august-is-angry

[august-is-angry]

The Wonders of the Lacy Family

The phenomenon of the Lacy family has had my unwavered attention since May 14th, 2017. 3 months previous to this, there had been buzz around this kid that had just released a solo EP. The EP was “Steve Lacy’s Demo” by Steve Lacy. Gaining traction quickly because of Lacy’s work in R&B band The Internet, it immediately became one of the most important releases of 2017. With just 6 songs, those 14 minutes are some of the most iconic sounds of early 2017 to anybody that listened to it. As people listened more, they got excited, it was a new face in the music industry for many that hadn’t indulged in The Internet. Soon people realized this was a kid, at only 18 he was making tasteful licks and layered vocal harmonies. On April 14th, 2017, San Francisco-based magazine Wired released a video onto their YouTube channel titled “How The Internet's Steve Lacy Makes Hits With His Phone”. The video showed an 18 year old Lacy using the app GarageBand to make a song on his iPhone. In a way, this pioneered the normalization of the making of music on an iPhone, or at least it got rid of a lot of stigmas around it. To me, to be 14 and seeing a kid only 4 years my elder, wearing the same clothes I wear on the cover of his EP, making music on his iPhone, and being actually somewhat respected and even praised for it was incredible. Although, I did not yet have a guitar or bass, I had an iPhone, which was 1/3 of the supplies I needed to make an album in my eyes. Looking back, my Steve Lacy infatuation may have been a slight obsession, but I think it’s what I needed most at that age, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.

If you too listened to and loved “Steve Lacy’s Demo” or even his new album “Apollo XXI”, you may or may not know he has a little sister, Asia Lacy, professionally known in recent years as Asiatica. On the date I mentioned previously, May 14th, 2017, Steve Lacy went live on Instagram and jammed with Asia from their family’s home in Compton, CA. Steve on guitar Asia on bass. The synergy impressed everyone that witnessed it. Both of them are so incredibly talented at both playing instruments and singing. I followed Asia on Instagram right after the live ended, ensuring I didn’t miss something like that ever again. That fall, Asia started her college education at Humboldt University in northern California. She began to go live on Instagram frequently as she was far away from home and didn’t have many friends yet except for her dorm mates. I’m pretty sure I watched all of these livestreams, sitting in my room making some sort of art as Asia skateboarded around campus alone exploring the place or sat in her dorm playing Charles Manson and Paramore songs on guitar, with some original stuff as well. Asia has an insanely good music taste, from Dirty Projectors to Thundercat, she could talk for hours about music she loved. When Asia played original songs of hers on live, I would screen record it so I could listen to her songs again as she didn’t have them recorded or put on streaming services. She seemed reluctant to become a musician, I don’t think it was doubt of her talent, it’s clear to everyone that hears her music that she’s got the talent for it. I think she saw all that was happening to her brother and just found it overwhelming, and who could blame her?

One of the original songs that stood out in her livestreams was “Workin On It”, of course named because she was still workin’ on it. I still have a voice recording I made after that live ended, it’s a melody inspired by what I heard of the song so far (the voice recording was dated August 16th, 2017 if you were curious). On November 25th, 2017, “Workin’ On It” was released, well, it had a new name; “Hide In Me”. I listened to it RELIGIOUSLY. I was so excited, and it did not disappoint. “Hide In Me” is a beautiful yet simple 1 minute 42 second song with harmonic layered vocals and a guitar riff that rips me back to August of 2017, except this time the riff was electrified.

To end off 2017, Tyler the Creator threw a mini festival at the Observatory in my hometown of Santa Ana. The lineup featured Steve Lacy so of course I was dedicated to getting tickets for this. But alas, this is a festival thrown by Tyler the motherfucking Creator, months after “Flowerboy” was released, with maybe like 500 tickets tops, maybe even less. So unfortunately I did not get those tickets. Dedicated to hear my God’s set, I stood in my backyard for about 30 minutes for Steve Lacy’s whole set, in the middle of winter, and 4 days into having stomach flu. And dammit, I live so close, that I actually heard it. It was faint but I could still hear it, and I loved it, I was so proud.

