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pop-punklouis · 1 year

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By: @pop-punklouis

It’s half-past nine, and the air is thick with murmurs of anticipation. Your shoes cling to the sticky, liquor-stained floors as you bump shoulders with someone close to you. A fervent spirit zings throughout the room; the crowd moves in unison toward the stage as the lights flicker. A charming familiarity washes over you while glancing at all the faces who have come to hear the same music as you — to experience this show alongside you. The ringing echo of chants and buzzing chatter bounce off the ceiling. The thrum of the bass sends electricity through your body. Everyone’s energy shifting as smoke from the stage forms clouds that envelop the room, creating an intimate world between the crowd and the band, even if just for a little while. That is the unique thrill live music holds. The elasticity of passion that fuels live music is infectious and all-encompassing, and the visceral sensation it brings causes you to keep coming back time and time again for another taste. To bottle up that feeling is how it feels to listen to the enduring power of Louis Tomlinson’s energetic sophomore album Faith in the Future.

Two years after the release of his debut record Walls, with a year of high-spirited touring under his belt, and after leaving the big machine of corporate record labels, Tomlinson’s sophomore effort, Faith in the Future, is a departure from the slick, pop-leaning production that took root on much of his first album. Instead, the listener is brought into Tomlinson’s musical mind, which takes influence from grittier, more experimental genres. As one dives into Faith in the Future, the album shuffles through indie-rock, pop-punk, laidback grunge, and even a glittery electronic feel alongside fuzzed-out pop familiarity. Unlike other artists that might fumble while juggling several genres in one project, Tomlinson doesn’t flinch as his edged-out vocals, evocative lyricism, and passion for these sonic spaces and how he wants to tackle them blends seamlessly throughout the record’s runtime. This isn’t an artist who has stumbled into these choices but has been waiting to hone his craft and show off his versatility in sounds that feel most authentic to him.

Allowing Tomlinson the control to paint himself as the artist he wants to be moving forward, Faith in the Future’s feverish momentum, optimistic undertaking, and nostalgic identity is a pleasant shock to the system. The album begins with an anthemic opener, “The Greatest.” Feeding off the energy of tour, the sonically ambitious track is hard to imagine not acting as a blazing introduction to his live shows. The stadium rock verve builds to its powerful chorus that is meant to be chanted back overtop its rousing drums. It only acts as a taste of the heat to come as the full throttle of tracks like “Written All Over Your Face,” “Face the Music,” and “Out of My System” enter territories of early 2000’s neon-rock and pop-punk — something that Tomlinson has played with in the past but never fully committed to.

The sass-punk edge of “Written All Over Your Face” is a standout on the record. Its rowdy rough energy rattles about with an air of confidence both in sound and vocal tone. Leaning on the sticky disco-rock feel, influences from the likes of the early works of Arctic Monkeys give this track its bite. Tomlinson knows what he’s doing here, and he executes it well. The heat only grows as one slips into “Face the Music” which is heavily influenced by early pop-punk/alt-rock scenes but tighter in production. The melodic tone alongside fast guitars allows the track to have a pop-rocks type sizzle akin to the likes of Yellowcard and Something Corporate. “Out of My System” follows suit with a haphazard, darker punk soundscape with harsh drums, snarling guitars, and a grittier vocal.

Taking a sharp turn, even the shimmery elements of the dance-inspired tracks don’t feel out of place between the darker rock that surrounds them. Instead, Tomlinson’s confidence rides these mellow tracks, offering a nice pop reprieve. The DMA’s drenched “All This Time” and “She is Beauty We Are World Class” are perfect for downing drinks and throwing shapes in a club or lying in your bed late at night with whispers of self-exploration in the dark.

Yet, it’s in the indie-rock-infused moments on Faith in the Future where Tomlinson truly shines. This genre is clearly his wheelhouse and is a perfect place for him to explore his artistry due to the softer lilt of indie-rock’s edges that flesh out his lyrical identity and strength as a vocalist. He allows himself the freedom to navigate between more electric indie-rock and its hazier counterpart throughout the album. “Silver Tongues” and “Chicago” are built from that electric space. The former, based around the feel-good energy of nights out with friends and those you love, is an indie-rock romp with twinkling keys and an infectious chorus. It has a coming-of-age spirit while evoking the same warm sensation songs like Man Overboard’s “Love Your Friends, Die Laughing” evoke, maybe not in sound but in overall mood. The latter, a wistful remembrance of a past relationship, allows Tomlinson to showcase his range as his emotional performance alongside swelling guitars leaves a lasting impression.

In fuzzier arenas are tracks like “Lucky Again,” “Saturdays,” and “Angels Fly” which all linger with softer elements. “Saturdays,” an ode to bitter nostalgia, is a sweeping ballad that has a soaring quality to it with melancholic undertones while both “Lucky Again” and “Angels Fly” hold hazier blips of reassurance and warmth designed to feel like the sun on your face on an evening drive. And, although closing track “That’s the Way Love Goes” doesn’t hold enough weight to be a perfect closer, its stripped-back feel as a heartfelt albeit saucy conversation with a friend about their relationship woes is endearing and winds the album down by tying it all together, nicely.

When it comes to the departure from Tomlinson’s debut Walls, Faith in the Future feels more deconstructed. It isn’t slick. It isn’t perfectly packaged. The colors are meant to bleed, the scissor lines purposefully jagged, and the lyrics raw. It doesn’t stand out for its polished appeal as Walls does. it stands out for being everything opposite- everything eclectic and anthemic yet self-reflective. It’s an album crafted around the unrefined dopamine of live music. Whether you’re shouting the lyrics from the top of your lungs with your closest friends in a packed out crowd or navigating nights full of the people, places, and memories that reflect who you’ve grown to be, the record is a nice world to get lost in for a little while. Chin up and arm outstretched, Faith in the Future is a reintroduction to who Louis Tomlinson is as a solo artist and has always been, both personally and artistically. So, take its hand and enjoy the ride because the future is only brighter from here.

would really mean a lot to RT my publications post about it to help out a little indie pub that could! 🤍✨

#my writings #here it isssss #louis tomlinson #faith in the future

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tomorrowxtogether · 25 days

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Tomorrow X Together on new music, US tour: 'Never expected' fans to show 'this much love'

Members of Tomorrow X Together, the wildly popular K-pop group, have come of age during a rapid ascension in the music industry. Quickly after the quintet debuted in 2019, they started winning top awards and peaking on both Korean and American charts. Last year, the group's third album hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200, they headlined Lollapalooza and won a MTV Music Video Award.

Since their beginning, TXT's music has kept to the narrative of a boy's journey through life. As the members themselves have matured in the spotlight, the process of growing up has been influential for the discography.

Just as people reach reflection points on the cusp of moving from one part of life into the next, TXT's newest release, "minisode 3: TOMORROW," finds the guys contemplating their past and hoping for the future.

"This album is all about being reminded of the promises of the past and going on a search for 'you' who I shared a promise with," Taehyun, 22, told USA TODAY.

'minisode 3: TOMORROW' furthers Tomorrow X Together's narrative

This album is Tomorrow X Together's third under the "minisode" title. These releases have always been a bridge that connects the larger chapters in quintet's music.

As for "minisode 3: TOMORROW", it speaks about life and reality, said Soobin, 23, the group's leader.

The new album references Tomorrow X Together's prior moments, highlighting how nostalgia intersects with growth.

