Thangs I've Been Checking

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Fri, 25 May 2012 16:24:49 -0500

One of my favorite things about contemporary bands/musicians is that you get to watch them evolve....

Thu, 24 May 2012 18:15:33 -0500

One of my favorite things about contemporary bands/musicians is that you get to watch them evolve. Zeppelin and Nick Drake and Biggie are amazing but they left us so they can’t take their music anywhere else.

Pitchfork Reviews Reviews’ David attempts to shine a light on Riff Raff, a dude who who—despite his endless/limitless freestyles and unceasing social media output—still seems unknowable. Watching his story unfold is gonna be great.

Riff Raff’s Got a Record Deal: Making Sense of the Most Viral Human Being in Music

Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music > Rap Music » Passion of the Weiss

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:58:01 -0500

Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music > Rap Music » Passion of the Weiss:

What’s most exciting is the potential this record [Killer Mike’s R.A.P Music] might have in finally breaking down the artificial barriers between the eternally warring factions of rap. If Killer Mike and El-P can form a beautiful friendship, there is no reason why we can’t hear 2Chainz rock over Pete Rock or Action Bronson on Organized Noize. On Twitter, El-P openly expressed his desire to work on an album with Nas and the mere thought of that Marvel team-up should send true hip hop fans into a sugar-high induced coma of pure joy. Killer Mike is right. This is exactly what the people need.

You Call That Innovation? - WSJ.com

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:06:11 -0500

You Call That Innovation? - WSJ.com:

The word [innovation] appeals to large companies because it has connotations of being agile and “cool,” like start-ups and entrepreneurs, he says.

» Anatomy of a Great Talk

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:44:19 -0500

» Anatomy of a Great Talk

(via All the oxygen trapped in a bubble - (37signals))

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:11:19 -0500

(via All the oxygen trapped in a bubble - (37signals))

View on a cloudy day from the deck of the S.S. Mohegan, a...

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:38:15 -0500

View on a cloudy day from the deck of the S.S. Mohegan, a scaled-replica battleship made of cinderblocks and hardware store lighting. The structure is located on the uppermost foothills of Mt. Ranier, WA.

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Sat, 12 May 2012 22:58:45 -0500

Patty Griffin - Don’t Come Easy (by slowlytosea)

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:04:23 -0500

Patty Griffin - Don’t Come Easy (by slowlytosea)

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside....

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:32:00 -0500

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed across the line so that customers all the way down the supermarket don’t get pissed off and buy someone else’s product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. They solved the problem by using some high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighing less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box out of it, pressing another button when done.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the ROI of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent!” – he says, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should’ve been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren’’t picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO travels down to the factory, and walks up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before it, there was a $20 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin. “Oh, that — one of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang”, says one of the workers.

Breezy, summer driving music that is equal parts Jens Lekman,...

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:40:03 -0500

Breezy, summer driving music that is equal parts Jens Lekman, Belle and Sebastian, and The Cure.

The Radio Dept. - Heaven’s On Fire (by stylob27)

I Break Horses - Winter Beats (Official Video) (by...

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:41:15 -0500

I Break Horses - Winter Beats (Official Video) (by bellaunioninc)

El Ten Eleven - My Only Swerving (by Paradream)

Fri, 04 May 2012 09:46:10 -0500

El Ten Eleven - My Only Swerving (by Paradream)

Waka Flocka Flame is a Product - Page - Interview Magazine

Wed, 02 May 2012 21:29:12 -0500

Waka Flocka Flame is a Product - Page - Interview Magazine:

After we’re done, Waka Flocka Flame picks up his phone and walks outside the tattoo parlor. We follow him out and find him sitting in the back seat of a red Toyota Camry, next to a guy with a Macbook Pro on his lap, with a microphone set up in the middle seat between them. Waka has headphones on and he’s rapping into the microphone in the back seat of the car while his crew stands on the sidewalk and marvels about the mobile recording studio in the car. He looks like he’s having a good time in there.

darwin deez “The bomb song” (by cosaschupis)

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:05:39 -0500

darwin deez “The bomb song” (by cosaschupis)

The Express: Nobody Knows Fragile, Gram Parsons-like...

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:19:00 -0500

The Express: Nobody Knows

Fragile, Gram Parsons-like voice
+
gentle, almost spoken vocal cadence
+
unknowability as subject matter
+
steel way back in the mix
+
languid acoustic guitars

This reminds me of music I used to write.

Airy, ethereal female vocals work so well that sometimes you...

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:10:58 -0500

Airy, ethereal female vocals work so well that sometimes you don’t even need melody.

Young Prisms “Floating in Blue” (by kaninerecords)

Mobbdeen: We Trippy Mane: Juicy J, America’s Greatest Living Poet (Compilation) » Passion of the Weiss

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:23:20 -0500

Mobbdeen: We Trippy Mane: Juicy J, America’s Greatest Living Poet (Compilation) » Passion of the Weiss:

For fans of Juicy J and the tight snares/rolling bass of the leaned-out Memphis sound: this mix puts J’s best beats, tracks, and features from 2011 in one place. Juicy J releases a new song every 5 minutes so it makes sense that MobbDeen needed 4 months to put this together.

Still from Lana Del Ray’s Carmen video.

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:39:52 -0500

Still from Lana Del Ray’s Carmen video.

Miguel-Arch & Point-Official video (by Miguel)

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:22:45 -0500

Miguel-Arch & Point-Official video (by Miguel)