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i totally get the pain struggle. i still battle with my carpal tunnel, and the time that i draw has definitely gone down....i found i didnt really get true relief until i was like. banned from using my hands outside of work and having help with most things at home. literally just. sitting and doing nothing but heat therapy and gentle stretches. slept in wrist braces.

but! after the rest period, it did eventually get easier to handle, and once i found a good pace to manage myself at, ive been drawing again...i dont wanna preach a bunch of tips you might have already heard, but if youd like some id be happy to shoot some resources your way.

i really hope your pain eases for you soon. its a pain in the ass not being able to do the things you enjoy from something that seems so small...like ridiculous in proportion to how it effects your life when it wasnt a problem before....

wishing nothin but goodness for your future 🫂

tips wouldn’t hurt. i appreciate it. my main issue isn’t so much knowledge of tips as it is actually operationalising any of it long term. i have a bad combo of apathy/executive dysfunction/time blindness/lack of object constancy that can be debilitating at worst. hence why i rlly want legit medical help/direction.

4 clarity on my situation i’m hyper mobile & have had wrist/hand problems most my life. i’ve dealt w rsi & carpal tunnel, theoretically, but my early life was full of medical neglect & so no diagnosis there. my current main problems r regarding the ulnar nerve & cubital tunnel. braces r the one thing i manage consistently. stretches i *try*to keep on top of. i haven’t tried heat pads for my wrist problems but probably should’ve at some point

i’ll take whatever u got, thanks.

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@thisarenotarealblog thanx for asking . i have been having a lot of issues w my arms that r preventing me from doing a lot of stuff & i’m struggling 2 get seen abt it. i take breaks 2 “help “ the situation & the pain goes down, but it just immediately starts up again when i try get back into … yk … anything i do w my hands . which is most things.

it’s bin a minute but i think i would like 2 open up my comms again starting next week. i was having a variety of probelems that prevented me from it, but i think im doin ok now 🙂 & i miss doing comms. anyways hope ur all doing well yours forever & ever rando

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yeah uh never mind

it’s bin a minute but i think i would like 2 open up my comms again starting next week. i was having a variety of probelems that prevented me from it, but i think im doin ok now 🙂 & i miss doing comms. anyways hope ur all doing well yours forever & ever rando

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mechin. redid this old fantroll. might draw him again but dont expect much hs here ♥️

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ULTIMATE CATHOLIC TECHNIQUE

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it’s bin a minute but i think i would like 2 open up my comms again starting next week. i was having a variety of probelems that prevented me from it, but i think im doin ok now 🙂 & i miss doing comms. anyways hope ur all doing well yours forever & ever rando

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rlly great cLOUDDEAD song from their album ten (2004). beautiful instrumentals. lyrically it contains lines that would go on 2 be used in the song “the vowels, part 2” the first track on WHY?’s album alopecia (2008). very par for the course w anticon stuff.

“i’m not a ladies’ man, i’m a land mine”

and “on consumer grade video at night”

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Below, I really like your designs. Here's my homestuck character just for funzies😋

cute 🙂i like da outfit & unique horns. i’m like allergic 2 making high blood ocs myself 4 whatever reason haha. thanks btw B] hope u have a gr8 day

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Hi. Have you ever wanted to commission me? Well, now's your chance.

I'm opening a couple of slots, unsure of how many right now. I can't find work as hard as I've been trying but I'm in need of money so I can afford to help with a friend's expenses while they're visiting me in the next couple of months.

Check out my Artistree for a comm sheet (pictured) and DM me directly if you have any questions. Thank you. o7

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im totally gonna have to take a bit to respond to the last rb since i wanna actually go n watch what you sent and listen to some music. b4 giving opinions 🥺🥺

gahahah totally fair. i look forward 2 it 🙂 in da meantime lets look @ rando

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Hello Rander did you play the new Deltarune chapters. Do you have thoughts on them. Shoves my microphone at you.

