Luke Muehlhauser

Funny or interesting Scaruffi Quotes (part 7)

December 4, 2020 by Luke Leave a Comment

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

On White Flight:

White Flight is a cacophonous collage of disparate musical ideas that don’t even try to coexist and make sense together. They simply pile up, one on top of the other, and be the listener the one to make sense of the Babelic confusion. The first two songs are misleading in their melodic simplicity. “Now” is a demented, heavily-arranged aria that sounds like a collaboration between VanDyke Parks and Syd Barrett. “Pastora Divine” is a pastoral psychedelic singalong that Kevin Ayers could have concocted in the 1970s if backed by the Velvet Underground. By the third one, any pretense of logic begins to fall apart. The somnolent sparse blues “Solarsphere” is ripped apart by a roaring hard-rock riff and drowns in ambient-lysergic madness. “The Condition” and the jazz-electronic mayhem of “Timeshaker” evoke the anarchic psychedelic freak-outs of Red Crayola; while the disjointed chant with wah-wah organ of “Oz Icaro” and the brief exotic dance of “Galactic Seed” evoke the acid-folk eruptions of the Holy Modal Rounders, except that Roelofs employs a different generation of devices: breakbeats, digital noise, sound effects, vocal effects, non-rock instruments to conjure a sense of poetic detachment from anything that music is supposed to be. Roelofs ends the album in the tone that is more pensive and philosophical, and musically more convoluted, of “Deathhands” and “The Secret Sound.” His extreme message is the hyper-syncopated drum’n’bass and free-jazz hemorrage of “Superconductor” that ends with a cryptic whistle in a bed of crickets.

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Filed Under: Quotes

One Billion Americans

November 10, 2020 by Luke 3 Comments

I have a lot of controversial views. For example, I think it’s morally better to help others more rather than helping them less (utilitarianism), that people matter equally regardless of their group membership, location in spacetime, etc. (impartiality), that therefore the most important impacts of my actions are spread throughout the long-run future, where the vast majority of people are (longtermism), and that advances in AI this century will probably have a larger (positive or negative) long-run impact on aggregate welfare than anything else (transformative AI focus). Most people strongly disagree with all those views, and often find them offensive.

But not all my views are controversial. One of my least controversial views is that both the US in particular and humanity in general will probably be better off if the US (despite its many deep flaws) remains the world’s leading power, given the available alternatives for global leadership.

Probably the only way for the US to remain the world’s leading power is for the U.S. to dramatically grow its population, especially its high-skill population. As Vox co-founder Matt Yglesias argues in his new book One Billion Americans:

…the big picture idea of [this] book, that America should try to stay number one, already [commands broad consensus in America]. The question is what follows from that.

For starters, it is beyond dispute that there are fewer American people than there are Chinese or Indian people, as is the fact that China and India are trying to become less poor and seem to be succeeding. Maybe they’ll just stumble and fail, in which case we will stay number one. But it would be unfortunate for hundreds of millions of people to be consigned to poverty forever. It’s not an outcome we have it within our power to guarantee. And even if we could, it would be hideously immoral to pursue it.

By contrast, tripling the nation’s population to match the rising Asian powers is something that is in our power to achieve…

…What the various diplomats and admirals and trade negotiators and Asia hands who think about the China question don’t want to admit is that all the diplomacy and aircraft carriers and shrewd trade tactics in the world aren’t going to make a whit of difference if China is just a much bigger and more important country than we are. The original Thirteen Colonies, by the same token, could have made for a nice, quiet, prosperous agricultural nation — like a giant New Zealand. But no number of smart generals could have helped a country like that intervene decisively in World War II.

A more populous America — filled with more immigrants and more children, with its cities repopulated and its construction industry booming—would not be staring down the barrel of inevitable relative decline. We are richer today than China or India. And while we neither can nor should wish for those countries to stay poor, we can become even richer by becoming larger. And by becoming larger we will also break the dynamic whereby growth in Asia naturally means America’s eclipse as the world’s leading power.

The United States has been the number one power in the world throughout my entire lifetime and throughout the living memory of essentially everyone on the planet today. The notion that this state of affairs is desirable and ought to persist is one of the least controversial things you could say in American politics today.

We should take that uncontroversial premise seriously, adopt the logical inference that to stay on top we’re going to need more people — about a billion people — and then follow that inference to where it leads in terms of immigration, family policy and the welfare state, housing, transportation, and more.

Unfortunately, Yglesias doesn’t actually run the numbers on how different immigration and family planning policies might affect U.S. demographics, how that might in turn affect various measures of national power, and what that implies about the likely relative power of the U.S. and China (and India) in different domains and at different times in the 21st century. That would be a difficult and speculative exercise, but I would love to see it done.

In the meantime, I suspect Yglesias is right about the big picture.

(But, on the details, I roughly agree with some of Caplan’s criticisms, along with some points others have made.)

