starring prince.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
pop.
words.
"“In 2014, nothing starts a fight more quickly than a huge pop song,” reads the intro to Powers and Wilson’s exchange. Setting aside the hyperbole—or embracing it, maybe—let me add that this has also been the case in every other year that pop music has existed. The prejudices backlighting these arguments are familiar: Pop is shallow product forced on minds too young or dumb to know better; rock is uncut truth transmuted from a powerful and probably male god. Pop is about play and transience; rock is about timelessness and authenticity. Pop is a preprogrammed drum machine; rock is the wild expression of the soul through an electric guitar.
...I sometimes worry that serious music can only be served by serious talk, or worse, that people who like serious music can only have serious reasons for doing so. The truth is that you will probably meet just as many shallow people at a National show as you will at a Miley Cyrus show, the difference being that people at the National show are more likely to think they’re important, while people at a Miley Cyrus show are more likely to think they’re having fun..."
THE PITCH: It's Not What You Like But How You Like It: Some Thoughts on Pop
"“In 2014, nothing starts a fight more quickly than a huge pop song,” reads the intro to Powers and Wilson’s exchange. Setting aside the hyperbole—or embracing it, maybe—let me add that this has also been the case in every other year that pop music has existed. The prejudices backlighting these arguments are familiar: Pop is shallow product forced on minds too young or dumb to know better; rock is uncut truth transmuted from a powerful and probably male god. Pop is about play and transience; rock is about timelessness and authenticity. Pop is a preprogrammed drum machine; rock is the wild expression of the soul through an electric guitar.
...I sometimes worry that serious music can only be served by serious talk, or worse, that people who like serious music can only have serious reasons for doing so. The truth is that you will probably meet just as many shallow people at a National show as you will at a Miley Cyrus show, the difference being that people at the National show are more likely to think they’re important, while people at a Miley Cyrus show are more likely to think they’re having fun..."
THE PITCH: It's Not What You Like But How You Like It: Some Thoughts on Pop
Friday, April 18, 2014
a moment of clarity.
words.
"The Republican attack machine, fueled by millions of dollars from the Koch brothers, has Democrats so rattled about the health reform law that many don’t want to talk about it. They’re happy to run on equal pay for women, or a higher minimum wage, or immigration reform — all of which provide important contrasts with a do-nothing Republican Party — but they haven’t said much about the biggest social accomplishment of the Obama administration.
...It’s important to move on to jobs and the economy, as Mr. Obama urged Congress to do. But first voters need to be reminded that government programs can improve life for all Americans. When one of those programs begins to do its job, its authors shouldn’t be afraid to say so."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: How to Run on Health Reform
MIXTAPE FRIDAYS!!!
whip appeal.
a playlist.
1/saturday love/cherrelle & alexander o'neal
2/portuguese love/teena marie
3/this is for the lover in you/shalamar
4/let's wait awhile/janet jackson
5/i wanna be your lover/prince
6/two occasions/the deele
7/tender love/force m.d.'s
8/tonight is the night/betty wright
9/through the fire/chaka khan
10/whip appeal/babyface
11/tell me/groove theory
12/your love is king/sade
13/uncle ace/blood orange
14/suavecito/malo
15/you give good love/whitney houston
16/the lady in my life/michael jackson
a moment of clarity.
words.
"To the extent that the word “desegregation” remains in our vocabulary, it describes an antique principle, not a current priority. Today, we are more likely to talk of diversity—but diversification and desegregation are not the same undertaking. To speak of diversity, in light of this country’s history of racial recidivism, is to focus on bringing ethnic variety to largely white institutions, rather than dismantling the structures that made them so white to begin with.
And so, sixty years after Brown, it is clear that the notion of segregation as a discrete phenomenon, an evil that could be flipped, like a switch, from on to off, by judicial edict, was deeply naïve. The intervening decades have shown, in large measure, the limits of what political efforts directed at desegregation alone could achieve, and the crumbling of both elements of “separate but equal” has left us at an ambivalent juncture. To the extent that desegregation becomes, once again, a pressing concern—and even that may be too grand a hope—it will have to involve the tax code, the minimum wage, and other efforts to redress income inequality. For the tragedy of this moment is not that black students still go to overwhelmingly black schools, long after segregation was banished by law, but that they do so for so many of the same reasons as in the days before Brown."
THE NEW YORKER: The Failure of Desegregation
"To the extent that the word “desegregation” remains in our vocabulary, it describes an antique principle, not a current priority. Today, we are more likely to talk of diversity—but diversification and desegregation are not the same undertaking. To speak of diversity, in light of this country’s history of racial recidivism, is to focus on bringing ethnic variety to largely white institutions, rather than dismantling the structures that made them so white to begin with.
