Long time, no see, homies. Hope you're all doing well. Like millions of other U.S. folks, I've been holed up in my house, experiencing a gnarly winter storm. In my neck of the woods, people prepared for a foot of snow, only to get a kindasorta surprise ice storm instead. Thankfully, we've not lost power over here, and knock on wood we continue to have power as we get significantly colder for the next week!
I've been spending my time reading more of Room to Dream by David Lynch and Kristine McKenna. I started this book in early December, and between a busier work schedule and silly home distractions, I've been really slow at reading this one, slower than I'd like considering IT'S DAVID LYNCH, LIKE HELLOOOOO. At the time I'm writing this, I'm on the chapter centered around Wild at Heart, groaning audibly because I actually really hate the second half of the movie, enjoying reading David's commentary about it. I challenged myself to listen to the 3483678478 albums that have been sitting in my Foobar queue while reading, a project I've chosen to call "Project Iced In". Here's what I've listened to, and I will be editing this and adding more albums. As always, links will open in a new window:
midnight frequency - こんばんは!
y o u r d i s c o v e r y - P E R I S H
VCRNOT - Networks
swiftswitch - neverending passage
魚魚 - nautical
transparent bones - recovered data mix
PC_GIRL限定 - ＭＡＣ ＩＩ
opal東京 - U.S. Mail
Brickmason - Liquid Mall
生活LIFE - new age
STAQQ OVERFLO - abort, retry, ignore
Mom and Dad's Computer - Deep Seasons
QUIE7QUI77ERS - permatourism
Xenon Masters - THE ROYAL HOTEL
ｗｉｎｄｏｗｓ - ｔｈｅ ｑｕｉｅｔ ｓｔｏｒｍ
celadonDREAM Suite - Ces Nuits Glamour
known artiste + undersaken - Deathclocks
Agnar - MP3 for Humanity
開花ｏｒｃｈｉｄｓ - ░コンピュータアニメーションの未来!░
ロフト tapes - Trackpack カセット 2
I cannot disclose what this is, it's a homie's recent demos, and AAAAA
Your Bestest Friend :) - I <3 MY CELLPHONE
clust.r - autumn break down (unreleased as of right now!)
christtt - soft rock
Various Artists - WEB / そ の 意 味 で
CLV - Нᴀ ʙᴏᴧнᴀх циᴋᴧᴏɸᴩᴇнии
Dreamcastle™ - t i m e t w i s t e r s (hidden album!)
bootlegbby - ONE NIGHT ONLY
Vektroid & New Dreams Ltd. - Fuji Grid TV II: EMX
ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｆｅｅｌ ｔｈｅｍ ｏｕｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ， ｄｏｎ＇ｔ ｙｏｕ - 幻 の そ の 他
Immaculate Emancipation - 無原罪の解放 + Introduction to Riddles of The Revered Lady
Amherst - Like New
victory over death - 画面 temptation
Replicating Patterns - Beyond the Realms
WINDMILL - VHS MOSAIC
AMBASSADOR CLASS - Leaving Micronesia™
ako - All Watched Over by Algorithms of Loving Grace
PeoplePC - Life
Crownplaza - Exile
vcr-classique - dream line
GLYPHICS - TV Theme / The Undoing
鮮烈な思い出 - 月光メランコリア
It's been wonderful listening to albums on my computer again. I used to work second shift so I'd listen to music as I showered and got ready for work, but moving to first shift and not wanting to wake Isaac up has thrown that off, and I'm usually super fucking bad with listening to albums after work for some reason. Doing Project Iced In is making me feel eager to change that, and it's also making me a bit nostalgic for the high school days where I was constantly listening to music, ejecting one CD from my computer and playing another. I miss you, Winamp (and Windows Media Player to an extent, bring back the weird green head skin)!
My reading breaks have been spent watching ridiculous YouTube commentary videos and extracting the embarrassing amount of zipped albums I've amassed since August. At one point, I can't recall if it was in the middle of being in extraction zone or when I started, but I definitely had 260-something zips to extract. I have 50 left. My Foobar queue has only gotten larger, filled to the brim with 2025 albums I'm overdue in listening to, with some of the newer stuff ready to listen to on my Dodocool.
Since I've taken 5ever on making a new post, here are a few more cool albums I've listened to and enjoyed in the last few months:
SkyTwoHigh & Lindsheaven Virtual Plaza - Imaginary Pathways - It'd been a few years since I heard this album, and it still chokes me up as it did during my first listen. I vividly remember the listening party for this, sobbing my eyes out and wishing that Cesar could have been there to experience the love his split with SkyTwoHigh was receiving. It's a truly gorgeous release. God, I miss him.
Various Artists - 永遠の (Eternal) - This comp came on right after I finished Imaginary Pathways and I continued to be emotionally destroyed. Asutenki's track in particular really fucking got me. I'm unsure what happens after death, but I hope somewhere, Cesar was able to check out this touching compilation made in his honor.
Seductive Gateways - Magic WAVs - It's time that this album gets the attention it deserves. This collab between P A T H S パス and Digital Sex/Dreaming Diary went way under the radar in my opinion. I listened to this years ago on a flight, and it didn't grab me for some reason. I'm quite thankful that I chose to revisit it because I've now seen the light. All I Can See FUCKING RULES
intra - I'll Survive For You - I'm usually not the biggest breakcore girly, usually Isaac's the one blaring it from his office, but intra's debut album was a very pleasant surprise!
climbing waterfalls - Next gen engine - It breaks my heart that climbing waterfalls deleted their earlier releases from their Bandcamp, I liked their y2k-adjacent releases quite a bit. Thank goodness this one's been preserved through YouTube!
Hotel Pools - Evenings 夕暮れ Vol. 1 - Admittedly, chillsynth is extremely hit or miss for me. There's a lot of it I wish I liked more. That said, listening to this album on a chilly drive to work one morning felt like I was drinking some sort of lavender coffee. Does that even exist? It made me feel energized for my work day but also extremely relaxed, calm, optimistic! It's such a pretty release, and I highly recommend you check this out.
SKINDANCE - CREEP TAPES: 炎 - Another pleasant surprise! I feel like I am insulting this album by describing it as a darker barber beats album because I feel like it's more than that? It feels like it goes into weirder realms like b e g o t t e n 自杀 or 아버지. I don't know, listen for yourself and see if you agree here.
Brickmason - r i n g t o n e . d r e a m s - Hi, Brick, I know you're reading this, and I think I even told you this privately, but may I say again that THESE NEED TO BE LONGER! I know, they're ringtones, but they're begging to be extended. It's like I'm listening to crt paralysis' "Slideshow" all over again!
Ahero - Stay Lifted - In my opinion, his best album. His other albums are fab, but THIS ONE. THIIIIIIS ONE. So fucking good!
There are tons more that could be added in here, but this post is very long already. Sorry that I can't tag all of the artists mentioned in this post!
Since typing this post out yesterday, I've finally completed my mission of extracting all of those zips that were collecting dust in my Downloads folder, and I'm flying through Room to Dream. I'm starting the Lost Highway chapter shortly! Update: I finished the book. :)
p.s. I've been quietly watching the horrific brutality shoved upon us by Arrogant Dictator in Office and his ICEstapo, and shit has been bleak. For those of you who are unsure of what to do or how to help, here's a post from r/minnesota with a very in-depth list of links to support: click here, and feel free to forward that link to other friends.
