laceblade

This concert was a complete surprise, announced while I was already in London for the month. Shoreditch was the neighborhood next to mine, so even though it cut into the weekend that we ended up traveling to York, I went to this concert, one of a handful Lea has had thus far to promote her new album, Places.

The line to get inside extended around the corner of a large city block, and there was some palpable excitement.

I had a balcony seat, and a decent view. The music being played overhead prior to Lea was all Bon Iver [I think]. I lost my shit a little bit when I recognized The Wolves, which is a song that's on my [Glee] fic playlist, although I had previously only been familiar with the Ellie Goulding cover and didn't even know it was a Bon Iver song, lol. BUT. SO MANY FIC FEELINGS UGGGHHHH.

When the lights dimmed imperceptibly, everyone screamed. We cheered and clapped for a long time, and eventually Lea kept trying to talk but couldn't because the clapping persisted. She was clearly overcome, thanked everyone sincerely for having come. Someone in the front yelled, "You deserve this!"

The band joining Lea on stage included a drummer, a cellist, a pianist, and some string instrument(s) I couldn't see, probably including a violin. This led to some different intros and interpretations, just because some of the orchestral/electronic effects couldn't be recreated on a live tour. For example, I remember really liking the percussive intro to Cannonball, the first song.

"Love Is Alive" was the first song to give me goosebumps. Like, her voice is just phenomenal, but there was a point of realizing, I AM IN THE SAME ROOM AS LEA. SHIT.
Her story introducing how she got this song [from a writer] was pretty hilarious, but I think completely loses its effect if not told verbally.

I eyerolled when she said she wished Darren [Criss] was there just before beginning Battlefield - he sang the duet with her on the album. Everyone else cheered, though, so I struggled to keep my reaction non-verbal so as not to ruin the moment for the people sitting to either side of me LOL.

Often on the slower songs, Lea would give a manual cue to the pianist/orchestra members to speed things up, making a "go" motion circling her index finger, which cheered me because slow songs tend to bore me live too, :D

When introducing "Sentimental Memories," she said something like, "One of the great things about being a singer is that you get to express these feelings...AND TALK SHIT ABOUT THE PEOPLE WHO FUCKED YOU OVER." lmao.

"Heavy Love" gave me some 'these strange steps' feelings, mostly due to the Dear lover / put another pill upon my tongue lyric.

( Full setlist )

A tweet from Lea's twitter feed, showing her on the stage.

Since the concert, the whole Places album has been released. I'd like to listen to it more, and spend time comparing it to Louder, but I feel like her voice sounds healthier here, like you can tell she's had a lot of rest. I think her voice is still damaged from Glee, but it makes me happy how nice it sounded.
I want to punch the reporter who asked her whether "Hey You" was about Cory. The direct references in the lyrics make it completely obvious that IT IS, why ask her?

"Anything's Possible" gives me a lot of fic feelings. I'm adding it to my fic-writing inspiration playlist.

Current Music: Love Is Alive - Lea Michele

I think I've mostly seen this meme on Facebook, but others have posted it to Dreamwidth and so will I.

Matchbox 20, Yourself or Someone Like You
Third Eye Blind, Third Eye Blind [although Blue is now my fave of theirs]
Vertical Horizon, Everything You Want
Blink-182, Enema of the State
Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
Green Day, Dookie
The Starting Line, Say It Like You Mean It
Fall Out Boy, Take This to Your Grave
Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill
New Found Glory, Sticks and Stones

ALSO, I might be showing my youth here, but there are a lot of singles I got a hold of through of through a friend or etc. that were super meaningful to me even if I didn't have the full album. Example, Swing Swing by the All-American Rejects, as well as songs by Dashboard Confessional, Switchfoot, Lifehouse, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, The Ataris, etc.

Soundtracks were also a massive influence on me, probably moreso than half the albums on this list. These would include Les Miz, Everworld, Spider-Man 2, A Walk to Remember, MOULIN ROUGE, etc.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/759753.html

Accidentally let my DW account lapse, SO THIS IS NOT MY IDEAL ICON.
[don't pay to renew for me! I have the $$ and will do it when back from work/Up North]

Via

rilina. You can tell a lot about a person from their music. Hit shuffle on your iPod, MP3 Player, etc. and put the first 10 songs! One rule, no skipping! Tag 10 people and pass it on!

1. Down With the Trumpets - Rizzle Kicks [on here via Teen Wolf complete season 2 playlist from 8tracks]
2. LA Song - Christian Kane
3. Stay and Defend - Wolf Gang
4. Angel of Music - Sarah Brightman [Phantom soundtrack]
5. Mama Who Bore Me - Lea Michele [Spring Awakening soundtrack]
6. Singing in the Rain/Umbrella - Glee cast, feat. Gwyneth Paltrow
7. The Small Print - Muse
8. 707 Goshitsu - NANA OST
9. Lucky - Bif Naked
10. Ready Aim Fire - Imagine Dragons

I am also not tagging, but participate if you feel so inclined.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/714486.html

THINGS I LISTENED TO A LOT IN 2013:

Marina & the Diamonds - This probably started toward the end of 2012, actually, but I really love her music. Yet another singer I associate with

ontd_glee since I found her from my friends reblogging her on Tumblr all the time. "Lies" might be my favorite.

nano.RIPE - When I heard them singing an insert song in the anime Hanasaku Iroha, I was absolutely convinced that it was YUKI (aka: vocalist from Judy & Mary), but I was totally wrong. nano.RIPE did all of the music (w/lyrics) for Hanasaku Iroha, and I love them a lot. They're nice in a "get pumped up in a dreamlike sort of way" mood, I think. I listened to them quite a bit this year, & they were a nice new find!

Little Mix - Another group reblogged on Tumblr a lot by my Glee fandom friends. I love/love/love "Wings" & sang that quite a bit while driving. I've only recently listened to songs from their new album - "Little Me" has a very important message & video; I'd like to spend more time listening to the songs on their newer album.

"Little Mix - Little Me" (Watch on YouTube)

OneRepublic's Waking Up album - I'd had Marching On as part of my fic mix for a while, & ended up buying this album, which I adore. I think the whole thing's about an hour, & I enjoy listening to it most as a single unit. I liked this for mornings, but it does a good job of general cheering, I think.

