Topic: The Music Thread

My favourite rapper rn's most recent release.

Amazing stuff.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN

You might like this man's sound, there is a Jazz'y quality. He's played in England/France. He's completely self taught too.

@GirlVersusGame Thanks, but I generally prefer instrumental jazz, not the hugest fan of singing nowadays, not entirely surely why that is, but my tastes have changed as I have gotten older, as I'm sure everyone's does. But, thanks for the rec, regardless. 👍

Since it's the Christmas season, here's a feel-good Christmas song by Christian song artist Toby Mac.

I know Elden Ring Nightreign isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think the bosses and the soundtrack in the game is some of FromSoftware's finest work. Proper top notch stuff. The entire Dreglord OST is incredible - especially the part that plays in the final phase. It starts at 7:37 if you wanna listen to it. The whole thing is insane though. So, so good!

@Kairuuu That's actually brilliant, I skipped Nightreign and forgot to even check the score. It's on Spotify too I just checked. It should have come up in my recommendations but never did. I think I got wrapped up in all of the nays-saying and never even considered the actual score, I'm adding it to my playlists. I don't think FromSoft are even capable of putting out a bad score but all of the nay-saying shoved it completely off of my radar until today.

It's listing 45 tracks, EldenRing was 67. I didn't expect Nightreign to have that many.

Thanks Kairuuu and hope you're feeling better.

Best album from probably the world's leading jazz guitarist at this time, rn, Julian Lage, been to see him three times, always amazing live, but my favourite time seeing him was his solo acoustic show, where he played a few tracks from this live.

@Ravix Canadian Hardcore Punk/Screamo band. Currently touring Eastern Europe/Germany at the moment. They aren't bad, I'd never heard them before tonight. That drummer is something else. I thought I'd stumbled on an unreleased track by Misery Signals. They remind me a lot of Alexisonfire and Poison the Well too.

@GirlVersusGame thanks. I will give them a listen when i'm in a mood for music.

I'll also say here that I indeed read your christmas post, but I didn't manage to respond at the time, but some of those things were rather eye opening 😅 I never considered that kind of spin on the festive season, especially the granddaughter thing you mentioned, I think I will pretend I never heard that and hopefully it isn't too damaging for the youth being presented with these types of things as a normal holiday tradition. Maybe it just sounded worse the way you said it than it actually was 😬

I like the idea of the santa figure using a train though 😅 maybe less so a mig 😂 but, hey, why not update traditions with new technology as it comes, haha.

All the other stuff is far beyond my mental capacity, I feel like i'm not up to handling much depth lately, so i'm having to keep it shallow, unfortunately. I took it in though, and my praise for the work you do remains.

I hope you managed to eventually watch some Christmas movies, too. Or Drive.

@Ravix It's a Slavic spin, you guys have Mrs Claus. Which I'm assuming means Santa got married at some point, and the Elves are his children? I'm looking too deep into it but yes she's kind of like Elsa, we call her a snowmaiden. I didn't spend Christmas day there, we left early and I had Christmas in England instead. Nor did we get blown out of the sky by that storm, I think some public airports had closures, the alternative was going somewhere else in Europe. Almost Prague, but I wanted England. I figured you went quiet because you got snowed in and were waiting to be dug out, or like Jack Nicholson at the end of the Shining or Mr Bigglesworth frozen in space You can choose which fits better. MD83 couldn't even get food.

Hopefully it isn't too damaging for the youth being presented with these types of things as a normal holiday tradition.

I don't know because normality is baked into a person from day one. It's only not normal until someone on this side of the globe says 'gvg that's really freakin' strange no?'. Which has been happening a lot lately, but if a persons foundations and template are at complete opposites, what do you do? If you lived for maybe twenty years and everything you did, saw, heard was 'normal', then you spend that one twenty-first year around someone or people who said 'that's not normal'. Who's right? It's an enigma, you are too and I don't mean that in an insulting way. I'm just being honest. And by extension of that honesty, when it does happen and when 'that's freakin' strange' does occur, it pushes me further back to that original template where things did make sense. Except for some other things, like the things Tjuz said and explained. That's humanity, that I understand. The rest? Let me translate this to English 'not on your bloomin' life mate', not at all.

