can i just say that the first is always the hardest? like iām not sure what this newsletter will look like, i just kno that iāve wanted to do it for a while. right now iām planning on focusing it on music, but if ur reading this now ur taking the chance that this will probably change! to understand how it was birthed, pls refer to this tweet:
a little about me: my name is alyana and iām a senior political science and english major, and an arts and culture journalist with an interest in music, fan culture, digital media, all thru a racial/ethnic lens! whew long one.
a new decade is coming up (duh) and i decided to stop saying i was gonna do stuff and just do it ā sometimes a leap is all you need. anyways, read further for more music related stuff:
upcoming shows
probably the section of this newsletter that will be the most coherent! rejoice, there will be no typos below. iāll try and post a few weeks before they happen/when they announce, and if anything changes/something else comes up iāll try to update u all
12/6 | Marinara, Jadeworm, Stem Sells, Homunculus Boogie @ Jurassic Thunderdome
12/7 | Twin Peaks @ The Dance ~ text 773-345-7203 for tickets & more info
12/11 | The Wants, Godcaster, Safer, Extra Special @ Our Wicked Lady ~ 21+
12/12 | Noisey Nights w/ Frankie Cosmos and Sir Babygirl @ Villian ~ 21+
12/12 | GRLWOOD @ Alphaville ~ 18+
12/12 | Bottoms, Crickets, Macy Rodman, Nemesister @ The Broadway ~ 21+
12/17 | Model/Actriz w/ Patti and The Silk War @ The Dance ~ 21+
12/20 | Surfbort w/ Bodega and Weeping Icon @ Market Hotel ~ all ages
1/2 | Abu Nights Vol. 2: Perfect Blue - The Release Party by Ntu @ Goldsounds Bar
1/15 | THICK w/ GYMSHORTS @ Rough Trade ~ 18+
2/15 | Habibi (record release) @ Market Hotel ~ all ages
3/12 | Sorry @ Union Pool ~ 21+
3/12 | The Murder Capital @ Knitting Factory ~ all ages
in my queue
this one is pretty literal, but iāll try to keep it to an album or song that i like.
lately iāve been listening to purple albums a lot ā idk why, theyāve just been purple. one that iāve really enjoyed, even tho its been out a while, has been āfamily partyā by knife wife. iāve written a short blurb about it below, feel free to give it a spin!
Knife Wife are a DC trio who craft minimalist punk - but not in the Marie Kondo-esque cathartic and tidy sense of the word. They donāt want to get rid of all the things that donāt bring them joy; theyād rather wallow in the filth. Spoken word lyrics ripple with underlying disgust as they move from deadpan to nearly painful shrieks and yelps. Bratty and apathetic, Knife Wife strip back the melodrama of being a teenage girl to reveal something truly sinister underneath.
song recc: the new double ep ācaught in the webbā by nyc punks gnarcissists is the right combo of angry and judgy (nearly satirical). while i love āeat your youngā because the opening bit is just a frustrated groan that splits into a scream, and āsuffocateā has this pummeling energy to it that makes me want to get into boxing, ābuzzinā has been the song iāve been streaming nonstop during my morning commute. i have no idea what the singer is snarling into the mic, but its catchy. fun fact: i got kicked in the face at one of their shows, and i would still highly recc you see them live
what iāve read
i think the best way to learn something from an article is to write the keywords that provoke the most thought. these are things that i want to think more about in my own work, and get added to the big brain map about the way i think of culture. iāll write the article and an intro, a quote from it that i loved, and the words iām taking away from it. iām gonna try and keep this short, but for more reading reccs follow my twitter!
Normani and the Work of the Pop Princess ~ by Doreen St. FĆ©lix
a review of normaniās vmas performance that was actually more of a thesis on what makes normani so interesting as an artist (gagging cuz the headline makes me think of āpop princessā by the click five)
āNormani is interesting because she forgoes the faux-subversive pose of winking at her own packaging. She sweats showmanship. Entertainment is her world view. She believes. And thatās a risk.ā
keywords: pastiche, revivalist
What the Conversation about Harry Styles Reveals about Queerbaiting ~ by Elly Belle
harry styles has literally been this yearās poster boy for āending toxic masculinityā and i thought it would be good to put this article on his adoption by the queer community in conversation with this other article, and some tweets on the conversation about ānew masculinityā.
