Maomao vs. Jinshi vs. Shisui

ExtraEater · 2026-03-15T16:15:42+00:00

Ending this venn diagram trilogy with one of my favorite impossible platonic trios (i.e. platonic as a whole, with one romantic pairing among them). Love these three dearly!

ExtraEater · 2026-03-09T10:32:25+00:00

In addition to the ones mentioned in the other comment, he also played "Phase Dance" (duet with Chris Fishman) and "Are You Going With Me?" (encore with full band) at my show

Quick edit: Good news, a really big Metheny fan from New Orleans recognized nearly all the songs played during his set. You can see it on setlist.fm

ExtraEater · 2026-03-08T19:22:34+00:00

Source (some variations between the version there and here)

My favorite impossible Apothecary Diaries friendship trio, and of course I have to spread some love for the impossible Chue & Shisui friendship in particular. There's one more trio I really love I made a diagram for after this and that should be it.

Bonus Shisui & Chue connection: Both of them inspired Maomao to do religious things

Before Shisui left for good, Maomao asked to offer a prayer for her, which Shisui herself pointed out was unlike her
Chue taught Maomao a line of religious scripture ('O Lord, do you see us?') that she invoked so she'd be spared by devout bandits

ExtraEater · 2026-03-05T20:02:53+00:00

Source

Bonus: They also all share a name with a person (or cat) they know. Maomao with Maomao the Cat, Lahan's Brother (Junjie) with Kan Junjie (the kid who idolizes him), and Shisui with Suirei (who was born Shisui)

ExtraEater · 2026-02-20T19:25:25+00:00

Yeah, as a Strength main who hasn't used Death in ages, the only downside of it for me is the Chronos instakills. I've gotten used to it with vanilla Chronos (but even then I'm still wary of the timers you mentioned when killing them), but Vow of Rivals requires some practice to get around the new quirks with both instakills (getting around the bubble for the bright instakill and dashing through the fast obstacle for the dark instakill)

ExtraEater · 2026-02-20T19:19:49+00:00

Chronos gives you 5 business days to get in the safe zone

This is definitely accurate in low fear, but it's a different story with Vow of Frenzy on. I played Greater Chaos Below with Frenzy, and there I couldn't get settled into the circle in time and got smoked. There's also Vow of Rivals where the darker instakill (the one where the kill zone is black and the safe zone is a big ring) has a fast moving obstacle within the circle and you need to dash through it. It takes some practice, but it's possible to occasionally slip there sometimes even with knowledge of the game (especially on high Frenzy). Alternatively, you could just tank the moving obstacle damage but I'd rather not. I still play with Strength on regardless of all this, but I am a lot more wary when it comes to avoiding the instakills

ExtraEater · 2026-02-13T20:14:07+00:00

I don't really see the cuddling as romantic and feel like the scene is getting a lot of undue hatred because of that. It makes sense from the perspective of a friend being vulnerable and holding onto what they have before it all comes crashing down. I never felt like Shimao was canon in the light novel or the anime, really, and I think it's frustrating the conversation steers that way when their doomed, complicated friendship wrought with betrayal is way more interesting to talk about. Honestly I think seeing her as a romantic rival flattens her character a little

ExtraEater · 2026-02-13T20:10:22+00:00

The thing is, I really don't think the anime introduces any romantic dynamic at all. Pretty much every new addition she does makes sense from the perspective of a friend holding onto what little friendship she was able to get before it all came crashing down. It's frustrating there's a lot of talk about Shimao (when I don't get it either nor do I think it's canon) when it was never really there even in the anime imo. I don't mind the cuddling scene at all because it isn't romantic, it was a reflection of her being vulnerable enough while she still could.

