Ovid in the Third Reich, Geoffrey Hill (Quote) w/ Moddi

I love my work and my children. God
Is distant, difficult. Things happen.
Too near the ancient troughs of blood
Innocence is no earthly weapon.


The full version of the poem can be found in Poetry Foundation.

Source:
Geoffrey Hill, “Ovid in the Third Reich” from New and Collected Poems, 1952-1992. Copyright © 1994 by Geoffrey Hill. Used with the permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Source: New and Collected Poems 1952-1992 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994)


It reminded me of Moddi’s A Matter of Habit:

Oh, being human is a matter of habit
A few baby steps, then you get better at it
To be for one minute, just now, just recall
The opposite side of the towering walls
But our hearts have hardened along with our skin
We built a bubble and let no one else in

Books on Electronic Music I

I watched Sisters with Transistors (2020) again and thought of gathering some books related to the history of the electronic music from different perspectives.

Sicko, D. (2010). Techno rebels: the renegades of electronic funk (2nd ed.). Wayne State University Press.

“When it was originally published in 1999, Techno Rebels became the definitive text on a hard-to-define but vital genre of music. Author Dan Sicko demystified techno’s characteristics, influences, and origins and argued that although techno enjoyed its most widespread popularity in Europe, its birthplace and most important incubator was Detroit. In this revised and updated edition, Sicko expands on Detroit’s role in the birth of techno and takes readers on an insider’s tour of techno’s past, present, and future in an enjoyable account filled with firsthand anecdotes, interviews, and artist profiles.

Techno Rebels begins by examining the underground 1980s party scene in Detroit, where DJs and producers like the Electrifying Mojo, Ken Collier, The Wizard, and Richard Davis were experimenting with music that was a world apart from anything happening in New York or Los Angeles. He details the early days of the “Belleville Three”—Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson—who created the Detroit techno sound and became famous abroad as the sound spread to the UK and Europe. In this revised edition, Sicko delves deeper into the Detroit story, detailing the evolution of the artists and scene into the mid-1990s, and looks to nearby Ann Arbor to consider topics like the Electrifying Mojo’s beginnings, the role of radio station WCBN, and the emergence of record label Ghostly International. Sicko concludes by investigating how Detroit techno functions today after the contrived electronica boom of the late 1990s, through the original artists, new sounds, and Detroit’s annual electronic music festival.

Ultimately, Sicko argues that techno is rooted in the “collective dreaming” of the city of Detroit—as if its originators wanted to preserve what was great about the city—its machines and its deep soul roots. Techno Rebels gives a thorough picture of the music itself and the trailblazing musicians behind it and is a must-read for all fans of techno, popular music, and contemporary culture.” — Wayne State University Press


Broughton, F. (2022). Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey. Orion Publishing Group.

“When someone says, ‘You have to know your history…’ this is it. This classic book is the whole unruly story of dance music in one volume. It recreates the dancefloors that made history, conjuring their atmosphere with loving detail and bringing you the voices of the DJs and clubbers at their heart – from grime, garage, house, hip hop and disco, to techno, soul, reggae, rock’n’roll, and EDM. Whether musical outlaw, obsessive crate-digger or overpaid superstar, the DJ has been at the spinning centre of nightlife for a century, making parties wilder, pushing clubbers harder, and driving music into completely new shapes and styles. In 1999 this was the first book to do justice to the DJ’s rollercoaster ride. Twenty years later, it’s fully refreshed, carefully updated and filled with even more stories, including two brand new chapters. This edition comes with a new foreword by James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem).” — Zabriskie


Saunders, J., & Cummins, J. (2007). House music… The real story. Publish America.

