SERPENTS.

Wellcome to my mind.

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QUICK ALBUM REVIEWS.

Lana del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell!

Three words describe Lana del Rey’s music: Lana del Rey. She can grow as an artist, as a singer, as a writer and even as a poet, but she’s always keeping her true self alive and as far as we can see, she won’t ever change. A new studio album is upon us -finally, after several months of delay- and the world is obsessed. 

‘I’ve been told that there always are cars in my albums artworks, so this time I said: Okay let’s have a boat’, Lana said during an interview. So there you have it, Norman Fucking Rockwell! features the singer with a random guy enjoining a windy vintage American evening in a boat. 

Turn the volume up and switch to chilling mode to start a 14 track journey through Del Rey’s sentimental roads. Once again, song by song we can breathe the nostalgia and travel to other golden decades in a perfectly beautiful cinematic way, being her the main character in almost every lyric. This time, you can feel the love, she is still leaving those darkish vibes to bloom in a romantic blue mood, check the one entitled Love Song which as literal as it sounds, it’s her most from the heart-loving tune I’ve heard in years. 

There is something that can’t be left out in an LDR masterpiece, the constant references to her heroes and artistic inspirations. For example, in The Greatest when she sings: 

‘I miss the bar where the Beach Boys would go Dennis's last stop before Kokomo (...)

Kanye West is blond and gone "Life on Mars" ain't just a song’

I can keep writing for hours, but this is meant to be a “quick review” so I will just leave the names of my favorite tunes and sum up by saying: Norman Fucking Rockwell! makes you feel happily lost in the middle of the sea, just you and the music. The epic piano combined with harmonized guitars, a soft electronic beat, and deep vocals gives you the most intense, tender and touching sensation inside your body. This girl is timeless! 

Favs: Fuck it I Love You, California, Doin Time, and How to Disappear.

With this rad LP, she maybe has The Next Best American Record. 

Play!

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A STRANGER IN NYC.

SHORT STORY 04

Happy hour is not that happy, it can be the saddest time in someone’s day. You must never be fooled by a name.

This is where I am at now, alone in a low-cost basement bar in Houston Av, drinking shitty wine in a cup -for real, in the most depressing small rounded cup ever- listening to a loud ’chilling’ pop music and the noisiest young new yorkers chats.

My trip was going to be different, sometimes things don't end up as one expects it, I wasn't supposed to be a loner in the city but shit happens and life goes on. I can feel drunk guys staring at me while girls are talking them up to get some free drinks… the beautiful scenery that reminds me of home. Whenever do I turn to make eye contact and wordless say: What are you looking at? They automatically changed their direction and shamefully put their sight somewhere else.

Something was odd, two tattooed from the neck to the toe guys appeared on the scene to grab another man’s shirt and shout as if the world was ending. Minutes Later, you could see red and blue lights through the window… Yes, the police were coming (I strongly wished I could tell you it was the band, but nah just the NYPD). They took these two random dudes outside and thankfully they left. I don't know what actually happened but I didn’t even care to ask.

To made it worse, my phone was dying. I walked around Soho the entire day, taking pictures to go flex and make my homies think I’m having the best time in New York City and now, that I really need to use the maps to go back to the small room I rented for a week, I can't. Perks of being an Instagrammer babe!

I finished my wine as the ”EXIT” red billboard was calling me. I did it, I went outside by myself, as a stranger in a strange city, to find my way back ”home”.

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QUICK CONCERT REVIEWS: YUNGBLUD in NYC.

REAL BRITISH BLOOD.

The English singer debuted his first album, “21st Century Liability”, with an energetic show at the Bowery Ballroom.

On Wednesday night, Yungblud landed in the heart of Soho to blow new yorkers’ minds with his epic transgressor spirit and alternative rock sound. A crowded venue - full of teenagers dressed up in total black, with Nirvana tees and violet hair- burst into shouts when Dominic (aka Yungblud) broke the scene wearing a black women dress, creepers and high pink socks. Around 9 pm, the show began with the song that gave the title to the LP: 21st Century Liability, those kinds of beats that’s hard not to jump to.

Almost none track was left behind, Yungblud played a half an hour show leaving the audience breathless and sweaty. “Loner”, “King Charles” and “California” were the ones that undoubtedly collected the most euphoric applause. While having half more concert to rock out, they changed the climax letting an emo vibe possess the room. That’s when the Kill Somebody’s riffs came out softly through the sound system. Other deep and introspective moment occurred after listening to 11 Minutes, the Halsey collab song.

Dominic must be in good shape, there’s no other way to keep on going a show with that much excitement. Runs all over the stage, super high jumps and exotic dances are basic for this guy, he definitely showed us that his Instagram profile is genuinely compatible with his live performance.

The concert came to an end with “Machine Gun (F**ck the NRA)”. The band said goodbye with the britishiest accent ever, and the crow left with a smile on their faces and a phone full of rare pictures.

By Estefanía Kröl

PH: Cristozigh

​

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QUICK CONCERT REVIEWS: Jesse Rutherford in NYC.

The Neighbourhood’s lead singer is currently on tour to show the world he’s deepest and soul-carving creation: “GARAGEB&”. Last night, he put out an intense show at the small and exclusive Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan.

