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piratefishmama · 1 year

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You're writing is godly. Can you take a shot at

09. “I should’ve told you back then, but I didn’t want you to leave.”

Writing Prompts | No longer accepting new prompts

It was the first time in ten years that Steve Harrington had seen Eddie Munson in person, and it was from what felt like miles away in shitty seats up on the balconies, the only saving grace was that Eddie was being tracked like prey by the camera guys, each step, each sway of his hair, each manic, dimpled, toothy grin blown up larger than life on the big screens on either side of the stage. The rest of the band blown up on the ones in the back.

He wasn’t looking at the ones in the back, although the guys suited being up there.

“Steve… he’s uh… Eddie I mean, corroded coffin, they’re playing, y’know? In Indy? Dustin got tickets, but… well they’re not the best tickets, nothing VIP or close to the pit or anything, I don’t think Eddie even knows Dustin’s going, but… we could at least go and see him perform…” it’d been Robin that’d mentioned it, none of them had seen Eddie in person.

He kept in touch when he could with Dustin and his little adventurers, Lucas, Mike, and Erica. But he’d left Hawkins behind with nothing there to hold him back.

There could have been.

Steve knew there could have been, Eddie had told him the night before he’d packed his stuff and left, bore his heart to him in his backyard, hair haloed by the blue light that shimmered off of the pool, nervous but hopeful, he’d offered his heart on a silver platter and Steve… god…

He hadn’t known.

He hadn’t known just how much Eddie meant to him until he was gone, off to stardom with his band, leaving a possible life behind for something else. Could have, should have, would have, it made no difference in the end. Steve had said no when he really meant he needed time to work out his feelings, he’d shut down the possibility before it could grow, and had regretted it ever since.

Eddie had been gone by the following morning, he’d only said goodbye to the kids. Apparently there’d been a record deal offered at his last gig, and his choice depended entirely on whether or not Steve said yes.

Part of him wished he’d have been selfish, part of him wished he’d known his own heart before he’d stupidly let the rejection slip out, things would have been different… but then… Eddie wouldn’t have had this.

He wouldn’t have had a stage, an audience of thousands cheering for him in awe. He would’ve been stuck, in Hawkins, a place that still hated him… Steve was happy for him, truly. Happy that he’d made it, even if it meant Steve could never have him. He could stomp around the stage dressed in denim and leather and shred on a guitar in a way that made Steve’s ears ring but his heart happy, he’d never be tied down to a place that hated him.

He'd never be stuck where the past could haunt him. He could be happy even if Steve couldn’t.

The gig was amazing though, even if Steve stook out like a sore thumb, he’d done his best, wore a little eyeliner, mussed up his hair, he wore Eddie’s old battle vest with the blood stains still visible cause he’d never been able to get them out and Eddie had never taken it back, had seen Steve still had it after they’d won and claimed “it looks better on you anyway” he still looked like someone’s out of place dad, but he was surrounded by the party so, it didn’t matter. Nobody was paying attention to him, nobody was looking for him, Eddie wouldn’t see him from so far away, probably couldn’t even see the row in front of his face with the lights shining on him so brightly.

And yet near the end of the concert, while the band were wrapping up on their final song (before the inevitable encore the audience demanded of them, Dustin claimed it’d probably wind up being Upside Down, or Pariah, two songs he’d always claimed had been inspired by ‘his past’ from the bands last album, they were fan favourites.) A burly guy dressed in a black crew neck with a big white ‘SECURITY’ stretched over his broad chest, flagged him down.

Steve motioned to his ears, he couldn’t hear shit over the music, and could barely hear shit on a regular day, but that particular security guard, simply signed the words:

‘Not in trouble, come with me.’ confidently, as if he knew Steve would understand it. Only when Steve frowned in confusion and signed back

‘why’ did the guy thrust his thumb over into the stage’s direction. The band.

Steve, feeling suspicious, turned to look toward the party, only to find Dustin giving him a thumbs up, and Robin making shoo motions with her hands. Scheming little shits knew he wouldn’t think twice about attending if the seats were so far away. Would think it was safe, that he wouldn’t have to face Eddie. Face his terrible decision that worked out for one of them but not the other.

He wouldn’t have to find himself waiting backstage in a quiet room behind a door labelled ‘Talent’ because of course he’d go. His traitorous legs and heart would force him to go at the mere chance of seeing Eddie again, of seeing him up close, of talking to him, of the chance to fix a mistake he’d made years ago even if his new answer wouldn’t change anything between them. It’d been too long, Eddie wouldn’t still want him when he could have anyone.

If they had told him, he wouldn’t have to see Eddie, quietly (a word not many used to describe the man) enter, his back facing Steve as he closed the door just as quietly as he’d entered. His hair was longer.

The curls fuller, they reached down to his mid-back now and glistened with a mixture of product and sweat, Steve still wanted to touch, still mourned the fact that he’d never gotten the chance to.

“Y’know… When ol Dusty bun said he’d get you here… I wish I’d have believed him. I owe him 20 bucks now.”

“You bet on me coming?” Of course he did.

Eddie turned to face him, a small wistful smile on his cheeks that just hinted the presence of dimples. “Wouldn’t you if you were in my place? Steeeeve Harrington, at a metal concert? Pfft, seems a bit farfetched. You even dressed up too, shit, man, I guess that’s forty bucks. Vest still suits you more.” Steve let his head duck down a little, his cheeks warming under the mans gaze, unsure of the feeling within it. He didn’t know Eddie anymore…

Had he ever really known Eddie though? Had he ever given them chance to know each other outside of sharing trauma and comparing matching scars?

“…Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why am I back here, Eddie? Why’d you call me back here? Why not the party, they’re here too, they’d probably wanna see you too, it’s been years… why?”

“Ah. Dustin told me to, said I should have another go at something I tried years ago that didn’t pan out very well for me the first time around… has been chatting my ear off about it every time he calls… I guess I finally humoured him.” Something he tried years ago? Involving Steve? “Listen, Steve… I—”

Steve cut in, he shouldn’t have, but words just… had to burst from him driven by a flickering ember of hope, he had to, even if it wasn’t the path Eddie’s words were taking, he had to, with hope driving him on “I should’ve told you back then, but I didn’t want you to leave.” Eddie’s mouth shut, his head tilting to the side a little in uncertain interest “I didn’t know… I should have just told you, I didn’t… I wasn’t sure, shit, Eddie… I’d never… you—I’d never felt like… like that for a guy before… I didn’t know what it meant, I should have said—I should have told you that I just needed more time… that I wasn’t ready to answer but… but I didn’t want you to leave. I didn’t know you’d be gone by the time I woke up. By the time I realised I was wrong, you were gone.” He wanted time, but his words had come out wrong.

He’d stumbled through them like he stumbled through everything, struggled to get the right words out and they’d wound up wrong. So so very wrong. “And you didn’t think to call?”

“Heh, you were on your way to fame, Eddie and you didn’t exactly leave a number, Dustin told me you had a chance at stardom… why would I want to weigh you down? Where would I fit in in this life of yours, Eddie? I’m no one, you could have anyone.”

“Mmn, anyone. Even if the one I want believes himself to be no one?” Hope burned brighter, its embers brilliant and warm. “So… can I try again? Or was Dustin wrong?”

“Did you make a bet with him about this too?”

“Absolutely, I’d owe him two hundred bucks if he’s right.”

“Would it be worth it if I said try again?”

“God, Sunshine, I’d drain my entire bank account right into that little buttheads pocket without a care in the world if it meant he was right… i never stopped...” Eddie stepped closer, "I never stopped wanting... even though I wished for the longest time that I could stop... it's always been you, Steve..." now close enough to be within reach, his voice quiet but hopeful “so... is he right? Should I try again?”

“…Please try again.” This time… he wouldn’t be saying no.

#Steddie #Writing prompts #thank you for the compliment!! :D #💖💖💖💖❤️❤️❤️

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luuurien · 2 years

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Makeout Palace - The Midnight Show

(Power Pop, Indie Rock, Indie Pop)

With a loose concept and some of the rowdiest indie rock tunes this year, Makeout Palace's debut is a flash flood of everything the band can do, from raucous pop bangers to Wonderwall covers to solemn singer/songwriter cuts. The Midnight Show stuffs a ton of aspirations into just 51 minutes, but the band's fully unrestrained musicianship and wide net of influences all get a chance in the spotlight.

