I have been absolutely cranking out the episodes of my local Nashville music podcast We Own This Town: Music. By and large, I'm trying to catch up on a huge backlog of releases from 2023 that I just missed because of work obligations. However, this episode is a little different, as it's 100% cover songs.

Tune in to hear covers of: The Breeders, Joy Division, The Cure, Nilsson, The Replacements, Sheryl Crow, ABBA, Capt Beefheart, Flaming Lips, Wet Leg, Devo, Sad Baxter, Hall & Oates, Iggy Pop, The Ventures, Brenda Lee, Tim McGraw, Arthur Russell, The Smiths, Townes van Zandt and Sondheim. All the details are here and the show is streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, et al.

I always enjoy a cover song and this episode is really brimming with them.

gave this a recent listen and rather enjoyed. There is a Vol 2 that looks v worthwhile as well

the benchmark battles are really heating up!

I can't recall if I have ever heard this Failure on KCRW performance before (from 1996!) but, either way, it feels new to me. I still stand by Fantastic Planet as one of the finest albums of the entirety of the 90's.

You know Eurovision, right? Well, Windows95man is Finland's representation in the 2024 song contest and it is... something else! Eurovision generally brings some absurdity but this one ticks all the boxes. Make sure you stay for at least 2 minutes. Please.

via Chris

the headline says it all but the full read is a v good one.

In recent years I've become a hat guy. Previously in life I couldn't imagine such a thing but the rise of the Dad Hat just clicked with me. There's also no shortage of creative designs to indulge in.

Case in point, a buddy of mine launched Abandonware, a hat collection inspired by shareware and abandonware of the 80s and 90s. This Rodent's Revenge hat was an instant buy and I've got the DOS prompt waiting in the shopping cart. If those don't do it for ya, there's plenty more that probably will.

YouTube decided that I needed to see this music video for "Summon the Fire" by The Comet Is Coming, a London based band that incorporates synth, drums and sax. YouTube was quite correct in the recommendation.

Beyond the music tho, the video is spectacular. An absolutely overwhelming onslaught of textures, illustrations and painterly vibes. It was released in 2019 but it looks like the sort of thing AI would try to generate now - only with a loose precision that is impossible to capture. The director is RUFFMERCY, an animator and fine artist that I assume everyone has already heard of a million times over except for me but I'm overjoyed to have found it. The official portfolio has works for Nirvana, Thom Yorke, Run the Jewels, Lakeith Stanfield, Basquiat, the Sydney Opera House and a smattering of unofficial works & doodles that are incredibly impressive each on their own.

That's all to say, I'm late to the party but there's so much to enjoy.

As an Internet user, you have inevitably viewed The Windows 95 Launch video - an unbelievably awkward gathering of Microsoft C Suite employees working to get the crowd hype about the latest version of the operating system. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer in particular define the stilted nerd and aggro tech bro perfectly.

Write and Director KK Apple was inspired by this clip and created The Launch, a short film depicting the backstage prep for that exact event. The cast does an impeccable job of portraying the nervous, awkward developers - particularly Katie Sisk as Ballmer and Alyssa Limperis as Gates.

You can watch it on YouTube or Vimeo right now. It's just under 10 minutes, so you've no excuse.

download any song, podcast or playlist from Spotify up to 320kbps. I am always amazed when tools like this exist out in the open.

It's right there on the tin - Typeset in the Future is a film blog investigating the usage of various typography in futuristic settings. Even if you're familiar with such exercises looking at Alien or Blade Runner, you haven't read this take on it. I've never seen a breakdown on Wall-E or Moon before, so there's plenty for every body.

I don't consider myself a typography nerd by any stretch of the imagination but I am always appreciative of an investigation into world building. It's remarkable how typography (and iconography) helps to influences this.

Absolutely smitten with this animation of Shai-Hulud the Colossal - a giant sandworm that is part of a larger body of work from mazinflow.eth. I believe this is actually NFT related but that's only meaningful if you're looking to "own" the piece. Just go browse - really remarkable work; lo-fi, glitchy and immersively surreal.

This trailer for Hundreds of Beavers is captivatingly unique. There's a pull quote in there that says "Exists at the crossroads of Looney Tunes, Benny Hill, Cannibal: The Musical, Blazing Saddles and Adult Swim." That's a helluva intersection but you can see all of it in just the 1:20 of the trailer. I'd even toss in a pepper of Guy Maddin.

There's an extended trailer if you're curious to see a bit more of the action. My hope is that it never crosses over into gory but I'll just have to watch it to find out.

HT Pootify

I know zilch about Philadelphia band full body 2 but I do know that their 2023 album infinity signature is checking all the right boxes for me. It's steeped in shoegaze (so play it loud) but there's also a great deal of electronic music influences flowing through as well. Excellent blend start to finish. Dive into "wonder limit" - enjoy!

I will rant and rave all day long about how I think nostalgia holds people back from appreciating new things - a prison of the past that restricts you from being open to new experiences. But when I look at this Old Windows Icons repository, I can't help but be overjoyed.

I love a modern icon but there's something charming about the artistry of a tiny cassette, animated rose or

Syne

posted February 22, 2024 #

For the majority of 2023 I was under water. Vimeo let a bunch of people go which resulted in a lot of increased responsibilities for myself and, eventually, a new job at Mosaic. Then that went away in early 2024 and I found myself with a small window of free time. In between job hunting, I've been making up for lost time by posting lots of episodes of my We Own This Town: Music podcast.

If you're unfamiliar, it's basically a radio show - approximately an hour of music from Nashville area bands with a focus on indie rock, hip-hop, noise, ambient, electronic, et al. Things outside the city stereotype and incredibly enjoyable. Episode 366 focuses on a niche collective of artists that are swimming in shoegaze styles (that's an oversimplification but a good place to start). It's actually one of the lengthier episodes of late because I really like what they are doing. Specifically, the artists are - Total Wife, Zook, Thomas Luminoso, Rowen Merrill, Celltower, Rig B, Melaina Kol, Make Yourself at Home, Fresh Air 4 and Rube Oh, and they've got a new record label going called Second Floor Recording Co.. Follow all that.

I've got many more episodes queued up, I just need to edit them and get them into the world. If you're looking for some old school music discovery, consider subscribing.

Brand new podcast from Jed Sundwall that features conversations with "technologists about the literature that has influenced them." First up is Time O'Reilly talking about Dune. That's a helluva first episode if you ask me.

The animated logo is real charming but the title is even better - Techs on Texts. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, RSS or, if you're not yet convinced it is worthy of your subscription, read up on why the podcast should exist. Jed's doing a great job and it's just getting started.

Don't let anyone tell you the Internet isn't still fun. Enjoy Bongo Cat. via.

Excellent short film here - Duct Tape and Dreams - all about the revival of the SFMOMA soapbox derby back in 2022. It really is irrelevant that it's in San Francisco or that the MOMA is involved, it's just a pleasant exercise in creativity. Anytime someone races a prawn down a hill, I'm in.

Shockingly, much of the music for the short film is pulled from the Uncle Skeleton catalog. Through the magic of music licensing, there's no less than seven of his songs throughout the piece. Musicbed - the licensing service they used - even recognized it as worthy of acknowledgement, not too shabby!

For convenience sake, I also turned that list of tracks into a playlist, enjoy at your leisure.