#dream theater 2017 volume 1

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[happymetalgirl]

July 2020

Machine Head - Civil Unrest

On this two-song EP, Robb Flynn once again leans into spur-of-the-moment inspiration in an effort to jolt Machine Head out of the creative fatigue that plagued the polarizing Catharsis, but unfortunately the approach that didn’t really work for “Volatile” doesn’t really work for “Stop the Bleeding” or “Bulletproof”, and it all adds up upon the revelation that these songs are constructed from scraps off the Catharsis kitchen floor. Robb’s finger is on the pulse of the tension underlying American politics and his heart is in the right place (which I commend him for his steadfastness to in the face of the apparently sizable chud subset of Machine Head’s fanbase), he just needs to take his delivery a little off the nose. Of the two songs, “Bulletproof” is definitely the stronger and more hard-hitting, while the goofy 2000′s metalcore melodicism of “Stop the Bleeding” meshes poorly with the grim subject matter Robb attaches to the track. In the grand scheme of Machine Head’s career, this EP (and the two non-album singles that preceded it last year) is disappointing filler that does nothing to lift the band out of the dry creative well they’ve found themselves in.

5/10

Khemmis - More Songs About Death, Vol. 1

A much more solid two-track EP, Khemmis’ More Songs About Death, Vol. 1 is comprised of a groovy cover of Misfits’ “Skulls” and an acoustic rendition of the folk song, “A Conversation with Death”, that the band had covered electrically for a split they did with Spirit Adrift. The band adapt well to the more original acoustic style of the latter song, as soulful as ever even with acoustic subtlety replacing their open-hearted doom metal. As for the Misfits cover, the band apply their signature harmonic doom guitar work to give it a signature seal while adhering to the core foundation of the song, and they show that the song does take to their brand of doom quite well. After Desolation and being signed to Nuclear Blast, Khemmis sure were excited to get working on their fourth LP. Now that of course sits on the list of many projects the pandemic has forcefully postponed, but these kinds of offerings and the band’s hinting that they might just come out of this with two albums’ worth of material is helping make the wait a little more bearable. Thank you as always, Khemmis.

more respect to Khemmis/10

Inter Arma - Garbers Days Revisited

Coming off the back of their magnum opus, Sulphur English, Inter Arma’s offering to hold the quarantined world over until the band’s next opus is a quick (by their standards) covers album of metal and hardcore classics, as well as some surprising classic and southern rock tunes. And the band manage the eight diverse songs with an impressive display of two-way adaptability. Turning “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” into a blackgaze blast-beat fest and “Scarecrow” and into a crushing blackened sludge-doom epic while layering their atmospheric black metal smoothly over the old-school rock grooves of Neil Young’s “Southern Man” Inter Arma show an aptitude for selecting cover songs that fit their style. It sure helps that they’re a versatile act too, bending their mammothian heaviness to suit the core appeal of covers of Cro-Mags’ “Hard Times”, Nine Inch Nails’ “March of the Pigs”, and Venom’s “In League with Satan” while shedding all that sludge to expose their southern rock roots on (slightly) more stripped back tunes like “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and Prince’s “Purple Rain” (a closer so fittingly beautiful it seems almost unfair), which find them embellishing soulfully and clearly enjoying themselves in the studio. A lineup of tracks like this would make be nervous for whatever band was trying to tackle them, but Inter Arma prove that can shapeshift back to their southern roots just as well as they can bulldoze as needed to do their own justice to these several tracks, making for one of the best cover albums I’ve heard for a while.

8/10

This Will Destroy You - Vespertine

Serving as a soundtrack project for a highly rated California This Will Destroy You seemingly took a long time with this project, having released the “Kitchen” single in 2017 under the same premise. The album is entirely ambient, and not quite as experimental with glitchy electro-ambiance as projects like Tunnel Blanket or Another Language were. Instead, Vespertine highlights the serene/somber atmospheric foundation of the band’s post-metal/rock sound that made the Young Mountain EP and their self-titled LP such transcendent experiences and exemplary advocates for post-rock upon their release. And it’s a great display of just how the band’s discernible ambient style can shine through even such a minimal approach. It is basic ambient music for sure, no additives, but it’s unmistakably This Will Destroy You to those who know them, and it hearkens back to some of their best work, so I see it as a welcome addition to the band’s catalog.

7/10

Static-X - Project Regeneration, Vol. 1

Rebooted in honor of Wayne Static after his untimely passing in 2017 the original line-up and Dope frontman Edsel Dope behind a mask resembling the late singer and the pseudonym Xer0, Static-X return after over a decade of radio silence since 2009′s Cult of Static to mesh the final recordings of Wayne Static for the band with contributions from Xer0 on the first of two volumes of new material under this premise of paying tribute. Despite the lengthy absence and the loss of the band’s central creative force, the album is a mostly smooth transition from Cult of Static with some callbacks to the electro industrial metal of earlier albums like Shadow Zone and Machine. While it captures the essence of Static-X across its 39-minute track list with a handful of hard-hitting industrial nu metal bangers, Project Regeneration - Vol. 1 is a bit of a dry recount of the band’s legacy, and I hope the band saved the better chunk of songs for the second installment.

6/10

An Autumn for Crippled Children - All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet

An Autumn for Crippled Children is an anonymous Dutch trio who are helping to keep the blackgaze movement going with their eighth full-length album here. The band released their seventh not long ago in 2018, but this year’s is my introduction to the band, which has been a pleasant one. All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet is a moderately sized offering of heartfelt blackgaze as you know it from the likes of Deafheaven and Ghost Bath channeled through more second-wave-like stylings of the Norwegian black metal scene; so it sounds kind of like if Mayhem made more open-hearted music rather than deflected edginess through Satan-worshipping (not to shit on Mayhem or anything). There is more to this album, however, than just diluted or lo-fi Deafheaven worship; through the haze of the band’s fuzzy blackgaze is some pretty dynamic songwriting and impressive. More than just soaking distorted guitars in reverb and juxtaposing blackmetal screams with post-rock ambiance, An Autumn for Crippled Children capture some of that emotional diversity that makes blackgaze at its best (...Sunbather) so divinely captivating. And the spacious beauty the band conjures out of the negative space in the static-y guitars and thin percussion on songs like “Water’s Edge”, “Paths”, and the title track is surprisingly enveloping, but the standout cut on the album I’d say is the very unashamedly Ghost-Bath-y “Silver” for its overt heartfelt delivery with every instrument and its integration of what even sounds like a piano. I doubt this would convert many black metal purists who idolize Burzum and Darkthrone. In fact I bet this album would upset them even more than New Bermuda, but for those without a stick up their ass, looking for some juicy blackgaze with a different set of ingredients than your Harakiri for the Sky or Wolves in the Throne Room, this is some good shit.

8/10

Bury Tomorrow - Cannibal

I gave this one a good several tries because 2018’s Black Flame grew on me significantly after my incredibly underwhelmed first couple of listens, but sadly Cannibal strikes melodic metalcore gold far less often than its predecessor and finds Bury Tomorrow knee deep in the unflattering tropes that the genre is trying to shake off. With a pretty one-note approach to melodicism that results in a largely homogeneously flat emotional tone across the album, it’s definitely a step down from the emboldened and invigorated Black Flame that negates any sense of the band’s ambition that that album might have given off. I can point out “Better Below” and the brief breakdown on “Gods & Machines” as mild highlights in the tracklist, but they only really stand out because the rest of the surrounding tracks are so dry. I’d like to say that things just didn’t click this time or that some experiments just didn’t pan out, but it’s quite clearly just the lack of imagination and ambition that sinks this project deep into the background of forgettable metalcore, and I know this band can do better.

4/10

Kansas - The Absence of Presence

They’re hardly even metal-adjacent but for their sizable contribution to the 70′s prog rock movement that such a huge proportion of metalheads are into, a new Kansas album I suppose counts as on-topic for this blog. The band returned after a decade and a half of absence with a stuttering restart without iconic vocalist Steve Walsh on 2016′s The Prelude Implicit, and it was clear that they needed to do more than yearn for glory days to get the gears back in motion, so with The Absence of Presence the band’s new blood has stepped up to the plate to inject some freshness into the band’s compositional process. The band still sticks to that core violin-spiced prog rock that characterized their iconic 70′s albums, but the structuring and soloing style (especially the keys) are a bit more modernized than the band’s past work, and by modern I mean what Dream Theater sounded like in the 2000′s. Make no mistake, though, it’s an improvement on The Prelude Implicit, and it highlights the band’s talents and natural grandiose tendencies far more than the radio rock singles they’re most widely known for, and the cinematic bridge of the opening title track is sturdy proof of this. It’s a testament to the influence they have had on modern prog through the genre’s biggest bands like Dream Theater, and perhaps a testament to the two-wayedness of that street as well as fun, bombastic tunes like “Throwing Mountains” sound like they would fit easily on something like A Dramatic Turn of Events or as a break from all the melancholy on a Steven Wilson project. The album does wear a little thin on ballads like “Memories Down the Line”, but it makes up for its duller moments with plenty of exuberant prog expressiveness on most of the songs (the closing track being probably the standout example), which should be a good time for most of the band’s fans who fondly remember albums like Masque and Monolith, and any newer prog fans who may not be aware of the band’s influence on today’s prog metal.

7/10

Haken - Virus

Speaking of respectable modern prog though, Haken’s aptly named album this year serves as quite the easy bar to clear for prog metal so far this decade. I regretfully missed out on their 2018 sister album, Vector, but I am partially mending that ill by covering Virus here. Like I said earlier, it’s a solid record that captures the smoothness and tempered heaviness of Soen and the attitude of early Opeth with the angularity of Tool, but even if it ends up being the year’s best prog metal album, I don’t think it will be too long before one of the genre’s juggernauts (or even exciting new faces) kamehamehas this one away. The album starts out pretty solid in its first few tracks, but remains pretty meager and restrained in its explosiveness until midway through the album, relying on rather short bursts of typical prog heaviness like the opening of “Prosthetic”, whose rumbly bassline is a delicious highlight amongst the Townsend-esque choir implementation. The ten-minute “Carousel” ups the band’s expressiveness after the deceptive soothe of the second track with a clash of goth-y ambiance and pounding metallic bombast. The five-part “Messiah Complex” suite finds the band at their most adventurous, straddling the winding mid-song compositional whirl of Dream Theater with the occasional eccentricity and djenty heaviness of producer Nolly’s former band Periphery, the band still sound themselves and confident in every move they make, like true prog masters, ending beautifully on the two-minute “Only Stars”. I think it might end up being the year’s best straight-up prog metal album, and the band have worked hard to earn that honor, but I would honestly be surprised if someone else or Haken themselves don’t outdo it within a year. That’s to take away from what an exciting 52 minutes of prog this is, because with such a moderate runtime for such a tight prog album, it’s definitely deserving of the respect of a top album in its field.

8/10

Skeleton - Skeleton

Even though I tend to end up liking them, I find myself skeptical of projects whose aesthetic feels forcedly retro or whose marketing is focused heavily on nostalgia, and the self-titled debut from the Austin-based trio, Skeleton, complete with its intentionally cheesy and amateurish cover art, definitely checked those boxes. I even got the sense from 20 Buck Spin (being that I’m on their mailing list and follow their accounts and all) that they were more excited than usual to be releasing the trio’s debut. And honestly, after a few listens through of not being all too aroused by the crusty proto-death metal at the core of the band’s sound, the traditional heavy metal focus on infectious guitar riffs helped the album grow on me a good bit. The stylistic versatility of the guitar playing really is the cornerstone of the album, from the Kill ‘Em All-style riffs on “Taste of Blood” and early Sepultura-esque galloping on “At War” to the blackened punk grit of “A Far Away Land” and the even more catchy classic metal riffs on “Turned to Stone” and the melancholic old-school doom atmosphere on “Ring of Fire”. The snarled black metal vocals are gnarly in that old-school sense, throaty and raspy but kind of cheesily thin too to fit with the aesthetic the band are going for, and it’s a pretty similar story with the drums: not flashy at all by today’s standards but just right to supplement the guitar work and complete the vibe. And of course with 11 tracks not even grazing the half hour mark, the songs are pretty trim and compositionally bare bones, falling into quick, crust punk formats foregoing the typical verse-chorus paradigm. Yes, Skeleton has grown on me, and I’m curious to see if they end up expanding this sound like Ghost did from Opus Eponymous to stay creatively fresh or if they plan to draw from the long-abandoned (or less frequented) wells of musical elements they did on this album for the foreseeable future.

7/10

Burzum - Thulêan Mysteries

I know that in a lot of circles (including some I consider myself a part of), saying something even vaguely positive about Burzum invites a wave of disapproval for supporting (or at the very least, excusing) the black metal world’s most notorious villain’s racism, but I can’t say with a straight that Varg Vikernes didn’t play a huge part in shaping Norwegian black metal as we know it or that I don’t like Filosofem or Hvis lyset tar oss. I don’t think that amounts to supporting the guy’s racist bullshit, and luckily Varg has made it pretty easy not to support his racist bullshit because Burzum has been shit for a long long time now; in fact I’d say Filosofem was the last worthwhile Burzum album, with his pathetically bad ambient records during and after his time in prison and the three stale black metal albums that welcomed him back from prison. After such a weak return to music from prison and Burzum’s discontinuation-turned-hiatus, it seemed overdue that Varg finally retire the Burzum project after the unimaginative ambiance of The Ways of Yore. I mean the project has thoroughly emulated the trope of the white guy who views everything he touches as way more genius than anyone else does, which is pretty rich for a guy so willing to dismiss the current black metal scene as derivative, and he’s seemed more invested in whatever it is he’s been doing on YouTube or his blog. Nevertheless, Varg remains an infamous figure in metal probably to a lot of dudes who think there’s some esoteric genius to decode in his lore, to an extent I find kinda disturbing. The weird reverence a lot of the metal community has for the neo-nazi murderer’s cult of personality (the vast majority of whose discography is masturbatory throwaway doodling) is astounding. So this guy’s back, with an hour and a half of, by his own account, ambient scraps of dungeon synth music that he built up over an extended period of time and basically figured he’d compile into an album (because, like I said, everything he touches must be gold in his eyes), and goddamn it sure sounds like exactly what he pitches it as. The first track, “The Sacred Well”, is actually pretty soothing and decent helping of ethereal ambient music, but it doesn’t take long for things to go downhill. The annoyingly repetitive acoustic motif of “ForeBears” and the absolutely amateurish improvised piano plinking of “A Thulêan Perspective” quickly shed light on just how lazily patched together this thing is, while the subsequent “Gathering of Herbs” literally cuts off awkwardly like the full track didn’t upload fully. A few tracks like “Jötunnheimr” and “The Road to Hel” offer some fleeting promise in their eeriness, but they disappear as quickly as most of the tracks here do, in a flash of confusion as clearly incomplete ideas piled into an album for no reason that even Varg can justify. The last third of the album contains some of the longer tracks, but the swapping of fragments of half-assed keyboard doodles for half-assed demos spread thinner than tissue paper is a trade-off akin to the upcoming general election and it’s too little and way too late. I have to highlight the laughably farty synthesizer horns on “Ruins of Dwarfmount”; I mean thank god it’s quick because it’s absolutely awful, but the chuckle I get out of how bad it is is probably the best experience I have from this whole album. Just about everything on here is some combination of irritatingly repetitive, blatantly incomplete, or grossly unprofessional, and the thing that gets me is that it’s not like ambient music or dungeon synth is any sort of rocket science. I’m not at all the kind of music genius Varg’s weird devotees see him to be, but given the same equipment, even I could undoubtedly make a better ambient album than this. Although I’m not nearly as well-versed in ambient music as I am in metal, I have heard enough of a chunk of it to say I know the good shit and the bad shit, but honestly, this album is a new low for me. I didn’t know an ambient album could suck this much. It’s like an extended Daudi Baldrs with a slightly better keyboard, but with no excuse this time for the cheapness of the sound and certainly not the length. Yeah, piece of shit.

