Keith, Deftones and Idles
A few Words and some Rage Tweets for the Weekend
This is the last “free” newsletter before the two-tiered system goes into effect on Monday. I would be hugely stoked if you opt to support my work that you can do with a monthly subscription by hitting the button below. Fanks Comrades.
Waking up to hear the news of one of your friends passing is never a good. Keith, friend, mentor, inspiration, skater, founder of HUF and so much more died yesterday and it hurts. I grew up with posters of him in my teenage bedroom as I was starting to skate and it was a big deal to me when we first met some 20 years ago. A quiet, loving and always supporting person who, whenever the universe allowed us to meet and share time made me laugh, think and do. It’s incredibly difficult to materialize in words the impact he had on me, but he did. Thank you Keith, you know what for.
Today is a fucking GREAT day for new music. Both Deftones and Idles have released their new albums and like the nerd I am have been up early and been playing both records back to back for a few hours now.
Christ on a crutch the new Deftones record slaps hard and I’ll start by saying this record is on par with White Pony - it’s that good. As a lifelong fan it’s hard to be objectively critical about their work but let’s call it for what it is: Deftones operate in a league of their own, their creativity, talent and skills have been honed for decades and this Terry Date produced record harnesses all that. Similarly to “White Pony” there is not one weak spot on this record, and we all know that that hasn’t always been the case over the last ten years. At times heavier than anything I have ever heard them and at times more complicated, ethereal, melodic and frankly, honest. This is probably the strongest emotion, other than wanting to dance and bang away for the next few days listening to this masterpiece, that I am taking away from the first few hours of listening to Ohms: It sounds and feels as if every individual member of the band as well as collectively feels extremely comfortable, confident and at peace busting out the best they can, and they do.
If one great album release wasn’t enough here is another one. I have been championing Idles ever since catching them live for the first time - an experience and a half - and I was really fucking looking forward to this new record. It delivers in a big way. Granted, I have to be in the mood for Idles and I wasn’t entirely sure if I was this morning but even so, this is going to be one of those records that we will reference, talk about and dance to for a long time. I am particularly excited for new fans to listen to this and see how good at radicalizing Idles will be - and they will be. I am going to have to spend more time going through the lyrics, an essential part to any Idles experience, but from what I have picked up at this point I am thrilled. Musically it delivers 9/10 times for me, there are a couple of tracks that will have to grow on me, on the other hand there are a couple of tracks on this record that made jump around with joy/ anger at first listen.
No need to spell this one out. These next few weeks are going to get wild. As to the tweet below, what in the fuck?? It’s not like the country is poised to explode at any given point, right? This is your tax money at work folks.
Damn it, I am missing out on my Marxist / Antifa pay-checks again. Crap.
No, seriously, something to take into the weekend comrades. Seriously.
Just getting to the new IDLES album and I'm digging the slightly less smoother edge to their sneer this time around.
On the eternal doom scroll front - my wife and I had one of the more absurd and terrifying discussions of our married life last night. Based on what's happening in the US, we felt it was our responsibility as parents to think about where we will take our children if things get extra weird after the election. I enjoy doomsday game theory as much as the next political science nerd, but my wife is a practical, low-drama citizen who is honestly concerned about the safety of her kids.
It is all at once sad, frightening, and utterly predictable that all it took was several exceptionally cynical people to exploit the inequality, rage, and ignorance in our populace to bring the brittle system to the breaking point.