☆☆☆☆

The Midnight Show is all about having a good time, and it's a sorely missed kind of indie rock I absolutely love. More saturated than ever now due to the accessibility of music production programs and online distribution platforms, indie rock albums nowadays tend to rely on melancholy (think Alex G, The National) or angst (Car Seat Headrest, The Beths), focused on using the intensity and movement of moody guitars and propulsive drumming to help guide emotional buildups and releases, and while that's a more than fine way to go about things, it feels like brash and playful albums in the vein of The Midnight Show are far and few between. Thankfully, Makeout Palace's three-piece lineup of multi-instrumentalists Colin Ratcliff and Eva Levin alongside drummer Aidan Shapero is more than enough to sustain the album across 15 songs and 51 minutes, The Midnight Show a bundle of joy packaged with spiky thorns of distorted guitars and punky percussion wrapped around it to make you keep your distance, the album loosely conceptualized about a concert on the moon and harnessing the extra passion and impulsivity live performances bring. It's a little long and doesn't stray far from indie rock norms, but it means the band's fully unrestrained musicianship and wide net of influences all get a chance in the spotlight. The album's biggest influences come from 70s garage rock and the 90s alternative scene, the former's raw energy and the latter's embrace of pop hooks with heavy guitars at its height on tracks like Spiderman Vs. Doctor Octopus and OJ With Ice, Shapero's full-force drumming and the quick chord changes that border on sludgy were it not for Ratcliff and Levin's killer guitar work full of life while being some of the most absurdly fun songs I've heard recently - I had no clue a song about ending a shitty relationship could use such a weird allegory and still be one of the most well-written rock songs this year! Through that willingness to approach their music with less of a serious tone most of the time, Makeout Palace are able to carry the same intensity as their contemporaries without having to be in the usual dejected/detached mood: opener Coffee riffs on corporatism and shitty office jobs without being staid and rigid in their lambast of the capitalist grind ("'Are you free this Friday?' / Nope / Damn!" genuinely made me laugh the first time I heard it for how well it pokes at stuffed work schedules without just plainly talking about how much being overworked sucks) and the furious I Think We Should Try to Have Kids manages to be both a sobering take on modern relationship dynamics and the fears of adulthood and raising children in the current day while keeping a strong spirit and lovely instrumentation. What sets Makeout Palace apart from the rest of the underground scene is that their humorous moments are never absurd and disconnected from the world, yet they're never so grounded in reality that they lose their imagination and playfulness in the process. The Midnight Show is colorful, personable, and never a drag to listen to, and it makes the album's 51 minutes zip by in the blink of an eye. Variance is another advantage Makeout Palace have under their belt, as comfortable playing with sloppy two-chord punk rock and frantic drumming as they are smooth, slinky indie pop, The Midnight Show a round trip around the band's many musical stylings and inspirations. Warp Speed is easily the lightest song on offer, a midtempo 3/4 jam with snappy digital drum pads and a slower vocal melody than the shoutier Coffee and Spiderman Vs. Doctor Octopus it gets situated between, and despite it being an outlier in the tracklist compared to the rowdier songs on offer, it shows off how Makeout Palace can manage space and tension in their songs without rushing to get it all out as they do on power pop jams like Won't You Love Me or Up in Smoke. But when it comes time for songs like those latter tracks, they don't let up for a second, Won't You Love Me's anthemic hook tailor-made for screaming at the top of your lungs during a backyard concert and Up in Smoke's simple chord progression putting emphasis on Makeout Palace's ability to constantly increase the velocity of their songs without losing control over where they're headed, The Midnight Show as much a showing of the band's dynamic songcraft as it is a stunning show of their pure technical abilities. Call it scattered or call it wonderfully sporadic, The Midnight Show never repeats the same idea twice. So even if the bathroom skit is a bit too on-the-nose, or the Wonderwall cover might be a bit unnecessary on an already long album, The Midnight Show is a messy yet incredibly charismatic debut that brings all of Makeout Palace to the table and lets you get a full picture of who the trio are as a group, their strongest and weakest instrumental muscles and the music they playing the most. Maybe the album didn't need to be an hour long if they distilled it into one cohesive package, but there's something about how This is a Police Matter's sentimental indie rock collides with OJ With Ice and I Think We Should Try to Have Kids right after I can't help but be completely obsessed with, Makeout Palace unafraid to show off all the sides of their artistry and give meaning to every moment, no matter how silly or out of place it may seem at first. It's why they can spend the whole album riding high and then finish things with the cold and lonely I Felt It Today, one of the album's secret gems despite how minimal and dark it is compared to the rest of the tracklist, occasionally throwing in harmonics and noodling around on the fretboard as the band anxiously ponders what the future holds after the show's all over - it's a devastating finish and a total collapse of the energy leading into it, but there's no better way The Midnight Show could have ended. If you want to know exactly who Makeout Palace is, everything you need and more is right here, with the added benefit of hearing one of the most thrilling new bands this year and all they have to offer.

#makeout palace #the midnight show #mustard man #alternative rock #indie pop #indie rock #noise pop #pop #power pop #punk #rock #2022 #8/10 #album review #album reviews #2022 albums

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happymetalgirl · 3 years

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Five* Outside albums of 2020

I do this little list every year of my favorite albums that fall mostly “outside” the metal sphere and weren’t so metal-adjacent that I reviewed them formally during the year. The past three times I have written this little piece, I have kept it to five, but *this year, I’ve just had a hard time narrowing it down, so I figured, why do that? Well, I could go through a few dozen albums or so that I fucked with this year outside the metal sphere, but I’m compromising with the addition of a new, quick (we’ll see) honorable mention section.

So, in the interest of keeping my verbose tendencies in check, I’ll cut this introduction off and get into the honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions:

Anna von Hausswolff - All Thoughts Fly

I did review Anna von Hausswolff’s previous record, Dead Magic, back in 2018 as part of my bunch of metal albums reviews that year, because it was kind of tangentially metallic. It wasn’t a lot at a technical level, only a few metallic elements here no there, but it had a lot of harrowing qualities that I thought metal listeners might appreciate. For the Swedish singer and pipe-organist, that album really was the closest she ever came to metal’s territory, and I don’t think any flirting with the genre was intentional on her part. Most of what she does is haunting, neoclassical, organ-based music that’s usually not as wild as what Dead Magic was, and this year’s album is a real scale back to her roots and an appreciation for the pipe organ. While I do miss her bewitching vocals on this entirely instrumental album, All Thoughts Fly stands well on its own merits as both a solid tribute to von Hausswolff’s organ playing and as a beautiful, incredibly immersive ambient album that does so much with its relatively small palette. I’ve talked a few times on here about really shitty ambient music that’s approached with a clearly lazy attitude because of its supposed background role. Rather than being made to be ignored, All Thoughts Fly pulls you in and around in a swirl of lush sounds that aren’t too common in ambient music, and with a relatively minimal approach, relying on the naturally serene tambre of the instrument to fill the space with a lightening, floating ambience and well-structured movements to do the gentle moving. It’s a beautiful example of what an ambient album can achieve if it’s actually made with a lot of love and care.

Shabaka & The Ancestors - We Are Sent Here by History

Okay, that first one went pretty long. I’ll try to keep the rest of these here relatively short. Sons of Kemet band leader, Shabaka Hutchings, takes his other group on slightly less chaotic Afro-jazz odessey that what Sons of Kemet have been delivering us. While more contained on the surface within the genre’s usual light grey areas, Shabaka & The Ancestors move with freedom and flexibility on this album in a way that highlights the natural appeals of the Afro-jazz sound pallet through constantly engaging arrangements from masters of the craft.

Lady Gaga - Chromatica

I know we’re all well aware of Lady Gaga, but the pop icon has been relatively quietly been making the best music of her career since taking the edge rather than the center of the spotlight, from 2013’s diverse Artpop to 2016’s more bare-bones Joanne. And now, after her mellower, more traditional Americana-influenced album in 2016, Gaga cranks the volume and the fun way back up. Chromatica is a blast of an album whose wide span of dance pop albums influences new and old keeps it varied and lively all the way through. This album feels very much like it’s Gaga unleashed, just doing her thing and having a good time with a bunch of dance music styles that she’s always loved, and it’s impossible not to feel that enthusiasm secondhand, and groove the hell out along with it.

Black Thought - Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Abel

Black Thought has had nothing to prove since the relative inactivity of The Roots this past decade, but he has sure been rapping as if he does have something to prove on his solo work. The Philadelphia rapper put out a couple of EPs back in 2018 that showcased his impressive modern lyricism and flow, and the third, LP-sized installment in the series is just another offering of further proof of the man’s lyrical chops. There’s a little bit of an understated delivery in the music overall, but Black Thought really lets his words speak for themselves more than his moderate bravado. It’s not super flashy because it doesn’t need to be.

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Indie folk has always loved to soak in the puddles of personal sadness, but Californian singer Phoebe Bridgers takes the style to whole new depths of personally gripping, bordering on the outright emo, and that is by all means a compliment for rather than a shot at. The album’s candid journaling of Bridgers’ personal struggles is so tangible and so genuine that it would probably rival Connor Oberst’s best work with Bright Eyes. It is just a beautiful, yet tear-inducing album.

Alright, now on to the five “main” “non-metal” albums of the “list proper”.

Hexvessel - Kindred

Hexvessel are a Finnish six-piece whose sixth album of psychedelic folk here manages to touch on the same haunting, gothic tones that groups like Opeth and Gazpacho do at their most forest-y. Indeed, Kindred is an enchanting album, with sprawling styles and a full-bodied sonic pallet to keep it interesting the whole way through. And it’s as strong in its more bombastic song like that which opens the album as it is in its more stripped back acoustic tracks like that which closes it. Songs like “Magical and Damned” straight-up evoke Mount Eerie, while songs like “Kindred Moon” hearken to The Beatles at their most minimal and folky, and there’s plenty of spooky, mystical energy to go around. Definitely one of the best finds of the year for me.

The Strokes - The New Abnormal

Coming at the end of a seven-year gap between it and their previous album, 2013’s somewhat fan-polarizing Comedown Machine (which I liked a lot), The Strokes’ aptly named return is a return to the spotlight, but hardly to normalcy or the musical roots in garage rock that so many of the band’s fans have been sweating for. Twisting the electronic alternative rock of their Angles era into some odd, but mesmerizing forms, The New Abnormal is a subtly wild ride of an album through lots of melancholic overtones and undertones whose impact is made all the more potent by the occasional teasing of sorts with the few more traditionally rockin’ moments on here. It doesn’t take long to pull back the seemingly preppy synth rock or 80’s rock curtains to find the melancholy beneath “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus” and “Bad Decisions”, respectively. But the band aren’t even that subtle with the immediate depression of just the straight-up guitar melodies on songs like “Selfless”, “Not the Same Anymore”, and the chill-inducing soar of “Ode to the Mets”. The album’s prize piece, though, has to be the utterly gorgeous and empathetic minimalist synth song, “At the Door”, whose simple melodies and bare delivery make for one of the most gently heart-piercing songs I know and of my favorite songs of the year and probably my favorite Strokes song ever, as hard as it is to listen to. Welcome back Julien and company.

Rina Sawayama - Sawayama

Quite possibly the best outright pop album I have heard in a long while, Sawayama sounds simultaneously fresh and vintage in the landscape it was born into, making use of a lot of early 2000’s pop rock instrumentation, even some heavy metal guitars here and there, but most importantly, a real sense of passion that seems to be flat-out absent from so much of the pop that I (usually inadvertently) hear. I don’t want to overstate the prominence of the metal elements, but the album does have a bubbling, infectious energy both vocally and instrumentally from front to back that the occasional bursts of heavy guitars between Sawayama’s charismatic, dance-inducing performances do provide a good snapshot of. Furthermore, there’s a rich diversity of song types across the album that dive into the pop sphere beyond the standard trend-hopping that dominates streaming playlists and make for a dynamic and fun, rather than disjointed, pop album. And that’s all only possible with the consistently tight compositions o the album. Indeed, this is one of the best pop albums I have ever heard, certainly in recent years.

clipping. - Visions of Bodies Being Burned

clipping. are the second artist to be on here two years in a row after last year’s spectacularly spooky There Existed an Addiction to Blood, and Denzel Curry’s one-two punch of TA13OO and Zuu in 2018 and 2019 respectively. There Existed an Addiction to Blood was a thrilling and fresh take on many tropes of horrorcore with the band’s already forward-thinking and creative noise-driven instrumental production guiding harrowing stories of femme fatales and street violence in a more modern setting that often flipped the script on victims and perpetrators, as well as settings themselves. Visions of Bodies Being Burned is quite literally a continuing sequel to that explosive album, also released in time for Halloween this year; the material was recorded in the same sessions as the previous album and in the same unique vein. Consequently, there’s not really a whole lot I can say about this album in contrast with the last without getting way too in-depth and spoiling the fun. Whereas MC Daveed Diggs’ hooks were one of the biggest strong points of last year’s album, the creatively noisy production is the big star on this album. The fans seem to be leaning a bit more toward this year’s release, but I think I’m still a little partial to There Existed an Addiction to Blood. Nevertheless, Visions of Bodies Being Burned is a blood-pumping follow-up not to be missed.

