my generic recommendations for 2024
i’ve decided to post some recommendations with some words every month, just to get some stuff i like on a page. no particular theme, just things. i’ll be late to lots of stuff, but i promise to only include stuff i did that particular month. i don’t do that much media other than occasionally listen to albums, so expect some scarcity.
june through august 2024
wow, my life really got consumed by other stuff. my media consumption has honestly mostly been “stuff to relax to”... i wouldn’t have started a list this year if i’d known it would spontaneously become boring! so basically: i have much less to say than i want—certainly when it comes to music. but here’s some stuff all the same.
music
charli xcx - brat: need i say more?
lorde - solar power: underrated. i think we all could use more solar power.
anri - timely!!: city pop is not a real genre. but some of the albums that have been shared in its recent resurgence are wonderful. and this is probably my favorite.
games
mahjong soul: goddamn, riichi mahjong is absolutely fantastic. i’m just getting back into it, and trying to play in person more, and i can’t get enough.
cat in the box: just an example of literally perfect, beautiful game design. it’s not the funnest thing to play, but it is just so well designed. a game you want to rave about almost more than you want to play it.
Zachtronics solitaire: see cat in the box. except this will also consume your life if you let it.
april and may 2024
i started a new job in march and have been pretty focused on it. but i did at least start some good new games
games
animal well: an obviously excellent metroidbrainia. too many secrets for its own good. at some point i’ll write some more words about that. won’t 100% but did complete and secret hunt for a good while.
isles of sea and sky: the first few worlds were really fun. and for now, that’s all i’ve played. i hear it gets a bit worse later on.
lorelei and the laser eyes: honestly not totally my cup of tea, but fun all the same. i just wish it had slightly more puzzly puzzles.
music
couch: a relaxing funk band for stress
trousdale: a relaxing pop/folk/a cappella band for stress
march 2024
music
reality club: a band that is unapologetically, genuinely cool. very impressive live, even without the cool orchestral stuff on their latest album. fantastic vocals, lovely guitars.
toe - the book about my idle plot on a vague anxiety: more great math rock/pop.
no vacation - phasing: great ep.
games
played a few things this month that aren’t quite good enough to put here, though certainly not bad, so this will be a bit sparser.
20 small mazes: a fun half-an-hour from FLEB
balatro: just obviously excellent, and everyone and their mother is playing. i’m not a roguelite guy, but this one is fun and not intimidating
murders on the yangtze river: a great piece of historical storytelling
lok and abdec: fantastic little puzzle books. i have yet to work through abdec properly.
february 2024 (briefly funemployed so doing more!)
music
magdalena bay - mercurial world: i’ve known this album is good for a long time, but i feel like i’ve been just wanting to listen to it on repeat this month. it’s got that scooped-mid all-bass-and-twinkles sound that is addictive in a good synth pop album.
coaltar of the deepers - yukari telepath: there is too much japanese shoegaze to listen to. this is good stuff.
allie x - girl with no face: dark 80s synth pop, there was 0% chance of me disliking this album.
games
headlong hunt: another puzzle game i’m late to. it turns out that can of wormholes back form january is way too hard for me. maybe if i i didn’t already work in software it would be more fun to play in the evenings. but headlong hunt is just right, accessible and yet still with some challenge. it’s the rare sort of game i 100% (and indeed have done so). strong recommend.
magicube: speaking of games that are too hard, this one will also never get finished. but it does make me want to come back. i solved a puzzle while lying in bed, in a different room. that rarely happens to me. my complaint is that too many puzzles are about the logistics of splitting up certain blocks, rather than e.g. clever insights. i’m bad at the logistics part.
baba is you: i never finished this game, though i very frequently recommend it. i’ve always found the lack of “progression” (in that you can’t always use skills to solve the next puzzle) to make it hard for me. but i’m currently replaying, and have done the first 120 or so levels at a pretty fast pace. i’ll try to get further in this time.
ghost trick: phantom detective: a cosy mystery story game, done very well.
books
a stranger in the shogun’s city - amy stanley: interesting historical biography! a little bit too romanticised for my taste, but good reading all the same.
textbooks
computational geometry: algorithms and applications
both are interesting classics - of the two, i’d probably recommend real-time rendering over the comp geom book, because it’s more readable. the comp geom book is good, but has a lot of just nasty algorithms. i find myself wanting more code in real-time rendering, and less code in comp geom. balances are hard to strike.
january 2024 (and late december 2023)
music
elephant gym - world: this snazzy jazzy math pop album with fun drums and funner basslines is a great example of the genre (and i think a great example of what a strong roster topshelf records has). it shows how much joy you can have with some fancy drumming, an innovative bassline, even in supposedly standard time signatures. the wind/brass in their orchestral versions is the cherry on top.
the moe tour: a reminder of how good jam bands still are. even if you’re not a deadhead (which i am certainly not), you gotta check out a jam band show at some point.
games
can of wormholes: i’m almost a year late to this, but gosh it is good. to say almost anything would be to spoil it, but it’s a combination of stephen’s sausage rolls, and a snake game. it really explores the space of possibilities very well, and has an awesome hint system. big recommend.
roadwarden: very cool text-y rpg thing. beautifully written, and with great ludonarrative consonance.
films
knives out and glass onion: yes, i hadn’t seen them before. yes, they’re exactly the sort of thing i like. yes, i don’t watch many films.
books
mouth to mouth - antoine wilson: how mysteries should be written. very clever, and very subtle. it’s short and definitely doesn’t outstay its welcome. i wish i could read it again for the first time.