I just turned 30.
This is not a story of a fashion epiphany, but one of a slow, if self-indulgent and expensive burn (also, of reading my comment history lol).
From November 2016 to January 2021, I have taken 566 outfit photos. These are my fave outfits of each year.
I was 25 when I first posted in FFA - Posted on 6 November 2016, this was my first ever WAYWT post, just a bit over 4 years ago. FFA has changed a lot since then, and so have I. I used to post religiously, however, I’ve been on and off over the last couple of years, which is not unlike my relationship with fashion.
In that time I have moved countries, developed a horrifying shopping habit and then dropped it, had a few different hairstyles (always messy), travelled, gained and lost weight, and now a pandemic with numerous lockdowns (yay, UK). All of this has had an impact on how I dress and how I feel towards fashion.
2016 - 2017 (26 & 27 years old)

• Started off with casual, relaxed silhouettes before gravitating towards more structured, feminine silhouettes in 2017
• Almost exclusively wore skirts and dress for the better part of a year and didn’t start wearing pants and jeans until second half of 2017
• Started off wearing more colour before going more neutral by the end of 2017
• Became more exposed to fashion via social media and increasing my consumption

2018 (27 - 28 years old)

• Style leaned towards trendy and boho during S/S, no idea what was going on during A/W (I blame this on a shopping addiction, as expanded below)
• Actively consuming fashion content daily, paying close attention to trends and was purchasing clothes on an almost weekly basis
• Went on 2 holidays that had an impact on how I view my wardrobe later on
• Changed my hair colour
• Near the end of 2018, tried to curb my excessive shopping habit (failing more than succeeding)

2019 (28 - 29 years old)

• Moved to London (as well as moving flats 4 times)
• Started re-wearing clothes more (especially during the first 6 months as I was mostly living out of a suitcase)
• Started focusing more on functionality of my wardrobe (i.e. sneakers and outerwear)
• Decreasing how much fashion content I follow

2020 (29 - 30 years old)

• Stable living situation
• Covid has actually allowed me to experiment more
• Subconsciously lost weight, so now dressing to a different(ish) body
• Style now has more retro elements
• Buying less, buying smarter and buying second-hand more (a lot of my wardrobe is at least 1 year old, was bought second-hand or as direct replacements for old items, and I can go a couple of months without wanting to buy anything)
• Completely stopped following any fashion content
• First time I feel like S/S me matches A/W me, whereas I’ve always felt disjointed across seasons in previous years

Some things remained unchanged, such as I’ve always enjoyed both short and midi lengths, I love a cinched in waist, I like playing around with texture, I obviously love a good turtleneck, my hair was almost always messy and I still enjoy Isabel Marant.
4 years doesn’t seem like a lot, but it sure looks like a lot when I see how I used to dress versus now, my mindset related to that and lessons learnt.
(If it wasn’t obvious, this is mostly tongue in cheek, and it’s very much based on myself).
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Lesson 1: You’re Very Dumb When You’re Young (But Who Isn’t?)
First of all, this happens to so many people.
I had just started my first full time job that year. Ever since I left high school I’ve always loved clothes (I even had a short-lived blog in the early 2010s), and now suddenly having more disposable income than ever that I could spend on my biggest passion (fashion, if you didn’t already realise after clicking on this post while on this subreddit), my already high consumption went positively exospheric. How much I was wearing was not in line with how much I was spending, aka a fucking excess of clothes.
It started with expanding a work wardrobe, which was innocent enough. Previously, I only went to uni a few times a week where didn’t see the same people all the time, and I worked part-time jobs requiring uniforms. Buying extra clothes was reasonable. Then I discovered how easy online shopping was, and how addictive pressing ‘checkout’ was, which then led me onto re-sell designer sites like The RealReal and Vestiaire, and suddenly previous designers I’d always dreamed of wearing were now attainable…to me?! I’m an adult, who makes money, and now I wear designer.
Looking bad, it’s not like I didn’t look good. I rate a lot of my outfits and for the time and place I consider them stylish. But looking at what I used to wear before 2020, the thing that sticks out most isn’t how nice a colour looked on me, or how well I wore a leather mini skirt. The thing that sticks out the most is how completely unsatisfied I always felt after that moment of that ‘new clothes thrill’ wore off - I always thought I could look better, which, of course, meant I needed to buy something else to make sure I did. I used to think about my next purchase immediately after buying something, like someone looking for the next hit. It sounds unhealthy because it is unhealthy.
There were so many items of clothes that I only wore for 1 season. And then there were the clothes I wore just once or twice. This snowballed for the next almost 2 years, and season after season I was virtually buying a new wardrobe because my old clothes seemed too ‘boring’ and ‘old’. The number of times I posted on the weekly Recent Purchases thread is actually appalling thinking about it. Instead of actually thinking of the versatility or functionality of clothes (can this be worn for numerous occasions/seasons? Does this go with enough of what I already own?) I was instead buying clothes in terms of creating specific looks - and if that meant buying a whole outfit, worth it (it’s not, FYI. Ever.) And the thought of re-wearing an outfit? Not a chance.
The amount I dropped on clothing I barely wore during this time is most likely the equivalent of putting down a sizeable deposit on a flat in a decent area of a major city. And when you come to that realisation years later, it will make your stomach drop.
And as another aside, get rid of this habit before you move out. It will save you a lot of stress. And it can take years to drop this habit.
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Lesson 2: Unlike What That Guy Says on Hinge, Don’t Be Spontaneous
There isn’t anything wrong with being spontaneous - Like any healthy habits, in moderation it’s not harmful. The thing is, when spontaneous is all the time there’s another way to phrase that. A Really Bad Addiction.
That’s not to say every purchase has to be thought out meticulously to an analytical degree (seriously, that would be stressful in itself) - I genuinely have had some great impulse buys. But these have either been sentimental or have made me feel so amazing in that moment as if that piece of clothing had been made only for me. A kimono-esque robe I bought on sale in Tokyo, a vintage silk midi dress that paved the way for a style that I wear years later, a leather jacket that feels as great as it looks, a sweater that’s both basic but not really, a dress I joke is my wedding dress (I’m not actually joking).
But these sort of spontaneous purchases can only exist as good buys when you otherwise think practically about what you buy. The impulse items mentioned continue to work for me because the rest of my wardrobe is thought out, versatile and thus, those impulse items can be worn again and again with the rest of my wardrobe.
A spontaneous purchase only because you have a discount code, or you need to meet a minimum order, or because it was on sale or because you feel like you have nothing else to wear or to chase a thrill will usually end up as a regret.
Continually impulse buying is just bad consumption, pure and simple.
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Lesson 3: If You Love Fashion, Don’t Work in Corporate Retail
I’m half kidding. However, there is a good chance you’ll become disillusioned with anything related to fashion the longer you work for retail companies (both on the floor and in corporate). Especially for big companies.
It started off positive - I was surrounded by clothes and by people talking about clothes. I found similar-minded people who felt the same way about fashion as I did.
I had people to discuss the things we wanted to buy, the designers and labels we loved, Paris/New York/London/Melbourne fashion shows, the sample sales coming up, outfits to gush over (consisting of new purchases, naturally). It was 9-5 of just fashion.
It was also 9-5 of tiring. Especially when I’m discussing how to make people buy more, to consume more, to waste more. Then the stress involved when deliveries miss deadlines due to awful circumstances and senior management are freaking out (a ship capsized and the crew are MIA, but where is the product?), working for companies that churn out clothes every week, for companies that stock problematic brands, for companies that thrive on shopping tourists.
And then there are those moments, like when someone senior comments that the Paris bombing will be good for the company because no one will want to shop in Paris.
You see the ugliest side to the retail industry and there are times when you truly hate fashion.
(FYI, you absolutely can have a fulfilling career in corporate retail, however, I find the people that do are the people who can separate their personal views on clothing and consumerism from their work. I couldn’t.)
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Lesson 4: Instagram is Aspiration, Not Inspiration
You are the product. Emily from London and Olivia from Melbourne might seem like your style twin and you just seem like the exact same things, but the reason they listed every brand on their aspirational outfit photo isn’t to help you out - it’s to help them out.
I was so obsessed with consuming anything fashion related on Instagram. I felt like I had to be aware of every single high street brand that existed, follow every popular British influencer (I just felt like British style was Exactly My Vibe, you know?), look like I myself would be the type of person who could post on Instagram.
Nothing I’ve bought because I saw it on an influencer I have kept. No style I modelled off someone who’s taller, skinnier, boobier, blonder than me I have retained. The only thing I got out of looking on social media for fashion inspiration were mountains of garbage bags of donations, moments of feeling shit because it didn’t look the same on me and a lean bank account (remember, I could have bought a flat by now).
Instagram is an amazing platform to express whatever you want. But don’t ever use it as a tool to copy something or someone because no good can come from that.
I look at what I wore in 2017-2018, which are the years I consider the eruption in my Fiery Spending Volcano, and I know I based my outfits on certain influencers thinking, ‘Yes, this is an outfit [insert whoever] would wear,’ or specific items I bought because I saw it on someone. The thing is, I honestly can’t remember who these people were. I genuinely don’t feel a connection to a lot of those outfits, as if it wasn’t actually me wearing it. Now I look at what I’ve worn end of 2019 to now and I know exactly who my outfits were influenced by. Me…I’m influenced by me.
I no longer have Instagram.
(And Nanny Fine will always be the only acceptable influencer.)
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Lesson 5: Labels Should Only Come From a Label Maker
Boho chic.
French girl.
LA vibes.
Timeless.
Off duty model.
It’s meaningless. Don’t box yourself in. That’s all.
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Lesson 6: Size Absolutely Does Not Matter (in This Case)
Capsule wardrobes are not for me. I need options
An entire room stuffed with clothing is also not for me. I don’t need that many options.
I used to have the mindset I had to have every kind of variation of an item. Take the white t-shirt for example - I needed a cropped white tee, a longline tee, a v-neck, a crew neck, a scoop neck, a dressy tee. Outerwear also used to be a huge problem for me. I mostly live in Australia…I don’t need that many outerwear options because I legitimately will not be able to wear all of them. Variety is nice until it becomes hoarding.
I credit travelling with helping me realise I can easily survive on a smaller wardrobe. I look at what I wore when I went to the UK/EU in 2018 and still love those outfits. I had so much fun in Japan dressing with the 17 items of clothes I packed (braids certainly helped too). Dressing just became easy and I didn’t often have that ‘I have nothing to wear’ feeling because I had purposely packed both clothing that I loved and were versatile. A smaller wardrobe has actually made me feel more creative when putting outfits together. No amount of buying new clothes will ever match the feeling of discovering a new way to wear an old thing.
Not to mention, the fact that I used to think repeating outfits was the biggest fashion crime is as fucking ridiculous as you’re thinking it sounds. If an outfit made me feel so amazing the first time I wore it, why wouldn’t I want to experience that feeling again?
Nowadays I get a lot of comments on how much I re-wear and re-use my clothes and it’s genuinely a great compliment. How much I can see myself re-wearing something is a major factor in my shopping habits. This doesn’t mean I aim to have a classic, timeless style (I personally believe no clothing is truly timeless) nor do I completely avoid trends, but I aim to have clothes that easily go multiple seasons and years. I’ve learnt to become patient with shopping and now routinely wait at least 3 weeks from the first time I see something to gauge how I really feel about it. More often than not, I don’t follow through with purchasing. This also works well for me, as by waiting I then have a chance of purchasing it second-hand, which has become something I do more and more these days beyond just shopping vintage.
Also, no one actually knows nor cares if you repeat outfits. No one is that special that people remember every outfit that person ever wore. They will probably repeat compliments though (because you definitely repeated a great outfit).
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My relationship with fashion has been messy. I’ve been obsessed, I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been ambivalent. Now, I’ve calmed down. I used to let my shopping habit define my style, whereas now I’m at a stage when it’s the reverse - It’s no longer a case of ‘I’ll make this purchase work’, but ‘this purchase needs to work for me’. I now consume less fashion news, have a smaller wardrobe, but am probably the most satisfied with the way I dress than I ever have been.
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EDIT: It appears this has resonated with a lot of people, which I'm pretty chuffed with as it's things I've increasingly been thinking about over the last year or so. I'm glad people have learnt similar lessons and that people will come to learn similar lessons. To everyone who's already made the step to being a better consumer, keep going, and to those who want to start doing so, it doesn't happen overnight and that's okay. We may not all become the perfect, cleanest consumer, but there are numerous little steps we can take to be better than we were before.

