mathpumamusic

[mathpumamusic]

Various Favs Since Last Time

I quit the job I was at, which was where I was listening to somewhere in the ballpark of 6 hours of music everyday. While I haven't been making the time to discover nearly as much music, I do have a few picks of things that have a big presence in my listening time. "Live for the Highest Bidder" by Jacob Mann and co. is very synthetic, but very much a love (and maybe hate) letter to jazz. I've listened to it a few times, and while I think there are a few standout hits, it's gotten me to dig a lot deeper into Jacob Mann's music. I feel like I should have been listening to him for years now, since one of his other albums was the definitive sound of 2023 for me, but regardless I'm a fan now.

The "Outside World" project has also really been forcing itself into my head and commute as well. I think the second album has been my favorite so far. The songs "Really Slow Fox" and "Passage" are such opposite ends of a spectrum, and crafting a project where they can coexist as peacefully as they do is really something to take note of.

In the process of writing this blog, I've also noticed that "Utopianisti II" has been blocked in my region, which is absurd. I hate region locking, and I will find a way to listen to the song "Bisphenol A" regardless of whether or not it falls within the capricious whims of a corporate hegemony.

Also, working with mathematics heavily again, I like to listen to the song "Tensor in Green" by Squarepusher whenever tensors become relevant. Which is often. I'm not planning on attempting a day-by-day listening diary again like I was at that prior job, but I'd certainly like to be more active blog-wise.

[mathpumamusic]

30-7-2024

I took a lot of gambles on first listens, to pretty exclusively good results.

[Brojob] "HOT POCKET HANDJOB" : This release is pretty short, but I think that's a pretty great thing for this group; The whole runtime feels pretty focused and heavy, and I got into it. It's pretty absurd to think "dang, these guys are really stepping it up here" only to have a momentary understanding of what's being said. This is definitely worth a listen. [Aloboi] "Out of Golden Light" : I felt compelled to check out Aloboi's discography further after seeing his recent experiments with just intonation, and I really like where his ear takes him. I think this straight-laced style of electronic music might not be in vogue anymore, but this feels like a good refinement of the core of EDM as I knew it back in 2014 or so. Also the classical music samples are very well done.

[Varra] "Varra III" : This is a relisten; still golden if you like Varra's very specific style.

[deadmau5] "some ep" : I have a huge soft spot for deadmau5, since 4x4=12 was one of the first albums I ever got for myself. It's interesting to catch back up with what he's making these days; I'm mostly struck with the artistic confidence, in that while I'll certainly vibe along to a slow building loop, I don't think I'd have the self-assurance to polish and publish it. I'll probably be revisiting a lot of his other projects in the next few days if I had to guess.

[vivivivivi] "Meowtropolis" : Much like with "some ep" I don't know if I would have had the confidence to execute this idea, but I'm glad that vivivivivi did, because to my ears this harkens back to a very particular niche of music in my childhood that I've never quite been able to capture again.

[Sublime Jupiter Snake Duo] "Feeding Time" : This project has a sick sense of humor, but it's handled well enough to be a listening experience that I won't get anywhere else. It's feeding time indeed.

[Femtanyl] "CHASER" : I loved listening to this music, but much like with "Muh," I feel like my underlying feelings on this one are still to be determined, contingent upon some facts about the artist which I don't really want to investigate.

[Aloboi] "Urban Hermit" : Excellent use of vocals, and a good progression from the other project I checked out earlier.

I have a few weeks worth of albums and ep's that I have listened to and have written down, I'm still deciding if I want to review some, or just upload the list and call it a day.

[mathpumamusic]

New Album!

As of a few days ago, I've finished my second album! I'm still working out the last details with the artist of the album art, but the music itself is complete, and I'm hoping to be able to release everything sometime within the next week. Here's the second track, "Immer unter demselben Mond"

Full quality uploads coming to bandcamp as soon as possible; Enjoy!

[mathpumamusic]

Uh oh...