Paramore self-titled album - I'd only really heard about Paramore through fics written by

thememoriesfire, & when their new album came out, I decided to just get it. My favorite song is "Proof," due to the rhythm, I think. There's a lot of variety in this album - something for everyone, imo. "Last Hope" was pretty cathartic when I was feeling at my lowest, and I have to be a little careful not to listen to it when I'm in a good mood. I tended to listen to this one all the way through. This was my summer album - spent a lot of time with the sun roof of my car open while belting out lyrics.
It's unsurprising that "Still Into You" is their most popular - the melody & lyrics remind me of Taylor Swift, but Hayley's voice makes it something else entirely.
After falling hard for this album, it took me a few months to finally check out their backlog in CD-form & rip it from the library. There's a lot to love there, too, and I think Paramore's probably now one of my favorite bands. I associate a lot of lyrics with Glee's Quinn Fabray, which is helpful for writing purposes ;)

Save Rock & Roll by Fall Out Boy - I've liked Fall Out Boy since sophomore year of high school, I think. My friend used to burn CDs for me because my parents' computer was way slower - he'd download albums/etc. I used to love Grand Theft Autumn. I listened to "From Under the Cork Tree" non-stop in college. ANYWAY, they came out with a new album which I love. My favorite tracks (ARE ALL OF THEM) are The Mighty Fall, The Phoenix, Young Volcanoes,& Alone Together.
Seeing them perform live in Milwaukee with a group of friends was one of the high points of my entire year. I made a playlist on my iPod comprised of their setlist, and it's been my go-to for the rest of the year.
I'd never listened to the Folie A Deux album when it came out, so I listened to it a lot this year. "Disloyal Order of the Water Buffaloes" is my favorite, but I also spent a lot of time just listening to the whole album straight-through.
I listened to more Fall Out Boy this year than any other band, including Glee covers.

AKB48/No Name - I've covered this moreso in an early post about the AKB0048 anime, but due to watching that show, I've listened to more of their music!

Patrick Stump's solo album - listened to a lot in conjunction with Fall Out Boy. "Spotlight" is probably my favorite.

Watch the Throne - Obviously this isn't new, but I was able to rip a library CD copy of it, and I fucking love it, all of it. This is another one where I tend to listen to the album as a unit, rather than individual songs. That said, No Church in the Wild and Niggas in Paris are probably my faves.

I've only listened to 99RadioService's OP songs for the Chihayafuru anime - there are two - I like the first one, Youthful, the most, but the one from s2 is good, too.

lavendarsleeves pointed out that they sound like Spitz (who I found through Honey & Clover), and that's probably true! I should really find an album by them or something.

I really/really liked Pentatonix/Lindsey Sterling's cover of Radioactive, & also their video. Watched it about a billion times this year.

Get Up Kids - A new-to-me discovery made while reading that they were an influence on Fall Out Boy. They're growing on me; mostly I get happy whenever one of their songs shows up on shuffle.

Fave Glee covers of the year - Scream (still), Empire State of Mind (still), We Will Rock You, Some Nights, Creep, & Love Song.

Lea Michele's solo album is set to come out in 2014. In the meantime, she released her single Cannonball, which I like okay. I agree with many that "Battlefield" shows off her voice much better, although I'm still upset it's not about an actual battlefield :(
I'm pretty excited for her album to come out.

As always, you can find almost-daily updates on my music consumption at

ribbonknight

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/688685.html

So obviously I'm not posting these on the day they were intended any more. BUT there are a lot of gaps in my "month," so it's possible I'll catch up, or more probably just extend it past December.

Anyway, this prompt is from

raanve, & after clarifying on Twitter a little bit, we're going with "music and writing," for me.

As-you-know-Bob, the thing I've been writing for the last couple years is A Song is a Weapon.
Music works a little differently in Glee fandom, as it would not be too random or unsettling for the characters to break into song in the fic itself. And as the title implies, singing does become pretty important to the plot. By the end of the fic, characters will literally sing.

That said, I still have a pretty lengthy "mix" for that FF7 Inception-AU I'd been working on for a while, too.

I find it almost impossible to write without listening to music. This is true even on the rare occasions when I sit down knowing what I'm going to write. Often, if I find a particular song gelling really well with a scene, I'll listen to it over & over until that scene is done.

Often, a lyric or a few lyrics will grab me & there'll be an image or a feeling that happens that I associate with a character in the fic.

Here's one from a few days ago. It hasn't been edited, so please withhold judgment as I'm using it to offer up a peek into my process. idk how other people write, but my process involves producing a lot of bilge.

I recently added Paramore's "Future" to my mix for this fic [which I have yet to update anywhere online - it's been a pretty big overhaul of adding/removing songs]. [Full lyrics here.] This fits into my mental image of Quinn-in-high-school, closing herself off from everyone else after her dad kicked her out of the house due to her pregnancy. In the show, she makes connections with people who help her, & then the relationships are never referred to again. On Glee itself, this is just lazy writing on behalf of the writers. In my fic, I'm trying to make the argument that Quinn used every waking minute to make sure she got into Yale [so she could join Skull & Bones], & researching her father's work and Skull & Bones, and figuring out how to bring them down.

Since the rest of the characters are physically separated from Quinn in my story (due to college/some still being in high school), & also suspicious of her, I haven't gotten into her head much, but after the intensity of season 3 & the shift in everyone else's attitudes, I think the reader needs a better understanding of where Quinn's coming for.
Anyway, the lyric from Paramore's 'Future' that prompted this scene is, "We don't talk about the past," but also the song as a whole - feeling really shitty about something specific that's ruined your life, but having a plan for the future that you can be focused on to help you get through what you have to get through now - in this case, high school.
(ALSO pretty sure the song doesn't mean your goal should be destroying an evil/patriarchal cult but YMMV)
Anyway, here's what I jotted down on a legal pad at work.

