--- title: Transmissions description: Essays and tutorials by Sarth Calhoun: visual reference prompting, DuckDB, and append-only data pipelines. url: https://www.sarth.net/transmissions/ author: Sarth Calhoun --- Aural, optical, lexical # Transmissions Filter writing What went out: records, films, apps and writing. The collaborations that made them are [Conspiracies](/conspiracies/), and where they were played is [Sightings](/sightings/). ## Aural Records and songs. - ## [Singles](/transmissions/singles/) 2020 to 2025. Eleven singles as Sarth on Noise | Groove, from “Squishy | Bass” to “Softly Questioning (Reprise),” and one as Catfish Calhoun and Friends. [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6uUtOazhiVXfNU8KAglFv9) · [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sarth/1061852162) - ## [Beautiful Tornado](/transmissions/beautiful-tornado/) 2020 to 2021. The podcast with Dom Bouffard: six conversations with musicians and artists. [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmXj9m6I5JooEjI2skmu1LdMlhlmYaTfb) · [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beautiful-tornado/id1553841403) - ## [I Just Believe in Christmas](/conspiracies/i-just-believe-in-christmas/) 2015. A Christmas song sung by Michael Patrick Flanagan Smith, words finished with Jesse Schoen, Virginia Piazza and Doron Lev. [Bandcamp](https://sarth.bandcamp.com/track/i-just-believe-in-christmas) - ## [Reflections, Vol. 1](/conspiracies/reflections-vol-1/) 2015. My first release of improvised duets, subtitled *A Noise Akin to a Flight of Deranged Swallows in Combat*. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/reflections-vol-1-a-noise-akin-to-a-flight/1061852160) - ## [Transmissions from the Book of Sarth](/transmissions/transmissions-from-the-book-of-sarth/) 2013. Four pieces from the music of *The Book of Sarth*, released as an EP a year after the app. [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2AK3ADNcGHccdecSkjV43k) - ## [Solsbury Hill](/transmissions/solsbury-hill/) 2013. Lou Reed’s recording of the Peter Gabriel song for *And I’ll Scratch Yours*. I produced it and played electronics. - ## [Awakening (To Blacklist)](/conspiracies/awakening-to-blacklist/) 2012. A track from *The Book of Sarth*. Its melody is made out of a recording of 60 cycle hum. [bookofsarth.com](https://bookofsarth.com) - ## [Lulu](/conspiracies/lulu/) 2011. The Lou Reed and Metallica album, grown out of the score Lou Reed and I wrote for Robert Wilson’s Berliner Ensemble production. - ## [Junior Dad](/conspiracies/junior-dad/) 2011. The closing track of *Lulu*, nineteen and a half minutes. It began at Lou Reed’s apartment with Rob Wasserman’s bowed electric upright running through Kyma. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/junior-dad/467890760?i=467890784) - ## [Peggy Sue](/transmissions/peggy-sue/) 2011. Lou Reed’s recording of the Buddy Holly song for *Rave On Buddy Holly*. I played bass on it, a Moog Little Phatty. - ## [Power and Serenity](/conspiracies/power-and-serenity/) 2010. Six pieces of tai chi meditation music composed and performed with Lou Reed for Master Ren Guangyi’s DVD, and only there: no CD was ever released. The first thing we worked on together. [loureed.com, archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20101230193716/http://loureed.com/power/) - ## [The Creation of the Universe](/transmissions/the-creation-of-the-universe/) 2009. Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Trio, live. The two REDCAT nights nearly whole. [Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-creation-of-the-universe/315196713) · [Discogs](https://www.discogs.com/release/1583151-Lou-Reed-s-Metal-Machine-Trio-The-Creation-Of-The-Universe) - ## [The Family Album](/transmissions/the-family-album/) 2008. Lucibel Crater, the trio of Leah Coloff, Paul Chuffo and me. - ## [Miracles](/transmissions/miracles/) 2007. Lucibel Crater’s EP, the year before *The Family Album*. - ## [Suspension](/transmissions/suspension/) 2001. Number19, the band I formed in 