Improved Means for Achieving Deteriorated Ends

Content tagged lists

Favorite Albums of 2023

posted on 2023-12-29 10:20:00

I really love discovering and listening to new music. In fact, going through "Best of the year" lists is one of great things I enjoy doing over the holidays. I don't make it a habit to listen to everything, but I skim through and try to find a half dozen records I'm unfamiliar with to audition. I've used publications for this in the past (Paste, Pitchfork, Popmatters, etc) but have also really enjoyed individual lists from some folks, notably @funkentechno who writes OptimisticUnderground.

A personal list is a good list. Yet I haven't historically written many lists myself. The last one I wrote up dates to 2011! But before I get into that, let me just say "Fuck spotify" for a whole host of reasons not least of which is that:

  1. you don't own the music you love and
  2. they exploit the hell out of musicians

Use bandcamp and discogs wherever possible. Or until folks start using faircamp or jam.coop anyway. (Youtube or piracy for purposes of auditioning before buying is fine, of course.) I'll include links where I can.

With that out of the way, let's talk tunes. I've broken things into very loose categories of Indie, Ambient, and Techno. I confess I'm biased towards exploring instrumental and electronic music. I've listed 20 albums from 2023 and have additional sections for music that held over from 2022 or were discovered (but not originally released) in 2023.

This also feels a bit like the year of really diving hard into Ambient and trying to build a map of the territory. I've started exploring the catalogs of labels like Astral Industries, 12k, Faitiche, Silentes, Sferic. Grief and a need for comfort informed the larger than usual representation of that genre. Now off we go...

Continuing influence

It's interesting to look at what albums held on from 2022. In that regard, JID and SZA were really stuck in my head and wound up as 2 of my top 5 albums by plays (according to last.fm). I'm sure there are other 2022 albums that weren't in rotation long enough that I should run back too. :)

Indie, etc

boygenius - the record [Interscope]

Standout tracks: $20, True Blue

The indie girl supergroup returns. It is hard not to love boygenius but this album didn't land quite as strongly for me as either their EP or Home Video by Lucy Dacus. Still, it is impossible to ignore work from these three and there's a lot to love here.

feeble little horse - Girl with Fish [Saddle Creek]

Standout tracks: Freak, Steamroller, Paces, Sweet, Slide, Heavy Water

Man, I really loved this album. It is a real contender for AOTY for me. I had a really shit year in 2023 and the fuzz and shoegaze vibes of feeble little horse was just what I needed from about February to September. It is a shame because it seems like the band may have broken up (canceled summer tour, radio silence). I'll be coming back to this one for a while.

Kelela - Raven [Warp]

Standout tracks: Happy Ending, Let It Go, Contact, Far Away

I've been following Kelela since Hallucinogen so I knew I had to check out Raven when it was announced and it didn't disappoint. It feels like the most polished and fully realized version of her sound I've heard. An immaculately produced and deeply sensual album.

Softcult - See You in the Dark [Self-released]

Standout tracks: Dress, Love Song

I got turned onto this one by a Daniel Avery interview of all things. The album is uneven but Dress and Love Song really got their hooks into me. Anyway, fuzzed out guitars and elegiac vocals was just the recipe I needed a lot of this year and Softcult delivered.

Youth Lagoon - Heaven is a Junkyard [Fat Possum]

Standout tracks: Rabbit, Prizefighter, The Sling, Mercury

I had no idea I needed Youth Lagoon and then the album hit me over the head with the weight of a freight train. I found it in August after Dad's death, Uncle Mack's death, and a company re-org. It was on loop continuously for a month as I processed grief and exhaustion. The simple, lovely harmonies and worn singing from Trevor Powers guided me through a lot.

Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music [Brownswood]

Standout tracks: Rust, Turquoise Galaxy, The Light, Chasing the Drum

I missed out on an opportunity to see Yussef Dayes right after Thanksgiving and have been kicking myself for not buying tickets soon enough ever since. This is the best jazz album I heard all year and Yussef's drumming is just impeccable. Infectious and endlessly listenable. This one is a joy from start to finish.

Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume [Warp]

Standout tracks: Heaven Surrounds Us Like A Hood, Fear Evil Like Fire, Ebony Eye

What is this stuff? It doesn't matter. Like Flying Lotus inventing a universe with Cosmogramma, Yves Tumor has created a sonic world to get lost in. Massive, beautiful, and psychedelic but never serene, the groove and stomp of these tracks is ever present. I was hooked from the first notes of Heaven Surrounds Us Like a Hood and never looked back.

