#actually i just love the album & it's a good winter vibe

[activatebutterflyshield]

Songs that make me really really really want to learn animation so I can make epic sequences with them as the soundtrack

- Notos by the Oh Hellos, itd make a great phoenix-rising, defeated-character-realizing-their-power-and-absolutely-destroying-someone-who-did-them-real-trauma thing. Also the metaphors and imagery. “Every inhale I take, swallow the ocean whole and I am one / With the hurricane, tall as the tide that laps with a rabid tongue”??? “With every exhale I break you down with a fury, I lay the hills undone / Like a dog gone untamed, bellowing out a river from my lungs”??????

- Boreas by the Oh Hellos, the perfect sort of ‘Im completely defeated but by god I’m still going to do something to help’

- Okay I should just include all of the Four Winds EPs in here. Get over here, Eurus and Zephyrus. Passerine and Rio Grande specifically.

- The Horror and the Wild by the Amazing Devil, see this one fandom post I made that was basically a desperate attempt to visualize an animatic I could never make

- Chords by the Amazing Devil, entirely different vibes but bloody hell it lights a fire in my heart every time I hear it. Just. “We were the winter nights / So you could be the morning snow / Your life begins by leaving / And our love is shown / In the letting go”????????

- Rockslide by the Crane Wives. Im writing a whole thing about that album, Coyote Stories’, relationship with climate change and the generally horrible state of the world and this song is the reason. “Oh I pray today my soul to keep / But we best get a move on or the devil we will meet”?? I mean. Mates. It hits hard.

- Sleeping Giants by the Crane Wives. Same album as Rockslide and just as strong if not more so. It would make for a great call-to-war or prelude-to-a-big-ol-battle.

- Rule #3 Paperwork by Fish in a Birdcage. By goodness is Paperwork underrated (though methinks Rule #2 Moonlight is even more underrated but thats just a good song) and I love it to death. Just a great song for an easygoing time. Or, alternatively, a great song for a subtle call to action.

- Rule #33 Pyre by Fish in a Birdcage. Its just great. A final, fond farewell from a beloved parent or mentor or loved one or other dear person telling you that you’ll be fine after they’re gone. Also the accordion is really neat in this one. “Trust yourself and live it your way”. It just is great.

- WOLVES OF THE REVOLUTION. ARCADIAN WILD. This gave so much inspiration for writing a revolution and the people involved in it. Its perfect for that arc. It doesnt bloody matter if said revolution is in a war tragedy of a fanfic.

Theres more but I dont have much to say about them, so just know that Horse Soldier, Horse Soldier (Corb Lund), Solar Waltz (Cosmo Sheldrake), Mvmt II Begin and Never Cease (The Oh Hellos (really bloody Christian but its so good just music wise)(Also Christmas as hell)), The Day Goes On (Bill Wurtz), and my very dear Discord’s Smallest Violin (The AJR Discord) are also very dear to my heart and would probably become something if I had enough commitment and free time and all those other extremely volatile factors to actually learn how to animate. I will, someday. But that day is not today.

Also I swear to you @writer-of-random-things I am writing the climate-change-Coyote-Stories thing. It exists. Or, about half of it exists. I got to The Hand That Feeds and its. Uh. A lot.

#the oh hellos #the amazing devil #the crane wives #fish in a birdcage #the arcadian wild #me running my mouth #<- that will be the tag for uncategorized ramblings #here and on activate-shadow-of-the-window

[exeggcute]

(synthpop anon) to be more specific i'm looking for more stuff in the vein of depeche mode, new order, pet shop boys, soft cell, etc. the type i can best describe as "fun music with jaded lyrics". speaking of yaz(oo) i already really like upstairs at eric's!

hmmm. I worry that I might not have the best recs for you then because I'm one of those people who doesn't pay THAT much attention to lyrics... it took me a full decade to realize that tryouts for the human race is a song about sperm. sung from the perspective of a sperm lol. I just hear a moroder synth line and black out

so forgive me if any of these are (1) songs/bands you already know or (2) don't quite fit the ticket, but let me try to suggest some stuff based on vibes...

sparks, actually. I still haven't listened to most of their 80s discography (one of these days...) but I adore no 1 in heaven, which is 100% synthpop, and kimono my house, which isn't. but those boys are insane lyricists so if you like fun music about crazy shit you're in the right place.

if you already like yaz (I specifically said yazoo in my last response in case you hadn't heard of em, since when you google "yaz" the first thing that comes up is the birth control pill... but as a yank I admittedly never call them yazoo lol) then you know that vince clarke is a fucking legend. and as one half of erasure I think some of erasure's lesser-known hits fit the bill. love to hate you, who needs love like that, oh l'amour...

bronski beat for more gay synthpop. oh shit marc almond is here?

I only know a handful of devo songs, so if you want better recs you'd need to ask my dad lol, but i like love without anger and freedom of choice

XTC!!!

prefab sprout has some bangers across the board but the king of rock and roll is a song about a washed-up music star with thomas dolby in the production seat. so pretty much exactly what you're looking for.

tears for fears? broken, change, mothers talk... plus the US mix of mothers talk that I mostly don't like but I adore the intro (it's not that you're not goooood enough... it's just that we can make you bet-taaah...)

OMD is good. check out dazzle ships

midge-ure era ultravox is maybe too on the nose. literally dancing with tears in my eyes, lol. plus reap the wild wind, the thin wall, and of course vienna

not necessarily jaded lyrics but aztec camera is really moody and good. I love high land, hard rain (and this extended version of walk out to winter...)

jaded but not synthpop: the english beat. seriously, hear me out

it's less synthpop-y than some of this other stuff, but these gary numan solo albums are my fave: dance and I, assassin

if you don't already like japan you gotta go listen to gentlemen take polaroids front to back. then try titles by mick karn

some random one-offs: happy hour; promises, promises; the politics of dancing

and then, of course, the all time legend

[caluski]

@moldavite tagged me to post my current music faves (thank u kalli a big fucking MWAH goes out to u in this gloomy april evening) so yay!!! i love posting spotify links of course... more belowww. trying so hard for everyone to only post things i havent shared before... trying!!

obviously justice is on repeat - both incognito and saturnine, but im putting here incognito bc it does have the coolest intro and outro everrr like ouuughhhh like justice goes so fucking hard when they choose to have some retro synths................ actually have you listened to planisphere today? you should (talking to everyone)

i havent actually talked about my thoughts on khruangbins new album... which is obviously good but i simply didnt have the time to get into it :/ ive been hoping to give it a good listen, no skips no nothing, on a day off but work has been kicking my ass a bittt... anyway! Pon pón is fun. it came out as a single few weeks back and ive gotten really into it.... sooooo groovy

vampire by sholto is what some of you might recognize from love and food playlist? but ohhhhhh fuckkkkkkk its so good. i dont even know this guy and i didnt think much of it other than "yeah its cool" when i added it to my library. such a great and sinister feeling jazzy number.... AND WHEN THE SAX HITS!!!!!!!!! thats so good. please listen to vampire.

more radio pop!!!!! MORE MAINSTREAM KEVIN PARKER!!!!!!!! i do love tame impala's older/more niche sound just as much as i love him "selling out" (whatever, i will defend his minions and elvis tracks until i die and i will MEAN it) so i am STILL excited for this album even though the roll-out of singles has been consistently awful. but i guess dua lipa is a slow riser always (however long did it take her to peak on charts with 'dont start now'???). plus obviously DANNY!!!!!! YAY FOR DANNY!!!!!

