV but I won’t get my hopes up, 3 MV’s for a mini is already a lot. This is now my highest-rated album in terms of song average, and I think that’s fair enough. It is a mini, which means it does have an advantage, since minis tend to rate higher for me. And in terms of the songs themselves, this is definitely the best album I’ve ever heard. But this is also not my favorite album, and I’m not sure it’s my favorite mini either. It is, however, very good.

- I’ve been waiting for this! I couldn’t do it yesterday, which means I’m a day late, but oh well. I know Love Wins All and Holssi, and I’m blind to the other three.

Shopper

Narration? That’s something

OMG it’s our girl

She looks totally Taylor Swift with the blonde hair

Echoes

Oh okay this is an interesting vibe

‘Palette’

‘Greed is free’

I did watch the interview, so I do kinda know what this is about

Lol a the old man do be shopping

I have NO idea what this MV is about ngl, but I appreciate the vibe

And now we get credits

9/10

No MV’s for the rest of them, partly since I’ve already seen them, partly to focus on the music

Holssi

I’ve been waiting for this one to come on Spotify

I love IU’s voice in this style, like, kind of lazy, almost talk-singing, but with Range

And now we get breathy IU, mmm

The bass here is So strong

Mild rap section

And that little giggle at the end of the verse

Notice the harmonies in the pre-chorus, they’re not Obvious but they’re pretty

The instrumental bridge is So nice

I just love her so much

I think this would be an 8 if it was just the music, but the MV was really cool, so

9/10

Shh..

Curious to see how she manages to cram 3 other artists into one song

Cute electric piano vibes

Oh okay, some guitar here, really nice

Bass

Well then

God the vibes of this song are So good

The chorus actually feels kind of Kiss of Life

Guitar moment

This is super jazz-coded, the way the solo section is structured

Even that piano riff in the background

Haha and now we get the acoustic guitar with the narration in the foreground

And the Ambience

Is there an MV for this? There must be at some point

10/10, there’s just no way that sound could’ve been any better

Love Wins All

The MV for this is really an allegory for how Cube ruins its artists

It is, of course, a ballad

But it’s not a slow jam. Gotta differentiate the two, because I don’t usually like slow jams, but I do usually like ballads

Love, love, love

She’s just such a good singer

Admittedly, I feel like this experience isn’t as Whole without the MV

Same as Holssi

9/10

I stan U

Kinda interesting when artists use fandom terms, so let’s see how this goes

Pop rock feels in the intro here

Yep here we go

Is she saying “stanning” or “stunning”?

I heard “you’re stunning / i’m stunning, just like you”

But then she says “I’m stanning you” hmmm

Yes omg the second verse

This is Such a vibe though

9/10

#album #kpop #IU

[this-is-an-open-letter]

Hi! What do you think about TTPD? Have you listened to all 31 songs or just the first 16?

Oh I have definitely listened to all 31 songs multiple times over.

I like it a lot. I will admit that its been incredibly overwhelming musically, because its SO much at once and the writing is so dense and its also been overwhelming watching people try and make out who each song is about and that's just not something I do with Taylor's music - partly because I am older fan who got into her music so much later into her career. I just want to listen to the music for what it is.

The easter egg hunting and connecting dots - is very very overwhelming that I feel like it muddled so much of the experience of just listening to the music. Of course I understand that this is part of the experience of her music and its something she's even encouraged, so i don't have an issue with it I just needed to limit what I was looking at so I could just listen to the music.

I gave the album a full listen on the Friday throughout work and just picked which songs I liked, again musically first and then lyrically later.

After doing my full listen I then wanted to venture into the 'theories' so I went to two people who I think do Taylor's music justice in their breakdowns which is emily and bonny at Chats and Reacts. Getting their view and fathoms on the songs was interesting, it gave some perspective and now I am just listening to listen.

I will say this album being so much, allegedly, about Matty Healy is truly a surprise to me- like really? him? But its Taylor and she feels all the feels all the time.

On my first listen So Long, London hit me the hardest, its so beautiful but truly such a sad song.

My Favourites off the album(s)

Down Bad- loved it on first listen, musically its so good.

So Long, London - as a track 5 girlie - its absolutely stunning and heartbreaking and angry and so so so good.

But Daddy I Love Him - this is my current fave - musically I love, lyrically its a head scratcher bc again Him?? But I do love that she's calling out everyone for questioning her choices and thinking their opinions matter.

Fresh out the Slammer - also long, great beat and it just hits right

Florida!!! - LOVE Florence on this, love that she's actually heavily featured - its a great track and would love to hear this one live

Guilty as Sin? - shes a sneaky sexy song that has a great beat to go with it.

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - LOVE, i love when Taylor yell sings - I don't think it will translate as epic live bc the backing vocals really give it the umph that drives it. But its a top fave

Loml - this one...woof - it being Loss of my life really just fucks you up. The duality of her starting it with her acknowledging that HE referred to her as the love of his life and then at the end of the song she actually tells you, it stands for Loss of my life is just ugh...so good and so sad.

I Can Do It With a Broken Heart - I mean....its a fun song bc of the chorus but its not up there as my most fave but I do enjoy it.

Clara Bow - I just love the imagery of this song and the story it tells - the media/fans love to build up women just so they can tear them down - from one to the other, each one replaced by the new, best girl only to have what was done to them, done to her too. I love that she calls out the cycle.

Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus - confused by the names but I love the song musically.

How Did it End?- If we treat these next songs as a whole new album then this song would be the next Track 5 and really it fits it because its her asking How did the relationship end because she doesn't even know. Everyone's asking her and she has no idea.

So High School? Only because its a cute song about her and Trav that has a weird almost emotionally heavy but silly beat.

Cassandra - again who are these people? But I love this song- its got an anger to it thats interesting.

Peter - the imagery behind this one alone woof...makes me sad but also show cases the brilliance of Taylor's writing and imagination to relate Joe to Peter Pan and herself to Wendy. The boy she wanted to much to grow up, who just never did. Also the constant repetition of the chorus - 'You said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me' and well.....he never did.

Robin- another name, another mystery. The theory of it being about Aarons son is really kind of beautiful, its a sad but hopeful song about holding onto your child like wonder and how quickly it gets ripped from you as you get older as the world takes your innocence's.

The Manuscript - this one is really really beautiful and sad to me. In the same vein that Dear Reader was - she's on the outside looking back on to her life, just like everyone else is. She really weaves a beautiful story here.

The reality is this isn't a commercial album, but it will sell like one because its Taylor.

I do think its up there with one of her best, it is heavily saturated and maybe overly wordy sometimes, but thats Taylor's writing and we love it because of that.

#taylor swift #ttpd #the tortured poets department

[therewillbnoexplanation]

fic writer interview

thank you @ninemagicks and @snowybank for tagging me!

name: calli

fandoms: mostly carry on. i still have a marvel blog, but i’m not very active on it anymore. i used to write a ton of captain america stuff, but that time has passed. i do have an indie/alt music sideblog which is a fun time, but i mostly chill here.

where you post: on AO3 (where you will see the remnants of my captain america days)

most popular one-shot: my little halloween fic that was basically me dipping my toes into this fandom is currently the most popular. although, i haven’t written that much yet. despite loving this book for the last five years (i feel old), i never really engaged in the fandom until this past october.

most popular multi-chapter: seeing as i have only one multi-chapter for carry on right now, that would be Sing Me to Sleep. if we consider all my work on ao3, then it would be Pictures of People Taking Pictures, a stucky (steve rogers/bucky barnes) fic i wrote in 2017 for a reverse big bang. it was loads of fun to write, and the artist i was paired with is so talented!

fic you were nervous to post: definitely the halloween fic i was talking about earlier. i hadn’t read carry on in a few months or read a lot of fic at that point, so i was really worried about getting the characters right (and even remembering important plot points).

how do you choose your titles: almost always song lyrics. partly because i suck at titles, but also partly because i love finding ties between music and books. it’s always been one of my favorite things to do, so i really enjoy finding a song with lyrics or a mood that fit the fic.

do you outline: sometimes. usually my outlines are a very long run on sentence about what i want to happen, which gets abandoned once i actually start writing. whenever i stop writing, i leave a rambling comment on my document about where i want it to go next, and refer to that.

complete: if we count each of my countdown prompts as separate works, then 15.

do you take prompts: i haven’t yet, but i’d certainly like to! i am horrible at having original ideas, so drop an ask if you want me to write something lol

in progress: my last few days of the carry on countdown. i’m also about to start a songfic based on taylor swift’s “ivy,” which will be a victorian au.

coming soon: my snowflake exchange fic, which i’m both nervous and excited to share! i also have two more countdown entries coming.

i’m sorry if any of you have already been tagged, but here we go: @sharing-a-room-with-an-open-fire @seducing-a-vampire @mageicalwishes @nightimedreamersworld 

#it me #tag games #not carry on #writing #breaking the fourth wall

[chaotic-catra]

I wrote my reaction to Evermore when I heard it for the first time a week ago and I don't know what to do with it so here it is:)

Long story short: beautiful song, loved the references to Wonderland (And I fell from the pedestal right down the rabbit hole / We took a wrong turn and we fell down a rabbit hole) and Look What You Made Me Do (Missing me at the golden gates they once held the keys to / I don't like your kingdom keys they once belonged to me). I love how the melody is simple and how it’s not a “raising from the bottom” kind of song. That’s literally the best way to say it: long story short. She doesn’t care about the details, about who did what, because her mind is set elsewhere.

Marjorie: 30 seconds in and I just can't shut up about how taylor's voice was MADE for this kind of music, it is so soft and smooth like an asmr. It feels like it flows through the song. I love that the lyrics are really straight forward. Beautiful beautiful beautiful song just like Soon you'll get better. I like how it takes you a couple of minutes to understand where the song is going to.

Evermore: It gives me the feeling that Evermore and Long story short are two sides of the same coin, they talk about (almost) the same moment in time but one from a happy and hopeful perspective and the other one is still not so over all those dark moments. Evermore would happen a bit before LSS, it’s about this point in which you look back and you can't understand how thing went the way they went, what was the moment when things started to fall apart. And you are not in the eye of the storm anymore, but you are still not very far from it either. Is like everything that happened drowned and now you are alone with no energy and no direction and no perspective. “I'm on waves, out being tosed” Is like a transition song, it starts right after hitting rock bottom and follows her "recovery" until she finds something to hold on to: “In the cracks of light I dreamed of you. It was real enough to get me through.”

Happiness: CATRADORA. NOTHING LEFT TO SAY. CATRADORA. happiness is.. a lot. I love it.. It’s one of those songs that make u say wow.. she really captured this feeling incredibly. She said all there is to say, and showed all there was to show. It's like a flash of sanity in a turbulent time of transition.

Dorothea: CATRADORA CATRADORA CATRADORA also The Lumineers vibes. Dorothea sounds like a song to a friend who left for college or something like that, looking for better things because when living in a small town they tried their best to have a good time but they always knew they would never be 100% happy there and that’s the only reason why you don’t get mad at them or ask them to stay. aka She Ra if Catra wasn't left alone on a toxic and dangerous place when Adora left. It also sounds like “Sedona” by Houndmouth.

No body no crime: I didn't like this one much when I heard it for the first time but checking the lyrics is just one of those songs that make u go "this girl has such a talent when it comes to story telling". Her voice is so hypnotic, one of my favourite things about both folklore and evermore is how deep, calm, soft and SOLID her voice sounds. It was made for this kind of music. Also I love how she said “I sent this to my friend who is most likely to commit murder” SJDSDSJSJSK.

