aischunomelody

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Review: Geordie Greep- The New Sound

Geordie Greep sounds like a name made up for some kind of anti-drug PSA, but he's quickly become one of my favorite artists. One of the members of the now-defunct trio black midi, he recently released his debut solo album The New Sound where he fuses genres like jazz, prog rock, and samba in such an incredibly eclectic way that it's made me dust off my keyboard and start writing again. I'm convinced that with this album, he's on the forefront of, well, a New Sound, but with some caveats.

I was already familiar with Geordie indirectly through black midi, a UK rock trio comprised of Greep, Cameron Picton, and Morgan Simpson. Their song "Welcome to Hell" was put forth to me by The Algorithm after I put on the music video for Viagra Boys' "Sports" one day. Entranced by the visuals of their music video alone, I suddenly found myself playing it on repeat because it was unlike anything I'd heard before. It wasn't until I looked more into their past that I found out they popularised a mishmash of post-punk, avant-prog that came from a venue they used to frequently play- the Windmill in Brixton, South London- and it's sent me into a deeper genre hole I'm still exploring. Artists like Black Country, New Roads, Squid, and Shame fill that same space, and their manic-depressive tendencies tend to show themselves through how they sound.

On the news that the trio dissolved for the time being after three albums under their belt came the news soon after that Geordie was releasing solo music. The album's main single, "Holy, Holy" came around at the beginning of last month, and even now it makes me wanna stomp around Downtown LA like a Looney Tune- enough exaggerated confidence to be silly, but with style. That song, along with many others on the album, tackles masculine insecurity, love, and validation among other feelings. The album as a whole paints a picture of a nameless deranged protag chasing after a prostitute named Terra that he thought loved him. With each lyrical track comes different stages of both life and grief, with the last being his acceptance that Terra did not love him. It's like listening to a man burn out in real time, but catchy.

In any case, I'm hoping this kind of sound becomes more popular. Since my teen years, I've had an affinity for Brazil that started with the whole "come to Brazil" meme, but it's grown into an appreciation of its culture, its people, and their impact on the world. It cannot be understated how much their homegrown genres like bossa nova and samba are incredible and starting to gain a footing in Western music again like the Mod 60s. Greep's album wouldn't be the first, but artists like Laufey, Billie Eilish, and even Mitski have been getting into the sound and it sets the stage for more thought-out and methodical music with calm timbres and hearts worn on sleeves. You can say that much for this album, but you can also add a little bit of the manic-depressive tendencies and raw aggression that comes with black midi's music.

All-in-all, we're all in for a saudade for the future. While not the newest sound under the sun, everything old is new again, and music is better for it. Hopefully it doesn't disappear after a while.

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Help, I'm still at the restaurant (the 2006 hotel scene in Challengers).

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APOGEE - Spring Stranger [Translation]

Time goes by So many nights have passed The season of love and the season of endings

The time when the gentle sea protected me I laughed while I tried to figure out my wavering soul

Goodbye my little universe I begin my journey of meetings and partings Surely, it was all an illusion In this unfamiliar town We were each enchanted by the cherry blossoms

The start of a dream Was the scent of my hometown Everything had merely just begun

Goodbye my little universe I begin my journey of meetings and partings Surely, it was all an illusion In the town we came upon We were enchanted by the newly blooming cherry blossoms

Credtis: JPNtoENG.tumblr

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my namesake

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maybe if i listen to Stupid music the bad feeling go away ❓

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i wrote an essay on donald glover's first episode of GILGA Radio a day after it was on instagram-

Even though I think of Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, as his past of being a self-centered dork-ass Asian fetishist weirdo that still peeks out every so often, he's a man of many talents. Not only a musician, he’s an actor, a farmer, and the proprietor of an upscale boba shop. Last night, April 14th was the start of a new rollout of new songs off Atavista, a fully realized version of his previous album, 3.15.20. Unorthodox as he is, he's done this rollout through a radio show he holds on his Instagram every Sunday night at 11, and I caught the first show last night since I was up already. It was an experience that felt like I was there for both his previous eras at the same time, to the point that I downloaded the entire show to archive it for myself.

It was nice chopping it up with an old friend of mine from school among other Childish Gambino fans archiving what he was playing, and to no surprise Glover played three new songs; one wholly new to the point where it doesn't even have a title yet and the two others were new versions of songs off of his previous album. One song, Little Foot Big Foot, featured Young Nudy who did a stellar job adding an edge to an already funky song, and the other, Human Sacrifice, was at the tail end of the show, the most anticipated track by far since it's a song that was first teased in a Google Pixel ad *6 years ago.* I personally could not shut up about it, since I've heard leaks of it and it's been my favorite song he's ever done.

Other than the music he was playing during this radio show, he had fake ads for fast food, upcoming projects, and spoofs of celebrity businesses. Celebrities like Eric Andre, Tyler the Creator, and Quinta Brunson were shouting out the radio station and calling in requests, and to top it all off, Glover was interviewed by the station host Simone Beats, an enigma on her own. I say this not only because I’m not sure she actually exists, but she used an as-yet-unknown country song as her theme, playing everything on the show from Doja Cat, Radiohead, and 2 Chainz, to some incredible artists I'd never heard of like Fousheé, Lola Young, and Tom Misch.