Exposed. As a solo artist, Jesse decided to speak out loud - or better said, to sing out loud - the words of a vast majority feeling anxious and overwhelmed above social media, those seeking constant attention and even being addicted to red hearts waterfalls. Moreover, the artist admitted being proud of the album as it is the mirror to his personal tastes and an inside look at his childhood soundtrack. You can read it from himself here. The sound? It Is catchy. The follow up of “&”, has a perfect mixture of powerful garage rock with rhythmic punk, shy pop sparks, and some urban beats.

Manhattan’s gig started around 40 minutes later than the time announced. It was kind of funny to see the audience waiting so patiently, having a drink and just chilling there… since I’m used to the eager Argentinians who would’ve been screaming agitated to rush the singer appearance. At 9 pm, Jesse broke the scene all dressed up in Adidas to start with “Guinea Pig”, a track from his newest LP. In the middle of the song, he stopped to say: “I smell some pot around here” and instantly everyone applauded.

Hundreds of cell phones up, cameras turned on and girls shouting, was the view from the little VIP section upstairs in the venue. “Jesse VIP” you could read in a regular printed white piece of paper. In the middle of a small group of people, there was Devon Lee Carlson, Jesse’s instafamous quasi-celeb girlfriend and main character of the song “Barbie & Ken”. She had fans, man… Randomly, people stopped her to take selfies. Anyway, when the riff of “Blame” sounded, the whole place jumped at the very same time, even Devon who for a minute forgot about the pose to enjoy the hit.

The atmosphere became super emotional, you could see some fans burst into tears when he took off his shirt and graved an acoustic guitar to sing “Puppy Love” and “Bloom Later”.

After charmingly exceeding a few typical live mistakes, like an abrupt volume slowdown and an error at the tempo of a song, kinda trap vibes came to the scene along with “My Ways”, which was maybe the ‘darkest’ moment of the night. Followed by an epic ending with one of the most energetic tunes: “Rock & Roll Dj”.

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EARTH.

Time to do it now, and do it loud. Comedian and rapper Lil Dicky teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio to bring Earth to life, a song about the climate change. To make a bigger impact, and get the attention the matter requires, 30 huge artists collaborated in the song.

Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Adam Levine, Wiz Khalifa, Katy Perry and a whole list of celeb singers, turned into wild animals in the brand new animated music video that was out yesterday to honor the Earth Day.

Beautiful 7 minutes where we can get into a youthful mood and have emotive movie flashbacks like The Book of the Jungle and Titanic, Leo appears literally in the Titanic holding the world on his hands. There is even a musical journey, the sound impacts as much as the visuals because of its similarity with We Are The World (Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie) A modern version with a little comedy in the tone.

"I didn't know that we literally have 12 years to completely change how we do so many things on Earth, from a fundamental standpoint, or the damage will be irreversible and in our lifetimes we're going to experience such drastic impact," Lil Dicky explained to Rolling Stone Magazine. He continued: "Upon realizing that, it went from a silly song about animals to: 'Oh my God, this is the most important thing I'll ever do’.

The money collected is going to Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental charity, among others.

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QUICK ALBUM REVIEWS.

SOCIAL CUES - CAGE THE ELEPHANT.

An alternative to the alternative. The fifth album of the band led by Matt Shultz had come to the surface, within an 11 track rocky journey they brought to life their characteristic sound with a twist of darkish perspective and a bit of bitterness in their message.

The Kentucky group opened up about the difficult transition that rock & roll bands are suffering in today's hip hop overdosed industry. Yeah, it's a fact, hip hop music and lifestyle has overcome rock and even pop genres for the first time in history. We are glad that young bands like Cage The Elephant or newer ones as the British YungBlud, are there to maintain an original sound mixed with modern tints.

Released under RCA Records, Social Cues is their first material since Tell Me I'm Pretty (2015). They worked with the well-known producer John Hill, who has previously produced artists like Eminem or Rihanna, a matter that increases the perfect ironic and catchy atmosphere in each Social Cues’ song. Combined they are dynamite, Cage's kind of trashy vocals and garage-ish guitar riffs, that transports us to Iggy Pop and Bowie’ style, taste even better with the clubber's beats proposed by Hill.

Highlights? Night Running, Beck's featuring is everything. Those reggae vibes that make you shake groovely your body turned out to be even more than what we expected when the collab went vox populi. Both artists will go out on a tour together during the summer and Spoon may join them for a couple of gigs. “Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't cry. Lord knows how hard we tried”, they sing summing up the intention of the album in the chilling last track named Goodbye.

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Lil Peep, a posthumous perspective.

What would the late young rapper think of the new material that's being released under his name today? Almost two years after his tragically overdosed death at the age of 21, on his first tour ever, Peep’s morbid masterpiece sound and predictive heartbreaking lyrics are still on.

Since the sad event occurred in November 2017, for some unexpected yet for others completely obvious considering his dreadful addiction and fast way of living, not only we received a whole 11 track album entitled Come Over When You’re Sober Pt2 in 2018 - the sequel of his debut COWYS Pt1- but also a complete merch saga, waterfalls of Social Media posts, and a Youtube playlist loaded with weird enough music videos. In case you think that is a lot to take in for such a short period of time, wait to see the brand new full-length alluring documentary about the life of the generational icon: Everybody’s Everything, which was screened for the first time at the acclaimed artsy festival SXSW in Texas last March.