1999 with Tony Diodore, Leah Coloff and Mark Righter. [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/0EBi9RJO4j2cGeL0CPtYW5) - ## [I Before E](/transmissions/i-before-e/) 2001. Track six of *Suspension*, with the note I wrote about it in May 2022. [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/6FAiWQFsRHvN03n9py99wM) ## Optical Films, apps and video. - ## [The 2026 animated shorts](/work/) Seven films made at Third Wall Studio with Doron Lev, Jacob McCoy, Savas and Jonathan Arons, built in Burlap. [Third Wall](https://thirdwallstudio.com) · [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@burlap_app) - ## [Through the Brambles](/transmissions/through-the-brambles/) 2026. A 360° VR film from Third Wall Studio, directed by Jacob McCoy, built inside Burlap from prompted 360° imagery. [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttWqwhzE-yA) · [Third Wall](https://www.thirdwallstudio.com/through-the-brambles) - ## [Burlap](/conspiracies/burlap/) A native macOS infinite canvas for visual reference prompting. [burlap.app](https://burlap.app) · [Introducing Burlap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP8939UdzSo) - ## [Introspections](/transmissions/introspections/) 2015. Improvised drone pieces on Continuum and Kyma: “For Lovers” with Jacob McCoy, “Sunset Meditation,” a Warper Party clip. [Vimeo](https://vimeo.com/125323250) - ## [The Book of Sarth](/conspiracies/book-of-sarth/) 2012. A graphic novel and concept album built as one iPad app. My first full-length solo release. [bookofsarth.com](https://bookofsarth.com) - ## [Lou Reed Live at Lollapalooza 2009](/transmissions/lou-reed-live-at-lollapalooza-2009/) 2011. An official DVD of the festival set. The credits read Sarth Calhoun – electronics & continuum. [Credits](https://loureed.com/news/lou-reed-live-at-lollapalooza-2009-dvd/) ## Lexical Essays and writing. - ## [DuckDB, where have you been all my life](/transmissions/duckdb-where-have-you-been-all-my-life/) Sep 22, 2026. Asking Claude how much an artist spent on a project in Burlap, answered straight from JSON files with DuckDB. Plus the whole append-only pipeline pattern, on a laptop. - ## [External Tables, Partitions, CTEs, Window Functions, and Partitions](/transmissions/external-tables/) Tutorial series, five parts. Building an append-only data pipeline on external tables, with window functions for the current truth and runtime type checking at the boundary. - ## [Window functions, the mental model](/transmissions/window-functions/) SQL. Compare them to aggregates, PARTITION BY vs GROUP BY, ROW_NUMBER vs RANK, and why the window grows. - ## [SQL as the data language](/transmissions/sql-as-the-data-language/) SQL. Views, CTEs, joins, and why everything is a table (which is also not true). - ## [You might not need Pandas](/transmissions/you-might-not-need-pandas/) Essay. Most day to day Pandas work is better done in SQL, with a side by side example, and where Pandas still earns its place. - ## [Why Python is the default for data work](/transmissions/why-python-is-the-default-for-data-work/) Essay. It is what people know, plus an ecosystem written in C, C++ and CUDA. What that does and does not tell you about building pipelines. - ## [Modern Postgres is shockingly capable](/transmissions/modern-postgres/) Essay. JSONB, horizontal scaling, and the rise and fall of MongoDB. - ## [Node vs Rails: agnostic vs batteries included](/transmissions/node-vs-rails/) Essay. The case that an agnostic server beats batteries included, and why I am not sure I believe it. - ## [Visual Reference Prompting](/transmissions/visual-reference-prompting/) Jul 31, 2026. How original images can hold a subject together, bend a style, and open up stranger places to go next. - ## [About Awakening (To Blacklist)](/transmissions/about-awakening-to-blacklist/) Nov 21, 2020. How the track’s melody came out of a recording of 60 cycle hum: a frequency shifter on the Spacebirds preset, wet/dry automation, and a happy accident with two frozen drum tracks. With the audio examples.