#the live harmonies are so much clearer?? than the recorded ones???

[chaotic-tired-bastard]

Doing work that I really need to do <<<<<<<< Rewatching live Starlight Star-Shine recordings

#I can't help it I love it #the live harmonies are so much clearer?? than the recorded ones??? #I love it a 'normal' amount #now you must watch it /j #screams from the pit #Steam Powered Giraffe #SPG #I also really love this design for Rabbit! It looks so good on her! #Youtube

[micahtranslate]

Chainsaw Man Starter Rope Cast Interview: Shougo Sakata

How did you feel when you were cast as Aki?

I was half happy and half in disbelief. In my audition tape, I tried not to overact, and I made it to the studio audition. I acted very naturally there, and I felt like the face-to-face audition also went well, so I had my hopes up a little (laughs). There was a bit of time between the audition and when the results came out where I had started to give up, but then I received the response that I passed the audition. The best way to say it is, I was really surprised, but I'm going to do my best to adapt the manga I love into an anime.

What's your impression of Aki; what about him appeals to you?

My impression of Aki is that he's "a normal person." He can deal with all types of people evenly. Aki also wants revenge against a specific devil, but I like that Himeno-senpai provided a space for him to grow up properly. Aki is often said to be kind. He can't accept the misfortune that befell his family, so he can't accept the absurd things that happen to the people around him, so he tries to eliminate the cause. I think that looks like kindness to others. When he beats up Denji, whose very existence an absurdity, I think that was Aki's form of kindness. He believed that it would be better for Denji to give up than for him to lose his life.

How did you create Aki's voice?

Before recording the second episode, where he first appears, I worked really hard to figure out my acting approach, but director Nakayama said, "I want you to act the way the character would naturally and realistically talk. Dial back your acting a little bit." I took that advice, and from there I kept repeating through a process of trial and error, until one day the director said, "Your voice is like Aki's, so you don't need to perform too much." I remember I was very happy when he said that. After that, I was able to loosen up and act naturally.

What details do you focus on when you're acting?

Aki's speech doesn't include any superfluous details, and there are a lot of things that don't require emotion. What I'm conscious of is thinking naturally about "Who am I communicating this information to?" and acting naturally, like I'm drawing from how I normally talk. Lately, it's getting clearer and clearer where Aki is looking, who he is talking to, and what he is trying to convey. But I think I can still get closer to Aki, so I want to focus more!

What's the atmosphere like when you're recording?

The cast members are just like their characters (laughs). Fairouz-san starts conversations, Toya-kun suddenly loses focus, and Kusunoki-san speaks kindly to Toya-kun…Recording always progresses harmoniously, it's a great atmosphere. In particular, Toya-kun is really in sync with Denji, and I love it. No matter what anyone says, Toya-kun's Denji improvisations are one of the highlights. Fairouz-san's energetic, bright and funny energy is also the best, and Makima, played by Kusunoki-san, feels very fitting when you hear her voice. I think this is a result of Kusunoki's love for Makima.

What are Aki's highlights in the early part of the anime?

The way Aki takes out the cigarette is drawn in a really cool way, so please pay attention to it. I only saw it in the rehearsal footage, but the sequence is him tapping the box, taking out the cigarette, lighting the lighter with the hand still holding the box, and smoking it. I thought, "Are you going to draw that many details in the anime?" I was really excited and beyond surprised And… as for Aki, I also love his interactions with Himeno-senpai. Their intimate-feeling conversations are nice. The performance that I personally focused on was the scene where Aki's "ball" is kicked by Denji (lol). I studied vocal expression a lot, so please listen carefully!

Finally, do you have a message for the fans?

My honest thoughts are, I've been given a very important role, and I will play Aki in every episode to live up to the expectations of the fans. I will do my best to live up to the Aki Hayakawa that everyone imagines. I'll keep recording, so I would be happy if you could attend!

Translation notes:

It was hard to translate what the director said in a way that preserves the original meaning, a direct translation sounds a bit like it is an insult or a criticism. What Nakayama was saying was basically that Sakata's natural voice was already great for the role. The literal quote is "坂田くんは声帯がアキだから、「こう演じよう」としなくていい", so a more direct translation would be "Sakata-kun, because your voice is already Aki's, you don't need to perform like this." but that isn't the clearest. I went for more of a localization than a direct/exact translation to be clearer.

When Sakata says "肩の力を抜いて演じられるようになったのはそこからですね," a direct translation would be "I was able to act with my shoulders relaxed," meaning he was able to loosen up and act more naturally, but a direct translation doesn't convey that as well.

Translated "どんどん明確" as clearer and clearer, but a more literal translation would be "steadily becoming clearer," or "increasingly clearer."

Sakata says "中でも戸谷くんの演じるデンジはシンクロ率がとても高くて", which literally translates into saying that Toya and Denji have a "high synchronization rate," kind of using the language of mecha anime (how the pilot is synchronized with the mecha), but to be more clear I just translated it as "Toya-kun is really in sync with Denji"

"デンジな戸谷くん" would literally translate to Denji-like Toya-kun (using Denji's name as a na-adjective), but since the main point of the sentence was to highlight Toya's improv skills, I didn't translate it in that literal sense.

He literally says アキの「ボール」, so this feels like the best way to translate it.

#ill add pics laterr #chainsaw man #aki hayakawa #shougo sakata #shogo sakata #tv animation chainsaw man official start guide #chainsaw man starter rope

[nuntia]

Nihil My Dear

Year Zero Ghouls & young Papa Nihil

Preface: Nights following the Hunter's Moon are always quieter. Everyone gets a short break from their tasks to dedicate themselves to leisure. Including the Ghouls, who gather in the practice room to sing. And Nihil joined them!

warnings: a angst mention of rituals of return in the final notes

[SECRETS FROM THE CLERGY]

After the mental confusion and sensorial and existential small adaptation, Ghouls are involuntarily curious when they are summoned to Earth. They are almost like children fascinated with the world around them.

Ghouls summoned to serve Project Ghost especially are drawn to the musical instruments and harmonies they hear, whatever it may be: the singing of birds, the whistling of a Sibling of Sin busy with tasks, the melodies of lullabies sung to the children of the ministry. Everything magically attracts them.

Over time, they acquire more and more skills in music. Some of them even bet on creating something original, just theirs; others have fun only by singing the hits of the moment.

Papa Nihil's Ghouls never hid the fun they felt when enveloped in music. They let everyone know.

----

The waning moon was already high - not so high that you had to bend your neck backwards to see it, but high enough to know it was very close to the mandatory curfew - and the ghouls were still enjoying the record marathon on the vinyl player that had started shortly after lunch.

The practice room was flooded with various types of music, some more stirring and lively for frantic dance steps, others quiet being a reflection of the calmness of enjoying the snack ordered from the kitchen and the din of conversations about trivialities.

At that moment, however, what could be heard most was a voice much clearer than the one coming from the vinyl. A soft, low voice that sang most of the verses amusingly, being accompanied at times by three more singular ones on a few others and frantic thumps on the wooden floor.

Papa Nihil, who was finally sneaking, with tired features, out of the office and all the paper work assigned to him to take a stroll around the Abbey, could not help but feel curious about the situation.

It was always fun to be in the company of his Ghouls.

He walked up to the double wooden door with a smile on his face, enjoying Agarat's familiar voice and harmonies of Citrus and Icarus a little more before showing himself.

He recognised immediately that what he was playing was from the album of "The Beatles", by the British band with the same name which was making immense success worldwide.

He opened the door slowly.

"Take a cha-cha-chance! I would like you to dance~" sang Agarat, with his back to the door, as he danced in the company of all the others, in a set of small jumps, hip and shoulder movements (and the long tails) to the rhythm of the music similar to those people in the rock bars where they played on tours.

The energy was contagious. Seeing those creatures in their natural form (without giving up the use of the mask, as the law said) so much fun, so abstracted in the vibe that they did not even notice their entrance, made a huge amount of adrenaline rush through Nihil's veins and he closed the door behind him to join them.

The excitement, however, made the movement he made to close the door too loud. Soon wide, glowing eyes focused very intently and seriously in his direction. For a brief second.

"What a fright, Boss!" said Icarus with his right hand on his chest, in place of his heart. "For a moment I thought it was Sister Imperator..."

The others said nothing, but from the sighs of relief, he realised they all shared the same idea.

"Sorry, my Ghouls." apologised Nihil, walking over to them. "I didn't mean to startle you. Y'all seemed so entertained that I wanted to join you, but without disturbing you. It turned out to be a total failure, I see."

Citrus was the first to soften his gaze entirely, narrowing them in a smiling curve.

"That being the case, Papa, show us what a dance machine you are!" said the Air Ghoul as the next song began.

Nihil joined them in the centre of the room, smiling as he began to follow the first steps, taken by Icarus.

Agarat's voice was heard again with more energy than before as he pulled Rime closer to them. The Earth Ghoul looked tense, and Nihil could not help but notice the way Agarat's quiet, almost fatherly attention, holding his hand and exchanging glances with him, made that tension (or part of it) disperse.

The Ghoul began to dance timidly minutes later, until he began to get more involved and, on the last verse, joined his voice to that of Agarat, Nihil and the others.

"Hey, Rime, you should let me hear your beautiful voice more often, my dear Ghoul." said Nihil between heavy breathing, holding out a hand to the Ghoul, who timidly and reluctantly took it.

"Nihil, my love~ Don't forget me" sang the Ghoul, looking away from the human's immediately after.

There was silence that followed from the side of the record being over and the lack of reaction from all of them, taken aback by the speech of Rime, the shy and rigid rule-abiding Ghoul.

Agarat's eyes lit up a little as he slowly and quietly approached the two, the tension suddenly felt in the air. But how quickly it appeared, how quickly it was gone.

Nihil's laugh broke the silence of the room. He squeezed the Ghoul's hand, pulled it to himself and kissed the back of the grey hand.

"Never! From all of you, I will never forget!"

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

It was the summer of 1970, times when Sister Imperator was almost back from a trip to Italy, we know now from official documents.

As a young man, His Majesty Papa Emeritus had more freedom from the rules (got into trouble for that too) and spent a lot of time in the presence of hellish creatures, just because he enjoyed their company. Today we know him as a grumpy old man ghost, but I suppose this is due to age.

He spent a lot of time with his ghouls, considering them even friends. The return process and rituals were difficult for him, there are even reports that he killed one of them unintentionally for the feeling of pain and guilt, which only increased after that.

It is forbidden to listen to The Beatles in the Abbey since then. (Fundamental Rights and Duties, Article 23, 5th, 16th November 1976)

Of course, earphones came to save many people years later.

I will bring you more information soon.

May the Lord Below guide you into the night,

Nuntia

#nuntia's bat echo #band ghost #ghost band #ghost #ghost bc #ghost ghouls #ghost the band #fire ghoul #nameless ghoul #nameless ghouls #air ghoul #water ghoul #earth ghoul #citrus ghoul #agarat ghoul #icarus ghoul #rime ghoul #young papa nihil #papa emeritus nihil #papa nihil #year zero ghouls #year zero #nihil emeritus #young nihil #sister imperator #ghost headcanons

[upalldown]

Julie Byrne - The Greater Wings

Third album and first for six years from the New York-based singer-songwriter

7/13

A while back, I was fortunate enough to finally get a chance to see Grouper live. It was during her tour for her last LP, Shade, and although it featured very few recognizable Grouper songs, it was beautiful and transportive all the same. Opening for her, though, was ambient composer Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. While he played one continuous, enveloping drone piece, a female singer sang — mostly wordlessly, I think — at his side. It was the perfect accompaniment to his eerie but placid piece, her voice weaving in and out and around it like water.

I didn’t know until after the show that it was Julie Byrne sitting on that stool, half-shrouded in moonlight-like stage lights and shadows. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t pinned her voice: a signature smoky smooth instrument, unfurling like a silken quilt. It made such perfect sense with Cantu-Ledesma’s work that I must have not been able to transpose the voice I had listened to so many times singing over the delicate acoustic watercolors of her sophomore LP, Not Even Happiness, into this synthetic and droning atmosphere. But it was a harmonious marriage, and, in retrospect, reified everything I already believed and loved about Byrne and her ability to relocate you elsewhere when she sings, whether that’s a glade beneath a cerulean blue sky, or a dark and humid wetland.

On her third record, The Greater Wings, she mostly returns to her own personal milieu — that of the ground and sky, of guitars and harp and strings. Coming after a long six year gap that saw Byrne engage with rigorous touring, collaborations with other artists, and the tragic loss of close collaborator Eric Littman in 2021 — who produced part of this record before his death with Byrne, who then enlisted Alex Somers to finish the project with her — The Greater Wings is a document of love, loss, connection, and the natural world. Although elements of grief and sadness are stitched into these songs, much of it was written before Littman’s passing, lending the album an eternal, cyclical feeling. As she said in a recent Guardian interview, there is so much longing and yearning in grief, in addition to the sadness. That longing is rife on The Greater Wings — a longing for learning, for renewal, for people, for life itself.

If you were a fan of Not Even Happiness, the odds are high you’ll find much to enjoy here. It might not be a huge reinvention, but it does cement Byrne’s status as a forerunner in her field. The opening title track is classic Byrne: thick guitar fingerpicking, pleasant strings, a healthy dose of reverb, and a gently ascending melody sung in her velveteen voice. It feels a little clearer and sharper than her past work, with finer and more robust production giving her songs more breathing room. The song finds Byrne in a moment of reflection, taking in everything around her and looking outward for more and for welcome, but there’s also an undeniable linkage to her sense of loss, as when she sings the lovely and heartbreaking “You’re always in the band / Forever underground / Name my grief to let it sing”. In creating music out of this emotional excavation and unnaturally hard times, Byrne has found a pinhole up to the sun.

Nature has been a massive inspiration to Byrne’s past work, and that’s unchanged here. Natural imagery is conjured again and again throughout these songs — in the lyrics and even in many of the song titles — imbuing the world around us with a sensitive, divine weight. “Moonless” gives us a sky with no moon above a dark ocean. “Summer Glass” shows us our singer at the water’s edge, contemplating the nature of desire, as the sun comes up on her own piece of the shoreline. The sun rises on her again on “Flare”, further deepening her solar and lunar symbolism. But in between all this imagery, which might feel slightly familiar to longtime fans, are enough variations on her usual mode to keep it feeling fresh.

