#bryan and cherry alexander

[sitting-on-me-bum]

STRATUS CLOUDS, GREENLAND

Eight hundred miles south of the North Pole, stalactite-like stratus clouds—churned by 90-mile-an-hour winds—and the light of a bruised dawn paint an apocalyptic portrait over Inglefield Bay.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRYAN AND CHERRY ALEXANDER, ARCTIC PHOTO

[friendswithclay]

“Dogon women help each other lift heavy pots at the village waterhole.” Tirelli, Mali, West Africa c.1981

Courtesy of: Bryan & Cherry Alexander

[funstealer]

Penguins on a "Blue Iceberg" caused by thousands of years of compression. Photo by Bryan and Cherry Alexander

[earthquive]

Gronelândia - Baía Inglefield :: Bryan; Cherry Alexander

[dontworryimonlydeadinside]

So I’ve been reading about Inuit culture and one of the things that stood out to me is how children are named.

They believe(d) that by naming a child after someone who had recently died they were inviting that person’s spirit to enter the baby. That spirit would then influence the life of that child.

And when you look at Bumi and Kya you can see bits of their namesakes personalities in them.

Source: Inuit by Bryan and Cherry Alexander

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 7, Number 7

What are Grandbrothers doing to that piano?

Greetings from under the heat dome, where shipments of vinyl are melting mid-journey and even the coolest of cool jazz sounds a little wilted by the time it reaches your ear. We are sitting in the shade. We are drinking lemonade and iced tea. We are looking for the window fans and lugging old air condition units up from the basement. We are, perhaps, headed to the community pool for the first time since our kids were young, though also, perhaps not. In any case, we are still getting through piles of recorded music, even in this heat, and finding some gems. Here are dispatches from the furthest reaches of Japanese psych, European free jazz, self-released indie folk, Irish lockdown angst, Moroccan raging punk and lots of other stuff. Contributors included Mason Jones, Jennifer Kelly, Bill Meyer, Tim Clarke, Bryon Hayes, Jonathan Shaw, Arthur Krumins and Chris Liberato. Stay cool.

Yuko Araki — End of Trilogy (Room40)

End Of Trilogy by Yuko Araki

These 16 tracks whoosh past in just 35 minutes, with most of them clocking in around two minutes in length. Many don't reach a conclusion: they simply end abruptly, and the next one starts. Araki manipulates electronics to create whirling, sizzling atmospheres of confusion, sometimes fast-moving burbles of percussion and synths, at other moments pushing distorted hissing and confrontational tones to the front. The aptly-named "Dazed" begins with a cinematic feel, then its galactic drones give way to static and metallic scrapes. "Positron in Bloom" is like a chorus of machine voices shouting angry curses into space, and "Dreaming Insects" sounds as if the titular creatures are being pulled downstream in fast-moving rapids. Oscillating between menacing and humorous, End of Trilogy's bite-sized pieces of surrealist electronics are never boring.

Mason Jones

 Alexander Biggs — Hit or Miss (Native Tongue Music Publishing)

Hit or Miss by Alexander Biggs

Alexander Biggs blunts sharp, stinging lyrics in the sweetest sort of strummy indie-pop, working very much in the Elliott Smith style of sincerity edged with lacerating irony. “All I Can Do Is Hate You” finds a queasy intersection between soft pop and tamped down rage, Biggs murmuring phrases like “I want you to fuck me til I can’t say your name,” but melodically, over cascades of acoustic guitar. “Madeline” is the pick of the litter here, a dawdling jangle of guitar framing knife-sharp lyrics about romantic disillusionment. “Miserable,” sports a bit of lap steel for emotional resonance, demonstrating once more, if you had any doubt, that very sad songs can make you feel better somehow. Biggs is good at both the softness and the sting, and for guy-with-a-guitar albums, that’s what you need.

Jennifer Kelly

 Christer Bothén 3 — Omen (Bocian)

Omen by Christer Bothén 3

Dusted’s collective consciousness has spent a lot of time considering Blank Forms’ recent publication, Organic Music Societies, which considers Don and Moki Cherry’s convergence of artistic and familial efforts during the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the two archival recordings by Don and associates, which shed light upon his Scandinavian musical activities. All three are worth your attention, but their liveliness is shaded by the awareness that almost every hopeful soul involved is no longer with us. But Christer Bothén, who introduced Don to the donso ngoni and subsequently played in his bands for many years, is not only among the living, he’s got breath to spare. This trio recording doesn’t delve into the African sounds that bonded Bothén and Don. Rather, the Swede’s bass clarinet draws bold and emphatically punctuated melodic lines, driven by a steaming rhythm section that takes its cues from Ornette Coleman’s mid-1960s trio recordings. This music may not sound new, but it’s full of lived-in knowledge and vigor.

Bill Meyer

Briars of North America — Supermoon (Brassland)

Supermoon by Briars of North America

New York-based trio Briars of North America take patient, painterly, occasionally cosmic approach to folk music. With “Sala,” Supermoon sounds like a backwoods Sigur Ros. A falsetto voice intoning a made-up language arcs elegantly over sustained waves of electric piano. Soon after, the album touches down into more grounded guitar-and-cello territory on pieces such as “Island” and “Chirping Birds,” which bring to mind Nick Drake, albeit less contrary or withdrawn. At the album’s midway point, the listener is carried into the aether with the eerie sustained brass and wordless vocals of the eight-minute “The Albatross of Infinite Regress.” A similar space is explored at the album’s end with the 12-minute “Sleepy Not Sleepy,” as strings and warbling synthesizer tones intermingle with the return of the made-up language. Though the band’s more conventional vocal-led songs, such as “Spring Moon,” are decent enough, Briars of North America touch upon something expansive and ineffable when they explore their more experimental side.

Tim Clarke

 Bryan Away — Canyons to Sawdust (self-released)

Chicago-based actor, composer and multi-instrumentalist Elliot Korte releases music under the moniker Bryan Away. His new album, Canyons to Sawdust, begins with what feels like two introductions. “Well Alright Then” is a Grizzly Bear-style scene-setter for wordless voices, strings and woodwinds, while “Within Reach” sounds like a tentative cover of Radiohead’s “Pyramid Song” that runs out of steam before it had the chance to build momentum. The first full song, single “The Lake,” gets the album up and running in earnest with its melancholy piano and string arrangement spiked with pizzicato plucks and bright acoustic guitar figures. Half Waif lends her vocal talents to “Dreams and Circumstance,” another highlight featuring some lovely interplay between guitar arpeggios and drum machine. One pitfall of exploring romantic musical territory is the risk of sounding a tad saccharine, and the weakest links in the album, companion tracks “Scenes From a Marriage” and “Scenes From a Wedding,” have the kind of performative tone you’d expect to find on the soundtrack of a mainstream romantic comedy. Elsewhere, though, Korte’s judgment is sound, and there’s plenty of elegant music to be found. Fans of Sufjan Stevens will no doubt find a lot to like, and it’ll be interesting to see where Bryan Away ventures next.