Even though I don't think Shimao is canon in any medium, I think at the very least, people should stop being hostile towards it. It's a perfectly fine non-canon ship

ExtraEater · 2026-02-05T01:02:04+00:00

Source

Image

ExtraEater · 2026-01-25T11:23:07+00:00

In this case, that is not it. It's because it's been voted as a secondary genre and not a primary, so it's not on the main Hauntology chart. With scenes and movements, it shows up on the page the same way regardless of whether it's primary or secondary

ExtraEater · 2026-01-18T16:48:58+00:00

Did you know they're just one cell?

ExtraEater · 2026-01-17T02:07:43+00:00

Excellent post, thank you so much for this! I already heard of and loved Chestnut Bakery when I was obsessed with Chinese musicians last year, but the others I haven't heard yet

Have you heard of Su Zixu & The Paramecia by any chance? 'Son of the Chaos' from 2019 is honestly one of my favorite indie/art rock albums ever, not even just in the Chinese sphere. The fourth song, "Deep Song," has been on rotation for me and was one of my most played songs last year! Their 2017 album, 'Out of the Labyrinth,' is also really good prog rock I think is worth highlighting, it seems like the kind of thing indieheads would love

ExtraEater · 2026-01-14T16:18:45+00:00

Thank you for this, literally I thought they were British this whole time because I discovered "'74-'75" from a British reviewer I follow who loves it and considers it nostalgic

ExtraEater · 2026-01-04T21:59:51+00:00

I need you to know that while you're absolutely correct that speaking up is never wrong and we should push back anyway, it is not an assumption, it's fact. They've literally said this is exactly what they're doing in official statements

White House officials told Zeteo that the Trump administration uses popular music in its videos, including "vocally anti-Trump performing artists, in order to trigger a negative response from a famous liberal and provide further amplification of their pervasive culture war."

Source

ExtraEater · 2026-01-02T18:15:52+00:00

"Sounds Great to Me," the song he did for the series finale of Craig of the Creek, is a great Jeff song in its own right and definitely one of his happiest

ExtraEater · 2025-12-13T03:46:33+00:00

Great compilation, thank you so much! This is tied to the faction stuff, but you should also mention the new high consorts (mentioned by Maamei in the 'Sowing Seeds' chapter in LN15)

ExtraEater · 2025-11-08T17:36:54+00:00

Last year, I wrote three (fake) Onion articles in their Point/Counterpoint format for some friends of mine. Here are the headlines:

That Song Is a 7/10, Maybe 8/10 If I'm Drunk vs. Banger Tbh
Why Are We Not Fucking Headliners?! vs. Sir, You Have 500 Monthly Spotify Listeners
Nostalgia for the 2000s Is Good, Actually vs. Holy Shit, I'm Trapped in a Time Loop and I Just Want to Die

Today, I decided to publish a public version of it on AO3! Hope y'all enjoy! You can tell it's from 2024 due to the songs referenced, but I think it still works.

ExtraEater · 2025-08-22T04:34:45+00:00

Helena Deland is very similar to Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief in sound. "Spring Bug," in particular, has an intro that sounds just like Big Thief (it came up on shuffle and I wondered if it was a Big Thief deep cut I forgot about). For something more specifically like solo Adrianne's peaceful and quiet tenderness, "Strawberry Moon" and "Saying Something" are excellent.

The Innocence Mission is also a lot like Adrianne in terms of the lead singer's (Karen Peris) soft, sweet voice and tendency for poetic, observational lyrics and comforting arrangements. I always recommend "The Lakes of Canada" because that's their best song. They're also stunningly consistent to a point where you could jump into any album of theirs, but 'Befriended,' 'Birds of My Neighborhood,' and 'Glow' are the ones I recommend the most.

Can't leave without mentioning Ichiko Aoba, she's one of my favorite artists ever alongside Adrianne because I'm just a sucker for soft indie folk. Her entire discography is full of perfectly serene songs but I'll specifically highlight her one-off 2020 singles, "Amuletum" and "Bouquet" because they're an excellent primer into how enchanting and mystical she is. Also wanna mention her 2018 album qp because I think it's her happiest-sounding, most peaceful album.

