Music

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

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

• Lumerians: Transmalinnia (2011)
• Oranssi Pazuzu: Mestarin kynsi (2020)
• Fatima Al Qadiri: Genre-Specific Xperience (2015)
• Oren Ambarchi: Sagittarian Domain (2012)
• Guardian Alien: See the World Given to a One Love Entity (2012), Spiritual Emergency (2014)
• Stara Rzeka: “Przebudzenie boga wschodu” (2013)
• Black Dirt Oak: “Demon Directive” (2014)
• A Tribe Called Red: “Electric Pow Wow Drum” (2013)
• Lupe Fiasco: Food & Liquor (2006), “Go Go Gadget Flow” (2007), “Hello/Goodbye (Uncool)” (2007)
• Lotic: Power (2018)
• Dev/Null: “Banal Universe” (2007), “Gorechsetra” (2008)
• Otaka Tomooki: “Sound of an Air Raid” (2012)
• Lorn: Ask the Dust (2012)
• Paul Jebanasam: Music for the Church of St John the Baptist (2012), Rites (2013), Continuum (2016)
• Chromb!: “Tu es ma pause dejeuner” (2012)
• Nooumena: Argument with Eagerness (2011)
• Alexander Noice: Noice (2019)
• [bleu]: Sincère autopsie de la finesse (2009)
• Tanya Tagaq: “Uja” (2014), Retribution (2016), “Icebreaker” (2019)
• Zeal and Ardor: “A Spiritual” (2014), “Devil is Fine” (2016), Stranger Fruit (2018)
• Louis Cole: Louis Cole (2010), Album 2 (2011), Time (2018)
• Knower: Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi (2010), Think Thoughts (2011)
• Ben Levin: Freak Machine (2015)
• Khompa: The Shape of Drums to Come (2016)
• Snowman: Absence (2011)
• Rhun: Fanfare du Chaos (2013)
• Arnold Dreyblatt: The Adding Machine (2002)
• Horse Lords: Horse Lords (2012)
• Kooba Tercu: Kharrub (2019), Proto Tekno (2020)
• HHY & The Macumbas: Throat Permission Cut (2014)
• Juan Cristobal Tapia de Veer: Utopia (2013), Humans (2015)
• Kahil El’Zabar: “Return of the Lost Tribe” [Infinity Orchestra version] (2008), America the Beautiful (2020)
• Møster!: When You Cut into the Present (2015)
• Tod Machover: “Towards the Center” (1990)
• Max Cooper: Yearning for the Infinite (2019)
• Mid-Air Thief: Gongjoong Doduk (2015), Crumbling (2019)
• Boring Bathtimes: Loss (2017)
• Larry Polansky: “Ensembles of Note” (comp. 1998, rel. 2010)
• Motorpsycho: The Death Defying Unicorn (2012)
• Rob Mazurek: Dimensional Stardust (2020)
• Ağaçkakan: “Sıkboğaz” (2013)
• Godcaster: Long Haired Locusts (2020)
• Michael Gordon: Light is Calling (2004), Acquanetta (comp. 2005), “Shelter: Is This Wind” (comp. 2005)

Rediscovered or revisited (i.e. I’m no longer excluding great albums I revisited but hadn’t forgotten about), and really liked:

• Julia Holter: Ekstasis (2012), Loud City Song (2013), Have You In My Wilderness (2015), Aviary (2018)
• Jenny Hval: Viscera (2011), Innocence is Kinky (2013), Meshes of Voice (2014)
• Roly Porter: Aftertime (2011), Third Law (2016)
• I Am a Lake of Burning Orchids: “Superclub” (2011)
• Gnod: Infinity Machines (2015)
• Nicolas Jaar: Space Is Only Noise (2011), Nymphs (2015)
• James Blake: James Blake (2011), “Retrograde” (2013)
• Tune-Yards: Whokill (2011)
• Clams Casino: Instrumentals (2011)
• Oranssi Pazuzu: Värähtelijä (2016)
• Yamantaka // Sonic Titan: YT//ST (2011)
• Andy Stott: Luxury Problems (2012)
• King Tears Bat Trip: “Stolen Police Car” (2012)
• Abu Lahab: “Burden of Senses” (2012)
• Beach House: Teen Dream (2010), Bloom (2012)
• Cloud Nothings: Attack on Memory (2012)
• Perfume Genius: Put Your Back N 2 It (2012), Too Bright (2014)
• Goat: World Music (2012)
• Frank Ocean: “Pyramids” (2012)
• Dan Deacon: Spiderman of the Rings (2008), Bromst (2009), America (2012)
• The Algorithm: Polymorphic Code (2012), “Octopus4” (2014), Compiler Optimization Techniques (2018)
• FKA Twigs: EP1 (2012), EP2 (2013), M3LL155X (2015), “Fallen Alien” (2019)
• Arca: Baron Libre (2012), Xen (2014)
• Lapalux: “Gutter Glitter” (2012)
• Katie Gately: Pipes (2013), Katie Gately (2013), “Pivot” (2014), Color (2016), Loom (2020)
• Sylvan Esso: Sylvan Esso (2014)
• Khun Narin: Electric Phin Band (2014)
• Idylls: “Lied To” (2014), “In the Barn” (2017)
• Richard Dawson: “The Vile Stuff” (2014)
• Los Random: “Mee Chango” (2014)
• Bent Knee: Bent Knee (2011), Shiny Eyed Babies (2014), Say So (2016), You Know What They Mean (2019)
• St. Vincent: Marry Me (2007), Actor (2009), Strange Mercy (2011), St. Vincent (2015)
• Lil Ugly Mane: “Wishmaster” (2012), “Leonard’s Lake” (2015)
• Raoul Bjorkenheim: eCsTaSy (2014)
• Lupe Fiasco: Tetsuo & Youth (2015)
• Jlin: Dark Energy (2015), “Black Origami” (2017), “Challenge (To Be Continued)” (2017), “Carbon 12” (2018)
• Vince Staples: “Jump Off the Roof” (2015)
• Grimes: Geidi Primes (2010), Art Angels (2015)
• Holly Herndon: “Fade” (2012), Platform (2015), “Eternal” (2019)
• Carter Tutti Void: f(x) (2015)
• The Comet is Coming: Prophecy (2015), Channel the Spirits (2016), Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (2019), The Afterlife (2019)
• Troller: “Torch” (2016)
• Ergo: As Subtle as Tomorrow (2016)
• Lingua Ignota: Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him (2017), Caligula (2019)
• Pryapisme: Hyperblast Super Collider (2013), Diabolicus felinae pandemonium (2017)
• L’Rain: L’Rain (2017)
• Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: EARS (2016)
• Daughters: “The Reason They Hate Me” (2018), “Less Sex” (2018)
• Kurushimi: Kurushimi (2016)
• Oneohtrix Point Never: Age Of (2018)
• Igorrr: Hallelujah (2012)
• Suuns: “Holocene City” (2013)
• Todd Reynolds: Outerborough (2011)
• Wim Mertens: Jardin Clos (1996)
• Duke Ellington: “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” (1927)
• Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights (rec. 1937-1939, rel. 1992)
• Dizzy Gillespie: Gillespiana (1961), The New Continent (1962)
• Thelonious Monk: “Brilliant Corners” (1957)
• Dave Brubeck: Time Out (1959)
• Stan Kenton: “Artistry in Rhythm” (1943)
• Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (rec. 1948-1950, rel. 1957), Kind of Blue (1957), Sketches of Spain (1960), Miles Smiles (1967), Sorcerer (1967), Miles in the Sky (1968), Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968), In a Silent Way (1969), Bitches Brew (1970), A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971), On the Corner (1972), “Great Expectations” (1974), Agharta (1975), Pangaea (1976)
• The Modern Jazz Quartet: Django (rec. 1953-1955, rel. 1956), Fontessa (1956)
• Stan Getz: “I’m Late, I’m Late” (1962)
• Gil Evans: Out of the Cool (1960), Blues in Orbit (1971), Svengali (1973), Parabola (1979), Where Flamingos Fly (1981)
• George Russell: The Jazz Workshop (1957), New York, N.Y. (1959), Jazz in the Space Age (1960), Stratusphunk (1961), Ezz-thetics (1961), The Stratus Seekers (1962), Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (1971), “Now and Then” (1971), “Listen to the Silence: Event IV” (1971), Vertical Form VI (1981), “Time Spiral” (1986), The African Game (1986)