And so, sixty years after Brown, it is clear that the notion of segregation as a discrete phenomenon, an evil that could be flipped, like a switch, from on to off, by judicial edict, was deeply naïve. The intervening decades have shown, in large measure, the limits of what political efforts directed at desegregation alone could achieve, and the crumbling of both elements of “separate but equal” has left us at an ambivalent juncture. To the extent that desegregation becomes, once again, a pressing concern—and even that may be too grand a hope—it will have to involve the tax code, the minimum wage, and other efforts to redress income inequality. For the tragedy of this moment is not that black students still go to overwhelmingly black schools, long after segregation was banished by law, but that they do so for so many of the same reasons as in the days before Brown."
THE NEW YORKER: The Failure of Desegregation
Thursday, April 17, 2014
ghetto.
words.
for your consideration...
"Topshop's use of the term "ghetto" is meant to be neither descriptive nor interrogative. The retailer used it for the same reason that most people who have never lived in one do — because they think it's a cute and edgy thing to say. Same reason the friends I made in college called the supermarket near my childhood home "so ghetto" with wrinkled noses. Same reason my white friends in L.A. seem to relish calling the police helicopters that fly overhead at night "ghetto birds." Same reason people loved calling nameplate necklaces and gold chains "ghetto fabulous" 10 years ago — although now we've moved on to "ratchet," a term that's slightly more coded and thus gives its user even more insider cred.
There really isn't any good reason to name a shoe "ghetto" or to use it as a throwaway adjective at all. This is not about being PC or on a linguistic high horse. This is about the fact that ghettos are real places, right now and in every city, where generations of people are stuck in institutionalized poverty. Ghettos are a serious human rights problem, not a cutesy dismissive descriptor for anything vaguely "urban." So, you know, can we just...not?"
REFINERY29: So...Why Is Topshop Calling This A "Ghetto" Shoe?
for your consideration...
"Topshop's use of the term "ghetto" is meant to be neither descriptive nor interrogative. The retailer used it for the same reason that most people who have never lived in one do — because they think it's a cute and edgy thing to say. Same reason the friends I made in college called the supermarket near my childhood home "so ghetto" with wrinkled noses. Same reason my white friends in L.A. seem to relish calling the police helicopters that fly overhead at night "ghetto birds." Same reason people loved calling nameplate necklaces and gold chains "ghetto fabulous" 10 years ago — although now we've moved on to "ratchet," a term that's slightly more coded and thus gives its user even more insider cred.
There really isn't any good reason to name a shoe "ghetto" or to use it as a throwaway adjective at all. This is not about being PC or on a linguistic high horse. This is about the fact that ghettos are real places, right now and in every city, where generations of people are stuck in institutionalized poverty. Ghettos are a serious human rights problem, not a cutesy dismissive descriptor for anything vaguely "urban." So, you know, can we just...not?"
REFINERY29: So...Why Is Topshop Calling This A "Ghetto" Shoe?
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
drop.
an album stream.
starring thee oh sees.
here.
EARLIER:
BOUND: The Albums, 2013: 22/Thee Oh Sees/Floating Coffin
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
the boonies.
starring killer mike & the alchemist.
PITCHFORK: Killer Mike and The Alchemist Release "The Boonies" From "The Boondocks" TV Show Mixtape
PITCHFORK: Killer Mike and The Alchemist Release "The Boonies" From "The Boondocks" TV Show Mixtape
Thursday, April 10, 2014
i got that line.
a video.
from da vinci & sweet valley.
PITCHFORK: Sweet Valley (Wavves' Nathan Williams and His Brother) and DaVinci Release Ghetto Cuisine Mixtape
from da vinci & sweet valley.
PITCHFORK: Sweet Valley (Wavves' Nathan Williams and His Brother) and DaVinci Release Ghetto Cuisine Mixtape
uncle ace.
a (kindess remix) video.
starring blood orange.
PITCHFORK: Blood Orange's Devonté Hynes Visits His Hometown in Video for "Uncle ACE" Kindness Remix
starring blood orange.
PITCHFORK: Blood Orange's Devonté Hynes Visits His Hometown in Video for "Uncle ACE" Kindness Remix
Wednesday, April 09, 2014
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
Monday, April 07, 2014
Sunday, April 06, 2014
see also:
words.
