Welcome Distractions
New music, book reviews, short stories and more from blog this week
Plus lots of links to other good stuff that didn’t (yet)Too much? Not enough? Let me know what you think.
Hello! You’re here! Thank you.
It’s a long weekend, so I don’t know how many of you are reading this. Hopefully you have better things to do.
As expected, it was a melancholy week, starting with saying goodbye to the house where I grew up. That was way more difficult than I expected. As I write this, it’s snowing. Spring still hasn’t sprung.
My #dutchindie thing didn’t work out (though I have hope for next week).
It’s an election where I live and the stakes are fairly high, especially for those of us with LGBTQ people we love.
I’ve got a lot on my mind.
I’ve been thinking about something a lot this week though — since I finished Perfection last week, a line from it has been echoing around in my head. In the book it’s about ending a weekend of partying, but I think it works in a lot of contexts:
…take two aspirins before climbing into bed and by Monday morning everything would be fine, or almost everything, or almost fine.
An all-new feature starts next week: it’s called The Backstory. An artist walks us through various influences and ingredients that had a part in their work. If it works out, I’ll be doing these things regularly, and hopefully with a lot of artists that have interests that are very different than mine.
In other news:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
This interactive NYT immigration piece is gorgeous and I found the animations soothing. I want to project them on my bedroom ceiling at night. The interactive map link at the end will consume your day
What If David Mamet Was Always a MAGA Fanboy? I didn’t realize Mamet was a Trump guy, but Glengarry Glen Ross was always about glorifying Scam America.
Five Minutes with Ringo Starr: Any piece that starts like this is a must read:
I don’t like checking email when I’m high, but sometimes I space out and compulsively refresh my iPhone, hoping for something new and shiny.
The Toronto Accent is Real - not literary or music-related, but a fun read about the origin of the strangest accent you’ll hear.
The new Wet Leg song is growing on me. Here’s a good short set with a couple classics:
AI stuff
These links are all about AI but is more interesting than usual. There’s nuance and hope here, but if you’re sick of the whole topic I get it, skip this section:
How to Survive the AI Revolution: This reminded me a lot of Brian Merchant’s book Blood in the Machine, which you should absolutely read.
Why AI will lead to more ‘proof of reality’ posts - I’ve been thinking about this since I read it last week, and in music specifically, imperfection is what often signals authenticity (the guitar crunch in “Creep”, the stutter in “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” or the botched rhyme in the Beasties’ “Pass the Mic”). When we use words like ‘raw’ and ‘alive’ to describe music, it’s the imperfections that we’re talking about.
The AI Romance Factory - another dumbass tech bro that doesn’t understand why people like books. This is a better read than I expected.
Following up from last week’s video, this one is a good discussion between RIck Beato and Anthony Fantano about lots of things - whether Stevie Wonder would be a success today, AI in music and lots more:
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Reading:
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico is exactly that.
Waiting on the Moon by Peter Wolf is a music memoir by a guy I didn’t know, that I absolutely loved
Death of the Author is the last book by Nnedi Okorafor that I’ll read
The Shortlist: No shortlist this week. I ran out of time. I promise a bunch next week. Last week’s stories are still there waiting for you.
Got a short story? Send it my way
Listening:
Some real humdingers this week:
Ribbon Skirt deserves all the attention. Indigenous grunge that will haunt you.
William Carlos Whitten has been around a long time. This is my first time hearing him. Brilliant, weird indie. Like Lou Reed and Sonic Youth in a blender.
RIP Swirl will scratch your shoegaze/trip hop itch
Avery Friedman’s debut is intimate, refined indie-folk.
The Setlist: standout tracks from AtticOmatic, Carlyn and Chinese Medicine
It’s 31 songs, 104 minutes.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
What’s on your playlist? Send me your faves
As I mentioned above, I have a new feature for next week. A blog fave joins me for The Backstory - a new feature that I’m hoping to make a weekly one. And I have another one lined up for the week after that.
Everything will be fine, or almost everything, or almost fine.
Thanks for being here.
-hugh
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