After the first two rather expected cuts, “Moonless” gives us a slowly crawling piano ballad, a deeply moving ode to discovering love (“I found it there in the room with you / Whatever eternity is”) that feels as timeless as an old painting. Harp trickles in, covering her voice in dewy crystal drops. Closer “Death is the Diamond” is another piano ballad, and while it may not have quite the magnetic pull of “Moonless”, it does have one of the album’s most emotive, plaintive melodies, as she sings lines like “You make me feel like the prom queen I never was.” “Hope’s Return” (a rework of a collaborative piece she did with Cantu-Ledesma a couple years back) finds Byrne strumming with a slightly unusual vigor, almost like a The Man Who Died In His Boat-era Grouper song, and then the strings and percussion joins in, alongside ghostly backing vocals, and the song is ushered into a higher stratosphere than a Byrne song usually shoots for. 

Perhaps most unexpected is early single “Summer Glass”, which rests almost entirely upon Littman’s fluttering, arpeggiated synth. It’s not the first time Byrne has sung over electronic flourishes — for one, her last album ended with “I Live Now As a Singer”, which also hinged on a Littman-produced bed of synths — but it feels nearly out of character for her to be singing over such a flashy, nimble instrumental. And yet, it’s perfect: a memory piece about human connection and a moment of intimacy, supported with a blooming synth texture, harp, and heavenly strings and bass. It’s a short story unto itself, sung by an artist with a very firm grasp on her strengths.

Releasing a record after such an extended wait, and having that wait be suffused with grief and loss, is a tough gig. Many will rush to find hints of Byrne’s grieving process within the lyrics, even though it was largely written prior to it, and yet you can’t really outrun it either. Even songs that are so much about joy and love and excitement and vitality become engraved with melancholy when released in the wake of something like that. But The Greater Wings, for all its inevitable connotations, is not a downer. It’s a beautiful testament to life and to the people we love and that keep us going, physically and spiritually. It’s also a testament to moving forward with grace and strength, and rediscovering that longing to live. As Byrne sings at the end of “Summer Glass”: “I want to be whole enough to risk again.” It sounds like she’s made it there, or like she’s at least firmly toeing the warm waters of that renewal. Like she’s ready.

#julie byrne #the greater wings #music #Youtube

[sevendeadlymorons]

So I see your requests are open~♡? Then I have a request. Officially my second request ever! So do bear with me here~♡ HC with the brothers (or only a few, Idc who, it's up to you) with an MC who plays the Harp? If ya don't wanna do this or ya already have done that it's fine. I ain't gonna make write it, just a small request. Have a good day, you lovely human being~♡

Hey! I’ll gladly do this for you~

I haven’t done MC playing any instruments yet so I think it’ll be fun to write. Thanks for the request, you have a great day too! :D

Demon Boys Reaction to MC Who Plays the Harp

—————————————————

Lucifer

Was sitting in his study when he heard a faint noise coming from somewhere in the house

Gets up to find out where the noise is coming from and traces it back to the music room

When he comes closer, he’s greeted with a familiar sound that he hasn’t heard since he lived up in the Celestial Realm

Doesn’t want to disturb the person playing it so creeps round the corner and looks in to see who is currently playing the beautiful song

When he sees its MC, he feels his heart skip a beat and a smile spreads across his lips

The way their fingers carefully pluck each string and smoothly run across the instrument in pure harmony relaxes him and makes him feel a sort of inner peace

Steps inside the room and leans on the wall, smiling as the music continues

The way they smile wholeheartedly as they play the harp makes his heart melt and a faint blush covers his cheeks

As the song comes to a finish, Lucifer gives them a light clap and starts walking towards them, kissing their cheek gently as their face turns bright red from embarrassment

“You should play for me again sometime. That was music to my ears, my dear”

Mammon

Counting his money in his room when he heard a silent rhythm coming from down the hall

Can’t concentrate with that music playing so gets up to tell whoever’s playing it to turn it off

Was about to start yellin at the person when he suddenly turns the corner and sees MC sat on a stool playing one of the largest instruments he has ever seen in his entire life

Quickly clasps his hands over his mouth and hides around the corner

He couldn’t believe they were playing THAT

The sound of the harp filled the house and he suddenly felt... peaceful

He lets himself become absorbed in the music and he couldn’t help but tap his foot along to the rhythm

When the song finishes, he comes barging into the room asking when they learnt to play like that

When he sees them cover their face in embarrassment, his voice goes soft and he begins to tell them how much he enjoyed it, his face burning red

“Hey, if you ever wanna play another song, I wouldn’t mind listenin’ next time..”

Levi

On his way to get some extra snacks from the kitchen for his anime marathon when he hears a familiar sound coming from the music room

Presumed it was just Lucifer playing his records again, but when he walked past and sees MC sat facing a massive instrument, playing it beautifully, he couldn’t help but gawk and stare at how well they were playing it

Face is so so red

Peeks round the corner of the door way to listen more

Reminds him of his time in the Celestial Realm

Thinks it sounds incredible and he’s doing that little “WOOOOAAAHHH” sound in his head over and over again

He finds peace in the music they were playing and starts to zone out, imagining them playing the harp for him

Suddenly stumbles over and knocks over a shelf full of records, the music stopping abruptly

Both just stare at eachother in embarrassment of being caught

Levi eventually walks over sheepishly and apologises, also telling them how much he liked it

“Can you play some of my favourite anime openings? Please!”

Satan

Heard it all the way from the library where he was relaxing with a book in hand

Listens to the music for a few seconds, enjoying the sound of it, before getting up to go investigate who is playing

His heart flutters when the music becomes clearer and there sits MC, playing non other than a harp, filling the room around them with a soothing aurora

He closes his eyes and smiles deeply, listening to the sound fill his ears

Sits down on the floor near the door way and continues to read his book to the melodic sound they were gracefully playing

Reminds him of when he used to sit with Lucifer as his records played for hours on end when he was younger

Feels slightly disappointed when the music stops but proceeds to get up and enter the room, walking behind them and wrapping his arms around their waist, holding them tightly

Can feel the heat of their cheeks as they turn embarrassed of the thought of him listening to them

He tells them how much he enjoyed the sound of it and how impressive it is they can play so brilliantly with ease

Asks them questions on how long they’ve been playing and what their favourite thing to play on it is

“Could you keep playing? I’d like to read my book whilst you play for me”

Asmo

Was sitting in his room, half way through re-painting his nails when he heard a song coming from what he presumed to be the music room

Hummed along to it for a little while whilst he finished off his nails

Made him feel oddly in peace and very relaxed listening to it so got up to go find the performer of the sound

As he made his way downstairs, he continued to hum to the music and he had a slight spring in his step as well as a grin plastered across his lips

Turning the corner towards the music room, he stopped in his tracks when he saw the one playing the lovely song was MC

His heart beat a thousand miles per hour at the mere sound of their music. It was the most relaxing thing he’d ever heard

He found it hard to keep his composure and to not run up to them and tackle them in a proud hug

Instead, he continues to listen to the sweet rhythm of the music they were playing, taking in every note and how they play it so gracefully

When the music stops, he couldn’t contain himself anymore. He runs in squealing at the top of his lungs, tackling them to the ground, startling MC in the process

Tells them how amazing it was and how much they loved it, smiling and giggling the entire time

“Play it again! Please! I need to get it on record this time”

Beel

In the kitchen eating the contents of the fridge when he hears a soothing song play in the distance

Smiles whilst eating his food, listening intently to the music that filled him with peace and joy

Started to walk to where it was being played when he suddenly saw MC playing a massive instrument

He stood in the door way listening to the song play on, his mind in awe at the way they played so beautifully with so much grace

In this moment, he was more interested in them than food

He followed their fingers as they played each string so carefully, smiling all through it like it was such a large joy in their life

Couldn’t help but hum along to the rhythm they played, feeling in touch with the music

Wanted to listen to it all day so when it stopped playing, he walked in and sat himself down on a chair right next to them and started telling them how much he would love it if they could play another

Loves the way their cheeks flushed red when he asked them that

“Could I sit here and eat while you play, maybe?”

Belphie

The noise woke him up from his sleep and after he couldn’t get back to sleep, he decided it was time to eat something

Went down the stairs and heard that noise again, but clearer now, so sleepily walked closer to where the sound was coming from

Walks by and immediately saw MC carefully playing a harp with such ease and harmony, he couldn’t help but smile at them

The music made him tired and he could feel himself getting drowsy

Leant against the wall with his eyes closed, listening to the song they were playing so gracefully

He felt relaxed for the first time in a very long time and wishes they could continue playing for him forever

Walks in the room mid song and slides himself snugly besides them on their stool, resting his head on their shoulder, burrowing his face into their neck

He urges them to finish what they were playing and they comply, continuing on the song they were playing before, a light blush spreading across their cheeks

He smiles into their neck as the soft music begins to put him to sleep

“Play another one. I want to sleep here while you play”

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me leviathan #obey me mammon #obey me lucifer #obey me mc #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie

[onesweetdreampodcast]

For fun, a micro episode! A reprise of RAM’s critical reception over time. Positive reviews referenced in the episode: Pitchfork “..Paul McCartney's Ram is a domestic-bliss album, one of the weirdest, earthiest, and most honest ever made. What 2012's ears can find is a rock icon inventing an approach to pop music that would eventually become someone else's indie pop.”

ALL MUSIC

“This made Ram an object of scorn and derision upon its release —and for years afterward in fact — but in retrospect it looks like nothing so much as the first indie pop album. Ram has a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of Paulholding the ram by the horns was taken. It's filled with songs that feel tossed off, filled with songs that are cheerfully, incessantly melodic; it turns the monumental symphonic sweep of Abbey Road into a cheeky slice of whimsy on the two-part suite "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.".All three of these are songs filled with good humor, and their foundation in old-time rock & roll makes it easy to overlook how inventive these productions are, ... These songs may not be self-styled major statements, but they are endearing and enduring, as is RAM itself, which seems like a more unique, exquisite pleasure with each passing year.”

LOUDER THAN WAR

“Cool is the most overrated component of rock roll. It blinds the fools and sends the insecure up grubby back alleys of music taste.  ...Maybe it’s a measure of the times but what people ragged on about Paul at the time was the good bloke/family man/simple things in life/not very rock n roll personae that are now seen as assets and that brings us to Ram.At the time the album was buried by the media but now sounds forward thinking and full of that buoyant pop imagination that the supremely talented Macca seems to effortlessly ooze. With the luxury of history the album now sounds like a decades too early precursor to lo fi indie with all the post late sixties bombast stripped away.Of course this simplicity is deceptive. The precociously brilliant McCartney is playing many instruments and he’s great at anything he picks up, dealing out guitar licks, bass runs or pastoral acoustics with an ease for his perfect pop voice to fly over with those cascading and exquisite melodies.” 

SUPER DELUXE EDITION

“Ram has McCartney’s DNA all over it. It is endlessly melodic … with a maze of musical ideas; vocal harmonies,...and, perhaps uncharacteristically, there is a steeliness of purpose evident.Ram works so well for many reasons. McCartney’s voice is at, or near, its peak – everything sounds completely effortless, including the performance on the throat-shredding ‘Monkberry Moon Delight’, and the whole thing just feels so real. Paul wasn’t struggling for things to write about, whether it be the seemingly constant backbiting with Lennon or his new-found love of family life and spending time with his new wife.” FAR OUT MAGAZINE

‘...You can trace everything from Britpop to pure jangle indie back to this record. What started as a piece of pure pop innovation would provide a sure footing for a host of other groups to spring from … there is no denying that Paul McCartney’s Ram is a seminal moment in musical history.’

50Thirdand3rd

“Paul McCartney has rarely sounded more exuberant than he does on Ram. With Linda’s emotional support, he found his way through the darkness occasioned by the collapse of The Beatles and shed all traces of depression and disorientation that marked his first solo effort. On Ram, he sounds positively thrilled to embark on a new, independent musical adventure, as is evident in the unbridled energy he displays throughout the record and the blessed return of his sense of humor. His melodic gifts remain intact, he sings as well as he ever did and he’s still one hell of a bass player.”

THE QUIETUS

It’s a record by a man and woman unburdened, enjoying the happiest days of their lives. It’s full of hope and honesty and goofing around. Unlike so much music from the era, it wasn’t trying to shift units or promote itself as ‘real’ music. In fact Paul McCartney probably doesn’t give a toss if you like it or not.”

SPECTRUM CULTURE

“...it’s clearer than ever that this is one of the great magical experiences in rock … The key to Ram’s power is the two equal and not-necessarily-distinct modes it toggles between. Domestic life between the album’s credited artists is portrayed with earthy whimsy; the instruments crack and splinter, content that the center will hold. Meanwhile, the material dealing with the meaning of the most coveted Beatle’s decision to settle down with the woman of his dreams is painted in the same grand, sweeping strokes as Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, and the Abbey Road medley: symphonic pop that pines for transcendence.”

RAM ALBUM CLUB:

“I listened properly the next morning, I sat in front of it and played it loud. My god, what a fool I’ve been, what a joy this record is. There’s hardly any of the 12 bar I was expecting and there isn’t a twee moment to be found. I adore the first bars of Too Many People, his beautiful tramp voice over those fab four chords into Pet Sounds snare hits. Honey to my bee. Lyrically he sounds like he’s kicking some demons around, eating apples, settling scores and having a ball doing it. Ram sounds like it was recorded at 9.12am amidst a sea of sunflowers under a hazy sun. It’s high as monkeys, full of itself and oh my, what a fool I’ve been. Ram On sounds like the whole of the Department of Eagles album In Ear Park (which I love) and Uncle Albert is fine as it is, all of it. I’m not that bothered about Eat At Home. The Back Seat Of My Car is like a track off the Beach Boys album Friends except better, much better. It’s one his best songs and I’ve never heard it. Third time, I take it downstairs. I light candles. I dress smart and bring gifts. I’m in love and o’ what a fool I’ve been. I’m uplifted, uploaded and upended. His singing is great, the musicians are right on the money and the sound is perfect (it is a truth that all records made in the early 1970s sound fantastic).”