Mac Miller - Circles

The posthumous release from Pennsylvanian rapper Mac Miller captures the man at his most chill and contemplative. The album is more of a minimalist ambient singer-songwriter sort of album than hip hop and its serene atmosphere becomes kind of inadvertently tragic in the posthumous context, but it serves as a beautiful swan song for the creative rapper whose struggles with addiction sadly prevented him from being able to bask in the deserved wide appreciation of his sixth album. Circles is a soulful, bittersweet cap to Mac Miller’s legacy that I think anyone will be able to feel the love and raw humanness of.

#Black Thought #Streams of Thought #Streams of Thought Vol 3 #Anna Von Hausswolff #All Thoughts Fly #The Strokes #The New Abnormal #Hexvessel #Kindred #Rina Sawayama #Sawayama #Phoebe Bridgers #Punisher #Lady Gaga #Chromatica #Shabaka and the Ancestors #We Are Sent Here by History

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tiesandtea · 4 years

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Suede in Ray Gun (US), issue 45, April 1997

The London Suede... English voodoo Wherein we learn of the ecstacy of being Suede By Michael Krugman

RG: It's refreshing to not hear the "We're going to tour America and everyone will love us" lip service that most English bands spew about making it here.

B: I'm just honest about it. In almost every other country in the world, we've had quite a lot of success, and it just hasn't happened in the States. Maybe it's something to do with the basic make up of the band that just grates with American music. Maybe it's the fact that we haven't had a successful tour there.

RG: That's true. All of the tours here were troubled in one way or another, what with Bernard's father passing away, or Richard having just stepped in. In many ways, we've never gotten to see the real Suede.

B: No, you haven't really, which is a shame, cos you missed out on something good. It's kind of down to us really, it's our problem. But I think that's pretty much true about a lot of English bands. They fuck up in the States. It's nothing I'm going to lose much sleep about at the moment, though.

A in-depth interview with a US alternative music magazine Ray Gun, conducted in November 1996. Full transcript from Suede Scrapbook (sent in by Elizabeth) under the cut. Scans including photographs by Donald Christie can be viewed here on the Richard Oakes Fans fb page.

It seems an eternity (in pop terms, at least) since Suede were declared the best new band in Britain, one week before the release of their first single. Since that time, so much has happened, both from without - the phenomenon that is Britpop - and, more importantly, from within. Suede v1 were a heavensent combo of genius guitarist and larger-than-life flashboy in Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson. Together they led Suede through two magic records, the eponymous debut and their daring masterwork, Dog Man Star. Then, as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone, split in a burst of still-not-clear acrimony.

Or so it seemed. When Butler bolted, Brett, bassist Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert weren't yet ready to call it quits. They took the high risk of replacing the best guitarist of his generation with an untested 17-year-old with a gift for mimicry, both musical and physical. Young Richard Oakes had to put up with endless "Brett's Little Dick" jokes, even as he proved his abilities on the Dog Man Star tour, a surreal time on the road that saw the band come closer together as people than they ever had before. With the question of “what's the point?” still in the air, Suede went away again, this time to refigure out their purpose and place in the post-Oasis universe.

Two years later, they've finally returned, and, lo and behold, they're as special as ever. With Coming Up, Anderson & Co. have created a chrome and steel cityscape of broken hearts and souls, resplendent in youth and lust and the pursuit of Ecstacy. The sound is vintage Suede, glamtastic guitars swirling, though Oakes and new keyboardist Neil "The Lizard" Codling have substituted a more consise Pop! vibe for Butler's manic virtuosity. The record proves once and for all that Suede are still as vital and vibrant as ever.

Backstage at the Manchester Apollo, a distracted Anderson and Gilbert sit down to talk, their minds not on the inquiry but on the imminent first gig of a long tour. Once the conversation starts, Anderson, known to his bandmates as His Lordship, comes alive, the legendary haughty veneer replaced by a candidness and a big-chested pride that comes from knowing just how good his band Suede really are.

Ray Gun: I suppose we need to start with Bernard's departure. Is there a stock answer? Do we not talk about it at all?

Brett Anderson: I've got a sheet with the stock answer.

Simon Gilbert: There's not a lot too be said. That was three years ago.

Brett: It's ancient history. The only time we ever think about that whole episode is when people ask us in interviews. It's like this bizarre thing that was in the past.

RG: Well then, why don't we talk about Richard? How did he join up?

S: He actually wrote in when he heard Bernard had left the band. He actually wrote in to the fan club, sent in a tape. We heard it, thought it was amazing and got him in for an audition. By the first song - he played "Heroine" - it sort of clicked.

B: That whole period was pretty strange, cos we were touring an album where one of the members who had co-written it with me had pissed off. It was quite frustrating and quite difficult at times. Which I got through with a lot of good will and a lot of positivity, but it was quite hard work. A lot of people had sort of thought, "Awww, the band had collapsed." We had to tour the album. It's just what you've got to do when you're in a band. For one thing, I was really proud of the album. I thought it was a fucking great album, there's a lot of songs on it that I really wanted to play live. I spent seven months writing the fucking thing, and when you put that much work into it, I was living it night and day, you just want people to hear it.

RG: Dog Man Star fell between the cracks in a way. It was overwhelmed by the very public split between the band and Bernard, and more importantly, it is a remarkably adventurous second album that came out at the same time as Britpop began to get more and more generic. Do you feel it went over people's head?

B: Yes and no. Commercially, it did. It wasn't commercial for a couple of factors. Not just because of its musical obscurity or whatever, cos it wasn't that musically obscure-

RG: It was complex.

B: It was complex, yeah. It was a combination of that and losing the guitarist. A lot of people thought the band had split up. A lot of people had a lack of confidence in the band because of that. And it was unfounded because, you know, most people experience backlash because they've made a shitty record, or cos they're not very good anymore. In some senses, Dog Man Star is probably the best record we've ever made. So yeah, it went over some people's head, and it was a difficult record to sell, but I think it was quite a landmark record. I read various snippets of things and people talk about bands trying to make their Dog Man Star. The record has definitely got a character which can be translated to other people's records. It's got a very sort of serious, epic, complex sense, d'you know what I mean.

RG: No matter what tension was going on in the studio, it remains a very brave album, in that you were a relatively straightforward pop band and you made a record that the 14-year-old segment of the audience would invariably be baffled by.

B: That had always been the idea for Suede. We'd be pushing it all the time. We've always had a sense of adventure in the music. It's a very difficult thing for people to get their heads around, cos we tend to write in a very similar, what, when it comes to singles. Like, stylistically, there's not much difference between "Trash" and "The Drowners." They're heady, poppy...a rush. If someone just looked at our singles, they'd say, "Oh this band hadn't progressed at all." But if you listen to any of the albums, we always try to change stuff around. And making Dog Man Star just seemed like a natural progression from the first album. We wanted to do something that was really really out there. And that sort of spirit of adventure has been killed off by Britpop, in a way. I think the good thing about Britpop is that it readdressed songwriting, but I think the bad thing about it is that it promoted safeness in music. And at the time of Dog Man Star, we could've written an album of tracks like "The Drowners" and "Animal Nitrate", we just didn't want to. Cos, you know, you're given a power, you're given a platform, you might as well do something that'll fucking prick up their ears, d'you know what I mean.

RG: Suede were the band that kickstarted the Britpop thing, not unlike what Nirvana did in the US with alt-rock. That is, taking a previously indie sound to the charts. Do you feel responsible for all this?

B: Yeah, totally. If you look at all of this chronologically and historically, Suede were the first band to do that. The kind of things that are in early Suede songs, talking about specifically English culture, not sort of singing songs about, y'know, rockspeak, d'you know what I mean? Just sort of bad cliches. So, not speaking rockspeak, talking about specifically English culture, which we were definitely the first band to do. Before Suede, there was a real confusion about what being in a band was all about. I mean, we came on the scene, we were so specific about what we wanted to be. We wanted to be Suede. And all the other bands around were just without a clue, just a joke. There were all these awful bands that didn't know how to write songs. I don't want to slag a load of bands off cos they're a load of crap. Just these bands that couldn't play, couldn't write a song, had no focus about what being in a band was. And Suede came along, and that's why we stuck out like a sore thumb, cos we had a certain sense of style, which no one else had. I'm not talking about we bought our clothes from fucking Armani or whatever, but there was a sense of what we were. Which was something beyond crappy student hair and shorts.

RG: But then just as you released your masterpiece, you got lost in the wake of Blur, Oasis, etc.

B: Well, yeah, we did, because of the simple fact that we'd lost a member. It would have been a completely different story if he'd stayed in the band. At the time it was quite frustrating, but I think, looking back on it, it was the best thing that could've happened. Cos I don't think we are considered a Britpop band. The same way that you wouldn't call the Stone Roses a baggy band, even though they started it. They're kind of beyond it by doing it in the first place, d'you know what I mean?

RG: Did you feel a sense of competition in making Coming Up? A need to prove yourselves?

S: There's probably an element of that, but it wasn't something we consciously had.

B: One of our strengths is that we don't particularly get influenced by what's going on around us. Some people might say that's a failing, cos you're not taking stuff in. I think Suede have definitely always had their own sense of style, they always had their own direction. I think there was a definite desire to refocus what we're about, cos I think with Dog Man Star, it went very experimental, we went in all directions everywhere. What you want to do is bring it all back to the central thing, and refocus on what the essence of the band was.

RG: That's the thing about Coming Up. It's Suede distilled to down to it's very nature. There's no wanky bits on this record.

B: Yeah. It was really important just to cut out all the dead wood, not have anything that didn't work. I wanted to make the sort of album that would work the first time you listened to a band. You don't have to like Suede to get into it, d'you know what I mean? It would just work on its own terms.

RG: In a sense, it was your first album. For any number of reasons, this Suede is not the same Suede.

B: It wasn't 'til we started writing the album, and Neil came along really, and the second phase of Suede really took off. Cos then it was really a new band. It wasn't just like the same instruments and stuff like that. I did feel as though Neil and Richard sort of combined to take it into a completely new form. No one could say, "Oh, they're just trying to replace Bernard," or whatever, it was a completely new feel to the band.

RG: The record seems to be influenced by real things, by friends and family, by being a person and not a pop star.

B: Definitely. It wasn't something I did consciously, but I did definitely retreat from all that. I pretty much retreated from the pop star shit really. I just got completely disillusioned from it and didn't particularly feel like going to the Squirrel's after show or anything like that, d'you know what I mean?

RG: As the scene became more celebrity oriented, you were noticeably absent.

