Fascism For First Time Founders - an excellent run down on why tech founders believe they need to support Trump's views and why that is flat out wrong. The myth that democracy and regulation are net negatives is clearly dispelled here. I assume articles like this are preaching to the choir of my readership but it's such a great feeling to have difficult issues articulated so clearly and sensibly. Send this to everyone you know. via Davis.
Could HTTP 402 be the Future of the Web? - nice video about the 402 Status Code and how it may end up being a massively useful filter for AI scraping / AI browsers as we hurdle into the future. This is further explained by Cloudflare's Pay Per Crawl - which I also suggest you read.
Gabe Newell on AI programming effectiveness - apparently Valve's founder Gabe Newell is a bit of an elusive interview. Seems he broke his silence to talk to a YouTube channel with 30 subscribers (now 1.2k). You love to see it! He had many great insights about AI, programming and the intersection of the two. This quote is particularly enjoyable for a discussion among friends:
"I think the more you understand what underlies these current tools, the more effective you are at taking advantage of them," Newell says of AI. "But I think we'll be in this funny situation where people who don't know how to program who use AI to scaffold their programming abilities will become more effective developers of value than people who've been programming for a decade."
World’s most advanced bionic arm can crawl around on its own - this one little quote sums it up nicely: The device uses wireless EMG electrodes called MyoPods that sit on top of an amputee’s arm and read their muscle signals. These signals are then used to command the bionic fingers to move. The video that goes along with it is wildly fascinating but just the idea that we've come this far is astounding.
Like many a music nerd, I am a big fan of Haruomi Hosono - a phenomenal solo musician and founding member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (a band that is credited with helping pioneer multiple genres and, personally, highly influentially visually as well). Hosono has created so much that it feels like a body of work that will forever be providing new treats as you explore. And he's still alive!
This Discogs interview is a great bit of reflection from Hosono on his work, being a musician with band members half your age and what it feels like to return to playing live music after the pandemic. If nothing else, read through it and sample the tracks they mention.
Brand new EP and video dropped from Talking with Hands today. The release, entitled The Coin, is a four song collection inspired by political despair. It's on all the things. There's a great quote in the band bio:
”I see a lot of comedy and satire in the creative space addressing this, but I don’t see enough anger, especially in music. Everyone is understandably exhausted, but I’m personally not finding laughter to be a satisfying response right now.”
Of the four songs, two are traditional rock songs and two are ethereal transitions - an intentional cycle between them all best listened to in some gapless manner.
The third song - "Die, Die, Die" comes paired with the above video directed by Asher Rogers. It's a combination of tension, discomfort and a strange beauty – the color correction and the egg spewing is gross but entirely compelling, too. Honestly, it's a perfect pairing for the song itself.
There's another quote from Smith about that song in particular which really sits with me - “I’m not calling for violence, but I do find myself praying that certain profoundly unqualified persons would die. That’s the emotional truth this record wrestles with.”
I didn't write the song but that sentiment strikes me. It's an uncomfortable thought and I think that's part of the point.
Hopefully these songs are a good balance of cathartic and inspiring - that's certainly my understanding of the intent.
Sometimes I'm a little at a loss for words with some of the work I get to help release via yk Records. I try not to overhype or push the hyperbole too much but sometimes it's hard not to gush.
Today we released a video for "Side Effects" - the second single from Chris Crofton's upcoming album, I'm Your Man. It's a song about prescription drugs and Crofton's 20-year journey battling the right dosage. A problem that I think many people can empathize with in 2025.
The video, directed by Michael Carter, is a gorgeous piece of art. That's the hyperbole I'm afraid to go near but I love the casual cinematography, the narrative without explanation and the connection between the vehicle and the song subject. If you showed this at a film festival, everyone would love it.
Other notable facts: the lead guitar on the song from the bridge onwards is by Jim James of My Morning Jacket. That's a treat in itself! More on the song here but I do hope you'll just sit and watch the entire thing.
Back in mid-June, yk Records released the debut album from Matt & The Watt Gives - the new endeavor from The Features frontman Matt Pelham. It's a great record - full stop!
Today we are releasing the official video for "'Til You" - one of my favorite songs on the record. The piece was directed and animated by longtime bud Cody Newman; fusing a lot of GenerativeAI and his own AfterEffects expertise. It's a sweet song, now complete with a sweet little video.
