Rocknerd

Electronic reviews: Epileptics, VvvV, Shiny Darkness (2016).

16 December, 201629 March, 2017 Industrial, Pop, Prog, Record 0

Electroclash witch house, electric prog and industrial synthpop.

Links: Bandcamp for New Zealand charts, EFF versus the music industry, the productivity of silence.

15 December, 201616 December, 2016 Industry, Links, Writing, Your rights 0

The important thing is to wear a fetching Skullcandy hat like the one up there.

Virtual Reality: it’s the new 3D! Expensive, consumers don’t want it and it makes you throw up.

14 December, 201628 August, 2017 Film, Games, Opinion 5

3D technology has been the next big thing for only the last sixty years. It offers amazing improvements over ordinary moving images: darkness, muddier colours, blurriness, headaches from watching for more than twenty minutes and slower action sequences so the viewer doesn’t bring up their last meal.

Your day’s video selection: goats, bats, Mel Brooks and Hitler.

13 December, 201613 December, 2016 Classical, Film, Links, Post-Punk 0

A Christmas choir, Mick Harvey, Ken Russell and apposite commentary.

DRM links: Denuvo removed, Super Mario locked, 4K Netflix for almost nobody, GOG, EFF.

12 December, 201612 December, 2016 Film, Games, Links, Your rights 3

News from the world of “you thought you bought the thing we sold you? Think again, pirate scum!“

Reviews: Soviet Soviet, Fossey, Nórdika (2016).

11 December, 201611 December, 2016 Indie, Industrial, Pop, Post-Punk, Record 0

Shoegazy post-punk, synth pop and futurepop.

Links: Spotify without SoundCloud, 808 classics, the Legendary Pink Dots, millennials.

10 December, 201611 December, 2016 Dance, Industrial, Industry, Links, mp3, R'n'B, Writing 0

Spotify rejects SoundCloud again, ten 808 greats, the Legendary Pink Dots and you awful millennials.

Wire: On The Box: Live on Rockpalast (1979, 2004); KEXP, 2013.

9 December, 201610 December, 2016 Live, Punk, Record 0

Two Wire live performances, because they’re good for you.

Links: Independent music earnings, Pakistan’s music industry, answering recruiters, Spray.

8 December, 2016 Dance, Industry, Links, Pop, Writing 0

How much money one musician actually makes striking out as an independent, the Pakistani music industry, responding to recruiters and Ricardo Autobahn and Spray.

Reviews: Pass-Ages, Embrace The Crisis, Tombaugh Regio (2016).

7 December, 20167 December, 2016 Indie, Pop, Record 0

Synth-based indie pop, with some stomping jangle too.

Links: Soviet techno, music as a weapon, archive your damn tapes, oh Earache no.

6 December, 20167 December, 2016 Esoterica, Industrial, Links, Media, Metal, Punk 0

Have your retro communism techno, enlightening the unwilling, archive your damn tapes, this is not your father’s Earache.

Ganser: relentlessness by guitar.

5 December, 2016 Indie, Post-Punk, Record, Rock 0

Taut indie guitar rock, sparse but weighty; machine music by a guitar band with the proper relentlessness.

Rocknerd is now fully SSL-enabled! How to do this yourself.

4 December, 201629 April, 2018 Rocknerd 2

Rocknerd is now served over SSL. Please try https://rocknerd.co.uk/ on all your gadgets and let me know of any problems. Here’s the technical detail of how I applied this to WordPress.

Reviews: Tetrolugosi, Makoto Kino, A.D. Mana, Foretaste (2016).

4 December, 20164 December, 2016 Goth, Industrial, Pop, Post-Punk, Record 0

sp00py theremin and keyboard, found sound loop atmospheric pop and some industrial bleep.

Links: CBGB awning for sale; Ableton Live; the cucumber organ.

3 December, 201616 December, 2016 Links, Musician, Punk 0

The not-quite original awning from CBGB for auction; the story of Ableton Live; really, a cucumber organ.

Synthpop: Aidan Casserly, Kriistal Ann, Dress Your Headphones (2015, 2016).

2 December, 2016 Industrial, Pop, Record 1

A start on the accumulated backlog. Today is synthpop day!

The Pop Group: Y (1979), For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? (1980).

1 December, 20165 December, 2016 Post-Punk, Record 0

The Pop Group are a singularity of post-punk awesomeness. Here, have their first two albums.

Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music (1975).

30 November, 20165 May, 2017 Esoterica, Industrial, Record 2

“It’s all folk music, anyway.” — Lester Bangs

Links: World industrial, the economics of EDM, the eyes have rhythm, fretless bass an octave up.

29 November, 2016 Dance, Industrial, Industry, Links, Musician 0

Have some more links, this time with a video.

Links: Jon Langford and the Sisters of Mercy, J. G. Ballard’s house, your headphones are listening.

28 November, 201629 November, 2016 Goth, Links, Post-Punk, Writing, Your rights 0

Jon Langford’s time as a part-time g*th, J. G. Ballard’s house is for sale again and your headphones can be used to spy on you.

The Danse Society: goth rock roads not quite taken.

27 November, 2016 Goth, Record 0

There’s still the sound of roads not taken since; something tantalisingly not quite right about it. (Your mileage may vary.)

Attack of the 50 foot blockchain!

26 November, 201627 November, 2016 Dance, Rocknerd, Writing 0

I have finished the raw first draft of the Bitcoin/blockchain book. Current word count 30,410 (or 35,546 if you include the footnotes). This was supposed to be a 15,000 word rant before lunchtime …

The time has come to listen to Ethernet cables.

25 November, 201617 May, 2017 Audio, Opinion, Writing 7

The sound with the Pearl becomes lighter and has less impact and detail compared to the Supra. Stereo image shrinks, but more obvious is a reduction in detail. Changing to Cinnamon with only one switch in my network produces a surprising result.

Flying Nun revival and reissues, Roger Shepherd autobio.

24 November, 201626 November, 2016 Indie, Record 0

Roger Shepherd, founder of Flying Nun Records, is now embarking upon a reissue programme. And has written an autobiography.

A selection of early ’80s mopey post-punk aesthetic.

23 November, 20161 April, 2017 Post-Punk, Record 0

Selections from the early post-punk record collection. A Certain Ratio, C Cat Trance, Crispy Ambulance, Magazine, Section 25, Cabaret Voltaire. The aesthetic.

Instrument links: acid house for web, make your own, use light, shut up’n keep playing yer guitar.

22 November, 201622 November, 2016 Links, Musician 0

A web-based acid house creator, some Web Audio sound fonts, a light-based Arduino project and a plea to keep up your guitar playing.

Reviews: Karlo, Moon Mask, Aseasita (2016).

21 November, 201622 November, 2016 Indie, Industrial, Pop, Record 0

Today, some pop and some electroclash.

Reviews: Diversant:13, La Vogue vol. 1, Ambrasive, DrawnSword (2016).

20 November, 201621 November, 2016 Dance, Industrial, Record, Rock 0

’90s style industrial, early ’70s style songwriting, two dance non-reviews.

What the death of What.CD fails to mean for all of humanity.

19 November, 201625 January, 2020 mp3, Opinion, Your rights 0

There’s a lot to be said in favour of massive copyright violation in the interests of cultural preservation, but “fixed targets are stable and sustainable in a world including the record companies” is not any of it.

Gary Clail’s Tackhead Sound System: Tackhead Tape Time (1987).

18 November, 201614 May, 2018 Live, Post-Punk, R'n'B, Record 5

“Hard Left” remains chilling and apposite. The fascists and quasi-fascists haven’t changed in thirty years.