Can you recommend contemporary music artists without lyrics?

Mothra@mander.xyz to Asklemmy@lemmy.ml – 128 points –

Keyword artist , or band/group name. I'm not looking for a genre, I want to search artists. Tell me about someone you like listening to.

Would appreciate if it's Not symphonic/orchestral movie/videogame OST. I know there is a lot of really good music in this category but I'm trying to avoid recommendations like Hans Zimmerman or Jeremy Soule or Enya etc., since they are either really well known or fall into the orchestral and/or "epic music score" I'm not looking for.

It's OK if some tracks have vocals or even some lyrics/voice samples but I prefer to keep them at a minimum.

Any suggestions? TIA

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I don't think all these are contemporary but as someone who loves post rock and instrumental music here are some artists that make it into my playlist pretty regularly. Hope this is helpful! The ones near the top I probably listen to more regularly right now but it tends to rotate.

  • Sleepmakeswaves
  • We Lost the Sea
  • Explosions in the Sky
  • Codes in the Clouds
  • Ef
  • Russian Circles
  • Collapse Under the Empire
  • Mogwai
  • Secret Gardens
  • Red Sparowes
  • Moonlit Sailor
  • Maybeshewill
  • 65daysofstatic
  • Caspian
  • Sleep Dealer
  • If These Trees Could Talk
  • Balmorhea
  • God is an Astronaut
  • The Evpatoria Report
  • Sigur Ros
  • False Horizon
  • This Will Destroy You
  • pg.lost
  • There's A Light
  • Oh Hiroshima
  • Tides from Nebula

EDIT: got around to checking my library and have a few more.

  • Distant Dream

  • Saor

  • Those Who Ride With Giants

  • For Giants

  • U1327

  • The Best Pessimist

  • Saxon Shore

  • Dorena

  • The End of the Ocean

  • Random Forest

  • Joy Wants Eternity

  • Paint the Sky Red

  • Eldamar

  • we.own.the.sky

  • Eleventh Vibration

  • Shadow of Io

  • Jake Eves

  • The Last Sighs of the Wind

In hindsight I don't know if a giant list is the most useful thing but it's here if you want it.

This is quite a list, you have good taste.

Saving your list. I really like Oh Hiroshima. “Drone” is on my steady rotation.

Thank you! I like some post rock, I know some of these and some not, I'll be checking them out. Cheers!

Godspeed you! Black Emperor

Edit: I’m not old, but old enough that I only really remember their first round of albums. No idea what the newer ones are like, sadly. Just never got around to listening.

"God is an astronaut" "Boards of Canada"

Along with Godspeed, those 3 were like my university study mix.

God is an astronaut always reminded me of Explosions in the sky (or vice versa?)

Idk the last one

I would mix in some chill shit like John Fahey, some heavy shit like early Earth, or lighter post rock too. Depended on my mood

Tycho, UTAH, Attom, lots more in my instrumental playlist. These are mostly chilled or electronic type genre songs, but I also have a "djentstrumental" playlist if that's your jam, with artists like For Giants, Andromida, Returning We Hear the Larks (a personal favorite), and more.

Love Tycho!

I feel Boards of Canada is similar, but they do pretty frequent vocal samples.

Thank you! A lot of good suggestions there, I'll have fun going down the rabbithole. First time I hear about most artists on those lists.

A lot of post-rock bands might be good for you. Usually atmospheric/instrumental music played with typical rock instruments and little to no vocals.

Some of my favorites are Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, El Ten Eleven, and Sigur Rós.

(although Sigur Rós technically features vocals but it’s a language of nonsense sounds the lead singer Jónsi made up called Hopelandic, so it’s instrumental-voice I guess??)

Mogwai is fantastic, will check out your other suggestions.

Awesome, yeah I'd say Sigur Rós is the most similar to Mogwai on that list (especially Kveikur which is a pretty dark album). The other two usually do more shimmery, pretty guitar tracks rather than the more hard rock/metal/noise influence you get with Mogwai. But check them all out, hope you enjoy!

Aphex Twin & Godspeed You! Black Emperor

There's a mashup I didn't know I wanted.

