Beats + Pieces Vol. 55
What I've been up to lately + other things
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
Recently, I’ve managed to find time to write a few short music reviews for Test Pressing. If you’re interested in checking out some new releases on the Efficient Space, Left Ear Records, and Planet Trip Records labels, you can find them in the mix here, here, and here.
On Saturday night, I played the closing DJ set at US hip-hop artist Oddisee’s first Wellington, New Zealand show in five or six years. As always, he was in fine form. Oddisee’s new music is sounding great, and he’s really stepped up his stage banter. I’m tempted to even call elements of it stand-up comedy. I took some film photos on the night. Hopefully, I’ll have some to share next week.
Last week, Radio Active 88.6 FM invited me back onto their weekly The Vault segment to discuss some music from the early days of Auckland, New Zealand-based producer and DJ Christoph El Truento’s sprawling discography. The trigger point was the article I recently wrote about El Truento for Audio Culture. You can listen back to The Vault archive here.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
If you've been bitten by the Khruangbin bug, chances are you might enjoy Mahal by the Melbourne-based global psych-funk/jazz trio Glass Beams. It’s out now via Ninja Tune, which makes me think we’ll be hearing a lot more from this group soon. While I was listening, I found myself getting some flashbacks to a semi-forgotten New Zealand group that occupied a similar style, An Emerald City.
What if I told you Madison Square Garden’s music director and organist Ray Castoldi spent a couple of years in the 90s producing some seriously hearty jazz deep house? Between 1992 and 1994, Castoldi released six dancefloor-friendly EPs through his own X-Ray Records imprint. Thanks to Amsterdam’s Kalahari Oyster Cult label, you can grab the best of the bunch on vinyl and digital now.
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
The Lexicon of Lorecore: Curator-in-Residence Shumon Basar introduces us to a new language needed to navigate our era of personal storification. Live on zine.zora.co now.
The Man Who Would Be Don - The Making Of Don Dada And The Many Lives Of Super Cat, The Wild Apache: On Tuesday, May 12th 1992, Super Cat released his landmark album Don Dada, stepping into the world of MTV and mainstream radio in the pinstriped gabardine of a mafioso right out of the 1930s, tommy gun on one arm and a befeathered gangster’s moll on the other. Yet when he made his major label debut, he was already a veteran 10 years into his recording career and with an even longer resume in Jamaica’s sound system circuit. Those eventful 10 years comprise several careers worth of music and many lives worth of stories, some of which have never been told. Until now. For Wax Poetics, Eddie Stats.
What actually are the Ockhams? For The Spinoff, Writer Rebecca K Reilly breaks down New Zealand’s national book awards here.
Arooj Aftab Knows You Love Her Sad Music. But She’s Ready for More: The genre-crossing songwriter’s introspective “Vulture Prince” was a pandemic hit. Now she is returning with “Night Reign,” an LP that reveals her many dimensions. For The New York Times, Sam Sodomsky. Read here.
I GOT SCAMMED:
Last week, when I was looking around on Google for water-resistant sneakers, an advert came up for the perfect pair. Even better, they were on sale at 50% off. Intoxicated, I clicked through, placed an order, and processed the payment. Afterwards, I received two order confirmation emails riddled with funny language. On closer inspection, the email addresses they’d been sent from didn’t seem connected with the shoe company. After some more googling (lol), I realised I’d probably been the victim of a scam. I’d been caught slipping. I guess the internet comes for all of us eventually.
Once I’d had a cup of herbal tea and come to terms with the reality of what had just happened, I jumped on the phone with my bank and explained everything to them. They basically told me it might not be a scam and that I needed to wait fifteen days to take any real action. Obviously, feeling a bit shaken up, I asked them to block my credit card and replace it. I’m no expert in internet scams, and I have no idea if someone who gets you like this can sting you again later on down the line for additional transactions. Maybe they can’t, but I’ve still got no interest in finding out.
Earlier today, I accidentally used my credit card to pay for coffee via Paywave. Interestingly, it worked. I guess my bank hasn’t blocked my card. I can do that manually in my banking app, but I guess I will have to phone them again to make sure they’re actually sending out a replacement card. As I type all of this, I can feel my lingering trust issues bubbling back up from deep inside.
During the pandemic, I had a moment. I was drinking some filter coffee from an expensive artisan-made coffee mug I bought from an upmarket homeware boutique. Mid-sip, the cup detached from the handle and tumbled out of my hands, spilling coffee all over my laptop. I did everything you’re advised to do, like chucking the laptop in a bag of rice for 24 hours, but the laptop never turned on again.
Thankfully, I was able to get a computer technician to retrieve the data, but I was on deadline, and it turned into a pretty stressful week. It took me months to feel like I could trust a cup handle again. Now and then, I still have a micro freakout about them. Is this how I will feel about online shopping and websites for the foreseeable future?
FIN.