Nowadays, the infamous '27 club' is far away from what's bringing the horizon for this new hurricanly hasten artists passing away at the very beginning of their careers. They have everything in the palm of their hands, just one click away from making a pile of mockups and leaving hundreds of unfinished tracks. That's what happened Lil Peep, he had material to release a whole new album, a couple of intriguing collaborated singles and for sure, there's a lot more on the way. His unreleased music is now owned by Columbia Records and in some cases, the matter brought a little controversy to the table.

The first posthumous song we heard from his storage was Falling Down, the catchy featuring with the singer XXXTENTACION, whom a gunshot got him dead less than a year after Peep´s overdose. Initially, the song was in the works with his longtime producer ILoveMakonnen, although as an intent of reviving two legends, or just a way of satisfying a bunch of millennials fans, the single was finally out with XXX´s vocals on it. “X had heard the snippet on YouTube and he wanted to be a part of it and he recorded some parts to it. [X] ended up passing away, and his mom and his family were reaching out to Peep’s management and everybody saying the song was something that [X] was very passionate about before he passed and he would really like to be a part of this and [asked] if we could make this happen.”, Makonnen explained in an interview with XXL. That's why this might have come from two broken hearts, both of them mothers teamed up to make this collab happen. Lil Tracy, a close partner who worked in a few tracks with Gus, even though rumors have it that he had a feud out of jealousy with him, tweeted: “Never even friends, didn’t even like each other”. So, the main problem here was that Peep's side claimed that he would never have worked with someone accused of hitting a woman and for list of other violent attitudes.

Wait wait, and do you think XXX would be happy with Maluma singing on his tune? In most of his interviews, he declared not being a huge fan of the mainstream singers taking today's scene. If he would have been alive, maybe, Arms Around You would have never come to the realization… just a personal thought.

Moving on, COWYS PT2 was released under a press event ran by Columbia Records. "Fuck 'em though, I did this all by myself. Matter fact, I ain't ever asked no one for help", he wrote in Star Shopping. When he was alive he did pretty much everything by himself and now he has an army behind, which made some fans angry and made them react against the new material. ´This is not Lil Peep´ ´The album may have turned out completely different if he was alive´, some of his most compromised followers argued. Other than, during that evening, his mother invokes Peep´s spirit by assuring that this LP was what his beloved Gus would have wanted to be.

Thereafter, at the beginning of 2019, then I've Been Waiting song came out by the hand of ILoveMakonnen and Fall Out Boy. The song is for the likes of everyone, by all means, it is one of the most mainstream sounds he ever had. The emo rocky vibes are not the stars here and even the lyrics are not as deep and sensitive as the ones from his first album. And the vid… okay here is a kind of ironic twist that puts an end on Peep's traditional darkish way of telling a story. I´ve Been Waiting looks like taken from a magical ethereal naive book, this is the explanation you can read on Youtube: “Peep wanted this video to bring people up into the clouds, into the fantastical world of his mind. Making it now, alongside Makonnen, is our way of visiting him again.” - SUS BOY.

Sadly this is a no end discussion, moreover, when he was about to leave GothBoiClique (emo rap collective) behind for career and health reasons. No one could really know what the musical prodigy genuinely felt or thought at that time.

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“Days without passion, minutes without fanaticism or seconds without motives, makes someone feel like a lost soul wandering hopeless through an empty dark room. To be able to sense that something real is happening you need to take action. Is it the desperation what makes us move forward? Maybe. Is it the energy that connects people unknown around the world? Maybe. Is it attraction what brings them together? Maybe”

Extract from Kiss from a Rose, short story by me.

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“The feeling of getting acclamation from all, which decants from social media and hyperconnectivity, is leading to social awkwardness, anxiety and even stress. We suffer what we have, we suffer what we don’t have, we suffer why others have what we don’t have. How will others treat us, how will other people see us, all this social acceptance and status fear is killing us. We live in constant pain for reasons which we can never ever cure or control. That’s why panicked strivers became tendency, and Xanax has eclipsed Prozac as the emblem of the youth mood.”, by me.

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CHECK OUT

Short Story 03

-Inspired on true events-

Los Angeles, California.

And the police never came. The girls were scared to death at first, but cried for laughter the minute they knew what really happened.

It was April, season were California becomes the spotlight for music lovers. Where influencers, instagramers and any other type of millennial celebrity chooses their best hippie-chic outfit to go take selfies in Coachella and dance to the most mainstream music. A time to inhale cheerful vibes, when the summer gives it’s firsts steps making the weather perfect to enjoy an exciting three day festival. By that time, while playing some local classics like The Doors, these two argentinian girls started their adventurous road trip through the routes of the West Coast. Since then, a bunch of exquisite moments come into being. As a friend once said: 

“In the city of L.A In the city of good ol' Watts In the city, the city of Compton We keep it rockin”, California Love by 2pac.

But not all that glitters is gold... after days of having fun, drinking wine and attend to epic hip hop gigs, their last night in Los Angeles burst with a series of frightening unfortunate events.

