Daily Archives: September 4, 2021

Jon Hopkins will release a new album, Music For Psychedelic Therapy, on February 11 via Domino. Following his albums Immunity and Singularity, Hopkins said, It felt like time for a reset, to wait for music to appear from a different place. A life-changing trip to the Tayos Caves in Ecuador in 2018 inspired the the album.

What grew from this experience is an album with no beats, not one drum sound, something that is closer to a classical symphony than a dance / electronica record," says Jon. "Something that is more like having an experience than listening to a piece of music. Maybe something far more emotionally honest than I had been comfortable making before - a merging of music, nature and my own desire to heal. The freedom from traditional rhythmic structures unlocked so much - it felt like I was free to explore a new form of rhythm, one that you discover when you just allow things to flow without letting yourself get in the way."

Hopkins continues: Music ForPsychedelicTherapy is not ambient, classical or drone but has elements of all three. For me its a place as much as it is a sound. It works for the sober mind, but takes on a new dimension entirely when brought into a psychedelic ceremony. In my own psychedelic explorations testing thismusic, I found a quote I had read would keep coming to mind. Music isliquid architecture, architecture is frozen music.I love this idea of music as something you inhabit,something that works on you energetically. In fact, it was while in that state that the title appeared to me. Psychedelic-assisted therapies are moving into legality across the world, and yet it feels like no one is talking about the music; the music is as important as the medicine.

You can listen to the album's closing track, Sit Around The Fire, now. It's a collaboration between Hopkins, and "producer and ceremony guide East Forest and legendary guru," the late Ram Dass. Sit Around The Fire exists from one of the deep synchronicities that ushered this thing (Music For Psychedelic Therapy) into being, says Hopkins. I was contacted by East Forest, who had spent some time with Ram Dass in Hawaii before he passed. He was given access to several lesser-heard talks from the '70s, and asked to set them to music. He sent me some starting points, including the beautiful choral vocals he recorded which open the piece. I put my headphones on and with Ram Dass voice inside my head, I sat at the piano and improvised. What you hear is the first thing that came out - it just appeared in response to the words.

You can listen to "Sit Around The Fire," and check out the album's artwork and tracklist, below.

Hopkins will present aMusic For Psychedelic Therapy event at Austin's Fair Market on September 21. It's a collaboration with author and podcast host Aubrey Marcus, and willfeature a ceremonial concert performance from East Forest followed by "an immersive playback" of Music For Psychedelic Therapy in full. There will also be a live Q&A between Marcus, Hopkins and East Forest. Tickets are on sale.

You can pick up Immunity and Singularity on vinyl in our shop.

Music For Psychedelic Therapy tracklist1. Welcome2. Tayos Caves, Ecuador i3. Tayos Caves, Ecuador ii4. Tayos Caves, Ecuador iii5. Love Flows Over Us In Prismatic Waves6. Deep In The Glowing Heart7. Ascending, Dawn Sky8. Arriving9. Sit Around The Fire (with Ram Dass, East Forest)

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Jon Hopkins preps 'Music For Psychedelic Therapy,' shares Sit Around The Fire - Brooklyn Vegan

Today, wireless charging is little more than a gimmick for high-end smartphones or pricey electric toothbrushes. But a new approach that can charge devices anywhere in a room could one day allow untethered factories where machinery is powered without cables.

As the number of gadgets we use has steadily grown, so too has the number of cables and chargers cluttering up our living spaces. This has spurred growing interest in wireless charging systems, but the distances they work over are very short, and they still have to be plugged into an outlet. So, ultimately, they make little difference.

Now though, researchers have devised a way to wirelessly power small electronic devices anywhere in a room. It requires a pretty hefty retrofit of the room itself, but the team says it could eventually be used to power everything from mobile robots in factories to medical implants in people.

This really ups the power of the ubiquitous computing world, Alanson Sample, from the University of Michigan, said in a press release. You could put a computer in anything without ever having to worry about charging or plugging in.

