Month: October 2017

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Media – October 2017

Things that have caught my attention, in no particular order:

Songhoy Blues – Resistance
World music meets crunchy guitar. More great music with political insight from this group from Mali.

St. Vincent – Masseduction
More brillance.

Courtney Barnett + Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice
Pure unadulterated roots guitar picking and singing. No pretensions here, great for a fall bike ride.

Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder
A new album, same old sound. If you like it (and I do), that’s not a bad thing.

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Vancouver Music: October 2017

Songhoy Blues – Great new album “Resistance” out, playing the Biltmore Friday Oct 27.

Jasper Sloan Yip – “The Day Passed and the Sun Went Down”, from his upcoming third full-length record Post Meridiem, to be released on October 27th on Afterlife Music. The album release show is at the Wise Hall on October 5th.

John Stetch & Vulneraville CD Release – John is an Edmonton boy, schooled in Montreal and based out of New York for years and years. He’s moved to Vancouver and we’re lucky to have him. Creative, virtuosic, and funny. This will be a great show. October 19 at Frankie’s Jazz Club ($25)

 

 

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October’s Favourite Technology Stories – 2017

“Muted” Reaction to new iPhones
A common problem for successful tech companies: keeping customers buying products when they are happy with what they have. Apple makes great hardware and seem to be trying to keep people on the purchase treadmill through planned obsolescence. My iPad 1 and iPad 2 are still both very healthy physically, but run slower and slower with each update and I will soon be unable to install new apps or update the existing ones. My iPhones are the same, and my MacBook Pro too. My solution: move to Android devices and back to Windows for laptop. There is a problem when an economic system rewards companies for acting in this fashion.

TC Electronic Quintessence Harmonizer
This company keeps coming up with great designs, this is no exception. I am very cautious about buying their pedals, however, as I believe build quality to be low. I have had a number of their pedals begin to introduce noise into my signal chain after about a year or so of use.