#One Sweet Dream Podcast #RAM Extravaganza #Micro Episode #Current RAM reviews

[littleworldbigdreamsblog]

Intruders- Jessie Reyez (A Review)

Introduction

So from the first time I heard this song and watched the video I knew I had to write something on this. I have always loved Jessie Reyez, I even wrote one of my thesis papers about her song “Gatekeeper”. If I can find it I will definitely post it here. The topics that I will tackle with this one are quite heavy but it must be done. We will be looking at colonialism, the manipulation of history and the personification of nature. 

The Artist 

My girl Jessie Reyez has been making music people have been afraid to make and I will say something I don’t say often; she is so underrated. I wish more people knew about her and the messages she convey in her lyrics. Her voice is also so unique and she sings with so much passion and conviction. I have watched so many live performances of hers and I haven’t been disappointed so far. If you have never heard of Jessie Reyez I do encourage you to give her music a listen. Also she has a new album out called “Before Love Came to Kill us”, stream that ish everywhere.  

Song 

Listen here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVhqNnFh25E

So in most of Jessie’s lyrics she does this very interesting thing which again I wish more people talked about. The lyrics of her songs usually create a meta narrative. This just means that there is a main story which possesses a message or a world view within another story. For instance using “Intruders” as an example it reads like a love letter and sounds like a love song. I was casually browsing the comments on some lyrics sites for this song and a lot of people just saw the song as her saying that the man is hers and these “intruders” or other females don’t belong within their relationship. Absolutely nothing is wrong with seeing the lyrics as that alone but if you dig deeper paying special attention to certain words, you would see that this song is a lot more than what meets the eyes or ears. That is where the concept of the meta narrative comes into play. The story we read or hear on one level is a love story and the main story is about land being taken. People who would have done a little history even secondary school history know there is a term for such actions:colonialism. For a little recap National Geographic explains it to be when “one nation subjugates another, conquering its population and exploiting it, often while forcing its own language and cultural values upon its people”. If you watched the music video you would see more physical representations of colonialism which I will get into but for now we are looking at the words and what they say. 

From the first set of lines in the song there is reference to the original natives of whatever colonized land she is writing about, “I found ya, cleared land /  Put down my flag /This is mine from now on”. As someone from the Caribbean I immediately thought of the Amerindians of the greater Antilles. These Amerindians or Indigenous people are known to be the original settlers of the Caribbean and possibly that of America. There were some studies done to try and track where these people came from and the results varied. Some researchers claimed they came from the Amazon while others said the DNA found from bones matched that of  people from Asia. Wherever they traveled from they are the known first civilization of people to inhabit these lands. Just those opening lines say a lot as it relates to theme and it is amazing how much just a few lines can say.      

There are other pieces of evidence of this song alluding to a telling of the colonization of native lands and people. In the second verse she sings “ I wrote you a love song /A war song/ I'll sing it when the ships come, yeah / I'll die for my state” which paints the picture of the natives standing together as the ships of the foreigners arrive willing to die for their land. And that is exactly what happened. Some assimilated while the ones who rose up were killed like animals. It was an act of genocide and historical records tend to see it another way. These records refer to the Amerindian settlements as pre-history which is incorrect as pre-history implies that the colonization of the land is the main or more important part of history when all of it is our history. This is what I meant by the manipulation of history. Just like there is evidence ie artifacts and relics as proof of the Europeans “discovering” the land, there is also evidence of the first settlers. It was a fully structured civilization which involved the tools they used, the type of agriculture grown and even their burial rituals and customs.  So therefore we cannot and should not see it as pre-history. For instance, growing up in the Caribbean, history was taught according to a British curriculum.It was only when I got older and more educated that I realised how biased it was. it was framed to make the Europeans look like our saviours. No sir! 

Video 

So the music video is a visual representation of this message or meta narrative that the song has. The video starts with a kind of Pocahontas like colours of the wind vibe with the main character worshiping the land. The land itself is personified as a man. Personification is giving more of less inanimate objects human-like features. The main character is using every part of the land to live and at the same time not harming it. 

It is a relationship that functions in harmony..... 

......until the fire nation attacked....I mean colonizers.

I feel like the Toronto-based studio, Solis Animation really studied the lyrics of the song and were able to create a video that works with the true meaning. Actually with both meanings of the the meta narrative. It functions as painting a picture of a love story but also one that shows an aspect of history that some people gloss over, that is, colonialism. I mean you can’t get clearer about what this video is really about. Even taking a look at what the colonizers were wearing. The uniforms were very similar to that of either the English or Spanish military like the colour scheme and the shape of the hats.  

 I also think it is important to note that all the people who came off the ships were female. This ties back to the part of the song that infers that it is about a love story. It is to mean that the intruders in the video while describing European colonizers, are also symbolizing the other women that would want to enter the relationship.  

As the good parts of the land were personified we also saw what happens when land is pillaged and destroyed, mainly how it bleeds. This heavily reminded me of the poem by Eric Roach called “Carib and Arawak” from his book The Flowering Rock. The poem really speaks about the land remembering the history of the genocide of the indigenous people of the Caribbean in particular the Caribs and Arawaks of Trinidad and Tobago. The poem highlights the concept of the flowers (hibiscus) grown on the land after colonial times being a reminder of the blood and death that occurred on the land. The hibiscus because of their original and true colour being red, it symbolizes how the land is bleeding out of revenge of the past.  I absolutely love this poem and if you have an interest in reading it, message me as I know it is almost impossible to find online.     

In these couple of frames we also see that she is willing to fight for her lands. This time marking herself with the blood of her home on her way to defend it. This shows the fighting spirit of the natives in order to protect their home. Based on historical accounts and records it states that some natives were peaceful and ready to cooperate until they were betrayed and they felt the need to reclaim their home.   

I believe we have come to the end of analyzing this piece of art. As someone from the Caribbean I really appreciated the way this video was put together. It emphasizes a part of our history which is sometimes buried and lost. It took a little longer to pull together not only because of the the research but also things going on in real life. I hope you learned something from reading this and if you feel like you can educate me some more on the topic feel free! 

References: 

Lyrics : https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jessiereyez/intruders.html

What is Colonialism? : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/topics/reference/colonialism/

Where Native Americans came from: https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/where-native-americans-come

Eric Roach-https://www.peepaltreepress.com/authors/eric-roach

All gifs : https://giphy.com/channel/BobbieSan

#jessie reyez #intruders #jessiereyezintruders #colonialism #amerindian #music video review #song review

[fmdtaeyongarchive]

↬ our love so deep as the ocean; waiting until it runs dry will be our farewell.

date: april 2020, at some point after returning from japan, and may 2020.

location: ash’s apartment studio.

word count: 1,909 words.

summary: ash writes his summer single, pondering what the season of summer is in love.

triggers: n/a.

notes: creative claims verification. one super brief mention of hanjae, yoonah, and youngjoo. short mentions of jiyoo, too, since the song is with her.

what is summer to him? back home in san francisco, it has been just-right summers spent with friends and families, nights off from obligations where the world felt like it could fit in his twelve year-old hand. in seoul, it’s oppressive heat shadowed by barely-breathable air and the air conditioning in the practice room cranked all the way up.

but what is it to him in love? that’s the question he has to ask himself when he sits down to find what song he’s going to present to the company as a suggestion for his summer single.

in love, to him, it’s somewhere in between. it’s the sweltering weight of the world hanging low on shoulders that have grown tired of carrying it, a look exchanged between two souls that had once thought they were one, each wondering if the other is considering fleeing from the weight too. to look at the person him he’d once thought would bear the burdens of the world beside him until the end of time and see them not as a savior, but a human being who’s as prone to breaking as he is. humans are frail, delicate things, after all, always breaking, breaking, breaking. apart from each other and within each other and love struggles to withstand the splintering caused by both.

every time ash has broken, the ugly crack in the ground, the gruesome canyon it creates in his heart, has grown too wide to cross, even when he’d wished he could take the step back and risk a leap.

with hanjae, it’d been ice that had burst forth from the depths. with yoonah, it had been fire. with youngjoo, it had been an empty, gaping chasm of stone and, when it was in front of him, that chasm had felt the scariest of all because it had been a chasm he’d feared she couldn’t see. or didn’t care to. then, he’d come along and it had been the worst because ash hadn’t seen the crack until it was too wide to even shout across.

ten times, twenty times, fifty times more than it lasts, love leaves and each time it presents the choice to try to stop it or let it go on its way.

such quandaries fill ash’s thoughts as he sits on the floor in the middle of his empty living room, guitar in his lap. the lights are low and the city sparkles outside the broad expanse of his window. he wonders how many lovers are sleeping facing away from each other on their own sides of their beds tonight. how many are looking out of their window, wishing they’d said something different so they didn’t have to sleep alone?

heartbreak is a wound ash isn’t sure it’s possible to recover from. for the rest of time, heartbreak will leave a scar, even after the wound closes. if that’s the case, he’s covered in them, and he can only wonder how many everlasting scars he’s inflicted on others.

the song begins as trickling guitar chords. they remind ash of rain flooding a once-empty canyon or tears blurring the vision of once clear eyes. the melody comes soft and melodious, like trying to make something beautiful out of pain, trying to make hope out of hopelessness. that’s all he can do, all he can ever try to do.

a calm settles over ash in the lonely center of the room as he strums and hums and he’d forgotten to even set out his phone to record his trial and error. in the moment, it’s a comfort to him and nothing else, and for some time, the thoughts that had led his fingers to the strings fade in a blissful instance of a clear mind.

it’s something of a supernatural experience to ash, to have a mind so clear and unobstructed. mindfulness, a therapist had told him once years ago, would do him some good. he’d always thought she may have been right if mindfulness didn’t refuse so adamantly to come to him without the awareness of the exact things he didn’t want to have on his mind. the possibility of an empty mind is far more appealing to him.

his thoughts snap back into his head like a rubber band as his finger brushes the wrong way against the b-string of his guitar. he remembers where he is and that there’s work to be done, so he forces his fingers to fall back into the rhythm of chords he’d created so he doesn’t forget and then, when he’s confident, he crawls up from the floor to find his phone where he’d left it in his studio earlier in the night, before solemnity had had the chance to fully set in.

seated back on his living room floor and with the guitar in his lap, ash records the chords that had come to him. he’s brought to recollections of osts he’s heard, to dramas and movies, most of which he hasn’t seen, but still, he feels the emotions anyway. he decides he wants this song to be a little like that, so that even those who haven’t ever experienced heartbreak will feel what it’s like in its beautiful pain.

what would become the first lyrics of the song are the first ones that come to mind, something that doesn’t happen all that often when ash is riffing off of the tides of his feelings like this.

he envisions himself beside a partner he forces into facelessness. they’re walking along a beach at sunset, but the view isn’t what’s on his mind as he halts in his path and the other figure in his thoughts keeps moving forward. that’s what realization feels like. they could move on without him, without noticing, and maybe the place he’s meant to be is the one that means being left behind.

but such a reality isn’t that easy to accept. even just as a vision in his thoughts, ash feels indignant at the idea of letting go so easily, of not running forward to catch up just because he’s stopped for a moment. too many times in his life, he’d let his footsteps falling out of sync with the one he loves be the nail in the coffin that would lay their relationship to rest. he wants this song to be about fighting (or living in denial, he’s not sure which, if he’s honest, but he’s trying to lace his veins with optimism these days).

the lyrics come surprisingly easy with that image in his head. he plays the chords out over and over again and lets himself sing out whatever comes to mind into the open air of his apartment. this apartment may not be home, but it’s times like these that he appreciates having it. he wants everyone to hear this soliloquy one day, but tonight, it’s only for him.

as he keeps singing, it grows sadder. the fight gets tiring. isn’t that how it is? it’s never as easy as it seems in the romance movies, kissing in the rain to make up. love is exhausting. ash hadn’t realized it when he was young, but now he knows that even all of his idol training couldn’t prepare him for the fatigue of loving hopelessly, the defeat of seeing impending heartbreak and having no choice but to accept its inevitability.

sorrow has filled him full and overflowed into the archives of his phone by the time he abandons his guitar to the side and lays back onto the marble floor.

there’s a quiet understanding within him: he can’t handle this one alone.

he can’t hand this piece of his soul completely over to someone else either, and he’d started writing this for a purpose he still plans to fulfill, so he spends days considering and looking through his phone contacts, trying to find the right person for the song. it’s a tough thing to ask someone to take on when he knows the song is close to his heart.

early on in picking who to ask, he decides a female voice would work best. he has more female friends anyway and his experience dueting with men is limited. 

he completes the base of the composition and the lyrics over the next days. he fine tunes what he’d written in a moment of intense emotion by running it over with a fine-toothed comb of a sort-of-experienced producer. there are some details he lets fall through the cracks. a lyric that he knows could be clearer here and a melody choice that could be catchier there, to preserve the emotional integrity.

though he’d written it on guitar, the decision is natural to change the base of the orchestration to piano when he starts to lay down the demo track to send off. the artificial piano doesn’t resonate the same way as the real guitar chords had, but in his mind’s ear, he can hear the emotional resonance real piano chords will have already. when speaking for the soul, piano always feels the most fitting for him. it’s like his heart and, by extension, his mind default to the first instrument he’d ever fallen in love with.

the song isn’t about first loves, it’s about all loves, but the song of the piano feels right in ways ash can’t fully express. the guitar finds its place among the arrangement as the verse goes on, and it’s the introduction of his second love (his third, if he’s to be technical, but the place dance once held in his heart has faded so much it feels like betrayal to even think of it that way now). he slips hints of electric guitar into the later parts of the song where the orchestration builds, an ode to the evolution of love.

the first demo track isn’t perfect. the harmonies of two tracks of his own voice intertwining don’t carry the emotional weight he wants, but when he gets the demo and the offer to jiyoo and has her lay down her vocals, everything starts falling into place and he knows he’s made the right decision. his instinct that their vocal tones would mesh well had been right and by the time they’re re-recording final vocals, ash himself starts to get emotional at the places in the song where his voice finds the melody line while hers dips gently under.

tears begin to fall from his eyes more than once during the final stages of making the song and there’s no shame about it. it hurts in a way that heals, too, just a little bit. listening back to the final product, he’s reminded of the first time he’d been able to listen to untitled, 2014 all the way through without feeling a ripping pain in his chest, but… lighter.

that’s what summer is in love, ash decides. pain, the stubbornness found in fatigue, sweat from the exertion of trying so hard that it turns into tears when it doesn’t work out, but the clouds don’t stay around to hide under for very long. instead, it��s standing in the vastness of a beach, a field, an ocean, and he dares to think he might have succeeded in capturing that in the soundscape of the song.

in the end, it’s the only track he turns in for consideration for his summer single with a confidence and a calm content he hasn’t felt in his own songwriting in a long while.

