#big shanty records

[lostloveletters]

Big Girls Don't Cry (Bucky Egan x OC)

Summary: After a night out spirals out of control, Holly thinks she's doomed to be a haunted house. Bucky’s brave enough to let the light in.

Note: An angsty first kiss for Holly and Bucky…I’m so overwhelmed by the response to the MotA fics I’ve posted so far, thank you so much🖤 There's going to be a parallel Woody/Brady-centric fic to this, which is why I included a decent ensemble here lol. Do not interact if you're under 18, terf or radfem, or post thinspo/ED content.

Word count: 2.8k

Warnings: Descriptions of a panic attack and related self-inflicted injuries; mentions of death and grief (hurt/comfort). Inevitable historical inaccuracies. Ends on a somewhat suggestive note, but nothing explicit.

Holly was exhausted when Bucky asked her to go to the pub in town with him and some of the other pilots that evening. She initially hesitated, but between his near insisting and her notion that a break from the base would do her good, she accepted the invitation. When she found Woody later on to ask if she was going, Brady had already invited her, a light blush spreading across Woody’s face when she told Holly. The overall group of seven required pushing two tables together and stealing some empty chairs.

“Holly, your drink’s on me. I got $4.50 when you won the last typing contest,” Bucky said.

“You bet on it?” Buck asked.

“I knew she’d win.”

“Beat her own record,” Woody added.

Buck shook his head, smiling a bit. Holly liked Buck a lot, especially the way his face lit up when she asked him about Marge. Seemed to be physically lighter, too, like the weight of being one of the de facto leaders of the 100th was off of his shoulders for that moment in time. He’d get almost flustered if he realized he was rambling, apologizing for taking up so much of her time talking about his girl even though she was the one who asked him.

“Which is why I’m buying my sailor a dark ‘n’ stormy, and the rest of you are on your own.”

She laughed, “Thanks, Bucky.”

‘My sailor.’ He had taken to calling her after they listened to the Nationals-Yankees game together. But she apparently inherited her sailorship from Stan, her preference for rum and penchant for cursing around Bucky (and few others), made him designate her so.

Nevermind she had only been on a boat a handful of times, one of which was the ship that brought her over to England from New York, and no, she didn’t know any sea shanties. He took it upon himself to learn one from a local laborer who worked on schooners at the turn of the century. Of course, Bucky had been drunk when he tried to teach her the song, remembering half of the lyrics and ad-libbing the rest. She left the singing to him.

She still had one secret–an anchor tattoo on her upper arm. An impulsive decision she and Stan made together when she accompanied him to San Francisco the week he shipped out to the Pacific. The same week she met Woody, and the rest of her life started before she could blink.

Being in the pub with everyone was the most normal she’d felt in a while. She hoped could finally shake whatever stormy clouds had made their home in her mind over the past year. 

“Hey Holly, you’re from DC, right?” Curt asked abruptly. “You ever meet the President? See him around the neighborhood or something?”

She laughed. “No, unfortunately I’ve never run into President Roosevelt at the drug store.”

“How would he even do that? He’d get mobbed,” Crank said. 

Woody nodded. “He’s probably got a mean security detail, too.”

“Well he can’t spend all day in the White House!”

“Why not? Heard they got a bowling alley in there,” Buck said.

“Woody, I’ll get you a beer?” Brady asked, his voice low among the clamor of what President Roosevelt did for fun in the nation's capital.

“Thanks, John.”

Holly sneaked a glance at her best friend when Brady stood up and headed over to the bar. She wasn’t sure if Woody had told him that Holly knew about them. There were few, if any secrets between Holly and Woody, and guys were certainly no exception.

“Look, if I were the president, I’d wanna know my neighbors,” Curt said.

“If you were president,” Buck repeated, toothpick between his teeth as he smiled. “Listen to him.”

“Hey, anybody can run,” Curt said. “That’s what it says in the Bill of Rights or something.”

“That doesn’t mean you should,” Crank said.

“You got my vote, Curt,” Bucky announced, setting his and Holly’s drinks on the table.

“Thanks, Bucky. You’ll be my VP.”

Bucky grinned, sitting next to Holly. His arm settled on the back of her seat, his fingers brushing the ends of her curly hair. 

The next few minutes was a game of musical chairs as everyone else came and went with their drinks of choice, Brady taking the seat next to Woody as soon as it was open. 

Holly found herself leaning against Bucky as she drank, nursing her dark ‘n’ stormy with the intent of making it last until it was time to leave. He was the only person she felt comfortable enough to be in such close contact with besides Woody. He felt like sitting next to the radiator in her childhood bedroom, and she nearly nodded off after some time, Buck and Bucky in the middle of some conversation she couldn’t follow. 

Curt returned to the table with what must have been his third or fourth beer of the night.

“Hey Bucky, some of these blokes are lookin’ to play darts,” he said, motioning behind him.

Bucky nodded. “Hope they’re ready to cover my tab.” He threw back his whiskey and gave Holly’s shoulder a gentle squeeze as he got up. “C’mon, doll.”

Holly didn’t remember much of what happened between then and when she heard it. An entire chunk of time morphed into a hazy blur in her mind. Vaguely remembered cheering for Bucky and Curt. Then Curt called an RAF pilot an asshole, and a fight nearly broke out before fizzling down by the grace of god. Or maybe Buck stepped in. Bucky had something to her before his turn, an aside she laughed at, but couldn’t recall.

Different conversations around her jumbled with one another, stringing together in a cruel way only her own mind could conjure up for her. She heard him clear as day. 

“Stan?” she whispered, her voice crazed with illogical hope.

Her heart raced. She looked frantically around the room for a sign—any sign of him.

But Stan was dead. There’d been a funeral with a body. His mother wept over the open casket. Her own mother had written as much. Sent her the funeral program which remained hidden among her belongings. 

She kept the accompanying memorial card on her person at all times. A nice photo of Stan in uniform. His full name. Dates of birth and death. A bible verse and a little mention of his service in the Navy. 

Stan was dead. Had been for over a year.

Her chest tightened, pulling like a rubber band about to snap. As the room closed in on her, she barrelled through the pub patrons, paying no mind to who was in her path, only that they were between her and a door. 

The cool night air shocked her skin, but it wasn’t enough to snuff out the burning in her lungs. Panic overtook her brain. With a strangled shout, she curled her fist, unleashing months of unspoken grief directly onto the brick wall in front of her. Pain struck her hand like a bolt of lightning, but she could breathe again. 

Her knuckles split open, bruises blossoming across her fingers in the darkness. “Fuck!” she shouted, both in pain and disbelief at herself. “Motherfuck–”

The alley door slammed open, chaos from the bar ringing in her ears as she looked wide-eyed at the person who interrupted her. A tense mortification swept over her body. 

She’d been doing so well. Kept the self-destructive thoughts at bay. Used to chew on her bottom lip until it bled, the pain of broken skin and taste of copper strangely grounding when her mind wandered too far. Hadn’t done in it months. But she never exploded. Not quite like this. 

Bucky stumbled forward, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Holly?” he asked, his gaze drifting down to her hand. “Jesus, what happened?”

Of course he would be the one to witness her breakdown. She wished it were Woody, but she sure as hell didn’t want to ruin her best friend’s night out with her boyfriend either. 

Woody was used to it. Holly was always too embarrassed to go to a nurse, so Woody would sit her down and carefully apply petroleum jelly to Holly’s raw lips, eyebrows knit together in concerned concentration as her fingers brushed across the cracked, scabbed over skin. Didn’t care if she had been working for over twelve hours straight or was in the middle of something else.

But Bucky wasn’t Woody, and she never wanted him to see her like this.

Holly stared at him, trembling as he took a tentative step toward her. Tears welled up in her eyes. She frantically rubbed at them with her sleeve. She let out a shaky breath. 

“Holly,” he repeated. “Are you alright?”

“I felt like I was going to explode in there so I came out here and…” She flexed her injured hand and winced. “I heard someone talking. He sounded just like Stan.”  She swallowed a lump in her throat, feeling more pathetic as she explained herself. “I guess my wires got crossed.”

“Hey, it happens,” he tried assuring her. “You think you’re the only one?”

Holly shook her head. “Even when I got the letter last year, I still showed up and did what I had to do. Didn’t miss a day.” She was silent for a moment. “I don’t know why tonight was so different.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He took her bruised hand, whispering an apology when she hissed in pain. Examined it as best as he could in the cover of night. “At least not any more than you already have.”

“I punched a brick wall. I’m not gonna be able to type tomorrow,” she said, quickly adding, “I can’t go to a nurse. They’ll ask what happened, and I’d rather crawl in a hole somewhere.”

He shook his head. “C’mon, I’ll patch up that hand for you. It’s probably not even that bad.”

“Don’t cut your night short because of me.”

Briefly, almost enough to convince her it was just a trick of the moonlight, he looked uncharacteristically sheepish. “It’s the least I can do for making you come out tonight.”

“Bucky, you didn’t make me do anything. I don’t want to be some wilting flower who’s too afraid to keep living. Stan wouldn’t have wanted that for me. I just wish my brain would get the message.”

“Well, I’m sure Stan wouldn’t have wanted you to walk all the way back by yourself if you didn’t have to,” he said.

She smiled weakly. “Yeah, he’d chew me out for that.”

So would Bucky, if this had happened and he hadn’t found her. If she walked back to Thorpe Abbotts alone in the dead of night with nothing but the stars to keep her company. She never cared for them, especially not after Stan. They gave the night glistening teeth that tore her apart far too often for her to be comfortable beneath them.

