Bedheads of Quarantine
July 2020
(this edition contains 1. anti-racism resources 2. three reviews of albums I’ve been digging lately 3. a new mix I made for Internet Public Radio 4. A survey of alternative music in Lexington, KY, and of course, a collection of bedhead photos I’ve taken during quarantine)
Hi friends,
During an email exchange (subject line: quarantine jazz downward spiral), a friend of mine exclaimed “the world is capsizing!” This remark has really stuck with me as we continue to “…watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States.” Obviously, this tepid response from neoliberal Canadian beacon, Justin Trudeau, doesn’t really encapsulate the Titanic problems we are facing right now.
We may yearn for things to return to “normal” while in quarantine, but we have been given time and an opportunity to enact lasting change. In the midst of this pandemic, we have been shown how truly disposable marginalized lives are to the corrupt, unjust, and violent institutions of government and police. I’ve never reflected on my whiteness, my insecurities, my neoliberal faults, or learned more about the breadth of institutionalized racism and injustice in this county than I have in the last two months. However, it has been really encouraging to see so many friends at protests, to hear of so much action, and to have discussions not only with each other, but with those outside of our sociopolitical echo chamber. I have a few resources to share below:
I’ve made several hundred of these pre-stamped Black Lives Matter postcards. I’ll happily drop some off if you live in the dtla/eastside area.
The ANTIRACIST ALLYSHIP STARTER PACK is filled with reading, listening, and viewing titles all dealing with racial injustice, police brutality, and race studies. Many materials can be downloaded as PDFs and links are provided to purchase or view.
Here is a list of nationwide Black Lives Matter petitions that need your signature
Link Tree from BLM Los Angeles
Here is a petition that demands Mayor Eric Garcetti implement the People’s Budget
L.A 92 is a moving and provocative documentary about the 1992 L.A riots and the grim reality of racial injustice and police violence. It’s available in full here on YouTube.
Let me be very clear. I am 100% into defunding the police. Before the George Floyd protests, I felt very uncomfortable saying or thinking this, but it really shouldn’t take much to change your mind on this. If you need some convincing, or don’t really know what “defunding the police” means, check this video out for starters, and read this book. I have a PDF of it and I’ll send it to you. Do you know what the origins of policing are? I didn’t.
P.S- Rapper and Poet, Noname also has a fantastic book club. It’s an awesome resource for a wide range of books dedicated to uplifting POC voices. A relevant and helpful dig. If books aren’t your thing, at least check out her music!
Three recent heavy rotation albums reviewed in the style of college radio
Susan Alcorn (USA)- The Heart Sutra (arranged by Janel Leppin)
Ideologic Organ, 2020
Genre: experimental chamber music, experimental song
Moods: reverent, rediscovered, pilgrimatic, contemplative, contented
RIYL: Tin Hat Trio, Powerdove, Seval, Grouper, Julia Holter
Susan Alcorn (Baltimore, MD) is an adept, mesmerizing improviser on the pedal steel guitar, dragging you through a dark, bustling forests of growls, glissandi, cacophonous assaults, and glistening melodies. In The Heart Sutra, cellist Janel Leppin has taken a handful of Alcorn’s detailed, beautiful solo songs and arranged them to best represent the expressive and timbral possibilities of the pedal steel guitar. Alcorn is not actually playing on this record, but Leppin’s arrangements of her music turn an all-star lineup (Janel Leppin (cello), Eyvind Kang (viola), Jessika Kenney (voice), Anthony Pirog (guitar), Skúli Sverrisson (bass), and Doug Wieselman (clarinets)) into a kind of hyper-pedal steel guitar. This meeting of great musical minds recorded this music during Alcorn’s residency at Issue Project Room in May of 2012. The ensemble exceeds in thick harmony and rich timbre thanks to its well curated acoustic makeup. While I am a sucker for dense, mid to low range harmonies, my real love for this album is in countless moments of surprising detail, precious notes, and tasteful seconds. For example; the intriguing crooked ostinato reappearing throughout “broken obelisk” and the stochastic pitter patter that follows a levitating guitar moment at the song’s close; a whole story fit inside a glissando during “gilmore blue”; that crispy, deep, sonorous pizzicato cello tone in “Suite for Ahl” and the moment voice and clarinet ascend into powerful dissonance followed by great interplay between voice and viola. Later in this song, there is a great interjection of Texan magic on guitar which precedes a noisy and energetic climax to the song, speaking to the alertness and dexterity of these musicians. Each song pushes and pulls with small personal interpretations and deviances that make the flavor of each song so bejeweled and complex (a benefit of an ensemble of seasoned improvisers). I suggest listening in large interrupted chunks or as a whole, and let it pull you down into somewhere contemplative, hidden, and ready.
