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Saw a Big Pussy large feline on the hill behind us this morning. That is a Bobcat. https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Bobcat Size & Weight: Typically weigh between 15 and 57 pounds, running roughly two to three times the size of a large house cat. Hence large feline.

Trying to (slowly) close the gap to Nate!

Gratuitous Quad post.

That is a great name.

Happy Bonfire Night!

The Information Age doesn't have to suck (it just usually does.) All India Radio is an Australian space rock/downtempo/ambient/call-it-what-you-will band based in Tasmania. I've been an of them since I first heard a track off their remix album 20 years ago. last.fm tells me I have scrobbled them over six thousand fricken times(!) I'm Facebook friends with Martin L Kennedy (the main man behind AIR) because (A) I'm a nerd and (B) 15 years ago I really cared about FB enough to seek out the personal profiles of a bunch of electronic musicians I liked. For the most part, the people who make the music I've been obsessing over for most of my life are a group of interesting, thoughtful, worldly individuals. One or two have turned out to be cretins Mark Archer is a total jackass, who knew? MLK is certainly in that first category. He's a remarkably humble, down to earth man whose primary interest is making the music that it's in his head and we're all better off because of it. Today (well, technically yesterday, Tasmanian Standard Time) marks the the 20th anniversary of the release of AIR's excellent Echo Other album. It's one of my favorites by them. I saw MLK make a post about it with vintage photos of the recording process: Very neat, in a 2006 digicam kind of way. I jokingly commented on Martin's FB post "Need a picture of the Speak N Spell that's on the title track. 🤖" It's very audible throughout the song, starting around the 3:20 mark. I logged into FB this evening to check the local MV FB group and had a notification. MLK posted this photo(!) Coolest thing I've seen all ..year. This has been your "Knuckles has a genuine fanboy moment."

Song title of the week?

I'm sure it's ok, but I just looked up the Koss Porta Pro Wireless and it's double the price of the wired headphones... they have a commitment to the look. I ended up giving my pair of Sporta Pros to a friend years ago. The Koss Porta Pro and their relatives (KSC75, etc.) are good headphones, but only at a low price. Someone at Sony marketing knows what they're doing - they have a Stranger Things edition of the headphones as well. Clearly, someone had to put some work in adapting it with a microphone cable and USB-C, why not improve the sound while you're at it?

Porta Pro Wireless (Bluetooth)I actually saw someone in the wild with a these the other day

Nobody missed these - now in USB-C (somewhere in the universe, I sense Koss Porta Pro shuddering in revulsion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJjWAyrEgs

I didn't realize they made a follow-up a year ago...

I wasn't aware of Yu-Mex* (Yugoslav-Mexican) until today. *In the immediate post-war period, Yugoslavia did not have much of a film industry and the majority of films were imported from the Soviet Union. Following the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, Soviet films were no longer shown in the country. At the same time, due to ideological differences, Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito did not want his country to import American films. As a result, he turned to importing Mexican films. The fact that many Mexican films of the "Golden Age" glorified the Mexican Revolution and depicted ordinary Mexicans rising up against the oppressive Mexican state made Mexican films "revolutionary" enough to be shown in Yugoslavia. It was common for many young Yugoslavs to imitate the styles of Mexican film stars, who were seen as embodying everything that was "cool". Because many of the films shown in Yugoslavia in the 1950s–1960s were Mexican, everything Mexican became very popular in Yugoslavia and many musicians started to don sombreros to perform Mexican music, either singing in Serbo-Croatian or in the original Spanish. Doc on it...

