Media Diary: Late 2024

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. ▷ Bandcamp ▷ 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