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Approval 97%
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Last Active 09-06-22 1:37 pm
Joined 09-24-05
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| MUSIC: tec's Top 50 of 2020
Shit year, generally speaking, but pretty good for music, all things considered. Let me know where I went wrong. Full list (out to 100) available on RYM:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/tectactoe/top-100-albums-of-2020/
š„š„š„ššš | | 51 |  | Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
ā¢ Thomas Azier - "Love, Disorderly"
ā¢ Black Market Brass - "Undying Thirst"
ā¢ Conway the Machine - "From King to a GOD"
ā¢ Dragged Into Sunlight - "Terminal Aggressor II"
ā¢ Empty Country - "Empty Country"
ā¢ Esoctrilihum - "Eternity of Shaog" š„
ā¢ Fawn Limbs - "Sleeper Vessels"
ā¢ Floral Tattoo - "You Can Never Have a Long Enough Head Start"
ā¢ Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - "Alfredo" š„
ā¢ Fontaines D.C. - "A Hero's Death"
ā¢ Liturgy - "Origin of the Alimonies" š„
ā¢ MSW - "Obliviosus"
ā¢ The Necks - "Three"
ā¢ Panzerfaust - "The Suns of Perdition - Chapter II: Render Unto Eden" | | 50 |  | Mamaleek
Come and See
Hard to put this one into wordsā¦But imagine if, say, Lightning Bolt decided to rough up their (already rough) surface texture with 16-grit sandpaper. Abrasive, often terrifying noise rock that verges on psychiatric metal. | | 49 |  | Cabaret Voltaire
Shadow Of Fear
Those familiar with Cabaret Voltaire will know what to expect here. More on the industrial side of their internal spectrum, with songs elongated to their terminal length; but it scratches that very specific mechanical itch that I occasionally get. Dark and chilly. | | 48 |  | clipping.
Visions of Bodies Being Burned
Can totally see why people might detest clipping.ās shtick, and Iām not huge on the āhorrorcoreā angle to be honest, but they do it undeniably well. If nothing else, the angular beats, abstract sound sampling, and smooth flows make for an impeccably taut experience. Not quite as good as its predecessor, but close. | | 47 |  | Lik
Misanthropic Breed
This goes from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds and rarely lets up on the throttle during its blistering thirty-nine minute runtime. Doesnāt ever get āspeed metal-yā, though, which is assuredly a good thing. Itās just death metal, fast. Really fast. And really gritty. | | 46 |  | William Basinski
Lamentations
Iām going to request to have this played at my funeral so that the nine people who actually show up will have one last chance to drop lines like, āI always knew there was something wrong with him.ā Has the uncanny ability to make anything happening in your vicinity suddenly depressing. | | 45 |  | Matthew Tavares and Leland Whitty
Visions
Unctuous avant-jazz-fusion, what more do you need to know? Starts very āavantā and gradually slides into sharp, contemplative focus as the record churns on. | | 44 |  | exhalants
Atonement
Very raw and kinetically driven. Pulsates with an urgency that a lot of modern post-hardcore and noise rock bands unfortunately lack. If history counts for anything, I should theoretically be more annoyed by the shrill vocalsā¦but for whatever reason, they work here. Or perhaps Iām turning a corner. | | 43 |  | Mach-Hommy
Mach's Hard Lemonade
I like my abstract hip hop albums like I like my job interviews: Unstructured, cryptic, fuzzy, and over in less than thirty minutes. Reminds me of Earl Sweatshirtās more recent projects in many ways, which I totally dig. | | 42 |  | Defeated Sanity
The Sanguinary Impetus
Many times, the ābrutalā prefix ruins the death metal for me; I just find the overt obsession with gory imagery and repugnant vocals kinda cringe. But there are certain bands that pull it off with aplomb, and Defeated Sanity is one of āem. The glorping vocals persist, sure, but they arenāt ridiculous or distracting, and the musicianship is technically impressive. | | 41 |  | Black Marble
I Must Be Living Twice
A neat little EP that might turn some people off with its repetitive persona, but thatās sorta what the minimal wave scene is all about. These songs could just as easily be two minutes each or twelve minutes. The cool mood embraces the poppy undertones well. | | 40 |  | Boris
NO
With every subsequent record, Boris has continued to redefine their genre boundaries. Same can be said for NO, which fuses elements of thrash metal and slimy, crust punk with their traditional doomy and sludgy atmosphere, all while retaining the post-hardcore edge that keeps them in motion. Love these guys (and gals), love this album. | | 39 |  | Two People
Second Body