“Hey, what about darts?” she asked, a good distance away from the pub.

“I pulled Crank in. He can hold his own. Besides, if there’s an angry bartender hunting me down on the base tomorrow, you could probably hold him off for me,” he joked, lightly elbowing her side. “You got one hell of a hook.”

“Stan taught me.”

“He taught you how to fight?”

“Sort of, but he was probably thinking more along the lines of self-defense instead of getting into fights with brick walls.”

“That wall had it coming. If you didn’t punch it, I probably would’ve.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Will you tell that to Chick so he doesn’t kill me tomorrow?”

“He’s not gonna kill you. Might be pissed that his best typist is gonna be out of commission for a few days, though.”

“I can still proofread. Or sort mail. Or—“

“Let me worry about that, alright?”

Holly hesitated. “Alright.”

—————

Bucky had the keys to the Air Exec office, empty for the night, and sat Holly down at her desk. He disappeared for a few minutes, but returned with an armful of peroxide bottles, absorbent cotton, and a roll of gauze. 

“Geez Bucky, don’t waste all of that on me.”

“If I brought you to a nurse, they’d use it on you, anyway.” 

He pulled up a chair, his knees touching hers as he took a closer look at her hand beneath a desk lamp. His eyebrows furrowed as he considered the dried blood, cuts that had already begun to scab over, and a particularly gnarly knuckle that didn’t sit quite right.

“I don’t think it’s broken, but one of your knuckles got dislocated. I’m gonna clean your hand and then pop it back into place.”

“Fuckin’ A,” she said. “I learned that from Stan, too.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“No. Neither did he.”

He snickered, grabbing the peroxide and some cotton. “What was Stan like, anyway? Sounds like an interesting guy from what you told me.”

“Stan was…” She paused. Nobody asked her about Stan. All anyone knew was what little she offered. What was he like? “He cursed like a—well, he was a sailor. Of course he was a Nationals fan. Loved detective novels. We’d have ones we’d read together and see who could figure out the big plot twist first. His front tooth was chipped, but god, he had the best smile. I’m talking serious wattage—“

“Wattage?” Bucky repeated incredulously.

“Okay, I made that up—think electric! He could light up a whole room with just his smile,” she emphasized with a smile of her own. “You know what I mean?”

He glanced up from her hand to her face for a moment. “Yeah, I do.”

“What else…we had this goofy thing going where we’d play tic-tac-toe in our letters to each other. I started doing that because I’m not great at writing letters. I never know what to say, but I wanted him to still look forward to getting them from me.”

“How’d you meet him?”

“I just started secretarial school when he got a job at this fish market up the street from my house. I remember thinking he was so handsome, he almost looked out of place,” Holly said, her voice soft for a moment. “Well, I’d spend so much time there that my mom would complain about how awful I smelled by the time I got home. I asked him out first.”

Bucky laughed. “You’re kidding.”

A wide grin spread across her face. “I wanted to make him mine before he could even think about another girl, so I went in one day and said, ‘When are you gonna take me to see a movie?’ Most guys wouldn’t have liked that, but Stan got a kick out of it. He’d tell the story to anyone who’d listen.” She paused. “I think what really scares me is that at some point, I’ll remember him for longer than I knew him, and I’m always gonna be…like this.”

“I’m gonna set your knuckle back in place now,” Bucky said, his voice low, almost contemplative.

Holly tensed, staring at the ceiling while Bucky pushed against her bruised knuckles. Bone clicked back into place. She groaned. Clenched her good hand into a fist, blinking away tears.

“Barely flinched,” he said. “You’re tougher than you give yourself credit for, doll.” 

She smiled. “Thanks, Bucky.”

They were quiet as he finished bandaging her hand. The room was almost chatty though, buzzing overhead lights, ticking clock on the wall, a leaky pipe somewhere. Among them, a thought broke free from the confines of Bucky’s mind.

“Stan was lucky to have a girl like you waiting for him.”

Glassy brown eyes, wavering with the weight of the world, stared back at him in silence.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, Holly. I shouldn’t have—”

She kissed him, her bandaged hand caressing his cheek. Weeks of silently longing, lusting, and wondering, answered in full as she moved her lips against his. Nearly forgot to kiss her back until he felt her pulling away. 

He placed his hand over her bandaged one, still tenderly cupping his face. The gauze was rough against his skin, a contrast to the pads of her fingers. He curled his fingers around hers, her blunt nails lightly scraping against his cheek.

She gasped against his lips. “John.”

A shiver rolled down his spine as he brushed his thumb over the bandage he’d just finished wrapping, her knuckle that he set back in place for her. All for her. And she kissed him first.

‘I wanted to make him mine.’ 

Mine.

Mine. 

Her dulcet tone echoed in his head until he couldn’t think of anything but kissing her again, offering himself to her as the sole object of her affection. 

Mineminemineminemine. “Holly, baby—” He was trying so hard to be coherent, nearly choking on his words until finally uttering, “I’m all yours.”

#bucky egan x oc #john egan x oc #bucky egan x ofc #john egan x ofc #masters of the air #bucky egan #john egan #masters of the air x oc #mota x oc #mota oc #masters of the air oc #ch: holly

[cozage]

Heyyy first of all I love you works so much, you are such a good writer😭 I saw your requests are closed so feel free to ignore this but I just saw the latest post were anon asked you if you preferred karaoke with strawhats boys or spa with the girls and I found that a beautiful idea. So if you can/want could you please do a karaoke with strawhats (boys and girls) hc please?? Thank youuu💜💜💜

This is a request for my Sleepover Event, send me one too! :)  

Okay for starters if you have not heard the groups “Family” song, I’m going to need to you go to Youtube and check it out (they recently re-recorded the japanese version with Jimbei and 🥺🥺)

Most of these are just how everyone would act at a karaoke bar. But I added everyone singing with you, take that as you wish :) 

Karaoke Night

Luffy

He’s starting off the night with a song. The first to volunteer without even a drop of alcohol in his body. Literally pulls you up on stage to sing with him. 

He’s SOOOOO bad. He’s always offkey but that makes you feel a little better because at least people’s ears already hurt so your voice doesn’t matter too much. 

He likes to sing the classic sea shanties and older stuff that everyone can sing along to (if it was our world he would be singing Journey and the old classic country music). He’s big on yelling “You guys know this part, sing along!” and holding out the mic for the crowd to join in.

When he’s not on stage singing, he’s either dancing or running around to all the groups of people mingling, asking if they’re going to sing

He always volunteers to be a partner if people are too nervous to sing along. He’s there to have fun and wants to make sure everyone else is having fun too :)

Zoro

Nope. This man is not singing. 

That's what he says. That’s what he promises. No way in hell he’s getting up on that stage. 

Until he gets about 10 tankards of ale in him. Then he’s climbing up on the stage ready to sing his HEART out. 

He sings loud and proud, and halfway through the song beckons you up to join him. If you don’t go, he’s going to jump down and slowly walk to you and serenade you. 

He’s probably going to sing some oldies song that’s deep and slow. Like Frank Sinatra or maybe even Johnny Cash. (I can imagine him absolutely nailing “And I did it….MYYYYYYY WAYYYYYYYYYY”)

At the start of the night he’s sitting in the corner alone, watching everyone carefully to make sure nobody tries to make a move on you or any other crew member, but by the end of the night he’s up, sitting with strangers and laughing and having the best time ever. 

Sanji

His eyes are always on whoever is singing…unless it’s a man. 

Sanji himself doesn’t sing, and he’s definitely not singing alone, but any time a lady goes up, Sanji’s asking if she needs a duet partner. He can’t let a lady sing alone, afterall. 

He’s more of the kind to just sit and enjoy the show, show support when he needs to, heckle when it’s one of the Strawhats up there. If he hears any mumbling or rude comments while a lady is up singing, he’s going to war. 

He can tell you kind of want to go sing, but you’re too nervous to go up or initiate asking, so eventually he pops the question and asks you to sing with him. 

You guys are definitely singing some kind of duet song. Definitely Troy/Gabriella vibes from that first scene in High School Musical. You both start out kind of nervous but by the end you’re only focused on eachother and you’re both into it. And you sound pretty good too! 

Nami

She’s definitely not the kind of person to start the singing, but she’ll do it with enough encouragement.

She’s not singing alone though. Unmless someone pays her to sing alone, she won’t. She doesn’t even like duets (she knows she’s not the strongest vocally and hates when people make fun of her).

She prefers group songs. Usually three or more gets her comfortable singing. Her, Usopp, and you know all the good music, so the three of you can sing some songs without even looking at the words. 

Early 2000’s music, especially R&B, are your alls go to. Rich Girl, Umbrella, SOS, all the bops that people that grew up during that time know and love. 

She is definitely a heckler when someone is singing badly too. She may not boo them off the stage but she WILL be laughing at them.

Usopp

He’s not singing. He has allergic-to-crowd-itis. No way is he going up on stage. 

Unfortunately, he's bad at betting, and Nami makes him go up. You offer to join him so it’s not as scary for him. 

He’s picking some random song that nobody has every heard of. If they don’t know what the original sounds like, they don’t know how good or bad it is. Mt. Joy, Portugal, The Man, Go Radio. Music that if you know, you LOVE. Upbeat folky music that’s easy to have a scratchy voice and be offkey.

After the first time, he realizes he actually had a lot of fun, and starts doing it with bigger groups. He even gets Nami and Luffy to join you all and you guys all sing a fun upbeat song.

