Hammers and grease
I’m still doing research for my next essay, but I hate letting a week go by without sending you an email, so here are some things to enjoy.
Flux Gourmet is the best movie I’ve seen since all The Purges. It’s on Shudder (which is such a fun streamer if you have the money or can bum a login). It is simultaneously:
A tense, unsettling story about a group of “sonic caterers,” performance artists who amplify the sounds of them cooking
An exploration of creativity and the interpersonal dynamics of collaboration
One long fart joke
I went on a walk without headphones for the first time in years, and wouldn’t you know, it made a difference. I could hear drums and saxophone coming from the high school parking lot, so I followed the sound and found two dudes playing there to save money on rehearsal space (what up, Jack and Mitch, I think!). Their instrumentation reminded me of a non-masked, non-grindcore version of Clown Core, which I told them about, so I’m practically their manager now.
Part of my research for next week if you want a peek: “This should not be normalised”: Why musicians are cancelling tours to protect their mental health.
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
One of the most unique episodes yet! Jon Matteson (StarKid Productions) comes on the show with a mission: to make sense of a spiritual experience he had as a child. Once he introduces the experience, I spend the rest of the episode helping him chip away at its meaning.
Content warning: Catholicism, Kansas, terrible choirs, beautiful music.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
I don’t even listen to Chat Pile’s God’s Country that much. I’m not sure I’ve heard the whole album! But it has seared itself into my brain more than almost any record this year for the brutality of “Slaughterhouse” and the white-hot righteousness of “Why.” It’s clanging, bellowing, pointy-edged, slyly funny music to exorcise the horror of our world. “Hammers and grease” is the most efficient image I’ve heard in a while.
Here are the lyrics to both songs to give you a taste before you listen.
Slaughterhouse
Hammers and grease
And the eyes of god
Always watching
Always watchingIf we could only fly away now
If we could only fly awayAnd live in different skins
Exist in different skins
And live in different skins
Remove all your skins
And walk in new light
And walk in cleaner light
And walk in new skin
In new lightAnd the eyes of God are forgiving now
So forgiving nowBlood had to be shed
In order to set things rightHammers and grease
Haunted building
Haunted lifeAnd all the blood
All the blood
And the fuckin sound, man
You never forget their eyesEveryone’s head rings here
And there is no escape
No motherfucking exit
Hammers and grease
Pounding
And the sad eyes, goddamnit
And the screaming
There’s more screaming than you’d think
Everyone’s head rings here
You never forget their eyes
Hammers and grease
Why
Why do people have to live outside
In the brutal heat or when it’s below freezing
There are people that are made to live outside
WhyWhy do people have to live outside
When there are buildings all around us
With heat on and no one inside
WhyWhy do people have to live outside
In tents, under bridges
Living with nothing and horribly suffering
Why
Why do people have to live outside
We have the resources
We have the means
WhyWhy do people have to live outside
I couldn’t survive out on the streets
WhyWhy do people have to live outside
I couldn’t survive out on the streets
I’ve never had to push all of my shit around in a shopping cart
have you
Have you ever had ring worm
Scabies?
Have you ever had to live outside
I don’t want to live outside
Why
Why do people have to live outsideHorror story
Real American horror story
And it’s a fuckin tragedy
Every day
Everyday, people have to live outside
Why
Why,
DM