Engineering Manager | Trail Runner | Stockholm, Sweden
Two days in a row as soon as I set foot outside it started raining. Yesterday I got soaked all suited up and today on my way to work on the bicycle. Now that I arrived it has stopped raining completely. It feels like I have one of those angry personal rain-clouds you can see in animations that follow the protagonist around. Mine is both figurative and - apparently - real.
The Echelon Effect is David Walters from London, UK. He makes instrumental epic-sounding post-rock tracks often tending towards chillout and ambient. Some of them are free to download from Last.fm, others are uploaded to Youtube. All songs, however, are available in lossless and lossy formats on Bandcamp on a name your price basis with no minimum set. Here are a few to try:
[audio:http://sesam.hu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/The-Echelon-Effect-Nobility-Of-Loneliness.mp3|titles=Nobility Of Loneliness]
[audio:http://sesam.hu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/The-Echelon-Effect-We-Will-Spin-Forever.mp3|titles=We Will Spin Forever]
[audio:http://sesam.hu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/The-Echelon-Effect-Your-First-Light-My-Eventide.mp3|titles=Your First Light My Eventide]
Stargazing melancholic post-rock music from Moscow. The one-man project's first EP was released on the Radio Hand Netlabel and downloadable for free, along with several other songs from Last.fm. Take your pick, or listen to Nozomi (望み/Wish) here:
[audio:http://sesam.hu/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Sleep-Dealer-Nozomi.mp3|titles=Nozomi]
A slight problem is that the EP's Rapidshare link is down and the Russian site wants people to look at ads first and whatnot. Using mad skills, black magic and a lot of Google translate I was able to grab the file, sparing you, dear readers, from the hassle: you can get The Way Home directly from sesam.hu. Happy listening!
I wonder what evolutionary benefit we get from enjoying the scalding hot water from the shower crashing against our heads and the water trickling down our backs so much. Otherwise why would it be such an awesome feeling?
There was absolutely nothing I fancied doing this afternoon. Being tired is one thing but I felt a sense of futility in everything I set out to do.
Rationalizing it as a financial decision I passed on the Khuda / Rosa Parks gig. I signed up for raiding instead and then promptly unsigned because I just couldn't make myself sit in front of a screen for another three and a half hours and do repetitive tasks. (We were going to learn a new heroic fight, quite akin to bashing your head to a solid concrete wall.) Then I drowsed for an hour, drifting between dream and reality, only I knew it would be a mistake to fall really asleep at only eight in the evening. I fired up Europa Universalis III (currently on sale on Steam) but I didn't get past the main menu. I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on the game anyway, I told myself.
Finally I resigned to do what I always do (apart from running) and did the teetering pile of washing up, scrubbed the sink, emptied the bins, replied long overdue emails and vacuumed the floor, like a good automaton.
The day before we agreed with a friend that people must crash into each other so badly because they are addicted to the euphoric feeling of being hugged.
Tomorrow morning it will hurt to wake up, but one does not simply walk into Mordor put A Clash of Kings down with fifty-odd pages to go at a quarter past two in the night.
"There are no men like me. There's only me." - Jaime Lannister
While I was vacationing at Lake Balaton, magical things have happened in Budapest. I wish I had more money when the tickets went on sale. Something tells me this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. When legends go on stage, it looks like this:
If you have a melancholic monday, put the new Nohopekids EP on. This fast-paced lo-fi garage punk is sure to shake up anyone. According to Piresian Beach Zsófi, it's like The Stooges, or 60s protopunk albums. All nine tracks are downloadable from bandcamp.
It seems I'm destined to be the one who has to swallow the sour grapes, as always. Something is clearly amiss, would1 that I knew what.
1 Reading too much Game of Thrones.
Tantrum to Blind is a Swedish pop-punk band whom I heard about on WoW. It turned out that the brother of one of my guild mates is the bassist. They have a weird video featuring a stuffed bear and Stockholm scenes. Unfortunately no free songs.