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stardustmorozov · 2 years

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Drunk On Rose Water

Read here on AO3 Pairing: Cult Leader!Billy x AFAB!Reader

Summary: You are called to Billy's quarters for a reason he will not reveal to you on paper...

Warnings: (The dove is dead y'all) Smut, Dark!Billy, Scarred!Billy, Billy has a god complex, oral (f receiving), unprotected sex, cockwarming, Heavy power imbalance, use of a blindfold, dub con/non con, the word mother is used in relation to reader, implied forced pregnancy,

Wordcount: 3271

A/N: this is based on one of this moodboard by the amazing @marvelmusing whom has seemed to have made it her mission to torment me with every chance she gets... A/N: The deity depicted here is one I came up with myself so if they have any similarities or overlap with gods that are currently worshipped, these are purely coincidental A/N: Baby's first dark fic! I cannot tell y'all how nervous I am for this one but I hope y'all like it! A/N: This took me nearly four months to write but hot damn am I glad it is done.

The camp was dark around you as branches and dead leaves broke and cracked under your shoes, the cold biting at the exposed skin of your face and neck as you made your way to the largest residence in the camp. You still didn't understand why he wanted to see you this late, the words on note you'd gotten earlier that day still no clearer to you.

You'd burned the piece of paper as soon as the message had been solidly lodged into your mind, as was custom in the community you had been part of for a little over two years now and you knew better than to question his motives, knowing that the few who had had been severely punished for it. Though no one had exactly told you how. Some had said they'd been misfigured, forced to become part of the masked guard that always surveiled the perimiter of your home. Others had said they'd been murdered, or simply cast out and forbidden to ever return.

You shuddered at the thought of ever commiting such blasphemy and with a shake of your head you tried to get rid of the repulsive thought. You had been loyal to the cause your small community fought for and your god; Denadréa whom had manifested themself in the man they called Billy Russo, who was the leader of the small settlement.

The knocking of your knuckles on the faux wooden door made your heart jump into your throat as the sound rolled over the quiet camp. Knocking another two times, you turned your back to the door, as you had been instructed to do. Behind you you could hear Billy coming to the door, his heavy footfall nearly deafining in the silence of the night and the sound of the opening lock made your stomach twist.

"Good of you to come," his voice sounded behind you as you strained not to jump at how close he was. "Close your eyes."

"Yes sir," was all you said as you followed his command. Whatever he had called you here for, you figured it was important as you could feel the soft fabric of a blindfold cover your face, the final knot ending on the bridge of your nose.

Billy didn't have to ask you to follow him as he took your hand to lead you into his space and you guessed by the sound of your feet on the floor that it was made of wood, unlike most of the residences, which had laminated or parquet floors, and led you through a few doors before he stood still.

"Do you trust our god, little dove?" As he spoke, he moved around you, closing the last door behind you.

"I do."

"Good. Because he has decided to reward you for your loyalty. For your effort and your care. And I must say, I agree with him."

You felt a spark of pride bloom in your chest as he praised you, happy that your god had noticed your efforts and appreciated them.

"Will you accept his blessing, little dove?" His words ghosted over your lips from how close he was to you and you simply nodded, but it wasn't good enough for him.

"Words, little dove, I need words. Do you accept the blessing of your god?" His voice had dropped, and you guessed that Denadréa had taken control of his body as his hands wandered over your torso as he spoke, lighting a fire into the pit of your stomach.

"Yes," you said with a deep breath, "yes I will accept his blessing."

You could feel his rough hands on your shoulders as he moved you around, pushing you back until you lost your balance, landing on a bed, feeling Billy's weight on top of you almost instantly, his erection poking into your hip and the feeling of it made you panic.

This was not what you imagined when he said that you would recieve a blessing.

He kissed you deeply, and you were helpless to do anything but kiss him back as he pinned your wrists beside your head. The panic that had risen in your mind spread quickly in the back of your mind.

Leaving your hands be, he drifted down to your chest where his deft fingers made quick work of your blouse as he opened the buttons one by one, removing it from your shoulders as his lips went from yours to your jaw, down to your neck. One of his hands was quick to palm your breast as the other made its way down to undo your pants.

You wanted to question what he was doing, what he was going to do as his hand made its way into your jeans, but you knew that if you did, you would be punished. How, you did not know, but you weren't eager to find out either, so you let him continue what he was doing as he tried to pull your pants down with little result.

"Pull your pants down for me would you, little dove?" His voice is still as low as a few moments ago as his hands and mouth continued to work your body.

Part of you didn't want to comply with his request, wanted to shove him off of you and get out of this. The other part of you still curious to find out what exactly he was playing at, so you hesitantly did as he asked.

"Nervous?" There was a teasing tone to his voice, but you couldn't find it in yourself to appreciate it as you were hyper aware of where exactly his hands were on your body. Of his weight pressing down on you, preventing you from being able to easily get away from him and of the fact that his face was barely an inch from yours as his breath fanned over your face.

"Yeah."

"Your efforts have been noticed little dove, you have nothing to be afraid of. Now let your god give you his blessing to show his appreciation," he said, the same low tone slowly clearing out the panic in your head.

And it didn't go unnoticed by him. "Does my voice calm you little dove? Stop every racing thought in that pretty head of yours?"

You didn't know if he was taunting you or simply trying to stroke his own ego as he traced your jaw with an almost loving touch. It confused you. About as much as it confused you how he thought of whatever he was doing to you as a blessing and you struggled to get any words out of your mouth. Perhaps he did indeed stop every thought in your head.

"I asked you a question little dove. Does my voice calm you?" There was a beat of silence before he placed a featherlight kiss just behind your ear, the silence feeling more like a danger to you than a comfort.

"Yes," you breathed, not quite knowing what exactly to make of the situation. Should you be doing this? Should you even want to being doing this? You didn't know as he put another kiss to your lips, one of his knees nudging your legs apart so he could nestle himself between them.

