Stream Plans for 2021

 Despite Twitch's constant bullshit this year, they are still going to be my preferred choice of streaming platform for 2021. This is not because I'm already snug and set up there. It's because Twitch is still the best option. That's how bad it is.

tl;dr version:
- Don't know what I'm starting the year with but my primary stream series for the year is going to be a Nuzlocke run of Pokemon Diamond Version.
- I will be streaming Sonic games in June. If you have suggestions, let me know.
- I'm going to try to play some kind of spooky game in October, probably wrapping up with Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment at the end of October.
- We might be in for a Pokemon Ultra Sun Randomizer Nuzlocke depending on how I feel about that after the Diamond one. Ultra Sun might get pushed back to 2022.
- Other games (listed at the end)

In the case that I consistently stream throughout the year and don't lose my wrists to a goblin king,
Here's what we're doing:

Pokemon Diamond Nuzlocke

I might not start out the year with this one but this is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most. I was originally going to do a blind Nuzlocke of Ultra Sun but then I started playing Ultra Sun casually. I'm almost halfway through the game. As a kid, I actually never beat Diamond so now that I have a copy of it again, it will be fun to revisit it the brutal way. I want to finish editing the Pokemon Omega Ruby Nuzlocke series for Randomrings Let's Plays before I start this though. Although I will be streaming it, I am hoping to give my Diamond run a similar treatment to that of Omega Ruby.

As far as the actual run goes, I will not be using any form of Exp. Share. Most people would argue this makes the Diamond run my first "real Nuzlocke". I might add a few more rules to spice things up. I already have a list of clauses ready for the series. My only sources of external information will probably be a type chart, Twitch chat, and what little memory I have of Diamond (not a lot).

The stream schedule for this might be more inconsistent so I can finish it the fuck up. Omega Ruby, for example, took less than two months to finish recording but I wasn't streaming that one. With 3-5 hour streams once a week, it could take a month if I'm really lucky. Given the lack of Gen 6's overpowered Exp. Share system, I imagine this will take up a bit more time. I will still at least be doing it once a week if I can but don't be surprised if I stream Diamond more than once a week.

For those who didn't watch my let's play of Omega Ruby, I'll probably be voicing a good majority of the plot's dialogue. I don't remember a single character from Diamond except for... Dawn? Get ready to hear your favorite Gen 4 NPC's like you never wanted to imagine them before!

Sonic Month in June

June 23rd is the anniversary of the first Sonic game coming out. Since I have masochistically wasted so much time on that franchise throughout my life, I must sacrifice more. Might as well have fun with it and do it live. I don't know what I will play yet but for whatever streams I do in June, it will be of Sonic stuff. Not opposed to fan games but if I can't think of any I find immediately interesting, I'll just revisit old stuff I already have. Probably.

I'm always open to viewer/fan suggestions and I'm especially interested to see what people want for this one. If it's an official game, there's a good chance I already have it on my shelf.

Halloween Month

I will play some spooky stuff if I don't get sick of streaming and quit in October. This past Halloween was fun but kind of a shit-show overall. I'm hoping to allocate most of the month to one game and then maybe play Specter of Torment again, perhaps in a different mode or something, for the last stream of October.

Stuff I might stream:

Pokemon Ultra Sun Randomizer Nuzlocke

I have never done a randomizer of anything. I'm not sure to what extent I'm going to want my first randomizer to be randomized but I'm excited to try it out. I'm going to beat Ultra Sun normally first though. If I'm feeling up to streaming two Nuzlocke runs in the same year, I will. At the same time, I don't really want to be tied to the gimmick or seen as "that bitch who does Nuzlockes while he complains about Pokemon". We'll see how I feel about it. Might push this back to 2022. We'll see.

Final Fantasy IX
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PS3)
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Duck Dodgers starring Daffy Duck
Pulseman
Sonic Unleashed
Indie games that I think are cool
Let's be honest: I'm probably going to stream more Downwell at some point
I think the Scrap Story prequel comes out later this year???

twitch.tv/randomrings
Get fuckin' ready

'cuz one of us has to be

OGIGACA 2020 Revisited

 It's that time of year again where I talk about the small handful of games that released in 2020 that I actually gave enough of a crap about to try. Fair warning, I do mean a small handful.

Here are the games we're talking about so you don't have to scroll down to see if I touched on one or not:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Cyberpunk 2077
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (Master Chief Collection)
Super Mario 3D All-Stars

I said "small handful".

ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS (Switch)
Verdict: Lost my interest after about 4 months but still pretty great

I already briefly talked about this one earlier this year but I guess I can just briefly talk about it again. Animal Crossing is a series where you live in a little town with a bunch of giant-headed animal neighbors. You get money to get stuff then sell other stuff to get more stuff, finding more ways to get money and pay off your home loan. Your home loan turns into home upgrades until the game runs out of ways to upgrade your house, then I guess by that point you have "beaten" Animal Crossing. New Horizons works a little differently than previous installments and it's part of what makes it great and slightly refreshing for people like me who have been in a vicious cycle with this series for roughly 20 years. New Horizons puts you on a previously uncharted island with Tom Nook, his nephews, and two other randomly selected villagers. Now there's a crafting system, which usually makes me groan immediately. This game actually pulled it off because now if you break your shovel at 2am, you can just grab resources to make a new one instead of waiting until the store opens the next day. Or time-traveling. The crafting system relies on recipe cards you get either randomly or from doing various tasks, some of which give you different specific random recipes. Different seasonal events spice this system up along with DIY recipes you can only get during that specific time. A soft issue I had with every main Animal Crossing game before New Horizons was that once you drain your town of resources, you kind of can't do jack until the next day. New Horizons has randomly generated islands you can fly off to. They cost a specific form of in-game currency to get to but now you can do the monotonous chores you do in your hometown to your heart's content! Everything else about the game is more or less the same just with a way more accessible character customizer. Almost everything is just streamlined to work with the game's new island theme. I am really struggling to think of an example where this new system objectively makes anything worse. As I said above, I lost interest in this game. I have played it maybe three times in the past four months and I was starting to fall out of it pretty hard the 3rd month I played it. The first month is also noticeably slow. I think this is just because I've been playing this game since the Gamecube version, played way too much of New Leaf, and refuse to pay one cent for Switch Online. If you already give into Nintendo's corporate garbo and/or have people in your house to play the game with then this game is probably the game that keeps on giving and won't take you nearly as long to progress as it did for me. Otherwise; meh. It's great and all but it's still just Animal Crossing. I would argue it's probably the best one but it's still Animal Crossing. Also, with all of the updates they've been giving it to avoid spoiling everything for players who haven't gotten to a certain season or month of the game yet, I'm not really sure how well this game is going to age. They say they're still going to be doing some sort of update in 2021 but I can't imagine this going on for much longer than that, nor do I think I really care if it does or not. When the Switch hits the same dirt that the 3DS recently did, is New Horizons still going to hold the same weight and be the experience everyone praises it for today? I guess time will tell. If you want some cute animal time and some weirdly satisfying, grindy bullshit to soothe you during the good old pandemic, you can do a lot worse than Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

CYBERPUNK 2077 (PC)
Verdict: my full experience with Cyberpunk 2020 and I never tried again

Go back to sleep, Samurai. It's not December 10th yet!
                                              - John Ghostcock
                                                   December 10, 2020

HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY (MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION - PC)
Verdict: alright

I bought the Master Chief Collection. The games included released in a set sequence, most of which landing this year. I still haven't played most of them. I did fuck around with Halo 1 though. It's fine. The graphical updates are kind of nice. I particularly like that they don't take away with the old Xbox charm of what the game originally looked like but still look polished. It has been a long time since I have played the original Halo so I can't speak to too many blatant improvements that an actual fan might notice right away. Halo 1 and 2 were the ones I played the most as a kid so, with that minor authority, I would say that this version holds up pretty solid. I can't think of anything mind-numbingly annoying. Halo 2, I still haven't played the new version of but in a general sense, that is one of my favorite first-person shooters ever. That's mostly because I don't really like first-person shooters but I digress. I say this just to let people know I'm really out of my element talking about this one but if you want to experience Halo for the first time, The Master Chief Collection is the way to go, especially if you can get it on sale.

SUPER MARIO 3D ALL-STARS yeah, I know, fuck Nintendo (Switch)
Verdict: well...
Super Mario 64: definitely an emulator for Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine: they patched it but still kind of just the Dolphin emulator
Super Mario Galaxy: a kind of fucking stupid emulator for Super Mario Galaxy, the original is better
Super Mario Galaxy 2: what's that?

