Media Diary: Late 2023

September 　·　 October 　·　 November 　·　 December
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September

	Noise Unit ❀ Voyeur Front Line Assembly members going for a more atmospheric, chilled out sound — it’s still massive and brutal at times but sounds sleek and metallic with a lot of space, sort of reminds me of Download in their transitional period (around III) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	L \| R & A / V ❀ Kenjutsu Fits the cover — fluid, soft electronic atmospheres, with sharp spikes and cogs and mechanical arms turning and spiking right underneath the surface. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Cardboard Computer ❀ Kentucky Route Zero Go in blind. (If you like narrative games. Getting lost. Uncertainty. Missing things. Surrealism, nostalgia, mystery, maybe horror. Maybe road novels like Rudolph Wurlitzer’s, maybe a little bit of Twin Peaks, though it really is its own thing.) My favourite part was sailing on the Mucky Mammoth (I like boats, I like mammoths, the groove and candle-lit beach bar were such beautiful places, the test place was interesting and the music was great). The only part I didn’t like much was “Death of the Hired Man”, waiting for the next lines to appear while watching the same videos on repeat got boring — but I missed that part during my initial playthrough and wondered if the crossed out title showing up on the wheel screen was just meant to be like that, which would also have fit, I think. And that’s an interesting thing about this game — I know I missed some parts but that’s an integral part of it, and I think looking up interpretations would diminish its value. ▷ GOG ▷ Glitchwave
	Savvas Metaxas ❀ The Moral of the Parable Is Plain Uncanny, with unresolved tensions, unforgotten memories, echoes coming out of unexpected places. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Autechre ❀ AE_LIVE_MELBOURNE_210618 Seems like I like Autechre’s live records better than their post-Confield studio output. More accessible, with a better sense of movement and direction. This one is almost ambient-like and flows well but is very oblique, dissonant and keeps evolving in subtle ways (I’d almost compare it to Acreil but how much sense does it make to compare the most popular electronic project here to one whose most popular record has 31 ratings?) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Steve Roden ❀ Translations & Articulations RIP. And thanks to frivolous for curating a selection in homage to him on the Experimental Music Land server — this is one I hadn’t listened to yet and it is beautiful, much closer to ambient than to lowercase I would say (there’s a melody, rhythm too). About language (as stated in the booklet, you can read scans on Discogs). Sort of reminds me of Biosphere. Other personal favourites by the artist: 　The Radio is actually pretty close to this, but both more solemn and more fragile, in several parts, with abstract vocals 　Light Forms, a delicate, partly melodic performance with light bulbs rattling 　Stars of Ice is based on a worn (distant, nostalgic) recording of a Chinese song 　View if you like field recordings of empty rooms ▷ Official website ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	yeule ❀ softscars More guitars, including acoustic ones; also punchier and noisier, with lots of screaming, which I love! And — wait does that make it a rock album? I guess it does! But their style is as inspiring as ever, still harsh, colorful, tender, glitchy, just in another genre. Serotonin II had “Pixel Affection” and “Pocky Boy”, Glitch Princess had “Too Dead Inside” (one of my favourite songs ever) and “The Things They Did for Me Out of Love” (one of my favourite ways to end an album ever), to be honest I’m not yet sure softscars has highlights as strong as those yet, but as an album right now I feel like this could be my favourite of theirs ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Lily Fury ❀ Anthology Goes in many directions but mostly shoegaze and breakbeats (I think?), long and comfy, good for sunny afternoon listening ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Food for Animals ❀ Belly 　“TAKE DRUGS!” [pitched trance-like samples] [chaotic industrial beats] [rapping] [modified birdsong with more rapping] I almost expected noise rap as a secondary genre here + this hasn’t aged a bit Many prefer the Scavengers EP which is similar, just even more chaotic/intense ▷ RYM
	SUPER FIDÈLES PAR INDOLENCE_ ❀ DÉVELOPPEMENT PAR EXCÈS, MORT CELLULAIRE DE CORRECTION_ Absurd experimental French hip hop project with cool beats (courtesy of Hirudini_11, he’s got a bunch of instrumental releases too) and wild stream-of-consciousness lyrics, hilarious or brilliant some of the time, rapped by a guy with a Southern accent who doesn’t sound like a rapper at all — they distribute all the music for free and sell various used objects on the Bandcamp pages sometimes (like used lighters or a worn dayglo T-shirt with “pants” printed on it). Better in short sessions because this could get annoying quick, but I’m glad it exists. Thanks to Azalea for the recommendation! ▷ First part (free download) ▷ Second part (free download, NSFW cover)