#fmdverification #i didn't think i'd finish this one in time i gotta be honest #i don't hate this so that's a miracle #&& when you're screaming but they only hear you whisper | self para #&& bring color to my skies | character development

[pivitor]

My Top 10 Albums of 2019

2019 will go down, for me, as the year my beloved iPod died, and I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Spotify Premium. Thus, I listened to more new music in 2019 than I ever have before, and realized how much of it I found disposable. Bands I grew up loving put out mediocre efforts, new darlings grew in directions I wasn’t interested in following, but thank god, thank god there are still plenty of terrific musicians putting out work that resonates deep within my soul. Music is subjective, so I wouldn’t dare call this a “best of” list, but below are the ten new releases of 2019 that I listened to the most, vibed with the most, that just plain ol’ meant the most to me this year.

(PS: Don’t think too much about the exact order and ranking here. It changed multiple times even as I was writing this. What really matters is that all ten of these records rule)

10. Radar State -- Strays

Radar State are the Avengers of the early 2000s mid-west emo scene -- a band combining The Get Up Kids’ Matt Pryor and Jim Suptic, The Anniversary’s Josh Berwanger, and The Architects’ Adam Phillips into a single supergroup. Pryor has described the project as “just having fun with [his] friends,” and that dynamic shines through loud and clear in Strays. It’s like each member is pushing the next to just create the catchiest song they possibly can, and the competition leads to great results; Pryor favors fast and sloppy punk and Berwanger moody earworms that fuse themselves into your brain through sheer repetition, but it’s Suptic who fulfills that edict best with his shiny, addictive pop love songs. Radar State never quite hits the emotional highs of its members’ main projects, but that was never the point in the first place; Strays is just fun from front to back, and it’s an album I’ve returned to consistently throughout the entirety of 2019.

Highlights: Making Me Feel, Self-Hurt Guru, Artificial Love

9. The Early November -- Lilac

Lilac is an album about learning from your mistakes and making a conscious choice to be better, and it’s a theme, an ethos that truly defines this release on every level. The Early November originally planned to release Lilac back in 2018, but ended up scrapping the original recording and going back to the drawing board, knowing that they could do better, and funneling that ambition, all their lessons learned, into their most ambitious release outside of The Mother, The Maker, and the Path (“but less self-indulgent,” I say with love). Horns, piano, and a wide variety of tempos spice up the proceedings, and the lyrics are more raw and honest than ever, but Lilac’s greatest weapon is the vocals, which Ace Enders wields with virtuoso skill. He plays with different cadences and deliveries, giving every song a unique feel, moving from soft and pleasant (“Perfect Sphere [Bubble]”) to menacing (“My Weakness”), from the joy of “Ave Maria” to the cathartic, powerhouse vocal explosion of “Hit By A Car (Euphoria)” to the pure, crackling, barely contained emotional breakdown threatening to burst right out of the chorus of “Our Choice.” There’s no other vocalist out there quite like Ace Enders -- and no other record quite like Lilac.

Highlights: Hit By A Car (In Euphoria), Ave Maria, Comatose

8. Magazine Beach -- Sick Day (EP)

Most year-end lists probably overlooked this record, a debut four-song EP from a small DIY band released in mid-December, and man oh man are those critics missing out. Sick Day isn’t just the biggest and best musical surprise I received all year, but quite possibly the most fun I had listening to music in 2019. Seriously, I played this on loop probably two dozen times the day I discovered it, and spent that evening forcing friends to listen to it too. Magazine Beach’s tongue-in-cheek lyrics, gonzo riffs, and stunning background harmonies are combined with vocals whose flatter, sardonic tone initially masks, but soon reveals their perfect cadence and quick crackles of emotion; they’re as close to a perfect pop-punk package as I heard all year, with their quirky, relatable songs about flaky friends, overstuffed social calendars, and other mid-twenties challenges filling that gaping Modern-Baseball-You’re-Gonna-Miss-It-All-shaped hole in my heart. If this had released earlier in the year, and I’d had more time to see how long it truly stuck with me, it might have placed far, far higher on this list, but either way I look forward to carrying this album forward with me into 2020, and I look forward to following Magazine Beach’s future career closely. I think they could go places.

Highlight: Living Room

7. Masked Intruder -- III

It’s easy to look at Masked Intruder and think that they’re more of an act than a band, just because they’re so good at playing hardened-yet-harmless criminals on stage, at enchanting an audience with their antics and banter alone. Thankfully, they’re equally skilled as musicians as they are performers; III isn’t just quick content for their live shows, but an entertaining, addictive, artfully made pop-punk record in its own right. Okay, maybe pop-punk is a bit too restrictive a descripter -- between the doo-wop, call-and-response harmonies and the raging riffs and solos, III sometimes sounds like a modern spin on sixties rock and roll, which is something I did not know I needed but absolutely needed. The lyrics never break kayfabe, but there’s some real clever stuff going on beneath the surface of these silly crime-themed love songs; contrasting the creepiness of Blue’s romantic pursuits with the shenanigans of a typical radio love song shows how few differences there actually are between the two, how creepy the entire genre is when you stop to give it any thought. It’s thoughtful and subversive without ever being preachy, just one more spinning plate kept perfectly balanced in the act that is III.

Highlights: Not Fair, Maybe Even, I’m Free (At Last)

6. Martha -- Love Keeps Kicking

Martha’s secret weapon is the empathy and compassion their songs cultivate for their subjects. Love Keeps Kicking is an album largely about the way love can kick you when you’re down, yet throughout the album Martha never villainizes even the bad actors in relationships. “Into This” finds the narrator jerked around by a potential partner who just won’t clarify what they are to each other, but the song isn’t out to attack the partner, simply to get a solid answer. Likewise, “Love Keeps Kicking” lays out a myriad of detailed complaints about romance and relationships, not to insult, but simply to find a way to endure them. “Orange Juice” rues the way the narrator diluted their partner just by being with them, showing impressive (and heartbreaking) levels of self-awareness. That kind of emotional maturity and complexity makes the true love songs (“Sight For Sore Eyes,” “Wrestlemania VIII”) all the more joyous, and makes their social commentary (“Mini Was A Preteen Arsonist”) that much more effective. Martha are a wonderfully catchy, fun band filled with great harmonies and British twang, but it’s their earnest, compassionate storytelling that truly made me fall in love with them, and with Love Keeps Kicking.

Highlights: Wrestlemania VIII, Love Keeps Kicking, Orange Juice

5. Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties -- Routine Maintenance

Hot take (?) incoming: Dan Campbell is the best songwriter of our generation. I already sang his praises pretty thoroughly last year when discussing my favorite album of 2018, but Routine Maintenance is just further proof of this truth, almost Campbell flexing. The previous Aaron West record was a character study of the worst year of a man’s life, but Routine Maintenance expands Aaron’s world in terms of scope, characters, and themes, all to the project’s (and character’s) benefit. The record is a tale of redemption, taking Aaron from rock bottom to a new place of security, all through the power of friendship and community, the power of music, and the power of family, of fulfilling your responsibilities to them, of finding your role and your home wherever you are, with the people who care about you, with people you can make proud. They’re themes Campbell has been exploring throughout his entire career, but brought down to a more personal level, and somehow that makes them hit harder than ever, perhaps because it makes the way they can fit into any listener’s life that much clearer. I’ve cried listening to this album. I’ve cried hearing these songs live. There’s true, true catharsis on Routine Maintenance, and it’s because Campbell’s taken Aaron West on a real journey, and it’s one I feel blessed to have been able to follow.

Highlights: Runnin’ Toward the Light, Rosa & Reseda, Winter Coats

4. Pkew Pkew Pkew -- Optimal Lifestyles

Pkew Pkew Pkew’s 2016 self-titled debut was an album told solely in the present tense, not worried about the future, but simply about the drinks, pizza, skateboarding, and parties to be had right here, right now. It was a blisteringly fun, gang-vocals filled powerhouse of a record that solidified Pkew Pkew Pkew as one of my new favorite bands. Optimal Lifestyles, though, is an album that has started to look back, if only to question the present. Are they still content to be these same fun-loving, hard-drinking party guys? Ultimately, as proven by lyrics such as “Shred until you’re dead, or until you break your wrist again” and “We lead thirsty little lives, and all we want’s another,” the answer they come to is a resounding “yes,” but the journey they take to find that answer not only makes it feel earned, but opens Pkew Pkew Pkew to some exciting new songwriting avenues, be it the touching introspection of “Drinkin’ Days” or the surprisingly beautiful nostalgia of “Everything’s the Same” (or even the more raucous nostalgia of “Mt. Alb,” for that matter). Don’t let words like “introspection” and “beautiful” scare you, though -- The Boys still rock as hard as ever, as the wailing, chugging guitars and even a totally rockin’ saxophone solo fully attest to (though I do miss all the gang vocals). And I’d be remiss to not mention “I Wanna See A Wolf,” an absolute songwriting clinic. In only a minute and nineteen seconds, Pkew Pkew Pkew takes a simple statement -- “I wanna see a wolf” -- and unravels it until it reveals a song about longing for freedom from the careers that cage our lives, even when they’re our dream. I don’t know if Pkew Pkew Pkew could have written this song three years ago. Talk about growth.

Highlights: I Wanna See A Wolf, Point Break, Adult Party

3. The Get Up Kids -- Problems

After their most popular record -- 1999’s Something To Write Home About -- the Get Up Kids’ next three albums all went on to be incredibly divisive among their fans. While all three records showed significant creative growth, none really sounded like what came before (personally, I very much enjoyed two of those records -- sorry, There Are Rules -- but I guess I’m not most fans). Problems, though, sounds like the natural evolution of Something To Write Home About without ever feeling derivative of it -- it sounds more like “the Get Up Kids” than anything the Get Up Kids have released in over a decade, which is an incredibly exciting thing let me tell you. Yet, Problems still benefits from everything the band has learned in that time: there’s new introspection (“The Problem Is Me”), a wider storytelling scope (“Lou Barlow”), and a shift from wallowing in their own pain to examining the pain of others (“Satellite,” which Matt Pryor has said is based on one of his sons). Problems also manages to pack in absolute bangers like “Fairweather Friends,” sensitive, tender ballads like “The Advocate,” and mid-tempo jams like “Salina,” a guaranteed future Emo classic that threatens to dethrone the Kids’ own “Central Standard Time” as The Quintessential Emo Song. Problems is the synthesis of just about everything that has ever made the Get Up Kids special, and it not only makes for one of the year’s best albums, but one of the Get Up Kids’ best as well.

Highlights: Fairweather Friends, Lou Barlow, Salina

2. PUP -- Morbid Stuff

The A-Side of Morbid Stuff is perfect -- a legitimately flawless five song stretch of punk rock that continues to blow my mind almost ten months after its release. The unmistakable opening notes of “Morbid Stuff”; that irresistible background riff from the bridge returning in “Kids’” second chorus, combined with some of the most nihilisticly romantic lyrics I’ve ever heard; the raucous sing-along that is “Free At Last”; the purest, most undiluted diss-track of the year in “See You At Your Funeral”; and, finally, the best song of the year bar none, “Scorpion Hill,” a sonic journey through multiple musical genres, telling a story of uniquely American misery that legitimately moves me to tears. The B-Side doesn’t quite live up to these first five tracks -- there’s a couple stand-outs (“Bare Hands” needs to make it into a live set pronto), a couple songs more interesting in concept than execution (sorry, “Full Blown Meltdown”), and a few more perfectly fine, standard PUP tunes (and I swear I don’t mean that as an insult!) -- but, well, how could it ever really have anyway? All together, it still makes for an outrageously enjoyable album that reaches the upper echelons of what 2019’s new music had to offer. That PUP was not only such a terrific band right out of the gate, but has remained so this far into their career, makes me so, so happy.

Highlights: Scorpion Hill, Kids, Free At Last

1. The Menzingers -- Hello Exile

It took me a few listens -- and, truthfully, seeing it played live -- to truly crack this album. At first it was a bit too slow, the vocals a bit too filtered, but once it clicked, I lived and breathed Hello Exile and nothing else for months. The slightly slower pace gives the Menzingers a chance to play around with some new musical tricks, be it the back-and-forth opening or the fun background guitar melodies of “Strangers Forever” or the almost hypnotic vocal melodies in the choruses of “Portland” or “Hello Exile,” and they pay off with great effect. Lyrically the Menzingers are at the top of their game; tracks like “High School Friend” and “Strain Your Memory” are more adept than ever at painting stories that make you nostalgic for a life you never even lived, but absolutely feel like you have, and lines like “it only hurts til’ it doesn’t” hit your heart with sniper-like precision. “Anna” may be the quintessential Menzingers song, a tale of longing, love, and location that drove the entire scene into a frenzy that still hasn’t subsided. “Farewell Youth” is the best closing track the Menzingers have ever released, a song about grief in multiple forms that manages to find poignant takes on each and every one of them. I’m not yet sure whether Hello Exile is the beginning or the end of a chapter for the Menzingers, but either way, it’s clearly an essential and unmissable part of their story, and one I feel privileged to be able to experience.