2/10

Boris - NO

Tokyo’s prolific sonic shapeshifters have all but given up on giving up, and I suppose the title of this year’s record summarizes their brief questioning of if they stop making music. The band’s first intended farewell album, Dear, which found them (not really) bowing out to the sorrowful drone doom of their most iconic record (Pink), was followed them by last year’s LφVE & EVφL, which saw them revisiting various shades of their career as comfortably as ever. NO finds the power trio on another stylistic tour of sorts, this time through some of their heaviest and most grimy territory, starting from brooding sludge doom to spending most of the album on Slayer-esque thrash and hardcore punk ripe with gritty attitude. The production is thick and nasty as is usually best for Boris, but the writing on this record is just kind of absent-minded for such a stylistically varied project. While the more drony opener, “Genesis”, rides its runtime well on the raw heaviness that the band put the pure simplicity of their slow groove through, the farther the band step away from their wheelhouse, the more apparent sparseness becomes of the more underwritten songs like the meatheadedly punky “Kikinoue” and “Fundamental Error”. We get some crushing riffs like that on “Anti-Gone”, but also some clumsy wailing about like on the song “Lust” that calls into question the effort Boris put in at the drawing board. The sheer power is there, but it’s being used generally inefficiently on a sizeable portion of NO. Still, it’s pretty cool to hear Boris at this pace, and the pure energy they pour into this project is enough to get the job done.

7/10

Tuscoma - Discourse

Tuscoma’s follow-up to the wildly eccentric Arkhitecturenominus is gets off to a slow start with its rather generic churn of blowtorch-blackened post-metal through its first two tracks and is short on risks for the reputably ambitious duo, but Discourse does eventually kick in to dig deep to tap as much of the frightful potential of the band’s sound and showcases a decent example of what the New Zealanders are known for and of lies out in left-field of post-metal.

6/10

Executioner’s Mask - Despair Anthems

Making their debut as a collective for Profound Lore, the quintet of seasoned post-punk creatives embark on an eccentric voyage through darkwave on a ship of modern gothic rock, and the results are as fascinating as they sound on paper, recalling the cerebral ritualism of Children of God-era Swans as much as the energetically veiled despair of Type O Negative and AFI while dipping the rock elements into the industrial side of darkwave every now and then. And again, the product is an effortless immersiveness into the record’s moody journey, not through atmosphere-building, but through the infectiousness of the goth dance numbers take you on. It’s certainly more of a metal-adjacent album than a bonafide metal album, but the way the band captures the despair they set out to is as effective through more subtly seething means as DSBM’s best, and the band’s adventurousness with their sonic palette alone makes for an interesting listen, or several, as I will certainly be giving this project more than its fair share of my ears.

8/10

Ensiferum - Thalassic

Very similar to Amon Amarth’s longtime solidification of their sound, the Finnish talents seem able to simply exhale exhilaration through their both tried-and-true and continually honed black-reinforced power folk metal. And it’s clear the band are on autopilot at least to some degree on Thalassic here because the writing is pretty homogeneous and formulaic nearly all the way through; that being said, the sheer energy of the band’s performances into a sound experience allows them to wield so effortlessly more than carries them across the seas they sing of.

7/10 

Bedsore - Hypnagogic Hallucinations

Stepping out from the shadows of Italy to present the great big world of metal with their forty-minute debut-album, the four-piece on the 20 Buck Spin label make their grand atmospheric aspirations for their brand of death metal immediately known across seven tracks of hellish wails and haunted ambiance. Taking ominous clean guitar motif-writing and structuring influence from Neurosis to the point of uncannily resembling “Souls at Zero” on the second track, “The Gate, Closure (Sarcoptes Obitus)”, Bedsore still inject plenty of their own distorted flair into the cavernous death-metal-flavored howl they espouse on Hypnagogic Hallucinations. The band do bank rather heavily on the immersiveness of the atmosphere they try to conjure, leaving a blind spot in the album’s dynamic beyond the fluctuations between clean and distorted nightmare. Compositional shortcomings aside, this is a solid debut to set the Italians on a bright prospective future.

7/10

Spirit Possesion - Spirit Possesion

Blackened thrash metal is one of those smaller subgenres within metal that feels more like a niche occupied by a few stalwarts like Aura Noir, Goatwhore, and Deströyer 666, but now Spirit Possession is making the bid to join those ranks and potentially turn more spotlight onto the specifically hybridized style. The band’s self-titled debut brims with the thrash enthusiasm of Bathory and the old-school riffing that shaped the way the early progenitors of black metal composed theirs, and not only is the Portland duo’s riff-game on point, but goddamn does it sound savory and spicy as hell through the more flattering production and against the backdrop of modern black metal a la Watain. The nasty chug on the song “Swallowing Throne” really highlights the benefit of the thicker, tastier production. The exceptionally grand “Amongst Inverted Castles and Holy Laughter” is a fine example of the band straddling old and new with impressive flexibility, while the bulk of the album's indulgence into early black metal and thrash is impossible not to want to indulge with, like a really fun party with a good crowd that makes it so much easier to have a few more drinks than you originally intended to.

8/10

Defeated Sanity - The Sanguinary Impetus

Through just enough delicious riffing,  memorable accentuation, and technicality on par with Dying Fetus packed into structurally creative bite-sized portions, brutal death metal stalwarts Defeated Sanity somehow make a pretty persuasive take-it-or-leave-it case for the genre.

7/10

Paysage d’Hiver - Im Wald

The boldly two-hour debut double-album from Paysage d’Hiver is also a bit of a double-edged sword, basing partly its very ethereal black metal atmosphere on the homemade sound that regularly kneecaps the grander feel the project is going for. And the album does indeed reach some soaring heights of blizzard-stung ambiance, which the biting sound of the tinny, but engaged, percussion and the vexed swooning of the tremolo-picked guitar playing across the album’s several indeed well-organized lengthy tracks. It takes a lot to trudge through the long path covered in thick snow that this album sets out on, and the lo-fi production often doesn’t help the individual elements that make Im Wald enjoyable stand out, and it can be all too easy to get lost in the homogeneous whitewash of the hazy winter wind. It’s a rewarding journey to finally make it all the way through with unbroken attention, but blame for the easiness of that attention being lapsed can at least partially be placed on the shoulders of Paysage d’Hiver for its mastermind’s one-note approach to an otherwise well-arranged and well-composed album.

7/10

Gaerea - Limbo

Despite the members’ faceless appearances behind their fully-covering black cloth masks, Gaerea’s music does not hold back its sorrowful outpour through heavy atmospheric black metal that crashes through and drowns like torrential flood waves as much as it tears at the heartstrings through unabashed languishing. The massive weight of the band’s sound invokes the feeling of being in the presence of an incarnate deity weeping at the ills of mankind and the destruction they have forced this deity to bring about. Abstract descriptors of the album’s experience aside, the band aren’t really doing too much new for the atmospheric black metal they’re making, not breaking any rules or pushing any boundaries, but everything that makes the genre so attractive is turned up to eleven. I was ready to be as critical as ever, but I could immediately see not long into my first listen why Season of Mist were so excited to hype up the Portuguese outfit’s incredibly accomplished sophomore release. The guitar playing is simultaneously powerful and beautiful, much like that of the Ulcerate album from earlier this year (Stare into Death and Be Still) that I also loved, and the drumming is just as ceaselessly thunderous in support. The lamenting screamed vocals are possibly the least exaggerated facet of the album, but certainly not the the point of being unfitting, in fact they fit the chaotically despondent mood quite well, or a detriment to the record’s overall barrage of mourning. As for how all these massive pieces are arranged, they all crash in synchronized waves in a fashion, again, not at all unfamiliar to anyone who’s heard blackgaze, but the raw passion of the band’s performances exemplify why this strategy is so widely adopted for atmospheric black metal. Gaerea have made quite the statement of intent on this one, and I will definitely be enjoying it repeatedly throughout the year and beyond.

9/10

Upon a Burning Body - Built from War

Upon a Burning Body went full Lamb of God last year with their very trim and direct 31-minute fifth LP, Southern Hostility, focusing their efforts on making their southern brand of groovy deathcore as tastily whiskey-soaked as possible, laying on the groove heavily and unrestrained in a way that I thought definitely worked in their favor. Just a year later, the band are back with a 17-minute addendum to their infectiously brash display of muscular bravado, and it’s pretty much as brutishly intense as expected as the band bounce through single-string grooves and ripping drum rhythms to the same conclusions they did last year, only this time it feels so much more fatigued, like they’re trying to artificially replicate this genuinely pissed off attitude that produced results for them despite just not being in that kind of headspace at the moment. The songs are pretty baseline for them and generic as fuck, missing that X factor that made Southern Hostility’s distilled rage so tangible and fun. Built from War has some of the staple features that made its predecessor such a good time, but despite its few high-energy moments across the five tracks, it feels like an unnecessary rehash of the lightning in a whiskey bottle they had last year, just no lightning, so empty whisky bottles that bear the smell to remind you of what was previously in them.

5/10

The Acacia Strain - Slow Decay

I have been pretty harsh on The Acacia Strain in the past; they haven’t come up much on my blog, but the times they have, I feel I’ve been a little overly critical of their use of elements that I’ve perceived as excessive that they’ve used to forge their recognizable sound. The band released a mini album (It Comes in Waves) on Closed Casket Activities just before last year was over and I didn’t even hear it until a few months in to this year, and honestly, I wasn’t all too broken up about it because it was some of the band’s most lethargic, meandering material to date; dragging aimlessly until the last two tracks of the album, a significant step down from 2017′s already middle-of-the-road Gravebloom. So with those albums in recent memory I was kind of not looking forward to Slow Decay all too much, but a few days before its release, I refreshed myself on the band’s 2014 album, Coma Witch, which I remember as a culmination of what The Acacia Strain had been trying to morph their horrific, hardcore-tinged deathcore into since Continent, and it was a great time, that album, and it made me a little more hopeful for the band’s tenth LP (if you count It Comes in Waves). And Slow Decay indeed has The Acacia Strain back on track after the stuttering of the past two releases. The burgeoning metallic hardcore movement over the past few years has certainly vindicated The Acacia’s Strain’s steadfast adherance to their hardcore roots, and with there really being no time like the present for that kind of energy, the stars’ aligning has indeed brought the best out of The Acacia Strain. And on Slow Decay, it’s not like the band have changed up their hardcore-driven approach to djenty deathcore all too much from what they did on Coma Witch, they just sound energgized through a good batch of songs this time, the many situations at hand showing their influence on the rage the ban draws from bleeding through the lyrics ranging from critiquing anti-vaccine sentiments to blasting the snobbishly entitled attitude of boomers. The fiery disdain for the state of the world comes through hard on the blood-pumping chug of “Crippling Poison”, the punchy, pissed-off groove of “Inverted Person”, and the rest of the dissonant horror-tinged riffing all across the album, and it just goes to show that The Acacia Strain have found a groove that works for them and when they have the right fuel for their fire, they can incinerate anything in sight. 

8/10

Imperial Triumphant - Alphaville

After revolutionizing the method of jazzification of metal music on 2018’s Vile Luxury, I was ready for a satisfying continuation of jazzy death metal from Imperial Triumphant, but I was not prepared for the wildness of the band’s ambition with their sound and beyond and the incredible success of their sonic expansion on Alphaville. The band are still jazzy as fuck on their successor to Vile Luxury but they’re not advertising it as blatantly like a product-placed soda can this time around, partially because they can’t with so much else going on in the nightmarish mix of sounds. The combination of dissonant grand piano chords over palm-muted chugging and merciless blast-beats on “City Swine” is perhaps the most overt example of the trio’s love for the traditional sounds of the type of jazz often associated with the big apple, but the palpable jazz influence in the winding guitar lines and dizzying drumming all across Alphaville continues to set Imperial Triumphant apart even within their wing of metal’s avant-garde. Indeed, their sound reaches beyond mere genre hybridization; the band incorporates various avant-garde elements in an experimental, yet clearly well-engineered manner all over the album. From the haunting fuzzy dissonance and disorienting electronics of the title track and the odd inclusion of taiko drumming by Meshuggah’s Tomas Haake to the gloriously frightful choir climaxes on both “Atomic Age” and “Transmission to Mercury”, Alphaville is full of surprises, and a size-able step forward for a band already bounds ahead of the curve on their previous album.

9/10

[dailyexo]

[INTERVIEW] Baekhyun, Kai - 190927 Billboard: “Why SuperM Is Being Touted as K-Pop's Avengers”

"With SM Entertainment’s newly formed supergroup, SuperM, the company hopes to reclaim its dominance as the genre continues to push into the U.S. mainstream.

There have been hip-hop collectives and rock supergroups, but SM Entertainment’s SuperM is being touted by the company as a boy band full of leading men -- and K-pop’s most impressive lineup to date, with seven members from SM’s most successful and still-active groups.

“I see this as a new challenge,” says EXO vocalist Baekhyun, who at 27 is the oldest member of SuperM and has emerged as its leader. “There are a lot of expectations, because even though this is new, each of us comes from a different [popular] group. But there’s this awesome synergy between us.”

The group -- which will release its self-titled debut EP on Oct. 4 -- also consists of EXO’s Kai, 25, who recently became the global face of Gucci’s new eyewear campaign; WayV’s Lucas, the 20-year-old Hong Kong-born rapper, and Ten, the 23-year-old Thai artist; NCT 127’s Canadian songwriter-rapper Mark, 20, and 24-year-old leader Taeyong; and Taemin, 26, who has been in the industry the longest, joining SHINee at 14. “Our team is the aces of aces,” says Taemin.

EXO has scored four No. 1s on Billboard’s World Albums chart; in January, WayV debuted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Social 50 ranking; NCT 127 performed on Good Morning America in April; and SHINee has won the Seoul Music Awards’ popularity honor twice.

As for SuperM, its name is a nod to its roots at Korean company SM Entertainment, formed in 1995 by producer Lee Soo-man. Since then, SM has expanded K-pop’s reach, first in Asia and then in the United States. Earlier this year, SM partnered with Capitol Music Group to build a bigger following for NCT 127 in the States. And in August, the two companies, along with Capitol’s independent distribution and label services division Caroline, announced they would launch SuperM together.

