issue 34 - new year's FRESHolutions, or lack thereof

a confessional, full send 2024, learning the Words to Auld Lang Syne, farming up a storm, Beyond the Wand and more

new year, new FRESH! welcome back home, FRESH gang. how did your holiday season go? how is your new year feeling so far?

first, the housekeeping:

• Sundays remain FRESH days! frequency-wise, we’ll remain unpredictable and ready to surprise you throughout the year.

• let’s test drive a slightly different writing format for this issue! less long-form paragraphs, more bullet points of concise info - for ease of literary digestion. more about this format later, in our new FRESH section to debut soon!

FRESH: self

• New Year's FRESHolutions, or Lack Thereof: i confess, i haven’t made a proper ‘regular’ resolution in years. instead, i like making a bucket list to start the year off, and adding to it as the months go on. it makes for less guilt about incomplete resolutions at the end of the year, and more focus on the excitement of getting the most out of life. (how to: start your list on your Notes app, on Google Docs, in your journal. anywhere you’ll remember to check back to every so often)

FRESH: playlists

• FRESH 2024: our yearly namesake playlist returns! as always, we’ll be closely monitoring those New Music Fridays and putting the best new releases straight in here. most music mentioned on FRESH will likely already be in here, so check back for a cheat sheet and easy playlisting. (play weekly on Spotify here)

• FULL SEND 2024: another yearly playlist tradition! this one serves as an audio tracklist diary of tracks i hear and come across (and have probably Shazamed) - either at shows, concerts, in the street, on the car radio or elsewhere. neatly collated to the best of my memory, so you can discover your next favorite song too! (best consumed when feeling nostalgic at the end of the year, on Spotify here)

where will you choose to store your time capsule this year?

• Spotify’s Playlist in a Bottle: i somehow missed the memo last year about this, but back on the train now! it’s time to select your song responses to Spotify’s (questionable) prompts this year, and seal up a musical time capsule in a variety of objects, for you to only open up next year. i’m already looking forward to opening mine next year and having a good laugh about some of my selections. (choose your fighters on the Spotify app)

• porter dj sets: there’s been lots of new tracks to add in here, following Porter Robinson’s recent run of NYE shows (see: Echostage, NOTO, Hijinx, Countdown), and they all have been getting me in the right mood to get down and get things done. (play on shuffle on Spotify here)

FRESH: music

• The Words to Auld Lang Syne - Antony Szmierek: i recently discovered Antony' Szmierek’s music through his collab with fellow Brit producer Because of Art, and was immediately charmed by his matter of fact, yet emotionally-hitting lyrical wordplay. ever since falling in love with The Streets’ rework of Fred Again…’s Berwyn (all that i got is you), aptly retitled Mike (desert island duvet), i’ve been searching for similar spoken-word rap artists, and this track was exactly what i was looking for. enjoy this delicious Pre-Chorus and Chorus combo:

All the little things that you needed / All the tiny pieces will fall into place

And let me hold you for a second / If only just your gaze / Tomorrow's never promised / But neither was today / And when you need a friend, I'll be there / I'm in every city light / Eyes wide into the night

(catch Antony Szmierek live at The Old Blue Last in London on January 16th, and find him on Instagram)

• All Ur Luv - Wavedash, Madeon, Toro Y Moi: if 2023 was the year of Pangbourne House Mafia, 2024 is looking like it will be this yet unnamed supertrio’s (or rather, superquintet’s) year! Madeon teased this unreleased ID in his recent NYE run of DJ sets, a feel-good groovy track that indeed feels full of love. we’re calling Song of the Summer right here already! (listen on Madeon’s Instagram)

• ID - Justice: the French kings themselves seem to be teasing a 2024 comeback soon, having wiped their Instagram clean for New Year’s except for this mysterious audio snippet. they also appear to have quietly snuck it into fellow Frenchman Madeon’s DMs, allowing him drop this bomb of an yet unnamed track live during his recent DJ sets. it’s Gonna Be a Good year ahead. (listen to the live recording on Youtube)

FRESH: gaming

welcome to Sally’s farm!

• BrownFarm: aka Farmville, but make it LINE Friends themed. on BrownFarm, you grow crops and feed your cows to make all sorts of food dishes, to fulfil the (sometimes demanding) orders of your fellow LINE Friends. surprisingly soothing, and incredibly easy to sink in several hours of gameplay in one go. (available on iOS and Android)

more gaming coverage coming to you in a future FRESH issue!

FRESH: books

• Beyond the Wand by Tom Felton: an autobiography written by none other than Draco Malfoy himself. whilst the early ‘days of youth’ sections of the book are full of fun anecdotes about Felton and his Harry Potter costars, the latter sections depict a brutally honest and gripping recount of his adult struggles with drinking, self medicating and rehab. a poignant reminder that everyone you see on the silver screen remains but a human inside, and that there is solace to be found in sharing our universal thoughts and feelings, for both reader and writer. (read on Goodreads here)

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as always, thank you for being here and starting off your year with us. we wish you a fulfilling and memorable 2024, full of your favorite things and people. now, back to working my way through the flurry of Google Chrome tabs i keep open of FRESH drafts!

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love ahead,

wing

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

• how do you tackle your new years resolutions, or lack thereof?

• how are you planning to keep a record or diary of your experiences this year?

• what lyric has hit you profoundly lately?

• have you read any surprising (auto)biographies this past year?

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