The sensation of his hands on your back as he presses you against his chest to move you higher up the bed made the heat in your cheeks rise as something burns in your stomach. You couldn't tell if it was the panic and uneasyness of the situation or if it was arousing you that he could lift you like you weighed practically nothing while you kept your hands where he put them as they slid over the cotton covers.

"There is no need to be nervous. Relax, little dove," he said as he put you back down, his hands sliding under your ass to palm them before moving on, his fingers reaching around your legs as they moved downwards to your knees, "All I want is to show you how much I appreciate what you have done for us. For me," he adds as he moves one of his hands under the band of your panties, tracing circles over your mound and pelvic bone.

Between your racing thoughts, you'd lost track of who was speaking to you. Was it Denadréa? Or Billy? You hoped it was still the first, the effect his voice had on you still overwhelming as you tried to keep your head on straight.

Thinking became harder when a jolt of pleasure suddenly coursed through your body as he swiped at you clit, your legs instinctively falling further open at the action while he kissed his way down your jaw, to your chest and abdomen until he was face to face with clothed core, his fingers lazily stimulating you until he was low enough to be able to reach you with his mouth.

The sensation of his lips on your pussy made you whine, though you tried to hide it. Muffling the sound by biting into the back of your hand as you could feel him start to work over your folds and as he progressed, you found it harder and harder to hold back the sounds that were constantly threatening to spill from your lips until he suddenly stopped, kissing the inside of your thigh before he says: "Sing for me little dove, I want to know what kinds of pretty sounds I can pull out of you while I give you your blessing."

At his words you stop biting the skin of your hand. Deep, red indents of your teeth visible from the force you used to try and keep yourself quiet as you put it back next to your head. A pleased hum left his throat, the vibration of his chest making your legs give off a funny feeling and before you knew it, he had his mouth back on you and soon enough you couldn't hold back a whimper when his tongue swept over your clit in a particularly mean angle, only for him to immediately repeat the motion, drawing an even louder whimper from you which only seemed to spur him on when he started to suck on you through your panties, while you could hear the lewd sound of your soaked folds behind the cloth, making you only wetter in the process.

Pleasure buzzed through your whole body by the time he finally pulled your panties down your legs, shoving them past your ankles along with your pants and throwing them somewhere into the room. You wanted to ask if you could touch him, feel him under the tips of your fingers as you mapped out his body, hoping to get a clearer image of him.

But you refrained, he didn't tell you that you could. This was a blessing after all and touching him might break the spell of pleasure he'd put on you. You whine when he suddenly sucked hard on your clit, making you buck your hips and you could feel him chuckle as he licked and sucked at you, making your back arch while you threw your head back into the mattress.

It is only when you moan the name of your god that he stops what he's doing. You let out a whimper of frustration at the sudden loss of stimulation that had began to build your orgasm which was now quickly fading away as your mind tried to figure out what you'd done wrong for him to stop. Even though the gentle way he caressed your abdomen told you otherwise.

"Say that again, little dove?" His voice was quiet, almost as if he was revering you while he placed a kiss where one of your legs connected to your body and like clockwork, his name fell from your lips again.

"seven hundred years on this earth and my name from your lips is the prettiest thing I've ever heard."

You smiled shyly at his praise, sucking your bottom lip between your teeth and you gave him a quiet 'thank you'. He hummed approvingly, placing a kiss on the inside of your thigh before delving back into eating you out with renewed vigor, your lost orgasm quickly building back up, moans of the name of your god falling from your lips like a prayer.

Soon enough you came undone on his tongue. Any rational thought you had until then instantly left your head as pleasure took over your body.

"Beautiful," he murmured as he slowly worked you through your orgasm, lapping up whatever you were willing to give him without overstimulating you too much before shedding his own pants and crawling back over you and you wanted to sink into the matress when your thoughts returned to you.

He'd made you come undone on his tongue and you didn't even know what he looked like. You could hear your mother berating you already as you tried to hide from the man on top of you, holding your arms over your chest and closing your legs as shame burned inside of you.

"Don't hide from me little dove. Your god wants to see you." The sound of his voice relaxed you, but it was not enough to calm you down as your thoughts started to race again.

He kissed you as he pinned one of your legs to keep them open for him, his rough hands gliding over your arms to your wrist and almost gently took a hold of your hands.

"Why don't you keep them on me, hmmm? No need to hide yourself from me." The feeling of his skin under your fingertips was electrifying, while you hesitantly moved your fingers over his chest and you were rewarded with a kiss to your neck, his teeth grazing your skin before he sucked a hickey into it.

You got lost in the sensation of him and you hoped you could memorise every bump and dip in his skin before this would be over. Your nails turned into his skin when he rocked his hips against yours, a whimper slipping past your lips as you felt his buldge against your pussy, stimulating your still sensitive clit.

You breathed his name in a plea for more, rocking your hips into his as your nails raked over the expanse of his chest, no doubt leaving red streaks in their wake. You were rewarded with a kiss and another roll of his hips against yours. You couldn't speak with his lips glued to yours but you made it very clear as to what you wanted as you pulled him closer to you and and bucked your hips into his. The moan caused by the new friction was swallowed by Billy as he deepend the kiss even further before pulling away.

"You want my cock, little dove?" he chuckled as his face was hardly an inch away from yours, "want your god to fill you up? Fuck you until you only know how to say my name?"

"Yes. yes Denadréa, please fuck me. Please-" you begged easily, not caring how stupid you probably looked. Blindfolded and naked in a stranger's bed, begging him to fuck you properly.

He didn't wait for you to finish your sentence as he kissed you roughly while he pulled down his pants, the tip of his cock brushing against your thigh as it came free.

The feeling of him dragging himself through your folds to make sure he was properly wet made you whine and buck your hips again, showing him how desperately you wanted him.

"Patience little dove," he purred, "I won't keep from you what you deserve."

Your mouth fell open into a silent cry as he pushed into you as you threw your head back into the mattress. The blindfold around your head making you much more aware of whatever else was happening to your body, making you acutely aware of the feeling of his hands palming your ass as he slowly pushed further into you. Tears were pricking at the corner of your eyes as he filled you up, wetting the cloth on your face as you had trouble adjusting to him with little to no preparation.

