• DESERTEC studies: TRANS-CSP

    DESERTEC studies: TRANS-CSP

    In a previous post I wrote about MED-CSP, a study being part of the DESERTEC project which outlines a scenario for generating huge amounts of electricity by means of Concentrating Solar Power applied in the Mediterranean region. CSP stands for solar thermal power plants which do not operate with the photovoltaic effect used in solar…

  • Aleksi Virta – [2004] ..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge

    Aleksi Virta – [2004] ..Meets Torsti At The Space Lounge

    Relaxed vibe entering your ears! This ultra-cool release at Monotonik — which sadly is on hiatus at the moment — is really great background music with attitude. It features funky beats and chords, sometimes accompanied by fitting recordings of miscellaneous voices. As usual, I present 3 of my favourite tracks which are described in detail…

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  • Desktop Wallpapers III

    Desktop Wallpapers III

    This time the footage for these wallpapers in Full HD resolution origins from the Museum of Man and Nature in Munich. It is located in the Northern part of Nymphenburg palace. The museum became widely known for its exhibition of the brown bear JJ1, called Bruno in the German press. Apart from some stuffed animals…

  • Pokett – [2004] Your Picture Here

    Pokett – [2004] Your Picture Here

    Stephane Garry is the man behind the name Pokett, having released this wonderful 4 track EP on the Sundays in Spring netlabel. It is all about dreamy folk music and ears full of emotional guitar chord carpets. Forget Jack Johnson or Conor Oberst, I like this album much better. It reminds me a bit of…

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  • Various Artists – [2004] Swingin’ Singles

    Various Artists – [2004] Swingin’ Singles

    The Comfort Stand netlabel is one of the strangest out there. It doesn’t focus on experimental sound in the sense of noise, bleep and clicking sounds, but in terms of a colourful mixture of artists, genres and styles. One song is a typical pop song, the next one would fit a ghost ride or seems…

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  • Various Artists – [2008] So Much Achieved. So Much Left To Do.

    Various Artists – [2008] So Much Achieved. So Much Left To Do.

    This album is the 50th release of the netlabel 12rec. from Germany. It covers the range of the label which mainly publishes experimental guitar music with a touch of folk. 17 different tracks wait to be discovered. I present my three favourites in the following.

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  • Visit to Vienna

    Visit to Vienna

    Last week I visited Austria’s capital city for the first time in my life. While the weather was not very pleasing — to say the least — Vienna itself kept its promise. It has a historic centre with many magnificent buildings like the “Burg” theatre, the opera. The town hall resembles a church with its…

  • DESERTEC studies: MED-CSP

    DESERTEC studies: MED-CSP

    This article originates from a presentation given by Hani El Nokraschy, one of the leading persons of the DESERTEC foundation. He presented the foundation’s vision towards a sustainable generation of electrical energy and drinking water around the Mediterranean Sea for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. His presentation covered the three main studies called MED-CSP,…

  • Desktop Wallpapers II

    Desktop Wallpapers II

    Time for a new batch of desktop wallpapers. This time I have switched the resolution to 1920×1080. The “texture” series are slightly to strongly edited photos from single-coloured objects. I hope you enjoy them.

  • Hardstroke – [2009] In Front Of The See Through Eye

    Hardstroke – [2009] In Front Of The See Through Eye

    Merry Christmas! This release doesn’t at all sound like snow flakes or a silent night, but is a furiously vibrant example of a fusion of extremes. Rock guitars, electronic chord clouds, funky bass lines, disco-like beats seamlessly blend together to a very distinct listening experience which casts feelings of euphoria and nostalgia. But just listen…

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  • Ceilings

    I collect some types of very specific photos. One of them are photos of rooms’ ceilings. Over the years I took many boring, but also some interesting pictures. Rotunde was taken in the museum “Pinakothek der Moderne” in Munich. It is so adorable on a sunny day. Next comes Blue steel from “Zenith” in Munich,…

  • Stay Ali – [2009] Vati Vati EP

    Stay Ali – [2009] Vati Vati EP

    Stay Ali is a trio from Sweden founded in 2006 by then 15-year-old guys. They produce an energetic mix of techno, electro and disco music. They remind me of Fatboy Slim; especially this release sounds like it was influenced by Justice. If you want some good dance music for a party, get this album! But…

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  • Macro photography

    As my compact digital camera (a Fujifilm Finepix F100fd) lacks a big zoom lens I have to exploit its strengths: a wide angle lens. It plays out its advantage on group photos in small closed rooms and in macro photography. Suitable victims to train how to take macro photos are flowers: Pretty, colourful and —…

  • Amish82 – [2009] Shovels And Cava

    Amish82 – [2009] Shovels And Cava

    Phew, what a nice electro release! Amish82 remind me heavily of The Knife and Fischerspooner. While this release is very simplistic in construction, the resulting arrangements sound surprisingly rich and danceable. Some kind of “flaw” are the remix version tracks (6-15) while there are only five original tracks. But those five tracks deliver enough quality…

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  • How to use custom-made Themes under Windows XP/Vista/7

    How to use custom-made Themes under Windows XP/Vista/7

    Deskmodding is the art or the act of customizing the appearance of the graphical user interface. Usually this is done on the level of the operating system, but there are also single applications that allow to modify their appearance by so-called skins. For the operating system Windows it is not possible to easily change the…