a moment of clarity.
words.
"To defend the place of millions of immigrants and their progeny in American society, we need not only protest of political changes but also more art.
We need to bring the ambitions, the foibles and the soul of immigrant America into the collective American mind. And for that we need television shows and movies, and more novels, poems, paintings and songs. High art and low.
We need stories told in Spanglish and Korean slang, and erudite English, and in bright and moody colors by artists who represent the sons and daughters of the African, Latino and Asian diasporas.
...Art and culture might seem like a luxury at this dark moment, with the Trump administration’s announcement that 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived here legally since 2001 will be forced to leave, and with young Dreamers brought to this country when they were just children left to face an uncertain status after the government reopened without Congress securing protections for them.
But when a people see their humanity denied, art is a defense of that humanity. Perhaps President Trump understood this when he proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities last year.
...This normalization of Latino and immigrant culture is an essential act in the Trump era, a time when I’ve heard stories about white school kids yelling “Trump!” at their brown-skinned classmates as if it were a slur meant to remind them of their inherently second-class status. Resisting the spread of hatred requires all sorts of actions. Go to a march, call your representative — but also bring a great work of literature by an immigrant writer to your book club and support arts education everywhere.
When we feel powerless to stop the hatred and injustice directed at our people, we should remember art’s potential to enlighten the uninformed and to slowly eat away at prejudice.
...I feel a renaissance coming. I see it in the discipline and ambition of our young people. They eat Oaxacan mole and Korean kimchi, and they read, joke and create in Spanish, Amharic, Creole and Arabic. But above all, they also employ the same language used by James Joyce and James Baldwin: English, spoken with accents from the Midwest, New Jersey and East Los Angeles, and all the other places they call home."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: We Need Protests. And Paintings.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
call the police.
a playlist.
1/fever ray/wanna sip/3:29
2/hot chip/let me be him/7:41
3/hot chip/flutes/7:05
4/devo/gut feeling (slap your mammy)/4:58
5/lcd soundsystem/other voices/6:43
6/daphni/vulture/4:35
7/daphni/xing tian/4:57
8/com truise/vacuume/3:19
9/junior boys/over it/3:45
10/the pointer sisters/automatic (long version)/6:09
11/rick james/cold blooded/5:59
12/hot chip/always been your love/5:04
stream here.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Saturday, January 06, 2018
Monday, January 01, 2018
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE ALBUMS, 2017.
01/kendrick lamar/damn
His cousin Carl told him to know his worth. That power, hustle, flow, ambition residing in his DNA since day one. Know it and own it in order to give the people what they need: this Grey Poupon, that Evian, this TED TALK to help "learn you a lesson". On DAMN, Kendrick places his faith in his lyrics, the text of this talk, hoping to make amends and connect on a personal level while sermonizing calmly and engaging us in a few thought provoking conversations. DAMN keeps it one hundred percent real on Kendrick's current successful Black American existence while confronting those internal struggles grinding within him trying to figure it all out, stay black, and keep hope alive even as outside forces try their damnedest to work against his ever ascendant climb. It also isn't afraid to speak on the subject of fear. Fear that his humbleness is gone. Fear that love ain't livin' here no more. Wondering whether the fear is wickedness or weakness, but never stopping the hustle and that climb. Fear of knowing that "what happens on Earth stays on Earth" and that he can't take these feelings with him "so hopefully they disperse within fourteen tracks carried over wax." The power, poison, pain, and joy, geeked up and fired up in he and DAMN's DNA. With his latest, Kendrick works effortlessly to keep "Mr. One through Five" in the running as a personal title and accolade for himself as he continues to process walking through this here life fully with a sound mind, knowing his worth, in order to speak clearly and bypass all the bullshit and those not worth his time on this journey to the center of who he is and what we stand for.