I got busy; Given how long it's been, I think trying to write even terse reviews for all the music would cease to be fun either to read, or to write, so I'll just share some highlights and interesting things. Part of me wants to hate [Sublime Jupiter Snake Duo] for their presentation, but their discography is just to solid for me to ignore. The group [Haggus] makes music so comically agressive that I would earnestly believe that it was a parody if told such. However, that doesn't mean for a second that I don't enjoy listening to it. In a similar vein, [Brojob] specializes in making metal with stellar guttural vocals, whose lyrics are also gleefully as gay as possible, deliberately in ways which will alienate listeners who aren't in on the joke, so to speak. It kicks ass. [Yussef Dayes] nails a particular blue and wistful atmosphere, and is so good at nailing the production of all his music that I actually noticed production for once in my life. The [Scattle] album "Sketch" doesn't have any one thing in particular that I need to point out, but I've revisited it a few times. [SOIL & "PIMP" SESSIONS] created some of the best music to ever scratch the very particular itch I have for jazz based music that's also irreverently aggressive with it's rough edges. It's gritty and loud and great. "Witchy Activities and the Maple Death" was a weird find, but a worthwhile listen that I checked out a few times after the ledger below ceased being updated. There's lot's of stuff I listened to but didn't record, unfortunately. In the below, I grouped all the projects that I listened to so frequently that it wouldn't make sense to even write them on any individual days.

Normally I try to respect how artists stylize their names and album titles, but for the sake of getting this typed and out, that's definitely not the case for the below. Full ledger (except for the fact that at some point I stopped recording due to being so behind): Frequent Listens (Omitted from specific days, because it would be overwhelmingly frequent): [City Hotel] All albums, repeatedly, several times a week. [Pilotredsun] "Groundhog" and "Scuffler" EP's, repeatedly [Ferenczi Gyorgy] "Mindenek Szerelme" at least ten times [Bobbing] "Year of the Newt" numerous times Notable Listens: 4-3-2024: [J3PO] "MAINS" [Squarepusher] "Just a Souvenir" [Carling & Will] "Soon comes the Night" [Lianhua] "Citrus!" [Animals as Leaders] "The Madness of Many" [Bach performed by Masaaki Suzuki] "J.S. Bach original works, Vol.5" [Venetian Snares] "Hospitality" 5-3-2024: [Frums] "Vignette" [Aphex Twin] "...I care because you do" and "come to daddy" [Boiled Buzzards] "Fine Dining" [Bele Fleck and the Flecktones] Various Albums [Floating Points et. al] "Promises" [Kamasi Washington] "Harmony of Difference" 6-3-2024: [Bele Fleck and the Flecktones] First three albums [Glasys] "Defective Humanity" [Dubmood] "Lost Tapes Vol. 2" [Disasterpeace] "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" [Green Lung] "Woodland Rites" [E-An-Na] "Alveolar" 7-3-2024: Several recommendations from George [Squarepusher] "Ultravisitor" [Keshi] [The Funky Knuckles] "Delicious" [Flyleaf] "Flyleaf"

