Taylor Swift

by @nicolehe and @warronbebster is game that lets you live out your cyberpunk fantasies by screaming ENHANCE! ... »

Aries

 

You like your romantic partners the way you like your coffee: submerged in ice ‘til they’re the temperature of a cadaver and yet still highly capable of loosening your stools with excitement! Lucky Show: Fat Creeps @ Deep Thoughts

 

Taurus

 

There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in pretending to know, and then pretending to not be able to hear when someone asks a follow-up question while jogging away. Lucky Show: Tacocat @ Great Scott

 

Gemini

 

Revenge is a dish best served cold, but don’t expect a decent tip after that kind of inhospitable shit. Lucky Show: Village of Spaces @ Deep Thoughts

 

Cancer

 

Not only should you look a gift horse in the mouth, you should check all of the orifices for signs of bacterial infection; horse suppositories can be pricey! Lucky Show: Dame @ Great Scott

 

Leo

 

Give a friend a weed oil cartridge and they’ll be high for a month. Teach them how to get their own medical card and they’ll be vaping thick Jerr clouds for a lifetime. Lucky Show: Ash & Herb @ DAP

 

Virgo

 

Drop food on the floor seven times, pick it up eight times and eat it. Lucky Show: Durt Dog @ Midway Cafe

 

Libra

 

Speak the truth, but make sure your bike is already unlocked so you can zip the fuck outta there afterward.  Lucky Show: Neck @ DAP

 

Scorpio

 

A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it’s horny. Lucky Show: Amen Dunes @ Sinclair

 

Sagittarius

 

An eye for an eye sounds callous but it’s always better if you can figure out an even trade and leave money out of the equation. Lucky Show: Glenn Jones @ DAP

 

Aquarius

 

An eagle ripping apart carrion with its face covered with blood in the middle of the road is worth two in cages at the zoo. Lucky Show: Bong Wish @ Opus

 

Capricorn

 

Good advice is always annoying, while bad advice sounds fun as fuck and generally comes from someone who is hoping to end your existence and steal your life. Lucky Show: Peter J Woods @ Gallows Hill Theatre

 

Pisces

 

Love is not a drug. Love is a parasitic infestation and sometimes drugs are required to deworm your heart. Lucky Show: The Water Cycle @ O’Brien’s

 

Once in a great while I publish a poem of my own in the column. I was inspired to write this poem after having my car inspected at Aris Auto in Somerville.

Aris Auto, Somerville

 

He walks slowly to my car

white beard

a sage of the gas station.

His deliberate gait

his gimlet eyes

like some Western gunslinger

he appraises

my gone-to-seed

Honda Civic.

 

I know not to say anything

he’s done that

heard that

been there before

and after.

 

You give it to this

man

straight

with no chaser.

Expect only a nod.

 

He has seen death come to people

and old cars

and he has taken it all in.

He has heard the feeble sounds

of an engine singing its swan song

the clutch that freely

swings with abandon

the telltale oil slicks

marking its grave.

 

“Ok, your car passes. 30 bucks.”

 

I pay amidst

a cabal of mechanics

oil sweating on their clothes

lamenting, laughing

nodding.

Yes–and I take

it all in.

 

— Doug Holder

 

 

_________________________________________

To have your work considered for the Lyrical send it to:
Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143
dougholder@post.harvard.edu

very grateful for @mariuyehara, who is always thinking through the hard stuff »

Somerville mayor protests beer company founder's praise of Trump.

this making of featurette on Idol's Cyberpunk is gold »

While out on the Harajuku street one late afternoon, we came across these two fun Japanese students – Saya and Okusako – sporting colorful styles.

At the left is 18-year-old Okusako, who is dressed in a blue belted chiffon dress, worn over green track pants with purple-and-yellow satin side stripes – both of which are from RRR By Sugar Spot Factory. She finished off her look with white Nike sneakers, a beige FILA crossbody bag with a mesh front pocket, and accessories – from RRR By Sugar Spot Factory – such as gold disc earrings, a lace choker, a blue bangle, and a silver ring. Okusako’s favorite fashion brands are Kinji and RRR By Sugar Spot Factory, and she enjoys the music of BTS. Follow her on Instagram.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Saya is wearing a sleeveless striped shirt from the popular Harajuku resale shop Kinji, which she wore over a yellow t-shirt, and paired with green track pants with yellow-and-purple satin stripes from RRR By Sugar Spot Factory. She styled her outfit with strappy platform sandals from Yosuke, and a clear sling bag from Nana-Nana. Kiki2 is Saya’s favorite vintage/resale shop, and she told us that she is active on Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

So cool! A visual cheatsheet for CSS Grid. »

Developer Micah McGonigal talks about the design and development of his edutainment horror game Baldi's Basics, in the process reminding us how weird and messed up old edutainment games could be. ...

