Music

Music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

• Siddhartha Kohsla: “Only Murders in the Building Main Theme” (2021)
• Low & Spring Heel Jack: Bombscare (2000)
• The Comet is Coming: Hyper-Dimensional Expansion Beam (2022)
• Mazie: The Rainbow Cassette (2021)
• The Grassy Knoll: III (1998)
• P’taah: “Perfumed Silence” (2011)
• Mulatu Astatke: Inspiration Information (2009)
• Yussef Kamaal: “Strings of Light” (2016)
• Shibusashirazu: Shibuboshi (2004), Shibuki (2007), Shibu-yotabi (2010)
• Salaryman: Karoshi (1999),  The Electric Forest (2006)
• Turing Machine: Zwei (2004)
• Government: “Masses Bald as Love” (2022)
• Alex Weston: The Novice (2021)
• Ikarus: Plasma (2022)
• Alexander Noice: Noice (2019)
• Meute: Taumel (2022)
• Cristobal Tapia de Veer & Kim Neundorf: White Lotus Season 2 (2022)
• Ensemble 4’33”: Sergey Kuryokhin: The Spirit Lives (2016)
• Serge Gainsbourg: “Bonnie and Clyde (Akse Remix)” (2012)

Rediscovered or revisited, and really liked:

• Spring Heel Jack: There Are Strings (1995), 68 Million Shades… (1996), Busy Curious Thirsty (1997), Treader (1999), Disappeared (2000), “Chorale” and “Chiaroscuro” (2001), Amassed (2003), “Lata” and “Autumn” (2004)
• Squarepusher: Hard Normal Daddy (1997)
• Cujo: Adventures in Foam (1996)
• Amon Tobin: Bricolage (1997), Permutation (1998), Supermodified (2000), Out from Out Where (2002), Foley Room (2007), ISAM (2011)
• Andrea Parker: Kiss My Arp (1998)
• Icarus: “Three False Starts” (2004)
• Venetian Snares: “Moonglow” (2004), Rossz csillag alatt született (2005), My Downfall (2007)
• The Dylan Group: More Adventures in Lying Down (1999), Ur-Klang Search (2000)
• Mice Parade: The True Meaning of Boodleybaye (1998), Ramda (1999)
• DJ Spooky: Optometry (2002)
• Ben Neill: Triptycal (1996)
• Jhno: Understand (1995)
• Red Snapper: Reeled and Skinned (1995), Prince Blimey (1996), Making Bones (1998)
• Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain (2000), “Strict Machine” (2003), “Ooh La La” (2005)
• The Grassy Knoll: The Grassy Knoll (1994)
• P’taah: Compressed Light (1999)
• Leila: Blood, Looms & Blooms (2008)
• The Cinematic Orchestra: Motion (1999), Every Day (2002)
• Talvin Singh: OK (1998)
• David Holmes: Bow Down to the Exit Sign (2000)
• Bernhard Fleischmann: Welcome Tourist (2003)
• Rachel’s: Handwriting (1995), Selenography (1999)
• Euphone: The Calendar of Unlucky Days (1999)
• Frontier: Heater (1997)
• L’altra: “String Theory” (1999)
• Bablicon: The Orange Tapered Moon (2000)
• Trans Am: Trans Am (1996)
• Deerhoof: Reveille (2002), Apple O’ (2003)
• 5ive Style: 5ive Style (1995), Miniature Portraits (1999)
• Salaryman: Salaryman (1997)
• Turing Machine: A New Machine for Living (2000)
• Scenic: The Acid Gospel Experience (2002)
• Tarentel: From Bone to Satellite (1999)
• M’lumbo: Spinning Tourists in a City of Ghosts (1999)
• Bran Van 3000: Glee (1997)
• Solex: Solex vs. the Hitmeister (1998), Pick Up (1999), Low Kick and Hard Bop (2001), The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock (2004), In the Fishtank 13 (2005), Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown! (2010)
• The Avalanches: Since I Left You (2000), Wildflower (2016)
• The Notwist: Shrink (1998), Neon Golden (2002)
• Tied & Tickled Trio: Tied + Tickled Trio (1997), EA1 EA2 (2000), Electric Avenue Tapes (2001), Observing Systems (2003), Aelita (2007)
• Kreidler: Eve Future (2002)
• Lali Puna: Tridecoder (1999)
• Mogwai: “Mogwai Fear Satan” (1997), Happy Songs for Happy People (2003), As the Love Continues (2021)
• Ganger: Hammock Style (1998)
• Fridge: Eph (1999), Happiness (2001)
• Four Tet: Thirtysixtwentyfive (1998), Dialogue (1999), Pause (2001), Rounds (2003), Everything Ecstatic (2005), There Is Love In You (2010), New Energy (2017)
• I am Spoonbender: Sender/Receiver (1999), Teletwin (2000), Shown Actual Size (2002)
• Animal Collective: Feels (2005), Strawberry Jam (2007), Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
• Panda Bear: Person Pitch (2007)
• Skeleton Key: Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon (1997)
• Blonde Redhead: In an Expression of the Inexpressible (1998), Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (2000)
• Firewater: Get Off the Cross… (1996), The Ponzi Scheme (1998), The Man on the Burning Tightrope (2003)
• Calexico: The Black Light (1998), Hot Rail (2000), Feast of Wire (2003)
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor: F♯A♯∞ (1998), Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada (1999), Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000), Yanqui U.X.O. (2002), Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (2012), Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress (2015), Luciferian Towers (2017), G_d’s Pee at State’s End! (2021)
• Silver Mt. Zion: He Has Left Us Alone… (2000)
• Do Make Say Think: Do Make Say Think (1997), Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord is Dead (2000), & Yet & Yet (2002), Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn (2003), You, You’re a History in Rust (2007), Other Truths (2009)
• Circle: Andexelt (1999), Prospekt (2002), Pharaoh Overlord (2015)
• Cerberus Shoal: Homb (1999)
• Malcolm Braff & Stephane Galland: “Afro Blue” (2015)

