#me with an entire mental playlist (that song would rightfully be on it. the way you look tonight. etc) and a favorite dress | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madeofsplinters · 3 years

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Playlist Notes: “Strike Me Down; I Am Unarmed”

Continuing my series - I’m gonna write “liner notes” for all my fic playlists eventually.

Listen along: [Spotify | YouTube]

Fic for this playlist is “Strike Me Down; I Am Unarmed” on AO3. If you haven’t read the fic, be aware this does not work as a general character playlist for Vader or Tarkin (or Daala, who also gets a few songs); it’s specifically a playlist describing the events of this particular AU fic.

Halestorm - The Reckoning

You made a mess outta me Where do I begin? You'll pay for your sins

We don't ever see Vader killing Palpatine onscreen in this story, but this story is all about Vader having killed Palpatine, so I couldn't resist starting with my favorite Revenge Song...

Billie Eilish - bellyache

My V is for Vendetta Thought that I'd feel better

The story actually begins with Vader waking up in his tank, beginning to recover from the injuries he sustained mid-revenge. His triumph hasn't fully sunk in, and he's confused, ill, and generally a mess. Wasn’t this big, dramatic revenge supposed to solve everything?

Billie Eilish - you should see me in a crown

Watch me make 'em bow One by one by one

It's a total gimme! It's on everyone and their dog's villain playlist already! Am I putting it on my villain playlist anyway? Heck YES. (In my original brainstorming notes for this story, when it talks about Tarkin having to wear Imperial robes now instead of his military uniform, it literally just says "you should see me in a crown dot gif")

Poppy - Fill the Crown

You can be anyone you want to be You can be free, you can be free

This is the song for the earlier chapters of the story, where Vader is blundering around trying to figure out how to be Emperor, while knowing in the back of his mind that Emperor and Sith Master is not actually what he wants to be. The sheer cognitive dissonance of this song is lovely - one voice promising a bright, happy future, much like Tarkin's optimistic view of what's in store for Vader now, while the other one meanders in and out promising atrocities and pain.

DIAMANTE - Sleepwalking

I feel you in my dreams You're everywhere, you won't go easily

Vader, dreaming of Palpatine's ghost.

laye - likefck

Wantin' you is evil When it's hard to have you here

This song is about the loneliness of a long-distance relationship with a wealthy, powerful, neglectful man. I heard it at just the right (wrong?) time, so now it's Daala's song, while she’s exiled to the Maw Cluster and waiting for a word from Tarkin. (But of course, in this fic, she isn't going to stay there...)

Icon For Hire - Supposed to Be

I fear now There's not much left of me When you take the sick away Who am I supposed to be?

The sheer dissonance of Vader trying to be Emperor inevitably leads to a mental breakdown. Now that Palpatine is gone, the natural impulse is to recover somehow from the things Palpatine did to him. But when evil and sickness are as thoroughly baked into someone's life as they are into Vader's, what does recovery even look like? Where do you begin?

Evanescence - Imperfection

I'm gonna save you from it Together we'll outrun it Just don't give into the fear

Tarkin comforting Vader during his mental breakdown, promising they'll fight the ghost that haunts him together. This song is probably too effusive and out of character for Tarkin but I just love it so much. (Spotify informs me that it was my #1 most-listened-to song during the hellyear of 2020.) That little growl on the "don't you dare surrender" in the last chorus. Fuck yes. Fave.

Beth Crowley - Empire

So fear me or love me It's all the same

This song was supposed to be about Game of Thrones, but too bad, it's mine now and it's Tarkin's song (as he sorts through Palpatine's effects and resolves to be an even better Emperor than his predecessor.)

Little Mix - Monster In Me

Why don't we kill each other slowly? What can I say? Baby, what can I do? The monster in me loves the monster in you

Most of these songs give a particular character's perspective at a particular time, but this one is the theme song of the whole, sad, evil polycule. <3

Halsey - Strange Love

And everybody wants to know 'bout how it felt to hear you scream They know you walk like you're a god, they can't believe I made you weak

This song works pretty well for Daala processing some thoughts about Tarkin, the secrecy and scandal and power imbalance of their relationship now that it's become something they can talk about in public, and what she does or doesn't owe to anyone involved.

DIAMANTE - Ghost Myself

If I could build a fire and burn down my life That would be the one thing I got right

Vader's suicidal ideation, set to a catchy beat. ("Ghost," used as a verb here, is already suppoesd to be a pun but considering the role of Palpatine's ghost in this story, it's now a triple entendre. Wheeee.)

