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gerdi-ringbell · 10 months

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What is Sleep Token's trilogy of albums about?

This is my own take on the story behind the album trilogy. First of all, special thanks to Daria Urbanovich for translating this article into English.

Author’s note

Above all, I would like to state a few crucial aspects:

Everything that is written in this essay is solely my perception, the author's reflection and understanding of it. I do not claim to be aware of the truth.

I shall focus entirely on the characters and images, without in any way involving the personalities of the people who stand behind the project. I perceive the whole story as fiction, and I do not mean to speculate on the relation to the actual life of any of the members of the group. Vessel is the narrator here, the lead character in the songs, and the stage persona, not the person under the mask.

This essay would not have existed without a few pieces of material written by others, which I referenced in one way or another. Namely: a breakdown of "Aqua Regia" from the Genius website, as well as song translations and album decodings from the Sleep Token Russian community that deal with aspects that I shall touch upon in no detail.

Preface

Like many other people who are interested not only in the music, but also in the lore of Sleep Token, from the very beginning I have been trying to understand the story behind the fine words.

I read other people's articles and analyses, dug through the lyrics and created my own theories, but the picture just would not come together. Still I had the feeling that something was missing. This was very much the case with the debut album ‘Sundowning’. However, when ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ was finally released, everything fell into place. The last piece of the puzzle had been found.

While reading the breakdown of ‘Aqua Regia’ and ‘Rain’, I figured out what exactly was the missing piece. It is commonly believed that all of Sleep Token's songs are about Sleep (presumably the goddess). However, I shall say that they are about three (or rather, most of the time about two) different women. For my own convenience, I shall call them Sleep, Eden and Rain (I will explain why these names were chosen later on). I shall make it clear at once that Sleep is here precisely as a woman, a character in the story, not as the goddess the band allegedly worships.

With a sudden awareness, the picture rapidly became clearer. It is worth taking a step back and point out that the narrative of the albums is not entirely chronologically accurate. It is designed in such a way that the whole story can be fully understood only when all three albums can be juxtaposed together. Thus, this is what explains the seeming disorder. Now, let us cut to the chase.

The way I see the story

It all begins with Eden. She is Vessel's first (at least in the context of this story) lover. The relationship with her is perfect and harmonious, like heaven (hence ‘Eden’). She is the one whom Vessel sees as the lifelong sweetheart. But, alas, there is a break in this dream-like story, allegedly Alzheimer's disease (as ‘The Night Does Not Belong to God’ tells us, alluding to the ‘sundown syndrome’ that can be observed in someone with the disease). ‘The Night Does Not Belong to God’ is the first one on the album, and it begins the theme of memory loss that runs through the other songs dedicated to Eden.

“And you remember everything Only 'til the sun recedes once again”

And with it begins the theme of a premonition of death.

“I know for the last time You will not be mine So give me the night, the night, the night”

It all drifts into ‘Levitate’, filled with despair at the awareness of imminent loss.

“Will you levitate Up where the angels inhabit? Will you levitate Where I won't reach you?”

Here also starts a significant imagery line that runs (to a greater or lesser extent) through all three albums love and relationship are compared to water.

“Like water, a perfect flood Engulfing me again, oh”

Once again, this all ties in with a line of loss of memories – paradise crumbles as Eden loses more and more of herself to her illness. It becomes increasingly difficult to live as before.

“And we imitate A story of perfect days A ballad we fabricate As you forget your words again, oh”

And.

“And I can tell you won't Remember my cracking bones The trauma we can't regrow Just as you leave again, no”

By “leave again” may be meant another loss of memories. Each time the oblivion becomes longer, the memories are fewer and fewer, and the point of no return is closer.

The theme of loss reaches its climax in ‘Drag Me Under’. For Vessel, it is a kind of farewell. The moment when even the angels find no words and when the gods leave heaven is the moment of utmost despair and silent grief.

“And I know The angels tonight are As lost for words As I am”

Moreover, one can observe here another feature characteristic of the tracks dedicated to Eden, a different form of divine theme. Gods and angels seem as faraway supreme beings, and the lyrics themselves are more ‘down-to-earth’.

“And I know The Gods will Abandon the heavens just to find us”

In the lyrics connected with Sleep (that is, in most of them) one gets the impression of the presence of some supreme being, which Vessel seems to try to reach, it is her image that is most ‘deified’ (hence the choice of name), despite the fact that Eden is juxtaposed with paradise. An excellent example is, for instance, ‘High Water’:

“And I choke myself on sacred vapour Waiting on some holy favour”

However, we shall talk about Sleep a little later.

The tipping point for Vessel is ‘Atlantic’. Unable to cope with the loss of his beloved, and probably partly blaming himself for her death, he attempts suicide, but survives.

“I woke up surrounded, eyes like frozen planets Just orbiting the vacuum I am They talk me through the damage, consequence And how it's a pain they know they don't understand Sobbing as they turn to statues at the bedside I'm trying not to crush into sand So flood me like Atlantic, weather me to nothing Wash away the blood on my hands”

It is the beginning of his vicious cycle of suffering, from which he shall not be able to break for a long time. In a sense, ‘Atlantic’ is the starting point of the story, the beginning of a journey deep into Vessel’s mind, his hang-ups and traumas, his self-reflection, expressed in the music and lyrics on all the albums. This is where his darkness begins.

And it is right here where a new phase begins. Although Eden is dead, for Vessel himself life goes on. As time passes, he begins a new relationship with the one to whom most of the tracks are dedicated, Sleep. And their romance is revealed with a genuinely dark side. The tracks dedicated to her flit between two edges – a morbid obsession (like ‘The Offering’, ‘Take Aim’, ‘Hypnosis’, ‘Mine’) and cruelty and toxicity (like ‘Dark Signs’, ‘Higher’, ‘Like That’, ‘Granite’).

In some ways, Vessel is trapped in this relationship. Sleep does not like him, which she does not even particularly hide, but continues to take advantage of him when she needs to. There are plenty of hints, for example, in ‘Say That You Will’.

“And you've got me up in a frenzy again And I know you're planning to leave in the end”

In ‘Higher’.

“Cause you can remember only when you're alone I am granting you more than the debt that I owe”

And in ‘Like That’.

“I stumble into your tar trap An addition to your collection”

And an interesting moment in ‘When the Bough Breaks’.

“You don't really love, you just hate to be alone”

Both the EPs ‘One’ and ‘Two’ are also tied to the story, as we can see with ‘Take Me Back to Eden’, but more on that later.

Perhaps the most vivid examples in this regard are ‘Fall For Me’ and ‘The Love You Want’, both of which speak entirely of Vessel's one-sided love, but the second song is quite interesting lyrically.

“You lie an inch apart on your own continuum Now keep the freak show talk to a careful minimum I'll find a different harbor to lay my anchor in And you'll find a different way to keep from setting sail again, no”

Just as in ‘Jericho’, the theme of physical but not emotional intimacy is touched on here. To put it crudely, in this relationship Vessel occasionally acts as somebody to spend the night with, which Sleep turns to when there is no one else to go to (here again one might think of ‘Higher’). The relationship theme develops through aquatic metaphors (here as ‘harbor’ and ‘sailing’).

“Seems your heart is locked up and I still get the combination wrong Or are you simply waiting to save your love for someone I am not? Too many swallowed keys will make you bleed internally someday”

Vessel is well aware of the futility of his attempts at making himself solid with Sleep, but he is unable to stop – he is addicted. Vessel is obsessed with this relationship. To be more precise, he is obsessed with the idea of what they can be. Here we look into ‘Telomeres’.

Later on we shall analyse this track in more detail, but for now let us think again about the comparison of relationship to water.

“Rivers and oceans We could beckon, no Your eyes and your limbs Are instruments to pick apart The distance within”

Eden was the perfect match for Vessel, the kind of soul mate that many of people can only dream. Their relationship became for him the eminent example, the etalon of what he strives for. It is through the lens of their love with Eden that he perceives all his subsequent relationships. Roughly said, he is not looking for a new partner with whom he can build a future, but someone who can replace his missing love.

Trapped in an addictive bond with Sleep, Vessel desperately tries to make this relationship ideal, even as he realises how unrealistic his desire is. He is split between aggression when Sleep does not meet his expectations once they are together and obsessive despair when they are apart again. That is the picture of their mutually toxic relationship.

As I mentioned, most of the tracks on the first two albums reveal this very issue, but ‘Blood Sport’ is particularly interesting to me in this context.

Overall, the song is a remorse and a plea for another chance, another attempt. Despite the harshness of their relationship, Vessel begs for forgiveness. Nevertheless, I want to draw special attention to these lines.

“And out there Stuck in a quantum pattern Tangled with what I never said You say it doesn't matter”

Frankly, it seems to me like a gaslighting to which Vessel was subjected by Sleep. It also ties in with his mental condition, which is better revealed already on the album ‘Take Me Back to Eden’. Thus, in general, we have understood the first two albums. Let us move on to the third one.

Unlike the first two, ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ is much more (though also not completely) linear in its story (although in general terms ‘Sundowning’ can be perceived as a slow prologue and ‘This Place Will Become Your Tomb’ as the main part) and is the final chapter. I shall not examine in detail the songs ‘Chokehold’, ‘The Summoning’ and ‘Vore’, as they simply continue to look at the general theme of the relationship with Sleep from different angles.

The turning point is ‘Granite’. It is a moment of realisation about the nature of their relationship, with all their mutual grievances, recriminations and manipulations. It is as if Vessel is reading the room for the first time.

“When you'd sit there acting likе you know me Acting like you only brought me here to get below me Never mind the death threats, parting at the door We'd rather be six feet under than be lonely And if you had a problem, then you should have told me 'Fore you started getting all aggressive and controlling”

Vessel, for the first time, truly decides to overcome his addiction and break free from the vicious cycle in which nothing good awaits him. His relationship with Sleep is doomed, they could never be happy together, but he realises this only now.

“Between the second-hand smoke and the glass on the street You gave me nothing whatsoever but a reason to leave You say you want me, but you know I'm not what you need But I am”

Speaking briefly about ‘Aqua Regia’, the song metaphorically refers to dating apps and the short-lived romances. From the perspective of the story, it can be seen that Vessel has indeed broken off his relationship with Sleep, but still feels the necessity to be loved, which causes him to fall into a cycle of such affairs. However, one important detail for understanding some of the things that follow.

“Gold rush, acid flux Saturate me, I can't get enough”

The desperate chase for a relationship that never leads to satisfaction. In these temporary acquaintances, he does not find the one who becomes his lover.

Move on to ‘Ascensionism’. In its structure, it creates a kind of picture of struggle, of withdrawal from previous painful relationship. The song begins with longing and regret.

“Well, I know what you want from me You want someone to be Your reflection, your bitter deception Setting you free So you take what you want and leave”

It is the pain of having to break up with Sleep. Vessel realises the necessity of it, but cannot cope with the longing, like a man with an addiction trying to cure himself. But suddenly the melody becomes cheerful and energetic, and musings about their romance are mixed with impressions of the new fast-paced affairs he throws himself into, only to overcome these feelings. The song flow from one line to the next rapidly, like a chaotic stream, underscoring attempts to drown out one thought with another.

“Who made you like this? Who encrypted your dark gospel in body language? Synapses snap back in blissful anguish Tell me you met me in past lives, past life Past what might be eating me from the inside, darling Half algorithm, half deity Glitches in the code or gaps in a strange dream”

Then a sudden breakdown – rage, pain, resentment – as one of the experience stages.

“You're gonna watch me ascend”

The storm dies down, replaced again by humility, almost acceptance. But this time Vessel is more focused on himself and his own feelings.

“And I know what you want from me You want the same as me My redemption, eternal ascension Setting me free So I'll take what I want then leave”

And then, the final breakdown.

“You make me wish I could disappear, no You make me wish I could disappear”

The whole ‘Ascensionism’ is just a picture of the emotional rollercoaster that Vessel goes through, having to cope with the break-up alone. Although their relationship with Sleep was toxic, he was addicted, which makes the break-up so traumatic. However, this time he does not attempt to return, he moves on.

Here I shall take a slight step back from Vessel's relationship with Sleep and come back to Eden, because herein lies a little internal trilogy from ‘Telomeres’, ‘Are You Really Okay?’ and ‘The Apparition’, revealing the effects of their relationship on Vessel himself. In all honesty, this is probably my favourite part of the jigsaw puzzle.

Return to ‘Telomeres’ for a second, especially to these lines.

“Let the tides carry you back to me The past, the future Through death My arms are open”

Even though Eden is dead, Vessel still loves her. He misses her and longs to be reunited, so that even death will not be an obstacle for them. But you have to be careful what you wish for, because it can come true.

This is where we come to ‘Are You Really Okay?’, which draws us a picture of Vessel's dream, which begins with a beautiful image of his beloved in the dawn sun, but soon it all turns into a nightmare.

“You woke me up one night Dripping crimson on the carpet I saw it in your eyes Cutting deeper than the scars could run”

Memories of Eden's self-harm and suicidal tendencies haunt Vessel at nights. The illness probably aggravated her already difficult emotional state (as the single ‘The Way That You Were’ also hints at). I mentioned at the very beginning, when analysing ‘Atlantic’, that Vessel might have blamed himself for her death.

“So flood me like Atlantic, weather me to nothing Wash away the blood on my hands”

Knowing Eden's tendency to self-harm and her suicidal thoughts, one day he might simply not have saved her in time, making him feel responsible for what happened because he did not see the red flags in time or take enough action (from his point of view) to stop her.

“And I I cannot fix your wounds this time”

‘The Apparition’ is a moment of awakening from a nightmare. As Vessel wished, his beloved returns to him, albeit only at night, even if only in nightmares.

“Why are you never real? Whenever you appear You leave me with that grace I am trembling with fear But I know that you will disappear Just as I awake”

No matter how much time has passed, he cannot recover from this loss.

“No matter what I do This scar will never fade”

Although these dreams are a kind of torture for him, Vessel is pleased with them because he briefly reunites with Eden, seeing her end up committing suicide.

“I make the most of the turning tide It just split what's left of the burning silence Don't wait, 'cause this could be the last time You turn up in the reveries of my mind I wake up to a suicide frenzy Loaded dreams still leave me empty”

“I make the most of the turning tide” ties in directly with ‘Telomeres’ – “Let the tides carry you back to me”. Just as Vessel wanted, the waters brought his beloved back to him, even if not in the way one might have wished. However, the awakenings are painful for him, because they remind him that in reality, Eden has long been dead. It is an endless cycle of nightmare dreams and an equally nightmarish reality. Vessel is caught between the desire to be free and the unwillingness to let go.

