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Time is my arch nemesis. There’s all this ooga booga shit telling you that time is multidimensional, but in reality there’s a beginning and an end and it’s just one moment after another until you die. I can’t escape it, so I try my best to slow it down. One way is to play with the possibility of infinitude through music. I open Ableton, build a synth with Operator, draw out a chord, add an arpeggiator and set the style to Random Other, and press play. With eternal melodies that have no beginning or ending you can get stuck in the loop and feel the freedom of just middles.
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Looping the same song for hours can become a religious experience, like being immersed in a Gregorian chant in an old cathedral. You pick up little instrumental flairs that you would have missed otherwise, and the lyrics become second nature. You appreciate the song the more you hear it, and beat drops and vocals become more satisfying in your expectation of them. You get into a natural groove.
Dec 9, 2024
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because i like to feel endless (and it's been the perfect album for working on neverending grad sch apps)
Jan 11, 2025
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While I love lots of music and have created way too many playlists, I always get fixated on the same five songs during a period of time, before inevitably finding new ones to be attached to (and “retiring” the previous ones into the void of my Spotify liked list).
I used to think it was a strange way to listen to music, especially since I can be so obsessed with a select # of songs and then just forget they exist, or only revisit years later. But when I do go back, or hear the songs play out in the wild, it’s so cathartic and bittersweet. I can remember the exact chapter of my life, how I was feeling at the time/what I was going through, and it reminds me how much time has passed and all the experiences I’ve had/the various people I’ve met (temporary or not). I can remember and feel the feelings, and then just allow it to fade back into the background.
I doubt I’m the only one listening to music this way, but if that’s not you, it’s a sentimental outlook to lean into!
Sep 17, 2024
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In 2006, a YouTube account called Artssiren uploaded a series of clips for an amateur documentary called “New York City Subculture ‘96.” The doc is set in the East Village and mostly features downtown squatters hanging out on St. Marks stoops talking about tattoos, philosophy, and love. Characters include Kia, a topless punk who confronts a pig, Bernie, a squatter who wants to convince you he doesn’t look like a squatter, and Randy, the most emo boy in America. The film was made by Nia Janeen Brown, who now goes by Chloé Le Roux. She deserves a retrospective.
Sep 13, 2022
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It’s a weird way to end a recommendations list, but there are things you should just keep to yourself. Also, you should be comfortable with the fact that there are things from which you’re gatekept. Anyway, thanks for reading my recommendations lol.
Sep 13, 2022
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If you don’t have a DAW like Ableton you can use Audacity, an open source music software, to slow down time. Audacity comes with an effect called Paulstretch, named after an old program called Paul's Extreme Sound Stretch that was used to make this iconic YouTube video. It allows you to slow down audio files by inordinate amounts, turning silly little love songs into monumental drone landscapes. You can discover hidden melodies buried in the waveform and imagine life outside of time.
Sep 13, 2022