I've seen Goodspeed You recommended a few times here but not Aphex Twin. I didn't know either. I think GY!BE is good, but not for me. Aphex Twin though, that's right up my alley. Thanks for the recommendations!

Polyphia is great as was already suggested. If you want to go heavier, try Animals as Leaders. If you want to go jazzier, try Snarky Puppy.

I've heard of polyphia but never listened to them. The fact you recommended them next to Snarky Puppy was what got me to look them up, and WOW!

Have you heard of Khruangbin?

No, I haven't. Definitely some good tracks there and a lot of diversity even if many do have lyrics. Thanks for the suggestion

Apocalyptica. Metal on the cello. They sometimes have s guest vocalist. I like their self-titled album.

Phamie Gow. Pianist and harpist. Maybe too orchestral. I turn to the Beyond the Milky Way album oftenwhen working out studying.

Mary Lattimore. Experimental harpist. I've been enjoying her latest album, West Kensington, with guitarist Paul Sukeena.

Kelly Moran. Experimental pianist Can't recommend her album Ultraviolet enough.

Burial. For some chilled, glitchy dubstep.

The Comet is Coming. For some psych jazz.

Moderat. For some house electronica.

Uboa. For some droney, noisy, doomy metal.

George Clanton. For some synthpop vapourwave. His latest album is great.

Omg after all those years.... 35 seconds into a new error and my brain thinks I took MDMA and starts to make funny stuff to my mind and body 🥹🥴

If you like Apocolyptica, may I suggest checking out Judgement Day? It's another string metal group.

Some metal and metal-adjacent instrumental bands I listen to a lot:

  • Sunn O)))
  • Russian Circles
  • Pelican
  • Lethe
  • Explosions in the Sky

This guy knows what he's taking about.

That Lethe album was the biggest surprise of last year, what an amazing debut

In no particular order:

Ryuichi Sakamoto (particularly Async, and his albums with Alva Noto)

Aphex Twin

Apparat (though he does also feat singers on some albums)

Four Tet

Squarepusher

Ørdrop Wolkenscheidt

MGMT

Sevish

Matt Elliott (very few sung bits)

Paco de Lucía

Guilhem Desq

Jordi Savall

Ledetraad

Bremer & McCoy

Athletic Progression

Psykovsky

Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Kettel

Secede

R mccarthy

Sungazer

999999999

Susumu Yokota

Caravan Palace

These do fall into the vg category but it's more edm / retro than "epic orchestral":

Scattle

Chris Christodoulou

Toby Fox

The Toxic Avenger

Jake Kaufman

Post rock post rock post rock post rock

Explosions in the Sky

Mogwai

Sigur Ros

The Album Leaf

This Will Destroy You

try these on for size and see if the genre takes you like it took me. I tried to include some stuff that is more traditional rock in form and instrumentation and some that is a bit more experimental in that regard.

God is an astronaut

If these trees could talk

Maybeshewill

Collapse under the empire

Long distance calling

Russian circles

Damn I am digging these ones! The only I don't from this list is Maybeshewill. I think I liked Long Distance Calling and God is an Astronaut the most. Thanks for the suggestions :)

GiaA are fantastic live. If you ever get a chance to listen to them, don't hesitate. My favourite concert experience ever

Hello! Thanks for the recommendations. These are nice and I've seen others suggesting them as well. I appreciate the diversity in style too.

Out of these, Explosions in The Sky has made it to my playlist. I can't say I dislike the others but they also don't hook me when I listen. Not my vibe I guess?

So far out of the recommended postrock over this thread I've really liked Plini. I still got a lot of recommendations to check out though...

Wild, I would've expected Mogwai to hit a little closer because they have a bit more of a radio friendly structure and you said you wantwd to keep away from more orchestral stuff.

Still, glad you dig it and thanks for creating a great thread. This is the first lemmy thread I saved

The term for this would be 'instrumental', which I only mention because it might help you find what you want. If you search streaming platforms for '[some genre] instrumental' it might turn up a playlist.

Here's some favourite albums of mine, which are 'ambient' so you might find them terribly boring, but they certainly are instrumental:

  • 1 2 3 - Pole
  • And Their Refinement of the Decline - Stars of the Lid
  • Plume - Loscil
  • The Sound of Lights When Dim - Slow Dancing Society

Thanks for the suggestions, I do like ambient sometimes, though when I do it's more on the psychedelic side. Of your list Pole caught my ear.