Hi there again! You might remember my previous posts, including my tournaments, lists of songs and albums, etc. I’m really enjoying my exploration of tons of new music in a huge variety of genres, and I thought I’d make a list of recommendations specifically curated for the open-minded prog fan (hopefully, those exist!).
I picked some of my favorite albums I’ve discovered within the past couple years in many different genres that would especially appeal to you guys. I’ve definitely hinted at this in previous threads, but this time, I know the material a lot better – not just recommending based on one listen and only knowing a single album in a genre.
So here’s my list of non-prog (or borderline) albums that I think any prog fan would love. Pick any genre, and I bet you’ll find something amazing there. Italicized albums are especially recommended! (Yes, many of these are VERY popular, but there’s a good chance most people haven’t heard every one of them.)
Soul
Marvin Gaye—What’s Going On: Rolling Stone actually gets it right with this at #1 overall. Prog fans will love the perfect flow between songs and the super grand arrangements. Definitely a musical essential.
Stevie Wonder—Songs in the Key of Life: I mean, these songs are all perfect. You’ll love the dense grooves, and honestly, this is the one album that I cannot fathom a single person disliking.
Tyler, the Creator—Igor: moving to 2019, here’s an album with extremely detailed and complex production that’s popular, ambitious, and fantastic.
Janelle Monae—The ArchAndroid: ok, a neo-soul concept album about a messianic android in five suites WITH OVERTURES literally called Metropolis. Should be way more popular among prog fans imo. Brilliant pop songs.
Jazz
Fela Kuti—Expensive Shit: Fela pioneered the style of Afrobeat, which mixes Nigerian music with jazz-funk. Brilliant short album with two 10ish minute songs that’ll get you grooving. Definitely read the backstory of the title track.
Pharoah Sanders—Karma: unbelievable spiritual jazz album. At this point I’m just recommending my favorite jazz albums, because you definitely should check out the genre if you like prog, especially King Crimson.
Charles Mingus—The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: the jazz masterpiece with the most complex and “proggy” composition, although it would be more accurate to say “Red” is the prog album with the most Mingus-y style.
John Coltrane—A Love Supreme: probably my favorite jazz album and certainly perfection.
The Comet Is Coming—Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery: electronic space jazz fusion from 2019, courtesy of Shabaka Hutchings. One track sounds exactly like jazz “Starship Trooper,” and other has a brilliant spoken word passage on top of a speedy sax solo.
Indie
Joanna Newsom—Ys: masterpiece of modern progressive folk, once you get used to the vocals. The string arrangements are incredibly intricate.
Stereolab—Emperor Tomato Ketchup*,* Dots and Loops: chill yet harmonically complex band that blends noise rock, bossa nova, artsy indie pop, jazzy chord progressions, and French vocals into hypnotic bliss. Both of these albums are absolutely brilliant and should be mentioned here a lot more.
Sufjan Stevens—Illinois*,* The Age of Adz, Carrie and Lowell: in my opinion the best indie artist, Sufjan takes a different approach on each album. His masterpiece, Illinois, showcases a mixture of flashy progressive pop and melancholic indie folk – go listen to it now! The Age of Adz tackles pop songwriting with electronic overload and a 25 prog pop epic at the end, Impossible Soul. Carrie and Lowell features stripped down indie folk pieces and cuts at my heartstrings. Strongly, strongly recommend his work.
Sweet Trip—Velocity: Design: Comfort: shoegaze + glitchy electronic + indie pop, a great combination. They have a new album coming out this spring.
Pop
Shiina Ringo—Kalk Samen Kuri No Hana: combines the catchiest pop hooks with the craziest instrumentation and chord progressions. I cannot get enough of this album. It’s unbelievable.
Tears for Fears—The Seeds of Love: you know this album if you’ve ever watched a Steven Wilson interview. He’s totally right about it, brilliant.
Björk—Homogenic, Vespertine: I am absolutely obsessed with Björk’s music more than anything else in the world. Both of these are desert island discs for me. Her voice is just indescribable. Please listen!
Kate Bush—Hounds of Love: you’ve probably heard this mentioned as the greatest progressive pop album, and whoever said that has a point. The first half is loaded with pop bangers, and the second contains a prog-like medley that works just as well as the one on Abbey Road.
Talk Talk—Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock: you might have seen Steven Wilson mention this 80’s experimental pop group. Super lush and ambient, yet profound. Called “post-rock” too, but I don’t like that genre title.
Sigur Ros—Agaetis Byrjun: ethereal Icelandic dream pop with gorgeous and emotive vocals from Jonsi. Absolutely one of my go-to comfort/emotional albums. Called “post-rock” too, but I don’t like that genre title (2).
“Experimental”/Metal/Post-Rock
John Zorn—Naked City: avant-garde jazz + grindcore punk makes for quite the entertaining experience. I’ve been meaning to check out “At the Mountains of Madness” too, which is apparently quite a gargantuan album.
Kayo Dot—Choirs of the Eye: I jokingly describe this album as “Avant-Garde Classical Ambient Doom Death Black Poetry Metal,” and yeah, that about sums it up. Not as heavy as the “Death Doom Black” section of that would suggest, but “The Manifold Curiosity” contains one of the most cathartic and powerful sections of music I have ever heard.
Agalloch—The Mantle: post-rock + (light) black metal + dark folk, for fans of Opeth. Despite the black metal tag, it’s not that heavy. I can actually sit through it and enjoy it, and the “worst” vocals feel almost like whispers.
Anna von Hausswolff—Dead Magic: she’s a talented organ player, but the real highlights here are her acrobatic vocals and astonishingly cathartic buildups. The 16 minute “Ugly and Vengeful” is beyond words.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor—Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven: The pinnacle of post-rock. While listening to Storm, I cannot believe humanity has created something so beautiful. And if you like 20 minute tracks, you’ve got four perfect ones here.
Alternative Rock
Radiohead—OK Computer, Kid A: Radiohead has a fair claim to the “best band of all time” label. These two diametrically opposed masterpieces both fall within my top 10 LPs ever. No music fan should miss them!
Muse—Origin of Symmetry: the more theatrical version of Radiohead can sometimes be too much for me, but several songs such as the gripping opener “New Born” always blow me away.
Mr. Bungle—California: Absolutely no idea why this isn’t considered progressive rock. The peak of crazy genre-switching intermixed with great ballads like “Retrovertigo.” Particularly, any early Haken fan that wants less Dream Theater influence needs this record (I know, specific, but it applies to me, soooooo…).
Kairon; IRSE!—Polysomn: psychedelic rock + post-rock + shoegaze with a little hint of prog. It’s euphoric, and they’re possibly my artist of the decade!
Jeff Buckley—Grace: classic singer-songwriter album with some complex chord progressions. The title track is one of my all-time favorite songs, and Buckley gives a vocal performance to die for.
Classic Rock
The Zombies—Odessey and Oracle: beautiful harmonies, would be surprised if Yes did not love this record.
The Beatles—Abbey Road: I mean, you know this already, right?
Led Zeppelin—Houses of the Holy: same here, any Zeppelin is great, but here’s the best for a prog fan.
David Bowie—Blackstar, Low: my two favorite Bowie albums might convince you if Ziggy Stardust was too in-your-face. (I love TRAFOZSATSFM, what an acronym.) Both are absolutely brilliant.
Electronic
Flying Lotus—Cosmogramma: vibrant, colorful, maximalist electronic from FlyLo. Absolutely no idea why Tangerine Dream is considered progressive electronic and this masterpiece isn’t. I guess this has more to do with jazz?
Ulver—Perdition City: a former black metal band dives into sizzling trip-hop that could score a Batman movie.
Aphex Twin—Drukqs: you want complex? You got it! How could a human program that shit?
Boards of Canada—Geogaddi: haunting, nostalgic IDM (“intelligent dance music,” possibly the snobbiest genre name this side of “progressive rock”). Perhaps the greatest study album.
Tim Hecker—Virgins: my favorite ambient record. The grandness of “Dark Side of the Moon,” but instrumental.
Hip-Hop
Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp a Butterfly: probably the greatest hip-hop album ever, I know that’s a basic opinion. The jazzy instrumentals combined with great lyrics form a very profound record. Add Thundercat on bass, Kamasi Washington on sax, and Flying Lotus handling arrangements, you’ve got a masterpiece. Best intro to hip-hop.
Digable Planets—Blowout Comb: great jazz rap album.
Madvillain—Madvillainy: MF DOOM and Madlib create brilliant music through short snippets and sample-filled verses. Spot the Gentle Giant sample – it’s actually super cool in a rap context. “Supervillain Theme” is my favorite sub 1-minute song ever, possibly.
Death Grips—The Powers That B: especially Disc 1, with its ‘chopped-and-screwed’ Björk samples. This is absolutely the closest hip-hop has gotten to being “progressive” in the prog rock sense, even as it’s obviously progressive in many other ways. Surreal, glitchy, complex, somehow catchy, and addictive. Check this out even if you tried “The Money Store” and didn’t like it – that’s how I got into them.
DJ Shadow—Endtroducing…: this record is made ENTIRELY out of samples, literally piecing together passages from thousands of other records over years to create a jazzy, psychedelic masterpiece of instrumental hip-hop. A completely new way to make music… that’s the most progressive thing.
Massive Attack—Mezzanine: instead of the “Rage Against the Machine” style of rapping over rock instrumentation, Mezzanine features lush hip-hop beats but mostly melodic pop or rock songs over the top. But where this masterpiece of trip-hop really gets going is the heavy guitar driven climaxes of “Angel,” “Dissolved Girl,” and “Group Four.” A very good entry point to hip-hop, because it’s really only halfway there.
Punk/Post-Punk/Math Rock (“Pronk”)
Talking Heads—Remain in Light: I’m not a massive fan of post-punk, but the thick, detailed grooves of the Heads always hit the spot. The first half of this album is perfect. Featuring a couple Adrian Belew solos!
Hella—Hold Your Horse Is: best math rock album, I think. Insane drumming and stellar tappy twinkly guitar playing.
Don Caballero—What Burns Never Returns: another great math rock album. You’ll get the idea of the genre from these two albums. Most math rock releases sound the same as each other, but they’re all quite good!
black midi—Schlagenheim: the next big prog (adjacent) band to watch. If you want a fresh take on 80s King Crimson, look no further. 953 is electrifying, and the frontman (Geordie Greep) is totally bonkers.
Slint—Spiderland: insanely influential 1991 album that spawned a million different genres like post-rock and math rock. The spoken word vocals and sudden time changes create an atmosphere of paranoia. Great lyrics, too.
Glenn Branca—The Ascension: very unique album, composed like a symphony but using an atonal punk aesthetic to get the point across. I’ve seen the album described as the musical equivalent of anxiety, and yeah, that’s pretty accurate. The buildups foreshadow post-rock, too.
TL;DR 10 Albums to Get You Into Non-Prog (chronological order):

1. Charles Mingus—The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Avant-Garde Jazz)
2. Marvin Gaye—What’s Going On (Soul)
3. Talking Heads—Remain in Light (Post-Punk/New Wave)
4. DJ Shadow—Endtroducing… (Instrumental Hip-Hop/Plunderphonics)
5. Björk—Homogenic (Art Pop)
6. Godspeed You! Black Emperor—Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (Experimental/Post-Rock)
7. Shiina Ringo—Kalk Samen Kuri No Hana (Experimental Art Pop)
8. Sufjan Stevens—Illinois (Symphonic Indie Pop/Indie Folk)
9. Flying Lotus—Cosmogramma (Electronic/Jazz Fusion)
10. Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp A Butterfly (Jazz Rap)

I didn’t include OK Computer, Kid A, Abbey Road, and Blackstar because I think most people would have heard those before. If you haven’t, they absolutely qualify here!
I hope you love whichever albums you try!
Edit: u/CommunistOrc had such a great comment that I'd like to copy/paste it here for you all!
Wow. Incredible list, tons of amazing albums from a diverse range of genres. For anyone who likes some of these albums, but wants more from the same artists, I'll compile a list of other, maybe less popular albums from some of the same artists that I think are just as worth checking out:
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity: This is the spiritual free jazz from Karma taken to a groovier, more experimental dimension, with two dueling bassists playing one of the best basslines of all time. It slowly escalates to the point of chaos, but is always stunningly fascinating.
John Coltrane - The Olatunji Concert: While this isn't my favorite Trane album, it's damn close, and what it lacks compared to Live in Japan's scale, it makes up for it raw aggression, and emotion. This was three months before he died, and he was suffering from liver cancer. The pain in his playing is evident, a man breathing his pain out through his saxophone, creating some of the most emotionally and spiritually intense music ever recorded. The recording quality gives it an even more raw edge, that makes this my second favorite jazz album of all time.
Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why: This album dials it back from VDC's glitchy shoegazey IDM, to a more electronic indie pop sort of zone. This album has some of the best songwriting of all time I feel, with so many bangers it should be illegal. Highly recommended for Sweet Trip fans, or for those who thought VDC was a bit much, either in length, or sound.
Mark Hollis - s/t: Mark Hollis (singer, songwriter, and frontman of Talk Talk) released one solo album, that carries on in the same vein as Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, but even more sparse, and bleak. I find this to be a wonderful listen, essential for Talk Talk fans.
Electric Masada - At The Mountains of Madness: This double CD live album from Electric Masada, led by John Zorn, is avant-garde jazz fusion, strongly influenced also by both metal and klezmer. Yeah, very wild combination of styles, and it's an equally wild listen. Comparisons to Bitches Brew are common here, and while they are certainly different sounding albums, they are similar in terms of revolutionary genre fusion, and massive scope. Recommended for fusion fans, especially those who like Bitches Brew.
GY!BE - F#A#∞: GY!BE's first album (All Lights Fucked doesn't count) is their quietest, and most interesting to me. The heavy use of samples and spoken word create an atmosphere of dreading, and the instrumentals are simply breathtaking. Like watching the immediate aftermath of an apocalyptic cataclysmic event.
Kairon; IRSE! - Ujubasajuba: Not a ton to say here, just really good shoegaze. Gnarly guitar tones, a definite must listen for any shoegaze fan, though not a good entry point to the genre (Loveless and Souvlaki are better)
Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Pinata: Madlib provides some of the best beats of his career here, rivaling his work on Madvillainy, but I tend to prefer Gibbs as a rapper to MF DOOM. Heresy, I know. DOOM is amazing at what he does, I just don't enjoy what he does a ton. Anyway, this album is one of the best hip-hop albums of the 2010s, and is required listening for any Madvillainy fan.
Glenn Branca - The Third Ascension: This takes the totalist nightmare of The Ascension and turns it up to 11. This is the soundtrack of hell being unleashed into our mortal realm. One of my friends once described this album as "Glenn Branca detonating a nuclear bomb on your head, instantly killing you," and I find that apt. The first 30 seconds of Cold Thing are some of the most intimidating, downright terrifying music I've ever heard. The kind of music that activates your fight or flight response.
Finally, this isn't related to any album on OP's list, but The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2 is my favorite album of all time, and something I think any music lover should give a go at least once. Ideally more than once, since it is a grower I think. The songwriting is stunningly beautiful, or mysteriously hypnotic, or catchy, or noisy and furious, and more. The variety on display in this indie folk / rock album is immense. The amount of ground it covers in its 20 song, hour long runtime is massive, but it never feels like too much. Furthermore, the production is immaculate, with so many layers and details that I think I've noticed something new on literally every listen. The emotional attachment I have to this album is massive, but even putting that aside, I still think it's a basically perfect album. If you only listen to one album from this comment, make it this one.
Edit 2: u/boredop made another great comment that I'd like to add in!
A few things from the jazz/funk/soul side of the universe:

• War - The World Is A Ghetto - deep funk and soul, long jams, great arrangements, classic songs. An incredible album.
• Pat Metheny and John Zorn - Tap (compositions by Zorn, all instruments except drums by Metheny). Check out the first song.
• Parliament - Mothership Connection - the ultimate funk concept album; see also Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome, and Motor Booty Affair.
• Don Ellis - At Fillmore; Live At Monterey, Electric Bath, Shock Treatment - the ultimate prog/jazz big band. Tons of odd meters, weird instrumentation, and all around experimentalism from the '60s and '70s. Surely the only band in the world that could swing in 19/4 time.
• Herbie Hancock - Thrust - the greatest jazz/funk album of all time IMO. Herbie builds layers of synth textureson top of incredible shifting funk polyrhythms.
• Buddy Rich - The Roar of '74 - another big band extravaganza. Very dense arrangments with powerhouse drumming. Highlight for prog fans: Waltz of the Mushroom Hunters.
• Curtis Mayfield - Superfly - the ultimate Blaxploitation soundtrack. Three monster hits and some great film scoring.
• Nathan Parker Smith - Not Dark Yet - a big band album from a few years ago. Quite obscure but absolutely incredible work with a huge influence from prog and metal.
• Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners - all-time classic jazz, and the title track is some of the most progressive jazz of its time or any time.
• Zion80 - Adrelmach - from the same series as the Metheny/Zorn album above. Zion80 is a band from NYC that plays "Jewish Afrobeat" music. This album is all Zorn compositions and it's a total knockout and funky as shit.
• Laura Nyro - Eli and the 13th Confession - late '60s singesongwriter masterpiece, lots of jazz and soul influences, lush orchestration and rhythms that turn on a dime.

I gotta say, I am always surprised when I meet someone who is into prog but not jazz. They seem like such obvious bedfellows to me. Jazz at its best has everything prog fans love - virtuosity, rhythmic complexity, intricate compositions, usually with the added bonus of swinging like crazy.
Thanks for reading!

As promised part two. Big thanks to u/eruwenn who amped up the drama in this chapter.
 