its been a really good spring so far, with so many of my faves releasing music, and obviously that includes sebastian. i remember watching the runway show this was made for, but for some reason i didnt hear the whole track - maybe it was just highlights or something? i really love the synths in this one. its unusual for him to bring the choral singing in the start instead of the climax of the track, but its really well done (as always)! i wish, i wiiiiiiiiish there was something happening about the new album, too.

charli's really being weird recently about everything but goddddddd this slaps so good. im usually not that big on gesaffelstein but i do love ag cook so much. its going to be such a good clubbing record like literally.... its crazy she STILL gets labeled hyperpop. i also like club classics, but b2b is TRULY superior out of this double drop....

the beat of this one is just stuck in my head at all times. its cute! fun! perfect for spring. theyre soon to release their debut album, i need to remember to check it out. while its not SOTY material so far, its just cool and pleasant.

more dance sounds - i like this one a lot! really catchy. ive never really been into 1tbsp but yeahhhhh with this one, i get it.

ok i for sure posted this one before, but its ok bc it got like 0 or 1 likes or something. starwolf is a band im really hopeful for!!!! their 2020 album was pretty interesting, but its their three last singles that got my ears all perked up. some daytime disco vibes in them, and its really cool considering i was somewhat.... underwhelmed by poolside's last album. so, i feel good about starwolf now! fingers crossed for summer, as it would be a perrrrrrrfect record to replay over and over during hot sunny days.

and SUUUUUUUUUUUCHHHHHHHHH a spring favorite for the end. kind of getting lost in this one.... number one song i keep thinking of during sweet sunny walks recently. unbelievably cute. 10000% recommend.

#pogaduchy #not tagging anyone bc idw look like a fucking idiot when no one responds anyway 😭😭😭 #Spotify

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

heyy ari!!

i hope you're having a splendid and enjoyable day today. wanted to ask a very important question‼️

what are your five current favorite songs and/or artists?

very curious to see your favs!!

- 🍒

HI 🍒 ANON !! it’s nice to meet u!! this is a great question…. i’m gonna b honest though when it comes to music i. kinda live under a rock? 😭 i didn’t even start thinking abt my favorite artists until a couple years ago… so that’s. a thing.

i can never keep track of my favorite songs but i do have a couple artists i love that come to mind!! :33 so!! in no particular order……

1/ yorushika

actually i lied yorushika is in fact my number one always and forever if yorushika has a million fans i’m one of them if yorushika has one fan that’s me if yorushika has no fans that means i am no longer on this earth. yorushika is a jpop/jrock band consisting of n-buna (songwriter/musician) and suis (vocalist) and they mean the whole galaxy to me their lyrics are so insanely good i use them for writing inspo all the time and in general they’re just?? so good??? their songs always feel so bittersweet and nostalgic and the instrumentals are soo incredible…. this is my favorite band of all time they fr changed my life i highly recommend checking out any of their songs/albums bc they have literally never missed. I Fucking Love Yorushika.

my favorite songs of theirs are blooming in that summer / hachigatsu, bou, tsukiakari / replicant !! :3 i have a million other favs but i’ll leave it at that..

2/ the front bottoms

i love these guys so bad i do….. i actually know literally nothing abt the band itself but i adore their songs and just. how scratchy and cool the vocalist’s voice is!! idk i’m not good at explaining it i just love their songs sm!! :’3 they have a very specific vibe to them that i can’t pinpoint but it does make me feel like a rabid dog so there’s that <33 if u have any form of daddy issues i’m sure u’ll love them (they’re also EXTREMELY stsg coded hello…)

my favorite songs of theirs are be nice to me / father / funny you should ask !! :3

3/ mitski

we all saw it coming let’s be real i don’t know a single queer jjk fan who doesn’t love mitski we literally owe her everything? jokes aside it actually took me some time to warm up to her songs, at first i only loved her lyrics but eventually i saw The Light. her songs have this specific melancholic vibe that i’ve never found in anything else and i eat it up every single time ….. i adore her instrumentals and her voice and obv her lyrics !! i resonate a lot with them AND i associate them w lots of jjk characters (especially sugu wbk he’s a mitski girlie).. i just really love her !! she’s Mother always and forever :)

my favorite songs of hers are goodbye, my danish sweetheart / a pearl / i’m your man !! :33

4/ ricky montgomery

RICKYYY MY ANGEL ON THIS EARTH i love him so bad. :( he makes me happy. his songs are so comfy so cozy so lovely i just adore them……. they’re very winter-y but also very summer-y i just love them a lot!! and i think his interactions w the jjk/sk8 fandoms are so funny he’s my emotional support artist i think i would probably kill if he asked me to

my favorite songs of his are cabo / california / line without a hook !! :3

5/ beabadobee

what can i even say abt her…. she’s my goddess i think. beabadobee is like mitski in that her songs just have this specific Vibe that nothing else has and it makes me yearn so bad… sooo nostalgic and vibrant i just think she’s so ridiculously good !!! her songs never fail to make me lose it entirely i listen to them often while writing too !!! they’re soooo catchy and wonderful <333

my favorite songs of hers are don’t get the deal / apple cider / cologne !! :3

#TYSM FOR THE QUESTION 🍒 ANON #i hope my answers didn’t disappoint!! :’3 i rlly am sooooo . idk unknowledgeable? when it comes to music 😭😭 #but these guys are very dear to me <33 #WHAT ABT UUUU what are your favorites??? i’d love to know !!! #wait also honorable mention to madds buckley and mili i love them so bad too #im remembering all my favorite artists as im writing this hhhh T—T will wood too … #ask tag ✩ #🍒 anon !! ✩

[meownotgood]

music producer! aki would be such a vibe. I’ve been thinking about this for like a week and I resigned myself to accepting that Aki would probably never be an artist but I love music sm so I will force it by any means! Anyways….

Aki is an extremely loving, devoted and kind soul but he expresses his affection through his actions/acts of service. I don’t think verbally expressing his feelings is his strength. I imagine music being the perfect medium for him to express everything that he feels within without words, utilizing the universal language to reveal the profound emotions that lay dormant within his soul.

I don’t think Aki seeks fame or notoriety so he’d be that one producer behind all your favorite songs but nobody really knows who he is… It’s the allure for me. I can so see him with an underground fanbase that zooms in on celebrity studio pics and you just see Aki’s topknot sticking out and we’re like “THAT’S OUR MAN!” and the girlies make edits of that. There’d be such a sexy mystery surrounding him and who he is. He’d serve us once in a blue moon with the hair down look. Badboy Aki knows what he’s doing FR

I envision him being really active in the underground rock, metal and rap scene. But he’d always give smaller artists a chance. He’d definitely be versatile too like don’t act like he ain’t produce ur favorite pop song. He’s just skilled like that 💋

Winter instrumental album in Hokkaido that gets sampled in every song like???? Hair down, graphic t, (key word) BOYFRIEND jeans, black converse, silver earrings and rings but without the t shirt, jeans and converse is such a lewk

Concert date, studio date, him making you songs, singing to you at night, playing guitar to you and other devious business *wink*

I rest my case.

