April 2018

I cannot, for the life of me, keep the titling format of these playlist posts consistent.

And yet the yams remain yammin’, the slams keep slammin’.

Big months for Janelle Monáe, Death Grips, and dudes named Danny. “Make You Feel” and “Pynk” both impossibly sensual and funky, I can’t believe I haven’t bumped the whole album yet. On the flip side of things, I had six hours of transit early in the month and burned through the entire Death Grips discography. Weirdly enough, I only found the special sauce on their latest full release, Bottomless Pit (but new single “Streaky” is exciting me, it’s way bleep-bloopier than previous work).

And finally the Danwich features buns made of Harle, but they don’t measure up to the purestrain pop of Sunshine. “Never Thought” reads so basic but feels so euphoric.

Little sidebar for Alex Cameron here too– “Marlon Brando” is the highlight of an album that I never expected to enjoy. I don’t even know who recommended it to me. His crustpunk Springsteen crooning almost coerces me into belting “f*ggot” right along with him. (Don’t worry, he gets reflective on his word choice even before reaching the end of the song.)

Also for like three days straight I couldn’t stop listening to Anna Kendrick’s rendition of “Cups.” I cannot be trusted to guide my own life.

First half shredded, back half aesthetic. Love it. May’s gonna be huge.

April 2018

March 2018

I cannot be stopped.

Or rather, Slime Girls’s “Warpstar (With You)” can’t. Youtube (of all places!) recommended me an album of theirs, and after a little bit of quick browsing I ended up with a tune that I’ve listened to 200+ times since. Reminds me of Anamanaguchi at their earlier, more-8bit-than-rock inspirational best.

“Baby I’m Bleeding” is an assault from a rapper self-nicknamed Peggy, barreling into any targets within reach over a beat balanced on the knife’s edge between functional and failing. That one was a friend recommending Jpegmafia and flipping around his jams at random.

Or Red Velvet’s “빨간 맛 Red Flavor,” first heard during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. Or Branchez trap-country croon “Turn Up For The Weekend,” which an old friend blasted in his car between bars. Or classic jukebox-exclusive horn-em-up “Strokin,” which I first heard from a pixie girl at karaoke. She knew most of the words, but the ad-libs are tougher.

Yep, the music’s always coming. And so am I.

Coming to meet it at the threshold of pleasure. In an arrival sense. Get your mind out of the gutter and deep into the sewer, where I reside.

okay thats enough

March 2018

DK64 ABC, “K Rool: Diddy, Tiny, and Chunky Phase – 8xA”

 

Some frightening genius constructed a tool-assisted run of Donkey Kong 64 in which the A button is pressed as little as possible. This is equivalent of pole-vaulting without a pole. The A button controls functions like jumping and selecting items in menus. Jumping tends to be important in video games.

This is the final video in the series. It’s actually somewhat disappointing, given that it features 8 A button presses after keeping the total down to 38 for the entire rest of the game at 101% completion. I recommend the rest of the vids ahead of this one, but wanted to point out that its finally wrapped and you can watch the entire thing. A favored clip features a technique that would take an absurd number of hours if not sped up and completed by a computer. (Duplicated copies of items are shepherded into one room to generate huge amounts of lag so that damage knockback is prolonged and lends itself to greater distance. It’s elegant.)

There’s no point to this challenge and yet it means everything. Digital asceticism bringing us closer to deus ex machina.

February 18

I warned you! I warned you it was slamming into your life hard n’ fast! EVEN IF YOU CAN’T LOVE PEOPLE, YOU CAN LOVE SONGS

A lot of top-notch selections here. The “Come First” remix may be my favorite Terror Jr. so far. The new verse by fake-Kylie is as much gasoline in my veins as the gasoline she’s slurping down. “BOOGIE” just barely didn’t make it into last year’s Best Of, because I was still sorting through that entire BROCKHAMPTON album (which also landed two other tracks on here). “Ouagadougou” is super cute but also makes me feel racist? Why is this white band doing a whole Africa song??? Still cute. And then dimber with their album damber: a rollicking 15min EP and “Manges Tes Morts” has been a fistpumping throatshredding repeater for me. Aryay’s “Never Gonna Leave” is a Pretty Lights-esque banger that mek me cri every tiem because it’s about dying kids. “Passenger Side” is killer pop with evocative lyrics, enough so that we got the original and a remix on here.

And then I ruin it all with a serious block of Undertale remixes. Sorry. That’s more for me than you. For sure.

Feb 18

January 2018

I didn’t give up. I can never give up! Silicon Valley provided two songs here, including this month’s winner, “RAW,” a song that makes me feel RAW and scraped up, it’s a world-conqueror for sure. Tenkitsune’s “Phantomile Wonderland,” despite its furry origins, will get you out of bed if nothing else. “Wrong” by TSAR is from Party Down. January is always embarrassing, because I’m still enjoying my Best Of playlist from the previous year.

February is going to hurt you though. >:)

January 18