“Just let me go or take me with you”

‘DYWTYLM’ is a ballad about Vessel's self-reflection, his attempts to figure out his own feelings. Many of the songs on the album show his complicated relationship with himself, but this one makes the issue a centerpiece. The pain of loss, guilt and a long toxic relationship broke him down.

“Do you pull at the chains? Or do you push into constant aching? Each and every day Do you wish that you loved me?”

I do like the theory that the whole track is he, talking to his own reflection in the mirror.

“Is there something you give That you will never receive in return? Do you know what it is? Do you wish that you loved me?”

In many ways, it echoes his reflections on unrequited love, particularly ‘The Love You Want’. These two songs have both many slight opposites and are very similar thematically – love for oneself or for another, the desire to love or to be loved.

“And my reflection just won't smile back at me likе I know it should And I would turn into a stranger in an instant if I could And there is somеthing eating me alive, I don’t know what it is Maybe not that you conceal your feelings, they just don't exist”

The whole track portrays a picture of Vessel's dark and traumatised inner world. In a way, here he is looking back at his past and trying to figure out who he has become. ‘DYWTYLM’ is on this place on the album for a reason, because the next song is ‘Rain’.

‘Rain’ is, in a sense, the finale of the story, as both ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ and ‘Euclid’ are a kind of conclusion, although in different ways. And this is where she appears – Rain (where the name comes from, obviously), Vessel’s new love.

Now, in order. Time passes after the break-up with Sleep; amongst the myriad of new fast-paced affairs, none can lead to anything.

“For so long, I have waited So long that I almost became Just a stoic statue, fit for nobody”

Exactly until the moment, he meets her, Rain.

“And I don't wanna get in your way But I finally think I can say That the vicious cycle was over The moment you smiled at me”

She shows reciprocity, and it is not some little affair. In Vessel’s eyes, she is the one, who becomes his hope for a new serious (and healthy) relationship, for breaking the endless cycle of viciousness. However, we ought not to forget that he himself, as we see in ‘DYWTYLM’, has enormous difficulty accepting himself, and therefore finds himself unworthy of a partner (“And I don't wanna get in your way”).

Nevertheless, he believes that Rain is the woman who can become ‘the one’ for him. That is why she is like the purifying rain (remember the constant thread of comparing love to water). Beside her, Vessel becomes the best version of himself.

“And just like the rain You cast the dust into nothing And wash out the salt from my hands So touch me again I feel my shadow dissolving Will you cleanse me with pleasure?”

However, he is not forgetting that he is far from an ideal partner. Mutual toxicity, demanding the impossible, manipulation – all the things he has done and been in the past relationship.

“A dangerous disposition somehow Refracted in light, reflected in sound I'm coiled up like the venomous serpent”

He is caught between his fear of returning to this darker side of himself, being the cause of his new lover's suffering, and his desire to give himself another chance and enter into a new relationship. In doing so, he openly warns her of his dark sides. The last line is especially important.

“And I know, I know the way that it goes You get what you give, you reap what you sow And I can see you in my fate And I know, I know I am what I am The mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb So darling, will you saturate?”

Here we return to ‘Aqua Regia’, to the line “Saturate me, I can't get enough”. The endless chase for a relationship ends. Rain is the one who can ‘saturate’ him, meaning an affair with her can lead to a serious long-term relationship.

Here, through a wonderfully subtle reference to ‘Blood Sport’ and the subsequent repetition of “Rain down on me”, we see that despite all the worries and fears, Vessel finally decides to start a new chapter of his life together with a new love.

“Nobody can say for certain If maybe it's all just a game When I open my eyes to the future I can hear you say my name”

‘Take Me Back to Eden’, it seems to me, is not even so much an epilogue as a kind of ‘confession’, leaving some hint of an open ending to the story. It is Vessel's reflection on his past with both Eden and Sleep, and the leftover longing and pain, which he has not been able to let go.

“I dream in phosphorescence Bleed through spaces See you drifting past the fog But no one told you where to go We dive through crystal waters Perfect oceans But no one told me not to breathe And now the weightlessness recedes”

Even in the new chapter of his life, his past relationships and the pain he has endured continue to drag him down. After the rather encouraging ‘Rain’, ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ seems rather bleak and despairing.

“My, my, those eyes like fire I'm a winged insect, you're a funeral pyre Come now, bite through these wires I'm a waking hell and thе gods grow tired”

His morbid desire for a perfect relationship has not gone anywhere.

“I will travel far beyond the path of reason Take me back to Eden”

The song in many ways shows the vivid image of introspection from ‘DYWTYLM’, but in a more aggressive and desperate way.

“Well, yeah, I spit blood when I wake up Sink porcelain stained, choking up brain matter and make-up Just two days since the mainframe went down and I'm still messed up Room feels like a meat freezer I dangle in like cold cuts Missed calls, answer phones from people I just don't trust”

Mostly the song draws a rather gloomy picture of the recognition that there is no going back, what has been done cannot be undone, and the pain caused cannot be taken away.

“And I don't know what's got its teeth in me But I'm about to bite back in anger No amount of self-sought fury Will bring back the glory of innocence”

Coming right after ‘Rain’, ‘Take Me Back to Eden’ seems to hint at the continuation of the vicious cycle. The vivid reference to ‘Chokehold’ at the end of the song is especially evident – we go back to the beginning of this cycle: addiction, pain, break-up, suffering. Yet, the song does not give an obvious answer as to where the relationship with Rain comes to, as the whole picture is drawn as if from ‘inside’, through inner fears and concerns, rather than through what is going on.

Then, here is the long-awaited ‘Euclid’. To be honest, I think that the song has almost nothing to do with the story. It sums up the whole Sleep Token oeuvre (that is why it consists almost entirely of references).

There is a surprising change of mood again. After the dark and heavy ‘Take Me Back to Eden’, ‘Euclid’ sounds like a new hope, though with a touch of quiet melancholy. It is a kind of what-will-be look into the future, a desire to move forward, no matter what lies ahead. It is a lovely picture of ‘walking off into the sunset’.

“If my fate is a bad collision, and if My mind is an open highway Give me the twilight two-way vision Give me one last ride on a sunset sky lane”

I should be honest – I like the theory that this song is an appeal to the audience, a thank-you for being part of this journey.

“The night belongs to you This bough has broken through I must be someone new”

The repetition of the lines from ‘The Night Does Not Belong to God’ is a wonderful way of putting the lid on the matter and pointing out that this story is over. It is the end of a fragment of the band’s history, and only a few people know what is ahead.

***

So now, the picture is complete. I want to bring up one more question – so what is really the message of Sleep, for the spread of which Sleep Token came into being? I have wondered for a long time, would this ubiquitous ancient god really preach about such down-to-earth things as unrequited love or toxic relationships? But what if we've all been misunderstanding the very concept of the message all along?

I believe that what it is all about is not hidden in the texts at all, as one might think. God's message is much broader than that, and is not something that can be wrapped up in words like that. Because it is about healing through music. Yes, just like that.

Have you ever felt that any of the songs touches your heart, touches a definite string of your soul? If yes, then congratulations, you have received and understood the message. It is not about love and relationships at all, it is about letting your emotions, your hidden pain flow out through your music and giving yourself permission to move on. The theme of love in this context becomes very clear, as it is familiar to many of us. I remember that when I first have to know the band, I described my feelings this way – "they are opening up wounds in my soul that I didn't realise I had, to let them bleed and finally heal".

I feel like this is the very essence of the band’s idea.

So why exactly was Vessel chosen as the ‘preacher’? Precisely because he has been through so much and the story that this narrator told us in the three albums was a heavy burden for him. Throughout Sleep Token's existence, he gradually healed, became more confident, showing by his example the influence of Sleep, which is not at all present in the songs, as is commonly thought.

***

Finally, a couple of words about the EPs ‘One’, ‘Two’, the singles, and their relation to the story. Here we are going a little bit beyond the lore, because I think the concept of the story that is told on the three albums was already formed closer to ‘Sundowning’, and the first EPs could have been just first steps. The direction in which the band was going to work was already clear, but the details were still unsettled. So the songs on those albums, while related to history (as we understand from the references to them in various places on ‘Take Me Back to Eden’), but the connection is more abstract and blurred.

Thank you, if you have made it through.

Worship.

#sleep token #sleeptoken #sleeptoken vessel #sleep token vessel #take me back to eden #this place will become your tomb #sundowning #tmbte #tpwbyt #fandom analysis

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magentagalaxies · 6 months

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hi @liliana-von-k, thanks for the follow! i have answered this question before but i love talking about kids in the hall and my "origin story" with them so i'm happy to tell it again (jsyk it will be a long post bc i always have to tell the full story bc i love it so much)

basically my parents have both been kith fans since the 90s, so even before i had seen any of the show itself there were certain kith quotes that were just part of my family's vocabulary. the first sketch i watched was "these are the daves i know" when i was like 8 years old and i became obsessed with that song. i watched a few other sketches/the first few episodes from season one but i didn't truly get into kith until after their documentary "comedy punks" was released

see, my mom is a big documentary person so she was like "oh hey there's a new kids in the hall documentary! do you want to watch it?" and i just kind of shrugged and was like sure i'll be in the room while it's on, probably working on my own stuff or scrolling on my phone. but like not even five minutes in i was hooked. while i'd always enjoyed kids in the hall's comedy, something about hearing the very personal histories of how the troupe came together and survived for all these years was so affecting. i think it was scott specifically that really signaled to me that this show was something special, and the part where bruce talked about comforting scott while he had cancer by telling him how the rest of the troupe would die first was so powerful. honestly no individual movie has changed my life more than comedy punks did specifically bc it gave me that push to get into kith and approached it from such a human perspective, which definitely informed my approach to the rest of their work and them as people. i remember watching comedy punks for the first time and getting this strange feeling i couldn't pin down yet that was like this is important, not just referring to the show or the troupe, but like this feeling that i had just crossed a turning point in my life, and i remember feeling this pull towards toronto which seemed frivolous at the time but has been so heavily solidified as i'm now planning to move there in just over a year.

so i bingewatched all of the kids in the hall tv show in summer 2022, as well as brain candy, death comes to town, the amazon season, etc. basically as much kith stuff as i could find. but i needed more. so i started getting into side projects, which brought me to "mouth congress" (a queer-punk band scott thompson and paul bellini had in the early 80s that they've recently started putting out new music with again). i found a youtube channel with a bunch of recent live performance clips of the band and each video had like less than 10 views. so since i didn't have anyone to infodump about kith with irl (aside from my very patient mother lol) i started commenting on every video, complimenting the performances and pretending i was talking to a friend, confident no one would actually see it

after 2 weeks of this, turns out someone did see it. PAUL BELLINI HIMSELF. this led to a whole back-and-forth which eventually ended up with him emailing me a copy of the unreleased mouth congress documentary, i emailed back asking if he'd be interested in meeting on zoom (since i am a queer comedy writer myself so both he and scott are my biggest comedy inspirations), and yeah bellini is a delightful person to talk to and we very quickly became friends. i ended up offering to run mouth congress's social media, which can be found on both tumblr and instagram as @mouthcongress and posts both vintage videos from the 80s/90s and recent live clips. they're currently working on an album of entirely new material written in the past 2 years which is going to be released soon (we don't have a specific release date but the recording is completed and they've started filming music videos for it!! but i'm getting ahead of myself lmao)

a few months pass and mouth congress is set to perform at a new year's eve show at a local club in toronto. i'd never been to toronto before, never even left the united states, but paul says it would be so great to have me there and by some miracle my parents say yes to making the trip (they still can't believe this is happening either, since they were kith fans first!). the trip is wonderful, i immediately fall in love with the city, i get lunch with paul irl for the first time and get to have my very first face-to-face conversation with my number one comedy inspiration scott thompson. it's honestly a little awkward but in an adorable funny way. i also have my first legal drink at that show (bc canadian drinking age is lower than the us), specifically saying i want to have my first drink with buddy cole, which both scott and paul are very into

it's actually only a couple weeks until i'm in toronto again, because scott is debuting a new buddy cole show consisting of monologues that were all censored by amazon that he pitched during the revival season. this is my first time traveling a long distance without my family which my mom is anxious about so paul bellini lets me have him as my emergency contact. the show is amazing, i get to stay for the afterparty, and while i'm there i casually mention that i'm surprised no one has made a buddy cole documentary yet. like, this character has such a rich history even beyond the kids in the hall (which i can infodump about all day lmao) and is such an important staple of queer comedy that doesn't get the attention he deserves. the kith documentary is great, but where's my buddy cole documentary? paul accepts my pitch (that i didn't even realize i was pitching), passes along the idea to scott, and yeah now i'm legit directing a film with my number one comedy heroes and i haven't even graduated college yet. what the fuck. i expected this to be the type of thing i accomplish over 20 years into my career, not at twenty!! so yeah that's how the buddy cole documentary started. i'm still in preproduction on it but we're launching an indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for it in the next 2 weeks bc this has evolved into a full feature-length film with some incredible celebrity interviewees, both kith and otherwise.

anyway a few months later it's announced bruce mcculloch is bringing his one-man-show to the city i go to school in. not only that, but his theater is literally 2 blocks from campus. i ask paul if he'd give me bruce's contact so i can set up an interview for my school's newspaper, paul gives me bruce's assistant's email, and i set up a 30-minute zoom two weeks before bruce will be in town. the conversation honestly goes bizarrely well. like it's honestly surreal how close bruce and i got after only knowing each other for a half hour? he's such an easy person to talk to and literally by the end of that conversation he was already calling himself my mentor, asking about my comedy, and offering to let me meet him backstage after his show. which is exactly what i did, launching yet another incredible friendship-slash-mentorship with one of the kids in the hall.

bruce eventually signed on to executive produce the buddy cole documentary (alongside paul bellini), i've been up to toronto in january, april, june, august, and october this year (so essentially every 2 months, though it was slightly offset by going twice in january) and i'm planning on going up in december, every time not only do i find time to meet up with scott, paul, and bruce but they all deliberately try to reserve as much "jess time" as they can because i have a unique and powerful friendship with each of them, every time i finish a new creative project paul has to see it bc he loves how ambitious i am, i repeatedly wake up to texts scott sends me at 3am about the documentary and how excited he is to have me on tour with him to film it next year, bruce thinks it's hilarious he used to think i was "shy" bc i've gotten so comfortable going on infodumps and tangents about things i'm passionate about, and the three of them all feel like extended family. best of all, i actually have plans to graduate from college a semester early so that i can use the money (and time) i've saved to find a place in toronto and start making even more connections with the comedy community up there (also for the record: no i have not met mark, kevin, or dave yet. i know kevin is aware of my existence from bruce giving me a shoutout at a show they both did but that's about it. but i know i will interview all of them for my documentary)

so anyway that's how i got into kids in the hall. i know only the first 2 paragraphs answer your question, but at this point my love for this show has become so so intertwined with my relationships to bruce and scott and paul as humans that i don't really consider getting into kids in the hall and getting to know the kids in the hall as separate things in my life.

