not a lot of text for a newsletter but hey, i’ve been hosting a radio show for about two years on oroko radio. i’ve made radio show episodes for myself before. you can find them on my mixcloud and soundcloud.

sharing my mixes is a great way to track my progress and sonic evolution. for quite sometime it mostly served a very personal goal. i decided to take it step higher and mix for an audience and through the counsel of a certain she spells doom i discovered oroko radio.

it was perfect because having an external party expect a musical delivery from me every few helped keep my output consistent. work and life were a lot but doing this really kept me going!

i thought i’d take you through that journey.

2024

march 2024

▶ listen to the recording

may 2024

▶ listen to the recording

july 2024

▶ listen to the recording

october 2024

▶ listen to the recording

december 2024

▶ listen to the recording

2025

february 2025

▶ listen to the recording

june 2025

▶ listen to the recording

september 2025

▶ listen to the recording

november 2025

▶ listen to the recording

its really heartwarming to look back and listen to these.. i’ve been on a bit of a haitus.. but i had a lovely live set last weekend (thanks to everyone who came ♥) that was nice.. what’s going on? really, i think i have too much music, at least digital tracks which makes picking and organising overwhelming, i think i understand why some artists start afresh with collections every couple of years.. i think i might do that! i hope it helps

i’m also always in a weird space, i need to bring it back to the basics… i haven’t made a mix in a while and my plants are dying but i’m fine, i’m filling another cup i guess

what’s next? i’m learning how to dj on vinyl (it’s hard and cumbersome) – but i like how i can disconnect! just me and my analog machines.

i can promise you this.. more mixes come.. hopefully a vinyl one soon. let’s see, what else?

i moved from spotify to apple music, despite a migration path, there have been some hiccups… habit is a thing!

really digging these songs/albums

• ryoji ikeda - test pattern

• meryl & theodora - instructions

• rowdy rebel - computers

• five revolutions - fwe bena zambia

• djo - delete ya

• blood orange - mind loaded

oooh if you’re in paris, you’ll like this!

i present to you the bestcarrotcakeinparis.com

please add your favourites and vote please! k bye

happy new year!

last year i lost my voice, i haven’t written to you since may, my bad! i hope you’re all well. I wrote to you, banging at my keys, the clicking keys a distant memory. this december, i was “offline” if you don’t count my 40,000 hours of youtube.

i’m mostly doing well. haven’t processed my year yet. i really don’t know how to.

places, faces, voices, moments… the memories unnerve me but this might help.

last year, a friend described obsession to me as an act of a person seeking to assert control over their life. i won’t project any judgment on the question of control and the need for it. i will share what i have been obsessed with in 2025.

january

severence. how can one not be completely taken by this show? we went places with this show, watch parties, dress up (i never do cosplay), themed snacks, fan theory deeep dives.. give it a try if you haven’t already. apple tv really needs to do better at promo.

february

i ’d been looking for an apartment for idk, 3-4 months, i finally got one, which means out with the old. getting rid of things is hard, accumulating things is easy, this exercise made me more mindful of what i let take up space in my home. i spent WAAAY too much time on vinted and leboncoin.

march

a new place mean’t i finally had the opportunity to creatively direct my own, and i went all in, i had looked at every shippable household item in continental europe and sometimes beyond, but worth it, i love my place. i scoured stores, flea markets, vintage furniture markets, instragram, design subreddits, furnishing was my life in ways you can’t imagine. i came out a better man.

april

my annual trip to zambia, every month a good time to visit, this one was a very inspired trip, i’m obssessed with it growing creative scene, musically, visually, culinary everything is so many leaps forward everytime i visit, it means a lot to me to be able to experience the country that birthed me and seeing friends and family is always refreshing too! zambia 2027 group trip, lets goo lol

may

i have this goal of owning a private collection of art in a building i codesign with an architect i like, so i started early. (un)fortuately i was introduced to catawiki, a gamified online auction platform, so i dipped my toes, then feet, then body, and now i’m a collector. i also have talented friends i like to support. the responsiblity of ownership taught me framing is VERY important.

june

post-olympic sadness left me with a live sports-shaped hole in my heart, and what better than tennis to serve as a fitting replacement. i was lucky enough to see a couple of matches of the french open and when i wasn’t i was glued to francetv, don’t we thank the heavens for francetv lol

july

when in europe one must partake in the pagan ritual of eurosummermaxxxing lol, i get why people worship(ped) the sun, i feel like such a different person, i’m reading more, i’m out and walking i love how things like under the umbrella and saaaace lean into picnics and outdoor events, i really enjoyed those! shoutout to friends in paris with balconies too haha grateful for the community i’ve built that adds to the vibes.

august

this is hard to explain, i don’t remember how i acquired a 2nd set of playing cards but best believe any flat surface i was exposed to was used to play solitaire, i think this is my comfort game thinking back you can play it alone, anytime, but unfortunately, the physical version is a logistically unsustainable (too much prep inbetween games).

september

we love love, and aug-sept was a celebration of that. someone needs to write a midtwenties guide to being a wedding guest, if invitee prep is a lot i can only imagine how it must be on the other side, elyssa gave us a sneak peak! my hunt for dress shoes, etc., was nothing close, but believe i was invested in looking and feeling great as i celebrate some big days of some of my favourite people.

october

at some point i figured digital djing wasn’t hard enough, so i’ll go through the hurculian effort of learning to dj with vinyl, why? idk, anyway i can do it now but not without falling out of love with djing, having to rearrange my 200+ collection and spend countless hours cueing the same track to try and get a good transition, fun! fun vinyl set coming soon? also wwllmm was soo helpful.

november

this one is kinda random, i take lots of pictures, naturally i’ve been consuming more photographs, but it’s insane how into photobooks i was in november, i ended up making my own (this deserves its own post tbh). favorites? lusaka street by alick phiri with the midas touch of sana and impossible island by henry roy are some favourites.

december

my brother was visiting for the holidays, so i turned into a tourist in my own city. i swear i saw so many exhibitions, rip to my camera roll, it also made me notice how underwhelming#footnote-1 a lot of translations from french to english are. favourites? musee arts et metiers, the engineer in me was very happy. the louvre was underwhelming, new cartier foundation is mint too.

my favourite thing about these obsessions was the people who came along, many of these weren’t solo efforts, i had friends just as obssessed although i like to believe i was obsessed in a better, more healthy, has talked to my therapist kind of way, regardless it’s nice to be in the moment, having a time with people.

another obsession of mine is spiralling as i listen to alt-j - what a time! this will be relevant a little later..

now, i swear i didn’t intentionally write anything since may, i had ideas, thoughts, moments but it never came.. here are things i typed that i feel should interact with someones retinas.

i met someone who told me about positive ions, i found this theory pretty compelling..

as i got ready to send this i had the thought to make banana bread, it was just a thought. i’ve done away with it. 

this and many other reasons are why i love film, i hate my shots because 

                          here’s a glimpse into the past. 

                          i’ve hoarding my film, i’ve had this sense of longing for idk

i thought of restoring another bike 

have a lovely summer, i might write more i might not write at all, we’ll see! 

i’m also really in love with the talking heads!
                         they have two songs; once in a life time, this must be the place

                         they to me describe to me or at least paint a picture of domestic bliss

something is always dying and being born - lorde 

ok, i wrote this second part in june              off the back of a sick dj set 

week drained me, i’m on a plane, what did i do?

life can be so mundane but it can also be really lovely 

this follows the format of one of my favourite songs by alt j 

lyrics.

happy new year xx

cohesive thoughts, is that you? it’s been a while friends. i’m writing something a little hard to write on endings and beginnings. ik ik. pioneering. but before all that i decided to take a break to share something i’ve found super intriguing lately. saturday night live.

i’m obsessed, woe is anyone who comes to visit me on a sunday for they will be subject to being shown every episode i adore.

let’s get this out of the way quickly, this is my favourite episode. i’m cracking up writing it.