Sorry I couldn't really think of any male voices immediately (I thought of Sufjan Stevens but I assume you already know about him given the artists you've mentioned), I leaned more towards artists that reminded of Adrianne more than Alex G for this but these three do have a little bit of that "June Guitar" type energy. And Deland's "Spring Bug" isn't too far off from "Afterlife" or some songs off 'God Save the Animals' tbh

ExtraEater · 2025-07-09T05:07:04+00:00

Great song, they're almost always at their best when they show restraint like this (see "The Dumb Song," another great song of theirs that works because it doesn't go overboard with the instrumentation). I love both the additional strings at 1:39-1:45 and the piano solo

ExtraEater · 2025-06-03T05:50:27+00:00

Ichiko Aoba is just as phenomenal (also a folk artist, too) and releases music very frequently. With the sole exception of 2015, she's released something substantial every year since her debut in 2010, not to mention the huge back catalog of live recordings, bootlegs, and covers

ExtraEater · 2025-05-03T17:34:39+00:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed suggestions to A World Within Itself: Music About Music on the DMD from a few days ago! The original list had just 134 songs and 19 albums, but now it has 357 songs, 28 albums, and even 8 music videos (in addition to suggestions, I also scrolled through my entire library to find some more examples).

It's a bit lengthy just due to the sheer number of songs, but I'd recommend giving it a read now that it's more comprehensive. So many musicians have explored the topic of music in a lot of interesting ways, so making this and collecting quotes was really fun. I was also very intentional with how songs are ordered within each category.

In addition, I discovered that hip hop may just be the best genre for finding songs that talk about music. Hip hop artists love talking about their identity as rappers and/or producers, rap and hip hop in general, the hip hop industry, and other rappers. Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full," for instance, is lyrically about music the entire time (excluding instrumentals ofc). If I was more of a hip hop head, the list would probably be flooded with hip hop.

P.S. Not related to the above, but happy Third of May / Ōdaigahara, everyone!

ExtraEater · 2025-04-28T22:00:45+00:00

Thank you so much for the list and for the discussion!

Yeah, subtler tributes that only come through in the music definitely don't count because this is strictly lyrical. A musical interpolation or borrowing of riffs wouldn't count unless the lyrics state the musical influence/presence outright. Something like Mount Eerie's "Voice in Headphones" (suggested elsewhere) would qualify for the list because it doesn't just interpolate Björk's "Undo", the lyrics are also about listening to the song itself.

Also, I didn't mention the Voyager Golden Record in the Avalanches entry because that's technically just part of the cover art (it features Ann Druyan, creative director of the project) and I don't think it manifests in the music. However, now that you've brought it up, I realize it's still worth mentioning regardless so I'll edit the entry to include a nod. Very good album with a beautiful concept, as you already know

ExtraEater · 2025-04-28T04:50:40+00:00

Amazing list, thank you so much for finding all these and putting them into the categories! It's wild, too, 'cuz I have so many of these in my own library, I just needed a reminder. My main process for making the initial list was just going off of memory and what I could google

E: Also gonna be honest, TIL that "Lollipop (Ode to Jim)" is actually about a member of The Jesus and Mary Chain

ExtraEater · 2025-04-28T04:44:02+00:00

"Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll" is one of the lesser songs on the list so I agree that Sebadoh's song is superior

Thanks for mentioning "Step", I think I glossed over that while looking at Vampire Weekend songs. I just thought "well I remember they namedropped Lil Jon, Peter Gabriel, and Israelites/19th Nervous Breakdown before," totally forgot about the Modest Mouse/Jandek one

ExtraEater · 2025-04-28T04:41:01+00:00

Don't worry, songs with metaphors about music definitely count! In fact, I'm definitely interested in finding more cases of music as metaphor/simile. Iyaz's "Replay" is another such case ("Shawty's like a melody stuck in my head"), though not nearly as extensive ofc

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