@feraldata original source code for your fave, Furby: - I have no idea what one might do with this, tbh... »

NOTE: The Brattle’s screening of the Short Films of Maya Deren has been postponed until a to-be-determined date in the fall. Nevertheless, everything below still stands. Keep an eye on the Brattle calendar for the program’s new date. And you should still go see The Witch on Wednesday, 9/15, because that movie also rules.

Years ago, a self-proclaimed “film buff” friend-of-a-friend challenged me, exactly as douchily as you’d imagine, to name a successful female filmmaker. Putting on my smarmiest film school smirk, I answered, “Maya Deren.” As predicted, he looked at me blankly and asked, “Did she do any studio work?” She didn’t—and that’s exactly why she matters.

Working as a purely underground independent filmmaker in the 1940s, Deren was a straight-up pioneer, paving the way for the likes of Kenneth Anger, Andy Warhol, and David Lynch. (Not tied to any one medium, she also worked in dance, poetry, and photography, and extensively studied the Vodou religion of Haiti). Her most famous film, 1943’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, is a milestone of spooky surrealism, in which Deren is pursued by a mirror-faced spectre to the strains of a spare, experimental score by Teiji Ito.

For the unfamiliar (or the initiated), the Brattle will present a program of Deren’s work (including MESHES) in a double feature with Robert Eggers’ excellent, Deren-influenced THE WITCH on 8/15, as part of their summer-long series HEROIC! WOMEN WHO INSPIRE. See it, and remember the next time you hear a hackneyed mansplanation of auteur theory: as always, women were there first.

Following the weekend closure of the Alewife Station parking garage, the facility has reopened for daytime parking only, according to an MBTA press release sent the night of Aug. 12.Work crews were able to address areas of concrete deterioration, the release stated. The MBTA closed the garage on Friday, Aug. 10, after concrete from a ceiling in the garage fell on and seriously damaged a car parked there. Over the weekend, crews made concrete repairs and to conducted a comprehensive [...]

Since 2013, the Somerville Toy Camera Festival (STCF) has celebrated the quirky and creative results that can happen when photographers are compelled to loosen their controls, submit to the light, and embrace the accidental. Each year since, the Festival jurors have selected work from a wide range of toy camera photographers, both US and international, who will exhibit their work in simultaneous gallery shows throughout Somerville. STCF also features related programming, including artist talks, panel discussions, workshops, social events and a darkroom day.

The sixth annual STCF will run from September 6-October 13, with work displayed at Brickbottom Gallery, Nave Gallery, and Washington Street Art Gallery, making it among the largest toy camera festivals in the world. Showcasing the lo-fi art work of local, national and international photographers, STCF highlights the talents and creativity of artists who use low tech tools to create high art images.

This year’s STCF has been juried by fine art photographer Jennifer Shaw. The exhibit “Space In Between,” held at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, will specifically showcase Shaw’s work. “Space In Between” will coincide with the Festival’s time-frame, running from September 11-October 5. The Photographic Resource Center in Cambridge will also be taking part in highlighting STCF, hosting several related events during the Festival’s run.

For up to date information on STCF, visit www.somervilletoycamera.org. The list of artists selected for this year’s Festival can be found at www.somervilletoycamera.org/2018-selected-artists. This year there are a total of 70 artists, from within and outside the US.

Details for each participating gallery are as follows:

Brickbottom Gallery
1 Fitchburg Street
Somerville 02143
STCF: featuring 31 artists, totaling 53 images on display.
STCF Brickbottom opening reception: Sat., Sept 8, 5-7 pm.
STCF Brickbottom exhibition dates: Sept. 6-Oct. 13.
Regular gallery hours: Thurs.-Sat., 12-5 pm.
brickbottom.org, brickbottomartist@rcn.com, 617-776-3410

Nave Gallery
155 Powderhouse Boulevard
Somerville 02144
STCF: featuring 24 artists, totaling 49 images on display.
STCF Nave opening reception: Sun., Sept. 9, 3-5 pm.
STCF Nave exhibition dates: Sept. 8-30.
Regular gallery hours: Sat. & Sun., 1-5 pm.
navegallery.org/wp/, info@navegallery.org, 617-629-2006