If you wanna read more about the making of the video - go here. If you wanna learn more about the writing of the song itself - go here.
Watch that video and, by all means, send it along to a friend.
I've been a fervent fan of Bandcamp since 2008. When it sold to Epic in 2022, I was surprised and a bit worried. A year later, when it was sold to Songtradr and a large chunk of the staff was let go, I was quite convinced the end was nigh.
Around the time of that Bandcamp sale, Chris Grigg felt similarly nervous. But instead of hand wringing, he realized there was no other place to go beyond Bandcamp and got to work. Over the ensuing years, Ampwall emerged - a platform for folks to add their creations and sell them to a fanbase. At least, as a core mechanic.
I am fascinated by Ampwall because it is consciously trying to become another platform but striving to be a better platform. Not everything in their system is designed to drive a user to a sale; there are many tools that exist simply to help a creative person do the things they need to do. I'm straying from the word "musician" because Ampwall has tools in place for visual artists to create a place for themselves; something I don't think Bandcamp would ever consider.
So, I asked Grigg if I could talk to him about the history of the platform, the principles that are guiding it and where things are headed. He obliged and we had a very nice chat. It's in the embed above or Apple Podcasts or Spotify, etc etc.
My interest in Ampwall does not mean that I am now somehow anti Bandcamp. I am a big believer in both platforms. I'm happy that Bandcamp has not shriveled up or starting embracing tactics that are not in favor of the independent musician; as many of us feared when it was acquired by SongTradr. I am glad there are more places to go and I'm excited to see them both grow!
I also am aware that there are plenty of other alternative platforms but that's a topic for another post. For now, give Ampwall a look and listen to Grigg explain what they're doing over there.
Well, Austin chef Tom Micklethwait decided to recreate the entire spread and give himself a tasty treat. It's all documented in this short film ZZ Tom and it goes exactly as you'd hope. He recreates it damn nearly perfectly and we can only assume it's delicious.
And if you're curious what ZZ Top themselves would think of such a delightful Internet undertaking - read this Texas Monthly interview with Billy Gibbons. Includes a great anecdote involving a German Shepherd. Via Jamie.
This whole undertaking is from 2016 but it's new to me and, I hope, new to you. Here's that spread, stare into it at your convenience.
If you've been online for any notable amount of time, you know that Anamanaguchi is a high octane, instrumental, chiptune / videogame inspired / electronic act.
But now - after 19 years - they're changing things up. I don't wanna say "evolving" because what they did before was incredibly realized and in no need of fine tuning. There's a long story around their new album Anyway that I'll leave it to you to read but you can very quickly ascertain from this video for "Magnet" that they're doing things quite differently now. Musically, it's a new direction but the high octane energy and extremely clever execution is ever present.
We're all fans of supercuts but this fusion of every modern Batman movie into one "narrative" is brilliant and unbelievably well blended. I look forward to the new era of Anamanaguchi - it's off to a great start.
Hopefully you are familiar with the names Spencer Cullum, Rich Ruth and Sean Thompson - each an incredibly talented musician creating their own flavor of songs for years. They have joined forces to create Shrunken Elvis, a trio that creates instrumental, ambient, spacey and quite immersive soundscapes. Their debut album is set for release on Sept 5 via Western Vinyl. You can hear "An Old Outlet" now and pick up the LP or digital over here.
I am sure there is no shortage of filmmakers and creatives out there documenting their experiences using various AI tools like Runway, Midjourney, Veo, and all the rest. For me, it's fascinating to read about everyone's unique experiences with these tools and to see not only the results they create but the conclusions they come to about the toolsets. The former is always interesting, the latter is always confirming that there's not much to be scared of yet.
Seth's Substack is the documentation of filmmaker Seth Graves, an ex-Nashvillian living in LA who has always dabbled in the DIY scene of music and film. He is an excellent candidate for playing with these tools because he is quite familiar with the real world equivalents, for both larger productions and smaller scale undertakings.
He's making his way through the Tarot deck, making 22 episodes of 60-second explorations, all loosely based on the individual cards. It's a framing concept that helps reveal the path but it's not a rigid structure. The results of The Magician and The Wheel of Fortunre are surreal and outlandish but also not too far off from very solid indie filmmaking.
