Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

• Nikolaj Hess: Spacelab & Strings (2021)
• L’Rain: Fatigue (2021)
• Caroline Shaw: Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part (2021)
• Clown Core: “Diarrhea inferno welfare burrito” (2010), “Toilet” (2018), “Existence” (2020), 1234 (2021)
• Can: Live in Stuttgart 1975 (rec. 1975, rel. 2021)
• Iosonouncane: DIE (2015), IRA (2021)
• Jaubi: Nafs at Peace (2021)
• Haley: Pleasureland (2018)
• Low: Hey What (2021)
• Cristobal Tapia de Veer: The White Lotus (2021)
• David Grisman: Mondo Mando (1981), Dawg Jazz / Dawg Grass (1983)
• Tony Rice: Mar West (1980)
• Lingua Ignota: “Man is Like a Spring Flower” (2021)
• 15-60-75: Jimmy Bell’s Still in Town (1976)
• Penguin Cafe Orchestra: When in Rome (1988), Concert Program (1995)

Rediscovered or revisited, and really liked:

• Dreamweaver: “A King is Born” (1991)
• Bobby Krlic: Midsommar (2019)
• Can: “Halleluwah” (1971), Ege Bamyasi (1972), Future Days (1973), Soon Over Babaluma (1974)
• Klaus Schulze: Irrlicht (1972), X (1978)
• Kraftwerk: “Ruckzuck” (1970)
• Faust: Faust (1971), So Far (1972), Faust IV (1973)
• Neu!: “Hallogallo” (1972), Neu! 75 (1975)
• Popol Vuh: “Vuh” (1971), Hosianna Mantra (1972), Seligpreisung (1973), Einsjäger & Siebenjäger (1974), Das Hohelied Salomos (1975), Letzte Tage, Letzte Nächte (1976), Herz aus Glas (1977), Nosferatu: Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts (1978), Die Nacht der Seele: Tantric Songs (1979), Sei still, wisse ich bin (1981)
• Between: And the Waters Opened (1973), Dharana (1974)
• Xhol: Electrip (1969)
• Brainstorm: Smile a While (1972)
• Stephan Micus: “As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams” (1977)
• Michael Hoenig: “Departure from the Northern Wasteland” (1978)
• Led Zeppelin: “Dazed and Confused” (1969), “Whole Lotta Love” (1969), “Heartbreaker” (1969), “Immigrant Song” (1970), Led Zeppelin IV (1971), “D’yer Mak’er” (1973), “Trampled Under Foot” (1975), “Kashmir” (1975)
• The Stooges: “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (1969)
• Deep Purple: Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1970), “Smoke on the Water” (1972)
• Black Sabbath: “Black Sabbath” (1970), Paranoid (1970)
• Queen: Queen II (1974), “Killer Queen” (1974), A Night at the Opera (1975), “Somebody to Love” (1976), “We Are the Champions” (1977), “Bicycle Race” (1978), “Don’t Stop Me Now” (1978), “Who Wants to Live Forever” (1986), “The Show Must Go On” (1991)
• James Gang: “Funk #49” (1970)
• The Allman Brothers Band: “Whipping Post” (1969)
• Hampton Grease Band: “Halifax” (1971)
• ZZ Top: “La Grange” (1973)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Free Bird” (1973), “Sweet Home Alabama” (1974)
• Peter Green: The End of the Game (1970)
• MU: “Eternal Thirst” (1972)
• Flower Travellin’ Band: “Satori Part I” (1971)
• Eagles: “Hotel California” (1976)
• Stevie Wonder: “Contusion” (1976)
• David Grisman: The David Grisman Quintet (1977), Hot Dawg (1979), Quintet ’80 (1980)
• Mark O’Connor: Markology (1979)
• Tony Rice: Acoustics (1979)
• Abba: “Money Money Money” (1976), “Gimme Gimme Gimme” (1979)
• Fela Kuti: Gentleman (1973), “Alu Jon Jonki Jon” (1973), Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense (1986)
• Don McLean: “American Pie” (1971)
• Harry Chapin: “Cat’s in the Cradle” (1973)
• John Denver: “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (1971)
• Harry Nilsson: “Gotta Get Up” (1971), “Without You” (1971), “Coconut” (1971)
• Shawn Phillips: Contribution (1970), Second Contribution (1970), Collaboration (1971), Rumplestiltskin’s Resolve (1976)
• Tom Waits: Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), Bone Machine (1992), The Black Rider (1993), Mule Variations (1999), “Kommienezuspadt” (2002), Blood Money (2002), Bad as Me (2011)
• Todd Rundgren: Todd (1974), Utopia (1974)
• Exuma: Exuma (1970)
• Richard & Linda Thompson: “The Calvary Cross” (1974)
• John Cale: Fear (1974)
• Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (1973), Born to Run (1975), “Adam Raised a Cain” (1978), The River (1980), Born in the U.S.A. (1984)
• Manfred Mann: “Blinded by the Light” (1976)
• Billy Joel: “The Piano Man” (1973)
• Egberto Gismonti: Academia de danças (1974)
• Chico Buarque: “Deus Lhe Pague” (1971)
• Franco Battiato: “Sequenze e Frequenze” (1973)
• Serge Gainsbourg: “Cargo culte” (1971)
• David Bowie: “Space Oddity” (1969), “Suffragette City” (1972), Low (1977), Heroes (1977), 1.Outside (1995), Earthling (1997)
• Sparks: Kimono My House (1974), “The Rhythm Thief” (2002)
• Blue Oyster Cult: “Don’t Fear the Reaper” (1976)
• Aerosmith: “Toys in the Attic” and “Walk This Way” (1975), “Going Down / Love in an Elevator” (1989)
• AC/DC: “It’s a Long Way to the Top” and “T.N.T” (1975), “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (1976), “Whole Lotta Rosie” (1977), “Highway to Hell” and “Girls Got Rhythm” (1979), Back in Black (1980), “For Those About to Rock” (1981), “Thunderstruck” (1990)
• Journey: “Any Way You Want It” (1980), “Don’t Stop Believin’” (1981)
• Boston: “More Than a Feeling” (1976)
• Rush: “The Spirit of Radio” (1980)
• 38 Special: “Hold on Loosely” (1980)
• Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets (1973), Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974), Another Green World (1975), Before and After Science (1977), “1/1” (1978)
• Patrick Moraz: The Story of I (1976)
• Jasun Martz: “Battle 3” (2007)
• Stomu Yamash’ta: Floating Music (1972)
• Diga Rhythm Band: Diga (1976)
• Electric Light Orchestra: “Daybreaker” (1973), “Evil Woman” (1975), “Turn to Stone” and “Mr. Blue Sky” (1977), “Don’t Bring Me Down” (1979)
• Supertramp: “Crime of the Century” (1974), “The Logical Song” (1979)
• Fleetwood Mac: “The Chain” (1977), “Tusk” (1979)
• Toto: “Child’s Anthem” and “Hold the Line” (1978), “Africa” (1982)
• Kansas: “Carry On My Wayward Son” (1976)
• Styx: “Mr. Roboto” (1983)
• Deodato: “Also Sprach Zarathustra” (1972)
• Walter Murphy: “A Fifth of Beethoven” (1976)
• Jim Steinman: “Bat Out of Hell” (1977), “Original Sin” (1989)
• Bonnie Tyler: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983)
• Camel: The Snow Goose (1975), Rain Dances (1977)
• Brand X: Unorthodox Behaviour (1976)
• Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Music from the Penguin Cafe (1976), Penguin Cafe Orchestra (1981), Broadcasting from Home (1984), Signs of Life (1987), Union Cafe (1993)
• Heldon: Stand By (1979)
• Cyrille Verdoux: “Clearlight Symphony, 1st movement” (1975)
• Univers Zéro: Univers Zéro (1977), “Jack the Ripper” (1979), “Dense” (1982), Uzed (1984), Heatwave (1986), The Hard Quest (1999), Rhythmix (2002), Clivages (2010)
• Art Zoyd: “Brigades spéciales” (1976), “État d’urgence” (1982), “Cérémonie” and “Migrations” (1983)
• Dün: Eros (1981)
• Aksak Maboul: Un peu de l’âme des bandits (1980)
• Shub-Niggurath: “Entresol” (1985)
• Kebnekaise: “Balladen om björnbär och nätmelon” (1975)
• Foreigner: “Blue Morning, Blue Day” (1978)
• Warren Zevon: “Werewolves of London” (1978)
• Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1: Car (1977), Peter Gabriel 3: Melt (1980), Birdy (1985), Passion (1989)
• Kate Bush: The Kick Inside (1978), The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985)
• Ohio Players: “Love Rollercoaster” (1975)
• Bee Gees: “Stayin’ Alive” (1977)
• Gloria Gaynor: “I Will Survive” (1979)
• Patti Smith: “Because the Night” (1978)
• Richard Hell: “Blank Generation” (1976)
• Television: Marquee Moon (1977), Adventure (1978), Television (1992)
• Ramones: “Blitzkrieg Bop” (1976)
• The Clash: London Calling (1979), Sandinista! (1980)
• The Saints: “Know Your Product” (1978)
• Wire: “Reuters” (1978), Chairs Missing (1978), 154 (1979)

