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September

Earthbound / Mother 2

Given how every other indie RPG gets compared to this, it was probably time I actually played it (+ time I started playing some of the Super Nintendo games I missed out on, I grew up with this console but only had like four or five cartridges) — a couple of gameplay mechanics were annoying and there wasn’t much of a plot nor any character development, but I loved the surreal fantasy and humour throughout and the world held many surprises, I had a good time with this! Moonside was my favourite part, I loved the shy little people in the cave, and the failed teleportation bonk always made me chuckle

(I need Dr. Saturn in my life)

(Also naïve me expected the cops in this game to be “tough but fair” since it’s a 90s Nintendo game — yeah right lmao here are five cops teaming up to beat up a kid in a locked room)

Unglee Izi ◈ Notice & initiation au monde alterné T. 1

Hypnotic and strange synth patterns, explorations of glitch textures, intense and beautiful crescendos, techno beats, squeaky electric tones — recommended to anyone who likes electronic and experimental music. Volume 2 is also great, closer to either techno or ambient (depending on the track).

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

XYR ◈ El Dorado

Gently lo-fi and comforting jungle-temple synth, played on flute and old Soviet synths.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Triosk ◈ The Headlight Serenade

Quality nu/ECM jazz elements combined with wilder, more experimental stuff — like the chaotic improvisation on the second track contrasting with the chill piano in the background or the glitches that punctuate the whole record.

1+3+1 with Jan Jelinek is also great, focussing more on quirky electronics; I’m not sure which one I prefer yet, both are worth getting!

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

dronedeus ◈ proletariadx

As droney as trip hop can get, and grey, ominous and morose throughout. I don’t know what the spoken word is about since I don’t understand Portuguese, I just know one part is based on a poem; the vibe speaks to me though.

▷ Bandcamp (free download)
▷ RYM

Galcher Lustwerk ◈ 100% Galcher

What’s that logo supposed to be?
Anyway, solid smooth deep house

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Ali Sethi & Nicolás Jaar ◈ Intiha

More than the sum of its parts; I like Jaar’s ambient soundscapes, always showing curiosity and sensibility, though some of his albums are great and others leave me wanting (meandering a bit, staying a bit too in-between) — here Ali Sethi’s singing takes centre stage and acts as a focus point, both artists complementing each other really well. A warm, shimmering sound, always very close and sometimes disorienting in a pleasant way.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Tove Lo & SG Lewis ◈ HEAT

Horny pop-house with quality production, love these bleeps and bloops

▷ RYM

Angelwings Marmalade ◈ Kill Me in My Man Cave

(Of course the artist is transfem, I know these vibes)

I expected a zany, chaotic collage and it sort of is, but it’s also more sombre, stylistically consistent and personal than I thought it would be. If you want something more concise and with more cybergrind, As the Motherboard Watched Back is also good!

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Dorisburg ◈ Irrbloss

Ambient techno in an unusual style, with a rich sound palette, focussing on melodies evoking a lush island wilderness. Beautiful.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Alicks ◈ Everything Is So Beautiful

Long, comforting, melancholic ambient with strings, piano and occasional vocals (which seem more present than they actually are); the music forms a diary- or letter-like narrative and doesn’t sound abstract at all.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

The For Carnation ◈ The For Carnation

Yet another album I’d sort of known about for years (decades even) but hadn’t checked out despite loving the cover art (strange but elegant, the outline seems to completely contradict the photograph but both somehow work + love the colours and reflection). Nocturnal post-rock with dark jazz, just the right blend of comfort and tension, warmth and darkness. Mostly about the bass and drums but each element falls just right.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Billie Eilish ◈ Hit Me Hard and Soft

Mostly soft, but definitely hitting the right spots. “Chihiro” and “Blue” are truly beautiful and “Lunch” is so nonchalantly catchy, I really like all of this.

▷ RYM

ABZÛ

Flower was an instant favourite when I first played it — playing as the wind with flowers and light felt great, it was so relaxing and refreshing. No action, no puzzles, no challenges, but lovely sensations and aesthetics. I replayed it a lot (and would have gladly paid for extra levels — it was too short!)

