Issue 5: Monk
Welcome to the fifth issue of Everything Is Made Up.
“The piano ain't got no wrong notes.”
Good morning/afternoon/evening to everyone. This is the fifth issue of my newsletter. Blah, blah, preamble.
I’m on a roll; second week without a delay. But enough about that.
This week’s issue is dedicated to Thelonious Monk purely because he was the next artist on my list for naming rights. Monk's was known for his penchant for the dissonant and percussive style on the piano. It was enough for a racist critic to call him “the elephant on the keyboard”. Any musician who can upset a racist is a good musician in my book.
Okay, enough foolishness. Let’s begin.
For The Mind
The Limitations of Language Apps - Duolingo is helping me learn Portuguese and refresh my Spanish and French. While I’m nowhere near fluent, I love being able to read stuff in a new language and feel a rush of joy when I understand it. But it won’t make me fluent. Jason Kottke picked up a NYT article about the limitations of language apps like Duolingo in teaching you how to speak a foreign language. The CEFR is a standard for language proficiency. The levels are Basic (A1 & A2), Independent (B1 & B2), and Proficient (C1 & C2). According to the CEFR, Level B1 “starts to introduce more complex ideas like explaining their opinions, dreams, and ambitions, or handling complex tasks while traveling”. Apps like Duolingo are unlikely to get you past this into C1 and C2. That’s why speaking to native speakers and getting feedback can help. With my social anxiety, I’d feel uncomfortable doing that on a video app so I’ll just have to keep visiting Lisbon every year.
The Art of Not Having an Opinion - I’m very opinionated on Twitter. I’m not as vocal in real life but that’s a confidence thing. But I ask myself whether I need to have a opinion on certain things and whether I need to voice them. Different things matter to different people and levels of agency in discussing them will vary with audience and timing. I rarely talk about celebrity deaths if I don’t have a significant connection with the person but many do regardless of this. Philip Ellis has reduced his opinionated output for the sake of his health.
Responding to world events began to feel like a race to have the most insightful takeaway. The impulse to formulate a hot take become more informed by a rush of endorphins than inspired by genuine activism.
There are deeper nuances about who gets to speak and how loudly but that’d be another discussion for another day.
Why do people with depression like listening to sad music? - I do it often. It’s almost morbid sometimes - wanting to intensify the feeling and disappear in it. “Nobody gets me but this song does.” But research suggests that people with depression can find sad music calming or uplifting. According to Big Think:
The research involved 38 female undergrads diagnosed with depression and 38 non-depressed female undergrad controls. The participants listened to 30-second excerpts of sad ("Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber" and "Rakavot" by Avi Balili), happy and neutral music, and stated which they would prefer to listen to again in the future. Yoon and his team found that their depressed participants were more likely to choose the sad music clips.
When asked why:
The majority of the participants with depression who favoured sad music said that they did so because it was relaxing, calming or soothing.
More research needs to be done but I guess this makes sense.
For The Ears
Rhye - Spirit
This only came out on Friday but it is gorgeous. Minimal, piano-driven, and Mike Milosh’s voice is exquisite.
Thundercat - Them Changes
The Spotify algorithm knows me well. It reminded me of this song on Friday and I’ve had it on repeat ever since.
Robyn - Ever Again
I forgot to listen to Robyn’s last album as part of my yearly listening schedule but my girlfriend put me onto this and I loved it. Real 80s vibe.
For The Feet
Dennis Bergkamp’s goal against Argentina in 1998 - It was Bergkamp’s birthday on Friday and I remember watching this live in a my mum’s friend’s flat in Bradford. I couldn’t believe the first touch, the flick past the defender, and the finish. Absolute scenes.
Janet Jackson dancing with MJ at his VMA tribute in 2009 - I watched this live too and flipped the fuck out. Screaming and thrashing. Do you know how much emotional strength it must take to dance with a video of your brother after his death in front of millions? I can only imagine. Skip to 1:53 to see it.
Breakin' Turbo Broom Dance - The most iconic dance you’ll ever seen with a broom. That moonwalk is as cold as ice and the “floating” broom (unfortunately you can see the strings in one scene) is amazing.
Well I’m gonna make like a banana and split. Thanks for reading and join me next time for more of the same. Any comments or suggestions, get in touch!