pop culture picks to cope with our chaotic decline
hello all,
last year, i aped the 44th president of the united states by curating a list of things i’d seen, read, and heard, and — quite aside from any feedback — i quite enjoyed doing it. So in my arrogance and ignorance i am repeating the trick. in any case, i think it is good — dutiful, even — to diarise the bits of popular culture that raised my spirits this year, and share them in the hope that they might do the same for others, even as everything else around us crashes and burns.
so here’s my 2022 selection for those who may be interested and for the many more who aren’t.
watching
i am no authority on this. i think i watched even less contemporary tv and film than i did last year. i probably watched more sport (read: football) than anything else, and there is no indication of that changing, especially with the rising availability of Women’s Super League matches on extraterrestrial tv.
speaking of which, the Euros happened, and england’s ‘lionesses’ won it. it seems too obvious a highlight to choose, but i stand by it, because it afforded the people a chance to be proud of a fairly unproblematic achievement on the international stage, a welcome respite from the daily trauma of witnessing the nation’s decline.
i was also moved by Nothing Compares, a film focusing on the early life and career of Sinéad O’Connor, through to that famous SNL performance. i knew much of her story already, but there’s nothing like a documentary to remind you that too many human beings are too horrible to effect positive change quickly enough. O’Connor was (and is) too pure for an entertainment industry that ruined her fame for speaking truth to power.
2022 is the year live music came back in a big way, although some believe it amounted to an awful year for audiences. my major concern was getting over the risks of contracting COViD-19 in crowded spaces. beyond that, i remembered with gratitude why going to gigs can be one of the most pleasurable going out experiences: i truly enjoy watching artists perform, even if my body language kinda says the opposite, being the wallflower that i am.
my favourite instance of this was at a Courtney Marie Andrewsgig in june. i took a punt; i had never heard of her, but the band’s chemistry rewarded me handsomely. they were tight, they knew it, they revelled in it, and they (almost) made me want to play too. and that’s how it should be.
reading
beyond newsletters and blogposts, i am a slow and bad reader with little patience for reading long-form works. i buy more books than i will ever read, because i tend to consume short polemical essays on topical issues, or poems, or comic strips… basically, anything other than a 300+ page novel.
that’s before i think about the volume of sheer stuff that gets put out in the world that i can barely keep up with. so there will be no doorstop sized Hilary Mantel (rip) books in this list, sorry. but i promise nothing here will take up too much of your time.
Deep-internet bubbles: How microgenres are taking over SoundCloud (Kieran Press-Reynolds): i am fascinated by musical microgenres, so am glad that the article explores the seemingly endless sprawl of sonic hinterlands that ‘you won’t find in mainstream publications and algorithmically generated Spotify playlists, or talked about on Twitter, depending on who you follow’.
but Press-Reynolds also worries whether on a macro level, the idea of genre has lost its meaning entirely in an age ‘when anyone with FL Studio and a SoundCloud account can declare themselves a genre?’
related to the existential ‘genre’ issue from the consumer angle, Tiffany Ng wondered whether today’s audiences even paid attention to such labels, preferring to categorise songs by mood, according to listening habits on streaming platforms. Ng writes:
… is genre still relevant when it comes to describing taste? in a time where Kaytranada is considered an “electronic-hip-hop-R&B-dance-funk-house artist” and categories like “Country Pop” are frequented on Spotify, i doubt the labels “hip-hop” or “country” mean much to the average listener anymore.
https://zogblog.substack.com/p/why-mood-is-the-new-musical-genre
- The Frog Comic (Julia Lepetit): A touching tale about the author’s toxic relationship with a narcissist, boldly told and poignantly illustrated. Worth your time.
- Against the Law (David Renton): i enjoyed reading this, my token contemporary book entry, mainly because it answers a thought i’ve long had in my head: where is the modern-day socialist argument for shrinking and streamlining state legislation in the interests of our civil liberties and who will dare to make it?
As for newsletters, two did a great job of chronicling internet culture this year.
- Social Warming by Charles Arthur: The Guardian’s former tech editor opened a newsletter this year ‘looking at the way social networks affect our societies, and in particular how they generate [something he calls] “social warming”.’ Also useful for catching glimpses of the onrushing Ai content tsunami.
