#or like synth music in general bc 80s
Text
whenever i watch stranger things i always end up on a major synthwave kick and i’m not mad about it
#or like synth music in general bc 80s#but especially synthwave#also i just finished my s4 rewatch yesterday and now i'm even more obsessed with eddie#i didn't really have a favorite character in the show until now#i would do anything for him and if he dies i will riot#personal
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
some playlists
my no. 1 personality trait is that i love making niche spotify playlists. here are some music for ya’ll to enjoy, i love u
i write synths, not tragedies (80′s and contemporary synth pop)
songs that inspire inexplicable emotions (for big feelings)
songs that unexpectedly slap (self-explanatory)
twenty-nine (for the proud heartache of reaching the end of your 20′s)
cheer the folk up! (indie tunes to make you smile)
sapphic (songs for and by queer folks who love girls)
love (songs for when you’re in love but it’s, like, cheesy af)
keep it cool (chill r&b and hip-hop)
spooky season (songs for halloween and general ghoulishness!!)
studying (instrumentals for school & deadlines)
go west with me (country & folk for the gays and the theys)
and also some fandom playlists bc i’m cringe but free
tommy shelby (peaky blinders)
alfie solmons (peaky blinders)
go west with me (mandalorian /dincobb inspired)
richie + eddie (stephen king’s It)
striking the match & everything’s edenic (midnight mass inspired)
#music#playlist#feel free to rb if you're interested!!#peaky blinders#dincobb#stephen king's it#midnight mass
118 notes
·
View notes
Text
BEAR WITH ME AND MY RANT ABT THE NEW FITO PAEZ BIOPIC TV SHOW ON NETFLIX
OK......
So, basically Netflix released a biopic tv show about the life of Argentinian rock star Fito Paez and I'm literally so excited to watch it for a number of reasons, but the second I found out that this was a thing I got the urge to go on tumblr and just explode so here goes.
The show is called "El Amor despues del Amor", named after Paez's sensational hit song linked below:
youtube
*please listen its actually so good
Anyways the gringos butchered it and dubbed the show in English to be called Love After Music which makes no fucking sense because the song literally translates to Love after Love not Love after Music and it is just sooo stupid, but anyway what can I do abt that.
This show excites me so much, first of all, because I think Fito Paez 10000000% deserves this kind of recognition, because he really is one of the most iconic latinamerican artists of his generation, and his music challenged the assumption that good pop and rock music could only be made and produced in English.
I guess mostly the reason this show excites me is because it is a show about a latinamerican rock artist, which you just don't get that often and I have been dying to see one.
(Also, Argentinian alternative rock is definitely one of my hyper-specific fandoms and new content being produced for it is really exciting).
My mission in life, amongst other things, is to give the South and Central American rock scene the recognition it deserves, because often times people act like it doesn't exist, and new wave/ 80s pop/rock only came out of the US or England. Latinamerican rock serves an extremely important purpose in society, as it was quite literally revolutionary. (I'm bullshitting and tired, so ignore the uneccessary sentences, but my point is valid). Rock in Argentina was used to fight back against A LITERAL MILITARY DICTATORSHIP. And the fact that all the rock music biopics are still England and US centric is really annoying.
I'm not saying I don't enjoy shows or movies about music produced in the US or England, but there are so many amazing stories to tell from the perspective and about the lives of Hispanic musicians. Why are they constantly overlooked?
AND NOT JUST ABOUT MUSIC
Where are the movies about Argentinian Military Dictatorship? (IK they exist guys im just saying we should talk more about the fact that it happened). Actually for anyone interested pls watch the movie "Argentina, 1985", it is great!
Where are the movies about indigenous communities being wiped from existence in virtually every South American country?
Or, as a Colombian, can we get a show about terrorism or the drug trade in Colombia that isn't made from the bullshit NARCOS perspective of white guy policemen saviors, when we all know that all American cops did in Colombia was militarize our police forces and teach them how to abuse the public.
I'm getting off topic
THERE ARE AMAZING MUSIC STORIES COMING OUT OF LATIN AMERICA
Like the entire Mexican punk rock scene it is so cool
Cafe Tacvba, Maldita, Caifanes.
Where's the series abt Colombian metalheads. The metal scene was huge.
Or the goth scene. There was a time where you would walk on the street and you would see crowds of Morticias going to dance The Cure at a club.
Or the fact that Seru Giran recorded their first album in exile in Brazil bcs the government literally had them on a hitlist.
Which speaking of Seru Giran, how is there not a movie abt that yet. Seru Giran is such an iconic fucking band led by none other than Charly Garcia. They are a gift from God to humanity, they are pioneers of progressive rock, I don't know anyone like them. And I'm always saying this but if Seru Giran were British or American they would be just as highly regarded as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd because they are just too good.
Here are some Seru Giran songs everyone should listen to:
youtube
*this man is everything. synth on top of a keyboard on top of a piano.
youtube
youtube
youtube
Anyways, if you're still reading at this point you are very dedicated and i appreciate that.
And side note, please watch this performance of Charly Garcia, Fito Paez and the one and only Fabi Cantilo bcs it is too good:
youtube
*ojos de videotape is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and sometimes idk if its even real.
OKAY SO, TO CONCLUDE THIS EXTREMELY INCOHERENT RAMBLING,
I am extremely happy about the fact that latino stories are being told in media like this because its something that i feel as a fan of rock music and a latina i have been missing from my life. And you may think why do we need movies abt dictatorship or drug deals or terrorism. Doesn't that just perpetuate the stereotype that that's all your country has. NO ON THE CONTRARY. When it's told by big American corporations, it often loses meaning. Shows written by latinos about latinamerican experiences showcase the reason I am so proud to be latina. Because we are a resilient people. Our humanity shines through even in the darkest of times. In the midst of wars and dictatorship, we can come up with shit like this and it is so cool. And I wish there was more recognition for that.
So yeah maybe this isn't a rant abt Fito Paez, even though I love him so much. And I'm more than sure this show is about his life and not about Argentinian military dictatorship.
But I guess mostly I hope this will encourage more latino filmmakers to tell our stories. Tell our stories because they are so cool, and I love watching movies abt rockstars. But I would love it so much more to watch movies about rockstars who look like me.
So I'll get back to this after I watch the show. Chau :)
#fito paez#el amor despues del amor#charly garcia#latino#latina#latinamerican rock#new wave#post punk#political rock#rant#sorry followers#Youtube
13 notes
·
View notes
Note
1-3, 6, 14, 22-24, 28-30!
hehe thank you chase!!
1. three songs that come up when you put your phone on shuffle
Roman - TOOBOE
The Man - The Killers
Blood Capsules - The Mountain Goats
good songs! :] blood capsules is my fav mountain goats song i think and ofc. tooboe <3
2. three last songs you listened to
Mass Destruction - Persona 3 OST
Desire Drive - 東方神霊廟 ~ Ten Desires OST
Squidy Holly - Chirpy Chirps
that last one is just buddy holly by weezer but splatoon. i listen to a lot of game osts and related songs jshdfgs
3. three songs you were recently obsessed with
Yoyuyoku - inabakumori
Necromantic - 暁Records
Entrusting This World to Idols ~ Idolatrize World - 東方鬼形獣 ～ Wily Beast and Weakest Creature OST
They weren't lying that doki doki sure can waku waku. yoyuyoku makes me think of my ocs and idolatrize world is just a really really good final boss theme <3
6. three songs you wish you could erase from history (because they’re terrible)
I will be honest if I think a song is So Sucks it's just Gone from my brain forever unless I hear it again </3 Also generally i love it when things Sound Kinda Bad so I can't even say Temporary Secretary or smthn sdjfkgs. I guess taking this more as "songs that were just kinda disappointing" a lot of game osts for remakes of beloved older games r like this for me? they often sound "cleaner" but they really lose some of the Crust and Crunch that made the old osts so good (thinkin abt specifically the P3 remake's version of Mass Destruction and also some of the remastered tracks in the XC1 remake)
14. three songs you want at your wedding
Together Forever - Rick Astley
Smooth - Neil Cicierega
Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants
these are for goofs but that's the charm of them i think. rick astley jumpscare.
22. three songs you listen to when you’re sad
Dramaturgy - Eve
Leopard - Jack Stauber
Anyone Who's Anyone - Fleet Foxes
Kinda surprised it took this long for fleet foxes or jack stauber to show up (I am typing these up massively out of order) but they're both v dear artists/groups to me. fun fact I only found out that fleet foxes were a local band (relative to me) way after I started getting into their music :] their ep is my fav of all their stuff tbh! if i ever got lyrics tattooed on me it would be from anyone who's anyone i think.
23. three songs that never fail to get you pumped up
Matoryoshka - Hachi
Saudade - Porno Graffitti
Blue Monday - New Order
sjkdfhs Matoryoshka is here mainly bc it will pop into my head when I'm getting ready for work </3
also the version of blue monday i linked is a weird fuckin remix with what i can only describe as vaugely halloween noises and someone biting into an apple put in? but im obsessed with the synth bass line they added so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
24. three favourite old songs
(Tried to go with specifically before 1970 for these <3)
Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman (originally by Louis Prima)
Tainted Love - Gloria Jones
Take Five - Dave Brubeck
me in a big t shirt that says I LOVE BIG BAND JAZZ <3
I would be remiss if I didn't also mention Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington... good stuff!
I also inculded the gloria jones version of tainted love bc it rules and most ppl only know the soft cell 80s cover </3
26. three favorite non-English songs
Higan (remake) - john
Float Play - inabakumori
Re:Re: - ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION
was almost Whoops All Vocaloid but I wanted the self-cover of higan and also akfg my beloved <3 Also shoutouts to Bad Apple!! my friend bapple... I've been listening to a lot of japanese music recently (and in general) so I'd say my ratio of english to japanese songs is abt 40/60 sdhfgs
28. three best songs to get drunk or high to
Michael - Franz Ferdinand
Mouth Flash - Hakushi Hasegawa
This fffire (New Version) - Franz Ferdinand
i think i got really high one night and just listened to a bunch of franz ferdinand so i've got that association in my head sdjfhvs. don't know if I've ever gotten high and listened to hakushi but it would be An Experience i think!!
(also had no idea this fffire was in that cyberpunk show huh. maybe make more ppl listen to franz ferdinand outside of Take Me Out skjdfbs)
29. three songs that influenced you most
If I Ever Feel Better - Phoenix
Soul Meets Body - Death Cab for Cutie
Crystal Ball - Keane
these all mean so much 2 me and were "my" songs during different parts of my life :]
30. three songs you really want your followers to know (for reasons other than all those above)
o (__*) - Hakushi Hasegawa
春嵐 - john
Black Burning Heart (demo) - Keane
PLEASE do check out all of hakushi hasegawa's discography if u like the above song, their stuff is weird and loud and i've been obsessed ever since i first heard it... shun-ran is my pinned post 4 a reason! the song ever. and i'm not super big on most of keane's demos, but black burning heart & again and again are v good <3
Also didn't get a chance to mention these bands/groups but they're very important 2 me so here they are, in no particular order: I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME, Depeche Mode, Junko Yagami, Arcade Fire, The Shins, GALNERYUS, Yes, Dog Blood, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, The Cure, The Clash, Charles Mingus, Red Vox, pinocchioP, 煮ル果実, Ado, COOL&CREATE, 魂音泉... and probably more im forgetting <3
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️TAG NINE PEOPLE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER!
favourite colour(s) : blue, black, grey, emerald green, dark red
favourite flavour(s) : chocolate, coffee, rosemary, vanilla, citrus
favourite genre(s) : action, paranormal, horror, comedy, fantasy
favourite music : metal, goth, alt rock, grunge, comedy, psychobilly
favourite movie(s) : god fuck i don't fuUCKinG kNOwW-- john wick movies, mirrormask, labyrinth, hellraiser franchise, lotr ????? OH-- LIKEY MOST OF GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S WORK YEAH. and the xmen movies, THE BABYSITTER, doctor sleep.
favourite series : AGAIN I DON'T FUCKING KNOW x-men evolution, ghost hunt, hotd, got, the good place, the midnight club, star trek tng(?)
last song : no idea but it was on my goth oc's playlist so it was something 80s goth/punk/synth/metal.
last series : the night manager
last movie : tragically it's argylle. i saw it in theatres with my family
currently reading : the night manager by john le carré and from here to eternity: traveling the world to find the good death by caitlyn doughty
currently watching : n0s4a2 and star trek the next generation
currently working on : assignments, life stuff, research for a story and trying to get moving on the sequel to my wednesday fic and failing rip
tagged by @miercolaes
tagging : anyone who wants to do it, i'm not tagging just bc i bet everyone's done it by now sldkjghkljhgfsdlk
1 note
·
View note
Text
and at last, the post that maybe three people maximum have been waiting for...
em's comfort retro rally videos: a masterlist!
in a much-needed return to this blog's roots, and as an antidote to all motorsport- and life-related chaos, i now present to you: the first edition of em's favorite retro rally videos!
general disclaimer/info: these videos mainly come from the group B era of the world rally championship (wrc), which generally speaking was in the '80s. i am only human, so expect a lot of bias toward my personal favorites...which will become very apparent as you read this list hehe. also i'm not even gonna pretend to be an expert on this or anything. a lot of these are literally just based on Vibes
table of contents
i. my top 5 rally coverage videos
mainly coverage for television, recorded on VHS and uploaded to YouTube by some truly incredible people
ii. honorable mentions
not rally coverage, but retro rally videos nevertheless
often documentaries, mini-doc features, interviews
for all videos, i have indicated the language (most are in english fyi); if any links fail or videos disappear, send me an ask or DM and i'll remove the culprit/find an alternative link.
and now, onward!
(TW for occasional flash photography in many of the night sequences of the videos, as well as a gif included in this post)
i. my top 5 rally coverage videos
in which my bias toward audi sport, mouton/pons, mikkola, toivonen, and vatanen are put on blast for all to see 🥴 i am not an expert in anything i am just very good at research and a whore for aud—[SNIPED]. for the sake of brevity, i narrowed my favorites down to 5. maybe another time i will share all the rest!
also, a general note about the commentary: sometimes, the commentary around michèle and fabrizia can get... weird. keep in mind, they were the most prominent female team partnership around that time, and the first to nearly clinch a wrc wdc, and to modern ears, the commentators really didn't know how to act around them. personally, it wasn't horrible for me, i just ignored the weirder bits, but i understand if others might find it off-putting. also for the sake of your sanity don't read the comments.