In This Moment - The Beginning - Interlude

I am the moon and the sun that you bask in I am the name written on your grave

Just a creepy little overture as the characters approach Exegol and prepare to deal with whatever spooky Sith Ghost bullshit they find there. Vader’s ghost, whispering to him.

Delain - Masters of Destiny

I am the dreamer I roll the dice and I'm alive My hands aren't tied

This song and the next two make sort of a trio in my head, all intertwined with each other, all taking place at almost entirely the same moment, or at least in the same scene. In terms of what order Vader figures things out in the story, maybe it should go later; but in terms of making the trio work musically, when I listen to it in order, it goes first. This song is Vader feeling trapped by destiny and by the plans that have been made for him, only to finally realize he isn't trapped at all.

Beast In Black - Unlimited Sin

Swallowed by blind rage Once pure, now bloodstained Evil flows through your black veins

This is, obviously, The Palpatine Song. (UnLiMiTeD pOwEr!!111) It's goofy as fuck. It makes me giggle and bounce around. It almost doesn't belong in this playlist because of how goofy it is. But, even if Palps himself turns out to be really and truly dead, this is the part of the story where Vader comes face to face with his legacy and his impact on Vader's life. And I think the goofiness... sort of works, in a weird way. Even when he is rightfully dead and gone from the narrative, chances are good, Sheev Palpatine is still cackling at you.

In This Moment - Roots

I'm stronger than I ever knew I'm strong because of you

"Songs where women thank their abusers for toughening them up" is an entire genre and I have extremely mixed feelings about it, but In This Moment's approach is sufficiently ambivalent and angry that it works for me. This is Vader coming to terms with his feelings about Palpatine. He'll never not be someone who was shaped by what Palpatine did to him, even with Palpatine dead. But he can claim a strength and a freedom and even a defiance within that.

Lauren Jauregui - Invisible Chains

Keep running, on my way, I can see the light Got a hundred miles left and I'm feeling like I might stay alive

Closing credits. This is a song about working through trauma and mental illness and at last finding a glimmer of hope, and it's the soft little heart of this story. That last cry of "I already saved myself," like it's a revelation to the singer as well as the listener. God I just love it.

#fic playlist

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mrsrcbinscn · 4 years

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Script Excerpts: Franny’s Top Albums of 2019

[playlist]

tl;dr: A selection of script excerpts from a video on Franny’s YouTube channel called “My Favorite Albums of 2019″. Pretend I finished this in December like I wanted to and that January isn’t nearly over okay

Her channel doesn’t have a super regular upload schedule. She doesn’t feel like adding ~~~youtube personality~~~ to her long list of wikipedia page job titles. And she keeps her social medias (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram) firmly in the “this is for fun” part of her mind. She doesn’t make any sponsored videos or posts on social media but when the mood strikes she’ll upload videos about music, music history, current trends in the industry she’s noticing and her thoughts on them, album reviews, and her favorite content to make is videos where she signal boosts several lesser-known artists in one video and fangirls over how much she loves them and why y’all should, too.

INTRO: Susadei*, hello, and welcome to my channel, where I, Franny Sor Robinson, share my pesky lady opinions about music on the internet.”

*susadei is the informal way to say hello in Khmer, Franny’s first language

TOPIC INTRODUCTION: It is almost Christmas, which means! It’s time to talk about my favorite albums of 2019. As always, this list is in no particular order, because I believe that especially when talking about multiple genres of music - which we’re going to today - music isn’t something you rank on a linear bad, worse, worst, good, better, greatest scale.

RULES: Now, the rules!

The album can’t be one I had a part in “And I don’t just mean not a Franny Sor Robinson, Seoul Hanoi’d, or Dara & Danny album. I am an active songwriter and composer even durin’ years I don’t personally release an album. I have co-written substantial amounts of, or entire tracklists, on several albums where I don’t sing or play an instrument on the recorded album, but I’m all over the credits. I think I do enough shameless self-promotion leading up to, and shortly after, the release of anything I work on. So as much as I loved working with Sariya Ibekwe - who is a fabulous Nigerian-American jazz singer - on her debut album this year, I co-wrote a good amount of that album. But, I’ve already talked about Sariya’s album extensively this year, and will link to it in the description box below anyway.