8-3-2024: [Adhesive Wombat] "Sticky Tracks" 11-3-2024: [Varra] "Varra III" More recs from George [Lemon City Trio] [Bruno Major] "A song for every Moon" [zabutom] "Lost Tapes Vol. 1" 12-3-2024: [Bruno Major] "Let a good Thing Die" [Return to Forever] "Romantic Warrior" [Soiya] "You can Say Hi" [The Ollum] 13-3-2024: [Drumcorp] "Falling Forward" [Moon Tooth] "Chromaparagon" 18-3-2024: [Wanclaw Zimpel] "Long Weekend" [Justice] "Cross" Recommendations from Kenny [Squarepusher] "Solo Bass" and "Feed me Weird Things" 19-3-2024: [Squarepusher] "Ufabulum" [Mark Guliana] "Music for Doing" [5SOS] [Breaking Benjamin] "Shallow Bay" [David Hyams] "Knowing the Place" 20-3-2024: [Old & in the Way] [Nora Brown] "Cinnamon Tree" [Squrepusher] "Be up a Hello" 21-3-2024: [Arthur Verocai] "Encore" [Glasys] "Defective Humanity" and "The Pressure" [Faux Plums] "In Tongues" [The Collection] "Entropy" 22-3-2024: [Dubmood] "Lost Floppies Vol. 1" [zabutom] "Lost Floppies Vol. 2" [Aphex Twin] "Syro" [Disasterpeace] "Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar" [E-An-Na] "Alveolar" [Machine Girl] "Because I'm young, arrogant, and hate everything you stand for..." [Ween] "The Mollusk" (Large break in the ledger from when I went to visit George in person) 5-4-2023: [Green Lung] "Woodland Rites" [Grouper] "I'm Dragging a dead deer up a Hill" [Pilotredsun] "Cyber op Keys" and "Think Environment" [Moon Hooch] "Red Sky" 8-4-2024: [Mick Gordon] "Doom OST" [Scary Goldings] [By the Spirits] "We are Falling" [Queen] "The Game" [zabutom] "Lost Tapes 1" [The Orb] "Orblivion" 9-4-2024: [Lincoln Park] "Hybrid Theory" and one more album I can't make out in my notes [Irving Force] "Godmode" [Micheal Hedges] "Oracle" 10-4-2024: [zabutom] "Resolution" [ur pretty] Entire Discography [Nora Brown] "Long time to be Gone" [Evan Marian] "Elysian" [Michael Hedges] "Oracle" [Kaizo Slumber] "The Kaizo Manifesto" [Sublime Jupiter Snake Duo] "Clown" That's all for now. I'll probably get back to recording what I listen to because I like the timeline of what I was interested in, but I'll probably not write proper reviews or responses to most things, just in the interest of saving myself some time. Things I have big reactions to will definitely get some more love though.

[mathpumamusic]

1-3-2024

[Periphery] "Periphery III: Select Difficulty" : Contains "Marigold" and "Absolomb". [Boiled Buzzards] "Eat at Joe's" : Quality Picking! [Wacław Zimpel] "In The Cell of Dreams" : Atmospheric and imaginative, the album moves slow, but is full of interesting texture. [zabutom] "New Beginnings" : Coming back from "Resolution," it's almost strange to hear zabutom play in a regular chiptune style again. [T.R.A.M.] "Lingua Franca" : Unlike many of the other weird prog albums I've poked at in the past few weeks, "Lingua Franca" is more than willing to have an entire album of exactly what the opener would imply. [Three Days Grace] "One-X" : This has the same effect on me as one of those werewolf paintings, in that I love it completely earnestly. [Tobor Experiment] "Available Forms" : Here's an album that says, "I'm shopping at the mall, and the year is 3200."

[mathpumamusic]

29-2-2024

[Özgün Semerci] "A Nightmare on Clawhammer Banjo" : I would not expect someone from Istanbul to lean so hard into the sonic language of a mythological American frontier, but it's so awesome that I am compelled to acknowledge it's accomplishment. [Alfie Ryner] "II" : Listening to it is a lot of fun, although it occasionally takes a bit too much space for my personal preferences, but where else am I gonna get a French diatribe in my ear, featuring sax? [zabutom] "Resolution" : Astounded and overjoyed that my favorite chiptune artist decided to make Idm, it's a dream come true. [Boiled Buzzards] "Salt And Grease" : Great picking, but I'll wanna listen to their much more famous album tonight to see if I should stick with this group for a bit or keep searching. [Malcom Catto] "Popcorn Bubble Fish" : Reminded me quite a bit of Medeski, Martin and Wood at times. [Bobbing] "Year of the Newt" : The natural step forward from "Thank You for Singing to Me," I could see these songs being put on the radio. [Lily Allen] "It's Not Me, It's You" : Fantastic music, with lyrics that vary from extremely vulnerable to outright caustic. [Sevish] "Harmony Hacker" : I'm nostalgic for this album, so therefore it's good.

