Can I get paid???
A donation link for Palestinian refugees, a tote bag I want, Um, Jennifer? and more.
A quick note: I’m running a 5K at the end of May and helping fundraise for the UNRWA USA in an effort to afford Palestinian refugees (mostly children) mental health services. The money raised goes directly to mental health services and counselors — also refugees, by the way — providing those unable to leave the Gaza Strip with psychosocial aid. So please, if you can, donate some funds, pass the fundraising link around (please!) and help out.
How Bout I ADSUM New Bags To My Wardrobe
I found Brooklyn-based clothing brand Adsum many years ago, when I first started my “journey” into style and decided that spending money on quality garments is a genuinely good idea. I quickly learned that, like Alex Crane and Buck Mason, it is not made for me. Their pieces look great — I particularly love their pea soup polo from this season. But they don’t look great on my body. For me, wearing their clothing is like wrapping a shower cap over a folding chair: no drape, no room, the shoulders are simply not built for it.
Tote bags have been my thing as of late, and I came across this one from Adsum while surfing the net that I’m really lusting after. I like the slight sag the Zip Tote and Super Zip Tote, and the aluminum hardware is a nice touch to elevate a typically unremarkable bag. It still has some structure — great for laptops, books and beyblades of course — and the ripstop cloth looks deliciously textured over its grid-lined design. Love it, want one in blue. But I can’t justify buying yet another bag at the moment, especially while I’m still loving on the one I copped recently from Battenwear.
Um, Jennifer? - “Old Grimes”
Self-described “trans slut rock” band Um, Jennifer? is catchy, bratty, and drenched in that garage-rock-irony vibe that I haven’t felt steeped in since listening to Wavves, Jay Reatard, and Best Coast in high school — for better and for worse. “So Sick” was my introduction to them (by way of Hearing Things’ Julianne Escobedo Shepherd covering their excellent single, “Fishy”), but I dove deeper, read some interviews, saw their lore dump, and I mostly like it! The duo writes songs about a fake “vengeful” God character named Jennifer (self-written mythology isn’t for me, respect to interviewers who play along with it) but the duo has a real knack for queer dirtbag anthems. I would share a cigarette with Fig Regan and Elijah Scarpati.
Calico - “Can I Get Paid?” ft. Khris P & Taylar Elizza Beth
This one from Calico, Khris P and Taylar Elizza Beth is a fun one, clearly made by a trio who had a party-forward vision for a video and executed it well. This would very much would do some damage while day drinking at the summer function. It kind of reminds me of Fat Tony’s “Hood Party.”
Glokk40Spaz - “Thug's In My House”
Horatio Luna - “Carpenter Diem”
I did some kind of Bandcamp bread crumbing this week and came across Melbourne, Australia based jazz house producer Horatio Luna and haven’t stopped playing him back since. Perfect for the sweatiest spring days I’ve been having while walking around the city lately — the album Support Your Local Jazzy House Producer especially — these grooves feel like they’re backed by to hip-hop more than than house in a way I appreciate. It scratches the old itch FlyLo used to for me, back in the day.
Mel V Chapo - “kunta chapo”
Lol, you know, I’m not even gonna talk about Mel V Chapo yet.
Rest In Peace Polygon, Rest In Peace Giant Bomb. Media Continues To Shrink.
I often hear from my media peers “music journalism is dead” and “games criticism doesn’t exist” and “there’s no future in writing” and other doomer-isms that seem to focus more on media’s defeated laborers than on the obfuscated C-suite who control, fund and eventually pull the plug on these places of employment in the first place. Needless to say, it’s been a tough week.
Tech Support / Asa Tate - “Friends”
Another fun one.
Notes from the phone, notepad, other places:
I recently saw MIKE perform for what seemed like a solid hour and a half of raps, taking a smoke break in between and absolutely tearing down the fucking house. That guy has insane breath control and enunciates all of his raps so impressively well, it makes me feel like shit for even paying to listen to anyone else rap live. Honestly, go see dude if he’s coming into town. I don’t think I’ve seen a better rap performer.
Also caught Devo last night (lol) and they promptly started on time (8PM) and ended their show at 9:30PM. Every person, myself included, was happy about that. Nothing beats an early show.
Considering seeing Gustaf in June.
I read Stereogum’s coverage of Car Seat Headrest’s latest album while listening to it last night and I’m going to need some more time to fully digest it all. I don’t think I can follow the band quite as easily as their last few records here. Rock operas are not my thing.