There’s an Aztec city building game called Tlatoani. It’s in early access, but has enough meat on the bone that it’s one of my goto games.

Out of curiosity I checked Steam DB for active player numbers. I have discovered at any given point I am 10% to 25% of the given player base BY MYSELF. I am 1 of 4 people playing this game right now in the world. With the prevalence of the internet I always assume whatever weird bullshit you’re into there’s at least a thousand people talking about it; making memes outsiders could never comprehend. It’s actually novel to fly under the radar for once.

What do you do that doesn’t have a community associated with it?

  • fleck@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    Absolutely! These are the obvious ones, maybe you already know them:

    • T-Square
      • “TRUTH” is an absolute classic, just like “サーキットの放浪者”, and “Travellers”
    • Casiopea
      • I think “Be” is my favourite Album, but all are solid
    • Masayoshi Takanaka

    And then also some that are maybe lesser known (no particular order):

    • Katsumi Horii Project
      • They have quite a lot of songs. “Way to morning” or “Flashback” are good examples. I also like “Jungle of Heaven”
    • Trix
      • “ECCENTRIX” is really nice, just like “An Index”
    • Dimension
    • Himiko Kikuchi
    • Naniwa Express
    • Yuji Toriyama
    • Chikara Ueda & The Power Station
    • Toshiki Kadomatsu
    • The Gran Turismo soundtrack also has some hidden Gems here and there

    I think what I like about this genre is that it combines very catchy melodies/riffs and chord progressions with really creative jazzy solos. I have not really found much recent stuff (>2010), though. But I can recommend SOIL & Pimp Sessions. They are more recent and more traditional-jazz-oriented.

    Bonus if you like light prog/math rock: Check out Elephant Gym. Spring Rain (春雨) is one of my favourite songs.

    • Soggy@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      My familiarity with Japanese jazz is very limited to even the “obvious” ones are a treat.

      In the interests of fair trade, here’s a scattering of what I’ve enjoyed lately. Some of it has a similar sound but there’s a lot of variance in the “jazz fusion” space and I like experimental stuff:

      • Peela
      • Lydian Collective
      • Giraffes? Giraffes!
        • More Skin With Milk-Mouth remains excellent
      • KNOWER
        • Their latest album in particular, as well as the most recent solo work of constituent parts Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi
      • DOMi & JD BECK
      • Jacob Mann
        • Jacob Mann Big Band is more traditional and I’m a sucker for a good brass section
      • the olllam
        • I don’t actually know how to describe this but Irish folk is involved and “with pure crystalll teeth” fills me with dopamine
      • Sungazer
      • The Fearless Flyers
        • Tailwind is a really good album
      • Moon Hooch
        • They’re silly and frenetic but I did say I’m a sucker for brass
      • fleck@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        Thanks a lot :) I do know Giraffes? Giraffes! a bit, and I’m also a great fan of math rock. This is also something my friends don’t understand haha. I think all of your recommendations are awesome after checking them out! I will definitely put some of those in my music library. I liked Peela a lot, feels almost like a more modern blend of T-Square and Casiopea.