Pretenders - Waste Not Want Not

[link] The masterful yet simple rhythm section riffs the Pretenders used are second to none in how good they sound. And the chorus of this song is something absolutely heavenly.

Harmonica

I bought a cheap set of harmonicas a year or two ago but never did anything with them.  Got them out yesterday and messed around with them (in a holder; I don't know what you call those things that go around your neck) while playing uke.  I probably won't ever be able to do much more on one than breath in and out and modulate it up and down a little bit, but it was pretty fun and adds a bit of depth to a jam.

A Sunny Day in Glascow - 5:15 Train

[link] This is an intensely atmospheric deconstruction of a swath of new-wavish 2 chord progression rock through a Cocteau Twinsy filter and a few layers of translucent and aging plastic.  It should smell like old burlap or ozone or something.

Maps - You Don't Know Her Name

[link] The chorus of this song is a dream pop anthem. Creepy gothy video. All around, a very substantial musical and conceptual statement.

Mahogany - Supervitesse

[link] This is # 11 on the list I linked below. Upbeat and just about cheerful. The sweet site of nu-gaze. Harks back to a lot of late 70s - early 80s postpunk.

Found a great Nu-Gaze list

aka Electronic Shoegaze, here.

Here are the top 10 on the list (a couple of these are whole albums)

Slow Dive    In Mind   
Chapterhouse    Epsilon Phase   
Seefeel    Quique   
Cocteau Twins    Feet-like fins   
All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors    Your Imagination   
Manual    Summer Haze   
Casino Versus Japan    Where To?/What For?   
Ulrich Schnauss    On My Own  
M83    Run Into Flowers
The Radio Dept.    Worst Taste in Music

When to play Hearthstone

I'm finding that I can't play Hearthstone when there are any distractions.  I need to think and concentrate on it. Which means late night is basically the only time I can do it.  It's interesting that Hearthstone is in the genre of card games like Magic: the Gathering.  All the physical versions of these games require that at least two people get together.  So, a minimum level of sociality.  Hearthstone can be played by complete loners (and probably is a lot).

Alison's Halo - Dozen

[link] What SG/Dreampop is all about. Whispy lyrics on top of complex noisy guitar chords, with tightly controlled mayhem breaks.  Hooky throughout. The guitar noise is both a scuptor's medium and a sculptor's tool. It has a coming and going fury like nature.

Scritti Politti - Wood Beez

[link] Always a good time for some Scritti Politti.  This is 1985-86 for me. My freshman dorm room.  Studying in the art history library (good place to get a table and very quiet).

Negativland - Christianity is Stupid

[link] A audio sampling classic.  The rhythm track is really good underneath the samples.

Aztec Camera - Oblivious

[link] I always liked this bouncy little new wave classic.

Hearthstone

This is the digital CCG (collectible card game) from Blizzard based in the World of Warcraft universe.  I never got into either Magic the Gathering or similar card games.  I also wasn't interested in WoW, although I loved the real time strategy game Warcraft that came before WoW.  Hearthstone is very difficult for beginners but I am having a lot of fun with it.  The battles are lively and challenging (I lose more than 2 out of 3). There are 9 different heroes to play, each with a special ability and a set of special cards (that you have to earn gradually). I won't be spending any money on the game, but I go against players who do, so that's an extra challenge.

The Rave-Ups - Positively Lost Me

[link] Terrific song and terrific scene from a favorite movie from my youth.

808 State - Pacific State

[link] Described on youtube as a "seminal chillout anthem".  I think it was in the Cool World sound track, along with some other popular tracks in the rave scene, which was big at the time (turn of the decade 1980s-1990s).

name

The name Insomnia Semaphore was one I made up around 2006 when I was having trouble sleeping.  I was wondering whether it was a sign of something.  A major health problem (my autoimmune disease) showed up in 2007 (it might have already been there in 2006) but this was a coincidence, I'm sure.