I GET IT I SEE IIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT

I always think about what kind of music aki would listen to, I think he likes softer stuff but he's into some rock as well. he really likes anything as long as it has a good sound to it. gaaaah and aki making music to express how he feels is such a perfect idea I love it so much, I think it really does fit!!!

as a music producer, he's pretty talented and his work is really recognizable. he's been making music ever since he was younger; he got super into it because it was somewhat of a coping mechanism after he lost his family. he gets hired often and he has a hard time turning down any job because he wants to experience as much as he can. he'll make beats for any genre of music, in any sort of style, but he really likes when he gets to make something sweeter, something that's more true to himself.

when he makes the rare original song, it's instantly a hit — not in the way that it's super popular but more like it resonates with a lot of people immediately. he rarely sings or adds vocals to his music (he prefers to use other people's vocals) but when he does... whew.....

he's kind of elusive cause he doesn't go to a lot of parties or meetups and tends to keep to himself. he's well respected by everyone but no-one in the industry really knows the real him or anything about his personal life. they know some tidbits, but not enough to really call aki a friend. I'm thinking of aki who has his hair half-up and wears casual band tees and has his ears all pierced... maybe some other piercings too... perhaps lip piercing or eyebrow piercing... GAH

you see him play in person at a set once and you're just like... wow. sometimes he djs or plays guitar for local events and he rarely talks to anyone there but he's super good at what he does and always seems so focused. you're pretty intimidated by him, in all honesty, but he's actually really kind once you get the chance to talk to him. you catch him while he's having a smoke outside the building, you compliment his playing and he says thank you, he's glad you enjoyed it.

omg thinking about his social media... he definitely has a faceless pfp and literally never posts pictures of himself so the rare pictures of him are just ones that other artists have uploaded when they took selfies with him. he never posts anything personal either, his posts are just so business-y and serious lolol

boyfriend music artist aki who will turn and smile at you when you're watching him from backstage... who not-so-subtly writes songs about you... who's a little shy when it comes to his singing voice but he'll sing you to sleep any time you ask him... who will have you feature as background vocals in his latest song and make everyone wonder who's voice it was..... he's intimidating to everyone else but to you he's the absolute sweetest

#SORRY I SAID A LOT BUT I TOTALLY AGREE WITH ALL THIS #HE WOULD BE SO COOL LIKE THAT SO COOLLLL #my brain is stuck on aki in an oversized band tee with multiple piercings I'm #ask mags #aki <3

[sendmyresignation]

hii if u don't mind, any metal bands you'd recommend for someone wanting to get into slightly more obscure stuff but doesn't know where to start digging? any subgenre/time period idc. asking u this bc i trust ur knowledge

i truly truly love getting asks like this, thank you for trusting me and it's awesome to hear you want to dig deeper!!

it's hard for me to give specific recs because i don't know what you've vibed with so ill meet you half way and give you a list as well as some places to learn more just in case i end up in the wrong direction.

these are some bands that clicked for me when i was first exploring outside my comfort zone, as well as some stuff from my aoty from the last few years:

Possessed - Seven Churches; this one is the least obscure but i feel like possessed are easy to miss. important band bridging the gap between thrash and death metal. love crazy maniac shit like this

Satan- Court in the Act; classic new wave of british heavy metal with a bit of edit. type of band that had enormous pull in underground power and speed metal scenes- this is a blueprint for a lot of great obscure heavy metal with the soaring vocals and the tappy solos. i love chastain (american, mid/late 80s response) if you want to see that lineage in effect

Mystifier - Goetia; brazilian metal is a huge huge historically important metal phenomenon. sepultura are more well-known and sarcofago are cult classic black metal pioneers (seriously, inri is one of the greats) but mystifier is a band that opened up the scene for me a little more and is incredible in their own right

Autopsy - Metal Funeral; slow, gripping death metal carnage!! also one of the few legacy bands continuing to release actual good music which is fun. also, if you like the autopsy you'll love derketa, dream death, mythic, winter, all of whom make their own twist on a similar crushing brand of doomy death metal goodness

Sabbat- Envenom; long-running old-school japanese black metal. has that thrashy-punk first wave flavor along the lines of celtic frost, root, bulldozer (also sarcofago) and sodom at their most brutal.

Sacrilege- Behind the Realms of Madness; crusty thrash that had a huge influence on early bolt thrower. good if you're into punk already and want more of that in the metal (their later records lose the crust but gain doom- I almost like them more. killer band)

Vastum. any of their records seriously maybe the best active band on the planet rn.

Warning- Watching from a Distance; if you got to metal through my mcr blog then i think you can handle the whiny vocals on this and get a legit transformative experience out of Warning. seriously love this album, delightfully heavy doom in an emotional package. and doom is easy to rec, satisfying and not to extreme: Pentagram, Candlemass, Trouble, and Saint Vitus are all must must listens

Chevalier- Destiny Calls; combination of speed and power i really love in the classic heavy metal fantasy and knights vein. newer band too with a lot of similar listening to bigger bands in that scene. and if you like this style at all manilla road (the band) is a requirement if you aren't already familar

Some eclectic newer stuff I've enjoyed lately: Vicious Blade, Tyrann, Reverend Bizarre, Nekromantheon, Firmament, Svalbard, Vampirska, Ares Kingdom, Messa

but i really recommend checking out r/metal- their essentials is good for a beginner but they also have a ton of primers that can give you overviews of niche genres. the fenriz metal spotify playlist is also fuckin killer. For new music, look into reviews from sites like angrymetalguy, no clean singing, heavy blog is heavy, invisible oranges. helpful to know how your taste aligns with the writing staff (like i know if angrymetalguy dislikes something, im almost guaranteed to like it). shreddit has a release tracker on spotify; there's also a constant update of new releases on the metal archive!

#big black metal gap i just realized lmaooo sorry not something id willynilly rec w/out knowing someones personal limits re artist and ethics #but hopefully this give you some stuff to chew on!!! #and im always open to this kinda thing if someone wants to send an ask or dm or anything- ill do what i can! #my posts #igottheanswer #anon #music recs

[gerogerigaogaigar]

David Bowie - Low

This was the first of Bowie's Berlin trilogy where he worked with Brian Eno. Influenced by krautrock bands and Eno's own ambient experimentation it is drastically different from anything he'd done before. The first few tracks recall some of the angular rock that was on Station To Station, but the entire latter half of the album is populated by spacey, ambient electronic explorations. The album basically becomes less and less rock and more ambient as it goes on. By the end Subterraneans is just an ambient track. Flickers of ideas pop up and fade away as songs evolve within their musical motifs. It's probably Bowie's artsiest album.

Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman

I think I like Yusuf/Cat Stevens just fine. His music is good? I'm certain. I dunno it just doesn't do much for me. I can't really identify why. I like a lot of other artists like him so why shouldn't this album be up there with Neil Young or Harry Chapin? Oh well I'm indifferent to Cat Stevens.

