Idées Musicales
Moving some of my music writing over to this Substack
When I first started writing on Substack my initial idea was to write long-form music reviews. Or, to take an album, mostly avoid the music, and write about its context and themes instead. To see Pitchfork’s Classic Albums Sunday and raise the pretentiousness several notches. I did this over on a Substack called Lunch Hour Pops.
I had hoped to be able to consistently publish articles, but with the research and thought I wanted to dedicate to each piece, there was no way to keep pace around my other commitments.
One of these commitments was writing the weekly newsletter for Australian Foreign Affairs magazine. This involved writing three short pieces of analysis on major global issues relevant to Australia during the week. Yet in October 2022, the magazine decided to discontinue their weekly newsletter – shifting to a monthly model instead.
That’s when I began this Substack – thinking I could take a similar model of short pieces of analysis coupled with links to interesting articles and podcasts from around the world each week. Augmenting this weekly newsletter with more longer-form articles that were in a style or on a subject matter unlikely to be published anywhere else.
This format changed as my time available changed, and shifted to mostly following my own movements and the ideas I would bump into as I moved around. As a result, my initial Substack got left behind.
However, recently I’ve been thinking that having two separate Substacks for different themes isn’t really keeping with the spirit of the kind of writer I wish to be.
Although for my day job I work for a foreign policy think tank, I bristle a bit at being typecast as a foreign affairs analyst. Or, more accurately, I think foreign affairs is a far wider discipline than many in the field would see it.
Everything is important – from personal behaviours and social norms, to culture, to urban planning and domestic institutions, to economics and all the way up to grand strategy. Indeed, no grand strategy is serious without contemplating the everyday aspects of people’s lives. The objective of foreign policy should always be how to advance secure, flourishing individuals and societies. Not be a dick measuring competition between states.
In this spirit, I’ve decided to bring a few articles from Lunch Hour Pops over to this Substack. With the intention of retiring that Substack and publishing similar articles here moving forward (alongside my other writing).
I haven’t sent these articles via email as I don’t want to flood people. So instead I’ve just posted them directly to the site and linked to them here with short summaries. I hope they may be of interest:
Kaputt – Destroyer
The relationship with the United States dominates Canadian life. Due to this, Canadians have developed wry perspective that can only come from being permanently attached to a larger force. No-one embodies this trait more than Dan Bejar (aka Destroyer). Droll references to America dominate his songs, and on Kaputt he started to win the country over.
Mwng – Super Furry Animals
What languages need to survive and thrive is not only official endorsement from a state and their necessity of use within a geographic area, but a body of cultural works to provide the power of attraction and build social resilience. Welsh looked to be in terminal decline due to a hostile British state and the overbearing power of English. Yet this has been turned around, due to both a restructuring of the British state, and a cultural renaissance.
Fetch the Compass Kids – The Danielson Famile
Art requires courage, and the courage to follow ones convictions often creates compelling art. Yet most musical artists are also seeking to make public connections. The Danielson Famile make utterly bewildering music – the sound is amateurish, the song structures senseless, the vocals hard on the ears, and the lyrics Christian. This is conviction music that would find it very difficult to make a public connection. But dedicate a little time, and and open mind, and it becomes compelling.
Everything Must Go – Manic Street Preachers
Four boys in a small Welsh mining town dream of becoming the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in human history. They attempt to do so with a farcical hubris, a spirit of spite and confrontation, ridiculous outfits and terrible musical choices. This was followed by a dark, but brilliant, turn and absolute tragedy. Before finally achieving the success that they had dreamed of as kids.
What’s Tonight To Eternity? – Cindy Lee
Nostalgia has become a powerful cultural force, particularly in an era of such rapid change. Cindy Lee’s music is built around an alternative world of darker 60s girl groups, heard through the crackle and hiss of a slightly detuned radio, or cassette tapes degrading in quality. It’s also the sound of seclusion and solitude. And the danger of morphing solitude into loneliness.