iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Do you see trees better or worse than in the past?

Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

“I’ve been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card,” the home care worker said. “I know you’ll be able to cross without it, but it’s just what I’m used to.” apnews.com/article/spai...

apnews.com

Gibraltar ushers in a new era as British territory's border fence with Spain is removed

The fence separating Gibraltar from Spain has been dismantled to ease travel for thousands who cross daily.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Anderson told the story of learning these songs in a fantastic show at @spacegallery.bsky.social last month. I've been going through this album a lot lately, along with her improv'd album with Jim White, 'The Quickening'.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

The Bollard Bulletin is such a useful, engaging resource for events in Portland (Maine). Example: I recently posted about a Todd Field talk after Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry. That was amazing and the bulletin's how I found out. #portlandmaine #arts #music substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

The Bollard Bulletin for July 1, 2026

Fearless theater, good vibes, indie folk & a beach read

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Right now I have no subscription music services. Everything I want to hear is free on @bandcamp.com or @subvert.fm. And if I just want to find something, it's somewhere online always. All my subscription money now goes to paying artists directly.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The Taste of Cherry is probably my favorite film. I watch parts of it often, just to steep in its feeling. Though the theme is sad, I find that its beauty realigns me. Todd Field is there to discuss it in person! www.portlandmuseum.org/event/pma-fi...

portlandmuseum.org

PMA Films: "Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair": Taste of Cherry (1997) (with filmmaker Todd Field)

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami. 99 minutes. Not Rated. In Persian with English subtitles. Screens as part of “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair,” a week-long festival presented in partnership with the Ameri...

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

As a member of @subvert.fm and an Aquarium Drunkard reader, I was so excited to see that @jasonpwoodbury.bsky.social spoke on KJZZ radio about new listening models, including Subvert. And that the Night Bird Singing Quartet stuff is on the platform! www.kjzz.org/the-show/202...

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Gratitude to Jeremy Shatan at @anearful.bsky.social: "This uniquely fragmented art-folk epic came over the transom ... As he plays angular acoustic guitar, his halting attempts to 'articulate my perspective' are strangely moving." Track is here: www.subvert.fm/alex-silver/...

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I love how things we make become deeper and more beautiful through others’ minds

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

“Let Me Be A Friend For Lost Time” is out in full today. Thank you to the wonderful people who made its shape. www.subvert.fm/alex-silver/...

Black and white scan of album cover for “Let Me Be A Friend For Lost Time” by Alex Silver with bold text that reads, “Thank you: Tolly Kaiser, Christy Armstrong, Don Cento, Garrett Linck, Sam Woodward, Brianna Soukup, Ranin Brown, Eliott Frank, Cara Scozzafava.”

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Artist-members, label-members, and supporter-members are feeling really proud and excited today. We’d love to have you 🌐 Current favs: thehxngedman, full catholic, Phillip Golub, Hour, Oh Lonesome Ana

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

A significant update. "This is a truly historic moment, not just for our local scene, but for the broader independent music community across the country," said Peter McLaughlin, an organizer at Maine Music Alliance. www.mainepublic.org/arts-and-cul...

mainepublic.org

Portland Council approves zoning changes that squeeze out proposed Live Nation venue

Opponents of the 3,330 person music venue say Portland is the first in the nation to successfully block a Live Nation project. The Portland vote comes in the wake of a federal jury ruling that Live Na...

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Thank you @music.tyenewton.com! I used to dream of renting a room for some songs. Each voice would have its own speaker, and people could rearrange, even roll, the sounds around as they wished. So this impression makes me smile.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

New song out May 22nd only at the very-soon-public @subvert.fm! Featuring percussion by Christy Armstrong and an odd bassoon by Tolly Kaiser. I was lucky to get a mix that brings out the “reality and unreality” from the wonderful Don Cento. May sight bloom alexsilver.bandcamp.com/track/let-me...

alexsilver.bandcamp.com

Let Me Be A Friend For Lost Time - Preview, by Alex Silver

track by Alex Silver

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I contributed to these long discussions. Impressive how well Iz and Hannah synthesized it all.

