I just read a thing that I am pretty much convinced I will be thinking about a lot in the days to come. It's a new story, posted on Pitchfork, about Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel writing a score for a thought-controlled synthesizer, that was performed by Robert Schneider (of the Apples In Stereo and the inventor of the instrument in question) and Robert Beatty (of Hair Police and Three Legged Race).

The "score" is a book of collages, basically, that the mind responds to as it reads in order. Which seems a lot like a comic. Images that you read. I'm sure text could be included, although there's nothing in the story that says such is the case for Mangum's piece.

I don't even know where to go with this. Abstract comics, collages, Neutral Milk Hotel, noise, harmonies. The main thing is the harmonies created just in this story alone, when filtered through my brain and its interests. Humming in consonance, richly.

This Micachu And The Shapes record with the London Sinfonietta, "Chopped and Screwed" might be the best record of 2011. A pop band, whose first record was produced by Matthew Herbert, doing a live one-off collaboration with a strings and woodwind ensemble to emulate the sound of DJ Screw, it ends up being really rich and beautiful, but maybe not satisfying to people expecting a pop record. I can imagine it seeming too gimmicky for classical music fans, as well, but anyone who's into sound and music should be able to get behind it.