Rodrigo y Gabriela, OurHome -- just beautiful music Probably next I will listen to 11:11 -- I didn't realize the concept behind it, so I will probably "follow along" with this. I am especially interested in the Piazzolla and Pink Floyd tracks. But LOL, it hallucinated, this is wrong, there's no "Master & Margarita", and they omitted "Triveni", which is a tribute to Le Trio Joubran: On 11:11, Rodrigo y Gabriela crafted each track as a direct sonic thank-you note to an artist who deeply shaped their musical DNA. Instead of standard cover songs, they composed original pieces designed to mirror the rhythms, scales, and spirits of their influences. Here is the breakdown of the 11 artists paid tribute to on the album, along with the musical style and background context of each track: 1. "Hanuman" — Tributed to Carlos Santana The Vibe: High-energy, joyful, and heavily rhythmic. The Tribute: This track captures Santana's signature Latin-rock fusion. Gabriela uses rapid-fire percussive slaps to mimic a driving conga beat, while Rodrigo plays melodic, biting lead lines that mirror Santana’s fluid, sustained electric guitar phrasing. 2. "Buster Voodoo" — Tributed to Jimi Hendrix The Vibe: Psychedelic, funk-driven acoustic rock. The Tribute: An intentional nod to Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)." Rodrigo mimics iconic wah-wah pedal effects, string bends, and aggressive blues-rock double-stops entirely on a nylon-string acoustic guitar, showcasing Hendrix's raw, improvisational energy. 3. "Savitri" — Tributed to John McLaughlin The Vibe: Complex Indo-jazz fusion and blistering speed. The Tribute: McLaughlin is a pioneer of jazz fusion (Mahavishnu Orchestra) and acoustic world music (Shakti). The track uses intricate, lightning-fast alternate picking patterns and syncopated time signatures that pay homage to McLaughlin’s technical virtuosity and Eastern spiritual influences. 4. "Hora Zero" — Tributed to Ástor Piazzolla The Vibe: Dark, dramatic, and intensely rhythmic. The Tribute: Named after a concept frequent in Piazzolla's work (Nuevo Tango), this track captures the tension, sudden dynamic shifts, and brooding romanticism of traditional Argentine tango mixed with modern classical structures. 5. "Chac Mool" — Tributed to Jorge Reyes The Vibe: Ambient, atmospheric, and deeply tribal. The Tribute: Reyes was a Mexican progressive rock and ambient musician famous for blending pre-Hispanic indigenous instruments (like clay flutes and rainsticks) with modern electronics. The duo creates an eerie, echoing soundscape using acoustic guitar resonance and harmonics to capture this indigenous, ancient Mexican spirit. 6. "Atman" — Tributed to Dimebag Darrell (Pantera) The Vibe: Pure acoustic thrash metal. The Tribute: Darrell Abbott's heavy groove-metal riffs were a massive influence on the duo's early metal days. The track features a relentless, heavy acoustic rhythm track and features a blistering, shred-heavy guest guitar solo by Alex Skolnick of the thrash metal band Testament. 7. "Master Maqui" — Tributed to Paco de Lucía The Vibe: Pure flamenco virtuosity and emotional depth. The Tribute: As the absolute master of modern flamenco guitar, de Lucía is the foundation of Rodrigo y Gabriela’s playing style. This track emphasizes highly traditional, blindingly fast picado (index and middle finger picking) and complex compás (flamenco rhythmic cycles). 8. "Logos" — Tributed to Al Di Meola The Vibe: Precision jazz-rock fusion with Latin flair. The Tribute: Known for his ultra-precise, rapid alternate picking on both acoustic and electric guitars (famously heard on Friday Night in San Francisco), Di Meola's influence is clear in the track's tight unison lines and complex, shifting harmonic progressions. 9. "Santo Domingo" — Tributed to Michel Camilo The Vibe: Bright, syncopated Caribbean jazz piano rhythms. The Tribute: Camilo is a brilliant Dominican jazz pianist. To capture a piano's percussive nature on strings, Gabriela uses incredibly complex, syncopated strumming techniques to simulate a montuno piano rhythm, driving the bright, upbeat melody forward. 10. "Master & Margarita" — Tributed to Mikhail Bulgakov The Vibe: Narrative, dramatic, and theatrical. The Tribute: The only non-musician on the album, Bulgakov was the Soviet author of the magical realist masterpiece The Master and Margarita. The song mimics a literary narrative structure, transitioning through dark, oppressive sections into soaring, fantastical movements that match the book's satirical and mystical themes. 11. "11:11" — Tributed to Pink Floyd The Vibe: Expansive, progressive, and psychedelic space-rock. The Tribute: The title track closes the album by channeling the grand scale of Pink Floyd. It features a guest appearance by the alternative rock duo Strunz & Farah and uses layered acoustic textures, ambient slides, and epic arrangements to mirror the sonic journeys found on albums like Wish You Were Here.

So back when I built the Colossus I thought it sounded pretty good. But amazingly it wasn't all the Pete Riggle add ons, or even the SUT or preamp (DIY Pass Pearl) that made the largest improvement. The largest improvement was not long after I moved to Fairfax and built a heavy duty TT stand. Beefy Maple 4x4 legs, thick shelves and deep dato joinery really made a huge difference, especially in the bottom end. And I know bottom end!

New vs. old. vs. miau.

I somehow missed that Hiromi did a collaboration with Rodrigo y Gabriela

https://www.facebook.com/reel/844095039115471 Driving home, missing exit. Chaos ensues

Goddamn that sounds delicious, Al.

30yo

^ Thanks much. I've probably heard half of them, but so far preferred the earlier round than the later. This morning, election day, starting with Sun Ra Arkestra's Living Sky Full playlist

I don't remember which volumes I liked so much, but you should definitely check out the ones curated by Pet Shop Boys, Lamb, Röyksopp, The Orb, Tricky, Morcheeba, Underworld, and Faithless, IIRC. Maybe ask Knucks.

RIP, Juan Atkins - Detroit techno pioneer Cybotron - Enter (1983)

It is bewilderingly difficult to spot the things in the wild - its kind of bizarre to find a Koala in a house.