Been reading a lot of Malazan BotF and while I love it, I'm looking for something breezier to read for a bit. Preferably something with under 5 PoV characters, 150-300 pages, a mostly linear plot and that doesn't take 100+ pages just to get my bearings on the world. If it's got humor or a bit of mystery too it, all the better.

I'm currently working on a research paper (low-threat undergrad coursework), and I keep alternating between Lofi hip-hop and gentle acoustic pop covers to keep me motivated and on task. I've tried to get into a variety of classical music for this purpose, but I always end up rolling back to my Samuel Barber playlist and end up burning out on it. What's your go-to for productivity enhancement?

I'll go first: turn-based combat.

While not as common as they once were, there are still a lot of games, AAA and indie alike, that get massively popular and are known for their supposedly excellent turn-based combat. Games that are probably what a lot of people who don't care for turn-based combat make an exception for, for one reason or another. Say they really enjoy how Undertale is "the RPG where you don't need to kill anything", or how Persona 5 is "so stylish". Also, there's the classic JRPGs of old, such as the older Final Fantasy games, or these more military grid based kind of games like Fire Emblem.

I just don't "get" any of it. I've never beaten a game featuring turn-based combat from start to finish. Yes, that includes Pokemon games. I don't know what it is specifically. I've beaten games of basically every other genre, but when I start any turn-based game because of some friend recommendation or good reviews, I try it, am genuinely invested for a couple hours, then my interest in the game just dies all of a sudden. I don't think it's any one issue really, probably a lot of different things.

Anyone else never really got into these kinds of games? Or do you have some other game genre that everyone else swears by that you just don't care for?

What's happening in the hardcore scene in 2023?

I typically pose these sorts of questions to Reddit, but Tildes hasn't failed me on anything music related. We had an incredibly successful prog metal thread a couple of weeks before, and I'd love to have one on hardcore punk.

I have general questions about hardcore like:

• Who are the biggest names in hardcore of all time that still tour and write music today?
• Who are the biggest hardcore bands that have started in the last decade or less?
• In 2023, is it even useful to talk about hardcore as a distinct genre separate from metalcore anymore?
• Does any metalcore meaningfully exist in the hardcore scene? Is there any metalcore scene that embraces the punk ethic of hardcore?
• If a through-and-through hardcore band uses elements of metal in their music, are they now metalcore? Are you no longer punk if you use breakdowns?
• What should people know about the hardcore punk scene?

I don't know enough to know which of these questions are stupid or cringe, or what the best questions to ask are. Feel free to answer questions, ask questions, or share your knowledge of the scene with curious minds.

As always, I greatly appreciate your feedback!

Hey I would love some new recommendations. I love all kinds of music without words, weather that be classical, ambient, postrock, whatever. (I also love music that has lyrics too :) But sometimes I just enjoy listening to instrumental tracks).

Are there any favorites you'd be willing to share? Right now I am listening to Brian Eno. Thanks in advance.

I grew up an angsty rural white kid in the 2000s, and as such listened to my fair share of post-grunge/nu-metal/emo bands. Stuff like Seether, Staind, Korn, MCR, Nine inch Nails, Disturbed or Breaking Benjamin Sometime around 14 my musical taste shifted away from that and towards alt/indie/folk (not so coincidentally around the same time I got my first girlfriend and a solid group of friends). From there I've expanded to listening to pretty much every major genre, but the one subsection of music I've never been able to get back into is the aforementioned stuff. Whenever I listen to it I feel like it takes me back to my early tween/teen years and just puts me in a very bad mood. I know I used to really enjoy all of that but I feel like the period of time when I listened to it has been like permanently fused with the music itself and I can't enjoy it any more because of that.

Which is also weird because I had a very bad few years circa 2015-2019 and I was listening to the mopiest sad boy albums and post rock stuff but I've been able to come back around and enjoy them again without feeling like they're tainted by when I predominantly found and liked them, which was objectively a "worse" period of my life.

Burn Notice, White Collar, Chuck, Psych... List probably goes on. Suits fits the mold in my head tonally (at least the earlier seasons), though less about action.

Nowadays even the comedies are turning into serious drama than light pick-me-ups. So... let's talk about that? What happened? Do you miss them?

I'm currently reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, and really enjoying it, but I've got to confess I'm a bit disappointed by how predictable the world is. There's an obvious pseudo-medieval European culture, a vaguely Eastern culture of respect and honour, a wise Southern Arabic-flavoured culture, and so on.

It's making me long for some fantasy that feels genuinely different - as far away as possible from this vision of monotheistic courts, swordsman's honour and mysterious wisdom from far away. Something that feels refreshing in trying to portray a world that I have never seen before.

I recently read C.T. Rwizi's Scarlet Odyssey series, and while that definitely involves analogues to a lot of our cultures, it was told from an African perspective, which was very refreshing. So I'd welcome suggestions for fantasy books that approach the typical enemies from a perspective that I don't often see as an English-speaking European reader. But is there much in the way of fantasy that truly tries to explore places and people that are completely out there and away from any of our experiences?

The first one that comes to my head is Viking Metal, which i think is self-explanatory.
Also one that I like but is a bit more popular is Doomer Wave. Usually just remixes of music on Youtube that are more depressing.

I love microtonal music. Ever since discovering the concept about 6 years ago, I’ve become deeply fascinated by alternate tuning systems and have sought out and listened to microtonal music wherever I can. Most people I’ve talked to are not familiar with microtonal music, or have had a bad experience with it, so I wanted to make a post that explains what it is, and how one might appreciate and eventually acquire a taste for it, along with providing a variety of examples to choose from. All discussion related to microtonal music welcome!

What is microtonal music?

In short, microtonal music is any music that contains notes or intervals not found in the standard Western tuning system. Of course, this invites the question: what is the standard Western tuning system? If you are a musician, you are probably intimately familiar with it: the division of the octave into 12 equally-spaced steps, to which we typically give letter names like C or E flat (etc.). Most people come to unconsciously use these notes as the baseline for determining whether a note or interval is in tune or out of tune.

