Sunday, January 31, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
lift me up.
a video.
starring vince staples.
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 16/vince staples/summertime '06
starring vince staples.
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 16/vince staples/summertime '06
Thursday, January 28, 2016
thug passion.
starring amthst (aka nite jewel & droop-e).
PITCHFORK: Nite Jewel and Droop-E Team for Collaborative EP as AMTHST, Share "Thug Passion"
PITCHFORK: Nite Jewel and Droop-E Team for Collaborative EP as AMTHST, Share "Thug Passion"
smoke & retribution.
starring flume, vince staples, and kucka.
PITCHFORK: Flume Teams With Vince Staples and Kučka for "Smoke & Retribution"
PITCHFORK: Flume Teams With Vince Staples and Kučka for "Smoke & Retribution"
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
a moment of clarity.
words.
"I do not know the what the best system of reparations would be. But I do know that the racial wealth gap is real, and the correlation of race and poverty is real, and that those facts are responsible for destroying millions of black lives in America, and that those things can be addressed through government policies. By addressing income inequality, and wealth inequality, and predatory lending, and unemployment, and affordable housing, and lack of credit and good education and good health care for the poor, you do a whole lot to help black people, who suffer the effects of these things more acutely than any other group. So let’s fix the problems. “Does this count as reparations?” It doesn’t have to. It counts as fixing the problems that we know that we have and we know how to fix, right now, if only we can muster the political will to do so."
GAWKER: Poverty and Racism Aren't the Same, But Black People Are Getting Screwed by Both
"I do not know the what the best system of reparations would be. But I do know that the racial wealth gap is real, and the correlation of race and poverty is real, and that those facts are responsible for destroying millions of black lives in America, and that those things can be addressed through government policies. By addressing income inequality, and wealth inequality, and predatory lending, and unemployment, and affordable housing, and lack of credit and good education and good health care for the poor, you do a whole lot to help black people, who suffer the effects of these things more acutely than any other group. So let’s fix the problems. “Does this count as reparations?” It doesn’t have to. It counts as fixing the problems that we know that we have and we know how to fix, right now, if only we can muster the political will to do so."
GAWKER: Poverty and Racism Aren't the Same, But Black People Are Getting Screwed by Both
differences.
FILE UNDER: an ongoing discussion/moment of clarity/america.
words.
"In the modern world, much government spending goes to social insurance programs — things like Social Security, Medicare and so on, that are supposed to protect citizens from the misfortunes of life. Such spending is the subject of fierce political debate, and understandably so. Liberals want to help the poor and unlucky, conservatives want to let people keep their hard-earned income, and there’s no right answer to this debate, because it’s a question of values.
There should, however, be much less debate about spending on what Econ 101 calls public goods — things that benefit everyone and can’t be provided by the private sector. Yes, we can differ over exactly how big a military we need or how dense and well-maintained the road network should be, but you wouldn’t expect controversy about spending enough to provide key public goods like basic education or safe drinking water.
Yet a funny thing has happened as hard-line conservatives have taken over many U.S. state governments. Or actually, it’s not funny at all..."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Michigan’s Great Stink
words.
"In the modern world, much government spending goes to social insurance programs — things like Social Security, Medicare and so on, that are supposed to protect citizens from the misfortunes of life. Such spending is the subject of fierce political debate, and understandably so. Liberals want to help the poor and unlucky, conservatives want to let people keep their hard-earned income, and there’s no right answer to this debate, because it’s a question of values.
There should, however, be much less debate about spending on what Econ 101 calls public goods — things that benefit everyone and can’t be provided by the private sector. Yes, we can differ over exactly how big a military we need or how dense and well-maintained the road network should be, but you wouldn’t expect controversy about spending enough to provide key public goods like basic education or safe drinking water.
Yet a funny thing has happened as hard-line conservatives have taken over many U.S. state governments. Or actually, it’s not funny at all..."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Michigan’s Great Stink
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Saturday, January 23, 2016
a moment of clarity.
words.
for your consideration...
"As a song, “White Privilege II” is too unwieldy to be a calculating chess move by a surreptitious white messiah. As a single from one of the country’s biggest pop stars, it’s both confusing and subversive. But as a thinkpiece, it’s a laptop-burner. This song’s sentiment, an audio-only Schoolhouse Rock episode on “How to Not Be a ‘Basic’ Bro,” will ring louder than the most-retweeted hot take, or any special issue of The Atlantic. It’s moving the discourse from the intellectual ivory tower and into the suburban homes of pop music fans. Is it a bit basic? Well, yeah. But so is America."
FLAVORWIRE: Macklemore’s “White Privilege II” Is an Open Letter to Basic White Bros Everywhere (and Their Moms)
Friday, January 22, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
america the beautiful.
