From Plastic Love to Ipanema
Ear candy and brain candy: from geeking out over bossa nova to spontaneously combusting Amazon Basics devices to a lost prince in Delhi.
2020 is almost over. We’re at the tail end of the 3rd quarter, with no end in sight for the deluge of misfortune and woe that this year has brought upon us. So, of course, what better time than now to serve up a link roundup of the most interesting stuff I’ve come across in the past few weeks?
Ear Candy
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mariya: So, last week I (finally) heard the Japanese pop track from 1984 called “Plastic Love” by Mariyah Takeuchi, and learned its interesting history — how it was a mildly successful track in the mid ’80s but then lay in obscurity, unknown for many years until a fluke in the Youtube algorithm suddenly recommended it to hundreds of people at the same time in 2018. And boom. Renewed interest in the music and the musician. Her career is revived. But the best part is the abundance of cover versions that followed. Possibly the best one is by Caitlin Myers who translated it from Japanese into English and then sang it wonderfully: Plastic Love (English).
Who Can It Be Now?: And since we’re talking about obscure music… someone recorded a song off a German radio station sometime between 1982 and 1984 and could never find out the title or the artist. The search has blossomed into an international hunt for the mysterious artist using a shared spreadsheet, social media, and even its own subreddit. And still… no one knows who sang it or what the title is. It truly is the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet.
Tall, and Tan, and Young and Lovely: Meanwhile, Adam Neely dissects the 2nd most recorded song in all western music: “The Girl from Ipanema.” And when I say dissect, I mean he spends 40 minutes taking it apart piece by piece and analyzing its structure, context, musical theory, history, and more. It’s a true deep dive into what exactly the appeal of bossa nova is and why its subtleties are so timeless on this one track that has more versions of it than could fit on a Youtube playlist.
Dreampop Goes the Weasel: In the early 2000s, I was listening to a Manila band called Sugar Hiccup that was basically doing their own take on Cocteau Twins. Indie shoegaze music. Anyway, I found a 2016 album on Bandcamp that approaches that same genre with modern abandon. Shoegaze dreamy pop band 3D Wow with their album Arctic Desert Tundra.
Like Stock Photos, but for Music: How to compose “corporate” music with no soul. Youtuber Tantacrul dissects the ingredients in making the “stock” music used in all those product ads or big corporation TV spots. And his sarcasm is laced with precise musicality. He nails every cliche by making the tracks from scratch. It’s a masterclass in muzak making.
A Little Bit of Acid42 in My Life: Also, during my free time, I make music. Anyway, I released an album of electronic music last March— mostly quirky electronic downtempo and chillout music for your tired, quarantined ears. The album: Acid42 – Renovatio.
Strange But True
And We’ll Never Be Royals?: If you’re going to read just one long form journalistic story this year, then it has to be this one. It’s the story of a royal Indian family, forced to take shelter in the middle of a jungle in Delhi at the turn of the century. They become recluses and international oddities, stranded between their old reality of royalty and this new reality as people without a home. And the world wonders if they are truly who they say they are. The Jungle Prince of Delhi (NYTimes)
At My Funeral, Please Say This: It all started with a dying man asking someone else to speak at his funeral and say the things the dying man would have wanted to say. And it became so successful and effective that it led to more and similar gigs. His real job? Private investigator. But for this job, he calls himself the Coffin Confessor (Newsweek) and boy, does he have interesting stories to tell.
What a Wonderful World
I Want You to Burn?: Just in case you were wondering if those cheap Amazon Basics electronic parts were too good to be true… Yes, they’re cheap but they’re also quite dangerous. Some even burst into flame and are a fire hazard, according to a CNN report. Dozens of Amazon’s own products have been reported as dangerous — melting, exploding or even bursting into flames. Many are still on the market. Advice: read those customer reviews in DETAIL, particularly the 1 star ones.
You’re So Original: Creativity isn’t about making original things. This ancient text says it’s about integrating art with what’s already there. A compelling read. Excerpt: “This way of thinking about creativity isn’t universal. The Zhuangzi (莊子), a classical Chinese philosophical and literary text, provides a different perspective. On one interpretation, creativity isn’t conceived as aiming at novelty or originality, but rather integration. Instead of aiming at something new, it aims at something that combines well with the situation of which it’s a part.” Abandon Originality to Be Creative.
Zoom-a-zoom-zoom-zoom: Zoom is failing teachers. Here’s how they would redesign it. Of course, knowing tech companies, they’ll ignore this article and these ideas. Teachers don’t give them the highest CLTV, so why should they care? Which opens up the field for a Zoom competitor to tackle only education customers. Anyway, that’s my idea.
Curate, Don’t Hate: Like it even needs saying: Curators are tne New Creators. Because let’s face it, no one has the time to do their own filtering of the vast amounts of interesting stuff on the web. Human curators is where it’s at.
Quick Bites
Pass Your Paper: Home schooling your kids? This lifehack might be useful. How to show documents easily using your laptop’s webcam, a pencil, and any old CD. The idea: use the CD as a makeshift mirror.
Standing By My Window… Tired of the view out of your own window? Open a window to somewhere else in the world using your browser. Window-Swap is basically looping 10-minute videos looking out of someone’s real window somewhere in the world. Surprisingly relaxing. And if you want, you can contribute your own view.
Cheers.
And stay safe out there.