yewknee
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An internet waystation.

it me - michael eades

👋 Hi, I'm Michael Eades; a long time Internet dweller, design dabbler, dangerously amateur developer, online social experimenter and frequent curator.

Currently working as VP of Product at Smarter Apps. I also keep the lights on at a boutique record label called yk records, a podcast network called We Own This Town and a t-shirt shop called Nashville Galaxy. Previously, I built things for Vimeo OTT, VHX, KNI and Spongebath Records.

This site is an archive of ephemera I find entertaining; tweets, videos, random links, galleries of images.

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find me elsewhere

 

contact

Reach out via threads or good ole email if you have anything to discuss. I do my best to reply in a timely manner.

for the record: "yewknee" is a nonsensical word with no literal meaning but a unsurprisingly nerdy etymology. It is pronounced, "yoo • knee."

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ongoing projects

yk Records →
started in 2009 as a conduit for music that friends had no plans on releasing. now it's a full fledged boutique label focused on releasing quality music from a variety of styles. you know, like a label does. Here's a sampler on Soundcloud and a different one on Spotify. Options.

We Own This Town →
Originally a Nashville area music blog, this site has grown into a full blown podcast network as of 2018. It's an attempt to bring together creative folks about a variety of interesting topics.

I host this show all about Nashville local music outside the expectations of the city. I'm biased but all the shows are good.

Nashville Galaxy →
An online t-shirt shop featuring beloved and defunct Nashville area businesses. Very niche audience on this one but I tend to think niche is good.

some noteworthy other things

Chris Gaines: The Podcast →
published along with co-host Ashley Spurgeon; a limited series podcast that takes an absurdly researched deep dive into the time that Garth Brooks took on a fictional personality named Chris Gaines.

Garth Brooks Chris Gaines Countdown →
to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the time Garth Brooks took on the fictional personality Chris Gaines and appeared on Saturday Night Live in character, I GIF'ed the entire episode. It's a lot of GIFs; please use them.

Whiskerino →
a social network built around communal beard growing for four months. yes, it was as weird as it sounds but equally fascinating and enjoyable.

Moustache May →
an offshoot of the beard growing contest mentioned above. equal amounts of oddball fun but only a month long.

Summer Mix Series →
before all music was streaming everywhere, Internet music fans would swap zip files of music. it was truly a strange and wonderful time.

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Masayoshi Takanaka – All Of Me

At the very least, go listen to the first track…

Mike White Accepts the Criticism

Wonderful interview with The White Lotus creator, writer and director. He is unsurprisingly eloquent and self-aware. Worth a read, maybe twice.

Senators target Apple’s App Store exclusivity in new bill

I really believe this argument just boils down to App Store fees feeling too high for developers. If it was 10-15% flat for everyone, I doubt we'd ever hear of this.
HT to Mr Ryan Hale on these available prints from The Future of What, aka Sara Murphy. Love the simplicity and emptiness of so many of these images; not to mention the beauty of the light flares and the affinity for neon signs. Lots to love here. Dig in.

Skyway Man - Atom Bomb

great performance with an all-star band

Nestflix

Netflix but for fake movies and tv shows that appear inside real movies and tv shows
You may recall back in 2018 when Makeup and Vanity Set and Jasmin Kaset joined up to create a new project called You Drive. I've always loved it when Kaset provided vocals to MAVS songs and having a whole record of the team of them collab'ing was really something special. Honestly, it's a record that I don't think really gets the recognition it deserves.

The two recently released a new track called "Such a Perfect Thing" (via yk Records). It's a standalone single that was actually written for the Starz series The Girlfriend Experience. The track is featured in one of the episodes but not on the official soundtrack. Despite that, it's a wonderful piece of music.
I don't know if there is more You Drive on the immediate horizon but I'm happy that they're continuing to work together. They also managed to pull in Caspar from Version Industries for the artwork, who also did the original You Drive album art. It's a Dream Team collab if ever there was one.

This will hit streaming services on August 13th but, for now, it's exclusive to Bandcamp.
Last Friday (Bandcamp Friday, natch), DM Stith released two new singles via yk Records. The singles are actually two pairs of songs, all culled from the recording sessions of his 2016 album Pigeonheart. They are b-sides, alternate and early cuts. The whole thing is meant to evoke that Circuit City sort of experience where you stumble upon a maxisingle import that has some elusive b-sides that very few of your friends have ever heard of.
Obviously I'm biased in my enjoyment of the tracks or I wouldn't have put them out but I really think these alt versions of My Impatience / Cormorant are especially wonderful. I've always been a fan of the versions that ended up on Pigeonheart but it's kind of stunning to hear these early versions that he decided to axe. They're fully formed songs and it's just mind boggling to think of the creative process that went through making the songs.

The other single - High Tower / Imperial Leather is great too and actually shows a funnier side of Stith that I don't think comes across in his music too often. He is a serious artist and his songs carry a lot of gravity (it's why we love them) but sometimes it's nice to hear him be a little jaunty.

All four tracks will be streaming on the various services over the next month but they're only on Bandcamp for now.

Aldous Harding - 'Old Peel'

great song, mesmerizing video

Caitlin Rose - Whatchoo

bonus track from upcoming 10-yr reissue of Own Side Now. Love this one.

Charlie Kaufman's Speech - We Are All ONE (Trailer)

reminder that I need to watch this whole thing. via @entrauge

MISTRESS VIOLET - Violet Chachki & Allie X

Umm, I absolutely love this. Song is strangely mesmerizing, video is killer
Was recently informed of the works of Emily Elizabeth Miller and I must say, I'm an instant fan. There's several Nashville-centric designs in here that might make no sense to outsiders but I assure you, they're great. That said, there's plenty of other works in the shop and portfolio well worth a gander.

I also recommend a follow over on Instagram.

Bolt - One Click Checkout

scroll this homepage. The animations are absolutely bonkers and spot-on elegant. Haven't seen something this nice in awhile.
Recently helped launch a portfolio site for the one and only Jack White that showcases his endeavors outside of the musical realm. Jack White Art & Design is a rundown of photography, sculpture work, interior design, instruments, film direction, vinyl concepts, upholstery and more that he's had his hand in. It's truly mind boggling how many projects he's been involved with.

I don't do a ton of freelance these days but when the opportunity came my way to work on this, I couldn't pass it up. It was a truly collaborative effort but I was really happy to be leading the charge and am quite excited to get the work out into the world.

We'll be adding more content over time but there's plenty there already to keep ya busy. For more on the project, check out this Rolling Stone or Variety piece.

Kay Adams - The Reason We're Together

just a reminder that not all great music is on your traditional streaming services. unless you count youtube in there, then i guess it is.

For Fans Of: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Bandcamp recommends additional artists for those into ole King Gizzard. Love this type of post.

Holly Plus

artist Holly Herndon releases a tool to allow anyone to make music with her voice. aside from the interesting utility of it, there's plenty of conversation to be had about vocal ownership, AI impersonation and potential privacy concerns this could have in the future. It's Art for now but it opens the door to a lot more.

"Demon Embrace" by Theo Ellsworth

I've been subscribed to the Tiny Showcase newsletter for more years than I can count. I *stay* subscribed just to see gems like this one.

278 Days to build an Underground Pool

my mind is blown in so many ways. incredible skill, technique and dedication to say the least.

Building a Tabby Cat

absolutely bonkers skills. the eyeball alone would take me a lifetime.

Github Copilot: AI Programming First Look

hadn't really heard much about this previously. pretty intriguing quick look at AI powered code.