@cryingattraderjoesOne of the funniest SNL skits #ayoedebiri #thebear #snl

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

oh my gosh curse the earth these people walk on they deleted the youtube video, i literally cannot but here are some rogue tiktoks.

also please if you don’t ahve the stomatch for it please stop reading now! i think it’s brilliant (some of it), but some might find what i share next, disturbing lol

now, that all that is out of the way.. can we talk about the wild card that is sarah sherman. what a comedian.

take this video for example..

sherman, fresh-faced and unapologetic, has incredible on-screen banter with colin. i pay a lot of attention to people who intrigue me, and sarah definitely does. her body gestures, mouth movements, subtle variations in pitch and perfectly timed exaggerations make everything she’s in gloriously hilarious.

if you watch enough shows (which i have) you notice she thrives in particularly absurd skits like this one

it is so funny! more importantly, this made me want to explore who this person was outside of the semi-conservative and pg13-esque shackles that are american late-night television. so i did

here is sarah in her element, raw and grotesque… no notes

now if you could stomach 13 minutes of this you’re sure to handle this one too

also i’m so sorry but i did say if you can’t stand the heat get out the kitchen

and the cherry on top of the cake! sarah has a fucking radio show on nts! the discovery had me like, who the hell is this person! i implore you to check it out - it’s really good.

Share

all this just to say, sarah for me stands out because she’s authentic, she’s herself and glimpses of that shine through her work on snl and in her work beyond it, you can really see her in her element. i think about authenticity and expression quite a lot as an artist on a journey through my craft and figuring out what worlds i want to build.

one of my favourite activities is ruining jokes because i don’t want them to end, i want to build on it, until no one has any freaking idea how we got there or what we’re doing, how absurd can we get? one of my favourite qualities in people in their commitment to a bit.. like throw it at me, i’ll throw in back, we’re in a glass house, who will break some glass, let’s paint the carpet red, walk our bruised bodies, pose, swivel, pose, that’s enough pictures, dump them in silver nirate, develop them, exhibit us, exhibit them, applause, bow, breathe it in, lean in to fall.. you fall off stage, gasps, all a dream but we’re living it together, for a short minute, as if time needed to be more confusing it’s forward but somehow we can always go back, taken, willing or not, when we taste, when we feel, when we joust with words and you remember; the trigger, the triggerer, the triggered, ouch why did we go there? until we part ways from the bit and it’s uncomfortable! i think you all get what i mean.

anyways, as i stare into the manifestation of this incredible art. i can’t help but think of my own journey as an artist (did i already say this? pardon me if i did, aiming for a somewhat editless experience, i’m a writing shark if i go back i will die) - i degress, where is my cheese? are those cohesive thoughts in the room with us right now?

alas, i’ve noticed my own little prison of creativity where every silly bone in me has been crushed, pounded and packaged as anti-depressant pills for a middle-aged giant to consume before bed. i’ve noticed my thinking takes a very square turn, and it’s a little annoying. part of me thinks, i’m over the SAD and can finally use every part of my brain. i haven’t challenged myself in a while, for a month i want to write 5-minute stories, less stories, more ideas, brain dumps if i will. i have this concept i need my mind to give me, i however feel i’ve lost the tools to properly communicate with the parts of my mind that can conceive of ideas in their entirety; all i get now is glimpses of gold and it’s really frustrating.

i feel like i just put togther track two of my 3 track ambient ep and i know i want some accompanying text to go with it, the rough idea is “we//ness” - the idea of the loneliness we feel; exacerbated by modern living and its demands, but also juxtaposed to this idea of the boundaries we set and sense of responsibility we have to take care of ourselves in every concievable way possible, mentally, spiritually, physically, literally every-ally and its draining – think of this as descriptive journey narrating the tension between our quest for togetherness (we-ness) and the growing fallacy to exaggerate the boundaries we choose to hold in pursiut of some form of health ideal (wellness).

1. track one

2. track two ?

3. track three

i’ve already got some really good feedback, so if you have thoughts, let me know

i’m thinking track two, could include mumblings of invitations, declines, mantras, mainifestations, greetings we give people at the door, the sounds of bises, weights in the gym, the smack of a tennis racket, champagne opening, laughter, a voice mail message, therapy speak, etc

some honourable mentions? still on my expressive shit..

Subscribe now

i’m in love with saya gray - what an artist - the worlds she builds and her drive to express herself are inspiring; top contender for artist of year for me. she is also terrible for anyone prone to earworms - i can’t stop screaming ooo, ooo, ooo, oooh! but also the colour in her lyricism is incredible.

“you play with me with your voodoo, you play with me when you want to” - spinning!

and my goats, JPEGMAFIA and flume - shoutout to me for attempting to explain leftfield, experimental internet rap to someone in french; i assume they got it lol - if not i’d probably share this video with them.

anywho, you might hear from me in some future edition - i’ll share some morning dumps of whatever is produced by my subconscious.

idk man, i think i need an outlet; the sauce is oozing..

also my favourite band released a new album, the duo jadu heart, who previously were in a romantic relationship, have broken up. they keep the project alive, and this album is a product of the break-up. as we observe a moment of silence for the brilliance that is them and the commitment to expression, take a peek at their track list.

1. You're Dead 2. U 3. Shake Your Ass 4. AUX 5. Entrypoint 6. Post Romance 7. Littleboy 8. Mild To Moderate Pain 9. Lambs.exe 10. Dualism 11. Heaven 12. SOS

ciao xx

hi friends, i’m back - i’m a year older and a lot of other things… happy new year?? or too late?

it has taken me some time to accept but it’s okay to let go of things, even if they’re good.. this realisation was brought to you by two conversations four months apart.

1. paris. on a stool basically on my knees, drinking vietnamese coffee with a friend, we went back and forth detailing our journeys through our respective struggles of the year and she said.. “sometimes we need to relinquish control and see what happens.” 1

2. paris. in some sort of DJ booth recording a podcast, talking to wwllmm (a ramen frère as one of my friends likes to refer to him) about our creative processes, something he said shocked me. me if he isn’t vibing with a song as he is producing it, he deletes it, plain, simple.

these two things hit a super sensitive nerve of mine.. i have a firm confidence in my ability to make things i want to happen… happen. at least everything it seems is in my “control”. so if i have a prose piece i want to write, i tell myself, i can do it. except, sometimes that post is better off lounging in a bin and my energy is probably better off spent somewhere else.

take this from someone who screenshots everything and never goes back to it. so i’m turning a new page and sending this to you all - a version of this has been in my drafts, for four months maybe, probably more because i have ideas and think they should all be executed on. i’m better than i was a few years ago but this is me in practice, deleting a bunch of things about music and nightlife because i haven’t been actively participating in the subculture lately; nearly not enough to write about it concisely and at the level i want/feel will do it justice.

i have been reading a book lucrece has been on me about reading — open water.
and to those who might be curious, no i have not finished crying in h mart; cry!

i’m a victim of the sunken cost fallacy; a cognitive bias that makes people continue to invest time, money, or effort into a situation because they've already invested so much. this bias can make it difficult to walk away from a situation, even when it's clear that giving up is a better idea

what are you holding on to? would you be better off starting fresh? turning a new page? the new year is coming (can you tell i wrote this last year?) so maybe some nice things to think about my dear friends..

totally unrelated, here is something i was gonna base this newsletter on.

i’m a fairly sober-minded person and enjoy my fair share of music, i also happen to DJ so i have an almost natural pull to the spaces DJs perform at.

a friend said, everyone today is a DJ.. skepta, rebecca black, charli xcx etc
even my favourite band in the world, jadu heart do an occasional DJ set. ooh ohh, the goldman sachs ceo too.

i looked at list of new nts residents, and irene my favourite yapper was on the list. the literally anything to DJ pipeline is growing and i’ve been asking myself why?

tangent?

djs are responsible for the vibes, i feel nightlife gets a bad rep! because people still do it wrong, i don’t go out much in paris now because i haven’t felt like i have a space to enjoy myself freely.. i’ll probably write about this sometime, sometimes paris feels like a terrarium, it’s pretty and we arranged but its suffocating and only at its limits do you see you’re actually caged in but you have everything you need to keep going forever technically but it doesn’t feel natural? anyways if you like a specific type of music, find your crowd and night life is incredible.

this short describes part of it so well, going out has always been about the individual experience in the community.

from the get-go, i’ll say, nightclubs were made to be third spaces. and somewhere along the way, they become cesspools of excess and egregious showboating.

i’m not the first person to describe our craving for community as a society at the moment. DJs are curators of third spaces, they’re a signal of taste as most other things these days, they facilitate community in how they craft the night and clubs are a big part of this.

i’m a club snob, which also contributes to me not wanting to go out in paris, a club isn’t just a spot with great speakers, a bar and a good lineup.

philip johnson described architecture as the organisation of procession. i just love this sentence. architects curate our movement through spaces. but not everyone can be an architect the day after they drunkenly decide it’s their destiny.

