On the list of music I think you should listen to

This is guaranteed to be the least read post on low impact fruit

Low impact fruit is all about the fruits of labor and music is certainly labor. In fact any kind of cultural output has some kind of both manual and emotional labor put into it. From my own work, rainy-city.com was something I stressed about for years before making it and there is so much left to do (for example, get yourself excited for rainy-city-radio). But this post isn’t about me, it’s about music I want you to listen to. It’s always strange to write words about music. It’s something you listen and experience. But here we are. I imagine this will be the least read post of all time on low impact fruit.

Bristol new wave jazz

One day when walking around the city of Bristol, which is quite hilly, Rory and I came to the top of a hill where we were greeted with a creamy treat. It was a hot day, we thought, why not have a creamy treat? But then we realized, they were sitting at the top of this hill because they knew we would want a creamy treat. So then we decided, no, we would not have our minds influenced by such clever placement of creamy treats. Although that being said, that dude sure looks like he was enjoying that moment. Maybe it was due to a creamy treat?

A couple years ago I joined a project at University of Bristol called 4Dmodeller. It was supposed to be an extension of the R-INLA package for Bayesian spatiotemporal modeling. This kind of modelling usually requires a lot of domain expertise in statistics to make it work. We were hoping to relax those requirements. I don’t think we were successful. However I discovered a music scene that you should know about.

My colleague who I had been working with at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution told me that I should meet his wife’s sisters cousins son named Rory Geisow. Rory is an accomplished musician in Bristol and we seemed to have a vibe that would click. So i emailed Rory and we agreed to meet. And man was my colleague correct! Rory introduced me to a music scene in Bristol that is worth listening to. I wouldn’t call it jazz it’s something else. But you can hear the jazz inside of it.

First up is Hippo. Hippo is the brainchild of Doug Cave. He has this setup where he controls everything and a band that can only be described as mathematical. I love the attack that comes in all the songs. The heaviness grabs you. Hope they keep making music because the live show sticks in your brain.

Second is Zoobers. An amazing collection of keyboards (Dorian), this like electronic xylophone thing (Harriet), and drums, Zoobers creates this electro-ambient happiness movement where every chime rings inside of you. Zoobers is such a vibe. In their shows you get this amazing crescendo across the entire set where you go from this jazzy light hearted feeling to full on techno dance hall. Unfortunately they didn’t make more than this album but every song is good and definitely deserves more views than it got on YouTube.

Now I want to contrast this music with someone not from Bristol but captures a similar vibe. That’s Animus Rexx. Animus Rexx was a touring group that was Justin Tyson (drums), Randy Runyon (guitar), BigYuki (keys), and Reuben Cainer (bass). I saw them in Berlin after listening to some of BigYuki’s work. I put animus Rexx here because I remember talking with the band after their show and describing their music as “post jazz” in reference to post rock bands like mono. There is a bluesy melancholy to their music that’s hard to capture anywhere else. I feel like they fit the Bristol scene even though they are from Brooklyn.

Ukrainian music

This will probably be basic. It includes a Eurovision group! But still you should listen. And we should support Ukraine. I realize this is a political statement, but I don’t care this is my online magazine. Ukraine is the front line of the war on democracy. There are people who want to take away our freedoms and convert the world to a police state for their own self interests. Ukrainians are giving their lives so that we don’t have to live in that world. They need more than any of us have given. They are heroes. Ukraine is at the center of the future of the entire world. If Ukraine falls then the rest will go too. They are our brothers and sisters who want to live a free and liberal life like is enjoyed in countries like Norway or the Netherlands. I am mostly at a loss as to what to do to help Ukraine more. If you want to support you can start by giving money to UNITED24 or Nova Ukraine.

Haunting vocals, whistling melody, and pumping drums and bass, Go_A captures an emotion that always grabs me whenever I hear them. I know Eurovision music is basic I don’t care. Listen to them. Support Ukrainian artists.

Dakka Brahka creates new from old. A quartet from Kyev, they combine a traditional sound with a modern electronic layering. And they were on NPR tiny desk, I mean come on they have to be good right? Also they have cool hats. I am excited to see them in Paris soon. I hope they wear their hats.

5nizza is a play on words. In Russian and Ukrainian the word Friday is пятница, which is Pyatnitsa if you cannot read their alphabet. Пять/pyat also means the number 5. So their bands name sounds like “Friday” because friday is the fifth day of the week unless you are basic and think the week starts on a Sunday. I was quite pleased with myself when I figured this out without a native speaker to explain it to me. They remind me of Sublime. Saw them on tour recently. That was a great show.

Weird internet meme music

I believe that many think because of the plurality and access to the internet that internet culture transcends local culture. But that notion will evaporate as soon as you see people in Taiwan use a BBS in 2016 or the Russian speaking world use telegram and you will see that local and language culture is intrinsically a part of internet culture. Internet music usually is ironic, a meme, a kind of comment on something that probably is unrecoverable from whatever forum or personal conversation it sprung from.

I love this song. I love the flute. I love the little dude dancing around. I love his glasses. Everything about this is my vibe. The energy. The dancing. I literally bought a recorder so that I could run through the forest playing it. I have since suffered as I have not played as much as I want. If you know me and want to run through the forest playing a flute with me, drop into my DMs.

Stuff that reminds me of musicals without having to watch a whole musical

Kimbra is a New Zealand pop singer. You probably know her because she was in the Gotye video “Somebody that I used to know”. But I love her music. She has great videos and it is super fun. The dancing, the outfits, her hair, I love how red she is here. And this song is so happy. I also would recommend “Come into my head” where she is a crazy person in the video. This video also has amazing outfits. Also, “Settle Down” which is about the anxiety of being a house wife. It is a total vibe. Kimbra is great. I love her music videos.

MØ is a danish pop star who became like the positive version of Tove Lo for me. All of Tove lo’s songs feel like self destruction to me (which is why they are in the self destruction section), but MØ sounds are all happy and fun. Look her up and listen to all of her music. It is good.

Self Destruction

There is something romantic about self destruction. Movies like Requiem for a Dream, Goodfellas, or Spun always kind of spoke to me. But everyone has their genre of music that speaks to them when they are feeling self destructive I suppose.

Tove Lo’s Stay High Hippie Sabotage remix is probably what everyone knows because it has billions of views on youtube but I think I like Disco Tits more. It captures the kind of whimsy party nonsense of Tove Lo’s message. Basically, do whatever feels good because life is going to zoom by. But since it is age rated and wont play except on youtube, you can click the link to watch so that the video below has an image. hah.

Once, when i was depressed and falling to pieces, my friend Simon told me that I should listen to the song Twilight Zone by Golden Earring and find the hidden meaning. I watched this video over and over and over searching for the hidden meaning. I cataloged every frame of the video and contrasted it to the lyrics. Trying to understand. Begging to understand. Weeks went by as I worked on this. Eventually I came back to Simon and said that I was sorry but I could not find the hidden meaning. He told me there wasn’t any but he figured it would distract me long enough to do something other than the self destruction I was pursuing.

What songs do you love? Message in a way you know how and tell me.

John Aiken has a PhD in physics, is editor-in-chief of low impact fruit, mayor of rainy-city.com, a Recurser, and passionate about saving the whales. John likes music and wants to know what you like too. Currently John lives in The Netherlands, happily hacking away at various problem spaces usually related to computers.