Chez Wombat

I know Take Me to the Clouds Above isn't really U2, but I had to be honest and it is a great track that stands up to a lot here. Much as I love U2's hits, they have a fair few misses.

The money can also be put into the woefully underfunded Further Education sector, the amount of students with Education Health Care Plans coming out of school rises every year with increasingly complex needs, students whose needs we are just not funded enough to meet. This can help get those that don't have the advantage of wealthy backgrounds get a chance in life. It doesn't matter how you look at it, free schools and colleges are in a dark place. However marginal difference it makes, it's a step in the right direction promoting education for all. Of all the things to pick on Labour about...this?

Turns out I have a perfect option for this on the back burner so confirmed! Do love a bit of a spoken word dance <3

Your thoughts mainly mirrored my own then! Indeed, Only Love Can Break Your Heart was the only one I recognised and I was trying to remember where I knew it from -x- Rihanna - Anti A bit more modern now and to this date, the most recent album by former pop superstar Rihanna. A long drawn out release strategy (in the end, only featuring one of the pre-album single releases) marred by creative difficulties and emotional turmoil, Anti was aptly named as it was in stark contrast to to the commercial radio-friendly pop known from Rihanna at the time, taking a more experimental approach with atmospheric production and dabs in different genres such as dancehall, industrial and trap. Upon release, it was so musically free and unconventional that it initially received fairly mixed reviews though was commercially successful, reaching number 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (though only reached number 7 in the UK), it has over time gained a following as a modern classic and Rihanna's most daring album and one of the many radical pop albums that helped to bring black music stars into the limelight in the mid-2010s. A follow-up is still yet to be released. I've never heard a Rihanna album, I grew up with her at her commercial peak and while she can certainly make a great hit, it doesn't interest me enough for an album so I was interested to see a more personal and less radio-friendly side to her. Of the singles I already knew, I've never been a fan of Work, just always found it annoying although I do admire its revisiting of her Caribbean dancehall roots. Kiss It Better was much better and sounds great on here as a Prince-esque throwback to 80s power pop and sits nicely alongisde Woo on the album with some great guitar work. I knew Anti would be different, but some of these style changes are nonetheless striking to hear from Rihanna and she mainly pulls them off really well. Consideration is a much better presentation of the dancehall/reggae sound that was flirted with in Work, but there's also forays into trap and industrial on the likes of Desperado. Her cover of Tame Impala's New Person, Same Old Mistakes (titled with just the latter clause) was a real surprise, but is a highlight. Keeping the psychedelic synthpop and most of the previous sounds of the original, yet it still feels fresh by coming from a female perspective and it really fits with the immersive soundscape and self-evaluative themes of the album. Though the most wild change of style has to be Love on the Brain, a 50s doo wop inspired song with strings, organ and arpeggio, Etta James and Amy Winehouse are touted as influences and I see why, it seems unthinkable coming from Rihanna, but really works. If there's nitpicks, I've always thought Rihanna's vocals aren't particularly suited to some songs and while that doesn't detract from a lot here, it does make songs relying on heavy vocals like Higher a bit strained, though this is saved by the strong production. This is clearly quite an emotionally conflicted album with some real vulnerabilities showcased in terms of relationships, though in many songs (like LITB above) the arrangements do sometimes hide the darker themes. It's laid bare on the closer Close to You, which works well as a painful love letter to an old flame, yet with an acknowledgement that it had to end, and is stripped down to a piano. The deluxe tracks aren't as interesting, but work OK as club interludes, specifically, Good Night Gotham. I do understand people finding this 'messy' but it does really work overall for me as a deeply personal and creatively free piece of work. It does feel like an album difficult to follow up and a result of being confined to radio friendly dance-pop for too long, so in that sense, I do see how she hasn't yet. Whether it does turn out to be her last album or not, it's worth a listen for a glimpse of a darker side of a pop superstar. 8.5

Damaris was in the PFSC contest I hosted a couple of years ago, and Noche voted for it too! :lol: It's a good song though, it went top 10 there and I think it could have quite good crossover appeal.

I am quite surprised in all honesty, I thought he'd at least do one more tournament, two consecutive Euros finals is certainly a much higher ending point than any past England manager has, but there certainly has been some issues arising that show we're not quite up to the big teams yet so I do commend him for knowing when to stop if he doesn't feel he can fix this. Certainly one that history will be very kind to with that track record. I await the same cycle to start again when England go out at the QFs next tournament or something :kink:

Liberty X for the ultimate bland cover, at least Blue had the drama x

Very promising box office result for this, it had a budget of less than 10 million and has made that back and then some so far, just shows the powers of an intriguing marketing campaign! Incredibly well made film with the cinematography, shot composition and sound design really standing out, I kept focusing on the shots as they revealed so much space and had you on your toes wondering what was coming, yet never ruining it with a cheap jump scare. I agree that I'd call it eerie and creepy rather than really scary, but it was still effective. Monroe and Cage worked really well off each other as polar opposites, similar to Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter which I'm guessing was intentional. The final reveal and expository last act didn't quite land fully for me, but I would still definitely recommend this as a brilliant exercise in atmosphere, Think the most fitting description is The Omen meets Silence of the Lambs if both were produced by A24.