Capitol CEO Steve Barnett says SuperM will “be part of our legacy to the future,” and calls Lee the “godfather” of K-pop. Lee’s résumé proves as much. In 1996, SM introduced H.O.T., largely considered the first K-pop idol group, and has continued to produce acts with stateside appeal.

Many South Korean entertainment companies have followed suit: Big Hit’s BTS has had three Billboard 200 No. 1 albums; this summer, YG’s Blackpink became the first female K-pop group to perform at Coachella; and Starship Entertainment’s Monsta X collaborated this year with French Montana on a Mainstream Top 40 hit. All three have redefined what U.S. success can look like for Korean pop groups in the second half of this decade. And while SuperM may seem like SM’s latest effort to rival its competitors, it’s equally an attempt to revive one of SM’s key sonic legacies: SMP, or SM Music Performance. The company-created term refers to dance performances set to a fusion of pop-rock, R&B and hip-hop production. SMP was best illustrated by early-2000s releases from record-breaking boy band TVXQ!, which in June 2018 became the best-selling foreign touring act in Japan, and Super Junior, which has had 21 top 20 hits on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart.

SM has had U.S. crossover success before: In 2009, BoA became the first-ever K-pop star to enter the Billboard 200, and in 2012, Girls’ Generation performed on the Late Show With David Letterman. In June, NCT 127 debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 with its We Are Superhuman EP. But SuperM, with its blockbuster lineup, is SM’s effort to lead the K-pop conversation in the U.S. market, as it once did in the early ’00s.

“I don’t want to compare SuperM to any of the other groups at SM, but if I had to describe [what] sets us apart, it’s the performance element,” says Taemin. “It’s not just dance, but includes vocals and rapping, where each member can showcase his ability and shine in a different way, that maybe they can’t in other groups.”

So far, SuperM has been tight-lipped about the sound and style of its album and doesn’t plan to share any tracks ahead of the set other than the already-released instrumental version of “I Can’t Stand the Rain.” One thing it has made clear, though, is its goal: “We’re doing something futuristic and more advanced than what the world has ever seen,” says Mark."

SuperM also arrives at a time when SM shareholders are demanding change. In July, SM rearranged its upper leadership at SM Entertainment Group and subsidiary SM Contents & Culture, and announced it would look to divest less-than-profitable business ventures -- mainly the SMTOWN Coex Artium complex in Seoul, a museum, café, theater and store that opened in 2015. If SuperM becomes a crossover success, the company could solidify its footing.

Despite the fact that SuperM already has debuted on Billboard’s Artist 100 chart without releasing a stitch of music, K-pop fans have expressed trepidation over its assembly. Immediately after Barnett and Lee announced SuperM at August’s Capitol Congress -- Capitol’s annual pep rally and presentation of upcoming releases — the hashtag #SuperMDisbandParty was created, as fans, concerned over how the supergroup would impact the futures of their favorite existing K-pop acts, demanded that SM and Capitol abandon the project.

SuperM isn’t fazed. Its members want to prove how strong they are as a whole -- especially when they’re together onstage. (The group is currently in rehearsals, but announced in a teaser Tuesday that it will be making its first-ever performance in Los Angeles at Capitol Records on Oct. 5 -- one day after the release of its debut EP.) “It’s always important to take the next step when people might not expect it,” says Mark. “We always try to make that challenge into something great for the fans -- and for us, as well.”

SM Entertainment’s Pre-SuperM Supergroups

S.M. the Ballad: SM vocalists from TRAX, Super Junior (and its sub-unit Super Junior-M), SHINee, TVXQ!, Girls’ Generation and EXO -- and two former SM members, one of whom is now in Cube Entertainment’s boy band Pentagon -- released two EPs under the name S.M. the Ballad. In 2010, one grouping recorded Miss You; in 2014, another recorded Breath, which hit No. 9 on Billboard’s World Albums chart.

Younique: In 2012, South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company unveiled its new marketing campaign, “Premium Younique Lifestyle,” and worked with SM to debut a supergroup in promotion. Within two months, Younique -- members of EXO, Girls’ Generation, SHINee, Super Junior and Super Junior-M -- released PYL Younique Volume 1, featuring singer-songwriter BoA and rappers Dok2 and The Quiett.

SM The Performance: The choreography-heavy team has released only two singles since it formed in 2012, and they arrived five years apart. The group debuted with a Korean remix of Zedd’s “Spectrum” (off his 2012 debut album, Clarity) featuring members from TVXQ!, Super Junior, SHINee and EXO. And in 2017, it released “Dream in a Dream,” a solo single from WayV’s Ten that was branded a group track."

Photo links: 1, 2

Credit: Billboard.

#EXO #EXO K #Baekhyun #Kai #190927 #exo im #exo k im #baekhyun im #kai im #p:news #t:news #fs:billboard #comeback:Tempo #followup:Shot

[popstarpress]

Kirby Manga Masterpost

I sometimes get people confused by how many Kirby manga there are, or the differences between them. Seeing as none have been localized, and few scanlated, there’s a lot of confusion around the different ones. So I’ve compiled a list of all the Kirby manga I’m aware of (with help of the Japanese wikia page). In total, there are 55 manga (including sequels as separate ones), with 23 serialized manga and 32 anthologies. The manga are all separate canons from each other and the games, but are still based on the games, like how the anime is a separate canon from the games, but still shares a lot of characters and plot points.

Here’s the three that are generally the ones referred to as “the Kirby manga”. All others are below the cut. Warning: it’s a very long post.

Kirby of the Stars! Moretsu Pupupu Hour! (星のカービィ! も〜れつプププアワー!), by Taniguchi Asami.

This is probably the most well known Kirby manga, and the one most people refer to as “the Kirby manga”. It was originally published in CoroCoro Comic, has 13 volumes, and ran from 2006 to 2016, covering games that released in that time period, but also has a lot of random comedy stories. It tends to give the characters more dramatic and wild personalities, such as Marx’s love for blowing up planets, and Meta Knight’s narcissism. It’s scanlated by Kirby’s Manga Funshack. (Tumblr) (MangaDex)

Kirby of the Stars: Pupupu Hero (星のカービィ プププヒーロー), and its sequel, Kirby of the Stars: Ultra Super Pupupu Hero (星のカービィ ウルトラスーパープププヒーロー), by Aoki Kei and Mikamaru.

This manga is popular for its art and the fact that a lot of its chapters focus on Magolor. It tends to have very “on model” type art in comparison to Moretsu, which has more expressive, comedic art - a good way of telling the difference between them. Pupupu Hero ran in Dengeki Nintendo: For Kids from 2009 to 2013, and was compiled into two (very limited edition) manga. Ultra Super Pupupu Hero ran in Dengeki Bazooka from 2014 to 2016 until the magazine was suddenly cancelled, and was never compiled into a volume. The creators are currently petitioning for get the series reprinted, as it’s hard to find now. It’s scanlated by The Fountain of Dreams. (Tumblr) (MangaDex)

Kirby of the Stars: The Legend of Dedede in Dream Land (星のカービィ デデデでプププなものがたり), by Hikawa Hirokazu.

This one also ran in CoroCoro Comic, from 1994 to 2006, then was revived in 2017 in CoroCoro Aniki and continues to run. It has 25 volumes, plus a "Best Of" compilation and mini-″25.5″ volume. The focus is on slapstick gags and dramatic behaviors from Kirby (usually negatively affecting Dedede). It was at one point picked up to be localized by Viz, under the title Kirby, but was dropped shortly after. That is the main reason it’s still some people’s most known Kirby manga. Only a few chapters have been scanlated, by Golden Roze. (MangaDex)

Serialized Manga:

Kirby of the Stars (星のカービィ), by Sakuma Yoshiko, was published in Shougaku Ichinensei, Ninensei, and Sannensei from 1992 to 2009. Compiled into 12 volumes, plus a "Best Of" and other special editions and picture books. Kirby's a troublemaker who will do anything for food, but doesn't mean to do bad. He also wasn't originally from Dream Land, being born from a flower in the shape of a tiny star in a faraway place. He ran out of things to eat while growing, so he set off on a journey, eventually getting to Dedede's Castle and eating all his food.

Great Commotion in Dream Land (プププランドは大さわぎ), aka Knock Out Kirby of the Stars (かっとび星のカービィ), by Abe Sayori, was published in Shougaku Ichinensei from 1992 to 1993. The one with the strange original characters, including a human girl.

Kirby of the Stars (星のカービィ), by Chibi Nyanne, was published in Shougaku Sannensei from 1993 to 1994. Kirby frequently has a :3 face, and this series also uses human characters.

Kirby of the Stars (星のカービィ), by Maeda Noemi, was published in Shougaku Ichinensei from 1994 to 1996. Kirby has a more bratty, mischievous personality.

Kirby of the Stars: Exciting Grand Adventure (星のカービィ ウキウキ大冒険), by Taijan Hokuto, was published in Monthly Shounen Gag King from 1997 to 1999, and was compiled into one volume. It has a 4-koma format, but a continuous story.

Pupupu Grand Adventure ~Kirby of the Stars~ (プププの大冒険 〜星のカービィ〜), by Daimaru Roketto, was published in Pocket Land from 1997 to 1998. Rick, Kine, and Coo see Kirby as a friend and send him advice, but Kirby has a self-centred personality, and doesn’t give them much care.

Kirby Quiz (カービィクイズ), by Takase Hiroshi, ran in Preparation for Entry: Kindergarten Learning for an unknown amount of time around 1995 to at least 1999. The "chapters" are quizzes, puzzles, and games for kindergarten children to complete, though there's sometimes little manga along with that.

Kirby of the Stars: Friends of Dreamland (星のカービィ プププランドの仲間たち), by Himeno Kagemaru, was published in Shougaku Gonensei and Rokunensei from 2002 to 2003. Kirby's kind but has strange behaviours, such as making crop circles in fields and filling a pool with detergent to wash it with a tornado. He lives in a house along with Waddle Dee, Cappy, Broom Hatter, and Scarfy.

Kirby of the Stars: Great Commotion in Dream Land! (星のカービィ プププランドは大さわぎ!), by Himeno Kagemaru, was published in Shougaku Yonensei in 2003, with two specials, one in 2004 for Amazing Mirror and one in 2005 for Canvas Curse.

Poyo Poyo Kirby (ポヨポヨカービィ), by Haribuki Shikimi, was published in Famitsu Cube & Advance from 2006 to 2009. It's a 4-koma with game information. Kirby speaks in "Poyo" like in the anime.

Kirby of the Stars: Kirby & Dedede's Pupupu Diary (星のカービィ カービィ&デデデのプププ日記), first by Michi Michiru, then by Matsuyama Noboru, was published in Famitsu DS+Wii from 2006 to 2016, and is currently being published in Terebi Gemu Magazine. There are 6 appendix collections (booklets only released in magazines), and one "Best Of" volume. Kirby and Dedede are often with each other in a non-hostile way.

Kirby of the Stars (星のカービィ), by Miyasumi, was published in Chara Parfait from 2006 to 2011. They're short, colour comics focusing on specific games.

Kirby of the Stars: Pakutto Big Laughter Show!! (星のカービィ パクッと大爆ショー!!), by Kawakami Yuuki, was published in CoroCoro Ichiban from 2012 to 2014, and compiled into two volumes. "Pakutto" is an onomatopoeia for a type of eating noise (think Pacman). It was revived just for 2015 as Kirby of the Stars: More Big Laughter Show!! (星のカービィ もっと大爆ショー!!), after the author recovered from illness.

Kirby of the Stars: Poyo Poyo Everyday (星のカービィ ぽよぽよな毎日), by Michi Michiru, is published in Pikopuri, starting in 2012, and is still being serialized. It's a 4-koma series, and despite being more modern, has characters showing up from the earliest games. It has a single volume so far.

Kirby of the Stars: Full 4-Koma Parfait♥ (星のカービィ まんぷく4コマぱふぇ♥), by Karino Tau & Poto, published in Chara Parfait Comic & Puzzle in 2013. It only ran for two months. It also has the same illustrator that does the novels' illustrations. The title's a punny one, with "Manpaku" meaning full as in "complete" but also full as in "full stomach".

Kirby of the Stars: Sparkling★Pupupu World (星のカービィ キラキラ★プププワールド), by Nanjou Akisama, was published in Chara Parfait in 2014 until April, and is still publishing in Chara Parfait Comic & Puzzle. It has one volume. It's a 4-Koma that focuses on Kirby and Waddle Dee.

Kirby of the Stars: Daily Round Diary! (星のカービィ 今日もまんまる日記!), by Dynamic Tarou, is published in CoroCoro Ichiban, starting in 2016 and is still being serialized. Had a heavy focus on Robobot. Kirby is an innocent airhead, and Meta is a shy subordinate of Dedede who says he knows all about Kirby, but actually knows very little. Also, it's a "Manmaru Diary", with "Manmaru" meaning both "cute" and "perfectly circular/round", so it's also a punny title.

Kirby of the Stars: Full Pupupu Fantasy (星のカービィ 〜まんぷくプププファンタジー〜), by Takeuchi Ibuki, is published in CoroCoro Comic, starting in 2016 and is still being serialized. It has one volume so far. Kirby's a bit dense, such as how he didn’t know how to make cup ramen. He and Dedede are friends.

Anthology Comics

These all have a similar format: various non-connected 4-Koma, with each “chapter” being a collection of these strips done by a different author. They’re mostly just separated by game.

4-Koma Theater Series, published by Enix:

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Theater (星のカービィ 4コママンガ劇場), 1995.

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Theater 2 (星のカービィ 4コママンガ劇場2), 1996.

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Theater 3 (星のカービィ 4コママンガ劇場3), 1996.

Kirby of the Stars: Short Comic Theater (星のカービィ ショートコミック劇場), 1996.

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Theater 4 (星のカービィ 4コママンガ劇場 4), 1997.

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Theater 5 (星のカービィ 4コママンガ劇場 5), 1998.

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Theater (星のカービィ64 4コママンガ劇場), 2000.

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Theater 2 (星のカービィ64 4コママンガ劇場 2), 2000.

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Theater 3 (星のカービィ64 4コママンガ劇場 3), 2001.

Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland 4-Koma Theater (星のカービィ 夢の泉デラックス 4コママンガ劇場), 2003.

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror: 4-Koma Theater (星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 4コママンガ劇場), 2004.

