Through some sheer force of luck, I stumbled on this Jim Marlowe album Mirror Green Rotor in Profile. If the artwork doesn't pique your interest, this little excerpt from Aquarium Drunkard should.

Marlowe uncovers remains of Faust, Harry Hosono filtered through the lens of Kraftwerk, and John Cale (in an alternate universe where he didn’t have pop-star visions to attend ). This ain’t some cheap imitation, however. The nod to these forebearers are mere whispers among the cacophony of innovation that makes Mirror Green Rotor in Profile the first great record of the new year.

High praise and deservedly so. It's a mesmerizing listen.

I know nothing of electronic gear but feel confident in another life I am likely spending all of my money on things like this Moog Subsequent 25. Fortunately, artists like Miles Kvndra are making fantastic compositions for me to enjoy without having any financial investment. And now, you can enjoy as well.

I failed to mention this last week as I was reeling from the news a little bit but IAC is the parent company of my employer Mosaic Group. Or, rather, it was until last Wednesday when it was announced that IAC divests from Mosaic, selling the company to Bending Spoons. This is a rather atypical acquisition as Bending Spoons is taking none of the 330 employees from Mosaic, only the assets and IP.

I don't know that I'm entirely shocked by the news as Mosaic was hard to explain to most people - it's a suite of apps that covers a lot of ground. There's no hyper focus vertical, which is tough to summarize in an elevator pitch. Despite that, they made a lot of quality apps and had a load of employees doing legitimately nice work.

My time at Mosaic was short. The applications I worked on were really fascinating, AI driven and legitimately useful! I was excited to get them out into the world. That won't be the case anymore but I am excited to find the next thing... wherever it may be.

You're forgiven for not keeping up with this but you may recall that Epic Games sued Apple (and Google), claiming that their App Store embraced unfair practices. There's a lot to read about but, essentially, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney does not want to pay Apple 30% on every transaction made within an iOS app, claiming that 8% is more the market rate. It's been a long back and forth with neither side really winning (don't forget that Epic also bought Bandcamp as a weapon in this fight to help prove these unfair practices).

Yesterday, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. This means that Apple now has to comply with the ruling that they must allow some form of transactions to occur outside of Apple. This seems like a win for Epic until you dig into the exact details of what Apple requires to send someone to a third party transactor.

I can't summarize the list easily nor repost all of the bullets because there are so many of them. Essentially, Apple has made it unbelievably laborious for businesses, developers and consumers to engage with this option; obfuscating it into oblivion. And on top of all that, they're still insisting on a 27% revenue share, even when the transaction is happening outside their system.

I've often sided with Apple on this issue but it doesn't come easily. 30% is extremely steep... but the App Store does provide a great level of security and confidence for consumers. The also have a Small Business Program that lowers the 30% to 15% if you're making under a million dollars a year. I actually admire Sweeney for using his leverage to try and bring light to the issue but I don't think this is an outcome that benefits anyone. I'll even go as far as to say I don't think it's over yet. Surely this list of rules from Apple is not in the spirit of what the judge was expecting? Might we hear more on this issue? My popcorn is ready.

Goes without saying this is infuriating but I will say it anyway, this is infuriating

always flattered to be interviewed. this is a tough subject to speak on but i do think the more we share knowledge, the better off everyone will be

DNS records as a sequencer. i do not buy it for one second but it is a fun concept

short films are always overlooked and no one has been able to successfully make a home for them. maybe Shortverse has figured it out

In the late 90s, I was an ardent fan of Soulwax, a Belgian band that was making rock music that fused all sorts of influences together. I fell off keeping up with all their projects but YouTube decided it was time for me to get familiar again.

This live video for "Is It Always Binary" is incredible. Anyone that enjoys LCD Soundsystem will immediately be hooked. It's also a wonderful little gateway drug to visit their 2017 album From DEEWEE, their 2018 BBC mix Essential and then go back even further to find their 2015 collab EP by Die Verboten that is half Soulwax and all krautrock.