….. we’re back

DJs curate, good ones have taste. and in this world of excess, curation is and will become an even more powerful skill. i’ve been organising my library, 5000 songs is a lot. takes a lot to sieve through.

essentially, we live in a society; with too much of everything and we need some curation, this anything-to-dj pipeline outside of the incredible community-building opportunity it provides influencers, is an exercise in curation, an exercise to expand and define and present. so as much as i hate it, it’s good to see more people use this as a medium to build some sort of taste-making framework.

right back to random thoughts…

my brain doesn’t get quiet often but lately, i’m unsure if anyone else relates to this.

i was a little scared to look for this number in my team notion, but i went for it…

i spoke 40 events last year… and i’m yet to account for the last few i have this month/ that is almost one event a week - wild.

🥂 to more next year (i’m here thinking “no way i can beat that lol but i will“)

have you ever thought about rooms? this month i’ve been thinking about rooms.
spaces, boundaries, transition. we go through life entering and exiting spaces. it’s so normal, we knock at doors, we open them, we have them be opened, we ask for door codes, we use keycards, or tags and we get into places and out of places.

for the lucky majority, we have spaces to get into and get out of. these can be ours alone, shared, rented, we have something.

sometimes we’re even luckier and leave these spaces, we enter rooms that no one owns and everyone shares. hotel rooms. the spaces we own for a night and then it’s gone.

i’ve spent a lot of time in them, they’re fucking weird.. they’re also very sad. maybe i’ve just been a little sad lately. i want to nap.

something about them that makes you think about life, a celebration of solitude in a triumph over inadequate company.

an unjust exile, with room service (yay)

if you see a bitch2, give a bitch a hug and a kiss, and a cuddle.

i’m rambling without a point, but then again, i’m a man, or they tell me i am.

fuck. have you felt, your chest syphon your blood and throw it to your head. i like rooms because i can breathe,

have you ever sat on the toilet and thought, damn.. i’ve been here before or exchanged pleasantries with a stranger in a waiting room at the kine3 wondering why you rush for the appointment when clearly slots are a suggestion and your time means nothing, but in that moment you think, “seems familiar..” rooms aren’t about where we are but what brought us there.

because the body keeps it all, we remember how we felt when we were somewhere.

i love my living room, it makes me feel safe, i like to have it clean, i like to look it, i want my body to feeel something when i sit in it,

i’m trying to reclaim hotel rooms, for me.

i love waiting rooms, they’re silly, all we do is wait.

i cherish washrooms, for the pause and reprise they give me is second to none.

i was born for unhinged oversharing over the internet.. sometimes feelings must be shared i guess…

if you’re reading this in a room, think about it for a second, relish the space, be and breathe, sending you love from this oddly comfortable aeroplane seat (i’m not in an aeroplane seat anymore lol).

this was all, bye!

hi hi

i took my sweet time with this one, i wrote most of it in june but i kept travelling to the united states1 and was getting more source material. my other excuse is i didn’t have a comfy spot to properly write in. i’ve also procrastinated so much writing because of this and turns out back to the wall on my bed next to an enormous pile of laundry is the perfect place to get this all out of my head (and my notes app)

i have a relationship with the united states of america. a weird one. a distant one. but a relationship nonetheless. growing up in early 2000s zambia as the fiery ideas of the free market hit our historically socialist country, american influence was undoubtedly all over, from the way we built our neighbours; hello suburbia.. to how much we LOVED our cars. there is so much more but tbh, nothing came close to the influence american media had on me and us as a country in general2. almost everything i watched, listened to, or read was from there. i know way too much about route 66, the grand canyon, times square, mount rushmore, idaho?? and spring break to mention but a few icons3.

fast-forward to today, living in paris where people love to hate america - it’s an experience. i have a bunch of friends from there, i’ve been there non-zero4 times now, i’ve been wrongly assumed to be from there (much to my disdain) but still, this country and its influence have been ever-present and i was itching to experience it for myself. dare it say, i was craving the taste of freedom. no i had a freedom-shaped hole in my heart and only the sweet sight of an 18-lane highway could fit it.

jokes to the left, here are some “culture shocks” i had….

quick tangent on culture shocks, first time i heard the word and conceptualised it was from some korean friends in highschool, they would gossip amongst themselves and gasp “ooo culture shock” while nodding their heads when they experienced anything remotely new.

i find the concept of culture shocks lacking in my lived experience, i generally just go with things.. which i find has its disadvantages but bref maybe these aren’t culture shocks but more of things that seemed peculiar to me about what i was experiencing5

so, cultural experiences, here we land..

san francisco 

• the ads on the flight and in the airport were WAY more silicon valley 

• i noticed that bathroom stalls were really short

• the baggage collection was rough, the conveyor belt was throwing bags everywhere, wild.

• uber driver casually driving at 120 mph, which is 190 kmh.. i shouldn’t have done the conversion

• what is this bus tram ahah, pick one america

• light switches transition? they sort of fade in and do not just turn on

• i didn’t expect to have picturesque rooftops in SF

• everyone talks to everyone, like no boundaries, everyone’s a potential conversation lol

• food menus have calorie counters? wuut

• buildings have signs with occupant capacity numbers 

• tipping on payment! aand with no option not to tip 

• paying your bill requires you to give someone your credit card, and watch them walk away. like hello.. fraud?

new orleans 

• i don’t know how to describe it, it felt passive-aggressive

• everyone puts on cowboy boots but not in an 11eme, artsy cool way

• lol same with work wear is not cool 

• the toilets have water such high water levels

• southern hospitality is a thing? people feel strongly about talking to others 

• shower controls don’t let you control pressure, only temperature

• hotels have no windows (because hurricanes), it felt weird but i get it.

• lots of SUVs, like a lot of them..

• ice, everywhere!! why so much ice? 

• opening tabs at bars and relinquishing your card to staff? weird. again, fraud?

• people to open doors, carry luggage, etc, it felt weird to be served with so much attention.

• my uber driver pulled out a knife (to show me he was carrying one in response to a question on the states right to be armed lol lol lol )

• people live in an amicable enmity, passive-aggressive vibes were ever present, not just to me, but to each other..

• windows down during take-off and landing, this i got no explanation for.

• people to way too comfortable on planes, why are your feet out in the air ma’am?

• being called sir and young man in the same sentence

new york

• i saw a british petroleum filling station, i haven’t seen those since 2008

• all the bikers wear helmets! or most, nice to see safety

• it’s not as intense as i thought it would be, it is vast and fast but not too much

• big roaches on the street, like everywhere.. trash isn’t picked up regularly?

