I'm glad to be relaxing today.

There's something I'd add but it's so far ahead of its release date that I feel weird about it. So moving on...

clipping. - Splendor & Misery (Sub Pop)

Excellent alternative production, some amazing rapping, strong narrative theme, and interesting lyrics. "what more could you ask for?"
There was another recent "rappers in space" album (Logic's Incredible Story album, which I enjoyed), but here things are more adventurous and interesting in almost all dimensions.

Pearson Sound Live at Rural Festival

It's rare that I include non-release DJ mixes here, but I've really enjoyed and repeated this recent mix.

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Suzanne Ciani - Sunergy (RVNG Intl.)

The FRKWYS series continues to impress. There are of course so many of these modular kosmichey releases, but this one stands out as a soft-edged trip.

best thing ever
we really should make them a goal

If I have to be here, it's good to be busy.

Bethan Kellough - Aven (Touch)

This is a stunning performance of field recordings and strings, filled with drama and intrigue, grand gestures and detailed sounds. Diana and I were at the Touch showcase where this was recorded, and we both left agreeing that this performance (which was not headlining) was the best, so it's great to get to hear that confirmation in this touching release, which manages to be sonically intriguing and very human. This approach can sometimes sound like a space station 200 years in the future, whereas here it's more like humanity crawling from the caves, which accesses deeper.

There can be universal truth even if we have no access to it.
This doesn't place essence over existence. It can exist without being perceived.
But is our intuitive sense of a it a form of perception and interface anyway?
Or is this just delusion?
The presence of universal truth(s?) does not preclude necessary relativism on most issues within language and ethics.

Dan Cray - Outside In (Origin)

Really nice, mellow, mostly straight-ahead jazz. I have decided it will be present among snow and a fire. It will happen.

Convextion - 2845 (Mojuba)

There's that one label doing the electro thing and every release sounds the same. Not this! Great to hear from Convextion again.

Ka - Honor Killed the Samurai (Iron Works Records)

Not exactly bangers, but this has a distinct tone carried through in the instrumentals, the delivery, and the content, vivid imagery, poetic constructions.

So aside from my regular reading I'm in this reading group... maybe per reading I'll take a few highlighted elements and comment.
This is sure to be uninteresting.

Ian William Craig - Centres (FatCat Records)

Beautiful album in the vein of Fennesz, Sakamoto, Sylvian, but ultimately its own.

1-800 DINOSAUR Presents Trim

Maybe the best grime-or-not full-length I've heard. Balanced toward letting the beats / unique instrumentals shine, but since they're not particularly dense or saturated this fits well with the vocals.

WWWINGS - PHOENIXXX (Planet Mu)

From noise to rhythms, it's a particularly well-executed collision of the old "splintered beats" IDM thing and the current "post-club" thing with some moments that are undeniably [non-post] club. Lots of concrete samples.

I happened to take a look at my most recent posts and noticed the item below about "lo-fi" techno and was confused.
I was confused because just a couple of days ago I had made similar complaints (to myself) and here thought, "How could that have been before the trip?"
Then I realized that it was a different release.
So anyway a couple of days ago I was listening to a well-regarded producer's new album and really struggled to finish it due to ear fatigue.
Should I name names? I'm really not into audio that's pointlessly blown out, and it can't be saved with interesting backstory and imagery.
There are a few producers I'm repeatedly duped into checking out or reluctantly trying again by reviews and retailers. I think I've finally thrown a few into the DNR zone.

It's been a really rough week.
It's Thursday morning now.
Next week will be better.

I don't want to deal with people.

There's the exceptional that's demonstrated, performed, and proven, and then there's exceptionalism that's assumed and abused.

Former: getting more done, having strong ideas, rising to occasions, assuming burdens, not taking a path simply because it's easy or popular, etc.
Latter: expecting to not have to do things, assuming illegitimate authority, not following rules only because they are a burden to you, taking an opposite path simply because the other is popular

and then there's a value judgement

bleh

upcoming topics:
exceptionalism

have a lot right now

This vacation is going to be like a new year transition thing.

