Anamanaguchi, the chiptune rock band formed in 2004 on forums, has admitted they have “too goddamn many” browser tabs open right now. The group — consisting of Peter Berkman, James DeVito, Luke Silas, and Ary Warnaar — answered a weekly questionnaire about their most indispensable tools, underappreciated gear, and browsing habits, and the result is a portrait of a band that has never left the internet.
Their 2025 album Anyway marked a shift toward indie rock, recorded in person at the American Football house with fuzzy guitars. Their new single, “Yeah I Guess,” continues that direction. Fans who looped the tracks “Magnet,” “Fall Away,” and “Valley of Silence” endlessly will likely do the same with the new release.
The Band’s Online History
Anamanaguchi is best known for their chiptune soundtracks, which have appeared in games like the 2010 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game. They also collaborated with Hatsune Miku, whose work later showed up in Fortnite. The band has moved between breakneck chiptune beats and dance-y pop songs, but Anyway represented a distinct turn.
The Panic World podcast appearance with Peter and Luke talking about Etsy witches shows how plugged into the weirder corners of the internet they remain. Berkman and Silas spoke about it in the questionnaire, describing a guest spot that touched on the strange corners of online culture.
The Tools That Keep Them Going
Each member named a favorite tool, and none of them picked a guitar or a synthesizer. Luke Silas pointed to Ableton Live Operator, calling it simple and powerful enough to sketch ideas quickly. He noted that sounds from Operator often survive the editing process and end up in the final product.
Ary Warnaar went with built-in laptop and cellphone microphones, arguing they are underappreciated. They work well for quick scratch recordings, and now they sound so good that he skips re-recording altogether. Peter Berkman’s pick was the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S mouse, which he described as the best he has ever had.
“Best mouse I’ve ever had.”
Berkman detailed the features: sideways scroll, a button to switch between notched and smooth scroll wheel, a satisfying quiet click, sensitivity across any surface, and a charging tail that appears after heavy use. He compared it to the invention of the mouse itself, crediting Douglas Engelbart with the concept but noting that the LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S formula did not exist until June 2022.
James DeVito named an app called Amphetamine, which keeps a computer from sleeping during long exports or renders. He warned about the risk of overheating laptops in bags, but praised the utility of keeping a render running while on the move.
Phone Habits and Social Media
The questionnaire asked about apps installed on new devices and phone frustrations. Warnaar wants a normal 1/8-inch headphone jack back, frustrated by the constant need to replace dongles since Apple dropped the port. He loses them or breaks them, and the replacements wear out quickly.
DeVito shared a trick: increasing the key-repeat speed beyond what the UI allows. He said it feels insane at first but eventually speeds up hand-brain coordination for faster typing and deletion. Silas simply wants a USB port on his iPhone SE so he can attach a keyboard and stop typing on the screen.
What Sites Are Pinned
Silas admitted he has never pinned anything before and probably should. The band collectively named a few favorites, including vvworldwide.com, a radio aggregator that pools feeds from NTS, The Lot, dublab, KEXP, and stations from around the world. Berkman called it one of those products that asks why nobody thought to make it before.
He contrasted it with how detached from reality and human use the big companies seem to be, citing The Unfinished Revolution by Michael Dertouzos as inspiration for building what you actually want to see. DeVito kept it simple, listing Gmail as his mainstay.
The Tab Count
When asked how many tabs were open right now, the answers were revealing. Silas had 46 and 31 between two windows. He admitted it was too many and noted that every weekend brings a cleanout, though some tabs have sat for months.
Berkman said tab grouping in Firefox had become an art form for him. He no longer sees individual tabs but recalls folders of memory like a PSX save file. DeVito found humor in the situation, noting that Chrome on his phone stops showing the number of open tabs and just displays a smiley face instead.
Social Media Use
Silas said staying detached from social media tends to be better for his mental health on a daily basis, but he scrolls anyway. The band did not name a single platform as their most-used, instead offering a collective sense of ambivalence toward the medium.
The questionnaire format allowed each member to speak in their own voice, and the results landed somewhere between professional workflow and pure internet weirdness. A band that started on forums in 2004 has stayed online, and the tools they name reflect that history.
What This Tells Us
The questionnaire is a snapshot of a working band in 2026. It shows four people who still talk about the internet the way it felt when they started, even as the hardware and habits have changed. The LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S is a joke about Douglas Engelbart, but it is also a genuine endorsement of a specific piece of kit.
The tab count is the funniest part. Silas’s 46 and 31 tabs are not a brag but an admission of guilt, and he knows it. He is not the only one with tabs that have sat for months.
The pattern holds across the answers. Each member named something small and specific — a microphone, a mouse, a dongle, a radio aggregator — and explained why it mattered. The big companies did not invent these things, and the band members did not wait for them to.
Anamanaguchi has been online since 2004, and they are still figuring out how to use it better. The questionnaire captures a moment when the band is still asking those questions, even as they prepare for a new album.
Order of Mentioned Platforms and Tools
- Ableton Live Operator — Luke Silas’s favorite tool for sketching ideas quickly
- Built-in laptop and cellphone microphones — Ary Warnaar’s underappreciated pick for scratch recordings
- LOGITECH MX MASTER 3S mouse — Peter Berkman’s best mouse ever, endorsed for its features and Douglas Engelbart comparison
- Amphetamine app — James DeVito’s tool for keeping computers awake during long exports and renders
- vvworldwide.com — a radio aggregator pooling feeds from NTS, The Lot, dublab, KEXP, and stations worldwide
- Gmail — James DeVito’s mainstay
- 1/8-inch headphone jack — Ary Warnaar’s wish for a normal port back, frustrated by Apple dropping it
- Chrome’s smiley-face tab display — James DeVito’s joke about how his phone hides the number of open tabs
Source material: “Anamanaguchi has ‘too goddamn many’ browser tabs open right now,” The Verge.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.