When he’s not on stage, he’s laughing along with the boys and cheering on for whoever is on stage at the moment. Over-exaggerated screams of support and lots of clapping. 

Chopper

Terrified of the thought of being on stage. But he’s a supportive little guy, and he’ll do it if you do it. 

He walks up and hides behind you. Looking out at everyone in the crowd is so scary for him! Especially knowing how vicious Nami’s comments have been. 

Once the music gets started, his voice is a little shakey, but by the time the chorus rolls around, he’s into it! The whole crew is yelling cheers of encouragement to him and he really starts to get into it. 

I could see him really getting into some fun pop music. Katy Perry, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift. He doesn’t get why the songs are so aggressive but he loves scream singing with you

After the first song clears his nerves, it’s hard to keep him off the stage. He’s jumping into every group song there is. He loves the RUSH. 

Robin

You’re convicned this woman is not singing. Like she’s just not. I’m sorry. You can beg and plead all you want but shes not-

“Do you want to sing? Sure! I’ll try everything once!” And with that she puts her book down and walks up onto the stage.

You guys are going hard or going home. The slower songs of people like Adele, Miley Cyrus, Billie Ellish, Lizzy McAlpine. Voices that you KNOW you will fail at replicating or sounding better than, but that’s just her vocal range, and she’s actually pretty good!

She enjoys it, but once is enough for her. She might do it again if you or someone else asks, but it’s always going to be those hard to match songs. 

She is honestly so fulfilled watching everyone else take the stage and be absolute goofballs. She prefers to watch and laugh along with everyone from the back of the room, a part of the family but then not center of attention.

Franky

Frankie loves pop music and you can’t convince me otherwise. The second he hears a song he likes, he jumps up to be next in line. He’ll sing anything, but his first pick is pump up 2012’s music like One Republic, Tao Cruz, Imagine Dragons. 

He’s such a star when he sings too. Dancing around on stage, pulling you up to join him and serenading you. He can really put on a show for the audience. 

He definitely made adjustments to body to have little smoke [things] and little sparklers. It definitely starts a small fire.

He’s having a GREAT time and loves loves loves it. He knows it’s important to let everyone have their turn, but he’s almost always in the lineup for karaoke, whether it’s the two of you singing or with a group of people. He’ll sing with just about anybody (and he gets requests for it too)

When he’s not on stage, he’s talking to the other patrons (trying to get in with other groups to sing more) 

Brook

Brook…what can I say? He was born for this. And died for this. And came back to life for this. Brook has ALWAYS loved karaoke. It’s what got him into performing. 

He asks if you want to sing one of his songs with him (what an honor!), and he does his best not to steal the show. But he’s missed performing and he’s missed the crowd, so he goes overboard a little bit the first time. 

The crowd goes freaking insane. He gets so many comments about his voice, and he always does his best to say he only sounded better because you were with him. 

He likes to sing his own songs, but after a few rounds, he just lets you (or whoever he’s singing with) pick the music. He’s got a very specific range though and doesn’t like to go outside of it.

He’s surrounded by fans most of the time, and anytime he spends offstage is met by autographs and fans fauning over him, buying him drinks and trying to get him to notice them.

Jinbe

Jinbe does group singing only. He won’t sing alone, and he doesn’t really want to do duets either. Even group songs he doesn’t love. He’s not big on singing or being the center of attention. 

He will join people on the stage for a group performance though, but he will only join in for the chorus or moments where everyone is singing. 

He can tell you’re nervous about singing, so he stays close and gives you little words of encouragement as you’re singing with everyone. 

He’s so supportive from the crowd though when you go up without him! He always tells you how great you did and tells you his favorite part of every songs so you know that he was actually paying attention. 

He really just sits and enjoys the vibes. He’ll sing along from the crowd if he knows a song, but he’s just there for the atmosphere and to support his crew. 

#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #monkey d luffy #monkey d. luffy #luffy #roronoa zoro #zoro #vinsmoke sanji #sanji #god usopp #usopp #nami #cat burglar nami #chopper #tony tony chopper #nico robin #cyborg franky #soul king brook #one piece jinbe #first son of the sea jinbe #cozage #✧˚ luffy✧˚ #✧˚zoro✧˚ #✧˚sanji✧˚ #✧˚usopp✧˚ #✧˚nami✧˚ #✧˚chopper✧˚

[firstdivisiongirl]

(Killer x Fem Random Kid Pirate Reader) That Crazy Start

So, I always do one of these for birthdays and holidays. Since it is my birthday today, here is this installment of the random kid pirate! Note, the sea shanty is to the same melody as the one that goes, "there once was a ship that put to sea and the name of the ship was the Billy O' Tea" Just so you all know lol. Hope you all like it!

(Killer x Fem Random Kid Pirate Reader) That Crazy Start

It was a stormy day on the Victoria Punk.  The sky was dark and rain was falling like crazy.  The crew sat in the kitchen relaxing.  You and your boyfriend Killer thought it  would be a great idea to tell stories.  Everyone was telling the story of how they decided to be a pirate.  Now it was your turn.

“I can’t wait to hear this one.  Come on Y/N, tell us about how you became a pirate.  I bet it was dumb or something,” Captain Kid mocked.

“Well, there once was a ship that sailed to sea and the name of the ship was the Sad Jackie,” you sang.

Kid pounded his fist on the wooden table.  “Stop and tell the story damn it,” Kid yelled at you.

You rolled your eyes, “Fine. But for the record, the shanty was going to be amazing! I was going to be an accountant for the marines,” you started.

“Wait, wait, wait.  You were going to join the marines?”  Killer asked, scratching his head.  He was puzzled at what you just said.

“Yeah,” you replied smiling.

“You’re good at math?” Kidd questioned.  At this point, he didn’t think you could be good at anything beside sarcasm and pure randomness.

“Yeah!  How do you think our treasure goes so far?  I budget, loser.   Anyways, this guy Kevin kept making fun of me saying I could never be a pirate, so I decided to prove him wrong.”

“How did you get a ship?”  Killer asked you.  After hearing the first part of your story, he knew it was going to be outlandish.

“I’m glad you asked babe.  Well, I went out that night and I robbed Kevin.  To think he was going to be a marine.  So after that, I bought the Sad Jackie!  I let my friends Smoker and Hina know.  Then, I told my dad I wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps of being a great and powerful fleet admiral!  Then I set sail, survived on my own and met you weirdos.  You know the rest!”

“Who’s your dad?” Heat asked.

“Fleet admiral Sengoku. But that’s not important,” you answered nonchalantly.

“What?!?!” the whole crew said at the same time.  None of them could figure out why you never said this important piece of information, but letting everyone know your favorite Yonko was Buggy was important.  

“It’s not a big deal guys.  He’s just dad.”

Kid replied, “Just dad!  Your dad was the fleet admiral!  And your friends are high ranking marines!  Your dad could execute us at any time.  Well, except you “Miss Alive Only”.”  Killer was starting to sweat.  He was already nervous about one day meeting your parents, but now it was worse.  Now, everyone wished you would have just sang your sea shanty about your journey.

Please do not copy, modify, translate, or repost my writing on other platforms. Comments, reblogs or likes are highly appreciated!

#one piece #trafalgar d vivi #random kid pirate #killer one piece #killer x reader #kid pirates #killer x y/n #killer x you #one piece imagine #one piece x y/n #one piece x you #one piece x reader #one piece x s/o

[musicforants]

Happy new year! Here’s my favorite albums & songs in of 2023. Click here to listen to my full Best Songs playlist* (100+ tracks) via Spotify or Apple Music.

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2023

Sufjan Stevens - Javelin

The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein / Laugh Track

Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

boygenius - The Record

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes

Caroline Rose - The Art of Forgetting

Blur - The Ballad of Darren

Ratboys - The Window

Blondshell - s/t

Youth Lagoon - Heaven is a Junkyard

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You

The Mountain Goats - Jenny From Thebes

Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode

Wilco - Cousin

Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!

Slowdive - everything is alive

Indigo De Souza - All of this will end

Wednesday - Rat Saw God

Romy - Mid Air

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ - Destiny

Billy Woods & Kenny Sagan - Maps

The Japanese House - In the end it always does

Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord who chews but which does not consume

The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore

Roison Murphy - Hit Parade

Bully - Lucky For You

M83 - Fantasy

Jess Williamson - Time Ain’t Hospitable

Sofia Kourtesis - Madres

FAVORITE SONGS OF 2023

Sufjan Stevens - Shit Talk

Lana Del Rey - A&W

The National - Tropic Morning News

Feist - Borrow Trouble

Blondshell - Joiner

Blur - The Narcissist

boygenius - Not Strong Enough

MGMT - Mother Nature

Wednesday - Chosen To Deserve

Yo La Tengo - Aselestine

Caroline Rose - Miami

Ratboys - The Window

Roison Murphy - The Universe

Oneohtrix Point Never - A Barely Lit Path

Indigo De Souza - Younger & Dumber

Jeff Rosenstock - 3 Summers

Caroline Polachek - Blood & Butter

Sun June - Get Enough

Yard Act - The Trench Coat Museum

DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ – Honey

Girl Scout - Weirdo

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Lean Beef Patty

Sofia Kourtesis - Madres

Overmono - Good Lies

Bully - Days Move Slow

Youth Lagoon - Idaho Alien

Katy Kirby - Cubic Zirconia

Andy Shauf - Halloween Store

Romy - She's On My Mind

M83 - Oceans Niagara

Yves Tumor - Echolalia

Big Thief - Vampire Empire

Olivia Rodrigo - get him back!