The album can’t be by a close personal friend of mine “I would spend these videos talking only about my friends’ releases if I didn’t have a strict no cronyism rule in these yearly roundups. I hype up, like, Daniel, Vanessa, Yulia, Delia, Lora, Andreas’s, and so on’s stuff whenever anything new drops, so they already got their signal boosts.”

Beyond those two rules, that’s really it. So without further stalling, let’s get into it.

Traveling Mercies by Emily Scott Robinson

The first album I want to talk about is Traveling Mercies, by North Carolina singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson - no relation, but oh my god, I wish. I’d love to just meet her, once. She’s so talented, I just - ugh! Anyway.

Emily Scott Robinson is a country singer whose first album, Magnolia Queen, came out in 2016 but I didn’t come across it until after I fell in love with Traveling Mercies. Daniel Maitland - the other half of Dara & Danny - sent the Spotify link of this album to me, and I just ate it up. Her songwriting gets me good, y’all. Her imagery is somethin’ else, her voice has the clarity of Alison Krauss, and her ability to deal with some very heavy themes poetically without sort of...glorifying? or trivializing? them is unreal.

I should trigger warning this upcoming bit for discussion of sexual assault, so if you’d like to avoid that, I’ll put a timestamp right here [points] for you to skip to. I’ll give you oooone more second to skip, and...okay.

I had a hard time listening to The Dress at first, because whenever I consume any media that deals with sexual assault, I have to mentally prepare myself. Even the song I wrote about my own experience with it, I don’t - I don’t perform it. Very rarely, I will. It was a write it, record it, release it for your healin’, and try to be done with it kinda thing. But once I psyched myself up to listen to it, The Dress pretty much immediately became one of my favorite songs on this album. I do sometimes have to skip it if I’m not feelin’ up to it mentally, but it. It is a beautifully written song about a very ugly thing, and I think- I think its a wonderful thing that she wrote that song.

[...] and then there’s my favorite song on this entire album, the one that honestly gave me a moment of “oh. OH, she went there.” Pie Song. It starts out by literally, she’s literally singin’ about how to bake a pie, and it made me so nostalgic for home, because I remember being taught by my friend’s mom to make a pie just like that. Don’t skimp on butter for the crust, add a little moonshine, but then she just, the next line goes right into the chorus and its, “but nothing you can make, can make you good enough, if you’re cooking for a man that doesn’t love you.” When I first heard that shift in the song - honey, when I tell you my chest just [both hands go up to her chest] it was powerful. Even though it isn’t the saddest or heaviest song on the album, it’s my favorite. The clear imagery - I could smell the pie she was singing about, I could feel the flour on my clothes - , the plot twist.

Among the songwriting circles I’m in, this album is pretty popular with them for her songwriting. We go absolutely bananas for it.

Her songwriting is gonna take her places. I really can’t wait to see what she comes out with next. I’m a fan. I love her. SO much.

WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? by Billie Eilish

This is probably the most quote unquote, mainstream album on this list. Billie’s undeniably a known name, and rightfully so!

This album, y’all? Amazing. Flawless. True art. I’m always hesitant when my son tells me what the Kids TM are listening too, because I usually- mm. Far be it from me to gatekeep music, to say what’s good and what’s bad, so I’ll just say that it. Usually isn’t. My, uh, my thing. It doesn’t appeal to me, and that’s fine!

But I- the first couple seconds of ‘bad guy’ got me payin’ attention, at ‘all the good girls go to hell’ I was just like Wow, capital W, and ‘bury a friend’ had me floored. Billie Eilish’s album is probably one of the most interesting, unique, and complex albums I’ve ever listened to. I really- I love this album.

Walk Through Fire by Yola

We’re back in the underground country music scene because of course we are! Yola is a fantastic singer from Bristol, England. On iTunes this album is classified as rock, but her EP titled Orphan Offering was under country, and her music has a very americana-indie-country feel.

Yola’s voice is the best part of this album but that’s not to knock on the music and the songwriting because they are also amazing. I can’t talk about this album and not talk about Yola’s voice, specifically, though. Her voice is like a warm cup of ginger tea on a cold day. It’s husky, and bluesy, on some songs kinda jazzy, and the musicality she displays on the album is really dynamic. She’s soft and smooth, then she’s belting out some high notes, but she’s not spending the entire album hittin’ you over the head with her belting. She really gives you a sampling of what all she can do on this album.