I also liked Journey a lot, but the multiplayer-single-session aspect of it made me save it for special occasions — which of course meant I didn’t play it as much as I should have. (I still have it on PS3, but the controller batteries would no longer charge last time I checked and I don’t know if PlayStation Network is still on. Maybe it could still work though? Worth a try)

I’m so glad there’s a third game like this — this one is a bit more traditional as there are unlockables / hidden collectibles, identifying all the species and finding some I hoped would be there was really cool! And like in the previous games, the atmosphere is impeccable.

▷ Steam



October

Rabbit Junk ◈ Reframe

Quality pissed off electro-industrial bangers — everything colorful, saturated and ultraviolent, with booming beats and three types of vocals. (My favourite track is “February War”, with the chorus alternating between clean and growled vocals and stretching the notes to a groove, as if slowing down to strike even more effectively while the beats keep going; it’s the most immediately catchy and definitely one of the best)

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Luan ◈ 2002

Super abstract, tense and unpredictable experimental hip hop, I want to call it jarring in a good way? Human but monstrous. Close to noise at times but also featuring melodic r’n’b vocals. Barely half an hour long but packed with ideas, surprises me on each listen.

Thanks to EliasJ72 for the discovery!

▷ RYM

León Cordero ◈ Jueves

Same artist as above — and the approach is similar, but applied to pop music this time, it sounds a lot more emotional but the deconstructed aspect keeps things weird in a good way.

▷ RYM

Theo Parrish ◈ Location of Lost Colors

Two great laid-back, jazzy, very deep house tracks.

▷ Discogs
▷ RYM

Laurent Garnier ◈ 33 tours et puis s’en vont

Unreasonable Behaviour is a classic and I love his Laboratoire Mix, the rest of his discography is interesting but hit-and-miss; this one though could be his best material, not really an album but seventeen long, high-tension techno bangers made for the dancefloor. Each one is solid enough to stand alone too. No misses.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Charly Kid ◈ JE NE SUIS D4AUCUNE AIDE

Young white Belgian kid raps about his clogged nose and how he’s sick for his birthday, he’s lowkey really cool though — each track just works and has something that keeps me coming back, often the beats (love the repeated beeps over the ambient drones on “NAMASTE” or the FSOL “Papua New Guinea” sample on “en fait j’en ai 2”) but his flow and lyrics are good too; “silent clubbing moment” especially, peaceful and slightly surreal. Will be looking forward to his next record!

▷ RYM

Areski et Brigitte Fontaine ◈ Je ne connais pas cet homme

I’ve been digging Brigitte Fontaine’s back catalogue a lot this month; this is one of my very favourites, very folky, stripped down and experimental, Areski’s percussions really shine here. Shares many qualities with her self-titled (but warmer and more poetic, less sad and political) — and with Comme à la radio (without the jazz of course).

Her early output is probably my favourite; her later work is also good but less sonically interesting, at least until Terre neuve which is just wild and makes me hyped for her next one.

▷ RYM

Donkey Kong Country 2

Funny how long it took me to get around to playing this; I had played the first Donkey Kong Country when I was 9 (it’s been a favourite of mine since then).

So of course I can’t compare them fairly, but I feel like the mood is different? The first one had more natural environments, and given how good the graphics were*, the jungle, sea, snowy mountains, icy caves felt really immersive. This sequel seems more focussed on fun / challenging levels and a feeling of adventure. Anyway it took me a while to click, but yep, also a solid game.