I don't get the point.

I want today to be over.
Have to give a somewhat annoying presentation.

ok just one more week

On Tuesday I had semi-crippling depression related to Donald Trump.

How are people so stupid? His wife had just given her plagiarized speech, and apologists were saying things like it's not plagiarism because it's just a few lines, or that it was just similar themes and not the same words. I wanted to strangle the guy in this interview. A friend and I have talked about how what people say doesn't matter. We've always meant it to be about the precision of what people say, that the actual words do not matter. Not that we personally believe they do not or should not matter but that we see in places like advertising wording that makes things simply false being totally acceptable, this kind of thing.

A few weeks ago I mildly debated and mostly listened to a couple who had been strong Bernie Sanders supporters and were now arguing that Donald Trump was no worse than Hilary Clinton (they intend to vote for Jill Stein and at the time unrealistically thought Sanders might also go to a third party). They cited Hilary's record on war, foreign trade, and other issues that are terrible but at the same time typical of establishment politics, American imperialism, business as usual.

Donald Trump's faults go beyond the conservative, unimaginative, structurally-chained muck of party politics. What shocks me is the way his lies, prejudices, and ignorance are simply not veiled. They're not behind ideology and structures. His glittering generalities and abuses of the vague language of advertising are advertising what exactly? He represents truly the worst in us, and it's shocking that he has so many supporters. How are people capable of swallowing what he spews? What can be done to stop him?

I think Ken Burns actually had some worthwhile commentary recently. The early portion about technology sounds a bit like Paul Virilio.

These are pretty different from each other.

Glauco Venier - Miniatures (ECM)

This is a beautiful album of small piano and barely-percussion pieces. At times sounding like Sakamoto, at times sounding like Jarrett, but ultimately sounding like its own thing.

Christian Fennesz & Jim O'Rourke - It's Hard for Me to Say I'm Sorry (Editions Mego)

I'm glad this lived up to the sum of its parts and more. I've seen opposing views, but I feel like the best of both artists are brought together into something neither would make on his own. The sound is thick. 2 long pieces.

David Toop - Entities Inertias Faint Beings (Room 40)

Toop proves himself a master of sound minutiae or at least the music that provokes listening for it. Environmental sounds haunted by memories of performed instruments.

J Balvin - Energía (Capitol Latin)

This is very pop, but I can't deny the album. Have probably played this in my car every day for the past 3 or 4 weeks, I guess subtracting my trip, though I heard Ginza and Bobo out in Spain. This could probably be divided into songs that really go and songs that are whatever, but it's been on repeat.

I think it could work.

Jesse Osborne-Lanthier and Grischa Lichtenberger - CSLM (Cosmo Rhythmatic)

Intense, varied, sonically precise exploration of sound, rhythm, and texture that I'm surprised to read comes from performances on CRTs and VHS machines... the remixes fit in perfectly, iterating interestingly on the themes but maintaining the flow as something that can be listened to like an album.

Objekt - Kern vol. 3 (Tresor)

This mix reminds me of the Journeys by DJ series (and maybe I'm thinking specifically of Coldcut's well-known mix) in its variety, but is rooted in techno. It experiment but stays solid. Worthy as a catalog release.

Golfam Khayam & Mona Matbou Riahi - Narrante (ECM)

Amazing contemporary chamber performances of Persian-rooted music from the Naqsh Duo, clarinet and guitar. Would love to attend a performance.

ok I'm going to try

these are going to make it.

Jungle - Live at Okuden (ESP-Disk)

Tyshawn Sorey - The Inner Spectrum of Variables

I just attempted and failed to leave a comment on a user-participation thing I'm trying to promote. Seems like the only thing I'm willing to say in public is "I enjoyed this album."