Fever Ray - Kandy

Jessie Ware - Begin Again

The Japanese House - Boyhood

Kelela - Contact

Jess Williamson - Hunter

Mitski - My Love Mine All Mine

billy woods & Kenny Segal - Soft Landing

Tennis - Let's Make a Mistake Tonight

Slowdive - shanty

Beirut - Hadsel

NewJeans - Super Shy

The Clientele - Blue Over Blue

Nation of Language - Sole Obsession

ANOHNI - This Must Change

The Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters

Slaughter Beach, Dog - Engine

The Beatles - Now and Then

Link to full 100+ track playlist on Spotify / Apple Music

*playlist subject to change

#lists #music #best of 2023 #sufjan stevens #lana del rey #boygenius #the national #blur #blondshell #yo la tengo #caroline rose #ratboys #jeff rosenstock #youth lagoon #feist #spotify #apple music #Indigo De Souza

[fisherman-fight]

ROUND ONE

ANXIOUS ANGLER from SKY: CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT vs THE WELLERMAN from THAT WHALING BALLAD

HERE'S WHAT THE SUBMITTERS HAD TO SAY ABOUT OUR CONTESTANTS:

ANXIOUS ANGLER - "Part of a pirate crew!! Know how to hide from dangerous sea creatures!! Anxious but they don't let it stop them from fishing!! Hat!!"

THE WELLERMAN - okay. actually? pollrunner here. this was submitted to me as "the weatherman from that sea shanty tiktok" and i thought it was funny but. i'm also a big nerd about nautical history and the age of sail so. i feel compelled to use my platform here to inform you that despite their inclusion in this poll, the titular wellermen from the song were not necessarily fishermen. whalers definitely count as fisherman for the purposes of this tournament, but "wellerman" was just slang for "guy who worked for the weller brothers". the weller brothers owned a lot of supply ships and sold provisions to whalers ("soon may the wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum"). they weren't whalers themselves. okay that's the end of my infodump. shoutout to the longest johns, stream between wind and water (the album their recording of wellerman is on)

nobody bully the person who submitted "the weatherman". they shouldn't be made to feel ashamed for not knowing something, especially something that can't really be considered common knowledge.

#fishticuffs #sky children of the light #the longest johns #anxious angler #wellerman

[wanderingbards]

A list of Jay Ferin headcanons, because people on Twitter are mean to her.

Spoilers up to ep 84 //

- Jay recites little poems and shanties under her breath while she works on things on the ship, such as imbuing items with magic.

- Jay has long red hair that she trims regularly because the second it grows Too Long she needs it cut. Thus, it's a bit messy and choppy but she loves it.

- Jay always flusters just a bit if Chip chooses to tease her about Lizzie. She tries to play it cool but the tips of her ears turn red.

- When Jay regained the ability to read she started reading everything she could get her hands on to prove to herself that she can do it, she is literate.

- Jay uses Edison's Tome of Thoughts to record various things. New invention ideas, dumb things Chip and Gillion do or say, etc.

- Jay goes to the crow's nest when she wants peace and quiet. Chip will sometimes join her, and it's a known thing that the second Chip tries to talk she will kick him out.

- Jay has started telling Ollie stories about her and Ava growing up. Ollie gives her a big grin and is always excited to hear more, and honestly it helps Jay settle into a role of big sister knowing that this must be how Ava felt when dealing with her for so long.

- Jay has gotten Gillion to teach her very basics of hand to hand combat just in case she ever needs it, and in exchange Jay has tried teaching him ranged combat. They're both terrible at it.

- Someone once insinuated Jay was romantically involved with Chip and she gagged. Like sir, that's my emotional support little brother.

- Jay still gets nightmares, but now when she's stuck awake she can see Chip and Gillion both alive and breathing, and she thinks about their words to her in the BLOCK, and it helps her calm down and try sleeping again.

- Jay hoped just for a sliver of a second that Apple could be Ava. She always knew, but it didn't stop the slight feeling of being crushed when Apple turned into Finn.

#just roll with it #jrwi riptide #jay ferin #headcanon #chip jrwi #gillion tidestrider #i just think jay deserves some shoutouts #condi is doing an amazing job playing her #spoilers

[f3r4lfr0gg3r]

just right [goldilocks general headcanons] 🐻🍯

(art cred to Zac Retz)

cw; some angst but that's about it :^

author's note; Sorry this took so long! 🙇‍♀️ ty to those who waited

General

From what can be seen in the movie, I definitely perceive Goldi as someone who doesn't have much sense of belonging as an orphan and in a family of literal bears and actively searching for a connection with someone she can highly relate with. She's seemed to yearn for normalcy for years and part of me thinks a small part of her is insecure, comparing her life to the stories of what "just right" or "happily ever after" seems to be.

As the perfectionist I interpret her as, it would be reasonable for her to reach out to these conventional standards for families as the right way to do things– in the process ignoring what she had right in front of her. Despite the amount of conventional social norms in fantasy she breaks just being herself, I assumed she clinged onto the family ideal as a way of coping as an orphaned child.

Dreaming of the perfect family, and this feeling of everything being just right all the time…when in reality families aren't truly like at all. I think that's what she learned in the film's ending. But anyways enough analysis of Goldi and her behaviors– onto the headcanons!

- She refuses to let anyone touch her hair but herself and sometimes Mama Bear due to trust issues.

- Continuing on the topic of hair, with the amount of curls on her head it knots up easily. Every night she has to brush out curls that are tangled together.

- She styles her hair primarily out of convenience because her hair gets too wild when it's down and makes it hard to see or do things (part of me thinks her current hairdo is a product of her having too much hair to put into two buns and improvising)

- Very acrobatic as can be seen in the scene of her climbing on the bears

- Many kids were scared of Goldi when she was younger because she tended to get into fights and played rough (always been a biter)

- Goldi just seems like a picky eater to me, very particular about what she eats

- With her need for things to be "just right", Goldi is a definite perfectionist when it comes to many things as I've mentioned above in my analysis

- She has a habit of not asking for help when it's needed (Probably due to her having to become pretty independent from a young age)

- I believe she already had a bit of a criminal record and was a street urchin before meeting the bears, so I bet she's a pro at pickpocketing by now

- Smells like grass and honey with a hint of bear, which is surprisingly comforting

- Has a habit of correcting people when they speak about her interests (totally not projecting )

- Likes messiness but in an organized way if that makes sense-

- A very stubborn person!!!!

- Goldi loves fantasy stories, has a stash of them in her room (her taste changed a bit as she got older though so while I believe she's still a sucker for fairytales, she also likes a good novel on pirate adventures at the moment)

- When playing games she can be both a sore loser and winner 💀

- Let's be honest, Goldi is competitive...to a really high degree. She can make anything into a competition-

- Concerningly good hearing, the type of person who'll hear you whisper something across the room

- Secretly pretty good at drawing, but Goldi never talks about it because she never thinks her drawings are good enough to her ridiculous standards

- idk why but I feel like she'd really like sea shanties and idk why (pirate obsessed goldi???)

- Really protective of the bears, especially Baby– just those older sister instincts ifykyk

- Why do I feel like she'd just be a big fan of apple flavored stuff-

- I get sapphic vibes from her idc what anyone says! (I'm writing gn reader for her but still >:D)

- Along with that I feel like if Goldi truly found someone she thought of as cool she'd try to play it cool but stumble over her words the second they compliment her (gay panic for the winnn)

- Seems like the type to unknowingly ramble about stuff she's passionate about (those people>>>>>)

- Tries her best to hide vulnerability as she's someone who sorta views vulnerability as weakness when it comes to herself

- From their interactions, it's safe to say Goldi's closest to Mama Bear

- Part of me thinks Goldi tried for years to imitate the bears when she was younger, trying to be one of them so they could be somewhat of a "real family"' (But when it wasn't working out the way she hoped, Goldi just began wishing for a human family– maybe even her biological parents)

- Very well read, and knows alot of fun facts despite keeping it to herself

- She's really good at climbing trees and hunting, looking at where the bears live it's safe to assume they live off the land around them

- Never has her hair down around other people (it's embarrassing in her as bc it's so messy)

- A horrible singer but knows it, and loves to sing because of how much it annoys others around her (finds it funny)

- That walking stick she has, I think it may have been a gift from Papa Bear (he just has the vibe of someone who widdles/carves things idk why)

- Goldi definitely tried archery before (kinda gives me Merida from Brave vibes so...yeah)

- Stronger than she looks, I don't care what you say Goldi has some muscle to her

- Forgets her own strength occasionally and accidentally broke a few things because of it

- I feel like she makes her own clothes, they just seem handmade

- Very random, but Goldi does parkour, urban climbing, or both

- Goldi's favorite color is definitely always changing around, one day it's orange and then another day it's purple– just seems like the type of gal to appreciate vibrant colors

- Definitely has loads of random shiny trinkets she's stolen in a box

- As an older sister, I definitely know that Goldi and the family are the only ones allowed to insult Baby, as that's how they show love- if anyone else did it they're asking for a fight

- She's not touchy in a conventional way, instead opting to playful wrestling and things of the such to show physical affection at first (lowkey a softie for hugs in secret tho)

- Not the best at opening herself up, Goldi always seems to be a bit guarded so it definitely takes her quite a while to warm up to people

- Winter is her least favorite season because that's hibernation time, aka the time where she feels the most alone

- Because despite how much of a front she puts up sometimes, she loves her family with her entire heart and is highly affected by the sudden quietness that fills their home

made by @f3r4lfr0gg3r with the help of @saplingofspunk, go follow her for togachako content! Thanks you bestie for helping me with this <3

Taglist: @zenmieisaa

#goldi #puss in boots goldilocks #goldilocks and the three bears #puss in boots the last wish #headcanons #goldilocks headcanons #🐻🍯 goldi #goldi headcanons

[hannahhook7744]

Isle kid Moodboards revamped part 4;

Blake Bohumil 'Big Murph' Murphy, the 23 year old son of Black Murphy and Ludmilla.

