dcom

Roel Funcken's three hour Autechre megamix. Lather, rinse, repeat until you get the Sign.

The Long Golden Age of Useless, American Crap (LitHub)

Here's a recent profile of Lanier, and I also suggest you take a look at his books, including his autobiography. He's an interesting one, right up there with Ted Nelson and other technology luminaries.

Trump promises America we will never see him again if Biden wins (Raw Story) Promises, promises...

I think these tech ex-bros are sincerely remorseful, but it's going to be an uphill battle because the critical mass is on the side of the extraction capitalists. Most people in the documentary have fuck you money and nothing to worry about even if they don't succeed, but nevertheless it's semi-admirable that they're feeling a smidgen of regret about their ex-employers and going oh sorry that we fucked up a couple of generations of people psychologically and rewired the social fabric around the world to be at the beg and call of technology to line the pockets of the very few. It's not a bad documentary, though, only too little too late. If you're smart enough to implement things that have become dark patterns (which supplant "user value...in favor of shareholder value"), you should be by definition be smart enough to understand the negative psychological and social ramifications of those technologies. It's not like you can't imagine the negative repercussions of some of the biggest tech innovations out there. There are some of them in use even here in WATMM, baked in to the core of the site software. I've been working on web (backend) stuff for over 25 years, so I have a modicum of knowledge about these things. Here's an interesting review of the documentary. You should also watch The Great Hack, if you haven't already done so. I love Jaron Lanier to bits, he's a true treasure; I expected to see Yevgeni Morozov as well, but I don't think the producers wanted to go that deep into it. Besides Zuboff's landmark book on the subject there are some lesser known tomes touching the same subject, I can provide a reading list if you're interested. That shit is wack, yo.

Semi-redacted because I was being an ass.

The artists I've asked to sign records have been easily approachable and very nice people, sometimes very taken and/or amused that someone would ask them to sign their records, but I've also been privileged because I've been DJing for such a long time and have been performing at the same events as the artists, so I've had access to backstages and artist lounges where it's easier to strike up a conversation. Although I wouldn't dream of calling myself equal with any of them, having an artist pass and a bit of moxie goes a very long way, and having the records to sign is a conversation starter - I tend to have more hard-to-find ones, so that helps, too. Only one artist has ever declined to sign a record - they said that they're not really famous or anything so it would be embarrassing - and I respected that; the next time I saw them a few years later they remembered me and asked if I had any records with me, but I didn't bring any because they had already declined, so I missed that artist's signature. The biggest names have been the nicest people, but I haven't met anyone who wasn't nice when you're respectful, polite and appreciative. I never ask for selfies with anyone or take photos because I find it tacky, I'm just happy to have a wee chat, tell them that I appreciate their work and and if possible, get a few records signed. I've had the same starter forever - "Hi, I'm Nuutti, I've been a fan for a long time and I have a couple of your records with me, would you be willing to sign them?" - and go from there. Imagine what it feels like when your favourite artists in the world recognize you after a decade in a very small country in northern Europe (that has a 50/50 chance of not existing).

I have an even better one: in 2006 in Turku I was having a drink with them after the gig and the discussion turned to the second hand price and availability of the original Lego Feet, and I mentioned that it was the only one of their releases that I didn't have. I think it was Sean who said to me that he had an extra copy at home and if I gave him my address, he would send it to me when they got back home from the tour. I wrote down my address and handed it over, thinking OK, why not, but not really expecting anything. I had completely forgotten about it when after about three months I received a package, wrapped in black plastic and with no sender information - and when I opened the package, there was a copy of Lego Feet, SKA001, in EX condition, no strings attached, my Autechre (and Skam) collection completed. I immediately regretted I had not asked them to sign it, but you can still guess I was elated. Fast forward 10 years to 2016 and Autechre's second visit to Finland, the OneSix tour, Helsinki. When I got to the venue and got myself a drink, I was near the backstage entrance and the lads came out, noticed me and waved me over for greetings and handshakes; they were going out to chill a bit before the gig, but I was welcomed to come for a chat afterwards. So, after the gig I got backstage (that's actually another story, but I'll leave it for now), pulled out the Lego Feet they had sent me ten years ago and got them to sign it, after recounting the origins of the record. So here it is. (The full list of records they have signed for me is Amber, Basscadet box set, and Anti EP in 2006; Lego Feet, Oversteps, and Exai in 2016.)