(also if you have any follow-up questions on anything mentioned feel free to reply or dm me, this goes for everyone else too!)

#as always i hope talking about knowing some of the kith irl doesn't come across as bragging bc that's absolutely not my intention #bc i do very much feel like a very lucky kith tumblr nerd and my favorite thing is connecting the kith to this part of their audience #hosting little digital screenings of hard-to-find kith media or passing along questions etc #this is exemplified with my ''kids in the archive'' series which you should check out if you haven't already #but yeah this is a very (and i mean VERY) brief summary of how this all unfolded #bc like. yes this all kind of happened over a year and a half. but it was a very eventful year and a half #if you scroll far enough in some of my kith-related tags you can find posts from in-the-moment before i knew some of them #or when i was still coming up with the concept for the buddy cole doc or something like that #which is very interesting to see. this blog is like a living kith journal lmao #also: the bruce interview article was never written bc i actually lied about writing for the school paper lmaooo #but for the anniversary i might write a transcript and/or see if i can post the audio bc i did record it #i haven't relistened to it since the day (march 6th) so it'll be so cool going back and listening to myself being starstruck #compared to now where i see bruce as ''just some guy (complimentary)''

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slavghoul · 2 years

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Interview from Laut 5/2022. Some very interesting insights from Tobias here on future tours, songwriting and... Imagine Dragons.

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Tobias Forge is not really happy after taking a look at today's advance sales figures. When I meet the Ghost boss in the backstage room of the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, the conversation first revolves around the supposed German overcautiousness when buying concert tickets. And indeed: in the evening, many seats remain empty. But when it comes to the stage show, Ghost give their all again tonight despite weak sales.

First of all, how is Papa Nihil? With the daily reanimations on stage, you're putting him through quite a lot.

That's probably true. But in some moments he's fine. This coming back from the afterlife, reanimation and all that, that's certainly hard - but that’s not my problem.

How does the transport look? Does he have private pallbearers or is he occasionally reanimated during the day to polish his saxophone?

No, no, we have people who take care of his saxophone, he stays nicely in the coffin. Anything else would be torture. Think of rigor mortis. We only resuscitate him if we need him.

Then give him my regards and of course congratulations on "Impera". Tell me honestly: Does a band's new album always has to be their best?

Ah, wow, hahaha! It should at least be your intention to make the best album you can. Nobody goes into the studio to make an okay album - even if the result might be just that in the end.

But that also flows into all the promo talk: even bands that haven't been relevant for 30 years regularly tell you that this new record is really the best of their career. Of course, self-reflection is not always easy.

We haven't got that far yet, so I'm a bit more pragmatic about it. When I look back, of course I think to myself, on this one we did this and that wrong, and on this one that was really great. Of course, when you have 15 albums, you can't easily list the concrete qualities of each one on one hand.

I think Metallica did it well, I saw an interview once where they said, "'Ride The Lightning' is our best album. Full stop." Pretty matter-of-factly, I mean, they could have easily said, "The Black Album is the best," simply because it did their career the best.

When I start a new album, I look closely at what I didn't like on the previous one. It's always a reaction to the previous album. Now that's not just to say, "Oh, the last album wasn't heavy enough, so I'll make this one heavier." Practical things too. I want the record to sound smooth, I want the hi-hat to be mastered properly and I like it in the mix.

Talking about hindsight: Over the years, Ghost have played almost all the songs from all the studio albums live. But only four songs from "Impera" can be heard tonight. What about the rest, will they be played on later tours?

It will come later, definitely. There's a pretty simple reason why the setlist is the way it is: band and crew are scattered all over the world. That's different from five dudes living in one city and rehearsing every Monday. We had to pick up a bit where we left off with our US tour - even if it's at the expense of other songs. "Watcher In The Sky", for example, we're really looking forward to that. "Twenties", at least some people want to hear that one, haha! Maybe also "Respite On The Spitalfields". A few of them we call "gag songs" because we have some special things planned for them - but we can't do them yet.

Interesting, because I have the feeling that many bands already sort out obvious surplus material for the release tour, which is then never played live. Is there no song that you can't listen to any more or that you think in retrospect is too weak or not successful? Or could every single song reappear in the setlist one day?

I would say about 95 per cent, yes. The rest are songs that just wouldn't work well live.

For example? "Deus In Absentia"?

"Deus" is definitely an odd song, but that also depends on where you place it in the set. That start-stop thing is very special, but it could work again. One song that didn't work at all live, although we really tried, is "Depth Of Satan's Eyes". I don't know why, I always liked it. I think it's the speed, maybe it's just too slow.

It just doesn't have that awesome swing like "Zombie Queen" from the same album.

Yeah, exactly! (laughs) So there are definitely some songs with asterisks behind them, but that doesn't mean we'll never play them again. We have to entertain quite a lot of people, so the stage show has to be fluid.

Is that also the reason why your closer "Monstrance Clock" got kicked out? Did you play it too often?

We played it a hell of a lot. But we're also thinking about an alternative tour, where we can play the stuff we're not playing at the moment. At the moment we end with "Square Hammer", which is such a banger that it leaves no room for more. Then in an alternative setting we will play "Monstrance Clock" again - those are just two completely different endings.

What interests me honestly is the role of the external songwriters in Ghost. On "Impera" there are more songwriting credits than ever for Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare, known among others as songwriters by and for Avicii. How does it all work: you have a song idea and they put the finishing touches on the harmonies?

Most of the time I come up with one or two songs and say: "Look, I have song A here and I have song B here. Tell me, which one is the more interesting?" And then I just wait for the reactions. As soon as I present something to someone else, it's the reactions that encourage me to keep working. Just like with you as an author, where an editor looks over it again and says, "Look, I know what you want to say here, but can't you bring it to the point even better?". Otherwise I'll lose interest as a reader. Why don't you try to emphasise this other part a bit more, it's more exciting."

It totally helps me to exchange ideas with very good songwriters in order to grow myself. It also helps me to realise where I can trust my intuition and where not. Sometimes I try to bring in new things to specifically differentiate myself from my intuition - but then I get to hear: "No, no, you should do it your way, it just works better here."

But it's not like your partners write specific melodies or parts of the songs?

Of course you pass the ball to each other, of course there is input, especially when it comes to arrangements. My vocal lines are usually very intuitive. But when you sit down and think about how to add a third voice, then you get to the point where music becomes almost mathematical. It mustn't sound funny or sad, even if it might be harmonically correct. A lot of stuff like that.

Without influencing the sound too much?

As a pop musician, when you work with outside songwriters, they usually take more of a producer role. They build the sound. It was never like that with Ghost. In the demo phase, I play all the guitars, bass, keyboards and sing. But Salem [Al Fakir] in particular is an incredibly talented keyboard player who I can always rely on when I need a good piano part. But the instrumentation is always the same: two guitars, bass, drums, piano, organ, maybe Mellotron.

In my opinion, there are many negative examples from rock when it comes to the later involvement of external songwriters - Ghost is an absolute positive example for me, especially as far as the catchy tune factor is concerned.

What would be a negative example?

The last Linkin Park album ("One More Light"). They did a very good job of unfolding and trying things out for six albums and then just got off track with external people. I don't mean that in a "they have to be heavy and have fat guitars" way, because they had also made interesting electronic pop music before. But the result was just not homogeneous.

I don't have the album in my head right now, but I think that's the typical mistake. I never ask anyone to write me a song. That just doesn't work. But I think other people think, "Oh, I'll just get Greg Kurstin [Sia, Adele, Twenty One Pilots] to do it, he'll give us a sound".

And you manage to make sure that the end result is still Ghost through and through, though?

Yes, I hope so. I'll give you an example: there are bands that become overnight sensations. Let's take Imagine Dragons. Labels, media - suddenly the whole business wakes up. You ask yourself: What did they do right? And then over the years these conversations come up: "You, maybe you should have producer XYZ mix your album." - "Um, why?" - "He did Imagine Dragons, too." Yeah, wow, he mixed Imagine Dragons. Nothing else. I don't mean to speak ill of them at all, don't get me wrong. But the basis of your recipe is in the ingredients. If you come up with rotten potatoes, you can't save them by the way you prepare them. No mixer can save your song.

One reason why Imagine Dragons work so well is this. (Tobias stomps and claps the "We Will Rock You" rhythm.) Queen, if you will, but also ... [He sings "Halo" by Beyoncé and "Apologize" by OneRepublic.] Both were written by the same guy [Ryan Tedder]. His thing was always that drum foundation. And it's the same with "Radioactive, Radioactive" [sings]. That's the whole thing.

If you want to sound like Imagine Dragons, you have to write your songs that way. You don't need someone to put a tambourine in at one point, you have to write it directly like that. So when people like Greg Kurstin or Ryan Tedder come up and show that they can write for Sia on the one hand, but also work with the Foo Fighters, then you have to pay attention to what exactly you want from them. Because if you're not careful, they'll write you songs that sound exactly like that.

But to give a positive example, too: Aerosmith. They wrote first-class songs in the seventies and had another great career later on with songs written by others. And that worked really well. It's never black and white. I think we are also in a grey area, somewhere in the middle. Write your songs with others, sure, but be in the middle of it. Don't go and say, "Write me a Ghost song."

#the band ghost #interview #tobias forge

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get-back-homeward · 1 year

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Ram Revisited

Paul and Linda record their album Ram from October 1970 to March 1971, and it is released May 17, 1971. By May 26, John already had his infamous response, recording How Do You Sleep. This song gets a lot of attention for how cruel it seemed. One of John’s defenses by the album’s launch was that Paul had written special messages to him on Ram, only Paul didn’t print the lyrics so you couldn’t hear them. He mentions it a couple times, in print...

and at St Regis hotel press conference for the album release:

JOHN: But... I was laughing at [Ram] later, but first, I was saying, “Oh! Hmm. Oh, I see. Oh, that’s what he thinks,” huffing and puffing. That’s the first thing I heard on his album, was all this – this message, you see. [x]

JOHN: It’s just a moment of anger. But I just put it down on paper. And also, I’m answering Paul’s last album, which mostly because he didn’t hand out a lyric sheet, [people] don’t know what he was saying [on it]. [x]

JOHN: You mightn’t hear ‘em, but I can hear ‘em, and I know Paul. [x]

and during live interviews, where he gets cut off from finishing his point every time. But he seems particularly bothered by the lack of printed lyrics.

JOHN: Little messages that Paul sent to me on Ram. Which, funny, I publish my lyrics you see. He doesn’t, so you have to listen. [x]

It’s tempting to laugh at this, if you think it’d just an excuse for HDYS, or call him kookoo, if you think he’s just obsessed with Paul and reading things that aren’t there. But I find the comments rather curious in light of idea that the Beatles, particularly John and Paul, had a shared language that dates back to when they were kids in Liverpool and was used as late as 1969 as seen in Get Back. By design, the language is used to protect and exclude, so any analysis by outsiders will probably be utterly meaningless. But I thought I’d take it on face value that John was hearing something the average listener couldn’t without printed lyrics to try to understand the root of the anger that drives HDYS.

As a thought experiment, I decided to relisten to Ram for the first time while reading the lyrics, with an eye for words I couldn’t hear (or misheard before) along with album themes. Full disclosure, I’ve always listened to this album while working on something else, so while I may be have seen looked up lyrics for a song or two independently (Too Many People, Back Seat), I didn’t read them while listening to the song or consider them in the context of the full album, all of which create a different experience. I used Spotify’s lyrics function while listening to the 2012 remastered album, so any lyric variations may be Spotify’s fault.

Starting from the top. The album begins with Too Many People, which opens with an indiscernible line that’s a play on words.

Piss off cake-->piece of cake. I had no idea that’s what he was singing at the start. For 20 years, I heard this line as “this I got to say-ay-ay”. That said, “piss off cake” still doesn’t tell us much. I’m with this guess that this phrase is an in-joke turned nasty, like a firing shot John heard right at the start.

Two “mistakes” are mentioned here. The first mistake gets a lot of attention (”going underground”, “took your lucky break and broke it in two”) and is generally attributed to John asking for a divorce/leaving the band, though I question it (see below). But the last mistake is the hidden dagger I never heard without looking up the lyrics:

“I find my love awake and waiting to be...” followed by the stinger chord is an unfinished sentence. The verb ‘be’ is doing all the work, suggesting a missing past participle left unsaid. John is no stranger to using simple verbs to stand in for prohibited ones, as Norwegian Wood and Don’t Let Me Down show. Paul stops just short of making it vulgar, but the implication is there. By making the arena in bed, the suggestion is inherently sexual--not only in the unfinished sentence but also in the 1-minute guitar solo climax that follows, complete with dog howling. This makes the dagger a sexual taunt, and I keep trying to hear other interpretations, but I only hear one: Literally this could have been you in my bed but you blew it and now I have her. Not ever but never again. It’s a closed door. Slammed in your face. Now what can be done for you? as the guitar goes wild. Suggestive of bedroom fun you’re shut off from.

Okay, I can see how that could ignite someone’s anger, especially one prone to jealousy.

The trouble I have with this is timing. If “first mistake” is the divorce meeting (Sept 20) then what is the “last mistake” that deserves this sexual taunt? Paul always talks about the divorce meeting as if John declaring he’s leaving the band and wanting a divorce (from him) as the same moment. Maybe the “first mistake” is mislabeled, as John’s “going underground” wish begins in 1968 with Yoko and his controversial public actions from nude album covers to bagism events (not to mention private actions like covering personal debt and bringing outsiders into the recording studio) that caused a schism at Apple at its crucial first few months. Paul talks about summer 1968 as a difficult time for him, where he felt like everything was falling apart. Dick James their publisher is watching all of this and making business calculations. By March 1969, in the middle of their honeymoons with their wives, he decides to sell Northern Songs.

Would John pinpoint his "first mistake” as Yoko? IDK. He’d know when his relationship with Paul got rocky, at least professionally. They seem to be arguing about this underground direction as early as May 1968 (NYC), perhaps even earlier. In interviews, Yoko seems to focus on this part, which may indicate her feeling it was about her.

But if the “first mistake” is May 1968 and in the realm of music/business/professional, then the “last mistake” is the final straw and it’s personal.

