For three full years now I've been semi-daily posting a music recommendation in a big long thread, but it turns out 300-post threads kinda break Mastodon, so I have to restart the thread every so often
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What I'm listening to today: "Devil Stuff", Evil Nine
The first half of the 2000s saw this explosion of headphones-friendly "instrumental hip hop" whose existence I chalk up to DJ Shadow, if not as a direct inspiration then at least for convincing the record labels this stuff could sell. (Or maybe it was "Praise You".) Here's some fun big beat music made of metal samples. Yeah uh, my mom's boyfriend's kids are into this devil stuff from listening to Black Sabbath—
What I'm listening to today: "Heart's Desire", Awkward McLain
A Bandcamp beatmaker goes in for a bit of lo-fi hip hop and astral projection. Lovely crisp feeling.
The box is SP-404mk2, the most recent of a series of surprisingly incremental updates to J Dilla's favorite sampler, with the main effect AFAICT to add, like, USB and SD card support and the stuff that makes a device actually convenient to use in 2021.
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What I'm listening to today: "Heart's Desire", Awkward McLain
A Bandcamp beatmaker goes in for a bit of lo-fi hip hop and astral projection. Lovely crisp feeling.
The box is SP-404mk2, the most recent of a series of surprisingly incremental updates to J Dilla's favorite sampler, with the main effect AFAICT to add, like, USB and SD card support and the stuff that makes a device actually convenient to use in 2021.
What I'm listening to today: "The Mashed Up Mixes - Diplo of Hollertronix Meets RJD2"
During that 10 minutes of mainstream craze for "mashups", lo-fi hip hop virtuoso RJD2 invited a few artists to make DJ mixtapes out of his his back catalog. There's also a good one by "Haul & Mason", but this mix stuck in my head forever for a segment that strings together Cat Power, Slick Rick and Steve Reich, and later on what's still to me the definitive version of Outkast's "Roses"
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What I'm listening to today: "The Mashed Up Mixes - Diplo of Hollertronix Meets RJD2"
During that 10 minutes of mainstream craze for "mashups", lo-fi hip hop virtuoso RJD2 invited a few artists to make DJ mixtapes out of his his back catalog. There's also a good one by "Haul & Mason", but this mix stuck in my head forever for a segment that strings together Cat Power, Slick Rick and Steve Reich, and later on what's still to me the definitive version of Outkast's "Roses"
What I'm listening to today: "Jellyfish", Kazumi Totaka (Nintendo)
There is a weird pattern in video games:
- The "water level", in any game, is usually everyone's least favorite, but
- The "water level" often has the coolest, most memorable music of the game.
Upthread I linked some "ocean vibes" music from Mario Artist for N64DD. That game has *three* ocean-themed songs, all bangers; here's my other fav. Charmingly cheesy hold-music jazz transitioning into trip-hop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DlaLKT3q8&list=PL-pEm4IqI6c_DfCBqt5VBvR-atgwqTlZB&index=95
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What I'm listening to today: "Jellyfish", Kazumi Totaka (Nintendo)
There is a weird pattern in video games:
- The "water level", in any game, is usually everyone's least favorite, but
- The "water level" often has the coolest, most memorable music of the game.
Upthread I linked some "ocean vibes" music from Mario Artist for N64DD. That game has *three* ocean-themed songs, all bangers; here's my other fav. Charmingly cheesy hold-music jazz transitioning into trip-hop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8DlaLKT3q8&list=PL-pEm4IqI6c_DfCBqt5VBvR-atgwqTlZB&index=95
What I'm listening to today: "What Does Your Soul Look Like?, Pt. 3", DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow followed up his major-label "debut" with an (incomplete) overview of his pre-"debut" indie releases. The information economy of the late 90s was less developed than that of today & getting into DJ Shadow in 1998 was a *little* confusing. Whatever! Here's the most rocking track from "preemptive strike". This *fucking* piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9VIDrDXJmc
PS: Shadow fans listen to the Mighty Atom Endtroducing mix
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What I'm listening to today: "What Does Your Soul Look Like?, Pt. 3", DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow followed up his major-label "debut" with an (incomplete) overview of his pre-"debut" indie releases. The information economy of the late 90s was less developed than that of today & getting into DJ Shadow in 1998 was a *little* confusing. Whatever! Here's the most rocking track from "preemptive strike". This *fucking* piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9VIDrDXJmc
PS: Shadow fans listen to the Mighty Atom Endtroducing mix
What I'm listening to today: "Durationplex", Sevish
This musician describes this track as an exercise in golden-ratio "maxxing"; the (xenharmonic) tuning scale is based on ϕ, the (polyrhythmic, constantly shifting) rhythms are based on ϕ, the FM timbres are based on ϕ. Experientially all you can tell is that the musician was doing something *very specific*, which you can grasp the shape of but not understand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXMqkyVbFmI
( This track is also on Bandcamp: https://sevish.bandcamp.com/track/durationplex )
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What I'm listening to today: "Durationplex", Sevish
This musician describes this track as an exercise in golden-ratio "maxxing"; the (xenharmonic) tuning scale is based on ϕ, the (polyrhythmic, constantly shifting) rhythms are based on ϕ, the FM timbres are based on ϕ. Experientially all you can tell is that the musician was doing something *very specific*, which you can grasp the shape of but not understand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXMqkyVbFmI
( This track is also on Bandcamp: https://sevish.bandcamp.com/track/durationplex )
What I'm listening to today: "Small drops 2025-08-02", atnr
"Minimal Ambient". Giant reverb landscapes. Sitting on a dark hill, your hair mussed by gentle breeze, watching on the horizon the spaceships take off.