"We had a look back on some of the lyrics of our past songs and the music videos like 'Nap of a star'," said Taehyun. Lyrics in the lead single "Deja Vu" also give nods to some of the group's first singles "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)" and "CROWN".

With this album, the members wanted to capture their unique identifying quality: Storytelling.

Over the years, the members have become more involved in the creative process, said Hueningkai, 21. "As we try and channel our honest, personal stories into the album, I think it helps me realize more and more who I am as an artist."

Understanding Tomorrow X Together's creative process

The members have become more ambitious when it comes to sharing their perspectives within their songs. "Rather than drawing inspiration from an outside source, I think it provided us with an opportunity to look back on our own lives," said Soobin.

"It's a crucial part that we cannot miss out on in order to make sure our stories more compelling and convincing," said Taehyun.

In particular "Deja Vu" is full of impact, said Beomgyu, 23, exhibiting "how much we've grown and how far we've come." The song infuses rage and emo rock, underscoring TXT's versatile sonic range.

Tomorrow X Together US tour, reflecting on debut anniversary

In support the latest release, TXT is set to embark on its third US tour May 14. The group will be performing in eight cities including Los Angeles, New York City and Washington D.C.

The members are looking forward to seeing their fans and visiting cities they haven't been to yet. As for the shows, Beomgyu said there's "so much in store," adding, "I'm excited to show you guys what we have prepared."

The group celebrated its half-decade anniversary March 4. The last five years have been filled with many accomplishments and accolades. Stand-outs included performing at stadiums for Soobin to attending and performing at the MTV VMAs for Beomgyu.

For Yeonjun, 24, he is thankful the members have made it safely to this point and he hopes to continue this in the future.

"The most important thing would be that we will still be together all the members and our beloved MOA," said Yeonjun. "My hope is that a decade into our debut, we would still be dancing and singing in front of our fans together."

On theme with "minisode 3: TOMORROW" and its reflection of the past, the members are proud of how far they have come.

"I never expected that I would end up receiving this much love and I think it's a huge blessing and I'm so grateful for that," said Yeonjun.

#txt #tomorrow x together #240402 #article #usa today #soobin #yeonjun #beomgyu #taehyun #hueningkai #minisode 3 #minisode 3 tomorrow

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7grandmel · 3 months

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Todays rip: 07/02/2024

Battle Emergency

Season 4 Episode 2 Featured on: Paper Jams - A High-Quality Album ~ The First Fold

Ripped by Cryptrik

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Requested by circunflexo! (@circunflexonoa)

Over its life, there's been a lot of projects on SiIvaGunner where it's easy to tell they were driven by individual rippers' passions, moreso than satiating the hunger of a wider audience. There's of course Jass' excellent Genesis renditions of the soundtrack to Sonic CD, as shown in Collision Chaos Good Future JP [CD Beta Mix], there's ShonicTH's push for Kingdom Hearts content to be on the channel with rips like Trial of the Heart, and of course Chaze the Chat's legendary infatuation with pop music sensation Sean Kingston in Take You To The Desert - with no particularly strong feelings toward any other music artists of the 2000s. Yet of these projects listed, I don't think any of them felt quite as prominently featured on the channel as the three-part Paper Jams project.

Prominent channel member PinkieOats, of Live and Ooooooooooooooh, was once on an episode of the now-ended SiIvaGunner interview podcast series "The High Quality Podcast" (which, ftr was a huge inspiration for me to start this blog!). From just that one hour of time spent listening to PinkieOats alone, I could tell that the guy REALLY loved the first two Paper Mario games - hell, his profile picture since time immemorial has been of a pink Boo enemy rendered in the Paper Mario artstyle. Just a few months after said podcast episode, SiIvaGunner revealed "Paper Jams - and it thus came as no surprise to me to learn that it was a successor to a 2015 project by PinkieOats and Nape Mango, five whole years earlier. The goal of Paper Jams? To, across a collection of album, rip *every single track* from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

The tracks wouldn't all be ripped by PinkieOats and Nape Mango this time, of course - they now had the entire SiIvaGunner team collaborating with them for this rather ambitious event, and the results of that collaboration are evident as clear as day with Cryptrik's Battle Emergency. I've covered Cryptrik's work in the past with rips like Maroonbound and Give Me the Fantasy, and it was actually my coverage on the latter rip that prompted today's requestee to suggest yet more of the guy's rips for the blog. But it really cannot be stressed enough just how effortlessly Cryptrik is consistently able to make his rips just sound flat-out FUN, in large thanks to his mastery of utilizing large amounts of pure *noise* in rips. It would not surprise me one bit if I learned he was an actual DJ, but his influences are immensely clear regardless - dude rocks, basically.

Battle Emergency straddles a fantastic line in my eyes between succumbing entirely to Cryptrik's noise-driven style and still maintaining the original charm of The Thousand-Year Door's music - a balance that I believe is important to have in mind whilst working for a tribute project like Paper Jams in particular. The whimsical, energetic vibe of the Battle Theme lying underneath it all doesn't get lost, but is coated in an absolute barrage of mostly funk-related songs - primarily led by FUNK EMERGENCY, but joined by parts from Walk the Dinosaur, Uptown Funk, and the ever-memorable melody of Black Betty (bam-ba-lam), really just letting Cryptrik go wild with his signature style.

And yeah - it all works to excellent effect! The rip often reminds me of rips like Everybody's Special Course or Memey Hell in how the amount of noise and scattershot sources only aid in giving the track a fun, exciting feel - like you're at the center of two concerts playing at once and having the best time of your life. Its the kind of rip that almost leaves you exhausted after you're done listening - yet also the kind of rip that's endlessly relistenable as a result for how many phases it goes through in such a standard runtime. Althewhile the positive energy it instills also serves to spills over into my impression of Paper Jams as a whole - it truly sells the idea that, though the project was started by PinkieOats and his own passion, it is one that so many others of the SiIva team love just as much and want to celebrate just as loudly. Because really - moreso than colleagues, isn't the SiIvaGunner team really just a bunch of musicians who love jamming out to one another's music?

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louisupdates · 1 year

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By Carl Smith

When we spoke to Louis Tomlinson earlier this year, ahead of the release of his second studio album Faith In The Future, we were surprised to hear he hasn't always been the most confident of performers. Explaining there are times self-doubt sets in, leaving him to question if he's 'sure he can do this,' Louis' critical eye can be both a blessing and a curse.

But, having played to millions across the world with One Direction and completed his record-breaking solo tour earlier this year, Louis Tomlinson is now a whole new performer entirely. The growth, sonically and vocally, is indisputable.

Last night (December 14), Louis celebrated his recent Official Number 1 album with a sold-out show at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire. For many fans, it was the first time they'd experienced Louis' new material live; and the energy was palpable.

Entering the stage to Faith In The Future opener The Greatest, the love for Louis was incontestable; every fan in that theatre willing him to put in the performance of his life.

Having gone into the recording of his second studio album with the intent of it coming to life in a live setting, it's hardly surprising that The Greatest proves a mammoth opener; Shepherd's Bush Empire quite literally shaking with screams and unabashed singing.

To captivate an audience and organically grow alongside your fandom is something truly commendable, and certainly no mean feat. History's shown us that being a member of even the world's biggest bands doesn't guarantee solo success; but Louis' strength is in his honest song writing he believes in whole-heartedly.

