Around the blogosphere

A few remarkable events in the outside blogspheric world that I inhabit. First, followers of drone and related musics probably have run across the Absurd label, run out of Athens, Greece and documenting many well known artists over the last decade, always in very small releases. Recently Mr. Absurd has started a blog where he's putting up some of the original Absurd releases, from CD-R and cassette, all long out of print. His most recent entry is one of Michael Northam's, From Within the Solar Cave, released in 2001 in an edition of 500. On the noisier side, it's a great release showing Northam's geologic sonic layering, and well worth a listen. I don't usually have pointers to download sites, but since this is the label owner making his otherwise extinct materials available, I figure it's okay. Browse through his blog archive, there are many other related releases that might hold some interest.

Second, about a month ago, fellow blogger Brian Olewnick kindly included your humble servant in a post about blogs he deemed worthy of general consideration. One of the bloggers that Brian admired but excluded for posting paucity was Richard Pinnell, who runs the Cathnor label, home of various releases that deserve their own notices. Richard has risen to Brian's bait, resolving to write a post every day for at least a year, and has been true to his word for several weeks now. The Watchful Ear has thoughtful essays about the music that Richard has heard during the day, often with links to freely available releases. His posts have become a highlight of my daily blogosphere rounds, and I have added The Watchful Ear to my blogroll.

Finally, back in 2007, several members of my family took a resolution to take a photograph every day and post it on a web site. Each month was devoted to a different theme, and for a while I had links to all the sites here. My wife and I stopped in 2008, but this year, one family member (the only professional musician) is recording a sound a day and posting them on his blog, as well as having a branch of his label's site devoted to the project. It started as pure field recording, but now has expanded to little loops from his studio, and is a brief reminder to stop and pay attention to the world around us. Also worth following, so I've added Taylor to the blogroll as well.