	Liar, Flower ❀ Geiger Counter Checking out what Katie Jane Garside has been up to these days — Ruby Throat (acoustic folk) wasn’t my thing but this one is good! It has throwbacks to Queenadreena and a couple of other styles, if you’re already a fan I recommend it ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM If you’re not familiar with the artist though, my two favourites are:
	Queenadreena ❀ The Butcher and the Butterfly They say music you listen to in your teenage years stays with you. Sometimes this runs deeper than mere nostalgia. This is for who I really wasn’t — for the girls who had issues and scars, who wore painted nails and heavy mascara and eyeliner that rarely stayed dry at the end of the night, who ended up in the most intense and toxic relationships, drank too much and took too many pills until the dream they seeked turned into a nightmare, who spent sleepless hours writing inside their diaries, whose secret garden grew wild with flowers and just as many weeds. Katie Jane Garside presents femininity, fragility, instability, in such a powerful and affirming way. Whoever you are, she doesn’t want to be a seduce you or turn you on. And if her lyrics aren’t, strictly speaking, empowering, her singing is. She writes about all the fucked up stuff girls go through and throws it all screaming in your face over powerful, distorted guitar riffs and it’s so bloody cathartic. As for her quiet songs, they can be just as impacting — heartbreaking, tender, haunting. Taxidermy had a different sound, ghostlier, less noisy, with dream pop undertones. Drink Me went all out in bright, bloody colours — pulled towards extremes, either raw, violent, screaming blazing hell or half-dazed, whispered songs, with few nuances in between. The Butcher and the Butterfly expands from these and feels more accomplished, deeper. (“Suck” pulls you in straight away for more than you’ve bargained for — then “Medicine Jar” feels like crossing a bridge over a pit of despair, with that single, steady monotone riff, getting dizzy looking into the depths, and when that final decrescendo comes in it feels like you’ve already slipped and fallen in. “Ascending Stars” and “Pull Me Under” are more straightforward rock hits with dreamy melodies (and I should note here that Crispin Gray’s guitar is another big part of why I like Queenadreena, the whole band sounds so fleshed out and satisfying here). Later songs have some hints of gothic rock, and further down “Childproof” is the rare Queenadreena song that’s actually heartwarming, though it comes from a place of absolute fragility — it’s one of my favourites despite it being a minor song, almost an interlude. Not open to your suggestions / I’ll change the lock, won’t answer questions / I will get on my feet again.) The Butcher and the Butterfly is, to be fair, a bit messy and flawed in parts too, but as an old girl who merely spent her youth locked up in her room and her body, daydreaming about all she couldn’t live, it was one of my favourite outlets and I don’t care much about the flaws — it resonates with me just as much now as it did then. Here’s to all the girls with issues and angels with broken wings. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Lalleshwari ❀ Lullabies in a Glass Wilderness And this one feels like a very long, strange dream or series of dreams or a journal being alone and thinking of a loved one it’s a quiet, intimate album recorded in various shades of lo-fi 　tender 　　　　haunting (especially in that eighteen-minute track, you can’t get lighter and eerier than this) with no rock, just candid expression, bittersweet tales and experimental electronics. My favourite of her quieter records and second favourite of hers. ▷ RYM
	Mark Wastell ❀ Come Crimson Rays Low tam tam drones. I tried playing it in a couple of different ways (headphones, speakers, with the window open or in a closed silent environment), I think my favourite was on (open) headphones, loud enough but with outside sounds still audible outside. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Pisitakun ❀ Kongkraphan Based on real events. Documenting the riots after the coup d’état in Thailand, 2006 — all samples are from real footage, each track relates one day of riots and police violence, the description precisely lists everything that happened that day (including the number of people who died). The effect is intense, there’s a strong sense of panic, anger and anxiety here, and the accompanying electronic percussion feels fitting, only here to make you feel what it was like. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Public Image Ltd. ❀ The Flowers of Romance Primal, powerful, dark and unabashedly weird. Who cares about melodies, this is all about percussions and John Lydon’s unforgettable wailing voice, then eerie, dissonant experimentations. Shorter and more vivid than the cold and grey odysseus that is Metal Box (no less good, but I don’t listen to it as often). (A shame Lydon turned out to be a reactionary prick, oh well) ▷ RYM
