There are plenty of bands that definitively formed and shaped my preferences on music but it's safe to say that Failure had an outsized influence. Maybe one day I'll write up just how impactful they were but just know that by listening to Fantastic Planet I opened up doors to many other bands. One in particular was a collaborative project called Lusk that featured members of Failure, Medicine, The Replicants and bassist Paul D'Amour from Tool. I am sure I saw the video for "Backworlds" on 120 Minutes but it wasn't an album that many people had heard or even heard of. It's an album that's been out for 28 years and I still stand by how much I enjoy it and how enjoyably unique it is.
Anyway, all of that is to say that I've never really seen much written up about Lusk. I randomly stumbled on this history of the band from Alicia Berbenick that includes a direct interview with D'Amour himself. It's nice to know there are some others out there as impacted by Free Mars as I have been and even better to get this kind of insight from everything about the collaborations, the song compositions and even the artwork.
The record is now streaming on all platforms and I do suggest you give it a whirl.
I would remiss if I did not also mention that D'Amour went on to form a band called Feersum Ennjin that released an EP with SU Records back in 2005. It is excellent, as well as the full-length album that I believe is streaming on all the things.
Welcome to v13 of the site! Well, sort of. This is a work-in-progress. I launched v12 back in October of 2022 and felt very good about. Until I didn't. As with anything, it felt stale over time and all I could see were the poor decisions I made - mostly with spacing and typography. So, time for a facelift.
Unlike every other version of this site, I'm going to work on this version in the open. I'll treat this blog post as a changelog to document what's new or what I'm experimenting with. Truth be told, the whole site likely deserves a complete overhaul - from database to API to frontend - but I'm going to stick with lighter optimizations on the backend as I work on sprucing up the front end. I don't need to overexplain it, you get it!
If you prefer the prior version, you can browse that. Or just stick to the RSS feed, where you don't need to be concerned about what this looks like at all.
2025-01-03 - stripped down everything to bare markup and started from scratch. Still leveraging Foundation for my framework along with a custom toolkit.
2025-01-04 - ensured database connection and query is working. need to overhaul these queries but that's for another day, it works for now. Blog listing, pagination and deep linking work - that's all you really need, right?
2025-01-05 - fixed pagination logic on the backend; total number of pages actually correct now.
2025-01-06 - launched skeletal version of v13. Structural CSS and light javascript in place. Things are likely broken but that's okay.
2025-01-06 - added back alternate tag for RSS feed; whoops!
2025-01-07 - Friday Video playlists should work again. Emphasis on should. Wanted to rewrite all the JS but, instead, opted to make it more sensible to my 2025 brain.
2025-01-08 - changed post timestamps to show relative time for the first week - i.e. "posted 3 days ago." After a week, it reverts to a normal timestamp. Title tag always full date.
2025-01-09 - added a rudimentary search to the footer. required updating the API (and simplifying). Added "#" as permalink but may reconsider.
2025-01-25 - added the IBM Plex Mono font just to see how it feels. Added support for --readmore--. Updated the header to show a random GIF. Gonna sit with it for a bit; I think these are all good additions.
2025-02-02 - updated the metadata on individual posts so social shares reflect the content of the page.
2025-03-12 - whoops, been over a month since updating anything! eek! Added the proper yewknee logo to the header. Branding!
We're in that lost week between Christmas and New Year's - a wonderful time of, hopefully, doing as little as possible. I'm going to post a little Friday Videos rundown (admittedly, it is Thursday) and then figure out what's next for this site. A redesign is overdue. I digress! Enjoy and unwind.
Jacuzzi Suit - Luann Van Houten, Milhouse's mom, dons the jacuzzi suit. May we all be so lucky.
SEIDÄ PASS KRAMPUS - I know we're outside the bounds of Christmas at this point but these kinds of Krampus parades fascinate me year round.
Sitting & Smiling #300 - truly unbelievable. a man sits motionless for four hours with an unnerving smile. Motionless. I am sure there are some therapeutic, meditative, upsides to this but wow it is unsettling.
Really enjoyed this Ethan Mollick piece, What Just Happened - a ponderance on the last month of AI developments and how it may fit into the larger landscape.
The piece does a great job of giving context to recent developments, context on what is working and what is not and never gets too overhyped. The hardest part about keeping up with these developments is the hyperbole - every new thing is the greatest new thing, which just can't be true. I digress, Mollick does not write in such a way.
Give it a read and a subscribe, I believe there's plenty of good in there.
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.
Is Panic launching an OTT channel called Blippo+ via Steam? That's my knee jerk assumption to this delightfully weird announcementvideo 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 logsbeingbeaten. All told, it's a delightfully odd tradition to really let yourself deep dive into.
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 otherreleases 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.
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 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.
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.