He is a member of the Anti-heroes Club and Harriet's crew.

He is very close to his mom but not very close to his dad who isn't a big fan of children.

He lost his eye while play fighting the Gaston twins when he was younger and has a glass eye that he likes to take out to mess with people.

He is very close to Marya Rasputin since her dad and his mom were allies behind the scenes, and he often translates for her and others when a language barrier pops up (which happens a lot since Russian isn't a very common language on the isle)

He likes cutting hair, playing cards, eating cake, fishing, learning languages, taking care of the little ones, reading, swimming with the sharks, building sandcastles, wrestling, play fighting, singing sea shanties, and learning about geographical differences and locations.

He also likes collecting hooks of any kind.

He is single.

Hayden 'Hadie' Prometheus Olympian, thr 10 year old (as of d3) son of Hades. Younger brother of Mal.

He is a member of the Anti-heroes club and a wannabe detective, musician, hero, and cook who is always imitating those he looks up to. Friend of Chloe Charming, Red Hearts, Danny Darling, Maddox Hatter, Shan Deja, Edith Olympian, and his minons.

He is playful and loves coloring, cooking, playing various instruments, baking, sword fighting, parkour, gymnastics, acrobatics, and playing with animals.

He has a villian streak no one takes seriously later in his teens and has a pet dog named 'Cerberus.'

He later gets together with Danny Darling.

Lefou Deux 'Lee' Leprince, the 20 year old son of LeFou, Paulette, and Stanley Beaumont (dude from the live action movie). He's the older brother of La Foux Doux Beaumont, the younger cousin of the Gaston twins, and the older cousin of Claire Bimbette, Gil LeGume, and Gemma LeGume.

He is apart of Harriet's crew.

He's a hardworking big brother who does his best to help support his family while still being stuck under Gaston's thumb.

He works at Gaston's 'Duels Without Rules—against his will, mind you, because Gaston forces him too after all. But he doesn't complain too much about it.

He gets to steal from the register though, so it's not too bad.

He fights with various gardening tools and a bow and arrow—he's an excellent shot. He's a poet, a toy maker, and an inventor who records everything in his journal.

He loves French food, sailing, farming, reading, and gardening—even though it's difficult to do anything like that on the isle.

He also loves old photos and dancing.

Lee often makes and fixes toys for the children on the isle, and has no problem fixing things for those he loves. He's also the secret Santa Claus of the isle.

He's been in love with Claudine Frollo since first grade and they get together not long after d3.

La Foux Doux Leprince, the 12 year old (as of d3) son of LeFou, Paulette, and Stanley Beaumont (dude from the live action movie). Younger brother of LeFou Deux, the older cousin of Gemma LeGume, and the younger cousin of the Gaston twins, Claire Bimbette, and Gil LeGume. Older brother of Sylvie Leprince.

He works at Gaston's 'Duels Without Rules'— again, without choice mind you. Gaston forces him too. He is a painfully shy, playful, quiet boy who loves French food, playing games, reading, and climbing things.

He is single and not interested at dating at the moment.

Crazy Bonny, the 18 and a half year old(by d3) daughter of Bill Jukes (in my universe).

Sword sharpener and medic of the Lost Revenge/Uma’s crew.

Bestfriend of Desiree.

Student at Serpent Prep and one of the first to join Uma’s pirate crew.

She is described as crazy in patched dungarees and a torn fishnet shirt.

Vicious Desiree, the 17 year old daughter of a witch and Shan Yu (in my universe anyway).

She is the swabbie of the crew, meaning she is the one in charge of mopping the deck.

She is described as tiny and vicious in a a ragged peasant dress.

She is Bonny's bestfriend and one of the first to join Uma’s crew, and she's a member at the witch school.

Firece Gonzo, the 19 year old son of an unknown woman and Joshamee Gibs (in my universe anyway).

He is Jonas' bestfriend and is the boatswain of the crew.

He is also responsible for stocking the pantry and refilling the chum buckets.

He and Jonas are the ones in charge of the food (they don't cook it tho) and supplies, among other things.

He is described to be firece and as having long braids, a red bandana, and blue pantaloons.

He, along with Gil, Harry, Jonas, Desiree, and Bonny, is one of the first to join Uma’s crew and student—or former student—at Serpent Prep.

Ferocious Jonas, the 20 year old son of Morgana Olympian and older cousin of Uma (in my universe).

He is the Quartermaster of Uma’s crew, the fourth in command, and the gunner (the one who mans the canons).

He's described to have a scar on his left cheek, corn rows, and a scarf. Has a thing with Jade in my universe. Has been seen selling scarves before which is probably a side job of his.

He's been described as ferocious. Student/former student at Serpent Prep and one of the first people to join Uma’s crew.

#descendants #disney descendants #melissa de la cruz #disney descendants moodboards #descendants moodboards #disney descendants au #descendants au #big murph #hadie son of hades #disney #la foux doux #lefou+deux #lefou deux #desiree descendants #descendants desiree #gonzo descendants #descendants gonzo #descendants jonas #jonas descendants #descendants bonny #bonny descendants

[jules-has-notes]

2017 Napa Valley A Cappella Extravaganza — VoicePlay live performances

VoicePlay on stage in Napa — photo by Haley Olson

Three years after their previous appearance, VoicePlay returned to northern California as the professional headliners for the annual high school and collegiate vocal festival in Yountville.

.

J.None was excited to hit the road with the guys after performing with them at Disney World for the previous two months.

.

When you're singing for other a cappella singers, it's hard to go wrong with a little musical theater. VoicePlay has plenty of Broadway material in their repertoire, and this was the most recent addition at the time.

Details:

title: Seasons of Love

original performers: cast of Rent (1996)

written by: Jonathan Larson

arranged by: VoicePlay & AJ Rafael

performance date: 28 January 2017

My favorite bits:

J.None's smooth timbre on the opening lines

the way they seamlessly pass the lead vocals around (But why doesn't Layne get a turn? 😞)

that momentary silence before they start the first chorus

when the rhythm section really kicks in 🥁🎸

Earl's crystal clear high tone on the second verse

that jazzy harmonized riff from Eli, J, and Earl

the layers of sound in the final chorus

such a lovely ending chord

Trivia:

As Geoff mentions in the intro, the guys had recorded this song as a collaboration with AJ Rafael in October, and the video premiered on his YouTube channel a couple weeks before this performance.

.

VoicePlay refuse to be confined to any one genre of music. They've tackled everything from barbershop to hard rock, country to sea shanties, pop ballads to orchestral pieces. So why not revisit the rap hits of their youth?

Details:

title: Aca Top 10 – Old School Rap

original songs / performers: "La-Di-Da-Di" by Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh; [0:16] "Going Back to Cali" by LL Cool J; [0:32] "Push It" by Salt-n-Pepa; [0:56] "Parents Just Don’t Understand" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince; [1:09] "Bust A Move" by Young MC; [1:32] "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC; [1:49] "Just A Friend" by Biz Markie; [2:12] "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice; [2:21] "The Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground; [2:44] "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang; [3:10] "Walk This Way" by Run-DMC & Aerosmith

written by: "La-Di-Da-Di" by Douglas "Doug E. Fresh" Davis & Richard "Slick Rick" Walters; "Going Back to Cali" by Rick Rubin & James "LL Cool J" Smith; "Push It" by Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor & Ray Davies; "Parents Just Don’t Understand" by Pete Harris, Will "Fresh Prince" Smith, Jeffrey "DJ Jazzy Jeff" Townes; "Bust A Move" by Marvin "Young MC" Young, Matt Dike, & Michael Ross; "It's Tricky" by Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Doug Fieger, & Berton Averre; "Just A Friend" by Marcel "Biz Markie" Hall; "Ice Ice Baby" by Robert "Vanilla Ice" Van Winkle, Mario Johnson, Queen, & David Bowie; "The Humpty Dance" by Earl Humphrey, Gregory "Shock G" Jacobs, & George Clinton; "Rapper's Delight" by Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Sylvia Robinson, Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson, Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright, Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien, Curtis "Grandmaster Caz" Brown, & William Hankshaw; "Walk This Way" by Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Steven Tyler, & Joe Perry

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 28 January 2017

My favorite bits:

Layne kicking things off with some old school beatboxing

Earl recreating the breathy part in "Push It"

Eli handling the scratching in the back during "Parents"

the middle three busting some lowkey moves as the lyrics instruct them to do

everybody bouncing to the beat during "Tricky"

Geoff continuing the "Ice Ice Baby" bass line under "The Humpty Dance" after the other guys leave him hanging

Eli showing off some slides in "Rapper's Delight"

J's little wave in response to the "hello" in the lyrics

the record skip effect at the end of "Walk This Way"

Trivia:

The guys originally recorded this countdown live in the studio, where they could do as many takes as they wanted. It's even more impressive seeing them perform it in front of an audience.

.

This video is missing the very beginning because the fan who recorded it got over-excited about them actually performing the song live. But how could they possibly resist singing the theme to one of the most beloved TV shows set in San Francisco when they were just north the city itself?