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

Paul recounts September 20 as if John betrayed him, getting him to sign the EMI contract before telling him he wanted the divorce. Paul felt tricked, like the rug was pulled out from under him. The hidden dagger in the song works the same way.

The second track, 3 Legs, begins innocently enough (When I walk on my horse upon the hill). It seems like empty nonsense until this accusation:

It’s a explicitly John-directed lyric: Paul’s emotional state is caused by John’s actions. I still hear “you let me down” (recalling Don’t Let Me Down) even though the original lyrics sheet says “left” and these printed ones say “laid.” So it’s worth taking a closer look at the rest.

This is a weird lyric taken literally. Paul’s doodling a three-legged thing and a three-legged dog on the lyrics sheet for this song. The dog doesn’t look like any of the dogs they had at the time to my knowledge. Dog could be a stand-in for another word John understood.

I enjoy @jobey-wan-kenobi’s idea of “three leg” as surrealist imagery that suggests an off-kiltered scene and reflects the writer’s state of mind. Both John and Paul spoke about being inspired by surrealist art and using it in lyrics to mask.

Didn’t John talk about having a reoccurring dream of flying above the clouds as a kid? I believe he used it to justify his whole egocentric interpretation of Strawberry Fields. But this flying seems the opposite of an ego trip:

He’s so unstable, the listener could knock him down from his flight with a feather.

But you know it’s not allowed

Ram On is the nearest to the title track but only a wisp of a thing, so it gets lost in the attention to Too Many People. I swear every time I hear it, I hear it another way.

Is it about needing love quickly? You’ll take anyone who appears next around the bend? Or is it about the unpredictability or impermanence of love? The someone round the bend coming to take the somebody you just gave your heart to? It shapeshifts, depending on how you approach it. But the second one reminds me of what John says later about love slipping away as soon as you look at it directly, as soon as you try to possess it completely. And hey what was that in 3 Legs?

When I thought, when I thought you was my friend... But you laid me down Put my heart round the bend

That lyrical link suggests the latter option. The earlier question in 3 Legs also fits with this theme of the unpredictability of love.

When I walk, when I walk On my horse upon the hill... Will my lover love me still?

But it may also suggest freedom. To do your own thing outside and then return home with a lover waiting. Like Too Many People. She’s waiting for me...

Big Barn Bed (not released til 1973) is first recorded with other 1970 Ram home recordings. It starts as a coda for Ram On and later becomes its own song. It has a similar “round the bend” line: Who’s that coming round the corner? Will it be my friend?

Which suggests more anticipation than worry but gives the same feeling of unpredictability toward the listener who is also the friend who let him down.

Bug lore is that John thought Dear Boy was for him, though I’m having trouble finding a source on that. I always found it pretty hilarious, as I do think it fits best with Paul’s story that it’s Linda’s ex-husband. The “When I stepped in” part makes sense with that interpretation. But it’s funny to think about John thinking it’s about him:

What’s John hearing Paul say here? I loved you and you didn’t even see it! And you know what, maybe Paul knew John would hear it like that and it was half the fun. It’s not hard to see that Paul identified with Linda’s feeling of being unappreciated in her prior marriage. And it’s common for Paul to start a song about one person or idea and then it becomes transformed into being about something else. Layers are possible in all their songs. John talks about the layers he hears in their old songs in Jan 1969, layers that he didn’t hear when they wrote them. So it’s possible John heard this connection. It may have just made him angry because John suggests elsewhere that he was the one who felt unappreciated and neglected.

However, even with Paul’s interpretation, John still shows up as the reason Paul’s heart was down and out and positions Linda as an antidote:

Oh what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive

I always filed away Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey as a simple character mashup. But looking at the words, I started to question that. Could Uncle Albert, a real uncle of Paul’s, also act as a stand-in character for someone else? The theme of no one left at home is echoed in Little Lamb Dragonfly, which is home recorded with RAM songs but held back until 1973 Red Rose Speedway.

But the line that follows is a peculiar one. I always thought I was hearing it wrong, surely it is it’s gonna rain. But the lyrics tell me it’s I’m gonna rain:

So could it be a metaphor or stand-in for an emotion like sadness or a visible reaction like crying? Or is it like 3 Leg? More surrealist projection of instability when charting new waters.

The second section, Admiral Halsey, has nautical themes that suggest more than meets the eye. Remember both John and Paul talked about the Beatles as a boat, with John talking about leaving the Beatles as jumping off Paul’s boat and onto Yoko’s boat.

Paul’s delivery of “berth” sounds like “bath” to me, so I can’t see how anyone could pick up this line in full before, except maybe if you knew that’s how Paul pronounces -er- sounds. But it certainly is a suggestive of a metaphor for a significant event. Perhaps about the day that Ringo as the messenger notified Paul about the McCartney release date change (to make room for his own album)? Or more personally, about Paul having to back away from John to make room for Yoko?

But what on earth is butter pie? Wiki tells me it’s a Lancashire-based savory pie of onions and potatoes (so meatless). But my mind goes straight to Penny Lane (finger pies), so I’m just gonna assume it’s something dirty.

Hands across the water, hands across the sky

Linda’s harmonies and backing vocals are just so cool. It had to have gotten to John that she so easily fits into this vocal role next to Paul, especially in the more silly moments featured here. Especially considering humor was such a large component of John and Paul’s relationship.

There’s limitations to printing lyrics though and I get Paul’s right to not print them earlier because sometimes it take away from all the wordplay and double meanings inherent in the sounds of the words. For example, I always heard some of these “smile away”s in Smile Away as “it’s my way,” and so I’m surprised that phrase is never printed in the lyrics:

However, given the double meanings elsewhere, I think it’s worth still considering because "it’s my way” fits into the album theme of not blindly following along and finding your own path.

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

A lot of focus is on Too Many People as the trigger for How Do You Sleep. But it’s a question directed a line from Heart Of The Country.

I’m gonna get me a good night sleep

It’s the one respite on the whole album and I can see how the image of smug Paul could send John in a writing fury.

Monkberry Moon Delight plays with “ketchup” and “catch up” and both of these appear in the lyrics. But is it beretta the gun or biretta the hat? Or something else? Ram sessions include Oh Woman Oh Why with gun sounds that gets left off the album, and photos from the session show Paul holding a prop gun. There’s also a gun-like object drawn on the Ram back cover. So maybe he did mean the gun. Inclusion of that song would have turned the tone of entire album, from jaunty taunts to serious violence, so it’s the right choice to keep it off. John would only hear the beretta line here with “banana” and the gun on the back cover:

and i don’t get the gist of your letter

Considering John and Paul are sending letters back and forth across 1970, this line sounds like a taunt for John alone. Along with what follows:

don’t get left behind

which makes this...

...another sexual taunt like Too Many People. Haha, look at what you’re missing!

If you’re doubting that, the track order clears it up fast because it’s followed immediately by....

Eat At Home. No explanation required.

It is an outright banger. No way John wasn’t a tad impressed by it. Even if it exudes those aggressive “I am having so much fun with my wife right now and not even thinking of you” vibes that left John shook.

Am I the only one that thought some of these “little lady”s were “lad”s? Paul stresses the -d so the -y sounds silent except for Linda’s backing. The result is pretty...ambiguous at times.

So I’m left thinking it’s a bit odd how this song ends on the negative: don’t do that. If the sexual connotation starts it, it ends with something that sounds unwanted, like it goes too far. A revoking of consent. But is it the lad(y) going too far? Or someone else?

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

Long Haired Lady is an ode to Linda that starts with a jokey call and response between Paul and Linda and builds into a section that channels The Mamas & The Papas with lush, blissfully layered harmonies:

I’m good up til “win or lose it” but I don’t know if anyone could have heard “into the soul”. I’m not so sure it matters much, but the suggestion seems to be that love continues whether or not you “win or lose” love. That no matter if you are wrong, love is stable, constant. Wait, where have I heard that before?

Generally, I find Back Seat of My Car to be the strangest one for John to think was directed at him (and Yoko?). It’s just so big and sweeping and wasn’t Paul and Linda the one who did the joyriding? But that whole we believe that we can’t be wrong really got to him. He mentions it a lot, sometimes attributing the line to him and Yoko and other times to Paul and Linda about them (”well I believe that you could possibly be wrong!“). It’s a real hangup for John around this time, the idea that Paul is always right and he is wrong. Seeing Paul’s predictive powers, I can see how infuriating it would be after a while, and how comforting it would be to have people around you who counter that, to tell you “no, you are right and he’s wrong.” How it’d make you dig your heels in and work hard to get people off the McCartney bandwagon.

There’s a whole gibberish sounding section not picked up in the printed lyrics that sounds like “everyone’s tried to love her” or “i’m gonna try to love her” sung at an auctioneer’s pacing. You could possibly read something into that depending on what you hear.

Here’s another mention of “my way” after “highway”, suggestive of the idiom “my way or the highway”. The second half of the “looking for a ride” lines I can’t hear even with the lyrics:

“and all I found” would have been my guess.

But if you’re taking everything else as a sexual taunt, looking for a ride could hold a double meaning.

The climatic ending of the song and album is the height of choosing your own way and building your own world:

We believe that we can’t be wrong

A brash assertion of confidence in your own choices? A mocking condemnation of someone else’s choices? Or aggressive positivity to vanquish agonizing about whether you’re right or wrong? Like others on the album, it depends on how you look at it. But the first option fits with the overall album theme, with the third behind it as another layer.

There’s a snowglobe imagery to the feeling of this ending. Swirling and wondrous and heady but also contained and protective and isolated by design, living in this world you’ve built for yourself. You control it to a point while fearing what’s outside, the unpredictability of the future and the unknown of what’s waiting for you around the bend.

Wrapup

Overall, there’s a story in the album themes. Starting with a declaration of independence and naming mistakes and ending with the denial of wrongness, suggesting your own. From John’s comments, we know he got that part. In between a conditional: if you choose wrong, love is long. Throughout, the main theme is strong, finding your own way and building a new life to push forward, which makes the cover less of a joke and more of an apt metaphor for a precisely crafted album. The pronouns look fairly consistent too, which is a big surprise to me: you are sending hearts around the bend, but she waits for me. There’s double meanings galore with possible sexual taunts as hidden daggers. But, above all, there is the repeated need for love that’s in alignment amidst confusion and miscommunication.

Will my lover love me still? (3 Legs)

Bring the love that you feel for me in line with the love I see (Eat At Home)

Do you love me like you know you ought to do? (Long-Haired Woman)

The trouble with any shared language is what may get lost from the communicator to the listener. If you get 9 out of 10 things but the 10th thing was important for understanding the other 9, the risk of misunderstanding is still huge. So I’m left wondering whether John listened to the album enough in those first 9 days to hear these lines before recording HDYS. He may have regretted venting his anger in more obvious public daggers than Paul’s more hidden ones the more he listened. By September, he knows the album well enough to sing an exact match on the spot.

Undoubtedly, John knew just where to hit because he knew Paul’s weaknesses. He shows that by dragging it into the public sphere. If Paul’s messages are directed at John but subtle or hidden, John’s messages are blatant as neon lights about Paul to the world. There’s an unevenness there that makes us uneasy.

By focusing on John brandishing the dagger so obviously in one song, it’s easy to miss the hidden daggers in Ram along the gems. A concealed dagger can do the same damage. But the overall theme of needing a constant unwavering love is one they ultimately shared, signalling a place where they could find common ground once the anger cleared.

#no idea what to tag this as too long dont read #there's song wars and then there's this whole declaration of independence album #my text #ram #long post #album listen #i started this almost a month ago #it was a simple exercise when i started but it grewwwww #this album really does get better and better with repeated listens #never thought i'd have this much to write about #its really wild this album got dismissed and buried as some square thing #its so fresh its like its from yesterday #double entendres included #still never heard where john might have been hearing 'documentary my dear datsun'#(which i assume is an in-joke on the sherlock holmes quote)#give a shout if you can find it #thought experiment #song wars #john pov #1971 #1970 #too many people #i guess i have to tag it mclennon but its paul mccartneys fault #eta the links #my idea when i started this was to link up all the bits and pieces ive collected but there's so many #the breakup

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emotionalhxc · 8 hours

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PART 2: Strawberry Hospital Instagram Q&A Q: Also do you like Sky Eats Airplane? Some of your songs give me the same vibe

N: "lowkey in shock that this band was brought up to me because they were (partially) the reason I found out what a DAW was in the first place because I read some interview of theirs back then describing their method of creation or something formative memories of listening to this one on a school computer in 5th grade" Q: When making an EP, do you usually have a "concept" or "vibe" before making the songs? N: "mostly! it is typically reflective of whatever sonic fixations I had in the years preceding the release itself + a culmination of whatever emotions are stirred up by life circumstances once I have that intersection pinned down, it begins to take a form of its own"

Q: Is there a story behind the Phantasmaphilia album art? It's so mesmerizing *0* N: "indeed ! the dead insects themselves were found outside of where I was living during the completion of the album, around this time of year. myself and some old friends collected them and brought them inside to scan in for the sake of the cover artwork. as for the bathtub image source, I am actually not holding my own legs but another person (out of frame) but we were wearing swimming trunks haha I wanted to create a feeling of ghostly vulnerability and I appreciate said old friends for helping me realize my vision at the time" Q: your music heals me and makes life bearable, thank you from the bottom of my heart. ❤️‍🩹 N: "I am so so grateful... thank you for sharing with me, it keeps me pushing forward knowing that my music reached you in the same way that other music heals me too (hug)"

Q: Squall. I love that song so much. I would love to hear your reasons for that song. N: "oh yes Squall! I wrote that for an internet friend who lived somewhere that was basically a perpetual snowstorm, I would stay up late talking with them and it meant very much to me during that period of time to me, the flurry of splittercore kicks and icy trance lead melodies reminded me of a blizzard" Q: How did you get your name? N: "strawberry hospital? or neptune? I'll answer both! strawberry hospital was intended to follow the naming trend of many bands and artists I grew up with, but also represent the otherwise polarizing thematic elements (bittwersweetness) and stylings present within the music and lyrics my name Neptune is chosen but I have kept it for over a decade now, it reminds me of the ocean and a cold planet very far away from here"

Q: Ilysm I sry if this is a dumb q but are the songs on halfawake all vocaloid or ur voice N: "awe no questions are dumb! the original release is exclusively vocaloid as I was too anxious to include my own singing in my songs in 2016. but the live version of the song is special, because I sing the chorus with my own voice instead. other albums feature a combination of my own voice and vocaloid (with exceptions)" Q: what is your bowling ball size? N: "this question is so unrelated I love it... so I cannot bowl to save my life and maybe I'm missing a double meaning here but they say a bowling ball should be 10% of your own weight right? in that case, like 12? I am unfortunate epitome of gay people failing at sports stereotype"

Q: what's your personal favorite song you've ever release?? 🖤 N: "Halfawake, Memento, Phantoma, Azure, Rhythm 0" Q: so like whats next for uu? N: "I'd love to play a few more shows before the year ends... maybe an international one? we shall see... otherwise trying to explore new forms for the project to take, I never want to reiterate what has already been established to the point of monotony heh" Q: I really love Tacit ❤️ and would love to know what it's about N: "Tacit is an apology for not being able to fulfill the role of what somebody would like you to be for them. not exactly a hard rejection but an assuring one (if such a thing exists) ... sometimes you need to use your head over your heart? I struggled with this at times p.s. it was heavily influenced by the haibane renmei OST!"