• i hate the subway and new york is hot in summer, who would have thought

• oversharing is commonplace? why did the cashier at the moma shop tell me he was feeling anxious about his hinge date not replying before going on to tell me about their irl interactions lol

• not sure how to express this but people will skip you in lines or get ahead of you at receptions, you have to mean business lol no slacking

• i get why the us needs miles, kilometres don’t do it, everything is far lol

• ignore and you will be bothered lol

anyway, take what you may from this, generally the us is way fucking bigger than you think it is.

also, some takes…

love: target, popeyes, gigantic american cars, cvs, broadway, rootbeer

disappointed: myself, in n out, lack of good veggie, ny slice pizza

dislike: ny subway, gumbo, tipping for take away orders, diner breakfast

honourable mentions, don’t you just love the shape of cars in the US, i can’t nail the design language6 down but the cars just look quintessentially american, i like it.. look

as per tradition in this newsletter, pictures, are shots by me, on this one, all on film7, thanks for reading. i’m doing ok, excited to have this out there, its weird to write for some reason, lots of navigating.. anywho i’m in the middle of my first annual bike service, i’m summered too close to the sun so i’m very happy to back at work, i’m enjoying reading about case study houses, and making music with my tiny play machines.

ooo a new episode of my radio show going south is out too, check it out.

i hope you’re all feeling great, it’s september, wtf? i also want to send love to my friends8, i know a lot are in the middle of starting new jobs, or looking for new ones. starting new families or welcoming new members, planning weddings or looking at planning, moving apartments or looking at moving. so much change, remember to breathe!

i’ll leave you all with this gem

and this one too, we love you zack fox (you too kenny beats, you’re alright)9

go do things, ciao xx

sometimes it takes you three months to write a newsletter, unfortunately, this is one of those.

music is how i experience the world and in trying to understand my thoughts and feelings at the time, i decided it was a good idea to write about my musical evolution, my unfurling! i wanted to answer the question of how music for me expanded from watching MTV in my mom's house to scouring the earth for memories and locking these in with music and the experiences i had around it.

so we’re doing this! big sigh, i should absolutely be doing something else but here we go.

right now, here is a list of some of my most listened-to songs of the moment on 5th may 2024 (haha when i started writing this).

let’s not even get into my soundcloud (but follow me if you cant)

let’s go back to 2014, what year for me! what a year for music, what a harbinger of the golden year that was 2016.

picture this, a much younger daniel has just written his school-leaving exam and is catching up on all the tv he missed from his time in boarding school.

what am i listening to?

lorde really wants me on her team, lana del rey unleashes more west coast propaganda, ariana grande is breaking free , tinashe and 2on, halsey makes me feel things with ghost, cold play and up&up and damn, we cannot forget ed sheeran making us feel everything with thinking out loud. i’m in peak sad boi hours, let’s focus on one release here, lana del rey, ultraviolence. it will be important.

on the other end; calvin harris puts out summer, the chainsmokers light up the world with selfie, am i wrong by nico and vinz, rather be by clean bandit *no notes*, tove lo and the best hard drug marketing project, avicii blazing though the charts with the the days / nights ep , martin garrix released his gold skies ep and zhu came out with faded. let’s focus on r3hab how we party. it will be important.

look this list can go on for the 90 other genres i listen to but, because what a fucking year for music! but bref… many other things influenced my taste in music, without going too deep into it, here are others…

movies?

• how i met your mother

• anything with chloe grace moretz, jennifer lawrence or shailene woodley

• greys anatomy, obvi..

also what a freaking crossover, lorde, curating the hunger games soundtrack? daniel? loving it. i’ll also skip how coming-of-age movies got me into indie rock, or we are your friends made me want to be a dj,

video games?

• fifa 14/15

• just dance

• halo

fuuun! back to 2014 and music..

lana del rey ultraviolence

ultraviolence really cemented my love for this specific genre of sad, emotionally pensive yet enjoyable music. a truly unappealing message but gosh did i enjoy it. it wasn’t quite pop, but it was somewhat popular and i started to look for that sound more and more and more. it also pushed me out of the mould i was set in, lorde, florence and machine, hundred waters, aluna george.. i was diving deep and exploring. it felt good to not always pretend to be happy with the music i listened to. life isn’t always, why should my music be?

r3hab - how we fucking party

this is a wild track! it’s less about the musical competence of the artist and more about what they were part of; a record label! i started to notice patterns, i would listen to almost all my favourite tracks from the same youtube channel, which later i realised was a record label. it started to make sense. i started to understand artist relations and the electronic music scene, festivals, and shows, i followed their socials i checked song beatport ranking, and when a remix was released, i explored the other artist’s discography and my musical graph kept growing! i like many others wanted to be a dj now lol

2014 saw a big change in my music habits. all the new music i found was on the internet. all my favourite artists were touring and i would save up my college allowance to see them. gone were the days of experiencing music from my mom’s couch waiting for my favourite songs to show up. i had to do the work myself and discover what my next new obsession would be

i remember what i saw martin garrix play live. that concert put a stamp on what my new idea of live music was and from then, my relationship with artists changed forever. i didn’t just want to have the tracks on my ipod play, i wanted to be front row throwing my hands up, trying to make eye contact with whoever was spinning beats or serving vocals. i did a few other shows after. great vibes, great energy. sadly, i was hooked.

a few years later, i had my first festival. what a VIBE! you mean i could walk around this large reserved area and discover new acts, connect with the artists and instantly become a fan? wow. importantly but not to be dived further into today, i saw two door cinema club for the first time, EVER! nothing was the same after.

i also saw bonobo (an electronic music artist i had previously never heard of) play with drum machines and synths and have an orchestra for the vibes. WHAT? my mind was blown. i also spent those first two hours of the festival listening to the lovely KAVYA share her incredible voice with give or take, 25 people. she wasn’t popular, yet i enjoyed it. this was the end, now 500k monthly listens means you’re not for me. how many gems were out there? i had to find out.

this festival was also my first experience with proper techno, the awakenings stage was incredible, my infant ears too soft to understand it. 2 years later they were ready!

i can go on in incredible detail about every interaction that brought me to where i am musically but that is for another day.

quick chaotic tangent on music discovery; listening to major lazor made me discover dillon francis, who made me discover alison wonderland, who made me really explore the australian music scene1 and that made me discover flume and what so not, who were the same but flume left what so not and what so not is only emo now. listening to flume made me discover vince staples, slowthai and jpegmafia and many many more who i absolutely love right now.

aaaand listening to charlie xcx made me discover mura masa who did a song with tinashe and eventually led me to discover jadu heart, i adore them is a gross understatement. listening to them made me discover2 gretal hanyl who is just wow.

i think you get it, discover, explore, go deep, so much music out there is waiting for you.

ok, why 2014?

have you ever started writing something and then realised that you’re writing about something else? i was sad and listened to my 2014 jams to get the vibes up and decided to write about what a brilliant year it was for music. turns out that wasn’t what i wanted to write about, so fighting that feeling took me three months lol

to be honest i thought i’d be doing any one of the following when i started this..

• writing to appreciate my musical journey and pinpoint artists who really played a part in making my taste what it is today

• writing a piece mourning the death of music videos and how important they were to me

• writing to understand my love for certain types of electronic music by looking for earlier influences

i hinted at it, 2014 was my last year as “child“. it saw me leaving the safety and structure of high school and planning to go out into the world. it’s also the year my relationship with the internet changed. it’s the year i started my journey into adulthood, leaving home and all. it’s the year, music discovery for me shifted from watching music videos on mtv or trace and dancing to the top 40 to curating my own taste and discovering artists on the internet.