Let’s start from the beginning of the end. The story is about two mid-twenties girls, who came from a land far, far away - well not that far, I meant to be poetic but Buenos Aires is just a couple of hours flight- to enjoy the dreamy city of Los Angeles. They rented an Airbnb in Fairfax District, located a few blocks from The Grove shopping mall, a pretty cool area actually. It was a big two bedroom apartment, luminous with big windows in the living room and an impeccable nice view. They were supposed to stay there until they flew back home. On saturday morning, they woke up early to seas the day, they had plans to spend some golden hours wandering around the outstanding Malibu beaches. Minutes before taking off, without another apparent reason more than a hunch, one of them took her phone to check the emails and saw a message from the apartment owner. It went something like this: “Girls, the cleaning lady is waiting for you to go so as to organize the apartment for our next guests. Let me know when you leave the keys on the front door. Thanks!”. When she read it, her face went pale and immediately took her iPhone calendar to check the dates. Her eyes wide opened as realizing she and her friend were completely wrong since it was scheduled to leave the flat that day. And they did it in a blitz.

No hesitations, they packed her stuff in a rush and left. Wherever they put foot a bad mood cloud could be seen from miles, angry with no other than themselves and carrying their entire lives in their bags, they went to have a matcha latte at Whole Foods. They couldn't even speak, not because they were mad at each other but due to the feeling of stupidity that  surpassed them. While having mini pretzels they found a super nice apartment in an online renting web. It was located in the Beverlywood neighborhood next to Beverly Hills, it was kind of suspiciously cheap for the cool photos shown. With haste and without laps, after a simple click they had a place to spend the night.

Half an hour later they arrived to the direction given, still curiously nobody was there. The sun was burning the girls’ white skins during some eternal minutes as they waited for the owner to show. Suddenly, a peculiar woman in a black long dress, with suspicaz look in her eyes, appeared walking towards the place. Once next to the girls, while trying to open the building door, slowly turned her head towards them and asked:

Resting bitch-face lady: “Who are you waiting for?”

The brunette girl: “The apartment owner”

Resting bitch-face lady: “Why? are you moving here?”

The blonde girl: “No, we are staying just for the night”

Abysmal resting bitch-face lady: “Airbnb is prohibited here. You are not staying, I’m calling the police”, she added as she crossed the door and slammed it in their faces.

They were stunned, speechless, without knowing what to think more than that something very strange was going on. The street was empty, so empty that the girls could listen loudly to their own anxious heavy breathings. Okay, not that empty, they saw a man who walked twice in the same block and watched them every time he passed by. After two or three deep sighs, when about to leave, a mid thirties man came from around the corner calling her names. Looked like a regular guy, with kind of geeky vibes and weird from the top to the bottom beige clothing.

Nerd looking guy: “Hi, sorry for the delay”

-Received no answer from the other side-

Nerd looking guy: “I gave you the wrong address, i’m so sorry for that too. The apartment is a few blocks from here, we can walk… let me help you with the baggage”.

The argentinians with the worst and coldest look: “You gave us the wrong address? How come!? Uhmm That’s weird”.

He gave a shitty explanation on how the community manager working for them got it all wrong and messed up with the direction. The girls did not believe it so easily, but they were so tired that agreed to go with him, leaving the situation to God’s will.

Within a 5 minute walk, not a soul in the streets, they arrived to a small building. The guy who couldn’t stop talking about unimportant stuff, lead the girls in to their apartment. Detail by detail he explained every little thing about the place. No words heard from them, their attention quickly dispersed wishing for him to finally stop talking. A while later he miraculously ended and after exchanging phone numbers, for the relief of the girls, he finally left. To make the situation more weird, while unpacking, they saw labels in all the furniture like if they were recently bought, like if no one would’ve ever step foot in the place... A lot of terrible things crossed their minds, what if this place did not existed before? Is not an Airbnb at all? Just a place dressed up like a sweet home but meant to kidnap innocent tourists?. “Haha that’s too much”, said one of the girls laughing. Even though knowing they were maybe embellishing the situation, genuinely dramatic, they did not want to stay much longer and went off to the beach with one song on repeat in their minds:

"All I am is a man

I want the world in my hands

I hate the beach

But I stand in California with my toes in the sand", Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood.

It was too late then, so instead of going to Malibú, they spent a not so chilling time in Santa Mónica. The peer was disappointing, dirty and invaded with cheesy tourists carrying their big cameras with cheap lenses. What made it worst, they saw how a man was having heavy convulsions on the floor, yelling the names of dead historic hip hop artists (Yeah, WTF). And what did make it even worse, there was a man standing like a statue staring at this ‘crazy’ screaming dude, and who he was you may wonder? The same who passed by a couple of times, watching them back in Beverlywood. Gave them the creeps!

They got back around 7pm, the sun was about to vanish when one of the girls said: “I need red wine, a whole bottle”... And that’s how the second part of the thrilling adventure begun. Once again, the neighborhood was weirdly empty, block by block everything seemed to be dead and that desired red was nowhere to find. A whole hour of intensely and almost desperately searching passed as quickly as the blink of an eye. Whilst the alcohol detectives were in duty, a glorious super small and almost hidden liquor store appeared. They got the wine, but spoiler alert: the happy beam in their faces did not last long.