Your breaths were short as you tried to adjust to him, every inch making you feel like you're far too full and it wasn't long before the blindfold was soaked with your tears as you were writhing to make him somehow fit.

"Easy, easy," he said as his hands ran over your abdomen to your hips, keeping you from moving around. "I know it's not easy, fitting the cock of a god inside of you. But you can make it fit, can't you?"

You could feel his nose against the collumn of your neck as he spoke, ending with a kiss that dissolved into sucking a deep, red mark into your skin.

"I'll help you. Just stay still for me, hmmm?"

You nodded, trying your best to follow his orders as he pushed deeper still, but it seemed impossible with how full you were and how much more he seemed to be able to fit into to you as he kept you from moving too much while you whined and gasped at each inch.

After what seemed like ages he finally bottomed out, his ragged breath fanning over your face before kissing you roughly. Beside you you could hear things moving around in a bedside drawer before he pulled something out of it.

You didn't get to know what it was immediately as he flipped the both of you so you were now sitting on his cock, gravity pushing you even further down on him.

You did not realise you'd started to move until his hand flicked against your ass, the sting of it unable to dissolve into pleasure as he kept his hand ready to strike you again.

"I didn't tell you to move, did I?"

"Sorry... I- ah-" you gasped as you tried to keep yourself still, fighting the urge to relive the burning stretch you were feeling. "I feel... so... feel so full..."

"Not used to being filled up by a god, huh little dove? All those mortals were never able to give you what you truly need," he cooed as his hand trailed from between your breast down to your pubic bone. One of his long fingers easily finding your clit, tapping it a few times, enjoying your struggle to keep still like he asked.

"N-n-no... No they- they couldn't."

"Of course not, but that is not their fault," he spoke into your skin as he pressed a line of open mouth kisses to your collarbone. "They're just simple mortals who do not know what it takes to please you."

You couldn't find it in yourself to disagree with him, even if it was not exactly true what he said. Plenty of men had satisfied you in the past, yet none of them could reach the level of the man that was splitting you open on his cock right now and bragging about it like he'd known all along.

Beside you there was the click of a button, followed by a faint buzzing sound and for a second you wondered what exactly it was when you felt it pressed firmly against your clit. The sudden stimulation made you jolt and it was impossible to not push into the vibrator as waves of pleasure rolled through you.

"Now," Billy said darkly as you slowly grinded against the toy between your bodies, "let's give you your blessing and make you a mother."

Taglist: @becauseicantthink @ramadiiiisme @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @salfira-xd @dreamlandcreations

#cult leader!billy russo #dark!billy russo #dark!billy #billy russo x female reader #billy russo x reader #dark!billy x reader #dark!billy russo x reader #billy russo #dark!billy russo x female reader #the punisher au #the punisher #billy russo the punisher

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marvelmusing · 2 years

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Cult Leader Billy Russo

#billy russo #jigsaw!billy russo #billy russo moodboard #billy russo imagine #billy russo the punisher #the punisher au #ben barnes #ben barnes moodboard #marvel au

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nekoannie-chan · 2 years

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Week 22 Reblog Masterlist

You can check my reading guidelines here.

You can check my masterlist here.

You can check my main reblog masterlist 2022 here.

You can check my May reblog masterlist 2022 here.

You can check my June reblog masterlist 2022 here.

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚜: 💛 ᵒʳᶤᵍᶤᶰᵃˡ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ 💜 ʰᵒʳʳᵒʳ 🖤 ᵈᵃʳᵏ ❤️ ˢᵐᵘᵗ 💚 ᶠˡᵘᶠᶠ 💙 ᵃᶰᵍˢᵗ

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

This is the list of the fics I read and recommend in Week 22 2022:

Sibling Rivalry (Chapter 3) (Dark!Steve Rogers X Reader) by @imdarkinme🖤❤️

That which lingered on his mind chapter 1 (Steve Rogers X reader, Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @goodgirlofglory🖤❤️

No better than beast part 1 (Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @lokislastlove🖤❤️

That which lingered on his mind chapter 2 (Steve Rogers X reader, Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @goodgirlofglory🖤❤️

Chrome & leather chapter 11 (Steve Rogers X OFC, eventual Billy Russo X OFC) by @saiyanprincessswanie💙

No better than beast part 2 (Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @lokislastlove🖤❤️

Sibling Rivalry (Chapter 4) (Dark!Steve Rogers X Reader) by @imdarkinme🖤❤️

That which lingered on his mind chapter 3 (Steve Rogers X reader, Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @goodgirlofglory🖤❤️

My Saviour Chapter 17: Did you lock the door? (Brock Rumlow X Reader) by @sheismarvelousworld🖤❤️💙

No better than beast part 3 (Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @lokislastlove🖤❤️

Kiss my skin (Steve Rogers X Reader) by @maladaptivexxdaydreaming❤️

Best believe that she’s a keeper (Cult leader!Steve Rogers X Reader) by @dark-fixation🖤❤️

Red Tears (Michael Morbius X Vampire!Reader) by @lokis-favorite-follower💙

That which lingered on his mind chapter 4 (Steve Rogers X reader, Dark!Steve Rogers X reader) by @goodgirlofglory🖤❤️

#Annie recommends

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fivequartersoftheorange · 2 years

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Ben Barnes as a cult leader would be my undoing.

I know he'd play the shit out of it. He's so convincing as Billy Russo, you know he'd be able to pull it off.

#ben barnes

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becauseicantthinkwritings · 3 years

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A baby who started a cult about Supernatural! Billy on tumblr, FaeKing!Billy, Demon!Billy, Ghost!Billy, God!Billy, Angel!Billy (I laughed writing this and imagining how it was possible), they will all chase you for the rest of your life - Moon Moon

FaeKing!Billy: you stumble into his court when you get lost in the forest. You accidentally eat one of his apples, which drives you into a lust fueled haze that makes you beg for him to breed you in his lovely, large bed.

