#ash blogs

I’ve been following Guyaba online for several years, but I never got around to listening to their music... shame on me. I made time to listen to this album and fully expected a weird, dark, and lofi rap album but this is so much more and so not lofi. Guyaba explores bossa nova through horrorcore and a psychedelic filter with super tight production. This album has a dark atmosphere, catchy and haunting melodies, beautiful vocal harmonies, and an eclectic instrumentation. Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), Mariposa Mala, and Sanguijuela are songs where Guyaba raps and sings in equally excellent quality about the intersections of being a queer fat afrolatina weirdo within the context of horror, both real and “film” type, and existentialism.  And Thus, I Remain Crepuscular..., Guyaba imitates the sounds of nature with haunting music that would fit perfectly in any horror movie ending the track with intense metal vocals.

I first listened to this album sometime in 2019, I Wish I Was the Moon came up on my spotify discover weekly. I saw Neko Case and I remember seeing her name around the internet a lot through the years so I decided to give it a listen. I immediately fell in love with the album. It’s Country, but not quite, the arrangements on each song inform some other influence. Runnin’ Out of Fools feels, to an uninformed country listener like me, to hark back to classic country songs. Meanwhile, Lady Pilot, has more of an Indie feel (for lack of better terms). The way she delivers her lyrics feels so personal. Deep Red Bells and I Wish I Was the Moon hit particularly deep and I cry nearly every time I listen to them. Every song is a journey, exceptionally composed and exceptionally produced.

I have a knack for being completely oblivious to anything popular. I was turned onto to Orville Peck by a friend on New Year’s Eve. We watched the videos for the songs Dead of Night and Turn to Hate and I was pulled in by the whole aesthetic of it: the slightly altered but undeniably classic country sound, the mask, the videos that seemed to be filmed in strip clubs or brothels in the desert. I listened to the whole album the first chance I had and I was not disappointed. The production on this album is incredible. The album puts you alone in a dreamy desert, every instrument drips with a little reverb while drones play on in the background of a classic tremolo guitar sound with an often low voice serenaded you in tales of loss. 

7/31/16 11:30pm  /  8/1/16 11:30am

ok, so yesterday i did some things.  i have to remember what those are now.

put up a big projects list in the basement studio (now to be referred to as the Constellations studio)

took inventory of the projects that are already started

determined the problem with the Motor Box 

listened to a bunch of tapes and some cds

practiced guitar

ruined the tongue drum in an attempt to improve it (don’t worry, i have another plate ready to replace the one i wrecked)

put together a shopping list for current projects

watched Lord of the Rings

worked on the podcast

great!  today i hope to 

finish normalizing and editing the podcast

remove recycling from my room

add intro, outro, and break music to podcast

laundry

schedule eye exam

7/31/16 11:30 am

Ok so the past two weeks I’ve been awful at doing anything but sleeping but there are some updates. I’ve started making progress on my residency project, I got some good demos of the recent instruments I built, I finally started on that podcast, and I finally decided to become a manager at my day job. I’ll start training for that in about 2 weeks. I'm gonna make a post of what I do today when I click out