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The corridor had the familiar glow-moss floor and aphid cleaners, but that was where the familarities ended. The walls were like vertical gardens, made to look as natural as possible. The one opposite their door was a trickling waterfall, studded with rocks and plants. The sound of the water was soothing and Aaron could imagine sitting by it for hours.
As he walked behind Eridor, Aaron couldn’t help but feel like a child being brought to the headmaster. The size difference amplified that, and he could only imagine how the others — at least a third smaller than him – felt. He looked around as they walked, passing by the regular gardeners with their four legs as well as many Commanders, but none were as impressive as Eridor. They also passed by other types of Gardeners. Some were smaller with proportionally larger heads, while others were bigger and seemed to have heavier carapaces. Aaron speculated that they were specialised, like the workers and commanders.
As they passed by, the translators picked up on scents and pheromones from those they passed. Most were curious, a few were even shocked by their appearance. A thought occurred to Aaron. “How come only Eridor has a cape?”
The large guard stopped in his tracks. Aaron suddenly remembered that the translator worked both ways and gave a weak smile as Eridor turned to face him. “It is not a cape, it is a ceremonial shroud. If the Queen should die, it will be used to cover her body.”
This was the most complete and articulate sentence any of them had heard from a Gardener and after a moment of surprised silence the human replied, “It’s a nice death shroud.”
The large Gardener took the cloth between two gold tipped claws, inspecting it slowly. “I like the colour.” He turned and continued escorting them down the vast corridor.
Tsy’Lo flashed their annoyance at Aaron and he shrugged and ignored their concern. Ahead of them was a huge set of doors, either side of which stood gold-tipped Commanders. “The Royal Guard. This is it.” Aaron said.
They stopped before the doors and the guards took paddles from the wall behind them and stepped forward. Eridor bowed his head. “You must be scanned, for the safety of the Queen and the Council.”
Aaron saw two of the smaller Gardeners with the large heads. “Those Big Brains the council?”
There was a hum from Tsy’Lo, and Bert shot him an angry look. Eridor, however, simply bowed his head once more. “Yes. The Council guide us.”
As the guard passed the paddle over Aaron he could feel the scan. He didn’t know if this was how it usually worked or if it was some sort of nanite interaction. “Tickles.”
The guard pointed at the box. “What is this?”
“A gift.” Aaron presented the box. “For the Queen. You know, a token of friendship from my people to yours.”
The guard looked to his Captain. Eridor stepped forward and opened his hand. “A fine gesture, but I must inspect it.”
The human smiled and lightly tossed the box up and into the waiting hand. “It isn’t locked.” The large gardener gently opened it and peered inside. Aaron recognised the head tilt of confusion and beat the translator with an explanation. “I didn’t know what to get a member of your species, and my resources were limited.”
Taking the paddle from his subordinate, Eridor probed the box and its contents. “It is harmless; you may proceed.” He carefully returned the box and Aaron gave a swift bow of his head, copying the Gardener’s action from earlier.
The doors swung open and the group moved forward. Beyond was not another corridor or some vast stately room; it was one of the indoor gardens, only this one was infinitely more impressive. This wasn’t some communal area for a crew to unwind, this was the Royal Garden.
There were a myriad of plants of all sizes, shapes and colours, flowing in what at first glance seemed to be a gloriously picturesque landscape. It was clearly a carefully manicured and crafted scene, but the effect was no less stunning. They followed Eridor onwards, between scented flowers that had brightly coloured insects flitting between them. They then passed through a grove of salmon pink trees, the branches hanging low enough for Eridor’s head to brush them and send pink leaves floating down behind.
Aaron saw some of the blue aphids amongst the tree branches and instinctively reached for his pocket. He realized he had no rations to share, and returned his attention to their escort. Deciding that nobody had explicitly told him to walk behind everyone he took a few faster steps and began walking alongside the Captain. “This place is amazing. I should get you to fix up my ship, the best we did was some grass and a pond in the hold.”
Slightly surprised by his guest appearing by his side, Eridor looked back to make sure the others were still where they should be. “Ah… was it a nice pond?”
With a broad smile Aaron decided to brag a little. “Big enough for a Leokas, and that’s in a ship that would fit in here a hundred times over. We used long grass so he cou-”
Bert caught hold of Aaron’s jacket and pulled him back to walk beside them. “Not the time,” he snapped.
Tsy’Lo twinkled with amusement as the human fell in line with them once more. The trees parted and a large open amphitheatre sat amongst a rainbow field of grass half as tall as Aaron. “Do you think they have a snack bar?”
“Hush!” Bert scolded.
“What?” Aaron laughed. “I haven’t eaten yet!”
The Procyon growled out his words. “Why would you not eat?”
The human gestured at the Amphitheatre. “We’re meeting a Queen, I figured there would be a feast or something. At least some vol-au-vents and cucumber sandwiches.”
Bert stuffed his fist in his mouth and bit down. “Get your stupid jokes out now, but do not dare to insult the Queen. Know your place, last human.”
“First.” Aaron fired back. “Why does everyone forget that?”
They ascended a short flight of stairs and were seated at one side of the vast stage looking out at their audience. Rows of Big Brains circled them, climbing higher up the gently sloping hill. Eridor moved to stand behind them. “Please be silent as we wait for the Queen.”
Aaron looked around the room, Royal Guards stood at the end of every row of seats, with more placed around the edges of the stage and the exits. He looked up at the fake blue sky above, and out towards the pink treetops they had just walked through. A feeling of calm came over him, his need to talk fading with his nerves. He’d chosen his path, now he must walk it. He turned to Tsy’Lo, who was currently a deep jade hue with small puffs of white. Pink and white replaced the green as Aaron touched their sleeve. “You still trust me?”
The Tricinic hadn’t been told the plan, their visible colours making secrecy difficult. Instead they had placed their faith in the human. At the time, this had seemed reasonable. When the possibility of death had been raised they had tried to be brave, but reality was much harder to bluff. “Absolutely.”
The human could see the slivers of doubt creeping in. “Liar.” He smiled, and the slivers faded away. “You’re a good friend, Tsy’Lo. I can’t wait for you to meet the others.”
The sky abruptly turned to a rich orange sunset and the amphitheatre lights grew brighter, giving the stage a commanding presence over the audience. Aaron already found himself liking the Queen’s style. He had been told what to expect; the Queen would open with a song of greeting. This had been surprising, but the Gardeners had some appreciation for music. He had been told it was a great honour to hear her perform in person. After that he would be presented, and finally, they would all find out why he had been brought here.
Music began to filter through to them, and it had a strong catchy beat. Eridor, and the other guards, snapped to attention as the back of the stage began to rotate to reveal a huge door wreathed in flowers. A glittering rainbow of winged insects began to spill forth from the myriad blooms as smoke flowed across the floor of the stage. Shafts of coloured light began to dance around in the growing haze, and Aaron sat up in his seat. “This is going to be good, I can tell.”
Realising that the smoke was scented, the human ambassador held out his translator. It took a moment and then spat out. “Her Royal Eminence, the Exalted Majesty, Queen B’Yaunsay.” The Captain of the Royal Guard slammed the haft of his spear down with a thunderous bang. The music rose, and the show began.
The Queen stepped onto the stage just as the music hit its peak and the song truly began. There were no words, as the Gardeners used none; this was emotion as sound. Powerful and resonant, the song needed no translating. It made you feel welcome and joy. The high tempo had Aaron's feet tapping and his head bobbing. As the Queen walked across the stage her rose gold carapace caught the light spectacularly. The human noticed she was smaller than the commanders, with four legs, just like the workers. She was more slender than the other Gardeners, aside from her impressive metasoma which swayed as she walked.
The swirling lights, deep aromas and impactful song carried Aaron away from the moment and when it finally ended it took him a second to snap back to the present. “That was brilliant!”
He looked at his companions. Tsy’Lo was motionless, the colours within pulsing to the rhythm of the song. Bert shook his head and looked up to Aaron. “Looks like you’re up.”
The human’s attention snapped back to the Queen, who was looking directly at him. He stood and, not exactly knowing what was expected, bowed. From behind the translator picked up the Captain. “Step forward, and be recognised.”
The trio moved forward as one, only as they approached the imposing figure of the Queen did Aaron feel the others falling back to stand behind him. Clutching the translation device like a talisman he bowed once more. “I am Ambassador Aaron Cooper, of Earth and the Free Colonies.”
The Queen tilted her head side to side before peering in closer. Nothing came from the translator as she seemed to be inspecting him with great interest. She stepped closer, her myriad of eyes scanning him as her antennae flitted back and forth. Growing nervous, Bert gave Aaron a nudge. “Give her the gift!” he whispered hurriedly.
“Oh, right.” Aaron took the box from under his arm, opening it carefully. “I made you a gift, something all Queens on my world have.” He held up a sparkling gold crown. “I realise now that I should have measured your Majesty’s head first.” The Queen was staring at the device, her head once again tilting to give both sets of eyes a good look. “Err… it goes on your head.” Aaron turned to Tsy’Lo and placed the crown on their head. “Like this, see?” He tried to remove the crown again. “Oh shit. It’s stuck.”
Tsy’Lo reached up to their head and the crown was most definitely stuck fast. “Oh, no. Fix this, Aaron!”
The human gave a few half-hearted pulls on the crown. “It’s stuck. We’ll get some lube and give it a tug after the ceremony.” He nodded to Bert. ”We don’t want to interrupt things further.”
The Procyon nodded. “Quite right.”
Turning back to face the Queen, Aaron drew himself up to his full height, which was about two thirds of hers. “Well, you got me here, and we have a fancy new translator” —he held up the device– “so let’s get this show started. I will hear you out, then you will return me back to my crew.” He felt Bert grabbing at the back of his jacket. He pulled away, and his demeanour shifted. His voice grew louder and more aggressive. “If you don’t, I swear to whatever gods or demons you worship that I will kill every last one of you!”
Bert grabbed him and spun him around. “What are you doing?”
Aaron saw the Royal Guard leap from his position and charge towards them with his spear, and he pushed Bert to the ground. “By the Power of Grayskull!” With the palm of his hand he pushed the blade of the spear to one side, easily catching the shaft and using it to lift the Captain into the air. One flick of the weapon, and the Captain was hurled across the stage. “I’m going all in Bert! Win or lose, life or death!” He pulled a device from his pocket and depressed the button on the top. “This is called a dead man’s trigger. If I let go, we’re all dead!”
The Queen stood her ground. Bert was climbing back to his feet as he yelled, “You have no weapons, we scanned everything.”
The human lowered his head. “Yeah, but you forgot something.” He turned and looked to Tsy’Lo. “Tricinics were used as a power source, similar to the Hoban crystals. And I know that Hoban crystals go boom real fucking easy. The crown is a detonation device, and this is the control.”
Tsy’Lo took a step back, reaching up to the crown on their head. “You made me the bomb?!” All colour drained from them and they slumped to the ground.
Pain stabbed at Aaron’s chest. “It was the only way.”
Bert fell to his knees as well. “Last human, this is a war crime of the highest magnitude. Hoban crystals are a fraction of the size of a Tricinic. You will destroy this ship, and everyone on board! Including yourself! Is this how your species ends?”
“You don’t understand!” Aaron snarled back. “Sassie is waiting for me! She saved my life, she is my only connection to my home. I told you, I would do anything to return to her. And for the last time, I’m the first human!”
There was a soft lilting noise from behind him. As the translator parsed the sound, it turned out to be laughter. “You are the second human, and you do not disappoint.”
Aaron almost let go of the trigger in surprise, turning to face the Queen. “What did you say?”
The Queen stepped closer to Aaron, her head lowering to hover before him. “Watch.” She extended her arm and his gaze followed.
In front of the stage a large hologram appeared, showing a badly damaged ship at the centre. As atmosphere vented and lights flickered, a second ship appeared. This larger one was still firing weapons at the fleeing vessel. Then came a flash of light.
A tiny speck appeared, twisting and turning through space and leaving a trail of glowing particles. After a moment, two panels appeared. One showed a uniformed Procyon, while the second showed a helmet with a tinted visor.
The Procyon spoke. “Small, unidentified craft. Flee! The Imperium are attacking, you must get yourself to safety!”
The helmet was pulled clear. “Holy shit, a talking trash panda!”
Aaron stumbled forward. “That’s.. She’s…. American!”
The Procyon officer looked confused, then began waving his hands in order to try and make the strange alien understand. “Flee! Escape! Death is coming!”
Regaining her composure as best as she could the blonde woman on the screen began looking around her at her instruments. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. I am Captain Rogers, test pilot of Ranger 3. I represent the United Sol Defence Force.” As more readings came up on her screen she looked concerned. “And this sure as shit ain’t Alpha Centauri. Fuck!”
A blast rocked the fleeing ship and the Procyon began showing images on the screen in an attempt to communicate. "Please understand me and run!"
One of the images that flashed by was that of the large on-board nursery, and immediately upon seeing it Captain Rogers seemed to wrestle with a decision. "I'll buy you critters some time, get those kids out of there!”
The communication screen cut out and the small ship hung in the distance as the battle continued, blasts striking the Procyon’s ship. Suddenly, Ranger 3 sprang forth, the glowing trail left in its wake spiralling and dissipating. The attackers ignored the speck as it sped towards them, taking a position between the much larger vessels.
Something jettisoned from Ranger 3 before it began to race away, the trail of particles no longer following. There were a few tense moments of nothing that stretched into eternity for Aaron, before the explosion struck the front of the pursuing craft. It was massive, the mere shockwave sending Ranger 3 tumbling erratically. The detonation seemed to set off a chain reaction through the Imperium ship as a string of explosions tore along its side.
Aaron’s mouth was dry, his knees weak. “Did she make it?”
The Queen gestured once again. “Yes, though her craft was all but destroyed. This was recorded shortly after.”
The battle faded and the image of a screen appeared. Captain Rogers was recording herself, and behind her was a row of the blue pods Aaron knew so well. The uniformed Procyon was visible over her shoulder. She smiled at the camera and Aaron felt a deep longing for another human’s company. As looked into the camera, the dark circles below her eyes could be seen, as well as the pallor of her skin. “Well, the mission was a partial success. The experimental drive worked, but I have no idea where I ended up. And, hey, I made first contact with a raccoon and a bunch of huge stink-bugs.”
The Procyon tugged at her sleeve. “Please, you must return to the healing pod, you are very sick.”
She patted him on the head with a smile. “They keep putting me in these damned blue things; I think they’re trying to save me.” She gave a small laugh as the Procyon continued his efforts. “Can’t understand a damn word he says, though. And he doesn’t understand me either. Still, he’s easier to follow than the stink-bugs.” She took a deep, calming breath. “When I jerry-rigged the new drive I got a mighty big dose of radiation. The blast fried my ship and almost everything on board. I don’t have long, according to my survival kit, but the little fella keeps tryin’.”
Her short companion was holding a datapad showing vital signs and continued to tug her towards the pod. “Please, we must try again. Please.”
Brushing her blonde hair from her face she flashed a smile full of charm at the camera once more. “This is Captain Carol Rogers of the U.S.D.F.” She saluted. “Looks like I lived up to my nickname. I’ll put everything in my final report, hope you get to read it some day.”
As the woman on the screen shut off the recording Aaron swallowed hard. Failing to hide the desperation in his voice, he asked, “Radiation? The pods fix that, right?”
Tsy’Lo, whose colours were weakly returning to pink and white swirls, stood beside Aaron. “They do, now. But this was taken a long time ago.”
The human’s mouth was like a desert, and his throat felt like someone was trying to choke him. His voice wavered. ”When was this?”
Bert now moved to stand beside him, reaching up to place his hand on the human’s back. “The Imperium War was hundreds of Celes ago. They almost had us.” He looked to the Queen.
She bowed her head. “This was before we had the breeding pods. The last Brood-Queen was on board that ship, and she was our only hope for future generations. Her escape bought us the time we needed. A human bought us that time. Captain Rogers is a most revered hero. Lost and alone, she sacrificed herself for us. She will never be forgotten.”
Tears ran down Aaron’s face. He couldn’t talk. The hope that had sprang forth was now crushing his soul as it crumbled within him. He turned to face the Queen. Comforting scents swamped his senses as she moved closer. “This was her final recording.”
Captain Rogers was laying on grass by a pool of water fed by a trickling stream. At her side was her helmet. Colourful insects buzzed nearby, and several aphids were nestled contentedly in her lap. Flowers had been laid all around her, and a Gardener came into view, kneeling down to add to the blossoms.
Her skin was now deathly pale, and taut as a drum. Her eyes were sunken and her once-golden hair lay flat and dull, but her smile still shone brightly as she reached down to pet an aphid. “I used to catch lightning bugs back home and bring them home in a jar to show my Mama. She hated bugs.” She sighed and lay her head back. “Can you believe they have a garden on board their ship? It’s beautiful.”
She began coughing, and the camera was placed on the ground. A Procyon ran out from behind it to administer a spray to the weakening woman. She shooed him back to his duty as cameraman.
As she fell back into frame her lips were now stained with blood. “They have done everything they can, as you can see. They are good folk.” Another Gardener knelt and laid flowers by her side. “I still don’t understand a damn thing they’re saying. ‘Course, I couldn’t even pick up French after two years at the advanced flight academy in Paris.” She stopped again, her breathing becoming laboured, and even through the recording she seemed so frail. She placed her hand on her helmet, lifting it with difficulty to show the camera. “I’ve recorded messages for everyone and put them in here. I think they understand. I hope you get them, someday.”
On the side of the helmet was painted a large dollar bill and she touched it tenderly with a shaking hand. “I’m so very sorry, Mama. I didn’t keep my promise.” She began to cough again, and this time it took her much longer to regain her composure. More flowers were laid by her side as she nodded her thanks. “I wanted to say goodbye, show you I was at peace. There’s no pain. I’m just so very tired.”
The flower laying procession seemed to be unending and the camera finally turned to show the vast crowd, each Gardener waiting their turn to honour their saviour. As it turned back to the resting human her eyes were closed. Her chest had ceased to move. She was dead. A great wail of sorrow went up from the crowd as the scent of sadness spread through them.
Aaron stood motionless as the recording ended, shocked to his very core and overwhelmed with empathy and grief for another like him, so far from home. The Queen waved to an attendant who brought forward a small tray. Standing there in front of the very helmet he had just seen in the hologram presentation, Aaron was struck with an almost desperate loneliness. His free hand reached out instinctively, fingers tracing the name and call sign written across the front of the helmet.
The Queen placed her large clawed hand on his shoulder. “The Federation have entered our space. The Imperium are massing on our border. We can not win. And yet, in our darkest hour you appear. A human. Is it coincidence? Or is this the will of the Mother?”
Finally, Aaron found his voice. “What do you expect me to do? I’m just one man.”
Bert patted his back. “She was just one woman. And, you already have us in the palm of your hand. Literally.”
Aaron looked at the trigger clenched in his fist. “Sorry. This is all too much for me.”
Tsy’Lo punched him in the side. “Do it for Sassie.”
Determination flared in Aaron’s eyes. “And for Captain Carol Buck Rogers. She needs me to deliver a message home.”
 