5. Rally of the 1000 Lakes, 1984 | finland
link: overall coverage (eng)
podium: vatanen/alén/toivonen (full final results)
comments: this was definitely a rally for most of audi sport's drivers to forget: bar stig blomqvist, who came quite close to the podium finishers with a 4:14:01 to henri toivonen's 4:12:57! both hannu mikkola and michèle mouton had to retire from the race, which may lead you to wonder: why does this rank among my favorites? well, it's always fun to watch group b rally cars sailing through the air against picturesque scenery, and this video also contains an intriguing (at least for me!) look at the scrutineering process, with drivers at their most casual.
owie :( they were fine though!
4. Lombard RAC Rally, 1981 | britain
link: overall coverage (eng)
podium: mikkola/vatanen/blomqvist (full final results)
comments: hannu winning by 11 whole minutes even after rolling his car in the middle of the forest is actual legend behavior! anyway this was michèle's first wrc outing in britain, and even though she and fabrizia had to retire, they still did quite well, consistently running high in the leaderboards after the first few stages. and that's considering the fact that michèle had a bad cold for much of the rally and had to ask fabrizia to drive the car to service park for her at one point bc she was so tired. which fabrizia did... with a pencil in her mouth. lot of big names in one video—also, jean todt makes an appearance as a co-driver!
shamelessly poached off of one of my text post edits
3. Marlboro Safari Rally, 1983 | kenya
link: overall coverage (eng)
podium: vatanen/mikkola/mouton (full final results)
comments: ok can i just say how stunning the video presentation is?? the opening sequence is just!!! the shots of the wildlife! the sprinting giraffes! wow! anyway the visual of drivers in deck chairs just tickles me for no reason, and michèle please tell me what you ask for at the hairdresser's and also where you got that orange blouse (this is obviously not just specific to this rally, she always eats and leaves no crumbs). this was michèle's first entry and only finish in kenya (and of course it was a podium mwah). it was also her last wrc entry in the A1 quattro, as she switched to the A2 for the rest of her program in the '83 season. also this is one of my favorite podium pictures ever.
lksdjffnnkd there's almost too much to unpack... fabrizia somehow surviving in high waist jeans in a hot car... michèle's do-it-yourself shorts... this podium picture was the subject of a very frantic video chat conversation between myself and a friend at 2am a few months ago
2. Rallye de Portugal, 1982 | portugal
links: short recap (eng) | overall coverage 1, stuck in the middle of two other rallies. timestamps in descrip. (eng) | overall coverage 2, very vibey with cool music (ita... also peep walter röhrl speaking italian)
podium: mouton/eklund/wittmann (full final results)
comments: GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH AAAA! michèle's first podium of '82 being a win? this rally being the one where there's footage of her going shopping with fabrizia afterward? (more on that later) them winning by 13 whole minutes? and that's not even considering THEE most poetic victory ceremony of all time! in fact let me talk about that bc the racing and the win aside, that's why it's so high up on my list! literally poetic cinema! it's night, they're standing on top of the car and floodlit and surrounded by cheering crowds but they may as well be the only ones there in their own little world, laughing at each other and barely even having to look to each other when they're raising their hands—like god! shut up! we get it you're besties 😭
i_just_think_theyre_neat.png
and now... last but certainly never least...
1. Lombard RAC Rally, 1982 | britain
link: overall coverage (eng)
podium: mikkola/mouton/toivonen (full final results)
comments: firstly, if you were to ask me about my dream podium, this would be it. hands down, across all series of motorsport, my comfort podium would be hannu, michèle, and henri in any order. (there's such a cute picture of them from this rally on pinterest, standing in order on a staircase. henri is not looking at the camera because he is laughing at something michèle is saying and it's such a Vibe but i cannot find it wah). the battle for second between michèle and henri ran down to literally the last stage, and their times are separated by seconds, which is just wild to me. the context of this rally deserves another post, which i honestly don’t have the energy to make rn, but just take my word for it that it threatens to destroy me if i think about it too hard! anyway this is just such an awesome rally and i’ve watched this video so many times haha
i love this rally so much that i actually had a character in a story i was writing attend the ceremony captured in this picture as a small child and made it a formative moment in her life. no, there is nothing wrong with me.
ii. honorable mentions
(is it obvious who my faves are? yikes)
'Group B - Avec Michele Mouton' (eng) - taken from a longer feature presentation about group b, a segment specifically about michèle. a friend once described its vibes as ‘a synth wave edit of an 80s anime set in a cyberpunk world about racing’
'1983 Audi Sport National Rally with Michele Mouton' (eng) - in which michèle takes journalist sue baker as a co-driver for a spin in an A1 and a rally win. fun behind-the-scenes video
'Intervista a Fabrizia Pons, la Regina delle Note' 1, 2, 3 (ita) - very thorough interview which is mostly fabrizia telling all sorts of stories, including the very entertaining story of how she found out she was going to be michèle’s co-driver. also what a badass title
'2008 Otago International Classic Rally' (eng) - THE BESTIES REUNITE THE BESTIES REUNITE!!! michèle and fabrizia reunite for a rally that fabrizia convinced michèle to join, they suffer some problems but there are plenty of wholesome bestie moments to be had
'Michele Mouton hurls Group B Audi Quattro up Goodwood hill' (eng) - i mean, self explanatory. the sound of the chirping tires? asmr could never. very short watch if you want a quick pick-me-up
'1990 Louise Aitken-Walker feature' (eng) - a video featuring a female rally driver from scotland and her point-scoring run at the rallye monte -carlo. i am convinced that louise was john finnemore’s inspiration or at least an influence for the character of linda fairbairn. no my hat is not made of tin foil what are you talking about
hannu rocketing around michigan back in 2017 (eng)
hannu flying around goodwood in 2015 (eng)
sometimes i listen to fabrizia's recent onboards (yes, she's still at it!) and this one is one of my favorites, from 2016 (ita)
39 notes
·
View notes
Text
tuesday again 3/23/21
i wouldn’t call them problems but they sure are things i need to handle, yanno?
listening What’s Your Pleasure? by Jessie Ware off the album of the same name. kind of a wack music video. very flashy. do not watch if seizures are a thing you need to worry about &tc. this song is 100% on many sex playlists. if you set Killing Eve the television show slightly earlier this song would be on the soundtrack.
this kicked out the song i was originally going to write about bc it’s bait specifically for me- it’s got a groove! lyrics that don’t really mean anything but they sure do repeat a lot! a lady who isn’t a soprano! fun 80s synths!
youtube
reading heavy spoilers for descender, written by Jeff Lemire & illustrated by Jeff Nguyen, published by Image. this is the comic that sent me into a funk after reading it and i had to call my best friend to complain about it to figure out why.
we all know the dead wife plot, yes? i have a theory that as dudes who write that sort of plot get older, they graduate to the ex-wife plot, drawing on personal experience.
this series has a great deal of ex-wife plot in it. this series features a dude who refuses to call his ex-wife by her new chosen name, a hatefuck scene (maybe two? unclear) and a Ten Years After epilogie where they got back together and had a kid, becuase of course they did.
the rest of the comic is just as exhausting. if you’re going to have a robot in the form of a child as your protaginist, you should do more interesting things with that idea than the thing you wrote my guy. also, if you’re going to have a subjugated robot underclass you really need to decide if it’s a racism metaphor, a feminism metaphor, both, or neither; not and not waffle about it for the whole series.
this cool lady isn’t his ex. his ex is a blue-green palette cyborg lady. but this is a very nice panel.
the thing that originally drew me is that whole thing is in watercolor, but like Good watercolors. technically accomplished and beautiful watercolor- nobody can really do outer space convincingly in art but this is generally a beautiful series of images chained to a terrible plot.
watching Trinity Is Still My Name (1971 dir Barboni) look this is just a fun rollicking time. a romp, if you will. it is the least self-serious of all the spaghetti westerns i’ve ever seen. do you want to watch two conmen try to con everyone around them and also each other? you want to watch some rich people get clowned on? terence hill has INCREDIBLE shithead little brother energy it’s a delight. despite that! it retains the flaws of the genre: quite racist! much of the B plot is about how Spanish Catholic missions in the “American” “Southwest” are good actually!
watched a friend’s streamed copy, but it looks like it’s up on dailymotion here
dailymotion
playing season finale of the beamsaber campaign i’m in, you can read some of my thoughts here along with a lot of very silly out of context quotes
making once again shuffling things in my apartment around, bc i need more enrichment in my enclosure. no pics everything still looks bad.
also ran a billion updates on six different devices but that’s not very photogenic. internet screeched to a slow crawl at this house over the weekend because of me.
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
evermore track by track review (reaction?)
you know what time it is babieeeeeee......
willow
lovely little plucky guitar. I like the piano arrangement in the background. her vocals sound really lovely in the chorus and in the back of the second verse. i’m going to try and judge this as a separate project from folklore because it’s supposed to be just a complementary project but inevitably there will be comparisons. the 1 as an opening track is probably my preference over this I think on first listen. the bridge (?) is probably my favourite part of the song before the 90s trend line lol (just takes me out the song, kinda like the tweet line that’s in the lakes) but her vocals and how mature her voice sounds are just really light and airy and it’s nice to hear. but this is a lot more rhythmic than most of folklore which is something I appreciate and has enough dynamics so that you’re not bored, although the outro could’ve maybe been shortened a bit (but that’s a nitpicky thing lol). that’s her man!
ok I realised half way through happiness that I HAD PUT THE ALBUM ON SHUFFLE BY ACCIDENT WHICH IS BLASPHEMOUS AND SOMETHING I HATE DOING. I apologise sincerely lmao every song after this is in order with the album track list.
happiness
love a synth. ‘I can’t face reinvention’ ok bitch call me out ??? the lyrics are very lovely, as always. what’s/who’s this about ? lmao. it’s very pretty but not sure it’s going anywhere? more instrumentation could’ve maybe elevated this song just because I feel the lyrics are so flowery and beautiful that they deserve to either be in complete isolation (like from the dining table’s production) or some grandiose orchestral arrangement to properly show off how great and genuinely heartbreaking they are. I have no doubt at some point i’ll lie in the dark at some point and sob to this though loooool.
champagne problems
ah bitch. the opening line already got me. again, the lyrics on this one are cutting me deep and I really like the production in the second half of the song, it really picks up the song when I was worried the production wasn’t going to be for me. the background vocals and harmonies are lovely. I think the lyricism of this song is so important and reminds me of what jack said in the long pond sessions about people with mental health issues never receiving proper recognition for just doing as okay as they can be because to other people, it’s either not enough or they just don’t get how difficult it is to maintain that level of ‘normalcy’. The idea of people dismissing things as ‘champagne problems’ is so poignant when you think of the fact that so many people disregard mental health issues until they’re directly affected by it in some way and treat others as outsiders/bad apples/something to only remember as a cautionary tale and to be forgotten otherwise. the numbness of trying to feel things (like going on the train) and participating in life and trying to believe that you deserve something good, a relationship, love etc but knowing that people are only waiting for you to fail so they can inevitably move on is so sad. my favourite out of the 3 tracks so far.
gold rush
good old jack antonoff production. girl how many people are wanting to get with joe ???? I really like the lyricism again, and the ‘what must it be like to grow up that beautiful’ bit kinda reminds of olivia’s instrumentation for some reason lol. I wish this hit a little harder because it’s on the precipice of greatness but doesn’t get quite there for me, kinda like the archer. loved the production, but I had anticipated it to have this big build up which it didn’t quite hit for me. I am listening to this currently at night with my blinds shut but I know that when it’s in the daytime/sun this will sound so good, so i’m excited to replay this one. update: it’s the next day and I LOVE this.
tis the damn season
hm. this one was pretty middling for me i’m ngl. I don’t think i’ve had enough love/life experience to really relate to this that much (which isn’t taylor or the song’s fault obvs) but I found it hard to ~connect to and the production didn’t really excite me enough to feel too passionate about it. very much enjoyed the “So I'll go back to L.A. and the so-called friends, Who'll write books about me, if I ever make it” line though lol!
tolerate it
I really like this. really encapsulated the feeling of trying your hardest to meet someone’s expectations of you/your relationship and fitting yourself into parameters to suit their needs/what they want and yet you’re still considered on the outskirts of their life. Trying desperately to make that person care as much as you do for them, but in reality your actions just further the reasons why they don’t want you and why your actions are ignored/silently belittled. Feels like this is a good companion piece to a lot of the folklore tracks and could’ve fitted on that album yet is still different enough to stand out. will def be coming back to this.
no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)
ok so taylor’s having her before he cheats moment?? someone should be working on a mashup asap. you know i’m a sucker for country yeehaw bops so i’ll definitely be playing this on repeat lol, so far probably the most upbeat track along with gold rush and this is probably my favourite track so far. the storytelling through the lyricism is fabulous and I really love the little production elements like danielle saying “she was with me dude” lol, I don’t have a lot of experience/references for “real” country music so if this is a little corny idk but I like it anyway lmao
dorothea
this was a sweet song, might be completely off the mark with this interpretation, but I sort of viewed this as taylor speaking to her younger self and telling her how she can always go back to who she was after becoming too enchanted with fame and the troubles that come with it/experiencing the consequences of fame, and that inevitably it’ll be okay in the end. a nice reassuring, pleasant song. not sure how much replay value it’ll have for me personally but I appreciate it :’)
coney island feat. the national
I like this for the most part. I think it’ll be a grower but I can see this moving up in my ranks once I listen to it a bit more. the second half of the song after the bridge is definitely better than the first and I really like it, but the first half isn’t my favourite. I think within some of the lyrics there are some clunky lines and I’m not sure how well the dueting partner works (idk if that’s aaron dessner or someone else?) but I think another softer (?) male voice could’ve gone better with it, or just taylor herself. the instrumentation and production on this song is fantastic though and I really love the bridge (although the idea of joe and taylor coming together to write about all of taylor’s exes makes me lol)
ivy:
the chord progression really reminds me of like 80% of folklore and idk if this track was “necessary” even though she’s perfectly entitled to her art obvs. but in the context of the album idk if this was needed, probably the most filler-like of all of them so far (for me personally). it’s sort of like a long poem to me and the subject matter of infidelity is always interesting when taylor covers it, but idk, this didn’t do too much for me on first listen
cowboy like me
this feels like a movie or video game soundtrack song, I always appreciate a good guitar solo and the instrumentation in this song is great. I don’t know how much this goes anywhere until the bridge but I love the line “now you hang from my lips, like the gardens of babylon, with your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con”. I think this has the potential to be a major grower on me though purely bc of how melodic it is and how “vibey” it is.
