HIGHLY RECOMMENDED W/ SLOW SPIRIT
* Providing the A's to the 5 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Q's today is Slow Spirit — a group of music-makers out of Manitoba whose lovely new collection of previously unreleased recordings, ‘Warble’ , is available on Bandcamp for FREE and you should totally go get it (you can also find the track Firefly on the HI54 Mix CD ‘EH CANADA’).
#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”?
Madison Cunningham just released "Who Are You Now" in August 2019. She checks all the boxes for us -- she's an amazing guitarist and composer, an absurdly clever and poignant lyricist, and a nuanced and soulful singer. Her songs are little universes that sometimes feel like short stories in the New Yorker - portraiture of a modern American life (especially see the track "L.A. (Looking Alive)" for this vibe).
It's a lot for one person to be so good at. How does she do it?
#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)?
We friggin' love the Earth documentary series One Strange Rock, directed by Darren Aronofsky. I was scared shitless by his film Requiem For A Dream when I was wee, chilled by Black Swan when I was a film-appreciative grown woman and awestruck by his portrayal of our home, Earth, this past winter on Netflix.
It's like the most amazing bedtime story, as narrated by Will Smith, who really seems to be telling the story of our planet to his super cool/smart offspring. Darren Aronofsky really pulls up all the darkness and seismic violence and extreme fortunes and misfortunes of species inside the history of how we got here. The visuals and concepts (oceans from space, Earth's core spewing magma, weather formations traveling over continents, magnetic forcefields that protect us all, jungle birds) are surrealist and unbelievably beautiful to behold in your living room, after a mundane day, perhaps paired with the psychedelic stimulant of your choosing.
#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)?
Here's one you need right away - please do yourself a huge favour and read "The War Of Art" by Steven Pressfield. This book is the most serious manifesto for how to be a working artist that I've ever read. No bullshit. Every line is boiled down to a medicinal essence.
It's the realest thing you'll read on the subject of creation and "Resistance" - Pressfield's concept of every artist's enemy. He's also an ex-marine, not to mention hardened by years of dogging it for his art, and his words seem to have been cut by a diamond knife. For about 10 dollars Amazon will send every precious page right to your phone in an instant. What a world we live in, huh?
#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 use Filmm sometimes, if you'll forgive my overt hipsterness. It can take my basic phone-quality videos and give them that warm and warbled VHS tape distortion that we hipsters so covet. It also has Camcorder, Instant Film and 16mm filters in case it wasn't cool enough already for you.
So classy and good looking - why not give the people the nostalgia trip that they constantly crave?
#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.
Something that I think everyone should be doing? I think every human could benefit from 1) buying organic apples and 2) eating between 2-4 of them every single day.
Organic because they taste ridiculously better -- so worth the couple extra bucks. Do a double-blind test and report back if you are skeptical of their superiority. 2-4 of them every day for at least a month because apples are really truly good food for your cute lil mortal coil - hydrating fibrous energizing natural fruit sugar. Sugar gets a bad rap, but good sugar literally fuels the body's systems.
That's my idea of universal goodness for all. I think everyone would be a lot happier if we, in general, made efforts to be more like monkeys, and ate more fruit and hung around in trees more often.
OK folks, there you have it. Things that Slow Spirit thinks you should consider incorporating into your day/life. Before you log off and go start stocking up on apples, make sure to follow Slow Spirit on the Facebook / Instagram and then also give ‘Firefly’ a listen below…