Details:

title: Everywhere You Look

original performers: Carly Rae Jepsen & Butch Walker for Fuller House (2016)

written by: Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay, & Jeff Franklin for Full House (1987)

arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 28 January 2017

My favorite bits:

the bouncy descending bass line leading into the chorus

Eli and J grooving along to their own harmonies

Earl's scooping crescendo as a transition into the second verse

the call and response of ♫ "never go away" ♫ "like the Olsen twins" ♫ 👭

that quick crisp diction of the ♫ "how do you know… " ♫ section

hearing a few audience members shout "Hey!" in time with the guys

that big coordinated descending riff at the end

Trivia:

This song was the second entry in VoicePlay's PartWork series, performed entirely by multiple versions of Earl and Layne.

.

Additional photos

.

Before they flew out of San Francisco the next day, J.None took a side trip to meet up with a friend, see a bit of the city, and get some fresh air.

#VoicePlay #live performance #a cappella #music #video #traveling musicians #behind the scenes #long post

[innytoes]

Headcanons for a Rulie or Peterpatterlina (or both??) Time Traveler AU?

-Luke and Reggie are Time Traveling Pirates, basically. Except they don't really steal valuables or stuff, but Music Vibes. Basically the Time Travel Cops leave them alone because they're good at blending in and the worst they do is crash concerts. (Which they pay for. With money. That they may or may not make illegally but it's such small potatoes that it's like whatever.)

-Luke comes from the year 2401. He ran away from home and into the damn timestream. He slummed around the 1990s a lot, then popped back to the 1950s, where he picked up Reggie.

-Reggie who dresses like a greaser but reads paperback sci-fi novels in secret. Who keeps messing up his dates because he actually wants to listen to the speech at the planetarium instead of making out when the lights go down. Who soups up his friend Bobby's car for drag races because he likes Science Stuff and figures out ways to make it go faster.

Reggie who makes the most beautiful soulful music Luke has ever heard.

-Of course when Luke tells Reggie about time travel, he is both excited and worried Luke is some jock's friend trying to prank him.

-So Luke takes him to the few years flying cars were functional but not yet regulated to death. And then, per his request, to see some dinosaurs. And to watch the moon landing on TV. And the Mars Landing. And anywhere else he wants to go. And they make out in a few planetariums along the way, but only after sneaking in after hours and listening to the whole pre-recorded speech first.

-They find Julie in medieval times. There was a big Lute Revival during the plague of 2114 (kind of like our pandemic Sea Shanties), so Luke wanted to hear some of the real thing.

-Julie who wishes she could be a musician, but she's supposed to be a Lady, a Wife, a Mother. Julie who misses her mother so much and wants to run away from everything. Who is resisting meeting all the fancy Dukes and Marquis and whatever her aunt keeps trying to set her up with before she's considered an Old Maid.

-Reggie accidentally nearly gets run over by Carlos during his riding lessons and him and Ray take him back to the castle to fix him up. Luke has to freaking sneak into the castle to find him and accidentally stumbles upon Julie singing and playing instead, and he kind of... gets sidetracked.

Look Reggie will understand. That girl has the voice of an angel.

-Meanwhile Ray is tending to Reggie and worried the poor lad hit his head because what he's saying doesn't make sense. (Reggie wishes he'd read more historical novels before they went here because he keeps fucking up, and it's hard to lie to Ray who is so nice and fatherly and gentle with him that he wants to Cry.)

-In the end, Reggie comes clean and Luke and Julie fall in love and then there's this awkward moment where Julie tries to tell her dad about Luke and Ray tries to tell the kids about Reggie and it ends with Luke and Reggie staying for a few months and falling in love with Julie.

-And Ray realises his daughter has a chance to be truly happy with them. The places Reggie and Luke speak of, the times where women can do what they want, be what they want... it's not hard to let her go. But they have to promise to visit once a year.

-Just Luke and Reggie and Julie traveling through time and exploring music of all time periods and getting weirdly invested in silly music trends (Luke regrets introducing them both to Disco) and having fun.

-Maybe they pick up and Alex (college student from 2222) and Willie (17th century pirate) along the way.

-It was a mistake to introduce Willie to hoverboards. (Or WAS IT?)

#julie and the phantoms #juliexlukexreggie #not!fic #I wrote a thing #reggie peters #luke patterson #julie molina #yes they met Willie while trying to learn the perfect sea shanties #yes they come back every few months and tell Ray and Carlos stories and sing them songs #Carlos really likes rap. Ray really does not understand dubstep #julie is like: it's okay the people around during the dubstep times also often do not undestand dubstep #alex the music history student who is along for his thesis in the beginning but then falls in love with Willie #alex always has the best/weirdest ideas of where to go #willie comes along not so much for the music but for the food and chaos

[fantasiawandering]

I am now wrestling with the urge to attempt to record The Skizzleman Shanty because my voice was always a "sounds better in a big choir" voice and LC hasn't done it any favours, but I keep having video ideas....

[cu-riogach]

"Folk music" is, in my experience an unhelpfully vague term. I could say to someone "I like folk music", to which said individual might reply "Me too!", but that person would probably being thinking of Sinead O'Connor, or The Longest Johns, or some random quirky Ren-Fair band, whereas I meant field-recordings of old Hebridean women singing waulking songs. This is not too big an issue with Irish folk-music, since the qualifier sean-nós helpfully distinguishes the authentic tradition of Seosamh Ó hÉanaí and Margaret Dirrane from whatever ditritus Sinead O'Connor or Colm MacGuiness produce. Alas, no so clear lexical distinction--to my knowledge--exists for the English tradition, especially not when it comes to sea-shanties. I am not especially fond of sea-shanties generally, but I am further soured to them by the degree to which authentic singers such as A.L. Loyd and Louis Killen are eclipsed by The Long Johns and the sound track for the Assassin's Creed game about pirates. While to some degree I suppose this is a case of me waving my proverbial cane at the youngins, I do think it an issue worth considering how almost meaninglessly broad of a term "folk music" is, even with specified as "English" or "Irish" or "Appalachian". In younger genres such as Rock, there are dozens of named subgenres with distinct styles and dedicated audiences who can distinguish themselves from the audiences of other subgenres with ease. Twould be nice to have such lexical specificity for folk music.

#folk music #oro se do bheatha bhaile is the most overrated song ever #literally every other Gaelic-language song is better

[newmusickarl]

Top 50 Albums of 2023: #30-21

30. Everything Is Alive by Slowdive

I’ll be the first to admit that despite the heavy praise from the amazing Music Twitter community (I’m not calling it X, sorry Elon), before this year I had never completely bought into the Slowdive hype. Although I enjoy their 2017 self-titled comeback record, I had never taken to the shoegaze legends in the same way that I know a lot of my fellow music fans do. But I’m pleased to say with Everything Is Alive, I’ve been well and truly won over.

Their first album in six years, singles like kisses, skin in the game and the slab spiral into fascinating sonic territory and make you want to stay locked there forever. It was an album that completely blew me away on first listen, offering a completely immersive audio experience. One of those records where you just want to stick your headphones on and get lost in all these interesting textures being strung together.

Outside of the singles, shanty and chained to a cloud deliver mesmerising synths, big walls of guitars and the ghostly vocals of Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead. Alife (or Alfie as I’ve been frequently calling it!) is another standout, whilst Andalucia Plays is just hauntingly melancholic. So not just one of the year’s best records, but a record that proves why I continue to trust Music Twitter’s recommendations - they never seem to steer me wrong.

Best tracks: alife, kisses, the slab

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29. This Is Why by Paramore

When immensely popular American rockers Paramore announced Bloc Party were the primary influence for their sixth studio album, This Is Why, my interest was naturally piqued. Where Silent Alarm offered a vital soundtrack for the post-9/11 youth back in the mid-00s, Paramore have now done the same for an apathetic generation of kids dealing with COVID lockdowns and ever-growing social and political divide. And whilst it isn’t quite Silent Alarm, this is unquestionably a brilliant indie rock record.

Firstly, the opening title track remains one of my favourite tracks of the last twelve months. With all the catchy, stuttering chords of prime Foals, along with some ever-impressive vocal acrobatics from enigmatic frontwoman Hayley Williams, the mid-song breakdown that ends with Williams’ cries of “I’m floating like a cannonball” is so gloriously cathartic, you can’t help but get won over. Big Man, Little Dignity is another strong favourite, which sees the trio take shots at powerful men not held to account for their deplorable actions (“smooth operator in a shit-stained suit”). Liar, arguably the album’s most subdued moment, is similarly awe-inspiring too thanks to some twinkly guitars and Williams’ graceful falsetto vocals. 

At a concise 36 minutes there’s not a second spared, as the band channel their message through the sounds from indie rock’s past, breathing fresh new life into the scene and helping it to resonate with a newer, younger mainstream audience. So, if you are sat there wondering why Paramore are one of the biggest rock bands in the world right now – This Is Why.