Efforts to beam power over longer distances have typically used microwaves to transmit it. But such approaches require large antennas and targeting systems. They also present risks for spaces where humans are present because microwaves can damage biological tissue.

Commercial wireless chargers instead rely on passing a current through a wire charging coil to create a magnetic field, which induces an electric current in a wire receiving coil installed in the device you want to charge. However, the approach only works over very short distancesroughly equal to the diameter of the charging coil.

The new approach, outlined in a paper in Nature Electronics, works on similar principles, but essentially turns the entire room into a giant magnetic charger, allowing any device within the room that has a receiving coil to draw power.

To build the system, Sample and colleagues from the University of Tokyo installed conductive aluminum panels in the rooms walls, floor, and ceiling and inserted a large copper pole in the middle of it. They then mounted devices, called lumped capacitors, in rows running horizontally through the middle of each panel and at the center of the pole.

When current passes through the panels, its channeled into the capacitors, generating magnetic fields that permeate the 100-square-foot room and deliver 50 watts of power to any devices in it.

Importantly, the capacitors also isolate potentially harmful electric fields within themselves. As a result, the team showed the system doesnt exceed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines for electromagnetic energy exposure.

This is actually the second incarnation of this technology. Sample first introduced the idea in a 2017 paper in PLOS ONE while working for Disney. But the latest research solves a crucial limitation of the earlier work. Previously the system produced a single magnetic field that swirled in a circle around the central pole, resulting in dead spots in the corners of the square room. The new setup creates two simultaneous magnetic fields, one spinning around the pole and another concentrated near the walls themselves.

This way the researchers were able to achieve charging efficiency above 50 percent in 98 percent of the room compared to only 5.75 percent of the room for the previous iteration. They also found that if they only relied on the second magnetic field, they could remove the obstructive pole and still get reasonable charging in most of the room (apart from right at the center).

While thats a significant improvement, it still means that on average 50 percent of the power coming out of the wall socket is wasted. Such low efficiencies are a common problem for wireless charging, as an investigation by OneZero found last year.

Given the small amount of power required to charge everyday devices its unlikely to have an especially notable impact on most users power bills, according to the report. But at a society-wide scale it could be significant waste of power and source of unnecessary carbon emissions.

This is only a prototype though, and considering the dramatic increase in efficiency between the first and second versions, this efficiency gap could be closed. A more pressing concern might be the cost and complexity of retrofitting buildings with massive aluminum plates in the walls.

Indeed, the researchers are working on both issues. Weve just developed a brand-new technique. Now we have to go figure out how to make it practical, Sample told Scientific American.

Still, while this kind of seamless wireless charging wont be ubiquitous in the near term, the technique could soon be used in niche situations, like charging cabinets for power tools, and ultimately, the researchers think it could be make the factories of the future cable-free.

Image Credit: The University of Tokyo

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This Room Can Wirelessly Charge Devices Anywhere Within Its Walls - Singularity Hub

With Major General Chris Donahue, the commanding general of the 82nd airborne division having boarded the C-17 aircraft, the two-decade-old American military mission in Afghanistan came to an end. The sight of the American planes flying out of Kabul, with the remainder of the service members aboard, was broadcast live around the world, generating millions of comments across the traditional and social media platforms.

The completion of the withdrawal of the US forces, in line with the schedule announced by US President Joe Biden on April 16 earlier this year, was followed by celebratory aerial firing by the victorious Taliban as their personnel took control of Kabul airport. The ignominious pullout by the worlds greatest military power led the Taliban spokesperson to tweet that Afghanistan was a free and sovereign country.

For a ragtag militia that was literally bombed out of power in 2001, faced political wilderness for a long time, and confronted the fiercest US-led Nato military onslaught, it is no less than a miracle to fight its way back into power.

