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chromaticsol.at.app.wafrn.net
ChromaticSo(u)l
@chromaticsol.at.app.wafrn.net
86 followers 800 following 270 posts
⭐Vi - she/her - ⚢ + 🏳️‍🌈 - twenty-something⭐
✨Musician/composer, BSc (astro)physics, teacher, TTRPG nerd, creative✨
🌟"One can’t stay sad very long in such an interesting world!" -Anne Shirley🌟
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I'm by no means a scholar on the topic, but it seems to me that 'virtual bands' have had something of a resurgence since the heyday of Gorillaz. "Girls band cry", "Unbeatable", and of course "Bocchi the Rock!"'s "Kessoku Band". The best thing about all these, though, is the real musicians-
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Cover art for Kessoku Band's self-titled album. It depicts the band members as they are in the anime series "Bocchi the Rock!". All four members are standing in a studio room, seemingly during band practice. The titular main character occupies the centre of frame, and is looking at the 'camera', seemingly nervous to have her picture taken. Two more band members, on the left and right, are posing for the 'camera', and the bassist is in the back near an amp stack side-eying the viewer. This is frame with a white border, with the band's name and a logo vertically on the right. It's not a typical album cover a 'real' band would have, but seems clearly made to communicate first and foremost that this is a product of the anime series. Still, the cover is framed as though a photo for the fictional band's fictional social media, and I cannot help but find that charming.
January 11, 2026 at 8:57 PM
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I've always liked Parcels in this somewhat 'abstract' sense. I loved their first EP, I loved seeing them open for Two Door Cinema Club over a decade ago, and their 'live vol. 1' is one of the best live albums I've ever heard. Still, something never *clicked* with their proper releases; both-
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Cover art for Parcels' album "LOVED". It's a photograph of the band members in colourful outfits running through a field of emerald-coloured grass. The photo's been taken from a top-down, diagonal angle as though by a drone. The lighting is soft, as though it's a somewhat overcast day. Everything in frame seems to suggest the joy and freedom that comes with being in nature, befitting of the album's name.
January 6, 2026 at 10:42 PM
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On rare occasions, I'm awe-struck by the sheer beauty of life. New year's fireworks are often hit or miss for me, but this year was one of those rare occasions.
As I've expressed before; How can one capture that beauty in a piece of art, when the art is right there in front of them?
December 31, 2025 at 11:58 PM
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With the year coming to a close, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on some of the great music released in 2025! As such, I'll be talking about some original songs I really liked this year, in no particular order. I'll include TIDAL links, which can be opened with most major streaming platforms!🧵
December 31, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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Junko Ohashi was one of those legendary names in city pop. Long before I'd heard more than one of her songs, that album cover of the 1980's New York skyline stood out to me. When I switched to TIDAL, "Magical" was recommended to me—and magical it is! I wasn't alive in the 80's (probably-
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Cover art for Junko Ohashi's album "MAGICAL". It's a photograph of the Manhattan skyline, taken at twilight. The photo dates to the 1980's at the latest, and the twin towers (since destroyed) occupy the centre, illuminated in a lilac by the setting sun. The water in the bottom of the frame reflects the deep blue skies above, with a few streaks of cloud visible. The top of the cover is a white band, featuring the album's and artist's name on the left and right respectively. While I find it hard to comment on what this cover could've meant in 1984, the coining of the term 'city pop' for this genre of music, and the terrorist attacks that destroyed the world trade centre, are much stronger associations in 2025; the album's title "magical", now only serves to fuel the nostalgia for a bygone era of economic prosperity and lacking the same spectre of terrorism (and all the consequences that has had)...
December 28, 2025 at 11:19 PM
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Just rolled credits on UNBEATABLE.