My favorite song off this album is Shady Grove it’s just - it’s - I love everything about it. The string section. The sitar sound. The gentle percussion, and ohhh my good god, the melody is just beautiful. It makes me wish this album was out when my son was little, because [pouts] its a song that reminds me of the song I used to sing to him when we first adopted him, and I’d just kinda hold him in my arms ‘n sway and sing to him. It’s such a beautiful song, it isn’t even the deepest or most profound song on this album but it is the most beautiful song to me musically. And I was want to hold a baby and sing it to the baby, so bring me your babies. Gimme.

Seneca by Charles Wesley Godwin

I’m going to get into this album in a second, but first. We all know I am a slut for odes to one’s roots. I made a whole video talking about how despite its memeability, John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads is actually a masterpiece. The short film I co-wrote and co-starred in with the director Lydia Viravong, a Lao-American I grew up with, is filmed and set in our hometown and based on our mothers. The Dara and Danny album ‘Progidal Children of Clayton County’ is a loveletter to me and Daniel’s hometown in Clayton Count, Georgiay.

And that’s exactly what the album Seneca is. Seneca is an album about West Virginia. Charles Wesley Godwin grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, a coal minin’ town. The Seneca Creek ran through his back yard, his daddy was a coal miner, mama’s a schoolteacher - he had a very quintessential coal mining town upbringing. And you know, your upbringing shapes you and this album is all about his love for where he comes from.

The imagery in his songwriting is just [chef’s kiss] perfection. And as someone whose affection for her roots is just as strong, I really - this album made me emotional as all hell. A lot of it is really sad, if I’m being honest, but that’s also because its so honest. For example, the song Coal Country, tells the story of how West Virginia’s coal industry was the lifeblood of the West Virginia mountains, praises the union heroes of the Battle of Blair Mountain, and laments that in place of prospects for West Virginians, there’s now only food stamps and opiod addiction.

Seneca Creek...the full version is beautiful, but the acoustic version gives mechills every single time. He wrote it about his grandparents’ love story from when they met in ‘49 to when his grandmother got sick and died in ‘94. It reminds me of Holly William’s 2013 song Waiting on June. It isn’t the happiest song, but even after the verse where the wife’s passed away, the chorus following it isn’t sorrowful. It just goes

We built a home by Seneca Creek And raised ourselves a family I worked on the farm, you worked the store We had everything we'd ever hoped for

The narrator of the song is just talking about how he lived a simple life with the love of his life. That’s what the song is about, ultimately. And that’s beautiful. It makes me really, really feel lucky to be married to my husband when I listen to it, because for me, that’s what being married to him is like.

Strawberry Queen is ro-man-tic as HELL! It’s about his WIFE, and as someone who is also trash for their spouse and writes way too many cheesy-ass love songs about him....I love it. It’s beautiful. I cried a little but don’t tell anybody I have emotions.

The last sad one I want to mention is Sorry For The Wait. It is a beautiful song where the narrator’s been killed in a mine explosion and he’s telling his wife not to cry for too long, that he’s buried in the clay and so will she someday, and he’s sorry for the wait. The third verse gets me bad.

When you miss talkin' at me, holler t'wards the mine It's amazing how your voice echoes inside When the winter breeze tugs at your hair Jus know that it's me with a grin standing there

I’m not! Okay!

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Before I talk about the final album I want to gush about, I do want to mention four albums that I truly enjoyed but in an effort to not make this video go on forever and ever, I didn’t write a whole explanation about why they’re so great. But I really do think deserve a shoutout!

LOVE + FEAR by Marina

Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent by Lewis Capaldi

Closer Than Together by The Avett Brothers

Wildcard by Miranda Lambert

Farmland by Gabe Lee

I can’t believe I haven’t plugged this guy yet because Gabe Lee’s album is fuh-king amazing. Gabe Lee is a country singer from Nashville whose sound you can tell has been influenced by classic country, modern americana, and like classic singer-songwriter types like Bob Dylan. It’s hard for me to interpret 100% of the time what his lyrics are about because at times his writing is pretty abstruse - oooh, pull out your thesauruses, kids - but the imagery in vivid. Its easier for me to talk about what this album makes me think of and how it makes me feel than to outright tell you what its all about. Farmland makes me think about drivin’ out in the woods in my high school boyfriend’s pickup to makeout and drink beer under the guise of deer hunting; or trying to sneaky-clean my muck boots after cuttin’ school to go fishin’ with my brothers; or pulling into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and handin’ some cash for pump one to a clerk that looks like he’s been there since the invention of petrol. There’s this grit to it that’s plain at the same time. Like there’s nothin’ particularly rebellious about skippin’ school to catch some fish, but it’s gonna get you muddy and sweaty.