Coney island: I wish it didn’t remind me of certain things and I wish I didn’t understand certain lyrics but in the other hand, STRONG CATRADORA SONG from Adora’s pov. Adora feeling guilty for hurting Catra when she left and for making her feel like she didn’t matter to her. Realizing that no matter how many other wonderful people she meets, she’d never have a bond like the one she shared with Catra. I’ll elaborate on this:

Break my soul in two looking for you but you're right here (Adora looking for someone like Catra on every new person she meets but realizing that there’s no point because SHE ALREADY HAD A CATRA) /If I can't relate to you anymore then who am I related to? (Catra being the only family she had for most part of her life) /And I'm sitting on a bench in Coney Island wondering where did my baby go? The fast times, the bright lights, the merry go (The whole She-Ra thing happened way too fast, and she was introduced to tons of people who admired and revered because they only saw the legendary warrior in her, but when things calmed down she felt Catra’s absence) /The question pounds my head "What's a lifetime of achievement?" If I pushed you to the edge (feeling guilty for, partly, being the reason why Catra made so many bad decisions  by becoming she ra) /Were you waiting at our old spot in the tree line by the gold clock? Did I leave you hanging every single day? (Catra waiting for Adora to come back to the horde) /And when I got into the accident the sight that flashed before me was your face (literally the vision she has at the heart of etheria) I could make a whole gifset out of this but I don’t know how to download the episodes

‘tis the damn season: I first said that Dorothea was about someone (X) talking to their friend who leaves their town. Listening to this I’m 100% sure that that person is Dorothea. (EDIT: I made a post with some parallels). And from this POV, you can tell that Dorothea wasn’t totally happy with her choice. She misses home, misses “X”, and recognizes not only that even if she left her town, she can’t escape from it, but also that she didn’t found what she was looking for in LA. There's an ache in you (Dorothea leaving) put there by the ache in me (Dorothea needing to leave bc she wasn’t there). Also, in “Dorothea” it doesn’t sound like “X” is sad about D leaving, but in this song she says that X is lying, and that X actually suffers because of it.

Willow: It's a really nice song, is catchy, chill, it's not gonna happen but it could have a really cool remix (EDIT: SOMEONE REALLY MADE A REMIX AND IT'S AMAZING). I don’t resonate much with the lyrics but the phrase “The more that you say the less I know, wherever you stray I follow, I'm begging for you to take my hand; wreck my plans” is just. so. beautiful. Yes, I’m avoiding the m*n part. Sorry Joe, ily.

Ivy: I didn't resonate much with this song so my brain stopped paying attention and instead it realized that the "How’s one to know?" part sounds EXACTLY like that Rose and Rosie song that they made to promote their sponsor that goes SUUUU-UUUURF SHARK. Biggest discovery at the moment if you ask me.

Gold rush: I don't have anything mature to say about this one. My leo ass wants someone singing things like this about me, that's it. sorry. About the music it sounds AMAZING I like the "magical" sound and the fairy tale atmosphere. I love the rhythm.

Cowboy like me: I can relate it to my own experiences but I don't thing they have much to do with the actual point of the song. Maybe I got this one wrong but I love this concept of "I wouldn't like to love someone like me, and you and me are made of the same". Champagne problems: First thought CATRADORA VIBES (Adora leaving Catra behind) “I dropped your hand while dancing, left you out there standing, crestfallen on the landing”. (EDIT: Now that I’ve listened to the album more times I like this one way more and the bridge is BIBLICAL) Closure: The “metal” noises reminds me of the American Horror Story’s theme song.

#taylor swift #evermore #me #don't kill me for the long ass post #I was excited

[heystephen]

is LWYMMD about Scott/Big Machine?: a small analysis

So, I’ve been fascinated by this concept ever since it occurred to me a few nights ago and I thought it would be interesting to actually run through the lyrics and music video as well and compare the dwindling of the Taylor/Big Machine partnership to see how they fit. 

*disclaimer: this is all purely speculation!!!!* 

So the title is an obvious one. Look what you made me do, you wouldn’t sell me my masters and now you don’t have me at all.

Starting with the lyrics, we begin with the first set of lines, where I’ve underlined two that I find very interesting in retrospect:

One of Scott Borchetta’s favourite lines to tote was “Music has value” and to this day, I still roll my eyes when I read that. He first began that whole campaign, so to speak, around 2015. And at the time, as we watched people get insane and seemingly unfair strikes from Big Machine over Taylor’s songs, we were made to believe that this was Taylor’s doing, up until just a few days ago when she more or less mocked Scott’s favourite line in her reaction to the news about her masters. The second lyric I underlined was actually pointed out to me by an anon who remarked that yes, what Scott did was perfectly legal and that’s partly why it’s so frustrating. I think at the time of writing the song, Taylor may have known already that she had to give up and leave her masters with Big Machine, as she stated that she made peace with that a long time ago.

This part is obviously pretty self explanatory. Taylor is humble, but she isn’t dumb. She knows she was Big Machine’s biggest act by far and that she practically built their empire. If anything, the label should’ve been given to her but I digress. So, eventually, there came a time when she began to see a shift in her business relationship with Scott. A moment when his loyalty disappeared and she realised that she was a money-making object to him and little more else, and that if she wasn’t going to bend to his will, he was going to force her hand and make her leave.

And of course, we have the incendiary line that sent our dashes into sheer chaos when we all first heard it. But it seemed a bit... unfitting for the Kimye narrative, in my opinion. Well, in 2014, Taylor mentioned many times how hard she had to fight to get 1989 past her label (Big Machine). Like, she mentioned this every chance she got. Scott wanted her to put at least one or more country songs on 1989 in order to stay country radio-friendly, but Taylor ignored his wishes. At this stage, it’s safe to assume that many a conversation regarding ThE oLd TaYlOr came up with her label as well, seeing as there was quite a public stir from fans who vehemently missed the curls and cowboy boots and couldn’t fathom how Taylor Swift could grow up. Was that bitter? Sorry.

So, lyrics aside, what else is there?

As @still-an-innocentt pointed out, it’s interesting that Taylor sings “I don’t trust nobody / nobody trusts me” while surrounded by versions of herself from the past that went back as far as 2006. 

We’re shown just about every possible Taylor Swift clone you can think of. Red Tour Taylor, Fearless Tour Taylor, Shake It Off ballerina, YBWM girl-next-door Taylor, Bleachella T- you get it. All of these versions of Taylor fighting to get.. somewhere. On top, maybe. Or maybe fighting to get to Taylor herself in order to remain with her as she goes to the next chapter of her story. Was there ever a time where Taylor considered which one of her albums she needed the master to the most? I wonder that. Taylor said in her response to the news that she made her peace with the fact that she had to leave these pieces of herself behind in order to leave Big Machine, but did she feel differently in 2017?

Most of us coin the Met Gala as the beginning of the 1989 era, which is also the era where I think Taylor fell from Scott’s good graces. This is just a super small idea that I didn’t put too much thought into but I found interesting as well.

Conclusion: there’s obviously a lot of pieces that don’t quite fit like the snakes on tour etc, I would almost say I think that similarly to TIWWCHNT, this song refers to more than just the Kimye drama. Taylor herself implied that we didn’t know everything about LWYMMD and she never provided much backstory at the secret sessions or elsewhere.

#taylor swift #long post #this has been a post*

[elenamcwrites]

folklore - a reading

If you’re a swiftie (officially not capitalized now), like me, you’ve probably been experiencing the mystical reverb and spiritual reckoning that is folklore. You’ve also probably been reading plenty of reviews and analysis articles--there are some stellar articles out there already.

Listening to the album is like lying in a meadow over the course of a summer day, afternoon thunderstorm, and the harsh sunset that comes afterwards, spiraling through memories and contemplation. It’s the best of the worst feelings you’ll ever have, and you can’t stop.

So, compulsively, I had to share my own interpretations and thoughts as I listen to the album again for the 7th time.

the 1 - Starting out with just piano, and then turning into what feels like a casual bop, the attitude of this song starts out very ‘I Forgot That You Existed’. And we hold onto that cavalier, ‘oh well’ attitude until... UNTIL. “If my wishes came true, it would’ve been you.” That line starts the slow ache that builds through the end of the track and makes this song much more more layered and complex than the first song of Lover. Perhaps this is a more honest version of the same feeling. Swift digs deep into that nostalgic feeling, letting us vibe to the wistful wishing at the same time. And of course, there is foreshadowing in the lyrics--film, graves, rose, chosen-family, painting. All of these reappear later on in various songs on the album, and some have been themes from earlier albums, too (especially graves).

Highlight lyric: “In my defense I have none // for digging up the grave another time.”

cardigan - We start with a beat that sounds reminiscent of “high heels on cobblestones,” and it emphasizes this early imagery. Being young is one of the major themes of this song, even though it’s also part of the triptych of songs about a love triangle. The nostalgia feels more specific to young love generally than to the specific lover, asking us to wonder why we judge the young perspective so harshly. The song is an anthem to how much she knew about love, including the pain of it, despite what people say. Swift has shown a special appreciation for the wisdom and raw experience of youth, and this song is another classic defense of the teenage experience. The metaphors in this song are classic Swift, and the structure of this song is reminiscent of ‘All Too Well’--the chorus lyrics change just a bit each time, and we get a powerful, gut-punch verse at the end.

Highlight lyric: “I knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs // the smoke would hang around this long // cause I knew everything when I was young.”

the last great american dynasty - ‘The Man’ was probably Swift’s first real feminist anthem, directly stating how sexism affects her career and the perception people have of her. But this song gets at feminism from another perspective. First of all, she’s telling the story of Rebekah Harkness, who was the heiress that lived in her Rhode Island mansion before her. She was a trouble-maker in her town, blamed for her husband’s death and for ruining the calm status quo of the old money neighborhood. It’s completely apparent that Swift relates to this experience, and she likely knew some of this story before she purchased her home. In telling the story of a powerful, interesting woman, Taylor is rebelling against the patriarchy in a slightly subtler way than her previous songs--though she still makes her point pretty clear. Swift cares about the herstory of her home, and she’s made this story iconic by including it on her album. It’s like she took the idea of ‘Starlight,’ but instead of retelling a happy love story, she used her powers for an even more important tale. Now, there are also two potential connections to note: Rebekah also went by Betty, and her maiden name was West. Just remember that. And of course, the theme of the mad woman returns later as well.