B: We have this image of being this band of blokes that are kind of like obsessed with our hair and like, the superficial side of it all, and there's nothing further from the truth. I'm just so disinterested in the Face side of being a pop star.

RG: You certainly know how to use it to your advantage, though.

B: Well, sticking it in front of a fucking camera, if your face is going to be on the cover of a magazine and 100,000 people are going to read it, you don't want to look like you're just woken up, do you?

RG: The characters on Coming Up are like a chronicle of the modern drug-taking lifestyle.

B: Virtually everyone in London, a huge section of the people I know, are just complete rave heads and complete weekenders. There's this whole culture, this weekender culture, where you work throughout the week and on the weekend they just go completely insane. They're just popping pills like there's no tomorrow. And there are a lot of those sort of people on the record, yeah.

RG: And yourself? You've got a reputation as someone who enjoys a bit of chemicals.

B: No more than anyone else, really. I've always had too much of a focus on what I'm doing to ever slip too much into it. I've always almost used drugs, in a way, rather than let them use me. I've used them, yeah, (A), to let off steam. Who doesn't? When you're thinking all day, you need to just be blank for a couple of hours. And (B), to sort of like stimulate your mind sometimes. But when you say something like that and people get the wrong end of the stick. You get headlines like "BRETT PROMOTES DRUGS TO WRITE." Which is absolute bollocks. I'd say quite the opposite. I'd say it actually deters you sometimes, it actually stops you from thinking. But, y'know, when you're taking drugs and fucking hammering yourself into the ground for 15 years, which I have been doing, you actually get a sense of how to use them. There's a total difference between some 16-year-old taking drugs, and taking fucking Ecstasy for 15 years now, d'you know what I mean? So I know exactly how my body reacts, I know exactly how my mind reacts, I know exactly how to use it rather than let it use me.

RG: To be honest about it. Too many people go, "Don't do drugs" or "Drugs are the greatest!" whether they mean it or not.

B: I'll tell you what. We're doing this interview for the States, and I think there's so much fucking dishonesty about drugs in the States. It's one thing that really pisses me off. It's fashionable to say that you used to do it and you don't do it anymore. It's fashionable to be in rehab. All you have to do is say you're in rehab and make the right sort of music and you've got a hit record. And it's got nothing to do with your music, it's got to do with this society of people who go to rehab. It's absolute utter fucking bollocks.

RG: It's the culture of apology, the idea of saying, "I'm better now."

B: Exactly. Especially when it's saying, "Oh, I'm a rock 'n' roll and cool because I used to do drugs. I'm not a complete square. But I've given them up now, so I'm a good guy." Why don't you be fucking honest about it and say what you do and what you don't do. It's a load of fucking lies. It's all over the world, but it's extremified in the States, cos, y'know, everything's extremified in the States.

RG: Seeing how you've been so honest on the subject, did Damon Albarn's much-quoted comments about you being some kind of junkie piss you off?

B: I just don't like people commenting on what I do. I'm willing to talk about anything, but when other people start passing judgement on me...

RG: I want to talk about the more common Suede images, things like electricity and diesel and the sea and so forth.

B: There's a definite language that I like to make my own. I like to use words - not repetitively, I've never overused a word or phrase. The most used one is like, "hired car," which I've used about three times. I quite like establishing your own kind of language, and almost like, putting a copyright on your language, so when someone comes along and uses a word like that, then you can go, "Ah, that's one of my words," d'you know what I mean?

RG: So if someone writes about, say, the motorway...

B: Then I'll slam them into court and sue their asses. Seriously, that's why as a lyricist I have a style, like I have as a singer. I think lyrically speaking, words are generally pretty barren at the moment, and I think it's important to have a bit of pride in what you do and take it seriously.

RG: The imagery you use creates a very vivid world, albeit one that is very modern and very cold.

B: I try to put a bit of warmth in it as well. I don't see the world as this pointlessly bleak experience. There's a lot of optimism I have for life. Living in London is really exciting every day. I like to write about things that have got a timelessness, that's quite important to me. I don't like writing about things that are just of the moment. I tend to choose things like electricity or something like that, specific things that are part of the modern age, the modern age being something that happened about 96 years ago and that'll carry on for another hundred.

RG: Is there are Suede tribute band like say, No Way Sis?

B: Yes, actually, in Canada. They're called Snide. They come from London, Ontario and they do Suede and the Sex Pistols, so that's really cool. That's the only one I know, though I think there's a couple in Australia as well.

RG: Does the singer try to look like you? That's always the funniest part of those bands.

B: Yeah, like a cross between me and Johnny Rotten, if there is such a thing.

RG: Do you really want to make it in the US? Do you care anymore?

B: Not really, no. To be absolutely totally honest. I've been over there three times, three big tours, worked really hard, and at the end of the day, maybe there's just something about Suede that just doesn't connect with the American mentality. If they like the record, then they like the record. Your role as a musician is kind of like being this conquerer, and I find that really unhealthy. Everyone's always talking about breaking territories like they're fucking Alexander the Great.

RG: It's refreshing to not hear the "We're going to tour America and everyone will love us" lip service that most English bands spew about making it here.

RG: The thing with Suede is that you are pretty much a band of outsiders. In many ways, so are the kids that listen to you. Perhaps more so.

B: Totally. We do get a certain section of our audience that, you know, the Suede gigs they're coming to are the only times they've been out this year. They come in slippers, d'you know what I mean? Slippers and a dressing gown, rubbing their eyes like they just got out of bed. But yeah, we do attract a lot of people that are attracted to the band for unusual reasons, or are inspired by the band when they wouldn't be inspired by other people. It's not your run of the mill interchangeable "another band" kind of thing, and that's something I've always been determined not to be, "another band." It can sometimes be hard work, because you pretty much play on your own field, and you're pretty much cutting your own grass and making your own headway. It can be quite lonely, but it's a position we've always wanted.

#brett anderson #suede #this is genuinely a really interesting interview!#the london suede #coming up era #ray gun 1997 #coming up month #happy CU-versary!

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thesunflower23 · 4 years

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I don't consider myself to be very famous. I'm recognizable in certain contexts but even that kind of recognition sometimes puts me off terribly because it's uncomfortable in a way. I want people there not to see me, but to think about the music. A lot of young people are forgetting about the most important thing, which is the music. They're thinking about their career and the character that goes with it. The clothes they believe they're meant to wear, which again is fine. I understand the importance of fashion and aesthetics within art. I like the elegance of design but it's not the substance of something, particularly if you're primarily about making music. Another piece of advice I'd give—maybe the only piece of advice is you've got to have something that you really need to say. That's why you're doing it. If you've got nothing to say then maybe become a recording engineer? Don't be a writer. I desperately want to speak French so I can read some of the great French novels in the language they were written. I wish I could read Don Quixote in Spanish. Same with Portuguese or Latin or something, except I don't have that learning ability. I wish I could direct a movie but it's not something I've ever been able to do. I don't have the story to tell yet, and I'm not going to go out and make something that's visually cool but has no story. It was always my ambition to make films when I was growing up. I thought that was much more valid. I never wanted to be an indie rock musician. I wanted to make really important films. Epics, classics, except I've never had the idea or story come to me. Just because you can be in a band, just because you can make a film, doesn't necessarily mean you should. You have to ask yourself, "Is what I'm doing needed? Is what I'm doing valid?" So people reading this might think, "Is Deerhunter valid?" To me, yes it is. To me, I'm making an album that no one else is making right now. I'm always open to any genre of music that can affect me. My most listened to artist of last year according to Spotify was Whitney Houston. I adore her. Her voice, her personality, her presence, what she brings to the songs. Anything that has life in it, and has that much inherent value, I'd fall at the feet of that artist today. People, like Whitney Houston, she gave everything to her audience, and she had a tragic ending. She never had a chance. I don't have the capacity to do that. It's not needed. The audience are happy with what I give and I'm happy with what they give in return. We have a nice arrangement and I'm very satisfied with it. I like my life as it is. I don't have anything that I'm wishful of. Everything I've ever wanted I have. That's the biggest source of depression for me in many ways. It probably sounds really shitty to someone who's in poverty but in my world I have it all. Other people want more material items but in my world it's not important. I can have that guitar if I want it. I don't want a fancy car or to live in LA or New York or Paris. I want to stay here with my dog. As far as I'm concerned there is no up, up, up. I don't want to expand. I'm just an entertainer like anyone else but I'm lucky to know my place. Not be unsure of my place and think it should be a palace. I don't want to go to parties. I want to stay at home with my dog and watch old Humphrey Bogart movies. I'm very content. I guess it comes back to the question of why has it taken four years for this record? I don't know. It's hard to go out. I sometimes force myself to. It's hard enough making the music and putting it into a document, talking about it endlessly then running it into the ground. I'd put out a new song every week if I could but I'm not sure that's the way it's done now, unless you're a pop star. My real priority is to my dog. More than my music or anything else. If you told me something was going to happen to my dog while I was on tour I'd cancel the entire tour. It's painful enough being on tour. I see Lockett looking at pictures of his kids on the bus and it's painful. When I'm lying on the bottom bunk of a bus after a show at 3 a.m. riding through the French countryside and I'm staring at pictures of my dog, it's painful. But then there is the ecstasy of the show the next night. In the future, here's hoping there'll be some kind of technology where we can see our loved ones. One of the greatest things about my life has been taking this music across the world. I love everywhere we go. It's getting there that's the misery. It's the jet lag, it's the exhaustion, it's the dehydration. It doesn't matter if you're a huge band either. I've toured with some of the biggest and I've seen it. Even in the most glamorous and decadent of situations there's a lack of health there. And there's a lack of space. Most importantly, there's also a lack of solitude. And peace. You're under fluorescent lights. I've played Madison Square Garden a couple of times and it's actually quite depressing. The backstage area is like a government office building. It's not pleasant. You'll play a small club and the backstage area is more like being at home. Sometimes it's awful but I guess what I'm saying is it doesn't matter how big you are, there's some kind of human comfort that can't be bought and brought to you everywhere. Even if you have 50 assistants, you're still sat under fluorescent lights in a dressing room designed as a locker room for a hockey team. It's not artistic or inspiring. When you look at the all time greats such as the Stones or Bob Dylan that only play arena shows, you get to a point where you're not meeting people any more because the only people around you backstage are the people you've put there. So you become more and more isolated. I don't tour arenas specifically unless I'm opening for someone, but I've seen it and it's not healthy. The greatest thing about being a young band and getting into a van is that everywhere you go, you make new friends. You meet people and get talking to them. It's not awkward or like you're alienated or different from them. Doing that you're usually in your 20s so you don't have kids at home missing you. Your home is probably some kind of squat or apartment so you don't tend to miss it as much. That's when it's easiest to be in a band. It becomes harder as you get older and you actually have a home to go back to. I can't stress how important solitude is. As I get older I require more and more solitude. I just want to be alone. I'm a committed asexual, which might be hard for people to understand, but there's nothing more amazing to me than coming home from a tour and being utterly alone except for the company of my dog. Not talking or having to give, give, give. But then if I got my wish and stayed home all the time I'd start going crazy! I want to play music to people, I want to make people happy, but the humanity of it hasn't changed. Human condition has not changed. That's when I think about Whitney dying in a bathtub alone. It leaves a sour taste for me because she finally found solitude but it came in death. People lose track of their needs. They start letting ambition replace their needs.

