Aug. 17, 2014
I recently spruced up a post I wrote four years ago about Biosphere’s wonderful album Substrata. I added the following footnote about the difference between voice samples and found sound:
I suppose I am distinguishing between found sound and vocal samples here. Perhaps there is very little difference, or that one is the other? When is a vocal snippet something more than found sound? Is it the fact that one has meaning?
Tags: Ideas, Music, Biosphere, Fourteen, Electronic
Aug. 17, 2014
Hour of the Star is a short novel by Clarice Lispector, a Ukrainian-born Brazilian author with an interesting life story. This is her last novel and is a remarkable book: inventive, funny, and sad, all at once. I found it in a special selection at the local library dedicated to Brazil because of the World Cup.
First some biography. Born Chaya Lispector in Chechelnyk, Ukraine, in 1920, her family escaped the pogroms and emigrated to Brazil in 1922.
Tags: Books, Clarice Lispector, Fiction, Brazil, Fourteen
Aug. 15, 2014
Finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy today. Here are fifteen observations about the film that may or may not constitute a short review.
At least two Oscars for Best Use Of Body Paint (Green) and Best Use Of Body Paint (Blue) are sewn up. Chris Pratt basically plays Star Lord as “Andy Dwyer in space” and this is fine by me. Best movie to feature a talking raccoon in a long time.
Tags: Films, Science Fiction, Fourteen, Lists
Jul. 22, 2014
Or at least its subversive soundtrack… I listened to The Orb’s amazing live album “Live ’93” the other day (after discovering the insipid “History Of The Future” collection on Spotify) and I was amazed at how countercultural and subversive it was. I was listening to this stuff at the age of 14 and now that I’m old enough to be a parent, that makes me a bit uncomfortable. Actually it does nothing of the sort, because it’s frigging awesome.
Tags: Music, The Orb, Fourteen, Electronic
Jul. 7, 2014
I’ll tell you about punk rock: punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and ah… and ah… heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies and the bodies and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds of young men who give what they have to it and give everything they have to it and it’s a… it’s a term that’s based on contempt, it’s a term that’s based on fashion, style, elitism, satanism and everything that’s rotten about rock ’n’ roll.
Tags: Understated Classics, Music, Mogwai, Fourteen, Rock
Jul. 3, 2014
The hat in question is a Wilco baseball cap that I bought at a gig of theirs in 2004, the night that Germany got eliminated from Euro 2004. I’d love to show you a picture of it but I can’t, there isn’t even a picture of it from a Wilco merch site: at least not one that Google or Bing images can see anyway. I did manage to find a side-on picture of it in my bedroom in 2005 and zoom right in on it like they do in CSI.
Tags: Wilco, Life Experiences, Fourteen
Jun. 30, 2014
Watter are a “supergroup” composed from various members of Grails, Slint, and other bands. I did not know anything about Hundred Waters before this month: “The Moon Rang Like A Bell” is their second album. In fact second albums by bands I know nothing about are a something of theme because “Sunbathing Animal” is Parquet Courts’ sophomore effort and I don’t know anything about them either. Meanwhile, I’ve meant to write about “The Four Seasons Recomposed” since April.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, June, Grails, Watter, Hundred Waters, Parquet Courts, Max Richter, Fourteen
May. 31, 2014
This month was strange. I didn’t listen to much new music and after last month’s bumper digest there’s probably a reason for that. Not to mention that Spotify gives you more reasons to look backwards than forwards. Nevertheless, this brief post features new albums by Little Dragon and Coldplay, along with the mini-album collaboration between Röyskopp and Robyn.
Little Dragon “Nabuma Rubberband” I discovered Little Dragon, like most people, I imagine, via Gorillaz’ “Plastic Beach” album.
Tags: Music, Album Digest, May, Little Dragon, Coldplay, Royksopp, Robyn, Fourteen
May. 27, 2014
In a tour full of highlights, Christmas week of 2013 was nonetheless one of the greatest weeks of my life. I may have moaned, groaned, and got completely soaked, but it was worth it to see Machu Picchu in the sunshine.
“The Story So Far” Arriving in Quito Otovalo and Misahualli Banos Ingapirca and Cuenca Into Peru The Road to Lima The Nazca Lines Arequipa and Cusco The Sacred Valley On 22nd December, we set off from the hotel in Cusco for a trip along the Sacred Valley that lines the Urubamba river.
Tags: South America, Peru, Inca Trail, Machu Picchu, Christmas, Fourteen, Thirteen
Apr. 15, 2014
I am thinking about whether I want to use Dropbox to sync my files anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dropbox. It came along in beta in just 2008 just as I needed it to manage my PhD thesis. In fact I often jokingly claim to having invented it by asking on the MacRumors forums whether a program like it existed - just a few weeks before its beta rode in to my life like a knight in shining armour.
Tags: Technology, Privacy, Fourteen, Software, Internet
Mar. 31, 2014
I’m back in the UK so it’s back to posts about albums each month. This one is a bit different because I didn’t listen to very much new stuff while I was away so not all of the albums are up to date. I had to write about the new album by Liars though because it’s awesome and I couldn’t wait to discuss it! Here’s the list of albums:
Tegan and Sarah Heartthrob Fanfarlo Let’s Go Extinct Liars Mess London Grammar If You Wait Tegan and Sarah Heartthrob I would argue, as I have throughout my sequence of understated classics posts, that a great album is one that changes you as a person.
Tags: Album Digest, March, Music, Tegan and Sara, Fanfarlo, Liars, London Grammar, Fourteen
Feb. 10, 2014
Arequipa and Cusco – the two cities that are the subject of this post – are probably the two cities in Peru that are most amenable to travellers (though Lima certainly has a lot to offer too). For me they should have been punctuated with a trip to Colca canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, I got really sick on the second day in Arequipa as my attempts at keeping my tummy bug at bay finally failed.
Tags: South America, Peru, Arequipa, Cusco, Thirteen, Fourteen