References XVII

Where I offer my best links and music recommendations on the December Solstice, 2024.

I post these lists alongside my equinoctial and solstitial personal newsletter.

music

I’ve been on a real listening kick lately, partly through my rediscovery of AOTY. Here are the five best albums I’ve encountered in the last three months:

1. Imaginal Disk, Magdalena Bay
2. This Could Be Texas, by English Teacher
3. Cascade, by Floating Points
4. Diamond Jubilee, by Cindy Lee (only on bandcamp fyi)
5. ENERGY, by Pnoom

Honorable mentions and other notes:

• I’m also loving Pastoral Stills From Every Age, by Liai; this excellent compilation celebrating 25 years of Riseup, one of my favorite organizations; a club remix of leftist metal music by badasses I saw live in NZ in 2015; and, through Nardwuar, Oscar Peterson’s Piano Solos (1950)
• Some live stuff that is great: Quinn Christopherson being a real one, old school MGMT running around campus, Colin Stetson being bald now, English Teacher covering “New York I Love You…”, Animal Collective playing Sung Tongs on its anniversary, and Fred doing his thing, twice
• The Venn diagram of people that read this newsletter, use RSS, and don’t hate Pitchfork is probably quite small, but still: I was delighted to learn that they have RSS feeds for their “Best New Music”

links

Okay, now for the hyperlinks I foraged for u:

• “Emu is a troublemaker who brings into existence the most destructive idea in existence: I am greater than you; you are less than me. This is the source of all human misery.”
• “Amsterdam, like every other city in the world, is slowly being strangled by the motorcar…but at last there is a glimpse of hope on the horizon.” (1974)
• For nerds: The fascinating security model of dark web marketplaces + Nanowar of Steel’s (cursed) “HelloWorld.java”
• “Heart rates were checked and anyone who laughs, talks or dozes off was eliminated during the 90 min competition.”
• “A lot of times, rather than helping people with horse problems, I’m helping horses with people problems.”
• So good, so real: AMSTERDAM IS DEAD and GATECRASHER: An All-Women’s Parkour Action Film
• “The human condition is vast and also Very fucking Weird.” (click “show more”)
• “Tetris is an inventory management survival horror game.”
• The Kentucky hotel tackling America’s homeless crisis
• Man takes Roller Coaster Tycoon way too far
• An instant classic (cw: american football)
• Skating The Wreckage Of Hurricane Milton
• Tired thoughts on internet ephemerality
• Amazing video of deep sea mama squid
• Does anyone have the right to sex?
• Présentation d’Arbrassons
• Mexico City Gentrification
• The Shyness of Trees
• Rainbows are cool
• Floor796

(Know something I would like? Share with me!)