Not as alarmingly sleek or nocturnally sensual as their debut (and aptly named) FIRST BODY, instead opting for a brighter and poppier projection of trip hop and downtempo beats. But goddamn they make the transition seem effortless, and if Phoebe Louās vocals donāt make you melt regardless of the context, maybe youāre not human after all. | | 38 |  | Mary Halvorson's Code Girl
Artlessly Falling
All over the place, embodying the albumās title quite nicely - like falling into a pit of improvisational sketches and warm, jazzy progressions until you hit the bottom and realize you want to jump again. Vocal jazz can be iffy, but Mrs. Halvorson exceeds expectations. | | 37 |  | Selbst
Relatos de Angustia
Black metal, through and through, but employing a lot of the additional technicalities that extend beyond the genreās implications of musical simplicity (similar to e.g. Mgla or Serpent Column), making it a fresh treat nonetheless. | | 36 |  | Taylor Swift
Evermore
A very solid, very substantial release that improves on a lot of the reservations I had re FOLKLORE. This is easily as pared-down and bittersweet, but itās more sentimental, more soothing, more peaceful, and integrates Taylorās pop sensibilities into the folky veneer to a more effective degree that did its predecessor. āChampagne Problemsā is probably one of my favorite tracks of the year. | | 35 |  | Gezan
ē(KLUE)
One of the most energetic releases of the year, full stop. Who needs adrenaline-altering drugs when albums like this exist? Strap in and remember to keep your arms inside the cart at all times. | | 34 |  | Perfume Genius
Set My Heart On Fire Immediately
This album opens so beautifully, so perfectly that there was no way its side B could possibly sustain such high standardsā¦and itās true. This is slightly front-loaded, making for a marginally unbalanced endeavor. But this is unequivocally Perfume Geniusās best and most realized work, lush and enriched with both hopefulness and melancholy - a deadly cocktail. | | 33 |  | Wake
Devouring Ruin
Not sure when or why these guys decided to stray from their grindcore roots and transition into a more core-influenced interpretation of modern black metal, but Iām glad to be here for it. Dizzying and relentless, but amazingly coherent. | | 32 |  | Dan Deacon
Mystic Familiar
Like a journey through an ethereal, psychedelic forest in forty-three quick minutes. Not as explosive as some of Danās previous efforts, but thereās an attenuated peacefulness he achieves here that is simply unmatched. Walls of sound that comfort rather than engulf; an album with an optimistic tone and a warm story to tell. | | 31 |  | John Zorn
Calculus
Admittedly, I do love when Zorn goes completely apeshit and splices jazz-infused threads of grindcore into his otherwise metered and thoughtful compositions. But alternatively, when he keeps things even keel, his brilliance as a free jazz composer and performing artist shines its absolute brightest. So Iām okay with that, too. | | 30 |  | Panda Rosa
The Kinspiral
Surely not many people will award their precious time to this two and a half hour mammoth, loaded with enough genres to make your head spin - including ambient, experimental rock, shoegaze, vaporwave, and tape music along with whatās listed above, at the very least - but if thereās one album on this list that you can truly āloseā yourself in, itās this one. And I donāt mean that as merely a euphemism for being fully engaged. I mean literally, youāll be asking yourself halfway though, āwhere the fuck am I?" | | 29 |  | Gaerea
Limbo
Among this yearās wonderfully stacked black metal catalog comes Portugalās finest with a release thatās built from genre fundamentals, but glistens with sparks of legitimate melancholy and sentimental detours - something you canāt say about very many black metal acts these days. The production is not what the purists entail, but who gives a fuck about them anyway? | | 28 |  | JFDR
New Dreams
Thankfully Bjƶrk is still alive and well, but hypothetically, if one new and upcoming artist were to be chosen to carry the torch of avant-art pop queen in her absence, I could see JFDR fulfilling that role given a few more years to grow her confidence and carve out a niche for herself. Sheās got the soft voice, the glitch-pop inclinations, and the sensual ambiance dialed in appropriately. All sheās lacking is a bit of āoomph,ā but those things take time. A very promising direction. | | 27 |  | The Smith Street Band
Don't Waste Your Anger
Vocals take some getting used to. Hell, when I first heard this I thought it was something of a joke. But by the end of the album, I was won over - his confidence is through the roof, and once the initial shock wears off, his wildly Australian diction actually complements the radiance of the music itself. Thereās something quite nice about hollering, āI still dream about youā in my best Outback Steakhouse commercial voice. | | 26 |  | Nothing