Highlight lyric: “who knows if I never showed up what would have been // there goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen // she had a marvelous time ruining everything.”

exile - I like to imagine this song as the follow up to ‘The Last Time,’ from Red. Both are duets, and they both have relatively simple, but strong chords as the primary musical backdrop. Where ‘The Last Time’ depicts a relationship at the cusp, moments before their final conversation, ‘exile’ is post break-up. She’s out with someone new, and we understand this is an unspoken conversation across a room. And the vibe of the songs fit with this progression perfectly. ‘The Last Time’ feels like anxious desperation, but exile feels heavy and depressingly final. We revisit the film motif, and there’s some potential connection to the archived ‘If This Was A Movie’. Now, is that intentional, or does Swift just really like movie imagery? Does it matter? The build in this song is arguably the best on the album, which I think is partly due to the style of the musicality, and partly because it’s helpful to have a lower voice to mix it up. This song sounds the least ‘Swift-esque’ to me--reminds me of Damien Rice most of all--but it still fits beautifully into the album. Also, lots of callbacks in here--town and crown are used a LOT in her prior albums. A few examples: “You traded your baseball cap for a crown” in ‘Long Live’, “They took the crown but it's alright” in ‘Call it What You Want,’ “Staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town” in ‘False God.’ Now, again, these could just be words that she loves to use (they also rhyme with a lot), or there could be some deeper connections. I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the middle.

highlight lyric: “second, third, and hundredth chances // balancin' on breaking branches // those eyes add insult to injury”

my tears ricochet - I’ll admit this song had to grow on me a little bit. Why? Well, I don’t love revenge-ballads. But, this is much more complex than LWYMMD, and like the rest of the album, it centers the more vulnerable side of her anger. This song is 100% about Big Machine Records and Scooter Braun. The funeral is for her--or the version of herself that died just before Reputation--and she is back as a ghost (or another version of herself) to haunt those who caused her death. It’s slow, moody, haunted... Everything you want from a bitter funeral march. The best part of this song is that she doesn’t solely pass blame. She shows off her self-awareness, which has become more common in all her music since 1989, but still very clearly places responsibility on Scooter for her ‘stolen lullabies’ (i.e. her masters). Swift claims this song is about young love gone wrong--but, death is a pretty intense metaphor, and given that she blatantly used it (for the first, and maybe only time?) to talk about her career, I don’t think anyone is buying it.

highlight lyric: “I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace // and you’re the hero flying around saving face”

mirrorball - Maybe I’m just a biased toward romantic and nostalgic songs, because I don’t love this one either. (I’m sorry!) But, here’s what I’ll say: this song is still exquisite. It reminds me of the reverb-radio-vibe of the late 80s songs, but with the astral, saccharine flavor of the rest of the album. If you condensed the Miss Americana documentary into a song, this would be it. A reflection (get it?) of fame and her desire to be everything to everyone--to be well liked, to be the center of attention. The coolest thing about ‘mirrorball,’ to me, is that she hasn’t written a song quite like this before. It’s sort of a manic-pixie-dream-girl version of herself. Swift is telling us that she knows who she is, and that comes with seeing the less ‘pretty’ side.

highlight lyric: “I’m still a believer, but I don’t know why // I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try try.”

seven - Can you say haunting innocence? This is a great song for half-attentive listening in the sun, and it could almost be a lullaby. In Swift-lore, the theme of childhood shows up every so often, like in ‘Mary’s Song,’ ‘The Best Day,’ ‘It’s Nice to Have a Friend,’ and ‘Christmas Tree Farm.’ This one is definitely the most dreamy, and it is also tinged with that darkness that consistently underlies all the tracks on this album--“Are there still beautiful things?” Imagine a sepia filter, and that’s kind of what this song embodies. Some fans have wondered about this song as a possible hint to bisexuality and/or relationships with women in general. (See Kaylor fan theories if you want to dive deep.) I can see this--the childhood friend has braids, which could imply she’s a little girl, and they ‘hide in the closet’. However, it seems more likely to me that this is coincidence. Lots of kids play in their closets, and if the song is about the friend’s father being angry all the time (and maybe abusive?) hiding in the closet also makes literal sense. I think the imagery in this song is some of my favorite on this album. 

Another interesting point that I haven’t seen discussed so far is that Swift names this song ‘seven’ spelled out, yet uses the number ‘1′ in the first track title. The only other track she uses numbers in the name is ‘22′, which is about being 22. So, she could be trying to push past the idea that ‘seven’ is just about being 7 years old--though I do think it’s about that, too. She could also be intentionally connecting ‘the 1′ to ‘22′ in some way. They are both a similar vibe, and perhaps they even refer to the same time period in her life. If we go with that theory, who was T dating at 22? The most likely candidate for that timeframe is Conor Kennedy, which was sort of short-lived, and didn’t seem to end with as much fire as many of her break-ups. So, it’s possible that it’s about him. Or, maybe she just wanted to make sure we knew that ‘the 1′ was a concept she doesn’t really believe in anyway, and didn’t want to grant it the full word ‘one’. Will we ever know?

highlight lyric: “Before I learned civility // I used to scream // Ferociously // Any time I wanted”

august - It seems clear to me that this is the second song in the love-triangle narrative. I’ve heard people claim this is ‘illicit affairs’, but those people obviously haven’t looked at the lyrics. The narrator says ‘James, get in the car,’ which is directly connected to the lyrics in ‘betty.’ But, even without that obvious link, the style of august fits in with the stylistic choices of ‘cardigan’ and ‘betty’. All three have strong instrumental tracks complementing the vocals, soft harmonies, and lots of wistful lyrics. ‘illicit affairs’ cuts much sharper and deeper, but more on that later. Combining the dreamy vibes of ‘seven’ with the slight bop of ‘the 1′, this track is sticky--easy to get stuck in your head. The only thing I wonder about this song is how old this narrator is meant to be. They’re drinking wine, and she references going ‘back to school,’ which sort of feels like a reference to the college experience. But, the betty and james characters make numerous references that feel like high school. So, maybe this affair took place in another city with a college girl? I have to wonder if this is Swift referencing some of the age-gap relationships she’s been in. Again, with Conor Kennedy, she was 22, and he was 18. She also supposedly crashed his sister’s wedding in August, and that was the start of the end of their short romance. I’m just saying...

highlight lyric: “Wanting was enough, for me it was enough // to live for the hope of it all.”

this is me trying - If ‘The Archer’ was Swift confessing to her bad habits after a couple early relationship fights, ‘this is me trying’ is a desperate reminder a few months into the relationship. The two songs are sonically very similar, and I didn’t love the vibe (sorry, again!) the first time. But, I do love the artistic continuation. ‘this is me trying’ slows us down even more than ‘The Archer’ did, with a drum line that is almost like a heart beat, and it feels much less hopeful as a result. The lyrics are also some of the darkest I’ve heard from Swift--”I got wasted like all my potential” and “could’ve followed my fears all the way down.” My heart almost can’t handle this song, to be honest. She also references films again, but my favorite imagery connection is her standing over the lookout, which calls back to Rebekah looking out over the sea in LGAD.

highlight lyric: “and maybe I don't quite know what to say // but I'm here in your doorway”

illicit affairs - This song has that ‘All Too Well’ ache with a hint of ‘Death by A Thousand Cuts’ energy, and personally, I love it. You’ve got the busy instrumental strings underneath a simple, yet haunting melody line, and it’s that light, anxious tension that fits beautifully with the theme of the song. The lyrics depict the simple, small heartbreaking things that remind you of the pain you’re putting yourself through, which is reflected in the slightly surprising, soaring note at the end of the line in the verses. Whether you’ve actually been involved in an affair, these feelings show up in plenty of toxic relationships, and that universality is part of what makes the song powerful. The lyrics aren’t about pretty images, but that’s sort of the point. It’s prime Swift conversational lyricism, and you could pick out any number of lines that make a painful short poem all by themselves. 

highlight lyric: “and you wanna scream // don’t call me “kid,” don’t call me “baby” // look at this godforsaken mess that you made me // you showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else”

invisible string - The primary love song on the album, this feels like a follow up to ‘Lover,’ maybe something she’d sing after being married a year or two. It’s sort of like ‘Mine,’ but much more mature, partly indicated by the pace of the song, which is steady and sure of itself. It’s also lovely to me that she’s returned to a bit of her country vibes--I ask you, would it feel like true end-game love for Swift if she couldn’t write a country love song about it? Back when she wrote country, all her happy ending songs were merely aspirational, and now they feel true. This is also 100% about Joe Alwyn, and to me, this is proof they have not broken up like some early reviews speculated. We also need to acknowledge that she’s past the Joe Jonas break up (um, good, that was ages ago) and is sending him and Sophie presents for their baby. I read a review that basically said this song seems a little too ‘all tied up’ for Swift, and that it doesn’t feel as genuine as a result. I sort of agree, but if we can take a sad song and accept that it isn’t how she feels 100% of the time, can’t we also do that with happy songs? Plus, she technically does say that it would be ‘pretty to think,’ which sort of implies it’s more a thought experiment than an actual belief. So, there’s that little twinge of sadness we needed to appease the folklore goddess. Oh, and of course, there’s a reference to Lover’s color scheme, saying time “gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies.” Which, many Kaylor hopefuls read as a reference to the Bi pride flag. To that, I just say... Maybe?

highlight lyric: “time, mystical time // cutting me open, then healing me fine”

Mad woman - My favorite thing about this song is the piano melody that happens in the background the whole song, working in concert with the main melody, but also completely independent (and haunting). It reminds me of one concept of madness--having multiple voices or thoughts going on simultaneously. But of course, it’s artfully and perfectly put together, which is the whole point. What could be perceived as madness is, in this case, what makes her able to create a masterful work of art. Now, this is also certainly a song about her masters, Scooter Braun, and Scott Borchetta. But it is also another feminist anthem. Women are taught not to be angry, not to yell, not to react with any emotionality otherwise we are discredited entirely. Swift directly calls this to attention by explaining that we’re angry for a reason--often antagonized intentionally until ‘you find something to wrap your noose around.’ She also makes the important point that women can also ‘hunt witches,’ and can be complicit in treating one another poorly. This is a reference to Scooter Braun’s wife defending him publicly against Taylor. Probably the most savage line is about the ‘master of spin’ having affairs, which she implies his wife knows about and seems to passively accept. But Swift doesn’t go too hard on her, reminding us that ‘no one likes a mad woman’, and that pressure is real. Could this ‘master of spin’ also be Scooter? I think probably. But I did read that some people are connecting this song to Hillary Clinton (she’s a scorpio, and the song references a scorpion sting), and that maybe Trump is the adulterer here... I feel like that’s a stretch, but I appreciate the interpretation.

highlight lyric: “What a shame she went mad // You made her like that”

epiphany - I suspect this song is directly related to how Swift is processing the current state of the pandemic. The atmospheric vibe with slow, clock-ticking beat in the background really feels momentous and poignant. Yes, she starts with images conjured from her grandfather’s stories of World War II, but she quickly seems to compare this awful battle to the doctors fighting COVID-19 on the frontlines in hospitals. The lyrics are simple, repetitive, and powerful. With so many ill literally struggling to breathe, the lines about breathing out really do hit especially hard these days. I can’t believe that wasn’t a thoughtful choice. The chorus is just barely hopeful, reminiscent of the numbness we all have to use as a coping mechanism to get through traumatic experiences. But it’s that little sliver of hope that makes the song even sadder--is that possible?

highlight lyric: “only twenty minutes to sleep // but you dream of some epiphany // just one single glimpse of relief // to make some sense of what you've seen”

betty - Give me all that Tim McGraw, Love Story, early Taylor pop-country. This song is definitely enhanced in part because of its connections to ‘cardigan’ and ‘august,’ but it stands strong on its own. It’s old news at this point, but James and Inez are based on the names of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’s daughters, so it’s all-but-confirmed that their third daughter was named Betty. Written from the perspective of James, there is massive speculation out there about whether the narrator is meant to be a boy or a girl. There are reasonable clues on both sides, so I’ll just say this: I love Taylor, but she’s always been a little late to the party when it comes to socialized ideas of male/female. Because of that, I don’t think she’d have a female narrator riding a skateboard. I also feel from the style of narration--“I don’t know anything;” “just a summer thing;” “would you tell me to go fuck myself”--it does sound more like stereotypical teenage boy language than what we know as swiftie teenage girl language. What I do like about this song, though, is that because it’s written from James’s perspective, it does sort of leave a wider opening for personal interpretation than some of her other love-story-like songs. The reason I personally love this song is that it’s mostly about redemption and forgiveness. Everyone has wished someone who broke their heart would write this song about them, and so it offers catharsis. Plus, it’s the only song on the album that truly feels happy at the end--thanks, key change! It’s refreshing and heartening, and it’s good timing, too. After the heaviest song on the album, we needed it. (Oh, and there’s a callback to the broken cobblestones from ‘cardigan’. And then he literally mentions her cardigan. So.)

highlight lyric: “if you kiss me // will it be just like I dreamed it? // will it patch your broken wings?”