Stumbled upon Metro Cinema, a new theater experience opening in Chelsea, NYC that eschews the typical "giant screening room" vibe and leans into private suites. You book a room for 4-20 people, pick what movie you want to see and pick what menu you're interested in having served before the film. Take a little cruise around the website - it's especially nice on desktop and quite unique with the inverted scrolling banners. Ya love to see some innovation still happening with websites.
I've largely stopped going to the movies because the experience is such a crapshoot - insane amount of commercials and previews, people talking, uncomfortable seating, et al. I'm positive much of this is my age and becoming a bit more particular but something like the Metro Cinema experience would solve for a lot of that.
Clearly a single theater opening in NYC will have no impact on me but the Metro is conjured up by Tim League, the brain behind Alamo Drafthouse cinemas that previously redefined the screening experience. So, one cinema may not impact me yet but it's entirely possible League will expand to other areas. Here's hoping!
I must admit, I've been wearing my tinfoil hat a bit recently - especially in regards to 2024 election fraud. I'm convinced it happened and the evidence is going to slowly trickle out. The consequences will be nill but I do believe it will eventually come to light.
But how effective is my tinfoil hat? To answer that, we turn to this MIT study On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets. Turns out, the hat is actually amplifying radio signals, not obfuscating them. I may need to rethink my tactics.
The Creative Works conference started in 2014. I attended the 2015 edition and had a great time. The 2025 lineup of speakers is a really great list of designers, illustrators, lettering experts, creative directors and.. me! That's right! I'm finally gonna take the leap into speaking in front of a bunch of folks.
My presentation has been percolating in my head for months and I'm excited to solidify it and share it with everyone. Maybe you will attend? Presale tickets are available now and early bird pricing ends August 1.
Really great piece here from the NY Times and Christoph Niemann - Sketched Out: An Illustrator Confronts His Fears About A.I. Art. This isn't a 10,000 word rambling about copyright infringement or ownership but, rather, an interactive graphic novel taking you through the worrisome ponderings of an artist looking into the void of a new era.
Obviously there are a ton of great drawings throughout this but there are also a lot of excellent thinking points - how will AI influence the future of art given that AI tends to deliver "popular" training data? What happens the brilliance of errors - if artists aren't making as many mistakes, do we lose out on this happenstance? "Does art require an artist?"
I don't have any answers here but I do like thinking about it and considering this situation with histories prior hurdles. Definitely a great read - please go through it all!
How in the world are we supposed to be able to tell the difference between reality and AI conjurings when things like the World's Narrowest Fiat Panda exists? It's fully functional and every photo of it looks like a bad Photoshop job. That single headlight is downright adorable.
The other day I mused about the origin story of the Computer Cowboy - a gif that has had a persistent presence in every Slack I've ever been in. Its meaning is diverse and dynamic, which I think is a huge part of its ubiquity.
I asked around in my circles for any insights or resources that might help track it down and I was pointed to some absolute treasure troves of antique animations featuring cowboys, computers and (only occasionally) both. Steve (of Abandonware, naturally) steered me towards Discmaster, a browsable repository of art files uploaded to archive.org. A search for "Cowboy" yields thousands of results. So, I just started digging until I found our guy.
The image is taken from a CD-ROM of art files called Art Explosion 600,000, a tome of illustrations from 1998 consisting of 29 Discs of artwork. The Cowboy is on Disc 9, in the "Western & Rodeo (Part 1)" group. There are lots of other characters in the same folder but none come close to the depicted scene we've all come to love. It's clear why someone out there worked to disseminate his visage. His official name is Cowboy - Techno.wmf
Knowing that the image was spawned from an Art CD-ROM is a huge piece of the puzzle but there's certainly many holes left to investigate. Who was the original illustrator of the image before it made its way to the disc? This will be quite difficult to answer unless we find an employee of Nova, the company that published the disc. Additionally, we have no insight into who animated the cowboy. There are some brilliant decisions made by whomever did so - a slight change in color palette, thickening of lines, changing the monitor color and adding endless garbage, the best finger dancing movement the Internet has ever seen. Awards are deserved. They even seemed to have left his silver ear intact.
The search continues. If you have any insight on this character - maybe he's a subtle William Gibson Console Cowboy reference? Maybe he's a proto hacker? Maybe he's an AOL fever dream? - get in touch! I'm on Bluesky and all the other spots (check the footer for your options).
