Recently, while hanging out at a playground with my son, someone stole my bag. It was just right there, and then it wasn’t. After scouring the area to make sure I hadn’t simply misplaced it, I texted my partner ‘omg someone stole my bag’. She replied with ‘WTF’ and ‘was your iPod in it?’. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t think much of it. But now, with a bit of distance from the shock of it all, I gotta say: she rrrrreeeeaallly gets me.
Sure, I lost my wallet and my glasses, which is both annoying and costly. But I honestly think if I had lost my iPod, I would have been much more devastated. The 80g iPod Classic has been my central tool for listening to music since its release in 2007. I have a real sentimental attachment / relationship with it.
Downloading, organizing, tagging and uploading music is a serious, time consuming part of my life. I’m sorta stuck in my ways. I like the late nite, half-baked sifting sessions. And I’ve grown accustomed to the amount of commitment, memory and knowledge the iPod music collection requires: not as much as a physical library, but more than a streaming service algo-brain. Lots more to say on this and associated topics, but since I took last month off, let’s get straight to this month’s selections shall we?
click the covers to listen or go your own way ~~
Don Carlos And Gold - Them Never Know Natty Dread Have Him Credential (1982)
One of my happy places is cooking eggs. Soft, slow, Sunday mornings. Sweatpants. Black tea. 2-3 houseguests. And hey: I’m no expert. Just a passionate amateur. I’m pretty good at it though my techniques are somewhat limited. But I’ll let you in on a little secret: you can’t spell reggae without ‘egg’. Ya get me?
Johnny Alf - Ele é Johnny Alf (1971)
This is another album where I’m really struggling to imagine someone who’d be mad at it. Like, it’s so fucking good and nice and BEAUTIFUL. I knew basically nothing about Johnny Alf before setting to write this blurb, so I won’t pretend at any kind of depth here. Apparently he’s one of the (few?) people who can legitimately stake a claim as having invented bossa nova, or at least recorded the first bossa song: 1955’s Rapaz De Bem. He purportedly refused the genre tag over the years, despite being a major influence on the sound for the decades to come. If you’re so inclined, read more about Alf with this great NYT article.
The Judds - Why Not Me? (1984)
Ok this one you’re allowed to not like, but why wouldn’t you? The songs! The performances! The production! My god: the hair… all completely top notch. Could the Judds be the greatest parent-child musical project of all-time? I humbly seek your counter proposals. And if you do give that category a ponder, be sure to check out Newcastle Upon Tyne’s father-daughter duo Yeah You, who are an acquired taste of an entirely different variety.
Malik Abdul-Rahmaan - Field Research Malaysia (2017)
I can think of a handful of hip-hop records that take the sounds of a particular country / region as an overarching theme (Madlib’s Beat Konducta In India, for instance). It’s a form that feels inevitable considering the history of sampling, musicology, exotica records, dollar bins and the industrialization of music more broadly. However, never have I heard such a rich, nuanced take on the idea than this collection from Brooklyn’s Malik Abdul-Rahmaan. The album is a reflection on the producer’s time spent crate digging, wandering, listening and recording the many sounds and textures of Malaysia. And damn, it’s a trip.
Tina - Are You Bout It? (1997)
This certified, heavyweight, cult classic really needs no additional commentary from me beyond a refrain of its titular provocation: are you, in actual fact, ‘bout it?
ICYMI, I started a donations page for Regular Readers: Buy Me A Tape. All the money I receive will go back towards music (eg. purchasing physical/digital music, merch, concert tickets, supporting other music outlets, etc.). If you’re not able to support the newsletter financially, no presh! You might also consider liking / sharing / following on Instagram.
ALSO, I started a ~*fun*~ tracking sheet that provides transparency on donations and spending. It includes a list of great tapes currently for sale as well as links to my Bandcamp + Discogs profiles. This is as much about accountability as it is an experiment in tracking my own financial investments in music over a calendar year.
I’m super interested in feedback / dialogue / suggestions. If you have ideas about the newsletter, want to share music with me, have specific questions / requests, don’t hesitate to get in touch. And please: share this newsletter with a pal if you feel so inspired!
Yrs.,
Andrew P.
andrewdanielpatterson [at] gmail [dot] com