Fireball Game Comic series (aka 4-Koma Gag Battle), published by Kobusha:

Kirby Super Star: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ スーパーデラックス 4コマギャグバトル), 1996

Kirby Super Star: 4-Koma Gag Battle Full Version (星のカービィ スーパーデラックス 4コマギャグバトル まんぷく編), 1996

Kirby Super Star: Gag Paradise (星のカービィ スーパーデラックス ギャグパラダイス), 1997

Kirby Super Star: 4-Koma Gag Battle Starving Version (星のカービィ スーパーデラックス 4コマギャグバトル はらぺこ編), 1997

Kirby's Dreamland 3: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ3 4コマギャグバトル), 1999

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ64 4コマギャグバトル), 2000

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Gag Battle Mix Version (星のカービィ64 4コマギャグバトル ミックス編 ), 2000

Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ 夢の泉デラックス 4コマギャグバトル), 2003

Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland: 4-Koma Gag Battle Thorough Version (星のカービィ 夢の泉デラックス 4コマギャグバトル とことん編), 2003

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror: 4-Koma Gag Battle Part 1 (星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 4コマギャグバトル パート1), 2004

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror: 4-Koma Gag Battle Part 2 (星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 4コマギャグバトル パート2), 2004

Kirby Canvas Curse: 4-Koma Gag Battle (タッチ! カービィ 4コマギャグバトル), 2005

Kirby Squeak Squad: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ 参上! ドロッチェ団 4コマギャグバトル), 2007

Kirby Super Star Ultra: 4-Koma Gag Battle (星のカービィ ウルトラスーパーデラックス 4コマギャグバトル), 2009

4-Koma Encyclopedia series, published by Kobunsha:

Kirby's Nightmare in Dreamland: 4-Koma Encyclopedia (星のカービィ 夢の泉デラックス 4コマ大事典), 2003

Kirby & the Amazing Mirror: 4-Koma Encylopedia (星のカービィ 鏡の大迷宮 4コマ大事典), 2004

4-Koma Manga Kingdom series, published by Futabasha:

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Manga Kingdom 1 (星のカービィ 4コマまんが王国 1), 1995

Kirby of the Stars: 4-Koma Manga Kingdom 2 (星のカービィ 4コマまんが王国 2), 1997

Kirby 64: 4-Koma Manga Kingdom (星のカービィ64 4コマまんが王国), 2000

Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble: 4-Koma Manga Kingdom (コロコロカービィ 4コマまんが王国), 2001

Kirby's Air Ride: 4-Koma Manga Kingdom (カービィのエアライド 4コマまんが王国), 2003

#kirby #kirby manga #king dedede #magolor #meta knight #masterpost

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 5, Number 12

Matthew J. Rolin 

Ned Starke was right. Winter is coming, and maybe, for our Chicago and Eastern Seaboard contingent, it’s here. That’s a good excuse to find a big comfy chair near the stereo and dig into some new music. This time we offer some hip hop, some finger picking, some music concrete, some indie pop and, just this once, a Broadway musical. Contributors include Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Jonathan Shaw, Bill Meyer and Andrew Forell. Stay warm.

ALLBLACK x Offset Jim — 22nd Ways (Play Runners Association)

ALLBLACK and Offset Jim have collaborated on a few tracks before, but this is their first release together. Their differences, which are significant, make the disc enjoyable through and through. Offset Jim has a poker face delivery that can fool anybody into thinking he’s deadly serious when he’s clearly having fun. ALLBLACK, on the other hand, is known for his goofy humor, but his goofiness is a mask that obscures a poetic psycho killer. Their combination of a healthy dose of humor and true-to-the-streets seriousness—seen here— makes a case for tolerating all kinds of oddball pairings:

“Don't leave the house without your makeup kit Diss songs about your real daddy just won't stick Hey, bitch, say, bitch, I know you miss this demon dick Please comb Max hair, take off them wack outfits”

Ray Garraty

 David Byrne — American Utopia (Nonesuch)

If you live long enough, everything that seemed edgy and electrifying in your youth will turn safe and comfortable in middle age. You’ll buy festival tickets with access to couches, tents and air conditioning. Clash songs will turn up in Jaguar ads. Kids at the playground will run around sporting your Black Flag tee-shirt. You may even find yourself in a $250 seat, at a beautiful theater, with your beautiful wife, seeing “American Utopia,” David Byrne’s new jukebox musical, and, to borrow a phrase, you may ask yourself, “How did I get here?” And look, you could do worse. These are wonderful songs, still prickly and spare even now in full orchestral arrangements, still booming with cross-currented, afro-beat rhythms (Byrne got to that early on, give him credit), still buoyed with a scratchy, ironic, ebullient pulse of life. It’s hard to say what plot line stitches together “Born Under Punches,” “Every Day is a Miracle,” “Burning Down the House” and “Road to Nowhere,” or how absorbing the connective narrative may be. It’s not, obviously, as kinetic and daring as the original arrangements, stitched together with shoe-laces, stuttering with anxiety, bounced and jittered by the back line of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, clad in an absurdly oversized suit. And, yet, it’s not so bad and if I had three big bills to spend on a night at the theater, I might just want to see it re-enacted. Because I’ve gotten safe and comfortable, too, and anyway, better that than the Springsteen show.

Jennifer Kelly

 Charly Bliss — Supermoon EP (Barsuk) 

Supermoon by Charly Bliss

Charly Bliss’ latest release Supermoon, collects five tracks written during the Young Enough sessions that didn’t make the final cut. The EP showcases the band transitioning from the grungy edge of their debut Guppy to the more polished pop sound of its successor. Eva Hendricks is one of the moment’s most distinctive voices, and these songs find her grappling with the themes so tellingly addressed on Young Enough. Although the songs here deserve release, the interest is in what they don’t do. More than sketches, they are less lyrically formed than those on the album, more guitar driven and without the big pop pay offs. The band, Hendricks on guitar and vocals, her brother Sam on drums, guitarist Spencer Fox and bassist Dan Shure still produce a hooky, engaging record which will appeal to fans. Newcomers might want to start with the albums but Supermoon is not without its moments.

Andrew Forell

  Cheval Sombre — Been a Lover b/w The Calfless Cow (Market Square)

Cheval Sombre - Been a Lover b/w The Calfless Cow by Market Square Recordings

Cheval Sombre teamed with Luna/Galaxie 500’s Dean Wareham last year for a haunting batch of cowboy songs that found, as I put it in my Dusted review, “unfamiliar shadows and crevices in some very familiar material.” Now comes Cheval Sombre, otherwise known as Chris Porpora, with a brace of soft, dreamy folk-turned-psychedelic songs, one a gently sorrowful original, the other a cover of Alasdair Roberts. “Been a Lover” slow-strums through a whistling canyons of dreams, wistfully surveying the remnants of a long-standing relationship. It has the nodding, skeletal grace of Sonic Boom’s acoustic “Angel,” perhaps no coincidence since the Spaceman 3 songwriter produced the album. “The Calfless Cow” anchors a bit more in folk blues picking, though Porpora’s soft, prayerful vocals float free above the foundations. Both songs feel like spectral images leaving traceries on unexposed film—unsolid and evocative and mysteriously, inexplicably there.

Jennifer Kelly

 Cigarettes After Sex — Cry (Partisan Records)

Cry by Cigarettes After Sex

Cigarettes After Sex’s 2017 debut album was a quite lovely collection of slow-core, lust-lorn dream pop. On the follow up Cry Greg Gonzalez (vocals, guitar), Phillip Tubbs (keys), Randall Miller (bass) and Jacob Tomsky (drums) double down on their signature sound with half the effect. The melodies are still here, the delicate restraint also, Gonzalez’ voice whispers seductively sweet nothings but this time around it is largely nothings he’s working with. It’s not that this is a terrible record, it’s more that the wreaths of gossamer amount to not much. Lacking the humorous touches of the debut, Cry suffers from Gonzalez’ sometimes witless and earnest lyrics which are mirrored in the lackluster pace which makes one desperate for the sex to be over so one can get back to smoking. Cry aims for Lynch/Badalamenti atmospherics and hits them occasionally but too often lapses into Hallmark sentimentalism. For an album ostensibly about romantic and physical love Cry is dispiritingly dry. There is only ash on these sheets. Serge Gainsbourg is somewhere rolling his eyes, and a gasper, in the velvet boudoir of eternity.

Andrew Forell

  Lucy Dacus — 2019 (Matador)

Between Historian and boygenius, Lucy Dacus had a pretty memorable 2018. It makes sense that she'd want to document 2019. What she did instead was release a series of holiday-ish tracks over the course of the year and then collect them as the 2019 EP. The covers will likely get the most attention, whether her loving take on Edith Piaf's “La vie en rose” or the rocking rendition of Wham!'s “Last Christmas.” Dacus doesn't perform these songs with any sense of snark; she's both enjoying herself and invested. Counting Bruce Springsteen's birthday as a holiday might be silly, but she nails “Dancing in the Dark,” turning it to her own aesthetic. The weird one here is “In the Air Tonight,” which smacks of irony and whatever we call guilty pleasures these days, but she plays it straight, arguing for it as a spooky Halloween cut, and sort of pulls it off.  

Focusing on the covers might lead listeners to forget how good a songwriter she is. The Mother's Day “My Mother & I” feels thoroughly like a Dacus number, opening with contemplation: “My mother hates her body / We share the same outline / She swears that she loves mine.” Holidays aren't easy. “Fool's Gold” (stick this New Year's track first or last) falls like snow, laden with regret and rationalization. Dacus works through holidays with care and concern. The covers might be fun (even the Phil Collins number works as a curiosity), but when she lets the more conflicted thoughts come through, as on “Forever Half Mast,” she maintains the hot streak. The EP might be a bit of a diversion, but its secret complexity makes it more surprisingly forceful. Justin Cober-Lake 

 Kool Keith — Computer Technology (Fat Beats)

Computer Technology by Kool Keith

Naming an album Computer Technology in 2019 is like calling a 1950 disc A Light Bulb. Ironic Luddite-ness is a part of the charm of the new Kool Keith’s album, his second this year. The record has a cyberpunk-ish (circa 1984) feel, thanks to wacky, early electronics-like beats that no sane hip hop artist today would agree to rap over. But who said Kool Keith was sane? He’s like a computer virus here, infesting a modern culture he views with disdain. His kooky brags could be written off as old man rants if he been in the rap game since day one. On “Computer Technology” he says: ‘You need to sit down and slow down’, yet he himself shows no signs of slowing down.

If Kool Keith’s 1980s science rap messed around in a high school lab, he’s now a tenured professor in hip hop science blowing up the joint.

Ray Garraty

 Leech — Data Horde (Peak Oil) 

Data Horde by Leech

Brian Foote’s work has a knack for showing up in slightly unexpected and subtly crucial places, whether it’s behind the scenes at Kranky and his own Peak Oil imprint, or as a member at times of Fontanelle or Nudge, or even just helping out Stephen Malkmus with drums. On Data Horde, his debut LP of electronic music under his Leech moniker, Foote works with his customary quiet assurance and subtly radical take on things, delivering a brief but satisfying set of bespoke productions that somehow evoke acid and ambient tinges at the same time, feinting towards full-out jungle eruptions before turning the corner and somehow naturally going somewhere much more minimal. Whether it’s the skittering, pulsing “Brace” or the lush and aptly-named “Nimble”, the results are consistently satisfying and the six tracks here suggest that we could stand to hear a lot more from Leech.  

Ian Mathers

Midnight Odyssey — Biolume Part 1: In Tartarean Chains (I, Voidhanger)

Biolume Part 1 - In Tartarean Chains by MIDNIGHT ODYSSEY

 Midnight Odyssey’s massive new record sounds like what might happen if Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army smoked up a bunch of Walter White’s finest product and decided that they must cover Pink Floyd’s Live at Pompei, complete with ruins and really big gongs. It’s interstellar. It’s perversely grandiose. The synths soar and rumble, the vocals come in mournful choral arrangements, the low end thunders and occasionally explodes into blast-beat barrage. It’s almost impossible to take seriously, and it’s presented with what seems like absolute seriousness. In any case, there’s a lot of it: seven tracks, all of which exceed the eight-minute mark, and most of which moan and intone and resonate well beyond ten minutes. You’ve got to give it to Dis Pater, the only identified member of Midnight Odyssey — he really means it. But it’s often hard to tell if Biolume Part 1 (Pater threatens that there are two more parts to come) is the product of an unchecked, idiosyncratically powerful vision or just goofball cosmological schmaltz. To this reviewer, it’s undecidable. And that’s interesting.

Jonathan Shaw

 Nakhane — You Will Not Die 

South African singer Nakhane Touré has a voice that can stop you in your tracks when he unleashes it, and a willingness to tackle uncomfortable topics (homosexuality, colonialism, and the way the imported Presbyterian church interacts with both) that’s seen him both praised and threatened in his homeland. You Will Not Die marks a shift in Nakhane’s music, both in terms of how directly and intensely he engages with those places where the sacred rubs up against, not so much the profane but the disavowed, even while sonically everything is lusher and brighter, whether it’s the slinky electroglam of “Interloper” or the bell-tolling balladry of “Presbyteria.” For once it’s worth seeking the deluxe edition, for the Bowie-esque Anohni duet “New Brighton” and the defiantly melancholy cover of “Age of Consent” alone.

 Matthew J. Rolin — Matthew J. Rolin (Feeding Tube)

Matthew J. Rolin by Matthew J. Rolin

Matthew J. Rolin steps to the head of the latest class of American Primitive guitarists on this self-titled debut LP. He is currently a resident of Columbus, Ohio, but his main inspirations from within the genre are Chicagoan. Reportedly a Ryley Walker concert sent him down the solo guitar path, but the one time this reviewer caught him in concert, Rolin only made one substance-oriented statement throughout the set, and it was more of a shy assertion than an extravagant boast. His sound more than pays the toll. Bright and ringing on 12 strings, pithy and structurally sound on six, he makes sparing use of outdoor sound and keyboard drones that bring Daniel Bachman to mind. Like Bachman did on his early records, Rolin often relies upon the rush of his fingerpicking to draw the listener along, and what do you know? It works.

Bill Meyer

  Claire Rousay — Aerophobia (Astral Spirits)

Aerophobia by Claire Rousay

To watch Claire Rousay perform is to see the process of deciding made visual. You can’t put that on a tape, but you can make the tape a symbolic and communicative object. To see Rousay repeatedly, or to play her recordings in sequence, is to hear an artist who is rapidly transforming. This one was already a bit behind her development when it was released, but that can be turned into a statement, too. Perhaps the title Aerophobia, which means fear of flying, is a critique of the tape’s essentially musical content? It is a series of drum solos, unlike the more the more recent t4t, which includes self-revealing speech and household sounds. If so, that critique does not reproach the music itself, nor should it. Even when you can’t see her, you can hear her sonic resourcefulness and appreciate the movement and shape she articulates with sound.

Bill Meyer

 Colin Andrew Sheffield & James Eck Rippie — Exploded View (Elevator Bath)

exploded view by colin andrew sheffield & james eck rippie

Colin Andrew Sheffield, who is the proprietor of the Elevator Bath imprint, and James Eck Rippie, who does sound work for Hollywood movies, have this understanding in common: they know that you gotta break things to make things. The things in question don’t even have to be intact when you start; at any rate, the feedback, microphone bumps, blips and skips that make up this 19-minute long piece of musique concrete sound like the product of generations of handling. It all feels a bit like you’re hearing a scan of the shortwave bands from inside the radio, which makes for delightfully disorienting listening.