	Steve Roach ❀ A Deeper Silence As others commented, this is like watching the night sky (if you could actually see it without nocturnal pollution), getting lost in contemplation of nebulae and stars and planets and how immense this all is finding peace for a little while ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM

October

	clipping. ❀ Splendor & Misery Powerful concept (“an Afrofuturist, dystopian concept album that follows the sole survivor of a slave uprising on an interstellar cargo ship, and the onboard computer that falls in love with him”), and one of their most interesting albums. It is harder to get into than their others too — often changing styles in radical ways, between the dark space atmosphere of “All Black”, harsher tracks like “Baby Don’t Sleep” and the heartbreaking spirituals “Story 5” and “Long Way Away”, it can be a bumpy ride, but it all makes sense in context. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Le Trio Joubran ❀ Majâz Oud trio + percussion. Minimal, striking, solemn, beautiful. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Boldy James & Sterling Toles ❀ Manger on McNichols ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Tirzah ❀ trip9love...??? Her previous album was already good but this one is even better: warmer, more rythmic and more emotional while retaining her particular aesthetic — cold, sketchy on purpose, with visible joints and unexpected turns and juxtapositions ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	DYL & DB1 ❀ ECOU Techno like huge machines working and beating alone at midnight, in concrete rooms or over a calm lake. Few melodies but the ones that come up are like bright lights illuminating the darkness. (Yes a lot of techno feels like that, it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s always a good thing to my ears.) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Loren Chasse ❀ Exfolia Motors Quiet and mysterious field recordings. It’s rather easy to imagine what the environments might sound like — peaceful but derelict places, with nobody around but machines working, water running, unidentified things rattling, ominous humming, all distant. It’s a bit eerie in that way — living sounds in dead places. ▷ RYM
	Ascendant Vierge ❀ Une nouvelle chance gabber beats: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM singer (in French): I AM AN AEEEEEEROPLAAAAANE ♪ SOOOAAAARING EVER HIIIIIGHER ♪ OOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAHHHH ♪ Excellent fun, 9/10 (for that track) There are also serious songs with darkwave instrumentals and bitter or cynical lyrics — I don’t like all of them (might skip tracks 4 to 6) but most are really good, the bonus track “Petit soldat” being one of the best with its absolutely nihilistic lyrics and furious beat — exciting, terrifying and sad. Though it really is a bonus track I would separate from the rest, as “Aimer sur le long terme” is a lovely closer in a completely different style. ▷ RYM
	Klein ❀ Star in the Hood Post-industrial dark ambient collage — yup, this cover is as deceptive as Throbbing Gristle’s 20 Jazz Funk Greats. But perhaps something like: how it feels to grow up hopeful and cool and end up twenty years later in a world that’s turning ever more alarmingly hostile and dysfunctional, your dreams growing ever more distant while reality looks like a nightmare. (Apart from “Black Star” this is abstract and wordless so I can’t be sure, but that’s the kind of feeling I get.) And yet there’s something mesmerizing about this too, even though it’s so bleak. Perhaps because it sounds human and meaningful. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Venetta ❀ Fact Mix 918 I don’t know how many genres are included here but this is wild R’n’b, gqom, deconstructed club, techno indus, pop, hard drum, changa tuki (didn’t even know this one existed) and more. Goes hard ▷ Soundcloud ▷ RYM
	テンテンコ Tentenko ❀ 工業製品 Kōgyō seihin Glitchy cute pop with hard edges — “くるま” (Kuruma) is completely out-there with its shocking jackhammer-like glitchy beat, “Good bye, good girl.” is at the other end of the spectrum as a straightforward retro synthpop song, the other tracks are in between (I’ve tried a couple of other releases by her but they don’t sound remotely similar and I didn’t care much for them, unfortunately) ▷ RYM
	R.A.P. Ferreira ❀ Purple Moonlight Pages Man, how cool is this guy And this animated psychedelic video for “Leaving Hell”* And Rhodes pianos Also how do you write about jazz rap, I just don’t have much to say except I like this a lot (which is why I also haven’t written anything about Manger on McNichols, sorry, plenty of others have written about it better than I could have anyway) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ * Piped link if you want to avoid ads ▷ RYM
	Irko & amne ❀ DANGER RAPPROCHÉ New French hip hop favourite — the mood is futuristic and on the dark side, the beats and vocals are tense and complex and sound more like fast precision strikes more than full-on aggression. It’s short and pretty much flawless to my ears. ▷ RYM
