Letter #30

Good morning / afternoon / evening everyone,

I hope that you’re all well, and that you’re starting the year fresh and excited for what’s ahead. I’m not sure what’s happened over the last week, but we’ve had more than 150 new people join us! Thank you to those that have been spreading the Love Will Save the Day gospel, and big welcome to our new crew ❤️ .

For those that are new, a quick explanation. This letter contains a mixtape (link in CAPS below), a short TL:DR section that contains some cultural highlights, and then a set of rambling notes below that that explain what’s been interesting this last week, and why some of the songs on the mixtape were chosen. 

HERE’S THIS WEEK’S MIXTAPE!

The playlist follows a flow (calm, circus, and then re-entry – more on it here), so it sounds best if you listen to it in order 😊 .

TL:DR section…

Interesting stuff to click: buy Downbeat: The Great Jazz Interviews; go toRhythm and Reaction exhibition in London; watch Collocuter mini-documentary on Champagne Funk x Balamii video series; and read NY Times on the role of DJ as shaman. 

Enjoy!

– ✏️ –

The last two letters have been festive specials, and the letter prior to that was a guest letter, so this week I’ve had four weeks of music and interesting content that I’ve saved to sift through. This means that the mixtape is highly-concentrated (four weeks into one). However, it’s been a busy week starting my new job, so the rambling notes are more like a cruise ship buffet – there’s something for everyone, but it’s very much a help yourself kind of affair 😃 .

There are three big influences on this week’s mixtape. All three relate to jazz (which is probably unsurprising for most of you). The first is I’ve been reading Downbeat: The Great Jazz Interviews, which is a brilliant collection of interviews with some of the great jazz leaders and players over the last half century. The second is the MF Doom RBMA lecture from Madrid a few years ago – the way he talks about production, sampling, and music is really interesting. Worth a watch. (Also, as a side note, spot the blatant Daft Punk-sampled track in this week’s tape.) The third influence has undoubtedly been learning to use Ableton over the Christmas break. As I mentioned in a previous letter, I’ve used production tools before, and I’ve played around with making music for the best part of 15 years, but I’d forgotten how playing around with music can help you to hear other peoples music differently. Some of the songs chosen this week were chosen because I heard something different in them from what I’ve heard before. I’ll leave you to guess which ones!

A new study has found that if you get goosebumps when listening to music, then you might feel emotion differently to other people. A friend of mine (hi Rachel!) sent me the link a few weeks ago and I’ve only just started properly thinking about it. I was more surprised that some people don’t get goosebumps listening to music…

The Quietus has a lovely introductory biography to Alice Coltrane (my favourite of the two), which includes ten songs that make for good entry points into her mystical world.

As per my long ramble on culture a few letters ago, culture is something that I believe we should all support and invest in. Turns out the Norwegian government is doing that exceptionally well.

The NY Times has an excellent short read on the importance of proper DJs, and the transcendental moments that they can create for dancers. I’ve spoken about this at length before, so I won’t bore you, but have a read!

Clash has a genuinely good guide on some of the less obvious (Yam and Eldica aside) London record shops. Some good spots off the beaten track (for me, at least!).

Finally, Theo Parrish has started a new radio station called W.O.K.E., which is excellent. A good addition to your listening habits 😃 . As always, if you’ve read to here, thanks for indulging me ♥️.