peace - The vibe of this song is like laying on your couch in the summer with light coming in through the blinds and the ceiling fan is going around just fast enough to keep the warm air circulating, but not really cool you off. This song has a hint of ‘False God’ style, a little jazzy, but otherwise, it’s a pretty fresh feel for Swift. The message fits this thoughtful, lightly antsy feeling. She’s basically saying she wants to start a family with Joe (no, I don’t think she is literally pregnant yet) and settle down, but there is no real ‘settling down’ with her level of fame. I also think that Swift truly enjoys making music, performing, and engaging with her fans, and she doesn’t want to leave that life behind any time soon. So, she’s asking him if he can make that work. It’s, again, a mature vision of what a long-term relationship can actually look and feel like. Not all of us can truly relate to the burdens of fame, but there are other ways we can be unable to ‘give you peace’. No relationship is idyllic forever in the way romantic love often makes it out to be, and this song gives us a more realistic, consistent example. And just in case we thought this was just a nice song, the whole ‘clowns to the West’ is another potential Easter egg. In the lyric video, east is not capitalized, but West is. Most likely, this is a dig at Kanye. If we want to believe Taylor wasn’t being vengeful, it could potentially be a reference to Rebekah (West was her maiden name). I lean toward theory one, although it’s kind of amazing that it works out such that it connects to both.

highlight lyric: “but I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm // if your cascade ocean wave blues come”

hoax - (Phew last one--I don’t have access to ‘the lakes’ yet) Swift can’t end the album without bringing us all back to the raw emotional space she opened up within us. This song brings back similar piano lines from ‘mad woman’ and the image of screaming on the cliffside. Chronologically, ‘hoax’ feels like it takes place after or during the death of her reputation, i.e. the feud with Kim and Kanye, when she was still very vulnerable. Based on timeline, this seems likely to be either Calvin Harris or Tom Hiddleston. It could really be some combination of the two, since many songs aren’t really about just one person. My gut tells me it’s primarily about Calvin, since she’s referenced that they didn’t have a very faithful relationship--”your faithless love’s the only hoax I believe in.” Both relationships travelled a lot--“I left a part of me in new york.” I’m guessing she’s referencing the feud with Harris over her writing credit on ‘This is What You Came For.’ She takes attacks on her career as seriously as hurtful relationships, and since she’s referencing being torn apart by the media when she says that “what you did was just as dark,” I think it’s likely that this also has something to do with hurting her reputation. It’s another hauntingly beautiful song, and you can totally imagine yourself out on that cliff looking at the midnight sea as the piano line ends.

highlight lyric: “you knew the password, so I let you in the door // you knew you won, so what's the point of keeping score?”

---------------------------------------------

Overall, the album is my favorite of Taylor’s so far for two reasons: 1) the continuity in both theme and sound is stellar, and 2) there aren’t any songs that I don’t like. Usually, there are 1-3 songs on Taylor’s albums that are either forgettable or too on-the-nose for my taste. I’m sure that is a product, in part, of having to craft songs for radio-play and for her amazing, cinematic live shows. Having given herself the freedom to make whatever music she wanted without thinking (so much) about whether they’d top the charts or be good for a stadium concert, she made an album without a single ‘pop just because’ track.

Now the real question is... What will she do with the remaining 6 months of quarantine???

#taylor swift #swiftie #folklore #album thoughts #folklore thoughts #ts #ts8 #tswift #who else was supposed to go to lover fest?

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year Exchange, Part 1: Activity to Jeff Parker

Irreversible Entanglements

Six years ago, newly moved to Tumblr, we looked for a fresh take on the mid-year best-of list idea, partly to be contrary, partly because some of us had no interest in writing about the same records over and over again. After some discussion — well, a lot of discussion — we decided to turn our mid-year feature into a sort of secret Santa exchange. We’d each nominate two records and each review two records, but, here’s the kicker, they wouldn’t be the same records. We’d trade with our fellow writers, and if it meant that we had to listen to music way out of our comfort zone, so be it.

Since then we’ve had smooth exchanges and rough ones – last year’s was especially testy, but what can you do with such an opinionated bunch—but it’s become a favorite annual event. This year was no different, except that no one was truly revolted by their assignments.

Unlike some years, there was no clear dominant pick, though Six Organs, James Elkington, Makaya McCraven/Gil Scott-Heron, Cable Ties and Irreversible Entanglements all got multiple votes.

We’ll split our individual album write-ups into two posts. Today’s covers records by artists from Activity to Jeff Parker. We’ll get to the rest of the alphabet tomorrow. On the third and final day, we’ll post writers’ lists. Participants included Tobias Carroll, Tim Clarke, Justin Cober-Lake, Andrew Forell, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Arthur Krumins, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw and Derek Taylor.

Activity — Unmask Whoever

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim said, “This music strains at the leash, held tightly in check by the motorik rhythms, while gaseous synths seek to permeate all corners of the soundscape.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

You wouldn’t know that it is a debut album, but then it’s a super band, so that doesn’t count. Vocalist Travis Johnson’s delivery reminds you a symbolist poet reciting some lines from his notebook, neither singing nor reading. Despite referring to violence in song titles and lyrics, this music is as far from violent as it can be. It’s too self-conscious to even carry symbolic violence but when on ‘Earth Angel’ the vocalist with the hook “I wanna fuck around” almost breaks into a scream, it turns into a whisper instead. It’s these small details that unmask the outfit’s postmodern disguise and show that Activity is the real deal, not a half-baked pastiche.

Decoy with Joe McPhee — AC/DC (OtoRoku)

Who picked it? Derek Taylor.

Did we review it? Yes, Derek said, “Decoy is a working group and a heady amalgam that recalls a dream fusion of Atlantis-era Sun Ra, Keith Jarrett’s marathon electric stand with Miles at the Cellar Door, and Larry Young circa his Blue Note moonshot Contrasts, while still relentlessly retaining its own flight plan.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

Wow. “A/C” is impressive enough with its wild unfurlings of trumpet and sax, its woozy meditations in bowed and plucked stand-up bass, its incendiary organ bursts, all rooted in jazz, but touching on the hot, experimental outposts of rock and soul and R&B, too. But the second side, “D/C,” is even more exciting, as the tumult of sounds gets more fevered and McPhee breaks out in song. Who can blame him? You want to join in. It’s a mind-bending swirl that boils up and over the edges, heady, excessive and exhilarating. So glad I got to hear this, Derek, and it reinforces the benefits of trading favorites, i.e. finding music that is way out of your normal circuit but, even so, exactly what you need.  

 Sandy Ewen — You Win (Gilgongo)

You Win by Sandy Ewen

Who picked it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Andrew Forell’s take:

Experimental guitarist Sandy Ewen appears as much concerned with space as sound. On You Win, she treats her instrument as pure object to explore the minutiae of its potential. Patterns emerge like communications from distant galaxies or the gradual shift and warp of old buildings. The 5 tracks scrape and rumble as occasionally identifiable guitar sounds — feedback hum, plucked strings — flicker from the mix. Best heard through headphones, You Win demands concentration lest one misses the nuanced denaturing and subversion of Ewen’s work, which is as fascinating as it is challenging.  

Fake Laugh — Dining Alone (State 51 Conspiracy)

Fake Laugh · Ever Imagine

Who picked it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes Tim said, “These sharp, funny, warm-hearted songs are immediately endearing, yet shot through with bracingly sour ingredients.” 

Andrew Forell’s take:

Dining Alone, Kamran Khan’s latest album as Fake Laugh, is a collection of pastel Day-Glo bedroom pop songs that breeze by leaving barely a hair ruffled in their wake. Khan has an ear for a melody, a wistfully pleasant voice and a talent for arrangement that make this album an enjoyable listen but there is a nagging feeling that he is holding something back. Tracks like the finely wrought “A Memory” and Supertramp update “The Empty Party” stand out but Dining Alone feels like an intermediate step on which Khan tries out ideas and seeks a way forward although there is enough here to be optimistic about what might come next.

 Field Works — Ultrasonic (Temporary Residence)

Ultrasonic by Field Works

Who picked it? Justin Cober-Lake

Did we review it? Yes, in a May Dust, Tim Clarke wrote that “Stuart Hyatt’s latest compilation in the Field Works series is an absolute beauty — and timely given it’s being released during a pandemic whose origins may be linked to bats.” 

Derek Taylor’s take:

Most of the listening that I do in the service of reviewing music revolves around discerning who’s, what’s and how’s. Those sorts of taxonomic identifications feel superfluous, not to mention futile when navigating the music on Ultrasonic. Sources I mistook as aquatic (“Dusk Tempi,” “Echo Affinity,” “Music for a Room with Vaulted Ceiling,” and “Indiana Blindfold”) are subterranean, specifically the echolocation emissions of bats. Harp and piano sounds dapple “Silver Secrets” and “Sodalis” as instrumental signposts, but they’re outliers in a program that feels largely electronic and beyond the scope of scrupulous inventory.  

The closest, if admittedly antiquated, genre descriptors I have for these ecology-minded creations are ambient and new age. A seraphic, celestial quality suffuses most of them with sweeping washes of tonal color layering over more definable rhythms and progressions. The combination curiously reminds me of a distant temporal relic that served as childhood gateway to this sort of territory, my father’s vinyl edition of Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast. It’s another feeble attempt at a compass point and evidence of how difficult it can be to escape the ingrained habits that influence personal musical consumption.

The Giving Shapes — Earth Leaps Up (Elsewhere)

Who recommended it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “You feel like you’re being carried into a dream, familiar yet strange.”

Ian Mathers’ take:

There’s just something nice about a record where, a few minutes after putting it on, your partner suddenly remarks “you know, this is very calming”. It’s not that the work of Robyn Jacob (voice, piano) and Elisa Thorn (voice, harp) is soporific or somehow uninvolving, more that there’s a somehow centered kind of deliberateness with which they approach these songs that feels oddly reassuring. The way their voices often echo lines (or slightly altered lines) back at one another can feel vaguely Stereolab-ish, but rather than the coolly pulsing, layered grooves (and transient noise bursts) of that outfit, the simplicity of the arrangements here feels direct and clean and often comforting. But it’s the type of comfort that lets you see the difficulty you’re trying to tackle head-on, not the comfort that swaddles you away from having to deal with the world. It’s more bracing than lulling, in other words, and frequently beautiful at that.

  Irreversible Entanglements — Who Sent You? (Don Giovanni/International Anthem)

Who recommended it? Andrew Forell.

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Who Sent You? is an extraordinary statement lyrically and musically.”

Bill Meyer’s take:

I’m inclined to agree with Andrew Forell. When I first encountered the vocal-focused free jazz of Irreversible Entanglements in 2018, I was more taken by the band’s focused exchanges of energy onstage than I was by their self-titled debut LP as a listening experience. But its successor steps up their already powerful game by easing up just a bit. They’ve let more air and variety into the surging rhythms and interweaving horn lines, opening up space for vocalist Camae Ayewa’s words to land with even more impact and staying power. Ayewa, who also records as Moor Mother, is more of a poetic declaimer than a singer or rapper, and her expressions of cultural memory and existential survival in the face of remorseless racism and economic terrorism boom over the music’s ebb and flow with inspiring authority. While her words are always applicable, this record sounds like it was made to be heard in a time of plague and revolt; when people ask in years to come what record sounds like the middle of 2020 felt, a lot of people will hold up Who Sent You?

  The Jacka — Murder Weapon (The Artist / EMPIRE)

Who recommended it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes. Ray Garraty said, “this album confirms Jacka’s status among the greatest fallen soldiers of hip hop.”

Tim Clarke’s take:

Despite being a posthumous release whose title refers to the artist’s tragic death by shooting back in 2015, Murder Weapon by Bay Area rapper The Jacka is a surprisingly cohesive listening experience, largely thanks to the lush palette of old-school samples employed on many of these tracks. From the aching strings on early highlight “Walk Away” via the swinging funk of “Can’t Go Home” to the children’s choir on “We Outside,” there’s a warmth and humanity to this sad story that honors the artist’s memory.

