025! Mini Digest: Adam Curtis, Bad Bunny and Bouyon
Sneaky links
Last week I found myself stuck to a leather couch (literally, it was over 100 degrees and my air conditioner was broken) watching Adam Curtis’ new five-part documentary, Shifty. It always feels both sadistic and important to watch a Curtis documentary, and this one is no different. It charts how power shifted in Britain, from ’79 to 2000, and how that’s led to a deeply destabilised and atomised nation. Where people once had a shared idea of what was real, now we are struggling to make any sense of the world we are living in. Hard relate.
It’s a compelling autopsy of a crumbled empire, collaged to perfection using archival BBC footage, and a quality soundtrack (who knew Bucks Fizz was so enjoyable?). Curtis manages to deftly link together The Big Bang, coal miners, MDMA, the Millennium Dome and subprime loans.
His view is hard to rebuke; uninhibited individualism has left us gasping for air. Our systems are failing, and sometimes it does feel as though we are too disillusioned to come up with viable alternatives. And yet, that same week, something managed to pierce through the melancholy of wondering “is this it?” - Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York mayoral primary.
I was happy to see Mamdani’s musical journey made public, too - he grew up in Uganda and performed at Nyege Nyege fest as Young Cardamom, claims “One Pound Fish” is a favourite, and that NYC rap group Das Racist inspired him in his journey. It’s been fun watching the generational tone shift happen - Zohran’s tight authorship and organization causing those on the inside to rise up, and those on the outside to wonder “how on earth did this happen?”.
Elsewhere in alt-timeline news, Sabrina Carpenter managed to make headline news with her rage-bait album cover artwork, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is now funding an AI weapons company, a fake K-Pop boy band is at the top of the charts and Diddy’s lawyer is dressed like this:
And now for some links!
Sound
Amapiano-pop continues its global dominance - two big collabs arrive in time for summer: J Hus & Asake / Central Cee & Sexy Red.
XL Recordings’ boss Richard Russell (“if Rick Rubin was cool”) featured on a recent How Long Gone podcast episode.
The NTS guide to Texan Prison Rodeo Bands (soul and country recorded by inmates for the prison’s annual rodeo event).
Amaarae is one of the most interesting current pop stars out of Africa, her new single doesn’t disappoint.
Skillibeng has jumped on a fun Dominican (i.e. Dominica not DR) Bouyon track.
Lorde’s new album features a sample from Jamaican artist Dexta Daps.
Larry Heard’s radio show is nice (shout out Joe Muggs)
Vision
Bad Bunny’s newest video is fantastic, and shot at a favourite NYC location, Breuer’s Meister Hall in the Bronx.
Carl Craig has a new documentary about his life - the artwork for the soundtrack is 10/10, designed by Hassan Rahim.
Didn’t think i would enjoy a video of Robbie Williams rapping from his bed so much?
The Grammys will now be awarding album cover artwork as its own category.
A music video that captures some of the beauty of being alive, 1 : Lorde (bonus, directed by the same director as the Bad Bunny video up top).
A music video that captures some of the beauty of being alive, 2: Dev Hynes.
How the photorealistic drifting in Jorja Smith’s latest video was made, courtesy of the VFX studio.
Thought
Christian music is “experiencing a pop breakthrough” in the USA, according to NPR.
WMG has had half of the top ten on the Billboard charts for the last 10 weeks, and many number ones, but they’re still cutting $180m in headcount.
An interview with a man who has made ~hundreds of thousands of dollars betting on music online.
I spent some time on the “list of music considered the worst” Wikipedia (idk why!), and was somewhat down with the list until i saw “Sussudio”, and then “Thong Song”. Jail time for the contributors.
