Back to the homepage.
Back to the index.

Date: June 2nd, 2020.

Time of Writing: 1:41 AM of 6/3/2020.

Weather: Temperate throughout most of the day, some rain in the evening.

Mental and Physical Health State: Still not well enough to go out and protest which frustrates me to no end. I've done my part in other ways but I still want to show solidarity in person.

Day Overview: Woke up fairly late today. This evening was characterized by a big freakout over a small mouse, which was trapped in the kitchen. We managed to get rid of it but sadly this came at the cost of the mouse's life. I personally did a lot of engaging with protest support and current events, as well as a lot of music listening. I need to get back outside and walking tomorrow.

On My Mind: The Blackout-Tuesday initiative seems like it was a total failure, causing a lot more controversy and panic in the discourse than solidarity. I participated but I never hashtagged with the main BLM hashtag, and I continued to post resources to my store feed. Eventually I decided having the post up was flooding space for more relevant protest information and got rid of it. If that was a psyop as some people said, it might have been the most effective I've come out of in the past few years, I gotta say. We have entered the Cool Zone indeed.

Works Consumed:

• Axis: Bold as Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience: For the time this was put out, this is revelatory. For the fact that this was the second of three albums to come out in less than two full years, it's a mark of incredible artistic talent. I have a lot of respect for this album; it achieves a balance between variety and a consistent artistic spirit that modern sophomore albums often leap for and miss spectacularly. I will say that the weaknesses of a scattershot variety based approach are still here, just that they're relatively small. Still, what a talented group of musicians, especially Hendrix. 9/10.
• Cold Water by Medhane: I didn't know what to expect going in. The cover art is deceptively high res, and contains details like the water going over the parental advisory sticker translucently that suggest that it's a more mainstream-minded release than it actually is. Medhane hails from the same lo-fi jumbled school as Earl Sweatshirt and Standing on the Corner - he collaborated on a project with Slauson Malone a few years ago. This stuff is really solid here and comes out sounding brighter and more clear-headed than either of those artists. A very interesting take on what I thought was an idiosyncratic sound. 9/10.
• trees etc. by Naran Ratan: A short electronic release with synth sounds that beat any retro playstation aesthetic vaporwave garbage that's being made nowadays. And it's not even explicitly trying to evoke those memories, either! Such hauntology here. Like wandering in a grove of memory bark trees. It does meander a bit, and sometimes the plot is lost, but when it's good, it's really good. I wish it was longer, to the point that I wish tracks on here had extended versions. 8/10.
• undun by The Roots: A lot of music from the early 2010s had this corny orchestral sound to it, looking back. This album is no different. It's a concept album story told backwards and either ends or begins with a Sufjan Stevens instrumental for some reason. There are some great tracks on here, especially towards the end, but there's something a little old and boomerish about this release. Definitely the sort of band I can see as a house band for a late night show. 7/10.

Works In Progress:

• Bloodborne developed by From Software: Post-Blood Starved Beast.

Works Produced: Nothing much today.

Other Thoughts: Thank you for reading my blog. This post comes very late, which just goes to show how I've been sucked into gaming lately. Escapism is the fix right now, I guess.