Filed Under: Quotes

Media diet for Q3 2020

October 4, 2020 by Luke 4 Comments

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Department of Eagles: In Ear Park (2008)
  • Benoit Pioulard: “La Guerre De Sept Ans” (2006)
  • Émilie Simon: Végétal (2006)
  • David T. Little: “How We Got Here” (2003), “Tricky Bits” (2007), Agency (comp. 2013, rel. 2019)
  • Anakronos: The Red Book of Ossory (2020)
  • Straylight Run: “How Do I Fix My Head” (2007)
  • Blitzen Trapper: Wild Mountain Nation (2007)
  • Beat Circus: These Wicked Things (2019)
  • Volcano!: Paperwork (2008)
  • Parts & Labor: Mapmaker (2007)
  • Invisible Things: Home Is the Sun (2012), Time As One Axis (2016)
  • The Dear Hunter: The Fox and the Hunt (2020)
  • Combat Astronomy: Kundalini Apocalypse (2013)
  • White Flight: White Flight (2006), White Ark (2009)
  • Eartheater: RIP Chrysalis (2015)
  • Kablam: “Everything for Everyone” (2019)
  • Nubya Garcia: Source (2020)
  • Cave: Threace (2013)
  • Wildildlife: Six (2007)
  • Cyann & Ben: Happy Like an Autumn Tree (2004)
  • Ken Valitsky [Walicki]: “Meaning – Less” (1995), “Black Velvet Elvis and the 900 Foot Jesus” (1998)
  • Rick Cox: Fade (2005)
  • UFOmammut: Eve (2010)
  • Journey to Ixtlan: “Burnt Coyote Teeth” (2008)
  • Legion of Two: Riffs (2009)
  • DM Stith: Heavy Ghost (2009), Pigeonheart (2016)
  • Clubroot: Clubroot (2009)
  • Yacht: I Believe in You, Your Magic Is Real (2007), See Mystery Lights (2009)
  • Kiran Leonard: Grapefruit (2016)
  • Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses: Perils (2005), Manfauna (2007)
  • Yugen: Labrinto D’Acqua (2006)
  • Jean Louis: Jean Louis (2008), Morse (2010), Uranus (2013)
  • Ken Valitsky: Species Compatibility (1993)
  • Alexander Mosolov / Metallica: “The Iron Foundry” (1927/2020)
  • Jun Togawa: “カウンセル・プリーズ [Counsel Please]” (2004)
  • Tom Zé: Jogos de armar (Faça você mesmo) (2000)
  • miRthkon: “Daddylonglegz” (1999), The Illusion of Joy (2006), Vehicle (2009)
  • Hoppy Kamiyama: “Flesh For The Jet Set” (1998), A Meaningful Meaningnessless (2005)
  • Jose Luis Fernandez Ledesma: Sol Central (2000)
  • Ebonylake: As Ghosts We Dance in the Thrashing Seas (1998)
  • Natsumen: Endless Summer Record (2005)
  • Fire!: You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (2009), In the Mouth, A Hand (2012)
  • Buck Jam Tonic: Buck Jam Tonic (2003)
  • Clarence Clarity: Save Thyself (2013), Who Am Eye (2014)
  • Zegota: “A March to the Dead Sea” (2001)
  • Rovo: Pyramid (2000)
  • Flotation Toy Warning: Bluffer’s Guide to the Flight Deck (2004), The Machine That Made Us (2017)
  • Leonid Fedorov & Vladimir Volkov: “Галушка” (2007)
  • Encre: Flux (2004)
  • Alex Tiuniaev: I Knew Her (2008)
  • Skeletons: Lucas (2007), Money (2008), People (2011), The Bus (2012), Am I Home? (2016)
  • Keefe Jackson / Jim Baker / Julian Kirshner: So Glossy and So Thin (2020)
  • Clogs: “Who’s Down Now?” (2003), Lantern (2006)
  • Lau Nau: Valohiukkanen (2012), Poseidon (2017)
  • Ultralyd: “Saprochord” (2007), Inertiadrome (2010)
  • Sebkha-Chott: “Gode Sainture Cuir” (2019)
  • Eyedea & Abilities: “Burn Fetish” (2009)
  • Kiss Kiss: “Virus” (2009)
  • Endon: “Born in Limbo” (2017)
  • Jocelyn Pook: Deluge (1997), Untold Things (2001), Caótica Ana (2007)
  • Murmuüre: Murmuüre (2010)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q4 2020 edition

October 4, 2020 by Luke Leave a Comment

Added this quarter:

  • Viale, Routledge Handbook of Bounded Rationality (Oct 2020)
  • Christian, The Alignment Problem (Oct 2020)
  • Duke, How to Decide (Oct 2020)
  • Moynihan, X-Risk (Nov 2020)
  • Anderson, Security Engineering 3e (Dec 2020)
  • Cargill, The Long View (TBD)
  • Benson & Moorhead, Synchronic (Oct 2020) [film]
  • Docter, Soul (Nov 2020) [film]
  • Wright, Last Night in Soho (Apr 2021) [film]
  • McQuarrie, Mission: Impossible 7 (Nov 2021) [film]
  • Chazelle, Babylon (Dec 2021) [film]

Books

bold = especially excited

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Filed Under: Lists

Funny or interesting Scaruffi Quotes (part 6)

August 13, 2020 by Luke 3 Comments

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

On Amon Tobin:

Amon Tobin well impersonated the classical composer in the hip-hop age. Instead of composing symphonies for orchestras, Tobin glued together sonic snippets using electronic and digital equipment. Adventures in Foam (1996)… and especially his aesthetic manifesto and masterpiece, Bricolage (1997), unified classical, jazz, rock and dance music in a genre and style that was universal. Tobin warped the distinctive timbres of instruments to produce new kinds of instruments, and then wove them into an organic flow of sound. Tobin kept refining his art of producing amazingly sophisticated and seamless puzzles on Permutation (1998), Supermodified (2000) and, best of his second phase, Out From Out Where (2002). Once he had exhausted the possibilities of instruments and samples, Tobin turned to found sounds and field recordings as the sources for The Foley Room (2007), without basically changing style…

Tobin’s studies on timbre should also not be overlooked. The apparently unassuming “Defocus” is actually a new kind of symphony. Tobin warps the distinctive tone of an instrument to produce a new kind of instrument, and then weaves a few of them (a bee-like violin, a distorted bass, UFO-sounding flutes) into an organic flow of sound. It is, in fact, one of the most significant innovations since Beethoven added a choir to a symphony.

Needless to say, jazz fuels and dresses these compositions. However, Tobin does to jazz what Picasso did to impressionism: it uses only discrete fragments of the image to reconstruct the whole. Furthermore, it is never the only or main element. For example, the sax solo of “Wires And Snakes” coexists with industrial metronomic pulses and with soothing ambient waves of electronics.

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Filed Under: Quotes

Media diet for Q2 2020

June 30, 2020 by Luke 1 Comment

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Estradasphere: It’s Understood (2000)
  • To the Ansaphone: To the Ansaphone (2003)
  • Seaworthy: The Ride (2002)
  • Terra Ambient: Wanderlust (2009)
  • Troum: Grote Mandrenke (2012), Mare Morphosis (2013)
  • Johannes Enders: Dome (2007)
  • Carl Oesterhelt & Johannes Enders: Divertimento für Tenorsaxophon und kleines Ensemble (2010)
  • Fever the Ghost: Crab in Honey (2014)
  • Lyra Pramuk: Fountain (2020)
  • The Necks: “Bloom” and “Further” (2020)
  • Hannah Marcus: Desert Farmers (2004)
  • Shannon Wright: Dyed in the Wool (2001)
  • Hossam Ramzy: Source of Fire (1995)
  • Vladislav Delay: “Rasite” (2020)
  • Buffalo Daughter: I (2002), Pshychic (2003)
  • Cornelius: Point (2002)
  • Algiers: Algiers (2015), The Underside of Power (2017)
  • Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020)
  • Friends of Dean Martinez: “Ethchlorvynol” (1999)
  • In the Summer of the Mushroom Honey: “Thank You, Mr. Bishop!” (1999)
  • DeVotchKa: How it Ends (2004)
  • Anahita: “Velvet Shoon” (2009)
  • Iglooghost: Neo Wax Bloom (2017)
  • A Taste of Ra: Morning of My Life (2007) [wow!]
  • Danny Cohen: “In the Barrio” (1999)
  • Ill Ease: “New York, London, Paris” (1999)
  • Matmos: “Ultimate Care II Excerpt One” (2016)
  • Thee Oh Sees: Face Stabber (2019)
  • The Soft Pink Truth: Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? (2020)
  • Kayo Dot: “Aura on an Asylum Wall” (2006)
  • Live Human: Monostereosis: The New Victrola Method (1999)
  • Odd Nosdam: Burner (2006), Level Live Wires (2007)
  • Ne Zhdali: She-Ye-Ye (1991)
  • Blast: A Sophisticated Face (1999)
  • Sotos: Platypus (2002)
  • X-Legged Sally: Eggs and Ashes (1994), The Land of the Giant Dwarfs (1995)
  • Höyry-kone: Hyönteisiä voi rakastaa (1995)
  • Louis Sclavis: “Ottomar” (1989)
  • Charming Hostess: “Sha! Shtil!” (1998)
  • Optical *8: Bug (1994)
  • Don Salsa: “The Deck” (1997)
  • Dollshot: Lalande (2019)
  • Vivenza: “Fondements bruitistes” (1984); “Prolétariat & industrie” (1984)
  • Carter Tutti Void: f(x) (2015)
  • Trytony: “Zazuły” (1992)
  • Łoskot: Amariuch (1998), Sun (2005)
  • Deep Turtle: Turkele!! (2003)
  • Marc Mellits: Tight Sweater / Agu / Fruity Pebbles / Disciples of Gouda (2006); Paranoid Cheese (2007)
  • Non Credo: “Agnes’ Lament” (1988)
  • Jeff Rosenstock: No Dream (2020)
  • Enrique Morente: “Omega” (1996)
  • Cafe Tacuba: Revés (1999)
  • Gasp: “Little Jupiter Come Home to a Groat Man” (1998)
  • Velma: Cyclique (1999)
  • Sandy Dillon: Electric Chair (1999), Las Vegas is Cursed (2000)
  • Hint: “100% White Puzzle” (1995), Dys- (1996), Wu-Wei (1998)
  • Hissanol: “Angra” (1995), The Making of Him (1998)
  • Pugs: Pugs (1993), Sports? (1994), Pugs Bite the Red Knee (1997)
  • Soft Mountain: Soft Mountain (rec. 2003, rel. 2007)
  • Ensemble 4’33”: Taxidermy (1999), Happiness, Fame and Fortune (2002)
  • Paul Dresher: “Dark Blue Circumstance” (comp. 1986, rel. 1993)
  • After Crying: “European Things” (1990)
  • The Flower Kings: “Retropolis” (1996)
  • Voo Voo: Oov Oov (1998)
  • Leyland Kirby: “When We Parted, My Heart Wanted to Die (Friedrichshain Memory)” (2009)
  • Insides: Clear Skin (1994)
  • Hildur Guðnadóttir: Leyfðu ljósinu (2012)
  • Carl Stone: “Al-Noor” (2007)
  • Jean-Paul Prat: Masal (1984)
  • Ray Lema & Professeur Stefanov: “Ponji” (1992)
  • Valentin Clastrier: Hérésie (1992)
  • Steve Martland: “Horses of Instruction” (comp. 1994, rel. 2001)
  • Lake Trout: Volume for the Rest of It (1999), Not Them, You (2005)
  • Mikel Rouse: “Soul Train” (1996)
  • DJ Hidden: Literal Evil (2006), Enclosed (2013)
  • The Group: “Worksong” (1975)
  • Dave Liebman [Expansions]: The Puzzle (2015)
  • Lamp of the Universe: Heru (2005)
  • School of Language: Sea from Shore (2008)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q3 2020 edition