2014 was incredible, i always question why i got back and listen to songs from that year when i’m feeling down.

i’ve been writing this for about a month, and it didn’t feel quite right. i’ve been thinking about 2014 a lot. i attached so much importance to it. i wanted to make it shine, this was its time and after leaving the newsletter and coming back to it, i realised that in trying to subconsciously reconcile my 10 years as somewhat of a self-sustaining adult, i got so fixated on 2014 as a year.

this newsletter just keeps giving, here is a semi-curated playlist!!

it was no wonder i turned to my 2014 playlist for comfort missing the warm hug of my parent's couch and lack of understanding, the ignorant bliss and in looking back, at 10 years living, 3 years in france.. i can’t help but appreciate every single way I get to experience life and the music that helps me remember..

speaking of exploring, i’ve discovered this thing called rest, so i’m currently swimming in it - send tv show recs for anything like severance.

the next one will be sooner i promise, here are some things i’m doing as people have expressed really liking these chaotic lists

• i’m going to be bothering everyone with

• i’m working on an ep, it’s harder than i thought

• i’m back cooking, love that for me

• i have discovered the joys of messy rooms, jk idk joys are hard to come by - feelings are felt etc blah blah idk

• i’m exploring restoring a bike (again)

• i’m reading more, found a cute bookstore in dublin

• i’m itching to share more art, literally!

• planning on taking my bike south and doing a long ride, i’ll write about this

also incredible 10 years later, this is happening

• tinashe, back3 with nasty??

• charli xcx and lorde finally collab? eeep

• “rap” is backkk4
  

shall we cross our fingers for 2026? i won’t

also i realise this is longer than usual, next few are shorter and less ambitious, we’re going back roots5

hope you enjoyed this, it was hard to write, hope it was better to read xxx

hi from vienna! this one will be a bit frantic but hey! its been a hectic few weeks and months and it will be an eventful next few months.

shortly after sending the last edition, it became clear to me that i had to slow down a little, on most things. i had to do less. i had to say no. yes, to work too.

i lead a very somewhat-paced life. which for the most part, i enjoy. i also appreciate that it could be worse. i also have literally every interest in the world and an eye for adventure so imagine that.

anywho, to contrast the fastness, context-switching and information overload that take up a large chunk of my weekdays. i like to engage in slow tasks. slow in nature and slow in engagement. to fall back into my body; not by staying in all day, my brain wouldn’t let me but by taking time to feed the parts of me that prefer silence, calm and intuition.

two things have stuck out to me! morning routines and field recordings.

before we get into it, i’d like to share a recording of my show at an exhibition opening that i djed at not too long ago. it’s a little slow. i hope you enjoy it. i’ll probably make it public in a week or two.

sharing this, no context.

morning routines

why not? i like routines, and i like to feel like this would work for me. i haven’t had a strict routine per se; i just go with the flow and whatever happens happens but usually, this means going for the most pressing matter almost immediately after i get up.

i never ate breakfast sooo eating wasn’t really it for the a.m. which meant i almost always started my day on my computer i.e. adding shareholder value 🫶🏽

here are some routines i crowd-sourced from friends.

                                                      no routine, ❀ i like to do whatever i feel like doing, especially in the morning

no fixed routine really, i either clean,                                                                    ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆
                                          do my sudoku, 
                                          play something, or run jajaja whatever is my mood


                                                                      recently, it’s been tuning off my notification                   
                                                                                                       asking me to do a workout


i snooze (my) alarm a few times / 
                          possibly exercise / shower                                                   ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆
                                                         / coffee + read twitter & the guardian
                                                      / go to work


i defrosts by playing a game on my phone,                                                 
freshen up and make my bed, 
                                                                                          making my bed is really important                                                         ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆


                            i slowly make coffee and take even more time drinking it
𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼

i kept looking for something out there, and believe me i’d like to say i see a pattern (i mean i do but don’t we all?) i think it’ enough that i’m asking myself if i need one, i also tend to overthink things soo whatever i guess

personally, i’m trying to read. i tend to my plants, i listen to records. you HAVE to take time to pull out the dry leaves, in more ways than one hey. spring is begging me to live slower.

hello!!? fireflies! i like to make myself believe that planet earth turns sloooowly.

field recordings

why? i like hikes and ambient music. literally me.

i saw nicolas jaar in concert recently.. and that’s all i have to say about field records. fr though, i figured i needed something else to take me out of my cozy room or this dense city i live it. this was it. i can do it alone with a goal in mind? as if hiking alone and being in communion with nature wasn’t enough.

i looked around for inspiration and found some incredible field records.

• field recordings from the sahel

• ley en das and many others by florconvenas

soooo this is probably late because i wanted to work on a field recording to actually share. i went on a short hike in the alps a few weeks ago and recorded my walk through snow-covered hills and sky-blue lakes

here my friends is what came out. listen 🎧 ❄️

early reviews say i’m in the running for an oscar or whatever they give people who make good music. oh and here are some images to enjoy as you listen

so incredibly unrelated, let me spare a minute to talk about the dj-to-fashion pipeline, it’s calling and i swear i HAVE to answer.

in my free time, i like to browse utility first pieces because they’re great for the dance floor maybe one day i’ll talk a little bit about that part of me yeah? in the meantime, looook.

mixmag has a collection with armani (not a fan)

boiler room has some interesting pieces too.

there was definitely a niche built in the space but it’s slowly reaching critical mass. i’d watch out. it also means techno; the genre of the decade is diving deeper and deeper down the commercialisation ocean. bad for the culture, good for the artists? time will tell.

i’m already hearing people talking about how techno culture is about the creativity of outfits and how much effort people put into them. i get where they're coming from but really couldn’t disagree more! a rant for another day.

Subscribe now

totally random, i had a pizza era
made loads of pizza, want to make sourdough pizza so if you have tips for finding a starter in paris, 

share! 

                                     had a TERRIBLE ouef mayo, 
think ouef mayo but the mayo is dijon mustard, 
                                                                it was so bad. 

the ordinary finally refunded me for a purchases that didn’t get delivered 5 months ago,                                                                                             so that’s nice.. 

i found a cyndi lauper 
record at a record store 
so nooow 
i can blast true colours 
on the dark days. 

also tried making                                       kombucha, 
did not go well. 

anyways thanks for reading! i’m well. alive. listening to paris, texas (lana del ray) on repeat so yeah totally normal behaviour.

xx1

do you ever think about texture? i do

i like textures, they remind me that i can feel things. some things are easier to feel than others. like the rough crust of a baguette as you bite into the french idea of a sandwich or the abrasions that wonderful bread leaves you with; think about that texture. what does it make you feel?

i see life through my eyes and feel it on my fingertips, the coldness in your hug as my hand lands on your fancy wool sweater, or the warmth in your handshake as we awkwardly meet for the first time.

i like my hands in my hair, the twisting and winding, it feels close to home, where my thoughts live; this head feels the flour on the pizza crust. hawaiian, my comfort meal. the metallic scroll of my trackpad. the pumpkin seeds in my hands before i toss them onto bare fields to create life. the soil on my parquet flooring as i negotiate a pot change with my monstera on a gloomy fall morning in paris. the stem of the wine glass pinched between my fingers, santé; am i holding this right?

i feel and have felt; faux fur and lace, sand and leather, rice and meat. tender cuts diced and chopped, we make a curry. my finger the tester between your lips on my finger. “hmm”, you say “yummy”.

the seats in the night bus we take home. we don’t do that anymore. i’ve felt time pass through my fingers, don’t you? you never see it, those two weeks between a nail trim are my clock, wait stop, do you feel it? that was time, tick, tick. 10 fingers done, maybe we should paint them? maybe we should face it.

some things are easier to feel than others so let’s talk emotions?

idk i felt like writing something, the bit about time is really close to my heart. i’ve been feeling big “final quarter of the semi finals1“ vibes with life lately so sometimes its nice to remember to spend it well with people you love doing the things you enjoy. for some reason, it also feels like every decision i make now has waaay more consequences, idk weird.

bref, i’ve also been battling two parts of my being lately; the cosmetic and concrete selfs.

definitions pending but lets just say i coined this shit okay?

the cosmetic

its funny when i say i’m becoming cosmetic, it evokes feelings of emptiness and a lack of substance.