Demon!Billy (with horns for good measure): Some cult leaders kidnap you to summon a demon, they cut your wrist and spill your blood in the circle. Except that you're now his master. You have a six foot tall, black eyed demon following you around, solving your minor inconveniences.

Ghost!Billy (Scarred): After he dies, he haunts his apartment until a very cute girl moves in one day. He can't resist causing her trouble, pinching her butt in the shower and pushing her nightdress up her body while she sleeps. He sometimes cops a feel while you're sitting peacefully watching TV. You're stubborn and refuse to move, which results in the doubling down of the torment.

God!Billy: (tw: murder) You're killed by your husband and your best-friend as they plan to steal your fortunes. Your cry for vengeance echoing through the halls of Olympus, one god hears your call and responds. You're drowning in the ocean when suddenly you're knelt before Greek God of War, William Russo.

Angel!Billy: Hmmmm... this one's a bit tough. Billy wants to prove that humans are easily corruptible when love is involved. He comes down to earth and sets his sights on the purest, kindest human, and decides to convince her to commit the biggest sins. It's only when he's finally pushing his cock into you, groaning at your tightness, that he realises he may be a sinner as well.

#ask #moon moon #tell me which one's your fave!#random ideas #I'm still baby

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the-cult-of-russo · 3 years

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You think Russo still wear his army dogtags? If yes, why? If no, why? Enlighten me, oh all-knowing. ;)

Hello, my child. Please sit and let me guide you with my wisdom 🔮

(Heyyy, ily 🖤😘)

Okay so like, I feel like my Billy and canon Billy are very different with this question.

Canon Billy; no he doesn't. We see him shirtless many times in the show and they're nowhere to be seen. I do think he kept them though. Either in his safe or in a box hidden somewhere. But he doesn't wear them.

Canon Billy wants to shed that part of his past and its too much of a connection to the shit he's done and how he got there. I don't think he likes that reminder.

My Billy however... 😈😂

Yes, he does. Maybe not all the time but he does wear them when he's feeling sentimental. When he's not wearing them, they're in a small box in his top drawer.

He also likes seeing you wear them 👀😏

My Billy doesn't have the issue that canon Billy does with the negative memories attached to the dogtags. To him, they remind him of good times, of a brotherhood, of humble beginnings. They remind him of Frank and how they met. They remind him of the purpose he once had.

Even for my version of Billy where Rawlins killed the Castle's (Billy didn't know about it though), even with some negative attachments since in Kandahar was where Rawlins lured him in, he still doesn't have the same reaction as full on canon Billy.

I feel like for canon Billy, the dogtags weigh heavy around his neck as it reminds him of the Castle's and the family he once had. That he gave up so willingly (see this ask for my mild rant about how canon is stupid for making this happen 🙃)

I hope you are enlightened now, my child. Go forth and spread the wisdom of the Lovers of Russo. Spread the gospel far and wide and we shall all reach full enlightenment soon...

(Cult leader!Billy AU tho...? 👀😂)

#billy russo x reader #billy russo #the punisher #billy russo imagine #billy russo headcanons

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jonathanbogart · 7 years

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Electroshock: Anarchic Mediterranean Pop and New Wave

Part three. Twenty-one songs, 1981-1987, from Italy and Greece. Here's the YouTube playlist. Tracklisting below, “liner notes” below the cut.

Jo Squillo Electrix, “Africa”

Diaframma, “Tre volte lacrime”

Diana Est, “Tenax”

Litis + Trik, “Fáka”

Matia Bazar, “Elettrochoc”

Alberto Camerini, “Bip Bip Rock”

Roberta D’Angelo, “Noce di cocco”

Lena Platanos, “Ti Néa Psipsína?”

Denovo, “Niente insetti su Wilma”

Nada, “Amore disperato”

Tullio De Piscopo, “Stop Bajon”

Dreamer and the Full Moon, “Sandrina”

Marcella Bella, “Nell’aria”

Garbo, “Quanti anni hai?”

Ivan Cattaneo, “Quando tramonta il sol”

Aphrodite Manou, “Nykteriní Ekpompí”

Litfiba, “Elettrica danza”

Skiantos, “Ti spalmo la crema”

Giuni Russo, “Alghero”

Metro Decay, “Mavros Kyknos”

Melodrama, “Kyrie Eleison”

Electroshock: anarchic mediterranean pop and new wave

If I thought mainstream French pop was relatively unaffected by the radical shifts in Anglophone rock and pop fashion, Italian pop is even more so: many of the popular Italian ballads of the 1980s were virtually indistinguishable (save for details of production) from what lyrical Italian composers were turning out a hundred years previously. As (arguably) the birthplace of the post-medieval Western European music culture, Italy generally takes an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it attitude toward its cultural heritage, an attitude wholly at odds with American notions of generational revolt or ripping it up and starting again: operatic singing remains a populist form, and mainstream Italian rockers tend to sing in a theatrical Billy Joel vein rather than with a fuck-yr-conventions sneer.

But this mix isn’t just Italian: there’s a thread of Greek running throughout. Although combining the two Iberian nations makes geographic and linguistic sense, and expanding Francophonie beyond France is obvious, throwing Italy and Greece together is extremely unintuitive, unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool classicist. Inheritors of the two oldest unbroken (though hardly unchanged) cultures on the European continent, the descendants of the ancient Roman and Hellenic empires had, by the penultimate decade of the twentieth century, been through a lot. Specifically, they had both slid precipitously from their midcentury postwar peaks of economic expansion and cultural export: Italy thanks to the Anni di piombo, or years of lead, in which both far-left and far-right terrorism, assassination, and thuggery cratered popular support for politics of any kind (enabling the rise of Berlusconi’s entertainment-empire kleptocracy), and Greece thanks to a far-right military junta that overthrew a center-right government and gave fascism a home on the otherwise Communist Balkan Peninsula. By the early 80s, both the Anni di piombo and the junta were spent and democracy was returning, but everything was still disorderly, even anarchic, politically and culturally.