Okay so fuck Nintendo for the business decisions made here. I already pre-ordered it before I realized the full gravity of the situation. But I also knew that buying Super Mario Sunshine physically otherwise would cost way more than this licensed pack of emulators. So let me start off by saying this: you are better off getting the original version of all three of these games. But if you can't afford to do that because finding physical copies of Sunshine and Galaxy isn't super cheap these days, maybe you'll get this digitally before Nintendo kills it off. Did I mention fuck Nintendo? Whether or not it's generally worth it to play these versions at all depends on the version and if you are experiencing these for the first time or not.

Super Mario 64

This is probably the best one because it's kind of hard to fuck up. Despite lazily sliding emulators onto a 3DS cartridge, they still went out of their way to take out some stuff from all of these games. In the case of Super Mario 64, this will probably only matter if you're a speedrunner. Casually speaking, this port is fine. It's not worth the price of admission but if you're going to get this compilation bullshit with actual money for some odd reason, this is a welcome part of the package. Alternatively, I don't think an original 64 cartridge is that expensive but I understand not everyone has a TV or hookups to play that shit anymore. This game can also be downloaded on Wii and Wii U as well as the DS remake on Wii U. Or fuck Nintendo and just pirate it, it's probably not even half a gig.

Super Mario Sunshine

This was the most fucked up emulator in the bunch but I have been informed that they got rid of one really stupid decision that I'm still baffled about even after it's been fixed. So this is a Gamecube game ported to a system that supports a USB adapter that lets you use your dusty Gamecube controller on it. They purposefully locked off use of USB controllers for Super Mario 3D All-Stars because Nintendo isn't about joy anymore. Again, I've been told that now you can use a Gamecube controller on it. Most of the issues with the emulator with that instilled are essentially what you would expect from any given Gamecube game played on your PC with legally gray methods. This was the main thing that made me want this in the first place because I had never really played Super Mario Sunshine for more than a couple of minutes as a child. I never had my own copy and the original version is a bit more expensive than it was just a year or two ago. One day, I might honestly make some Switch collector's day and sell them this shit for like $20-30 and use that money to get an old crusty Gamecube disc.

Super Mario Galaxy

I fucking love me some Galaxy. But not on Switch! The Wiimote shake is now almost completely exchanged with a button press which is nice. Under circumstances out of Nintendo's hands, this is the version of the game that will lead me one step lesser to the ledge of carpal tunnel, of which I teeter back and forth on. Not so fast though! You don't need a sensor bar for this version either but you still need a little cursor to do stuff, which is just the invisible mid-point of the controller's shoulder-button-gooch. Whether or not this is better I guess is up for debate. I personally think a lot of the issues I find with this port are like the ones in Sunshine where it's just because it's an emulator. Little rare frame drops and Mario freaking out on ledges and crevices. I do feel though that as annoying as a lot of the mini-game-ish missions are in Galaxy, none of them are particularly improved by being on Switch. The cursor awkwardness might be fixed for some by pointing the Joy-Con like a Wiimote but I tried it for a few seconds and fucking hated it. The best way to experience this game is absolutely in its original version or perhaps the Wii U version, I never tried that. On its own, perhaps fine but I still don't think either one of these three games is worth the $60 Nintendo squeezed out of so many kids/kids' parents. If you really want a legal backup to pirate the better versions of these games, then I guess this here is a license to do so but the original versions are simply better ways to experience these games. I would even argue Super Mario 64 DS is a better way to experience Super Mario 64 but the rest of the internet would mostly say "no".

All-in-all, fuck 3D All-Stars and fuck Nintendo. But also I'm keeping them in case I want to stream Sunshine again. What a racket though.

Shoving Music Down Your Throat (2020 Edition)

 Here's more music that I recommend you listen to. I really wore these out this year, being trapped inside, cowering from neighboring idiots potentially spreading a deadly disease. 

To be clear: this is NOT a list of stuff released in 2020 (although some of it is). These are albums (and an EP) I found in 2020. Coincidentally, it can all be listened to on Spotify so I will be providing links so you can indulge in my musical insanity as well.

