It crept up on me but the past few weeks have been an absolute onslaught of work and random projects. I'm a bit overwhelmed to be completely honest so, if you're waiting on an email from me - please be patient.
Despite that, I must find breaks for sanity. Here's a sanity break for you:
Gary Stewart - She's Acting Single - the latest episode of Nashville Demystified takes a deep dive into the late David Berman's blog, Purple Mountains. One of the links they share is this track via Berman. It's phenomenal.
Faux Ferocious - Price of Progress - I really love this Faux Ferocious album that came out in 2019 and this video is an excellent companion for this track. It's simple but it works so well.
I'm a diehard Makeup and Vanity Set fan. Regardless of yk Records releasing a couple albums from him (of which I am immensely proud), I would be a diehard fan and continuously be listening to his wealth of output. Over the course of the last year he's really found a niche with providing the soundtrack to various podcasts and short films - Foyer, Mather, Up and Vanished, et al. - but his latest release, the Overpass OST is, sonically, quite a bit different.
The 41-track release consists of songs largely under 3 minutes. It's the soundtrack to a videogame, so that is a sensible fact but it's atypical for MAVS as his songs tend to take their time setting a mood and sprawling out. The songs are upbeat, not nearly as "dark" as you'd generally associate with MAVS and a damn delight to listen to.
He also released a full Production Kit, so if you find yourself wanting to download the loops used in his creations, you can have at it.
I've no doubt there's more tricks up MAVS sleeve and I look forward to each and every one of them.
Seems like the conference is focusing a bit more on their creative learning classes as well - plenty of workshops around learning lettering, design systems, prototyping and even some general wellness.
I don't attend a ton of conferences but this one certainly looks like it's continuing to be quite worthwhile.
As such, we must all be personally aware of our own racist inclinations, and must effort to advance our anti-racism every day. I'll close with a quote from the book's epilogue:
"An antiracist America can only be guaranteed if principled antiracists are in power,
I watched this video last night and it's still freaking me out. A deep fake where Bill Hader *turns into* Tom Cruise and Seth Rogan *while impersonating them*. (via @MohamedGhilan / Ctrl Shift Face on YouTube) https://t.co/59evJ5Etfi
Running the WOTT music podcast exposes me to a great deal of music I likely wouldn't have stumbled into on my own. Once such recent discovery is the work of Good Service, who's work is exemplified in this bonkers collage video for Summer Muses. It's a dash of indie pop, a smattering of shoegaze and juuust the right balance in the production between being glossy and being DIY. The whole record is quite good. Consider that my endorsement for your enjoyment.
Browsing the portfolio of Hiroshi Nagai is an interesting experience. The images within are stark, simple and steeped with nostalgia, though a second look lets you know there's plenty of details and texture at play that you could overlook. I particularly enjoy the Architecture pieces for exactly that reason. They almost read like posters you'd see in a classroom but there's that intangible something that still speaks to me.
As the site doesn't provide much insight into the artist himself, it behooves us all to get some context and learn about his history studying under illustrator King Terry and how many of these images have adorned album covers since the early 80's. There's even a new Light in the Attic compilation showcasing new work from Nagai.
There's a wealth of work to discover and it only gets better when viewed in its original setting.
Paige steered me towards this discussion on Slow Internet. It starts as a callout regarding the new Telegram app and how it contains a "Slow Mode" for preventing messages being sent too quickly; presumably forcing a bit of mental pause and reflection but goes in some interesting directions from there. By and large, there is a consensus that the Social Internet is killing our attention spans and, possibly more devastating, harming our ability to feel satisfaction.
Instead of just favoriting the Tweet and hoping you see it, I wanted to take special care to point out that you should find some time (whenever convenient) to flip through the responses. Personally, I find myself spending less and less time on any social networks and I do feel the FOMO from it, a sensation that I'm not particularly fond of.
Starting to feel like there’s a possibility I’ll be happy soon but I’m hoping deep seated issues from my childhood will keep me from being boring- fingers crossed!
