In any case, at the time of writing, it is still bandcamp friday, go buy these now go go go go

xaev – berdlycore chapter 3

i love hyperflip so much u must understand. the nostalgiabait is targeted exactly at my age, the chaotic beats are exactly what i need for some good overstim. there is not a whole lot specifically deltarune-themed about this, go listen to the OST if u want that, this is for PRO GAMERS ONLY 😤

Favorite track: daria math

There are also chapters One, Two, & Zero, which are also all good, tho 3 is my favorite by far.

femtanyl – CHASER

A classic. Now that Femtanyl is a full band instead of a solo gig I thought it was worth revisiting. Absolutely yes, it's a classic for a reason. Required listening for transgender imo.

Favorite track: KATAMARI

prayboymantis – born on the internet

I found out about this artist thru a random YouTube pull. Very fun to find out about small indie artists this way! I should get on Soundcloud proper for this...

Favorite track: too introverted for the club

Jam2go – Crash Test

Another youtube recommendation. Jam2go was previously in the business of indie game development (lots of cool devlogs btw), but I guess he decided to write a full Kasane Teto rock album for funsies? It does go hard, all the music videos are excellent too.

My favorite is still the first track I heard: Honeycrsip

D-CELL GAMES – unbeatable [ost]

Friend shared this game with me a while ago. It's a really good rhythm game with really good music and a really good story, you beat up a bunch of cops, it's great, you should play it. UNBEATABLE on Steam

Favorite track: ZERO MOMENT (plays near the climax, spoiler-free tho)

Don't let my choice of "harsh electronica" fool you tho; there is a lot of prog rock on here too. Wide range of stuff to suite any palette.

Also there is Jaime Paige DLC for this game, has some absolutely insane remixes of classic JaimeP songs, highly recommend that as well :3

I talked a big game at the start, but that is all the albums I have for now! Hope you also found something good, let me know in the comments

PSYQUI was my introduction into the fascinating world of Japanese EDM, by way of those pirate Youtube channels that just put a simple visualizer on top of some anime art. The albums he contributed to back when he was most most active in 2018-2019, like SPD GAR 001 and TECHCORE EVANGELIX 01, absolutely still hold up to this day. His style is effect- & bass-heavy with a strong beat, one of those micro-genres where no one else can replicate it. It's been a long hiatus for sure, but I am very happy to see some more from him in a full EP!

Favorite Track: 02 – Why Don't You

(this was the only non-queer album I promise the rest are Very Queer lol)

Poetically – Queer Oddities

I found this artist somewhat randomly when their song Girls In High Heels came up in discovery a while ago. That's from their first album, Odd Queer, and this is their B-sides follow up. Like the song that first enamored me, this album is very queer & a bit cheeky about it, distorted vocals & instruments leveraging the vocabulary of pop music to make something a little outside of it but still very catchy.

Favorite Track: 06 – Sun of a Beach

passengerprincess – PASSENGERPRINCESS

Apparently this was a meme in some furry circles when it first came out?? I overlapped just enough to find out about it, and my rule of thumb "if it's a meme, it's probably good, because a lot of people liked it" hasn't let me down.

This debut album definitely falls into the "hyperpop" genre, with similarities to artists like 100 gecs & Vylet Pony being readily apparent. The messages are a little more plainly stated, but I still get the sense we are laughing with the artist; it's very joyful & laser-targeted at the queer + furry spheres I inhabit.

Favorite Track: 04 – 4K CARPET

June LaLonde – Framemaker

Before listening to this album, I did not understand what the big deal w/ guitar was, "why are people so obsessed with that instrument?". After listening to this album, now I understand. June LaLonde uses it to incredible effect, pulling emotions out of me I was not ready to feel yet ones I am glad to have felt anyways. It was written while she was grieving the deaths of people close to her, which checks out. The resulting pieces are sad, yes, but also hopeful, a fitting message for such a commemoration. My favorite song is one of the more up-beat ones, but I think this album deserves to be listened to in full. Give it a shot even if you too think it's out of your strike zone; it sure did hit for me at least.

Favorite Track: 06 – Land of Kings

I've had a blast listening to lots of albums this year! it's been a great way to consume music and I plan to keep this going into next year too. Hopefully there will continue to be Bandcamp Fridays to force my hand at periodic roundups like this, otherwise I tend not to remember lol. Anyways that is it for now, happy listening!!

Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer

Man. I was extremely hyped for this one after listening to Girl EDM (covered in issue #7), and not only did this not disappoint, it completely blew me out of the water & is now my favorite thing put out by Ninajirachi.

This is a hyper-modern kind of EDM, very much the kind that can only be made on a computer, which this album is absolutely reverent of. It's also about Nina's relationship with computers & making music, most obviously in tracks like "F**k My Computer" & "Sing Good", but really this theme is present in all tracks.

Favorite track: 04 – CSIRAC

"All I Am", "All At Once", and "Sing Good" are all really good as well, but are sort of too emotional for specific moods. CSIRAC is my overall favorite because it's a pumping bop no matter what!

Various Artists – Stream Palette 5 -Ranked-

Stumbled upon this by a chance algorithmic recommendation and yeah, I do love Japanese music, thanks for noticing! It's got all the big names like Zekk, Nhato, KO3, & more, with a corresponding diversity of genres like trance, phonk, color bass, & of course, dubstep:

Favorite track: 08 – Nhato – Killer in the Mirror

This being the 5th in a series does make me want to go back for more. The "-Ranked-" part seems to mean that this is the more hardcore version, as compared to "-Chatting-" which is more chill; wonder how that mix works on the previous, non-split albums? anyways

Iglooghost – Bronze Claw Iso

With Iglooghost, you always know you're getting cool new experimental music, complete with tons of backing lore, this time at https://neurowaste.net. True to the theme, this one is a lot more industrial-sounding than past albums like Lei Line Eon or Tidal Memory Exo.

Because the sounds are so experimental, they're always a bit hit-or-miss for me, but there's usually a banger tucked away, like Slug Song. Not to insinuate the other tracks aren't good (of course they are), just that this one song gets stuck in my head quite often & doesn't leave.

Favorite track: 04 – Slug Song

Moe Shop – EVO EVO

New classic Moe Shop! Their last full album release was Moe Moe, all the way back in March 2018!! They've certainly kept busy since then, with a steady stream of collabs with other artists, commercial commissions, & DJ sets over the years (as per their website, https://www.moeshop.jp). Still, it sure is nice to have something full-length to chew on :)

Favorite track: 02 – COMPLICATIONS

Like I said, "new classic Moe Shop", very distinctive flavor of music they have :P Of course, this album also includes a bunch of collabs, including one with everyone's favorite Cohost artist:

07 – NEWLY HUMAN FEELING (feat. Jamie Paige)

Lastly, I do want to give another shoutout to an album that I've been listening to a bunch again, Tanger – Prefer not to say. Can't believe it's almost been a full year... Anyways, that's it for this issue, happy spooky pumpkin season!

Ninajirachi – girl EDM (disc 1)

Very fun & energetic EDM. Album description on Bandcamp:

there are girls and EDM and there is girl EDM... cat ears, furry paws, headphones on world off, sci-fi fantasy cosplay windows down hands in the air, kandi bracelet, computer, the next step in evolution and a window to the soul <3

i think that about sums it up ya!

Favorite track: 03 – Ninacamina

I'd also like to purchase her next album, I Love My Computer, but that is only a pre-order so i am unsure if the full discount applies. oh well doing it anyways.

Bad Computer feat. Gold – Connected

Not an album, just a single. Also getting Move Like This, basically everything Bad Computer puts out immediately goes on my favorites playlist.

Pretty much their own microgenre of EDM at this point, very distinctive style, just part of that classic Monstercat sound ya know? u could load a Rocket League menu to this

Emplexx & Sunnexo – Control Shift

It is Emplexx & Sunnexo, two indie artists who I already really enjoy separately, doing a collab!! Must-buy single for sure yaya

They call this genre "complextro 2" and who am i to argue with the masters?

They also wrote about the making-of process on their blog, including the visuals! Very cool behind-the-scenes stuff, u should check it out: https://sunnexo.moe/controlshift

Various Artists – emo.gen 3

Doctór! inject that breakcore directly into my veins, please :3

Apparently this may be the final "emotional breakcore" compilation? As much as I enjoy having Literal Hours Of Breakcore to jam to & crave more, I can understand it is a massive effort to put together, plus there are two more like this lol.

technically u don't have to pay for this one but i did anyways just to be polite. haven't listened to the whole thing yet, just choosing the track by which i discovered it:

38 – Yem – Twin Hearts

UPDATE 2025-08-10: I have listened to the whole thing now. 11, 12, 26, 27, 32, 33, 34, 35, & 36 r all Pretty Good but i still think 38 is the most interesting. got it in one huh !

