Walking, following my shadow in front of me,
so capable of holding my dream in your dark complexion, a friend that walks steadily through the line ‘tween what is real and what is dream.
The two kiss,
like an explosion of light
from that one painted street lamp.
What is seeing when it rips the structure asunder piece by piece till what you thought was solitary and enduring becomes nothing more then water flowing?
So like fantasy is this life I breathe,
where does one end and the other begin,
the line shrinks from distinction.
Lost at sea in both the real and fantasy, overlaying my beloved notions of Beauty upon the seen.
I attempt at wholeness, to wholly see another without my ideas strangling them.
Stand back you defenders, allow for the balance. So hard it is to walk with your head in the clouds as your feet take root in the softening ground. I look to where the two meet and think on the space between my shadow, a dream, and my feet, the concrete.
bounds
the daily crises
blaring screens that screen us in
define our limits so we don’t have to fear
the potential of something greater
to go outside of these bounds holds fear
to stay in holds shame
its a struggle against pay to play
to play and pay and pay and play
pay me to play, play me for pay
release me and stand underneath me
i can be boundless in my soundless screams
a truly beautiful world exists
if only in imagination
Everybody Is Drunk – EvilStar (Album Review)
Today we have a review of an album created by our own EvilStar. Everybody is Drunk, his sophomore release, is a haunting surf rock project that takes the listener straight to that liminal space after the bars all close.
The opening track, “Change” hits all us 20-somethings in the feels. “How come they don’t even want to hear us out?” is the opening line that sets the whole tone of the album. It’s all about unheard people who live their truth, and the powers that be are just blind to it. The rich people gentrifying our classic neighborhoods just shop and eat away as our life gets whittled away day after day of labor.
“Another Way, Another Place” strikes me as a song dedicated to moving house. Renters live a transient kind of life, with our temporary leases forming chapters in life that are unique and yet totally blend together. As an added bonus, the lead guitar in the chorus section of the song evokes a nice feeling of hopeful melancholy.
The titular track, “Everybody Is Drunk” really speaks for itself. It’s a musical overture to a drunken room where all the conversations meld together into noise, and everything said is forgotten as soon as it is spoken.
The next track on the album is called “Drag”, assuming this refers to cigarettes. Like the name of the track, the sonic footprint of this song is just so cool. The guitar is sounds like a James Bond theme and the bassline is something that wouldn’t be out of place in Superfly. Really cool.
“In My Mind” reminds me of a folk singer at a bar, you can’t hear what he’s singing about distinctly, it blends in with the ambiance. The guitar is like an old country song with a cool vocal distortion that brings it all together.
If “Everybody is Drunk” feels like a night out, “Blue Skies” is like being alone at the bar. Your amore has gone to the restroom, you look around isolated. Maybe you watch the sports game on TV that you don’t care about, but it makes you seem busy. The song oozes a syrupy sentimentality.
The next track is “The Unsent Letter”. This epic track clocks in at over eight minutes and it still feels like its over too quickly. The lyrical content of this song could be a whole essay in itself. The gist of the song is like a crumpled piece of paper in your pocket, a letter that was meant to be send but just…wasn’t. The page is covered front and back in a handwritten scrawl. It’s filled with beautiful lines, my favorite being this gem,
“I wish I could see the world through your eyes.”
The album closes out with “Uptown (I Love You). Our night has come to a close, the anticipated hook-up didn’t come, the sorrows have been drunk away, the memories fading, and the lovely singer stumbles down the darkened streets to an empty home.
Everybody is Drunk by EvilStar, I am sure, will be an essential indie album one day as the artist grows in recognition. Listen to it and buy it now and you will be able to say you did so before it was cool.
Peace & Love
Sketchy Kids
The Sketchy Kids are Live – Episode 5
Hi to our lovely readers!
After a bit of hiatus we are pleased to release the final episode of season 1!
This is our ORIGINAL cable access television show that is available online.
We are beginning post production of season two so expect us to be moving on to bigger and better things!
Been on Hiatus
Hi to all my lovely readers,
We have been on hiatus for a little while due to some personal issues going on
A more public post about this will come later, for now we are going to try and start pushing out new content soon and please stay tuned!
We are now in March, Spring is coming, things get better!
Peace & Love!
Lyvo ft Eliott B – Chapter I,II&III
Here we have a mixtape I made awhile back. I used Lyvo’s tracks that I pulled off bandcamp as the germs for these songs, I remixed, stretched, and changed the tracks around a bit. Lyvo published his project, Chapter I&II, as creative commons which is awesome. I took the tracks and composed some original lyrics to give the songs some form. Thanks for listening 🙂
How to Grow From Negative Feedback for Creators
It feels great to create something. You made something that you wanted, it has entered the world and taken form. You like it so much you think others should see it too. When you start putting yourself out there, you are open and vulnerable. Getting poor feedback feels bad but it’s inevitable.
Why do people on the web feel the need to be negative? There are many great and supportive online communities out there, but it can feel like the vast majority are just filled with haters. You post your hard work to a page only to have it voted down instantly by some bot and your creation never sees the light of day.
I think by understanding the motivations behind negative feedback creators can take this to learn and improve.
Don’t take it personal!
The first takeaway from internet negativity is to not take it too personally. People being rude really shouldn’t reflect on you, it is a reflection of their bad behavior and self hatred. Although we don’t deserve cruel comments just for trying to share our work, it is unfortunately a reality. More often than not, mean feedback is coming from a place of frustration. These people have been hurt and they now want to force that hurt onto others. Don’t let them win! Chase your dreams!
Bad feedback isn’t the worst thing – No feedback is the worst thing!
One of the healthiest ways to view negative feedback is to change your worst case scenario. This is basically looking at your worst fear in putting yourself out there. For most of us, our worst fear is negative feedback. It’s scary to have someone say your work sucks or it’s trash etc. and it hurts. However this is not really the worst fate for your work!
The worst thing that can happen for a creation is for no one to see it. For it to just enter the void. The world doesn’t owe you anything just because you made something, and even though you may have got a negative response they still took the time to tell you. Count that as a win! As an artist your goal is to elicit a response. Social media grows through engagement, whether positive or negative.
Everyone is a critic!
People love to criticize things. Odds are, people will find fault with your work rather than like it. It’s easy to criticize something and it makes you feel superior. It’s a cheap thrill. Again, don’t take it personal. It’s so hard to make something great so keep at it!
Keep it in perspective!
Don’t let the one bad feedback ruin the rest. We can get so stuck on the bad it’s important to remember a lot of people probably did like it. Count every win and count your losses as wins too. You tried and you put it out there. It’s hard to create! Don’t give it up!
Peace and Love!