Bradford Cox

#bradford cox

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lucefrs · 4 years

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[ snoop dogg vc ] greetings loved ones ! yes im referencing songs from 2010 , if u see me having a mental breakdown about 2020 marking the end of the decade it’s fine jus look the other way x anyways , hi hey i’m tasha and i’m v excited to be here ! lit rally trying to think of a fun fact abt myself , but my brains rly like no thoughts head empty .. but uk who cld tell u a lot of facts abt themselves ? my bb luce ! amazing segway ik .. without further ado ...

⌠ ALANA CHAMPION, 21, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome to gallagher academy, LUCIE ‘LUCE’ FREAR! originally hailing from BELFAST, IRELAND, they were exposed to too much during the protest, and the academy is now in charge of their safe care. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of wrinkled charity shop tees adorning bands she’s never heard of, a rushed manicure on calloused fingers and a wash of mottled purple hues under her eyes. when it’s the aries’s birthday on 4/3/1998, on the bad nights they request their FRIES WITH EXTRA SALT from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re safe in witness protection.

backstory .

lucie was born in northern ireland to a middle-class family , very involved in one another’s lives ! growing up she was engrossed in american culture , through music mostly .. through bruce springsteen mostly .. but also all the super-american teen tv like 90210, the oc, gossip girl etc ...

thus, she was pretty dead set on moving to america asap , because rationale ? realistic expectation ? she has none of that . zero , zilch . she’s always been pretty fiercely independent , making her way and winding up in sticky situations more often than not , but that’s also kind of the way she was raised , a v much drifting in n out one another’s lives , running into ur pop at the pub , deep chats at 2am when ma’s up knitting for wtvr reason and she comes stumbling in red-eyed n heartbroken by another guy in a shitty indie band .

so while there were def tears shed when her family saw her off at the airport , they were emotionally supportive , even if they cldn’t be financially supportive n that honestly still means the world 2 her . she misses them a lot , cries abt it sometimes rip . how did she have the money to hop the pond ? well . she didn’t .. she’d saved enough ( odd jobs here ‘n there ) for the plane ticket , n bnbs for a couple of months n figured she’d wing the rest of it , had no plans of going to college

her inability to hold a job made her reconsider , she spent way 2 much time talking to the customers , or going off with them which wld always lead to a spat w/ her superiors , probably always in the wrong , but that wouldn’t stop her from parting w/ some poorly constructed rant abt how capitalism was ruining everything , def the type of gurl to get whatever she knows abt marx from tumblr dfghjk

uk when walter white calls jesse and asks if he has plans and he’s like yeah ... and then walt roasts him n says eating cheetos watching porn and masturbating does not count as plans .. a direct @ at miss luce . but in the midst of that n endless swiping on tinder n seeking arrangements , she gets a sugar daddy . iconic , her mind . uses the pleading eyes emoji like pay for my tuition pwease n thats how she ends up at georgetown

she gives school her best effort but she can’t commit 2 shit , so she’s kinda just vibing there , skipping classes whenever , going to all these events n eventually winds up befriending a lot of the protesters , b/c she sees the passion n purpose they have n is just kinda hoping some of it will rub off on her . a bit broken up abt the deaths , but also feels like a fraud b/c she was just there , n all the protesters r like in it in it , n she’s somehow got them to believe she’s in it in it too n she wants to be but also like , she just wants to be the lead in an all girls folk-rock-synth band so . has never dealt with death in any capacity so she’s a bit like .. how does one compute this

personality & physicality .

she's an aries sun , libra moon which is literally described as ‘ rebellious without a cause ‘ and i’d say that sums her up p well . her passion is intense as heck but short lived , she’s flighty and fidgety .

however, she’s super amiable , will talk with anyone . doesn’t rly shut up tbh . n therefore , makes friends pretty easily n is as much as a survival tool as it is just a positive trait to have .

definitely a go big or go home person . w/ everything includin lov , falls in love 456784 times a day , hozier’s someone new is her anthem . she tends to wring ppl a lil bit dry too fast too soon , comes on too strong , falls too fast n hits the ground equally as hard , then does it all again . a vicious cycle tbh .

plays guitar n writes songs , sings at local open mics . has great stage presence but always gets on stage when she’s had one too many , while leaves her ad-libbing half the songs she’s singing n sometimes crying , n saying fuck u to her old bosses and old flames ( one in the same ? / who knowz ) .

kinda feral sometimes , shld probably brush her hair more often . always wearing last night’s make up , never dresses boring thinks of it as a cardinal sin to dress boring . looks at this lil gallagher stint as an adventure .. miss has a big storm coming

*wipes sweat from my brow like spongebob* why do i feel like i’ve written so much and yet none of it is of substance .. a nightmare , it’s rl and im living it . but ! pls pls pls feel free to slide into my dms or discord and plot , i’m truly up for anything luce’s great in the way that she’s practically a blank canvas for anything so ! i look forward to plotting with y’all <3

#gallagher:intro #womp womp

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bastardsonofday · 5 years

Text

Guess it didnt post so posting again

@rhysands-highlady

Did you ask for a barista/coffee-shop guitarist au? No. No, you did not. Am I going to give it to you anyway? Yes. Yes, I am.

Because Gwyn wanted more Rhycien fluff in her life and I live to serve.

Not betaed or edited.

ao3

Prompt:

There were many things that Lucien didn't like about his job. He didn't like the opening shift because really did people have to start work so early and require coffee to do it? He didn't like his boss Tamlin and how his micromanaging suffocated Lucien almost to the point of quitting (Lucien was a good employee and Tam knew that so he didn't need to keep breathing down Lucien's neck damnit). He didn't like the rude customers or the shitty wage or toilet cleaning duty-

But the thing that annoyed Lucien the most about his job, had to be the music stand.

Since Prythian Joe was in the middle of a gentrified community with indie bookstores and clothing outlets, they had to keep up with the times to compete with Hybern Coffee across the way. So Tamlin had set up a free music area. Piano and drums were provided, but any other instruments had to be brought by the musician themselves.

It wasn't that Lucien didn't like music. He liked it well enough (okay so perhaps he was a bit of a snob when it came to music, being raised in a rich family with plenty of music lessons of his own). It was more of the fact that this meant any aspiring indie rock solo artist could take this as their next big break--which meant that Lucien, snob as he was, petitioned Tamlin to start wearing earplugs to work because usually these musicians were just plain bad.

Tamlin said no.

So Lucien had to suffer.

Today the musician was a dude without the classic beanie and plaid (thank the Cauldron, Lucien thought his eyes would start bleeding if he saw another flannel in 70° weather), but rather a plain jeans and band T. Which was the second most favored outfit after the Hipster Classic for these musicians. He ordered a coffee and then tuned his guitar while he waited.

Lucien handed him his coffee and he smiled and thanked Lucien in a way that made his insides wobble. Lucien ignored it. "Wow." The guy said (he'd given his name at the register as Rhys). "You're hot."

Oh great, one of those musicians: full of himself. "Thanks. Woke up like this." Lucien said sarcastically.

Rhys whistled appreciatively. "Your partner must love that." Then he went back to tuning his guitar.

"Had I one, probably." Lucien replied and then went back to making coffees, barely realizing he'd said it before he was halfway through the queue.

But when Lucien looked up again at Rhys the guy winked at him but didn't stop singing.

Hours passed and Rhys ordered more coffee. He was almost through the entirety of Hozier's back catalouge when he took a break to rest his voice.

It wasn't that Lucien didn't like Hozier's work but really, there was only so many times that you could listen to slightly different acoustic covers of 'Be', you know?

Rhys took a seat at one of the tables and ordered a mineral water (the only kind they had) to rest while someone else took over for a while. Lucien brought it to him.

"What'd you think?" Rhys asked when he walked over.

"Hmm?"

"About my singing."

"Ah, sorry. I tend to tune out the music in here," Generally true but Rhys was actually a good singer, so he had actually enjoyed it.

"Oh?"

"I mean really, it's like some people only know Hozier and Imagine Dragons, you know? I mean I get that this is an indie clientele and all but," Lucien shrugged, "not really my scene."

"Never met a man before who didn't like Hozier." Rhys' eyebrows raised.

"Never said that I didn't like him, just that I'd rather some variety."

Rhys grinned. "Got an idea for a set list then?" He asked taking a napkin from the table and pushing it Lucien's way.

"What?" Lucien hadn't meant to- "No! I mean- why-?"

"Come on," Rhys leaned closer, "don't you want me to sing a song for you?"

"No." Lucien said. He did, but he wasn't going to admit that.

"How 'bout a date for me to change the station?" Rhys cocked an eyebrow.

"In your dreams." Lucien replied and headed back to the cash register before Rhys could see his flushing face.

Rhys went back up after he'd finished his water. Lucien almost didn't notice the shuft change until he heard it. "This one's for Lucien." Rhys said into the mike, followed by some mild clapping.

He almost expected another Hozier song, sung just to annoy him, but what he got.... wasn't that.

The opening riff wasn't just recognizable but famous. When Rhys started singing Lucien was shocked when his went from deep and melodic and Hozier and to... well... AC/DC.

Rhys met his eyes as he began singing the first verse and winked. Lucien took a napkin from the dispenser next to him and a pen from the register and bedrudgingly wrote down his number. He stuffed it in his pocket for later and turned to the next person in the queue.

The reception was amazing. Lucien and Rhys finally had a moment to sit down and eat while the band played. Lucien, starving from being too busy to eat all day, stuffed his mouth as soon as he sat down. Rhys' eyes dragged to the band. Finding one that Rhys approved of for their wedding had been a freaking nightmare. Rhys had always complained: one was pitchy, one was off key, one was holding his guitar right, why did that one even have a clarinet in the mix? Lucien had almost gone with a DJ, but Rhys ahd complained about that too. Wedding DJs had no soul, he'd claimed.

Ugh, the struggles of marrying an artist.

But they were finally sitting (Mother, Lucien's feet hurt) and eating (Mother, he was hungry).

Rhys glanced at him ad the band started the final chorus to the song they were singing. "Hey," he said a wicked smile on his face. "Want me to sing a song for you?"