Highlights: Anna, Strangers Forever, Farewell Youth

#pivitor #the menzingers #pup the band #the get up kids #aaron west and the early twenties #pkew pkew pkew #martha #masked intruder #magazine beach #the early november #radar state

[meta-squash]

Intro to the Manic Street Preachers

(In which I wish I still had photoshop so I could make one of those silly slideshow type posts)

It’s come up in at least 3 separate conversations recently that I (or someone) should make an “intro to/how to get into the Manic Street Preachers,” so I’m gonna do that.

Also I tried to be brief but when it comes to the Manics and also writing in general that is not in my nature.

So here goes, a Manics 101 that is slightly longer than I anticipated but not as long as I might have made it:

First of all, a brief Manics history/bandmembers 101:

James Dean Bradfield - Lead singer, lead guitarist. Writes most of the music for the songs. Also has the job of cutting down the lyrics into something he can actually sing.

Nicky Wire - Lyricist, bassist. Writes the lyrics for the songs, with Richey and alone. Says he can’t play bass but is actually quite good. Loves to wear dresses/skirts onstage and is generally a fashion disaster. Has a big mouth and loves to criticize other bands. Has OCD and loves to clean. Is 6′3″ and has great legs and loves to mention both of those things.

Sean Moore - Drummer. Also writes some of the music. Is the only Manic who is classically trained, and sometimes plays trumpet on tracks. Sarcastic and small. Generally quiet and doesn’t like interviews. Is the only Manic actually active on social media (Twitter).

Richey Edwards - Lyricist, rhythm guitarist. Wrote most of the lyrics with Nicky and was essentially the band’s spokesman. Was extremely intelligent. Couldn’t play guitar well, basically stuck to power chords and usually forgot them anyway. Struggled with severe mental illness and addiction. Disappeared in 1995; his body was never found.

The band have all known each other since they were children and all lived in the same neighborhood. The band itself started basically in about 1989. Their thematic mantra was “culture, alienation, boredom and despair.” They were inspired by The Clash, Situationism, the Miners Strike and the various existentialist or absurdist literature they’d read. Their sound and style have changed pretty much every album. They’ve never managed to break into the American music scene but they are/were popular in Asia and Europe. Most of their songs are political or emotional, and rarely talk about love or relationships in the traditional sense. They didn’t go aboveground until 1996 and didn’t get a number one in the charts until 1998.

Where to start:

The Manics have changed their sound/style a lot, so it sometimes depends on what you like.

The bands most popular/charted songs are: Motorcycle Emptiness (1992) Faster (1994) A Design For Life (1996) If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next (1998) Your Love Alone Is Not Enough (2007) Rewind The Film (2013) Walk Me To The Bridge (2014) International Blue (2018)

But, like I said, it depends on what you like. So, here’s a rundown of suggestions for songs to listen to in order to get into them. I’ll link the song itself, give a little description of the album/song style or sound, themes, etc. Possibly some extra info if I think of any. And probably reasons why it’s a good introductory song. I’ll go chronologically, but feel free to pick and choose.

Motorcycle Emptiness - 1992. Generation Terrorists. An epic glam/punk rock anthem critiquing and despairing over the nature of society and modern culture. The band has said that if this song wasn’t included on the album, it would not have been successful. It’s also one of the coolest guitar songs the band has. This is often a starting song for most people.

Slash N Burn - 1992. Generation Terrorists. A much more punk rock song, a critique of the destructive nature of entertainment and “first world” culture, how entertainment means people ignore the ills of the world. This song is a good intro to their more social/political lyrics, and good for those who like the punk sound.

Bored Out Of My Mind - 1992. Generation Terrorists B-side. I’m including this because it was the first b-side I fell in love with. This is an acoustic piece, a lot more yearning and, well, tired/bored. It basically takes a punk riff and slows it down into something a lot prettier.

Roses In The Hospital - 1993. Gold Against The Soul. This is the song that made me fall in love with the band. It’s a critique of the mental health system, and a song about unhealthy coping mechanisms. This album has more of a grunge-feel to it, and is a lot more produced. The song features stair-stepping power chords and a grunge rhythm section with pop flair.

La Tristesse Durera - 1993. Gold Against The Soul. A grunge-style song about the way elderly veterans are (mis)treated and/or ignored by the general public once they no longer serve a purpose. This song has an excellent bassline and some great vocals.

Faster - 1994. The Holy Bible. This is the song the band itself and most fans hail as their masterpiece. An industrial/punk/hard rock song that has been described by James as “a set of sarcastic commandments for the modern age” and by Richey as being about self-abuse and “society speeding up - finds worth is failure.” It is a song that is utterly autonomous and judgemental, an Ubermensch of a song that is extremely powerful. It is, in the words of Simon Price “warped metal and tungsten under unendurable torque.”

This Is Yesterday - 1994. The Holy Bible. The calmest song on the album, this piece is a nostalgic look at the past. I’m mostly including it because the guitar riffs are simple but very pretty. (And because my roommate, who isn’t a fan, said she likes it a lot.)

ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart - 1994. The Holy Bible. A fast-paced criticism of racism in the US and UK, filled with political and historical references. An industrial/post-punk style song with some excellent riffs and even better harmonies.

A Design For Life - 1996. Everything Must Go. An anthem for the working class. This song features strings and is a lot more “epic” than previous songs. The album itself is calmer, more radio-friendly. This was the band’s first big hit and the first album after Richey’s disappearance; it reached number 2 on the charts at its release.

Everything Must Go - 1996. Everything Must Go. A song ushering in a change in the band’s sound. It is the introduction of a larger, wider wall of sound, and the anthemic rock style of the album.

Small Black Flowers That Grow In The Sky - 1996. Everything Must Go. A song written by Richey before his disappearance, about the abuse of zoo animals. (In my opinion) The demo is better than the studio version, as it is a yearning acoustic piece that allows the guitar to echo the fragility of the lyrics. (The studio version has a harp that overshadows both guitar and lyrics, so I linked the demo which is my favorite.)

You Stole The Sun From My Heart - 1998. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. Lovely lyrics and a simple riff. This album has a cleaner, clearer sound. This song’s sound is optimistic even if the lyrics are slightly sadder.

I’m Not Working - 1998. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. A much slower, sadder song. I include this song because I think the lyrics describe a universal feeling. It’s a song that really shows the emotion of James’ vocals.

If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next - 1998. This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. The band’s first ever #1 single. This is an anti-fascist song about the Spanish Civil War, warning people to be aware of injustices. It’s anthemic and full of echoing guitars.

Intravenous Agnostic - 2001. Know Your Enemy. A return to their old punk sound. This is a slightly more anthemic take on the punk sound, but it works. The lyrics are weird but interesting.

Baby Elian - 2001. Know Your Enemy. A political song about Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban refugee who, as a 7 year old, was the center of an immigration and international custody battle between the US and Cuba.

Freedom Of Speech Won’t Feed My Children - 2001. Know Your Enemy. Another political song. I just love it because it’s SO anti-American.

Judge Yr’self - 2003 (1994). Lipstick Traces. This is from an anthology album, but it was an unreleased song recorded in 1994. Its lyrics are almost Nietszchean, intense and repetitive. Yet another huge hit with most fans, with themes and sound similar to Faster. An excellent if momentary resurfacing of their industrial sound of THB.

Empty Souls - 2004. Lifeblood. This album is more more digital-sounding, a lot more glacial than previous albums. The song is sad and aching, but very beautiful. It features a gorgeous piano riff and lingering guitar chords to complement the lyrics about loneliness.

Your Love Alone Is Not Enough - 2007. Send Away The Tigers. Their biggest hit since Tolerate. It’s a duet with Nina Persson, the lyrics a conversation between two people about what makes someone gain contentment and what does/doesn’t help. This is much more a radio-friendly rock song.

Anorexic Rodin - 2007. Send Away The Tigers B-side. Another favorite b-side and favorite among fans. The lyrics are clearly about Richey Edwards, but the best thing about the song is the fast-paced marching of the distortion guitar and the badass punk rock chorus.

Imperial Bodybags - 2007. Send Away The Tigers. This song is incredibly late 60s/early 70s-feeling, for some reason. An excellent grooving riff drives a song about war and imperialism and how civilian deaths are trivialized.

Peeled Apples - 2009. Journal For Plague Lovers. First track on the album and an intense, sludgy punk intro. The band has said that the lyrics of this song are pretty impenetrable but the visuals they provide are fantastic. One of my favorites, and so much weird, aggressive, wild energy. This album consists entirely of songs Richey gave to the band just before his disappearance. Because of this, the album’s sound kind of combines the sounds of The Holy Bible with the slower, prettier sounds that the band developed over the years.

This Joke Sport Severed - 2009. Journal For Plague Lovers. A short, stark acoustic song about the failure of love and one’s own inadequacy. This song is gentle and simple, with yearning vocals and lovely chords.

All Is Vanity - 2009. Journal For Plague Lovers. A song closer to the post-punk sound of The Holy Bible. A lilting riff that disintegrates into a much harder sound complements the lyrics that illustrate a conflicted idea of the self and a desire for answers.

Postcards From A Young Man - 2010. Postcards From A Young Man. This song returns to the huge, anthemic sound of Everything Must Go. The drumming/guitar is a lot “bouncier” than most Manics songs, but the tune itself has some really interesting turns. The lyrics look back on the past, lamenting losses but refusing to be brought down by them.

Some Kind Of Nothingness - 2010. Postcards From A Young Man. Another anthemic song that incorporates strings/a choir, this song is another nostalgia trip, this time a bittersweet mourning, an acceptance of grief and the ache of memories. It features guest vocals by Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch.

Red Rubber - 2010. Postcards From A Young Man B-side. This is a surprise bop. A song about Leopold II’s violent colonization of central Africa (and takes the title from a documentary of the same name), it features synthesizer sounds and distortion guitar. It starts out sound slow and meandering, but suddenly picks up to a frenzied punk pace. The chorus is catchy as hell and angry as hell.

Rewind The Film - 2013. Rewind The Film. This album is almost entirely acoustic. The song itself features Richard Hawley (although I personally like the demo version with Nicky Wire on the vocals) and emphasizes its simplicity with acoustic guitar and simple piano and strings parts. This is yet another nostalgia song, wishing to re-experience happy memories. This one is not as grief-stricken as the other ones, and instead almost seems like a haze-tinged daydream.

As Holy As The Soil (That Buries Your Skin) - 2013. Rewind The Film. A Nicky Wire vocal, this is a song specifically written to/for Richey Edwards. An acoustic piece that features a beautiful trumpet solo from Sean, this song also grieves for the past and remembers good times. But this time it asks for those who are being grieved to return, and reminds them of how much the narrator (Nicky) loves them. This is a song that is so emotional it hurts to listen to but it’s also impossible to stop listening to it.

30 Year War - 2013. Rewind The Film. A departure from the nostalgia-trip of the last few songs, this song talks about the history of Wales and the government war on the working class during the 80s. It also features some lovely trumpet work from Sean and a really cool clapping-style drum beat. The lyrics describe class-related struggles and accuse the rich and the bourgeoisie of using propaganda to blame the poor/working class for their situation and to keep them from rising up in resistance.

Walk Me To The Bridge - 2014. Futurology. This album is a transition into prog rock/krautrock. This song features a heavy marching bassline and synthesizers, a huge glacial sound that opens up into a chorus with shining chords. Nicky says it’s about “the idea of bridges allowing you an out of body experience as you leave and arrive in different places,” but the demo also contains a number of Richey-specific references so who knows.

Sex Power Love And Money - 2014. Futurology. The power of this song mostly rides on power chords that structure it and the almost metallic-sounding synth and drums. The song itself is so fun it’s almost silly, a critique of technology and the entertainment industry that simultaneously takes itself seriously and takes the piss. It is a criticism of the entertainment industry and the way that capitalism erases originality and organic-ness. But it’s also just a fun musical romp that is almost reminiscent of late 90s/early 2000s Bowie.

Futurology - 2014. Futurology. This is a gentler song that fuses the huge glacial sound with something more sunny. The band describe the lyrics as “a statement of existential socialism – belief that humanity is still a viable ideal.” The lyrics and the guitar are optimistic and big, with a nice bass riff supporting the synth sounds behind it.

International Blue - 2018. Resistance Is Futile. A gorgeous, soaring song. Jumps off the back of Futurology’s proggy sound but adds more body. The song itself is about painter Yves Klein and his creation of the color Yves Klein Blue.

Broken Algorithms - 2018. Resistance Is Futile. Returning to their punk roots in terms of the rhythm section and crunchy guitar chords. A song also returning to Nicky’s perpetual subject: the critique of society’s thoughtless dependence on technology/social media and the consequences it can have on social awareness and creativity and the self.

#manic street preachers #manics #old repost #music meta #manic street preachers meta #intro to the manics #this is old as hell but i added rif to the end #and if there's a new album released next year maybe i'll add to this like i added withdrawn traces to the book review post #tbqh i only listen to like half the rif album on a regular basis oops

[mucky-puddler]

So, I’m doing a module on Kubrick, and I’m bringing you along for the ride

Context; I’m required to upload weekly blogs about the lectures and screenings and readings from the week. This is that.

Okay, so first is the lecture; one of the first things Nathan said is that Kubrick is that he has a film in every genre other than a western - we were not given a reason why; I guess he just hates them.

After my first introduction to Kubrick, I didn’t really know what to think about him - he seems a little high maintenance because he was very nit-picky about something changing on his set, whether that was a slight difference in the lighting or a prop had shifted. It should come as a surprise to no-one that Kubrick was an avid photographer as a young man because the skills he learnt whilst as a photographer at Look Magazine have bled through into his film-making. I also enjoy photography, so I connected with him at least on a very surface level. His other hobbies, like chess and other physical sports, also can be seen manifesting themselves through his work - some good, brief examples are his three short docu-style films. Day of the Fight illustrates his passion for sport and shows how he experimented with his photography at the same time; a good example of this is what I am calling the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, where the boxers are shot from underneath - we can see both of their faces and where the blows are hitting, and it gives the audience a glimpse into what it might have been like to see the fight live. Perhaps his strength and talent in photography lead people to see him as a “New York Intellectual” - part of me thinks that the deep and entwining themes came along after his experience as a photographer.

