#Somesurprises

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

somesurprises :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview

I've been a fan of Seattle's somesurprises ever since I heard their tape on the estimable Eiderdown label back in 2017-ish. The band's latest, Perseids, is the record that should make everyone a fan.

Led by songwriter/guitarist Natasha El-Sergany, somesurprises really knocked it out of the park with this one. It's a collection that'll remind you of many of your favorite artists (Stereolab, Yo La Tengo, Grouper, the Mazzy Star/Opal axis, etc) but never bows entirely to those influences. There's a strong point of view and thoughtful craft to every moment here. Check Perseids out, you're going to like it.

And also check out my Q&A with Natasha, which is up on Aquarium Drunkard right now! It's a good time. somesurprises is going on tour very soon, and I urge you to go see the band play! I'll be at the Denver show ... see you there?!

[hubcaphalo]

Favorite Albums of 2024:

Here we go: favorite albums of the year. I like to make my lists every year and these? Are just my favorites. Are they the best albums of the year? Who the fuck knows. Maybe some are, some aren’t. I make these lists for myself, because I like to go back and revisit these, but if you listen and find something here you like, that’s awesome!

favorite albums of 2024, in alphabetical order:

Dagny - ELLE (listen: In My Bones, Strawberry Dream)

Dawn Richard, Spencer Zahn - Quiet in a World Full of Noise (listen: Quiet in a World Full of Noise, Breath Out)

Dehd - Poetry (listen: Hard to Love, Mood Ring)

Empress Of - For Your Consideration (listen: Femenine, Kiss Me)

FLETCHER - In Search of the Antidote (listen: Attached to You, Crush)

Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past is Still Alive (listen: Alibi, Hourglass)

Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol (listen: Upon Sober Reflection, Fugitive Summer)

Joy Oladokun - Observations from a Crowded Room (listen: Good Enough, Drugs)

Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well (listen: Jade Green, Sway)

Kaleida - In Arms (listen: Choices, Kilda)

Kenya Vaun - The Honeymoon Phase (listen: Yesterday, Overrated)

Lizzie No - Halfsies (listen: Halfsies, Annie Oakley)

Moses Sumney - Sophcore (listen: Vintage, Love's Refrain)

Orville Peck - Stampede (listen: How Far Will We Take It?, Chemical Sunset)

Pom Pom Squad - Mirror Starts Moving Without Me (listen: Street Fighter, The Tower)

Raveena - Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain (listen: Lose My Focus, We Should Move Somewhere Beautiful)

Rei Brown - Aura (listen: Get Me Out, Fire)

Reyna Tropical - Malegria (listen: Cartagena, Lo Siento)

somesurprises - Perseids (listen: Be Reasonable, Dark Victory)

TezaTalks - Black Girl American Horror Story (listen: STOPIT!!, Oxygen, Cops)

Honourable Mentions:

Fleet Foxes - Live on Boston Harbor I don't put live albums on the EOY list, but this is an excellent listen--you can also watch it on youtube. Robin is in peak banter form. (listen: Ragged Wood)

Various Artists - American Football (Covers) The classic American Football record is so iconic, and so gorgeous, of course a record full of covers from other brilliant musicians is gonna slap. (listen: Ethel Cain - For Sure)

Usher - Coming Home It didn't need to be a double album! The first half is perfect! The second half has some decent songs, but it is definitely weaker. (listen: Kissing Strangers "how'd we go from strangers kissing to kissing strangers"? LAWD shot to the heart)

[longlistshort]

somesurprises- Be Reasonable

This song is from from somesurprises' 2024 album Perseids.

They are playing at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles on Friday, 7/19/24, with Suzanne Kraft and Harriet Brown.

[oglog]

somesurprises - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9MyyVGYnKw

[myastrouniverse]

June/2024🌚♊️Can you please fill that hole in your story, with the WHOLE truth?

🌚◾️🦚 A society is only as ‘good’ as the ‘least’ of the people, in that society. The ‘least’ of our society live like wild animals. What do you expect? If a child grows up uneducated, poor and without a social network of support; that child will not live a long, nor a happy life. They will do desperate things, like selling their body for money. They will cover their emotional turmoil with drugs. If we can’t support the lowest in our society to reach higher, we aren’t a society. If we refuse to assist the vulnerable in their time of need, again, what use is this society to the people in the society?

🌚 < ♂️I want ape hoes to have their basic needs met, so they don’t have to disrespect their bodies for money. I am not your enemy, ape hoe. Leave me alone. Stop trying to murder me over delusions.

🌚 ☸︎ ☊ I say shit about my own family. It is because my OWN FAMILY tried to MURDER ME. Why is it that no one is putting ACTUAL MURDERERS IN JAIL?

♀️< ♇︎ I am so tired of narcissistic psychopaths ruining my life over their own fucking ego issues.

🌚 ☌ 🌞 This New Moon: If you need to say something, say it. If you don’t say it, you don’t mean it.

🌚 ◾️ ♄︎ If they can get away with genocide, they can get away with murdering YOU. They will murder YOU one way or another by the end of this decade. Are YOU going to fight for your future? Are YOU going to fight for your kid’s future? Because if YOU continue to act like a pussy, we are ALL going to die.

♅︎ ☸︎ 🦺 I started using wet tobacco on my skin and the acidity tore up the scars and debris on my back. It’s feeling smooth and ALMOST normal again. I love it when yet another traditional native American folk remedy works.

