Wow, the month of February has absolutely flown by, with my writing and music projects falling woefully behind. Before the month ends, I at least wanted to get out a quick note of what I've been enjoying the last few weeks.
In the middle of the month O and I hopped down to Mexico City for a whirlwind of walking, drinking, and exploring the city. There's such a high density of wonderful food and sights that it makes it hard to pick any one thing to recommend. A few immediate highlights jump to mind: The National Art Museum, Tierra Seca Mezcaleria, and Lucha Libre in Arena México.
If there's only one thing you check out from this list, make it James Kaplan's fantastic book: 3 Shades of Blue. It's an intertwined biography of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans, three of the all time jazz greats. Kaplan masterfully ties in their lives and work within the greater arc of jazz history, while also giving due mention to many of the other immensely talented musicians who contributed along the way. Throw on a record and dive in, you'll find it hard to put down.
Anu is back with another deeply thoughtful piece, this time on the value of aesthetics, specifically as a lever for cultural movement. Outside of the number of interesting viewpoints, the structure and flow of the piece is a masterclass in itself. As someone continually tweaking and adapting the ways I format my essays, I learned a lot by scrolling through and getting a feel for all of the layout decisions she made.
Metalabel continues to lead the way in encouraging creators to rethink their relationship with releasing work online. Their ideas around distribution, community, and monetization has given me a ton to chew on for projects I'm in the middle of. Their latest piece dives into the economics of self-publishing, with details on the costs and process from initial ideation to second printing. I'd love to see more people I know releasing work I can collect and hold on to, so give it a read and let it spark some ideas for your next project!
Now on to some music. It's always a pleasure watching Nils Frahm perform live, you almost get the sense you are there with him while he is composing and putting the piece together for the first time. He brings this vibrant intensity to everything he plays, and the rich harmonic color he coaxes from the piano is continually inspiring. This short performance for Brodie Sessions was shot on 16mm film for a little extra magic. I also really enjoyed this live performance of GoGo Penguin's (I don't love their name but trust me here) recent EP From the North. This kind of artistry, full of commitment and collaboration, is only going to increase in value. So while the whole world is going digital, maybe it's the perfect time to pick up a new instrument!
Kyle Chayka's piece, The new rules of media gives 20 brief framings for our changing media landscape, oriented towards someone who is interested in succeeding/standing out/building an audience online.
I'll wrap things up with a quote that's been bouncing around in my head. I couldn't verify the attribution so I'll link the original piece I found it in.
"It is hard to become attached to an object which shows no evidence that the maker cared what he was making." ~ George NelsonIf they're new to you, For Scale is a wildly original substack, with equal parts provocation and education. I would loosely describe their writing as being on interior design, the aesthetics of furniture and lived objects, and general cultural critique. Every email I get from them is like an extra shot of espresso in the morning, it's hard to say no to.