Just a tasty morsel to share. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Take two minutes to watch the 2023 edition of Criterion's room tone. This tradition goes back to 2020 and it's just a bunch of directors, actors and mindful folks sitting quietly while the audio technicians grab a little room tone. It's hard to explain the appeal but sit with it, you'll get it.

I would embed it but they restrict where it can be embedded, hence your need to click

I was reading through this list of 2024 AI Predictions and one little offhanded remark caught my eye:

And if you wanna hear something really wacky, I think we will be able to talk to our pets in under 10 years.

That is a crazy concept but, turns out, already in the works. A group of scientists studying sperm whale pods trained an AI on recorded vocalizations and discovered that AI's results matched their own assumptions on what each call meant. Is this confirmation bias? Maybe! Or, AI could be cracking open the door to decoding vocalizations. Or maybe even a bit of both.

I highly suggest reading through the entire article as it contains many gems about language, deciphering between human languages and how that process may apply to animals as well. Fascinating to say the very least.

pretty solid list tbh

It's fair to say I'm a big fan of the Skull Trumpet - the one second absurd video meme. I don't really care about the world of alternate doots or orchestra doots or HD Doots (tho I do appreciate a Clarinet Doot). Meme culture always takes a good joke too far but I can still appreciate the original.

I enjoy it so much that when this 45-minute video on the origins of the Skull Trumpet came my way, I watched it immediately, in full. It's a well done dive into how the graphic was made and where it actually came from. Watch it and you'll know the true name of the meme, who made it and where they are now. What more could you ask for?

Like many of us, I have too many tabs open. Here's a smattering of what I currently have open to give myself the permission to close them for good.

• Please Honk, I'm Texting Bumper Sticker - we all know someone that needs this.
• monFade - modest stadik - new side project of this guy that embraces lo-fi studio tools. It's all instrumental and beat based and I am really enjoying it. A more proper review would be appropriate but I'm doing my best to spread the word here.
• macOSpilot AI Assistant - intrigued by this add-on that "answers your questions about anything, in any application." Basically, it takes a screenshot of what you're doing, sends it to ChatGPT Vision and tries to answer your question. The demo isn't all that speedy but the promise is undeniable.
• Precision Pressing Pricing - not really relevant to most folks but this vinyl manufacturing pricing is nuts. I'd be a fool not to try this?
• Grant Lindberg - "Too Fast" - at one point in time, Grant and I talked all the time. We drifted for no particular reason but I've been keeping up with his latest musical output and it's quite good. He's even got Kellii Scott from Failure playing drums on a number of these tracks.
• Various Artists - El Teatro Esta Cerrado (The Theater is Closed) - this compilation was released by a label I enjoy called Dead Currencies. They often do short run lathe cut vinyl for some of their releases and always have an interesting smattering of musical styles. This is a nice sampler to get familiar with them. The Mount Olympic track is a nice place to start and the High Aura'd track is destined for your Halloween playlist.
• Faircamp - is this meant to be a Bandcamp alternative? It certainly looks like it and I'm very keen to figure out how it works under the hood.

Even if you have zero interest in running your own LLM, this is an excellent rallying cry for open source solutions as the way forward

The recent Spotify layoffs were unfortunate, like all layoffs are. One of those laid off was Glenn McDonald, originally of The Echo Nest and creator of Every Noise at Once. One of the extra unfortunate byproducts of that downsizing is that Every Noise at Once no longer functions.

For the unfamiliar, Every Noise at Once was a massive mapping of every genre that appeared in Spotify as a giant word cloud that you could easily sample. Want to know what "Lithuanian EDM" sounds like? "Czech Electronic"? "Doomcore"? "Lezginka"? "Post-Grunge"? It's all there as a giant word cloud jumping off point to hear something new. There were many additional projects that involve a lot of data wrangling - so much that it boggles the mind (see "Every Record Label at Once, 2023 Around the World, The Approaching Worms of Christmas). Many of these still work but some relied on internal scripts that McDonald ran while he was employed. After his termination, that is no longer an option.