However, there is nothing intrinsically ‘correct’ about the Western tuning system. In fact, by some standards, it can be quite out of tune. If you listen carefully, you may even notice that our major thirds are ‘wobbly’ - the notes come close to a 5:4 ratio of frequencies, but the interval is about 14 cents too wide, which causes a subtle wobbly sound. We find these slightly ‘off’ intervals acceptable in part due to sheer familiarity. But it turns out, you can familiarize yourself with almost any interval!

There are a great many ways to design a tuning system that produces notes and intervals which are different from what we’re used to. Some of these might be more ‘in tune’, others less so. And there are even those that are in tune with respect to ratios that don’t even exist in the Western tuning system. As a result of these unfamiliar features, microtonal music may give the uninitiated listener the general impression of being ‘out of tune’. But if you give it a chance, it may surprise you - the only way to develop the familiarity that governs taste, after all, is to keep listening.

I think it also helps to know a bit about different tuning systems, to ‘see what’s going on under the hood’, so to speak. This conceptual familiarity may eventually support a degree of aesthetic familiarity.

Tuning Systems

Equal Division Tunings

Where the Western tuning system chose 12 steps, we can also divide the octave into some other number of equally spaced steps. These tunings are often referred to ‘EDOs’ (Equal Division of the Octave) - e.g., the Western tuning system could also be called 12-EDO.

Globally, perhaps the most common EDO (other than our very familiar 12-EDO) is 24-EDO, which is used by many musical traditions in the Arab world, such as Turkish, North African, Persian, or Arab itself. Conceptually, 24-EDO is interesting because it ‘contains’ all the notes of 12-EDO, plus 12 new notes exactly in between the other 12. As a result, it can be used to play all the intervals we are familiar with, and music which strongly relies on this feature is definitely on the more accessible end.

I tend to refer to 24-EDO music as simply being ‘quarter-tonal’ (the 12 semitones of 12-EDO being divisible into 24 quarter-tones). This distinction is useful since in many cultures, quarter-tonal tunings are not precisely 24-EDO, but some slightly sharp or flat variation of the general 24 notes per octave structure. It can be hard to distinguish the two, so ‘quarter-tonal’ is probably most accurate.

You could divide the octave equally into any number of notes, though - I’ve seen as low as 5 and as high as 500. Each has a unique sound depending on what intervals the division produces. Some EDOs, such as 19-EDO, 31-EDO, and 53-EDO produce very similar intervals to what we have in 12-EDO. Played with some restraint, they can be difficult to distinguish from 12-EDO, though they also have the option to play unfamiliar notes as well.

Other EDOs, such as 17-EDO, 22-EDO, and 27-EDO sound quite different from 12-EDO, producing lots of unfamiliar intervals while ‘missing’ ones you’d expect to hear in 12-EDO. And finally, there are of course EDOs such as 10-EDO, 13-EDO, 23-EDO (and many more) that produce few truly ‘good’ sounding intervals. Nevertheless, this doesn’t stop people from trying to extract something decent-sounding from them!

Just Intonation

In short, just intonation is the practice of tuning different intervals to exact ratios of frequencies. Instead of trying to accommodate or work around ‘out of tune’ notes you might find in EDOs, why not just make every note perfectly in tune, after all? The result of this is notes that harmonize perfectly with each other, even if these harmonies are at first unfamiliar to the untrained ear. Often, just intonation produces intervals or whole chords that have a very clear, resonant quality.

The downside of this, though, is that since the notes do not equally divide an octave, you cannot simply transpose scales and chords to a new key. You may have made everything in tune with respect to, say, B flat, but it may turn out that with respect to D, the ratios are far more complicated and their sound commensurately dissonant. To compensate for this shortcoming, a lot of just intonation music tends to play in only one key, or perhaps a few related keys. Certain genres of music, such as drone music, or modal examples of rock and folk, better lend themselves to this technique.

There are many possible tunings within the broad category of just intonation. Usually a musician selects, say, 9 different notes that form specific frequency ratios with each other, and limit themselves to that. So describing specific just intonation tunings often comes down to a list of ratios, which can be hard to interpret without experience in microtonal music.

Free Intonation

Enough of ratios and equal divisions - maybe you just have a particular sound in mind, and you’ll know it when you hear it. This practice of tuning notes semi-arbitrarily, is known as free intonation. The notes chosen may simply sound good to the musician playing them, and at times they may even come close to the just intonation ratios. At other times, they may be chosen because they are out of tune. Maybe the ‘beating’ quality of out of tune notes provides a desirable texture, or maybe a certain ugliness itself is desired.

Free intonation per se is somewhat less common than the other two categories of microtonality. However, some musical traditions are actually more similar to free intonation than anything else, the difference being that instead of the ‘ad hoc’ quality of free intonation, the specific tunings are passed down from generation to generation.

Examples of cultures that use non-just, non-EDO tuning (for lack of a better name) include Indonesian gamelan music, Georgian liturgical music, and lots of different types of African and Asian music, just to name a few. If you needed proof of the notion that microtones are, in principle, capable of becoming familiar, even ‘normal’, these long-lasting traditions of unsystematically tonal music should suffice.

Examples

After listening to a lot of microtonal music, some good, some bad, some very bad, I have amassed quite a collection. Below I have listed what I feel to be prime introductory examples of microtonal music in a variety of genres. A lot of it is very approachable to people unfamiliar with microtones, and I hope you can find something you enjoy among the albums listed.

Of course ‘microtonal music’ is such a broad category I can’t hope to be even close to exhaustive. In many cases I am summing up a huge subcategory (such as Turkish psych rock or Arab dance music) with one or two representative examples.

For any other fans of microtonal music out there, please post your favorite albums or tracks! I’m sure there is some great stuff I’ve missed, and I would love to expand my collection further.