- Garbage Day by Ryan Broderick: i got into this newsletter for its regular reporting of the major social network sites and
the many ways in which they are ruining everyone’s browsing experience week after weektheir impact on mainstream culture.
listening
- The Content Mines: i discovered far too late that Ryan Broderick also co-hosts a podcast, which analyses the ebb and flow of online subcultures and main character dramas outside of the simplistic and sycophantic narratives often presented by legacy media. highlights include a discussion with collaborator Luke Bailey about paid verification in light of Twitter’s blue tick saga.
- Should data expire? other thoughtful discourse on aspects of the web user experience comes in the form of the lecture that artist honor ash gave in the summer, in which they explored ‘how our relationship with data has changed how we see each other and ourselves, how our collective memory and growth has been impacted by mass data collection’, and speculates over the ways that an expiry date on our personal data would change our habits. i think it’s clear from looking at some of my end of year picks that i am fairly online and fret about personal data, so i am glad to know that there are other people out there who have developed more sophisticated ideas about this issue, which i can learn from.
- Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: recently, i saw a tweet saying that feminist retellings of ancient greek myths is a tory endeavour. i can’t tell how far this is a joke, and i don’t get it if it is; i’m happy for someone to explain it to me. until then, i will say i quite like Natalie Haynes’s BBC Radio 4 series doing exactly that while meeting the broadcaster’s reithian principles.
and then there is music. because i favour sound over text and visuals, i have the opposite problem with the latter (i don’t know what i want or what i’m meant to seek from text-based or visual arts) compared with the former (i am on the hunt for very specific things, although i put too little effort in to finding them: i still found myself waiting for Bandcamp’s annual harvest to complete my personal end-of-year lists, even after they sold their one-stop-indie-webshop business out).
the other result of my eternal search for the perfect music is that i am numb to almost all major label output. that doesn’t stop me listening to it, but in effect their music usually does the job of placating me while i chase the high elsewhere. to that end, i would like to shout out Stormzy for his immaculate MEL MADE ME DO iT song/video, BLɅϽKPiИK for their neat reworking of a Paganini riff, Beyoncé for carrying on being a pop star while refusing to make pop music for her pop audience, and Charli XCX for, well… anything she does (it’s less that i like her most recent album than the seemingly reckless abandon with which she goes about making music).
but enough of that. returning to the issue of searching for the specific, i found something that scratches that particular itch. what little i know about the poetry industry leads me to sense that there is a preference for written anthologies over recorded lps / eps. i think this is a pity: while i understand how difficult it is to soundtrack the spoken word — i have heard plenty of efforts that fall flat, mine included — if you ever write intending for others to hear you, then surely the right support brings your words to life in a way that nothing else does?
which brings me to an album i came across in the spring, See No Evil. Stephen James Smith recorded a bunch of his poems over the pandemic lockdown period with composers Gareth Quinn Redmond and Cormac Begley, and i believe the care and attention they gave to the job of soundtracking poetic verse pays off. Smith himself writes of the dilemma many poets have in committing their words to recorded sound:
i was never really sure ‘sound’ i wanted to have underscore my poetry. i’ve so many influences from trad, folk, and hip-hop. and then i met Gareth, instantly we had a bond and he ‘got’ what i was trying to do. i’m a bit more restrained in my performance than i ordinarily would be on this album, but Gareth’s music helps to bring the emotional intensity i would aim for as a solo performer, so the opportunity to collaborate on a longer-form project like this was just brilliant, i learned so much and i’m happy with what we created.
and so he should be. i am particularly taken with their version of Dublin You Are.
also on the spoken word front, i stumbled across what turned out to be my favourite album from last year, at some point in the spring of this year. the electronic arrangements of im hole by aya perfectly match the meticulously bizarre vocals. i would love to know how she produced OoB Prosthesis. and the club instrumentals swing too: i’m obsessed with dis yacky.
i’ve bought both of those albums already. there a few other releases that have captured my imagination.
SOUL GLO, Diaspora Problems: hardcore never sounds like it’s meant to be palatable, so i’m fascinated by how the genre’s most talented acts are somehow able to blend other styles into the mix. SOUL GLO’s latest effort has managed to achieve that trick while remaining relentlessly loud throughout. not for sensitive ears.