More so than ever, Louis is proud of his work, confident in his abilities, finding and finally owning his artistic identity.

The show continued with Walls track Kill My Mind, before brand-new cut Written All Over Your Face. The energy was particularly raucous for this grungy track; a true standout of his second LP and among his most musically-ambitious works to date.

Fan favourite We Made It felt like a euphoric statement of self-fulfilment at this show; Louis radiating a new-found confidence. A reworked version of One Direction's Night Changes also went down an absolute storm, as Louis and the band put a punk twist on the group's 2014 Top 10 single.

Live exclusive Copy of a Copy of a Copy also made the setlist once again, sitting seamlessly alongside new tracks Bigger Than Me, Out Of My System and That's The Way Love Goes.

The album might only have been out a month, but the fans knew every lyric. Every sonic intricacy. It was really something to behold.

Closing out an incredible set, Louis performed two of his favourite Faith In The Future tracks; latest single Silver Tongues and the behemoth that is Saturdays.

With Louis set to bring his Faith In The Future Tour to the UK next November, it's sure to be the show he's always dreamed of giving to fans. This is a record he's so immensely proud of, can perform with conviction and will see him connect with the fandom on a whole new level. We can't bloody wait.

#louis press #fitf live in concert: o2 sb #official charts #louis tomlinson #15 december 2022 #concert review

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sweetdreamsjeff · 3 months

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Jeff Buckley: The Lost Interview

In this previously unpublished conversation from 1994, captured just days before the release of ‘Grace,’ the mythic singer-songwriter pushes through self-doubt, professes his undying love for the Smiths and New York City, and interprets a dream wherein he critiqued a serial killer’s photography.

July 21, 2022 by Tony Gervino

In August of 1994, I interviewed the singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley for over an hour at the New York offices of Columbia Records. Other than pulling a few quotes for a regional music newspaper profile I wrote at the time, this conversation went unused. I put the recording in a box in my closet, where it remained for a quarter-century.

I went back over the transcript a couple of years ago and realized that our conversation offered a rare snapshot of the most pivotal moment in Buckley’s too-brief career. He hadn’t yet sat for many interviews and was trying to figure out his own narrative, just before he was to leave on a national tour that would make such quiet, thoughtful introspection a luxury.

The son of folk visionary Tim Buckley, he had made his mark in New York City as a solo artist in 1993, performing a suite of original songs and genre-spanning covers with only his guitar and multi-octave vocal range. The buzz didn’t really build; it seemed as if one day no one in the city’s music scene knew who Jeff Buckley was, and the next, everyone knew.

Prior to entering the studio to record his landmark debut album, Grace, which featured his most successful single, “Last Goodbye,” as well as his transcendent rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” Buckley mothballed his troubadour set. To help bring dimension to the music swimming around in his head, he recruited the collaborative working band of guitarist Michael Tighe, bassist Mick Grondahl and drummer Matt Johnson. He wanted his solo album to sound big, ambitious and genre-slippery as he headed to Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, N.Y.

Even though our meeting was less than two weeks before the album release, Buckley was still tinkering with the mixes on Grace, tormenting producer Andy Wallace with sonic flourishes and rewritten bridges, and hoping to squeeze every bit of inspiration out of himself before the tape stopped rolling. In the pre-streaming world, this was an unheard-of high-wire act for a debut artist. But for a young musician who was signed to Columbia Records after a prolonged bidding war, it indicated a bit of acquiescence on the label’s part. From what they’d seen of him, Buckley was a can’t-miss artist. He just needed time, which, tragically, he was ultimately denied. Jeff Buckley drowned in Memphis in May of 1997, just 30 years old.

I’ve edited this interview for length and clarity and removed some passages where I thought Buckley’s sarcasm could be misinterpreted, or where it spun off into tangents that ended with Buckley impersonating everyone from Paul McCartney to the French poet Baudelaire. He had the nervous energy of someone about to embark on a long journey, uncertain of its destination, and I wanted to ensure his answers would properly reflect not just his wit but his wisdom. ***** How does it feel to have to do interviews?

Well, at the outset I guess I figured why would anybody care? But I’m smart enough to know that people would want to talk about my music. I just didn’t think anyone would for a publication. But at this point the fatigue hasn’t set in, and no question is a stupid one. It’s still early.

[laughs] Mainly it’s helpful because I’m getting some ideas out about exactly what I think about some things. And the important thing in doing interviews is not to have any pat answers. That would make it unenjoyable for me. Like a … a murder suspect or something, in terms of having your story straight. Have you finished mixing the new album? No, I have one last day in the studio — one last gasp of creative breath before I have to go away. I’m totally pissed. Absolutely.

Did you write in the studio, or did you go in with the songs ready?

One of them was completely organized in the studio. But that was still prepared beforehand. A lot of stuff we’d done at the last minute because I was trying to get the right people to play with, and it took a while before I found them.

But that was only three weeks before I’d gone up to Woodstock to record and we hadn’t known each other that long, and the band material hadn’t developed as much. Some things were completely crystallized, and some things needed care, and they got it. I’m still not satisfied.

Let’s see: I get to go into the studio on Wednesday, the day before I leave and the night after I perform at [defunct NYC club] Wetlands. So I have one, two, three, four, five precious days to [work on the music], along with all the other stuff I have to do. I have to shoot some pictures, possibly for the album cover. Then at night I’m free to get these ideas together, and I’ll still have one last shot on two songs in particular. The producer [Andy Wallace] doesn’t even know what I want to do to this one song. [laughs] He’ll be horrified.

Have you played it out?

Uh-huh. There are just things I want to crystallize about it.

Is figuring songs out onstage a conscious effort on your part to fly or fail?

Yeah, because I love flying so much. But, really, it’s still a kind of discipline. I guess it’s an engagement. It’s not like having “song 1 to song 6 and then a talk.” I don’t know anybody who really does that. I know a lot of performers talk about not being so structured. … Sometimes you can see bands that have a set of songs, and that shit is dead. That … shit … is … dead.

When I perform, I’m working off rhythms that are happening all over the place, real or imagined, and it’s interactive. It’s got a lot of detail to it, so I can’t afford to tie it up in a noose, and put it in a costume that doesn’t belong on me. So yeah, it’s free but it has its own logic, and sometimes it completely falls flat on its face. But it’s worth the fall, sometimes. Because that’s life.

To me it makes sense to do things in that manner, because that’s really just the way life is when you step out of it and see that, like, your car has a flat and somebody smashed in your windshield and then, shit, you’re walking home and all of a sudden you run into somebody that turns out to be your favorite person for the rest of your life. It’s always … unfolding. You just have to recognize it, I guess. And that’s my philosophy, that I haven’t really thought about until you asked me.

Have you been a solo performer out of desire or necessity?

Both. I did it to earn money to pay rent in the place I was staying, and bills, and my horrible CD habit, and failing miserably all the time, always playing for tips and always just getting by — by the skin of my teeth.

To get this sound in order, you can have a path laid out in front of you, but if you don’t have the vehicle to go down the road you’ll never get to where you want to go. So I guess I was building the parts piece by piece or going through different forms, reforming them and trying out different ideas and songs.

How long have you been building these parts?

Some of them I wrote when I was 18 or 19, and some of them I wrote weeks ago, and some of them I’m still writing. [laughs] The rest of this album is kind of a purging, because the rest of the albums ain’t gonna happen like this. [points to chest] You’ll never see this person again.

