SOUNDTRACK: THUNDERCAT-“Black Squalls” (2020).
I really liked Thundercat’s album “Drunk.” At first I wasn’t sure about it because it tends into some smooth R&B which I don’t really like. But his musicianship and lyrics were just too good, that he won me over. And when he gets his bass fingers moving, it’s a marvel.
Thundercat is touring around here soon and I’m thinking about getting a ticket. I didn’t realize he’d be releasing a new album. This song “Black Squalls” comes from it.
“Black Squalls” marries the two parts of Thundercat’s work with a great opening funky fat bass line and Thundercat’s falsetto vocals.
A wavery synth line introduces the catchy chorus
‘Cause there’s no more livin’ in fear
No more livin’ in fear
If we don’t talk about it on the web
I love Thundercat’s falsetto backing vocals while Steve Lacy and Steve Arrington sing the post-chorus.
The juxtaposition of smooth and thumping bass is fantastic. This is the single edit of the song. The album version will have a contribution from Childish Gambino. Now THAT should be cool.
[READ: January 15, 2020] “Saturday Project”
I really enjoyed this story and its divergent plot lines.
I also enjoyed the somewhat confusing way it started. Geoff and his wife Laura had discussed “cutting the cord” and I couldn’t quite picture what that meant.
Then the UPS man brought some boxes which made the reality come home.
Soon enough it becomes clear that they are cutting the cable cord and switching to a satellite dish. Laura is concerned, can they still watch local news? He assured her it was a good idea. And yet those boxes stayed unopened in his workroom for months.
Laura didn’t say anything despite these boxes taking up room. Finally, one spring day when she was at an all-day work retreat, he decided to complete the project.
She urges him to be careful installing the thing. And he is. In fact, doing the project energizes him to take care of some other things that need doing around the house. Like the boxes in the attic that need sorting and organizing. He opens one of the boxes and, thinking he found old Christmas cards, sees that they are actually letters. One sent to Laura was postmarked 1978. Three day before their wedding.
The letter is from Marcus. Geoff doesn’t know anyone named Marcus. The letter indicates that they met at a public place and he enjoyed their conversation. It is intimate without being too intimate.
Geoff digs through more letters–the addresses followed their life as they moved from place to place. He wants to read more, but he knows he must finish with the dish.
I enjoyed the way the story details the mundanity of the task at hand–how the dish is heavier than it looks, how the wires need to be grounded, and how he has to decide where to put holes in the wall.
Between decisions he reads another letter.
There are more intimacies. Marcus writes, “I wish you could be next to me whispering the right word in my ear.” But this is all in relation to how Marcus communicates poorly with his wife.
The letters don’t indicate that they have met up or anything. In fact, Marcus says nice things about Geoffrey (misspelling his name), saying he looks like someone he could be friends with.
Geoff makes sure he doesn’t get too sucked in because he wants to finish with the satellite dish. He finishes and cleans things up before Laura gets home. One indicates that she had visited Marcus on her last work-based trip. Marcus’ wife is no longer in the picture and his daughter really liked her, but he says he is not ready for anyone else. It’s unclear if he is turning her down or just thinking in print.
Geoff marvels that Laura has never said anything about this as she does not usually keep secrets about anything.
Laura comes home soon after. He doesn’t say anything to her. Later, when she sees the box of Christmas decorations, he makes sure to put the letters in with them.
I liked the way this story was resolved and the line that Geoff tells himself before the story ends.
The tone of this story was very satisfying to me and I will definitely look for more from him.
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