It’s Saturday and I’ve finished my first few days at a new job. Contrary to expectations, I won’t castigate the corporate world and evangelize about the open road. I actually kind of enjoyed clocking into the office.
That being said.. working the 9-5 is so safe, stable. Take some risks this weekend. Do something out of character. Make trouble.
Seek to live big. Personally, I want to live like a character out of a Gabriel Garcia Márquez novel (I’ve only read One Hundred Years). His players tromp through their chapters with obsessive ambition. Whether they launch thirty-two revolutions, construct little gold fishes, or seduce their sister, the characters are completely engrossed in an often blind pursuit of purpose. If you want to be a writer, lock yourself in your room and write. Learning to skateboard? Obsess about it. Stay out on that street and skate until the street lights flash on and the sweat soaks through your shirt. Craving to be loved – or lusted for? (I find this one’s the easiest to obsess over and the hardest to control.) Haven’t figured out that last one, but if we live large enough, as largely as we possibly can, and I think we’ll be walking in the right direction.*
*Then, say fuck it, and run the other way.
Pic: Ghetto by the sea
Something I love about the AFTMTH is the diversity of the bloggers on here. For example: While Jamboys and I are scrambling to finish term papers, drinking the cheapest light beer we can get our hands on and getting sweaty to deep house in dark basements, D-man and Francois are racing to meet project deadlines, sipping aged red wine and swing dancing to live string instruments.
While our weekend antics might take different paths, come Monday, we’re all pushing the pencil for the man (or at least we should be). So whether you’re writing that Philosophy 210 paper on Popper’s Falsification Principle or plugging CamelBak’s daily coverage report into an Excel spreadsheet, here’s something to get your ink wet:
GRiZ, or Grant Kwiecinski, is a kid from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. He grew up vibing to the rhythms of Pretty Lights, Bassnectar and Big Gigantic. His new album, Say It Loud, has elevated the talented DJ and saxophonist to a place with his idols at the electro-soul table.
Adam Cohen is a Bob Dylan wannabe with some Canadian talent. FlicFlac does nice work on the remix although admittedly both versions sound very similar.
And check out the steamy video for the original song. Grab that butt cheek!
This week, for the first time in a blissfully short professional career, I have been locked into the mind-numbing stockade that is an office workplace. It’s all coffee, elongated bathroom breaks, and bad office jokes. My existence feels about as valuable as one of those tiny numbers that I plug into an endless Excel sheet.
What’s the best way to pass the day? (besides daydreaming about that cute girl in marketing).. I plug in my headphones and drown out the buzz of the copy-machines and that chatty fellow from accounting with a cacophony of synthesized, thrusting, cracking, hyped-machined and re-worked pop jams.
My fingers type and groove to Thomas Jack:
I reminisce on better days spent prowling Cape Town with D-man, WalterCronkTight and Goldfish:
My feet tap the linoleum floor to the beat of MUTO‘s JT remix:
I lovestep with Just A Gent:
And finally my inner-high-school-girl breaks out and I flat out sing with Charli XCX in ODESZA‘s newest remix:
And look, Marketing Hottie is up to get a cup of coffee, and subsequently so am I. Things will get better.
Channelling Phillip Phillips & The Lumineers, Chasing Grace is a talented quartet out of Watford, England that brings a more feminine and buoyant sound to a rapidly growing pop-folk genre.
Keep an eye on them.
theaftermathmusic.com 