Week 11 of 2026
Pausing the Practical Machine Learning: Foundations to Neural Networks Specialization to find material with more depth than the first course on Probability. In the end, when learning for fun rather than practical purpose you can take as many detours as you want.
Finally started level 7 in WaniKani. Also started with the absolute beginner videos in Comprehensible Japanese.
This month is my birthday so I got some of my favorite records on vinyl:
- Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
- Deafheaven - Lonely People with Power. I finally have physical copies of my top 3 albums of 2025
- The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium
- Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Tried to clear my album backlog. It’s great to have enough free time to listen to a lot of music. This week was mostly Shoegaze, Metal and K-Pop.
Listened to
Albums/EPs:
- Favorite of the week: Gorrch - Stillamentum (Also on Bandcamp). A random Spotify recommendation has potential to become one of my top metal albums of 2026
- BLACKPINK - Deadline. Another K-Pop album where I only liked the singles 😭
- Blackwater Holylight - Not Here Not Gone (Also on Bandcamp). Great Shoegaze album, it gets pretty heavy in some parts. Recently learned that this sub-genre is called Doomgaze
- Chip Wickham - Love & Life (Also on Bandcamp). A friend is a huge fan of Gondwana Records so I’m checking some of their releases semi-randomly. This artist caught my eye (or ear?)
- Flying Lotus - Big Mama (Also on Bandcamp). Short and interesting electronic music EP
- Martröð - Draumsýnir eldsins (Also on Bandcamp). One the best Black Metal albums from last year. The drums sound is a little bit modern for my taste but still great
- Nothing - A short history of decay (Also on Bandcamp). Some of the songs did nothing for me (see what I did there) but others were bangers
- Petrichor - Seduced by Conquering Darkness (Also on Bandcamp). Atmospheric Black Metal, sometimes the melodies sound NWOBHM-esque
- Softcult - When a Flower Doesn’t Grow (Also on Bandcamp). Good album, but I expected a little bit more considering their latest EP was one of my favorites of 2024. That being said, I liked it more in consecutive listening sessions
- YENA - Love Catcher. I expected more from a 5 song EP. The first 2 songs are fun and the last song is a solid ballad
Recently released singles:
- Favorite of the week: FANGUS - Pyre Of Love
- aiko - Cry High Fly
- beabadoobee - All I Did Was Dream Of You ft. The Marías
- Blue.D - Perfect Love (feat. BE’O)
- Candelabro - Ultraderecha // Latinoamérica es un pueblo al sur de Estados Unidos. A double cover of Los Prisioneros
- CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Jack Black - Goo Goo Ga Ga
- Cody・Lee Thank You, Rock and Roll
- DAILY:DIRECTION - SELF
- DEAFKIDS - CICATRIZES
- DEVIN TOWNSEND – Enter The City
- E L U C I D & Sebb Bash - Coonspeak
- Haute & Freddy - Showgirl At Heart
- HOSHI - 아기자기
- JYOCHO - We Know Everything from the Beginning
- Kim Gordon - PLAY ME
- LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER - Eins, Zwei, Drei
- Mei Semones - Tooth Fairy ft. John Roseboro
- Melvins + Napalm Death - Rip The God. I’m hyped for the upcoming album
- The Messthetics, James Brandon Lewis - Rules Of The Game
- The Messthetics, James Brandon Lewis - Deface The Currency
- ONEW - TOUGH LOVE
- Strange Fruit - Monopolar
- YeoJin - Sugar talk
- YOUNHA - 염라
Other:
- Amazon Music presents: Thundercat feat. WILLOW - ThunderWave
- Javiera Electra - Full Performance (Live on KEXP). One of my favorite contemporary Chilean musicians
- The Mesthetics and James Brandon Lewis live at AB - Ancienne Belgique
- Los Tres - Grabaciones Raras. Demo recordings from one the best Chilean bands. Recorded with a potato 🤌😘
Other Media
Playing:
- Picross DS. Making some progress in Free Mode
- Pokémon Scarlet. Gotta catch ‘em all!
Finished playing:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Dealt with the final boss. It’s a great game but around the 100 hour mark I became slightly burned out and had to cut it short
- Vampire Crawlers Demo. Got enough from the demo. I hope they release the full game soon