KEY TRACKS: DNA/Lust/Fear
02/dirty projectors/dirty projectors
03/mac demarco/this old dog
04/demi lovato/tell me you love me
05/jay z/4:44
06/amber coffman/city of no reply
07/priests/nothing feels natural
08/fever ray/plunge
09/sza/ctrl
10/ariel pink/dedicated to bobby jameson
11/miguel/war & leisure
12/ema/exile in the outer ring
13/charli xcx/number 1 angel
14/lcd soundsystem/american dream
15/lorde/melodrama
16/syd/fin
19/cherry glazerr/apocalipstick
21/vince staples/big fish theory
22/thundercat/drunk
23/kehlani/sweetsexysavage
24/palberta/bye bye berta
25/father john misty/pure comedy
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE SONGS, 2017.
01/dirty projectors/up in hudson
When David Longstreth opens his mouth to speak on "Up in Hudson", the first words that come out of his mouth are "The first time ever I saw your face...", setting the table for what's in store content wise with this "Once Upon a Time..." But unlike the Roberta Flack song that shares its name with Dave's opening salvo, the thrill is now gone in "Up in Hudson". She's in Echo Park blasting 2Pac, and he's on the Taconic Parkway listening to Kanye, convinced that this is what love does: burns out and fades away, eventually rotting before it disappears completely as it did here. For close to eight minutes (with two of them wonderfully wordless and rambunctious at the end), David recounts the times of a love that once made his heart leap up from a mountaintop over a slinky and fanciful, horn assisted worldbeat like pop number, and comes to grips with her absence and the absence of that emotional security. Every sound bubbling underneath, plus the extreme patience of the track and that of our narrator, is set about to wash away the anger and the pain. And when you sit with "Up in Hudson" and come back to earth after flying away on that wordless cloud, you know that David has made his peace, as well as something incredibly captivating and ambitious out of that boredom and free time that hit him that one time up in Hudson.
03/sza + travis scott/love galore
04/fever ray/wanna sip
05/jay z/the story of oj
06/cardi b/bodak yellow
07/two chainz/riverdale rd
08/future/mask off
09/ema/breathalyzer
10/lcd soundsystem/how do you sleep?
11/j balvin + willy william + beyonce/mi gente
12/thundercat + michael mcdonald + kenny loggins/show you the way
13/drake/passionfruit
14/kendrick lamar + rihanna/loyalty
15/joe goddard/home
16/n.e.r.d + rihanna/lemon
17/vince staples/big fish
18/charli xcx/blame it on u
19/cut copy/standing in the middle of the field
20/haim/right now
21/ariel pink/feels like heaven
22/harry styles/sign of the times
23/lorde/green light
24/st. vincent/los ageless
25/miley cyrus/malibu
04/fever ray/wanna sip
05/jay z/the story of oj
06/cardi b/bodak yellow
07/two chainz/riverdale rd
08/future/mask off
09/ema/breathalyzer
10/lcd soundsystem/how do you sleep?
11/j balvin + willy william + beyonce/mi gente
12/thundercat + michael mcdonald + kenny loggins/show you the way
13/drake/passionfruit
14/kendrick lamar + rihanna/loyalty
15/joe goddard/home
16/n.e.r.d + rihanna/lemon
17/vince staples/big fish
18/charli xcx/blame it on u
19/cut copy/standing in the middle of the field
20/haim/right now
21/ariel pink/feels like heaven
22/harry styles/sign of the times
23/lorde/green light
24/st. vincent/los ageless
25/miley cyrus/malibu
Sunday, December 31, 2017
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE ALBUMS, 2017.
02/dirty projectors/dirty projectors
Love will burn out.
And love will just fade away.
And love's gonna rot.
And love will just dissipate...
And when it does, it will force you to gather your thoughts and attempt to collect yourself. You can't see em coming down your eyes, so you go and make the songs cry. Cause this is what it is and where we are and where he is: alone, with a reset. And with this reset, David Longstreth takes his emotional distress and compositional wizardry to the studio to address and make sense of what happened, and this involves being almost uncomfortably personal and revealing, often lashing out.
