#MILK! Records

[andypartridges]

GETTING LOUDER NOW: a courtney barnett fanzine by @andypartridges read the full zine transcript & extra pages on my substack :-)

[kokomeong]

The End of An Era - A Tribute to Milk! Records

How fast time passes us by, so why don’t you hold them - Remedy Waloni

I am writing this piece as I sip on a tall hot latte at a Starbucks inside a chain bookstore near my campus, a scene that I would have never imagined when my girlfriend took me to Seven Seeds in Carlton near her campus nine years ago. Her senpai took her there on her first week in Melbourne and she ordered hot chocolate, not convinced that the famous Melbourne coffee was different and would win her over. She used to not be able to stand the smell of second-wave coffee and coffee shops. In the early 2010’s, my brand new (and still alive) iPod video consisted of Alvvays, Bon Iver, Beirut, DCFC, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Wild Beasts. Teguh Wicaksono regularly made a super indie playlist for National Geographic Traveler. It was an exciting time. We went from spending our time going to Periplus Malioboro just to stare at Frankie to finding them at news kiosks everywhere in Australia. The third-wave was taking over in the peak of the hipster years, and we were relieved that the same trend had occupied Yogyakarta when we returned home a year later. Light roast direct trade coffee with manual brew and single origins were introduced perhaps not very successfully by snobbish male baristas as the market preferred cheap iced coffee with condensed milk as their go-to drink and young male smokers remained loyal to the dark roast americano with sugar added.   

I was reminded of all the buzz about the end of an era as Ronaldo and Messi left the European football scene when I heard that Milk! Records announced that they will close its doors in 2023. It was the heart of Melbourne independent music scene. I learned and took so many references from that music label and its community. It was the year Real Estate released Atlas, the year I was hooked by the brilliance of Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s Portlandia. Courtney Barnett released Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, Methyl Ethel and Twerps completed their second album, and Dick Diver finished Melbourne, Florida, a staple of their distinctive Australiana sound.

Melbourne was a manifestation of an idea of how diverse the communities can be in a city. It could not be better: multiculturalism, the rising awareness of indigenous issues, Palestine, and animal rights debates, farm-to-table dining and direct trade sustainable produce, the tram lines, queer people kissing in front of old houses in Brunswick, the radical ideas of what a library is and can be, the New Year’s Eve fireworks in River Torrens, all the bookshops and empty wet streets, Papa Gino’s in Carlton, the A1 bakery in Sydney Road, Al-Alamy in Coburg, taking a book conservation training under the supervision of Karen Vidler, summertime bus ride along the majestic Adelaide coastlines, Adelaide Showground, the morning view from a room in Sturrock Street, a summer evening in St Kilda, my obsession with Steph Hughes’ illustrations, and the bitter smell of cheap morning to-go coffee in an unnamed stall in Adelaide station, introduced to me by a woman who worked in my apartment. They ground the beans and made the coffee in a proper espresso machine. There was always a long line of blue collar workers. The beans were dark roast, so bitter that you cannot drink it properly without sugar. I remained one of their regulars during those beautiful days in Adelaide because what is coffee even for if not to be romanticized.

That era in Australia changed (if not solidified) me, and I could not feel more fortunate to do my Master's there. I was a nobody, a 23 year-old working administrative-level job under a yearly contract dying to escape my routine and dysfunctional family dynamics. It was a small chance as the scholarship mainly goes to civil servants with a solid experience and career path. I didn’t have much to offer so I had to make it seem like I knew what I was doing somehow and they bought it. I spent all of my savings to give the best care to ten stray cats I rescued. My parents did not give me any money when I left for Australia, despite their ‘success’ in their respective career. I even gave mom my last 100,000 at the airport because I knew she needed the money.

When I rode my Tokyobike slowly for a morning commute to campus, I felt that it was surely the end of an era. The new young Indonesian bands I can no longer relate to, the fact that my hair is no longer perfectly straight and surrenders to my mom’s curly genetics, the way I managed to understand Japanese cashiers and their many questions before letting me pay for my order, reminiscing the Sefton Park suburb while indulging in the views of Zuibaiji river and the vast open rice fields everyday on the way to campus.

Australians enjoy a slow brunch, the Japanese eat a very effective breakfast. Australians spend a long summer holiday, the Japanese take a week-long summer break. Australians invented their perfectly balanced flat white, the Japanese preserved and perfected their simple drip coffee.