This is a playlist I made for this blog. It contains one song from each album. Don't look at it as a "best of" or anything like that. It's more just to get a taste of what's going on with each album and seeing if anything slaps you in the face like it did for me.
spotify:playlist:2JWBJbVZsOdXEHGUZHVgzN
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2JWBJbVZsOdXEHGUZHVgzN?si=aB19z_RbSoGTcTaHGmgkqw

Ghost in the Machine by The Police [1981]
genre: new wave, reggae rock

I know, I picked the year where we are all screaming ACAB to start getting into this band. "The Police" is a pretty popular group with a lot of hits under their belt. Ghost in the Machine is probably my favorite album by them, tied with Synchronicity, which is the one that most people cite as the band's best album. They didn't pick a bad one though. Speaking of hits, although nobody talks about Ghost in the Machine, you have probably heard "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". You may have also heard "Spirits in the Material World", "Secret Journey", or "Invisible Sun", especially if you were listening to the radio in 1981. I was not, and most people within a 3-year range of my age only know "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". Anyway. This album feels a lot more "brooding" than their previous albums, for lack of a better term. "Message in a Bottle", "Next to You", "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", and "Don't Stand So Close to Me" are what people are most used to "The Police" sounding like. This is fair since I just listed off four of their most famous songs to date. This is when they were much more reggae rock than new wave. Ghost in the Machine sounds kind of like this transitional period and I really like the result. I personally think that Synchronicity works better as an experience. On the other hand, the "I'm really enjoying this" to "meh" ratio leans heavier toward "I'm really enjoying this" for most of the songs that are on Ghost in the Machine than that of Synchronicity. Neither album is perfect. No album is. I think "Hungry For You" is just okay. I feel like "Demolition Man" is too fucking long for what takes place on that recording. Adversely, there is a lot of cool shit on here that blows the early 80s out of the water, if only mainstream rock from the early 80s that is worth listening to sober. Also, much saxophone is present in the latter half of this album. I'm picky with what I put on shuffle but I am a simple man when it comes to saxophones in rock music.

Synchronicity was on this list too but I decided to keep it one album per artist/group. The 2018 list had a bajillion Dir En Grey recommendations and this one already recommends the entire discography of Bloc Party, featured below. So If you're going to dip your toe into "The Police", I say their last two albums are the best. I have listened to all 5 a few times each now and their last three albums are worth a spin. Despite the existence of "Message in a Bottle", the first two albums are pretty hit-and-miss.

such saxophone:
spotify:album:5jkwdY6jS1Hzi8epr6HW7h
https://open.spotify.com/album/5jkwdY6jS1Hzi8epr6HW7h?si=sXcmov9VTxmfoSW3DvR6cg

Mr. Bungle by Mr. Bungle [1991]
genre: experimental rock, avant-garde metal

Mr. Bungle is the old band that Mike Patton made. He's the nasal cartoon character that sang "Epic". Around that time, this thing came out that sounds nothing like that. I like really weird music. It doesn't have to be that "weird" because that definition is going to be skewed by everyone's personal experience and what they've heard. What's more important than weirdness to me is a tonal variety or complete disregard for genre. Mr. Bungle is one of the prime embodiments of both or at least one of the most popular examples. This was their first album. Since they have been coming out with new stuff this year (the last album came out in the late 90s), I guess now is a good time to check them out??? Personally, I don't think this is the best Mr. Bungle album. Disco Volante and California have more variety and I think they are more interesting to listen to from front-to-back. The debut album is a really good introduction to what Mr. Bungle embodies for those unfamiliar with them who are also in the mood to give them an hour-long chance. It's dirty, foul, explicit, and silly, all on purpose. There are some catchy moments to be sure. Not many pretty ones, which is why I really recommend Disco Volante and California over those if you're in the mood for some weirdo rock shit. But this is the one I hadn't tried until 2020 for whatever reason. This is more "clown rock" than the others. The opening track is called "Quote Unquote", which I added to this year's playlist. If you aren't sure what I mean by "clown rock", you will have a very good idea after listening to "Quote Unquote".

spotify:album:5TzQq2irJPHeHNnh11atPw
https://open.spotify.com/album/5TzQq2irJPHeHNnh11atPw?si=y4BlTXXCQpWp6yX2hHtbCQ

