HiWire

Unkle – Psyence Fiction Squarepusher – Hard Normal Daddy

Will check them out.

'80s Nite! I'm looking forward to getting the Police's Synchronicity, but I have to pace myself... SACDs are getting rarer and more expensive as time goes by.

The Police – Regatta de Blanc (SACD)

That's a great album. It's sitting on my desk right now!

The Collector's Edition (2009) CD is definitely an improvement on the original recording, both in sound quality and breadth of content. I always felt the original was too short... the Collector's Edition is hard to find now. It took a few months to find this one, and I had to play it as soon as I got it!

Vintage Computer-Generated Imagery:

Thomas Dolby – The Flat Earth (Collector's Edition)

The black and white seasons are now in the public domain: It was cancelled in the Rural Purge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_purge But I think the success of the Dukes of Hazzard changed their minds... The early 60s had a strange idea of family entertainment. Here's Dennis Hopper as a beatnik:

Saint Etienne's cover of Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart popped into my head this morning and Wikipedia did the rest. I'm putting Saint Etienne and OMD's albums on order – I'm glad that they've been reissued and that they're still available.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Dazzle Ships Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha

Hilary Gardner & Ehud Asherie – The Late Set

Happy Birthday!

Thanks, guys! I can't wait for the work day to end.

Thanks!

I use Sophos Home and Malwarebytes. Both are free and relatively effective.

Chromeo – Head Over Heels Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses

I've been using the Sennheiser HD1 In-Ear wired headphones on public transit... under $100. The stock ear tips are silicone and isolate moderately, but I immediately upgraded to Comply tips. I just tried them with moderate music volume and I can't hear anything with ambient air conditioning blowing. A coworker also strongly recommended the 1More Triple Driver headphones to me. They don't go in that deep, but people seem to like them and they come with a variety of tips.

My dad's friend dumped a bunch of old CDs on him, which he in turn dumped on me... the Pogues' album was the big win as well as Neil Young's Harvest. Also included were The Who's The Kids Are Alright, Simon and Garfunkel, The Best of James Taylor, the soundtrack from Pump Up the Volume, and Bryan Adams' mediocre Into the Fire. All in all, a decent assortment of old rock – you win some, you lose some. I don't turn down free CDs unless I have them already. I was also listening to old cassettes on the weekend. Lenny Kravitz's Are You Gonna Go My Way held up surprisingly well and Guns N' Roses' "The Spaghetti Incident?" is still a decent covers album. Lenny Kravitz – Are You Gonna Go My Way Jimi Hendrix – The Ultimate Experience

The Pogues – If I Should Fall from Grace with God

Aldebaran by Léo – gorgeously illustrated and brilliantly written

Everything by Smooth McGroove:

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz! I haven't listened to this one for a while... this is one of the rare occasions where the music critics and I agree (it made almost all the Best Albums of the Year lists when it was released). A gorgeous, exciting listen with impressive polish throughout. Just epic.

Dexter Gordon's Go! is a fun instrumental session... Gordon's fluid, expressive saxophone pairs deftly against Billy Higgins' propulsive drums. There is a real sense of being in the same room as the performers, and the ebb and flow of free-form jazz with a few humorous pop phrases thrown in keeps your mind relaxed and stimulated at the same time. The performances are flawless and it is a delight to hear such joyful, varied playing from such brilliant musicians. Olivia Ong's self-titled 2010 (mostly) covers album is an oddball in my collection. The songs are varied, going from the 1960s to the early 1990s, but sung in a delicate, heartfelt way by the bossanova girl. Ong's approach is a little restrained, but you can't fault the variety, the cleverness of the pop arrangements, or Ong's commitment to the songs. Suzanne Vega's Luka is probably the high point of the album, allowing Ong to dig deeper in her emotional range. The recording makes Ong's voice float over the instrumentals, which is fairly appropriate, considering her lightweight singing style. The instruments are well played, but the recording seems almost over-produced, which is common in the asiapop market.

Happy retirement and thanks for all your hard work!