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Recently I discovered the album System by Prewn, a band I'd never heard of, and I was immediately HOOKED. What a creative, deliberately messy, engaging record. It's been a long time since I've heard an album with so much dynamic and stylistic range; System goes from bedroom rock a la Horsegirl or Sparklehorse all the way to chamber pop (?) complete with strings and heavy drums. Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch these two music videos right now. Both songs are from the same album! Literally how!!

I've also been trying to learn more songs on guitar recently, and I have to say: thank you, Neil Young, for writing songs that are easy to learn but damn near impossible to master (for me). Right when I think I have a song under my fingers, I listen to the recording again with the volume turned up and nope, I totally missed some crazy percussive shit Neil was doing, I gotta keep working on it. And learning his music has made me appreciate just how high he sings, and just how limited my own range is, and just how much I want to get better at singing.

I mentioned Mag Bay in my last blog post, and yeah, I'm still obsessed. That is all. I've also started listening to Lux, Rosalía's newest record, and I've been loving it! It's unpretentious classical art pop, an extremely rare combination of things that deserves a little appreciation. Plus, it's filled top to bottom with bangers. Some months ago I was exploring Spanish classical music and happened upon a record called Spain On Fire by Accademia del Piacere; in a way I think that record prepared me for Lux; and if you've ever heard a second of classical music that you've liked, go listen to Spain On Fire! Go listen to António de Cabezón! Go listen to The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli by the Boston Brass Ensemble!! It will melt your FACE!!!

Lastly, HUGE shoutout to Emma Ruth Rundle, whose music always drags me out of my uncreative spirals, always reminds me that music is supposed to come from the soul, always knocks me over with the slightest breeze, a leaf blown from the palm of her hand... ERR forever!!!

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I've listened to Cryogeyser's self-titled album NONSTOP since it came out!! My favorite tracks are Sorry and Livia, but they're alllllll good. I saw them live a while back and despite the malfunctioning stage monitor (screeching into Shawn's ears constantly, causing her visible pain) I had a GREAT time! If there's a difference between just liking a band and being a fan of it, I became a fan after watching their Audiotree session. Goosebumps!!!

Mini Trees and Jay Som kinda go together for me, since I only heard about Mini Trees because of their feature on Jay Som's new record (which I really liked, and it's still growing on me). Anak Ko is one of my favorite albums period, and Belong expands Jay Som's color palette so much while also staying true to her roots. Mini Trees's new record, though, took me totally by surprise; I had no idea what to expect; but suddenly I was playing it on repeat and evangelizing about it to friends. There is so much incredible new music out there, just waiting for a listener...

Hannah Frances really went freak mode on her new record and I LOVE it. The Daniel Rossen collab is such a no-brainer; their sounds work so well together; it feels like just yesterday I first heard You Belong There, and Nested In Tangles feels in some ways like a spiritual successor, or at least a close relative, an album bursting at the seams with creativity and audacity—which is also how I would describe Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things, an album that left my jaw firmly on the floor. I had a hard time believing that such an album could have existed in 2002 (!).

We are so blessed with good music these days... the unannounced drop of Snocaps (how on earth does Katie Crutchfield put out so much excellent music so fast? is there anyone else as prolific and consistent as her?), Flock of Dimes's third record (Jenn Wasner is, in a word, an inspiration—her words could move mountains, her sounds could split the heavens—if I could borrow one percent of her artistry I'd be content), yet another banger album from The Beths, whose songs get chimier and brighter and sweeter all the time (but they're not just sugar cubes; Liz Stokes doesn't know how to write a song without substance).

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Is this a renaissance or a recession indicator? Hard to say... but everywhere I turn I find new music that refreshes me, amazes me, knocks me hard on my ass, makes me smile, leaves me wondering what I'm even doing with my life, and reminds me, despite all the shit going on, despite the daily horrors of the news, to praise the mutilated world...

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Inspired by Angela Collier's video (mentioned in my last blog post) I embarked on reading Faust. What I didn't realize before watching Angela's video is that "Faust" isn't just one book, it's a lot of different books written at very different times and by very different people, all loosely based on a semi-legendary guy named Faust who did some magic tricks in medieval Germany—apparently well enough that some people decided he was working with Satan and used him as a cautionary tale for anyone who was thinking about straying from God's light, etc. etc.

Honestly, most of what I knew about Faust before now came directly from Fullmetal Alchemist. It could be fun to rewatch Brotherhood after I read Faust Part Two, Mephisto, and Doctor Faustus—all of the really juicy alchemy stuff comes from Faust Part Two anyway, including the homunculus. Early on in Faust Part One, there's a moment where Mephistopheles points out a pentagram on Faust's wall made slightly defective by a broken line, allowing him to enter but not to leave. (By the way: was that sincere on Mephisto's part, or was the demon manipulating Faust into striking a deal by giving Faust fake magical leverage over him? I'm not sure!) That moment immediately brought to mind the transmutation circles from Fullmetal. Don't fudge the lines! There's also a lot of talk from Mephisto about attaining godhood—and from Faust about being the Godhead (in the Christian sense of being made in God's image? or in an egotistical sense of being godly?)—and wresting the power of heaven for yourself that really reminded me of the Dwarf in the Flask's attempt to "acquire God" at the end of Brotherhood. I wonder if some of the imagery of the Dwarf reaching up to the moon was inspired directly by Mephisto's dialog...!

Oh, and Gretchen. Poor Gretchen, I mean Margaret. Poor Margaret-Gretchen. (Content warning: sexual assault.) Imagine it: a creepy, horny professor (himself under the influence of a bog witch's aphrodisiacs) puts a love curse on you through a demonic jewelry box, causing you, barely over fourteen years old (!!!), to madly lust for him; his manipulative demon friend fucking lies about your neighbor's husband being dead to get you and the professor some alone time, and the professor commits actual perjury in the process; the professor has sex with you, which is to say (and I won't be shying away from this word, hence the content warning) he rapes you using black magic and impregnates you; the professor and his evil buddy murder your brother; your brother uses his dying breath to call you a slut and a whore; you go insane, quite understandably, and kill your mother and newborn child, much less understandably; you're put on death row, and suddenly the professor appears again (returned from his vacation to Evil Mountain) and tries to bust you out of prison, but you're so lost that you die on the spot. But it's okay, because God literally announces that you're going to heaven! Yippee!!

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This is a pious misogyny; a very Christian way to hate women; a play that seeks obscenity in witches' covens and devils' pacts, but finds the greater obscenity in men—in their dealings with each other and with women, not their dealings with Hell. As Mephisto says, people these days have abandoned the supernatural, trading the "Evil One" for many "evil ones." Does Faust belong in that enlightened category of secular hate? Mephisto dons a cape and rapier instead of his old hooves and horns. Now he would fashion himself a modern man: suited, executive, slicked-back hair and a smooth face. Not all men are Mephistos, but nearly all Mephistos are men, and for that reason, I choose the bear.