The new Sayryn full-length caught my eye for the striking album art. Turns out, EGOR is responsible for the painting and has a great body of work to explore beyond that. I recommend also browsing through their Instagram to sense of scale on how large the creations are; certainly gives me additional appreciation for them.

Trufhfully, this one came my way via Instagram Ad - a petunia plant that has been "infused with bioluminescence." In other words, a flower that glows in the dark - for real! Given the source, my skepticism on the validity of it is cranked pretty high. Diving a little deeper into this Scientific American article about the creation, it seems that the Neonothopanus nambi mushroom was used for the bioluminescence and it's a legitimate fusion. Specifically:

The fungus feeds its light-emitting reaction with the molecule caffeic acid, which terrestrial plants also happen to make. By inserting the mushroom genes into the petunia, researchers made it possible for the plant to produce enzymes that can convert caffeic acid into the light-emitting molecule luciferin and then recycle it back into caffeic acid — enabling sustained bioluminescence.

The article goes on to say that people have complicated relationships with genetically modified plants but that the danger levels are low. “I cannot imagine any reason why this should be a concern,” says Diego Orzáez, a plant biologist at the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology in Valencia, Spain. That sounds like famous last words!

Regardless, the plants are very interesting to see.

I've been friends with / a fan of Jeremy Okai Davis for over two decades. If you're not familiar with his work, take some time and get familiar - it's beautiful and poignant.

Aside from being a thoughtful and talented painter, turns out he's also a pretty entertaining emcee! His collaboration with Big Papa Warrior in DINO INTRO is just one track from a full-length record called Dinosaurs set for release on July 4th. Obviously it's a bit sillier than his painting work but it's good to see him let loose. Tune in, follow along, prepare for the full record!

Scientists have made a breakthrough in "soft robotics" - aka attaching skin-like tissue to mechanical parts. In this particular case, they've found a way to attach collagen gel to small V-shaped holes on the robotic surface that makes the whole endeavor feel more realistic and more resilient to breaking.

My knee jerk reaction is that I am not sure we need skin on robots. Can we just let robots be robots? I think the majority of people would be okay with that. If the intent here is to overcome the uncanny valley and make robots appear more humanlike.. couldn't we just give it some time and humans would naturally adjust?

In the grand scheme of developments lately, this doesn't seem to be so dire at first glance. It does make for a rather harrowing GIF.

The first minute is solid but when that intro kicks in, it really soars. Also, brevity really is the soul of wit.

Every month in 2024, The Robe has released something new. Primarily, it's been 2-song singles but last month we got an entire 4-song EP! I am hesitant to post about this frequency because I fear I will curse it. Rollum Haas (The Robe himself) is a rather busy individual and I imagine his touring schedule will eventually make it impractical to continue this schedule. I'm doing my best not to be pessimistic tho; because I'm loving all these new songs. The two songs are on Bandcamp but they're also on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify, et al.

There's an endless amount of new music out there but I hope you'll take some time to spend with The Robe. It's a worthy investment.

Somehow this slipped right past in me in 2019 but Mellotron Variations is a collaborative undertaking from Pat Sansone (Wilco), John Medeski, Jonathan Kirkscey and Robby Grant performing original, cinematic, compositions on the mellotron. It's right there in the name!

The record is on pink vinyl and streaming in all the usual spots. Moreso, there's also plenty of video to augment your enjoyment. This Crosstown Arts trailer is a really impressive setup and explanation of the project. It's a nice place to start but this Tiny Desk Concert is just fantastic. Different vibes but both enjoyable. If you want a little bit more, watch the OZ Arts show where they open with my favorite track from the record.

1978 was a good time for Space Disco. Maybe the best time. Possibly the only time.

Droids was a French synthpop band from the late 70's heavily inspired by Star Wars. Their one and only album was called Star Peace and they dressed like silver C-3P0 (that's U-3P0 if you wanna nerd out). The main single, (Do You Have) The Force? is an enjoyable romp and actually part 1 of 2.

This clip is taken from a French show called Spécial Disco that aired on July 11, 1978. The audio is not from the original broadcast. There's a similar performance with dancer Chantal Dardenne, who gets interviewed before the performance while the host messes with the Droids themselves.

