#lo fi thursday

[fakeplasticmusic]

On Your Own - Blur

#on your own #blur #blur album #self titled album #alternative rock #lo fi #experimental rock #1997 #tbt #tbthursday #throwback thursday #throwbackthursday #Spotify

[theresattrpgforthat]

I found a goth speakeasy/coffee shop by my school that does a Thursday tabletop night where you can bring and run your own games and I was wondering if you had any recommendations for games you'd feel comfterble running with a table of strangers / mostly strangers? Thank you!!

THEME: Games to Run with Strangers.

Hello friend, fall comes upon us and I finally get around to answering your ask. Thank you so much for your patience! I’d definitely recommend bringing some safety tools to any of these games, since you’re playing them with strangers. That being said, I tried to pick games that were easy to pick up and quick to learn considering you’d probably want each session to be a standalone one.

I often run games with groups of people who don't know each-other beforehand, and I'd recommend allowing silliness to blossom when possible, even if you're running a spooky game. Let’s see what we can find!

Wizardry and Bureaucracy, by Oh Little Moth.

You are a member of the National Parks Service. You and your team would do just about anything to protect your national park. Also, you’re wizards. But all the magic in the world can’t save you from the slog of paperwork you have to endure as a civil servant. Your mission is to preserve your park and all creatures living in it, promote a love of nature and the environment, and also keep park visitors from seeing through the curtain separating the magical from the mundane.

Like most Lasers and Feelings games, this has quite a bit packed into one page. Easy character generation, a standard list of gear, an introduction where you collaboratively design your park, and the classic Lasers and Feelings mechanic that makes you automatically better at one thing and worse at another. The game is also set up to be raucously silly. This game includes the very good piece of GM advice that I adore for improv: ask questions and build on the answers. You don’t have to come up with the entire story yourself! Give your players the chance to tell you how exactly magic interacts with the local National Park.

The Children of Saturn, by Dan John Crowler.

The people of Petrikstein are tormented by a blood craving beast prowling the night. Players take the roles of parish appointed investigators on a mission to find and slay this alleged Vampyr, before it claims even more lives. Will they be able to find out the truth in web of lies, myths, and fear fueled superstitions? Play to find out!

The Children of Saturn is a neat little game that combines the Keys mechanic from John Harper’s Lady Blackbird with the graded 2d6 roll of Powered by the Apocalypse. You can accumulate dice to roll depending on whether the action in question is in line with your character, and failure increases the chances of success the next time you roll. The characters are pre-made to some extent, but the players will be able to make them unique through names, descriptions, and how they decide to role-play. This game also come with a small hex map for your characters to explore - and everything fits on one page! If you want something spooky and quick to prep, this is definitely worth checking out.

2400, by Jason Tocci.

2400 is lo-fi sci-fi. It’s centuries in the future, and it’s a decades-old modem that screams like a dying robot when it connects to the net. It’s a space ship with an FTL drive, artificial gravity, and a flickering display you gotta tap a few times to see the jump coordinates. It’s hacking something together with whatever cheap materials you have on hand, ignoring the rules until you need them, banging out something that might not sound finished, but definitely sounds fun.

The 2400 system is a stripped-down ruleset inspired by the OSR that has been used to create a number of hacks in different settings. Every time I’ve run a 24XX game, the session lasted about 2 hours, so it definitely has the ability to play quick. The original page for 2400 currently has over 20 different settings to choose from, so if one of them really hits off, you could come back with a different setting each week for your friends to play through!

The Great Soul Train Robbery, by Cloven Pine Games.

On the road to hell there was a railway line. An express train to the infernal city of Dis, crewed by furies and carrying treasure and souls to damnation. You’re going to rob it.

The Great Soul Train Robbery is a tabletop roleplaying game for 2–6 players and 1 gamemaster about Desperados robbing the train to Hell. Spin an allegorical Weird Western yarn as your sharpshooters, fiddlers, homesteader widows, and other Desperados attempt a Hellish train heist. Will you claim your prize from the train, or be overcome, damned, or broken by the heist?

This is probably the biggest Honey Heist - inspired game that I’ve seen to date. It’s a solid pitch, with very little background needed in order for your players to grasp what exactly it is they’re doing. If players aren’t sure what kind of character they want to make, all of the options have d6 roll tables to give your group a goal, your train some complications, and your character a name and a special item. There’s quite a few pages of GM advice in this, which is probably a big boon to anyone running the game, as it allows you to construct a more complex train than what you might have created out of the top of your head. I’d probably even just steal the train construction section to use for other similar games!

Hold Your Own, by Sharkbomb Studios.

It's a time and place, not unlike the one that you, the players, grew up in. A dark mirror of the decade of your youth.  You play as a group of friends at the cusp of adolescence and life is hard. You're unpopular and unwanted. All you've got is each other.

But it comes worse: A strange menace threatens to devour everyone you know. And nobody wants to believe you, not the teachers, not the parents. It looks like it's up to you to save your home.

Fans of It and Stranger Things will probably like this game. This game uses small dice pools and four basic stats. You’ll be facing off against an antagonist called the Menace, a threat that the rest of the community believes doesn’t exist. The Menace will always be strong enough to provide a challenge, and as you play, you’ll learn more and more about what it is exactly that you’re fighting against. This is a great game for fans of suspense, and it’s also small enough to learn it within the few hours that you’d have at a coffee shop.

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

Something is Wrong with the Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Koboldly Go, by CoffeeSnake Studios.

Faewater, by A Smouldering Lighthouse.

The Station, by pidj.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #games for strangers #quick games

[thevioletcaptain]

So I've been quiet on here a lot longer than planned.

The reasons are many. The reasons are varied.

The reasons are mostly fucking horrible.

Under a cut because it's long. Check tags for content warnings.

First was the expected absence: my parents came to visit me in Los Angeles over my birthday, so I spent the first half of October showing them around whenever I wasn't working a shift at my shitty department store day-job, or in class at UCLA.

Then, almost immediately after they went back to Australia, I got a second job working as a personal assistant for a composer. This was (and is) an extremely fun and rewarding job, but meant having one more thing on my weekly schedule, which was an adjustment.

Given that until halfway through last year, I'd been out of work since I immigrated in 2019, it took a while for me to get used to having so many concurrent responsibilities, and I'd just started to get a handle on things when I got sick right before the holidays. I took many covid tests -- all negative -- and eventually determined that it was just last year's strain of flu, which I hadn't managed to find time to get the shot for due to the aforementioned super busy schedule. I'm almost positive it was thanks to a particular customer at the aforementioned shitty department store job who coughed hard enough in my direction for their germs to get through my n95.

