Sign in

Daniel Semo

@dsemo.bsky.social
67 followers 164 following 37 posts

Making sounds with things. Making things with sounds.

PostsRepliesMedia
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
15 years ago, I was living in Taipei and spending most of time in its indie music scene. I've started a Substack, Islands and Valleys, about many of those same things—indie music, Taiwan, community, memory. Here is the first piece: islandsandvalleys.substack.com/p/tiny-haven...
islandsandvalleys.substack.com
Tiny Haven, True Spirit
After 15 years, I returned to the place where it all started and saw all that had ended
011
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
About a year ago, I took a walk through an ecological park in Mexico City with a bird expert, who told me in passing about the "birding gender gap" - the lack of research into female birds. Since then, I've been working on an audio doc about it, now out on the BBC: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
bbc.co.uk
BBC World Service - The Documentary Podcast, Birding the gender gap
An exploration of how the study of female birds is reshaping our understanding of nature
171
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Spotify called me a Cyclops, so I get back it by looking at two (!) competing visions of what its rise has meant for music (spoiler: they both end in disappointment). www.danielsemo.com/writing/ever...
danielsemo.com
Every Noise is a Mood: Two Visions of Our Unfulfilled Streaming Present — Daniel Semo
After being called a "Cyclops" by Spotify, I dug into two recent books about how streaming is reshaping both music and us.
130
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Drummers are often the most unsung members in rock bands. Lo Zun Long is one of my favourites, and the best I've ever seen up close. I write about what makes him, and the drums, so special. Oh and pants. I write about pants. www.danielsemo.com/writing/anat...
danielsemo.com
Anatomy of a Genius in 5 Reductive Theories — Daniel Semo
He clamps into the groove and doesn’t let it go… From the beginning, I found his playing utterly hypnotic and would often stare at him for the length of the show, no matter what band he was in.
030
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Can we at least use AI to add a cable to this damn stock photo that annoys me every time I see it?
Kid screaming into a condenser microphone that is not plugged in
000
Reposted by Daniel Semo
Josh Nicholas @joshnicholas.com · 21/03/2025
I wrote a thing about drawing and Melbourne www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Tourists, watercolours and the sad, still Star: sketching the route 35 tram showed me a Melbourne I had never really noticed
When you are in a city every day, you start to take things for granted. So, after three years in Melbourne, Josh Nicholas decided to be a tourist
22712
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
In which I go to a noise gig in the hip part of Melbourne with all the vintage shops and I'm reminded of noise gigs in the hip part of Tokyo with all the vintage shops... except for the footy on the pub screen www.danielsemo.com/writing/live...
danielsemo.com
Live Review: Otomo Yoshihide et al — Daniel Semo
A humble weeknight gig at the Northcote Social Club, watching noise artists and avant-garde composers, brings back memories of basement club nights in Koenji.
000
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Given that I've never played Halo (and the last console I owned was probably a PS1), it might seem odd that I would help write and produce this Twenty Thousand Hertz episode. But when it's such a moving story, so incredibly well told, my job is pretty easy. www.20k.org/episodes/the...
20k.org
100
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
I returned to an old haunt in Taipei, listened to the full catalogue of the world's most hated band, and lived to write about it www.danielsemo.com/writing/no-c...
danielsemo.com
No Coldplay: Reassessing Old Maxims — Daniel Semo
I return to an old haunt and try to figure out if it still stands for it once did, and what the most hated band in the world has to do with it.
000
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
How much of Claude's classy allure is simply about the serif font?
000
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
I profiled the Balinese electronic-gamelan duo Kadapat, whom I saw in an experimental music festival in Taipei last month. After hours of glitchy computer noise and black-box electronics, hearing two guys hitting bits of wood and metal with sticks was refreshing www.danielsemo.com/writing/ligh...
danielsemo.com
Light and Dark: Kadapat’s Experimental Take on Balinese Gamelan — Daniel Semo
It was about four hours into an experimental music festival in Taipei when I saw Kadapat, an electronic-gamelan duo from Bali, standing ominously on a foggy stage, striking metal and wood in complex p...
030
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
While in Taiwan recently, I interviewed Freddy Lim, frontman of death metal band Chthonic and two-term legislator. We discussed neither metal nor politics, instead focusing on Taiwanese identity, the history of the independent music scene, and, well… baseball. www.danielsemo.com/writing/inte...
danielsemo.com
Interview: Freddy Lim — Daniel Semo
For the past three decades, Freddy Lim has carved out a singular path through Taiwan’s cultural and political landscape, first as the frontman of death metal band Chthonic and later as an activist and...
020
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
If it's possible for England to get demoted through demerit points, I'm willing to entertain this two-tiered Test cricket system
010
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
The Western mind cannot comprehend a riotous punk band from Wuhan having their Wednesday night gig in Taipei shut down by the police. (Gig Review) www.danielsemo.com/writing/live...
danielsemo.com
Live Review: C.S.B.Q — Daniel Semo
The Western mind cannot comprehend a riotous punk band from Wuhan having their Wednesday night gig in Taipei shut down by the police.
100
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
I'm about half way through Meet Me In The Bathroom, and I now wish the whole book was hot sartorial takes from the singer of the Hives
010
Daniel Semo @dsemo.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
For my inaugural post, I was wondering whether to go deep, snide, trivial, whimsical, or just write "Ed Balls". Instead, here's a link to some liner notes I wrote to an imagined compilation of not-greatest non-hits from the early career of a cult recording artist www.danielsemo.com/writing/line...
danielsemo.com
Track-by-Track: The Mountain Goats’ Lo-Fi Era — Daniel Semo
Liner notes to an imagined compilation of not-greatest non-hits from the early career of a cult recording artist.
010