The Living Music List #22: On Being Disappointed But Not Surprised
We need music now more than ever.
Currently listening to: Dispersion of Belief by Rafael Anton Irisarri
This track bears the subtle tones and texture of oblivion. It sounds how many of us have been feeling for the last few days, I think. More on this album later in today’s letter.
Reflection
Hello, friend.
Well, that happened.
I am, of course, referring to the United States presidential election, which the convicted felon Donald Trump and his Republican Party won by a signficant margin.
How are you feeling? How did we get here?
Look, I know you are not really here for politics. I appreciate that many of you who have been with me since the earliest issues of The Living Music List have allowed and encouraged me to stray from the music piece of that series title. Maybe all along, the new music was just the backing soundtrack behind me playing with the other crucial word: living.
When I write these letters, I can’t help but wander (stumble?) away from my laptop and the sound of the music playing in my living room, suddenly finding myself in the bathroom or the kitchen, where the song now sounds muffled through the thin, aging walls of my apartment. My senses come into focus under the harsh, flourescent light. I squint to see my face in a mirror. I remember that my corporeal flesh is grounded in the here and now of this life on earth, not eternally free to roam the virtual plane of the internet or the dreamy vision seeded in my mind by the sound of someone’s ambient record. There’s a society outside my window that is working tirelessly, arguing and murdering each other for finite resources, territory, and ego satisfaction. And the masses have just demanded a new, yet disgustingly familiar face to lead the way.
These are the kinds of events that make it hard for me to just write about music. I know that when I make music, I don’t just make it as something to listen to—and I doubt most artists do either. I’ve said it before, a few times actually: music is a primary method of expressing our darkest thoughts and feelings. Because when you feel the way many people in my country do right now, you can’t hold that kind of thing in. It feels better to wail on your drumset or layer synth track upon synth track into a wall of sound that drowns out the hurt—that becomes the hurt, separating it from your own soul, giving it a form so you can step away from it and study it, looking for chinks in its armor to remember the next time it tries to take control of you.
These moments of transition are gigantic, larger than any individual politician or vote, more humongous than even the country as a whole—and Jesus, do I have megalophobia. What am I supposed to do over the next 4 years to change the outcome next time? What can I do to create a country, a world that isn’t run by corrupt assholes bought and paid for by soulless corporations? A world that my loved ones can feel safe and free to thrive within, without fear of losing autonomy over their bodies, or being ripped away from their families and deported, or being ostracized and ridiculed for the way they love or express something as a personal as their gender.
Are my words enough? Are the records I’m recommending going to help someone overcome their monumental fears, or just escape them for a few minutes? It is in these moments of doubt and near-hopelessness that I try to remember: this is when we need art more than ever.
We should not accept life at face value. We should not succumb to the pit in our stomach that tells us this kind of result reflects everyone’s best interests or feelings on the subject. Upon seeing the election result, I was disappointed but not at all surprised. That is a dangerous combination.
I’ve seen essays with titles like, “It’s time to accept this is just who we are.” Fuck. That. I know a lot of people who are not this. We are so much better than this. At least, we can be.
This is the time when we need to make art. We need to craft messages that hit the right nerve, that strike the right chord, that lead us to the right path. We need art that catalyzes and calls to action, as so much great art has done before. We need to look to the Rage Against the Machines and the Dead Kennedys and the Green Days of the world who lashed out in the face of tyranny and corruption and genocide.
We need to surprise people and be surprised. We need to know we fought peacefully for what we believed in through our art. We need good music and art now more than ever.
To quote Greta Thunberg’s 2018 speech at the Declaration of Rebellion, Parliament Square, London:
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules. Because the rules have to be changed.
Everything needs to change. And it has to start today.
So everyone out there, it is now time for civil disobedience. It is time to rebel.
Music Recommendations
Hello again, friend.
Thank you for reading today’s post. I hope you enjoyed the reflection—and I hope you aren’t feeling too low. Take some comfort in the expressions of these new records. There is so much to be grateful and hopeful for, even when things seem so bleak.
Happy listening.
The Living Music List—Ambient
Note: All of the below ambient projects are available on Bandcamp. Bold and * indicate works submitted by Hum, Buzz, & Hiss readers and artists. More on recommendation #1 in The Press Box section at the end of this letter.
FAÇADISMS by Rafael Anton Irisarri (album / drone) [Black Knoll Editions / Bandcamp]*
Healing Fatigue by Leafblighter (single / drone) [Independent / Bandcamp]*
Neuromancer by Black Rain (album / dark ambient, experimental {note: also great use of field recordings here, and some brief moments that feel as if they’re about to be taken over by electronic sequences but they never fully take hold}) [Room40 / Bandcamp]
Intrinsic Rhytmn by Perila (album / experimental, drone) [Smalltown Supersound / Bandcamp]
The Black Sand (Slowed) by Warmth (album / drone, field recordings) [ARCHIVES / Bandcamp]
tʌntrə XXVII by Various Artists (compilation / drone, field recordings {note: primarily those subgenres, among many other vibes… over 3 hours of music} [Neotantra / Bandcamp]
Obsidian Forest by Phelios (album / dark ambient, drone {note: some percussion in this one, reminds me a bit of the Halo games soundtracks}) [Independent / Bandcamp]
Twelve Black Ships by tom eaton (album / drone) [Independent / Bandcamp]
Quiet Sunlight by Wil Bolton (album / field recordings, ambient piano) [DRONARIVM / Bandcamp]
The Magic Place (2024 Remaster) by Julianna Barwick (album / vocal ambient {note: re-release}) [Independent / Bandcamp]
The Bloody Lady by claire rousay (album / ambient piano, field recordings) [VIERNULVIER Records / Bandcamp]
The Living Music List—All Genres
Note: All of the below projects are available on major streaming services. Bold and * indicate works submitted by Hum, Buzz, & Hiss readers and artists. Bandcamp streaming links are only included for reader-submitted works in the All Genres list.