As most filmmakers do, Kubrick responded to the debates and ideas of his time, and made films within the context of those issues (more on this later). He seemed a little stuck up, especially when considering that he did not compromise his stylistic or intellectual integrity; some might say that that is noble of him, that he remains true to himself and the standards he upholds, but try thinking about it from the other crew’s point of view - he might have turned down their ideas because they did not align with his. This is, of course, speculation and I have no evidence to prove either way. Also, I’ve been informed that he had to check everything himself and didn’t trust other people to make his imagination come to life, which seems controlling to me - for example, he would often insist on holding the camera himself in order to effectively portray a point of view or something. I think if he could direct, hold the camera, do all the edits, record the sound, and act all the characters, he would. It would appear that he wanted everything to be just how he wanted it - but maybe that’s my pessimistic mindset coming through.

Let’s talk about the first three shorts Kubrick was commissioned to do. The first was called “Day of the Fight” in 1951 and is a documentary about Walter Cartier, an Irish middleweight boxer preparing for a fight. The narration, paired with the footage shot by Kubrick himself, informs the audience of how a semi-professional boxer prepares for a fight. Through this short piece, we can see Kubricks interests creep in - his enjoyment of sport and passion for chess is represented by the boxing itself, but also his love for animals can be seen through his inclusion of Cartier's dog. It is in this piece that the first ‘under-the-fight’ shot is used, emphasising his love for interesting shot and photography. His next short is called “The Flying Padre” (also 1951) and is another docu-piece about the priest Father Fred Stadtmuller who used his plane to spread the word of God and reach as many people as possible. He is portrayed as a lawful good hero, a Superman type. This is the shortest of the three, and there isn’t much more to say about it. The final short Kubrick released was made in 1953 called “The Seafarers”, and contained information about the perks that these navy-esque men receive for their service. It sheds an innocently positive light on the domestic aspects of their work and the options available for them (although they do say the word ‘seafarers’ far too much). It looks like some of the short were staged, especially as Kubrick probably would have had only one camera, but that is a common method to use when creating docu-style pieces. One question I did have though, nothing to do with Kubrick though, is how are the families of the seafarers perceived? Are they judged or pitied for not having a man around (because it was the 50′s, ya know)?

I’ll briefly (or not) discuss the other two feature-length films that Kubrick released about the same time. In 1955 he released “The Killers Kiss” whose story revolved around an ex-boxer and a dancer who fell in love and wanted to run away together to escape her creepy boss. As is the case with all of Kubrick’s films so far, this one started with some internal monologuing. The first 15 minutes or so heavily mirror “Day of the Fight”, from the vanity inspection beforehand to the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, which makes sense - Kubrick was only in his 20s when both of these films were released and his experience (like most of ours) was limited at the time (also we all draw inspiration from previous work/real life or whatever). Other than the glaring social issues (gotta love the 50′s) and peculiar plot holes, I felt that the music offset the desired atmosphere during scenes that were meant to be particularly tense - we learned that Kubrick enjoyed his music, jazz, in particular, so I find it strange that he would not try to better match the music with the intensity of the scene; perhaps it was that he did not have much music to work with. Kubrick uses a lot of noir features in this film e.g. harsh shadows, casting light through slatted blinds, utilising the aesthetic of smoking and fedora hats standing at street corners and at the ends of dark alleys, which I always enjoy. The second film we were introduced to was “The Killing” from 1956 - according to Nathan, this film inspired Tarantino to use split narrative, and this is one of the worlds first heist films. I don’t have as much to say about this one, both sport and chess can be seen within it illustrating Kubrick’s love for them both, it has a lot of noir tropes, and I think there was a gay couple in it? But I might be reading into it a little too deeply. There was an interesting switch of gender roles between two couples - in one, the man was dominant and overbearing, but in the other couple it was the woman who essentially bullied her partner, which was potentially quite progressive when considering the time in which it was released.

Here’s a brief (actually, this time) intro to the film I want to focus on - “Fear and Desire” was the first Kubrick film I watched, I had no expectations or thoughts about it beforehand and didn’t really know what to make notes on. After doing some reading, certain things became clearer, so I’ll pair the reading with some of my notes on the film itself.

In the introduction of the reading, James Enyeart talks a lot about the implications and developments of photography in the mid 19th century - these are some of the attributes he gives it;

- highly graphic and structures

- photographers had a keener eye

- composition gave structure and harmony

- gave a more aesthetically pleasing view of the world

- the more graphic an image and the more dramatic it’s presentation, the stronger the emotion

I agree with these conclusions - obviously, technology has advances since then, but these comments still ring true today. Additionally, Enyeart discusses photos in relation to the context they provide, and I have a theory; if a collection of photos can give more context than a single image, therefore a film (which is a series of photos shown in quick succession) can give the maximum amount of context? Alternatively, it could have the opportunity to convey multiple contexts, which could be considered themes?

Word of the day; Apotheosis – a perfect form or example of something, the highest or best part of something, elevation to a divine status.

I also agree with Enyeart’s comment suggesting that the overlap of cinematic photography, fiction, reality, and documentary style is the apotheosis of film.

Cherchi Usai’s chapter on Kubrick and “Fear and Desire” is more tailored to discussing the film – also I didn’t read any of the other chapters because I didn’t have time and that shit is long.

One of the biggest things discussed is how Kubrick hated the film in question (and I have to partially agree – it’s not great), but what is interesting is that no one can seem to agree whether it is a masterpiece or not. After the film was made and ready to be distributed, Kubrick was in love with it, as any young creative is with their most recent work. It is said he called “it’s structure; allegorical. It’s conception; poetic.” However, soon after its public release, critics called it “amateur” and said nothing more. However, after the initial hype, Kubrick ignored the fact that it ever existed, and it was after that that critics and fanatics thought the work to be more than it’s original worth. To me, it feels like a stranger wandered into Kubrick’s childhood bedroom and riffled through his GCSE artwork to find something for a museum – I do not understand why “Fear and Desire” is obsessed over.

It was at this point that I debated whether I wanted or even cared about the origins of the film, but my degree told me yes.

Also, keeping a camera in a paper bag is terrible camera care and hurts my physically.

One of the main points that were discussed was the theme of obsession – Kubrick had obsessions in his life, and he made films surrounding obsessions of different themes; death, lust, war, money, fear (also narration and film noir for Kubrick himself). In the film “Fear and Desire”, those obsessions are made manifest through Mac’s conversation with Corby about the Governor – he is obsessed with killing the enemy and winning the war, so much so that he died for his cause.

The final point to discuss is the double use of the actors – the actor for Corby also plays the Governor, which adds an air of humanity. Additionally, the narration played over their images is existential and inward-looking, therefore humanising both sides of the war.

#film student #film review #kubrick #stanley kubrick #fear and desire

[luuurien]

Guerilla Toss - Famously Alive

(Noise Pop, Experimental Rock, Neo-Psychedelia)

Guerilla Toss toss out their clean, quirk dance-punk style for a viscous, neon-hued venture as maniacally dense as it is maniacally fun. Famously Alive runs circles around itself, chasing joy just to chase joy once again in the most deliriously charming fashion.

☆☆☆☆

It's hard to tell if Famously Alive is a rainbow-colored migraine or the happiest mushroom trip you've ever been on. With every album they've moved further away from that bubbly, dance-punk sound they arrived with in the early 2010s, taking advantage of exciting new sounds and production styles that have come from a hyper-digital age and always advancing their music further. Now, with a new deal to indie heavyweight record label Sub Pop, they've tuned the radio to an alien frequency, ear candy laced with a quadruple dose mix of LSD, mushrooms, and DMT; it's psychedelia outside of the mind, a universe where that list of aforementioned drugs somehow found its way into the gene pool. It's the most fun any of their albums have ever been, and their ability to sell this wholly new sound makes it all the more magical. The insanely sweet sound of Famously Alive goes so overboard that it has to make an entire new scale to measure it, guitars that are doused in reverb and distortion pedals, and singing from Kassie Carlson that's constantly covered in massive autotune and harmonic layering that never lets you off the hook. If you don't look at the runtime, finding out this album is only slightly over 33 minutes is incredibly jarring because of how much they stuff into only a three or four minute runtime: Wild Fantasy's samples of kids laughing among a post-punk indebted bass and guitar lead while synths fly through the air like fireworks is nothing short of absolutely mesmerizing, and the two-minute title track is lighting quick and so hooky with that group chant chorus that it's next to impossible not to put it on repeat. Sometimes the experiments can go a bit haywire in their unwillingness to concede any musical ideas (I can't say I Got Spirit's dry autotuned chorus on top of steel pedal doesn't get irritating over three minutes), but that's part of the sacrifice Guerilla Toss has made to create some of their best songs to date. Famously Alive is a grab bag of experiments, and even if it feels like the majority of the successes here come out of chance rather than intricately layered musicianship, there's no question that when it hits you right it hits you hard. And that's the name of the game for Guerilla Toss here: a crazy Jekyll and Hyde testing ground where all the emotions and concepts that couldn't survive in their previous albums all come out to play. Live Exponential's head-high inducing synth harmonies and unstable rhythmic center feels both menacing and ethereal, like watching a U.F.O. blowing planets up into explosive, iridescent chunks that are all headed your way, Heathen in Me directly confronts this psycho-pop sound through the music, a tender piano ballad never finding its footing as noisy keyboards bounce about Carlson's effects-covered voice make her heart-bearing lyricism feel delightfully cartoonish. Famously Alive is both harmonious and atonal, deeply human and so out there you can't imagine how anyone could come up with it: songs of contradiction that only ever lean into it more as Guerilla Toss heads deeper down this candy-coated rabbit hole. What makes this all feel so consistent is that none of the songs change this formula, always colorful and cryptic even when Mermaid Airplane teeters on electropop decadence or Pyramid Humm's midtempo pulse and clearer vocal leads are shaped by angular bursts of guitar and glitch instrumentation: if there was ever a doubt Guerilla Toss weren't fully committed to everything they do, Famously Alive stomps out that rumor until the body can't even be identified. Famously Alive is a trip you won't want to miss, one of the most exciting and euphoric albums this year that uses the unique circumstances that come with being a band like Guerilla Toss to throw all caution to the wind and still come out winners. These songs are fluorescent, acidic and impossible to wrap your mind around, a constant assault on your senses that you keep coming back to for more. It's impossible to avoid the few eyesores here, but when you decide to go all-in like Guerilla Toss you're almost bound to mix some volatile potions every so often. What the main takeaway from Famously Alive is, though, is that no artist is limited by what they've done in the past: you can always start a project nobody would have ever imagined you taking on and throw everything else to the wayside, and with the right supports you can prove to the whole world just how good you are at anything you set your mind to. And with Famously Alive, Guerilla Toss shows they can do all that and more while making it all immensely fun and effortless-looking, too.

#guerilla toss #famously alive #sub pop #art pop #dance #dance punk #electronic #experimental #experimental rock #hyperpop #indie pop #indie rock #neo-psychedelia #new wave #noise #noise pop #pop #rock #2022 #8/10

[gearboxrecords]

Thelonious Monk - Mønk

Sammy Stein - Something Else

Tapes of an previously lost Thelonious Monk performance have been rescued and mastered by Gearbox Records, and are now available on an LP. Mønk is from the idiosyncratic pianist’s prime period and feature his most critically acclaimed quartet recorded live on March 5, 1963 at Odd Fellows Mansion in Copenhagen. He memorably collaborated with saxophonist Charlie Rouse, bassist John Ore and drummer Frankie Dunlop on the Columbia studio albums Criss-Cross and Monk’s Dream, both released in 1963. Ore went on to play with Sun Ra.

Fifty-five years later these tapes have been saved, then cut using Gearbox’s legendary all-analog process. (They use the same lathe as Blue Note did back in the day.) The results on Mønk open a window onto Thelonious Monk in his prime, one year before he would become one of only five jazz artists to appear on the front cover of Timemagazine.

Already a renowned jazz pianist who had worked with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Monk began to employ improvisational technique which included gaps in the music and repetition of phrases in different formats, while also using the keyboard to introduce disharmonic chords. Though grounded in gospel, Monk started experimenting and introducing his own improvised sections in pieces. With his idiosyncratic style, both in his playing and off-stage, Monk undoubtedly had an influence on jazz musicians like pianist Bud Powell who followed, inspiring them to improvise and play according to their heart. He was one of the key musicians to help forge links between bop, hardbop and free jazz.

Mønk is a wonderful showcase of that prowess. Thelonious Monk’s playing on this night features many of the artistic and rhythmic improvisational traits that brought him such acclaim and admiration. As this celebrated quartet reimagines and explores Monk’s classics, that approach to the piano is inimitable and unmistakable.

“Bye-Ya” opens Mønk with a dramatic drum solo from Frankie Dunlop, whose hard-hitting style comes to the fore throughout, adding punctuation and structure. The sax line is lovely, rolling and backed by a walking, strolling and constantly supportive bass. The drums pop in and out like a timely reminder and the lower notes of the wonderful Charlie Rouse on sax are completely in control and absolutely gorgeous. This track shows the strength of the integrity of the quartet – and Monk’s piano, needless to add, takes its own lines, adds little points of interruption and commentary to make the track speak to the listener. The ever-so-polite clapping from the Danish audience halfway through is in contrast to the musical shenanigans on stage. The piano solo from those dextrous fingers of Monk, along with his disharmonic interpretation of the theme later in the track, tell you this is Thelonious Monk at his definitive best. The clapping is more enthusiastic as the track finishes.

“Nutty” makes masterful use of space and melody. The theme is set early on and repeated several times before Charlie Rouse’s masterful solo begins – and masterful is the right word, as he takes center stage musically, with Monk accompanying with some style. It is hard to express Monk’s ability as an accompanist, and he is rightfully considered one of the best the jazz world has known. Here, he is intuitive and almost psychic in his support of the solo, and the bass and percussive lines are pretty near perfect too. This allows the solo to develop, whilst offering solid scaffolding underneath. The piano emerges for a solo with the bass accompanying around the half way mark, and the drums never let you forget they are there as part of the music, not just to maintain the beat: Their emphatic complimentary strokes and beats add direction and strength. Monk does a few things which are so Thelonious Monk, including a little disharmonious section just when the theme is really getting going – almost like he’s saying to the audience: “Well, did you hear that? What I just did there? No? Well, how about this? Still the tune, though – Ha!” All the time, the bass is constant and steady.