June 30, 2020 by Luke Leave a Comment

Added this quarter:

  • Tosi & Warmke, Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk (Jul 2020)
  • Liao, The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (Jul 2020)
  • Heffernan, Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future (Sep 2020)
  • Kumar et al., Cyber Defense Mechanisms (Sep 2020)
  • Dalio, The Changing World Order (Sep 2020)
  • Steffens, Attribution of Advanced Persistent Threats (Sep 2020)
  • Barash, Threats (Oct 2020)
  • Romaniuk & Manjikian, Routledge Companion to Global Cyber-Security Strategy (Dec 2020)
  • Zimmer, Life’s Edge (Mar 2021)
  • Yudkowsky, Rationality: From AI to Zombies (Vols. 3-6) (TBD)
  • Schwitzgebel, The Weirdness of the World (TBD)
  • Deudney et al., Catastrophic and Existential Threats and World Orders (TBD)
  • Pinker, book on rationality (TBD)
  • Iannucci, The Personal History of David Copperfield (Aug 2020) [film]
  • Anderson, The French Dispatch (Oct 2020) [film]
  • Reeves, The Batman (Oct 2021) [film]

Books

bold = especially excited

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media diet for Q1 2020

March 31, 2020 by Luke 2 Comments

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Four Tet: New Energy (2017)
  • Liturgy: H.A.Q.Q. (2019)
  • Chris Potter: Circuits (2019)
  • Ukandanz: Yetchalal (2012)
  • Soap&Skin: Lovetune for Vacuum (2009), From Gas to Solid / You Are My Friend (2018)
  • Lingua Ignota: Let the Evil of His Own Lips Cover Him (2017), All Bitches Die (2018)
  • Flume: Skin (2016)
  • Lye By Mistake: Fea Jur (2009)
  • Bazooka: Perfectly Square (1992), Blowhole (1994)
  • Kolkhöze Printanium: Kolkhöznitsa (2008)
  • The Armed: Only Love (2018)
  • Desire Marea: Desire (2020)
  • Jono El Grande: Neo Dada (2009)
  • Ske: 1000 Autunni (2011)
  • Bohren & Der Club of Gore: Patchouli Blue (2020)
  • Beth Custer: The Shirt I Slept In (1995)
  • Phantom City: Shiva Recoil (1997)
  • Goldie: “Dragonfly” (1998)
  • yMusic: Ecstatic Science (2020)
  • Katie Gately: Loom (2020)
  • Matt Elliott: Drinking Songs (2005)
  • David Holmes: Bow Down to the Exit Sign (2000)
  • Frontier: Heater (1997)
  • M’Lumbo: Spinning Tourists in a City of Ghosts (1999)
  • Tarantula Hawk: Tarantula Hawk [2000] (2000)
  • Rollerball: We Owned Lions (1998), Bathing Music (2000), The Trail of the Butter Yeti (2001), Behind the Barber (2004), Rollerball (2006), Ahura (2008), Murwa Mbwa (2011)
  • Ektroverde: Ukkossalama (2003)
  • Pharaoh Overlord: Lunar Jetman (2012)
  • Alec K. Redfearn and The Eyesores: The Quiet Room (2005), The Smother Party (2006), The Blind Spot (2007), Sister Death (2012)
  • Supersystem: A Million Microphones (2006)
  • Meringue: Music from the Mint Green Nest (1996)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q2 2020 edition

March 31, 2020 by Luke 1 Comment

Added this quarter:

  • Manning, A History of Humanity (Apr 2020)
  • Saldin & Teles, Never Trump (May 2020)
  • Peters, Innumeracy in the Wild (May 2020)
  • Lieber & Press, The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution (Jun 2020)
  • Ritchie, Science Fictions (Jul 2020)
  • Lissner & Rapp-Hooper, An Open World (Sep 2020)
  • Perlroth, This is How They Tell Me the World Ends (Sep 2020)
  • Kania, Fighting to Innovate (TBD)
  • Johnson, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Warfare: USA, China, and Strategic Stability (TBD)
  • Tinnirello, Global Politics of Artificial Intelligence (TBD)
  • Caplan, Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Policy (TBD)

Books

bold = especially excited

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Funny or interesting Scaruffi Quotes (part 5)

February 18, 2020 by Luke 3 Comments

Previously: 1, 2, 3, 4.

