FROM THE [GOOGLE] DOCS #003
This is a Substack newsletter.
RESPECT DUE, SELIM BULUT
For the last five years, I’ve been lucky enough to work with someone I consider to be one of the best editors operating within modern music journalism, Selim Bulut. I started writing for Selim in 2014 at Dummy Mag (UK), where he guided me through crafting features on the remarkable indigenous Bolivian singer-songwriter Luzmila Carpio and the equally talented New Zealand sound explorer Fis.
When Selim left Dummy, I followed him to Dazed & Confused (UK), where he commissioned me to write some of the most important music feature stories of my life and put me in charge of a quarterly new music column. This week, Selim took redundancy at Dazed. I hope I’ll be able to continue to work with him in some capacity in the future, because his skill as an editor is invaluable. He has this way of helping you really tease out and develop a story without losing sight of clarity of communication or brevity; and I appreciated it a lot.
Here’s a list of some of the feature stories I created on Selim’s watch.
The strange story of Mort Garson’s magical album Plantasia: Garson’s warm electronic music was designed to help plants grow – we trace its journey from the legendary Mother Earth Plant Boutique in 1976 to the cult classic it is today (click here)
Experimental video game soundtracks from Japan’s 8-bit era: We speak to the composers and curators of Diggin’ in the Carts, a compilation surveying the hyper-inventive soundtracks made on early sound chips (click here)
The agony and ecstasy of Alice Coltrane: After her husband’s death, the legendary jazz artist recorded some jaw-droppingly beautiful devotional music – almost lost to time, these albums are now seeing the light of day again (click here)
How YouTube autoplay gave a lost Japanese classic new life: Midori Takada’s Through The Looking Glass almost vanished when released in 1983, but thanks to a quirk of the video streaming platform, it’s been hailed as an ambient masterpiece (click here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Cave Circles, Ships (Secret Angels)
Sample song: ‘Simply Basic’
Every now and then, you hear an album which just bursting with life, and Ships - the latest album by Wellington, New Zealand-based composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Cave Circles bka Riki Gooch - is one of those albums. Ostensibly, I’d say Ships is a jazz record, but it’s more like jazz fusion, by which I mean, a rich intermingling and amalgamation of psychedelic soul, stripped-down funk, post-disco; and jazz. As constructed from the perspective of a beatmaker who is also a bandleader, and knows his Eddie Gale. Maybe it’s a bit like if David Axelrod made a Wajeed record, maybe not. Ships is full of life, but it’s also full of humour, fun, and some very emotional moments. R.I.P Aaron Tokona, never forget! (Purchase)
Sheila Majid, Dimensi Baru (Titra)
Sample song: ‘Pengemis Muda’
Originally released in 1985, Dimensi Baru is the debut album from Malaysian pop singer Sheila Majid, often dubbed Malaysia’s Queen of Jazz. Dimensi Baru emerged during the years when the techno-pop and city pop sounds were ruling Japan, and as with some of the better Cantopop and Korean pop of the era, Sheila’s efforts stand up against the greats. Strutting, sun-kissed grooves, opulent synthesiser work, and fancy-free, highly expressive vocals. All in all, 43 minutes of dreamy magic. (Purchase here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
No books this week, but I did come across a rather interesting article.
Meaghan Garvey, What Happens When TikTok Looks To The Avant-Garde For A Challenge? (NPR)
“I naturally assumed I was being trolled upon catching word last week of a "Caretaker challenge" that was making the rounds, the kind of joke you can picture an aging Discogs nerd tweeting out for a dozen likes. And yet, in recent weeks, Everywhere at the end of time has indeed been gathering steam on the app, as what appears to be an endurance exercise in terror, with users recording increasingly harrowed reactions to their six-plus-hour listening marathons. "Everybody think they gangster until u reach stage 4," reads the caption on one video, hashtagged #thecaretaker, over a wide-eyed girl's laptop-lit face.”
Okay, so long story short, in 1999, the English electronic musician Leyland James Kirby started recording and releasing a series of albums as The Caretaker. The central premise of the project was the exploration of memory, it’s gradual deterioration, nostalgia, and melancholia through a series of elaborate, sample-heavy compositions that sound like lost transmissions from the ballroom jazz era. Between 2016 to 2019, Leyland concluded The Caretaker project with Everywhere at the end of time, a six stage (six and a half hour long) release that depicts a drawn-out descent into dementia.
This year, Tiktok users got hold of Everywhere at the end of time and started documenting their reactions to the music in videos on the app. And the internet being the internet, well, you can guess where this went - the Tiktiok challenge was born. Meaghan Garvey went long, reflective and philosophical on it for NPR. It’s a good read. (Click here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:
Sasie Sealy, Lucky Grandma (Parris Pictures/Treehead Films)
After the death of his husband, an eighty-year-old chain-smoking grandma hops on a bus from New York’s Chinatown to the casino. A fortune teller has informed her that it’s her lucky day, and grandma, well, decides to risk it all. From there, things rapidly unravel into a storyline which sits somewhere between comedy, kung fu action movie and drama, all with a dose of social commentary added in. I laughed. I winced. I didn’t quite cry, but I considered it, and I definitely laughed some more. Tsai Chin (who you might know as Auntie Lindo in The Joy Luck Club) plays the lead role with the flair a grizzled oxygenarian deserves, and the worlds she lives within are populated by a plethora of equally delightful and intriguing characters. I saw this one at Penthouse Cinemas in Wellington. (click here)
WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:
After putting together a mix of Swingbeat and Street Soul songs from Aotearoa New Zealand last week, I decided to double down and record more of a generalist Street Soul mix. It features a range of songs from the UK, Brazil, Australia and Aotearoa, and you can listen to it on my Mixcloud page (click here)
WHAT I’VE GOT COMING UP:
Tonight, I’m playing a two hour DJ set at Verona on Karangahape Road in Auckland. It will also be broadcast live through Kfm 106.9 FM Radio Auckland New Zealand Aotearoa.
ARCHIVAL:
In 2010, I interviewed American electronic music producer/DJ Marcos Ortega aka Lorn for the now defunct Rip It Up Magazine in New Zealand. Our conversation was triggered by the release his debut album Nothing Else through Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder record label.