• Teddy Charles: “Word from Bird” (1957), “Take Three Parts Jazz” (1957)
• Betty Carter: “Sounds” (1973), “Sounds [1979 performance]” (1980)
• Gerry Mulligan: “For an Unfinished Woman” (1975)
• Art Pepper: “Mambo de la pinta” (1978)
• Art Blakey: “The Sacrifice” (1956)
• Sonny Rollins: “Freedom Suite” (1968)
• Horace Silver: “Song for my Father” (1965)
• Joe Henderson: Power to the People (1969), Multiple (1973), The Elements (1974)
• Woody Shaw: Blackstone Legacy (1971), Little Red’s Fantasy (1978), Rosewood (1978), Woody III (1979)
• Freddie Hubbard: “Spacetrack” (1970)
• Donald Byrd: A New Perspective (1963)
• Mal Waldron: “Stratus Seeking” (1962), “The Call” (1972)
• Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956), “Haitian Fight Song” (1957), Tijuana Moods (rec. 1957, rel. 1962), Mingus Ah Um (1959), Blue & Roots (1960), “Folk Forms, No. 1” (1960), “MDM” (1960), Epitaph (comp. 1962, rel. 1990), The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963), Let My Children Hear Music (1972), Cumbia and Jazz Fusion (1978)
• Philip Glass: Satyagraha (comp. 1979), Koyaanisqatsi (comp. 1982), String Quartet No. 2 (comp. 1984), String Quartet No. 3 (comp. 1985), The Light (comp. 1987), Violin Concerto No. 1 (comp. 1987), Metamorphosis (comp. 1988), String Quartet No. 4 (comp. 1989), Symphony No. 9 (comp. 2011)
• Arvo Part: “Fur Alina” (comp. 1976), “Fratres” (comp. 1977), “Summa” (comp. 1977), “Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten” (comp. 1977), “Tabula Rasa: Ludus” (comp. 1977), “Spiegel im spiegel” (comp. 1978), “Hymn to a Great City” (comp. 1984), “Festina lente” (comp. 1988), “The Beatitudes” (comp. 1990)
• Jackie McLean: “Melody for Melonae” (1963)
• Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961), “Sound Piece for Jazz Orchestra” (1966), “Swiss Suite” (1972)
• Wayne Shorter: Juju (1965), Speak No Evil (1966), The Soothsayer (rec. 1965, rel. 1979), “Etcetera” (rec. 1965, rel. 1980), The All Seeing Eye (1966), Schizophrenia (1967)
• Roland Kirk: “Expansions” (1969), “Saxophone Concerto” (1973)
• Denny Zeitlin: “El Fuego De Las Montañas” (1975), “A Scarf In The Air” (1975), “Syzygy” (1977)
• Charles Lloyd: Dream Weaver (1966), Forest Flower (1967)
• Pat Martino: Baiyina (The Clear Evidence) (1968)
• Eric Kloss: “One, Two, Free” (1972), “Love Will Take You There” (1974)
• Toshiko Akiyoshi: “Kisarazu Jink” (1965), “Long Yellow Road” (1976), “Henpecked Old Man [22m version]” (1976), “Minamata” (1978)
• Yusef Lateef: “Metaphor” (1957)
• Tony Scott: “African Bird” (1984)
• Paul Winter: Road (1970), “Whole Earth Chant” (1972)
• Dollar Brand: “Hajj (The Journey)” (1978), African Marketplace (1980)
• Randy Weston: Uhuru Afrika (1961), “African Cookbook” (rec. 1964, rel. 1972), “Tanjah” (1973), The Spirits of Our Ancestors (1991), “The Shrine” (1998)
• John Coltrane: Giant Steps (1960), My Favorite Things (1961), Africa / Brass (1961), Ole Coltrane (1962), Live at the Village Vanguard (1962), Impressions (1963), A Love Supreme (1965)
• John Adams: “Christian Zeal and Activity” (1973), “Common Tones in Simple Time” (1979), “Harmonium: Negative Love” (1981), Grand Pianola Music (1982), Harmonielehre (1985), “The Chairman Dances” (1985), “Tromba Lontana” (1986), “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” (1986), Fearful Symmetries (1988), “Naive and Sentimental Music: Chain to the Rhythm” (1998), Absolute Jest (2012)
• Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959), Dancing in Your Head (1977), Body Meta (1978), Of Human Feelings (1982)
• Michael Gordon: “Yo Shakespeare” (comp. 1992), “I Buried Paul” (comp. 1995), Weather (comp. 1997)
• Michael Nyman: Michael Nyman (1981), The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), The Kiss and Other Movements (1985), A Zed and Two Noughts (1985), “And Do They Do” (1986), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), “Where the Bee Dances” (1991), “MGV: 5th region” (1993), “The Heart Asks Pleasure First” (1993)
• Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch (1964)
• Pharoah Sanders: Karma (1969), Summun, Bukmun, Umyun (1970), “Love Is Everywhere” (1974)
• McCoy Tyner: The Real McCoy (1967), “African Village” (1969), Expansions (1969), Extensions (1970), Sahara (1972), Asante (1974), Sama Layuca (1974), Atlantis (1974)

