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thislovintime · 1 year

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The Pool It! sessions, Cherokee Studios A & B, 1986. Photos 2 & 3 via Roger Bechirian/Tape Op.

Roger Bechirian: “[Micky Dolenz] and Davy Jones showed up one day and had coffee in my home. They'd heard the Squeeze album, East Side Story. Micky loved it and wanted to make a record like that. I thought I could see it, but we made an album that was really middle of the road. Davy Jones brought in all these schmaltzy ballads. The sessions ended with us having a big row in the studio one late afternoon. Davy was calling me every name under the sun. I really lost it. I told him to get out of my studio. Anyway, there were two songs on the album that could've been big hits. ‘Heart and Soul’ was one. The other was a version of a Wreckless Eric song [‘(I'd Go The) Whole Wide World’]. The album was not great.” Q: “Did they play on it?” Bechirian: “Yeah, Micky played some drums and some guitar, although we had session drummers and whatnot. You know who was good? Peter Tork was an amazing multi-instrumentalist. I had no idea! He had a bunch of songs that would've made a great album. But of course they wouldn't have it — Jones wouldn't have it. Peter was great. I was really, really taken with him. He was full of life and had loads of ideas. He'd had a really rough time since they broke up, but he'd really come out of it all.” - Tape Op, July/August 2012

Pool It! also features the Tork song “Gettin’ In”:

“[Peter] played us [Lou Natkin and Pool It! producer Roger Béchirian] that song [’Gettin’ In’] on guitar; I thought it was interesting. He said, ‘Do you like it? Do you like it? I say, ‘Yeah, I like it; it’s interesting.’ He said, ‘Oh that’s your way of saying you don’t like it, [that] it’s not a hit.’ I said, I was honest, ‘It’s not a hit single, but it’s an interesting song.’” - Lou Natkin, Stranger Things Have Happened vinyl sleeve notes

“Your eyes are getting heavy, you are falling asleep. When you awaken, you will obey my commands and remember nothing of this conversation.” - Peter Tork on “Gettin’ In,” Stranger Things Have Happened 1994 liner notes

“The inspiration came to me on West 57th Street one day. I don’t remember the initial form of the piece, but I was charged. I immediately started to make a demo on a dinky little four-track. I had one little synthesizer, it was Casio’s first. It was a genuine synthesizer in that it had an ADSR generator and a primitive sequencer. The reason the bass goes the way it does is that I couldn’t get any lower notes on the keyboard, that’s where it stopped! So Iso I had to write a bass part to fit its limitations. Even when I got more synthesizers I kept the same arrangement, and that’s what I gave to Roger Bechirian. The lyric starts off as a ‘I’ve got you now little girl’ lyric. But one of my goals in my adult songwriting life — the last ten years — has been to have some measure of ambiguity. So, I have sort of shifted over to the spiritual mode. Not like, ‘I’m just out for your body,’ although that would be nice!” - Peter Tork, Listen To The Band liner notes, 1991 (x)

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amberaddamstg · 11 months

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Bass players are hot, drummers do it best, but multi instrumentalists do it all 😉

#mtf trans #transgirl #transgender #alt girl #goth gf #trans #trans woman #guitar #female musicians #multi instrumentalist #tgirlsheaven #tgirlsrock #tgirlsdoitbetter🌈#tgirl babe #trans women are amazing

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saraminia · 8 days

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Does it ever just hit you how fucking talented Noah is? Like, objectively you know this. It's nothing new, but then you're listening to a song of his and just get hit with this feeling of.. WOW! This man is a poet! And he's a composer. He's a singer. He's a musician, a multi instrumentalist at that. He's an actor, voice, stage, tv and movies. But most of all I'm in awe of his musical talent. The music he writes is so well crafted and beautifully performed. To think that this man is able to create these perfect pieces of art out of nothing. Like. There's nothing, the song doesn't exist. And then he just. Sits at his piano and. Makes a song. You know? It's incredible. And yeah, I know that's what all musicians do, but let's face it, not everyone is as talented and authentic as Noah and he doesn't have like a huge machinery behind him crafting these songs. And that's why his songs have so much soul you can sense how he makes music from a place of pure joy of creating and he has things he wants to say and get out in the world. And how lucky are we that we get to enjoy the fruit of his creativity. It's easy to mistake him for being just some guy, like any guy you see walking the streets of Toronto or whatever, but once you know of his talent, you'll never think he's just like any other guy. You'll know he's a very very special somebody. A rare talent and a true artist. I hope he truly understands how loved and cherished and adored and appreciated he is. Not just because he's hot or because he played Patrick on Schitt's Creek, but because he creates something that touches his fans and we see the authenticity of his art and the amount of talent and skills that go into making it. I hope everyone who meets him recognizes that they are in the presence of greatness. And I know he probably doesn't think he's that great or special, but it's our job as his fans to remind him of that. I mean, he's chosen show business after all, at least some part of him craves the applause. And we're more than happy to give it to him, because he gives so much to us. Music that lives in our hearts and minds, as a soundtrack of our lives. Like a gift straight from his fascinating wonderful mind to ours. And isn't that just amazing. The way it allows us to connect to a part of his mind. The part that he's willing to put out there for all of us to see, which is pretty damn brave by the way. Anyway, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to write such a long thing. I just wanted to make a silly little shit post, but once I start waxing poetic about Noah, there's no stopping me. I love him so much and am so grateful for every piece of himself he's willing to share with us in his work.

#true stream of consciousness once again #riikka talks #noah reid

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burlveneer-music · 6 months

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Miguel Atwood-Ferguson - Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1 - massive (52-track) new album with an amazing cast of guest musicians (Brainfeeder)

14 years in the making, “Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1” comprises 52 tracks / 3.5 hours of music composed, arranged and produced by Miguel with contributions from 50+ friends including Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, DOMi & JD Beck, Jeff Parker, Carlos Niño, Austin Peralta, Bennie Maupin, Gabe Noel, Jamael Dean, Jamire Williams, Burniss Travis II, Deantoni Parks, Josh Johnson, Marcus Gilmore and many more. Based in his hometown of Los Angeles, Miguel is one of the preeminent musicians, orchestrators, arrangers and composers of our time. “Les Jardins Mystiques Vol.1” is his long-awaited inaugural album. It presents us with a passionate statement of intent, a labor of love, and a realm of beautiful possibilities. “Les Jardins Mystiques” is a project that throws open and shares Miguel’s musical universe. It took shape over a dozen years, largely self-funded by Miguel, and showcasing his distinctly elegant musicianship (on violin, viola, cello and keyboards among other instruments) alongside his free-spirited dialogues with more than 50 instrumentalists. Volume 1 is the first in a planned triptych, which will collectively comprise ten-and-a-half-hours of original, refreshingly expansive music. Miguel connected with his guest musicians in versatile ways: through convivial studio dialogues; over remote communication during the pandemic era; and via the energy of live performances at LA venues including Del Monte Speakeasy (the gorgeously invigorating, piano-led “Dream Dance”) and Bluewhale (including “Ano Yo” with vivacious alto from Devin Daniels, and the cosmic harmonies of “Cho Oyu”). Bennie Maupin, the legendary US multi-reedist whose repertoire includes Miles Davis’s fusion opus Bitches Brew, plays bass clarinet on the entrancing opening number, “Kiseki”. “Les Jardins Mystiques” reflects Miguel’s ethos that music is a natural, vitally unaffected life force. The titles across Volume 1’s tracks draw from international languages and traditions, including Spanish, Swahili, Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Japanese and Hebrew, as well as the Buddhist practice that has been key to Miguel’s life since his twenties (“It’s very joyous and very hard, because it says that there’s no retirement age in human revolution,” he says). The tracks contrast in length, from “Zarra”’s vivid burst of analogue synths to the alluringly chilled melody of “Kairos (Amor Fati)”, yet there’s a gloriously unconstrained flow throughout, and each piece seems to unfurl and blossom into its own wondrous world.

