Porting Inversion part 2

Things have progressed and I think it’s time to write up and highlight a few items.

Choices of what to port

There are some things which I have chosen to abandon for now. These include my Inversion.Web.Razor extensions in inversion-razor, and the ConfigurationHelper and Pipeline models for service containers in Inversion.Extensibility.

In the case of the Razor extensions, I think I will need to rewrite this entirely in light of the AspNetCore support for Razor. I’d much rather be integrated with that than remain off-piste with Antaris RazorEngine.

Regarding ConfigurationHelper and Pipeline interfaces, the configuration options are so starkly different in .Net Standard, and so much easier to deal with, that there’s no point having a shim to pull configuration from a database etc when the new methods are so much more accessible.

Publishing to NuGet

I’m not sure which sociopath designed the web UI for NuGet, but they need their head examining; they’re clearly insane. It’s not quite as bad as the Visual Studio interface though, at least.

Having fought through the various stuff it puts in your way to prevent you getting a clean package uploaded, the various repos - inversion-dev, inversion-data, inversion-data and inversion-messaging - have been made available. The assemblies that make up those repos are available separately in order to keep project tech hierarchies segregated, e.g. Inversion.Data base library is separate to Inversion.Data.AmazonSQS which is separate to Inversion.Data.Redis etc. Don’t cross the streams unless you have to.

The versions are in the 1.0.x range and the references of child packages to their parents are currently set to 1.0.* as I was pretty shocked how stupid the management of minor versions was in the NuGet CLI. Anyway, working now.

GitHub organisation

The main libraries are now under the newly formed inversion-org GitHub organisation - https://github.com/inversion-org

Guy, Rob and myself are owners.

Here you will find:

• Inversion.Data
• Inversion.Extensibity
• Inversion.Messaging

The main Inversion library hasn’t moved yet but this will be its home in the future. You can still find it here:

• Inversion

Other libraries, such as Inversion.Ultrastructure will also be moved into the organisation shortly.

Adding Travis automation

Some Travis automation has been added to build and publish the NuGet packages, which it does sort of blindly as it doesn’t check first if the version already exists and so seeks forgiveness rather than permission when it fails to upload. I suppose there might be ways to automate incrementing the patch number on the .csproj file, but at the moment it is manual.

Things to do next:

• add unit tests (with automation for commit status updates)
• test the libraries work!
• create basic application that uses the libraries via NuGet and can be deployed as a container

5 - 8 Rooms - Angina P

IDM, minimalist d’n’b

• http://www.anginap.com
• https://soundcloud.com/anginap

I think I first came across Ulla’s work on MySpace, a very long time ago. It was during the period when musicians in the same network would find you and then in response you would place hastily photoshopped “thanks for the add!” messages on their boards, carrying band and EP names, and it was all one nice music party, plus a bunch of emos and the worst CSS in the world. I fucking miss MySpace.

Anyway, I found some of her tracks via MySpace and some via MP3.com (yes, really) which carried “Tokyo 6pm” into my ears and I was lost instantly.

In truth, I’ve already reviewed this album, although I can’t remember exactly who it was for (maybe for her label, Notochord?) It was providing a soundbite synopsis that pretty much said that this is crystal-sharp IDM and complete headphone-fuel. I meant it back then and I still mean it today.

There’s space here - open and modern like stark and hard white-grey architecture - but it’s a space filled with details that are reminiscent of Japanese technical design and wonderful emotive sweeps. Framing this is a real perfectionist focus on complex layers of accurately scattered percussion. These combine to make this one of my favourite albums, let alone IDM, providing what I generally term “coding music”. This describes tracks that for years I hadn’t identified a genre for, but eventually worked out were something along the lines of tech-step jungle and complex, minimalist drum’n’bass.

“Destroy you, with my robots”

Three of the tracks are remixes and are extremely high quality, making wonderful companions of the originals and blending right on in with the whole album. Semiomime’s remix of “Known Issues” makes me think we might be related as they know exactly what sort of drums I like.

Highlights

• Glitter - this was my ringtone for ages until I hit the Mirror’s Edge soundtrack by Solar Fields
• Known Issues (Semiomime remix)

Porting Inversion

Just recently I have been porting the Inversion libraries over to .Net Standard, such that they will be able to support the existing set of behavioural applications that make up the image delivery part of the Digital Library Cloud Service (see https://dlcs.info).

To do this I received some initial help from Robert Stiff (@UatecUK) to prove that the basics would work in the new execution environment, since it is vaguely exotic, having been based around the Reactive Extensions for .Net. Once we had ported the OWIN-based hello-world website across, I was convinced that I would be able to port across almost the entire application.

Last weekend I set about taking the ported versions of the libraries in https://github.com/guy-murphy/inversion-dev, giving them some basic metadata and publishing them to NuGet as .Net Standard 2.0 packages (and yes, I have Guy’s explicit permission to do this). This included the new web code that Robert and myself tested the proof of concept with which has been added as the Inversion.Web.AspNetCore package.

Next, I ported and published the libraries in Inversion.Data (https://github.com/fractos/inversion-data) into separate NuGet packages. This means that the different storage dependencies will remain separate in a target application.

Inversion.Extensibility (https://github.com/fractos/inversion-extensibility) was ported and published next, with a separate package for Inversion.Extensibility.Web.

