Related Recs

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FREELANCE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

I got a music degree and graduated into peak COVID in nyc. I had experience doing mixing/boom operation on some indie films and through knowing people on those sets I got tossed some PA gigs. it was mostly errand work and setting up sets, not too different from what I knew from high school theater and some recording studio internships I had. eventually just through meeting people on set I found myself doing PA work for fashion shoots, commercials, music videos (I make a brief appearance in a New Kids on the Block video), got a gig as the personal assistant to a fashion photographer, did some van/crew shuttle driving, and got to travel a bit for shoots. it wasn’t at all what I thought I would be doing but it was a good time. only advice I can give is tap connections from other work experience you have and be down for whatever. there’s always stuff going on that people need help with and as long as you have basic competency it doesn’t super matter what your formal background is. you’re not a failure if you don’t land your dream job in your field right along the way, and theres value in broadening your experiences! be along for the ride, this job market is tough and having any kind of stable income is nice, especially if you dont mind the work

@royallmonarch

6d ago

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BAGGING A PARKER POSEY PARTY GIRL JOB

last year i watched the 1995 classique that is daisy von scherler mayer’s party girl starring thee one and only parker posey. now this was a seismic moment for me, very ‘self recognition through the other’. it hit home with me at the time as i was fresh out of my undergrad, funemployed but without the fun (sustaining myself on depop sales, handmade tote bags, and making shitty posters for local bands), and routinely siphoning booze and weed from my boyfriend. i too like our protagonist faced some major housing instability and then had to sell off a lot of my hottest vintage finds literally just so i could cover minor expenses like my phone bill and my medication each month. i was in the trenches before i got my PPPGJ. for those unfamiliar with the film a parker posey party girl job is literally just a hot job in the culture/heritage/arts sector. one that comes into your life in the midst of crisis to rescue you from the woes of economic strife and jobless induced hedonism (and also preferably lets you dress up really chic whilst you’re on the clock). i bagged it like two weeks after id watched the movie, call it a divine sign. i got hired as a screen intern for this major museum, and got to work on putting together their film programme for 2025. it was totally pinch-me as far as arts jobs go. im based in england but up north.. anyone living outside of london will know that cool heritage gigs like this are few and far between when yr outside the capital and applying for them is like competing in the hunger games. anyways, above minimum wage, hybrid and super flexible, free film tickets, lax dress code, found my hodgepodge experience in event planning to be a thing of value, lots of field trips to other museums, free reign to do more or less whatever i wanted during the day as long as my work got done. surreal <3 i have now finished my tenure at the museum bar some one-off freelance projects im doing with them but just wanted to reflect upon how right place right time it was. for any unemployed grads looking for their thing i know its tough but dont give up! what u seek may just be around the corner … sending everyone on their job hunting journey rn strength and good luck <33

@nowhere

Oct 21, 2024

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Whats a good job to have while working on starting out freelancing

i feel like this is the right place to ask

@patrickm

Jan 25, 2024

Top Recs from @royallmonarch

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DETACH from the algo, become an active participant in your own curation, form relationships to music, track your patterns

