Transparency and traceability are frequently used concepts these days, at least in the working life. You can’t go to a simple office meeting without someone pointing out that “it must transparent how we come up with this decision” and “everyone should be able to evaluate the process and trace all steps”. I must admit, I have sometimes indulged myself in this litany. But, this “mumbo-jumbo” is the professional me, not the private me. Maybe that’s also why the decision making process of who, what and why someone or some are included in a section on the website is non-transparent and non-traceable. The only thing that really matters is the outcome (included or not included). All considerations that have been made on the way are not very interesting. However, there exists a decision making process, but a rather diffuse and impenetrable one. However, in my opinion the process works. And that’s all that matters, at least for me.

The first step in the construction of the website is now completed. It took two months (sigh). All articles from cdrunda.se have now been translated, revised and migrated (I have also written a completely new article about Elliott Brood). The next step is to fill the sections Artists, Albums and Lists with a content. However, it was time to make a choice here. It's possible to use simple tables and manually fill them with content, but it's hard work and very time-consuming. After consulting my friend Mikael (site architect and advisor) he found a product already designed for the task. It's called Extended DB Music (see picture left) from jVitals Digital Technologies Inc. Extended DB Music gives you the ability to add artists, albums, album covers, release date, record company, pictures, videos, description, tags etc. You can use Extended DB Music to create a default view or easily make custom views. The product would really meet my requirements. However, after installing the product there seems to be a software bug in the Extended DB Music. It's not possible to link albums to an artist (a very basic relation). I hope the problem will be fixed soon. As always, the Devil is in the details.

Wovenhand is releasing their seventh album "Refractory Obdurate" on April 25th 2014. On the three lastest albums "Ten Stones", "The Threshingfloor" and "The Laughing Stalk" Wovenhand have moved away from their introvert and enigmatic sound towards a much harder style. According to prior information on the Internet "Refractory Obdurate" is their hardest album (so far, that is). After pre-listening to the songs "The Refractory", "Field of Hedon" and "Hiss" I'm inclined to agree in the assessment. I prefer their introvert and enigmatic style, but it's still Wovenhand to me (and of course I will buy their album). The current lineup features David Eugene Edwards (vocals, guitar and banjo), Ordy Garrison (drums), Chuck French (guitar) and Neil Keener (bass). Wovenhand will follow up the release of the album with a month of touring between May 15th to June 13th 2014 in Europe (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Sweden). Actually, the tour ends in Stockholm at Debaser Medis.

Citation of the Day

"Q: ”What’s the difference between a musician and a large pizza? A: A large pizza can support a family.”

(Josh T. Pearson played sad songs and told bad jokes when opening for The Handsome Family, Kägelbanan, Stockholm, May 5th 2011)

The other day I stumbled over a new (at least for me) concept, namely “authenticity fetishism”. Without knowing anything about the concept I directly knew that I was afflicted. The symptons are as follows: 1) a quest for purity and committment in the country genre, 2) a very low tolerance for poses, mannerisms and fake expressions 3) a romantic view on a artists struggle for recognition (and to make a living for that matter). After a quick test: I ticked in all three boxes. I didn't just suffer from "authenticity fetishism”. I fully embraced it. However, the "disease" doesn't create any problems in my day-to-day business. On the contrary, it creates rules and guidelines that helps me to cope with all the elevator music that is imposed on me and others. It's also resembles of a AA-meeting: Hello, my name is The Ambassador and I am an “authenticity fetishist”. Guilty as charged. And it feels really good.