Which is where this music comes in. The avant-garde in both Italy and Greece identified deeply with the European project, which means that much of their most modern music was sung in English, both in imitation of UK and US innovations, and because everyone else in Western Europe (save for France and Spain, where ancient conflicts with the British Isles led to a sort of linguistic protectionism) was doing the same. Between the endless fountains of italo-disco aimed at the general Euro dancefloor market and the austere post-punk acts on tiny labels reissued by “minimal wave” enthusiasts today, it can sometimes feel that almost nobody was singing in Italian in the 80s except for sensitive singer-songwriters, leftover prog burnouts, and cracked-voice divas with massive power ballads. The same was true in Greece, except more so: the midcentury art-folk forms éntekhno and laïkó were still so dominant that almost anyone who wanted to engage with modern international sounds did so in an international language.

But beyond the glossy outer wall of Italian pop, as celebrated by such events as the annual Sanremo Song Festival, there were multiple anarchic rock and pop scenes competing for attention, gigs, and recording time. The Italian rock scene was hugely fragmented: although Milan remained the center of the culture industry, as it has been for centuries, each city had its thriving underground scene, with Florence, Naples, Sicily, Bologna, and even Rome represented below. Below a certain level of hitmaking status, the differences between shiny italo-disco and weirdo pop melted away: although some synth experimentalists encountered a hardline anti-synth stance among post-punk scenesters, just as many punks ended up making goofy hairspray records as ever remained true to the imagined spirit of ’77. Italy was perhaps the place where the distinction between disco and punk was collapsed most often: both let unlikely performers queer their image and ignore the mainstream, and both were animated by throwing whatever was at hand against the wall to see what stuck.

Enough generalizing, though. Here are twenty-one songs, fourteen in standard Italian, one in the Neapolitan dialect, one in Church Latin and Greek, four in modern Greek, and, sigh, one in English because the hell with it, my mix my rules.

1. Jo Squillo Eletrix Africa 20th Secret | Milan, 1982

One of the few female voices to emerge from the original punk boom in late-70s Italy, Giovanna Coletti had fronted the all-girl band Kandeggina Gang before recording an essential post-punk record, Girl Senza Paura, in 1981 as the leader of a band named after her punk moniker Jo Squillo. “Africa” was the follow-up single: identifying and foregrounding the latent colonialism in acts like Bow Wow Wow and the Slits, it was apparently dedicated to Nelson Mandela, but Squillo’s cartoonish yelps and the “tribal” rhythms are still patently offensive as representations of Africanness. The lyric, however, is as righteous a left-wing post-colonial solidarity message as anything Europe produced in the 80s, which made it even weirder when Squillo went solo, dove into synthpop, and the “Africa” single was repurposed as a B-side called “Voo-Doo.” Colonialism always wins.

2. Diaframma Tre volte lacrime IRA | Florence, 1986

This song, with its brightly strummed guitars, is about as upbeat as the long-running Diaframma, who brought Joy Division levels of somber bleakness to the Florentine post-punk scene, ever got: and its title translates as “Three Times the Tears.” Singer Miro Sassolini’s stentorian croon defined this gothic era of the band; when guitarist Federico Fiumani, the band’s songwriter, took over in 1989, they became a more traditionally punk act, and are still active today.

3. Diana Est Tenax Ricordi | Milan, 1982

Although she sometimes turns up in italo-disco compilations these days, Diana Est was neither an anonymous vocalist nor a dance-pop starlet. Her small, rather unsteady voice, her androgynous, semiclassical fashion, and punk-turned-balladeer Enrico Ruggeri’s overtly intellectual lyrics — the chorus to “Tenax” is in Latin, a paraphrase of Terence — made her slender discography (three singles in as many years before she quit the music business in disgust) a cult favorite among Italian pop fans. She is now a professional antiquarian, and by all accounts much happier.

4. Litis & Trik Listeía Columbia | Athens, 1982

The mononymic Litis had been kicking around the Greek rock underground since the late 60s, hopping from folky ballads to vaguely progressive bands and back again. When he hooked up with muso combo Trik in the early 80s, the result was a loopy, weird art-punk record that is both compulsively listenable and one of the high points of the Athens new wave. “Ληστεία” (Robbery), a bop-along jam about petty crime and the hypocrisy of the petite bourgeoisie who demand it be prosecuted, was their biggest hit, if the handful of local television appearances that have been uploaded YouTube qualify.

5. Matia Bazar Elettrochoc Ariston | Milan, 1983

Both the most forward-thinking band in Italy in the early 80s and one of the all-time European pop acts, Matia Bazar started in the mid-70s as a Eurovision-friendly soft-rock group in the ABBA mold, with Antonella Ruggiero there to look pretty and sing sweet choruses. But after keyboardist Mauro Sabbione joined in 1980, they gave themselves a new-wave makeover, experimenting with rhythm and texture, and Ruggiero’s elastic, four-octave voice commanded center stage. There were a solid half-dozen Matia Bazar songs recorded between 1981 and 1985 that I considered for this mix: “Elettrochoc,” with rhythmic patterning not a million miles from what drum ’n’ bass would be doing with the “Amen” break a decade later, and Ruggiero using her whistle register as casually as Mariah Carey, is only the most futuristic of their songs by a small margin. After Sabbione left in 1985 to pursue more experimental work, they dumbed it down slightly and had the biggest hit of their career. Ruggiero would quit the band in 1989, going on to explore classical and world music forms, but Matia Bazar has continued their pop chancery, not unsuccessfully, with a revolving door of singers; the drummer is the only original member left.

6. Alberto Camerini Bip Bip Rock CBS | Milan, 1981

Born in Brazil to Italian parents, Camerini’s first musical efforts were pop-Brazilian melodies for the Italian market. But during the new-wave craze of the early 80s, when anything with a broad enough hook seemed like it might have a chance, he had his biggest success with novelty singles like “Rock & Roll Robot” and “Tanz Bambolina.” Very much in that vein, the unabashedly silly “Bip Bip Rock” is a love song between a harlequin and a computer set to a Buddy Holly shuffle: its gender-playing parent album, Rudy e Rita, is a minor masterpiece of bubblegum pop kitsch.

