Grain: Crossings, Concrete and Metals

This is my first letter to you, a test, a bit of mark-making to see what this format could be shaped into.

All artists that I know are exhausted by social media: fighting against algorithms nobody understands, putting in labour to have work hidden or disappear, and now used for AI training. For me doing something more direct and zine-like via email is way more exciting than trying to constantly bend to those platforms.

I’m not a writer and not aspiring to be one, but like most of you I consume a lot each month, and so this is designed to be a regular silo of my favourite stuff I’ve watched, listened, read, and visited to share with you. Little grains, of things.

Filled with colour and noise and life, Crossing tells the story of a powerhouse Georgian aunt in search of her niece, a trans woman who disappeared years ago into Istanbul’s warren of cobbled streets, alleyways and chosen families. I watched this a while ago, and still can’t stop thinking about it, and it’s one of the most beautiful and vivid depictions of that particular city on screen I’ve seen. I particularly love how the angled streets become a visual tool to represent character experiences: constantly heading uphill or downhill. via MUBI.

Rachel often works with concrete to show the inners or outers of objects and buildings. It’s a kind of brutalist revealing of a hidden interior (and was a big influence on my records Bolted and Bolted (Deconstructed)). She’s just launched an exhibition at the Goodwood Art Foundation, with many of her pieces placed outdoors in ancient woodland and meadows. Missing from it is her breakthrough, now-destroyed House from the 90s where she pumped concrete into an East London terraced home before it was demolished, leaving just a weird physical echo of the building. If you can’t get to the show, this Youtube interview is a great look at her approach.

It would have been author Mark Fisher’s birthday last week, and it’s a good excuse to revisit his work, which somehow feels even more vital and topical than ever given the state of the globe. Mark was the first person to interview me and I was fortunate enough to keep in touch with him, but it’s only really since his death that I fully explored his published books. Mark wrote about capitalism, politics, philosophy, mental health, culture and found smart, deep threads to connect everything. My favourites are Capitalist Realism and Ghosts Of My Life, but honestly anywhere is a good place to begin.

Tech activist Cory Doctorow is one of the most prominent voices to talk about how the internet’s platforms have felt actively worse, and harder, to use (and why that is 100% on purpose). The capitalism and psychology of it isn’t that far away from the topics Mark Fisher talks about above. This conversation from WNYC is a good starting point and looks into where this might go, and Cory has a book out this autumn that goes further into it.

Three of my favourite records I’ve been listening to recently are metal(ish): legendary wizards Matmos have a new album made completely of metallic samples, pieced together from more than a decade’s worth of collected audio. Blood Incantation’s death metal, with bits of folk and synthy prog, feels like a sonic tidal wave. Sébastien Forrester’s Coruscate is a widescreen ambient journey through metal percussion and bowed vibraphone.

1. Matmos - Metallic Life Review [Bandcamp]

2. Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere [Bandcamp]

3. Sébastien Forrester - Coruscate (for metal percussion) [Bandcamp]

I also update my studio playlist on Spotify for those of you who prefer that sort of thing.

1. 20 years of France’s punk photo agency [Guardian]

2. Butterflies, Deep Time, and Climate Change [Harpers]

3. Francis Bebey at Real World Studios, 1995 [Youtube]