Jamie Paige – Constant Companions (Deluxe Edition)

yes i know i posted about the normal version before. but this one has BIRDBRAIN on it. and ROT FOR CLOUT again. i would buy another album for those two songs again :P

No need to post track snippets for this one, just watch those youtube videos if you haven't already. soon u too will be up birding ur brain & rotting ur clout :)))

Anyways, there are many, many more tracks I'm buying (including some for a project I don't want to spoil!!), these are just the ones I thought were worth sharing today. Now go! Go forth and consume!!

4: Auvic – Voices Call

That link is actually to the bandcamp remastered version, which doesn't contain all the songs seemingly? The original version on Apple Music version has many more (and being honest I am not super into the remastering anyways but i digress). That original version is very 2015 in its soundfont, makes me feel groovy, bouncing in my seat a little, saying "woo, yeah", etc.

I do not know genres very well but I will try my best: upbeat electro, inspired by chiptune in some ways, but mostly it's its own thing. Once again, very 2015.

Favorite track: 08 – Upgrades ¹

3: Virtual Riot – Simulation (Deluxe Version)²

No bandcamp link, just an Apple Music one sorry. The original is probably a more cohesive album, the only reason I include this one is because (a) more songs = more flow & (b) between Deluxe/non-Deluxe, it has my favorite song, so yeah :)

Virtual Riot has a long track record of releasing very good color bass (i think that's the right genre label?), never let me down really, but that's all mostly in singles, so it's nice to get a full-length album from them to just plow through when I need that good good.

Favorite track: 17 – Bossfight Afterparty

2: Adam Tell – Peripheries

I mostly knew Adam Tell from his lyrical work/singing in Superseded, Falsework, & Data Loss. Turns out he can work those hardware synths too!! Bit darker than the other ones so far, but it's kind of like that starry night nighttime darkness, kinda cozy in a way at times.

Feels like it'd fit right at home in an Explosions&Fire video during one of those chemistry montages , so I guess that puts it in the ambient genre? anyways

Favorite track: 01 – Transfer Orbit

1: free.99 – Out For Blood

Trans Pride is over. now is the time for Trans Wrath /j

in all seriousness, this album is very angry. overall i am better off just choosing not to comprehend the lyrics³, treating the words as if they were from a foreign language instead, getting all i need to know from keywords/tone of voice. which is to say: get angry!

never fails to light a fire under me. however, because the concepts slide right off me, it is more "generic high energy" than "angry" for me at this point. still feels like a problematic fave, but whatever it's my problematic fave, and you can't take it away from me :P

genre feels like highly produced rave music, if i had to describe it. very move-to-able.

Favorite track: 02 – Lilith

That's it for this month, hope you found something new you liked! Music is very important to me and I hope you enjoy it too <3

You can watch the interactive music video on your phone here — turn on rotation lock & don't drop your device! If you want to watch it on desktop or TV, or if you don't want to have to rotate your device, watch the static version instead.

this music video/multimedia artwork project had a bit of an impact on me (forced a few tears out). very very good song and a very very good retrospective post on the personal journey of making the song.

The post cites "Melodic, emotional drum & bass", as the target, and Ash really knocked it out of the park on this one. Later on they mention Porter Robinson & Virtual Riot as inspirations when it came to the vocal processing, and I can definitely hear that reflected in the beats too. I think "EVERYTHING!" even holds up against those titans? in my ears, at least. Like I said, very very good stuff :3

hard to exactly put into words the emotions i got out of it but i will try anyways: it's about youth, it's about queer joy, it's about that time of night when you're hanging out with your friends & you completely forget yourself & all your worries, or that time where re-unite with friends after a couple of years & everything just clicks back into place, it's about in-jokes & cat pictures & late-night discord calls. it's about Ash, but it's also about you & me. that's all i got, peace

1: Amamelia - Bananamelia!

rykarn recommended this one!! from the artist page:

Auckland based trans weirdo electronic breaks and house

so yeah, that's what it's all about, no wonder i enjoyed it :3

Compared to many other contemporary songs, the hooks on these aren't quite as strong, but in exchange, they hit a lot harder once you match yourself to their pace. Definitely worth listening to as a full album for that reason.

Favorite track: 4. Colorbox

2: OK Go - Hungry Ghosts

You all know them from their fantastic music videos, and I'll admit I was already familiar with many a track on this album thanks to those too. But! I just really like all the tracks on here?? Even the ones I haven't seen videos for before. These guys rock.

