magnificentartisanluminary

[magnificentartisanluminary]

Music I liked this year

So I was a little disappointed with my Spotify wrapped this year. It wasn't wrong obviously but it wasn't completely right either so I'm gonna make my own top 5 list of albums I really liked this year. None of them were actually released this year and some I didn't find this year specifically but I at least did really connect with these albums this year. 1. Man-child - Herbie Hancock (1975) I've listened to this album a bit on and off since i first started listening to jazz a couple of years ago. I always felt it wasn't quite as good as the other stuff Herbie did with the Headhunters, that it was just more generic than Thrust or the Headhunters album. But honestly this album has some true bangers on it. Hang up your hang ups is just very fun and I love the part when the saxophone solo is joined by the full ensemble in the chorus. That part never ceases to send shivers down my spine. The traitor and especially steppin in it are also really fun and groovy pieces with some great solos as well. The more mellow cuts I don't really like as much but i still do like sun touch and bubbles. 2. Goda' Goda' - Jojje Wadenius (1969) The title means "Good day, Good day" in swedish and it is a collection of childerns poetry set to music. Although the fun and childish lyrics are part of why I enjoy this album the fact it has a couple of real good jams is what makes this one of my favorites this year. The songs "Mitt sår" (My wound), Jag vill ha en hund, en blå (I want a dog, a blue one), Den jag älskar heter Örjan (The one I love is called Örjan) and Kalles klätterträd (Kalle's climbing tree) are all really fun and some of my favorites to listen to.

3. Kornet - Kornet (1975) This one is just a really fun progressive rock/jazz album with some truly great compositions. Its got fast paced and fun songs like "skriet från vildmarken" as well groovy and fun songs like "Frunk" and "Pygges blues", More atmospheric songs like "Jojk" and "intrude tretaktarn" and laid back songs like "sju hungriga år" and "friska fläktar." Its honestly just good really creative song after good really creative song. If any album on this list is worth a full listen it might be this one.

4. Spelar Nilsson - De gladas kapell (1978) This album is mostly a bit forgettable and would not really be on this list if it wasn't for the fact that two of the songs are so good they carry the rest of the album handily. The song "Havana Boogie" is just this really heavy jazz jam with some great riffs and the nastiest guitar solo followed by the cleanest piano solo. They manage to really conjure a lot of music out surprisingly little written material and it really takes you on what feels like a crazy journey. "De gladas kapell" is another song that just slaps so hard with just some great solos on both guitar and keys. I liked this one so much i remember hearing the full thing in a dream, and its like 7 minutes long, the other week because I've listened to it that much. Fun fact Jojje Wadenius and the keyboard player from Kornet plays on this album. It is in fact the keyboard player who wrote the music on the album and it is named after him. His name was Stefan Nilsson and sadly he passed just recently in 2023 from ALS. 5. Yellowjackets - Yellowjackets [Self-title] (1981) If you asked me my favorite album this year this would easily be my answer. As an album it just manages to be banger after banger. Every song I've listened to repeat so many times. If I was ever in a bad mood this year I would just pop on any one of the songs of here. Matinee Idol is just an amazing opening track. Such a fun and bluesy jam with a whole lot of groove. It always makes me wanna dance when I hear it and I can't even dance! Imperial struts melody and guitar solo are so unmatched. Strange and complex yet somehow so memorable. Again the groove is so good too. Sittin in it has some amazingly written parts. The funky bluesy main riff is something i just cant get enough of. Rush hour is funny, groovy and has great solos. Hornet is the weakest cut on the album in my opinion but still a fun song with good solos. Priscilla was a song I didn't really like at first but it really grew on me. The delayed guitar hits in the main part and the super cheesy other part. It comes together to make something, fun and heavy yet groovy and the solos are just totally amazing. It's almost gone is great closing track with its mysterious piano intro that just sort of builds into a great guitar solo. Its cheesy yet still has a lot flavor, spice and energy. A great listen beginning to end. Thats my list. I'll also link this playlist here of just a couple of favorites from this year: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6XbB0JnVdmxFh8wD57VQbW?si=f8179a1330f94620

[magnificentartisanluminary]

Rant about cis-people

[TW: Transphobia and non-graphic mention of sexual assault] I was writing this block of text originally as a comment on the Little Joel video about Boogie2988 and his transphobic video about a Hershey's ad that featured a trans woman on women's day. (link = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prn0ZfKPrb4) I came back to this video today and it struck when i saw the clip of Boogie talking about if trans women should be celebrated on women's day (around 2 minutes in). Its just so extremely cowardly, trying to hide behind concern and vague non-committal statements like "I genuinely don't know", "My gut feeling is they should have their own day" and "I don't know if i should offer my opinion here because I'm not a woman". If you know why you shouldn't speak on the matter then why are you speaking? If you aren't sure about your perspective then why are you sharing it as if you do believe it? Like just say what you actually believe instead of pretending to believe in some nuance you do nothing to demonstrate whilst intentionally ignoring the obvious implication of the idea that trans women should only be celebrated on a trans specific day and not on womens day. And it must be intentional because there is no way he doesn't see that conclusion and don't think to address the objections most trans people would bring. He doesn't acknowledge it because you can't resolve the cognitive dissonance between supporting trans people and believing trans women can't be celebrated on womens day. If he wants to pretend like he supports trans people he just has to pretend like he is not saying trans women aren't real women. Its such extreme posturing which is only made worse by such a clear lack of understanding of the issue at hand, claiming things like "This is what got JK canceled" (thats not why JK was cancelled) and not knowing about TDoR or TDoV.

I've just been so pissed of at stuff like this recently. I hate how so much of the debate around trans people get to be dictated by the feelings and whims of uninformed cis people who must be infinitely respected and we can never as much as read obvious conclusions out of clearly inflammatory statements. We are to take transphobes at their word that they just care about us when they routinely ignore the experiences of trans people when making their arguments. God forbid you ask, "But, what about trans people?" when talking about any issue because the smallest inconvenience for the cis population is grounds to dismiss any case that at all takes into account trans people no matter how terrible the consequences are for them. It doesn't matter that non-passing trans people can't use public bathrooms because of ostracization and the risk of harassment and even sexual assault. That experience is meaningless compared to making some cis people slightly uncomfortable. In the question of whether trans women should be allowed to compete in women's sport cis people just never contend with the consequences for trans people of just banning trans women or even trans people more broadly from competing in sports. We don't have the right to have our perspective as much as considered if cis people "have a gut feeling" or are made slightly inconvenienced by it.