Visits to The Forgotten City

Going Long...

Jan 17, 2021

Last night I walked around the blog to burn an excessive amount of Chinese food into my system, and was surprised to see almost no one was out for evening walks or drives for that matter. One couple walked by me with a headlamp, and near the end of the walk a car drove by me.

In this quiet moment I took a look up at the sky and saw the clouds had a pink hue to them. They were moving at a good clip, bonding together like cotton candy finding unique angles to navigate the world we share with them.

I’ve had a few good looks at the clouds this pandemic. I wouldn’t say it’s a daily activity of mine but on nights like these I can see the clouds are being carried by the wind, and then I ask myself, “where is the wind taking me?”.

And it’s a question I’ll have you ask yourself too, where is the wind taking you? Can you feel a direction that you’re headed in?

I mean what more can you ask for from a simple walk around the block?

Last week I asked you how you set yourself up to listen to music. Hans went above and beyond and wrote a beautiful piece in the comments section of the newsletter. He brought up some amazing points that i’ll try to clip as best as I can.

I personally have been playing with different ways of listening to music. Most notably because when I recently moved to North Vancouver, I found an old cassette/radio player. I also was able to dig out my dual DVD/VHS player (I have an impressive VHS collection I might add). These items mainly bring feelings of nostalgia to me, but I will tell you how gratifying it is to not be able to find a movie on Netflix/Prime and to then jump out and shout from your office/study, “I have it on VHS!” Groans from my partner ensue, as she no doubt doesn’t want to watch a scratchy film with awful resolution, that I may not have been kind and rewound. I love watching my VHS collection, just as I love listening to the radio on my radio player. Sometimes the sound cuts out or goes fuzzy….

…Personally I take comfort in being off by a decimal place or two. Knowing I may get some strange feedback, or find myself actually listening to a channel I had never heard of makes me excited. It’s like the hiss, buzz, and crackle of vinyl.

It’s the same way I like watching cable television. I love the commercials. I must admit I think a lot of Canadian advertisements are totally rubbish, but I love having the break in programming. I love having the pause controlled for me. The commercials decide when I go for a pee, or when I have a break to pick up my phone to text Elliot about some obscure sounds he’s been recording in the woods.
….
Dinner is a great time to put on something unique and new to listen to. I often play a lot of Italian Opera music at dinner, as I find I can’t give it my proper attention during the day. I do reserve the singing and loud clapping for before the meal, but once this lock down is over, I am going to be banging and singing while I enjoy my freshly baked Ziti.

Thank you again Hans, your essay was beautiful to read. The different angles you talk about listening to music are spot on. But the best part is this comment just goes on and on, and not in a bad way either. Like I wanted to write a long email today, but I would rather have you read Hans instead.

A Long Piece of Music

In addition to working to support a family of 7, I found time to render out 25 minutes of new music this week, some sort of virtual cassette tape I call Memories of The Forgotten City.

Ok one part of that statement was false, but the music part is true.

I realized lately that I enjoy music that rewards listeners for engaging with the music intentionally, and that’s what this collection of 3 pieces invites you to do.

Sure, put it on while cooking an Italian dinner, but at least give the music a chance to speak to you if possible.

Elliott Really Just Watches Music Documentaries All Day

Say what you want to about how Amazon is destroying the fabric of our society, I am amazed at the Russian Doll of music documentaries I keep unravelling on there.

I’ve watched three music documentaries in the past few weeks that all had interesting content in them so I will share them here.

Conny Plank: The Potential of Noise (Amazon) - This is about an obscure producer who took a chance and set up a music studio in rural Germany. He recorded early Kraftwerk, Cluster & Eno’s music there, and cool proto-punk bands, and as word spread he continued to record bigger groups like the Eurythmics and even the Hip-hop group Whodini.

The focus of the film is the producer’s son, who unfortunately was not really attended to by his father because he had to compete with the demands of these bands who came and stayed at the farm.

Marcus (Amazon)- This one is about the legendary bassist Marcus Miller, who as it’s mentioned in the film, you only have to say his first name and everyone knows who you’re talking about. Kind of like Aladdin, you just say his name and he shows up to play bass for you.

The film largely focuses on Marcus’ rare opportunity to not only play for Miles Davis, but also produce his comeback album Tutu in the 1980s. I’d say this is one of the most poorly made documentaries I have seen, but if you like fusion jazz then it’s worth watching for the interviews with people like George Benson and Herbie Hancock, in addition to getting to ‘meet’ Marcus himself.

A funny story that’s not in the film, mostly because of the year that it’s made - the man credited with inventing the slap bass sound, Larry Graham, happens to be Drake’s uncle.

Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero (Amazon) - I enjoyed this documentary about Dayton, Ohio noise-punk band Brainiac who were coming up alongside the grunge movement of the 1990s but had a tragic end when the leader of the group died suddenly in a bizarre auto accident.

You can see how making this messed up music was very second nature to the group who were really young at the time. I guess you could make the case that punk music is one of those genres that really feeds on the idea of play and just coming up with something, and not caring what people think.

The Four Track Snack Pack

This week’s Snack Pack on Spotify features music by Charles Webster & Burial, Mary Lattimore, amiina and ørdop Wolkenscheidt

Your Turn

What’s been your favourite pandemic playlist getting you through all this? It can be on any network, not limited to Spotify of course.

The Sunday Bagel

Discussion about this post