7. Roberta D’Angelo Noce di cocco Suono | Rome, 1983

When she burst onto the scene in the mid-70s with caustic, unconventionally melodic story-songs about prostitution and feminism, the 20-year-old conservatory-trained D’Angelo seemed poised to be an Italian Joni Mitchell, or maybe even Kate Bush. But label shenanigans, her restless, exploratory bent, and lack of commercial success meant that this, in 1983, would be her last single: a B-52s-y song about a coconut co-written and performed with skittery Roman art-funk collective Bu Bu Sex. When she performed it on television, she also proudly plugged the serialist piece for piano and clarinet she had composed for the B-side: perhaps it’s no wonder that for the last thirty years her nerdy enthusiasm and musical rigor has been expressed in music teaching, where she is beloved (and active in YouTube comments).

8. Lena Platonos Ti Néa Psipsína? Lyra | Athens, 1985

Kate Bush is also a predictable comparison for Greek composer Lena Platonos, the daughter of a concert pianist who studied composition, then started to make her own art music, got sidetracked by synthesizers, and ended up closer to Laurie Anderson (only more popular), murmuring her fractured, elusive poetry over her own experimental synth programming. “Τι νέα ψιψίνα,” from her 1985 album Galop, is about as close to pop as she ever got: the title literally translates “What’s New, Pussycat?” but it’s no Tom Jones cover: abstract, political, metaphysical, and Greek to the bones, it’s a gorgeous highbrow punctuation to the sillier elements of this mix.

9. Denovo Niente insette su Wilma Suono | Catania, 1984

Speaking of which: Sicilian band Denovo, with their XTC-inspired hydraulic sock-hop rhythms, sliding pitches, and “way-hey”s, have one of the goofiest sounds in this mix. The title song from their debut EP, this song is a comic piece of macabre: the title translates to “No Flies on Wilma,” and it turns out to be, of course, about Wilma’s funeral. However, the saxophone-led middle eight adds a McCartneyesque lyricism to the herky-jerk, foreshadowing the more varied melodic career Denovo would go on to have.

10. Nada Amore disperato EMI | Milan, 1983

The capacious mainstream Italian music industry loves few things more than a comeback, and when singer Nada Malanima, who had had her first success as a teenager in 1969 but had not been in the public eye for years, had a smash hit with the subtly pulsating “Amore disperato” (Desperate Love) in 1983, it was a song the whole country could get behind, even new-wave sourpusses. Nada’s low, assured voice, with its calm ah-has and careful reaches for high notes, is an undemonstrative rarity in Italian pop, and her portrait of kids falling for each other in a nightclub then losing each other is all the more effective for never sounding desperate itself.

11. Tullio De Piscopo Stop Bajon Bagaria | Naples, 1984

A jazz drummer and session man who had played with everyone from Perez Prado and Astor Piazzolla to Gerry Mulligan and Richie Havens, Tullio de Piscopo was perhaps the only middle-aged Italian hip enough to pull off a rap-inflected single in 1984. That the groove is such a monster doesn’t hurt — acid jazz as a concept more or less starts with this record, and it was massively influential in the Chicago house scene as well — and the half-rapped, half-scatted lyrics in his native Neapolitan celebrating the arrival of spring gave it a timeless, otherworldly quality that a more dominant literary language like Italian might have missed entirely. I would be surprised if I was introducing this record to many people for the first time, but it startled me with its beauty, all seven minutes of it, and I knew I had to include it.

12. Dreamer and the Full Moon Sandrina EMI | Athens, 1984

My general rule with these European mixes has been not to include music in English, partly because the sensual qualities of the different languages are much of the point for me, and partly because I’m intentionally stepping off the familiar Anglophone paths: I began these mixes cross about Spanish and Portuguese pop being neglected, and I’ve continued it cross about all local languages being neglected. That said, the minute I heard “Sandrina” I was charmed to within an inch of my life: Dreamer and the Full Moon were probably the most successful new-wave band in Greece, and their entire catalog was conducted in English: this, their biggest hit, takes traditional Greek rhythms and instrumentation and makes a lovely lovelorn rock song out of them.

13. Marcella Bella Nell’aria CBS | Milan, 1983

Like Nada, Marcella Bella had been a regular performer on summer festival stages since the 1960s: unlike her, she had never really spent time in the wilderness. The product of a musical Sicilian family (her older brother Gianni was also a pop singer and producer, and co-wrote “Nell’aria”), she had been a solidly popular singer for a decade when the billowing, helium-light “Nell’aria” (In the Air) became not just one of the big hits of the year, but perhaps the Italian hit of the 1980s. It had legs: I remember hearing it in Guatemala in the early 90s, where it sounded perfectly contemporary alongside blissed-out records from Madonna, Cathy Dennis, and P.M. Dawn. Bella’s featherweight voice, replicated endlessly, and the throbbing heartbeat rhythm make it eternal.

14. Garbo Quanti anni hai? EMI | Milan, 1983

Easily the most successful “new wave” artist in Italy, in the sense of being frankly imitative of British sources, the singer born Renato Abate took the same approach to the Bowie of the Berlin Trilogy as Gary Numan did (i.e. making it the foundation of an entire career in music), but where Numan absorbed Bowie’s cold remove and sci-fi premises, Garbo absorbed the political concerns and cabaret longueurs. His first single, “A Berlino… va bene” (In Berlin… It’s Okay), was a sensation, but my fondness for this later hit (tr. How Old Are You?) cannot just be attributed to the fact that Antonella Ruggiero sings unmistakable backup: it’s a small masterpiece of mood, as Garbo’s prematurely mature voice (he was twenty-five!) wrings every drop of reserved pathos out of a lyric about aging out of sexual desire.