The Great Dismal
All of my friends and nearly everyone I follow on RYM think this album is totally overrated horseshit, so maybe it caught me when I was in an especially good mood, or maybe Iāve been so starved for straightforward, contemporary shoegaze that anything wouldāve quenched that thirst. But I dunno, Iāve listened to it several times since and have loved it every time. Itās just really, really good. *Shrug.* | | 25 |  | Eartheater
Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin
Album cover is the biggest misdirection of the year, obviously. Packaged like a self-produced club rap/trap mixtape, and yet it sounds more like it belongs in the next installment of Final Fantasy. Gorgeous, bordering on surreal, and intensely hypnotic in ways that even the most acclaimed ādream popā artists canāt muster. Buttery and aqueous are how I would describe this with only two adjectives. | | 24 |  | Horse Lords
The Common Task
Not as algebraic as e.g. Don Caballero, but what Horse Lords lack in mathematical complexity, they supplement with their emulsion of modern classical minimalism. There is even a track with droning bagpipes and another that sounds like Can-influenced krautrock jamming. A lovely departure from the confines of traditional math rock. | | 23 |  | Akhlys
Melinoe
Quite possibly the most terrifying album Iāve ever heard. Whatās funny is all of these new age brutal death metal bands try to inject fear and grotesquerie into their music with acid reflux vocals and medically belabored song titles, but fuck that noise. This is how you scare somebody half to death. I was uneasy the whole time I was listening to this, afraid something was going to hop out from around the corner and harvest my soul. And it was two in the afternoon for Christās sake. | | 22 |  | Ian William Craig
Red Sun Through Smoke
This shouldnāt be an album. It should be a single forty minute track, because removing them from context deflates the power they amass when endured start to finish. Iām pretty sure this is the soundtrack to a dream I once had where I was attending my own funeral dressed as a complete stranger. I donāt even think I was crying. But when I listen to this, there are most certainly parts of it - e.g. āWeightā or āOpen Like a Lossā - that could bring a tear to my eye at any given moment. | | 21 |  | Anna von Hausswolff
All Thoughts Fly
If you havenāt latched on to any of Ms. Hausswolffās previous efforts, I doubt thisāll be the one to about-face you. But this is possibly her densest work to date, despite the somewhat minimalist and repetitive approach. Itās immensely hypnotic and strangely dark, but in a way thatās more placating than menacing. And the omission of vocals puts the mood front-and-center, which is crucial to how easily it absorbs you into its meditative membrane. | | 20 |  | Adrianne Lenker
songs
Q: Can Adrianne Lenker do any wrong? A: No, no she cannot. A bit more pastoral and stripped down than her collaborative work as Big Thief, but soothing and heart-wrenching just the same, with emotion spewing from every crevice, and beauty to be found along every plucked string, strummed chord, and strained falsetto. | | 19 |  | Boris With Merzbow
2R0I2P0
Not a big fan of Merzbow; frankly the idea of āharsh noiseā as an enjoyable form of is something that still eludes me to this day. But apparently when you take those impenetrable walls of sound and filter them through an already-fantastic handful of Boris songs, it makes themā¦even better?! Consider me both shocked and pleasantly surprised. | | 18 |  | Oranssi Pazuzu
Mestarin Kynsi
Yet another case of genre fluidity. Not sure what you could classify this as: some type of metal, surely, but this is the type of metal that makes you question everything you ever thought metal was or could be. Weird, borderline-proggy, occasionally spacey, definitely heavy, and supremely unique. Layers upon layers upon layers - the Vidalia onion of metal albums. | | 17 |  | A.A. Williams
Forever Blue
Knows when to exercise its slowcore tendencies and when to slowly build them up into thundering, dramatic climaxes. Equal parts dreary and warm, which is an odd combination that proves compelling at every corner. | | 16 |  | Died
Less Life
Ah yes, now thereās the rebellious and angry post-hardcore release that Iāve been craving all year. Imagine Fugazi, but more angular. Slint, but more aggressive. Unwound, but less melodic. A somewhat draining experience, because the raunchy pessimism kind of sneaks up on you - but sometimes you need an album to get under your skin to appreciate it. | | 15 |  | Nicolas Jaar