Tim Clarke

 Jonas Cambien Trio — Nature Hath Painted Painted The Body (Clean Feed)

Nature Hath Painted the Body by Jonas Cambien Trio

On its third album, the Jonas Cambien Trio has attained such confidence that it’s willing to mess with its signature sound. The Oslo-based combo’s fundamental approach is to stuff the expressive energy and textural adventure of free jazz into compositions that are by turns intricate and rhythmically insistent but always pithy. This time, the Belgian-born pianist Cambien also plays soprano sax and organ. The former, stirred into André Roligheten’s bundle of reed instruments, brings airy respite from the music’s tight structures; the latter, dubbed into locked formation with the piano and jostled by Andreas Wildhagen’s restlessly perambulating percussion, expands the music’s tonal colors. The tunes themselves have grown more catchy, so much so that their twists and turns only become apparent with time and repeat listening.

Bill Meyer

Ferran Fages / Lluïsa Espigolé — From Grey To Blue (Inexhaustible Editions)

From Grey To Blue by Ferran Fages

When discussion turns to a pianist’s touch, it’s tempting to think mainly of what they do with their fingers. But it must be said that Lluïsa Espigolé exhibits some next-level footwork on this realization of Ferran Fages’ From Grey To Blue. Fages is a multi-instrumentalist who functions equally persuasively within the realms of electroacoustic improvisation and heavy jazz-rock, but for this piece, which was devised specifically for Espigolé, he uses written music and an instrument he doesn’t play, the piano, to engage with resonance and melody. The three-part composition advances with extreme deliberation, often one note at a time, turning the tune into a ghostly presence and foregrounding the details of the decay of each sound. This music is so sparse that the shift to chords in the third section feels dramatically dense after a half hour of single sounds and corresponding silences. The elements of this music have been sculpted with such exquisite control that one wonders if Catalonia has looked into insuring Espigolé’s feet; her way with the piano’s pedals is a cultural resource.

Bill Meyer   

 Grandbrothers — All the Unknown (City Slang)

All the Unknown by Grandbrothers

The duo known as Grandbrothers hooks a grand piano up to an array of electronic interfaces, deriving not just the clear, gorgeous notes you expect, but also a variety of percussive and sustained sounds from the classic keyboard. In this third album from the two—that’s pianist Erol Sarp and electronic engineer Lukas Vogel—construct intricate, joyful collages, working clarion melodies into sharp, pointillist backgrounds. The obvious reference is Hauscka, who also works with prepared piano and electronics, but rather than his moody beauties, these compositions pulse with rave-y, trance-y exhilaration. If you ever wondered what it would sound like if the Fuck Buttons decided to cover Steve Reich, well, maybe like this, precise and complex and shimmering, but also huge and triumphant. Good stuff.

Jennifer Kelly

 id m theft able — Well I Fell in Love with the Eye at the Bottom of the Well (Pogus Productions)

Well I Fell in Love With the Eye at the Bottom of the Well by id m theft able

Al Margolis’ Pogus Productions imprint has cast its gaze toward the strange happenings in Maine, netting a mutant form of electroacoustic wizardry in the process. Scott Spear is the one-man maelstrom known as id m theft able, an incredibly prolific and confounding presence in the American northeast. He draws influence from musique concrète and sound poetry, but adds a whimsical spirit, a tinker’s ingenuity and the comedic timing of a master prankster to his compositions. Sometimes this leads to the bemusement of his audience, but he tempers any surface madness with an endless curiosity and a playful sense of the meaning of the word music. Well I Fell in Love with the Eye at the Bottom of the Well ostensibly came to be via Spear’s desire to create a doo-wop tune. Only Spear himself knows whether this is fact or fiction, because it is clear from the opening moments of “Shun, Unshun and Shun” that this disc is full of sonic non-sequiturs, amplified clatter and delightful mouth happenings that are as far removed from doo-wop as possible. The madness is frequently tempered with beautiful moments: a broken music box serenades a flock of chirping birds in the middle of a mall, Spear hypnotically chants at a landscape of crickets, flutes pipe along to the patter of rain on a window. As one gets deeper into the record, the sound poetry aspects become more and more pronounced, such as on “The Curve of the Earth” and the closing piece, “Purple Rain.” Those seeking a humor-filled gateway drug into that somewhat perilous corner of the sonic spectrum would be wise to pop an ear in the direction of this frenetic assemblage of sound.

Bryon Hayes

Mia Joy — Spirit Tamer (Fire Talk)

Spirit Tamer by Mia Joy

Mia Joy turns the temperature way down on gauzy Spirit Tamer, constructing translucent castles in the air out of musical elements that you can see and hear right through. The artist, known in real life as Mia Rocha, opens with a brief statement of intent in a one-minute title track that wraps wisps of vocal melody with indistinct but lovely sustained tones. The whole track feels like looking at clouds. Other cuts are more substantial, with muted rock band instruments like acoustic and electric guitars and drum machines, but even indie-leaning “Freak” and "Ye Old Man,” are quiet epiphanies. Rocha sounds like she is singing to herself softly, inwardly, without any thought of an audience, but also so close that it tickles the hair in your ears. Rocha closes with a cover of Arthur Russell’s “Our Last Night Together,” letting rich swells of piano stand in for cello, but tracing the subtle, undulating lines of his melody in an airy register, an octave or two higher. Like Russell, Rocha sets up an interesting interplay between deep introversion and presentation for the public eye; she’s not doing it for us, but we’re listening anyway.

Jennifer Kelly  

 Know//Suffer — The Great Dying (Silent Pendulum Records)

The Great Dying by KNOW//SUFFER

It’s not inaccurate to describe The Great Dying as a hardcore record. You’ll hear all the burly breakdowns; buzzing, overdriven guitars; and grimly declaimed vocals that characterize the genre, which since the mid-1990s has moved ever closer to metal. But Know//Suffer have consistently infused their music with sonic elements associated with other genres of heavy music. Most of the El Paso band’s 2019 EP bashed and crashed along with grindcore’s psychotic, sprinting energy. The Great Dying is a longer record, and it slows down the proceedings considerably. There are flirtations with sludge, and even with noise rock’s ambivalent gestures toward melody: imagine Tad throwing down with a mostly-sober version of Eyehategod, and you’re more than halfway there. As ever, Toast Williams emotes forcefully, giving word to a very contemporary version existential dread. But there’s frequently a political edge to the lyrics on this new record. On “Thumbnail,” he sings, “I swallow what must be hidden / Hoping assimilation makes me whole / The whole that everyone thinks I am / Smiling under this mask knowing / I’m not hiding my face in public.” “Assimilation” is a loaded word, especially on the Southern Border, and it’s no joke walking around in public as a proud black man anywhere in Texas. Wearing a mask as you walk into Target? P.O.C. stand a chance of getting shot. Know//Suffer still sound really pissed off, but the objects of their anger seem increasing outside of their tortured psyches, located in the lifeworld’s social planes of struggle. That gives their grim music an even harder charge, and makes Williams’s performances of rage even more powerful.  

