Probably one of the funniest articles I’ve read on programming all year.
Every friend I have with a job that involves picking up something heavier than a laptop more than twice a week eventually finds a way to slip something like this into conversation: "Bro, you don't work hard. I just worked a 4700-hour week digging a tunnel under Mordor with a screwdriver." They have a point. Mordor sucks, and it's certainly more physically taxing to dig a tunnel than poke at a keyboard unless you're an ant. But, for the sake of the argument, can we agree that stress and insanity are bad things? Awesome. Welcome to programming. from Programming Sucks
(via Khürt, Thanks, man!)
Update: whoops forgot the dang link!
The other day I listened to “Wishful Thinking” the latest “dislike club” episode of Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything podcast. This series of episodes focuses on the current, sad, state of the Internet. How it’s turned from an amazing place where ideas, thoughts, and emotions are freely exchanged into a virtual gulag. A place where we slave away trading our personal information, endlessly liking things, to generate profits for big companies.
This last episode focuses on online harassment and it’s quite powerful. The Internet is probably one of the last places you can make someone’s life absolutely miserable and suffer zero consequences. Not surprisingly most of the victims here are women and it can get so bad that they must leave the Internet, dis-engage from public life, because of it. If the behavior most women face online happened in the workplace people lose their jobs and get prosecuted. When it happens online, nothing happens to the individual or group responsible. This kind of behavior has to stop.
Coincidentally, this week the people over at the Tor Project posted Solidarity Against Online Harassment. Read it. Sign your name, but more importantly, act. Fight this crap everyday. Defend those being harassed, condemn this behavior, and cast a critical eye at your own behavior.
The Internet is probably the greatest freedom machine ever built. My freedom has to stop where it might infringe on your freedom and your ability to express your ideas.
I do a lot of apple watching and over time I’ve whittled down the number of places I go for such information. Recently Neil Cybart (a former stock analyst) launched Above Avalon a throwback email newsletter that covers Apple from a finance angle. I normally would have unsubscribed by now, who needs more email, but Cybart has me hooked. Just today he introduced me to a few new companies with apps in a growing space aimed at the financial consumers: Robinhood, Affirm, and Oscar. (Robinhood sounds particularly interesting to me.) Short and to the point, I look forward to reading Above Avalon every weekday. I recommend it to anyone interested in news related to Apple as a business.
Dropping two tracks that had been on heavy rotation at the beach house this year. The first is a jam by the Swedish band Goat titled “Hide from the Sun”. I love the heavily fuzzed out guitar line about 2/3 in to this one. The second is “Dawn of Time” by the San Diego reggae band Tribal Seeds. I know San Diego isn’t normally the place I would go to seek out this kind of music but this track goes great with sand, surf, and sunshine.
June 20th was the 45th anniversary of the 1969 release of “Aoxomoxoa” by the Grateful Dead. It’s hard to pick just one track. It’s like picking your favorite son or daughter. Since I can’t post all eight original tracks I’ll pick “China Cat Sunflower” a classic Garcia/Hunter psychedelic collaboration.
I’ve been out at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference all week in San Francisco drinking from the fire hose of new information related to all the goodness they released on Monday. Music always plays a big part at almost every Apple event from the music they play between sessions to the guest band that plays the wrap up “bash” at the end of the week. This year Bastille played a set. They weren’t bad. Not a band I would seek out but they have some quirks that intrigue me. The band is obsessed with the TV show Twin Peaks and are fond of doing covers. Last night they played TLC’s “No Scrubs” and just for fun they mash that up with the guitar riff and a verse or two from The XX’s “Angels”. Anyhoo, I couldn’t find that track on Spotify so I’m throwing in “Laura Palmer”. Not my typical pick but what the hell it’s catchy and it was fun to pogo too at the show.
About four years ago I was sitting in the All Star Sandwich Bar in Cambridge, MA eating an Atomic Meatloaf Meltdown and drinking a Harpoon Ale. I was alone so I picked up a local music trade paper and was leafing through it when I stumbled upon a review for the album “i” by MMOSS a psychedelic jam band from New Hampshire. I was intrigued. After finishing my meal I went out an bought the CD somewhere near Harvard Square and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’m pretty sure they have only recently been available on Spotify and it looks like a re-issue of “i” is available. My pick for the week is “Hedge Creeper”. It’s a short fun jam full of late 60s AM radio tropes. I think Ron Burgundy is playing lead jazz flute on this one. Enjoy this track while driving with the top down.
Black Moth Super Rainbow member, Tobacco dropped a new album “Ultima II Massage” a few weeks ago and my pick for the week is “Eruption (Gonna Get My Hair Cut at the End of The Summer)”. I really like BMSR and Tobacco seems like he’s a major component of their sound. I especially dig some of the more throbbing-spacy-wavy tracks. The video for “Streaker”, directed by Eric Wareheim, is NSFW and pretty disturbing. Watch it with the lights on.