Best tracks: This Is Why, Liar, Big Man Little Dignity

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28. Blondshell by Blondshell

An incredible self-titled debut that has lit me up in the last year is this amazing record from LA-based rockstar-in-the-making, Sabrina Teitelbaum – AKA Blondshell. Hugely accomplished for her first outing, it’s a sharp 32-minute listen packed with big choruses and some truly epic guitar work. Here’s what 5-9 editor Andrew Belt had to say in his brilliant review earlier this year which sums it perfectly:

“The nine tracks on her debut album capture uncomplicated rock tracks which could have been recorded live. Uncomplicated does not mean not compelling, however. Fusing influences from the likes of Nirvana, The Cranberries and Anna Burch, Teitelbaum wears her heart on her sleeve as she chronicles a difficult couple of years which spawned Blondshell. The self-titled record bursts to life with ‘Veronica Mars’ – a two-minute, verse/chorus/guitar solo blast with the TV show referred to in the title causing Teitelbaum to reflect on its impact on her when watching at an early age. Singing ‘Logan’s a dick, I’m learning that’s hot’, Teitelbaum laments the mixed messaging the show could provide to young minds, with the rock track melting away at the end via a red-hot unhinged, high-pitched guitar solo. The sound throughout is cohesive with Yves Tumor-producer, Yves Rothman, teasing out something quite impressive from Teitelbaum as Blondshell. Confessional, edgy, compelling, Blondshell is an accomplished offering belying its debut album status.”

Best tracks: Salad, Sepsis, Dangerous

Read Andrew Belt’s full review on 5-9 here

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27. Dream Big by Soda Blonde

Back in 2021, Irish indie-pop outfit Soda Blonde emerged out of the ashes of the excellent Little Green Cars, with the four remaining members of that band releasing their debut album under the new Soda Blonde guise. That Soda Blonde debut, titled Small Talk, would finish in my Top 30 Albums of 2021 and even receive a nomination for the Irish Choice Prize (the Irish equivalent of the Mercury Prize). Now with this sophomore outing, they have made the Top 30 again.

Full of confidence, Soda Blonde are sounding more assured in their new skin, with Dream Big presenting a stunning collection of songs full of breathtaking musical variety and killer hooks. The opening run of Midnight Show, Bad Machine, Boys and the title track is particularly mesmerising, as the band guide you through glorious arrangements full of strings, rhythmic guitars and clusters of memorable moments. In the back half, My First Name sees frontwoman Faye O’Rourke’s majestic vocals stand out amongst a magnificent collage of strings, bluesy guitars and stomping drums for one of the record’s biggest highlights. 

This is a phenomenal record from start to finish and if you haven’t heard of Soda Blonde before, now is the time to get yourself acquainted.

Best tracks: My First Name, Boys, Going Out

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26. When Will We Land? By Barry Can’t Swim

If you’ve listened to the October episode of the 5-9 Album of the Month podcast, you know this debut from rising electronic superstar Barry Can’t Swim was one of my standout records in what was a month full of incredible new music. Taking elements from all my favourite electronic releases of recent years, Barry crafts a vibrant collage that binds together cohesively for an essential and astonishing listening experience. Describing this album better than I ever could, here is what friend of the blog Kiley Larsen had to say in his review for Check This Out:

“When Will We Land? is everything you want from an electronic album and more. It may pull from all of Barry Can’t Swim’s influences and serve them in eleven distinct ways, but Mannie’s vision is clear and never wanders from the bigger picture. While the record should be taken in as a whole when possible, each song is so distinct and fully executed that each is tailor-made for playlists (or mixtapes, if you’re keeping them alive). ….When Will We Land? finds Barry Can’t Swim doing what he’s done best over the past few years by harnessing the energy of that big night out while colouring it with organic instrumentation and a much-needed reminder of the universality of the human experience. For music writers, the year is full of anticipated albums. Sometimes, they match the internal hype, while often, they fall short. When Will We Land? was unquestionably at the top of my list, defying expectations and more. Barry Can’t Swim proved a true talent with his EPs, but this debut album is a colossal next step. Even if you’re not typically into electronic music, this is still worth diving into, as there are few albums this year that successfully convey a complete vision with what should be universal appeal.”

Best tracks: Sunsleeper, Woman, I Won’t Let You Down

Read Kiley’s full review on Check This Out here

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25. Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd by Lana Del Rey

A woman who needs no introduction at this point, one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the year was Lana Del Rey’s eighth studio album released back in March – Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (which we can all agree is a peak Lana type of album title).

Having delivered her undisputed magnum opus Norman Fucking Rockwell (NFR) back in 2019, Miss Lizzy Grant has not rested on her laurels since, quickly following up with two more albums in 2021 – Chemtrails Over The Country Club and Blue Banisters. Whilst both records had their moments, the former more so, neither quite came close enough to the theatre, majesty and sheer perfection of NFR. However now back with her fourth album in as many years, Lana once again hit some career best highs.

Opener The Grants welcomes the listener with some gorgeous gospel vocal harmonies, before Lana herself takes over with her inimitable vocals, exquisitely sharing memories of her family. The title track is then even better and already one of my favourite Lana tracks, with its stirring strings, anguished vocals and heartbreaking lyrics of self-loathing (“Open me up, tell me you like me, Fuck me to death, love me until I love myself”). As Lana is joined by a choir for the swelling “Don’t Forget Me” refrain in the song’s outro, you’d have to be cold hearted to not be greatly moved.

An album that is definitely in the top half of her discography, and the first half of this record in particular is as good as anything she has ever done. I also admire the work ethic and frequency at which Lana is delivering new music and I’m not going to complain too much about having a mountain of music from her over the last few years. The fact she’s been so productive and still served up some of the very best work of her career, really it can only be admired.

Best tracks: Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, A&W, The Grants

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24. Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

Another of the year’s biggest releases came in early October - the tenth studio album from highly acclaimed singer-songwriter, Sufjan Stevens. In the days following its release, Sufjan dedicated Javelin to his “beloved partner and best friend Evans Richardson” who sadly died in April of this year. With that added context, it made an album that already felt emotionally shattering hit that much harder.

From the moment the cymbals crash and the synths reverberate around Sufjan’s cries of “You know I love you” on opener Goodbye Evergreen, you know you are in for something quite special yet also heartbreaking. Over the next run of tracks Sufjan continues to astound with his unceremonious yet majestic songcraft, as the uplifting instrumentation twinkles around Sufjan’s devastating penmanship on tracks like A Running Start, Genuflecting Ghost and Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

However as great as the first half is, it is the back stretch that left my jaw firmly on the floor. My Red Little Fox is a heartfelt, flute-laden hymnal whilst lead single So You Are Tired is a brutally beautiful, piano-led, string-drenched lament. Shit Talk is then without a doubt one of the songs of the year, a near 9-minute masterpiece centred around a strikingly simple assembly of raw acoustic instrumentation, resonant human emotions, gorgeous choral harmonies and refrains of “I will always love you…I don’t wanna fight at all.” Utterly breathtaking in every single way.

Best tracks: Shit Talk, So You Are Tired, Will Anybody Ever Love Me?

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23. Struggler by Genesis Owusu

When it comes to an album, two things I tend to look for more than any other - an eclectic mix of sounds and a strong thematic concept to hold it all together. Very few artists achieve both elements these days, but when you do find an album like that, it’s like finding the musical equivalent of the holy grail. Enter Struggler from Ghanian-Australian artist Genesis Owusu, which made history back in August by becoming the first album to gain the coveted maximum 15 points on the 5-9 Album of the Month podcast.

Struggler is an album that takes you on a journey, both through the lyrics and sonically too. At the heart of it, you’ve got a narrative arc that tells the story of “The Roach vs The Old Man”, a conflict which acts as a metaphor for humanity vs uncontrollable higher powers, both natural and political. Then musically, this record has a little bit of everything - punk rock, hip-hop, funk, soul, all wonderfully blended together to forge a vibrant mesh of sounds.

In terms of favourite tracks, Leaving The Light and The Roach are both propelled by these great synth lines that bounce off thrashes of guitars. Tied Up is then possibly one of the catchiest songs of the year, a track which sucks you into its groove and refuses to let you leave. Stuck To The Fan closes the record perfectly too, offering a really sombre, bluesy send off.

More carefully curated and refined than his debut outing, Genesis Owusu proved himself to be a very special talent to me in 2023, delivering a record that works as a collective whole but doesn’t stay in a single lane either.

Best tracks: The Roach, Tied Up, Stuck To The Fan

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22. ROACH by Miya Folick

It seems there was something with Roaches in 2023 as we had another incredible album artistically indebted to those pesky insects. This year, American singer-songwriter Miya Folick made the difficult second album look easy with this hugely impressive record, titled ROACH.

Essentially an extension of her previously released 2007 EP, ROACH further builds out the narrative with a deeper dive into her relationship with God, her mother and her own self-esteem. Featuring some of the best songs of her young career, highlights include the hedonistic indie-pop of Bad Thing, brutal break-up anthem Get Out of My House and the tussle with adulthood on the falsetto-kissed 2007.

That said, make sure you stick around for the second half of the album as that’s where Miya Folick’s exceptional songwriting really starts to shine for me. Tetherball is a real stop-you-in-your-tracks moment, with some wonderful ambient electronics backing Folick’s soft vocals to create a gorgeous sound reminiscent of Natasha Khan of Bats For Lashes. These synths then shift into the uplifting pop of So Clear, before Shortstop offers an utterly stunning piano-led finale that you’ll just want to hear again and again.

A fantastic second album that has been on repeat ever since it dropped in the first half of the year.

Best tracks: Tetherball, Shortstop, Get Out Of My House

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21. PRAYERS & PARANOIA by SIPHO

Just missing out on the Top 20 then, we arrive at an outstanding debut album that I may have missed altogether if it wasn’t for friend of the blog, Andrew Belt. The 5-9 Album of the Month podcast has been my musical highlight of 2023, introducing me to a ton of great new music this year. So I just want to take a moment to give kudos to both Andrew and Kiley for steering me in the right direction over the last 12 months with their fantastic taste in music – cheers lads!