Both ran out of battery, no phones meant no maps… no maps meant: “How the hell are we going to find our way back to the apartment?”. One of the girls shook her head and said: “Don´t worry, it’s easy, I think I remember”. The sun came down completely as they walked in circles for half an hour. How to describe the desperation that was growing inside of them, like a fire in the stomach mixed with deep cold sweat rolling down the neck, symptoms that combined nervousness and fear. But please, stop crying your heart out, the solution was about to come. For second time, the sky opened and a spotlight went down to show them the glorious solution: A Starbucks Coffee to charge their iPhones. Of course, due to the time, it was closing its doors. Like cry babies they asked for the biggest and life savior favor, simply to open the door and give them some energy. And so it happened. “Thank you super handsome Thor for showing us the path”, they prayed. The phone turned on and the route magically showed up.

Finally they arrived, breathless, with the feeling of being followed, but safe and sound. Although this sounded mega exhausting, just wait to read what happened next.

Saturday, around 9pm, the girls started packing the luggage as they were leaving early in the morning. Tired? Nah… They were definitely going out, nothing could ruined their last night in the city of angels. They had plans to meet up with some local friends at the indie-cool club named Tenants of the Trees at around 11pm. Also, above important, it was their last dinner, what undoubtedly did they ordered? To be faithful to all the movies they ever saw in their lives, they called Domino’s Pizza.

Lana del Rey as background music, chilling vibes all over the place and a wine bottle waiting to be opened… one of the girls went to take a bath while the other was waiting for the double cheese non spicy pizza to come. As you can expect, this nice atmosphere did not last long, one more setback was around the corner. When the girl realized they had no corkscrews, she sighed annoyingly, took her phone and write to the owner asking if there was any bottle opener in the place, having no answer at all. She was determined to drink that damned red, so, she put some blue jeans on and went down the hallway to knock door by door, no matter what she was going to find or who was going to run into. It was a long dark hallway, it was impossible not to think of films like The Shining, for example. One, two, even three doors and nothing, there was cemetery silence. She kind of panicked a little because clearly there was nobody in the entire floor, they were all alone in a place they did not know, in a dim neighborhood and in an apartment that looked pretty much like taken out from The Truman Show. Run baby run, after having all that thoughts invading her head she looked around and rushed faster than ever.

When she got to the apartment, she locked the door and tried to shake off that odd sensation left in her body. By that moment, the doorbell rang so loud that made her jumped almost half a meter. "Domino's Pizza", a voice intoned. That simple phrase was like music to her ears, hunger won any other feeling she could had. That's how the hungry lady took the keys and ran downstairs. The main hall had a big glass door through from you could see the street, so the minute she got there, saw there was no pizza man at all. "Maybe he's in a car outside", naively said to herself. Once again, the goddamn hungry girl, went out alone to the street hoping to find that die for fast food. Oh boy! She was all alone again but this time outside in the darkness without her phone. She heard a crunchy noise in the corner, a couple of meters away, automatically she turned to see who or what it was. What do you think? Noup, not the delivery guy, it was the creepy guy again! The one that mysteriously appeared everywhere that day. He was in his middle 50s, had white hair, pale face, was a little chubby and looked like a Yeezy fan -Kanye West's clothing brand- because all of his clothes were ripped. Or maybe he was a homeless, a crackhead, something totally common to strike in L.A. Now she was truly scared, as he passed through her, she intended not to move or even breath. Unfortunately, the freakish stopped walking and stayed in her flat, to fan the flames, he had a bunch of keys in his hand with which he tried one by one to open the door. A tear rolled over the girl's cheek, over dazed she saw death. What to do? Well, she decided to act like nothing happened planning to get in to the place and not let him enter. Once she gave a step, the man put his gaze on her and asked with a peculiar and friendly voice: "Hi lady, do you live here?". The chat went something like this…

Scared girl: "No, I'm just waiting for my boyfriend". With deep fear in the tone she continued "You might know him, he goes by the name Harry Styles". (Lol just kidding, the Harry part did not happen).  

Creepy guy: "Oh, cuz I'm looking for two friends… you maybe saw them. They are argentinians...Are you one of them?"

Super mega scared girl: (Swallows) "What? No, uhmm I'm from here, I definitely don't know what you are talking about and really, sir, I can't help you".

Even creepier guy: "Okay, they are in the third floor, apartment E, can you let me in? I need to get in".

WTF he knew exactly were they were staying, her mind went blank and had no words to say more than speak up her last wish. What would that be? Perhaps, let her eat the last pizza. Oh wait! Where was the pizza guy? Was even real that he came? Wondrously in that exact moment, he came into view, he was walking from inside the building. The girl's head almost exploded in a thousand pieces, how could that be possible. She approached the door, went pretty close to it so the second the delivery boy opened it she could enter speedy without letting the other one in. Clap, clap, clap, her plan succeed. She did not let the man in but did not let the pizza guy leave either. "Excuse me I have to go", Domino's said. "No please, that man outside is creeping the hell out of me, stay while I go for my phone and call the police", she begged. "Sorry I can’t, I have to deliver these pizzas and go home", not a bit kindly he replied. "Okay go, but give my pizza first", she ordered while he assured he had already delivered her stupid pizza. She grabbed the door and slammed it as hard as she could in the disturbing guy's nose, as he yelled to let him in with his fist hitting the glass.