Next

Standard not today, but 4 yrs ago.
So when my wife and i first started dating (7yrs now) she was fairly naive to the world. She grew up in a strict southern Baptist environment and was never allowed to date, watch certain things, etc. etc.
She moved out of her parent's house in 2013 at 21yrs old. I met her 7 yrs ago on oct. 28th. We started talking and messaging each other things fairly quickly and getting frisky.
Now I've never done this with anyone else, but because she was very innocent to various pop culture references i decided to give it a try. During one of our early make out sessions... without knowing a lick of french aside from Dexter's Labratory (yes my dear reader we are going there.) I proceded to whisper the phrase "omelette du fromage" into her ear... this turned her on immensely.
So for 3 solid years this went on until I F'd Up and told her what the phrase meant... ever since then i've regretted telling her (and she never thought to look it up) because i always got a kick out of it.
omelette du fromage = cheese omelette
Married for 6 years this past June so i did something right!
TL:DR - For 3 solid years my girlfriend and then wife got weak in the knees to me whispering cheese omelette into her ear because she had no clue what "omelette du fromage" actually meant.
---------------------------------edit-line----------------------------------------
Edit: forgot to add that she in fact HATES cheese.
Edit2: Thanks for all the laughs and first awards lol. My wife and i are both laughing because we've held off on posting this, but it's a hilarious story.
Edit3: I've only seen a few (2-3) nay sayers. I can fully assure you that this is infact true. It's still hilarious to this day that i managed to go for so long and give her the feels by using a cheesy line ;)... did i mention we have 2 kids? So dad joke included at no extra charge.
Edit4: I am aware it's not actually omelette du fromage. However it's parodied from Dexter's Laboratory as i have stated above. I implore you to google or youtube omelette du fromage, and you will be enlightened.
Edit5: elvisharchercrafts is indeed my wife. Prior to today she has never been on reddit.

• she did not create her profile to drum up business, we are both horrible at naming so she just used her business page.
• I do own a business myself, but i believe it would go against TOS to go into detail on that despite the fact that I'd love to drum up business.
• If it is against tos I'll delete because ive had a couple people ask. --- I do credit card processing and 100% elimnate fees for the merchant privately owned and large to keep them afloat, especially these days.

Elvisharcher and myself did not anticipate the huge interest of this story. It's been fun! Sadly i don't think i have many other funny stories that come to mind. I'm glad it brought a smile to quite a few of y'all!