Kanye West - Graduation

https://youtu.be/wvgehVhF9D4

https://youtu.be/e7e5BFJa-Ug

After two game changing albums Graduation is absolutely a victory lap. Ye seems content to prove that he could do this as much as he wants and we are just not gonna get sick of it. He's right. Graduation mainly continues what Kanye was doing on his previous two albums, beautiful lush beats with soul samples and strings. That isn't to say that he doesn't innovate on Graduation, in fact the best tracks feature significant electronic influence most notably Stronger and Flashing Lights. In the end we know where the story goes and Ye would not continue on this way, but the bleakness of 808s And Heartbreak only makes Graduation an even more triumphant finale to the trilogy of albums that marks phase one of Kanye West's career.

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Nick Drake is kind of a hidden gem among the late 60s folk rock scene. Hipsters love him on account of how he died young and is obscure, but he never hit the mainstream. Drake's delicate airy voice is the aural equivalent of autumn leaves blowing in a gentle wind. He is the sound that old trees make in the winter. And if his previous records with their lush but haunting string arrangements didn't take him into the public eye then Pink Moon definitely wasn't going to. Stripped down to nothing but Nick Drake's voice and guitar Pink Moon is an album that sound like it might fall apart if you so much as breath on it. Gentle arpeggios make up the instrumentation and they are carried by Drake's unique sense of melody that is equal parts folk rock and tin pan alley. The album is stark, stripped down, and speaks of alienation and fear at every turn. It's one of the most beautiful and personal albums of all time and, despite what reviewers at the time of its release said, it's actually quite inviting as long as you meet it on its own terms.

Björk - Homogenic

Every step in Björk's career is a step towards further weirdness. Homogenic is a defining album in her career as it establishes the point of no return for her experimentation. The trip hop from Post is leaned into harder, but with more strings and crunchier drums. The drums have been fine tuned into a bit crushed nightmare and the cold string and distant vocals make the album feel apocalyptic. Björk albums are, as a rule, bizarre and unsettling but Homogenic manages a cold powerful dispassionate energy unlike any of her other work.

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders

The first three albums by A Tribe Called Quest form a sort of stylistic trilogy. Midnight Marauders is the final piece of the trilogy and incorporates bits of both previous records. It's a little looser than Low End Theory and a little tighter than People's Instinctive Travels and I actually think that hurts it a bit. It doesn't manage the jazzy cohesiveness of the former or the free spirited just vibing attitude of the latter. Now being the weakest of the first three is kinda nothing, Midnight Marauders is a nine instead of a ten boohoo. But I might not put it on a top 500 albums list. Either way it's still a fantastic record with that unique A Tribe Called Quest sound, jazzy but not in a new jack swing way. They just kinda bop around dealing with serious and lighthearted stuff alike in a casual conversational style of rapping.

Sade - Diamond Life

Sade Adu manages to ride such a fine line on her debuted record. She manages to have the best of both the soul and sophistipop with neither of their downfalls. She is suave and sexy with a cool attitude but always avoids the bourgeois pretention of most sophistipop. She can manage lengthy love songs without the occasional tedium of 80s soul artists. She's somehow extremely catchy while also being low key. She manages these sweet bass grooves without it feeling like it's going to become funk or hip hop. She brings everything into her wheelhouse. It's an impressive piece of artistry. A singular vision recognized.

Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted

Slanted And Enchanted is a fantastic album. The second best of Pavement's output. I support this album being in the list but strongly oppose it being rated higher than Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. Slanted And Enchanted is the most straightforward Pavement album. It has the quintessential 90s indie sound and it shows in a lot of their contemporaries work. Kind of wistful, thoroughly modern but with one foot in the garage rock of the 60s. Pavement really nail a sound that is exactly one step removed from the mainstream alt rock.

#500 album gauntlet #david bowie #cat stevens #kanye west #nick drake #björk #a tribe called quest #sade #pavement

[linzsaw]

My Monthly Favs What’s in my cup:

Every morning I drink iced coffee made from my one & only Nespresso machine. The past few months I can’t get enough of the double espresso blend, and then I add a bit of whole milk (happy cows only) and sweet cream. I can’t find anything better from Starbucks or anywhere else. Sometimes if I’m craving a hot drink, I’ll head to Dutch Bros for a hot Carmelizer and it is totally worth the cringy 9 minute forced convo with the DB crew. I also start my day with electrolytes, currently in the watermelon flavor. It’s surprisingly really delicious but I miss the Electrolyte Synergy blend that I was drinking for a long time, which has been sold out for almost a year now. :’)

What’s on my plate:

Dinner lately has been the laziest in America. After our trip, Drew & I either have the same ole chicken, rice and veggies, a spicy “mexican bowl” or some form of pasta, usually with Raos Arriabatta sauce. This week we’ve been stuffing our faces with Trader Joe’s frozen meals. We promise to be better next month, but we are really exhausted and the last thing we feel like planning are meals. However, for the last week of December we actually have some things planned for the holiday weekend. On Friday, we’re hitting up the town as we do every year to walk around and see the lights, and find festive little bars to try out new Christmas cocktails. We plan to spend Christmas with just the two of us. For Christmas Eve we are making our annual corn beef, cabbage and carrots because apparently we are super Irish (confirmed by 23&me which btw leaked all my genes to hackers). On Christmas we are having tri-tip, garlic & butter brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes. The Christmas cookies we’re making this year include White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, & Holly Leaves. Okay and now that I’ve told you all that, the Christmas cocktails we decided on this year are The Mistletoe Kiss (a vodka, soda water, rosemary & cranberry drank) and Bad Santa White Russians. I also heard that Moon X Pinot Noir from Trader Joes was really good and lately the Redvolution just isn’t doing it for me.  Let me know if you want any of these recipes, ladies. I will make sure to find GF, DF, and V options. 

What’s on my bookshelf:

I’ve finished two of the Colleen Hoover books, and now I’m reading another one of hers called Verity. It’s kinda depressing but that’s kinda the vibe as of late so I’m into it. 

What’s in my playlist:

We love the Sia Christmas album. It’s so fun and happy. Believe it or not, Andy introduced me to it lol. It’s so good!! Other songs I’ve been into are I remember everything by Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves. It reminds me of a family member rn which is very depressing to me. Fun to cry to. Bubble - STAYC, Surround Sound - JID 21 Savage, Baby Tate, Adora Hills - Doja Cat. 

What I’m up to:

Making our house into a winter wonderland of lights. Watching hella hallmark movies. Being seriously lazy, not working out or eating healthy. Walks with Snoop around the park. Mandala scratch off nightscapes. Reading at 3am when I was jetlagged. I had a sleep study this month too, no sleep apnea for me, back to mouth taping! It really does help with quality of sleep for me. You should try it! Also magnesium spray on my feet (shout out to Aly). This has helped with my restless leg syndrome that we’ve all experienced. This weekend, we’re making all our foods and cocktails, going downtown, driving around with hot choc to look at lights, and heading up to Rocky Mountain to hike a bunch of mountains. 

Skincare Saviors:

My skin gets so dry in Colorado, its TERRIBLE. And now that I’m saving for a house, I had to break up with my amazing esthetician, who by the way I stole this template from. I’m obsessed with Dermlogica thanks to her. I use a miscellar water if I wore any make-up. If not, I just double clease with my face wash. In the AM I’ll use my Rosehip Triple C+E Firming  Oil, followed by COSRX snail mucin essence, and a magical mix of calm water gel and intensive moisture balance. 