FILE UNDER: an ongoing discussion/ moment of clarity.
words.
"...“In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule,” they concluded. “Majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.”
One reason is that our political system is increasingly driven by money: Tycoons can’t quite buy politicians, but they can lease them. Elected officials are hamsters on a wheel, always desperately raising money for the next election. And the donors who matter most are a small group; just 158 families and the companies they control donated almost half the money for the early stages of the presidential campaign.
...Conversely, it’s why the mostly black children in Flint, Mich., have been poisoned by lead coming out of the tap: As Hillary Clinton noted Sunday in the Democratic debate, this wouldn’t have happened in an affluent white suburb. Lead poisoning permanently impairs brain development, but it’s not confined to Flint. Some 535,000 children across the country suffer lead poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those kids never have a chance — not just because of the lead, but also because they don’t matter to the American political system. American politicians are too busy chasing campaign donors to help them.
...Solutions are complex, imperfect and uncertain, but the biggest problem is not a lack of tools but a lack of will.
...Right now, the bitterness at America’s grass roots is often channeled in ways that are divisive and destructive: at immigrants, say, or at Muslims. The challenge will be to leverage the populist frustration into constructive postelection policy. But it has been done before.
... For the sake of our country, let’s work for an encore."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: America the Unfair?
words.
"...“In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule,” they concluded. “Majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.”
One reason is that our political system is increasingly driven by money: Tycoons can’t quite buy politicians, but they can lease them. Elected officials are hamsters on a wheel, always desperately raising money for the next election. And the donors who matter most are a small group; just 158 families and the companies they control donated almost half the money for the early stages of the presidential campaign.
...Conversely, it’s why the mostly black children in Flint, Mich., have been poisoned by lead coming out of the tap: As Hillary Clinton noted Sunday in the Democratic debate, this wouldn’t have happened in an affluent white suburb. Lead poisoning permanently impairs brain development, but it’s not confined to Flint. Some 535,000 children across the country suffer lead poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those kids never have a chance — not just because of the lead, but also because they don’t matter to the American political system. American politicians are too busy chasing campaign donors to help them.
...Solutions are complex, imperfect and uncertain, but the biggest problem is not a lack of tools but a lack of will.
...Right now, the bitterness at America’s grass roots is often channeled in ways that are divisive and destructive: at immigrants, say, or at Muslims. The challenge will be to leverage the populist frustration into constructive postelection policy. But it has been done before.
... For the sake of our country, let’s work for an encore."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: America the Unfair?
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
basement queens.
starring speedy ortiz's sadie dupuis & lizzo.
PITCHFORK: Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis (Sad13) and Lizzo Team Up for "Basement Queens"
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 06/speedy ortiz/foil deer
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
who will save your soul?
a jewel cover.
starring shamir.
stream here.
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 20/shamir/ratchet
starring shamir.
stream here.
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 20/shamir/ratchet
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Friday, January 15, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
late night.
with david bowie & conan o'brien.
ROLLING STONE: Watch Conan O'Brien Remember David Bowie's 'Late Night' Visits
ROLLING STONE: Watch Conan O'Brien Remember David Bowie's 'Late Night' Visits
Monday, January 11, 2016
ashes to ashes.
a moment of clarity.
words.
"This was not supposed to happen. Ever. Because he had been so many people over the course of his grand and immense career, it was inconceivable that he wouldn’t continue to be many people—a myriad of folks in a beautiful body who would reflect times to come, times none of us could imagine but that he could. He always got to the unknown first.
...Bowie’s rendition of “Foot Stompin’ ” was the artist’s tribute to the Flares, a doo-wop group that recorded in the nineteen-fifties and early sixties. Back then, a young David Robert Jones thrilled to the records his father brought home, including those made by that outrageous, vulnerable showman Little Richard. When he heard “Tutti Frutti,” Bowie said once, he knew he’d heard God. Little Richard’s uncommon look and feeling were part of what he meant to project in this common world. Bowie, too. He was an Englishman who was sometimes afraid of Americans and fame but, on his final record, could sing “Look at me / I’m in heaven” as a way of describing where he wanted to end up, maybe, but definitely where Bowie—that outsider who made different kids feel like dancing in that difference, and who had a genius for friendship, too—had lived since we knew him."
THE NEW YORKER: Postscript: David Bowie, 1947-2016
words.
"This was not supposed to happen. Ever. Because he had been so many people over the course of his grand and immense career, it was inconceivable that he wouldn’t continue to be many people—a myriad of folks in a beautiful body who would reflect times to come, times none of us could imagine but that he could. He always got to the unknown first.
