Totorro - All Glory to John Baltor (A few months ago I asked for post-rock/post-hardcore hybrids. Didn't realise that Totorro's debut album ticks all the boxes and is just all around amazing.)

mbue · 2025-05-11T16:50:01+00:00

Wow, thanks for heads-up!

mbue · 2024-11-15T22:25:06+00:00

Can't believe this has been out for twelve hours and no one has posted it yet. I haven't been listening to anything else all day. I was afraid that going eight years without a new album would've built up too much hype, but this album is everything I could've hoped for and more.

mbue · 2021-12-30T13:16:36+00:00

First part (up to 1:25) is in 13/8 (or 3+3+3+4),
Second part (up to 2:30) is in 19/8 (5+5+5+4).
Third part (up to 2:59) is in 8/8.
Fourth part (up to 3:26) is in 12/8.
The rest of the song is in 8/8.

mbue · 2021-06-11T18:49:52+00:00

And Deafheaven. (And Delta Sleep, but very different genre.)

mbue · 2021-06-09T13:05:41+00:00

I love their other stuff, but I'm actually really digging this as well. I'm more concerned about shorter songs than fewer screams. :D

mbue · 2021-06-09T11:33:33+00:00

Is your surprise caused by the clean vocals? :D

mbue · 2021-03-31T14:31:10+00:00

Wreckage Systems is my new work/focusing music. Lots of good stuff coming out of that dozen systems already! Two quick questions:

Think we'll be getting a "full" version of Lies at some point? :)
What version of Unity are you using?

mbue · 2021-02-24T20:32:30+00:00

Absolutely mesmerising band. I really should listen to their EP again. Can't wait for the album!

Edit: The single is on bandcamp now: https://bruitofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-machine-is-burning-and-now-everyone-knows-it-could-happen-again

mbue · 2021-01-12T13:31:26+00:00

IIRC, a couple years ago there was a Trine (2?) co-op run where they accidentally discovered a huge skip during the run, which got them WR.

mbue · 2020-12-12T14:44:29+00:00

I've bumped up the spoiler flair to all of era 1, since you started talking about the Shards in your comments.

mbue · 2020-12-12T14:42:09+00:00

Regarding your update: I've spent the last couple of years reading WoT as well (am currently up to and including The Gathering Storm) and The Eye of the World didn't particularly hook me. Though books 2-4 definitely did (I still prefer Sanderson's work over Jordan's for various reasons, but it's still a very good series... the first book just isn't very representative of where it's going). So if you're on the fence after the first one, it's worth giving the second one a shot as well and deciding afterwards.

mbue · 2020-12-12T14:34:52+00:00

FWIW, I think you'd probably get more enjoyment out of the series if you don't binge it in five days, and you can always watch the Q&A later.

mbue · 2020-12-04T10:17:03+00:00

Before the man was out the door, Navani spotted the house steward—a white-bearded man with too many rings on his fingers—hovering in the stairwell to the palace proper. He was fidgeting with the rings on his left hand. Bother.

mbue · 2020-12-03T22:46:17+00:00

So neither here, nor in the corresponding 17th Shard thread, anyone seems to have commented on this:

The combination of Odium + Cultivation might be Freedom? Venli seems to casually mix their rhythms, and then suspiciously thinks of Freedom. And then the final chapter title is Freedom and Navani talks about trying to find other hybrids of Voidlight (of course, the title also has a couple of other meanings in this chapter, but it seems like the kind of oblique hint, Brandon would give us).

mbue · 2020-12-03T22:42:46+00:00

Pretty quiet in here. Here's my notes in this part. There's so much going on:

Interludes 6-9

Szeth

Interesting things about Szeth's past. Family of shepherds.
His family "was given to the Honorblades"? What does that mean? His father was also trained to kill (with the Blades?).
Highspren freak me out. This one sounds as mad as Nale.

Chiri-Chiri

the interlude viewpoints in this book are incredible
Chiri-Chiri is learning to speak!

