[M-Mu] Music Obsessions, August 2023

Well ! Last month's post seemed to do pretty well. Better than pretty much anything I've put out there so far, which makes me happy that there's still appeal in my musical ramblings. I have more to talk about this month than I was expecting, and I still can't get these out exactly on time, but hopefully quality and amount will make up for the delay. But enough being patient, let's jump right in...

| Honestly you'll have to hunt this stuff down yourself, game OSTs are too scattered to be anywhere reliably |

I started this month out, admittedly playing and watching a good chunk of DDR with a friend, and explaining the appeal of it became a recurring thought in my head. I originally filed it away as being "trashy", but that was far too negative, it was music with a specific purpose, designed to invoke the energy to dance. But it lacked serious artistic value, right ?

My mind kind of wandered to some time long ago, in a place I've never been, some underground club scene that played music meant to invoke a similar feeling. Real people with passion likely created that music, sometimes that music would have meaning to it, or the more abstract hype lyrics were meant to make your mind imagine something. Alternatively, the remix culture recontextualizes familiar sounds in an upbeat way. There is objective value in it, and I feel an appreciation of it creates a great juxtaposition to more "serious" music, like a well balanced musical diet.

Hi-Fi Rush is thrown in there alongside it because I didn't have as much to say about the philosophy of it, and I feel listening to the soundtrack alone strips out the impact it has when placed in the context of what it was designed for, but is still worth mentioning as a good listen.

| Evil Friends | Deezer | Spotify |

A lot of the time with more feel-y albums, I often have a hard time placing the specific messages woven into them, but this was the first time where I distinctively got a lot of the core messages the first time I had listened, and goddamn are they some wonderfully existential questions...

...is where I would end this. I've known about this album for a few months now, and on my first listen, nothing stuck to me about it super hard, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. After a couple more relistens with different mindsets, different environments, the way I felt about it...changed. If this post is delayed in any way ? This album is the reason why.

When relistening to it more recently this month, something about it just struck...an odd fear in me I couldn't place, something about the album I felt challenged some abstract idea or thought in my head, my existence, that shook me in a way I despise being unable to describe. I loved the album all the more, but something about it just, began cutting through me I suppose. Left me scared, created an unsettling amount of questions that have no words.

Look, if you want my surface level opinion on it ? The soundstage is wide, the vibe feels cynically upbeat, has great messages, neat sprinklings of textured pianos, and it's just a really good album. If you want my take that I can't put into words ? It's something special, and I feel like if I had an album to listen to at the edge of the universe, staring off into nothingness, this would be it. Stop reading this, and go listen to it.



| The Slim Shady LP | Deezer | Spotify |

My enjoyment of Eminem I feel is almost...shameful, that he's one of those artists that has a mix of a poor modern day reputation, being very mainstream, and attracting rather odd defenders of more current work that has such a stark juxtaposition to the tone and quality of what came out in the early 2000's. Furthermore that one of the albums I enjoy the most is one that most claim hasn't aged well, which puts me in a really sad situation where I wish I felt more comfortable discussing other things from his discography that I really like, and breaking down the bits I find best. But, I've scrapped a post like that about six times now, and accepted it likely won't happen.

But, this is my blog, and I use it to talk about music that's been important to me, about my obsessions. I'm no serious critic, I'm just passionate about what I like, and this album's been a godsend mood lifter and a regular one to throw on when I want to listen to something that I still find funny and enjoyable, and that I've carried with me for a good few months now. To me, it holds up well, and I find it to be a pleasant comfort I can laugh with, and invokes a feeling of an album some friends made when they were young and messing around, but with good production as well, and some really creative ideas sprinkled throughout.

Also, 8 Mile is still a good movie.



| Twin Galaxies | Deezer | Spotify |
| Ghost Cities | Deezer | Spotify |

What's the strangest way you ever stumbled across an album ? While Twin Galaxies I don't think takes the record, it would still rank pretty damn high, as I discovered it through the profile picture of an opponent I had on Tetrio. Well, I suppose that's one way of getting an album suggested to me, but I had no idea what I was going to be stepping into exactly, not even a clue genre-wise. True blindness. My unironic favorite...