Watching her father had been jolting, once. After years of repression, it was jarring to see his face, to hear his voice. We don’t talk about the past, she’d said sharply to Mercedes to cut her off, once. It was one of the last times Mercedes pushed Quinn to talk about how she was really doing - feeling - after Beth was born. There’d been a sharp pang of guilt after seeing the hurt on Mercedes’s face, but Quinn hadn’t let herself acknowledge it. Like her mother, she agreed that not discussing the past was best. Unlike her mother, Quinn was fine with letting the past map out her future quite clearly. She wouldn’t talk about the past - that was fine. But it didn’t mean that she’d forgiven or forgotten. It didn’t mean she’d stopped caring about the puppet strings her father and his cronies had laced throughout the government and the rest of society. Wearing a white dress with matching headband didn’t make her innocent again. Holding up a copy of Pride and Prejudice in glee club didn’t mean she wasn’t reading Robert Kennedy’s The Enemy Within.

This is pretty rough, & a version of this won't end up in the fic.
I don't like "jolting" and "jarring" being in the first two sentences.
I dislike the "sharp pang of guilt" cliche, also the "forgiven or forgotten."
The last few sentences are building toward something, but I totally miss the landing - there's no conclusion.
Most of the text is pretty dramatic & vague, too, and it makes me wrinkle my nose - the sentence about puppet strings especially.
BUT STILL, it captured everything this lyric was making me think, & now it's down on paper.

In addition to the chapter I'm currently working on (4), I have a bunch of other "image flashes" like this for the rest of the fic. 10k words' worth, at the moment. Especially toward the end of the fic, some of these are the same scene - rewritten 2 or 3 times because they've happened different ways in my mind, almost always thanks to listening to different music.

Eventually, I use logic to string them all together.

Sometimes, the image I've jotted down doesn't work - originally chapter 4 ended in a warehouse-type building that looked like one of the reactors from FF7.
Recently, I decided that part of the reason this scene wasn't working was because the whole premise was stupid - it made way more sense to be in a nondescript office building than in a dramatic warehouse - especially since the kids were supposed to be obtaining paper documents.

Sometimes the lyrics of a song can drive the plot of the story. This happens most often when I hear a song for the first time, or after not hearing it for a really long time (so I'm paying closer attention to the lyrics than usual).

Kris Delmhorst's "Yellow Brick Road" ended up giving me a glimpse into how the story ends, & the lyrics are almost perfect for a Wicked-obsessed Rachel Berry. (I won't say too much more than that, lest I give away the conclusion!)

Sometimes too, it's a beat. I played drums in high school, & I can be really drawn to songs/bands because of unusual and/or strong rhythms. Beats are what keep me moving when I'm doing something longer, like editing an entire 8-10k chapter.

UMMMMM, so that's part of how I write. And perhaps also explains why I'm such a slow fucking writer ^^;;
When you write a lot of disjointed crap, it takes a while to get rid of the shit & make it ready to email a draft to a beta, let alone post it for good at AO3.

As always for this meme, additional questions are welcome.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/684317.html

littlebutfierce is hosting a Music Rec Party, & it's a lot of fun, & you should come comment!

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/663684.html

(pronounced "AKB-zero-zero-forty-eight")

IN THE FUTURE, humanity has had to abandon Earth & populate other planets. On certain worlds, entertainment ("things that disturb the heart") is forbidden. Signs with a teenage girl have the "no" sign placed over it with the words "NO IDOL."
In this sad & dystopian future where people work in factories, A GROUP OF TEENAGE GIRLS PERFORM GUERRILLA CONCERTS AND FIGHT AGAINST GIANT MECHAS WHILE DELIVERING HOPEFUL MESSAGES THROUGH THEIR LYRICS.

It is amazeballs, you guys.

AKB48 is an actual musical group in Japan, releasing music NOW. Currently comprised of 86 girls, they perform live concerts almost every day in Tokyo's Akihabara district. They are ridiculously popular, & a cultural phenomenon. The second time we went to Japan, we were asked by some school kids at a shrine who our favorite members were (they were appalled by my choice, lmao).
When we went out for karaoke with some of Steph's friends, a group of boys knew & performed the entire dance to Heavy Rotation.
This series may be viewed as one giant advertisement ~~if you have no soul~~.

Here's what Heavy Rotation looks like when they perform it live:

As you can see, when they perform it live, Heavy Rotation is pretty adorbs & awesome - they have military-style jackets, colorful skirts, & awesome dance moves. I like how they shout "ONE TWO THREE FOUR!" in the beginning.

Their studio music video for the same song is, uh, a little different. The girls (most of whom are teenagers) spend most of it in lingerie, lying in bed or feeding each other decadent desserts (while wearing pink cat ears). The video literally begins by zooming in through a key hole to one of the girls taking her clothes off; I'd classify this as NSFW.

While popular with young girls, AKB48 has been criticized for having its members "graduate" in their mid-twenties to make room for young girls. Adult men also make up a huge % of its fanbase (much like moe anime).
There was a pretty widely-publicized story a few months ago when one member was caught having a boyfriend (not allowed!). She shaved her head and tearfully apologized to her fans on camera in a YouTube video.

In this season at least, the semi-problematic things like this are not really addressed. The exception is when they do so fail-y. In one episode, one of the girls receives traumatic hate mail. She meets this "hater" in person, & ends up thanking him for his vitriol because it helps her become a better member of AKB0048. :(
I guess they also imply that older girls making room for younger ones is part of a divine plan.

I typically rely on Wikipedia to tell me an anime's target audience, but this one doesn't say. I assume it's seinen (adult men).

Girls don't join AKB0048 because they need money, but rather because they believe in AKB0048's mission of providing joy (through music) to other girls like themselves.
When teenage girls join the AKB0048 of the future, they leave their home planets to live with other members on a spaceship. They're branded as terrorists & hunted by the military, who try to shut down every concert they perform. Which is why each girl performs on a moving hovercraft, and also why their microphones turn into lightsabers. SHOW OF MY HEART.

Before each concert, they recite their motto: "Calmly, carefully, correctly."

Episodes deal with the girls' angst, as their family members have various roles related to anti-entertainment governments, weapons manufacturers, etc. Like all idols, their personal relationships with friends & family change when they join this popular group.