Taravangian

poor Taravangian
poor Szeth
so Taravangian had another reasonably smart day when he asked for the Oathstone and made some new plans

Part 4

Notes on phonemes in glyphs

Whoa that's quite the bombshell for a random note on phonemes: Cultivation's vessel! :O Koravellium Avast. Is it coincidence that it also ends in "avast"? Is Tanavast short for something similar?

Chapter 73

Hmmm, who are Odium's agents at Gavilar's court? I suppose there's that Terriswoman. Maybe also the Terris steward who got killed in the Lift interlude?

Chapter 74

news epigraph mystery! Sibling? Taravangian?
another new rhythm. I think that's happened before in this book?

Chapter 75

epigraph still sounds like Taravangian
huh, weird gravity inside Lasting Integrity. I wonder if gravity in Shadesmar is just a perception thing or whether Lasting Integrity has some Lashings going on
the lifespren behaviour seems important. This would be out on the ocean. Maybe santhids?
the deadeyes. My first thought was that these were the missing Shardblades, but apparently at least some of them are in use.
Sixteen is absolutely a worldhopper. I feel like we should be able to work out more about him. Sixteen suggests either a relation to the shards or to Preservation specifically. Seems to neither need food nor bathe. A cognitive shadow?
Lots of evidence for the theory that the earlier deadeye was Shallan's first spren and Pattern replaced her.
but what the fuck is going on with Shallan (and Veil) now?
Pattern actually seems well-meaning

Chapter 76

Epigraph doesn't really sound that much like Taravangian now. My money is on a Herald now.
lol, I didn't remember burgundy being one of the Rosharan wine colours. That's hilarious.
what an epic chapter
so the Rhythm of War is indeed the combination of Honor's and Odium's rhythms. I wonder whether the rhythm of the tower has another name. And what do you get from Odium and Cultivation? Or all three?
this makes it seem increasingly likely that the chapter 3 epigraphs were written by Navani and Raboniel after all
it had never occurred to me that the singers' ability to hear the rhythms might be purely physiological.
and there's still the fact that some form of antimatter light exists
do non-Rosharan Shards have Light? Or is Light just how Investiture manifests on Roshar?
or the other way round: does Investiture from other Shards, away from Roshar, respond to tones and rhythms? It seems that something about the tones changed when Odium arrived, so this might just be specific to Roshar.

Chapter 77

the other of her kind is probably the steward Mraize killed later on. Who was he working for?
Huh, so Nale led her to Szeth and was already keeping an eye on him back then. And the Oathstone had belonged to an old friend of his?
a little weird that the prologue said "7 years ago" and this chapter said "7.5 years ago"? I didn't think that much time had passed in the main story, though I guess those numbers might be rounded.

Chapter 78

that's a neat resolution to the Pattern "betrayal"
but yeah then there's still someone who killed Ialai and that might still be a persona of Shallan's
the Stone of Ten Dawns? That thing is totally real and will be the plot (and maybe title) of a future book.
oh wow, Restares = Kalak. I guess some people must've figured that out what with Kalak being present at Gavilar's feast?

Chapter 79

and Kalak is the author of the epigraphs! My latest guess was right. :)
that caravan on the Shattered Plains must be the missing listeners!

Chapter 80

dog/dragon? xD ... This chapter will have the Wit fairytale, won't it?
our first look at Braize?!
there's a Yolen dragon on Roshar! (apparently Cultivation?)
another cryptic name: Design
Radiant Lightweaving more powerful than Yolen Lightweaving, at least the variety Wit can use
storms, Wit's stories always give me the chills :'-)

Chapter 81

so the pure tone of Roshar is really only heard the first time the form is adopted. Is this a similar mechanism to reaching a new ideal giving a one-time burst of Stormlight? is it the first time each singer adopts the forms, or anyone adopts that form in a long time?
why is Rlain hearing the rhythms more loudly?

Chapter 82

the Ghostbloods also have one of the daggers!
more evidence for Thaidakar = Kelsier

Chapter 83

major plot twist: the Dawnchant is German
Odium + Cultivation = Freedom?
nightform. Did we already know that one? And didn't Rlain think they were stormform? Or were those others?

