peripheral phenomena

main pop blog pfp- yeule photographed by Vasso Vu

[perispomenon]

Julia Holter claire rousay Kelela katie dey Ada Rook Devi McCallion Matana Roberts Wendy Eisenberg Jenny Hval Minhwi Lee Anna Von Hausswolff ML Buch Kaho Matsui Anastasia Coope Mabe Fratti more eaze Laurel Halo Astrid Sonne e fishpool Kelly Moran Lucy Liyou KAVARI Uboa Ellen Arkbro Yvette Ofa Agapow Kali Malone Nola Ronallo Haela Hunt-Hendrix Nala Sinephro Octa Möbius Sheffner Ulla Ana Roxanne Clarissa Connelly 8485 lost cats April Harper Grey ...and more are making music worth listening to, right now.

[perispomenon]

reviewing my listening 15/06 - 21/06

another week another reminder of how I'm not going to get any of these done. lai yuqing - whisperings of the moon is also impossible to watch, i tried to find a stream for over an hour, yes i tried every multistream site and every legal way to stream it, yes i searched for 潮汐低語, the only way i can could possibly see this is if i attend a screening at 2:30pm in hong kong next week. so it's being replaced with i saw the tv glow.

still house plants - s/t have I listened before: yes discovery method: forgot impressions: take a wild guess was in the mood to listen to still house plants. their debut is excellent, the first two tracks especially. "overproduced" music concerns me. "overproduced rock music" bothers me. if i can see them live before i die / before they split or disband / before heat death of the universe (whichever comes first!), that would be awesomesauce.

the books - (the) lemon in pink have I listened before: yes* discovery method: forgot impressions: epiphany inducing furtively jubilant (most of the time); stylishly antiquated (some of the time); fiendishly melancholic (at the right times). Relistening to an album that I wrote off over six years ago was an elucidating moment. I realised exactly why I didn't ever revisit this all those years ago and why it even flew into my radar during that time. Back then my favourite record was since i left you and i was aggressively scouring for anything that would've sounded similar. I would certainly revisit this again far sooner than 6 years from now

Staubitz & Waterhorse - Common Metals have i listened before: no discovery method: rym impressions: experimental It's very hard for me to not enjoy this one. Common Metals was recorded during 2021 in times of global change and uncertainty and inspired by the slow cinema of Abbas Kiarostami and the musique concrete of the legendary Éliane Radigue. It's rather foreboding throughout, constantly alternating between mechanical whirs and hums and the clicking collisions of liquid dripping across surfaces. Phenomenal spacial depth or "distance" portrayal on this one; I could believe I'd heard parts of this being played whilst walking through an art installation.

VENUS-426 - songs of post-apocalyptic yearnings have i listened before: no discovery method: organic impressions: noise for world peace Beautiful noise segments especially on this queer emo / grindcore mishmash. I am partial to its unapologetically overt titles ("billionaires are destroying the world" as well as track 2 which I don't think I can type here) but I found the aural assault got to my little ADHD brain by about the tenth track - losing some of my focus - letting the music become a brutal wave of noise. After a relisten I can't believe I missed the greatness of those tail-end tracks however.

Des Rocs - Dream Machine have i listened before: no discovery method: organic impressions: not bad, actually quite alright I was pretty ready to be whatever on this one as I'd never usually listen to what I presumed was tepid vanilla ice cream alt rock. Although I did feel this way about some of the tracks there were also some I quite liked, bonus track Love and a Smoking Gun being my standout. I thought about Muse - and I hold Origin of Symmetry in very high regard despite only ever coming back to Citizen Erased from that album.

