Alright, here’s the deal. I want to revive this thing (and keep up with it henceforth) because I’m going through a ****ing rough time right now and need something to distract myself and, more importantly, something to commit myself to, so I’m really going to attempt to update at least once a week.
I don’t have any great ideas or clever themes to present at the moment, so I’m just going to start by going through my top artists from the past three months according to last.fm and say a bit about each of them. And of course I’ll conclude with a mixtape with songs from every band I mention.
Last Three Months Theme - Entry One: Bikes, Beers, and Brownies
1. Wingnut Dishwasher’s Union/Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains
Both of these bands are fronted by Pat “The Bunny” Schneeweis, my favorite folk punk songwriter. Wingnut songs are generally political in nature and reflect Pat’s anarchistic philosophies, whereas Johnny Hobo is heavily laden in cynicism, drug use and addiction. In his own words, Pat described Johnny Hobo as a character that is “an archetype of misery, fear, and disengagement” and “reflective of a time period in which I was very miserable, afraid, and disengaged.”
I frequently listen to Wingnut’s
Burn the Earth, Leave it Behind and Johnny Hobo’s
Caught in the Act of Not Being Awesome while on my bike. There’s something about riding as opposed to driving or walking, no matter where I’m going or what time of day it is – whether I’m in a hurry and need to get to class, riding to meet my friends at the bar for $2.50 pint night or if I’m just on a solo midnight ride weaving through neighborhoods - that makes me feel uncharacteristically connected to my city and the people around me. Add to it the lyrics (and what has become my mantra):
Today I'm gonna do my best
to drink coffee in the morning and live as if
I didn't feel lonely and hopeless and helpless
to save myself for the world where I live
And tonight when I dream it will be
that the junkies spent all the drug money on
community gardens and collective housing…
…And I'll wake up, burning Time's Square as we sing
"Throw your hands in the air 'cause property is robbery!"
And you have a suddenly less pessimistic, suddenly more hopeful, suddenly smiling version of me, peddling along on my way, having survived my personal apocalypse for one more day.
Videos below (including a cover of mine, because whatever).
2. BADBADNOTGOOD
In a similar vein, if I’m not listening to one of Pat’s several collectives, it is very probable that I’m listening to
BBNG1 and
BBNG2. I have yet to be proven wrong in regards to asserting that instrumental hip hop jazz can never being anything less than awesome.
These albums invoke memories for me of riding to the park in the middle of the night to meet up with a friend or two, 40oz's and weed brownies cased in tupperware shoved in my backpack or bike basket. We'd sit on the playground swings or in the damp grass and talk about the
weight of it all, of the world, of our jobs, of our families, of our spirals and recoveries. None of us knew how to navigate our own lives, but we had each other to be chaotic with, simultaneously and empathically. I haven't done that for awhile now, though. I've recently driven away all the friends I had, both unintentionally and otherwise. Looking back on those nights feel the same to me now as when I visit trails I used to hike with friends who have died or watch a movie that reminds me of an ex. I don't feel like I should want to feel happy about remembering the good in each of these people, because I'm afraid it will negate the bad - either in them or in me.
Anyway,
BBNG1 covers everything from Tribe Called Quest to Joy Division and
BBNG2 contains notable Kanye West and MBV covers. Both albums are free for download or stream on their website, and as of yet no physical copies of either exist.
BBNG3 is due out sometime this year.