Hi hi hi.
I’ve missed you! How’ve you been? I’d love to know how your year has started. Mine has picked up exactly where 2022 left off - busy. BUT it’s busy because I love being busy, and, frankly, there’s too much great stuff in life to do to watch loads of telly. So no, I didn’t watch the end of Happy Valley, I heard it was excellent though.
Right! I feel like I’ve neglected you a little over the last few letters, so today I present you with a bumper collection of interesting things in the TL;DR Section, and a truly sublime collection of music to listen to. I spent a lot of January (ok, all of January, day and night) sorting and resorting my records (all of ‘em), so this week’s show and mixtape is a sort of ‘best of what I found / had forgotten / finally got round to listening to after clearing my ‘to listen to’ pile’. Lots of incredible stuff, I think.
I’ve also taken a slight plunge (maybe not plunge pool plunge, more tepid water plunge) and bought a digital DJ controller thing. I’ve found a lot of incredible music over the last six months that never got a physical release, and I don’t want to miss out on sharing that stuff, so I’m going back to school and learning about WAVs and Rekordbox. Send help.
I also had an incredible chat with a guy this week called Rob Mathie (hey Rob!), which was after I’d drunk about four hundred coffees, so was pretty rambling, but… Rob asked me what my long term hope was for Common People, and I gave an answer that I think incorporated Love Will Save The Day too. It wasn’t a prepared answer, it’s neither something I’ve been asked before, or really thought about too much, if I’m honest. But my response was along the lines of; wanting to create space for people from marginalised backgrounds to use their creativity to help solve some of the biggest problems the world faces today.
So one, I wanted to say thank you to Rob for asking the question, two, I wanted to write it down, and three, I wanted to hint at where ALL THIS might go someday. Anyway, I’m rambling.
About the future - Rob Mathie
After last month’s disco extravaganza, we’re back to digging through the new, the old, and the forgotten. I promise that every song this week is absolutely sensational. It felt like such a blessing to play this music!
As always, the full tracklist is from the show, as not everything is on Spotify, so get locked in and hear it how I meant it.
See you on the dance floor,
Jed x
PS. If you're new here then this is how it works. Here’s what you’ve missed so far.
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TL;DR Section 🌪
Things to watch
Music, art, and life. Earl Sweatshirt and Cheryl I. Harris chat at the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA
Things to listen to
Must listen. 3024’s TAPES001.
My my MY. Janelle Monáe is back. And wow.
Here’s an immense collection of Dan McClosky radio interviews to dig through
Find a good copy of the dictionary, look up the word ‘prolific’, and there’s almost certainly going to be a picture of Felipe Gordon. This mix for Phonica is… Well, you know.
BLACK GIRL / WHITE GIRL have a new single out and it’s a heater
Rinse. It has 140 new residents, and from those I recognise, they’re all incredible
Finally, I can’t stop playing this. It’s been on repeat for weeks now. Please, send help.
Things to do
This one’s important. PLEASE EMAIL THE ‘NIGHT CZAR’. 30% of the UK’s clubs have shut down since the pandemic, and more than 80% are close to the edge…
Order Emma Warren’s new book. Go. Do it. NOW!
I love these photos of the people of Peckham and East Dulwich by Sukhy Hullait
Secretsundaze looks insanely good over the next few months (Cosmo Sofi B2B with Norsicaa will be IT)
Back the Kickstarter for the Paul Klipsch book that Love Injection are trying to get off the ground
John Talabot has a new residency at Phonox coming soon
Oh, and would you be a dear and send Love Will Save The Day to a friend…
Things to read
Essays and articles
On grace and creative practice. This is great, from Kwaku Darko-Mensah Jnr.
Ed Gillett’s new newsletter is really, really good
I missed this last month: RA’s The Art of DJing with Batu
If you need more reasons to call for the deconstruction of the prison system…
Books
Just read…
Room to Dream, David Lynch and Kristine McKenna (sublime, reignited my creative fire)
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, Hanif Abdurraqib (eyeopening, in so many ways, and in ways only Abdurraqib can deliver)
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott (a classic, I absolutely loved it)
Assembling a Black Counter Culture, by DeForrest Brown Jr. (some great historical, social, and cultural context to techno and Detroit in particular)
Anarchy, David Graeber (just brilliant, a must read)
Next up…
The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates (already started this, love it already)
Art is Life, Jerry Saltz
Go Ahead In The Rain, Hanif Abdurraqib
The Creative Act, Rick Rubin
Capital Is Dead, Is This Something Worse?, McKenzie Wark
Old notes home 📚
…on the future
…on culture
Rebuilding culture: fixing the asymmetry of art, culture, and commerce
A response to the argument that culture is boring these days
…on music
…on mental health
The tracklist 🎶
Puma Blue - Lust
Contour - Babe Brother
Arthur Russell - The Name Of The Next Song
Art Feynman - Eternity In Pictures
Else Hewitt - One Day Old Today
Demae - Seasons Change
Fatima - Cinnamon
Dee Dee Bridgewater - Love Vibrations
Joe Henderson & Alice Coltrane - Earth
Womack & Womack - Life’s Just A Ballgame (Ballroom remix)
Luxxury - I Think I’m Going Insane
Paul Epworth - Voyager
Alice Smith - Love Endeavour (Maurice Fulton remix)
Eli Escobar - Something Inside Of Me
Gabriels - Love And Hate In A Different Time (acapella)
Hubie Davison - Embers
Jersey St. - Cried Me A River
Moses Boyd & SW2 - Bridge The Gap
Aroop Roy - Reach n’ Search
DJ Oji - Cranes In The Sky (Joe Goddard remix)
Joey Musaphia - What We Need
George Michael - Outside (Garage remix)
MD X-Spress - God Made Me Chunky
Mellow Man - New York, New York
Jonny Faith - Southern Stepper
Cain - Sirin
The Green Door All-Stars - Tuteme Meets Tafi Atome at 58ft Mococo (General Ludd remix)
Hagan - Right Here
Peaky Beats - Wildcat
Groovy D - Come With It Again
Debba - Called Up
Lady Ann - Freeze (Tim Reaper remix)
Forest Drive West - Creeper
Calibre & Chelou - E SI O
Marenn Sukie - Maua
Chassol - Music Is God My Love