In the winter of 2021 I discovered a Gemini capsule called Konpeito Media.

KONPEITO was quarterly Lo-fi hip hop & chill bootleg mixtapes, distributed exclusively through the Gemini protocol. Each tape was a half-hour mix, clean on side A and repeated on side B with an added ambient background noise layer for atmosphere. Tapes were generally released in the first week of each meteorological season.

KONPEITO ended in the Winter of 2022.

The project no longer exists, but I found a mirror capsule here:

<gemini://gem.chiajlingvoj.ynh.fr/konpeito/konpeito_media_mirror.gmi>

I saved a few of these mixtapes to my computer back then, and I always find myself coming back to the Winter 2021 tape. It’s great to set as background music on blue winter evenings when I find myself writing for long periods of time.

Konpeito Media had a deliberate end when its author felt it ran its course. Often we see blogs or projects abandoned, that’s normal, but rarely do we see a two-year project where the author acknowledges that it’s time to wrap things up and move on to other things.

Konpeito on Mastodon - January 20, 2022:

After some soul-searching, I’ve decided to call the KONPEITO project done. I know y’all were fiending for the new tape but it seems like there’s always something else diverting my attention and that’s usually a really good sign my heart isn’t in it.

The capsule will stay up indefinitely and I’ll make sure you have notice before I take it down.

I’ll have one more tape up before I do, to say thank you to everyone who’s listened and everyone who’s shone light on the Gemini project.

Be well.

This project is one of my favorite pieces of internet history.