uncommon ambience

Interior of a new (preowned) Chevy Spark during heavy rain and wind. With a composite of nautical weather forecasts, engine tone, and drifty notes.
And I don't have much else… Oh yo, if I had a time machine I would go back to 1989 and ask Debbie Gibson out for dinner somewhere; an extremely professional dinner… I’m married (although technically, if I went back to 1989, I would be in a space before I was married, technically). And I would be kind of famous myself as Mr. Time Traveller. But yeah, married, and no chace anything other than a meeting with an ’80s pop icon (I could tell her who shot JR).
Regardless… When was the Cheesecake Factory founded? I could’ve been like, “Don’t worry, I know a good spot, Ms. Gibson. The original ****** Cheesecake Factory. It’s huge where I come from in 2026. There’s an everyday brunch menu. Every day.”
Also, the future isn’t “Electric Youth”; the future is unfortunately an abundance of war crimes. But… try the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake—it’s amazing and probably 7000 calories.
"Out of the Blue is your magnum opus" I would say, "it's not the flashiness of Electric Youth." And my hands would be gesticulating wildly because I would be ****** nervous. "Every Out of the Blue song would win the six-man award if they could play elite basketball and were in the NBA. Excellent songs, without the max contracts—" actually let's cut this short as it's getting weird.
Instead, let's just focus on the Cheesecake Factory, my near-ish location has weird fused glass plates affixed to towering wooden beams that split the booth tables. And the glass looks like the Eye of Sauron. So you walk in and there are like fifty Eyes of Sauron staring at you. And you pass throngs of people to exchange your name with the wait staff for a brick-sized pager coated in ancient soda syrup grime. And while you wait the forty-five minutes for a table, you take in the decor—this ancient pastiche of columns fused with cherub faces and flamingos. It’s as if the designer was tasked with imagining what an Applebee’s might look like on the island of Dr. Moreau.
Speaking of waking nightmares... the present—and look, I won't tell you where to get your news, but if a pillow or military subcontractor or pharmaceutical commercial runs between programming, skip that garbage. Listen to the rain... the rain won't lie to you.

We’re headed overseas to Sète a small coastal town in the South of France, “the Little Venice of Languedoc.” A ville known for Octopus Pie, Georges Brassens, and some interesting history (pretty famous anarchist lived there) for such a young European town. My hometown of Albany, NY (1686) is nearly as old as Sète (1666). Very neat.
So my twin was recently in Sète and was wonderful enough to bring my microphone (my mic has now been to cooler places than me). The microphone was positioned just outside of her hotel room window and takes in the quiet coastal surroundings with intermittent fan noises. I guess over there they call their HVAC “la clim” — essentially a PTAC (I think? I don’t know much about HVAC).
You don't know how geeked I am for French fans! I hope y'all enjoy and maybe find some peace (if only for a few).

There's a lot of news to take a break from — so another visual ambience bonus. Get up in the clouds and look how manageable things look from up here.

This week’s episode includes rain recorded from the center of a lean-to with some added drift. A lean-to is structure some folks park cars under, or picnic tables. Basically it protects people and things from airborne elements (not asteroids).
Does anyone remember the aughts? Fat Joe had a really popular song that I assumed was about the Rockaway Peninsula, but maybe not. I always assumed it was a Fat Joe beach-adventure thing where he leans back in his car, lowers the boom on the sound system, and strokes his chin like he’s assessing upcoming chess moves as he weaves through traffic on the BQE. (Directed by Hype Williams)
So, one New Year’s Eve in Burlington, VT I got completely wasted at Rasputin’s, and in the car ride back to our spot I shouted at pedestrians, “DO THE ROCKAWAY!” And more than one yelled back, “**** you!” And I was like, “Yo, you say that **** to Fat Joe’s face!”
Bluh, I'm struggling here folks...
At least hints of warmer weather are in the air — actually strike that, I don’t know why I need to attempt some poetic horse****. "Hints...” I should just—guys, there was a warm day last week with rain and I recorded some of it. And I added some drift because it feels nice to have a hobby.
Spring! Tune out, ignore the commercial news, and for heaven's sake do the Rockaway.
Also subscribe (and share)! We have a historical major league baseball episode opening day!

Want some visual ambience? Well — "Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye." And we're back in the movie world for this visual ambience. The 1999 sci fi/ neo noir classic the Matrix. BTW — has there been another actor so tormented by **** lines in movies like Joe Pantoliano? ("You're gonna' be retired soon like Michael Jordan!!" — that was Matrix right?)
Digital rain made in after effects, The digital green Matrix text melted a lot of graphic designer brains in the 90s... So if you know a Gen X designer — that person has at least attempted the Matrix text effect several times.
This is my seventh iteration of the “Matrix text” (made entirely in after effects with no weird filters or presets, ty).