Awake by Dream Theater [1991]
genre: prog rock, prog metal

There are a lot of bands that have a lot of cheesy ass music. Since they have one or a handful of great or "fast" musicians in their band, they get a pass. If you say they are shit, people will make fun of you. And yet, I feel like nobody's talking about Dream Theater anymore despite being founded by Berklee graduates and playing plenty of cheesy dad-friendly bangers. James LaBrie's vocals almost always leave something to be desired and most of the lyrics are corny. This is not exclusive to Awake. However, if one of the main reasons you don't like Dream Theater is because of the vocals and/or lyrics, I recommend giving Awake a shot. This is one of the earlier albums before extreme food poisoning shredded James LaBrie's voice and was also the last album they created with their old keyboardist. A lot of the album has a more melancholy vibe that actually lyrically ties to their real-life relationship with the keyboardist. The last track "Space-Dye Vest" has this real Syd Barret vibe to it by Dream Theater standards and it was the last track that Sherinian had writing credits on. It is melancholy as fuck. There are silly moments for sure but this is probably the angriest and heaviest album from Dream Theater that doesn't try too hard to go there and fucking fail (like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, yeah I listen to this band too often). Normally, I don't recommend Dream Theater to too many people. However, people only really seem to talk about the first album if they talk about this band at all in casual conversation. Now that I have finally gotten around to Awake, I truly don't understand why this one is left out of said conversation.

spotify:album:4jP59Kwqvy3n09eUe1Cge7
https://open.spotify.com/album/4jP59Kwqvy3n09eUe1Cge7?si=CTYqc-RYSeSld0Xz5K9BOQ

Intimacy by Bloc Party [2008]
genre: indie rock

This year, I actually started listening to Bloc Party and fuck me, do I like Bloc Party. Intimacy is my favorite if I had to pick one but now that I've listened to all of their studio albums, I can attest that you can't really go wrong. Unless you only like indie rock that sounds like rock music or you hate "fake" music. If that's the case, skip Hymns. Otherwise, close your eyes and pick an album. But if you don't know where to start, I highly recommend Intimacy. This one has a lot of creative ideas in it that put it beyond most indie rock I've heard from around the same time period without going so far from the genre that it becomes something else entirely. Kele Okereke's voice is very dynamic. For a lot of people, I think his voice might take some getting used to because it is very unique and sounds pretty yelly or closed-throat...y? He is one of the few rock vocalists I have heard that makes up for some of that pitchiness with raw emotion. Really, all of Bloc Party's albums showcase this quality that I like about them though. It's worth noting that I usually don't like typical indie rock, so don't be thrown off by the genre. This is worth the risk. Probably. I hope you don't fucking hate it, anyway.

If you listen to all of their stuff and get kinda sad that the discography is over like I did, most of Kele Okereke's solo stuff is also on Spotify. To be honest, a lot of it sounds like Hymns. But more singer-songwritery. Again, don't let that genre label fool you.

have fun joining me in listening to too much Bloc Party:
spotify:album:0ZdR2zjN6X6Wvffw8l87yl
https://open.spotify.com/album/0ZdR2zjN6X6Wvffw8l87yl?si=6ni7o3nkT8-4Zs97BhP1zw

Wolf's Law by The Joy Formidable [2013]
genre: alt-rock

This is really cool indie rock from Wales. I heard of The Joy Formidable forever ago because they were touring with Foo Fighters. To be clear: I don't give a fuck about Foo Fighters but I was hoping for something within that kind of genre that might be more interesting than them. I finally found one. I then saw music videos by them on public access when I lived with my parents. I guess this was before Wolf's Law came out. This is their second album and good lord is it fucking fun. It's a cool album with that harder indie rock flare that never gets unnecessarily wracky. The psychedelic parts are less noisy than on the first album. That might sound bad but the first album had a few parts that were pretty much rock concert song outros without the dad-rock shreddies. I don't know what's up with Wolf's Law conceptually but it all feels like it really goes together well. It can also be conveniently shuffled in with other stuff, though I think the best way to experience this one is front-to-back. The lead singer has a good voice and is a good guitarist. What does that even mean? Go listen for yourself, I have other music to force onto you. I don't have all day to text out the audible qualities of The Joy Formidable.

spotify:album:3fn4TpavfAcdnAg4ZNpA3c
https://open.spotify.com/album/3fn4TpavfAcdnAg4ZNpA3c?si=nYFtjMWTQaehvIdD6ri_SQ

