Thoughts: Modal Soul, and the same can honestly be said about most of Nujabes’ discography, has some of the most pleasant sounding beats in hip hop. Taking jazz rap in a warm, mellow direction, Nujabes makes excellent use of piano as the backbone of most beats, even more so than drum samples at times. Nujabes also brings in some lovely flute, smooth bass, and wonderful auxiliary percussion, amongst other things, all of which contribute to the jazz rap aesthetics. Nujabes is also amazing at giving his music a sense of three dimensional space, mixing tracks to layer sounds that fade in and out with a clear sense of positioning and location that you hear so clearly, making you feel like you’re in the middle of the song as it plays. Nujabes collaborates with some great rappers on this album as well, with introspective and mindful lyrics that suit the laidback and calm instrumentals. This album has such a calming and comforting quality to it, and is such a delightful listening experience.
Reagon Karki has recently released a new work: “Synchronicity. “
A collection of songs that blur the lines between chill-hop, trip-hop, and other immersive styles with a lo-fi flavor.
June 2023 - Reagon Karki is a guitarist and producer from Kathmandu, Nepal, and is currently based in Hamburg, Germany. He has recently announced his 3rd lo-fi EP titled “Synchronicity.” This collection of tracks stands out as a fantastic example of the artist’s creativity and vision. His sound captures some of the best chill-hop and lo-fi staples, along with the textures of trip-hop, but there is so much more to it than that. In fact, Reagon’s music is very open, as he loves to incorporate a wider range of influences into his work.
Most notably, his latest release, “Synchronicity,” unfolds over the span of seven songs; each offering a unique vibe. In his own words, the album is a journey to one’s deeper connections and self-existence. This amazing new studio work is well-produced and incredibly accomplished from the standpoint of songwriting. The album is definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys the soothing and mesmerizing vibes of contemporary chill-hop, trip-hop, and more! The cohesion of this production is quite remarkable. As a result of it, the listening experience is truly smooth and immersive, akin to a journey through sound that will take the audience someplace else. The guitar’s soothing melodies and warm tones make it an ideal instrument for crafting laid-back chill-hop beats. The songs on this album prove that there is still room for this timeless instrument in this genre, as its ability to craft soothing textures and chords is a perfect match with the vibes of the genre.
Overall, the songs on the album make for an amazing sonic journey. The track list creates a very immersive atmosphere, blending downtempo hip-hop with other ambient elements, providing just about the perfect sonic backdrop!
Find out more about Reagon Karki, and do not miss out on “Synchronicity.” This release is currently available on some of the best digital music streaming platforms on the web and beyond.
The second addition to the instrumental crate is now public! If you've got music over on Spotify that you'd like me to add to the list (or maybe an artist/song that you think should be thrown into the mix), shoot me a message and let me know!
Alright I'm here to abuse my status of having a somewhat decent following of cat appreciators to talk about this nice little browser game
Because they're in beta and usually closed, but they're opening for new players from Fri June 23rd at 18:00 to Sun June 25th at 18:00 server time (which is conveniently displayed right at the top of the page)
Someone might remember this game from the competition, because we had a competitor from there, but ANYWAY I've been playing this game since February and just want to share in case anyone else wants to check it out!!
So, meet Nestor
Nestor is a giant moose with many floating eyes who came to Earth and took not-cats (basically hyper-sentient cats that still very much act like cats) to their home world, and that's where the game starts. You create your own cat (lots of genetics options and various pronouns!) and start your own village!! There's actually some deep and we'll thought-out lore going on, still in development.
Every day there are tasks you may do: check up on Nestor for a free daily gift which might include a cat or a kitten to adopt; feed your cats to increase their stats; make kitties do some jobs like gathering, hunting, even arts and crafts! to get resources; do daily scenarios which are basically very wholesome textual kitty interactions which can go different ways depending on your choice and give you a reward or intercat relationship change (they can have different options available based on the cats personalities!!!); check mail to see if anyone's sent anything; and they're going to implement something with magic at some point because the game is still in development!!!
Some fun scenarios I got just today:
This game also has such mechanics as something like a tabletop rpg adventure you do to get rewards, decorating your village, building stuff that unlocks new jobs and perks, electing a mayor or having your cats bote for one, getting your cats to become friends, enemies, partners and having or adopting little kitties!! Also there's tons of clothes to dress your cats up in.
Like this rainbow mustache I got from Nestor on April Fool's!
A rabbit! Or a whole bunch of pigeons!!!
And there's a whole shop (in-game currency) dedicated to pride-themed clothes!
And other things. I actually probably have no idea about half the things you can do, but there's a lot of guides! The game has so much to it while being super-chill! Perfect for, say, commute, or just taking a break from stuff. Oh, and there are also seasonal events (in-game seasons are shorter than irl ones) which can give you unique stuff and collectables!
Some resources I really like for their cat puns (also each season you can get different resources):
Oh, and also there are forums and an entire extremely friendly community there! There's a thread where you can share pics of your irl cats, and a not-cat roleplay one, and lots of others! And they have very fun emotes, here's some examples:
I'm trying not to go on about it for ages, but stuff just keeps coming to mind! Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out!
Fellow writers who come up with wild and/or complicated as hell worldbuilding! Share some of your highlights!
I'll go first:
Two major systems of currency that dramatically increase and decrease in value across the continent in direct conjunction with which particular major country is closer;
Magical person-eating eels who have their own entire society underneath a particular city that never becomes relevant because they think everyone else is frustrating and terrible, who have exactly one (1) ambassador to interface with the outside world but who decided that everyone else was (still) frustrating and terrible and now works as an assassin for hire instead of doing that and just sends the occasional trade good back home with their stipend;
Pseudo-electricity that works by summoning spirits from outside of the world to come hang out in your batteries