December 1, 2023

A Cluster of Stars

Friends,

Bitter cold is ceding to rain here in Portland, so I've been trying to stay warm while doing DJ bizness in the basement. This is a very Portland problem.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR CONTENDERS

It's too early for me to put the wraps on the year and declare for all-time my favorites, as December always includes a few sneaky or startling good records. It's also the best time of year for music journalism and a chance to catch all of the stuff that I missed. I look forward to reading the year-end lists of my favorite journalists, publications, and friends.

I can, however, give you a little peak at my favorite records, as the year stands right now.

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An Elegy for Bandcamp

My worries about demise of Bandcamp may be wild exaggeration, but I don't trust the platform to change for the better or remain static going forward. Today is the last Bandcamp Friday of the year, so the last day you can put some bucks directly into the hands of artists.

As always, you can scope my bandcamp collection & wishlist until the platform crashes. Here's what I'm recommending:

Slick Devious // Mister Psycho

Soop Dread & Rev. Shines // Shine I Dread

MIKE // Burning Desire

[bryson the alien] // KUMA

Little Brother // "Wish Me Well" b/w "Glory Glory"

Luvjonez // NiTE LiTES

Milc & Televangel // The Fish That Saved Portland

AJ Suede & steel tipped dove // Reoccurring Characters

Armand Hammer // We Buy Diabetic Test Strips

Shabazz Palaces // Robed in Rareness

mary sue // For Sure

DJ MIX

I've compiled a mix of songs I've been digging from some of these releases listed above into a spacey, blunted testament to the uncaring universe.

⁂ ASTERISM *

DOWNLOAD // STREAM // SPOTIFY // TIDAL

1. AJ Suede & steel tipped dove "One Way Ticket [ft. Premrock & Fatboi Sharif]"

2. Pink Siify & Turich Benjy "Jeff Hamilton..'!!"

3. Soop Dread "Nardwuar of Nas Bars"

4. [bryson the alien] "PINTO"

5. MIKE "plz don't cut my wings [ft. Earl Sweatshirt]"

6. Chester Watson "chasing clouds / summer blues - A COLORS SHOW"

7. Earl Sweatshirt "Mancala [ft. Vince Staples]"

8. Little Brother "Glory Glory"

9. Luvjonez "THROW DOWN"

10. MIKE, Wiki, & the Alchemist "Memory Loss"

11. Armand Hammer "Niggardly (Blocked Call)"

12. Shabazz Palaces "Hustle Crossers"

13. Westside Gunn "KITCHEN LIGHTS"

14. Milc & Televangel "Glory"

15. mary sue "Higher Selves"

16. Slick Devious "Jumbotron [ft. AJ Suede]"

17. Lost Son "It's Been Raining"

♡♡ Love to Carl Sagan ♡♡

"Oh yeah... well, tell it to Earth"

--the dumbest fucking guy
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PHOTOS

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LINKS

• Taylor Rubright on Chester Watson's new album Fish Don't Climb Trees.
  Chester Watson performing his new single/medley on COLORS.

• Blake Gillespie on AJ Suede

• Judnick Maynard on Navy Blue

• Marcus J. Moore writes for the NYT about Armand Hammer.

• A great piece on the Replacements from Racket.

• Andre Gee on Earl Sweatshirt for Rolling Stone.

• Al Pierre's loving review of Too $hort's Gettin' It for Pitchfork.

• Excellent review of Old Grape God's latest album Cabernet Slayer for Eleven PDX.

• ESSENTIAL piece from Martin Douglas on the KEXP blog about Milc, one of Portland's greatest rappers.

• Craig Jenkins interviews Danny Brown.

• Damon Krukowski on Spotify's coming royalty change that will decimate already paltry payments to a majority of people that make music.

• Albert Burneko, one of my favorite journalists/writers alive, explains how fuckin' dumb Elon is for Defector.

• The Climate Crisis and Colonialism Destroyed my Home

• Maui utility may have compromised evidence in fire probe, lawyers say

• Hawaii utility faces collapse as others delay on extreme weather risks

⁂

Take care,

DJ MR. MOM

North Portland, OR

Nov 30, 2023