However, the takeover of Afghanistan is but a part of more formidable challenges facing the Taliban. They may have shown resoluteness and singularity of purpose in holding their ground against the US and its allies over the last two decades; however, the burden of governing a war-wracked and deeply divisive country will surely test them in fundamental ways.

The most immediate challenge facing the Taliban leadership is to put in place an inclusive government, one whose composition reflects the political, ethnic, and linguistic realities of the country. Such a political arrangement, if it is consensually arrived at, will not only bring much-needed goodwill to the Taliban but also send a message of inclusivity, harmony, and peace to the Afghans.

Forming an inclusive government is the first major step. More important is the autonomy, power, and freedom given to this government to draw up a national agenda. Coalition governments are a tricky business even in the established democracies. How such a government consisting of old rivals and battlefield adversaries, fares will constitute a real challenge. It will also be crucial to see what conflict resolution arrangement is provided for in the system to iron out the differences that are sure to emerge.

Second, despite the Talibans assurances and general amnesty, a large number of Afghans, particularly those living in the urban areas, remain deeply worried about their future under the Islamic Emirate. This includes women, minorities, and ethnic communities.

The searing memories of the treatment the Taliban meted out to the people during their previous rule have not faded. It is this distrust of the new rulers that explains the chaos and mayhem witnessed at Kabul airport, as people scrambled to fly out of the country at any cost. The falling of a 15-year-old teen footballer to death from the wings of a flying aircraft represents the tragedy of todays Afghanistan, as it faces an uncertain future.

Allied to the environment of fear and anxiety is the massive brain drain underway in the wake of the Taliban takeover. No country can function without its skilled human resource. Doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers, civil servants, media persons, and teachers are the backbone of any society; their presence is vital to running a government and shaping the future of a country.

Hundreds of Afghan nationals got the opportunities to be educated at Western universities during the past two decades and acquired valuable experience of working in global settings. They are a great asset, and their professional expertise and skills are vital to the process of rebuilding the country.

It is, therefore, of utmost importance that the Taliban-led government takes conscious steps to build a relationship of trust with these Afghans by addressing their fears and apprehensions. No matter what ethnicity, race, and political background they may belong to, their inclusion into the mainstream will serve Afghanistan in good stead. It is indeed heartening that the Taliban have asked all the university teachers and staff to report back from August 31, a welcome gesture in its own right.

Yet another key challenge facing the new rulers is to make sure that Afghanistan does not suffer from a humanitarian crisis. There are worrisome reports of food and medical stocks dwindling and the long harsh winter stares in the face. The long queues of the people in front of banks present a painful sight. The UNHCR has warned of an impending humanitarian crisis if the global community does not act fast to help the Afghans.

It is in this context that Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged the world community to stay engaged with Afghanistan to avert a human tragedy. Pakistan is the first country to deliver medical supplies of the World Health Organization through a PIA cargo flight after the events of August 15. Islamabad has assured the world community to establish a humanitarian air bridge for the relief activities to take place. The world needs to heed Pakistans advice of not leaving the Afghan people at this most critical juncture. Otherwise, the consequences of such negligence will be horrible. The world must act wisely considering the past mistakes of the 1990s when the collapse of the USSR led to the complete abandonment of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan needs the world so it can sustain itself economically. Foreign aid formed about 40 percent of its GDP during the Ghani administration. Following the Talibans takeover, the United States has suspended Afghanistans foreign reserves to the tune of over $9 billion.

What the world and the US must know is that this money belongs to the Afghan people without which they will literally face starvation and be deprived of essential services such as power, water, and fuel supplies, etc. They need empathetic treatment.

It is here that the Taliban are doubly obligated to work with the international community to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Instead of imposing a regressive governing order, they must find ways to allay the apprehensions of the world. They should know that it will be well-nigh impossible for Afghanistan to survive without the support and assistance of the international community. Hence, the middle ground and moderate approach in the statecraft consistent with the globally cherished values offers the way forward.

