Against Substack, but still using it, the way we still use Google, Verizon, gasoline, Visa and Mastercard, and so many other Very Bad Things
Many new episodes of Sounds Coming Out of the Land, two reviews on Resident Advisor, general announcement about the past being dead, tapes being canceled, and a spring "mixtape" on the way.
Hi! Check it out: I know I said I was leaving Substack and called not leaving Substack ‘lazy’ in my new year’s newsletter, but I’ve legitimately been struggling for three full months to figure out a solution to this problem that works, and it just hasn’t happened. I’m extremely busy, I have a lot of work to do, and I haven’t found anything that seems better. While I’m not writing newsletters, all of the work I am doing is getting lost in the void. We can’t just wait for solutions to emerge; we have to keep moving. So, this is me doing that.
What have I done in the last three months? Well, I was really broke through the whole winter pinching mega pennies to pay my property taxes and not lose the house I spent the whole last year of my life securing, so I could focus on the work of my book about Northeast Ohio. I was trying to make my first book of essays to help raise money, but then it became clear to me that (a) it wasn’t going to be a reliable enough way to make money to warrant focusing on it, and (b) I don’t need to write an essay about the future of music and music journalism, I can just be the solution. So, I’m working on a new century of CLE magazine with Jim Ellis. The solution is to go back to the fucking hive underground and really insist on the world we want to live in by combining our own collective resources to create it. Cleveland is the beginning and it’s also the end: the solution is the Cleveland Renaissance I came back here to facilitate.
Here are some updates on things I have created in 2024 so far….
Three new radio shows:
#10: The Blues Come From Way Back
#11: Mr. Stress Blues Band, Pt. 1
#12: April Genius Day Extravaganza
They are all available to be directly downloaded for free on the radio show page of my website. I just finished the latest, which is a celebration of my birth and being from Cleveland and shit that I love relating to these ideas. Please celebrate me by checking it out, but beware in advance that it is hopelessly self-indulgent. I’ve been getting really stressed out about doing research for my radio show, to the point that I was going to cancel it this month, and I had to remind myself that it is my show and I make it for free and it’s my birthday, so I will be doing whatever I want, and I’m probably going to try to maintain this attitude going forward and spend less time feeling stuck and anxious and just go. It’s the way. You just have to begin. Fuck the plan.
I do have to say that while I had a lot of technical challenges with the making of this show, I’m really proud of it and it’s probably the best one I have made so far. It will be broadcasting tomorrow morning (Easter Sunday!) at 10:00 Land Time and 16:00 ‘Dam Time on Echobox Radio, as ever.
I also reviewed a couple serious bangers for Resident Advisor, the Optimo 25 compilation and the latest EP from Gesloten Cirkel. I’m only reviewing music that is actually really interesting to me, so it may take a while for more to trickle in. I think we’re all tired of living in the sort of world where editors ask you to write something no one else wants to write, because they feel an obligation to cover it, even though it has moved no one enough to want to write something about it, including them. Fuck that world. Bangers only.
Oh, and a major revelation! One of very many. I’ve had so many recently. Tapes are cancelled. I’m not making them anymore. I don’t have time and I can’t find any that don’t sound like shit. While cobalt mining is also necessary to the internet and all digital media, I can’t really personally do anything about how completely reliant our societies have made themselves on that. I can 100% absolutely not make tapes, though, so I’m not going to. I used to think tapes were essential to my magic practice, but I figured out that all I need is the raw power of amplification. The tapes also are not necessary anymore. They are from a part of my life that is over, but I will always return to the tapes that have resulted. They are an incredible guide. Thank you to everyone who participated in the project.
Spring 2024//behind your eyes has been in the works since February and is still not done. We’ve already been through many iterations and possibilities. We are not rushing this one; we are letting it unfold. Please enjoy many other great things I have created as a substitute in the meanwhile, if you are hungry for more!
Lastly, please celebrate my birth by listening to the 12” extended dance mix version of “Why Can’t I Be You?,” from the greatest maxi single of all time, very appropriately released during the month and year of my birth. It’s the best song I’ve ever heard and it’s in heavy rotation every April Genius Day. A percussive paradise.
<3 EMD