Tünel is the Turkish word for "tunnel". The one pictured here carries water 120 kilometres across Finland from Lake Päijänne to a reservoir at Vantaa on the outskirts of Helsinki. (The photo was taken when it was undergoing refurbishment.) It seems unlikely, though, that Naci Oğuz had this particular rock channel in mind when he…Read more Tünel
Solution
Here's a problem for you: What do you get if you add a solute to a solvent? That's right, you get a solution. But that doesn't mean you can dissolve every problem. When I was a student, I had a summer vacation job at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, an official establishment that analyses…Read more Solution
Fleeting Future
A single mother and a married man enter into an affair with the understanding that their relationship is purely sexual. Though they agree the relationship has no future, they find themselves increasingly drawn into each other's company.Imdb The present is always fleeting. As soon as it has come, it has gone again. And yet it…Read more Fleeting Future
To Have You Near
You might think that an album titled To Have You Near would be full of love songs, but this one takes the broader theme of kinship and community. It starts, appropriately enough, with the place we share with our nearest and dearest: home. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kIudNn4LTAS0SHR_j9xDmzp5700YfME6Q When it's time to step outside the door, we meet with…Read more To Have You Near
Hear You Can See
Today's track-of-the-week has a puzzling title. It might be the end of one sentence and the beginning of the next: "... hear. You can see ...". It could be a spelling mistake: "Here, you can see ...". Or it might be another example of the curse of autocorrect. And that gives me a problem. What…Read more Hear You Can See
Try!
When I see the word "try" my first thought is always the famous saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again". Then there's W. C. Fields' rather more realistic and much more entertaining slant, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about…Read more Try!
In Disequilibrium
"Well, it's all topsy-turvy", sings Peter Hammill as his second collaboration with Isildurs Bane starts to swing. "Everything's turned upside-down", he continues as In Disequilibrium, part 1 kicks off their latest album. It's the first section of a three-part title track, and it sets us up nicely for 45 minutes of good, old-fashioned symphonic prog…Read more In Disequilibrium
Nothing But a Fool
The members of Joy Division had agreed that the band would not perform under that name should any one of them leave. So, when their singer Ian Curtis took his own life in 1980, the dark post-punk group morphed into New Order. The band soon evolved more of a dance-rock sound, closer to new wave…Read more Nothing But a Fool
Eleuthera
The fingers of fate are long and bony. They reach into the mind to turn up thoughts that you never imagined could be there. And so it was the other day when I revisited a post that appeared in my Hubzilla feed a few months ago. The post was headed "Eleuthera", Stockholm - Monty Alexander,…Read more Eleuthera
Talvin Singh
In rehearsal, 2009 There we were, round at a mate's house listening to his excellent hi-fi, when he selected a track from his extensive collection and announced the artist as Talvin Singh, OBE. (That's Order of the British Empire for those of you outside the UK.) Embarrassingly, I had to admit that I had never…Read more Talvin Singh
Crotchety Man 