What with the current fascination with sea shanties and sea songs, I figured that some folks might be interested in trying out the musical instruments of Western sailors of the 1800s and early 1900s. While a classic shanty tended to be sung just with vocals, sailors played a variety of musical instruments popular in their eras, and in the Folk Revivals of the mid 1900s, lots of musicians did fine work adding instrumentation to the old tunes.
Maybe you’re an experienced musician looking to try a new sound after discovering sea songs, or maybe you’ve never played a note and hearing these great old tunes has inspired you to learn. In whatever case, in this little write-up I’m going to lay out some of the traditional instruments of the era which were favored by sailors, and explain for each how affordable and easy to learn they can be, and link you in some examples to listen to and places to learn more about each instrument.
I’m not a PhD musicologist, but I do have a lot of research background, been playing traditional music for over 30 years, and have a general handle on the scene and the era. And I have for over a decade done little projects online to encourage people to push their boundaries and break away from the mainstream by trying musical instruments beyond the most common ones. Being entranced by a new genre of music is a fine time to further expand your horizons by taking up an instrument and making music yourself.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WINDS * Tinwhistle * Flute (and piccolo and fife) * Trumpet
STRINGS * Guitar * Banjo (and banjo ukulele) * Fiddle * Mandolin * Ukulele
FREE REEDS * Harmonica * Concertina * Melodeon/Button Accordion * (Toy Accordion/Melodeon)
PERCUSSION * Drums * (Bodhrán)
NOT TRADITIONAL SAILOR INSTRUMENTS, BUT WOULD SOUND AWESOME WITH SHANTIES * Appalachian/Mountain dulcimer * Udu or Ibo drum * Bagpipe * Electronic Instruments
I will note before we begin, especially in the budget category, there are some real bargains but plenty of junk, so please use this article as a starting point, but read up a little on best buys. Don’t just say “oh, I dig Irish flute, and I see a new one on eBay for $50, sounds like a bargain!” and buy it without doing a little research, or you’ll get stuck wasting time and money on unplayable junk. All the more so for used instruments, which can offer great savings, but you really want to buy from a reputable dealer or a musician, or have an ironclad strategy for DIY repair, lest you get something too out of whack to learn on and too pricey to repair. Plenty of bargains, just don’t get impulsive, do just a little research before each purchase and you’ll be glad you did. There are online communities full of geeks like me for each of these instruments, who'd be happy to chat with you about choosing a good one for your money, and how you can best learn to play.
We’re looking largely at the instruments of seafaring European (and diaspora) folk of the 1800s and early 1900s, which you can note largely resembled the instruments of the working class on land, farmers and city laborers, just with an eye towards durability and portability at sea. Fortunately, many of these instruments are relatively affordable, intuitive to learn (they had to be, to catch on with a largely illiterate population that just wanted to get to playing music without fuss), and often rugged and compact for travel. I realized after I finished this article that all these instruments can be learned by ear and video without formal written study, and (with the exception of fiddle) beginner tutorials for them are written in “tablature” (numbers that say where your fingers go) rather than sheet music, making them even easier to learn for total novices.
WINDS
Wind instruments had the huge advantage of being relatively compact, simple, and affordable, and some of them had a dual purpose for signaling or for military music, or just being heard above the noise of work and waves to keep a rhythm for work or dancing.
Tinwhistle
A tinwhistle is a small metal pipe with six finger-holes, and a whistle-like mouthpiece that directs the breath onto a sharp edge that produces the note. Like a referee’s whistle but with control of the notes.
The great thing about tinwhistle is you can get a totally serviceable instrument for literally $9 or so; they’re just that cheap to make. There are professional Irish musicians who spend decades playing $9 whistles (often doing a little fine-tuning on their own to smooth them out), so they’re by no means just toys. Even if you aren’t in a hurry to learn, honestly at that price you might as well pick one up next time you’re shopping online, and give it a whirl. An instrument you could own for life for the price of a decent 6-pack. The subreddit tinwhistle can provide advice and resources, and off-Reddit there’s the specialized Chiff and Fipple Forum.
If you buy a tinwhistle as a beginner, absolutely get one in the Key of D (the most common key), because 99% of teaching materials are for D, the common key for Irish music. (You'll notice an Irish crossover trend in much of this advice). There are some tutorials for shanties online, but honestly best bet would be to use some of the tutorials for Irish tunes just to learn the basics, and then you’ll swiftly be able to transition to learning other genres by ear.
"Drunken Sailor" tinwhistle duet with concertina
Flute (including piccolo and fife)
The flute is of course a tube where you blow across a hole to make a note. Most of us have seen the classical flute in videos, silver with all those fancy mechanical keys, but the flutes of the 1800s were largely wooden and had few or no keys, just open finger-holes like the tinwhistle. In the modern day, such “simple flutes” are largely associated with folk music, especially Irish, so there are plenty on the market, including affordable ones made of synthetic materials or metals. Just don't be seduced by import "rosewood" cheapies, they're junk, one made of PVC pipe by an actual musician would be a better buy than those wall-hangers.
I made a post on Chiff and Fipple asking about affordable flutes and fifes, and got some good options under $50 for some really simple plastic tube instruments of decent make, and some finer Irish flutes turned from synthetics around $250. Flutes come in a variety of sizes, but like tinwhistles the easiest way to learn is using Irish music tutorials and then adding nautical repertoire once you have the basics down, so again probably get Key of D.
You can get a Low D flute about 2 feet long, or a High D flute (known as a fife or piccolo, or band flute) an octave above, the same rough size and pitch as a tinwhistle, just different method of blowing. The Low D instruments are pretty similar to each other, but for High D ("fife/piccolo/band flute") note some are "true fifes" made to play best at very high pitches for fife and drum music, others are meant to play smoothly at their lowest register, identical in range to a tinwhistle. So mind that distinction and ask the experts if you aren't sure which model suits your vision.
Dixon Irish flute duet with cittern (large mandolin cousin)
Modern high-quality Irish keyless piccolo
Trumpet
In my poring over old engravings and photographs, I was struck by how many showed sailors playing various trumpet-type instruments in the late 1800s, which kind of makes sense given the cultural crossover with military Naval traditions, and the volume of a trumpet which helps cut through wind and noise for signaling or dance music. I’m sure there are a zillion good write-ups on buying a basic trumpet (from $100-300), so I’ll leave you go google those or visit Trumpet.
But personally reading up for this article got even me thinking about trying my hand at a little brass. I'm honestly torn between getting one of the novel plastic "brass" instruments made for learners like pTrumpet or jHorn (around $100) because I like innovative design, or carefully buying an okay-quality used brass instrument (after consulting experts) for similar price. But I bet a whaler would've loved a plastic one if they'd been available in 1863.
"Wellerman" on trumpet
STRINGS
Guitar
In my survey of period imagery, I did indeed find some images of men at sea playing guitar, but do bear in mind that guitar in the 1800s and early 1900s was nowhere near as omnipresent as it is today, and in different forms. Plenty of other instruments were far more popular, up until the mid-1900s where guitar really became a go-to choice in the West. Note too that steel strings on guitars, as well as larger body sizes, didn’t show up much until the early 1900s, so for much of this period those who played guitar played smaller body instruments, with gut strings (nowadays nylon strings sound almost like gut but are massively more durable and affordable).
That said, tons of musicians in the Folk Revivals of the 1900s played a modern large guitar with steel strings and sounded great, so it really depends what tradition and sound you want to imitate. Again there are thousands of write-ups on taking up guitar, and plethora of new and used models, steel strings or nylon, all sizes, so I’ll leave that to you to Google or hit up LearnGuitar.
But I would encourage you to keep an open mind to guitar types to get a little more unusual flair in your musical stylings, break away from the crowd a bit. If you’re an experienced strings player, if you want to get that droning and modal sound you hear in shanties, try tuning your current guitar to the Drop D or DADGAD tunings (see DADGAD), also popular in Irish music, and I think you’ll like your results.
And if you’re a novice considering starting on guitar, I’m one of those people who believes that 2 months on a $50 ukulele and then four months on a guitar gets you further ahead than 6 months on a guitar alone, because uke is just so much more accessible for the total beginner. (Plus you’ll end up having a spare uke to carry where your guitar is inconvenient and left at home.) So if you’re considering guitar, check ukulele and ponder whether a uke of some sort could be an affordable and easy initial stage to launch your studies.
Irish jig on guitar in DADGAD tuning
"Drunken Sailor" on nylon-strung guitar
Banjo
The banjo is an instrument developed by American enslaved people, inspired by related instruments they’d known in Africa. By the mid 1800s, the banjo had crossed demographic lines and become hugely popular with European-Americans and spread to other countries, far more popular than the guitar was at the time. It was the go-to plucked string instrument for much of the 1800s.
If you’re looking to take up banjo, know that the banjos of this period had a different sound and playing style than the modern bluegrass instrument, so set aside your stereotypes and listen to some recordings of “Old Time” banjo rather than the bluegrass and country licks you’re used to hearing in soundtracks. These banjos were less piercing, mellower, and a more languid style. And much like on guitars, steel strings were less common, gut being typical and having a much softer sound (today we have nylon options). So when you go reading up “how to choose a banjo” articles or visiting Banjo (or BanjoHangout.com), look for an “open back” banjo rather than one with the heavy metal ring around the head (“resonator”) which makes it louder and sharper for bluegrass.
If you want to get really traditional, and sound softer and be easier on your fingers, spend $9 to get nylon (imitating gut) strings for a much less cliché and smoother sound. (Just note nylon strings stretch like crazy for a few days until they break in and stabilize, be patient.) Speaking of sound, absolutely don’t fall into trying to learn the modern “three-finger” or “Scruggs” style of play, which is a post-WWII styling, but read up on the old “clawhammer” or “frailing” style of play, which sounds entirely different and may pleasantly surprise you if you thought you don’t like banjo.
"Wellerman" on 5-string banjo, played clawhammer style
Nylon strings on a fretless banjo, just to show a very different sound
I will briefly mention some banjo variants other than the 5-string type we’re mostly familiar with. There is also the “tenor banjo” which has four strings, lacking that shortened fifth string off to the side on the currently popular banjos. A tenor banjo is tuned differently: depending on what strings you’re using (and you can swap the strings out for about $10) it’s tuned either like a violin/mandolin, or like a guitaukulele, so those skills cross over well, and is slightly shorter than the common 5-string.
Three Irish reels on a tenor banjo
And if you want a banjo that to one degree isn’t as historically associated with sailors, but to the other is actually surprisingly similar to the smaller and mellower banjos of the early 1800s, there’s the “banjo ukulele” hybrid which is quite affordable and easy to learn.
Frankly, if this is your first instrument and you want banjo, I’d get a banjo ukulele first rather than a 5-string, because they’re just so affordable (decent ones start around $100 new) and handy and easy to learn, and very mellow, not like the cliché sound you’d expect. And though they lack the fifth string, in the last decade or so a ton of YouTube uke experts have been developing the “clawhammer ukulele” style of play. It works impressively well on ukulele or banjo ukulele (which are played the exact same way, same online tutorials apply, they just have a different body and thus sound).
"Leave Her Johnny, Leave Her" on banjo ukulele, clawhammer style
Fiddle
The “fiddle” is physically basically the same as a violin, just played in a folk rather than classical style. There are probably millions of violins bouncing around the world, including plenty of used deals, but you really want to read up on how to find a good deal on a new or used one, because violins are a little finicky. I would also say that unless you’re extremely motivated or getting a Zoom teacher, I wouldn’t advise fiddle as your very first instrument. Because they lack frets and learning to use a bow is its own distinct skill, they have a bit of a steep initial learning curve. So you maybe want to learn a little ukulele or mandolin (which has the same fingering as fiddle) before jumping in. But that said, if you just love fiddle and are ambitious, or already have a little strings background, by all means dive on in. Learn it in standard tuning, but once you get the basics down, try "open tunings" for shanties and the like. Hit up Fiddle for advice.
The fiddle was a hugely popular instrument from the 1700s up to the mid-1900s before falling off sharply heading into the rock ‘n’ roll era. With fiddle you can cover a huge variety of historical musical traditions.
"Blow Boys Blow" on fiddle, while singing (something you don’t see classical violinists do)
Mandolin
This originally Italian instrument took on a wider popularity in the Western world around the late 1800s and early 1900s, again being more popular than guitar in many areas during that period. A mandolin has the chording ability of the guitar but the melodic dexterity of a fiddle, is nice and compact especially compared to a large modern guitar, and can be bought in a passable starter model as low as ~$99. Though if you can stretch to a budget of more like $300, you’ll really appreciate the improvement.
Plenty of used ones floating around, though buy those from a musician or reputable dealer, not from randos on eBay with something they pulled out of a closet from ages ago. Mandolins are under very high tension, and older ones that are low quality or mistreated can be warped or cracked in ways a novice can’t easily notice, but that make them unsuitable to be played. Don't jump on the first "bargain" you see, mando is common enough that you'll see bargains every other day, don't get impulsive, get advice from mandolin players online.
I will note that although mandolin had a narrower time and place of popularity than banjo or especially fiddle, it closely resembles even earlier instruments like the “English guitar”, “cittern” and “Portuguese guitar” that were more widespread, so can serve as a partial stand-in for a number of centuries and locales. Plenty of good information at mandolin awaits you if you want to take up mando.
Beginner mandolins are pretty affordable, and it's not too hard to learn, but it will take time for your hands to adjust and toughen up your finger pads. If you want to try mandolin tuning on an even more affordable instrument and with less string tension, you can get a basic starter ukulele and get Aquila's "Fifths" strings for ukulele (make sure to get the size that corresponds to the size of your uke) for $5-10 and string it in GDAE or CGDA, and then the fingerings would cross directly over to mandolin or mandola.
"Salt Water Shanty" tune on the mandolin
An example of the related "Portuguese guitar", shared between England and Portugal by the sea trade, played on the docks of Lisbon for "fado" music
"Bach 1st Cello Suite" on a ukulele re-strung to CGDA
Ukulele
The ukulele is based on traditional Portuguese small guitar-like instruments, and was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in 1879 when the SS Ravenscrag brought over Portuguese immigrants in 1879. The instrument caught the imaginations of the local Hawaiians, and some Portuguse woodworkers who'd just arrived capitalized on that trend and began producing a local version. So certainly sailors coming and going from Hawaiian ports had a chance to become familiar with the instrument.
The ukulele is one of the easiest string instruments to play, and the skills cross directly over to guitar and other instruments. If you're new to strings I would highly suggest getting a $50-99 ukulele first to get used to strings, and then decide your best move. As noted above, a uke can be an excellent stand-in for guitar, banjo, or mandolin (especially if restrung in fifths).
"Wellerman" on a regular $40 ukulele, conventional strumming and sounding awesome
"5 Sea Shanties on Ukulele", a really great and crystal-clear tutorial for noobs by Destiny Guerra
Ukulele has a shanty contest recently, might want to check out the submissions by other Redditors of shanties on ukulele
FREE REEDS
The name “free reeds” might sound confusing, but it basically just means things like the accordion and harmonica (which despite looking so different, are close cousins). On common reed instruments like saxophone or oboe, the air tube has one reed (a flexible tongue that produces a note as it vibrates when air flows over it) that makes the core pitch, and by opening holes to change the functional length of the tube you change the note. In contrast, with free reeds, you have an array of individual reeds that always make the same note, and you choose which note(s) to play by directing air over them with a button (accordion) or by moving it against your mouth (harmonica)
Harmonica
I think most folks are familiar with the basic concept of a harmonica, so I’ll just note there are a harmonicas at every price range, all kinds of keys (and ones in minor scales and such), and a lot of harmonica players own a whole stack of them to have a variety. While there are playable ones for like $10, aim for about $25-35 or more for your first one, if able, rather than going totally cheap, just so you aren’t held back as you’re trying to learn. There are a ton of free harmonica tutorials online, and books you can buy, and harmonica to advise, so you can’t go too wrong.
The modern harmonica was invented in the 1800s (based in concept on centuries-old instruments of Southeast Asia encountered by travelers). Hohner started mass-producing barge-fulls of them in Germany shortly after the American Civil War, and exporting them to the US. While maybe we don’t think of harmonicas as a sailor thing, they were an omnipresent affordable and pocket-sized instruments, surely familiar to sailors of the period.
"Drunken Sailor" on a less-common minor-key harmonica
"Wellerman" tutorial on standard harmonica
Concertina
The association between sailors and concertina is so strong as to be almost cliché, due in large part to Hollywood portrayal, like sea shanty concertinist Alf Edwards cameoing in 1965’s “Moby Dick". The concertina is basically like a small hexagonal accordion, but a simpler and less raucous sound due to (usually) only one reed per note, and every button is an individual note rather than some buttons being chords.
Concertina is pretty intuitive to play, and there are some good free tutorials online. For a novice interested in sea shanties you probably want the “Anglo” style (different notes on push and pull, like a harmonica or melodeon). Commonly people buy the 30-button Anglo, because most concertina buyers play Irish music and you want 30 for that. But for shanties and other simple folk, you can do well with a 20-button (which can also play most Irish), which tend to be a little cheaper. I would really give a pass to the $150-200 China-made ones on Amazon and eBay, and go for at least $299 or so for a new 20b or used 30b. (Or hit up Cnet's sales subforum to ask if anyone has a bargain 20b for a noob).
While Anglo is hands-down the traditional choice of sailors, in the Folk Revivals, for whatever reason (lots of them cheap in pawnshops?) a lot of folk musicians took up the English-system concertina. The English externally looks similar but has the same note on push and pull of the bellows, so totally different playing style. Some of the most famous shanty players of the 1960s-1970s (like the fantastic Alf Edwards mentioned above) played English, which in the actual sailing days was the instrument of the wealthy, not laborers.
But y’all are in luck, because I’m a mod at Concertina and have written a pretty comprehensive Concertina FAQ and Buying Guide for novices, the sub itself can help advise with any questions, and for serious experts or to shop an active buy/sell forum for bargains, visit Concertina.net Forums.
Note for both concertina and melodeon (button accordion), “Appcordions” produces free or cheap apps for your phone or tablet which emulate concertina (Anglo, English, or Duet fingering systems) or button accordion. The apps take a little getting used to, but are fun to try out the concept before committing. Read the instructions or watch a tutorial for each to understand how to emulate bellows direction changes on an app, and they're better on tablet than phone, but passable on phone.
Modern shanty "Grogg Mayles" played on Anglo concertina (note the constant back-forth to change notes)
A. L. Lloyd singing “Off to Sea Once More” backed up by Alf Edwards on English concertina (Lloyd is my favorite shantyman of all time, and Edwards so gorgeous on English that I forgive him the heresy of passing up Anglo)
Melodeon (Button Accordion)
When modern people think “accordion” they tend to think the huge ones with a piano keyboard, such as played by Weird Al. But for much of the 1800s and early 1900s, the dominant accordion was the “melodeon” (Americans tend to call them a “button accordion”) which is generally smaller, and has one, two, or three rows of buttons instead of a piano keyboard. Like the Anglo concertina or the harmonica, a given melodeon button produces a different note when you change air direction, which means that notes that make a chord line up together, making it very intuitive to play.
There are hordes of melodeons on the used market, but ones hauled out of a closet after 40 years of no play can need hundreds of dollars of refurbishment by a skilled technician. So again don’t go buying from randos on eBay, but buy from an actual player, or reputable dealer (many of whom buy the tore-up rando ones cheap on eBay, fix them up and flip them at reasonable prices). Figuring out the good deals can be daunting to a novice, so I went to Melodeon.net and got a detailed discussion going resulting in somewhat of a novice buyer’s guide for sea shanties that you might find easier to digest.
With some hunting around the various reputable dealers, and Melodeon.net’s sales section, you can find a decent melodeon as low as $250-350 (easier still in the UK or EU where melodeon is more common). Also check out the small sub Melodeon (we may add a sticky or wicki to link dealers of affordable refurbished button accordions). Fortunately shanty players are less picky about specific keys and models, so can get some good deals on less-fashionable variants other musicians are slow to buy.
High Barbary on 2.5-row melodeon, voice and fiddle
"Bully in the Alley" tutorial on 2-row D/G melodeon
Addendum: “Toy” Accordions (Melodeons)
I will address one kind of intriguing and highly affordable option for learning the basics on melodeon. There’s a little 7-button job called a “toy accordion” made in China (the button kind, not piano kind), sold on all the major online retailers. It isn’t so much really a "toy" as it is a small functional instrument but of kinda middling materials and iffy quality control, but it is a genuine musical instrument. Funnily enough, a small and shoddy mass-produced melodeon was exactly what laborers and sailors of the mid to late 1800s played, churned out of factories in Germany at prices so low they were practically disposable. Ironically the “toy” is arguably the historically authentic option, in spirit.
I don’t want to sound like I’m shilling for Amazon, I don’t even have affiliate links to them on my YouTube channel (maybe someday), but I’m telling you now that Amazon or equivalent is a good place to get a toy accordion. That way you can buy a model and from a seller with the best reviews, and (this is vital) one with “free returns”. The QC on these is iffy, so if you get a lemon it’s great to be able to put it right back in the box, click “return” on the app, and it gets picked up off your porch or you drop it off at a local business that processes Amazon returns. And if you like you can even just re-order it with your refund until they get it right.
These “toys” run about $20-40 (I just bought an EastaMugig, and it seems pretty decent and ready to tweak), so just pick one with good reviews, ensure it has free returns, and give it a whirl. Or if you really want to cut to the chase, there are accordion “fettlers” (repairers) who will just gut a toy for you and put quality reeds in it. Currently Smythe’s Accordions is the main shop I know of doing this in the US, and will put in quality reeds in the key of your choice, into a Russian toy accordion (better quality), if you want to spend $200.
Now, if you get one into your paws that plays okay and you want to keep it, I suggest immediately opening it up and making some minor tweaks. This is one of those things all the melodeon folks casually mention and afaik nobody has bothered to make a proper tutorial on (I hope to shortly for my YouTube channel), but you can make these substantially better with very little skill. Basically put, you got seven buttons, with two notes per button, and two reeds per note to give it a tremolo/echo effect. The issue is those doubled reeds use up a lot of air, and your bellows are small, and one reed will always be more in-tune than the other. So you get some really basic tools and masking tape, pour a beer or soda, carefully open it (they’re pretty sturdy if you get a good one) and identify the two reeds for each note, lay down masking tape along one to silence it. While you’re in there, if you can identify any reeds that aren’t sounding properly, they’re probably clogged with dust, and you can google up how to carefully slide something thin like a dollar bill under the tongue to knock the dust loose and allow it to sound. Tape off one of each pair, assemble it and try it, and if a given note (now one reed per note) sounds off, make a note of which, disassemble and switch the tape from the other reed and see if the other one sounds better.
It’ll take some futzing, but no major skill and no permanent changes (do it carefully so you can still return it if it just won’t shape up). If you get it right, now it’ll be using half as much air so way easier to play, and if you like there are many other little tweaks to adjust button play, fix bellows leaks, and all that, all pretty low-skill. But fundamentally for $20-40 you can have a kinda shoddy yet effective little melodeon, much like the sailors of old, on which you can accompany sea songs.
Drunken Sailor on a decent yet stock toy accordion
Irish polkas on a toy accordion that’s been fitted with quality reeds
PERCUSSION
Looking at old sailor imagery, you generally see small snare drums and bass drums, and there seems to be a large crossover between those on civilian ships and similar ones played in the British and American navies of the era. If you’re a real stickler you can get “rope-tuned” old-school wooden snare and small bass drums (sold for fife and drum reenactors), or make do with modern used marching-band instruments.
I do want to note there is one kind of drum that’s relatively recent in tradition and wouldn’t really have been played by shanty-era sailors, but sounds absolutely amazing with shanties if you aren’t a stickler: the Irish bodhrán. It’s a relatively shallow circular shell with one drum head, held in one hand and the other hands holds a double-headed stick (like a little kayak paddle) and virtuosically skips it off the drum head in rhythmic patterns. It's pretty cool, but if you get one, learn it proper because eager noobs not bothering to learn skill and just whacking on it are a cliche in the Irish trad scene. Bodhran is tiny but has some good links, and you can always ask and see who answers.
Daniel Payne of Newfoundland sings “Wind Through the Window” while backing himself on bodhrán
NOT TRADITIONAL SAILOR INSTRUMENTS, BUT WOULD SOUND AWESOME WITH SHANTIES
I want to briefly discuss one instrument from each category that aren’t strictly historical to seafarers, but really fit in with the spirit of shanties. These would be great retcons, and one very modern wildcard at the end.
Appalachian/Mountain dulcimer
The dulcimer was likely a French or German instrument acquired by the rural folks in the Appalachian mountains of the US, and worked into the local tradition due to its simplicity. It’s a long wooden box played in the lap, tuned to open tunings, with only partial fretting, which makes it ridiculously easy to learn and accompany yourself on. I like to joke that it's the "Celtic sitar."
I taught quite a few workshops on the dulcimer for groups, and it’s about one of the easiest fretted string instruments to learn. They’re pretty affordable (you can get cardboard-bodied [seriously, they work] ones around $50, basic wooden ones around $100, ask around at dulcimer) and they have that droning and dark sound that would go great with shanties.
"Skye Boat Song" on dulcimer
Udu or Ibo drum
This percussion instrument, originating in West Africa, is a clay pot (some modern makers use synthetics) that is drummed upon, and capable of some really cool percussive sounds. Can produce a surprising number of tonal effects, I think of it as the "African tabla." Runs about $100+ for the basic synthetic models by Meinl, which are lighter and more durable than ceramic. LP makes durable ceramic ones from about $75. See the very tiny sub Udu for more info, or ask the larger community at drums.
Udu/Ibo drum solo
Bagpipe
Check your stereotypes, the Great Highland bagpipe associated with marching around in kilts (which is awesome in its own way) is only one of about 100 kinds of bagpipes, from Ireland to India and Sweden down to Libya. The Highland Pipe is loud and piercing, so not really great vocal accompaniment, but among the many other pipes are several which play at an indoor volume and lower pitch.
Among the ones I’d most recommend to someone starting pipes, in terms of affordability (roughly around $400-$500 for basic ones of these three, some bargains come in lower), availability, volume, compactness, versatility, etc. would be the Scottish Smallpipes (quieter and a full octave deeper in pitch than Highland), the Swedish bagpipes, and the German hümmelchen.
More than any other instrument on this list, for bagpipes I urge you to beware "too good to be true" deals. The reason is there is one specific outfit in Pakistan that has been turning out virtually unplayable bagpipes for export for decades, and they're all over Amazon and eBay for $100-200. They are not "well, I'll try a cheapie first and see if I want to get a nice one", they are total garbage, and the company is run by jerks because they could make a serviceable pipe in Pakistan by paying their workers 10% more and instead opt to turn hopeful noobies off piping forever with a "maybe it's a good starter" that's just trash. There are definitely good deals in piping (mainly some innovators working in synthetics, and some craftsmen in Eastern Europe with low costs of living), but the specific Pakistan pipes exported by a certain cynical company are omnipresent and a total waste. But the good news is with the slightest research you can avoid them and get some good starter pipes at reasonable price.
Give those three types of bagpipes (or others too) a listen, see what jumps out at you, drop by Bagpipes to discuss.
"Mingulay Boat Song" on Scottish smallpipes (bellows blown so the piper has breath to sing)
"Polska efter Nedergårds Lars" on Swedish bagpipes
"A Cascarexa" (Galician waltz) on hümmelchen
Electronic Instruments (maybe on your tablet or even phone to be cheap)
I’m sure many of you have seen techno remixes of "Wellerman" and whatnot, so though clearly in history those far post-date the shanty era, they do sound awfully cool (in some cases). So don’t be too shy to lay down some drum and bass lines and sing over them. There are various electronic boxes and knobs you can buy to do so, but these days a lot of what used to be $500 of fancy electronics are now emulated on your phone or tablet. Go mess with the free music apps, or read reviews and pay $10 for a good one, and get some beats going.
If you want to try out a free iOS app that's pretty intuitive for making beats, as a total novice in electronic music I've enjoyed the free phone app Figure.
Korg iKaossilator laying down drum and bass lines

https://i.imgur.com/UCNvDsT.jpg

Examples

For anyone wary of delving into a large primer on a metal adjacent genre, below are a two examples of both classic and modern dungeon synth. While albums are a more complete example, I have narrowed it down to two songs.

• Depressive Silence - "Forest of Etenity" (1996)
• Hedge Wizard - "More True Than Time Thought" (2014)

Dungeon synth is fascinating if not a little cryptic in its history and existence. If any of the above two examples are interesting or the concept of grim musicians making fantasy synth, then I urge you to travel further.

