Yes, that image is meant to look that bad

If you're a regular listener of the Blank Check podcast, you are also familiar with producer Ben Hosley. While his role in that show is appreciated, I am quite intrigued by his artistic side projects. One of which is called Slow Xmas.

The first volume, Volume 0 was released back in 2020 and it featured extremely slowed down classics. It's marked as "Vaporwave" but it's got elements of ambient and sludge throughout. It should be unpleasant to listen to but it is a captivating listen.

Over the years, more volumes were released. All of which are worth your time. It's a pretty massive tome of work to encounter but there's no bad starting point. Over the years the compilations become more original covers slowed down - a pleasant change. I mean, listen to this "Christmas All Over Again." Wild.

A little something different for your holiday listening. Hope you enjoy!

Is Panic launching an OTT channel called Blippo+ via Steam? That's my knee jerk assumption to this delightfully weird announcement video but who knows what is really going on. It's Panic! It's bound to be interesting.

Today I learned: there's a tradition called Tió de Nadal in which a hollow log is adorned with a happy face and "fed" every night starting around December 8th. On Christmas Day, the log is partially placed inside the fireplace and beaten with sticks until it defecates presents. Making this up would be much less fun than actually reporting on a thing that really happens.

Tió de Nadal translates to "Christmas Log" but is often referred to as "Caga tió" - or "shitting log" / "poo log." It even has a song. Again, I could not make this up.

Atlas Obscura has a nice writeup on it. YouTube has plenty of logs being beaten. All told, it's a delightfully odd tradition to really let yourself deep dive into.

The Film Art Gallery seems like the sort of thing I should have been browsing for the last 20 years but it only recently came across my radar. It's a huge repository of one sheets, alternate film posters and huge theatrical film designs that are, generally, a bit rare! The 1988 Japanese Die Hard poster? Got it. Eternal Sunshine double-sided one sheets? Yep. A 1986 Czech design for The Beatles Help? Surprisingly, yes.

You can browse by director, genre, title, etc. I recommend looking at someone like Bob Fosse- you will be blown away by the results. I'm not even recommending you buy anything - just go be inspired.

There's also a Star Wars archive that is relatively interesting. And a Saul Bass archive that is infinitely fascinating. I'm really burying the lede here but the Bass archive is truly wonderful. The film posters are so wildly simple but clearly, definitively, him. Even the unreleased ones. Truth be told, it's non-stop gems as far as you can click.

This Kosmosphar album from 1977, Kosmische Wellen, is a rare bit of sprawling, spacey, Krautrock from the era. Except, it's not. The album is entirely AI. Specifically, the description says:

Warning: "Everything that happens on this channel is fiction. But what is the truth? F*ck it, just listen!"

It's a shame there's no further detail on how the record was made because it's actually quite an enjoyable listen. There's even a follow-up record and other releases from the label. The channel is actually rife with music. I'd be very interested to learn how all these were made and what human decisions were involved with the creation. I am positive it's not 100% a computer running the show.

I've not taken the deep dive but I am sure it has varying degrees of enjoyment. Just like a real record label. Quite frankly I'm not sure what to make of the evolution of AI generated albums. Like a lot of generated "art" there's a lot of heady discussions to be had. This is another interesting bit of fodder to contemplate.

You would think that as of December 16th, I'd be winding things down for the year with yk Records but the treats keep rolling out. Today, we release the official video for Shaboi's song "The Day After Christmas," a Yacht-Rock-y number that serves as a reminder to take it especially easy once the holidays have passed. It's a treat you enjoy before Christmas as a salve for yourself after Christmas.

The video is a delightful blend of stop motion and modern animation with a big surprise at the end. It's also the first Shaboi song since 2010. Nothing like breaking a fourteen year hibernation! I hope it means there is more to come but, also, maybe he just drops a jam every 14 years.. only time will tell! I'm ready either way. You can pick up this track (and 19 others) over on Bandcamp and Ampwall. If you buy it, we'll donate 100% of proceeds to CASA Nashville. No pressure tho, it's also streaming. Enjoy it however you'd like!

I dunno what's going on with that psychedelic dolphin but I figured as we head into the holiday season, we all need something to stare into for a little reprieve from it all. It's actually a great image to start a deep dive from - you're gonna see a lot of weird things. Good things but weird things.

Here's a handful of distracting videos for you. They aren't particularly holiday themed but I find them enjoyably ridiculous.