And it is incredibly dazzling. David playing with all of the colors in his orbit to expand even further upon his off-center take on the contemporary pop and R&B that vibrantly floats around him and speaks for him when the words don't do enough justice to paint his emotional recollections (peep the instrumental euphoria that is 5:20 - 7:31 of album highlight "Up in Hudson").
Love burned out, and love faded away, but with Dirty Projectors it is made clear that this love can't knock him or keep him down.
KEY TRACKS: Keep Your Name/Up in Hudson/Little Bubble
03/mac demarco/this old dog
04/demi lovato/tell me you love me
05/jay z/4:44
06/amber coffman/city of no reply
07/priests/nothing feels natural
08/fever ray/plunge
09/sza/ctrl
10/ariel pink/dedicated to bobby jameson
11/miguel/war & leisure
12/ema/exile in the outer ring
13/charli xcx/number 1 angel
14/lcd soundsystem/american dream
15/lorde/melodrama
16/syd/fin
19/cherry glazerr/apocalipstick
21/vince staples/big fish theory
22/thundercat/drunk
23/kehlani/sweetsexysavage
24/palberta/bye bye berta
25/father john misty/pure comedy
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE SONGS, 2017.
02/demi lovato/sorry not sorry
So the pre-chorus goes:
"Now payback is a bad bitch/And baby, I'm the baddest/You fuckin' with a savage/Can't have this, can't have this (ah)/And it'd be nice of me to take it easy on ya, but nah..."
It's, a lot.
BUT,
Fineness is the way to kill, and on “Sorry Not Sorry”, Demi kisses them off by putting her fine, new and improved self forward prominently in order to let them know and show them it's a brand new fucking day. It's a musical selection from the Church of Haters to the Left. And her delivery? It's the gospel, and savage. That beat? A monster. Bass Boomin' for days and the baddest; A testament to her statement that you fucking with a savage, marching and finger snapping with her every step of the way.
It's a lot, but hey,
Payback is a bad bitch.
Always.
03/sza + travis scott/love galore
04/fever ray/wanna sip
05/jay z/the story of oj
06/cardi b/bodak yellow
07/two chainz/riverdale rd
08/future/mask off
09/ema/breathalyzer
10/lcd soundsystem/how do you sleep?
11/j balvin + willy william + beyonce/mi gente
12/thundercat + michael mcdonald + kenny loggins/show you the way
13/drake/passionfruit
14/kendrick lamar + rihanna/loyalty
15/joe goddard/home
16/n.e.r.d + rihanna/lemon
17/vince staples/big fish
18/charli xcx/blame it on u
19/cut copy/standing in the middle of the field
20/haim/right now
21/ariel pink/feels like heaven
22/harry styles/sign of the times
23/lorde/green light
24/st. vincent/los ageless
25/miley cyrus/malibu
Saturday, December 30, 2017
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE ALBUMS, 2017.
03/mac demarco/this old dog
In the summer of 2015 Mac Demarco dropped his Another One EP. As the final song fades to black and the curtain starts to fall, Mac drops his real address, inviting you the listener to come over and have a cup of coffee sometime. The move was an incredibly warm and open gesture that was not a stunt, and this year he hit us up once again to replicate that feeling of being alone and candid with him over a cup of joe with his beautifully understated third LP This Old Dog. Sitting with us, Mac is reflective and looking inward while conversing with us, asking that we "don't let the world outside the windowpane get to your head, and hopefully make some sense of all this shit before you're dead", as he attempts to do in front of us here. With these attempts at maintaining a peace of mind comes a more crisp sound and production, amplifying the acoustic folk and light jazz rock tableau underlining Mac's contemplations. Turns out not every dog has his day, and on This Old Dog, Mac works through the motions to keep this from becoming a common occurrence.