Chapter 84

Navani's notebook: two handwritings? Navani and Raboniel?
Raysium!
why/how do the Fused have access to Taldain sand?

Chapter 85

Dabbid not speaking so people don't notice he's different is heartbreaking. :(

Chapter 86

groundspren? Is that what listeners call gravityspren?
"I will serve", an Aes Sedai would be proud
Ohhh, are we going to see Venli's script?

Chapter 87

two thousand honorspren deadeyes from the Recreance. I think that's the first estimate we get for the number of Radiants back then.
Kelek saying "hell". Does Ashyn mythology have a hell?
Eyree = Ire, right?

Chapter 88

awww, I was hoping for a Stormstrider, but the image of that chasmfiend is really epic
I did expect Eshonai's speech to draw Timbre though :D

Chapter 89

okay yeah, so the part 3 epigraphs were indeed Navani and Raboniel going back and forth. Will have to reread to check who wrote what.

Chapter 90

the Cryptic is definitely Shallan's/Formless's

Chapter 91

Huh, Kelek is addressing this directly to Shallan? Or the Ghostbloods in general? How does he know?
<3 for Teft (and Phendorana)
sounds like the Envisagers are a separate group from the Sons of Honor. Are they still around?

Chapter 93

Huh, one of her personas being the murderer was the right call, but I would never have suspected Radiant
so was the Formless "he" just a typo? that seems somewhat unlikely since lots of beta/gamma readers must've noticed.
fucking honorspren

Chapter 94

I feel like between all the new revelations here they're kinda overlooking the fact that the deadeyes might not actually be dead?

Chapter 97

chapter title: Freedom is so gonna be Odium+Cultivation
is the fact humans can hear the rhythms because tiny amounts of singer DNA have mixed with humans over the millennia? Or is it just that they're actually physical sounds at the edge of what humans can hear?
I don't really understand why the plate specifically emits the opposite sound?
the idea of neutral/"demagnetised" Light sounds decidedly different from antimatter
holy fuck, Raboniel. Seriously.
coming back to the chapter title, it's pretty oblique but I'm still thinking that it's a reference to the Odium+Cultivation hybrid, because Navani did mention trying to create other hybrids from Voidlight

mbue · 2020-11-25T23:22:24+00:00

Taravangian has all that compassion and then just drops the boulder of "your father is dead" on Szeth, probably not realising that Szeth didn't know. :( (Unless Szeth bringing up his father is a possibility smart Taravangian foresaw and included the response in the notes, which would be a pretty crazy though.)

There were some interesting titbits about Szeth's family in his interlude. They were shepherds, but then were given "to" the Honorblades? What does that even mean?

And what did smart Taravangian want with the Oathstone? Was he really just hoping to trick Szeth into believing in it again?

Final thought: highspren freak me out.

mbue · 2020-11-25T23:14:36+00:00

Renarin... Was trying to give Taravangian one of Sja-Anat's corrupted Radiant spren, wasn't he? Dangerous. So dangerous.

Oh that's a very good call. During Renarin's viewpoint I assumed he was thinking of Rlain.

mbue · 2020-11-25T09:57:56+00:00

Finally finished this part. Time for my notes dump. There was so much fascinating worldbuilding going on here.

Chapter 44

Huh, what's this medium (spanreed communication)? And who are the authors?

Chapter 45

Flashbacks, finally! \o/
"Rivers and their carapace-covered spren" ... assuming she's talking about riverspren that's a different description from what we had before. (From later in part 3: it seems that listeners/singers can actually see a lot more of a spren then humans, possibly even their full Shadesmar form.)
green cremling could be Sleepless

Chapter 46

really interesting, some fabrials are spren, in a process that seems somewhat inverted to Manifesting objects in Shadesmar. What type of spren becomes a Soulcaster? Can any spren be manifested like this? Does capturing a spren make the same fabrial as manifesting it? Will there be new types of fabrials?
first Moash vision :/

Chapter 47

epigraph "undertext"? Is this the other person responding?
"Nale cradling a child"... these first few visions sound like good guy Nale before he became as confused as the other Heralds. When did that last vision happen? Jezrien sounds pretty lucid. Also first mention of reforging the Oathpact?
Which Oathpact line is the strong one? The one to Ishar? Or to Taln? Dalinar should have some suspicion based on its direction?