You'd know better as an observer, you noticed some other things that Tjuz and I discussed on Discord. I was sure no one did, he confirmed that you both did. So I'm impressed, you are very observant, even if you don't realize it. Even if you have absolutely no idea what I'm alluding to. Mysterious? maybe, either way you saw it. Even called it out, I couldn't elaborate. If i ever find a song that explains that very thing then maybe I'll share it and a light-bulb explode in your head.

Thanks. I will give them a listen when i'm in a mood for music.

Fair warning they might damage your ears. If you see what I said about dynamic range you'll understand why that genre is a preference. You and I listen for different reasons but the end result is that we get something from a band like Underoath. Or Emo and Screamo in general, and it's not the words, or the theme, it's more mechanical and modulated. I had to study sound engineering to understand it, I noticed it, No one around me did. You'd call that a win.

I like the idea of the santa figure using a train though 😅 maybe less so a mig 😂 but, hey, why not update traditions with new technology as it comes, haha.

I've seen Santa repel from a helicopter too, and down the walls of our home, he got stuck, it ruined the illusion when people climbed a ladder to try to cut him free. That was maybe six or seven years ago. Kind of funny remembering it now. Ours doesn't live in the North Pole either which is really ironic because I once went to Lapland to 'see him'. The person I went with was English like you, I didn't even know why he had reindeer. I was looking for a train. I walked past him once Harrods because I didn't even know who he was. The Santa I knew dressed in blue, carries a massive staff and has horns on his head like the guys at the start of Conan. I'll provide an example.

He's about to give you a quest in Skyrim.

All the other stuff is far beyond my mental capacity, I feel like i'm not up to handling much depth lately, so i'm having to keep it shallow, unfortunately. I took it in though, and my praise for the work you do remains.

It is what it is, people wouldn't understand it because they don't realize it's that much of a thing. Instead of bat ears I wear cat ears to catch the bad guys.

I hope you managed to eventually watch some Christmas movies, too. Or Drive.

I forgot to watch Christmas movies entirely, that's the first year I haven't. The decorations, trees etc are all still up, so maybe I will. Christmas day for me was only three days ago so technically it's still Christmas even in England. hohoho etc.

@GirlVersusGame hmm. I'm very much not normal, so don't be worrying about that, haha. I would love to have been snowed in like the Shining, but perhaps with less violence and more focus on the actual connection and the gift of the Shining. There's a bunch I could say, but it doesn't feel right on a public forum, and I never really understood discord. I guess we just keep talking in our weird muddled code where we both understand and also don't understand each other at the very same time. But I definitely feel like you, I, @tjuz we all share some very specific things in common, even if they kind of come from vastly different places or manifested in different ways.

I mean, I'd never say a culture is wrong, just when you mentioned it was kind of sexualised and there was a granddaughter figure sent to do whatever, it just struck me as potentially not great for youth development. But a lot in western culture is bad for youths to grow up with too, I just didn't expect it around a festive holiday that is majorly Christianised (ohhhh, maybe I should have expected it, actually 🤦‍♂️ anything organised with a figurehead power structure tends to lean in to these things in some way) I understand it is more the modern commercial side of things that greatly deviated from the original folklore, though, so it is to be expected, I guess. At first I was just like, "eh? Is that the tradition that has been passed down for generations?", but it wasn't, it was how it got changed along the way.

Well you better watch some movies then 😄 Ho. Ho. Ho. Etc, indeed.

Oh, and no I don't think I saw what you said about dynamic range? Again i'll say it, your mind works on a far more advanced and technical plain than mine, I just run on pure emotional mess, so I may not understand a lot of what you say, but it doesn't make it less interesting if you do want to explain

@Ravix I never really understood discord. I guess we just keep talking in our weird muddled code where we both understand and also don't understand each other at the very same time.

• It's kind of an acquired taste and a band-aid not a fix so you aren't missing too much, other than a lot of custom emojis and animal stickers. Oceans of them. I commissioned an Enigma machine to crack the muddled Ravix code. I'm making progress.

we all share some very specific things in common, even if they kind of come from vastly different places or manifested in different ways.

