issue 36 - heartbeat highway

head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!

issue 35 - the GRAMMYs special

a special joint tag-team recap of everything you missed on the GRAMMYs!

and

Feb 11, 2024

today we’re bringing you special joint coverage of this year’s GRAMMY awards, and inviting Paul from

philed by paul.

back to join us in the FRESH writer’s room!

here’s a quick rundown of how this issue will work:

before the show, we each wrote our own personal predictions for who we thought the most likely winner would be in various categories
Paul will be focusing on the hip hop categories, and i (wing) will be focusing on the electronic ones - but we’ll both chime in on ones here and there
after the show aired, we came back to our predictions and added further afterthoughts!

let’s get into it!

FRESH: GRAMMYS 2024

i can be your angle or yuor devil, GRAMMYs version

Best New Artist: This category recognizes an artist whose eligibility-year release(s) achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and notably impacted the musical landscape.

Nominees:

Gracie Abrams
Fred again..
Ice Spice
Jelly Roll
Coco Jones
Noah Kahan
Victoria Monét (WINNER)
The War And Treaty

pre-show wing: i’m obviously biased, but i have to root for the man of the year Fred again.. here. the past two years have truly exploded him into the general public music consciousness, whilst still taking over the electronic world by storm with Skrillex and Four Tet as Pangbourne House Mafia.

Pre-Show Paul: I’ll have to pick Ice Spice for this one - based on popularity. She’s a name I saw anywhere and everywhere over the past year. She did some huge collabs - including one with Nicki Minaj for the biggest movie of 2023, Barbie. However, I would personally love to see Victoria Monét win. She’s gone from being a songwriter for chart topping artists to becoming a talented artist in her own right. Her album Jaguar II was one of my favorites from 2023 and the rollout, music videos, etc she did for it were done with the utmost intentionality.

Post-Show Paul: WOOHOO! She won! And the speech she gave was excellent. It was beautiful to hear her talk about how she had put in work of all kinds for 15 years to reach this moment.

post-show wing: congrats to Ms Monét!! well deserved for sure.

Best Dance/Electronic Recording: For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances. Vocal or Instrumental. Singles or tracks only.

Nominees:

Aphex Twin - Blackbox Life Recorder 21F
Disclosure - Higher Than Ever Before
James Blake - Loading
Romy & Fred Again.. - Strong
Skrillex, Fred Again.. & Flowdan - Rumble (WINNER)

pre-show wing: once again, my money is on Pangbourne House Mafia here. Rumble was the song you couldn’t avoid hearing at any show this past year no matter where you went, let alone the countless bootleg remixes from producers left and right. i do have a very soft spot for Strong though, and it’s wonderful to see Disclosure get a nod from their fantastically underrated album Alchemy. James Blake and Aphex Twin are also electronic staples, so all in all great nominations here.

post-show wing: right on the money!! loved what Skrillex mentioned in his speech about Rumble coming from a place of him, Fred Again.. and Flowdan simply making music that they love together to push culture forward, instead of trying to make music for the sake of making a hit.

Best Pop Dance Recording: For solo, duo, group or collaborative performances. Vocal or Instrumental. Singles or tracks only.

Nominees:

Baby Don't Hurt Me - David Guetta, Anne-Marie & Coi Leray
Miracle - Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding
Padam Padam - Kylie Minogue (WINNER)
One In A Million - Bebe Rexha & David Guetta
Rush - Troye Sivan

pre-show wing: i confess that neither David Guetta song has come across my sphere of attention as of yet. i’m heavily rooting for Troye here, though i personally argue that Got Me Started deserves the title instead of its popular big brother Rush - it’s got that layer of rare genuine heartfelt emotion that Rush is missing for me. i did also enjoy Calvin Harris’ take on pop-trance this year, definitely had its fun sing-along moments at shows!

post-show wing: not my personal favorite, but i do get why Padam Padam won out here. going to just slide this lovely HAAi remix of it here for your listening pleasure!

Best Dance/Electronic Music Album: For vocal or instrumental albums. Albums only.

