I realized while cleaning the house this morning, that I hadn’t sent a newsletter all summer. I’m doing all right. I’ve been eating a lot of crab fried rice, which was not a thing I ate before the quarantine. Also, I’ve been really getting into wine. (Yes, the world is truly ending…)
Last night, I stumbled into Oscar Jerome via some bizarre algorithm quirk. He’s very good. It’s like a jazzier version of whatever Rex Orange County is doing, except far less tweet and far more soulful. Worth your time.
Be kind. Subscribe.
I’m not sure what about the charred husk that is American society right now that made me think this, but I’ve been more conscientious about subscribing to periodicals that I read often. I’m not talking about newspapers really, they’re frustrating by and large. We’re talking specifically about small print publications and long-form reading that has given me delight.
Things like N+1, California Sunday Magazine, and a bunch of others have been very satisfying for me. I read too much non-fiction by default, but I’m kind of exhausted by books right now.
Especially since much of my reading distracts me from my own writing — which is another issue entirely — I’m trying to stay informed as there are a lot of things going on in the world that need attention, money, and energy devoted to them. Many connected very directly to the extent troubles that are dominating the gamified airwaves of mass media.
I’m always up for suggestions, so let me know what periodicals do it for you these days.
Okay, enough of that. Back to the music.
What other tunes you got, Bronson?
It’s been a strange summer, even by my eclectic standards. Not because I’ve been veering into musical territory I don’t normally drive in. It’s just that nothing sounds good to listen to. I find myself listening to more upbeat or soulful stuff than my normal tastes. (By normal tastes, that mostly means somewhere between jazz or anything that within a sub-genre ends in -gaze.)
Here are some bops, jams, or bangers that you should check out:
Ric Wilson - Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P
Kindness - Softness Is A Weapon
Neil Frances - Music Sounds Better With You
The Undercover Dream Lovers - You Don’t Have To Be Lonely
Jean Tonique & Bleu Platine - Un Rêve à Deux
Speaking of reading things
This N+1 article entitled, I am here to demonize Spotify is too long to read really. But it was full of solid quotes including:
The platform is a fire hose of asinine recommendations for songs you haven’t heard that were only recommended to you because they’re as similar as possible to songs you have. (In the words of one Guardian writer: “You like bread? Try toast!”)
Real Life Mag is a no-ad supported mag sponsored by Snap, but is editiorially independent and they just produce hit after hit. I could just share articles from them entirely, but Automatic For The Bosses was timely:
" In the dark ages, ordering a pizza meant talking on the phone and having cash on hand to give to another living, breathing person. Now with a few taps on a phone, the pizza can be ordered and paid for. And while video, record, or bookstores have (or had) their own irreducible charm, literally nothing beats Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon when it comes to efficiently moving product.
What’s this about writing?
So, I’m finally working on the Consequence Design book. It’s slow going, but I’m doing An Event Apart on July 20th. It’ll be the first talk where I explicitly talk about Consequence Design as a named thing (though I’ve been alluding to it for the past few years), but conceptually it’s still nascent. Once the talk airs, I’ll send a copy of my slides mostly to ping you all for feedback.
That’s all for now. Stay safe.
I almost forgot.
The cover of California Dreamin’ from the 70s soul-funk group The Jacksonians will clear your acne.