On Primus:

A stubbornly alternative group, alien to the commercial route, immune to the lure of compromises, heir of the “freak” philosophy and ethics, and representative of the genealogical line of “neo-freaks” inaugurated by the Butthole Surfers – that’s Primus. Created by bassist and vocalist Les Claypool, Primus was a bright spot among the rock groups of the early 90’s. Each track was like a stylistic puzzle; the group had few predecessors as their style resembled progressive-rock (from Frank Zappa to Rush) but had the feel of hard-core. Listeners can hear echoes of Minutemen and Black Flag, but the smooth progression between tones was anything but punk.

On Rake:

Their first album… contains two lengthy improvisations… driven by a jazz guitarist who listened to John McLaughlin till he went nuts and by a keyboardist who fell in love with the Moog. The sound is an aberration of Albert Ayler and Borbetomagus.

…The first CD [of their 2nd album] contains four lengthy suites… The second [CD] contains 75 brief pieces, whose dementia reaches disturbing levels; a wild collage of abstract sonic miniatures that rarely coalesce in songs. The 4th is a masterpiece of punk-rock, the 11th and the 21st are masterpieces of avantgarde guitar, the 55th and following ones are space-rock at its best, the 64th and following ones are gothic/ambient psychedelia, the 73th and following ones are the childish conclusions of the whole big nonsense. A totally pointless genius, as Dada would have loved.

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Filed Under: Quotes

Initial observations from my 2nd tour of rock history

January 8, 2020 by Luke 12 Comments

I’m still listening through Scaruffi’s rock history, building my rock snob playlist as I go. A few observations so far:

  1. Relative to last time I listened through Scaruffi’s rock history (>8 years ago IIRC), my tastes have evolved quite a lot. I notice I’m more quickly bored by most forms of pop, punk, and heavy metal than I used to be. The genre I now seem to most reliably enjoy is the experimental end of prog-rock (e.g. avant-prog, zeuhl). I also enjoy jazz-influenced rock a lot more this time, presumably in part because I listened through Scaruffi’s jazz history (and made this guide) a couple years ago.
  2. I am more convinced than ever that tons of great musical ideas, even just within the “rock” paradigm, have never been explored. I’m constantly noticing things like “Oh, you know what’d be awesome? If somebody mixed the rhythm section of A with the suite structure of B and the production approach of C.” And because my listen through rock history has been so thorough this time (including thousands of artists not included in Scaruffi’s history), I’m more confident than ever that those ideas simply have never been attempted. It’s been a similar experience to studying a wide variety of scientific fields: the more topics and subtopics you study, the more you realize that the “surface area” between current scientific knowledge and what is currently unknown is even larger than you could have seen before.
  3. I still usually dislike “death growl” singing, traditional opera singing, and most rapping. I wish there were more “instrumental only” releases for these genres so I could have a shot at enjoying them.
  4. Spotify’s catalogue is very choppy. E.g. Spotify seems to have most of the albums from chapter 4.12 of Scaruffi’s history, and very few albums from chapter 4.13. (I assume this is also true for iTunes and other streaming providers.)

Filed Under: Musings

Media diet for Q4 2019

January 1, 2020 by Luke 2 Comments

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Christopher Rouse: Rapture (2000)
  • The Comet is Coming: Afterlife (2019)
  • David Garland: Verdancy (2018)
  • Cleric: Regressions (2010), Retrocausal (2018), The Book Beri’ah Vol. 2: Chokhma (2019)
  • Persona: Uptight (2000)
  • Trioscapes: Separate Realities (2012)
  • Yazz Ahmed: Polyhmnia (2019)
  • Rudiger Oppermann: “Teil 1-7” (1986)
  • Linus Pauling Quartet: Killing You with Rock (1998)
  • Miranda Sex Garden: Carnival of Souls (2000)
  • Sin Ropes: Three Cherries (2000)
  • Orso: My Dreams Are Back and They Are Better Than Ever (2004)
  • Floating Points: Crush (2019)
  • Tiere der Nacht: Kräuter & Weltmeister (2005)
  • Jacob Collier: Djesse Vol. 2 (2019)
  • Trentemoller: The Last Resort (2006)
  • New Wet Kojack: New Wet Kojack (1995), Nasty International (1997)
  • Milk Cult: Project M-13 (2000)
  • FKA Twigs: Magdalene (2019)
  • President’s Breakfast: Doo Process (1995), III C (2002), Formidable Foe (2006)
  • Eat Static: Crash & Burn! (2000)
  • Wagon Christ: Musipal (2001)
  • Luke Vibert: Big Soup (1997)
  • Robert Stillman: Rainbow (2016)
  • Kurushimi: Kurushimi (2016)
  • Lower Dens: Nootropics (2012)
  • Laurel Halo: Dust (2017)
  • Jeffrey Brooks: The Passion (2019)
  • Patrick Zimmerli: Sun on Sand (2019)
  • Grimes: Geidi Primes (2010), Darkbloom (2011)
  • Junius Paul: Ism (2019)
  • Fishmans: Long Season (1996)
  • Superconductor: Heavy with Puppy (1994), Bastardsong (1996)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q1 2020 edition

