I accidentally moved my phone when taking a picture across the bay from the hills of Sausalito last night, and it was the right move.

This is the dinkus that divides sections of chapters in the new China Miéville novel, The Rouse. Also, the paper is bible-thin.

I got the new China Miéville novel, The Rouse, in hardback. I'm wondering how the ebook distinguishes between the alternating color backgrounds of the pages, and the occasional typographical treatments. The audiobook appears to have two if not three narrators. (It's also almost 1,250 pages long.)

Sentence I found myself writing this morning: "I didn't buy much, just six books in an ongoing series."

In the #DisquietJunto music community this week: Do something "poetic." Full instructions at disquiet.com/0769. Tracks due Monday, September 28, at 11:59pm (your local time).

A new #DisquietJunto music community project will appear at 12:10am Pacific tomorrow (September 24, 2026) at disquiet.com/0769, and go out at the same time to the email list (juntoletter.disquiet.com). The theme explores the poetic. Join in.

That little bird-like beeping noise at the corner when the street light changes used to mean "it's safe to walk" but now it means "you can put down your phone because now you can walk." People don't look at the lights. They look at their phones and wait for the bird to tell them the coast is clear.

Animal control caught the apex kitty so it’s safe to end the week with a walk to the ocean. See ya Monday. Or maybe Tuesday.

No music at the barbershop today, but there was this nugget: Customer: “What’s longer than three?” Barber: “Four.”

Oh you like Dostoyevsky? Name five of their songs

I know I live in a heavily and longtime Russian (among many other cultures) neighborhood but this is the first time in 30 years I’ve seen someone wearing a Dostoyevsky t-shirt

Disquiet Junto Project 0768: Remix Therapy There is one step for this project: Take care of yourself by remixing something. Major thanks to Diego Bernal for having proposed this project. Deadline: 9/21, 11:59pm (just before midnight) wherever you are. Details: disquiet.com/0768 #DisquietJunto

Speaking of remixes, @disquiet.bsky.social shared this edit of "Take Five" that's just the first eighth note of every bar and it works remarkably well www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6iP...

Take 0.5 ("Take 5" but only every 1st eighth note of every bar remains)

YouTube video by Behrooz Parham

youtube.com

A new #DisquietJunto music community project will appear at 12:10am Pacific tomorrow (September 17, 2026) at disquiet.com/0768, and go out at the same time to the email list (juntoletter.disquiet.com). The theme is remix therapy. Join in.

When you’re auto-transcribing a rough draft of an interview and “Very strange indeed” comes out as “Quest spring and jundee," which is very strange indeed

Shazam but for blurry image of surface of vinyl album in old photo of bedroom. Shazam but for nest of unwound cassette tape found on side of highway. Shazam but for data on cracked CD used as coaster.

Robert Plant is playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, a late announcement. He was incredible the last time he played the festival.

I have enjoyed hilobrow's Media Diet feature, in which people to talk about media they consume, and my entry just went live. I got to discuss six novels that help me navigate everyday reality, the joys of RSS, and what we mean by "media" in the first place. www.hilobrow.com/2026/09/11/m...

It’s been 25 years since 9/11. I was living in New Orleans. I’d wake up and turn on the news (not how I live anymore). A decade later I interviewed sound artist Stephen Vitiello about the audio recordings he’d made two years before 9/11 on the 91st floor of Tower One. disquiet.com/2011/09/08/s...

Well, it should be

#DisquietJunto Project 0767: Your Move. There is one step for this project: Record background music to have playing while playing a specific board game. Details: disquiet.com/0767. Deadline: Monday, September 14, 2026, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

There's a particular brand of electric vehicle that sounds a lot like the opening harmony of "Bohemian Rhapsody," but I never manage to catch the make and model when one passes by. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

A new #DisquietJunto music community project will appear at 12:10am Pacific tomorrow (September 10, 2026) at disquiet.com/0767, and go out at the same time to the email list (juntoletter.disquiet.com). The theme explores board games. Join in.

If I've counted on my fingers and spreadsheet correctly, the 15th anniversary of the Disquiet Junto, this coming January 7, 2027, will coincide with the music community's 784th consecutive weekly project.

This evening — or perhaps early tomorrow, due to the constraints of this four-day work week — there will be a new issue of my This Week in Sound email newsletter, and the central essay will be about, in large part, Emily Dickinson's poetry ...

It is unregionally hot

You know my noise cancellation earbuds were working, because this is where I sat at the café

A mountain lion is wandering around San Francisco not far from where I live, and it’s got me wondering if since I’m allergic to cats, I’m allergic to mountain lions, and since they’re really big cats, if I’m especially allergic to mountain lions ...

Whew, that was entirely new to me: a streaming service with a private option, so a musician might use it for sharing a pre-release copy, except that the service may occasionally insert songs by other artists while you’re listening to the album you’re intending to listen to.

This annotated playlist just went out to paid subscribers of my This Week in Sound email newsletter. A new free issue of sound studies topics goes out next Wednesday, September 9. Have a great weekend. thisweekinsound.disquiet.com