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The Penfield Mood Organ.

From my point of view it very much depends on what your goals - if something like that can be defined - as a music listener are. If you're looking for the most variety for the least amount of money (as a consumer of music), streaming services are your thing. If you're a collector/curator, you wouldn't want to rent because then the streaming services control your collection (that might not be a bad thing to some). My attitude towards streaming services is already well documented (i.e. fuck the rent-seeking tech-bros and their algorithms), so what I'm going for is the collector/curator mode; I don't think about my music library - physical or digital - as something with "holes" to be filled, it's an idiosyncratic collection of records/releases I've found interesting or useful enough to own, a temporal sediment of music that I appreciate enough to want to own. I don't seek the maximum amount of variety - as an electronic (dance) music aficionado, I'm already squeezing myself to a very tight corner in a musical hyperdimension of immense - practically infinite - proportions; I seek associations and links between artists, labels, and collaborators, weaving a web of sound and information - culture, if you will. I prefer depth over superficiality, and tend to procure all releases from an artist or on a label to get the widest possible exposure on that particular theme (e.g. I was just going through Steve Pickton's all aliases and checking out if their compilation appearances have tracks that are not available anywhere else) - this is a holdover from my early days as a sad trainspotter on the IDM mailing list. One thing I've thought about a lot is entitlement - streaming services produce it as an illusion, because you're paying peanuts and you have more music at your disposal than anyone can ever have, and the ease, comfort and convenience lull you into a laissez-faire mindset. I understand the psychology of convenience very well, because I'm constantly being seduced by it - why pay to get things you can get for a pittance, or even free, if you don't care about the ethics of piracy and/or freeloading? There are certain records that I'd want to have, as a collector, as a curator (in a subjective, personal sense, I'm doing it primarily for myself, but the curating spills over to e.g. WATMM), as a mook who's extremely easily beguiled by limited editions and exclusivity via artificial scarcity - but I wait for them to become available, if and when they do - and a lot don't, and then I just don't have or listen to them. Regardless, I already have enough music to listen for a lifetime several times over (30+ years of vinyl collecting/DJing will do that for you) - so why get more? To me, it's simply a hobby with benefits. It takes a lot of money, time and effort, but it's worth it to me. It takes space, and gets on my SO's nerves because there are vinyl records spilling over from shelves and on the floor all the time, although I've promised to keep everything sorted out. I, too, like a bit of novelty as much as anyone else, listening to Autechre's oeuvre for the umpteenth time just doesn't always cut it for me, and I still entertain the thought that I'm a DJ, so I also select to cater to that as well. It's what I love to do, and what I'm intensely interested it. I do listen to other music besides electronic, too - but that's very much specific and limited to certain artists and/or selections (popular, even) from a genre, they cover only a handful of percentage points of my collection. This is the "wide array" portion of my listening habits, because this tiny sliver contains music from classical to heavy metal - but I'm definitely not claiming that I listen to "all kinds of music", because there's an infinity of artists/genres that I dislike or even loathe, and wouldn't be caught dead listening to. I don't think I'm conservative in my tastes, because I have explicitly selected the types of music I collect/curate for myself, it's not a stagnated, static leftover or residue from my youth - when I did listen to anything and everything I could get my hands on; I simply don't like the idea of spreading my attention (and money allocation) too wide and thin, as there's already way less of them available than I would prefer: depth over breadth. I habitually try new and different things out for size, but more often than not they don't make the cut and interest me enough to bring them into permanent focus. I also like the idea of an anti-library (collection) from Umberto Eco via Nassim Nicholas Taleb - because there are records in my collection I have never listened to or played completely, or haven't returned to in a decade or two - but they're still important, because they're available when I need them. This is also the paradox of collecting, you'll have a metric ton (I have estimated that my vinyl collection weighs about that much) of things that mostly just take up space and are not actively used, so what's their use? To me, the most responsible thing is to use Bandcamp, where one can (usually) listen to music before and after purchase. I still buy vinyl/CDs, too - from a couple of shops and directly from Bandcamp - but almost exclusively releases that are not available in any other format. The curating part does take a lot of time, I do some of it almost every day, but to me, it's definitely more interesting and feels worthwhile when I control my attention rather than delegate it to algorithmic subservience. I'm also fortunate enough to have enough financial resources at my disposal to feed the habit. But, as always, YMMV. You do what you can with what you have.