They are totally in contrast, yet from the life I have here and there I learn something in common: that you can be the kind of people who do not define yourself with your titles, job positions or external achievements. The kind of people who have a life outside their job. The people who are more interested in enriching their lives than pursuing the conventional idea of success. People who take seemingly trivial things seriously and deeply. They read, bike, walk, garden, bake, brew, ferment, cook, eat, drink, taste, feel, meet, see, write, watch, and listen consciously. They keep searching for something new and they are excited to learn.

Some people need to advance their career so much they are willing to do literally anything and sacrifice others when they realize they can’t do achieve anything just by relying on their skills and competence. They’re the type who might not appreciate walking to a green space, getting joy from looking at the ducks in the pond, being overly excited to see wild turtles in the river. But there’s no need to be so stressed out about going down if you can just choose to not go up.

Your titles and privileges can and will end, but ideas and knowledge go on. Rest in Peace, Milk! Records.

[craske]

a small prediction, or speculation on where the story in beast yeast might go in the future, based on what weve seen in the story mode in the cookie lab

or, as one would say, fuck you unbeasts your jester

[mostlyghostie]

I redrew my favourite books! This time I added my favourite albums too.

Books:

Paul Auster - 4321

Phillip Pullman - Northern Lights

AS Byatt - The Children’s Book

Charles Dickens - David Copperfield

William Goldman - The Princess Bride

George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo

RC Sherriff - The Fortnight in September

Kazuo Ishiguro - An Artist of the Floating World

Jon McGregor - Reservoir 13

David Mitchell - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Elizabeth Strout - Olive Kitteridge

Alice Munro - Hateship, Loveship, Courtship, Friendship, Marriage

Marilynne Robinson - Home

John Williams - Stoner

Albums:

Love - Forever Changes

Lou Reed - Transformer

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Sam Cooke - Live at the Harlem Square Club

Martha - Blisters in the Pit of My Heart

Big Thief - Masterpiece

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Joanna Newsom - Divers

Richard Dawson - 2020

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

The Beatles - Abbey Road

(I’ve added a new listing to my shop where you can request a big custom print like this of your own favourite stuff to display on your wall!)

Shop / Instagram

[intriga-hounds]

6/14, day 61 update:

-appetite is still strong. expecting a decrease around the time of the temp drop.

-temperature holding steady at about 99.5, down from over 100 on day 59. waiting for a drop under about 98.4. this drop will indicate that labor will start within the next 24 hrs or so.

-milk came in this afternoon. it wasn’t in this morning but noticed it had come in by 5pm.

-puppies were very quiet today. moving into position! anecdotally, milk and quiet puppies usually means about 48 hrs left.

-ponzu was calm and snuggly. no nesting yet.

-things are progressing, but it’s not time yet. expecting and hoping for a temp drop sometime tomorrow (technically today). if it happens, it will probably will be later in the day. i would appreciate puppies being on time, but they may come monday due to it being a small litter. so far things are normal and as expected.

[mielkae]

Reasons flower husbands could be exes in your ranchers fic that aren't "scott was a toxic abuser"

I always have a hard time reading fics that make scott an abuser because he's one of my favourite characters, but I also get that writers might wanna include past flower husbands into their fics. So here's an inexhaustible list of reasons flower husbands might have broken up before the start of your fic that don't involve making anyone the bad guy:

They realized they were better off as friends

Maybe jimmy only thought he loved scott romantically because he was so caught up in the attention. Maybe scott just fell for the first guy who showed an interest, and later realized it was just infatuation. Maybe a romantic dynamic just never seemed to work as well for them as a platonic one. Who knows? There are plenty of reasons dating might be the wrong answer for a pair that just seems to mesh perfectly as friends.

Incorporate it into your minecraft lore

K so this one isn't conventional, but I've seen the idea come up a few times in fics and I really like it. Maybe relationships don't always carry over from server to server. Maybe it's not uncommon for a relationship between the same people to take different forms across different servers at the same time. Maybe not every version of scott knows every version of jimmy, and they don't always remember the servers and intimacies they've shared together. Maybe starting a new server is generally considered a refresh, and it's normal for old relationships to be broken off so new ones can form. The possibilities are endless!

They're trying to do the right thing.

