Alex McLean

Non-academic #UKRIFLF research fellow at non-profit org @thentrythis, working on algorithmic patterns (@alpaca).

Instigator of @tidalcycles, and co-founder of @algorave, @toplap, algomech festival, etc

I tend to post live coding related things as @yaxu

he/him

#searchable

Public Key

npub13pykn8zapgc2n7hpga3p7rwy3wrvc6w8aalrvwluc5kt5lfvxpdszkrl6y

NIP-05 Address

yaxu@post-lurk-org.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgsjtfn3ws5v9flts5wcslphzghpkvd8r77l3k807v2t9605krqkcpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqgkwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8qunfd4skctnwv46q5v50r6

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

relay.primal.net

Author Public Key

npub13pykn8zapgc2n7hpga3p7rwy3wrvc6w8aalrvwluc5kt5lfvxpdszkrl6y

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Last Notes

2025-04-13 19:42:53

In the early days of proto-algorave music, live coding wasn't really a thing yet and so everything was very carefully scored. Here's an early score by @nprofile…ewh0 and I.
The nice thing about it is that anyone would be able to repeat the performance exactly as intended
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/114/332/345/599/343/990/original/65e0062930a1fec6.png

2025-03-19 09:58:48

I own an EV but you are not 'doing something good for the planet' by buying an electric car. You are doing something terrible for the planet that's slightly less worse than buying an ICE car over the full life of the vehicle depending on what kind of harm you're measuring.
We're sold EVs, wood burners, phones, flights etc etc as being the 'ecological choice' but just because it's a slightly more ecological choice than doing something worse, that doesn't mean that you aren't doing profound harm by buying them.
Focussing on individual consumer choice (buying bigger, heavier EVs) isn't the answer, systemic change (better public transport) is!

2025-03-10 11:58:16

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Really happy with the reposts this has got, thanks! Any feedback on the call - e.g. anything unclear or that doesn't quite speak your language, much appreciated!

2025-03-10 08:20:31

It's really tricky to spread the word about events these days! I don't support corporate social media and you don't get read attention there anyway, mailing lists aren't what they once were, and this event wants to reach people across many patterny disciplines..
Any help spreading the word across all the strange pattern-obsessed communities much appreciated!
--
Algorithmic Pattern is a new festival and conference for people curious about the practice and culture of algorithmic pattern-making, across algorithmic music, arts and craft. The first edition will take place both in Sheffield UK and online, during September 2025.
The call for talks/papers is now open, please see our website for details: https://2025.algorithmicpattern.org/call/

2025-03-09 10:40:35

From "the tyranny of structurelessness" by Jo Freeman
"There is no such thing as a structureless group."
...
"Elites are not conspiracies. Very seldom does a small group of people get together and deliberately try to take over a larger group for its own ends. Elites are nothing more, and nothing less, than groups of friends who also happen to participate in the same political activities. They would probably maintain their friendship whether or not they were involved in political activities; they would probably be involved in political activities whether or not they maintained their friendships. It is the coincidence of these two phenomena which creates elites in any group and makes them so difficult to break."
https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm

2025-02-28 21:07:11

Just Russian assets paying people in Sheffield and Rotherham to commit acts of violence. I wonder if this could possibly be linked to the rise of arson attacks, conspiracy culture, far-right hatred, devastating referendum results etc.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/feb/28/russia-linked-telegram-channels-offering-to-pay-for-attacks-on-mosques

2025-02-28 20:50:13

I had fun at the PIFCamp in Slovenia last year, this year's call is open:
https://pif.camp/how-to-apply/

2025-01-19 16:00:31

Turing: 'The ... question "Can machines think?" I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion.'
Every computer scientist ever since: "Turing said we can prove that machines think by making them trick people."

2024-12-31 12:12:28

A secret pre-announcement, only tell people who you trust not to tell anyone.. Algorithmic Pattern 2025! With in-person (but streamed online) bit in Sheffield 12-14th September plus online-focused activity. Emerging info:
https://2025.algorithmicpattern.org/

2024-12-31 12:12:28

2024-12-18 21:12:28

I want to do more weird performances in 2025. Strange noises, devices, notations, and patterns. Please book me, I'm cheap

2024-12-17 10:39:42

On the face of it, this opportunity looks great - paid artist-in-residencies at the Max Planck institute!
https://e-recruiting.pro/jobposting/5651c02e14a3f2d4dacf63b4d7156ae2fc744a370
€8k seems like a good fee, until you notice that it's for four months. That's a bit less than minimum wage (€2080) in Germany. I don't know if that's taxable, but even if it isn't it still doesn't seem great when it seems they're looking for an artist with an established practice, to collaborate with people probably earning much more.
That said it looks fantastic compared with Goldsmiths in London - they have a similar four-month residence with no artist fee at all, apart from £250 per month to cover costs. https://www.arebyte.com/digital-art-residency
It seems researchers are provided with space in order to do their work, but artists should accept the offer of 'free space' as payment for doing the work that they do in it. I just don't understand this...