Q: Would you ever go on a tour! Californian fan here and I love you and your music :D N: "it will happen someday I am certain, playing a show in California feels obligatory (in a good way) plus I have had a few invitations from fellow musician friends that I need to take them up on" CONTINUED INTO PART 3 ON MY NEXT POST

#strawberry hospital #neptune #small musician #emotionalhxc

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woundedheartwithin · 1 year

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Music ask: 8-10. Give me them infodumps and hyperfixes please ☺️

Oh boy, okay

8. tell me about your favorite band. go on infodump for me.

That would be Erra! I first heard them about nine or ten years ago now (holy shit I can't believe it's been that long) on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist, and the song was Dreamcatcher and it was LITERALLY everything I've ever wanted to hear in a song. Like literally the perfect song, everything I'd ever craved in music, and I was completely transfixed. I've been there for the release of three albums now and I'm still just as enchanted by them today as I was a decade ago. Yes, I am in their fan group on Facebook, as well, which is an amazing community full of a bunch of goobers who love Erra probably more than I do. My absolute favorite song by them is Unify, and it's the one of the songs I listen to when I'm feeling low. It's very special to me, and you'll see me sharing it occasionally on here, as well. I got to see them once in concert and met their harsh vocalist, JT Cavey, and he was such a sweetheart. Jesse Cash, lead guitar and clean vocals, is easily my favorite songwriter. The community affectionately calls him The Messiah. If I'd met him that day I would have cried. If you're looking for a vocal where they just put their entire heart and soul into it, voice shaking and cracking, almost screaming, Jesse Cash is your man. Ghost Atlas is a great shallow end if you're not into metalcore. That's his indie side project. Dragging Soul has the most incredible harmonics ever written in my opinion. Instant chills every time. So that's that

9. what’s an album that JUST came out and it’s been on repeat for like 6 days +?

Not an album, but Veil of Maya's new single came out and I'm obsessed with it. I had Lorna Shore's Pain Remains on repeat for a while when it came out though lol. And I fully expect to have Kingdom of Giants's new album on repeat when it comes out in May! Babymetal also just released a new album like literally an hour ago, but I haven't listened to it yet

10. what’s a song that literally just came out and you’ve had it on repeat forever?

Red Fur by Veil of Maya. It's on the single I linked above, but I'll link that song specifically too! Also Faint Light by Blueshift, which is so beautiful and I love it a whole lot

If anyone's interested in seeing what else I have on repeat, Spotify has a playlist for that! Current as of two days ago apparently!

Link to the game!

#tunes #she speaks

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self-critical-automaton · 10 months

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Tagged by @translesbiantheo (thanks for thinking of me! Hope you enjoy my far too wordy answers!) Questions are: Last Song, Last Show, Currently Watching, Currently Reading, and Current Obsession. I’ve put it all under a readmore cut because I tend to wax lyrical and I don’t want to gum up peoples dashes, but if you see this please do click through and have a look.

Last Song: People are answering this as meaning ‘To what song did you most recently listen?’, to which the answer is probably: one of the unreleased songs from the Protomen’s as-yet-unreleased third album, ‘Act III’. Most likely ‘NO WAY BACK’, a major fave, but I’ve been listening them a bunch while working and it might be ‘The Fight’, which has been released as a single.

They’re kind of hard band to describe, because all elevator-pitches make them sound like a joke: In short, they’re a band who wrote a rock opera (very) loosely based on the videogame series ‘Megaman’, and have spent about twenty years touring to perform assorted bits of it along with covers of iconic heavy metal / prog rock songs. I have little respect for other members of the surprisingly popular ‘videogame themed novelty band’ genre, but the thing is that... they’re really fucking good? Like, very actually good. They’re about the music, rather than the game, or the novelty, to the point where the fact it’s themed after fucking Megaman is almost an albatross around their necks. I tend to gush about the performances (and amazing range- one is a classically trained opera singer, the other sings both sides of a duet) of their two lead vocalists, but their guitarists are the secret MVPs, melting face with heavy metal melodies. And their lyrics and storytelling-via-lyrics, and aestheic... Well, I guess I like all of it. They care deeply about their project and have a deep knowledge of and love for both their music and the music that inspires them.

I’m very fond of that heavy metal/ prog rock era and tbh they’re not so much nailing a pastiche as they are genuinely keeping something beautiful alive. They have fun, but there is no sense of irony whatsoever to their work or their performances, no feeling that they have to ‘wink at it or we’ll be cringe’; their original songs are heartfelt and their lead singers belt them out like their hearts are breaking right there on stage. No one else does it like them.

Plus, they have an amazing stage presence which blows their (now decades old) studio albums out of the water. I saw them live in london and it was the best night of my life, and pretty much the only reason I haven't yet died of postcovid syndrome is my will to see them live again. Sadly, there are very few decent recordings of their live shows. Last Show: Oh, right, there was more than one question. I recently watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, and had strong feelings about it, but I’m now a little too distant form it to unpack them here. I also started watching Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei, both of which I drifted away from mid-season. This says more about my postcovid brain damage than it does about the quality of the shows, to be clear: I can see why wey are both beloved. I intend to go finish them and then move on to more cornerstones of my fave era of anime. Currently Watching: I feel like I should talk about YouTube or something here, but mostly I’ve been watching tv. I decided to give the Wire ago, as my watch-through of the Sopranos with my flatmate stalled out. We really need to pick that back up... Season one of the wire I felt had something special. It had real willingness to draw parallels between urban gangs and the police, to showcase the brutality, hypocracy, and deceptiveness of police forces right alongside the lives of those forced into crime, and most importantly it had a rare empathy for it’s criminal characters. The direction and writing were also great, and I can see why it’s one of the great touchstones of prestige tv. Also, there was a groundedness to the characters and their personal problems (and a refusal to sermonize or get moralistic about those problems) that I found delightful. Season two abandoned much of that, feeling more like an ordinary copaganda-filled police procedural, and also suffered a general loss of quality in filmmaking terms. Anyway, I’m midway into season three now, and it’s been much closer in tone to the original. It’s not as good, and I think this is yet another example of ‘a tight, focused work turned out profitable, spin up the infinite money-engines to make more of it forever’, but unlike S2 it is at least a worthy tonal and structural sequel. Currently Reading: I have straight answer to this one lmao: Ringworld, by Larry Niven. I have a deep and lasting interest (of what you might call the ‘autistic amateur historian’ variety) in 'nerd subcutlures and community history’, in especially that of sci-fi and the Fantasy one into which it split. As a part of that, and also because it’s my own literary interest, I used to read a lot of modern and classic fantasy and sci fi. Post-covid, however, I’m not able to read much, so much like with anime I’ve been trying to get myself to catch up on missed touchstones. Hence, Ringworld. It’s proving an interesting read, partly because of how hard the science was (for the standards of seventies sci-fi), but also because of how different the general style was back then. I’m mostly enjoying it a lot, but it does occasionally blindside me with something astonishingly of-its-era like a casual rape joke from the protagonist to an ally. Next I’d like to get into rereading my collected volumes of Clairmont’s run as writer on the x-men comics, after having read John Allison’s recent fan-comic throwback to the era. I mention this (in addition to it being yet another special interest of mine) because of an odd tangential relation: In the 70s Clairmont introduced Kitty Pride as a new viewpoint character for teens reading the comics, so he wrote her as a nerd, and so she mentions a lot of nerdy cultural touchstones of the era. Her best friend, Ilyana Rasputin, develops the mutant power to teleport via circles of light, which Kitty names ‘stepping discs’ after the teleportation technology in Niven’s Ringworld, of which she was a fan. Current Obsession: Continuing the theme of ‘the history of nerd culture and it’s branching subculture communities’, I’ve been thinking a lot about OSR tabletop RPGs. These are ‘Old School Renaissance’, or ‘Old School Revival’, games, pert of a movement to recapture the ‘mom’s basement’ days of roleplaying games. Lighter systems than some, a focus on action, puzzles, and dungeoneering. Some are new systems designed to fulfill those design goals, but others are heavily based on actual roleplay systems from the 70s themselves. I’ve been reading system rulebooks and adventure modules for fun for a couple weeks now, haha. I used to love GMing tabletop RPGs, and I have wanted for ages to run a series of experimental mini-campaigns, trying out many systems with a rotation of players. I’m pleased to say I’ve actually put this into practice now, and I’m two weeks into a campaign using Black Hack rules. Others I want to try are: Torchbearer (which has a focus on hardcore survival), MÖRK BORG (Which is very rules light and focused on brutal dark-fantasy a la BERSERK or Dark Souls), Old School Essentials (Which is basically a more organised remake of the AD&D your dad might have played in the 80s), Dungeon World (which uses the very modern story-game style Powered by the Apocalypse system), and several more. Once I’ve tried a bunch out, I’m probably going to run a hexcrawl or maybe a west-marches type game, and if the mini-cmapigns thing worked for me I’ll branch out into non-OSR systems that I feel like trying. I have a huge folder of RPGs I always wanted to run but could never get around to. If you want into the player pool for these mini-campaigns, send me a message and let me know. It can be a reward for having read this far ;) Passing it on to: @girl-like-substance @expertpedestrian @tinytachyon @lancelought @acrylicpainting

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meadow-dusk · 11 months

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Albums I Loved in 2023

May: High Flyin' (2023)

I remember seeing this photo a long time ago: Neil Young playing in front of an amp labeled with a big sticker that read "DUCKS RULE." I thought it was some joke at the time, but I looked into it and learned about them, and it added to the great mercurial mystery that Neil was becoming. After a year of being a fan, I conceded I still had so much to learn about him. So, along with thousands of others, I waited to have a chance to hear anything more than a snippet of the mythic Ducks. There wasn't much circulating: their seven-week tenure in the 1977 Santa Cruz bar scene fizzled out as quickly as it started.

But oh…how blessed we were to get High Flyin': a triple disc bootleg that puts you right there in the middle of the action. In ways, it was everything I expected and in others, everything I didn't expect: country harmonies, folk melodies, loving odes to cars and sea shanties set to rock’n’roll. The ridiculously fun surf rock instrumental “Hey Now” (clearly a Neil Young brainchild) is equally entertaining and adorable. More than anything, it's a good time and good music. There’s no better indication of everyone enjoying themselves than the audience quacking sometimes in lieu of applause (and the band occasionally returning the gesture).

It should surprise no one that I'm coming at this from my usual angle: yes, there are other musicians in this group, and they’re very good (Jeff Blackburn, Johnny Craviotto, and Bob Mosley), but I'm really not here for them, no matter how much they're featured. I was so excited for this release that I placed myself into the detailed fantasy where I could be a witness to their performance, even knowing Neil had more of a backseat role, and loving his versatility to be able to slot into secondary instead of taking the spotlight. But his presence is palpable anyway, the tone of his guitar a deliciously continuous flow through the right side channel (his driving direction perhaps clearest on the slick, heavy “Windward Passage”). Another fan described The Ducks as what Buffalo Springfield would sound like as a 70's bar band, and their rendition of "Mr. Soul" (possibly my favorite ever now!!!) supports that. But they do so much more. They sound like summer. They feel like a welcome sign of parting clouds.

youtube

Neil, as usual, brings a rough edge that makes the music feel complete in a way that I’ve come to expect. The same way that, when I was a child, I needed to have the color green in any landscape (or anything really) to be satisfied. It wasn’t a want, or a preference, but a need. One that, in the situation at hand, goes beyond a musical expectation. I recognize that this is likely not a permanent state of being, because nothing ever is. But I have kindled the lights of love, appreciation, and gratitude for Neil for nearly three years now, and this record adds weight to the ever-growing list of reasons why those flames still burn hot. I feel immensely grateful to have insight into this dimension of his artistry and continue to understand him as someone that can be a team player as well as a leader. The inspiration extends beyond technical to a personal realm I’ve never felt with any artist before, and sometimes I forget how truly special that is. It’s good to have reminders like this. Leave it to me to spin this Ducks album reaction into yet another declaration of my love for Neil 😂 but I hear the crowds on this bootleg that light up as soon as he sings…and I know I’m not the only one.

#Albums I Loved in 2023 #Neil Young #The Ducks #High Flyin'

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xmystophalesx · 2 years

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Best New Heavy Metal Releases Week of August 5th, 2022

Going to try something a little different with the layout. Hopefully to make things easier to find if you are just looking for something in particular. Going to separate the albums by highlight albums, genre standouts and finally good albums that are worth a listen if you simply enjoy the album. Had a request to break it down by genre but thought that might get a little messy as a LOT of albums could conceivably fit into multiple genres. Either way, I hope this helps a bit. Let’s get to the highlights.

Exilium Noctis-Fragments of Apocalypse (Black/Death/Symphonic)**

You want something heavy? I don’t mean just your ordinary heavy; I mean, like HEAVY with all the letters capitalized. Like snap your neck heavy. Like destroying a mosh pit heavy. If that is what you want, this band has everything you need. This is an absolutely perfect mix of Death Metal and Black Metal. One genre never dominates the other and the result is that super heavy sound. This album seriously feels like a weight on your shoulders. The symphonic elements are interspersed perfectly and add an epic feel to the whole undertaking, which makes it feel even (you see a theme here?) heavier. May want to consult a physician before listening to this album.

H.E.A.T.-Force Majeure (Hard Rock/Heavy)**

If you enjoy all the genres Metal offers like me, you may need a little palette cleanser after the Exilium Noctis album. This is about as far in the other direction as you are likely to get. Insanely catchy Hard Rock that has that definite nod to the Glam Metal of the 80s but sounding very modern at the same time. This is just music that will put you in a good mood with sing along choruses, memorable riffs and shredding solos.

