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blackthorn-faerie · 8 months

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I’m rewatching Good Omens 2, but I’m analyzing it and taking notes this time (I need to know everything). Here’s what I have for episode 1!!

Episode 1

- “Oh, I can. I’m very good at forgiveness. It’s one of my favourite things.” S2E1 9:57

- Gabriel shows up at Aziraphale’s bookshop bc he forgot everything when he got in the elevator. He was gonna take it to hell to find Beelzebub, but he accidentally took it to Earth. Dirty Donkey is across the street from A.Z. Fell and Co, which is a familiar (and angelic) location. Could probably sense that it was a safe space for him to be

- Michael was on the phone with Beelzebub

- The fly can be seen crawling on the box just before Aziraphale goes to pick it up

- “Gayyyyybriel” 20:56

- “Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out” Job 41:19 (written on matchbox)

- When Maggie calls him an angel, he says “nothing of the sort”

- Distancing himself from heaven? He’s no longer an angel?

- Or is it like all the times he claimed he and Crowley weren’t friends/didn’t know each other?

- Is he telling the truth or lying bc he’s scared of the repercussions?

- “Doing good again, angel?” “Oh it hardly counts. A purely selfish action.” (24:40)

- He’s no longer working for heaven, so he’s not obligated to do good. Crowley appears to be teasing him in a “don’t you wanna go apeshit?” kinda way.

- He now has to justify his good deeds by saying they’re for selfish reasons.

- Like Crowley has all along

- Does he see himself as a demon now?

- Like in the Job minisode when he thought he was going to fall for lying?

- Or is he just hella anxious bc of naked Gabriel in his bookshop?

- Nina immediately getting defensive when Maggie gives her the LP

- Says she doesn’t have anything to play it on, which is true, but it’s also a refusal of the gift

- Immediately tries to turn the conversation professional/tries to get Maggie to order

- Then brings up her partner/how controlling she is

- It’s an unspoken “please don’t do extra things for me bc my partner won’t like it”

- Obsessed with the fact that “Jim” doesn’t know literally anything, but found a duster and was like “ooh hell yeah I’m gonna deep clean this place”

- Why is it that they only communicate when they’re arguing?

- Aziraphale really likes suggesting that the only way to solve arguments is for them to separate

- Communicate and then compromise omg

- Crowley can summon lightning

- Why was this never brought up again?

- It might fall under the broad “they’re more powerful than heaven and hell realize” category

- But it’s a big thing, you’d think it’d be brought up again

- But y’know, it’s a plot device for Maggie and Nina’s fanfiction moment

- Michael and Uriel’s power struggle

- Michael’s all “we’re equal, I’m just a little more equal than you”

- Uriel’s all “this is bullshit, why can’t I give the orders too”

- Saraqael is all “shut tf up, you both suck, there are important things to deal with”

- The archangels not only see humans as vastly inferior, they see all the other angels as such too

- And the angels know it too

- Muriel introducing themself as “no one”

- Beelzebub is literally all “Crowley you could have my job if you find my himbo bf for me”

- Extreme sanctions

- “That isn’t actually a thing. That’s just something we used to joke about to frighten the cherubs” (35:37)

- Why doesn’t Crowley know about the Book of Life?? He was a high ranking angel (throne, dominion, or above), why doesn’t he know about the “extreme sanctions”?

- I think the Book of Life is just a bluff

- Nina’s “why not?” when Maggie says she doesn’t drink

- Bracing herself for a sob story or a “it’s so not good for you” type of lecture

- “Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy”

- IT SKIPS OVER “DINING AT THE RITZ”

- I AM UNWELL

- God I hate the fact that Lindsay didn’t go to Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death to check on Nina

- “Worried texts from Lindsay” nope, she’s not worried, she’s abusive

- Why is “a proper apology a humiliating dance?

- Don’t get me wrong, I love the dance, but PLEASE COMMUNICATE OMG

- Zira did the dance in 1650, 1793, 1941

- Crowley cut him off, was he gonna list more times????

- CROWLEY IM BEGGING YOU TELL AZIRAPHALE ABOUT THE EXTREME SANCTIONS

- He hasn’t told Aziraphale that he’s still in touch with hell

- He regularly meets with Shax (EDIT: He does tell Aziraphale about Shax, so he knows that much)

- Didn’t tell Zira about Beelzebub showing up in his car

- It’s almost like he’s not willing to let go of the way things used to be (/s)

- And feels guilty that he’s still in touch with Hell, but Zira isn’t in touch with Heaven

- Jim is visibly upset that they won’t talk to him and they instead talk down to him or talk about him right in front of him

- Was the miracle so strong bc Crowley and Aziraphale together are super fucking strong or because Jim accidentally helped?

- While I love Zira and Crowley together being strong, and the whole point of them being underestimated by Heaven and Hell, I think the latter would be funny

- It’s like Shadwell with his finger

- It could also be another way of tricking Heaven and He’ll like the body swap

- They already think they’re super powerful bc of the body swap, this would add to it

- Probably why the Metatron wanted them either to be split or together on his side

- Doin Mackichan and Gloria Obianyo slayed as Michael and Uriel

- I love the way that Heaven matches the modernity of Earth

- Uriel’s “smartphone” and their clothes

#good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens season 2 #good omens analysis #analyzing good omens bc I am neurodivergent and cannot think of anything else #lmk if you want me to elaborate on anything #i have so many thoughts #no thoughts only them #aziraphale #crowley #nina good omens #maggie good omens #uriel #archangel gabriel #archangel michael #saraquel #slay

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blueeyesking · 6 days

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Duel for the World! Finale!

