The Latest — Steve Block

The Latest

  • A Sunny Sunday

    Spring tends to come in fits and starts in Colorado, and this year has been no different. This weekend was one of the few truly nice weekends we’ve had so far, with both Saturday and Sunday in the 60s and sunny. The only negative is the wind, which was really only an issue on the highway.

    I took advantage of this nice spring day and rode my motorcycle down to Colorado Springs. This was an opportunity to take the BMW out, to go hiking, and to test the little Ricoh camera I bought for travel somewhere other than around the neighborhood.

    Rather than take the interstate all the way down to the Springs, I rode south to Castle Pines and then west to Daniel’s Park. The road from there down to Highway 85 is a fun little stretch. From 85 I headed to Sedalia and then took CO 105 south towards Palmer Lake. This is a lovely scenic route that sort of parallels I-25 off to the west through rolling plains with scenic views of the foothills. It’s not very technical but it’s a very popular route for motorcycles and sports cars, and is usually safe and free of snow and sand most of the year. Traffic was light and I saw dozens of bikes taking advantage of the weather.

    When I got to Colorado Springs I headed over to Garden of the Gods to hike and test my little camera. Although it doesn’t have a viewfinder handling is fantastic. It’s much faster to turn the camera on, frame, and take a picture than is possible with my iPhone, and the image quality is actually good. The lens is very sharp and the camera almost always nails exposure. It does like to focus on near foreground items in matrix focus mode. Since I wanted to get the rocks or mountains in focus most of the time I found myself using the touch screen tap-to-focus functionality a lot.

    It’s hard to take any truly new photographs at the park, but it’s still a thorougly enjoyable place. It was super crowded today though, with people taking advantage of a warm sunny Sunday. It’s a hike up from the overflow parking area, but I’m glad it’s there considering.

    Full Gallery Here

    After the hike I rode down to Urban Animal to grab a beer and buy a curry from my friend Johnny’s food truck. It’s always good to catch up with him, and Colorado Springs is far enough that I don’t get down there often. Taking the opportunity of good weather for the ride and hike and then following that up with the beer and catching up with my friend made this a really great day.

  • New Mix — Orphans

    Tracks that got left behind in the great library shuffle.

  • A New Site Generator

    Way back in 2011 I moved this site from wordpress to a static blog powered by jekyll. I haven’t changed much about the site since then. Writing posts in markdown and keeping them in a simple folder still feels like the right decision.

    I’ve been running this blog on an increasingly ancient Debian server. I recently moved, with help, to a new server running a more up to date release. Since this was published as a static site I could move it as-is and deal with setting up jekyll on my own time.

    That time came, and I spent a couple hours trying to get all the ruby dependencies to actually install properly. After about the fifth time trying to install a google provided gem that said I needed to install the version I was trying to install, I got frustrated enough that I started looking for alternatives.

    I looked through the list of options and tried a couple, but just about anything would require me to make a significant number of changes to my site. Why not just build it myself?

    So over the last couple of weeks I’ve been working on and off on a new site generator written in python, customized to work with my site mostly as-is, with only updated templates (switching from liquid to jinja) and a few minor changes to some of the static pages since they’re being generated differently.

    The resulting script is not sophisticated and fits in a single file. But it does the job.

  • Daily Mix – 2023-03-18

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Track: Poliça – Alive

    I discovered Poliça on the last daily mix. Their 2022 album Madness is brilliant. The rest of this mix is solid as well, but we’re seeing weaknesses in how Roon picks tracks on Roon Radio. There’s quite a bit we’ve seen before.