Nominees:

Playing Robots Into Heaven - James Blake
For That Beautiful Feeling - The Chemical Brothers
Actual Life 3 (January 1 - September 9 2022) - Fred again.. (WINNER)
Kx5 - Kx5
Quest For Fire - Skrillex

pre-show wing: my hands remain tied because Actual Life 3 was the definitive late 2022-2023 album for me personally. objectively, it feels like Fred’s magnum opus after his first two album offerings, in terms of sonic but also thematic and lyrical cohesion. the tracklist of Actual Life 3 flows like a series of audio diary entries, incredibly intimate and quietly profound.

that said, i reckon Skrillex and Kx5 have a run for the money here - albums that also made a solid impact in the electronic music consciousness this year. seeing the legends The Chemical Brothers nominated is also a great sight.

post-show wing: wow, frankly i’m a little pleasantly shocked that Fred actually bagged this one! the man himself didn’t make an in-person appearance at the GRAMMYs, hasn’t acknowledged his win on his socials and instead has continued business-as-usual in the studio, teasing us with new music. like Skrillex said in his speech - for the culture and the love, not the hits or fame!

Best Remixed Recording: A Remixer's Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses for identification.) Singles or Tracks only.

Nominees:

Alien Love Call - BADBADNOTGOOD, remixers (Turnstile & BADBADNOTGOOD Featuring Blood Orange)
New Gold (Dom Dolla Remix) - Dom Dolla, remixer (Gorillaz Featuring Tame Impala & Bootie Brown)
Reviver (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix) - Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, remixer (Lane 8)
Wagging Tongue (Wet Leg Remix) - Wet Leg, remixers (Depeche Mode) (WINNER)
Workin' Hard (Terry Hunter Remix) - Terry Hunter, remixer (Mariah Carey)

pre-show wing: i love some Dom Dolla, but i have to root for TEED and Lane 8 here! i remember being blown away by this remix when i first heard it way back in October 2022 for several reasons: 1) that TEED was even remixing a Lane 8 song, 2) that TEED was now making breakbeat remixes, and 3) that Lane 8’s label This Never Happened was now releasing breakbeat tracks (for context: their usual wheelhouse is primarily deep house and progressive!)

post-show wing: again, not my personal favorite but congrats to the tag-team of Alt-Rock British winners here!

Best Rap Performance: For a Rap performance. Singles or Tracks only.

Nominees:

The Hillbillies - Baby Keem feat. Kendrick Lamar
Love Letter - Black Thought
Rich Flex - Drake and 21 Savage
SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS - Killer Mike feat. Andre 300, Future and Eryn Allen Kane (WINNER)
Players - Coi Leray

Pre-Show Paul: Out of all the songs here, the best performance came from Keem and Kendrick. Their bouncy flows as they traded bars gave the song an infectious energy that made it a joy to listen to every time. The technical prowess of “SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS” would be appreciated in a perfect world but a song like this being nominated is still a win. “Rich Flex” was certainly popular however, so it could go to Drake (who doesn’t care about GRAMMYs btw) and 21 too.

Post-Show Paul: Well this was genuinely surprising! As I said, Killer Mike’s song winning would happen in a perfect world but it did. Obviously, the world isn’t truly perfect but I am pleasantly surprised they chose this song. Several parts came together for this song and each person did perform at a high level.

Best Melodic Rap Performance: For a solo or collaborative performance containing both elements of R&B melodies and Rap.

Nominees:

Sittin’ On Top Of The World - Burna Boy feat. 21 Savage
Attention - Doja Cat
Spin Bout U - Drake & 21 Savage
All My Life - Lil Durk feat. J.Cole (WINNER)
Low - SZA

Pre-Show Paul: I’m picking “Low” for this one because it combines the rap and R&B elements most easily. Most of the others all have rapped verses and sung choruses. While this is a “combination” for sure, “Low” finds SZA using a consistent rap-sung flow throughout the whole song. The ad-libs from Travis Scott that pop in (and the fact he doesn’t have a verse) help showcase how this one brought the Rap and R&B elements together seamlessly without segmenting them. However, “All My Life” has a strong sentimental angle and Durk does deliver a rap-sung flow that’s common for him.

Post-Show Paul: This one isn’t quite surprising. As I said, it does contain Durk’s rap-sung flow which does include elements of Rap and R&B. The track also contains yet another widely praised verse from J. Cole. I’m not mad at this winning at all.

Best Rap Song: A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.