This one's a bit angstier, and would likely still result in some hurt feelings on both sides. What if after double life, scott sees how much jimmy misses tango and remembers how well the two clicked. The two were soulmates after all, and all he wants is for jimmy to be happy. if he can't be the person to bring him that happiness, he'll give him the space to be with someone who can. Or maybe jimmy feels himself falling for tango in double life, and believing himself to be unfaithful, he breaks things off with scott to at least spare him the hurt of being with someone who doesn't love him enough (operating under the assumption that jimmy is a bit of an idiot who doesn't realize he has two hands).

[my-name-is-apollo]

Why is Hera so hostile to Leto in a manner that she isn't with the other lovers of Zeus? I can't think of any other woman who was targeted so much by Hera. One could say she didn't want Leto to give birth because her children would be a competition to Hera's children, but why bother her even after she had already given birth? Is it because Leto herself is also a threat to Hera?

Sort of I guess?

I don't think Leto would ever be a threat to Hera's role as the queen of the gods but Hera might see her as a competitor for Zeus' affection, even though I think Zeus would not marry someone else and replace Hera.

The twins are definitely a big reason why Hera begrudged Leto - it is outright stated in the Callimachus Hymn to Delos that the reason Hera especially targeted Leto was because she was told that Apollo would be dearer to Zeus than Ares is. Zeus is very proud of Artemis as well. As he himself puts it, he doesn't mind facing Hera's wrath for children like her.

But the continued hatred even after the birth of the twins (like sending Tityus to rape Leto) could have been for different reasons. This wasn't like one of those affairs Zeus would have with mortal women where he'd leave them behind once the child is conceived. Neither could Hera, despite her many attempts, get rid of Leto like she did with the other lovers. Not only did Leto give Zeus children that he loves dearly, she also stayed on Olympus despite Hera's hatred towards her (which isn't directed to any of Zeus' other divine mistresses, btw). It might have also been because Leto herself is dear to Zeus, if the way she's treated on Olympus is any proof. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, Leto stands next to Zeus - in the Olympian assembly - to welcome their son. Hera is completely absent from the scene, as if Leto had taken her place even if temporarily. Now you could say this is because Apollo himself is such a powerful and glorious son in a way that no other son of Zeus is, so of course Leto would get such an honor (the hymn itself presents it this way).

But here's another instance - in the Iliad, when Hera goes to seduce Zeus, he is obviously very smitten but before getting into the action, he lists some of his lovers (I believe these were his favorite lovers, as a lot of others are not mentioned):

"for never has such desire for goddess or mortal woman so gripped and overwhelmed my heart, not even when I was seized by love for Ixion’s wife, who gave birth to Peirithous the gods’ rival in wisdom; or for Acrisius’ daughter, slim-ankled Danaë, who bore Perseus, greatest of warriors; or for the far-famed daughter of Phoenix, who gave me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthus; or for Semele mother of Dionysus, who brings men joy; or for Alcmene at Thebes, whose son was lion-hearted Heracles; or for Demeter of the lovely tresses; or for glorious Leto; or even for you yourself, as this love and sweet desire for you grips me now.’ (Book 14, trans. A. T. Murray)

Notice how when talking about most of them, he also mentions the children they bore to him but when Demeter and Leto are mentioned, he doesn't bring up their children at all despite them being some of the most accomplished kids of his. What's more, he takes Leto's name just before Hera's. I mean, this is an interpretation but it looks like not only did Zeus love Leto the most out of all his mistresses - giving her a place second to that of his wife, but also his love for her wasn't necessarily only because she gave him two amazing children.

Nonnus does something similar in the Dionysiaca (but this time Zeus is enamored with Persephone instead of Hera) but more notably, when Typhoeus attacks Olympus and Zeus is discouraged, Nike takes the form of Leto to encourage him and it's pretty telling of what Leto meant to Zeus.

One interesting similarity between Hera and Leto is that they both had a giant try to rape them. Porphyrion tried to violate Hera (Zeus inspired him to do this) and Tityus tried to violate Leto (upon Hera's order). Though both of them were killed, only Tityus got an eternal punishment in Tartarus of having his liver/heart eaten out by vultures so Zeus seems to have taken a greater offense at Tityus trying to assault Leto.

Again, I don't think Zeus would ever take anyone other than Hera as his permanent wife - she is irreplaceable to him. There's an entire myth about Hera leaving him and Zeus winning her back. Their relationship is obviously complex and involves all kinds of emotions including love and hate. But Leto is continually dear to him as well and that's something Hera can't do much about.