Who and what are you going to become, Jeff?

I don’t know, just something deeper. Nothing alien, just something deeper. I’m just not satisfied. I’m really, horribly unsatisfied. Cause I kind of got an idea of where I want this thing to go. It’s still gonna be songs. I think about deepening the work that I do, and other problems I try to solve, like, “If I go to see this band in a loft, or if I went to see this band in a theater, and I wanted to be very, very, very enchanted and very engaged and maybe even physically engaged to where I’m dancing or where I’m moshing, what would that sound like? If I wanted to be cradled like a baby or smashed around like a fucking Army sergeant, what would that sound like?” I daydream all the time about it. And that’s sort of what I work toward. It’s more of an intimate thing.

In America the rock band is not an intimate thing, but in America soul bands are very intimate and blues bands are very intimate, like way back in the day, when people who invented blues were doing it. It’s all very interdependent and it’s all very … people had to listen to make the music. And it comes around in a lot of different ways. Things I’m doing now are pretty old-fashioned: I’m going on tour to little places to play small cafés. [He lays his itinerary out in front of us.]

What do you expect the reaction to be? You play New York City and, by now, the people here know your deal, but there are some cities where they’re not going to know.

That’s OK.

Will you tailor your performance to different tour stops? Does it change the way you perform?

Every time I perform it’s different.

How long have you been in New York City?

Three years. But I’ll always be here. I’ll always live here.

What is it about New York?

Everything. You know all the clichés: It’s the electricity, it’s the creativity, it’s the motion. It’s the availability of everything at any moment, which creates a complete, innate logic to the place. It’s like, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have this now. There’s no reason I shouldn’t have the best library in the country, and there’s no reason why the finest Qawwali singer in all of Pakistan shouldn’t come to my neighborhood and I’ll go see him, and there’s no reason that Bob Dylan shouldn’t show up at the Supper Club.

There’s no reason that I can’t do this fucking amazing shit. And if you have a certain amount of self-esteem, it’s the perfect place because there’s so much. It’s majestic and it’s the cesspool of America. And there’s amazing poetry in everything. There are amazing poets everywhere, and some real horrible mediocrity, and an equal amount of pageantry. There’s also a community of people that have been left with nothing but their ability to put on a show, no matter what it is — whether it’s a novel or a performance reading on Monday night at St. Mark’s Church for 20 minutes. Where do you do the bulk of your writing?

Everywhere. You know what? Mostly it’s in 24-hour diners, on too much coffee. That’s an old Los Angeles thing.

How much does the location affect the writing?

To me music is about time and place and the way that it affects you. There’s just something about it. There’s just some spirit that somebody conjures up and then it floats out at you and helps you or hinders you throughout your life. It’s either Handel’s Messiah or it’s “All Out of Love” by Air Supply.

Music is just fucking insane. It’s everything. Music is like this: It’s always seemed to me to be one of the direct descendants of the thing in the universe that’s making everything work. It’s like the direct child of … life, [of] what being “people” is all about. It’s incredibly human but it touches things that are around us anyway. [pauses, then quietly] It’s hard to explain.

Give it a shot.

It gets into your blood. It could be [the Ohio Express’] “Yummy Yummy Yummy” or whatever. It gets in. It’s not like paintings and it’s not like sculptures, although those are really amazing and powerful. But I identify with music most.

And is live music the next degree of intensity?

Oh yeah, if they’re singing to me. You never hear it again, but you never forget it. I mean, you never forget it. It’s like the first time your mother cries in front of you. But I like making [music] and … I want the music to live live, even be written live, so it’s always forming, it’s ever unfolding.

The king of improvisation is [the late Qawwali singer] Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan — the most I’ve ever been filled with any performer’s energy. I have over $500 of his stuff. And I never got to see Keith Jarrett, but there was a time when he was my big hero for the same reason. Big, huge improvisation. Improvisation is something that I identify with.

Which of your new songs is your favorite? Is there one that you can’t wait to get to in your live set?

Not yet. I give each song pretty much the same attention, and I have the same reservations and the same carefulness about making sure I bring out its best. No favorites.

What’s a song by another artist that you wish you’d written, that completely devastates you?

Most of Nina Simone’s songs completely devastate me, although she didn’t write [most of] them. A lot of things that Dylan did are so impressionistic, even though his originals are supposed to be folky. Like “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands”: If I was a woman and he sang that to me, I’d be like, “Whatever you want, Bob. You want casual sex whenever you want it and still be with your wife? I don’t care.”

I’d like to write something like “Moanin’ for My Baby” by Howlin’ Wolf, and I’d also like to write something like [Gerry and the Pacemakers’] “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I have schoolgirl crushes on a lot of songs that never seem to go away. Lots of Cocteau Twins. That’s somebody I got to tell exactly what I thought of them.

Where were they playing?

In Los Angeles, a long time ago on the Heaven or Las Vegas tour. I’m immensely in love with their originality, their shyness. … But … um … the Smiths! [stands up abruptly, then sits back down] I wish I’d written half the fucking Smiths catalog. There are so many: “I Know It’s Over”; I wish I’d written “How Soon Is Now?” I wish I’d written “Holidays in the Sun” by the Sex Pistols. I could go on forever, and I know you don’t have forever.

Maybe sleep on it. I’m curious, do you sleep a lot? No, I don’t.

Is your mind constantly racing? Are you always just … fast forward?

Have you ever seen those film montages when a guy’s going crazy, and it just gets faster and faster and…

Yeah, sure, that’s exactly what I mean. It’s exactly like that. It’s like, I don’t want to miss a thing, and [I get the] feeling that I will miss something. But usually I’m wrong. [laughs] But when I do sleep, I sleep hard and have the best dreams.

Do you remember your dreams?

Sometimes, and they become the basis for a lot of my learning. That comes along with my development as a human being. Lately I’ve been having a lot of killer dreams — like a killer is coming after me or I have to confront a killer. And when a killer is coming after me, what am I going to have to do? To kill him.

Interesting. What do you think that means? That something in me is going to be murdered. That a psychic killer is coming. Actually, I met him. Sometimes I meet people inside of me that don’t like me; sometimes I meet people inside of me that want to make love with me more than anything; sometimes I meet the most bizarre animals and am in the most bizarre situations.

One dream, I met a serial killer who lived out in a small town in, like, Virginia. A small suburban town, very nice, white picket fence. And he lived in the town in a church with the pews taken out. And he was an artist.

You remember this much detail? Just wait. He was a very short young man, probably about 28 years old with thinning black hair that I think he was ashamed of. He also had all of these photos of these people mangled beyond belief, carved up, dissected alive. They were still alive in these photos, and there was a wall of all of these seductively beautiful, textured, processed black-and-white photos. One man had been made into a basket. One man had been totally deboned but still kept alive, and his skin had been made into a basket upon which his head stood, looking straight into the camera. And right before he died, this snapshot was taken. And this is what this guy’s job was. And my task in the dream, I was the person that saw this amazing horror and this amazing pain. The photographs were screaming, and all of this madness, all of this waste at the hands of this person with a warped soul.

