484 entries for 2021

Designing our way out of this mess

[People with this knowledge are not in front of computers most of the day, so what is available does not reflect the knowledge.]

How I write

[After grouping fragments of your idea, and before writing a draft, bring it up when talking to smart people and try to get their feedback or disagreements. This is part of allowing time to work in your favour and helps you find the right words or way to express in more permanent form.]

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.]