    Highlights: Alive, King, neverend

    Track List:

    1. Alive – Poliça (5:32)
    2. Champion – Warpaint (4:40)
    3. No Hotel – Lykke Li (2:29)
    4. All Comes Crashing – Metric (4:26)
    5. Age of Anxiety I – Arcade Fire (5:27)
    6. Lost – Zola Jesus (3:22)
    7. Lights On – Hatchie (3:59)
    8. Lipstick on the Glass (Lullaby Version) – Wolf Alice (4:08)
    9. King – Florence + the Machine (4:41)
    10. Happy New Year – Let’s Eat Grandma (4:41)
    11. Turn – I Break Horses (9:03)
    12. Home to Me – Sharon Van Etten (3:40)
    13. Die Young – Sylvan Esso (3:32)
    14. Diviner – Hayden Thorpe (3:24)
    15. neverend – Purity Ring (4:29)
    16. Toni – Interpol (4:33)

    Recorded On: Translucent gray Royal Shadow yes 74 MD

    Playlists

  • Daily Mix – 2022-11-24

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Album: Purity Ring – graves

    Black Sony MDW-74 minidisc with translucent front and solid black

    Rather than basing a mix on a single key track, this one is a subset of the tracks Roon decided to play after finishing this lovely EP from Purity Ring and so doesnt include any tracks from the EP itself. I was listening actively this time and got a little aggressive skipping tracks that didn’t really fit or were repeats from past mixes. The computer still doesn’t have a clue what makes up the magic that is Purity Ring though, and is too eager to play the same tracks from the same albums regardless of the input.

    In the end I like this one quite a bit, but I definitely wish these algorithms understood anything at all about music. They’re far too simplistic.

    Highlights: Parade, Things Are Better, Youth, Fountain

    Track List:

    1. Shinigami Eyes – Grimes (02:41)
    2. Curicó – Kiltro (05:10)
    3. Parade – Hundred Waters (02:27)
    4. Leave a Trace – CHVRCHES (03:59)
    5. Char – Crystal Castles (03:08)
    6. Lights On – Hatchie (03:58)
    7. Things Are Better – PVRIS (03:58)
    8. In My Head – Lights (03:09)
    9. Pink Lightning – Purity Ring (04:16)
    10. Echo Teuffel – Bulb (04:41)
    11. Need Your Love – Tennis (03:52)
    12. Youth – Glass Animals (03:53)
    13. Stonefist – HEALTH (03:26)
    14. Faultline – Girlpool (04:13)
    15. Lilo – The Japanese House (04:13)
    16. Egowerk – The Faint (04:54)
    17. Slumlord – Neon Indian (05:17)
    18. Fountain – POLIÇA (05:00)

    Recorded On: Black Sony MDW-74 with translucent front and solid back

    Playlists

  • On the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

    I deleted my Twitter account yesterday given the garbage new owner and his unrelenting awfulness. I’m not interested in being involved with any of that crap.

    Then I wanted to say something today about the World Cup and would have normally done that on Twitter. Oh well, I do have this blog and I can write here instead.

    Other than this post and seeing summary results in the news, I will not be watching, following, or discussing this year’s World Cup. I strongly encourage everyone to ignore this garbage event and make it clear why.

    Simply put, we have known for many years that the World Cup in Qatar would be a mess. We’ve known fully with no ambiguity that Qatar as a host country was entirely incompatible with freedom or justice.

    We’ve known the stadiums were basically built by slave labor and that thousands have died doing so. For years we’ve known this.

    And so here we are in 2022 with FIFA giving in to religious losers taking precedence over contractual commitments or stated values. Here we are with athletes and teams which have this chance to show it’s about more than money, and they have failed to do so. Don’t reward this evil with your money or attention.

  • Daily Mix – 2022-11-08

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Track: Darren Korb – Out of Tartarus

    Blue Maxell 80 minidisc with textured stripe pattern and translucent back and label "Happy Music Happy MD Life"

    I chose a track from the Hades soundtrack to base this off of, and unsurprisingly the resulting mix was mostly video game soundtracks and remixes. There are also a couple tracks from TV shows and movies and one real surprise: a very old recording with Gustav Holst, who died in 1934, conducting.