KEY TRACKS: This Old Dog/A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes/Moonlight on the River
04/demi lovato/tell me you love me
05/jay z/4:44
06/amber coffman/city of no reply
07/priests/nothing feels natural
08/fever ray/plunge
09/sza/ctrl
10/ariel pink/dedicated to bobby jameson
11/miguel/war & leisure
12/ema/exile in the outer ring
13/charli xcx/number 1 angel
14/lcd soundsystem/american dream
15/lorde/melodrama
16/syd/fin
19/cherry glazerr/apocalipstick
21/vince staples/big fish theory
22/thundercat/drunk
23/kehlani/sweetsexysavage
24/palberta/bye bye berta
25/father john misty/pure comedy
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE SONGS, 2017.
03/sza + travis scott/love galore
Janet once said, "Relax, it's just sex." If it only it were that simple. I mean, we want it to be that way, but oftentimes sex (particularly when it is good) is complicated and can get us all, as they say, "caught up in our feelings." It's also about love. Love of the game, love of the physical connection, and the thrill of trying to make love work or exist where maybe it can't. This is painted beautifully between SZA and Travis Scott on "Love Galore". "Love Galore" is another perfect dramatization of the highs and lows of relations (and casual sex) as presented by SZA. The song, a sensuous dream like R&B number, is the realest of conversations between two lovers who can't quit each other and are largely unavailable on various levels but... that "love". Yeah, it's just sex until, sometimes, it just isn't, and on "Love Galore" this truth looms large for all parties involved.
04/fever ray/wanna sip
05/jay z/the story of oj
06/cardi b/bodak yellow
07/two chainz/riverdale rd
08/future/mask off
09/ema/breathalyzer
10/lcd soundsystem/how do you sleep?
11/j balvin + willy william + beyonce/mi gente
12/thundercat + michael mcdonald + kenny loggins/show you the way
13/drake/passionfruit
14/kendrick lamar + rihanna/loyalty
15/joe goddard/home
16/n.e.r.d + rihanna/lemon
17/vince staples/big fish
18/charli xcx/blame it on u
19/cut copy/standing in the middle of the field
20/haim/right now
21/ariel pink/feels like heaven
22/harry styles/sign of the times
23/lorde/green light
24/st. vincent/los ageless
25/miley cyrus/malibu
Friday, December 29, 2017
DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER : THE ALBUMS, 2017.
04/demi lovato/tell me you love me
She, admittedly, gets a little obsessive, a little aggressive, and a little bit too invested. And she's willing to give you whatever you want, whenever you want. She's insatiable and heavily invested in these games of love. That sexy, dirty, love and everything that comes along with it (even if it ruins the friendship...). Her heart is on her sleeve, and her goals and ambitions are clear, and on Tell Me You Love Me, Demi lets the passion behind every tale of woe and desire manifest itself in her assured and astonishing vocal presence here. Tell Me You Love Me is an impeccably sung and sequenced R&B leaning pop record that lets love takeover and carry us over. It is full of humor and personality that never lets up no matter the state of her heart, and can get the party started or bring comfort, like sitting down for a few minutes with a good friend. By putting love on top, Demi and Tell Me You Love Me shine bright.
KEY TRACKS: Sorry Not Sorry/You Don't Do It For Me Anymore/Concentrate
05/jay z/4:44
06/amber coffman/city of no reply
07/priests/nothing feels natural
08/fever ray/plunge
09/sza/ctrl
10/ariel pink/dedicated to bobby jameson
11/miguel/war & leisure
12/ema/exile in the outer ring
13/charli xcx/number 1 angel
14/lcd soundsystem/american dream
15/lorde/melodrama
16/syd/fin
19/cherry glazerr/apocalipstick
21/vince staples/big fish theory
22/thundercat/drunk
23/kehlani/sweetsexysavage
24/palberta/bye bye berta
25/father john misty/pure comedy
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