Taliban leaders have said the right things so far and their initial actions have been conciliatory towards their opponents. However, what the world remains wary of is their abiding commitment to regressive ideology and stereotyped notions.

In order to govern effectively, and earn global legitimacy, they need to transition from a militia mindset into a reformative party whose broad outlook is pluralistic and informed by an understanding of the contemporary problems and the imperatives of running modern-day nation-states. This will require a paradigm shift in their ideological orientation without which such a transformation cannot take place.

Last but not least is the challenge of wrangling and competition from terror outfits such as ISIS-K. As the recent terrorist incidents, including the deadly attack on Kabul airport made it absolutely clear, Afghanistan under the Taliban will be a site of renewed terror activity.

This problem from ISIS-K-type organizations is two-fold. On the one hand, they will violently oppose the Talibans shift to normalcy, advertising the change in its policy as a sell-out of Jihad with a clear motive to attract new recruits to their more puritanical cause. On the other hand, they will try to form alliances with other terrorist organizations such as the TTP and use ungoverned spaces as a launching pad for terrorism against the neighbouring countries to keep the region in perpetual turmoil and disrupt any bonhomie between the Taliban and the world from developing.

The Taliban face a mammoth test one they have never faced before. The last time they ruled Afghanistan was two decades ago. New realities have cropped up since then. The world is anxiously watching them and has stakes in the direction they take.

Down the road, they will realise that power imposes a restraining burden, and demand sagacity and prudence more than anything else.

The writer, a Chevening scholar, studied International Journalism at the University of Sussex.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @Amanat222

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The burden of power - The News International

Apex Legends September 2, 2021 / 4:22 pm

Respawn has officially announced the full list of teams who have been invited to compete in the Apex Legends Global Series 2021-2022. The massive 200 team league will be comprised of 100 invited squads and 100 who will earn their spots via the Preseason Qualifiers from September to October. Each of the five regions will have a total of 40 teams participating in their ALGS Regular Season Splits with the top 10 from NA, EMEA, and APAC North and the top 5 from SA and APAC South qualifying for the ALGS playoffs.

ALGS Pro League is set to begin in September. With 100 of the 200 teams already confirmed, both players and fans alike are eagerly anticipating the start of the season. (Image Credit Respawn)

All of the invited teams were chosen either due to their results in the first ALGS season, their reputation as a squad throughout competitive Apex, or a combination of the two. The full list of 100 teams can be found here. Every regions inaugural season Champions are listed first in the tables.

Notable North American ALGS teams include Cloud9 and TSM who are coming off of second and third place finishes in Season 1. Other top-tier competitors from the region include NRG, G2 Esports, Team Liquid, and defending champions Team Kungarna. In Europe, all eyes will be on SCARZ Europe who will be looking to defend their title as well. There are plenty of top-tier teams contesting them such as Gambit Esports, Alliance, Natus Vincere, and runners-up ZETA Division, formerly known as Fire Beavers.

APAC North will also be an incredibly competitive region. COUQUE DASSE who won Season 1 under Fennel Korea will need to stave off the incredibly talent rosters of Crazy Racoon, Fennel, and LFTpko, formerly under T1. As for APAC South, WOLFPACK Arctic, Tom Yum Kung, Dire Wolves, and Reignite are some of the candidates to come out swinging for the limited five playoff spots. Lastly, South America will also be a tight race for their five playoff seeds. The defending champions Team Singularity, formerly of Paradox Esports will have to work hard against All4 Esports, Dynamics, and Horus.

The first ALGS 2021-2022 qualifier begins on September 11 with the regular season kicking off on October 16th. The stakes could not be higher as the biggest Apex Legends competition ever approaches rapidly.

Originally posted here:

All Invited ALGS Pro League Teams Revealed by Respawn - Hotspawn

Listener expectation is something that most bands who have stayed the course must contend with, choosing either to acquiesce to it, meet it halfway or defiantly turn their backs and wear the consequences. Liars, however, seem to have never even acknowledged its existence. A luxury long afforded them by their record label, maybe, but far more an indicator of their protean constitution. Over 20 years, change really has been Liars only constant.

