Cees Nooteboom (excerpt)

De wezel in het veld die niet weet
dat hij een wezel is
maar een wezel is
tot hij geen wezel meer is.

(uit: Vuurtijd, ijstijd)

gothic americana

Based on this description of 16 horsepower, some searching ensued.

• Jay Munly (definitely more consistent in playing darker songs than many others)
• Circle Round My Bedside - cabaretesque, with long stretched violins
• Dar He Drone - chanting with swamp blues guitars
• Jim White
• A Perfect Day to Chase Tornadoes - borderline melancholic and non-interesting.
• Phillious Williams
• Oh My Old Love - dark, for sure, though borderline again, screaming
• Sweet Debris - maudlin, longing, sad

Tasseomancy - "Ulalume"

melodious near-medieval close harmony singing by twins. Canadian?

Found through Timber Timbre who produced their album

Timber Timbre - "Magic Arrow"

strange. found through 3rd season (ep 2) of Breaking Bad, so a soundtrack, nonetheless.

(I heard about them before! Craziness in a glass, what's happening here... And it's an interesting post! Tagging this as "must-look-into" (fucked up the search right then and there))

Luther Allison - "Cherry Red Wine"

Screaming melodic blues. I think the version I just heard was by Luther Allison, but it could have been Jonny Lang as well. Better check them both out.

Two Star Symphony - "Junkyard Jig" (Danse Macabre PartII: The Consummate Host"

the title says it all, maudlin mewing violins and a rhythm which forces you to dance around the campfire. On Pandora's DAAU channel.

Hurray for the Riff Raff - "Dance with Death"

(yes, Pandora, I'm BACK!)

Gypsy slow-punk waltz. Accordeon. I probably listened to this band via the very same way, but it's a cool song. Should look into them.

Kavinsky - "Nightcall"

Title song of "Drive" and it immediatly took me back to the mood of the film.

Welcome to Night Vale

The weirdness of Twin Peaks brought in a matter-of-fact newsreader voice.

It's fun, and original, but I wonder whether it'll won't get boring after a while. The items are very small, and at some point you'd like some longerlasting narratives? Perhaps I'm misinterpretating the podcast and I shouldn't listen to them in a row.

Also, perhaps my attention span is simply too long. Only at ep 2 right now, so stay tuned.

Primer

Scifi of the loop-time kind. Low budget and lots of talking and I think it's really good but need to watch it again when my mind is actually working.

Tin Cup Prophette - "Liar and the Thief"

Sometimes near triphoppy, and her voice sounds so familiar... or is it the way she sings?

• 80 Days - "Too much of you and I waste away"...
• Until the Dust Settles - triphop
• All Is Lost - instrumental, and softslow 

Flaming Lips - "The Terror"

The beginning is very Flaming Lips, and nice, but it becomes a bit unhinged towards the end. "You Are Alone," for example, keeps on droning.

9-eyes

http://9-eyes.com/

Boy Robot - "Last In Paradise"

A lot more vanilla and plonky soundscapism than "Live in Vanilla".

Ok enough, but not something to be repeatedly listened to.

Shpongle - "Museum Of Consciousness"

As nice as ever, perhaps a bit more filmscore tinted than previous albums?

Still great while coding.

Leningrad

Heard while walking to some other stage, an interesting, busy enough sound.

Not for quiet or messy days though.

Woodkid - "Golden Age"

Discovered at Sziget. Album just as amazing.

(turns out it has been suggested by Pandora, an aeon or two ago.)

Dezsö Kosztolányi - "Skylark"

Short tale of two parents whose only daughter, ugly and unmarried forever, leaves them for a week, suddenly making them break out of their habits and austere existence.

I should reread the end. I'm not sure I grasp everything, but it was a wonderful read.

Brain improvement

Richard Restak:

On a very basic level, you are what you remember — your very identity depends on all of the events, people and places you can recall. Improving your memory will help you develop a quicker, more accurate retrieval of information that will increase your intelligence. Sharpening your short-term or “working” memory requires concentration. For instance, study four unrelated words for 15 seconds, then set an alarm for five minutes. Pay attention to another activity until the alarm sounds. Then try to remember the words. As you get better, change and add to the number of words and increase the amount of time. You can do similar exercises with numbers, visual designs, spoken words or even try to recount the scenes of a television show you just watched.

When you do these exercises your brain will require extra oxygen, blood and glucose. Just as with physical exercise, this can tire you out. Many “tricks” to sharpen your recall use memory pegs, systems to attach an association or meaning to what you desire to remember. There are visual and story memory systems, some dating back to Ancient Rome. One of these systems is called “the memory palace,” in which you associate the things you want to remember with vivid mental pictures, which you then imaginatively place in a familiar setting such as your living room. Later, you can “tour” in your mind the living room to observe the remembered objects in their familiar places. This technique can be so effective it is often used by memory contest champions.

Shturmovshchina

Shturmovshchina is the practice of working frantically just before a deadline, having not done anything for the last month. The first element means storm or assault, the second is a derogatory suffix.

 Shturmovschina originated in the Soviet Union. Factories would be given targets and quotas and other such rot by the state. However, they often weren't given any tools or raw materials. So they would sit around with their feet up and their tools down waiting until the necessaries arrived, and it was only when the deadline was knocking at the door and the gulag beckoned that they would panic, grab whatever was to hand, and do a really shoddy, half-arsed heap of work.

source (of course) : http://blog.inkyfool.com/2011/07/shturmovshchina.html