Ambient corner

Anthony Naples - Orbs [ANS]

Standout tracks: Moto Verse, Silas, Scars, Unknow

Anthony Naples has made a gorgeous, enthralling downtempo record with Orbs. I played it in team retros, I played it when I was driving, I played it when I needed to be pulled back to center. Smacking of trip-hop and dub, these elegant tracks were just what was called for.

Gigi Masin & Greg Foat - Dolphin [Strut]

Standout tracks: London Nights, Love Theme, Viento Calido

Some tracks lean more jazzy, some more ambient, but without fail Foat's keys and Masin's synths are a perfect pairing. This album is a warm blanket to wrap up in when you can afford to slow down and be still.

Gigi Masin & Rod Modell - Red Hair Girl at Lighthouse Beach [Silentes]

Youtube excerpt

Standout tracks: Red Hair Girl at the Boat Stop, Summer Morning at Lighthouse Beach

I took a gamble on this physical-only release based solely on what I know about Gigi Masin and Rod Modell and it worked out. The first track is an aquatic dub excursion to the bottom of the ocean, the second track is ethereal ambient basking in sunlight. Both are unhurried, beautiful, patient. I hope these two decide to team up again soon. The initial run sold out lightning fast but there is a repress coming you can preorder...

Jonny Nash - Point of Entry [Melody as Truth]

Standout tracks: All I Ever Needed, Silver Sand, Face of Another

When the guitar's delay cranked up two thirds of the way through All I Ever Needed, my eyes rolled back in my head. The beginning of this album felt a bit too somber to me but the rest is keys, guitar, and saxophone gently carrying me away.

Purelink - Signs [Peak Oil]

Standout tracks: In Circuits, Stadium Drive, Pinned

Hovering somewhere on the precipice between Ambient and Dub, this album is as good a modern day example of Ambient Techno as you're likely to find. It makes perfect sense for Peak Oil as a label as well, sitting very well alongside Topdown Dialectic.

Rod Modell - Ghost Lights [Astral Industries]

Standout tracks: N/A, it is one contiguous journey

I took a chance on this based on Rod Modell's work as Deepchord and liked it a good bit. But buyer beware, if you're unfamiliar with Astral Industries this is more ambiance, field recordings, and subterranean echo and crackle than melody. But Rod Modell is the master of creating a sense of place and proper headphones or monitoring can take you on a real journey with this record. Slow down.

Rod Modell & Taka Noda - Glow World [Silentes]

Youtube playlist

Standout tracks: N/A, they are all untitled, it is one contiguous journey

If Ghost Lights is the ambient record and Red Hair Girl the ambient/dub pair, Glow World seems more clearly anchored on the dub side of the spectrum. It has a steadier thrum than the previous two records (but this is not techno), so if the anchor of bass or a kick would be helpful this is where to begin. It sold out rapidly all over not unlike Red Hait Girl but you can stream it on youtube and there are copies popping up on discogs here and there.

Techno

Andrea - Due In Colour [Ilian Tape]

Standout tracks: Ress, Remote Working, Chessbio, Hazymo, Return Lei

It must be hard to be on Ilian Tape because of the inevitable comparisons to Skee Mask. Since his debut album Ritorno, I've felt that Andrea is the most slept on member of the label. He has a very distinctive style, still incorporating the ever important breakbeats and lush pads that are core elements of Ilian Tape, but wandering further afield into jazzy ambient pastures than the rest of his labelmates. Due In Colour sees that style reach its full potential. It is an enthralling record and a wake up call for anyone still sleeping on Andrea.

Dario Zenker - Reflection [Ilian Tape]

Standout tracks: ASM 61 Gate, Ear 660 Cruise, The 600 Prophets

What can I say? I'm a sucker for Ilian Tape. It's been interesting to see the two Zenker brothers that founded the label, Dario and Marco, veer away from their long history of records together and both release a solo album in the last 24 months. While I think Marco's Channel Balance is my preference both are excellent records. The drum programming on Reflection is impeccable but it is the aqueous, dubby ambience that really captures me. Gorgeous stuff.

