#2021.11

#猫

冬の定位置。無防備に寝ちゃってさぁ。

完全に熟睡してるなぁ。私がスマホカメラのシャッター音をさせてもぴくりともしない。

- sukekiyo - Part 1 -

I really love this photos and the atmosphere ❤️

Complete fics posted on AO3 this day

1. The Compact by @astolat [E, 64k]

►Hermione frowned. “The real question is why the magic of Britain would be failing now, in fact.” “That is not the real question!” Ron said loudly; he’d woken up fully by now, and Harry had too; it was starting to sink in that they’d found the problem. “The real question is, how do we fix it?”

---

Fest/Exchange

1. The Decoy Date by @gallifrey1sburning [T, 3k]

►Harry wants Draco to come with him to an upcoming charity gala. Draco can't figure out why Harry would want him, of all people, to be his fake date for the evening. Surely there must be better options? ★ Wheel of Drarry Mini-Exchange

2. A Portrait of Recovery by @moonstruckwytch [M, 5k]

Dole「一本のおいしいが、世界を救う。」もったいないバナナプロジェクトムービー

https://www.dole.co.jp/special/mottainaibanana/ https://youtu.be/_QEKCorc3ro

バナナをたくさん描きました。文字も描いています。

⇢ NOVEMBER PLAYLIST ⇠

I feel like I spent the entire year waiting for A Way Forward and now it’s here and it’s December and I’m freaking out!!!!

Allison Lorenzen - Tender

The 8 songs on Tender spiral upwards like worried smoke against a low cloud ceiling, reaching towards the light but always within sight of the loamy earth surface. Shepherding lush, heavy compositions by way of synths, keys, guitars and subtle percussion, Tender finds Allison Lorenzen at her most vulnerable. Nursing old wounds from the end of a relationship and her musical project School Dance, Tender is also filled a renewed sense of heartbreak-made-triumphant that comes after the wisdom of solitude, allowing oneself to be taken care of by family and friends and, finally, documenting the way through.

Blankenberge - Everything

As such, Everything is a wonderful piece of escapism. It’s an effective antidote to all antonyms of ‘pristine’ and ‘charming’, and most importantly, Blankenberge’s most complete album to date. The journey it takes you on is a reflection in and of itself, persistently expanding and embracing highly ephemeral textures to accomplish its excellence. ‘Fragile’ forms the perfect conclusion, ending the record on a three-minute psychedelic ringing, seemingly distilling everything that comprises Everything into its final form: a soft, delicate hum. (Sputnik Music)

Constant Smiles - Paragons

Through its recent forays into dream pop and shoegaze (Control) and synth-pop (John Waters),  Constant Smiles has learned how to incorporate its experimental inclinations more fluidly into the mix. Artists like Yo La Tengo, and the more recent Rat Columns, are good touchstones for Constant Smiles’ musical approach—tethering to an indie-pop core while perennially mining genres, always finding new ways to intrigue listeners and pursue a unique vision. Fans enamored with the gauzy, Slowdivish musings of Control, for instance, will now face the crisp production of Paragons, where the eeriness of downbeat tracks like “Floating”  has been replaced with the yearning and confessional tone of “Daisy, Table for Three.” Elsewhere, the band’s krautrock leanings have carried forward on songs like “Please Don’t Be Late” and “Where Am I Now?” albeit covered in a new sheen—the gold leaf gleam and radiant blues of the album cover perfectly mirroring the album’s mood. And just when you think you have Paragons all figured out, you’re hit with one of Constant Smiles’ most overtly melodic surprises to date in the late album gem “Shame.”

Mandy, Indiana - ... (EP)

Mandy, Indiana's debut EP originated when Fair and Caulfield alongside Liam Stewart (who tours with fellow Mancunian industrialist Lonelady), first met a couple of years ago when their respective previous bands shared a bill in Manchester. Caulfield was drawn to the guitarist’s aspirations to write beyond genre, while Fair was instantly taken with the French-born vocalist’s stage presence. Fair creates the group’s sonic environments, drawn from countless hours of an ever-expanding library of home demos and recorded ideas, before passing them onto Caulfield. She pens her lyrics in impulsive reaction and delivers them in her native French. Tracks were recorded in a variety of spaces, from rehearsal rooms and home studios to cavernous old industrial mills, halls and other buildings. These are tracks disparate in nature but connected by an explosiveness - a pyroclastic flow of energy that’s erupted from intense ramped up pressure. It’s music built on raw energy over meticulous composition and emotion over clinical structure. The record is out now digitally with vinyl shipping next month. 