Anyway, last year's flu was a monster, and I spent a week in bed with a fever, then several more weeks being utterly drained and with a horrendous cough to match. It took a full month for me to recover, and then in mid-January, almost as soon as I started to catch up on all the things that had fallen behind while I was sick, things got bad, then good, then worse, then better, then much, much, much worse.

Basically, it starts with my dad being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He'd told me in October when they came to see me, but the surgery was scheduled for the tail end of January.

The surgery happened on a Monday, and it was a complete success. They got it all in one go. No chemo or radiation or further treatment needed at all. I spoke to him on the phone after he woke up, and he was in good spirits. Happy to have been given the all clear by his doctors.

I told him to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds & Evil while he rested up at home, because I'm writing specs for both this year and wanted him to be able to read them and know what was going on. He's the one who got me into sci-fi and horror, after all.

He went home.

He was home for two days.

He started feeling a bit rough on the Thursday. Short of breath. No appetite. Mum took him back to the hospital, just to be safe.

Turns out he'd had a mild heart attack. They couldn't figure out why. The echocardiogram didn't show any issues with his heart.

Then over the next couple of days, his breathing got worse. They took a scan of his lungs, and found that they were extremely inflamed. They'd given him covid tests but they came back negative. We told them about a work accident he had about 20 years ago, where a switchboard he'd been working on exploded in his face, and he'd suffered from inhalation burns among other things.

They thought that maybe something during the prostate surgery had caused irritation in his already damaged lungs, which put stress on his heart and caused the mild heart attack. He's never had any issues with his lungs since that accident, but they thought that maybe he'd just adapted to the damage over the years without realizing.

They kept trying different treatments to help his lungs heal. Nothing seemed to work. His breathing kept getting worse. They had him on as much oxygen as possible without intubating him, but it wasn't enough, so over that weekend they decided that they'd need to move him to another hospital with a more specialized lung unit.

When they were preparing to do that on the Monday night, he crashed. Another heart attack. Bigger, this time. They intubated him. Sedated him. Called my mum and told her to come in right away because things looked so bad.

But then he rallied. By the morning, though he was still sedated and intubated, the doctors were confident that with the right treatment at the specialized lung unit at the other hospital, he'd be okay. He was still in a rough condition, but stable. They transferred him to the other hospital.

He was given another covid test. This one came back positive.

My mum and brother called me once it was a reasonable time in Los Angeles to let me know what was going on, and the next day my brother booked me a flight back to Australia. I had to leave for the airport about five hours after my ticket was booked.

I got to Melbourne on February 1st.

For the next two weeks, dad was intubated, sedated, and in an isolation room. Every few days, they scanned his lungs again, and they were slowly improving.

Finally, he stopped testing positive, and was moved to a regular room in the ICU. Then he healed enough for them to extubate him and wake him up.

On February 13th, he was conscious enough to squeeze my hand when we went in to see him. On February 14th, he was conscious and capable of talking enough to ask a nurse in his ward to bring him his phone, and called mum first thing in the morning to wish her a happy Valentines Day.

Two days later, on Friday 16th, his lungs looked good enough on scans that they felt it was safe to do an angiogram, which they wanted to do just to double check that there weren't any issues with his heart that they missed with the echo.

They did the test. They found massive blockages. 90% blockage in one artery; significant blockages in two others.

Even though he'd barely recovered from covid, the blockages were bad enough that they scheduled him for open heart surgery on Monday 19th. They said without surgery there was a 100% chance that the blockages would cause another massive heart attack that he would not survive. They said there was about a 20% chance that he'd have complications, but only about 4% that they'd be serious/life threatening.

Like before, the surgery went well. Triple bypass, in the end. We got a call late on Monday afternoon to say that he was in recovery and looking good. His heart was functioning perfectly. They'd bring him out of sedation that night. Keep him in the ICU one or two days just as the standard post-op procedure. He'd spend a week or so in a cardiac ward after that, then head to a physical rehab ward for a couple of weeks until he could build back the muscle mass he'd lost while sedated.

We went in to see him the next day. Tuesday 20th. His 66th birthday.

He was tired, but looked good. Color in his cheeks. He made a couple of jokes. We left after about 45 minutes because he was pretty worn out, and we wanted to let him get some rest.

But then after, that his breathing started to get bad again. By Wednesday morning, they'd switched out the oxygen prongs in his nose for a big, high-pressure mask again. They called to let us know they were going to intubate him again so he could rest while his lungs recovered a bit more.

They struggled to get the tube in.

His lungs were deteriorating badly. He kept getting worse. We couldn't go in to see him because they were working on him all day.

At 9pm we got a call to say that he was just getting worse. They had him on 100% oxygen. He just wasn't absorbing it. His entire body was under massive strain. They were doing everything they could, but he just wasn't improving.

They said we should go in right away.

We got there by 10pm. My brother and his wife arrived about the same time. We went in to see him. He didn't look good. He looked pale. But he was warm, and he'd come back from the brink before, and we were sure he could do it again. We stayed with him for about an hour, and left not long after 11pm. Went back to my brother's place because they live closer to the hospital.

We were there about half an hour before they called us again. Just after midnight. He was gone.

That was about a week and a half ago, now. It still doesn't feel real. He was only 66. He hadn't even retired yet. He was working full time up until the week before Christmas, and had planned on going back to work a few days a week after he'd recovered from surgery. He never had any heart trouble, or lung trouble. He was active. He was fine.

My wife Zel and her mom flew in a couple of days after it happened. I barely remember anything from the past two weeks. Everything just feels fake.

I've been trying to write something to say at the funeral, which we've finally been able to arrange for next week -- it was delayed because we had to wait for dad to be released by the coroner. I don't think I'll be able to do it.

Anyway. That's where I've been.

It'll probably be a little while longer before I'm around here much, let alone posting with any regularity, because I'll be in Australia helping my mum & and my brother sort everything out. I have no idea how long I'll be dealing with stuff, or when I'll be able to make words cooperate enough to post anything, but I'll be back eventually.

I'm trying to keep an eye on Discord (I'm violetmatter over there) so you can find me there if you want. But yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know why I've been so quiet.

