I've been struggling to post lately, only getting going again over the past few days, but I've got some ideas about things I want to do to the site. Not necessarily in relation to what I post, more how it works.

I want to redesign things and simplify the code.

Still, that's for another day. For now, let's just celebrate the anniversary. 🥳

It was time (no pun intended) to think about replacing it.

Rather than getting another fully smart watch, I decided to go for a hybrid.

If money was no object I would buy a Withings — I think they're the gold standard for hybrid watches — but as it is I opted for something far more conservative: a Sekonda Hybrid Series 56.

I reduced the use of the Amazfit's smart features considerably, simplifying things and reducing the amount of notifications passed to it, but still wanted the option to measure steps, hear sare, etc. a hybrid seemed like the obvious answer.

I have turned off the "raise wrist to wake" option so it will act mainly as a normal watch unless I explicitly press the crown to interact with the smart features.

This should give me up to 10 days battery life, but I'll be content with charging it once a week.

It still annoys me that the production isn't up to scratch, especially on False Pretences where there is some clipping on the claps. I recently remastered Round and Around but's there's only so much you can do when all the hardware elements were recorded onto one channel (I only had my mixer at the time and no audio interface).

It just goes to show how far I've come in three years, but also that I have been over-producing some stuff and losing some of the feel and vibe.

This is why I've been trying to step back a bit and make music that is deliberately imperfect, not worrying about filing off every rough edge.

You can read all about it over on the randomelements site.

The title track is on YouTube:

Subvert, the cooperative-owned music marketplace, is officially live today! And yours truly is there as a founding member.

I have, so far, uploaded a recent selection of releases with plans to upload most of my tracks.

Subvert is different. Subvert is for the people, by the people, where every member is part owner.

It allows for "member tier" pricing so that you can offer fellow members a reduced price. You don't have to be a member to browse and buy but it has benefits.

I hope you'll join me there.