	Random Inc. ❀ Walking in Jerusalem I must confess I’ve had this one on CD for a while and always liked it, but didn’t know much about the context then; coming back to it now, it sounds a lot more affecting. Short fragments of lives, voices, sounds and sometimes music, first recorded as is then developped into glitch tracks (collaborations — never with the same artist twice), giving a sense of the atmosphere — always transient and tense, never at peace. The booklet of the CD edition also includes photos and texts by different authors (both Palestinian and Israeli), one for each pair of tracks — poems, personal experiences, history. This may not be like The Fire This Time in terms of horror, but it’s already chilling and haunting. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM

November

	Dennis Johnson * R. Andrew Lee ❀ November Yes, I love the sunset colours and balmy weather of early to mid-autumn ; could be my favourite period of the year. But I also like the wind and grey skies November brings. The leaves falling, getting rarer, the tree silhouettes becoming skeletal. The night creeping in and bathing everything in a darkness that’s deeper than any summer night. The chilly mornings and nights that resist people’s presence. The coming winter doesn’t just bring contrast, it’s also an atmosphere that resonates with me. I need calm and time to think. I know many people hate that and I completely understand it. Many people wouldn’t like a minimal, slow, melancholy five-hour-long piano composition either. November is very good for reading, writing, brooding, any time when you need to be quiet and alone with your thoughts; it wouldn’t say it progresses exactly, but it is more complex than you might expect with its surprising turns and few bright touches. It’s subtle and comforting to a patient, introspective heart. If you’re the tiniest bit restless though, it will get too long and monotonous quickly. Modern city life has no patience, time nor respect for November and does all it can to disguise it as something flashier. Which just makes me want to go outside in the forests or mountains again, even if the sky is grey and my fingers get chilly. (Then I’ll coop up until January.) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Luiza Lian ❀ 7 estrelas \| Quem arrancou o céu? Pop music that incorporates glitchy electronic, hip hop / r&b and traditional Brazilian music elements in elegant ways; the songs are sprightly and catchy, but have a dreamy character and take things just a little bit slower than usual nowadays. Very nice. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	PainKiller ❀ Execution Ground Their first album Guts of a Virgin sort of sounded like Naked City lite, but Bill Laswell comes through on this one — John Zorn’s screaming saxophones are still there of course, but have a more minor role over the brooding soundscape of slow burning ambient dub. Then they’re entirely gone on the second disc. Very different and perhaps more interesting? (There’s an alternative cover if you prefer) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Gazelle Twin & NYX ❀ Deep England A dark, enchanting, surreal pagan atmosphere emanates from choirs on a stage of smoke and mirrors. Gazelle Twin’s best along with Unflesh in my opinion, and I hope to hear more from NYX in the future! (Her latest, Black Dog, is her darkest and most unsettling — interesting but lacks highlights in my opinion) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Heejin Jang ❀ Me and the Glassbirds Bleak yet sometimes weirdly beautiful environments with flurries of mechanical birds of different species, razor-sharp wings and cold eyes, emitting chilling atonal chirps. Another new and interesting take on industrial music. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Clint Ruin & Lydia Lunch ❀ Stinkfist A hellish vortex of industrial rhythms, ritual chants/yells and atonal noise — the liner notes credits seven additional musicians with metal and four others with drums (they also describe the work more lyrically than I could). I know J. G. Thirlwell (= Clint Ruin) hates the word industrial but what else would you call this? + Some editions include “The Crumb”, a surreal noise + spoken word collaboration with Thurston Moore (originally released on another EP) that’s pretty cool too! (Their only other EP, Don’t Fear the Reaper, is a fun variety pack, I like it but it’s not essential. (No, “Stinkfist” here doesn’t have anything to do with the Tool song.)) ▷ RYM