"Instrumental" is so broad and often leaves out a lot of electronica which I like. Hence why I'm asking for artists as opposed to genre.

Yeah, Pole is really different, and so good!

And what I was getting at with 'instrumental' is that it can just be added onto any genre/mood/activity and that can help you narrow it down and find stuff you want at that moment. So if you want instrumental electronica, you can find playlists for that, e.g. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1EIe2aICIo80hb As for moods and activities, examples would be 'Chill Instrumental Beats' https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX0khTY3HFA4M and 'Instrumental Study' https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX9sIqqvKsjG8

how recent is contemporary? how tolerable is EDM? Cuz the first thing that comes to mind is Deadmau5

Haha great questions. My main objective was to avoid getting classical music recommended, which is not what I'm looking for (although I like a lot of it too).

I like some Deadmau5, though I'm not a great fan. I do love EDM, Eric Prydz is probably my favourite artist in that very large umbrella of music, and I follow Defected Records if that tells you anything. I tend to prefer house over other subgenres and dubstep is probably my least liked subgenre. If you got any other suggestions, go ahead!

Herbie Hancock, Snarky Puppy

+1 for Snarky Puppy. Saw them live a few months back and they're incredible. Somehow they still had the audience singing along, even without lyrics.

I enjoy listening to The HU. They are a Mongolian Metal/rock band. Most of their songs have lyrics, but it’s all in Mongolian so I just treat the vocals as another instrument and it may as well be instrumental to me.

I listen to Ghost Data and Porter Robinson lots. Both are electronic music, but I like them more than Zedd or Madeon because they sound more unique.

Ghost Data's chord progressions are unique but repetitive (I don't know many other artists that have a chord progression or vocal idea like that of "Queen of Knives", so it's unique, but the main chord progression of "Queen of Knives" doesn't change all that much throughout the song, so it's repetitive). I like that there's sonic variety while exploring singular ideas fully, like how the main melody of "Thy Flesh Undone" repeats through different instrumentations.

Porter Robinson stuff is pretty great because it sounds more emotional than most EDM I hear. It can sometimes have words, sometimes not. The Worlds album is more of an ambient and emotional/inspiring twist on EDM; specifically I'm thinking of "Goodbye to a World" and "Lionhearted" as uniquely happy songs.

I give an honorary mention to "Antirrhinum" by MALO because its rhythms are pretty cool and confused me a lot at first. It was entertaining trying to figure them out.

The following can be classed as instrumental, post-rock or post-metal:

  • Russian Circles
  • Caspian
  • ISIS (the band)
  • Sigur Ros
  • Mogwai
  • God Speed You! Black Emperor
  • Blanket
  • Vaudlow

Good list. Adding Ryuichi Sakamoto and Mono.

How could I forget Mono.

The album (ep?) For your parents is amazing.

I will give Ryuichi Sakamoto a listen now.

I went on about post rock in a different comment and I'm kicking myself for forgetting about gybe. Thank you.

miles davis esp like bitches brew type era

Is Rock okay? If so: And So I Watch You From Afar

Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Keith Jarrett.

I can recommend Solar Fields, although they did the Soundtrack to Mirror's Edge, their albums are pretty nice.

Also (but not really contemporary): Casiopea - Japanese Fusion Jazz. Sounds like the soundtrack to Gran Turismo, but still.

Solar Fields (and Carbon Based Lifeforms) are among my favorites already. Will check out your other suggestion though, thanks!

Ever heard of a crab rave?

I've heard Crab Rave (and Sandstorm too), but didn't know there was an artist with that name. Any favourite tracks?

Favorite track is probably what you listened to. Much more fun visually but it's still good on its own.

A few I can think of while going through my music library:

  • Ochre
  • Makeup And Vanity Set
  • Blanck Mass
  • Carpenter Brut
  • Danger
  • Magic Sword
  • Ratatat
  • MASTER BOOT RECORD
    Their capitalization, not mine :)

Some are relaxing and others are loud and fast.