Introduction

Dungeon Synth is a style of at-home made fantasy synth. Despite it being a modern incarnation, its history is rooted in the 1990’s black metal scene, when its members created ambient synth projects and circulated those releases through tapes. These black metal side projects laid the groundwork for dungeon synth’s atmosphere and ethos regarding aesthetics, production, and distribution. Dungeon synth is primarily a solo endeavor with one person writing, playing, producing, and distributing the music. Today, it has become a diverse genre and cottage industry with tape labels, forums, festivals, and an international fanbase devoted to its history and development. Branching out from its beginnings to include a spectrum of sound, dungeon synth has transitioned beyond its dark ambient beginnings to a sound that includes neoclassical, new age, medieval, and even chiptune music. The space between fans and creators, since its beginning, has been small, leading to an intimate scene that exists today almost entirely on the internet.
This aspect of a virtual community and scene has shown itself unintentionally resilient within current events. The process of creating music in isolation and sharing it with an international fanbase through virtual albums and mailed media is something that has been unaffected since the wake of a global pandemic. Livelihoods of the creators and parcel service interruptions aside, dungeon synth, along with other virtual genres, has the potential to be a blueprint for future musical scenes that exist without in person contact. This divorce from the physical aligns with dungeon synth’s escapist aesthetics, as its thematic storytelling offers an at home journey that is safe and socially distant. Dungeon synth offers a window into a potential future where music exists between people through small portals separated by distance and realities.
I have been writing, reviewing, and cataloging the history of dungeon synth since stumbling upon its existence in 2014. Initially perplexed by its discovery, I began sharing the strange records I found with everyone I knew, marveling at this small scene of people making fantasy synth. What may have started as fanciful irony, has since evolved into a deep love for a genre of music I found almost by accident. Since that time, I have become an advocate of the genre, writing primers for its history, retrospectives for its albums, and organizing compilations for its creators. It is my hope to codify a roadmap for people who may not know of its existence but would love it if they did. Dungeon synth has a unique history among its creators, fans, and the space in which it exists, as it defies conventional classification -- continuing to make music in far away places, for far away people.

Part I: Forest of Eternity (1990-2000)

The use of the words "modern" and "classic" is easier to refer to with dungeon synth’s history two largest waves of interest with "modern" in referring to dungeon synth’s revival since the 2010’s and "classic" to refer to dungeon synth as it existed in the 1990’s. It is at this point, I am supposed to tell you the easy and linear history of dungeon synth forming from black metal side projects. Artists like Mortiis and Burzum would combine synth with fantasy aesthetics and sell it to black metal fans. That can be the answer and you can move on to the music, but I would be untrue to myself if I made it that simple. Genres and subgenres have a strange way of forming and even stranger ways of being written about. With enough time and hindsight, writing about music becomes easier since enough distance is created to make connections. Not only is dungeon synth still being created and its modern history has yet to get to a place where reflection can occur, its creation and foundations are still being connected. While bands like Old Tower are revered for their worship of classic dungeon synth and the term “Old School Dungeon Synth” signifies a proximity to black metal and perhaps a relevance to a core philosophy, dungeon synth’s roots are tenuous.
Classic dungeon synth never had a connected scene of influence outside of cassette trading circles. It has no documented motivation nor easy narratives to tell a tale of creation. Classic dungeon synth just existed collectively and independently in the mind of its musicians with their releases, which were then resurrected by fans and archivists decades after their original releases. Before 2011, dungeon synth as a concept and even name did not exist; rather it was a nebula of likeminded music under the name “dark dungeon music,” “neoclassical,” and/or “medieval” that was sorted with other dark ambient, darkwave, and experimental electronics. Dungeon synth did not begin as a named genre until one of its fans, Andrew Werdna, started "The Dungeon Synth Blog" in 2011 to promote the type of music made by Mortiis, Wongraven, and related artists. The creator of that blog coined the name and collected the material he found interesting and fit his view on what the genre should be. This arcane way of genre creation lays at the foundation of dungeon synth and its existence would not be if not for fans like Werdna archiving and connecting the dots.
Dungeon synth, in its classic sense, exists due to the will of its fans who are uncovering more and more releases, which in turn, reshapes its history over and over. One of the releases that will be discussed, The Sleeping Green by Lunar Womb, is a construction of a late 90’s release that was shelved and lay dormant on a harddrive for almost 20 years. This release, which is popular today, would not exist if not for the then current interest in modern dungeon synth. On a personal note, I even have a working theory that classic dungeon synth was a DIY adoption of the fantasy ambient that was created in the 1970’s with Kosmische Musik, and continued in the 1980’s with new age electronic music. As more releases are discovered, Dungeon synth’s history is becoming dotted with records that fit more into the history of electronic music than the birth of black metal.
One of the more popular early dungeon synth releases (one that is even tagged as dungeon synth) is 1991’s Master of Dragons by electronic composer Jim Kirkwood. Kirkwood was a UK musician who made a series of fantasy ambient records in the early 90’s. Master of Dragons would be an interesting starting point for dungeon synth as it has the aesthetics and sound for an origin story. As far as I know, Jim Kirkwood had no connection to the 90's black metal scene, rather his self released fantasy ambient records were just an extension of Berlin School electronics. It is my belief that dungeon synth in 10 or 20 years will have a more formalized history and for now exists as a genre that is being written as we speak. Its history is being constructed almost simultaneously, which makes writing about it strange if not incredibly exciting.
As of now, we have a roadmap of black metal musicians who made synth albums that were a long form version of the interludes that would prelude or act as an epilogue to many black metal demos. Additionally, we have dark ambient musicians who would release synth based records in the same trading circles as black, death, and thrash metal records. These are all well known parts of classic dungeon synth and is the sound tagged as “Old School Dungeon Synth.” It is a world of gloom where there are instances of wonder and magic but it is all cast in a haze of morose shades.

Classic Dungeon Synth Recommendations

Compared to the scope of modern dungeon synth, the boundaries for classic dungeon synth are smaller and more homogenized. There is a spectrum of dark and light and produced and raw, as we will see with modern dungeon synth, but the variety between these early releases is going to be more similar than different. This is due to the prevalence of home recordings and the proximity to black metal and dark ambient. Additionally, even in the most light releases there exists a sense of loneliness and solemnity. There is never (at least to my knowledge) levity within these releases, as the journey into synthscapes from black metal and metal minded musicians was a serious affair akin to meditation rather than something for a gaff. This is the bleak world of dungeon synth before it even had a name and its creators were the grey lords of escapism. For brevity, I included the highlights, If this type of sound is the thing you have been looking for, enjoy your journey through the lower worlds.
Mortiis - Født til å herske (1994)

Håvard Ellefsen, better known as Mortiis, is a project which is almost synonymous with classic dungeon synth, or at least the history of dark medieval synth. Mortiis to few was the bassist for the black metal band Emperor from 1993 to 1994. Mortiis to many more was a milestone in the development of what was then called dark dungeon music and a waypoint for future composers to model their sound. While Mortiis would make a variety of music, it is his “Era I” records or the releases that span from 1993 to 1999 that would become the center of reverence. Født til å herske (Born To Rule) is a 53 minute song split into two parts ,which brings the listener into a world of cold and uncaring passages that snake around the undercroft of a long abandoned castle. Between shadows and sunlight, Født til å herske is dramatic in its approach to cast emotion and atmosphere in a macabre play. The interplay with the keyboards and mixing is something that is both commanding and immersive. Mortiis' instance on the repetitive melodies that make up this song is a cornerstone of classic dungeon synth, as the music becomes a meditative chant used to transpose oneself to distant places. Mortiis would go on to explore different styles in the 2000’s before returning to his legacy as an alumni in the wake of the dungeon synth revival. The 2020 record Spirit of Rebellion is a reworking and recording of the 1994 record Ånden som Gjorde Opprør, which was inspired by his 2017 performance at the Cold Meat Industry 25th anniversary event (explain this a bit). This music means a lot to its creator and, though a lot of Mortiis' image is the punchline to internet jokes, Født til å herske and the majority of Era I is a testament to the power of this sound.

Depressive Silence - Depressive Silence II (1996)

Depressive Silence is perhaps one of the most popular if not most celebrated early dungeon synth projects. This is perhaps due to the fact the band started as a parallel project to the melodic black metal band Mightiest. Members Andreas Kreiler (Ral) and B. Schmidt (B.S) were both guitarists / keyboardists who created a synth entity for the 1995 split with Mightiest. While Depressive Silence’s second release Depressive Silence II is perhaps the more iconic release, with its cover almost being symbolic of dungeon synth. In the haze of mist and fallen ruins exists the whispers of entities that offer no guidance or reassurance. Depressive Silence II is a solitary adventure with an opening that could be one of the banners for classic dungeon synth. Both Ral and B.S. would go on to make one-off projects with a final release in 1997. These releases all happen to be some of the best music made in this time period. Solanum ‎– Spheres Of Time (B.S) and Gothmog - Medival Journeys (Ral) are essential and worth exploring for anyone interested in this time period.

Wongraven - Fjelltronen (1995)

Wongraven is the work of a Satyr well known as Sigurd Wongraven from the Nowegian black metal band Satyricon. Fjelltronen stands as the only release from the project outside of a 6 band split with Darkthrone, Neptune Towers, Storm, Isengard, and Satyricon: Fjelltronen’s history is rooted in Norweigan black and folk metal and its sound reflects this atmosphere with a 32 minute escape into fog ridden lands stalked by choral chants, soft acoustic guitar, and piano melodies. The success of Fjelltronen, and Wongraven in general, is the nebulous nature of the sound as it does not rest on a sole genre but rather gather a cadre of similar styles under a banner of grim atmosphere. The cover for Fjelltronen is a cropped image of "Til den grønne ridder'' by 19th century Norwegian fantasy painter Theodor Kittelsen. Not only was the same image used by black metal act Carpathian Forest for their EP Through Chasm, Caves and Titan Woods but Kittelsen’s works were also used by Burzum, Satyricon, and a host of modern dungeon synth artists. Fjelltronen remains a staple in classic dungeon synth as its bridge to black metal both in style and spirit.

Jääportit - Kauan Koskematon (1999)

Kauan Koskematon is the debut full-length from Tuomas M. Mäkel also known as Jääportit. While Jääportit lacks a black metal connection, it makes up for it with a strong foundation in the substyle of winter synth as well as a consistent output during the dark period of the 2000’s. On the project's website, Mäkel writes the inspiration for the project centered around the work of Mortiis as well as darkwave and neoclassical works from Arcana and Dead Can Dance. This nebulous origin produces itself in one of the most modern sounding records. Jääportit could exist in 2020 and be lauded for the approach to frozen landscapes, which are iridescent in the moonlight. Kauan Koskematon’s embrace of drone and regal melodies exist in icy embankments and would only be underscored by the artwork from Aslak Tolonen (From the Finnish neofolk band Nest). Winter synth would go on to become one of dungeon synth’s most popular substyles which, even though it borders on the edge of existence, is still a style that draws in listeners with an invitation to a glacial court.

Burzum - Hliðskjálf (1999)

For better or worse, Burzum is entwined in the history of dungeon synth. Burzum, also known as Varg Vikerness, was a Norwegian black metal project that not only produced milestone records for the scene but also found his way into some of the more horrific acts that would cast a veil of murder, racism, and antisocial behavior over this entire black metal genre period. While in prison for the murder of Øystein Aarseth, Varg Vikerness, with limited synthesizer and recording privileges, composed two dark ambient and medieval records based around Norse mythology. Dauði Baldrs, along with the follow up Hliðskjálf, would become some of the most famous records not only in the dungeon synth scene but also the greater black metal world as a lament from an infamous and imprisoned villain. Hliðskjálf would be the more complete record with melodic passages as well as retaining its icy sense of being. Hliðskjálf also saw some prototypes for modern dungeon synth, with songs like “Die Liebe Nerþus.” Hliðskjálf, and its predecessor, makes for easy talking points within the history of dungeon synth, yet the actions of its creator both before incarceration and during asks a lot from the listener when listening to the music. For some it is too much and to be honest, the history of dungeon synth can be experienced with or without the two records of Burzum.

Secret Stairways - Enchantment of the Ring (1997)

Secret Stairways was the solo project of US black metal musician Matthew Davis. Davis would lend his talents to the 90’s black metal project Blackened Chapel as well as the gothic darkwave project Twelfth of Never. Secret Stairways was his somber synth project that saw releases in 1997 and 1999. Both album's music was backed by the same sense of melancholy that would haunt most of Davis’ music, but a sense of twilight wonder with 1999’s Turning Point reached the zenith of production for these self released projects. Enchantment of the Ring has become iconic for its production and sense of wonder which creeps across the ground like fog. For most, Secret Stairways would reach a wider audience decades after its initial release and years after the suicide of Davis in 2011. Both Secret Stairway releases now stand as a shrine to its creator, who seemed to be a mage capable of marrying melody with a lingering sense of loss and grief.

Corvus Neblus - Chapter I - Strahd's Possession (1999)

Fans of the Greek black metal band Macabre Omen might recognize the name Alexandros Antoniou. In fact, on this subreddit we had an AMA with the artist who casually mentioned the Corvus Neblus project in conversation. Though Alexandros Antoniou sort of dismisses the project as a fanciful side project, Corvus Neblus and its two demos are high quality in terms of melodic dungeon synth. With heavy ties to the RPG universe, specifically the Dungeons and Dragons Ravenloft campaign, Chapter I - Strahd's Possession not only showcases the musician's immersion in the synthscapes but also the embrace of high fantasy for a vehicle of escapism. Though this record is, perhaps, most popular due to its connection with the artist and wouldnt have been found otherwise, Corvus Neblus is a high watermark despite the casual attitude of its creator.

Lunar Womb - The Sleeping Green (1999/2015)

Lunar Womb was a project started by Henri "Trollhorn" Sorvali known in other circles as the guitarist and keyboardist of the pagan metal band Moonsorrow and keyboardist for Blackened folk metal project Finntroll. The Sleeping Green was intended to be the third demo for the composer, following two other dark ambient releases (released on Meat Hook Productions who also released Moonsorrow records as well as Sorvali’s other project Woods of Belial). For various reasons, the third demo was shelved until 2015 when Sorvali found the tracks and intended artwork for the record. Additionally, 2015 was also the time when dungeon synth was experiencing it’s modern revival, which led Sorvali to remaster the tracks and release the long awaited demo. The Sleeping Green is caught between two worlds, as it was originally intended to be from the late 90’s but has now had the benefit of cleaner, more modern production. It is now we can hear Sorvali's vision, which combines the folk melodies heard on Finntroll and Moonsorrow releases with the atmosphere of what would later be called dungeon synth. The result is a sound that is both enchanting and immersive, and is the best soundscape Lunar Womb produced, as it saved an unintentional blueprint for modern dungeon synth.

Neptune Towers - Caravans to Empire Algol (1994)

I initially did not have Neptune Towers on this list but later added it for reasons I will mention. Neptune Towers has the obvious connection to black metal with it being the solo side project of Fenriz of black metal act Darkthrone. While Neptune Towers, much like Wongraven, was featured on splits with other black metal bands and was released on labels with other black metal acts, its sound is perhaps the least dungeon synth of this list. Owing more to drone, kosmische Musik, and berlin school electronics, Caravans to Empire Algol worships the work of Klaus Schulze and perhaps makes the tenuous connection from the dungeon synth of the 1990s with the far out Berlin school electronic of the 1970s. Whatever the case, it is a good place to begin allowing the transmission of other worlds to wash over you with a sound that is unnerving yet hypnotic and showcasing a sound that is just sci-fi that just wanted to wear black.

