LISTENING: KLOUD

I’ve been listening to a lot of KLOUD lately which I recently described as “lizard-brain levels of hard techno and I am here for it.” I know next to nothing about the artist behind the skin-tight full-head black latex mask, and I think both he and I prefer it that way. His music is simple (positive) and relentless. Perfect for background music while building plastic robot models, driving too fast, or filling a room full of mostly white dude-bros (see above). A lot of the tracks are pretty interchangeable, but “Synthetic” is one that I keep returning to.

PHOTO: What’s He Building In There

grainy low-light photo of a very small plastic skull and separate jaw clamped to a DIY cardboard block

My wife and I have fallen back into the grip of Gundam/Gunpla building. We more-or-less straight built a few of them decades ago, and this time around we’re learning more about painting and detailed finishes. I have to admit that I don’t enjoy painting nearly as much as building them, but it’s been an interesting new process to learn about at least.

Unsurprisingly I’m drawn to the more esoteric models, like the one pictured here, the XM-X9999 Crossbone Gundam Maoh. Obviously it’s all about the giant shrieking laser skull for me (although at 1/144 scale it’s laughably small.) I have big plans for a completely different paint job, and if it works you’ll see it here first.

I promise this (probably) won’t turn into a gunpla blog. But I do have…a few more waiting in the wings.