#cass says things #this is a very long #and heavy post #so i guess i should include some content warnings #uh #christ what do i even tag this with #cw: hospital #cw: health #cw: death #cw: parent death

[snapscube]

Monday song check: Penny what have ya been listening lately?

wh... it's..... it's thursday.................................

anyway i've been listening to a few songs basically on loop for the past week or so! including:

Millionaire by Two Door Cinema Club

Life's Too Short and Lo-Fi Children by Wild Party

Winter's Eve by Kishi Bashi

and SPECIFICALLY TODAY I've been listening to Under The Circus Lights by Owl City on repeat like legit I'm pretty sure it's made up over 60% of the sounds that have entered my ears today. The moment the album officially releases that song is entering all of my playlists immediately, it's such a delight.

[blogger360ncislarules]

The 100 knew how to do a redemption arc.

Throughout its seven-season run on The CW, post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama repeatedly doubled down on one of its many thought-provoking mantras: there are no good guys. The “good guys” often did terrible things in the name of survival, and the “bad guys” were rarely through-and-through evil (although they could be “cockroaches”).

Timed to the recent 10-year anniversary of the series premiere, we chatted with Richard Harmon, Lindsey Morgan, and Henry Ian Cusick about how they came to join the show, the extent to which Harmon and Cusick saw their characters as villains during the first season, and why they think The 100 has stuck around in the sci-fi genre.

Murphy wasn’t originally Murphy: he was “John #1,” and he wasn’t meant to live past the show’s second episode. Harmon recalled the process of first auditioning for the show: “I originally auditioned for the role of Bellamy, beautifully played by Bob Morley,” he said. “I remember auditioning for that and thinking, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m ever going to get this role.’ Lo and behold, I did not.” Weeks later, he got an audition for the roles of “John #1” and “John #2,” and after feeling confident that he’d booked it, he learned that he had. He was John #1.

Harmon said that despite his character’s predetermined Episode 2 death, he approached the first episode determined to do something different and have fun with the role. Thankfully, showrunner Jason Rothenberg was watching. “I guess he noticed that, liked what I was doing, and expanded the role in some rewrites during the shooting of the Pilot,” Harmon said, adding that half of what Murphy said in the aired Pilot wasn’t there in the original script. “When it got picked up to series, he emailed me personally—which was kind of a shocking thing as not a lead, to get an email from the creator of the show. He said, ‘I really liked what you did, how would you feel about not dying in the second episode? Could you stick around for the whole first season? Your last name will be Murphy, people will call you Murphy, and what do you think?’” And so went the story of how he booked “John #1”… and how “John #1” became John Murphy.

Katie Yu/The CW

First appearing in the show’s second episode rather than in the Pilot, Morgan wound up on The 100 through a whirlwind of correct timing and fate. She’d been waiting to hear whether she’d booked a role on Chicago P.D. when she auditioned for the part of Raven on Tuesday, chemistry-read with Thomas McDonnell [played Finn Collins] on Thursday, and was on a plane headed to Vancouver by Sunday. She later found out she wouldn’t have gotten the Chicago P.D. role. “It’s crazy to look back and imagine it happening any other way,” she said.

Similarly to Harmon’s “John #1,” Morgan’s Raven wasn’t meant to be a The 100 mainstay. Originally, Morgan said, Raven was meant to die after just five episodes—a shock, when one considers how integral the quick-thinking mechanic and tech genius became to the plot of the show. “I was on pins and needles, waiting to receive my death notice with each passing script,” Morgan said. After the Season 1 finale, Rothenberg made the offer to Morgan to stick around for Season 2. She’d been up for a role on a different show at that time. If she’d gotten it, Raven would’ve died from the gunshot wound dealt her by Murphy. Obviously, Raven survived. “The rest was history,” Morgan said. “As we all know, nothing can kill Raven Reyes.”

The CW

For his part, Cusick mentioned that it was a sense of longing for Lost that led him to The 100. “It was Pilot season, and I had just finished something, and I was reading a bunch of Pilots,” he remembered. “The 100 turned up, and I thought it was very similar in tone to Lost, which I was missing. I read that and I said to my agent, ‘That’s a cool Pilot.’ I ended up having a meeting with [showrunner] Jason Rothenberg, and we had a chat, and he offered it to me.”

While he did almost float Clarke’s mother, Dr. Abby Griffin (Paige Turco}, in the Pilot, Cusick disagrees with the label of Kane as a villain and passionately defends him. Even in the show’s early days, he says he just viewed Kane as “more of a d**k.” Cusick recounts several things his character was accused of doing but never actually did—such as attempting to kill Jaha (Isaiah Washington)—and maintains that rather than being villainous, Kane was simply a stickler for the rules. “Other people were talking about him and badmouthing him, but he was just a man who was trying to save the human race,” Cusick said. “He went about it in a rather authoritarian, draconian way. He was very strict. And then when he arrived on Earth, he went ‘Oh, humanity is still around.’ Then he could go back to being who he really was. That’s my opinion.”

Whether viewers considered him a villain or a d**k, Kane undoubtedly softened up. His kindness and diplomacy helped establish peace with the grounders as he formed a friendship with Indra (Adina Porter), he and Abby fell in love, and he gradually became a father figure to the delinquents—especially Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley). “I really took to Bob quite quickly,” Cusick remembered. “We would joke around a lot. I would call him my ‘idiot son’ and stuff like that,” he said with a laugh. “We kind of cultivated that relationship, I thought, that we were like father and son. We enjoyed each other’s company, so that was easy to play.”

The CW

Harmon, on the other hand, readily admitted he played Murphy as a villain in Season 1—so much so that he’d taken inspiration for Murphy and Bellamy’s relationship from Biblical literature. “I based [Murphy] loosely off of Lucifer, actually,” he said. “Bellamy was God, for this group, and I’m his right-hand favorite angel, but demon, really. Eventually I try to take too much power, just like Lucifer does in the Bible, and God smites me down. That’s when I get thrown out to the grounders in the wild and come back way later, with the sickness.”

When the show was picked up for a second season, Harmon and Rothenberg had another chat. “At the end of Season 1, Jason said, ‘Will you stick around for the long haul now going forward to Season 2?’” Harmon said. “And I was like, ‘Of course, I would love to, but how are you going to do that?’” Rothenberg, Harmon remembered, wanted him to get the audience on Murphy’s side. Harmon was up for the challenge, as long as he was given material to convince the audience that there was a good reason behind Murphy’s notable not-niceness. “Eventually, as the seasons progressed and the fans responded favorably to Murphy, all of my cuts were a good angle, and I was a little more tanned with dirt, and I was like, ‘I think they’re trying to, maybe, make me hot,” Harmon laughed. “I don’t think at that point in my career anyone had ever tried to make me attractive on-screen before. That was nice. That felt good.”