15. Ivan Cattaneo Quando tramonta il sol CGD | Milan, 1984

I’m not sure any one- or two-sentence biographical sketch can do justice to Ivan Cattaneo, one of the most essential Italian musical performers of the late 70s and early 80s. He embraced the schlockier elements of both disco and punk early on, creating a flamboyant, polymorphous persona who sang about Batman, homosexual love, and zebras with outrageous zeal. Starting in 1982 he embraced ’50s and ’60s pop, recording cover albums of classic hits with modern pop sheen, but when the market didn’t respond, he quit pop music to explore painting, multimedia projects, and digital art. This (tr. When the Sun Sets) was his last single for a long time, a hiccuping electro-Beach Boys gem that still makes time for carnality.

16. Aphrodite Manou Nykteriní Ekpompí Lyra | Athens, 1984

One of the most popular exponents of éntekhno, or Greek poetry set to traditional music, Aphrodite Manou (born Aglaia Dimitriadis; her sister Maria was even more popular) had been singing others’ compositions for over a decade when she released a 1984 album of her own songwriting. “Νυχτερινή εκπομπή,” the title track, which Google wants to translate “nocturnal emission” but means “Nighttime Broadcast,” is a lovely fusion of modern soft-rock reverie and classic Greek music, as the violin swirls around her modern lyric about driving around in a Volkswagen listening to rock music, and falling in love with someone in the next car over who drives away forever. Perhaps the Greek equivalent of a country singer using contemporary production techniques, her melodies are timeless but stick in the head.

17. Litfiba Elettrica danza Contempo | Florence, 1984

The other great Florentine rock band of the era (along with Diaframma), Litfiba has gone from strict post-punk dourness in the early 80s to stadium-filling political anthems (rather like U2; and indeed charismatic frontman Piero Pelù is rather reminiscent of Bono). “Elettrica danza,” a retelling of Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris in violin-scraping funk-rock form (replacing the tango with the cha-cha), originally appeared on an EP named for their cover of David Bowie’s “Yassassin,” in case their art-rock cred was in any doubt.

18. Skiantos Ti spalmo la crema CGD | Bologna, 1984

One of the most controversial Italian acts of the late 70s, Skiantos were as much anarchic comedy troupe as ska-punk band, with singer “Freak” Antoni’s unnecessarily aggressive vocals, dadaist lyrics, and live performances that sometimes included no music at all. By the mid-80s they had mellowed considerably, and “Ti spalmo la crema” (I Rub the Cream on You, a double entendre about applying sunscreen at the beach) is almost a Madness song — except hornier, as befits Italian stereotypes.

19. Giuni Russo Alghero Bubble | Milan, 1986

Sicilian singer Giuni Russo was never an entirely comfortable fit with the summery, beachy songs she kept having hits with throughout the 80s: her untrained but powerful voice sometimes overwhelmed lightweight pop songs like “Un’estate al mare” or “Mediterranea,” and it wasn’t until she changed labels in 1986 and took more control over the sound of her music that she found the perfect combination with “Alghero.” Still a summery, beachy song — it’s about a vacation romance on the Sardinian coast, don’t tell mama — the inventive throwback production finally catches up with her voice. She would get artier and more experimental in the late 80s and 90s, but I love her summertime blues.

20. Metro Decay Mavros Kýknos Creep | Athens, 1984

Probably the most high-profile Athenian new wave band to stick to Greek in their lyrics, Metro Decay was still very much a cult act: one single and one LP in an austere early-Cure mold, and that was it. But they’ve had a long afterlife, as every generation of Greek rock fans rediscovers them. The opener from their LP, “Μαύρος κύκνος” (Black Swan) is a typically melodic dirge, as Antonis Maniatis croons about trauma, entropy, and poetry.

21. Melodrama Kyrie Eleison D.E.A. | Florence, 1987

After leaving Matia Bazar, synth wizard Mauro Sabbione formed the more industrial Melodrama with avant-garde contralto and choreographer Cinzia Bauci, with whom he has worked on and off under various names for the last thirty years. Melodrama only produced a handful of records as a coherent act in the late 80s, as Sabbione found himself in demand as a session musician and Bauci’s theater career took precedence, but this forgotten twelve-inch ZTT-ish setting of traditional liturgical prayers. punctuated ominously by assorted ecclesiastical vocabulary, precedes similar experiments by the likes of Enigma by years.

I swear I have not been trying to make these mixes happen once a week; it’s just that they really have been coming together that quickly. (And sure, I’ve been spending a lot of my free time since April swimming around in the raw materials for them.) Anyway, the next one, whenever it happens, will be heading in a more northerly direction, and finally leave the Romance languages (and my linguistic comfort zone) behind for good.

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The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Soundtrack: Complete Details and Playlist

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Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy can’t be a cheap show to make. This superhero story is based on an ambitious, colorful comic book series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá and as such it features big action setpieces, depictions of superpowers, and even a talking chimp or two.

Still it’s hard to imagine any portion of The Umbrella Academy’s budget is larger than the music clearance department. The series features a moody score from Jeff Russo but also a truly stunning amount of pop hits. The Umbrella Academy made its musical intentions clear in its first episode with the now-beloved dance scene set to Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now.” And the show’s investment in soundtrack and music has only grown from there.

“Music is such an important thing to me and I really take time to pick the songs,” showrunner Steve Blackman says.

“We do things differently on the show. Most shows finish the scene, the shooting, and then they add the music afterwards. I pick the songs mostly ahead of time. I put them in the scripts. Sometimes I even hear a song and then I decide what scene I want to write with that song in my mind.”

With The Umbrella Academy season 2 now on Netflix, here is a breakdown of what songs are included in the soundtrack and when you can hear them.

The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 2.

“Beyond the Sea” by Bobby Darin – Episode 1

Plays as Klaus and Ben arrive in 1960.

“Right Back Where We Started From” by Maxine Nightingale – Episode 1

This song not only gives episode 1 its name but also plays in the intro as the Hargreeves family arrives in the 1960s.

