From April 2012

Dichotomy

These articles were posted online, back to back, by friends of mine who have never met and are quite different from one another in terms of age and background and geography. It is fun to me how much they can relate. What makes art “good” or “bad”, and what can happen contextually when it mashes up with a movement? Punk rock and “new media” are similarly paradoxical in ways I haven’t considered.

This is interesting food for thought as someone interested in both Sterling’s sci-fi literature and the trajectories of “New Media”. I’ll be chewing on that one for a while.

And I find this interesting as a look back. While I shared the author’s fear of alcohol and drugs in my teens, and I’ll still enjoy some hardcore punk, it was never much part of a larger community or movement for me. I never thought of myself as straightedge. (And, well, I’d always, and still, take the Dead Kennedys over Minor Threat or 7 Seconds in a heartbeat.)

I’ve now reached my limit for scare quotes. Until next week…

 

Busy week

Lots happening lately! First, a moment to share some very nice press from both mnartists.org and the Star Tribune.

And, now that the album has dropped and the video along with it, I can share Status Update‘s appearance in this video by Duluth’s bluegrass stars Trampled By Turtles:

I have to say, as a musician focused on synthesizers and circuit bending and 8-bit glitch – if you told me anything I created would have ended up in a video premiere on Country Music Television I’d have had a hard time believing you. The song and the video are beautiful, and it’s a privilege to be a part of them.

I’ll be de-installing tonight, which is bittersweet. I feel like a broken record, but I’ll say it one more time: AoV has been a fantastic experience. But looking forward – I had a great 2nd site visit for its redux at Northern Spark, and am excitedly running straight into new preparations. I thought 2,000 feet of cable was a lot, but I will need more…

Other stuff I managed to get to this week- last night I checked out the ArtCrank show. Minneapolis definitely loves its art, its bike culture, and beer, so putting all three together make quite a party.

Worthy of its own post later, I had the chance to catch Zoe Keating in concert on Thursday. It was one of the best shows I’ve seen. Both she and her music are nothing short of enchanting.

Samples

I’ve checked up on Status Update about once a week or so. I do this for a few reasons: to make sure things that can be buggy are still working, to restart it fresh so things are more likely to keep working, and other little maintenance tasks- and also to make copies of the collected recordings. One of my favorite things has been listening to recordings that have been left during the week. It’s kind of like opening presents on Christmas, only more unpredictable. What people have chosen to share can be introspective or sad or nonsensical, and at least one every time has made me laugh out loud.  It also turns into a kind of game to see if I can guess which question a recording is answering. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, and for others I will never know for sure.

Here are a few samples:
Sample 1
Sample 2

And some good advice:
Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5