Part II: The Age of Wonder (2011-Present)

Dungeon Synth, in the modern sense, began with the advent of a stable internet. Not only were blogs, social media, and a reliable streaming service and marketplace the tools composers needed to reach a global audience, but they were also the same tools used to unearth, digitize, and disseminate the obscure and forgotten releases from the 1990s. While the nascent idea and aesthetic of dark keyboard music carried on in various dark ambient, neoclassical, and medieval records in the 2000’s, dungeon synth as a focused style did not exist until the appearance of internet blogs that not only collected older releases but codified the aesthetics and proper name for the genre. The work of blogs like Asmodian Coven and eventually the Dungeon Synth Blog allowed a new generation to not only discover older releases but also be inspired to make new records.
The mid 2010’s saw a boom in dungeon synth as interest grew across social media and online forums. This boom was a revival of the classic sounds of the 1990’s as well as an inclusion of melodic ambience. While high fantasy and nature were always a part of dungeon synth’s aesthetics, the modern era is when artists embraced the escapist themes for their records, taking on theatrical personas and dedicating full releases to fictional narratives. This shift in style would provide an avenue for new creators and fans to travel and deviate from its classic roots.
Dungeon synth composers differ from other musicians in that the barrier for making the music in the style was low and its reach was only anchored by an internet connection. Composers had no need for touring or even working with other people. These composers only needed a computer, internet, and imagination to be a musician. If one wanted to take a release from the writing, composing, recording, and even manufacturing of the marketing media, they could do it all without leaving their room. This cottage industry spread among creators, who all varied in their levels of professionalism, but were connected by social hubs such as Facebook, Bandcamp, and online forums. All in all, Dungeon synth is similar to other internet centric microgenres whose scene and community exist entirely in a digital space. Dungeon synth, much like other microgenres, has a pitch to newcomers based on sound and aesthetics. It is alluring but also poses a unique question: 'Do you want to listen to Dungeon and Dragons music made by people in cloaks playing synth in their bedroom?' The answer was a resounding 'Yes' by many and the dedication to the tabletop hobbies by fans embraced the style into their folds. Dungeon synth had an aesthetic and the boom of home releases would only strengthen its legacy.
Dungeon synth is a style of music that has grown quickly throughout its modern era, showcasing the evolution of a music genre in an expedited timeline. Its precursors, foundation, watersheds, and experiments, which usually take years and decades to be established by a genre, have been collapsed into only a few years. This rapid progression can be attributed to the ease of virtual engagement of the community, as well as at home production of its albums. Albums could be made within months, causing a flourishing of new ideas, which would cause reactions to the evolution at an exacerbated pace. Criticisms, tensions between stylistic tastes, and feuds between the scene could be waged easier, leading to an accelerated collapse or synthesis of ideas. This drama of a small scene that went through a surge of popularity and cracked under the influx of new fans is not unique among genres, yet dungeon synth went through it in a matter of a few years as opposed to the decades it normally takes. This exceleration has matured dungeon synth to leap forward in its evolution, and has led to one of the best periods in perhaps its entire existence.
Dungeon synth continues to be fascinating for many reasons. One is boring while the other is fanciful. The boring reason is that the musicians live in an age of reliable internet and with a low entry for making music, this leads to a consistent output of new material. Combine this with a continual fanbase that is just discovering the sound and you have a continual wave of consumers. The more fanciful reason is that dungeon synth offers a sense of magic to its listeners. Dungeon synth offers a style of music and scene whose intimacy between artist and listener feels like a relationship, and the subsequent journey is more like an adventure both of you are undertaking. This relationship between art and artist is something I find particularly powerful, as each release is like a chapter in an ongoing story that both us as the listeners and them as the creators are unaware where it will take us. We are all players in this story and we will go to far away places.

Modern Dungeon Synth Recommendations

For this primer, and for the purposes of introductions, I revised a nine point alignment chart that was created on a Dungeon synth forum. Musician RævJäger made an alignment chart modeled after the Dungeons and Dragons character alignment, which is set between two spectrums of dark/light and produced/raw. Since the sounds of modern dungeon synth are much more varied than the 1990's, directing people towards a type of sound is more viable and potentially useful. Modern dungeon synth, while almost entirely removed from its black metal roots, has a sound for almost anyone ranging from fanciful tavern music to nihilistic noise.
These nine albums are what I feel were important at the time of modern dungeon synth's boom, as well as ones that fit neatly into an alignment chart. This chart is not perfect, and there may be better choices or questionable placement depending on interpretation, however it is not meant to be definitive rather a playful introduction to a style and might help people find the right sound that would interest them. Those who are versed in these nine albums might find Part III of this primer more helpful.
Lord Lovidicus - Book of Lore Volume I (2015) [Produced/Light]

Book of Lore follows a line of better known releases from Lord Lovidicus. 2010’s Trolldom and Quenta Silmarillion are perhaps this artist's most well known releases due to their placement in the early history of modern dungeon synth. Book of Lore sees the same focus on medieval fantasy but begins the artist's ascent to the production the music deserves. Lord Lovidicus always wanted to sail in the cloud of production and, combined with the artist's love for Tolkien lore, Book of Lore is fantasy ambient minus the rough edges. While the bedroom aspect is present, the music blurs between worlds with a sound that is approaching bliss. I could think of few other releases that quest for the same level of production that tries to transcend the bedroom setup.

Fief - - I (2016) [Neutral Light]

Fief is a wonderful artist to start with in dungeon synth as it is a very popular sound among fans. In fact, Fief may be one of the most popular dungeon synth artists, which is no surprise given the string of amazing releases. Rather than a direct narrative, Feif's five albums are vignettes into a medieval world that might or might not have any sort of fantasy elements. This is a long campaign in a low magic world that is filled with just as much danger and excitement as other more dragon-filled narratives. I feel Fief is popular due to both accessibility with the production as well as a charm in its minimalism. This is tavern music for the weary traveler and while there are few patrons, the hearth is warm and roaring.

Chaucerian Myth - The Canterbury Tales (2016) [Raw/ Light]

I have written a lot about Chaucerian Myth and the artist's debut The Canterbury Tales. I wrote an introduction to the album for the CD reissue, which is on the inside flap. To put it simply, The Canterbury Tales was a watershed moment for dungeon synth as it took the growing modern scene and its bedroom recording, married it with English literature, and cast a drama into a 3.5 hour epic. An unofficial soundtrack to Chaucer’s collection of stories published in 1483, each of the tales is scored by the sounds of fantasy synth. The Canterbury Tales was a fantastic release from an active member of the Dungeon synth community, which set a new benchmark for intensity and devotion to the craft. In terms of atmosphere, there is little space between Fief and Chaucerian Myth. The difference lies in the length and scope of The Canterbury Tales, as these songs are cast in near 20 minute epics that wander sometimes lost in the tomes of history books. This is passion amid piles of books and its charm is undeniable.

Sequestered Keep - Wandering Far (2017) [Produced Neutral]

There is a joke among dungeon synth fans about the prolific, bordering on oppressive, release schedules some artists use. The years between 2015 and 2016 saw 14 releases from US based Sequestered Keep, which would have fit into this trope if not for the fact that all of it was outstanding. Wandering Far was the only release of 2017 and, for me at least, it was a grand declaration of magic and somber distance. Sequestered Keep aims in the same direction as Lord Lovidicus but collects the shadows as much as the highlights. Much like the album covers, Sequestered Keep offers rolling landscapes that are filled with as much joy as they are with sorrow. Sadly, 2018 would see the last release from this artist, so Wandering Far as well as the finale, The Vale of Ruined Towers are now monuments to the legacy of this artist.

Erang - Another World Another Time (2013) [Neutral]

For many, Erang was their first exposure to dungeon synth. This came through a compilation video put out by this French artist simply titled “2 hours 30 minutes of Dungeon Synth, Medieval Fantasy Music by Erang.” It was a simple video that provided 2 hours and 30 minutes of background music for reading, playing games, or whatever the user wanted. I feel there is something omnipresent about Erang as the music seems to touch every aspect of the sound. Another World Another Time catches the artist as they climb out of the classic dark ambient sounds of Tome I-IV to to craft a world of imagination and wonder. If I could offer any one record which I feel captures the variety in dungeon synth, it would be this. Additionally, 2013-2015 would see some truly fantastic works from Erang and this release is indispensable in one's journey into dungeon synth.

Til Det Bergens Skyggene - Til Det Bergens Skyggene (2011) [Raw Neutral]

Til Det Bergens Skyggene is a German artist who is also the operator of Voldsom Musikk -- a label specializing in black metal and dark ambient. Til Det Bergens Skyggene is a project that was responsible for 5 releases in a few short years before ceasing. The third and self titled release has grown in legacy in the dungeon synth scene for its reverence to the classic sound of the 1990s. With a focus on texture and ambience, Til Det Bergens Skyggene, the album, moves at a glacial pace across a landscape of fog with only shadowy outlines of trees and ruined structures. If limbo or the desolate landscapes of the afterlife had a soundtrack it would most likely sound like the track “Skog, Natt Og Stjerner.” This is a record that does not approach pleasantly and, in fact, it does not approach at all. Rather, Til Det Bergens Skyggene walks ever forward through the growing opaque wall of fog uninterested in anything but the crawl of time. It is aloof, magical, and completely uninterested in being accessible.

Murgrind - Inheritor Of The Forest Throne (2015) [Produced / Dark]

Inheritor Of The Forest Throne was the second record for Murgrind and a step forward in terms of production from the dark and classic sounds of 2013’s Journey Through The Mountain. Clear and grand sounds dominate the production, combined with a constant reminder of scorn and sadness. This marriage between the dark and production clarity was mirrored on the cover as it depicted a vast forest devoid of foliage and oppressive in its presence. Murgrind would set a new standard for production, and send a reminder to people that, despite the DIY nature of the music, professionalism and craft could still be revered.

Thangorodrim - Taur-nu-Fuin (2016) [Neutral Dark]

Taur-nu-Fuin was a monumental record on its release. I remember when it came out there was something that changed about the scene as its release pointed to a new benchmark for direction. With it’s cover, which worships the aesthetics of second wave black metal, to the sweeping labyrinthian sounds, to the obscure Tolkine lore, Taur-nu-Fuin was a champion of the classic sound that lay in the graves of Mortiis and Wongraven. With four songs and a running time of 50 minutes, Thangorodrim is intense in its need for commitment. This is not background music rather a passage into corridors that lay far out of the reach of sunlight. I would urge people to listen to this release for nothing else than to experience classic dungeon synth in a modern incarnation.

Old Tower - The Rise Of The Specter (2017) [Raw / Dark]

In terms of optics, The Rise of the Specter was perhaps one of the most famous modern dungeon synth records in the 2010’s. The Rise of the Specter’s cover was briefly used as the header for the 2017 Bandcamp article “A Guide Through the Darkened Passages of Dungeon Synth.” This was eventually changed to a more generic stone arch but, for a while, the hooded figure was a guide for newcomers into the world of dungeon synth. The Rise of the Specter and its ruminating sounds made sense for people as it worshipped the classic style of dungeon synth. This was Mortiis in 2017. This made sense as dungeon synth, for many, was the sound of dark passages and people in cloaks. It was mysterious and arcane and, above all else, dark. Old Tower was one of dungeon synth’s largest success stories as The Rise of the Specter led the artist to a deal with Profound Lore and a 2018 concert at the Roadburn Festival. Old Tower, for all intents and purposes, is the largest spokesperson for dungeon synth outside of its small community and to many, including myself, is the perfect spokesperson to the world beyond the small scene.

Conclusion

The above primer represents the start of material I am putting together for a dungeon synth book / series of articles regarding the collected history of the genre. These profiles are being collected on my blog as "The Book of DS." My blog will also be the continuation of some subjects related to dungeon synth including its connection with the Berlin School electronic scene as well as the dark period of 2000-2011 where this sound existed in the shadows.
Part of my fascination with dungeon synth is its emerging history combined with the proximity of its creators to community. Most if not all of these creators are people passionate about music who are more than ecstatic they found a community that shares their love for fantasy ambient. If you have read this far and know everything in the above primer then you can move onto a continuing primer that you will hopefully find more recommendations. If not, then we will discover them together.

Artist: Grimes
Album: Miss Anthropocene (Deluxe | Revised | Revised Deluxe)
Label: 4AD
Tracklist and Lyrics: Genius
Release date: February 21, 2020
popheads [FRESH] thread: Here
Listen: Apple Music (Deluxe) | Spotify (Deluxe V1) | YouTube Music (Deluxe V1)
You know me as the girl who plays with fire,
But this is the song I wrote you in the dark ...
Madness, intellect, audacity?
Grimes, the stage name of Claire Boucher, is an electronic musician and multimedia artist from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. How ordinary and uncontroversial that makes her sound. As any Pophead surely knows by now, Grimes is far from either of those things.
Much of the lore behind Grimes' early career seems well-known by now to her fans: she attend McGill University in Montréal, Québec (a very prestigious school) where she had an interest in neuroscience and worked on her Russian, a language she had first picked up in childhood (she is of French and Ukrainian heritage, and her name means "clear (f.) butcher" in French, a fact she finds hilarious). She chose her stage name after hearing of grime music on her MySpace (which is still around), and listed her music as "grime" despite never having heard grime music before (she ended up liking it, by the way). She also goes by c, the physical constant for the speed of light, because she finds her name hard to pronounce (she has a slight speech impediment, as well as a lisp for the sound /s/, though she doesn't care about the latter).
Grimes learned to use recording software in university (Apple's GarageBand) and about music production from friends, and got involved with the music collective Lab Synthèse, which had a production space in a now-closed warehouse in Montréal and spawned the label Arbutus Records, which has since housed many Canadian indietronica acts. Grimes' first two albums were released on this label: Geidi Primes, a concept album about her favourite novel, the science fiction epic Dune; and Halfaxa, an ambient electronica album that has been described as gothic, both in 2010. Not expecting that anyone would hear her debut (it was first released as a run of 30 cassettes with hand-drawn covers by her), both albums were well-received by critics, to her surprise. All writing and almost all production was done on both by her alone.
Grimes' early work was linked to the "witch house" microgenre, an underground scene of electronic music that was gothic in both sound and aesthetic, and was briefly popular around the early 2010s. (This can be seen on the tracklist of Halfaxa with that scene's trademark use of arcane symbols in their titles.) In 2011, she released the split EP Darkbloom with fellow Canadian electronic musician D'Eon, with the first five tracks being by her. Notably, this EP had her first song to have a music video, the self-directed "Vanessa". Her breakthrough, though, was yet to come.
If you're looking for a dream girl, I'll never be your dream girl
Visions (2012), Grimes' first LP with her new label 4AD, won her widespread acclaim and made her a cultural phenomenon in her home country of Canada. The album gave a more accessible and poppy spin on her early mix of dark, ambient and psychedelic music, and is a bewitching, trance-like album to listen through. Although the first single from it was "Genesis" with a music video featuring Brooke Candy, she won acclaim for her song "Oblivion", written about her own experience with sexual assault and trauma afterward. During this time, Grimes' image became linked with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype, the concept of "kawaii" (a Japanese aesthetic which roughly translates as "cuteness") and her waiflike appearance; as well as her reputation as an outspoken feminist.
Grimes has expressed dislike of being misinterpreted as a less serious musician during this time because of her turn towards a pop sound and aesthetic, as well as frustration at not being taken seriously as a woman music producer, still fairly uncommon in electronic music. Indeed the recording of Visions is a key part of Grimes lore: she made the album alone at her home in a matter of weeks, neither sleeping nor eating, and taking amphetamines to stay focused (she has alluded to possibly having ADHD before). [Author's note: Grimes has since disavowed the association of her music with drugs, saying that she has struggled with addiction in the past.]
Her next album came in 2015: the widely acclaimed Art Angels, which saw a turn towards an even poppier sound and moved away from the ambient and psychedelic feel of Visions towards classic synthpop and electronica. Art Angels was recorded again at her home, now in Los Angeles, and showed a mix of strong pop hooks with more intelligible lyrics that touched on themes of personal doubts, lost friendships, and her place in the music industry. [Because this album is most likely her best-known on Popheads, I will not discuss it in much depth].
Infamously, she was quoted in 2019 as calling the album a "piece of crap", a narrative she has refuted since, saying her comments were taken out of context. Despite her success, neither Visions nor Art Angels had any singles that charted highly even in her home country, but she gained a loyal cult following online. To accompany the album, she also released The Acid Reign Chronicles, a series of music videos by her and her best friend HANA).
How could one follow up an album that's been repeatedly called one's magnum opus? It would have to be something crazy, wouldn't it? Something that's provocative ... it gets the people going ...
This is the sound of the end of the world
Does anyone think global warming is a good thing? I love Grimes. I think she's a really interesting artist
We come to it at last: Miss Anthropocene, stylized at release as Miss_Anthrop0cene, Grimes' fifth studio LP and my pick for album of the year.