The Mountain by Haken [2013]
genre: prog metal

This is one of those progressive metal bands to come out of the past 15 years that certainly has extended range guitars and slaps different time signatures into pretty much every song. Unlike most of those bands, they aren't screamy. They also aren't super shreddy either. Most prog metal bands are either kind of cheesy in that regard or they are almost diving into psychedelic territory. Haken is delightfully in between, most of their stuff being decidedly melodic. Their biggest hit seems to be a song about uh... conversing with a giant cockroach, I think? That's on The Mountain. I haven't really researched this but there seems to be an overlying story told by the entire album. A lot of recycled motifs are used. Most of them are pretty tasteful. The chorus melody from "Somebody" is arguably used too often. Don't get me wrong, it's a good one but fuck me do they repeat it a lot during that song on its own and then reprise it later in the album. From front to back, the album is a great listen though. Is it their best? I dunno. It's just the one that got me into them and I still really like it. I also listened to two albums after this one; Affinity and their new album coincidentally titled Virus. Don't worry, they released Virus in July and it doesn't sound like they threw it together to be like "hey, COVID lul". That one's supposed to be in the same conceptual universe as Vector, which I haven't listened to yet so yeah; not an album inspired by the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Anyway, The Mountain. It feels like listening to the plot of a cool fantasy movie, even though I have no idea what the album's about. For those who aren't a fan of the super heavy shit, it really doesn't feel like a heavy metal album for the most part. It never gets crazy "noisy" and is only occasionally dissonant so if you're not super into metal, you might still like The Mountain.

spotify:album:3RBULTZJ97bvVzZLpxcB0j
https://open.spotify.com/album/3RBULTZJ97bvVzZLpxcB0j?si=PsDrOvs5QriF1dpk4aWBow

To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar [2015]
genre: jazz rap

Remember all that cop stuff and how "unnhghhh 2020 was such a bad year"? Yeah, it was but the world wasn't that much better before the 2016 election. Case in point, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly is a poetic, conceptual parallel to the terrible shit you heard about in 2020 and it was released in 2015. Even then, the album clearly illustrates that police brutality and systemic racism have been happening for a long time, we just noticed more in 2015, then subsequently not again until 2020. But it's not just a sermon. To Pimp a Butterfly has a lot of really cool jazz influence while still maintaining an accessible hip-hop feel. This is already a pretty acclaimed album, I'm just really late on this one. As such, I won't say a whole lot about it other than "listen to it". It has been a long time since an album hypnotized me and just took my undivided attention, making me gasp, giggle, and squirm at my PC while listening to it. I've listened to a lot of stuff. This one really got me and I still like all the songs on it individually too. Big recommendation, here.

spotify:album:7ycBtnsMtyVbbwTfJwRjSP
https://open.spotify.com/album/7ycBtnsMtyVbbwTfJwRjSP?si=Vu61FBMIQ1SC-5OdrGWCoQ

誰のせい by sajou no hana [2019]
[Dare no Sei roughly translates to "Who's Fault"]
genre: j-pop I guess

Not much to say about Dare no Sei other than "it good". sajou no hana is the band that made the Mob Psycho themes, they just aren't credited as sajou no hana for whatever fucking reason. In any case, if you like Mob Psycho's intro and outro music and wonder why there isn't more of that shit, there is! They have 4 whole songs on Spotify right now! They're all great! But between this EP and the other one, this one has my favorite song on it. The first one. I don't know my Japanese as much as I would like to.

spotify:album:4D2yss0tMnzkWW2IIf7LpF
https://open.spotify.com/album/4D2yss0tMnzkWW2IIf7LpF?si=bPa5aC5HSzaYGgedsnU4WA

3.15.20 by Childish Gambino [2020]
genre: alternative hip-hop, alternative R&B

Childish Gambino has been a big deal for me since because the internet was fairly new. This, in hindsight, makes me feel fucking old. I didn't expect Childish Gambino to come back to that level in terms of albums that hit me that hard and make me think about how I make my own music. 3.15.20 did it. This album barely fits into a genre and that's why I like it. It takes more hip-hop inspiration than anything else I can point a finger at but there is so much more to it than that. Telling people that this is a hip-hop album feels lazy to me. However, I think one thing that a lot of people like about Childish Gambino is that there is a lot of instrumental variety and a lot of "real" instruments. This one has a lot more synths and heavy pitch correction techniques. I fucking love it but people who have a probably unhealthy obsession with Camp over the rest of this guy's discography will probably be a little miffed. Most of the instruments still sound very different from each other across the album's songs and there is a lot of cool guitar sounds throughout the whole album. The guitars just aren't as wracky and present as they were on culdesac, which in my opinion is an upgrade. Most of the lyrics tell a more broad story together about sheer existence rather than having a lot of songs about fucking girls, though there are still one or two of those too. He pulled this off without the album sounding comparatively disingenuine. The only "downside" that's probably universal to most people that will listen to this is the fact that all of the songs are timecodes for when they appear in the album's overall runtime with the exception of "Algorhythm" and "Time". The album is better-experienced front-to-back anyway, it's just going to be harder to show people songs from the album in an attempt to get them into it and slowly form a hivemind of armed soldiers that have similar music tastes to yours. Two of my favorite bands are The GazettE and The Mars Volta (a Japanese metal band and a prog-rock band primarily led by two delightful weirdos with heavy Hispanic influence). I'm used to loving a lot of songs with titles that look like gibberish to the average American so this doesn't bother me. It's just something interesting about the album that you'll have to get used to once you realize you love it too.