This is an amazing release with an extremely affordable price/track/quality ratio, and with all proceeds going towards charity it's surely worth it.

Freq says things.

I think the last Detroit things proper I bought were two Kenny Larkin reissues on Mint Condition, Pod's Vanguard EP and Dark Comedy's Corbomite Manuever (sic) EP, both great. I've never been a huge Detroit buff, more inclined towards the UK take on the sound. I have the first three NSC Records releases and a handful of others from here and there (M-Plants and such), Hood's Internal Empire (because Minus) and assorted Hood selections - but I think I have only one Mills (never been a fan), and even that is the Network (UK) version of Hood & Mills' Tranquilizer (sic) EP. Psyche/BFC, of course, and Innerzone Orrchestra.

Latest Pulse State release, from the ever-prolific The Jaffa Kid; glittery beats and breaks, shimmering melodies and ambience, a cohesive set of tracks ranging from pretty to beautiful. Highly recommended.

Just a piss-take, standard forum fare, but it virtually flash-banged me to seething rage - I had to take a deep breath, mouth "fuck you" silently (so I don't use it as a reply), and let it pass.

A random comment made me seriously consider - for several milliseconds - immediately and permanently vacating WATMM.

A13, Unxplored Beats. Follow the names, follow the sub/superlabels, find lots more. These are some of the labels I obsessed over when they were fresh, I have them all.

Melodic downtempo-ish and housey beats, breaks and melodies - vinyl only. Recommended.

BTW there is plenty of previously released and new material (25 seconds is an album of new music, Dat Tapes a collection from the archives...) available on Connective Zone's Bandcamp, including some of the early tracks from releases mentioned above. Very highly recommended.

Massive 42 track charity compilation with all proceeds going towards Mind, a mental health organization in the UK. Music from top of the line producers like Cult 48, Keiss, exm, Roel Funcken, Min-Y-Llan, Repeat Eater and more. Highly recommended.

IDM-tinged electro for various moods. Recommended.

Musicians Generate Every Possible Melody and Make it Public (Medium) I follow a wide array of different genres and styles, but compared to all music that's available and being produced it's a minuscule slice - there is always new music, styles and modes of expression available to explore. I find this is always true even within the limited spectrum I've chosen to follow. Seeking absolute novelty, something that's never been done before, with no precedent, is a fool's errand - how would you even recognize it if you don't know how it's produced beforehand? How would you know no-one else hasn't encountered it before? How do you know it's unique or not? Why is it important to recognize and be recognized as someone who recognizes it?

Some trips end, some are forever, some flash back. Acid's never not cool and you can always drop it, whatever you're spinning. It's one of the Infinity Stones of electronic dance music, it's the Tesseract. Like I wrote here -

Classic reissue from Delsin, originally released on Headspace sublabel Emoticon almost two decades ago; Connective Zone's earlier releases were on A13 and Unxplored Beats - which, like this reissue, are highly recommended.

A four-tracker of dreamy acid tech-house, techno, electro and breaks - but alas, vinyl only. Recommended.

Free download SC release, glitchy and crunchy bass-heavy electronics. Recommended.

Makes me want to check out if it would mash up/blend/mix with Digeridoo, the remix (4m45s) would fit nicely within (7m11s) the longer track. The BPM difference is quite big, though. It's a nice remix, definitely level up from the Sophie one.

The only time ever Vincent Price performed the rap part from Michael Jackson's Thriller live.

Nobody expects the middle-aged Finnish electronic music enthusiast - GET THIE COMFY CHAIR! I've mentioned MLO a few times before, e.g.

There's some nifty tracks in there. Recommended. Oh, and if you need a Bandcamp release id for an embed, create a bookmark with the URL javascript:window.alert(JSON.parse(document.getElementsByName("bc-page-properties").item(0).content).item_id) and add it to your bookmark toolbar; when you're on a Bandcamp release page, run the bookmark and you'll get the id on a popup where you can copy and paste it to the embed's input. It'll be even easier if you use TamperMonkey or something else like it, maybe if I'm bored I'll enhance that by copying the id straight to the clipboard.

Necromancing because there's a fourth run of the box set available, edition of 100.

A concept album spanning from ambient through electro to techno and some downtempo electronics. Recommended.