Favorite Tracks: 2,3,5,9
Lorraine James (England)- For you and I
Hyperdub, 2019
Genre: glitch, post-jungle, experimental dance music, electronic
Moods: bustling, hard, intimate, neon, introverted, gray skies, burgeoning
RIYL: Jlin, Mark Fell, NHK yx Koyxen, SBTRKT, Laurel Halo, Mykki Blanco
Lorraine James (London, ENG) grew up in the Alma Estate housing project in Enfield, a borough in north London. A picture of the four original towers and the three that remain is a perfect album cover for James’ latest album which is a deeply personal offering; reflecting on her upbringing in these towers, navigating and celebrating queerness, on the complexity of loving/living in London, and a love letter, punctuated and metered with fluctuating garage and jungle influenced rhythms developed by years of introverted improvisations, keen observations, and a deep love of music- from math rock, to calypso, to Earth Wind and Fire. James’ treatment of rhythm is one of my favorite parts of this album, take “My Future” or “Sick 9" for example, where there is definitely a tempo grid, but the scattering, piercing drum programming stretches and warps your perception, tastefully playing with downbeat placements and distorting syncopation as if two songs of almost the same tempo were being played on two warped records simultaneously. Her synth material is as melodic as it is affective and abstract, jumping off from where deep house, drum n bass, and garage left off. I think James says so much with little to no words, using abstraction to paint with new colors- ones that only she possesses, and only she knows how to use. This album is a thrilling, cerebral, and embracing listen. I suggest listening on a long city walk by yourself at night.
Favorite tracks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11!
Ivan Lins (Brazil)- Daquilo que eu sei
Universal Music, 1981
Genre: MPB (Música popular brasileira), yacht-jazz, beach volleyball-jazz
Moods: Brazilian, suave, like driving a 1995 Cadillac Deville in Miami, tropical, just plain happy
RIYL: Marcos Valle, Al Jarreau, Elis Regina, Ed Motta, Hiroshi Sato, Haruomi Hosono
Brazilian musician Ivan Lins, grew up in Rio de Janeiro, lived in Boston for a few years with his family, returned to Brazil to study chemical engineering, and then considered a career in professional beach volleyball before dedicating his considerable talents to a career in music. Lins is a central figure in the explosive, vibrant, and vast catalogue of Brazilian musicians making incredible MPB in the 70s-90s. Much of this music took heavy influence from not only Brazilian styles like Bossa Nova, Tropicália, and Samba, but also steeped itself in the rich harmonies, synthesized power, and orchestration of American Disco, RnB, and Pop. On Daquilo Que Eu Sei (~“of what I know”) Lins delivers an understated collection of RnB bangers, funk rubbed bumps, and tropical ballads for all your chrome-plated, palm speckled, humid fantasies. My Portuguese is not up to par to delve into lyrical content, but generally these are pensive, super emo, grandiose love songs. On “Amor” Lins teams up with his then wife, actress Lucinha Lins for a sickeningly sweet power-ballad, peppered with enough wind chimes, Jaco-style bass, and clavichord to make the deadest of hearts flutter just a little. Lins is a skilled jazz keyboardist and takes many opportunities across the album to flex on us with high-1980s energy solos soaring over jazzy choruses, sunny percussion, funky horn lines, and touches of Brazilian folk uttered by instruments like cavaquinho, accordion, and samba percussion. Such lush, jazzy orchestration can be accredited to Lins’ writing partner, Vitor Martins who wrote some of Lins’ most famous and award winning hits throughout his career. In fact, you’ve probably heard some of Martins and Lins’ music before and not even known it. Their hit “Lembrança” (on this record), which was later translated into English lyrics by Paul Williams as “Love Dance”, has been recorded more than most songs in history by countless artists including George Benson, Sarah Vaughn, Barbara Streisand, Dianne Schuur. Check out this stunning cover by Nancy Wilson. Blast this album while driving, sitting on a beach, whenever you need a pick-me-up, or when you wanna think about your crush.
Favorite tracks: everything…but especially 4,5 (serious Kenny G vibes),6,8,9,10
Latest Mixxx
My most recent mix for Internet Public Radio. Includes music from Concepción Huerta, Stine Janvin, Susso, Oren Ambarchi, Kyoka, and more. Listen here
Let me get on my soapbox about alternative music in Lexington, KY
When I say “Lexington, KY”, what do you think? KFC? Horses? Hillbillies? Bourbon? Tobacco? What if I told you Lexington, KY is a hotbed of DIY, experimental, and alternative music? I guess I would be surprised too, except that I’m from there and to me Lexington is both motherland and springboard, radiating fond memories and constant inspiration. The longer I’ve lived away, the more I appreciate, miss, and take pride in what was able to happen in this weird place. I guess when you’re a not a Kentuckian, it may take some convincing and proof to shed the misconception that these places are cultural and artistic wastelands.