Jonathan Shaw  

 Heimito Künst — Heimito Künst (Dissipatio)

HEIMITO KÜNST by Heimito Künst

The debut album from Italian experimental instrumentalist Heimito Künst, recorded over several years in his home studio, uses an array of electronic and primitive instrumentation to create an overall woozy, dark atmosphere. From groaning, atonal slabs of organ, like a detuned church service, to murmuring field recordings and scrapings, these seven tracks are less like songs and more like unsettling journeys through sound. Pieces like "Talking to Ulises" blend quiet Farfisa tones and a wordlessly singing voice in the distance. Ironically, although the final track is titled "Smoldering Life", it's unexpectedly brighter, with major-key synth notes over the cloudy sound of a drum being bashed to pieces before ending with an almost gentle, summertime feel.

Mason Jones

Jeanne Lee — Conspiracy (moved-by-sound)

Conspiracy by JEANNE LEE

Lots of 1960s and 1970s jazz reissues offer beautiful music, but few redefine how liberating improvised music can be. Conspiracy, originally recorded in 1974 by Lee on vocals with an ensemble that includes Sam Rivers and Gunter Hampel, falls into the latter category without feeling forced. It combines sound poetry, the conversation of spontaneity, and grooves that don’t stay on repetition but still get ingrained into your brain somehow. Best digested in a contemplative sitting, the album demands you give your whole attention to the direction of the music and words mixed with extended vocal techniques. The sound shifts from a full-on medley of flutes, drums, bass and horns with voice, to more minimal experiments. The recording is clean and uncluttered, even at its busiest. A lushly enjoyable listen.

Arthur Krumins   

 Sarah Neufeld — Detritus (Paper Bag)

Detritus by Sarah Neufeld

Sarah Neufeld’s third solo album grew out of a collaboration with the Toronto choreographer Peggy Baker, begun before the pandemic but dealing anyway with loss, intimacy and grief. The violinist and composer works, as a consequence with a strong sense of movement, underlining rhythms with repeated, slashing motifs in her own instrument and pounding drums (that’s Jeremy Gara, who, like Neufeld, plays in Arcade Fire). You can imagine movement to nearly all these songs. “With Love and Blindness” rushes forward in a wild swirl of strings, given weight by the buzz of low-toned synthesizer and airiness in the layer of denatured vocals; you see whirling, bending, graceful gestures. “The Top” proceeds in quicker, more playful patterns; agile kicks and jumps and shimmies are implied in its contours. “Tumble Down the Undecided” has a raw, passionate undertow, its play of octave-separated notes frantic and agitated and the drumming, when it comes, fairly gallops. This latter track is perhaps the most enveloping, the notes caroming wildly in all directions, in the thick of the struggle but full of joy.

Jennifer Kelly

Aaron Novik — Grounded (Astral Editions)

Grounded by Aaron Novik

Aaron Novik is a clarinetist with an extensive background in jazz, klezmer, rock and in-between stuff, but you wouldn’t know any of that from listening to this tape. Its ten numbered instrumentals sound more derived from the sound worlds of 1970s PBS documentaries, Residents records of similar vintage, and Pop Corn’s fluke hit, “Pop Corn.” Recorded during the spring of 2020, when Novik’s new neighborhood, Queens, became NYC’s COVID central, it manifests coping strategy that many people learned well last year; when the outside world is fucked and scary, retreat to a room and then head down a rabbit hole. In this case, that meant sampling Novik’s clarinets and arranging them into perky, bobbing instrumentals. The sounds themselves aren’t processed, but it turns out that when recontextualized, long, blown tones and keypad clatter sound a lot like synths and mechanized beats. There’s a hint of subconscious longing in this music. While it was made in a time and place when many people didn’t leave the house, it sounds like just the thing for outdoor constitutionals with a Walkman.

Bill Meyer  

 Off Peak Arson — S-T (Self-released)

Self Titled by Off Peak Arson

Presumably named after the Truman's Water song — a fairly obscure name check, indeed — Off Peak Arson hail from Memphis, TN. Their debut EP's five songs are less reminiscent of their namesakes than of heavier, noisier bands like Zedek-era Live Skull, Dustdevils and Sonic Youth. Which is not a bad thing at all. The four-piece leverage the dual guitars to nicely intense effect, and with all four members contributing vocals there's a lot going on, at times blending an interesting sing-song pop feel with the twisty-noisy guitar. The band have a way of finding memorable hooks amidst sufficient cacophony to keep things challenging while also somehow catchy. Keep your ears open for more from this quartet.

Mason Jones

 Barre Phillips / John Butcher / Ståle Liavik Solberg — We Met – And Then (Relative Pitch)

We met - and then by Phillips, Butcher, Solberg

In 2018, ECM Records issued End To End, a CD by double bassist Barre Phillips which capped a half-century of solo recording. You might expect this act to signal the winding down of the California-born, France-based improviser’s career; after all, he was born in 1934. And yet, in 2018 he played the first, but not the last, concert by this remarkable trio, which is completed by British soprano/tenor saxophonist John Butcher and Norwegian percussionist Ståle Liavik Solberg. Recorded in Germany and Norway during 2018 and 2019, this CD presents an ensemble whose members are strong in their individual concepts, but are also committed to making music that is completed by acts of collective imagination. The music is in constant flux, but purposeful. This intentionality is expressed not only through action, but through the conscious yielding of space, as though each player knows what openings will be best occupied by one of their comrades.

Bill Meyer

Round Eye — Culture Shock Treatment (Paper +Plastick)

“Culture Shock Treatment,” the lead-off track from this unhinged and ecletic album, swings like 1950s rock and roll, a sax frolicking in the spaces between sing-along choruses. And yet, the gleeful skronk goes a little past freewheeling, spinning off into chaos and wheeling back in again. Picture Mark Sultan trying to ride out the existential disorder of early Pere Ubu, add a horn line and step way back, because this is extremely unruly stuff. Round Eye, a band of expatriates now living in Shanghai, slings American heartlands oddball post-punk into unlikely corners. Frantic jackhammer hardcore beats (think Black Flag) assault free-from experimental calls and responses (maybe Curlew?) in “5000 Miles, “ and as a kicker, it’s a commentary on ethno-nationalist repression (“Thank…the country. Thank…the culture”). “I Am the Foreigner” hums and buzzes with exuberance, like a hard-edged B-52s, but it’s about the alienation that these Westerners most likely experience, every day in the Middle Kingdom. This is one busy album, exhausting really, a whac-a-mole entertainment where things keep popping out of holes and getting hammered back, but it is never, ever dull.

