“Once upon a time, a wild god zoomed
All through his memory in which he was entombed”
-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Wild God”
In corporate terms, what I’ve started here would be referred to as an “iterative” process, a small business owner seeking to define pathways toward “cross-platform success.” I hate how much this sort of jargon has infected my thinking. The other day at work, something slipped out of my mouth and my supervisor commented on how it’s hard for each of us to shake the verbal tics we picked up while working at start-up companies. It’s true. Call it by any other name, but what I’m doing here is still, at its core, “digital marketing.”
When defining my goal in public it feels so crass. I want people to buy stuff from me so I can support myself. I want to support myself by way of a path I’ve decided to take, rather than one I’ve landed on out of financial necessity. Furthermore, I want people to listen to read or listen to what I have to say. I want to develop an “audience.” Many foolhardy influencers call themselves “curators” when they are nothing of the sort. They are share-ers: They consume and share so that others can consume and share. And I suppose that’s what my hope is here: To share so that others will consume. Everyone everywhere is vying for attention with all things created and shared online. I want some of that attention, too. The hope is a few of the people whose attention I attract become customers. Maybe patrons. Hell, maybe friends. These are, after all, unprecedented times we’re living through.
“Been up late a couple nights
I’ve been tryna close my eyes
But I keep staring at my phone
I can never be alone”
-Alison Wonderland “Down the Line”
The connection between a playlist and a retail store might, at present time, only be a theoretical one, but I figure that’s quite alright. In 2022 I started what has become an online store. Calling it a “strategy” might be generous, but the thought was that if I could develop online sales to cover expenses for an offline business, then maybe it would be possible to make that work. If I could do that, then maybe a business selling music and movies in a small midwestern city would have potential. I’ve never owned a business. My projections were largely arbitrary. I didn’t know what steps would be necessary or which order they’d need to be taken in. I thought maybe in five years I’d be able to transition away from an office job and do this thing full-time. From there, maybe I could figure out what’s needed to open a physical space. Surely the build would be slow, I imagined, selling disc media in a digital society. But this year it all escalated faster than I imagined it could. Five years has turned into six months. I plan on taking my next big leap in the spring by trying to do whatever “this” is becoming on a full-time basis.
In preparation for that I want this digital space to support whatever physical space might present itself. I want anything I write or share here to be true of where I’ve come from and how I arrived. More specific to the music shared below, I want this playlist to reflect music I’m listening to, not merely music I’m selling. But I do want it to reflect that, too. I want to share what I think is good so that whoever is willing to listen will start to follow along with me.
“I don’t ever sleep, nah
I just go on standby”
-Spark Master Tape “$TNDBY”
This first playlist covers a lot of territory. It picks up from around the time I put an end to a music blog I had called villin, and features several acts that I found in the months which followed. Little Simz and Glass Beams are included in that category, and to some degree Fred again.. and Chase & Status are, as well. The latter two are artists I’ve listened to off and on in the past, but this year I leaned back in heavily following TikTok recommendations, regularly swiping myself to sleep. The algorithm makes the world go round.
On a recent episode of Uproxx’s IndieCast podcast, the new Jamie xx album was referred to catering to a basic base of electronic fans, or something like that. I haven’t put much thought into what a basic electronic music fan might be, but I’m fine with that label. I don’t want to listen to experimental music when I’m driving to work or going to the gym. I want to listen to Chase & Status. I want to listen to Alison Wonderland. I want to listen to Jamie xx and Fred again.. This isn’t to say I’m only seeking bass drops or “basic” sounds. Four Tet is a perennial favorite of mine and this spring’s Three is a release has stuck with me this year. I wouldn’t consider that “basic.” Similarly, and despite her breakout year and widespread success, I wouldn’t consider Charlie xcx’s “365” remix basic. Whatever though. This one’s a strange listen. It stood out to me and stuck with me not merely of its own merits, but because of how much it reminded me of another space and time. More specifically it reminded me of “Jericho” from the Prodigy’s 1992 Experience release. The label makes no difference: What is basic to some is all the same a challenge to others.