Is it me or is it significantly harder than the first though? I was never good at video games, but there’s no way I could have beat “Toxic Tower” here without using save states. (Especially the beginning, the bouncy snake is just annoying)

* They still look great today with the right shader(s)! I’ve tried a bunch more or less randomly, “crt-royale-xm29plus.glslp” on RetroArch looks fine to me (though I should probably get a simpler emulator than RetroArch)

Jake Shears ◈ Last Man Dancing

I’ve been told Scissor Sisters’s self-titled is an oddity among my favourite records, and I can get that: 00s glam pop rock, really? But sometimes things just click — it was, and still is, a super catchy and fun album with a lot of color and fantasy. And at the time indie rock was still dominant, good queer representation hard to find (I thought the only door out of my closet would be in my dreams), and this band brought me a little breath of fresh air. Their cover of “Comfortably Numb” wasn’t just a fun irreverent take: it had meaning to me, as if telling me You don’t have to be this grim irl. Everybody knows you like dance music and aren’t exactly straight. I loved the dreamy cover art too (can I be like the girl on the cover?). It didn’t go much further than that, it was more style than substance, but it was something. Enough to make it a bit more than just a good album.

Then time passed, more doors opened, more important ones; I found queer media that spoke to me more, listened to less and less rock and more and more house. Took the big leaps that would change my life. Scissor Sisters’ third album had been disappointing, and the band became a memory from another era.

Then I had a dream recently that featured Jake Shears for some reason, so I digged a bit and found this. The first track harks back to Scissor Sisters in a good way, but the rest of the album amps up the disco and dance beats, which is a turn I’m all too happy to take — while there are a couple of duds (including the title track), the highs definitely make up for them. The B side goes further and turns into an idiosyncratic disco/house medley, before bringing back the guitars on a bittersweetly triumphant final track. Is this album relevant to anyone besides millennials and gen Xers who liked Scissor Sisters at the time? I don’t know! But this is definitely a pleasant surprise for me.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

The Necks ◈ Bleed

Perhaps my new favourite by them. Single-track but non-repetitive, a dark, peaceful exploration; bright and delicate piano blooming above deep, aquatic bass.

(The production also sounds great but that could be because I’ve just got new headphones yay)

(This combination of title and cover art doesn’t really click for me though, both just seem to contradict each other)

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Mark Leckey ◈ O’ Magic Power of Bleakness

Like going to England, taking drugs with locals who like local creepy folk tales and walking in tunnels somewhere between a forest and a club. The cover art doesn’t lie, it’s a weird and pretty unique EP.

▷ RYM



November

Véronique Sanson ◈ Le maudit

Swings a lot more than I would have expected from chanson (French pop, whatever); it sounds like she loves soul and film soundtracks and borrows from those in good ways without sounding like a cheap knockoff. She often sings in English, and I wonder if this is because of her influences or because of English phonology? (There’s probably a lot to say about that, I should find a study.)

I’m very pleasantly surprised by this, I just knew her name as a popular singer and hadn’t expected to like her music this much.

Thanks to crom for the recommendation!

▷ Page officielle
▷ RYM

hi-posi ◈ 性善説 The View of Human Nature as Fundamentally Good

Noisy Shibuya-kei that sounds as sunny and cute as it sounds abrasive and weird is a fantastic idea; and the hooks, loops and production here deliver on this promise.

▷ RYM

Joe Colley ◈ Psychic Stress Soundtracks

Tense, electric, dark yet psychedelic in an oblique way.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

LOLA ◈ Flicker

Just a really good r&b EP with a sweet nocturnal sound.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Sebastian Mullaert & Henrik Frendin ◈ Hind

Soft, organic percussion (some acoustic, some ambient techno beats) acting as a pleasant backdrop against the beautiful strokes and warm colours of the electric viola; autumnal in an unusual and very pleasant way.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Élodie Shanta ◈ Super Biscuit Maudit

miam biscuit
oh non !
je vois des loutres mortes
je n’aurais pas dû manger ce biscuit goût malédiction-qui-fait-voir-des-loutres-mortes

Plein de gags d’une page complètement absurdes et quelques histoires un peu plus longues avec personnages récurrents, personnellement je trouve ça super drôle mais je suppose que d’autres y seront complètement insensibles ou trouveront ça trop aléatoire ; allez voir l’Instagram de l’artiste, vous saurez tout de suite si vous aimez ou pas !

▷ Instagram
▷ Éditions Exemplaire

Iconika ◈ X Rated

Alluring atmospheres, with autotuned airy vocals that become almost abstract — it’s a strange effect because in many ways this is a typical r&b album, except more diffuse if that makes sense.

