"Iceworld" [mp3 removed]
Finished most of this a few days ago but was stuck. Listening to that tracker music for 24 hours provided some ideas for how to resolve it. The gritty quality here is not low sample rate but possibly a blown amp on the Mutator filter distorting an already gnarly stretched-out and gated sample. It needed a pretty, "icy" melody floating on top to pull it together--or almost pull it together; the incongruity is important.
Johnny Sunshine is a regular volunteer singer for SKFTB (Super Karaoke Fun Time Band). A star is born: [YouTube]
(he looks like Val Kilmer and moves like Iggy Pop--psychedelic guitar slides in the break by Otis Ball)
The video features adventurous camera work in an echt-New York metro area setting.
Long but well-told explanation by Michael Lewis of the mass cognitive dissonance that led to the current financial crisis. Lewis wrote the book Liar's Poker, about his experiences as a trader during the '80s financial madness. He thought the insanity had ended but now says current events make that period seem quaint. Junk bond shenanigans again--but this time in connection with even more dubious financial instruments based on home lending. What--house prices wouldn't keep going up forever? Who knew?
[hat tip backspin]
