HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ JONATHAN CHIN (CEREAL & SOUNDS)
* This Q&A is being re-broadcast from October 2016, but don't worry: top notch recommendations have a long shelf life.
#1 - WHAT IS THE ONE ALBUM (OR EP OR SONG) THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE THE VERY NEXT MUSICAL THING THAT EVERYONE PRESSES PLAY ON THE NEXT TIME THEY FIND THEMSELVES THINKING “WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NOW”?
Singer-songwriter Max Clarke goes by the name of Cut Worms, and it's a project that I'm pretty excited about. It's not music that's wildly imaginative or for the musically adventurous, it's revisiting an old sound that hasn't been touched for a while. I got to see him play a short set earlier this summer, and he was magnetic. He's been playing shows here and there in NYC but I highly recommend seeing him, even if he's just an opener.
My other recommendations are Buddy Holliday (Z Tapes) and Hovvdy (Sports Day Records), both released really great records this past year. Both differing in sound, but both feel really intimate in their own way and I haven't gotten tired of either of them.
#2 - WHAT IS THE ONE MOVIE OR TV SHOW THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE NEXT IN EVERYBODY’S NETFLIX QUEUE (OK, DOESN’T HAVE TO BE NETFLIX, WE’RE ALL INTERNET ADULTS HERE AND KNOW HOW TO FIND ANYTHING ONLINE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)?
ATLANTA | Only midway through its first season but it's already my new favorite show. The show has this subtle surrealness to it that makes it almost feel like it takes place in an alternate Atlanta in another universe.
The storyline revolves around Donald Glover's (who also wrote the show) character who is a Princeton-college and is trying to manage the rap career of his cousin who goes by the name of Paper Boi. The nuanced humor on the show tackles issues that are vivid and present today that deal with race, class, and masculinity. One of the episodes has the members of Migos making a cameo and have this really funny unofficial origin of their group.
EVERYBODY STREET | I really enjoy street photography, both as an art form and the style of photography I've settled into. Being from NYC, there's just a lot interesting people to photograph. Everyone is inclined to run/rush to their destination, but street photography has really taught me to slow things down and take everything in.
The documentary is really great and I think anyone who loves or has walked through the city would really appreciate it.
LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN | So I haven't been a fan of Conan's show post-Late Night. I'd stay up late in junior high and high school to watch the monologue and field pieces all the time. I'd always wonder if it was worth it the next day when I rolled into school looking like a zombie due to the lack of sleep.
The bit that I never get tired of is when Conan goes apple picking with Mr. T. and that's where I'll leave it. I think "Conan Goes Apple Picking With Mr. T." should be good enough as a description. But seriously go watch it a few times, watching Mr. T yelling at apples is the greatest.
#3 - I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE BOOK STORE (OK, PROBABLY AMAZON) TO FIND THE VERY NEXT BOOK THAT I WILL BE PUTTING SOME EXTREMELY VALUABLE ‘ME-TIME' ASIDE FOR. WHICH BOOK WOULD YOU GET, IF YOU WERE ME (AND, I SUPPOSE, YOU HADN’T ALREADY READ WHAT YOU’RE ABOUT TO SUGGEST)?
Ripped by Greg Kot. Kot is one of the hosts of Sound Opinions for Chicago's public radio, and he wrote a book (really good from what I heard) on Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot days. He also wrote a book on coaching your kids' basketball team if you're in need of text pertaining to that.
'Ripped' explores the history of digital music from CD to MP3's and the iPod, and the craziness that ensued with pirating. The book it's only 7 years old, but it was already outdated text 2 years after it was published since the technology surrounding music moves so fast. It's an interesting read that covers the early days of MP3 blogs, Internet hype, and how the music industry got into it's inevitable rut.
Every day I have a set of blogs that I read on the daily which are: Swell Tone + Wake The Deaf + GoldFlakePaint
#4 - WHAT IS THE ONE WEBSITE (OR JUST ANY OLD INTERNET THING: APP, GIF, SERVICE, WHATEVER) THAT YOU WOULD GET REALLY DOWN IN THE DUMPS ABOUT IF IT WERE TO SUDDENLY GO AWAY?
I think I might be one of the few on the planet to be clutching to their MP3 players. It's still my primary way of consuming music when I'm not by a computer. But on the off-chance that I leave it at home, I have everything backed up on the cloud with Google Music.
Not a lot of people know about it but Google allows you to sync the music on your hard drive with your Google account, and its 20,000 songs regardless of length or file size. You can stream the music or save it offline on your phone with their app and its free, you don't need to subscribe to their streaming service. The downside is that if you're a Last.fm scrobbler, the apps stink on phones (RIP my iPod Video). I should caution for audiophiles that the service doesn't recognize .wav files but lossless like .flac work fine.
I guess this would also be a good segway for my notebooks. I carry around a pen and various notebooks in my pocket so I could jot down notes on songs I'm listening to/reviewing for Cereal + Sounds. I tried to setup up note taking apps on my phone but it's not the same as writing it down, and I feel that my thoughts are better organized on paper. Also, I don't have this stuff backed up so if I lose it I might be messed up.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
Stop worrying what everyone else is doing.
Drink more water.
Cut down on the caffeine (or at least I've tried to).
Practice more empathy and cool it with the narcissism.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that Jonathan Chin from Cereal and Sounds thinks you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you go pour out that 3rd coffee and refill it with water, go follow Cereal & Sounds on the twitter and the facebook and then go peruse their blog and label. THEN you can pour out that coffee.
