If music was agriculture, the best songs would be giant pumpkins or prize tomatoes. Album cuts, potatoes and carrots. Tours would be the grain harvest.
Lowell, MA
I took the day off for jury duty and we got out early. It was a beautiful day, so I spent an hour or so walking around downtown Lowell.
Continue reading “Lowell, MA”
Single-file URL Shortener
Recently I decided it would be fun to write a URL shortener. Something I can run on my domain to share shortened URLs that redirect to a longer one. (If you want to skip the blah-bidy-blah, here is the code.)
Continue reading “Single-file URL Shortener”
I finished reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell today. This book has a very unique nested structure, with six stories of completely different context, time and narrative style each unfolding to climax points in chronological order, then unraveling to completion in reverse order. In the afterward, the author compares the structure to a Russian nesting doll. The complexity of interrelations between narratives makes the head hurt, but also gives the novel some continuity amidst it’s fragmented structure.
Continue reading “”
Stereolab at Royale, Boston
Although I’ve been listening to Stereolab pretty consistently since the 90s, I somehow never managed to see them live until now. I’ve always appreciated this band’s quirky song names, retro vibe, mesmerizing jams and vocal counterpoint.
Continue reading “Stereolab at Royale, Boston”
Rae & Christian — Blazing The Crop
Several layers deep in a YouTube music surf, I ended up at this video about the Mutek electronic music festival in Montreal, which I’d never heard of. I definitely have to get to that. In the video, Hans Thomann picks up this CD at a record store offering festival discounts and says it is “one of my personal trip-hop holy grails,” as a beautiful clip from “Vai Viver A Vida” plays in the background. I checked out the album on Spotify and got hit in the face with the opening track, “Blazing The Crop”.
Continue reading “Rae & Christian — Blazing The Crop”
Water From Your Eyes
Water From Your Eyes is making some of the most interesting and original rock happening right now, though they amusingly refer to themselves as indie pop. The band just started touring their new album, It’s a Beautiful Place. Here they are kicking the tires on their live act with three songs.
Continue reading “Water From Your Eyes”
The Social Website
What if personal websites could replace traditional social media networks as the primary vehicle for sharing content on the Internet?
Continue reading “The Social Website”
Midi Sequencer in Python
I’ve always thought it would be cool to be able to compose music in code. There are some languages out there that do this, but I was more interested in direct midi programming than in a DSL for composing music. Enter mido.
PEM
Went to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem with a friend today to see an exhibit titled Making History: 200 Years of American Art from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It was a really interesting hodgepodge of American art. Here are some of my favorites.
Continue reading “PEM”