Washington Street Art Gallery
321 Washington Street
Somerville 02143
STCF: featuring 15 artists, totaling 25 images on display.
STCF Washington St. opening reception: Sat., Sept. 8, 7-9 pm.
STCF Washington St. exhibition dates: Sept. 8-30.
Regular gallery hours: Sat., 12-4 pm.
www.washingtonst.org, gallery@washingtonst.org, (617) 623-5315

Along with:
Griffin Museum of Photography
67 Shore Road
Winchester 01890
“The Space Between” gallery talk with fine art photographer Jennifer Shaw:
Sun., Sept. 16, 4-5:30 pm, followed by opening reception from 5:30-7:30 pm.
“The Space Between” exhibition dates: Sept. 11-Oct. 5.
Regular gallery hours: Tues.-Sun., noon-4 pm.
griffinmuseum.org, photos@griffinmuseum.org, 781-729-1158

In a press release issued Friday afternoon, the MBTA announced the weekend closure of the Alewife MBTA garage following reports by Wicked Local media partner WCVB-TV that the garage was being closed."Out of an abundance of caution, the Alewife garage will be closed through the weekend to allow for continued repairs and a comprehensive engineering assessment," the press release stated. "Through ongoing assessments and repair work, additional areas of deteriorated concrete that need to [...]

Oh and to find your twitter friends use Feel free to ask me questions about Mastodon. You… »

The past few years have produced a surge of new and exciting grindcore bands popping up all over.  With so many bands trying to break out of the scene it can be refreshing when some start to shine through.  Iowa’s Closet Witch released their first full length album on June 15th and it shows a lot of progress and polish from their first EP in the spring of 2015 (check out their second EP from later that year, Black Salt, it has a lot of really crushingly creative stuff to sink your teeth into).

Closet Witch by Closet Witch

Over the past few years Closet Witch has dramatically tightened up the riffs and grown a lot as a band.  I do miss some of the spastic, chaotic guitar and bass work from their earlier releases (it’s still there to some degree) and the plethora of well executed samples.  In their place Closet Witch has developed a very well thought out, expertly executed sound, and shows a tremendous amount of growth as musicians. The vocals by Mollie Piatetsky are so on-point for this album, she has obviously developed some incredible vocal control over the years and sits front, center, and dominating in the mix.  Songs like “Rule by Bacon” and “Personal Machu Picchu” show off some of bands restraint, slowing down the speed of the traditional grindcore oeuvre and demonstrating their reach as musicians.  These songs really pull the album together and make for a memorable album with depth and a range of emotions set up by their past works.

If you are a grindcore enthusiast this album is for you or if you are looking to dip a toe into an increasingly deep pool this is a fun place to start, at under 25 minutes it’s not a huge commitment, but well worth it.

https://closetwitch.bandcamp.com/

If you're not ready to quit like Matt, at least try deleting it off your phone, it feels AMAZING »

ROMs and ISOs are no longer available on the retro games site EmuParadise. ...

We start our day in Australia, with a breakup song by this guy: “Lewis was inspired to pursue music after watching a live Oasis DVD in 2005.”

[Video][Website]
[2.50]

Alfred Soto: Cheer up. After a good night’s sleep, you’ll ask yourself what you did to push her away.
[3]

Katherine St Asaph: This is so sad Alexa play Nate Ruess.
[1]

William John: I see that Sheeran’s inflections have infiltrated the “bananas and avocados” school of vocals now.
[3]

Scott Mildenhall: Great to hear someone singing in an audibly Australian accent; less great that Passenger’s vocal style has travelled to so many Carriers. More interesting (presuming no semantic mistranslation) is how in that one word, “mate,” Dean Lewis signals a million marketers’ notions of normative masculinity, thus pernicious emotional repression, thus “isn’t it nice when blokes talk about their feelings?” And yes, that is a good thing, and it’s interesting to consider how much The Conversation has changed since Mike Skinner did this exact song, better, nearly fifteen years ago.
[4]

Maxwell Cavaseno: Slurred sentimental goop and self-pity, with a backdrop that might as well be a generic greeting card of consolation. Dean Lewis is about as earnest in his navel-gazing as a car salesman, and I can’t tell if that makes “Be Alright” better or worse, but it doesn’t do enough to keep it from being boring. The attempts to punctuate this ditty with character (oooh, a swear! Oh, he’s drinking with his mates! Must be a bit distressed then!) come off as half-considered grasps for some sort of significance that either he’s not sure how to find, or maybe conceited enough to know people will indulge this junk for their own senses of egotism, and so he’d never have to try for more.
[2]

Vikram Joseph: The soggy sub-James Blunt rewrite of “Dry Your Eyes” that precisely none of us needed.
[2]

The noted headset maker Turtle Beach has reported a 218 percent increase in its net revenue year over year, something the company says was made possible by the ongoing rise of battle royale games. ...