Overall, I love this series quite a bit. Girls helping girls, believing in each other, helping each other move forward & perform together in some of the best-animated scenes I've seen. They use rotoscoping for some of the concert portions, to much better effect than it's being used in Flower of Evil, imo.

Here's the older generation performing Aitakatta in episode one; the four little girls watching end up being protagonists in the main series. They're so inspired by this concert they end up joining AKB0048 themselves :*)

My favorite character was Chieri.

There is a second season that just wrapped up in March. I'll be watching it!

Current Music: Aitakatta - AKB48
Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/645675.html

FALL OUT BOY WAS AMAZINGGGG

and I got to go in my car with

were_duck &

raanve &

general_jinjur & a person without a DW name AND THAT WAS THE BEST?!
AND WE ATE AT A DINER INSTEAD OF STANDING IN LINE?!

AND THEN INSIDE stood by

trinity_clare and OMG BANDS ARE SO AWESOME?!

( set list as compiled by trinity-clare )

We stood next to the sound board (I don't like touching ppl I KNOW, so lol pits).

The acoustics inside the venue were pretty shitty.
BUT THIS LINE UP OF SONGS WAS ALMOST PERFECT.
I do wish they had ended on a song I liked more but it's okay.
I WILL LISTEN TO FALL OUT BOY ALL DAY FOREVER AND EVER.

Standing in a room bouncing up & down & screaming lyrics & punching the air IS AMAZING.
So is making "OMG THIS LYRIC IS SO HEINOUS" faces at your friends while yelling them anyway.

AND THEN PETE AND PSTUMP TWEETED ABOUT HOW EXCITED THEY WERE AFTER THE SHOW.

I've been reblogging decent pictures/etc. from the show in my tag on tumblr.

jobhunters is a new-ish Dreamwidth community. I know it's relevant to a bunch of you, so you should join & comment! There's an open thread every Sunday, which I think could be used to help focus weekly searches/progress, etc.

Over at

moogle_university, two DW users are playing through Final Fantasys I-XII, one each in the year of 2013. So, right now obviously, they're on Final Fantasy IV.
For the moment, I am not playing along, but the posts are really fun to read, and I assume will become even moreso as they get up to the Final Fantasys with which I am more familiar!

Screencaps, reflections, caps lock, etc. It's like a community made for me, :)

I keep rereading this post & the comments on it: Thinking About Anger by

sparkymonster

littlebutfierce has uploaded some music for me b/c I am the most spoiled friend in the history of the internet. This post has songs about women being in a band,, or as I've titled it in my iTunes, "K-ON! fanmix," :D :D :D
I love-love-love listening to mixes of any length on themes, so I'm delighted by this.
Also this post from a couple weeks ago with 2 songs. "Stone by Stone" is a superior anthem, the lyrics are amazing.
"Rock This" is a fantastic GET UP AND GO!!! song, imo.

I rolled my eyes a lot at the coverage of the demise of J-Manga.com. So I was really grateful for this post by

snarp.

* You were asking people to pay real-book-type prices for low-resolution scans of poorly-edited manga.

* Which were not downloadable. Not even with DRM. They could be accessed only from your servers, using your website and or your proprietary apps.

* As such - as any erstwhile user of Yahoo! Music or other such services well knew - we did not buy those low-resolution scans from you. We merely rented them, until came the day upon which you would shrug your shoulders, say "welp, I tried," and shut down your servers.

* You didn't actually try.

* Like, your website and apps were so bad? That I think they were meant as some kind of deliberate "fuck you."

* You didn't even release the mobile apps until last October.

* Wait, did the iPad app ever come out? (Edit: It didn't.)

* It's just kind of hard to believe you were serious about entering this market, is I guess what I'm saying, JManga.

I then got into a Twitter exchange with Deb Aoki (who writes about manga at About.com), basically about how commentators ALWAYS BLAME fans who "pirate everything" or are ungrateful assholes or what-fucking ever.

I was disgusted by Erica Friedman's apparent rage-quit post in her blog, which was inspired by J-Manga closing up shop.
So I was really glad when

snarp ALSO commented on that in JManga Stockholm Syndrome.

Ms. Friedman, you are a treasure to that internet demographic preoccupied with swordfighting lesbian schoolgirls (me), but this is bullshit. JManga was deliberately marketing towards people who didn't know enough about the internet to realize that the manga they'd bought was going to disappear on them.

I'm so tired of the way anime/manga industry commentators in the US talk about piracy/etc. whenever a company goes under.
I can't think of any other industry that constantly blames its consumers for its own failures.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/634601.html

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/629352.html

ららあああ
ろまろまま
ががうらら

For those who don't know Japanese, a translation!

ra ra ah ah ah
ro ma ro ma ma
ga ga u (ooh) ra (la) ra (la)

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/619486.html

This year I listened to more current music than I have in the past - usually I get obsessed with an old band for a year (Tool, Placebo, My Chemical Romance). I absolutely credit this change to Glee/Glee fandom.

Born to Die - Lana Del Rey : I bought this because everyone at

ontd_glee was talking about it. Her performance on SNL wasn't great and I actually didn't really care for Video Games, the first single off this album, but I bought it anyway and I fucking loved it.
The opening drama of the strings on Born to Die pull me in, and this album makes me think of getting myself into my car after surgery and driving myself to work because it hurt too much to stand on/ride the bus. This album is pain and recovery, to me.
My favorite song is National Anthem, although I also really like This is What Makes Us Girls, Off to the Races, Born to Die, Summertime Sadness, and Lolita.
Faith, don't fail me now / Take me to the finish line are the lyrics that made me drag my hopeless/depressed/WILL I EVER GET BETTER JFC ass to work, to the fucking grocery store, etc.
It's hard to put into words how much I love this album. It's one of my all-time favorites, for sure.
After about a month, my boyfriend despaired over its constant presence in my car's CD player.

Mix by littlebutfierce: The list of tracks/thoughts of j. are here! I really liked the PMMP songs and the Delgados. This was my first introduction to Attack All Around and my re-introduction to Stars WHICH WILL BECOME IMPORTANT LATER IN THIS POST.

