10 Mar

EugeneKha – [2010] River Songs

This week’s review is about a great piece of Ambient “World” music released at the magnificent Clinical Archives netlabel, a steady source of “eclectic and illogical music”. Its selft-proclaimed aim is to broaden the definition of music.

EugeneKha’s River Songs are not attempt in this direction, but they are a dozen well-crafted ambient songs with a distinct sound with various ethnic and cultural influences. In the following are 3 previews of my favourite songs as well as the obligatory download link. More »

03 Mar

DESERTEC studies: TRANS-CSP

In a previous post I wrote about MED-CSP, a study being part of the DESERTEC project which outlines a scenario for generating huge amounts of electricity by means of Concentrating Solar Power applied in the Mediterranean region. CSP stands for solar thermal power plants which do not operate with the photovoltaic effect used in solar cells, but for using the solar radiation to directly heat a medium—typically a fluid—which then is used to propel an ordinary steam turbine like used in fossil fuel or nuclear power plants.

While the last post focused on the MED-CSP study which explores the technical potential for generating electricity, this article deals with the transmission of a part of this energy to Middle and Northern Europe where it can substitute fossil fuels. More »

24 Feb

Aleksi Virta – [2004] ..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge

Relaxed vibe entering your ears! This ultra-cool release at Monotonik — which sadly is on hiatus at the moment — is really great background music with attitude. It features funky beats and chords, sometimes accompanied by fitting recordings of miscellaneous voices. As usual, I present 3 of my favourite tracks which are described in detail while you can listen to them. More »

17 Feb

Desktop Wallpapers III

This time the footage for these wallpapers in Full HD resolution origins from the Museum of Man and Nature in Munich. It is located in the Northern part of Nymphenburg palace. The museum became widely known for its exhibition of the brown bear JJ1, called Bruno in the German press.

Apart from some stuffed animals in impressive sceneries the museum deals with the origin of the universe, the solar system and earth. Additionally it houses a fantastic interactive exhibition on both local and exotic animals and plants—not only—for children.

Third and finally it houses a fantastic collection of crystals and fossil stones, which I photographed, cropped and uploaded here. I hope you like them and leave a comment if they land on your desktop.

10 Feb

Pokett – [2004] Your Picture Here

Stephane Garry is the man behind the name Pokett, having released this wonderful 4 track EP on the Sundays in Spring netlabel. It is all about dreamy folk music and ears full of emotional guitar chord carpets. Forget Jack Johnson or Conor Oberst, I like this album much better. It reminds me a bit of Newton Faulkner’s “Handbuilt by Robots”, however it lacks pop music genes. But listen yourself to my two favourite tracks (and download the whole release, of course)… More »

27 Jan

Various Artists – [2004] Swingin’ Singles

Various Artists – [2004] Swingin’ Singles

The Comfort Stand netlabel is one of the strangest out there. It doesn’t focus on experimental sound in the sense of noise, bleep and clicking sounds, but in terms of a colourful mixture of artists, genres and styles. One song is a typical pop song, the next one would fit a ghost ride or seems to be written by someone on drugs. This release is a double album presenting the whole range of strangeness you can find in other releases by this label. More »

20 Jan

Various Artists – [2008] So Much Achieved. So Much Left To Do.

Various Artists - [2008] So Much Achieved. So Much Left To Do.

This album is the 50th release of the netlabel 12rec. from Germany. It covers the range of the label which mainly publishes experimental guitar music with a touch of folk. 17 different tracks wait to be discovered. I present my three favourites in the following. More »

13 Jan

Visit to Vienna

Michaelsplatz

Last week I visited Austria’s capital city for the first time in my life. While the weather was not very pleasing — to say the least — Vienna itself kept its promise. It has a historic centre with many magnificent buildings like the “Burg” theatre, the opera. The town hall resembles a church with its many towers. Various churches and cathedrals wait to be visited, what I did with St. Stephan’s Cathedral, St. Charles’s Church. The culturally interested finds many museums and sights like Hunderwasser’s house. I visited also MUMOK, the museum for modern art. Its building resembles a monolithic black block from the outside.

30 Dec

DESERTEC studies: MED-CSP

This article originates from a presentation given by Hani El Nokraschy, one of the leading persons of the DESERTEC foundation. He presented the foundation’s vision towards a sustainable generation of electrical energy and drinking water around the Mediterranean Sea for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. His presentation covered the three main studies called MED-CSP, TRANS-CSP and AQUA-CSP. CSP stands for Concentrating Solar Power and is the key technology for exploiting the huge potential of solar energy that shines on Africa’s deserts. More »

25 Dec

Desktop Wallpapers II

Time for a new batch of desktop wallpapers. This time I have switched the resolution to 1920×1080. The “texture” series are slightly to strongly edited photos from single-coloured objects. I hope you enjoy them.