The irony of the dream was that his self-esteem was nothing, and he was saying, “This sucks. This is horrible. I don’t even want to show you.” I was so afraid of him and wanted to keep him in the same place long enough for the police to get him and take him away — while not being killed myself. Obviously. [laughs] So in order to be cool I had to ultimately be compassionate and point out the details in the picture where I felt there was brilliance and really good workmanship — all the while feeling that I would vomit any second, all the while so scared I thought I would cry. And that was the dream.

Sometimes I have really rhapsodic dreams, and sometimes I have little bits of memory … but lately it’s been killer dreams, and the police almost don’t come in time, although they do come in time. And then I met a woman inside me that hates me. I met the girl, I met the person that doesn’t like me, and then I met this person who was so lascivious sexually that she masturbates publicly all of the time, like she’s fixing her hair. And she looks beautiful doing it and really great, but everyone’s around her and she’s practically naked. I’m pretty transfixed by [dreams]. I link them to the way I perform. I don’t see any separation, because when you sing there’s a psychic journey that happens.

Do you write a lot of poetry?

I garner my songs from my poetry. If anything looks like it’s vibrating, yeah. But it’s a raw thing.

Was the Live at Sin-é EP, released in November of ’93, supposed to hold people over until the album comes out?

No, it served that purpose, but no, it’s just because I love that place.

How often have you played there?

I’ve played there a lot. I played there for over a year. At first I couldn’t get a slot. Shane [Doyle], the owner, had too many demos to listen to. I gave him a demo and a review, which is something I never ever, ever fucking do: pay credence to any one journalist’s opinion. But this was a good review. [laughs] Some positive, some negative. Mainly the negative stuff was my fault. So I thought that maybe I could get a gig at this little place because I wanted to play in little places to establish my sound and do the work and learn how to sing the way I wanted to sing. Because I didn’t have any teachers. There were teachers around Sin-é to teach what I needed to learn, but Shane couldn’t be bothered.

Then somebody crapped out on a bunch of Monday nights and my friend Daniel Harnett got me in. He said, “I’m doing one, and so you can do one too.” I was like, “Wow, thank you.” As it turned out, that was it. Bang! I really worked my ass off to get that gig and get others and to make money. How did you hook up with Columbia Records? They came to me. I didn’t intend for them to. I was just making music. Were they the only label that came to you? Nope. I met Clive Davis. Shook his hand. I met Seymour Stein. Seymour’s at Sire; Clive is at Arista. A lot of people were interested. I met somebody from RCA. Peter Koepke at London. Were they in the audience at your shows? Then they’d come up to you afterward? Yeah, and I didn’t really like it. I didn’t like Clive showing up in a limousine on the Lower East Side, in a fine suit. Poor guy — it was so hot in that fucking room. This was Sin-é, right? Yep, you were there — like a fucking furnace. In the middle of the fucking summer. I had my shirt off; the guy’s still in his work clothes ’cause his life is fully air-conditioned.

Did you have any misgivings about signing? Of course I did. Being brought up around the music business in Los Angeles, you see the turnover of people being signed and dropped day after day after day, and it’s all written off as a tax loss. To the company, it’s no sweat off their nose.

But here in New York it’s more about the work, and you don’t get anywhere without the work and that’s what I was doing. But I had misgivings about the size of the places. I had misgivings about my deservedness, about how good I was. I had misgivings about who they thought I was and what they thought I was. And how I wasn’t what they thought. At all.

Which is? Don’t record companies think that every male solo performer with a guitar is the New Dylan?

No, they thought I was the second coming of Tim Buckley. [quietly] That’s what I thought they thought.

Is that a recurring worry of yours?

It was that as a child. But now I’m totally immersed in what I do. If someone asks a question about it, I just tell them as much truth about things as I know. I had no misgivings once I saw my first and only liaison to Columbia Records, [former head of A&R] Steve Berkowitz. He was there from a pretty early stage, just listening. Which is what he does. Because he loves music. And he’s smart. And he’s smart enough to work this fucking gig at Columbia and to do a good job. The personnel here [at Columbia] are what really changed my worries, but I’m really worried up until, like, now. How would you describe your sound? I can’t explain it because I’m actually confused. It’s not really a tremendous literary feat to describe it. It’s just an amalgam of everything I’ve ever loved and everything that’s ever inspired me. I’m using that now. How do the Columbia folks describe you? They don’t know. At a recent convention I played in Boca Raton for A&R folks at like 11 in the morning, the guy that introduced me said, “We really don’t know what this is. We don’t know what kind of record he’s gonna make. We just know he has to make it.” … a.k.a. “Introducing the boy genius…” I’m not a boy genius. I’m neither one, actually. But I’m aware that these people have to move units. I’m aware that this company, by inertia alone, has an agenda. That it can function without me, and I can function without it. But there’s a certain thing that I can’t have without it, and that’s making little plastic discs and traveling the world and being a musician, and they seem to want me. A lot. And I feel that where I’m going is worthwhile, that maybe when I get there this all will have been … whatever crappy shit I’ve ever done will be redeemed. Do you think you’ll ever get there? Sure. Or you’ll find me swinging from somebody’s dressing room [laughs] with a big blue arm holding a Jam tape.

#jeff buckley #jeffbuckley #Tony Gervino #The Lost Interview #TIDAL

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venusvity · 11 months

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VENUS’ THIRD FULL ALBUM “ BURN THE WITCH ” TRACK SAMPLER !

The long-awaited moment has arrived - the wait is finally over! VENUS has unveiled their highly anticipated third album, titled "BURN THE WITCH" comprising an impressive total of fifteen tracks.

This album surpasses their previous ones in terms of length, almost doubling the number of songs featured. What's even more exciting is that "BURN THE WITCH" marks their official group release under FlowerBank Entertainment.

For this comeback, the girls have taken significant creative control, with each member involved in producing and writing songs on the album.

In a genre that thrives on the balance between fierce energy and delicate harmony, VENUS, the dynamic girl group under FlowerBank Entertainment, has taken their artistry to breathtaking new heights with their third studio album, "BURN THE WITCH." With a collection of fifteen meticulously crafted tracks, including the poppy and sentimental title track "Forever Us," VENUS not only exceeds expectations but shatters them, cementing their position as a force to be reckoned with in the K-pop landscape.

From the opening notes of the intro track, "INTRO: I AM THE WITCH AT THE STAKE" it becomes abundantly clear that VENUS is on a mission to captivate their listeners. A blistering fusion of pulsating EDM beats and electrifying vocal performances, the song sets the tone for the entire album. The members' collective prowess shines through as they navigate the track's dynamic shifts, effortlessly transitioning between velvety harmonies to firey verses. It's an adrenaline-fueled anthem that demands attention from the very first listen.

"Forever Us," serves as the heartwarming centerpiece of the album. This delightful pop gem exudes radiant energy, thanks to its infectious hooks and the endearing lyrics that speak to the unbreakable bond shared between the members of VENUS. Through sweet, heartfelt lines about their unwavering love for one another, the song encapsulates the essence of sisterhood and friendship that has been an integral part of their journey.

What sets "BURN THE WITCH" apart from their previous releases is the remarkable level of creative control the girls have taken. Each member's artistic contributions shine throughout the album, showcasing their growth as musicians and songwriters. From introspective ballads like "Your Poison" to the infectious pop banger "Blow A Kiss" VENUS effortlessly traverses various genres, all while staying true to their signature sound.