January 1, 2020 by Luke 1 Comment

Added this quarter:

  • Mercier, Not Born Yesterday (Jan 2020)
  • Greene, Until the End of Time (Feb 2020)
  • Klein, Why We’re Polarized (Jan 2020)
  • Michaels, The Triumph of Doubt (Feb 2020)
  • Luca & Bazerman, The Power of Experiments (Mar 2020)
  • Hahn, Technology in the Industrial Revolution (Mar 2020)
  • Maçães, History Has Begun (Mar 2020)
  • Norcross, Morality By Degrees (Apr 2020)

Books

bold = especially excited

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media diet for Q3 2019

October 1, 2019 by Luke 5 Comments

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Pohjola Pekka: Keesojen lehto (1977)
  • Mandingo: The Primeval Rhythm of Life (1973)
  • Zao: Z=7L (1973)
  • Speed Limit: Speed Limit [1975] (1975)
  • Clivage: Regina Astris (1977), “Mixtus Orbis” (1979)
  • Rialzu: Rialzu (1978)
  • Orchestra Njervudarov: Con le orecchie di Eros (1979)
  • Arcane V: Marron Dingue (1978)
  • Random: Nothin’ Tricky (1977)
  • Yochk’o Seffer: Delire (1976), Ima (1977), Ghilgoul (1978)
  • Bobby Krlic: “Fire Temple” (2019)
  • Imants Kalniņš: Symphony No. 4 (1973)
  • Frederik Magle: Anastasis-Messe (2017)
  • Kollektiv: SWF-Sessions Volume 5 (rec. 1973, rel. 2001)
  • Glenn Kotche: Anomaly (2014)
  • László Hortobágyi: Transreplica Meccano (1989)
  • Helga Pogatschar: Mars Requiem (1995)
  • Les McCann: Invitation ot Openness (1971)
  • Buddy Terry: Pure Dynamite (1972)
  • Allison Miller: Glitter Wolf (2019)
  • Fieldwork: Simulated Progress (2005)
  • Mahjun: Vivre la mort du vieux Monde (1971), Mahjun [1973] (1973), Mahjun [1974] (1974)
  • K. Miho & Jazz Eleven: Kokezaru Kumikyoku (1971)
  • Béa Tekielski: La folle (1976)
  • Malcolm Braff & Stephane Galland: “Afro Blue” (2015)
  • Malcolm Braff & Aurélie Emery: “Crimson Waves” (2011)
  • De Lorians: De Lorians (2019)
  • The Pyramids: Lalibela (1973), King of Kings (1974), Birth / Speed / Merging (1976)
  • Masahiko Sato: Yamataifu (1972)
  • Iltar: Iltar (1977)
  • Geinoh Yamashirogumi: Osorezan / Dō no Kenbai (1976), Ecophony Rinne (1986), Symphonic Suite Akira (1988)
  • Emmanuel Booz: Dans quel état j’erre (1979)
  • Haki Madhubuti: Medasi (1984)
  • Heinrich von Biber: Battalia à 10 (1673)
  • Sigmund Snopek III: Virginia Woolf (1973), Trinity Seas Seize Sees (1974)
  • Olga Bell: Tempo (2016)
  • Christy Doran: Black Box (2001)
  • Serge Bringolf: Strave (1981)
  • Lask: Lask (1982)
  • Letícia Garcia: Magamaquiavérica em canturbano (1984)
  • Fulano: Fulano (1987), En el Bunker (1989), El Infierno de los payasos (1993)
  • yMusic: First (2017)
  • Het: Let’s Het (1984)
  • Eskaton: Ardeur (1980), Fiction (1983)
  • Daisuck & Prostitute: Shinu Made Odori Tsuzukete (1981)
  • Heiner Goebbels: Der Mann im Fahrstuhl (1988)
  • Blanck Mass: “Death Drop” (2019)
  • The Blech: Zip Zip (1987)
  • Lights in a Fat City: Somewhere (1988)
  • Elomar: Fantasia Leiga Para Um Rio Seco (1981)
  • Billie Eilish: “Bad Guy” (2019)
  • Herbert Bairy: Traumspiel (1980)
  • John Psathas: Omnifenix (2000)
  • Adam Hopkins: Crickets (2018)
  • Ein Jahr Garantie: Hoch/tief (1982)
  • Fibulator: Drank from the Asphalt (1993), Unhammerlike (1994)
  • Bruce Hornsby: Absolute Zero (2019)
  • Chris Cutler & Lutz Glandien: Domestic Stories (1992)
  • Lutz Glandien: The 5th Elephant (2002)
  • Trey Anastasio: Surrender to the Air (1996)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q4 2019 edition

October 1, 2019 by Luke Leave a Comment

Added this quarter:

  • Forcehimes & Semrau, Thinking Through Utilitarianism (Nov 2019)
  • Buchanan, The Hacker and the State (Feb 2020)
  • MacAskill, What We Owe the Future (TBD)
  • de Lazari-Radek, The Philosophy of Pleasure (TBD)
  • Tye, book about vagueness and the evolution of consciousness (TBD)
  • Yglesias, One Billion Americans (TBD)
  • Flynn, In Defense of Free Speech (TBD)

Books

bold = especially excited

[Read more…]

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Funny or interesting Scaruffi Quotes (part 4)

September 27, 2019 by Luke Leave a Comment

Previously: 1, 2, 3.