"...the response to Miley’s VMAs performance was a low point. It all stems from this delusional notion that women should be reserved and void of confidence. Fuck that. I have sisters. I want them to go out into the world and demand what they’re worth the way I was always pushed to. When I see Nicki Minaj explaining why she deserves premium amenities, or Rihanna snapping on paparazzi, or Miley Cyrus shocking America at an awards show, I can’t help but think of them as great role models. Justin Bieber gets to wear his brashness as a badge of honor and a mark of resolve, and I simply think bold women should be able to do the same without people freaking out about it.
I want women to be brazen and audacious because that passive, subservient shit that civilization has been trying to cast on them for centuries is ancient and boring. Build an empire, curse some motherfuckers out, and piss off everyone in the proximity in the process. Miley Cyrus has done it expertly and I enjoyed her show, because I know that after watching her do whatever she wants on the Bangerz tour, at least a few thousand girls will stop letting boys have all the fun and go do the same."
COMPLEX: Miley's "Bangerz" Tour Will Save the Young Women of America
"...the response to Miley’s VMAs performance was a low point. It all stems from this delusional notion that women should be reserved and void of confidence. Fuck that. I have sisters. I want them to go out into the world and demand what they’re worth the way I was always pushed to. When I see Nicki Minaj explaining why she deserves premium amenities, or Rihanna snapping on paparazzi, or Miley Cyrus shocking America at an awards show, I can’t help but think of them as great role models. Justin Bieber gets to wear his brashness as a badge of honor and a mark of resolve, and I simply think bold women should be able to do the same without people freaking out about it.
I want women to be brazen and audacious because that passive, subservient shit that civilization has been trying to cast on them for centuries is ancient and boring. Build an empire, curse some motherfuckers out, and piss off everyone in the proximity in the process. Miley Cyrus has done it expertly and I enjoyed her show, because I know that after watching her do whatever she wants on the Bangerz tour, at least a few thousand girls will stop letting boys have all the fun and go do the same."
COMPLEX: Miley's "Bangerz" Tour Will Save the Young Women of America
Friday, April 04, 2014
money stretch.
an ongoing discussion/moment of clarity.
words.
"Reformers like to complain about the malign influence of money in politics. The real problem is big money in politics, and here a gap has opened between the parties.
...Early on, an Adelson-backed Super PAC paid for Gingrich ads that were some of the first in the 2012 cycle to blast Romney’s ties to Bain Capital, an issue that the Obama campaign later used to great effect. Gingrich said to reporters, “You have to ask the question, ‘Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and walk off with the money?’ ” The corollary might be: Is democracy really about the ability of one man, representing no one but himself, to have his voice resonate so loudly, and maybe walk off with something beyond two White House latkes?"
THE NEW YORKER: McCutcheon Meets Adelson: What a Donor Wants
words.
"Reformers like to complain about the malign influence of money in politics. The real problem is big money in politics, and here a gap has opened between the parties.
...Early on, an Adelson-backed Super PAC paid for Gingrich ads that were some of the first in the 2012 cycle to blast Romney’s ties to Bain Capital, an issue that the Obama campaign later used to great effect. Gingrich said to reporters, “You have to ask the question, ‘Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and walk off with the money?’ ” The corollary might be: Is democracy really about the ability of one man, representing no one but himself, to have his voice resonate so loudly, and maybe walk off with something beyond two White House latkes?"
THE NEW YORKER: McCutcheon Meets Adelson: What a Donor Wants
Thursday, April 03, 2014
onward & upward.
words.
for your consideration...
"Our campaign finance system is doing a great disservice to the country, but not in the way the usual whiners suggest. The problem isn’t too much money — after all, who is to say how much is too much? Ultimately, campaigns should be between candidates, parties and voters. We should seek ways to regulate and exclude everybody and everything else. If a campaign wants to take a jillion dollars from a billionaire, the campaign should be able to take the money and then be required to report that contribution. Again, let voters decide how they feel about it. Of course, the Democrats don’t like the idea of too much transparency because they want to keep a secret the support of their billionaire contributors and the extensive role the unions play in elections."
THE WASHINGTON POST: The Insiders: On campaign finance, the Supreme Court should do more
for your consideration...
"Our campaign finance system is doing a great disservice to the country, but not in the way the usual whiners suggest. The problem isn’t too much money — after all, who is to say how much is too much? Ultimately, campaigns should be between candidates, parties and voters. We should seek ways to regulate and exclude everybody and everything else. If a campaign wants to take a jillion dollars from a billionaire, the campaign should be able to take the money and then be required to report that contribution. Again, let voters decide how they feel about it. Of course, the Democrats don’t like the idea of too much transparency because they want to keep a secret the support of their billionaire contributors and the extensive role the unions play in elections."
