Fresh finds added this week

I spent three hours yesterday watching a video of a guy trying to restore a water-damaged 1980s synthesizer, which is the exact energy you need to appreciate Mondotronium.com. It is a corner of the web dedicated to audiovisual tools that feel like they belong in a loft with too many cables and not enough sunlight. If you want to make noises that sound like a fax machine having a mid-life crisis, start there.

New Jersey politics is famously a contact sport, and Insider NJ treats it with the appropriate level of intensity. It is essentially a digital smoke-filled room for people who know exactly which turnpike exit leads to the most important diner in the state. I read three articles before realizing I have no idea who the local assemblyman is, yet I felt strangely informed about their tactical blunders.

On the more constructive side of the index, Combined Arms is working to fix the bureaucratic labyrinth veterans usually face when coming home. It is a software platform designed to connect former military members with actual, usable resources without the usual government-level headaches. It is refreshing to see technology used for logistics that actually matter instead of just optimizing ad clicks.

If your bank account is feeling slightly too heavy, Spur Local acts as a vetted guide for charities in the D.C. area. They do the legwork of checking which nonprofits are actually doing the work so you do not accidentally fund a gala for a gold-plated cause. Meanwhile, Count Me In covers similar ground in Colorado with a focus on economic justice, making sure the local budget talks do not happen in a vacuum.

To round out the week, I found Groundwrk, a Denver-based design firm that seems to have a personal vendetta against boring corporate templates. They build brands that look like they belong to humans rather than stock photo conglomerates. It is the kind of aesthetic that makes you want to delete your current landing page and start over from scratch.

Find the rest of the recent arrivals at /new.