like a broken drywall covered by a couple thousand dollar painting of a man’s hairy bum - it feels like i’m hiding something and no one can see it so lets sip this natural wine and i’ll tell you more about why i feel art is a great hedge against inflation.

the cosmetic self to me, felt shallow. surface level. i was tired of this. but i felt it so strongly. in relations, exploration, hobbies, and interests.

a friend pointed out that living in paris can do that to you. the problem, i think is that intention left the chat 3 months ago and i’m doing everything to get her back. it’s very easy to coast, and go by what you know to look or feel safe (texture!!) but maybe i need a little more concrete?

the concrete

falling in love with concrete feels like pragmatists paradise. the confidence we afford to the material is remarkable. truly, the MVP of solids substances.

why is real estate a solid investment? concrete stuck to me, i dreamt of it, grey and gooey at first. given time and watered properly, it holds firm and strong.

i’ve craved longevity and grounding. after the years we’ve had? who wouldn’t. i looked at my hobbies and thought about how i hadn’t done anything continuously for a long time (i.e more than 3 years), was i truly watering anything?

where’s my forest? ik, its giving man realises lack of commitment gives him nothing to look back on but hear me out. doing this with photography and music, getting the basics; not hoping to master but hoping to build a badass brutalist house of things that i enjoy doing.

i have no idea how to express these things i’m feeling - this helped? maybe a little, not sure.

i often joke and say i write because i have to, i’ve got to put all these feelings somewhere. today was one of those times.

back to texture? i love the texture in the photographs i shared today, particularly the one below - a frankenstein of a shot. double exposure (i think)

anyways, texture can be fun, cosmetics and concrete confusing. i feel like this was a rant and believe me i tried to edit this lol anyways this is what you get this period of time. maybe a tad pessimistic? idk lets blame the weather.


bref, i’ve been into a couple other things lately though

• making pizza from scratch

• having so many chausson aux pommes

• coworking withs pals

• having fomo watching my friends train for races

• riding my bike in the rain?

• making and talking about music (obsessed!)

no promises in this edition, i always seem to break them :p

do you like texture? have you felt cosmetic? do you ever try balance the two? i wanna hear it.

i’ll leave you with this xx

ciaoo
again thanks for reading

Subscribe now

number 7, i refuse to tell myself these truths so maybe i’ll be kinder to myself if it’s for you. do you know that pattern we play, the magical upwards tones and then droopy lows? i got stuck in it, the more i wrote the “better“ i wanted to make this. objectively speaking, i have no idea what better is, so i will type; incoherent (maybe) but honest (surely).

its a new year, a lot happened, i’m back home, i leave soon, i haven’t had much space to be, this feels like a mission and nothing like a holiday. i’m a mercenary, disguised as an adulterated version of a prodigal son. never prolong a hug, too long is too long, and comfort turns sweaty and awkward, but gosh did i need that hug!

i have feelings about everything, i juust don’t know what those feelings are. it’s jarring, the difference. the worlds we make up in our minds, with pearl gates and positive rsvps, and the worlds we live in, with malice and ghoulish behaviour.

i’ve been absolutely consumed by the architecture around zambia towns1, the 70s were quite the time, a young country paving is way in a new world, our buildings and ambitions spoke to that, i guess that’s why i love these buildings, they speak to who we wanted to be; solid, beautiful, rooted, useful.

- shots

the 70s also brought zamrock2, ever heard of it?
no? you’re welcome.

and a youtube link for the spotify haters3

      the world is full of misery
      and the road you've taken, there is no end 
      khala my friend, come back to me
      khala my friend, cause I'm gonna miss you


      who captured grief and got me hooked?  
      who captured my life and made it song
      who will sing for me, 

life these days is measured in songs and eras, our listening habits are changing4 and streaming platforms are right there hand stuck in a jar, mouth messy as hell, eating away at healthy music consumption habits.

music means so much to me. hell for me is the idea of my music taste stagnating as i settle to only listen to the classics of my teen years. i love to expand my knowledge and test murky, bizarre, sometimes basic waters of everything musically created. seriously, try me.

so a couple of months ago, i attended the paris pitchfork festival. the curation was immaculate. usually if i don’t know anyone on a line-up, it take it as a good sign.

standouts from the festival

kara jackson - raw, sweet, true, incredible.

sofia kourtesis - surreal, transformative, emotional!

the harvest is ready, i’m not ready to pick it.
i’m not sure what this is, but hopefully, it tastes like something you’ve never had before.

i can call myself a farmer now, in more ways than one.

don’t let your crop rot, go out friends and live, harvest, reap, sow and rest, it will be time to collect your fruits and think about how they could be better.
i’m still resting5 xx

happy day you’re reading this on!

three versions of me have written this for you all to read. a daniel bemused by his unexpected rejection, a daniel nursing the expected (nonetheless jarring) mid-fall sore throat-body pain combo, and a daniel sitting in his bed eating oreos with lactose-free milk listening to indigo de souza.

i’m happy all these versions put themselves into what you’re reading, sometimes it takes a village, and a few weeks.

there’s been 6 of these, i’m usually only consistent til 4 so 🎊1

besides work, travel and nursing this earthly body, i’ve been doing a few extracurricular activities…

1. i attended paris photo

2. i attended pitchfork festival
   

paris photo

every year the world’s best photographers and galleries gather in the city of lights to show (and sell) what they’ve been working on. paris photo was a couple of weeks ago. i’ve always been intrigued by photography as an art form so naturally, attending was such a refreshing experience.

i loved digesting the photos. going to a seemingly visual event, i never expected words to be the most memorable part of the experience. i can’t stop thinking about the session “acts of resistance, new approaches to covering conflict” (pictured below) with yelena yemchuk, hoda afshar and myriam boulos.

each one of their projects gave me so much perspective to documenting. it’s incredible to think about the meaning granted to the act of pointing a camera at an object in a moment and capturing what you’re given. i have a new appreciation for photos, more so photos from areas consumed by conflict, the bravery!

myriam in her work, does an impeccable job of highlighting the innate rebellious nature of nightlife and sexual expression/exploration. i’ve attempted many a time and failed to describe the anarchy that raving is, an essay for a more enlightened time. myriams pictures say it all, albeit documented in a crisis-laden lebanon, incredible.

hoda gave documenting and curation a new meaning for me. capturing the women-led uprising in iran and bringing to light the works of others in such a tumultuous time. sometimes the biggest contribution we can make is making sure people aren’t forgotten, or silenced. being exiled from her home country, she did just that, the large format work in ‘in turn’ is filled with subtle acts of protest meant to amplify the voices of people fighting against oppression.

yelena talked about odesa. yelena almost brought me to tears as she failed to hold back hers. she spent 3 years documenting the lives of ukranians in odesa from 2015 to 2018 prior to the russian invasion. her photos are a stroll through time, her frequent visits captured the townspeople growing, living, and changing in a timeless black-and-white format. some people captured aren’t with us, others barely, with most having their lives changed, odesa probably changed forever. yelena captured a city she loved, or fell in love with. the works defining addition is the poetry of ilya kaminsky, author of dancing in odesa and one of my favourite poets.

i could write so much about each artist and their work, i wouldn’t do it justice, please do check their work out and if you can buy their books!

little pause, this was a lot - here is an artist i just discovered, big fall vibes. one to watch, shout out sana for the recommendation.

safe to say, paris photo was an extremely meaningful event. i happened to bump into zanele muholi, an immensely talented artist (how cool??)

some standouts from the fair: the anonymous project by omar diop, matt deslauriers as part of verse x nguyen wahed and matt wilson

also halo, daniel from two weeks ago sends greetings from warsaw

this will never be how i want it to go out, so i’ll send it as is

my mind is everywhere right now, so i’ll send this to your inboxes to give it one less thing to think about.

i promise the next one will come sooner, itching to share it. hopefully feeling happier and more inspired - don’t we love it when the sun hides behind the clouds and calls it winter?

