SOTD by u/RedMosquitoMM

LG23-10: Musical Monday

• Brush: CaYuen Workshop 24mm 2BED #TOLL
• Razor: Blackland Sabre
• Blade: GEM (3)
• Lather: House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Shaving Soap
• Post Shave: Lather Bros. - Flamingo Trance - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Black Rabbit Perfumery - Banshee Ambré
• Passes: WTG, XTG
• Coffee: Ethiopia. Guji, Werka - v: Ethiopia Landraces - p: Natural. Dried on raised beds.
• Music: Joy Divison - Unknown Pleasures
• LG Tags: #FOF

I found Musical Monday to be a surprisingly challenging theme, but a compelling one. Even pulling from the strategic samples reserve, I scrounged up just four viable options in my den: Runaway, American Vintage, Fern Concerto Menthol (on deck for Fougère Friday), and my colored-pencil rendered House of Mammoth selection. I like the more esoteric themes added to the calendar this year. They encourage creativity and—combined with sponsor points and 30 unique soapers—help narrow down my selections for the days that have countless on-theme options.

Getting back to my musical shave, I covered three different genres. The combination is…jarring.

First up, everybody’s favorite meme genre, jazz. “Mood Indigo” is one of those songs that’s almost always great, including that lurching cut from Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus and the Duke’s classic take. Lately I’ve enjoyed Frank Morgan’s reserved approach to a standard. I don’t pull out this soap often since I burned out on it during my first Austere August, but I love Ben’s calming, nocturnal tribute to the song. The soap is more vetiver and rum forward, while the fragrance reveals more lively pepper nuances, but the distinctive blueberry note is always there in various degrees of strength. The fragrance is what I reach for when going out on a fall or winter evening; it’s seen me through restaurant dinners, an opera, and multiple rock concerts. I once wrote a piece for my college newspaper about listening to Kind of Blue walking through campus at night in the midwest snow. Using this HoM scent reminds me of that particular beautiful, lonely, formative evening:

Indigo smells like you've left that blues club late at night, tired but feeling good, a little less alone. You take a look up at the night sky and breathe a bit, and sort of unconsciously hum the tune.

Which brings me to my aftershave and genre number two. Flamingo Trance is one of my favorite bay rums, spiking the expected notes with a generous dose of tropical fruit. While the name technically refers to putting people in a trance with your dope smellz, the neon label and name suggests kaleidoscopic electronica concerts—bass thumping along at “a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute” (thanks Wikipedia!). Does it smell like Trance music? I assume an indoor ‘90s rave smells like Ecstasy sweat, body spray, and spilled beer. If that’s an accurate description, then no, tropical-fruited bay rum doesn’t match the vibe. But then again, Flamingo Trance would be the smell of an outdoor festival in Miami; now we’re on theme.

And finally, moving from pulsing nightclubs to seedy smoke-filled bars, I sprayed on Banshee Ambré. Black Rabbit Perfumery is an Etsy perfumer whose “conceptual perfumes” have a distinct Pacific Northwest flavor (for example, Fire Walk With Me). Banshee Ambré and Banshee Noir are dark fragrances inspired by post-punk and dancing at goth bars. This heavy combination of earthy notes, black leather, and billowing clouds of both incense and clove cigarette smoke captures “Temple of Love” blasting from the stage, lights flashing above and bodies crammed together in front of beat up amps. It reminds me of Christophe Laudamiel’s Club Design / Scent Tattoo, but less bondage-sexy and more Bang Bang Bar grime. I haven’t tried Banshee Noir, but I can’t imagine Banshee Ambré without its sweet amber accord, which has got to be the difference between “ugh, go take a shower” and “go take a shower right now”.

