#ain’t no way this boy is dancing on the succession theme | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spacetownhigh · 2 years

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thinking about the whole Kate Bush thing - i don't watch Stranger Things (but i've been *this* close a few times) nor am i on tik-tok or wherever the song continues to trend. but i’m feeling like reflecting on the age-old dynamic of younger people discovering older media. feels like there are two pretty basic takes i want to avoid: 1. it's good that kids are discovering great old tunes! good for them. 2. these young'ns don't understand the impact of Hounds of Love! they've never even heard the classic OMD run! it's easy to say #1 is true (but too obvious to be really worth saying imo - comes off as...i dunno - lil too ‘i’m cool with the youth’ and an empty statement.) and #2 is what stuck up music snobs say. and it's mean, y’know? no one wants to hear ‘that’s not your music - that’s my music! you don’t get it!’. but i’ll take a contrary position - debate club style - i kinda have a lil sympathy for that mean music snob, if they saw a part of their uh ‘musical/subcultural niche’ being repurposed to soundtrack a million tik-toks of younger folks having fun...hey, i’ve never been there, but i could see feeling a certain way. ofc i’m a solid ‘91 core millenial - this boy was raised on napster & 9/11. Kate Bush ain’t my generation, necessarily. i do love Running Up That Hill - unimpeachable track. i should admit that it seems every year since about 20 i’ve tried to get into Hounds of Love, and always seem to fail to. i keep giving it a shot every couple of years - it’s almost become a running joke between me and...myself (& Kate!). i’m not sure if dancing to the tune at highschool prom in ‘83 woulda elevated the tune...i think mediocre songs can be elevated by a time & place. Running Up That Hill doesn’t need context to elevate it. it’s timeless (so is Hey Ya! by Outkast - was a bop then and still is. uh people still like mr brightside, etc.). and i’m sure there are examples of a song being removed from it’s time & place elevating it - i can’t think of an example right now...outside of like, examples of sampling. there must be tunes that came back & were more relevant (spotify algorithm bringing deep cuts to the surface?). okay, i’m hesitant to say this but here’s my old-head gatekeeper story. in highschool i adored the band Xiu Xiu. they weren’t like the other Pitchfork bands - it was much darker stuff than like, Arcade Fire or TV on the Radio or what-have-you. it focused more on topics of abuse, dysphoria, suicidality, innocent casualties in senseless wars - elegies for people who's voices were silenced. example: “the littlest of stones no one visits this solitude & death for you Gale Lynn 1948 unloved infant girl the loneliest of graves for you Gale Lynn” it was touching - in my own selfish teenage way i felt like xiu xiu understood me. they were a smaller group 6-7 years in and not legacy yet. then in 2016 they released a record of covers from the Twin Peaks show. it became their most popular record ever. Ever. and kickstarted a kind of zoomer-revival for the band some that saw as past their prime 15 yrs in. i was of two minds. all the themes that made xiuxiu one of those life-saving bands were replaced with a tv show (admittedly prolly a really good one - i’ve never seen it. loved Mulholland Drive tho). it’s not the end of the world, it’s just a band, but i did kinda feel a certain way. the switch from silenced voices to an already-famous franchise reaped their biggest success - it seemed to demonstrate something. i didn’t gatekeep the record or band - my twin is a massive Twin Peaks fan and i gave him the vinyl for our/his birthday. i’m sure xiu xiu were happy for the boost in popularity - they know how these things go - and i genuinely think fans can have a stronger attachment to a body of work than even the creator. but in the hype and hoopla - the record coincided with the announcement of the series revival - i felt a small pang as i thought of the littlest of stones no one visits this unloved infant girl the loneliest of graves for you Gayle Lynn. - - - - - but it’d break my heart if i wrote anything that’d make anyone feel like xiu xiu couldn’t be ‘their’ band, or whatever. part of me feels this post comes off even more-than-a-little like that. *i* love xiu xiu! they don’t care about Gayle Lynn! they don’t care about the voiceless! they only like hipster directors and tv shows! they’re not real fans! and it’s making me not even wanna hit post. i don’t want my bored late night blog post to make a single person feel sour. and again it would crush me if my being reflective here was taken as active gatekeeping. i was so myopic to ever think i understood a band more than others. that attitude just hurts others and eventually isolates yourself. pls listen to xiuxiu if interested and y’know what? start at the twin peaks record. i’m serious it’s actually really good. it would be just as fair to say that the folks who loved the Twin Peaks record understand or see something that *i* don’t. and it would be just as important. i mean honestly liking a tv show can be super fucking important. and can help someone keep hanging on in a serious kind of way. (and i understand the show deals with the metaphysical heavily? there’s prolly a lot to dig in there, no doubt). i’m thinking of how to be a fan of something - or deeply entrenched in anything - and allowing anyone in, even those who you feel may not have ‘earned it’ (i hate typing that, especially about a fucking band). it’s easy and even normal to have a selfish, infantile attachment to a piece of media you love, and to move beyond that is to understand that no one has to like or be a fan of anything to care about Gayle Lynn.

#i should prolly watch both shows #and maybe i'll try hounds of love again this year #very late night rambling i may wake up tomorrow and groan #i didn't plan to write any of this i was just following the line all the way down

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figure-skating-watch-party · 3 years

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JGP Courchevel I

I think that being late in watching a figure skating event, let alone writing about it, is a constant with me so let’s get back to August!

I watched some men, some ladies and of course ice dance. It should be noted that - probably because of high altitude - it was a challenging event for some skaters, mainly in the free program.

Men

In men, I was the most impressed by Corey Circelli. He’s skating to Io ci saro by Andrea Bocelli in the SP and to the Nutcracker in the FP and I don’t know if there’s an even more dreamy combination of programs for me. He’s soft, elegant, great spinner, the spread eagle 3A, rippon jumps, such soothing skating. In the free it wasn’t his day, unfortunately, but he fought until the end of the program.

I saw Ilia Malinin (Billie Jean / Nobody knows) properly for the first time here. He’s also a mature skater, completely different from Corey. His jumps in the SP were great. In the free he planned to do quads but wasn’t that successful. I liked his skating in the free program more, though.

I liked Lucas Broussard with such a fun SP to Gin Tonic and then showing his more lyrical side with Yellow Moon in the FP. I’ll keep an eye on him.

And now two French boys I’m especially happy for them that this JGP went well. The thing is I saw Francois Pitot first at senior French nationals in 2020 and Ian Vauclin (Fly me to the moon / ? ) maybe even a year before and the nationals ... didn’t go well for them. They were very young, competing with much stronger skaters so it’s understandable. But I’m very happy French public saw better performances now.

Francois is so committed to the performance and I think he has a good relationship with his coach, Florent Amodio. I can even see Flo’s influence on Francois’ costumes ;) I love it that he’s skating to Rocketman in the free. He’s so into it that he almost fell in the step sequence ;)

Ladies

This time, I’ll talk very briefly about ladies because I focused on them more in my Courchevel II post. I liked Kaiya Ruiter (Opportunity / Mulan), I hope she, Emily and Madelein will bring Canadian ladies back into the spotlight!

Lindsay Thorngren has great jumps and I loved her Queen’s Gambit FP, with a 2A from an Ina Bauer and with a great spin at the end.

Then there were two Korean ladies and one lady who switched from Korea to the USA fighting for the podium. Seoyeon Ji (Danse macabre / Piano concerto No 2), Ashun Yun (Smells like teen spirit / Mummy return) and Clare Seo (Rain in your black eyes / Cirque du soleil). They all had beautiful costumes and such nice skating skills.

Ice dance

There were twelve teams and yes, I’ll talk about all of them! At least one thing I liked about one of their dances.

Hailey Yu/Brendan Giang (River / Magical thinker) Their complete stylization into the fairy tale ballet FP.

Maya Benkiewicz/Nicolas Henault (No diggity / Russian sailors dance) The way they incorporated real Russian Kozachok dance into their choreography.

Daria Grimm/Michail Savitskiy (Going crazy with the blues / Sarabande) Nice, calm RD. Jazzy all the way. And their twizzles in the FP. The way they are smooth and quick at the same time.

Miku Makita/Tayler Gunara (Leave the door open / Attack) They go full out, party on the ice!

Celina Fradji/Jean-Hannes Fourneaux (Ain’t no sunshine / Matrix) Just generally how they are getting better and mature I’ve been following them for some time.

Hannah Lim/Ye Quan (Gangnam style/Cats) Are those my fave programs ever? No. But their choreographers are geniuses because now everybody would remember them. Also the acrobatic lift in the RD! And the paws in the FD ;)

Katarina Wolfkostin/Jeffrey Chan (MJ medley / Rain in your black eyes) They are awesome in general, especially the FD is breath-taking.

Tatjana Bunina/Ivan Kuznetsov (Imma Be/Writing on the wall) Amazing FP! The choreography is great. It matches the James Bond theme so well, there is always something going on, some action.

Louise Bordet/Thomas Ghipoulou (California soul/Taranta) The character steps in the FD! The lifts and combo spins!

Kateřina Mrázková/Daniel Mrázek (Danny Cool/Poeta en el mar) The fire that is the FD! The power, the character steps. And a fun RD, that’s always a plus.

Vasilisa Akhramenka/Alessio Surenkov-Gultchev (Summertime / Tango) Nice sliding move and a lift while Alessio is skating backwards.

Lika Bodnar/Artem Koval (Virtual insanity, Uptown Funk / Bedroom hymns) Great twizzles and the fact that they really enjoy their RD.

#figure skating #figureskating #current season #watch party #2021/2022 #jgp courchevel #jgp #ice dance

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phoenixpinks · 3 years

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Things Team Lazarus said during EoD starters

"When all else fails, Lex Luthor intends to kill Superman with Death." "HOLY BAT, BATMAN!" "WAIT SO WAIT WHAT???" "We're not in any danger! We're just nerds solving riddles on the internet!" "I ain't dressing up every night to find someone to punch" "I don't need to dress up every night to find someone to punch" "my son won't respond to my texts about wearing a bullet proof best, he is so grounded" "HELLO NAUGHTY CHILDREN IT'S TIME FOR FEAR" "NO FORTS. ONLY JUSTICE." "we're conventing court in the fort" "We pun to forget tears though" "Im gonna release all of these come the end of this, nothing is sacred" "he faked his death to get away from us" "but, it's all in good pun" "This is our life now" "you could have fit a meme in there" "oh god it is going to be a time thing" "yes how dare you say a meme I don't know, or whatever that is" "it only hurts if you let it hurt" "lies, I almost cried last night I will have none of your nonsense" "i am of a sensitive disposition. everything hurts" "Worse than my solving my problems with ___ and cocaine idea?" "you don't mix ANYTHING with cocaine, instant death" "Can I mix water with cocaine" "I may not have a coffee problem but I am surrouned by 5 different types of soda cans rn" "the soccer van, but for super villains" "we can alwats tie some people to the top of the car with bungee cords" "free test subject right here" "Ya'll gnna get yourselves killed" "My guy I'm lowekey terrified 24/7." "you're always screaming" "ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT" "I'M NOT SURE ABOUT ANYTHING" "you do not need to focus on that" "bye whoever’s leaving, I can't keep track of all of you" "you're attractive and love crime, I'm attractive and love crime. Let's be attractive and commit crimes together." "Dr we will never send puns again if you promise to stop getting into death traps" "I only said it was nice to see him again with the living. I may not sound it, but I'm absolutely ecstatic" "wow I mean he's probably not the best at running" "Kick him in the knees" "Hes DIED, He'll be fine" "I COME HOME TO PAIN!!!!" "fuck you ____ you suck at taking care of yourself" "Yes now shut up and sleep in a bed tonight instead of a ditch" "Being unconscious does not count as sleep" "IT'S NOT THE PUNISHMENT YOU DESERVE, BUT IT'S THE PUNISHMENT YOU NEED" 'We need justice for these puns" "Honestly anyone int he crowd might have snapped and shit him just to shut him up" "it was me guys" "you did the world a service fam" "YOU HAVE TAINTED HIM" "WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE, ____" "Nnnnnng that hurt me" "i gtg, I want to finish this report before 3 A.M" "procrastination at its finest" "get in losers we're going spooping" "Why have we formed a cult" "This was not what i expected when i first asked to join the skype group" "All groups of friends make cults at some point" "would it be irresponsible of me to send a message saying 'run bitch run'? "WHEN I TOLD HIM TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES THIS ISN'T WHAT I MEANT" "I GO ON WARCRAFT FOR TEN FUCKING MINUTES AND IT ALL GOES TO SHIT" "I instinctively covered my ears at the gunshots but then I remembered I was wearing headphones" *does the 'I'm so smart' dance "Mother always told me I was special" "I hope we're blowing this way out of proportion but at the same time this would be a hilarious plot twist" "WHOO BOY SCREENSHOT" "He's moved from senpai to fam" "He's probably lughing in his cellar" "dial dow the thirst there my dude lmao, ily thou" "I for one always overreact" "I never overreact. WHY. ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLY SOMETHING" "___ ARE YOU ON HELIUM???" "I COME BACK AND WHAT DO I FIND" "WHY CAN'T THE RIDDLES LEAD SOMEWHERE SAFE!?! LIKW I DON'T KNOW! A DUCK POND OR I DON'T KNOW!!" "because my mind went from 'do we know any duck themed villains' to that weird French duck from courage the cowardly dog" "SHE'S HATING ON MY BOI JULIUS CAESAR" "it's been 2060 years __ im" "knife to meet your boi julius caesar" "Ok i'll hit you up next year when it's 2061" "YOU CAN HIT ME UP WHEN I'M DEAD FAM" "___ has nominated me as a Fish, or a frog, I don't even know" "if im bill the lizard youre gonna be a fish w me" "MAYBE I LIKE BEING DROP KICKED" "there is so much anger on that voice that is just covered layer of 'fuck this'" "Really? Legwork? Oh, this is grand." "give me your free time im dying in work" "it's a supervillainy way though" "I'm already dating a weeb and then I come here and WHAT DO I SEE" "I'm going to smack you all" "Everyone go stand in the corner" "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS OH MY GOD" "I never had an anime phase I win" "everybody loves him but the sentiment is not reciprocated" "i will be ashamed for the rest of my life, but sure" "time to Google... aight Google isn't helping" "Tfw you kill ___, Reblog if you agree" "he looks like you should just start punching him and never stop" "when did we start being about ____'s butt" "We're allowed to be proud because it's obvious the guy is salty and not happy with our success." "I'M DISOWNING YOU ALL, EVEN HIM" "oh hey it's midnight" "you can't cheat the champion of cheating" "you cheated and I shall cheat harder" "I'd hope that I'd at least be captured by honorable idiots" "NO DUMBO RIDES. ONLY JUSTICE." "you and I are on separate wavelengths than" "OKAY STRICTLY UPDATE THEY ARE NOW PLAYING WAKE ME UP INSIDE WHATS HAPPENING" "don't meme shame me bro" "Your memes are stale, and you are stale" "lol what is romantic human interaction" "what is human interaction" "what is interaction" "What is human" "this is the worst thing I have ever created and I will burn for this" "I look at him directly and said fuck you" "I gotta go eat dinner y'all are fucking insane" "I WILL RUN EXPERIMENTS IN THE BASEMENT WHO'S WITH ME??" "Do you have any redeeming qualities" "c'mon skype lemme transer sewing via you...." "are you kidding, this is better than all the tv shows I'm behind on" "MURDER ROADTRIP" "Rosaceae are refuscent, Violas are cerulean, Cane crystals are saccharine, homogeneous to you" "WE ARE THE BEST GROUPIES" "shes not even here, she chickened out of the fight" "Tfw your brain is memes" "Twf yer also an adult" "Yup. Exactly Sad O'Clock" "So sad o'clock is midnight o fifty, got it"

#RP Starters

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hibiscusangel15 · 4 years

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And Two-Brains Got Away!

Hey @newsiegirlscout! So sorry it’s late, but here’s your Secret Santa gift! You asked for either Tobey having family fun with his mother or Tobey and Two-Brains bonding, but I decided to write a fanfic covering both at once! :D

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and have a very happy new year/decade!

Thanks to @void-apocalypse for hosting the gift exchange, too!

Tobey’s life was always full of last-minutes. Last-minute plans, last-minute cancellations, last-minute, well, everything.

It’d been this way as far as he could remember. This constant unpredictability might have fazed some people, but never him. At least he could construct his robots in peace while she was out.

So when his mother suggested they go out and get a nice Christmas tree right on Christmas morning, Tobey wasn’t at all surprised.

The tree lot was barren save for a few ramshackle bundles of sticks that hardly qualified as a “tree”. That didn’t stop the overexcited salesman from trying to push one onto his mother, though.

He sighed, and the crisp winter air spooled out before him like a puff of smoke. What a foolish endeavor. Didn’t the salesman know who he was even talking to? There was no way his mother would shill out a penny for a pathetic twig like that.

Tobey eyed the enormous pine tree by the salesman’s cabin. It had a massive trunk nearly as wide as it was tall, and the tree was tall enough to rival even his robuts’ heights. Not a practical Christmas tree by any means, but it was by far the best option here.

“Pardon me, Mr. Salesman,” Tobey piped up right as the man showed off yet another pathetic excuse of a tree. “But would you be willing to part with that one over there?”

The salesman hardly glanced over at the towering pine before he burst out laughing. “Ol’ Piney’s been there since before I was born! Family’s tried fer years to tear ‘er down, but ain’t nobody’s been successful yet!”

“So if I were able to take it down, would you let us bring it home?” Tobey pressed.

The salesman roared again. “Persistent lil’ feller, ain’t ya?” He wiped his nose and looked up at the tree once more. “Tell ya what. If you can somehow cut Ol’ Piney down, I’ll let ya have ‘er, free of charge!”

A wicked grin split across Tobey’s face. “‘Free of charge’, hm?”

His mother narrowed her eyes. “Tobey? What are you plotting?”

Instead of answering, Tobey dug a remote from his pocket and pressed a sequence into it with a needless flair. The ground rumbled as something massive approached closer...and closer.

The few crows that had settled on “Ol' Piney” scattered away just as one of Tobey’s robots strolled casually down the street up to them. The shady salesman sputtered out a few incoherent syllables as the robot stooped to pluck Old Piney up like a flower, roots and all.

“You...You cheated,” the salesman wheezed, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Tobey nearly burst out in maniacal laughter. What a sore loser.

“You never specified how I was to take this tree down, my good sir. I thought using my robut would be fair game.” He blinked innocently up at the two adults staring down at him.

Much to his surprise, his mother started to laugh. A lot.

The sound was infectious, and soon, the two of them found themselves laughing all the way back home again.

Claire wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh...Oh goodness, Tobey! You really showed him!”

“Serves him right for trying to peddle mere twigs to a lawyer and the world’s most formidable boy genius!” Tobey huffed.

His smug guise soon dispersed into childish giggles when his mother ruffled his hair. “Tobey, your mischief has proven to be rather valuable this time, so I’ll let the use of your robots slide just this once.”

They leapt up in their seats when the robot set the tree next to their house with a resounding boom, garnering even more foolish laughter from them both.

Most of their day after was dedicated to decorating their new Christmas tree. It had been some time since he and his mother had been downtown, but Tobey would bet that their tree was far superior to the shrub in front of City Hall.

At last, his robot daintily placed their enormous Christmas star on top. Tobey held the switch to his mother, and she flipped the heavy lever “On”.

A gentle flood of light washed over their yard like light snowfall. Not bad for having set it up just that day.

Claire wrapped an arm around her son’s shoulders, her eyes gleaming with a keen pride. “Merry Christmas, Tobey.”

“Merry Christmas, mother,” he whispered as he settled against her.

After watching the lights dance along their tree for a few moments longer, the two headed inside to stir up some hot chocolate and pop some kettle corn.

Last-minute tree. Last-minute cocoa. Last-minute present exchanges.

Yes, some people might not appreciate the rushed nature of it all. Tobey McCallister, however, couldn’t imagine a better Christmas with his mother.

It was perfect.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Or at least it was until someone knocked insistently on their front door.

They exchanged glances with one another, but it was clear from the puzzled looks on both their faces that neither of them were expecting anyone.

