november 2023 music chat

i’m really trying to like winter this year. i’m having a hard time of it still after almost a decade, being originally from a place where winter is just a time of the year where it’s slightly less warm, and not the seemingly-perpetual dark that is the seattle winter. the key, i think, is to stay very busy so that the mind can’t linger too much on the thoughts that such darkness can bring, and that works out pretty well. but still, i’m ready for it to be over.

other than music i’ve been listening and relistening to Media Club Plus, which is part of the Friends at the Table ummm network? (i guess that’s what you would call it?) it’s really good, HxH is really good, you should absolutely listen to it.

for december’s blog, which will come out in january, i’m planning on doing a big 2023 roundup. not exactly sure what that will look like, i’m taking some vacation time at the end of the year and will probably figure it out then. ok i now have to go and play morrowind, enjoy the blog

these are the 3 albums i listened to the most this month. i think they’re good as hell

spiral bound – rebecca sugar

back in october i was thinking how i really wanted a rebecca sugar album; an ep is good too. based on pages from daily journaling in spiral bound notebooks, each track on this album feels like the exploration of different singular ideas, the synthesis of which produces the whole: take your time, find where you belong, go easy on yourself.

nostalgia intertwines with hope for the future: missing a time and a place, a way of being, a way of feeling, while also recognizing that the only path is the one forward. it’s not all about the pace, but a continued momentum like that of a river.

⭐ ‘sweet time‘, ‘good morning afternoon‘, ‘anything can happen‘

me chama de gato que eu sou sua – ana frango elétrico

feels like something you would first discover on a late night tales playlist, great album to have on in the background at a party. when i say these tracks make me wanna boogie i am not kidding.

ana captures a bunch of different moods across each track– they fade into each other well, but the ending of one song and the beginning of the next is pretty clearly delineated when the style begins to change up. looking at the music i’ve listened to in december so far, this one is still getting a lot of play.

⭐ ‘electric fish‘, ‘insista em mim‘, ‘nuvem vermelha‘

nekkuja – marina herlop

nier automata type. music made for cutscenes (positive). this album occupies so much space, as in: the visuals that it conjures flit between dizzying heights and cavernous depths, and the sprawling greenery at which it intimates extends past the horizon. each song is incredibly dense, a lush soundscape that takes you to the forests of an alien world.

the first time i listened i had just hit the pen and the first track subsumed me wholly. it’s hard to put into words exactly what’s going on here, i really just think u should go listen to it.

⭐ ‘busa‘, ‘la alhambra‘, ‘babel‘

here are some songs i couldn’t stop listening to

vampire cowgirl – tele novella

when i put this on in the car my partner called it “cowboy jester music” which ,,,,,, fair. it is! and it’s good!! as a person possessing jester’s privilege it’s really important for me to honor the sacred rites of the institution. next year my partner and i are going to the redwoods for a while, i feel like this track (and generally the entire album) will be getting a lot of play while we’re making the drive south. it’s got a loping quality to it

pineapple kryptonite – ATARASHII GAKKO!

i’m watching the music video for this track for the first time while writing this. it’s basically a sentai and it fucking rules so i’m just going to link it here. the first time i listened to this song i thought “i could choreograph a cool fight scene to this” and it turns out i’m not the only person who thought that. amazing
there’s not much more to say i don’t think

perpetual bloom – g jones

another “i downloaded this because of the album art” pick, and a good one! so far my system has not really failed me. this track out of all of them felt the most to me like it should be on the soundtrack for LOVE, which is a platformer i put way too much time into back in 2014. that was in my “hmmm maybe i should drop out of college” era, where i played a lot of good video games and got many bad grades. though in dropping out i’ve managed to make a pretty good life for myself, so it seems to have been the right move.

spring bug – helena deland

perhaps a song i’ve been listening to out of an aspiration. winter is……. just dreadful. but it’s here for now, and eventually it will be gone, and the memory of it will disappear into memories of the dozen various winters of before.

For all its pauses
time will buckle down and pass me
this spring’s already a memory
and I should leave

we linger in the memory of the recent past for a while, but eventually we have to go. it’s not until their next instance that we really remember them as they were, when we engage in the same patterns and stars return to their location this season.

moon ride – lamp

lamp my beloved…………. do u all remember being on soundcloud back in 2014 and hearing A都市の秋 for the first time?? back when we were all smoking camel crushes and doing general dirtbag shit? or is that just an experience i had ?

well, this is more of lamp doing the stuff they do best. the entire album is 1.25 hours long, starting with dusk and ending with dawn as the album’s title promises. i’ve been listening to this track a lot while walking to the train at sunrise, when the sky is still almost completely dark and the clouds seem heavy with ultramarine pigment.