Gidge, Bonobo, Nicolas Jaar, Nils Frahm

Bonobo is already one of my top favourites. I'll be checking out the rest, they weren't on my radar. Thanks

Guts Pie Earshot are one of my favorite bands - just Cello & Drums (except in their first years), for example Butterfly

The Comet Is Coming - for some psychedelic/jazz/rock, Tiny Desk Concert

Space Rock - An Interstellar Traveller's Guide is one of my favorite compilation albums (so not really an artist but a bunch of artists)

Some more space rock: Yuri Gagarin

Die Wilde Jagd have some lyrics, but also many instrumental tracks, like Austerlitz.

When it comes to techno, there is obviously a lot of choice, I like e.g. Ellen Alien Lism for a more ambient vibe

Thank you for the recommendations! I'll be looking into these

If you like proggy stuff I'd definitely check out Arch Echo, they're incredible. If you like acoustic stuff then Rodrigo y Gabriela are also a great listen, and so is Kaki King (though I mostly only know her older stuff)

I feel like this describes most electronica, but since you're looking for an artist: Blank Mass.

That's why I like electronica the most

I'm liking this btw. I never heard of this artist before, there are some good tracks but the Animated Violence Mild album is going from start to finish into my playlist. Cheers

I saw you said you like some electronic music, so I'll throw in Prefuse 73 (or really, any of Scott Heren's pseudonyms) and Infected Mushroom. Prefuse 73 has some voice samples but is largely electronic/trip-hop, while Infected Mushroom has a decent split between songs with lyrics and songs without, so I recommend just grabbing an album and picking out what works for you.

If These Trees Could Talk. Polyphia. Those are two I like quite a bit. Explosions In the Sky. This Will Destroy You.

I like to listen to synthwave when driving and I can recommend 'Rivera Rivera' and 'Inexdra' as well as 'Cartridge 1987'.

The latter has some great songs that tell a story without any words.

beastie boys have some really great instrumental tracks in their catalogue

MF DOOM has his Special Herbs albums which are all of his beat instrumentals.

I listen to this at work a lot for background music.

Polyphia is a pretty incredible instrumental band.

https://youtu.be/9_gkpYORQLU?si=eiTMnGJSydj5TKQc

I was going to say Polyphia too, they are incredible. I was especially amazed by their song Ego Death with Steve Vai.

HOME, the anthem of speedrunning is by them too.

Opiuo, Ott and Griz are probably my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJj_4ir12-w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cjxNU0S17g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMGWXAitaK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6pJs5wPfcw

stuff i've been listening to lately:

  • andy stott
  • gas
  • forest swords
  • boards of canada
  • tortoise

Sure, just Odesza we were young Two feet just felt like playing the guitar and not singing Odesza kusangi Odesza koto Brock Berrigan Making Up (70s inspired music) Hippie Sabotage enlightened energy Hippie Sabotage smoke room Hippie Sabotage drifter

Not everyonea cup of tea, alternative/edm but yes let me know your thoughts

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm usually into edm, just not a huge fan of the chill/hop chill/trap sounds. I'm digging Brock Berrigan though, I have a soft spot for vintage and lounge sounds. Nice, cheers!

GoGo Penguin is a jazzy trio from the UK that makes midern jazz that is really engaging. I'm really a progmetalhead, but this band is ficking epic.

Bersarin Quartett is another band that I love. It's is a bit tough to get into, but it's really rewarding if you like slowish dreamy complex music. All song titles are in German, but luckily there's no lyrics.

If you like solar fields, try Asura (also on ultimae records)! Also, hinkstep is pretty nice but has vocals some of the time.

Thanks (yes I'm still going through the recommendations on this thread). I didn't know about hinkstep, some nice stuff there. Cheers

Flamingosis

Eevee

Anamanaguchi

Hey! Thanks for the recommendations. I'm really liking the first two! Cheers

Check out ENV -- Some of my favorite lyric-less music. There are a couple of playlists on YouTube with their albums. Firefrost is a good song to start with.

Carpenter Brut. Though I only really listen to the trilogy from them.

If the reason you want something without lyrics is so that you can focus on other stuff, you could consider songs in other languages. There's so much content out there to explore, and you might be able to find stuff in a genre that you already enjoy. I don't find it distracting, and it's fun finding new artists I otherwise would have never tried.