Jennifer Kelly

 So Cow — Bisignis (Dandy Boy)

Bisignis by So Cow

This new So Cow record is a mood. Specifically, that mood during the third and “least fun” of Ireland’s lockdowns, when you head to your shed and bash out an album about everything that’s been lodged in your craw during a year of isolation — including, of all things, the crowd at a Martha Wainwright show (on “Requests”). And while sole Cow member Brian Kelly might have dubbed the record Bisignis, the Old English word for anxiety, it’s his discontent that takes center stage. “Talking politics with friends/Jesus Christ it never ends” Kelly sings on early highlight “Leave Group” before employing a guitar solo that could pass for some seriously fried bagpipes to help clear the room. This album takes the opposite approach of The Long Con, the project’s 2014 Goner Records one-off where So Cow made more complex moves towards XTC and Futureheads territory but obscured its greatest weapon: Kelly’s deadpan wit. And while a couple of these songs overstay their welcome with their sheer garage punk simplicity, others like “Somewhere Fast” work in the opposite way and win your ears over with repeat listens. “You are the reason I’m getting out of my own way,” Kelly sings, and in doing so has produced the project’s best full-length in a decade. So what? So Cow!

Chris Liberato 

 Taqbir — Victory Belongs to Those Who Fight for a Right Cause (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Victory Belongs To Those Who Fight For A Right Cause by Taqbir

In our super-saturated musical environment, another eight-minute, 7” record of scorching punk burners isn’t much of an event. But the appearance of Taqbir’s Victory Belongs to Those Who Fight for a Right Cause (the title is almost longer than the record itself) is at the very least a significant occurrence. The band comes from Morocco and features a woman out front, declaiming any number of contemporary socio-political ills. So there’s little wonder that the Internet isn’t bursting with info about Taqbir; you can find a Maximumrocknroll interview, some chatter about the record here and there, and not much else. It must take enormous courage to make music like this in Morocco, and even more to be a woman making music like this. The long reign of King Mohammed IV has edged the country toward marginal increments of cultural openness — if not thoroughgoing political reform — but conservative Islam and economic struggle are still dominant forces, combining to keep women relegated to submissive social roles. And the band is not fucking around: their name is a Moroccan battle cry, synonymous with “Alu Akbar!” Their repurposing of that slogan in support of their anti-traditionalist, anti-religious, anti-capitalist positions likely makes life in a place like Tangier or Casablanca pretty hard. The songs? They’re really good. Check out “Aisha Qandisha” (named for a folkloric phantasm that ambiguously mobilizes the feminine as murderous and rapacious monster): the music slashes and burns with just the right dash of melody, the vocals go from a simmer to a full-on rolling boil. Taqbir! y’all. Stay safe, stay strong and make some more records.

Jonathan Shaw

 TOMÁ — Atom (Self-Release)

Atom by TOMÁ

Tomá Ivanov operates in interstices between smooth jazz and soul-infused electronics, splicing bits of torchy world traditions in through the addition of singers. You could certainly draw connections to the funk-leaning IDM of artists like Flying Lotus and Dam-Funk, where pristine instrumental sounds—strings, piano, percussion—meet the pop and glitch of cyber-soul. Guest artists flavor about half the tracks, pushing the music slightly off its center towards rap (“A Different You featuring I Am Tim”), quiet storm soul (“Outsight featuring Vivian Toebich”), falsetto’d art pop (“Catharsis featuring Lou Asril”) or dreaming soul-jazz experiments (“Blind War featuring Ben LaMar Gay”). Thoughout, the Bulgarian composer and guitarist paces expansive ambiences with shuffling, staggering beats, roughing up slick surfaces with just enough friction to keep things interesting.

Jennifer Kelly  

 The Tubs — Names EP (Trouble In Mind)

Names EP by The Tubs

“I don’t know how it works” declared The Tubs on their debut single, but they’re diving right in anyways on its follow-up, Names, with four songs that explore the self and self-other relationship. Their cover of Felt’s “Crystal Ball” tightens the musical tension of the original in places but still allows enough slack for singer Owen Williams to stretch the lyrical refrain — about the ability of another to see us better than we see ourselves — into a more melancholy shape than Lawrence. Of the EP’s three originals, Felt’s influence is most obvious in George Nicholls’ guitar work on “Illusion,” especially when the change comes and his lead spirals off Deebank-style behind Williams while he questions his connection to his own reflection. “Is it just an illusion staring back at me?” “The Name Song” is the longest one here at over three minutes, and in a similar way to The Feelies, it feels like it could go on forever, which might prove useful if Williams adds more names to his don’t-care-about list. “Two Person Love” is the best track of the bunch, though, with its classic sounding riff that swoops in and out allowing room for the chiming and chugging rhythm section to do the hard work. The relationship in the song might have been “pissed up the wall,” as Williams in his Richard Thompson-esque drawl puts it, but The Tubs certainly seem to have figured out how this music thing works.

Chris Liberato

 Venus Furs — S-T (Silk Screaming)

Venus Furs by Venus Furs

Venus Furs sounds like band, but in fact, it’s one guy, Paul Krasner, somehow amassing the squalling roar of psychedelic guitar rock a la Brian Jonestown Massacre or Royal Baths all by himself. These songs have a large-scale swagger and layers and layers of effected guitars, as on the careening “Friendly Fire,” or hailstorm assault of “Paranoia.” A ponderous, swaying bass riff girds “Living in Constant.” Its nodding repetition grounds radiating sprays of surf guitar. You have to wonder how all this would play out in concert, with Krasner running from front mic to bass amp to drum kit as the songs unfold, but on record it sounds pretty good. Long live self-sufficiency.

Jennifer Kelly

 Witch Vomit — Abhorrent Rapture (20 Buck Spin)

Abhorrent Rapture by Witch Vomit

Witch Vomit has one of the best names in contemporary death metal (along with Casket Huffer, Wharflurch and Snorlax — perversely inspired handles, all), and the Portland-based band has been earning increasing accolades for its records, as well. They are deserved. Witch Vomit plays fast, dense and dissonant songs, bearing the impress of Incantation’s groundbreaking (gravedigging?) records. Does that mean it’s “old school”? Song titles from the band’s previous LP Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave (2019) certainly played to traditionalists’ tastes: “From Rotten Guts,” “Dripping Tombs,” “Fumes of Dying Bodies.” And so on. This new EP doesn’t indicate any significant changes in trajectory or tone, but the songwriting makes the occasional move toward melody. See especially the second half of “Necrometamorphosis,” which has a riff or two that one could almost call “pleasant.” If that seems paradoxical, check out the EP’s title. Is that an event, a gruesome skewing of Christianity’s big prize for the faithful? Or is it an affective state, in which abject disgust somehow builds to ecstatic transport? Who knows. For the band’s part, Witch Vomit keeps chugging, thumping and squelching along, doling out doleful songs like “Purulent Burial Mound.” Yuck. Sounds about right, dudes.