“My Way” by Frank Sinatra – Episode 1

This classic Ol’ Blue Eyes song scores the apocalypse that Five and the gang find themselves in on November 25, 1963. Blackman highlights this as a personal favorite song choice from season 2.

“You Must Be An Angel” by Richard Myhill – Episode 1

Plays as Diego is introduced in the hospital.

“Trying” by Fran Jones – Episode 1

Vanya has dinner with Sissy’s family on the farm.

“I Wonder What the Future Holds for Me” by Glenn Snow – Episode 1

This plays as Klaus and Ben enter the bar to cause trouble.

“Rocket Fuel” by DJ Shadow – Episode 1

This song scores Luther’s introduction as a prize fighter.

“Be Thankful You’re You” by Fern Jones – Episode 1

Vanya and Sissy catch feelings in the barn.

“Crazy” by Daniela Andrade (Gnarls Barkley cover) – Episode 1

This quiet, subdued version of Gnarls Barkley’s pop hit plays as Diego is sent to a padded cell.

“Comin’ Home Baby” by Mel Tormé – Episode 1

This far more ebullient song plays as Diego and Luna escape the mental hospital

“You Only Want Me When You’re Lonely” by Jim Boyd – Episode 1

Luther meets Five at Jack Ruby’s club.

“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” by Al Hoffman, Mack David, and Jerry Livingston (Cinderella Soundtrack) – Episode 2

This song plays as The Handler is spared from the incinerator.

“Who’s That Knocking?” by The Genies – Episode 2

Diego and Lila plot their escape.

“I’m a Man” by Spencer Davis Group – Episode 2

“I’m a Man” scores Diego’s fight with his father Reginald.

“I Gotta Get the World Off My Back” by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter – Episode 3

Klaus gets kicked out of a diner.

“Sunny” Boney M. – Episode 3

This episode opens with “Sunny” by Boney M. over the opening montage of Klaus’s time as a cult leader.

“I’ll Never Do You Wrong” by Joe Tex – Episode 3

Luther visits Allison’s home.

“Golden Brown” by The Stranglers – Episode 3

The song playing at episode’s end is “Golden Brown” by The Stranglers.

“Love is Blue” by Marty Robbins – Episode 4

Lila trains to be an assassin.

“Renegade” by Styx – Episode 4

Klaus falls back into alcoholism and addiction as this song blares.

“Have You Ever Been Hurt” by Helen Wilson – Episode 4

Luther enjoys world class Texas barbecue and meets Allison.

“Unwind Yourself” by Marva Whitney – Episode 4

Luther also enjoys drugs.

“I Was Made For Lovin’ You” by Kiss – Episode 4

This song is featured at episode’s end.

“Major Tom” by Peter Schilling – Episode 5

Of course Pogo’s time is space is scored by “Major Tom.”

“Twistin’ the Night Away” by Sam Cooke – Episode 5

The Umbrella Academy season 1 was infamous for a scene in which the group danced to “I Think We’re Alone Now” by Tiffany. This season’s version only features three of the Hargreeves siblings and they’re accompanied by Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away”.

“Bad Guy” by The Interrupters (Billie Eilish cover) – Episode 5

The song playing as Five and Lila fight is a ska cover of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” by The Interrupters.

“Hello” by My Kullsvik (Adele cover) – Episode 5

What better song to hear as The Swedes consign their fallen brother to Valhalla than this Swedish-language cover of a classic Adele hit? Blackman describes this as another favorite. “I really love our Swedish version of ‘Hello.’ It’s from a young woman from a small town in Sweden who I found on YouTube. It’s just so unexpected because you hear that opening riff and you think, ‘Oh, I know this song.’ and then you’re like, ‘Wait a second. There’s something different about this.’

“Won’t Be Long” by Aretha Franklin – Episode 6

Allison begins work at the hair salon…

“An Old-Fashioned Christmas” by Jack Huddle – Episode 6

…and meets Raymond.

“Hold on I’m Coming” by Sam and Dave – Episode 6

Sam and Dave’s joyful classic scores Allison and Ray’s day out on the town.

“I Live Alone” by Bob Cox – Episode 6

Lila and The Handler enjoy a Bingo Night.

“The Order of Death” by Public Image Ltd. – Episode 6

This song plays as the Hargreeves approach their Tiki Lounge meeting with their father.

“In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company” by The Dead South – Episode 6

Luther and Diego find poor Elliot’s body.

“Polk Salad Annie” by Tony Joe White – Episode 7

Five arrives in ’80s Wisconsin.

“Give Me a Reason to Stay” by Zoe Muth – Episode 7

Sissy hears this song on the radio.

“Sister of Pearl” by Baio – Episode 7

“Sister of Pearl” plays as Ben successfully inhabiting Klaus’s body for the first time.

“Everybody” by Backstreet Boys – Episode 7

This song is an atypical choice for the fight scene between Allison and The Swedes. And Blackman loves it for that exact reason. “The Backstreet Boys has no business going over the fight scene that we did, but yet it just somehow magically works.”

“Pepper” by Butthole Surfers – Episode 8

Not only does “Pepper” sonically work with Vanya’s LSD trip but some of the lyrics are quite apt for the season. “They were all in love with dying, they were doing it in Texas.”

“Dancing With Myself by Generation X – Episode 9

Fittingly, the song that plays as young Five fights the older version of himself.

“Partita No. 2 in D Minor” by Bach – Episode 9

In addition to “Pepper,” Much of Vanya’s acid trip is set to Bach’s “Partita No. 2 in D Minor” on violin. This is fitting given Vanya’s aptitude for the instrument.

“Here Comes the End” by Gerard Way – Episode 9

The episode concludes with a new song from Umbrella Academy creator and My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way called “Here Comes the End.”

“Wicked Games” by Parra for Cuva featuring Anna Naklab (Chris Iaak cover) – Episode 10

The song playing during the closing montage is a cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Games” by Parra for Cuva featuring Anna Naklab.

The post The Umbrella Academy Season 2 Soundtrack: Complete Details and Playlist appeared first on Den of Geek.

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