Bonus: NEW YORK - No Sleep Till N.Y.

oh my fucking god they ate so hard on this. between this and ear im two for two on glitch pop duos and im going to listen to everything from both now (listen here)

[perispomenon]

reviewing my listening 07/06 - 14/06

moonshake - eva luna have I listened before: no discovery method: organic impressions: enjoyable enough although i give a nod of approval to the bands name i was generally underwhelmed by this. lots of interesting ideas present, at least. I don't see myself coming back soon.

water from your eyes - it's a beautiful place have I listened before: no discovery method: tumblr impressions: new fan predisposed to hate this from everything about the band. the fact that this record was unanimously extolled by traditional music publications, that they're from new york, and they cite brat and RHCP among their inspirations. despite all this i found myself replaying it right after it ended. after listening to 2018's Somebody Else's Song i have become a fan of WFYE.

Ø - Olento have i listened before: no discovery method: rym impressions: uncouth Interesting ideas buried between abstract and uninspired glitchiness when I was really yearning for some ambient techno for the occassion. Stratostaatti, Tutkamaa, Ilta I would revisit and track 7 Mugwumb was great.

Disco Inferno - Technicolour have i listened before: no discovery method: organic impressions: unsurprisingly I liked it D.I. are a beloved 90s artist of mine and these are 9 great tracks. well within my comfort zone.

Mal Blum - The Villain have i listened before: no discovery method: organic impressions: serendipitous Another one I didn't find myself thinking I'll be particularly fond of. singer-songwriter Mal Blum is engaging enough to make me pay attention to lyrics. Gemini v. Cancer is a fun tune in spite of my astrology ignorance, and i found the final two tracks touching especially.

Bonus: ear - The Most Dear and The Future not from my list but this was a soul-cleansing first listen will definitely come back and highly recommend ^^

[perispomenon]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! (time to do my music log)

Albums I want to revisit this month

Swans - The Gate still house plants - s/t (a 10/10) The Books - The Lemon of Pink (revisiting after ~5-6 years) Arthur Russell - Another Thought (Happy Pride Month) Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (Happy Pride Month) Magdalena Bay - mini mix vol. 3 (EP) Pan Sonic - Kesto

Albums I want to try from artists I'm familiar with this month

Disco Inferno - Technicolor Ø (Mika Vainio) - Olento Cameron Picton - 44m50s Lucy Dacus - Historian (Happy Pride Month) Graham Lambkin / Jason Lescalleet - Photographs

New albums I want to listen to this month

Moonshake - Eva Luna Staubitz and Waterhouse - Common Metals Water From Your Eyes - It's a Beautiful Place (Happy Pride Month) Mal Blum - The Villain (Happy Pride Month) bloodthirsty butchers - Birdy Kim Petras - Detour (Happy Pride Month) Des Rocs - Dream Machine VENUS-426 - songs of post-apocalyptic yearnings Maral - Mahur Club Beagle Vortex - Through the Ages username - God Bless Catfish and the Bottlemen - The Balcony Chauchat - Unhappiness

things i want to read this month

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of Darkness (Happy Pride Month)

Things I want to watch this month

Park Chan-wook - Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Lai Yuqing - Whisperings of the Moon (Happy Pride Month; R.I.P. to Lai Yuqing) last time i did this in February it went well so i'm doing more this time. except for the fact that i put an album that i didn't realise was like 6 hours long until i tried to listen to it (Asleep Country - LUX which i will probably get to sometime)

[perispomenon]

I can no longer say my favourite piece of Brutalism is Habitat 67 in Montreal because of an immense worry of being ridiculed for that name in present day. My new favourite is the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Berlin Germany. (^photo from when i visited in 2023)

[perispomenon]

Soli City - PARADOXE

new listening for today. was looking through the now defunct label posh isolation's catalogue and this stuck out to me. rateyourmusic calls the album "art pop". haha. good one.

[perispomenon]

yeule n cats

[perispomenon]

Visit Original Link

Disco Inferno - Summer's Last Sound

alive post rock theory

[perispomenon]

Meaningful Stone - If I Grow Up

breaking news: kim ddeutdol has yet to release a bad song!

[wolfstarwitch70]

park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream aboht me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream aboht me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream aboht me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me. park that car. drop that phone. sleep on the floor. dream about me.