I’m just getting around to listening to Woods April release “With Light and With Love”. I like what I hear. My pick for the week is the title track. It kicks off with a McGuinn-esque guitar riff that weaves it’s way through the various structures the band has erected in this song. I’ll ask for forgiveness in advance. It’s a bit long but it is complex enough to hold my interest through the full 9:07. Another less lengthy track which I also dig is “Moving to the Left”. I can’t wait to hear more from the band. I’ve been a fan since their 2011 release “Sun and Shade”. Enjoy!
I’ve been trying to make sense of Apple’s acquisition of Beats by Dre. This Verge article made me understand that the Beats hardware business is very similar to Apple’s. They sell well designed hardware at high margins. That makes perfect sense. Then I started thinking about how do you deal with two iconic brands merging together like that? Will iPhones suddenly be packaged with a little sticker or stenciling on the back of the phone itself that says “Audio Powered by Beats”? I don’t think so. But you can’t just buy Beats and toss the brand. Then it hit me. What if Beats becomes the core of a new iTunes? What if Beats (the brand, the headphones, the music service, the execs, their relationships, everything) becomes the new music eco-system for Apple? .
The Beats acquisition is the beginning of the end of iTunes. iTunes is a bloated desktop app which is overloaded with functions. It’s how we buy music, movies, etc. It’s how we used to buy books and apps before the iBooks and App stores. iTunes needs to be broken up. It is being broken up and this move by Apple is how they handle the music aspect of this transition.
If this is Apples intent are there other media related companies Apple could buy in TV or the movie industry? Do the try to build as in iBooks or buy as in Beats for the rest of what’s left of iTunes? This will be fun to watch. Maybe as fun as hearing Dr. Dre say a few words at a WWDC keynote.
I’m not a big fan of country and western music. But when I came across Sturgill Simpson’s “Turtles all the Way Down” I couldn’t just toss it onto that heap of music reserved for cowboys crying in their beer. I mean how can you ignore a song with lyrics like:
There’s a gateway in our mind that leads somewhere
far beyond this plane,
Where reptile aliens made of light open you up
take out all your pain
Jesus, Buddha, the Devil, and a whole host of hallucinogens have been put in a blender, mixed with Jack, whipped into a froth and served up in a frosty mug in this song. Take a gulp and you'll get that hippy love aftertaste. I'll be waiting for the rest of the tracks from this album to hit Spotify. I hope y'all like it. [open.spotify.com/track/5Al...](http://open.spotify.com/track/5AlmqxIrxgiNBKItTM5L5J)
New Parquet Courts just hit Spotify this week. “Sunbathing Animal” is a rollicking punk punch in the nose. It’s also the title track from their new release due soon. Can’t wait. These guys are one of my favorite new bands of 2013. “Master Of My Craft” into “Borrowed Time” on Light Up Gold is my new “Scarlet-Fire” and it’s only 5 minutes 32 seconds!
The Coathangers (Minnie, Crook Kid, and Rusty) are an all female punk rock band out of Atlanta, GA. Their third album, Suck My Shirt, is chock full of bite sized, fast hitting tracks. The songs aren’t that complex (hey, it’s punk) but what draws me in are their voices. Rusty and Minnie sing in two very distinct styles: one rough gravely, the other softer and more controlled. Individually or together it works for me. “Adderall” has that raw sound that makes me wince. I can only imagine what her throat feels after belting that one out. The vocal style on “Merry Go Round” does a 180. It reminds me so much of a young Kate Pierson. Maybe it’s a tip of the hat towards Athens? The Coathangers are a blast and my pick for the week is the track “Smother”. Turn it up loud, give it a listen, and let me know what you think.
Posting “Rattlesnake” by St. Vincent from a self titled album that dropped late last year. St. Vincent (aka Annie Erin Clark) has had an interesting career so far. She’s been a member of Polyphonic Spree and performed with Sufjan Stevens, The Mountain Goats, and David Byrne. “Digital Witness” has been making the rounds on commercial radio and you should definitely check it out. “Rattlesnake” written after her walk through the Texas hill country (sans clothing) was interrupted by an actual rattlesnake.
Posting “Beach House” by The Cave Singers this week. They are an earnest folk trio with bright voices (probably bright eyes) and a wonderful clean organic acoustic sound. It’s a nice change from some of the other music currently in heavy rotation. I’m also sick of winter and dreaming of summer on Long Beach Island.
