Knuckledragger

Okay, this is kind of horrible but I can't keep it to myself. I presume all of Head Case knows about Ben Shaprio at this point. Some of you may even know that he's got a sister. She has her own YouTube presense and has, ahem, a couple notable characterisitcs of her own. #1 huge tracts of land and #2 the exact same mouth as her older brother. Naturally, the internet is fascinated with her, in all sorts of humorous and creepy ways. This screencap of one of her videos went viral last summer: TIL someone turned said screencap into one of those 3D mousepads usually reserved for anime waifus: This has been your moment of existential horror.

European political cartoon from 1982.

So last night's show got aborted 3/4 of the way in, due to the endless font of incompetence that is National Grid. For my entire lifetime, they managed to let the power die in a trangular shaped chunk of land where my house sits but not on any of the neighboring areas. Even when the power comes back on, often a tiny strip of land that includes where I live returns at a time later (sometimes measuring in days). I will say this, the absolutely giant ass service trucks that Nation Grid deploy are visually quite impressive. If I were a 4 year old (or, ahem, a nearly 50 year old with the emotional maturiy of a 4 year old) I'd be truly captivated by the sight of them. As it stands, my tribute to Klaus Schulze went to sheiss and I'm not sure what to do. I haven't uploaded the 3/4 fragment of the set. Schulze songs tend to run just a wee bit long, and I made it a point to include music by other artists with similarly long works. I can't exactly pick up where I left off next week. This was the entire setlist: The power died in the middle of Berlin Heritge.

Test Tone @ Home live right now: https://mixlr.com/illuminator/

This is not directly related to the original topic, but ...the tiny Windows box I bought from BozosPenisRocketFund.com arrived today and I don't feel like making a general bitching about Winders thread. So this is my first experience with Windows 10. It's been updating off and on for two hours now. By Gaben's Grizzled Grin, this is why we pay The Mac Tax. For all of the questionable decisions and bizarre choices that Tim Apple makes, I cannot for the life of me understand how people use Windows as their primary OS. If I didn't have Mac hardware, I'd probably grow out a neckbeard and attempt to learn some flavor of linux.

Two semi-related thoughts: 1. I was so tired this evening I fell asleep while working on my set ("gee knucks, either you're getting old that's the most boring AF set in the history of DJdom" 2. Klaus Schulze presents to me now the same problem he did 15-20 years ago: "Let me see which track I might use. Hmm, this one is a bit long at 30 minutes. Let me check CD2 ....it's one 50 minute track."

Russian State TV Comforts Viewers on Nuclear War: 'We All Die Someday'

I mentioned this in the Ambient/IDM thread, but it's relevant here as well. Woob's 1994 album 1194, AKA the second greatest ambient album of the 1990s (mere mortals cannot topple Substrata) got a crowd funded vinyl release some 28 years after it came out on CD. I am really curious how they'll manage to cut the 32 minute opening track on to a side of wax.

RIP Klaus Schultze.

Sounds pretty fucky to me.

I'll take my chances with toddlers, the other two scare me.

Ukraine Army destroys command operations center of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces, eliminates two Russian generals. I've lost count of how many Russian generals have died during this special military operation, which is going totally to plan.

Test Tone @ Home live right now: https://mixlr.com/illuminator/

U Mad, Bro?

Holy balls. So the second greatest ambient album of the 1990s (Woob's 1194) just got a vinyl release. Any HC vinyl snobs who have an even remote interest in this, do NOT sleep. There are people who have been waiting 28 years for a vinyl release.

Heyoka - Marklar (2010) This is an odd "post dubstep" album that absolutely CANED a dozen years ago. I haven't listened to it since 2013. Revisting it, it's ...alright, but very much of its era. TBH it's more "dubstep" than "post." Heyoka does keep things varied enough that his music never gets monotonously boring like so much dubstep does. He also varies the tempo all over the place so it's not just a 70 bpm snoozefest. Where he's really lacking is in synthesis. I've been spoiled by listening to some of the best sound synthesists artists ...ever (from Geir Jenssen to Oliver Lieb to Boards of Canada). Heyoka is a softsynth preset patch compared to any of them. Overall his music is amusing, but there's a reason I don't play much of it on my show.

Putin's Health Questioned After Video of Him Gripping Table Circulates. My initial reaction:

Russia's biggest chemical plant burns down in second mystery fire in a day. Glorious new tractor factory part II.

Absolute savagery.

Just watch the first ~3 minutes.

Me before coughing up to bankroll the continued misadventures of the Commonwealth of Taxachusetts: Ulrich Schnuass - A Strangely Isolated Place (2003). The stunning followup to the brilliant Far Away Trains Passing By. Ulrich managed to outdo himself and that was no mean feat. Probably the greatest IDM/downtempo/call it what you will album of the Aughts. I remember when this album came out and I played tracks off it, I'd have (otherwise incredibly narrow minded) drum n bass heads come up to me and ask me "what IS this music?" Me AFTER the fine state of Taxachusetts is done with me: The Misfits - Walk Among Us (1982). As close to a perfect punk rock record as they ever did. Marred only by an inferior live version of "Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?" vs the much better studio version (which is on Earth A.D.) Walk Among Us is peak Misfits. It's the best distillation of Glenn's savant-like ability to take trash 50s and 60s horror and sci-fi and make it iconic. His unique Demon Elvis bellow is cleaner and more emotive than on Earth A.D. The production on this album is actually remarkably solid, especially for an early 80s punk album recorded on a shoestring. There's some clever automatic double tracking on songs like "Devil's Whorehouse" that lend Glenn's vocals this amazing lo-fi psychedelic feel. The Misfits - Earth A.D. (1982). While inferior to Walk Among Us in nearly every way (except for the previously mentioned "Mommy") this is still a brilliant release. It's both faster and darker than its predecessor. There is less of a catchy horror punk sound and more of a metal influence throughout it. I first got Earth A.D. on cassette at the tender age of 12, during the Reagan years. That re-issue and most later pressings include "Die, Die My Darling" and "We Bite." The former is one of the best songs by the Misfits, so to me the album is incompletew without it. I didn't get a copy of Walk Among Us until '89 when the vinyl got re-issued. I quickly realized that it was the superior album. That said Earth A.D. has always held a special place in my heart because it was my introduction to the Misfits.

I've never heard of "Ambient Coconut" before. I've had Tricky's Ambient Pumpkin in my record bag since 1995.