Nominees:

Attention - Rogét Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini & Ari Starace, songwriters (Doja Cat)
Barbie World [From Barbie The Album] - Isis Naija Gaston, Ephrem Louis Lopez Jr. & Onika Maraj, songwriters (Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice Featuring Aqua)
Just Wanna Rock - Mohamad Camara, Symere Woods & Javier Mercado, songwriters (Lil Uzi Vert)
Rich Flex - Brytavious Chambers, Isaac "Zac" De Boni, Aubrey Graham, J. Gwin, Anderson Hernandez, Michael "Finatik" Mule & Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, songwriters (Drake & 21 Savage)
SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS - Andre Benjamin, Paul Beauregard, James Blake, Michael Render, Tim Moore & Dion Wilson, songwriters (Killer Mike Featuring André 3000, Future And Eryn Allen Kane) (WINNER)

Pre-Show Paul: Now for this category, I could see “SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS” winning. Out of all those choices, it is the most complex and involved from a songwriter’s perspective. Doja Cat’s song did an excellent job of establishing her new era through its lyrics however, Killer MIke’s track was more involved in who it brought together and what they rapped and sang. “Just Wanna Rock” may be the most instantly recognizable but is surely not lyrically elaborate. “Rich Flex” birthed a meme (as Drake’s music often does) but at the end of the day, is nothing special lyrically despite having an engaging arrangement.

Post-Show Paul: I was right about my prediction with this one! Songwriting is a layered topic in the rap world but this track comes from a rap purist. It’s always interesting to hear different types of artists bring their voices to one track but what they say is key. They have to say things that compliment what everyone on the song says.

Best Rap Album: For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new rap recordings.

Nominees:

Her Loss - Drake & 21 Savage
MICHAEL- Killer Mike (WINNER)
HEROES & VILLAINS - Metro Boomin
King's Disease III - Nas
UTOPIA - Travis Scott

Pre-Show Paul: This is always the most difficult one to predict. HEROES & VILLAINS certainly had appearances from many of the hottest names in rap right now and Metro’s cinematic production and curation showcased their abilities well. However, praise for production and curation could also be given to UTOPIA even though it reminded many listeners of a different album from 2014. Once again, Her Loss appears as the most accessible choice but rap purists are likely to lean towards Nas and Killer Mike. PERSONALLY, I would love for Travis to win since the Grammy alluded him in 2019 and he was visibly upset about it. However, I also would love to see Metro take it considering the work he’s put in as a producer and how he’s built a name for himself.

Post-Show Paul: Welp I was wrong about this one too lol. Congrats to Killer Mike - for the third time! He swept every category he was nominated in. This is a truly commendable feat no matter who does it but for Killer Mike to do it is very surprising. Killer Mike is an artist who is not quite underground but not a chart topping artist either. He has respect as an artist for his group with El-P called Run The Jewels and for being a community leader and activist. Many rap fans were surprised to see him win this one with some saying they did not even know who he was. Hopefully, his sweep will inspire them to go educate themselves.

what a time! another congratulations to all of our winners this year, and thank you for spending time with us here enjoying the spectacle of televised award shows. whilst GRAMMY wins alone can never objectively determine the cultural importance or impact that any song or artist has had, it sure is gratifying to witness deserving ones get public and professional recognition in this way - especially if you are rooting for your favorites!

very respectfully,

paul & wing

alright, over to you now - reply to this email with your thoughts! if you enjoy a little prompting:

did you predict any GRAMMY wins of your own?
what other songs, albums and artists do you think got snubbed this year and deserved a nomination?

thank you for reading issue 35 of FRESH by wing, please feel free to share this issue with your friends, pets and plants!

palestine 101

head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!

A guest post by

Music journalist that love movies, food and video games.

GUESTFRESH: philed by paul.

getting swarmed by SWARM, the dark side of stan culture and more

and

Jan 28, 2024

GUESTFRESH is our dedicated guest writer section - we invite a featured writer to take over the reins of an entire issue, to share their freshest discoveries and recommendations! all previous GUESTFRESHes are available for you to reread right here.

if you are interested in writing your own GUESTFRESH, drop us an email at freshbywing@gmail.com, or a message on Instagram.

finally, here is the the long-awaited FRESH debut of Paul from

philed by paul.

Paul K. Barnes is a music journalist with an English degree from Bridgewater College. With bylines ranging from reviews, think pieces and other forms of commentary, he has committed to using his skills to share and speak on multiple facets of the music world. However, he enjoys doing the same thing for movies and television shows too. If he’s not listening to music, he’s probably watching a video essay about it on YouTube or watching a movie. Between gaming, reading and cooking he still manages to find time to be an editor for two music publications - and make sure his dog gets all the head rubs she wants.

