1) Poliça, “Dreams Go” / All Channy Leaneagh and her mates do on this record—and throughout the Poliça catalog—is craft deep, dark, bassy, sexy textures that transcend pop and electronic ideals while treasuring them.
2) Living Hour, “Internal Drone Infinity” / Here, the Canadian indie-rock band creates something wonderfully atmospheric and visceral all at once.
3) Glass-Beagle, “Early Riser” / A trusted podcast led me to the EP from this Chicago outfit; early Wilco comparisons hit, as the band melds the artful and the distinctly American. But beyond labels or “sounds likes,” Glass-Beagle commends itself on its jangly, janky way of keeping a song together.
4) Dagoberto Gilb, “Romero’s Shirt” in “Still Wild: Short Fiction of the American West 1950 to the Present” / Gilb’s short story, wrapped in this Larry McMurtry-edited collection, is a glorious bit of sense serving substance and vice-versa.
5) Donald Quist, “Stone of Hope” for AGNI / The subtle (and not-so-subtle) bending of Dr. King’s words is oft-discussed, but my friend Donald Quist has written the perfect essay to discuss how we reshape King—and how King’s shifting shadow affects and covers over the young Black men who’ve followed in his stead. Per usual, Quist’s writing is empathetic, inspiring, thorough and so so necessary.
For me, it has become increasingly important to remind myself that MLK was a Black man, no more exceptional than his faith in us. He was not a magical negro alluding to a mythical utopia. King, made of flesh like you and me, advocated for concrete changes, spoke on policy reform, and organized strategies for action. Actualizing the democratic ideals of liberty and the pursuit of happiness is not a matter of resources but of will. We have, collectively, everything available to us that we might need to ensure people everywhere have three meals a day for their bodies and education and culture for their minds. We have all we need to be other-centered, to triumph over war, bloodshed, and famine—all we need is to dream audaciously and to bring those dreams to fruition.