[mathpumamusic]

28-2-2024

[Carling & Will] "Carling & Will" : Music to nourish the primordial part of the soul. [Nate Smith] "Kinfolk: Postcards from Everywhere" : The opener is an insane banger, but it definitely got me geared for a different type of album than the rest of the songs ended up being. [Squarepusher] "Hello Everything" : I thought this album was gonna be restrained, but lo and behold, he got out the dental drill before it was over. [Woody Goss] "Rainbow Beach" : Super beautiful, I crave sunlight. [Moon Tooth] "Photoproph" : Much more refined sound, although I can't decide yet if I like the writing on this one as much as on their previous albums. [The Octopus Project] "Hexadecagon" : Just like with the earlier Nate Smith album, the opener got me geared up for a high intensity album, but the following songs were much calmer. [Arch Echo] "You Won't Believe What Happens Next!" : It's good mood metal, metal which puts you in a good mood. [zabutom] "Zeta Force" : All good listens, but the tracks are more standalone than some of zabutom's later work. [Aphex Twin] "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" : Lots of great listens, but I think his style hits harder when the juxtaposition between songs is more pronounced.

[mathpumamusic]

27-2-2024

[E-An-Na] "Alveolar" : I'm glad to see Ies get a proper album feature, and am looking forward to burning every second of this album into permanent storage in my brain. [Ingrid Michaelson] "Human Again" : Angelic voice united with rock solid instrumentals and ideas, it's clearly great. [Crown the Empire] "The Resistance: Rise of the Runaways" : I think this is a perfect case where hearing all the songs as an album elevates them higher than the individual song experience, although I was increasingly distracted from the music by my sprained ankle. [Nathan Wagner] "Neveah" : I had mixed feelings overall, but I think "Ascension" is really quite nice. [Wood & Wire] "The Coast" : There's a few standout tracks like "Elucidation", but it didn't strike me off the bat. [The Grascals] "The Famous Lefty Flynn's" : This is the exact level of genuine musicality and tongue-in-cheek-ness I would hope for a group with this name. [Sam Gendel] "Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs" : Lofi hiphop for slightly more jazz inclined people. Georgies's Recommendations: Love that guy! The cover of Runaway was pretty cool. [Tsuyoshi Kon] "Studio Cat" : It's super funky, and totally approachable, which is like the best possible result for Japanese Jazz in the vein of Casiopea.

[mathpumamusic]

26-2-2024

[Hige Driver] "Hige Driver 10th Anniversary Best" : Definitely poppier than I expected coming in with only "Ukigomo" as context, but quite a few fun tracks. [Sungazer] "Sungazer, Vol. 2" : Every song is great, but I do which there was a little more to congeal them into a cohesive album. [Fabino do Nascimento] "Danca do Tempo" : Excellent atmosphere, and mostly I just can't stop listening to "Ewe." [The Postal Service] "Give up Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition" : The main album is fantastic (even though I've had it sort of ruined for me by a friend), although I found some of the remixes and added performances at the end to be a bit odd. [Cory Henry] "Operation Funk" : Much more restrained than I was anticipating. [Andy Thorn] "Songs of the Sunrise Fox" : I liked quite a bit of this album, but you have to be the type of person to strap in to 30+ minutes of peaceful banjo-ing. [Leftover Salmon] "The Nashville Sessions" : I found this group from the prior artist Andy Thorn, and was caught off guard to find that they were the masterminds behind "Funky Mountain Fogdown." [Shakatak] "Night Birds" : These artists have apparently just been killing it for like 40 years now, and "Bitch to the Boys" has been stuck in my head something fierce. [THE KOXX] "ENTER" : Bangers that would be perfect for hanging out on the beach with a large group of friends.

[mathpumamusic]

23-2-2024

[Ferenczi Gyorgy, Rackajam] "A Rackák Világa" : I must listen to more from these artists, because every moment of this album is so unexpected and such a pleasure of boldly fused influences I don't even recognize. [Red] "End of Silence" : A fun listen, brought to me courtesy of George! [Set it Off] "Duality" : Back in middle school, the friend group I hung out with would have had this album playing endlessly, and I hope they're all faring wonderfully. [Animals as Leaders] "Weightless" : Listened mostly due to the opener, which is just an insane fantastic piece of music. For the rest of the night I didn't record what I listened to.

