Music

Music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

• Pinkshinyultrablast: Everything Else Matters (2015)
• Third Coast Percussion: Perspectives (2022)
• Chuquimamani-Condori [Elysia Crampton]: “Breathing” (2023)
• Bryce Dessner: Quilting (2014), “Haven” (2019), Trombone Concerto (2020), Violin Concerto (2021)
• Edward Ratliff: Wong Fei-Hong Meets Little Strudel (2000)
• Goat: Joy in Fear (2023)
• Eric Christian: Trois Valses Sentimentales (2022)
• Richard Harvey: Concerto Antico (1995)
• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” (1995), LAGQ (1998)
• Ian Krouse: Symphonies of Strings No. 1 “La Follia” (1993), Guitar Quartet No. 5 “Labyrinth” (1995)

Previously, I listened to hundreds of orchestral arrangements of non-orchestral compositions and listed my favorites. This quarter, I decided to explore acoustic guitar arrangements of classical compositions (by a different composer). Ones I especially liked, listed by performer, are [playlist]:

• Kazuhito Yamashita: Bach’s BWV 1006 mvt 1 & BWV 1007 mvt 1; Debussy’s Petite Suite & “Passepied“; Vivaldi’s RV 425 mvts 1 & 3
• John C. Williams: Bach’s “Air on a G String“; Vivaldi’s RV 93 mvt 2; The Baroque Album
• Dublin Guitar Quartet: Performs Philip Glass
• Johan Smith: Schubert’s “Erlkönig“
• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet: Rimsky-Korasakov’s Capriccio espagnol; For Thy Pleasure; Bizet’s Carmen Suite; Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite; Warlock’s Capriol Suite; Copland’s “Simple Gifts“
• Amsterdam Guitar Trio: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons
• Los Romeros: Vivaldi Guitar Concertos
• Vincent Airault: Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (w/ flute);
• Philip Hii: J.S. Bach: New Transcriptions for Guitar;
• Tariq Harb: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; Debussy’s Clair de lune; Beethoven’s Fur Elise;
• Moran Wasser: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor;
• Vancouver Guitar Orchestra: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 3 mvt 1;
• Edson Lopes: Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik mvt 1;
• Vera Danilina: Mozart’s Turkish March;
• Rolf van Meurs: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 mvt 2; Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 1, Waltz No. 2;
• Bridget Mermikides: Mozart’s “Lacrimosa“;
• Emre Sabuncuoglu: Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings mvt 2;
• Tim Sparks: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite;
• Julian Bream: Bach’s BWV 1006 mvt 1, BWV 999;
• Eliot Fisk: Bach’s BWV 1006 mvt 1;

Rediscovered or revisited, and really liked:¹

• Seirom: 1973 (2012)
• Kings of Leon: “Knocked Up” (2007), “Use Somebody” (2008)
• Fucked Up: “Solomon’s Song” (2010), “Onno” (2012), “Act Four” (2021)
• Health: “Stonefist” & “Men Today” (2015)
• Deerhunter: Cryptograms (2007)
• M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts (2003), Before the Dawn Heals Us (2005), Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (2011)
• Serena-Maneesh: Serena-Maneesh (2006)
• Flotation Toy Warning: Bluffer’s Guide to the Flight Deck (2004), The Machine That Made Us (2017)
• Plants: Double Infinity (2006)
• Brightblack Morning Light: Brightblack Morning Light (2006)
• Gang Gang Dance: Saint Dymphna (2008), Eye Contact (2011)
• Cave: Psychic Psummer (2009), Pure Moods (2010), Neverendless (2011)
• Shit and Shine: Ladybird (2005), “Practicing to Be a Doctor” (2006)

And with that, I finally finished my third listen-through of every album and track listed in Scaruffi’s history of rock music. (A couple years ago I finished my 2nd listen-through of his jazz history, and last year I listened through his history of film music.) The Spotify playlists I made for each chapter in the rock history book are here.