Gacha Bakradze - Forget [Oath]

Standout tracks: Shifting, Lake

There's something in the water in Tbilisi. Gacha Bakradze and HVL are maybe the two most prominent exports from Georgia's techno scene and I can't get enough of them. The soaring melodies in the A-side hooked me more than the B-side on this EP and it was nice to see Gacha branching out a bit from his usual style and home on Lapsus.

Gacha Bakradze & HVL - Splits [Organic Analogue]

Standout tracks: Infinitesmal, Routes, Chain

When I saw that there was a split EP from Gacha and HVL coming out on Organic Analogue, I preordered it before reading anything else or looking at the track listing. I have no regrets.

HVL - Dialogue [Self-released]

Standout tracks: Nugeshi, Enjoyable Recollection, 6km Freight Train, Collgen Live Chords

HVL (Gigi Jikia) is my favorite techno artist that I don't hear people talk about enough. He isn't unknown by any means. Aphex Twin and Daniel Avery play him in DJ sets, his debut album Ostati made 2018 year ends lists from Mixmag and RA, etc. HVL's output is a bit intimidating though. In the last 4 years, Gigi has self-released no less than 5 double albums in addition to Dialogue. In total, that is around 11 hours worth of techno since the start of the pandemic. That starts to put you in line with acts like Aleksi Perala and Autechre. The quality of his productions remains superlative but even I'll admit a lot of the post-pandemic work feels more like track dumps than albums. That said, Dialogue is the shortest, most focused and accessible thing he has released since Rhythmic Sonatas to my ear. I'm hopeful that it will get the wide audience it deserves and, if I'm very very lucky, a vinyl pressing at some point.

James Holden - Imagine This is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities [Border Community]

Standout tracks: Common Land, In the End You'll Know, Continuous Revolution, The Answer Is Yes

Holden's most famous album "The Inheritors" has moments of brilliance but never fully clicked for me. There's a steadiness to the arc of his latest album that I had a much easier time following, where with Inheritors I would get thrown off course. And when the drums come in a minute into Common Land? The birds sang, the rivers whispered, the seasons of the earth returned unerringly, a fox chased a mouse in a thicket, and for a moment everything was just right.

Surgeon - Crash Recoil [Tresor]

Standout tracks: Oak Bank, Metal Pig, Subcultures

Though it is quite consistent in tonal palette and general structure, it is fascinating to listen to the process behind Crash Recoil. Anthony Child takes the same MIDI sequences, synths, and samples, and contorts them into a constellation of shapes just as he would live. We get to hear him riff on mixing and arrangement and find the different ways to combine simple elements to make people move.

Tammo Hesselink - Beam [Nous'klaer]

Standout tracks: Function As Foils, Eraser, Etseled

Normally, work as spare and minimal as Tammo's is pretty challenging for me. I'm still trying to process the albums of his labelmate Konduku, for example. But something about Beam just worked. The drums and delay on Function As Foils engaged me immediately in polyrhythm and negative space. The aggressive rush of Eraser's percussion juxtaposed perfectly with the arrival of sumptuous pads. This is just solid hypnotic techno.

Discovered, not from 2023 (reissue, late to the party, etc)

WHEW!

There we go. 3500 words and 30 great albums. Go listen to some music! Will I be back next year? Maybe! 😂

If you discover something you love, by all means drop me a line and let me know.

8 Good Games (since 2013)

posted on 2022-01-01 13:40:00

Since Last Time

A long time ago when Norma and I had just started dating and I hadn't ever taught anyone to program, I wrote a post. In it, I talked about some of my favorite games. It was mostly just a list with a little added color here and there. But it's time for an update, and this time I hope to do just a little more than list some favorites. I'm also a little aware of how I weighted things last time. When I wrote Beloved Games, I wanted to make sure the times in my life with the most gaming (middle school and high school) had the bulk of the entries. I also wanted to show that the gaming experiences that had been managing to pull me back into the fold and affect me at that time were small downloadable indies, a relatively new phenomena. Those games offered new experiences more regularly than AAA titles so I also was careful to not include more than one game from a particular genre or series (which were relegated to honorary mentions).

The List

So, what really struck a chord with me in the last 8 years? I'll just list the titles first and then delve into more detailed thoughts and justifications. These are arbitrarily in order of least to most long-term impact on me personally.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us is an incredibly compelling story and one of the best games of its generation. The value it has to me has less to do with the gameplay though, and more to do with the quality of its presentation, the rapport it builds with its cast, and the more serious themes of its plot. In some ways, The Last of Us reminded me of when I first played "Metal Gear Solid". The themes it dealt with were more mature than what I expected of games at that time and it pushed the envelope of how to tell a story in games compared to its contemporaries.