Movies/TV

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

• Gavron, Rocks (2019)
• White, The White Lotus, season 1 (2021) ★
• Various, Rick and Morty, season 5 (2021) ★
• Lowery, The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
• Various, Reservation Dogs, season 1 (2021)
• Various, Giri / Haji, season 1 (2019)

Games

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

• Axiom Verge 2. Okay, but I liked the first one better.
• Bowser’s Fury. Delightful, really fun.
• Skyward Sword HD. I played up to the final boss and stopped; I don’t like boss fights much anyway. Overall pretty good but not among my favorite Zelda adventures. Lots of people didn’t like the fine-grained sword controls but I thought they were kinda cool. The original 3D Zelda formula is clearly wearing thing so I’m glad Nintendo switched things up with BotW.
• Super Mario 3D World. I played up to the final level and then stopped because I didn’t have enough green stars to unlock it. Pretty fun but not among my favorite Mario adventures. I like all the new/updated gameplay elements but I got more joy from them in Bowser’s Fury.

Books

• Pinker, Rationality
• Shambaugh, China and the World
• Henrich, The WEIRDest People in the World. More interesting than I had expected. Don’t know if it’s core theses will hold up, but pretty interesting regardless.
• Rauch, The Constitution of Knowledge
• Lewis, The Premonition
• Johnson, Extra Life
• Kahneman et al., Noise