Movies/TV

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

• Parker, South Park, season 22 (2018)
• Affleck, Light of My Life (2019)
• Coppola, On the Rocks (2020)
• Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
• Kapsalis, The Swerve (2019)
• Woliner, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
• Murphy, Babyteeth (2019)
• Stearns, The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
• Orley, Big Time Adolescence (2019)
• Chaganty, Run (2020)
• Savage, Host (2020)
• Trost, An American Pickle (2020)
• Kent, The Nightingale (2018) ★
• Durkin, The Nest (2020)
• Sealy, Lucky Grandma (2019)
• Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, Ready or Not (2019)
• Marder, Sound of Metal (2019) ★
• Soderbergh, Let Them All Talk (2020) ★
• Msangi, Farewell Amor (2020)
• Covino, The Climb (2019)
• Sallitt, Fourteen (2019)
• Docter, Soul (2020) ★

Games

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

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
  • A definite improvement over Blind Forest, but still not as great as e.g. Hollow Knight.
• Super Mario Galaxy
  • Great gameplay premise, constantly inventive, and very fun. On the other hand, the camera is rarely controllable and often placed awkwardly, sometimes leading to death.
• Immortals Fenyx Rising
  • The first climb-anything, glide-to-anywhere open world adventure (“Breathlike”) I’ve played since Breath of the Wild introduced the formula. I hope this becomes as big a genre as the “Soulslike” has. This one isn’t as well crafted or varied as BotW, and it’s too Ubisoft (e.g. “follow icons everywhere”) for my tastes, but it was fun for a while. I enjoyed BotW so much that I tracked down all 900 Korok seeds, but for Immortals I only did about 1/4th of the side activities and then felt “Eh, I’ve had enough” and completed the main quest. Also, why did they choose such an awful name?
• Jedi: Fallen Order
  • Soulslike + Uncharted. A good formula, well-executed, and with pretty well-paced switching between combat, platforming, exploration, and puzzle-solving. Solid and consistently fun.

Books

• Christian, The Alignment Problem