Raven Reyes was about as far from a villain as one could get, even though she, like every character, had to make incredibly difficult choices. Morgan has fond memories especially of Season 2, and portraying Raven’s journey with losing the use of her leg. “As an able-bodied actor, I felt a deep responsibility and honor towards playing a character with disabilities as accurately as I could,” she said. “I wanted to bring justice, nuance, complexity, and the best accuracy to her journey as I could, and hopefully share and showcase her truth, as well as the strength people with disabilities exhibit daily.”

Morgan, too, has fond memories of filming in the Vancouver wilderness. While filming with Cusick and the “adult” cast on the Ark put her inside in the warm studio (and closer to the snacks), she enjoyed being outside in the forest… and sneaking in an on-set nap when an opportunity presented itself. “I can, and will, nap anywhere,” she recalled. “Thomas [McDonnell] almost stepped on my head once, because I was napping on the floor of our cast tent. I blended into the ground.”

The CW

Aside from his bond with Bellamy Blake, Kane’s other major connection on The 100 was his romance with Dr. Abby Griffin. Surprisingly, Cusick hadn’t known the writers intended to take the characters in that direction. “I remember Paige [Turco] saying to me, ‘I think they’re trying to get us together,’ and I was thinking, ‘No, that’s never going to happen. We need to be combative. That’s where the drama is,’” he said. In the end, Kane and Abby had a heartwarming love that lasted several seasons. Cusick thinks that not being told from the start about the romance angle only improved his performance. “The actors had no clue that was going to happen, so we were just playing our motivations, and our roles, and what we thought was right,” he said. “There was no hint of any flirtation or anything like that between the characters, so that’s when it happened. Maybe the audience saw it, I don’t know, but it was certainly a surprise to me.”

Unfortunately, Kane and Abby didn’t have the happy ending that many might’ve hoped for. Cusick departed the show in its sixth season, and Turco’s character was killed off in the Season 6 finale. While The 100 fans know all about heartbreak, it might add an extra layer of sadness to know that originally, Kane and Abby had been intended to have a more hopeful story. “My relationship with Abby was good, and people wanted us to get together,” Cusick reflected. “I think that would’ve happened, had I not left. I know that Jason [Rothenberg] said he wanted that to happen—he wanted us to get married, which would’ve been interesting.”

Cusick also directed the eleventh episode of Season 4, “The Other Side,” and the tenth episode of Season 5, “The Warriors Will.” When he thinks back on those experiences, he does so with appreciation for the show’s crew including director of photography Michael Blundell, and gratitude to Jason Rothenberg, director Dean White, and the cast. “Just in general, I never really got a chance to say this: I wanted to say thank you,” he said. “When I meet everyone at cons, I’m thinking about how we all went through this together. We all have relationships that are unique, because we went through that show. I’m always amazed when we meet up at cons by how fun they all are, and how nice it is to see them again.”

The CW

On the subject of conventions, Harmon mentioned that he and Morley used to take it as a badge of honor when fans would tell them that they hated Murphy and Bellamy. Twitter death threats, too, Harmon learned to take in stride. “It got a little hectic at times, for sure,” he remembered. “If people wanted to hate you so much, I’m so grateful for that. That just means we did our job well.” Harmon also mentioned that he wished he’d gotten to keep Murphy’s jacket from Season 1. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know what happened to it. Morgan, on the other hand, has held onto a few of Raven’s iconic items—including her trademark red jacket and knee brace. “I joked that I was going to make a plaster cast out of my body and display them in my house,” she said. “I definitely didn’t do that, but I have them in a safe place.”

As for The 100’s staying power, Harmon, Morgan, and Cusick all pointed out its continued interrogation of what it means to be human, especially in heightened, life-or-death situations. While the show was airing, Harmon said he called it the “biggest show you’ve never heard of.” At this point, he no longer thinks that description is true—people have heard of it.

“It was cool to be on the biggest show you’ve never heard of, because people would be like, ‘What show?’ and then all of a sudden there’d be five people who’d go, ‘The 100? Yes!’” he remembered. “People who watched it fell in love with it. Or were livid with it. Either way.”

#the 100

[moonshotpods]

do you hate podcasts. that's okay. we also stream like five times a week

SUNDAY is sleepover sunday, a casual pajama party stream where andrew and sam play pokemon romhacks and fangames. put on your comfiest sweatpants and come root for a married couple that is trying their best in the face of some very hard gym leaders

MONDAY is kaizo and cocktails, where pb tries (and tries and tries) to beat kaizo mario games and has a wheel of cocktail ingredients that gets spun every 100 deaths. their first drink got dropped on their laptop and destroyed the whole laptop and they had to get a new computer

TUESDAY is the night for jay to stream any bad licensed games their heart desires. do you like pepsiman. do you like cool spot. you'll love tuesday nights with jay

WEDNESDAY is art stream and chill with sasha and sometimes marn and sometimes whoever else wants to pop in and hang out on voice chat. we keep it cool keep it casual. there's usually lo-fi music and good conversation

THURSDAY is tactical thursday with andrew and riley and whatever tactics or tactics-like game they feel like playing. they've played battletech, wildermyth, sekiro, a bunch of other stuff. they're good they're funny come watch

you can find our streams at moonshot.mov and also our vods are on youtube if you look us up ok bye

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Mikrofoncheck 2 2000 Hip Hop

No, Phife, you got it exactly right! This is Mikrofoncheck 2, a turn-of-the-millennium double-disc that highlights a bunch of good German rap tunes that were pretty clearly inspired by the US' own underground rap landscape at the time. And maybe I'm not the most equipped person to post about German rap, because I barely know any German words myself, but hear me out: the great thing about listening to rap in any language that you personally don't understand is that you don't have to involuntarily use any brainpower in order to interpret lyrics; and when you're not busying yourself with that aspect, you can then dedicate your focus to other parts of an MC's craft, like timing, flow, delivery, mic presence, etc. I feel like when dope US acts get little to no love in their home city, but then go on tour overseas and sell out venues in places where the people know barely any English at all, it means that there's a certain universality to rap skills. Like, you don't have to get what's being said in order for it to resonate. You dig?