Rock

Altın Gün - On
YouTube / Bandcamp
Altın Gün - Aşk
YouTube / Bandcamp
A lot of Turkish folk music uses a tuning similar to the quarter-tonal tuning used in the rest of the Arab world, and a lot of modern Turkish rock music (especially starting in the 70’s and 80’s) features these same tunings. I think Altın Gün is probably the best example of the ‘Turkish Psychedelic Folk’ style from the past decade or so. Some songs on these albums, in part or in whole, focus more on the normal Western tunings. But pay attention to the vocal parts and the baglama (similar to a guitar) and you’ll hear lots of quarter-tonal inflections. These two albums are a very accessible introduction to quarter-tonal tunings, in my opinion.

Balungan - Kudu Bisa Kudu
YouTube / Bandcamp
This album is a juxtaposition of Javanese gamelan music (explained in detail at the very bottom of this list) with RIO-style avant-rock (featuring the drummer of French band Etron Fou Leloublon) that uses the more typical 12-EDO. Bombastic and strange without being too inaccessible.

Brendan Byrnes - Neutral Paradise
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Brendan Byrnes - 2227
YouTube / Bandcamp
Brendan Byrnes has some excellent microtonal rock music which generally uses a lot of electronic elements as well (synthesizers, digital effects, and occasionally drum machines). Sometimes this recalls synthwave, but genre-wise it’s very much its own thing. He uses a variety of tunings, particularly 22-EDO, but also 27-EDO and just intonation, among others. His guitar work fuses these exotic tunings with fluent, articulate playing that is a joy to hear.

Compro Oro - Simurg
YouTube / Bandcamp
Another great modern example of Turkish psychedelic folk, from a psych / funk / fusion band whose other albums do not use microtones (most of them exploring a more ‘Ethio jazz’-influenced style). As with a lot of music in this style, the microtones often play a more ornamental role, which makes them more accessible to the uninitiated listener.

Feeding Fingers - Do Owe Harm
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Some very fresh-sounding post-punk / darkwave that uses quite a diverse selection of exotic tunings (listed on their Bandcamp page). This album has that dour, ‘Joy Divison’ sound, and the use of microtonality alternately lightens the sentimentality or darkens the menace that music in this genre evokes.

Horse Lords - Interventions
YouTube / Bandcamp
Horse Lords - Comradely Objects
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Horse Lords are one of the most exciting, interesting microtonal rock bands out there, in my opinion. They primarily use just intonation tuning, and a lot of their tracks even use other compositional elements to point out the mathematical features of this tuning (for instance, using a 3 on 5 on 7 polymeter, with instruments that play the 3rd, 5th, and 7th harmonics of a note). Polymeters and polyrhythms are a regular feature in their music, and along with other cool techniques such as hocketing, change ringing, and repetitive riff structures reminiscent of North African music, they serve as a fascinating, unique vehicle for exploring just intonation. These two albums are probably the best examples, but pretty much everything this band has put out is excellent.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - K.G.
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - L.W.
YouTube / Bandcamp
King Gizzard is probably one of the biggest-name artists on this list, and while only 3 of their albums (out of like 20-something) are exclusively microtonal, they are a great example of heavy psych rock or garage rock that draws a lot from Turkish psychedelic rock. This is some high energy rock music for dropping acid and kicking ass. Flying Microtonal Banana, which marked the point at which I personally got very into microtonal music, is almost entirely based on the microtonal ‘Huseyni’ scale most common to Turkish folk music. The other two albums on this list have more variety, but still employ the characteristic quarter-tone tunings.

The Mercury Tree - Spidermilk
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Some very aggressive prog rock using the curious 17-EDO tuning. The sound of this tuning is very different from the standard 12-EDO, which gives this album a dark, otherworldly sense of harmony that fits its angular melody and unconventional rhythms. And yet, the vocal parts are very smooth and natural sounding, which is an interesting contrast. The Mercury Tree have several other albums using this tuning, but I think Spidermilk is their best work.

Secret Chiefs - Book M
YouTube / Bandcamp
Extremely eclectic music (featuring members of the bands Mr. Bungle and Estradasphere) that employs Arabic-style quarter-tones. The band wanders between folk traditionalism, speedy electronica, swanky funk rock, and industrial metal with each subsequent track, but somehow the aesthetic is all of a piece. Some really great musicianship here as well, especially the violin parts (in my opinion). A few of the band’s other albums feature microtones but I think this one is the most cohesive and approachable.

Ventifacts - Ventifacts
Bandcamp
A duo consisting of the frontmen of The Mercury Tree and Jack o’ the Clock, who play rock music which heavily features the hammer dulcimer (of all things). Stylistically, you could call it progressive rock, leaning towards acoustic but still quite intense in places. Some of the songs use quarter-tones, but others use such tunings as 10-EDO or the 17-EDO favored by The Mercury Tree.

Yossi Fine & Ben Aylon - Blue Desert
YouTube / Bandcamp
Israeli hard rock / world rock which uses the standard Arabic quarter-tone tunings. Heavy desert vibes, with simple, approachable riffs and microtonality that is way out in the open, but still very accessible.

Metal

[syzygy] - [escape]
YouTube / Bandcamp
10-EDO is a pretty wild-sounding tuning, and [syzygy] works it beautifully into some stoner doom metal. This EP unrepentantly embraces the out-of-tune feel that this tuning has, but it was surprisingly easy for me to acquire a taste for. It helps that the singer belts out a very strong performance, exactly nailing those hard-to-grasp notes. Not necessarily for beginners, but rewarding if you can get into it.

Agonanist - The Cynicism of Solitude
YouTube / Bandcamp
Atmospheric black metal with extra creepy microtones (I’m pretty sure it’s 17-EDO but I couldn’t find any information about it). The microtonality is a good fit for the genre, where the extra-dissonant parts find themselves buried among blast beats and guttural roars. Yet at times, the tuning provides a melancholic feeling that is softer than you might expect. Really interesting stuff, especially if you’re already into black metal.