Lexington is surrounded by vast, green, rolling horse-nibbled hills to the North, South, and West, and the beginnings of the Appalachians on the East. It’s a major college town; nexus of the massive cultish following of University of Kentucky basketball, hella churchy, and very centered around equine science, horse racing, coal, and tobacco. It is a very sprawling and suburban city defined by the ubiquitous New Circle Road, or “Circle 4” which circumferences the more urban center of the city.
This cultural hegemony leads to a small but fiery and super active underground culture; one that is messy, diverse, deeply experimental, queer, and ambitious. I look back fondly on the time I lived in Lexington, and feel immensely thankful for the people I met and experiences this weird place offered me. I got to experience so much amazing music and so many people continue to do and bring crazy shit to Lexington. Whether you showed up to Al’s Bar or the Green Lantern on any random weeknight, tuned into WRFL Radio Free Lexington, attended any Jazz Outside the Spotlight or 193 Sound show, or attended Boomslang in any of its years of existence, you were sure to witness some musical witchcraft, sonic bludgeoning, or rare happening. I’d like to introduce you to just a few entities from Lexington that defined my musical experience there and marvelously display the range of weirdness, talent, and musical adventure that this small, strange southern city offers.
(Note: I haven’t lived in Lexington in 4 years, so obviously the city and its music has changed, and this survey reflects what I experienced living there, and what I still observe [longingly/lovingly] from afar)
Meet the royal family of southern noise rock, Hair Police. The first time I saw Hair Police, there was blood, property damage, and tinnitus. While the longstanding Lexingtonian band is capable of obliterating and aggressive noise spasms, they are also purveyors of long-form, brooding, basement-dwelling drones and spells. Alien, uneasy, and seething. Hair Police is the figurehead of a strong noise scene that took off in Lexington in the early 00s. Their frontman, Mike Connelly, was a member of Wolf Eyes, and other members have been central movers and shakers in Lexington’s music scene and gone on to play with Eyes and Arms of Smoke, Von Hemmling, ATTEMPT, and more. The band has extensively toured with Wolf Eyes, Prurient, Kites, and Sonic Youth.
If you wanna dig deeper in this area, check out Wretched Worst, Warmer Milks, Ma Turner, Teal Grapefruit, Cadaver in Drag, or Everyone Lives Everyone Wins.
Ellie Herring has been a central player in the tiny but devoted and supportive EDM scene, providing a steady export of slick, neon, and ice cold electronic music. Herring graces us with a deftly produced brand of deep house that bumps effortlessly, driven with a smooth locomotion of colorful, sunny, swelling synths and punching bass. If you wanna dig deeper, check out Jamples, BRALETTE, or anything on the Acoustic Division Label
Desperate Spirits is a Lexington-based label with a sprawling, joyful, and bizarre creative output. The label puts out releases by local talent like the effervescent 10-piece art-rock band, Big Fresh; the vivacious, no-wave, club-kween likeness of Jeanne Vomit-Terror; the jazzy, MPB-tinged, falsetto centric power ballads of ATTEMPT; and cool, polyrhythmic, soulful trio, Italian Beaches. Everyone involved or in orbit of this label makes amazing music, media, and happenings. Check out their public access television show Dream Wishes or Jeanne Vomit-Terror’s amazing quarantine livecast series. If you want more in this realm, check out Idiot Glee, Pezhed, Matt Duncan, or Bear Medicine
You cannot talk about alternative music in Lexington without talking about WRFL Radio Free Lexington 88.1 FM. The station was founded by a few University of Kentucky students in 1988 as a counter to the bland, homogeneous monopoly that commercial radio had in the region. Since then, WRFL has become a foundational, non-profit, non-commercial pillar in Lexington’s independent and experimental music scene, providing a wide swath of captivating sounds 24/7, all by live, volunteer, on-air DJs. WRFL has cultivated generations of profound southern weirdos, trained hundreds of college students and community members as DJs and aficionados of alternative culture, been the financial backbone for impressive and quality concert programming in the city, and is an ardent supporter of the flourishing local music community. Some of my favorite programs that I would listen to included The Percy Trout Hour, a longstanding program featuring loungy, exotica, kitschy numbers, broken by absurdist commercial breaks of old movie trailers. Tommy Mizla’s Old School Hip-Hop Show; two hours of passionately researched, well mixed, deftly hosted “edutainment”. The Catacombs; the radio broadcast equivalent of a rusty bathtub filled with eels being dragged through a nuclear fallout swamp. Veena Bensal’s Music of India which (for 22 years!) aired a weekly two hour ear meal of Bollywood, psychedelia, and Indian classical gems from the 60s-the present.