heyooooo. i rlly enjoyed them. thanx for asking 🙂

the gimmicky excitement & sheer variety of gameplay in chapter 3 rlly woke me up & got me locked back in . i love how the structure of the chapter ties in to the themeing — having a central hub area w “event” type plot beats instead of progression through a zone just rlly perfectly fit. i loved it. i had a rlly good time w/ the last boss fight in that game, the knight. took me maybe 10 tries. discovering all the secrets & easter eggs was rlly exciting & rewarding. some of it was rlly deeply uncomfortable to play. tenna was a fantastic character. i was playing it on the tv & that rlly elevated the experience 4 me.

chapter 4 is such a doozy. i kept thinking surely were near the end then it just kept going. char development goes crazy. i’ve been a susie truther since her intro in chap1 she’s my absolute fav so as u can imagine i was rlly into chap4. toby fox’s earnest, vulnerable storytelling is rlly rlly important 2 me. i value earnestness in writing above all else & his writing style has always spoken 2 me ever since undertale came out. seeing some of his attitude to it come thru in the chapter so textually was exciting. particularly the part about the damage irony and doubt does to ur work. just some rlly brilliant commentary going on in that chapter that i rlly need to sit & digest.

the difference btwn 1st and 2nd sanctuary is deeply fascinating 2 me & i need to run thru again to rlly absorb the implications there.

knight’s theme is my fav track btwn these two chapters. i fucking love that shit. dastardly. daaastaaardlyyyyyy. i also rly like their general disposition, movement, design, & behaviours. they r super interesting.

ralsei is my least favourite character. sorry ralsei. stuff in chap 4 improved my overall opinion on hin. i don’t think he’s bad by any stretch, thwyre all rly fantastic chars but ralsei just rly does not appeal 2 me as a kind of person. lol

jack felt tailor made 2 suit my interests. the ytp bit during his encounter made me lose my shit. rlly fun playful encounter, i wanna do it again. i’m excited to play thru the chapters again some time. i’ve still yet to beat mike bc i was having technical difficulties & wanna play the way toby fox intended. so i’m saving that for now

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And completely unrelated to my last ask I'm going to a concert where WHY? happens to be opening relatively soon and I think you've talked about them a little. Was wondering if you had any recs/good places to start so I can bone up before seeing them live. Ok that's all have a good day.

hold on im gonna reply to this first cos first of all thats fuckin crreazy theyre opening???? the fuck???????? man i hope u have a great time why? is one of my fav bands of all time. i hope you rlly like it.

i had a lot to say, & a lot of things 2 mention, and then realised, i'd probably communicate all this better if i made u a sample platter & just let the songs speak for themselves.

here it is.

this should be a pretty good intro 2 each album. this has ~4 songs from each of their albums (and a couple from the EPs in-between) in order of release. feel free to just click on whichever trax look interesting.

then i'd recommend just jumping into the albums of whichever tracks u like most B]. when i saw them live, it was a pretty healthy mix with emphasis on their most recent album.

here's a quick summary of each album:

**oaklandazulasylum (2003): the foundation, yoni himself. hip-hop. simple self-made beats, dark lyrics. bleak and small and beautiful to meeeee. <3 why? was originally his stage name before it evolved in2 a band name.

"GOLDEN AGE" WHY?

(most of their fanbase was built in this era, which is why i call it this)

*** elephant eyelash (2005): band is fully formed. indie with hip-hop influences. very distinct soundscape. bittersweet, yearning, lonely. super catchy singles.

* sanddollars & rubber traits (EPs, 2005-6): coupled with elephant eyelash. very varied, similar style. short and sweet.

*** alopecia (2008): back to rap roots, with indie instrumentals. very dirty, grim, and gritty. their most popular album to my understanding, and deserves it. i included 5 trax for this one bc i needed to show the variety.

** eskimo snow (2009): masterpieces. i don't know how else to describe this album than flowers blooming and the feeling of butterflies. you can see signs of this album in every one prior. it feels like a culmination in a way

MODERN WHY?

(psychedelic, folky in parts, interesting instrumental choices)

** mumps, etc. (2012) + sod in the seed EP (2012): experimental instrumentals, the start of "new era" why? imo, or the transition phase in retrospect. a "return to form" in ways, heavily contains rap. but the instrumentals include strings, woodwinds, harps, horns, flugelhorn.... lots going on. i think it takes some warming up to, but not the EP. the EP is clleeeeaaaaan. rly nice!