It's a little rough around the edges in some place, but this game is scrappy, has a soul, and is capable of love. I don't think I could give it higher praise than that
December 23, 2025 at 1:00 AM
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It's always a bit strange to talk about albums formative to my music tastes. It's a bit like trying to describe air, or the concept of taxes; more a fact of life than a phenomenon worth discussing. Mini Mansions' "The Great Pretenders" is such an album for me. How could it not be? The-
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Cover art for Mini Mansions' album "The Great Pretenders". It's a NASA photograph showing the cover of the golden phonograph record mounted on Voyagers 1 and 2 before they were launched into space. The band's and album's name are featured in the bottom middle in white lettering. The stated purpose of these records was to "show off life on earth" to any extraterrestrials that might encounter one of these probes. While the possibility of this happening are anywhere from "infinitesimal" to "absolute zero", I do think the thought and effort put into these says something beautiful and profound about humanity. In context of this album, it could be interpreted as calling humans the titular "Great Pretenders", deluding ourselves into constructing a universe where there is life out there, or where any of this matters. Still, such a nihilistic view does not gel with the somewhat personal, and very human, topics on the album.
December 21, 2025 at 11:42 PM
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It's weird, in hindsight, how Mini Trees and their album "Slow it Down" completely flew under my radar, considering it is so ostensibly my thing! Luckily, a good friend recommended it, and now here we are! To me, this album has three defining facets. The first is its catchiness. Take track-
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Cover art for Mini Trees' album "Slow It Down". It is a photograph of the band's only member, Lexi Vega, seemingly taken in-motion, judging by how blurry she looks. She's wearing a turquoise jacket, dark blue shorts, and a white top. There's a tree branch with some leaves occupying the left of the cover, with one orange leaf in the bunch. The background is very dark, suggesting nighttime, but both the tree and Vega are very well lit. The combination of these elements --A blurry figure, contrasted with the sharply defined leaves and dark background-- give the cover a dreamlike quality that complements the sound of the music quite well.
December 14, 2025 at 10:51 PM
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I can't say "The Car" is the best album by Arctic Monkeys. I cannot even say it is my favourite. It is, however, the most interesting and perhaps most underrated album by this British alternative band. Unlike their guitar-driven heyday, this album has a distinct flavour of media music.
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Cover art for Arctic Monkeys' album "The Car". It is a top-down, angled photograph of a car on a rooftop parking lot, framed with a white border. The photo is taken from far away by the band's drummer, Matt Helders, from his apartment. This distance really isolates the white car among the concrete of the surrounding buildings. Everything appears to be a few decades old, making the time period difficult to pin down. The colour palette is predominantly urban greys and browns, and there's something a little grainy about the photo. It has an isolating, liminal quality to it, like a random still from a film that was never released.
December 7, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by ChromaticSo(u)l
maxo.bsky.social
i will not be hearing any spotify wrapped excuses this year
December 3, 2025 at 3:31 PM
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I'm used to talking about albums that can generously be described as "bubbling under the mainstream". Not this time, though. Through happenstance, I discovered "Hey Yo I'm Calling You" and I fell in love. I had to find out more about Sho Kamijo, and found his only album "Nobody like you".
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Cover art for Sho Kamijo's album "Nobody Like You". It's a top-down, angled photograph of the singer in between a bunch of empty seats for an audience. He's holding a guitar, and looking at the camera. The dramatic shadows on the ground give the impression of either sunrise or sunset. The photograph has been edited to consist only of greys, with hints of sepia. The album's name is written along the bottom in a tangerine colour, with the artist's name below it in white. It gives an "artist before their big show" vibe, the type of photo you'd see with an interview or magazine, but the gospel stylings of the music point to this photo potentially being taken in a church instead.