The door burst open as soon as his mother unlatched the last lock.

“Merry Christmas!” Doctor Two-Brains and his two henchmen yelled. Two-Brains was dressed up in a horrid Santa suit while the two henchmen flanking him had put on green hats with jingling bells on the end of them.

Claire put a hand over her heart. “Oh my!”

“Ho ho ho and etcetera.” Two-Brains rolled his hand as if he couldn’t be bothered to introduce himself properly. “I heard that a very naughty boy lives here! I’ve come to give him a lump of coal!”

The henchmen giggled to themselves as they fished out a large black lump from the red bag their boss toted around. The “lump of coal” in question was in reality just a poorly wrapped gift plopped right onto his lap. Tobey even saw the end of a ray gun poking through the wrapping but decided not to say anything about it.

“Oh, how...thoughtful…” Tobey mused as he caught his mother’s stern eye. Once he managed to tear off all the crumpled wrapping paper, Two-Brains cackled like he had pulled the greatest prank known to villain-kind.

“Did I say lump of coal? I meant ray gun!” Two-Brains-Santa said. “Naughty boys get lumps of coal. Evil villain boys, on the other hand? They get evil villain accessories.”

There was a metallic switch on the side of the ray that said “Shrink” on one side and “Grow” on the other.

Two-Brains flopped onto the couch next to him, moving the switch back and forth like he couldn’t contain his energy. “Just flick the switch, aim, then bam! Make your robots travel-size for easier transport! Flip it back and blam-o! Fifty-foot robots in the blink of an eye!”

He swept his arm out in front of him as if he could picture the scene.

“Now Tobey, what do we say?” his mother prompted.

Tobey resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Thank you, Doctor Two-Brains. I’m sure this will actually prove useful to me in the future.”

“I don’t appreciate your sarcasm, but you’re welcome anyway, kid. Aaaaand I got your mother a little something, too, since she’s been very good this year! Almost too good considering how many times I—I mean—renowned villain Doctor Two-Brains ended up in jail.”

Claire blinked when he handed her a gift card to her favorite tea place in town. “Oh! Why, thank you very much! I’m sorry I couldn’t get you anything. I didn’t even know you would be stopping by!”

She threw her son a questioning look, but he just shrugged. He certainly didn’t invite them over.

“This was all a surprise my henchmen and I planned for this year! We got gifts for every villain in town! In fact, Tobey was our last stop, and I gotta tell ya, I am exhausted.” Two-Brains ripped off the fake, itchy beard and fanned himself with his Santa hat.

“Oh! Well, the least I could do is offer you and your henchmen some hot cocoa!” Claire said as she rushed off to do just that.

The henchmen’s eyes brightened. “We love hot cocoa! Thank you so much!”

“It’s my pleasure!” Claire spooned hot chocolate into some chipped Christmas-themed mugs. “Would you like marshmallows?”

“Yes, please!”

A hush fell over the McCallister living room as everyone sipped their delicious cocoa. Considering most of the people there were villains Claire McCallister had sentenced to jail several times, it was unbearably awkward.

“So...cozy place you got here,” Two-Brains began just to lighten the tension.

“Thank you,” his mother said.

“Surprising lack of robots.”

“My room’s full of them,” Tobey replied.

The small talk only fueled the awkwardness even more.

Two-Brains drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch and looked all around, hoping a topic would simply appear out of thin air.

Charlie whispered something in the other henchman’s ear and he smiled.

“Hey, Boss!”

“Yeah, what?”

“Me ‘n Charlie were wondering...since we didn’t get the chance to go caroling at the other villains’ houses...could we sing a few holiday carols here? For Tobey and his mom?”

Again, Tobey and his mother exchanged questioning glances. Just how well could they all sing together anyway?

“Eeeeh, I don’t know….” Two-Brains took Tobey’s shrink ray, switched it to “Grow” mode, then shot it at a wheel of cheese he fished out of his pocket.

“Aw, c’mon, Boss! This could count as your Christmas gift to us!” his henchman begged. Charlie nodded silently along.

Two-Brains jumped at the chance like the cheapskate he was. “Alright then, that’s your present! No take-backs!”

His henchmen giggled to themselves. “Could you...Could you sing that one you made up about WordGirl?”

Tobey sat up straighter in his seat. “A song about WordGirl, you say?”

His eyes darted to the floor when everyone turned to look at him. “I-I mean, boo, a song about WordGirl. Must be a rather boring song.”

Two-Brains snorted. “Nah, I think it’s one you’ll like. It goes a little something like this!”

The doctor took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and began, “Dashing through the snow, in a van made out of cheese, o’er the streets we go, laughing all the way, HAHAHA!”

Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the lyrics, Tobey and his mother couldn’t help but stare in awe at how well Doctor Two-Brains sang. One would expect that his singing would sound just as nasally and near-grating as his speaking voice. Not this beautiful operatic melody before them.

“C’mon, everybody now!” the doctor urged, throwing his hands up in the air.

His henchmen joined in with a low baritone. Charlie waggled his finger to the beat. Even his mother chirped along: “Jingle bells! WordGirl smells! Two-Brains got awaaaaay! Oh what fun it is to steal a great, old, big cheese wheel! Hey!”

Just as they were about to go into the second verse, Two-Brains nudged Tobey’s shoulder. “Don’t you wanna sing along?”

A rare nervous expression flashed across his face for a moment before he replaced it with feigned boredom. “Not really. It’s a rather silly song.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s supposed to be! The holidays are always full of silly stuff like this! Don’t be such a curmudgeon.”

His face flushed. “I...I’m not a curmudgeon!”

“Then sing along with us, kid! C’mon!”

Tobey made a show of rolling his eyes, but eventually joined in anyway. If they chanced a look outside, they might have caught sight of Tobey’s robot peeking in with a wide smile.

“And Two-Brains got AAAAWAAAAAAYYYY! HEY!”

Their voices and warm laughter floated through the window into the winter night.

#Tobey McCallister #Claire McCallister #Doctor Two-Brains #WordGirl #WordGirl Secret Santa 2019 #my fanfiction

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ducktracy · 4 years

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117. billboard frolics (1935)

release date: november 16th, 1935

series: merrie melodies

director: friz freleng

starring: cliff nazarro (eddie camphor, worm), billy bletcher (rub-em-off)

the first cartoon to use “merrily we roll along”, which, fittingly enough, would become the theme song for the merrie melodies starting in 1936 and all the way through 1964. it wasn’t formally adopted as the theme song until 1936’s boulevardier of the bronx, but still worth noting. if my memory serves me correctly, this is also the first merrie melody whose title isn’t reflective of the song showcased in the cartoon. as always, billboard advertisements come to life, and trouble brews when a hungry cat preys upon a helpless little chick.

it’s night, and a grassy lot in the city is illuminated by a number of stray billboards. focus on a billboard advertising old maid cleanser, some other menial posters, and finally a poster advertising eddie camphor and rub-em-off “and his wioleen”. an obvious reference to singer eddie cantor, a star who would find himself in many a looney tunes short. rub-em-off is also a spoof on his violinist david rubinoff.

eddie does his signature cartoon “eye roll”, referenced in cartoons such as shuffle off to buffalo and slap happy pappy to name a very select few. together they launch into “merrily we roll along”, which cantor sang originally. the impression of cantor is fun and lively, and bletcher’s characterization as rub-em-off is just as amusing. they don’t do much in terms of dance, but it still remains relatively lively.

song number over, dance routine begins. a cocktail shaker in a poster shakes itself like maracas, accompanying a girl advertising all expense tours to cuba. the animation feels looser than normal, but the dance remains fun and playful. your stereotypical freleng girl.

some hot tamales lend their voices, strumming a fork like a guitar, reused from how do i know it’s sunday, as is a sequence of clogging maids birthed from “old maid cleanser” cans. now a sequence with russian rye bread dancing the hopak, their advertisement reading “baked on the five year plan”—a reference to stalin’s five year plan(s). animation is fun for all of these sequences, but none too groundbreaking.

a more upbeat, amusing sequence as a line of penguins engage in a dance sequence, rolling on their mannequin feet like skates and intermittently quacking—because all penguins quack, right? a woman in an above advertisement rains powder below on the penguins to create the illusion of snow. one of the more entertaining dancing sequences in the cartoon, if not the most entertaining. the animation is smooth and flouncy.

the stars of the girl at the ironing board make a comeback and reuse their dances from the aforementioned short. two tapdancing pajamas do their thing, drumming their buttflaps on upturned wash tubs, while the main “woman” from the short (nothing more than an assortment of clothes) dances as well. smooth animation, and the addition of color is a nice touch, but nothing extremelt wow-worthy. freleng’s knack for timing is not to be taken for granted, however.

meanwhile, a hungry chick spots a worm writhing around in an apple. as all hungry, inquisitive chicks do, the little bird jabs its head inside the apple in an attempt to snag the poor worm. reused from pop goes your heart, the worm crawls out of the other end of the apple and gives the chick a spanking, the chick leaping around in pain and clutching its derrière. even more determined (especially after the worm mocks the chick), the bird tugs at the worm, the worm clutching desperately to a nearby twig for support. just as the worm is about to be made into mush, it pushes against the apple, knocking the apple into the chick and sending the chick into a daze.

enter a chase scene, the worm rolling around like a wheel while the bird nips at it from behind. truthfully i forget which exact cartoon it was sourced from, ain’t nature grand!? but the animation of the worm has DEFINITELY been reused in many a harman-ising cartoon. after 100+ cartoons, it gets harder to keep track, especially when those early cartoons are so barebones.

the bird chases the worm right into a junk pile, dragging out a long strand... which turns out to be an air pump. knocking into a branch sends a propped up cellar door crashing straight on top of the pump. an amusing visual as the chick, connector still in its mouth, inflates like a balloon, even floating into the air and flopping to the ground.

enter the same cat from it’s got me now!, creeping along a fence. it passes by the moon, illuminating the cat’s innards like an x-ray, recycled from sittin’ on a backyard fence. the food chain reminds us of its existence as the cat sees the chick, licking its lips. the cat pounces, providing a menacing meowl (animation of the closeup reused from my green fedora).

i LOVE this chick’s face. full of personality, probably the most this cartoon has had so far. the chick provides a smug, guilty grin as it sways to and fro nervously. a cheeky grin as the bird bids goodbye with a wave, trotting away nonchalantly... and instantly picking up into a hurried run.

an advertisement of a bellhop, labeled “‘CALLING FOR PHILMORE’ CIGARETTES”, notices the chick’s peril and shouts “calling all cars! calling all cars!” two police officers in a “police chief gasoline” ad (a reference to texaco’s fire chief gasoline that was used until the 1970s) chase after the cat... figuratively. a fun visual as their car speeds along, a jaunty rendition of “merrily we roll along” underscoring the scene, yet their car only speeds along inside their billboard. in reality, they’re merely suspended. one of the officers whips out a machine gun and shoots at the cat (lovely, huh?), the bullets actually breaking the barrier between realities.

an advertisement for “the electric hand” pokes the victor phonograph dog, alerting the dog to the trouble. the dog (fun fact: he actually has a name—nipper) chases after the cat, running straight into a tube. the conniving cat turns the valves on the tube so as to trap the dog, the dog reduced to a mere barking bump thrashing around inside the metal pipe.

back to the chick, who runs for its life after realizing the cat is free of distraction (i wonder where we’ll see more cat and bird cartoons. curious indeed). just as the cat has the poor bird cornered, the arm from the arm and hammer logo—this time parodied as “ham & armour” conks the cat right on the head with its signature hammer. the little bird perched itself on top of the dazed cat’s head, slapping its sides and crowing like a rooster (parallel to country boy). iris out.

it’s unfair of me to deduct points for recycled animation, but i have a different perspective than a moviegoer in 1935, or even you reading this (unless you’re as much as a nut as i am and have actually taken my recommendations and watched these, to which i say 1) thank you and 2) hang in there). watching all of these cartoons in rapid succession, you pick up on recycled animation much quicker, and so you can’t help but notice it. the average moviegoer isn’t going to say “hey! that was used in the girl at the ironing board, directed by friz freleng, released august 23rd, 1934 as a part of the merrie melodies series!” so, because of that, i won’t try to let that influence my opinion so much. but the retakes were rife in this one, and an indicator that they were either out of time, money, ideas, or all three.

the cartoon felt incoherent and not exactly sloppy, but extremely loose, the closeups of the cat meowing especially. all of the gags have lost their novelty (again speaking as someone who is watching these one after the other), and it’s hard not to say “i’ve seen this before, it’s getting old, it’s not funny.” it’s also difficult to come down from the high that was gold diggers of ‘49. not at all tex’s best, far from it, but from what we’ve seen so FAR it’s like a huge sigh of relief. and thus, going back to cartoons like these make for a harder transition.

this cartoon wasn’t THAT bad, though. the music was fun (how can you hate hearing the merrie melodies theme song, knowing it would be THE merrie melodies theme song?) and the eddie cantor caricature was highly amusing. freleng’s musical timing saved a lot of visuals from being too dry and trite. but it just doesn’t have much going for it, it lacks coherence and confidence. it just feels like friz’s heart wasn’t fully in it. so, i’d say skip it. yet, as always...

link!

#lt #billboard frolics #reviews #long post

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idontneednofuckinhug · 4 years

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My top 20 albums of 2019

As 2019 is in its final month, we're not only about to experience the end of the year, but also the end of a decade filled with amazing music, ground-breaking albums and self-made musical geniuses. We've had some fantastic years, such as 2012, 2014 and 2016 for album releases and this year definitely rivals all of those beforementioned with the quality and quantity of records we had. There was such a great quantity of amazing albums this year that I had to change my original plans of a top 15 list and move it up to a top 20 list, just due to the saturation of projects. Before starting off the list, I'd like to give my honourable mentions to some great albums which would've made the list in quite a few other years: Charli XCX - Charli; clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood; Charles Irwin - Singles (308). I'd strongly advise to check these out as well as the ones I'm about to list off and with that said, let's get going!

20. Solange - When I get Home A project showing her versality, with music ranging from smooth jazz and blues-inspired vibes to Gucci Mane and Playboi Carti features, Solange once again showed a fantastic ear for production and how amazing her voice really is, without putting it in your face and demanding your attention. Instead the album is like a long, carefree day in mid-April, with Solange's voice giving you an amazing vocal experience.

19. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal - Hiding Places Ranking much lower than last year, the underground New-York genius of Billy Woods once again showcases his amazing talent for rough and grimy delivery combined with industrial, eerie production. The project is very personal for Billy, as he gets very real about his fears and anxieties and even takes a spin for the existential as the talented lyricist raps about his mortality, creating a very unsettling and uncomfortable listen, nonetheless keeping you entertained for the whole duration of the album.

18. Blood Orange - Angel's Pulse A much shorter project this year than last year's Negro Swan, Devonte released a very raw mixtape, presented as a radio-cut, with sudden transitions and unexpected topic changes. The tape is presented with very groovy production, creating the feeling of a warm summer day, but Blood Orange does keep close to discussing personal topics about his anxieties, insecurities and political worries.

17.Injury Reserve - Self-Titled Definitely not Injury Reserve's first project, but their official studio-album debut, it really lets the odd trio's strengths shine, with its chaotic production, personal bars and focus on making it out of the regular 9-5 life. Full off innovative ideas, such as the song "Rap Song Tutorial" which is true to its name, the album also includes fantastic features such as Rico Nasty, Jpegmafia and Freddie Gibbs, with its main strength being the difficulties of keeping the balance between being a rapper and a regular person.

16. EARTHGANG - Mirrorland The Atlanta duo's debut-album, Mirrorland is very witty and cheerful, capturing the story of Doctur Dot and Johnny Venus's come up in the ATL. Full of quirky and whimsical ideas, the record really does remind listeners of Atlanta's OutKast, with EARTHGANG's very own personality and spin to it, with very playful bars and captivating singing, beats with multi-cultural inspirations, such as on "Tequila" and banging trap production, the album is a fantastic mirror to the duo's potential.

15. Ariana Grande - thank u, next Carried by the freedom and carelessness of Ariana's voice, thank u, next is an album inspired by her romantic experiences through her life, addressing Mac Miller, Pete Davidson and her need for sexual freedom. The project explores the insecurities she has experienced with herself and acts as an assertion of Grande's confidence in herself as a woman, creating a huge emotional range during the 12 tracks.

14. KAYTRANADA - BUBBA A return to form for KAYTRANADA after a 3 year hiatus, this was an amazing funky and playful R&B project, blessed with fantastic features. The record really does just make you want to dance along and move to the groove, with its defining feature being each song's simplicity, letting the right elements to shine - like in 10% with Kali Uchis with the sexiness of her voice. Don't let the simplicity of the sound fool you, as BUBBA is full of complex production and small elements and samples that you might miss on the very first listen.

13. YBN Cordae - The Lost Boy Another studio-album debut, YBN Cordae really shows an amazing knack for sticky bars and storytelling, backed by the fantastic production of of a team overseen by J. Cole and feature assassins such as Pusha-T and Anderson. Paak. Although occassionally a bit too corny, the project paints a fantastic picture of his persona and puts the light on a young talent, emerging in the mainstream.

12. Ari Lennox - Shea Butter Baby One of the best neo-soul projects in the past few years, Shea Butter Baby really wraps around you with its warmth and nostalgia and brings back fond memories of kicking it back on a couch with your friends. Full of amazing jazz and funk samples, the slow pace and easygoing melodies really put you in a carefree state of mind and create a chilled out vibe.

11. Flying Lotus - FLAMAGRA This might be a difficult album for some, but FlyLo once again shows an amazing talent for creating songs from scratch, with a very psychedelic jazz-funk vibe. Each song telling its own story, with the feeling that each second of the album matters, FLAMAGRA's biggest strength is its spiritual element, giving off an energy that touches your soul, if you grasp deep enough within yourself to feel it.

10. Jpegmafia - All My Heroes are Cornballs Much tamer than last year's Veteran, Jpegmafia's last album has a very experimental R&B feel to it, but that does not mean that it doesn't sound like pure musical chaos. Showing a surprising vocal versatility, Peggy raps, sings and screams, keeping true to his "Fuck PC Culture" bars and nasty punchlines. Each song has a very manic and wild energy to it, with the album sounding like structured anarchy.

9. Free Nationals - Self-Titled A modern take on classic soul and jazz, Anderson. Paak's Free Nationals crafted a very sexy, intensive album, that gives a feel that there's no hurry for anywhere and everything will happen in due course. The sensual record can easily be described as baby-making music and has handpicked seductive features like Kali Uchis, Daniel Caesar and Syd to underline that vibe.

8. Anderson. Paak - Ventura Very much a modern take on a soul record, Anderson. Paak really creates a feel of time-stopping whilst listening to the project's songs. Paak wearing his influences on his sleeve on this one, you can really feel the vibrant melodies and groovy emotions, with the amazing funkiness of Ventura also having a very sensual feel to it, thanks to the thoughtfully picked out features and background vocals.

7. Mereba - The Jungle is the Only Way Out An album that I believe didn't get enough attention, Mereba's latest release is a very conscious R&B project, full of beautiful darkly-toned synths and very slow and jammy folk. The topics range from facing your vices, to the overwhelming emotions of seeing your lover and the self-realization that people's opinion ain't shit. Her voice is absolutely stunning and authentic, with it giving off the feel of her being uncertain and lost with each song.

6. Denzel Curry - ZUU Denzel never misses and this is fact once again - releasing his most dynamic record to date, Zuu goes back to Zel's roots of South Florida. In it he reminisces about his come-up and relationships with his family and friends and the project stays true to its nature with the features being only rappers from the area. Although very party-focused, ZUU has a wide range of songs, with boom-bap, trap, soundcloud rap and even having slower, more introspective jams to it.

5. Rapsody - Eve Eve is a love letter, celebrating the success of the black woman. Rapsody absolutely peaks her musical versatility and rapping potential, crafting an amazing classic hip-hop album, full of creative bars, alluring samples and a very socially engaged range of topics. The record's strengths create a vivid picture of why successful women need to be appreciated and cannot be given enough credit in its impact for the female side of hip-hop culture.

4. slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain A very heavily punk-inspired record, Tyler clashes with the UK's upper class in this project, exploring the difficulties of the everyday life in the UK's working class with cynical and sarcastic bars, full of energetic and grimey production. The topics in the cleverly titled record go into detail about the class bracket gap, widening poverty, political uncertainities and the average briton's arrogance. The album is full of witty jokes and very direct humor and thai does very well to paint the picture of a realistic Great Britain.

3. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Bandana Arguably one of the best produced albums of all time, Madlib and Gibbs really pull eachother deep in their worlds and crafted a geniusly produced project. Celebrating black freedom, the record shines on Freddie's talent for grimey and nimble rapping, with him changing cadence again and again, whilst Madlib's gift for erratic production and turning classic jazz and funk songs into off the wall earworms and samples turns this into a spiritual experience.

2. Little Simz - GREY AREA I'm kind of pissed off I put this at number two, just due to how good it is. Simz's coming of age album is a wicked, erratic record full of witty bars, discussion of social themes and goes between grimey, rough production and introspective, jazzy vibes, making for great entertainment. The record is a very open window to her life and the difficulties she's had as a woman and is crafted in such a masterful way, that even if you're not catching the lyrics, you'll feel the album's emotions just by listening to the production.

1. Danny Brown - uknowhatimsayin¿ This project finishes a cycle of Danny for me personally - starting off with his rockstar, crackhead phase with XXX and the consequences of his drug-induced party life in Atrocity Exhibition, his latest project is the maturest face of Danny we've ever seen. Overseen by Q-Tip as an executive producer, uknowhatimsayin¿ is very free-flowing compared to his previous records, topped off with irregular beats and unnerving samples, keeping true to Danny Brown's personality. The project is the culmination of his rap career, as he addresses the need he had to get his life together,get out of the rut he was in and grow up. He uses his cadence and snapiness to make the point of him being grown up, but still being the dude who can do what the fuck he wants.

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psychosistr · 5 years

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A Playful Spark- Chapter 4, Adulthood Pt.2

Summary: Following his previous conversation with Elmo, Jack receives some unsettling news regarding his best friend. It’s all downhill from there...

Notes: Much shorter chapter this time around, with some violence and swearing involved.

-First Chapter-

<-Previous Chapter Next Chapter->

~Age 25- A few days later~

Jack was sitting in his living room, boredly flicking through channels to confirm, once again, that nothing was on. With nothing else to do, he briefly debated on calling Elmo to see if his friend was free to talk for a bit or if he was still working on his science experiment. Maybe he could ask him how his prom went-

A sudden and urgent knock on his door stole his attention from the TV and made him cock an eyebrow in confusion. He rarely received visitors after seven on a weekday. Well, aside from Elmo- but the rat usually just let himself in using his spare key.

Heaving himself up from the couch and looking through the peep-hole in his door, Jack was surprised to see a couple of familiar rats, though without the most familiar one, standing at his door. “Mr. & Mrs.S?” Jack questioned when he opened the door for them. “What’s up?”

Elmo’s mother looked around frantically once she was inside, her usually pristine make-up smudged. “Is-Is Elmo here, Jack?”

Jack frowned at the distressed woman. “Elmo? No, I haven’t seen him since Monday. Why?”

Elmo’s father let out a frustrated sigh as he watched his wife’s expression worsen. “He didn’t come home from school yesterday OR today. We called and they said he didn’t even come in today and that no one even saw him at the dance. We know he comes to see you a lot, so we thought he was just hiding out here for some stupid reason.” He side-eyed Jack with a suspicious glare. “You sure he ain’t here?”

Jack scowled at the unwarranted look he was receiving. “Oh, gee, I’m PRETTY sure I’d notice another person hiding out in my apartment for two days- then again, maybe I’m just so blind and stupid that I confused my friend with a coat rack or something.” His voice was sarcastic and dripping with venom as he glared daggers at the surly rat. The two hadn’t exactly spoken since Jack found out about what the man did to his best friend.

“Don’t get smart with me, kid.” The rat countered with a harder glare. “We’re not stupid, we know the little faggot comes here to lick his wounds when he’s feelin’ ‘put-out’. If I find out you did anything with him-”

“If I did anything?!” Jack snapped at the older man while staring him down. “I’m not the one that makes him cry! I never grabbed him by the throat and made him run away from home in the middle of the night after beating the shit out of him! I’ve never HURT him!” He stared the rat down with two years-worth of malice and contempt weighing down his words, the righteous fury that had built up over time finally getting the chance to explode like it wanted to for so long. “If he’s missing, it’s probably because he YOU finally drove him away! And, you know what?! I’d be glad to hear it if he did run away because I’m sick of seein’ the look on his face every time you decide to be an intolerant ass who’d rather have a son that hates himself than one that’s happy! Even if he did come here, I’d call the fuckin’ police WAY before I called YOU!”

Elmo’s father snarled and curled his hand into a fist. “Don’t talk to me like you know shit about my family, boy!” He slammed his fist into Jack’s face, but was surprised when the duck grabbed his arm and wrenched it back painfully. “!!”

Jack glared dangerously at the man he was currently bringing to his knees. “What’s wrong, old man? Not used to hitting someone that fights back?!” He brought his foot back and kicked the rat in his ribs.

He felt a sense of elation and vindication at finally striking back at his best friend’s abuser and kicked him again. And again. And again.

He didn’t care where he hit him- the face, the gut, his chest- Jack was seeing red and didn’t feel like stopping his assault anytime soon.

“Stop!” Elmo’s mother cried out desperately. “Please, stop!”

Jack spared her a milder glare over his shoulder (he didn’t hate her as much as he did her husband, but she still didn’t do anything to help or protect her son so he didn’t like her much, either). “Tch..” He gave the rat one last kick in the ribs before shoving him towards the door. “Come here again and I’ll tell the police you attacked me in my own home- I can afford better lawyers than you can now.”

That was all he said to the couple as they retreated from his apartment.

“Told you he was a bad influence on the kid..” He heard the old rat say to his wife once they were outside.

Jack slammed and locked the door behind them, adrenaline still burning through his veins. He turned his back to the door, clenched his fists at his sides, then looked down.

The anger and adrenaline slowly drained from his body as he now took the time to fully process the news that his best friend was actually missing.

He slowly slumped against the hard wood behind him and sunk down to a seated position. “Darn it..” He said while bringing a hand up to cover his face. “Where’d ya go, Mo…?”

~Age 25-40~

The search lasted for months, police coming by occasionally to ask him if he’d seen any trace of the missing teenager, to which he always replied negatively.

Every day when he came home from work, he silently hoped that he’d open the door and see his best friend sitting on the couch working on some new invention or his homework as if everything were normal. And every day he came home to the same disappointment.

On nights when he couldn’t sleep, he’d roam the streets to search for any signs at all of his best friend. Then, on days when he couldn’t concentrate on his work, he’d stop by Elmo’s school on the way home to see if anyone had heard or seen anything, but most of them barely even knew the kid existed so he stopped going there after the first few weeks (plus that one duck kid, Drakie something, kept trying to interrogate him for having a “suspicious appearance” and that was annoying as hell).

Eventually, the police stopped coming altogether and the rat was officially filed as a cold-case missing person’s report.

Jack played over their last few conversations in his mind over and over again. The last time he saw him had been emotionally turbulent, but he’d left on a good note. The few conversations they’d had over the phone before his disappearance didn’t seem out of place or anything.

Still, in the back of his mind, Jack couldn’t help but wonder if he’d missed some sort of sign..or, worse, that HE was the reason the teenager had gone missing…

Years went by and Jack focused on his toy business. The company grew and expanded over time and became one of the best known toy companies in the country, a feat he was quite proud of. Quackerjack Toys was frequently listed in several magazines and newspapers as one of the greatest toy manufacturers in the world. Jack had all of the fame and success he’d ever dreamed of!

Still, he never gave up hope that Elmo would turn up one day, so he stubbornly refused to move out of his apartment, even when his toy company’s main office moved to the other side of town and resulted in a longer commute. After all, he promised that he’d have the toy company up and running by the time Elmo finished school so they could go into business together- he had to make sure there was something waiting for the rat when he eventually came back.

Unfortunately, as time went on, things took a turn for the worst.

Jack began to suffer from stress and anxiety as his company’s stock-price plummeted. As video games began to gain popularity, less and less people were buying his toys. Frustrated and cracking under the stress, his toy designs began to take a much darker turn- he included real blades and knives, made dolls that were scary to children, stuffed animals that hunted kids like wild beasts, and many other horrifying contraptions.

Lawsuits piled up and, in one particularly bad court case, he finally snapped and attacked everyone in the room by unleashing an army of chattering teeth that moved on their own to bite the victims around him.

Realizing too late what he’d done, Jack ran from the police that tried to arrest him. He managed to get to his apartment before they did and packed the things that mattered most to him:

His toy design notebooks.

His favorite toys.

His favorite red and blue jacket.

And, at the last minute before the police kicked in his door, the framed picture of himself and Elmo from that Halloween decades ago.

He laughed madly as he took a running leap out the window, startling the officers. He landed safely thanks to his natural talent for acrobatics and went into hiding.

Jack spent the next few years living under society’s radar, hiding out in sewers and abandoned buildings as he plotted his revenge against those who wronged him.

His quest for vengeance drove him completely mad, leading the once proud businessman to reinvent himself as Quackerjack- the toy themed super villain of St. Canard!

<-Previous Chapter Next Chapter->

End Notes: Like I said, short and not-so-sweet chapter. Don’t worry, happy ending comes with the final chapter soon x3

#quackervolt #quackerjack #megavolt #quackerjack/megavolt #dwd #darkwing duck #childhoodfriends!AU #Playful Spark

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har-rison-s · 5 years

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Tiny Dancer - Five

A/N: Hope whoever's reading this is enjoying it. Personally, 40s Bucky is so sdnfsjfh cute, I can't. I try to write him as good and accurate as possible. English isn't my first language, so squint your eyes for any grammar mistakes/misspelling. Happy reading!

This is getting a little hard to write now. I hadn't calculated what writing this all out means.

The funeral was arranged by... someone, I don't know, I took the first company that came my way, I didn't really want anything to do with it. My father's death. If only I had any other relatives, except for my dad's brother who I rarely met, who could settle this all instead of me.

My heritage had been confirmed. I had gained not only money from my father, but also his place in the family company. He produced musical instruments - guitars, violins, microphones, etc. And now I got his role - the owner - in it. I was somehow delighted for the first time since his death. I had the hands to do anything I wanted to.

I actually still own the company, and I’m trying to change my employeés every time I change a city to live in. They never want to leave, and I know why, I perfectly understand. The money's good, you get bonus gifts and even failed-to-finish musical instruments and parts of them, everyone's nice to each other and the boss (me) is the best boss you could wish for. But it's crucial every few years. I could never tell anyone my secret, God knows what would happen. No one, absolutely no one, can know about my true nature and... fate, I guess. Forbidden.

I'm not even the front-woman of my father's and my company. It's my secretary. A woman who was born in 1920 and has been my secretary since I was... back from HYDRA, totally back. It was around the fourties, I think? Anyway...

Our house was empty since my father died.

Silent. I hated it. I hated silence, always have. And it became my daily companion. Soon after I got so irritated and angry that I bought a radio, and I turned it on everytime I was home, or home alone, at that. I wasn’t exactly satisfied with what the programmes were giving me in terms of music, but as a silence-repellent, it worked very well.

Sixteen, owning a company, a house, attending school, dancing ballet in operas and living in a house alone. Mother died at giving birth, and father committed suicide, no other relatives known. Quite the package, wasn’t I? And to be alone in my pain and burdens was not easy to live with. Horrible to bear it.

I offered Steve to live in my house with me, so he nor I would live alone. I hated coming home to nobody, no one, nobody making any noise. When my father was around, he wasn’t making that much noise, but at least there was a sense of life in the house. And Steve was all alone too, no sisters or brothers and both his parents gone. Just like me. But Steve wouldn’t take up my offer. I asked him why.

“You’re living alone, too.” I say to him softly. We’re sitting on a park bench in the sunlight, still shining in September. We're glad it is, neither of us really miss the crispy winter air and coldness. Summer has been—in weather terms—very kind to us, blessed us with some days of joy at the seaside or Coney Island.

Currently James is off to get us all ice cream. It's not quite the temperature for ice cream now, but where we are sitting, it feels like you're on a frying pan. And we'll be sitting here for a long time, at least until the sun sets.

“Why wouldn’t you want to move in? It’s lonely.” I admit. “For the both of us.”

Steve sighs. “I’m certainly not the one you should be choosing to substitute your loneliness with.” He says and looks up at me with a faint smile. I give him one in return before looking down, realising what he means.

“Yeah, you’re right.” I admit. “But if I spend all my time with him, I will get tired of James, won’t I? And where would be the fun in that? I'd just get sick to my stomach if I have to see his face every morning that I wake up.”

We both chuckle. I'm joking, of course, and I think we're both laughing at the joke and the possibility of me getting sick of Bucky. That's where me and Steve meet. Humor. And, in later years, I found that motivational speaking was also a common thing for the both of us.

“I bet.” He replies. “But I can’t move into your house.” The skinny teen shakes his head, looking down. “I don’t have any money to pay my half of the rent with.”

I roll my eyes in no seriousness and push his shoulder gently. Only slightly, cause I'm afraid if I push too hard, the fellow will just fall off the bench. “You won’t have to, Steve.” I say, leaning closer to him and searching his deep eyes. “The house was bought long ago, we don’t pay rent. Never have.” I state. Steve lets out an inaudible sigh, he knows I'm right and he should agree. “What is it, really? What’s the reason you won’t take my offer?” I ask, leaning back onto the wooden bench. It's already heated up from the few seconds my back wasn't leaning against it. “It’s the least I can do to help you. What if the neighbours find out you’re not eighteen? They’ll call the police and take you to a children’s home, what will you do then?”

Steve hangs his head low. “Don’t do that, Scarlett.” He says. “That’s… That's emotional blackmail.” I can’t help but laugh at his use of words to describe my helpful offer.

“No, it’s not!” I defend myself. “I’m trying to help you. Please, take my offer. I will feel hopeless otherwise. And rejected.” I show him fake puppy eyes and Steve only pushes me away.

Steve shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Scarlett.” He says finally and looks up at me. “I won’t do it. You can’t make me.”

I huff and watch his eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. His eyes are sincere and true. Steve doesn’t lie. He’s always true to everyone, even if it hurts. This time ain’t no exception. He’s too good for his own good. And I understand why he won’t take my offer. It wouldn’t feel right.

”Now, now, Stevie,” we hear Bucky's voice coming from the direction he disappeared into. We turn our heads to see him now with three ice cream ones in his hands instead of empty ones, “don't you go flirting with my girl.”

I smile at him, taking the vanilla cone from his hand and trying not to be too obvious with the heat tainting my cheeks because of his nickname. My girl. Steve takes his ice cream from James, though the bigger boy challenges his friend a bit first. Steve gives him quite a sorry look and Bucky gives in, letting Steve take the cone.

”It's never too late to try.” Steve jokingly replies to his best friend and all of us laugh warm-heartedly. I try to think of something I could say while we admire and start to dig into our ice creams.

”Actually, you know what, James?” I start to say and he looks at me with raised eyebrows and a light brown brush on his nose. It made me giggle, but I didn't tell him until the very end of the evening that he had mushed his nose into his chocolate ice cream, “I'm gonna have to think our relationship over. Steve's quite the competition.” I say and raise my eyebrows, licking my ice cream.

The two boys glance between each other, trying to understand if I'm serious or not—since I said it so matter-of-factly that anyone could believe I truly meant those words. But when a snort comes out of my mouth, they know I can't hold back laughing and so we all do. We laugh for such a long time that our stomachs start to hurt and our ice cream has almost melted completely.

Steve was really a righteous person. Never bended to anyone’s will, suffered even if he has a chance not to. What a weirdo, I thought when I first realised it. I was about eleven that time. Why wouldn’t you run from trouble? He was too self-righteous, I guess, never gave up on anything he thought was the right thing to do. He took pride in what he did, never realised that getting beat up in almost every Brooklyn alley wasn't a success. But, I liked his bravery and always admired the not giving up and standing his ground. Always thought that I lacked of those.

Getting ready for my father’s funeral was no fun at all. I never liked wearing black clothes. They just felt heavy and I felt like they dragged me down. The colour is still dreadful to me. I like soft and light colours, flowery themes, all of that. I always dress that way, blouses, skirts and dresses. But black has never been my style.

I had one, the only one. A black dress with lace all over. It had sparkles, here and there because of the thirties fashion. It was uncomfortable. I mean, the fabric was alright and it wasn’t uncomfortably tighter anywhere. But it was just the porpose of the dress that made me uncomfortable.

My father’s funeral. And funerals in general. I promised myself then that this would be the only funeral I attend until my own. Who knows now if that will ever come around…

I hadn't decided what to do with my hair. Although there was this one hairstyle my classmate was wearing that I thought would be so beautiful with my own hair. She told me how to do it, and I wanted to make it someday for a special occasion. And I did. It was mine and James' first date. And then... when my father's funeral came around, I didn't know what to do with my hair.

I didn't want to leave it free-falling as I usually do, because, well, that's what I usually do. I didn't want to make a ponytail cause that wasn't the fashion then and it would be too casual. Braids... I thought about that. But eventually, at the last moment, I didn't have any other options except the hairstyle of the first date. I really didn't want to make it, because it used to remind me of such beautiful memories and moments and now it would only remind me of grief and death. So I changed it up a little.

Originally, you have to make at least two braids in your hair and then twirl them together and tie them down to the top of your head to make a nest? A bun? But I didn't put it on the top of my head. I put it very low, just where my hair ends. And to me, that made all the difference.

I'm looking at myself in the mirror too much. It's actually something that I never do, mirrors are just for quick check-ups or fashion shows with myself. I don't spend more than five minutes looking at myself in the mirror.

I’m tugging on the dress everywhere my fingers get to, and it’s unnessecary. The fabric will soon be unusable, stretched and pulled at places. I’m fidgeting. Nervous. Not what I am, not what I'm supposed to be. My shoulders are supposed to be higher, my back more straight than it usually is, chin up and a smile on face. God, I can't do that today, I can't smile. I just... have to survive this one day, I have to be strong.

The dress looks fine, honestly. If I'd look objectively at it, I'd notice that there's nothing wrong with it, no glitters have fallen off, not one spot looks stretched out. But the dress would look much better untouched, hanging in the closet.

I try to touch up my hair even though it doesn't need touching up. And suddenly the most important pin slips out of the hair bunch on my head and all the others follow suit. It was the last one I put in that held together each previous pin. And now everything's ruined, my hairstyle is falling out. I should have secured everything a bit more strongly. I shouldn't have touched my hair at all...

I’m gasping as I try to save it all, twisting and turning in a squatting position in front of my mirror. The pins are falling behind me and the twisting around is making em very uncomfortable. My hands are flying all around me to gather the pins but I can’t see them on the dark floor. I let out a loud whimper of despair as I fall down on my bum, and can't help but start to cry. Oh, I hate crying.

“Scarlett?” The door of my room opens and James slips through. His eyes search for me in the room, but he can’t spot me in the far end of my room, behind my bed, actually having a panic attack on the floor in front of my mirror. But once he hears my whimpers and sobs of sadness, he spots me and rushes over.

James is wearing a nice, dark suit. He looks lovely, the complete opposite of me. His hair is pushed back with the help of some gel, but as he bends down to my level, strands of it start to fall out. To me, it looks better and I even want to stop his hand that pushes the fallen strands back in place.

I think of how I look before him now. I have probably cried all my mascara off and it’s running down my cheeks, blended with tears, looking like black, horrid rivers. My hair is a mess, I’ve lost all my pins and I think the heels of my shoes are starting to break. My face is pulled into a scowl because of crying.

“Scarlett.” His soothing voice speaks. I cry harder and he sits down next to me, puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me closer. “What's wrong, doll?” He asks in such a soothing voice, it almost makes me cry harder.

