Cracky

Drink a cup of hot tea

Wear soft, comfortable clothes

Take a bubble bath

Take a long shower

Get a massage

Get a manicure

Read a magazine

Wash your hair

Wrap up in a blanket

Give yourself a facial

Colour a colouring book

Play with Lego

Blow bubbles

Light candles

Read your favourite children’s book

Make a snack

Have a nap

Watch a funny video

Watch a good movie

Read a joke book

Watch the clouds go by

Play with a pet

Drive with the windows down

Braid your hair

Do a crossword puzzle

Research a topic

Complete a maze

Play a word game

Organise something

Listen to a podcast

Visit your local library

Plan something

Write in a journal

Talk a walk

Wash the dishes

Stretch

Dance around your room

Iron your clothes

Water your plants

Go to the park

Cook a nice meal

Hoover the house

Drive to a new part of town

Hula hoop

Practise your yoga

Play tennis

Rearrange your bedroom

Go for a swim

Run through the sprinkler

Wash your sheets

Ride a bike

Go bowling

Weed the garden

Call a friend

Make a gift for someone

Write a thank you note

Write a letter

Meet up with a friend

Visit a nursing home

Message someone you love

Invite someone to go shopping

Bake bread

Send an uplifting, kind anonymous message

Doodle

Invent something

Paint

Play an instrument

Make an instrument

Draw

Create a video

Draw yourself as a cartoon

Visit an art museum

Watch the buskers in town

Do a craft project

Try out a new recipe

Plan a new outfit

Decorate your room

Meditate

Pray

Listen to guided meditation

Download a new game

Level up in an old game

Take photographs

Compliment someone

Call your parents

Play with your siblings

Find new blogs to follow

Give yourself a pep talk

Moisturise

Tidy your room

Update your blog theme

Make a smoothie

Design your dream house

Paint your toenails

Clean your makeup brushes

Write a story

Clean the fridge

Organise your wardrobe

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican,1902-2002)

Big Daddy Tribute

Every Record I Own - Day 699: Kraftwerk Ralf & Florian

Ralf & Florian is the third and final Kraftwerk album before the group released their game-changer, Autobahn. Compared to their two previous albums, it seems more focused, like the group came to the table with more fully fleshed-out material and a greater idea of what they want to achieve on the record. The mechanical pulse of their previous work is still utilized here, but not pushed to the extremes of their following albums. There’s still a very “human” component to Ralf & Florian, despite the absence of vocals (barring some ethereal background choral work). It comes across as playful and imperfect even when employing lock-step arpeggios and drum machine tempos.

On any other day, I might ruminate on when I first heard the album, what kind of scenario I prefer when I listen to it, how it aligns with my musical philosophies, or why it’s significant to our broader culture. But Ralf & Florian came up in the queue the day after another round of online debates over the role of music criticism surfaced on Twitter. I’ve talked about this in the past, but I generally see a distinction between music writing and music criticism. I enjoy reading well-written thought pieces on music. I don’t enjoy reading record reviews that exist only to assign a score or a “this is good vs. this is bad” verdict. 

What kind of score would I give Ralf & Florian? I don’t ever think about music in those terms. What would I be grading it on? Its catchiness? Its ability to incorporate itself into a variety of environments? Is it a better album if I can’t help but focus on it while it’s playing or is it more successful if it surreptitiously colors the room? What’s my criteria? Would this album have blown my mind when it first came out in 1973? Or would it have completely befuddled me? How has time shaped the way I listen to Ralf & Florian? What other factors inform the way I hear it? These are all basic questions that would need to be addressed before I could issue a critical analysis of the work, and even then, what I think about Ralf & Florian is really, on some level, a reflection of who I am as a person and how I connect to music. 

Good music writing addresses these things. There’s an acknowledgement that the writer isn’t just subjective, but also fallible. And good music writing approaches its subject because of an actual interest, whereas music criticism so often comes across as a sense of duty or obligation.

When I started doing these album write-ups, I saw them as a way of putting the kind of personalized music writing I prefer to read out into the world… be the change you want to see and all that business. And I also saw it as an opportunity to go through my collection and weed things out. If an album comes up in the queue and I don’t have anything I want to say about it, I put it in my “to sell” pile, but I don’t waste time talking shit about it. And sometimes there’s a record that comes up that I don’t fully appreciate but that I hold onto because something about it makes me think I can still eventually unlock the magic behind it. I see it as a shortcoming of my listening abilities, not a shortcoming of the artist. 

I think. This is a success.