Oh Right More Drum n’ Bass
Posted on March 7th, 2023
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 1:48 pm
Yep, as we wrap up a long winter, here’s something to warm y’all up.
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Everything Old is New Again
Posted on December 24th, 2022
Filed under: Code,General — Karl Olson @ 4:03 pm
I remember setting up a LiveJournal crossposter for my blog, now it’s a ActivityPub plugin. Let’s see if it worked.
Edit: not looking good.
Edit Edit: Yeah, I think I’ll turn this off until it’s something inbuilt to WordPress.
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An album, social media implosion
Posted on November 23rd, 2022
Filed under: General,Music News,Videos — Karl Olson @ 12:53 am
First, the last point: everything social I’m doing/have done should be in this hyperfollow link, or at least that’s my plan. I’m leaning towards Mastodon though. Still, open to other parachutes, probably actively posting about them on my accounts too.
Finally, the opener: Yes, still more Drum n’ Bass. “Thank You Resume Speed” is in all of the usual places, including bandcamp.
PS: finally got 500 YouTube Subscribers after 500 14(?) years. Thanks for listening.
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Seasonal Music Update (Happy Halloween)
Posted on October 29th, 2022
Filed under: Music News,Videos — Karl Olson @ 6:10 pm
I’ll do another post soon, but for now, enjoy this track about the best holiday decoration for any holiday, the 12 Foot Skeleton:
Youtube:
Bandcamp (Free Download):
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Some Discovery Warner Implosion Thoughts
Posted on August 19th, 2022
Filed under: Code,General — Karl Olson @ 5:21 pm
I have been tweeting a lot about the endless cancellations/shelving/write-offs/whatever going on over at Discovery/WB. Until yesterday, I was mostly thinking of it purely as just a fan or at most, a long-time, amateur, industry observer/occasional podcast talking-head. Sure, by happenstance, I am very lucky and happy to have made a few friends in animation and localization, but generally, it all felt like a disaster in the distance, as previous entertainment industry management failures have for me.
Then Discovery started shelving if not fully memory-holing a bunch of shows that weren’t as far from me as I thought, at least once I thought about it. Victor & Valentino had development and storyboard work from my great friend and Storyboard Pro code collaborator Corey Barnes. Infinity Train had storyboard work from Marie Lum, who once kindly said the Storyboard Pro scripts that Corey & I built were worthy of a Winsor McCay Animation Lifetime Achievement award: a level of praise I never expected for any code I’d write.
Ruminating on those connections changed the context. This debacle is all at a very different distance than when I used to complain about TV network mismanagement as an aimless, 20-something forum-goer turned volunteer animation critic & forum mod. Sure, that also meant I was very aware of folks moving on to new roles and new opportunities; by and large, I know this won’t instantly throw people out in the cold. However, more than I’d ever had known previously, I was keenly aware of just how much work was being cast into limbo as I’d literally had helped reduce the work load with the only relevant talent I could contribute. All these realizations did was make me more upset at how callous and unjust the rules around intellectual property and copyrights owned by companies are. The artists and their fans deserve better.
So, while I usually don’t get so heavy, I want to take a moment to say if one your favorite shows is being caught up in all of this, and if the artists who made it have any direct support options – commissions, ko-fi, gumroad, patreon, etc. – now’s a good time to lend a hand, if only emotionally, if not materially, by taking advantage of those options. Further still, we need to agitate for changes in copyright and IP write offs such that that works intentionally orphaned via said write-offs either return to the original creatives, or go instantly into the public domain such that it still frees the original creators, the greater staff and even fans to distribute and celebrate these works, so they are not lost to time. I dearly hope reform like that happens, and that, as I have to admit myself, is no longer me pontificating as someone on the sidelines, but as someone who at least helped people play the game a little bit, and would like to see a system that encourages their endeavors, not one that squanders them for single quarter’s balance sheet.
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Thanks Bots
Posted on May 22nd, 2022
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 3:59 pm
A mostly complete mirror of music (barring subscriber exclusives & stuff I never put back on Bandcamp) is now up on archive.org thanks to a friendly bot. Call it the creative commons at work.
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Bandcamp, Epic & Me
Posted on March 2nd, 2022
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 10:44 am
Okay. So in case you missed it, Bandcamp was just bought by Epic Games. Long story short, it doesn’t look like anything is going to change here any time soon at Bandcamp according to the hagiographic press release/blog post they made about it.
As such, I’m going to let things ride for now. Like many of you, I have major concerns about the cut that Bandcamp takes going up the chain to Epic & its major investor Tencent, but honestly, I was never happy to deal with PayPal all the time either. That’s always kind of been a trade off with e-commerce, though the history of Bandcamp’s new corporate parents rightfully gives many people pause. If you’re among them, I understand and support you 100% if you no longer want to support artists via Bandcamp. However, so long as Bandcamp isn’t making artists and listeners do anything that seems any different to the current deal here, it is probably still the best place to support me and any other musician who offers music through that platform, for better or worse.
Conversely, should being on Bandcamp ever force me or y’all into a deal that’s harmful, in whatever form that could take, then I will fold up shop here, or should that some how be an even greater risk, I will heavily encourage everyone to shop elsewhere by any means available to me. I’ll redirect the ultraklystron.com domain too, and I’ll post another update like this with my next steps if things go sideways due to Epic/Bandcamp.
Still, I want to thank you all again for supporting me via Bandcamp since 2009. I hope we all can continue that, and if not, I’m right there with you all. I’ve been through this often over the past 20 years ago with mp3 dot com, amp3 dot com, ampcast, myspace, etc. If this is another loss, at least I can tell you with some certainty that someone, somewhere will eventually find that to be an opportunity to do something good for us all again.
Unrelated: is anyone familiar with selling albums on itch.io? Contact me.
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Oops More Drum n’ Bass
Posted on February 17th, 2022
Filed under: Music News,Videos — Karl Olson @ 11:55 am
It keeps happening. 10 more 174bpm Drum n’ Bass rollers. Candy themed naming because I am really running through ideas here. Also, I think the LP sounds sweet, ha.
Also on all of the major music stores and streaming services.
And the easy youtube full LP version:
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Back On My Drum & Bass Thing Once Again
Posted on August 1st, 2021
Filed under: Music News,Videos — Karl Olson @ 11:45 pm
Also on:
YouTube, Audius, Apple, Amazon, Spotify and probably more. Also YouTube but as one long video with no ads. Though it’s a free download on Bandcamp.
Swear I named this album well before that 10 out of 10 review. Just ask my Bandcamp subscribers/fan club members who have had this LP for months.
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A New Interview With Yours Truly
Posted on July 23rd, 2021
Filed under: Music News — Karl Olson @ 10:21 am
Yep, Nick de Reiger, one of the fine folks over at Gaming Boulevard did an extensive interview with me about my new album Karlland, my thoughts on Nerdcore, my production process, how Hyperpop came into my mix of genres, plus thoughts on video games, anime and manga. It’s a long read, but I think it’s a pretty good one!