2025-08-01 18:16:57
Brett Anderson and crew continue their "what if David Bowie was in Joy Division?" thing and it's still going well. I've been a fan of Suede since the actual 1990s and they're hard-pushed to release a turd, in my humble opinion. Have a listen to "Dancing with the Europeans" and see what I mean.
I have, apparently, listened to Chelsea Wolfe before but I do not remember so this is, once again, new-to-me! On "Little Grave" from 2019's Birth of Violence, Woolfe layers plaintive folk vocals and reverb-y acoustic guitars with disconcerting banshee shrieking feedback. An uncomfortable experience that makes me wonder what if Laura Marling fronted a Black Metal band…?
Electronic indie rock n roll with just a touch of Portishead, Phantogram chuck screechy guitars over spiky drums and dub wobble bass to make something that isn't quite rock, triphop, or baroque pop but is also all of those things. I'm listening to "Voices" and you should be too.
2025-08-01 14:22:20
Happy August!
Here are a few photos from my phone from the last month with neither rhyme nor reason to the theme.
2025-07-29 04:42:03
There are several photography sharing sites and apps that have arisen in the wake of Instagram's enshittification and I've tried a few.
I currently have all my photographic eggs in Pixelfed's basket but that doesn't mean I'm closed off. I owe it to myself to get to know other photo sharing sites1.
One of these new sites/apps that popped up is Foto. Promising a Chronological, ad-free, and uncropped
experience, Foto ticks a lot of boxes. They aren't VC backed on principle, they're inclusive and community-focused, and they have a roadmap that extends beyond "hosting images".
Sadly, I haven't found a way to add alt-text to my images which has made it quite the non-starter for me.
I've contacted them to see if I'm missing something. I hope I missed a setting somewhere and it's not on a roadmap of "features" to be deployed — inclusivity is not a feature and your MVP isn't V without accessible content 😉
Edit (Tuesday, 29 July 2025)
Foto responded to my query to say We don't have ALT text yet, but it's on our roadmap to add.
1: I am watching too much Love Island, aren't I‽
2025-07-28 02:00:15
Spoilers
As this is book 3 of a trilogy, this review will mention plot points from the previous two books; "Snare" and "Trap".
Taking place four years on from the events in "Trap", the final book in the trilogy pivots the narrative to focus on Agla (almost as if the author heard my plea at the end of my last review!). In fact, Sonja only turns up a handful of times in the whole book — and even then it's kind of brief and cryptic.
The focus on Agla is refreshing, even if it is a really bleak start to the novel.
Agla leading the story means it's more about white collar financial crime than the first two books which gets a little detailed. It's not a subject I'm particularly interested in so it didn't grip me as much as the drug smuggling plot. That said, I appreciate the detail and it feels accurate, at least to how I imagine the shady world of international banking works.
Sigurðardóttir's writing is strong and the plot is juicy enough to still be interesting after three books; enough intrigue and mystery without feeling like it can't all be resolved.
Again, a couple of the "twists" seemed obvious to me but hasn't diminished my enjoyment. When the final reveal happens there's a feeling of elation and vindication instead of shock and surprise which is just as good, in my opinion.
2025-07-28 00:46:11
I have been full tilt, hell for leather, warp factor 9, head down in a pitch for the entire week (spilling over into pre- and post-work conversations too) so, as a result, I don't feel like I've done much this week outside of planning and designing patients' support in PowerPoint and Figma.
I managed to nip out one lunchtime for a short walk in the sunshine and snapped this quite nice shot of the sky.
I remembered Placebo existed this week and have battered their first few albums at any opportunity. Love it!
Remember me when you're the one who's silver screened
Remember me when you're the one you always dreamed
Remember me whenever noses start to bleed
Remember me, special needs
Spoilers
We have almost caught up on Love Island; Toni has just recoupled with Harrison but doesn't yet know he slept with Lauren 🍿🍿🍿
Look back at all economic systems and you can see the pattern. First banknotes replaced metal as currency, and from banknotes we went to plastic cards, from electronic to digital and when the magnetic storm hits us and all digital records are destroyed, nobody will be able to prove they own anything. There’s a new world order coming and they will control it with magnetic pulses and blame it on solar activity.
Lilja Sigurðardóttir, "Cage"
2025-07-27 03:22:42
I get particularly frustrated with people who say things such as “I prefer producing creative work to creating lots of images” or “I don’t learn the rules because I prefer being creative”. This isn’t how quality emerges. It’s how mediocrity perpetuates itself while wearing the mask of artistic integrity.
Cedric
They say it takes 10,000 hours to become a master of anything.
The greats break the rules because they have mastered the rules and can find the cracks and niches to exploit and mine for art. That's not "ignoring" the rules, there's no contempt for structures.
That means weeks of lighting practice, months of composition practice, years of churning out passable garbage inching toward good.
No-one takes a banger every time. And everyone has to practice. Everyone.