The music is very simple and that’s one thing I like about it. It doesn’t feel overproduced, it just feels very classic. Like this album would easily have been made in 1979, 2009, or 2019. The standout song on this album, to me, is Last Country Song. Daniel [the other half of the bluegrass-folk-americana duo Dara & Danny] thinks its Eveline, which is another one of my favorites. The most fun song on this album? Lyra, for sure. I have a lot of feelings about this album, I love this album, and I really hope you give it a listen.

Also, y’all know that as an Asian woman in country music - well, kinda. I got one foot in jazz, and one foot in bluegrass-americana-country-southern-folk, and then I got a hand in indie - [jump cut] LOOK, genre is a social construct, okay? I make whatever music I wanna make and you can like it or hate it. What was I talking ab-- oh! Gabe Lee!

Right, so, y’all know, clearly you can see, I’m very Asian. [*gasp*, puts on a generic American accent] What do you mean you’re not white? [normal voice] Shocking, I know. I like to highlight other artists of color as often as possible, but of course I’ll signal boost whoever I think is fantastic. But whenever I come across another Asian artist in these [air quotes] “white people” genres, I get really excited. And Gabe Lee is Asian-American, which again, we don’t see very often in country music, or like, other genres that we consider “Americana.” So yeah, I think that’s really cool.

#&&...hc

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devils-gatemedia · 6 years

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This was the gig that nearly didn’t happen. After announcing the gig, the promoter, for reasons unknown, pulled the evening, and it was only through the efforts of Bad Touch, Peter Noble, and the venue that we were able to enjoy a superb evening of music across the River Tamar in Cornwall.

First though, a shout out to the venue. Livewire is a youth project that helps youngsters from Plymouth and East Cornwall develop a passion for music, provides them with a social hub, and also provides various other valuable youth services, particularly in respect of mental health support. The venue is superbly equipped with a large stage, great sound system and superb lighting rig. The atmosphere is refreshingly different, as the lack of a licence (you need to pop next door to the pub which, in true Cornish fashion, is cash only!) means that the crowd are more interested in the stage than the bar! Championed by Pete Townshend and the late Lemmy since it was first opened, it certainly comes with a pedigree!

Breaking the habit of a lifetime of reviews, check out their website, and feel free to send them some hard-earned cash!

Added to the bill after the change of promoter, the evening kicked off with Newton Abbot based youngsters, Ethyrfield. It isn’t often that you have the pleasure of seeing the future, but here it was writ large. Still in their teens, yet having been together for four years, the three piece have already played at Bloodstock, and have won multiple awards for their superbly crafted grunge influenced metal, all of which is self-penned and absurdly mature. We were in the venue for the sound check and when diminutive drummer Dan Aston was asked by the sound desk to get some mic levels for the full kit, our jaws hit the floor at what the youngest member of the trio jammed. Coupled with guitar from Ben Cornish (finalist in Sky Arts “Guitar Star”) and Bass/Vocals from Zach Cornish they played a scorcher of a set that left the bands following them singing their praises. Take yourself off to Spotify and listen to “Show Me God”, or even better “Bag Of Bones”, and remember their name – Ethyrfield.

Next up- Party time!

I can’t remember the last time I saw a band enjoy life quite as much as Swiss crazies Daxx and Roxane. Never still for a second, they upped the tempo and energy levels, and almost instantly won over the crowd. Opening with “Ticket To Rock”, this is sleazy, assured, let’s have a fucking good time music. Looking back at my gig companions and the smiles on their faces, I wasn’t the only one snatched up and taken along for the ride. We didn’t get the bottle of whisky passed around the front row that I had been warned to prepare myself for (no licence remember), but what we did get were acrobatic leaps, killer riffs and gravelly vocals. Was it groundbreakingly innovative? Not at all! Was it fun, exciting, sing-along, have-a-dance-and-forget-life’s-stresses-and-problems music? Damn right! “Wild Child” somehow makes a ZZ Top “Tush” style intro sound as the Texans would have done if they had lived in LA, before Cedric Pfister takes the sound further up Sunset Strip and then segues into Queen’s “One Vision” which ramped up the party even further. Closing out with “Wrong Side”, and an impossibly high jump by guitarist Cal Wymann over Simon Golaz, they left a lasting impression.