** moh lhean (2017): huge step away from rap roots. very soft, airy, and earthen sound. atmospheric. psychedelia & folk, with traces of rap in his lyrical flow. beautiful lyrics, some of my favourite works lyrically r on this one.

* AOKOHIO (2019): album of sweet treats, some short tracks. quite a bit of variety & experimentation here. i don't listen to it much except for "high dive". came w/ a visual album.

*** the well i fell into (2024): i think therapy works. slow, earthy, ethereal sounds. soft & sleepy, reflective. a lot of songs that u gotta give a minute to kick in imo, but they can reaallly hit.

*** = very likely to come up. good prep

** = decent chance

* = i'd be pretty surprised

when i went, yoni's brother josiah wolf (the drummer) was selling the merch. i'm just giving u this as a warning. this could happen to u or anyone. you could be victim of band member interaction attack. i got kinda freaked out but i played it chill. as fuck in front of him.

thank u for coming to ask me abt this, i uummm i really really like why?. i don't know how much they'll play if it's just an opener... i'd rlly like to hear abt it from u if u dont mind sharing, when it happenz. hope ur doin well dash

more rando ramblos under the cut lawl.

why? has gone thru a *lot* of development and genre experimentation over the years. it started as yoni only, with experimental/abstract hip hop on the first album, oaklandazulasylum. while that album is very different from the rest of their stuff, u can hear the groundworks of yoni's prior work in the late 90s clearly.

by the second album, elephant eyelash, it was a fully-formed band. overtime it evolved into more indie stuff, and currently why? has a very soft & ethereal sound as opposed to their earlier stuff, which was super gritty. throughout there has been a throughline of rlly beautiful melodies that feel like blooming flowers & i do not know how else to describe it. its blooming flowers... you can find this consistently on every album tbh.

consistently it is all very very introspective & hyperspecific; why? uses his songs as a means 2 express his own life, problems, experiences. it is *deeply* personal music and contains recounts of some of his darkest moments in his life that he weaves , alchemy-like, into very beautiful commentary on what it means to live. you can literally *hear* the progression of yoni's mental health, album by album.

a direct quote from one of my fav songs: "and i know saying all this in public should make me feel funny, but you gotta yell something that you'd never tell nobody." you can apply this ethos 2 why?'s entire discog.

hope this helpz thank u f or sending me an ask abt it B]

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susie my fav

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we r strapped the fduck in. full anticon hours. full fixation. we are schoolars. we discuss the dead dogs. we discuss the highway onramps. when u clicked follow. u signed away ur life to me talking 50000x about underground experimental hip hop. dogbless

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oh shittttt! damn what a cool haul.im rlly jelly. where i live, u would be extreeeeemely hard pressed to find this stuff 2nd hand. congrats on for hero/for fool, haha.

& same on alias. ive mostly heard him feature on other things yknow? he's pretty good, from what ive heard, but i havent necessarily been interested in his stuff yet. i respect a lot, tho, the role he played in anticon's history. so i should sit and rly give him a listen sometime

i 100% agree with u on dose's writing quality, he writes the kind of songs you could peel apart for hours -- his parts on rifle eyes are so rich to me in their visuals and the message they put forward/the questions they ask. ive definitely seen doseone get called pretentious, & on the other end it seems like a lot of fans consider him a creative god, so i guess it's natural yk? someone on that kinda standing is gonna be divisive. sometimes the stuff he says abt his music does make me kinda giggle. but i think fundamentally that considering him truly "pretentious" rly does detract from the amount of earnestness & pure artistic intent in his work. he has *so much* to say.

