Reflect

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. A few weeks ago I started reading Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman about eccentric Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. I'm just over halfway through and can already tell I'll be recommending it to anyone who will listen!
    
2. Attention musicians and concert goers, if you don't wear earplugs you might want to listen to/ read this and reconsider — "an unprotected human ear can spend 8 hours a day exposed to 85 decibels (freeway noise, crowded restaurant) without incurring damage. But if you go up to 115 decibels (chainsaw, loud rock concert) your safe exposure time is only half a minute before your hearing could be affected."
    
3. I'm trying to build more time for reflection, creativity and free-thinking into my day. Detaching from social media and the distractions calling out from our smartphones is hard, but the cost of not doing so is probably higher than you realise. It might be time Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain.
    
4. So far I've resisted the temptation to play Pokemon Go. The concept is great and I'd probably love it... but for now it's an unwelcome distraction. This video on how free mobile games are designed to make money is really worth watching.
    
5. This last week I've made a conscious effort to listen to more unfamiliar/ new music. I love Spotify's Related Artists feature for this. Recent discoveries include Ludovico Einaudi, Chihei Hatakeyama, GoGo Penguin and Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

Three Crows

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Nonkeen (featuring the incredible and prolific Nils Frahm) have just released their second (!!!) album of 2016. It's a bit of an oddball, but saying that, the title is Oddments Of The Gamble (the first album was The Gamble) so it probably shouldn't be much of a surprise. Here it is on Spotify and here's a review by Clash.
    
2. I recently came across the "Poet Laureate of Twitter" Brian Bilston. His poem Refugees is clever and wonderful. You'll find him on Twitter here.
    
3. How technology disrupted the truth — A long-read on how social media and technology is changing/ threatening journalism and the world beyond. An article made all the more important and relevant given the apparent rise of "post-fact politics". Here it is in audio form.
    
4. I've mentioned Seth Godin before on this blog. He's one of my favourite thinkers and someone who inspires me a great deal. I recommend reading EVERYTHING he writes, he's that good. His daily blog is a good place to start. These two posts from the last week are great.
    
5. Christoph Niemann (@abstractsunday) is one of my favourite people to follow on Instagram. I particularly like his New Yorker covers.

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

Every now and then I answer drumming and music related questions on the Q&A website Quora. I thought I'd share my most recent post here with you as it's a question I'm asked fairly regularly.

Q: What are some cool drum beats I could learn?

A: If you're after new ideas and systems for developing unique grooves I’d highly recommend Jost Nickel’s Groove Book. It’s one of the best groove books out there and I’m surprised so few have heard of it!

He breaks his ideas and concepts down very well and offers plenty of suggestions on developing his ideas further.

Another option would be Future Sounds by David Garibaldi. Full of cool grooves but less on the systems for developing your own.

I shared a few other book recommendations on my blog a few months back which you might find useful.

Read on Quora.

Kiev, Ukraine

Here are the five things I thought were worth sharing this week: 

1. Last week I visited Kiev (Ukraine) for the first time. It's a beautiful city, the people are wonderful and it's a place that you can explore and walk around for hours — my favourite type of city! It beat my expectations in every way. I can't wait to go back.
    
2. "Existence, he says, is fundamentally playful. It's less like a journey, and more like a piece of music or a dance. And the point of dancing isn't to arrive at a particular spot on the floor; the point of dancing is simply to dance." — A Nihilist's Guide to Meaning by Kevin Simler.
    
3. I've been learning German with the help of Duolingo for several years now and they've just released a new app called Tinycards which is designed to help you "memorise anything quickly". Using flashcards to aid memorisation is a learning hack that I've come across a lot and I'm sure this app will be useful to my fellow Learners out there!
    
4. If you want to be a better writer, read this. Fast and to the point — The Day You Became A Better Writer by Scott Adams.
    
5. I recently finished reading Maximum Willpower by Jane McGonigal. It's an enlightening book on self-control and limitations of willpower. I wish I'd got round to reading it sooner!

That's all for this week. If you liked this, check out my previous Five Things posts or sign up to receive future posts straight to your inbox. Enjoy!

A couple of behind the scenes videos from Instagram of the gig at Wonder Fields with CoCo And The Butterfields!

Trying to get the attention of the useless monitor guy on Sunday. #drummerproblems #cocoandthebutterfields

A video posted by Ross Farley (@rossfaarley) on Jul 13, 2016 at 8:02am PDT

Love this groove... Shame about the drumsticks smacking on the #gopro! #drummingproblems #cocoandthebutterfields

A video posted by Ross Farley (@rossfaarley) on Jul 13, 2016 at 8:08am PDT