An intense noise came about when the man broke the door, little sharp pieces spread all over like confetti in a piñata. Suspense classical music was playing from who knows where. She was already in the elevator, its door was about to close when a knife appeared to stop it with the intention of not letting it go. She closed her green eyes and counted to three. Once opened, the man was not there, the music was not on and the elevator was clear. She imagined the scene so vividly that genuinely thought it was real.

The elevator arrived to the third floor -Ding- it went as it swished opened. She ran into the apartment, locked the door and exclaimed: “Call 911!”. The place looked like a murder scene, her friend struggled to open the wine bottle hitting it from the bottom with a Nike sneaker. It worked yet not as expected, the cork came out yeah, but a huge amount of the liquid fell on the carpet leaving a stain that hinted like a bloodbath on the floor. On the top of everything, Domino’s Pizza was served on the table. Everything was so fucked up that she didn’t even dare to ask how on earth the delivery entered the building and went upstairs in a matter of seconds, without running into her. Total and completely mind blown. However, she focused on the actual problem: “There’s a guy, the one we saw a couple of times today, in the door asking for us… he wants to get in, he wants to kill us or rob or rape us. IDK call the police right now”, desperately cried. She could not finished talking when the doorbell started ringing incessantly. Deeply frightened, they looked at each other and screamed loudly. They knew they were alone in the entire place, so nobody would listen their crave for help. While the bell went on ringing, they called the police. “911 what’s your emergency”, the operator cinematographically went whilst her friend was thinking how to tell the story. “Just tell them there’s a crazy person threatening our lives”, the girl yelled to her friend, who did it with a trembling voice. Unluckily they hung up on them, twice in a row. Could this be worst? Definitely. The bell stopped, letting a deep uncomfortable silence posses the room. Suddenly footsteps and other messed up noises came from outside, like if the psycho was trying to get in by reaching the window. Still in shock, after shutting the curtains, with a knife in one hand they sat down on the floor to take another shot in calling the police. Can you believe they never answer nor came? Sadly astonishing.

“Let's think straight, maybe is your phone that’s not working so let’s make the call from mine. Or I can tell Ben (a local friend) to send help!”, she whispered. “Yeah but quiet please”, the blond one replied while nodding his head. So she silently crawled to the other room, unplugged the phone and when the screen went bright she saw a million messages coming from the apartment owner.

9:21 pm: “Hi, sorry we don’t have a corkscrew. Do you need it right now?”

9:35 pm: “Hey, do you still need it?”

9:40 pm: “Stay alert, I’m sending you one”.

9:50 pm: “Heeeeeey. Alfred is at the door, he has the corkscrew. Can you open him?”

9:51 pm: “Don’t worry, he is my partner… Are you in the apartment right now?”

10:21pm: “We don’t need it anymore, we went out for dinner… please tell him to leave”, the girl wrote after taking a relief breath.

She grabbed her head and called her friend, who went desperately running to see what was going on. Without any sound coming out from her mouth, she showed the messages and asked her if they should believe all this. Everything was so weird, the guy looked so strange… Why did they run into him several times that day? Why he did not say he had a corkscrew? Or even better question, why he did not have it when the girl saw him?

Despite the many ends to tie, they both calmed down and decided to ‘believe’ the owner, maybe they had no other choice, no friends or family close, no police to the rescue.

"Down on the West Coast they got a sayin. If you're not drinkin' then you're not playin', West Coast - Lana del Rey. Ergo, the only thing left to do, the only reasonable choice was to drink that problematic wine till it was over, eat the cold pizza, cried for laughter and go out till dawn. And so it be!

They left the next morning, joking about the mistaken situation, rejoicing at the great tragi-comic anecdote they could now tell everyone back home.

A week later, among a beautiful stormy grey morning in Buenos Aires, one of the girls was reading an online magazine when an article headline captured her attention. She numbed, as she took her hand to her mouth with surprise, the toast she was eating fell down on the side fully loaded of raspberry jam, Murphy's law of course. “Los Angeles, California: Two men arrested for robbery, sexual abuse and fraud”, followed by a picture of two terrifying men. Yes, of course, one was whom rented them the place and the other, the stalker.

[estefikrol]

BUT I HATE THE BEACH

From my book - Fall in the Making

(...) Once you passed the impact of those alluring fake trees, the perfect sunsets emerge to give you goosebumps. There are few moments in life better than enjoying a great nightfall by the sea, don't you think? Imagine yourselves standing right now in the middle of the long stretches of sand in for example: El Matador State Beach, Malibu. Picture the salty wind in your face, moving your hair from side to side and entering through your cloth while cooling your body. With an accurate chilling background music -your choice- you find yourself hypnotized watching the big orange fireball falling down, creating a gorgeous pink palette in the sky till the darkness rises and at the end, the moon takes the scene. A moment to remember some words of wisdom, Neil Young describes this feeling in the never most literal titled track California Sunset:

“California sunset

Going down in the West

All the colors in the sky

Kiss another day goodbye.”