More albums I rediscovered and really liked:

• Eddie Henderson: Realization (1973), Inside Out (1974)
• Joe Jackson: Heaven & Hell (1997)
• Slow Loris: The Ten Commandments and Two Territories According to… (1996)

I also resumed listening through complete works playlists for classical composers, picking up with Rimsky-Korsakov and Mendelssohn. My favorites were:

• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov [playlist]: Quintet in B Flat mvt 1 (1876), Capriccio espagnol (1887), Scheherazade (1888), Russian Easter Festival Overture (1888), Mlada Suite (1890), The Snow Maiden Suite (1895), “Flight of the Bumblebee” (1900), Christmas Eve Suite (1903)
• Felix Mendelssohn [playlist]: String Octet in E-Flat Major (1825), String Quartet No. 1 mvt 4 (1829), The Hebrides (1830), “Ich will hier bei Dir stehen” (1830), Capriccio Brillant in B Minor (1832), Rondo Brillante in E Flat Major (1834), Symphony No. 3 mvt 2 (1842), “Wedding March” (1842), Violin Concerto (1844), Piano Trio No. 2 (1845)

Movies/TV

Ones I “really liked” (no star), or “loved” (star):

• Various, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, season 14 (2019)
• Schaffer, Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 12 (2024) ★
• Various, Severance, season 2 (2025) ★
• Randall, Slow Horses, season 4 (2024) ★
• Barantini, Adolescence (2025) ★
• Guadagnino, Challengers (2024)
• Mann, Inside Out 2 (2024)

Games

All games I finished or decided to stop playing:

• Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom: The new “echoes” mechanic brings in some of the creative freedom of Breath of the Wild and especially Tears of the Kingdom, but this 2D Zelda is still much smaller and less open-world than those games, and it has too high a portion of its time spent in unskippable dialogue or miniature cutscenes, and the Zelda series has never been well-written. Still fun overall.
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: A very on-point nostalgia trip for fans of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and consistently fun, with diverse locations and great pacing.
• Horizon: Forbidden West: A very good game that had the misfortune of being released one week before what turned out to be the best video game of all time (Elden Ring). Forbidden West improves on Zero Dawn in every way: the already-great combat is even deeper and richer while still being accessible; the world is more varied and well-populated; the gear and enemies are more varied; the side quests are more varied, dynamic, and interesting; and the story is better-told and with fewer annoying exposition dumps. There are still some weaknesses, and I still prefer open-world games with less hand-holding / checkboxes, but this is probably one of the best open-world action/adventure/RPG games this side of Zelda and Elden Ring.
• ★ Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree: A fantastic expansion pack, basically as good as the base game except of course less innovative. Very plausibly the best game of its year despite being a DLC. I haven’t beaten the final boss yet but otherwise I made it through most of the content. The build variety and balance in this game is crazy good, and FromSoft’s level/world design remains unmatched (afaik) in the Soulslike genre.
• ★ Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: Less technically polished than many big-budget open world games, but the gameplay systems are especially immersive and addicting, the quest design is very good, the world is rich and alive, the writing and voice acting are next-level, and the commitment to realism pays off in numerous ways. Overall, it reminded me most of RDR2. The hype is real; this has to be one of the best open-world RPGs ever made. The review I resonate with most is this one by Skill Up.
• Ghost of Tsushima: Its gorgeous visuals are typically unobstructed by any HUD. A surprisingly good story, and I really liked the final chapter. The gameplay was good but not great, e.g. the enemy targeting was kinda janky, the loot was minimal (most of it just generic “supplies”!), a lot of the game was too on-rails for my tastes (“return to the quest area in 15 seconds!”), and more.

Books

I post book ratings and reviews to my Goodreads account instead of here. Last year I averaged ~5000 pages per month, but this year I’m reading much less so far.

1. I think I hadn’t heard some of the classical pieces before, but I’m not sure which ones. [↩]