hey there,

at this point, i hope you’re kind of used to not getting these regularly.

i’m just sitting in this cute flower cafe trying to write this edition but extremely distracted. the delicious pasta in my tummy, the uncertainty of photos1 i’ve been taking, plus the political and economic state of the world - you know the usual.

today let’s talk about music! to contextualise my relationship with music let me share a couple of facts

• i dj and have a radio show

• i’m learning to produce music

• i’m obsessed with jadu heart

• i’m building a tool for DJs with a friend

let’s focus on the radio show for this edition. i started it two years ago when i bought my first DJ controller. on average i’ve done a show just about every two months (36 months/16ish episodes). i haven’t done one in three months, so i’m overdue.

why? i feel boxed!

one of my biggest lessons over the past few years is sometimes you only have space in your life for a handful of things, for me that’s usually 1. a main goal or task i’ve decided to dedicate time to and 2. side quests to keep me safe and satisfied.

i feel like i have the space again to get back into my zone and do more things with music - i’ve been thinking about my output as a dj, i haven’t played a live show in a while, i’d like to build more community around this thing that i absolutely adore.

my radio show was meant to be a place to relax. a space to express and share music i found interesting, music that made me feel warm and excited inside.

here’s my creative process

i look. for music over the course of a month or two and put my favourites in a mix, sometimes the mix is bad, or i don’t like it enough to share it, so i toss it, sometimes it’s excellent and i end up sharing it.

i really liked my last two mixes. this year, a huge goal of mine was to do more radio and podcast mixes for collectives or radio stations - in trying to do that i changed my sound. i adapted it to the places and shows i was pitching to. i wasn’t exploring the uncomfortable unorthodox underground trenches, ebm, or ghetto techno that i grew to vibe to, i was on plain (incredible) organic and textured techno which i love but find to be very limiting (i’m also not the best). all of this mixed with my lack of time meant i didn’t post any mixes - now i’m exploring everything, bpm ranges, weird subgenres, everything!

the moral of the story, stay true to yourself or something - in a perfect world i would have had a mix to share but i’m super rusty and need some practice before getting back to the level i was before my little break. i’m exploring mixing with vinyl. the quicksands of vintage vibes continue to consume me whole.

i also have way too much music and have no great way to manage it, share tips please if you face this problem too :((

🥂 to me treating soundcloud like a personal blog 💀

between writing the first draft and doing the last edits, i recorded a podcast mix in paris, it was so fun and whenever editing is done, i’ll share it!

also spoilers, the photos came out… okay.

some effects of the light seals being compromised but it was a delightful artistic touch i find, a happy accident as some would call it. i’ll share more in the next edition.

also, here is a quick picture dump of me fixing the light seals on my camera, i am sooo grateful to be working more with my hands

to end i just wanted to wish you all well, i hope you are all doing great.
i’m settling into a new job so the ideal day for walking through the produce section has changed to sunday as i settle into things.

hey there,

sorry for the late email (life) but to make it up to you all and for maximum reading pleasure, please accept the gift of this song to listen to while you read.

alors, a little over two years ago i moved to a small city called Paris, doubt you’ve heard of it. i’d never been before, i didn’t speak french, i barely knew anyone. fun!

moving to a new city can be like a flower tucking itself in for bed and closing its petals. the scientific term for this is nyctinasty; a couple of days ago i sat with my partner, reading her my not-so-great prose piece where i tried to explain how it feels to unfurl. i was trying very hard in that piece to describe the feeling of having your petals out again. maybe one day i’ll get it right.

as i think back on my two years in this city, i can’t help but feel that my petals are arching their backs and reaching for the sun. the sun touched me a week ago as i rode to an exhibition opening and sat by a terrasse sipping summer’s last sangria as i talked about belonging and how it felt to be “at home”. its rays found a way through my curtains that sunday i decided to stay in and read sylvia plath and listen to arlo parks, collapsed in sunbeams, blinded but guided when i look for the brunch place or feign a conversation in a language that as the days go by, feels more like puzzle i might finish and not another failure i will tuck under my bed. home is a weird word, being in a place and being in a place aren’t the same thing. the more i unfurl the warmer i feel, around you, them, others, myself. i feel ok, roots planted in the soil, petals out soaking in the sun and growing towards it. maybe that’s what it feels like to unfurl, i like it. i just hope this isn’t summer talking.

thanks for reading that far lol, another gift and for the second part of this edition, i present to you another beautiful track by tourist. i’ve tried to describe how certain music makes me feel. i’m really trying to get better at describing positive feelings in my writing but as you’ve probably read, it’s very hard for me 🫠

quick follow-up on change and motivation, i asked for some resources last time. i’m not quite there yet but a friend shared some of these gems. will share more as the pieces come together, enjoy!

highlights and gratitude

quick list

• my plants are doing really well, i’m a very proud plant dad - pictures in the next edition maybe :p

• the sun is doing its thing even though the temperatures are dropping

• i wrote an article on the last three years at my previous job, really appreciate the messages of support i received!

art and music

• i saw the holy mountain with the legendary alejandro jodorowsky (this shit literally only happens in paris) and went down the rabbit of cult classics.

• i’m listening to podcasts again, please share your favourites!

software and products

what would you love to see for this section? i’m not sure what to include here and how deep to go, maybe i need a separate edition because if i go super technical it gets boring and you’re not really here for that, are you? so i’ll change it to lifestyle maybe? anyone wanna read about the new vegan nuggets i just discovered as opposed to how posthog manages user cohorts?

events and travel

• i went to a bar quiz at the black sheep society (and my team won) so if you’re into that type of thing check it out, it happens weekly.

• finally visited la cite fertile, a lovely space just outside of paris. i went to an event organised by hypemada, might be too chilly soon but worth a shout.

here are the final pictures of my bike as promised, i’m still at that part of owning something where i keep taking pictures of it.

that’s it for this email. i’ll probably send the next one in 20 days depending on how hectic everything gets, again thanks for reading! take care xx

bonus 🫶🏾

hey there!

I’m going to start by saying thank you for reading these posts. Thank you for the comments too (I see you Maria), and thanks to everyone in person who tells me they missed reading these.

More about the mini delay on this one at the end. Now let’s talk about something I haven’t been able to shut up about lately. Road bikes1!

I’ve been riding all over Paris to get to places this summer and while Velib is super useful, it’s always a gamble. At a party, I talked about road bikes with a couple of people and the next day my entire life was dedicated to finding a vintage road bike on Lebocoin that I could use to traverse the streets of Paris and maybe beyond.

Days passed and a couple dozen messages later I met a lovely man who restores bikes for fun, I got an early ‘90s late ‘80s Peugot road bike (yet to be named) that was ridable!

I rode it all over. I realised that it needed a bit of work the more I rode it. So I decided that the best thing I could do with this fully functioning bike was to take it apart, give these 30-plus-year-old parts a nice clean and shine, repaint the frame (it was rusty in a few areas) and put it back together.

I did all this with only my audacity and YouTube to help. Spray painting things is hard, I’ve just found out, I’ve never done it before. Truly, this has been all I could talk about for the last month. It’s amazing the effort I put into this project which led me to explore the things that motivate me and keep me working even when things are tough. I had a couple of days where parts wouldn’t come out because of the rust, things wouldn’t fit as I wanted, and the paint wouldn’t set or dry fast enough. They’ve been genuine roadblocks and I kept going until I got this.

It’s not done yet! But we’re almost there.

In exploring desire and duty and when faced with indecision or battling a lack of action. I’m learning to ask, “What do I want to do?”, Why would I struggle with a bike and laugh/cry through it til I get what I want but not through learning a new language or building an app? I’m still exploring my actions and motivations as I pave my way forward through life. I’m gonna share more about what I discover here!

highlights and gratitude

quick list

• I saw Lorde again, she performed two new songs that I hadn’t sat back to listen to until now. I have that memory etched in my brain now.