The interesting thing about such games is that they make a big impact at the time of release but wane later. By pushing the medium forward, if you miss them when they came out it becomes notably harder to appreciate their qualities many years down the line when the lessons they teach are internalized by other works in the medium. (The same thing happens in film, of course.)

The reasons I started disconnecting with games in the late aughts and early tens was two fold. For one, I was really starting to grow up. I had a lot of opportunities to do fun things IRL that weren't available to high school me. I was being social more, studying more, working more. I was living more. That focus made it harder to justify lots of time spent on gaming experiences.

The fact that AAA games increasingly were just rehashes of existing series or well-formed genres was just the nail in the coffin. The Last of Us is an amazing title. But it is a continuation of the established mold of "story-driven 3rd person action adventure". That's not to undersell its accomplishments at all, but I think there are limits to how much that can impact me now.

Skate

There isn't a ton to say about Skate. It should've been on the original list and it wasn't. I can clearly remember spending the night at a friend's house in 1999 and his insistence at Blockbuster (really dating myself here) that we rent a skateboarding game. I thought it was the dumbest idea I'd ever heard. Why on earth would that be any fun at all?

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater got me into skateboarding in real life. It is the first ~~physical~~ athletic activity I remember really liking. It was also the first hobby I picked up and really enjoyed despite knowing I wasn't particularly talented at it.

Tony Hawk as a series has always been an arcade game rather than a Sim though. I discovered Thrasher's Skate and Destroy in high school and eventually favored it because it was closer to how I would really want to skate than the mindless combo fodder of THPS which was better for playing with friends.

Skate came out in 2009 and was probably the first PS3 game I was really hype about. That or MGS4. Skate took a great budget and the notion of a Sim skateboarding game and nailed it. I loved the whole series and eventually started playing it more than really skateboarding. Whoops.

Breath of the Wild

What was the first "Open World" game? Do we count GTA 3 and Vice City or do we wait until Assassin's Creed and Skyrim? Is 3rd person perspective required? I realize Elite was a thing but I wasn't alive for that. Breath of the Wild is probably the first so-called open world game that I gave a damn about it and that's the least interesting thing about it to me.

Ocarina of Time feels like the first open-world game that I played and was really captivated by. It comes down to the same crucial thing: an insane dedication to compelling world building. There are tons of open world games that just feel like endless content with no soul, no hidden inner workings, just the result of needing to fill a virtual space rather than a thing that has a logic of its own. In a game like GTA where most people play by just causing chaos and trolling authority in a controlled space that's fine. But in a game like Zelda, it makes all the difference.

I don't remember if I played Breath of the Wild in 2017 or 2018. I never finished the story. I just enjoyed exploring a well-crafted world until I'd had my fill. I don't know that it changed how I thought about games or what they could be. It was just the perfect way to relax and enjoy Hyrule.

Persona 5

Final Fantasy convinced me I liked JRPGs but I never managed to break into the genre more broadly. I really enjoyed FFVIII (my first) and FFX. I never played 1-7 (I know, I know) and started but never finished 9 and 12. It mostly came down to an enjoyable world to explore, an interesting (or at least tolerable) cast, and great art and music. Persona 5 was the first JRPG I managed to play outside Final Fantasy and I think the only reason I didn't finish it is my wife got impatient. I enjoyed watching the rest of her playthrough. One day I'll finish my own.

JRPGs often have an adolescent feel to me and I think it's probably essential that they do. I was a shut-in during high school even though I'm pretty extroverted. I had close friends but still managed to doubt that I'd figure out life: jobs, relationships, a future. JRPGs are great providers of "safe freedom" and a coming of age setting. They build faith that you can figure things out and win, often in a style that suits you.

Persona 5 nails this more than any RPG I can think of. It has incredible art and worldbuilding, an engaging story, and genuinely interesting relationships. It is the only RPG where I've been compelled to micro-optimize whether I study, work, build a friendship, or fight demons after school. How they made it both fun and relaxing, I'm not sure.

