Undesigning Empty
A mixtape for the thrifted and threadbare.
AI? I’m Out Here Like “Ayyy I Wish It Would Just Go Away ;)”
I get really sad thinking about how people are using AI to create “art,” meaning that the algorithm is scrubbing art from every corner of the world and stealing bits and pieces to Frankenstein together a monster without a soul. I feel like Midjourney is replacing imagination (and melting the icecaps in the process). It’s awful, dystopic, disgusting, etc.
Spotify tried to lure me into one of its exciting new features a few months back:
People are so desperate for radio, they don’t even realize. Just make a playlist or find a creator who is. Do even a second's worth of Googling, and I bet you’ll find a respectable music journalism site that offers playlists and podcasts of all the exciting stuff you’d ever want, curated specifically for you.
Let AI find inefficiencies in manufacturing processes. Let it do our taxes. Let it do all the boring godawful work that sucks the life out of employees. But please do not use it to replace the stuff that makes life worth living.
All this is to say… thank you for being here. I feel like we have to fight these small battles so we don’t lose the war for our collective humanity. What have you been listening to lately?
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Undesigning Empty
Created for the thrifted and threadbare.
*****
I always thought I’d be open and eager to hear new sounds, to be in on the conversation with the cutting edge of music. I never thought I’d be one of those, “you call this music?” sort of old guys. I’m still not… BUT I will say I listened to a few songs from Pitchfork’s top 100 songs of 2024 and thought, “well this just absolutely is not for me.” I do not get it. I think that’s okay. Not everything is for everyone.
This year, one of the records that excited me most was Wishy’s Paradise EP (and the following full length Triple Seven), not because it sounded unlike anything I’d ever heard, but because it reminded me of a sound I loved that I hadn’t heard in a while. “Too True” evoked the pop melody forward shoegaze alt-rock sound of the 90s perfectly, and I queued up Drop Nineteens’s “Winona,” a favorite of that era, to listen to right after. The pairing worked beautifully.
Suddenly I was lost in the MTV age, imagining life in 100% cotton straight leg Levi’s jeans and a worn in flannel shirt that’s a size too big. Rock is on the radio, and it sounds different than the pop on the radio. Once again, I’ve created a mixtape of some harmless nostalgia, an Undesigning Empty, if you will. A bit more focused than my last foray into the college rock sound, this one is a bit dreamier, heavier, fuzzier.
Sometimes you just want to listen to something that fits you perfectly, like a threadbare and thrifted t-shirt that’s softer than any cashmere money can buy. This is that for me. Women leading rock bands and wall of sound guitar. It’s a fairly even split of new and old here, but they all get along. I won’t go full “old man yells at clouds” and say that music just ain’t what it used to be, because this mixtape proves that it is. You just have to dig a little deeper to find it.
I do miss when this was on the radio. For now, I’ll throw my tape in the boombox and pretend.
*****
Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Write A Letter
In my never ending effort to slow down, I’ve recently acquired a fountain pen (thank you to my in-laws for this incredibly thoughtful Christmas gift and also to Kristin for telling them exactly what I’ve wanted for years).
I love writing with a pen and paper, and I miss doing it more often. If there’s one theme to this newsletter, it’s that the tangible and personal is irreplaceable. Again, I’ll say: make it matter. Buy a nice pen. Get some personalized stationery. Send a thank you to someone or a quick check in with a friend. There’s nothing better than receiving a handwritten letter in the mail.
If Donald Trump actually privatizes the US Postal Service, I’ll riot. It’s a beautiful, wonderful public service, and we should all take advantage of it while we still can.
Send me your address. I’ll send you some mail.
RIYL: public services, human connection, actual tangible satisfaction
Check out this video of a Japanese Fountain Pen shop that absolutely convinced me to give it a whirl.
Some Other Things I’ve Been Enjoying Recently
(that you might love too!)
Disco Elysium - This video game is one of the best I have ever played. It’s a skills based role-playing game centered around an absolute train wreck of a detective who has forgotten everything but must solve a murder in a city on the brink of class warfare. It is so smart and funny and fun. On the surface, it feels intimidating, but it is one of the rare games where there is just no way to fail. The choices you make shape the story you want to tell. The music, the art direction, the voice acting – all stellar.
There Will Be Bluvband - My buddy David Bluvband has a substack that I’ve been really enjoying these past few months. He largely discusses small corners of the classic film and television world (most recently a 2-part deep dive into the career of Peter Lorre) you’d not likely find many other places, but has also written about things like Gundam cartoons (he’s convinced me that this is a must watch) and comics. Give it a follow!
Ektar 100 - I’ve been shooting bad 35mm film photography for 2 years now, and Ektar 100 is my favorite film stock to work with. It’s so fun experimenting with different films, but I always find that my favorite photos result from this old reliable high light quality. Can’t recommend buying an affordable film camera and playing around (I shoot on a Canon EOS Rebel II). You may only get a few photos worth keeping per roll, but that makes them all the more special, in my opinion. Also, film has a quality to it that you just really can’t touch with an iPhone, no matter how many filters you put over it.
BAM - I often forget to take advantage of all that New York has to offer, so I’m essentially just paying incredibly high rent to live in a place with no back yard. However, I’ve recently gone to a few shows at BAM, and it’s reminded me that these are resources meant to be tapped. I saw an incredible play, Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, and the Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Hard Nut, their rendition of The Nutcracker. I’ll be doing more of this in 2025, no doubt.
I too received a fountain pen from my (future) in laws. Feels wrong to write print with it but I’ve forgotten how to write most cursive letters at this point