• I’ve been obsessively working on my bike! Can’t wait to ride it after I’m done. Also, I know way too much about bikes now.

• I went surfing in Cornwall! I usually surf with people so doing it alone and having a great time was a really big moment for me.

• It’s rentrée and I’m grateful for the summer that passed. I’m excited to catch up with people after the holidays and get back to work.

• I’m writing a lot again, but not just this. I’ve got about two pseudo-professional blog posts coming out soon! I can’t wait to share them.

• I’m getting my health back on track!

art and music

• I heard this weirdly incredible track by Ignez (my favourite techno producer right now), if that's your jazz, give it a listen on Bandcamp.

• I’m playing around with Max for Life plugins in Ableton and made a very janky rework of uproar that needs a lot of work, check it out!

software and products

• Loops earplugs: I do a lot of music events and I can’t emphasise how much these earbuds are saving my ass. If you’re in the market for some I would recommend them.

• As of today, Starfield is out, as soon as I send this I’m hooked. If you give it a try let me know. Also, I can gift 4 friends Xbox Game Pass so if you’d like to try it out I can give you Xbox Game Pass!

• I found this really cool product called Senja, I don’t use it yet but might at some point. Love how the creator is building it in public. Very inspiring.

events and travel

• Uniqlo is launching a new collaborative collection with Clare Waight Keller and for some reason, I was invited to the launch event. I’ll share some pictures of the collection below if you wanna grab something.

• Ahh travel, I’m intentionally staying in Paris now because I’ve been moving around a little too much and need to focus on putting out some projects that need me in one place for some time.

I travelled the day I was supposed to write this and underestimated how much time I needed to get it out at the level I liked. Then I got sick for the next but we’re good now and I’m back with these every two weeks!!

Lots of highlights, it's been a while. This one is a little long. Seasons are changing, I can feel it. I feel good. I feel bad. I feel everything. I feel and I like it. Reminds me that I’m alive. I hope you all have everything you need to go into this new season of your life whatever that might be.

hey there!

it’s been two weeks. at the end of the last edition, i mentioned i wasn’t sure how long it will be till the next one. well, here is your answer: two weeks.

i sat down in my living room last week trying to type one of these and it didn’t feel right so i let it be. two weeks is great. two weeks feels comfortable. i get so caught up in my weeks it takes time to reflect and digest them all.

before we get into everything, here is a snippet from a piece i’m working on. i read this at under the umbrella, if you like it, you have amanda to thank for giving me a gentle push that made me decide to work on it a little.

idk, i think i was upset and writing this stream on consciousness felt so cathartic, reading it even more, but anyway… voila

highlights and gratitude

quick list

• i spent a day in the forest (on a hike) speaking to strangers in french. i’m not a native french speaker so being able to connect with people, understand and feel understood made me appreciate how far i’ve come! i could swear my dreams that night were in french (they weren’t).

• i played a show at la villette! at the beginning of the year, i told myself that i wanted to play more shows in front of real people, i’ve done more of that and the stage fright is getting manageable. so mdl:tso coming to speakers near you lol

i’ve been thinking a lot about professional trauma and its effect on your confidence. optics has also been on my mind, so if you have any interesting resources on those two subjects, i’d love some recommendations!

art and music

• lucrece started a skincare newsletter! she’s practically my personal skin care consultant so i’d recommend checking it out (it is mostly written in french btw)

• i saw men i trust at salle pleyel (amazing venue btw). it was so nice to go to a concert and just vibe, if it’s warm in your part of our flat globe or you need music to literally vibe to, here is something!

• i saw a really good photo exhibition by martin parr at the quai de la photo, if you’re in paris before it ends in september, i would recommend you check it out!

software and products

• microtraction is investing in african ideas! they’re looking for startups to fund from folks building for the continent, check it out!

• i updated the design of my digital garden; as mentioned above there are essays i’m writing on topics circling my mind, some will go there and some will go here. you might find some interesting stuff, some intentionally less polished.

  i slowed down on my projects (sad but hopefully worth it) so excited to get back to doing more work on the stuff i’m building.

events and travel

• i’ve been going to under the umbrella for a couple of months now, it’s an amazing community of people who write stuff (polished or not) and want to share it for catharsis. it’s made me so much more confident in my writing!

• jahiking club do these amazing community hikes, if you’re into afro-vegan food, and the great outdoors and happen to be in paris, you want to watch out for their hikes. they also have an amazing restaurant!

i’m obsessed with vintage bikes right now. it’s summer in paris which means i’ve been cycling everywhere (my quads hate me), logically i can’t keep using the rentals so i wanna get a project vintage bike to somewhat restore, personalise and make my own. might have pictures of whatever i get in the next one with stories of my adventures on my inevitable steel horse. anywho that’s me!

breathing and living.

til the next one!

hey there!

i planned on sending this on sunday because i naively assumed it was the best day to do your shopping (i do mine on sunday). upon further research, it turns out early morning on wednesday is the best time and day to visit the grocery store.

so here in was my rationale for sending this newsletter every wednesday morning. we’ll think of it as a nice little hump-day pick-me-up.

i’m getting into the habit of writing again. intentionally or unintentionally i tend to come across some really interesting things in my various interests. as you might eventually learn i have a lot.

highlights and gratitude

quick list

• it’s so sunny and hot in paris, its has such good vibes. i’m enjoying walks and bike rides and saturday morning iced coffees with people i like to be around.

• i have a 4.9 star rating views on my next course, really happy because my last one wasn’t my best work. also working on my next one, stay tuned.

• i saw indigo de souza again; seeing indie acts always makes me think about the human need to express and be understood. she embodies that struggle and if you want a music recommendation, there’s one.

• i spent some much need time with loved ones, summer can be weirdly isolating with everyone on holiday or away so that was nice.

“The universe whispers until it screams, and happy people listen while the call is still quiet”

Brianna Wiest

i’m thinking a lot about this quote. have you felt this? are you listening? what is the universe telling you?

art and music

• i put out a new mix on my soundcloud; i’ve been looking for a sound and this organic textured techno is IT!

• Obinna put out an absolutely beautiful video project called Scene 1 - [Respect]. i love the visuals, colour play and direction

• i learned so much about production and mixing this week, i got over my fear and shared a demo online. because you subscribed, you can listen.

• a producer i really respect made a faith-themed mix on their brazilian airwaves debut. my good people: SHE Spells Doom.

software and products

• i’m launching a subscription management too called caso for small businesses and hyper-organised individuals, check it out. my debut into the indie hacking space, v nervous.

• thibault and maximilian are building an open-source status page called open status. loved following thibaults indie hacker journey, worth checking him and the tool out!

• i just found out about touch designer, as someone with a generative art project in my back pocket, i’m interested in visual expression and interfacing it with music. you might like it if you feel the same,

• i’m playing this amazing game called season, it’s about memory and meditation. incredible game, calm and visually pleasing. the poet in me loves it.

events and travel

• i spent a couple of days in the south of france, itching to share the photos i took, you’ll probably see them in this publication or others

• if you’re an indie hacker in paris looking for community, there’s a little “apero” gathering of a bunch of people building products (should have maybe sent this sooner).

• i went to an amazing natural wine shop in the 15th arrondissement, if you are in paris or find yourself in paris, definitely give it a try.

beginnings ask questions we don't have answers to yet

daniel

i don’t have all the answers for what this is or what it will become, if you liked anything in particular about this, let me know. this edition is dubbed the first, i’m not sure if i want to do a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletter quite yet. the next two will definitely make things clearer.

i don’t want it to be too much, i want to keep them short and cute. i like short and cute.

til the next one!

this is the produce section.

beets and beats,
dill and dali,
melons and musings,

it’s funny, i don’t eat many greens so coming up with veggies to do wordplay with is quite the task, bref1, they’ll be a lot of references to produce, in a literal way but also in a “this is the harvest of life” type of way.

Subscribe now