Bill Meyer

 Ubik — Next Phase (Iron Lung)

Next Phase MLP (LUNGS-148) by UBIK

 Philip K. Dick’s whacko-existentialist-corporate-satire-cum-SF-novel Ubik turns 50 this year, and serendipitously, Australian punks Ubik have released this snarling, tuneful EP into the world. There’s a whole lot of British street punk, c. 1982, in Ubik’s sound, especially if that genre tag and year make you flash on Lurkers, Abrasive Wheels and Angelic Upstarts — bands that knew how to string melodic hooks together, and bands that had pretty solid lefty politics. Ubik’s songs couple street punk’s populist (in the pre-Trump sense) fist-pumping with a spastic, elastic angularity, giving the tracks just enough of a weirdo vibe that the band’s name makes sense. The combination of elements is vividly present in “John Wayne (Is a Cowboy (and Is on Twitter)),” a hugely fun punk song that registers a fair degree of ideological venom as it bashes and speeds along. Somewhere, Horselover Fat is nodding his head and smiling. 

Jonathan Shaw

 Uranium Club — Two Things at Once (Sub Pop)

Uranium Club (sometimes Minneapolis Uranium club) made one of the best punk albums of this year in The Cosmo Cleaners. “A visionary insanity, backed by impressive musical chops,” I opined in Dusted last April, setting off a frenzy of interest and an epic major label bidding war. Just kidding. Hardly anyone noticed. Uranium Club was this year’s Patois Counselors, a band so good that it made no sense that no one knew about them. But, fast forward to now and LOOK at the heading of this review! Sub Pop noticed and included Uranium Club in its storied singles club. And why not? The bluntly named “Two Things at Once,” (Parts I and 2), is just as tightly, maniacally wound as the full-length, just as gloriously, spikily confrontational. “Part 1” scrambles madly, pulling hair out by the roots as it agitatedly considers “our children’s creativity” and whether “I’m too young to die.” It’s like Fire Engines, but faster and crazier and with big pieces of machinery working loose and flying off the sides. “Part 2” runs slower and more lyrically but with no less intensity, big flayed slashes of discord rupturing its meditative strumming. There are no words in it, and yet you sense deep, obsessive bouts of agitation driving its motor, even when the brass comes in, unexpectedly, mournfully, near the end. This is the good stuff, and no one wants you to know about it. Except me. And now Sub Pop. Don’t miss out.

Jennifer Kelly

 Various Artists— Come on up to the House: Women Sing Waits (Dualtone)

Come On Up To The House: Women Sing Waits by Dualtone Music Group, Inc.

Tom Waits’ gravelly voice is embedded deep in the fabric of how we think of Tom Waits songs. You can’t think of “Come On Up to the House” without sandpapery catch in its gospel curves, or of “Downtown Train” without his strangled desolation; he is the songs, and if you don’t like the way he sings, you’ve probably never cared much for his recordings. And yet, here, in this all-woman, star-studded, country-centric collection of covers, you can hear, maybe for the first time, how gracefully constructed these songs are, how pretty the melodies, how well the lyrics fit to them. You cannot believe how different these songs sound with women singing. It is truly revelatory. Contributors include big stars (Aimee Mann, Corinne Rae Bailey), living legends (Iris Dement, Roseanne Cash), up-and-comers (Courtney Marie Andrews, Phoebe Bridgers) and a few emerging artists (Joseph, The Wild Reeds), and all have a case to make. Phoebe Bridgers distills “Georgia Lee” into a quiet, tragic purity, while Angie McMahon finds a private, inward-looking clarity in “Take It With Me.” Courtney Marie Andrews blows up “Downtown Train,” into a swaggering country anthem, while Roseanne Cash infuses “Time” with a warm, unforced glow. These versions transform weird, twisted reveries into American songbook classics, which is what they maybe were, under all that growling, all along.

Jennifer Kelly

#dusted magazine #dust #allblack #offset jim #ray garraty #david byrne #jennifer kelly #charly bliss #andrew forell #cheval sombre #cigarettes after sex #lucy dacus #justin cober-lake #kool keith #midnight odyssey #jonathan shaw #matthew j. rolin #claire rousay #bill meyer #colin andrew sheffield #james eck rippie #ubik #uranium club #tom waits #leech #nakane #ian mathers

[jyuhachi1994]

ROOT∞REXX Vol 1 & Vol 2 Drama CD!

So for a long time now, I am looking for the Volume 1 and 2 drama CD of ROOT∞REXX! I have found them online, but yeah, the price is a little bit...

As some of you may know, ROOT∞REXX project is a collaboration between Otomate, Zero-Sum, Lantis and Bandai Visual's Kiramune music label, and Kadokawa's Dengeki Girl's Style magazine, and the character design was made by the mangaka of Karneval, Mikanagi Touya-sensei

I wonder if Anyone has a copy of this Drama CD! I am willing to trade these Kiramune Related stuffs for the volume 1 and 2 Drama CD of ROOT∞REXX

Kirafes 2017

Kirafes 2018

Any Kamiya Hiroshi Mini-albums/singles/Full Album

Kamiya Hiroshi Hareyon 5 -> 6 Live

Kamiya Hiroshi Live Theater

Irino Miyu Live to Dream

All KAmiYU's mini albums

Kakihara Tetsuya I for U tracks

Kakihara Tetsuya Drunker Live

Okamoto Nobuhiko Dreamgate

Okamoto Nobuhiko Braverthday

Okamoto Nobuhiko And Trignal Joint Live

KAmiYU in Wonderland 4

SparQlew's full album tracks

Yoshino Hiroyuki Rainy Nighter

Yoshino Hiroyuki Jounetsu Anthology

(Or if you are looking for any Kiramune related stuffs, message me)

Sorry, I really wanted to listen to this...!

#drama CD #Kiramune #seiyuu #神谷浩史 #Kamiya Hiroshi #CONNECT #Irino Miyu #入野自由 #Namikawa Daisuke #浪川大輔 #Kakihara Tetsuya #柿原徹也 #Okamoto Nobuhiko #岡本信彦 #Trignal #Kimura Ryouhei #木村良平 #Eguchi Takuya #江口拓也 #Yonaga Tsubasa #代永翼 #Yoshino Hiroyuki #吉野裕行 #ROOT∞REXX #otome game #声優

[longliverockback]

Riot The Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 2: 1980-1990 2017 HNE Recordings ————————————————— Tracks Disc One: Manchester Apollo - October 13th, 1981 01. Swords and Tequila 02. Fire down Under 03. Altar of the King 04. Don’t Hold Back 05. Overdrive 06. Outlaw 07. Road Racin’ 08. Rock City 09. Warrior

Tracks Disc Two Ipswich, Gaumont - October 14th, 1981 01. Swords and Tequila 02. Fire down Under 03. Altar of the King 04. Don’t Hold Back 05. Overdrive 06. Outlaw 07. Road Racin’ 08. Rock City 09. Warrior

Tracks Disc Three Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH - November 8th, 1981 01. Swords and Tequila 02. Fire down Under 03. Altar of the King 04. Feel the Same 05. Don’t Bring Me Down 06. Don’t Hold Back 07. Overdrive 08. Guitar solo 09. Outlaw 10. No Lies 11. Road Racin’ 12. Rock City 13. Warrior

Tracks Disc Four: Long Island, NY - July 1st, 1982 01. Restless Breed 02. When I Was Young 03. Loanshark 04. Showdown 05. Swords and Tequila 06. Dream Away 07. Over to You 08. Guitar solo 09. Outlaw 10. Loved by You 11. Warrior

Tracks Disc Five: Paramount Theater, Staten Island 1983 01. Hard Lovin’ Man 02. Altar of the King 03. Where Soldiers Rule 04. Born in America 05. Vigilante Killer 06. Restless Breed 07. Showdown 08. Wings of Fire 09. Loan Shark

Tracks Disc Six: Osaka, Japan 1990 01. Flight of the Warrior 02. Tokyo Rose 03. Strorming the Gates of Hell 04. Japan Cakes 05. Bloodstreets 06. Bobby solo 07. Racing with the Devil 08. Maryanne 09. Dance of the Death 10. Danny Boy 11. Thundersteel

Tracks Disc Seven: Fire Down Under Era: Live · Rehearsal · Acoustic Writing Demos 1980 01. Swords and Tequila [version 1] 02. Unknown 03. Unknown 2 04. Misty Morning Rain 05. Swords and Tequila [version 2] 06. No Lies 07. Outlaw [version 1] 08. Unknown 3 09. Outlaw [version 2] 10. Altar of the King 11. Unknown 4 12. Shakin’ off the Angels —————————————————

* Long Live Rock Archive

#Riot Band #Riot #Mike Flyntz #Rhett Forrester #Bobby Jarzombek #Kip Lemming #Tony Moore #Mark Reale #Sandy Slavin #Guy Speranza #Don van Stavern #Rick Ventura #Official Bootleg Box Set Volume 2 #Official Bootleg Box Set #Live #Box Set #NWOBHM #2017

[homeplanetreviews]

Best Films of 2017 by: Will Whalen

Hello everyone! I know, we’re already a month into 2018 but some films that were 2017 releases didn’t come out near me till 2018 and I just had to wait and see them. However, it didn’t change much because (for the most part) my top films list is nearly the same as it was when I made it in December. So, here it is! This was a terrific year for film but these are my absolute favorites of 2017. 

First, I have a few honorable mentions: Molly’s Game, Alien: Covenant, John Wick 2, Get Out, My Life as a Zucchini, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Call Me By Your Name, and All the Money in the World.

So, here we go!

15. The Disaster Artist

I was really surprised by The Disaster Artist because I was really excited for it because of The Room and I was expecting it to be a comedy about how The Room was made. And if you’ve ever seen The Room, anyone would be excited for that reason. However, what I got was a surprisingly super touching film about friendship and achieving your dreams no matter what the cost is or no matter how many times someone says you can’t.

14. Dunkirk

Dunkirk was a war film from the incredible mastermind Christopher Nolan that wasn’t a typical war film. It wasn’t some character drama on top of being a war film but instead a more accurate look at war. It was about survival and this horrible situation that these brave men were stuck in and basically all had to fend for themselves. I only got to see it once and I was lucky enough to see it in 70mm film but I can’t wait to revisit it.

13. Good Time

Good Time was actually a great time (bad pun intended) and was one of the most stressful, thrilling and non stop downward spirals of a film I have seen in recent memory. Robert Pattinson also gave his best performance and really should’ve been nominated. It was also directed excellently by the Safdie Brothers who took risks. They did things in this that most filmmakers would never dare to do. If you’re easily stressed, maybe stay away from this movie. But, its a good time...

12. It

You’ll float too… when you see It. It was one of the best horror films I’ve seen in quite a long time and definitely one of the funniest movies of last year. We finally got a It film and it was so wonderful. Andy Muschietti did a great job helming this work and the phenomenal cast from all the talented young actors involved make this movie one of a kind and one of the best Stephen King adaptations.

11. A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story was such a special movie. This film explores death, grief, and the afterlife in one of the most beautiful films of last year. Casey Affleck also gave one of the best performances of his career and he was under a sheet the whole time. His performance spoke volumes and I would’ve liked to have seen him get some recognition. This film floored me and if you haven’t seen it, do check it out. It’s not a horror movie but it will haunt you.

10. Thor: Ragnarok

This was one one of Marvel’s best to date. Takai Waititi takes the Thor story into a new direction and made one of the funniest and one of the most all out entertaining films of the entire year. Just on a pure fun and comedic level, this was one of the best and definitely one of the most fun films of last year. Also, Waititi gave us Korg and I don’t think we can thank him enough for that.

9. T2: Trainspotting

Aye ya doss cunt! This is a sequel to one of my top favorite films of all time, Trainspotting. Trainspotting came out in 1996 and now here we are, 20 years later with a sequel. This could’ve easily not been good but with Danny Boyle once again behind the camera, our favorite skagboys back and with a wonderful script, this was a fantastic sequel and a beautiful one too. Plus, it’s Trainspotting! Plus, there’s a great soundtrack once again. 

8. Baby Driver

B-A-B-Y Baby! Baby Driver was an all out blast. It’s a fast paced, thrilling, exciting and wonderful film that has one of the best soundtracks to any film that has come out in a long time. All this is due to the amazing Edgar Wright who has made yet another great film with Baby Driver. 

7. Logan

Logan is the wolverine film we’ve all dreamed about. An R rated Wolverine film is exactly what the world of superhero films needed. In Hugh Jackman’s supposed final performance as the Wolverine, we got one of the all time best superhero films. It was directed gorgeously and had a story that I was in love with. It didn’t even feel like a superhero movie but more like a western. Patrick Stewart also gave a phenomenal performance and I wish our two main actors would’ve gotten some more praise. If this really is Jackman’s final portrayal as Logan/Wolverine, then what a hell of a way to send out on.

6. Split

M. Night Shyamalan makes a grand return to the screen with Split. It felt so incredibly good to be seeing a great M. Night Shyamalan film in theaters. James McAvoy gives one of the best performances of last year and this was absolutely snubbed at the Oscars. I won’t spoil this film but if you have never seen Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, watch it and then watch this. Trust me. I loved this film so much and absolutely cannot wait for Glass. Also, the dance scene... just watch this movie.

5. War for the Planet of the Apes

This is the third and (I think) final film in the new Apes series and was, believe it or not, a mesmerizing masterpiece. What they did with this film is absolutely mind boggling. It’s not some big over the top action movie. There are action scenes, sure. But no, instead it was a psychological warfare, revenge and prisoner of war film that was absolutely beautiful. Andy Serkis gave a chilling and insanely great performance as Caesar. What he did with this character in this film, was just wonderful. If you’ve never seen these films, they’re all great and I highly suggest watching them.

4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

This film was one of the most fun times I’ve had the theater in quite some time. Rian Johnson took over for Episode 8 and took the Star Wars saga into a new direction and did something new, unique and just awesome. Of course, “fans” got pissed but anyone that loves film and any legit Star Wars fan, will love this one and appreciate what Johnson did with this. The Last Jedi also includes some of the best scenes in any of the Star Wars films. Sure, it does have flaws but this was a phenomenal spectacle and there’s one scene that I’ve been thinking about at least once a day since I saw this on opening night.

3. Lady Bird

This magnificent coming of age film is written by Greta Gerwig and is her directorial debut. This is a really special type of movie. It doesn’t even feel like it’s a movie but instead, just you watching people live their lives. And movies that feel so natural like that, are special. It’s also special because it’s so relatable. Whether you’re a boy or a girl or whatever, anyone can watch this and in some way, relate to it. It’s got excellent performances and it’s clear that Greta Gerwig has some real talent. I can’t wait to see what she does in the future. Lady Bird is going to be a teen classic for years to come.

2. The Shape of Water

When I saw this, I thought it may have taken place as my number one favorite of the year. Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed this and this is without a doubt, his best film yet and a beautiful masterpiece. Sally Hawkins is electric in this film alongside Oscar worthy performances from all of her costars. The Shape of Water absolutely floored me and left me in a puddle of tears. What blows me away, is how a movie like this gets 13 Oscar nominations. However, it’s well deserved.