By Ian Erlichman

Despite recreational marijuana’s 68 percent approval rating in Somerville, its dispensaries must wait several months until sales begin, says Doug Kress, Director of Health and Human services.

“We have growers that have been approved, but we don’t have the testing facilities,” stated Director Kress, “and there have been no applicants that have come forward as of yet.” However, if a marijuana testing facility were to come online today, Somerville residents would still have to wait several months to buy recreationally, according to Director Kress.

When recreational dispensaries do eventually appear in Somerville, they may pop up in small corner stores, said Kress. But dispensaries won’t be hidden. For safety reasons “they must be public, where people can see.” Although the dispensaries will be placed in public settings, regulations bar them from selling within 500 feet of a school.

In that vein, Somerville’s Health and Human Services board has emphasized the importance of curbing marijuana marketing, directed at the youth, with a heavy regulatory focus on cannabis infused gummies. The CCC has outlawed gummies shaped like flowers and animals and allows only neutral packaging and “non-descript shapes,” says board member Robert Ciccia.

In the age of information, marijuana marketers appear to have more platforms available for advertisement than the substances of years past. An app called “Weedmaps” allows users to locate nearby marijuana dispensaries and exists as an unregulated avenue for marijuana companies to advertise product, says Chairman Brian Green. “Who’s regulating them?” Kress asks.

For those over 21, Edible marijuana presents regulators with slew of legal challenges not seen in other forms of consumption. “There is no breathalyzer for marijuana,” as one board member mentioned. Although police officers are trained to notice behavioral patterns of marijuana users, with no smell and no conclusive test, driving while high may result in negligible legal penalties. “The only way to do it is a blood test,” confirms director Kress.

However, according to research published in the journal of Clinic Chemistry, blood tests are an ineffective way to measure THC levels. Because THC degrades quickly in the body, blood tests conducted several hours after driving will show THC levels much lower than were present at the time of driving.

Similarly, driving impairment might be accidental because of edible marijuana’s delayed affects. If a user ingests an edible they might feel fine “for the next five minutes,” quipped Chairman Green, but “if traffic hits,” the effects could become precipitously more intense while the user is still driving.

Despite the challenges, regulating a market as pervasive as marijuana is not without its benefits. In other recreational states, like Washington, $1.3 billion was raised as of 2017 from the adult marijuana market.

Massachusetts, and Somerville in particular, is looking to draft social benefits behind the growing wake of the recreational weed market. According to its website, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) has developed a “Positive Impact and Diversity Plan” that will kick back benefits to communities that “have previously been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement” and promises to “positively impact those communities.”

There will also be educational benefits as “some of the profit that these places generate have to go into education,” said Chairman Green.

On the user end, regulated cannabis will ensure a safer high, free from the risk of synthetic cannabinoids and laced chemicals. This fact, the board hopes, will draw customers away from the black market, despite the price differential that excise taxes are expected to create.

Still, no dispensaries can open until a testing facility is licensed in Somerville. The City of Somerville is incentivizing residents to participate in the market by giving them priority licensing over outside entrepreneurs.

“An enterprising person would take advantage of this market vacuum,” suggested board member Ciccia. And once there is a running dispensary, we expect to see a lot of success, confirmed Director Kress.

To learn more about the testing facility application, visit the CCC’s website at https://mass-cannabis-control.com, or stop in at the next Board of Health and Human Services Meeting on August 16. If you or someone you know is interested in entering the recreational market, Farm Bug, a local marijuana farming cooperative, has summarized recent marijuana legislation and license prices for easy reading at masscann.org.

Security researcher James Chambers, who's spent plenty of time digging into the inner-workings of the franchise, has explained exactly how the animals parse letters written by players.  ...