Love you long time,

Li

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 1/24/2023

new england winter: very cute and picturesque until you actually have to live here

listening

psycada by abstract, the opening track off the album hiking lung. a brief instrumental that sounds like a hazy-cicada-shimmer summer. it is a blisteringly hot day where you don't really have to do anything but even though you're out on the porch swing under the deck with a freezy pop it's not doing much. the vocals remind me very much of The Dandy Warhols once the rest of the album slides into more of a garage/psych rock vibe. a sort of understated fuzzy im-lying-down-right-now quality. i think these vocals would be background instead of lead in a more energetic track.

the album has several good tracks for the "datacore" playlist, which is full of mellow medium-paced instrumentals bc if i am alone with my thoughts while i clean addresses i will die

-

reading

i have Bullet Train on hold at the library but tbqh this section is probably going to be me gloating over various crypto crashes for the forseeable future. Molly White of web3isgoinggreat.com reports on the Three Arrows Capital guys setting up a new venture to (checks notes):

Not only that [both partners currently on the run from their creditors], but the exchange plans to focus on claims trading — that is, the trading of claims held by creditors against debtors who are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, like FTX, Celsius, BlockFi, or Mt. Gox (throwback!). The fact that 3AC was a major catalyst in kicking off the string of bankruptcies we saw throughout 2022 was not lost on observers, with Nic Carter of the Castle Island venture capital firm commenting that the endeavor "is akin to arsonists returning to the scene of the crime and offering to charge their victims for buckets of water".

mwah. very much glass houses since castle island is also on the verge of going under due to its almost total focus on blockchain infrastructure but GOD. what a sentence.

unpaywalled bloomberg article on the wayback machine here.

this is some of the dumbest fucking bullshit ive ever read and im so fucking happy i no longer have to care about this at a professional level.

-

watching

Bullet Train (2022, dir. Leitch) asks "what if you put a whole bunch of assassins all on the same high-speed train?"

this is the glass onion of action movies. now i do like a perfect little puzzlebox of a movie made by people who really love movies, but this flavor of film is so fuckin smug about itself. this movie wants you to know it took AP Lit. this movie is a long variation of the whedon effect/"well THAT happened!” effect, where characters react to payoffs with the barest and briefest of setups an hour before in the movie. 

the thing that made me have a good time is this movie was directed by the guy who directed Atomic Blonde, one of my top ten movies and one of the best action movies of the last decade. LOVE an ensemble of goons all introduced with their own setup/backstory scenes. this film is seventy percent tightly choreographed fights with improvised weapons in tight spaces.

i am a simple woman. i like a bloody, disheveled man.

-

playing

alternating very fun and very unpleasant times with my big strong boy in wolfenstein: the new order. now, i am a little bit like "wow, you find the nazi prison camp level unpleasant? how shocking!" at myself. i was not really paying attention to the global rise of fascism in 2014 when this game came out bc i was busy dropping out of college and having a mental breakdown, but the nazis in shooters i have played or watched since 2014, especially call of duty: wwii, seem defanged compared to wolfenstein.

i will probably have more and more coherent things to say once i play more of this game, bc i am just about to bust out of prison at about ~9.5 hours of playtime. apparently this is the halfway point? after the first enigma code i looked up what the other ones do, decided i don't care about other game modes, and have not been trying especially hard to be a completionist about each level/unlock all the perks by doing different kills. i am talking to everyone and looking at everything and reading all the posters, and it is interesting how such a fast-paced shooter is adapting so well to me walking around and taking my sweet fucking time at whatever difficulty level is one below the recommended difficulty level.

a note on the plot-bearing moldy concrete. like yeah mold will grow on most things, including concrete, and yeah i guess the moldy concrete will kill you slower than the nazis will, but even though i love how lived in and cozy the kreisau circle hideout feels, it gives me the heebie jeebies. mold is quite bad for you. please prioritize another railing over another couch. also what the fuck math is tekla doing here??? i could not get a clearer shot even on max settings sorry

GOD i loved the london nautilus moon exhibit. yes i WOULD like to dual wield shotguns shooting nazis while running up and around a giant moon model. level perfectly tailored for me. HOWEVER! i would rather be shot in the head quickly and cleanly instead of trying to maneuver an EXPERIMENTAL HELICOPTER through a bunch of tunnels in creepy and wet conditions. being shot in the head would, again, be a much much cleaner and quicker death than any potential helicopter crash over the water. i hate planes to begin with but holy fuck helicopters no FUCKING thanks (ign screenshot)

for such a power fantasy of a game there sure are a hell of a lot of stealth sections. no stealth game is ever going to hold up to dishonored but boy did i really want these sections to feel more like dishonored.

-

making

fussing around with a f/allout: new vegas courier six/veronica/christine riff on classic noir film The Big Sleep for femslash feb. it's fun to write six even bitchier than usual

“Did you want to be the detective or the lady?” Six asked.

“Both of them were pretty cold fish.” It was very stupid to wait when she could have this immediately. Veronica flipped the covers back on her way over. 

“Harsh words to throw at a woman, especially when she’s already in your bedroom.” Christine clutched at Six’s silk pajama lapels as she was tipped back up. Six’s other hand dropped to play with her dressing gown tie. 

“Now, baby, a fish is–” They were never ever going to let Six live that one down. 

“You know,” Six said with as much dignity as anyone groping her wife’s ass could have, “being shot in the head — twice! took all the memories of fish from my previous aquatic life as a Shi Town mermaid.”

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #these have gotten much longer since i decided it's fine to do an article for the reading section and it's okay to game again #Bandcamp #Spotify

[taruruchi]

This one goes out to some lovely people! I've picked out one song from each of Taylor's albums that I think fits y'all, either because of the lyrics or the vibes. I hope I made some good choices 💗

Note: I didn't include the debut album because it was really hard 😔

@linalilia

Midnights - Paris

evermore - tolerate it

folklore - peace

Lover - Daylight

reputation - Dancing With Our Hands Tied

1989 - All You Had To Do Was Stay

Red - Forever Winter

Speak Now - Innocent

Fearless - Today Was A Fairytale

@ashipiko

Midnights - Question...?

evermore - gold rush

folklore - august

Lover - Cruel Summer

reputation - Don't Blame Me

1989 - New Romantics

Red - The Very First Night

Speak Now - Sparks Fly

Fearless - Fearless

@siphoklansan

Midnights - You're On Your Own, Kid

evermore - long story short

folklore - mirrorball

Lover - Cornelia Street

reputation - Delicate

1989 - You Are In Love

Red - Stay Stay Stay

Speak Now - Mine

Fearless - Jump Then Fall

@solxima (You actually didn't ask to be included but I thought I should just in case! And plus I really wanted to)

Midnights - Lavender Haze

evermore - evermore

folklore - seven

Lover - Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

reputation - Getaway Car

1989 - Wildest Dreams

Red - Starlight

Speak Now - Ours

Fearless - The Other Side Of The Door

#I think this would count as a tag game in a way...? So #☆ playing tags games 🏷️

[nattensmadrigal]

Ghostbath is cool, Ninkharsag is a good one, Church of Misery is kinda rad, Deafheaven is shoegaze that makes me cry, Afsky is rad especially in winter, acidbath always in my top

You probably know some of them or all of them, but just a few I've been jamming to lately

Thank you for all of these recommendations, let's go thru them one by one together shall we? Get ready for a long ass fucking post, i take music recommendations people give me really seriously Also I'll give you some recommendations back, deal?