The album's production deserves special recognition, as it seamlessly blends modern K-pop aesthetics with unexpected sonic elements. "The Body Of Eve," a standout track that oozes sensuality, pairs atmospheric synth layers with hypnotic percussion, creating an irresistible and immersive sonic landscape. Meanwhile, "Pretty Me" takes a bold step into the realm of pop punk, reminiscent of a Disney original track from the 2000's.

Despite its ambitious length, "BURN THE WITCH" remains a cohesive body of work. Each song seamlessly transitions into the next, forming a captivating narrative that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish. VENUS explores themes of empowerment, self-discovery, and resilience, delving into the complexities of modern life with a refreshing honesty that resonates deeply.

"BURN THE WITCH" marks a pivotal moment in VENUS' career, solidifying their place as visionary artists pushing the boundaries of K-pop. With their soaring vocals, impeccable production, and unwavering commitment to artistic integrity, VENUS has not only met expectations but exceeded them with a resounding fervor. This album serves as a testament to their growth, artistry, and unwavering dedication to their craft. VENUS has truly set the stage ablaze, leaving an indelible mark on the K-pop landscape with "BURN THE WITCH."

#╰ * VENUS : discography ⧽ burn it to the ground .#idol oc #kpop fanfic #kpop oc #fictional idol community #oc kpop group #kpop au #idol au #kpop addition #bts addition #fake kpop girl group #stray kids addition #fake kpop oc #fictional idol group #idolverse #oc girl group #fake kpop idol

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dailytomlinson · 2 years

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Louis Tomlinson on the 'importance' of supporting new artists, 'brilliant' 5SOS and his 'amazing' Away From Home Festival performers STONE

"There’s this feeling – not of guilt as such – but of luck that I’m where I’m at," Louis explains as he tips rising Liverpudlian four-piece STONE for success

Not content with travelling the world on a tour that saw him entertain 500,000 fans across five continents, releasing his brand-new single Bigger Than Me and creating 'sonically ambitious' second album Faith In The Future, Louis Tomlinson has another passion.

Away From Home Festival, an event curated by the singer-songwriter, saw 17,000 music lovers descend upon Malaga, Spain last month for a line-up boasting the likes of The Vaccines, Hinds and Louis himself.

He's an artist known for recognising and representing up-and-coming artists; having helped 5 Seconds of Summer secure a global platform in One Direction's early years.

Now, as he prepares to release his second body of work, we find out why championing new talent is so important to him.

Speaking on his Away From Home Festival, which hosted its second event last month in Malaga, Louis told OfficialCharts.com: "It’s only the second year we’ve done it, but it’s already something that’s pretty special to me.

"It’s something I’m really proud of. It’s a dream I’ve had for a long time, to create something like that. It’s already come such a long way, it’s something I’m immensely proud of."

Louis went on to explain that he feels a 'responsibility,' given his profile, to support rising singer-songwriters.

"There’s a responsibility, being in the situation I am and lucky enough to have the social following that I do," he told us. "If I can help out a little that’s really important to me.

"There’s this feeling – not of guilt as such – but of luck that I’m where I’m at.

"If I can help out, that’s good to me. That’s part of my intention behind Away From Home. The first festival that we did, we had a band called Bilk. If you haven’t heard of them, check them out because they’re amazing.

"This time round we’ve had STONE. That’s really important to me and was part of the thought process behind Away From Home."

STONE are a four-piece indie group hailing from Liverpool, made up of Fin Power (vocals/guitar), Sarah Surrage (bass), Elliot Gill (lead guitar) and Alex Smith (drums).

It's safe to say Louis is a huge fan

"STONE are amazing," he says. "They’ve got loads of amazing support slots right now; it feels like they’re really having a moment. For me, music like that is very interesting. It’s different to what 75 per cent of other artists are making, and that excites me. I’m lucky enough to be in the position that I am, so championing new music and artists is something that’s really important to me."

We congratulate Louis on his taste and strong eye for talent, citing 5 Seconds of Summer's growth since he first asked fans to 'get behind' the group back in 2012.

"They’re absolutely brilliant," he beams. "They’ve had a very long career now, and even without the One Direction tour, those boys would be where they are today because they’re brilliant musicians and writers. They’re a brilliant band. It’s always been important to me to support other artists."

This comes as Louis readies the release of his second solo studio album. Marking a true evolution in confidence since his debut record Walls, he explains the album is more 'sonically ambitious' than his previous work.

"I felt much more freedom in this record to express myself in the way I wanted to," he told us. "I didn’t put as much restraint on myself as I did on the first record.

"On Walls, I was so overanalytical about every sound. Every lyric. Every moment. I went into this process with a lot more freedom and, naturally, I’ve created something that’s more true to who I am as a musician and as a music fan; what I like listening to."

#purely music stuff #130922 #officialcharts22 #louis tomlinson

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silverfoxlou · 2 years

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Faith In The Future Promo

August 31st 2022

Countdown on the fan website for 7pm BST

Website updated from Walls to Faith In The Future

Spotify Bio Update

Twitter hashflags for Faith In The Future and Bigger Than Me

Louis + team

Louis' album announcement + link to preorder

Updated his layout and CHANGED HIS BIO

LTHQ's album announcement

Louis' Bigger Than Me announcement + link to preorder

LTHQ Bigger Than Me announcement + release time

Posts from his band and crew

Matt Vines

Charlie Lightening

Seven7 management

LTHQ's Tiktok is verified

BMG

Lisa Wilkinson: mission control

Collaborators

Dave Gibson - co-wrote Chicago, Face The Music, Out Of My System

Robert Harvey - co-wrote Bigger Than Me

Dave Sneddon - co-wrote Saturdays, Silver Tongues, She is Beauty We are Worldclass

Press

MTV - Louis Tomlinson Has 'Faith In The Future' For His Upcoming Album (x)

Official Charts - Louis Tomlinson announces second album Faith in the Future: Tracklist, artwork, release date and more (x)

Billboard - Louis Tomlinson Announces New Album ‘Faith In the Future,’ Reveals He’s Been Living With It ‘For a While’ (x)

Billboard - Louis Tomlinson’s New Single ‘Bigger Than Me’ Is Coming Very, Very Soon

Rolling Stone - Louis Tomlinson Evokes His Live Shows on Anthemic New Single ‘Bigger Than Me’

iHeart - Louis Tomlinson Announces New Album: 'Can't Wait For You All To Hear It' (x)

Dork - Louis Tomlinson has announced his second album ‘Faith in the Future’, and the first track is coming imminently

Vulture - Louis Tomlinson Is Putting His Faith in Music Again

SiriusXM - Louis Tomlinson Drops ‘Bigger Than Me,’ the Lead Single from His Sophomore Album

September 1st 2022

Louis + Team

Louis' single link

LTHQ single link

Louis' music video announcement

LTHQ music video announcement

Seven7 management

BMG

Album announcement

Bigger Than Me announcement

Press Release - UK: Louis Tomlinson announces new album, releases first single 'Bigger Than Me' via BMG (x)

Felix Howard: Bigger Than Me

Lisa Wilkinson: UK Top 40

WMG: Singapore, Brazil

Collaborators

Dave Gibson - co-wrote Saved By A Stranger (B-side demo for Better Than Me)

Press

NME - Louis Tomlinson announces second solo album ‘Faith In The Future’ (x)

Billboard - Louis Tomlinson Embraces Change on New Single ‘Bigger Than Me’: Stream It Now (x)