1. Blade Runner 2049

Here it is folks. My personal favorite of the year. The movie that I thought was better than all the rest and that’s the cinematic marvel that is Blade Runner 2049. This was one of the best films I have ever seen. That’s not even a joke. On every level, it was so far beyond anything else I had ever seen. Denis Villeneuve directs this flawlessly but the cinematography from Roger Deakins, is probably the actual best from any other film I’ve ever seen. Each frame of this is dripping with dystopian neon noir and I couldn’t get enough of it. The score from Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch was so special and so hypnotizing. This is my favorite score to any film from last year as well. Ryan Gosling is in my number one film of the year yet again and this man is incredible. He gives such a subdued performance but one that spoke high volumes. It was also great to see Harrison Ford return as Deckard who also gave an amazing performance. Blade Runner 2049 should’ve been nominated for Best Picture and Best Director but I’m just happy it got some recognition. Either way, this film is a flawless masterpiece and was my number one of 2017.

That’s it folks! My top 15 of the year. I apologize about the delay, but hey, at least I finally did it! Stick around for many other review for the year!

#Best Films of 2017 #Best Of #Blade Runner 2049 #denis villeneuve #The Shape of Water #Guillermo Del Toro #lady bird #Greta Gerwig #star wars the last jedi #the last jedi #war for the planet of the apes #Matt Reeves #split #m night shyamalan #Logan #James Mangold #It #Baby Driver #edgar wright #a ghost story #t2 trainspotting #trainspotting #danny boyle #Good Time #Safdie Brothers #thor ragnarok #thor #Taika Waititi #dunkirk #Christopher Nolan

[recentanimenews]

Japan Box Office: Liar × Liar Live-action Film Takes 2nd Place in Its Debut Weekend

    The live-action film adaptation of Renjuro Kindaichi's romance comedy manga Liar × Liar was released in 249 theaters across Japan on February 19, 2021, then earned an impressive 145 million yen (1.38 million USD) to become the second top-grossing film of the weekend.

  The film made 200 million yen (1.9 million USD) in total of its first three days and has become the second top-grossing live-action film adaptation of Japanese manga in 2021, following The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window (340 million yen / 3.23 million USD).

  The original manga was serialized in Kodansha's Dessert magazine from February 2010 to June 2017, and compiled in ten tankobon volumes. Its English edition's publisher Kodansha USA introduces its synopsis as below:

  "One day, after borrowing her friend's high school uniform and taking a walk around town on a whim, Minato runs into her younger stepbrother, Toru! Toru believes Minato when she insists she's someone else...but now it looks like he's fallen in love with her high school girl disguise?! A weird, weird love story begins!"

  25-year-old Hokuto Matsumura (boy idol group SixTONES member) was cast as Toru, while 19-year-old Nana Mori, known as the voice of the main heroine Hina Amano in Makoto Shinkai's 2019 anime film Weathering With You, played Minato. Saiji Yakumo (Tokuken Ranbu live-action film) was attached to direct on a screenplay by Yuichi Tokunaga (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War live-action film).

    On its 19th weekend, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train ranked the same third place with 151 million yen (1.43 million USD), which was 24.7 percent up from last week. Its cumulative box office gross in Japan has surpassed 37.7 billion yen (359 million USD).

  The special compilation film from the Detective Conan anime franchise, Meitantei Conan: Hiiro no Fuzai Shoumei  / Detective Conan: The Scarlet Alibi earned 110 million yen (1.04 million USD) on 75,000 admissions in its second weekend, dropping two positions to fourth. The box office performance of the 94-minute film focusing on the four members of the Akai family to date has almost reached 500 million yen (4.76 million USD).

  Gintama THE FINAL ranked tenth in its seventh weekend, three places down from the previous weekend. The film has made 1.63 billion yen (15.52 million USD) so far and is expected to be the top-grossing film in the anime franchise by surpassing Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya, which made 1.7 billion yen (16 million USD) in 2013, by the end of this month.  

       Weekend box office in Japan (February 20-21, 2021)

 (ticket sales basis)

    1 (1). "Hanataba mitai na Koi wo Shita" - 1.78 billion yen 

 2 (new). "Liar X Liar" - 200 million yen

 3 (3). "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train" - 37.7 billion yen

 4 (2). "Detective Conan: The Scarlet Alibi" - 490 million yen

 5 (4). "First Love" - 340 million yen

 6 (5). "Jukaimura" - 440 million yen

 7 (6). "Subarashiki Sekai" - 260 million yen

 8 (new). "Mashin Sentai Kiramager the Movie: Be-Bop Dream"

 9 (8). "Poupelle of Chimney Town" - 2.15 billion yen

 10 (7). "Gintama THE FINAL" - 1.63 billion yen

      "Liar x Liar" trailer:

       Source: Eiga.com, Pixiin

  ©2021 "Liar × Liar" Production Committee © Renjuro Kindaichi/Kodansha

  By: Mikikazu Komatsu

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[sohmariku]

End-of-Year Butai/Musical Ask

So, I was tagged by @allyyyyy0619​, so let’s answer some questions. Honestly, I spend a lot more time on answering these questions than I should have!

Firstly, how did you manage to find out about 2.5D butai/musical? Which butai/musical was your first and your impression of it?

In all honestly, I have trouble remembering, but… I think the very first musical I watched was Rock Musical Bleach. And I don’t mean the 2016 version, I’m talking about the musicals that were in the theater over 10 years ago! I probably stumbled upon it somewhere on youtube. I absolutely loved Bleach around that time, so… yeah, let’s just blame youtube. The first couple Bleach musicals weren’t the best, but for whatever reason I still got hooked on it. Then, since the cast of the original Bleach run is more or less identical to the first Seigaku cast, I discovered Tenimyu… despite a previous negative experience with the anime, I decided to give the musicals a try.

This is actually a funny story, I wonder If I ever told anyone about this. The whole reason I learned about the Prince of Tennis anime series is… BECAUSE I COULDN’T REMEMBER THE NAME OF AN AMERICAN TV SHOW PROPERLY! My friend was hooked on some show and I was planning to watch it too and tried to find it online. At this moment I’m still unsure what show I tried to find, but I happened to be looking for “Prince of Tenis”… Anyway, I watched the first episode, didn’t like it and dropped the series. The Prince of Tennis musicals really quickly grew on me though, so I gave the anime another try later. I concluded the first episode was just crap and the rest of the series was rather awesome!

And that’s how I ended up in the world of 2.5D and couldn’t leave anymore… at least, that’s how I remember it…

Who was your first favourite 2.5D actor/actress? Why?

Um, Nagayama Takashi I suppose? I really like(d) Hitsugaya as a character, so the moment I started watching the musical I was already biased towards him, but also really did a good job! Then, Kikumaru also basically became my favorite Tenipuri character, so… Nagayama Takashi it is! And probably Kimeru, because Fuji was my second favorite Tenipuri character and god, that guy knows how to sing! Although I can’t actually call myself a fan of either anymore, I’m always happy to see Kimeru on stage. His voice is still as amazing as ever!

However, if we start talking about the first actor I actually liked enough to start buying merchandise it was probably Aiba Hiroki? (I’m not sure why, I just liked him…) Then came Furukawa Yuta (I loved his voice!) and after that Sasaki Yoshihide (he can sing, he can dance, he’s adorable!) …all of this happened quite a long time ago. While it’s a bit harder (let’s say, impossible) to say for the others, I can still remember the exact moment I completely fell for Sasaki Yoshihide… (Have I ever told that story?)

Top 3 (or more) favourite butai of the year?

Wait, you’re expecting me to remember everything I’ve seen this year? And even rank them? Um, let me just list down a couple of plays I remember watching this year and enjoying!

So, in no particular order: Stage Play Touken Ranbu (Moeyuru Honnouji Saien, Akatsuki no Dokuganryu, Kono Yora no Odawara), Rengoku ni Warau, Noragami (Kami to Negai), Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau, Present5 (All), CHaCK-UP (+ Episode.0), Yowamushi pedal (Everything up to “The Winner”), Live Spectacle Naruto (2015/2016), Tokyo Ghoul (2017), Ensemble stars (on Stage / Judge of Knights). (Note: this is not a complete list of everything I’ve seen. It’s a list of plays I remember thoroughly enjoying. Not saying I didn’t enjoy those other plays, just saying I enjoyed these more in comparison.)

All right, let me attempt a bit of a ranking.

1) Stage Play Touken Ranbu -Moeyuru Honnouji- (Saien) Shiina Taizo made me fall in love with Fudo Yukimitsu. You can say whatever you want, but having Fudo/Taizo in this play is probably the reason I’m ranking it first. Well, I guess it’s actually the entire cast & staff that earned this play a No.1 spot. (I probably prefer (the cast of) the original run btw.)

2) Stage Play Touken Ranbu - Akatsuki no Dokuganryu- And this play comes at No.2, because I can still remember how extremely excited I felt when I left the theater after watching it. This play was great! The Date swords kind of grew on me, and my love for Yamanbagiri and Sayo only deepened!

3) Stage Play Touken Ranbu -Kono Yora no Odawara- Can I list this? I know it’s super short, but… the story was just super cute! I’m totally in love with Sayo and Yamanbagiri and having them and Hasebe being the focus of the story just…! These boys are too amazing!

4) CHaCK-UP (Episode.0) I’m not entirely sure why I’m putting this on No.4, but it probably has something to do with the absolute ridiculousness of this play. (This is a play, right?) I haven’t quite seen all of this “series”, but I’ve seen enough to think it’s absolutely hilarious. Whenever I have money available, I guess I’ll check out what else DMM has available for rent…　

5) Rengoku ni Warau / Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau No.5 is a tie. Both series are up here, because these plays did give me an urge to actually look into the series behind them. Currently gathering all the Rengoku ni Warau manga volumes & following the Kujira no Kora wa Sajo ni utau anime series. And yes, the plays were pretty great too!

Top 3 (or more) least favourite butai of the year?

No ranking, but since I feel like I have to name some, I’d say Patalliro and Rusted Armors. Patalliro is a great play, absolutely! But I’m not familiar enough with the series to be super excited about it, nor did it give me the urge to look into the series. (And yet I did enjoy it enough to accept a friend’s request to subtitle it.) Rusted Armor was pretty good too, I loved the costumes & acting! It’s just, I still have trouble understanding the story (I watched it when I was super tired, so I missed half of what was going on), hence it’s among my least favorites of this year. Once I find some time to watch it again and possibly understand the story better, its rank might change. Really, what I mostly remember is Teruma’s ridiculous outfit, yet amazing vocals! Wait, they were all singing…? Why the heck do they call this a stage play! It’s a fricking musical!

Top 3 (or more) favourite musical of the year?

Did I mention I’m terrible at rankings? So, again… some musical I enjoyed in no particular order: Ultra Musical Bakumatsu Rock (Kurofune Raiko, Climax live), Musical Touken Ranbu (Mihotose no Komoriuta, Tsuwamonodomo ga yume no ato, Shinken Ranbu Sai 2017), Rock Musical Bleach 2016, Namashitsuji (Noah’s Arc Circus), Datsugoku Kageki Nanabaka, Saiyuki Kagekiden (Burial, Reload) , Tenimyu (Hyotei Team Live, Dream Live 2017, Seigaku/Rokkaku Team Party) (Note: this is not a complete list of everything I’ve seen. It’s a list of musicals I remember thoroughly enjoying. Not saying I didn’t enjoy those other musicals, just saying I enjoyed these more in comparison.)

Good, and if I attempt a ranking:

1) Musical Touken Ranbu -Mihotose no Komoriuta- First I had some doubts about this cast, so many unfamiliar names and characters I hardly know, but god… I fell in love with all these guys! Watching it in the theater was just absolutely amazing! Yes, I think Team Mihotose may be my favorite at this moment! The character dynamics are just really great. (Thank you Mokkun/Sengo Muramasa!)

2)      …

 Good, this isn’t working! I can’t seem to rank the musicals!

 Top 3 (or more) least favourite musical of the year?

Yeah, a ranking is not happening… If I have to call out some musicals as my least favorite of this year, it would be Live Spectacle Naruto -Akatsuki no shirabe-  and Musical Hakuoki -Sano-hen- at this moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Live Spectacle Naruto! Unfortunately, from my seat in the theater most of the projections didn’t line up, so I haven’t had a chance to enjoy this musical in it’s full glory. (I’m calling it a musical btw. Too many songs to call it a play!) And there is still the pacing of the play that slightly bothers me. But I really hope to watch it again some time. So, if anyone has the DVD or BD and is willing to share a rip with me… (Please?)

Musical Hakuoki -Sano-hen- is here, because no matter how much I love that cast, there is just something about the pacing or the way the story is told that doesn’t work for me. It’s not just this musical, I’ve had it with more of them. Somehow this musical series just doesn’t work for me, even though the cast is amazing. (I think I mentioned before sometime that I can only seem to enjoy Reimeiroku…)

 Top 3 (or more) favourite actors/actress of the year?

Not another ranking! I’m terrible at rankings!

Sasaki Yoshihide Yeah, after all this time I guess Hide is still my No.1

Sakiyama Tsubasa This guys is too adorable! I love how he can be serious, but is super immature at the same time.

Aramaki Yoshihiko He is too adorable (too)! How can a guy be that cute!?

Shiina Taizo / Suzuki Hiroki I can’t chose, so I just put them down on a shared No.4. They are both just amazing!

Ota Motohiro His Sengo Muramasa was probably my favorite thing of this year! He went beyond all my expectations of what Sengo could be!

 Top 3 (or more) rookie actors/rising actors whom you’ve high hopes for in the future?

Um, I honestly don’t know who we would still call rookie actors and who aren’t. Really, pretty much any actor that wasn’t part of Tenimyu season one still counts as a rookie for me… So, I’ll just be listing a couple actors I hope to see more of in the future…

Sato Ryuji All right, he’s like super popular already, I know. But his rise in fame went pretty quick. I’m really interested to see if he can keep this up or not. Of course, I hope he’ll do good!

Sakiyama Tsubasa After taking on the role of captain in Mihotose, his popularity appears to be on the rise too. Since I’ve come to like him quite a bit, I’m really interested to see what he can do from here on.

Ohira Shunya Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I have this feeling that Shunya’s been improving incredibly in a short amount of time, especially in his vocals. And I really feel he’s gaining more and more popularity. Aside from that, I think he’s adorable, so yes, I hope he’ll keep rising and improving!

Aramaki Yoshihiko This guy is too adorable and I hope he’ll be able to stick around for a while in the 2.5D business!

 Top 3 (or more) favourite butai/musical related drama/movie of the year?

I very much feel like I haven’t really watched any related drama or movies…

Yowamushi Pedal drama (1st season)…? I think it may have been last year that I watched this one actually? Pretty much watched it, just because… Well, I guess I knew a couple of the actors in it… hadn’t seen the musicals yet.

So for this year, I’ve seen half of FIVE… pretty much started watching it, because everyone was talking about it (Well, about Sato Ryuji and Kuroba Mario being part of the cast), but then couldn’t find time to watch the second half…

And, I kind of started watching the anime of Sengoku Night Blood (ah, they’re turning it in a play, aren’t they?), because of some familiar names in the voice actor cast… aka, Sasaki Yoshihide, Kitamura Ryo and Aramaki Yoshihiko) I haven’t watched more than 2-3 episodes at this moment though, because storywise it’s not extremely captivating (yet)…

Um, yes… that wasn’t a top 3 or anything, just me randomly mentioning what I’ve seen…

Top 3 (or more) actors/actress that you think have the best singing voice?