THE WASHINGTON POST: The Insiders: On campaign finance, the Supreme Court should do more
capitol
an ongoing discussion.
words.
"...Since 1980, however, their fortunes have swelled again — at the expense of everyone else. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher slashed taxes on wealth, workers lost the ability to bargain for wages and, crucially, the population growth of many nations ground nearly to a halt. Capital, again, was accumulating faster than the overall economies were growing. In the United States, Piketty shows, the incomes of the top 1 percent have grown so high — chiefly due to the linkage of top executive pay to share value, a form of capital — that they soon will create the greatest level of income inequality in the recorded history of any nation.
...Piketty’s primary contention is that it is inherent to capitalism that the returns on capital generally exceed the growth of nations’ economies, save in times of epochal population growth or almost unimaginable technological breakthroughs, and that this leads to ever-rising concentrations of wealth and power. “No self-corrective mechanism exists” within capitalism to retard this descent into plutocracy, he writes. Rather, he concludes, its prevention requires political action: He suggests a global tax on capital, which, he acknowledges, is a utopian solution, though others — empowering workers again, increasing the social provision of goods and services — are more readily attainable..."
THE WASHINGTON POST: How capitalism enriches the few rather than the many
words.
"...Since 1980, however, their fortunes have swelled again — at the expense of everyone else. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher slashed taxes on wealth, workers lost the ability to bargain for wages and, crucially, the population growth of many nations ground nearly to a halt. Capital, again, was accumulating faster than the overall economies were growing. In the United States, Piketty shows, the incomes of the top 1 percent have grown so high — chiefly due to the linkage of top executive pay to share value, a form of capital — that they soon will create the greatest level of income inequality in the recorded history of any nation.
...Piketty’s primary contention is that it is inherent to capitalism that the returns on capital generally exceed the growth of nations’ economies, save in times of epochal population growth or almost unimaginable technological breakthroughs, and that this leads to ever-rising concentrations of wealth and power. “No self-corrective mechanism exists” within capitalism to retard this descent into plutocracy, he writes. Rather, he concludes, its prevention requires political action: He suggests a global tax on capital, which, he acknowledges, is a utopian solution, though others — empowering workers again, increasing the social provision of goods and services — are more readily attainable..."
THE WASHINGTON POST: How capitalism enriches the few rather than the many
the bad news bears.
an ongoing discussion/moment of clarity.
words.
"The fact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hit its original goal this week of signing up more than 7 million people through its insurance exchanges ought to be a moment of truth — literally as well as figuratively. It ought to give everyone, particularly members of the news media, pause over how reckless the opponents of change have been in making instant judgments and outlandish charges.
...The ACA is doing exactly what its supporters said it would do. It is getting health insurance to millions who didn’t have it before. (The Los Angeles Times pegged the number at 9.5 million at the beginning of the week.) And it’s working especially well in places such as Kentucky, where state officials threw themselves fully and competently behind the cause of signing up the uninsured. Those who want to repeal the law will have to admit that they are willing to deprive these people, or some large percentage of them, of insurance.
...Perhaps more importantly, will we finally be honest about the real argument here: Do we or do we not want to put in the effort and money it takes to guarantee all Americans health insurance? If we do — and we should — let’s get on with doing it the best way we can."
THE WASHINGTON POST: The GOP must admit it was wrong on Obamacare
words.
"The fact that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hit its original goal this week of signing up more than 7 million people through its insurance exchanges ought to be a moment of truth — literally as well as figuratively. It ought to give everyone, particularly members of the news media, pause over how reckless the opponents of change have been in making instant judgments and outlandish charges.
...The ACA is doing exactly what its supporters said it would do. It is getting health insurance to millions who didn’t have it before. (The Los Angeles Times pegged the number at 9.5 million at the beginning of the week.) And it’s working especially well in places such as Kentucky, where state officials threw themselves fully and competently behind the cause of signing up the uninsured. Those who want to repeal the law will have to admit that they are willing to deprive these people, or some large percentage of them, of insurance.
...Perhaps more importantly, will we finally be honest about the real argument here: Do we or do we not want to put in the effort and money it takes to guarantee all Americans health insurance? If we do — and we should — let’s get on with doing it the best way we can."
THE WASHINGTON POST: The GOP must admit it was wrong on Obamacare
elvis has left the building.
starring hot chip's alexis taylor.
PITCHFORK: Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor Announces Solo LP Await Barbarians, Shares "Elvis Has Left the Building"
PITCHFORK: Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor Announces Solo LP Await Barbarians, Shares "Elvis Has Left the Building"
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
(baby) i surrender.
an ongoing discussion/moment of clarity.
words.
