#adaptform

A great read about the broadening representation of the LGBT community worldwide, and an indication as to why this needs to happen.

“ In looking over the ever-growing roster of men he and his contributors had been amassing, Campbell noticed that, given the European-centric content of his first four issues, he was presenting a narrow vision of the community he had hoped to broaden“

Connie Constance

When I first heard Connie Constance’s music I was taken to a place that was somewhere between King Krule and Ghostpoet, a female equivalent of sorts, experimenting with different forms in sound and with an explicit soul edge. The track ‘Answer’ was the first I was directed to by someone who I had met visiting friends in Nottingham. After introductions and niceties we started talking all things music. I mentioned my love of female vocalists across genre; Purple Ferdinand, Weaves, Szjerdene, Chairlift, Empress Of, Grimes, Marika Hackman, Solange, Dilly Dally… A diverse context for Connie Constance to be naturally dropped into.

Across the releases ‘In the Grass’ EP and single ‘Answer’ her vocal sways between song and speech, almost punk-like with a backdrop of electronics, piano, voice modulation, and intricate layers of melodies. It is exactly what you should expect from a young artist, an exploration of the sound she wants to create more coherently in the future. Seeking an audio identity.

Her latest single ‘Lose My Mind’ (swooooooooon!) is minimal relative to her earlier material. It implies the beauty, solitude and sorrow of the human experience, without context but with much interpretative emotive detail. And it is ultimately the beauty that breaks through for it is a song devoted to another’s kindness and ability to bring peace to a troubled soul; her “guide”. Nothing more than piano chords and vocal It showcases what I am sure many will refer to as an “old soul” in a young human’s body. Harmonies and overlapping vocal melodies build in the second half of the track giving a free intricacy that nods to jazz greats and adds a conversational appeal, as if the words she sings are thoughts just coming into her head and expressed intuitively without pause. Music is clearly an emotional outlet for Connie Constance and this track proves that you can have authenticity without pretension, the latter being something that has swamped the music industry in recent years by young artists attempting to be someone. What intrigues me about the release of the stripped back ‘Lose My Mind’ is that there are still a number of directions that Connie Constance could take her music. There is a notable step up in coherence from her earlier material to the present moment, a clarity in her vocal and harmonic value which will define her future steps. And I very much look forward to hearing the sound those steps make.

TED Talk - Ruby Wax: What’s So Funny About Mental Illness?

In the last couple of days i have revisited this talk a fair few times. We have come a notable distance in terms of awareness of mental health since 2012 when the above was filmed, but on the whole the words that Ruby Wax says here still hold relevance. Perhaps an indicator into the reality of trying to encourage a nation, a world to give more time to a particular subject.

Earlier this year my beautiful-inside-and-out friend Harriet asked me if i wanted to see Ruby on her Frazzled tour. It was incredible to hear that she was coming to the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and as i read my friend’s invitation on Facebook i clutched at the screen as if grabbing the ticket she was offering. 

Though i wasn’t 100% certain about what angle Ruby would be taking and the content of her talk it was superb. Her naturally frantic monologues combining personal insight with rampant intellect, her attentiveness to herself and to the significance of mental health generally and in the 21st Century, her respectful hostility towards those that take a dim view of mental health and her pure adoration for the opportunity to speak with an ever-widening audience. And as for the audience i was part of it? Well it clearly weighed heavily on the intellectual, the professional and students. Through audience interaction there were perhaps needless to say a sizeable amount of people who had experience of mental health problems, past, present, and i’m afraid i can’t rule out the other tense. And here’s hoping a new demographic was reached too, even if to a small extent. 

Awareness is so incredibly important. How else does anything ever happen??? If you spent half the time you spend on social media interacting with mental health, within a week you would have a significant insight into the subject. Mental health is intrinsically human, it has always been a part of us, and will only affect more of us negatively if we do not take note and educate ourselves. And that could be by reading a book, watching YouTube and the growing mainstream entertainment outlets that are portraying variants of mental health, seeing a piece of theatre, attending feel good workshops, listening to music, talking with friends. The creativity of learning knows no bounds and to apply that to the subject of mental health will only be of benefit to you and everyone around you. 

“For me it’s a perfect analogy to how we respond to things around us, things that change very slowly around us are often unperceived, and yet on some unconscious level we know that something has changed" .

via The Line of Best Fit

Weekend Punk

CANNOT WAIT until Weekend Punk at the Design Museum, London!!! check out all the talks, workshops and exhibitions on offer for what will be the last event at the Museum’s current home Shad Thames! come DIY!!!!!

Brecht Vandenbroucke

Visit the comically dark world of Brecht Vandenbroucke. It is one you will find very familiar. The human race has never failed to create its own mistakes but with social media and the internet more generally speaking it’s like we are unknowingly indulging in practices that lead to, highlight and proliferate our naivety about the world around us. 

Tackling issues such as armed conflict, sexuality, social media and internet, the view of beauty over reality and how the former is rewarded, the way we live and our need for ease, how we see each other and our aimless need to follow suit, it is all depicted in an accessible and creative way. The more you look the more you see, the louder the voices behind the paintings become.