First off: Ghost Bath I listened to Funeral, their 1st album release from 2014, picked out at random, really cool album art too!

Apart from the really goofy name that they had to like have the meaning explained on their spotify description seemingly too often misunderstood by the metal community (the last show i went to a lot of dudes over there seemed to love taking ghost baths), I really liked it, the second song in the album, Burial, kinda sounded familiar to me so maybe i've listened to this band before in passing on like a random DSBM playlist? Really deep sorrowful vibes, really liked the echo effects in Procession, the 4th song in the album, i would prefer more like actual lyrics instead of just vocal sad cries, i don't think they serve any real purpose, the instrumental already convey the feeling and emotion that the band wants to put out, but hey thats my opinion, maybe thats why i only like a handful of DSBM bands? 7.5/10 - If they make an instrumental album its definitely going to be on my album rotation!

Next up is Ninkharsag I listened to The Dread March of Solemn Gods, released in 2021 According to the metal archives They're a melodic Black Metal band from England This is 100% more my style, i get some like Dissection and like Mgła vibes from the 2nd track onward, favorite Track was for sure Under the Dead of Night, the lyrics in this album are so good, like actual poetry like seriously look at this! This is an excerpt from Lunar Hex; The Art of Mighty Lycanthropy

The frozen kiss of aeons, the solitude of night The wisdom of the wolven arts, rise deathless The purity of shadows, the everlasting hunger The oath that binds forever more, rise deathless ones Before me, I see the endless frozen vistas Beckoning me on into realms beyond the dark

Amazing album will definitely listen to them more 10/10 - Mr Bones i would like to get off the spooky ride

And then Mr bones dropped us off in The Church of Misery I listened to Master of Brutality, funny thing is, this isn't my first time listening to them, but i completely forgot the band's name, i only knew the album i listened to the cover was like a copy of Black Sabbath's Master of Reality's cover art, so thanks to you i found this band again lol They're more in the "i wanna die... but first i wanna smoke weed" spectrum of the metal Genre, nothing wrong with that mind you i've been dipping more and more in the doom stoner metal genre with bands like Merlock and Bongripper My favorite track of the album is their cover of Blue Oyster Cult's Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll, really liked how the vocals sound in that track

Next up is Afsky, a one-man project from Denmark I've already listened to afsky before more specifically the album Ofte jeg drømmer mig død, but never really got around to listen to the rest of the discography, today i listened to Sorg an older album released in 2018, and its just more of that later album i actually listened to, really solid ambience, makes me think of dark humid dungeons, searching for the exit while some random cult is preparing a ritual in a chamber below My favorite track was Vættekongen not just because of the silly name (sounds like donkey kong's danish cousin or something) but also i really like the hurdy gurdy in the beggining, such a cool instrument and really just lends itself to a medieval fantasy-esque kinda of atmosphere 10/10 - The danish really need to invent a less confusing language though, my keyboard doesn't have that fucking o with a stroke through it

I listened to Infinite Granite by Deafheaven, an American Post black-metal/Shoegaze band released in 2021 I'm fairly new to listening to shoegaze, 99% of my experience with it is Slowdive which i love, and giving my bloody valentine a shot, so i dont really have much to go on the genre, I've read somewhere about how some people listen to shoegaze because of the warm, slow sounds feel like a hug in your ears, and i can definitely can see where they're coming from, this album is really melancholic for sure but unlike that album by Ghost Bath, you can still see a spark of hope My favorite track in the entire record might be The Gnashing, i really enjoyed that solo, with Lament for Wasps coming at a really close 2nd 9.8/10 will definitely listen to more of them

Up next was Paegan Terrorism Tactics by Acid Bath, same deal as afsky, only listened to When the kite string pops and then didn't bother to listen to the other album, what a bad decision, the other album is like a classic nowadays, but this one also carries his own weight, my favorite Track on it so far is Venus Blue, i also really liked their decision of making sorta like a "intermission" track with New Death Sensation, like something less heavy to get you ready for the next part of the album 9/10 - At least its not a killer clown on the cover right?

Ok so now what i would recommend to you?

Bell Witch - Four Phantoms

The absolute GOATS of Funeral Doom imo, just really heavy, slow, less sorrowful like Ghost Bath, but more just pure ANGER

Black Shining Leather - Carpathian Forest

Trve Kvlt Norwegian black metal a real example of just complete like ghoulish sounds, with a really fucking kick ass cover of A Forest by The Cure in the end, really great album

Bog Wizard - From the Mire

My intro to stoner metal, what i would show to someone if they asked me what it is, they're huge nerds just like me and I'm a sucker for D&D References in like anything

Drudkh - Autumn Aurora

If you enjoy listening to afsky during winter, maybe this album by Drudkh could fit for your Autumn! i really enjoy it alot and it instantly popped in my head when finding for someone similar to afsky

#music #asks #thanks for the ask! #black metal #stoner metal #this was so much fun thank you so much #my-music-charts #i hope someone fucking reads this

[daggerzine]

Woods- Perennial (Woodsist)

The Woods duo are at it again, but with many additional, outstanding musicians. Eleven songs that win the award for the most diverse tracks on one album. You’ve got pop, jazz, instrumentals, distortion; you name it, it’s on here. The album begins with “The Seed,” a flute-filled wall of distortion that builds and builds into an eerie organ, plunking piano, wah-wah guitar, and battering drum instrumental. Track 2, by far my favorite track, “Between The Past,” is a gorgeous, dreamy pop song to blast in the sunshine. Beautiful singing and a melody right out of Birdie’s songbook. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC1ByMCNdyg 

Track 3, “Another Side,” is a catchy high-powered frenzy of sound with a Led Zeppelin Houses of The Holy era-ish organ sound. Hard to categorize, but would love to hear live. Another single, “White Winter Melody,” creates a jazzy, dreamy sound with pedal steel guitar; actually there’s a lot of intricate guitar work on this instrumental. Another mellow, beautiful one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJn5Dhvo2DU  “Sip Of Happiness” has a somber piano intro, but not for long. Another poppy, jazzy number that you’ll be singing along with in no time if you can hit those falsetto notes. 

“Little Black Flowers,” track 6, is a pretty song with echoing loops of sound.  Track 7, “Day Moving On,” is another gorgeous number, but this time with a late 60s vibe. Imagine Mercy’s “Love Can Make You Happy” with a twist.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHrCWLCSBl0  The harmony in the vocals take it to another level. Another one to blast on the beach or in your convertible.  “The Wind Again” is a whistling instrumental with pedal steel guitar and a percolating organ that almost sounds like the theme from Midnight Cowboy. “Weep” kicks in as a bouncy number that looks to be the most radio-friendly. The question is, which radio? Track 10, “Double Dream,” is a slower, softer song that is filled with beautiful harmonies. The album ends with the title track, ”Perennial.” It’s a short dreamy, meandering instrumental that again captures the abundance of unique flavors of instruments on this album.

As I said before, this album is all over the place, but that’s why it’s so good. Looks like they will be hitting the road soon. Would love to hear these songs live, but they’re just hitting the coasts this time. Catch them if you can! ERIC EGGLESON

#Bandcamp

[a-s-levynn]

5, 10, 11, 23, 29 & 30 for the music ask game!

