Speaking of Upright T-Rex Music and Justin Lawes; the two have collaborated together and released the self-titled album Computer Jazz. The songs were all written and recorded by Lawes, Wariner and Uhler together. Given that I've been listening to Wariner and Uhler make music for 15 years, I can hear their influence very heavily but Lawes is definitely putting his own spin on that work.

If you like bleeps and bloops combined with sweeping movements; they got you covered. I am absolutely loving it.

Waaay back in 2017, I launched the portfolio website for Upright T-Rex, the production studio that my buddies Ross Wariner and Cody Uhler operate for sound & music design for all kinds of media. I am happy to announce that here in 2023, six years later, they have outgrown the site I built for them and relaunched the whole thing! Check it out at utxmusic.com and be sure to spend some time in each section - keeping an eye out for gems like "The Game That Never Was." To be clear, I did not build this new site but I am overjoyed to see their work maturing beyond what I provided!

Ross and Cody both make music independently as Uncle Skeleton and Cody Uhler, endeavors also worth you ears should you enjoy what you're hearing from UTX.

If you find yourself needing any sort of audio, you really should hire them - they do a bang up job.

Been a minute since I immersed myself in portfolio site but the work of Justin Lawes certainly deserved my time. I am particularly fond of the playful work, the behind-the-scenes insights and collaborations. There's a ton to see - go enjoy!

The most bizarre thing about this trailer for Poor Things is that its hosted on the Kodak Youtube account. That’s saying a lot considering how bizarre this looks! Early reviews confirm it's quite enjoyable too. Looking forward to it.

I've long been a fan of Skyway Man (and his previous iteration, James Wallace and The Naked Light). He's got a new record on the horizon, Flight of the Long Distance Healer, and it seems he has stepped up his game - conceptually - quite a bit.

This incredibly impressive video for "The Holding On" feels authentically from its era. Realistically speaking, it's a clever use of old footage and brilliant color treatments of new footage but it just feels like an actual piece of lost cinema. There's a story unfolding in there too but I will let you dig into that if you feel so inclined.

If I had to place my bets on what the record sounds like before the album is released I'd say - sci-fi folk with an upbeat feel and an ominous overture. That's what the video is giving me and I suspect there's more where it came from. Can't wait.

Back in 2021, the song "Space Freeway" was released as a collaborative effort between electronic artists Eve Maret and Adrienne Franke; two artists that I greatly admire. I have patiently awaited more music to emerge from that meeting of minds and now the wait is over!

The collaboration is officially called Eardrummer and their debut self-titled record will be released on Oct 13, 2023. The first track "Hibiscus" is available now and likely streaming everywhere. I urge you to follow these two, their collab IG account @_eardrummer_ and buy the record. It's gonna be a good one.

Remember when you used to stumble upon a random website that had a 24/7 streaming feed of genre-specific music that ticked all the right boxes but you couldn't figure out how they existed as an actual business? DKFM is an excellent example of exactly that. The website has more navigation items than you can count, most of the content seems to stop at 2021 but the actual music feed is going strong and well worth listening to. Hit play, pin the tab and maybe buy a shirt to keep them going through this mysterious existence!

Look, YouTube is littered with garbage countdown lists but sometimes they are legitimate doses of entertainment. I don't know that I can call all of these "nightmare fuel" but there are some amusingly weird creations in here worth perusing.

This GQ piece, Harmony Korine’s Hi-Tech Vision for the Future of Movies, is absolutely wild. I'm not exactly shocked that the guy who made Trash Humpers has some far out ideas but what he's forecasting in this article seems to be especially unique.

To be clear, I don't think all of these ideas are bad - not by any stretch of the imagination. Korine seems to be correct that attention spans have changed; the way we consume media has changed and, thus, the way media is created should change. In fact, it already has. The fusion of short form content, interactive / gaming content and fever dream nonsense does not seem far off in the future. It's closer than we think.

I don't agree with Korine's takeaways from the article 100%. Much of what is described sounds unhinged, unfocused and absurd to the point that it'll never be a reality. It's too many ideas to actually happen - a videogame but also a short 1second film but also face remapping software but also physical masks that look like demons but also a clothing line. Seriously, that's all in there. Lots of good individual ideas but hard to imagine them all parsing together.

But maybe I'm a Ludditte. Maybe Korine is a visionary. OR maybe his success isn't dependent on being embraced by a huge audience, so doing 1,000 different things that a small group adores will be enough.

It's a lot to think about and I suggest you take it all in and marinate on it.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to the DEA saying they did their research and believe marijuana should go from Schedule I to Schedule III in classification. It's a huge NO DOI request but one that the country desperately needs.

I say this not as a huge pothead that wants to see more drugs legalized but as a rational, compassionate, human being that understands that if liquor is legal, there's no ground to stand on for marijuana being Schedule I. It's clearly absurd and idiotic.

Anyway, just a note to keep an eye out for more news. The DEA can choose to move forward or do nothing. I'm hoping for some action.

I'm working with sugar sk*-*lls to release their next album, Star Time. Today, we released the brand new video for the track "Two-Chambered."

It's directed by Casey Pierce, who has done work with Twen, Molly Martin, Jessie Baylin and so many more. The video itself evokes the infamous Eames "Powers of Ten" short or the 1982 cult classic feature Koyaanisqatsi. It exists on an epic scale - from celestial bodies to earthly creations to cellular division. It's a video that begs to be immersed in, not watched casually.

Much of the feedback I've heard about the sugar sk*-*lls music so far is that people have a hard time connecting with the vocoder vocals. I understand this take but I'd point out that the robotic nature of the vocals is sort of the point, since the content of the lyrics is incredibly emotional. Listening to the lyrics on "Two-Chambered" is a legitimately moving experience for me. Particularly this bit:

I know where to look
But not where to find you
Within memory
All I know is this

It strikes me as heartbreaking - searching for someone but knowing they only exist as a memory. It is delivered by a robotic voice but it's as human as it gets.

Anyway, I'm superbly biased on my enjoyment of the video and the song but I think you'll dig it. I hope so at least!

Wonder Popular Science piece here on successful nuclear fusion. Scientists have now been able to fuse atomic nuclei and get an energy gain - more energy coming out than going in. About 1.5 times as much coming out. Not a huge amount but a fairly momentous step forward in the realm of science. Even more exciting is that they've been able to do it more than once. The article is enlightening but, truth be told, I got the majority of my comprehension on this topic from the latest episode of The Cross Cut, my bi-weekly podcast that combines recent news with film chatter. Hosts Jesse and Forest talk about the fusion and the 1997 film The Saint. One they liked, one they did not. I'll let you guess which.

A great listen and a fascinating topic to learn more about.