I Went Missing
👋 Long time no see!
Whelp, I'm back, 3 months and 3600 miles later.
It's been 3 months without an Attack & Flux edition. Since then, I have written somewhat sparingly, in sporadic bursts, only really sitting down to write when I needed a tourniquet.
I also made a massive life change. I packed my life into dozens of boxes and moved back East with my wife to Brooklyn, New York, driving though vast swathes of mountain, desert, range, and forest on my way to a new but familiar status quo.
So yeah, it's been a minute, I know. A lot has happened and there's even more to share. That being said, I still feel like I'm caught in the spin cycle and I'm having a hard time collecting my thoughts to properly comment on the carefully executed chaos of the last few months. In fact, it kind of feels like I've forgotten how to write, and that the voice that felt so present prior has come unsaddled and tumbled into a shadowy ravine where it lays crumpled and scraped awaiting rescue. Actually, I guess it can't be that bad if I can vividly allude to my writing voice as a horse-back riding cowboy who's down on his luck.
I chuckled and read that last passage aloud proudly to my wife, following up with a confident volley of finger guns. She stared back blankly, unimpressed by my metaphor, and even more unamused by my humor. I then read that last sentence to her even more proudly and followed it up with an even more animated set of finger guns, she leaked a smile and returned fire, balance is restored.
It feels good to be back in the writers chair on a rainy Saturday in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I'm going to keep this weeks edition short and sweet, I really just wanted to break the ice and say Hello. Next week, I intend to bring you guys back up to speed by reflecting on the weeks leading up to the big life event, expect excerpts from my personal journal and of course, great tunes as company. Speaking of tunes, let's get down to business.
🎧 A Song to Study
Luke De-Sciscio is a recent discovery of mine and as such, I don't know anything about him, nor do I have formidable and long-standing memories to pair with his music. That doesn't mean I can't reference new ones though. I can tell you that when I discovered this song, it was a rainy night in LA and I was stuck at a red-light. The black-top wedding the Wilshire and La Brea intersection together was slicked and mirrored, it stretched the red, green, and yellow colors of street lamps and traffic lights into a slippery and dazzling array. I remember squinting and marveling at how it married land and sky temporarily into a neon polluted reflecting pool for the senses. I distinctly remember feeling an intense melancholy as I pondered our rapidly approaching move from LA. We had but a few weeks left.
I remember hearing how Luke's voice fluttered as he stretched words, not too different from how Jeff Buckley added further elasticity into his delivery. I remember exclaiming "Yesssss, that's beautiful" in response to Luke's cathartic song structure as I reached for the silver, grooved volume knob and dared my Volvo's speaker system to move closer to its limit. I can't describe adequately what it is about this song that struck me so, I think it has something to do with the layered repetition that sets on towards the end of the song. Let me know if you relate, would love to chat about it.
🏡 An Album to Live In
This might be the easiest and quickest album listen that I have recommended to date. Enigmatic Society, released a few short weeks ago, is the 3rd album from the woefully talented supergroup that consists of Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, and 9th Wonder. The three former mentions being some of the most highly lauded preeminent contemporary jazz musicians we have contributing to the scene today. The latter is well, 9th Wonder, a giant of hip-hop production and sampling whose sound fueled countless legends and many more aspiring SoundCloud rappers.
That may scare you, but I assure you, this is not a challenging listen, nor would I even chalk it up as a jazz album. It is incredibly pleasant and breezy. It sounds like a spiritual successor of the music that was made in the famed Soulquarian takeover of Electric Lady Studios in the early 2000s. This music is head-bopping, jazz laced, funk fueled, Neo-Soul shit. If you like D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, SZA, and Frank Ocean you will love this short listen. This music's only wish for you is:
Don't worry about it
You've had a long day
Just don't say nothing
I've got your shift today
Just take a second, breathe.
Enjoy.
👋 Until next time...
I understand how sacred privacy is in our day and I feel tremendously honored when someone trusts me enough to let me into their inbox week after week. Thanks for being here ❤️.