I consume a lot of music regularly, and a huge part of keeping a fresh diet of new listens going is having enough sources of recommendations that aren’t an algorithm that either 1) reinforces your existing listening patterns, keeping you stagnant in your tastes, or 2) platforms whoever paid enough to push their product to the top, serving you something that may not inherently be of inferior quality, but may not align with your tastes, may not be exciting beyond just being a new release, and realigns your current listening habits to be more in line with what the average user on the platform is also listening to — which socially might have benefits but which creates a homogeneity of consumption that can become bland since you’re listening to something really just because it’s the next product on the assembly line to have its public moment and not because anything about the music actually captured your attention. the current landscape of streaming is designed to keep you at an all you can eat buffet where you take what’s served to you, and as a result a lot of us have forgotten how to look at a menu and order. so what does taking a more active role in your own music curation look like? for me, it’s meant not using streaming as a primary listening platform. I mostly use my local Apple Music library on my phone that I curate with the vestigial iTunes Library framework that’s still a part of Apple Music on my laptop. probably going to find an alternative soon since apple seems to be cutting integration progressively. I like this method because it forces me to choose what to sync to the limited storage space I have, forcing me to take inventory of what I actually listen to and what I can offload. the files I get are mostly from Bandcamp or Soulseek depending on whether it’s available for purchase or entirely unavailable online (as is the case for a lot of electronic music that was on vinyl only, which is where soulseek comes in clutch). I also have freedom here to change the ID3 tags to better sort and organize, rate, change track info, and track my own listening data. Bandcamp and other music purchasing platforms are great because 1) it reshapes my relationship to music away from consumerism and back towards curation. I have to pay actual money for this thing now if I want to use it, so i’m forced to consider its value (usually i’ll stream a release first to gauge my interest). 2) having to spend money helps me to course out my meals so to speak, as i’ll buy a few releases i’ve accumulated in my cart over the month and cash out on Bandcamp Friday when 100% of my money is actually getting to the artist (TOMORROW IS BANDCAMP FRIDAY BTW!!!), and between purchases I can actually chew and savor and digest my last orders, they don’t get swept up in the deluge of new releases. my plate is full until i’m done and then I order more. also for the times of the year like now when new music isn’t coming out as regularly I take time to find older music that I would normally overlook while keeping up with new drops. currently very into early 80s/late 70s music with early digital production, kinda stuff that would evolve into synthpop and dance music. so how do you know what to order? for me, I’m getting recs through trusted curation platforms. whether it’s bandcamp daily, y’all lovely folks here on PI.FYI, friends, or most importantly musicians who I follow on socials that share their tastes through posts, stories, playlists on steaming, interviews, etc. I like this last one especially because it’s kind of like a musical game of telephone. if I like an artist and they share their interests and influences it’s like every layer in this process is stretching my palate further from the sound that I was originally interested in and into a new territory that has some shared DNA but would never have been recommended to me by an algo because there’s no shared category or label between them, only the musical influence and interpretation of it made by the artist. as an example, I was a huge Skrillex stan, he signed KOAN Sound to his label, they collab with Asa who collabs with Sorrow, Sorrow takes huge influence from Burial, Burial makes some ambient adjacent stuff and takes huge influence from 90s rave music and drum and bass and 2000s rnb, now i’m listening to Brandy - All in Me, William Basinski, Aphex Twin, none on whom would get recommended by Spotify to me from Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites. LAST thing i’ll say — because in yappin about this i’m realizing how actually passionate about this subject I am: MAKE LISTS! playlists are cool, but they can flatten your music into vague categories of “vibes” and “aesthetics” and encourage picking one-off songs from artists that you never form an active audience relationship with. I make a practice of making my own year end lists of top 25 albums (plus some honorable recs and top individual songs) and keeping them in a notes doc that I regularly update and rearrange over the course of the year. this forces me to consider the actual relationship i’m forming with what i’ve ordered for myself. did I like it in the moment but it didn’t have staying power? is it slowly growing on me? it also encourages taking albums as a whole. maybe I liked one or two tracks a lot but the rest wasn't resonating. that’s ok! maybe I rank it lower but now i’ve actually taken time to consider it, it’s in my library, and maybe (quite a few cases for me) something I ranked like bottom 5 albums becomes a retroactive favorite from that year as my tastes evolve. also 25 albums to take with me from each year is really more than you'd think, i struggle sometimes to even find 25 that I formed a true connection with. I think the biggest thing the itunes era ruined that led into now is the single-ification of music, the ability to separate the hits from the deep cuts. albums are meant to be taken as a whole, and then once you've really sat with the whole you can find what actually stuck. even then I like to keep the whole around because soooo often i’ll write off a track that yeeeears later I come to love. trust the artist, they made it like they did for a reason. aaannyyyywayy TLDR: get recs organically, be more active in deciding your listening patterns, fr*cken pay artists yall, trust the artist embrace the album, really consider what you consume