Depressing that Trump's running mate is one that went straight to blaming the Democrats for Trump's shooting (when we didn't even know anything about it, let alone that he's a registered Republican), thus inciting the possibility for more violence. Equally depressing that this pretty much means all of Trump's legal cases are gonna be put on the backburner and probably pardoned by himself. I've already resigned myself to him winning. Roll on November I guess x

Martine McCutcheon first I think. The Way You Move and Homecoming are both great, boo at them already targetted -_-

Gone for Mr Saxobeat, Iris, Euphoria, Sonnentanz, Changes & Budapest for best (Jubel would've been here had it made it too x) Just It's My Party for Worst, I'd forgotten how unpleasant that was x

And life goes on x Congrats to Spain, the best team won and the only team to play interesting, attacking based football throughout so a fitting result. Certainly not a bad game for England and we did what we could, but there was rarely a point we looked dominant and the result reflects the game fairly. Don't think there's necessarily a lot to be upset about, we were just up against a better team that had already gone through France and Germany at home, there definitely needs to be some revision though as we have looked painfully amateur at times and played very boring football. Still, I believe we'll get there eventually, Euro 2028 is a home tournament for the most part so there's hope!

Pleased we've been kinder to the Pogues this time, that to win x

I just can't imagine who thought a pro-feminist song produced by Dr Luke of all people was a good idea, like, really? The video feels overly sexualised and male gaze-oriented as well, which somewhat contradicts the message it's aiming for as well and feels very off in the context of Dr. Luke producing it. Not that I imagine a lot of thought went into it. But even separated from that context, the song is just really basic, not horrible but beyond cliched. Katy herself sounds bored singing this, and I know a lot of her songs have silly lyrics, but she at least injects character and sings them like she meant them. There's none of that here, just utterly throwaway in every sense. I'd believe you if you said this was AI genered. So yeah, great comeback!

I'm torn as I do believe Spain have played the best all tournament and deserve to win, but y'know, they've won twice already this century alone so it would be wonderful if history could be made, even if it's extra time/penalties that gives us a fluke win x I do think we have a solid chance as long as we can build on the progress we made in the Netherlands game, will be crazy looking back at the narrative of this tournament if we do win when it was most likely we'd lose at the round of 16!

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God <3

He really needs to go, I don't know if any of the immediate replacements would be enough to oust Trump sadly but at least they'd have a shot of turning the narrative around, as it stands, he could lose by quite a bit, and the sad thing is I would understand their thought process as just being scared that he could die in office.

Lady Gaga – The Edge of Glory Coldplay – Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall Nero – Guilt Lana Del Rey – Video Games Porter Robinson – Language That was hard x I'd love to have as an RIP for Shelley Duvall, and Noble England for the Jamelia slot/pre-Euros final song.

I- wow x We could actually be pulling off a Portugal :cheeseblock:

That penalty given was insane luck on our part, but not bad there lads x Where has this non-sleep inducing version of England been all tournament?

Wonderful top 3, I'm probably voting for the winner but I'm going for Sophie as the other two are all time favourites.

Catching up a bit x I guess M83 were a little too obscure for this, not too surprised as their chart success is very limited. One of my favourite less well known acts anyway, so many beautiful soundscapes in their discography <3 (insert buzzmeme here) The Stone Roses' self-titled debut is great, an amazing intro to Madchester with so many experimental and distinctive styles throughout. Led Zeppelin and Sex Pistols both had great albums from my last bucket list, I didn't quite point them as they only have a few really big favourites. I'm not quite as into Embrace as I am similar bands of that ilk, but Nature's Law is a particularly great song that Coldplay/Keane would've been proud of <3

Moving to Shayne as well x

New single is Electra, heard it on 6Music this morning, great stuff <3 g7yR2pGHf5E

Would've been quite the double bluff had I actually sent Phoenix after claiming in the thread I considered another song from them :kink: I still prefer Lisztomania, but 1901 is a great indie pop throwback and a very easy standout here, congrats on a first song contest win, Jim! ...and thank you for sending me into the top 10 last minute :cheeseblock: I wasn't sure how this would go down as it did sound quite different to everything else, but very pleased with the votes, including four top 3s <3 I discovered this on an underground Synthpop playlist a while back but it's really re-clicked with me now, the nu-disco production is gorgeous and I love how the song's vocals grow more and more vulnerable as it goes along in line with the building production. Pretty solid top 10 overall, though a shame that MEG just missed out as my favourite discovery (I was sure that was Iz and Tommy Heavenly6 Bre, but other way round!), I was worried I would find ten a struggle to get to, but was quite happy with all my votes in the end x Thanks for hosting, Wardy, I look forward to more of these should they continue!