This is perhaps an unusual thing to have on an academic website, but music is about as important to me as math, so I figured it deserves its own section. I was inspired by s8jfou’s website and figured I’d start sharing bits of music I’ve been enjoying with links to listen or buy. Links will be to Bandcamp when possible.
If you want to see my semi-complete listening history, you can see it on my last.fm account. It is not robust, since I use a variety of platforms to listen to music, but it should contain most scrobs from my desktop and Spotify account. I have also DJed since 2014, playing primarily trance with some techno and ambient, you can hear those mixes on Soundcloud.
Finally, here is a clip of me playing with my rock group Partial Disorder!
2025
- The Weather Station - How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars (Folk). Thanks dad for this one!
- Fennesz and Ryuichi Sakamoto - Cendre (Ambient/Classical). Incredible, moving collaboration between a legend of contemporary music (RIP) and someone who admittedly, I don’t know too well, but perhaps should. The duo have two collaboration albums, one of which spawned during a tour they did together.
- Brendon Moeller - Blue Moon (Downtempo). Lovely 90’s aesthetic downtempo EP from a diverse producer.
- Stove - Is A Toad In The Rain (Indie Rock). I really like the loose, almost mopey feel Stove has.
- Ovlov - Buds (Indie Rock). Nice drive, mix of styles, and ripping sax solo!
All-Time Favorites
- Jon Hopkins - Immunity (IDM/Techno). My favorite album of all time, every time I listen I hear a new detail I hadn’t noticed before. An epic journey through the night or through life or something of the sort.
- Eco - Wolves (Progressive Trance). Something about this trance album has always stuck with me.
- Floating Points - Elaenia (IDM/Ambient/Jazz). A jazzy ambient, techno-inspired odyssey.
- 18 Carat Affair - Vintage Romance (Vaporwave). Nothing quite conveys a feeling of disillusionment and hopelessness like well-executed vaporwave.
- Nils Frahm - Felt (Contemporary Classical). Very difficult to pick a favorite Nils Frahm album but this is the first one I heard, and maybe his most emotional and textural.
- Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough (IDM). The perfect bleeps and bloops album for a refreshing Saturday morning.
- The Breathing Effect - Mars Is A Very Bad Place For Love (Jazz Fusion/Psychedelic Rock). It is!
- KOAN Sound - Polychrome (Trip Hop). Funky and introspective trip-hop with some tasty sound design packed up in a lovely journey.
- Leon Vynehall - Nothing Is Still (Contemporary). A meditation on immigration from a predominantly house DJ.
- Boards of Canada - Tomorrow’s Harvest (IDM). Hard to pick a favorite BOC album but this one I think is most relevant in 2025.
- Skee Mask - Pool (Techno/Ambient/IDM). Again hard to pick a favorite Skee Mask album but I’d say Pool slightly edges out Compro. Amazing textures, evocative of a very soft comforting place.
- Susumu Yokota - The Boy And The Heron (Ambient/Psychedelic). Susumu Yokota is in his own right a legend, and it’s hard to pick a favorite album since they span so many spheres, but this is in my opinion his boldest, with a clear, expansive vision.
- Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (Freak folk/Psychdelic). Not a fan of recent Animal Collective output but this one is memorable and properly messes with you, playful and warped.
- BT - This Binary Universe (Ambient/Downtempo). Has a special place in my heart.
- John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (Spiritual Jazz). Legendary.
- Alice Coltrane ft. Pharoah Sanders - Journey In Satchidananda (Spiritual Jazz). Freeing.
- Matt Lange pres. Altered Tensions - The Answer To The Question You Forgot To Ask (Glitch). Colorful headtrip, don’t know where the Bandcamp page went for this one.
- Efdemin - New Atlantis (Techno). A beautiful poem to open and close, and a dark, subnautical, silly journey.
- Shlohmo - The End (LA Beats). An album about the end of the world and chilling, very fitting for our modern era.
- Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (LA Beats). After living in east LA for 5ish years, it’s somewhat relatable. RIP Low End Theory.
- 2814 - 新しい日の誕生 (Birth Of A New Day) (Vaporwave/Ambient). Very popular vaporwave album that hits all the right notes, painting a rich, evocative mental picture of a futuristic city in the still of the night.
- Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly (Hip-Hop). Hard to pick a favorite K. album but this one is the most ambitious and songs like Alright and u have stuck with me.
- Atmosphere - Seven’s Travels (Hip-Hop). In the days of kings and queens I was a jester…
- dj healer - nothing 2 loose (Ambient/Breaks). Hard to think of an album that makes me feel more at peace.
- Hania Rani - Esja (Comtemporary Classical). Feels like galloping through the artic plains.
- djrum - Portrait With Firewood (IDM/Breaks/Techno). Lovely concept album interweaving wicked breaks with gorgeous piano and atmosphere.
- Rob Clouth - Zero Point (Glitch/IDM). Chaotic and tunneling.
- Clark - Body Riddle (Glitch/IDM). Almost childlike, in a way it reminds me of the Dream Parade from Paprika in its color and momentum.
- Earl Sweatshirt - I Don’t Like S***, I Don’t Go Outside (Hip-Hop). I love all of Earl’s phases but his dark, depression rap resonates with me differently.
- Donato Dozzy - K (Dub Techno). Very hopeful dub techno album.
- Porter Ricks - Biokinetics (Dub Techno). Honestly it’s mostly the first track that I love but what a track it is. Amazing how a loop that goes on for 12 minutes can have so much depth and detail.
- Culprate - Deliverance (Trip Hop). Very playful and psychedelic.
- Kikagaku Moyo - House In The Tall Grass (Psychedelic Rock). Speaking of playful, this album makes me want to get up and not really dance but at least clap my hands in a funny way.
- Dream Theater - Octavarium (Progressive Metal). When I was little I was very into metal, and while most of that has faded away in time (as I’ve become generally a much less angry, bitter person), a few albums that paint a more complex picture as far as metal go stick with me. The ending opus is a full life’s journey in 20 minutes.
- Evenings - Yore (Lo-fi). Very nostalgic album for a childhood I didn’t have.
- Michael Brecker - Michael Brecker (Jazz). You know, for a jazz saxophonist, there aren’t many traditional jazz albums on this list. For the most part jazz when it isn’t live doesn’t have the same effect on me - this one is an exception. I learned the solo to Nothing Personal back in high school and I think it had a profound effect on how I wanted to play.
- Pharoah Sanders - Elevation (Spiritual Jazz). Wow.
- Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto - Two (Live at Sydney Opera House) (Experimental/Ambient). I can only imagine how witnessing this live must have been. Stunning, some of their live renditions of older compositions (Naono especially) hit especially hard.