chunter's Xanga

Darkest Night of the Year - In a glob...

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:30:48 GMT

Darkest Night of the Year - In a global culture that gradually moves itself toward 24-hour days that are, on a vast... http://ow.ly/16cVmJ

CHRISTMAS SONGS YOU MAY NOT BE SICK OF YET

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:09:09 GMT

I've heard more than a few complaints that there are only about twenty Christmas songs that play on repeat on every holiday-themed radio station, store, mall, and so on, so instead of just saying that I know it isn't true, I decided to make a playlist on Youtube that is far from complete.

Click here to access the playlist.

Hang in there and I will certainly see you next time.

ON ENVY AND JEALOUSY

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:30:21 GMT

I spent much of last week helping my friend move out of his apartment because his lease ran out. It was difficult to mix with how busy my job's schedule becomes around now, but it wasn't so bad; and I got to drive a gigantic moving truck (as it was the only one they had left) and I suppose I ought to consider a commercial driver's license in the future.

In the three days of moving, "Fireflies" by Owl City came on the radio five times in the short drive from the apartment and the storage or new place. Owl City is a single person using a psuedonym that gives the impression of a band (nothing new in electrnic music) and makes these lush synth-pop tunes with an over-tuned soft vocal that reminds most of Ben Gibbard's leads in The Postal Service. The song "Fireflies" itself sounds like a fantasy but really isn't- it's a description of the hallucinations he has when his insomnia is so bad that he can't fall asleep for several days, and describes how the typical remedies when one can't sleep won't work. It is an extremely well-crafted song with a lot of lyrics. Apparently, Owl City learned to program and compose during sleepless nights, something I relate to very much as I did much the same when I was in high school, and yet, when I hear about how great Owl City is doing, something inside me feels like it's burning. I should be thankful and happy that someone is finally putting this sort of music on the proverbial pop music map instead, and hope his success makes room for more similar music.

Instead, I wonder why him, why now, where was the attention some 8 to 10 years ago? Why does that even matter since I don't even want that sort of success for myself anymore?

So returning to the point, Owl City is good stuff, and I endorse it because it often sounds like a sort of music I try to create... But then again, I don't write lots of lyrics anymore, maybe the only thing common is the way the music is created.

...

Work, of course, remains busy, and I won't see most of the money I'm making until after Christmas. Nothing new there. I hope everyone is well.

See you next time.

Broken Machine

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:04:58 GMT

A garbled wall of happy ambience, for Battle of the Bits Ann Arbor 8 mix contest. http://ping.fm/zrKlj

Found, At the Edge of the Forest

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:38:39 GMT

Download courtesy of loopproject.com For SounDevotion competition, round 44. A snow flurry invites a walk, but a devil lurks in the woods. A semi-orchestral progressive background music kind of piece. This time around I accidentally rediscovered something I read somewhere a long time ago- slight delay can help individual parts (especially unison parts) stand out in a mix where [...] http://bit.ly/4FaEHF

NEW (TO ME) TOY

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:13:04 GMT

Nokia Surge, photo from mobilegazette.com

I replaced my wireless phone of two years with yet another Nokia product. Since I tend to send text more often than I talk, I've wanted a phone with QWERTY keys for some time, so when this guy showed on AT&T's website with the price tag of "free with contract renewal" it was hard to turn down. Naturally, I did a little homework on it anyway.

Numerous articles imply that this device is probably going to be one of the last of the Symbian smartphones (since I saw some other articles declaring that even Nokia are ready to orphan the Symbian project.) Like many toy/technologies on their last commercial legs, this device is being sold as an entry level or youth market device. Perhaps the assumption is that the sort that would want a Blackberry will have trouble reading a smaller screen on a smaller device, although its QWERTY keys are bigger than Blackberry's or Treo's. It's smaller than an iPhone, in fact, it's smaller than the flip-style phone it's replacing, and yet, it can do more than I really want it to do.

Descriptions of Symbian reminded me of descriptions of Palm OS (after everyone was no longer mystified by it)- that it is clunky, awkward, a good idea that never reached fruition, and so on. When this happens, marketing tends to neglect a very important selling point- it is a known and mature technology. I've now owned this phone for a week and a half, I've rebooted it only once, and it has yet to crash on me. Can't say that for my previous (java) phone, in fact, I can't say that for any tech I've owned, really. I assume that this thing will crash on me eventually. Apparently, it's more powerful in processor and memory than its predecessors, it's smaller than a Blackberry or an iPhone, it's very snappy to operate (as opposed to sluggish, a compliment I saw given to many of the Palm Treo series before Pre came out,) which brings me back to my point that it does its few things extremely well, something tech salesmen don't really know how to pitch.

The web browser is good as well, so it appears thanks to this thing, I'm almost always connected to the net in some way, which is a scary thing for a habitual introvert.

When the Symbian project sinks (forgive my pessimism but I don't think the open-source Symbian project is going anywhere good right now,) I'll most likely still be happy enough with this thing to keep it through its contract; I'm used to deliberately using obsolete gear.

...

It's no secret that work is headed straight to crunch time and that this is the time of year when I focus on making back the money I overspent throughout the year. I hope everyone is doing okay.

Famicompo has opened for entries, if things don't get too hairy I'm going to try to put some NES tunes in. Mukunda made a new tool that I've played with a couple times and really like.

More on that later, see you next time

REMIX – capslock by Mick Rippon

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:37:20 GMT

Download from loopproject.com SounDevotion round 43 was a remix round, the challenge being to remix any piece by classic and current module tracker Mick Rippon.Â His great works can be found at http://mickrippon.com This is more like a cover with slight rearrangement than a remix, though I have deliberately tried to create this from memory- some samples [...] http://bit.ly/34VcRo

THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:11:42 GMT

It's getting to be that time of year at work again, and it appears a lot of people are going to turn to mail order and the internet this holiday season, so to avoid having your gift order cancelled by someone like me, this is a reminder to make sure your "billing address" fields match the information on file with your bank account.

See you next time.

Compact Electronic Desktop Music

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:57:23 GMT

Download audio from Soundcloud here Download the source Renoise file here This is for the Indamixx + Renoise + Create Digital Music contest, detailed here: http://bit.ly/4oB6Cm Released under Creative Commons license by-sa ver 3 in accordance with the contest rules. Please ask me if you wish to use the music and the license is not understood. Enjoy! Posted in Single [...] http://bit.ly/GXIKe

Approximate set list at U2 360

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:58:04 GMT

Breathe
Get On Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out of
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Amazing Grace (yes, the hymn)
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
No Line On the Horizon
Beautiful Day
Until the End of the World
Elevation
The Unforgetable Fire
Vertigo
Magnificent
Sunday Bloody Sunday
I Know I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
MLK
Walk On

First Encores-
One
Where the Streets Have No Name

Second Encores-
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

To be revised if I remember anything differently. I know the order is wrong and I'm probably still forgetting something that was played. Notably NOT played that night: Bullet the Blue Sky, Pride (In the Name of Love,) All I Want Is You.

It was a fun night and Muse were a great opener.