On Zeni Geva (here):

Zeni Geva indulged in dissonant and gloomy orgies, in the tradition of early Swans and Big Black (but with no bass), on albums such as Maximum Money Monster (1990), Desire For Agony (1993), and especially Total Castration (1992). Null’s solo work, notably Absolute Heaven (1994) and Ultimate Material II (1995), continued to straddle the border between extreme noise and very extreme noise.

On Merzbow (here and here):

Merzbow, the brainchild of Masami Akita, one of the most prolific musicians of all times (not a compliment), was a theoretician of surrealism in music but practiced a form of savage violence that was more akin to a suicide bombing on non-musical works such as Rainbow Electronics (1990), Music For Bondage Performance (1991), Venereology (1994) and Tauromachine (1998).

…Merzbox (1997) is a box of 50 CDs that “summarizes” his career, when he has just passed the record of the 200th album. It includes 30 reprints of CDs, LPs and cassettes, as well as 20 unreleased albums.

…It is difficult to tell Whether Dharma (2001) is a masterpiece or another Merzbow self-parody … but maybe that’s precisely what Merzbow is all about. One of their most savage noise recordings, it includes the massive (32 minutes), gargantuan, arcane musique concrete of “Frozen Guitars and Sunloop / 7E 802,” that after eight minutes turned into a maelstrom exuding a sense of desperation and after sixteen enters an endless free fall, besides the crescendo of “I’m Coming to the Garden No Sound No Memory,” that achieves a screeching intensity, the nuclear carpet bombing of “Akashiman,” and the eight-minute chamber composition “Space Plan For Marimo Kitty” for random piano notes and alien electronic interference.

By the same token, on Frog (2001), a sequence of variations on frogs, Masami Akita seems to make fun of the fans who take him seriously.

[Read more…]

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William Rathbone, effective altruist?

July 27, 2019 by Luke 2 Comments

William Rathbone (1819-1902), writing in 1867 about philanthropy:

It is true that there is among the rich much desultory and indolent goodwill towards the poor… which, if properly stimulated by a sense of positive and imperative obligation, and guided to a safe and effectual mode of action, might be made instrumental of much good at present left undone. It is true that a new hospital finds plenty of rich men willing to give money for its establishment and support; that any striking case of distress, calculated to touch the sympathies of the public, which may be recorded in the newspapers, generally attracts a superabundance of charitable donations… Probably, in by far the greater number of instances, the feeling that prompts them is one of genuine compassion. But it would be wrong to ascribe much merit to such emotional liberality; to look upon it as proof that the rich are properly sensible of their duties and responsibilities. The desultory nature of so much of our charity; the stimulus it requires from fancy-balls and bazaars; the greater facility with which a new institution obtains subscriptions for want of which an old one, equally meritorious, languishes; the amount of time and energy which the managers of a charity are so often forced to consume in drumming together the funds required for its support — time and energy which should be devoted to the mere task of efficient management — all these are significant evidence that the manifestations of generosity of which we hear so much proceed not from a strong and clear sense of duty, but from a vague sentiment of compassion; that people give less in obedience to principle than under, a sudden impulse of feeling, less to fulfill an obligation than to relieve themselves of an uneasy though vague sensation of compunction. Few among the rich realize that charity is not a virtue of supererogation, but a divine charge upon their wealth, which they have no right to neglect. They give to this or that family whose story interests them, to this or that institution for the relief of some form of‘ distress which peculiarly touches their sympathies, with no idea that the matter is not one in which they have a right to indulge their caprice; that all the misery within their sphere is an evil with which it is their duty to grapple, to which they are bound to apply the remedial energies and resources at their command, not as suits their taste or fancy, but as may be most efficacious in the relief of suffering… In short, charity is with them a matter of sentiment, not of principle…

…Do the rich give as large a proportion of their incomes, even, as these poorer contributors? They should do much more, for they can afford much more. £50 represents a much larger deduction from the real comforts and enjoyments procurable with an in come of £500, than does £500 taken from an income of £5000. As expenditure increases it is less on necessaries and more on luxuries; even its power of giving proportionate enjoyment to the possessor diminishes. The man who increases his expenditure from £1000 to £2000 may perhaps — though it is doubtful — get a thousand pounds worth of increased enjoyment from the addition. But if so, he certainly does not get an equal increase when he goes on from £2000 to £3000 or from £3000 to £4000. The larger the expenditure, the less the proportion of pleasure derived to money laid out. And therefore, both because the deduction involves a less sacrifice, and because it is just and reasonable to hold that money should be so spent as to produce a reasonable return of enjoyment to some one, it may fairly be urged that the larger the income, the larger should be the proportion spent in charity… Unhappily it is the fact that men of large means generally —for there are exceptions — spend a smaller percentage of those means in charity than do men of limited incomes…

Rhodri Davies (around 22m) adds that Rathbone also grappled with the question of “earning to give” vs. “direct work”, saying:

Margaret Simey’s book… says that Rathbone was torn between… whether he should go into the ministry and help the poor directly or whether he should go into business, and eventually [she writes] “viewing the issue in the light of common sense, [Rathbone] decided that for him, an effective life of public service would depend on his possession of the influence and respect secured by success in business. Accordingly, he set himself doggedly to the task of building up the family fortunes, which had suffered from the devotion of his father and grandfather to public work.” So he took his own self interest out of it — because he probably would have preferred to work directly with the poor — but he thought that actually what [he] should do is go off and maximize the amount of money he could make and [maximize] his political influence and connections, and then use [those things] to do the maximum amount of good.