Cryptic Ruse - Unfertile
Bandcamp
An impressively heavy sludge metal album featuring the super dissonant 23-EDO tuning. Cryptic Ruse has albums with other tunings, but this one is especially impressive with how well such a strange tuning works. Of course, by any reasonable standard, it’s still extremely bizarre, so tread with caution.

Jute Gyte - Perdurance
YouTube / Bandcamp
Jute Gyte - Mitrealität
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
If there was such a thing as using quarter-tones for evil, Jute Gyte is it. Absolutely crushingly heavy avant-black metal with hyperspeed blast beats, harsher-than-harsh vocals, and the most dizzying, angular approach to quarter-tones possible. These two albums are a good place to start if you like the sound of pure madness. The liner notes on the Bandcamp page for Perdurance explain a bit of the (really crazy) compositional approach.

Kostnatění - Úpal
YouTube / Bandcamp
Blackened death metal that incorporates microtonality through the usage of fretless guitar. A lot of the microtonal sections seem to roughly follow quarter-tones, but there appears to be some free intonation stuff as well. It’s a surprisingly accessible album, at times seeming to draw a bit from (Slovakian?) folk music. A really catchy release, overall.

Last Sacrament - Enantiodroma
YouTube / Bandcamp
Death metal using the 16-EDO tuning. Interestingly, this tuning preserves the tritones and minor thirds present in 12-EDO, so it’s a good fit for a genre that heavily relies on these intervals in its riff structures. At times it almost just sounds like regular death metal, though there are plenty of places (such as guitar solos) where the microtonality shines through.

Scarcity - Aveilut
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Atmospheric black metal using 72-EDO. With high-numbered EDOs like this one, you get so many intervals you can approximate almost anything you want, which allows this album’s droning guitars to be quite consonant - when they want to be. Long song structures allow for very gradual development of harmony, and it’s all underpinned by blast beats and screams like you might expect from the genre.

Victory Over the Sun - Nowherer
YouTube / Bandcamp
Blackened sludge metal using 17-EDO. Really dissonant, not only due to the standard screams and guitar distortion, but also along with sections that are kind of minimalist and not overwhelmingly distorted - rather, just written to be intentionally kooky and compositionally abrasive.

Electronic

Aphex Twin - London 03.06.17 [field day]
YouTube / SoundCloud
Aphex Twin is a pretty big name in electronic music in general, producing stuff in the IDM / drum & bass / acid genres, but a lot of his music is also microtonal. The London 03.06.17 EP is one where pretty much the entire thing uses microtones (I’m not sure of the tuning; it might be free intonation), but you can also find a healthy dose of microtonality on several of his other works, including Syro and Analord.

FASTFAST - New Color Bomb
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Bright-sounding funky synthwave which uses a wide variety of tunings. Very accessible, with some really refined-sounding, psychedelic vocals which gives even the most electronic tracks a slightly more organic quality. A lot of the chords are nearly the same as you’d hear in 12-EDO, but the changes between them occur over microtonal intervals. Neat stuff.

Lynyn - Lexicon
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Hyperactive drum & bass / IDM music that occasionally incorporates microtones (sometimes quarter-tones, other times more of a free-intonation thing). These harmonic qualities really fit the wonky, glitchy sound of the music, at times playing almost more of a textural role - as a result, it’s a very accessible album if you like the genre.

Omar Souleyman - To Syria, With Love
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
The music of Omar Souleyman is like something you’d hear at a Syrian wedding party. Quarter-tones are common to most forms of pan-Arabic pop music (a huge category that would of course be hard to effectively summarize), but I’ve found that I keep coming back to this album, among others that Omar has recorded. Incredibly fun dance music (‘dabke’) with a sort of cheesy 90’s techno vibe.

Sevish - Harmony Hacker
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
Sevish - Morphable
YouTube / Bandcamp
Sevish is a big name among electronic microtonal hobbyists, and for good reason. Bright, uber-synthetic timbres are used on these albums to deploy a wide variety of equal temperament and just intonation tunings. Alien sounding for sure, but the fun, pop drum & bass approach keeps the overall experience pretty approachable. Sevish is probably many an internet-dweller’s introduction to microtones.

Trauma Triad - A North Facing Window
Bandcamp
I feel awkward promoting my own music here, but I do honestly think my album of quarter-tonal IDM / fusion is actually pretty decent and worth a mention. Primarily using electric piano and 808 style bass synthesizer, I tried to explore quarter-tones from a more harmonic and less modal perspective. A more detailed explanation of the harmony is included with the (free!) Bandcamp download of the album, for any deeply interested parties.

Jazz

Amir ElSaffar - Rivers of Sound: The Other Shore
YouTube / Bandcamp
This album explores a combination of contemplative spiritual jazz and quarter-tonal Iraqi folk music. The large ensemble provides a huge diversity of instrumental texture, and long song structures provide a chance to let the microtonal harmonies sink in before proceeding through the sprawling yet gentle improvisation. A must for any jazz lover.

Firas Zreik - Salute
YouTube playlist / Bandcamp
The first half of this album leans towards quarter-tonal Palestinian folk music, while the latter half develops more into actual jazz. The star here is the kanun, an instrument similar to a dulcimer, which Firas absolutely shreds. The mastery of this instrument on both a rhythmic and harmonic level is really impressive. Overall quite accessible and entertaining.

Giorgi Mikadze - Georgian Microjamz
YouTube
The full album doesn’t seem to be available on YouTube or Bandcamp, but one track should at least give you a taste of the truly unusual Georgian folk harmonies. Neither equal temperament nor just intonation (nor even an approximation of either), this is some extremely strange sounding stuff, especially combined with some spacey instrumental timbres. Yet it’s ultimately buffered by a more familiar jazz fusion stylistic approach, complete with virtuosic solos and skittery rhythms.

Land of Kush - Sand Enigma
YouTube / Bandcamp
This album features Arabic quarter-tone styles worked into large ensemble avant-jazz. The addition of multiple vocalists is also rather unique. At times, the music swings like you’d expect, but a lot of the music here is more textural and experimental. There are sections of fiery free jazz, creepy noise-sculptures, and much more.

