~notes~ (Vol. 4)
Rusty ice cream trucks & piles of vinyl
Mad’s Music Mix
The Knocks ft. Powers, “Classic” Summer is far from over. Celebrate with this song! From an electropop duo that’s produces all the good feels, Classic is a great summer song that transports me to a time (when I didn’t exist) when wafts of feathered hair blow in the breeze as guys and gals roller skated in short-shorts like they just didn’t care.
SOPHIE, “Lemonade” I recently checked out the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Whitney with Jeff and his mom, Pam (Hi Pam!). This track is the music equivalent of a Jeff Koons piece: seemingly light and airy, comprised of references to everyday items, but at the same time subversive and droll. Aurally effervescent with fizzing sound effects and bubblegum pop, The Guardian nails it by describing the song as “music that a modern-day pied piper would use to attract children to his rusty ice-cream van.”
Love Dollhouse, “Can I” Missing those days of girl groups like TLC, En Vogue and that hip-hoppin’, rappin’ Girl’s Tyme? Love Dollhouse delivers the harmonies and catchy lyrics (spelling words out as part of the chorus assures for a grand singalong). I’m not sure how popular this group will become, but this is definitely a 2014 summer jam.
Music Vid Pick: Spoon, “Inside Out” Layers of glassy visuals accompany the single off the just-released album, They Want My Soul. The translucent video is a fitting match for the shimmering instrumentation of the track. Slippery and trippy!
Jeff’s Journo Jems
The Kiss That Changed Video Games [The New Yorker] As much as it hurts my early-adopter-obsessed soul to admit it, I was totally late to jump on The Sims bandwagon. I can remember buying the CD-ROM — how novel — at the end of middle school, and I’m not quite sure if I ever took it out of the box. I clearly missed a huge sociological and technological touchstone of our time. Interestingly, if it wasn’t for an unplanned kiss between two female characters at an product unveiling in 1999, the game might never have made it to market.
I Can’t Read Walden [Frank Chimero] I’ve already gushed about my intellectual crush on Frank Chimero — be still my beating heart. This time around, Frank muses about a Walden-esque scenario happening with the every increasing expectations of modern life: “modern life is too much, and each day is getting much more much-er.” So what should we do? Become a recluse and escape all of the marvels of modern life? Or are those layers — the things that add stress to our lives — essential to our very existence?
The Brazilian Bus Magnate Who’s Buying Up All the World’s Vinyl Records [The New York Times] Recently, I’ve been thinking about how rapid changes in technology (thanks, Moore’s Law) mean we’re regularly recording information on different — often not wholly compatible — mediums. This was all sparked by a story I included in last week’s newsletter: Thanks to Technology, We’re About to Come Out of the Longest Dark Age in Human History. This week, The New York Times magazine has a story of an eccentric Brazilian bus magnate who has collected millions of vinyl records. Not only is Zero Freitas an intriguing character, he might be the only person that’s able to ensure that now-obscure songs from places like Cuba and South America are not forgotten.
Everybody Smiley Poops [Matter on Medium] The fact that emojis have become ubiquitous in such a short period of time amazes me. It’s a medium that people of all ages are comfortable with — my mom is an emoji master (Pam gets two shout outs this week. Lucky her!). From a linguistic perspective, it’s much like music — not quite its own language, but able to be understood by anyone, no matter his or her native tongue. This piece got me thinking more about those little smiling pixels than I ever thought possible.
Throwback: God’s Own Warden [Mother Jones] I can still remember when I first came across this story in Mother Jones three years ago. I put down the magazine and sat dumbfounded for a few minutes. There’s a prison with grounds the size of the island of Manhattan on the banks of the Mississippi River!? It also doubles as a tourist attraction — complete with a gift shop — that Miss Louisiana visits!? The warden is one of the most powerful people in the state!? This story is one of the most salient examples that truth is stranger than fiction.
