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252 Hourz O' Power: A Year in Metal Radio

For over a year, I was a host of Thee Hourz O’ Power, one of the longest running college metal radio shows in the country. We’ve been filling the void of trve metal (and not just Metallica on repeat unlike some ‘metal stations’) on the airwaves since 1989 and it‘s an honor to share the wealth of great music to...

Is Data Science Dying?

February 2023

I often get told by aspiring data scientists: “I want to be a data scientist. What’s the best way to do it?”. On one hand, data science is the perfect field to go for the naturally curious and analytically rigorous, plus the compensation ain’t bad. On the other I fight the urge to shake them, and beg, for...

Discovering Descriptive Music Genres Using K-Means Clustering

I was mulling over what to watch on Netflix one night when it recommended me “Critically Acclaimed, Visually Striking Crime Dramas”. If Netflix can generate eerily descriptive movie ‘genres’, why not extend this to music? Just like movies, we have more ways to describe music than we have existing genres.

So, I sought to find similarities...

Lessons Learned From Surviving the Post-Undergrad Job Hunt

Dear recent grads and those in college,

Unless you got mad connections, are that mythical post-grad already with 2 years experience somehow, a savant of sorts, or in that top 1% of the talent pool, the post-college-grad unemployment experience can be a hellish and demoralizing experience, with the uncertainty of your future leading to persistent questioning of the worth of...

CSA Challenge - A Midsummer Cornucopia

A CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, is a service that delivers produce from a farm directly to the consumer. I subscribe to Angelic Organics, a farm from Caledonia, Illinois* (they’re not paying me to plug them, but they’re great!). Each CSA delivery is unique in its own way, and with that comes new culinary challenges. This is part...

Why Exploring a Cuisine is Best Done Inauthentically

When in your kitchen, do as you do

Lately, I’ve felt the strongest desire for culinary exploration that I can remember. The lockdown has imposed a scarcity of resources, forming conditions ripe for culinary ingenuity that I’ve drawn plenty of inspiration from. At the same time, the lockdown has derailed my travel plans, leaving a void for adventure that I...

Top Ten Metal Albums of 2022

all images hosted on metal-archives.com

Although it seemed like 2022 brought forth a radical shift in the outside world, it felt oddly normal musically. Albums were being churned out. Concerts happened. We got through a whole year largely unscathed from a cataclysmic disaster. It felt like spontaneity was finally allowed to proliferate; I personally did not have “see Eyehategod in...

Nobody Escapes The Online Inquisition

Thoughts are my own and do not represent that of Vektor.

The online inquisition claims another victim. Recently, Vektor, a sci-fi thrash band, were signed and dropped by Century Media within a few days. For context, there was a video from 2019 showing frontman David DiSanto shouting at his then-wife and throwing a pillow at her during an altercation....

Music NFTs Are Like Battle Jackets

All photographs are taken by Peter Beste at peterbeste.com

Symbolic acts, so vivid

Yet at the same time were invisible

-Death, Symbolic, Symbolic (1995)

Music fans have long expressed their individual cultural identity, from showing off their band shirts, to collecting vinyl, to broadcasting their Spotify Year in Reviews. The culture is embedded into the music....

Music NFTs Are Like Battle Jackets

All photographs are taken by Peter Beste at peterbeste.com

Symbolic acts, so vivid

Yet at the same time were invisible

-Death, Symbolic, Symbolic (1995)

Music fans have long expressed their individual cultural identity, from showing off their band shirts, to collecting vinyl, to broadcasting their Spotify Year in Reviews. The culture is embedded into the music....

Lost Machines and Artificial Brains

I’ve recently been obsessed by the Tolkien-inspired atmospheric black metal band Summoning and In Mordor Where The Shadows Are, a 3-hour tribute album of Summoning covers from various artists. Cover albums are usually not much more than fun, albeit limited, fan service, but this one...