[glossysoap]

genuine q:

is it rude/bad if the only times someone reaches out to you is them asking you to reblog their work? and sending asks guilt tripping you into reading it? and then word for word saying on another occasion “to help it get traction”? especially when you’ve already talked about not liking that type of work?

i’m sure i already know the answer but i wanna make sure i’m not overreacting 😅

[alex-frostwalker]

Beast Yeast Episode 2 Spoilers

*SLURPPP*

This is some great angst!! ☺️☕

[dragologist]

Them eyes & eyebrows 🐲

[sumbier0]

Wait... then how did he write those diary entries in dsaf 2?

[drgstrcowboi]

went to town making the outsiders alignment chart memes for no reason

[negativewatermotel]

An unfinished list of the best albums (imo)🌀🐛

Rocket - Alex G

Her Wallpaper Reverie - The Apples In Stereo

Keep It Like a Secret - Built to Spill

Jamboree - Beat Happening

You Turn Me On - Beat Happening

Teens of Denial - CSH

Twin Fantasy (Mirror To Mirror) - CSH

Either/Or - Elliot Smith

The Front Bottoms - The Front Bottoms

Talon Of The Hawk - The Front Bottoms

Rose EP - The Front Bottoms

Shake the Pounce - Gaze

Don’t Tell Me Now - The Halo Benders

The Rebels Not In - The Halo Benders

Atta Girl EP - Heavenly

Heavenly vs. Satan - Heavenly

Le Jardín de Heavenly - Heavenly

Freshman Year - Hop Along

Downward Is Heavenward - Hum

You’d Prefer an Astronaut - Hum

Live at Jittery Joe’s - Jeff Mangum

Remember That I Love You - Kimya Dawson

Earth Sciences - Laura Barret

Infinity Plus - Lois

Strumpet - Lois

69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields

Bury Me At Makeout Creek - Mitski

Lush - Mitski

Puberty 2 - Mitski

Sports - Modern Baseball

ITAOTS - Neutral Milk Hotel

Doolittle - Pixies

Tiger Trap - Tiger Trap

[inkblotdemon]

loved this redditor's analysis of Inflammatory Writ

[kaz-oooo]

I mean out of everything in Hbomberguy’s new video, I think the thing about James Somerton that just irks me the most is just… he’s a queer man who is so lazy and self absorbed that he cannot take the time to even learn about the queer history and media he is presenting.. about his own history!

I just! Look, with all the other creators I understand the laziness —they’re all just churning out content as fast as they can (save for internet historian cos he posts pretty infrequently), none of them care about the games and films they’re reviewing, about MLM’s and shitty corporations or about guys getting trapped in caves. They don’t care y’know, it’s easier to disrespect the sources they’re stealing from if they have no emotional attachment to the topics.

But James is gay.. he’s a queer man… he is apart of this community, I mean not to excuse his shitty misogynistic rants (cos they’re shitty and there’s no excuse for them) but that hatred comes from somewhere, Harris joked that “some straight woman hurt him” and like… I wouldn’t be surprised if James genuinely has felt pushed aside and forgotten because of his identity as a gay man….. but like if that’s the case then he understands queer erasure, he has experienced it firsthand and fucking… it’s incredibly disappointing to see him plagiarise queer voices on such a massive scale!

But idk. I originally found James Somerton because I was watching video essays about queer history and queer media analysis — y’know, actively going out there to learn my history and how it affects media in the present — James can’t even be fucked watching the shows he’s talking about. What is Arthur? Who is Mako?? Wtf is a Shonan??? Calling Becky Albertalli a straight woman, misgendering cast members in Owl House and Shera because (and I severely hope this is the case! Though at this point nothing would surprise me) he assumes they are all straight women, the whole thing with Disney’s gay nights and gay days… these are all such basic, simple facts that anyone could learn by looking at a fucking Wikipedia article (or in the case of mispronouncing Mako’s name.. just watching a single clip from the show).

It just really goes to show how little he actually cares about the content he’s making.. his videos aren’t passionate video essays, it’s content, views, money, sponsorships, it’s taking the 3 or 4 articles he read when he typed “movie gay” into google and making them look flashy and professional with pretty lighting so he can just shut out all the voices he doesn’t want to hear (actual queer people.. and I guess one right wing nut head) and make a quick buck off the content they worked hard to make!

Anyway. Top tier video from Hbomberguy as per usual. Im fucking mad but hey! At least I got an epic list of new YouTubers to check out and like a *shitload* of articles and books and documentaries I can go watch :)

[spacebunsz]

milk but with hearts