So, speaking of underappreciated US acts, New York's Arsonists are on this release's very first track, with a remix of German rap pioneer Torch's "Die Welt brennt" that features a verse from one of The Arsonists' own members, Freestyle. If you know your 90s-2000s New York underground rap stuff, then you know that The Arsonists make S-tier music. They never broke big, of course, but they were one of the top groups to be featured on the Stretch & Bobbito Show, a legendary program that aired during the ungodly hours of 1-5 a.m. on Thursday nights/Friday mornings on Columbia University's radio station, 89.9 FM WKCR. But despite that absurd time slot, Stretch & Bob were still able to bring in a long, long who's who of unsigned and underground talent into the studio that would later go on to smash on a commercial level, including Nas, Jay-Z, Notorious B.I.G., Big L, DMX, Busta Rhymes, and a whole lot of others. I actually caught the premiere of a Stretch & Bob documentary back in the mid-2010s in Central Park, and right before that showing was a concert that featured a bunch of the acts who ended up making that whole show what it was. And you already know that The Arsonists were on that stage, man!

Here's a little introduction to Stretch & Bob if you're not familiar:

Anyway, while that Arsonists remix is great, and is probably the tune that would get most people to cop this release in the first place, I don't think that it's this album's best song, overall; because that honor goes to Nico Suave's "Barkeeper." Nico has a super lame stage name, *BUT,* when you're talking about a full package of beats and rhymes, nothing else on this album tops that one. Astonishingly, the full-length, nearly five-minute version of this tune only has 344 views on YouTube, but this really feels like one of those bits of early 2000s gold that you'd randomly stumble across on Limewire back in the day. And I'm probably only saying that because the beat is on some smooth and soul-piercingly jazzy Nujabes type of tip. And if you knew Nujabes before YouTube, Samurai Champloo, and 'Chill lo-fi beats to study to,' it was probably because either you or one of your friends discovered him via file sharing.

And I know what some of you may be inevitably thinking: 'German rap? That actually sounds corny as hell.' But you're wrong. The German language may be sharp and clunky and it really may not seem all that compatible with rap on its face, but the beauty of it is that there's a deep uniqueness to the German language that has people rapping in ways that non-German speakers are fully incapable of doing themselves. Within every language are vast amounts of intricacies, with each one possessing its own capabilities and possibilities; and German rap really seems to unlock something that no other type of rap can, because there's no other language in this world that's really quite like German.

And on top of all that, a bunch of these beats simply slap too 😋.

Highlights:

CD1:

Torch feat. Freestyle - "Die Welt brennt (Arsonists remix)" Chosen Few - "Raw Beauty" Tim X-Treme - "Weird Shit" Lyn - "Blenda" Plattenpapzt feat. Tefla & Jaleel - "Wenn Zonis reisen" ABS - "Mathematik" Deichkind - "Was der Anlass" Nico Suave - "Barkeeper" Marburg Asozial - "Rap-Attack-Uppa-Cut"

CD2 (DJ mix by DJ Swift, which mostly consists of the same tracks from CD1):

Square One feat. Johnny Dolo - "Until Then..." Torch feat. Freestyle - "Die Welt brennt (Arsonists remix)" Deichkind - Was Der Anlass" Lyn - "Blenda" Nico Suave - "Barkeeper" Marburg Asozial - "Rap-Attack-Uppa-Cut" ABS - "Mathematik" Plattenpapzt feat. Tefla & Jaleel - "Wenn Zonis Reisen" Stieber Twins - "Malaria"

#hip hop #rap #music #90s #90s music #90's #90's music #2000s #2000s music #2000's #2000's music #00s #00s music #00's #00's music #y2k #y2k era #y2k music #germany #german #german music #underground hip hop #underground rap #indie hip hop #indie rap

[baby-love-miki]

Nostalgia! 21 years ago, John Mayer released his first live album "AnyGiven Thursday".

- The show was recorded in Birmingham, Alabama at the "Oak Mountain Amphitheater" on September 12, 2002, during the Room for Squares tour. The album quickly reached #17 on the Billboard 200 chart and received generally positive reviews.

- The album also features covers such as"Lenny" by Stevie Ray Vaughan and "Message in a Bottle" by The Police. Although it primarily contains songs from Room For Squares, the album also features "Man On The Side" (co-written with Clay Cook and appeared on the Lo-Fi Master's Demo) and "Covered in Rain", neither of which were ever released on a John Mayer studio recording.

Second documentary included in the DVD release, "Covered in Rain" is the "second part" of the song "City Love". The show features previously unheard songs, such as "Something's Missing", which was released on the following album'Heavier Things'.

#john mayer

[beardedmrbean]

The parents and sister of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins have filed a new lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others involved in the film.

Attorney Gloria Allred announced that the lawsuit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of Anatolii Androsovych, Hutchins’ father, Olga Solovey, Hutchins’ mother; and Svetlana Zemko, Hutchins’ sister.

The lawsuit alleges battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium, which Allred said is “a claim which seeks to recover compensation for damages to certain relationships that are mutually dependent.”

Hutchins, 42, was killed Oct. 21, 2021, during filming for “Rust” at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County,New Mexico. Baldwin was rehearsing with a pistol for a scene when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

“They will not be able to enjoy life in the same way as they did when their precious Halyna was alive,” Allred said. “Halyna was the light in their lives.”

Hutchins’ parents and sister, who are based in Ukraine, did not appear at the news conference. But a brief video of Hutchins’ mother and sister was played in which they commented on the lawsuit.

“To lose my sister ... was a horrible experience, and it is one of the biggest losses of my life,” Zemko, Hutchins’ sister, said in a video message translated to English. “And even more devastating is to see the utter suffering of our parents and how their health has sharply declined ... I believe to let this go, and to leave this unpunished, is unallowable.”

Allred said Hutchins provided financial support for her family members.

“Of course for all of our three clients, the tragic loss of their daughter and sister is heartbreaking,” Allred said. “But now in addition to this tragedy, they have to try and cope with that loss while living in Ukraine in the midst of Putin’s war.”

The news of the lawsuit comes after New Mexico prosecutors in late January charged Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter, accusing him of skipping “required firearms training” and creating “a climate of recklessness” on the set of “Rust.”

Baldwin and “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins death, First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announced.

Assistant director David Halls was also charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon and agreed to plead no contest, Carmack-Altwies said.

Baldwin has denied any wrongdoing in the on-set shooting.