Darkness spreads across the Dueling stage, roiling in thick clouds like the serpent that ate the sun of Atlantis. And what comes from that fog is exactly that:

Divine Serpent Geh (∞/∞)

A massive, monstrous serpent, mostly obscured by a portal into the void it came from. Dartz's LP are 0, he has no cards in hand, but as long as this monster is on the field, he can't lose no matter what.

Seto feels some sweat run down his back.

Dartz holds both hands out, as if supplicating to and showing off this new, horrible monster to his opponents.

"You see now, Nameless Pharaoh, Seto? When Orichalcos Shunoros is defeated, it summons my Divine Serpent-" Yugi thinks to himself that Joey would make a double entendre about that comment, then feels a renewed strength to fight, just a little- "And as long as my Divine Serpent exists on my field, I am guaranteed to have your souls as sacrifice! With infinite attack and defense, there is nothing either of you can do against it!"

Yugi and Seto stare down the emotionless Mirror Knights wearing the faces of Yugi's friends, and the monstrous serpent.

"...You are exceptionally lucky I cannot attack with it the turn it is summoned."

The Mirror Knights stare back, with Yugi's eyebrows struggling to lift into an expression. Before he can do anything, it's Seto's turn.

Pot of Greed. Well... it gets him a couple more options, but not much! He sets a spell and summons Different Dimension Dragon, keeping his LP safe from the Knights, for now... but not from Geh. He hopes Yugi has a bright idea.

Trying to clear the field, Seto has his dragons attack the Knights, jeering confidently to Dartz, "These may have the faces of Yugi's friends, but I know they're not real. You can't fool me with reprogrammed holograms- I invented this technology!"

Dartz would have let him, too, interested to see what happens to the souls inhabiting his Knights- but Yugi shouts to his Duel partner, "NO!!" and activates a trap: Soul Shield. It halves his LP to end the Battle Phase immediately. How uninteresting. Dartz pouts at the Duelists having their quarrel, crossing his arms.

"Too afraid to see what destiny has in store for your friends, Pharaoh? I would be, too- if I didn't know you all will be in the same place, in the end."

Seto glares at Yugi and passes his turn. Yugi draws, hand shaking.

Magical Space Typhoon. He can at least get the annoying Centaur out of play and keep Seto's monsters alive for one more round. The marble statue shatters into dust in the wake of the Typhoon, and Dartz is only getting less and less impressed. He taps his foot.

When his turn comes again, Dartz draws- but he has no real need. First, to destroy Seto's monsters--

"Go, my Mirror Knights! Remove their defenses, that my Serpent may devour their souls!"

The Knight wearing Mai's face leaps toward Seto's dragons, and is summarily executed by them... but the other two, Joey and Yugi, don't move. They struggle against their direction from Dartz, which is finally something interesting.

"Oh?" Dartz's tone drips with irony. "Well, if you won't attack, I'll have my Serpent end him right here-!"

This time, the Knights can move, and they move to block the great Serpent in its wormhole. Dartz can't order it to attack his own monsters, despite everything else he can do... Finally, a little sweat appears on his brow, as well.

"What...? Get out of the damn way!"

The Knights, with their outstretched arms, don't move an inch. Yugi turns his head to look over his shoulder at the Other Yugi.

"my... other me..." he manages to choke out around the restraints from the Card he's trapped in, and the Nameless Pharaoh's attention is instantly on nothing but his Partner. "we can't... hold it back forever... please, remember that card...!"

Yami Yugi's face is etched with confusion and anguish well beyond its years. "Aibou..." That Card?

"Tch." Dartz passes his turn. "Just one more useless turn to try and deny destiny. You're wasting your time, Chosen Duelists."

"Destiny can kiss my ass," replies Seto, as he draws. Then he laughs again. "Hahahaha! Speaking of Chosen Duelists...!"

The legendary dragon Critias rises from behind his Duelist, though Seto has very few options with which to fuse it... He decides on his unused Reflect Energy- surely, direct damage from a Legendary Dragon will somehow pierce through his loss prevention effect...?

Alas, it doesn't. Seto is down to Kaiser Glider and Critias, having had to sacrifice Different Dimension Dragon to Relay Soul's effect. "Damn it... Yugi...!"

Dartz laughs at them. It echoes around the hall of souls, even causing the flames to flicker in time.

"You call that a final move? It's your funeral, Seto Kaiba!"

Yugi has sweat dripping down his brow as he draws again, praying for something that will turn this duel around. All he can do is place a card and hope that his Partner and best friend can hold the snake at bay for a little longer...!

On his draw, Dartz grins, and raises the card above his head with the most drama yet. "This is the end! Truly! The final level of the Seal: Orichalcos Tritos!"

"It can get even more powerful...?" Yami gasps out, barely loud enough for Dartz to hear.

"Oh yes, Nameless Pharaoh- you are dealing with a force greater than the darkest shadows, and older than time itself."

The seal grows another layer, and Dartz gains another 2000 LP from Deuteros's effect, but he doesn't need it. Because he owns Tritos, his traps and spells still work, so he can activate the card he set at the very beginning of the duel: Martyr's Curse!