Starstrike-Legacy or Destiny (Heavy/Teaditional)**

This was one of the very last additions to the list this week. The logo and album cover just screams Traditional Metal and that is exactly what you get. The band is from Germany and you can hear every earmark of that German Heavy Metal sound throughout the album. If you were to put Accept, Gamma Ray, Paragon, Victory, Primal Fear, Helloween and Bonfire into a blender, this would be the result. Yet another debut album….how these bands are this good, this quick is amazing.

Preterist-Blood Moon Rising (Power)**

I have almost no info on this band. I know they are from the US and they have that European Power Metal sound down to a damn science. Think of a mixture of Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica and you will get close to their sound. Upbeat and catchy with those over the top sing along choruses and shredding guitar solos. Drums with plenty of double bass action and perfectly placed fills. If I had one very slight nitpick, it would be the production could be better. The bottom end doesn’t really come across for my liking. That could easily just be a me thing. Hopefully, I can find out more information about this band.

Perish-The Decline (Melodic Black)**

Time to get back to some feelings of anger, despair, and isolation. Those feelings are palpable on this album and they dive headfirst and wallow in them. The various guitar tones they used to convey those feelings really make this stand out and personally, I think it is a brilliant move. Oh, and did I mention this is a debut album? This is WAY too good to be a debut album. The songs are expertly crafted, and it even feels like they took care with the running order, as it feels like the songs build on each other.

Something else worthy of note. When I went to their Bandcamp page, they have a special edition box set of this album for sale. That isn’t really noteworthy but where the box is from certainly is. It is locally made at a factory next to the label office, which employs disabled people. If you purchase the box set, it helps these people out and if you want to throw a couple extra bucks on the Bandcamp order, the extra money goes directly to this cause. A Black Metal band with an album this furious, but still doing something to better their community? That deserves some praise!

That will do it for this week. I normally try to keep my vinyl purchases to only the pick of the week, but man, that is going to be difficult this week. If you have an opinion on the new layout, let me know. Until next week and, as always,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genre

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Best of the Best

Exilium Noctis-Fragments of Apocalypse (Black/Death/Symphonic)**

H.E.A.T.-Force Majeure (Hard Rock/Heavy)**

Liminal Shroud-Al Virtues Ablaze (Melodic Black/Atmospheric)**

Perish-The Decline (Melodic Black)**

Psycroptic-Divine Council (Technical Death)**

Starstrike-Legacy or Destiny (Heavy/Teaditional)**

Preterist-Blood Moon Rising (Power)**

Genre Standouts -

Bernatchez-Grief (Symphonic Black/Death)*

Amon Amarth-The Great Heathen Army (Melodic Death/Viking)*

Sun of Dead-Path of the Warrior (Black/Folk/Death)*

David Readman-Medusa (Hard Rock)*

Phrenesy-Fears Apocalypse (Thrash)*

Toxik-Dis Morta (Thrash)*

Ominum-Monument (Thrash/Death)*

Rotting Empire-Buried in the Past (Melodic Death)*

Early Moods-Early Moods (Traditional Doom)*

Circle Creek-The World is On Fire (Heavy/Hard Rock/Sludge)*

Creeping Cats-Losing Strength (Heavy/Traditional)*

Yelbegen-Kafir-I Azam (Black)*

Worth a listen if you enjoy the genre -

Soulfly-Totem (Thrash/Groove)

Draugur-Reflexio (Atmospheric Black)

Stormbound-December (Symphonic Heavy)

Reternity-Cosmic Dreams (Heavy)

Witchslayer-Witchslayer (Heavy/Traditional/Doom/Speed)

Ryker’s-Ours Was a Noble Cause (Hardcore)

Quantum Twilight-Hypersonic Demolition (Power)

Leaving Eden-As Above So Below (Hard Rock)

Annihilation Text-The Order (Death)

Evil In-Age of Immortal Darkness (Death/Thrash)

Triumvir Foul-Onslaught to Seraphim (Death)

Fleshrot-Unburied Corpse (Death)

Van Diemen-Sarcophilus Laniarius (Melodic Death)

Dagger Threat-Weltschmerz (Death/Melodic Death/Hardcore)

Perish takes my Pick of the Week with a debut that is WAY better than you would expect. 5 Solid bulldogs beating the heat out of 5!

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why-so-serious-lucifer · 2 months

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K-pop Discography Deep Dives: SHINHWA (Part THREE) 📼

Run, as befits its name, is all about a group of criminals running away while SHINHWA attempts to save Eric, and it’s good to know that even if the band themselves are wearing shirts (albeit under a laughable amount of leather), the bad guys will be predictably shirtless. But really, this is another song I respect for the very reason that it knows exactly what it is and doesn’t take itself too seriously, instead just deciding to throw up its hands and have a good time. Its “oh, eh, oh, let’s move it” is now stuck in my head, and I suppose I had that one coming.

From the album, Volume 9, I enjoyed the gently swaying chorus of Voyage, the slowly rising vocals in Just One More Time, the layered rap verse under the harmony in 2 My Luv, and the laughter in their voices in spoken-word Do You Remember?.

Venus has a lighter electro beat that I was expecting, and feels tailor-made for a dance-floor in the same vein as Kara’s Lupin or SHINee’s Ring Ding Dong with its call-and-response, the slinking quality of the verses, and distorted EDM background. Unsurprisingly, I really enjoyed this one, and it became one of my favorites right away, especially after the trap breakdown and excellent final chorus.

From the album, The Return, I enjoyed the palpable emotion in Hurts (I even didn’t mind the rap!), the sharp disco of Red Carpet, the upbeat drive of Let It Go, and the classical flourishes in Be My Love. So far, though I’ve enjoyed a few songs, I haven’t liked any enough to feature as a hidden gem, but here, I finally did! My hidden gem was the hopeful, acoustic-guitar driven, soundtrack-worthy On The Road, with its swirls of emotion and lovely warmth. It would be absolutely perfect for a road trip. Overall, I really liked this album; I think it’s one of their strongest.

This Love picks up where Venus left off, taking a very SHINHWA drive and combining it with a very early-2010’s-Katy-Perry-Party-Rock EDM beat and high pitched piano that creates a marriage in the middle of 1st and 2nd gen k-pop that was super interesting for me to see. It’s not the most unique track, certainly, but I did enjoy it.

From the album, The Classic, I enjoyed the smooth harmonizing in both Guy Who Knows and While Smiling and the dance floor beat of Hurricane, but my hidden gem was absolutely the alt-rock driven That’s Right (that high note especially!).

Sniper follows Venus and This Love to an extent, though seems more rooted in their earlier work than mid-2010’s synths with its harder-hitting, grungier EDM. It’s more like 2002 SHINHWA has been given a glossy makeover, basically, which I’m not against. I like the unique whistling hook here, and the building tension of its pre-choruses really makes the song feel unique, though I wish there was more of a payoff.

Memory is a special track released for SHINHWA’s 17th anniversary in 2015, and thank the heavens, it’s pretty good quality. It’s not that out of the ordinary for an inspirational ballad: it’s got the inspirational strings, the great harmonizing, the building vocals, the BTS footage from concerts and their lifelong friendships, and even a bunch of shots of an ocean. And you know what? It totally worked! I’m a complete sap and I adored it; I wanted to run off into the sunset on a road trip with my best friend immediately.

From the album WE, I loved the classical flourishes in Alright (my hidden gem!), but I also enjoyed the whistling hook of Sniper, the soaring vocals in Don’t Cry, and the gentleness of Never Give Up. There’s a reason I’m mentioning harmonizing and vocals so much: SHINHWA’s voices work so well together, in a way I’ve only really seen in SNSD, Red Velvet, SHINee, and Exo. Say what you will about SM (and I will), but they’re great at choosing vocals.

Orange follows in what’s become a tradition with SHINHWA’s music videos, just being them behind the scenes singing and having fun, and honestly, I love that for them. Though I still have my gripes about the rap not being necessary, the song is honestly too sweet and fluffy for me to dislike it, and I especially love the last chorus with its hand-clapping percussion and gentle harmonizing. Though the album’s called “Unchanging”, SHINHWA in these later songs, this one in particular, seems a world away from the angry, angsty, slur-saying group that we started with. It would be hard for me to even believe that it’s the same people if I hadn’t witnessed the change for myself over three weeks of listening to their music.

Touch is the first of SHINHWA’s music videos and songs that I would identify as feeling like k-pop from the second that it began it; while it keeps their EDM background, dramatic strings, and their very specific voices, the synths layered on top, anti-drop chorus, and toned-down production definitely bring it forward into the 2010’s. This isn’t one of my favorites of theirs, since I’m not usually a fan of anti-drops and this chorus doesn’t really change my mind, but I do like the rest of the song.

From the album, Unchanging, I enjoyed the springy energy of the too-short We and the rising warmth of Like A Star, and swingy energy of Bye Bye Bye, but the excellent driving beat under the chorus and whistling hook of Super Power made it my hidden gem.

All Your Dreams (the 2018 version) had me excited from the second I heard the lovely beginning strings of Bach Invention No.4, and when the guitar came in, I knew I’d like it. It’s certainly a revamped and improved version of their old music, absolutely more polished but without losing the theatricality and strength that defined their beginning. It feels like a second try in more ways than one on what’s their 20th anniversary, taking the good of the past and leaving the bad behind, and I’m very happy to hear it. And see it, for that matter; they remade the music video shot-for-shot too, in what feels like an homage done with love.

Kiss Me Like That, like Touch, feels like modern k-pop, albeit with a pared-back and gentle acoustic instrumental more reminiscent of Orange. In a way, I was both surprised and not by how explicit the English verses are, but they’re forty. They should live their lives. Either way, I enjoyed the inclusion of the brass samples and how they add texture to the last verses, though the song is a little too plain for me in general.

From the EP, Heart, I enjoyed Yoon Mirae’s feature in In The Air, the sunny, summery guitar in Level, and the album (and my time with SHINHWA) ends with the gentle yet passionate Don’t Leave Me, which fades out into nothing.

I’m glad I did this! I didn’t know what to expect when I began this deep dive, but it wasn’t to actually enjoy the greater part of their discography. I absolutely have criticisms—the appropriation, overuse of AAVE, and slurs chief among them—but I’ve gained a lot of respect for SHINHWA. I feel a little bit of pride that they’ve existed so long, and I hope that they continue breaking records and being together for as long as it makes them happy.

It’s difficult to pick so few after hearing over two hundred, but my Top 5 songs were Perfect Man, Yo!, Memory, How Do I Say, and Venus, with On The Road, Mistake, and All Your Dreams (2018) as honorable mentions. SHINHWA gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me, incredibly solid with genuine respect, but I feel like I can’t rate them any higher, both for my own lack of a lot of emotional connection and because I can’t get past the issues from the beginning, even if they were years ago.

Alright, so, phew, finally done! Next week, we’ll finally be back to our regularly scheduled programming with a one-week girl group. (Hallelujah), and I'll be starting 2x a week posting, just because I've been writing fasting than my own blog can keep up, lol. Tschüss!

#k-pop #review #k-pop deep dive #k pop boy groups #Shinhwa #dongwan #Andy #Eric #minwoo #hyesung #junjin #memory #run #Venus #kiss me like that #touch #all your dreams #sniper #this love #Spotify

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icarusthelunarguard · 1 year

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This Week’s Horrible-Scopes

It’s time for this week’s Horrible-Scopes! So for those of you that know your Astrological Signs, cool! If not, just pick one, roll a D12, or just make it up as you go along. It really doesn’t matter.

Aries

There’s a lot of musical trivia ahead, and you lead it all off. Ritchie Valens’ song "La Bamba" was originally a traditional folk song from Veracruz, Mexico. Ritchie wasn’t sure about blending it with Rock and Roll, but he did… and it was released as a single with “Donna”. Oh! “La Bamba” was the B-Side! This week, something you think isn’t worthy of attention will turn out to be more important to others than you could anticipate.

Taurus

Just because you CAN find all those cartoons you grew up with on YouTube doesn’t mean you should watch them anymore. The vast majority of them do not hold up at all. Don’t even wonder about the insipid plots, but the voice acting! Most of these shows had about 6 voice actors doing four characters each to fill out the show! I mean… Frank Welker alone! Just… Stop looking back.

Gemini

Did You Know… the word Applejack isn’t just a name for a My Little Pony character, BUT… it’s a specific term for making alcoholic cider! The idea is to take fermented cider with an alcohol content of about 10%, freezing the liquid, and scooping the frozen water off the top, thereby increasing it to something more like 25 to 40% alcohol! So the next time you catch Rainbow Dash slurping up the family cider, know that she’s a high functioning drunk and the Apple Family is her enabler.

Cancer Moon-Child

You may not realize it, but you are special; my first, my last, my everything and the answer to all my dreams. You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star, and my wonderful. That's what you are. Don’t let anyone sing you any differently.

Leo

Even after having moved house three times you still have your old “Travel Music” box. Not even CD’s; cassette tapes from the 1980’s. On the down side you don’t have a player in your car now. On the UP side nearly all these songs are available through one platform or another. But don’t throw away your tapes just yet. They might still be needed.

Virgo

There is an album out there called “The Patuxent Banjo Project”. It’s a collaborative effort to record some important banjo music to keep it alive and in posterity. This collection was released… not in the 1980’s, or the 90’s… but 2014. The Banjo and bluegrass bands are not only still A Thing, they thrive! Imagine it - no massive amps to lug from gig to gig, no pyrotechnics to set off, and sometimes only a handful of meters between the performers and the audience. And when was the last time you heard of a heckler at a Bluegrass show? This week, go listen to some live performance somewhere.

Libra

We’re going to make this easy on you; food. This week find your old cookbooks, find an interesting dish, and make it. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just make sure it doesn’t have the name “Helper” in it. Alternatively… Easter is next month. Maybe plan on making Italian Timpano? It’s just a combination of pasta, meatballs, sausage, tomato sauce, hard boiled eggs; Provolone, Parmigiano, and Pecorino Romano cheeses… OH! And you’ll need a dutch oven and about 10 hours to make everything. On second thought, just do all the reading and planning this week. This is gunna take a while. Do NOT insult your Nonna’s memory by half-assing it!

Scorpio

There’s something special about musical tributes you should know this week. Back in 1989 there was an album called “Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown” where lots of musical artists covered the music from the Peanuts TV specials. One track in particular is called, “The Red Baron” performed by Lee Ritenour. If you played that for someone who didn’t know, they’d swear it was just a cool jazz piece and not a song about the most famous World War One Ace. This week, re-examine your preconceived notions.