long story short
yeah this wasn’t really for me. I can appreciate it’s objectively a well produced song with some good lyrics, it just didn’t really click for me sadly upon first listen.
marjorie
yeah so this made me sob. as some of you may know I lost my grandma two weeks ago suddenly so...yeah, this song just really hit me. this is a beautiful track.
closure
what is going on here on this day lmao? reaaaaaaallly not a fan of the production and the synthetic (?) drums that were used on this track and I don’t think the use of repetition in the chorus’ lyricism really works that well here. idk it just feels a little unfinished to me
evermore feat. bon iver
I think this is too lyrically dense for my brain to properly intake after the long road it took to get to this track lol so I think i’ll need some time with it. I don’t think bon iver’s addition works as well as exile but I like the second half of the song which he’s in, in comparison to the first half, it does kinda feel like two songs put into one though. taylor’s vocals sound nice though.
in conclusion:
favourites: tolerate it, gold rush, champagne problems, no body, no crime, marjorie
in between/grower: cowboy like me
meh: tis the damn season, willow, doreathea, evermore
didn’t really like: ivy, long story short, closure
I feel like i’m going to be crucified for saying this but this feels like a lover-fied version of folklore ajfkhsas if that makes ANY sense to anyone but my own brain. I said when I did this same kind of post for folklore that the album did what the concept for lover tried to do (the love letter to different kinds of love) 10x better and I was happy to see this kind of direction from her. I still love folklore and I think it’s a true piece of art and it ranks high in my tiers of taylor albums, but this just kinda misses the mark for me for the most part (on first listen). It’s very lyrically dense, which is nice, but much less accessible than folklore to me in terms of melodies and the overall structure of some of the songs, which is again, fine, but not necessarily what I had anticipated going into this album and generally usually isn’t my thing. for all that i’ve said about jack’s production in some songs on previous albums of taylor’s, his presence here is missed imo. I’ve expressed that I don’t particularly enjoy long albums because eventually the flow of the album is lost, and that is true here. around the ivy/long story short stretch it kinda loses ground which is a shame because there is some beautiful lyricism in there, but it’s even more susceptible to risking being brought down by the sequencing when it’s a sister album to another project and will end up being compared to that and the tracks there. given the style of music this is in, the fact that it’s a sister album and so long, it’s got a lot against it and I don’t know if it manages to overcome those hurdles for me personally. It’s like what harry said about sequencing, the track listing is so important imo to the purpose and arc of the album that you want to tell and I feel like there could’ve been a lot more “editing” of this project to make it stand up to the highs of folklore imo, or potentially editing down folklore to combine it with some of the really strong tracks on evermore like goldrush, no body no crime etc. I don’t know if the narrative of this album is unique enough to stand against folklore and some of taylor’s other albums for me. I will be returning to these songs for sure, but the sequencing and overall structure of this album kinda lets it down. I can’t help but ponder if this album will age well in comparison to folklore, or both albums will age well with the narrative fuelling it being created in quarantine and as a product of boredom. if folklore wins AOTY at the grammys (which it seems it’s secured to at this point), it’s going to be tied to the “corona year” so it’ll be interesting to see where these projects end up and how well received they are in years to come vs taylor’s other projects and how they’ve aged. we’ll see! i’d probably give it a 7.5/10 in comparison to the 9/10 for folklore.
6 notes
·
View notes
Text
new york’s very own madison ‘madi’ ko was spotted on broadway street in chanel sneakers . your resemblance to kim chungha is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty-first birthday bash . while living in nyc , you’ve been labeled as being obsessive , but also ambitious . i guess being a virgo explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be glittery eyes, dangling earrings, & chanel draped in pearls. ( cisfemale & she/her) + ( kale, 20 , she/her , est. )
hi honeybuns !! im back and with child. there is a brief mention of an ed under the cut but i block it off with a tw start & end. if you’d like to plot pls leave a like and i can dm you or hit you up on discord !! my discord is kale#3079
BACKSTORY
haneul madison ko was born september 18, 1999 to two immigrant parents from S.K. her birth name is haneul, but she went by the name madison since it was easier to pronounce + madi began to almost detest her culture??
it was just that growing up she would sometimes get bullied for looking different at her school, for the way her packed lunches smelled/looked, the way people would stare if she spoke korean to her parents, how other kids would make fun of her english since she didn’t pick up on vocab/grammar as quickly since she didn’t practice at home with her parents. she just became SO insecure about it that she rejected her culture. she wouldn’t bring her mom’s food to school, if her mom ever forced her to take it she’d throw it away and choose to starve instead. she wouldn’t speak korean back to her parents in public, barely even in private (which reeaaallly upset her parents). this also REALLY destroyed her korean language skills. she can understand still, but she can barely hold a basic conversation anymore.
as she grew up, and continued this sense of distancing herself from her culture, she ultimately distanced herself from her family. which left her feeling - - alone often, even though it was all due to her own choices. in this loneliness, she found her escape in music. she would wear headphones constantly through the halls, in car rides, in her room when her parents yelled at her to turn the music down. she just loved music. she saved up the money her parents gave her whenever she worked at the nail salon (her parents owned it!!) to thrift an old keyboard. she became self-taught by trying to copy melodies of songs she’d listen to, thrifting piano lesson books, staying after school with the music teacher learning to play. sometimes she’d even skip lunch to sit in the chorus room with her choir director and play.
it’s not that she had a LACK of friends growing up, maybe just that she lacked a best friend. she had a lot of friends, but no one that she felt so connected to in the way she felt connected to music. perhaps, she was addicted to her loneliness.
she spent a lot of time playing the piano and dabbling in writing music that her grades started to fall (not that she was ever the BEST student) and her parents literally took away her piano. they said it was a waste of time because they wanted her to focus on doing well, so she could get into a good university, and then live a good life. music was just a distraction
but that didnt work
she would sneak out into the city to go to concerts and poetry readings. she’d sneak out and go to indie songwriters scenes while her parents thought she was at the library with one of her school friends
This underground scene had her full heart!! she was surrounded by likeminded people who just lived for music. she was hearing all of these incredible people who were all looking for their start. maybe not looking for anything at than just to sing their songs. tbh i think this was the point she was happiest. she was completely enveloped in music, just for the sake of music. There wasn’t any pressure, just music. Just the songs. she was wide eyed looking at this whole underground scene of artists. So maybe some plots from these underground charas?!
she’d perform some songs at karaoke nights and the indie sessions, and a producer took a keen interest in one of her songs. basically im kind of stealing halsey’s career start, but she posted a song Came in Close on SoundCloud and just blew up overnight. in the morning, she woke up to a record label asking her to fly to LA for a meeting.
and thus, Madison Ko began a career as Madi Ko where she’d release her debut album, Honey, a few months later. (DISCOGRAPHY HERE). her music is very 80s synth inspired!
new album that is most definitely CRJ’S EMOTION is coming soon...
PERSONALITY
right off the bat, madi is an absolute firecracker!! she’s loud, bursting with personality, has a lack of inhibitions that CHAOTICALLY mixes with her spontaneity
part of this is projecting her insecurities. she felt lonely as a child but doesn’t want to be seen as that to the world. it’s not so much a persona but an exaggeration of who she was.
she likes to show off her glam bc it, once again, hides her insecurities.
she just kind of is dramatic anymore
like everything about her
her persona as Madi Ko, upcoming popstar underdog, is like DUNKED in glitter, over the top stages and sets, draped in couture. basically her stages/outfits/dances/mvs are like Chungha’s but with Pale Waves and Carly Rae Jepsen VC. ex: 1, 2, 3, 4
also bc im obsessed with chungha’s famous diamond wink, IT’S GONNA BE MADI’S THING TOO. so basically madi has trended on twt a few times bc of her signature diamond wink bc she effing glues rhinestones and glitter under her eyes for performances !! she said fuck corneas !! ex: 1, 2, 3 ....god chungha is magical
so while madi is like a brand hypebeast n never shuts up, she can also get,,, easily annoyed. and heavily perceives ppl on first impressions despite that being the reason she felt misunderstood a lot growing up.
definitely argumentative!!! will blow up arguments for no reason n then later questions why she made it such a big deal but cant own up to her mistakes
when she decides she doesnt like you, SHE DOESNT LIKE YOU. it’s done. bridge is burned, she’s not keen on second chances
fame has definitely given her a bit of an ego problem --- she’s a bit more aggressive, self-obsessed while intrinsically insecure, is too busy flaunting her material possessions and trendy life that she can...lose touch of reality. basically most of her high school friends cant stand her. HC that her high school bf broke up with her bc she was no longer was the madison ko he knew!!! so if anyone wants to be that ex lmk !!! she’s written songs about them!!!
definitely the type of girl who is so hype at a party, dancing in fallen confetti, standing on the fireplace mantle, but then midway realizes she’s lonely. sad at a party.
ED TW STARTS!!!!!
....
she kind of always had body image issues growing up, but it was very off and on, but once she got signed and being by surrounded by cameras became normal she formed a full fledged ED. she’s passed out at concerts a few times bc of her ED, but they always brush it off as “not enough rest” or “she wasnt feeling well that day but pushed to perform anyway as to not disappoint the fans”
so feel free for ur muses to point it out !! she’ll get really defensive like “i eat i just work out a lot” and yeah it’s true she works out a lot but she...doesn’t really eat
it’s also one of the causes of her irritability ...
.....
END ED TW!!!!
idk why this is so long
always up for mischief!
does love a good prank. asks weird hypotheticals
is not scared of an ouija board
will get wasted off a few shots and drunk madi is UNSTOPPABLE
one time drunk madi cried bc her siamese cat (MOCHI !!!) wouldn’t ever get to go to school and would never know chemistry..... the dramatics.....
she is sensitive and despises it. she does everything she can to not come across as sensitive
however, she’s so obsessive. so deep in feeling. when she feels something she FEELS it. when she is mad it boils through her. when she is in love it is all she knows. when she is sad it covers her like sweaters and blankets on rainy days. she doesn’t know how to half-feel. everything she feels stops her in her tracks.
HOWEVER she’s the most obsessive with her own insecurities — so in relationships she’s kind of known for tapping out early. she just gets scared and the fleetingness of her career and that she’s at her very core, lonely and disappointed in herself, makes her want to run away thinking that letting down her walls and being vulnerable could only be disappointing for her SO. so maybe she ghosted ur chara or gave some lame excuse
Kind of obsessed with how she’s perceived
terrified that at any moment her career could be thrown away, her deemed irrelevant, and she goes back to being Madison Ko, daughter of nail techs in Koreatown. and then her parents would have been right all along, music was a waste of time.
she’s just my little fallen angel who flew to the sun (fame) and it constantly eats away at her girlhood, at her heart.
anyways this is all i got rn <3 come love me sorry i kind of didn’t shut up this is long
WANTED CONNECTIONS
an ex from before she was famous who broke up with her because of how she changed!! PLEASE i have ideas for this. plus,,, you get a lot of songs about ur chara!!! could be from high school, maybe someone in the music scene she frequented before she was signed, anything!!
anothr ex/fwb/undefined relationship i’d love is one when she was first famous who just introduced her to everything. something like a whirlwind that was exciting and magical. she’s written songs about this person.
exes in general.
hookups/fwb
romantic plots. pls i have songs who need meaning. friends to lovers, one sided (either way), slowburn, ANYTHING. love cruel summer plots, anything lover by tswift
PR relationships -- would LOVE one where she falls in love with the other despite how clearly defined they made their relationship
love triangles in general just get me going
best friend!!!! the one’s who know how the other feels just by looking at each other. they have countless sleepovers. tell each other everything. cry together on bathroom floors. pregame together.
ex friends. for whatever reason -- maybe madi did smth shitty, maybe they did. maybe there was backstabbing, maybe madi sacrificed friendship for a career, maybe she made moves on their romantic partner/interest despite being fully aware. idk. gimme
People she knew from the underground/indie scene before they were famous!! they’d have bonded over their love for music, little indie dreams kind of vibe. just imagine a group of dreamers !! Would love if they made some kind of pact!!!
party friends
collabs !!
pranks. mischief. gimme
enemies. gotta cook up some drama, yknow
GIRL GANG. god i just want this so bad like make a girls dream come true
7 notes
·
View notes
Note
oh god, songs okay so like: modern pop with synth and reverb (when that 80s flavour is weaved into music essentially), but also like, lo-fi or really well structured instrumentals aka Ghibli soundtracks ahem 🤸 in general though, i think you're just great. like associations i guess like, are a bonus but i think you as a person is enough! ewww i sound gross i just mean to say I'd love to play with your hair under a willow tree and boop your nose bc you're too cute ugh 😤😤♥️♥️💞💞😤😤♥️💞 — ✨❤️🌴
Omggg I- WHO EVEN ARE YOU??? This is so spot on! Like?? How are you doing this? Or am I that predictable what the actual fuck lmao but anywho wow I'm SHOOK here. I listen to that type of music all the time EYE- wow
And also- oh STAPPPP IT YOU flirt! ヾ(*’Ｏ’*)/ my heart can't take the cuteness (>0<；) you're so gosh darn cute , I'm heart is melting ughhhh ♥️♥️♥️♥️
#your mind😵#:O#I'm beyond shook#at this point i feel like you know me than me akkskssm#gao answers#🌴 anon
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
CALM Review
It's isolation time which means I have Thoughts so I'm doing my live review and then ranking of CALM, the new 5sos album.