2024-12-14 17:20:19

Incredible scenes on the algorave brasil stream right now https://www.youtube.com/live/B1sqJOAUQLI

2024-12-11 08:42:17

Luigi Mangione is another massive success for the far right. They're becoming experts in taking anti-establishment feeling and twisting it for their own profit. Mangione was apparently against profiteering in the US medical system, but totally bought into anti-wokism distractions of billionaires Peter Theil and Elon Musk, who will happily destroy anything for profit.
So instead of fighting the profiteering system, a single individual gets blamed and killed, the individual murderer gets celebrated as a hero, and nothing changes because Elon Musk helped Trump into power. Hate wins.
Similarly legitimate feelings against big-pharma are twisted into antivax and anti-public health in general, feelings against surveillance twisted into anti-'15 minute city' stuff, feelings against environmental destruction and greenwashing twisted into chemtrail/geoengineering conspiracies, feelings against destruction of public services twisted into racism+xenophobia, etc. So people who should agree end up on opposite sides, separated by fear, disinformation + hate, and the rich get richer.
It's just a case of paying to inject messages into doomscrolling on tik tok or whatever, basically controlling our daydreams, and they're getting v good at it. I'm not sure how we can avoid Nigel Farage becoming prime minister with Musk's backing.

2024-10-16 10:13:12

I've been thinking a lot about what a friend pointed out - that mixed gendered spaces often quickly become male-exclusive because men tend to have much higher tolerance for arsehole behaviour than women, so it only takes one dodgy person to destroy a community as all the women basically leave. Once such a community has heavy male bias it can hardly recover, and its lack of representation means it can hardly succeed in any social, cultural or technical aims. Rings true for the extraordinarily bad gender balance in free/open source software in the context of the Stallman report.

2024-10-07 11:21:42

" The Music of the Primes by Marus du Sautoy, which I Cannot Stress Enough I Haven't Read" by Martin Clifford
https://martinclifford.bandcamp.com/album/the-music-of-the-primes-by-marus-du-sautoy-which-i-cannot-stress-enough-i-havent-read

2024-10-07 11:21:42

2024-09-30 14:19:41

Academic publishers like Taylor and Francis and Routledge are now selling their back catalogues to Microsoft to train their AIs, increasing their already astonishingly high profit margins even further. A good choice for publishing your work if want to destroy your IP as well as the environment.
https://www.informa.com/globalassets/documents/investor-relations/2024/informa-plc---market-update.pdf

2024-08-12 09:22:30

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@npub1qdm…f00z No but I love the colours ;)
It's a jpg for me

2024-08-12 09:17:43

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@npub1qdm…f00z vibes!

2024-08-10 08:57:26

The problem with being a nobody with a Wikipedia page is that LLMs know enough to tell confident lies about you, constantly.. So the chatgpt experience is just really offensive as every narcissistic query returns something blatantly untrue.

2024-07-25 08:04:18

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@npub1qdm…f00z Oh nice, love the handlebar idea! looks like it's < 2kg according to their website? We have an msr elixir which is also recommended

2024-07-22 22:20:49

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@npub1gpa…xlk0 did you read the rest of the sentence?

2024-07-04 19:53:45

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@npub1ykg…g4jv Thanks so much for this! Small hiccup with the instructions - had to do the git checkout first, otherwise the right version of ruby wasn't installed

2024-05-17 15:13:08

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@npub18vj…5zzl Thanks for this

2024-05-09 07:05:32

I haven't used stackoverflow much, just had two answers I'd posted there. I deleted them both, and got the same email others have got.. Probably the most passive-aggressive email I've ever received.
By the way if you delete your account, they anonymise your posts. AFAICT, that's against the creative commons attribution share-alike license of the posts.
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/409/855/749/353/699/original/04b2f969ae749d02.png

2024-05-02 11:46:38

My first experiment since I decided to never ask a computer to run an algorithm that I'm not prepared to run myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYXXF6nkPR0
#computationism

2024-04-28 09:31:55

My 'why we bleep' conversation with Mylar Melodies is up! https://www.whywebleep.com/whywebleep/2024/algorave

2024-04-22 14:10:51

Had fun chatting to Mylar Melodies on his Why We Bleep podcast, although I was the tiredest I've been in a while so might be quite abstract.. Should be up in a couple of weeks !

2024-04-13 09:03:10

My son wants to make his own electric guitar as a long term project. I think this might be too big a project to jump into. He's not even particularly keen on the idea of starting with a kit.. Any passing luthiers have advice about an easier step into this world?

2024-04-12 13:17:15

What are some nice tracks that have everything hard panned either left or right? Particularly tracks beyond the early stereo era when crazy panning was the default. Orbital's input out is one example but there must be more examples.. People should do this more

2024-02-14 21:35:28

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@npub18vj…5zzl That's Merlin, not his bonkers dad Rupert :)

2023-12-19 12:57:46

I really recommend watching the Grindavik live feed with the Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack

2023-12-14 11:48:39

Lovely presentation by Bernard Bel on the Bol Processor - a huge inspiration for @npub1xde…uegp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLHzKUQKLPY

2023-10-08 16:02:00

I'm looking forward to 1993
https://post.lurk.org/system/media_attachments/files/111/200/226/591/533/824/original/954daeb2e3101e32.png

2023-06-24 14:10:49

I'm doing a @npub1xde…uegp q+a live stream tomorrow, first time in a long while! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXIPt8KcuuQ

2023-06-06 07:59:09

It'd be nice if tech corps tried to imagine an actual future rather than these endless rehashes of sci-fi kitsch