I’ve been in San Francisco all week and if the weather cooperates I’ll be on my way home in a few hours. My pick for the week is “Smoke and Mirrors” by Widowspeak. This tune is a bit atypical of the bands more earnest slower tempo folk flavor. I had Widowspeak on heavy rotation as I walked through the Haight. This song came on when walking down from Buena Vista park. Such a nice park….
I’ve been going on a bit of a Pavement tear lately but broke out of it long enough to visit some other lesser known artists in my messy Spotify playlists. (Spotify really needs to fix this.) Anyway, one artist I dabbled with was Dan Deacon. Deacon is an electronic composer/musician currently based in Baltimore. The track I’m selecting this week is “Prettyboy” from the album “America”. I love this track. It’s a combination of rich circular sythns, injected with what sounds like analog percussion, sprinkled with bubbling oboes. It’s one of those soundtrack pieces you imagine being used in the movie of your life.
Posting “Cinnamon and Lesbians” by Stephen Malkus and The Jicks. No real particular reason other than I’ve never heard this tune before and I love the way it rumbles and stumbles it’s way down the road. I pick up echoes of St. Stephen in there which is just fine by me.
I didn’t go to a ton of shows in 2013 but it’s no question that the highlight was the Halloween Blood Bath in San Francisco with the Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, and White Denim. Since it was Halloween, I donned my “Oldest Geezer at the Rock Show” costume and boogied with all the youngsters on the floor. What an amazing show. The bands did not disappoint.
The Flaming Lips are not shy about breaking out a great cover now and again. When I saw them earlier in 2013 they produced a superb straight version of “Heroes”. I gave me goose bumps. Halloween they managed to deliver a surprise cover of Devo’s “Gates of Steel”. Wayne Coyne dedicated it to Alan Meyers (who passed away that summer) and all the other freaks in the audience. It was a great tribute. The original is my pick for this week.
spotify:local:Devo:Freedom+of+Choice+%28Deluxe+Version%29+%5bRemastered%5d:Gates+of+Steel:208
Interesting video of a Council of Europe meeting on NSA mass surveillance. Big take-aways here:
0) While the situation we find ourselves is bleak it is not hopeless.
1) The mass surveillance perpetrated by the NSA and their international counterparts is unlawful and a violation of international civil rights.
2) We have to take an active role in protecting our own privacy by changing our own habits by using systems like Tor or GnuPG. Free Software can help but it’s not sufficient.
3) Technology isn’t enough. Laws must change.
Mogwai have just dropped a new sythn soaked album “Rave Tapes”. Quite a departure for the Scottish post-rock band. I like it a lot. “Simon Ferocious” is one of my favorite tracks. It pushes the syths right up front but supports them with some great electric guitar work more typical of the bands signature sound.
On April Fool’s Day 1985, XTC released “25 O’Clock” an album under the name The Dukes of Stratosphear. It consisted of songs that sound like they were recorded in 1967 and was produced by John Leckie, who recorded and produced albums by George Harrison, Pink Floyd, and Syd Barrett. Leckies combined XTC’s sound with instrumentation and analog recording techniques of the golden age of psychedelic music. The result is simply magical or it was in 1985 when I first heard it. Many consider this album just an April Fool’s Day joke, but I think their love of this kind of music. It certainly echoes strongly in their next release “Skylarking”. “25 O’Clock” was 6 tracks of pure joy and later in the year they release a CD with 16 tracks. My picks for this week are “What in the World” and “Vanishing Girl”. Just listen to Colin Moulding’s bass work on that first track. It just sounds like he’s channeling McCartney. If you really dig this kind of music play the entire album. It’s a blast.
To borrow a phrase from Frank Zappa: folk-rock is not dead, it just smells funny. This was the first thought that entered my mind when I started listening to Wolf People late in 2013. Their new album “Fain” is a mix of blues, folk, and mild psychedelia that reminds me most of Jethro Tull. My pick for the week is “When the Fire is Dead in the Grate”. Yeah I know this has been done before but I’m sick this week and this music is like chicken soup.
I belong to a music sharing group where each week we post a new track with some bits of commentary. Mainly its just a way for some like minded folks to discover new music. I've decided to cross post my picks for the week here so that I can shared them with the world and preserve a copy for myself on a service that isn't owned by a "rich creep" (more on that reference later). Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the weekly music post. Thanks. -- The Management.
I’m a huge Foxygen fan. My pick this week is a band formed by their drummer Shaun Flemming. Recording under the name Diane Coffee, “My Friend Fish” is a delight for those of you who can’t get enough Foxygen. This album is tasty. I’ve starred at least 4 tracks and it’s hard to pick a favorite among favorites. If you put a gun to my head, “Tale Of A Dead Dog” is a sweet cut that tips it’s hat in the direction of some prog rock forebears. Hope you like it.
spotify:track:2PLktgIgyPlGzo26ngdWyB