Two more albums released over the past couple months stood out to me as options that I’d love to stock (on the shelves of this imaginary store I’m building toward). Wild God from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Songs of a Lost World by the Cure are both magical records. Each of them create a feeling of conflict for myself as a share-er as there isn’t a particular track or two that stand out to me as “the one” I prefer to share here. The songs are of an album, the album is not of its songs. The same holds true for Kelly Lee Owens’ ethereal Dreamstate, though each release is brilliant in drastically different ways.
Unique on this playlist is “Upon Sober Reflection” from Japandroids. This song has stuck with me the past couple weeks for a different reason. Beyond a couple past tracks (“No Known Drink or Drug,” “Fire’s Highway,” “Young Hearts Spark Fire“) I haven’t kept close tabs on the band, but was still surprised to learn that the Canadian duo put this new collection out as a means of bookending their time together. No tour would follow. No press, really. They just put out Fate & Alcohol and called it a day. The writer who I learned of the release from asked himself a question about their process which led me to listening which led me to writing this. A version of his question is akin to something I’ve thought about for myself and writing I’ve done in the past. He asked what the point was of creating this music then moving on, full stop. I’ve considered that before. When creating a work, does the creator then owe it to that piece – even if only as a sign of respect – to market it to one’s fullest capabilities? Like, as a creator, in promoting a work you’re honoring that effort and that creation by putting it in front of as big an audience as you can, maybe? I don’t know. I guess I don’t think that’s true. Spirit exists, divorced of reception. Spirit also exists as a concept severed from any potential audience. In this case, the band created something in a way that was meaningful to them, or they wouldn’t have gone through with it. It’s no one’s business but theirs to define whether an album of music achieved its goal based on how much of the story around the album is explained. It just is. We just are. Temporarily. All of us.
“At night I lay awake, wondering why
I’m always the one who’s standing by […]
Fucking had enough of the unknown
And I’m making that known today”
-Japandroids “Upon Sober Reflection”
The weeks pass. As they go, in the moment, there is at times a hyper-awareness of that moment. It can be unbearable. Why won’t it pass more quickly. Why must tomorrow remain, seemingly, forever out of grasp.
“Once this ends,” I think to myself, “then things will be different.” As if the passing of time will bring about ideal circumstances where the days will yield optimal satisfaction, where inspiration will bloom and motivation is in high supply. I can’t wait for x to be over so I can begin to enjoy y.
But looking back, the adage of the journey and the destination seem to hold true. There is no end point. Tomorrow is just the projection of an ideal, a ghostly carrot dangled in front of the the ego’s eye, coaxing it out of the present moment and into a space where gratitude, understanding, and mindfulness are each disregarded. Today is only about survival; a necessary step to reach the goal of tomorrow.
Listen to R▲ZZ D▲ZZ WEEKLY on Spotify & YouTube
1) Little Simz “Gorilla”
2) Spark Master Tape “$tandby”
3) Lord Apex feat. Freddie Gibbs “Phoenix”
4) Cookin Soul “Gotham Nights”
5) Mogwai “God Gets You Back”
6) The Cure “I Can Never Say Goodbye”
7) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Wild God”
8) Kelly Lee Owens “Love You Got”
9) Alison Wonderland “Down The Line”
10) Glass Beams “Kong”
11) Jamie xx “Still Summer”
12) Fred again.. feat. Jozzy & Jim Legxacy “ten”
13) Jamie xx & the Avalanches “All You Children”
14) Four Tet “Skater”
15) Japandroids “Upon Sober Reflection”
16) Chase & Status feat. Hedex & ArrDee “Liquor & Cigarettes”
17) Charlie xcx feat. Skygirl “365”
18) Jungle “Dominoes”
19) Caribou “Come Find Me”
20) Fred again.. feat. Obongjayar “adore u”