#pelican — Public Fediverse posts

Pelicans

#SensoryArt #silhouette #ClassicMono
#photography #birds #pelican #art #ECK

Metal is filled with reluctant vocalists. Whether it’s Dave Mustaine ultimately deciding to front Megadeth, or Mikael Åkerfeldt hesitantly filling the void in Opeth, or Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds eventually co-voicing Mastodon,1 vocals often exist in the genre as an afterthought. But what happens when there’s no after to the afterthought? You get something like Only Echoes, an instrumental post-metal quartet from Denver, CO. In their promo materials, Only Echoes explain that they formed expecting vocals to play a part in their music, but ‘when the time came to decide who would sing, no one raised a hand.’ This lack of vocals, however, became a staple of the band’s identity, fueling their self-titled EP (2018) and debut LP Sunsickness (2022), both of which were independently released. Arriving via Braeburn Records, sophomore album Born Adrift promises ‘an internal narrative without relying on lyrics to explain it.’ Said promo materials do, however, sketch the narrative: the album charts ‘a journey through survival, uncertainty, and the strange momentum that keeps a person moving through hostile waters.’

Without a vocalist, Only Echoes rely on the versatile arsenals of their instrumentalists to convey Born Adrift’s arc. The band references several acts one would expect as influences on an (instrumental) post-metal album: Russian Circles, Pelican, Isis.2 On the guitar front, Austin Minney and Dustin Yourishin combine for a menagerie of flickering melodies, glimmering clean chords, and chunky chugs. Drummer Zach Sirotkin lays down a bevy of blast beats, d-beats, and double-bass thunder. Meanwhile, bassist Ben Rosenberg periodically pokes through the mix with some upper-fret flourishes. As some elements of this description of Only Echoes hint at, Born Adrift doesn’t quite channel the spirit of the bands cited above. Yes, there are some well-earned quiet-to-heavy, heavy-to-quiet transitions across the album. But by and large, Only Echoes play far less patiently than these groups, swiftly shuffling between blissed-out breathers, punk-rock paces, and core-ish chuggery. Despite their mostly 6–8 minute lengths, the songs tend to sound like bursts of metal grab bag.

Because all but one song on Born Adrift briskly bounces between styles, any sense of album-spanning narrative is hard to detect. My criticism of the grab-bag songwriting notwithstanding, “Born Adrift” and “Tempest” do open the record with excitement, showcasing a band capable of moving melodies and infectious tempos. “So Tightly Bound” seems like it will be compositionally different; it develops an enchanting vibe across three minutes. But then the song quickly jumps into a d-beat-driven punk part, capped off with some obligatory chugging. It’s as if there’s a missing middle between the beginning and the punky outburst. After the aptly titled interlude (“Inter”), the album closes by showing some signs of patient development (“Steps Ahead of Drowning”). But then Only Echoes revert back to their familiar mode, jarringly contrasting serene buildups with breakneck speed (“Shimmering Death”). At 35 minutes, Born Adrift isn’t exactly a chore to get through, but it often feels longer than it is. I almost get the sense that Only Echoes tried to cram an album’s worth of material into nearly every song.

Unfortunately, sonic missteps also become a barrier to enjoying Only Echoes’s sophomore outing. On the production end of things, Born Adrift does seem cognizant of intentional mixing: the drums and bass grow more present in sections where the guitars are textural and ambient. The guitars, however, unpleasantly dominate the mix when Minney and Yourishin turn towards chugging rhythms. The bass, when it sticks to lower registers, gets lost and feels inessential. The big issue, however, concerns the low bitrate of Born Adrift’s audio files (128 kbps). At lower volumes, the album sounds compressed and mushy; at higher volumes, it’s clippy and grating. As a metal album in want of blasting, this latter fact is quite unfortunate.

Born Adrift ultimately disappoints, but not for its lack of vocals per se. As instrumentalists, Only Echoes clearly possess chops, and they show a knack for crafting and connecting affecting passages (“Born Adrift,” “Tempest”). Too often, however, these passages are disrupted by abrupt stylistic changes that come off as contrived. Additionally, the sonic flaws sadly hamper an album that does, at times, sound massive and powerful. In my view, Only Echoes don’t necessarily need someone to step up and command the microphone. They might, however, exercise the kind of restrained patience that, for me at least, tends to make for notable instrumental metal/rock.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 128 kbps mp3
Label: Braeburn Records
Websites: Official | Instagram | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: August 14th, 2026

Show 2 footnotes

1. Yes, Brann Dailor also sings for Mastodon, but not at the outset. ↩
2. The band also cite Deafheaven and God Is an Astronaut as influences. ↩

Any #pelican (site generator) experts here?