Hey y’all! wing asked me if I wanted to come over here to talk about something and naturally I was honored! Hope you all enjoy hearing my two cents on something that may (or may not) have been all over your TLs.

trigger warning: death, murder

FRESH: getting swarmed by ‘SWARM’

A short overview

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Swarm' Review: Why “Running Scared” Is Its Strongest Ep — from SWARM’s fourth episode, *Running Scared*

When SWARM was first announced I anticipated it for three reasons: the creators, the lead and the plot. Donald Glover (AKA Childish Gambino of course) is a modern Renaissance Man and I have enjoyed several creative outputs from him across the years. His previous Emmy winning show Atlanta was amazing for several reasons so naturally I was hype for what he had in store for us next. He is the co-creator of the show along with Janine Nabers who also was a writer on Atlanta. Dominique Fishback had the lead role and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen her in so far.

SWARM is a show about Stan Culture - among other things. All but one episode is preceded by a message we often see at the end of shows and movies with a small but important change: “Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely intentional.” This is followed by “This is not a work of fiction”.

SWARM wants audience members to point at the TV like Leo did.

Many things happened!

The show follows Dre (Dominique Fishback) after she loses her sister Marisa (Chloe Bailey) who takes her own life. Dre is a Stan for an artist named Nijah who strongly resembles Beyonce. As the series progresses, Dre ends up in a variety of unique situations. She causes some of them on her own by murdering people - mainly because of things they said online about Nijah.

As I watched the show, I found myself frozen in silence during many scenes. The cinematography, music and acting throughout the series was that impactful for me. I know some people like to have shows on in the background as they do laundry, cook etc. This is not the show for that unless you want burnt food or a pile of unfolded clothes to mock you for a week. The makers of the show had a message to send and they sent it with the perfect blend of truth and exaggeration.

I Didn’t “See Myself” in Dre But…

There’s only a handful of artists I would say I am a Stan for. But, I have never argued with anyone online about them. Or, defended them like I personally know them. I don’t argue with anyone online about anything because I just view it as unnecessary. For artists I love, I enjoy discussing their music with people actually interested in hearing about it. This works out even better when the person becomes a fan of them too.

When I truly love an artist, naturally I consume more media for them than other artists. This includes watching all their interviews during a promo run, their performances on shows etc. Because of this, I end up hearing the stories about the album multiple times. At first it made me think “Why do they keep bringing this up?” but each time they are sharing it with a different audience. This repetition is how I think superfans become “experts” on the project's themes and concepts. We hear it so much - and listen to the album itself - it becomes hard to forget.

SWARM is an (exaggerated) accurate depiction of what it’s like to be (an overly) dedicated fan of a music artist in 2023. Many moments of the show depict Dre scrolling through social media and various posts pop up on the screen. The way these sequences are edited show just how overwhelming this can be. As someone who frequently will scroll through an album’s hashtag on the night of its release - I know it can be a lot. The artist’s subreddit can have even more as people will type paragraphs about the project. However, fortunately (at least as far as I can tell) the accounts I come across are never obsessed with the artist…

For me, SWARM is an excellent example of a show made for 2023 that doesn’t make us roll our eyes. It combines the realities of things we have come across with enough drama and intense situations that it still is entertaining. Understandably, it may be a little too intense for some viewers. But for those who think they can handle it, they’re in for a ride that will certainly prompt conversations with other viewers.

[editor’s note: we had some interesting discussion in the comments after reading through Paul’s piece, they now are here also for additional context]

FRESH by wing: am i right in thinking that the creators took inspiration from real life events and extended the story past what happened IRL? just cautious of the implications of such a statement if it isn't entirely true

Paul Barnes: Based on what I've read the creator(s) say in interviews, every major situation the lead character got into was directly inspired by an IRL event.

—————————

FRESH by wing: do you think this is justified? [re: Dre’s murdering spree]

Paul Barnes: Definitely not

—————————

FRESH by wing: personally curious: after watching, do you think SWARM depicts stan culture in a negative light by over-exaggerating and dramatizing events? in a "look what these crazy fans are willing to do" way?