Sagittarius

Speaking of Preconceived Notions, remember when Syndrome said, “And when everyone's super… no one will be.” He forgot an important part in all his plans - Super Heros have a tendency to be sub-par in the quick thinking department. Superman, for all his amazing Kryptonian learning is still beaten by Batman because he had to learn to be smarter, plan better, than everyone else to win. Power doesn’t make the hero - strength of character can.

Capricorn

This week, do NOT do any electronics work of any kind. Yes, your first car’s audio system was amazing. Yes we’re still impressed that you added a bigger alternator into your car to power the system when it was on. But do you not remember what happened when you slipped and hit the terminals on that 1 Farad capacitor with your screwdriver? See all those people wincing around you? They weren’t there and THEY know how painful that was.

Aquarius

Your musical prowess with non-musical instruments is impressive. Using a 5 gallon bucket as a drum is pretty cool. But have you ever tried to cover “Through The Fire And Flames” on spoons? Even if you do learn how to do it, you won’t be the first. This week try to come up with a new angle on an old idea.

Pisces

The Greek Muses have smiled upon you this week. Take a trip out to Los Angeles and visit the Pan-Pacific Auditorium - the place that was the setting for the movie, “Xanadu”. It burned down in 1989, but now that you’re in California find a nearby mountainside and build your Evil Lair so you can plan on how to take over the world!

And THOSE are your Horrible-Scopes for this week! Remember if you liked what you got, we’re obviously not working hard enough at these. BUT! If you want a better or nastier one for your own sign or someone else’s, all you need to do to bribe me is just Let Me Know! These will be posted online at the end of each week via Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook and Discord.

#horrorscope #horoscope #parody #funny #humor #yes I really do research on these

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crypticsalutations · 2 years

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Hello my lovelies 🥀

Today we are honored to bring you the final part of a special Cryptic Salutations exclusive! THE PROMISED LAND! An in-depth interview with Steinhardt, AKA Schizoid Johnny, the last of the true one man bands, delving into the formation of his iconic 1990 LP 'The Promised Land.' In this wonderful finale, we chat about the wonders of modular synthesis, performing underage in Michigan bars, and give quintessential album recommendations from Steinhardt's own collection, past and present. We hope you thoroughly enjoy it, and that you stay tuned for our next special project! 🔥 We would also like to give John a huge THANK YOU for being willing to engage in this strange experiment. This was Cryptic Salutations' first step into the world of interviewing! Give his page a like on Facebook to stay up to date with current performance dates, album releases, and photos!

Track: Steinhardt's There's No Ozone

Cryptic Salutations: This wasn't even in my question list but our previous topic brings me to the subject; have you ever messed around with any modular synthesizer setups?

John Steinhardt: No, I haven't yet. I'm always short on money.

CS: Yeah, they're super pricey, but from what I've heard even the most skeptical musicians end up addicted to the vast amount of choice you're given with such setups.

JS: I'm not close minded to any of that stuff. I think it's just great. The more the better. But y'know, here's a story for you though: I went on a tour down in Texas this last year and the first show I did was at a country bar, and I decided to do at least 50% of the night covers, and 50% of the night original. And I tailored the originals so that it was to what kind of music they liked. And in Texas basically, it's more old rock n roll and more country, and then there's Texas country which is a little bit different. So I tailored it to them and I got criticized because I used the voice enhancer and they said "What the hell're you doin'! You sound like you're in studio! You ain't in no studio here, turn that off!" And then they didn't like the effects on the guitar! Y'know, it had to be just simple! And of course, I don't give a shit. It's what I do. If they don't like it, well, go home.

CS: Wow. I bet if you were a local they wouldn't have treated you that way. I've noticed that... Unless you're part of the clique, you're subject to extreme criticism.

JS: Exactly.

CS: How did you go about entering the music business? Did your folks encourage you? Was it something you knew was in you from a young age?

JS: I definitely knew it was in me from a young age, there's no doubt about that. At about age 11, I already knew I wanted to be a musician. Of course I was in grade school band and music choruses and schools, and then by the time I was, oh gosh, 12 or 13, I was already in my first rock band, practicing and rehearsing. We were performing out at youth centers and, of course, in those days, you could play bars in Wisconsin where I grew up. They didn't mind. We don't care if you're 14 or 15 years old, come in and play! There weren't any laws against it. Like right now, there's too many laws about everything, y'know what I mean! They'd say yeah, come on, you can stay, but you're not drinking. Don't even ask for one. If we see you drinking, yeah, you're off stage, but okay fine! But now we've got this law and that law... Yeah. Back then, business was different. It was open to artistic ideas and for creatives. There also just wasn't that many of us, and the technology was new! Even Joey Welz, he said "You know, you should have been here in the 50s! We'd record a song, put it on a 45, the next day we'd take it to the DJ personally, and he'd play it!" I'd go "What!" And he said "Yeah!" And I thought "Man, that's amazing. That would be great." Course you can't do that now, it's gone.

CS: Yep, you'd get thrown out by security if you even tried to approach the DJ!

JS: Oh, well they threw me out of Capitol Records down in Los Angeles once. You know, that big beautiful building down there. Yeah, I tried to get in and get 'em my stuff and they threw me out, the security guy.

CS: Too busy recording Top 40 material I guess.

JS: [laughs] Right!

CS: This one is kind of a two parter. If your younger self had to recommend one quintessential, life changing album, what would it be? And also, your current self?

JS: Hmm. If I remember back, there were a couple. When I was in school and I was starting bands, I had a friend, a girl who used to ride the bus with me. And she would bring me a different album every week. And what really changed me, I think, was The Allman Brothers Live at Fillmore East and also Santana's Abraxas. Now, Santana's Abraxas was really inspirational because of what he did with that band, made of different races, bringing their different sounds from different music genres into rock n roll. And then, The Allman Brothers, using traditional blues, bloomed into a presentable rock-blues flavor. And then, there was another one. Another person. When I was on stage, someone just came in and handed it to me. Chuck Berry's Chess Recordings. Chess Records. And when you listen to his entire work on 2 LP's, you sit back and you're just flabbergasted, like how could this guy have done this? It created rock n roll! That was then. Now, as I think, if I could say something now, I'd go even further back, right to Robert Johnson and the 29 recordings that he made. It says it all, about what a solo artist, a singer songwriter should be. There was only 29 songs recorded, he plays it all on one guitar, and it's amazing. How did he do it? How did he play it? I mean, he created his own style, he learned to play all by himself, and that's exactly what it should be. And there is nothing there, nothing in those works, that says "Buy this! Buy this! Buy me! Like me!" No, I'm doing it because this is who I am. And that's what an artist should be. This is who I am, this is what I am, kiss my ass! Nothing less. So yes, now I look back to Robert Johnson, and the birth of rock n roll. That's where it started, in its purest form. Another inspiration as I look back is another band out of Canada, who somehow, somehow became popular. I don't know how they did it, but Rush. Being the musicians that they are, the song writing skills and lyrics of Neil Peart, the drumming... As a musician you sit back and go, "Wow, this is to be admired!" And that's what I see. The difference between then and now.

CS: Any closing thoughts?

JS: I'd like to thank you for your support, for hearing my message. It only takes one or two here and there to keep an artist going, and it's pretty hard at times, so I appreciate this, and thank you!

CS: I appreciate it as well. What an amazing journey!

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musings-from-an-elder-goth · 2 years

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Being Goth in the 80′s

“Beware! I live!” - Sinistar

“What was it like in the 80′s?” the baby bats often ask as their dark forms flutter about me, eyes wide and ready to drink up every last, minute detail - “The music from the 80′s is sooo amazing; if I had a time machine I’d be so there,” they’ll gush. “OMG, tell us EVERYTHING!” Very well then - here’s everything: No internet, no cell phones, no texting, no email, no streaming, no downloads, no Uber, no apps - oh my! If you had a time machine, the 80′s might be a fun place to visit, but trust me, once you saw your cell phone had zero bars, you wouldn’t want to live there.

Of course, to those of us living back then, we didn’t know what we were missing as those things were still science-fiction. So had anyone been asked how they liked the 80′s, they’d probably think things were going reasonably well, myself included. But lets zoom in and focus on what it was like being a goth in the 80′s. Yes, the music was amazing - but you had to find it first.

First off, getting any information about the goth scene was like blood from a stone. Rare, infrequent, and treasured. For most of the 80′s, we lived and died by Propaganda magazine. It represented about 90% of all the info you received regarding music / fashion / trends / style and it only came out 4 times a year. Ever wonder why there are so few Propaganda magazines copies floating about now? Because you read it and re-read it and then re-re-read it. Your friends read it and re-read it, and then their friends. Beverages were spilled on it. Photos were cut out of it and pinned to walls. Concert schedules were torn out. And it’s not like they were printed on the best quality of paper to begin with. It boggles my mind that any still exist today at all. By the time the new issue arrived in the mail, the previous one looked as though it had gone through a blender. The other big place for music info was the local record store.

For me, those record stores were Camelot and Sam Goody and yeah, they really looked like that. If you were lucky, someone who worked there was a sage and knew a little bit about everything, including goth music. I was lucky - very lucky. Michael, the assistant manager at my Camelot, was like a bio-Alexa. “I’m looking for something...dark,” I believe I mumbled at him one day. “Have you listened to this?” he’d ask, handing me a Bauhaus album. I shake my head ‘no.’ “Here”, he’d say, “Put on these headphones and have a listen.” And that was that. He hooked me up with The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Xmal Deutschland, and Joy Division, just to name a few, so I was all in from the early days. He knew when all the albums were going to be released and he’d order them for you (since those mainstream stores rarely carried them). I must admit, there was a tiny bit of cred to be had when you walked in and the person behind the counter recognizes you and says the special album you ordered has arrived and hands it to you. The third place to learn about music, was on telephone poles.

As far as I know, this hasn’t changed much as I still see band flyers stapled up around town, but back then, this kind of direct marketing was essential. Propaganda magazine and Michael at Camelot didn’t know when a smaller band like Strange Boutique was next playing at The Metro, but those flyers did. And wise was the person who stapled up several flyers at a time in the same place, because he knew we would tear them down to put up on our refrigerators at home so we wouldn’t forget. And while it was easy to see the small, local bands play live, it was difficult to see the big bands play live. The tours never seemed to come near where you lived. I didn’t even see Siouxsie & the Banshees play live until 1991 even though I had been listening to them throughout the 80′s. Your best bet to actually see the big goth bands was on MTV’s 120 Minutes.

Now, MTV was super mainstream and you’d rarely see a goth band on there (at least in the US), so the 120 Minutes program was progress. You might only see one or two goth bands on each episode, but that was better than nothing. I would record each episode of 120 Minutes on my VCR while I was out or sleeping. The next day, I’d fast forward through the show and find the goth bands and watch them a few times, and take my VCR to a friends so we could copy the good videos to save and share. Then the next week, I’d use that same VCR tape to record the next episode and so forth and so on. Eventually, 120 Minutes seemed to run goth stuff less frequently and I stopped watching. But by that point, I’d discovered that just like with music, you could order VCR tapes with hours worth of videos of Siouxsie or The Cure or whoever and I just mail-ordered those. And these videos were not cheap. I recall my Siouxsie VCR tape set me back $60, plus shipping. And this was in 1986, so that was big money. But what about the rest of TV?

In general, TV didn’t have much to offer to goths in in the 80′s, so I consequently didn’t watch much. Some shows that come to mind are ‘Tales from the Darkside,’ ‘Monsters,’ ‘The Hitchhiker,’ ‘Friday the 13th, The Series’, The Twilight Zone,’ and ‘Elvira’s Movie Macabre’. Most of these shows were syndicated and tended to be on quite late, so I’d record them and watch them later. In general, I might watch just a few hours of TV a week. I’d be curious to see stats for 80′s TV viewership among goths, but I bet it would be low. They just didn’t make many shows for us back then.

The video game market may have crashed in 1983, but arcades didn’t go away and that was a godsend since they were great places for goths to loiter. Remember Michael from Camelot? When he left Camelot he became the manager of the arcade at the other end of the mall (yes, we really did spend a lot of time in malls). He was less useful for music, but now he became gaming useful. He’d let a select few of us into the arcade on Sunday when it was closed - and we played for free. With fresh batteries in my Sony Walkman, I’d spend hours at a time in the dark listening to my fav goth albums while racking up crazy high scores on games like Tempest, Wizard of Wor, Battlezone, Defender, Stargate, Berzerk, and Sinistar. Why would he let some folks play for free, you might ask? Because we would set the high scores others would kill themselves trying to beat for the rest of the week. There was method in Michael’s madness - that arcade was always packed. It broke my heart when I moved away in 1985 to leave that kind of privilege behind, but I’m sure Michael had no trouble replacing me on his weekly roster of ringers. I played a ton of home video games as well, and huge swaths of my free time were spent gaming away while goth music drifted out of my cassette player. It had auto-reverse, so I didn’t even have to flip the cassette!

Magazines were much more popular in the 80′s than now, and many of the goths I knew read things like ‘Heavy Metal,’ ‘Omni,’ ‘Creepy,’ ‘Eerie,’ and ‘Vampirella.’ Although not specifically targeted at goths, magazines like these had stories and art that were very dark and resonated well with darklings. At any given time, I might have subscribed to a half-dozen magazines and picked up more occasionally, which was fairly typical. Compare that to now when most folks don’t subscribe to any and even I only subscribe to one. As the 80′s wore on, you began to see more dark, mainstream magazines and graphic novels creeping out of the woodwork like ‘The Dark Knight Returns,’ ‘Watchmen,’ and ‘Sandman.’ The late 80′s also saw the beginning of ‘Zines that folks would self publish on their home computers and hand-distribute about town, I recall quite a few unsung ‘zines that were very goth, but they rarely lasted more than a few issues before vanishing. In addition to magazines, I read vast numbers of books in the 80′s since that was the best medium for finding darker fare. Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles books were stupid popular among everyone I knew, as were things like William Gibson’s “Neuromancer,” “Count Zero,” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive.” Unlike other mediums, there were so many great books available, most goths I knew had their noses buried within a book whenever you’d visit them, and folks’ personal libraries tended to be quite extensive. Movies were a different story.

Goth films were so rare in the 80′s, you can just about count all of them using only your fingers and toes. It would be forever between goth films and I would often wonder if I’d ever see another one again. If there were so much as 2 in a year, that was a great year - I’m looking at you, 1988, when we got both “Beetlejuice“ and “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!” Horror films and dark sci-fi largely filled the void, and fortunately, there were a decent number of those, so all was not lost. I still recall seeing “Aliens” and “The Fly” as a double-feature and that made for a good evening of dark entertainment. As far as fashion went, well, you’ve all seen the pictures online.

