75 entries for July 2021

A cellular theory of communities

[Communities grow less like linear software products and more like multi-cellular organisms. If the conditions aren't conducive, the entire structure can collapse.]

[It's easier for cells to stay alive when they are smaller. Multi-cellular organisms grow by producing more cells.]

[Might be more strategic to build a large community by connecting many smaller, more intimate micro-communities. Enlarging small groups destroys the qualities that make it potent.]

To scale a community, build lots of special, one-of-a-kind places for a few people at a time, and then work with the most active members to build fast interconnects between them.

Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu

From Black Jesus Experience (2020). Ethiopian jazz with quartal harmonies and a screechy guitar solo.

Kiki Gyan: Disco Dancer

From the Soundway Records compilation 24 Hours in A Disco 1978 – 82 (2018). Body-shaker that sounds like the 70s.

Music from Africa Vol. 2 Shangaan Traditional / Sotho Chant (2015)

Compilation album filled with South African music from the 1980s, mostly disco, except for these first two tracks: Crestina and Alexandra’s triadic pentatonic harmonies and vocal percussion combines moves you from side to side.

Chiwoniso: Zvichapera (2015 single)

Kind of polyrhythmic mbira with powerful vocal doubling in the melody—the lead singer floats on top of the sound as if it were a solid cloud.

Aeolians of Oakwood University: Sabbath Hymn

When I heard Jacob Collier call this the “best choir on earth” last week, I went through some of their recordings. This one From Aeolianology Acappella, Vol. 2 (2015) is a good example of a sound that fills your insides with light, maybe raising your shoulders too. The church chorale and organ textures with jazz voice-leadings on an a cappella album is a testament to the power of the human voice. They also did a variation on Take 6’s classic arrangement of Get Away Jordan.

Michel Freidenson: Notas no Ar (2011)

Gave me a strong signal from the first few notes of the album. It features traditional Brazilian rhythms and instruments mixed with a fresher modern jazz sound. Roda mixes samba and speedy bossa nova with a rare combination of piano melody doubled by trombone; the forro inspired Cosmic For All I can describe as energetic and alive; Je Suis Desolé is a swingy and slightly disjunct blues featuring some stride piano in the intro.

Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound Of Colombia (1962–72)

Compilation from Soundway Records has cowbell, very Latin American brass and reed doubled melodies, shuk-shuk-a-shuk, cumbia, salsa, and maybe some other genres that I don’t know the name of. I should have noted the names of the songs, but instead just decided to let it wash all over me. When I visited in 2018, Colombians told me their country was the land of over a thousand musical styles.

Guinga: Canção da Impermanência (2017)

Part of a genre of Brazilian music that I would describe as ‘beyond genre’. Dripping guitar tones and mostly language-less, this sonic voyage uses traditional voice-leading to create unnameable harmonies. Why are most of my deepest connections with albums under 45 minutes?

Let's talk about baby bonds and generational wealth....

[Americans always do the right thing, after they've tried everything else.]

[When the moral argument fails, appeal to economics: it's generally cheaper to be a good person.]

Positive Sum Worlds: Remaking Public Goods

Greater scale should mean greater good as valued by an increasingly wider set of people: the creation of positive externalities.

[Poor countries are not underdeveloped but overexploited.]