Telas
Head and shoulders above CENIZAS, if you ask me. I prefer the glitchy, electronic haze to the somber, atmospheric dust, apparently. Transcendental and complex, taking breaks every now and again to calibrate your senses and ensure it never wears out its welcome. Strange formatting for the songs - they couldāve easily been split into several more tracks - but this is the type of record you should inhale all at once anyway. | | 14 |  | Black Wing
No Moon
For all intents and purposes, this is another Have a Nice Life album. And I am totally, completely okay with that. Among the Dan Barrett canon, I might actually prefer this to THE UNNATURAL WORLD - a complement, assuredly. The atmosphere is second-to-none: Dark, dense, and dank, listening to this is like allowing yourself to be buried alive in the snow. (Againā¦I say that as a good thing, I promise.) | | 13 |  | Serpent Column
Endless Detainment
These guys (or this guy, rather) is becoming my favorite contemporary act in the realm of black metal. Easily the most entropic and scattershot item in his brief catalog, which is sure to offend those looking for something more structured and traditional. But if anyoneās looking for what a dying star might sound like when its collapsing in on itself, look no further. And whatās more: This isnāt even Serpent Columnās best release this year. | | 12 |  | Faceless Burial
Speciation
Falls right into the center of my tech death wheelhouse: unforgiving tempos, shifting time signatures, incredible vocal tone, and a fuck ton of the drummer pounding on the ride cymbal bell. A nice throwback to aggressive death metal of the nineties with riffs and beats to satiate even the stingiest metalheads for days. And yet! It remains interestingly approachable for those who are just getting their feet wet. Incredible album all around. | | 11 |  | Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Sideways to New Italy
My love and warmth for this album is difficult to explain, because thereās honestly nothing about it that you can easily point to and say, āSee?! This is why itās great!ā It doesnāt rely so much on some superlative element as it does maintaining superlative consistency across all said elements. Simply put: This is no-frills jangle pop. Melodic and warm and executed almost flawlessly. Sometimes all that extraneous shit just bungles up the good stuff. | | 10 |  | Torres
Silver Tongue
Yet another album I have had to defend on several occasions: Torres has an uncanny ear for catchy melodies that donāt seem forceful or pushy at first glance, but will embed themselves into your frontal lobe before you know it, where they will remain forever more. Her one drawback: She needs to conclude her songs a little better. But this is a glorious improvement from her previous albums, pensive and calm but powerful beneath the surface. | | 9 |  | Skaphe
SkĆ”pheĀ³
What I imagine the hallway leading to hell must sound (and feel) like. When I tell people that I prefer my black metal with dissonance and angularity, this is almost precisely what Iām talking about. Structurally complex without becoming incomprehensible, off-kilter but exceptionally metered. Listen to this album and youāll feel your insides start to sweat. | | 8 |  | Young Jesus
Welcome to Conceptual Beach
This is excellent. Beautiful. Clean. Melancholy. Bittersweet. Immensely passionate. Fused with pockets of improvised noodling, choral epiphanies, and bottomless Midwest emo. It even commences with an electronic falsetto that sounds like something Bon Iver would be proud of. ā(un)knowingā is a frontrunner for my song of the year - it shreds me every single time. | | 7 |  | Phoebe Bridgers
Punisher
I love STRANGER IN THE ALPS, but this improves upon it in nearly every facet imaginable, from its maturity, to its cohesion, to its atmosphere, to its anthematic statement pieces, to whatever else you can think of. Ms. Bridgers is the leader of the solo-female indie-folk pack, in my opinion. Julia Holter and Julien Baker (and I guess Taylor Swift now???) - eat your hearts out. | | 6 |  | Serpent Column
Kathodos
My favorite metal release of the year. Takes the unrelenting entropy of this yearās EP and blends it with the aggressive simplicity of their debut to produce something that both feels familiar and entirely progressive. No one - and I mean no one - is doing black metal like this nowadays. Or any metal at all, for that matter; it eschews the boundaries of traditional genre labels so neatly, so divinely, and makes it seem effortless to boot. | | 5 |  | Illuminati Hotties
FREE I.H: This Is Not the One...