▷ RYM

Sohrab ◈ Voyria

Blissful mechanical trance A-side + ambient trance B-side that’s like a shadow of the A-side.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Priori ◈ This But More

Melodic and soft ambient techno, sonically varied, each track with a different mood and pace — like different chapters in a story. Love the track featuring James K (whose solo work I should revisit sometime).

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

cabezadenego, Leyblack e Mbé ◈ MIMOSA

Starts with rather dry, stripped down rhythmic and moody tracks — then the fun really starts when the retrofuturistic gay dance synths, choirs and horny vocals come in on “Quinta”. And the record keeps going in unexpected ways (“DFB” has sped-up Underworld vibes in a good way?!), it may be hit-and-miss but is often brilliant.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Sofia Isella ◈ I Can Be Your Mother

Bittersweet / biting art pop songs about womanhood with clean vocals + harsh industrial instrumentation + strings, which works wonderfully. Some songs are more memorable than others but overall this is really good, especially the closer.

▷ Bandcamp

Dave Phillips ◈ Nothing’s Wrong

Absolute evil.

It’s about the way humans destroy nature but releasing this just after the US election was on point too. CW brutal and somewhat gratuitious mention of rape in the liner notes (also I wish he’d used the right apostrophes and not Arial but whatever)

(There’s no hope left anywhere, is there?)

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM



December

Vylet Pony ◈ Monarch of Monsters

Holy hell this is intense. The result of years of trauma and you can absolutely hear it. The album starts with a bittersweet catchy song that already sounds like the end of something and keeps me coming back, then “PLAY DEAD! PLAY DEAD!” is as hard and cathartic as you might expect from the title, “Survivor’s Guilt” is a bop you can scream to — and the album goes through so many different emotions and genres (especially in the second half). So even though there’s a lot in here I don’t relate to — I haven’t lived this kind of trauma, I’m not really into the kind of universe the album and accompanying novella develop (because yes, it comes with two booklets including a 72-page novella) — honestly, I’m hooked. Also her voice is amazing. (And as someone who lost her voice in late January and is only just beginning to recover part of it, it makes me happy to hear other trans people sing so well.)

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Virginie B ◈ Astral 2000

Dance- / glam- / hyperpop sung in French by Québécoise artist, instant favourite for me — I first heard “Cinéma” in a podcast and it felt like when I first heard “Only Acting” by Kero Kero Bonito; left me dazed for a couple of minutes afterwards.

What makes this particularly interesting is how different her pop base sounds, perhaps in part because she was a pop singer first and not an electronic producer (her previous album had no deconstruction at all). (And is there a specifically French style of dance-pop too? Maybe, I’m not sure at all)

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Seph ◈ Séptimo Sentido

Builds on the successful combination of ambient and breakbeats artists like Skee Mask and Djrum have been exploring, but with a clear focus on the beats and surprising sound design instead of atmospheres — plenty of energy and curveballs to keep things exciting throughout (I think I like it better than Skee Mask’s latest releases?)

Thanks to A Spiritual Moon for the recommendation!

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

ACO ◈ Absolute Ego

Lush, warm, jazzy, peaceful, balm for my soul. But with a certain ever-so-slightly dirty edge to it too, in the beats, the singer’s voice sometimes, which makes it even better.

(No connection to Boris’s album with a similar name)

▷ RYM

Biesy ◈ Golem

Queer experimental black metal with electronic elements wooo

To my ears this is psychedelic as hell — the sound is sharper and cleaner than I’d expect from black metal, which makes it both sound better and more cutting + it also feels like I’m drifting through a multidimensional maze at high speed and have no idea what’s in it or which way’s up, I just know that someone or something in the maze is angry

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

N. K. Jemisin ◈ The Inheritance Trilogy

Loved her Broken Earth trilogy, this earlier one was really good as well!

