I don't usually post about not-Star Wars, but I make special exception for Tron and Tron-adjacent elements, because if anything comes close to inspiring the particular joy and wonder in my heart as Star Wars, it's Tron, that insane, bleeding edge, philosophical cyber adventure; and its sequel, a bad movie that is also the best music video ever made by the hands of men.

And that gives me the distinct pleasure to highlight Wendy Carlos, Tron's composer, who is 83 today. Wendy Carlos is an absolute genius of electronic music; her work with Moog synthesizers in the 60s was so cutting edge, her feedback drove and originated many of the features modern synthesizers use. Check out this brilliant BBC video where Wendy leads the interviewer through her almost sculptural approach to forming original sounds-- the way she crafts the waveforms is beautiful.

Wendy's first significant work was Switched-On Bach in 1968, an electronic re-imagining of Bach's classical music, and which features-- we do really need to pause and consider this-- one of the best album covers ever:

Following Switched-On Bach, Wendy was contacted by Stanley Kubrick to provide the incredible, seminal soundtracks for two of his films, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. Needless to say, when it came to Tron, there was simply no other choice.

Wendy is also an incredible trans woman¹, who transitioned at the height of her popularity in the late 60s; for decades she has spoken about her childhood gender dysphoria and her eventual relief at transition. I know Wendy was one of the first people who shaped my understanding of transgender people and their experiences.

Wendy Carlos is a hero, an elder of multiple communities that are now so important to our modern world, and a brilliant artist that's enriched the world. So, wherever you are today, Cohost²-- wish Wendy a happy birthday, and listen to some synthesizers for her.

1. Fun fact, Wendy Carlos is the first transgender artist to have won a Grammy!

2. And, let's be clear here-- she's got some real Cohost energy, I think we can all-- we all agree, right? Like that's there? Like if Cohost was around in 1972 she's making an Eggbug song on a Minimoog, surely?

love u Wendy 💕

Wendy Carlos is genuinely one of my heroes. Without her, half the stuff I make and half the stuff I listen to simply would not exist in the way it does today.
She's a brilliant musician, an even better sound engineer, and proof that queer people have always existed (and always will).

So happy birthday, Wendy!!!

source tweet https://twitter.com/ShiinaBR/status/1707419347549896905

a year and a half after buying bandcamp, epic is selling bandcamp to a the largest music licensing company in the world known as SongTradr...

surely shoving one of the platforms that gives musicians the best terms being shoved under a b2b company that has a large amount of leverage over the industry and no prior interest in selling music to people will be fine, right? there's no way they decide to do anything harmful to either bandcamp, musicians, or listeners with this deal

It's not perfect or a long term 'replacement' (definitely doesn't have the built-in music buying audience that bandcamp does) but it does support selling music, and with this pretty rad tool from Torcado, you can easily create a bandcamp-like media player for your stuff, complete with album art, lyric pages, credits, etc.

I've had it set up for a while, you can see it in action here:
https://curiousquail.itch.io/twelvemonths

If you're a musician interesting in setting this up and need some help, let me know - I'm happy to!

Bandcamp is an important platform for independent music, so I'm going to keep using and supporting it until it eventually collapses (or becomes a shell of its former self).
But if you're looking to find a different platform, itch is a good start.

You could also try selling albums through an online store like Ko-Fi or Gumroad.
They don't have the same media playback features that Bandcamp or Torcado's itch tool do, but you could get around that by posting a trailer or demo track on YT or SoundCloud.

I almost forgot! Today is Bandcamp Friday, which means Bandcamp isn't taking their cut of anything you buy through their website.

And it just so happens I have an album there!
If you're interested in the Frogsong soundtrack but haven't given it a listen yet, here's your chance!

Everyone's sharing their cool music! I got some too!!

This is from an old project of mine (which I've been thinking about rebooting lately).
There's another version of this that's like 7 years old, but I don't think I ever shared it publicly.