The story behind this ad hoc album/mixtape is hilarious, and you can tell it fueled much of the energy that Tudzinās bringing to the table. Strays from the formulaic indie pop trappings of their debut for an approach that more closely resembles a sketchbook of a fed-up, pissed off twentysomething, and apparently thatās exactly the one Iāve been waiting for. Excited to see what Sarah comes up with next, but Iām skeptical sheāll be able to top this, | | 4 |  | Lonker See
Hamza
More meticulously sculpted and unabashedly ārockā-forward than their debut, ONE EYE SEES RED, but every bit as entrancing; thereās a traceable evolution from the opening neo-psych track to the bombast, avant-jazz closer, and itās exhilarating to say the least. Easy to fall helplessly under the hypnosis; Iāve started and finished this album so many times without realizing it. Itās starting to bleed into my psyche, I think. Pulls in the reins at all the right moments, and when it thumps - it thumps. | | 3 |  | Soft Kill
Dead Kids R.I.P. City
The vocals would give it away, but musically, tonally, structurally, etc., you could tell me that this was a lost Cure album from the eighties that was only recently discovered and Iād believe it. Thereās nothing about this that feels ārecent,ā but thereās something incredible about that. So often do artists attempt to emulate a band, a movement, a time period, and come up empty-handed. This, however, is a blast from the past that wrangles enough touchpoints to evoke nostalgia while crafting enough unique melodies and hooks that it doesnāt feel like a carbon copy. Fascinating, especially for those who love the gothic post-punk of decades past. Yet another song of the year contender in āInverness.ā | | 2 |  | Neptunian Maximalism
Eons
An album knocked me off my feet so abruptly that I managed to cobble together a full-length review of it; something I rarely do. Iāll let that do the heavy lifting (it's on this site) but just know that this thing is the aural equivalent of staring into a black hole. An endurance test to some degree, but one that Iāve been willing to put myself through time and time again. A monumental piece of work whose most delicate pleasures could never be formulated into words. Brutal, dark, droning, haunting, engulfing, and truly deserving of the epithet āepic.ā | | 1 |  | The Microphones
Microphones in 2020
If thereās one person in the world who can take an immensely personal experience, dilute it down to its barest elements, reform it into a digestible piece of art, and somehow come out of that transformation engendering sincerity and raw sentimentality rather than mind-numbing pretension, itās obviously Phil Elverum. A CROW LOOKED AT ME is the most passionate album in existence but letās be honest - itās tough to listen to and not particularly enjoyable. This, on the other hand, is every bit as personal, but ventures down thoroughfares that are less inherently tragic and grief-stricken, more nostalgic and reminiscent - and thatās exactly why it strikes the perfect balance intimacy and ubiquity. Not everyone will salivate at the idea of a forty-five-minute-long indie-folk free-form poetry session, but the sentiment speaks for itself. This is major. | |
tectactoe
01.05.21 | Oy vey comrades - feel free to tell me where I went wrong (or right). Pretty good year, overall, especially for black metal. Cheers to 2021, sput. Love you all. | GhandhiLion
01.05.21 | hell yeah black sabbath | GhandhiLion
01.05.21 | can confirm 38 rules | tectactoe
01.05.21 | The Ghandhi seal of approval - now I have made it. | dedex
01.05.21 | tasty stuff, props for 45 and 2 | tectactoe
01.05.21 | @dedex - I have you to thank for introducing me to 45! Good shit. | GhandhiLion
01.05.21 | 'The Ghandhi seal of approval - now I have made it.'