In talking all this through with friends, it was inevitable that a more modern rendition of our western surfer should arise. The inimitable Chad Pugh whipped up this guy and I find it to be a worthy tribute for the world to enjoy. May Cowboy Techno persist through all times.
Back in October of 2024, the band announced a vinyl release of their 2001-2002 demos. I snatched it up quick! But it was not available digitally in any form until now. I do not believe these are streaming in any form, you'll have to snag them on Bandcamp. I really can't recommend it enough (clearly).
Anyone know the history of that GIF? I'm so curious and, yet, can find nothing. Regardless, here's some little drops of joy:
Scream to Unlock - a Chrome plugin that blocks social media websites and requires you to yell "I'm a Loser!" into your microphone in order to bypass the block. This little detail is superb: "The louder you scream, the more time you get to browse."
Cheating OpenAI transcriptions - If you use OpenAI to create transcriptions of audio this is a very clever little hack that uses ffmpeg to speed up your audio 2x - 3x. Since OpenAI charges by the minute and speeding up your audio decreases the overall length, you just got cheaper transcriptions (with "almost no drop in quality").
Busy Bar - need a clever little LED display screen to let people know not to bother you? This is, surely, the best option for exactly that.
Getting Started with Dia - the folks at The Browser Company have put Arc in the icebox and are focsed on Dia now. The pivot is a bit controversial but it's all quite interesting to see how its unfolding. Love that someone is attempting to push some innovation!
Friday Videos is no longer a weekly feature but I still enjoy it when I've compiled enough ridiculous things to share with you. You know how crazy it is out there, give yourself a few minutes to unwind and enjoy the absurd.
DRAM - Cash Machine - found myself revisiting this video recently. Still an absolute delight start to finish.
NES Commercial? - I could not begin to tell you if this was real or parody. Either way, I think this aesthetic is making a comeback.
Two Talking Tom Test - this is 13 years old so it's likely you've seen it or it's even been on this site before.. but I enjoyed the revisit. I was impressed it had an upper threshold!
Steve Jobs Opera - in all honesty, if I saw this in person I would be delighted. But seeing it as a 30second Internet commercial, I'm aghast there was funding for this to exist.
Paving - I found myself visiting more modern works from Yoshinao Satoh. I really admire how much he is able to do with constraints and repetition.
"Bring Me Everyone" - you know that outlandish scene in Leon: The Professional where Gary Oldman screams his line like a madman? Apparently that was just meant to be a goof!
The Goof - been a minute since I watched this chunk of The Ten. Great goof.
Can We Fool The VFX Wizard? - I'm unfamiliar with the Nounish channel but have been enjoying what I've seen. Sort of like Dropout, there's a lot of recurring contributions.
The 11 Body Systems - nurse Reup gives you a real education on the human body!
600m Glass Water Slide - YouTube loves to serve me up first person perspective experiences of rollercoasters around the world. Watch this and maybe it'll start doing it for you too.
I've also really been enjoying this Full Comedy Actor Roundtable with Seth Rogen, Adam Brody, Jason Segel, John Mulaney, Julio Torres and Ted Danson. There are many of these from The Hollywood Reporter, so let this also be a door opening your recommendations.
The debut album from Matt & The Watt Gives was released last Friday. This is the new undertaking of Matt Pelham - previously the singer and songwriter for The Features. Back in 2016, the band quietly disbanded and fans were left to wonder if there would be new music from any of the members. Fortunately, drummer Rollum Haas answered that question with The Robe but there was always some curiosity about Pelham's future output.
I'm happy to share that the debut, full-length, self-titled record is now available. For anyone that was a fan of The Features, it's immediately familiar because of Pelham's distinctive voice but the sonic palette of the record is unique to Matt & The Watt Gives.
We pressed 100 records in Apple Red and the rest in standard black. There are still some of those red records available but not many! If you want one, they are here (if you're international, they are here).
The high energy rock songs of the record are an absolute treat but I actually think the record soars during the more vulnerable songs. "Wilder Days", "'Til You", "For Every Dream" and "The Chemo Blues" are heart heavy songs but all the more impactful for it. I'm clearly biased on my love of the record but I do hope you'll spend some time with it!