Finally, I ported Inversion.Messaging (https://github.com/fractos/inversion-messaging) and packaged it separately, just as I had done for Inversion.Data.

It should be noted that each of these repositories has a separate "dotnetcore" branch for this code.

Things to do next:

• add unit tests
• add Travis CI scripting to build, pack and publish to NuGet
• test the libraries work when imported!

4 - 3 - Peter Gabriel

progressive… stuff

Look, I’ll be honest; there’s a lot of pretty weird stuff on this album, and I am aware that Peter Gabriel could be described as massively up themselves. However, when I first came across this album (and Security, I was an impressionable, slightly obsessive youth with a head full of magic and sci-fi. This was fuel. This fed that whirlwind. At the time, I didn’t know just how much heroin Gabriel was doing. Seems quite obvious now…

The backing tracks and effects on this album date from the dawn of synth technology, and also the beginning of some techniques like Phil Collins’ noise-gate clipped drum tracks. No cymbals were allowed during the recordimg, according to the wiki, on the basis that an “artist given complete freedom dies a horrible death,” so restrictions forming part of the creative process - a rebellion of sorts.

There’s a ridiculous roll-call of musicians on the album, including Tony Levin, Kate Bush, the aforementioned Phil Collins, Paul Weller and Robert Fripp, it’s no wonder that there are some good sounds going on. I’ve always loved Tony Levin’s bass techniques; they’re just so out there.

Highlights

• Intruder - for its gated drums and creepy atmos.
• I Don’t Remember - I’m totally in love with the bass guitar sound on this.
• Not One Of Us - The intro and break are just beautiful.

Trivia

The version I first heard was my brother’s cassette copy of the vinyl record which had skips in places which made me think some friend of his, whacked into God-mode on acid, had put it together in a fit of genius, or it was an authentic home-run of a happy accident:

Peak-time viewing born in a flash
as I burn into your memory- skip
I burn into your memory- skip
I burn into your memory- click
-cells

3 - 10,000 days - Tool

progressive, psychedelic dark rock

Tool homepage

Quite late in the Tool canon, “10,000 days” sees them in full psychedelic rock flow, with quiet, noodly, introspective sections blossoming into complex, stoned soundscapes.

I’ve only had the stand-out track “Right In Two” on my phone for years, having given the full album a listen only a handful of times in the past. However, giving it another audition yields some different bits that I’m picking up on and I have restored the full track list to my working collection. I think maybe it was the rambling intro for “Lost Keys (blame Hoffman)” that originally did it, where a Doctor tries to get a patient to talk after presenting at an Emergency Room in a silent, troubled state. I guess it doesn’t feel quite so close to the bone now, so that’s progress, right?

Sunkist and Sudafed, gyroscopes and infrared

The sound they produce is immense; signature guitar setup pervades, the drums display various complex-timing trickery, and the chunky, intricate basslines, thick with harmonics, bounce around the low- and mid- range. Get a decent copy and bathe your ears in it.

Trivia

Two of the tracks - “Wings for Marie (Pt 1)” and “10,000 days (Wings Pt 2)” can be layered together to form a single song (see https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EFjEp79zaNw) which has an interesting call-response thing going on.

Highlights

• Right In Two
• The Pot
• Vicarious

MASSIVE UPDATE

It turns out that the packaging for the CD is EPIC - with a built-in stereogram viewer and about 15 illustrations.

2 - 1/f - immune

progressive hard rock?

Bandcamp link

Once upon a stumbling around Bandcamp, I found immune linked from somewhere, referenced as an interesting, Tool-esque, British band to explore. Was not disappointed!

I don’t really know that much about them aside from that they went through a name change at some point - they are now known as Master & The Mule - but they have a talent for melodic, dark, progressive rock. It’s quite thoughtful, introspective, and only shouty when it really needs to be.

Highlights

• Monkey
• Selling Screen
• Consume

1 - Brave enough - Lindsey Stirling

primarily instrumental violin

YouTube channel

Note: This is first in my album list due to a naming quirk (the ID3 tags all have “Brave Enough” surrounded by quote marks).

I’ve followed Lindsey Stirling’s career for a few albums now, and hearing that she had a new one out last year was an automatic decision to buy and add to the collection. There are a few more vocal collaborations this time, but still the same rich, unpretentious melody lines and beats. Her music, like her, is perky, fun and can catch you emotionally with a set of heartfelt and brilliant tunes. And when she’s got an idea in her head she really lands it simply because she’s insanely good at expression.

The album is a tribute and celebration of a friend of hers who, tragically, died young, and the songs are weaved around memories of good and sad times, aspirations and regrets. The emotional tug of the songs is strong and conveys a great deal, though I think I preferred the big, instrumental tunes on her previous album “Shatter Me”.

Overall it’s bittersweet and that’s a wonderful thing. If you don’t know her work then please check it out. She’s a delight and a wonderful talent who may surprise you. Further, the relationship she has with her fans at live shows and via social media is infectious and commendable.

Highlights

• Brave Enough ft. Christina Perri
• Something Wild ft. Andrew McMahon
• Gavi’s Song

0 - Intro

And then I decided that I wanted to review every album that I have on my phone, in alphabetical order, as they play. “Good excuse to write!” says the aspirational bit of my brain which really does need a good kicking every so often. God help us all; here we go.