#Bandcamp Union

[soapdispensersalesman]

[genderoutlaws]

Another union shout out — Bandcamp workers are organizing with Tech Workers Union Local 1010 and need your support! Email ethan@bandcamp.com with your support for the workers and their right to organize, and follow Bandcamp United on twitter to keep up with their campaign for equity in the workplace.

edit: embedded link to their linktree !

[homestuck-music-tournament]

Umbral Ultimatum

Album: Homestuck Vol. 6: Heir Transparent Composer: Toby Fox Leitmotifs: Penumbra Phantasm, Unbreakable Union, Courser, Sburban Jungle, Carefree, Homestuck Characters: Jade Harley, Becquerel, Jack Noir, Bec Noir, Bro Strider, Lil Cal, Davesprite, Karkat Vantas

You may know this from:

[S] Jade: Enter.

[S] Enter. (From MSPFA "Sburb: Refresh")

[S] Jade: Enter - 3D REANIMATION (Reanimation by Ichellor)

[nugothrhythms]

I like how literally the day I dropped my Bandcamp United video, they have more news.

[burlveneer-music]

VA - Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia - new compilation from Ostinato Records

Compiled from ultra-rare dead stock pressed at a Soviet-era vinyl plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this first-of-its-kind fully licensed album features a supreme selection of Uzbek disco, Tajik electronic folk, Uyghur guitar licks, Crimean Tatar jazz, Korean brass, and genre-defying styles from Soviet Central Asia. Drop the needle, and you're not just hearing rare Soviet dance music. You're journeying along the Silk Roads, revisiting raucous USSR disco nights, and immersing in grooves that inspired Soviet youth to envision a different future, ultimately unraveling the Iron Curtain from within.

About the vinyl release:

Not a gatefold, but a trifold. A gatefold has 2 panels when you open up the LP package, a trifold has—you guessed it—3 in the center spread, along with one more panel adjoined to the front and back cover. A comprehensive historical package complete with rare 1970s & 80s photos from the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere in Central Asia.

[bandcampsnoop]

2/7/25.

Back in 2022, I mentioned in a post how from that moment forward I would, from that moment forward, mention C Duncan (Glasgow, Scotland) in any post about "sophisticated pop". Well, clearly I didn't. C(hris) Duncan doesn't show up again in any search. What a shame.

"It's Only A Love Song" is Duncan's new album on Bella Union. It is still beautifully sophisticated, but this album has touches of the Carpenters and Weyes Blood. There's still plenty of sounds and style that recall Neil Hannon/The Divine Comedy's finest efforts. And I can hear echoes of Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard.

And finally, since we're talking Glasgow - this also reminds me of the orchestral sounds sometimes employed by BMX Bandits.

[madc0w]

Listen/purchase: Drown by Park Praga

album

[biddyfox]

BOYMODERS UNION, ONE YEAR LATER

a year (+6 days) ago i released this album. boymoders union is an album about anxiety. it ended up representing it in more ways than I ever intended but that's fine, sometimes art does that

a concept record, it was intended as a commentary on commodification of subculture and a criticism of hedonism, but also a kind of deliberately silly and over-the-top cyberpunk thing. it presents this anxious dystopic absurd party future in its first half and contrasts it in the second half with an escape to the wilderness, more natural sounds, guitars. it's only the first half of the story it was meant to tell, but even its minor popularity led to me not wanting to finish it.

it's about an ambiguously voluntary cybernetically immortal mindwiped prostitute who escapes captivity to become a hired gun and search for a purpose in life. it was based on a character outline I wrote for a TTRPG that never got started. the world of this album is kind of like, all art has been colonized and even the most transgressive self expression is re-aimed towards thoughtless hedonism and desensitization, turned into consumer fashion. art and branding are no longer separate, unmarketability is extinct. common and easy methods of reviving the dead plummet the value of human life, allowing ultraviolence to reign. it's kind of pulpy, inspired by FPS plots, except it's an album instead.

the music is like, really diverse influences, IDM, chiptune, experimental hip hop, indie rock, breakbeat. a recurring musical element is complex post-hardcore style guitar imitated by various default MIDI sounds. the element that draws it together is overwhelming volume and density. it's loud and layered, which was fun to do.