When I want pure instrumental, I usually go "instrumental {{genre}}" and just save the playlists.

I really do prefer music without lyrics, although I still like music that feature lyrics sometimes. Right now I would like of the non lyric type, but I think I've exhausted the genres I know, and I prefer to be exposed to something new by artist, not a broad genre.

Meute is a "techno marching band" - they mostly do covers/reworkings but they have some original works too. My fave tracks atm:

  • holy harbour
  • you & me
  • infinite
  • endling

Nice! Thanks, I didn't know about them

I like everything black sky giant has done. And just look at this sweet album cover: https://blackskygiant.bandcamp.com/album/planet-terror

(The opening track has some light vocal samples, but there's no lyrics or vocal parts in their stuff generally)

Edit: you can also click on the "instrumental" tag on that page and go exploring.

Sounds good, thanks for the suggestion. Cheers!

Covet, Chon, Scale the Summit, Caspian, Mouse on the keys, God is an astronaut, Weekend Plans, DJ Williams projekt

Look up Nox Arcana if you want something Gothic. Might be a bit too orchestral for your needs, but it's a dark version that's unlike anything I've heard.

Thanks for the recommendation. I can't say I've had much exposure to Gothic music but it's something I should definitely look more into, I like the dark atmosphere.

I've been listening to a lot of music that is featured on the NPR shows Hearts of Space and Echos, which i highly recommend. The following artists/bands are of that type, instrumental, chill, "slow music for fast times", and all are available on Bandcamp.

Hollan Holmes

Kiasmos

Lars Leonhard

Michael Stearns

Röyksopp

I like listening to foreign language music when I don't want to be distracted by vocals.

I guess you might like ambient music. It's a huge genre, but since you have start somewhere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJFai85mu8M&list=OLAK5uy_kK7tukxLd8mVVTU1LdBAqIuDQIIalolvU (he died 5 days ago btw, may he RIP)

Browsed the comments really quickly and couldn’t see that anyone had mentioned Plini, so there’s my recommendation.

There were a couple others who also mentioned it. I didn't know about it, it's definitely a keeper! Thanks for the recommendation

I haven't seen anyone mention Tempel yet. And yes, it's spelled Tempel not Temple.

Not bad, thanks for the suggestion- and spelling clarification too haha

Deadhorse! (We Can Create Our Own World specifically, they might have lyrics in other albums, can't confirm)

I like to listen to the genres Synthwave and Dark Ambiance. Spotify is pretty good to find new music in that regard. Since you asked for artist recommendations and not genres:

Judge Bitch – their Album Horse Blood is pretty good.

Perturbator – sounds like you're driving on some rainy highway at night to your cyberpunk destination

There's also Instrumental Nu Metal, for example:

Andromeda – start with their song Synthesis

MASTER BOOT RECORD – it's just riffs and booms, usually no vocals

A. Yarmak – has some nice metal remixes, for example Hydrogen from the game Hotline Miami

Then there's Dubstep and Breakbeat, for example:

The Prodigy – uses samples heavily, but also has a few tracks without spoken words

Lindsey Stirling – Dubstep and violin, interesting combination.

videogame OST […] either really well known or fall into the orchestral and/or “epic music score” I’m not looking for

Well, there are tons of videogames and many of them don't have an orchestral/epic soundtrack, and even more of them are not very well known. I think you're limiting yourself here.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be checking them out for sure. They sound good.

Yes, I am aware that I may be limiting myself there. Feel free to add any OST you think are worthy of mention. Solar Fields is one my favourite artists and also the author of Mirrors Edge OSTs, for example. I just tried to avoid a wall of text explaining in detail what I like and what not, so n1. No lyrics and N.2 to avoid classical styles and well known osts, which I think would be the most likely recommendation types. I think I prefer to be introduced into new music through artist recommendations and not genres.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy classical a lot, as well as music with lyrics. The Fat Of The Land is a favourite and I still remember when I first heard it. Blew my mind as a child. Listening to it as an adult is still a guaranteed trip. I like some other things from The Prodigy but that's their high water mark imo.

For OST, I really like the Ultrakill soundtrack (I don't know if that counts as well known).