“Jesse Saunders’ story is one of the most important in the history of popular culture. From his hometown of Chicago, Jesse created the first original House music record and launched the House music movement across the land. Eventually, his style of music would come to sell millions of records and CDs, take over the popular consciousness of millions of kids across the earth and cement the electronic revolution in music. Written with author James Cummins, this autobiography tells the story of how it all happened. From the streets of Chicago to the biggest music labels in Los Angeles, California, it follows Jesse Saunders as he recreates the musical landscape of America. Touching on the celebrity culture of the 1980s and a90s and into the twenty-first century, you will read many shocking things about some of your favorite artists. Jesse Saunders is an artist whose influence on modern music will never be forgotten.” — Abebooks


Freke, O. (2020). Synthesizer evolution: from analogue to digital (and back). Velocity Press.

“From acid house to prog-rock, there is no form of modern popular music that hasn’t been propelled forward by the synthesizer. As a result, they have long been objects of fascination, desire and reverence for keyboard players, music producers and fans of electronic music alike. Whether looking at an imposing modular system or posing with a DX7 on Top of the Pops, the synth has also always had an undeniable physical presence.

Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back) celebrates their impact on music and culture by providing a comprehensive and meticulously researched directory of every major synthesizer, drum machine and sampler made between 1963 and 1995. Each featured instrument is illustrated by hand and shown alongside its vital statistics and some fascinatingly quirky facts.

From its invention in the early 1960s to the digital revolution of the 1980s right up until the point that analogue circuits could be modelled using software in the mid-1990s, this book tells the story of synthesizers from analogue to digital – and back again.

Tracing that history and showing off their visual beauty with art-book quality illustrations, Synthesizer Evolution is a must for any self-respecting synth fan. The book has 128 pages, is 23cm x 17.4cm in size and printed on heavyweight 130gsm matt art paper.

Author Oli Freke says: “This book has grown out of a life-long obsession with synthesizers and electronic music, and it’s fantastic to be able to share this with my fellow synth obsessives and music fans who celebrate the synth’s role in modern music. I’m eternally grateful to Velocity Press for going with me on this journey and supporting the project so keenly.”” — Velocity Press


Pinch, T. J., & Trocco, F. (2004). Analog days: the invention and impact of the Moog synthesizer. Harvard University Press.

“Though ubiquitous today, available as a single microchip and found in any electronic device requiring sound, the synthesizer when it first appeared was truly revolutionary. Something radically new—an extraordinary rarity in musical culture—it was an instrument that used a genuinely new source of sound: electronics. How this came to be—how an engineering student at Cornell and an avant-garde musician working out of a storefront in California set this revolution in motion—is the story told for the first time in Analog Days, a book that explores the invention of the synthesizer and its impact on popular culture.

The authors take us back to the heady days of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the technology was analog, the synthesizer was an experimental instrument, and synthesizer concerts could and did turn into happenings. Interviews with the pioneers who determined what the synthesizer would be and how it would be used—from inventors Robert Moog and Don Buchla to musicians like Brian Eno, Pete Townshend, and Keith Emerson—recapture their visions of the future of electronic music and a new world of sound.

Tracing the development of the Moog synthesizer from its initial conception to its ascension to stardom in Switched-On Bach, from its contribution to the San Francisco psychedelic sound, to its wholesale adoption by the worlds of film and advertising, Analog Days conveys the excitement, uncertainties, and unexpected consequences of a new technology that would provide the soundtrack for a critical chapter of our cultural history.” — Harvard University Press

on youtube III

I have a YouTube playlist called “let’s see” where I gather videos that I encounter at some point in YouTube suggestions or in related videos. I add them to a list when I’m not able to or not in a mood to watch at that moment. Most of the time, I don’t actually watch these videos at all. Still, I keep them in a list, maybe for an afterlife procrastination moment. I’ll list the first page here. A sad list, powered by some recommendation algorithms.

cinema, food, music, pop culture, quick tutorial, software development, AI hype, intro-level philosophy