Favorite track: 1. Upside Down & Inside Out

3: Pedestrian Tactics - Nerds Trying To Dance EP

A rare W for Apple Music algorithmic suggestions. Usually it feeds me "niche stuff I've already listened to" or "pop music that I don't particularly like", but once in a blue moon it'll hit me with the new stuff that I vibe with. Best part is, Pedestrian Tactics has an extensive catalog for me to go through, though so far this is my favorite EP of theirs. Slightly experimental electronic, extremely danceable.

Favorite track: 2. Nerds Trying To Dance

4: Jamie Paige - Constant Companions

I think I bought this album as a pre-order when I was listening to a lot of other Jaime Paige and then just... forgot about it?? Either that or fell to the bottom of my pile while waiting for the "perfect moment" to listen to it, after experiencing the sublime artistry of the Machine Love music video/album preview.

turns out the perfect moment is right after watching the berd rots youtube video and getting ROT FOR CLOUT stuck in my head. who else up ROTTING THEY CLOUT /j

Bit more of a "collection of songs" than an "album listening experience" than the other albums I mentioned, but still very good. It's Jaime Paige after all, so every song is lyrical & fun to listen to.

Favorite Track: 3. ROT FOR CLOUT

Oh yeah and update on my last post: We Live In A Society was indeed p good, Track 1 is the most banger but The Ocean Is Fake is nice too, and unfortunately TOHO BOSSA NOVA 14 has not released on streaming services yet :( oh well

Also, as always, if you have any recommendations for things you think I should listen to, please let me know in the comments!! my ears r always hungry 4 more good tunes :3

I found out this was coming due to a teaser video for the first track. It's a bit crudely animated, but I think that was an intentional artistic choice to capture the transition from "meandering jam sesh with crazy discordant electronic noise" to "immaculately layered harmonics extracted from the best noise & ideas". I keep coming back to it for two reasons: the song they get to near the end is quite catchy & exactly my thing yes, but also I really like seeing that raw artistic process, really captivating even if it may have been a simulacra.

An accompanying text post lists the set at 4 tracks long, dropping May 2nd on presumably all major streaming services. That's quite soon, exciting!! All Flume stuff is worth a listen imo, even if I don't end up liking it :)

Shibayanrecords - TOHO BOSSA NOVA 14

This is a very conventional release, both for Shibayan and for Japanese music artists in general: Crossfade available as a whole-album sampler a week before release on May 5th, available for immediate preorder on melonbooks if you live in Japan, and streaming internationally some indefinite time later.

Shibayan always releases a TOHO BOSSA NOVA album in May, every year for 14 years running now I guess. I've mentioned before, and while #2 is so far my favorite, it is nice to have a yearly tradition to listen to something fresh yet familiar, nostalgic yet novel. Excited for this one too, hopefully I can hear it some time in May.

Usually I find a third album for things like this, but heh it's really only these two. Instead, here's two more already released albums I have not listened instead:

• Aritus x FIBRE - Virtues EP (Deluxe): Story goes that this was produced in they heyday of future funk, when high schoolers didn't quite know about music licensing, so now they finally figured out how to get the licensing for this remaster, neat!
• greyl - SINGALS CHRONICLE 01: u already know how i feel about greyl. i def gotta get this

Also, feel free to reach out with album recommendations of your own!! Comment links should be at the bottom of the page assuming my software works correctly. I cannot possibly keep up with all the cool music coming out, so hearing things from people directly helps filter that down considerably.

That's it for now, until next time!

In doing so, I discovered why Spotify keeps its spot as the biggest game in town: it's not just the playlist non-portability, it's the fact that it's algorithmic recommendation system is leagues ahead of the competition².

So! I'm listen to albums now. Here are some of my favorites:

Madeon - Good Faith

Man. What an album. My current favorites are "Hold Me Just Because" and "Heavy With Hoping", but yeah pretty much top-to-bottom bangers really. "Miracle" and "No Fear No More" were on an older playlist of mine, so it's also a bit nostalgic. Good album.

Laufey - Everything I Know About Love

I heard "Fragile" as part of an animated YouTube Short and immediately had to listen to the full thing. As expected, I cried hard.

After that catharsis, the rest of the album didn't hit quite as much. But still enough to tug at the yearning lovesickness living inside most every 20-odd-year-old. Good album.

