Music
I used to be genuinely interested in making music before I realised I'm much better at arguing about music theory for no reason.
Diary of assorted music opinions
- [08.08.2026] The revival of "traditional" music in moodern Greek culture is, beyond its obvious gentrifying effects, yet another assertion of the dominance of Cretan culture ("authentically mediterranean") over that of the mainland. Crete and the southern Aegean have always played the part of the pure Greek ideal, untainted by Balkan and Eastern "trash", in homogenising the moden Greek nation (see also: Crete in the "Macedonian struggle", Metaxism).
- [08.08.2026] Listening to the new-ish album by (formerly Tim Smith's) Spratleys. Goes to show that you don't have to be one of the weird special people to write fancy chord progressions, and it's actually the rest of the songwriters who are wrong.
- [07.08.2026] You should dig into Hindemith's harmony if you want to write wacky pop music. His piano sonatas would get more love if the piano community wasn't taken over by Big Romanticism.
- [21.07.2026] Listening to Gang of Four's "Entertainment". Need more artists/bands that are more detailed in their politics than the traditional "struggle song". See for example the influence of situationism in that album, or the Maoist tendencies in Henry Cow's (band, not person) albums (Weird that the two best things the West produced in the 70s were made by Maoists: Henry Cow's "In praise of Learning" and William Lawevere's "Quantifiers and Sheaves").
Some of my favourite albums, in no particular order.
- This Heat - Deceit [bandcamp]
- Black Midi - Hellfire [YT]
- Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning [YT]
- Cardiacs - On Land and In the Sea [bandcamp]
- King Crimson - Discipline [YT]
- Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) [YT]
- Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom [YT]
- Gorguts - Obscura [bandcamp]
- Thinking Plague - In Extremis [bandcamp]
- Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory [YT]
- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana [bandcamp]
- a.P.A.t.T. - Fun With Music [bandcamp]
some chords I think people should use more in popular music, especially if you like to think about chords functionally (this is not always a good choice).
- Four stacked perfect fourths, resolving to the major chord one half-step below the "root".
- A minor chord resolving to a major chord a minor third above it (e.g. B♭m->D). Most famously used in the dreadfully loud opening bars of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Sea Symphony".
- Minor ninths do not necessarily hurt people and can actually sound quite good.
- Stacked perfect fifths give you a vast choice of resolutions.
- A minor chord moving to a major chord a half step below (e.g. E♭m->D).