In the interview the host had with Glover, he talked about how Childish Gambino was a project that evolved over time because he was having fun with it, how 3.15.20 was initially rushed out because of Covid but it's been finished now as Atavista, and how beef can be detrimental to the culture rather than just talking to each other. There was also discussions about Gilga, which is not just a farm where he grows literal fruit but a place to organically grow taste in all sorts of media, as well as his next projects; a film and accompanying soundtrack called Bando Stone & the New World that will be his last Childish Gambino project, a cartoon called “Country Mouse, City Mouse” about anthropomorphic mice that started as an ad for his New Balance collab, and an anime that is yet to be seen with Zack Fox, famous for gatekeeping wings on Instagram, his music- both solo and collabs like "Jesus is the One" (I Got Depression)- and his reoccurring role as Tariq on Abbott Elementary.

This sort of rollout isn't unusual for Glover; he had written a screenplay and made a short film when he released his sophomore album "Because the Internet", had crafted a mobile VR experience called PHAROS for "Awaken My Love!", and for "3.15.20", set up an interactive website with art depicting chaos in the streets as well as a loop of the songs on the album. His collabs on different projects, ranging from artists like Chance the Rapper, Azealia Banks, 21 Savage, Jhene Aiko, Jaden Smith, and Ariana Grande show the versatility of his sound over time. As it is, anyone whose major influences are LCD Soundsystem, Wu-Tang, Funkadelic and Rage Against the Machine are bound to have a sound unlike you’ve ever heard. With Gilga, he’s taken a step further and become an active tastemaker by creating what he wants to see with other people like him.

It’s a lot better than the Donald Glover/Childish Gambino I knew of in the early 2010s, where his stuff was rife with jokes about rape, murder, and so much Asian fetishization to the point that he roleplayed as an Asian woman to hype up one of his releases. As a matter of fact, he also did a lot of weird gatekeeping about “fake gamer girls” and being a “nice guy” that it was just as much a part of his persona as his music was. He wasn't the only one, as other artists like Tyler the Creator had a similar footprint online and in their artistry. At the same time, the Internet in that age was starting to let go of the try-hard, edgelord early 2000s. With the advent of social justice in the mainstream, people started to realize making light of awful situations is uninspired and ultimately blasé. As soon as AML came out, he stopped being as weird and moved on.

A part of me wants to say that his self-centered past shines through this rollout but I truly believe that it's just a part of who he is; he rightfully hypes himself up because, in his words from the interview, "I'm the Willy Wonka of this shit." Childish Gambino, born of a Wu-Tang Name Generator and an almost 20-year career of different sounds, feelings, and moods, is weird as hell, and he's proud of it. We’ve seen it with Glover acting in Community, Atlanta, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, his roles in Star Wars and Marvel, and his multiple comedy specials. More of the weirder parts of himself have toned down over time to be more refined, as it was for artists like Tyler the Creator following him. Both have had their fair share of problematic things they’ve said, and while there's no excuse for some of what was said, it seems like they've chilled out on the worse parts. It only felt right that the two of them performed together at the first weekend of this year’s Coachella. I hope that with the next show on Sunday we get even more weird but cool shit from this man. Simply put, his work speaks for itself and shows who he is- for better or worse.

A Hippocratic aphorism goes, “Art is long, life is short.” A career in multiple disciplines can be representative of who a person is, and the evolution they go through. A release as layered as this shows so much of who Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, and the people he’s inspired and worked with, is.

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William Basinski | For Whom the Bell Tolls

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https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Pfrdz3AOOL71UOmOZNttj?si=fMB0v-P6S1mQAJ-OwjsFsg&pi=u-E4sQ_AY7S5G-

Personal playlist of music that gets stuck in my head

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lyrics below:

[Intro] Oooh (Magic, magic, magic) Ooh-ooh Ooh-ooh (Magic, magic, magic, magic) I love the girl with magic ways

[Verse 1] The way you whisper in my ear To make my troubles disappear It's magic The way your little fingertips Make my heart do double flips It's magic [Verse 2] And when you smile at me that way Well, you can warm the coldest day It's magic (It's magic, magic) And even when you're gone I find I hear you laughing in my mind It's magic (It's magic, magic)

[Pre-Chorus 1] And all I have to do is think of you To make the music start to play Then I dance down the street And the people I meet stop and say "Hey, hey"

[Chorus] Magic ways, my friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true I might as well give in (Ooh-ooh) You cast a spell on all my nights and days With your sweet magic ways

[Verse 3] When I go to sleep it seems You sprinkle stardust in my dreams It's magic (It's magic, magic) And in the morning when I rise The mockingbirds all harmonize It's magic (It's magic, magic)

[Pre-Chorus 2] And when you want me you just clap your hands And I'll be with you right away Then we'll float on a breeze While the leaves in the trees softly say "Hey, hey"

[Chorus] Magic ways, my friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true I might as well give in (Ooh-ooh) You cast a spell on all my nights and days With your sweet magic ways

[Bridge] (Magic, magic, magic, magic Uh-ah, ooh-oh Magic, magic, magic, magic Uh-ah, ooh-oh)

[Chorus] Magic ways, my friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true I might as well give in (Ooh-ooh) I love the girl with magic ways (I love the girl with magic) Hey, Hey (I love the girl with magic ways)

[Outro] Magic ways, my friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true (Magic, magic) I might as well give in You cast a spell on all my nights and days With your sweet magic-

Ways My friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true (Magic, magic) I might as well give in (Ooh-ooh) I love the girl with magic ways (I love the girl with magic) Ahhh (I love the girl with magic ways)

Magic ways my friend (Ooh-ooh) You love the girl with magic ways, and it's true (Magic, magic) I might as well give in You cast a spell on all my nights and days

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Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 12

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Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017), dir. Stephen Nomura Schible