• That's why I've been talking to you. I recognized the same thing. I don't think the place matters, the people do.

I mean, I'd never say a culture is wrong, just when you mentioned it was kind of sexualised and there was a granddaughter figure sent to do whatever, it just struck me as potentially not great for youth development.

• Sorry the meaning went over my head I thought it was perfectly normal, I asked someone on another network. Someone who was raised with Western ideals, equality, etc. She just explained why that can be seen as wrong. I understand why she sees it as wrong. You too.

If the system (for me) works, then why change it? It only over-complicates things, That's why I missed what you originally saw, I just saw tradition and was blind to the rest. I'm fully self-aware, I don't want something that I don't need, but I applaud anyone who does want it. More power to them. I'm good with my snowmaiden and Balkan Madonna. Everything I grew up with over-sexualized women, I can admit it's wrong (to you, and many others) different worlds. I'd never project 'this is right' or 'this is wrong' on anyone, it's not my place to say. If we ever talk in private you'll know what I mean, you'll understand, any anxiety? or 'are you okay?' will be instantly washed away. You'll get it, instantly. I know because others did too.

But a lot in western culture is bad for youths to grow up with too

• I was told that Coke a' Cola was drugs, so you can see why I reached out a little when I did perhaps question certain things. I have nothing but questions, time too.

I just didn't expect it around a festive holiday that is majorly Christianised (ohhhh, maybe I should have expected it, actually 🤦‍♂️ anything organised with a figurehead power structure tends to lean in to these things in some way) I understand it is more the modern commercial side of things that greatly deviated from the original folklore, though, so it is to be expected, I guess. At first I was just like, "eh? Is that the tradition that has been passed down for generations?", but it wasn't, it was how it got changed along the way.

• My Family is generational, we pass different things down. Christmas wasn't one of them.

Oh, and no I don't think I saw what you said about dynamic range?

• I'll use a hypothetical. And have to base it on you, because I realize (now) that you get confused when I slip from first person into third person, Tjuz mentioned it, he's right. I don't even notice it happening, I'm blind to it. But I know it happens, people tell me. Which is why you (yourself) were so confused with 'sorry who are you talking to?', it even happens in text. Everything has a reason, so does that.

Let's say you are playing a video-game, it's called Ravix 2.0 your character is a white rabbit with a sword (I'm reaching here) it has castles, dragons and things. Maybe it's on PS5, everything else is.

In the game you have stats. You play the game for a number of years. Your stats are something like 25+ strength, 15+ dexterity, 50+ intelligence, 50+ emotions (it's not a great build, it's an example) One day you fight a Boss, they are too strong for you, they also do magic damage a kind of damage over time. It's a big Boss, you shouldn't have been there that early.

You leave the fight with the following stats 25+ strength, 15+ dexterity, 50+ intelligence, 0+ emotions. That boss removed your ability to feel emotions. It's just gone because the Boss was like I said was too strong for you, and perhaps you had nothing to negate the magic damage. So now you are stuck like that, you understand the reasons, you accept it and continue to adventure.

Then one day you meet a wizard (Tjuz or someone, with a staff, beard etc) The wizard has a record player, they are playing some kind of God awful modern pop, your 0+ Emotion stat feels nothing. You feel nothing because the sound is flat, over-processed, it has no real flow or life.

Then the wizard (Tjuz again) chooses another song perhaps 'Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C Minor Resurrection V Finale', suddenly that emotions stat shoots up to 50+, shoots through the roof.

Was it magic? was Tjuz really a wizard all along? (he might be) but no.

It's the dynamic shift in the music itself, from hardly audible to huge sonic walls, you can't not feel it, even if that Boss reduced that emotional stat to 0+. That kind of presence usually doesn't exist outside of a studio, unless you have a studio in your home, and if you do then you too can perform magic by replicating that original sound, it might cost a lot to do it but you also did quite well for yourself looting different dungeons before you met that Boss. That equipment then allows you to hear music and feel music. As if you were there hearing it recorded live, nothing was sacrificed on a technical level, it's clean, clear, it moves you when nothing else can.

