changes

I hear you went down down down down down down down down I hear you went down

I was pretty obsessed with All My Heroes Are Cornballs a few years ago. I don’t know why I haven’t paid much attention to the stuff he’s done since then, but now I’m definitely paying attention.

I feel an exhaustive JPEGMAFIA / Devon Hendryx discography listening project is coming soon…

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

(went searching for the source of the sample and youtube caught me)

I hear you went down

jpegmafia’s 100th problem - “don’t rely on other men” song analysis

How JPEGMAFIA Breaks EVERY Beatmaking Rule

I remember watching some random youtube where he hung out with James Blake and just shared some of his productions at the time (AMHAC era)

Standalone post link: Listening Log: I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

Toro y Moi’s music is just endlessly listenable to me, almost no matter what does, though it often takes me a minute to come around to whatever his latest flavor is. This album is no exception.

I love how he seems so chill but takes on ambitious challenges and manages things that it seems like shouldn’t work for him: successfully trying on various genres, the maturing of his vocals, and in this album’s case a fair amount of rapping and some successful pop moves, among other things.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Listening Log: Hole Erth

Reading Soil again because I want to move forward with rewilding my yard, but a little more intentionally as Dungy describes in this book, instead of my lazy ways. This book is the only thing I’ve encountered so far that describes something close to what I want to try to do going forward.

Also, I just really like this book and wanted to practice notemaking and writing my thoughts and responses to it this time around.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Soil

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Death's Country

All fours is a hell of a book. Hilarious, ridiculous, not infrequently gross and also not infrequently profound. Feels like it was probably a lot fun and freedom to write this way, but with a huge amount of thought and work under the surface.

Past Log Updates

DATE :

Resources

The Yale Review | Miranda July on Emotional Honestly, Art-Making, and…

Standalone post link: Reading Log: All Fours

Forgot what a smart follow up this is; it builds so well on the first book while exploring so many more ideas.

And the meeting with the maker loomed so large in our minds; we misremembered that that happened at the end of the first book, and so were waiting forever for it, but also didn’t want Roz to get caught. Couldn’t remember how it all came together.

Past Log Updates

2024-08-03: Started Reading

Read aloud with my son at bedtimes some nights; a re-read for both of us. We previously finished our re-read of The Wild Robot and intend to read the full trilogy. Also feel a bad hipster’s need to clarify that we started these reads without knowing about the upcoming film release; wouldn’t want to be misconstrued as following a trend. I was a Wild Robot fan before it was cool.

2024-08-11 : 29%

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: The Wild Robot Escapes

Finished reading early this morning. Another great one from this author. Review to come?

Past Log Updates

2024-07-11

Started reading this the other night with my son but it was too harrowing for him as a bedtime read, so I’ve just been continuing on my own.

2024-07-13 - 31%

So far it stays somewhat creepy throughout, with a mysterious vibe and shadow of death over everything that happens, so for the sake of my son’s restfulness it was a good call to not continue with it in that venue. We really loved A Snake Falls to Earth and I had also read Elatsoe previously. He was interested in trying Elatsoe but we decided to try this prequel first. I’m not sure if we would encounter the same issues with Elatsoe; I don’t remember it being too suspenseful (at least not in the “threat to small children” and “missing mother” elements which Sheine Lende opens with), but it does have a murder mystery element, vampires, and some creepiness. Maybe he’ll come back to this later in another way?

If there was a sequel or prequel to A Snake Falls to Earth he would read it in a second. I for one look forward to a story of the mockingbird’s chaotic misadventures on Earth, culminating with taking down the Nightmare?

2024-07-19 - 51%

2024-08-12 - 68%

Got myself back to this book tonight; no way am I going to leave it unfinished.

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Sheine Lende

I had to scroll back through my added albums to last year to find this again because I couldn’t remember this artist or album name. I only remembered the crunchy fuzzy 90s-altrock/shoegazish vibe and that Toro y Moi produced it and that it came out last year and that it had a dog and barfy slimy green and magenta letters on the cover.

[Listening progression: MAHAL –> Hole Erth preview tracks –> GIZMO (this album.)] When I first read a blurb and saw the art for Toro y Moi’s forthcoming album Hole Erth I imagined that it was going be something like this album. Turns out the tracks that have been released from Hole Erth so far aren’t much like this album at all, but that’s okay.

Mr. Rain

The final track “Mr. Rain” really matches the weather and mood this evening, dramatic thunderstorms overhead mixed with golden hour sunset lighting under the clouds to the west.

Standalone post link: Listening Log: GIZMO

My father-in-law is in the Philippines on a work trip and there were pictures shared and discussion of the awesomeness of jeepneys and tricycles in the family chat, so that of course over anything else gave me a flimsy excuse to think of this album and listen to it again, as it doesn’t take very much to make me think of this album and want to listen to it again. And I surprisingly couldn’t resist also randomly sharing¹ in the family chat a modicum of my enthusiasm for the album and Chaz' associated jeepney restoration project.

Toro y Moi - The Loop (Official Video)

Toro y Moi - Postman (Official Video)

Want a Ride in Toro y Moi’s Jeepney? | KQED

Toro y Moi - Goes By So Fast: a MAHAL Film [Behind the Scenes]

If I somehow convert even just one of my nieces, nephews, or in-laws into a Tory y Moi fan, my joy will be tenfold. Even if I just plant the seed…

Standalone post link: Listening Log: MAHAL

Stopped after the 1912 stories and “The Stoker” because I meant to jump over to Amerika next, but then I read other things and continue to want to read other things. I do intend to still come back to this, though. I should put entries for the individual first edition published pieces I did read so at least it they come up on my reading log gallery…

Past Log Updates

2024-07-04 :

Finally starting a deep dive back into Kafka. Intend to read most of his works in roughly the order they were written, so I’m reading the 1912-1913 works in this anthology and then I will jump out of this to read Amerika, then probably jump back into this, then read The Trial, possibly unpublished stuff like Investigations of a Dog, and so forth. Kafka stories blew my mind when I was in high school; we’ll see what happens as a 44 year old.

Resources

Standalone post link: Reading Log: Metamorphosis and Other Stories