Attack All Around - megamix compiled by

littlebutfierce mix & videos & track list are here.
I LOVE THIS TRACK LIST SO MUCH. The music is incredibly upbeat, and so are the lyrics. This was very much my, "Alright LET'S DO THIS!" album of the year, and I typically listened to it as an entire album rather than individual songs.
If my life were an anime, "Overdrive" would be my OP, tbh.
Overdrive lyrics - this song is so RAWWWW FEEL MY POWER to me.
I <3 Samurai Heart for similar reasons.

Let It Beat lyrics - Don't whine / Bare your fangs!
Are u ready?
I’ve found my glory days
I’ll let this love be my weapon
Let it beat! Let it beat! Let it beat!
I can move on, dreamin'
Are u ready?
Gonna strip away, another day
My regrets until I’m left with zero
Until I get hold of the pieces of tomorrow

Gossamer - Passion Pit - I also started listening to Passion Pit because of Glee fandom, specifically the fic These Strange Steps by

thememoriesfire. The fic starts off as Rachel hits rock-bottom in her life and starts a relationship with the stripper, Quinn Fabray. But the entire fic goes on to cover their climb back up from rock bottom, and it's so good. She and Puck are the ones who make the music that is Passion Pit's.
I love the rhythms on here, but the lyrics are also quite devastating imo, which I wouldn't expect from just zoning out and listening to the way they're sung.
I <3 this entire album, and I really like listening to it as an album.
Faves include Take a Walk, Constant Conversations, On My Way, Love Is Greed, and Where We Belong.

All the things you can't control
Should never destroy your love or hopes
I found a place, I found a place,
I found a place where we belong

Vows - Kimbra - I also bought this because people in

ontd_glee were talking about it.
I liked the rhythms of "Settle Down" and "Sally I Can See You" and so I bought it. This is definitely an album that's grown on me the more I listen to it.
My two favorite songs from the album are "Sally I Can See You" and "Warrior." Honorable mentions to Come Into My Head, Cameo Lover, and Settle Down.
I feel it growing from whisper, to a shout and a fist in the air is my fave line of "Sally I Can See You," but I really like the entire song, mostly the rhythm (I'm a pretty rhythm-oriented music listener in general. I played piano for a decade but I also did percussion in middle school & high school).
I would quote "Warrior" in its entirety, I love the lyrics and the music. I suppose my favorite bit is:
You're just pushing me down, pushing me down, pushing me down
(They tell you 'trust your head, be like men' but never feel like you're good enough)
You're just crushing me down, crushing me down, crushing me down
(They wanna take our light, make us fight, but never cry for the ones you love)
(I'll be your warrior, warrior)

The North - Stars - This definitely isn't my favorite Stars album, and I think I really need to listen to their songs lots of times before they grow on me. Still, there are a few songs I like quite a bit: Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It, The Loose Ends Will Make Knots, and Walls.
"A Song is a Weapon" gets high marks for finally giving the Glee fanfiction I'd been working on for most of the year an actual title. I really like that song especially.

Revolution Summer EP - Muncie Girls: Discovery thanks to

littlebutfierce, who blogged about them here. I don't know what I'm gonna do & I'm sick of having to decide could have been my anthem from the first 8 months of 2012, I think.
I'm looking forward to hearing more music from Muncie Girls.

Magic Hour - Scissor Sisters - Started listening to this album because they covered Let's Have a Kiki on Glee. I bought the album off iTunes the same night I listened to it.
In addition to LHaK, I like Baby Come Home, Keep Your Shoes, and Self Control for groovings. So many great rhythms in these songs.
I think Only the Horses and The Secret Life of Letters are my favorite two songs off the album.
I know that Only the Horses is about getting out of the city, but I choose to believe it could be post-apocalyptic, too.

As for The Secret Life of Letters...
What is the full speed of language
When there is nothing to say

and

How many days in a sentence
I feel like passing this phrase
These aren’t my friends
Maybe they’ll be again

Glee Cast - various covers - I'm not going to list out every single song I've bought this year, but I do spend money to buy the ones I like. I think almost the entire fandom is still watching solely for the cast and the music, at this point.
"Scream" is undoubtedly my favorite; it's my all-time favorite Glee performance (even though the context annoys me in terms of Artie's characterization on the show). I wrote an entry about this song/performance here.
The Michael Jackson tribute episode aired after my surgery, I think two days after I left my parents' house/care to spend time in my own apartment on medical leave, solely dependent on my boyfriend to do anything involving bending over, lifting, or getting things on/off the floor.
The music had already been out on First Listen Friday and I'd been listening to the song for days. The performance solidified it for me - Kevin McHale and Harry Shum Jr. totally killed it in remaking the Michael/Janet Jackson video, imo.
In the midst of the worst pain I'd ever felt, and my body making frightening alien-type noises every time I ingested food or water, I listened to this song on repeat.
Everything was way worse than I had imagined it being. This song, on repeat, got me through a lot, especially at work, driving to/from places I didn't want to go, driving to/from work, going to fucking medical appointments, listening to it before/after arguing with medical billing people, etc. etc. etc.
Things got worse than it ever had been in the past, at certain points. Nothing made sense; people wanted to help but there was nothing for anyone to do.

Kicking me down
I got to get up
As jacked as it sounds
The whole system sucks

Kevin's screams in the background, just this entire song was very therapeutic for me. Hands-down my most listened to track of the entire year.

The "Rumour Has It/Someone Like You" mash-up sung by Naya Rivera and Amber Riley was another immediate favorite (this might have technically been released in 2011, I can't remember). This song was something of a feature for Santana after having her sexuality outed to her entire community by Finn, white boy/hero of the show (who was never punished for it, btw). Santana's vulnerability and bitch-slap of Finn cemented her as one of my favorite characters (if not my absolute fave, which I think she is). Amber's and Naya's voices blend so nicely. I like this mash-up much more than the original singles by Adele - when I listen to either one, all I can think is, "There's not enough going on, where's the rest?"

I very much liked Unique's three singles from season 3 - the "Starships" cover had me loving that song before that multi-fandom vid that a lot of my friends liked came out (the vid did really nothing for me, tbh).

