April 5 2024
After the cop opened the gate and gave us Raisin Bran, he stopped. He'd given us twenty-two cereal onesies and eighteen paper cups of water. (I had time to count.) After two seconds of silence, he looked and asked, "Anything else you need?" It sounded sincere, based on the other seven words I'd heard.
These interactions are generally grim. The guy in his spot the time before had thin blue line gloves and a Punisher patch on his shirt. (Cops have to pay for all that shit, as well as some of the "legit" murder tech.) This guy was different. He seemed relaxed, but I don't know what he was thinking. Was he relieved when he closed us in, because it put some distance between him and the people who were tied to his paycheck? Maybe he didn't like the act of restraining us. Maybe he was glad spring was breaking. That Thursday was one of the days that makes hope seem feasible. I didn't need anything else from him and said so. One other guy got milk with no spoon, which means that he likes milk.
I have been playing the Rei Harakami discography. While trying to figure out who he was, I found a 2022 post called "Revisiting Rei Harakami." It's modest interview with a friend who tells us that Harakami made films and played the guitar and initially didn't like electronic music. This may be why Harakami was so good at making electronic music. These records are so so light, a fluttery blend inspired by drum n bass but not the same as it. Harakami died at age 40 of a brain hemorrhage. He also worked with Akiko Yano but I know nothing about that.
Mohawk 022424 is a live session from Water Damage, the tape blowout as much the music as the music which is both two notes one note and twenty. Or, for the opposite sound, you could assemble a YouTube playlist from this thread of songs Prince posted to Twitter (when he was alive). I would have but I didn't. I loved this Soul Glo Tiny Desk, which reminds me how goofy genre is. Before this video, I would not have said give me some punk rock. Now, I would say give me some punk rock. I love this no beats yes rapping thing going on, like "Regs & Regret" by Another Planet and Wavy Bagels. This recent Blonde Redhead set on KEXP is a good way to indicate their new-ish album, Sit Down For Dinner, which I love. This Malayeen album is sick and it is ten years old! I have had this Willie Bobo song stuck in my head for a month. Now it's your problem!
Until next Wednesday, April 10th, you can watch The Journey of Others, a documentary on the Jenin Freedom Theater. At any point, you can read one of these great things: JJ Sullivan on Axl Rose (2006, talk of Indiana) or Andrew Norman Wilson on himself in The Baffler (2024, talk of ribs and ocean liners) or Colin Vanderburg on Lyn Hejinian (2024, talk of facts).
I love this Ata Tak album, which was released in 1994. I forgot how insane the drum machines and rapping are, not in the sense of being busy but in the sense that this guy can't make anything sound heavy, no matter how hard he tries.
Fredric Jameson's original 1984 postmodernism essay might entirely bend your face if you have not read it recently. The terms proposed have not changed radically, though what really got me this time was thinking of how close he still was to the middle of the century, so the forces being outlined seem as distant as the ideas seem current. If you go to my old Blogspot, it appears for a split-second, time-stamping my shift to the real blog: October 5, 2003. A better Blogspot is Esmat Elhalaby's Blogspot, which is almost as consistent as Azealia Banks' IG stories. There is still real music criticism! Just no real jobs.