 Ka — Descendants of Cain (Iron Works)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? Yes, Ray said, “Descendants of Cain, Ka’s seventh album combines the epic bleakness of the Old Testament with Brownsville’s hopelessness.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Shamefully, this is my first exposure to the music of MC and producer Ka; it’s his sixth album overall, and I’ve got some catching up to do. For an album with a title and cover art that could just as easily fit on a doom metal album, what surprised me was how focused this all was. The album flows beautifully, with music that fits somewhere between sinuous soul and the art-damaged Americana heard on, say, Matmos’s The West — with a handful of cinematic samples topping it off. It’s a perfect match for Ka’s voice, which manages to be textured and beatifically smooth all at once. Some albums paint a picture for the listener; this one is wholly immersive.

Matt LaJoie — Everlasting Spring

Everlasting Spring by Matt LaJoie

Who picked it? Tobias Carroll

Did we review it? No

Ray Garraty’s take:

Matt LaJoie’s technical verbosity is on the spot here, as all the man-made sounds can be mistaken for something Nature produced out of its vast resources. Everlasting Spring is like a small water spring which flows and flows but can’t eventually flow into a river, being forever condemned to be just this spring. Everlasting Spring lasts almost for an hour (if we count a bonus track), and it’s six minutes for every string LaJoie’s guitar has. Not many men can admire nature for that long. The whole album has that New Age-ish feel, when you can start listening to it from any track, and nothing will change in your views on it.

Maybe it does give a good mimesis of what spring sounds like but we still need a change of weather from time to time.

 Mamaleek — Come & See (The Flenser)

Come and See by Mamaleek

Who recommended it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes. Jonathan said, “Their dominant textures are still harsh and confrontational, vocals are still howled and shouted. But there are riffs. There are melodic structures.”

Justin Cober-Lake's take:

As black metal, Mamaleek would hold their own, but there's a persistent work to stretch boundaries here. Come & See keeps a core mix of sludge and anger, but the group's inventiveness keeps the album consistently surprising. The group finds brighter tones than anticipated, even while moving away from metal more toward alt-rock at times, and post-rock at others, and generally finding expressions that require a hyphen. An occasional breakdown touches on jazz or finds its roots in rock 'n' roll. “Cabrini-Green” functions like a suite — track the movements and break the track into its separate pieces — even as it avoids a sort of linear sequence. “Elsewhere” (and, indeed, much of the album) turns out a demented history of hardcore. The record probably won't find much of an audience outside of the metal scene, but listening past the obvious trappings reveals a wealth of influences and a complexity that makes for intriguing listening across genre strictures.

 Jeff Parker — Suite for Max Brown (International Anthem)

Suite for Max Brown by Jeff Parker

Who picked it? Arthur Krumins

Did we review it? Yes. Arthur said, “Following the looped, electronic and eclectic New Breed, Jeff Parker’s latest album expands into an even greater range of off-kilter sonic experiments.”

Tobias Carroll’s take:

Before this year, my knowledge of Jeff Parker’s music came largely from his work with Tortoise. And that’s far from a bad thing; Tortoise is a fine band. But hearing Parker push further into the realm of jazz with Suite for Max Brown is its own form of delight, where precisely-played melodies meet instrumental virtuosity. It’s an eminently listenable album, and one where I’m still noticing new moments of subtle beauty in the mix.

#dusted magazine #midyear #activity #tim clarke #ray garraty #decoy #joe mcphee #derek taylor #jennifer kelly #sandy ewen #andrew forell #bill meyer #fake laugh #field works #justin cober-lake #the giving shapes #arthur krumins #ian mathers #irreversible entanglements #the jacka #ka #tobias carroll #matt lajoie #mamaleek #jonathan shaw #jeff parker

[jedivoodoochile]

Release date : 12th May 1972

The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street

First manager Andrew Loog Oldham said in the sleeve notes to the Stones’ first album: ‘The Rolling Stones are more than a group, they are a way of life’, and of no album is that truer than Exile On Main Street. The legend persists that it was all created in the dank basement of the former Nazi headquarters in Villefranche-Sur-Mer in the Summer of 1971, although a large portion was overdubbed in sessions in Los Angeles, where other songs were created from scratch. Some of the other recordings predated the trip to France, having been recorded in the UK, at Olympic Studios in Barnes.

However, the SPIRIT of the basement prevails throughout and it is the murky swampiness of the whole endeavour, extending to Mick Jagger’s all but indecipherable vocals, that have seen it acclaimed as the Stones’ most complete statement and possibly the most rock album the band ever made.

The guitar sound is largely due to Ry Cooder, whose involvement in the sessions of 1969’s Performance soundtrack, showed the possibilities of the ‘open G’ tuning on the guitar. Crucially, the guitar is tuned to a chord, but in Keith Richards’ book Life, he describes how he discarded the 6th (lowest) string, giving the lowest string (now a G) the role of a drone, quite appropriate to the blues. It also allowed the mega-riffs of the Mark 2 Stones’ biggest hits: Honky Tonk Women and Brown Sugar, which underpinned new member Mick Taylor’s melodic country/blues lines, melding to create a whole new style. Even now, the first chords of either of the above will pack a dance floor anywhere in the UK. With reference to Exile, the most prominent use of the 5-string open-tuned guitar is on Rocks Off, Happy, Ventilator Blues, Tumbling Dice and All Down The Line.

The Stones had recruited the sensitive 20-year old Mick Taylor in 1969 from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, where he became the third stellar lead guitarist to play the blues in Mayall’s band, following Eric Clapton and Peter Green. His first sessions were for the Let It Bleed album, overdubbing guitar on Country Honk and Live With Me plus some pivotal parts for the Honky Tonk Women single on the 1st June session that ended at 3:15AM.

Honky Tonk Women went to #1 in the UK and the US in July 1969, followed by the Let It Bleed album in December, another triumph. Any doubts created by the subsequent 18-month gap in releases were dispelled by the release of Brown Sugar in April 1971 (another US #1), followed in May by Sticky Fingers, possibly the strongest Stones album to date, and one that showcased the guitar interplay between Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, alongside some great songs, including Sway, Wild Horses and Bitch.

Having recorded sessions at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, which included tracks like Stop Breaking Down and Sweet Virginia, The Stones had continued recording and writing in the Summer of 1970 at Stargroves, Jagger’s English country house, with the Stones’ own mobile recording studio, a move that became standard operating procedure for other UK bands, including Led Zeppelin. The mobile came in handy when the Stones discovered that in signing with US manager Allen Klein, their copyrights had reverted to him, so when they severed their connection with him in 1970, their income came under threat. They were also in a cash flow crisis, at a time when the UK taxman took 93% of high earners’ income, so they felt that the only thing to do was to get out of town, planning to spend at least 21 months outside the UK from 1971 onwards.

According to Bill Wyman, the band had at least working versions of seven tracks to take with them, including Tumbling Dice (original title: Good Time Women), Black Angel (which became Sweet Black Angel), Stop Breaking Down and Shine A Light.

In early April 1971, the band decamped to France, Mick Jagger marrying Bianca in St. Tropez on May 12th and honeymooning on the Riviera, before settling in Paris with his new bride. Keith Richards rented a villa, Nellcôte, in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, near Nice, while the other band members rented houses further to the west. The basement at Nellcôte became a makeshift studio to record using the band’s mobile recording studio.

In interviews with Ian Fortnam for the 2010 reissue of Exile, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts gave their contemporary perspectives on what went down: ‘They couldn’t get you in jail, so they put the economics on you, the old double whammy,’ said Keith. ‘So the feeling within the band was we’ve got to show them we’re made of sterner stuff and prove you couldn’t break the Stones just by kicking them out of England.’

The band again called on the services of their mobile studio and parked it outside Keith’s villa in order to carry on the recordings for the next album, the second on their own Rolling Stones records label, although according to Keith Richards, that wasn’t their first intention. They had been planning to look for studios in Nice or Cannes, but in the event, the band came to Keith, with the Stones mobile in residence from June 7th.

American producer Jimmy Miller had supervised the two previous albums, but the Nellcôte sessions were much more difficult to coordinate, partly because not all the band were around at the same time. Recording continued sporadically for some months until the French authorities began to apply pressure to rid themselves of the Stones and their entourage, who by then were engaged in various levels of illegal behaviour.

Drummer Charlie Watts was about three hours away, in Thoiras, west of Avignon, and bassist Bill Wyman and guitarist Mick Taylor were ensconced near Grasse, so at least one of the songs on Exile was made without them, although the album credits have never been clear about who actually did what. In the case of one of the most Stones-sounding recordings, very few of the Stones were initially on it. Happy, a showcase for Keith Richards’ vocals and guitar, has producer Jimmy Miller on drums and Keith doubling on bass. The basics were laid down between noon and 4PM one afternoon, with just Miller on drums, Bobby Keys on baritone saxophone, and Richards on the rest, including the lyrics and lead vocal.

Charlie Watts loved Jimmy Miller. ‘I thought he was the best producer we ever had. Jimmy was a hands-on type of guy. When we played he could never keep still, so he’d always be banging something; a drum or a cowbell’ [check out the start of Honky Tonk Women]. Miller insisted that Charlie‘s drums be tested in as many of the basement’s labyrinth of rooms as possible, before settling on one that had the right balance of natural ambience and proximity to the guitar players to maintain the vibe. It took a week or two to get the setup right, but after that, things apparently settled down.

The schedule did become a bit strange, as recalled by Keith Richards. ‘It became known as Keith Time, which in Bill Wyman’s case made him a little cranky. Not that he said anything. At first, we were going to start at two PM [every day], but that never happened. So we said we’d start at 6PM, which usually meant around 1 AM. Charlie didn’t seem to mind.’

But when Keith was on form, he would deliver, as with Rocks Off, which, according to engineer Andy Johns, involved a playback to Keith at 4 or 5AM. Keith went to sleep in mid-track, so Johns took that as the cue to get his own head down, driving the necessary half-hour home. He was just nodding off when the phone rang – it was Keith, asking where he’d got to. So Johns drove back to Nellcote – another half hour – at which point Keith picked up his Telecaster and played the second guitar part on Rocks Off, straight through.

The sessions were at least the backbone of the album. Said Keith: ‘A lot of the songs started off with an idea. Mick’s playing harp, you join in and before you knew it you had a track in the making and an idea working. It might not be the finished track; you’re not trying to force it.’

There was also much space for the interplay between Richards and lead guitarist Mick Taylor. Keith: ‘Brian [Jones] and I would swap roles. There was no defined line between lead and rhythm guitar, but with Mick’s style I had to readjust the shape of the band and it was beautifully lyrical. He was a lovely lead player. I loved playing with Mick Taylor.’

Some of the songs were collaborations, like All Down The Line, which, according to Keith Richards, he started with the basic idea of ‘I hear it coming, all down the line’ and handed it over to Mick Jagger to develop. Richards was extremely prolific and came up with many songs which didn’t eventually make on to the final release, including Head In The Toilet Blues, Leather Jackets (although Bill Wyman lists it as having been recorded at Olympic), Windmill, I Was Just A Country Boy, Dancing In The Light,(noted as possibly being one of Mick Jagger’s), Bent Green Needles, Labour Pains and Pommes de Terre.

Richards described the self-imposed pressure that he and Jagger felt when requiring themselves to come up with song ideas in anticipation of the arrival of the other musicians. Casino Boogie came about when inspiration was lacking and they decided to follow the William Burroughs ‘cut up’ technique (also used occasionally by David Bowie), whereby a book or newspaper is disassembled into component words, which are then re-assembled to create a new lyrical direction.

So, contrary to popular belief, the whole album wasn’t recorded in the South Of France, although most of the backing tracks were. As Keith Richards notes in his book Life: ‘What we brought to LA from France was only raw material for Exile. The real bare bones, no overdubs. On almost every song we’d said, we’ve got to put a chorus on here, we’ve got to put some chicks in there, we need extra percussion on that. So LA was basically to put the flesh on. For four or five months in LA in early 1972, we mixed and overdubbed Exile On Main Street. According to Bill Wyman, most of the Stones flew to LA on November 29th, 1971, followed later by the Wymans, for sessions that went on til February 1972.