I could go on & on about each Glee single I bought and what it meant to me.
I should probably add "We Are Young" to this list, although I think that episode aired in 2011.

A Song is a Weapon Playlist - cultivated by me, located here with links to it on YouTube/Last.fm/Spotify. I've likely listened to every song on this list 100x or more, having become obsessed with each one in turn.
Each song elicits specific feelings from me about the characters/situations/themes of my story, and I'm so glad I made it because it's helped me get "unstuck" multiple times.
In the past few weeks I've taken a bit of a break from writing my fic, but I'd like to get back to it in the near future, and this playlist is going to be the first place I turn.

Honorable mentions also go to Kanye West, Stars (long a favorite of mine, but I really dug them again this year), My Chemical Romance (Danger Days gets a special mention for getting me to/from many a place I didn't want to go in my car)

Special 2012 bonus: PSY performing Gangnam Style with MC Hammer (Hammer comes in around 2:50):

It's probably worth mentioning that I'm on Last.fm as

ribbonknight - this scrobbles what I listen to at home, which I'd say is about 1/4 of my listening. 1/4 = in the car, and 1/2 = at work (my iPod doesn't sync with iTunes b/c it has loads more music ^^;).

Current Music: Girls Like You - The Naked and Famous
Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/611873.html

PLAYLISTS ARE MY THING LATELY, HAVE YOU NOTICED?

Anyway, started a playlist of songs for US/UK politics; you can find it here if you have Spotify. I think that all of the UK ones come from a fanmix for Attack the Block that I downloaded a while ago - will link to that when I'm home & have the bookmark.

Do you have any song recs? As evidenced by the list, I'm into pop music, so recs along those lines = nice. Recs need not be centered on US/UK politics; that's just what I've got so far.

There's a War Going On For Your Mind - Flobots
Council Estate of Mind - Skinnyman
Golden Sand - The Republic Tigers
Wretches and Kings - Linkin Park
My England - Lady Sovereign
Take a Walk - Passion Pit
If There Ever Was a Time - Third Eye Blind
Hands Held High - Linkin Park
POWER - Kanye West
Wisdom, Justice, and Love - Linkin Park
We Are Winning - Flobots

I might add to this list myself later, because I forgot my iPod at home today. I need music to function at work, so the Spotify app is currently creating a playlist centered on Flobots's "There's a War Going On For Your Mind." Its first add is "We are all on drugs" by Weezer, lol.

WARNING THAT THE GLEE COVER OF "SCREAM" MIGHT BE MY FIRST ADD, JSYK.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/606109.html

As I've mentioned before, cultivating a playlist has been very valuable for me. It allows me to think about my fic when I'm not writing: at my desk at work, in my car, while I'm making dinner, etc. It also allows me to get into the mood to write, as I've assigned certain songs to certain characters/relationships.

Ways to Listen to the Music:
On YouTube | On Spotify [missing Yellow Brick Road] | On Last.fm

The songs & the order of the songs is subject to change, but it's settled into this set for a few weeks now.

The Wolves (Act I and II) - Ellie Goulding - This is Quinn, season one, I think.

Girls Like You - The Naked and Famous - Quinn, as treated by the narrative on the show and her "rich white girl problems," right up through On My Way and the car crash.

Everyone will remember you when you're gone
And your heart is a stone
Buried underneath your pretty clothes
Don't you know people write songs about girls like you?

What will you do when something stops you?
What will you say to the world?
What will you be when it all comes crashing
Down on you little girl?
What would you do if you lost your beauty?
How would you deal with the light?
How would you feel if nobody chased you?
What if it happened tonight?

How would you cope if the world decided to
Make you suffer for all that you were?

Ballad of a Politician - Regina Spektor - Kind of a creepy little interlude about political power, ;)

My Life Would Suck Without You - Glee cast - This and the next song are very much the united feelings of Glee club as a whole, I guess. Setting the sort of happy-go-lucky mindset everyone is mostly in at the end of high school.

We Are Young - Glee Cast

Empire State of Mind - Glee cast - This and the next song are very much for my “New York City” mindset. I love the ensemble use of voices in this song, Finn & Puck & Artie on the verses, Rachel & Santana & Mercedes distinct in the backgrounds.

It's Time - Imagine Dragons

Come Back (Lorn Remix) - ESKMO - This is kind of the “oh man, shit just got real” transition.

Shot Me Down - Bare - from the fan video that inspired it all, making Glee look like an action movie. You saw that, right??

Wild Tigers I Have Known - Emily Jane White - This is Quinn again.

Silence is a power and a tool
For you
...

You keep your heart from your chest
It'll be gone just like the rest
'Cause it's a man's world
Say all the right words
And hold your heart from your chest

Turn Me On - David Guetta feat. Nicki Minaj (I know that this song is actually about sex, but it's easy to take the "I need a hero" lyrics literally when you're distracted & writing, :D)

Power - Kanye West - This and the next song are very much about “the man” & power, obvs.

Handlebars - Flobots

Golden Sand - The Republic Tigers - I fucking love this song. Sort of the ND kids’ answer to the above, but also about the whole “How do you fight what you hate WITHOUT BECOMING WHAT YOU HATE?” conflict (see also: Animorphs).

How much responsibility do you bear
For the ill uses others might make of your ideas?
Almost as much responsibility that you'd bear
If you failed to speak your mind
When it might have made some kind of a difference.
So make a difference.
Could you make 'em dance
Turn your bleeding hearts into some bleeding hands?

Blow (Cirkut Remix) - Ke$ha (I have this scene in mind where Santana's singing this quietly over a walkie-talkie while they're waiting for a bomb they planted to go off, idk if I'll do that or not, lol)

The Bones of You - Elbow (still being in love with someone a long time later, and being reminded of it suddenly! This is my only Finn pov at the moment.)

Who Are You, Really? - Mikky Ekko - also love the fuck out of this song, I would quote it in its entirety. I like the "lift me higher, let me look at the sun" like trying to figure out the truth but the whole song is a little about suspicion and stuff too, and at some point I'd really like there to be a schism between everyone in which they're like, okay is Quinn really trying to take these guys down, or is she just manipulating all of us?

