Looking West on Margaret Street, enjoying the sunset earlier this evening
Sometimes it rains on the island. Even in July.
Crucial Track for June 30, 2025
#"Movement II" by Echodrone
Echodrone is definitely one of my favorite bands. I have been listening to them since I rediscovered bands were still making Shoegaze in the 2000s. They just released Music for 6 Musicians I think on the 27th, and today I noticed Apple Music recommended the new album to me. I bought it 4 tracks in, and basically listened to it twice straight through. The version of the album I bought has a 40+ minute Director's Cut at the end which is effectively the full album as a single track. Loved it both times. Movement II, which I have linked to for the purposes of this post, is exemplary.
I’m at the point in my Animal Crossing New Horizon’s play where I take everything to Cyrus to see what’s possible. I haven’t thought of everything, yet.
Crucial Track for June 26, 2025
#"Sleeper In Metropolis" by Anne Clark
I found out about this song reading a Wikipedia entry about another possibly infamous performance art track that stole or borrowed heavily from it. I wish I had known about Sleeper in Metropolis sooner. This is very much a product of its era, released in 1983, and now I have another artist's entire career to explore.
At any rate, the parallels musically between Sleeper in Metropolis and Tales of Taboo are inescapable and unmistakable. For that reason, the second track falls a little in my esteem, even if the production is amazing and it would have been an excellent 2AM track in an early 90s underground dance club. I won't link to Tales of Taboo for a dozen reasons. Read about it first. Read about Karen Finley's work.
But Anne Clark, I didn't know you before now. You have helped me make some musical connections that didn't exist before. (See also: Nicole Blackman)
And I'm grateful.
TIL that Apple Wallet/Apple Pay can inject information into your order that you did not expect. I created a problem and it has consequences. SO just be certain that your billing and shipping address in the Apple Wallet app are what you expect with respect to the order you are placing and for whom.
That moment you decide to bookmark a page after searching for the chat for the link. Then you realize there is already a shortcut clearly visible at the top of the browser window.
The feeling you get, as you rush to head out the door in the morning, when you pour hot water out of the coffee pot—instead of the coffee that you thought you brewed.
Happy Father’s Day!
#acnh
ACNH Fit Check
I went to the store before it opened in order to get the thing. There were enough for everybody who was there. Now I can’t use the thing until I get home from work, but I’m excited.
I have been playing ACNH for years, now. But only recently discovered how really useful Cyrus is on Harv’s Island. I dropped A LOT of Bells, today.
Crucial Track for May 28, 2025
#"Post Punk" by The Crystal Method, Hyper & Iggy Pop
I personally feel that Crystal Method’s music has a kind of rock and roll swagger in its electronica, EDM, or which ever label you choose to apply.
This track uses audio of Iggy Pop talking about an aversion to classification, describing what he does not want in favor of just being.
This reminds me of a Buddhist practice of have heard of in which you state internally “I am not x” in response to an adjective or role that may occur to you in order to get to the non-self.
This track won’t take you to that place.
It does have a mean groove. It’s deconstructed and has a good amount of reverb, which I dig.
I listened to it on the way to work this morning and let it play out in the parking lot before heading to my desk.
I love it.
It’s a Lofi Girl and Animal Crossing kind of night chez moi
Having built a few manual collections in Plex, and seeing how many collections Plex will create for you automatically, I think it would be nice to offer the ability to automatically build collections around characters, directors, actors, or studios. Plex already has the metadata.
Interesting day for Teams rooms where I work. Five of them were down hard. I think four cases out of five required a hard shutdown of the Teams PC. All of these were basic rooms with a TAP or table-top touch panel and a single display. A few had ancillary mics.
ACNH Fit Check
Morning coffee
Xfinity may not be having a good night. One ping session I let run for a while showed 78% packet loss. Posting this via mobile.
Tonight I used Nookmart for the first time. If there is stuff you want for your island that you haven’t managed to find via normal means, or there is no overlap in your social circle of folks who are also playing Animal Crossing New Horizons, well the selection is swell and delivery was fast.
Oof.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released in 1975.
Just 50 short years ago.
Crucial Track for May 2, 2025
#"Shout" by Child Seat
Shout, the original Tears for Fears song, was the reason for one of the few times I heard a song in a store and bought the album immediately.
This cover of Shout, by Child Seat, a group I only learned existed tonight, is amazing.
Crucial Track for May 1, 2025
#"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot
Share a song that tells a great story.
Well, I'm a Minnesotan and I was listening to radio stations when this song was released in 1976. As a very young man at the time, this song hit hard.
It is a sad song about [a wreck on the Great Lake they call Gitchi-gami}(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald)
IYKYK
I just reread the Wikipedia article about the song and I learned some facts, including that the melody was taken from an Irish dirge. It occurs to me that the famous guitar sound would also work on traditional acoustic instruments. Forgive me if there are covers of the song done just that way.
Crucial Track for April 28, 2025
#"It's Alright" by Pet Shop Boys
Perhaps surprisingly to folks who know me well, I have a playlist called “Happy.”
It started with It’s Alright, by Pet Shop Boys, specifically the version from the Introspective compilation.
The rhythm is pretty straight disco, but the synth baseline is kinda funky and staccato. The version from the Introspective comp begins with a choir singing the eponymous phrase.
And for me, another selling point are the various harmonies that come and go, various break downs, and points at which it becomes almost orchestral in its vastness.
It’s a mood.
I hope you can pick up what it lays down.
Fellow tape heads:
If you used to create mix tapes, then mixes on CD-R, do you also now spend time building playlists in your favorite electronic medium?
For example, I have dozens of playlists in Apple Music and I add music to them (or create new lists) on a regular basis.