Digging just slightly deeper into the specifics of the band unearths a world of additional discovery. These songs were written by Fabrice Cuitad, who was a label manager at Barclay and founded the label Egg. They signed the electronic band Heldon (Richard Pinhas) which was largely influential in the early 70s. French musicians Yves Hayat, Richard Lornac and Jean-Paul Batailley play on the album. Supposedly it is Hayat and Lornac in these clips.

All of these names are unfamiliar to me but that's sort of the point. It's a fun / quirky track with many doors to open. Enjoy.

Today I Learned: The Breeder's song "Drivin' On 9" is actually a cover of Ed's Redeeming Qualities - a band from the Boston alternative music scene that The Breeders emerged from. This in-depth history tells the tale of how it all came to be - a fascinating read!

I'm always shocked and pleased to discover songs that I had no idea were cover songs. This one ranks way up there and thanks to this Cover Me site, now I can find a whole bunch more.

I'm not sure I'd ever make it through the whole collection but I am quite impressed by these two compilations of every Elliott Smith studio recording that fans can get their hands on. Grand Mal: Studio Rarities looks to be 8 discs long* - containing alternate mixes, unreleased songs, et al. The Moon is a Sickle Cell is a similar gathering of tracks but updated somewhat more regularly.

Generally speaking, these kinds of compilations are reserved for super fans. Do you want to hear the different mixes from Larry Crane or Fritz Michaud? Do you want to hear Smith cover The Beatles multiple times? I don't always answer yes to questions like that but in this case I think I might!

Of course it is 2024, so the Grand Mal comp is streaming on YouTube if you prefer it that way.

I randomly stumbled upon Texas Dungeon Siege Fest MMXXIV, a three day dungeonsynth festival that took play in May 2024 at Tiny Minotaur in Austin, TX and I absolutely love it. Thanks to @field_2 the performances are all online. I even tossed them into a playlist for continuous playback.

I was not familiar with the Tiny Minotaur venue but their about page is worth a read - three levels of explanation that get less dense as you go. The TLDR is that it's an art space for performance art, Live action DnD, immersive theater and music. In short, it's a place where people in wizard robes and chainmail can play cinematic synth music with a Renaissance twist and everyone gets it.

I'm gonna treat this list of artists as a jumping off point to find more. I hope you do too. We all (probably) need more Bog D'wella in our lives.

Really been enjoying Never Post recently. It's "a podcast about the Internet" that finds the balance between being extremely online and having some cognitive distance (not dissonance). It's often a group of smart and affable people talking about something that may seem meaningless but is actually highly influential. This recent episode, The Sound Files of Summer, is a discussion on MP3 collections, metadata and how streaming services have rewired how we approach music. I don't agree with their takeaways 100%* but I certainly felt engaged by the whole thing. It's rare that I just sit in my car and keep listening because of a hot topic; they managed to do that - on an episode about music files no less!

I'm still diving into the archives but everything I've heard thus far is a treat. I also really appreciate their slight to Spotify on their homepage. So, subscribe on Apple or Overcast.

* Multiple times in the episode the hosts complain that Apple renamed their music software from "iTunes" to "Music" and that the new name implies some grandiose statement from Apple about it now being the singular experience for all your music, rather than a place for your files. I get their point but if you have ever seen someone use an iPhone that isn't deeply entrenched in computer culture, you do not want to name your music app "iTunes" in the same way that you don't want to name your web browser "Safari" or "Chrome." Apple's renaming functions as an easy gateway to find the right app and as a advertisement for their Apple Music service.

All told, this is a minor quibble for a show that I very much enjoy but I was shocked that they did not offer up a more straightforward reason for renaming the app to "Music."

Been working on this one for awhile and I'm quite happy to kick off summer with the news: yk Records will be releasing We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven't We? - a Best Of compilation from The Privates.

If you are not familiar, The Privates were a Nashville band from 2003 to 2010; releasing two albums and two EPs in that time. The band was comprised of Dave Paulson, Ryan Norris, Rollum Haas and Keith Lowen - all members of other bands around town (The Pink Spiders, Lambchop, The Features, De Novo Dahl - respectively). They didn't play out too often but, when they did, it was beloved.

Personally speaking, I've listened to their four releases countless times. Their work was always just the right balance of upbeat energy with melancholy introspection. Tongue-in-cheek lyrics with truly pained longing. Always a good mix.

Two new songs were recorded by the band and the previously released tracks were remastered. It sounds great, even if you're unfamiliar with the band.

I've got more to say about the album art but, for now, just go pre-order the LP. We'll be unleashing new music from it soon enough!