[perispomenon]

i love yeule too but i just had to point out bss wrote these lyrics and they werent tagged at all

[perispomenon]

shoegaze electronica

I have a deep affection for shoegaze and dream pop coming into close contact with electronic music a la ambient techno, idm, or whatever else. The end result is almost always relaxing and comforting.

Some essential listening from this eclectic mishmash:

Seefeel - Spangle

Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy

Doss - Strawberry

--- After the 2010s shoegaze revival this take on shoegaze and electronic is not so rare. Strawberry by Doss is maybe my favourite modern track that does this.

there are other more current artists that have adopted this sound that I didn't include but really like and you should listen to. dev lemons, yeule, kkb, jane remover, jbrekkie all sorta do or have done this on their projects. if you want even more there is a rym list i found (not mine)

[perispomenon]

"Wow, I can't believe all the abhorrent stuff I'm reading Steve Albini did...surely there's no one, much less another prominent musician from Chicago, that could possibly come close to being this heinous?"

[lastfm-comments]

Do It - Underscores

[perispomenon]

oh. my goodness. I forgot about this site's shoutboxes 🙂

[perispomenon]

boycotts tiktok but still uses tumblr..anyway i need to find a new source for mindless cats hugging things videos and y*utube shorts is not it. oh great an original instagram meme about how american football is "virgin incel music" and "normies" listen to nebraska by bruce springsteen, apparently. wow thanks reddit for recommending me r/straightboyslovepop, im not actually interested in what heteronormative white males think about olivia rodrigo or why they should be allowed to sexualise female pop stars respectfully. and oh golly gosh am i really not worried that posting a hyper specific comment of what ive interacted with on other sites will affect my lovely doom scrolling experience on tumblr.com whatsoever!

[perispomenon]

recommended with purses or shoulder bags or if you feel like serving

[perispomenon]

Caroline Polachek: The Significance of Ants on Desire

Caroline Polachek's 2023 album plays with a lot of visual imagery that continously harkens back to the same underlying lyrical themes to create extremely cohesive motifs. One that I noticed shortly after listening to the album and viewing the promotional artwork were the ants and what they might mean.

And! although featured less prominently, they also show up on the album cover itself on the bottom right, crawling beside Caroline's hand.

It's easy to miss :)

But what do the ants mean? It doesn't seem like there's anything online that can be easily found explaining this, either from Polachek herself or fans.

r/Carolinepolachek - "WHAT'S UP WITH THE ANTS!?"

Like countless others, the poor user replying months later is "still wondering". These small insects are some sort of recondite symbolism that Caroline cared enough to repeatedly sprinkle in, after all.

My personal interpretation is that the ants connect to one of the central themes of the album, that of dreaming, hallucinations, and mirages. Seeing insects crawling on your skin (much like what's happening to Caroline in the second image I posted) is a known visual hallucination that many people have reported experiencing.

And in case you're not aware, this is extremely relevant for the lyrical themes on Desire. The "Island" in Welcome to my Island almost certainly an ephemeral and dreamlike concept if not straight up an allusion to a mirage itself. Just watch the accompanying MV. Hopedrunk Everasking references "(star)light in a tunnel" on its very first verse. Pretty In Possible is abundant with hazy, angelic vocalisations - a song that Polachek commented "finds me at street level, daydreaming". I Believe is all about the concept of an afterlife, which although not explicitly a "halluination" definitely fits the bill. Other tracks are far more perspicuous (explaining "It's just smoke" or the majority of Butterfly Net's lyrics is about as helpful as just reading them, I feel).

This is all to reaffirm that (as we all knew) Caroline Polachek (and all the lovely contributors to the album) are incredibly talented. Ants as imagery are merely one piece that connects to the diaphanous whole of the album, and there's so many other visual metaphors and recurring themes present that are more well documented in interviews. I love Pang as many others do but I'm very glad Caroline decided to go with something a lot more conceptual and cohesive with her follow-up; it results in such a pleasant start-to-finish listening experience.

[perispomenon]

yearning daydreaming vicariously nostalgising about performances that have already come and gone (,,>﹏<,,)