Insomnia Semaphore - Project 061614

[link] GarageBand's recent version is a lot more user friendly than I remember the first version was.  I decided to mess around with it today for the first time. I had no instruments in my office. I still have a lot to figure out, but it was pretty fun.  I thought this first little thing turned out a bit 808 State-esque.

Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley in an interview (on PBS's The History of Rock and Roll series) said he played the guitar like a drummer. I have thought exactly the same thing about playing the bass and ukes. Bo appears to be my 50s predecessor (along with Buddy Holly).

Dzihan and Kamien - Just You and I

[link] One of many happy finds thanks to Groove Salad on soma FM. Very atmospheric and world beat. I can't find where the audio sample comes from.  Sounds like classic Hollywood. If I had to guess I'd say some famous movie couple like Bogey and Bacall.

Current favorite band name (of my own devising)

Right now if I were to start a band, I'd want to call it PONKTB.  Which stands for Product of No Known Terrestrial Biosphere.  This is a reference to the William Gibson short story "Hinterlands", which is about the first human contact with an alien civilization.

Band names somebody already thought of

Here are a few what I think are pretty good band names that I thought of over the years that were already in use:
Telefauna
Good Against Remotes
Flothru
the Cinnamon Imperials

Martha and the Muffins - Echo Beach

[link] Since I live in a town called Sound Beach and one of the main roads here is called Echo Ave., I think about this awesome song quite a bit.

The March Violets - Turn to the Sky

[link] Great song that I got expose to on the Some Kind of Wonderful Soundtrack. Multiple hooks. This was on my own mid-late 80s soundtrack.  Takes me right back there.

Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again

[link] Good song for today.  Or any day.

Pez

I was vaguely aware of but never really exposed to Pez as a youth.  In the past couple of years I've been thoroughly exposed to the technology of Pez dispensers.  I have to say, I am extremely unimpressed. I always assumed there was a quick way to get them out of the packaging and into the dispenser. I was wrong.  It wouldn't be that hard to do. Just cast the candies with a narrow connection between each adjacent piece and design the packaging so that they can be easily taken out as one piece.  Once in the dispenser, have it dispense (or maybe just give it a slight bang on a surface) so that the connections would break.

A Clockwork Orange

I never read the book or saw the Kubric movie adaptation (or any adaptation) but I've read the plot summary.  I've always avoided this kind of story.  Why sit through such unpleasantness?  What is the point? There's more art in the world than one person could ever partake in multiple lifetimes, so why spend any time with such a violent and nihilistic story? I don't get it.  And it actually bothers me that A Clockwork Orange has garnered so much popularity and cultural fame. What the hell is wrong with people? Seriously. Even Burgess repudiated the story in the 80s and said he wished he never wrote it.

Journeyquest

More fun stuff from the gang that made the Gamers movies.

Keyboards in Italo-house

[link] Interesting video on the keyboard sounds in Italo-house music. I have a lot of these downstairs.

Luke - Deep Into Forest

[link] Unlike Japan, where Shoegaze is thriving, not much comes up on youtube searching for "China Shoegaze".  This was one of the only things that turned up. It's not too SG-ey.  But it's OK. Slightly proggy near-metal ballad.

Band room

Our unfinished basement is (was) also known as the band room.  When I'm down there taking care of storage or other things, the dusty basement smell always says "good" to my brain.  Band jams were a tremendous escape and release.  It's been several years since any music was played down there, even just by me alone.  I really miss those days.

Cyberspace

Gibsonian Cyberspace hasn't happened yet.  The direct neural interface is a pretty big barrier, although I understand people are working on it.  Everything still has to go through the retina.  Google Glass is the next phase of that.  Also, the idea that you could surf through cyberspace and see stacks of data, not the data itself, but that a certain company would have a certain sized stack and that different companies/entities have different sized stacks, is also something that any real version of cyberspace is not likely to reveal (because that is information just like the data itself). The internet is opaque to its users.  Not to hackers of course.