#Miguel Atwood-Ferguson #jazz #west coast get down #2023 #violin #hip hop #los angeles #brainfeeder #Bandcamp

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miashyperfixations · 9 months

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JULIE THE MUSICAL

28.07.2023 @ The Other Palace (studio), London (120 Capacity)

Written August 2023

Julie The Musical was amazing, especially as we bought the tickets only a few days before as a fun experience to end a week in London. We had no expectations whatsoever, and we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed the show.

The brand new original musical written by Abey Bradbury focuses on the life of historical LGBTQ+ icon Julie D'Aubigny, whose extraordinary life adventures come alive via live music, comedy & even a sword-fighting tap number. Julie is a musical celebrating her chaotic & crazy life, unapologetic queerness & shows that you can carve a place for yourself in a world not built for you. You never have to give up.

The oddly comforting musical concentrates on Julie’s found family (a personal favourite trope of mine) that she gains along her journey to become the most famed opera singer in the world at Paris Opera House and her romantic escapades as she does so. Similarly to SIX: The Musical, it was a small production with just the 5 actors on stage. The 5-piece was made up of super talented multi-instrumentalists, rotating between singing, playing, or both, depending on the number. Sam Kearney (they/them) did such a phenomenal job portraying the titular character with perfect comedic timing, superb chemistry with every other actor & a showstopping voice I couldn't get over. The way each actor (other than Sam) takes on multiple roles without it becoming too confusing is truly amazing and really shows how versatile & modern this whole play is, everyone involved is amazingly talented and promises great things for the future of theatre. Something I didn’t realise till after the show was that one of the actor’s was not there and instead, Abey Bradbury (the show’s creator/writer) had stepped up to cover the role of ‘Thevenard & others’ (I think…).

After the show we managed to talk to one of the actors, Sophie, as she packed up. She was just as enthusiastic as we were about the show & was surprised at the fact we wanted to know even more about it and what goes on behind the scenes. She then pointed us in the direction of the show’s producer, Conor who was able to talk to me in even more depth about the live setup of the show and The Other Palace in general.

This new & flamboyant musical truly deserves all the awards and traction it gains - it's so phenomenal. It really shone a light onto queerness in the 1700s, and fuelled the fire against reducing LGBTQ+ history in society, especially as sapphic representation is at a significantly lower level in mainstream media. The actors, crew & creator did such a good job putting on a great show & creating such a good, fun, safe & inclusive show. I can't recommend it enough and will definitely be seeing it again.

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 1 month

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World Party - Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, California, September 10, 1990

Over on the Dollar Bin, my brother Nathan paid tribute to the recently departed Karl Wallinger — the multi-instrumentalist Svengali behind World Party. I hadn't listened to much World Party in the past two decades or so, but when I fired up Goodbye Jumbo a few weeks back, I was amazed at how familiar it was, instantly taking me back to Nathan's room in the early 1990s, hearing those unusual sounds for the first time.

Of course, 30+ years later, those sounds don't seem so unusual — Wallinger was a musician who proudly wore his influences on his sleeve, and as I got older, those influences became fairly obvious (as Nathan writes, even our dad was ahead of us in this respect here). But I think World Party served as a nice gateway drug to a lot of worthwhile zones.

So! Here's a nice SBD from the Goodbye Jumbo tour, with Wallinger leading his band through some of his finest tunes, from the Prince-tastic "Private Revolution" to the left-field hit "Put The Message In The Box." You're invited to a World Party.

Karl says: More and more, I just believe that songs are where it’s at. In the ‘90s, I used to get told, “You do too many different styles on your records. You should concentrate on one kind of thing.” And I was just like, “Why would I want to do that?” The attraction is the song, and the song can be any kind of song. There’s all kinds of music that I like. And now I really believe that songs are just amazing things because they go off and they have their own life. They get played at weddings and funerals and births and deaths and everything. Happy moments or moments of doubt or moments where it just seems to be the friend you want. It’s a strange thing, the way they have their own life. I love that about them. They’re like kids. They’ve gone off and experienced more of life, probably, than I have. They’ve been in the background when two people are making love, or they’ve been on a car journey to Alaska. All these scenarios where they’ve been experiencing our lives, as well as we are experiencing them. It blows me away. Songs are incredible things. I love them.

#world party

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ohc-and-the-music-tapes-archive · 2 months

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Article and interview with Julian Koster about Caroling Tour 2008 and Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise. Flagpole, 26 November 2008

[source]

transcript:

Holiday Cheer from The Music Tapes Caroling with Julian Koster

With the hope of breaking down what he considers arbitrary barriers between listener, performer and the music itself, The Music Tapes’ Julian Koster is in the midst of a national caroling tour, taking his songs door to door nationwide rather than playing traditional shows in a rock club.

“To me, loving records and loving making records has always occurred in your own life, in your own room, in the context of your own things,” says the multi-instrumentalist, who gained a lot of attention as a player in Neutral Milk Hotel and alongside his Elephant 6 friends through most of the late ‘90s. “I just always thought it would be so wonderful if there could just be a knock at the door and this little elf from the records I love could come visit me and come carol for me in the world that my love for the music lives in, rather than having to go into a bar somewhere, into this completely foreign reality where my love doesn’t live. It feels like it belongs more to the imaginary places that music comes from and from which people's love of music lives in that strange sort of human tradition. I really like caroling a lot; I really like mumming a lot. Nobody lives in a rock club. Even the employees who spend their days and nights in a rock club, the moments where they can listen to a record and get lost in it probably exist mostly outside of that rock club.”

Koster put out the call for invitations—he’s only bringing his music to places where he’s been invited, and only between the caroling hours of 6 and 9 p.m.—last month via his website OrbitingHumanCircus.org, and he says he’s been steadily receiving invitations every day, via email and the old-fashioned manner of actual mail. “The response has been wonderful; it’s been amazing. Every day there’s been more. It’s been so warm,” he says. “There's just an extraordinary warmth coming from people, and they're all strangers! [Caroling] has been a dream of mine. Part of it came in a dream, and in the dream it wasn’t a specific holiday or time of year.” The idea is, that once invited, he'll arrive in a town, show up at the first house on his list, knock on the door, sing a few of his Music Tapes songs as well as perform a few holiday songs with his singing saw, hand out some presents and then move on to the next place on his list. “I think a lot of people are planning to have small holiday parties, at which point there'll be a knock on the door, and I think that’s really nice because many of the gatherings will include people who are strangers to them,” he says. Invitees could indicate whether they‘d open their houses—or apartments, or offices, or wherever they're inviting Koster to come carol—to strangers showing up, and those locations would be given preference if Koster received too many invitations in one town.

“I think it'll be all kinds of places, but they're not going to be shows,” he stresses, “and I think because this sort of thing hasn't really existed before, some people can’t quite wrap their brains around it, and theyre thinking, okay, so where’s the show going to be, but it’s, no, no,” he says, and giggles and giggles, “there’s not going to be a show anywhere! It’s your house! But not a show.”

Koster, who now lives off the coast of Maine but has spent most of the past six months here in Athens, recently returned to Athens from the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour, which took the group of like-minded local musicians around the country performing songs revue-style, drawing on all their various bands: Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, The Gerbils and others.

“That-in itself was this funny abstract dream that itself came true, and we just leapt into the unknown with that because none of us knew what it would be like. I didn’t know what we would be presenting, I didn’t know what that would feel like, and I didn’t know who would come or what they would feel. I just had no idea. And to have that unfold with a tremendous warmth and excitement was… well, I guess that’s what you do when you a tremendous warmth and excitement was… well, I guess that’s what you do when you abandon yourself to the unknown and follow something that feels nice from the inside; it just happens. It’s almost like asking someone you have a crush on to go out. You just do it, and find out!”