The more you work with it, the more you realize you can keep that original range (that immense dynamic shift) without having to sacrifice the volume (which happens at a live show) However it won't work if the piece of music doesn't have that original shift between quiet and loud to affect that emotional stat, not all music does. Some is flat, and would cause that stat to remain at 0+. A genre like Emo understands the shift between quiet, to loud, the shift from regular singing to screaming, the speed of the drums, the riffs, it's powerful. I need my music to contain those qualities or my emotional stat remains at 0+, Underoath sends it to 50+, as might Tchaikovsky. I'll provide an example.

A band like the Red Hot Chili Peppers has an extremely low dynamic range, I can't listen to them. There's nothing there, for me personally. My hearing is absolutely perfect. That stat would also be 50+ (hearing) however my emotional stat remains at 0+ unless I find ways to amplify it. I can't return to the fog gate and fight that Boss again, just find ways to amplify that stat, temporarily, music is a way. But only as long as that high dynamic range is present, without it I feel nothing.

I'm not sure how else to explain it. I knew there was a connection to feeling some music and feeling none, I studied audio-engineering, sound and acoustics, then found my answer. Dynamic range is the buff I use to feel music, like you naturally feel it, like most people naturally feel it. If not then like I said it's just noise. Ask for elaboration if you need it. I'll try in video-game terms, if I can. Or in TjuzWizard terms. So many typos tonight.

@GirlVersusGame @Tjuz and anyone else wanting a sad/happy listen. Relevant as it is an album (and film) about wanting to connect with people, but not necessarily wanting to connect with the society that people have created.

@Ravix I know this. If you saw me mention helping out on a case where a certain person was accused of a crime they didn't commit. It's how I got introduced to the innocence project, Eddie was involved early into the case. He performed a benefit show to raise music for the person. He played some of this music I'm sure of it. I was late to help, they'd already been released but people were trying to raise funds to give that person a life (he lost years of his life) I was living in New York at the time, he's living there now too. I learned about him when I talked to Joe Berlinger. He's a documentary film maker. He's made multiple documentaries of the case, Eddie saw them too, Johnny Depp was another. I don't know if the case is even known in England or Europe.

He and his friends were accused of something they didn't do, he was convicted because he embraced Wicca and listened to Metallica. Their 'Occult expert' had a diploma from a mail in catalogue, the entire case was a farce and he had to make an Alford plea just to regain his freedom. It basically means the person pleads guilty to a crime (even when innocent) to get a lighter sentence, and they can still maintain their innocence. He lost eighteen years of his life, over nothing. Alford means you can be due millions of dollars for a wrongful conviction and not receive a penny. He didn't, that's why so many supporters came together, he left prison with nothing. One of his friends never even had a suitcase before, they were from real poverty, easily scapegoated too. I'd not have known had it not been for Joe and Eddie. The man is an absolute selfless human being, really rare in the music industry. He saved a life with his music, with the songs you posted.

Do you know the case? I'm curious if it even made it's way to England or Europe. I recognized a lot of myself in that person, especially when my own books about Witchcraft were burnt. It's almost an arrest-able offense now (back home) they are trying to outright ban Witchcraft, Mysticism and Divination. I lost maybe six books at Christmas, straight in the fire.

But that's okay, I have four hundred and ninety four sitting right here in England, they'd have to burn me at the stake with them. Probably more, there's a couple of more stacks I need to sort and inventory. I can take losing six.

It's been years since I met that person, but I understood him. And I'd never have known, met, or been able to help him if it wasn't for Eddie. As soon as you posted that video I recognized the tracks. I was right back there, and was (am) damn well grateful for my life, you'd have to know what he went through to understand. Eighteen years, stolen. They used his Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax CDs as 'evidence', along with his Anne Rice and Stephen King novels. I don't think we realize how good we have it until we meet people who went through something like that. And all for listening to some music and embracing alternative beliefs. I'll never have enough good words for Eddie and his music.

@GirlVersusGame I might be completely off the mark here, but is it the same case featured in this song?

I don't know a lot about it, but it was a wrongful conviction and one was left on death row because of it (Oh, it definitely is. The West Memphis Three.) I think a lot of people came together to fight for this, yes, but that was allnI knew. What an amazing connection, and a little spooky. And yeah, it literally saved his life, too. And I can imagine Eddie Vedder being that way, for sure.