Filed Under: Quotes

Media diet for Q2 2019

June 30, 2019 by Luke 2 Comments

Music

Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.

Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:

  • Joe Henry: Tiny Voices (2003)
  • Glass Eye: Hello Young Lovers (1989)
  • Joshua Abrams: Mandatory Reality (2019)
  • Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet: Savvy Show Stoppers (1988), Music for Pets (1991)
  • Dark: Dark (1986)
  • Wavestar: Moonwind (1987)
  • Chuck van Zyl: Europa (1991)
  • Amon Tobin: Fear in a Handful of Dust (2019)
  • Steve Douglas: Rainbow Suite (1981)
  • ALASKALASKA: The Dots (2019)
  • Big Thief: U.F.O.F. (2019)
  • Jon Hassell: Flash of the Spirit (1988), Dressing for Pleasure (1994)
  • Eternal Wind: Eternal Wind (1984), Wasalu (1988)
  • Night Ark: “Trilogy” (1986)
  • David Parsons: “Tantra” (1992)
  • Joel Ross: KingMaker (2019)
  • Zig-Zag: Pièces manquantes 1976 (rec. 1976, rel. 2014)
  • Holly Herndon: PROTO (2019)
  • Manu Dibango: Waka Juju (1982)
  • Deca: Claustrophobia (1989), Simbionte (2002), Aracnis Radiarum (2007)
  • Echo Collective: Plays Amnesiac (2018)
  • Mesadorm: Heterogaster (2018)
  • Brad Mehldau: Finding Gabriel (2019)
  • Lubricated Goat: Schadenfreude (1989)
  • Ministry: “Leper” (2003)
  • Walking Timebombs: Walking Timebombs (1997)
  • Unrest: Isabel Bishop (1992)
  • Membranes: The Gift of Life (1985)
  • Maurice Louca: Elephantine (2019)
  • Ingram Marshall: Fog Tropes / Gradual Requiem (1984), Dark Waters (2001), Kingdom Come (2001), Savage Altars (2006)
  • Sunwatchers: Illegal Moves (2019)
  • Karyyn: The Quanta Series (2019)
  • Overpass: Overpass (1993)
  • Hetch Hetchy: Swollen (1990)
  • Bad Luck: Four (2018)
  • Brandt Brauer Frick: Miami (2013)
  • Fire! Orchestra: Arrival (2019)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Media I’m looking forward to, Q3 2019 edition

June 30, 2019 by Luke 1 Comment

Added this quarter:

  • McCarty, Polarization (Jul 2019)
  • Christensen et al., Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research (Jul 2019)
  • Sheehan, The Transpacific Experiment (Aug 2019)
  • Granville et al., Prime Suspects (Aug 2019)
  • Graziano, Rethinking Consciousness (Sep 2019)
  • Grimes, The Irrational Ape (Sep 2019)
  • Russell, Human Compatible (Oct 2019)
  • Schwitzgebel, A Theory of Jerks and Other Philosophical Misadventures (Oct 2019)
  • Jones: 10% Less Democracy (Feb 2020)
  • Rid, Active Measures (Apr 2020)
  • Prasad, Malignant (TBD)
  • Frankish, Consciousness: The Basics (TBD)
  • Russell, AI: A Modern Approach, 4th edition (TBD)
  • Arrhenius et al., Oxford Handbook of Population Ethics (TBD)
  • Pummer, Effective Altruism for Everyone (TBD)
  • Dubber et al., Oxford Handbook of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (TBD)
  • Gray, Ad Astra (Sep 2019)
  • Docter, Soul (Jun 2020)

Books

bold = especially excited

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Lists

Funny or interesting Scaruffi Quotes (part 3)

June 6, 2019 by Luke 2 Comments

Previously: 1, 2.

On Sonic Youth (Google translated):

Sonic Youth have embodied the figure of the musician who intends to transcend the stereotypes of his time and explore new musical forms while remaining faithful to a nihilistic and alienated ethics like that of punks. In this sense the Sonic Youth are both heir to both punk-rock and new-wave, although they have little in common with them either musically or sociologically. Their origins are in avant-garde classical music, their vocations (as the solo works have shown) are the creative jazz and rock music, their personalities belong to the galleries of art and the intellectual circles of New York. Contrary to what might seem at first listening, the Sonic Youth have never repudiated the rock song format. Their formation is the typical guitar quartet of rock music. Their songs are almost always structured around a theme and contained within three or four minutes. Even in their most experimental moments, the Sonic Youth have followed their rock and roll roots.

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Filed Under: Quotes

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