historical rhetorical

image: elise castrodale

Chromatics - Running Up That Hill

winter in our town.

i think you're cool but are you in to skipping school?
snowflakes are falling now, it's wintertime, they're
falling on our town. do you like the snow? if you do,
baby, let it show! it's winter and it's snowing now.
there's snowflakes falling on our town, we're waiting
til they hit the ground; snowflakes falling all around.

so you think you're cool, skipping out on every day of
school? get yourself together girl; the summer's gone,
it's winter now. snowflakes are falling down, listen to
them make their sound. there's snowflakes falling on
the ground. it's wintertime they're falling on our town.

girlsareshort - snowflake

goodbye transistor tropics, hello digital winter.

photo: sandra croft. the back stairs of 70 baldwin.

heartbeast: it snowed today for the first time, and i feel...
i don't know.

a flock of 500 starlings overheard.

heartbeast: stop that sighing. yeah life is tough, but you gotta
keep trying.

"i just need this year's calendar, dear."

heartbeast: i know a place where diamonds never fade away.
wolfgang: my dearest friend is shining brighter day by day.

even as the year ends, we are mesmerized by the whole -
no beginning and no end. when are you gonna see that's the
way life goes? and what a god damn blessing it is?

the tough alliance - neo violence (windsurf's neon violet dub)
the tough alliance - lucky

bad posture, good intentions

image: elise castrodale

october language.

photos: sandra croft

the language of october is nothing else but the impressions
and signs that nature itself speaks to us melted into sound.
autumn is a time of waiting and watching time go by, not
for action and loudness. as nature slows down after the
affluence of summer, october language speaks of the decay
of light, of leaves, of the quality of the sunlight and the
paradox of nature being both ephemeral and hauntingly
transient.

so, slowly, roll over and face the end. winter's here, but not
quite. october language whispers in these quiet spaces, and
what makes it such an effective expression of autumn is its
understanding of decay, the type that is always practically
imperceptible, happening over days or weeks or months
until the day you realise it's been happening all along.
grinding through filter overload, heavily processed guitars
and distorted loops that seem to go on forever, the sound
of october is about understanding that all beauty inherently
has an element of decay; behind the sunlight and warmth
there has to lurk an unspeakable melancholy and sadness
that will seep into the listener like the cold air on an autumn
night, slowly and imperceptibly, but surely.

so maybe another way to think about the language of october
is to imagine all the glorious pop music of the summer aging
and eroding before your ears in time-lapsed timelessness,
leaving only microscopic sediments that go on to form the
soul of winter as the heart of summer deteriorates.

belong - october language
belong - who told you this room exists

i heard she broke your heart again.

image: sandra croft

can you see it's much better? it's been soo long.
can you believe it's much better, you've been so wrong.

van she - so high

seasonal adjustments, stars realign.

image: sandra croft

we could change. we should change. you know that every
day from now on nature is trying to say "the summer is
over. and winter is on its way." summer songs have simple
blueprints, syndicated by open windows in june; winter's
about bells, strings, digital sounds, anything with a sharp
edge; spring can start from a fresh beat and grow in the
sunshine. autumn songs though...they're a lot harder to
pin down. not as pensive or hollow as winter songs, and
just that little bit more hopeful. autumn songs mean that
much more, because like the changing season, they're
about renewal; feelings come and go and change, good
and bad and sad. you can never tell exactly where it will
lead, and that's the beauty of it all. it's all about making
sure that as the season transitions, you do too, just a little
bit each day. when the leaves start to fall, hold out your
hand and close your eyes, coz you're in for a big surprise.

the bridal shop - violation

isn't anything like loveless?

image: sandra croft

atonal, architonal. you and i listen to more music than
anyone else in the history of civilization. there are so
many records competing for attention, and so many
are potentially appealing on first listen that it is often
tempting to cling to the familiar and instantly likeable.
but it's important not to give up on those more difficult
albums. they serve as barometers, showing the limits
of your taste and understanding: here's where the music
gets too noisy; here's where it gets too atonal; this is the
place where i don't know what the hell is going on. and
while difficult records measure a boundary, they also
measure how your understanding changes between
listens. the way you hear music is continually shifting,
and many of those changes are unconscious. when a
difficult record finally makes sense, you will understand
how you yourself have expanded. in the end, it ultimately
serves as a reminder to listen real hard but harden not
your heart.