We're gonna have to retire the expression "avoid it like the plague" because it turns out humans do not do that

Everyone who came in last night seemed like they were just cosplaying four months ago. With everything that's going on right now (COVID, BLM protests, governmental abuse of power, climate disasters,) nothing goes away because you get tired of it, or tired of thinking about it.

Today, yk Records released the third album from Meadownoise in collaboration with Pet's Musical Park. Threeve is unlike anything I've put out on yk Records previously and probably unlike anything that I will put out in the future. I've been listening to Meadownoise since 2013 and the debut album It's 4:00. I stayed transfixed over the course of the next year with the release of Dark Digest. It's been six years since then and expressing the growth and change to the music is extremely difficult to express.

The songs of Threeve can be challenging. Some might call them weird. I don't think that's inappropriate but I do think it'd be selling it short. Matt Glassmeyer, the man behind the name, has a long history with jazz, progressive pop (he was a member of Lambchop) and ambient outfits. He blends all those experiences together beautifully through the course of these eleven tracks.

"Cliff House Kids" is probably the most immediately accessible, a melancholy song in a straightforward pop format. "The Wired Remote" is an expansive sprawl cut with transmissions, struggling to be heard. There's something heartbreaking about it to my ears. "Feral Fruits" is a combination of whooshing swirls and ominous beats combined with the rantings of a poetic madman.

Every song is intriguing in its own unique way. For me, personally, it is reminiscent of The Books and Charles Spearin, two artists that continuously challenged me with their creations.

I hope you'll give it a listen, preferably start to finish / top to bottom. I fully admit it has its avant-garde qualities but I'd shudder to think that's a bad thing.

LOUISVILLE, KY JUST MADE HISTORY. WE PASSED BREONNA'S LAW, BANNING NO-KNOCK WARRANTS. NEXT, WE GO FEDERAL. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WORKED ON THIS.

“recertifying my unemployment claim while in the drive-thru line to get a precautionary coronavirus test bc I was at the police protests” is a sentence that certainly wouldn’t have made sense to me 6 months ago

In an unprecedented move, the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Michael Brown, supported by over 600 groups are demanding @UN_HRC to convene a special session to address police violence and repression of protests in the U.S. https://t.co/5zXnwKwprz. https://t.co/iUQbDfsLQ1

I been in a mental fog for weeks. Can’t focus on shit.

Two weeks back I crossed the threshold of 200 episodes of the We Own This Town Music podcast. I posted an episode looking back at the 15 years of coverage the show has provided but couldn't help but notice that the amount of music created by People of Color on the show was greatly lacking. If my show is meant to showcase music being made by everyone outside of Music Row and Pop Country, how was I primarily covering only white people? The answer is pretty simple, I wasn't doing the work to look for it. There's not an explanation for it beyond that. So, I decided to reset a bit. I can't go back and change my coverage in the past but I can strive to be more inclusive and showcase a wider variety of musical genres from all people in the city. This episode consists entirely of music made by People of Color in Nashville and every episode after this I will do my damndest to be more balanced.

Look, no part of me thinks that changing my musical coverage on a podcast is going to make any sort of difference in the treatment of African-Americans and the marginalized. I'm on board with @blm_nashville (Black Lives Mattre Nashville), @gideonsarmyunited (Gideon’s Army United), @oversightnow (Community Oversight Nashville) & @nashvillepeoplesbudget (Nashville People’s Budget) to drive me to be directly involved in making a change and I hope you are as well.

Brooklyn artist Adrian Brandon has been working on this "Stolen" series since February of 2019 but it has been finding a much wider audience lately due to its poignant subject matter. The concept of the series is simple - Brandon draws a portrait of a individual who had their life taken by the police and then spends 1 minute for every year of life they lived coloring in the piece. His own words say it best:

Tamir Rice was 12 when he was murdered, so I colored his portrait for 12 minutes. As a person of color, I know that my future can be stolen from me if I’m driving with a broken taillight, or playing my music too loud, or reaching for my phone at the wrong time. So for each of these portraits I played with the harsh relationship between time and death. I want the viewer to see how much empty space is left in these lives, stories that will never be told, space that can never be filled. This emptiness represents holes in their families and our community, who will be forever stuck with the question, “who were they becoming?”