Koster says that the Holiday Surprise Tour brought in more money than anyone involved had expected, and that’s making it easier for him to afford the gas money for this caroling trip. He left on Nov. 11 and went from Georgia through Tennessee to Texas, and around this time he should be somewhere midwestern like Kansas or Wisconsin before dipping into Canada next week and hitting up the entire state of New York before landing in Maine, where he has a big holiday party planned at his seaside house. After that, possibly back to Athens for some more music-making. This fall saw the release of the album Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, and an album of holiday songs called The Singing Saw at Christmastime was released last month. Koster says that a return to Athens may be likely, and that a reprise of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour out to the West Coast is likely for early next year, but at this point not even Koster knows for sure where he'll end up—he’s waiting for a dream to let him know.

Chris Hassiotis

#Julian Koster #the Music Tapes #Caroling #Elephant 6 #Holiday Surprise #articles #interviews #2008

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flowerboycaleb · 3 months

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january is usually a pretty meh month when it comes to bunch of great records dropping, but this january might be an exception. plenty of amazing new albums here! especially that new glass beach record which i can already tell is going to be in my rotation for a long time to come. anyways, here are my thoughts on all the albums listed above! to check out my thoughts on some of the songs that dropped this month click here!!! also feel free to follow me on rate your music and twitter <3

plastic death - glass beach

🥇 ALBUM OF THE MONTH

◇ genres: indie rock, art rock, progressive rock I was very unfamiliar with glass beach. I was kinda aware of them, but never really got a chance to dive into the band's music. The hype both leading up to the album and from the first initial impressions of it when it dropped made me check this out. I'm so glad I did. Usually, I'm a bit weary of sprawling, genre-bending albums, but glass beach manages to execute it so perfectly. The band takes inspiration from tons of different places, most notably Radiohead with a lot of art rock instrumentation throughout as well as some of the vocal performances. These never come off as super derivative or anything, at least to my ears. The band manages to take these sounds and shape them into something uniquely theirs. Across the little over an hour runtime glass beach masterfully showcases their strong suits. Very rarely did this album ever lose my attention or ever feel disjointed. Each song had at least one "oh, I wasn't expecting that" moment too. Pretty much every sonic detour the band takes here is a welcome surprise. From the power pop stylings of "puppy" to the screamo-inspired vocals on “slip under the door", this album is full of so many surprises. Lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist J is a key reason why these shifts work so well. She's able to adapt her voice perfectly to everything. From the relatively smaller-scale catchy indie rock or the more grand proggy moments, they're matching it so well. The other members of the band also obviously deserve massive props for this as well. Pulling off an album this ambitious is a tall task, but even after multiple listens, I'm blown away at how cohesive it all sounds. plastic death is one of the finest rock (for lack of a better descriptor) albums in recent memory. I didn't even properly get into how great the lyricism is or just how good the band is at crafting memorable hooks. There is so much to love about this album. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon, but I can see myself loving this more and more in future listens as the year rolls on. I'll probably also end up giving this a proper, in-depth write-up when it comes time to compile my favorite albums of the year list. I really wanna dive into the lyricism on the album because I think it’s really interesting, but I do need more time with it. Anyway, this album is great!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wall of Eyes - The Smile

◇ genres: art rock, post-rock

Not too long after The Smile's debut record, we're getting the follow-up. A lot of the things I loved about A Light for Attracting Attention also apply to Wall of Eyes. It sounds like Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are having fun making music again. That's not to say the last Radiohead record was bad, I think it's a masterpiece actually, but there was grief and pain around every corner. It feels like they found the fun in making music again once they teamed up with former Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner and formed this band. The sounds featured on both The Smile records are a bit different than what you would hear from any of their previous work. As a MASSIVE Radiohead fan, this is so exciting. Hearing them dive into post-rock, math rock, krautrock, and many different other sounds is so cool. Are they the best representation of all these sounds? Not really, but there's just an air of excitement surrounding these songs. It feels like they're just following what feels right. The soft, bossa nova flavoring of the title track is a good example of that. Yorke's vocals just kinda bounce along in a very satisfying way. Lyrically the song doesn't exactly grab you, but it just feels so good. "Under Our Pillows" is one of my favorite tracks here and is one where you can hear the Krautrock influence. There are so many cool things the band explores here that it's hard to list all of my favorite moments. I love hearing them explore sounds that wouldn't be found on a Radiohead album. My favorite track here is "Bending Hectic" by a pretty wide margin. That's not a knock on the record at all, it's just a testament to how amazing this track is. When it first dropped last summer, I was obsessed with it, and hearing it in the context of this record makes it that much better. This was a really great album!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ORQUÍDEAS - Kali Uchis

◇ genres: contemporary R&B, latin pop

Like a lot of people, my first introduction to Kali Uchis was through Tyler, the Creator's Flower Boy. Her amazing feature on "See You Again", the album's biggest track, was incredible and one of the most standout things about the entire album. From there I listened to Isolation and have been keeping up with her new releases ever since. She has been incredibly consistent both with her English language albums and her Spanish albums. This new record is one of the latter and it honestly might be my favorite album of hers to date. Everything about this album is just intoxicating. From the hazy opener, "¿Cómo así?, to the bolero stylings of "Te mata", this album just pulls everything off so well. We also have her signature dreamy vocal delivery throughout and it's so beautiful. Most notable on the second song "Me pongo loca." She enlists the help of some other big Latin musicians here and their presence is very welcome here. I was especially impressed by Peso Pluma's feature on the third track. Overall, ORQUÍDEAS might be Kali Uchis' best record to date. Incredibly consistent, excellently produced, and so much fun to listen to.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Obsidian Wreath - Infant Island

◇ genres: screamo, post-metal I always feel the need to make a disclaimer that I feel out of my depth when discussing metal or most other subgenres of it. No matter how much I explore this sound I always feel like I'm on the outside looking in. Anyway, the point is, I don't think I'm the right person to go to for metal opinions. However, I really enjoyed this new Infant Island record. The band shifts from thundering instrumentation with growled vocals to lush, almost atmospheric instrumentation at a moment's notice. I find myself being a big fan of the albums in this genre that offer a decent amount of variety in the instrumentation. It gives the album so much more depth and texture. The musicianship on here is really impressive, but I have to give a special shoutout to the band's drummer. He's doing some crazy things on this album and it made all of these tracks that much more compelling. The lyricism here is what you would expect, but they're delivered in such a way that hits hard. The moments where the band shift into a more blackgaze sound are particularly arresting. I thought this was really good and I enjoy it more every time I revisit it.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Bicycle - Patricia Taxxon

◇ genre: IDM I'm not super familiar with Patricia Taxxon's music overall. I enjoyed Agnes & Hilda a decent amount, but besides that, I'm kinda clueless. From what I can gather, she's a pretty prolific artist with a ton of different projects to her name. After hearing Bicycle, I might be so inclined as to dive into some of those projects! There are some really cool and unique production choices here. Like the metallic clicks on the opener interwoven with some nice synths. That dynamic appears all over the album come to think of it. Thin-sounding snaps and crackles acting as the anchor of the track while something wild happens above it. "Frat Claws" is a great example of this. They also work well on the excellent closer "I Do." It's very lush and ties the album up in such a nice way. My only issues are that sometimes that sound would wear thin for me and the non-instrumental tracks didn't interest me all that much. I do appreciate the direction Taxxon was trying to take them in though. Check this one out if you like cool electronic music or if you're a furry (i may be both or neither, i'll never tell!!!)

listen here: Apple Music (not available) Spotify (not available) Bandcamp SoundCloud (not available) YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Keep It Goin Xav - Xaviersobased

genres: jerk rap, cloud rap, plugg

I found out about this mixtape from the really interesting Pitchfork review of the project by Alphonse Pierre. The way Pierre wrote about it had me interested even though I'm not really familiar with the jerk rap or the plugg scenes of hip hop. Fortunately, I found a lot to enjoy with this mixtape. The production choices were really interesting and created a cool dynamic with Xavier's often lackadaisical delivery. Sometimes that kind of style would wear thin for me, but I can see that being a me thing. This could be the perfect "vibe" album for some.

