imposterpockets' blog

Tha Recs of December 24, 2009

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:53:21 -0500

Session Two by Free the Robots
(found on Parov Stelar's Similar Artist Radio)
(full track streaming here)
I am a sucker for old musicians talking about music and mimicking instrument sounds

Scott Foster Rhythm by Two Fingers
(found on Dorian Concept's Similar Artist Radio)
(short sample streaming here)
percussive bliss. metallic sounds without the extreme headache factor.

Sharpening Bone by Piers Faccini
(found on Fink's Similar Artist Radio)
(short sample streaming here)
this sample cuts all the weird parts of this song off. there was a rhythm that cropped up occasionally that sounded very native american inspired.

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Tha Recs of December 18, 2009

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:11:38 -0500

Track Six by The Gaslamp Killer
(found on Paul White's Similar Artist Radio)
(what should be a full track, but is persistently only a sample track streaming here)
this track switches up between gypsy caravan, 70s suave, turn tablism, and other random good things

Vertical Output by Dorian Concept
(found on Paul White's Similar Artist Radio)
(full track streaming here)
it does the looping repetitive thing, but there are rewards for the patient. fairly intense.
unexpected ending.

Shobra by Kutmah
(found on Paul White's Similar Artist Radio)
(full track streaming here)
I love love love love the percussion. I'm not so pleased with the buzzing tone that sounds periodically, nor the warbley vocals that waver in and out of the background. Are the drums worth it? Could someone edit that annoying bits out?

Aquarium by Nosaj Thing
(found on Paul White's Similar Artist Radio)
(full track streaming here)
electronic with acoustic guitar, cute elements without being a cutesy song

Surfing off the Coast of Mexico by Paul White
(found on Paul White's Similar Artist Radio)
(short sample streaming here)
I bookmarked this at work, and now I can only revisit it on this ridiculously short sample to try and describe it. The beat caught me. I have been checking out a lot by this artist recently and enjoying it quite a bit.

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Tha Recs of December 9, 2009

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:57:16 -0500

Stranger by Angus & Julia Stone
found on Fink's Similar Artist Radio
full track streaming here
this would be a good song to listen to while laying out on a hillside, possibly sampling a few blades of grass to chew

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where does coffee grow? the internet exploration tangent.

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:59:36 -0500

"In a band around the equator from approximately twenty five degrees north or south, comes the overwhelming majority of the world's coffee output. Temperatures of between 60F (15C) and 70F (21C) are perfect as is rainfall of six inches per month or more." [beverage answers]

"Loamy and good draining soil is needed and also of help is high humidity - an abundance of mist and cloud at the higher elevations, over 3000 ft (915m) for the good stuff. At these elevations the oxygen content is less, so the coffee trees take longer to mature." [beverage answers]

seeds, not beans, grown on tall trees inside of berries. berries!!

coffee flowers and berries

"Those two pounds equal approximately 2,000 coffee beans, usually hand picked by manual laborers. Manual they may be, but ignorant they are not. Coffee bean harvesting is a skill developed over time, where the picker learns to select the best beans and discard the bad. Bean by individual bean. That's only one reason coffee is high priced." [beverage answers]

bean by bean!!

"Blossom to harvest may cover a period of up to nine months depending on the weather and additional factors and the cycle will be carried out for the life of the tree - around 20-25 years. With the the best cultivation technology, a good harvest will be between 6,600 lbs (3,000 kg) and 8,800 lbs (4,000 kg) per hectare." [beverage answers]

what is a hectare?

"A hectare (symbol ha, pronounced /ˈhɛktɛər/) is a unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters." [wikipedia]

whoa.

"Even in countries that have undergone a general conversion from traditional English measurements to metric measurements (e.g. Canada), legal descriptions relating to land, which frequently use the acre, have not been converted, as doing so would require a resurvey of the land, an activity which would destabilize the security of land titles." [wikipedia]

security of land titles.... something i had never thought of. land moving? ancient surveying errors?

One hectare is equivalent to:
2.4710538 international acres
-or-
2.4710439 U.S. survey acres [wikipedia]

different measurements both called acres?

curious.

"One international acre is equal to 4,046.8564224 m². One U.S. survey acre is equal to 4,046.8726098 m²." [wikipedia]

that's a difference of only 0.174239723 square feet. [google calculator]

silly.

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Tha Recs of December 1, 2009

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:37:36 -0500

Amiss by The Long Lost
(found on Fink's Similar Artist Radio)
(full track streaming here)
one of those songs that is repetitive, but in its looping way it creates something wonderful. how it can also be both sad and chipper, is another strange phenomenon.

Update: purchased this cd on my trip to Bloomington. we tried to listen to it on the car ride back, but the speakers didn't play any of the midtones, which it turns out are essential for the cohesiveness of these songs.

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Planning to restore your antique motorcycle?

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:59:47 -0500

Of course you are. Henderson fanatics rejoice: the full catalog of parts available from Henderson Motorcycle Company of St. Louis is now online. Enjoy.

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too true

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:27:57 -0500

"like sands through the hourglass, so are the minutes of our friday."

-nh

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Muddy Thursday Mood

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:36:08 -0500

Getting stuck in the things that are fading, the friendships that have slipped through neglect and distance, place to go but no time to go. I need to make a disc of Neko Case and drive Columbia Parkway for a while to purge my system. Fall leaves, crisp air, something to clean out the dank regrets that are growing on the edges of my life.

Neko Case - Star Witness

Neko Case "If You Knew"

Neko Case "At Last" Pabst Theatre Milwaukee 3-30-06

neko case - look for me (I'll be around) @ central park

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Homemade Sugar/Salt Scrub

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:34:08 -0500

It's fall and my skin was feeling less than happy, so I decided to experiment with making an oily scrub using info from my Annie Bond book. I used 2 tablespoons of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of salt for the grainy, scrubber portion. The oil part of the recipe is where I ran into trouble. The recipes I read recommended grapeseed, apricot, or almond oil. My options on hand were coconut oil (very rich, and at cool room temperature it is a solid) or canola oil. Coconut it was! I also included a drop each of lavender and rosemary essential oils.

The result: Excellently scrubby. Sugar and salt dissolve in water, not oil, so my scrubby paste was perfectly gritty. The coconut oil was way too intense for this purpose. After using the paste, I had to soap off the excess oil. However, once that was done, there was just enough oil leftover to feel nice and moisturized.

I've got the remaining scrub stored in a canning jar ready for next time.

Update: Made another batch. This time I lightly ground the salt and sugar in my coffee grinder before mixing. The grains are much finer. Used it on my face.

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Relief Engraving

nobody@vox.com(imposterpockets) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:02:49 -0500

Gorgeous work by Bijoux Extraordinaire

Mandarin Garnet Secret Garden Ring
I never thought I would appreciate orange stones until I saw this band. Check out the darker orange circular stones hidden around the border.

Hand Engraved Band with Yellow Diamond
Similar surprise appreciation for this yellow stone (wouldn't have to be an unethical diamond, many other options to choose from). Very small. Very perfect.

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