Seto's Legendary Dragon is dragged forward by the impossible snake's head, lashing out in an instant to grab it over the Mirror Knights, and crushing it in its jaws in a shower of hard-light dust.

Seto's eyes go wide as the Serpent strikes at him, next. Its massive fangs feel like they really pierce through him, and he chokes, stumbling back against the Seal's barrier. Dartz smirks, all teeth.

"Your soul will feed my God wonderfully, Seto Kaiba..."

Yugi rushes to Seto to catch him before his legs give out, only to see him still on his feet, barely holding up a hand to activate a set card: Wish of Final Effort. He had had a nagging thought in the back of his mind while they were building their decks together: what if he lost? What if Yugi, with his stupid protagonist syndrome, managed to outlast him and be their last hope? How could he ensure victory?

Kaiser Glider swirls into glitter on the wind, landing in Yugi's Duel Disk and bringing his LP back up to something manageable.

"don't screw up now, Yugi... the only thing either of us owes now, is to save the world from this lunatic...! make sure the revenge in my name is painful..."

Yugi catches Seto's body as his soul is captured by the Seal. The throng watch as it bounces around the room and lands in one of the two empty slots set aside for the final Chosen Duelists, standing strong and stuck about to pound on the face of his prison.

Dartz chuckles at the Nameless Pharaoh. "It seems you're the "soul" survivor, Pharaoh! But your ally has served his purpose, so I have no use for the chaff he left behind." He flicks a finger, lifting Seto's body out of Yugi's arms and against the portal; it shudders and twitches against the force of the magic, but Dartz forces it through, leaving Mokuba Kaiba to catch his big brother's (effective) corpse.

#arc: what the doma?!#OKAY LAST PART OF MINE!!!#UP TO YUGI NOW!!!#narrative post #millenniumdueled #capucapo

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mywifeleftme · 2 months

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330: Clara Rockmore // Theremin

Theremin Clara Rockmore 1977, Delos (Bandcamp)

100 years since its invention, the theremin remains an oddity. It is in every respect an antiquated piece of technology, and yet like the Tesla coil and the plasma globe it still provokes the primal wonder of science-as-magic. The advancements of a modern synthesizer unit are hidden from the eye—if you presented it to an unthawed person from the 19th century, they would at least be able to infer that the device is controlled using the buttons and keys. But the theremin player creates sound by coaxing an invisible magnetic field with their bare hands, as though they are pulling its warbling voice from the air itself—and indeed, inventor Léon Theremin’s artful original name for his instrument was the ætherphone.

youtube

To watch a performance by Clara Rockmore, the instrument’s foremost practitioner, is to see something that resembles a scene from a séance or a German Expressionist film. A petite, dark-haired woman with the eyes of an Orthodox Virgin Mary, she would stand ramrod straight behind the lectern-like theremin, nearly motionless save for the almost palsied-looking convulsions of her knotted hands and the tensing of her eyebrows, the only sign on her otherwise slack features of the intensity of her concentration. She looks as though she is forcing down the song attempting to leap from her throat until it screams through her fingertips like steam from a kettle. As synth pioneer Robert Moog explains in his liner notes to Rockmore’s 1977 LP Theremin, her absolute stillness was not a theatrical device but a requirement of playing the instrument: the theremin’s magnetic field encompasses not only the performers hands but their entire upper body, meaning that even a minor motion of the head will influence the instrument’s pitch. But the austere figure she cut no doubt contributed to her allure, the sense that she was herself as unearthly as the instrument she played.

Rockmore, a violin prodigy since age 5, took to Theremin’s invention sometime in the late 1920s. Her concerts popularized and legitimated the instrument, but it would be nearly a half-century before the Theremin LP, her first, was finally released. Produced by Shirleigh Moog and engineered by her husband Robert, one gets the sense that the Moogs are fans trying to correct an oversight, to record the album as it would’ve sounded if it had been made her during her prime. The results are captivating, even haunting. At times you may be fooled into thinking you’re listening to a recording of a human soprano from some decayed shellac disc; in other moments, you will be moved by how world-weary an electronic tone can sound. Rockmore is accompanied, as she had been since the beginning, by her sister Nadia Reisenberg on piano, and her selections focus on 19th and early 20th century compositions, with a heavy emphasis on the Romantics. A majority of the pieces here come from her fellow Russians, including Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky. My personal favourite of these is her take on Joseph Achron’s “Hebrew Melody.” Inspired by traditional laments, Rockmore’s theremin evokes the sobbing characteristic (krekhts) of Jewish vocal music, while her sister thunders and pirouettes on her piano in a classically Romantic style.

Theremin stands apart from other electronic classical records like Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach because it never sounds wholly like a novelty despite the theremin’s high camp potential (and, for that matter, Rockmore’s). It is peculiar, and my fascination with it definitely originated in a perverse nostalgia for esoteric junk—but the somber beauty of the sisters’ performance wiped the smirk from my face from virtually the moment I dropped the needle.

330/365

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miss-tc-nova · 3 months

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So I'm totally gonna work on that request, but in the meantime, let me just answer this last question you have at the end here.

I have OCD

I've been playing this game almost 2 years and have logged in every. single. day. I don't have a choice. I have a problem and games like these are a massive trap for me, which is why I'm only allowed to have 1-2 on my phone at a time.