Made by combining Yamaha's modern DX7 revival, an original Game Boy, and three guitar pedals, one of which only exists to simulate the sound of cassette tape; someone probably *could* have made this exact music in 1989, in principle.
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What I'm listening to today: "Small drops 2025-08-02", atnr
"Minimal Ambient". Giant reverb landscapes. Sitting on a dark hill, your hair mussed by gentle breeze, watching on the horizon the spaceships take off.
Made by combining Yamaha's modern DX7 revival, an original Game Boy, and three guitar pedals, one of which only exists to simulate the sound of cassette tape; someone probably *could* have made this exact music in 1989, in principle.
What I'm listening to today: "Fly to the Leaden Sky", Manabu Namiki
This is the stage 1 music from "Battle Garegga", an incredibly maximalist top-down shooter made in 1996 by former Compile staff. This is from the 2016 PS4/XBox rerelease, so the original onboard chip synthesis is replaced with slightly different instrumentation including crisper drum samples that really do improve this one track. A giant glowing idol to the 1980s, an exuberant tower of electric guitars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF-ENkufyCY&list=PLguGBzflGahMxYlXtQxX5e4yuqPMWKBAn&index=3
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What I'm listening to today: "Fly to the Leaden Sky", Manabu Namiki
This is the stage 1 music from "Battle Garegga", an incredibly maximalist top-down shooter made in 1996 by former Compile staff. This is from the 2016 PS4/XBox rerelease, so the original onboard chip synthesis is replaced with slightly different instrumentation including crisper drum samples that really do improve this one track. A giant glowing idol to the 1980s, an exuberant tower of electric guitars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF-ENkufyCY&list=PLguGBzflGahMxYlXtQxX5e4yuqPMWKBAn&index=3
What I'm listening to today: "Speciation", Passepartout Duo
An old technique in ambient music is "phasing", where you play two loops of different lengths and let them go in and out of sync, creating different interesting patterns. It's a truism this requires electronics or tape, because two humans trying to play out-of-sync tempos would confuse each other. These two seem to be actually doing a live phase performance, dueling xylophone and gameboy-style squarewave loops
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What I'm listening to today: "Speciation", Passepartout Duo
An old technique in ambient music is "phasing", where you play two loops of different lengths and let them go in and out of sync, creating different interesting patterns. It's a truism this requires electronics or tape, because two humans trying to play out-of-sync tempos would confuse each other. These two seem to be actually doing a live phase performance, dueling xylophone and gameboy-style squarewave loops
What I'm listening to today: "Souzou Suru", Haru Nemuri
High-energy Japanese rap with seriously weird production. My wife was listening to this and now I'm listening to it.
https://specific.bandcamp.com/track/souzou-suru
Every lyrics site swears up and down she's saying "Touch my Yes", not whatever it is you thought you heard.
( If you're enjoying yourself by the end of this song maybe listen to the next one on the album, which I like for its mid-90s-arcade-shooter-style sampled guitars… https://specific.bandcamp.com/track/bang )
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What I'm listening to today: "Souzou Suru", Haru Nemuri
High-energy Japanese rap with seriously weird production. My wife was listening to this and now I'm listening to it.
https://specific.bandcamp.com/track/souzou-suru
Every lyrics site swears up and down she's saying "Touch my Yes", not whatever it is you thought you heard.