Now my knowledge of technicality within music is sub par, idrk what a falsetto is despite being told repeatedly by my flatmate, but I love music and therefore I get an opinion. This is also coming from someone who was a big fan from maybe 2014-2017 and enjoyed over half of Youngblood (and meant to be seeing them live for the first time in May but with covid19 idk if that's happening hun ahaha)
Red Desert: enjoyable, nice bass. Fits right into my strange but chill playlist. Just liking the straight vibes here, idk how to explain. Let's give it a 8.5/10 -> Wait okay so listened again and it's just so good, bumping it to a 9/10! Also getting some Orville Peck vibes and idk why bc they are not the same genre at all, maybe it's that Arizona desert vibe
No Shame - definitely grown on me since it's release but to enjoy it I have to listen with the music video so it's not one I would like to appear on shuffle. It's just fine not much to say, so 6.5/10
Old Me - enjoy this one a lot, very easily stuck in my head although there isnt much variation within the song, in this case it works. A general bop sitting at 8/10
Easier - bop city, enjoyed this at its release and over time it's a little boring but I enjoyed it then so it gets to be a 7.5/10
Teeth - like this one, darker than the other tracks and gives off grungier less polished vibes even tho it is quite polished. It's certainly not pop punk a la 2015 but I'm happy to have this in multiple playlists, so 8/10
Wildflower - a lovely chill (sensual or maybe just horny) summer vibe. The 80s synth vibe is cool, this could be one of the Summer Songs. I feel like Harry Styles did it better but......oh wait a hot second, is this a Calum solo song??? That defo takes it from a 7.5 to an 8/10. I miss his lovely voice and I did love Babylon so.
Best Years - slow, basic, fine, 6/10. I'll give it another listen and my opinion might change. -> Sorry I know it's meant to be cute or whatever but like if I didn't know it was 5sos I wouldn't care, full stop. Sooo I'm actually dropping it to 5.5/10 whoops
Not In The Same Way - yeah nah, just stick it on the soundtrack of some John Green adaptation and leave it there. 5.5/10 -> another listen and I'm still bored, not much to say
Lover of Mine - getting vibes I can't quite describe, it feels like my life around 2014 (not 5sos related) so it's a bit strange. Dont really like the pre-chorus but the rest is enjoyable 7/10
Thin White Lies - kind of dramatic in the way that I need to listen to it at 2am when writing some angsty poetry, doesn't really work at 3pm in bright sunlight when writing an essay on Wales. Also getting dark 2012 vibes (again, unrelated to 5sos themselves) so that's odd. I'll give it 7/10 -> listening again and its overcast which makes it cooler but I'm not sad enough to listen to it. It's a song I have to be upset to listen to, it won't make me upset on it's own.
Lonely Heart - so I said TWL hard 2012 vibes, yeah well so does this but NOT in a good way, I'm not having this yikes. Don't want to go back there sorry, leaves it at 6/10. If I could remove the emotions I had around 2012 then it would an enjoyable song but personal experience says nah.
High - it's a nice way to end the album, very opposite vibes to Red Desert. Saying that, I dont care for it all that much. I appreciate what it's doing but I would choose to listen to it. Nevertheless it gets a 6.5/10 (Edit: it's cute now, like it more)
So, these are my irrelevant thoughts, enjoy.
Just kidding, I'm going to rank the album from best to worst:
Red Desert
Old Me
Teeth
Wildflower
Easier
Lover of Mine
No Shame -> (I know I rated it lower than TWL but it fits this way)
Thin White Lies
High
Lonely Heart
Not In The Same Way
Best Years
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
I got tagged by the lovely @mandarinastronaut
1. Nickname: Ev
2. Zodiac sign: scorpio, i am 100% a scorpio. i fit this sign so well idk its my stars i guess
3. Height: 5′5′‘ with my GOOD VELCRO SNEAKERS ON haha
4. Hogwarts house: i think gryffindor??? but i never watched harry potter and only read the first one (didnt really enjoy it) and the half-blood prince (for school)
5. Last thing I Googled: “nina sergeevna gif” bc im really sad LMAO and i miss her
6. Favorite musicians: oh man oh man oh man i have an ENDLESS list of favorite music. literally endless. i am a huge classic rock fan, a huge synth fan, a huge vaporwave fan, i like classical music, indie shit, opera, traditional musics, i like soundscapes and meditation music, i like metal, i like blues, i like so much --like if it bops, it bops. IF IT BOPS IT BOPS!!! that’s facts
7. Song stuck in my head: surfer girl & dont worry baby by the beach boys , peace of mind by chicago, and just what i needed by the cars has been in my head since yesterday, also hocus pocus by focus, and the logical song by supertramp
8. Followers: 1098 (idk why anyone follows me im sorry my blog is a mess but its OUR mess k)
9. Following: 272
10. Do you get asks: not really? Lol talk to me though i love to talk about stuff
11. Amount of sleep: either 2 or 15, and no in between
12. Lucky number: lucky number 6 baby!!!
13. What are you wearing: just woke up and gonna go out skateboarding so teal cloth mini shorts and a ripped like 1980s style “boys” (clothes have no gender) tank top (its 103 degrees and like 75% humidity so)
14. Dream job: photographer for like natl geographic. or astronaut. basically jim kirk. or nothing. zero obligations is cool with me.
15. Dream trip: SPACE!!!! more than anything i want to go to space. hmmm i have hella mad wanderlust. i want to go literally everywhere. luckily (and with some finagling) and ive been a whole bunch of places, almost all usa major/minor cities and states, and several countries in europe and africa. so right now im focusing on Japan and Switzerland, but i also want to see India, Kathmandu, Tanzania, Mexico City, Patagonia, Alaska, Antarctica, Australia. im the energizer bunny i just keep goin
16. Instruments: the only thing i can successfully play mildly well is the ukulele. if i practiced i think id be a lot better.
17. Languages: english, broken but passable french, and like most americans some spanish (esp bc of when i lived in the southwest, where i lived most people did not use english so my Get By Spanish is pretty good).
18. Favorite song: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin and about a trillion others
19. Random fact: i love spiders and snakes and bugs
20. Aesthetic: prob andro 80s rocker ish in general
tagging my @epermochi !!
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
21 questions
I was tagged by @monstermonstre thank you :)
Nicknames: Juju in my native language, sometimes Ju, Juli by my international friends
Zodiac Sign: Aries
Height: 5′5′‘ i think (1,65m)
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff
The last thing I googled: The utility of umbrellas in Animal crossing new leaf lmao i was like is it really useful or is it just for fashion, in acnl the only purpose is to prevent your character from tanning
Favorite musicians: I don’t have favorite musicians i think, i like different stuff, but i guess Ariana Grande is one of those i listen to the most
Some song stuck in my head: I’ve been listening to BTS a lot these days so it varies between their songs lmao, but rn it’s Idol
Following: 364 blogs
Followers: Less than 500 :(
Do you get asks: Not often at all, so when i do i get excited :)
Amount of sleep: generally 8h a sleep, but these days i’ve some troubles to sleep so it’s less
Lucky number: idk
What you’re wearing: Rn i’m wearing pyjama pants and a grey hoodie
Dream job: I would’ve said something in animation, but i’m not entirely sure now. i guess being financially stable while doing something i like is my dream job haha possibly in animation or illustration
Instruments: i don’t play any instruments unfortunately but would’ve loved too. i’ve trying self learning some songs on a synth piano when i was younger but i forgot everything i learned and i dont have a synth anymore
Languages: French (native language), English, a bit of Spanish
Favorite songs: I don’t have favorite songs bc i like several stuff haha, i guess that would include songs of ariana grande haha but the thing is my tastes varies a lot and i grew tired of some songs then get obsessed with new songs, so like basically it’s whatever i’m obsessed with in the moment i guess idk lmao this answer is too long
Random fact: idk
Aesthetic: Honestly as soon i see something pink i go heart eyes emoji, and i love kinda colorful but soft stuff, kinda pastel i guess, kinda 80s/90s fashion and/or aesthetic also ? like kinda vintage but like pop i guess, (as an exemple i went OOF at the music video of Boy with luv, that’s basically my aesthetic i’d say) (if i remember well i reaally liked the aesthetic of the music video of Everyday i love you by Vivi from LOONA) (but i also like darker stuff sometimes)
i tag @poppinstheinvincible @goldenssunlight @snapbackdragon @sweetstrawberryheadache @jiminestamour
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Live Review: Twosome Fest at the Astoria Hastings (Vancouver, BC), 2.2.19
My personal punk rock vendetta is against the devaluing of the two-piece band. Face it: unless you’re the White Stripes, or maybe the Dresden Dolls before everyone started feeling real weird about Amanda Palmer, nobody gives a shit about your two-piece. There’s this cultural climate of constant dismissal. You can’t possibly generate a big enough sound, just the two of you, regardless of what instruments you’re playing or how you’re playing them. I hate it.
But on 2/2/2019 (the two-est date before 2020), the Vancouver punk scene said ‘fuck it’ to that attitude and gathered for a full night of embracing the twos.
Twosome Fest has percolated in many minds for a long time. Ryan, the bass half of perennial Vancouver favorite AANTHEMS, talked about discussions ranging back years on setting up a show to build community between Vancouver twosomes and display their talents for the rest of our fair city to hear. Justin, “voices/strings” of Pedler, the band that organized the event, conversationally informed the crowd that though it hadn’t come to fruition until that night, they’d been talking about it for at least two or three years. Apparently, it fell through at least once just because their drummer got tinnitus.
But boy, am I glad they got it together at last and everyone’s ears stayed healthy. Because this was some show.
The six-band bill got started around 9 at the Astoria Hastings, a keystone venue for Vancouver punks. The Astoria’s arcade game machines, a mysterious and vaguely disturbing wall of projected film strips, moderately uncomfortable bar stools, and pleasantly mid-sized stage for a smallish venue set it up as the perfect place to get up to whatever wild nonsense your musical brain can spit out. The black lights make your gin and tonic glow bright blue. It’s a good time.
Vice Girl kicks things off. All photos by Cae Rosch.
The first act up, classic guitar and drums combo Vice Girl, made suitably wild use of fuzzy riffs and the full, driving pressure of their drums. Though Vice Girl contains no girls, they certainly contain the good kind of musical vices: indulgently weird effects, a dark blend of rock and metal influences, and the exact kind of ‘80s horror references we as a community refuse to not love even in anno domini 2019.
Their brand of genre blending, ranging across volumes and rhythms and tones, still paced forward with a steady groove and guitar that occasionally almost droned in its fuzz. They set up the show well for its seemingly conflicting blend of styles across the night. A good beginning.
Double Standards makes it weirder.
Next up, bass and drums combo Double Standards got way up in there. As they finished setting up, bassist Steve announced in a high school principal voice, “Attention audience: please report to the stage.” This was not the strangest thing Double Standards did.
They kicked it off with some high-pitched synth before immediately going hard into loud and fast. They were clearly having a great time, and so were the rest of us. The two of them displayed a headbangingly intense commitment to their sound, somehow combining peculiarly ethereal synth, fast and furious drums that occasionally verged on something almost but not quite approaching funk, and melodic vocals. They possessed the stage, and it was grand.
There should be a joke about Pedler and pedals here, but instead, I’m just impressed by their enthusiasm.
Show organizers Pedler kept the energy going strong. Another bass and drums duo, their stage energy was maniacal and committed. It never let up. Though they cheerfully announced that they hadn’t played a show in weeks and practiced just twice for this one, they gelled like they had some sort of alien mind meld going on.
The surprisingly versatile bass with its delightfully screeching highs and comforting lows and the relentless energy of the drums persisted through some mysterious tech weirdness with an inexplicable hum, and Pedler’s cheerful stage manner and loud as fuck sound persisted in bringing me great joy and renewed energy dead center in a very long night.
Spike Girls were probably like, 80% of the “loud” in the tagline of the event.
The second “Girls” of the night, Spike Girls contained actual girls, which is always refreshing at a punk rock event (and may I suggested boycotting events that do not, just to discover how much your schedule suddenly clears up).
Let me tell you my immediate impression of Spike Girls: they were loud and heavy as fuck. Their stage presence was calm and casual. When they mildly stated, “We’re all about being gay and smoking weed,” I fell in love with their attitude. When their growling vocals and metal-heavy guitar exploded forth from their crust punk exterior, I fell in love with their sound. They showed us the darkest, heaviest sound of the night and they made it seem effortless.
AANTHEMS gets the floor going.
AANTHEMS, two brothers on bass and drums, drew the biggest crowd to the front of the night. They’re a favorite in Vancouver, even if, according to Ryan, they mostly just wait for other people to ask them to play shows rather than booking themselves. It’s for good reason. Even as their sound gets heavier in their more recent work, they’re catchy as fuck.
Together, they keep the kind of tight and fast rhythm that shows itself not only in the sound, but also in its breathless pauses and suspensions. They’re speedy, their lyrics are clear and memorable, and no matter how apparently heavy or light an individual song is, it always has a good beat (and you can dance to it). A fatigued but enthusiastic crowd staggered into something resembling a mosh pit for the first time that evening, which was particularly impressive given that AANTHEMS were the fifth act of the night.
Molten Lava closes it off with an appropriately heavy, slow, warm flow given their name.
By the time Molten Lava, last out of six, had set up, I had fallen asleep on a bar stool between sets. I am only mildly embarrassed by this. It was late and I’m almost 30 and I’m in grad school; you try staying awake past midnight when you live my nerd-ass lifestyle.
That said, Molten Lava fixed it quickly. Their first chord knocked me on my ass (almost) literally. They were big. Expansive. Loud. Their long instrumental passages flowed over you, almost relaxing in their steady weight. They led the high energy show out into an epic denouement - the perfect end to an exhausting but fulfilling night.
These were six very different bands, united in their two-ness and their commitment to loud. But as the show wound down and everyone packed up, I saw the event perform the exact function it was meant to do. Bands had shared equipment all night; now they helped each other pack up and head out. Hugs were exchanged. Hands were shaken. Low, friendly conversation filled the emptying Astoria not only between bands, but between bands and audience.
Twosome Fest united a niche community with a niche interest. And I don’t think it did so for just the one night. Twosome Fest is going to last.
Cae Rosch hugged like three people at Twosome Fest, which is egregious and you should all be impressed. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
Follow DRM on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Subscribe to the DRM YouTube channel.
#live review#cae rosch#twosome fest#astoria hastings#vancouver#vancouver bc#Vancouver music#vancouver punk#Vancouver punk rock#vice girl#double standards#pedler#spike girls#AANTHEMS#molten lava
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Electronic Music Styles - Electronic Music
Acid Jazz
The music played by a generation raised on jazz as well as funk and hip-hop, Acid Jazz used elements of all three; its existence as a percussion-heavy, primarily live music placed it closer to jazz and Afro-Cuban than any other dance style, but its insistence on keeping the groove allied it with funk, hip-hop, and dance music. The term itself first appeared in 1988 as both an American record label and the title of an English compilation series that reissued jazz-funk music from the ’70s, called “rare groove” by the Brits during a major mid-’80s resurgence. A variety of acid jazz artists emerged during the late ’80s and early ’90s: live bands such as Stereo MC’s, James Taylor Quartet, the Brand New Heavies, Groove Collective, Galliano, and Jamiroquai, as well as studio projects like Palm Skin Productions, Mondo Grosso, Outside, and United Future Organization.