Mike Battaglia - Sweet Lorraine
YouTube
While I try to focus more on albums than individual songs, this cover song from YouTuber microtonalist Mike Battaglia is particularly fascinating. Using a stride piano style that gradually works in more and more quirks of the 31-EDO tuning, it perfectly toes the line between detuned honky-tonk piano and truly intentional microtonality. Mike has a bunch of other neat microtonal covers on his channel if this provokes your interest.

Ambient / Electroacoustic / Folk / Classical / Etc.

75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real
YouTube / Bandcamp
Incorporating the quarter-tonal aesthetic of North African music, 75 Dollar Bill deeply plumbs the idea of desert folk for this really excellent, wide-ranging album. Many of the tracks are in a sort of meditative near-ambient style that highlights the subtly-amplified guitar. In others, hand percussion and occasionally other instruments (e.g. viola, saxophone) push lightly in the direction of rock. Overall an extremely relaxing album.

Basiani Ensemble - Georgian Polyphony Singing
YouTube
I bet you didn’t think you’d be listening to microtonal Georgian church choir music today, but here you are. As I explained for ‘Georgian Mikrojamz’ above, Georgian folk tunings are quite otherworldly, but here as a solemn purely vocal performance they acquire a strange profundity that is hard to describe. Some of the tracks use typical 12-EDO harmonies, but about half of them have these odd, resonant microtones that probably sound even better in a huge space like a church (I imagine). Start with tracks 2 and 5 if you want just a taste.

Duane Pitre - Omniscient Voices
YouTube / Bandcamp
Ambient electroacoustic music primarily featuring piano. The very slow pace and gentle, quiet sound are very conducive to hearing the details of just intonation tuning, whose exactly tuned ratios produce intense and evocative ringing sounds. A great album for relaxation or meditation, in my opinion.

Guillaume Costeley - Seigneur Dieu ta pitie
YouTube
Guillaume Costeley was a 16th century French composer, and one of the first Western examples of experimentation with microtones - particularly, he used the 19-EDO tuning, which is good at approximating similar intervals to 12-EDO, but gives new options for key changes. This video is a brief composition of his, played on microtonal organ, along with sheet music and a more detailed explanation of how this tuning works. Fascinating stuff.

Julia Reidy - World In World
Bandcamp
On this album, just intonation tunings are played using only almost exclusively clean electric guitar, using heavy reverb, delay, and looping to create some expressive, mystical soundscapes. The almost tactile textures produced are sometimes rather dark, though never sinister. At other times they are bright and expansive, though no less quiet and intimate. Another great relaxation album.

Methods Body - Methods Body
Bandcamp
Electroacoustic avant-rock that uses free intonation to create harmony that is bizarre yet curiously organic-sounding. You can hear the warbling texture of the intentionally out-of-tune intervals in a lot of these tracks, which fits the earthiness of the acoustic instrumentation. A lot of the tracks also have a danceable groove to them reminiscent of some free intonation African music. Methods Body also recently released an album called Plural Not Possessive that is an even more low-key, ambient example of some of these features.

Sound Tracker - Gamelan
YouTube
Indonesian folk music, also called ‘gamelan’ music, uses some very unusual tunings - neither equal temperament nor just intonation, but some idiosyncratic set of intervals cooked up long, long ago. In addition, gamelan ensembles pair up instruments that are tuned slightly differently, so when they play in unison you get a beautiful, ‘shimmering’ texture. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of high quality recordings of purely traditional gamelan music. This is probably the best one I’ve seen, and it also lets you see some of the musicianship involved in actually performing the stuff.

The System Shock remake thread got me thinking about it. I've played the crap out of the Dishonored series, and Prey, along with some Deathloop, and I really enjoy all of them. It's crazy how much fun it can be to just really get into it, I drop the lights and everything, sit 8 inches from my 4k monitor (ghetto VR basically), and just 'enter' the game. This is especially fun when a little THC is involved!

Any games I may have overlooked? I do prefer the First Person type games, the visuals are part of the immersion for me personally.

"Generational" might not be the correct word. What I mean is that pop¹ music from the 20th century transitioned from one style to another in a way where decades could have pretty distinctive sounds. 50s music was different than 60s was different than 70s was different than 80s. What I'm wondering: what is your perspective on pop music style change from 2000s to 2010s to today?² Has it changed or does it sound the same as it did 10-20 years ago?

The reason I ask is that I listened to a pop station recently and it seems barely different than when I was in high school pre-2010. Taylor Swift is still incredibly popular, and listening casually to other songs, I had no guess on what year they were actually produced. It could have been 2012 or it could have been last year. I don't know if I'm just getting old and I've lost my ability to keep up on the nuance of current trends or if it's that pop music has stagnated the same way Hollywood movies have - art that is analyzed and meticulously designed to appeal to the widest audience possible.

[1] - I'm defining "pop" as Billboard Top 40 or equivalent.

[2] - I think this only applies to "pop" songs. I haven't noticed the same trend in sub genres such as country, rap, latin, or metal. I am also sure the extent of style variation over time depends on the country.

To preface, I'm trying to find horror movies that may be considered more on the mild side, something that's more accessible to someone not familiar or comfortable with horror or thriller movies.
Happy Death Day and it's sequel are already on my list, especially since there doesn't appear to be overt nudity / sex and the language is mild.
I suppose it could be described as PG-13 horror, but even the Scream series is actually kinda mild on the gore/violence side of you really break it down, as they have a whodunit plot more than a "let's douse the protags in blood" vibe.

Oh and of course Tremors is always on every list of all time great movies.

I'm in need of "the next" great Sci-Fi / action series to binge on. I've currently gone through read most / all of:

• Craig Alanson
• Andy Weir
• Jeremy Robinson
• John Scalzi
• Jonathan Maberry
• Timothy Zahn (all his Star Wars works)
• Max Brooks (WWZ)
• Earnest Cline (RP1/2)

I like Star Trekky plots and plucky nerd protagonists.