“I-I can’t do it. I can't go out there.” I say between cries. “Everything's ruined. My makeup is completely ruined.” I state. At that, James chuckles.

“That thing don’t matter.” He replies. “We can clean it off.”

“No, I have to have it on.” I protest. “I already put it on for this day and I can’t just leave my face like it is.” James huffs and stands back to his feet and helps me do the same. I lean up again on my wobbly knees and he immediately helps me find balance - one hand on my waist, the other holding my hand. Just like dancing.

“Darlin’, when I tell you that you don’t need that, you listen to me.” James says in a serious tone of voice. He's tipped his head down a bit, looking at me through his lashes. “It’s your father’s funeral day. Everybody already knows how much you're hurt inside, and covering that up with something fabricated is worse. Nobody will even care how you look today. It’s only normal if you look like you’ve cried for weeks.”

His words make sense to me. I don’t hear myself histerically crying anymore, and I'm not breathing rapidly, either. I don’t really know what to say to him, but then my voice speaks before I can come up with words.

“What about my hair?” I ask. “I’ve… I’ve lost all my hair pins on the floor, and I had such a beautiful hairstyle and now I don’t know how to do it again and—“ My breaths start to pick up their pace again.

“Scarlett, it's alright.” James stops me. “Your hair is beautiful, look,” he takes a strand that's fallen over my shoulder and raises it up so I can see it, “you have the most beautiful hair in New York, and in the world, I'm sure. Look at the waves, look at how it's curled from the braiding.” There's a hopeful smile on his features and it makes my lip quiver. How do I deserve this? “I can take out all the otha' pins and you'll go with your hair like it is.”

"But I had such a beautiful hairstyle, I have to make it again, it was—”

“Almost the one you had on our date, yes, I know.” James nods and I look at him. He really remembers? “It's alright, doll, you can make it tomorrow and the day after and for the rest of your life. But you can forget about it now, alright?” His eyes ask the question, as well. “And you are in no state to clean your own face. I’ll do it for you.”

So he sat me down on my bathroom counter and cleaned my ugly mascara off. I didn’t speak while he did, and I didn’t feel like I should have spoken. Who knows what I was supposed to do then.

James takes one of the small white towels I leave in my bathroom cabinet and wettens it with water. I watch his hands as they come up to my cheeks and then my eyes divert to his. He'd never helped me in such a feminine way before. And I was so glad that he was the one cleaning my face.

His eyes showed such determination. And his hands were soft, his movements were slow and gentle, his touch was caring. I wouldn't have touched my face like that. I would've rushed it all, practically beaten my cheeks and left them in a splotchy red color. But James was much more gentle and careful with my skin, since it wasn't his. I guess everyone's much more careful with what isn't theirs. Maybe most people.

He gives my cheeks and eyelids one last petting with the warm cloth and retracts from me, washing the towel. James leaves it on the surface so it can dry easier and turns back to me. “How are you feeling?” He whispers to me, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I lean into his touch willingly, my eyes closing. I can't really give him an answer. I don't know how I feel, to be honest. “Do you want some water? Water with sugar?” He suggests and I shake my head.

I reach out to his hand with mine and he lets me pull him closer to me. James looks in my eyes as if asking something, and I only nod. That something was to kiss me. And so he does. And it's slow and gentle and just... calming. Just what I needed. And I feel like doing it forever.

He lays kisses on both my reddened cheeks and then returns to my lips and then presses a kiss to the very tip of my nose. I giggle, I actually do, and he draws back from me quick enough to catch a glimpse of my smile.

“There's that smile I was looking for.” James tells me and laughs, his whole face lights up with love and warmth and achievement, as well. It's what he was going for - making me smile. I love that about him.

My arms wrap around his neck and his hold me close by my waist when I let my head fall against his chest. I could fall asleep in this position, and I want to badly. But I have to go out and honor my father in front of people I mostly don't know. His old friends and colleagues.

I hope to find people I know, or should know. Any relatives I haven't had the chance to meet, maybe? A long-lost sister or cousin? I have to do this, and I can. So I let Bucky help me get off the bathroom counter and put on more comfortable shoes and go out. He walks with me.

What an angel he was. Sometimes I couldn’t believe that he was there, with me, helping me and talking to me. No matter what had happened, James knew what to say. Was there, whatever the situation. Just like he was for Steve. Bucky was our angel. I didn’t think I deserved an angel. Not even now. Although I wish that I had one, either by my side or watching over me.

I don’t know, maybe it’s because he’s always had both parents and three siblings. Maybe that's the reason he was so good to us. He knew how to take care of people, he knew what to say at the right moments. And he hadn't even studied psychology at any point in his life. Now I really can't guess why he was such an emotionally intelligent person. But I guess the family life and experience from it gave him a lot.

I trusted him to be there for me always, maybe I trusted too much, was asking too much of him. But he never let me down. He always came when I called. And I also wondered how he always had time for everything, for everyone. His family, Steve, school, me, and occasional work. He was perfect in everything.

And what we had was perfect - the relationship, the remaining friendship between us both and Steve. My life was as perfect as our relationship, despite my father being gone, and I thought it would never end. And it didn't, until right after the funeral.

My speech was alright. Of course I teared up, and I hated it, I still hate it. I hate crying in front of other people, no matter who they are and if they understand or not. I don’t like being seen vulnerable in the eyes of many. But well, that day… was quite the exception. There were many excuses of why I was crying, and people I didn't even know comforted me (James, of course, outed them), but I still hated it.

I didn't even know half the people that showed up to my father’s funeral and voiced their greatest condolences to me. Not one friendly or familiar face that I had seen. Everyone spoke to me after the ceremony and before the ‘feast’. I think there were a hundred people, in total.

A while later I found out that the folks I didn’t know were my dad’s colleagues and associates from work, his friends. There were also some of my mom’s friends who I’d never met. They came to talk to me, propose some options about living spaces, offer anything they could. They'd also tell me about my mom, things about her I'd never heard from my dad. They made me even more sad.

“I’m s-sorry, it’s been a… quite a hard day.” I say between sobs. I’m cleaning off my tears with a handkerchief and I feel someone walk up to me from the left. From the grip of their hand on my shoulder I immediately know it’s James. Millie looks at him as I turn my body into his, and Bucky's arms come up around me. My tears wetten his blazer. Weak, I am weak.

“No, I have to apologise. I didn’t mean to sadden you, that was not my intention at all.” Millie says. She’s one of mom’s old friends or best friend, in her words. I have many questions yet to ask her. For example, why did she never visit me or my dad? Why did I never know her?

“What happened?” James asks softly, looking between me and Millie. I sigh.

“This is Millie, one of mother’s friends. Millie, this is James, my, uh, my boyfriend.” i introduce them to each other. “Millie just told me a few things about my mother.” I say and smile at her warmly. My tears are gone, but they’re not far from coming back, either.

“Oh, I see.” James says and smiles at Millie. “Nice to meet you, even under these drastic measures.” He says and Millie extends her arm towards him, wanting to shake his. But James turns it and places a kiss on her palm. Both me and Millie chuckle. “That’s the right look, princess.” James says to me, cradling the side of my face in his hand gently. I blush slightly and lean into his chest even further.

“Alright, I’ll leave you two.” Millie says. “Bye, love. Take care.” She says, wavering her fingers at us. I wave back and she smiles before walking away, her shoes clicking against the ground as she does.

I also met my father’s parents, which I had never before met in my life. I didn’t know I was missing them until I met them. They were sorry that they hadn't met me before, but explained it as 'difficult family matters' being the reason why.

Grandmother asked me about the house and I told her I lived alone. At first she was totally against me living completely alone and wanted me to come live with them, in Chicago. But I couldn't yet trust her so well. I couldn't abandon the life I have here, either. Then she sufficed with telling me that if I ever needed anything, anything at all, they’d be there to help and support me. I told her thank you.

I know you're probably asking why I never offered James to live with me. I should have, oh, I should have. But he had a family he had to take care of. He couldn't just leave them all alone. We joked about bringing them all to live in my house. Well, a joke it was from James, not from me. I gave the thought a lot of seriousness. Later on, years after, we, well, actually, it was only me who decided that Bucky and his family would live in the house. It's big, like a mansion, his little brother had said. “It's a princess palace!” Lizzie, his sister told me when they all arrived.

I guess the mundainity and obviousness of James having a busy family life was the reason why I never offered him to live with me. His family is very important to him, in his case, blood was thicker than water. He always told me stories about his siblings and parents and I could see how much he cared for them. Other families/people wouldn't go the length he did for their families and relatives.

He was quite the opposite of me, actually, just like Steve. We had both lost our parents now and never had a sibling. Completely alone, used to loneliness. But Bucky had it all - friends and family. Nor me nor Steve can say that we didn't have friends, because we did. He had me and Bucky, and I had him and Bucky. But there was always something missing from both our lives. And family gives you most in life, it shapes you as a person, teaches you a lot and gives you knowledge and experience that nothing else could.

I thought I saw my father’s younger brother sneaking around the funeral, too. Now, of course, I know it was him for sure. Then, I didn't remember precisely what he looked like.

I didn’t know him very well. I only knew his name - Robert. I had seen him with my father occasionally when I was younger. I didn’t know who he was, what he worked as or why he was detached from his own family. It was what my father had told me, he had also told me that he and Robert didn’t share the same mother, Robert had german blood in him. I'm not sure now, he looks similar to my grandmother. Or maybe I'm just rying to convince myself they're not step-brothers...

I was never curious to find out who he was and what he had as a job or… profession, if I could count it as a profession now. He didn't seem the family I wanted to have. I may seem arrogant to you by this statement, but he didn't seem the right guy. My grandparents - yes, maybe, but not Robert.

Many people had left me gifts which were a little hard to carry, so me and James called a taxi for each of us to get the gifts back to my house. They all barely fit inside the two cars which really surprised me. Why had people bought me so many gifts? I didn’t need that many things, I needed nothing at all except for my father, the leading figure in my life.

James stayed over that night. It was the first night ever that he stayed at my house. I had been to his house many times before then and stayed a couple. It was a lovely atmosphere there, in their household, with the three siblings still living there and his parents rushing around so everything would be nice and comfortable. Especially when I was around, but it seemed a bit excessive to me. I could tell they wanted to make a nice impression of themselves on me, but I never needed nor wanted one. I liked them already because they were good and caring people, very much like James himself. And they were the ones that gave James to this world.

We laid in my bed awake for many hours that night, could be until the clock hit two or three. I couldn’t sleep and, because James didn't want me to be alone, he didn't sleep, either. To keep me company. But I knew he secretly wanted to sleep because he was quite the heavy sleeper back then.

We talked a little here and there, but mostly there was silence between us. Only the gear wheels in my head turning slowly and heavily, with such resistance. I was thinking hard about everything, trying to decide something, at least. Something to say.

For once, I liked silence a little more than I usually do. I liked silence when I was with James. Neither of us speaking, only breathing and listening to each other's heartbeat. His arm around me, hand caressing my hair and his chest under my hand and beneath my ear so that I could hear his heartbeat. Well, maybe it wasn’t complete silence, after all. Hearing his heartbeat gave me comfort and inner peace. It was something I could listen to all my life, those steady beats of the heart I desire still against my ear drums.

Story taglist: @mysupervengersworld @sonarsyndor @friendlybutsarcastic@iheartsebastianstan

Permanent taglist: @v0idbella @inlovewithmiddleagedcelebs @works-of-fanfiction @destiel-stucky4ever-loki-queen @stfxlou @ur-gunna-h8-ths@one-taylor-one-vision @empressdreams @betweenloveandfire @but-legendsneverdie @deardeacy @mavieesttriste16 @fvckyeahbenhardy @thewinchesterchronicles

If you’d like to be tagged, let me know!

I know these seem like fillers now, but I promise you’ll understand why they’re needed and the real thing’s coming soon ;)

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hermionegranger56 · 5 years

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HELLO LADS I HAVE LISTENED TO LOVER A MILLION TIMES SO HERE’S SOME THOUGHTS:

Just overall as an album here: HOLY. SHIT. that one vanity fair article that said this is gonna save pop music???? THEY’RE RIGHT OK?? this is just a solidly GREAT album all around. It’s lyrically smart, incredibly catchy, heartfelt and vulnerable and empowering. And the best part?? You can tell that Taylor is so genuinely, sincerely HAPPY and IN LOVE and it is downright INFECTIOUS. Even the songs that sonically I didn’t like as much, I couldn’t help but like since you could just feel her palpable joy in every note. I saw someone say that Rep was her finding her voice and Lover is her finally being able to use it how she wants and I couldn’t agree more.

I Forgot That You Existed: soooo catchy!! and god if realizing you forgot about That person ain’t the best feeling! this song perfectly shows that freedom, that joy. the laugh! the “…so yeah”! i live! a strong start

Cruel Summer: A MOTHERFUCKIN BOP THIS SONG MAKES ME SO HAPPY AHHHHH!!! (recommend it at full volume, in the car. really helped my commute today lol) the chorus is just such a good melody. HE LOOKS UP GRINNING LIKE A DEVIL!!!! MURDER ME THE DELIVERY OF THAT LINE WAS SO GOOD can’t wait to scream it on tour

Lover: perfect. perfect. perfect. see here. oh god she’s so in love. I see you Speak Now Taylor, I see you. this song is acoustic folky perfection and i want it at my wedding

The Man: ok moral of the story: fuck men lolol. THIS IS A JAMMM! look, I understand the critiques people are going to have for the message of this song. Without getting too into it, it’s true the song certainly doesn’t cover everything and there are areas of feminism and social awareness she (especially as a successful white woman) can continue to grow and make more of an effort in. HOWEVER, to say that Taylor Swift has not been affected by sexism is just untrue? Her whole reputation was defined for a long time on the double standards that society had for her that she lays out in this song, she went through a sexual assault trial with grace and dignity, she still is put in the pigeon hole of being “overdramatic”, “the victim” etc etc which perpetuates double standards. Taylor Swift has something to say about her valid experiences as a woman in this industry, and we DEFINITELY should not be trying to silence the voices of any women in this day and age. And the song’s simple sentiment of MEN HAVE IT EASIER is something that lots of her fans can relate to, so why not write something relatable, ya know?? idk man i support it, rant over, don’t fight me plz

The Archer: oh boy the ATMOSPHERE. OOF. the perfect 3 am-lightening skies-melancholy soundtrack. and my god if it doesn’t hit every late night insecurity I’ve ever had, like any good track 5 should. “who could ever leave me darling, but who could stay” hits like a sucker punch, by the crescendo at “all the kings horses and all the kings men” I’m screaming the lyrics or sobbing or both. one of my fave track 5s aside from All Too Well and Delicate

I Think He Knows: a BEAT hot DAMN. go GET that man tswift, we stan a confident queen!! BOY I UNDERSTAND?!?!?!? GET IT BITCH YOU’RE HOT SHIT!!! a solid bop!! i wanna dance!!

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince: this is a MASTERPIECE. holy FUCK. its. there’s just so many LAYERS?!?!? it’s a like a freaking meta analysis of her past image, her current self and today’s fucked up society. I could write a paper about this. I’m endlessly impressed by how she can continue to surprise me with her lyrical skill even after all this time ahhhhhh. also the go! fight! win! cheer is so clever, i love it

Paper Rings: HELLO STAY STAY STAY AND OURS’ POP ROCK LOVECHILD. SOOOOOO INFECTIOUSLY HAPPY OH MY GOD. it’s a romcom come to life, idk i get love, rosie vibes, no idea why. but god i’m 22 full years old and i just danced around my room using a hairbrush as a microphone to this. I’m smiling ear to ear ahhh @ taylor and joe get married rn PLEASE

Cornelia Street: for some reason I didn’t love it at first, but it’s growing on me!! i think “i get mystified by how this city screams your name” sounds so great how she sings it though like that part is incredible. and it’s such a fragile message, that love that you fear might go away at any second and take all the happy memories with it. a sad bop

Death By Thousand Cuts: also growing on me!! I think most people can relate to this so i think it’ll do well. the “trying to find a part of me you didn’t touch” part was also good

London Boy: AHAHAHAHA I LOVE IT it’s cheeky, it’s fun and damn she wants you to know how much she loves her london boy and everything about him!! i also love that motherfucking IDRIS ELBA IS HERE?!?!? “DONT THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME” so. good.

Soon You’ll Get Better: hoo boy. wow. I can only imagine this is about Andrea’s cancer diagnosis and my god my heart goes out to the whole Swift family. I’ve been there with my grandfather and watching him loose that battle in front of me was one of the hardest thing’s i’ve ever done. it’s surreal, the insistence that they HAVE to get better, it’s the ONLY way, that’s how it’s going to be. and now that I’m a nurse and I’m on the other end seeing families go through this, I just…god I don’t think this is going to be one I can listen to often. I said I was “sobbing” during The Archer, well here I actually, physically was. It’s been a long week, nurse-wise :( oh god the sigh right before the last chorus oh god. my true only complaint here is the underutilization of the Dixie Chicks, cause i love them :)

False God: THE SAX. THE SEX. AMAZING hahahaha. this is just a whole ass VIBE, it’s so smooooooth. I’M NEW YORK CITY, damn I love that!! GOD I DON’T EVEN HAVE SPECIFICS THIS IS JUST SUCH A FUCKING GOOD SONG!!! def in my top 5 from this album.

You Need to Calm Down: HEEEEELLLLLLL YEAHHHHH BOP OF THE SUMMER!!!! the chorus makes me SO SUNSHINEY HAPPY!! And I’m glad Taylor is being so vocal about her support for the LGBT community and sending this message of love/renouncing people who spread hate! CAUSE *screams from a mountain* SHADE NEVER MADE ANYBODY LESS GAY!!!!!!

Afterglow: i think this song is absolutely lovely! It takes so much maturity to be able to admit you’re wrong or that you hurt the one you love but that you’re going to continue to fight for them and I love to see Taylor explore that

Me!: ok honestly?? I have never liked the first song Taylor’s released from all of her albums Red and after. BUT they’ve all grown on me! that said, this is probably my least favorite song on the album WHICH IS SO IMPRESSIVE THIS IS STILL A REALLY GOOD SONG!! the me-e-e-e makes me unreasonably happy (similar to the sunshine vibes of yntcd). I just can’t get past the spelling is fun WAIT SHE TOOK IT OUT I’M ABSOLUTELY SCREAMING

It’s Nice To Have a Friend: SIMPLE. BEAUTY. this feels like an interlude of sorts and I love it. it’s first 3 seconds reminded me of the Big Little Lies theme song lolol. this is such a perfectly visual song, it’s like a tumblr list of aesthetics. i REALLY LOVE this one, in ways I can’t put into words

Daylight: ohhhh baby a GOOOOD ENDING. STEP INTO THE DAYLIGHT AND LET IT GO FINALLY MADE ITS DEBUT I’M SO HAPPY. and her words of wisdom at the end, wow. you are what you love. wow taylor truly has come through all of her experiences, good and bad, processed and grown, let it go and is thriving and in love in her own daylight

AND IM SO SO HAPPY FOR HER @taylorswift ILYSM

BRING ON THE LOVER ERA, SEE Y’ALL AT TOUR

#taylor swift #lover #tswift #lover era #ts7 #cruel summer #miss americana and the heartbreak prince #lover album #swifties #yntcd

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kuciradio · 5 years

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As 2018 is coming to an end it’s time to reflect on this amazing year for new music and artistry. KUCI is a diverse group of DJs and we are proud to represent all genres of music. I have finally put together our Top 10 albums of 2018 along with some honorable mentions towards the end accompanied by some lovely words written by our fellow DJs. We can’t wait for what 2019 brings for us and continue tuning in on kuci.org or 88.9 FM if you’re in the Orange County area. Have a safe and happy new year!