...Bowie’s rendition of “Foot Stompin’ ” was the artist’s tribute to the Flares, a doo-wop group that recorded in the nineteen-fifties and early sixties. Back then, a young David Robert Jones thrilled to the records his father brought home, including those made by that outrageous, vulnerable showman Little Richard. When he heard “Tutti Frutti,” Bowie said once, he knew he’d heard God. Little Richard’s uncommon look and feeling were part of what he meant to project in this common world. Bowie, too. He was an Englishman who was sometimes afraid of Americans and fame but, on his final record, could sing “Look at me / I’m in heaven” as a way of describing where he wanted to end up, maybe, but definitely where Bowie—that outsider who made different kids feel like dancing in that difference, and who had a genius for friendship, too—had lived since we knew him."
THE NEW YORKER: Postscript: David Bowie, 1947-2016
Saturday, January 09, 2016
Friday, January 08, 2016
Thursday, January 07, 2016
a moment of clarity.
FILE UNDER: america.
words.
“I don't think it's something that you extract yourself from, it's something that you move on from, for the simple fact that these things aren't based in crime or wrong, these things are based in being a part of a certain community. And the only way to get away form that community is to literally leave the community or better the community.” - Vince Staples
FADER: Vince Staples GIves An Insightful Lesson On Gang Life For ESPN's Highly Questionable
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 16/vince staples/summertime '06
words.
“I don't think it's something that you extract yourself from, it's something that you move on from, for the simple fact that these things aren't based in crime or wrong, these things are based in being a part of a certain community. And the only way to get away form that community is to literally leave the community or better the community.” - Vince Staples
FADER: Vince Staples GIves An Insightful Lesson On Gang Life For ESPN's Highly Questionable
EARLIER:
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015: 16/vince staples/summertime '06
Wednesday, January 06, 2016
the kills.
FILE UNDER: a moment of clarity.
words.
for your consideration...
""If white people are just now discovering that it's bad for black or working class people in America, they're a lot more blind than I thought. They're a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought," the rapper told Colbert. "The same problems that we're discussing today, we discussed in 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960. And until we call a spade a spade and we say that this problem is coming from conditions that we're creating or allowing to happen, as a white group of people who hold a certain amount of people…""
ROLLING STONE: Killer Mike Talks Racial Inequality, Bernie Sanders on 'Late Show'
words.
for your consideration...
""If white people are just now discovering that it's bad for black or working class people in America, they're a lot more blind than I thought. They're a lot more choosing to be ignorant than I thought," the rapper told Colbert. "The same problems that we're discussing today, we discussed in 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1960. And until we call a spade a spade and we say that this problem is coming from conditions that we're creating or allowing to happen, as a white group of people who hold a certain amount of people…""
ROLLING STONE: Killer Mike Talks Racial Inequality, Bernie Sanders on 'Late Show'
Tuesday, January 05, 2016
Monday, January 04, 2016
Sunday, January 03, 2016
Saturday, January 02, 2016
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015.
01/sufjan stevens/carrie & lowell
it was mother's day, two thousand fifteen. i told myself i wouldn't cry in public, but i did, couldn't help myself. the journey on bus one had drawn to a close, and as i rose to exit, sufjan stevens sang in my ear, coming through my headphones at peace, solemnly,
"...we're all gonna die..."
i missed the states projects. and i adored the sisyphus project. age of adz? my everything. so i came to this new sufjan project with some expectations, knowing what i wanted and was going to get. and i didn't get any of that.
a new sufjan album was going to be in heavy rotation for me regardless of the direction or tone. but what i got here was something i did not expect: a connection and a tool to help me get through and process something similar that i had yet to tackle head on.
sufjan lost his mother prior to this album's creation and release. and when she died, like many of us, his mind raced to the good times, the missed connections, and the things that were left unsaid. with carrie & lowell, sufjan is not fantastical, and is grounded; alone in his thoughts and patient, seeking clarity to process his mother's death and his own station in life. there is no rage, there is no clutter, and there is no noise, just peace.
it's admirable and relatable, with a warmth that is incredibly moving.
and a beautifully human experience.
transcend.
KEY TRACKS: should have known better/fourth of july/john my beloved
02/kendrick lamar/to pimp a butterfly
03/tame impala/currents
04/miguel/wildheart
05/bully/feels like
06/speedy ortiz/foil deer
08/beach house/depression cherry
09/courtney barnett/sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit
10/sleater-kinney/no cities to love
11/d'angelo & the vanguard/black messiah
12/kurt vile/b'lieve i'm goin down...