“I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” is simply lovely, with some slight syncopations and weird harmonies worked in but not enough to throw the listener. It’s a clever and very Monk-ish thing to do and many who followed take this little trick, which adds interest and variation. After the piano introduction, the track moves along with sax, bass and drums all adding their weight and input. The sax solo is again wonderful and demonstrates the choice Monk made was right for this quartet. The piano rises, drifts, crashes and falls away as Monk sees fit, and this is a beautifully woven track. It’s tight as velvet, smooth as silk and strong as sisal.

“Body and Soul” opens with Monk serving up a smorgasbord of styles and deliveries, all for the listener’s enjoyment. Trinkels, triplets for doubles, then some classic-influenced methodology, all delivered with a twist and put together in a way which many players wish they could. The great thing with Thelonious Monk is he plays in the moment, and you can almost feel his emotions chasing each other here. Gorgeous does not go near this. Sometimes, the thought that such a recording could have been lost is too much. Mønk is amazing.

“Monk’s Dream” is totally band-delivered. The quartet here display just how tight their bond is, with Rouse altering dynamics and taking the lead for much of the track, whilst Ore and Dunlop are tuned in, seeming to foresee Monk’s unpredictable shifts and turns, intertwining with one another and him effortlessly. It is testament to the caliber of the musicians that they smoothly and effortlessly take the cues which Monk distributes so liberally, but so quickly one after the other and do not let it phase them at all. This create a sense of ease and fluidity which could be lost with lesser players. There’s a reason this is considered to be the definitive Monk quartet – and “Monk’s Dream,” perhaps more than any other here, confirms it.

Lost recordings of this stature are rare, especially when it comes to major players like Monk, making this a treat for enthusiasts, Thelonious Monk followers, historians and music lovers. Credit goes to Gearbox, a vinyl-led label that cuts and masters using original analog machinery in their London studio.

“The original tape was a Scotch broadcast tape amongst a collection of delights we bought from a Danish producer who had literally picked them from a skip some 20 years ago. He was going to use them to sample and remix during the acid-jazz heyday but didn’t have time,” label founder Darrel Sheinman says. “This album represents several years of hard work: Firstly, to source the tape and clear the Monk-related rights issues, then to create a special all-analog recording which is analog all the way from the source to the stock on the shelf. AAA means Analog recording, Analog mix, Analog master – no digital in the path. We felt this was the only way to produce probably one of the best Monk renditions we have ever heard.”

I asked Shienman what he felt the recordings and release meant for the label, which has already been instigators in saving recordings from tapes, mastered using their own machines, for example, from BBC sessions which would have been lost to time due to the quality deteriorating. “Well, it is not a remaster, as it has never been out before. It is a milestone for the label,” Shienman said. “Whilst we have released other great jazz artists on the label such as Dexter Gordon, Michael Garrick and Tubby Hayes, we have never had one of the ‘holy trinity’ [of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk]. Special!”

I asked him how he feels it contributes to the already vast store of Monk music. Darrell simply said: “You can never have too much Monk.” On the process Shienman comments, “The quality was excellent. We did only minor tickling on the EQ [equalization, or balancing the sound]. All analogue, an easy mastering job.”

The liner notes for Mønk have been written by Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus, and jazz writer Stephen Graham. The collector’s edition of the vinyl – limited to 500 copies worldwide – will also come with a previously unpublished, signature-embossed 30×30 print of Thelonious Monk by British journalist and photographer Val Wilmer. The record will also be pressed on audiophile, transparent vinyl and comes in a vintage style tip-on, hand-numbered sleeve. There will also be a standard vinyl/CD release and Mønk will exist on all digital streaming platforms as well.

The overriding sense here is the connection between the players. All great, all capable of filling (or emptying) a place at will, these masters of their instruments listen, interpret, and at times with uncanny foresight, seem to be there just a shade before Monk: They really “get” his playing, which took some doing at the time.

Some might wonder why recordings – especially “lost” recordings – are so important, and also ponder the fact that many artists made personal recordings and many recordings have been lost. But the fact is few musicians had such an influence as Thelonious Monk, and latterly John Coltrane, and this is why it is important that any recording – and, indeed, perhaps especially those kept (as the ‘Trane tapes) by the artist – are shared because those who have followed in their giant footsteps can have a sense of a clearer path. The gaps are filled and the picture is complete.

Of course, practice sessions, jams and collective ensembles are now lost to time, but the listener can, with the help of these recordings, gain more a sense of the progression of these artists and how they developed over time. The more you hear, the easier the path is to trace. Found recordings also instigate a fear in the listener – the fear that, had it not been for some peculiar twists of fate and uncanny collisions of events, recordings like Mønk could have been forever lost.

#jazz #post bebop #vinyl #analogue #aaa #lost tapes #jazz piano #Sammy Stein

[projectalbum]

Radio songs. 189. “Green,” 190. “Out of Time,” 191. “Automatic for the People,” 192. “Monster,” 193. “New Adventures in Hi-Fi" by R.E.M.

For R.E.M., signing to Warner Bros Records meant reaching more people, in the U.S. and abroad. It meant a bigger promotional push behind their albums.

It meant an exponential increase in their touring schedule, to the point where all four were pretty burned out by the idea after being on the road for most of ’88-’89. But for me, it was a move that meant my favorite music in existence was allowed to sprout from the fertile loam of commercialism.

If you’ll remember from my previous post, it was a compilation of songs from the WB era that first made me a fan. And it was the first few albums under that banner that made R.E.M. superstars, i.e. a band established enough that I would be aware of them growing up. It’s hard for me to grasp the amount of R.E.M. saturation that existed from roughly ’88 - ’94. By the time I was humming “What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?” and “Orange Crush” in high school, it was 2005 and the band’s incandescence had faded to the soft, respectable glow of “Dad Rock.” They were hipper than the Billy Joel & Electric Light Orchestra discs that they had replaced in my repertoire, but as far as my peers were concerned, barely. 

The first Christmas after I had announced myself as a fan brought, in shiny happy gift wrapping, Green (#189) and Out Of Time (#190). A veritable Mandolin-apalooza: in the campfire folk trance of “You Are The Everything,” mournful character study “The Wrong Child,” and midnight hippie spiritual “Hairshirt” that are scattered through the mix of Green, and powering the über-hit that secured their legacy, “Losing My Religion,” on Out Of Time. My relationship to those tracks has dipped and risen through the years— I was much less open to strange acoustic explorations back then (or in the case of “LMR,” its overfamiliarity), so I tended to skip them. I grooved on the electric menace of “Turn You Inside-Out” and the poptimism of “Untitled.”

“World Leader Pretend,” in which all the band’s instruments, including Stipe’s voice, seemed tuned to a lower register than ever before (now THAT’S some counter-programming to the bubblegum of “Stand”), has become a God-level composition in my mind. It’s gained some resurgence recently, seen as a pointed critique of the venal and power-hungry who are obsessed with controlling geopolitical barriers. "I raised the wall / And I will be the one to knock it down,” the protagonist intones, and yeah, “the Wall” has a connotation for current events in 2018, as it did 30 years ago (roughly a year after the album’s release, Berlin’s concrete schism was demolished). But I hear the divided self in “World Leader Pretend”: the man erecting the walls of his own isolation chamber, shoring up his fragile ego against outer pain, denying the possibility for connection. "I decree a stalemate, I divine my deeper motives / I recognize the weapons / I've practiced them well, I fitted them myself.” In other words, I hear myself.

Fortunately, he concludes that it’s within his power to level these barriers he's constructed, and I feel I can learn the same lesson. There’s a triumphant slide guitar in the bridge, an iconically Country-Western flavor that the band returns to on one of the most indelible tracks on Out of Time— the descriptively-titled “Country Feedback.” Heartache on an epic scale, deliberate, hypnotic tempo but bubbling like a volcano, the words a stream-of-consciousness chant over Peter Buck’s searching electric guitar and Mike Mills funereal organ. “It’s crazy what you could have had,” Stipe laments, his voice rising, and then, “I need this. I need this.” Is it the confession that he needs, or the connection slipping away from his grasping fingers? He’s called it his favorite song in the band’s canon; they’ve performed it with Neil Young providing the wailing guitar counterpart, like a Dead Man end credits song that never happened, and there’s a clever mashup on the Unplugged set that bowled me over (I’ll mention it when I get there).

The acoustic arrangements and sonic experimentation continued on Automatic for the People (#191), with a purge of the bubblegum (“The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” is a notable exception, but for a goof, it’s gorgeous.) Much has been made of the album’s apparent preoccupation with mortality and loss. For sure, there's the straight-forward teen suicide deterrent “Everybody Hurts,” predating It Gets Better by a couple decades; “Sweetness Follows,” about the steady, plodding journey through mourning, and the peaceful plateau you can reach; “Monty Got A Raw Deal,” a steely Western ballad inspired in part by the tortured, bisexual film actor Montgomery Clift. But it’s a hopeful album, not a dour slog.

To me, the common thread is The Past: that personal history that’s less about the agreed-upon facts and more about the feelings tied to events, coloring your reminiscence. “Drive,” the darkly insinuating opening track, takes inspiration for its rhythmic Beat poetry vocal from David Essex's “Rock On,” a song that Stipe might have heard as a teenager, one that itself looks back a further 20 years to the birth of rock n’roll. Add the string arrangement by rock royalty, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, and it’s nostalgia brined in nostalgia.

We’re looking at the reflection of the old photograph as caught by the passing streetlights: several layers of removal from the events. But in looking back, our feelings strike us clearer than whatever life we’ve built for ourselves in the interim; we’re still dwelling on whatever innocence we think we’ve lost. "I have seen things that you will never see / Leave it to memory me,” are the parting words of a person at the end of their life in “Try Not To Breathe” (often in the running for my favorite R.E.M. recording). "I will try not to burden you,” they promise, holding in secrets of a time gone by in hopes that the listener will forge a new path.

“Find The River,” which draws the book to a close with accordion and harmonizing voices, is another in a line of R.E.M. songs drawing on the river as a symbol of lost harmony. In youthful exuberance, there was “Nightswimming,” but "The ocean is the river's goal / A need to leave the water knows,” and time moves inexorably forward. The past feeds into the unfathomable depths of the future. Automatic for the People draws its title from the slogan at a soul food joint in the band’s hometown. It’s that sense of their own history, 8 records in and on top of the world, that merges with their innate creative restlessness, compelling them to shoot off in a new direction.  “I have got to leave to find my way."

This fuels their mission statement with each album since the WB era began: “Let’s write songs that don’t sound like ‘R.E.M. songs.’” If Automatic is self-reflective, Monster (#192) is about adopted personas. The sound of a middle-aged Art Rock band pretending to be a 20-something Glam Rock band, adding more neon and guitar distortion and posturing than you can shake a Mott The Hoople at. “What can I make myself be? (Faker!)” 

The video for “Crush With Eyeliner” furthers that sense of playful irony: the band members pushed off to the corner of the bar as a new generation, from a different cultural background, expresses the song for them. The entire radioactive orange LP kind of encapsulates every messy teenage feeling I've had since high school. I'm still a "faker," pretending to sing this song. And looking good doing it. (Though, full disclosure, the first time I did karaoke I went with “Bang and Blame.” I don’t mind telling you I nailed it.)

Monster is marked by the most prevalent sexual overtones in R.E.M. canon, as if they were embracing that self-aware Rock Star trope. It’s hard to get more on the nose than the title “Star 69,” but “I Don’t Sleep, I Dream” wins the prize with “Are you coming to ease my headache? / Do you give good head? / Am I good in bed?” As the public debated Michael Stipe’s sexuality, he parried the question in the press and played with his image in the lyrics. The topic of his “Crush” is gendered “she,” giving hetereos like myself plenty to appropriate for our own impossible Cool Girl daydreams— never mind that it’s an ode to his friend Courtney Love. “King of Comedy” addresses a legion of Rupert Pupkins getting their big shot by whatever means necessary, but it also contains the lyric "I'm straight, I'm queer, I'm bi,” a few years before he revealed publicly where the needle pointed on that dial for him. “Tongue” is a lilting, falsetto performance: piano-driven cabaret written for a female protagonist lamenting her inconsiderate lovers. More masks for a closely-scrutinized celebrity to find freedom behind.

New Adventures in Hi-Fi (#193) felt as appropriate a title as any for my first year at a university— trading my hometown for a cinderblock dorm-room, starting down my career path with all the film courses they’d allow me to sign up for. The road-grit guitars, open road expansive sound, Stipe’s tour-shredded front man vocals: the album is alternately weary and electrified. Choruses and riffs fit to fill a stadium (as many basic tracks were recorded at live soundcheck) beside intimate 3AM tour bus confessionals. I scored this huge chapter of my young life with the strutting, T. Rex glam of “The Wake-Up Bomb,” arena-ready choruses of “Bittersweet Me” and “So Fast, So Numb,” felt inspired by the dreamlike inscrutability of “How The West Was Won and Where It Got Us” and darkly-reflective poetry of “E-Bow The Letter.”

I’m not overly surprised to hear that this LP didn’t hit with the same impact as the previous ones— it’s always felt like an acquired taste that I couldn’t impart to anyone else. “You haven’t heard 'Leave?’ Ah man, it’s over 7 minutes long, and there’s a constant siren loop in the background! But trust me, when you hear the acoustic riff from the opening interlude reprised by double-tracked electric guitar, the goose pimples will be visible from space.”

Where Monster boasted the straight-arrow torch song “Strange Currencies,” the hushed, surrealistic “Be Mine” seemed as if it emanated from my own bruised heart. "I'll be the sky above the Ganges / I'll be the vast and stormy sea / I'll be the lights that guide you inward / I'll be the visions you will see”— it’s a cross-spiritual devotional that funnels the tenets of world religions into a promise for total intimacy. I would pay top dollar for the raw footage of Thom Yorke’s guest interpretation. 

