Sin Fang – “Strange House”
Half Dreams
An excellent EP packed with some just plain great songs. This one in particular has a wonderfully varied structure, swinging from jangle to piano-and-surf to Elephant 6 psych. Calming but still upbeat and musically interesting. (insound)
Recursive pyramid, Tom Beddard
Stacked frames from the International Space Station (Cristoph Malin) – shades of hyperspace
You tell me of degrees of perfection to which human nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.
A drop of water freezing at -20°C over 18 seconds, forming an ice tree (Science)
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
Maskwell: Cynthia, let thy Beauty gild my Crimes; and whatsoever I commit of Treachery or Deceit, shall be imputed to me as a Merit — Treachery, what Treachery? Love cancels all the Bonds of Friendship, and sets Men right upon their first Foundations.
Efterklang – “Sedna”
Piramida
I’ve discarded two whole albums from Efterklang due to a lack of focus, which the earlier Tripper, by contrast, had in excess. “Sedna” is the first new song by them that has not only arrested my attention but truly sounds Efterklang-y to me, yet evolved and different. Imagine Talk Talk mixed with DNTEL — understated and beautiful. Also look for the almost Graceland-esque “Dreams Today.” Great cover art, too. (insound)
Three variations of the cover art for Efterklang’s album Piramida
Because fear and conspiracy play no part in your daily relations with each other, you imagine that the same thing is true of your allies, and you fail to see that when you allow them to persuade you to make a mistaken decision and when you give way to your own feelings of compassion, you are being guilty of a kind of weakness that is dangerous to you and that will not make them love you any more. What you do not realize is that your empire is a tyranny exercised over subjects who do not like it and who are always plotting against you; you will not make them obey you by injuring your own interests in order to do them a favor; your leadership depends on superior strength and not on any goodwill of theirs.