[**LG23-10: Musical Monday**](https://i.imgur.com/igzZFqM.jpg)

- **Brush:** CaYuen Workshop 24mm 2BED `#TOLL`
- **Razor:** Blackland Sabre
- **Blade:** GEM (3)
- **Lather:** House of Mammoth - Mood Indigo - Shaving Soap
- **Post Shave:** Lather Bros. - Flamingo Trance - Aftershave
- **Fragrance:** Black Rabbit Perfumery - Banshee Ambré
- **Passes:** WTG, XTG
- **Coffee:** Ethiopia. Guji, Werka - v: Ethiopia Landraces - p: Natural. Dried on raised beds.
- **Music:** Joy Divison - *Unknown Pleasures*
- **LG Tags:** `#FOF`

I found Musical Monday to be a surprisingly challenging theme, but a compelling one. Even pulling from the strategic samples reserve, I scrounged up just four viable options in my den: Runaway, American Vintage, Fern Concerto Menthol (on deck for Fougère Friday), and [my colored-pencil rendered House of Mammoth selection](https://i.imgur.com/igzZFqM.jpg). I like the more esoteric themes added to the calendar this year. They encourage creativity and—combined with sponsor points and 30 unique soapers—help narrow down my selections for the days that have countless on-theme options.

Getting back to my musical shave, I covered three different genres. The combination is…jarring.

First up, everybody’s favorite meme genre, jazz. “Mood Indigo” is one of those songs that’s almost always great, including that lurching cut from *Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus* and the Duke’s classic take. Lately I’ve enjoyed [Frank Morgan’s reserved approach](https://open.spotify.com/track/5SspiTRC07JfkWaAiLP6B3?si=6c4a72ab0dde454b) to a standard. I don’t pull out [this soap](https://i.imgur.com/igzZFqM.jpg) often since I burned out on it during my first Austere August, but I love Ben’s calming, nocturnal tribute to the song. The soap is more vetiver and rum forward, while the fragrance reveals more lively pepper nuances, but the distinctive blueberry note is always there in various degrees of strength. The fragrance is what I reach for when going out on a fall or winter evening; it’s seen me through restaurant dinners, an opera, and multiple rock concerts. I once wrote a piece for my college newspaper about listening to *Kind of Blue* walking through campus at night in the midwest snow. Using this HoM scent reminds me of that particular beautiful, lonely, formative evening:

> Indigo smells like you've left that blues club late at night, tired but feeling good, a little less alone. You take a look up at the night sky and breathe a bit, and sort of unconsciously hum the tune.

Which brings me to my aftershave and genre number two. Flamingo Trance is one of my favorite bay rums, spiking the expected notes with a generous dose of tropical fruit. While the name technically refers to putting people in a trance with your dope smellz, the neon label and name suggests kaleidoscopic electronica concerts—bass thumping along at “a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minute” (thanks Wikipedia!). Does it smell like Trance music? I assume an indoor ‘90s rave smells like Ecstasy sweat, body spray, and spilled beer. If that’s an accurate description, then no, tropical-fruited bay rum doesn’t match the vibe. But then again, Flamingo Trance would be the smell of an outdoor festival in Miami; now we’re on theme.

And finally, moving from pulsing nightclubs to seedy smoke-filled bars, I sprayed on Banshee Ambré. Black Rabbit Perfumery is an Etsy perfumer whose “conceptual perfumes” have a distinct Pacific Northwest flavor (for example, Fire Walk With Me). Banshee Ambré and Banshee Noir are dark fragrances inspired by post-punk and dancing at goth bars. This heavy combination of earthy notes, black leather, and billowing clouds of both incense and clove cigarette smoke captures “Temple of Love” blasting from the stage, lights flashing above and bodies crammed together in front of beat up amps. It reminds me of Christophe Laudamiel’s Club Design / Scent Tattoo, but less bondage-sexy and more Bang Bang Bar grime. I haven’t tried Banshee Noir, but I can’t imagine Banshee Ambré without its sweet amber accord, which has got to be the difference between “ugh, go take a shower” and “[go take a shower *right now*](https://media.tenor.com/93cuLqLpKz0AAAAC/harley-quinn-margot-robbie.gif)”.