A soft guitar leads the way into this cozy yet challenging refuge for the mind. Yes, at times this song feels like a shelter. At other times, the shelter is blown away and we’re left experiencing the storm in its unfolding furious beauty. The composition is diverse and the melody goes through several transformations during the song’s 8 minutes, always managing to keep the ear busy and satisfied.
Thanks to climate-change skeptics, we’ve been fortunate to have a lot of talented, driven people doing great research that proves how real and dangerous global warming really is. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, the media has turned the frequent updates from the scientific community into a deluge of climate change news, which led to the audience developing a sort of selective hearing when it comes to this topic. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard it all before”. But hey, here on Mentatul I need to address dozens of topics while keeping at roughly post per week. This forces me to only post about climate change roughly twice per year.
Two articles are the reason for this post. The first one is about farts. Cow farts to be precise. The methane that they contain, to be even more precise, and how it affects global warming.
The second article provides a rather appalling prognosis for our future. And it’s not even “the worst case scenario”. I’m sorry to say, but given all the statistics I’ve seen recently, it seems to be that the following article is presenting a future that has a high probability of becoming reality. And I see very few governments do anything about it, especially when it comes to the world’s biggest polluters.
Aliens came to Earth some years ago, descended upon Mexico City and, together with two talented musicians, created this little trip for us. It’s true! This is exactly the sort of music aliens are listening to when they sledge it around the galaxy in their party cruiser – mysterious spacey synths, excellent percussion and the all-conquering God-drum. This is a solid thumper that (in my not so humble opinion) shouldn’t be missing from any decent electronica collection.
It is said that “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. Well here’s one guy that did something about the mind poison that is racism (the illusion of separation, taken to the extreme). Some months ago, in the midst of racial tensions at the Air Force Academy, general Jay Silveria delivered a convincing and moving speech against racism.
It’s difficult to make contemporary music work well with symphonic arrangements, but these guys pulled it off quite beautifully on this song. The orchestra is diverse, but used sparingly, increasing its charm and effect. Kelli Dayton’s voice is a pleasure to wrap the ear in. It’s quite hard to believe this song is already 20 years old.
Once upon a time, governments were major stakeholders in most large-scale technological and scientific ventures. Such projects were either built directly by the government, or by companies in which the people had a lot of say. But all that is far behind us. Now-a-days, government isn’t exactly “the people” anymore. And now, it’s corporations who build the telecommunication infrastructure for tomorrow.
I find it rather sad that as I’m typing this, I am pondering which is worse: having my digital life in the hands of corporations that will exploit it however they see fit, or (/and?) allowing governments to keep encroaching on our privacy and freedom? It’s becoming harder to distinguish between the two, especially as corporations have proven time and again that they can easily buy government.
Throughout the past years there have been several high-profile occasions when apps were in the news for questionable tracking strategies. Even applications that do not use novel means of compromising our privacy are gobbling up increasing amounts of data while their creators cash in on the profits obtained from selling the user’s digital life to the highest bidder. At the receiving end of this deluge of spyware are we, the people.
Even for those of us that do read the list of permissions an app requests upon installation, it is hard to avoid installing certain apps because they come with other features that we need. It’s an old trick that is akin to the Trojan horse. This is how these dubious app creators get in our back yard: by offering something that is 90% useful and 10% spyware, but which must be accepted as a whole.
What happens when sweet verses meet a vulnerable, honest voice to bless their words and a sprawling, effervescent electronic orchestration? The result is a tune that is absolutely… nutritious. The words are food for thought and the crunchy sound textures are like a shower for the eardrum.
When you’re in search for beautiful vocals coupled with a strong and evocative voice, look no further than Delerium. One day, I’d like to dance this song together with you. Yes, with you, You!
Whenever news comes in about some sort of data breach or hacked service, we’re often treated with pictures of the assumed perpetrators and the way their office (bedroom? garage?) looks. Mentatul managed to get in touch with some of these unique people. They were happy that somebody is interested in their private lives and difficult working conditions.
This is one little marvelous dark gem. It serves its goods on the same plate with pinpricks of lighter, lively sounds, but these are only offered to emphasize the overall somber mood. Without any lyrics to tell stories about the motorcycle cop, distorted male voices, the occasional siren and motor sounds make an excellent job of constructing an atmosphere that gives an efficient, wordless message.