#nunyas news #of course he's denying everything #you gotta #the bit about putin is odd here too

[blackhairedjjun]

tnc: freefall full thoughts

(cross posted from elsewhere i'm just putting it here too lol)

before this album came out, sonically my fave txt albums are tdc: eternity, tcc: fight or escape (i really like loser lover and moa diary okay), and m2: thursday's child. and i think tnc: freefall is DEFINITELY up there -- idk where it ranks exactly but mannn it's so solid, i get why the critics at the preview were calling it a pivotal / turning point album for them. it does so many things musically yet stays thematically cohesive, the lyrics are lovely, and just feels like a natural evolution for them.

thoughts on each track:

growing pain - i can't believe i'm saying this but i think this track has a chance to dethrone opening sequence as my new favorite album opener (and opening sequence is one of my fave txt songs ever). but WOW i love rock txt!! i love how they pour their hearts out on rock tracks! listening to this right after farewell neverland is such a delight bc you have the contrast between making the decision to fall vs. ACTUALLY falling. and the latter HURTS. and they want you to feel that hurt in the song. i love going back to this track and jamming to it

chasing that feeling - oh this is just slathered in that 80s synthpop sound and i adore it so, the synths are just so catchy and i can't really describe it idk that sound just scratches the itch in my brain the right way. but something about it is such a gut punch?? there's something about "my fate, come and kiss me" and "maybe i'll miss it for good / the sweet mirage" that just GETS me. missing something so bad but knowing you have to move on from it... ugh!! not sure yet where i'd rank this among txt title tracks but man i do love listening to it.

back for more (txt ver) - this is the pre-release, we already heard and loved this one. honestly i like both the anitta version and this one, i feel like their second verses do different things: the anitta version keeps things interesting by changing it up, the txt version does that by escalating things. i.e. the former introduces elements of latin and funk while the latter enhances the nice disco pop stuff already going on. but yeah this one bops, also this song being third in the tracklist + right after ctf confirms to me that it's about wanting more of that neverland stuff even tho you said you would move on from it lol

dreamer - mmmm this song is so smooth!! i've seen a few people calling it the more mature / sexier version of 20cm but i still like 20cm more lol. but they both have a smooth r&b sound that makes you want to melt so i get it! it's a little bit lo-fi-esque which is a vibe that i enjoy and just adds to the smoothness of it, then we've got those lovely lovely falsettos. also wow the lyrics to this are really sweet? like... finding that dream you once held on to when you were younger and getting meaning from it once again. ohhh i melt

deep down - this one is boppy!! unfortunately it's a mid-2010s edm-pop type of song which is not a genre i particularly like, so i can't imagine listening to this one a lot. but for people who like that genre i think it works well! also it being a sequel song to crown is just. so cute. awww

happily ever after - aka happy fools' more melancholy older sibling HAHA. like deep down i can't imagine myself listening to this much, i think it needs a little more oomph to really capture me, but it's got a bittersweet mood to it and it conveys that mood pretty well.

skipping stones - I LOVE THIS ONE. this + growing pain are my faves of the newly introduced b-sides! it has that indie rock ost vibe that i'm weak for but it's also so warm, when i listen to it i want to turn the song into a real physical blanket i can wrap myself in. everyone sounds so good here and it's such a treat to listen to. and when i looked up the lyrics they made me melt!! "in order for the me from tomorrow to embrace the overwhelmed you of today, when it touches the shining waves, i'll hold your two shaking hands"??? STOP YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME CRY. i started smiling suddenly while listening to this that's just how warm it feels

blue spring - ok i already knew i would love this one bc i heard it live, but i thought the studio version would just be a cleaner-sounding version of the live one. but then THE ADDED ADLIBS??? THE HARMONIZING??? OH I'M SO EMOTIONAL. MY HEART SWELLS EVERY TIME I LISTEN TO THIS AAHH BLUE SPRING I LOVE YOU SO. that said i don't like that they removed the guitar strumming intro at the beginning and there's some weird autotune shit on some of hueningkai's adlibs. but i love this song as a whole too much for it to detract from my listening experience

do it like that - we all know this one too lol. i agree with all the people saying that it feels out of place on this album and they just stuck it on here cause it needed to go somewhere, but yeah it doesn't fit thematically. it's cute and fun but to me this song is musical candy: a sweet treat to listen to but not too substantial. it does what it does just fine but it's so jarring in this context

chasing that feeling (eng) - can i just say that i love the lyric choices here?? "in my kaleidoscope are pressed butterflies" and "time's a thief that keeps on stealing" and "hoping for twice in a lifetime, is that too much to ask?" and even short phrases like "a perpetual high." mmmm chef kiss. this and the korean version give off different vibes, the kor one is more conflicted / melancholy while the eng one is more wistful / determined. i love them both though

#bhj rambles

[the-name-hoarder]

Okay okay hear me out:

Mario and Luigi are actually both trans, except Mario is a trans man and Luigi is a trans woman who *chose* the name Luigi as her girl name and then Peach is this burly buff masculine person who looks more like Wario but is still wearing the Peach dress and is named Peachetta and uses all pronouns and Yoshi and Toad are a gay married couple who have three weird dino-mushie babies and Wario and Waluigi are pretty much the same except Wario is one of those people who is on a very strict diet and wants everyone to know about it but the diet is literally just Barbecue Pringles and Crush Grape Soda and Waluigi is helping him with it while simultaneously tempting him with Crush Orange Soda, which is Wario's favorite but it wouldn't have the same effects as the Grape Soda, and Bowser and Luigi are secretly hooking up but Luigi doesn't want anyone to know that she's into furries (or, in this case, scalies) so she and Bowser pretend to hate each other and Daisy is just an old woman who will go on forever about stories from the past when the past is actually the future because she's in this weird time/space wormhole where she's going backwards in time by intervals of days (so her week goes Saturday, then Friday, then Thursday, et cetera) but she's aging normally to herself but backwards to everyone else so all of these stories that she has are just her telling the crew about their future and the whole time there's just lo-fi heavy metal cover songs playing in the background.

#mario bros #mario #fanfic #fandom idea #fandom #luigi #trans #lgbtq #nb #bowser #peach #daisy #wario #walugi #toad #yoshi #gay #i dont even know what the fuck this is but idk

[golikehellmachine]

thanksgiving playlist extravaganza, pt. 1

i got busy last week with work and with life, and didn’t get around to putting together a friday playlist, which bothers no one other than myself, and doesn’t bother me that much, either.

but, since thanksgiving is coming up this week in the united states, and i’ll be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, i thought it might be fun to make a larger list to keep you company while you mash your potatoes or stuff your turkey or just stock up on wine and order takeout. 

this is part 1 — tumblr limits you to ten bandcamp links per post, which seems reasonable, so i’ve broken it up into three lists with the occasional youtube link when bandcamp fails me. next edition on tuesday, final edition on thursday. 