Anyway, the golden hour really turns gold in California, to see the sun setting and lighting up the entire beach has really no price. (...)

[estefikrol]

RANDOM

Short story 02

-Inspired by true events-

“You can’t kill energy, energy doesn’t die”, Gustav Åhr.

As soon as the door opened, an uncountable number of people desperately ran into the metro as if there was a serial killer threatening to brutally murder them. She stood still on the other side of the platform without moving a muscle, just breathing while the door swished closed in front of her. One, two, even three trains passed through till the girl could finally take one. And that’s how another day, another stressful morning started for Jazmine.

Jazmine was an artist who fit perfectly the stereotype, not only because she painted beautifully but also ‘cause she was really sensitive and deep. An authentic soul who could feel things beyond normal, who could sense from inside the different vibrations in the world. Everyday she woke up early, around 8am, had a quick breakfast, kissed her boyfriend goodbye and left off to work in a small but well-known art gallery.

That morning, she went down the metro stairs and had a weird sensation in the chest, like if something was going to happen, like those premonitions she saw in a long list of horror movies... but this time felt super real. A couple of minutes later the metro scene happened - the one where people were dying to get in the train, were rudely pushing others, etc.- and as soon as thing got complicated, Jazmine forgot about the other creepy sensitive episode. She entered the train and while listening to some chilling indie rock music, she started her journey to the gallery. The place was so crowded that it was impossible not to touch each others bodies. In the first stop, she moved from one corner to the other so as to be closer to the edge, I mean, the exit door. That’s when she got back to back with a mysterious woman.

Jazmine turned around, the bit she could, to spy on the her. Then saw a super long brown hair tied up like a ballerina, spooky pale skin, huge dark eye-bags and a broken smile. As the metro was full there was no escape, Jazmin had to stay put, turn around again and touch the odd lady.“Just sing along this song and think you are somewhere else”, the artist said to herself. Seconds later she felt a terrible burning sensation. Her back started to hurt like there was fire growing from the hips to the neck. After seeing lil stars floating around her head, she could perceive the pain, the energy, a kind of sadness she’d never ever experienced before. It was so strong that even a tear slowly fell down her right cheek. In less than a minute, Jazmine saw like a series of photographs showing a dramatic event in the life of the stranger who was touching her. Although she immediately understood why the woman was traumatized, she panicked and did nothing but leave. The train stopped, as the door opened she sprinted as fast as possible and never saw the frightening lady again .

And it’s goes on and on and on. Another day, another stressful, sinister, morning for Jazmine. Now, being overwhelmed with other humans’ negative energy was part of her routine. Every-time she was in the metro and had fiscal contact with a person who was passing through a tough time, she absorbed all the bad vibes and watched the drama like it was a film. Once, she even passed out and entered directly to the mind of one heartsick man who could not move on, who was stuck in a dreadful labyrinth with no end. That day, the girl intended to approach the man with the hope of helping him, but as it was expected, he denied being desperately blue, got a little mad and left the wagon with a panicked look in his face.

Jazmine tried to dig a little deeper on what was happening. As millennial as she was, she googled it and after hours of scrolling down, reading bullshit and getting scared, the answer was finally found.

So, what it is? A rare type of Psychometry. Okay again, what is it? Is a form of scrying, a psychic way of seeing something that is not ordinarily seeable. Taking it to an extreme, you can not only sense others energy but also encounter their deepest fears by knowing their most horrible secrets and seeing the most disturbing incidents. Some say it is spiritual, others that it is mental. Never mind the root, It can be a nightmare or a great talent.

You can pretend you don’t have it or take advantage and work on it to do incredibly awesome things. Therefore, Jazmine, take it or leave it.

[estefikrol]

All that glitters is not gold, sometimes is plastic. Hollywood could fit impeccably the image of Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach or even Los Ageless, song from St. Vincent. This place is known as the uptight plastic America, fake humans and posers are the royalty in a Kingdom built by masters of artificiality.

Fall in the Making, yo.

[estefikrol]

TO READ UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

SHORT STORY N1. - RUNAWAY.

It was a windy Friday night, not to be cliché but the story I’m about to tell happen exactly on a 13th, that’s when it all ended or maybe, when all started. Put yourself in the next situation, you are a girl named Joy and you live in the middle of a crowded place like it is Beijing. You just moved there to escape your past live, not the kind of past live you are thinking of right now… nothing to do with regressions, hypnosis or reincarnations, you just wanted to move on and leave behind a horrible situation that you suffered in Triora, which is Joy´s hometown in Italy.

To put you in context, ever since Joy turned 18 years old, a lot of crazy feelings came to her life. Understandable whispers in her ears, flashbacks, Deja Vu, and other goose-bumping sensations. One night, Joy thought it was a great idea to invite her boyfriend over while her parents were out and play with some random cards she found in the basement closet. Okay, yeah, they were not random at all…They were witchcraft fortune telling ones.

Pete: “Joy, what’s this? Those images kinda give me the creep”

Joy: “Haha, come on, it's just a game. I’m going to read you future… and I hope I’m on it babe”

Pete: “I don’t know baby… this looks like black magic!”

