April 2020

Industrial Nonsense (new Bandcamp release)

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Am pleased to announce my 34th Bandcamp release, Industrial Nonsense.

[Note: embedded players -- which I basically hate -- are replaced with links when they move off the blog front page]

Liner notes for the LP:

This LP continues the work methods from the previous one, Hardware Sequencer. Several tracks use the Doepfer cv-to-midi converter, which reads the sequencer notes erratically (resulting in riffs that may be used or culled, depending on the quality). Along the way I started adding beats from the Machinedrum. Most (but not all) of the pads come from Legowelt sample packs. The tracks are terse, as usual.

If you'd like to support this blog (now in its 19th, ad-free year) buying the occasional Bandcamp song or LP is a great way to do that.

war bonds or not

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Economist types don't seem to agree on the most basic approaches to solving the pandemic's financial fallout. Should we have war bonds or not?
Joe Weisenthal says no:

weisenthal

Nathan Tankus adds:

Maddeningly, the easiest problem to solve -- this financial one -- is likely the one that congress will have the most trouble with. The question of resourcing the pandemic one is a matter of supply chain and factory reconversion experts, not economics per-se. What careful economic analysis can tell us is that while we’re on a war-time footing, we’re not dealing with war time resource allocation problems. Any resource that can be safely mobilized, can and should be mobilized and responding to our protective equipment bottleneck will allow us to access a lot of idle resources that are easily available.

One of Weisenthal's Twitter commenters summarizes his remarks thusly:

"War Bonds" during WWII were used to incentivize the private sector to postpone "non-essential" purchases. This would enable the govt to crank up the War Machine to 11 without having to compete for resources.

This conception of WWII savings bonds isn't common knowledge -- it certainly hasn't found its way into the current administration's thinking.

Both Tankus and Weisenthal are Keynesians; in simplest terms they advocate using keystroke money to deal with a calamity. Trump is de facto using keystroke money but still stuck on the idea that bonds need to be used to "pay for" emergency relief.

prop or not

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biden2020

via Jimmy Dore

Am girding for the criticism from friends and former friends re: mocking Biden. In 2016 I got emails like this one:

So the way I see it, your anti-Clinton posts during the campaign helped Trump. You helped Trump. That's how I see it. I could also not say this to you, but isn't it better if I say what I think. If I were in your shoes, I would have started posting lots of anti-Clinton stuff on the day after she won the election. And up until the day she won the nomination. Then I would have suspended it for 3 or 4 months. I know that you think you were not helping Trump, you were helping "neither Clinton nor Trump"... I think that's just not smart.

After I responded to this hectoring, the emailer apologized and said he "respected what I did." Then he quietly removed me from his blogroll. I wonder if I'll get the same garbage in defense of Sleepy Joe.

Afterthought: As for this blog "helping neither Clinton nor Trump," the emailer just made that statement up. It would be presumptuous (and boring) to speculate about who the writing here might be "helping." For the emailer everything is strategic; the truth (e.g., that Clinton is corrupt) can just be swatted aside, or rather, "suspended for 3 or 4 months."

David Jackman, Untitled B

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Am busy working on my next musical release. Some experiments with Doepfer's cv-to-midi module, and getting back into the Machinedrum (because it's there).

Was randomly checking out "noise" releases from Mr.Schwarz's YT page.
Found "Untitled B" from a 1983 cassette by David Jackman. [YT audio]
Based on the runtime it appears to be from this tape release listed on Discogs.
Echoing squeaks (possibly violin) overlap and fade, swaddled in tape hiss. Artfully degraded analog sound quality typifies the era and medium.
An accompanying photo on YT shows Jackman outdoors "playing" a mixing desk. No idea whether it relates to "Untitled B" or if it's just a publicity photo from that time period.

What led me to Mr.Schwarz (no space) was his YT of Oeo by Sukora, a vinyl record (which I have) on the LoVid-related Ignivomous label. Amazingly this was reviewed by Discogs user Intransitive:

One side is an arrhythmic tapping on what seems to be a contact mic with no effects on it. the other side seems to be the sound of a record's run-out groove. It's simple, and yet... this is an enjoyable record! I especially like the first side, which instead of being precious, manages to create a certain calming atmosphere. There's no concept or pretense, either. It is what you think it is. Nice.