It's math rock. Actually very accessible math rock all things considered. In fact, some might argue that only the first couple tracks resemble math rock, and the rest is a really pleasant indie journey, which puzzles me a little, but I feel makes it stand out quite well in retrospect. What actually caused me to stumble a bit on my analysis was another album from them I decided to listen to.

...and it caused this post to be delayed by a few days as well, as I couldn't actually give my take on Ghost Cities even after a few listens. But, I have it now, and I kind of need to explain how formative games like Burnout 3 and Paradise were to my childhood. Blasting down a road at impossible speeds, the sun soaked, oversaturated atmosphere of high intensity relaxation. With certain albums that some may discredit as not being anything too special, I find that they create an intense comfort to go back to on occasions, when I want my mind to drift away back to those days of paradise. It's nostalgia talking, but it's my nostalgia, and passion for feelings like that are why I make these posts.

There's something there, and I badly want it to be fleshed out even harder, which creates very mixed but yearning feelings that leave me conflicted. I don't regret the time spent feeling conflicted on it though, taught me more about how I connect with music on a personal level.



| You aren't finding this anywhere, check back here later for a follow-up post |

So, anyone interested in a hyper obscure music story ?

A friend of mine that is into DDR (sup Zenja) got me curious about digging through some names of the people who made the music for DDRMAX, and a name came up in a wiki that I found interesting.

Yasushi Kurobane (黒羽康司)

Seemingly a no-name that only did a few tracks here and there, but the one hit that I did find musically that hooked my interest ? A single from the disc above, called Particle System. Here's the video I saw. Notice anything odd about the description ? It says "Playback @ +8". It was catchy, and I really liked it, but I couldn't shake a feeling it was sped up in some way. Problem is, it wasn't anywhere on streaming, no other hits online.

So...I hunted down a copy on Discogs to hear it for myself and...yup, the 500 view copy online is sped up, and the original version strikes such a different tone. I'll have a larger post ready at some point in the future detailing deeper thoughts about the whole album, and some feelings regarding it, but for now ?

Here's the track I really, really like. Enjoy.



| Hail to the Thief | Deezer | Spotify |

On the 31st, the final day when I was supposed to have this complete in some form, I woke up to find that the lyrics to 2 + 2 = 5 had crept into my head without warning, and gnawed at me to listen to Hail To the Thief once again.

I feel that even compositionally mediocre or cliched music can still be incredible to a listener and create powerful memories and strong emotional attachments simply when listened to in a specific moment. However, when music has both incredible tonal qualities and deeply woven emotions masterfully composed into an album that you then create intensely tied memories to, much like this one ? It'll never leave your head. Hail To the Thief was in the right places at the right times, and reminds me of two things. Having the artistic fire in me to create things, and seeing the sparkling skyline of California and the broader LA area, the light of the building smeared slightly on my glasses, knowing something about that moment was so...unique.

I've always had an internal debate if this, or In Rainbows ranks number one in Radiohead albums to me. In Rainbows has a longer history with me and is a more pleasant listen, but the memories tied to Hail To the Thief are much stronger, and the positive feelings it can invoke feel more...raw and unrefined, but not in a bad way. I don't think it's a question I have any hopes of having a definitive answer to.




Now if you'll excuse me, I got way more music to listen to, and a cassette player to obsess over and debate getting, because when I'm not listening to music at the computer, then I'm not seeking out the best sound quality, but instead the best specific vibe, and often using a phone to navigate albums on Deezer doesn't strike the right feeling I'm looking for, yet my IEMs come close to it. Though that is my general recommendation for music listening. Some balanced headphones at a desk or computer setup, and some nice sparkly IEMs for listening while traveling or chilling somewhere not so serious. I also got a convention to prep for, which may get its own post soon.

Music is wonderful, and I'm always grateful to anyone that reads these all the way through. Stay tuned for next month, and keep enjoying the music you love 💛