I don’t need to lecture someone who listens to music all the time that your relationship to a song changes on your mood…if you’re happy, sad, blah blah blah. For me, a crucial way to appreciate music happens when I’m sick, especially if I have a fever or just feel like I’m moving at half speed. Which I am right now! So I think my current grossness is influencing how I hear Nagoya producer House Of Tapes’ latest release, the two-song Hopeless Peace. Recently, he’s shifted back towards the pounding, constricting sound that defined earlier works, and on opener “Hopeless Piece” that results in a song that, in my current state, runs from disorienting to at times a little too busy. Yet it also makes the moment when the noise gives way to a muddy but pretty melody all the sweeter. And it makes the rumbling title track all the better because, whereas the first song sometimes feels too cluttered, “Hopeless Peace” makes its clattering elements work just right. But hey, maybe when I’m healthy again I’ll have a whole new take. Get it here, or listen below.