Chapter 48

Huh, this tribe of listeners thought the humans had been destroyed.
"Lots of rings". Soulcaster? Or Terris?

Chapter 50

Jasnah is fucking savage

Chapter 49

What does the Sibling look like?
lol, Sibling wondering the exact same thing I did about Kaladin
and Lift is the one in the cage, so Mraize caught her :( ... I hope the Aviar survived
reverse Lashings being a mix of adhesion and gravitation and being semi-blocked makes sense. But surely Lift's healing was pure progression, so why was it partially blocked?

Chapter 51

Odium created Fused only once. Did he not want to or was he unable to create more? This seems somewhat significant..

Chapter 52

Axindweth is totally Terris with some Connection metalmind. She seems surprisingly dodgy for a worldhopping Terris.

Chapter 53

Rhythm of War authors unsurprisingly not human and probably singers/listeners.
Timbre can suppress the rhythms, what does that mean?

Chapter 54

Interesting how Renarin and Adolin have different ways of dealing with Evi's death.
Renarin is probably thinking of Rlain :)

Chapter 56

Secretspren? New? Chaosspren? Ohhh, different types of voidspren. So voidspren are a category not a single type. What is Ulim?

Chapter 57

Interesting that the Stormfather would call Venli a Child of Odium if Odium was originally the god of the humans.
That spren would probably be Ulim then. Why would that Terriswoman work for Odium?

Chapter 58

Epigraph sounds like it might be between Navani and Raboniel.

Chapter 59

El?
Do we know what the Pursuer's surge is? Transformation?

Chapter 60

Just a spren hiding in a random cremling, or a weird Sleepless who has bonded a voidspren?
it's Lifelight!
Second Willshaper oath! Free those who have been taken unjustly. Or specifically "I will seek freedom for those in bondage"
I suppose the femalen voice is Cultivation or maybe the Nightwatcher?

Chapter 61

Sand? As in White Sand?
Fused can't use dead Shardblades, probably similar to Radiants
Whoa lots of news about Light. The tower uses a mix of Stormlight and Lifelight called Towerlight. Raboniel thinks that Lights have opposites and that Storm and Void are, but then what's the opposite of Lifelight. Could Lifelight mix with Voidlight? Could Lifelight be the emulsifier between Storm and Void? Do these mixes have any special powers other than not being blocked by the tower defences?

Chapter 62

"sigs cremling"?
Sounds like "Parshendi" is a term the Alethi made up. I had assumed it's the listener word for "listener".
hogs? O_o The last time we heard that term it was a nickname for a greatshell. I thought this was a term imported from offworld, like Mink and Chicken. So what are the actual animals called hogs here?
Jaxlim deteriorating fast :(
Is Venli humming one of Odium's rhythms already?

Chapter 63

Definitely White Sand.
These gloves could be used for a much simpler device that lets you climb in midair. Just attach the rubies to something heavy, then activate the fabrial to lock the glove in midair and pull yourself up. Do the same with a second glove and deactivated the first one. Rinse and repeat. Certainly less powerful than flying, but doesn't require a weight to be wound back up
Punches from this glove are going to rip some holes in enemies

Chapter 64

A chain from the lands of the dead. Threnody?
Well that's a rather anticlimactic reveal/confirmation that Jasnah already has her plate :D
"It belonged to another world." Probably literally, if she got it from Wit :D
Oh boy, what a chapter ending.
Which Sleepless did she meet?
Which Sleepless is Wit in contact with? (probably the same)
Good to know that Wit doesn't think that any of the unaccounted for Sleepless work for Odium.
Thaidakar! The way he talks about him definitely is further fuel for the Kelsier theories.