***

charlie megira | tower of tongues

CHARLIE MEGIRA has always seemed a little tragic to me; he was always a man out of step and out of time. he’s hard to pin down, genre-wise, because he jumped around a lot, which wouldn’t have been a problem today, but in the pre-streaming era, could make it tough for people to discover and stick with you. this particular song is from his post-punk era, and until listening to this record for the first time in months, i did not realize how much of modern post-punk (e.g., soft kill) you can hear in this. 

creature party | digital addiction

CREATURE PARTY are locals here in portland who we caught the other night, playing in the basement of the shanghai tunnel bar, which may (or, as it turns out, mostly like may not) have been the site of countless abductions, a gateway to a dangerous and unpleasant life of servitude at sea. in reality, most men who were sold into servitude were just drugged and then defrauded. 

i don’t have a good transition here, i just wanted to clear up a common misconception.

creature party were a delightful riot live. sound-wise, they’re very definitely a pacific northwest band, and you can hear the usual indie influences there (sleater-kinney is probably the easiest and laziest reference i can think of), but there’s plenty more to like here, because there’s just as much weirdo, lo-fi, fuzzy B-52s in this sound as there is pacific northwestern indie. 

laura jane grace | lolo 13

approximately 5,700 years ago, i lived next door to AGAINST ME! in a triplex across the street from gainesville punk greats BITCHIN’ and caddy corner from former floridian lumberjack and all-around man of bellows, CHUCK RAGAN. the late 90s were a pretty wild time to live in gainesville, florida. i would not have predicted LAURA JANE GRACE would’ve become who she’s become at that time, but i’m not sure i would’ve predicted anyone from that time would be doing anything they’re doing now — caroline from BITCHIN’ was in RUSSIAN DOLL! 

i haven’t really kept up with LJG in recent years because i’m just not huge into acoustic folk-punk anymore, but this record has a lot more depth than i thought it was going to, and i consider myself corrected and reminded to stop writing things off just because i think i know what they’ll sound like. 

surface to air missive | rosy

these folks (or, well, this folk) is new to me, but i really enjoy SURFACE TO AIR MISSIVE. there are plenty of influences you can hear here, and plenty of influence-influences you can hear, as well — not only can you hear some of THE SMITHS or even NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL here, you can hear the bands who influenced them. i don’t know much more about this band beyond knowing that it’s a one-man show, which is impressive. normally, one-person bands tend to fall apart when it comes to drums, but these are solid throughout. 

katie morey | trial by fire

i bought this record earlier this year, and keep coming back to it as a recommendation, even though i have a hard time pinning down exactly what i like about it. it’s got a specific sound which i nonetheless can’t quite put my finger on, but it definitely comes from the early 1970s. lots of heavy reverb, electric piano and quietly competent drumming. it’s a fantastic sunday morning record all the way through, which i can’t recommend enough, even while being unable to explain what, specifically it is that grabs me. 

kid congo powers | peanuts

KID CONGO POWERS is a legend who has played with so many underground greats and who it’s nice to see is finally beginning to get a little more recognition. he just released a book, which is on my christmas list, documenting his time through THE GUN CLUB, THE CRAMPS, NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS and more, and anyone who comes out alive on the other side of a history like that is definitely worth listening to. further, kid congo’s got a unique perspective as a gay man who was out and proud from very early on, even when the punk and underground scenes were nowhere near as tolerant as they’d eventually become. you can definitely hear his CRAMPS years in this track, but kid congo’s got his own thing going on that’s worth considering on it’s own.

sea power | be gone (demo)

SEA POWER (formerly british sea power) have picked up a lot of new fans in recent years because of their score for disco elysium, which is undeniably great, but, for me, open season is always going to be the record to beat. the original release is pretty unassailable, but, as is their way, sea power also tends to release their demo and early versions, and they’re always a delight to pick through. this version of be gone has the lovely melody of the original, but is quieter and doesn’t have the same bombastic, big sound that the initial release did. if you like listening to how songs can evolve for a band from when they’re written to when they’re recorded, this one’s a great example. 

lee fields | i should have let you be

LEE FIELDS IS BACK! LEE FIELDS IS BACK! 

of course, he didn’t go anywhere, but we’ve lost so many soul and R&B greats in recent years that it’s always a relief to see one continuing to put out great work. fields got back together with daptone records this year to release this, and the whole record is fantastic. this song has his signature sound with a really interesting, almost beatles-esque bridge right in the middle of it. the whole record’s fantastic and a well-welcomed return and i can’t recommend it enough. 

reigning sound | falling rain

i’ll never not be bummed out that cartwright called an end to the REIGNING SOUND before i got the chance to catch them live, though cartwright’s an industrious and restless guy who’ll have something new and exciting to check out soon enough. this one comes from shattered, which wasn’t my favorite record when it came out, but has really, really grown on me. i mean, i recommend literally every single one of their records, but if you’ve got to start somewhere, shattered isn’t a bad place to start. 

murder by death | my evergreen

given that it’s a thanksgiving playlist, a few christmas songs are bound to find their way in, and, well, would you look at that, here’s one of them! MURDER BY DEATH are one of my all-time favorites, and it’s entirely in character that they’d put together a christmas record. all of it is fun, but this cover of the SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS my evergreen manages to take what was, originally, a good-enough christmas effort and elevate to something profoundly nostalgic, bittersweet, and lovely. my partner and i have a hard rule about not playing this one until after thanksgiving, but i feel like we’re close enough that you should get to start working it into your holiday playlists now. 

that’s it for this list; i’ll have another one up on tuesday to continue the thurday cooking extravaganza. 

#charlie-megira #laura-jane-grace #surface-to-air-missive #katie-morey #kid-congo-powers #sea-power #lee-fields #reigning-sound #murder-by-death #thanksgiving #playlist #Bandcamp

[daggerzine]

THROWBACK THURSDAY #40!- Butterglory- Crumble (1994- Merge Records)

Lawrence, KS via Visalia , Ca duo Butterglory (Matt Suggs on guitar/vocals and Debby Vander Wall on drums/vocals) came out hot with some terrific singles in the early 90’s (collected on the excellent Downed compilation that Merge released a year after this debut record) before unleashing this righteous debut.