there's this music vid someone made for "rifle eyes" by cLOUDDEAD that like... acts abt it like, "this is what happens when you let white guys rap" and it rlly genuinely pisses me off when i think about it because the clarity in storytelling & visual metaphor is so clear and poignant on that song, but since the described imagery is all (in a literal sense) detached, the person who made the video just viewed it as... i guess random, weird... things? like it was just trying 2 be weird for the sake of weirdness, & not actually saying something? i think those are the kinda ppl that think doseone is pretentious. i dont even wanna link it it rly does piss me Off

also, yessssss "directions to my special place" is a RLLY fucking sick song. there was a period a while back where i was just listening to grass skirt & fruit hat on loop. also them's my peoples, that track is soooooo clean. i dont remember how i found that one, maybe just a random yt rec. "them" in general is solid. dose's lyrical flow works extremely well with jel's beats. if anyone here is sitting & listening to us both yap abt this definitely follow that link thru to the themselves album "them" and give it a listen.

i've listened thru the album before, but i haven't sat and listened to quite a few of the tracks in a while... here's some other comments on them as an album:

eating homework is one of my fav tracks by far. major head bouncer for me haha, it has this playfulness to me that i rlly vibe with. the lyrics as well are something that rlly resonates with me.

i always tend to find sole better in collab, & particularly theres a contrast between his style and dose's that elevates him for me. you can hear it on lyrical cougel (which also has one of my fav beats) and, in cLOUDDEAD's title album, on "i promise never to get paint on my glasses again (part 1)". *really* standout sole track 4 me, i think particularly that his rapid rambly rapping here, and the way his lines falter, in back & forth with dose during their segments just. it's just REALLY GOOD. ITS RLY GOOD. I RLLY RLY LIKE IT. holy fuck sorry i am listening to the songs as i think abt them & listening to dose go off on that one is rlly exciting hahah. sorry i was meant to save talking abt clouddead til later.

in general this album is rlly good at getting me into a flow state. while dose has so much to say, at the same time his voice as an instrument is extremely easy to just sit back & vibe to. some of his other songs (like one of his boom bip collabs!!!!!) are just so hard 2 parse for me, the one im thinking of is "mannequin hand trapdoor i reminder", that i moreso tend to focus on *how* his voice is used than the lyrics themselves. i've yet to sit down & rlly look at the lyrics for most of these songs except GS&FH and eating homework. the fact that the lyrics are so rich ON TOP OF the sound of these songs being so rewarding 2 listen to on their own, is a huuuuge cherry on top for me.

"the no music" is an album i have not sat & listened to but i definitely got to based on what u said! ive always thought them has this kinda... quietness to it. i absolutely love its soundscape. my only comparison point here is "poison pit", which is one of my FAVOURITE themselves songs BY FAR & also one of the best anticon songs from what i've heard. the sound on that is so fucking rich. when it hits abt a minute in i have to drop everything im doing and just listen. from that alone i think i can get a sense of what u mean by the comparitive emptiness of "them". this track has such a strong structure to it that rlly sucks me in; the creeping in at the start, the harsh thrumming in the middle, the way it echoes and falls apart toward the end, by contrast "them" is much more straight-forward. so yeah im rly excited to dig into this album.

also, fuckin, dude. the self-referential shit in dose's stuff is SO rewarding. theres some RLLY good stuff with that in cLOUDDEAD so i'm excited for u to sink ur teeth into that.

actually im gonna talk about sole rly quick cos i mentioned him. he definitely takes some warming up to, i agree with u there. i think selling live water is lyrically a lot more refined than bottle of humans, & the main reason i like "bottle of humans" so much, personally, is more just the sound of it. it has some um... interestinng lines. "to truly see where all of this aggression stems from / you always gotta play the nice guy and get shitted on". as an example. he vents a lot on that album but some of the stuff he says... "been hating females less / accepting the fact im slowly dying" i'm just liek ok buddy... ok. lol. but yeah there's something abt the sound palette on that album that rlly gels with me. it feels harsh, playful, chaotic, dismal... very satisfying to me. i rlly like going on walks to it. i wanna plug one from that album that i think is good for "my purposes" lol

this on a summer walk hits so right for me haha. but there's a track on this album "center city" that is a collab btwn him and why?, produced by jel no less, which i think is another track where i *rly* enjoy his back and forth. it's a rlly vivid song to me that rlly nails an oppressive, industrial, & hot atmosphere that flows perfectly into the subject matter. i think when his rap style hits it can reeeaally hit.

