Notes for July 5 2026: Listening to Converge and playing Gato Roboto

I know this was supposed to be a link blog, but I felt like throwing a regular old blog post in here today. There's still a couple links though so I think we're good. Honestly, I might move my personal blog over here from Bear eventually. I like this better and who cares if I keep breaking my RSS feed.

💿 What I'm listening to:

I've been obsessed with the band Converge lately. They've been around since the 90s and they're considered to be one of the first/most influential mathcore bands of all time.

I'm not going to pretend I know their full history or really anything about them other than the fact that their music absolutely fucks. Everyone goes straight to Jane Doe for their favorite record, but I've been stuck on You Fail me. The opening instrumental track "First Light" blends right into the devastating and oddly inspirational "Last Light." Both really showcase the unique, dissonant style of their guitarist Kurt Ballou.

Probably like 80% of the music I listen to is either on Fat Wreck or Epitaph, so I thought it was cool that these guys just happen to be on Epitaph too.

Definitely worth a listen if you like hardcore music. Their energy reminds me of older Turnstile but so much fucking heavier and more technical. No fancy vocal techniques here; their singer shreds his vocal cords at the top of his lungs. Not everyone's cup of tea but it pairs really well with the rest of the chaos.

They're notoriously raw and rough around the edges at times, but their latest record The Hum of Hurt sounds a little more refined. Still just as brutal as anything else they've put out over the years though.

👾 What I'm playing:

My jam has always been dungeon crawlers and metroidvanias. I've played every Castlevania and Metroid title in the catalogue, and plenty of newer ones that stay true to the genre like Blasphemous and The Messenger.

My latest fix has been Gato Roboto . It's gotta be like... one bit graphics maybe? Four bit?? Idk what bits even are but it's duo tone with chunky pixels. The default skin looks sick on my OLED switch because it's just white on a pure black background. I am a sucker for OLED friendly games.

You play as a space faring cat who accidentally jumps on the controls to the ship and crashes it on some random planet overrun with hostile mobs. The pilot is stuck on the ship for some reason I forgot already, so you go around in a mech suit collecting upgrades and mission items until you're able to get back off the ground.

It's developed by Devolver Digital, and I honestly don't think I've ever played a game from them that didn't hit me with the perfect amount of challenge and nostalgia. Visually, it reminds me of Metroid II for the OG Gameboy, but it has the super responsive controls of more modern games. Also reminds me a lot of another, little bit older Devolver game called Downwell. Wouldn't be surprised if the art was done by the same team.

And I didn't even mean to buy this; I got new game from Devolver called Dark Scrolls and it came bundled with it. I haven't even touched that one yet, I've been too obsessed with the cat game. 100% worth the pocket change it costs if you're into 'vanias.

Annnnd that's about all I've got for today!