Now Birmingham-based R&B star SIPHO was Andrew’s pick for the podcast back in October and it turned out to be a mightily ambitious first outing that stormed to victory in our most tightly contested Album of the Month battle yet.

With each track anchored by his incredibly powerful vocals, SIPHO remains the star of the show amdist a gorgeous sonic world built on funk, soul, R&B and even a bit of rock on tracks like GLUE. Much like the Genesis record, it is an album that takes an eclectic listening experience and majestically morphs it into a cohesive single piece of work. Listening front-to-back, every song segues seamlessly into the next one, with the track list so intricately stitched together its quite astounding. For SIPHO to craft a record as accomplished as this at the first time of asking is even more remarkable.

The songs have a timelessness quality too, Elevation pulls you in straight away whilst Chemicals boasts spacey synths, bluesy guitars and SIPHO’s incredible falsetto. However it’s all about the final stretch of songs starting with Run For Your Life, which sees just SIPHO and Shae Universe’s voices take centre stage over a minimal piano backing for a track that is just hauntingly beautiful and goosebump-inducing.

An album that I went in to with no real expectations, there was few records that managed to blow me away in 2023 quite like Prayers & Paranoia.

Best tracks: Run For Your Life, Glue, Prayers

Listen here

This weekend, we enter the final Top 20 of the countdown!

#new music #best new music #albums of the year #album recommendation #album of the year #best of the year #aoty #best of 2023 #aoty 2023 #albums of 2023 #best new music 2023 #sipho #miya folick #slowdive #blondshell #lana del rey #genesis owusu #sufjan stevens #barry can't swim #soda blonde #paramore

[spockandawe]

@curlicuecal tagged me into the post meme about ten songs! I'll go ahead and post ten songs by ten artists that I've been particularly fixated on lately, it's all personal bias all the way down, babey

Colm McGuinness: Sleeping In The Cold Below - Let's start off with a representative sample, my head is filled with folk and filk and irish and shanties, just check out this artist for a clear breakdown of my tastes, because I could fill out the whole list with just this man's work. Musically speaking, if I could grow up to be anyone, it would be HIM. I yearn so hard for his instrument collection and vocal range, even if I'm operating in different octaves.

Malinda: Dúlamán - Feels slightly like cheating, because I'm fairly sure I found her through Colm McGuinness (the Hoist The Colors collab), but god, her voice is DIVINE, and she's got a fantastic balance of trad covers and newer music. Songs in gaelic can be tricky to rec, even if I'm about to do it again, but some of them just have so much bewitching LIFE that I can't resist.

Celtic Woman: Téir Abhaile Riú - I have to tell you, it was both disorienting and delightful when this started getting used as a sound in tiktoks. The short excerpt is good, but the whole song is so much fun! I know it's kind of redundant to talk up Irish songs as being catchy as hell, but this is really such a good one.

The Longest Johns: On The Railroad - Speaking of catchy... I'm a basic binch, give me a train song that sounds like a train, and I'm all over that to an embarrassing degree. Skimbleshanks isn't going to be on here, but only because it'd be cheating, I wasn't thinking about it until I started thinking about why I like this. And you get a train song that's ALSO a work song? Hell yes, gimme

Great Big Sea: Process Man - I agonized over what Great Big Sea song to include (old black rum? donkey riding? excursion around the bay?) but this is truly such a classic, it's so catchy and memorable. And it's great if you're feeling like an exploited #resource at your day job!

The High Kings: McAlpine's Fusiliers - Speaking of being an exploited, expendable resource, ONE LAST IRISH SONG. But I can't leave this out! The High Kings are so good, but McAlpine's Fusiliers is the CATCHIEST melody line by any artist. I am typing slowly because I have no choice to sing along since I opened the video to get the url, send help

Hozier: The Humours Of Whiskey - You know I really intended to have other flavors of music on here too, but. Again, the song is too catchy for me to resist. This is only a partial cover of the full song, because he's just doing it offhand. But his voice is so perfect and the delivery so flawless, I live for this 52 second clip, haha

Delta Rae: Bottom Of The River - Technically I am showing a little more range than previous entries have done, but uh, I know that's only barely/technically true. But there's so much good stuff in this weird corner! And my mainest criteria for how much I like music is how fun it is to sing along, and this is seriously peak singalong content.

The Merry Wives Of Windsor: Siuil A Run: Oh no, another gaelic title. But it's also partly in english, and this is another song I'll listen to by anyone who covers it, and another group where I'll listen to any music they produce! I recommend their entire back catalog, very strongly. Fair warning they have a notable bawdy portion of their catalog, but I'm being good and not linking something like 'come roll me away,' or 'the cockerel song,' so you can listen without fear. But they are SUCH a fun group, I love them to bits.

Mary Black: Colcannon - Ah, screw it, I have a brand. Let's wrap it up with a song that's literally about potatoes! Also an impossibly catchy melody. This song has been stuck in my head since it absolutely Ruined me with homesickness back in grad school. And you know what, I'm also linking this bonus version with worse audio, but it's a 1986 recording of the black family on tv. There's just something about watching irish singing that makes me LIVE.

--

oh no, tagging people. I'm chickening out, sorry. If you want to do it and point your finger at me, go for it! but it's been a long week and I contracted a bad case of the Shy it looks like

#ten songs meme #music

[meadow-dusk]

Albums I Loved in 2023

May: High Flyin' (2023)

I remember seeing this photo a long time ago: Neil Young playing in front of an amp labeled with a big sticker that read "DUCKS RULE." I thought it was some joke at the time, but I looked into it and learned about them, and it added to the great mercurial mystery that Neil was becoming. After a year of being a fan, I conceded I still had so much to learn about him. So, along with thousands of others, I waited to have a chance to hear anything more than a snippet of the mythic Ducks. There wasn't much circulating: their seven-week tenure in the 1977 Santa Cruz bar scene fizzled out as quickly as it started.

But oh…how blessed we were to get High Flyin': a triple disc bootleg that puts you right there in the middle of the action. In ways, it was everything I expected and in others, everything I didn't expect: country harmonies, folk melodies, loving odes to cars and sea shanties set to rock’n’roll. The ridiculously fun surf rock instrumental “Hey Now” (clearly a Neil Young brainchild) is equally entertaining and adorable. More than anything, it's a good time and good music. There’s no better indication of everyone enjoying themselves than the audience quacking sometimes in lieu of applause (and the band occasionally returning the gesture).

It should surprise no one that I'm coming at this from my usual angle: yes, there are other musicians in this group, and they’re very good (Jeff Blackburn, Johnny Craviotto, and Bob Mosley), but I'm really not here for them, no matter how much they're featured. I was so excited for this release that I placed myself into the detailed fantasy where I could be a witness to their performance, even knowing Neil had more of a backseat role, and loving his versatility to be able to slot into secondary instead of taking the spotlight. But his presence is palpable anyway, the tone of his guitar a deliciously continuous flow through the right side channel (his driving direction perhaps clearest on the slick, heavy “Windward Passage”). Another fan described The Ducks as what Buffalo Springfield would sound like as a 70's bar band, and their rendition of "Mr. Soul" (possibly my favorite ever now!!!) supports that. But they do so much more. They sound like summer. They feel like a welcome sign of parting clouds.

Neil, as usual, brings a rough edge that makes the music feel complete in a way that I’ve come to expect. The same way that, when I was a child, I needed to have the color green in any landscape (or anything really) to be satisfied. It wasn’t a want, or a preference, but a need. One that, in the situation at hand, goes beyond a musical expectation. I recognize that this is likely not a permanent state of being, because nothing ever is. But I have kindled the lights of love, appreciation, and gratitude for Neil for nearly three years now, and this record adds weight to the ever-growing list of reasons why those flames still burn hot. I feel immensely grateful to have insight into this dimension of his artistry and continue to understand him as someone that can be a team player as well as a leader. The inspiration extends beyond technical to a personal realm I’ve never felt with any artist before, and sometimes I forget how truly special that is. It’s good to have reminders like this. Leave it to me to spin this Ducks album reaction into yet another declaration of my love for Neil 😂 but I hear the crowds on this bootleg that light up as soon as he sings…and I know I’m not the only one.

#Albums I Loved in 2023 #Neil Young #The Ducks #High Flyin'

[astriiformes]

for spotify wrapped - 7, 27, and 82!

7 - Shit's Gonna Be Okay / I Fight Dragons

A song I have been jamming to since high school (almost a decade now!) and was delighted finally made it to Spotify last year. I'm not surprised it crept into my Top 10 this year because it's an all-time favorite that I have a tendency to blast when it feels a bit like my life is falling apart. It has not been a great year for me, but hey, at least there's songs that feel like old friends.

27 - Hard Times Come Again No More / The Longest Johns

Hm... there may be be a theme happening here.

Anyways I know most folks love The Longest Johns (rightfully) for their shanties and other sea songs, but I quite like some of the other folk music they've released recordings of recently, which is how this one made the list.

82 - Rise / Flobots

Flobots my beloved -- by which I specifically mean Mackenzie Gault and all other rock violists out there my beloved.

I listened to Flobots a lot more in high school, but some of their songs have snuck back into my regular rotation in 2022 as a result of me throwing together a Raine Whispers playlist, since "alternative/hip-hip protest music group with one of the only prominent solo violists in rock" was such an unbelievably perfect fit. I'm a big fan of the viola on this track in particular.

#music tag #ask meme