Acid Techno
When the squelch of mid-’80s acid house music was given time to sink into the minds of impressionable youths, they became quite influenced by the sound. Many who began to make music in the early ’90s applied the sound to harder techno instead of the warm sounds of classic Chicago house. Quite similar to early German trance, Acid Techno includes the earlier recordings of Aphex Twin, Plastikman, and Dave Clarke, among others.
Alternative Rap
Alternative Rap refers to hip-hop groups that refuse to conform to any of the traditional stereotypes of rap, such as gangsta, funk, bass, hardcore, and party rap. Instead, they blur genres, drawing equally from funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae, and even folk. Though Arrested Development and the Fugees managed to cross over into the mainstream, most alternative rap groups are embraced primarily by alternative rock fans, not hip-hop or pop audiences.
Ambient music evolved from the experimental electronic music of ’70s synth-based artists like Brian Eno and Kraftwerk, and the trance-like techno dance music of the ’80s. Ambient is a spacious, electronic music that is concerned with sonic texture, not songwriting or composing. It’s frequently repetitive and it all sounds the same to the casual listener, even though there are quite significant differences between the artists. Ambient became a popular cult music in the early ’90s, thanks to ambient techno artists like the Orb and Aphex Twin.
Ambient Breakbeat
Ambient Breakbeat refers to a narrow subgenre of electronic acts with less energy than the trip-hop or funky breaks, but with a pronounced hip-hop influence to their music. Some of the more downtempo works on British labels like Mo’Wax and Ninja Tune paved the way for New York’s DJ Wally (of the Liquid Sky Records brigade) and British artists such as Req, each good examples of the style.
Ambient Dub
Coined by the Beyond label for its compilation series of the same name, Ambient Dub has since been generalized by artists, critics, and audiences alike to refer to any form of rhythmic, usually beat-oriented ambient using the tastes, textures, and techniques of Jamaican dub-style production (e.g. reverb, emphasis on bass and percussion, heavy use of effects). Although the term has fallen out of favor due to the fevered intermingling of styles characteristic of post-rave electronica, it remains useful in demarcating the denser, more electronic applications of dub from the more hip-hop derived styles of downtempo, atmospheric beat music. Artists include the Orb, Higher Intelligence Agency, Sub Dub, Techno Animal, Automaton, and Solar Quest.
Ambient House
An early categorical marker used to distinguish newer wave ambient artists such as the Orb, the KLF, Irresistible Force, Future Sound of London, and Orbital, Ambient House was often applied indiscriminately to designate dance music not necessarily just for dancing. In its more rigorous application, ambient house implied music appropriating certain primary elements of acid house music-mid-tempo, four-on-the-floor beats; synth pads and strings; soaring vocal samples-used in a dreamier, more atmospheric fashion. It’s since been replaced (or rather, some would argue, complicated) by a barrage of more specific terms and is rarely used.
Ambient Pop
Ambient Pop combines elements of the two distinct styles which lend the blissed-out genre its name-while the music possesses a shape and form common to conventional pop, its electronic textures and atmospheres mirror the hypnotic, meditative qualities of ambient. The mesmerizing lock-groove melodies of Kraut-rock are a clear influence as well, although ambient pop is typically much less abrasive. Essentially an extension of the dream pop that emerged in the wake of the shoegazer movement, it’s set apart from its antecedents by its absorption of contemporary electronic idioms, including sampling, although for the most part live instruments continue to define the sound.
Ambient Techno
A rarefied, more specific reorientation of ambient house, Ambient Techno is usually applied to artists such as B12, early Aphex Twin, the Black Dog, Higher Intelligence Agency, and Biosphere. It distinguished artists who combined the melodic and rhythmic approaches of techno and electro-use of 808 and 909 drum machines; well-produced, thin-sounding electronics; minor-key melodies and alien-sounding samples and sounds-with the soaring, layered, aquatic atmospheres of beatless and experimental ambient. Most often associated with labels such as Apollo, GPR, Warp, and Beyond, the terminology morphed into “intelligent techno” after Warp released its Artificial Intelligence series (although the music’s stylistic references remained largely unchanged).
Bass Music
Springing from the fertile dance scenes in Miami (freestyle) and Detroit (electro) during the mid-’80s, Bass Music brought the funky-breaks aesthetic of the ’70s into the digital age with drum-machine frequencies capable of pulverizing the vast majority of unsuspecting car or club speakers. Early Miami pioneers like 2 Live Crew and DJ Magic Mike pushed the style into its distinctive booty obsession, and Detroit figures like DJ Assault, DJ Godfather, and DJ Bone melded it with techno to create an increasingly fast-paced music. Bass music even flirted with the charts during the early ’90s, as 95 South’s “Whoot (There It Is)” and 69 Boyz’ “Tootsee Roll” both hit the charts and went multi-platinum.
Bhangra started in Northern India, and shows what happens when you blend traditional music with electronic dance sensibilities. It has now spread to other parts of Asia and the UK.
Big Beat
Rescuing the electronica community from a near fall off the edge of its experimental fringe, Big Beat emerged in the mid-’90s as the next wave of big dumb dance music. Regional pockets around the world had emphasized the “less intelligent” side of dance music as early as 1994, in reaction to the growing coterie of chin-stroking intellectuals attached to the drum’n’bass and experimental movements. Big beat as a distinct movement finally coalesced in 1995-96 around two British labels: Brighton’s Skint and London’s Wall of Sound. The former-home to releases by Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace, and Lo-Fidelity Allstars-deserves more honors for innovation and quality, though Wall of Sound was founded slightly earlier and released great singles by Propellerheads, Wiseguys, and Les Rythmes Digitales. Big beat soon proved very popular in America as well, and artists attached to City of Angels Records (the Crystal Method, Überzone, Lunatic Calm, Front BC) gained a higher profile thanks to like-minded Brits. Other than Fatboy Slim, the other superstar artists of big beat were the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy, two groups who predated the style (and assisted its birth). Both the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy were never tight fits either, given productions that often reflected the more intelligent edge of trip-hop, and rarely broke into the mindless arena of true big beat.
The sound of big beat, a rather shameless fusion of old-school party breakbeats with appropriately off-the-wall samples, was reminiscent of house music’s sampladelic phase of the late ’80s as well as old-school rap and its penchant for silly samples and irresistible breaks. Though the sample programming and overall production was leaps and bounds beyond its predecessors, big beat was nevertheless criticized for dumbing down the electronica wave of the late ’90s. Even while recordings by the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, and Fatboy Slim hit the American charts and earned positive reviews-granted, from rock critics-worldwide, many dance fans rejected the style wholesale for being too reliant on gimmicky production values and played-out samples. Big beat lasted a surprisingly long time, given the restraints of a style reliant on the patience of listeners who’ve heard the same break dozens of times, as well as the patience of DJs to hunt local thrift stores to find interesting samples on old instructional records.
Dance Hall Reggae
This dance music style takes reggae and electrifies it, strips down the beat to the essentials of drums and bass, and adds a vocalist doing rapid-fire “toasting” over the beats. Several pop groups have adopted this style and had hits, but the results are pretty diluted compared to the original.
Dance-Pop
An outgrowth of disco, Dance-Pop featured a pounding club beat framing simple, catchy melodies closer to fully-formed songs than pure dance music. It’s primarily the medium of producers, who write the songs and construct the tracks, picking an appropriate vocalist to sing the song. These dance divas become stars, but frequently the artistic vision is the producer’s. Naturally, there are some major exceptions-Madonna and Janet Jackson have had control over the sound and direction of their records-but dance-pop is music that is about image, not substance.
Dark Ambient
Brian Eno’s original vision of ambient music as unobtrusive musical wallpaper, later fused with warm house rhythms and given playful qualities by the Orb in the ’90s, found its opposite in the style known as Dark Ambient. Populated by a wide assortment of personalities-ranging from aging industrial and metal experimentalists (Scorn’s Mick Harris, Current 93’s David Tibet, Nurse with Wound’s Steven Stapleton) to electronic boffins (Kim Cascone/PGR, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia), Japanese noise artists (K.K. Null, Merzbow), and latter-day indie rockers (Main, Bark Psychosis)-dark ambient features toned-down or entirely missing beats with unsettling passages of keyboards, eerie samples, and treated guitar effects. Like most styles related in some way to electronic/dance music of the ’90s, it’s a very nebulous term; many artists enter or leave the style with each successive release.
Detroit Techno
Early Detroit Techno is characterized by, alternately, a dark, detached, mechanistic vibe and a smooth, bright, soulful feel (the latter deriving in part from the Motown legacy and the stock-in-trade between early techno and the Chicago-style house developing simultaneously to the southwest). While essentially designed as dance music meant to uplift, the stark, melancholy edge of early tracks by Cybotron, Model 500, Rhythm Is Rhythm, and Reese also spoke to Detroit’s economic collapse in the late ’70s following the city’s prosperous heyday as the focal point of the American automobile industry.
The music’s oft-copied ruddy production and stripped-down aesthetic were largely a function of the limited technology available to the early innovators (records were often mastered from two-track onto cassette). The increasingly sophisticated arrangements of contemporary techno (on through to hardcore and jungle), conversely, has much to do with the growth and increasing affordability of MIDI-encoded equipment and desktop digital audio. Second- and third-wave Detroit techno, too, has gained considerably in production, although artists such as Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kenny Larkin have sought to combine the peerless sheen of the digital arena with the compositional minimalism of their Detroit origins.
No longer simply contained within the 313 area code, Detroit techno has become a global phenomenon (partly as a result of the more widespread acclaim many of the original Detroit artists have found in other countries), buoyed by the fact that many of the classic early tracks remain in print (available through Submerge). Detroit’s third wave began re-exploring the aesthetic commitment of the music’s early period, with hard-hitting beats (Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills), soulful grooves (Kenny Larkin, Stacey Pullen), and a renewed interest in techno’s breakbeat roots (Aux 88, Drexciya, “Mad” Mike, Dopplereffekt).
Disco marked the dawn of dance-based popular music. Growing out of the increasingly groove-oriented sound of early ’70s and funk, disco emphasized the beat above anything else, even the singer and the song. Disco was named after discotheques, clubs that played nothing but music for dancing. Most of the discotheques were gay clubs in New York, and the DJs in these clubs specifically picked soul and funk records that had a strong, heavy groove. After being played in the disco, the records began receiving radio play and respectable sales. Soon, record companies and producers were cutting records created specifically for discos. Naturally, these records also had strong pop hooks, so they could have crossover success. Disco albums frequently didn’t have many tracks-they had a handful of long songs that kept the beat going. Similarly, the singles were issued on 12″ records, which allowed for extended remixes. DJs could mix these tracks together, matching the beats on each song since they were marked with how fast they were in terms of beats per minute. In no time, the insistent, pounding disco beat dominated the pop chart, and everyone cut a disco record, from rockers like the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart to pop acts like the Bee Gees and new wave artists like Blondie. There were disco artists that became stars-Donna Summer, Chic, the Village People, and KC & the Sunshine Band were brand names-but the music was primarily a producer’s medium, since they created the tracks and wrote the songs. Disco lost momentum as the ’70s became the ’80s, but it didn’t die-it mutated into a variety of different dance-based genres, ranging from dance-pop and hip-hop to house and techno.
Downbeat is a quite generic term sometimes used to replace ambient house and ambient techno, considering that the amount and complexity of electronic listening music described under the “ambient” umbrella had made the terms practically useless by the mid-’90s. It often implies the use of moderate breakbeats instead of the steady four-four beats of most ambient house or ambient techno. The style also breaches territory claimed by trip-hop, ambient techno, and electro-techno. In its widest possible definition, downbeat is any form of electronic music created for the living room instead of the dance floor.
Dream-Pop
Dream Pop is an atmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody. Dream pop often features breathy vocals and processed, echo-laden guitars and synthesizers. Though the Cocteau Twins, with their indecipherable vocals and languid soundscapes, are frequently seen as the leaders of dream pop, the genre has more stylistic diversity than their slow, electronic textures. Dream pop also encompasses the post-Velvet Underground guitar rock of Galaxie 500, as well as the loud, shimmering feedback of My Bloody Valentine. It is all tied together by a reliance on sonic texture, both in terms of instruments and vocals.
Dub derives its name from the practice of dubbing instrumental, rhythm-oriented versions of reggae songs onto the B-sides of 45 rpm singles, which evolved into a legitimate and accepted style of its own as those re-recordings became forums for engineers to experiment with the possibilities of their mixing consoles. The practice of re-recording reggae tracks without vocals dated back to 1967, when DJs found that dancehall crowds and partygoers greatly enjoyed being given the opportunity to sing the lyrics themselves. Around 1969, some DJs began talking, or “toasting,” over these instrumentals (known as “versions”), frequently reinterpreting the already familiar original lyrics. The most important early DJ was U-Roy, who became renowned for his ability to improvise dialogues with the recorded singers; U-Roy ran the sound system owned by engineer King Tubby, who mixed all of the instrumental tracks over which his DJ toasted. Eventually, Tubby began to experiment with remixing the instrumental tracks, bringing up the level of the rhythm section, dropping out most or all of the vocals, and adding new effects like reverb and echo. The results were seen by many reggae fans as stripping the music down to its purest essence. 45-rpm singles with dub versions on the B-sides became ubiquitous, and King Tubby’s credit on the back soon became a drawing card in and of itself. Full-fledged dub albums began to appear in 1973, with many highlights stemming from Tubby’s mixes for producers Bunny Lee and Augustus Pablo (the latter of whom also played the haunting melodica, which became one of dub’s signature added elements); other key early producers included the minimalistic Keith Hudson and the colorful, elaborate Lee “Scratch” Perry. By 1976, dub’s popularity in Jamaica was second only to Rastafarian roots reggae, and the sound had also found acceptance the UK (thanks largely to the Island label), where roots reggae artists like Burning Spear and Black Uhuru became just as well-known for their forays into dub. The Mad Professor and the experimental Adrian Sherwood helped Britain’s dub scene remain vital in the ’80s, but in spite of skilled newcomers like Scientist, Prince Jammy, and Mikey Dread, Jamaican popular taste had by then shifted to DJ toasters and lyrical improvisers, which led to the prominence of dancehall and ragga. The downtempo atmospherics and bass- and rhythm-heavy textures of dub had a lasting influence outside of reggae, beginning with Public Image Ltd.’s 1979 Metal Box/Second Edition album; during the ’90s, dub was frequently incorporated into the melting-pot eclecticism of underground avant-garde rock, and Britain’s thriving electronica/drum’n’bass scene owed a great deal to dub’s mixing and production techniques.