	Knife Girl ❀ CUM 　trans girls will tell you about the most traumatic shit they’ve gone through ~~and follow it up with :3~~ 　and turn it into a bouncy hyperpop song Same vein as SOPHIE and COBRAH, with some absolute bops (“Knots” and “Estrogen”) — until you pay a bit more attention and realize that “Knots” is a lot darker than it sounds (content warning: implied assault/rape). The album is also very personal and emotional despite its title (it gets sexual, but not 100% horny all the time), and many tracks reveal themselves on subsequent listens. Cool use of different styles of vocals too! ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	死んだ僕の彼女 (My Dead Girlfriend) ❀ Hades (The Nine Stages of Change at the Deceased Remains) I love this cover art I also want to be pretty and wander in a beautiful greyscale underworld, or at least make nice drawings like that Autumnal even though it’s very energetic and accessible with catchy melodies (a lot more so than I expected), there’s an underlying sense of melancholy contrasting with the poppiness and abrasive guitars too. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	The Witness Very satisfying and more accessible than I expected! I also liked the variety of ideas and the way the puzzles were introduced, and how I could just go out and wander elsewhere in the game when I got stuck (a relatively small but pleasant environment, even with the super bright colours). Which is also why the final part in the mountain was my least favourite I guess. But I haven’t found all the secrets yet. It’s funny how the setting and gameplay didn’t even pretend to make sense; it was almost abstract yet still providing atmosphere — but why not? It worked for me. ▷ Steam
	Cassy ❀ My Auntie Almost-songs, flowing in a peculiar way with minimal grooves and strange, almost eerie vocals ( . . . iiinequality . . . ) pretty catchy once you get into it ▷ Discogs ▷ RYM
	Genesis Owusu ❀ Struggler Owusu’s best singles are on Smiling With No Teeth (“The Other Black Dog” and “Gold Chains” are hard to beat), but that album also had some weak moments — this one is solid and fun throughout, also it’s about a roach running away from God ▷ RYM
	Bagarre ❀ Musique de club When this was recommended in a music blog I was following, reactions were worse than mixed. Like, “what is this shit” and “have you completely run out of good recommendations?” Did people hate it because of its lack of complexity? It is a straightforward, almost bare blend of chanson, rapping and club beats. But I like this no-frills style, nothing gratuitous, excessive nor out of place, and honestly all songs are tight, a bit hedonistic and very caustic. “Le gouffre” is my favourite (it’s an earworm too). (Bonsoir, nous sommes Bagarre is also good, but they dropped the ball on 2019–2019 — let the songwriting get lazy or vulgar and there’s nothing of interest left.) ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Mélanie de Biasio ❀ Il viaggio I loved Blackened Cities, a lovely EP with her dreamy, warm jazz vocals and calm post-rock instrumentations, travelling slowly, riding the beat for twenty-four minutes. This one is different — no more jazz, no more post-rock, it’s closer to Grouper’s hazy ambient pop but… in a different way. Almost opposite in fact, as it’s distant instead of being fuzzy, and what fades here isn’t the outside world but one’s senses of time and self. Like on the twenty-minute piano song towards the end, featuring field recordings of the countryside, a dog barking, very audible creaks of pedals and bellows throughout, the song itself almost becoming a background element. This distance becomes almost ghostly sometimes, and the vocals disappear and reappear, sometimes bits you’ve heard in one song come back in another. Like on “Chiesa”, in which everything sounds mirrored and distant and surreal — parts like these are my favourites (I like the straightforward songs like “Now Is Narrow” less, but there aren’t many of those). Also yes, it is a long album, but I barely notice how long it is. It sounds so light and warm. Being there and just contemplating, sometimes doing nothing, also feels good. ▷ RYM
	Nadja ❀ Excision This band’s sound is so satisfying — overwhelming metal guitar drones like comforting, dreamy cocoons. I haven’t even heard that many records by them (six so far, which is few given how prolific they are) but this one is definitely a standout for me; it’s a collection of tracks from compilations and split releases and contains very varied approaches, from super heavy and brutal to minimal (where the abrasive textures are a background rather than a driving force) until the slow, restrained, end-of-night closer, it’s all good. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Raja Kirik ❀ Phantasmagoria of Jathilan Rampokan was already good but this is huge — there are vocals now, it’s packed with intensity, it builds up and up for the whole hour, uses handmade instruments, has a dance component and I feel like a child fascinated by a surreal dance around a huge fire, even if I don’t understand a word she’s singing (thanks to the label for presenting the project and the cultural references though!) I’m fascinated by this ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM

December