Dork - Louis Tomlinson has dropped a brand new track, ‘Bigger Than Me’

Capital FM - Louis Tomlinson's Lyrics To 'Bigger Than Me': Our First Look Into His New Album

Audacy - Louis Tomlinson has 'Faith In The Future' with new album and 'can’t wait for you all to hear it'

Radio/Streaming

Deezer - Louis video

Net ease music (Chinese streaming app) - Louis video

Hits Radio UK

Interviews

Euphoriazine - Louis Tomlinson (x)

Official Charts - Louis Tomlinson on 'sonically ambitious' new album Faith In The Future and a new-found 'creative freedom' as he releases lead single Bigger Than Me (x)

Los 40 - Louis Tomlinson: “No me arrepiento de mis primeras canciones, pero sí las elegí por los motivos equivocados” (x)

Charts

iTunes worldwide debut at #2

Youtube trending worldwide at #1

Appearances (announced)

Z100 summer bash - New York (9/1

Listening parties - Nashville: Hot1067 (9/20), Philly: 96.5TDY , LA: 997Now (9/23)

Smallzy chat (9/5)

Miscellaneous

Billboards: Manchester, Milan

#faith in the future promo

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burlveneer-music · 8 months

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Ziúr - Eyeroll

The world has changed, we shouldn't try and pretend otherwise. While we were shut away in isolation our routines shifted, social patterns evolved, and our hopes and dreams were twisted into cobwebs we're still trying to wipe from our fingers. Ziúr tentatively approached this on her last album Antifate, an ambitious and complex hybrid pop fever dream that looked back to a Medieval escapist fantasy as the scent of revolution seemed to hum in the air. But when restrictions were eased, she found herself staring down a discombobulated society that had trapped itself in a spiral of microwaved nostalgia and detached, narcotic repetition. Eyeroll then is Ziúr's musical panacea, a tincture to wake us from our creative slumber and prompt external connection and reflection. It's a polyphonous hex that demands human interaction, and Ziúr's hand-picked alliance of collaborators - Elvin Brandhi, Abdullah Miniawy, Iceboy Violet, Juliana Huxtable, Ledef, and James Ginzburg - each provide distinct voices that together herald a bewildering sonic epoch. Ziúr's palette had to evolve to match the scope of the project, but it was pure necessity that informed the album's defining tone. Recording mostly at night, Ziúr was conscious of the noise she was making so developed a unique way to record organic percussion. Using a set of rototoms - low profile tunable drums - she scratched, scraped and gently tapped the skins to build up the undulating and unstable rhythmic backdrop for each track. With Eyeroll Ziúr is making a firm statement about togetherness, humanity, and the renewal of hope when all seems lost. By bringing together such a wide but philosophically harmonic team of collaborators, she's conducted a body of work that speaks to the creative fringe in no uncertain terms. Now's the time to throw away what you think you know, and build bridges you didn't think you need. Now's the time for action. She may have spent her entire career avoiding the solipsistic trappings of "queer art", but by assembling a communal statement that questions so many normative assumptions about music, politics, and beyond, Ziúr has chanced upon her queerest album yet. Cringe? Eyeroll. All music written and produced by Ziúr. Trumpet on Malikan, Move On & Nontrivial Differential by Abdullah Miniawy Piano on Malikan by James Ginzburg Co-composition on Malikan & If The City Burns I Will Not Run by Abdullah Miniawy Drone on If The City Burns I Will Not Run by James Ginzburg Artwork & Design by Bungalovv

#Bandcamp #Ziúr #electronic #experimental #hakuna kalala #2023

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theovisaries · 17 hours

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Cindy Lee's Diamond Jubilee: Media, Mediation, and Immediacy

In early April, 2024, an eerie, recurring image landed on my social media feed: a lone cartoon woman with a blunt bob haircut, apparently weeping, and superimposed over the Alberta Terminal’s ominous grain siloes. Shortly thereafter, some of my most trusted online music buds (if you’re reading, y’all know who you are) declared the record bearing this cover—Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee—a masterpiece.

I had to hear it for myself, of course, but in order to receive this music, I needed to engage with—and, to some extent, become unwittingly interpolated by—the ways in which Cindy Lee foregrounds reception theory itself. In Immediacy: The Style of Too Late Capitalism (2024), Anna Kornbluh identifies our common compulsion “to have done with mediation” (11). With Diamond Jubilee, Cindy Lee doesn’t so much dispense with mediation (a fool’s errand), but rather endeavors to micromanage it. The album is not on a label, and is not streaming on Bandcamp, Spotify, or Apple Music. As of this writing, Diamond Jubilee is unavailable on physical media. Ostensibly, Patrick Flegel’s objective was to maximize his revenue stream and assert full creative control over the Cindy Lee project. To these ends, it’s a resounding success, but I found the listening experience strangely impoverished; I would have preferred to digest this sprawling double LP on some format untethered to the internet, screens, and devices. Luckily, the music compensates.

Wildly ambitious and clocking in at over two hours, Diamond Jubilee runs the gamut of loosely-confederated musical styles: tender, Sun Studios-inflected torch songs, glitter-rock inspired bass and drum workouts, glitchy synth interludes, and even a bit of butt rock. The opening track “Diamond Jubilee” sets up the album’s dominant sonic palette with a slinky, pentatonic guitar figure reminiscent of Tuareg rockers Tinariwen, but by track three we’re in different, and, to these ears, more interesting territory. “Baby Blue” channels the melody to The Merseybeats 1966 hit “Sorrow” (later covered by Bowie), and showcases the record’s signature double-tracked, echo laden vocals. It’s gentle on the ears, but impedes an easy engagement with the album’s lyrical content, for better or for worse.

Around the one hour mark, Diamond Jubilee hits its stride (how many records can you say that about?) “Dracula,” my favorite track, is a fried homage to J.J. Cale built on a syncopated bass groove and dissonant guitar (Patrick Flegel is a fine guitarist, but his deft bass playing is the record’s most arresting quality and often its saving grace.)

Overall, Diamond Jubilee’s antecedents are the early Elephant 6 sounds from bands like Of Montreal and Olivia Tremor Control, the mid-aughts Brooklyn scene carved out by labels like Captured Tracks, Sacred Bones, and Woodsist, and 2010s neo-freakbeat and psych auteurs like White Fence, Ariel Pink, and Ty Segall.

As for those listeners who hear in Diamond Jubilee a more classic set of influences, say, the Shangri-Las or the Beach Boys, well, my drugs aren’t that good—and sorry, neither is Cindy Lee.

Due to a puzzling inability and/or unwillingness on the part of otherwise articulate music critics to accurately describe Diamond Jubilee, substantive criticism of the record and its unusual release plan have been slower to emerge. Indeed, amidst the avalanche of hyperbole, both grassroots and online, writers for esteemed publications like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Aquarium Drunkard seemed desperate to one-up each other with breathless, praise-laden, post-critique pieces. With all due respect, a lengthy self-released album by an artist from the Canadian prairie—which, last time I checked, was part of the Commonwealth—does not constitute a lost transmission from an alternative electromagnetic spectrum, or whatever other dopey cliché was bandied about in relation to Diamond Jubilee. And curiously, Cindy Lee’s most frequently referenced cultural touchstones, Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks, aren’t even records at all! Yes, the work is doubtlessly strong—compelling, even—but is it a game changer? Or an index of cultural exhaustion?