Jonathan Shaw

 yes/and — s-t (Driftless Recordings)

yes/and by yes/and

This collaboration between guitarist Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and producer Joel Ford (Oneohtrix Point Never) is an elusive collection of shape-shifting instrumentals. Each piece is built around Duffy’s guitar, yet the timbre and mood tends to switch dramatically between tracks. The album’s run-time is fairly evenly split between dark, atmospheric pieces, such as “More Than Love” and “Making A Monument,” and hopeful, glimmering miniatures, such as “Centered Shell” and the wonderfully titled “In My Heaven All Faucets Are Fountains.” “Learning About Who You Are” looms large at the album’s heart, as nearly eight minutes of hazy, wind-tunnel drone pulses and reverberates across the stereo space. Despite the variation in tone, each track stakes out its own territory in the tracklist, and it’s only “Tumble” that comes across as an unrealized idea. While it’s only half an hour, yes/and feels longer, its circuitous routes opening up all kinds of possibilities.

Tim Clarke

[northernstories]

African American Literature Suggestions from NMU English Department

The English Department at Northern Michigan University has prepared this list of several dozen suggested readings in African American literature, with some materials also addressing Native American history and culture. The first section contains books that will help provide a context for the Black Lives Matter movement. It includes books that will help readers examine their own privilege and act more effectively for the greater good. Following that list is another featuring many African American authors and books. This list is by no means comprehensive, but it does provide readers a place to start. Almost all of these books are readily available in bookstores and public and university libraries.

Northern Michigan University’s English Department offers at least one course on African American literature every semester, at least one course on Native American literature every semester, and at least one additional course on non-western world literatures every semester. Department faculty also incorporate diverse material in many other courses. For more information, contact the department at english@nmu.edu. Nonfiction, primarily addressing current events, along with some classic texts: Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans, and Rachel Stein, editors. The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy. This classic collection of scholarly articles, essays, and interviews explores the links between social inequalities and unequal distribution of environmental risk. Attention is focused on the US context, but authors also consider global impacts. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. A clear-eyed explication of how mass incarceration has created a new racial caste system obscured by the ideology of color-blindness. Essential reading for understanding our criminal justice system in relation to the histories of slavery and segregation. Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. A very well-written but disturbing and direct analysis of the history of structural and institutionalized racism in the United States. Gloria Anzaldua, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Anzaldua writes about the complexity of life on multiple borders, both literal (the border between the US/Mexico) and conceptual (the borders among languages, sexual identity, and gender). Anzaldua also crosses generic borders, moving among essay, story, history, and poetry. James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time. A classic indictment of white supremacy expressed in a searing, prophetic voice that is, simply, unmatched. Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me. A combination of personal narrative in the form of the author’s letter to his son, historical analysis, and contemporary reportage. Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete? In this succinct and carefully researched book, Davis exposes the racist and sexist underpinnings of the American prison system. This is a must-read for folks new to conversations about prison (and police) abolition. Robin DiAngelo, What Does It Mean To Be White? The author facilitates white people unpacking their biases around race, privilege, and oppression through a variety of methods and extensive research. Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarshnha, editors. Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories From the Transformative Justice Movement. The book attempts to solve problems of violence at a grassroots level in minority communities, without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The most well-known narrative written by one of the most well-known and accomplished enslaved persons in the United States. First published in 1845 when Douglass was approximately 28 years old. W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk. Collection of essays in which Dubois famously prophesied that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” Henry Louis Gates, Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow. Must reading, a beautifully written, scholarly, and accessible discussion of American history from Reconstruction to the beginnings of the Jim Crow era. Saidiya Hartman, Lose your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route. In an attempt to locate relatives in Ghana, the author journeyed along the route her ancestors would have taken as they became enslaved in the United States. bell hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation. A collection of essays that analyze how white supremacy is systemically maintained through, among other activities, popular culture. Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Narrative of a woman who escaped slavery by hiding in an attic for seven years. This book offers unique insights into the sexually predatory behavior of slave masters. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. A detailed history not only of racist events in American history, but of the racist thinking that permitted and continues to permit these events. This excellent and readable book traces this thinking from the colonial period through the presidency of Barack Obama. Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life Any of LaDuke's works belong on this list. This particular text explores the stories of several Indigenous communities as they struggle with environmental and cultural degradation. An incredible resource. Kiese Laymon, Heavy: An American Memoir. An intense book that questions American myths of individual success written by a man who is able to situate his own life within a much larger whole. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color This foundational text brings together work by writers, scholars, and activists such as Audre Lorde, Chrystos, Barbara Smith, Norma Alarcon, Nellie Wong, and many others. The book has been called a manifesto and a call to action and remains just as important and relevant as when it was published nearly 40 years ago. Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard. An invaluable collection of essays and speeches from the only black woman to win a Nobel Prize in literature. Throughout her oeuvre, Morrison calls us to take "personal responsibility for alleviating social harm," an ethic she identified with Martin Luther King. Ersula J. Ore, Lynching: Violence, Rhetoric, and American Identity. Ore scrutinizes the history of lynching in America and contemporary manifestations of lynching, drawing upon the murder of Trayvon Martin and other contemporary manifestations of police brutality. Drawing upon newspapers, official records, and memoirs, as well as critical race theory, Ore outlines the connections between what was said and written, the material practices of lynching in the past, and the forms these rhetorics and practices assume now. Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric. A description and discussion of racial aggression and micro-aggression in contemporary America. The book was selected for NMU’s Diversity Common Reader Program in 2016. Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy. The author facilitates white people in unpacking their biases around race, privilege, and oppression, while also helping them understand key critical social justice terminology. Maya Schenwar, Joe Macaré, Alana Yu-lan Price, editors. Who do you Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. The essays examine "police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures." What are alternative measures to keep marginalized communities safe? Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo, Is Everyone Really Equal? The authors, in very easy to read and engaging language, facilitate readers in understanding the ---isms (racism, sexism, ableism etc.) and how they intersect, helping readers see their positionality and how privilege and oppression work to perpetuate the status quo. Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. An analysis of America’s criminal justice system by the lawyer who founded the Equal Justice Initiative. While upsetting, the book is also hopeful. Wendy S. Walters, Multiply / Divide: On the American Real and Surreal. In this collection of essays, Walters analyzes the racial psyche of several major American cities, emphasizing the ways bias can endanger entire communities. Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery. Autobiography of the founder of Tuskegee Institute. Harriet Washington, Medical Apartheid. From the surgical experiments performed on enslaved black women to the contemporary recruitment of prison populations for medical research, Washington illuminates how American medicine has been--and continues to be shaped--by anti-black racism. Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Autobiography of civil rights leader that traces his evolution as a thinker, speaker, and writer.

