Mnolo - Collagist

Back in the day, the KTSW days to be exact, I worked with this guy named Manny in the production department. He always made really creative, technically and sonically awesome station promos/sound beds/PSAs...everything he worked on sounded professional.

These days, he owns an independent record label and multimedia production studio and is an electronic music producer.

He just released a new album called Collagist and it's available for free on his website. He collaborated with a ton of talented musicians; each track seamlessly combines his talent with theirs. A range of influences are woven through his music - Latin American beats, hip-hop and experimental electronica are the first that come to mind. One of my favorites songs, "Muse", is Portishead-esque.

It's an excellent album. I've never been hugely into electronica but Collagist is really accessible. The sound is not rave-tastic, it's not bizzare static and it's not redundant sampling. And, if you can't commit to a full download, you can preview a few songs here.

How to Make a Diaper Cake

*make sure you have enough diapers to get the kid through college*

*roll them and tie them individually*

*then tie the tied ones together into a cake layer*

*decorate!*

I bought a pack of 258 diapers at Costco...as you can probably see, I didn't come close to using all of them. I really wanted to make a huge cake, but then I realized there was no way I would have enough ribbon to wrap it with and that I was going to have to road trip this thing up to Dallas, so I scaled it back and just gave them the 180 leftover diapers.

I went with the size two diapers (12-18 lbs) which is definitely bigger than newborn size, but everyone is predicting that the baby will be pretty big to begin with. I'm so excited to be an aunt again and can't wait until he's born!

It only took an afternoon to make and I think it came out really cute.

What my Dreams Sing

I woke up this morning with this persistent beat and a line of song looping endlessly in my head. I typed in the lyrics my brain was singing into teh Google and was able to figure out that the song was "Kids" by MGMT.

Thank goodness. I really like the song and it got my morning off to an upbeat start. But if I hadn't been able to figure out what it was, I'd start developing an ego over the tiny talented electronica musician in my brain that creates awesome pop sings while I sleep. I'd start recording these things and releasing them to the public, only to be shamed to find out that I was actually a just poor copycat and there is no tiny musician in my brain, just that I've probably been taking too much allergy medicine.

While no one has discovered a homonuculus musician,
Radiolab did an episode about "Earworms" a while back...why songs get stuck in your head, people who hear music constantly...fascinating stuff. I <3 radiolab.