new album in September. first track is superb.

new atmospheric one

contains a Jabba the Hut Space Turtle

When the camera shutter speed is in sync with the wings of a bird, you can happen to see this… https://t.co/WjO3kKamYL

If you haven't stumbled upon it already, take a moment to read through this explanation of the Schufftan process, a movie special effect that relies on angled mirrors, miniatures and clever lighting to superimpose actors into environments that did not exist. It's green screen before green screen.

There are plenty of videos out there demonstrating the effect but the GIF above is the perfect mindblowing introduction to the concept.

I haven't done a deep dive on the work of Chuck Anderson - aka No Pattern - since 2007. It's no shock to say that he's been busy doing work for some giant clientele - Chicago Bulls, Nike, Converse to name a few - and continuing to pursue some really satisfying personal work.

His portfolio was recently relaunched and there's so much inspiring new work to see. I can't say I am surprised as he has been consistently creating phenomenal work for the past 13 years, so this just continues the trend.

Having lived through the 80's and 90's, I don't always find the Vaporwave aesthetic to be incredibly compelling. I remember those crappy designs and horrible 3D renders when they were groundbreaking, not reminders of a corny time gone by. That being said, sometimes it can be a phenomenal fusion of terrible graphics and new glitch experiments. Oh, and I do love the Roman statue juxtapositions that post up very often.

All that is to say that I find Behexagus the Great, a tumblog of Vaporwave imagery, to have plenty of compelling wtf'ery and a few dashes of meh.

Overall, I just really wanted to post that glitchy Homer gif and now I've done it.

Star Wars, but all of the light saber sounds are Owen Wilson saying "wow" https://t.co/t5Yll0AV4h

the glitched out Neuromancer is the best

https://t.co/ntmJCRyYWO

I'd love to think in at least one language the name of the show is "throne games"

You takes your chances in this life https://t.co/CfyEB45l2s

There was a rather large round of layoffs at Soundcloud recently that left 40% of their staff jobless. According to this TechCrunch piece it was a real shitshow, with very little warning from management. There's speculation that the company has funding to last until Q4 of 2017 but maybe not much beyond that. The founders are doing damage control assuring everyone that Soundcloud isn't going anywhere but it does beg the question - what if it did?

I think most people use Soundcloud as a sampling tool. You encounter a song or an embed here and there to introduce yourself to an artist, eventually leading you back to a music streaming platform to hear the whole thing. But there's an enormous world of remixes, DJ sets, podcasts and interesting compositions on there. Personally, I have hours of Liked content that runs a wide gamut of styles and I'd hate to see that go away. If you've not given it a chance, it honestly is a great platform for music discovery.

That being said, they're doubling down on their Go+ subscription offering but I know exactly zero people that partake in it, myself included. I'm not clear on what the solution is there to make it more appealing but it's worth noting that it's part of the struggle.

From the creator perspective, services like DistroKid make it extremely easy (and cheap) to get your music on all of the streaming platforms nearly instantly and you actually get royalty payments. Maybe they are tiny but at least it's money coming in. I have almost every album from the yk Records catalog up on Soundcloud and I've never seen a dime. The flip side to that is that full concerts and bizarre remixes pop up from time to time, giving me fuel for the promotional fire that I would never have otherwise.

I don't have the magic bullet for how Soundcloud can solve their woes but I've heard they have been in trouble for some time. This round of firing just confirms those rumors, even if they do end up sticking around for many years. I find their place in the music landscape a fascinating one and I'm all for waxing on speculation of what's next for them.

I've been keeping the debut EP from Sun Seeker in my heavy rotation lately. Biddeford is just six tracks but the brevity allows it to stay engaging from start to finish, no lulls. It hits that sweet spot of sunny disposition on the surface that's cut with a melancholy underneath. The production from Nashville's Buddy Hughen (aka Sharp Neck) is the perfect match for the 60's vibe and subtle layered instrumentation throughout.

You can hear it all on Spotify (or whatever streaming service you prefer) and get the physical version from Third Man Records.

music that inspires Ellison

Rural New York artist Scott Daniel Ellison has a penchant for spinning a folk art flair into his menagerie of characters - often familiar haunting monsters that emerge from the dark. His 2016 show Witch Hazel show features the likes of Man Bat, Werewolf and Crow Dance to name but a few. They often feel like cave paintings, captured the morning after a chance encounter with the various beasts.

You can see more of his recent work (don't miss Melting Man) over on Instagram at @scottdanielellison.

Fascinating

To read

TIL a whole lot about Vocaloids.

Put yourself in the position of someone learning how to use an API for the first time and you will realize everyone's API docs are awful.