These are:
‘Album Released’ notifications might be my very favorite phone notifications.
☑ I have obtained a copy of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, the latest album by Big Thief.
Trying something new today - a weekly post where I round up quick notes and links to things I read, watched, played, listened to, or otherwise engaged with in the past week.
Some links or ideas might also get their own posts, if I find I have more to write or share about them. Or if I decide I feel like spreading stuff out over days and giving things their own spaces.
THINGS I DIDN’T POST DURING THE PANDEMIC - 01
Back in the spring of 2020 Mesita was writing, recording, and releasing the music of the pandemic in realtime, but I didn’t post anything about it at the time because I wasn’t really posting things, and I feel bad about that.
Been streaming this album a lot, so I bought the cassette.
You could daydream about what a collab between Kevin Shields and Frank Ocean might sound like, if they ever got around to it in ten years or something.
Or, you could just listen to boylife’s song “goldeyes” right now.
I’m reading Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, and it is really good but it is taking a while because some nights I fall asleep while I’m reading it and then some nights I scroll through Facebook or web comics or websites about comic books instead of reading it. And then I feel bad, almost as if I, king-like, have killed Scheherazade by not continuing to listen.
I suppose I could just fill up a notebook with random stuff all day.
I suppose I could just fill up the internet with random stuff all day.
Kicking myself because I just missed being able to buy/download this collection from Nyege Nyege (now it is 666 Euros to buy and it can’t be streamed.)
But I found a decent mixtape based on the collection on Soundcloud.
I watched the movie Soul last night, and I loved it.
Did I somehow call forth the winds and fires by listening to this album so fervently last week?
I was just excited about fall, and autumnal black metal…
I had a dream that I listened to this song on a different streaming platform and the guitar solos were missing from the track. I feverishly scoured the internet trying to find the original version with the guitar solos and figure out what was happening. Tabs kept closing on me and websites glitched into oblivion. I wasn’t sure if the streaming platform or record label had demanded their removal, or if she had somehow become ashamed of them and self-censored, or if it was the Mandela effect, or some other kind of weird conspiracy, but I was going to somehow get to the bottom of this cosmic scandal against musicianship and bring the lost guitar solos back to light.
The next day I had to listen to the song several times on different platforms just to be reassured that the guitar solos had not actually disappeared, but still remained on the track in their fulness.
This post will be updated throughout the year as I encounter new music. (Last Updated 2/16/2020. Created 2/15/2020.)
Exceeded my expectations, and I can’t remember the last time a new album from an artist I already liked has done that. There is a warmth here that I haven’t heard in any of his work up until now. This is the electro psychedelic yacht rock I’ve been prepared for my entire life without realizing, every single track an absolute adult contemporary jam.
Don’t know much about this guy but I came across a couple of his guest spots and singles, most notably “Still Sun” and “God’s Own Children,” last fall, and have been anticipating hearing more of his Afrobeat/Afropop/electronic/soul/hip hop/? music ever since. This EP collects those great singles along with some new tracks, all of it extremely solid.
I posted a review of The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison, on Goodreads, and I’m expanding on it slightly below.
I was excited about this book and assumed I would love it because of the subject matter, but I guess I’m a little disappointed and feel the need to talk about it.
Thanks.
I forced the kids to listen to my Sung Tongs vinyl today while they made snowflakes and swung around.
If I had a ‘Favorite Albums of 2019’ list I’d be adding Big Thief’s new album Two Hands to that list.
I can’t think of a band that seems more devoted to the work right now than Big Thief. This is their second release this year, and it seems they’ve been touring and recording almost nonstop for several years now.
I wanted to write a full essay that thoroughly explores my thoughts about this album, Mesita’s Twitter song project, and how it all is actually impacting my views on life, art, &c., but since I already have notebooks and drives and clouds half-filled half-empty with so many other such good intentions that I never follow through on, I’m just going to post this now, and state that I think that Mesita’s You Are Beautiful is pretty much one of the most honest pieces of art I have ever encountered.
Mesita made me a 5-second song on twitter. I love that he does this and that I finally got the guts to ask for one, and he did it.
“House” by KAINA. Beautiful, timely song opening a killer new album.
A few days into March I decided that, for the remainder of the month, I would only listen to music created by women. We’re a week into July now and I haven’t gone back yet.
My 8 most-listened-to musical artists of the last 30 days (last.fm profile screenshot)