Scream - Glee cast - this is a good song to listen to when angry (omg I listened to it a billion times on medical leave), it's also very much a "fuck the system" kind of song, imo. I think this is still my favorite song that Glee has ever done. I've listened to it more than any other.

Knights of Cydonia - Muse

What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) - Glee cast

Warrior - Kimbra - this song feels the most like Santana's pov in this fic - her sense of no control.

You're just pushing me down, pushing me down, pushing me down
(They tell you 'Trust your head, be like men' but never feel like you're good enough)
You're just crushing me down, crushing me down, crushing me down
(They wanna take our light, make us fight, but never cry for the ones you love!)

Fallen Empires - Snow Patrol - all of this.

float - bush - I like the lyrics for all of this song, but most specifically:

When I am with you I feel a little brave
The madness and the wars the circles that we run
Confusion we import look what we have become
And all of this time I was just trying to reach you

Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums - A Perfect Circle - At the moment, I view this very much as Quinn talking to Rachel.

Don't fret, precious, I'm here; step away from the window and go
back to sleep
Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils,
See, they don't give a fuck about you like I do.

Marching On - One Republic - omg I <3 all of this song.

There's so many wars we fought,
There's so many things were not,
But with what we have,
I promise you that,
We're marching on

Lose Your Soul - Dead Man's Bones (Quinn) - I need to decide if I'm killing anyone in this story or not.

i get up in the morning
to the beat of the drum
i get up to this feeling,
keeps me on the run.
i get up in the morning,
put my dreams away,
i get up, i get up, i get up again.

My Love Is Your Love - Glee cast - If I wake up in World War III ... And I feel like I want to go home / it's okay if you're comin' with me. Also the lyric, "It would take an eternity to break us," which is the emo title I used when first thinking of a title for the fic.

Moth’s Wings - Passion Pit

Whose side are you on?
What side is this anyway?
Put down your sword and crown
Come lay with me on the ground

Seven Devils - Florence + the Machine - your shit is fucked.

I don't want your money
I don't want your crown
See I've come to burn
Your kingdom down

Blood and Fire - Indigo Girls

I am looking for someone, who can take as much as I give,
Give back as much as I need,
And still have the will to live.
I am intense, I am in need,
I am in pain, I am in love.
I feel forsaken, like the things I gave away.

Yellow Brick Road - Kris Delmhorst (ugh, this is like the perfect Rachel song)

I'm off to see the wizard with his curtain and his crowd
But my hands are not trembling and my head it is not bowed
Cause I'm not looking for any answers, no truths to be revealed
All that I am asking is to show me something real

First Breath After Coma - Explosions in the Sky (a coda)

Babel - Mumford & Sons - &, at the end of it all, they can take it all on & keep going.

'Cause I'll know my weakness, know my voice
And I'll believe in grace and choice
And I know perhaps my heart is farce,
But I'll be born without a mask

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/602352.html

Am feeling tired and useless, so I'm sharing a MINMI song/music video.

If interested, lyrics in Romanji and English are here.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/509214.html

Inspired by

raanve's post, these are vid ideas that I've written in a Google Doc! I currently don't know how to vid, and I probably won't learn how to do it any time soon. BUT I HAVE IDEAS.

1) I am a Vampire (Juno Soundtrack) with Spike, from Buffy/Angel. This could be heinous, or serious. For sure the shot of him using his fingers as fangs must be used. The song is so ridiculous that I sometimes envision this as a study of Spike constantly trying to assert his masculinity/dominance (and usually being undercut when doing so).

2) My Sweet Prince (Placebo) to Revolutionary Girl Utena. I really would want this vid, but the song is so slow that it might not be too great? It'd have to be visually awesome to hold the viewer's attention, for sure.

3) Johnny and Mary (Placebo cover) to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Not many notes for this one, except that John is obviously John Connor (but could also be John Henry if you run short on time), and "Mary" might probably rotate between the women characters - Sarah, Cameron, etc.

4) Kings of Medicine (Placebo) to Neon Genesis Evangelion. IDK. Mostly when I hear the lyrics "They're pickin' up pieces of me," I see Rei's arm falling off her body and cackle to myself. "Put you in a bag before the day is over" could also be people/parts floating in LCL. IDK, I see the opening verse as being literal interpretations of the lyrics, but that usually bores me in vids (even though it's done ALL THE DAMN TIME with AMVs), so it could be more abstract after that.

If anyone makes these vids (or if anyone has already made them, #1 has to have been made, right?!), let me know!

ETA: In the comments at the LJ post,

etrangere notes that #2 has been done! Link!

Current Music: Vampire Money - My Chemical Romance
Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/499456.html

"How to Train Your Dragon" - Holy shit, I was not expecting to love this movie and I fucking loved it. Characters/story were good, which is usually essential for me. But the music and especially the animation/cinematography were AWESOME. Go, this movie!

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon - solid, interesting, I read it pretty fast. I'd like to read a bunch by her, as she's a Guest of Honor at WisCon next year and she's been so prolific. Plan to read Trading in Danger next; if anyone has any other EMoon recs, let me know.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner - (Full Disclosure: We are Internet friends and she sent me/an employer the ARC.) It took me about 30 pages to slip into the writing style of this book, but once I did, it was awesome. A teenager who finds self-confidence and self-reliance in a believable way, and it is LGBT-friendly. I look forward to future books by Horner.

Burn Notice - am 3/4 through Season 3 now, and still loving. THIS SHOW IS LIKE CANDY FOR MY VIOLENCE/REPRESS FEELINGS-RIDDEN HEART.

Leverage - Just watched "Mile High Job." Still not digging this show? I like Ellison because he's fuckin' badass and not annoying. Like Hardison when he makes WoW/etc. references.

Tifa and Aeris figures, received as birthday presents from two good friends. FRAKKIN' AWESOME. Unfortunately, I haven't really figured out how to use my camera. This picture is the best out of 19.

Music meme. I received the letter "H" from

starlady. Turns out that H is really hard! Anyway, the meme is something like: post about 5 songs that begin with that letter.