It seems to have been planned as a double from an early stage, Richards mentioning ‘all business advice’ that warned against it. Which, to be fair to whoever was dishing out the advice (probably Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records), was usually correct – double LPs had to be competitively priced, but they cost twice as much to manufacture, were heavier to ship, and their length and quantity of material meant they were harder for the public to assimilate, more difficult to review objectively, and took longer to get on the airwaves, at a time when multiple singles releases off an album was not the norm.

At Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, the basic tracks of at least Rip This Joint, Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Happy, Rocks Off, Turd On The Run and Ventilator Blues were given numerous overdubs, including all the piano and keyboard parts, all lead and backing vocals, plus more overdubs of guitar and bass. The sessions included new recordings of Torn And Frayed and Loving Cup and saw Mick Jagger coming into his own, finishing off the vocals and bringing in other contributors.

A host of other musicians assisted the Stones on the LA overdubs, including Nicky Hopkins and Ian ‘Stu’ Stewart on pianos, and a mass of backing vocalists including Gram Parsons, Clydie King, Joe Green, Venetta Fields, Tamiya Lynn, Shirley Goodman, Dr. John, Kathi McDonald and Jess Kirkland. Jazz sessioneer Bill Plummer added upright bass to Rip This Joint and Turd On The Run, Al Perkins from Manassas played pedal steel guitar on Torn And Frayed, Billy Preston contributed keyboards to Shine A Light, and Richard Washington played marimba on Sweet Black Angel. Stalwart Bobby Keys played sax, with Jim Price on trumpet and organ on Torn And Frayed, while producer Jimmy Miller played drums and percussion where necessary.

The first hearing that the public and broadcasters had of Exile was the single, Tumbling Dice, one of the most multi-layered, murky, uneven recordings any band has ever released, and yet it is probably one of the Stones’ five finest records. There is something to listen at every turn, the rhythm is insistent, the lyrics are compelling, there’s rollicking piano, sweet Mick Taylor licks, (and his bass playing, the loudest thing on the track, is exactly wrong, but exactly right). Mick Jagger’s lyrics are almost indecipherable and mixed so far back they’re practically only a texture, but the whole thing is the Stones personified – far from perfect, but still fantastic.

As Keith Richards said in 2010: ‘Mick’s always seemed to have something of an ambivalent attitude to Exile… ‘, and here indeed are Jagger’s comments from 2003: ‘Exile is not one of my favourite albums, although I think the record does have a particular feeling. I’m not too sure how great the songs are, but put together it’s a nice piece. However, when I listen to Exile it has some of the worst mixes I’ve ever heard. I’d love to remix the record, not just because of the vocals, but because generally, I think it sounds lousy.’ Well, it could certainly be mixed with more clarity, but to do that would be to lose its essential Stones-ness, which would upset the millions to have bought it thus far.

Preceded by the UK and US Top 10 hit Tumbling Dice, Exile On Main St. was released in May 1972. It was an immediate commercial success, reaching #1 worldwide just as the band embarked on their celebrated 1972 American Tour, their first for three years. The second, and only other, single from the album, Happy, got to #22 in the US in July.

Many critics judged Exile On Main St. to be a ragged and impenetrable record at the time of its release, but the UK’s Richard Williams, writing in Melody Maker, praised the album in a review entitled ‘The Stones: Quite Simply the Best’. He said the album ‘is definitely going to take its place in history’ and ‘it’s the best album they’ve ever made. This is an album which utterly repulses the sneers and arrows of outraged put-down artists. Once and for all, it answers any questions about their ability as rock ‘n’ rollers.’

Keith Richards has the last word: ‘We didn’t start off intending to make a double album; we just went down to the south of France to make an album and by the time we’d finished we said, ‘We want to put it all out.’ I was no longer interested in hitting Number One in the charts every time. What I want to do is good shit – if it’s good they’ll get it some time down the road.’

#the rolling stones #exile on main street

[loseyoutoloveme]

Hey, just wondering what the deal is with Scooter Braun and Ariana? She's posted a lot about how much she respects him but this Taylor Swift stuff is crazy. Anyways no pressure to answer this I just don't know his past with other artists besides Taylor Swift and figured you might know.

hi! it’s all pretty run-of-the-mill bullshit that lots of young artists unfortunately go through, artists being treated as entertainment props. i was partly referring to the way in which she was overworked as a young artist, this isn’t much of a scooter-specific issue as much as it’s an industry-wide issue, but ariana has said that the amount of promotion she had to do damaged her mental health. i was also referring to what happened between them in 2016 - if you hadn’t heard of this before, she wanted her career to go in one direction (the album that ended up being dangerous woman), and he thought a different, safer direction would sell better. she ended up firing him over this, released dangerous woman, including a deluxe track called jason’s song (a song written specifically for her and with her help by jason robert brown) which includes lyrics like “i’m no blow-up doll, no free-for-all, no slave to your decision.” it’s unfortunate that artists have to deal with their artistic visions being disrespected in this way. obviously, she rehired him and now raves about him constantly and they are close friends, but yeah, they have a rocky past!

#answered #southernbirds

[brianmight]

SAIL ACROSS THE SEA. //   Maylor Titanic!AU (part 3/?)

[ ch. 1 / ch. 2 ] [ also posted on AO3! ]

Notes: apologies for the delay! I hope I can make it up to you guys by giving you this chapter of 3000+ words! <3

( @eternallystarlight @wirkmood )

- where to, mr? - to the stars.

10 april, 1912. Southampton. The ship of dreams is about to go on its long-awaited journey — the voyage of a lifetime, if the papers are not mistaken. The grandiose sight of the vessel in the harbour is plenty to instil awe in all who parade around the harbour, either as future passengers or people who are about to bid their loved ones farewell. Two separate worlds mingle upon the crowded docks — the one of automobiles and the one of wooden carts; the one of many suitcases and the one of few; the one of riches and the one of rags. One belongs to an affluent heir, the other to a wandering street musician. Their backgrounds couldn’t clash more, but that won’t refrain fate from unifying them on the unsinkable RMS Titanic.

The vessel was a drifting world of its own, a city that floated upon the waves with such ease that one would suspect it was physically attached to it. An embodiment of grandeur never before seen in such size, the Titanic remained near the coastline for another 24 hours, but when the ship fled the port of Queenstown the following day, it finally met with the open sea.

Brian’s very first night aboard had felt comfortable and refreshing, as if through sleep he had travelled into a vastly different universe where a new life awaited him. The journey was only the first leap and the ship a pole to help him safely across, albeit a rather luxurious pole that appeared to be an end in itself. Energetic and eager, the third-class passenger hurried away his breakfast (oatmeal porridge & milk) in the broad dining saloon. The clattering of knives and forks mingled with elated voices, which shared their expectations of the renown voyage and discussed future plans that were to be executed the moment they set foot on the other continent. Parents exchanged smiles with the knowledge that their children would have plenty to eat every day. Where some people once had to deal with uncertainty about whether they’d have a roof above their heads, was now only the reassuring fact that they had a bed all to themselves. Even those who suffered from seasickness were grinning, for the hopeful and ecstatic atmosphere was contagious for all those who entered the hall.

Brian himself was no exception, with the corners of his lips turned upwards at all times. He was sitting at the far end of a seemingly never-ending table, surrounded by his fellow cabin mates who were engaged in a lively discussion concerning the ship’s velocity. “I ‘ave ‘eard zhat zhis ship can go over 26 knots,” claimed a French shoemaker named Basile, his strong accent adding a somewhat musical tone to his voice. The man next to him - Floyd, he called himself - immediately shook his head in disagreement and raised a knowing finger. “No, no — the Times said it can only reach 23 knots.”

John took a final sip of his coffee and jumped in. “Do either of you even know how fast one knot is?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow, causing Brian to snicker as the comment left the debating two men utterly speechless. Clearly, they were so full of their own facts they’d hardly pondered about it and believed that merely presenting the statements sufficed for a strong claim upon the breakfast table. The topic instantly shifted to less technical ones: the weather, the food, the hollering of engines that could be heard throughout the F-deck.

Not many minutes afterwards, a guitarist could be spotted on a simple bench on the stern deck, accompanied by his voice, his tattered instrument, and a few sheets of paper. Slender fingers gently strummed in a seemingly improvising manner, but those who paid attention would notice that the man repeated the same patterns and occasionally paused to scribble something with a short pencil. Brian felt completely at ease on the deck, surrounded by tag-playing children and conversing adults, and inspiration invaded his mind in plenty — almost more than it had ever done before. The ocean dragged a distinct mystery along; inexplicable allure that continued to enthral humanity and lure individuals away from the safe shore. Anything was possible on the infinite waters, it seemed. Even the improbable.

After penning down another line, he noticed that John, who previously stood by the white railing, was now glancing along over his shoulder, a cigarette squeezed between two fingers. “‘Jump in joy, or sinking in sorrow’..” he read in a mumble. Brian, slightly surprised to discover someone was actually able to decipher his handwriting, turned his head and glanced at the other to discern any reaction on his visage. First, it appeared as though John had no intention of showing his opinion; his knitted brow remained frozen as if he was tasting the lyric and couldn’t figure out whether he enjoyed the flavour. All of a sudden, his facial muscles relaxed and a careful smile materialized. “Love the little alliteration there,” he complimented, settling on the unoccupied half of the bench. “Thank you. It adds extra flair to it, don’t you think? Simple yet melodious.” “Also makes it easier for folks to sing along,” John observed. “Hmm,” Brian hummed, shaking his head, “I’m not sure yet if this one will be for performance. The words are rather personal. Too precious to be just tossed on the street.” “You only sing in the streets?” A chuckle fled the writer’s lips and his hands released the instrument, forcing it to hang solely around his neck. His eyebrows raised as he nodded multiple times, indicating the entirety of the vessel beneath their feet. “And on ships, apparently. I doubt I could impress any wealthy benefactors here though.” The guitar was no instrument to be placed among the elite which was largely conservative in manner and taste. Violins, cellos and pianos were preferred. Besides, none of the garments in Brian’s travelling bag would be posh enough to blend in with a first-class audience. No matter how much he washed or ironed, scrubbed or stitched, he’d always portray the role of beggar next to spotless bow-ties. And that was fine — the guitarist preferred playing in desolate alleys over being mocked by hypocrite folks who raised their noses at each and every smudge.

Another few chords escaped from the strings into the Atlantic air. They pranced among the passengers without prejudice, not paying any attention to the sign that read “3rd CLASS PASSENGERS ARE NOT ALLOWED BEYOND THIS POINT”. They galloped between the four funnels of the ship as if they owned the entire vessel. Even musical notes could not enjoy full liberty, though, as they eventually were swallowed by the salty waves below.

Brian paused to enjoy the sight around him. A girl with a straw hat ran by, chasing a leather ball. A father lifted his giggling infant son upon his shoulders. A young couple shared a hurried kiss. How long could pure joy last? Paws trotted across the floorboards of the deck, occasionally halting by an iron post or mast. Brian’s face lit up at the sight of the dogs and he reached out his hand for a setter, whistling an affable greeting to the canine. All he received was an austere look from the crew member that was holding the dog’s line and quickly yanked the pet past the guitarist. “No wonder they call this the poop deck. We’re getting the first class dumps,” John commented, partly joking, partly serious in his annoyance. It was indeed humiliating; all they received from the aristocracy were their pets’ feces. Brian, gazing after the animals with a sigh, still couldn’t help but correct him. “Actually, “poop” refers to the Latin term for “stern” and—” An uninterested glare from John forced him to cease his speech.

