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Buffy is a remarkable song writer and activist. To me she is one the great American song writers of the last century, and she identifies the crisis of capitalism and the cruelty of these structures we are all beholden to in such a visceral way; her artwork is singular. I will always be grateful to her for her vision and her generosity as an artist.Â
Dec 26, 2024
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Impossible to pithily summarize the force of this artist (in which any isolated "scream" is merely another register of space across a VERY complex vocalic spectrum), but I like this one-liner from RYM: "The world isn't a pretty place and sometimes people don't want to hear the truth." Also, if you live in NYC and have *read* about the 80s/90s AIDS crisis but aren't sure you can *feel* it, listen to her work.
Mar 22, 2024
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i am a big fan of A Complete Unknown, and each time I have seen it I am forced to go deeper down a Joan Baez and Bob Dylan rabbit hole. For how revered she was in 60s and 70s, I don't think Joan Baez CURRENTLY received the attention she deserves. She has an unreal voice and subdued style that is as comforting as a conversation with an old friend. I am very happy this new movie is bringing some further attention to her so people (like me because I barely knew about her before) can become fans! Songs i recommend: The Water is Wide, Don't Think Twice It's Alright, Farewell, Angelina, Donna Donna
Feb 13, 2025
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There’s a limited selection of poets that can move me to tears without even reading through their stanzas but allowing the recollection of their words to pass over my mind — the aforementioned Bachmann is one of the real ones, T.S. Eliot is another; Elizabeth Barrett Browning, on occasion; sometimes-too Hölderlin, Herbert, Hadewijch; at least one Donne piece has this power, at least one Brecht; perhaps-too I would add cuttings of Young’s Literal Translation of the Holy Bible — contemporarily, the lines of Paris Reid, an absolutely gorgeous young Canadian I discovered several years ago (her first published prose piece can be found in the most recent Heavy Traffic) certainly effect this movement upon me time and again … who else? — well, the only other living writer to fall on this list, and quite honestly my most exalted favourite of all-above, should be obvious to anyone who knows me … yes, yes, of course: singer slash poet slash emotional-genius Lana del Rey, my personal saint and hero … truly, her words either brought to sound or put to page surpass the Scripture to me and this I would not say if I did not mean it violently. She has held aloft my life: she is probably the third factor to my continuance. You know — as I type this — I can hear the lyrics to Venice Bitch, perhaps the greatest lyrical song ever written (though a strong case could too be made for Video Games!) echoing within and my vision swims — so overcome with emotion am I! Good God. My friends, it’s unbelievable. And everything she does is fantastic, of course, but lately I have been really been spiralling about in her demos and bootlegs and regional exclusives dating around the release of Ultraviolence, her third studio album. Pray listen; I’ll leave you with this. Say Yes To Heaven: breaks my heart. Fine China: breaks my heart. I Talk to Jesus: well, you know, onward and onward, from here to eternity…
May 10, 2023
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She recorded this song by George Harrison and improvised new lyrics. She addresses the state of the world in a heartbreaking way. The recording just shakes with feeling. I saw Nina Simone the first time she came back to NYC at Carnegie Hall in about 1992 and it was only half sold. I clung to the balcony rails and cried for 2 hours.
Dec 26, 2024
Billy’s is my favorite music in the world. His whole catalog is immortal. He just released a new piece called September 23rd. It is a loop based ambient work comprised of a piano melody cut up from the early 80s that has been treated and processed. I always say Basinski’s music is the most helpful artwork I have ever known. I must have listened to his records for tens of thousands of hours. I am playing it before my concerts.
Dec 26, 2024
In 2016, I was privileged to visit the Martu in  Parnngurr, a remote West Australian Indigenous Community located 370kms East of Newman, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The Martu I met changed the way I thought about life. One elder there, Nola Taylor, told me that after we die we ”Go Back to Country”. She seemed to be suggesting that we remained in the world in some form, and that we do not leave upon death, challenging ideas I had learned as a child that our goal as humans was to escape the cycle of creation. That desire for escape from Nature seems dysphoric to me now.
Dec 26, 2024