SAW 85-92 and Surfing on Sine Waves are truly underappreciated compared to the more recent material; I suppose my absolute and unwavering RDJ fandom hollowed out around Drukqs, although the drill'n'bass of Girl/Boy, RDJ album and even HABs had already had me ambivalent. After that picking up his releases, even Analord, was more habitual than truly about the music. I didn't buy Syro until about five years after the fact. The releases that have actually interested me after falling out have been the Cheetah and Collapse EPs, especially Collapse. I can easily listen to everything and even enjoy it, but what really gets me going is the pre-millennium material (with some notable exceptions). This can be construed around here as heresy and apostasy, but there you go.

Inside my personal bubble chamber Amber is one of the most coherent and composed Autechre album, it flows exceptionally well and is complemented beautifully by Garbage. It's hard and fast in my all time top 5 albums and probably my favourite Autechre album. There are some very deep personal issues I have associated with Amber, so that colours my relationship with it heavily, and my attachment to the album is far from objective. I have a very strong affinity with all things Autechre, and my favourites are in constant flux, but Amber never ceases to make me just Stop Look Listen. (That's my copy of Amber. Signatures are from their first ever gig in Finland where I was DJing/warming up for them. I've got a few more that are signed, from both their visits to Finland: Turku in 2006 and Helsinki in 2016.)

Vimeo, not YouTube. Not sorry.

Cari Lekebusch in top form with his Mystic Letter K electro/breaks alias. All releases highly recommended.

What Ails America (Timothy Snyder, NYRB)

Neverending Story.

Pioneer plaque.

Iesope Drift aka Obscurum, Kotea, Mugon, Ostia, Shallow, Tungston... is a long-time favourite of mine, and I just found out that they have a Bandcamp for both Iesope Drift and Obscurum. The releases on their labels, Element Com, Clip, Exalt, and Seico Corp are essential to any and all industrial/techno connoisseurs. The original vinyl releases on Seico Corp are already quite expensive, so it's nice to see that they're finally released in digital.

You can probably deduce that it was meant to be a promotional CD to be given out at Sónar 2007, but there was no accompanying press release and there's no information on how many were made. I'll get Esa's copy on loan, I'll just have to go pick it up.

I reached out out to @esaruoho and he pulled up a copy of Greetings From Finland from his archives and put up some information on his site.

The Trump Era Sucks and Needs to Be Over (Matt Taibbi)

Out now.

The Locust album is one of 11 and part of a compilation, Touched by Silence, all the covers have the same theme based on tree stumps and/or growth rings. but it's the only cover that's just line graphics instead of being based on a photograph - the wooden box cover being the other exception and I think they're base on a similar vector shape. tDR's recycling and recombining things all the time, so I'm not surprised.

How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism (Cory Doctorow, OneZero)

AFAIK the Japanese don't really buy that many CDs (or DVDs) because they can be rented. That's been a weird part of their media consumption landscape for a long time.

I must apologise, I really thought you we're trolling me with a wrong price, but then I figured that you meant the $79.95 with VAT, which makes about £75, so I'm sorry, @NewSchoolScience, for my inane reaction. Nevertheless, it's still a relative bargain in absolute monetary terms compared to about £89 for the releases when bought separately. As for the price of a digital album, $12 is about 10 € is about £9, that's within the average price range of a full album on Bandcamp, most albums I've bought recently have been between 8-12 € (£7-10), EPs for about 5-8 € (£4-7) . But would I buy the collection or the releases in question for that price? No, because I don't like the music (that much). YMMV.

Discovering Scarfolk Scarfolk Annual