Ohh thank you anon! 🫶🏻 This ask game is to be the one that exposes the fact that i listen to all kinds of crap not just the usually assumed metal (which still iss the main gengre i listen to the most but anyway) but i have no shame when it comes to music because i a firm believer that there is no such thing as 'guilty pleasure music', music is either makes you feel something or not. If it does, it's good. itr might not do anything else for someone else. And that is perfectly fine.

But let's get into the gaaame

under the cut because it got long the questions: a song to play loud, one to make me sad, one i never get tired of, one from my childhood and one that rimends me of myself

5:A song that needs to be played LOUD (Every single Sleep Token song)

A Revolution by Patrick J Avard, Anthony Demetrio Arasi, Joey Casanova Look edm is the best when blearing, there is no way listening to it quietly. and this one in particular is just really hit the spot when i first heard it. With this one it's a must to turn up the volume. I also can't stay still either.

10:A song that makes you sad This is not easy. Because yeah i cry on Telomeres by Sleep Token but it doesn't make me sad per se.. it triggers an ache and a longing but.. oh no i got it.

It's either Too late by Dead by Sunrise or Final Masquerade by Linkin Park The entire out of ashes album came out a time when i was just.. boy did it pull me through some stuff. And on one hand it reminds me of that. On the other.. you may know that weird thing when you look up to a public figure because yeah he went through stuff and doing fine so i can too.. and then there comes a moment when isn't? Yeah that was Chester for me at the time and it makes it hard to listen to.

And final masquerade is a song that is just irreparably tied to someone and my relationship to that person and yeah.. it wasn't.. great. Well it was but than it wasn't. I try to not cling onto regrets but that one is.. it's complicated. Okay, not really, but it's not easy to talk about it, that's why i talk around it.

11:A song that you never get tired of Uuuuh the obvious choice is Higher by Sleep Token because that is probably my all time favourite track.

Besides that.. Cyberhex by Motionless in White It's just everything i love rolled into one. Cyberpunk vibes, industrial elements, synths and screamy screams rolled into one with Chris's voice? What is not to love.

29:A song that you remember from your childhood

I don't just remember it but actively still listen to it. Look this song unlocked a mental image of a very very clear scene in the snow and all for me and i have to revisit it compulsively from time to time.

Lady in Black by Uriah Heep My favourite memory of this song actually is from not that long ago. Well.. it's is one of my most cherished memories since. It's been what... 9 years ago by now? relatively when i started uni, in the first couple of years i usually went home for every other weekend. from the same trainstation with the same train at a very early hour. There was this street musician guy i sometimes gave some change to when i hade some. (fun fact he looked exactly like Berger from the 1979 Hair movie just with blond hair) So he had seen me quite often. I already had the very varied black on black wardrobe.

One particularly cold winter morning he looked at me and started to play this song and i wish i had a recording of it because that was pure magic. From then on i made sure i always had some change and arrived at least a little bit earlier just to listen to him. He never played it again but man.. he seemed like a sweet dude. He always had a nice word for anyone who approached him, he only but threw his guitar every single time a dog came by to rush to pet it, and he was always always smiling.

30: A song that reminds you of yourself

People error by the GazettE

#levynn answers #anon <3 #ask game #asking game

[sigynpenniman]

My winning band recommendations from my 72 hour power metal fixation adventure

Plus other opinions I don’t have near the knowledge to have, various other thoughts and a link to Spicy Metal Takes: the google sheet; or, Girl who has only ever listened to Trans-Siberian Orchestra listens to other metal for the first time: Getting a lot of "Trans-Siberian Orchestra" vibes from this

I've never really listened to metal before. But Kenny got me listening to Versailles, and suddenly I'm considering for the first time in my life that I might like metal, or at least some metal. Then a couple days ago I got introduced to Gloryhammer (by a random suggested reddit post I think?), and then Alestorm. Very amused by the existence of incredibly seriously presented dwarf legend and pirate music, I combed threads of related bands, and someone recommended Rhapsody of Fire.

Here's the other thing you need to know about me: I love Trans-Siberian orchestra. Like, really love. I listen to TSO on repeat from September to January of every year. Few things on earth inspire the joy in me that Wizards in Winter does. So when I hit play on that first Rhapsody of Fire album and got hit with...well, Rhapsody of Fire, my whole world shifted on its axis. You're telling me this whole time there's been more Trans-Siberian Orchestra out there, without the Christmas, and I just didn't know about it because I don't listen to metal?

(this is why I am forever seeking out new music - statistically, the thing you are going to love most in the world is something you've never heard of yet)

Completionism, autism, and an academic fascination with music in general, and hungry for more of this magic, and the next thing I know I'm on Encyclopedia Metallum, Reddit, and Apple Music, scrolling related artist lists and suggestion threads collecting the very best of power metal. It ended up being so many bands I had to make a spreadsheet.

I've spent the last couple of days working my way through the spreadsheet and taste-testing all of the recommended bands. I figure out that the term for what I enjoy is Symphonic Power Metal, so that was my focus. My criteria was fairly simple: do I enjoy listening to this, would I listen to it on purpose, and does it make me start stimming happily the way TSO does.

So here's my fixation-fueled list of recommendations. I'll include a link to my actual google sheet at the bottom so you can all read my spicy metal takes and maybe laugh at me if you like metal and think my taste sucks (which it probably does, and I absolutely do not care if you think so).

RHAPSODY OF FIRE - If you like books with maps in them, can I interest you in a band who put maps in their CD BOOKLETS?

And their approximately 27 related, spinoff, and reboot bands. If you want to get into Rhapsody, check out this illustrated guide to the ROFECU (Rhapsody of Fire Extended Cinematic Universe) that a kind soul made on Reddit here. There is a huge controversy and drama among fans of the band about which is the "real" Rhapsody but I absolutely could not care less. They're all good, don't worry about it.

A film score orchestra handed several electric guitars. TSO on steroids. I don't even know how to do ROF justice in description alone.

Compositionally stunning, complex, gorgeous, orchestral and symphonic masterpieces overlaid with power metal, prog rock, and sometimes medieval music.

Here's the icing on the cake: ROF live for the concept album, and their dozen-plus album discography comprises at the moment 2 complete (and a 3rd still being actively recorded) Lord-Of-The-Rings level fantasy sagas told over 3-5 albums each, complete with MAPS IN THE CD CASES. These guys are NOT FUCKING AROUND. There are multiple long reddit threads and google docs detailing the plot outlines and timelines of each saga, including this 201 page behemoth. I've only scratched the surface here and I genuinely can't remember the last time I was so excited to have so much of something still ahead of me.

TWILIGHT FORCE - Can I copy your homework?

We're not Rhapsody of Fire, we promise! (and I mean this as a compliment.)

Twilight Force is a newer band, and therefore have a bit of a newer sound, but it's the closest thing to ROF out there - probably not by accident, since one of the band members was in one of the ROF spinoff bands. I haven't dug into their lore yet, but the music is spectacular, epic and sweeping and gorgeously composed.

VERSAILLES - Immortal vampire neoclassical VKei with a twist of Gender

If you haven’t ever heard of Versallies…now you have.