Um, you’re asking for a top 3? I doubt I could give you a top 10! There are many, many amazing singers to be found in the 2.5D world! So, I’m just randomly going to throw out some names here, all right?

Itokawa Yojiro, holy shit that guy just blew me away with his vocal performance during the Bakumatsu Rock climax live!

Kimeru, he’s been doing amazing ever since Tenimyu.

Spi, all I’ve heard him sing in Toumyu was flawless! This guy’s voice is incredible!

Teruma, recently I noticed how amazing he has become! Really!

Sasaki Yoshihide, he isn’t always quite flawless, but I’m biased! And he does have an amazing voice!

Ogoe Yuki, he’s good! He’s really good!

Sato Ryuji, he’s good and he’s still improving! He’s amazing!

Ohira Shunya, surpise!? No, this kid can really sing well if you feed him the right song!

Ota Motohiro, he’s not quite flawless, but I remember being quite impressed by his Mihotose no Komoriuta performance.

Sakiyama Tsubasa, yes, he’s not flawless on stage, but given the right song he sounds absolute

....

  Yeah, shall I just stop here? Even though I could probably go on for a while…

A (or more) butai/musical that you didn’t initially love, but has/have grown on you?

I think that would be Present5. I took quite some effort to make it through the first play and it took me a long, long time to attempt watching the other plays. But, somehow these guys grew on my and I eventually really enjoyed watching all of them!

Top 3 (or more) anime/manga/game that you would love to see being adapted into a butai/musical in the future?

I’m very much afraid that I’m the type who starts looking up the original source after she’s seen the play… So, I’m a little out of materials I’d like to see adapted, since they are already adapted…

 Top 3 (or more) favourite fandom on the year?

 Musical Touken Ranbu

Stage Play Touken Ranbu

…

For this whole year I would say that Toumyu and Tousute are basically the only fandoms I’ve really been in. Yes, I’ve seen some Tenimyu, I’ve seen some Namashitsuji, I’ve seen a lot… but, I don’t really count myself as an active member of those fandoms, I’m just passing by… and moving on and sometimes coming back…

How long have you been in the 2.5D fandom?

I’ve been in the 2.5D fandom for nearly 10 years now… (I’ve been part of this fandom from since before we started calling it 2.5D! I think it was early 2008 that I fell down the rabbit hole…) Yes, that’s a really long time! First all the actors were nearly 10 years older than me, now they are suddenly 10 years younger than me! (I’m looking at you, Miura Hiroki! How are you that young!)

Never imagined all those years ago I’d become so obsessed with this I’d still be here after such a long time.

Lastly, what is your overall opinion of the 2.5D fandom so far?

After all these years I can say the 2.5D community is probably one of the most friendly and peaceful I’ve ever seen. This is possibly the case, since all the fights and wars take place in the tags of the source materials and don’t make their way into the 2.5D world. There are some occasional stir-ups, but… Yes, so many friendly people who are willing to share the goodies they have. I’m really happy to be part of this place…

I can however see how the community has changed over the years. When we started this fandom was basically a free for all. Since only the very few in Japan had access to the DVDs, once you uploaded something everyone could do with it what they wanted. There weren’t any rules (for as far as I remember) and barely any watermarks. But yes, with the 2.5D producers slowly turning their eyes outside Asia, I suppose it’s only a given that we thread with a little more caution now. After all, we want them to make it easier for us to watch all the goodness, not make it harder! (Come on, remove the region block from those online streaming services already! I don’t want to be stuck with a VPN forever!)

Anyway, I really hope this community will stay like this for many, many years to come!

#2.5D BUTAI/MUSICAL ASK

[prismstonearchives]

シューティングミルキー - Shooting Milky Coord

#pripara #puri para #pri para #prism paradise #fortune party #pop #rare #shooting milky #shooting #dream theater 2017 time volume 1 collection #coords #coord #mod favs #do i make the joke about the name or......................

[mariecaeciliablog]

Starting Take #3

Brief: New/reinvented /new design output with aspect of your Mihimihi

Brainstorming design element of mihimihi aspect

Research 5x examples/precedents at least one video in architecture/sculpture/stages/illustration/theater stages/music videos/concerts/retail spaces- focus on experience- narrative in space- how is The form/ what is the context and how is form with context related? Provide in depth notes and analysis

5x possible concepts representing the essence of the idea

Brainstorming:

Mihimihi aspect: Mental Health

Emotional qualities:

overwhelming

dwelling in past

obsessive

desire to escape

longing for peace

desire to control/plan in order to take over

anger/frustration/sorrow

finding coping mechanism- healthy ones- unhealthy ones

lacking understanding- from people or yourself

Physical qualities:

accumulation

perspektive is blurry

a moment of overwhelming infinity

creating a space which seems endless

repetitive

Spatial qualities:

overwhelming space and pace

repetitive elements

loud and quiet parts

no ability to focus/ mind is obsessed

illogical

in relation to the site:

plenty of people moving through the site

Conclusion: I want to design a site where I recreate the emotions/thoughts of people who struggle with mental health issues. So that the people who pass through the site experience and gain an understanding 

5x examples/precedents:

Yayoi Kusama

Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli’s Field

(“ Yayoi Kusama - Louisiana Museum of Modern Art” ARTSY, 2018, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirror-room-phallis-field-floor-show)

Infinity Mirror Room - Phalli’s Field is a room in a room= atmosphere: enclosure, containment

stuffed sack covered in polka dots are covering the floor, the walls are lined in in mirrors= repetitive form, ceaselessly

flooring provides three-dimensional surface=Atmosphere: miraculous

the infinite way and has a hallucinatory effect, notions of infinity = unsettling, challenging experience

familiar boundaries (social, physical, psychological) are disabled

spectatorship is becoming one with eternity and is participating/active mode

= contemplations of complexity thematic concerns of similar/not natural defined images

(“Kusama's Self-Obliteration (Jud Yalkut, 1967)”  YouTube, Jujyfruits,  May 6, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6wnhLqJqVE&feature=emb_title)

1967, Yayoi Kusama and Jud Yalkut, film/performance art piece

we watch how Kusama paints everything around her with dots: cats, humans, horses, water, herself,etc.= every conceivable surface

the dot is a universal device and can stand for many things(e.g., the world, community, the whole, the individual, all of us floating becoming one)

using intercuts and superimpositions = hallucinatory effect

extensive use of dissolves 

dissolves of still photographs to create the illusion of movement and time-lapse

Kusama becomes one with her surroundings in the process of painting everything e.g., watch scenes 2.10 - 4.17 = metaphor of giving up identity, abolishing uniqueness, and becoming one with the universe- or “self-obliteration.”

lighting= dim = hard to tell the difference between people, objects, and the environment

people seem entwined with the background of polka dots

Non-narrative film 

fast- and slow-motion sequences, often free-moving camera, zoom-ins and -outs = dreamlike atmosphere 

= everything fuses together, to a whole

(” Adidas - Floria Sigismondi, vimeo, Special Inc Ops, 2013, https://vimeo.com/58136896)

creepy whispering in the dark, different volumes = certain sound make you feel a certain way

dim light

merged, blurred images 

slow and fast sequence

atmosphere = sinister,spooky 

the fast visual language is creating an emotional impact 

(” Marilyn Manson - Tourniquet (Official Music Video), YouTube,  Manson, Marilyn,  Oct 7, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmfQ7gSaJgM&feature=emb_title)

dim light with parts of bright light

multiple storylines becoming one/fast switching = overwhelming atmosphere=  in a way we all have the same rooted fears and dreams – part of that ‘collective unconscious’

blurred out images

unreal images awaken fears

sound is intense/confronting

fast scenery stimulating unconsciousness

(”The secretive siblings creating beautiful, defaced artwork, Portraits of a life” huck,  Flynn, Niall,  18th October 2017, https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/art-2/secretive-siblings-creating-beautiful-defaced-artwork/)

individual portrait with the face blanked out

unconventional norms and forms

breaking rules of form/colour = breaking physical qualities = typical physical experience changes

bright,various colours 

atmosphere: confusing, overwhelming, intense

communicating design through various sections

5x possible concepts representing the essence of this idea: I want to design a site where I recreate the emotions/thoughts of people who struggle with mental health issues. So that the people who pass through the site experience and gain an understanding for it.

Idea 1 - Mirror Room

round room made of mirrors (inside/outside/roof) = seeing your yourself infinitely is overwhelming

hallucinatory drawn pattern on floor= soaking you up

represents people who struggle with their own identity

pattern example:

Mirrors rooms like you can find in a Fair are the inspiration:

Exterior

Plan

Idea 2: Multiple rooms in one

Multiple rooms in one create the feeling of enclosure/containment

I thought of covering the first room completely with mirrors to confront people with their own reflection.

The second room could be covered in pattern which create a hallucinatory effect.

The last room would be painted completely black but the roof would have a small opening. Light in relation to darkness. The darkness is overwhelming and the light is far away/small

represents the program of of mental health decline 

Idea 3

Attaching this simple but uneven linear design on the walls and also hanging in the air achieving a hallucinatory effect

it makes the space feel very long/narrow and mentally exhausting

represents people who struggle with anxiety and how mentally exhausting it is 

Idea 4 - Passage

The round balls are made of mirrors hanging in a painted black room.

The floor is partly made of water which provides another reflection. 

The walkway is covered in an illusionary pattern to create an overwhelming effect.

There is lighting below the water.

No reflection from the walls but the mirror balls reflect light on to the the pattern floor and in to the space 

These mirror balls, reflecting light in to the dark room make it a very busy and overwhelming environment

it represent people who struggle with panic attacks

Idea 5 - Labyrinth

Rows of cubes building a labyrinth. 

The central cube is the only one with an open roof. This means that the complicated way to get there is very dark. It seems impossible at the start of the journey.

it represent the journey of people who struggle with their mental health issues and the path they have to navigate

[reminiscent-bells]

best-ofs, 2017

putting in a break here, this is real long

best book I read: The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood

It seems trite to pick this in a year where every Tom, Dick, and Harry was comparing the Trump administration to Atwood’s novel and when Amazon was putting on a big-budget adaptation (which, for the record, I have not seen). The effect that this had on me, though, cannot be understated. Sad, wry, and all-too-familiar in places, this is a masterpiece that deserves to be up there with 1984 and the rest of the great nightmares.

honorable mention: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell

I’m not much of a historical fiction person, but this masterfully wrought story of a Dutch clerk and a Japanese midwife in early-1800s Japan is well worth your time.

best comic: Batman, Volume 1: I Am Gotham, Tom King, Mikel Janin, et al.

King and his collaborators’ work on Batman since DC’s most recent relaunch seems to be on a trajectory to match or even surpass the Grant Morrison era in the pre-New 52 era, a reshuffling of the core cast that will pay huge dividends down the line (if DC actually makes a wise long-term decision for once, which, who knows). Despite his tendency to learn a little too hard on certain stylistic tics, I think King might be the best writer working in superhero comics today.

honorable mention: Detective Comics, Volume 1: Rise of the Batmen, James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows, et al.

Yes, two Batman titles in one year is a bit of a cheat, but this is so fun that it’s hard to pick something else. Tynion turned up on a panel discussion on the great comics podcast Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men where he was introduced as the writer of “DC’s new X-Men title, Detective Comics”, which is exactly what this is - a team of misfits and outcasts cobbled together by a reticent, demanding mentor...who in this case is Batman. This is easy to miss out on with all the fireworks over King’s work, but give it a shot.

best comic (non-2017): MIND MGMT, Volume 2: The Futurist, Matt Kindt

Kindt’s work on the beginning of his psychic-X-Files saga MIND MGMT was good, but the second collection reveals it as a ship-in-a-bottle in the middle of a much weirder, wilder museum - there are few volume 2s that build on the success of the first as much as this one does.

honorable mention: BPRD, Volume 3: Plague of Frogs, Mike Mignola, Guy Davis, et al.

The first few collections of this series, following Hellboy’s teammates after he quits the secret BPRD organization, kind of flounder, but Davis and Mignola really hit their stride here with this sequel to an earlier Hellboy story that grows into a hybridization of Mignola’s earlier work and a Stephen King novel.

best movie: Blade Runner 2049

This also feels like kind of a cheat given my love for the original, but there was simply no other movie that had my gears turning after I walked out of the theater like this one did. The plot elements of this, of course, have been speculated on endlessly since Ridley Scott released the Final Cut of the original film, but My Guy Dennis Villeneuve manages to introduce enough new elements and uncertainty in the mix to keep you guessing - I found myself continually questioning what I really knew about anything that had happened or was happening. It was always going to be impossible to make a movie as good as Blade Runner, but Villeneuve came closer than anyone could dare.

honorable mention: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I have my misgivings about the Finn and Poe portions of this, which feel like they mishandled the two more than a little, but the Rey/Luke Skywalker storyline is, as a whole, a barn-burner, building on both Rey and Luke’s characters in extremely satisfying ways. It was easy to imagine where they might go from Rey and Luke on the island at the end of The Force Awakens, but I don’t know if I imagined they’d go here, which is what makes this so great.

best album: I See You, The xx

I gave this a pretty casual listen on Spotify when it came out as I was kind of a marginal xx fan - I enjoyed their first album but didn’t really care for Coexist. I was totally blown away and listened to it all the way through several times (this is something I rarely, if ever, do with big pop/pop-ish releases). Virtually every track on here except for the extremely forgettable closer is perfectly performed and produced, from the playful, somewhat taunting “Dangerous” to the self-doubt-as-anthem “On Hold”. Should go down as their best album to date.

honorable mentions: Piety of Ashes, The Flashbulb / Sleep Well, Beast, The National

I couldn’t decide between these two, so here’s a twofer for you. Benn Jordan’s style as The Flashbulb has shifted along a spectrum of sweet spots between acoustic music and electronic music, and he seems to have somehow found the sweetest one yet in Piety of Ashes, which alternates between intimate material you might have expected on Arboreal or Love as a Dark Hallway (”Starlight”, “Goodbye Bastion”) and big, broad electronic pieces that feel like Jordan uncovered something he could always do that was just off-camera (”Hypothesis”, “As Water”).