At this very point in time, June of 2024, there's a great deal of advancement in the realm of Generative AI to Video. In a year, maybe this won't make any us bat an eye. In two, most certainly not. But for right now, the advancements are impressive and ongoing.

The lobabobloblaw’s libabiblibrary is a YouTube channel offering various gems emerging from that tech. Pieces like Brutal were created with SD3, Luma Dream Machine and Google MusicFX. It looks pretty dang real. Same goes for this blobfish; disgusting but veering hard into reality. Still noticeably not real but getting there.

I'm sure there are thousands of channels and twitter accounts and other repositories showcasing this sort of thing but I am enjoying this one. I have to assume other channels don't have Virtua Fighter Star Trek, After Marge, The Simpsons 3D Sitcom, or Aliens devouring breakfast. The further back in the channel you go, the rougher these examples get but I think that's just a sign of something to look forward to.

I truly do not recall the last time I just browsed through a design studio portfolio. It's been too long! Given that CSA Design was established in 1989 and has a body of work recognized by just about every publication you can think of, I don't think this is new to anyone (but me). I appreciate that their site showcases a very limited amount of work despite them having 35 years of experience! There's plenty there to inspire but not so much that you quit before you even start.

I'm swooning, in case that wasn't clear.

Really enjoyed this Hobbes animated short, Dial Tone. Great style, textures and color palette. The music and sound design is by Upright T-Rex Music - whom I always biased towards - and I think they took it up ten notches. Great stuff, especially for just a literal minute of your time.

Recently stumbled on this lyric video for "The New Richter Waltz" from Craig Benedict Valentine Badynee (aka CBVB). Something about his voice sounded a bit familiar and then I connected the dots that he was the frontman for PAS/CAL, an indiepop band from the early 2000's that I quite enjoyed. Good to hear him back at it.

Ever since Epic acquired Bandcamp (and definitely since Songtradr Acquired Bandcamp from Epic (laying off lots of staff)), I've kept my eye on Bandcamp alternatives. Thus far, Bandcamp has held steady with no noticeable service interruptions or changes in functionality. I'm pessimistic but we're about 8 months into the new ownership and waters seemed to have calmed.

In the wake of those changes, several competitors sprung up. One that I've been keeping my eye on is Nina Protocol, aka Nina. It's a very slimmed down experience and largely focused on electronic music, but it seems to be doing well. They just launched a mobile app that has some nice slick interactions!

The Nina service is still quite young but it's great to see them continue growing. Maybe throw a bookmark at their editorial and dip in every once and awhile.

This Daily Dungeon game is a fun little treat that changes every day. Not much to explain here, just move the little guy around the dungeon and see if you can decipher the puzzles. Viola, fun!

via Forest

This 2020 piece from Robin Sloan entitled An App Can Be a Home-Cooked Meal really hit the spot for me today. In it, he describes the process of developing an app he created for his family called BoopSnoop. You can't install it. No one can except his family members.

It's a charming story but his insight at the end discussing how writing code and learning to cook are similar really struck me.

When you liberate programming from the requirement to be professional and scalable, it becomes a different activity altogether, just as cooking at home is really nothing like cooking in a commercial kitchen. I can report to you: not only is this different activity rewarding in almost exactly the same way that cooking for someone you love is rewarding, there’s another feeling, too, specific to this realm.

Perfectly succinct, insightful and exactly how I feel.

If you've ever driven through the Holland Tunnel or the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC, you've likely noticed the very thin, raised, sidewalk running the length of the entire path. Presumably, this is for service members to traverse the area without being in the street. What wasn't clear to me, is that there was once a track up there that used to power little "catwalk cars" for police officers.

When I first saw these images, I assumed it was an AI creation but, nope, they're real! Look at this Getty images photo - adorable. They were first placed into service in 1954 and could go up to 12mph. In 1960, a second gen was introduced that could go 35mph! It seems they lasted in limited capacity until 2011 when they were fully retired. A shame really, I'd pay extra to traverse the Lincoln tunnel in one of these bad boys.

• LIFE ad
• Retired Catwalk Car

This Jensen Sportag track, 2x2, came out in 2009 but the group has revived it for the 15-year anniversary. There's new artwork and a fantastic visualizer video. I think at this point in this blog's lifetime, it's clear that I am a sucker for this kind of retro analog aesthetic and it pairs, oh so nicely, with this track.