Aspiring urban planners, beware. Having Pocket City installed on your phone will give you a nasty case of compulsive phone-checking every ten minutes. Once you're fully invested, there's something about this quirky little city-building adventure that practically begs you to keep coming back, even when you're just sitting around waiting for your cash counter to tick upward long enough so that you can afford a new commercial zone to start the cycle anew.

Codebrew Games' Pocket City is one of the most engaging building experiences on either iOS or Android, and it's full to bursting with things to do, buildings and terrain to unlock, and events to keep you on your toes. The $4.99 game is a small slice of mobile heaven, free of the frustrating timers, obnoxious ads, or energy systems that plague too many of the platform's would-be gems of the genre.

The premise is simple: You start out with a humble plot of land, a handful of money, and a dream. Your first order of business is to start building roads, and then you can branch out from there. You can choose from industrial, commercial, and residential zones, all of which (like roads) can be built simply by selecting a starting point on the grid-based map and dragging outward. Your buildings will spring up in a matter of seconds. Next, you have to make sure they all have electricity and water by building power plants and water towers in a central location, then making sure your roads connect it all together.

There's a brief tutorial at the start of the game to get you acclimated, but you really don't need it, helpful as it is. It's extremely simple to pick up and play, and even simpler to get caught up in Pocket City's rewarding gameplay loop. Build more roads, structures, and zones, and you'll earn XP. Earn more XP, and you'll level up. Level up, and you'll unlock new structures and other cool things to help grow your city even further. You'll then start the cycle over, albeit with additional cash in your pocket to accomplish all this the more you play. The point-and-click interface makes things even easier to understand, because it's positively fool proof.

While building your city, you can utilize recreational locations like aquariums and art galleries to attract visitors, city-dwellers, and build service-oriented structures as well. Your city isn’t going to function properly without a police station, hospital, or fire station, after all. When robbers strike, or buildings go up in flames, you’ll be glad you had them built. Multiple locations are optimal, of course, so your servicemen can get to crimes and fires in time.

If you’re not sure what to do next beyond unlocking new structures and buying new plots of land to eventually buy up the entirety of the grid, there are also quests to complete. Finishing them up will net you a hefty amount of XP and cash, and they often help point you in the right direction. For instance, the fire chief may ask you to upgrade your fire station to level 2 so you can add chopper support, or you may want to upgrade your bank, so you can continue to amass more money. Most are relatively simple tasks to complete, but they do keep you on the right track and pay out big rewards.

There's a graph at the top of the screen that helps you figure out at a glance what your city needs more of at the moment: more residential areas? More commercial zones? You can play the entirety of the game simply by checking this graph, but there are additional stats that go into much more detail to pore over as well. You can see your income per second, your population, your city-dwellers' happiness, and a slew of other informative minutia to help you plan out the best possible city you can.

Sometimes, however, disaster will strike in the form of some pretty devastating natural events: you'll have to contend with tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, and even powerful thunderstorms. You can opt out of random weather events, or you can even trigger them on your own on purpose for a quick XP boost and rewards for coming out relatively unscathed. These disasters can be frustrating, but nowhere near the level you might have thought.  

You can simply rebuild everything that was damaged with one click if you choose, although it'll eat up a staggering amount of pocket change. Triggering events feels a little sacrilegious if you're doing it to earn XP since we're hardwired to hate the things in games like Sim City, but it adds a fun strategic element here.

There are also a series of events you can choose to hold, such as block parties, street races, and fireworks shows. They’ll get you a nice XP boost, so you can rocket toward the next level, but have cooldown periods so you can’t simply reuse them over and over again.

Unfortunately, your time with Pocket City starts to feel a lot less fun when you're rolling in the dough and are a bit confused on what to spend it on. When you've unlocked all the land there is and you're simply not unlocking new toys anymore, it becomes a game of micromanagement and reworking the city plan you've already laid out to ensure its functioning optimally.

This may mean you'll have to change up entire areas by demolishing buildings and starting anew, which can be frustrating after putting so much time into that area. But it's a necessary evil, especially if you want to go beyond Casual and play on Hard or Expert difficulties. That's where things get especially hairy, and even more challenging. You'll get there, even if it feels like you've got more than you can handle – it's such a breezy, entertaining game that it's fun even when it's pushing you.

There's functionality beyond the regular game mode, though. You can keep multiple cities going at once to come back to, so you've got plenty of ways to practice. You can save up to 20 of them, if you so choose. If you make one that you're especially proud of, you can share it with the Cloud to let others try it out. Likewise, you can also download others' cities to see what they've done with their land.