1. Mitski - Be The Cowboy

“Mitski Miyawaki’s powerhouse voice resonates with a haunting clarity on her stunning masterpiece Be the Cowboy. She creates entire worlds and characters out of pieces of herself, from paranoid, awkward women who yearn for traditionalism and some idealist version of what life or love should be (hello “Lonesome Love”), to cowgirls who can do it all on their own. From sorrowful to triumphant, Mitski colors the spaces in between from soul-bearing ballad “Geyser” to unforgettable dancing-alone-in-your-bedroom anthem “Nobody.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

“This album was so personal and raw and I also liked how the songs flowed well on this album.” (Heidi Barragan)

2. The Internet - Hive Mind

“I can't talk about this album without mentioning how mad I am at myself for missing the tour. Syd, Pat, Steve, Matt, and Chris, The Internet, are prominent figures of musical evolution; this speaks volumes and not just because they got their start with Odd Future, a hub of avid freeform artists. If you’re inclined to believe what I believe, Ego Death is a heartbreak album and Hive Mind is loaded with recovery anthems and passionate songs to share with your new partner who is not a rebound. Across the timeline, the sounds change from R&B and Hip-Hop to Funk and Soul; but what captures my attention the most, from Ego Death to Hive Mind, is the way a facade is casted aside. Hive Mind is just so sincere and therefore, perfectly fitting for being a part of my top three.” (Thorson Munoz)

“[This album] is a very funky album with heavy tones of R&B. The Internet does not disappoint with their funky sounds, which can be heard on “La Di Da”. Overall the album has powerful baselines, thanks to the amazing Steve Lacy, and groovy beats backed by Syd’s smooth vocals. It is hard to listen to this album and not dance along to it.” (Melissa Palma)

3. Kali Uchis - Isolation

“Colombian singer Kali Uchis’ long-awaited debut album is a high-production value journey into her uniquely sultry, dreamy world of R&B. The songstress’s silky voice pushes boundaries of various genres, from bossa-inspired intro “Body Language” to the Amy Winehouse-esque “Killer,” each track better and more of a banger than the last. Isolation features artists like The Internet guitarist Steve Lacy, British soul success Jorja Smith, and reggaeton icon Reykon. Uchis also recruited her friends Tyler, the Creator and legendary bassist Bootsy Collins for the hit single “After the Storm,” a follow-up to her and Tyler’s song “See You Again” from his 2017 album Flower Boy (supported by a stunningly whimsical music video by director Nadia Lee Cohen). The producer credits are just as stacked, including the likes of Thundercat, BROCKHAMPTON’s Romil Hemnani, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. Uchis proves herself as the new sound of pop, never veering from her originality that made her a Soundcloud sweetheart.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

4. Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer

“She’s such an intelligent creative weirdo and I LOVE HER. Not to mention her oozing femme POWER.” (Naseem Eskandari)

“About the moxie I mentioned earlier, this emotional rollercoaster has an abudnace of it and I cannot get enough! Cover to cover this album packs a punch, and as the visual companion--which brought me to tears--would suggest, this entire album is a celebration of deviant bodies and identities. This album contains the perfect ratio of soft and tender tracks and upbeat exciting ones so its no wonder why NPR named Dirty Computer their number one of 2018.” (Thorson Munoz)

5. Anderson .paak - Oxnard

“Sometimes artists, after huge successes, feel that they need to make music that sounds just like their previous work to gain the same traction, but really the true artists are the ones that stay honest and true to their creative ability - their sound moves through life with them.” (Naseem Eskandari)

“Anderson .Paak, to me, is responsible for every playlist I've ever built that revolves around driving in Los Angeles with the windows down, no matter the time of day. However, I don't drive a convertible, so instead I honored Venice and Malibu using my radio program, Detours. Not only am I excited to honor Oxnard as well, but Oxnard was built for driving; this is evident after listening to "Tints", the first release, and "Headlow". This album, just like Malibu, is masterful; the only difference is that Dr. Dre stepped out of the shadows and was a feature. Oxnard is beyond incredible and worthy of it's legendary features, Snoop Dog, Q-Tip, and Kadhja Bonet, to name a few. I'm really excited for what will likely be Anderson .Paak's next Grammy nomination.” (Thorson Munoz)

6. Blood Orange - Negro Swan

“AMAZING production, amazing narrative!!!!!!!” (Angel Cortez)

“Dev Hynes never fails to make master pieces of albums that narrate the experience of marginalized people in an oppressive and toxic environment. Hynes brings together artists as big as ASAP Rocky to smaller artists of equal talent such as Steve Lacey creating a beautiful medley of indie hip hop to soul and funk. Coupled with interviews, Hynes is able to make this album a personal experience for the listener. For me it always feels as though he is singing to me personally, something that not many artists are able to do.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

7. Kevin Krauter - Toss Up

“Toss Up has to be my personal #1 favorite album of 2018 by Kevin Krauter who began making music apart from lo-fi dream pop band Hoops in 2015. Toss Up was released this past summer and was the perfect album to listen to during warm summer nights and has carried through to the end of the year as a comforting reminder of those warm times during these cold nights. It has that dreamy, nostalgic feeling, something that you would listen to as you’re reflecting on the tender moments of your life. Krauter mixes vaporwave-esque sounds with sweet ballads with no one song sounding like the other.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

8. MGMT - Little Dark Age

“MGMT's come-back album is focused, synthy, and fresh. Without abandoning the dark undertones present in their older albums, this album reflects the band's personal growth and resonates with fans, old and new. Tracks like TSLAMP and Little dark Age are some of my favorites!” (Angelica Sheen)

“MGMT has maintained their status as an alternative staple and has since transformed their sound into something more experimental since their debut album Oracular Spectacular. MGMT did not disappoint and gave us an album that went from the weird wii-fit/dystopian vibes of She Works Out To Much to 80s dance of Me and Michael to another sweet ballad titled Hand It Over which is super reminiscent of the ending/title song of their second album Congratulations. MGMT never fails to write well thought out lyrics that all almost feel like their own story. All in all, they did not disappoint and this is exactly the kind of MGMT album I was hoping for after a 5 year hiatus.” (Kelsey Villacorte)

9. Ian Sweet - Crush Crusher

“Jilian Medford refines IAN SWEET’s sound and practices self-care on sophomore album Crush Crusher, her most intimate release yet. Medford rediscovers her identity as she considers how much of herself she has forgotten while preoccupying herself with being a guardian to others (she warbles “The sun built me to shade everybody” on “Holographic Jesus”). Ever poetic while satisfyingly straightforward, she notes that “It’s been too long since I let myself cry about something that wasn’t even sad” on the pummeling single “Spit.” She coos, squeaks, and screams in perfect, dissonant harmony over her guitar’s cathartically melancholic reverb. IAN SWEET remains a perfect contradiction that only grows sweeter.” (Sophie Prettyman-Beauchamp)

10. Parquet Courts - Wide Awake!

“This band's genius shows through with every new release. Wide Awake throws all of their influences together and expels energetic funk beats with poignant, dark, and brutal lyrics that are especially political. The juxtaposition of these themes with upbeat and optimistic instrumentals speaks to their compositional talent, making it a fan favorite. AND THEY USE COWBELLS.” (Angelica Sheen)

Honorable Mentions:

Glenn Crytzer Orchestra, "Ain't it Grand?"

This album couldn't have been better aimed at me if the band had come and asked me what I wanted to hear. A modern swing-style orchestra performing both classic tunes from the 1930s and modern pieces written in the big band style. The ensemble playing is tight, the solos just exactly right, and the production quality a lot sharper than any of the original Duke Ellington recordings. Top notch stuff. (Michael Payne)

The Vaccines - Combat Sports

"The Vaccines brought back the spirit and energy of their debut album but with a new twist when they released their 4th album early in 2018. Get pumped up with the "I Can't Quit" and "Nightclub" or settle down with "Maybe (The Luck of the Draw)" or "Young American". The Vaccines perfectly embody the sound and snark of the '70s and '80s artists of which their influenced while still creating a modern feel of the 2010's. My personal favorite off the album "Out on the Street" definitely a treat live! Over all Combat Sports is an excellent album and what we needed in 2018." (Stacey Brizuela)

Cobra Man - Toxic Planet

“Los Angeles local duo Cobra Man blows it out of the water with their sophomore album that carries the heart and groove of something you'd hear out of '84. It is indeed one of the best albums of the year because it utilizes one of the most underrated instruments in the game, the saxophone.” (Spartacus Avina)

Nu Guinea "Nu Guinea"

Heaven & Earth by Kamasi Washington is an album that’s loud and bold in both sound and vocals. A lot of the album often creates an ethereal effect with the heavy instrumentals ascending into a grand peak, most notably heard on “Street Fighter Mas”. The vocals on the album accompany the instrumentals in their same form, loud and climaxing. Listening to this album is like a rollercoaster with its thrilling jazz sounds. (Melissa Palma)

Drug Church - Cheer

Mac Miller - Swimming

“The tragic beauty of this album speaks for itself. Mac was such a raw and very real individual and it reflects in his music the way that many others cannot replicate. May he rest in peace - I hope the next life will be better for him.” (Naseem Eskandari)

Thank you to all the amazing DJs who submitted their Top 10 list of 2018! I am super glad to have been part of an amazing and diverse radio station for this past year and this is only a small piece of what our DJs music tastes are like here. I hope everyone has an incredible and safe New Years Eve and a happy 2019 :)

-Kelsey Villacorte (Music Director)

#kuciFM #top 10 lists #top 10 albums #college radio #mitski #kevin krauter #parquet courts #the internet #Anderson .Paak #kali uchis #janelle monae #mgmt #ian sweet #blood orange

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insomniac-soup · 5 years

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TXT: Thoughts on Bighit’s new group, the future of BTS (and Bighit)

March 4 was the day Bighit Entertainment, the entertainment company that manages the worldwide famous Kpop group BTS, released the MV for their new group. I watched the teasers, curious what this new group would bring to the table; after watching the MV, I think it’s worth reviewing what the future may hold, since there’s a lot going on. This post is quite niche in its content so feel free to keep scrolling if this ain’t your cup of coffee. This is a fairly opinionated and extensive take on the topic of the groups mentioned (and Kpop as a whole), so read at your discretion.

[I do not own any of the images, gifs, or videos used in my posts; these visuals are used only for entertainment.]

[Rant #1: Group Comparisons]

PREFACE: to those unfamiliar with Kpop, it’s a genre of music originating in South Korea, placing great focus on the aesthetics of group members, music videos, music shows, and dancing. It originated in the 90′s, drew inspiration from North American music, and evolved to becomes its own genre. Groups or soloists are managed by entertainment companies (as opposed to record labels), so many (but not all) lack autonomy and/or control over their music, general say in the group’s plans, wardrobe, etc. Some groups are more experimental than others, but the industry and genre is quite eye-catching and unique.

So I’ve been keeping up with BTS almost from the moment they debuted, and it’s been great seeing them grow as a group, produce great music (solo mixtapes from the rappers; absolute fire), and get the recognition they deserve. They’re all talented, unique, and have great personalities; that isn’t to say other groups don’t share these traits, but it’s no question that BTS is the most notable for such traits at moment (internationally speaking). The fans supporting them have sparked more debates as the fans increase in numbers, and it can really go either way depending on the fan you meet. Either way, I like BTS, and understand those who don’t. The reason I bring up BTS is because I can’t talk about TXT without mentioning BTS, as BTS is now TXT’s senior group. Now, onto TXT.

TXT, the short-form for Tomorrow X Together, is the new group consisting of 5 members (Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai), who just debuted with their EDM-esque EP The Dream Chapter: Star , with the title track ‘Crown’. My thoughts?

1: On the debut title track, I think it’s nice; I don’t think it’s revolutionary or an instant bop, but I do enjoy it. It’s perfect to walk to, the minimalist aesthetic is nice, and they all seem to have personalities. By that, I mean there’s energy from them. That seems pretty typical to expect from any Kpop group, and I’m sure other Kpop fans know that’s given. But there are many groups I’ve listened to whose tracks or debut tracks lacked a kind of ‘punch’. The simple and somewhat cute aesthetic of the MV may not have the actual punch, but I get the feeling the idols themselves are engaging. I appreciated that it was simple, because to be honest, if a debut track is too good, all succeeding tracks can seem underwhelming. With this track, as well as the other songs (Cat&Dog is really catchy not gonna lie), they can work their way up to more complex tracks. This is a quick edit, but after listening to the track a couple more times, it’s kinda catchy. Plus, the lyrics are actually nice, in that it’s not all that different from other songs describing someone’s love changing them for the better, but different because of the word choice.

2: about the group name, I think Bighit favours the acronym-style name, which I do like. This is just a random observation and less so a serious point. Everyone knows BTS are generally referred to just that name, but their other names, Bulletproof Boy Scouts, and their more recent meaning Beyond the Scene, have meaning. I think this can actually make TXT more memorable, because it’s more than just a name. BTS still refers to themselves in the abbreviated form of ‘Bangtan’ (recalling the group’s name in Korean) through songs like ‘Anpanman’, so it helps create an identity. Of course, they aren’t the only group to use acronyms (take AOA, or Ace of Angels), but I make a point of this because they’re not a group from the Big 3 (JYP, YG, SM). EXO and SNSD (although they do go by Girls Generation) are SM groups that both use acronyms (EXO more lucidly), but their name partly has that impact because they come from a notable entertainment company. In the same way that BTS made their name iconic, I can see this working as well for TXT (it also seems really wholesome). My personal interpretation is a theme of unification and obviously togetherness. For each new day, for the future that holds ‘tomorrow’, we can be together, and united in both senses. That might be a bit of a dive, but considering BTS’ naming had similar significance, it would be a nice, wholesome, message to project.

3: They have a really interesting motif with their Introduction Films and group concept, and the members are versatile (in a general sense of the word). Each member has a representative animal and flower associated with them, somewhat reminding me of the different songs sung by the vocalists of BTS (Euphoria, Serendipity, Singularity, and Epiphany). It also kind of reminded me of VIXX, another group that developed their niche as a concept group (meaning each album or EP has a particular theme and songs that match that theme; their latest album EAU DU VIXX has the perfume motif, which implies alluring and scent-related themes and lyrics). This motif, however, is really unique and engaging in its own right, aside from BTS or VIXX. The Introduction Films each dedicate short clips that showcase each member, and the general Intro Film shows them just having fun. Keep in mind that they’re all fairly young, the youngest member being born in 2002. The cute aesthetic may fool you into thinking they’re just another generic boy group (I was kind of tricked into that mentality at first), but like their senior group, this group is building a story with their representative animals and flower. The short story illustrating the boy with horns in their debut showcase was compelling and really interesting; many were quick to point out the wings motif tracing back to BTS’ 2016 album Wings. I see that as well, and I do hope that leads to a good relationship between the Bighit labelmates (I’ll go into detail on that). One of the members, Hueningkai, is the first mixed idol employed in the company (half-Korean, half-American with European and Brazilian ancestry). 2 other members are also good at English, which is really helpful in the market today; what’s helped Kpop groups connect with international audiences is bridging the language gap, so this also means TXT is a group people could understand more (and I wouldn’t say that everyone should speak English and their success is defined by that, but that is the reality in this market). As a brief side note, their dancing seems to be pretty good, which is clear in their dance practice video.

4: as a group on their own, they seem to have potential, but I worry about how they might be compared to BTS. I admit, I compared them at first, but having seen the MV with discarded preconceived notions, I can now say I appreciate TXT in their own right. I am excited to listen to more of their music and give them a chance like I would any other group, and like I mentioned before, they do seem interesting as personalities. I think the problem now is that because they are the brother group to BTS, they will likely seem underwhelming and lacking the ‘it’ quality. I think there are some comparisons worth making that aren’t inherently bad, as well as ones that can be problematic;

Take BTS’ debut MV ‘No More Dream’ compared to ‘Crown’. They are two very different collectives of personalities, and BTS is a lot more aggressive with their darker, b-boy aesthetic. TXT is bubbly and super cheery in comparison, but that’s not a bad thing. That means the groundwork is ultimately different.

As a continuation, TXT is at a different stage as a boy group than BTS when BTS debuted. Bighit was on the verge of bankruptcy, had some scandals (those do exist), and weren’t very rich. BTS’ success decided the survival of the company, but TXT isn’t a group that’s in jeopardy. The company isn’t make-or-break anymore, so considering the circumstances, it’s okay to compare them but not to a large extent. I think it’s okay to compare debut MVs, since that’s fairly harmless, as long as that’s being perceived without the idea that TXT needed to meet the standards of BTS’ debut (and let’s be honest, BTS didn’t have the most revolutionary, amazing tracks to start; some were okay, some are pretty notable for misheard lyrics, others potentially problematic, but they didn’t win awards with their debut songs).

TXT have less members than BTS, so that might have been a marketing strategy; 7 is fairly standard for the number of group members to have, but 5 allows audiences to know everyone faster ‘cause it’s still two less members.

If people can give BTS the benefit of the doubt, then TXT deserves the same courtesy if we are comparing the two. Like I said, BTS gradually progressed as a famous, best-selling group, so TXT should be compared only in the sense that they’re a new boy group under the same entertainment company.

Once I listened to the debut track ‘Crown’, the rapping style greatly differed from BTS’ rap line. They’re more in-tune with melodic rapping over RM, J-Hope, and Suga’s fast-paced, hard-hitting rapping style. Even in ‘No More Dream’ (Jungkook when he still rapped), they’re much more intense compared to TXT’s rappers. You can compare them, but it’s not fair to say anything along the lines of TXT’s rappers being less than compared to BTS’ rap line, since the styles are almost polar opposites.

What it also boils down to is the fact that TXT is debuting in 2019 and not 2013. 2019 can be marked as a new era for Kpop, especially with all that happened in 2018, and doesn’t border on 2nd generation like BTS did. You could say 2010’s onward is 2nd generation Kpop, while 2013/4 (give or take? I’m a little rough with my years when it comes to Kpop generations and haven’t found a concrete chronology so my interpretation here is mostly speculative) is 3rd generation. This is an unpopular opinion of sorts, but 2nd generation Kpop groups innovated in dance/music styles, and deserve credit for such, helping to usher in popular styles and concepts that comprised 3rd generation groups. BTS is no exception in pioneering and creating unique music styles (they aren’t the standard or exception, but definitely stood out when it counted with notable hype tracks like Dope or Fire and impressive choreographies), but I digress. The point is TXT has a lot to live up to, and not just in comparison to their brother group, but also debuted in an era where Kpop is becoming more widespread, more intriguing to newer audiences, and will be very public (considering the advent of social media).

I will discuss TXT more generally now, as I would like to mention what I think this means for the company and BTS.

1: Hopefully, Bighit will finally let BTS take breaks. We know BTS have toured many times and released music often, and it’s also obvious (with proof) that they’re overworked. They’re so professional, even when they are tired and exhausted (notably Jungkook), which shows how much they care about their fans. Granted, when the company needed revenue, that would be a little easier to judge, but Bighit is no longer in dire straits. Every member of the group is just as human as the next person, and they need to relax; RM himself has stated that they enjoy doing what they do, but still get exhausted. That’s just normal human behaviour. In ‘Burn the Stage’, you see more raw moments that normally happen off-camera, including arguments between members and moments of physical exhaustion. If we are to take these developments as they are and believe every word of it, then it’s fair to say they’re really tired. With that said, I hope TXT is managed well, promoted well, treated well, and given attention as the new group. It means TXT can be maintained and have presence in the industry’s foreground, while also allowing BTS to take time off. I say that without knowing all the technicalities about idol management, but my hope is TXT didn’t debut for no reason and BTS is overworked all the same. I know BTS is releasing a new album in April, which I am excited for, but do worry they just aren’t getting the rest they deserve.

2: BTS will remain popular as TXT breaks in, so I’m not concerned whether BTS will lose relevancy or not. With the hope that Bighit will let BTS get some rest from promotions and touring, I think BTS is comfortable where they stand. There is no doubt about their fame as I mentioned before, and maybe their name might help boost interest for people considering TXT’s music (having a company name that people know is fairly effective, and how I learned about groups like (g)-idle, who are labelmates of CLC, who were labelmates to the former group 4Minute and successor girl group). I mentioned how I was worried TXT would be compared too much to BTS, but I think there are still positives in that relationship. What I would love to see is whether BTS members mentor the new group, like RM or Suga helping with music producing and such (hearing RM’s demos shows how talented he is). A closeness between the two groups would be ideal, which brings me to my next point specifically on the company.