It begins with a young woman being summoned to the great sky palace of Arameri, basically white supremacists who have managed to have enslaved gods and godlings (!); of course she’s not safe there and there’s intense tension and interesting power relationships throughout (also insights on racism and power). The divinities are very interesting morally ambiguous characters (Jemisin is good at that), each tome has its own conclusion too (and the one at the end of the first volume is so satisfying).

If I were to choose though, I would say the Broken Earth trilogy is more solid; this one has passages that are more exciting than others, and a couple of inconsistencies (especially the protagonist of the second book, who is supposed to be blind to light but able to see magic — and somehow able to tell when somebody’s looking at her for instance. She’s a good character apart from that, but makes me want to read a book written by a blind author).

Pretty heavy content warnings: racism of course, also death, torture, body horror, incest, cannibalism, I’m probably forgetting a few

Ágaskodó Telivérek ◈ Ágaskodó Telivérek

Quirky breakcore rock! Takes a bit of a dip towards the end of the album, but it’s fun

Thanks to Hello Spiral for the discovery!

▷ RYM

ironomi ◈ niji

A beautiful long series of collaborations, piano ambient + a different instrument each time (this is where I discovered Akira Uchida below).

Thanks to wilczur for the recommendation!

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Akira Uchida ◈ Sasanami

Saxophone, clavichord, occasional vocals, field recordings of birds, of water. Beautiful and contemplative but with a sense of change and uncertainty too; vocals and melodies come and go in overlapping waves, sometimes lush, sometimes almost lonely and chilly, always with a sense of peace. Rare flowers blooming under changing winter skies.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Audio Werner ◈ On a Different Note

Minimal/ambient techno, sometimes close to tech house, sometimes weird and oblique, sometimes warm and nice. “Alter” is such a banger.

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Sonic Youth ◈ Master-Dik

Hi everybody!!! I suck at writing reviews tonight gaydies and enblemen so I’m just going to take my best shot at copying whatever Thurston is doing here = SELF-INDULGENT FUN WHO CARES IF IT♦S GOOD WOOOOO HOOO

:terrible beatboxing:
thurston raps middlingly about mostly nothing
but this ep is short and very entertaining
embrace the cringe and be free as they say
you’ll probably listen to this for free anyway
master-dik as a bonus on sister really didn’t fit
this one here is better if you like funny random shit

Catchy dumb song! ♪
Catchy fun song! ♪
Catchy useless cover of a dumb fun song! Oh yeah! ♪

« Pensez-vous que, d’un collage apparemment aléatoire de bric et de broc, puisse émerger une vision artistique qui transcende les éléments insignifiants dont il est constitué »
— Can a collage of random bits and pieces be more interesting than the bits and pieces themselves if there is no structure to the collage either?
— ＵＨ░ＭＡＹＢＥ??░ｉｄｋ
fgd ·œþ　dgœøpzir rgðþ　

”͘͠҉̴̶æ̀͘͏̶̛þø̴̵̛·”̀͢æ‘̷̢͠eà̵̴̀͘͡p̷̀̕͜͜ŕ̵̢̡͘͟i̧̨̕j͠ȩ̶̸̶́͢͜ŕz̧̧̡̀̕͠p“̶̴̶̶̢”̸̶̕͏̴̨́͞·̧̨̛̀z̀e̶͟͏p̸̷̶̨̡̕͢͞͝rŕé̛̀ø͡҉͡r̨҉̢t̨̨́͘͢p̢̛͘f̷̸̧̡͟i͢͏̵̕̕　‘̷̧͟͡͝…́̀͘͜͜͝z̶̢̨̀͘͜͝"͏̴҉҉̢̛́ą̀͟͝҉̧͟͏҉

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

i will be pretty when i die ◈ i will be pretty when i die

▷ Bandcamp
▷ RYM

Alva Noto ◈ Xerrox Vol. 5

Definitely sounds like a long ending, in a good way. Melancholy has always been there in the Xerrox series but here it expands, into space among the drones and beacons of bright sounds. While I don’t think the “copies from copies until everything has changed” concept is what really comes through, this series is fantastic.

▷ RYM



← Mid 2024 ◈ Media Diary Index ◈ Lamuya @ RYM ◈ Early 2025 →
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