There's also Sandbox Mode, which lets you play around with building fun new cities the way you want them to look, without having to worry about keeping your citizens happy, raising income taxes, or stopping an errant robber. It's a nice, relaxing way to play if you're not interested in building up an awesome place to live.  

Pocket City is by far one of the best city-building experiences you can have on any platform, mobile or otherwise. The streamlined, ad-free experience is great fun at every turn, and minutes spent in-game quickly turn into hours. It's a wonder this review even got written, with a bustling city that's in need of its mayor unattended for the length of time it took to write this. If you're on the fence, just go ahead and pay the five bucks. You certainly won't regret it.

One early evening on the streets of Harajuku, we bumped into Sei, a 16-year-old student who we often feature on our street snaps. Today, Sei caught our attention with his blue-themed outfit rocking super long sleeves.

Sei is decked out in a vintage/remake button-down striped shirt, which features super long sleeves and side button sleeve closures. He styled his shirt with a dark blue satin kanji print necktie, and donned a pair of wide-leg denim pants with studded pocket trims from M.Y.O.B. Rounding out Sei’s ensemble are black New Rock boots, a vintage geometric print crossbody satchel bag, clear glasses, ball chain earrings, and a studded snakeskin leather belt.

Sei likes listening to Big Bang, and he is active on both Twitter and Instagram.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

As revealed in a tweet from Nintendo of Europe, that total includes Nintendo Switch eShop downloads as well as physical sales. ...

Have a good Wednesday! And a good day, as well…

[Video][Website]
[7.86]

Ryo Miyauchi: “The Bamboo Princess” wipes Wednesday Campanella’s slate clean. Gone are the mouthful word salads, replaced by a lyrical and logical tale that makes more use of silence. Kenmochi Hidefumi moves away from the hottest dance-music sounds for string plucks, woodblocks and big brass, though he still can’t resist including some skittering drums and electronic sound effects. The biggest shift comes from Kom_I, whose vocal aspirations of the past few years fully bloom. Knowing her performance antics of the past — which included a few times where she wandered backstage mid-song as the TV cameras kept rolling — it’s a moment of growth to witness the once-restless Kom_I stand rather proper and calm while embracing the music.
[8]

Pedro João Santos: A quiet triumph from Wednesday Campanella, whose Galapagos EP bridges the gap between their pop sensibilities and their newfound propensity toward ambient soundscapes. “The Bamboo Princess” is peppered with bubbly horns and string arpeggios, conflating buoyancy with tranquility. The florescent pre-chorus means to lull us into a summer trance, only to be disrupted by that burst of energy within the hook — playful and earthbound. The theme appears to be rejuvenescence through death, which is as bright an outlook on finitude as they come.
[8]

Julian Axelrod: Gorgeous and surreal in its electronic approach to nature, like watching a beautiful sunset fade into a desktop background. The sumptuous strings set the table for one of the most vivid and exciting drops in recent memory, a whirlwind of horns, yelps and snares that makes a pretty convincing argument for trusting the machine.
[7]

Dorian Sinclair: I’m a huge sucker for pop songs that make use of traditional forms or instruments. Perhaps it’s because I’m Indigenous — it is difficult to make generalizations across cultures, obviously, but there’s a long history of us finding ways to modernize while remaining connected to our traditions and history. It helps, of course, that “The Bamboo Princess” is smartly put together, with instruments combined in interesting ways and KOM_I’s voice effortlessly skimming above everything else going on in the mix.
[7]

Tim de Reuse: Soft-loud-repeat isn’t really a new paradigm in J-pop, but this has such loose, organic sound design that it’s a joy even when it’s predictable. It helps that the overstuffed arpeggios that lie underneath the chorus are short-circuiting my secret love for Bollywood-esque string section theatrics.
[8]

Katherine St Asaph: Every time I think it’s no longer possible for pop to surprise and stun and sound utterly new, like sound has found an entirely new way to unfurl out into the universe, I’m proven wrong. Strings help.
[9]

Iain Mew: The progression of the strings and beats is a gorgeous otherworldly scattering which brings to mind equally the celestial procession in Studio Ghibli’s take on the same traditional story, and Oxide & Neutrino’s treatment of the Casualty theme. While this particular techno-pastoral sound is a new twist, its ambition and the confident execution is no more than par for Wednesday Campanella.
[8]