spotify:album:600ClrWRsAr7jZ0qjaBLHz
https://open.spotify.com/album/600ClrWRsAr7jZ0qjaBLHz?si=24noEqEWQwODA4xyZYU7TA

Palimpsest by Protest the Hero [2020]
genre: progressive metal

Protest the Hero is one of my favorite bands ever. I have been listening to their music at least a song a week since 2011. I pre-ordered Palimpsest before the virus hit. I also ordered a shirt to match, which is something I rarely do for music releases. All of Protest the Hero's albums usually have some kind of concept or at least an overlying theme to them. Palimpsest has a particularly interesting concept because they went from telling stories about aliens, killing gods, and apocalyptic tales to American history. They're Canadian. It's a very interesting and honestly heart-wrenching portrayal of various American staples from native genocide to women's suffrage. The album ends essentially in present day, making direct jabs to the Trump administration and the people who directly supported it. They even had the balls to use his dumbass campaign slogan as the last song's chorus, making it the only song by them I turn down or completely turn off if I think people near my car can hear it because I don't want to give them the wrong idea. Although there are silly moments and such on the album, Rody Walker, the vocalist, took the concept very seriously while reciting historical stories that weren't directly his own. Honestly, a lot of the songs' stories I don't immediately recognize which might just speak for the album's timely importance. I know, that's giving a lot of credit to a fucking metal album where you can't understand half of what the fucker is saying upon first listen anyway. I genuinely feel that Rody did that good of a job with this hot potato of an album concept though. Musically, Palimpsest is probably the most straightforward and accessible album in terms of overall composition to date. The main thing that separates Palimpsest from their previous works is the consistent use of symphonic instruments. Most symphonic metal sounds cheesy but this album still feels like a metal album, just with really good orchestration mixed in. It really doesn't feel gimmicky at all. It also isn't a huge step out from their previous shit where they have had synthetic orchestral instruments used anyway. One thing that did take me a while to get used to is Rody Walker's voice on this album. His voice took a turn for the worst after they released Pacific Myth a few years prior. Upon writing this new album, Rody had to get with a professional vocal coach to make sure he was healthily up to snuff for what the band was making. You would think that this is the album where they finally take a break from Rody hitting really high notes every fucking 20 seconds but no. The shit he does on this album is even higher. There's even a song where he might as well be rapping in that register. It does sound different and a bit goofy at times but the more I listened to it, the more it honestly became kind of endearing in a way. He mostly uses it to convey a thematic dynamic anyway. He can still hit those notes in falsetto and chooses not to when it fits the song to go full head voice. That said, this album isn't going to be for everyone. I've shown it to one or two people that don't really go for all that screamy mumbo-jumbo and they actually didn't hate this so maybe that means something? It's substantially more melodic than what the average modern prog-metal album sounds like and this one doesn't usually stray too far from 4/4 or 3/4 time signatures. Have fun listening to this with your aunt. Be prepared though; they might just become more fucking metal than you. You little fucking baby.

spotify:album:6eIp2v5MyeY38ul4k0nGnS
https://open.spotify.com/album/6eIp2v5MyeY38ul4k0nGnS?si=PNm8MSd4TPSEumCoi9J_wg

Honorable mentions:

Mares Profundos by Baden Powell [1966, 2008 re-release on Spotify]
Songs From the Big Chair by Tears For Fears [1985]
Fatherland by Kele Okereke [2017]
NINTH by The GazettE [2018]
Tales by Charles Cornell [2019]