I didn't take the response to this album well and have had a complex relationship to it since but reevaluating it has made me realize that I kind of fucking love it. I'm really proud of this record. I want people to listen to it and I'm glad they did.

[gothmusiclatinamerica]

I did an off-topic video this week!

There has been some speculation going around about what exactly has been going on with Bandcamp and the union that the workers are a part of, Bandcamp United, over the past few months. I just thought I would summarize it to the best of my abilities.

The links to follow BandcampUnited and support the healthcare fund are in the video description.

[soapdispensersalesman]

[fragile-practice]

Week in Review

October 23rd-29th

Welcome to Fragile Practice, where I attempt to make something of value out of stuff I have to read.

My future plan is to do longer-form original pieces on interesting topics or trends. For now, I'm going to make the weekly reviews habitual and see if I have any time left.

Technology

OpenAI forms team to study ‘catastrophic’ AI risks, including nuclear threats - Tech Crunch; Kyle Wiggers

OpenAI launched a new research team called AI Safety and Security to investigate the potential harms of artificial intelligence focused on AI alignment, AI robustness, AI governance, and AI ethics.

Note: Same energy as “cigarette company funds medical research into smoking risks”.

Artists Allege Meta’s AI Data Deletion Request Process Is a ‘Fake PR Stunt’ - Wired; Kate Knibbs

Artists who participated in Meta’s Artificial Intelligence Artist Residency Program accused the company of failing to honor their data deletion requests and claim that Meta used their personal data to train its AI models without their consent.

Note: Someday we will stop being surprised that corporate activities without obvious profit motive are all fake PR stunts.

GM and Honda ditch plan to build cheaper electric vehicles - The Verge; Andrew J. Hawkins

General Motors and Honda cancel their joint venture to develop and produce cheaper electric vehicles for the US market, citing the chip shortage, rising costs of battery materials, and the changing market conditions.

Note: What are the odds this isn’t related to the 7 billion dollars the US government announced to create hydrogen hubs.

'AI divide' across the US leaves economists concerned - The Register; Thomas Claburn

A new study by economists from Harvard University and MIT reveals a significant gap in AI adoption and innovation across different regions in the US.

The study finds that AI usage is highest in California's Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, but was also noted in Nashville, San Antonio, Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Diego, and Tampa, as well as Riverside, Louisville, Columbus, Austin, and Atlanta.

Nvidia to Challenge Intel With Arm-Based Processors for PCs - Bloomberg; Ian King

Nvidia is using Arm technology to develop CPUs that would challenge Intel processors in PCs, and which could go on sale as soon as 2025.

Note: I am far from an NVIDIA fan, but I’m stoked for any amount of new competition in the CPU space.

New tool lets artists fight AI image bots by hiding corrupt data in plain sight - Engadget; Sarah Fielding

A team at the University of Chicago created Nightshade, a tool that lets artists fight AI image bots by adding undetectable pixels into an image that can alter how a machine-learning model produces content and what that finished product looks like.

Nightshade is intended to protect artists work and has been tested on both Stable Diffusion and an in-house AI built by the researchers.

IBM's NorthPole chip runs AI-based image recognition 22 times faster than current chips - Tech Xplore; Bob Yirka

NorthPole combines the processing module and the data it uses in a two-dimensional array of memory blocks and interconnected CPUs, and is reportedly inspired by the human brain.

NorthPole can currently only run specialized AI processes and not training processes or large language models, but the researchers plan to test connecting multiple chips together to overcome this limitation.

Apple’s $130 Thunderbolt 4 cable could be worth it, as seen in X-ray CT scans - Ars Technica; Kevin Purdy

Note: These scans are super cool. And make me feel somewhat better about insisting on quality cables. A+.

The Shifting Web

On-by-default video calls come to X, disable to retain your sanity - The Register; Brandon Vigliarolo

Video and audio calling is limited to anyone you follow or who is in your address book, if you granted X permission to comb through it.

Calling other users also requires that they’ve sent at least one direct message to you before.

Only premium users can place calls, but everyone can receive them.

Google Search Boss Says Company Invests to Avoid Becoming ‘Roadkill’ - The New York Times; Nico Grant

Google’s senior vice president overseeing search said that he sees a world of threats that could humble his company at any moment.

