New Music Saturday

10 Years released a new album yesterday and hosted an online concert with live chat to celebrate. They played some old favs and songs off the new album. My bff and I bought tickets, hopped into a voice chat on Discord and watched the concert together. It's not the same as our normal concert excursions, but it was fun. And just like any other concert night we might attend in person, we hung out for a few hours afterward and just chatted. It was some much needed fun. If you're not familiar with 10 Years as a band, they actually celebrated their 10 years together this year, and their music is much in the style of like a Breaking Benjamin or Chevelle, Cold, Seether kind of sound.

We got brand new original music, with a music video from the popular YouTube metal cover band, Halocene. I really enjoyed this song from them. Usually with their covers they lean hard on the vocals from lead singer, Addie's vocals. But this song gives us a great mix of both her and her husband Brad's vocals (not just his screams -- though those are also there) which I thought was great.

Watch on YouTube

For a little bit of non-metal music, there's this great NPR Tiny Desk (Home) Concert performance from Nubya Garcia. Nubya is a jazz saxophonist. She and her band here play three songs, some more jazz, some with a slight reggae and a little kind of dub sound. There's no lyrics here, but the songs are beautiful with a beat to dance to. Jazz much isn't usually my kind of thing, but I truly enjoyed this set.

Watch on YouTube

Lastly, I want to share this great playlist for my friend Caitlin's new novella from Neon Hemlock, Yellow Jessamine. You can find the playlist on Spotify and it's got a great mix of some melodically creepy songs that are a great accompaniment to her new novella.

And then before I go, I want to share two music list links. First, this AMAZING BandCamp article with a list of heavy rock/metal bands inspired by Magic the Gathering. Not a thing you often hear tell about. You can read that here. Secondly, the author of Wicked Saints & Ruthless Gods, Emily A. Duncan, has started a Substack email list with the specific mind to share what she's listening to. She's a huge fan of heavy metal of all flavors, but usually death and black metal bands. Her first post was a great variety of cool bands, some of which I hadn't even heard of before. So if metal is your thing, check it out here. You can read her post without signing up for her email list, so give it a try.

What about you? What have you been listening to this week?

That 5 shows meme

I think I want to do both movies and television like I've seen some others do:

Five TV shows to watch to understand me:
in no particular order
I've talked about Dracula (2013) & Being Erica before here, so I'm going to include some different shows. I could talk about a ton of 90s shows, but I'll try not to make it all five. The early to mid-90s shows on SNICK & MTV had a lot of my attention on weekends I was with my dad.

• Roundhouse: This was a Saturday Night Nickelodeon show (SNICK as they called it) from the 90s that was basically SNL or MADtv but with young 20-somethings. In fact one of them was a producer on MADtv. It was all done in what looked like a warehouse theater with a round stage, minimal set pieces or props and musical/dance breaks between scenes or commercial breaks. It was the precursor to All That for the younger kids a few years later. It also had an incredibly diverse cast.You can watch the first episode here
• Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Another SNICK show that was took a page from HBO's Creepshow, and was a weekly one-shot horror show for teens. It was a Canadian show that took advantage of both young Canadian actors (you'll see Jewel Staite in (I think) more than one episode. These weren't always super creepy stories, but they were put into these midnight secret society settings, where the same group of kids meet in the forest each weekend to tell each other scary stories. So you get a small group of regulars to get attached to. I believe they are either remaking this or have already started the process of remaking this. But you can find some old episodes on YouTube.
• Forever Knight: Another Canadian 90s show but this one aired late at night in the States (usually like midnight-ish) and was my first real taste of what a non-Dracula based vampire show could be. I think despite the obvious differences between it and the Dracula series of 2013 that I love so much, it really explains WHY I like that show so much. Very heavy on the drama, on the past lives -- this is what I was watching and loving while my friends fell into Highlander and Xena.
• Sabrina: This is a little bit of cheating because I'm going to apply this both to the 90s teenage witch and to the Netflix series in it's 3rd season. (Obviously, they have very different stories and aesthetics.) But, the character herself, Sabrina, who is navigating the divide between her non-magical friends and high school and her studies of magic is the link here. I followed Melissa Joan Hart from Clarissa to Sabrina and I've watched that series multiple times. I think my love for this character and this specific type of storyline really turned me off when my friends started getting into Harry Potter later. With the most recent Sabrina, I love the darker turn to a similar story, the difference between real school and witch school and leaning heavier earlier on the magic school in the new story was definitely a great difference to explore.
• Weeds: A mid-00s show starring Mary Louise Carpenter. I honestly don't know why I love this show so much but the show took me from highs to lows and then the last season just sucker-punched me in the gut. I just love this chaotic mess of a show with this strong, assertive woman at it's center.

This isn't even like a TOP 5... and it doesn't include actual play D&D shows I regularly watch now. But I tired to include stuff that was different and not just Buffy, Hannibal, Supernatural or True Detective. Or the many, many more 90s shows from my early years that formed who I am as a person.

Five movies to watch to understand me:
(In no particular order.) I've talked about Jane Eyre several times, so I won't mention that here either, but it's been my comfort movie for years.

• Legend: I have been obsessed with this movie for year, I quote it often and I love it SO MUCH. Legend is a mid-80s Ridley Scott movie about a forest boy falling for a noble girl. He introduces her to the unicorns and goblins have been following her, waiting for the moment they might attack. Darkness (who seems to be a personification of Satan) is obsessed with the girl Lili and tries to claim her as his bride, and hopes the unicorn will allow him to cover the land in darkness. I especially love Lili's temptation scene, and then Uuna's reveal to Jack. It's great.
• Labyrinth: I think everyone knows this David Bowie tight paints package delivery movie. I was obsessed with this movie as a kid and I think it still holds up all these years later. Bowie wrote and performed his songs for the movie, his wardrobe, makeup and hair all all so amazing too. These two movies are tied for first on my forever list.
• Repo: The Genetic Opera: This movie is very obviously not for everyone. But it's definitely made for me. I love this horror movie music. Say what you will about the singing in it, but Anthony Stewart Head as the Repo Man was just over-the-top as anyone else performance; everyone is chewing the scenery and I love it.
• Pitch Perfect: I just love a movie musical. I love how silly this is, I love the awkward love story that comes out of it (even if Becca should obviously end up with Chloe instead of Jesse). Most of all I love the music mash-ups. I've watched this movie a ridiculous amount of times. It's another great comfort movie.
• Stoker: A 2014 with Mia Wasikowsi, Matthew Good & Nicole Kidman. It's about India, the daughter after her father has passed away. This movie (I feel) has very "We Have Always Lived in the Castle kind of vibes when it comes to India. It's a psychological thriller that really shows the depths of Mia's trouble behavior. It's also just stacked with beauty and talent, written by Wentworth Miller, directed by Park Chan-wook. And if you like weird movies about troubled people told in a specifically aesthetic manor, you might like this.

This doesn't include some of the other really big franchises that absolutely are a part of the things I love: like the Nightmare on Elm Street and Saw movie series, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the Jurassic Park series, or other really fantastical movies like The Princess Bride or The Neverending Story.

Anyway, this is just a small glimpse. I'd love to know if any of these resonated with you too.