Is that one of the albums in your top 100?
| Lord(e)Po)))ts
01.05.21 | Nice list girlfriend | someone
01.05.21 | i'll check back after i check your top 10, looks lovely | tectactoe
01.05.21 | @Pots - š
@someome - Thanks! Let me know what you think of the ones you decide to check. | Lucman
01.06.21 | Awesome list. Major props for 5. Needs so much more recognition. | tectactoe
01.06.21 | @Luc - thanks! And agreed! I was a fan of Sarah's more structured and poppy debut but the energy she brought to this new mixtape was fantastic. Hopefully her future project(s) keep the same trajectory. | Ryus
01.06.21 | first cow better be #1 on the film list | tectactoe
01.06.21 | I actually use premiere date for my film lists, so FIRST COW is on my 2019 list. Itās sixth, which is still really good. I love Ms. Reichardt ā¤ļø | JohnnyoftheWell
01.06.21 | this is a beautiful list and I need to check that John Zorn album (only jammed Baphomet from this year), but why tf is Phoebe Bridgers being stitched up to ultrabroadstroke comparisons with Julia Holter again? | Winesburgohio
01.06.21 | 17 mwah | Pangea
01.06.21 | Excellent list with lots of stuff that i have missed | Sabrutin
01.06.21 | Crimey off 3 is kind of soty material | rage11111ro
01.06.21 | Just listened to 9 again, excellent. Props for 37 too! | tectactoe
01.06.21 | @Johnny - thanks Johnny; and if we can't continue making useless comparisons based solely on relative gender, age, and broad genre tags, what's the point of life anyway?
@Wines - Didn't know you were a fan! Glad to know. Album really took me by surprise, excited to see what she does in the future.
@Pangea - thanks!!
@Sabrutin - Agreed, entire album is fantastic. "Inverness" is my top pick, but honestly I love every track on that thing.
@rage - yeah that Skaphe album just continues to blow me away. | tectactoe
01.06.21 | Also if anyone has any rec's from 2020 they think I might've missed, do pass them my way, ya dig? | dedex
01.06.21 | don't know if you're into skramz but: No Note - if this is the future then I'm in the dark
otherwise Shapoval Sextet - Kobzareva Drums, 1976 | tectactoe
01.06.21 | Typically not into skramz but I'm willing to try anything - there are definitely outliers and anomalies even in genres I dislike, so I'll at least give the first few tracks a shot and see how I feel! And will dig the other as well :^) | tectactoe
01.06.21 | So is Kobzareva Duma actually archival material from ca. 1976, only released now in 2020? (RYM doesn't seem to clarify this but context clues would point to yes.) | porcupinetheater
01.06.21 | Solid list but holding Julia Holter and Phoebe Bridgers in the same stylistic category? Could maybe see it for Have you in Wilderness if you squint, but otherwise? | SteakByrnes
01.06.21 | Rad list brother | tectactoe
01.06.21 | Thanks dudes. Holter comparison not entirely apt, sure, the comparison was a superlative attempt to accentuate Bridgers' status among similar contemporaries i.e. solo women doing indie pop / folk (even though Holter is arguably not folk at all). Lenker actually crossed my mind for the comparison, but her and Bridgers and neck and neck in terms of quality and output imo (Lenker possibly even better overall, though I prefer PUNISHER to SONGS this year) so I binned that and grabbed the first female solo act that came to mind.
In my defense I have not heard anything after HAVE YOU IN MY WILDERNESS. | porcupinetheater
01.06.21 | Lol fair play, gotta got some slack after the sheer amount of very good words you put all over this here list.
Aviaryās incredible, by the way, if you have the time to give to it. She is pushing the Hell out of her sound on that one. Thereās certain small hints of it on her earlier records, but thereās no way to imagine Aviary before hearing it | tectactoe
01.07.21 | Will do. Iām sure itās already on my depressingly long queue of stuff to listen to, but fellow endorsements help bump things to the front of the line š | dedex
01.07.21 | > So is Kobzareva Duma actually archival material from ca. 1976, only released now in 2020? (RYM doesn't seem to clarify this but context clues would point to yes.)
yes exactly ! | tectactoe
01.07.21 | Nice - will definitely check it soon. Looks neat as hell. | tectactoe
01.08.21 | Also thanks for the feature, whichever mod was kind enough to bestow such an honor upon my forsaken list ! |
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