national novel writing month

i (along with sharky) am trying my hand at this next month. basically, you write a 50 000 word manuscript for a novel. in a month.

wish us luck!

brand new, you say?

ironically, this isn't brand new at all

i have always found paramore to be far more interesting live than in studio. their songs are great, but they need the energy of a live setting to carry them off - their studio recordings have always sounded dull and lifeless to me.

on brand new eyes, they are about half way to fixing this - some of the songs sparkle, but others are as lacking as the studio recording of 'born for this' (i listened to it once, and haven't been able to bring myself to since).

right now, paramore fans are probably hating me. please don't. i set far more store by how a band sounds live than i do by what they sound like on record. anyone with a few dollars can sound good in a studio recording, playing live is the real test. and if a band can sound better live than in a studio, that shows just how good a band they are.

i told her the angles were all wrong/now she's ripping wings off butterflies

but back to the album. single 'ignorance' is 'misery business' part two, 'brick by boring brick' provides the lyric the album cover is based on and incidentally, it's 'born for this' all over again (complete with sing along, but thankfully nowhere near as dull).

acoustic track 'misguided ghosts' is one of my favourites, and also one of the most interesting tracks on the album, purely because it strays from the standard paramore formula of pop rock anthems and heart wrenching ballads.

the inclusion of 'decode (twilight album version)' as a quote/unquote 'bonus track' smacks of selling out to twi-hards, but i can't blame them for it. hell, i'd do it if i could.

it's a fun, energetic album, and paramore through and through. but brand new? i don't think so. i'd much rather go back to daisy

as you do

looking kinda awkward there

i call my boyfriend sharky. he's not actually a shark, but i call him sharky because he bites me a lot. not in some kind of kinky sexual way, just in a weird sitting on the couch watching tv then ang-ang-ang on my arm/leg/stomach/face (face? yes, face) kinda way.

this is a picture of what he would look like if he was actually a shark:



because people are used to me having random bruises and bite marks from sharky, a lot of people thought that this was a bite mark:



but it's really not. whose mouth is shaped like that? i cut my knee shaving and it's a reaction to the bandaid i had to put on it to stop it from gushing blood everywhere.

and finally, i gave myself a haircut the other day because i couldn't be bothered to go to a hairdresser. i like it. so here's an awkward pic of me and my diy stylings:

daisy, you fox

first off, ima hafta get a brand new tattoo soon

second, i must agree with the reviews i've read of this album. it's way way way more challenging to listen to listen to than their older albums, and at no time more so than on opener 'vices'. this track starts with a deceptive minute twenty five of crackly ballad sample before launching into distorted guitar, hardccre screams and falsetto, something i've never associated with brand new. ii'm hooked.

second track 'bed' moves back into the more familiar territory of relaxed tempo, hushed vocals and melody like any brand new listener would expect. this is largely the dynamic for the rest of the album, but screams dot the remaining tracks, adding an interesting dynamic. the country twang of 'be gone' is made sinister by the indistinguishable vocals, providing an interesting mid-point to this 40 minute affair. as standard for brand new, all the tracks flow seamlessly from one to the other and after a few listens on repeat, the beginning and the end seem to disappear, pulling you into the vortex that lacey and co have created.

"last night they said the fire had spread and we said our prayers"

the seemingly effortless and brilliant lyricism, as well as the religious references, remain. but this is not just another deja endetu or the devil and god are raging inside me - the whole album is harsher, moodier and more horrifying than anything brand new have produced before. it is intent, not apathetic. and it's coming to get you.