☿︎ < 🚑 I know how offensive I AM. I wince sometimes when I express my feelings. I don’t censor myself, so don’t listen to me if you don’t understand mindless babble. Personally I would rather say what I AM thinking. If I don’t, how can I analyze what I AM experiencing as I express myself? The point of what I AM doing is a coping mechanism for extreme torture. Apparently some people don’t understand the form of personal therapy I use, for my MANY near death experiences.

🌞 < ♇︎ Oh, look who keeps fucking up. Who keeps fucking up? YOU keep fucking up.

somesurprises - Be Reasonable

New Moon, 🎨 Wanda Koop, oil on canvas

[emilylivingstonstout]

Be Reasonable

music video film project for Seattle band somesurprises

EMILY LIVINGSTON STOUT

2024

Super 8 film, 35 mm Porta 400

[seanmorroww]

Somesurprises - "Bodymind"

Perseids [Doom Trip, 2024]

[valaquenta]

somesurprises - Be Reasonable

[reconprate]

Somesurprises

Somesurprises “Why I Stay” Perseids (04-19-2024) “I experienced deep joy and profound loss during the making of this record and beyond (like most humans), and rediscovered some of the things that make life worth living…I hope a sense of the possibility of renewal is transmitted through these songs, personally and collectively.” – Frontwoman, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Natasha…

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Interviews 2024

Sometimes, I talk to musicians! This year, I had conversations with some great ones — Linda Thompson, Bob Holmes (Suss, numun, etc), somesurprises, Danny Paul Grody, James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Zachary Cale, and Crazy Horse's Billy freakin' Talbot. I always wish I was a little bit better at the art of conversation, but hopefully, these chats are entertaining/interesting enough.

You can decide for yourself over on Aquarium Drunkard — which as mentioned many times before, has gone behind the paywall this year. But as also mentioned many times before, your membership fee is worth it ... think of it as subscribing to many e-newsletters/substacks all at once? Beyond my own Q&As, there have been a ton of sweet talks this year, from Jeff Parker to Thurston Moore to Rosali to J Spaceman to The Necks to Guy Picciotto to Pat Metheny to Jessica Pratt and many many more. (And that's not even counting Jason P. Woodbury's always awesome Transmissions podcast). Sign up!

Linda Thompson

I just liked that kind of sad, keening music. I think keening is the word, you know? Most people hate [that kind of music]. I mean, most people hate the bagpipes. I love the bagpipes, so there’s obviously something very wrong with me. [Laughs]

Bob Holmes

The vibe is a big part of it—that big sky, open feeling, creating a musical experience that that is very open. The word inclusive shows up a lot. Inclusive of musical genres, yeah, but also men, women, transgender, different races. I always say that the thing about ambient country is that it’s a big country. There’s plenty of space. 

somesurprises

For me, it’s about trying to be someone who’s open to change — whether that’s personally, politically or globally. That’s the most centered reality. Cynicism and just believing that things have to be done the way they’ve been done in the past, or that someone else has to get the short end of the stick for them to benefit — those are actually twisted versions of reality.

Danny Paul Grody

I changed so fundamentally when I became a parent. It impacts everything, every aspect of my life. You know, it was one of the greatest gifts I could ask for, just to take my focus off of myself. I didn’t realize what a gift it would be, but it’s taught me a lot. But it’s also taught me how to really cherish those things in my life that matter, that bring meaning, that bring me a sense of wholeness. Music is one of those things, obviously.

James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg

I find that as I’ve made more records and written more songs, I’ve become a much more sympathetic listener. My tastes have only broadened as I’ve gotten older. My early records — both with Jim and without — were reflections of more limited influences, or the desire to only have certain influences present. That’s definitely changed. In some ways, we don’t have anything to prove to anyone anymore.

Zachary Cale

I got to hang out with Michael Chapman a few times and I asked him about that point blank. ���Is that one of the reasons why you do it – to mark the span of time?” He said absolutely. I mean, it’s the art of it, too, but these records are how I mark my time. I’ve always been old fashioned that way. I think most musicians who are in it for the long haul think of it that way, too. 

Billy Talbot

It’s fate. And I don’t even really believe in fate. We probably make our own fate, as we move along in this life. There seems to be some kind of other plan for us that we latched onto. But I’m not sure about that. All I know is that it happened. And I’m grateful. Grateful to have been a part of it.

[burlveneer-music]

My WVUD playlist, 10/22/2024

(filling in on All Tomorrow's Parties)

The Cure - Alone The Horrors - I See You Field Music - The Limits of Language Katrina Ford - Dundalk Dungeon Tomato Flower - Harlequin Future Islands - Peach Ed Schrader's Music Beat - Blue Garden Naima Bock - Takes One Chrysanths - Landscapes Margo Free - Goddess Roar The Weather Station - Neon Signs Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi The The - Risin' Above the Need Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway) Solilians - Old Schmeckled Hen Suzan Köcher's Suprafon - Camera Catch The Breeze - Winter Is Gone somesurprises - Be Reasonable Joy Oladokun - Dust/Divinity Peter Murphy - The Scarlet Thing In You Danielle Dax - Flashback James Taylor Quartet - Miss Your Life Folly Group - Strange Neighbour Anti-Nowhere League - Sympathy For The Devil Jah Wobble & Jon Klein - Time

[musicmakesyousmart]

somesurprises - Alt

Doom Trip

2018

[resistance765]

“Sometimes” - somesurprises

[hastioexquisito]

2017 Beauties:

East of the Valley Blues and Rootless on Cabin Floor Esoterica

Prana Crafter and somesurprises on Eiderdown Records

Ignatz on Taping Policies Tona on Orb Tapes East of the Valley Blues on Death Is Not The End Onda/Dorji/Chen on Black Pollen Press