It's hard to single out a specific track for that reason. Everything kinda flows together in both good and bad ways. The just under 30-minute runtime works in the project's favor because of that. Xavier is really good at making earworms though. The hook on "Ascend" was stuck in my head for days after listening. Not every track has one of those super memorable hooks, which is disappointing, but plenty do. Overall, I didn't adore it as much as Pierre did in his review, but this is one to check out. I feel like Xavier has a ton of potential and is definitely someone to keep an eye on in the future.

listen here: Apple Music (not available) Spotify (not available) Bandcamp (not available) SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Little Rope - Sleater-Kinney

◇ genre: indie rock To preface this, I adore Sleater-Kinney. Their run of albums from Dig Me Out through The Woods is some of the finest indie rock of all time. The band went on hiatus following that record and then returned in 2014 for the run they're on currently. I've heard very mixed things about these post-hiatus albums overall, but I hadn't heard any of them until Little Rope. I enjoyed some of the singles leading up to this record, like "Hell" and "Say It Like You Mean It", but the rest of the album fails to keep that energy going. It isn't a BAD album by any means, it's just ... fine. Occasionally good, but mostly fine and nothing more. You will get some glimpses of their former glory, but they just never take these songs in any new directions. Even the tracks I mentioned earlier don't really live up to the standards set by their best work. They still get super fuzzy and noisy, but they lack the immediacy and the tension of like "The Fox" for example. It feels like they're going through the motions, which sounds fine if you don't think about it too much. A bit disappointed by this one, but with its brief runtime it's worth a shot.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

It's Sorted - Cheekface

◇ genres: geek rock, indie rock, new wave

I feel very conflicted about this album, to be honest. Everything on this album is painfully witty. Everything is a joke in some way which gets so exhausting. Most of the songs here are charming and well-performed, but you have to be very, very funny to pull off a full album of this stuff and I don’t think Cheekface pulled it off here. I understand that’s a very subjective thing and if you dig this late-millennial style of humor you’ll probably get a kick out of this!

Some of these songs are pretty amusing though. I really like “I Am Continuing to Do My Thing” which features a jerky, new-wave rhythm to it which I had fun with. I also enjoyed "Popular 2" which has a bit of a power pop thing going on. Most of these songs are structured decently well, but it's just the lyrics that make me roll my eyes. A good bit of this album meditates on fame and success which does provide a sense of cohesion, but I just find it hard for me to really connect with these songs. I realized a few songs in that I'm probably not the target audience for this. I'm sure if I was like 30 or so I would have a ball with this album, but as it stands now I would much rather listen to a They Might Be Giants album if I wanted to scratch the itch this record is attempting to.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud (not available) YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

New Last Name - Courting

◇ genres: post-punk revival, indie rock

This is such a big step down from their last album. I only heard the single "Flex" going into New Last Name and it's easily the best track here. The rest of the album features the big choruses reminiscent of 90s alt-rock hits that were present on both the band's previous album Guitar Music and the aforementioned "Flex", but unlike those most of the songs on the whole are just one big mess. The verses usually sound bad, both because of the off-putting production and the weak writing. One of the worst offenders here is "We Look Good Together (Big Words)" which sounds like they're doing a parody of The 1975 and I really don't like The 1975!!! That track features one of the few forays into indietronica territory and it never sounds very good. Even if the song structure and almost everything else is lacking, the band can still pull off a really good chorus here and there. The problem is they aren't worth sitting through the rest of the tracks to get through. Besides "Flex", I did find some enjoyment in "Emily G" and the last two tracks. Mostly because they reminded me of their last album. I'm all for bands evolving and trying different things, but New Last Name just feels misguided. Hoping they can come together for a better follow-up.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Saviors - Green Day

◇ genres: alternative rock, pop punk

Green Day has been in a very rough spot for quite a while now. They've been seemingly unable to recapture that "magic" that was present in their earlier work. They've been failing at diving into new sounds, failing to rehash the old ones in an interesting way, and failing to make a single great cohesive album ever since like 2009. Coming on the heels of perhaps their worst record to date, Father of All, the expectations for this album were in the mud and that's putting it nicely. Fortunately, this isn't the band at their worst, but it might be the band at their most boring. The instrumentation is a return to form compared to their last record, but that comes at the cost of rehashing old ideas. There are some decently clever songwriting moments here and a lot of the big choruses are enjoyable enough to at least remind me why middle school Caleb loved this band so much, but even that works against the album's favor. Why would I listen to this if I was in a Green Day mood and not Dookie or American Idiot or Insomniac? I will say there is some really good stuff here. "Dilemma", "Look Ma, No Brains!", and the title track are highlights and some of the best stuff they've done in years.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Letter to Self - Sprints

◇ genres: garage punk, post-punk Let me preface this by saying that I think Sprints has a ton of potential. Unfortunately their debut, for the most part, doesn't capitalize on that potential. This is for a variety of reasons. For starters, the production of this record really doesn't do them any favors. The songs that SHOULD have a punch don't have any whatsoever. The noisy guitars lack the bite that they should have and mostly just kinda whimper along. The vocals are mixed decently, but they still sound far too clean for what I think the band was going for. Another big issue is the actual songs themselves. They're either complete non-starters, or they abruptly end as they're picking up steam, or they drive a hook straight into the ground. The second track "Heavy" is a key example of a song being cut off way too abruptly. It's one of the standout tracks on the record, but it definitely still had some legs. "Adore Adore Adore" is pretty easily the biggest highlight here. It's groovy, the vocals are good, and the chorus is satisfying ... more of this, please!!! I wanted to love this album, but it has way too many flaws. Still, I have high hopes for the Dublin rockers. Saddle them up with a better producer for the next one and see how it goes!!!

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

INSANO - Kid Cudi

◇ genres: pop rap, trap

I really want the best for Kid Cudi. Man on the Moon: The End of Day is legitimately one of the most influential hip hop records of the 2000s. You can hear its influence throughout the 2010s, especially in the emo-rap scene. Unfortunately, pretty much every record he's released since then has been a massive step down from that record (besides the relatively big bright spot in KIDS SEE GHOSTS). INSANO continues that trend, but to an almost embarrassing degree. He enlists DJ Drama to try and hype these tracks up, but even he can't save this thing. The production and beats on this album are the exact opposite of what the album title suggests. They're so painfully boring and Cudi's writing here is, as I said earlier, embarrassing. Cudi proudly raps on the opener "Why they love these raps, haha, to most of these lames I'm Papa." which is just so fucking embarrassing. That's the one word I can use to describe this record. I hope the next one will be good, but judging by this album and his track record overall, that doesn't seem likely.

listen here: Apple Music Spotify Bandcamp SoundCloud YouTube ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ thank u for reading :3

#month in review #music #2024 #rateyourmusic #glass beach #the smile #kali uchis #infant island #patricia taxxon #xaviersobased #sleater kinney #cheekface #courting #green day #sprints #kid cudi

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looseygoosey66 · 10 months

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JUNE 2013 COVER STORY – Pearl Jam Guitarist Stone Gossard Making Time for ‘Moonlander’

“We live and we die by time. And we must not commit the sin of losing our track on time.” ~ Chuck Noland: “Cast Away”

Time is an amazing thing. It is precious and it can be fleeting. It seems the older you get, the faster time flies by and your life is measured by what you do with that time.