HOWEVER!

I'm not as decked out as you think I am. I just pick a card and focus all my resources until it's maxed. All my other cards are lucky if they even get a guest room sticker.

But STICK TO YOUR HISTORY LESSONS! It makes it a little more bearable if you use the star shards to fill your LP and loop 30 lessons at a time instead of 10 (see top red circle on pic below.)

ALSO USE YOUR ITEMS (bottom red circle). The leaping macarons and lucky cupcakes are best to level faster. Use the middle limelight waffles for leveling one specific card faster.

But if you stick to the history lessons, you'll also get blooming honey, which is the instant way to level up. And it's totally more cost effective to earn them through history lessons.

ALSO now we've got the new special lessons which are extra level exp. AND the lesson skips too. So take advantage of those!

Aside from that, if you're struggling, find a good friend card you can rely on. You're welcome to add me. Azul is a great defense/healer, especially if you add Riddle. And I'll probably never change him out so he'll always be there if you need him.

TLDR:

Do history lessons

Use star shards to increase LP (up to 30)

Use leaping macarons and lucky cupcakes for more exp (make sure item usage on when looping lessons)

Use blooming honey for instant levels

Do special lessons and use lesson skips

Nova's Player ID: 6xVaUmk5

#anon asks nova #this is only about leveling #a fully maxed out card requires more than lvls #i have alarms for this game #nova has problems #which is why it took 1500 days to delete duolingo #would never get anything done if i had more games #not even allowed tiktok #barely allowed tumblr

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thats-h0w-th3-light-g3ts-in · 1 month

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It‘s March 17th, 2024 and as of an hour ago I am the proud owner of my very own brand new Rumours LP.

It‘s a small step for the world but a GIANT LEAP for this little fangirl over here trying to not lose her mind.

#fleetwood mac #rumours #1977 #christine mcvie #stevie nicks #lindsey buckingham #mick fleetwood #john mcvie #lp #vinyl #record #happy

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fivepercentgodsandearths · 5 months

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My third album of 2023 (& my whole career!), Burnt Silk & Blessed Builds, is out now with my Godbrother @realkingkamaal . These songs represent our fight against oppression and unfortunately real combatants challenging us disrespectfully and dishonorably, thus the Burnt Silk. It is also anchored by powerful insights and soulful intricate songwriting, surely blessed builds.

No one can listen to this and not recognize the genius of the Hawk, King Kamaal's executive direction, arranging, astonishing expert lyricism and technique, soulful harmonizing and Mayfield groove. My improvement of leaps and bounds this year from our first LP to here has so much to do with the rehearsing and education King provides and then a freedom to create without hindrance. The producers @truecipher @djphonz1974

@seriousbeats absolutely inspired us and the MCs @indigophoenyx_official

@ap_da_overlord @infinite7mind

are exceptional here as they have been their whole careers. My brother @deejay_toshi

wound and bound a major song while Indigo created a lush cover for us. Of it all it is my youngest daughter, Alma, and her performance on "Remembered In Perfection" that signifies how intimate and major this LP creation is to my life. As I will protect her, I will also uphold our integrity in all of our creativity as we Creators create creation. We still build...

Supreme thank you to all who listen, share, comment and support our work.

Peace, Sunez Allah

aka #SkillastratorLO

aka #TheIronButterfly⚔️🦋

aka #LOvoeSunatra

❗️LINK IN BIO❗️

https://sunezking.bandcamp.com/album/burnt-silk-blessed-builds

#nation of gods and earths #supreme mathematics #five percent nation #allah school in mecca #hip hop #5% nation of gods and earths #rappers #poetry #puerto rican #latino #indie #indie hip hop

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savage-kult-of-gorthaur · 5 days

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"THE UNDEGROUND CULT ALBUM FROM THE WORLD'S FASTEST DEATH METAL BAND!"

PIC INFO: Part 2 of 2 -- Resolution at 1400x1400 Spotlight on "Horrified," the only studio album by pioneering American grindcore band REPULSION.

Although the album was originally recorded in 1986, and released on cassette as "Slaughter of the Innocent," it remained unreleased until three years later when it was officially released on LP and CD via Necrosis Records, a sublabel of Earache [Records] run by Jeff Walker and Bill Steer of the band CARCASS.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "REPULSION has always been a band that your favorite bands worshipped, but were somehow otherwise criminally unheard of. But make no mistake, evangelizers like Napalm Death, Carcass, Entombed, Terrorizer, At the Gates and others will tell you: One listen to "Horrified" — to the thrashing riffs and buzzsaw bass, the desperately screamed vocals and the incessant pounding (that legitimized a new drumbeat) — and you’ll see how it all started; you’ll visit the haunted cobwebbed attic of the genre we call grindcore.

Recorded in ’86, tape-traded for three years — beyond REPULSION’s demise — and released posthumously on Earache sub-label Necrosis in ’89, "Horrified" infected the burgeoning underground with an unheralded blend of hardcore and death metal, appealing to disparate scenes and transcending genre boundaries, effectively blurring them into a frenetic mess. It was a singularity, a leap in the evolution. Unpolished and unapologetic, its legacy of primitivism is just as relevant now in this digital age of perfection as it was back in the ’80s, when it was shocking enough to make tape decks tremble and listeners utter, "What the fuck is that?""