Google Maps is getting new AI-powered search updates, an enhanced navigation interface and more - Tech Crunch; Aisha Malik

Note: These AI recommender systems are going to be incredibly valuable advertising space. It is interesting that Apple decided to compete with Google in maps but not in basic search, but has so far not placed ads in the search results.

Reddit finally takes its API war where it belongs: to AI companies - Ars Technica; Scharon Harding

Reddit met with generative AI companies to negotiate a deal for being paid for its data, and may block crawlers if no deal is made soon.

Note: Google searches for info on Reddit often seem more effective than searching Reddit itself.  If they are unable to make a deal, and Reddit follows through, it will be a legitimate loss for discoverability but also an incredibly interesting experiment to see what Reddit is like without Google.

Bandcamp’s Entire Union Bargaining Team Was Laid Off - 404 Media; Emanuel Maiberg

Bandcamp’s new owner (Songtradr) offered jobs to just half of existing employees, with cuts disproportionately hitting union leaders. Every member of the union’s eight-person bargaining team was laid off, and 40 of the union's 67 members lost their jobs.

Songtradr spokesperson Lindsay Nahmiache claimed that the firm didn’t have access to union membership information.

Note: This just sucks. Bandcamp is rad, and it’s hard to imagine it continuing to be rad after this. I wonder if Epic had ideas for BC that didn’t work out.

Surveillance & Digital Privacy

Mozilla Launches Annual Digital Privacy 'Creep-o-Meter'. This Year's Status:  'Very Creepy' - Slashdot

Mozilla gave the current state of digital privacy a 75.6/100, with 100 being the creepiest.

They measured security features, data collection, and data sharing practices of over 500 gadgets, apps, and cars to come up with their score.

Every car Mozilla tested failed to meet their privacy and security standards.

Note: It would be great if even one auto brand would take privacy seriously.

EPIC Testifies in Support of Massachusetts Data Privacy and Protection Act -Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

Massachusetts version of ADPPA.

Note: While it may warm my dead heart to see any online privacy protections in law, scrambling to do so in response to generative AI is unlikely to protect Americans in any meaningful way from the surveillance driven form of capitalism we’ve all been living under for decades.

Complex Spy Platform StripedFly Bites 1M Victims - Dark Reading

StripedFly is a complex platform disguised as a cryptominer and evaded detection for six years by using a custom version of EternalBlue exploit, a built-in Tor network tunnel, and trusted services like GitLab, GitHub, and Bitbucket to communicate with C2 servers and update its functionality.

iPhones have been exposing your unique MAC despite Apple's promises otherwise - Ars Technica

A privacy feature which claimed to hide the Wi-Fi MAC address of iOS devices when joining a network was broken since iOS 14, and was finally patched in 17.1, released on Wednesday.

Note: I imagine this bug was reported a while ago, but wasn’t publically reported until the fix was released as a term of apple’s bug bounty program.

What the !#@% is a Passkey? - Electronic Frontier Foundation

Note: I welcome our passkey overlords.

[homestuck-music-tournament]

An Unbreakable Union

Album: Homestuck Vol. 5 Composer: Kalibration Leitmotifs: Unbreakable Union Characters: Jade Harley, Becquerel

You might know this from:

[S] Jade: Retrieve package.

[nugothrhythms]

"The Ghost Inside You" by Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada-based gothic doom rock one-man-band The Necromancers Union off of 2021 album Flesh of the Dead

[thoughtportal]

We are Bandcamp United - a union of workers across all departments at Bandcamp committed to advocating for a better Bandcamp for all, including our international colleagues and the artists, labels, and fans who use the platform as well as ourselves.

[rustbeltjessie]

Listen/purchase: 100,000 Midnight Special Cigarettes by Oakland Wine Drinkers Union

We met on a Monday We kissed and we danced I couldn't keep myself away from you We quickly began a whirlwind romance What do folks on a limited timeframe do? 'Cept smoke 100,000 Midnight Special cigarettes And drink, drink, drink their wine And pray they don't wind up with too many regrets And end each night feeling wore-out and fine

—

It’s my and my partner’s anniversary week—we met/got together 14 years ago as of June 1, and got married 13 years ago tomorrow (June 5). This is a song I wrote for the band we were in together—along with our best Emchy—about that first week we spent together back in 2009.