Joe Rainey, Niineta: from what little i know about the pow wow tradition i could tell early on in this record that Rainey is (respectfully) changing the game. his record is the most sublime synthesis of convention and innovation; marrying novel arrangements and production with the typical standards of the genre. if you dare to listen to this, you must take it seriously.
Bruno Berle, No Reino Dos Afetos: i love having the privilege of listening to personal solo records which give a glimpse of the songwriter’s state of mind when they were making it. it’s even better underpinned by Brazilian guitar. Berle’s playing across various rhythms, taped conversations, and his own voice when playing ballads makes for a breezy listen, despite the lo-fi production and sentimental subject matter.
Kee Avil, Crease: wondering how kind of music is made is the primary appeal of listening to this album, because i can’t tell you that it is pleasurable. but i am growing increasingly obsessed with how horrid it is, the irony being that you can’t make music as deranged as like this and not know what you are doing. i had to read some reviews to know what others thought about the record, because i was not quite sure what to think myself, and one made this remark, which i think makes for an accurate summary of my experience:
at 36 minutes it’s objectively not a long album, but when you’re fully invested and slightly lost, it can feel denser and longer than it actually is.
plus, i can barely find the beat or the tune for any of it, but none of it is simply textural or ambient either. how does that work? if that intrigues you, then i dare you to give it a go. it’s either that or you can enjoy being haunted by a sedated witch.
Authentically Plastic, Raw Space: the blurb to this album rightly states that it ‘alarmingly freeform and tightly controlled simultaneously’. i’m envious of records like this and Kee Avil’s for this reason. this album sounds like music made for the dancefloor… specifically as it comes under siege from a hostile force, causing panicked revellers to get caught in a crush as they flee for the only viable exits. fitting for a dj dubbed ‘demon of the nile’ by her country’s (Uganda) politicians, i suppose.
a creativity audit, and some resolutions for 2023
in 2022, i wrote about my beloved one-stop-indie-webshop Bandcamp selling out to a video game company (as previously mentioned); Ed Sheeran’s continuing copyright woes as punishment for his cookie cutter songwriting approach to pop music; Billboard crowning Machine Gun Kelly the new prince of pop-punk but omitting him from their end of year best of lists; and Harry Styles’s edgelord ways coming under yet more misguided scrutiny.
‘but what about you? what have you done lately?’ i hear you ask. a fair question to level at someone who critiques others’ art. well, i made a few songs myself, of which i can only recommend my interpretation of William Blake’s poem ‘the angel’ for the RPM challenge in february with any confidence.
i may repeat the trick with another public domain work in 2023, but my major aim is to put at least one ep i can be proud of in your inboxes by this time next year.
i want to write more flash fiction too. i did one of those six-word stories, and a tale about christmas (sort of). i am proud of them both but i could do more, so i aim to speed up the process of turning my story ideas into finished product.
admittedly it is easier said than done, with distractions aplenty, especially online. Twitter is no longer one of those things though. rumours of a takeover were enough for me to open a Mastodon account, and when the transaction was finally completed, i’d resolved to delete my @eugenektw handle and make Mastodon my main social network.
so far, the effect of leaving Twitter has been akin to removing the worst toxin from my daily web browsing diet; my posts are much more positive as a result. on the other side of the coin, joining Mastodon in particular has purified my reasoning for being on any social network. i reside in a lovely space (Avantwhatever), mainly following artists’ accounts, my timeline rarely has any politics in it and even less sniping. the way the bird site is going, it sounds like it is increasingly impossible to achieve the same thing. good luck to all those who persevere with it thinking that it is a public square worth protecting, but all i’ve ever wanted from the world wide web is to have access to, share and participate in art from across the globe that moves me, and as the costs of entry and exit to social networks are so low, when one disappoints, then i’ll simply choose another product that’ll get me closer to my ideal.
please note: i’m aware Mastodon is no direct substitute for Twitter, i know it is neither perfect nor for everyone, and i won’t compel any one to join. but you know Twitter is trash and ruining your health, right? and there is always Linkedin if you think normcore posting is the next hot trend. things are bad and getting worse, so save yourself. i don’t know what else to tell you.
let’s resolve to go into the new year with the right energy to bring beauty and joy into the world. thanks for sticking with me, dear reader. i’ll be seeing you in 2023!