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ben dexter cooley
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ben creates visual and auditory objects by visualizing data, making sounds, writing songs, and typing words. this site is a public log of creative output.


reading

this is a list of articles i have read online. i read using the instapaper app so that i can track my highlights, which can be seen below each article header. the list updates once per day and has been tracking since october of 2021.



What Did Men Do to Deserve This?

read on November 11, 2025 at 01:40PM


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What is Mastering for Cassette

read on November 7, 2025 at 02:44PM


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claire rousay: A Little Death

read on November 7, 2025 at 02:41PM

3 highlights

  • Olivia Block’s electroacoustic piece Karren (2013) was another major influence for you. Yeah, I found that record right when it came out. I had a weekly university radio show for about 10 years, and that was at the same time I was doing a weekly experimental music concert night in San Antonio. I was constantly trying to find new music and that one completely blew my mind. I didn’t realize that music like that existed, essentially sampling and manipulating an entire orchestra.
  • I think that as an artist, you can have all these different lanes. I don’t want to fall into the trap of Instagram and music industry stuff, just becoming something people can market, this perfectly packaged product. You see tons of artists like that, and granted, those are the ones that get placed on the bigger festivals. But I don’t have a singular, super curated image. That’s so not me. I dabble in many different things, and I draw so much from my actual life, and I am influenced by my friends from all over the world, so why would I not bring that collective brain and pool of experiences into the music?
  • My friend Alex Cunningham, who plays on the second track on the record, he’s a violinist improviser who lives in St Louis, Missouri – he told me this rule years ago. His whole thing is like, “I don’t want to improvise with people I can’t have dinner with.”

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A Work of Genius or a Complete Mess? Even Its Author Can’t Decide.

read on October 30, 2025 at 01:41PM


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Luke Schneider Keeps Opening New Portals for Pedal Steel

read on October 30, 2025 at 01:35PM


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Clarity Unbound

read on October 23, 2025 at 11:07AM

2 highlights

  • One hazard of chasing lucid clarity is confusing presentation and understanding. Graphic efficiency is only loosely related to effective reading. Don’t mistake the messenger for the message.
  • The essential clarity, like all meaning and value, lives in the mind of the viewer. A clearly-expressed chart alone in the woods inspires no clarity.

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How To Put Out A Taped Cassette

read on October 23, 2025 at 09:07AM


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Nick Offerman Woodworked His Way to Playing the President

read on October 15, 2025 at 05:55PM

1 highlights

  • “What I love about making things is that you get your chisel or your yarn or your pasta and then you spend the weekend having spent $21, or whatever, and you come out of it with lasagna or a scarf and you haven’t given Jeff Bezos any money,” Mr. Offerman said. “It’s become a radical act to make something on your own.”

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“I think I ran nearly every piece of audio on the album through it. It took forever”: Alex G on the ultra-rare vintage compressor that shaped the sound of Headlights | MusicRadar

read on October 15, 2025 at 05:50PM


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The Fahey Files - John Fahey - Reinventing the Steel

read on September 30, 2025 at 12:39PM


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