This week’s release is a DJ mix set released at the Sonic Walker netlabel. It features 12 tracks from the netlabel rec72 (which should not be confused with the 12rec. netlabel). The covered genres range from dark ambient stuff to breaky IDM. Tracks by Zoe.LeelA also feature vocals. I would suggest it for a cool evening at the computer.
For my diploma thesis I needed an easy-to-use optimisation algorithm which could minimise a given function. I had access to Matlab, but surprisingly, none of the supplied optimisation functions seemed to satisfy my needs: I wanted to globally minimise a non-linear function within boundaries without using gradients.
So I did a little research and found a Globalized Nelder-Mead method, which is a tuned version of the good old downhill simplex algorithm. Then I implemented it as a Matlab function. By the way: the function also works fine with Octave.
A unique performance, made available to everyone. Often wrongly described as the first Swing concert, the The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Concert by Benny Goodman is a milestone in the history of Jazz concerts. Just listen to the final track of the concert and you know what I mean. (The cover image is self-made with an image of Benny Goodman from 1971.)
Formula typesetting can be a tedious work in most typewriter software. Word (here: Version 2003) is no excuse. When you are — like me — forced to use this software for writing technical reports containing formulas, then this tip might be useful for you. The “typical” way of writing formulas is creating formula objects which can be edited by a double click on them. However, as soon as a document contains many of those objects, their handling becomes uncomfortable because they don’t behave like their surrounding text.
But there is another, almost perfectly hidden feature which allows to typeset easy formulas as real text which respects text formatting styles: Equation fields.
Peter van Riet is an incredibly talented musician from Belgium. Fortunately, he built on that talent and studied Classical piano, followed by supplement courses in harmonics and composition. The results of this effort are partially for download on his homepage. He first names Craig Armstrong in his list of artists that influenced him. And that is hearable in his only major release I found so far. It is a piano-dominated masterpiece between cinematic soundtrack and “modern classical” compositions. It is difficult to select only three tracks in the following as a listening example, because the whole album is too good to be free. But don’t believe me unheard! Get dazzled!
Alpha point is a music project originating from a Russian electro band. Their style has influences of Depeche Mode, combined with dance floor compatible beats and straight industrial guitar riffs. The result is not a complex composition, but honest, enjoyable techno songs. They have have released several singles and albums on the internet archive. Here, I review their latest single release High Like The Angels which features four different versions of this songs plus the bonus single God’s Anger. Listen to my favourite picks and download the album, if you like it.
Some new high-definition wallpapers. Subject this time is wood. The first three wallpapers are more texture-like, while the last two show also objects: a conifere and a green bottle. All images are photos taken myself, cropped and a little edited with the free image editing software Paint.NET. (I pretty much like the photo filters…)
Free online music is still often linked to eclectic, weird and experimental music. This rock album from 2006, recorded by the band Deadspin is a good counter-example of artists who offer their first release for free. In September 2009, their second album Little Birds Are Like Bullets was published at Split Infinity. In between, several live acts were added to the Internet Archive. As I only review free music here, I stick to Deadspin EP. But have a listen to their new album on the band’s homepage,too! I would compare their sound to a mixture of Coldplay and Sting, but only to give you a rough estimate on how they sound without hearing them, what you can do in the following:
More colourless desktop wallpapers: this time in all glorious grey tones. As usual they all have full high-definition resolution. The first picture (im)perfect day is a reprise of one of my favourite pictures called perfect day I already released some time ago.
perfect-day-grey.jpg "(im)perfect day")
It’s time for some dry, abstract IDM music. This album by the artist Old Bear reminds me of the style of Pluxus whose song Transient you might know already from a Ford TV commercial. The Cologne based netlabel rec72 serves a delicious meal of self-entitled Abstract Hip Hop. Have a quick listen to my favourite tracks and find out if it is your taste, too.
Hi, I am a student of electrical engineering. I am interested in technical stuff like computers and the internet. My non-technical interests include films, photography, some sports and philosophy. My special hobby is my digital music collection. About & Contact