Paul Barnes: Hmmm...can I say yes and no? I think it's a show for those well aware of how serious Stan Culture is to some people. I think it can act as a telescope and a mirror to viewers in terms of the depiction. Not to go full #musicnerd but the music video/song "Stan" is pretty grim and extreme to begin with. It all stems from that initial moment of extremism. The social media aspect adds multiple layers that are unfortunately quite accurate. I DON'T think it's a show someone (likely not in our age range) should watch to "understand" Stan Culture though.

thank you for taking us through SWARM, Paul! whilst psychological horror definitely isn’t in my usual ballpark, SWARM certainly has my curiousity piqued - especially on the reality versus fiction side of things. breaking that fourth wall, when done tastefully, makes for some intriguing, thought-provoking art.

stay tuned for our next GUESTFRESH, and drop us a message to get your writing juices flowing!

love and stans,

wing

alright, over to you now - reply to this email with your thoughts! if you enjoy a little prompting:

what is your current take on stan culture?
who or what do you identify as a stan for? why are they important to you?
what are some meta works of content that have made an impact on you?

thank you for reading this special edition of FRESH by wing, please feel free to share this issue with your friends, pets and plants!

head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!

A guest post by

Music journalist that love movies, food and video games.

the FRESH guide to: London

Jan 21

GUESTFRESH: Jeff Gill

rediscovering our personal myths and stories, finding The Ways, tunes to stay happy and focused and more

FFOREST Team

, and

Jeff Gill

Jan 14, 2024

GUESTFRESH is our dedicated guest writer section - we invite a featured writer to take over the reins of an entire issue, to share their freshest discoveries and recommendations! all previous GUESTFRESHes are available for you to reread right here.

if you are interested in writing your own GUESTFRESH, drop us an email at freshbywing@gmail.com, or a message on Instagram.

today, Jeff from

FFOREST

brings us an extended issue across personal growth and music, complete with gorgeous hand-drawn illustrations. grab a drink, get cozy and settle in!

Hi, I’m Jeff Gill. I’m a graphic designer, writer and artist. I write a short weekdaily email called TREE about personal growth for misfits, creatives and ecclectics. I live in Dursley, Gloucestershire with my wife and two cats. Before that I lived in Conwy, North Wales. Before that, I lived in Tucson, Arizona. The freshest thing I’m doing right now is learning British Sign Language.

FRESH: Personal growth

Embracing lessons that teach opposite things

What’s fresh in my brain right now starts with a paragraph by one of my favourite writers:

‘There is no monomyth. (Sorry about that, Joseph Campbell.) It’s precisely because no one story makes sense of everything that traditional societies had so many myths, each with its own lesson to teach and its own applicability to the events of everyday life. It’s precisely because our culture has become obsessed with a single story, in turn, that we’re in our current mess.’

— John Michael Greer

This isn’t superfresh. You can find people tearing up the idea of a monomyth all over the internet. It got my attention though. Next, in the comment section of the same post, someone wrote this, which really started me thinking:

‘It’s not obvious to me that all religions and myth are reducible to some single set of universal meanings, but rather represent a panoply of lessons, some of which will necessarily be incongruous.’

— Fra’ Lupo

We know how a fundamentalist thinks: There are genuine differences. What I believe is absolutely true and righteous. What you believe is absolutely wrong and terrible.

We know what the folks with COEXIST bumper stickers on their cars think: Different belief systems may seem different, but at the core, they are all the same lovely thing.

Then Fra’ Lupo rocks up and says, or at least implies: There are genuine opposing ideas and that doesn’t mean one of them has to be wrong.

I think Fra’ Lupo is onto something.

I once read a book about your own life as a hero’s journey. It impacted me deeply. I recommended the book to lots of people. A couple years later, I read it again and was like, meh.

It wasn’t that something went wrong with the hero’s journey. It was that I had changed in those years. I needed a new story. I’ve learned that there are many people, especially women, for whom the hero’s journey never resonates. It doesn’t speak to their life experience. It doesn’t need to. There are other stories, different myths.

Here’s another example.

A few days ago, I read a profile of Toto Wolff, boss of the super-successful Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team. One way he ‘fosters ongoing competitiveness is by encouraging his team members – from the engineers to the marketing people – to find out who their counterparts are on rival teams and commit to surpassing them.’ He emailed his entire team and told them to ‘Take the time to find out who your opposite person is [at the Red Bull F1 team] and look at him or her every day. Put the picture right in front of you so you know whom to beat’ (Anita Elberse, Harvard Business Review, December 2022).

Less than an hour later, I read this from Rick Rubin (The Creative Act, 2023):

‘Wanting to outperform another artist or make a work better than theirs rarely results in true greatness. Nor is it a mindset that has a healthy impact on the rest of our lives. As Theodore Roosevelt pointed out, comparison is the thief of joy. Besides, why would we want to create with the purpose of diminishing someone else?
‘When another great work inspires us to elevate our own, however, the energy is different. Seeing the bar raised in our field can encourage us to reach even higher. This energy of rising-to-meet is quite different from that of conquering.’

