That's My Jam 5: "Dangerous Days" by Perturbator

Straight up, I have no recollection of who first mentioned the name Perturbator to me. I could guess it might have been Warren Ellis' newsletter but I cannot really say for sure. But I can say that I absolutely love things cyberpunk.

And man, Perturbator is so cyberpunk.

Perturbator is just one guy, an amazingly talented French individual with the very un-French real name James Kent. He's been working in the synthwave genre of music for the better part of the decade. Synthwave seems like a genre designed for me, with a heavy focus on 80s film and video games as inspiration. But a lot of artists of the field don't click with me.

But when I stumbled upon the album Dangerous Days I was insta-hooked. It has a powerful continued beat through all its songs, like some kind of rave out of a never made Neuromancer film. It's that push to move forward coupled with the rareness of lyrics that helps make it such a great album to play while writing.

Perturbator also has some great album covers.
Dangerous Days is by Ariel Zucker-Brull. 

Once the slow rise of the opening track "Welcome Back" melds into the driving beat of "Perturbator's Theme" my mind is hyper-focused and ready to get rocking on some words. I'm listening to the album right now as I write about it and it has become so ingrained in my creative process that I just want to go back to the latest Shockwave story.

The entire album is available to listen to on Bandcamp. Perturbator even has a pay-what-you-want model set up for downloads. I'm pretty sure I actually downloaded the album for free many moons ago, but I've certainly given Mister Kent my money with every subsequent Perturbator album he's released. Or you can just listen to on this handy Spotify list...


So it's a win-win to go give this album a chance. If you like eighties movies, synth music or just a driving beat, I doubt you will be disappointed.

That's My Jam 4: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by IZ

Sometimes I think it's pure emotion that makes covers work far better than the originals. Perhaps it might be sacrilege for the Judy Garland fans out there, but her rendition has nothing on the power of Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, the late Hawaiian singer known colloquially as IZ. A powerful singer often with just his ukulele accompanying, he's a singular talent known these days as "the voice of Hawaii." He brings a new meaning to the song in his performance of it. If you haven't heard it before, you might just be a bit surprised.

That's My Jam 3: Paula Cole's Me

That's My Jam is a simple concept. It's where I share the song most stuck in my head currently. It might be new, it might be old, it might be popular, it might be completely obscure. All are presented without commentary, but I invite everyone to share their opinions on the tracks in the comments.


Paula Cole - Me (Sub Español) from andres delius on Vimeo.
This one dates back to my last days in high school and early college years. Paula Cole existed in heavy rotation on my CD player, but it was always "Me" that held a ton of my attention. The song speaks to the socially anxious and the depressed with a deep emotional resonance. It doesn't need to wear those as some kind of purposeful empowerment, but instead points that out with an air of normalcy. For all of us, we are our enemy. And ultimately everything we show to the world is only a fraction of our actual selves. Rarely does a song convey messages like that with such grace and ease while also being catchy as all get out.

Sadly, the music video seems to have faded almost to nothing. In my digging I could only find a subtitled version of the song on any shareable site. If you would like to see the video in its full glory, the African version of MTV still features it online.

Looking back at 2017: the top 10 songs

This year I've strangely become much more of a radiophile than ever before. I split a lot of time between pop and rock radio and I'm pretty show it shows with perhaps my least expansive list of ten songs ever. But with lots of solid pop music on the radio, it certainly wasn't hard to make this list.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• "Heavydirtysoul" - Twenty One Pilots
  
  
  
• "Everybody Knows" - Sigrid
  
  

THE TOP TEN

1. "Homemade Dynamite" - Lorde
   
   
   
2. "Honey" - Kehlani
   
   
   
3. "Love Galore" - SZA featuring Travis Scott
   
   
   
4. "Heavy" - Linkin Park featuring Kiiara
   
   
   
5. "Feel It Still" - Portugal. The Man
   
   
   
6. "RX (Medicate)" - Theory of a Deadman
   
   
   
7. "Kiwi" - Harry Styles
   
   
   
8. "Wild Thoughts" - DJ Khaled featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller
   
   
   
9. "Believer" - Imagine Dragons
   
   
   
10. "...Ready For It" - Taylor Swift
    
    

Dead rock star for the ages! (Kickstart the Week 62)

Great all ages books have flourished on the independents while "mainstream" comic publishing has fallen into a need to serve an ever shrinking, ever aging fanbase. That means for the first time in the history of comics, a lot of all ages books are coming from small presses.


Nicky Soh is an up and coming creator with one such comic. Rock Mary Rock is one such comic. Mary awakens the spirit of a dead rock star and in order to help him move on, she must live out his dream of becoming a mega star! It's a fun premise with beautiful art by Nicky.

It's always great to see sole creators really bringing their all to a great book and Rock Mary Rock looks like one of those works. Take a look at it on Kickstarter and help make it a reality.

The playlist of a Templar

Model Winnie Harlow as Sia in Eminem's "Guts Over Fear",
one of the main anthems for Graymalkin. 

When I started the first book in the tentatively titled Graymalkin Chronicles I designed, as I'm apt to do, a Spotify playlist. I already shared one for my succubus co-lead, but I also created one for my Templar hero. He's a lost soul in a lot of ways, so I chose songs that have themes of alienation, redemption and overcoming obstacles. Of course, I've also included a few songs with obvious religious themes as well. Together, it's a very odd hodgepodge but really does help me fully realize the character on screen. Check out the full list below:

That's My Jam 2: Guts Over Fear

That's My Jam is a simple concept. It's where I share the song most stuck in my head currently. It might be new, it might be old, it might be popular, it might be completely obscure. All are presented without commentary, but I invite everyone to share their opinions on the tracks in the comments.

That's My Jam 1: Feel It Still

That's My Jam is a simple concept. It's where I share the song most stuck in my head currently. It might be new, it might be old, it might be popular, it might be completely obscure. All are presented without commentary, but I invite everyone to share their opinions on the tracks in the comments.

Looking back at 2016: ten best pop songs

I've long been an advocate of music, whether it be alternative, popular or somewhere in between. I love to put together playlists for whatever I work on and even pushing forty, I still enjoy experiencing new music every year from artists both new and old. So I say with no shame, I can still find a ton to love on pop radio. Sure, there's plenty of crap as well, but that's always been the case. Pick any Billboard Top 100 for any year and you'll find about five really bad songs in the top 40. That's just the way of the world. But that doesn't mean I didn't find a lot of cream rising to the top in 2016. So here are my picks for the best music of the year.

Honorable Mention: Me, Myself and I - G-Eazy featuring Bebe Rexha. Released in October 2015, this song would have rated near the top of the list if I categorized it as a 2016 song.


10. Hands to Myself - Selina Gomez.


9. Make Me (Cry) - Noah Cyrus featuring Labrinth.


8. Starboy - The Weeknd featuring Daft Punk.