Joy: “Don't make me laugh, you don't believe me when I tell you the strange things that happen to me daily and you believe in black magic? Please...”

Pete: “Okay, let’s do it”.

Joy: “Ask me anything”

Pete: “My football team is going to win the summer tournament?”

Joy: “Really? You are so boring. I’ll ask for you: ‘We are going to be together forever?’

[Pete laughs at loud and Joy throws the cards]

Joy: “Aaww this is definitely a yes”

Pete: “How you know?”

Joy: “Because of the card silly, a boy and a girl holding hands… could it be more literal?”

Pete: “Yeah, the creepiest girl and boy I’ve ever seen”.

Joy: “Another one: Are we going to grow old and die together”

The moment when Joy asked that question, lights went out and could listen downstairs someone brutally knocking at door. The couple did not want to open so they stayed put, without moving a muscle, their cellphones rang at the same time with the legend “NO CALLER ID”. Once again, they did not answer. Drops of sweat felt down their whole bodies, she was covering her ears to avoid any other strange noise, he was trying to turn the lights back on. With eyes shut, she crawled from a room to another to find a candle, as soon as she reached it the lights went back on, the knocking and the ringing immediately stopped. She went back to the room where Pete was and looked to each others eyes and took a deep breath. “Are you okay? Nothing happened”, the girls said with a trembling voice. He opened his mouth and tened to answer but could not, he stopped and stood still for a minute. Pete got close to grab her hand and give her a goodbye kiss on the front head and went home. “Bye baby, I love you”, he whispered while crossing the door.

That night, she made herself a cheesy sandwich, went to her bedroom and fell asleep with her headphones on playing The 1975. The next morning, on Saturday, she woke up fresher than ever, in a good mood and full of energy to start the day. Joy was on her way to the kitchen when she realised that the door of his parents’ bedroom was open and the place was empty, while walking she started shouting their names. No reply, no sounds at all. As soon as she realised that clearly her parents did not come back last night, she took her phone and called them. No answer, none of them… Soon after, the girl tried to reach Pete but once again, no answer at all. She panicked. Tears of nervousness popped out from her eyes. She went everywhere, called everyone, talked with the police but not her parents nor her boyfriend ever appeared again. Do you imagine being alone? Do you fear to lose everyone in your life from night to noon? Shit happens.

For weeks and weeks she looked in every possible and unthinkable place, moving heaven and earth with no luck. Without hopes, sadness in the face and tears in the eyes, she decided to leave Triora forever. There was a friend living in Beijing so she packed her whole closet an flew to Japan.        

So, let’s go back to you being Joy. You spent a couple of months with Alexa, you american friend living in Japan, you are trying to forget what happened because the only thought of them makes you so feel so anxious you end up vomiting. When, one year later, during a 13th Friday night you are stepping foot in a cinema and you see Peter buying tickets for the same movie that you are about to watch. Without hesitation you approach him and say hi.

Pete: “Hello, can I help you?”

Joy: “Pete?”

Pete: “Yes, do I know you?”

[She was paralyzed, could not say a word]

Pete: “Sorry the movie is about to start, I have to leave. Goodbye stranger”.  

Joy swallowed deeply, feeling dizzy she close her big blue eyes and counted to three to avoid the bittersweet feeling that was traveling through her guts and the chills in her neck. She turned around and left to get back home, but when was about to cross the street, a black Mustang almost hit her. She stayed still and a man opened the door - The Police was playing in the car stereo- and came out of the car: “Are you okay lady? Sorry I did not see you”, the tall blond man said. Joy was looking down to the floor, slowly looked up to the man and guess who? Yeah, her father. The same freaking thing happened, he did not know her at all. Collapsed, the girl started running as fast as she could questioning life, friends, family and even her own existence. Is Joy even real?

[estefikrol]

Lil Peep por Mario Testino.

Un iluminado que alumbra desde un plano espectral. 

El póstumo disco Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 2. está programado para el 9 de noviembre tanto en formato digital como físico, esta última versión contará con disco, vinilo simple, vinilo doble y cassette. Se trata de la continuación de su primer y único álbum de estudio, Come Over When You're Sober, Pt. 1 y es la recopilación de temas que Peep dejó en el tintero antes de morir. El talentoso artista, del que muchos aseguraban ver al futuro líder de la nueva ola millennial de música emo-alternativa, falleció de sobredosis en medio de su primer gran tour el 15 de noviembre de 2017 en Arizona, Estados Unidos. 

Lil Peep's Come Over When You're Sober Pt. 2 Album Tracklist:

Side A 1. "Broken Smile (My All)" 2. "Runaway" 3. "Sex With My Ex" 4. "Cry Alone" 5. "Leavin" 6. "16 Lines"

Side B 1. "Life Is Beautiful" 2. "Hate Me" 3. "IDGAF" 4. "White Girl" 5. "Fingers"

[estefikrol]

Interview - The Kills.

The sound of ASH & ICE kind of sums up your whole career. Do you agree?

Quickly after that, you released an EP. Why those songs didn't make it to the album?

I suppose you have a lot more cool tracks on the waiting list…

*Draft*

- Una vieja entrevista que me gustó hacer. Nota completa en Billboard - click.