The super-successful Formula 1 boss says you need an intense focus on beating your opponent. The super-successful music producer says the way to greatness is by not competing. These two ways of working are in complete disagreement with each other. Asking who’s right is useless. The better question is: Are either of these ways of working useful to my situation?

Speaking of Rick Rubin, he points out in the same book that disagreements aren’t only external. We don’t even agree with ourselves:

‘Our point of view doesn't have to be coherent. And it's rarely simple. We may have different, and sometimes contradictory, points of view across a variety of topics. Aiming to narrow it all down to one elegant expression is unrealistic and limiting.’

There is no The Way.

Or maybe there are infinite The Ways. Because it’s not just one or the other. Our understanding of the world has moved way beyond opposites. More and more, science is discovering the spectrum-ness of pretty much everything, especially everything that goes on in human brains. Almost nothing is completely one thing or the other.

Just because most everything exists on a spectrum doesn’t stop people wishing for the simplicity of binaries. And so there are plenty of people selling binaries. We are surrounded by voices loudly insisting that the peak of their particular wave is the one and only truth. But reality shows us that the trough and all the infinite points in between are also true.

My mom is a Christian who believes in a personal God who loves her. I think the universe we live in got here by randomness and chance. I also don’t think my mom is crazy. Both of us believe what we do about existence in ways that help us grow to be kinder, better people. So who’s wrong? I don’t think either of us are. Does it matter?

Even though I don’t believe in God anymore, I find St Paul’s writings in the bible very helpful. I have a good friend who does believe in God but can’t stand Paul because of the way his words have been weaponised against her (and all women).

I think maybe I’m seeing this stuff about myths and stories and truth with different meanings because I’m feeling brave enough to trust that I can choose the ones I need for the season I’m in. I’m no less a part of the universe than any guru or religious leader out there.

I guess I’m also grown up enough to recognise the limits of such choices. I can tell myself whatever story I want about sunshine and taxes, but I won’t spend eight hours on the beach without wearing sunscreen or try to cheat HMRC.

What I will do is try my best to approach different myths and stories and ideas and philosophies with curiosity instead of fear or suspicion. Even if they don’t have something to tell me right now, I might need them down the road when my circumstances change.

I’ll also take the advice of a recent FRESH guest author:

If a belief is useful, use it. If not, change it. Very few things are objectively true. Use that to your benefit. — Thomas Plaatsman

And I’ll add that something I wrote a while ago: How you believe is more important than what you believe, so don’t worry if you find yourself learning contradictory lessons from time to time.

FRESH: Music

Tunes for being happy while getting work done

DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ – how great is that name! – turns samples from old TV shows and who know what else into luscious electronic soundscapes of pure pop joy. I listen to music all day while I work, except when I’m editing video. I listen to a ton of different genres, but whenever I need to be seriously productive Right Now I put on DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ’s album Bewtiched. It has exactly the right balance of repetition and variety to keep me focussed and happy.

Fresh talent from Manchester

My daughter introduced me to DellaXOZ before anyone had heard of her. Well, maybe six people had heard of her. Now her music has been on BBC Radio 1. I hope she gets to be huge because I think she’s making very excellent, intelligent pop. ‘i want, doesn’t get’ is my favourite song she’s done so far.

Old but still Reznor sharp

15 years ago before streaming music was really a thing, Nine Inch Nails gave away an album online. I downloaded it and I loved it, then I forgot about it because Spotify came along and my iTunes library sat gathering digital dust. A few weeks ago I remembered it again. It’s still fresh.

thanks for sharing your thoughts with us Jeff! i personally resonate with the ideas around spectrums versus binaries - whether that’s right or wrong, write or don’t write. being more open to and accepting of this fluidity in not just our own, but others’ belief systems, allows for less frustration and more unity. we also love a good dose of DJSTTDJ on FRESH whenever we can!

more GUESTFRESHes still in the pipeline - this could be you this year, so get in touch with us soon!

love amongst the trees,

wing

alright, over to you now - reply to this email with your thoughts! if you enjoy a little prompting:

what belief systems do you hold that contradict each other? how have they helped you in day-to-day life?
what music keeps you focused and happy?
which rising artists are you keeping an eye on this year?

thank you for reading this special edition of FRESH by wing, please feel free to share this issue with your friends, pets and plants!