The new My Bloody Valentine album m b v is a decent listen. It’s got big shoes to fill, and fails to fill them in full gaze of an adoring and nostalgic public, but just pretend it was recorded by one of the many faceless “post-rock” troupes or ambience-bangers that have birthed and died in the twenty-two years since Loveless and suddenly it sounds refreshing and lively. Not much is new or different, but there is one innovation: this is the first time an album cover might actually be improved by the use of Comic Sans.

RIYL: the sound of…

I don't really dig on American dance music, brostep, club electronic music, or, really, most mainstream pop music in general (which explains why I'm just writing about this now)… but I have to admit, this guy is crazy good.

Tracks like She Was (ft. Birds of Paradise) or The Great Divide (Seven Lions remix) erase my previous, long-standing gripes with American "dubstep"–i.e. the boorish "kid playing with a noisemaker" feel. Did anyone else have one of those weird Sound Blaster toys with the "death ray," "machine gun," and "bomb" noises? Press and hold two buttons at the same time and…

And I really despise them both. It's so lazy and just inexcusable anymore. I can't stand that thudding, self-parodic 'unce unce unce' techno beat in fucking everything, mostly radio pop, or, in a genre I actually have interest in, NYC scene chiptune that was likely composed on a Gameboy with LSDJ or something else. 'Unce' is past simply being cliche. It's at least as high a musical crime as writing a song that goes Cmaj Gmaj Fmaj. You son of a bitch! I understand if you're learning to use a tracker, it's an easy framework to lay stuff down,…

My god, chiptunes make me happy.

None of the ancient C64 noise-dirge, ass velcro stuff… that just makes me long for a Sound Blaster.

But that sweet, sweet Amiga sound… the base for countless tracker and demoscene glory tunes… spluttering sprays, thudding beats, careening portamento. I can bathe in it for hours and hours. Like listening to a carefree childhood dumped to disk.

Dubmood, Zabutom? You are heroes. "Zeta Force" is one minute of infinite-loopable greatness, the perfect blend of upbeat anthemic and chilled-out cool. "Supersquatting" is perfect roll up on some fools nerd…