Converge Newsletter
Browse all 186 links from 20 issues.
iOS music creation app
I love Ableton’s products and have been a longstanding Live user for a good while. Note is up to the usual high standard and is a fantastic iOS app for sketching musical ideas. Play beats, melodies and even create recorded samples. Lots of fun.
Game
For transparency, I’ve not played this new game from Etienne Trudeau yet, but I intend to very soon. It looks like a really cute, whimsical adventure. The fact it’s described as “a short contemplative game about catching frogs and restoring stars in the sky” says it all.
Presentation software
iA Presenter is all about simplifying the process of putting together and giving a presentation. It does this by getting you focused on the content and the story you’re telling, rather than you getting bogged down with the design and layout, which it kind of automates away. It has all the hallmarks of iA Writer which is a wonderful writing app, so if you’re someone who gives a lot of presentations, I reckon it’s worth a look.
🔗 ia.net
Reader and bookmarking app
I’ve been using Matter for a little while now to gather together different articles and stuff to read later. While the ‘read later’ concept’s not new, what I love about Matter is that you can have any saved article read to you and it has a really nice highlighting/noting feature to save salient points for later. Useful.
Writing platform
As all the big social media companies continue their slow demise, I’m keeping my eye out for new and upcoming small platforms. Nicheless is just that — a micro-blogging platform for raw, unfiltered thoughts. I like that it’s described as being “like long form Twitter, minus the status games.”
TV Series
Industry is a bit like Succession in that it’s full of loathsome self-serving characters you kind of love to hate. Based on the trading floor of fictitious financial firm, Pierpoint, it’s all about the cut-throat (horrendous) world of trading. What carries it and drives me to want to watch more is the standard of the writing, which is excellent — as is the fantastic cast.
TV Series
‘The tight-knit Garvey sisters have always looked out for each other. When their brother-in-law winds up dead, his life insurers launch an investigation to prove malicious intent—and set their sights on the sisters, all of whom had ample reason to kill him.’
Spotify playlist
Jazz is not usually my genre, but I love stepping outside of my go-to and mixing things up a bit. This playlist by Sasha Frere-Jones (which I think I originally discovered through Russell’s lovely newsletter, Afternoon Slow) is a magic compilation of the genre and there’s enough great music to while away a good few hours.
Single
Can’t get enough of the very mellow, contemplative track Samba on Sama by Junior Boys. Taken from the Ontario duo’s new LP, Waiting Game.
Non-fiction
This book is a bit off my usual path, but it was recommended by a friend and is absolutely fantastic.
Single
Currently on a loop while I'm working is Industry (Green Light/Fun Night Breaks Mix) by Nathan Micay.
Newsletter platform
Like Explore in the last issue, PencilBooth looks like another example of a nice upcoming platform for creative folks. It’s is a micro-newsletter service built for artists, where you share weekly updates of four images and news of what you’ve been up to. I’ve just popped myself on the waitlist.
Game for iOS and Android
I’ve been playing this game from Zach Gage and Jack Schlesinger for a while now and I’m still hooked. It’s a smart sort of mash-up of crosswords and Boggle where you have to find the right words by working out where they to fit into the grid.
Website
A nice little site gathering some ideals and values that motivated Steve Jobs throughout his life. Also with the lofty ambition of “building programs, fellowships, collections, and partnerships that reflect Steve’s values and carry his sense of possibility forward.”
Design studio
Staggeringly good 3D / animation work from this Barcelona design studio, featuring imaginary, dream-like worlds.
Bypass paywalls
Prepend their web address to the URL of any paywalled web page, and 12ft will do its best to remove the paywall and grant you access to the article. Without dwelling on whether this is fair or right, this has been very effective and useful for me so far.
🔗 12ft.io
Flash player emulator
Appreciate that this is only likely to be useful to a small minority of you as it’s a bit of a niche use case, but I still think it worth including, as it was recently a real godsend for me.
Website framework
I’ve had a bit of a hiatus from building websites in recent years. This is driven in part because I don’t like the deluge of over-engineered JavaScript frameworks that push you to build sites bloated with unnecessary JS. They’re often a very enormous hammer for quite a small nail, or at least in my case.
Film
This has been on my watchlist for a few weeks and I finally got round to it. It didn’t disappoint and it’s absolutely bananas. Such a fun, energetic film with mind-bending multiverses and a magic blend of sci-fi and comedy.
🔗 youtu.be
Stand-up comedy
Stewart Lee is a bit like Marmite, but I’m definitely a lover not a hater. In this hour, he offers his usual brand of deconstructive, acerbic comedy, tackling cancel culture, free speech, identity politics, and being woke. All from the position of being a self-confessed nowflake.
TV Series
For transparency on this one, I’m not a football fan. I don’t have a team and I’m one of those people who just watches the odd World Cup game, or bits and pieces of the Euros.
EP
I’ve loved Jacques Greene‘s stuff for a while, first picking up on it with the sublime Another Girl back in 2011. The Canadian DJ / producer’s latest EP, Fantasy came out earlier in 2022 and also does not disappoint.
Non-Fiction
Like most folks, I’ve become really tuned into the urgency of action needed to deal with climate change. But also I feel totally numb to all the doom-mongering and negativity – it’s just too much to bear day-to-day.
Single
Can’t get enough of this 2020 tune from German producer, Ludwig A.F.
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