• Jaguar - Copy Nothing - this Jaguar ad campaign has been making the rounds. This is a few weeks old but I still can't tell if it was meant to be dead serious or satirical. I fear the former.
• WKNDR Concept Car - some friends were really losing their mind over this one. Personally, I can't tell if this is serious or satire! These vehicles look like bad CG renderings from A Sound of Thunder! How is this better than The Cybertruck?
• The Librarian: Quest for the Spear - speaking of bad movies, this looks like one for the books! Noah Wyle as action star isn't a terrible stretch but 2004 undertaking just didn't have what it takes.
• NEMESIS (1992) Trailer - I saw a review of Alien: Romulus that said the film was completely ripping off Nemesis from 1992. I don't understand how someone connected those dots but I am certainly entertained by this trailer. It's a B-movie but it is really offering up some innovation!
• Russian Floating Folk Dance - the Beryozka is a dance troupe that performs in long flowing gowns and dresses with a movement that looks like floating. There are loads of videos of this on YouTube and it's mesmerizing. Take the deep dive.
• life in 99 - Kyle Mooney does a little promo for his new A24 movie, Y2K. It's a perfect sequel to his early works. Dude has not lost it.
• 10 hours of silence occasionally broken up by the Taco bell Bong - endurance challenge! how long can you listen and how many Taco Bell bongs are there? Spoiler alert: first bong is at 4:05.
• The Korgis - Rovers Return - after that 10 hour undertaking of Taco Bell bongs, you deserve a downright delightful holiday-ish song from 1980. Heavy rotation for me these days.

I've mentioned it multiple times but the yk Records Holiday Sampler 2024 is now available everywhere. Our exclusive release on Bandcamp and Ampwall has ended! We were able to raise over $1,500 dollars for CASA Nashville (if you're feeling charitable, we're still taking donations!). It's on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music and all the other destinations you may use.

I am extremely happy about this one and really think you will enjoy it. With other yk Releases I could understand the audience may be niche (not a bad thing) but this one feels universally appealing. Truly! I know that's bias talking but I don't care - it's really good!

Please give it a whirl and consider saving it / sharing it. Ideally, you may even put it on your Holiday Favorites playlist!

The folks at Don't Hug Me. I'm Scared posted their first video in two videos - Hark!. It is, without a doubt, one of the most unique announcements for a website. DHMIS.tv is the one stop shop for all the show episodes (TV and Web), a shop and a bunch of behind-the-scenes insights. It is also, most likely, the largest cursor I've ever seen on a website.

There is a short FAQ nestled in the site that says:

Will there be more episodes of the TV show?
There are currently no plans to make a second series of the TV show. However, we are not ruling out the possibility of more self-funded DHMIS content in the future.

While this is likely the end of the road for the series, you simply never know. Maybe someone with a deep well of funds will decide the world needs more of Duck, Red Guy and Yellow Guy.

There's a lot of fun commentary and insight in this 10 minute video about SNES games with odd time signatures and I invite you to read it all. OR you can just hit play and enjoy the aural madness.

Even if you're not a fan of much "chiptune" music, you gotta admit that the musicians involved with these compositions deserve some high praise. The limitations of these systems were quite limiting and they've done so much with it! Amazing.

The promotion for the yk Records Holiday Sampler 2024 continues! The compilation itself is available on Bandcamp and Ampwall now. We've managed to raise of $1,100 for CASA Nashville thus far.

To entice you to dive further in, New Man created this incredible animated video for their track "Christmas is a Mirror of the Mind." It's a healthy dose of cutting edge technology (plenty of AI at work here) and good ole fashioned animation experience. It's a great song and a damn fine video if I do say so myself.

I consider myself a fan of the band Lawndry - a Nashville based outfit that tends to lean a bit psychedelic but always laid back. The first thing I ever heard from them was an album called Lake Life, a single 26-minute track experience that gallops along at a steady and enjoyable pace. The album title is spot on in terms of vibe.

Every year, the band releases some original Christmas songs and plays a show around town. I haven't seen details about the show yet but their newest holiday EP is out and it may be my favorite yet. The Day Has Almost Come is just four songs but it covers a lot of ground. There's an adorable ode to Kraftwerk, a strangely sinister tale of a mysterious island and a loving ode to Santa and presenting giving. The EP ends with the title track and it's a gut puncher - a proper dose of melancholy for the holiday. I recommend it.

There's a vast body of work from the group but starting with the holiday songs is a good jumping off point.

Stumbled across this e-ink companion - TRMNL - that seems to be the perfect solution for a low power, easy-to-use, simple yet hackable solution for a little screen in your house. I imagine a simple little weather and calendar display for the fridge. Or a second display at my desk for To Do's. Or just a weird 8-bit image shown every evening.