A few more for you that I don't think I've seen mentioned: Kalaido Tycho Worakls The Cinematic Orchestra

City of the Sun is some fantastic Latin-inspired instrumental post-rock. (That’s probably drivel, idk what genre they are).

Their cover of Young Folks is how I found them, but their self-titled album from 2020 is probably one of my favorites of the last several years. It’s a good balance of calming serenades and powerful melodies.

Hon. mention - The Samuel Jackson Five - Easily Misunderstood is another old favorite of mine. Angrier and edgier, but still haunting in its own way.

The Beastie Boys also have a couple fantastic instrumental jam albums - The In Sound From Way Out, and The Mix-Up.

Chapelier Fou, but kinda went into a "symphonic direction" over the years I guess, but maybe you still like the older stuff? My personal favorite.

Not bad, I'll be looking into it. Cheers

When I'm working, I listen to Lydian Collective and Tennyson (some of his tracks don't have vocals). You might enjoy them as well!

Adam Young, the guy behind Owl City has made albums under different names, including his own. One of the bands is Port Blue; he made an almost purely instrumental (only vocals are the first few seconds of the second track) album called The Airship. It feels rather experimental, but I use it to calm down. The other works are under his own name: Apollo 11, Project Excelsior, and Voyager 1.

All are well made and they tell a story through the instrumental music. Would recommend.

If I'm looking to maximize my relaxation, then it's hard to go wrong with Sleepy Fish. Chill beats all the way.

If you want acoustic guitar playing that you probably never experienced before, then check out Alan Gogoll. Love his stuff. Always nice to listen to. His song Mulberry Mouse is a favorite of mine.

Aether also has a few instrumental albums. Eshajori is a very melancholic feeling album. Gives me a lonely, empty feeling, but I love it all the same.

In a completely different direction, but you could check out The Glitch Mob. Definitely electronic, but I wouldn't say EDM.

That's all I have on my phone at the moment. Hopefully these are good starts.

I like Monster Rally a lot, they use a bunch of old tropical sounding music samples and put beats on it. Very good for relaxing and vibing.

Feint, Matt Large, and especially Gregory David are awesome.

Additionally, Bernth is really cool if you like guitar.

Marconi Union, Mord Fustang, Caravan Palace, Pkch, Siriusmo, Jacob Mann Big Band, Shubh Saran.

That should get you a wide variety.

Elephant Sessions, Kan, Peatbog Faeries, Monster Ceilidh Band, Flook. Peatbog Faeries have a new album out now that's great, but it is their first album with some vocal samples (not with many words though). All Celtic fusion bands to a greater or lesser degree.

I'd recommend Solo by RiveR idk about the rest of their songs though I've only listened to Solo.

Chief Kaya, Benzmixer, Automhate, Versa, Badphaze, Akirah, Ternion Sound, Spass, Aweminus

Detektivbyron

Its Swedish folk music with some electronica.

I only have the Hemvagen EP, and I really like half of songs, with the title track being my favorite. I think the E18 album contains all of the same songs and more.

https://youtu.be/YE2yChrT4ok

They were partly inspired by Yann Tiersen who I also really like. Perhaps you've heard the Amelie soundtrack. If not, it's excellent.

Helios - Caesura and Ochre - Lemodie for electronic music. Jizue - Bookshelf and Mouse on the Keys - An Anxious Object for jazz. Auxcide - of Atoms and Stardust for chiptune. Kplecraft - L 012 for both chiptune And jazz. Flying Saucer Attack - Distant Station for space rock. Dedalus - Dedalus.

No-one has mentioned "And so I watch you from afar" or "Redneck manifesto".

Just checked them out. Both sound good, I think I like Redneck more but it might be too early to say. Thanks for the suggestions!

Nickel Creek is cool! They have songs with vocals too, but some instrumental stuff as well. Kinda bluegrass feel. My favorite of theirs is Smoothie Song

Big Smoke Brass is really fun if you like kinda upbeat acoustic instrumental music

La Femme has some amazing non-vocal music (altho a good portion has French/Spanish vocals)

If u like Jazz, check out the album The Bright Mississippi

Check out John Matthias & Jay Auborn’s album Ghost Notes it’s really great.