3: Bighit entertainment has a problem, and could potentially become a part of a greater one if it becomes a big entertainment company like the Big 3. This is where I diverge from solely talking about TXT and BTS to run down what this means for Bighit. As I’ve grown up with Kpop, I’ve learned about the good, the bad, the sad, and the ugly. I personally think having that kind of journey is both unique and the kind you need to experience organically; it’s okay to start off as a casual listener in the process of becoming a fan, but it’s still important to recognize at a certain point that the industry isn’t exactly perfect, or that groups can be good without validation or comparison. Some of my favourite groups are managed mostly by the Big 3, all three companies that have their own controversies and problematic programs. JYP overworks his best selling girl group (and best selling group for that matter) TWICE in the same way Bighit does to BTS, but that’s just one of the layers on this problem cake. I won’t go into the details of the scandal, but once upon a time Bighit had a girl group. After such scandals (one member a saesang, another an actual felon) happened, it became a thing of the past and something most people don’t know about. Bighit doesn’t take female trainees, and even in the time BTS trained, they couldn’t interact with the female trainees that were once there. The reason I point this out is because there is no female group in the company, Bighit cannot enter the league of the Big 3. All three have (or had) groups like SNSD, Red Velvet, f(x), Blackpink, 2NE1, Twice, Wonder Girls, the list goes on. The way these groups have and are being treated have its pros and cons, but nonetheless are being managed. This lack of female idols in Bighit is a huge gap in revenue; sure, they might have more money than c. 2012 Bighit, but one group cannot help a company become as influential as SM or JYP. To summarize, the first problem Bighit has is the fact that there are no female idols or groups, which chops down any potential influence in the industry and diversity in music (since girl groups are endorsed differently and allow for concepts that boy groups can’t necessarily try). TXT isn’t bad for being a boy group, but the reason I hope for a good relationship between BTS and TXT is because they will be allowed to interact (that sounds so dumb, why isn’t this a given). Not having a girl group lacks diversity in the sounds, and that could be to Bighit’s detriment.

Next, I wanted to go over what could happen to Bighit now that they have another group to manage. I’ll save a lot of these topics for future posts, but as I said, the Big 3 have had controversies over the years, and even smaller companies have had their problems. Considering the weight loss programs many companies enforce on their groups and general abuse of power (lawsuits from EXO’s former members Tao, Luhan, Kris related to overworking), as well as dating scandals (former CUBE artists Hyuna and E’dawn), being a big entertainment company also generally has connections to problematic incidents. What the concern here is is whether Bighit is inclined to do what other companies tend to do to their artists when they have multiple artists to juggle. Take PLEDIS entertainment as an example; they’re not among the Big 3, but they manage groups like SEVENTEEN, Pristin, the subunit Pristin V, and SF9. Pristin debuted in 2016, and haven’t had any comebacks since ‘We Like’ in 2017. They were given lots of dance practice teasers like Blackpink before they officially debuted as Pristin (some members came from Produce 101 and the one-year group I.O.I), but they’ve basically disappeared as a collective. SEVENTEEN, on the other hand, just had a comeback in January, garnering lots of sales, and continue to promote and write their own music. Granted, SEVENTEEN is slightly senior to Pristin, but it’s easy to see they’re being managed a lot better than their sister group. That’s the sad part, because SEVENTEEN members would even do dance practices with them, and the members of Pristin are quite talented. Problems like this are much easier to find in smaller entertainment companies, and Bighit, with the debut of TXT, are finally entering that ring. That means that they might continue to let their artists have autonomy (ex. RM and Suga), or end up potentially mistreating their idols. I am not saying they will, but only that the concern is now more warranted.

4: The success of TXT will ultimately determine what kind of company Bighit truly is. Here’s the thing. The quality of many entertainment companies are determined by the way they manage, promote, and support their idols. JYP is considered the best among the Big 3 because the idols seem to be close with their labelmates, they micromanage to almost program success, groups are unique in concepts and member diversity (DAY6 compared to GOT7, where both groups have strong English speakers, TWICE compared to older group Wonder Girls and newer group ITZY), etc., but that’s also up for debate. BTS has had a couple problems in terms of lyrics, outfits, comments made in interviews, but have addressed many if not all of these issues. What’s good is that both Bighit and RM will issue apology statements, which means we get both sides of the story and that there is at least a level of respect between the group and CEO. That alone doesn’t reveal enough about the CEO or company though. I’m not saying this to be hypercritical, nor believe everyone should think about this kind of thing when listening to music by a Kpop group; the point is, at least for me, knowing the state the idols are in, because often idols don’t get much control over what they do and could be overworked behind the scenes. They have to pay back the companies for the training and other privileges granted, and even those conditions may not be the best; well-known companies are more transparent nowadays because we see how everyone else is managed, but that’s not the case for BTS or Bighit.

If TXT succeeds in a similar fashion that BTS did, that may open up the playing field for Bighit. Maybe they’ll bring back female trainees, and possibly expand the number of groups they manage if revenue begins to come in steadily. The reason Bighit hasn’t been able to enter the stratum where the Big 3 sit is because they only had one avenue for revenue (BTS), until now. Bighit borders on young as an entertainment company (established in early 2000s), so the company not only lacks the number of years the other ones had to experiment (like SM), alongside the problem of no diversity as a company. To conclude, TXT’s promotions and journey as Bighit’s new group will determine whether Bighit is a problematic company or not, because we will now have another group to see being managed and promoted. We have the precedent of BTS, and I personally hope TXT isn’t mistreated.

Conclusion? This took way too long to write, but I think when I’m considering the prospect of TXT, I’ve considered what it means on grander scales too. The reason it’s worth noting TXT’s debut is for all reasons mentioned; what it means for Bighit, BTS, and TXT themselves. All in all, I’m going to listen to more of TXT’s music and see what the future holds for them, since I see potential in the group’s success and potential for them to be engaging as idols.

#TXT #review #rant #analysis #kpop #kpop industry #music #BTS #RM #Suga #J-hope #Jimin #Jin #Jungkook #V #discussion #thoughts #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #hueningkai #taehyun

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hallelujuh · 5 years

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shay’s favorite albums of 2017

didn’t commit to finishing this until the literal very end of 2018 but whatever fdjhfkjdsnfds

I’m not sure if it was my newfound willingness to explore new genres and artists, but I thought 2017 was a fantastic year for music. Plenty old favorites of mine released new albums this year, and I was lucky enough to discover a lot of music, both from new musicians and old. Here’s my top twenty albums of this year.

20. Divide by Ed Sheeran

19. Fin by Syd

18. Blossom by Milky Chance

17. I See You by the xx

16. Trip by Jhene Aiko

15. Good for You by Amine

14. Future Friends by Superfruit

13. Sacred Hearts Club by Foster the People

12. American Teen by Khalid

11. All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell by Pvris

10. From the Outside by Hey Violet - While I originally only cared about this band because it’s composed of mostly girls, which is rare, I’ve grown to really love them as musicians. They’re very creative, producing catchy pop tracks that aren’t like most pop songs, and their debut album is fun as hell. Each song makes the listener feel badass and sexy and young, and you just kinda wanna dance and enjoy life. Favorite track: Tie between Like Lovers Do and Unholy. The former is distinctive and unique, and reminds me of Emilie Autumn, and the latter is incredibly well-produced and pretty visceral for a pop track by such a young band.

9. After Laughter by Paramore - Continuing their previous album’s sound so that every song sounds like Ain’t It Fun, After Laughter has a gorgeous aesthetic, a memorable sound, and, notably, follows the trend of most emo artists of today - disguising sad lyrics beneath happy music, as made famous by Twenty One Pilots. Each song is catchy, allow the lyrics all leave you feeling a bit empty, but you’ll be dancing to misery. Favorite track: 26. I’m always a sucker for the one mellow song on an album full of bops, and that rang true once more. 26 is about reflecting back on how you’ve spent your youth, and it’s paired with a bittersweet simplistic guitar. Hayley’s vocals hold pain, but also gratitude.

8. Hopeless Fountain Kingdom by Halsey - I’ve been a huge Halsey fan since before Badlands even came out, when all we had was Room 93 and live versions of then-unreleased tracks. Though her evolving sound was criticized by some, I appreciated that HFK follows the formula so many other sophomore records follow, with the lyrics addressing new-found fame and how the artist is dealing with it, and also how they want their sound to be since they’ve already made it big. This record was clearly more hip-hop driven, with production that sounded heavily influenced by Kanye, but it felt fitting. Furthermore, HFK is the redemption arc to Badland’s heartbreak-themes. It’s really a triumphant album overall. Favorite track: Sorry. While 100 Letters is my most-played track and therefore a close second, because the simplistic beat allows Ashley’s lyrics to shine, and she’s a lyricist and a poet before she’s a singer - I believe Sorry is the quintessential song from this record. Her pain is so tangible in this stripped-down ballad, and it’s such a nice switch from her usual lust-driven upbeat songs. I always have respect for musicians who can bear their sleeve in such an open, honest way, and while Ashley’s always been vocal about her struggles, it’s still nice to hear such a heartfelt track come about even after all her success.

7. Dua Lipa by Dua Lipa - This young pop singer's self-titled debut is a catchy, passionate, and solid record that's earned her a well-deserved place on the charts and in people's playlists. The songs are rather cliched, recycled themes that I've heard from dozens of other young female artists, but there's some emotionally-charged pop ballads that show potential. Dua's vocals remind me of a raspier Ariana Grande mixed with a less-powerful Christina Aguilera. Seeing as those two aforementioned singers can over-do their performances a bit, I enjoyed this mellower newcomer. Don't get me wrong, Dua's unique in her own way, and she's hardly a copycat; but I'm worried her talent will overlooked because there's already others like her. Still, it was a solid album that I enjoy thoroughly, and I had multiple tracks from it on repeat.

6. Beautiful Trauma by P!nk - I've been a P!nk fan since I was very young, and this album was wonderfully nostalgic to me. P!nk's one of the few artists who's never been swayed by a need to stay relevant; she just makes the music she wants to make, and her fans love her for it. This record was, at times, a little generic beat-wise, but still distinctly P!nk. As always, she wore her heart on her sleeve and you can feel how personal every song is; how genuine every word is. It really pays off. Favorite track: Barbies - This is a song I think every girl over thirteen can relate to. I'm twenty years younger than P!nk, but this track really resonated with me. It was the only song on this record I listened to repeatedly. I think every girl wants to grow up as quickly as possible, but once you reach adulthood, you just want to be a kid again. You long for simpler times. The beautiful message of the song (enjoy your youth) is paired beautifully with gorgeous instruments (violin! cello! wow!), which adds a timelessness to the track.

5. One More Light by Linkin Park - Although most, myself included, were unhappy with the pop-driven sound of LP’s seventh effort, the death of Chester added a lot to how meaningful this album is. Listening to it now fills me with a hopeful nostalgia, in contrast with how I listened to it in the days following his passing. What once sounded like a cry for help that no one listened to, now sounds like a triumphant farewell. As usual, these guys put their hearts into the making of this record, and it’s a real bummer that it took Chester killing himself to make people appreciate that. LP is a master at their craft, regardless of what genre they’re feeling at the moment. It’s a solid album, full of truly heartfelt lyrics and Chester’s beautiful voice, and I’ve often found myself listening to it when I’m feeling down. It really helps. And that’s what LP’s music has always been about, I think. Being there for you when you feel like no one else is. This album still felt like that, even though it was through a different genre. They let go of the anger that fueled their signature sound in the beginning, in exchange for a more rounded, reflective take on things. I think that’s comforting, and beautiful, in a way no one seemed to understand. What’s better than someone making peace with the world? Alternatively, what’s worse than someone taking their own life because people didn’t want to see them get better? Favorite track: Talking to Myself. I watched this video the day it was released - hours before Chester’s passing was announced. I enjoyed the bass and the video made me smile. After I found out, and after a few hours of crying, I rewatched this video, and it meant so much more the second time. The song itself is a favorite because it’s such a fun track. The bass line is catchy as hell, and my favorite part of the song is the chorus following the bridge, where Chester does a powerful run and then briefly lapses into Meteora-style vocals (”you keep running like the sky is falling”). That bit is so profoundly incredible to listen to for me, and I’m glad he left us with it.

4. Revival by Eminem - I’m one of the biggest Eminem stans of all time, so I’d probably buy a record that consisted entirely of Marshall shitting - but in all actuality, though he could never disappoint me, I was prepared for the worst, and I was pleasantly surprised. This album felt more solid than MMLP2′s experimental sounds, with Em showing us he really hasn’t fallen off. His usage of words like “lit” and “shook” are admittedly a little cringey, and his take at a more modern sound on Believe (with a trap beat and a Migos-like flow) is questionable, but the lyrics show he’s just as on top of his game than ever. It’s not an instant-classic like MMLP - those days are probably over - but it’s a decent record with several damn good songs. (Edit, 12/2018: Bro I wrote this last year, what the fuck was I on dgfkjdgh.) Favorite track: In Your Head. While the most memorable tracks on this record are definitely the collaborations - my favorites being River with Ed Sheeran and Need Me with P!nk - this rather short track really stood out. I listened to the album for the first time on my CD player, without having looked at the track listing since it was released a few weeks back, so every song was a surprise, and when I heard O'Riordan’s vocals, I got very excited, since Zombie is one of my favorite songs of all time. Though the original song is about war, Em raps over the sample track’s bass line and signature guitar riff and speaks about the skeletons in his closet with a passion reminiscent of The Eminem Show and a flow taken from his Recovery days. The smooth transition to Castle is another nice touch. While his speed in the last thirty seconds of Offended is impressive (with Flight of the Bumblebee in the background! Ha!), this was the song that sold me on this album. It’s everything I love about Eminem. (Note: This was written before O’Riordan’s passing. RIP.)

3. Scum Fuck / Flower Boy by Tyler, the Creator - From the goofy poster boy of a generation of carefree and colorfully dressed punks, to an extremely talented and capable producer and musician, watching Tyler’s growth as an artist and a human has been extremely rewarding, especially as a longtime Tyler/OF fan. While Cherry Bomb failed to impress me in the midst of my emo-craze, I appreciated that it was a turning point in Tyler’s career. SFFB, however, successfully took me right out of my indie-craze. Flower Boy builds upon what Tyler tried to do on CB, and it works out much better. Watching his brilliant NPR Tiny Desk Concert only solidified this belief. Tyler’s a musical genius, and I hope more people come to realize it. Favorite track: 911/Mr. Lonely. The whole record is full of earworms - Glitter, Boredom, See You Again - and it’s truly a feat Tyler was able to pull that off. But I have to go with this single - both songs are catchy, the production is masterful, Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy’s voices are beautiful. Who Dat Boy didn’t particularly excite me upon first listen, but these two tracks did, because they reminded me how talented and incredible Tyler is.

2. DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar - My favorite thing about musicians is getting to watch them mature, both musically and personally. I’ve frequently compared DAMN to J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only, as both records feature Jermaine and Kendrick discussing much more mature concepts within their albums. Kendrick’s always been grounded because of his upbringing, whereas Cole was a little more blinded by fame for the first few albums. However, since their respective last albums, Kendrick has gotten engaged, and Cole got married and had a little girl (EDIT: Apparently he had a boy!), and you can hear how these lifestyle changes have influenced their lyrical content, which is really nice to behold. Kendrick’s always seemed like a very intelligent person, with an understanding of the world many in his field lack, and this album highlights that beautifully. Favorite track: Humble. While Love’s a personal favorite, Humble’s success reminded me of Control. I still remember the day that dropped - and Humble felt similar, as it was Kendrick reminding us that he’s simply on another level. The simplistic and almost grating beat excellently parodies every single rap song that’s on the radio these days, except Kendrick proves his superiority by showing us that the beat’s not the important part; the lyrics are. It’s genius, and I’ll never get over how iconic it is, honestly.

1. Saturation I, II, & III by Brockhampton - Because this remarkably talented new group released three new records this year, and I can’t pick a favorite, nor can or do I want to rate them separately, they easily earn this spot. With flawless and innovative production, refreshingly creative and intricate lyrics, remarkable versatility, and, best of all, a youthful individuality reminiscent of Odd Future circa 2011, Brockhampton is one of the best things 2017 has offered. I’ve grown attached to these kids, and I’m glad I’ll be able to see where they go and how big they get. Favorite track: Star. While Junky is the most impressive track, and Follow is my personal favorite, Star earns this spot because it’s the song that single-handedly got me into Brockhampton. The name-dropping bop is a good introduction to the band, as it features their signature memorably synth-infused beats, Ameer’s clever wordplay, Ian’s favorite thing to talk about (his sexuality) as well as his penchant for hooks and bridges, Merlyn’s loud and brash vocals, etc. I won’t be compiling a list of my favorite songs of this year, but if I did, this would easily make the top ten. It reminded me exactly why I love rap music, in a time when I was beginning to doubt hip hop.

honorable mentions

CTRL by SZA - Though I’d never heard of SZA aside from her feature on Consideration, this album was hyped immensely by Twitter, so I felt I had to check it out. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Although the album’s masterfully done, and I love the production and her voice, the lyrical content ruined it for me. Of course, this is personal preference, and she’s allowed to write songs about whatever the hell she wants to, but the nature of the lyrics were what kept me from being a fan. To each their own, I guess.

Everybody by Logic - I wasn’t a big Logic fan prior to 1-800. Funny story, actually - I thought he was entirely white, and I’m vehemently against white rappers. He's more like a biracial Kendrick, especially in flow on Hallelujah. The record continues the trend started by Bey’s Lemonade of celebrating black power and beauty, with Logic demonstrating a fresh, biracial perspective on it. Loved that there were actual instrumentals, that was refreshing, considering modern rap beats are often created entirely using synthesizers. Also love that Logic’s cementing himself as the Inclusive Rapper, and accepting that title proudly. Good for him.

I Decided by Big Sean - I’ve been a casual Big Sean fan since Finally Famous (2011), but he’s very rarely impressed me with his lyricism. This album showed that Sean’s matured and grown as a person and a rapper, but the songs didn’t leave enough of an impression on me to be featured on my list.

Lust for Life by Lana Del Rey - Although I’m sure die-hards were more than happy with this record, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wish I could’ve. Lana’s sound hasn’t changed much, so I don’t think the quality of her music is decreasing, I just think my tastes are changing. This newer stuff hasn’t appealed to me nearly as much as her Born to Die/Paradise stuff did. I think 2012!me would’ve loved this record, but 2017!me was unsatisfied.

Melodrama by Lorde - I can always appreciate growth in an artist, but in Lorde’s case, I couldn’t bring myself to like the change. While there’s traces of the sound that put her on the map, and the music still sounds like teenage rebellion, it just doesn’t invoke the same feelings. It’s less grounded - and not in a good way.

Lovely Little Lonely by The Maine - The pop punk 1D continues to make catchy, solid tunes, but nothing about this record particularly stands out to me. Still, it’s a decent album from an underrated band.

extended plays

they’re too short to be included in my top albums, but i wanted to mention them anyway.

Caught Up by Sarah Close - I found this adorable Brit through her fantastic covers of popular songs, and thankfully I was subscribed when she started posting original music. Caught Up isn’t particularly unique, but the songs are fun, her voice is wonderful, and it’s a solid little EP.

Y.O.U by Dodie - I’ve watched Dodie’s covers for a while, so it’s nice to see she’s making original stuff. Love the style of it. Very excited to see what she puts out next.

dont smile at me by Billy Eilish - The fifteen-year-old, who sounds very similar to the recently-disgraced Melanie Martinez, may talk like an annoying skater boy, but her angelic singing voice keeps pulling me back in. I’m not used to talented celebrities being younger than me. It’s depressing. (EDIT: I spelled Billie wrong jdgdhf she’s in my top 10 artists of this year now too hahh)

Hard by The Neighbourhood - This band has been a favorite for four years now; I even saw them live for my birthday in 2015. They could never disappoint me, but their recent music hasn’t changed much to what long-time fans like myself fell in love with in the days of I Love You, which is nice to see, when so many other artists I used to like are experimenting with their sound in unflattering ways.