  • Önder Focan – Aubergine / Patlıcan (2022 – Album) | 2666 – The Art Of Listening
  • Secret Food Commercial Styling Tricks Revealed By Culinary Expert | Vanity Fair
  • 3 ways to make one pan egg toast! 5 minutes quick breakfast! Easy, Delicious and Healthy! | Qiong Cooking
  • The Valor of the Misfit: Experimental Art in Late East Germany | Deutsches Haus
  • You’re doing home organization WRONG. | Caroline
  • Classical Composer Analyzes Kendrick Lamar | David Bruce Composer
  • Lars Eidinger und die Aldi Tüte | FFCGN
  • Genderneutrale Sprache? So einfach geht’s (Thomas Kronschläger – Science Slam) | ScienceSlam
  • 16 Personalities Through the Eyes of the ESTP | dear kristin
  • WE CALL IT TECHNO! A documentary about Germany’s early Techno scene and culture | Telekom Electronic Beats
  • What was Coding like 40 years ago? | The Coding Train
  • We Should Be Willing to Go to the End – Symposium on Slavoj Žižek (Day Two) | Study Groups on Psychoanalysis and Politics
  • How to Motivate Yourself to Read (20 Tips & Mindsets) | Benjamin McEvoy
  • My Students Edit Their First Feature Film | This Guy Edits
  • Julian Radlmaier zu Gast im Filmhaus Nürnberg – Blutsauger | Filmhaus Nürnberg
  • Corporate Lawyer Breaks Down Succession Business Deals | WIRED
  • This trick can LEVEL UP your film look. | Colorist Factory
  • 02 Inhuman Symposium – Rosi Braidotti | Fridericianum
  • I made a music video in Stable Diffusion AI… and it’s amazing! | Olivio Sarikas
  • What is “Nothing”? | Sabine Hossenfelder
  • Grandmaster and BIG LIAR? Hans Niemann Chess Cheating Scandal – Expert REACTION Video | The Behavior Panel
  • Building a neural network FROM SCRATCH (no Tensorflow/Pytorch, just numpy & math) | Samson Zhang
  • The Fastest Way to Learn a New Language: The Solar System Theory | Nathaniel Drew
  • The Map of Engineering | Domain of Science
  • Did Content Kill Culture? | Wisecrack
  • Random walks in 2D and 3D are fundamentally different (Markov chains approach) | Mathemaniac
  • Im Techno Rausch 60 Stunden Dauerparty -1995- (ARD-Doku) | Mimo Zehnvierzig
  • Music festivals: a high-risk business | FT Film | Financial Times
  • Why All Educational Videos Are the Same| Faultline
  • Donna Haraway: “From Cyborgs to Companion Species” | UC Berkeley Events
  • Kraftwerk ‘The Man Machine’ Full Analysis | Doctor Mix
  • Werner Herzog: Vom einsamen Leben als Regisseur | Sternstunde Philosophie | SRF Kultur Sternstunden
  • Hans Magnus Enzensberger Interview: A Closer Look | Louisiana Channel
  • Top 10 Lighting Mistakes Beginners Make | Parker Walbeck
  • Top 10 Supporting Roles That Stole The Show | CineFix – IGN Movies and TV
    • some top 10 time here, weird that I didn’t add a Messi video
  • How I Learn To Speak Foreign Languages Without Talking To People | Polyglot Language Learning Tips | Robin MacPherson
  • The Aesthetic of Madness | The Cinema Cartography
  • I remastered Adam Ragusea’s Crispy Oven Fries. | Ethan Chlebowski

on meute

I’m listening to Meute, the brass band who covers electronic music pieces, recently producing original records. I’ll try to share a spotify link in wordpress:

Wow, it works. I gathered their covers together with the original versions. It’s not complete, I’m adding as I listen to the new songs, still discovering. They contributed to the OST of Babylon Berlin in its fourth season. They had played in Görlitzer Park. My current favourites are Slip, Hey Hey, Kerberos, and Araya. Their consistency on making better versions of the original ones is amazing. I asked a question about how they live-record their sessions, but no one replied.

p.s. also Places