It’s called Miss_Anthropocene. It’s a concept album about the anthropomorphic Goddess of climate Change: A psychedelic, space-dwelling demon/ beauty-Queen who relishes the end of the world. She’s composed of Ivory and Oil - Grimes via Instagram

?

The way I figure it is that climate change sucks and no one wants to read about it because the only time you hear about it is when you’re getting guilted. I wanted to make climate change fun. Miss Anthropocene has got a Voldemort kind of vibe. She’s naked all the time and she’s made out of ivory and oil. It’s going to be super tight. [...] If I’m stuck being a villain, I want to pursue villainy artistically. If there’s nothing left to lose, that’s actually a really fun idea to me. I think it has freed me artistically. The best part of the movie is the Joker. Everyone loves the villain. Everyone fucking loves Thanos. Let’s make some Thanos art. (Source)

If you haven't heard this album or know anything about it yet, you might be thinking: Wait, what?
Miss Anthropocene is a concept album about the apocalypse. As Grimes said, she wants to make climate change fun. We're living in a new epoch, the Anthropocene, the age of humanity, so named because we now have the power as a species to alter our environment, or even destroy it. Some might find this disturbing. Grimes, however, finds it thrilling.

So my album’s about a modern demonology or a modern pantheon where every song is about a different way to suffer or a different way to die. If you think about it, god-making or god-designing just seems so fun. The idea of making the Goddess of Plastic seems so fun to me. - Grimes

As is common with Grimes: Is she serious? Is she trolling? Being edgy? When the news is full of natural disasters, species extinctions and dire warnings about a climate apocalypse, why would anyone want to make an album about how dying from climate change is awesome? Well, it should be said: Miss Anthropocene is not Grimes. She is a character, a personification of our times, and she is also (this is very key) a villain. This is, as Grimes has done before and shown a long-running interest in, a work of science fiction.
It would be absurd not to talk briefly about how our last year was dominated by the life-altering effects of COVID-19 and how life in quarantine has felt like the apocalypse to many. It's been hard on us, our mental health, our finances. This isn't a "quarantine album", and the album was mostly finished before the virus appeared in the news. Grimes did not predict it, but she ended up making the perfect soundtrack to our dire 2020 anyway and how powerless we felt to do anything about it. "You're gonna get sick, you don't know when", she sings. The threat was always looming whenever we went out, and when we stayed in we had little to do often but doomscroll through news articles about wildfires, protests against police brutality worldwide, a draining election cycle in America, take your pick. Last year was frankly a shitshow no one saw coming - though maybe they should have. Things just aligned right with this album being full of darker lyrical themes, and darker in sound than the bright-sounding Art Angels.
We had a taste of what the album would be like before it came out with the song "Pretty Dark" (video, a demo track released in 2019 that didn't make it onto the album. On this song, Grimes explores alternate characters, being a girl named "Dark", as a chance to escape from her Grimes persona. However, the concept of the album ended up being much more complex, with a whole pantheon of "new gods" that are fitting for our time, each song representing a different facet of the modern world. Here they are as listed on her website months before the album came out:

1. Goddess of climate crisis: Miss Anthropocene
2. Demon of addiction: "Delete Forever"
3. Goddess of ID and social media: War Nymph, her digital avatar
4. Demon of AI: "We Appreciate Power"
5. Goddess of gaming: "Violence"
6. Demon of political apathy: "My Name is Dark"
7. Goddess of simulation: "4ÆM"
8. Demon of ego death: "Before the Fever"
9. Goddess of digital lust: "IDORU"
10. Demon of sexual assault: "Darkseid"
11. Goddess of gender roles: "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth"

Isn't this pretentious? Maybe. But it's optional: you don't need to know all of the album's lore to understand what Grimes is singing about on it. For those who wish to know the background and thought process behind the album in more detail, I highly recommend reading this interview with another uncontroversial Popheads fave, Lana Del Rey first, then delving into her Genius annotations. For now I'm going to give my own, somewhat subjective (!) takes on what each track is about.
Annihilation sounds so dope!

• "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" (Visualizer)

In 2020, Grimes became a mother for the first time with partner Elon Musk, having a child named X Æ A-Xii (the Roman numeral for 12); a breakdown of how they came up with this unusual name can be found here. Grimes and Musk met in 2018 on Twitter, bonding over an obscure philosophical reference (a thought experiment about the dangers of AI called Roko's Basilisk) and made their first public appearance together at the Met Gala that year. Because Musk is (I would argue) an even more controversial figure than Grimes is, I won't be talking about him otherwise, nor do I believe it's relevant to the album. However, this song does touches on her feelings about pregnancy and motherhood, having to (in her words) sacrifice her body to another being.
When Grimes announced her pregnancy in a rather cryptic Instagram post, there was some debate over whether she was pregnant herself at all (remember, she trolled the media in 2019 by claiming to have had an experimental eye surgery which makes zero biological sense). This was cleared up soon, however. On this song, Grimes reflects on being (as the saying goes) heavy with child, bringing new life into a world with an uncertain future. This entrancing song sets the tone for the rest of the album, as does its music video, which begins with a reference to the classic sci-fi film Blade Runner (a movie about rogue androids in Los Angeles that takes place in the far-off year of ... 2019, the year of the song's first release).

• "Darkseid" (Lyric video)

This song references the name of a powerful comic book supervillain, as well as Grimes' Playstation user ID, with online gaming being (her words) "where I go to kill people and stuff". The song features lyrics in Mandarin Chinese by Taiwanese rapper 潘PAN (Pan Wei-Ju), also known as Aristophanes, who had a feature on Art Angels' "Scream". A fan translation can be found here. Here Grimes develops upon her fascination with villains and death, while the lyrics by 潘PAN are hard to interpret literally, but paint a vivid picture of death and decay. The opening line feels quite fitting for a year where many of us sat at home all day being anxious (Unrest is in the soul / We don't move our bodies anymore ...) while the operatic backing vocals call to mind religion and medieval themes, another long-running interest of hers. However this is by far the most difficult song for me to connect with its "god" in concept, and I think its original concept was most likely just abandoned.

• "Delete Forever" (Video)

On this song, released only a couple of weeks before the album itself, Grimes surprised fans with a poignant acoustic ballad with influences from country music - not exactly the kind of genre she is known for doing. Taking the title from a prompt on her computer, Grimes wrote this song about the opioid crisis in North America, being saddened by the death of rapper Lil Peep, who had overdosed on fentanyl (a powerful opioid and dangerous street drug). As well, she touches on her own experiences with drug abuse (I did everything / More lines on a mirror than a sonnet) and being around drug culture in her youth, having lost many friends to drug addiction herself; she compares the experience of feeling euphoric on drugs to the myth of Icarus flying too close to the sun. Grimes describes this song as emotionally hard to perform for her, as is "Oblivion". In the video, she plays a queen overlooking a crumbling empire.

• "Violence" (Video)

Grimes brings up again her fascination with the history of warfare and weaponry over a club banger, produced by the late i_o (Garrett Lockhart) who sadly died in November of unknown causes. Described as a love song sung between the planet Earth and humanity that portrays a dysfunctional relationship between the two; in describing the concept behind the music video, Grimes also talks about digital violence as a modern addition to the physical violence of the past, which is fitting given its "god" is video games.
The video, filmed in the Vibiana cathedral in Los Angeles, features Grimes surrounded by women wielding swords and dance choreography inspired by Tiktok, with a cameo by HANA as the dead woman on the floor. Though Grimes didn't plan to put this song on the album, and the video was choreographed and filmed in a hurry, nevertheless she was pleased with the results. With its edgy and ironic concept (no, Grimes does not really love violence, nor does the Earth; she does collect swords though), as well as its excellent production, this is my own favourite song on the album.

• "4Æm" (Performance video)

Written for the long-delayed video game Cyberpunk 2077, in which Grimes plays an NPC named Lizzy Wizzy, this track has Grimes make use of her love of Bollywood films, sampling the soundtrack of the historical drama Bajirao Mastani. Grimes is well-known for her insomnia (see: the recording of Visions above), which is in turn known for its health effects (explaining the lyrics about getting sick). Here Grimes seems to portray being up all night in an ambivalent way. [Having stayed up all night many times, including to write this piece you are reading right now, I can confirm it only feels fun up to a point, after which it becomes exhausting.]
To me this sounds like great music to play in a futuristic city at night - Grimes is a big fan of the cyberpunk genre herself, which tends to feature this setting, as shown by her previous references to Blade Runner and Akira (an influence upon the video of "Delete Forever").

• "New Gods"

Here Grimes gets into the theme of the album as being inspired by the "gods" - secular replacements for religion - that underlie the concept of the album, the most important being the goddess of climate change (Miss A herself) but including addiction ("Delete Forever"), insomnia ("4Æm"), and more.

I was like, “Well, who are the new gods?” Because we have all this new stuff. We have plastic and pollution and plastic surgery and social media. The new gods sound sick. They sound like … like the Sailor Scouts, like these sick demons. - Grimes

Here Grimes also alludes to her image as gothic, describing herself as wearing "black attire, black eyeliner", fittingly for a bleak-sounding, pessimistic song. Being the slowest track on the album, it may be hard to get into, but it wouldn't be the same without it.

• "My Name Is Dark"

Grimes described her thoughts behind the making of this song in this ... interesting tweet. (I voted for "fighting Balrog", but it seems closer to the latter.) Her "nu metal song about insomnia" ended up being not quite either but does show some of the influence of industrial music on the album; she again brings up drug use, sleeplessness and her alter ego of "Dark" from the single "Pretty Dark".

It’s just about pretty obvious, like, paradise in hell, making the decision to be good or bad. The specter of death always haunting you. It was serious. - Grimes

Grimes depicts herself as jaded and nihilistic (The boys are such a bore / The girls are such a bore / I never trust the government and pray to God for sure, yeah) in the lyrics and alludes to mental illness and self-destructive urges with the opening lines about wishing for annihilation ("When you don’t care if you live or die, when you’re so depressed that you’re like, 'Whatever, fuck it'"). She also hints at her long history of controversies and misconceptions in the media (I'm not shy but I refuse to speak / Because I don't trust you to understand me). Grimes found the song very difficult to make, wanting it to sound "roaring" with its screaming vocals.

• "You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around"

In one of her most melancholy-themed songs, here c. sings openly about suicide ideation, conceptualizing it as another demon of hers. She brings up various suicide methods and self-harm, and imagines herself in death as happy. Despite its morbid subject matter, this is a deceptively upbeat song musically. Although self-destruction and death are recurring themes on this theme, this is the one where she talks most about wanting to die herself.

• "Before the Fever"

First of all, that title is almost too on the nose for an album released in February 2020.
Here Grimes sings about hedonism in the first verse and uses an old joke as a metaphor for death (There are many ways in / But there's only one way out), referring to birth and death. She explains the title thus:

Grimes explained how she wanted "Before the Fever" to invoke the "literal feelings" of dying — the uncertainty, desperation, and bizarre tranquility presumably felt when one knows it's the end. "Fevers are just kind of scary, but a fever is also sort of poetically imbued with the idea of passion and stuff, too," she told him. "It's like it's a weirdly loaded word — scary, but compelling and beautiful." What's more terrifying and more beautiful than committing yourself to another person when everything could very well implode in your face? One could even call it romantic. (Source)

Even though it was written before the COVID-19 outbreak became serious, nevertheless the theme of this song could easily be called love in the time of coronavirus for the way it combines metaphors of illness with romance (cf. the analysis of "Violence").

• "IDORU"

By far the happiest-sounding song on the album, this seven-minute epic is also the longest, and much needed after the dark themes that pervade much of it. Beginning with what sounds like birdsong, it's a fun, cute, lighthearted ditty that gives a bit of much-needed hope to the album (I wanna play a beautiful game / Even though we're gonna lose / But I adore you). Maybe we're all going to die and humanity will go extinct; maybe not. If that's going to happen, can't we have some fun anyway?
As an aside, the title is a neat pun on the phrase "I adore you" but also seems to be referencing the novel Idoru ("idols") by famed cyberpunk author William Gibson, in turn about the Japanese concept of "idols", a unique kind of celebrity.
There has been fan speculation over who, if anyone, the song may be about; Grimes alluded to its meaning on a livestream with HANA but did not say in the end. My own take is that it could just as well be about the Earth itself.
These are all ten of the tracks on the standard edition of Miss Anthropocene; on the deluxe version(s) there are five bonus tracks, four of which are alternate mixes of other songs on the standard edition that differ mainly in length ("So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth", "Violence", "My Name is Dark" and "IDORU"). These seem to have been done to make the longer tracks more suitable for playlists, explaining the name "algorithm mix" for them. As well, there is one more: the original WAP.

• "We Appreciate Power" (Video)

First of all: what a fucking BANGER.
"We Appreciate Power" is a bonus track that was released as a single in 2018. It was originally meant to feature vocals by Poppy, who had featured Grimes on her own 2018 album Am I a Girl? but after a feud between the two, she was replaced with HANA. Musically, it is influenced heavily by nu-metal, it blends crunchy distorted guitars and loud rock drums with an awesome electronic drop. Grimes' and HANA's vocals trade between verses and choruses and blend so well it is hard to tell which part is whose upon first listen. This song was due to have a larger-budget music video, but ended up getting a bare-bones video instead, which is still a very fun watch with its cyberpunk visuals.
Lyrically, it was inspired by a North Korean girl group who make propaganda music for the state, as well as Grimes' fascination with the concept of an AI dictatorship. "We Appreciate Power" touches on common cyberpunk themes like mind uploading, transhumanism and simulated reality. The song portrays AI rule as something desirable yet frightening, punctuating the lyrics with unsettling shrieks and ending the song with Grimes chanting "Submit" repeatedly. Despite its tongue-in-cheek nature, the song's lyrics led to a minor controversy: for her speculation of AI replacing humans, musicians Zola Jesus and Devon Welsh called her a "silicon fascist" and they got into a spat on Twitter that seems to be resolved, with Grimes acknowledging Zola made some good points. As for the prospect of an AI takeover: it's frankly a terrifying thought, but at least we'd have jams like this.
Now is the time to burn twice as bright and half as long. Sincerely, Miss Anthropocene
This writeup is dedicated to all those cyberpunks who fight against injustice and corruption every day of their lives! (DJ mix)
Thanks so much for letting me do this writeup, Popheads - and thank you if you made it to the end. I know there is a lot here, but Grimes is a longtime favourite artist of mine and I had a lot to say. I hope I've been reasonably balanced here and not come off as an apologist stan; I am well aware Grimes can be "messy" or a "problematic fave". However, I've tried to explain the best I can what this album is really about, give my thoughts, and explain why I think it's one of the albums of the year. As well, if I said anything factually wrong, please let me know; I tried my best to source everything and get things right.

Questions for the culture:

• [Voice of Anthony Fantano] What did you think of the album? Did you love it? Did you hate it?
• The album was infamously leaked months before its release. (I didn't listen to the leak.) Did you listen to it or not, and do you think it may have affected fan reception to the album?
• A big problem with concept albums is that they often have an elaborate concept that doesn't come across well in the lyrics. What do you think of Grimes' concept for this album and did she succeed at it? Do you have different readings of the lyrics than what I wrote?
• How would you say this album holds up against her others? Was the darker tonal shift a good thing? Would you have liked her to make a more upbeat or poppy album?
• How would you rank it this among the year's albums? Were they better on average, worse, etc.?

Feel free to ask me any other questions, bring up other topics as you like and I will respond to everyone. (I just have one request though: please for the love of god do not bring up Grimes' partner or child; I think it's messy and like I said, not very relevant to the album anyway.) Any other topic, no matter how "spicy", is fair game though. Just be nice.
Hope reading this was fun! We have more AOTY posts every day for the rest of the month, so be sure to check those out too.
WE APPRECIATE POPHEADS
- vayyiqra