#mine #txt #2017

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andrewuttaro · 6 years

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New Look Sabres: GM 6 - VGK - Vagas Nights

Whenever Rob Ray said Vegas it sounded like he switched out the first e for an a. “Vagas” is what sounded like. The weird thing is that Ray isn’t the only broadcaster I’ve heard do it. I thought it was a Canadian accent thing at first but RJ isn’t doing it. Hmm. Well I predict unlike the Golden Knights I haven’t heard that last of it. Vegas is all about predictions. You go into the casino predicting you’ll win money; otherwise you wouldn’t go in. Bovada, an internet gambling site, releases Stanley Cup Champions odds periodically. We all crowd around and read them treating them like everything else in Vegas: a prediction (They’re not predictions, they’re betting lines to get your money). All us hockey reporters, bloggers and fans make our predictions for the NHL season before it starts. I predicted Rasmus Dahlin would score a goal in the first three games. I was wrong: he didn’t score a goal until the fifth game. Vegas was one team no one really had a solid prediction for this season. Their inaugural season last year broke all expectations and smashed records not even just in hockey but in American sports. They were in their first season. They were supposed to be trash and they made the Stanley Cup Final. Who knows what they could be this year? Then they had a trash start and the Buffalo Sabres beat them 4-2 last week. Unpredictable: that’s not how last night went. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Okay, no more puns… this paragraph. Buffalo met the hungry Vegas that made the Cup Final last season and lost 4-1.

The First Period began with the blue and gold pushing pretty well. The forecheck was firing. They defended in the neutral zone. It looked like the transition was really rolling, once the puck got into the O-Zone the boys lined up to make a play. However as the period dragged on the Golden Knights began to hear the sound of their building and push back. Vegas was not ready to go flush in this season series; flush is when you lose, right? Someone who knows gambling tell me. Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Dahlin both let up a bit too much as Shea Theodore streaked into the zone and tucked one in five-hole on Carter Hutton. The coaching staff saved this one though and the off sides challenge was successful for once in our adult lives. The score was back to snake eyes. Giggles. The push from the home team didn’t let up and more and more the Sabres were pushed from the neutral zone to the defensive zone. Marco Scandella got penalized for a wonky holding call and Jonathan Marchessault scored on the ensuing powerplay. Buffalo got worked in the last minute of play letting shots galore and survived the opening 20 with only one goal against. I had high hopes the second would be different.

Unfortunately the only goal added in the middle frame was a shorthanded Vegas goal by Cody Eakin. Short-Handed goal…*shutters at flashbacks to the first ten games last season*… ugh. This goal made me consider how motivated I was to stay up late. This is New Look Sabres and I am far too obsessed with this team so no, I went through this whole period and the next one. Buffalo built up some fight this period even getting some decent shots. Jeff Skinner stood up for Casey Mittelstadt in a weird half fight that came after a halfway decent shot. Let’s just say when I had to break up a literal cat fight on the floor in front of my couch it felt like a reprieve from this game. Then again, Kyle Okposo went for a speed skate around the Knights zone at one point and fed Dahlin for a shot that just woke me up enough to carry me through the rest of this period. The third however was a merciless cup of zanex comparatively. Buffalo worsened their already shattered powerplay going 0-3. This makes the Sabres powerplay 4-18 so far this season. Right after I had formulated all the scenarios where the Sabres get a goal and pitch a comeback, it was only a two goal lead after all; William Karlsson tucked a quick draw shot off the faceoff behind Hutton. The rest of the period dragged on hard and Housley pulled Hutton with four and half minutes left in regulation but no; I’m not going into the Housley hate well today. 4-1 it ended, and let it be known I stayed up to the very end: through the late Sabres goal, the failed goaltender interference review and even the Vegas empty netter until 12:46 AM eastern time. I have a job. This hurt… but hey, at least Fleury didn’t get the shutout.

There was one moment in the first when Carter Hutton played the puck from behind the net to a defender in the riskiest way possible. Hutton wasn’t the biggest problem at all in this game and a few bad moves could be the theme of this game. I don’t know a position on this team that played consistently. At that point in the game it was indicative to this forward group that you can’t let all these shots or you’ll pay for it. Not only can Hutton not bail you out of all these situations, it’s becoming a trend to make him save 30-40 shots through 60 minutes. Hutton is not going to be able to keep saving that many shots; someone other than the Rasmusi (well Risto when he feels like it) and McCabe need to play defense. Rasmus Dahlin was beautiful except for that blown coverage on the first goal but Marco Scandella convinced me in this game that his pairing with Ristolainen minus well be called the pairing of ill-used defensemen. There will come a day Dahlin is moved up to the top pairing but it’s probably not soon and it’s probably not wise quite yet anyway. I know you’ve been ill used on the top pairing for years, Risto, but you guys got shore that up for now. It’s great to see Zach Bogosian back in a game for the first time since last winter but I didn’t notice him. Anyone trying to trade Tage Thompson needs to chill out. Matt Tennyson getting sent down wasn’t good enough for you? Everyone needs their pound of flesh, right? 12 different players with blocked shots not only means your forcing forwards into that position but that you’re playing a weak defensive strategy that depends on putting your body on the line! That shit ain’t going to last boys! And by shit I mean the limbs you’re sacrificing to the hockey gods with this defensive style.

This loss was not the loss I was hoping for on this road trip. The California triad ahead will not be a sweep and this would’ve been an awesome win to have. I digress; I suppose we’re still learning .500 is the beginning of good not a life jacket you need to stay near. Sabres fans including me have been more apoplectic about every little mistake through these first six games than any time in recent memory. It’s a good sign. We don’t have any recent frame of reference for a halfway decent team so this is rough to deal with mentally; especially with how hot and cold Buffalo has been so far. These three losses so far have not been easy ones either: each tanking the goal differential and driving the most faithful among us mad. We can allot blame, yes, some is due to Phil Housley, but perhaps the sparks of light we’re seeing are more important than the glaring mistakes that seem to drag down the losses and disappear in the wins. A wise coach once said practice your strengths because what makes you special is why you’re in the big dance. We should expect them to fix the errors like the middling d-zone coverage or the awful powerplay but unlike past seasons this team is more than their shortcomings. I said they won’t sweep California but would anyone be surprised if they win two of those games? If they’re still hot and cold in December it will be a problem but consistency will come. I have more faith in this team than any other in the Eichel Era and I have already forgotten what happened in Vagas: from here on out there Vagas.

I’ve gone a little long today so let’s put a bow on Vagas. I am beginning to see the response to these columns. I see a follow on twitter here, a follow on tumblr there, a reply that seems connected to a blog reference there. It’s cool just to know people other than my brother and dad are reading this. I hope it’s not like Dahlin on the top powerplay unit last night: short-lived. Share it around. When you do it, don’t tell them I am some insightful analyst. I can assure you I am no Hockey mind. However, I used the word apoplectic in this piece so I can’t be that stupid either, eh? Expect the games that start after 9 out on the West Coast to not get a New Look Sabres post until the following day. I love the Sabres but I like sleep quite a bit too. Let’s hope the Sabres give us things worth staying up for!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. The Chicago Blackhawks temporary logo on twitter is D1K right now. Look at it; it may give you a laugh at this tough time. Tell me what you think it looks like.

#buffalo sabres #hockey #vagas #nhl

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deadcactuswalking · 3 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 07/11/2020 (Ariana Grande, Bring Me the Horizon)

You know, it’s odd how that despite two pretty massive albums dropping, both having an impact on the chart, we actually have less debuts than the scattered mess of singles from last week, thanks to silly UK Singles Chart rules. Regardless, this week’s #1 is still “positions” by Ariana Grande and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

The biggest drop off the chart this week is undoubtedly the #1 hit “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi, exiting the UK Top 75 after a run lasting 50 weeks. Nothing really compares to the weight of that drop-out but I guess we do have “GREECE” by DJ Khaled featuring Drake, “Heather” by Conan Grey. “Bando Diaries” by Dutchavelli, “Heart of Glass” by Miley Cyrus, “forget me too” by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Halsey and “Hold” by Chunkz and Young Filly, only lasting a measly two weeks but still peaking high. There is actually a theme to our returning entries as all of these are spooky scary Halloween-themed tracks. The classic “Thriller” by the ever-controversial King of Pop Michael Jackson is back at #57, “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker, Jr. Is back at #54 – this is my personal favourite of the bunch, mostly thanks to Neil Cicierega – and even “Monster Mash” by Bobby Boris Pickett is back at #50. Oh, and “5AM” by M Huncho and Nafe Smallz is back at #66 but that’s just scarily bad. The biggest fall this week was for “Cool with Me” by Dutchavelli and M1llionz down to #64 whilst the biggest gain was unfortunately for “Whoopty” by CJ at #48. Honestly, what’s the appeal here? Sigh, at least we have some really interesting hijinks this week, pretty fitting for a week that saw the messiest US election in history, and I won’t write this in order so you won’t see what I’m leading up to until a while after you read this part but there is some incredible stuff here. You know what’s not incredible?

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 – “Too Many Nights” – 220 KID and JC Stewart

Produced by 220 KID, Joe Janiak and Mark Ralph

I started off this episode by writing about the Bring Me the Horizon songs first. Not only is the album good and I had recently listened to it, but I had a lot more to say about the tracks, obviously since it’s not something you see on the charts every day and there’s a lot more to discuss in these tracks. Hence, after writing nearly 2,000 words on the metalcore boys alone, I have a question: do I really need to cover this emotionless tropical house-pop crap manufactured by labels and DJs who rarely find any interesting instrumentation, songwriting ideas or even samples to cover up their complete lack of innovation and at times even talent, for a quick buck and stupid amounts of unwarranted chart success? I don’t want to say I’m angry and I don’t want to seem pretentious but music is art. Art is, as a result of the society that produces it, a product, but even #1 hits and major-label records are still pieces of art. They can be analysed, appreciated and listened to with a lot of thought and detail. I cannot see that in “Too Many Nights” by 220 KID and JC Stewart. To me, this is purely a product. I’m taking this way too seriously but this really exemplifies what people hate about pop music in three minutes and eight seconds of cheap plastic dance music. Next.

#67 – “Ginger” – Wizkid featuring Burna Boy

Produced by P2J

Wizkid and Burna Boy are both highly acclaimed Nigerian singers and given everything that’s happening here recently, it’s no surprise Wizkid released an album that I would think touches on these issues, Made in Lagos, which is a name I can infer means he will explore Nigerian identity and what it means to be from Lagos and make it big in music. Wizkid is one of the big stars and pioneers of modern African pop music and whilst I should be interested in the album, I haven’t had the time to give it a spin yet so I’ll take this first impression from the track with Burna Boy. This is a pretty sweet tropical tune with an infectious hook referencing the traditional West African dish of jollof rice, and whilst the language barrier does prevent me from fully understanding the song, I can gather that this is a mix of a hook-up jam and typical rap stuff, with him flexing how he lives nice and if people want smoke, he’s got smoke, and a lot about this woman gyrating on him. Seriously, that’s the whole first verse, which only arrives after a really awkward pause. The second verse is kind of awkward here and Wizkid’s voice and flow have never done much for me, especially here where both he and Burna Boy sound checked-out. Burna Boy’s contributions are pretty much relegated to half of the chorus and an outro that quickly fades away and soon enough, this really slow, kind of uninteresting song has already finished. I’m not personally a fan of this but I am still interested in that album – I like the song with Skepta even if it does sound very much like “Ginger”, just with a stronger guest. Now onto the big story, or at least my big story, on the chart.

#55 – “1x1” – Bring Me the Horizon featuring Nova Twins

Produced by Jordan Smith and Oliver Sykes

I never read Kerrang! magazine, mostly because I’m not a loser [citation needed]. I understand that they originated in the 1980s as a metal-focused magazine but I wasn’t there for that. I was there for the Kerrang! TV era of pop-punk whining, scene-core screaming, nu-metal grunting, emo crooning and the Bloodhound Gang for some reason. Listening to this new Bring Me the Horizon album, titled Post Human: Survival Horror, took me back to that place. That feeling of classic Metallica followed by less classic Foo Fighters followed by the absolutely not classic Medina Lake (some of their stuff still slaps, however derivative) – oh, yeah, and like 10 minutes of adverts after six minutes of music. That feeling of All Time Low and You Me at Six playing back to back and being completely incapable of telling the difference between the two. “If we ain’t got that then we ain’t got much and we ain’t got nothing.” They were simpler times. I may be mashing up eras here but it still stands. Hell, the BABYMETAL tracks even took me back to the “Flashing Lights” disclaimers of all things. Rest in peace to Scuzz by the way, and, yes, I said BABYMETAL, we’ll get to that in a bit. So, yeah, I really liked that throwback to turn-of-the-millennium mallcore, but it does keep itself fresh and interesting enough throughout, especially with Sykes’ unique delivery and topical albeit ham-fisted edgy lyrics. You can say a lot about Bring Me the Horizon but at this point at least they definitely have pretty defining characteristics and a lot of likeability even if they do like to stick to a formula at times that makes it pretty obvious where their influences lie. That said, I do think the album becomes a slog by track seven, and it’s a lot duller than it probably should be for the final stretch. Unfortunately, this is track seven. I’m not familiar with the Nova Twins but they’re a punk-rap duo from London and honestly I am interested in checking out that debut album but I’m not really impressed by them or the metalcore boys – which is somehow a better band name than “Bring Me the Horizon” – on this track. Again, there is a formula to the metalcore boys’ banger tracks, and here it feels particularly stale and awkward, thanks to the loudness war that’s present in the album as a whole (Linkin Park’s influence shows up everywhere, even in the production) and the awkward trap elements shoved into the percussion of the first and second verses. I think Amy Love of Nova Twins obviously flows better on it than Oli Sykes who should have handed everything that’s not the chorus – one of the most cookie-cutter on the record – to the Twins, because he sounds pretty off here. There’s a lot less “epic edgy” lyrical content (I’m not sure if that’s a compliment) but that leads to kind of vague and disjointed ideas that don’t all line up to the core theme of the song, which is human guilt for the sins of man or some crap like that. Boys, when you interpolate four of your own songs AND Linkin Park, you’ve got to realise you’re re-treading some ground here. Not even the typical Bring Me the Horizon drop into the metal breakdown from an electronic bridge really feels like it’s worth it or climactic here, which is a shame but who needs the Nova Twins when the metalcore boys have a collaboration with another unique all-female rock duo...?

#51 – “Kingslayer” – Bring Me the Horizon featuring BABYMETAL

Produced by Jordan Fish and Oliver Sykes

When I saw BABYMETAL on this tracklist, I was amused and kind of laughed it off. These guys do have some pretty bizarre collaborations – they have songs with Halsey and Grimes – but BABYMETAL? I remember them when they were half-awesome Japanese pop-metal band and half-complete and utter meme in the early 2010s, and I knew that they had continued being so, mostly because the last time I heard from them they were playable in Super Mario Maker. Seriously, look it up. Now when I saw BABYMETAL on the charts, nearing the top 50 no less, I was ecstatic and honestly shocked. Needless to say this is their first appearance on the chart and whilst metal bands in the 2000s like Slipknot and System of a Down had genuine hits, outside of, fittingly, Bring Me the Horizon, it’s unheard of, especially for a Japanese girl group who happen to have freaking shredders playing on stage behind them. I haven’t listened to a BABYMETAL album but I feel like I don’t need to because of how much they’ve made an impression through singles, videos and live performances. Judas Priest’s Rob Halford called BABYMETAL “the future of metal” and whilst I’m not into the metal scene, I’m half-inclined to both agree and add Bring Me the Horizon to that conversation. I’m just amazed there is a cyber-kawaii metal song on the charts. I’m honestly astonished. Oh, and it helps that the song is incredible. On the album there’s a short interlude that functions as an introduction but honestly the short, aggressive synth riff followed by an immediate crash into the metal groove and Sykes yelling his lungs out works better on its own to just shove you face-first into some insane music. I love how that opening yell is chopped up and digitally re-arranged in the background of the chaotic instrumentation. The cutesy and bleep-bloopy synths that are not new to Bring Me the Horizon’s repertoire are used to their full potential here and yes, it is complete sensory overload, but it’s also kawaii-cyber metal. I mean, what did you expect? It also thematically makes sense. The song is about Call of Duty but it’s also an ode to the people willing to stand up for what they believe in even if it’s illegal and even if it doesn’t abide by rules and regulations. The album is full of these songs that fully support a revolutionary attitude and a clear frustration with keeping up with the old guard for all these years. You can hear how fed up and sick and tired of the political hellscape Sykes is in his shifts between pitch-shifted whining not dissimilar to Blink-182 and gravelly yelling straight out of extreme metal, except unlike most extreme metal I’ve heard, this is actually mixed properly. This track and especially the opener, “Dear Diary”, have so much anarchic energy and that is what I love about the hardcore punk edge to a lot of the album, not necessarily as much sonically as that in content and lyrical themes, where Sykes presents his inner mental struggles and contextualises them on the world stage, making an album that tackles the pandemic, racism and corruption vaguely and with poetic wit without being shallow or impersonal. Most songs that relate to the social distancing will not use the depressive emotional bloodletting of “Teardrops”, the subtly ominous yet still anthemic choruses about lockdown in “Obey” (seriously, these guys can make even YUNGBLUD sound listenable) and even the slow, sour conflict with both Mother Nature and general isolation on the closing ballad that has a name way too long for me to recite, as much as I enjoy upping the word count on every episode. Sykes’ verse in “Kingslayer” discusses opposing points of political opposition and protest, on one hand wanting to express how sick people are of going through the capitalist machine only to be spat back out again but also asking him the condescending question of if he really wants to poke the governmental bear. On the pre-chorus, he voices those frustrations in profanity-laden motivation that is asking not just himself but the general public to wake up, not that they’re unaware of how unfair the system is but instead acting as a call to action. Su-Metal of BABYMETAL takes this ode in a different angle, seeing revolutionaries as idolised figures, so much so that the chorus works as a confession of love or just awe in how the “kingslayer” is destroying castles in the sky and will save “us” from the darkness and from the struggles that the corrupt elite forces onto the populace. In the verse Su-Metal juxtaposes the imagery in the hook of some kind of medieval warrior (“angel of the blade”) with the near-incomprehensible verse, which is half-sung in Japanese with a cry for help responded to in commanding English, which I see as a reaction from the authority that undermines these problems. They call the revolutionary “artificial” and “modified” in a condescending, mocking tone, as well as using so much digital jargon that the verse becomes practically meaningless, especially backed by the heavy, loud music that drowns some of the messaging about and very much intentionally. It also seems pretty intentional that this song sounds like a take on an anime opening, as all of this cyber-punk imagery and anti-authority lyrical content feels a lot sharper when coated in references and criticism of mass-media. Oh, and it also helps that the song rocks, Su-Metal’s melodies are beautifully placed against a frenetic, monotone bass note in her verse, and that final chorus is absolutely perfect. That rapid-fire addition to the chorus took me by surprise on first listen and just completes the song for me. The song ends with one last wake-up call from Sykes about the rabbit hole before his yell is manipulated, screwed and played with by the production, rendering his scream inhuman... and followed by the playful, childlike inflections of BABYMETAL. If we don’t at least try to change in this time, the generations after us will suffer from our mistakes and missed opportunities. Man, this song is a rollercoaster that starts with drum and bass rhythms and ends with Oli Sykes growling gratuitous profanities that get close to feeling like he’s insulting the listener – it’s really brutal – and I’m here for it all the way. There have been songs on REVIEWING THE CHARTS that I like and that I love and whilst I know this won’t stick around (it is still cyber-kawaii metal), this is undoubtedly the best song I think I’ve ever covered on this show and might as well just be one of the best songs I’ve heard this year and maybe ever. I adore this track, please, PLEASE check it out.

