I've seen a good bit of hype surrounding the new Cindy Lee album, Diamond Jubilee. The record is only available on YouTube and Geocities. It's also just over 2 hours long. Damon Krukowski wrote a long treatise about how it contrasts the new Taylor Swift. Pitchfork wrote up a legitimately meaningful review with a score of 9.1. Cindy Lee used to be a member of the band WOMEN, which seems to push the hype even further!
Given all that, it's very easy to assume this album will not actually be enjoyable to listen to. Or that the distribution tactic of making it exclusive to a few platforms is what people are appreciating more than the music itself. Surely this is just some sort of exposition that only gatekeeping music journalists can manage to appreciate?
The answer to that is a resounding No! Diamond Jubilee does have a lot of hype surrounding it but it's absolutely legitimate. The Pitchfork calls it "the greatest radio station you’ve ever come across" and that's impossible to argue with ( it surprises me to say it but you really should read the whole thing). There are a ton of ideas across these 2 hours, most of which are influenced by Doo-wop girl groups and bedroom indie pop... but it really can't be reduced that easily. It's an impressive blend of uniqueness and familiarity all at once.
I recommend sitting with the entire record. My skepticism didn't fall away until I let the whole record play top to bottom. Like listening to the radio, I wasn't engaged the entire time but I was also never turned off. I imagine on future listens those bright spots and recessions will ebb and flow to different tracks depending on my mood. Some will argue that the record could have been reduced to one disc or a stellar 45-minute experience but I think that misses the point in this case. You're free to make your own version of the album but the real celebration here is the greatness of the abundance.
A day with new music from Crumb is a good day indeed. This is actually the second release this year and the artwork certainly ties together.. fingers crossed there's a new record on the horizon.
I'm sure you've seen the Game Boy Camera, a 1998 accessory with a 128x128 pixel sensor and a 4-color palette. It's about as lo-fi as it gets but there's something charming about it as well. This 2 Bit Toy is an evolved version of the original that uses the original printed circuit board and sensor but now allows for filters and lenses. The available resolution and color palette are the same but it does improve the incoming data. The new results are still charming low resolution but there's a tiny bit of extra fidelity there that is fun to experiment with.
The Mountain came out in 2018 but only came on to my radar a day ago. Director Rick Alverson is familiar to me through their 2012 film, The Comedy and 2015 film Entertainment but in name only, I've not seen any of them. That's neither really here nor there but just to say, I'm intrigued. The Mountaintrailer looks gorgeous and has some echoes of The Master in terms of the plot being hinted at.
I really enjoyed The Three-Body Problem novel (and the whole "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy). I also enjoyed the Netflix series - tho it is certainly incomplete, they did a good job tackling a very difficult and dense topic. This explainer vid does a good job of breaking down that dense and difficult topic. Neil deGrasse Tyson can be bit grating sometimes but there's no arguing that he's enthusiastic, whip smart and passionate about breaking down big problems into consumable ones.
Stumbled across these embroidered jackets by Japanese designer Masafusa Shibuya, from the early 90s. They're made of satin, organdy and silk thread.
There's a surprisingly lack of information about the designer out there. So much so that part of me wonders if this is real at all. Fortunately, blog posts dating back several years ago sing its praises and there are early 90s Japanese discogs releases that cite them as the artist. If there's one thing you can rely on for factual credibility, it's discogs.
I've been listening to Rich Ruth's ambient composition's for a number of years now and they continue to expand and explore new territory. This video for "No Muscle, No Memory" is the first single from his upcoming June 2024 release Water Still Flows. Generally, "ambient composition" would summon very gentle, possibly lulling background music but that is not the case with Rich Ruth.
These instrumental tracks are "ambient" in that they create an ambiance - a vibe - but that vibe isn't the equivalent of a relaxing sauna, often it is something writhing and chaotic. I've not heard the entire album yet but given the evolution that has been occurring over the last few years, I have no doubt this will be one to sneak into your regular rotation as soon as it drops.
To be honest, I don't know of anything about the game POOLS nor do I have a way to play Steam games. However, the liminal space / backrooms aesthetic and gameplay that seems to be "look around" is very appealing. It's somehow both hyperrealistic and uncanny valley fake. I hope very long gameplay footage hits YouTube once it is released.
fantastic story about a teenage sci-fi fan that convinced a respected author to contribute a legitimately influential piece about race and science fiction to his single issue zine. He even had the audacity to give her notes.
This is about as confusing as a pre-taped call-in show but stick with me. I've been releasing episodes of my podcast We Own This Town: Music for many years - some years more prolific than others. Today is the release of the 379th episode, which is actually the 365th compiled by me! There were fourteen episodes put together by other folks - excellent episodes but not my episodes. Follow that?
That means, if you so desired, you could listen to one episode of WOTT Music every day for an entire year and get a fresh dose of local music compiled by myself. Gotta say, I'm proud of that!
The episode itself is also a great example of the kind of diversity I love to showcase - some dance music, some indie rock, some hip-hop, some R&B and all points in between. And if that weren't enough, I managed to get Mac Burrus to edit it - the first time I've had an outside editor put together the show.
People say Music Discovery is hard but I disagree - just listen to this show and you'll be all set.
Another scathing review. This one is based on actual usage and seem like more than fair complaints. Even if this device is not The One, I am hopeful this is the start of a new era of devices.
GQ has been doing a similar series to this where actors break down their most iconic roles but I don't recall ever seeing one where a musician breaks down their iconic tracks. Any excuse I can get to listen to Reznor and Ross talk about their process and stories about how things came to be is great by me.
there are plenty of options for generating audio with AI but this is the first time I have seen the option for 3-minute compositions. Results were not bad tbh.