-- "DECIBEL" Magazine, written by Matthew Widener, REPULSION's "Horrified," "Decibel" Hall of Fame #42, August 8, 2008

Source: www.decibelmagazine.com/2008/08/18/repulsion-horrified & Wikipedia.

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a-silent-symphony · 1 year

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NIGHTWISH's FLOOR JANSEN To Release New Solo Single 'Invincible' This Friday

Floor Jansen, best known as the lead vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band NIGHTWISH, will release a new solo single, "Invincible", on Friday, January 13. She says: "This song tackles a sensitive and important subject."

"Invincible" is the fourth single from Floor's upcoming debut solo album, "Paragon", which will arrive on March 24. The LP showcases the Dutch-born singer's impressive vocal range and powerful voice on a diverse collection of pop-infused tracks and emotional ballads influenced by the sounds of her career.

"Paragon" includes the following tracks:

01. My Paragon 02. Daydream 03. Invincible 04. Hope 05. Come Full Circle 06. Storm 07. Me Without You 08. The Calm 09. Armoured Wings 10. Fire

Jansen said: "To renew yourself and take leaps into the unknown makes you grow. To age is a gift not everyone gets. I am a fortunate woman who got to make an album I never knew I could make. One that even defines me, where I am on my path. I have reached my PARAGON! I am so proud of this work! And grateful for all the amazing people in this beautiful life that helped me get here!"

With its mix of influences and powerful vocal performances, "Paragon" is an album that will appeal to fans of pop music and metal alike. It's the perfect addition to any music collection, and a must-have for fans of Floor Jansen and NIGHTWISH.

"Paragon" will be released digitally and physically on CD, vinyl, and a limited-edition deluxe box set. The album will be available on all major streaming platforms and at music retailers worldwide.

Following the release, Jansen will embark on a tour of The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in April and May of 2023.

Floor has already released three singles from "Paragon": "Me Without You", "Storm" and "Fire".

As part of NIGHTWISH, Jansen has landed two number one albums in Finland, and Top Five albums in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

Born in the Netherlands, Jansen joined her first band, one of the world's first symphonic metal bands, AFTER FOREVER, when she was only 16 years old. The group went on to release five albums from 2000 to 2007, before they broke up in 2009.

Jansen's next band, REVAMP, released two albums in 2010 and 2013, before she joined NIGHTWISH as a full-time member. NIGHTWISH's first album with Jansen as the lead singer was 2015's "Endless Forms Most Beautiful", which landed in Top 10s around the world. This was followed by 2020's "Human. :II: Nature." , which was also an international success.

Jansen has toured extensively with the band and appeared on three of NIGHTWISH's live albums "Showtime, Storytime", "Vehicle Of Spirit" and "Decades: Live In Buenos Aires".

In 2019, Jansen participated in the popular Dutch TV show "Beste Zangers" where she scored a big hit with "Phantom Of The Opera" together with Henk Poort. She was recognized with a Dutch Popprijs award — a prestigious accolade for artists that has made important contributions to Dutch music. In the same year, her first solo tour sold out in less than 24 hours.

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band's lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon. Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013.

#floor jansen #NW members side projects #Floor solo career #2023 news

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soundsandnoises · 1 year

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James Bay in O2 Academy Bristol

03/12/2022

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sonic-wildfire · 3 months

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tell me aboutbyour least favorite band/artist throw hate into yhe world and THEN tell me about your current fav album to cancel out the hate. balance or smth idk

Green Day’s Father of All Motherfuckers was everything I didn’t want from a mainstream rock record. The tracks are overly wrought with these glitzy beats and bland instrumentation that strays way too much from the band’s previously established sound too quickly. The melodramatic string sections and the vocal performance from Billie Joe Armstrong is subpar, at some points obnoxious. The basic and formulaic approach the band takes to each track on this album betrays its 26-minute runtime by making it feel like 126 minutes. Just could not find anything redeeming about this record for the life of me.

On the flip side of things, I do enjoy Silent Planet’s new LP, Superbloom. It pushes the envelope of metalcore by embracing more electronic inspirations and well-placed clean singing, and then mixing it with the aggression and energy typically expected of metalcore. This album (and their 2021 effort Iridescent) is a quantum leap over their earlier material which I didn’t really care for. I mean, look at a track like “Panic Room” and then at a track like “Antimatter.” Like night and day.

#Ask

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cyarskaren52 · 5 months

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Best Albums of 2023

Many of the LPs that made an impact this year, including SZA’s “SOS” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Guts,” came from looking inward.

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Jon Pareles

The Personal Is Powerful

Personal reflections, not grand statements, filled my most memorable albums of 2023. It was a year when many of the best songs came from looking inward: at tricky relationships, at memories, at individual hopes and fears. Yet in the music, introspection led to exploration: expanding and toying with sonic possibilities, enjoying the way every note is now an infinitely flexible digital choice. For me, there was no overwhelming, year-defining album; this list could just as well be alphabetical. Instead, 2023 was a year of artists going in decidedly individual (and group) directions to grapple with their own questions, risks and rewards.

1. SZA, ‘SOS’

Released in December 2022, too late for last year’s best-of lists, SZA’s “SOS” ended a five-year gap between albums with a sprawling collection of 23 songs. Across all sorts of productions, her melodies blur any difference between rapping and singing, in casually acrobatic phrases full of jazzy syncopations and startling leaps. SZA sings about relationships from multiple angles: raunchy, devoted, betrayed, spiteful, injured, supercilious, insecure, regretful, sardonic, blithely murderous. And she makes her insights sound as natural as if she’d just thought of them on the spot.