    I half hoped the computer would expand more on the broader picture of the Hades soundtrack, taking its mix of acoustic instruments and heavy guitars and finding more along those lines, but it kept pretty close to the superficial level of the brief instead. Oddly, Qobuz doesn’t even have the Hades soundtrack.

    Highlights: Out of Tartarus, The Axiom, Song of Storms

    Track List:

    1. Out of Tartarus – Hades – Darren Korb (05:55)
    2. Termina Field – Majora’s Mask – Rozen (04:10)
    3. Lake Guardians – Pokemon – Braxton Burks (04:56)
    4. The Axiom – Axiom Verge – Thomas Happ (03:27)
    5. Farewell – Celeste – Lena Raine (08:20)
    6. The Sanctified Mind – Destiny 2 – Skye Lewin (03:44)
    7. The Illusive Man – Mass Effect 2 – Jack Wall (02:23)
    8. Lanius (Battle) – FTL – Ben Prunty (04:20)
    9. The Cat That Knows the Conductor – Infinity Train (01:47)
    10. Dawn of the First Day – Majora’s Mask – Theophany (03:12)
    11. Jig (St. Paul’s Suite) – Gustav Holst (02:46)
    12. Song of Storms – Legend of Zelda – Rozen (02:46)
    13. Retros – Blackstar – Celldweller (04:44)
    14. Taking Sides – Republique – Zinc LeMone (01:16)
    15. First Steps – Celeste – Lena Raine (03:39)
    16. Paris Must Pay – Troy – Richard Beddow (01:40)
    17. An End Once and for All – Mass Effect 3 – Sam Hulick, Clint Mansell (04:46)
    18. White Rabbit – Matrix Resurrections – Epic Geek (02:30)
    19. Time’s End – Majora’s Mask – Theophany (08:22)
    20. Song of Healing – Legend of Zelda – Jone Ruiz (02:55)

    Recorded On: Blue Maxell 80 with textured stripe pattern and translucent back and label “Happy Music Happy MD Life”

    Playlists

  • Daily Mix – 2022-10-16

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Track: Belle and Sebastian – A Politician’s Silence

    Grey 74 minute Sony Color Collection MD

    I set this one going from a track I recorded from my LP box set of Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance. The box set has 16 tracks on 4 LPs, with a single track at 45 rpm on Side A of each record and 3 more at 33 rpm on Side B. It’s kind of annoying to listen to on a manual belt drive table, but it sounds great and has a few extended versions and extra tracks. A Politician’s Silence is one of the tracks not on the normal 12-track release, though it appears to be available on Apple Music.

    The resulting mix is mostly fairly gentle indie tunes. I wouldn’t say there were any major standout tracks here, but the mix works. It’s a very listenable set of tracks.

    Highlights: A Politician’s Silence, Will You Return/When You Come Down, Oxford Comma

    Track List:

    1. A Politician’s Silence – Belle and Sebastian (05:50)
    2. Young and Stupid – Belle and Sebastian (02:53)
    3. Darkness Fades – Sharon Van Etten (04:35)
    4. This is a Photograph – Kevin Morby (03:30)
    5. All the Good Times – Angel Olsen (04:39)
    6. The Same – The Smile (04:19)
    7. Chaise Longue – Wet Leg (03:20)
    8. Jackie Down the Line – Fontaines D.C. (04:00)
    9. Champion – Warpaint (04:41)
    10. Tidal River – Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (04:28)
    11. Fever – Aldous Harding (04:17)
    12. Always Together With You – Spiritualized (06:39)
    13. Santa Fe – Beirut (04:14)
    14. Will You Return / When You Come Down – The Flaming Lips (05:24)
    15. I Want the World to Stop – Belle and Sebastian (04:35)
    16. Back to the Radio – Porridge Radio (03:08)
    17. Oxford Comma – Vampire Weekend (03:18)

    Recorded On: Grey 74 minute Sony Color Collection MD

    Playlists

  • Daily Mix – 2022-10-12

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Track: Husky Rescue – My Home Ghost

    Pink 74 minute TDK Lucir minidisc

    I love this track and the album it’s on and thought I’d take a go at a mix based on it. But the first pass at recording landed me square in the middle of a recommendation engine failure. I had a full 74 minute minidisc of the same four artists in a loop, which doesn’t really fit with the goal of these recordings. I kept one track from each artist in that loop and then let the source keep going for a while until it finally started giving a little more variety. The end result is a pleasing mix, though as I’m finding with many of these the software choosing tracks doesn’t really understand music deeply.