@Ravix It's not but that's the song I posted the night we were listening to music, it had that very same modulation and dynamic range I talked about tonight. So we both felt, for different reasons.

It was the West Memphis Three, that's the one. Joe made maybe three documentaries about. I knew his work from Brothers Keeper. an absolutely brilliant documentary, also about the American justice system.

This is kind of funny but. It's there twenty seven times today. So you might say I like it. I once listened to the same song for twelve hours, don't ask. If I had to I'd listen to that for twelve hours too, and if I use a calculator. It looks like I listened to that song for two hours today. Not bad.

If I had to put it into words, imagine the rush you get when coffee hits in the morning, it's warm, familiar and you can only have one (I'm only allowed one, I'd never sleep, even more) but with that song I can put it on repeat, listen all day long and still feel that warm, hit , energy, and it never gets old because it's a feeling not a lyric. He's singing 'this hell is my home', but I'm not feeling that, I'm feeling the technical mix. If you listened to that all day you'd probably have wet-Ravix face (a term I adopted for my writing elsewhere) because the words would start to seep their way in, I'm just bopping along to it carefree. Those words are going no where, those feelings are the singers not mine, I'm just sharing in the energy that he, the band, and the instruments created. Especially that opening, amazing.

@GirlVersusGame I mean the west memphis three case is actually, literally, what the song 'Prevent This Tragedy' is about, it is about fighting to stop the death sentence being carried out, so it is kind of spooky that it is from the same album as Burn, too.

Matt Skiba was heavily involved at the time

@Ravix Guess who's listened to Matt Skiba for hundreds of hours and didn't even know who he was. Until twenty eight minutes ago. Spooky is good, I don't believe in coincidence. I've seen far too many things come full circle to say otherwise. Can you recommenced any songs you've listened to on repeat for hours? or is that not normal? I know I've passed the limit when someone walks into my rooms and turns it off. Their job might be to loiter nearby but they have a kind of sanity meter, when it maxes out they pull rank and 'turn this off please', because they too were listening to it on repeat all day. I've never had neighbors before, it's just as well. Everyone who works in my home are also familiar with Matt Skiba too, and so many other bands. One time someone was going to quit because all they heard for days was Poker Face by Lady GaGa for days, it's all I listened to. They have to be nearby, that's their job. They didn't sign up for the GaGa, I don't do it much anymore. Mostly headphones, it drove too many people crazy.

@GirlVersusGame oooh, Gaga on repeat when her songs use a lot of repetition as a feature could get wild, I guess. That is borderline evil 😛

I don't think I ever listen to a lot on repeat over and over. I did have a good think about it.

I return to this album a lot.

I probably posted it here already. I'm faux-annoyed that 'What We Do in the Shadows' didn't feature at least one song from it. It is not like there are many albums that have a vampiric undertones running through them, it is almost like a vampire concept album, kind of.

So yeah, less repeat tracks, but I go back to tried and trusted songs and albums a lot for normal listening.

I do like listening to different versions of this song when the mood takes me. So I can probably listen to it a good few times in a row. (The Mafia 3 soundtrack is an absolute killer game soundtrack btw. So much good 60's music that isn't just the Beatles and where I first heard this cover song)

No lip-syncing on this next live performance 😂 (first time i've seen this one haha)

Here's maybe the most known song from 'The Guest' while i'm here, too.

@Ravix Watch this.... are you spying on me?

That's right now, I'm listening to Demolition Loves right now, that's seriously weird.

I can see where I started listening to them last night too, or today, I'm on a new time-zone again. I found that 2025 mix last night, liked it but then went back to the originals. I've been listening to that album all day. It's probably just a coincidence but it's still very odd.

I checked to be sure, I was swooning over Gerard Way again last night, but so was she. Still very odd timing. I hadn't listened to them in so long. I can tell by checking conversations about music, I mentioned him one hundred and sixteen times in three years. He's a good looking man and it's a very good album, obviously.

He didn't even know who Gerard Way was, you know what I mean, you 'like' Tjuz, maybe Gerard too. I do.