—

Meanwhile, another young man was screaming without uttering a single sound, knowing very well that no one would come to his rescue even if they could hear the distress call. There were not enough decks to flee to, not enough private parlours to hide in. Stares would always be following him, watching his every action, recording any hearsay that did so much as mention his tiny toe. No gossip concerning Roger Meddows Taylor was permitted to reach their social circle, for the entire family’s sake rested upon the man’s shoulders and the merest scandalous rumour could be sufficient to ruin his reputation. It was a tough task, especially since the subject in question refused to be tamed. Hair reaching over the shoulders was one thing, sheer disobedience another.

Lunch, however, he dutifully attended — albeit with a tinge of protest, visible in the way his blonde locks hung freely without the usual constraint of a ribbon. Enough pride and civility remained for Roger to escort his fiancée towards the table in the Verandah Cafe. Arm in arm, the pair almost radiated an air of mutual respect, if not amity. Almost, for even a blind man could see how they avoided eye contact.

The act, thankfully, did not have to be maintained for the entirety of the meal, for there were several chairs between the two. Roger could only hope that would ensure minimal interaction, but it instantly proved to be a fruitless prayer: altogether, there were eight occupied seats surrounding the small tables, meaning he was bound to be involved in a conversation with someone. Let it not be Margaret, nor her parents. Let it not be his father. Clare would be preferable, but she was settled at the far end and thus an improbable collocutor. Two men remained, both of whom Roger had never met let alone spoken to. One of them had taken the chair on his left. A titleless chap about his age and height, though that was where the physical similarities ended— raven-black hair rested upon proud shoulders, and darker eyebrows wore a sharp contrast to kind, shimmering eyes. According to Mr Taylor, the eccentric fellow had inherited a large sum of money from a distant relative, labelling him as new money, which left behind a rather stigmatized trail amongst the aristocracy. Ironically, Roger instantly liked him. The man arrived shortly after the rest did, dressed in a scarlet waistcoat, and after reluctantly introducing himself with his full name, insisted that everyone would call him Freddie.

The second unfamiliar face at the table was pompous and graced with a thick imperial moustache — it belonged to none other than Bruce Ismay, director of the White Star Line. Naturally, he discussed the Titanic as if he designed and built the entire vessel with his bare hands, hubris dripping from every syllable he uttered. Roger didn’t mind him all that much. If he were standing in the man’s shoes, partly responsible for the creation of such a colossal ship, he’d undoubtedly brag about it too.

“Needless to say, I included several recreational areas to ensure maximum comfort,” Ismay assured with a smile, taking a quick sip from his lager. “The gymnasium, for example, is equipped with the latest athletic machinery.” Some were genuinely impressed and nodded, turning to the person next to them to exchange opinions. Unfortunately, Mr Taylor, who sat at the opposite side of the table, raised a glass at his son. “That sounds rather promising, Roger. You can finally grow muscles on yourself.” A witty reply would have fled Roger’s lips at that very moment if it hadn’t been for the fork with scrambled egg that had just entered his mouth. Instead, he faked a smirk while chewing, only mentally scolding his father. The words had not been intended to convey a mocking undertone, and yet they did. It was no secret within the family that the patriarch endeavoured to make an ideal gentleman out of his eldest, and he believed the first step was a change in appearance. Thew. Broad shoulders. A short, professional haircut. That Roger, particularly during his younger years, was often mistaken for a girl did not foster the realization of his father’s narrow idea of masculinity.

Trying to erase the remark from his head, Roger slightly leaned forward and adjusted the dark blue double-breasted waistcoat he was wearing with a quick tug. Before anyone could interfere, he tossed a quick question upon the table— oil to fuel the director’s vanity a bit more. “Who was it that thought of the name “Titanic”?” Ismay instantly took the bait. “Why, I did myself!” the man exclaimed as if that had been obvious. “I wanted to convey sheer size and size means stability, luxury, and above all, strength.”

Freddie, who’d remained rather quiet, suddenly spoke up. He swallowed and pointed his fork in the direction of Ismay, trying to capture his full attention. “Do you know of Dr Freud, Bruce? His ideas about the male preoccupation with size might be of particular interest to you.” Roger nearly choked on his drink. Laughter erupted from his lungs like a cloud of breath suppressed for too long. The sudden burst was only amplified by the complete silence among the other participants of the lunch. He didn’t notice their stares until after he’d properly wiped the drops of orange juice off his mouth with a napkin. Everyone but Ismay himself seemed to know what Freddie’s comment had meant, but none dared to discuss it aloud. Too vulgar for formal conversation. Roger, however, couldn’t let the brilliant remark be extinguished. “I think so too. God knows how much a legendary ship such as Titanic could compensate.” He exchanged a knowing look with his neighbour, who had trouble subduing a laugh himself. Clare giggled against her napkin. The other passengers did not share the amusement. Mr James and Mrs Ethel Astor pretended to be suddenly very interested in their leek soup. Margaret’s cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. Mr Taylor’s grip around his crystal glass was so tight one might expect the thing to burst into a thousand shards. Bruce Ismay was, comically enough, very confused. “I have not heard of him. Is this Freud person some sort of businessman?” he asked with a frown, but all he received was a quiet continuation of the meal.

The remainder of the day was no more liberating than the lunch had been. Roger tried to cling onto the solitude of his quarters, eternally grateful for the grand piano he’d requested. The music brought some solace and peace someone could see to the room as the ocean drifting past in the square windows. Fingers hovered from key to key, extemporising melancholy and dramatic pieces. The composer’s eyes were shut so no sight would distract him from the enchanting notes and the dawning of the ship below his stool. Away from the present, miles departed from reality — until the door would open, and someone would enter, and the music would prove to be only temporary morphine.

Later on, the ship glided into the evening like a beacon upon the waves, swallowed by the water that had turned black in the pale moonlight. The slightly ominous ocean air flew past the umpteen circular windows. Passengers behind the indestructible outer bulkheads were fully focused on dinner, imbibing bliss and ignorance of the disaster that would occur in mere days.

One first-class passenger was spared the bliss and had trouble subduing his ever-present discomfort. Compared to the brief luncheon, the ten-course supper was even more likely to become a hotbed for gossip. Roger loathed the pretentious nature of the conversations that were held and the judging stares that were exchanged. Money this, riches that. Whether he’d already enjoyed a dip in the swimming pool on the middle deck. We’re in a gigantic swimming pool already, he thought, only it is salt water we're floating in. Taking another sip of his third (fourth?) glass of cognac, Roger stared deeply into the alcoholic liquid, and a sudden urge to drown in it came along. If only it were deep enough, his intoxicated mind wandered.

The only person who managed to make the meal somewhat durable was Freddie, who now and then shared amusing anecdotes with the entire table. After a while, however, topics shifted, and other people participated, and Roger increasingly craved to be somewhere else. Somewhere enjoyable; somewhere unrestricted. No matter how pressuring his wishes, they wouldn't be heard. There would always be the shadow of his last name, he realized. Always the chain around his ankle, no matter how many expensive trousers covered it. Gloomy ideas filled his thoughts through the booze that entered his body, and by the time the dessert was placed before him, Roger had turned into a slave to the glass.

“Apparently, all passengers from third class have to share two bathtubs. How horrendous! But then again, I assume that is what they're used to.” Margaret's voice managed to puncture his numb ears, where a pounding beep originated. Had she really spoken? Or had it only been his imagination, aided by the alcohol? Either way, a reply lay on the tip of his sharp tongue. “ — and 'cos that's what they're used to they don't deserve any better?”

His fiancée was visibly surprised that he dared to share his thoughts and hesitatingly adjusted her pearl earring with a gloved hand. “They’re an entirely different brand of people, Roger. You cannot simply provide them with luxury. Give them a finger and they will take the entire hand!” Margaret reminded. Though his view be blurred, he noticed that a few people nodded in unison, and it made him sick to the stomach. Louder than intended, Roger disrupted the quiet atmosphere in the dining hall, even overshadowing “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”, which the band near the entrance was obediently performing. “At least they are not forced to listen to your gibberish all the time. I'd certainly consider that a luxury.” “Roger! Apologize at once!” Mr Taylor snapped back, lowering his cutlery on the table in pure shock. Margaret's father seemed equally perplexed and added more salt to the wound. “Has he always acted like such a child, Mr Taylor? I can hardly take the boy serious.” Roger's blood was boiling and his fists were clenched to the point where his skin around his knuckles turned white. “I'm sitting at the very same table as you, Mr Astor. I can hear every word you say, no matter how insulting.” “And yet you fail to realize how insulting and hurtful your own comment was toward my daughter!” “On the contrary!” It was almost a shout, albeit a slurred one. “I meant for it t’ be insulting.” The patriarch of the Taylor family made one final attempt to resolve the commotion without drawing too much attention to their table and whispered in a hiss: “Roger Meddows Taylor, start acting like the adult you are. Can't you see you're making a scene?” A chair was shoved backwards. Roger’s unstable legs rose, making him totter slightly. A dangerous combination of drunkenness and fury could be seen in his half-open eyes. When he spoke, the words of pardon were clearly directed at Freddie, and Freddie only. “Forgive me, I'm suffocating here,” he spat out, tossing his napkin in the untouched Waldorf pudding on his plate, and hurried out of the dining saloon in an as linear manner as his feet could manage. Shouts from behind him could not pierce through his dulled senses— they were but voices hollering in the distance, seeking to drag him right back to his chair. When Roger finally reached the exit - a beautifully decorated glass door of which the ornaments seemed to dance before his eyes - a waiter happened to pass by with a wine bottle atop his tray. Without hesitation, Roger grabbed the bottle by the neck and dragged it along as he made his way out; a winner’s trophy? Or a consolation prize?

#sailacross #titanic fic #queen fanfic #maylor #my fics

[uptightcitizensbrigade]

Annie Clark is not where she’s supposed to be. At the last minute, the artist known as St. Vincent decided that instead of trekking to a country store as planned, she wanted to stick closer to her studio in the hills of Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon. When I arrive at our new meeting spot, breathless from a steep climb, the first thing I notice is that neither of us is dressed appropriately for a rendezvous in the domesticated wilderness. Of course, in Clark’s case, this means looking pretty damn cool, in a sky-blue duster, gray sweatshirt, and leopard-print shorts, her trademark curly dark hair (which took a silvery lavender turn last album cycle) pin-straight and tucked under a Duran Duran cap. We make our way to a picnic table in the middle of a hiking trail that apparently enjoys more use as a bird lavatory. “Is this OK?” she asks, straddling the bench and setting down her mug of Yogi tea. It is. Anything to stop moving vertically.

“Up,” however, is a fitting direction for the 34-year-old Clark. Over the past decade, she has evolved from a clever multi-instrumentalist to critical darling to indie icon—her last record, 2014’s St. Vincent, took home the Grammy for Best Alternative Album. She’s a road warrior (with the bed bug stories to prove it), having toured for much of her life, beginning as a teenager when she was the tour manager for her uncle’s jazz duo, Tuck & Patti. And her latest album, MASSEDUCTION, is most definitely a career summit. It’s her Lemonade, her OK Computer—whatever reference conveys the urgency with which it demands to be listened to when it drops on October 13. “This one’s better,” she says of her fifth solo effort, nodding. “I was focused on writing the best songs I’d ever written.”

That goal comes at a cost, or so Clark’s body language seems to say on this late-August evening. She stifles a yawn, and cradles her tea. For the last couple of months, she’s been celibate and sober. Some of the monasticism she favors during recording stuck: An illness last March prompted her to quit alcohol altogether. “I loved my white wine,” she says. “But I just can’t stand the smell anymore.”

She is also insanely busy, still recuperating from yesterday’s flight home from Australia for press, not to mention the whirlwind trip to Tokyo that preceded it, where she performed at Summer Sonic (and shot this cover). And while it’s been three and a half years since she released an album, Clark’s been working on it all the while. “I’ve just been collecting things, bowerbird-style, and making elaborate plumage,” she says. Meanwhile, she’s been flexing her creative muscles: A week ago, Lionsgate announced that the Dallas native would be helming its female-led adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray. (Clark made her directorial debut earlier this year with a short called “The Birthday Party” for the female-driven horror anthology XX.)

