Midweek Beats + Pieces Vol.9

I got my camera back, new photos, a new mix, etc

At 11:59 PM last night, after the discovery of one case of delta variant community transmission in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) earlier in the day, the entirety of Aotearoa New Zealand was placed into a Alert Level 4 COVID-19 lockdown. At this stage, the lockdown will provisionally last for seven days in Tāmaki Makaurau and three days around the rest of the country. As of this morning, four new cases of community transmission have been discovered. And now, we wait.

This week’s photographs were shot on ISO 400 B+W 35mm film with a Nikon F60 camera (which I managed to lose and recover). After recovery, the roll of film was developed and scanned in Tāmaki Makaurau by The Black And White Box. Shout-out to the plug, Dylan Biscuit.

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING:

I recorded a mix of rhythmic/ambient relaxational jams for Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s Mouthfull Radio, an internet radio station and creative collective who broadcast from the COMMONSPACE community facility. You can listen to the archive on Mixcloud here.

I wrote a few words about The Mocko Jumbie EP, a compilation of 80s calypso, soca and Caribbean disco music from the Virgin Islands artist and dancer Hugo Moolenaar for Test Pressing. You can read them here.

WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:

Tonkyn Pearson, The Kaisenberg Variation (Self-Released)

Longtime ambient/experimental music collaborators Shanan Holm (Octif) + Michael Upton (Jet Jaguar) drop their former duo alias Montano in favor of a new moniker, Tonkyn Pearson, two names picked from their respective family trees. To announce this, they’ve released a new EP titled The Kaisenberg Variation, best thought of as a three-part story. They’re sprawling longform compositional pieces which reflect the duos gradual drift away from making music about place towards work which speaks more to their personal experiences of sound.

Jana Rush, Painful Enlightenment (Planet Mu)

This is the real deal. Chicago producer and DJ Jana Rush returns with a full album of songs that use musical concepts like juke, footwork and jazz as jumping off points to explore a darker streak of experimental electronica, or, as she puts it, “An opportunity to be myself without judgment!” From the opening sax solo and bass hits of ‘Moaning’, Painful Enlightenment is an explosive and invigorating listen. These songs hit me in the head, heart and hips. It’s just one of those records.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:

Resident Advisor: Fighting against new variants: How venues around the world are adapting to surging Covid outbreaks, by Nyshka Chandran

"Without government backing, it becomes very difficult to enforce the Covid passport rule at the door," said James Abbott-Donnelly, who co-runs Leeds event space Sheaf Street. He's also behind a new 10,000 square-foot club called Testbed that's set to open in September. Unlike major UK establishments such as fabric and Printworks, Sheaf Street currently doesn't require a negative test result. "Without an industry standard in place, venues are kind of pitted against each other," said Abbott-Donnelly. "Not only are they already vying for a limited number of clubbers, their door policy now adds another level of competition. It's a disproportionate pressure put on our industry."

Until authorities enforce new laws in response to rising coronavirus cases, divergent door policies are squeezing an already battered industry. Nyshka Chandran for Resident Advisor.

Pitchfork: Carmen Q. Rothwell, Don't Get Comfy / Nowhere reviewed by Shy Thompson

There’s a lyrical simplicity that matches the album's musical simplicity, but that isn’t to say that it lacks depth. Each track is built around a plainspoken refrain, like a nagging feeling you can’t get out of your head. Don't Get Comfy / Nowhere speaks to the intensity of strong emotion, which requires neither florid language nor flamboyant displays of virtuosity to be universally understood.

On her solo debut, the double bassist largely lets her instrument play a supporting role for her distinctive soprano vocals, working through deep feelings via quietly adventurous songwriting. Shy Thompson breaks it all down here.

WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:

Fallen (1998), directed by Gregory Hoblit (Turner Pictures)

I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but over my lifetime, I’ve found it fascinating how memories can become slowly distorted within the minds eye. One of the first times I really thought about this properly as an adult was when I went back and watched the music video for ‘Chains’ by the New Zealand hip-hop artist DLT and Che Fu for the first time in about a decade. On viewing, I realised that the image in my head bore almost no relationship to the actual clip.

I had an experience which I’d place on the same continuum recently, when after 23 years, I decided to rewatch American director Gregory Hoblit’s 1998 supernatural thriller Fallen. The lead, Denzel Washington, plays a young Philadelphia police detective tasked with investigating occult murders committed by an apparent copycat killer. As it turns out through, these murders are far more occult than they seem. When I first watched Fallen as a teenager, I found in genuinely haunting, this time around, not so much. Instead, I got more of a kick out of the late 90s art direction, wardrobe and filming techniques. Recast in the light of the world we live in now, Fallen’s horrors just weren’t that horrifying. Figure that one out?

BONUS:

Todd L. Burns from Music Journalism Insider and Laurent Fintoni have created an extensive and informative Google Doc of Archives & Historical Resources for Music Journalists, or just anyone really interested in music history. You can check it out here.

New York’s DJ Voices, recently described as one of the city’s most thoughtful DJs, has recorded a new mix for London’s Holding Hands Records’ ongoing mix series. You can listen to it here.

Elijah from Butterz is posting lots of ideas over on his Instagram page. You can have a look at them here.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new music video for ‘That Life’ has a custom made Muppet in it. It also has a hook that just won’t stop. Watch/listen here.

FIN.