I have not used one yet but the marketing has really grabbed me! The integration list is nice, the templating system is fascinating and the plugins really do seem easy to easy to build. Oh and it actually looks nice.

Way back 2016, yk Records released Singles Only from satirical country duo Birdcloud, a 2xLP compilation of everything they'd ever released.

Except, one song didn't make the cut! I don't recall why it didn't make it but "Cool Christmas" was omitted. Maybe it's because the song is a major outlier to their sound. Maybe it's because it's a holiday song. Maybe it was too long to fit on the record. The reasons are lost to history but as I was putting together this holiday sampler, it felt like time to fix that mistake! So, we are pressing it to vinyl. I sourced the original session files from producer Jordan Lehning - a rather entertaining undertaking of turning on some very old LaCie drives and poking around through lots of buried treasure. We also unearthed a previously unreleased recording of "Silent Night" that needed to be heard. Patrick Damphier mastered them both and now we're in production!

Of course, since it's Birdcloud it has to be a little outlandish. The 7" is a Honeybaked Ham picture disc that will sit inside of a Hologram jacket. I can't wait to see them.You can order your own copy here... they're going fast! Love to see it.

You may know the name Benedict Evans, he's an independent analyst with a long background in tech, research and plenty of time at firms like a16z and Mosaic Ventures. In his own words, " I try to work out what’s really happening, what matters, and what it might mean."

So, looking at this 2024 presentation on AI eats the world is pretty intriguing. You can watch him give the presentation but, honestly, I found reading through the slides to be adequately informative and engaging. Certainly worth a read and a ponder.

I know I am extremely late to the party here but I've really been enjoying the outpourings of Hank Green lately. He's only got 2.1 Million subscribers on YouTube, maybe you're familiar? (and yes, I know vlogbrothers and John Green). I've always had this trifecta on my periphery but something about the content never connected.. now it does! This informative bit on Twitter and Threads huge mistake or The Social Media Bot Army are great - full stop.

If you, unlike me, are already widely familiar with all of those channels - I offer you this On the Media interview, which provides some nice history and insight to the whole endeavor.

Given that today is Cyber Monday, it's only appropriate to take a moment to reflect on a prior time when "Cyber" was used a legitimate descriptor for Internet things. VICE has a great piece on Remembering Cyberia, The World's First Ever Cyber Cafe. I was unfamiliar with this London location that opened in 1994 and was sold off in 2001 but that's a fertile seven years to be an Internet cafe.

It's interesting to read the anecdotes about celebrities like David Bowie and Kylie Minogue but I'm equally as entertained by video pieces that show the space and the patrons. The 90's really were something else in the fashion realm.

I was too young to be visiting Internet cafes in 1994 and there really wasn't anything remotely resembling this sort of thing in rural Tennessee. Suffice to say, I appreciate they exist, particularly these early pioneers.

Eden, the short film by Ben Ouaniche (aka Macro Room) is a phenomenal expression of practical FX and additive SFX. After the first two minutes you get some behind the scenes insights on how it was made and you will marvel at what is real and what is not.

I recently ran across the documentary Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC (1980-1990). The title pretty much says it all but the trailer really sends it home if you need more explanation on what's being examined.

I could not find a way to actually watch it. The official site is just physical media, Amazon Video doesn't have it. YouTube doesn't have it. Even Fandor giving me an error! Really reminds me why VHX was such a good idea.

Anyway! If you know where to watch this - drop me a line! I'd love to see it.

I've been listening to Blinker the Star since 1999's August Everywhere - a beautiful record that I stand behind twenty-five years later. I've dug into Jordan Z's back catalog and kept up with all of his releases over the last two decades. There have been some ups and downs (as with any band), but this latest release, Occult Classic, is really hitting the spot. Maybe it's me, maybe it's them, maybe it's a combo. Regardless - give it a whirl.

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Much to my own surprise, I've become a real fan of the Egg punk genre. It's lo-fi, it's punk-y and it's definitely fun. I also love that it emerged from a prior genre called Devo-core. Anyway, the latest example of enjoyment is this split from two Australian bands - Midgee​ & Electric Prawns 2. Very into the whole thing.

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There's only one song available from Bursting but it is damn good. This tiny paragraph description was more than enough to pique my interest:

BURSTING is a Chicago band reminiscent of late 90’s post-hardcore (ie Jawbox, No Knife, Drive like Jehu, Shiner) feat. Members of Thou, Yautja, Stress Positions, Coliseum and Ands. Their debut tape “Bursting EP” is out Dec. 6th on No Sabes.

You mention No Knife and I'm interested. The first song definitely delivers big time.