HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ OPRIS
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is Opris — a music-making project out of California who has a lovely new release out called ‘Dissolution’ (and you can catch the track ‘Union’ on the HI54 Mix CD ‘ STOP TALKING… I’M TRYING TO THINK’)
#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”?
My music tastes are all over the board, but there is something about New Buffalo's album "Somewhere, Anywhere" that has always kept it in my mind as my favorite album. It is heartfelt, accessible and calming. The lyrics aren't overly complicated or overly simplistic, yet they are so direct. The way her voice dances around with melody really moves me.
Like everything else in life, it is the story that it creates in your mind. Her music feels like a calm Sunday morning to me. Sitting at a table in your kitchen, drinking tea and looking out the window at a beautiful green world, and being happy to be a part of the ups and downs of being a human, being grateful to be a conscious piece of the universe experiencing itself. So often I feel musicians think being emotional means being whiney (emo music is the perfect example) but her music feels like a grown human examining life and connecting with it through a pensive emotional nature.
She later changed her project name to her given name, Sally Seltmann, and I still love her first release. It's far more bubbly pop, but I still feel the same about her songwriting. On her song "5-Stars" from her first album "Heart That's Pounding" as "Sally Seltmann". The Chorus goes: "Good night and good luck to you. I'll raise my glass to the concept of understanding who I am. And how this can make a difference to the world. So complex, each boy, each girl. 5 stars for asking a question and walking away from it all." So wholesome and beautiful. Maybe the big reason I love her music is that I feel so cynical about the world most of the time, and she makes such beautiful music about how simple and beautiful it all is. Even her sad songs are uplifting in their beauty.
#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)?
I haven't finished the show yet because I don't have my own subscription, or anyone else's, to any of the streaming services, but I think "Lovecraft Country" is amazing. The way the visuals tell the story by building the characters and spaces aesthetically, the dialogue, and especially the themes, are all so cohesive in telling an engaging and original story. All of that while discussing racism by juxtaposing these menacing evil monsters against the evils of racism and its perpetrators.
When I rant about what a TV show did wrong I always use this show as an example of the inverse. The characters grow in depth as the show continues in such a convincing way. We see that even our main character wasn't always admirable in his actions. This show feels unlike other shows and it’s why I chose it here, but there are so many other good mentions. The cringey, nostalgic and heart warming comedy of "Pen15", the comedy/drama of "The Great" on Hulu, or the massive world building of "Game of Thrones" all deserve mentions here as well in my mind.
#3. I (AND BY “I” I MEAN “THE PERSON THAT IS READING THIS”) AM GOING TO THE LOCAL BOOK STORE (OK, MAYBE THE LOCAL LIBRARY FIRST) 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)?
I laughed a little at this question. If I were to ask my friends which book they think I would recommend. I am sure they would tell you the DUNE series, from repeated experience. I have listened to the series of six audiobooks two times through and I am halfway through a third time at the moment. I love the universe Frank Herbert created so much, that I accidentally started writing a DUNE-themed album. His mind is full of amazing concepts around governance, time, oppression, spirituality, religion etc. His story pushes you to think of things from a generalist perspective, and from an ecological perspective. How does action A create B, C.... Z. Where does that cascading stop? It doesn't.
I have to stop the audio book often to write down quotes I hear. One quote that I think describes an underlying theme of the entire series is: “There is probably no more terrible instant of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man - with human flesh.” The mythology and backstory behind all of this series is truly engulfing. Hence why I can read it three times through and still find things I missed. When I am done with the third time, I can always jump into the lore and backstories and such.
#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?
That is a tough one to pin point a single internet space that I would say is my recommendation. So I am going to learn from DUNE (ie Mr Herbert) and take the generalist approach. I think that the entire concept of social media is amazing. That includes MySpace, FaceBook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Reddit etc. We have digitized social interactions! We have two lives now. A physical breathing, feeling, eating, loving being, and we have a digital body. This allows us to spread information (and miss/diss-information) so rapidly! We can now learn how to change our oil, or code, or play guitar for (almost)free and build community far and wide. It allows anyone to be seen for making comedy videos, or showcasing their music to a massive audience, or spreading their personal experiences and helping others empathize. It can really be used to bring humanity together... or tear us apart.
To me, I think it is a natural part of the progression of society. Of course, if we make a system that allows people to communicate instantaneously humans will use that communicate their hopes and fears and try to find others who feel the same. We have expanded our interactions past our localized system through the digital landscape out to any other computer with similar access.
#5 - AND FINALLY… PLEASE GIVE ONE COMPLETELY UNAIDED RECOMMENDATION THAT YOU THINK EVERYONE SHOULD START DOING / USING / WATCHING / EATING / THINKING / QUITTING / ETC-ING TO MAKE THEIR LIVES A LITTLE BIT MORE BETTER AND/OR BEARABLE.
This one is an easy recommendation. I recommend any of Peter Joseph's work. He wrote an informative book called "The New Human Rights Movement: Reinventing the Economy to End Oppression" that discusses, what I would agree, are the root of most societal issues. This root, common to all socioeconomic system on the planet, is the market economy and it's lens of financialization. This lens skewing all vision through an outdated technology meant to preserve it's own power and structure without consideration for the larger ecological symbiosis. His book is a deep dive into these issues but his works include, the Zeitgeist series of films, "Culture in Decline", his new podcast "Revolution Now!", as well as loads of interviews discussing his perspective on social issues.
I suggest starting with "The New Human Rights Movement" if you want a really well sourced (sources listed) and thought out perspective on social issues and activism. If you want a bit more comedic fun mixed into your social commentary, I'd suggest "Culture in Decline". If this pandemic sent you wondering what's next for society and how we can move toward a socioeconomic system that isn't rooted in self-interest, competition and scarcity, then you'll enjoy his works. I could rant for days on these topics, and would be glad to do that with you. Feel free to reach out to me if you want to rant together =)