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard certainly makes the best of his time. Not only is he in one of the world’s biggest rock bands and constantly touring, but he also has Brad, a side band with his friends Regan Hagar and Shawn Smith. More importantly, Gossard is a father and husband.

“My typical day isn’t always music,” Gossard said from his home in Seattle. “I usually get up, drink way too much coffee, make sure my daughter eats her cereal and I brush her hair before school. Then I take her to school, run some errands, then come home, walk the dog with my wife, then have lunch, pick up my daughter from school and come home and play. Then it’s diner and a movie and off to bed. That is the excitement of my day now. I love it.”

“Then again,” Gossard continued, “the typical day could mean getting up, flying to South America to play some shows, write some music or go to the recording studio.”

Gossard has found the time and the perfect way to merge the love of his family with his music on his sophomore solo album Moonlander. The album will be released on Pearl Jam’s own Monkeywrench Records on June 25. Gossard started releasing singles 10 weeks prior to the official release date.

“We knew we needed some art work to go with the album so we came up with the idea of an original piece of art to go with each single we put out every week. When you have an album and you don’t plan on playing a lot of shows, if any at all, you have to do something special with promoting the album to draw interest and have a destination to generate interest so people can hear it. I don’t know if this idea will work, but it was fun.”

The art work incorporated with the single was provided by Gossard and his daughter.

“My daughter loves to paint and draw and when she would, I would as well. I hope the pieces convey a sense of freedom from formal rules and of playfulness that comes from hanging with your lovely 5-year old.”

The weekly single idea grew when Gossard’s wife found Washington state craft maker, Terri Swinhart at Once Upon a Drawing (http://once-upon-a-drawing.blogspot.com), they sent one of the drawings to the artist and she created a “softie” which goes with each single and which Gossard signed and gave away in weekly contests.

“My wife found Terri Swinhart online and we sent her a drawing my daughter did to see if she could make something for us and when we got it back the softie was dead on. It was mind blowing. She does a great rendition of the art work.”

When working on a solo album time is a luxury Gossard does have. It’s been 12 years since he released his solo debut Bayleaf and the 11 tracks for Moonlander were recorded over an 8-year span, 2003-2011.

“Over the last year, I went through all of my old demos and recordings that weren’t used as Pearl Jam or Brad songs and picked my favorites. With the help of Floyd Reitsma (Studio Litho engineer), Pete Droge (Executive Producer), and Hans Teuber (multi-instrumentalist and long time Hank Khoir collaborator) I went about trying to finish them. There was lots of re-singing tracks, fleshing out and re-editing, adding new instruments…”

As most guitarists do, Gossard would save any guitar riffs to his computer for possible future use. Over eight years of doing this, the hard drive became pretty packed with riffs, songs, or lyrics Gossard had to sift through.

“As a guitar player if you come up with a little something you want to save it just in case, even though about 90 percent of the time you know it won’t be used. But you keep it because…I don’t know. “

As a music veteran of over 25 years and being in some of rock’s seminal bands (Green River, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog), Gossard doesn’t find it time consuming going through all the files when trying to record a song for an album.

“I never had a problem focusing on a project, whether it is Brad or Pearl Jam, you just get in and listen. I don’t find it hard going back through these pieces of music. I make quick decisions to get things done. I had this record done about five years ago, but as I listened to it then, the album wasn’t a good as I wanted it to be. So I put it back in the cooker again to make sure I had everything I wanted before releasing it.”

For the most part putting out a record is about timing but when you are in the position Gossard is in, one doesn’t have to worry about getting a solo record out or putting one out if at all. But when you are an artist who is always creating, you know when the time is right to showcase your work.

“I just had these moments about everything that were recurring where I would think about these songs I was working on. I would always go back and work on them if the studio was available and work on overdubs, guitar parts or just listen until I got what I wanted.”

To get what he wanted, Gossard enlisted an impressive collections of friends/musicians to play on the album. Moonlander features appearances from Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden), Matt Chamberlain, Regan Hagar (Brad, Malfunkshun, Satchel), Pete Droge, Brandon Harper, Gregg Keplinger, Keith Lowe, Barbara Ireland (The Fags) and Hans Teuber.

“I have been so fortunate. If I’d look back and thought about the people I’ve played with and got to meet. With all the twists and turns I have been through in my life in music, I am so blessed to play with people like Ed [Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder], Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age or Shawn Smith [Satchel, Pigeonhead, Brad] and the list goes on and on. I am a little bit numb to it because it just seems natural. I don’t know how to explain it…I am truly blessed…I don’t know what I did exactly, but it has been incredible. “

Gossard has always been one to recognize and use his fortunes to help people, communities and the world. Gossard has supported and/or worked with amazing foundations.

“I’ve always been conscious of philanthropy even before the success. It’s about giving back, creating a better place for everyone. It comes in waves for me with my schedule. It’s very important to me. At the end of the year I do what I can to give back and help those people in need. It’s something I’ve been involved with and do it when I can. I wish I had more time to do it on a more consistent basis.”

With his new album Moonlander and his daughter hand in hand, Gossard continues to give back with his music and time, finding the littlest things in life mean the biggest.

“I think my idea of fun these days is the simplest things. Staying with my daughter, going to the beach to throw rocks in the ocean, teaching her how to fish, watch her play…that’s a big night out for me. Hanging out with the wife and my daughter…when you have a kid you can’t be more in love.”

ALBUM REVIEW

Stone Gossard - Moonlander

(Monkeywrench)

A dozen years after his funky first solo album Bayleaf, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard returns with Moonlander.

The captivating 11 tracks from the album were recorded from 2003-2011. Scouring through his hard drive of old demos and recordings that weren’t used as Pearl Jam or Brad songs, Gossard compiled enough material for Moonlander.

With the help of musicians/friends – Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden), Matt Chamberlain, Regan Hagar (Brad, Malfunkshun, Satchel), Pete Droge, Brandon Harper, Gregg Keplinger, Keith Lowe, Barbara Ireland (The Fags) and Hans Teuber – the songs show Gossard stretching his legs as a solo artist, and most notably his confident singing voice. In addition, the songs come to life with the help of Floyd Reitsma (Studio Litho engineer), Pete Droge (Executive Producer), and Hans Teuber (multi-instrumentalist and long time Hank Khoir collaborator).

Gossard stays true to his love for funky riffs on the opener “I Want Something Different,” which contains a blistering soulful guitar lead. The title track is a playful homage to Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust-era complete with the bells and whistles in the sound effects. The first single “Both Live” is so infectious you will be singing the chorus (“I gotta go, I gotta swim, I gotta use my fins”) long after the song is over. “Your Flames” and “Battle Cry” are two gorgeous slow burners finding Gossard’s warm vocals envelope you with his storied lyrics.

“I Don’t Want To Go To Bed” starts off slow with janglely guitar strums then catches on with a soaring chorus while “Remain” is a straight-forward story teller ballad. The sleeper hit of Moonlander is the fun, quirky ass-shaking groove of “Witch Doctor.”

Moonlander is a journey in funky quirkiness, Americana, pop, rock and jazz musicianship all wrapped in Gossard’s unique (and somewhat puzzling) song lyrics. In short, Stone Gossard has hit the mark with this one.