In the 80′s, casual goth was how you usually saw goths dressed. Everyday goth tended to be plain, compared to now. The most goth girl I knew in the 80′s, Ginny, usually wore black jeans, black Doc Martins, and a black t-shirt. In the winter, she’d throw on a long coat, a black beret hat, and a black & white checkered scarf - she always looked sharp! The pic above is representative of the fashion I would generally see in the 80′s. I believe this particular photo is from 1984, and this general style was common right through the decade. The girl on the left being more everyday goth while the girl on the right is more going-to-a-show goth. Hair was not always spiked up and depended on laziness. By the later 80′s, I didn’t see anyone doing it anymore. Tattoos and piercings existed, but they were not as frequent. Leather jackets and leather long coats were also seen, but not as often since they were expensive and most goths (myself included) acquired their clothes in second hand shops.

And there you go - I’m sure my goth 80′s were fairly typical, although individual experiences may vary. The modern ability to pull a cell phone out of your pocket and bring up any goth song, album, or music video ever made and watch it on the spot, then to check what bands are playing at any club, at any time, anywhere in the world, and then review the photos taken from that same club just last night to see exactly what they’re wearing in that neck-of-the-woods, is a wonder. Plus, goth music is easier to make and distribute now, so good bands are found faster by far more people to be enjoyed than ever before. There are more goth TV series, movies, and video games available than I can shake a broken VCR tape at, and again, I can watch or play them whenever I feel like it. I enjoy seeing current goth fashion as it’s so much more sophisticated and sublime than it used to be and goth decor exists in multitudes undreamt of in the 80′s.

So if you were to pull up to my place in your time-traveling 1982 Delorian, I’ll be happy to visit the 80′s with you to catch a show or two, but be sure to bring me back to today. There’s never been a better time to be goth, than now.

creaturesfromelsewhere 12/31/2021

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cherrycheridarling · 3 years

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london boy | t.h.

tom holland x singer!reader

warnings: none just cuteness and concerts

summary: it's your album release and you booked the forum in los angeles for the special occasion. you've invited tom and all his friends to the show and refused to let him listen to the album all day. just in preparation for your performance of london boy.

wc: 1.3k

"You guys have been amazing tonight!" you looked out over the crowd of fans, heart filling with joy. "This next song is track number seven. I wrote this for anyone who, like me, has a very particular type. L.A., this is 'London Boy'!" you announced as the track began to play in your ear-piece.

Tom's attention perked at the name of the song. You'd strictly forbidden him from listening to it for the whole day. Keeping it hidden while recording and only showing him the other tunes you wrote. His curiousity had been eating away at him ever since he heard the title a few months ago.

"I love my hometown as much as Motown, I love SoCal. And you know I love Springsteen, faded blue jeans, Tennessee whiskey. But something happened, I heard him laughing. I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent." you fanned yourself with a smile as you sang.

Tom watched from the balcony. Sam, Harry, Harrison, Jacob, Zendaya and Tuwaine beside him. He smirked when he heard the word 'accent' and Harrison nudged him with a smile.

"They say home is where the heart is, but that's not where mine lives. You know I love a London boy. I enjoy walking Camden Market in the afternoon." a memory flashed behind your eyes as the lyrics left your lips.

"It's beautiful." you observed all the arrays of colours as you strolled hand in hand with Tom down the streets of Camden Market.

While your eyes were set on the miscellaneous items around you, Tom's were set on you. "I'm glad you like it, darling. Look, there's some jewelry." he pointed to a small vendor with a variety of accessories on display.

You began to drag Tom towards them as he laughed at your reaction.

"Hello, kids! How are you today?" the kind elderly lady grinned at the new customers.

"Very well, thank you. How are you?" you smiled back.

"Splendid! What are you two doing here today? First date?" she asked.

Tom and you laughed lightly, "More like fiftieth." he answered as the old woman's smile grew.

"That's lovely! I love young love! So pure and innocent." she looked as if she were recalling memories from her youth.

"I love your jewelry. They're all gorgeous." you admired her work.

Gold and silver objects in front of you. Rings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, earrings. The woman made them all. A particular ring caught your eye. It had a gold band and it was scattered with different brightly coloured gems. Red, blue, purple, green, yellow. It was jaw dropping.

"Oh, you're too kind, dear."

"I think she sees something she likes." Tom smirked as he watched you pick up the accessory and examine it.

Within minutes, the two of you were leaving the small vendor with a new ring wrapped around your right ring finger. You held up your hand and adored the way the ring glistened in the afternoon sunlight.

"You're doing it again." Tom spoke up making you turn your head to him.

You furrowed your eyebrows, "Doing what?"

"That little smile where you're trying to stop yourself from smiling, but it's there." he chuckled.

Feeling slightly embarrassed you turned your head away from him, "I am not."

He brought your face back to him with his hand on your chin and placed a kiss on your lips. Quick and simple, but it melted your heart.

"It's your American smile, darling. And I love it."

"He likes my American smile, like a child when our eyes meet," your eyes found their way to Tom's, "Darling, I fancy you."

If Tom could run down to that stage and smother you in his love, he would have at that exact moment.

"Took me back to Highgate, met all of his best mates." you moved your view to look at Harrison, Harry, Tuwaine and Sam who all had shit eating grins on their faces. "So I guess all the rumours are true. You know I love a London boy. Boy, I fancy you." that line brought you back to when Tom first confessed his feelings.

"And I win again! You really suck at this, Holland." you chuckled as you came in first place in Mario Kart while Tom placed fourth.

Tom watched you with a gleeful expression, "I like you. A lot."

Your head snapped towards him at the words. Unsure of what way he meant them in.

"As a friend? Or.." your voice trailed off as you sat against the couch cushions again.

"No, darling. Not as a friend." he chuckled.

Your nerves began to spike. A wave of chills running over you before a smile crept its way onto your face.

"I think the correct term is 'fancy'." you teased him making him laugh.

He nodded with a giggle, "Yes. I fancy you."

You bit your lip to try and contain your grin, but it was no use. The confession sparking butterflies in your stomach.

"Well, in that case. I fancy you, too, Holland."

Tom's mind brought him back to that moment as well before Sam pulled him back to reality.

"I'm going to pretend that she wrote this about me."

Tom snapped his head towards his younger brother, "Don't even think about it." your voice brought his attention towards you.

"And now I love high tea, stories from Uni, and the West End. You can find me in the pub, we are watching rugby with his school friends."

The amount of times that occasion has occurred would be too many to count. From trivia nights to days off of work. The pub was probably your most visited place besides Tom's home ever since you began to date.

"Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride. Babes, don't threaten me with a good time!"

Tom bursted out laughing at the lyric as he remembered the story behind it.

You were cooking in the kitchen when you heard a loud yawn behind you. Tom making his dramatic entrance before wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder.

"Whatcha making, babes?" his words caused you to freeze before laughter filled the kitchen.

You managed to compose yourself before replying with small laughs, "Did you just call me 'babes'?"

"You know what? I tried something new and it didn't work." he frowned like a toddler.

You cupped his face with your hands, "For the love of all that is good and great in this world, never call me that again." you planted a kiss on his pouty lips.

His hands made their way to your waist, "I should stick with 'darling' and 'love', huh?"

You nodded before kissing him again, "Now, if you don't mind. I am going to finish making breakfast for you and our friends." you turned back to the stove.

"I'll leave you to it, love. Thank you." he began to leave the kitchen.

"Not a problem, babes." you quietly snickered to yourself.

"Hey!"

"You're one lucky little shit." Zendaya teased him.

He nodded slowly, "I really am."

"They say home is where the heart is, but God, I love the English."

Your eyes remained stuck on Tom's as the lyrics left your lips. You could see his smile grow even wider, if that was even possible.

As you finished the track that was solely dedicated to the brunette Brit in the crowd, your eyes moved to his lips.

"I love you."

He mouthed the three words that have been hanging between the two of you ever since your relationship began. Your heart seemed to take a break before picking back up at record speed.

"I love you."

You mouthed back, hoping he could make it out.

His never ending grin was enough proof that he knew what you were saying.

#tom holland #tom holland x singer!reader #tom holland x actress!reader #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland x y/n #tom holland x famous!reader #tom holland x reader

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1ddiscourseoftheday · 3 years

Text

Mon 14 June ‘21

Louis Tomlinson Cooks is here!! Yeah it’s 100% for sure as delightful to watch Louis make himself a sandwich as you might have hoped, but how was his cooking? Well I’ll let Louis rate himself-- “I’m not gonna lie not that appetizing is it, I mean look at it,” he says when it comes time to taste his creation, plus, “chopping peeling slicing not great to be fair- everything else I’m all right” (he’s… not wrong, even aside from the peeler issues has this man ever held a knife??) but- “it probably tastes nice though as I said it’s not about presentation for me… [munches cutely]... it’s actually pretty banging, that’s actually quite nice!” Success! Maybe it’s cause he knows the secret to faking good cooking- “as you can see I don’t have a lot of cooking ability so the more butter the better,” I mean the experts can tell you, that’s advanced stuff right there! #Louis-aChild! Substituting mustard and ketchup for coleslaw is a bit of a bold move, but in a belated attempt to convince the kiddos to eat some healthy veg even though he won’t he does bravely try the cucumber strips despite being “not really a man for cucumber” and makes a pained attempt to be positive- “bit of crunch.” Oh and speaking of crunch I’m relieved to have learned that the waffle is NOT a waffle, it’s a crispy waffle shaped bit of potato; a much more reasonable fish sandwich addition than the American version of a potato waffle! Full Time Meals polled to see what people think of Louis cooking; the two choices are “it was amazing” and “the best,” THEY GET IT. My kind of Louis poll! Helen Seamons rated him a “10/10 for effort and entertainment”, Masterchef acknowledged Louis as one of their own, and Marcus Rashford keeps it simple- “my guy” with a lil heart. YEAH, SAME.

Harry showed up in Italy, where he was papped in Venice being driven around (with PA Luis) on a boat (as you do, in Venice). He’s in a cool embroidered Bode shirt and shades and fancy hair, looking good. He’s seen carrying his suitcase, taking photos, and resting his head on his arms looking like a model. One might think, since we just saw the My Policeman cast and crew on set celebrating the wrap of the shoot, that they were done filming and Harry was off to do something different, but nope, he’s there to film! The book has key scenes in Venice that folks had been wondering about the filming of, and David Dawson is also being boated around Venice for the paps, so, it seems that was just for the wrap of the *UK* filming, which makes sense I guess since it would mostly be different crew I imagine, and perhaps some of the main cast are done as well.

Liam’s NFT sale is happening tomorrow! If you’re confused and want more info, I’M NOT GONNA HELP THAT MUCH… uh but I mean you can check out Liam’s youtube video explaining though I would guess that won’t help much (even Liam thinks so; “there’s probably websites that explain a lot better than me” he admits). There is a roundup now posted of what’s on offer for the buyers of the NFTs but I’m gonna be really honest with you, I’m more confused now than I was before. It’s clear that there are only SIX LONELY BUG NFTs right? They for sure said that I believe. But the packages for each different piece (token bundles) seem to me like they’re available to multiple buyers? Like maybe you don’t get the NFT but multiple top bidders on each get the extras? Like they can’t be selling multiple copies of the NFT... can they?! Isn’t the WHOLE POINT that only one person gets to own it? I DON’T FUCKING KNOW I AM SORRY. What I think I understand to be true: the six NFT buyers get to go to “a once-in-a-lifetime immersive dining experience at Resorts World Las Vegas” (this is the dinner with Liam and “a selection of crypto leaders from around the world” which takes place on display inside a giant glass box) and also “a bespoke commemorative presentation box containing the world’s leading holographic display... with audio... and a custom made Lonely Bug commemorative coin,” and “a unique QR code directing the owner to a special ‘Director’s Cut’ edit of the short digital film ‘Making Of Lonely Bug Collection’ which features unreleased footage from the day of the drop showing the creators' reactions when the winning bids came in” (I mean YEAH I would think it’s unreleased it literally hasn’t happened?) But then there are really a lot of other extras including tickets with Meet & Greet access to any Liam Payne headline show around the world, admission to pool and cinema parties in Vegas with Liam, signed art, non-Liam extras (I will literally bid to NOT have 20 minute phone calls with those crypto entrepreneurs PLEASE… but that’s just me), and access to an online party hosted by Liam; I really get the impression many of these, especially the last one, are just crypto tokens that are for sale that aren’t linked to the main Lonely Bug NFTs and many more than 6 people can buy them but a lot of the extras I’m not clear on which it is. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll understand better WE WILL SEE.

Liam also dropped by the discord last night to say some hellos (after a “long long day”) and that he “bought a piece of NFT art of myself tonight I’m going to give it as a prize Monday night so someone can own a piece of art that was owned by me” (an even less tangible bragging point than simply owning an NFT wow that’s an achievement) and the most important update- “I want a French Bulldog”! Oh and he said “that’s like one I did myself” in his fanart channel to a pic of a tiny crocheted illustration of Louis and Harry holding up a rainbow flag. Didya Liam?? (...Liam is crocheting??) Anyway I recognize who it’s supposed to be because it’s based on a familiar piece of fanart, but Liam definitely might NOT realize it’s meant to be someone specific, and tbh I’m more <eyeballs> at him saying that at the rainbow flag crocheted thing than at it being shippy.

Our Song acoustic version is out this Friday!! And Niall talked about NH3 some in an interview today; “I’m in the studio most days, it feels really good. I’m kinda in the latter stages of it and then I’ll go get a band together and go in and record the whole thing. I’ve just kind of been writing for the past 9 or 10 months and really enjoying it” and “It sounds like a complete album. God knows when it’s coming out because I’d like to be able to get around the world to see all the fans as well” and “It’s different. It sounds a lot more grown up. I’m 27 so it’s about time. I really wanted to kinda cement a sound. The singles I’ve released previously have all been kinda different sounds. I would like to have my ballad sound & like a cemented uptempo sound.” He and Anne Marie also talked about one of the other songs they wrote together saying, “It’s kind of like a, how do you describe it- guitar driven meets Tom Petty meets Katy Perry meets…” but say “We haven’t really decided if we are putting it out yet, the conversations are kinda happening... but it’s completely different (from Our Song).”

#liam payne #whyyyy so confusing #niall horan #louis tomlinson #YES BABE please do bake off now PLEASE #Harry styles #looking so good even though those shorts are AWFUL IMO hilariously frumpy #love that #14 jun 21 #overall I do not think liam should get any more dogs #but a small dog he took everywhere with him would be ADORABLE #(more dogs than he has previously owned I mean he currently has no dogs)

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