Blending ’70s funk with the emerging hip-hop culture and synthesizer technology of the early ’80s produced the style known as Electro. But what seemed to be a brief fad for the public-no more than two or three hits, including Afrikaa Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” and Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message,” neither of which made the pop Top 40-was in fact a fertile testing ground for innovators who later diverged into radically different territory, including Dr. Dre (who worked with the World Class Wreckin’ Cru) and techno godfather Juan Atkins (with Cybotron). Electro also provided an intriguing new direction for one of the style’s prime influences. Herbie Hancock, whose 1973 Headhunters album proved a large fusion hit, came storming back in 1983 with the electro single “Rockit.” Despite its successes (documented in full on Rhino’s four-disc Electric Funk set), the style was quickly eclipsed by the mid-’80s rise of hip-hop music built around samples (often from rock records) rather than musical synthesizers. Nevertheless, many techno and dance artists continued harking back to the sound, and a full-fledged electro revival emerged in Detroit and Britain during the mid-’90s.
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic music thrives in more unfamiliar territory; the styles that emerge are often dictated by the technology itself. Rather than sampling or synthesizing acoustic sounds to electronically replicate them, these composers tend to mutate the original timbres, sometimes to an unrecognizable state. True artists in the genre also create their own sounds (as opposed to using the preset sounds that come with modern synthesizers). In progressive electro-acoustic music, the electronics play an equal if not greater part in the overall concept. Acoustic instruments performed in real time are usually processed through reverb, harmonizing, and so on, which adds an entirely new dimension to the player’s technique. At best, this music opens up new worlds of listening, thinking, and feeling. At worst, progressive electronic artists worship technology for its own sake, relinquishing the heart and soul of true artistic expression.
Electro-Techno
Influenced by the early-’80s phenomenon of electro-funk but also reliant upon Detroit techno and elements of ambient house, Electro-Techno emerged in the mid-’90s when a full-fledged electro flashback hit London clubs, complete with body-rocking robots and vocoder-distorted vocals, inspired by original electro classics like Afrikaa Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock.” The actual fad-spearheaded by Clear Records and led by artists like Jedi Knights, Tusken Raiders, and Gescom (masks for Global Communication, µ-Ziq, and Autechre, respectively)-was quick in passing, but it inspired some excellent music during the latter half of the ’90s, including the work of England’s Skam Records, Sweden’s Dot Records and, closer to the original sources, Detroit’s Drexciya and AUX 88.
Electronic is a broad designation that could be construed to cover many different styles of music-after all, electronic instrumentation has become commonplace, and much dance-oriented music from the late ’80s on is primarily, often exclusively, electronic. However, in this case, it refers mostly to electronic music as it took shape early on, when artists were still exploring the unique possibilities of electronically generated sound, as well as more recent music strongly indebted to those initial experiments. Avant-garde composers had long been fascinated with the ways technology could be used to produce previously unheard textures and combinations of sounds. French composer Edgard Varèse was a pioneer in this field, building his own electronic instruments as early as the 1920s and experimenting with tape loops during the ’50s. Varèse’s work was hugely influential on American avant-gardist John Cage and German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, both of whom greatly expanded the compositional structures in which electronic devices could be incorporated. But electronic music didn’t really begin to enter the wider consciousness until around the ’70s, when sequencers and synthesizers became more affordable and easier to obtain. Wendy Carlos’ 1968 Switched-On Bach album, a selection of Bach pieces performed on the Moog synthesizer, had ignited tremendous public attention, and Stockhausen’s teachings had begun to inspire a burgeoning experimental music scene in Germany. Kraut-rock groups such as Can and Neu! integrated synthesizers and tape manipulations into their rabid experimentalism, but the two most important electronic artists to emerge from the scene were Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. Kraftwerk pioneered the concept of pop music performed exclusively on synthesizers, and their robotic, mechanical, hypnotic style had a tremendous impact on nearly all electronic pop produced in the remainder of the 20th century. Tangerine Dream, meanwhile, was indebted to minimalist classical composition, crafting an atmospheric, slowly shifting, trance-inducing sound that helped invent the genre known as space music. Other crucial figures included Klaus Schulze, who explored a droning variation on space music that was even more trancelike than Tangerine Dream, and Brian Eno, whose inventive production and experiments with electronics in a pop context eventually gave way to his creation of ambient music, which aimed to blend thoroughly into its environment and often relied heavily on synthesizers. Ambient and space music helped give rise to new age, which emphasized the peaceful, soothing, and meditative qualities of those influences while adding greater melodicism; the progressive electronic branch of new age crafted a more dramatic, lushly orchestrated style that broke with electronic music’s roots in minimalism. Synth-pop, techno, and its artier companion electronica all owed a great deal to the basic innovations of early electronic artists as well.
A suitably vague term used to describe the emergence of electronic dance music increasingly geared to listening instead of strictly dancing, Electronica was first used in the title of a series of compilations (actually called New Electronica) spotlighting original sources of Detroit techno such as Juan Atkins and Underground Resistance alongside European artists who had gained much from the Motor City’s futuristic vision for techno. The word was later appropriated by the American press as an easy catch-all for practically any young artist using electronic equipment and/or instruments, but electronica serves to describe techno-based music that can be used for home listening as well as on the dance floor (since many electronica artists are club DJs as well).
Euro-Dance
Euro-Dance refers to a specific style of club/dance music produced on the European continent during the ’80s and ’90s. Euro-dance is generally informed by disco, hi-NRG, and house music, and performed entirely in the recording studio on synthesizers and drum machines; the producers are much more responsible for the finished product than the singers. Like its close relative Euro-pop, it’s usually simple, lightweight, and catchy, with fluffy, repetitive lyrics that don’t require much translation among listeners who speak different languages. The main difference between Euro-dance and Euro-pop is the exclusive and pronounced dance-club orientation of the former; while Euro-pop is frequently informed by dance music, it doesn’t have to be, and when it is, it doesn’t always fit into dance-club playlists. Most Euro-dance artists concentrate on crafting hit singles, with album releases almost an afterthought.
Experimental Dub
Thousands of miles away from sunny Jamaica, a loose collective of Berlin producers jump-started the style of music known as Experimental Dub. If the scene was centered at all, it occurred at Hard Wax Records, a record store as well as a tight distribution company that was home to several of the style’s crucial labels (Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Imbalance) and producers (Maurizio, Mark Ernestus, Porter Ricks, Pole, Monolake). Indebted to Chicago acid house and minimalist Detroit techno figures like Jeff Mills, Rob Hood, and Plastikman, experimental dub was rather easily characterized; the sound usually focused on a mix of crackling, murky atmospheres that sounded almost subaquatic, with a mid-tempo beat and strong, clanging percussion. The similarities to classic Jamaican dub producers King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry were indirect at best, but the term worked well for identifying the signature sound of many of Germany’s best experimental producers. Other than the Basic Channel camp, experimental dub’s most important figures were Mike Ink (aka Wolfgang Voigt) and Thomas Brinkmann. Ink, a longtime Berlin producer responsible for more than a half-dozen aliases and labels, did most of his important work on the Profan and Studio 1 labels. Brinkmann, a comparative newcomer to the style, earned praise for his remixes of material by Ink and Plastikman. Experimental dub, in turn, inspired several major techno figures (including Plastikman and Mills) by the late ’90s, and its influence was even seen in American indie-rock and post-rock.
Experimental Electro
With the revival of the classic electro style, dubbed the neo-electro movement, came a wave of Experimental Electro artists with more abstract agendas, still influenced by the sound of the streets but with more curious minds when it came to noodling around in the studio. Names such as Freeform and Bisk characterized the style.
Experimental Rock
As the name suggests, Experimental Rock is music pushing the envelope of the form, far removed from the classic pop sensibilities of before. Typically, experimental rock is the diametric opposite of standard “verse-chorus-verse” music. Because the whole point is to liberate and innovate, no hard and fast rules apply, but distinguishing characteristics include improvisational performances, avant-garde influences, odd instrumentation, opaque lyrics (or no lyrics at all), strange compositional structures and rhythms, and an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations.
Experimental Techno
The field of electronic dance music has limitless possibilities for experimentation, so Experimental Techno has a similarly wide range of styles-from the disc-error clicks and scratches of European experimenters Oval and Pan sonic to the off-kilter effects (but straight-ahead rhythms) of Cristian Vogel, Neil Landstrumm, and Si Begg. Experimental techno can also include soundscape terrorists such as Twisted Science, Nonplace Urban Field, and Atom Heart; digital-age punks like Alec Empire; and former industrial stalwarts under new guises, such as Scorn, Download, or Techno Animal. Any artist wishing to take electronic dance places it’s never been can be characterized as experimental, and for better or worse, that includes a large cast.
Often growing in tandem with contemporary styles like electro and house, Freestyle emerged in the twin Latin capitals of New York City and Miami during the early ’80s. Freestyle classics like “I Wonder If I Take You Home” by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, “Let the Music Play” by Shannon, and “Party Your Body” by Stevie B relied on angular, synthesized beats similar to electro and early house, but also emphasized the romantic themes of classic R&B and disco. The fusion of mechanical and sensual proved ready for crossover during the period, and both Shannon and Lisa Lisa hit the Top 40 during 1984-85. Freestyle also dovetailed nicely with the rise of dance-pop during the mid-’80s-Madonna’s early producer and remixer, John Benitez (aka Jellybean), was also active in the freestyle community. By the end of the decade, a number of artists-Exposé, Brenda K. Starr, Trinere, the Cover Girls, India, and Stevie B-followed them into the pop or R&B charts. Even after popular success waned in the late ’80s, though, freestyle moved to the underground as a vital stream of modern dance music alongside house, techno, and bass music. Similar to mainstream house, freestyle artists are usually (though by no means exclusively) either female vocalists or male producers. Newer figures like Lil Suzy, George Lamond, Angelique, Johnny O, and others became big stars in the freestyle community.
Funky Breaks
An amalgam of trance, hip-hop, and jungle, Funky Breaks became one of the most widely heard styles in electronic music thanks to its popularity as the sound of choice for those wishing to make some noise on pop charts and television commercials during the late ’90s. Pioneered by the Chemical Brothers plus James Lavelle’s epic-stature Mo’Wax Records stable, funky breaks really came into the fore in 1997, the year music-industry experts predicted would finally break the new electronica in the mainstream. Of the artists picked to spearhead the revolution, almost all-the Prodigy, Death in Vegas, the Crystal Method, Propellerheads-had that sound. That’s also a significant reason why the electronica revolution failed, at least commercially, since the highly-touted acts all sounded similar.
Most popular in the Netherlands and Scotland, Gabba is the hardest form of hardcore techno, frequently exceeding speeds of over 200 BPM. Popular DJs and producers like Paul Elstak and the Mover categorized gabba’s early evolution from German trance and British rave. By the mid-’90s, the music had acquired some rather unsavory connotations with neo-fascism and the skinhead movement, though much of the scene was free from it. Surprisingly, gabba made a rather successful attempt at the Dutch pop charts, with Elstak producing several hits. Many producers and fans proclaimed him a sell-out, and soon there appeared a divide in the scene between the hardcore and the really hardcore.
Named for what is arguably the birthplace of house music, the Paradise Garage in New York, Garage is the dance style closest in spirit and execution to the original disco music of the ’70s. Favoring synthesizer runs and gospel vocals similar to house music but with production values even more polished and shimmering than house, garage has a very soulful, organic feel. Though the style was most popular in New Jersey in the ’80s, the mainstream of British dance clubs championed the style throughout the ’90s as well.
Goa Trance
Named after a region on the coast of southwestern India famed as a clubbing and drugging paradise ever since the ’60s, Goa Trance broke away from the Teutonic bent of European trance during the early ’90s and carried the torch for trance during the rest of the decade. The presence of LSD on the Goa scene-instead of the ubiquitous club drug Ecstasy-translated the music into an appropriately psychedelic version of trance that embraced the mystical properties of Indian music and culture. Traditional Indian instruments such as the sitar and sarod (or electronic near-equivalents) often made appearances in the music, pushed along by the driving, hypnotic sequencer music that trance had always been known for. The style is considerably less turntable-oriented than other electronic dance styles, especially since vinyl tends to melt in the heat (DATs are often used instead). As a consequence, Goa had comparatively few DJs to recommend it worldwide until the late ’90s. Labels like Dragonfly, Blue Room Released, Flying Rhino, Platipus, and Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto Fluoro became important sources for the sound. Oakenfold, Britain’s most popular DJ, finally gave Goa trance the cache it had lacked in the past by caning it on the radio and in clubs across the country. The British sound system known as Return to the Source also brought Goa trance to the mainstream hordes, releasing three volumes in a compilation series of the best trance music on the scene.
Happy Hardcore
Gradually evolving from the English rave scene of the late ’80s and early ’90s, Happy Hardcore featured many of the same elements that characterized rave: impossibly high beats per minute, similarly fast synthesizer/piano runs, and vocal samples altered to make the most soulful diva sound like a warbling chipmunk. The jungle/drum’n’bass movement had also emerged from rave, but the two scenes split and grew quite anathemic. The positive vibes of happy hardcore were criticized by most clubgoers as music for the drugged-out youth, but just as the hardcore-into-jungle scene found favor with critics later in the decade, a certain amount of respect for happy hardcore appeared as well. The work of combination DJ/producers such as Slipmatt, Hixxy & Sharkey, Force & Styles, and DJ Dougal produced innumerable compilations, as well as the inevitable solo production LPs.