"Haemoglobin" - Placebo
I am only a recent Placebo convert, having discovered the band about two years ago. They are my favorite band. I think their music is comforting to me because I love repetition. I can listen to the same song on repeat for days, literally. Their songs frequently have a lot of repetition inside the same song (see: English Summer Rain). I kind of love everything about them.

"How's It Gonna Be" - Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is probably my second-favorite band. (Hush, don't hate.) "How's It Gonna Be" is certainly not my favorite song by them [that'd be Wounded, then Semi-Charmed life, then Motorcycle Driveby]. But this song was immensely popular on the radio when I was in middle/high school, and it makes me nostalgic for listening to the Top 9 at 9:00 every week night after my homework was done and it was too late for me to call my friends without my mom getting all upset. Also, seeing Third Eye Blind live last year at Halloween on State Street is probably my favorite live show experience thus far.

"Hindi Sad Diamonds" - Moulin Rouge soundtrack
Because I fuckin' love these soundtracks, and this song always seemed really epic to me.

"My Humps" - Alanis Morissette parody
Because that shit will never not be funny.

"Hey! Say!" - Hey! Say!
I can sing along to most of this song, :O
It makes me happy in an elated sort of way every time I hear it. It also reminds me of the anime Lovely Complex, as it's used in one of the OPs. This series was pretty great, and reminded me a lot of the more spastic/gleeful parts of middle/high school.

Crossposts: http://mystickeeper.livejournal.com/442466.html

So I haven't gone to Halloween on State Street for the last couple of years. My freshman/sophomore years of college, it was like, 90,000 people and there was tear gas and it was bad-ass.

Now you have to pay to get on the street and there are bands all over the place, and you can actually comfortably walk from one place to the next (previously, it took all night to go five blocks).

But this year, Third Eye Blind was the headliner band so I went! It was weird being on State Street this year: in the past, I was always impressed with everyone else's ingenuity, but this year I was kind of like, "WTF, that's all you fuckers have? Pick something and figure out how to wear as little clothing as humanly possible and still be recognizable as the thing you're being for Halloween?" There were no costumes that made me go, "How clever!/How badass!" [Well, there were at

brdgt's party, but not on State Street.]

Kristy and Chad came too, mostly because since 7th grade on, Kristy and I have loved Third Eye Blind with relatively equal abandon.

Also, Stephan Jenkins was my celebrity crush in high school.

Look at the man!

Third Eye Blind was my favorite band during my formative years that I still love listening to. I imprint on songs heavily: when I like a song, I can listen to it on repeat for weeks (literally: ask Steph). I know some of these songs better than I know my favorite books.

My favorite song is probably Wounded, but tonight when they played, it was just AWESOME. Thousands of kids my age filling a street, in costume, screaming the words to Jumper and Semi-Charmed Life. AHHH, amazing!!

ALSO, okay, so Kristy, Chad, and I were about 100 feet away from the stage. Everyone was a dumbass, filled the center path only, so by just being on stage-left a little bit, we had a clear view of everything, were very close to the stage, but were not pressed up against anyone.
Anyway, at one point Stephan Jenkins was getting people to clap there hands AND I SWEAR TO GOD HE POINTED AT ME [there was a clear spot of empty people in front of me and my hat made me stand out a little I think], and then pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at mine in a Barney Stinson-esque way to be like, "YES, YOU!"

OMG HE POINTED AT ME! He wore a top hat and a white collared shirt and a suit coat! He screamed and sounded exactly like he does on the CDs! He called us all motherfuckers and everyone raised their fists and were like, YEAHHH! WE ARE MOTHERFUCKERS! It was ridiculous and amazing and cold and exciting.

Ahh! I don't know how I'm supposed to go to sleep tonight!

Current Mood: giddy

Again, lots of people throughout my life have told me that I have terrible taste in music. Too bad!

Click here!

Playlist:
The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage – Panic! At the Disco
Gotta Knock a Little Harder – Yoko Kanno and The Seat Belts (Cowboy Bebop OST)
Hum Hallelujah – Fall Out Boy
Wish - Olivia, inspi'Reira (NANA OST)
Touched – VAST
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni OP
Image theme of xenosaga ii – Yuki Kajiura
Shiki no Uta – MINMI
Red Fraction – MELL (this is actually all in English)
Cosmic Dare (Pretty With a Pistol) – Yoko Kanno and The Seat Belts (Cowboy Bebop OST)
The million way of the drum – Samurai Champloo
Shi-Kuretto - Hellsing OST
You Could Have it So Much Better – Franz Ferdinand
Pushing the Sky – Yoko Kanno and The Seat Belts (Cowboy Bebop OST)
Every You Every Me – Placebo
Rose – Anna Tsuchiya inspi'NANA (NANA OST)
See You Space Cowboy – Yoko Kanno and The Seat Belts (Cowboy Bebop OST)
The Bitter End – Placebo

Current Mood: accomplished

O HAI, INTERNET!

littlebutfierce posted a really bad-ass Asian music mix for download and I thought that was neat.

So I made a playlist! I've been told by many people that I have horrible taste in music, but I think that they are haters. AND THUS, MUSICKS FROM ME.

[Embedde Joggle dealie redacted.....it didn't work!]

PS: I hope this works; I've ever used the site before, but

brdgt has so I figured it worked.

ETA: This doesn't seem to be working, and I don't know why. What a useless website, though! There is....no explanation of anything, anywhere. I'm sorry, :( Hopefully I can sort it out later today.

Current Mood: good

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Entries tagged with music

An Evening with Lea Michele | April 21, 2017, Shoreditch Town Hall

10 Albums From My Teen Years

[meme]

2013 Music Post

[December meme]: Music and character, how they relate [03]

(no subject)

AKB0048: Season One

I saw Fall Out Boy & then I wrote this blog post

I've let these links accumulate a little too long!

(no subject)

I find it incredibly amusing that I can do this, so x-posting from Twitter

2012: My Year in Music

Political Music

A Song is a Weapon: Playlist

let me show you the way to better another day

Vid Ideas! / Alternate Title: I like Placebo

Some Reviews

Third Eye Blind

Music, for real this time

Internet, I give you music