	Anysia Kym & Jadasea ❀ Pressure Sensitive Hazy experimental hip hop, with a mood like — you wake up and it's a bright morning in a future world where several suns are shining through the dust, and you can see so many things happening outside, you still feel somewhat dizzy from sleep but comfortable, and it's a work day but it's alright, you feel like making things today. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Third Coast Percussion (playing Danny Elfman, Philip Glass, Jlin and Flutronix) ❀ Perspectives Cool to hear a percussion ensemble cover footwork the same way they do classical! A great minimalism record, it's accessible, gentle and beautiful, the pieces complement each other well and are all interesting. Jlin's is the most oblique and surprising of the lot as you might expect Do I like this or her own version Perspective, tough call, both are worth getting ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Eleh ❀ Snoweight Music for isolation. Introspection. Insulation. Feels a little bit similar to the “Snow” tracks on Kevin Drumm's Imperial Distortion, even though the minimalism here is definitely Eleh's, perhaps only slightly less radical and more textured than his usual output. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Taishi ❀ Phant Solo II The kind of beats I usually hear in dark, intense, chaotic music — here in impressively bright environments, with choirs and pianos. Yes it also does sound like an anime or game soundtrack but I'm not complaining! Thanks to Klavor for the recommendation! ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Patricia Taxxon ❀ TECHDOG 1–7 Wooo, a 12½-hour behemoth! I don't often try these but I liked the idea of a different emotion for each disc + it ends with a very long drone/reductionism album + I love Pan Sonic's Kesto (234.48:4), which is also beats → noise → drone in a loose way Anyway this is worth it. I would say my favourites were 2 (some tracks reminded me of Plaid but better), 4, 5 (tenser) and 7; the ending tracks were some of the very best (especially 6), the few recurring themes were a nice touch and 7 gets so personal and weird among the drone and reductionism, I liked that (probably the only reductionism album I've heard that features rapping). ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Stephan Micus ❀ Listen to the Rain A sense of wonder and of deep sadness. Much less new agey than the other works I've heard by Micus (which I also liked a lot) — this one is solemn and elegant, almost minimal, with only a couple of instruments showcased in each track. ▷ ECM ▷ RYM
	David Holmes ❀ Come Get It I Got It. He's got it alright. An eclectic, pretty fast-paced funk selection tied together with a bunch of original tracks that smells of vinyl and is more about grooves than full songs; starts with the same Hellers sample DJ Shadow used, I even wondered if one artist was referencing the other. ▷ RYM
	Satoshi Kon ❀ Tokyo Godfathers Super heartwarming. The characters are great and I love how absurdly, impossibly right everything goes despite the setting being rather sad, who cares about realism I absolutely believe all of it (It's weird that I liked it more than Paprika when subjectwise, Paprika should have been my favourite Satoshi Kon film? But I just don't vibe with parades and circuses so)
	Carola Bony ❀ Carola Bony A strange little album. 90s electronic pop but not straightforward, always in between genres, somewhat distant. And then a long, murky ambient ending with dissonant synths that's almost as long as the rest of the album (it does overstay its welcome to be honest, but it adds to the weirdness of it). ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	sus1er ❀ FEELS LIKE AN OVERDOSE My most played track this year — it's an over-the-top mashcore remix of Cascada's “Evacuate the Dancefloor”, it's not even perfect (there's a boring part in the middle) and you're probably better off getting something by goreshit but still, this is so catchy and trashy in a good way and cathartic, I love it ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Tamos le Thermos ❀ Genderflou Touchant, vivant et surtout probablement la BD la plus drôle que j'ai lue sur le genre ! Iel est un·e génie Et vive les escargots c'est trop bien les escargots 　(pas à manger) 　　(est-ce que je vous ai montré ma peluche escargot ?) ▷ Instagram ▷ Exemplaire
	Uyama Hiroto ❀ Freeform Jazz Has collaborated with Nujabes and has a similar but much jazzier vibe (I might like it more than Nujabes actually); instrumental hip hop and saxophones, so alluring, warm and comfy ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Abyss X ❀ Freedom Doll Witchy! In some ways it's a continuation of INNUENDO, but in different genres; fewer abstract atmospheric gulfs, the sound feels more grounded in tradition and myth with all the electric and acoustic guitars — a hint of traditional (Greek?) music? — standing in contrast with a decidedly dark, synthetic, urban sound. Will probably play this quite a bit, not just because it's good but because there isn't much else like it. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM
	Jak3 ❀ Moonlight Radiation Hazy, nocturnal and trippy — swimming, floating, lost in an iridescent greyscale dub planet with your head bobbing underwater except the water is a heavy liquid gas, overhead are greyscale rainbows and a solid charcoal rain (I'm not making sense but I have no idea what he's rapping about either) A dark foil to the first album on this list maybe? nlm recommended me this after I posted Calsutmoran × Agnarkea's Death Trippers 3 (equally great, get it + the first two), thanks to her! ▷ Bandcamp ▷ RYM

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