āWith our investment in Styles or other celebrities who are likely straight but exude āqueer energy,ā it feels as if weāre looking for a mirror of ourselves, seeking to claim the most popular public figures as our own, and in turn feel more normal and accepted.ā
keywords: queerbaiting, queer icons, presentation
Before Syracuse, There Was Mizzou ~ by Tomi Obaro
iām a senior in college and iāve been thinking a lot about what happens to student movements after i graduate ā how do we keep the urgency long after the leaders graduate? this piece really keys in on that with the 2015 Mizzou protests
āSo what happens to a student movement after its leaders have left campus? And what has ā or hasnāt ā changed for black students and faculty on campus since 2015?ā
keywords: campus activism, Concerned Student 1950, accountability
honorable mention: Why Is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music? ~ by Wesley Morris
i wrote this newsletter at the beginning of the week (during the break) and honestly iām going to be talking about this piece and related ones in my next issue (stay tuned)
what iāve written
i write and whenever thereās a new article iāll link it here, along with a song that i think you should listen to with it!
this time i wrote about the sudden surge of tweets about sex trafficking, harassment, and other gender-based violence. i wrote almost all of it in a rage at 2am in the morning because i was tired of hearing people say āstay safeā and then try and tell me what i canāt do. you can read the article here on the fordham observer.
anyways GRLwood had a song that pretty much encapsulated how women are taught to shrink themselves so that men wonāt hurt them:
āStay inside at night orā you might get shot
Be real nice to mad boys or get shotā
the discourse
this isnāt an original thought (cuz nothing is on the internet) but i truly believe that discourse is born on twitter and then goes to die in someoneās CMS. so this section is to highlight twitter posts/threads that have made me think more! also i saw this last minute and wanted to shoehorn it into this newsletter cuz, wow i need to read more about it!
Osita Nwanevu is a staff writer at New Republic and recently wrote this tweet and then published some sources that they were reading from about this topic. i personally love following Osita because they talk about music and politics, and then as this tweet shows, the intersection of both. please go to the thread for more info, and maybe expect me to be chewing on this info well into the next newsletter ; )
shout-outs
this section is for people who inspire me, and today its Fatimah Nyeema Warner (better known as Noname). iāve seen Warner really grapple with her platform in the past few months, and how she wants to use it. watching her grow, learning from her audience and solidifying what she wants to do with her platform, has been really inspiring. so many times artists get called out for their attitudes/behavior and they donāt use it to grow ā Warner definitely has, changing her name and stance on capitalism in response to fan feedback. iāve been thinking a lot about the discourse of ācancel cultureā (not real) versus āaccountabilityā, and what artists/people in the public sphere are required (expected?) to do with their platform.
also been thinking about how fan culture has always operated on a sense of entitlement to an artistās work, and how this year has seen fan twitter drive multiple black women away from what they love because theyāve made it a toxic endeavor (re: summer walker). warner has said that she will be deleting her twitter account and has promoted her book club, feel free to follow.
questions
you know those songs that have a call and response bit that make concerts fun and participatory? well, this is like the newsletter section of that. sometimes iāll ask for feedback or ask specific questions just becuz. this newsletterās question(s) is:
āDo you have any purple albums youāve been streaming?ā
āWhat song will you be listening to as the new year rings in?ā
you already kno the purple albums iāve been streaming, so hereās the song that has really encapsulated my twentys and i imagine the upcoming decade (not to be a downer)
concluding remarks
this has been fun! thx for subscribing and reading to the end. this is mostly for fun right now, and if it gets too stressful emails may be infrequent but right now iām enjoying putting all my thoughts in one place. expect the next newsletter to have a field report of a show i went to! and maybe iāll use this section as a short thesis on what i want this newsletter to do, or where i imagine it going:
do you remember old school salons where people would go to talk about literally anything they were interested in? this is more inclusive than that, esp. because most people i know donāt always have time to meet up like this on the regular. with that in mind, pls feel free to message me about anything ā if an article makes you want to think further on an issue or you have something similar you think i should read, or if youāve heard new music you want to talk about, send me a message.
disclaimer: i make no money from listing these shows (yet!) or posting about any of the music here; iām actually interested in this stuff. if i list a show itās becuz i would actually go! i also am not in charge of events taking place unless explicitly stated, so always double check any info here.