13/deerhunter/fading frontier
14/tobias jesso, jr./goon
15/hudson mohawke/lantern
18/grimes/art angels
19/kacey musgraves/pageant material
20/shamir/ratchet
21/drake/if you’re reading this it’s too late
22/son lux/bones
23/disclosure/caracal
SOUND & COLOR: THE SONGS, 2015.
01/rihanna/kanye/paul mccartney/fourfiveseconds
there's something about fourfiveseconds. something about its simplicity and the chemistry of all parties involved all working to get their point across urgently without overthinking or overdoing it. something about the magic and grit in rihanna's vocal, paul's gentle and serene strumming, that organ in the middle that takes everything to church, & kanye shining in song without doing any rapping. something about how the song is nothing more than genuine raw emotion for three minutes from three of the biggest superstars to ever do it, but it's not about celebrity or theatrics or grandstanding, just release and setting things straight while playing it straight. sometimes less is more, and fourfiveseconds is living proof.
02/missy elliot/pharrell williams/wtf (where they from)
03/speedy ortiz/raising the skate
05/janet jackson/no sleeep
06/drake/know yourself
07/deradoorian/the expanding flower planet
08/alabama shakes/gimme all your love
09/tame impala/let it happen
10/grimes/flesh without blood
11/kanye west/theophilus london/allan kingdom/paul mccartney/all day
12/chvrches/clearest blue
13/tame impala/'cause i'm a man (haim mix)
14/kurt vile/pretty pimpin
15/jamie xx/gosh
16/erykah badu/cel u lar device
17/the weeknd/the hills
18/lana del rey/high by the beach
19/tobias jesso jr./without you
20/carly rae jepsen/gimmie love
21/kacey musgraves/late to the party
22/disclosure + sam smith/omen
23/courtney barnett/pedestrian at best
24/adele/hello
25/wilco/ekg
06/drake/know yourself
07/deradoorian/the expanding flower planet
08/alabama shakes/gimme all your love
09/tame impala/let it happen
10/grimes/flesh without blood
11/kanye west/theophilus london/allan kingdom/paul mccartney/all day
12/chvrches/clearest blue
13/tame impala/'cause i'm a man (haim mix)
14/kurt vile/pretty pimpin
15/jamie xx/gosh
16/erykah badu/cel u lar device
17/the weeknd/the hills
18/lana del rey/high by the beach
19/tobias jesso jr./without you
20/carly rae jepsen/gimmie love
21/kacey musgraves/late to the party
22/disclosure + sam smith/omen
23/courtney barnett/pedestrian at best
24/adele/hello
25/wilco/ekg
Friday, January 01, 2016
SOUND & COLOR: THE ALBUMS, 2015.
02/kendrick lamar/to pimp a butterfly
"2015. Niggas tired of playin' victim dog. Niggas ain't trying to play vic-- TuTu, how many niggas we done lost?... No for real, answer the question, how many niggas we done lost bro? This, this year alone? Exactly. So we ain't got time to waste my nigga..."
because time is of the essence. because the truth shall set you free. because black is beautiful. because life is difficult and must be dealt with and confronted head on. because some things must be said and a mirror must be held up and gazed upon. because representation is everything, as well as inclusion. because we're tired, yet hopeful, and all gots to do better. because knowledge is power too often taken for granted. because he, like we, are tired of playing victims, and know that often the change we seek and often need begins with we. because this is not put upon or anything other than what it is: honest and expansive; willing to go there, rhythmically and thematically. because "shit don't change til you get up and wash yo ass". because we're more than just boogeymen or gangstas. because we're too often misunderstood and deserve better. because the vessel through which it travels is hip-hop personified and a love letter to black culture's musical triumphs and rich history over time. because clarity is beautiful once fully realized and achieved.
because knowledge is power.
and he knows, and must be heard.
because we matter, and he matters, and this and these things matter.
salute.
KEY TRACKS: wesley's theory/for free?/the blacker the berry
03/tame impala/currents
04/miguel/wildheart
05/bully/feels like
06/speedy ortiz/foil deer
08/beach house/depression cherry
09/courtney barnett/sometimes i sit and think, and sometimes i just sit
10/sleater-kinney/no cities to love
11/d'angelo & the vanguard/black messiah
12/kurt vile/b'lieve i'm goin down...
13/deerhunter/fading frontier
14/tobias jesso, jr./goon
15/hudson mohawke/lantern
18/grimes/art angels
19/kacey musgraves/pageant material
20/shamir/ratchet
21/drake/if you’re reading this it’s too late
22/son lux/bones
23/disclosure/caracal
to pimp a buttefly.
with president obama & jerry seinfeld.
NPR: Seinfeld And Obama, Driving A Stingray And Getting Coffee
NPR: Seinfeld And Obama, Driving A Stingray And Getting Coffee
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