Guts - "Cause we understand" (Freedom)

A colleague talked about Guts, how he discovered them on Spotify, but what he played was more Mariachi like...

This is nice though. Lost triphop.

Also great: "I want you tonight", same album.

Terry Pratchett - "Snuff"

#... whatever in the Discworld series.

As always, written well, yadayada, ... but I just cannot care. It's more of the same, the jokes don't make me chuckle, the tale is not gripping for me anymore, the writing style... I think I have seen it too often.

It's a nice book. But after more than 25 books, I think I'm a bit Pratchettet out.

I wonder if "the color of magic" or "the light fantastic" are still amazing reads for me.

David Byrne - "How Music Works"

"If a listener can predict where a piece of music is going, he begins to tune out. Shifting off an established pattern means you have to avoid the path of least resistance that digital recording software often offers."

Bing Crosby wrote a check to cover for the costs of Jack Mullin's German (found after the war) tape recorder so he could record his shows and play more golf.

3 1/2min songs: result of the 78s

LP: thematic albums emerged

"Cassette: it was an era of murky music."

shen, a Chinese mouth organ; maybe the first in which the notes to be played were chosen by mechanism, was brought over the Silk Route to Rome. Larger version was built, with a series of levers that selected the notes. Inspiration for the keyboard, as well as to Frenchman Joseph Marie Jacquard, who in 1801 made a weaving loom whose complicated patterns were guided by punch cards. Which was in turn inspirational to Charles Babbage.

All in all, there were interesting parts in the first half. And I think it very likely it was totally my fault for not enjoying and rushing through the second half. I just couldn't really care.

H.G. Wells - "A Dream of Armageddon"

Gripping tale, written in 1901 (!) of the horrors of wars to come, of a man dreaming of love and dying in that dream with the woman he loved.

Read amazingly well.

zerO One - "Dreams" (OzOne)

Intriguing if you're looking for the more abstract clic-plop, with hints of the Altered Beast, this might be it.

Lindsey Stirling - "Crystallize"

Classical music and hiphop / breakbeat.

I wonder how cool it is to listen to a whole album.

(yep, too boring)

Ratatat - "Shiller" (LP3)

rrrrrrrrr

I wonder if I ever heard this one before. Soft electronic purs.

the Monroes - "Back of Beyond"

• Back of Beyond - from its very first notes it sounded like 16 Horsepower, though with the singing it becomes a bit more poppy.
• other sings are definitely more poppy, though still pretty rocking guitars.

Rita Zipora - "Als Ik Kijk"

Weet niet zeker of ik dit wat vind. Het ritme van 'Drang' is aardig.

In ieder geval geen muziek voor tijdens het werk.

Elitechnique - "High Risk"

• High Risk - distinct Philip Glass feeling

The Hypnotic Eye - "The Optical Sound Of The Hypnotic Eye"

Light punk, hints of surf, washed out sound, semi-helium high voice.

• Man from the CIA - surfy
• Thought Machine - haunting chords, but fast

Elvis Presley - "Viva Las Vegas"

it's on the 'soundtrack' of Murakami's latest book, and I forgot how great this song is. (I don't know how the Jordanaires are, but according to evil spotstiffy they're part of this rendition, so here goes.)

Murder By Death - "Ball & Chain" (Red Of Tooth And Claw)

Swinging, pretty fast.

Ane Brun - "Little Lights" (Duets)

Nice duet. Should check this album.

Bron || Broen (The Bridge)

Danish-Swedish production of a body (actually, two half-bodies) found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden. Particularly the first season, with the cheating, amiable Martin and the not-so-emphatic Saga, was great. Good story telling, no easy cuts, no silly cliff hangers, great characters.

The second season started a bit less strong, the bridge didn't really play any role anymore, it was "just" a continuation of the same people. Slowly it progressed into a better story and the background of Martin and Saga from season 1 became a tense story line along the whodunnit part.

All in all, great series. Supposedly, the writer is working on a third season, including the same main characters.

Michelle Shocked - "The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore" (Short Sharp Shocked)

On the Americana channel. Soft, sad, nothing particularly special but a good quiet listen.

Dana Immanuel - "Motherfucking Whore (Original)"

Nope, can't tell you where I heard this the first because it's probably illegal somewhere. Was a pretty good clip, though.

Franz Liszt - "No 2, Il Penseroso" (Années de Pelerinage, deuxième année, Italie (Cziiffra))

Because of "The colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his pilgrim years" I am listening to Franz Liszt's "3  Pilgrim years". The one referred to in the book, 1st année, Suisse, did not do particularly much for me, but this piece from the 2nd year is sad, and tragic, harsh and cold.

Jennifer Radden - "The Nature of Melancholy"

A collection of writings, from Aristotle to Kristeva" on melancholy, often in the older sense of a somatic affliction. I have hardly read a third, and there were some interesting parts, but all in all it was more the thoughts of famous people on the subject than ... I don't know what I expected.

Kurt Vonnegut - "A man without a country"

No matter how much I love and appreciate his work, this book couldn't make me care. There are some nice sentences and examples, but all in all it is a random collection of thoughts, vague recollections and repeating nuisances.