#46 – “Flooded” – M Huncho and Nafe Smallz

Produced by Sean Murdz

Okay, seriously for a second: who cares? There’s nothing interesting here. A synth-based soundscape with some cheap flute loops drowned out by trap percussion that doesn’t even drop in, it just awkwardly fades in – yes, even the 808s – and Auto-Tuned mumbling from a nasal-voiced child with an unbearable falsetto. What is the appeal? None of them sound interested, there are no bars of any interest or even a funny line, not even unintentionally. D-Block Europe make me laugh but this tragically awful duo make me bored to death. M Huncho has a cool mask he wears and I wish his gimmick was more than just that and you know, actually translated to the music, but he doesn’t sound intimidating or like a villain. He just sounds like some dude who decided to rap barely on the beat of badly-mixed type beat with bass mastering that should be pitied. He did have a fluke song that kind of slapped called “Pee Pee”, which just comes to show that the more ridiculous and stupid he gets, the more vaguely entertaining he is. So why is he this dull and lame?! The flow is either talking over a beat that refuses to stay still but never truly reaches any kind of climax or even build-up, or just trap-rap word association. “I flooded the chain, it’s like a lake, we runnin’ the game, you pressin’ the brakes.” There’s nothing here, absolutely nothing, and these two hacks cannot sell it. I’m just looking for some effort and even if something is effortless, at least have the charisma to make it sound like you give a damn because this is pretty inexcusable.

#35 – “Paradise” – MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy

Produced by MEDUZA

I’m tired and I feel like I’m almost at breaking point with these songs. What would usually be generic and uninteresting is sounding offensively bad to me right now and I’m not sure why. That doesn’t really matter all too much to me though as this show has never been an in-depth critical assessment... okay, well sometimes it becomes as such but these are usually just my first impressions of tracks that happen to debut that week on the UK Singles Chart and this can range from volatile frustration to immediate adoration to not giving a rat’s ass about a single one of the songs that debut, depending on how I feel that day. That said, this song is fine. I actually really like Kennedy’s delivery, even if his rougher edges are smoothened and cleaned up by the vocal production here, which is pretty reverb-drenched but does allow for Kennedy to actually release rather than editing the vocals to sound really tight and closed-in... except for that really weak, pathetic drop but I do like the lyrical content, fittingly about distanced relationships as England enters a second lockdown. There’s little to say here but it’s worth a listen.

#32 – “Four Notes – Paul’s Tune” – Paul Harvey, Daniel Whibley and BBC Philharmonic

Produced by ???

No production credits for this one for whatever reason. Anyway, I am tired to the point of just complete speechless confusion at why this charted, and especially so high, rather than having any intrigue in why, but I looked it up anyway. Paul Harvey is a man from Sussex with dementia who is able to improvise beautiful piano melodies with only four notes as a reference point, hence the name. This was recorded by his son Nick and posted onto Twitter, where it soon became viral. This composition was then arranged by Daniel Whibley and recorded by the BBC’s Philharmonic Orchestra to be released as a charity single with proceeds being split between the Alzheimer’s Society and Music for Dementia. This isn’t a song I can critique. The arrangement is really pretty and it was in the original video, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra only serving to make it sound grander and fitting for a single release. Dementia, Alzheimer’s and any kind of brain disorder are all really tragic and really depressing things to happen to anybody, especially to the people it tends to affect: the elderly. It’s sweet that this is a single and I like that it charted high so those organisations that can assist science in treating these disorders and give help to those with family members diagnosed with and suffering from brain disorders have more funding. The song sounds good, it’s mixed well and honestly it’s pretty gorgeous at times, and if this helps people, then it’s done its job, and I commend Harvey and his son, Daniel Whibley and the BBC for letting this happen. Now for something completely different.

#26 – “Deluded” – Tion Wayne featuring MIST

Produced by Steel Banglez and Chris Rich Beats

Steel Banglez, Tion Wayne and MIST? God, maybe we are returning to the new normal; this is a 2019 line-up. Tion Wayne is a character and a presence on the track always and MIST is quite the opposite, but that “So High” song with Fredo was pretty cool, I suppose. Tion Wayne has always been more of an entertaining presence than half this crop of drill rappers, even if his flow and bars suffer from it, but he’s always a lot more fun and he does have a couple punchlines that hit. This particular song uses that “mm-mm” flow that originated on his track “Keisha & Becky”, and both him and MIST sound really interested and enthused here, as they trade bars in the verses and support each other with ad-libs throughout. The two seem to actually have some chemistry and it’s not an unnatural collaboration. Even in Tion Wayne’s solo chorus, MIST is shouting behind him, and it overall makes the song really aggressive and punchy, even if some of the lyrics are just kind of uninteresting or even confusing, like the oddly-specific jab at an unnamed crack abuser, always referred to as “you” in the song. Is the listener a crack addict? Should I be scared? I’m not entirely sure, but this kind of slaps, especially the keys and vocal sample in the outro. It kind of reminds me of a harsher version of the #1 hit back from 2018, “Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo, except these guys are legitimately menacing in the song and the bass-heavy drill beat never subtracts from that, not to say that “Funky Friday” is a bad song (far from it). It’s not about being able to convince me with lyrics, it’s about being able to sell what you say effectively and interestingly – not even uniquely, but just in a way that’s presentable and leads to genuinely good music. M Huncho and Nafe Smallz could take a couple hints from these guys.

#16 – “motive” – Ariana Grande and Doja Cat

Produced by TBHits, Joseph L’Etranger, Mr. Franks and Murda Beatz

Murda Beatz, huh? Well, I haven’t listened to Positions yet, mostly because I’ve been bumping Goddamn Bring Me the Horizon for the past week, but also because 14 tracks of the same song doesn’t necessarily interest me. For the sake of the show I probably should check the album out – it’s not that long – but don’t expect me to have that a positive opinion on it. I said my peace on Grande last week and given the singles I seriously doubt this album will erase my continuous issues with her projects. I’ve always felt that despite her unbelievable talent, she is also unbelievably disinterested and detached from her own music to the point where whatever artistic contributions and creativity she and her team had is completely washed out by the questionable production, weak-sauce trap beats and misguided song ideas (I still roll my eyes on “7 rings” and “sweetener”). From what I’ve heard from this new album, it has a lot more classic R&B keys and strings undercut by trap skitters and modern vocal production, and this is pretty clear in “motive”, a funky house-inspired dance-pop tune that feels miles less robotic and factory-made than most house on the charts, instead going for an organic fast-paced groove and mildly annoying vocal samples. The trap breakdown in the pre-chorus is what gives Murda Beatz the right to put his producer tag at the start of the song, which is honestly just funny. I do like the verses but the chorus doesn’t hit in quite the same way it should, possibly that pre-chorus is just garbage and it doesn’t build to an effective crescendo for the chorus to build up on off of whispery murmuring. Oh, and Doja Cat is here, which took me by surprise when she started lazily rapping since Ari actually sounded like her in the second verse. In fact, this is a Doja Cat song in all but lead artist credit and honestly, the song kind of suffers because of it. This is decent, I suppose, but a collaboration that doesn’t favour either artist.

#9 – “34+35” – Ariana Grande

Produced by ProdByXavi, Mr. Franks, Peter Lee Johnson and TBHits

Ariana Grande’s albums have disproportionate producer credit to producer effort ratio. At least there’s not a M-M-M-Murda on this one. The song title is stupid but this was pushed to radio so I guess it has to be family-friendly PG clean to some degree. It is interesting how it goes for the absurdity of being dirty over Disney-like orchestral blossoms and pretty nice-sounding strings, but it doesn’t go far enough other than the chorus. It’s missing a good, effective, funny opening line, and I feel that the verses are pretty lacking. The pre-chorus is almost cringeworthy and just going into bizarre levels of horny on main but that is very much the point of the whole thing. “You know I keep it squeaky”? I find it almost difficult to take this song as anything more than a joke, but she does have some pretty commanding tones when she asks him to “just give me them babies” and the snarky laugh in the intro combined with pretty slick albeit absolutely stupid punchlines that go from so bad it’s good territory to just unabashedly ridiculous and embracing itself as such. I love the falsetto in the chorus even if it is just building up to that stupid title that is nowhere near as clever as Ari thinks it is. By the way, she completely delivers here and it’s a pretty damn great performance from her, one of her most enthusiastic on record, even with her now typical “yuh”s spread throughout. Hell, the rap verse actually works this time mostly because her charisma actually comes through and the trap skitter has some energy this time, unlike “7 rings”. I don’t get the end where she says she was never good at maths, though, because “34 + 35 = 69” is a pretty solid and correct albeit obviously simple calculation. You got the answer, give it a tick in a different colour pen.

Got the neighbours yellin’, “Earthquake!” / 4.5 when I make the bed shake

There’s a song in the top 10 that uses the moment magnitude scale as a sex metaphor. 2020, everyone.

Conclusion

Let’s cut to the chase: Best of the Week goes to Bring Me the Horizon and BABYMETAL for “Kingslayer”, which should have been obvious. I’m so glad I expanded beyond the top 40 on this show. It means I can talk about songs like that in depth. Honourable Mention might actually go to Ariana Grande’s “34+35” on plain fun alone, although the similarly numeric “1x1” did get close. The Worst of the Week is really a toss-up because there was a lot of disposable filler between the good and interesting stuff this week had to offer. I’ll probably go with “Flooded” by M Huncho and Nafe Smallz, with a Dishonourable Mention to “Too Many Nights” by 220 KID and JC Stewart. Both are just impressively lacking in effort or any appeal I can search for, but knowing my luck, they’ll both be “Old Town Road”-level big. Here’s our top 10:

Thanks for reading this! You can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter and I need some sleep. See you next week!

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sqwidgirl · 7 years

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masterpost of iconic lines/moments in Froot (2015) by Marina and the Diamonds

Happy:

when the chorus effect starts on the line “melted away like I was free” and my soul escaped my body, went to hell, and was immediately forgiven by the benevolent god that is marina diamandis

“I realize to be happy, maybe I need a little company” and I started crying one minute and forty seconds into the album

the sheer force with which my head was ejected from my body when she hits the high note on “I believe someone’s watching over me”

the chord changes in the bridge making me feel melancholy realness, honey

invented the piano, invented happy songs that sound sad, invented music

I’ve fallen asleep crying to this song an uncountable amount of times

Froot:

THE FUCKING BASS RIFF IN THE FIRST TWO SECONDS which precisely and methodically severed my ear canal from my cranium

everything about this song

“ju-u-u-uice, la la la la la la la” >>> the entire discography of the rolling stones, the beatles, led zeppelin, and all of your dusty-ass “iconic” faves

the sultriness of the fucking low G she hits perfectly and consistently throughout the verses

“but I ain’t in a patient phase” probably the most iconic modern music will get

the way she sings “come on fill your cup uuuuuuuUUUUUPP” shattering my femur

“i’ve been saving all my summers for you” assassinates all of the poetry by William Shakespeare combined

every part of the second verse, especially “baby I am plump and ripe, I’m pinker than shepard’s delight, sweet like honeysuckle late at night” which was better sex-ed than I received throughout my entire adolescent academic career

“birds and worms will come for me, the cycle of life is complete” making fucking DECOMPOSITION the sexiest thing anyone has ever said in the compendium of human history

The Fucking Bridge Melody that she sings well beyond the troposphere, above the stratosphere, and sitting sexily in the mesosphere

“oh my body is ready, yeah it’s ready, yeah it’s ready”

I’m a Ruin

marina single-handedly addressing the complexities of young-adult relationships with “I could treat you better but I’m not that smart”

the insane degree to which I scream “yeah yeah, uh huh, woo hoo, yeah yeah” at the end of the chorus, thus startling my neighbors and setting off car alarms

“It’s difficult to move on when nothing was right and nothing was wrong” making me spray tears out of my eyes like a machine gun

the way the back up vocals come in on “I’ve had my share of beautiful men, but I’m still young and I want to love again”

the dichotomy of “I’ll ruin you” and “I’m a ruin” are proven to be one and the same, thus ending the careers of marriage counselors across the world

Blue

the iconic and instantly-memorable backing track

the continuity between the themes of the last song with the opening line “we’ve broken up and now I regret it”

the FORESHADOWING of “and I don’t know why but I can’t forget it” which alludes to the themes of the NEXT song, Forget, basically proving Marina doesn’t need references to any body of literature but her own goddamn songs

“gimme love, gimme dreams, gimme a good self-esteem” ejecting my wig at mach 3 into another dimension

the sheer craftsmanship of the pre-chorus, which is perfectly catchy and memorable while refraining from cliches

the way the beat picks up on the chorus and I demand my non-existent ex to “gimme one more night”

“I’m sick of looking after you, I need a man to hold on to, I’m bored of everything we do, but I just keep coming back to you” proving marina is just as fed up with fuckboys as we are, but is just as flawed and hypocritical as us, showing her imperfections and making her more worthy of our worship

ending the song on the pre-chorus like the fucking INNOVATOR of MODERN MUSIC she is??? like please tell me WHEN will your fave

Forget

this list doesn’t include the visuals from the music videos but I will make an exception for the ICONIC wig she wears in the video

the vocals for “never heal” sending me into a tailspin and crashing into a ditch at 70 mph

50% of the chorus is the word “forget” and it is STILL the height of modern literature

after her mention of an “abacus” in the second verse, abacus sales went up 2000% and surpassed their unprecedented popularity in ancient Greece

“yeah it’s time to be letting go, yeah baby you know what I’m talking about” probably the most iconique start to a bridge physically possible in this dimension

“YEAH I’VE BEEN DANCING WITH THE DEVIL I LOVE THAT HE PRETENDS TO CARE IF I’LL EVER GET TO HEAVEN WHEN A MILLION DOLLARS GETS YOU THERE OH ALL THE TIME THAT I HAVE WASTED CHASING RABBITS DOWN A HOLE WHEN I WAS BORN TO BE THE TORTOISE I WAS BORN TO WALK ALONE” is not supposed to be a high-intensity part of the song but I don’t fucking care obviously

the way she fucking develops the lyrics of the chorus throughout the song and makes each line the best life lesson you ever heard??? who is this woman?????

Gold

by FAR the most underrated song on the album for no goddamn reason like, have you demons even listened to it?? hmmmmm????

i have no idea how the accompaniment was made for the song but whoever did it was a genius and needs to be remembered for the rest of time

“doesn’t matter long as I am your star, sta-AAARRRR” melodically groundbreaking, please take notes everyone

“don’t think i want what I used to want, don’t think I need what i used to need” addressing the pains of growing out of old friendships and passions in a fun approach

“you can’t take away the Midas touch, so you better make way for a GREEK GOLD RUSH” YES MAMA REPRESENT YOUR COUNTRY LIKE THE GODDESS YOU AAAARE

knew she could rhyme “El Dorado” with “Colorado” and fucking did

the fade out at the end of the song painting her as a con-artist or corrupt gold-dealer being hauled off to jail while reveling in the near success of her schemes is what???? I C O N I C

Can’t Pin Me Down

this song is direct proof that marina is a straight up motherfucking KUNT in charge of her destiny. the album is labeled as explicit because of this ONE song and only ONE line: “you might think I’m one thing, but I am another. You can’t call my bluff, TIME TO BACKUP MOTHERFUCKER” like not only is this the most badass line in the history of language, but this line was so important to her that she made the album explicit JUST FOR THIS ONE LINE. SHE IS AN ICON. END OF STORY.

she is a feminist! BUT! “Do you really want me to write a feminist anthem, I’m happy in the kitchen cooking dinner for my husband” proving that you do NOT know this bitch. she is nothing you think she is. except that she is an I C O N.

the meter of “just another girl in the twenty-first century” has me unpredictably and immeasurably shook because she is just! that! kind! of! girl!

“You think I’m like the others, boy you need to get your eyes che-e-e-e-e-e-ecked, che-e-e-e-e-e-e-ecked” blew the skin clean off of my face

“i can be your russian doll” like,,,, gag

the entire concept and existence of this song is revolutionary and cements her position as the strongest female artist of our generation

Solitaire

holy FUCK you guys love to hate amazing songs, don’t you?? this song is without a doubt one of my favorites and you fuckers have the NERVE

the production on this song is one of a kind and continues to prove her versatility in style on this album. any reservations you had about her from electra heart better be EVAPORATED by this point.

the melodies on this song are, besides Froot, the catchiest on the album for me. they are so well crafted and inventive, i am shaking

“hard like a rock, cold like stone, white like a diamond, black like coal, cut like a jewel, yeah I repair myself when you’re not there” is such an amazing pre-chorus for this song like it could no possibly be better than that

the way the mood shifts from the verse to the chorus cut off my arms with raw blunt force

the flourish on the line “and I’ll admit all I wanna do is get drunk and silent” gave me an aneurysm

holy fucking SHIT the end of the bridge is for sure a highlight on the album. “but I’m not cursed, i’m not cursed, I was just covered in dirt” like damn marina go all the way off

the extra-dimensional high notes on this song are second to none, babes

Better Than That

“You’re just another in a long line of men she screwed” is the FUCKING WAY TO START A SONG, GIRLS. ARE YOU JOTTING THIS DOWN??

“So why’s she looking like a cat who got the cream?” ugh marina is so perfect I cannot deal with this bitch anymore

the sheer vocal talent on the chorus, like how high can this girl go? someday she’s going to rupture my eardrums and I will thank her personally

“with an angel voice, devil in disguise” the vocal production for this is perfect and successfully made me shit myself

“and she’ll network till her dreams come true, even if it means getting in a bed with you” miss marina is out for BLOOD everyone, the music industry is cowering in fear of her objective talent and lack of fucks

“i’m not passing judgment on her sexual life, I’m passing judgement on the way she always stuck her knife in my back” whoever this woman is she is getting READ for FILTH by lady diamandis and you all need to watch your backs

Weeds

this song is straight out of a sappy rom-com and I am fully living for it

“but it keeps growing back like WEEDS” I am currently screaming please give me a moment

“and God knows what sex is, a way to feel a bit, a little bit less lonely” marina chose sex to be a prominent theme on this album but she has shown she can handle it in the moment mature way any woman in the industry can. it’s subtle, it’s methodical, it isn’t vulgar, it’s just straight real and honest and such an important thing to discuss! this song is another aspect of how sex can be important in our lives. she better preach tbh

the aesthetics can reserved character on this song are a beautiful contrast that the album needed. filler tracks who???

Savages

full disclosure, this song blew a hole right through my body with the sheer impact of its lyrics and chorus

there are so many fucking good lyrics on this song, it’s truly baffling that anyone has a career in the music industry after this was dropped

“I’m not afraid of God, I am afraid of man” I am Screeching

the first beat of the chorus, my bodily fluids are already dripping from the ceiling and my bones are crushed into a fine powder

“underneath it all, we’re just savages hidden behind shirts, ties, and marriages” she is prophet, the chosen one, the woman who will deliver us from our mortal coils

“another day, another tale of rape, another ticking bomb to bury deep and detonate” Marina is fully aware of the important problems our nation is facing at the time the album was released and even to today. she isn’t a shallow artist like the persona she created in electra heart, she has become almost the exact opposite. She is taking on these issues with a clear judgment and grace and I am so proud and appreciative of her work.

“are you killing for yourself or killing for your savior?” YES YOU BETTER ASSASSINATE THESE MOTHERFUCKERS

the buildup in the last chorus to the E T H E R E A L ending is clearly the climax of modern pop music

Immortal

you could play this song for me and tell me it’s a message from an angel and I would 200% believe you

the melody on this track is so fucking pristine it’s like a glacier melting in your mouth

it continues the themes of humanity from Savages but looks at a completely different issue about it. this album is cohesive, planned out, and a complete and full body of work

the moment the chorus hits with “I’m forever chasing after time” my limbs are being forcibly extended by a device of love and torture

“but if the earth ends in fire, and the seas are frozen in time, there will be just one survivor, the memory that I was yours and you were mine” ok not kidding anymore this is STRAIGHT up MOTHER fucking POETIC genius and innovation at its most concentrated and talented moment

when she says “twice” on the high note in the chorus, it’s like the most beautiful bell shattering in my ear, tbqh

THE FUCKING BRIDGE is actual art. “I just wanna be able to say the I live my life” the way she executes this melody is cold-blooded and frankly she should be charged with manslaughter for it

bottom line, Marina Diamandis released the biggest breakthrough in pop music to date in 2015 and all of you demons let it flop. if you have the nerve to call this album a failure, I have literally 0 respect for you and no one is ever going to love you

#marina and the diamonds #marina diamandis #froot #i am obviously very passionate about this album

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