Various Artists — Stop MVP: Artists from WV, VA and NC Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline (War Hen)

The Mountain Valley Pipeline, if it’s ever finished, will stretch over more than 300 miles in rural Wester Virginia and Virginia, crossing environmentally sensitive parts of the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains carrying dangerous, polluting loads of fracked gas. The League of Conservation Votes estimates that the pipeline will generate more than 89 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually, about as much as 24 average U.S. coal plans or 19 million passenger cars. Building it will require razing forests that have been sequestering carbon for centuries.

It’s a climate catastrophe, and because it runs through an area that is rich in musical history and culture, it has become a focus for artists and activists, including Daniel Bachman, who organized this 40-track compilation in protest of the pipeline. All proceeds from STOP MVP will go to the Appalachian Legal Defense Fund to support protesters resisting the pipeline’s construction.

That is, of course, one compelling reason to buy this set of music, but it is very far from the only one. The music here is exceptionally diverse and almost uniformly excellent. If you look at the cover and envision a steady stream of earnest folk songs, punctuated by some fingerpicking, think again. Certainly that’s represented on these two discs, but so is noise and rock and punk and hip hop and even, at the end, a stirring piece of gospel that will steel you for the cause.

There’s so much music here that it’s hard to get a grip on it all, but let’s hit some highlights. Magic Tuber String Band’s haunted, haunting rendition of “Undone in Sorrow” is both staunchly traditional and absolutely modern in its lament for a natural world gone haywire. Isak Howell, similarly, finds something potent and bracing in minor key picking. Solar Hex straddles baroque classical cello and folk lament, and there are indeed four crows cawing in the background to “Stone Wall with Four Crows.” My favorite discovery in this lengthy, skewed-folk all-star line-up comes from Høly Riot’s “Spirit Riot,” which kicks up a feeling-the-lord-speaking-in-tongues ruckus with its driving, droning ecstasies.

Some of the cuts are literally about the MVP pipeline, like Joshua Vana and Bernadette “BJ” Lark’s full-throated, heart-swelling “To the River,” while others reference the area’s long history of industrial subjugation. “The Dolly Womack Wreck” retells the story of an old-time train wreck, where the engineer was flayed alive by steam from a broken boiler. “The Coal Tattoo,” sung by Bachman’s father, is about his father’s death in a mine explosion. The hip hop/electronic “John Brown” by Appalachian rapper Prolo chronicles generations of poverty and racism in the region.

A lot of well known folk and indie artists have chipped in. There are tracks from Sally Anne Morgan, Ned Oldham, Nathan Bowles, Rosali Middleton (as Edsel Axle). Yasmin Williams and Bachman himself. But the real tribute to Bachman’s taste, restless song-hunting and open-minded-ness comes from the bands you might not be familiar with, the eerie soundscapes of Tallulah Cloos, the beefy country rock of Tucker Riggleman and the Cheap Dates, the unhinged noise of Dog Scream. The mountains and valleys threatened by MVP are rich in plant and animal diversity, but also musical breadth, and this compilation brings them all together for a worthy cause.

Jennifer Kelly

Orihime Inoue “Hime” (井上 織姫) - Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Episode 14

If I had a nickel for every time an anime character with music-based powers in recent media unleashed their full power and went absolutely batshit insane for a hot minute, I'd have two nickles

Which isn't a lot but it's pretty damn awesome it happened twice

The night belongs to the Strike Eagle. During the 1991 Gulf War, F-15Es were responsible for destroying 65 Iraqi aircraft on the ground, which is more than the number of aircraft downed by F-15Cs in air-to-air combat 😗 #avgeeks #aviation #aviationdaily #aviationlovers #USAF

@RealAirPower1 via X

Incorrect Bad Batch Quotes #3

Omega: Echo, can I go on the mission?

Echo: Ask your father

Omega: Hunter, can I go on the mission?

Hunter: Ask your mother

Omega:

Omega: Echo, can I-?

Cody *who's blaster has been destroyed, spin kicking the head off a droid*: Who brings a knife to a fist fight?!

Rex *dodging behind some debris, grabbing a discarded knife*: Better question, who brings a blaster to a knife fight!?

B1- battle droid *facing Ahsoka as she spins through the air, lightsabers ablaze*: Who brings a lightsaber to a blaster fight?

Coy *watching Ahsoka bound around the battle field*: Uh most important question, who brings a child to a fight?!!?

"You're not a Soul Reaper. But you're not an ordinary human, either. Ichigo. Your mother was..."

Figuarts ZERO Toshiro Hitsugaya [Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War] non scale from Bandai Spirits coming February 2024.

One more

Orihime Inoue “Hime” (井上 織姫) - Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen - Episode 24

“I’m much worse.” MELTING

Urahara Kisuke

Bleach sennen kessen hen ☆ E8