Go follow @ayy.bee on Instagram or @itsayybee on Twitter for more.

There's plenty more from this series to see in those feeds, as well as a lot of other illustrations done in a myriad of styles. I recommend carving some actual quality time out of your day to pore over all of it.

What if the President is right and Antifa is breeding 75-year-old super soldiers who fall over on command?

this is the Divorced Guy pride flag https://t.co/BQLFoYdIfu

you wanna know why you’re all so phonically satisfied by the line “suck my dick and choke on it I yield my time fuck you!” ???? it’s cuz it’s basically shakespeare y’all. it feels like a heartbeat - literally it’s how you speak when your body is guiding you https://t.co/h2Zw3oF5aO

Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain “political BS”? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog. https://t.co/AMpmjx6540

BREAKING: Minneapolis City Council members announce their intent to disband the city's police department. "It's clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn’t working. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed.” #GeorgeFloyd https://t.co/DjOCTbTy6p

I've always enjoyed the musical insights that Brandon Spencer has brought to the table. He generally has a much deeper insight into just about any genre music than I ever will and that is no better experienced than during his weekly radio show on WXNA. The latest episode is a "focus on black voices in literature and music" and it's a damn good listen. Tuning in to a radio show isn't going to make an impactful change that we need to see but understanding and recognizing the influence of black culture (particularly in opposition to its oppression) is a handy mental tool.

Artwork by the always wonderful Jeremy Okai.

The above image has nothing to do with anything but it lieu of a Friday Videos post, I thought you might find it entertaining.

Frankly, finding and compiling amusing videos is not just something my brain is geared for at the moment. You can not look at any form of social media without being confronted with absolutely abhorrent examples of police brutality. For people of color, it isn't the least bit surprising. For me, it's sickening.

I stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. I stand with the protests. I even stand with the rioting. While I am certainly not in favor of anyone getting hurt, I don't believe anyone was willing to pay attention without a bit of revolution. There are plenty of historical examples conducted by white people to back that up. I certainly stand with defunding the police as well.

But I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or tell you all what a good person I am for aligning with this. We all should be. It should be devastating to learn that someone is not. I'm trying to listen, to learn and to alter my own behaviors to uplift those marginalized voices where I can.

If you have not; please consider becoming an ACLU member. I know clicking that "recurring donation" button is hard but they are doing fantastic work. Give to your local Black Lives Matter chapter. Contribute to Bail Funds. Find any organization that needs your money and help them accomplish their cause.

Then consider that Just The Beginning. That's how I'm approaching this and I hope you do, too.

Happy to announce today marks the first official release from Black Bra, the new band by Forget Cassettes Beth Cameron. The first single is entitled "I Was a Young Girl" and is available to listen to exclusively on Bandcamp here.

The self-titled album is also available for pre-order.

Asking people to buy records during a time of massive unemployment is not great. Asking people to listen to your new song during a time when global protests are finally showing how the frustration and fear of marginalized voices feels like a frivolous dichotomy. I am not ignorant to these facts.

I stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. I stand with the protests. I stand with working to defund police across the nation. I have a lot of education and work to do but I am on board, 100%. I know Black Bra feels the same way.

Not to bury the lede, but the proceeds from this new album will go to Southerners On New Ground (SONG), "a regional Queer Liberation organization made up of Black people, people of color, immigrants, working-class and rural and small-town LGBTQ people committed to building freedom movements."

Contributing money is not enough to make the holistic change needed for our nation but funding for organizations like SONG is essential to enabling their mission. We know this isn't the end solution but it is, hopefully, a step in the right direction.

America doesn't need to diagnose the problem again. The nation has studied its racism on a loop for decades. It knows exactly what it needs to fix. My latest: https://t.co/coR4EGFSSS

Psst. That awful video in which a white person is getting their skull cracked by a cop? That happens to black people ALL THE TIME. Doesn't usually make the news. That visceral rage you feel? The need to jump in, stop it, do something? Imagine feeling like that your whole life.

The Washington Monument just now, y’all... https://t.co/69axiSpeto