that boom bip & doseone live vid, i have not seen before! my god i love his outfit in this rofl. this is delightful. shame u cant hear the audience calling back. and i havent seen anything except the clip of him vs eminem roflmao. do u have any recommended clips there?

on the note of buck 65, im rly with ya there. im hard pressed to find songs by him that id recommend to ppl. nothing rlly stands out, but it has been a while since i looked. i do think he's a better producer than he is a lyricist, but i'd have to sit down & peel thru him more to rly flesh out my opinion on him. in a general sense though, i think i just don't rlly like his style. but that "untitled" track u linked i definitely agree as being one of the strongest examples of his work, at least that i've heard (which isn't much hah)

in terms of recs, how far into why? are u, what albums have u heard? i'd RLLY strongly recommend his album with serengeti, "testarossa". it's a fantastic piece of character exploration, but it is very modern "why?" by comparison 2 other albums like alopecia, oaklandazulasylum, stuff like that. has some increeeeedible instrumentals. lyrically yoni is on the backburner here.

onto geti... i just feel like he's rlly worth mentioning here... he's a master of roleplay. prolific. a huge chunk of his albums (the KD/Kenny Dennis albums) are a completely fictional story about a guy he made up, it has a LOT of specificity that is rlly rlly fun to follow through on. it functions as parody, as much as it is also a love letter, to particularly old school hip hop. he also loves to be self-referential in his lyrics, & that is extensiiiiive throughout his career. he was a pioneer of the art rap genre which is again, super tangential to anticon, haha. just one of my other fav rabbit holes, and it's fun that they are objectively connected. he has a rlly charming sense of humour to me; his stuff is defo lighter than doseone, for example, and in vocabulary / subject matter a lot simpler -- but that is *extremely* intentional.

^ this whole album was produced by nosdam & has some really delicious instrumentals. it's really fun.

also T.I.M.E. is soooooo sweet. the full dvd is on youtube, if u haven't seen it.

in terms of nosdam recs -- "plan 9... meat your hypnotis" is an amazing compilation album. has rlly cool variety. some rlly haunting, atmospheric sounds. you'll also hear beats & samples that feature in his other albums, e.g. stuff on cLOUDDEAD, which is rlly fun to discover in all of his discog! i love nosdam. even just in these 3 links you can hear such a distinct variety in his sound.

reading thru your response was awesome, this is so fun. i rly dont get to talk about them much either! u goooottaaaaaa tell me what u think of cLOUDDEAD when u can hear more. based on what uve said abt doseone & themselves, i am rlly excited to hear more on what u think. i'll be listening to "the no music" shortly, likely later today. i can hit u up with what i think of it B].

ok hi im off anon. ueghhhj dude 🤤🤤🤤🤤 i think for the last like… idk.. it definitely feels like over half the year? but relatively “recently” ive been obsessing over anticon. im specifically a really fucking big fan of doseone because. his writing and his voice feel like they cater to me in particular. jels tracks fuck so hard too i feel like i found gold

i think what got me into it FULLY was that. i found ropeladder 12 at a thrift for like 2 bucks which had early as fuck tracks from jel aesop rock and slug, and i recognized their names so i bought it. now that im looking at it again a TON of people from anticon r on this 😍. anyways

that reaching quiet track (113th clean) did something to me so i started looking into who worked on it, leading me to find out about deep puddle dynamics which i had a RECORD of already (rain men/i am hip hop that was a gift from my dad ages ago) which led to. me trying to find out who did each verse and their individual productions. and its driving me CRAZY. 

themselves and dpd are my favorite from anticon, ive also been getting more into why? ive got 3 themselves cds and elephant eyelash from why? and also a buck65 cd i found at a goodwill for some reason. digging in old record stores has always been an interest of mine but this adds a whole new level to it. sorry for the novel 

fuuuck. jel rlly is an insanely good musician. rlly rlly underrated. although i love odd nosdam to piece i think that overall i find jel’s beats more fascinating 2 pick apart in terms of like, what would b the word. just his prowess on a drum pad , his technical skill there. watching him perform live is like i can’t take my eyes off the screen. nosdam is 100% one of my fav composers you cannot find a single other musician coming even close to what he does. altho u can rlly apply that to all of em.