I made a gallery plugin, that displays galleries according to given tags ("subjects") within the (extended) exifdata. That plugin took months of work (for someone who's not trained in coding).

Now that gallery doesn't show up in the RSS feed. 3 days researching later, I mostly understand why. But realistically, it will cost me weeks to make this work properly. For some "no income open source project", I can't spend that much time on it.

#fedihelp

Karpathy’s Pelican

https://twitter.com/karpathy/status/2083749667410727319

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49140998

#HackerNews #Karpathy #Pelican #AI #Twitter #Innovation

Hey @fallenhitokiri I'm thinking of doing exactly the same thing for a while and using a semantic classes HTML5 document directly instead of fighting with a very poor format like Markdown hoping that the generated HTML documents will be good enough 🧪

BTW Pelican can also process HTML files, reading metadata from meta tags. 👍
https://docs.getpelican.com/en/latest/content.html

#Blog #HTML #Pelican

Detox Doodles!

These animals are from my 100-day journey to swap scrolling for sketching: https://www.joyousjoyness.com/pages/detox-doodles

This page is all about pelicans, who are soooo weird!

#art #bird #pelican #sketch #DetoxDoodles #sciart #InkArt

Redwood National and State Parks (near Redwood Creek). Learn more about the park at https://www.nps.gov/redw/index.htm and https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/nature/birds.htm and https://npshistory.com/publications/redw/nrr-2021-2314.pdf and #nps #nationalparks #ocean #publiclands #photography #landscapephotography #coast #pacific #redwood Image credit Kurt Angersbach / Westernlabs #waves #tide #geology #sediment #sandbar #birds #shore #summer #pelican

Good morning. 😴⏰☕

26 July 2026

I kicked back in my recliner and closed my eyes while waiting for Charlie’s mealtime this morning. Our grandfather clock chimes at 0730, so I decided to see whether Charlie would try to rouse me before or after the chime. Turns out he started in on me a minute or two early.

First came the little guttural noises he makes when he’s trying to be polite. Then a gentle nudge. When that didn’t work, the nudges got more insistent. When that didn’t work, he started pushing at me with his front paws. Finally, he threw his whole torso up between me and the armrest like, “Alright, buddy, enough pretending.”

I find it interesting how he always starts subtle and respectful, then escalates in neat little steps until ignoring him is no longer an option. Well, they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day — and Charlie clearly agrees.

“Dogs do speak, but only to those who know how to listen.” — Orhan Pamuk

“Dogs have boundless enthusiasm but no sense of shame. I should have a dog as a life coach.” — Moby

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — Anatole France

#photo #photography #photographer #photographylovers #wildlife #nature #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdphotography #landscape #morning #pelican #dogs

Toasty out today! 30°C (86°F)

Stopped to watch the pelicans on my bike ride home and they were very active in their fishing.

Sadly, cancelled D&D tonight. Tired after the last few days of work and one of the players had a migraine.

Time to recharge.

Have a good evening!

#today #pelican #birds

I found more pelicans.

#pelican #birds #birdsofmastodon #saskatoon #saskatchewan #nature

If These Trees Could Talk strikes me as a mildly ironic name for an instrumental group. But, then again, post-rock has the potential to be one of the most expressive musical genres when done correctly. This grove in Akron, Ohio, has been mostly silent for the last ten years since 2016’s The Bones of a Dying World, aside from a lone single in 2024. This probably explains why, despite their popularity, I was unfamiliar with If These Trees Could Talk until now, as I only developed a fondness for post-rock a few years ago. The Hidden Hand marks their second full-length with Metal Blade Records and fourth overall. How fruitful has the last decade been?