( If you're enjoying yourself by the end of this song maybe listen to the next one on the album, which I like for its mid-90s-arcade-shooter-style sampled guitars… https://specific.bandcamp.com/track/bang )
What I'm listening to today: "Finally", a773
This Danish musician uses the modular synth rack— usually the domain of weird noise ambient— for a purpose I've never seen it turned to: incredibly sincere Fusion Jazz. 80s fusion did use simple, early synths— and modular also tends toward the simple, because simple base tones respond best to layering in complications. So there's a lot of plausible 80s feel but with the strangest mystery sounds slipping through the background
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What I'm listening to today: "Finally", a773
This Danish musician uses the modular synth rack— usually the domain of weird noise ambient— for a purpose I've never seen it turned to: incredibly sincere Fusion Jazz. 80s fusion did use simple, early synths— and modular also tends toward the simple, because simple base tones respond best to layering in complications. So there's a lot of plausible 80s feel but with the strangest mystery sounds slipping through the background
What I'm listening to today: "Mood piece from one machine to another", Sonaura
Three minutes of degraded humming, drone piece on two cassette tape machines one of which seems to be having serious problems. The desert in late evening, a wisp of smoke moving in a way smoke shouldn't. A transmission you pick up briefly on the radio and then can't find again. Do you hear it? No, it's gone. As far as recordings of degraded humming sounds go I'd say this is a pretty good one
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What I'm listening to today: "Mood piece from one machine to another", Sonaura
Three minutes of degraded humming, drone piece on two cassette tape machines one of which seems to be having serious problems. The desert in late evening, a wisp of smoke moving in a way smoke shouldn't. A transmission you pick up briefly on the radio and then can't find again. Do you hear it? No, it's gone. As far as recordings of degraded humming sounds go I'd say this is a pretty good one
What I'm listening to today: "Level 0", Jim Andron
In the 90s there was a thing called "smooth jazz". I think boomers probably understood it, but I was never clear how it was different from "easy listening music".
This opener from 1992's famously odd "CD-I" version of Tetris is easy-listening music transcended to the point you can understand why people like the genre. Hold music pulling at your heartstrings, incredibly cheesy FM piano over shockingly hype bass work
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What I'm listening to today: "Level 0", Jim Andron
In the 90s there was a thing called "smooth jazz". I think boomers probably understood it, but I was never clear how it was different from "easy listening music".
This opener from 1992's famously odd "CD-I" version of Tetris is easy-listening music transcended to the point you can understand why people like the genre. Hold music pulling at your heartstrings, incredibly cheesy FM piano over shockingly hype bass work
What I'm listening to today: "Orange", Tristan Baldi
Chill tabla groove on the Dirtywave M8, a small handheld tracker. Big warm analog-style pads and lots of fun little sound design scribbles low in the mix. Sun shining through some sort of medium, like the fronds of trees or the smog of southern California
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What I'm listening to today: "Orange", Tristan Baldi
Chill tabla groove on the Dirtywave M8, a small handheld tracker. Big warm analog-style pads and lots of fun little sound design scribbles low in the mix. Sun shining through some sort of medium, like the fronds of trees or the smog of southern California
What I'm listening to today: "Mocktapus, Rocktapus, Unlocktapus Rex", Prince Charming featuring Philosophy Major
I'm … I'm really not sure what's happening here! A two-minute hip hop hallucination, two or three stations fighting for control of your FM radio, a bunch of musical instruments thrown in a dryer and they turned it on. Sometimes my brain sort of demagnetizes and thoughts swarm in all directions aimlessly like bees. What if that felt pleasant? That's this song
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What I'm listening to today: "Mocktapus, Rocktapus, Unlocktapus Rex", Prince Charming featuring Philosophy Major
I'm … I'm really not sure what's happening here! A two-minute hip hop hallucination, two or three stations fighting for control of your FM radio, a bunch of musical instruments thrown in a dryer and they turned it on. Sometimes my brain sort of demagnetizes and thoughts swarm in all directions aimlessly like bees. What if that felt pleasant? That's this song
What I'm listening to today: "White Paws", Tristan Baldi
This piece hijacks the Subharmonicon, Moog's idiosyncratic semi-generative synth, to a purpose it's not typically used for: Acid, coaxing some surprisingly 303-like sounds out of it. Combine this with an unusually clicky configuration for the DFAM and you have an unusual, unpredictable, quiet but punchy little electronic jam.
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What I'm listening to today: "White Paws", Tristan Baldi
This piece hijacks the Subharmonicon, Moog's idiosyncratic semi-generative synth, to a purpose it's not typically used for: Acid, coaxing some surprisingly 303-like sounds out of it. Combine this with an unusually clicky configuration for the DFAM and you have an unusual, unpredictable, quiet but punchy little electronic jam.
What I'm listening to today: "While you were gone", a773
This is the fusion-jazz-on-modular-synths guy I linked last Sunday. This track has that "downtempo Sega" feel but leans into the weirdness/jazziness by being in 7/8 time. Most people listening to 5/4 can tell they're listening to "a weird time signature" but 7/8 sounds like "normal music" with a strange pressured feel you can't explain. If you sleep too long the fire goes out you dare to dream and we have no doubt
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What I'm listening to today: "While you were gone", a773
This is the fusion-jazz-on-modular-synths guy I linked last Sunday. This track has that "downtempo Sega" feel but leans into the weirdness/jazziness by being in 7/8 time. Most people listening to 5/4 can tell they're listening to "a weird time signature" but 7/8 sounds like "normal music" with a strange pressured feel you can't explain. If you sleep too long the fire goes out you dare to dream and we have no doubt
What I'm listening to today: "Biology 101", Dr. Octagon ft. "Chewbacca"
Removed track from Kool Keith's career-redefining "Dr. Octagonecologyst", present on the original indie release but not the Dreamworks version. The point where they apparently went "too far". Too weird, too creative, too surprising, too hard to follow, too "Kool Keith". A Dan the Automator groove slowed down to the breaking point, with a flood of incredibly dense sci-fi rap wordplay running over it.