they stand out so hugely to me for their subject matter. some lyricists stand out a lot more than others, why? & doseone in particular, but the running theme among anticon members of just a deep dissatisfaction with western society just comes thru in such a unique way in their stuff. hyperspecific, introspective, reconstructive, super experimental, and rlly instrumentally delicious throughout. they’ve given me a lot to think abt abt just what it means to be alive & be a human being. the way dose & why? spin imagery into commentary in particular is unlike anyone else. combined w/ nosdam / jel’s production quality it just… i love it sm. i rlly do

i also rlly love dose’s lyrical style & how he experiments w/ his voice in singing, i found him thru his collabs w why? & nosdam on clouddead, personally. it’s rlly interesting to see diff ppls routes into anticon stuff. so it was only in the last yr for u right? i love ur route in. just feels like a very quintessential anticon experience to grab a cd and be like “dude who the fuck was that” roflmao

^ good ass song & the track on ropeladder 12 for anyone else readinf

i think i’ve said my route thru anticon before on ma blawg but for me it started with why? who i was introduced to via a family member, about 2008-9? & i got obsessed w him. overtime i noticed he kept mentioning other ppl in his shit, dose & nosdam particularly, so i looked into their collabs (clouddead, themselves) then onto nosdams solo stuff & his collab with serengeti (who i had alrdy found through why?’s collab album w/ him. but that’s a whole OTHER rabbit hole)… anyway serengeti was on anticon himself via his own stuff & the grimm teachaz which has a concept album i love a lot. huge rec on serengeti if u haven’t gotten to him yet.

i went thru doseone’s stuff after nosdam, which my main takeaway was his solo albums “ha” & “skeletonrepellent” which i got preeetty obsessed with, then his album “for hero/for fool” w/ jel under subtle. some fantastic tracks & lyrics from dose there. yk on that album he tried to rlly transcend genre, it was kind of an attempt to revolutionise music which is very on-brand for him. i also tried 13 & god but just didn’t really vibe w/ most of their stuff…

^ i come back to this vid a lot. dose’s stage presence is just cute to me. all the lil props. plus u can see jel going batshit on the side. hugely recommend listening to the studio version of the 2 songs performed here but that’s assuming u haven’t based on the artists u mentioned

w/ themselves i still feel like i’ve rlly just scratched the surface. my fav song i’ve heard from them is definitely “grass skirt & fruit hat”.

^ love the ramping tension on this song & the rambly lyrics from dose.

deep puddle dynamics is smth i have checked out, & theres some songs there i rlly like, but there’s a lot more i haven’t heard yet i think.

it’s rly hard to find info on a lot of the production end for so much stuff which is a shame. have u listened to sole & alias? sole is pretty interesting. i rlly like his album “bottle of humans” tbh. also, what are your thoughts on clouddead? for me clouddead is a major major anticon highlight, absolute musical genius goig on there & it’s a shame it didn’t work out long term. their title album is just… insane.

^ one of my fav songs of all time

nice find on the buck65 cd btw! which one was it soecifically? he’s an artist i need to dig into more still. for sure. same w/ pedestrian & i do need to look more into alias himself, rip.

i rly enjoy physical media but i don’t have much of it. i have “this is my element”, the skate comp with the ost fully composed by nosdam except for one song. otherwise i have a lot of shit pirated on my drive hahah. friend archer’s been going on abt burning cds. i feel like i should look into that myself

mentioning ropeladder 12 has made me realise that “stop (and listen)” by jel doesn’t seem 2 have its own dedicated upload on youtube. theres a full album upload but not that. i might wanna remedy that hah. it’s a rlly interesting track. i love his use of samples.

dj signify is also on ropeladder 12! he’s sick. i rly like his stuff. he has some sick collabs w aesop rock actually.

also i peeped ur blog. i see ur also a fan of lisa & off. those are two of my fav game osts of all time. i feel like we have a lot in common musically hahah 🙂

thanks for sending another ask. loooove having reasons to talk abt anticon, take care