Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup

Finntroll – Ur Djupet

Probably the most brutal song I’ve published here, but this sublime mix of folk and extreme metal cannot be overlooked for too long. Monstrous growling and hellish metal orchestration is easier to digest when served alongside a bunch of unconventional instruments. Oh, and there’s even a 10-second lull towards the end of the melody!

Don’t look up the lyrics unless you’re into gory stuff…

Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper

Children Of Bodom – Everytime I Die

Brutal it may be, but with these catchy guitar lines and tasty synths, this song is one for the history books. The way the melody flows makes it a truly epic piece.

Kick ass metal from Finland, Children of Bodom have been described as “power metal with harsh vocals” (in the period this song is from). But I think this song is “melodic death metal with keyboards”. Like a wise man said: trying to peg music to genres is like trying to dance architecture.

Ishq - Orchid

Ishq – Bhakti

You’ve just landed on planet chill. Welcome. Now close your eyes.

This is as much a song as it is an experience. Of course, everything we live is an experience. But there is a range of intensity to every experience, and a range of senses to be involved in it. This piece shows music at its best as an experience enhancer.

Let your eardrums be massaged by soft percussion as your consciousness floats on gentle winds of sound.

Scratch Massive ‎– Nuit De Reve

Scratch Massive – Waiting For A Sign (feat. Koudlam)

Floating down from some dark mist comes a strange creation, one of those sound creatures that is almost impossible to peg to a certain genre. Sure, there’s quite a bit of electronica here – some from the big beat subgenre and some from the dark ambient subgenre. But then there’s that tribal wraith voice too.

So what it is then? It’s a damn good and ominous serving of menacing atmospheric bass with a side-dish of evocative filter-twisted singing.

The Corporation As A Lifeform

The Corporation as a Lifeform

It is agreed that life on Earth started with single cells, around 4 billion years ago. After a very, very long time, roughly 2 billion later, multicellular life appeared. This followed a catastrophic event called the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). But what was catastrophic for others was a gift for us. Without the oxygen created during the GOE, we wouldn’t have been here. Multicellular life brought a plethora of evolutionary advantages and soon enough, dominant lifeforms were born. Living longer, stronger and, most importantly, smarter.

So what does this have to do with corporations, capitalism and the stock market? As I’ll show, quite a lot. The current market ecosystem is a place where companies undergo natural selection. But unlike the past 4 billion years, the evolution of our economic organisms is supercharged, almost out of control – this, unfortunately, sometimes comes with a steep cost for our environment and current social structures.

But what if a new breed of corporation triggers a financial chain reaction (like the GOE), wiping out most of its competition? Already, a new generation of companies is starting to take shape. And, as new ways to apply technology are found, the chance of a new business model emerging is much greater. Capitalism is bound to evolve.