This page contains music that I enjoy organized by when I discovered/started listening to each each album/playlist/compilation. Many of the albums I discovered years ago I am still listening to today, so each section does not really capture what I listened to that year (just when I first encountered each). Also, this is not an exhaustive list of everything I listen to but some of my favorites that I think are worth sharing. Click on the arrow icon to expand each item for a short description and link.
2023
The Darkest Place - Warmth
- Summary: Do I perceive this album to be warmer because of the artist’s name, or is it actually that way? Favorite tracks: The Infinite, The Darkest Place
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Where the floor starts to Fade - Velvet Rope Crowd Control
- Summary: Collaboration project between Hilyard and Andrew J. Klimek. Favorite tracks: Floor Fades Away, Trillium.
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Cracker Island - Gorillaz
- Summary: Favorite tracks: Oil, Cracker Island.
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Love in the Void - Hammock
- Summary: I started listening to Hammock back in 2007, and it’s amazing how they continue to churn out amazing music that’s unique yet still true to their style.
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Godhead (single) - Veil of Maya
- Summary: Great, djenty, brutal, trippy.
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Veils - Hilyard
- Summary: I cannot understate how good Hilyard’s music is for working.
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Heartwood - Hilyard
- Summary: One long 17:00 track. Free download on Bandcamp.
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On the Sorrow of Firn - Hilyard
- Summary: Favorite track: Morning Vapors
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a wake in shadows - Hilyard
- Summary: Favorite track: fragile wraith
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2022
Surrender - Rufus Du Sol
- Summary: I had never heard of this band until I led a field seminar class called Geography of Oregon across the state of Oregon (obviously). My colleauge/department chair, Ezra Zeitler, and I went to a brewery in Bend and happened to be sitting outside, enjoying fresh hop IPAs while some electronic band was bumping some awesome music in an outdoor concert in town. It sounded like the venue was a few miles away but it was still easy to hear from the brewery. This album will always make me think of the high desert and Bend in particular. Favorite tracks: Make It Happen, Surrender, Devotion, On My Knees, Next to Me.
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Circadian - Intervals
- Summary: Awesome upbeat metal band. Favorite track: 5-HTP.
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Dreampiece - Devin Townsend
- Summary: My favorite comment on this YouTube video: “If you told me, back then, that that dude on stage in Strapping Young Lad would make this music in the future I would never believe you.”
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Parrhesia - Animals as Leaders
- Summary: One of the best albums by the band with the best guitarist of all time.
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Soft Ice - Poemme
- Summary: Atmospheric and dark, yet melodic. Literrally sounds like ice. Great for working.
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Division Cycle - Hilyard
- Summary: Even darker than Poemme’s Soft Ice. Great for working.
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Repose - Hilyard
- Summary: A bit lighter than Division Cycle. Relaxing and airy.
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Mercy Within - Hilyard
- Summary: NA
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2021
Immersion - Fractilize
- Summary: Quite possibly the darkest, nastiest instrumental metal out there. Some of the YouTube comments on their videos are hilarious: ‘The national anthem when machines take over the planet.’ ’So this is what hitting cables on a suspension bridge with a crane sounds like. Favorite track: Fragment.
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Colors 2 - Between the Buried and Me
- Summary: Great album. Not their all time best but it’s better than their other recent albums imo.
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Oneironaut - Wide Eyes
- Summary: One of my favorite albums of all time. Great for programming. Tons of recurring themes that make this instrumental album feel like a concept album.
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Rebirth - Entities
- Summary: Awesome to see Entities back it after a long hiatus. Favorite track: Atlas.
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2018
Coma - Modern Day Babylon
- Summary: Favorite tracks: Visions, Coma.
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Exodar - World of Warcraft
- Summary: My go-to for writing.
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2017
Paradoxica - Wide Eyes
- Summary: Another great album by Wide Eyes; feels a bit spacier than their other albums (if that’s possible)
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False Idol - Veil of Maya
- Summary: Took me a long time to get into this album, but it’s fantastic and has aged well.
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Clairvoyant - Contortionist
- Summary: This felt like a major departure from their old style but I still love it. Favorite tracks: The Center, Reimagined, Godspeed.
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2016
Everything and Nothing - Hammock
- Summary: A few nice vocal tracks on here. Favorite track: Dissonance.
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Renaissance - Polyphia
- Summary: I listened to this almost everyday while working on my dissertation and assistantship at OSU - Tulsa. Favorite track: Bittersweet.
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2015
Eco - David Maxim Micic
- Summary: 500 Seconds Before Sunset
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Wishful Lotus Proof - Jakub Zytecki
- Summary: Favorite track: Eywa O.F.F.
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The Ocean Atlas - Modern Day Babylon
- Summary: Favorite tracks: Wings, Through the Worlds.
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Coma Eliptic - Between the Buried and Me
- Summary: Not my favorite BTBAM album, but it’s still solid. Favorite track: Life in Velvet (one of my all time BTBAM favorites actually).
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2014
Language - Contortionist
- Summary: Favorite tracks: Parable
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2013
Travelers - Modern Day Babylon
- Summary: Favorite tracks: Infinity, Journey of Living.
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2012
Parallax II: The Future Sequence - Between the Buried and Me
- Summary: Reflecting on this years later, I think it could be the best BTBAM album. The 23/16 measures of Astral Body, the interlude tracks, the flute in Melting City – all of this is glorious.
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2011
Entwine the Threads - Circle of Contempt
- Summary: The kings of 7/8 time signature. This is one of the few albums I’ve purchased at exactly midnight on release day. Favorite tracks: Transient Belief, Perceive the Mendacity, Entwine the Threads.
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