"In addition to (Sheldon) Adelson, two of the world’s other top-10 billionaires, David and Charles Koch (combined net worth: $81 billion) are pouring tens of millions into the 2014 midterm elections in an effort to swing the Senate to Republican control. These and other wealthy people, their political contributions unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, are buying the U.S. political system in much the same way Russian oligarchs have acquired theirs. (Super-rich liberals such as Tom Steyer are spending some of their fortunes to help Democrats, but they are pikers by comparison.) Spending by super PACs, a preferred vehicle of billionaires, will surpass spending by all candidates combined this year, predicts Kantar Media, which tracks political advertising.
This pay-to-play culture is, at best, unseemly. What makes it ugly is when it becomes obvious just how much the wealthy corporate interests get in return..."
THE WASHINGTON POST: GOP candidates kiss up to billionaire Sheldon Adelson
SEE ALSO:
SLATE: The Shocking Rise of Wealth Inequality: Is it Worse Than We Thought?
words.
"In addition to (Sheldon) Adelson, two of the world’s other top-10 billionaires, David and Charles Koch (combined net worth: $81 billion) are pouring tens of millions into the 2014 midterm elections in an effort to swing the Senate to Republican control. These and other wealthy people, their political contributions unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, are buying the U.S. political system in much the same way Russian oligarchs have acquired theirs. (Super-rich liberals such as Tom Steyer are spending some of their fortunes to help Democrats, but they are pikers by comparison.) Spending by super PACs, a preferred vehicle of billionaires, will surpass spending by all candidates combined this year, predicts Kantar Media, which tracks political advertising.
This pay-to-play culture is, at best, unseemly. What makes it ugly is when it becomes obvious just how much the wealthy corporate interests get in return..."
THE WASHINGTON POST: GOP candidates kiss up to billionaire Sheldon Adelson
SEE ALSO:
SLATE: The Shocking Rise of Wealth Inequality: Is it Worse Than We Thought?
enter the slasher house.
an album stream.
starring avey tare's slasher flicks.
PITCHFORK: Stream Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks' Album Enter the Slasher House
starring avey tare's slasher flicks.
PITCHFORK: Stream Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks' Album Enter the Slasher House
"WORST!"
"say cheese."
EARLIER:
Drake confirms his standing as the king of the "no offense, but [offensive shade]" punchline.
— Sean Fennessey (@sean_fennessey) April 2, 2014
APRIL TWO:
A few seconds of Draft Day played on my Instagram this morning. I see it's Drake on his "worst behaviour" aka too put on for my liking.
— oyster perpetual. (@OneTokenBlack) April 2, 2014
When dude from Black Lips spoke on how he cnt mess w/Drake cuz he's kind of fake, it was stances/tracks like Draft Day coloring that opinion
— oyster perpetual. (@OneTokenBlack) April 2, 2014
I'll probably still play it too often. Especially if it, like a number of NWTS joints, makes me giggle/smile/go, "oh, Drake." #DRAFTDAY
— oyster perpetual. (@OneTokenBlack) April 2, 2014
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
a moment of clarity.
words.
"One in seven Americans uses food stamps today—that’s more than twice 2000’s number. The fastest-growing group of participants is people like Ballard: people with jobs, who work all year round. Many of these workers are employed by big retail chains that take in tens of billions of dollars in food stamps.
In politics and in the news, a lot of focus is put on the many Yolanda Ballards of America. Whether they deserve the food stamp money they get. What they spend it on. Whether they abuse the system. Those were the kinds of questions clinging to recent debates in Congress over funding for food stamps. But throughout those debates, which resulted in more than $8 billion in cuts to the program over the next decade, one subject got relatively little attention: what happens to those food stamp dollars after people like Yolanda Ballard swipe their EBT cards and the money becomes store revenue..."
SLATE: The Secret Life of a Food Stamp
"One in seven Americans uses food stamps today—that’s more than twice 2000’s number. The fastest-growing group of participants is people like Ballard: people with jobs, who work all year round. Many of these workers are employed by big retail chains that take in tens of billions of dollars in food stamps.
In politics and in the news, a lot of focus is put on the many Yolanda Ballards of America. Whether they deserve the food stamp money they get. What they spend it on. Whether they abuse the system. Those were the kinds of questions clinging to recent debates in Congress over funding for food stamps. But throughout those debates, which resulted in more than $8 billion in cuts to the program over the next decade, one subject got relatively little attention: what happens to those food stamp dollars after people like Yolanda Ballard swipe their EBT cards and the money becomes store revenue..."
SLATE: The Secret Life of a Food Stamp
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)