"No." Lucien grumbled through a mouthful of food. That was what they paid the band for, so Lucien could spend the whole night arm in arm with Rhys.

"I'm gonna sing a song for you." Rhys said, and started to get up.

"Rhys-! We agreed that you wouldn't work tonight!"

But Rhys just winked at him. He walked up to the band, whispered something to one of them. They finished up their song and Rhys climbed onto the stage while the lead singer introduced him. "And here's Rhys with a song of his own for his fairer half." The singer joked, handing him their guitar.

Lucien rolled his eyes and flushed slightly as his friends whooped and cheered. Rhys took the guitar and without any introduction began playing AC/DC.

Lucien groaned as Rhys winked at him. "Why did I ever marry you?"

#hope you like it gwyn!!#diana writes rhycien #diana writes lucien vanserra #lucien vanserra #rhysand #rhycien #diana writes prompts

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manjuhitorie · 5 years

Video

Muro Festival, is a rock festival! Which invites newcomers, upcoming artists, veteran come-on-ers, and all hard song enthusiasts alike to celebrate. Named after Muro Kiyoto, who is the manager of a Shibuya concert venue. As an avid enforcer of music events he’s esteemed by many in the scene, so the event draws in people who are driven by the fuel of that pass. At least bands will comment “Muro fest is an adhesive (Arukara)” or “The number one trait of Murofes is that the performing bands have awesome strong connections even on the side, and that the essence of that friendship engulfs it (Wasure).“ or “Even if Murofest was hosted at a small park or a in the middle of the street or in Muro’s house or even in a public toilet, I would perform. I love Murofest (Mizuno Gii).”

Anyway the performances are full of power! Full of summer heat! Full of maudlinism to soar like Muninn! Full of a favorite: there’s Hitorie’s dead pan heartfelt bassist, ygarshy!

And you were able to watch it on a niconico livestream but...

IT’S ENDED NOW

I will preserve this post as a report.... Doubling as a source for various trivia.... I’m considering maybe if a fan makes a purchase of a Wasureranneyo album, or something of similar sentiment, and DM’s me a screenshot, I could share the recording... Even if you see this in a billion lightyears from now. Because sharing is caring, all around yeah!!!

You have to get niconico premium to watch it, which is only 540 yen. Nothing compared to the fest’s ticket fee of 10,000 yen (Plus airfare fee for us overseers). You can use foreign debit cards, or even Paypal… ! Much of the performances were locked up, only for Premium members originally even for those who were able to watch real-time, so there’s no regrets in seizing the now. Thumbs up. Live shows enhance a whole different essence, so more than listening to a J-rock playlist on Spotify I’d recommend taking a dive into this while you can!!

Not only can you upfront witness the air around their electric pickguards warp to their technique, you can see them hop and whomp and throwmp around! What chords they clench with their teeth, what lines they unleash from the pit of their lungs, what parts the band will huddle together for and what songs mean the world to them! Also the crowds reactions, I move when I see them move, in polysemy. If there’s any niche J-rock band names you’ve maybe been curious about, or just want to find some new indie J-rock, the artist line-up is here! LAMP ON TERREN: wowawawa’s best buddy ‘Dai-chan’ is in there… *Waves hand* TERREN were once scheduled for a joint live with perfect timing, so they brought a birthday cake for wowaka and they got friendly with Rie... or so they thought.. The next day SND was ready to beat the shit out of them on stage. But they’re all friendly now (I think)))) Arukara: They master the standard rock setup with wads of distortion, wah effects, while sometimes make instrumental songs with violin etc. even! They do podcasts! And they reinforce cats a lot. I recommend Chigirero. majiko: Village Man’s Store: Who are the band with bright red suits, bright firey songs, and bright red lips who kissed Shinoda that one time - In seriousness I could recommend them though, they’re sweet with only a little taste of the sleazy! KAKASHI are rejoiced by quite a few Hitorie fans I know. There’s CIVILIAN: A three-piece whom all graduated from the Tokyo School of Music Shibuya, the bonds roam, who also hosts Nanou HoehoeP, another past utaite like majiko. LEGO BIG MORL: Sukippara ni Sake: Who are swanky with Kachāshī-like dances to the stretches of never making a boring song. And so so many more! J-rock band names start to make more less sense the more I’m in here! Wahoo! A band named Hitorie performed two years ago, and there’s LEGO BIG MORL this year, which is hoisted up by the same manager as Hitorie, Mika Arara! The members separately will some participate in cooking shows(), some each do acoustic shows on their own accord, each ego-search, and their stoic songs together are bound to at least make your foot tap from their flavored textures. For this sake I’m eyeing up the band’s particularly memorable whiz named Hiroki Tanaka. Hiroki is not most notable for his #My ygarshy hashtag, but for the sake of this he is. Under the tag is either Hiroki posting a picture of him together with ygarshy or him commenting #My ygarshy on pictures ygarshy of himself with others. Or the “What? Are you a couple?” on ygarshy’s “It’s our 9th year anniversary” photo of him with SND… yg “Sorry.” In general ygarshy and Hiroki are friendly, they drink and vent together time to time.Also Hiroki and Shibata Takahiro, the character who comes in soon, have a unit called Takahiroki. Which is the two of them fused to make flurry, with only an acoustic guitar and a mic as their weapons even! Their concerts tend to break the norms of the non-flamboyant J-rock scene, as they screw around with their power with no real point, just a joint to a jollity! Where as many J-rock shows will use screens of music visualizers to engross, Takahiroki will use the crowd by galvanizing them raise their signature rainbow towels or make explosive call-outs towards the flames of reality. Where many will use subdued dance to party, Takahiroki will chit-chat about food and females as they swing their limbs like spinning amusement park rides or dress as bartenders and drink . Though all rock shows are have their unique tricks and spirit, it’s nice to see it super shaken up also… I introduce these two for good reason! It’s background for what’s feautured in the niconico livestream! The band Wasureranneyo! That Shibata is on vocals and guitar, that Hiroki is on main guitar, our ygarshy is on bass, and Takayuki Tomita is on drums! Tomita is from a band called THE LOVE NINGEN, whom I’m not sure how came into relation with Shibata, but Wasurerannee yo is constantly borrowing members to fill it’s blanks due to . ygarshy has been consistent for more than half a year now! Hiroki also bounces in whenever he can an ex. Wasurerannee yo member once filled in for Love Ningen. They themselves most likely meet at festivals like this! Where similar bands get together under a sonic medium and spend the crepuscle ball. But I’m going back to ygarshy! Him! His performance is a spotlight!

the important part THE SHOW highlights

Wasureraneeyo start at 1:27:28, end at 1:58:39. You can manually copy-paste, and it’s a whole 30 minutes action-packed. There's about 48 hours before a the single watch instance will expire, but it's possible to close the window and come back anytime between then.

The first 5+ minutes are rehearsal, they’re muted to give the live-goers an extra extra incentive. It’s still worth a peak to see how musicians will stroll as they test. They played their theme song and also a cover of Alexandros’ Wataridori there’s nothing worth hearing anyway right (*wails).

The rest is 100% worth the buck! ●Shibata starts off by whimpering over an urge he needs to burst out, he needs everybody to cheer him on. When he Says “Miyamoto - Ryou!”, you have to shout “You can do it!” Note: Miyamoto and Ryou are a comedian duo, who just days ago were revealed to the victims of a corrupted corporation, who was holding absolute control over them. People have cheering for them to win better circumstances in the case. Yet the apologies and the press conferences have been fantasy football battles.... Ugh... It's a riot for sure though! Official news reports are here or here or etc. ●He gets everyone to wiggle their arms 90° angles above their heads “like we’ve gone crazy!” and shout a nonsensical “Yossoi hoi hoi!” chant! With the heat as the beat! yga just plays bass! ●He makes noise for his mom, multiple times throughout! His T-shirt even has his mom on it! Specifically a picture of 2 year old himself being embraced by his mother printed on it, with the word “Mother” metallically written on the back… Source from his past diary entry of him expressing his maternal love. I can’t believe this ygarshy no wonder you can’t help but smile a lot during these shows. ●He complains about the shitty time he “went out drinking when he two cute girls walked through the door in, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ he thought, only for them to start chit-chatting about how small their boyfriend’s dicks are! What kind of damnation is this bullshit!” ●The lyrics are about that stuff anyway!! ●There’s also a special appearance from Kanata Takehiro, the vocalist of LEGO BIG MORL. Shibata bitches at him mid-solo because “Fuck you! All the girls are staring at you now damn it!” *He is actually popular in the band due to being good and cooking and math and being an overall goofball behind the gallantries. The original of Odore Hikikomori features Hiroki and Sekihan, of Happy Head NANIYORI also he was in the niconico scene a long time ago, both dressed in clothes that you may find very unlikely but 100% plausible. ●ygarshy smiles and then recalibrates his hair over his eyes to look like a dark souls boss faceless again. He holds his bass with the neck upwards, he’s reviving his high school orchestra club bass playing sensibility. Virtuoso. The high tempo of Wasureraneeyo’s songs is definitely on par with Hitorie’s, Rie's irregular metres, swapping, interchanging and 456 metres are monstrous, but the sheer volume of tutti and strumming in Wasure’s punk songs seems to be something else as well…! yganbare!! ●Also don’t worry about those missed minutes because Shibata crowd-surfs again. This time with cash in his hand a mission! Saying “I’m glad to be here! Take me to the cute beer darling!”, as he is driven by the hands of the compliantly ecstatic crowd towards a staff member waiting in the middle of the crowd, holding up your average beer! Shibata trades the cash for the cup, he orders everyone to gather under him, “I can’t stand up if you’re pushing my ass! Oh now I can thank you”, and at last he gains the support to stand up! On top of a crowd for God's sake he rises. To glug the beer like a food chain top predator of the wild. Then to slide back to stage while crying for his mom again.

●Hiroki physically shoves ygarshy around while they have the stage to themselves. Ahh how the tables turn, the kicker to the pushee. ●In his black robes ygarshy is just such a trance to witness play throughout… It’s really great in motion and as a whole I love dirty rock concerts. Music has to be heard, my lumberous lumpy text can’t convey those sound waves… So give it a watch if you may have free time to do so! Only if you can please! Source for comments and some info: https://skream.jp/feature/2019/06/muro_festival_2019.php More photos and videos can be found on their official twitter! Photos by Suzuki Kouhei woah...