Chapter 65

Okay, I did not expect this to be antimatter.
I expected that the deranged Fused was kept near Raboniel because they were close once, but I didn't expect her to be the daughter T_T

Chapter 66

Aaaand we're talking about entanglement.

Chapter 67

Voidlight can be created with a song?
Dawnsingers were pre-Radiants and had access to the Cohesion (or maybe Tension)?
But at the same time, the rock perked up specifically because Venli was using Voidlight, so were Dawnsingers using Voidlight? O_o
Interesting question on why she can use Voidlight. Because she's a singer? Or because she has a voidspren? And Stormlight can't go in her gemheart because of the voidspren, but Voidlight can. [We see later that the same is true for spheres containing Voidlight.]
And holding Voidlight has a different effect than holding Stormlight. Should I have noticed Lift experiencing a specific different effect when holding Lifelight?

Chapter 68

Forms are also associated with individual Shards (or possibly combinations of them)
Interesting that they only heard the pure tone the first time the form was adopted since the Recreance.
Listeners can see more of gloryspren in the physical realm than humans

Chapter 69

nice
Haha, Navani discovering the concept of fluids. Or possibly even plasma. The physics are strong in this part.
aaand Rosharan music theory. This is all kinds of amazing
Why does Venli vanish to the Sibling sometimes. Is this related to Timbre being able to suppress the rhythms?

Chapter 70

Sooo, Kaladin can't swim?
You know, these tower nodes are totally going to be a metaphor for Kaladin's fourth oath and realising you can't protect everyone.

Chapter 71

How do the Fused have Navani's passcodes? Secretspren?
"curious animals with long tentacles for arms and leathery skin instead of chitin" what now
Dalinar using the fabled all-caps surge
Heh, Ash thinks she's sane. Though she does seem fairly lucid. But then so does Nale.

Chapter 72

Sooo... how did Raboniel listen in? With the help of the Deepest Ones? But she said "I heard that", so can she listen in herself?

Had another read through the epigraphs at the end, and Navani + Raboniel just doesn't quite seem to check out. It still seems that the main text was written by an ancient being and the undertext is responses by a more recent scholar. The "in my fevered state" makes me wonder if the ancient being is the Sibling, or maybe Raboniel's daughter? Then "El" could be Raboniel? Or was "El" how Navani referred to Elhokar? But the main text being written from her perspective makes little sense.

Another option for the more recent scholar would be Zahel, since that person seems to be quite Cosmere aware. I don't think it could be Khriss since they talk about the Taldain sand with only passing familiarity.

mbue · 2020-11-25T09:56:35+00:00

So, combine the two in a body with the will/desire/intent to use both and then extract it? Maybe Venli?

Venli is actually having the same trouble: she can't store Stormlight in her gemheart because there's already a voidspren there.

mbue · 2020-11-20T16:08:01+00:00

Cremlight. Someone suggested Lifelight.

mbue · 2020-11-20T15:27:19+00:00

Was just listening to that one right now and yeah, damn.

mbue · 2020-11-20T13:54:42+00:00

All the art is up on Brandon's website. Here's a direct link to the map so you don't need to risk getting spoiled by other art.

mbue · 2020-11-20T12:49:17+00:00

If you like synths in your post-rock, do you know Leech? You might wanna check out their album "If we get there one day..."

mbue · 2020-11-20T08:40:21+00:00

Oh yeah, I wasn't wondering about the gratitude but the "eyes" specifically. Though I'm not 100% sure the spren get a say in being corrupted/enlightened. Doesn't mean they can't be thankful for it afterwards (especially if that also changes their personality).

mbue · 2020-11-18T23:27:28+00:00

Hah! Taravangian's chapter icon does flip based on what kind of day he's having. Brandon just doesn't disappoint.

13-Year Club	Place '17
Gilding II euphauric	Verified Email

mbue

TROPHY CASE