These questions would never be seriously posed were it not for the record’s edgy, anti-marketing marketing plan, which has strong “I graduated from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades” energy. Objectively, Cindy Lee deviated from the standard way of doing business in the music industry at that level (Flegel's former band Women released records on Jagjaguar). This is the textbook definition of disruption. Stranger still, it worked, capturing the attention of an audience that, as musician and academic Franklin Bruno astutely put it on X, is “too jaded to be sold something, but supports what they 'discover,' all at once, the same week.”

But we need not scrutinize Flegel exclusively through the lenses of sour grapes and cynicism; a splashy self-release can be a practical way to seize the means of production and distribution. It’s an impulse that many musicians-turned-entrepreneurs from Ian MacKaye to Mac McCaughan have built lasting and profitable businesses on. Nor need I rehash the extreme defenses of the record, wherein an unsavory group of mostly male stans interpreted Cindy Lee’s distribution strategy as a joyous middle finger to the music industry’s normative (or “tedious,” as many put it) rollout: the album announcement three months in advance, three teaser singles that a publicist attempts to “place” on blogs that are typically ad-driven and lacking in quality control, and a big, friend-annoying push on release day. In sum, releasing a record on Geocities is a knife that cuts both ways; it enabled Cindy Lee to squeeze out the middleman, hack the attention cycle, and shroud the record in the romantic aura of mystery and solitary genius; however, it also contributed to no small amount of misunderstanding, something few artists enjoy or actively court. The decision to ride as a lone wolf reeks of a rugged individualism I do not share; I value collaborations and partnerships.

I am fairly qualified to comment on Diamond Jubilee’s rollout. Like Cindy Lee, my band Trummors began work on our latest LP four years ago, and a few of the songs were based on melodies or progressions that had been kicking around for far longer. Yet, at each step of the way—from arranging to recording, editing to sequencing, and, most crucially, outlining a release plan—we made nearly opposite decisions as Cindy Lee. This is not to say one path is unambiguously superior to the other, only time will tell, but merely to reiterate that I have some insight into the costs, benefits, and stakes of these choices, both commercially and aesthetically.

Trummors 5 was culled from about 20 songs we recorded at home using a hodgepodge of analog gear, DAWs, and flown-in drum tracks. I played most of the instruments: piano, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and lap steel. The results were charmingly "deskilled" at best, amateurish at worst. When I sent roughs to Pete at our label, he encouraged us to follow this path, noting that he liked the intimate vibe and thought others would respond positively to it as well. Maybe he was right. At any rate, Anne and I weren’t satisfied; we recorded our previous LP Dropout City at Palomino Sound, an affordable, well-outfitted studio in L.A, so we didn’t feel too terrific about what we perceived as a dire lowering of our sonic standards.

In the thick of the pandemic, we booked time with producer Dan Horne at his Lone Palm Studio (now Universal Hair Farm), and called in friends to help us live track. This method may not suit everyone, but for us, there’s a certain alchemy that only comes from making records this way—after honestly assessing our record-in-progress, we realized we weren’t prepared to dispense with that. All told, over the course of two years, we spent upwards of 6k making the record, not including travel costs. We did not receive a recording advance (ask PayPal credit how we made this record!), but eventually we were paid back half of that amount upon agreeing to release the record the traditional way: on a label, with a coordinated publicity campaign, and a vinyl pressing with a limited edition colored variant. These were not decisions we took lightly; it was not driven by blind, unreconstructed faith in the status quo. Rather, as a band with a small, niche audience—far too small to reach our longtime goal of being a bookable live act in 2024—this was truly a case in which the standard practice appeared to be the best way to achieve our goal of modest audience growth. Albeit on a smaller scale, the effect of Cindy Lee’s release was akin to proximate rollouts by megastars like Beyonce and Taylor Swift, artists intent on sucking all the oxygen out of a music business increasingly circumscribed by a deeply unhealthy monoculture.

Too, Trummors 5 eschewed the sprawling, maximalist approach that characterizes Diamond Jubilee. Instead, we did that sometimes painful thing writers and artists do: edit. We chose what we thought were the strongest ten songs from nearly two hours of music we recorded at home and shaped them into a coherent whole. I maintain the conservative position that the LP-as-unified-song-cycle is the heart and soul of the recorded music game. Moreover, as Alfred Hitchcock famously quipped, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” The same can be said of albums. Still, we had a nagging sense of “if a tree falls”; the only option was to reconcile ourselves to the gaping maw of obscurity. In short, Cindy Lee showed me the folly of maintaining any sanguine hope for modest but significant audience growth in a winner-take-all world, and for that, I begrudgingly thank them for removing the scales from my eyes (Flegel’s pronouns have vacillated between they/them and he/him; I’ve used these pronouns interchangeably in this essay).

What’s left is a record full of contradictions: simultaneously an earnest and impressive artistic statement, a pragmatic (if self-serving) tweak on the music business’s notorious PR boondoggles, and, of course, a bit of a gimmick. According to Sianne Ngai (2020), the gimmick is the capitalist form par excellence. Ngai writes, “Gimmicks are fundamentally...devices that strike us as working too little (labor-saving tricks) but also as working too hard (strained efforts to get our attention)” (1). Cindy Lee's mid-fi, minimally edited recordings achieve a magical immediacy by working too little, but they also work too hard to make sure you notice that. Thus, as Ngai observes,

"The gimmick [...] acquires its reputation of bad timing—being too old or too new—based on its deviation from a tacit standard of productivity. Under or overperforming with respect to this historical norm, it strikes us as technologically backward or just as problematically advanced: futuristic to the point of hubris, as in the case of Google Glass, or comically outdated, like the choreographed jerks used to simulate turbulence in television episodes of Star Trek [or Geocities]" (3).

Had Flegel released this record a few years earlier, it would have merited inclusion as a case study in Ngai’s book. Perhaps the tensions that subtend the gimmick are what makes Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee so difficult to parse, and so prone to endlessly recursive debates about its merits.

Works Cited:

Kornbluh, Anna. Immediacy, or the Style of Too-Late Capitalism. Verso, 2024.

Ngai, Sianne. Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2022.

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honeybabymp3 · 8 months

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another thing about midnights is that like... and this of course comes with a huge asterisk that this definitely might be on me for still being too tethered to the Taylor Swift Narrative and not looking at the album objectively, but. while personally i didn't instantly clock maroon as a reference to red/1989 era, there are more tangible connections like wcs to dear john, you're on your own kid going back to highschool, possibly high infidelity-gorgeous, question-dwoht &and the ootw sample and. it's part of what makes the album really incoherent like it just doesn't come together and feels all over the place. but it makes sense in the context of "oh she was writing this while revisiting and rerecording her old work!" and regardless of if this is actually what happened this would've been such an interesting approach to the album... esp if you manage to balance that AND what midnights has to say about fame and the choices you made. that could've been so good. and honestly (and now i'm just imagining a new album yeah?) trying to also make it sonically representative of the different eras to highlight this concept for the album , while still trying to somehow make it coherent , would've been pretty ambitious and very cool . but of course we could've never got that cause what it actually is is something that feels like it was thrown together in 3 months

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hldailyupdate · 2 years

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Louis Tomlinson on the 'importance' of supporting new artists, 'brilliant' 5SOS and his 'amazing' Away From Home Festival performers STONE.