On my radar: Panda Bear’s cultural highlights

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/01/noah-lennox-panda-bear-cultural-highlights

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Noah Lennox is a founding member of experimental band Animal Collective, and has released music solo under the name Panda Bear since 1999 (the name comes from the panda drawings he used to decorate his early recordings). Lennox grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and briefly studied religion at Boston University before moving to New York in 2000. He now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, with his wife and two children. Panda Bear plays Electric Brixton, London, on 4 March, and his single Boys Latin is out on 23 March on Domino Records.

Article: The AI Revolution by Tim Urban

I haven’t stopped thinking about this since reading it. This outlines the looming dangers and possible miracles an artificial super-intelligence might create. According to the article the existence of a technological intelligence capable of functions we can’t even conceive of is a question of “when” and not “if”. The difference between human extinction and immortality could be decided by our care in designing this intelligence.

Shop: Gelateria Nannarella

This is the best ice-cream I’ve had. Nannarella is a tiny shop down the road from my place selling fresh hand-made ice-cream (I gather they’ll be moving to a bigger spot a couple doors down soon). They keep it pretty simple with flavours and hover around the basics, but that’s OK – I don’t like to mess around with ice-cream (or pizza). You can get fresh natas (cream) on top if you’re really serious about it.

Podcast: The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz

My friend Andrew recently turned me on to this one. I should say I listen to a lot of sports talk. Dan and Stugotz and the rest of the gang have been really good working buddies lately. They don’t always talk sports but the conversation is always interesting or funny or informative in some way. I appreciate the candour and the willingness to be openly wrong. They’ll often discuss racial issues in ways I find refreshing and important.

Album: Andy Stott – Faith in Strangers

This came out last year and was one of my favourites. The music doesn’t seem in any hurry to get where it’s going, and I love that about it. There’s a graceful balance between aggression and tenderness wrestled within a lot of the songs. The image on the cover suggests to me that this balance is also a reflection of a discourse – between the pull of primal instinct and the sheen of modern times.

Film: Whiplash

I saw this with my lady the other day. I can’t remember a movie whose effect was generated so intensely by its edit: in a way the edit serves as narrator. I can relate strongly to the story (I’ve never punched my hand through a snare drum but I’ve shed blood on drum skins more than a couple of times) and I enjoyed thinking about how our longing to prove our worth to others (and perhaps to ourselves) can often transform into a kind of madness.

Gadget: Oculus Rift

There’s a bunch of players in the virtual reality goggle game, but these guys seem like the best at the moment. Virtual reality has had a couple of waves, but it feels like technology has advanced to the point of making it truly possible (and relatively affordable). Once I saw YouTube demos of people nearly falling over I was sold. I wonder about the potential positives of a device like this: facing fears in a controlled setting, experiencing events remotely, meditation and emotional escape.