Letter #164
Adventure, basslines, and recommendations
hi how r u đ¸,
How are you? I hope all is well. The mornings are lighter, the days are longer, and the crisp sunshine is cracking through the cold air. How has your year begun? Whatâs going on? Gimme a shout!
Iâm going to attempt to write once a month for the whole of this Gregorian calendar year. I decided this on the 4th of January, and yet here I am, writing Januaryâs at 9pm on the 30th. BUT, Iâm here, and so are you, and that should be celebrated!
Everything is still kind of busy - work especially - but I had so many wonderful replies from folk after sending the last letter that it was a bit of a wake up call to me. So here I am, and I have two mixtapes / shows for you, a few interesting links, lots of book recommendations, and a very passionately written set of notes.
I am back, and I am back for good.
See you on the airwaves,
Jed x
PS. If you're new here, then hereâs what youâve missed so far.
PPS. Oh, and come join our lovely community, youâll love it â¤ď¸
đĽ Shows, tracklists, and mixtapes
The section that you most likely came here for, so itâs up top. My latest shows and tracklists from lovewillsavetheday.fm.
These are my latest and greatest two shows, but you can find a whole load of them here - usually with full tracklists and genre tags too :-)
đť My lovewillsavetheday.fm recent highlights
These are my highlights from the station and the community this monthâŚ
Mike OâMara is the DJ I wish I was. His latest show demonstrates why.
Daphne44âs Meanderings plumbs the depths of house and techno, and itâs always on point.
Teresa and Angieâs ByUs is always incredible - their interview with Charlie Dark was special
World of Rhythm. Show me a better selector than Becca OGT. Iâll wait. And keep waiting.
Itâs an oldie, but I canât stop listening to it; Surface Noiseâs Weatherall tribute is sublime.
Come join our community here, listen live here (Friday-Sunday every week), and listen back to past shows here. If youâre here, you belong.
đŞ TL;DR Section
You, stuff to listen to, stuff to do, and a lot of stuff to read
Listen
Mr. G interview. This is a mandatory listen.
Philip Sherburneâs Earth / Fire playlist has gold.
Do
Go watch Eno.
Read
Articles
Djrumâs Art of DJing
Books
How To Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan (beautiful, mind expanding book)
Apex Twin: A Disco Pogo tribute (a collection of incredible essays, articles and features)
Art Is Magic, Jeremy Deller (one of the most creatively inspiring books Iâve read in a long time)
All The Houses Iâve Ever Lived In, Kieran Yates (must read. Searing, yet intimate, in a way that only Yates can write)
Bowie: A Life, Dylan Jones (so. much. gossip.)
Altruism, Matthieu Ricard (a book for life)
If youâd like to read reviews on the above, or you want more book recommendations, I publish short reviews of everything Iâve read and enjoyed here
đ The notes
Surrender to adventure
A few weekendâs back I made a bit of a pilgrimage to the hills of the Peak District.
I arrived in the dark, and while I was a little disappointed to miss the sunset along the hills, I woke up the next morning to the light pouring in from the window, and the imposing outlines of Rushup Edge, Back Tor, Lose Hill, and Mam Tor. The sight of thick clag counteracted by the feeling of the sharp morning air.
I grew up a few miles from the Peak, but now that part of my life felt more than just a few miles away. I was born in a part of Derbyshire that carried deep scars, and my childhood left its marks too, yet now, a few miles down the road, Edale, the Peak, and the Pennine Way represent a different life - a sort of rebirth.
The first time I went to Edale as an adult it was with partner, daughter, and sister-in-law and her family. On the second day, as we sat around chatting in fold up chairs, I saw two people running up towards Jacobâs Ladder. It looked like they were disappearing into the wilderness, and as I watched them vanish from sight, something inside me changed. I later found out that they were likely running the beginning of the Pennine Way, and after a little digging, I read that twice a year there were a series of races on the route, the biggest of which covered all 268 miles of it. The Spine. I became obsessedâŚ
I know Iâm prone to drama, but I say this in all sincerity; sat in that chair watching those two people traverse the broad shoulders of Grindslow Knoll, my life changed. I didnât realise it at the time, but I started living a different life from that moment.
