• Jason Mraz why is he singing reggae. In a post on Mraz’s song, “I’m Yours” I write:
“It’s easy to think of reggae music as ‘laid back’ due to its easy tempo, effortless groove, and sense of cool. Perhaps it’s this laid back cool that Mraz chose to gesture with in his hit song? In this sense, ‘I’m Yours’ can be read as submitting to reggae’s deep comforting reach, with or without really knowing–let alone engaging with–the extent of its struggles.”
• Ray Hudson techniques. If you haven’t watched La Liga soccer, you need to do so just to hear Ray Hudson’s verbal flow! In a post on Hudson I write:
“Hudson plays the role of exuberant interrupter, riffing on the game like a preacher with a microphone driving himself to exhaustion, yet somehow willing his body to keep going because the game unfolding in front of us is simply that good, that magical.”
• Notes on the piano lesson. In a post on Tricia Tunstall’s book, Note By Note, I write:
“Piano lessons, Tunstall says, are about (re)situating music as an autonomous practice–to save it from being merely a thing downloaded and listened to as a soundtrack for something else. Note By Note captures the piano lesson itself as a kind of autonomous practice. It’s a space to learn about the development and limits of skill, concentration, and the musicking body.”
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