Chain Letter Monthly September 2023

Turning the Screw(s) + An Afternoon with X, Spotify's New Personal DJ + Ten New Songs You May Have Missed + New CA Politicorner

Turning the Screw(s)

Longtime readers who may have followed the 100 Albums format of this newsletter’s predecessor may feel that the current version is still hunting and pecking for its identity in the feed. I fully agree. My routine revolves around music. Between listening to as many new songs as I can and making daily playlists of the ones I like best, spinning albums from the vinyl collection, playing music at rehearsal, going to shows, or tolerating whatever music my patrons queue up on the bar jukebox — do I really need to hear “Hold the Line” by Toto ever again? — my average day is nothing if not musical.

Translating this experience to an engaging newsletter is still this missive’s stated project. It’s only in the “how” where the tinkering will occur. Some of this has to do with the fact that we’re approaching an election season. For better or worse, everything in our culture is political. This is something that’s always been true. What’s changed is your previously apolitical aunt and your once stoic auto mechanic now have strong opinions that you’re going to hear about whether you like it or not. This being the case - and in conjunction with my long-standing tradition of writing California election guides at Chain Letter Monthly’s previous home - there will be some political content here in the future.

As I continue to turn the screws if this newsletter, I hope to continue providing you with unique insights into the musical world around us. I believe that music continues to be one of the most valuable gifts the human experience has on offer. Please excuse the occasional PSA concerning California politics. Now, let’s dive in.

An Afternoon with “X,” Spotify’s New Personal DJ

Spotify users may have noticed a new addition to their playlist section, a blue square featuring a green circle like a dented tennis ball that reads “DJ.” The minute I noticed this feature my throat constricted in fear. The idea that Spotify had harnessed the power of Ai and LLM to produce a virtual DJ is the stuff of music lovers’ nightmares.

In case this is at all unclear: Spotify doesn’t give a shit about music. Much like the big three — Warner, Sony, and Universal — Spotify only cares about profit. After its huge podcast debacle — in which the streaming giant shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars to exclusively platform new and existing pods only to learn that people won’t pay for Spotify just because their favorite pod is on it — Spotify is looking for new ways to capture your attention. The reasoning goes: if you can’t decide what to listen to, we’ll decide for you.

The logic is sound. Choice is the death of freedom. The philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls this the depressive power of choice. It’s our freedom in the face of infinite choice that constrains us, like the cheerful doppelganger of Foucault’s Panopticon. How many times have you felt like mindlessly erasing the day’s events with a store-bought cocktail in a can and a romcom off Netflix only to discover yourself forty minutes later with a sugar rush turning off the TV without watching anything because you couldn’t decide on anything. With Spotify’s DJ - named “X” - you never have to get caught in the Netflix cuffs again. By removing choice from the equation, Spotify is hoping you never turn off your streamer again.

As an intrepid explorer of all things music, I thought I’d give DJ X a spin so you don’t have to. Apparently named for Spotify's head of cultural partnerships Xavier Jernigan (it’s his voice they modeled for the feature), DJ X is activated with a simple click. So, I click and hope for the best.

“Hey what’s up, it’s me, X, I hope you’re doing alright,” says the voice, whose tenor resembles a DJ on a “back in the day” hip hop station, i.e. with enough “soul” for whitey to think this DJ knows what it’s talking about but not so much that it scares away those whose playlist history includes Jason Aldean or the “Hamilton” soundtrack.

X continues, “I know what you listen to – I see the Mars Volta there - I’m gonna be here every day, playing songs in your heavy rotation, playing those songs you used to love. And be on the lookout for new stuff too, to push your boundaries a little bit.”

X kindly makes me aware that there’s a “DJ” button at the bottom of my screen that I can press if I’m ever not “feeling the vibe.” Once pressed, X promises to come back and “switch things up.”

First up from my personal DJ is, you guessed it, the Mars Volta, playing “Drunkship of Lanterns.” So far so good. I haven’t heard this since I wrote about Deloused in the 100 Albums substack a couple years ago. Next up, X plays “There There” by Radiohead followed by “Milk It” by Nirvana. Maybe X knows me after all. (Mercifully, X does not come on between songs to announce what track he’s playing. Spotify’s “queue” feature is similarly disabled so one can’t know what X might spin next.) As ‘Milk It” fades out, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond (parts one through seven billion)” begins. I press the “DJ” button. I’m not trying to be here all day.

“Moving on,” says X, “here’s some music that had your ear in 2021” and played “Hesitation” by Tiger’s Jaw, “Lumberjack” by Tyler the Creator, “Are You with That” by Vince Staples, “centre” by Blessed, and “Track X” by Black Country, New Road. I press the DJ button again. So far, X is killing it.

Now, X announces he has the perfect music for “my vibe.” He plays “Rotten Grass Smell” by Wednesday, “Winnipesaukee” by Model/Actriz, “Sin eating” by Draag, “Really Happening” by Spirit of the Beehive, “Total” the Eurosuite - which X says like “euro sweat,” the program’s only pronunciation error. Apparently my vibe is “I’m anxiety-ridden and paranoid.” Nailed it again, X.

Next up is “music I get into on Mondays.” Here’s where things begin to go off the rails. First, X plays my own band, Giant Waste of Man. Sure. Then it plays “Bile” by Docents. This is the first song X has played I’ve never heard, even though I feel like Docents are familiar. I google. Yes. Noisy NYC band. Following up “Bile” is “Wasted Life” by someone called Harry Witts. It’s absolutely atrocious and possibly… Christian? Let’s do some research…. And there’s nothing really online about this character. Just a Soudncloud that says “nothing to hear here” and a Spotify profile that reads “what you are listening to is my wild thoughts (sic) pouring out the expansive and continuing explorations of my inner-most thoughts, feelings, and —”

Click. X save me.