November 30, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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I've always associated the first few albums by Last Dinosaurs, the indie band from Australia, with specific parts of a summer's day. Their 1st scores the morning, their 4th the late afternoon, their 3rd the evening, et cetera. "Wellness", to me, falls squarely in the early afternoon;
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Cover art for Last Dinosaurs' album "Wellness". It looks to be a manipulated photograph of a field, with a forest on a hill a little further in the distance. The colours are somewhat strange, though, there's a blurriness as though multiple photographs were overlayed, and the entire composition looks washed-out as though it's many decades old. White streaks of paint are splattered over this, as though spilled on a sacrificial desk mat. The band's name and album title are to the top left and right, respectively. The overall feeling is of a not unpleasant dream; familiar elements now estranged and painted over, but in a warm and quaint manner.
November 24, 2025 at 10:36 PM
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I like to think there's two ways to title your album. Number one is artistic; some words or sentence that reinforce a theme or message you want to convey. The other is descriptive, and I can think of few better examples of this kind than Mariya Takeuchi's "Variety", which I can only read as-
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Cover art for Mariya Takeuchi's album "Variety". It is a black-and-white photograph of the singer, dressed in what looks to be a sailor uniform. She is looking off to the right of the camera, and has her hair down on the same side. The album's title is featured in a red box on the top left, and the singer' name in a green one to the top right. While it doesn't seem intent to convey some strong theme or message, this somewhat straightforward portrait of the singer does, to me, say something akin to "these songs are my work, and I am proud of them".
November 16, 2025 at 8:25 PM
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A blazing-fast album deserves a blazing-fast post. Bad Nerves' self-titled debut is the catchiest proverbial slap-in-the-face I've ever seen live. "Radio Punk" is perpetually stuck in my head, "Palace" has great lines and riffs, and "New Shapes" goes faster than a jet plane. Do give it a listen!
Cover art for Bad Nerves' self-titled debut album, "Bad Nerves". It features a black-and white photograph of the band's vocalist, who appears to be lying on a stage or in a studio. He has a microphone in his hands, held to his mouth, and is surrounded by cables. The band's (and thus also the album's) name frames the photograph in lilac-coloured lettering.
November 9, 2025 at 10:03 PM
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While I have expressed my love and admiration for vocaloid music before, I must say both are somewhat recent; Only last year did it finally *click* for me. Still, I have yet to find another who does it like producer Jamie Paige! "Constant Companions" is unique, to the point it's hard to fit-
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Cover art for Jamie Paige's album "Constant Companions". It's an artwork roughly split into two sides along the centre line. The left features a representation of the artist, laying on a bright-red, cloth-looking material (presumably a blanket) with a pillow under her head. She is surrounded by clutter like a game controller, gummy worms, and a cassette tape. The right features white outline in the shape of a cat-person, surrounded by white outlines of small animals. The background is a collage of greens and yellows, giving the impression of a leafy canopy. The two figures are holding hands, and both are smiling with their eyes closed. The artwork seems to me to reinforce the album's theme of companionship, and reminds me of the warmth I've felt from friendships, even over long distances (via the internet).
November 2, 2025 at 5:40 PM
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I don't want to pretend I'm _old_, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's how enjoyable it is to take things a little more slowly.

Why rush to catch a train when you can calmly wait for the next one?
October 30, 2025 at 12:48 PM
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For week 29 we've got "Sawayama" by, you'll never guess, British-Japanese singer-songwriter Rina Sawayama! This (self-titled?) pop album was introduced to me by a good friend, and I was immediately hooked when I heard "Fuck This World". It might be listed as an 'interlude', but I think that-
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Cover art for Rina Sawayama's album "Sawayama". It's a photograph of the singer, adorned with body art, jewelry, and a very elaborate hairstyle. Sawayama is looking directly at the viewer with a hard-to-read, somewhat distant expression. The jewelry on her earrings glitters in a way reminiscent of older works of film and photography. The colour palette is mostly champagne and gold colours, with the dark colours of her eyes and hair standing out especially. It evokes an air of opulence to me; It highlights the untraversable gap between her world of glamour and our own. This is in stark contrast to the themes on the music, which are very personal and somewhat vulnerable.
