Warren Ellis's Blog, page 181

Parked my place on Diaspora. Am on Instagram as warrenel...

Parked my place on Diaspora. Am on Instagram as warrenellis. There is an Official Compound on Facebook that mirrors this site, my Flickr stream and Tumblr reblogs. (I do have a personal Facebook page, but tend to only add friends and fellow travellers at best.)

This is rather pretty, and, I think, will be my work soun...

This is rather pretty, and, I think, will be my work soundtrack for tonight. Click through to pick up the download for a minimal six US dollars. Layers of electronic wash and mutated instruments over eccentric percussion.

Station Ident: Frozen Solid

It's a little chilly today, yes. This is warren ellis dot com, updating sporadically over the weekend.

Links for 2010-11-26

Swede broadcasts music from his stomach
"A Swedish man broadcast music from his stomach for several hours via a mini audio system, but said he was disappointed by the sound quality."
(tags:music tech nutter )

.bbpBox{background:url(http://s.twimg.com/a/1289339734/i...

.bbpBox{background:url(http://s.twimg.com/a/1289339734/image...) #1A1B1F;padding:20px;}

This http://twitpic.com/3afdjf would be the @warrenellis inspired cookie cake I decorated for my roommate's birthday. Enjoy.Fri Nov 26 19:46:20 via Twitter for iPhoneZoe Black
ZoeswingsRblack

An Interview With Professor Elemental

A fine interview by Carl Watkins with Paul Alborough, alias chap-hop gentleman of performance Professor Elemental. This bit made me smile:

GG: Your most recent single, "Fighting Trousers," seems to really be picking up steam and is quickly becoming a viral video hit, collecting over 100,000 views in the week since it's been posted. This week it's also the 48th most favorited music video on youtube. How does it feel to be getting so much international attention and praise from people like writer Warren Ellis?

PA:It's been brilliant! I mean, Warren Ellis?! My favourite writer saying nice things about my words is pretty much as good as it gets for a comic geek like me. Plus I have had more odd offers than I could have possibly imagined: everything from gigs in aquariums to offers to do a nude photo shoot. I had to say no to that last one though, I don't think people are quite ready for me to do the full monty, despite the fact that I have honed my body to near physical perfection.

For artists who like to play around in public, the new RE...

For artists who like to play around in public, the new REMAKE/REMODEL art challenge is up at my message board. All are welcome.

The Chickens Are Not Impressed

That would be Gertrude and Gloria, two of the three rescued ex-battery hens I bought for the girls to keep. And they are not impressed. Their water was covered in ice, everything else was covered in frost, and someone has taken away the warm thing in the sky that they'd only just gotten used to. Also I am taking their picture instead of providing fresh grass.

SUPERGOD #5 should finally be out next week. I think I broke the artist with the big cast-of-thousands climactic scenes. I mean, it was a goofy little story, but that doesn't mean you should go cheap on the ending. I wonder if he'll be the second artist I've put into a mental health facility in the last few years?

Sad to say, I don't think I'll be re-upping my account with eMusic in the new year. I've been a happy eMusic customer for many years, and have discovered incredible people like Julianna Barwick through them. In the last few months, though, the service seems to have been crumbling. The downloader's stopped working properly (something that several people have commented on to me, so it's not just me), their search system is completely broken, they've lost access to some central labels, their recommendation system seems determined to offer me music that they don't have the rights to sell in Britain (like My Bloody Valentine. Yes, a British act. Go figure), and the new pricing system (or more properly the new pricing display system. I think.) makes very little sense and also makes it surprisingly hard to judge just how useful your remaining credit is. They removed the rollover of monthly credit from UK accounts a while back. But a couple of months ago I caught them "refreshing" my account while I still had two days of the month left to use my credit. And, while they apologised (sort of) and gave me compensatory credit (very nice of them)… I'm left with the impression that the management needs to take a good long look at its current practises.

Which leaves me with… I dunno, bleep, Amazon UK MP3… bloody iTunes… dodgy Russian mp3 shops that are either funding Chechen rebels or buying me protection from smiling Russian Mafiya or diversified gas oligarchs… or spending even more money on Bandcamp, I suppose…

We are not impressed, no.

Related articles

Indies walk out on eMusic (go.theregister.com)
"Top Indie Labels Exit eMusic, Cite Addition of Major Labels" and related posts (dmwmedia.com)

FREAKANGELS 0116

In which we have eleven awake Freakangels.

STATION IDENT: EG Gauger

This week's Station Idents are provided by artist EG Gauger.

This piece of art, executed in Walnut inkwash on a piece of marble slab lifted from bulldozed junk piles in Berlin's St. Marien cemetery, is for sale. Find out more at this link.