Despite the public’s anemic response, the band’s estimation of Hi-Fi’s strengths is justifiably high. It’s an accomplished, energetic record that shows every member playing at his peak. It’s now frozen in history as the last document of the band as a foursome. In the next entry, I’ll delve into the CDs released after drummer Bill Berry retired and R.E.M. dramatically changed gears, rocketing into the 21st century.

#R.E.M. #michael stipe #peter buck #mike mills #bill berry #monster #new adventures in hi-fi #automatic for the people #green #out of time #losing my religion #what's the frequency #cdcollection #cd #cdcollector #album art #music blog #Rock Music #patti smith

[shemakesmusic-uk]

This segment features artists who have submitted their tracks/videos to She Makes Music. If you would like to be featured here then please send an e-mail to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Dahlia

Dahlia is an Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter and the music she creates is a hybrid of trip-hop, R&B and witch house with lyrics which focus on mental health and bizarre life experiences. Alongside Jordan Russell-Hall on production and Jamie Clapton on drums and live arrangements they are influenced by the forward thinking sounds and attitudes of FKA Twigs, SOPHIE and Young Fathers. Dahlia has just released the double single 'Clarity' / 'Slip Slowly' and here is what she had to say on the offering: "I chose to release these two songs together because they are bookends to a time in my life when I was learning how to identify toxic behaviours in others and unlearn them in myself—shout out to the queens of boundaries themselves Florence Given and Michelle Elman for that one. Opening up dialogues about mental health is something that’s very important to me and my music and these songs demonstrate that. I grew up singing Gaelic folk songs. I’ve found this style of singing and the storytelling style of songwriting has woven it’s way into my current way of working. I’m also heavily influenced by late ‘90s and early 2000s sounds and aesthetics like Portishead but also more contemporary sounds like FKA Twigs and Sevdaliza. These two songs are a marriage of all these things with a little Dido drama at the end for good measure." Listen below.

Gillian Stone

Gillian Stone is a Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist who aims to reconcile tenderness and dark emotion in her work. Her music is an exploration of inner and outer landscapes, turbulent feelings, recovery, and the juxtaposition of femininity and imperfection. She uses vulnerability to create a safe space to explore the dichotomy of beauty and discomfort. Her background in jazz and ethnomusicology has heavily influenced her work. Her upbringing on Vancouver Island also led her to Coast Salish hip hop and the soundscape and scene of the Cascadian bioregion. Stone uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore disparate genres in order to produce a singular sonic environment. New song 'Bridges' is the soundscape of recovery. "I wrote this song in 2009 after a summer of self-imposed turbulence," says Gillian. "I don't remember exactly when or how I wrote it, but it stayed with me and became predictive. For over a decade, I've returned to it as a space to safely express shame. Now it's morphing into a reminder, a call for self-temperance. I'm still discovering what it means. 'Bridges' follows a journey of dysregulated emotions exacerbated by alcohol abuse. The e-cello movement is meant to evoke the feeling of losing one's mind. This is a post-rock night song that ends with a promise of the sun." Listen below.

Gillian Stone · Bridges

Jenna Kearns

Jenna Kearns is a disabled songwriter from South Wales. She has rheumatoid arthritis and spent a lot of time as a young child in and out of hospital, having treatments, tests and operations. She grew up and has lived in a small town most of her life. "I’ve always had music in my life in one way or another but when I was younger it was musical theatre," says Jenna. "It was while studying at university that my passion for writing songs became my main focus." She worked with a songwriter/producer in Leamington Spa and it was there she wrote her first EP Time Has Passed which was released in July 2016. Last year in 2019 the title track of the EP was used on the TV show Dance Moms. During lockdown since March she has been writing nonstop with different songwriters/producers. "I now have such an incredible team behind me that I’m very excited for the near future as a disabled artist," she says. "Personally for me being a disabled artist in the industry who cannot get out of her wheelchair the biggest challenge has really been access into studios/songwriting spaces. The studio I worked with on my first EP wasn’t accessible however it was a simple fix they had someone build ramps for me to be able to access the parts of the studio needed." 'Thank you' is the latest single from Jenna. Co-written with and produced by hotly tipped singer/songwriter Joe Dolman, 'Thank You' is a new spin on the damaging effects of toxic relationships.  Offering a positive outlook on this negative experience, the song thanks someone for showing their true intentions. "This year during my 8 months of shielding, I've been writing loads, creating an identity and really honing in on my sound and skills. Part of what makes me unique is being a female disabled artist, having a physical disability people don't see that much disability representation within the music industry, physical disabilities even less so. Talking about disabled creatives or in my case disabled artist will push forward barriers, because I  simply do not want to be seen as just the disabled girl, but want to find those who are about inclusivity and talent." Listen to 'Thank You' below.

Jenna Kearns · Thank You - Next Single 13th november

Total Brutal

Total Brutal is the new indie pop solo project from Los Angeles based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Emily Moore. Moore is known as a professional touring musician, having shared the stage with the likes of Grammy award-winning band FUN, Børns, Ella Vos, X Ambassadors and many more. With the goal of spreading positivity and self-empowerment, Total Brutal has an ethos of standing up for yourself in order to be heard and seen, facing fears head on and being comfortable in your own skin. Her latest single 'Egypt' is an 80’s tinged song, reminiscent of Phoenix meets Fleetwood Mac. Oozing with soaring harmonies and warm, muted vocals, the funk-fueled track shimmers brightly, creating the ultimate dance-worthy anthem. 'Egypt' narrates trying to get the feeling back of being a kid and the excitement of what the future holds. Nowadays we live in fear of the uncertainty, wanting to bury our heads and hide ourselves away. Moore confides, “I constantly need to remind myself to play more and lighten up. It’s easy to get lost in the seriousness of life but I want to go through life having fun and viewing everything with curiosity.” The sun-soaked track succeeds in lifting spirits, certain to put a smile on your face from the very get go. Inspired by strong female artists, Total Brutal is determined to help other young women make their worth known and their voices heard. She shares, “It took me a really long time to understand that I am allowed to speak up, have opinions and speak directly. I’m starting to realize that I can be myself and be liked and professional all the same. I want to help foster that adventurous spirit and confidence in young women!” Listen to 'Egypt' below.

Total Brutal · Egypt

Kate Boothman

Hailing from The Ganaraska Forest in Southern Ontario, horse trainer turned singer-songwriter, Kate Boothman, emerges with her forthcoming sophomore record, My Next Mistake this fall. Recorded at producer, Thomas Knox D’Arcy’s, Taurus Recording, over 2 snowy weeks in January, 2019, Kate and Thom made what they referred to in the studio as a “massage rock” record. Writing as they went, Kate and Thom’s life-long friendship enabled them to tuck into their shadows. This provided them with instant fodder for the moody narrative that Kate delivers as part prayer, part animal, and entirely her own. This sits nicely against the sweeping strings, heavy bass, twangy guitars, organ swells and sometimes thunderous drums that make the trippy washed out folk scape reminiscent of something Lee Hazelwood would have dreamed up with the help of Mazzy Star. Latest single '17' "is one of those songs that emerged fully formed," says Kate. "It's about that confidence and arrogance that comes with being a spicy youth, and then all of a sudden you're an adult and you realize you knew nothing. You look back and can't help but examine everything you've learned and lost. I wrote '17' after a particularly heavy day during a particularly heavy time in my life. I was overworked, overwhelmed, underslept, heartbroken, and generally confused. I got home late, laid down on the floor, and when I got up, wrote the song in 20 minutes. My songs come fast, but they build up slowly. Festering away inside until they simply can't be contained." Listen below.

Kate Boothman · 17

Clara Byrne

Clara Byrne is a socialist singer-songwriter from Bray. She seeks her lyrical inspiration in the world around her and seeks solitude from that world in the music she creates. 'Conflict Bound' is her first single from her upcoming debut album Handstitched. Clara on 'Conflict Bound': "In a world filled with juxtaposed opinions and clashing ideals, it is getting progressively harder to know where to stand. It can be nearly impossible not to get bogged down in fighting the opposition or slaving towards winning small mercies. It all seems so vast, so utterly impossible to grasp. But there are rare occasions when a clearing appears through the density. These moments when everything is laid out in its most digestible form, is worth waiting for. The woods briefly comes into view and with it a sense that it is all so obvious.We cannot go on like this, in this pressure cooker waiting to be boiled alive. We are heading towards a grand finale; the likes of which mankind has never seen before. As we navigate through the late stages of capitalism, its true face appears clearer now than ever before; we the people are expendable. And like the true dying beast that it is, it will not go down easy. It will not go down alone. Don’t let it’s dying cries drown out what has become clear to you; we’re conflict bound." Listen below.

Conflict Bound by Clara Byrne

Just Costa

For Just Costa, music is just the ticket — to their own sonic theme park. "We call it Just Costa Land," quips Jesse Just Costa, who leads the Montreal outfit with sister Juliana. "We want to bring the sense of an amusement park to our music. The excitement, the enthusiasm, the joie de vivre; that's what we're bringing to life." They have all the building blocks they need. First and foremost are their vocals: Hers clear, supple and sweetly flowing, his lightly sanded and breezy. They blend with the grace and beauty of siblings who finish each other's sentences. Then there are the songs: Richly melodic, lyrically life-affirming and — most crucially — irresistibly groovy. Laced with Jesse's tasteful guitar work, crafted from an amalgam of contemporary R&B, soul, funk, pop and more, their tracks can hold their own next to hits from Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson and Khalid. Enjoy the ride. "'514' is our ode to the beautiful city of Montreal," say the dup of their latest single. "Our hometown's energy is creative and electric. The people are kind and open – you can feel the joie de vivre in the air, especially in the summertime. If your city inspires you, pushes you to open your heart and do better, then this song is for you. This is our first fully self-produced single, recorded in our own studio, with some help from the retro synth wizard himself, Paul Shrofel. The beauty of a song about a city is that everyone has their own unique stories and experiences within that city. Montreal has no lack of open-mindedness, artsiness, or beautiful people, and this city is an ongoing narrative that threads through the story of our own lives."

Just Costa · 514

#submission saturday #dahlia #gillian stone #jenna kearns #total brutal #kate boothman #clara byrne #just costa

[fushaarmovies]

David Byrne's American Utopia

David Byrne’s American Utopia” may be a joyous expression of art, empathy, and compassion. it's the intersection of two artists—Spike Lee and David Byrne—who are interrogating how we connect through art for many years . Thirty-six years ago, Byrne and therefore the Talking Heads made one among the simplest concert films of all time in Jonathan Demme’s landmark “Stop Making Sense.” It seems like such a present to urge this bookend in 2020 once we often desire we’re further apart than ever. Nothing is sensible anymore. And here comes David Byrne, a person examining connection and therefore the individual role in community through his incredible music, staging it during a way that reminds us that human expression is our most precious commodity. Director Lee works right alongside Byrne, bringing viewers into the show together with his incredible directing, putting us right stage with these talented artists, and transcending a mere recording of a live event. Byrne and Lee’s utopias aren't far apart—places where we see each other honestly and truly.

Byrne and Brian Eno wrote the album American Utopia and released it to positive reviews in 2018. However, it had been the next Broadway show in 2019 that basically gave this project international attention. Playing at the Hudson in late 2019, the show incorporated most of Byrne’s latest album with other songs from his career, including Talking Heads hits like “Once during a Lifetime,” “Burning Down the House,” and “This Must Be the Place.” A hybrid of a standard concert performance with musical choreography and even echoes of performance art, “American Utopia” earned raves on stage, and Lee decided to direct a movie version of the show.

“David Byrne’s American Utopia” starts on a comparatively barren stage, echoing the straightforward beginnings of “Stop Making Sense”—fans will enjoy visual beats and choices that appear to recall that incredible show and ask themselves if it’s coincidental or intentional. From the primary song, “Here” (actually the last song on the most recent album), Byrne is examining connections by literally singing about the human brain. in short interludes between songs, he makes this go after connection even clearer, talking about how people meet and therefore the lines between individual and community. Both are so important to Byrne, who values singular artistic expression but also how those expressions form a much bigger picture.

That idea is embodied within the show itself, one during which Byrne surrounds himself with an incredibly talented collection of performers, eleven in total, who function the “band” for “American Utopia.” they're dancers, singers, musicians, and collaborators—people traveling Byrne during a way that highlights him and creates a bigger sense of performance. The choreography is mesmerizing, the musicianship is remarkable, and therefore the sense of joy bursts off the screen. It also changes the music itself into a sort of communal expression as most songs are reworked into layered, percussion-heavy numbers for the structure of the show. Just watching these people rise and fall, joining voices consonant , and stepping forward for a solo or receding into the background is so artistically inspiring—people at the highest of their craft united in song.

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Byrne and Lee aren’t naïve enough to think music on Broadway can solve everything. There’s an undercurrent of hysteria and even outrage in “American Utopia.” the primary image on-stage that appears aside from the artists is one among Colin Kaepernick because the performers kneel, one among Byrne’s longest interludes is about the necessity to vote, and a tremendous rendition of Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” comes with images of murdered Black men and ladies . the entire show is about watching each other , connecting, and expressing. Byrne’s music and Lee’s craftsmanship work together to shake people out of complacency in multiple ways—find your joy, find your outrage, find something. during a year during which apathy has been easier to slip into, just seeing something this vibrantly alive seems like a miracle.

It’s all there within the lyrics to Byrne’s stunning acapella show-closer, a reworked version of “One Fine Day”. The dancing, singing, playful ensemble has been stripped of their instruments, leaving only the facility of their harmonious voices to form the ultimate point: “Then a bit of mind, fell over me/In these troubled times, I still can see/We can use the celebs , to guide the way/It isn't that far, the one fine day.” it's the individual (“fell over me”), the community (“we can use the stars”) and even the hope for a far better future that brings this breathtaking work of art to an in depth . we will use the celebs , to guide the way.