Also, I'm finding that I'm getting a bit tired of R.C. Bray (I think he narrates the majority of the above. At some point every snarky AI sounds like Skippy). Marc Thompson of the Star Wars series is an amazing narrator.

Side comment: I'm inclined to listen to a good audiobook just for the narrator's performance alone.

I'm a big fan of Nu Metal, but I've been listening to the same stuff for quite a while. (System of a Down, Slipknot, Mudvayne, Soulfly, etc.). So, I'm wanting to find some cool new bands to add to my playlist. Honestly, the only two modern acts that I know of are Crazy N' Sane and Dropout Kings.

A few years ago, I came across a light, romantic Korean show called Oh, My Ghost. It had good writing, acting and plot, and even a slightly darker undertone. I was hooked and I've been watching Kdramas ever since.

My favorites are those that don't involve the powerful, rich elites in Korea. Stories like Weight Lifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, and Just Between Lovers are more to my taste. Other, truly fine shows include Goblin, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Hotel Del Luna and It's OK to not be OK. Those last three have strong female characters, which I find a little surprising for Korean shows.

There are a lot of Korean shows available these days on Netflix. Squid Games and The Glory made an impact worldwide. Squid Games pushed me to the limit, but I managed to make it through that series. Season 2 is coming, so that will be interesting too.

This year hasn't been a great one for my tastes in Kdramas, so I'm still looking for an outstanding series to watch. The Glory lost me at some point. Revenge isn't a compelling plot line for me. Right now, I'm watching Delightfully Deceitful, and it's different enough to keep me watching. I'm on episode 4, so there's a long way to go yet.

Any favorites I've missed?

Edit: Oops, did I get one of those titles wrong! I've corrected it to Weight Lifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo.

I really enjoy music that blurs traditional genre lines and draws on multiple different influences to make something unique and distinctive. I'm sure I'm not alone in that, so I'd love to hear of any groups that have caught your attention for the same reason!

I'll start out with one of my own recs, as an example - I absolutely love the band Hollenthon. They're probably most closely described as black/death metal, except that they include full orchestras + choirs as part of their instrumentation, and draw on a bunch of diverse inspiration across classical music, modern movie music, and even traditional ethnic/folk melodies. The result is an incredibly interesting and distinctive sound that I haven't heard paralleled in any other band I know of. Example song - Y Draig Goch

New to Tildes, so I wanted to kick things off by asking—do you have any sci-fi horror recs you reckon I might be interested in? Here's some of what I've read:

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

• Solid read, but definitely more about the weird vibes than anything else. Sequels didn't hook me as much.

Blindsight by Peter Watts

• I generally try not to DNF my reads. But this was one of them. I'm sorry, I just can't buy vampires in a sci-fi world that's trying to take itself seriously, without proper grounding. It's also incredibly dry.

Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes

• A pretty solid read, I like how the narrative is told via flashbacks and then suddenly terminates in a way that makes you want to know more, in the most tantalizing of ways. Unfortunately I thought the reveal of the lurking horror was incredibly meh, and it went mostly downhill from there.

Diamond Dogs by Alistair Reynolds

• Fantastic novella with a mysterious locale functioning as the backdrop of the setting, and the horror elements being both external (as in the setting) and internal (how far our characters are willing to go to crack the mystery).

Paradise-1 by David Wellington

• A really solid space horror novel, with a pretty interesting protagonist trio (including a self-aware robot with plastic bodies) and it has some genuinely uncomfortable moments of horror that I can absolutely get behind. My main issue though, is that it ends in a cliffhanger and I'm still mad about it.

Salvaged by Madeleine Roux

• Decent read, but the horror reveal came super early and in reality, it's less space horror than it is human drama involving horror elements which is basically the Protomolecule from the Expanse. Fun read though, if you're okay with that.

Salvation Day by Kali Wallace

• I thought this was somewhat bland, the concept and initial plot were interesting, but it trails off and overall, overstays its welcome with some scenes that pacing-wise, feel like they belong in the middle part of the book. Some solid moments of horror though.

Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo

• Probably the quintessential space horror book for me. A fantastic setting, an intriguing protagonist narrative interspersed with religious themes and a genuinely solid pacing, horror-wise.

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

• This would have been an interesting murder mystery in space... if it actually had good and compelling characters. It does not. Everyone feels like a cardboard cutout with One Defining Trait and that's it.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

• This was... a disappointment. I still rank it amongst the worst books I've read, simply because the protagonist is unbelievable. I can buy a protagonist doing things under duress or from being manipulated, but I cannot buy a protagonist who constantly flip flops 5 minutes after making a decision and then
  hooks up with the person who was manipulating her, because yay fucked up sexytimes! Look, I want queer representation in my books too, but this came off too much as just doing it for the vibes. Queer rep deserves better than stupid protagonists.

Walking to Aldebaraan by Adrian Tchaikovsky

• A great novella; it's a retelling of a really well-known story but reframed in sci-fi terms, and I love that approach.

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

• A really haphazard book I think; I like some things about it, but others just don't make sense, or contradict it. E.g. the protagonist is a psychologist, but is absolutely horrible at reading human emotion and speech, and a loner who prefers robots. Throw in some Michio Kaku-esque pseudoscience and while it's not a horrible read, it feels like a book that could have been better with a rewrite. The setting and suspense are pretty neat though.

So, as you can see, I have met the good, the bad and the ugly of sci-fi horror. I'd love to find more! For non-book horror or horror adjacent works I've enjoyed, those include Alien, The Thing, Event Horizon, Sunshine, Underwater and Dead Space. Please don't recommend tie-in novels though; I can find those myself and generally I've found that they're not really up to par.

My love for progmetal, djent, and related genres has recently been rekindled by an appreciation of the depth, complexity, and even runtimes of progmetal pieces in a world where most music made today (more generally) consists of relatively simple 1.5 minutes long tracks.

