Of course I got back from Buenos Aires with a few CDs that I'm feeling right now.

The best thing I found : "Echalle Semilla" by Axel Krygier.

Hard to classify. A very mixed, lovely, personal sounding album.

Starts with a couple of beautiful, melodic loungey pieces with organ and whistling. (See if you can find "Silbad el calipso" online)

Then moves into slightly jazzier / funkier territory. Some jazz elements. Some breakbeats. Some salsa and tango. Then suddenly he's just playing with the sampler, triggering loops of speech and children laughing etc. After that, there's songs that sound they were recorded in the back of the taxi and other stuff.

Reminds me a bit of Pascal Comelade, not the sound, but the mood.

Highly recommended.

Also of note :

Electronic Tango. Yep, I know, I know. But it looks like it's not just French carpetbaggers. There are real locals doing this stuff. Went to a night of it as part of the B.A. tango festival, which was pretty enjoyable.

Particularly pleasant : "Tanghetto". On first aquaintance it's fairly ordinary, but it grows. I'm finding myself listening to it continuously while I'm working. Also good : "Narcotango" and "Evolution Tango". Has it's moments : "San Telmo Lounge".

"Landing" by Tremor is a very nice electronica album with low-key hints of folkloric instruments and melodies. Mainly ambient tinkling, rhythms and interesting sounds. Not quite sure what to compare it with. It's surprisingly good example of this kind of thing.

Am I right in thinking robot wisdom is back?

Eufrasio rocks out!

I admire and respect Joel Spolsky. So it's kind of a downer that he's basically saying that I'm screwed when it comes to making software.

Notice changes to my blogroll. I'm doing my bit for the TEN NEW VOICES campaign. It's tokenistic, but WTF. Anything that introduces more diversity of perspective and opinion is good.

Of course, there are only four so far. And nobody cares except the Googlebot.

Oh, and BTW : back from Buenos Aires. As the old catch-phrase has it : "pics soon, I promise"

A promise on which I realize I never fail to fail to deliver. But this time I have a new strategy. I'm going to learn how to use Flickr and maybe, just maybe, it will come true for once ;-)

Oh, and this is hilarious. :-)

Essential reading : When Democracy Failed--2005 | BaltimoreChronicle.com

Still alive ... doesn´t time fly when you´re enjoying yourself and don´t have an internet connection?

What´s up? A new version of SdiDesk on the way. And a couple of other software ideas. I've been writing some stuff which should find its way onto ThoughtStorms.

Apart from that I´ve been tracking down people to talk to about the what´s been going on here politically and economically. Met up with Heloisa Primavera to chat about about collective intelligence and autopoeisis and hopefully (if I can pin her down again) alt.money; watched her C.I. group meet to discuss how solve development problems; rampaged through the streets at 4 am with the delinquent poets of "Cursed Geneva"; admired my wife´s cousin´s husband´s gun collection and learned about ballistics; went to the islands, and the casino, and to the tango festival and the free outdoor cinema ... and ate, in fantastic cafes and restaurants. ARGENTINA MAKES YOU FAT!!!! You have been warned.