    This was also a reminder that minidisc titling for tracks not using English or Japanese language can be a challenge. I ended up putting some ropey transliteration of Icelandic on the disc, but show the correct titles below.

    Highlights: You Know What I Mean, Remember Me?, Sunlight

    Track List:

    1. My Home Ghost – Husky Rescue (03:09)
    2. You Know What I Mean – Cults (02:31)
    3. At War With the Sun – The Big Pink (04:11)
    4. Sun Went Black – Springtime Carnivore (03:38)
    5. XXX 88 – MØ & Diplo (03:43)
    6. First Call – Husky Rescue (00:55)
    7. No Logic – White Hinterland (03:41)
    8. Get in Line – I’m From Barcelona (03:08)
    9. So Sweet – Nurses (04:43)
    10. Wish I Knew – Ivan & Alyosha (03:37)
    11. Finn bikkjen! – Casiokids (05:19)
    12. Remember Me? – Saltillo (03:27)
    13. Once We Walked in the Sunlight – Papercuts (05:09)
    14. Hide Me – The Golden Filter (03:51)
    15. Breaking Up – Woodhands (03:31)
    16. Sunlight – Kyte (06:01)
    17. Á ferð til Breiðafjarðar vorið 1922 – Sigur Rós & Steindór Andersen (06:01)
    18. Loksins Erum Við Engin – múm (03:12)
    19. Until the Last – The Album Leaf (04:16)

    Recorded On: Pink 74 minute TDK Lucir minidisc

    Playlists

  • Daily Mix – 2022-10-03

    In addition to actual mix tapes, I like to set a minidisc to record and start a Roon Radio automated mix from a key track. I record over optical while working or doing something else. Sometimes they aren’t very interesting, but sometimes they go in unexpected directions. For more, see my list of all daily mix playlists.

    Key Track: watersong – Purity Ring

    80 minute clear Memorex minidisc

    This is based on a great song from the recent graves EP which nobody told me about (as is typical). watersong is the absolute standout on this mix; it has incredible texture, particularly in a good pair of headphones.

    The rest is a good mix of indie rock and electronic music, but there’s not much of the forceful delicacy that I credit for the special magic of Purity Ring’s recent work.

    Highlights: watersong, Femen, Coins, Guard & Prisoner

    Track List:

    1. watersong – Purity Ring (03:11)
    2. Buy American – Joywave (03:23)
    3. Femen – Crystal Castles (02:33)
    4. Driftwood Fire – Small Black (05:11)
    5. Radio – Sylvan Esso (03:32)
    6. One More Year – Tame Impala (05:27)
    7. Me and Michael – MGMT (04:51)
    8. Letting Go – Braids (04:23)
    9. Might Not Make It Home – LPX (03:24)
    10. Wave to Anchor – Hundred Waters (04:41)
    11. I Don’t Want to Die Tonight – Anthony Green (03:19)
    12. changes – iamamiwhoami (04:20)
    13. Cyn City 2000 (live) – Joywave (03:13)
    14. Coins – Local Natives (04:01)
    15. Life Itself – Glass Animals (04:42)
    16. So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings – Caroline Polachek (03:04)
    17. Asking for a Friend – CHVRCHES (05:09)
    18. Beside Myself – Lights (04:14)
    19. Guard & Prisoner – Jaws of Love feat. Omotola (05:01)

    Recorded On: 80 minute clear Memorex minidisc

    Playlists