[mathpumamusic]

22-2-2024

[City Hotel] "Don't Go to the Porch," "Dogged Days," "Savannah Grass" : Their entire discography hits immensely. [Thousand Foot Krutch] "The End Is Where We Begin" : Alternates between aggressive and vulnerable in a very fun way, and brought to my attention the fact that the band name is an allusion to God. [Dog & Gun] "Dog & Gun" : These guys are the GOAT. [Set it Off] "Cinematics (Expanded Edition)" : Very different vocal style than this genre usually sees, but it is very welcome, and I enjoyed the album quite a bit. [Animals as Leaders] "The Joy of Motion" : The timbre of the instruments with this group is pretty much impossible to beat in terms of mixing heaviness with clarity. [Félix Lajkó] "Most Jöttem" : This makes me want to learn Hungarian with all 47,000 of it's grammatical cases just to listen to the lyrics, great music. [Moon Tooth] "Chromaparagon" : Takes me right back to where I was when I first heard this, and I love it dearly. [Nora Brown] "Cinnamon Tree," "Sidetrack my Engine" : Dang this banjo sure does slap in the most pensive way possible.

[mathpumamusic]

21-2-2024

[Evan Call] "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" : I'm a sucker for plucked string instruments and flutes, so this sort of thing is great to have in the background. [Nora Brown] "Long Time to be Gone" : I listen to this album as often as I wish to disappear into a romanticized and mythologized version of the American old West, which is a few times per week. [City Hotel] "Don't Go to the Porch," "Dogged Days," "Savannah Grass" : I love to listen to their whole discography in one fell swoop, because I don't think they've released a single song that isn't immensely charming. [Squarepusher] "Do You Know Squarepusher" : For some reason I'm not as big a fan of his live stuff it seems. [The Accomplices] "Canned Beans" : A good listen, but it hasn't stuck with me as much as a lot of other artists in this genre. [TAUK] "Homunculus" : Extremely Stylish, this can be listened to on it's own, but still be subdued enough to have on while working on other things. [Anamaguchi] "Power Supply" : Very effective at using chiptunes' (or faux-chiptunes') tendency towards harmonic simplicity to make memorable music.

[mathpumamusic]

20-2-2024

George's recommendations: Love that guy <3 although I didn't record everything I listened to :/ [Dopapod] "I Saw Live Dopapod, Evil Was I" : I listened to this whole album several times in high school, and even years later it holds up incredibly well as both an album and a live set. [Nora Brown] "Sidetrack my Engine" : A masterclass of a very specific mournful subgenre of banjo playing. [Sevish] "Big Sway" : I'd like to relisten with proper audio fidelity and attention, but this felt much more relaxed than "Harmony Hacker." [Nora Brown] "Cinnamon Tree" : "Cumberland Gap" included, instant classic.

[mathpumamusic]

16-2-2024

[Moon Tooth] "Violent Grief Sessions" : Love these guys, because I can share them with my non-metal friends. [Vulfpeck] "Mit Peck" : Fascinating to see how these guys have developed, and what aspects of their sound has stayed with them since the beginning.

"Fugue State" : Wow, these boys sure can funk! [Deastro] "Keepers" : The sounds of this album are super nostalgic for me, and I think this does a great job of preserving the sound of that cluttered comfy aesthetic the late oughts and early tens had. [Justice] "✝" : Very nearly all bangers. [Brian Eno] "After the Heat" : Super nice textures make me want to listen to more from this artist, even though I hadn't given the first project I heard from him as much attention. [De La Soul] "De La Soul is Dead" : I don't know anything about rap, but this kicks ass catastrophically. [Moon Hooch] "My Head & My Heart" : I hope that the artists are pursuing what they want to and find a lot of success, but I found this album to be a devastating departure from everything I like about Moon Hooch. [Squarepusher] "Ultravisitor" : Currently my favorite Squarepusher album, the bass solos melting out of noise are divinely inspired.

