7/17/23.
Famous Mammals are yet another Oakland, California band. This one shares members with Children Maybe Later and Non-Plus Temps.
This really doesn't sound anything like Children Maybe Later - this has more of a post-punk palette in the vein of The Fall. "Instant Pop Expressionism Now!", according to the write-up on the Siltbreeze Bandcamp page, "harkens back to the halcyon days when Rough Trade called 202 Kensington Park Road home. "Instant Pop Expressionism Now!" is an ultramodern polyglot of smatterings that at once sound familiar, but you can't quite place it. Swell Maps? Happy Refugees? Monochrome Set?".
This is released on Philadelphia-based legendary label Siltbreeze. Really, this sounds like one of those releases they handle from Zaius Tapes.
9 notes
·
View notes
the fact that pib's story and character doesn't lean into the horror/tragedy side of things as the other neverafter PCs do is part of why i find him so interesting
the motives and stakes that pib faces as an individual are never really as pressing/high as those that the others in the group face. marienne is already destroyed and tomas is already dead, which pib cannot and does not seek to undo (he wants revenge on the giants later on, but he only seeks it when going to snowhold & the land of giants becomes something they have to do anyways. and his starting priority isn't revenge - he's more or less just trying to get by after the fall of marienne), unlike the others, who are either in the throes of their tragedies, or actively attempting to undo what has already come to pass, or, mostly, a mix of both.
there's also the fact that pib isn't a "character" in the way the others are, but rather the archetype of the trickster cat. as both a trickster spirit and an archetype, he already holds a little more agency than the others because he's not bound to being "pib". he does grow an attachment to the identity of pib in a way that doesn't seem typical of the tricksters (the fox says that he's "gotten too caught up in it" when he returns to the trickster forest with no memories of who they are), but, ultimately, if something happens to the story of puss in boots, he's still the cat. he knows there's more for him than just pib, that, although he's still subject to the whims of the authors, he's not bound to one destiny in the same way his friends are.
in any case, whether we're talking about pib or the cat, he doesn't need to fight in the way his friends do. he doesn't need to care the way he does, or maybe even shouldn't care in the way that he does (the fox overall seems to suggest that pib is softer compared to the other tricksters; "it was a mistake to send him", "you're more the hero than you think", etc, and almost seems to look down on him for it) but he does anyways. he fights and tricks for the sake of his friends, for the sake of tomas, for the sake of the neverafter. and he does it because he chooses to. he's a trickster, who we might expect to act in a self-serving way, but he chooses to be, for the most part, selfless. he has a little more agency than the others and, instead of taking it and running, he uses it to help, to choose to be good, because he cares about the people around him. he's a little asshole with a heart goddamnit
329 notes
·
View notes
7/27/23.
I first heard about Sloth Mate Productions (based in California...I'm assuming Oakland based on the tag) with the release of Children Maybe Later. But I actually bought their Violent Change 7" release years earlier - on this blog I credited it as a self-release.
It's hard to find any real information about the label, and their new band Now is equally enigmatic. "And Blue Space Is Burning Noon" is set for release in a few days. Members are Hannah, Will and Oli. That's it.
"Loose Strand" is the outstanding track here. It really sounds like Cleaners From Venus or Modern Art.
1 note
·
View note
chief detective Beatrice x mastermind robber Ava
at first it’s just a couple of small bank robberies and home break ins to a couple of rich families, the only catch being that the robbers leave no trace behind. nothing. no prints, no camera footage, and no trace of the valuables stolen.
enter Beatrice, the institutions best and youngest chief detective, with one of the best track records when it comes to seemingly unsolvable crimes.
Beatrice being the one trying to catch them does not deter Ava in the slightest. In fact, it only seems to fuel her with newfound purpose: annoying Beatrice as much as humanly possible.
“I too am the best and youngest of my kind, detective.” Is all Beatrice can find at the crime scene of the latest robbery. She treats it as a lead, nothing more. Beatrice’s cheeks don’t flush with anger, she doesn’t crumple it up by accident, and she doesn’t think about it on her way home.
“You’re getting bolder.” Beatrice speaks months later into the phone of a hostage at the bank. She had been requested specifically to do the negotiation.
“You’re getting prettier.” Beatrice is not quite sure what shocked her the most: the fact that the voice on the other side was that of a young woman, or the fact that she was flirting with her.
“What are your demands?” Her voice doesn’t waver, though it took her a couple of seconds to feel confident enough to speak.
“My demands?” The woman snorts, mocking her accent. “I have no demands.” Beatrice can almost hear the smug smile, the careless shrug. Because it seems the woman is careless in every aspect other than crime. “No rational ones anyway.”
“Then what is the point?” Beatrice asks, a hint of exasperation slipping through.
“Nothing, I just wanted to say hi.” Beatrice’s mouth forms a perfect O, as the bank doors open and half a dozen civilians run out. “See ya later, Xin.”
She sees her the night of Halloween.
Beatrice expected it. She knew a childish, erratic yet methodical criminal would relish on the idea of the entire city in disguise.
She expected it, and she prepared, and she managed to successfully stop another bank heist, she thought. Except there was no heist this time. The robber wanted to be caught, she wanted Beatrice, and just beatrice, to go there, and she did.
Everything played out exactly as the criminal wanted, and it frustrated Beatrice more than anything had in her life. Not only was she unable to catch the most wanted criminal, but she was being toyed with.
And the worst part is, Beatrice knew that.
“You know me too well to be here alone.” And it seems the criminal knew that too.
“Don’t move.” Beatrice stated calmly, pointing her gun at the shadow figure in front of her.
“Relax.” The robber put her hands up lazily. “I’m not here to do anything illegal.” Beatrice scoffed, tensing up as the criminal took a step closer. “Come on! Aren’t you the tiniest bit curious about what I look like?”
“I don’t care what you look like.” It was an obvious lie. “I only care about you because it is my job to see you behind bars.”
“Is that so?” Hurt bleed into her words, and Beatrice felt her heart crack a little. “Then why am I here? Why are you here?” She took a tentative step forward, a small streak of light shining onto her face.
She was wearing a mask, of course, but it only covered the top half of her face. Beatrice didn’t miss the irony in her costume: an angel.
“What do you mean?”
“Beatrice,” her voice was serious, her deep brown eyes hard with what almost seemed like disapproval. “You’re smarter than this, come on. Following a lead on your own? Not calling for back up?”
Her cheeks were burning, but she kept her eyes, and her gun, focused on the criminal.
“You know enough to figure it out. I’m starting to think you don’t want to.” The woman purred with a smirk.
“That’s not-“
“You’d make quite the sidekick.”
“Sidekick?”
“Partner in crime, if you prefer.”
“You’re absurd.”
“And you’re quite when you’re angry.”
As soon as she was done talking the alarms went off, distracting the detective long enough for Ava to throw a fucking smoke bomb and disappearing through the ceiling.
(Maybe she was an angel)
28 notes
·
View notes