Hardcore Techno
The fastest, most abrasive form of dance music currently available at any one time, Hardcore Techno was, by the mid-’90s, the province of a startlingly wide array of producers, including breakbeat junglists, industrial trancesters, digital-era punks, and cartoonish ravers. The style originally emerged from Great Britain’s 1988 Summer of Love; though the original soundtrack to those warehouse parties was influenced by the relatively mid-tempo rhythms of Chicago acid house, increased drug intake caused many ravers to embrace quicker rhythms and altogether more frenetic forms of music. Many DJs indulged their listeners by speeding up house records originally intended for 33-rpm play, and producers carried the torch by sampling the same records for their releases. During 1991-92, hardcore/rave music had hit the legitimate airwaves as well, led by hits like SL2’s “On a Ragga Tip,” T-99’s “Anasthasia,” and RTS’ “Poing.”
The resulting major-label feeding frenzy produced heavy coverage for lightweight novelty fare like “Go Speed Go” by Alpha Team, “Sesame’s Treat” by Smart E’s, and “James Brown Is Dead” by L.A. Style. By 1993, British producers like Rob Playford, 4 Hero, and Omni Trio began leading hardcore techno into the breakbeat territory that would later become known as jungle, even as the Teutonic end of hardcore morphed into harder trance and gabba.
During the mid-’90s, most ravers had grown out of the dance scene or simply tired of the sound; though the original hardcore/rave sound had spread to much of the British hinterlands as well as continental Europe, most Londoners favored progressive house or the emerging ambient techno. The simultaneous lack of critical coverage but wide spread of the sound-into the north of England and Scotland as well as the continental centers of Germany and the Netherlands-served to introduce a variety of underground styles, from the digital hardcore of Germany’s Alec Empire to English happy hardcore. In fact, the term had practically become a dinosaur by the end of the decade.
Hi-NRG
Hi-NRG is a fast variation of disco that evolved in the ’80s. Driven by a fast drum machine and synthesizers, Hi-NRG was essentially a dance-oriented music with only slight hints of pop. There would be a few hooks-generally sung by disembodied vocalists wailing in the background-but the emphasis of the music, like most dance music, was in the beat. Hi-NRG was a predecessor to techno and house, which drew from its beats in decidedly different ways. House had a funkier, soulful rhythm, while techno expanded with the mechanical beats of Hi-NRG.
Hip-Hop
Hip-hop is essentially the rhythm track to rap, which meanders at a relatively slow tempo, and features a minimalist collection of samples, loops, and/or turntable playing. The emphasis is definitely on the bass, with fat, thick drum beats. Groups like Public Enemy took hip-hop beats but added raps with more of a political, literate edge.
House music grew out of the post-disco dance club culture of the early ’80s. After disco became popular, certain urban DJs-particularly those in gay communities-altered the music to make it less pop-oriented. The beat became more mechanical and the bass grooves became deeper, while elements of electronic synth-pop, Latin soul, dub reggae, rap, and jazz were grafted over the music’s insistent, unvarying four-four beat. Frequently, the music was purely instrumental and when there were vocalists, they were faceless female divas that often sang wordless melodies. By the late ’80s, house had broken out of underground clubs in cities like Chicago, New York, and London, and had begun making inroads on the pop charts, particularly in England and Europe but later in America under the guise of artists like C+C Music Factory and Madonna. At the same time, house was breaking into the pop charts; it fragmented into a number of subgenres, including hip-house, ambient house, and most significantly, acid house (a subgenre of house with the instantly recognizable squelch of Roland’s TB-303 bass-line generator). During the ’90s, house ceased to be cutting-edge music, yet it remained popular in clubs throughout Europe and America. At the end of the decade, a new wave of progressive house artists including Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, and House of 909 brought the music back to critical quarters with praised full-length works.
A loaded term meant to distinguish electronic music of the ’90s and later that’s equally comfortable on the dancefloor as in the living room, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) eventually acquired a good deal of negative publicity, not least among the legion of dance producers and fans whose exclusion from the community prompted the question of whether they produced stupid dance music. Born in the late ’80s, the sound grew out of a fusion between the hard-edged dance music heard on the main floor at raves and larger club events, and the more downtempo music of the nearby chill-out rooms. DJs like Mixmaster Morris and Dr. Alex Paterson blended Chicago house, softer synth-pop/new wave, and ambient/environmental music, prompting a wave of producers inspired by a variety of sources. (Many DJs and producers were also reacting against the increasingly chart-leaning slant of British dance music during those years, exemplified by novelty hits like “Pump Up the Jam” by Technotronic and “Sesame’s Treat” by Smart E’s.) The premiere IDM label, Sheffield’s Warp Records, proved home to the best in the sound-in fact, the seminal Warp compilation Artificial Intelligence alone introduced listeners worldwide to a half-dozen of the style’s most crucial artists: Aphex Twin, the Orb, Plastikman, Autechre, Black Dog Productions, and B12. Other labels-Rising High, GPR, R&S, Rephlex, Fat Cat, Astralwerks-released quality IDM as well, though by the mid-’90s much of the electronica produced for headphone consumption had diverged either toward the path of more experimentation or more beat orientation. With no centered, commercial scene to speak of, North America became a far more hospitable clime to IDM, and by the end of the ’90s, dozens of solid labels had opened for business, including Drop Beat, Isophlux, Suction, Schematic, and Cytrax. Despite frequent attempts to rename the style (Warp’s “electronic listening music” and Aphex Twin’s “braindance” were two choices), IDM continued to be the de facto way for fans to describe their occasionally undescribable favorites.
Industrial music was a dissonant, abrasive style of music that grew out of the tape-music and electronic experiments of the mid-’70s bands Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle (the term was coined from the latter’s label, Industrial Records). The music was largely electronic, distorted, and rather avant-garde for rock circles. By the mid-’80s, industrial dance bands Ministry, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, and Skinny Puppy had evolved from the original template. During the next decade, industrial went overground and became a new kind of heavy-metal courtesy of crossover groups like Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, and Marilyn Manson.
Industrial Dance
During the ’80s, industrial music progressed from being an obscure, experimentalist style to a position where it was quite popular and straight-ahead for a growing audience unenthused by limp-wristed alternative music as well as cock rock and heavy metal. Early distinguished by the term “electronic body music,” several artists, such as Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, and Ministry gained significant airplay in clubs. By the ’90s, industrial had split along a guitar/electronics divide, with the latter usually carrying on the tradition of electronic body music. America’s Cleopatra Records featured the most Industrial Dance acts, including Leætherstrip, Spahn Ranch, and Die Krupps.
Jungle/Drum’n’bass
Based almost entirely in England, Jungle (also known as drum’n’bass) is a permutation of hardcore techno that emerged in the early ’90s. Jungle is the most rhythmically complex of all forms of techno, relying on extremely fast polyrhythms and breakbeats. Usually, it’s entirely instrumental-it is among the hardest of all hardcore techno, consisting of nothing but fast drum machines and deep bass. As its name implies, jungle does have more overt reggae, dub, and R&B influences than most hardcore-and that is why some critics claimed that the music was the sound of black techno musicians and DJs reclaiming it from the white musicians and DJs who dominated the hardcore scene. Nevertheless, jungle never slows down to develop a groove-it just speeds along. Like most techno genres, jungle is primarily a singles genre designed for a small, dedicated audience, although the crossover success of Goldie and his 1995 debut Timeless suggested a broader appeal and more musical possibilities than other forms of techno. Dozens of respected artists followed in their wake, fusing breakbeats with influences lifted from jazz, film music, ambient, and trip-hop.
Kraut-Rock
Kraut-Rock refers to the legions of German bands of the early ’70s that expanded the sonic possibilities of art and progressive rock. Instead of following in the direction of their British and American counterparts, who were moving toward jazz and classical-based compositions and concept albums, the German bands became more mechanical and electronic. Working with early synthesizers and splicing together seemingly unconnected reels of tape, bands like Faust, Can, and Neu! created a droning, pulsating sound that owed more to the avant-garde than to rock ‘n’ roll. Although the bands didn’t make much of an impact while they were active in the ’70s, their music anticipated much post-punk of the early ’80s, particularly industrial rock. Kraut-rock also came into vogue in the ’90s, when groups like Stereolab and Tortoise began incorporating the hypnotic rhythms and electronic experiments of the German art-rock bands into their own, vaguely avant-garde indie-rock.
Madchester was the dominant force in British rock during the late ’80s and early ’90s. A fusion of acid house dance rhythms and melodic pop, Madchester was distinguished by its loping beats, psychedelic flourishes, and hooky choruses. While the song structures were familiar, the arrangements and attitude were modern, and even the retro-pop touches-namely the jangling guitars, swirling organs, and sharp pop sense-functioned as postmodern collages. There were two approaches to this collage, as evidenced by the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. The Roses were a traditional guitar-pop band, and their songs were straight-ahead pop tunes, bolstered by baggy beats; it was modernized ’60s pop. Happy Mondays cut and pasted like rappers sampled, taking choruses from the Beatles and LaBelle and putting them into the context of darkly psychedelic dance. Despite their different approaches, both bands shared a love for acid-house music and culture, as well as the hometown of Manchester, England. As the group’s popularity grew, the British press tagged the two groups-as well as similarly-minded bands like the Charlatans [UK] and Inspiral Carpets-“Madchester” after a Happy Mondays song. (It was also known as “baggy,” since the bands wore baggy clothing). Madchester was enormously popular for several years in the UK before fading, largely because the Roses and the Mondays fell prey to laziness and drug abuse, respectively. The genre never made much impact in America outside of alternative circles, but Madchester’s offspring-bands like Oasis, Pulp, and Blur that were heavily influenced by the collision of contemporary and classic pop-became international stars in the mid-’90s.
One of the main innovations in the contemporary classical field, Minimalism has also influenced new age composers and electronic producers alike, particularly in progressive electronic styles where sequencers play an important role. Generally, this music is characterized by a strong and relentless pulse, the insistent repetition of short melodic fragments, and harmonies that change over long periods of time. A trio of ’60s figures, LaMonte Young, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich, did the most to pioneer the field, though Philip Glass had the most success with the style during the ’70s.
Neo-Electro
For several months in 1995, British clubs were afire with the sights and sounds of robots, body-poppers, and a revival of America’s early-’80s electro movement. Though much of the attention was given to the old-school masters (Afrika Bambaataa, the Egyptian Lover, Newcleus), much of the influence for the electro revival had come from more recent sounds. Detroit acts such as Drexciya, Underground Resistance, and Ectomorph had begun looking back to electro, and Drexciya’s multi-volume series of 1994 EPs were much-heard on the other side of the Atlantic. In Britain, Clear Records headed the revival hot-list, with singles from Jedi Knights, Tusken Raiders, Plaid, and Gescom (almost all were aliases for more well-known dance acts including Global Communication, µ-Ziq, and Autechre). Though the electro revival didn’t last long as a British club trend, good records continued to be released (especially by Clear), and other labels, such as Skam, Musik Aus Strom, and Dot, progressed beyond the sound to create intelligent new music with heavy electro influences.
A rather brief phenomenon (even for the style-a-minute world of dance music), Newbeat emerged late in the ’80s as a mid-tempo derivation of acid house. Influenced as well by Detroit techno and Euro-dance, newbeat was centered in Belgium, where labels such as R&S and Antler-Subway-home of the newbeat anthem “I Sit on Acid” by Lords of Acid-characterized the style with acid synth leanings, but more pop-friendly approaches to dance. The blazing success of the KLF during 1990-91 sustained newbeat for awhile, but after their exit from the music industry, the style faded quickly. While both Antler-Subway and Lords of Acid later moved on to a self-parodying approach to acid house, R&S became a respected name in the dance industry, focusing mostly on trance and ambient techno.
Sludgy, abrasive, and punishing, Noise is everything its name promises, expanding on the music’s capacity for sonic assault while almost entirely rejecting the role of melody and songcraft. From the ear-splitting, teeth-rattling attack of Japan’s Merzbow to the thick, grinding intensity of Amphetamine Reptile-label bands like Tar and Vertigo, it’s dark, brutal music that pushes rock to its furthest extremes. By the end of the ’90s, a resurgence in the use of sine waves-originally explored by musique concrète artists in the ’50s-became increasingly frequent among noise artists such as Otomo Yoshihide.
Noise Pop
Noise Pop is just that-pop music wrapped in barbed-wire kisses of feedback, dissonance, and abrasion. It occupies the halfway point between bubblegum and the avant-garde, a collision between conventional pop songcraft and the sonic assault of white noise-guitars veer out of control but somehow the melody pushes forward, and the tension between the two opposing forces frequently makes for fascinating listening.
Nu Breaks
A hard-edged dance style developed late in the ’90s with the convergence of techno and drum’n’bass as well as a few elements of the earlier rave scenes, Nu Breaks was led by artists and DJs including Brits Adam Freeland, Dylan Rhymes, Beber, Freq Nasty, and Rennie Pilgrem plus a bare few Americans like BT. From drum’n’bass the style borrowed two-step breakbeats and chilling effects, from techno its smooth flow and machine percussion, and from early-’90s rave/hardcore some of the crowd-pleasing bells and whistles (figuratively as well as literally) that in some cases had not been heard for years. Freeland was probably the best-known of the nu breaks crew (especially since most producers concentrated on singles output), as rock-steady mix sets like Coastal Breaks and Tectonics earned acclaim with dance fans around the world.
Old School Rap
Old School Rap is the style of the very first rap artists who emerged from New York City in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Old school is easily identified by its relatively simple raps-most lines take up approximately equal amounts of time, and the rhythms of the language rarely twisted around the beats of the song. The cadences usually fell squarely on the beat, and when they didn’t, they wouldn’t stray for long, returning to the original pattern for quick resolution. The emphasis was not on lyrical technique, but simply on good times-aside from the socially conscious material of Grandmaster Flash, which greatly expanded rap’s horizons, most old school rap had the fun, playful flavor of the block parties and dances at which it was born. In keeping with the laidback, communal good vibes, old school rap seemed to have more room and appreciation for female MCs, although none achieved the higher profile of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five or the Sugarhill Gang. Some old school songs were performed over disco or funk-style tracks, while others featured synthesized backing (this latter type of music, either with or without raps, was known as electro). Old school rap’s recorded history begins with two 1979 singles, Fatback’s “King Tim III” and the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” although the movement had been taking shape for almost a decade prior. Sugarhill Records quickly became the center for old school rap, dominating the market until Run-D.M.C. upped the ante for technique and hardcore urban toughness in 1983-84. Their sound and style soon took over the rap world, making old school’s party orientation and ’70s funk influences seem outdated. When compared with the more complex rhythms and rhyme schemes of modern-day rap-or even the hip-hop that was being produced less than ten years after “Rapper’s Delight”-old school rap can sound dated and a little unadventurous. However, the best old school tracks retain their liveliness as great party music no matter what the era, holding up surprisingly well considering all that’s happened since.