I'm out of the loop. I've kept up with Periphery over the years (listened to them in highschool) and not much else. I recently saw Animals as Leaders, Devin Townsend, and Dream Theater live and had a good time.

Bands I've been listening to:

• Periphery
• Erra
• Animals as Leaders
• TesseracT
• Devin Townsend

What else should I be listening to? What should I know about progmetal; both historically and today? What shows have you been to, which were your favorite? Just a general thread about a genre I've rediscovered.

For the metalheads here, wondering what you all are reading for news, releases, tour announcements, etc that's primarily focused on metal.

I really enjoy black metal so would definitely be interested in sites/forums that focus on that!

It’s often argued that open-world, zombie survival, and the likes have been overdeveloped and variety needs to be introduced to help stimulate an otherwise stale market. What do you wish upcoming games had that the others do not? Were there any titles that just fell shy of your expectations?

What are your thoughts on romance in RPGs? I'm using the word "romance" here because it's usually what the topic is called. But I think it's too specific and has unwanted connotations with cheeziness. I would prefer the term "attraction", which can also refer to more challenging relationships that might not include sex or even happy endings.

The recent news that Starfield will only feature 4 romance options has fans debating, and before Starfield it was Cyberpunk, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Skyrim, etc. Each of these games took a slightly different approach to romance and each had their fans and critics. On the one hand, the Witcher 3 had a defined player-character and very few romance options, but the writing was excellent and the romances fairly believable. And then there was Skyrim, where you created your own character and had lots of romance options, but all you needed to do was a fetch quest for your belle/beau and then give them a necklace before living a happily married life of fighting bandits, adopting children and saying the same things to each other ad nauseam every day for eternity. But even Skyrim's romance had a certain charm to it. At least you got to live with your partner, build a house, have a family and go hunting together...

I fully understand the viewpoint that gamers would rather have fewer options if they are deep than more numerous janky options. We're yet to see what Starfield's execution will be like, but even if they have done a good job with it, I can't help feeling a little disappointed that there are so few options in such a massive game. I fully understand how difficult it would be to have more options and still make the romances compelling, but I think this should be strived for, rather than just given up as too hard.

Of all the big entertainment media (movies, TV, books, etc.), games are understandably way behind when it comes to romance. It's either rarely implemented or implemented poorly because technically it is very difficult. Yet it's often a major part of storytelling and virtually omnipresent in other media. Sometimes it's the main story; other times it's a side story within the main one. But it's quite rare for it never to feature at all in mass entertainment media. Of course, it's often shoehorned in because it's what the viewers/readers want and expect, but you can also argue that attraction to someone else is just a fundamental human emotion and maybe even unavoidable, especially in an epic or heroic scenario like an RPG. I'm sure someone with professional experience in this field could probably speak more to this point, but I'm thinking here of those intense emotional feelings you get from stressful situations, which could lead to crushes and attraction for those in the same situation, or to rescuers and caregivers (Nightingale syndrome), or even to abductors (Stockholm syndrome) and the opposite (Lima syndrome).

And the fact that it's a fundamental human trait that plays such a major role in our lives (for better or worse) is why I think gaming companies should not ignore romance and should strive to create truly compelling attraction stories. It's an area ripe for innovation and could really make a game stand out from the rest. It's time to move on from the stereotype that gaming is for teenage boys and all they want is to shoot things and maybe have sex with big-titted avatars. Gaming is now for everyone, for all ages and for all sexualities (including asexuals), and I'm sure there's a market for mature stories to reflect what drives many people's decisions and behaviours.

The RPG genre in particular seems to be the best fit for romance (outside of dating sims, which I know nothing about). The beauty of role-playing is that you get to be who you want to be, which includes exploring attraction and your sexuality. It's incredibly challenging and maybe even impossible to create a game that would please everyone, but I certainly don't think the idea of compelling attraction gameplay should be given up because previous attempts have felt so inauthentic.

Going back to Starfield, I'm really excited to go out exploring the stars, fighting space pirates, upgrading my ship, and acquiring cool abilities. I love all these things about RPGs. But I'm also a sucker for a great story and experiencing a genuine human journey. For me, this includes relationships, both platonic and sexual, because it would be unavoidable when spending so much time with people on my ship, and exploring the galaxy. The importance of attraction in games will vary between gamers, but as other mass entertainment media has shown us, it's massively popular when done well, probably because it speaks to something so fundamental within us as humans.

These are just some of my musings and ramblings. What are your thoughts?

• Is it a waste of dev time and resources because it's too hard to do well?
• Is it an aspect you particularly enjoy or hate in RPGs?
• Which game did it best?
• What would you like to see in RPGs of the future with AI possibly being used?

Hi! Growing up a boy, I was always too afraid to read Romance. I didn't want to get made fun of or give anyone clues about the way I felt about my gender and sexuality.

Besides the fact I identify as transfemme, I'm also much older and don't give a shit what anyone thinks now.

Can anyone recommend me a romance novel? I wanna add the genre to my reading. Fantasy/sci-fi splashed in would be cool but not required at all.

Please tell me your FAVORITE romance novel as opposed to the "classes" or "the best". I wanna know what you like. I think that will end up with more unique and specific vibes.

Ty xoxo

I finally have the space to finish a project I've been working on which is a study with 3 bookcases. So far, my idea is to have 1 with books that will always be there, such as classic reads, or even an encyclopedia maybe?, or other reference material. Basically, a permanent bookcase whether or not I've read the material. The other two will be rotated in and out of stuff that I'm reading, have read recently or on my backlog before swapping or donating.

Anyways, what's in your "must have" bookcase? Reference, fiction/non-fiction, Calvin & Hobbes even! (Although that's more of a coffee table piece)

Personally I thought it sounds interesting, with the stutter and grainy effects. But I've also heard it has a reputation of being lazily produced with the original samples doing most of the work of making it sounds good. Since there are people who are very passionate about music here (some even have music making experiences if I'm not mistaken), I'd love to hear your opinions.