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Reposted by Alex Silver

Kate | No Small Games 💫 @katerblossom.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Love this preview of “Let Me Be A Friend For Lost Time” with guitar, vocals, and arrangement by Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social !! Check it out alexsilver.bandcamp.com/track/let-me...

alexsilver.bandcamp.com

Let Me Be A Friend For Lost Time - Preview, by Alex Silver

track by Alex Silver

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

End of July I'll be unavailable

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Amazing resource in Maine but I haven’t gone yet. Film archives and screenings of some special stuff. Seriously regret missing The Shop on Main Street two weeks after a trip to Prague. How unlikely to have that film living in my town.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Lovely new song from Maggie Hopp (Raw Honey) with some help from Fred Thomas. I briefly played guitar for this band! Read a bit about it at Start-Track too: start-track.com/single-raw-h... raw-honey.bandcamp.com/track/the-key

raw-honey.bandcamp.com

The Key, by Raw Honey

track by Raw Honey

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

This is what art writing is for. When I take the time with this album, I will perceive more.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I haven’t heard this one yet, but @goldfishbloom.bsky.social’s Breaking and Mending is beautiful and effortlessly patient. Her relationship to singing reminds me of when I’ve woken from a nap and it feels nourishing to simply be somewhere in space. That one’s also at @orindal.bsky.social

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

“Lawmakers should welcome new arrivals in a state that desperately needs to expand its labor force and overall population.”

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

So sick that The Modern Folk and John Swanke are on @subvert.fm. I just discovered their duets poking around today (as a member). It made me excited for all these communities to meet. Check out Swanke's Rain Country, btw! Lovely.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

To win this beautiful stuff would bring me Oprah-esque disbelief, @myddling.bsky.social. The best song of all time is Cinquième Gnossiène by Erik Satie—his songs’ qualities are acutely understood by @jeremydenk.bsky.social in NYRB—but do kids agree?! I do also like The Loco-Motion by Kylie Minogue.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Only recently learning about Shane Parish. His albums Undertaker Please Drive Slow and Repertoire take interpretation to a fascinating place. I don't know if he pulls out an essence as much as retells things in a clarified voice—the magic is in the playing rather than the intoxication of "song."

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

A very nice mixtape from @klofmag.com from November. I believe its editor Alex Gallacher does these? Learned about Scissor Tail Records, also Max García Conover—who is apparently from Maine and recording with Haley Heynderickx. Mixtape format +1! No. 71 looks good. klofmag.com/2025/11/mixt...

klofmag.com

Mixtape: KLOF No. 62 (Folk, Alternative, Experimental)

Our latest KLOF Mixtape features a selection of folk, ambient, electronic, field recordings and experimental music, including Keaton Henson, Hen Ogledd, Weston Olencki, Joe Westerlund, and more.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

It's hard to imagine being so patient with the air you breathe. Eric Hehr gives great context to this album, and how it fit into Ammons' life. But also close feeling for the role of tone, which I just sit there and relish so much.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

@newfeelingcoop.bsky.social w/ great points on precarity and gig platforms. "But for things to change, we have to imagine more than hermit crabbing from one platform to the next: we have to resist the ways our work is becoming individualized in the first place." www.newfeeling.ca/dont-start-a...

newfeeling.ca

Don't Start Another Substack

Michael Rancic writes about how platforms like Substack push writers toward individualized survival strategies over solidarity.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Listened to this one quite a few times now, it's great. "...strumming and plucking, tapping until the shape of a song emerges" and "...how organic and conducive to day-dreaming the music is." I think they're really really good at pulling meandering sound into a solid, locomotive body.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

John Washington is almost done with How to Close a Camp, which will certainly be a vital book in 2026. He rushed to write it in under 5 months. I'm eagerly looking forward to this.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

I would love to see @pressherald.com continue its dedicated Wabanaki coverage after @reportforamerica.bsky.social funding expires. Either hiring the so-far excellent @reubenschafir.bsky.social or someone else for the job. This public education is profound. TY! www.pressherald.com/2025/12/21/t...