By and large, The Hidden Hand will not shock anyone with an affinity for post-rock of the instrumental persuasion. It is primarily constructed using crystalline notes and reverb-drenched chords, fluctuating between light and dark in a manner akin to pg.lost. Like We Lost the Sea, If These Trees Could Talk summon vivid soundscapes that encompass a wide variety of emotions and moods. Though this isn’t a huge sonic departure from their prior work, there are a few minor twists. The Hidden Hand sporadically borrows smidgens of bulky guitar tone from Russian Circles and Pelican, and there is even an unexpected cover of Aphex Twin’s “Flim” at the tail end of the album.

If These Trees Could Talk endeavors to wring the most from handfuls of simple tunes. This approach works well in some instances. The most notable of these is “Blurry Creatures,” featuring a recurring choral chant around which the multi-guitar lines coil like ivy on a trellis. “Moon Machine” is less successful as it stretches two alternating passages across 8 minutes, feeling fatiguing and formulaic. I enjoy The Hidden Hand more when the focus is on spinning poignant melodies (“Sea of Glass,” “Silence Between Mountains, Pts. 1 and 2”), but this does not happen as much as on former records. Instead, a heavier reliance on reverb at times feels antithetical to the desired atmosphere (“Moon Machine,” “Metanoia,” “Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 2”). Furthermore, the final track “Endlessly Connected” begins with soft, interwoven guitar strands that never get the chance to grow into something substantial.

The Hidden Hand is not composed in a way that appears to have considered the whole. Compared with the fluidity of prior albums, it’s more of a motley collection of tracks. This isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but less overall synergy means less staying power in this case. “Metanoia” and “Flim” stick out in particular. The former leans into perky prog rock, and the latter, while a faithful cover, would have fit better in a setting such as Stardew Valley. Additionally, the percussion seems to have lost much of the free-flowing flair that helped foster the unity of The Bones of a Dying World. In The Hidden Hand, it mainly consists of standard rock beats dressed with syncopation, resulting in a more generic feeling across the board.

Ultimately, The Hidden Hand is not as convincing a comeback as I would have hoped. For whatever reason, some of the magic has disappeared in the last ten years. Given that this was my first experience with If These Trees Could Talk, I can say with certainty that this is not because of pent-up or unrealistic expectations. Their prior magnificence can still be heard in the likes of “Silence Between Mountains, Pt. 2” and “Blurry Creatures,” but, even so, The Hidden Hand likely won’t change anyone’s mind about whether they like instrumental-only music. While for me, The Hidden Hand isn’t worth the opportunity cost when craving post-rock, I’m grateful to have been introduced to The Bones of a Dying World, and I look forward to spending more time with that one.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: ifthesetreescouldtalk.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/treescouldtalk
Releases Worldwide: July 10th, 2026

#BirdOfTheDay #Ebony&Ivory

Australian pelican

#ECK #AustralianPelican #Birds #Australia #Pelican

Brown pelican

Playa Cayo Levantado, Dominican Republic

#birds #pelican #dominicanrepublic #photography

...and they say an apple does not fall far from the tree...

A resident pelican looks after its baby at the secluded nesting site in St James’s Park, London, UK. Six great white pelicans live in the park and this is the first time in history that they have successfully bred.

Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

#photography
#birds
#pelican
#AltText

#IsarAerospace:
"
Planet and Isar Aerospace Partner to Launch First German-Built Satellite-Rocket Mission
"
".. German-built satellite launching on a German-built rocket .. within 12 months .."

".. Isar Aerospace will launch one of Planet’s next-generation high-resolution Pelican satellites, with additional satellites planned for future launches. .."

https://isaraerospace.com/press/planet-and-isar-aerospace-partner-to-launch-first-german-built-satellite-rocket-mission

2.7.2026

#EO #Erdbeobachtung #Pelican #PlanetLabs #Raumfahrt #Rakete #rocketry #Satelliten #SpaceFlight #Spectrum

https://www.rgaz.fr/blog/a-pelican-plugin-to-avoid-publishing-drafts/

#python #pelican #plugin #blogging

Migrer de WordPress vers Hugo
https://linuxfr.org/news/migrer-de-wordpress-vers-hugo

Passer du système de gestion de contenu #WordPress au générateur de sites statiques #Hugo c’est changer de paradigme, il faut savoir ce que l’on va gagner et ce que l’on va perdre et il faut retrousser ses manches, un jour viendra où cela se fera en un clic, mais ce n’est pas aujourd’hui !

***

C'est un copain de https://librezo.fr/

(bon, moi j'utilise #Pelican)