Vignettes, Vol. 1 by Cat in Window (album / downtempo, lo-fi) [Bandcamp]*
Orboretum: The Orb Collection by The Orb (compilation / electronic)
A Beginner’s Guide (Best Of) by Orbital (compilation / electronic)
Disclaimer (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) by Finneas O’Connell (album / film score)
The Shape of Punk to Come Obliterated by Refused & Various Artists (album / punk {note: this is a tribute cover album of Refused’s 1998 record by prominent artists within the hardcore punk scene})
Complex Emotions by The Bad Plus (album / jazz)
Soul Burger by Ab-Soul (album / hip-hop/rap)
Give Up The Fear by Nia Smith (EP / R&B/soul)
The Good Kind by Our Girl (album / indie pop)
My Star by Junior Varsity (EP / indie pop)
Magick Potion by Magick Potion (album / rock)
En Las Nubes - Con Mis Panas by ELENA ROSE (album / Latin pop)
Surprise ! by Airelle Besson, Jonas Burgwinkel & Sebastian Sternal (album / contemporary jazz)
Eazy Peazy by Man/Woman/Chainsaw (EP / art rock)
Why is the Colour of the Sky? by Bananagun (album / psych rock)
Fabrications by Talking Flowers (album / indie psych rock)
BLUE by Lemaitre (EP / dance)
Chromesthesia: The Colour of Sound Vol. 1 by Various Artists (compilation / electronic)
State Champs by State Champs (album / rock)
A Very Laufey Holiday: The Santa Baby Edition by Laufey (EP / holiday, jazz)
The Press Box
I’m excited to share one more in-depth preview of a very intriguing record out today from Black Knoll Editions. I first previewed this album in Issue #14. Keep an eye out for a few more features coming soon.
Note: Are you promoting an upcoming release? Reach out to me for a free feature like this at meltedform@gmail.com.
FAÇADISMS by Rafael Anton Irisarri [Black Knoll Editions]
"The impoverished peoples of the Americas have known all along that 'freedom' is a cruel illusion crafted by the elites, akin to Potemkin's fake villages designed to impress Catherine the Great," Rafael Anton Irisarri says. "FAÇADISMS illustrates a twisted inversion where the rulers deceive their subjects with illusions of safety, democracy, and free speech to create a grotesque mirage of control over their own lives.”
This latest record from Irisarri, an experimental ambient composer and mastering engineer, is the perfect record to represent the mood of many in the wake of the 2024 U.S. election. There is palpable discontent and disappointment here, prescient in its tone considering it was made long before the votes were counted (we’ve recognized the road down which we’ve been walking for years). The desolate nature of this album sounds like the peeling away of paint from decaying structures, like the failing foundation upon which the country is built.
These tracks envelope and wash over you not like water, but like smoke and soot. Imagine walking in the shadows of empty, smoldering skyscrapers whose steel frames are all that’s left after being consumed in flame. There is no other life on the empty streets—everyone has fled to the hills, afraid of the collapse coming any hour now.
This is the soundscape into which you step when listening to FAÇADISMS. It is visceral and viscous, even haunting and harrowing at times. Yet there is a familiarity here, a feeling that we are not truly alone in the midst of dark times—and there is a light in the distance, beyond the fog and ash, toward which we are being called like moths in the night.
Also featured on the record are collaborators like renowned ambient sound artist KMRU (pictured below on the right, along with Irisarri), cellist Julia Kent, and vocalist Hannah Elizabeth Cox.
You can preview and purchase the record now on Bandcamp, where there is the lovely limited edition 12" gatefold BioVinyl in black and clear petrol (the light blue version pictured below is currently sold out).
As you explore the disintegrating landscape and wonder what comes next, consider the central question behind FAÇADISMS: Has the American myth finally run its course?
That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.
Your friend,
Melted Form
Remember to listen to the hum, buzz, & hiss of the world around you—there is music to be heard there.
Read the previous issue of The Living Music List:
Afterword—Let’s Get In Touch
Are you an artist, a label owner, or a member of the press? Want to share an in-depth feature of your upcoming release, an advertisement, or a guest post for a future Hum, Buzz, & Hiss issue? Get in touch with me at meltedform@gmail.com. As always, I would love to hear and recommend your music, especially if it’s new and ambient/electronic/experimental.
Also, you can keep up with me and hear more of the music I’m listening to by following me on Substack Notes. Join our community of music-loving writers and readers discussing the latest releases, old gems, and everything in between.
This is beautiful - all of it. Thank you :)