If you would like to enhance your knowledge of the rich tradition of African American literature, here are several of the most popular books and authors within that tradition, focused especially on the 20thand 21st centuries. Novels and Short Stories James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Langston Hughes, The Ways of White Folks Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man Nella Larsen, Passing Nella Larsen, Quicksand Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison, Beloved Richard Wright, Native Son Drama Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf August Wilson, Fences August Wilson, The Piano Lesson Poetry A good place to begin is an anthology, The Vintage Book of African American Poetry, edited by Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton. It includes work by poets from the 18th century to the present, including Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Countee Cullen, Rita Dove, Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Yusef Komunyakaa, Claude McKay, Phillis Wheatley, and many others. Here are some more recent collections: Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon Wanda Coleman, Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Age of Phillis Tyehimba Jess, Olio Jamaal May, The Big Book of Exit Strategies Danez Smith, Don’t Call Us Dead

[iseo58]

Dogon men sitting in the shade of the men's house, or Toguna. They wear indigo dyed clothing. Tirelli. Mali. © Bryan Cherry Alexander Photography, ArcticPhoto

[larimar]

wwfcanadaVerified

Thousands of #caribou migrate across the soppy tundra every summer, dotting the green and blue landscape as far as the eye can see. © naturepl.com / Bryan and Cherry Alexander / WWF

[thesustainableswap]

BLM Master Post / Resources

No blog post this week. I felt like this was much more important. Here is a master post of everything I’ve found regarding the BLM movement, from petitions, to where you should donate, to reading, to accounts, to business... hopefully most of what you’re looking for can be found below. If I’ve missed anything vital please let me know and I will add it.

Petitions:

Justice for George Floyd (White House) | Justice for George Floyd (change.org) | Justice for George Floyd (change.org) | Justice for George Floyd (color of Change)

RAISE THE DEGREE - Remove bail for Derek Chauvin, murderer of George Floyd (White House) | Arrest The Other Three (White House) | Raise The Degree (change.org) | The Minneapolis Police Officers to be charged for murder (change.org)

#JusticeforBre (MoveOn.org) | #JusticeforBre (color of Change)

Justice For Ahmaud Arbery (change.org) | Justice for Ahmaud Arbery- Pass Georgia Hate Crime Bill (change.org) | Disbarment of George E. Barnhill (change.org)

Trayvon Martin Law (change.org)

Hands Up Act (change.org)

Justice for Belly Mujinga (change.org)

Justice for Tony McDade (change.org)

Justice for Alejandro Vargas Martinez (change.org)

Justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet (change.org)

Wrongful Conviction: Julius Jones is innocent (change.org)

Wrongful Conviction: Kyjuanzi Harris (change.org)

Willie Simmons has served 38 years for a $9 robbery (change.org)

Defund The Police Minneapolis (Every Action / Reclaim The Block) | Mandatory Life Sentence for Police Brutality (change.org) | National Action Against Police Brutality (change.org) | Against Police Brutality in France (change.org)

Demand Racial Data on Coronavirus (BLM) | Coronavirus: Demand More from the Government (BLM)

Get Schools to Speak Up (change.org)

Stand with BLM (organizefor.org)

Organisations to Donate to

George Floyd Memorial Fund

Minnesota Freedom Fund

Black Visions Collective

Reclaim the Block

Campaign Zero

Black Lives Matter

UKBLM

National Bailout Fund

Black Earth Farms

Communities United Against Police Brutality

Unicorn Riot

Louisville Community Bail Fund

Rebuilding the Community (We Love Lake Street)

United Families and Friends Campaign

COVID-19: Supporting BAME Communities

House of GG

Trans Justice Funding Project

The Okra Project

Youth Breakout

SNaPCo

Black AIDS Insitute

Trans Cultural District

LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund

For If You Have Little Money to Spare:

Check out these YouTube videos and play them while you go about your day (or actively watch! Up to you.) The ad revenue will be donated to organisations supporting black lives - but make sure you turn off your adblocker first.

By Zoe Amira

By Francesca Grace

By Cindy Marshall

By Danni and Emmyn

Instagram Accounts (source)

Nova Reid

Layla Saad

Rachel Cargle

Check Your Privilege

Rachel Ricketts

The Great Unlearn

Reni Eddo Lodge

Ibram X. Kendi

Galdem

The Irin Journal

Women Who

For Working Ladies

Thyself

Black Girl Fest

UK isn’t Innocent

Readbyrachelaa

Mikaela Loach

Podcasts

About Race with Remi Eddo-Lodge

Conversations with Nova Reid

iWeigh with Jameela Jamil

The YIKES podcast

Have You Heard George’s Podcast?

The World Wide Tribe

Zero Hour Talks

1619 by the New York Times

TV / Film (source)

13th

When They See Us

Selma

The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975

I Am Not Your Negro

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

If Beale Street Could Talk

The Hate U Give

American Son

Trial by Media

Books: (Source)

How To Be Anti Racist by Ibram X. Kendi

Me and White Supremacy by Robin Diangelo and Layla Saad

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Remi Eddo-Lodge

So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong

America’s Original Sin By Jim Wallis and Bryan Stevenson

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Blindspot by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald

Good Talk by Mira Jacob

Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

How Does It Feel To Be A Problem by Moustafa Bayoumi

The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward

White Fragility by Robin Diangelo

I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Asha Bandele, et al.

An African American and Latin History of The United States by Paul Ortiz

Citizen by Claudia Rankine

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of The United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Mindful of Race by Ruth King

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson

Stamped From The Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? By Mumia Abu-Jamal

The Coloraturas of Law by Richard Rothstein

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum

Stamped by Jason Reynolds & Ibram X. Kendi

This Book Is Anti Racist by Tiffany Jewell and Aurelia Durand

Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsch

Children’s Books: (Source)

Malcolm Little by Ilyasah Shabazz

Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney

Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins and Ann Hazzard

My Hair Is A Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera

Separate Is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

Young Water Protectors by Aslan Tudor

My Family Divided by Diana Guerrero

We Are Grateful by Traci Sorell

I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer

Schomburg: The Man Who Built A Library by Carole Boston Weatherford

Lailah’s Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren

When Harriet Tubman Led Her People To Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Happy In Our Skin by Fran Manushkin

Chocolate Milk, Por Favor by Maria Dismondy

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer by Carole Boston Weatherford

When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson & Julie Flett

Shining Star The Anna May Wong Story by Paula Yoo & Lin Wang

Little Leaders: Bold Women In Black History by Vashti Harrison

Maddi’s Fridge by Lois Brandt

Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry

Sulwe by Vashti Harrison

A Is For Activist by Innosanto Nagara

Intersection Allies by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council & Carolyn Choi

What Is Race? Who Are Racists? Why Does Skin Colour Matter? And Other Big Questions by Clair Heuchan & Nikesh Shukla

Black Owned Businesses: (source)

Wales Bonner

Casely-Hayford

Daughter of a Bohemian


Daily Paper

Aaks: Basket Bags

Martine Rose

Nubian Skin

Sincerely Nude

Liha Beauty

Beauty Stack

Bouclème: Afro and Curly Hair Products

Afrocenchix: Hair Products

The Afro Hair and Skin Company: shampoo bars, hair masks, face masks

Prick: Cacti and Plantcare

La Basketry: homeware

Bonita Ivie: stationery & design

Reset travel: travel cards and workshops

Bespoke Binny: homeware

New Beacon Books: Specialists in African and Caribbean Literature

Original Flava by Craig & Shaun McAnuff

Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh

Hibiscus by Lopè Ariyo

Ethiopia by Yohanis Gebreyesus

Belly Full by Riaz Phillips

Chika’s Snacks

Berry and Brie Grazing Boxes

Yard Confectionery Chocolate

Cabby’s Rum

Cham Cham Hot Pepper Sauce

Stay strong, and get learning (or unlearning)!