#Watching the scene change from day to night was cool I want to go #The other bands are interesting enough they all deserve to be highlighted but my favoritism keeps me sticking here #ヒトリエ #ygarshy #hitorie

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bluevaughn · 5 years

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(CIS MALE ) haven’t seen BLUE VAUGHN around in a while. the CHANCE PERDOMO lookalike has been known to be (+) VERSATILE & (+) RESOURCEFUL, but HE can also be (-) EGOCENTRIC & (-) BLUNT. The 22 year old is a SENIOR majoring in SOFTWARE ENGINEERING. I believe they’re living in PEREGRINIS but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door.

hey y’all ingrid back at it w another intro bc this dumb bitch couldn’t resist picking a 3rd character, rip :// . i didn’t mean to pick up 2 caos fcs but here we are bc chance and tati are Too Perfect

so y’all should check out his pinterest board bc i love this boy sm uwu

full name: blue altair vaughn age: 22 birth date: june 30th, 1996 birth place: new york city, ny spoken languages: english, spanish

blue was the firstborn of altair and gemma vaughn, they were pretty young (only a couple years older than blue is right now) and were in the beginning of their respective careers. his dad as a record producer and his mom as an architect.

blue spent a lot of time with both of his parents and very rarely was he under the supervision of a nanny or anyone that wasn’t them. his mom worked from home, and whenever she had a meeting with a client, blue would spend the day in the studio with his dad which was his favorite thing. he was already dancing before he could even properly walk ://

when he was still a toddler his little sister was born. they’re not too far apart in age but he still likes to act like the Big Protective brother who is Always right. (( btw this will probably be a vERY wanted connection so im not saying much abt her for now:/ ))

they moved to rochester when he was probs about ...12? his dad got his own Cool Studio which was 100% designed by his mom ok,,,, he’s worked w a few Big Names but his dad is v professional abt this job and blue is almost never allowed to meet anyone Cool rip ksdkjdjkdd

in high school blue started a Shitty Band called electric (( they were originally Electric Blue bc hes lowkey a narcissistic pos but they ditched the Blue :/ )) it was him and 4 other friends, he played the guitar. they were bad. they didn’t really have a genre or anything and it was just for fun. they’d play at like school events and shit bc they were cute.

blue was kinda friends w everyone in high school?? like he’s really outgoing and can’t stick to one group or single person bc he gets bored . he was in the lacrosse team bc hes fucking ridiculous and Energetic

he loves video games but dont talk to him abt it bc idk shit abt them uwu

basically his love for video games is why he chose his major. he’s really methodical and creative which is a really helpful combo in his field. he’s mostly interested in creating apps (( watchout fakeblock ))

blue didn’t really know tatiana?? like they weren’t close or friends or anything he probably spoke to her twice

b U T his ex did end up cheating on him with her at some point so when the time came, he was still lowkey pissed and butthurt and didnt think twice before voting for tatiana.

which he obVIOUSLY deeply regrets bc hes now aware tatiana wasnt to blame for anything :/

he still has his band, theyre down to just 3 members tho. hes still playing guitar. theyre still not That Great but at least they have a sound. some indie pop , electropop, alt rock. kinda like.... the 1975 and bleachers ... u get the idea.

and yea idk what else !! this is p much it !! come plot w me !!! check out his board !! thanks

some wc’s !!

ill probably send a wc to the main for this but his baby sister !! shes like 18-21 and attends lockwood. theyre tight.

friends from hs ? ? ? enemies ?? someone that thought he was a fake bitch ?? an attention hoe ??

hes still playing lacrosse for lockwood so !! teammates !! or anything to do w the team idk

honestmeme... give me his other 2 bandmates :// they dont have to know each other since high school its ok if they met in lockwood

a roommate!!!

some1 he plays video games online with mayb

fwb’s !! past hook ups !! hes a hoe !! and he’s espeCIALly a hoe for woc can u blame him :/

ummm ?? idk maybe like cousins would also be lit !

i want a stupid but wholesome boi squad who share memes w each other and roast each other in a group chat but then just have sleepovers and they spend the whole night playing online dress up games and mario kart,,, we dont have time for toxic masculinity :/

anything else just plot w me thanks !

u can message me on @bowics or here or ask me for my dicks cord bc too many tumblr ims stress me out thanks !

#water:intro #about

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alexcsofrp · 5 years

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*:･ﾟ✧ // About the mun !!

nicknames: Al, Lex, Alex ( I hatee this one ), kleine ( it’s like midget ... ), Pootje ( I broke my foot 2 years ago after a night out and it never really got away ...)

zodiac: Taurus

height: Probably around 5'2"

time: 23:45 so 11:45pm

favorite band / artist: QUEEN, I’m also Eurovision trash but my spotify playlist is just one big huge mess really ...

song stuck in my head: Copycat - Billie Eilish ( i love love love this )

last movie i saw: Jupiter ascending ?? ( bad script but hey Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum ?? )

last thing i googled: Sporza ... we had a football thingie on today and I’m very disappointed ...

other blogs: My indie and my character blog to the rp I’m gonna be in :D

do i get asks: Depends I guess?? I’m not the most active person but I do get them sometimes :D

why did i choose this username: Well my name is Alexis and this is a rp something blog and alexisofrp was already taken XD

following: I’m dumb and can’t understand if this the amount of people I’m following or my followers ?? But I follow 208 people and have 647 amazing followers that try to keep up with my shitty activity :D

average amount of sleep: I mean it’s probably between 5-7 hours and 7 being o na great day ... I am the absolute worst at sleep schedules

what i’m wearing: Shorts/tshirt/blanket with sleeves/real blanket ( I can’t sleep in pyjamas ...)

dream job: I would love to work in a bookstore. I love to read and can spend ages in a bookstore

dream trip: Anything warm. I love me some sun and the weather in waffleland is absolutely terrible rn so anything sunny will do.

favorite food: I’m Belgian so i’m obliged to say fries but also waffles and any pasta dish and pudding

play any instruments: I can play guitar hero on the WII ?? We have some drums with it as well but that’s about it XD

eye color: Blue/grey/green something in between all of those

hair color: Not really dark brown but like the one between light and dark brown

languages you speak: Dutch ( obviously ), English, french ( I can help myself ), German ( I mean schmetterling )

random fact: I speak very fast even though I’m from what we Belgians like to call the slow speaking part of Belgium ( like I can ramble like it’s not even normal )

describe yourself as aesthetic things: way too many coffee, 4 alarms not even 15 minutes apart, red lipstick on a total casual outfit, always overdressed, Never enough shoes, this gifset, badly taken snapchats on a night out

tagged by: @fiewrites ( bless you queen ) tagging: anybody who sees this and wants to do it ?? I have no idea who has been tagged already and who hasn’t ??

#about #i'm such a boring person really XD

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obtusemedia · 5 years

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Top 25 Songs of 2018: Honorable Mentions

It’s year-end list season again! And with that comes my sixth annual top 25 list.

But before we countdown the best that 2018 gave us, here’s 15 songs that just missed the cut. Like in 2017, this year had more quantity than quality when it came to singles, meaning although there were only a couple legitimate contenders for the top spot, there were plenty of solid songs that I had to give a shout out to. So apologies to great acts like boygenius, Florence+The Machine and Childish Gambino (although he easily had the best music video this year) for just missing the cut.

Let’s get into it!

“Nobody” by Mitski

There are plenty of songs about loneliness, but Mitski turns that emotion into insanity on “Nobody.”

Her emotions ramp up and become more desperate throughout the indie-pop track, as Mitski’s pleads for companionship intensify. She wants to find love, but frankly, she also just needs human connection. And as the one-word chorus repeats into oblivion — “Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody...” the situation becomes more and more helpless.

My main issue with Mitski’s 2018 album, Be The Cowboy, was that most of the short vignette-style songs weren’t memorable. That’s not the case for the manic, disco-tinged “Nobody,” which instantly became a standout in her impressive catalog.

“Heat Wave” by Snail Mail

I’m not sure what it says about indie rock that its most hyped newcomer is mostly copying the sounds of the ‘90s, but when the tunes are as good as “Heat Wave,” I’m not going to complain.

Nineteen-year-old prodigy Lindsey Jordan, aka Snail Mail, delivers with a simple love song perfect for lazy summer days. Jordan’s vocals are charmingly warbly and mesh well with the crunchy guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Pavement album. It’s catchy enough for soccer moms and with enough alt-rock nostalgia to grab any indie rocker’s ear. There’s a good reason Snail Mail’s star has shot to the top this year among the Pitchfork set.

“Me and Michael” by MGMT

IT’S THE COMEBACK OF THE CENTURY!

That’s not even hyperbole: After they released three generation-defining classic singles, MGMT’s relevance disappeared after their 2010 album Congratulations intentionally alienated audiences (despite being pretty solid). Then, their 2013 self-titled album was straight-up bad.

But thankfully, MGMT decided to return to the synthpop jams that brought them success 11 years ago, while keeping their weirdo quirks intact. And it was a winning formula, as the bombastic single “Me and Michael” proves.

“Michael” is painfully ‘80s, from the glittery keyboards to the thundering drum machine beat. Yet, many of the instruments are off-key and frontman Andrew VanWyngarden’s hipstery vocals aren’t exactly Duran Duran-esque. And the clash of styles helps create a solid tune, the band’s best in eight years.

“Elastic” by Joey Purp

Remember how Azealia Banks used to pump out hip-house bangers like it wasn’t even hard? Then she lost her mind, and now “212″ is a relic of a better time.

Thankfully, Chicago native Joey Purp is picking up the slack, although he puts a much more minimalist spin on the sound. “Elastic” is a very simple, skeletal song, with Purp nearly mumbling over a steady, bouncing beat with couple vocal samples to liven things up. “Elastic” shows that when it comes to club bangers, you really don’t need to overthink things.

“Nameless, Faceless” by Courtney Barnett

Melbourne indie rocker Courtney Barnett’s second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, had a noticeably more frustrated outlook than her 2015 debut. A prime example is the album’s lead single, “Nameless, Faceless,” all about the difficulties of being a woman in a world that treats them horribly.

Barnett goes after internet trolls during the song’s verses with the droll, snarky tone that made her indie-famous, but the chorus is where things take a dark turn. Paraphrasing The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood, Barnett sings, “Men are scared that women will laugh at them ... Women are scared that men will kill them.” She then adds that she holds her keys between her fingers in-between her fingers to protect herself at night.

It’s a fearful song for fearful times, and more proof that Barnett is one of indie rock’s best songwriters.

“Electricity” by Silk City and Dua Lipa

Producer giants Diplo and Mark Ronson teamed up to create a perfect homage to ‘90s house. It’s bouncy, effervescent, and features one of pop’s best voices: Dua Lipa. The fact that a dance jam this perfect was only barely a hit in the U.S. is a total shame.

“After The Storm” by Kali Uchis feat. Tyler, The Creator and Bootsy Collins

I’m not typically an R&B guy, but I couldn’t resist newcomer Kali Uchis’ debut Isolation this year, especially its smooth throwback single, “After The Storm.”