2. Karol G, ‘Mañana Será Bonito’

Karol G turns heartache into ear candy on “Mañana Será Bonito” (“Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful”), 17 songs that work their way through a breakup to find a new start. Her voice sounds utterly guileless as she sings about lust, betrayal, revenge and healing. With an international assortment of guests, the Colombian songwriter brings pop tunefulness to reggaeton and also makes forays into rock, Dominican dembow, Afrobeats and regional Mexican music — claiming an ever-expanding territory in global pop.

3. boygenius, ‘The Record’

Synergy reigns in boygenius, the alliance of the singer-songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. On “The Record,”they seem to dare one another to rev up the music and sing candidly, or at least believably, about the many ways relationships — romances, friendships, mentorships — can go sideways. Meanwhile, their harmonies promise to carry them through all the setbacks together.

4. Paul Simon, ‘Seven Psalms’

“Seven Psalms” comes across as a farewell album from Paul Simon, 82. It’s also an artistic leap, expanding his mastery of the three-minute song into an unbroken 33-minute suite that traverses folk, blues and jazz. Simon sings about mortality as a “great migration” and extols the presence and purpose of “The Lord,” as the biblical psalms do. He also ponders music, love, family and eternity. The tone is conversational and quizzical; the implications are deep.

5. Olivia Rodrigo, ‘Guts’

Adolescence is complicated enough. Throw in celebrity, social-media scrutiny, headline touring and musical productivity, and it’s remarkable that Oliva Rodrigo, now 20, has kept not only a clear head but a sense of humor. The songs on her second album, “Guts,” combine pop’s concision and melody with rock’s potential to erupt. The production riffles through decades of crafty allusions as she deals with self-confidence and insecurity, misjudgments and comeuppances, and the relentless, contradictory expectations placed on a teenage female star.

6. Feist, ‘Multitudes’

Feist explores sorrow, longing, solace, new motherhood and the future of the Earth on “Multitudes.” Her latest songs are mostly quiet, but not always. They can take startling dynamic leaps: between unadorned acoustic close-ups and forays into orchestration or electronics, between lullaby and clatter, between intimacy and mystery, always seeking a compassionate path.

7. Everything but the Girl, ‘Fuse’

Despite a 24-year gap between albums by Everything but the Girl, “Fuse” isn’t exactly a reunion. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have been married the whole time. But “Fuse” reawakens and revises what they created together on their 1990s albums: a melancholy wee-hours ambience, with electronics pulsing behind Thorne’s contralto, where yearning meets experience and there’s always a chance at an epiphany.

8. Danny Brown, ‘Quaranta’

Early in 2023, Danny Brown collaborated with the avant-hip-hop producer Jpegmafia on the bristling, manic, bawdy album “Scaring the Hoes.” But “Quaranta” is a reckoning with maturity; “quaranta” means 40 in Italian, and Brown is now 42. The tracks veer from relaxed and retro to head-spinning and abstract. Brown raps about growing up in Detroit, coping with the ups and downs of a hip-hop career, and dealing with gentrification and change. On “Quaranta,” he’s an unabashed hip-hop grown-up.

9. Speedy Ortiz, ‘Rabbit Rabbit’

Rock could hardly get denser or spikier than it does on “Rabbit Rabbit” from Speedy Ortiz, the band led by Sadie Dupuis. Guitar lines race, collide, tangle and distort; Dupuis lofts blithe pop melodies above them. The lyrics are sometimes cryptic, sometimes glaringly exposed, as she sings about trauma, power and growing self-knowledge about dark moments. But the momentum is exultant, noisily overcoming the past.

10. Vijay Iyer, Arooj Aftab, Shahzad Ismaily, ‘Love in Exile’

Ambient, jazz, world music: “Love in Exile” partakes of them all. Its three collaborators share South Asian roots and American musical practice. Their improvised pieces draw on deep traditions — especially the singer Arooj Aftab’s ancient melodies and Urdu poetry — along with Shazad Ismaily’s liminal synthesizer drones and penumbras and Vijay Iyer’s patient but mutable piano patterns. They start with simplicity, then listen to one another; things happen.

Another 20 worthwhile albums, alphabetically:

100 gecs, “10,000 gecs”

André 3000, “New Blue Sun”

Corinne Bailey Rae, “Black Rainbows”

Geese, “3D Country”

Margaret Glaspy, “Echo the Diamond”

Irreversible Entanglements, “Protect Your Light”

Hannah Jadagu, “Aperture”

Kelela, “Raven”

Mitski, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We”

Janelle Monáe, “The Age of Pleasure”

L’Rain, “I Killed Your Dog”

Nkosazana Daughter, “Uthingo Le Nkosazana”

Noname, “Sundial”

Peso Pluma, “Génesis”

Raye, “My 21st Century Blues”

The Rolling Stones, “Hackney Diamonds”

Allison Russell, “The Returner”

Jorja Smith, “Falling or Flying”

Kali Uchis, “Red Moon in Venus”

Water From Your Eyes, “Everyone’s Crushed”

Jon Caramanica

Listening Widely, Feeling Deeply

The excellent albums that expanded the sound and idea of what pop music can be this year came from all over the globe, in all styles, and in many cases captured the beauty and unexpected creative shocks of cross-genre optimism. And the excellent albums about feelings this year were uncommonly direct, sparse, unbowed and sometimes whispered.