Nation Of Language - A Way Forward

A Way Forward is an exploration of the band’s relationship to the music of the 70s, through the lenses of krautrock and early electronic music. We aimed to more deeply trace the roots of our sound, hoping to learn something from the early influences of our early influences. Experimenting with how they might be reinterpreted in our modern context - looking further backward to find a way forward. We drew a lot from the steady locomotive rhythms of bands like Kraftwerk and Neu!, while also looking to less-propulsive electronic artists like Laurie Spiegel and Cluster. The goal was to have a record that felt like a journey, like being on a train that gets lost in a colorful fog, and then suddenly bursts through into different landscapes. Thematically, some of those landscapes are familiar in their melancholy, but we also wanted to introduce celebration and joy in a way that hadn’t really been present in our previous album. Having these bursts of positivity felt like it gave the emotional low points more resonance, giving a stronger sense of emotional reality to the album overall. 

Riki - Gold

Like all the most elusive pop, Riki’s songcraft is simultaneously direct and oblique, dynamic and detached, shifting from sparkling chorus to elliptical outro according to its own poetic logic. She characterizes her lyrical muse as “very much what’s going on in my life, things I wanted to say but didn’t have the platform.” This subcurrent of dream fulfillment animates the melodies with a specificity and immediacy that transcends her pantheon of 80’s influences: from Saâda Bonaire and Strawberry Switchblade to Bryan Ferry, Bananarama, and beyond. Gold skews less dance floor than her instant classic 2020 debut but taken as a collection it’s equally stirring, stylish, and exquisitely produced. Evocatively layered arrangements of drum machinery, sequencer, fretless bass, grey sky guitar, saxophone, and FX, anchored by Riki’s singular voice, alternately widescreen and wounded, yearning beyond time for ecstasies both fleeting and forever: “Thought I knew you, but you’ve gone far away / it’s not in your nature to stay / but the thought that I need you, grows stronger every day / the colors begin / to change.”  

Seabirth - (untitled)

Six personalities of different musical backgrounds created magnificent works like Big Bang, and these works have evolved into a more vivid sound by producer Makoto Gomi. The musical composition which changes dramatically invites you to a dramatic ending like the climax of a movie. Overwhelming deep sounds created by heavy fuzz guitar and synthesizers, and various melodies such as avant-garde trombones and falsetto voice are a must-listen for not only shoegaze fans but also Western music fans.

Leftovers:

Circuit des Yeux - -io

The sky over -io is Florida’s strange, radiant orange. It’s a built environment, unnatural, made from concrete and glass, with skyscrapers that stretch to the vanishing point as you gaze up at them. It’s crumbling and suffocating, a city perpetually on the brink of collapse, where tension never topples over into catharsis, where the heat never breaks. Inside this world and its closed loop of time, Fohr found herself able to begin moving again. “I was haunted by memories in the pandemic,” she says. “As someone with PTSD, memories are all twisted up inside of me in a way that doesn’t help my higher self. Making this album was once again an exercise of trying to relieve myself of some of that darkness in a way that music has always done for me.”

Gloomseeker - The Violet Grim

The Violet Grim was created and recorded between 2017 and the present. The 7 track album takes the listener on a deep tumultuous journey that is constantly marked by feelings of woe, gloom, melancholy and the occasional undertone of hope. The creation of this album is an overall attempt to address the delicate balancing act between our dwindling life and its direct passing into death, essentially reconnecting us with these uncomfortable truths. It is something we all struggle with but this is what nature intended and we must accept it as natural and necessary. The Violet Grim has been an ongoing subject of rearrangements, remixing and multiple reconstructions. Much of its ideas and inspirations were captured after dusk and born from the inability to experience consistent sleep.

Meena - Can’t See (EP)

Meena is a rock duo based in Manchester, UK. The band is riding that energy and go on to make music in a similar vein to their debut EP, full of instances of shoegaze, post-punk and ambiance. Originally 30 songs, the group pared it down, resulting in the six songs on their latest EP Can’t See. Since a lot of time and effort was spent on this record, it became quite a personal undertaking with themes lyrically about “life, being shy, drinking and just trying to get through.” The band takes these themes and adds in their dark ambiance packed with synths, reverb and distortion, to give an EP brimming with mood and atmosphere. A lot of Meena’s strengths lie in their ability to utilize space really well as you will be able to see upon your very first listen... The band certainly knows how to gun for your attention as their dark, gothic sound permeates these atmospheric pieces and creates sonic landscapes that will be a great mood enhancer or relaxation accompaniment. (Divide and Conquer)

#おでかけ #郡上八幡

郡上八幡の秋いろいろ。続、いがわ小径の風景です。

冬だと水路の鯉も冬眠で底に沈んでしまいそうですが、この紅葉の時期だとまだ元気に泳いでいました。

夏だと涼し気な光景ですが、さすがに今の季節だとちょっと寒々しい。

そうこうしている間に日が暮れてきてしまったので、私たちも今宵の宿に急ぐことにします。

この展開だと郡上八幡で一泊……のように見えますが、実は宿は下呂で取っているんだなぁ。

#たべもの #Panel Cafe #パンケーキ

#おでかけ #たべもの #紗々羅

宿の朝ごはんはこんな感じです。土鍋に入っていた自家製のお豆腐が冷えた朝にはありがたい。