Music

Zeroes and Ones

Scott Galloway — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:57:56 GMT

Ah, the early nineties! Zeros and Ones, along with the video below it defined the early nineties for me (sorry aggregators you have to come to the site to see these :)). I’m 36 years old tomorrow (8th Feb) and the world has changed so much in the last 19 years. The time of these songs was right at the start of the internet, the early nineties.

At the time I was barely even aware of the changes happening all around us. I remember using gopher and seeing the very first browser NCSA Mosaic at University .Though I had my first email account in 1990 I was never part of the BBS scene. Suddenly everything in the world was changing, the subject of the second song really reflected the times. The Berlin Wall was coming down, there was a new optimism starting to spread and it was the start of the amazing ride which was the nineties.

Personally I was just moving out of my parent’s house, discovering life outside a tiny little village in the South of Scotland for the first time (and girls, drink and other umm…substances; I was a late starter). I started down the road of becoming a physicist, a path which ultimately I left. I was overwhelmed by the rate of change I encountered and just couldn’t keep up, this was also the year we discovered that my mother had Hodgkin’s disease, something which changed my live to a really drastic degree (and came close to destroying me and my family).

So, I dropped out of University and my life almost came to a shuddering stop; I worked as a trolley boy in a local supermarket for the next few months…

Eventually, thanks to the UK funding system at the time which gave you a 1 year ‘false start’ for University grants and the most supportive parents who I could ever have had, I went to another University (The University of Stirling). This was a remarkable place which let me figure out who and what I wanted to be. Part of this was the isolation, it’s a campus University completely separate from anything else and singularly remarkable for it. I started out studying Japanese, Psychology and Computing (not exactly focused!), I had great friends (very unusual for me, I’m a loner), even lived abroad for a year . I studied in Holland, a country to which I owe a lot of how I came to think of life, and even convinced me that much later on I could live in the states. I had some American friends at the student house of the University of Groningen where I studied Clinical Psychology (really, more by default than anything else…). My friends who I haven’t seen in years were amazing, intelligent people who’d experienced so much of life (particular shout out to Bryce Bedford, one of the smartest people I’ve *still* ever met). Anyway, that was the most remarkable 5 years of my life, from 1990-1995, and one which shaped me from a 17 year old country bumpkin to someone who loved learning and yearned to experience everything life had to offer.

Now, I’m closer to 40 than 30 and realizing that I dropped out of life once again a few years ago. To borrow a line or two from an old pop song:

“Right here, right now, there is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history”

We’re in the middle of an historic economic depression, the world is changing radically once more and oddly, I think it’s an exciting time! The last 19 years were an amazing time when the rate of change around the world accelerated, the internet came into being and the world became connected in a way it never has before.
Right now, it feels like the world is waking up from the last couple of decades and deciding where we should all go next. We’re all being forced to think about what the next 20 years will be like, and, in part realizing that we can’t really know.

I believe in the Technological Singularity, it’s as close to religion for me as I’m ever likely to come and I’ve come to realize that this belief will shape my life for the next few years. I think we’re already seeing the rise of the next phase of civilization. With the dawn social networking, the rise of ‘viral’ thinking in entities like Twitter, massive knowledge repositories like Wikipedia and the remarkable interconnectedness mapped by Google, I really believe that we’re on a road to something amazing.
This ‘reset’ gives us the chance to decide where we want the world to go, our children are the smartest they have ever been and we’re finally veering away from the nightmare prophesied by Idiocracy.

It’s an exciting time, and at the same time scary…but then revolution always is.

Anniversaries make me sad...to the last best chance

Scott Galloway — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:43:23 GMT

It's been ten years K...I know you still read this blog on occasion. This is for you...my last best chance...

My god it's full of stars!

Scott Galloway — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:02:10 GMT

I posted this stuff before but this is a new one which is just stunning...I wish I was this talented!

Weird Fishes: Arpeggi from flight404 on Vimeo. .

End of a long day...

Scott Galloway — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:41:20 GMT

Well I've been working (with numerous others...well regularly annoying them throughout the day) for a release in then next short while onto Codeplex. Takes a surprising amount of work, but I'm getting excited to see the reaction of the community (one into which I'm slowly filtering back in to). Anyway, I'm off to bed as I have to get up early and clean before my new cleaner comes (don't ask...I'm not a tidy person). I also wanted to give a shout out to someone who has worked on this release way before I arrived, Bertrand Le Roy and his blog. Your patience with an insufferable frantic scotsman (namely moi) has realy been appreciated!

Now, I leave you with a song (and inducement for people to actually visit the blog proper!) Oldish song by The Postal Service, Such Great Heights...which I think is truly lovely...

Just a music post...

Scott Galloway — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:31:05 GMT

I can never remember the name of this song...oh, and if these posts annoy you I'm working on a 'mainstream' - no music or personal rants and an 'alternative' feed...song is Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs...and well it reminds me of a crazy girl I used to date...

Regina Spektor...weird but good!

Scott Galloway — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:46:44 GMT

This was the first album (as in shiny plastic, not downloaded) I bought when I came to the states...beautiful, haunting music and irresistibly funky (yes, I know I just wrote that...but it's true damnit!). Anyway saw on Perez Hilton (sad enough that I read it, I refuse to link to it!) that she just released a video to 'Better'...see below:

If you haven't heard of her before I really recommend that you give it a go...brilliant, poetic lyrics and wonderful music. Reminds me of the first time I heard Tori Amos...anyway, another toon from Regina is below (love YouTube!)

Umm...this isn't really a post...honest...

Blog Author — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 06:48:00 GMT

OK, I know I said I was offline for two weeks...but it's Brendan's fault, he got me thinking about music again! Anyway, after listening to a whole bunch of horrible tuneless drivel on Shoutcast, I came across a fantastic tune by a band called 'I Am The Avalanche' - you can get a few of thier tunes (legally Mr Ballmer ) from here. Gotta say, this is some pretty awesome stuff...well worth a listen! Oh, and Bloody Symphony is my favourite

Oh, and for as long as it lasts - new Prodigy album remixed

Blog Author — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 09:16:00 GMT

I have no doubt that this is totally illegal but if you like the Prodigy, 1. buy the new album and 2. check out this remix of that album. The remixes are of very variable quality but some tracks like Spitfire are just awesome. Anyway, I expect that this will be shut down in pretty short order so I'd advise you to get it soon. Normal service will be resumed shortly...

I hate the talented...

Blog Author — Sat, 13 Dec 2003 07:53:00 GMT

Pretty amazing track from Rory Blyth - man I wish had musical talent of any kind; well, I sing but a monkey can sing...not very well, and it obviously appeals most to other monkies...but well, you get the idea...

One album everyone should have in their collection...

Blog Author — Fri, 03 Oct 2003 07:52:00 GMT

Just rediscovered this album after many years away from it, my opinion this is one of the greatest albums of all time (not something I say flippantly). The Longpigs - The Sun Is Often Out (us link), absolutely amazing, doesn't sound a single bit dated. "Lost Myself" and "On and On" are just heartbreakingly good with the latter being just one of the best love songs ever...ah well...jjust a suggestion :-)