For people who haven't listened to vaporwave before, I found this playlist on Youtube, you can also give it a try and share your impression of them too.

I love shoegaze. Nowadays, I am a bit out of the genre and scene but hearing shoegaze always makes me happy.

My first introduction to the genre was through Lowtide. They are an Australian trio (originally quartet) that were inspired by the classics like Slowdive. "Held" was the first ever shoegaze song I remember hearing a/o loving. Their self-titled album is one of my favourites of all time, and I have it on vinyl!

Of course, the landmark shoegaze album remember by many is Loveless by my bloody valentine. Great album, noisy asf and has awesome songs like "Only Shallow" ,"To Here Knows When", "Blown a Wish", "Sometimes", "Soon", "I Only Said". There are many other bands out there that deserve recognition, like Show Me Mary with "A Dream" from their self-titled EP.

So yeah. Post some of your shoegaze picks, if you love shoegaze.

Hey all,

I will admit, one thing I will miss about the other site is having the strong simracing community. Have any other sim racers made the jump?

I told myself I wouldn’t buy another F1 game (hell, I partially got a PC to keep F1 22 alive with mods), but F1 23 looks like it’s a huge step better. Maybe that will be my last F1 game, lol.

Otherwise, I find myself really only playing Assetto Corsa. I know other games are better at one thing or another, but AC just seems to have the best all-around. I play single player almost exclusively, so I want a decent AI and also be able to race everywhere they do IRL. For example, I hear the indycars are better in Automobilista 2, but AC has all the track mods, and I’m honestly having fun using AI apps to fix any kind of AI dumbness that occurs. Same with WEC- AC probably isn’t the best physics, but I have all the cars and the tracks.

Any other sim racers here?

What's your classical music playlist when you hit the gym? Lately, I've been enjoying classical minimalist composers for my workouts. I like that the pieces are long and build gradually, which matches the energy and intensity I feel in a cardio workout. Also, the minimalist pieces I select have no rubato, so I can get in a groove. They often lack variety in dynamics, which is good because I want to be able to hear the music over gym noise. Most importantly, they are droning and repetitive in a way that doesn't demand constant attention. They allow me to enter a meditative state.

Here's my playlist these days:

• John Adams - Phrygian Gates
• Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint
• Steve Reich - Variations for winds, strings, keyboards
• Philip Glass - Pruit Igoe (from Koyaanisqatsi)

More than suggestions, I'm just curious to hear what classical music is on your playlist. But also I'm curious about ambient/trance suggestions, as I suspect that there's a lot in those genres that might fit my criteria, but I'm ignorant on the topic.

I used to like Command & Conquer and similar games, but these days I find it stressful and too fast paced.

I want some recommendations of turn based games that does not have a steep learning curve like Hearts of Iron but it's not too simple like Advanced Wars.

It needs to be for PC and run on a Ryzen 3200G laptop.

Hello everyone,

I have been craving a sort of game genre, but I'm not quite sure what it is or if it really exists as a genre at all.
It is a game with a lot of existential twists to it. I could call it Mystery though I feel it falls short.
The main story tends to be a complete upheaval of what we thought was the basic premise. Think of it like paradigm shift: the game.
They also tend to be games that you can really only play once. Lucky for me my memory is horrible.

So far I came up with these games:

• Outer Wilds
• Enderal (which is a "total conversion mod for Skyrim", but an amazing game)
• The Forgotten City
• Paradise Killer

Most of these have some kind of cycle involved in them, but I'm not sure if that's coincidental. All of them have you learn how the world works and it's never really what you first expected.
They tend to be light in battle, which is probably a skill issue bias on my part.

Honorary mention to:

• Strange Horticulture
• Horizon Zero Dawn, but the sequel less so (although still a very good game)
• The Zero Escape series, although I haven't played the first one yet
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (as it really breaks away expectations you got from earlier games too, and the existential dread is dripping off it)
• Nier Automata
• Doki Doki Literature Club

Do you know any others? Or do you know a good match to this list?
What do you think kind of links all this? Feel like playing one of these games?

I read "Legends and Lattes" recently and liked the premise of the entire book. Does anyone know any other books that have a laid back and chill adventure story with little to no violence, gore, and stuff like that?

Thanks in advance.

I'm always looking recommendations for my next read. I haven't read many "pure" horror books this year, but I would like to recommend The Raw Shark Texts and The Library at Mt. Char. The former especially leads to some great discussions between readers.

I am mostly a TTRPG player, but lately I have been becoming a bit curious on wargaming.

I usually play TTRPGs because it allows a lot more freedom when compared to video games. However, I can't really see that much in wargaming that you can't get in video games. Is the appeal primarily a social one?

I am not bashing wargaming or saying that it's a bad hobby. I am just curious as to what the main draw is.
Thank you for any answers :)

I was a huge fan since 2000 listening Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, AvB, ATB and many more.

I was lucky I went to few night events with my favorite DJs and producers. Right now I only listen Aly & Fila and Solarstone.

Hey folks,

A few years ago I went in to the basement room where the cool kids hung out while they did video conversions and such. They had a playlist in the background of "Haunting Covers" or something like that. It was a take on all different music, but played in a really chilled, gothic style and by a mix of un/lesser-known artists.

Does anyone have some recommendations? To give you an idea, one of the more known tracks I heard while I was there was Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit but covered by Tori Amos.

Thanks.

There're maybe 2 aspects to the question: what makes you prefer a certain genre over another? and within that genre, what criteria makes you think one piece performs better than another?

I get that this is a very subjective and probably subconscious thing. Just curious to see how everyone would describe their own tastes.

For me I'm not much of a music person, most music I found were just soundtracks from films or videogames. So I guess the music is good if the film/game is good. Listening is a way to put me back into the moods of the scenes it came from.

Edit: I also listen to meme songs a lot so I guess I like them for just being funny, which is not a very musically relevant criteria I suppose