Malt eye me d’ya ground up

Slightly on edge. I shouldn’t watch horror films (even ‘comedy horror’ films) when hungover.

Severance was enjoyable in a painful and distressing way. I am a sensitive soul. Truly.

Anyway, as I’m up, and I haven’t posted in forever. I thought I’d catch you up on some of the things I’ve been playing, listening to and what not.

First up is Corpsecraft. A couple of places recommended this for it’s rather unique gameplay. It’s interesting from a design perspective, and quite satisfying to play. The look, style and sound of it is perfect, and it really gets the brain going, balancing the various aspects. Essentially it’s a simplistic strategy game (pick the right monsters to beat your foes, each with their own strengths and weaknesses) tied into a simple ‘match 3′ block matching game. The dynamic between the two is flawless, creating a genuine sense of urgency and making the whole thing a delicate balancing act between different priorities.

Obviously, I’m crap at it. But it’s fun. I particularly like the music, with the day and night cycle reinforced and enabling the brain to really wrap itself up in the rhythm of the whole thing. Anyway, give it a go. if you join whirled, you can find me under Alabaster Crippens, though I have no idea how the social aspect of the whole Whirled thing works. Maybe its time to find out.

I also just tried pootling around on Audiosurf. Basically a racing game that creates tracks based on your favourite, uh, tracks. It builds a landscape out of your music. This really is something cool. Play some smooth jazz and it’s like a gentle ride through the countyside (the psychedelic brightly coloured abstract countryside that is), wheras a little experimental drum and bass quickly gets VERY intense. At least try the demo with a couple of tracks (free stuff is lovely) to get a sense of something quite unique. I expect I’ll buy it. I find it hard not to buy cheap games (this is called clever pricing policy. I fall for their trickery). Again, give us a shout if you fancy sharing some tracks and challenging high scores or something. Not that I’m the competetive sort, it’s just that I like music and like games, so you know. It makes sense.

Speaking of smooth jazz countryside (ahem), I’ve been listening to the Finn Peters album, Butterflies. This is really nice. It wasn’t really hanging together until I heard the track Atlas, which is incredible, really, really incredible. Really warm and dramatic. The whole album sounds like a cottage in a forest. Sunrise and clear air. Whilst I like Jazz, I rarely go crazy for jazz flute, but I make an exception for something as exciting and expansive as this. There’s a breadth of influences that makes the album exciting, even if it seems a trifle dull the first time through.

It’s strange how much my perspective on the whole album changed after hearing that one track. It’s like when a key turns a lock, a window bursts open and the whole room is changed, colour and life poured into it.

If you want something more punchy and techy (as I often do) I don’t think you can go wrong with the Guitar Beat track from an old Laszlo Beckett record I found. Not sure if you have to be a member, but you may be able to download (or at least listen to it) through last.fm. So give that a go. If you join, I’m at AlabasterC. The track has a really slick energy, and is definitely the kind of thing I’d like to do with a guitar if I had one. One day I’ll start my one man experimental noise loop band experiment. One day.

In other news, Cornwall is lovely. Stars (shooting or otherwise) are pretty. I’m not always the easist person to get along with. My hangover still hasn’t gone and it’s time for bed. And love is indeed a wicked game.

Hope some of that is of some interest to somebody.