Uchis glides over the off-key synth backdrop, expressing post-breakup optimism with ease. The sticky melody and relaxed vibe are helped out by a blast of smooth (if off-kilter) loverman shtick from Tyler, The Creator and some fun adlibs from funk icon Bootsy Collins. But this is Uchis’ show, and she barely needs to lift a finger to hold listeners’ command.

“Please Don’t Die” by Father John Misty

After releasing an overstuffed and underwhelming album last year, Father John Misty, AKA singer-songwriter Josh Tillman, decided to keep it simple this year, and I’m back on his bandwagon.

One reason for that is how blunt and personal his songwriting is again, particularly on “Please Don’t Die.” Tillman’s concept album God’s Favorite Customer focuses on the real-life story of how his depression caused him to hide out in a hotel for two straight months, and the heartbreaking “Please Don’t Die” tackles this scenario from the singer’s wife’s point of view.

She constantly reminds Tillman that his potential suicide won’t be a victimless crime during the soaring chorus, and he laments how his spiraling has affected her in the somber verses. There’s no snarky winks to the audience here — just Tillman nakedly depicting how his emotional chaos effected those around him.

“My My My!” by Troye Sivan

I never paid too much attention to Australian former YouTuber Troye Sivan. Now I’m regretting that choice, thanks to “My My My!”

Pure bubblegum pop doesn’t play much of a role in today’s music landscape, so it’s hard to call any version of that subgenre “modern,” but that’s honestly how I would describe this jam. It’s a slice of stuttering tropical pop with some indie and ‘80s flavor to it, and Sivan himself sells the tune like he’d been singing these types of songs for years in a boy band. I’ll be keeping tabs on Sivan from here on out.

“Light On” by Maggie Rogers

Last year, I was floored by Maggie Rogers’ unique blend of rootsy nature sounds with blue-eyed soul, particularly in her stellar single “Dog Years.” It seems like she isn’t fixing what ain’t broken, as “Light On” is a continuation of that sound.

Although it isn’t quite as transcendent as her early singles, “Light On” is still a quality power ballad, with a nice mix of acoustic guitar and organic synths, complete with a showstopping, melancholy chorus. Rogers still knows her way around a gorgeous melody, and I’m sure she’ll continue to fill her niche as the best music you’ll probably hear at REI.

“The Opener” by Camp Cope

Camp Cope have had it up to here with shitty men, and “The Opener” is a scathing indictment of the hypocrisy the trio constantly face.

Lead singer Georgia McDonald wails over a ‘90s alt-rock groove about sexism both in the dating world as well as the music industry. The latter is where she reserves her sharpest lines, going after men who’ve said her success isn’t her own doing, and being told to book smaller venues by the same guys who will “preach equality” in public. And of course, how do these men in power maintain their faux-feminist image? “‘Just get a female opener, that’ll fill the quota.’” Scathing.

“We Appreciate Power” by Grimes feat. HANA

If “We Appreciate Power,” the (as of writing this) brand-new Grimes single, was trimmed by a minute or so, it might have made the actual list. It’s a smidge on the repetitive side at its current 5:30-length.

But dear lord: This is a BANGER. As just about every critic has said, the production here is an aggro mix of Nine Inch Nails and Korn, complete with squealing guitars, a pounding, synthetic beat and some random screams thrown in the mix for fun. And yes — it works. Put it on during the next workout and see how fast you start going.

Throw in some legitimately creepy lyrics about artificial intelligence and totalitarianism and you’ve got a classic Grimes single. If only it was a bit shorter...

“Lake Erie” by Wild Pink

For a band from Brooklyn, Wild Pink are shockingly good at creating music that sounds like the sun setting on a Midwestern corn field.

“Lake Erie” is so close to The War On Drugs’ signature sound — heartland rock mixed with whispered vocals and shoegaze-y atmospherics — that I’d call it a ripoff, if it wasn’t arguably better than anything The War On Drugs has put out in a few years. It’s emotive, gorgeous and not too pretentious, like something Bruce Springsteen could’ve released 35 years ago.

“Noid” by Yves Tumor

No, unfortunately, “Noid” isn’t about retro Domino’s ads. It’s much darker than a claymation pizza mascot.

Yves Tumor’s art-rock track is fairly normal for its first half. It even has shades of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” in the lyrics wondering about the sad state of the world. Then, things get weird: the bass starts playing in a different key, the background fills with static and screams, and Yves Tumor keeps singing along, and his lyrics about being “scared for my life” start to seem less like a protest anthem and more like a horror soundtrack. It’s a chilling experience.

“Party For One” by Carly Rae Jepsen

Queen Carly releases another pop banger and you think it’s not going on my list? Come on, now.

I’m not going to pretend like “Party For One,” Jepsen’s triumphant breakup anthem, is on the same level as her all-time classic singles. It’s the kind of bubblegum that she could write in her sleep.

But why penalize a perfectly great song just because the artist has done better in the past? “Party For One” might not be “Run Away With Me,” but it’s still a solid piece of synth cheese that no doubt makes Canada proud.

#top 25 songs of 2018 #pop #rap #indie rock

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someinstant · 6 years

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What Spotify playlists do you recommend?

OH MY GOODNESS, WHERE TO START.

Well, Nonnie, since I don’t know what type of music you personally like, I will pretend that you have the same bizarre music tastes I do. And I’m... not very pop-y, and like roots Americana stuff, and lots of blues, and the Clash, and angry girls with guitars, and alt-country, and also old classic country, and enough indie rock from the early 2000s to open my own gastropub and brewery, and acoustic Cuban hip-hop, and 1980s New Wave, and basically everything that came out of David Bowie’s brain and mouth, and every note Etta James ever sang.

So! Spotify playlists you should maybe listen to, if you share my brain:

1. Southern Gothic

Okay, look, I grew up in Georgia, and-- even though neither of my parents were born here, and even though I don’t have a southern accent unless it’s useful (and let me tell y’all, it is sometimes so damn useful, because bein’ super sweet and southern in one’s delivery makes being a stone bitch EVEN MORE FUN), and even though I cannot stand grits OR sweet tea-- there is something about this place that just gets down into your marrow. Can’t explain it. There’s so much I hate about where I live, so many original sins and continuing transgressions, and so much ugliness. But. I dunno. I’ve read so much Flannery O’Connor and Faulkner and Rick Bragg and Cormac McCarthy and Melissa Fay Greene that it’s just part of the fabric? Like, you’ve got to be able to take the bitter with the sweet. And there’s a hell of a lot of both down here.

Anyways.

This playlist sounds like how the late, gasping summer feels: so thick and humid you can feel it slipping down your throat when you breathe, the persistent drone of cicadas singing in the rasp of guitar strings. And everyone loves a good ghost story, right? Just think about live oaks hung with Spanish moss, blood-soaked soil, good bourbon, and a Tennessee Williams play, and that’s what this playlist is. I love it so.

2. Roadtripping Across Americana

So the summer after I graduated high school, I went on a summer program with my university in which I spent two months camping out across the United States-- mostly out west-- studying anthropology, ecology, and geology. And we spent that summer hiking with rock hammers attached to our backpacks, trying not to get on each other’s nerves on fifteen hour drive days, listening to Bob Marley at the campsite while on KP duty, learning to take kickass long-exposure photographs, avoiding coyotes at four in the morning in New Mexico, and forming an impromptu bluegrass band (we had a fiddle player, a guitarist, and a banjo, and a number of us were willing to give Gillian Welch’s oeuvre a go on vocals). This playlist sounds like every day of that summer to me.

Although it perhaps needs more “No Woman, No Cry” to be truly accurate.

3. ‘90s Pop Rock Essentials

Shut up, it makes me happy. Basically, this is the entirety of my high school career in playlist form, and I can sing pretty much every damn song on this list from start to finish. It might be slightly embarrassing, but I think I own at least one CD by (counts) at least twenty of the artists on this list? Damn. I still own them, too, even though I no longer have a CD player anywhere other than my car.

Oh, man, I forgot Marcy’s Playground was on this. Welp. Guess I’m listening to “Sex and Candy” now, huh.

The other bonus to this playlist is that I can play it in the classroom, and (a) mostly my students don’t complain, and (b) I know the music well enough to know if I’m going to need to skip something for language or whatever.

4. The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975

Um, this fucking blows my socks off every time I listen to it. It’s full of this deep, groovy, soulful funk-- Al Green and Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Otis Redding, Gladys Knight-- I mean, it’s just KILLER. I like to put it on when I’m cooking, or doing work that doesn’t require me to think too deeply, because I’m inevitably going to be singing along with this. Honestly, it makes me think about growing up and listening to the soundtrack to “The Big Chill” with my mom while cleaning. Motown and soul music and R&B make me think of the good kind of work, where you’re exhausted at the end of it, but everything’s better for it.

5. Feel Good Indie Rock

Look, my undergrad was in a little college town known for having a kickass music scene. This, therefore, meant that we were all kinda expected to have the sort of Musical Opinions that are appropriate to devotees of “High Fidelity,” and to have a vinyl collection before it was super hipster to be into vinyl. Like, I legit used to go to my favorite record store (I HAD A FAVORITE RECORD STORE, WHAT THE HELL, ALSO PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INDICATES THAT THERE WERE MULTIPLE RECORD STORES IN A TINY COLLEGE TOWN AND THEY DID GOOD BUSINESS) between classes and flip through the new EPs and judge the cover art. One wall of the living room in my first ever apartment was covered in LPs and album covers my roommate and I bought at a flea market, because it looked super cool and was a cheap way to cover the shitty paint job. I read endless music blogs. I had a dedicated tag on my personal blog wherein I reviewed new music. I read alt-weeklies and had go-to music reviewers who I trusted enough to buy concert tickets to a band without having ever heard them, on the strength of a review. I was THAT PERSON.

I still AM that person, a little. And sometimes it’s good for me to remember that, beyond the drawer full of concert ticket stubs and the tattoo on my back. So, yeah: indie rock. I have opinions about the Elephant 6 Collective and of Montreal; hit me up about it.

And... there are a bunch of other ones? I’ll be honest, I mostly listen to playlists I make myself, and I’ve got a shit ton of those. I’d link to them here, but they’re attached to my personal account which has my real name on it, so. Maybe if I transfer the playlists over to the account I made for the Scott Moir vs. Himself playlist, I’ll link them over here.

The ones I made myself that I listen to a lot are called things like, “This Playlist Kills Fascists,” (which is obvs deeply political and is what I play when I’m having another What The Hell Did My Fucking Idiot of a President Do NOW day), “Don’t Panic,” (which is basically full of music I personally find makes me smile 100% of the time), and “This is Water” (which is a graduation playlist I made for my seniors last year, and is still pretty kickass).

Anyway, I hope that’s enough music to get you started, Nonnie!

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