When I first heard Sleep Well, Beast my comment to a coworker was “I only like some of it now, but I think I’ll like it more as time goes on”. This was a rare example of me actually showing some predictive ability, because this has really grown on me with time (maybe its intent as commentary on life in the Trump world as something to do with this). Highlights are the sad, sweet “Nobody Else Will Be There”, also-sad-and-sweet, but in a different way “Carin at the Liquor Store”, and the driving dark heart of the entire thing, “The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness”, which has been a constant play for me this fall/winter.

best TV show: Twin Peaks/Twin Peaks: The Return

A triumph for David Lynch and Mark Frost in every sense of the word. The era of “prestige TV” feels like a cheap trick by HBO, AMC, et al. to get us to watch the same old stuff with a slightly higher budget after 18 hours(!!!!!) in, around, and beyond (and I mean beyond) Lynch’s little town in the Pacific Northwest. Kyle MacLachlan deserves about 400 awards for his triple (quadruple?) role here.

honorable mention: Mr. Robot

I think Sam Esmail failed to stick the landing again (I wasn’t a fan of season 2), but the earlier parts of this season are maybe the highest highs the show has ever hit - Elliott and Mr. Robot fighting over his body in the bowels of the ECorp fortress from the end of season 2, Darlene struggling to extricate herself from the FBI, and the terrifying-yet-awe-inspiring scene of Angela laying out her plans to Mr. Robot as New York comes back to life at the end of the first episode. This isn’t always the best show, but boy, can it ever be good.

best video game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

This is to video games as Lynch’s third season of Twin Peaks was to television: a throwing of the gauntlet to every competitor to dare and match this. Where other games would put physics puzzles in their own little sandboxes, BOTW applies its physics to just about everything and lets you see how far your tools can take you. Where other games would put everything on the map in perfectly zoomable, filterable control for you, BOTW challenges you to build the map yourself and actually get out there and explore. I’ve gone back to this in the harder Master Mode with the release of the last DLC, and there’s still nothing that can touch this. This is destined to be a touchstone for decades to come.

honorable mentions: The Talos Principle/Batman: The Telltale Series

The Talos Principle is everything I wanted The Witness to be that The Witness wasn’t: thoughtful without being heavy, clever without being impossible (well, mostly not impossible, there are a few of those puzzles I don’t think I could have cracked on my own). The writing is sharp as a tack, featuring a variety of philosophical discussions between your character and a whip-smart AI. A really excellent puzzler.

Batman: The Telltale Series marks yet another appearance of the Batman on this list, but what an appearance! Telltale throws out several sacred cows of the Batman behemoth, but instead of making something malformed and uninteresting, it feels like the freshest Batman has been in ages. I eagerly await every new episode of this, because I never know where they will go next.

best podcast: Important If True

This is yet another “feels like I cheated” entry, but the Idle Thumbs guys’ work on Important If True deserves to be recognized. They could have simply recycled the Robot News segments from Idle Thumbs for this, but instead they went for something much wilder, taking people’s advice on what wishes to ask for from a genie, going through breakdown procedures for old Chuck E. Cheese competitor restaurants, and speculating on a Jessica Fletcher vs. Jaws matchup (as in the shark). The most wildly funny podcast going now. Recommended episodes: “Fight Garbage With Garbage”, “Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins”, “A Wish Upon a Star”

honorable mention: Waypoint Radio

With the Idle Thumbs guys winding down to a monthly schedule (sorta), Vice’s Waypoint staff’s podcast has readily stepped into the hole left behind by the Thumbs for regular doses of industry coverage. It’s great to see Danielle Riendeau and Rob Zacny getting more exposure outside of the Thumbs ecosystem, and Austin Walker, Patrick Klepek, and Danika Harrod are this sort of perfect perpetual motion machine at the heart of everything. Recommended episodes: “The Orange Casket”, “R.I.P. A.I.M.”, “Someone Explain To Me The Alien Alloys Before I F'ing Explode”

#best-of #2017

[dippedanddripped]

Ralph Lauren once said, "I don't design clothes, I design dreams," according to GQ magazine. But at retail, clothes have become the stuff of nightmares.

"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 1977 U.S. Households spent 6.2% on apparel and in 2017 that declined to 3.1% spending on apparel in U.S. Households," Shawn Grain Carter, professor of fashion business management at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told Retail Dive in an email. "That is a 50% drop over four decades."

And it's taking a toll.

Oct 23 - Register Now So far this year, 10 of the 16 major retail bankruptcies were filed by companies that mostly or exclusively sell apparel and/or footwear: Forever 21, Avenue, A'gaci, Barneys New York, Charming Charlie, Diesel USA, Payless ShoeSource, FullBeauty Brands, Charlotte Russe and Gymboree. Another, Shopko, was a discount department store with an assortment that included clothes.

Things are not likely to end there. In its latest analysis of CreditRiskMonitor data, Retail Dive found 28 retailers that could go bankrupt in the next year — and half sell apparel. In the worse-off list, which includes businesses with a 9.99% to 50% chance of filing for bankruptcy (a FRISK score of 1) — three are specialty apparel retailers: Christopher & Banks, Destination Maternity and J. Crew. A fourth, Ascena, is a conglomerate running five apparel brands after recently dumping two. It's reportedly contemplating also dropping its plus-size brands. Executives there recently assured analysts that bankruptcy is not a consideration, however.

In addition to those retailers, department stores J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus also make the list. A seventh, Bluestem, is also a conglomerate with a portfolio of e-commerce brands somewhat less dominated by apparel.

Seven more apparel retailers have a 4% to 9.99% chance of filing for bankruptcy (a FRISK score of 2). They include RTW Retailwinds (a portfolio of brands formerly known as New York & Co), Tailored Brands (which runs Men's Wearhouse and JoS. A. Bank), Express, Francesca's and J. Jill, plus department stores Hudson's Bay Co. and Stein Mart.

"It is unsurprising that apparel stores are one of the most distressed parts of retail. This sector is saturated with supply and is arguably over-stored."

Neil Saunders

Managing Director, GlobalData Retail

The situation is at once stark and logical, considering the state of the market. Globally, the top dozen apparel retailers, on average, saw earnings downgrades of nearly 40% since 2016, according to a note from Morgan Stanley Friday, where analysts said the "online channel shift is clearly unhelpful, but it doesn't fully explain the malaise." For two decades, falling apparel prices were offset by growing volumes, but those "now seem to have peaked and prices are likely to keep falling, so clothing markets would appear to be going into structural decline."

Apparel retail, which has to keep up with the fickleness of consumer taste, has long been a tough business, according to GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders. But that's just the beginning.

"It is unsurprising that apparel stores are one of the most distressed parts of retail. This sector is saturated with supply and is arguably over-stored," he told Retail Dive in an email. "Online has been unhelpful too as it has eroded margins somewhat and has also contributed to the issues of over-supply. On the periphery there are a number of emerging trends which are adding pressure, including the rise of rental and resale – both of which are mostly focused on clothing. Put all of this together and it's a recipe for a difficult sector."

In other words: Apparel retail is under siege on multiple fronts.

New consumer priorities Financial roadbumps stymying consumers outside of top-tier incomes are forcing some to prioritize, and that's pushing apparel far down on many lists. Average spending on women and girls' apparel has especially declined for lower-income earners, with the "only bright spot" in footwear, where share in apparel expenditure has risen across income levels, according to a Deloitte report last year. More recently, rising consumer debt, including record levels of student loans shouldered by younger consumers, is chipping away at discretionary spending.

But apparel spending declines are broad-based as priorities shift, according to Carter and others. "Apparel has lost market share to higher spending on experiences," she said, including a diverse set of activities like fitness, self-care like spas and manicures, sports (both participation and entertainment), other entertainment including streaming services of all types, restaurants, travel and electronics.

"The Boomers characteristically consume less apparel as they get older and their offspring are burdened with crushing student loan debt, generally rising prices in the consumer space and a very glaring lack of new and interesting apparel and accessory products."

Mark Cohen

Retail Studies Professor, Columbia University Business School

Mark Cohen, Columbia University Business School retail studies professor, likewise believes that "consumer electronics and the services that go with them with regard to ever more consuming technology continues to eat up the consumer's available disposable income," but notes other forces at play.

"The Boomers characteristically consume less apparel as they get older and their offspring are burdened with crushing student loan debt, generally rising prices in the consumer space and a very glaring lack of new and interesting apparel and accessory products to draw their attention," he told Retail Dive in an email. "Some appear to be gob smacked with the opportunity to 'rent' things rather than buy them — though this trend may very well turn out to be short lived just like the ubiquitous Gilt Flash Sale."

For younger shoppers, as they choose which apparel brands do get their attention, sustainability and other cultural issues are often at the forefront, according to Carter. Forever 21, for one, in contrast to at least nominal efforts by rival H&M, ignored that, to its peril, Carter said.

No fashion heroes The "glaring lack" of newness noticed by Cohen could be a reflection of a new fashion reality — that consumers themselves are dictating what to wear, gleaning clues from social media and seeking advice from influencers there who include their own friends.

"The tastemakers of fashion used to be the designer, fashion editor, fashion buyer and celebrity," said FIT's Carter. "Today, however, social media influencers, peers, and stylists have replaced the role of fashion sages for consumers to purchase apparel, footwear, and accessories. Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms dictate how one should dress for Gen Z and Millennials. Besides, they don't shop in a mall or socialize in retail stores as did previous generations of youth."

"To be a merchant right now in apparel, that's a hard job. To work at The RealReal is so much easier than turning around J. Crew."

Lee Peterson

EVP, Thought Leadership & Marketing, WD Partners

That grassroots approach to fashion is making it difficult for merchandisers, at least those building seasonal lines from scratch, according to Lee Peterson, executive vice president of thought leadership and marketing at WD Partners. Resale businesses like ThredUp and The RealReal are better positioned than traditional retailers because of the way consumers mix and match styles, brands and price points, he said in an interview.

"You can't merchandise the way the customers buy now. I feel sorry for anyone working for Ascena and those guys putting together a line," he said. "To be a merchant right now in apparel, that's a hard job. To work at The RealReal is so much easier than turning around J. Crew. And to be a buyer there is easier, too, because you're treasure hunting for all your treasure-hunting customers."

Another reality pressuring sales is that nobody needs as many clothes as they once did, say Carter and Peterson. Peterson noted that, even as an executive, he was wearing a flannel shirt and Vans on a Thursday.

"No 'career wear' or business wardrobe is necessary anymore since the beginning of the 1990s era of 'Friday Casual' morphed into everyday 'Business Casual' at the majority of companies, schools, service industries and banks in America," Carter said. "One need only trace the rise of wearing sneakers to one's office, college, opera house, theater, church or temple to see that consumers see no value in 'dressing for work' vs. dressing for leisure. Even Goldman Sachs has suspended the Tie and Suit rule once and for all!"

Too much supply So, consumers can't spend as much on apparel as they once did, would rather buy other things and don't need as many clothes. Yet there's a glut of apparel for sale, and, increasingly, for rent.

"Thirty years ago the apparel and related accessories business were booming. The department stores couldn't wait to jettison lesser margin businesses like housewares, home and electronics so as to devote more selling space to soft lines," Columbia's Cohen said. "But apparel and accessories like most individual consumer segments are cyclical in the way they perform. What was the ever rising tide is no longer."

It doesn't help that the traditional mall, which functioned well for suburban Americans for decades, is now a fairly inconvenient way to shop in an era when most households need two wage-earners, both pressed for time, and when so many things can be bought online. That's leading retailers as diverse as Gap and GNC to leave those locations to set up shop in strip malls and invest in e-commerce instead.

"Now the remaining department stores have too many physical stores in the face of the explosion of commerce and too much square footage devoted to off-trend apparel and accessories," said Cohen, who has decades of experience at retailers like Sears and Target. "Some of us balked at this short-sighted thinking of the past but we lost the argument and now the chickens have come home to roost. There obviously was a ridiculous over-investment in apparel and accessory specialty retail, largely based upon an increasingly large number of now superfluous malls."

Macy's is exhibit one, as a retailer that has scrambled in recent years to unwind its massive brick-and-mortar expansion of more than a decade ago, but it's not just a department store problem. Forever 21 also over-built its fleet, too often in sub-standard centers, and now plans to close 178 stores in the U.S. alone.

A giant retreat While it's easy to see how e-commerce undercuts store traffic and sales, the apparel over-supply extends online. In fact, Walmart's recent loss of appetite for running its newly acquired pure-players could have something to do with the fact that they are apparel businesses. In a stunning retreat, the retail giant sold its ModCloth apparel brand and is reportedly shrinking the Bonobos menswear operation, not long after buying them.

"Against this backdrop, Walmart will be cautious about getting too deeply into apparel. At heart, Walmart isn't a fashion focused player; their primary business model is a volume play based on everyday products sold at low prices," Saunders said. "As such, the company has determined that ModCloth, and possibly Bonobos, are not a good long-term fit. This is especially so given the challenge of bringing these divisions into strong profitable territory."

Walmart in recent years grabbed those businesses, along with outdoor apparel retailer Moosejaw, to glean knowledge and is likely now ready to graduate, according to Saunders.

"Having extracted what they needed, Walmart is changing tack and is focusing more on their core e-commerce business via Walmart.com," he said. "Walmart sees its future in fashion as improving its own offer via stores and online, doing selective things in specialist areas like plus size, and partnering with other brands via its marketplace. That makes sense as it allows Walmart.com to widen its fashion appeal without Walmart taking on too much of the risk. It's a nimbler and likely more profitable model."

More nimble and more profitable: suitable, if difficult, goals for the entire apparel industry at the moment.

#The 'retail apocalypse' is an apparel apocalypse #retailers #fashion blog

[beatdisc]

STOCK UPDATE

Listed below you will find all the NEW VINYL PRODUCT that has arrived in the past 7 days.

Alternatively, if you'd like to browse our entire stock lists, we've just updated them this morning. Click the image above for full lists of every piece of vinyl, CD & cassette currently in-store. Call us on [phone] or email us at [email protected] if you'd like to place an order for anything.

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[halloweendailynews]

John Carpenter is developing a new Halloween-themed anthology series for the Syfy network based on his Tales for a HalloweeNight graphic novel compilations.

Variety reports that Carpenter has signed an overall deal with Universal Cable Productions (UCP), under which he will executive produce scripted programming with UCP for the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment portfolio, as well as for external networks and streaming services, along with his producing partner and wife, Sandy King, under their Storm King Productions banner.

UCP and Carpenter are already in development on Tales for a Halloween Night for Syfy. Based on Carpenter’s award-winning graphic novel anthology of stories, the series brings together storytellers from the worlds of movies, novels, and comics for a collection of horror stories featuring graveyards, sunken ships, and all the things that go bump in the night. A search for a writer is underway.

Additionally, UCP and Carpenter are developing Nightside, based on the literary series by New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green, with Scream TV series co-creator Jill Blotevogel attached to write the script. In the series, Nightside is the secret heart of London where creatures of the night congregate.

“John Carpenter is an incredible creator whose dark imagination has left an indelible mark in film and in our dreams,” said Dawn Olmstead, executive vice president of development at UCP. “We are thrilled to have a master of the horror genre join UCP.”

“I’m excited to partner with Universal Cable Productions on this venture into television,” Carpenter said. “On one hand it’s a return home to Universal where I have fond memories, and on the other it’s a step into the future with great new creative partners in programming.”

Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3 will be released on October 10.

John Carpenter is also currently overseeing the rebirth of Michael Myers as executive producer of the new Halloween movie, scheduled to arrive in theaters on Oct. 19, 2018.

Check out the official cover art by Tim Bradstreet, as well as a preview panel by Richard P. Clark, for John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3 below!

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John Carpenter’s ‘Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3’ cover by Tim Bradstreet.

John Carpenter’s ‘Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3’ preview by Richard P. Clark.

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For more Halloween news, follow @HalloweenDaily.

John Carpenter's 'Tales for a Halloween Night' Coming To TV! @Syfy @TheHorrorMaster @StormKingSKC John Carpenter is developing a new Halloween-themed anthology series for the Syfy network based on his 

#John Carpenter #Tales for a Halloween Night #Tales for a HalloweeNight