Brooklyn Renaissance

First Listen I really enjoy the new Beyoncé album. No work is perfect and neither is Renaissance but it’s beautifully crafted, infinitely danceable, and effortlessly fun. But until this week I’ve been enjoying it primarily solo, putting it in my headphones while I walk to the office or clean my room. The one exception has… Continue reading Brooklyn Renaissance

Opportunities

First GlanceLast month I got the opportunity to participate in a music residency at the Gaudeamus festival in Utrecht. I want to spend this column unpacking that sentence, particularly the words opportunity and residency. But first, the bare-bones details about what this opportunity entailed: I was given €800 to make a piece of music with… Continue reading Opportunities

DeEp StAtE

This piece discusses antisemitic remarks and acts of violent extremism. I’ll stylize any hate speech in sPoNgEbOb MeMe StYlE to try to lessen its impact but it’s still in there. First LookThis week Adidas, following Balenciaga and JP Morgan, dropped its partnership with Kanye West after West published a series antisemitic tweets. Reading some of… Continue reading DeEp StAtE

Jenny Inventory

IntroFor better or worse, I consume a lot of YouTube content. The past months I’ve strayed towards longer-form video essays, ranging from 45 minutes to almost three hours. I’m not exactly comfortable with this kind or volume of media consumption, but I do it anyway. Jenny Nicholson is a regular in my watch-habits, a YouTuber… Continue reading Jenny Inventory

The Climate Catastrophe Waiting Room

I.This weekend I had the opportunity to go see the Crash Ensemble, Ireland’s premiere new-music ensemble, perform the climate catastrophe inspired piece Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, composed by Liza Lim. The piece contains some incredibly evocative musical tableaus: In the first movement, Anthropogenic Debris, the ensemble spins around a series of buzzing cicada-like instruments… Continue reading The Climate Catastrophe Waiting Room

Ecological Sci-Fi

I’ve been audiobooking my way through Dune (spoilers by the way) and I’m struck by the importance of ecology to its plot. I already knew about Frank Herbert’s history before starting the book, that his research into restoration attempts of the Oregon Dunes inspired the novel. But Dune goes far beyond the ecological roots I… Continue reading Ecological Sci-Fi

Attacking the State

Let’s play compare and contrast. Before we do, I’m talking this week about all sorts of horrible things: police violence, xenophobia, racism, etc. so if you’re not feeling up for that feel free to sit this one out. Last week there was a lot of “urging” going on in the United States. Biden “urged nonviolence”… Continue reading Attacking the State

Domestic Energy

I was at a social science history conference last week in Gothenburg, where one of the talks was about women as mediators of energy transitions. For example: from gas heat to electric refrigeration or from telephone switchboard operators to rotary dials. The importance of this history, as explained by panelist Ruth Sandwell, is that stories… Continue reading Domestic Energy