A recommendation

 We've not had one of those for a while, have we? Anyway - Hands On Bike is a wonderful cycling blog, it's going straight into my links. 

Internal Jukebox

 The jukebox is now playing....

Rachmaninov. I'm such a fanboy - that intricate yet romantically direct style is just perfect for me. His music has complexity, but the purity of intention allows it to move you without your brain constantly having to analyse the content. 

Of all the varying musical genres, classical has suffered the most, I think, from algorithmic laziness. You can ask your smart devices to churn out monolithic music blocks specifically tailored to dinner parties. Or doing homework or sleeping. The resulting sounds are there, merely to wash over you. Rachmaninov has that language of romanticism, which fights so hard against all of that. There's a simple power to his work, a piercing intent. 

I'll try and listen to him, to add context to my own life - and isn't that what music is about, always?

Old, old, school.

 I ventured back into the archives of this blog yesterday. Just wanted to get a sense of what still exists in the long cavalcade of descriptions, links, and more.

Well, a lot of it certainly now suffered from "link rot". So much pop culture detritus, so much merely fallen by the wayside. It's odd, looking back on those sorts of posts; sometimes there will just be something like "Oh wow, THIS is just fantastic!" and a signpost to nothing. I wonder where my head was, what I was searching for, and what made me smile.

But sometimes, it's still there. I'm incredibly heartened to find that this is still active. Ah, the internet. 

Well, it's certainly been a ride

 Hasn't it?

Remind me to not do this for a while. I plan on riding my bike when this is over, to forget about the responsibility and the pressure. All the time I'm heading up those hills, this will be playing on a loop in my mind.

I love being obsessed with things that everyone else seems to have overlooked. A few hundred views, in three years? What the hell is that all about, then?

I was going to tell you about all the other things going in in my life, but they're all under a cloud, for the moment. There are a few other music business things, and some long-term planning, too.

I'd like to think about the future. But I need to deal with the present, first.