iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I can’t imagine anything more uncomfortable than being in the club with my homies, then next thing I know a girl is all up on me screaming “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

I was in an Uber last night and the driver played all AI music, all bland 6/8 classic soul-inspired slop, 90% same lyrics, same gravelly robot voice with weird high-end aliasing and compression, and the driver was singing along (off-pitch) and tapping his foot (off-beat)

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I have a handful of friends for whom it seems unfortunate luck is a lifelong constant, and I do wonder if some people frame or invite challenges in a way that helps them avoid unresolved inner conflicts that are more overwhelming than a tedious, grinding, but solvable external antagonist

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

British people do this thing where when it’s a little warmer than average they say it’s “boiling” and when it’s record-breaking climate change heat it’s “rather warm.” And when it’s below freezing it’s “a bit chilly” but when it’s just a normal autumn day it’s “freezing.”

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Soccer players flop and the whole medical team comes out, basketball players get elbowed in the face and then get called for a foul

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I’ve never once been given or recommended a vocal warm up or exercise in a minor key, what’s up with that?

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Advertising experts: “People don’t read” Social media experts: “People don’t watch past 3 seconds” Music marketing experts: “It’s not about the music”

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I just love KAT going straight at Wemby even when the block is inevitable, that’s that 🐶

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Can’t London just be 23° for a few days? It’s either 5° and so dark I want to die or 35° and so hot I might die

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Sorry but who are the people who have active subscriptions they don’t know about? How much money do you have to have to not realize what you’re paying for?

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I love that reviews of Drake reviews are “you just don’t get it” and “you’re too critical, stop listening so hard”

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Let’s stop the war on overthinking, we’ve really over-corrected as a species

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Is Trash called Rubbish on British Macs?

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

For British people, the beginning of spring is not meteorological or even cultural—it’s a social, collective phenomenon in which everyone starts wearing shorts regardless of temperature

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Can anyone really argue that AI will or will not “take over” one industry or another? How do you know either way? Regardless of what you’d like to happen, how can you be so certain about the future? I’m cool with speculation but there are a lot of self-interested opinions dressed up in prediction

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

Making an album using all stock Ableton plugins

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Sharing a couple memories of Bob Power, one of my most memorable teachers who also happened to work on some of the best albums of all time!

substack.com

Rest In Power, Bob

An unassuming legend, Bob always made you feel confident that you were on the right track.

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

The Surreal Book, Vol. ∞ : AI The Things You Are Hammerstein/Kernel, 3039

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

The anti-Valentine’s sentiment is really played out

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

You know you’re about to be politically guilt tripped when someone stares at the camera for 10 seconds, shakes their head, then sighs before saying a word

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

There doesn’t seem to be any real genre box for the word “downtempo” which is great until I want a specific version of downtempo

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I’m in London fast food restaurant Leon and while the waffle fries do not compete with Chik Fil A they’ve now played Don Blackmon, Leo’s Sunshipp, and Lonnie Liston Smith so I’ll get a loyalty card

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

On Thelma Houston’s “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” she sings, “Your love is so important to me” which is the kind of honesty we need to bring back to the dance floor

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Drank too much coffee today so I’m revisiting a favorite comedown dub techno album from my rave days

antonzap.bandcamp.com

Water, by AntonZap

7 track album

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This review of A$AP Rocky’s (pretty fun, IMO) album is clunky and befuddling—on one hand, it’s a cold comparison of two, singular peers whose artistry, process, and paces are completely different. On the other it’s a thesis on quality built on a weak Drake diss, “ringing in the ears” of the writer.

npr.org

One song, two paths: What A$AP Rocky and Tyler, the Creator reveal in each other

The two friends reconnect on Don't Be Dumb, Rocky's first album in eight years — and inadvertently demonstrate how much they've diverged as artists.

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

British people really be offline on a Sunday

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

This is a complete sensory and context overload I’m just remembering — hearing the talk box effect I know from Roger Troutman’s 80s funk through a pedal steel (the most beautiful instrument in existence) 20 years earlier all on this uncannily gorgeous stage all during peak space race era

youtu.be

Pete Drake & his talking steel guitar - "Forever"

YouTube video by Mark Miller

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Officially the rarest piece of tech I own: a FireWire 800 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

I just stumbled into Emmylou Harris’s discography and her voice triggers an involuntary emotional reaction in me, actually gives me chills wow

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I’ve never wanted to be the best I don’t believe there is a best I think wanting to be the best is a constriction of possibility

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

¡ Today’s Album ! Voices From The Lake - II (2025) My dream rave is a < 120 BPM journey through hypnotic atmospheres, propelled by soft kicks and organic polyrhythms, cushioned by deep, body-engulfing bass. II is precisely that trip, steering carefully down the road between meditation and dance

voicesfromthelake.bandcamp.com

II, by Voices From The Lake

11 track album

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

We’re really in the Lo-Fi Mumble Pop era

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

eBay should have comments under listings so you can praise rare gems like this “Bob Peak” style Star Trek poster I’m about to buy

eBay listing of a 1988 Star Trek TNG poster, the characters are illustrated atop a galactic background

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

30 more albums I listened to in 2025, including: Madeline Kenney (through-composed depth) Rosalía (grandiose high pop art) Gelli Haha (ebullient world building) Cécile McLorin Salvant (genre hopping virtuosity) Pino Palladino & Blake Mills (textural excellence) Flock of Dimes (surgical lyricism)

open.substack.com

Listening Back.logg

30x things to consider hearing, not all from 2025

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

My god I just realized that FM synths give me the same feeling that people get from ASMR

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Live as an artist — not as someone trying to live as an artist

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Smooth jazz playing at a local coffee establishment awakens in me latent sensations of Middle American auto mechanic lobbies, doctor’s offices, hourly Weather Channel forecasts, night drives under vapor lamps. Immediate “hypnagogic” transportation, much more than the fragmented genres so named

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

This year, stop watching and start dancing

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

The water consumption of ChatGPT is hopefully offset by the infrequent bathing of its basement dwelling power users

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Made the mistake of listening to K Pop Demon Hunters now Apple Music is only suggesting me Netflix OSTs and weird electronic pop

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

About to get 30% off on 100% of things I’d never otherwise buy

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

It’s not my favorite Stevie album (I love FFF and Innervisions more) BUT if I ever want to feel pure musical joy, Songs In The Key of Life is a reliable jolt of passion

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I don’t think AI bots should be allowed to use the personal pronoun “I”

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Aye bro don’t be lookin at me with them Meta shades on

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

¡ Today’s Album ! Niall Ashley - Subject Access EP (2025) Glitchy pop though the longing is organic, with a breadth of influences from mournful flamenco to skittering DnB. I love the digital multidisciplinary world-building but selfishly love the vocals on the less pixelated songs

niallashley.bandcamp.com

Subject Access, by Niall Ashley

6 track album

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

When you’re indie and underground you can’t afford for your music to be too simple, then when you’re famous and mainstream you can’t afford for it to be too complex

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Ruven @ruvenmusic.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

If you don’t believe climate change is real, look no further than the September Christmas displays in your local Walgreens

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