A really incredible, absolutely delightful visual kei band with a commitment to their very self-aware bit that takes them to the next level, Versallies make incredible, headbanging, neoclassical metal. Lead vocalist Kamijo has one of the most incredible voices you’ll ever hear, and the whole thing is enhanced greatly by their visuals - sumptuous costumes, full on anime hair, an a general Victorian-meets-rococo aesthetic that takes gender performance to a space of high art. There’s lore for the band too, but I don’t speak Japanese at all, so I haven’t gotten to all of it yet.

MALICE MIZER - high art VKei pioneers

90s Visual Kei band Malice Mizer are the foundational text of much which came after. You can really feel the effect of Dead or Alive’s Pete Burns here (who, legendarily, had an influence on the emergence of VKei due to his popularity in Japan) and everything happening is just beautiful. The least “metal” of everything on this list, Malice Mizer have more of a metal-flavored new wave sound. I highly recommend checking out these guys’ filmed concerts - the visual is half of the fun with VKei, and the number & broadness of the influences here is incredible - you can feel the push and pull of classical music, new wave, prog rock, metal, rococo aesthetics, goth, mime - it goes on and on. I haven’t gotten to spend as much time with this band as I want, and I feel like there’s more to understand, appreciate, and analyze than I’ll ever have enough hours for.

ALESTORM - Pirates. Yaar.

What do I even say about the kitsch pirate band other than that they’re a pirate band. And they’re…really, really good. Sea Shanties in metal form, metal music full of accordions, aggressively Scottish, and delightfully committed to theme. It's hard not to smile listening to this.

AVANTASIA - Opera Time

More rock operas than albums.

The other close-to-a-TSO clone on this list, Avantasia make symphonic rock operas. Another band I need more time with, there's some REALLY good stuff here if you like rock operas (which, clearly, I very much do).

KAMELOT - Pure Power Metal

Slightly less symphonic than the other choices (though there's still some violins in here), Kamelot is a more metallic and classic rock/epic rock sound with some killer vocals. There's something a little dated about their sound, but I mean that as a compliment.

POWERWOLF - Dad music

There's something delightfully 80s about this sound. Feels lifted directly from classic rock. This is your dad's music, and I mean that as a compliment.

STRATOVARIUS - Barely not Journey.

These guys go back and forth between being metal and sounding like Journey, but it's good. I approve.

AYREON - The English language is insufficient.

It feels like no matter which song I put here, it's going to be wrong - because no single song you listen to is going to give you a good picture of whatever the hell Ayreon is. The songs have a metal influence, but every song feels like a different genre - I would describe the overarching genre as closer to Prog Rock, but oh man, it is all over the place. The strangeness and all-over-the-place nature of it is fascinating. I was gratified to find that my inability to describe or even decide how I feel about this band is reflected in the band's actual Wikipedia article, which includes this incredible comment from a music reviewer:

"Idk man this shit defies description."

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Epica - Incredible operatic vocals combined with black metal growls over a heavily orchestral metal background.

Opera Magna - these guys really only have the one album but it's heavily classical and really good.

Fairyland, Deridian, Dragony, Dark Moor - All very similar sounding "symphonic power metal but not quite as good as ROF"

Sabaton - some really good power metal around historical war themes. Well made, but I am not super interested in the thematic content so it doesn't hit.

MY ACTUAL SPREADSHEET:

Tier: classic tier list tier - S, A, B, C, D, E, F

Library Tier - a simpler, more subjective system I added for myself - would I save this into my music library, would I only put it on a playlist for a specific mood, or do I just not plan to listen to it again?

A complete list of the bands I taste tested with my ratings and notes. I have literally no previous knowledge of this genre. My taste and opinions might be bad, they might be awful, I do not care. I hope you all enjoy them anyway.

#Youtube #long post

[attallahmusic]

Top 10 September

We all know the drill, these are my picks for the best songs released in September of this year.

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify or Tidal.

To kick off the list, is a new song from our toxic king Brent Faiyaz. Another smooth R&B release from him, which on it's first released featured a woman's voice speaking sweet words in Spanish, which was then ridiculed because of her pronunciation and this bit has now been removed from the song and replaced with an instrumental interlude. Just a fun little fact.

If you really want to hear her accent, you can hear a snippet of it on my travel highlights on Instagram as I used this for a picture I posted. I will say, I used a part where her accent wasn't too bad.

Moving on to actual Spanish, Enrique Iglesias and Maria Becerra has released a great bachata song. It's clear that Enrique Iglesias brings his pop influence into this song, uplifting the genre itself for those who love some bachata sensual.

Bad Bunny is seemingly in his vaquero era and has released a great reggaetón banger, which looks to be a taste of the new album he has been promising would come out this year. It seems like we can expect something completely different from his previous album, Un Verano Sin Ti.

Pop, disco, house, a great mix for a great party. This song is smooth, fun, and fits perfectly into the darker winter months we are entering.

I didn't know Lil Yachty had BARS. I love seeing Lil Yachty try and play outside of his normal frameworks and playing into this extremely J. Cole beat, with J. Cole. If you like rap, you have to listen to this.

This is my new go-to song to play at a party when people don't listen to reggaetón. It's a perfect party mix with techno, reggaetón, and good beats.

Now if the party is with reggaetón lovers, this song will be on the playlist.

Now moving towards Danish afrobeats and rap mix you have Je Ka Jo by ICEKIDD. It's a great and fun song for a party.

Sleep is the cousin of death and it seems like Nas never really does sleep with how much he manages to put out. But okay, I don't complain he consistently puts out heavy beats and good flow.

Is this Drake's best? No. Is it good? Yes.

I have a very ambivalent relationship with Drake's work, because I would be wrong to deny that he has some amazing albums and great songs. I really do love the sound on this song, it reminds me of Views and I hope to see that the album has more of that vibe - that was a great time for his music.

#music #rap #spotify #music news #playlist #new music #reggaetón #pop #reggaeton #bad bunny #drake #brent faiyaz #icekiid #j. balvin #j balvin #sza #nio garcia #usher #dj khaled #enrique iglesias #maria becerra #Spotify

[judasisgayriot]

🎶✨️when u get this u have to put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)🎶✨️

Thank youuu!! 💖🥰

1. Bad Thing Twice - Carly Rae Jepsen

What can I say this just slaps severely, possibly the most out of the whole album, except maybe Talking To Yourself

2. The Way You Miss Me - All Time Low

One of their newer songs I’m really enjoying, it’s also just giving me a lot of those good semi-toxic otp feels rn lol

3. Snow Cats - AFI

I’ve just gotten really into this one lately. I love AFI’s back catalogue of ~~undeniably-queer-vibes lyrics (see: Love Like Winter, my beloved) but these are taking the cake rn:

Am I coy enough? Not boy enough?

You wanted me in this dress

Or nothing else you say I am, I am

Not scared enough, prepared enough

You wanted me in distress

I've nothing left to fear, I am, I am here

4. Twilight - Cover Drive

I’ve been randomly listening to this random pop song from 2012 that barely anyone remembers?? (It reached number 1 in the UK tho) But it honestly just slaps soooo. Summer vibez ✌️

5. So Much (For) Stardust - Fall Out Boy

I’m obsessed with this whole album but this title track? So full of deliciously overwrought lyrical angst in that classic Pete Wentz style. I think I’ve been going through it, and I’ve been putting your name to it!!!

#asks #remembertheskittles #tagged things #music I adore #thank you!!!