1. Asake, ‘Work of Art’

The second album by the Nigerian singer Asake captures the sound of exultant celebration. Rooted in the South African dance style amapiano, and playing with a range of more traditional Nigerian styles, it is elegant, careful and precious; as crisp as sunshine hitting skin, a restoration and a renewal.

2. Ice Spice, ‘Like..?’

As a rapper, Ice Spice is sturdy, terse, poised, cool — a virtuoso of delivering tough talk with a whisper. This EP, her first, is a primer on how to reconcile drill’s pugnacity with the sweetness of pop — no one since Pop Smoke has done it better.

3. SZA, ‘SOS’

SZA sings as if she’s revealing confidences, viciously detailing how perceptible flaws lead to imperceptible holes that gnaw away at you until they’re filled. Her second album — actually released in late 2022, after list-making season — is an aching catalog of letdowns, recriminations and, ever so rarely, relief.

4. NewJeans, ‘Get Up’

The most modern, most progressive and most slick pop release of the year is this futurist delight of an EP from the Korean girl group NewJeans, who are adaptable to a host of styles, including sultry R&B and pop-jungle.

5. 100 gecs, ‘10,000 gecs’

The maligned, the overlooked, the caustic, the cheeky — 100 gecs loves them all, and builds undeniably jubilant songs from these deeply shattered parts. This is the duo’s second album, and trades some of the debut’s shock for a kind of twisted tunefulness. The punishment continues; morale improves.

6. Megan Moroney, ‘Lucky’

Don’t let the inherent perkiness in the country singer Megan Moroney’s voice fool you — she’s an acute conveyor of what it feels like to hold it together while your insides shatter. This debut album has plenty of moving heartbreak songs, but also a few that detail how the person most likely to let you down is … you.

7. Peso Pluma, ‘Génesis’

For the last few years, traditional Mexican music has been updating rapidly, with a legion of younger stars indebted to hip-hop’s swagger taking the baton. Peso Pluma is this generation’s truest synthesist, and this album is his most ambitious yet, a blend of woozy and proud.

8. Zach Bryan, ‘Zach Bryan’

Another year, another album of songs written with a disarmingly pointillist perspective delivered with the ease and beauty of a rumpled pile of brown leaves on a crisp late-fall evening.

9. Sexyy Red, ‘Hood Hottest Princess’

It’s uncanny how unfinished but inevitable the songs on Sexyy Red’s breakout album sound, as if the way to navigate the space between casual smack talk and rap’s biggest stages wasn’t a crazy leap, but a practically indifferent saunter.

10. Bailey Zimmerman, ‘Religiously. The Album.’

A bruising collection of post-Morgan Wallen/Luke Combs power country, Bailey Zimmerman’s debut album has the straight-faced grandeur of anthemic 2000s arena rock overlaid with heartbroken lyrics descended from multiple generations of young men, in various genres, given to shouting their feelings at top volume.

11. Olivia Rodrigo, ‘Guts’

A snarling turn for the most important new pop starlet of the last few years, “Guts” is the sort of album you make when you experience enormous success and immediately sense the hollowness within. These songs are salted with some pop-punk, a dash of riot grrrl and a withering opinion of everyone fame has put in her path.

12. Drake, ‘For All the Dogs Scary Hours Edition’

The rare case of a bonus edition of an album deepening the meaning of the original version. The six additional songs added to the deluxe collection make Drake’s most recent album less about midcareer meandering and more about throne-sitting

13. Tanner Adell, ‘Buckle Bunny’

A pop-oriented singer who has an easy way with twang (but doesn’t over-rely on it), Tanner Adell casually traverses oozy R&B, barroom country, tsk-tsking hip-hop and disconsolate balladry on this winning debut. Her take on country music is uncanny, provocative and — if only Nashville would relax its borders — feels somewhat inevitable.

14. Troye Sivan, ‘Something to Give Each Other’

The best and most assured album Troye Sivanhas made is full of horny-on-main flirtation, high-viscosity production, and lyrics that reckon with the way that sweat on the dance floor can actually be a damp cover for tenderness.

And 10 more:

Natanael Cano, “Nata Montana”

Lana Del Rey, “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd”

Jung Kook, “Golden”

Le Sserafim, “Unforgiven”

Mandy, Indiana, “I’ve Seen a Way”

Saint Levant, “From Gaza, With Love”

Skrillex, “Quest for Fire”

Uncle Waffles, “Asylum”

Morgan Wade, “Psychopath”

Morgan Wallen, “One Thing at a Time”

Lindsay Zoladz

Smart, Stupid and Fully Alive

My favorite albums of the year tended to be acts of aural world building: finely detailed utopias (or dystopias) that invited temporary immersion into other psyches and sounds. Some of these reflected on the brokenness of the planet, others indulged in abstract absurdism. But all offered a needed respite from reality, using the musical imagination as an escape route.

1. 100 gecs, ‘10,000 gecs’

So much great pop music walks a tightrope between stupidity and brilliance. 100 gecs see that tightrope and, in the opening moments of their kaleidoscopically anarchic second album “10,000 gecs,” light it on fire. “If you think I’m stupid now, you should see me when I’m high,” the digitally manipulated voice of Laura Les sings. “And I’m smarter than I look; I’m the dumbest girl alive.”