October 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
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Continuing on from last week's post; Owl City had another big hit after his first, one with Canadian pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen. Neither have been in the spotlight much since then, as far as the general public is concerned, but in 2022 she released an album that gained some notice on-
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October 19, 2025 at 11:07 PM
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Okay hear me out. Many might be sick of the one big song from this record, no doubt in part to its ubiquity in supermarket playlists, but Owl City's "Ocean Eyes" is worthy of your attention! This album by American singer-songwriter Adam Young was formative for me in many ways, being one of-
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Cover art for Owl City's album "Ocean Eyes". It features a wide shot of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, overlooking the Persian Gulf. The stark white of the building blends somewhat into the clouds, which in turn blend into a deep blue sky. This is bordered in a speckled white, giving the impression of being a painting on a canvas. The album and artists name are placed near the top right in white lettering. The photograph looks hyper real; edited to sell a feeling of adventure and open ocean, not unlike what a marketing still would do.
October 12, 2025 at 9:30 PM
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For week 26, I'd like to introduce an album who's opening track, "Movie Light", brought me to tears. Singer-songwriter Satoko Shibata's "Your Favorite Things" is a lot of things. Discogs lists it as 'indie pop', but that does not, to me, capture what this album sounds like. When the strings-
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October 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
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There was a time I became somewhat obsessed with a track by SIRUP some years back. It was called "MAIGO", and had some featured artist I'd never heard of; Joe Hertz. When I later went digging, it turned out this UK-based producer had an album out; Lucky me! That album was "Current Blues",
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Cover art for Joe Hertz's album "Current Blues" by illustrator Liam Cobb. It depicts an overgrown city over a bright orange sky, seemingly after rainfall. Mountain peaks can be seen in the distance. All this is rendered in a (roughly) two-tone palette of orange/red and turquoise. The album name is placed on the top left, and the artist's name vertically alone the bottom left. Abandoned buildings are often found in post-apocalyptic settings, but the piece seems to focus on the calm, even serenity, of the scene; something that ties together well with the music and album title.
September 28, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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Also happy 21st night of september to all who celebrate!
September 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
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One of my friends from middle school got married recently, and I distinctly remember when he introduced me to "As Blue As Indigo" by UK alt-rockers Tigercub. We listened to the entire album, front-to-back, while on our way to... I think a band rehearsal? This was in his somewhat shitty car,
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Cover art for Tigercub's album "As Blue As Indigo". It's a busy, abstract piece, heavily featuring deep indigo blues and dusty licorice blacks. There's a somewhat-chaotic intermingling of thick, wavy lines and straight, thin ones. The middle features some pops of scarlet and white, but it's not apparent what, if anything, is represented here. The band's name is printed in a darkened circle on the top left, and the album's name in a row of colourful circles in the bottom right. To me, it evokes the feeling of optical illusions or shock camouflage; the cover is striking, and seems to want to draw your attention as much as it wants to disorient you.
September 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM
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Listening back through Friends At The Table's "COUNTER/weight" after listening to "PARTIZAN" and I have to mention; the opening excerpt of episode 16 is incredible. I knew Austin could write, but every line of that minute or so is brilliant
September 16, 2025 at 11:04 AM
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Switching it up for week 23, we have an album that's gone viral in some niche circles, but is very obscure outside those; "Flying Beagle", by jazz pianist Himiko Kikuchi! It's no secret I love the sounds of the 80's, and this album has that in spades. "Baby Talk" has wonderfully retro-
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Cover art for Himiko Kikuchi's album "Flying Beagle". It's a photograph of a beagle, as per the album title. It is not, however, flying. Said beagle is captured at an angle, and it's looking at the camera. The photo seems to be taken at twilight, with a prominent camera flash illuminating the dog. The artist's name and album title are given at the top left and right, respectively, in yellow and in white. The beagle almost seems to be flashing the camera a mischievous smile.
September 14, 2025 at 9:05 PM