Next up on this ridiculously good value for money ticket, Aaron Buchanan and the Cult Classics take their places and explode into “Left Me For Dead”. Now, I have seen Aaron and Co play more times than many bands, but I have never seen him attack a set with the almost angry energy that he did tonight, and the band were immense!

Earlier this year, I was at Steelhouse when their set was cut short by a near biblical storm. In that shortened set, I sensed an increase in intensity compared to previous encounters, but this was another level entirely. Their time on stage is a masterclass of how to build a setlist. We get some of the Heaven’s Basement catalogue with “Fire Fire”, “I Am Electric” and “Heartbreaking Son Of A Bitch”, but the new material from “The Man With Stars On His Knees” shows how different the Cult Classics are to that previous vehicle. Is it “New Wave Of Classic Rock” or whatever the banner is? Not for me. Sure there are echoes of the past, music is always an evolution rather than a revolution, but there is a freshness and far wider blend of influences than a sound rooted in history, in much the same way that Queen were constantly evolving and experimenting.

Every member of the Cult Classics brings something unique and fresh. Aaron himself is one of the most complete frontmen you will see. His voice is powerful and wide ranging, his stage presence immense, and his trademark journey into the crowd (a handstand tonight rather than simple crowd surfing), acrobatic. To his left, sister Laurie seems to grow in stature every time I see her on stage, combining “blood” red jacket and trademark hat with crushing guitar work. Drummer Paul White; the tattoos and flying hair alongside powerful drumming. Bassist Mart Trail with the mohawk, and guitarist Tom McCarthy in an outlandishly smart and stylish waistcoat, both always active and working the crowd.

Highlights? The second half of the set which encompassed “I am Electric”, “Dancin Down Below”, “Heartbreaking Son Of A Bitch” and set closer “Morals”. Put those four songs on a Spotify playlist and treat yourself.

Finally onto the reason we are all here. Norfolk’s finest, Bad Touch.

Now here is a band that do define the “New wave Of Classic Rock” and glory in it, but do so in a way that is a sound of today rather than of a bygone era. I pretty much guarantee that if you were to show a selection of random people a photo of Stevie Westwood and ask them what he did for a living 100% would say “rock star”. He is so much more than image though, as his voice is developing a maturity and depth that constant work is honing. Simply by standing at a microphone he exudes his presence.

Bad Touch are about far more than simply Stevie though. They possess a swagger and confidence that new album “Shake A Leg” showcases wonderfully. Opening the set with a song that many won’t have heard is a gamble, but Bad Touch have so much pride in the new material that the set opens with three! “Show Me What It Means”, “Lift Your Head Up” and “Movin On Up” are played uninterupted before we are into more familiar territory with “Good On Me” and “Sharp Dressed Man”; a cover that works far too well.

Three more off the new album continue to demonstrate just how classy a piece of work it is. “Hammer Falls” is catchy little ear worm. “Tussle” is followed by the very down and dirty twin guitars of “Take Me Away”, with Rob Glendinning and Daniel Seekings providing a huge lead line. Nothing demonstrates just what a soulful voice Stevie has better than the slow and heartfelt “Take Your Time”, which has a depth live that I don’t really get from the recorded version. Nothing can keep the pace down though, and we are quickly into the head bobber, “My Mother Told Me”, and on into “Skyman”, which somehow became Whitesnake’s “Still Of The Night”.

“Believe In Me” takes the pace back down a little, showcasing some rather lovely guitar soloing, again showing just how good the new album is. “Outlaw” and “Down” close out the set proper, and Bad Touch leave the stage to a well deserved ovation and plenty of encouragement to return and give us more. Of course, they have more up their sleeves, and come back to give us what to me is the best song on “Shake A Leg”, “”Dressed To Kill”. How else could they end the set than to play “99%”? Turning around we saw the members of Daxx and Roxane partying and having a great time, showing the mutual respect all four bands had for each other, and rightfully so.

On the way home, we played the usual game of “band of the day” The quality of the line up couldn’t be better illustrated than to say that each of the three of us found it hard to choose, but when forced, chose different bands!