[whaletalesorg]

The tusk or horn of a Narwhal is actually the left canine tooth! It is primarily found in males but it has been seen in about 15% of females. Learn more in the latest episode the #whaletalespodcast! Photo by Bryan and Cherry Alexander #whaletales #podcast #narwhal #narwhalpodcast #whales #whalesareawesome #storytelling #subscribe #narwhalsareawesome https://www.instagram.com/p/B8CX_Sfg3dA/?igshid=1u280cp3nxit9

[weirdletter]

The Gothic World (Routledge Worlds), edited by Glennis Byron and Dale Townshend, Routledge; paperback edition, 2019 (2013). Info: routledge.com.

The Gothic World offers an extensive overview of the popular field of the Gothic, from the eighteenth century through to the present day. Encompassing the literary, it also extends critical debate in exciting new directions, including film, politics, fashion, architecture, fine art, music, technology and cyberculture. Structured around the principles of time, space and practice, and including a detailed general introduction, the five sections of the volume consider: Gothic histories; Gothic spaces; Gothic readers and writers; Gothic spectacle; Contemporary impulses. The Gothic World seeks to account for the Gothic as a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional force, as a style, an aesthetic experience and a mode of cultural expression that traverses genres, forms, media, disciplines and national boundaries: a “Gothic World,” indeed.

Contents: List of figures Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Introduction – Glennis Byron and Dale Townshend     Part I: Gothic Histories 1. The Politics of Gothic Historiography, 1670-1800 – Sean Silver 2. Gothic Antiquarianism in the Eighteenth Century – Rosemary Sweet 3. Gothic and the New American Republic, 1770-1800 – Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock 4. Gothic and the Celtic Fringe, 1750-1850 – James Kelly 5. British Gothic Nationhood, 1760-1830 – Justin D. Edwards 6. Gothic Colonies, 1850-1920 – Roger Luckhurst 7. History, Trauma and the Gothic in contemporary Western culture – Jerrold E. Hogle     Part II: Gothic Spaces 8. Gothic and the architectural Imagination, 1740-1840 – Nicole Reynolds 9. Gothic Geography, 1760-1830 – Benjamin A. Brabon 10. Gothic and the Victorian Home – Tamara Wagner 11. American Gothic and the environment, 1800-present – Matthew Wynn Sivils 12. Gothic Cities and Suburbs, 1880-present – Sara Wasson 13. Gothic in cyberspace – Bryan Alexander     Part III: Gothic Readers and Writers 14. Gothic and the publishing world, 1780-1820 – Anthony Mandal 15. Gothic and the history of reading, 1764-1830 – Katie Halsey 16. Gothic Adaptation, 1764-1830 – Diane Long Hoeveler 17. Gothic romance, 1760-1830 – Sue Chaplin 18. Gothic poetry, 1700-1900 – David Punter 19. Gothic translation: France, 1760-1830 – Angela Wright 20. Gothic translation: Germany, 1760-1830 – Barry Murnane 21.Gothic and the child reader I: 1764-1850 – M.O. Grenby 22. Gothic and the child reader II: 1850-present – Chloe Buckley 23. Gothic sensations, 1850-1880 – Franz J. Potter 24. Young Adults and the contemporary Gothic – Hannah Priest 25. The earliest parodies of Gothic literature – Douglass H. Thomson 26. Figuring the author in modern Gothic writing – Neil McRobert 27. Gothic and question of theory, 1900-Present – Scott Brewster     Part IV: Gothic Spectacle 28. Gothic and eighteenth-century visual art – Martin Myrone 29. Gothic visuality in the nineteenth century – Elizabeth McCarthy 30. Gothic theatre, 1765-present – Diego Saglia 31. Ghosts, monsters and spirits, 1840-1900 – Alexandra Warwick 32. Gothic horror film from The Haunted Castle (1896) to Psycho (1960) – James Morgart 33. Gothic horror film, 1960-present – Xavier Aldana Reyes 34. Southeast Asian Gothic cinema – Collete Balmain 35. Defining a Gothic aesthetic in modern and contemporary visual art – Gilda Williams     Part V: Contemporary Impulses 36. Sonic Gothic – Isabella van Elferen 37. Gothic lifestyle – Catherine Spooner 38. Gothic and survival horror videogames – Ewan Kirkland 39. Rewriting the canon in contemporary Gothic – Joanne Watkiss 40. Gothic tourism – Emma McEvoy 41. Gothic on the small screen – Brigid Cherry 42. Post-millenial mosters: monstrosity-no-more – Fred Botting Index Index

[ninewheels]

Tops 10 of the Decade

Top 10 TV Series:

1. The OA (2016-2019)    Created by Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij 2. Better Call Saul (2015-present)    Created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould 3. The Newsroom (2012-2014)    Created by Aaron Sorkin 4. Mr. Robot (2015-2019)    Created by Sam Esmail 5. Hannibal (2013-2015)    Created by Bryan Fuller 6. BoJack Horseman (2014-present)    Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg 7. One Day at a Time (2017-present)    Created by Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce 8. Breaking Bad (2008-2013)    Created by Vince Gilligan 9. Community (2009-2015)    Created by Dan Harmon 10. Person of Interest (2011-2016)    Created by Jonathan Nolan

Top 10 Films:

1. Molly’s Game (2017)     Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin 2. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)     Directed by Drew Goddard     Written by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon 3. The Social Network (2010)     Directed by David Fincher     Written by Aaron Sorkin 4. Interstellar (2014)     Directed by Christopher Nolan     Written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan 5. A Separation (2011)     Written and Directed by Asghar Farhadi 6. The Favourite (2018)     Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos     Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara 7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)     Written and Directed by Rian Johnson 8. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)     Directed by George Miller     Written by George Miller, Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris 9. Suspiria (2018)     Directed by Luca Guadagnino     Written by David Kajganich 10. Black Panther (2018)     Written and Directed by Ryan Coogler

Top 10 Theatre Shows:

1. Hadestown (2019, Broadway, first run)    Written by Anaïs Mitchell; Directed by Rachael Chavkin 2. Hamilton (2015, Broadway, first run)    Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Directed by Thomas Kail 3. Mogadishu (2011, London, first run)    Written by Vivienne Franzmann; Directed by Matthew Dunster 4. Jerusalem (2010, London, first run)    Written by Jez Butterworth; Directed by Ian Rickson 5. To Kill a Mockingbird (2018, Broadway, first run)    Written by Aaron Sorkin; Directed by Bartlett Sher 6. Fun Home (2015, Broadway, first run)   Written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori; Directed by Sam Gold 7. Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (2016, Broadway, first run)    Written by Dave Malloy; Directed by Rachael Chavkin 8. Richard III (2013, Broadway, revival)    Written by William Shakespeare; Directed by Tim Carroll 9. The Color Purple (2015, Broadway, revival)    Written by Marsha Norman, Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray; Directed by John Doyle 10. Six Degrees of Separation (2017, Broadway, revival)    Written by John Guare; Directed by Trip Cullman

Top 10 Video Games:

1. Undertale (2015)     Created by Toby Fox 2. Portal 2 (2011)     Created by Valve 3. Control (2019)     Created by Remedy 4. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)     Created by Platinum Games 5. Stardew Valley (2016)     Created by ConcernedApe 6. Pyre (2017)     Created by Supergiant Games 7. Night in the Woods (2017)     Created by Infinite Fall 8. Bastion (2011)     Created by Supergiant Games 9. Spider-Man (2018)     Created by Insomniac Games 10. Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)     Created by Guerrilla Games

Top 10 Novels:

1-3. The Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie:     Ancillary Justice (2013), Ancillary Sword (2014), Ancillary Mercy (2015) 4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) by Neil Gaiman 5. The Fault in Our Stars (2012) by John Green 6. Provenance (2017) by Ann Leckie 7. The Girl with All the Gifts (2014) by M.R. Carey 8. Seconds (2014) by Bryan Lee O’Malley 9. Those Across the River (2011) by Christopher Buehlman 10. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) by Alexander Freed

Top 10 Albums:

1. Theatre is Evil (2012) by Amanda Palmer 2. Kaleidoscope Heart (2010) by Sara Bareilles 3. There Will Be No Intermission (2019) by Amanda Palmer 4. The Blessed Unrest (2013) by Sara Bareilles 5. One More Light (2017) by Linkin Park 6. Alpocalypse (2011) by Weird Al Yankovic 7. Cherry (2014) by Chromatics 8. Camp (2012) by Childish Gambino 9. Badlands (2015) by Halsey 10. What’s Inside: Songs from Waitress (2015) by Sara Bareilles

[cheshirelibrary]

10 Books to Read After You Binge Orange is the New Black

[via OverDrive]

Everything is different the second time around. Or the third or the fourth. Or, in the case of Orange is the New Black which is entering its final season, the seventh time around. That means that many of you, like me, will be missing the ladies of Litchfield after this final season. Luckily, we are here to help. Here is a list of 10 books to read after that gate has closed for the last time.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Cherry by Nico Walker

Out of Orange by Cleary Wolters

Reading Behind Bars by Jill Grunenwald

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson 

The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

Shakespeare Saved My Life by Laura Bates 

Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

American Prison by Shane Bauer 

[fadingsunsjvj]

Polar Search - Bryan and Cherry Alexander

Polar Search – Bryan and Cherry Alexander

https://arcticphoto.com/search-gal.htm

[jeremiahingham]

Best of YouTube: 9 Examples of Specification Gaming | AI systems do what you say, and it's hard to say exactly what you mean. Let's look at a list of real life examples of specification gaming! Related Videos from me: Reward Hacking: https://youtu.be/92qDfT8pENs Reward Hacking Reloaded: https://youtu.be/46nsTFfsBuc What Can We Do About Reward Hacking?: https://youtu.be/13tZ9Yia71c The list: https://ift.tt/3cabmvh The blogpost this video is based on: https://ift.tt/2GYeFct The newer blogpost that happened while I was making this video: https://ift.tt/2RWPUle (Explosion graphic from videezy.com) Thanks to my wonderful patrons: https://ift.tt/2wMFPxo Gladamas James Steef Scott Worley Chad Jones Chris Canal David Reid Francisco Tolmasky Frank Kurka Jake Ehrlich JJ Hepboin Kellen lask Michael Andregg Pedro A Ortega Peter Rolf Said Polat Teague Lasser Allen Faure Bryce Daifuku Clemens Arbesser Eric James Erik de Bruijn Jason Hise jugettje dutchking Ludwig Schubert Qeith Wreid Andrew Harcourt anul kumar sinha Ben Glanton Benjamin Watkin Cooper Lawton Duncan Orr Eric Scammell Euclidean Plane Ian Munro Igor Keller Ingvi Gautsson James Hinchcliffe Jeroen De Dauw Jon Halliday Jonatan R Julius Brash Jérôme Beaulieu Laura Olds Luc Ritchie Lupuleasa Ionuț Michael Greve Nathan Fish Nicholas Guyett Paul Hobbs Sean Gibat Sebastian Birjoveanu Shevis Johnson Taras Bobrovytsky Tim Neilson Tom O'Connor Tomas Sayder Tyler Herrmann Vaskó Richárd Will Glynn 12tone 14zRobot Alan Bandurka Alexander Brown Anders Öhrt Andreas Blomqvist Andrew Weir Andy Kobre Anne Kohlbrenner Anthony Chiu Archy de Berker Ben Archer Ben H Ben Schultz Bertalan Bodor Brian Gillespie Bryan Egan Caleb Chris Dinant Daniel Bartovic Daniel Eickhardt Daniel Kokotajlo Daniel Munter Darko Sperac David Morgan DeepFriedJif Devon Bernard Diagon Dmitri Afanasjev Fionn Fraser Cain Garrett Maring Ghaith Tarawneh HD Hendrik ib_ Igor (Kerogi) Kostenko Ihor Mukha Ivan James Fowkes Jannik Olbrich Jason Cherry Jeremy Jesper Andersson Jim T Johannes Walter Josh Trevisiol Julian Schulz Jussi Männistö Kabs Kasper Kasper Schnack Kees Klemen Slavic Leo lyon549 Marc Pauly Marcel Ward Marco Tiraboschi Marko Topolnik Martin Ottosen Matt Stanton Melisa Kostrzewski Michael Bates Michael Kuhinica Miłosz Wierzbicki Mo Hossny Nathaniel Raddin Oct todo22 Owen Campbell-Moore Parker Lund Patrick Henderson Paul Moffat Poker Chen Rob Dawson Robert Hildebrandt robertvanduursen Robin Scharf Russell schoen Scott Viteri Simon Pilkington Stellated Hexahedron Tatiana Ponomareva Ted Stokes Tendayi Mawushe Thomas Dingemanse