ShibayanRecords - TOHO BOSSA NOVA 2

Like seeing an old friend after so long, this album welcomes me back in with open arms and a warm embrace. Yes it has the (at this point quite old) meme song on it but who cares it's my favorites TOHO BOSSA NOVA entry. Yes I've listened to all 13.

#14 is coming out in May of this year, like it always does, and I'll listen to that one too, but even if it usurps this, #2 will always have a special place in my heart. Good album.

1: Tanger - Prefer Not To Say

It's really really good. I love how all the songs fade into one another. I love the variety & how it feels cohesive despite that. I love the beat, lyrics, album art, just everything. Phenomenal pieces of electronic music. And they're only 19??

2: Potsu - STAR-CROSSED

I purchased this one last Bandcamp Friday, purely on the basis of "if it's potsu, it's gotta be good", and sure enough yep, it's really good too. Some classic potsu stuff here, but also some new stuff which works quite well. Really hard to say if it's better than ivy league or not, tho...

Besides the albums mentioned in my last Bandcamp Friday post, I don't really have any other contenders for "album i liked the most this year that was released this year". However, I do have some other albums from this Friday's haul I'd like to talk about, so talk about them I shall:

greyl - made for you

greyl is another artist who, whenever they release an album, I know I will like it. Just a master of doing funky anime mashups. Their EISEI EP and 02:02 projects, released under the name EISEI, are still my favorites, but i do always appreciate more :)

SCRANTON - Love Letter To The Light

So what if they're a brony? They make some pretty bangin' dubstep. I am only vaguely familiar with their work, remember liking a few specific songs in the past, nothing off the top of my head tho. This self-proclaimed return-to-form hits very good for me.

Snail's House - Snö

Bit old at this point, but it was just sitting in my wishlist & I've kept on forgetting to buy it whoops. Kinda nostalgic for me tbh, takes me back to when I first discovered Snail's House... the MV for their most recent single, う​た​か​た (utakata) had me in tears, really quite moving. Anyways, this album is definitely meant to be listened to as an album, which I appreciate :)

Deezer's music recommendation algorithm sucks, so I've started listening to more albums in general now. It's pretty good! Turns out musicians bundle songs into an album for a reason, or something. The only downside is I am running out of albums; I do not like to listen to the same thing too many times, 'tis why I tend to make monster playlists that I can just put on shuffle & not think about. Maybe I should make my next one of those soon... Always accepting recs!

you may recall from a previous blog post that I am a fan of Sunnexo, and also a fan of their devlogs where they describe what goes into their piece! It's a good song, very cool to get a glimpse into how it was produced, b/c i don't know a whole lot about that sorta stuff lol

(also while on the topic of music i should mention, i listened to Tanger's latest album, Prefer not to say, and it's really frickin good so yeah give that a listen too)

1. Discover new music on Spotify Deezer, sometimes YouTube
2. Keep a "canonical" list of songs I like in a YouTube playlist, transferring over my Deezer likes every once in a while
3. Once that list grows to about 100-150 songs, prune it.
4. If the list remains large, purchase all the songs (Bandcamp > iTunes > not paying)

However, the sporadic nature of this process means the purchasing time rarely overlaps with a Bandcamp Friday. Since nowadays, Bandcamp Fridays are so rare, I figured I'd get in on this one while I still can.

I won't be covering all the albums I purchased (there are a bit too many to list, you can see them on my bandcamp page if u really want), and will instead be highlighting a few I think deserve special mention.

NOTE: due to time pressures, I have not listened to all albums in full, these are just my first impressions

Emplexx - Hiraeth

Really happy to see this one come out! I've been following their work for a while, they've gone thru some rough patches, so it's nice to see an album representing work they feel proud of. And boy should they; this is, in my opinion, genre-defining work in complextro. "LUV U" is one of my favorite songs ever, and the rest seem of equal quality. Good album.

Sunnexo & Tanger - Any% EP

I really like Sunnexo's style. Very chiptune-y, bit dubstep-y, nice video-game-inspired music that is very catchy. They have a devlog! Good EP.

camoufly - In Plain Sight

Bit more laid-back than the other albums, but still great energy in these. Dance-able beats, neat instrumentation, all the drops are so groovy. idk how to describe it, it's just a good EP.

Andrew Huang & Undulae - Labyrinth

I don't do experimental music too much, but this album might just convince me! I liked these songs a lot more than I would think at first glance. Andrew Huang works his magic once again, good album.