Derek's Dime Museum

Link: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663530/did-the-uncanny-valley-kill-disneys-cgi-company

Great article on the uncanny valley in CGI and motion capture.

I'm just listening to the "Ventures in Space", which is probably their best offering after the first couple of Ventures LP's. It's an outstanding record, way beyond the usual Ventures album and it rarely gets the notice it deserves...  It's highly collectible now, so some people know how good this is…  Here's my review…

side one:

"Outer Limits", a good take on the theme song.

"He Never Came Back", strange and eerie like a Frankie Stein and the Ghouls track.

"Fear" wordless jazz, creepy guitars, what else do you want?

side two

The track "The Bat" is amazing, much like "The Cramps", so very dark...

"Love Goddess of Venus" sounds to my ears a lot like Blondie's "In the Flesh" off of their first LP.

"Solar Race" is science-fiction by way of spaghetti western.

"The Fourth Dimension" has being featured on a lot of garage punk and instrumental compilations, but never credited to the The Ventures.  Are they are too mainstream for these guys? Still a great tune...

"The Twilight Zone" is a great take on the theme song.  With a different pacing and eerie female vocals.

A lot of people think this LP from 1987 was the end of  SPK.  The reality is that there are very few commercial tracks on this LP, basically it's the first three on side one.  Everything else is great and you should give this a listen

I've always been a big of Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, but I'm just listening to Yellow Magic Orchestra from 1979 and I swear the track La Femme Chinoise contains the best riff from OMD's Genetic Engineering.  and it's just a throwaway…

Electronic Music: Turnabout 1965

Interesting artifact with meeping, UFO sounds  and noise, includes some very dark moments from the dawn of the synth.  Good test for your turntable.  Features Walter Carlos.  Some of this sounds current.

Susan Jacks: I Thought of You Again 1973

On the Poppy Family label, Goldfish.   I really love Susan Jacks voice.  Produced by Terry Jacks.  Thanks to Yamaha Canada for the Arp...

MC5: Kick Out the Jams 1968

I've been holding off on buying this for a long time, trying to get the uncensored track, but this is the "brothers and sisters" version.  Heavy heavy stuff.  Detroit of this era had a sound like no other.  The Stooges were the other big band from Detroit, and are originals in their own right.   You can hear this sound as a  big influence on early Alice Cooper and Kiss.