Their 2001 debut was as an NYC-based four-piece, whose They Threw Us All In A Trench And Put A Monument On Top was a set of pleasingly rowdy and abrasive tracks that cut Gang Of Four and The Pop Group-style post-punk with US hardcore, but closed with a 30-minute, psych-doom raga. Singer Angus Andrew later claimed Underworlds Beaucoup Fish was actually its inspiration, which illustrates the nature of Liars entertainingly unknowable mindset. Done with that, they switched to monstrously degraded noise-rock with dread-filled beats for the witchcraft-themed They Were Wrong, So We Drowned. After relocating to Berlin, they followed up with 2006s bravura Drums Not Dead, which thrust brutalist beats to the fore while mixing fields of electronic static and no-wave guitar scree with warm, ambient drifts. Subsequent albums variously featured more structured songs, introduced strings and piano, delivered mutant dance music and more. In terms of consistency, Liars have never yielded an inch.

Which is not to say that theyve been unstable. The creative partnership of Andrew and guitarist Aaron Hemphill lasted until 2017, at which point Andrew suddenly found himself adrift. However, that split opened a fresh chapter and he made two albums in self-imposed isolation in the Australian bush, TFCF and Titles With The Word Fountain. Computer-created, they leaned on field recordings, earlier scrapped material made over and acoustic guitar craft; both were documents of their authors external environment and inner turmoil.

The Apple Drop is also a kind of mind map, representing change on several significant fronts. Firstly, its a stepping out of solitude and a return to teamwork for Andrew, with guitarist and bass player Cameron Deyell, drummer and percussionist Laurence Pike, and Mary Pearson Andrew, his wife, who sings and collaborated on the lyrics. On a deeper level, the record represents shifts both conceptual and perceptual resulting from Andrews quitting of SSRI medication and self-administration of psilocybin. He told Uncut: I took the shrooms in all forms. Some group-guided hero doses, also microdosing in regular and not so micro ways. The record also sees him looking back at Liars history (a first) and considering connections between records (he was keen to foreground drums again), revisiting themes (the reappearance of Mt. Heart Attack, the character that represents fear and anxiety on Drums Not Dead, is crucial) and reviving a few ideas abandoned in previous album sessions. A balance has been struck between live instrumentation and digitally treated sounds, both in experimental pieces such as closer New Planets New Undoings, where rumbling electronics and unintelligible vocals wash over treated keys in a gentle ebb and flow, and in songs with more conventional structures, including the TV On The Radio-toned From What The Never Was and Big Appetite, which suggests nothing so much as a swinging Nine Inch Nails.

Liars unpredictability has previously manifested not as genre switching but as apparent randomness within individual tracks and wilful disruption of the flow of the albums as set pieces. The Apple Drop is less obstreperous on both counts. It begins gently, with the floppy (off)beat pattern, subtle electronic drone and feel of a corrupted Disney score that is The Start, then builds steadily to the dark, mid-point intensity of the monolithic Star Search, which summons both the ominous dread and sublime beauty of space and sees a resolution of Andrews ongoing conflict with Mt. Heart Attack. The measured climb-down before exit is via the terrific Leisure War, with its groovy synth, Fripp-ish guitar passage and clattering beats, and the slow-fried thump of Acid Crop, which connects to the well known acid drop and so supplies the albums title. It underlines one aspect of Andrews existential thinking too: What we do now will forever define us/What we do now will absolutely define us/What they do may somehow hurt us but/What they ever gonna do about what happened to my mind?

Hes clearly referring to something much broader and deeper than artistic definition but Andrews mercurial mindset is again the key to Liars singularity. If The Apple Drop is more, in light of their history, a considered experiential teaser than a synapse frazzler, its his choice. Once more, expectation can go to hell.

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Liars The Apple Drop - UNCUT