Butterglory created lo-fi (back when lo-fi meant something, man!), buzzy pop that got compared to Pavement early on (I’m not gonna say i didn’t hear a Pavement influence on some early singles, but by the time this debut came out they had definitely forged their own path and sound) and definitely hit my sweet spot nearly 30 years ago. 

Opener “Waiting on the Guns” is a high-pitched, trebly winner while on the snail’s pace “Forty-Four” Suggs mumbles out half-eaten lyrics while Vander Wall slams the drums with power and precision.

Elsewhere “Trapped” is an indie anthem (especially when Suggs’ falsetto kicks in) and the Vander Wall-sung “Those Mooney Stars” is a near-perfect pop song in just under three minutes (same with “The Skills Of A Star Pilot”).

Some of this was recorded at home and some at a studio, but regardless, the band’s songwriting chops and charisma (even if accidental) really shine through. A terrific debut that these two should be damn proud of.

www.butterglory.bandcamp.com 

www.mergerecords.com

[outiem]

6. 9. 22. || Sleepy Thursday

Photo is from Pinterest since I don’t have one for you today. :< Cr unknown.

I got home and tried to study, I got through 1 and a half lectures before I got exhausted and fell asleep at the desk. I’m still on track though, so tomorrow after work I’m going to power through the rest of the day. The week is almost over for me, so I can relax after Friday!

N• 7. What is your to-go playlist for studying?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4anUKVlVps9pbcDPd7quNi?si=Z-iNZRjBSM6P_3aHQLGH3Q This is one of my study playlists! However, if I’m not listening to this playlist I typically look for lo-fi jazz with ambience to study to!

#student #studyblr #productivity #mynotes.txt #studygram #studying #study aesthetic #study motivation #university #education #studyspo #academia #business #business major #business student #30dop #Spotify

[fullstop-roleplays]

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

🎵 MUSIC NOTE - what is their playlist like? their favourite artists? do you associate a particular song with them?

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

@parables-for-days (Hope this isn't too many questions - I'm so very curious about Character! 💖)

[ Smh Tumblr didn't tell me about the ask😭 it's never too many questions bestie 😔 I LOVE rambling about my character soo much,,, ]

👁️: I'd say Characters eyes ARE pretty unique considering they aren't exactly HUMAN. the appearance is that of dotted white circles- or, if we're going 3-d, think entirely transparent mask with dotted lines as the edges, including eye cutouts. They're about as expressive as the average eye, though it's a lot easier to notice because it's the edges that move rather than the eyelids (because they don't have any), not to mention those are the only things on their face that emote, so...

💥: hmm... This is difficult.. I'd say frustration, especially when it's directed towards something they've been trying to fix/solve for a while now, OR someONE that won't listen to their attempts to diffuse or come to an agreement. Basically if they've tried multiple times to remedy something and it doesn't work, their anger will get the best of them. Other than that? Pure overstimulation. Being exposed to too many new sensations at once will likely cause some sort of panic attack or shut their brain down.

🎵: WEELLLL I'd say their playlist would be full of mostly classical and romantic era music, with some baroque in there as well. The piano is an obvious favorite instrument of theirs, though they do really like all the others (Namely: Cello/Base, Clarinets, Flutes, Saxophones, Trumpets!!) Another genre they'd like is Lo-Fi. I can really see em just listening to a lo-fi playlist while doing menial tasks. Other than that, they'd probably really like the blues.

📎: We already know Character and Thursday are very similar, but they differ in one key way.... Character might not have actually BEEN a singular person. Take that as you will 😉.

#asks😔

[fmhiphop]

Korean Artists RM And Balming Tiger To Drop Collab Next Month

BTS Army and alternative K-pop fans, get ready to mark your calendars. Rapper RM from the K-pop group BTS is collaborating with up-and-coming alternative group Balming Tiger on the track “SEXY NUKIM.�� On Wednesday, BTS's official Twitter account announced the collaboration. Immediately, fans began discussing what the song might sound like across social media platforms. Little information is known about the track, but based on the range of genres covered by both RM and Balming Tiger, listeners can expect an interesting blend of musical genres. SEXY NUKIM (feat. RM of BTS) - Balming Tiger 2022.09.01.#SEXYNUKIM #섹시느낌 #RM @balmingtiger pic.twitter.com/qjj9UYk6rl — BTS_official (@bts_bighit) August 24, 2022 RM's Hip-Hop Journey Like his other rapline counterparts, Suga and J-Hope, RM, birth name Kim Namjoon, is no stranger to hip-hop or success. His released his self-titled mixtape in 2015. The mixtape made Spin Magazine's “50 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2015.” RM shows homage to his influences on this mixtape as it contains samples from J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T, J. Dilla, and Run The Jewels.  For his second mixtape, he switched to a more lyrically introspective, lo-fi hip-hop sound with 2018's, mono. The project, met with positive reviews, peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Two years after its release, the album peaked at No. 1 on iTunes in 101 countries—a record only topped by BTS member, V. His other accomplishments include working with and receiving a seal of approval from rap icons Warren G and Wale. But BTS fans know Namjoon as a multifaceted artist inside and outside the studio. Last year, he became the youngest and second most credited artist in K-pop, according to the Korean Music Copyright Association. However, he is also well known in the art scene and was a featured guest on Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast. In addition to his “SEXY NUKIM” feature, the rapper's debut photography book Me, Myself, and RM: Entirety is set to come out later this year. The rapper has been teasing the photo book all month via Instagram. The Cross-Genre Appeal Of Balming Tiger Balming Tiger's music transcends genre. The group formed in 2018, and currently has 8 members. They are: rapper Omega Sapien, DJ Abyss, and singer-songwriters Mudd the Student, Wnjn, and Sogumm. Balming Tiger also has several directors including: San Yawn, Jan'Qui, and Lee Suho, and editor, Henson. In an interview with TMRW Magazine, Sogumm said they're more of an art collective than a standard band. Omega Sapien said the hype around Korean media helped grow their fan base. They may not be the biggest act in the world, but their unique approach to music and visuals continues to draw people in. Inspired by other Korean artists and collectives, Balming Tiger's approach to music matches RM's interest in hip-hop and art. Fans of both acts are sure to love the new song dropping next Thursday, September 1. Written by Kimberly Stelly | Instagram | Twitter  | Tumblr Follow FMHipHop on Twitter  | Instagram   | Spotify Read the full article