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diagnosed-anxiety-disorder · 2 years

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I AM LOSING MY MIND OVER A SONIC ROCK BAND AU SO IMMA MAKE A BUNCH OF HEADCANONS BECAUSE I CANNOT CONTAIN THIS

this is what happens when you mix an emo punk rock fan with the sonic universe-

Sonic - Lead singer / guitar (kinda like Billie Joe Armstrong or Dexter Holland) Shadow - guitar / backing vocals (Frank Iero. NEED I SAY MORE) Tails - keyboardist / synth / DJ (it's giving Cumulus from Ghost or Sid from Slipknot) Silver - bass guitar (maybe even like the Geddy Lee pedal set up too) Knuckles - drummer (with the Neil Peart drum set up and CC from BVB vibes)

Sonic: pop punk vibe!!

probably shreads too fast on the guitar and loses his guitar picks every goddamn minute so he has his entire mic stand covered with those guitar pick holders

does the thing that Freddy Mercury does where he picks up the mic stand and walks around while singing

definitely crowd surfs and tells the mosh pit to go wild

*kicks over amp* AAAAAAAA

has random stickers over EVERYTHING, guitar case, guitar, you name it

reads all of the signs in the audience and sometimes replies to them

stops the show in the middle and starts ranting about literally whatever

*trips over every wire possible* IM OKAY!!

comes up with lyrics with Shadow. sonic's better at delivering than composing

mini list of songs he would FUCK UP /pos

Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) by The Offspring

The Zoo by Scorpions (him and Shadow are probably obsessed with the Scorpions bc theyre a good band with rock ballads)

Fist Bump from Sonic Forces (i hc that he sings this as a duet with Shadow. i feel like their voices would go well together)

MeMe from Miligram (i also hc that Sonic knows Japanese if it isnt canon)

In Too Deep by Sum 41

Shadow: classic rock, hard rock, rock ballads, heavy metal and EMO

he either stays in one place the whole show or runs around

Frank Iero chaotic energy i wanna see him go wild

contrasting to his introverted personality, on stage since the audience is all dark and he cant see the MASSIVE crowd the band has, he feels like he can let loose and stuff

he probably has had his fingers start bleeding during a live but didnt notice until Silver started freaking out

has probably broke down and cried on stage once but everyone comforted him and he finished the show EPICALLY

always makes sure that the crowd is staying safe. probably did that one thing that Andy Biersack did when he jumped into the crowd to personally fight this one guy

oh yeah he will also get pissed if you diss the band at their show or if you're just being an asshole and will deal with you personally

will beat you up if you assault someone in the pit

WALL OF DEATH WALL OF DEATH WALL OF DEATH

definitely a perfectionist and probably studied classical music theory. definitely a JS Bach fan and played the piano once

comes up with lyrics and melody line

mini list of songs he would do amazing on:

Mobius by HiiragiKirai cover by Meychan

The Show Must Go On by Queen (HES SUCH A QUEEN FAN ISTG)

Dragula by Rob Zombie

Infected by Bad Religion

Gone Away by The Offspring (he's def thinking abt Maria for this one) gone away lyrics yeah ouch-

Tails: also classic rock fan but he also likes vocaloid!!

"accidentally" G notes the crowd (emos)

*plays a rick roll sample randomly*

during the parts where he doesn't have anything to do he just starts flying and tossing signed photo cards or some kind of merch into the crowd

probably manages some part of their social media as well

literally live tweeting the performance

is the supplier of Sonic's extra guitar pics and sometimes makes custom ones for him that are a bit more grippy? (idk how guitar pics work im a violinist)

honestly the most wholesome person there, everyone loves him, he goes apeshit sometimes but we love him

multi-instrumentalist and sometimes even makes his own instruments!

he plays the Theramin and nobody knows what it is but it sounds cool

makes up tracks on the spot during solos sometimes

CHORDS GO BRR

is the one that does the mixing and stuff for their songs

personal favs he would love:

Jump by Van Halen (everyone likes this song, if you dont then ur wrong /lh)

Kingslayer by BMTH & BABYMETAL

Lost Valley from Sonic Forces (I LOVE THIS SONG SM)

Silver: goth, heavy metal, Ghost specifically

owns a Mikey Fucking Way t-shirt

probably can play the upright bass or cello as well

people from the audience give him gifts and it makes him very happy

also has a lot of stickers on his bass and it's case but the stickers are color coded and organized vs sonics random bullshit GO

i like to think that he wears fingerless gloves

is the one that stops Shadow from jumping into the crowd when someone disses the band

always makes sure that everyone in the band has like a solo area where they can just go wild because he thinks it's more fun that way

probably can do improv on the spot

gets excited when they have an acoustic live show

helps come up with album cover ideas and all of the depth in their album / song lore

Last Train To London by ELO (hes probably a big ELO fan)

Detroit Rock City by KISS (this is my dad's fav so it's mine too)

The Legacy by Black Veil Brides

Knuckles: thrash metal Slayer fan TM

can do the thing where the drumset go upside down

similar to Sonic, he throws his drumsticks bc he loves playing so much so he has a bunch of extra sticks

ties back his hair during recording bc it gets in his face

HEADBANGING WOOOOO

has A BUNCH of song cover suggestions for the band

probably plays the drums randomly while sonic is ranting and sometimes does a duet with tails

sings along to the songs but nobody can hear him bc his drums are too damn loud

accidentally stabbed his snare drum once and started panicking

he definitely gives a name to all of his different drum parts (his favorite is the crash symbol and bass drum)

everyone thinks he was a former band kid but he keeps denying it

sometimes people think the band is using a drum machine but they're not

SONG HCS

Raining Blood by Slayer

1000 Memories by Bad Religion

Eyeless by Slipknot (RIP JOEY JORDINSON I WILL CRY)

You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi

ok and now for some random headcanons!!

Rouge is the agent or like manager for the group and helps pick out outfits for them and does stage design

ik i put in a lot of classic rock songs in my song headcanons but i feel like the band would be like a Smashing Pumpkins, early BVB, The Offspring and Sum 41 kinda vibe. and ofc MCR and Blink-182

everyone is a fan favorite, but they all dont know how to interact with fans except for Tails and Sonic

Silver and Tails sitting alone in the recording studio in the middle of the night writing a song aaaaa

sonic and shadow doing those song battles

they all play guitar hero, it's the law

they actually freaked out when MCR dropped the new single out of NOWHERE

sometimes their punk songs is just dissing G.U.N.

they have a fanart / fangift wall where they put all of the stuff their fans give them

the tour bus is like sectioned off and everyone decorates their space differently so it looks like 5 different aesthetics in one place

IM SORRY THIS IS SO LONG BUT IM SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS I DISREGARDED ALL OF MY HOMEWORK TO WRITE THIS OKAY BYE

#sonic band au #sonic headcanons #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #tails the fox #silver the hedgehog #knuckles the echidna #MY BRAIN GO BRRRR #guitarist sonic #lead singer sonic #guitarist shadow #keyboardist tails #bassist silver #drummer knuckles

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fitzrove · 4 months

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1, 5, 15 for musical asks!

Thank you so much for asking!!!

1. What is your current favourite musical, and is it different from what it was at the end of last year?

Ahhhh it's so hard to pick :D I think objectively (how insane the themes make me and have made me for a long time) it's probably TdV, but right now (3:28 am on December 28th) it's LOTR because I've been listening to it on loop for like 2 weeks ajsjfjhk. Like it's kinda flawed but I love the music so much and it's giving me major nostalgic feels. Last December I think it was Elisabeth (or maybe TdV tbh, that one's hard to displace) but I think Elisabeth is maybe my 3rd favourite now so there's not a huge change :D

5. Did you see any live musicals this year? What did you think of them?

Yess, I saw a whole bunch of them!! Highlights include Rebecca (Vienna), Cabaret (Finland), Evita (Germany), Wicked (London) & Les Mis (London). I really liked Cabaret and Evita (both were staged in innovative ways), had fun and appreciated the casts at Wicked and Rebecca (both were staged in uninnovative ways XD) (ahdhgjgj half joking), but Les Mis kinda sucked (I couldn't see anything because I had a cheap balcony seat and a guy with a big head sat in front of me) ajdjgj. But the cast there was amazing so it's not like it was a complete waste!!!