Review and Photos: Rob and Danielle Wilkins

Live Review: Bad Touch – Livewire, Saltash This was the gig that nearly didn’t happen. After announcing the gig, the promoter, for reasons unknown, pulled the evening, and it was only through the efforts of Bad Touch, Peter Noble, and the venue that we were able to enjoy a superb evening of music across the River Tamar in Cornwall.

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songofme · 7 years

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Black girls searching for themselves in lyrics must often compromise. Surrender your blackness, your femininity, or both. Look past the harm or the invisibility, find what you need, and take only that with you. Back then, so-called white genres like emo were as much my guilty pleasure as they were social currency—a means of relating to white faces within a town where racial divides existed largely along socioeconomic lines. The closet-sized newsroom for my high-school paper was soundtracked almost entirely by Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy, and Brand New; occasionally this one Kottonmouth Kings songsnuck on the playlist. I latched on to emo, needing music that could speak to my molehill problems posing as mountains, as well as my desperation to fit in despite uncertainty about who I was.

It wasn’t music that seemed like it was made for me, but the suburban, middle-class frustration of Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends spoke in a language that I could understand—at a time when I thought no one would. “The truth is you could slit my throat, and with my one last gasping breath I’d apologize for bleeding on your shirt,” goes the iconic lyric from “You’re So Last Summer,” epitomizing the melodramatic existential crisis that is adolescence. This was the age when every struggle and unrequited love felt like an attack on life itself—a feeling perfectly captured by Adam Lazzara and John Nolan’s dueling vocals, like a warring ego and id finishing each other’s sentences. But it also went deeper than that. Mental health dilemmas, real or imagined, were less commonly discussed within the black community back then—a silence that until very recently, extended to black popular music. And so it felt impossible to see my adolescent self in rap’s glamorous posturing and street tales. My issues felt more “Ghost Man on Third,” where death’s only threat comes from the unraveling narrator himself, than the rightfully paranoid menacing of 50 Cent’s “Many Men (Wish Death).”

While hip-hop has long been considered hyper-masculine, early ’00s emo musicians mostly framed themselves as victims of both the world and the lovers who supposedly failed them. That trait—a privileged and immature way of processing pain—made Tell All Your Friends and other albums like it a welcome fuel-to-the-fire for self-loathing teenagers. To be sure, rap that deals in angst has existed from the very beginning, but representation isn’t so much about what exists as what can readily be found, packaged in plain sight, and given the tools to succeed. That the phrase “emo rap”—as in Lil Uzi Vert or Drake—has begun to embed itself in the wider pop-culture lexicon is no coincidence. It’s not that purveyors of rap only recently became capable of such expression. It’s that mainstream audiences finally seem ready to process expressions of black pain—specifically that of black men—that aren’t coated in a facade of bravado, sex, or violence.

In a 2003 Village Voice article, Ta-Nehisi Coates challenged the myths perpetuated by the era’s hip-hop, then led by 50 Cent. “The streets as gangsta rappers claim as their source are no longer as angry as they are sad. For that reason alone, gangsta rap should be dead by now,” he wrote. “But still it lingers, fueled by America’s myth of the menacing black man. Gangsta rap today is about as reflective of reality as, well, a reality show. And yet still it lumbers across the landscape of pop, shouting, ‘I’m real.’”

Indeed, the early ’00s would have been an apt backdrop for an emo-rap opus, several years before Kanye West wallowed in AutoTune on 808s & Heartbreak. Broken relationships, heartache, and a general outsider feeling existed much like they always have, but opportunities to portray that reality in terms of sheer emotional havoc had been limited. Unlike emo, rap wasn’t granted the privilege to “force no difficult questions, just bemoan the lack of answers,” as Andy Greenwald once described the genre. Instead, despair was marketed as everything but, manifesting as bombast, materialism, and warped nihilism. “A true narrative of ‘the streets’ and the black men who inhabit them would depict a deadbeat ex-con, fleeing mounting child support, unable to find work, and disconnected from the lives of his kids,” Coates continued. “It would chronicle his gradual slide off the American radar even as his mother, daughter, and girlfriend (not wife) make inroads. It’s a story that doesn’t lend itself to romance. More importantly, it doesn’t fit the image of black men in the American imagination.” (Continues in link)

#I feel like I ghostwrote this #Rap #Hip Hop #Emo #Rock music #punk #punk pop

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