An evil Mood Machine and a peek into the Unassimilable Asian diaspora
non-fiction picks: Mood Machine and Unassimilable
a continuous mix of shows, books, articles + more worth raving about
this week: 2 non-fiction books I recommend. scroll to b2b for Sheck Wes and Travis Scott ILMBing and an hour of 90s happy hardcore
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
No surprise this is not an uplifting read. Total bummer to look at the music industry, capitalism, AI, all of it, from this angle. It’s also an extremely necessary, straightforward book, but it’s not a ‘quick read’ since it requires A LOT of breaks for mental sanity.
I needed a break after I read the following headline and threw the book down in disgust!!
Spotify being credited for inventing hyperpop. It legit makes me ill to have to know that this obviously wrong, wrong, WRONG headline exists. And then I start thinking of the ‘genres’ that Spotify ‘curators’ are making up that people now think are real music subgenres… STRESS!! And this is but only a minor anxiety inducing element in Mood Machine. Still, it’s a must-read especially if you wanna quit Spotify or are increasingly concerned about the flattening of culture.
Very recently I’m trying to start following bands and artists on bandcamp more to remind myself to buy merch from smaller artists who need the support.
Unassimilable
“Asian American” has to be one of the broadest terms. Are the immigrant experiences of Malaysians, Pakistanis, Filipinos, Chinese really that similar? It’s clearly a term of convenience. I exist in an Othered category where I technically am an immigrant to America but raised by white, non-immigrant parents. Still, there’s overlap in author Bianca Mabute-Louie’s experience, especially when she covers PWIs (predominantly white institutions).
Unassimilable is a scholar/activist memoir, combining sociological data with her personal arc. She takes us through her upbringing in an ethnoburb, details her evangelical church devotion and camp days, and admits she did not show up for Oscar Grant protests while attending Mills College. All of it makes her story that much more human, as she owns up to various mistakes she made along the way to learning to deconstruct, revise, and examine her own racial place in the world.
Read any good non-fiction lately? Click to discuss:
back 2 back music bumps for the soul
Sheck Wes and I’m gettin really rich! Remember that era? Ahhh good times. Sheck and Travis Scott profess their love for the bitches on ILMB.
There & Back 012: December, Early Happy Hardcore 1993-1995
Maybe the first time I’ve listened to happy hardcore from the 90s? It’s still 160bpm1 but in a hyped, focusable way, not feeling like I’m gonna crawl outta my skin while working on an Excel spreadsheet. I’m trying not to listen to music only while at my desk… it’s actually hard cuz way too many working hours are required by life.