In total I must've seen like 20+ pieces of live theatre ahsjjf, but some of it I can't reveal here because I'm not open online about where I'm living in Germany. I'm really hyped to be living there, though, because good and speedy train connections are making next year seem very very promising!!!

15. Infodump to me about a musical!

Oooh idk which one... :D Maybe something I haven't talked about on this blog a lot before but I really enjoy: The Lord of the Rings (2006/2007/2023)!!

I first listened to this one in like 2017, because I liked the books/movies and discovered that it existed. Mostly I played Lothlorien on loop because it's an amazing song and there's an actual proshot video of it on youtube and Laura Michelle Kelly as Galadriel is really sparkly and pretty. Then I listened to the rest of the album and the music is just great all over!!! It's done by AR Rahman (composer, multi-instrumentalist, winner of a million awards for film soundtracks mostly in Indian cinema), Värttinä (Finnish folk band - most famously creators of Ievan polkka) and Christopher Nightingale (don't know much about him ahdhf). The Finnish folk influence is especially audible in the songs of the elves, they have real ancient cattle call vibes sometimes (in a good way xD). But my favourite songs are actually the more story-based and cinematic ones that I'm drawn to attribute to Rahman, as well as the soaring instrumental sections. So I would rank my fave songs (yes, all of them are favourites):

Lothlórien

The Road Goes On

Now and For Always

Wonder

The Cat and the Moon

Star of Earendil

The Final Battle

The Song of Hope

That's most of the main songs actually ahdhfgjgk.

The show is flawed, like I mentioned before; for someone who doesn't know the story from the LOTR books or movies it would get confusing pretty quickly, and because of the size of the cast it's hard to get insight into many of them in such a limited timespan (Boromir and the elves other than Arwen and Galadriel fall especially flat). But I love the music soooo much and I'm so excited that it was produced again in 2023, and in such a cozy and compact way too (it was done in a 200-seat theatre with an actor-musician cast as a semi-immersive production). The London cast recording is on Spotify, everyone should listen to it!

#musicals #theatre #asks

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purplegaycorpse · 1 year

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I don't know if this is what you're looking for (please feel free to ignore, if not), but here is the most basic crash course I can give on each of our beloved Fall Out Boys:

Patrick- Lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, primary composer for the band, the youngest of the group (I believe), and all around musical genius, though he'd probably deny it. He initially tried out as the band's drummer, but that was immediately shut down when they heard him sing.

Pete- Bassist, primary lyricist for the band, marketing guru (he comes up with a lot of the treatments for their music videos, as well as their crazy promo stunts), and considered to be the "face" of the group. He's also basically Patrick's soulmate, a fact he frequently states in interviews

Andy- Soft spoken and super sweet straight-edge drummer extraordinaire. He's the only one who's not from the Chicago area (He's from Wisconsin), and he was the last to join the group, being recruited after their first drummer left.

Joe- Guitarist, super-funny and chill guy, and co-founder of the group with Pete. He and Pete wanted to make poppier fare than the hardcore bands they'd previously been in, and thus the idea for FOB was born. Discovered Patrick when he ran into him at a Borders bookstore, and Patrick promptly started info dumping to him about a band they both like. As they say, the rest is history ...

If there's anything else you'd like to know, please feel free to let me know!

This is honestly amazing 😭😭 tysm! Tbh I was kinda scared cuz I the last two bands I tried to listening I end up finding out they were like super problematic lol so I was hoping fob wasn’t this kind of band. I guess I’m right, they seems to be super ok.

#fall out boy #fall out boiiiiii #fall out boy fandom #patrick stump #andy hurley #joe trohman #pete wentz

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sinceileftyoublog · 9 months

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Black Belt Eagle Scout Interview: Expanding My Vulnerability

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Katherine Paul began the Black Belt Eagle Scout set at Pitchfork with whispered singing. As “My Blood Runs Through This Land” progressed, the song a standout from their third album The Land, The Water, The Sky (Saddle Creek), Paul’s singing transformed into a wail, albeit muted by her own guitar distortion and Camas Logue’s mighty drums. Fittingly, Paul’s voice never seemed like it was at the center. It was there, telling her stories, but always equal in sonic and emotional importance to her surroundings. Sometimes, the neighboring elements were symbolic, like the guitar solo of “My Blood Runs Through This Land”, “emulating [her] ancestors running,” as she told me at Pitchfork. (Paul is Coast Salish/Swinomish, raised in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in LaConner, Washington.) Other times, they were perhaps coincidental, as when she sang about being “engulfed by beauty” on “Don’t Give Up”, right as her singing was overwhelmed by the swirling of Logue’s drums, Nay Wilkins’ bass, and Claire Puckett’s guitars. No matter what, the set was a masterclass in tension and ultimate expressiveness, the songs exponentially louder than their studio versions. With every repetition of “Need you, want you” on Mother of My Children’s “Soft Stud”, the guitars bellowed with mammoth force, the crowd whooping in approval. It was breathtaking.

The Land, The Water, The Sky is inspired by Paul moving back to the Swinomish Reservation on which she was raised, as well as her metaphoric personal journeys. The record contains love songs of varying recipients: her surroundings (“Nobody”), her immediate family (“Spaces”), her local queer community (“Sčičudz (a narrow place)”). This time around, she worked with some notable collaborators on the record, like multi-instrumentalist Takiaya Reed of excellent Melbourne doom duo Divide and Dissolve, who co-produced the album, and Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum, who sings on “Salmon Stinta”. Though Paul played many of the instruments on the record and certainly led its expanded instrumental palate, its instrumentation and production was not a one-person affair like her previous two albums. Many artists find working by themselves intimidating; in contrast, for Paul, opening herself up to other musicians in this way was a key part of her growth in confidence. Ditto for playing live. “I have a really amazing band,” Paul said. “We’ve grown so much...for most of the year, we’ve been on the road non-stop, so we’ve learned how to work through certain sounds and passages together.”

Paul and I sat outside the festival press tent (as JPEGMAFIA boomed in the distance) to discuss The Land, The Water, The Sky, playing live, her writing process, and Divide and Dissolve. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: You have three albums already and a somewhat limited set time. How do you decide what songs to play at a festival?

Katherine Paul: I really wanted to play a lot of the new album, but also bring in some of what I felt are the heavy hitters from my previous album. [Songs] that make the set flow. I tried to put some of the new singles in the set, and some that are the favorites in the previous albums. Since you’re playing to a lot of new people, too, something that keeps the energy up.

SILY: I definitely felt that with what you chose to play. I had never seen you live and wanted to come in green, so I didn’t watch any videos, and your set was definitely louder than I expected, in a great way. There was a lot of play with dynamics and catharsis and release. Are you feeling those emotions on stage?

KP: Yeah, I mean I feel like we kick it up a notch, and I like to rock out. For this show, I played on an amp I don’t normally play out of, and I loved it. I kind of want to get one. I love playing loud guitars. [laughs]

SILY: When you play live, do you find yourself in a similar headspace to when you wrote the songs? Are you trying to channel on stage what inspired you to write them in the first place?

KP: I think about what they mean to me, which is maybe a similar thing. I think about why I play certain parts. When I play “My Blood Runs Through This Land”, the guitar solo is supposed to emulate my ancestors running. It’s raw and beautiful. I think about that and put my feeling and playing into those thoughts. I like to make a connection to what the song means to me when I play it.

