Okay, here’s the 411 on recent happenings: with my neuroses invading practically everything, it’s somehow hard to both look at the big picture and also take everything one day at a time. I’ve been simultaneously fixating on things for the future, looking at job offerings, internships I’m not at all qualified for, and then dismissing them like “oh, I have forever until then.” Even with the stress of May coming to a close, including finals, school ending, and sleep deprivation beyond belief, I’ve found myself actually… content?
Don’t fret, contentment and peace does not mean at all that I’ll forget you. If all goes to plan, I’m anticipating to have a beat published that I’ve been planning since… um, actually since way before this Substack came into fruition lol [insert crossing fingers emoji I can’t find on desktop]. And, I’m hoping to get more into music journalism! So, pop some albums or artists you might be interested in me giving a “very critical, active listen” to – à la RFQ’s creative cycling.
With that out of the way, I’d like to share some things I’ve been loving recently.
Los Campesinos!
Legitimately my favorite of all time. To paraphrase a Tweet that I've long forgotten the author of, “not all emo music is good, but all good music is at least a little emo.” If you’re looking for some indie rock full of clever and maybe just a tad too horny lyrics and bombastic instrumentals, this is your band. (And if you want to be the ex-girlfriend in “your ex-girlfriend’s favourite band”)
favorite lyrics of mine include:
Absence makes the heart grow fonder, fondness makes the absence longer Length loses my interest, I’m a realist, I’m insatiable
- via We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Nothing says, “I miss you” quite like war poetry you carved in your door with a Stanley knife
- via My Year in Lists
What doesn’t kill you, leaves you wounded But I will nurse you back, alright
- via Tiptoe Through the True Bits
And literally every single line in Baby I Got The Death Rattle
SweeTarts Ropes
WHAT DID THEY PUT IN THIS
Have I watched Succession? No. Do I know it’s good? Yes. Did I initially confuse it with Suits? Absolutely. I started following Amy Odell’s work because I wanted the job she had – Hello? Culture and fashion reporting?? What a dream. The reason I stayed is because of her absolutely captivating voice and seemingly boundless knowledge of… you guessed it, culture and fashion.
Jazzy hits on virtually every point that has been spinning in my mind since I was 12. In Duality of Woman, Jazzy expands on the Madonna-Whore complex, slightly reframed to a more modern perception. The piece is incredible, and even manages to rope in one of my favorite things to think about– the Epimenides paradox (my knowledge of it courtesy of some fucking guy I spoke to years ago when deeply in need of attention)
Charlie Squire is just about one of the most brilliant writers that comes to mind. Every single word and observation is purposeful. Squire understands the weight of language and the result is beyond unique and powerful. I believe the quote below speaks for itself:
I worry that many people do not understand that strangers are real human beings. I think they know it intellectually, and they know that they should think it, and they especially know they have to say it. But I worry that people do not understand that the people they walk past or read about in the New York Post or watch on vertical iPhone videos are real people, people who can hear the blood pounding in their ears and people who can feel the weight of humidity when it hangs heavy in the air in August and people who know the strangely warm crawling of hunger when their stomachs are empty. I worry that many people don’t understand that others’ thoughts and feelings are loud and urgent and real, and that everyone’s rational needs and irrational thought patterns are filtered through an internal logic that makes perfect sense to whoever feels them. If you have needs or anxieties that go unaddressed, and then you are treated like you are crazy or insane for having needs and anxieties, you only feel crazier and more separate and more in need and more failed by the people around you. That’s the logical response.
Since I didn’t really plan this post as thoroughly as I would have liked, it is just a tad bit barren. But, I will still leave you with it for now, next time, who knows?