Post-Rock/Experimental
Post-Rock was an experimental, avant-garde movement that emerged in the mid-’90s. Most post-rock was droning and hypnotic, drawing from ambient, free-form jazz, avant-garde, and electronic music more than rock. The majority of post-rock groups were like Tortoise, a Chicago-based band with a rotating lineup. Tortoise viewed their music not as songs, but as ever-changing compositions that they improvised nightly. Most post-rock groups were defiantly anti-mainstream and anti-indie-rock in the vein of Tortoise. However, there were certain groups-like Stereolab-that essentially worked in a pop and indie-rock format, only touching on the experimental and avant-garde tendencies of most post-rockers. Thrill Jockey’s reissue of albums by European experimental names like Mouse on Mars and Oval led to the birth of a transatlantic scene, of sorts, with Germans more focused on electronic music while most Americans preferred rock-oriented setups.
Progressive House
House music had reached the mainstream by the late ’80s (more so in Britain than anywhere else), and while several early house hits were by genuine pioneers, they were later overwhelmed by the novelty acts and one-hit wonders dominating the charts around the turn of the decade. As well, ambient, techno, and trance made gains early in the ’90s as electronic styles with both street cred and a group of young artists making intelligent music. A generation of house producers soon emerged, weaned on the first wave of house and anxious to reapply the more soulful elements of the music. With a balance of sublime techno and a house sound more focused on New York garage than Chicago acid house, groups like Leftfield, the Drum Club, Spooky, and Faithless hit the dance charts (and occasionally Britain’s singles charts). Though critically acclaimed full-lengths were never quite as important as devastating club tracks, several Progressive House LPs were stellar works, including Leftfield’s Leftism, Spooky’s Gargantuan, and the Drum Club’s Everything Is Now. By the mid-’90s, the innovations of progressive house had become the mainstream of house music around the world.
Rave is more of an event than a genre of music. Raves were underground parties where acid house and hardcore records were played and large quantities of drugs-particularly ecstasy-were consumed. Most of the music played at raves had a psychedelic quality, even before drugs became a major element of the scene. DJs played at the raves, mixing stacks of house and techno singles; the DJs, not the recording artists themselves, became the most recognizable names in the scene. Raves were primarily an English phenomenon during the late ’80s and early ’90s. They were conducted in large venues, particularly abandoned warehouses and open fields. Eventually, the British government became concerned that raves were a dangerous, antisocial phenomenon that had to be shut down, but the parties never disappeared, especially since word of the events were usually passed through word of mouth and handmade fliers. In the States, raves began to make some inroads in the early ’90s, but they never gained a large audience, even by underground standards. Throughout the ’90s, bands that were directly influenced by rave culture-particularly “baggy” bands like the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, and Charlatans; Brit-pop acts like Pulp and Oasis; and techno artists like the Prodigy-made their way into the mainstream, and the culture continued to capture the attention of British youth into the late ’90s.
Salsa is the music of Latin America, which has stretched its way up to the United States by way of Puerto Rico. Rhythmically complex and featuring large bands with lots of personnel (percussion, horns, vocalists, piano, bass, etc.), salsa remains a vital form of music in the Latin community, and is becoming increasingly popular with mainstream America.
Schranz – New!
Since there has been a lot of talk about the word “Schranz” lately, I wanted to post my very own statement about it and not one,which is written by people who don`t really know. Yes, it is true, together with a friend I came up with the word “Schranz” in a Recordstore in Frankfurt in the year 1994. Not true is, that I am now annoyed by the term, I am only annoyed by all the discussions which come up about it, especially here in Germany. Everyone who uses the word “Schranz” to describe her or his musical taste or even way of living, shall do so and I think that is completely o.k.. Basically I like to call what I spin and produce “Techno” and in general “electronic Music”. For me personally, since that day in 1994, “Schranz” is a description for various dark and distorted sounds in Techno. At that point I couldn`t come up with a better word, but of course then I also didn`t know, that one day it would become so popular. I don`t want to and I can`t tell anyone how and where to use the word and in what respect. That´s CLAU 04 was called :”Call it what you want…” So be tolerant, make up your own mind about it and don`t believe everything which is written in magazines. Chris Liebing, 2002
Shibuya-Kei
The Japanese pop phenomenon known as Shibuya-Kei exploded forth from the ultra-trendy Shibuya shopping district of west Tokyo, an area home to some of the most fashionable and best-stocked record and clothing stores in the world. Shibuya-kei-literally, “Shibuya style”-was the name given to the like-minded pop musicians who emerged from this consumer culture, a group of young Japanese weaned on a steady and amazingly eclectic diet of Western pop exports; the result was an unprecedented collision of sights and sounds, with trailblazing acts like Pizzicato 5 drawing on disparate influences ranging from the lush lounge-pop of Burt Bacharach to the rhythms and energy of urban hip-hop. In its purest form, shibuya-kei is classic Western pop refracted through the looking glass of modern Eastern society-music cut up, pasted together, and spit out in new and exciting ways. Shibuya-kei is also pop music at its cutest: it’s a view to a world where the sweetness and simplicity of the girl-group era never ended but simply evolved, never out of step with the times but always true to its roots as well-the Lolita complex so pervasive throughout Japanese culture informs much of this music, and its youthful innocence is the key to much of its endearing charm.
Shoegazing is a genre of late ’80s and early ’90s British indie-rock, named after the bands’ motionless performing style, where they stood on stage and stared at the floor while they played. But shoegazing wasn’t about visuals-it was about pure sound. The sound of the music was overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared into the walls of guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from the other. Most shoegazing groups worked off the template My Bloody Valentine established with their early EPs and their first full-length album, Isn’t Anything, but Dinosaur Jr., the Jesus & Mary Chain, and the Cocteau Twins were also major influences. Bands that followed-most notably Ride, Lush, Chapterhouse, and the Boo Radleys-added their own stylistic flourishes. Ride veered close to ’60s psychedelia, while Lush alternated between straight pop and the dream pop of the Cocteau Twins. None of the shoegazers were dynamic performers or interesting interviews, which prevented them from breaking through into the crucial US market. In 1992-after the groups had dominated the British music press and indie charts for about three years-the shoegazing groups were swept aside by the twin tides of American grunge and Suede, the band to initiate the wave of Brit-pop that ruled British music during the mid-’90s. Some shoegazers broke up within a few years (Chapterhouse, Ride), while other groups-such as the Boo Radleys and Lush-evolved with the times and were able to sustain careers into the late ’90s.
Ska originated in Jamaica in the early 60s, with an emphasis on vocals and horns, and rhythm guitar hitting on the offbeats. Today’s “ska revivalists,” like No Doubt, often jack up the tempo but otherwise remain relatively faithful to the concept.
Space-Rock
Once used as a tag to describe ’70s-era acts like Hawkwind, in more recent years the term Space-Rock has come to embody a new generation of heady, hypnotic bands with aspirations of cosmic transcendence. Arguably the first and most prominent of the new space-rock groups was Britain’s Spacemen 3, whose famous “Taking drugs to make music to take drugs to” credo subsequently influenced most, if not all, of the like-minded bands in their wake; indeed, the music of the genre is typically narcotic, defined by washes of heavily reverbed guitar, minimalist drumming, and gentle, languid vocals.
Speed Garage
Revving up the sweet sound of garage techno by adding ragga vocals, rewinds, and DJ scratching along with occasional drum’n’bass rhythms, Speed Garage hit the London clubscene in 1996, gaining momentum from its Sunday-night status as a good end-of-the-week comedown to supplant jungle/drum’n’bass as the hotly tipped dance style of the late ’90s. Influenced by American producers like Todd Edwards and Armand Van Helden, speed garage grew with European acts such as the Dream Team, Double 99, Boris Dlugosch, and the Tuff Jam crew.
Tech-House
Tech-House is used to describe a variety of rangy, mostly European producers who culled many of the rhythms and effects of acid and progressive house yet with a clean, simplistic production style suggestive of Detroit and British techno. The style came to cover a wide variety of names including Herbert, Daniel Ibbotson, Terry Lee Brown Jr., Funk D’Void, and Ian O’Brien, among others.
Techno had its roots in the electronic house music made in Detroit in the mid-’80s. Where house still had explicit connection to disco even when it was entirely mechanical, techno was strictly electronic music, designed for a small, specific audience. The first techno producers and DJs-Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May, among others-emphasized the electronic, synthesized beats of electro-funk artists like Afrika Bambaataa and synth-rock units like Kraftwerk. In the United States, techno was strictly an underground phenomenon, but in England, it broke into the mainstream in the late ’80s. In the early ’90s, techno began to fragment into a number of subgenres, including hardcore, ambient, and jungle. In hardcore techno, the beats-per-minute on each record were sped up to ridiculous, undanceable levels-it was designed to alienate a broad audience. Ambient took the opposite direction, slowing the beats down and relying on watery electronic textures-it was used as come-down music, when ravers and club-goers needed a break from acid house and hardcore techno. Jungle was nearly as aggressive as hardcore, combining driving techno beats with breakbeats and dancehall reggae-essentially. All subgenres of techno were initially designed to be played in clubs, where they would be mixed by DJs. Consequently, most of the music was available on 12″ singles or various-artists compilations, where the songs could run for a long time, providing the DJ with a lot of material to mix into his set. In the mid-’90s, a new breed of techno artists-most notably ambient acts like the Orb and Aphex Twin, but also harder-edged artists like the Prodigy and Goldie-began constructing albums that didn’t consist of raw beats intended for mixing. Not surprisingly, these artists-particularly the Prodigy-became the first recognizable stars in techno.
Breaking out of the German techno and hardcore scene of the early ’90s, Trance emphasized brief synthesizer lines repeated endlessly throughout tracks, with only the addition of minimal rhythmic changes and occasional synthesizer atmospherics to distinguish them-in effect putting listeners into a trance that approached those of religious origin. Despite waning interest in the sound during the mid-’90s, trance made a big comeback later in the decade, even supplanting house as the most popular dance music of choice around the globe.
Inspired by acid house and Detroit techno, trance coalesced with the opening of R&S Records in Ghent, Belgium and Harthouse/Eye Q Records in Frankfurt, Germany. R&S defined the sound early on with singles like “Energy Flash” by Joey Beltram, “The Ravesignal” by CJ Bolland, and others by Robert Leiner, Sun Electric, and Aphex Twin. Harthouse, begun in 1992 by Sven Väth with Heinz Roth & Matthias Hoffman, made the most impact on the sound of trance with Hardfloor’s minimal epic “Hardtrance Acperience” and Väth’s own “L’Esperanza,” plus releases by Arpeggiators, Spicelab, and Barbarella. Artists like Väth, Bolland, Leiner, and many others made the transition to the full-length realm, though without much of an impact on the wider music world.
Despite a long nascent period when it appeared trance had disappeared, replaced by breakbeat dance (trip-hop and jungle), the style’s increasing impact on Britain’s dance scene finally crested in the late ’90s. The classic German sound had changed somewhat though, and the term “progressive” trance gained favor to describe influences from the smoother end of house and Euro dance. By 1998, most of the country’s best-known DJs-Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Tony De Vit, Danny Rampling, Sasha, Judge Jules-were playing trance in Britain’s superclubs. Even America turned on to the sound (eventually), led by its own cast of excellent DJs, including Christopher Lawrence and Kimball Collins.
Tribal House
By the early ’90s, house music had undergone several fusions with other styles, creating ambient house, hip-house and, when the four-on-the-floor punch was blended with polyrhythmic percussion, Tribal House. The style covers a bit of ground, from the mainstream leanings of Frankie Bones and Ultra Naté to the electro-hippie sensibilities of Banco de Gaia, Loop Guru, and Eat Static (all denizens of the UK’s Planet Dog Records).
Trip-Hop
Yet another in a long line of plastic placeholders to attach itself to one arm or another of the UK post-acid house dance scene’s rapidly mutating experimental underground, Trip-Hop was coined by the English music press in an attempt to characterize a new style of downtempo, jazz-, funk-, and soul-inflected experimental breakbeat music which began to emerge around in 1993 in association with labels such as Mo’Wax, Ninja Tune, Cup of Tea, and Wall of Sound. Similar to (though largely vocal-less) American hip-hop in its use of sampled drum breaks, typically more experimental, and infused with a high index of ambient-leaning and apparently psychotropic atmospherics (hence “trip”), the term quickly caught on to describe everything from Portishead and Tricky, to DJ Shadow and U.N.K.L.E., to Coldcut, Wagon Christ, and Depth Charge-much to the chagrin of many of these musicians, who saw their music largely as an extension of hip-hop proper, not a gimmicky offshoot. One of the first commercially significant hybrids of dance-based listening music to crossover to a more mainstream audience, trip-hop full-length releases routinely topped indie charts in the UK and, in artists such as Shadow, Tricky, Morcheeba, the Sneaker Pimps, and Massive Attack, account for a substantial portion of the first wave of “electronica” acts to reach Stateside audiences.
Zouk comes from the Caribbean, but it also extremely popular in France, where musicians from former French colonies congregate (Kassav is one of the better-known Zouk groups in France). Zouk is uplifting, uptempo music with the kind of vocal and instrumental interplay that’s reminiscent of purely African music.
6 notes
·
View notes
Note
What song can you they'd use for the s3 trailer? Thriller for s2 was so fitting in atmosphere i imagine something fun and summery for the new season but also something that could be turned into very intense and / or scary. Sorry if its a stupid question i'm just so excited
Honestly no clue? Like I rlly have no idea. Thriller worked SO WELL last year not just bc of the song itself (and the Halloween vibes) but it just worked so well with the shots they used and the tone of it and all that. I know it’s just a song but it’s so hard to predict smth like this without knowing more about s3. But to be perfectly honest idk if they’ll even use some general 80s song for the trailer? Honestly I think it’ll probably just be smth new from the score of the show, or just some general synth thing the music crew makes, or if they do use some old song, it’ll be HEAVILY remixed probably
7 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