@royallmonarch

Feb 29, 2024

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be the change you want to see

i’m not gonna go into the state of politics in this country, frankly I enjoy that this site has been a politics free space for the most part. with that being said, resigning to despair and the feeling of powerlessness serves only the status quo. inaction is not the solution, nor is waiting for the government to be what you want it to be. politics over: here’s the rec be the change you want to see as much of a cliche as this saying is, i’ve grown to believe in it with my full being as i’ve gotten older. for the things you have control over, for the practical needs that you can meet within your community, for the little things you can do every day to ease someone’s burden or generally be a pleasant interaction in someone’s life: bring to the world what you feel it lacks. where you live there are likely already communities that are arising to support each other and call for change. seek those out if that’s a motivating notion for you. participate as much as you are able and as little as you please, every bit counts. being a visible and tangible example of how the agency we all have can create something better will motivate others to find their voice. a lot of people feel like you, but even a few in action is better than multitudes in despair. community is so key, and the world we live in has created a situation where isolation is the default so that individuals are forced to rely on the market or the state to meet their needs. how much better would it be to have neighbors and friends as a support network, mutually exchanging their time and resources to strengthen the communtiy and invest in relationships that benefit the whole. the moment we all realize that we can do for each other what the world tells us we need to do ourselves, the stronger we will be and the more we can come together and enact real change from the bottom up, rather than being divided in pleading for a top down approach. this may sound revolutionary because we have become so detached from community that we cannot envision the changes in our model of living that would have to be made, but it’s sooo not that deep, and it feels more like investing in the good in others than sacrificing personal comforts. it can look like: - shopping at a local business vs a corporate chain, get to know the staff, get to know your fellow patrons - spending time with friends, there doesn't need to be a reason or occasion. make meals together, drive together to go do something, maybe literally just be in each others presence as you do daily life, share each others sacred presence amidst the mundane - give things you don’t need to a friend who does, exchange clothes, exchange favors, share knowledge and resources, lend a skill or a craft, donate things if you don’t know someone who can use it, exchange things and experiences without the need for monetary incentive - create things together, make art together, share and exchange media, try things for the joy of experiencing them without the need to be “good” at it, - grieve together, worry together, talk out negative feelings, commiserate, support, encourage, motivate, share your accomplishments, celebrate together - get to know your neighbors, why is everyone in isolation while in such proximity? - get off that damn phone if it makes you feel bad, you wont miss out, the world happens outside of it, unlearn FOMO - enjoy nature, go on walks, get outside, sweat and run and jump and see the sky - remind yourself that life is about what happens right now, don’t be concerned with what could be or what was if you are unable to affect it in the present. - go to a concert at a small venue for an artist you’ve never heard of, bring friends, don’t preclude experience for the perceived necessity of entertainment - unlearn grindset, but also unlearn bainrot. don’t fester in your down time. rest can be active, activity can be restorative. your time is precious and you will meet your need for purpose and direction by literally choosing to pursue a “meaningless” hobby in even what little time you may have vs scrolling and taking psychic damage. - learn to enjoy the abundance of freely available joy in this world, we have been tricked to believe that money is the sole provider of a happy life idk i’m just becoming mindful of what brings me life in this world and so much of it is available to me solely by seeking it out instead of idleness in my free time under the guise of “rest.” so much if it comes from seeing the divine in others and creating bonds and relationships and support networks. so much of it comes from enjoying beauty and art, and moderating and savoring that experience vs endless consumption and media gluttony. the world through a screen is bleak, the world in front of your eyes can be beautiful, the system is broken but you and everyone you know has some untapped agency. anyway imma get off my soapbox, go catch a firefly or sit around a campfire with the homies. you’ll be glad you did.

@royallmonarch

Jun 29, 2024

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get into cycling

seriously the only form of exercise I look forward to. feels more like exploring and enjoying the weather/scenery, gets you more in tune with the city, and suddenly it’s been an hour and you've gone 20 miles. you dont need to break the bank and get a top of the line micro-carbon-fiber italian roadbike that weighs half an ounce or anything either, plenty of used bikes are at shops or on facebook marketplace for a good price. all cardio and NONE of the joint pain, my hips are gonna love me in my 50s and runners stay mad about it

@royallmonarch

Mar 15, 2024