100 gecs — Les and the producer Dylan Brady — are garbage collectors of modern cultural detritus who fashion pummeling pop-rock from the junkyard of our collective unconscious. (On one song on this album, they rhyme Cheetos, Doritos, Fritos, mosquitoes, burritos and Danny DeVito.) But as nonsensical as these songs appear to be — and on some level, absolutely are — meaning and emotion trickle through. What seems like a novelty song about a frog at a kegger becomes, somehow, a poignant plea to accept social awkwardness in others.

When Les and Brady released their self-titled debut in 2019, they seemed like digital-era jesters, thumbing their noses at good taste in their quest to make hyperactive music of the future. On “10,000 gecs,” though, they wisely look back to a seemingly dead genre — rock music — and enliven it with genuinely appreciative, sonically studious tributes to pop-punk, metal, gonzo alt-rock and yes, even ska. The result is loud, brash, jubilant and unsentimentally inclusive in a way that so much of the music from which they borrow was not. “10,000 gecs” is a 27-minute blast of joy that speaks the language of our broken brains. They’re even dumber than they sound. They’re the smartest band alive.

2. Caroline Polachek, ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’

“Welcome to my island,” the art-pop auteur Caroline Polachek proclaims at the beginning of this twisty travelogue through her own musical mind, before letting loose one of the most towering choruses of the year. This follow-up to the underrated “Pang” from 2019 explores Polachek’s sonic obsessions including opera, flamenco, Celtic music, Y2K-era soft rock (Dido makes a fitting cameo) and the outer limits of experimental pop. Welcome to La Isla de Polachek, population: One.

3. Olivia Rodrigo, ‘Guts’

Olivia Rodrigo has a knack for capturing the visceral ache of growing pains, the physical recoil of cringe. It’s all over “Guts,” her chatty, triumphant “yeah, right” to the sophomore slump. Notice the way her voice breaks when she recounts her social faux pas or the romantic mistakes of her recent past: “How could I be so stupid?” she sings, practically retching that last word. Rodrigo may be a Gen Z heroine, but the irresistible rockers on “Guts” prove that the ’90s mean something more specific to her than mass-produced Nirvana shirts and borrowed nostalgia. If anything, she’s a home-schooled riot grrrl, waking up from the teenage dream and stumbling into an admirably messy young adulthood.

4. Lana Del Rey, ‘Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’

Pop’s divisive princess swings for the heavens on her sprawling ninth album, and even at her most meandering, you have to admire the ambition. Throughout this dizzying, 78-minute swirl of the sacred and the profane, Lana Del Rey pays tribute to her own hodgepodge canon of Americana: Harry Nilsson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Forensic Files,” John Denver, Angelina Jolie and — finally, provocatively, deservedly — herself.

5. Debby Friday, ‘Good Luck’

With perhaps the most confident and promising debut album of the year, the Toronto-based electronic musician Debby Friday creates an alluringly dark, industrial backdrop for her slinky self-mythologizing and galvanizing pep talks to herself. “Speak up, speak up, Friday Child,” she intones on the intention-setting opener. “Say what you came to say.” Does she ever.

6. Fever Ray, ‘Radical Romantics’

Karin Dreijer, formerly of the Knife, injects an enlivening jolt of vulnerability into their long-running solo project Fever Ray on this bold exploration of desire, seduction and midlife romance. “Looking for a person with a special kind of smile/Teeth like razors, fingers like spice,” they sing, summing up an album that sounds, thrillingly, like the world’s weirdest personal ad.

7. Water From Your Eyes, ‘Everyone’s Crushed’

Like Sonic Youth if it had been raised on memes, flavored vape cartridges and forced Zoom hangouts, the Brooklyn-based duo Water From Your Eyes (Rachel Brown and Nate Amos) mold dissonant guitars and deadpan vocals into hypnotic art rock that obliquely reflects the absurdity — and at times, the stubborn compassion — of the world in which it was created.

8. Jamila Woods, ‘Water Made Us’

On her third album, Chicago’s Jamila Woods, one of contemporary R&B’s sharpest observers, turns her gaze inward and — in a voice at once plain-spoken and poetic — charts the insight and self-discovery she’s gained in the process of her patient search for love.

9. Jessie Ware, ‘That! Feels Good!’

The British pop musician Jessie Warecontinues her midcareer transformation into a liberated disco diva with a killer record collection — ESG, Grace Jones, Donna Summer — on this fizzy, appropriately exclamatory ode to the pleasure principle.

10. Anohni and the Johnsons:, ‘My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross’

For the first time in over a decade, Anohnireunited with her band the Johnsons, inspiring her to push her forcefully tender voice in a new direction and craft a loose, soulful and casually virtuosic album that updates Marvin Gaye’s classic 1971 query for an age of climate grief, selective listening and hardening hearts. Let Anohni melt yours.

And 5 more:

L’Rain, “I Killed Your Dog”

Sufjan Stevens, “Javelin”

Mitski, “The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We”

Spencer Zahn, “Statues I & II”

Jana Horn, “The Window Is the Dream”

Jon Pareles has been The Times’s chief pop music critic since 1988. A musician, he has played in rock bands, jazz groups and classical ensembles. He majored in music at Yale University. More about Jon Pareles

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