Movies/TV

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

• Bravo, Zola (2020)
• Various, Primal, season 1 (2020)
• Various, House of the Dragon, season 1 (2022)
• Baker, Red Rocket (2021)
• Kwan & Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) ★
• Cregger, Barbarian (2022)
• Levinson, Euphoria, season 2 (2022)
• Various, The White Lotus, season 2 (2022) ★
• Various, Reservation Dogs, season 2 (2022)
• Johnson, Glass Onion (2022) ★
• del Toro, Pinocchio (2022)
• Various, The Bear, season 1 (2022)
• Seabright & Boyle, Chloe (2022)
• Lovering, Slow Horses, season 2 (2022)
• Cameron, Avatar 2: The Way of the Water (2022) ★
• Valdez & Jones, Prehistoric Planet (2022)
• Various, Rick and Morty, season 6 (2022) ★
• Shephard, Not Okay (2022)
• Field, Tár (2022) ★
• Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick (2022) ★

Games

From now on I’ll just list all games I bothered to finish:

• ★ Tunic. Shockingly good and fully-realized isometric Soulslike from a previously unknown developer.
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. A unique and sometimes thrilling experience, but also short, linear, and with a limited world and limited gameplay mechanics.
• Stray: It’s fun to play as a non-anthropomorphic cat! Good world-building. Movement mechanics were limited and somewhat arbitrary. Short. I’d like to see a more fleshed-out sequel.
• A Plague Tale: Requiem. Mostly solid but fairly straightforward. Insane that Amicia keeps saving Hugo while he kills thousands of people. The rat horde game mechanics were fun but played a smaller role than I’d hoped.
• The Forgotten City. Very well-constructed, with satisfying endings. Gameplay is a bit janky given its origins as a Skyrim mod, but whatever. Almost deserves a star. Avoid spoilers before you play!
• Uncharted 4. Polished and fun, but also very linear. The writing is decent for a game, which of course by film standards is “just bad.” The jungle areas are lush and designed to be a constant “natural scenery superstimulus” like Avatar‘s Pandora.

Books

• [none]