Matthew McVickar @matthewmcvickar@mastodon.social

Here’s one of my business cards, please throw it away at your house tomorrow

A good song is ‘Light of Love’ by The Pleasure Seekers, a rock group from the 60s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr60iOjuC2g

It would be wonderful for my productivity if I were able to start listening to an album without immediately wanting to find out literally everything about it, everything about everybody who made it, everything anyone’s ever written about it, ev—

By the way, an image search for “mount st helens postcard” yields some very pleasing results: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mount+st+helens+postcard&iax=images&ia=images

I find it odd that in the three or four reviews of this album that I’ve read, the reviewers get drawn into the mythology of “Helen, the mysterious fourth member of the band,” and don’t make the connection to Mount St. Helens, which is featured on the album cover in image and in name (everything but ‘Helen’ is whited out). And the band is made of up people from the Pacific Northwest, where Mount St. Helens is located.

A really, really excellent record is Helen’s ‘The Original Faces.’ It’s Liz Harris (AKA Grouper) and Jed Bindeman (of Portland psych band Eternal Tapestry) and Scott Simmons doing lo-fi shoegaze, and the melodies are unreal. It’s 32 minutes of perfection. https://grouper.bandcamp.com/album/the-original-faces

You can watch a livestream of a titan arum (or ‘corpse flower,’ because of its smell) at the Missouri Botanical Garden that is expected to open at some point in the next few days. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/our-garden/notable-plant-collections/titan-arum.aspx

(This came up because I made a smart playlist in iTunes made up of songs I added this year that weren’t released this year. I need a short title, so I settled on ‘Added in 2018, Released Elsewhen.’)

Isn’t it strange that we have ‘elsewhere’ but we don't have ‘elsewhen’ or ‘elsehow’ or ‘elsewho?’ We have ‘otherwise’ but it doesn’t really fit in all cases.

I don’t like Facebook, but it’s the primary way I keep in touch and share photos with extended family so it’s very difficult to give up. Has anybody been able to maintain that sort of system without Facebook?

My Bandcamp collection is nearing 900 releases and I daresay you can’t go wrong by looking into any of them: https://bandcamp.com/welwing

→ Marissa Anderson’s ‘Cloud Corner,’ modern experimental guitar grays: https://marisaanderson.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-corner

→ Noname’s ‘Room 25,’ lyrically brilliant and emotionally full hip-hop: https://nonameraps.bandcamp.com/album/room-25

→ Jlin’s ‘Autobiography,’ genius programming, a dance performance soundtrack: https://jlin.bandcamp.com/album/autobiography-music-from-wayne-mcgregors-autobiography

→ Octo Octa’s ‘Where Are We Going,’ a perfectly emotional house journey: https://honeysoundsystem.bandcamp.com/album/where-are-we-going-lp

→ ‘Doing It in Lagos,’ a relentlessly fun compilation of early-‘80s Nigerian pop: https://soundwayrecords.bandcamp.com/album/doing-it-in-lagos

→ Fadi Tabbal’s ‘Museum of Disappearing Buildings,’ moody processed guitar and circuits: https://tabbalfadi.bandcamp.com/album/museum-of-disappearing-buildings

→ Park Jiha’s ‘Communion,’ moving melding of traditional Korean instruments with vibraphone and woodwinds. https://parkjiha.bandcamp.com/album/communion

→ De Leon’s ‘De Leon,’ dub- and gamelan-influenced rhythm-collage: https://manarecs.bandcamp.com/album/de-leon

→ Konduku’s ‘Kıran,’ textural, deceptively simple techno: https://nousklaer.bandcamp.com/album/k-ran

→ Lori Scacco’s ‘Desire Loop,’ melodic synth ambient: https://loriscacco.bandcamp.com/album/desire-loop

Some recommendations for Bandcamp’s Voting Rights fundraising day:

→ Sudan Archives’ ‘Sink,’ experimental Sudanese-fiddling-influenced pop: https://sudanarchives.bandcamp.com/album/sink

→ Forest Management’s ‘21st Century Man,’ moving autumnal drone ambient: https://forestmanagement.bandcamp.com/album/21st-century-man

→ ann annie’s ‘cordillera,’ a study of landscapes in modular synth: https://annannie.bandcamp.com/album/cordillera

→ Sarah Davachi’s two perfect experimental ambient records this year: https://badabingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gave-in-rest and https://sarahdavachi.bandcamp.com/album/let-night-come-on-bells-end-the-day

One of the very first pieces of web design “wisdom” that I internalized was “never write ‘click here.’” To this day I go out of my way to avoid this, more out of habit than believing that it's a good design principle.

The new Low song ‘Disarray’ is terrific (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXaLOVeWOdU) but I cannot stop thinking of Animal Collective’s ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycttK7VkL3k) when I hear it.

And Cylob’s two other dance anthems?

‘I Believe in Braindance’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM4l0-QxCSA

‘Cut the Midrange, Drop the Bass’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoxjgVXMA80

♫ Go with the flow
‘Cause it’s a state of mind
When you shout to the DJ:
REWIND ♫

Have you heard the 1998 electro anthem ‘Rewind’ by Cylob, and seen the amazing video featuring martial artist Chloe Bruce?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yrA-BpWECI