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What I'm listening to today: "Biology 101", Dr. Octagon ft. "Chewbacca"
Removed track from Kool Keith's career-redefining "Dr. Octagonecologyst", present on the original indie release but not the Dreamworks version. The point where they apparently went "too far". Too weird, too creative, too surprising, too hard to follow, too "Kool Keith". A Dan the Automator groove slowed down to the breaking point, with a flood of incredibly dense sci-fi rap wordplay running over it.
What I'm listening to today: "Cosmic Interlude", LTJ Bukem
Chill jazzy electronic from the year 2000 with delicious stand-up bass sounds. Bukem spent the mid 90s staking a flag on what he called "Intelligent Jungle" (as far as I can tell he invented "the Dreamcast menu sound") but then as the 90s ended pushed past that and crafted a distinct brand of self-confident instrumental jazz with skeletal drum&bass patterns as support. Would feel at home on a Ninja Tune mixtape.
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What I'm listening to today: "Cosmic Interlude", LTJ Bukem
Chill jazzy electronic from the year 2000 with delicious stand-up bass sounds. Bukem spent the mid 90s staking a flag on what he called "Intelligent Jungle" (as far as I can tell he invented "the Dreamcast menu sound") but then as the 90s ended pushed past that and crafted a distinct brand of self-confident instrumental jazz with skeletal drum&bass patterns as support. Would feel at home on a Ninja Tune mixtape.
What I'm listening to today: "Time 4 Breaks", Breakbeat Era
This album was supposed to be the Roni Size clique's breakout moment into pop domination, but a series of odd decisions left it as a one-off artifact that you've either never heard of or are still obsessed with 25 years later. This track shows the project at its best: A pop song structure with heart-gripping vocals and the production gloss of 1999's best D&B production team. Progressive but goes down smooth.
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What I'm listening to today: "Time 4 Breaks", Breakbeat Era
This album was supposed to be the Roni Size clique's breakout moment into pop domination, but a series of odd decisions left it as a one-off artifact that you've either never heard of or are still obsessed with 25 years later. This track shows the project at its best: A pop song structure with heart-gripping vocals and the production gloss of 1999's best D&B production team. Progressive but goes down smooth.
What I'm listening to today: "Imouha", Etran de LAïr
Incredible surfrock¹ jam by a band that describes themselves as "the stars of the Agadez guitar scene" (Agadez is the fifth largest city in the Republic of Niger). Do not miss the video-toaster-core video. Dudes rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeytuhn0irM
I found this as the YouTube algorithm's next recommendation after watching "Prisencolinensinainciusol".
¹ Sahara rock?
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@esilvia @NicholasLaney
...e gira e rigira vien fuori che è pure un parente sconosciuto. 😂
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Venezuela's state-owned oil and gas company was hit by ransomware
The attack shut down operating and control systems for docks, production, and refineries in the country's northern region
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@macfranc @news el classico mona volante! I turisti si spingono per guardarli. O per... [emoji parlante: tiro a segno] -si scherza-
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@ArtBandini "il 2025 mi ha regalato bestemmie meravigliose"
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GLI ASINI VOLANO? E GLI IMBECILLI?
@news
Non posso sapere in quale categoria debba essere inquadrato il mio coetaneo che nel weekend scorso ha dato sfogo alla sua esuberanza atterrando con l’elicottero sulle piste da sci sui monti poco distanti da Brescia.
L'articolo GLI ASINI VOLANO? E GLI IMBECILLI? proviene da GIANO NEWS.
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Sanità cyber risk: l’attacco a ASL 1 de L’Aquila? Ora i pazienti chiedono il risarcimento
#CyberSecurity
https://insicurezzadigitale.com/sanita-cyber-risk-lattacco-a-asl-1-de-laquila-ora-i-pazienti-chiedono-il-risarcimento/
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@david interesting: I got a C2 too but at 81% over native speaker, despite not being a native speaker, but ironically I think my native language being a romance language actually helped with some of the words. OTOH, it does say that I scored above 99.9% of non-native speakers so who knows.
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E daje. Tuttə col mantra: “Il 2025 mi ha regalato un sacco di momenti belli…”
Sapesse quanti porchi ho tirato io, signora mia.