SILY: On the record, you did a lot of the instrumentation yourself. Do you find adapting the songs to the stage, with a full band, just as rewarding as writing and recording them in the first place?

KP: I’m still learning. That’s what I’m realizing. Sometimes, my natural instinct is to play them how they sound on the recording, but lately, I feel like I want to put a jam in there. [laughs]

SILY: You played “Don’t Give Up” right before playing “Indians Never Die”. In interviews around the release of Mother of My Children, you were talking about “Indians Never Die” and the idea of always taking care of the land. When you sing on "Don’t Give Up”, “I was only seventeen, I was only seventy,” is that a similar sentiment?

KP: “Don’t Give Up” has a lot of writing about my mental health and taking care of myself, having that knowledge that we’re still growing as people and trying to figure things out, whether we’re seventeen or seventy. That’s what those specific lyrics mean, but I think that could tie into, by taking care of myself, I’m taking care of the connection to where I’m from.

SILY: I also like the phrase on the song, “engulfed by beauty.” It suggests being almost overwhelmed by nature, and it works with the heavy reverb of the music.

KP: Yeah. Being swallowed by it.

SILY: Have you gotten to see anyone else at the festival?

KP: I got to see snippets here and there: Vagabon’s one and a half songs, Weyes Blood, Big Thief, yaya bey. I wanted to see Julia [Jacklin], but I couldn’t. Her set was so short. There was a lot of running around, getting food, getting situated.

SILY: Do you like the new Divide and Dissolve record?

KP: I haven’t heard it yet. I’m waiting for the right time to listen to it. I know it’s out, and I want to listen to it when I’m at home on a walk. When I heard the previous record, I was just gutted. So I want to listen to this one walking around in the woods or something.

SILY: Apart from the specific stories and changes in your life that inspired The Land, The Water, The Sky, is there anything else unique about it as compared to your first two records? And how is it a continuation of them?

KP: There are still those glittery sounds within the pop genre that pop up. The uniqueness comes with expanding my vulnerability as a songwriter, having different people play on it. It shifted my perspective of what my songwriting can be. Before, I was more afraid to take risks and do different things, but now, I feel better about it--almost encouraged.

SILY: Are you the type of songwriter always writing, or do you have to set periods of time for you to sit down and do it?

KP: I definitely have to set time aside to do it. I have so much going on in my life. [laughs] It’s hard to always be writing.

SILY: Is there anything else upcoming for you?

KP: I’m working on a mini tour documentary with Evan Atwood, who did the photo [on the front cover of] the album. We’ll have some live recorded versions and filmed versions on the songs. This coming winter, I’m just going to write music and figure out what’s next.

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bonesandthebees · 9 months

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On a positive note!!! I just got home from seeing Andrew Bird live!!!!!! That was such an amazing concert omg

He's a violinist (well multi-instrumentalist, buttt I love him for his violin), and god it was such a beautiful show, and the lights were super coooool

I have now gone to three concerts this year and it's kinda surreal to me, but I am very much enjoying being an adult and getting to choose what I spend my money on lmaooo

I went to a half alive concert a few months ago and HOLYSHIT IT WAS THE COOLEST SHOW EVERRRR they performed the first two songs (Tip Toe and the Fall) behind a sheet, and used the lights so we could see their shadows and holyyyyy shitttt it was so cool and then during the Fall, the curtains dropped before they went full blast into the last chorus and--

Yeah shfkfk i like concerts

They can get very overestimulating for me, but MAN THEYRE WORTH IT IDEC

Ik you've gone to Lovejoy but have you gone to anyone else?? /nf

Also what's your personal fav part of concerts :0

For me I'm not really sure... since like all the concerts I've gone to have been so different. For Andrew Bird, I'd probably say just how beautiful and relaxing it was. For half-alive, I'd say the energy of dancing (i was on the floor) and singing along and seeing how happy the band and the audience was. The Crywank concert was dope bc of how personable it was. There was like only 50 of us in the room? Maybe? And we got to talk to them and shout out song suggestions n stuff. My mom took me to a Twenty One Pilots concert when I was younger (despite me literally only knowing their most popular songs and never listening to them lol) and that concert was super cool bc of like the show. They lit a whole ass car on fire it was very intense ahahaha

But yeahhh!! Concerts man . /pos

I cant wait to go see Lovejoy live man rahhhhs, one dayyy! One day sooon. I just need to renew my passport lol

I'm actually really surprised i've never heard of andrew bird considering I love violin music and used to listen to a lot of string instrumentalists. that sounds so fun though I'm glad you had a good time!!

literally the best part of being an adult is getting to decide what to spend your money on. like I can go get mcdonalds if I want I can buy concert tickets if I want I can take a trip to visit friends if I want it's fantastic

half alive is so good!! the curtain thing sounds so cool holy shit. I love tip toes seeing it performed like that would be so sick to me

while I have been to a few other concerts I didn't start going to them regularly until I got into lovejoy. my first ever concert was a katy perry concert I went to when I was 12 which was fun. although I've never actively sought out lindsey stirling concerts I've just ended up going to two of them?? her concerts are very fun the lighting and all that is very cool. one of those lindsey stirling concerts was also an evanescence concert bc they were touring together at the time and the person i went with was a huge evanescence fan while I'd literally never listened to them except for bring me to life, but it was really fun!! amy lee has a gorgeous voice. she also sang for lindsey stirling's shatter me and it was really cool. oh also I went to a billie eilish concert once her voice is soooooo pretty oh my god. hearing 'i love you' live hit so hard

when I was in college my uni used to host a big concert in the spring and so I went my freshman year and they had hayley kiyoko performing which was awesome. so many girls threw their bras at her it was great. also joji performed there too and he was really drunk. also he kept being super hype in between songs like "LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO" and then would immediately jump into singing the most depressing ballad you've ever heard in your life. the juxtaposition was insane.

i think the concerts (besides lovejoy) i've had the most fun at were really small ones? at my college there was this super tiny music venue right next to campus. it was student run and they'd host very small shows there. the first time I ever moshed was at one of the shows they had for an indie rock band called sitting on stacy. I'd never heard of them before the show but the energy was fantastic and I found out I loved moshing bc of that. a few years later the venue was having a whole afternoon + evening event with just different small bands rotating in and out. a guy I knew invited me to it as a date and it was so much fun. I moshed so much and got to hear some really good music though there were so many bands I don't remember the names of any of them. my date and I ended up hanging out with these two girls we met and when we were all talking later I found out one of them was an mcyt fan which was pretty funny. bc this was only a few months after I'd finished clinic and sirentwt had happened. my date did not know I was into mcyt. it was a time.

I guess my favorite part of concerts is usually having that kind of intimacy you mentioned you had at the crywank concert (btw, so fucking jealous you got to see crywank. they were on tour with lovejoy for one of the shows I went to and they were so good I desperately want to see them at one of their own shows). like the small concerts I went to at that venue at my college were so much fun bc it was just like house party size stuff. and then while lovejoy shows are getting bigger and bigger with every venue, it's still so much smaller than most other concerts I've been to in the past (like compared to giant stadium gigs). the bowery ballroom gig was like 500 people I think? and it's definitely my favorite lovejoy gig I've been to so far (out of 2 tho so not saying much. will update you after next week I have 2 lovejoy shows lined up). bowery was so cool, I was pressed right against the stage to the point where I had to move my phone off the stage so wilbur didn't step on it (and also had to move so he didn't hit me in the head with his guitar). the music was amazing, it was lovejoy's first ever show in the US so that was great, the queue throughout the day had great vibes, me and firesnap asked mark and joe lovejoy if they wanted to take tequila shots with us, it was so fucking fun

SD was definitely fun but didn't hit the same. I have a really good feeling about pioneertown though :)

#ask #icyfox17

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