Looking back now, that trigger was the moment that I decided that I wanted to breathe life in. That I wanted to feel the sense of adventure that they did. That I wanted more.
That was in late 2020, and since then Iâve been trying to train my body and my mind to handle running a long way. Eventually, with a dream of running all 268 miles of the Pennine Way. At the beginning, I was only focused on the dream, but since then Iâve discovered that the real joy is the journey itself.
Last December, I found myself at 3am in the middle of some very isolated woods on the Wayfarerâs Way - a path that connects the South Downs and North Downs National Trails - and at that moment, I started (loudly) repeating to myself; âsurrender to the adventureâŚâ. The journey had become the dream.
This was an accidental mantra that kept coming back to me again and again as I ran the Winter Downs 100 miler, but one that was (accidentally) steeped in Buddhist thinking. To âsurrenderâ is to stop resisting a more powerful force - and most often we see that given force as an enemy or opponent, and the idea of âsurrenderingâ has negative connotations; itâs about giving in and accepting our fate. But what if the force weâre fighting is positive? What if our resistance is to a force that would push us forwards? What if we surrender to ourselves, to adventure, to love? What if we surrender to the moment?
As I shuffled along that hundred mile route I kept reminding myself to surrender to the moment; to surrender to nature; and to the adventure Iâd chosen. I kept reminding myself that this is it. Life is happening now, and to be here now is such a gift. Surrender to it. The journey became the dream.
At the heart of that accidental mantra, I latter realised, is a longstanding belief that love will save the day. To me, this phrase is both active and passive at once - itâs a positive guiding principle, but itâs also the carrot and the stick. We can hold it to be true, but we also have to make it true ourselves. We can hold a dream, but we have to be prepared to make the journey to turn it into a reality. So, for me, to surrender is to accept this belief, to give ourselves over to positivity, but also to acknowledge it and put our back into the adventure of it all. Eat them veggies, and teach ourselves to enjoy their nourishment.
Or, as Whitney puts it so much more succinctly; âthereâs an answer in your heart, so let your light shine on, my dear, and love will save the day.â
Fairly regularly, someone will ask me âwhyâ. Why would I want to run a 100k, a hundred miles, or one day want to run 268 miles - especially alone, self-supported through fells, bogs, darkness, mountains, and terrible weather. Jesus, before 2020 I used to regularly say that it was mad to run a marathon, that humans just arenât made for that shite.
So I explain that, for me, my life changed when I realised that I could direct my endless well of energy at something that gives me something back. That if I point my energy at a journey, the dreams become reality a little faster. Doing that - applying my energy to adventure and running makes me feel like Iâm a better version of myself, it widens my horizons, Iâm healthier, more disciplined, and resilient. I understand my body, and for the first time in my life, I like my body. I feel free.
These are all reasons for me - and fairly selfish - but I also do this for my daughter. I want to show her that our bodies can do things that we think are beyond us, if we just apply a little practice and consistency. If we treat them right with stimulus, nutrition, and rest, that they can give us adventure and freedom. I want her to know these things from the jump, and not have to find them out at 34 like I did.
So, Iâve also come to see life as an adventure, and Iâm so greedy for it.
There was a moment in the early hours of the morning on that last race when I just started laughing and crying at how fun and ridiculous things can be when you tip up to the buffet of life with an oversize plate.
So friends, as I carry the energy from my pilgrimage from Hope Valley (seriously), I beg you; Be the Augustus Gloop of life. Be greedy with it. Eat up that adventure - whatever it is to you and wherever you find it. Itâs a never ending all-you-can-eat, so dig in, and enjoy every last bite.
Surrender to the adventure, and be here now x
Looking forward to Feb's already!