Hades

You've probably already heard about Hades. (And most of these games, in fairness.) It won Game of the Year from many publications. It is the first roguelike I have loved. Roguelikes are tricky for me. It's interesting to separate the games on my lists between an attraction for worldbuilding/story vs mechanics/gameplay. While there is definitely a spectrum, games are fairly even dividied as to what the big draw is for me but it is exceedingly rare for me to like a game that doesn't have strong art and storyline to rope me in.

Roguelikes as a genre promise variation from randomly generated elements in a playthrough and multiple ways to win but often struggle to have the same draw for me as games with more linear stories and higher production values. It's hard for randomly generated worlds to have a soul. Call me shallow but there are exactly 3 games on my lists that I would say don't matter to me at all in terms of story and characterization: Mega Man 2, Super Stardust, and Melee.

Lots of indie roguelikes (and metroidvanias too) struggle to not just be fun to play but also compel with their characters and sense of place. Hades brokethrough for me by having a very strong sense of meta-progress across runs, a very engaging story, beautiful art, and an amazing capacity to build enjoyment through more options the longer you play. It's hard to explain but it's magic. I remember saying the same thing about Persona 5 at some point, "It just keeps opening up".

Celeste

I love platformers. The last few years have really driven that home for me. Celeste took me a while to get around to because, well, the art didn't quite impress me. And I was fresh off playing Hollow Knight so my bar was probably a little high. It also didn't have combat and I wondered how the gameplay would develop to keep me engaged without it. That was a foolish mistake.

Celeste is one of the best platformers I have ever played, has a memorable and moving soundtrack, and one of the most thoughtful treatments of mental health in video gaming. It is brutally challenging while also encouraging the player to push onwards. For all its difficulty, kindness is somehow in its design. I am not one of the people who completed all the optional B and C-side content and probably won't be. I am immensely happy I took the time to pick it up.

Hollow Knight

We're really getting into the heavy hitters at this point. I loved Hollow Knight. Really loved it. I've been eagerly awaiting their follow-up game Silksong for the better part of 2 years, clinging to any news at all and hoping for a surprise release announcement constantly.

Hollow Knight is the complete package. A new IP from a formerly unknown developer. Just enough story and lore to have you curiously driving forward while retaining an air of mystery. Absolutely stunning artwork and animation combined with a fresh setting. A beautiful soundtrack to accentuate exploring. A sense of perpetual "opening up" as new mechanics and abilities are unlocked. And most important of all, beautifully tight physics and controls. The kind of game where it "just feels right".

It's been years since I've played it and I regularly entertain thoughts of playing it through again (which I don't really do with games). I'm sure I'll love it for years to come. Here's hoping 2022 is the year for Silksong.

Melee

I ... probably should stop the article now. Melee is a force. I played Super Smash Bros for N64 and Wii in college and really enjoyed it. Few things are better than beating up your friends with Nintendo characters. It's just a fact. But Melee is something else. You can play it the way you play the other smash games. It can be chaos with friends, random items and silly stages full of hazards. Or you can turn off the most chaotic random elements and stages, practice movement with your character, and turn it into possibly the most interesting competitive game I've ever played.

I started playing at the end of 2013 and I haven't stopped. I've traveled out of state with my friend Max to compete in national tournaments. It is the only fighting game I know of that has multiple tournaments with prize pools in the tens of thousands of dollars 20 years after release with no backing from its developer. I am closer to understanding fans of real sports because of how many times, how many seasons, I've watched twitch streams of major tournaments with tens of thousands of other spectators, rooting for pro players I think can break through to the next level of play or conquer their demon.

There are at least three high quality documentaries I can think of off the top of my head chronicling the game's competitive history and the stories of its players. There are countless sets I've loved watching. The melee I see played today has evolved from 2 years ago, which has evolved from 2 years before that, all the way back to when I started playing eight years ago. I have recordings of me playing in 2014 and 2015. I can't express how different they look to when I play now.

When does a game become more than a game? I think it's when the dedicated, long-term efforts of thousands and thousands of people force it to continue to grow and change until it no longer resembles it's humble origins. Every time I think the game has been pushed to its limits and all its secrets have been revealed, I'm proven wrong whether it's at the next tournament or the one after. It won't surprise me if Melee is still being played seriously 20 years from now. And even if it isn't, it's been one hell of a ride. Some good links below if you're interested.

Video Essays:

Documentaries:

Grade A Youtube Content (from entertaining to educational):

One very good recent set:

Compilations and Combo Videos:

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