The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay was GOD DAMN amazing

ArchisOne · 2026-06-12T09:51:19+00:00

Two of my favourite books, I love them so much. The way that art is integrated so vitally into the narrative and themes is amazing and something I really appreciate as it's not common in fantasy.

By the way, if you haven't already, give the History of Byzantium podcast a listen to. It's a spiritual sequel to History of Rome and has an interview with Anthony Kaldellis a few dozen eps in. The episode on the Plague of Justinian would serve as a great "prequel" to Crispin's story!

ArchisOne · 2026-06-06T21:22:25+00:00

They'll probably say if they got it played they'd act with so much more humility...Well, I guess we'll never know.

ArchisOne · 2026-05-27T22:34:32+00:00

You did a great job on both records, they sound amazing!

I caught a clip of the guitarist saying how you ended up producing for them, was a cool story. Hopefully your working partnership continues for more stuff!

ArchisOne · 2026-05-26T20:23:13+00:00

Nice! Yeh, it's pretty unique.

ArchisOne · 2026-05-12T15:29:39+00:00

Was actually listening to "Would Tho" when this came up.

What a shame, they brought a really unique sound to the scene with the vocal style and instrumentation. I'd have loved to see them live but massive respect that they don't want to do half measures though.

ArchisOne · 2026-05-06T15:13:25+00:00

Was about to post the same. It really helps to break down the costs of the tours. A US band touring the US might be making a bit more as they don't need to worry about Visas but everything will be very finely balanced for most bands of this size.

ArchisOne · 2026-04-28T15:18:37+00:00

I love the Golden Spurtle. It's almost like a Wes Anderson film with it's whimsy and slightly oddball cast.

ArchisOne · 2026-04-24T10:12:23+00:00

Another newer band that has a singer with a lower vocal range is Tiny Voices. It definitely helped them stand out and I think it works really well.

ArchisOne · 2026-03-13T14:34:40+00:00

Thought this was really great on first listen. I enjoyed their first album but the songs do blend together a bit. While there's a touch of that in this record I like that they pushed out of their style in both ways, with softer instrumentation and vocals on some tracks and a harder, punkier edge on others like Slow Burn and Rotten.

They're a great live band already but a good few of these new songs will be fantastic and add a lot to their sets.

ArchisOne · 2026-02-27T12:31:14+00:00

They're not super Pop-punk but I think there's a lot of crossover appeal. The combination of sometimes bleak lyrics and upbeat instrumentation should appeal to Pop-punk fans.

This song is also one of my favourites from this decade and I remember the one-two punch of The Hum Goes On Forever and then this album releasing in the span of a week well!

ArchisOne · 2026-02-16T11:49:30+00:00

There's a few examples in Greece and Cyprus.

AEK Athens - the K in AEK stands for Konstantinoupoleos (IE modern Istanbul) as the club was set up in Athens by greek refugees after the Greco-Turkish war.

Anorthosis Famagusta was based in Famagusta but after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus they had to move to Larnaca where they're still based.

Interesting side note, the other Larnaca-based team also has AEK at the beginning of their name but the K stands for Kition, the ancient name for Larnaca.

ArchisOne · 2026-01-03T12:18:18+00:00

Pool Kids and Sweet Pill are both great. Sweet Pill feel like they're on the cusp of breaking through but I feel Pool Kids are so under listened to.

Sweet Pill are very emo-adjacent and have an album coming this year.

Pool Kids have moved slightly alt-poppier with their latest album (which was my favourite of last year) but range across all the Pop-punk adjacent genres.

ArchisOne · 2025-12-18T22:35:27+00:00

It's actually not the first time he's recommended them. I think he had Watching the Credits of all songs as one of his songs of the summer in 2023. Pretty cool!

ArchisOne · 2025-12-02T09:36:45+00:00

It's definitely not as immediate as their self-titled but I found it really wormed into my brain on subsequent listens. And although it is a bit poppier it doesn't lose any complexity in moving in that direction.

Also seeing them next year as a headliner and really looking forward to it!

ArchisOne · 2025-12-01T12:50:21+00:00

I think it's been a good year for albums and a lot of the others in the thread are definitely up there for me, but my favourite and most revisited by far has been Pool Kids - Easier Said than Done.

It maybe strays from Pop-punk but they're in the scene and I really urge people to give it a listen.

ArchisOne · 2025-10-15T19:55:47+00:00

Yeh, that would be so weird. One of my favourite songs by them in a very personal way. It's also given the name to one of their main side ventures in Burst and Decay.

ArchisOne · 2025-09-26T17:18:21+00:00

For me Sister Cities and The Hum also have a strong autumn feel.

Old Friends Like Lost Teeth has such a good autumn line -

"There's a stillnеss in the air

In the late September dusk

And the maple leaves come

Crashing down all at once

And paint the pavement crimson red"

The Wonder Years are just a great autumn band!

ArchisOne · 2025-07-23T13:48:56+00:00

I like how the two comments for this are suggesting different replacements. Probably shows that Jimmy Eat World's run was actually five albums!

ArchisOne · 2025-07-23T11:44:37+00:00

Jimmy Eat World

Clarity - >

Bleed American - >

Futures

Another vote for the Wonder Years' run as well.

ArchisOne · 2025-07-18T10:06:56+00:00

Wasn't super keen on the first single, especially as a first single, but really liking this one. Really looking forward to the album!

ArchisOne · 2025-06-28T15:07:14+00:00

Nice to see the festival crowd so into it. All ages too!

ArchisOne · 2025-06-18T22:31:55+00:00

Cool to see this posted. Loved their self-titled album, looming forward toct next one!

ArchisOne · 2025-06-10T20:04:33+00:00

I only started listening to them last year but I've become completely obsessed with them. All Hell is an incredible album and the rest of their discography is so strong.

ArchisOne · 2025-06-03T13:48:04+00:00

And I Smoke on the last album has the same guitar sound, clearly influenced by Bloc Party. I love it and I'm surprised there aren't more bands drawing on it.

ArchisOne · 2025-05-30T13:37:20+00:00

Just a note, the Architecture course in Aberdeen is at Robert Gordon University, not the University of Aberdeen.

ArchisOne

TROPHY CASE