RFL united the weirdos, the geeks, the queers, the outcasts, and the nerds. It was like a family for many, myself included. I have so many fond memories DJing graveyard shifts from 3-6am, or learning invaluable skills as a radio DJ and as their concert director, or of the friends and mentors I gained who are still a part of my life. Ultimately, WRFL made me proud to be in Kentucky doing cool things. It invigorated my love for making and sharing music and culture, and was undoubtably my most valuable college experience. If you’re more curious about WRFL, check out their website and tune in.
One of the more well known artistic (L)exports has to be Robert Beatty. His idiosyncratic, otherworldly, and freakishly psychedelic illustrations are seen on your favorite records (Tame Impala, Neon Indian, Ariel Pink, Bedouine, and Ke$ha, to name a few), in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Wired, and more (peep that Rashad Becker and Boomslang poster right above^^^). As a musician, he has operated under the Three Legged Race alias, played as a member of Hair Police, in early renditions of Burning Star Core, and collaborated with animator Takeshi Murata, amongst others. As a video artist he has made numerous captivating works for artists like Lonnie Holley and Ma Turner. Beatty is responsible for the 193 Sound series, which highlights experimental music in the American south, hosted at a small local gallery called Institute 193. For a great deep dive, check out the supremely odd Lexington collective, Resonant Hole, which has produced a number of puzzling videos, mixes, and birthed projects like Ed Sunspot and Jeanne Vomit-Terror.
When I was a senior in high school, I remember stumbling onto the frequencies of WRFL late one Saturday night. The show was Revolutionary Radio hosted by Los Villanueva, one of a handful of RFL’s excellently produced hip-hop shows. I listed to Los’ show regularly before starting training as a DJ and shadowed him. Through Revolutionary Radio, Tommy Mizla’s Old School Hip Hop show, and Miss Cass’ House, New Orleans Bounce, and Hip Hop show, I got my first education into hip hop and became aware of a thriving hip-hop scene happening in the Bluegrass. One of the mainstays of hip-hop in Lexington is the rap troop CunninLynguists, comprised of Deacon the Villain, Kno, and Natti. Founded in 2001, the group quickly gained critical acclaim for their pristine production and lyrical finesse; performing, collaborating with, and touring alongside a wide range of artists including Cee-Lo Green, Raekwon, Anna Wise, Nappy Roots, Killer Mike, Pharrell Williams, and The Strokes.
The Album was Lexington’s hip-hop sanctuary, situated in the basement of a building on South Limestone that also housed a bead store, a Korean Restaurant, and Sqecial Media, Lexington’s staple bohemian gift, curio, and occult shop. You could dig for hours through crates of well curated hip-hop, RnB, Funk, and Soul, catch an open mic, or buy a keffiyeh from the ever-kind owner, Sami Ibrahim, the Chicago-born, Kuwait-raised hip-hop aficionado. Whether it was Sami, Los, Cass, Tommy, or Hendrick (Sheisty Khrist), all these folks were present in all different kinds of musical and community circles, several of them were educators in Public Schools, they were eager and generous with their love of music, and they all loved making it happen in Lexington. If you wanna dig deeper here, check out Los’ project LoFidel, Nemo Achida, Tommy Mizla’s Pretty Goslings, Sheisty Khrist, or Devine Carama.
I could keep going on about Lexington music and delve into so many other scenes and bands I didn’t even mention, but I’ve worked on this for way too long and I need to get this out…
If you’re intrigued by Lexington, consider digging deeper with The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies (trailer nsfw), a fascinating 2013 film documenting Lexington’s surprisingly long, queer, gender-bending history. Check out River Girls, a label that released great music from Lexington and Los Angeles (the owner now runs a nationally acclaimed bar in downtown Lexington). Or check out the Kentucky Fried Zine Fest (KFZ), a Lexington festival of independent publishing, zines, comix, and writing from Kentucky and southern writers.
Congratulations, you made it all the way to the end! I really enjoyed making this edition and would appreciate any constructive feedback. Besides writing, I’ve been working hard on some new electronic music during quarantine. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you in the coming months but for now I’m still fixing, tweaking, and mixing. I love y’all, miss y’all and miss going to shows, and I hope that you’re staying healthy, happy, and finding ways to protest.
Much love, peace, and absurdity,
Cody
P.S- delete your social media, defund the police, go on more walks, buy coffee from this company
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