Fast forward to March 2019, I was gearing up for this new Vampire Weekend album, and I see on my Instagram feed, Asia Lacy was going to release an EP. I think I shed a tear or two. Asia had left Humboldt to go back home and spend time with family and friends after feeling estranged from the rest of Humboldt’s student body. She spent the past few months looking after her nephew and making music with her boyfriend, musician and producer Carter Ace (who by the way is a great artist as well). On March 13th, 2019 “Aprilia Ave” by Asiatica was released. It’s an EP with 5 songs that in total runs for 16 minutes. I remember exactly where I was when I listened to this for the first time, I was in a field being showered by sun, the first sun after a cold winter. It was pure joy, the truest form of happiness. The last track “Alright” left me crying tears of joy. All 5 songs are so special and all of them are so good I can’t stress this enough. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I highly suggest you do, it’s streamable on Spotify and Apple Music.

Last Friday, Steve Lacy released his first full length album titled “Apollo XXI”. I added it to my library right when it came out because I knew it was going to be good, and holy shit yeah it is. There’s no skips on this album, every song is great. I even dance to the parts where it’s just blank noise between 2 different parts of a song. I sat out on my front lawn Friday morning listening to the album in full with sun glaring into my baby sunglasses that pinch my nose. I had listened to it in full right when it came out the night before but I wanted to experience it how I experienced “Aprilia Ave”. In a field on a sunny day that was surrounded by overcast days. I felt alive, I felt present, like I was in my body for the first time in years. Legs folded up and ankles crossed as I hugged my knees, my cat pawing at the door in hopes of joining me. “I wonder I wonder, I really wonder” repeating so frequently that I started to sing along. It was like my experience with “Aprilia Ave” except it was pure curiosity and the truest form of wonder. With a future so uncertain, what would this world hold for me this year, I wonder. All I could be certain of in that moment was that whatever happens this year I’ll be listening to “Aprilia Ave” and “Apollo XXI”, so fuck it. I lay my head back in the grass, held my head in my cupped hands, and closed my eyes, and listened to “Playground” on repeat.

[august-is-angry]

“I was so much older then, I’m much younger than that now” - Bob Dylan

Sitting outside in the grass on April 9th, 2019 at 1:36pm. Listening to this album called The Glow by Gold Celeste. I’m on the first song titled “Can Of Worms”, which was a specific song off the album that was recommended to me 2 hours previous. It feels like a dream. I’m taken back into my own childhood. Then in the adolescences of others. Maybe this is how Pete Townshend or Bob Dylan felt when they were 16 wandering outside in early April. All the photos from back then seem to come together to fit into how my environment seems. I’ve felt this way a couple of times. The lyrics I always felt best described this feeling were Pink Floyd’s “the sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older”. Wasn’t the sun brighter when you were younger? Or softer? Just different. All the proof you have is photos & anyone can make the case ‘well it’s just the photo looks weird’ which is probably right. But after these 16 years on this planet, 10 of which clearer than the other 6, hasn’t the sun changed even slightly? I wasn’t alive for the 50s or 60s or 70s but i feel like the sun was different back then. Suddenly for these 40 seconds in this song my disposition has just shifted. The sun was always the same we were just looking at it differently. Then back to my previous opinion. I know it’s inside me to see from their perspective. If you care to try; 4:14 to the end of the song (Can Of Worms by Gold Celeste).

My cat averted my gaze as the wind grew stronger blowing the tall grass he sat in. He looked like he was just looking around taking it all in just like I was. There’s always a sense of breathtaking with nervous undertones when looking at another being feeling the warmth of the good earth. I know he can’t tell me how he feels but I can see it just by looking at him.

Anxious tranquility, for once thinking about your role in the big world not your role in your own small world. As I get farther into this album at track 9 “You and I” I’m reminded of all those fields in the middle of nowhere I’m yet to visit. I can picture in my head sitting in a field on tour in a year or two & feeling how Pete Townshend & Bob Dylan felt. & I’d like to think I’ll feel much younger then, as I’m so much older now.