[mathpumamusic]

15-2-2024

[Vulfpeck] "Schvitz" : It's a new album, and so the songs haven't had the requisite time to burrow into my brain for all time, but I think this album was slightly less tight than a lot of their previous work. [Occams Laser] "Odyssey of Noise Vol. II" : Excellent running music, and a fun blend of listener-friendly synths. [Arch Echo] "Final Pitch" : Happy shredding, although if any of these songs will join "Immediate Results" in the endless-replay hall of fame remains to be seen. [mouse on the keys] "an anxious object" : Given the mastery of the mixing and production, mouse on the keys could have created the crunchiest and nastiest jazz album, but disappointingly felt constrained to the limits of consonant town. [Faux Plums] "In Tongues" : It's goofy, it's wistful, and it reminds me of high-school. [El Tigr3] "Man-Eater" : While the aesthetic of "cyber-badass" is mostly what El Tigr3 goes for, I think some of their best work tends to be more pensive, or at least restrained. [Vulfpeck] "Thrill of the Arts" : It is indeed a thrill! [Shubh Saran] "Hmayra" : Pleasantly Jazzy and folky at the same time, this whole album is great to listen to once in a while. [The Breathing Effect] "Mars Is A Very Bad Place For Love" : I had found the album through the song "Visions" being served to me on the weekly finds, but listening through the album as an entire cohesive piece is a beautiful experience.

[mathpumamusic]

14-2-2024

[Snarky Puppy] "We Like It Here" : Honestly, does anyone actually need a review to know that Snarky Puppy is fantastic music? "Culcha Vulcha" : It's still Snarky, it's puppy, and it's great. [August Burns Red] "Constellations" : I love the sound of this group, although this was a particularly challenging workday, and so I didn't have the pleasure of giving this album the attention it deserves. [Floating Points] "Crush" : A super tight modular album that runs the gamut of very approachable to relatively opaque. [Gang of Four] "Entertainment" : Not my cup of tea per se, but definitely a fun listen for when you want some straightforward rock. [Datach'i] "Bones" : Datach'i's style is somehow both imposing, while also maintaining a great amount of the "squeakiness" that synthesizer music has. [Squarepusher] "Go Plastic" : I love this dude's music, but I was checked out by this time in my workshift, so I'll need to revisit it soon. [Les Rallizes Denudes] "77 Live" : Fantastic album, very nearly sent me to hell.

[mathpumamusic]

13-2-2024

[Pilotredsky] "The Scuffler EP" : Wow, I can't believe that this EP still sounds awesome like the third day in a row. [Zock] "Blackbird" : Found this earlier, and it made me wanna check out the artist more. "Hollywood Days" : Very pleasant and easy listening for work, a bit in the smooth/lite-jazz territory. [Bobbing] "Thank You for Singing to Me" : Fantastic and super tight EP that kicks ass from beginning to end. [Moon Hooch] "Acid Mountain" : Wait, this is just a single?! [Wardruna] "Runaljod - gap var Ginnunga" : I've been listening to many of these songs out of order for years now, but hearing them all play out in sequence properly makes the experience even more affecting. [Paul Simon] "Graceland" : Great music, but just not the right pick for when I was listening, so I'll have to return to this at some point. [Glasys] "Defective Humanity" : I still think that "The Pressure" EP is a tighter project overall, but as a development thereof "Defective Humanity" has tons to offer, and explores a broader gamut of interpretation on it's themes. [PJ Harvey] "Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea" : I'll have to check out more by the artist, because I'm super down with the vocal performance, which is excellently complimented by the instrumental. [Evan Marian] "Parallels" : My lovely partner gave me a better set of earbuds to use at work, and hearing a much fuller juicier bass tone on an album I already really love was a crazy treat. [Talking Heads] "Remain in Light" : I don't know why I had such a bias against Talking Heads, but despite my best efforts to the contrary I did in fact enjoy the album quite a bit. [August Burns Red] "Guardians" : Metal is still something I'm learning how to listen to properly, but I love the tones that this group gets, and it's no wonder this is one of the first groups I stumbled across.