X obliges, promising to take me back to music me and my friends used to listen to, “the background hum of my era.” It starts with “Wildflowers” by Petty. Home run, X. Everything seemed to be back on track. Perhaps Mr. Witts was just a momentary lapse on the part of X.

As Barenaked Ladies comes blasting through my speakers, I discover I’m horribly wrong. Frantically, I hit skip instead of DJ. The dulcet tones of “Fly” by Sugar Ray begin to play. What the fuck is happening? Skip again. John Prine plays. Better, but not exactly what one would think of as a 90s nostalgia song. The set finishes with “Interstate Love Song,” which, ok, that tracks. But the middle of the set was horrifying.

As I let X continue to guide my listening without fussing with skip or DJ, I found the program followed a pattern. Five songs then switch up the vibe. I sit through “melancholy” (Gia Margaret, Mt. Eerie, et al.) then more songs that “fit my vibe” (all noise rock bands I’ve never heard of, all pretty mediocre) and “Editors picks,” which X tells me “think eclectic meets indie” (Midlake, Hand Habbits, Feist, et al.). Finally, after over an hour, X returns to hip hop, playing Tribe, Denzel Curry, and Mach-Hommy.

That was enough for me. I shut X down and put on what I actually want to listen to, which comes easy after being subjected to an algorithm’s playlist for the better part of an afternoon. I guess choice isn’t the death of freedom after all.

The takeaway on DJ X? Just click skip.

Ten Tunes You May Have Missed in September

070 Shake “Black Dress”

070 Shake doesn’t really fall into the category of “overlooked,” yet somehow the New Jersey songwriter still feels underrated. “Black Dress” is another entry to an already stellar catalogue.

Harp “I Am the Seed”

Have you been missing Midlake’s former frontman Tim Smith? Well, he’s now called Harp. “I Am the Seed” sounds like the proper follow-up to Trials of Van Occupanther and should fill the void until his new album comes out later this year.

DJ Muggs “Joker’s Wild (Feat. CeeLo Green)”

DJ Muggs should be a household name for his work with Cypress Hill. Despite not achieving huge mainstream success, he’s quietly amassing an impressive solo discography. His latest mixtape, Soul Assassins 3: Death Valley, plays like a best-of of former and current hip hop kings with collabs featuring Boldy James, Ghostface Killah, Freddie Gibbs, Scarface, Roc Marciano, et al. The whole tape is fire, but here’s a taste.

Tirzah “F22”

Tirzah’s new album, produced by polymath Micah Levi, listens like one long song. Or rather, variations on the same theme over and over again. “F22” is that theme and it’s pretty neat.

deathcrash “Hits”

deathcrash is a mostly instrumental band from London. Taking cues from early Mogwai, Tortoise, and American Football, “Hits” uses the tiniest variations in cadence to compose a moving piece of music.

Stay Inside “An Invitation”

Stay Inside harken to a time when emo and post-hardcore were indistinguishable. The Brooklyn band might be a bit more ambitious than their predecessors but the result is the same: hooky, tightly-wound indie rock with some bummed out sensibilities.

MIKE, Wiki, The Alchemist “Mayors A Cop”

Two of NY’s best underground rappers and The Alchemist producing? Yes, please. The whole collab album’s good but “Mayors A Cop” is its best track.

Bedlocked “All Over Again”

Fans of fuzzy slow-core should enjoy Bedlocked. The Houston band’s contribution to the long-running Saddle Creek single series doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But we don’t need new wheels, just wheels that take us where we want to go. “All Over Again” will get you there.

FIELDED “Windbreaker (Feat. billy woods)”

I came to this tune as a fan of billy woods, and while his feature is every bit as good as I’d anticipated, I left a fan of FIELDED, too. The Brooklyn-based producer and songwriter is an impeccable crasfts-person of post-genre R&B. If that sounds like an oxymoron, take a listen and hear for yourself.

Great Falls “Trap Feeding”

Goodness me, Great Falls. I haven’t felt this steamrolled since Converge’s “Trespasses.” The song starts at ten and never relents. The Seattle supergroup’s new album Objects Without Pain might be the heavy album of the year.

New Section: CA Politicorner

Our governor is low-key running for president, right? Maybe not so low-key, as the much-hyped debate between Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor/Trump cuck Ron DeSantis is coming to a television near you. On November 30th, this gruesome twosome - who, in reality, are merely successful local politicians and nothing more - battle it out on Fox News.

Why This Is Important

California and Florida are cast by the media as the polar opposites of the US political spectrum. Anyone who’s actually been to either of these states know the truth is most certainly in between. Yes, a Republican hasn’t won a statewide election in CA since 2006, but that just means our politics are clogged with DINOs - Democrats in name only. Meanwhile, Florida is a traditionally purple state suffering from a twenty-year hangover from fucking up the 2000 presidential election. Both states have liberal cities and conservative rural areas. They’re different, sure, but it’s not like we’re measuring North Korea against Western Democracies on a personal liberty scale here.

What makes this debate interesting is that Newsom is essentially filling in for Biden on a debate stage. It’s a political hedge of the highest order. Should Biden die anytime between now and primaries of 2024, my guess is that Newsom will slide right into the mix. If Biden sticks around, then Newsom has begun setting up his post-governor profile (he terms out in 2026). Building a national profile using a Fox news debate is only logical if he plans to transition to a national figure. Otherwise, I can’t imagine he’d want to spend any more than a couple minutes debating the “clown show” (his words, not mine) that is the current Republican presidential field.

That’s all for Chain Letter Monthly. See you next month!