pressherald.com

To fight loss, Passamaquoddy speakers are talking new life into their language

Elders say it's not too late to save their mother tongue, and a younger generation is stepping up to help.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Thank you @rosyoverdrive.com for mentioning Chico States in your latest Pressing Concerns. Check out Addicus from Marquette, MI! Great song. It makes me happy to see music is alive and well up there. That stretch of Lake Superior is one of my favorite places in the world.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

If you happen to already be a member of @subvert.fm artist/label/supporter co-op, you can check out my first collection, "songs less off-sync with the shuddering landscape." From looking around, I'm one of the few people who has written full editorial so far. I've played this myself many times 💚

Screenshot from Subvert alpha-version platform showing a collection by @halfvivid. Featured photo is of ferns in the woods in Maine, struck by clear white-yellow light. Intro text reads: "I always tried to make sure the music in the car made sense with the colors around us. We rolled down the windows so we could feel the cold and hear the hum of the landscape. This is a collection of songs that harmonize with the grass, the shrubs, the world we ignore if we see ourselves as (only) Ideas." Editorial comment on the first track reads: "This is the first track on Mistique but it's also my favorite. The bruised quote from Dawson's Creek gets me vulnerable in the first 35 seconds. Look into Seb Choe's other works—I get the feeling that, for them, music is only a small gesture at problem-solving."

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Our local paper has a dedicated reporter on Indigenous communities, thanks to @reportforamerica.bsky.social. Therefore Maine is reminded weekly that it's false to place native peoples on a timeline that ended in the past. www.pressherald.com/2025/11/26/i...

pressherald.com

In Wabanaki communities, giving thanks is common. But the holiday is complicated.

Tribal governments give away hundreds of turkeys each November.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Thank you for your diligent research, from which we learn that not everyone can feel the Earth on their first try.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

I hadn't noticed this, but @pressherald.com published a write-up on @goldfishbloom.bsky.social's powerful Gaza benefit compilation, written by @aimsel.bsky.social. You can get it for a dollar and it's 33 very significant songs. Got into some new artists this way. www.pressherald.com/2025/11/10/m...

pressherald.com

Maine musicians contribute to Palestinian relief album

The album 'Songs of Hope for Gaza' is available on Bandcamp.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Our local alt-weekly @the-bollard.bsky.social wrote the most perceptive, flat-out entertaining review of our band's latest record. Super grateful, mostly on behalf of my friend Joe, the songwriter. No one has matched Chris Busby's close reading 🤯

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Thank you 💘 Reminds me another time someone "won the internet," linked below. Let's just pin this one globally at Google.com and we can all catch up with the cavemen in terms of graciousness today.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Watch out for this Cuban artist. Love this. Bought the track and planning to blast this several times on the way to the staff breakfast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-P1...

youtube.com

EIDI - El Güinche (feat JD Asere) (Video Oficial)

YouTube video by EIDI Oficial

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Friday night in a small city

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

New Chico States album is out today! Nothing quite like my friend Joe's meticulous surveys of this world through a country-western lens. anythingbagel.bandcamp.com/music

anythingbagel.bandcamp.com

Anything Bagel

we are a diy record label focused on limited run screen-printed cassettes and other goodies! thanks for being here :) <3 contact: anythingbagelemail@gmail.com

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

New Chico States drops this Thursday! Release show in Portland with old friends and new, including several on tour. www.blueportlandmaine.org/events/chico...

blueportlandmaine.org

Chico States + Will Lawrence + Dee Dee Sea + Number One Babe | BPM

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Gah! Why didn't I know about this till seeing my email just now? I could've gone. If you live near Boston, FYI. I only know 'On A Moonlit Hill in Slovenia' but it's wonderful.

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

After giving it some time, this is absolutely my favorite song of the fall. It seizes me every time I hear it. I love it so much. Thank you @orindal.bsky.social Records. Also, read reviews by @jenpkelly.bsky.social, who did one for this album. "Driving slow / to a bridge / I kinda know / where."

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Alex Silver @halfvivid.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

The world was fragrant, dense, and multi-dimensional until what, like 2014?

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