She’s also spent a good part of the last year getting over her breakup from 25-year-old British supermodel and actress Cara Delevingne. The pair dated for 18 months, thrusting Clark into a tabloid existence she’d never known before. You won’t find her in any formal pictures from (the old) Taylor Swift’s last Fourth of July bonanza in 2016, but she and her soon-to-be ex were captured by paparazzi in a private embrace. “It was really bizarre,” she says. “No joke, I’ve been in high-speed chases in London with at least five cars and six motorcycles following me and Cara. You’re going to kill someone, and for what? A photo of a sweet girl?”

The last thing she wants to talk about is how much of this album was informed by that relationship. She’s baffled by such inquiries—she only just recently admitted that 2011’s Strange Mercy was partly about her father being sent to prison for investment fraud. “I never think, ‘If I only knew who Kate Bush was singing about in “Running Up That Hill,” I could enjoy the song,’” she says, shooing a mosquito off my shirt. “I do not wonder who or what songs are about. And the Texan in me is like, ‘It’s none of your goddamned business.’” I ask whether she cleared the disclosure of her dad’s incarceration with him beforehand. “Is it OK with me that he’s in prison?” she responds dryly, but quickly adds, “I’ve only ever spoken highly of my father.”

Clark is a vivid storyteller whose knack for relating tales of dirty policemen or down-on-their-luck friends would make her the most popular guest at a dinner party. On MASSEDUCTION’s first single, “New York,” which debuted last June, she sings along to a plangent piano about “the only motherfucker in the city who can handle me.” While the song’s grief over lost heroes could easily apply to David Bowie or Prince, as Clark has suggested, it’s the identity of the “motherfucker” that piqued curiosity. “I totally understand it, I do,” she says, and frowns thoughtfully. “But the point is for the song to mean whatever it means to somebody else. Some people have a real hang-up about being misunderstood. I don’t care.” She stops to clarify this point: “I would be concerned if someone was like, ‘Wow, she seems like a Holocaust denier.’ But racism, sexism, or homophobia aside? I’m happy to be misunderstood.”

In the past, Clark’s music was more often respected than adored, like Love This Giant, her 2012 album with Talking Heads savant David Byrne. She is a masterful guitarist, a performance artist unafraid of experimentation. Artificial sounds, brass sections, unhurried choruses? All play a part in her eclectic repertoire, and she rarely stays monogamous to any one genre or rhythm.

“A lot of people are skilled at bending notes, but I think she actually bends the parameters of what guitar is,” says longtime friend Carrie Brownstein, whose prowess on the same instrument helped usher Sleater-Kinney to stardom. “She doesn’t approach it in a traditionally worshipful way. While she’s playing guitar, she seems to be destroying the very concept of it, which I think is very exciting.”

The opening track of her last album famously depicted Clark running naked from a rattlesnake. MASSEDUCTION (pronounced “mass seduction” on the title track) somehow finds her even more exposed. Clark says “New York” was the first time she ever wrote something and thought, “This could be somebody’s favorite song.” The same could be said of many tracks on the album, which, taken as a whole, sounds like Clark violating her own sense of privacy in order to grant access to her vulnerability. “I’m not eschewing any of the work I’ve done in the past,” says Clark. “But I was less concerned [here] about doing a lot of musical tricks that to me are intellectually interesting. The point of the record was to go, like, mainline to the heart.”

For this, Clark enlisted co-producer Jack Antonoff. Through his work with Lorde and Taylor Swift, as well as his own band Bleachers, Antonoff has developed a reputation for channeling ideas and emotions into their most approximate, frequently synth-driven expressions. “Jack changed my life for the better,” says Clark. “He makes you feel like anything is possible. We were merciless, trying to push all these songs past the finish line to accept the gold medal.”

None of which is to suggest that Clark has sacrificed any virtuosity or ambition. Several of the best songs break off into their own compelling codas. “How could anybody have you and lose you and not lose their mind, too?” moans Clark on “Los Ageless,” backed by an aggressive beat that would not be out of place at an adults-only club, before dissolving, like a film melt, into a series of bleary synths and barely audible whispers.

The theme of Clark’s last record was “near-future cult leader.” Here, having traded in those wild lavender-platinum curls for an austere black bob, “It’s dominatrix at the mental institution,” she says. “I knew I needed to write about power—the fiction of power and the power of fiction.” The concept is at its most powerful on the more adrenalized songs, like “Pills,” whose opening lines function like a Valley of the Dolls reboot: “Pills to wake/ Pills to sleep/ Pills, pills, pills every day of the week.” The words are delivered by Delevingne in a demented, cheerfully vacant chant.

“You mean Kid Monkey, obscure DJ,” says Clark, gamely referencing her ex’s pseudonym. “It needed to be a posh British voice. I was like, ‘Cara, wake up. I need you to sing on this song.’ And she’s kind of grumpy. And I’m like, ‘Please. It sounds so good. One more time.’” That song, too, starts with a blinking alertness but finishes drowsily, like Pink Floyd at the planetarium. Clark says the inspiration came to her after popping a sleeping pill on tour, and speaks to larger issues of opioid addiction that have affected people she cares about.

But the song that’s most likely to be picked over lyrically, for obvious reasons, is “Young Lover.” It’s set in Paris, where gossip rags once reported that Delevingne, proposed to Clark. The relationship described in the song suffers as a result of the titular subject’s hard-partying ways. “Did I have experiences that emotionally resonated in the way they do for that character? Abso-fucking-lutely,” says Clark, who’s also been linked briefly to Kristen Stewart. “But did that exact scenario happen? No!” She makes a dismissive face.

Clark didn’t grow up feasting on the sordid details of celebrity coupledom, though she admits to a fascination with Kate Moss, Shalom Harlow, and the early-’90s supermodel set. (The musician has recently done some modeling herself as one of the new faces of Tiffany & Co.) Her parents divorced young, and Clark lived with her social worker mother and two older sisters. “I was free to be a wild card, because the other roles were spoken for,” she says. A breeze kicks up and she rubs her legs as they prickle with goosebumps.

A tiny part of her early musical education includes a crate of CDs that fell off a truck in front of their house. “It was good taste for someone in the suburbs of Dallas,” she says, citing Nine Inch Nails and Pet Shop Boys. Clark started playing guitar at 12, and was encouraged by her maternal uncle, who hired her as a tour manager for his jazz duo when she was a teenager.

Eventually, her family swelled to include eight siblings, with whom she is close. A younger brother now works as her assistant. “We grew up hearing my dad talk business on the phone, and it was ‘motherfucker’ this and ‘fucking cocksucker’ that,” she says, laughing. In part, this informed her curse word of choice on “New York.” “If people don’t curse at all, I always think they’re hiding something,” she says.

The next day, Clark is filming a video for MASSEDUCTION’s as-yet-unannounced second single at a soundstage in Hollywood. She spends more time on the West Coast now that she has built a studio here, but still keeps properties in New York and Texas. She hesitates to use the word bicoastal, which feels “kind of douchey,” she says.

The video set changes from a Pepto-Bismol pink beauty salon, where the pedicure tubs are filled with green slime, to a yoga studio. Clark is dressed in a cheetah-print leotard with an open-face hood. She’s been bending over for 15 minutes straight in order for director Willo Perron to get a dolly shot of her face hanging between her legs. I marvel at her stamina. “Are you really asking me how I’m good at bending over?” she says, wryly. She rests between takes, curling up on the yoga mat like a cat in a sunbeam.

Clark wasn’t involved with the concept for the video. Back in Laurel Canyon, she admitted to being preoccupied with Dorian Gray, working with Elle screenwriter David Birke and rereading the book for the first time since high school. “I jumped at the chance to explore themes of transgression, narcissism, youth, beauty, queerness, but through a female protagonist,” says Clark, who’s currently considering a cast for the project. She’s new to this milieu, but credits Tuck & Patti with teaching her the rigors of knowing her shit. “They really were the coach in Rocky,” she says of her uncle’s duo. “I learned how to be professional. It’s not as if I need to be a camera expert in order to direct something, but you have to have the respect of the crew. This is not a vanity project. This is something I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Melanie Lynskey, who starred in Clark’s XX short, was pleasantly surprised by the musician’s command of the set. “It was like working with someone who had been doing it a very long time,” she says. “She’s so smart and she had such a clear idea of what she wanted, but gave me all the room in the world to come up with ideas and collaborate.”

In the meantime, Clark is also preparing for this fall’s Fear the Future Tour. As we slowly make our way down the hill, clutching at branches to steady ourselves, she says there won’t be as much postmodern dancing this time around. “The record is full of sorrow, but the visual aspect of it is really absurd,” she says. “I take the piss out of myself. The last tour I sat atop a pink throne, looking very imperious.” She kindly helps me down the last step. “This one will let people see that I have a sense of humor.”

#Annie Clark #St Vincent #Fear the Future #MASSEDUCTION #interview

[thereviewsarein]

The evolution of The Band Perry continues with the release of their new five-track EP, COORDINATES.

The sibling trio has once again moved forward with their music, trying new things, exploring new opportunities, and taking chances in an effort to satisfy themselves as artists. It’s something that we admire in musicians, and have talked about before when it comes to The Band Perry.

It’s also risky, as we’ve talked about when it comes to The Band Perry.

Related: Creative Evolution, The Band Perry Makes The Move To Pop

The CMA, ACM, CMT, and Grammy award-winning band cut their teeth in country. Releasing hits like If I Die Young, Better Dig Two, and their outstanding cover of Glen Campbell’s Gentle On My Mind, they earned praise from critics and fans alike. But, times change and so do tastes and goals. And when Kimberly, Reid, and Neil shifted to a pop sound and format, folks had to decide whether they were going to support them, walk away, or in some cases, throw a lot of shade.

On COORDINATES, The Band Perry continues to move away from country music with an electro-pop offering, executive-produced by legend, Rick Rubin.

To say that this isn’t country is an understatement (but plenty of people are going to point it out online partly because publications like Rolling Stone still refer to them as “Country trio The Band Perry”), it’s even a step removed from Comeback Kid and Stay In The Dark. What it is though is a fun listen.

Related: My Bad Imagination Toronto Pop-Up Show

Listeners who allow themselves to press play and give these five songs a chance to be enjoyed for what they are, won’t be disappointed. This is an EP that features Kimberly Perry’s voice in all of the ways we’ve loved it before. It’s an album that still features well-written lyrics that don’t get washed away by the production.

At the top of the EP, SEVEN SECONDS has a heavy beat and an electro-pop sound. It’s a track that’s had us bouncing in our chairs and playing on repeat. In the middle, DEAR DEPARTED could probably sound like a country song if you stripped it all down and played it with an acoustic guitar. And at the end of the EP, MARFA PRADA is a full-blown electronic bash with thick beats, lyrics that build from whispers to exclamations, and slick production.

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The Band Perry put a target on their own backs when they moved from country to pop. The saving country music crowd will have their sights set on them (and Taylor Swift and other crossover artists like Sam Hunt and FGL) no matter how much time passes. But we don’t care. And it seems like they don’t ever.

They shouldn’t.

They can’t.

The Band Perry, like all artists in all genres, need to be able to follow their passions. And if this album is electronic and the next album is bubble gum pop, and the one after that is a return to their country roots, so be it.

Today we’re jamming to the five songs that The Band Perry put together for COORDINATES, and that’s all that matters.

The Band Perry, COORDINATES Tracklist

1. SEVEN SECONDS 2. NOSTALGIA 3. DEAR DEPARTED 4. RUN AWAY 5. MARFA PRADA

The Band Perry, COORDINATES EP Review The evolution of The Band Perry continues with the release of their new five-track EP, COORDINATES…

#pop #The Band Perry