One major feature that was offered was "New Releases by Genre." By itself that's a powerful tool but there was an additional level of filtering by region. For years, I referenced the Nashville New Hip-Hop Releases, an absolutely crucial list of information that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else. It's gone now. Reading through McDonald's blog about the project, it won't be coming back either. Spotify's API does not offer the data in such a way that this information even could be retrieved. A real bummer.

The upside is that good things come from fresh starts. McDonald's blog has loads of interesting and meaningful insights about the work he did and what he's looking to do moving forward.. neither of which would have happened had the site not been turned off. It operated for ten years.. not a bad run. RIP Every Noise at Once.

If you're a fan of this blog, you likely need no introduction to the names Jean-Jacques Perrey or Gershon Kingsley; two absolute pioneers of electronic music.

This episode of "I've Got a Secret" from 1966 has both of them appearing and performing a track from their collaborative album The In Sound from Way Out (no, not the Beastie Boys record of the same name). They don't actually sit down to play until about 8 minutes in but the rest of the video is entertaining enough for a viewing.

I'm a little late on this one for maximum 2023 enjoyment but please tuck this NIN Christmas Album away for 2024. Jump ahead to "4:43" for "Last (Christmas)" and you'll be giving yourself the greatest gift.

If you encounter a commercial from the late 80's featuring a bunch of adults dressed as vegetables singing about how to stay healthy.. well, you save it and hope it inspires a niche Halloween costume for someone, somewhere, someday.

Gotta be honest, 2023 was weird. So much stuff happened that it doesn't even feel like a single year in the slightest.

In January, Vimeo laid off 11% of the workforce. My job was spared but many many people on my team were not. We were given a new boss and told "you're on your own" - meaning that Vimeo OTT (fka VHX) was not a priority and we should figure out how to be successful without interaction from the larger org. I am happy to say that the remaining team - including the new boss - were fantastic and absolutely crushed. Seriously inspiring to see such a small squad take on so much and actually make it work!

After 11 years of working on VHX / Vimeo OTT, I didn't have the gusto to continue. I departed and now work at Mosaic. My new role is focused on using generative AI to power apps and improve internal workflows. It's a breath of fresh air to say the least!

Due to the eight months of intensity of Vimeo, I ended up neglecting some of my side projects. We Own This Town hasn't published so little in years. My own podcast put out fifteen episodes this year. Last year I put out 52. It's not a great feeling but it also provided me with an opportunity to actually think about what I'm doing any regroup a bit.

On the positive side, yk Records released twelve treats this year and I'm extremely happy with all of them. I'm planning on writing up a more in-depth bit about the label but we'll see if that actually happens. I often feel weird posting these long personal updates but, hey, it is a blog after all. Where else should I put this information?!

I'll close out with some lists of enjoyables from the past year that have found their way into my regular routine. Maybe they'll find their way into yours as well.

• Ben's Bites - daily email of AI news and projects to take note of. Someone recently commented to me about AI, "There's no going back." I think this is true, so you might as well be brushed up on what's happening.
• Today in Tabs - I've mentioned this before but it's a great grab bag of Internet absurdity. Sometimes the writing is so dense that it's incomprehensible but you'll adjust. If you're into Internet Culture, this is a good way to stay abreast of it all.
• Garbage Day - this pairs well with Today in Tabs but tends to be more long form reflective than a barrage of links. I've really enjoyed many of the insights here.
• Stretchery - new to me but I'm sure old hat to many. Lots of tech industry reflections, insights and pulling together strings over time. Thoughtful. A great one to spend real time with.
• What the F**k Just Happened Today? - a daily newsletter summarizing the top headlines. You can have your NYT newsletter, WTFJHT breaks it down quite nicely for me.

In terms of other goodies for the year, I keep on ongoing playlist of songs that I enjoyed throughout the year. I don't know that I'd call this a "Best Of" list but if a song strikes me, I toss it in there.

Next year, I hope to launch a few new projects and clean up some technical debt here at ole yewknee dot com. I'm 100% confident the commenting system doesn't work anymore and that makes me think it's time for another simplified redesign. We shall see.

If you made it here, thanks for continuing to read. I've had this site for 22 years and hope to have it for many more! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!