Two electronic music mixes I’ve been listening to a lot recently really show the variety in the landscape of electronic music:

• RA.954 Rey Colino
• RA.958 Slipmatt

I listen to these on my earbuds and I can visualise myself listening and dancing to them at outdoor festivals, underground clubs or beaches in the sun, on massive sound systems at some ridiculous hour in the morning. My entire body and mind is momentarily transported through time and place. The human mind is friggin’ amazing.

I spent the early part of my life listening entirely to band based music. There was a time when I used to hate anything that wasn’t created on real musical instruments. I was into alt rock and metal, and looking back I was really closed minded about what I liked, about what I thought was cool.

At some point along the way I gave electronic music a try, at first pretty dark stuff like drum & bass, break beat and tech house, I think probably because these were were most similar in vibe to metal. But over the years I found my way into so many other genres, some faster some slower, some happier, some darker. Entire universes exist behind each of these.

It’s completely mindboggling to me how much my tastes have changed, expanded and refined over the years. Things I would previously have considered way too comercial, I now realise I just haden’t heard in the right place, I didn’t know the history, hadn’t sensed the vibe properly. Hadn’t been to the right parties, absorbed the culture from others. I love it all now. Tunes lots of tunes.

I’m so glad I got into electronic music, it was a portal into a multiverse I could never have imagined before. And I’m also glad I started out listening to band music, I still return to that too, and that side of my music tastes has expanded too.

All this to say it’s been a crazy amazing journey, can’t wait to see what the future will look like.

Daniel Susskind was on the Keen On podcast this week. Lots of interesting topics covered centering around our current obsession with economic growth, from it’s historical origins, to the current moment and how it might be affected by AI.

His comments about how he thinks we should update the generally accepted metaphor for growth struck a chord with me [24:00]:

DS: Very often when people talk about economic growth, the kind of metaphors they have in mind is a kind of train, and they are sitting in the drivers seat and they can push forward on the throttle and go faster or pull back and go slower.

AK: Marx’s locomotive of history

DS: Yeah exactly, and in that spirit the direction of travel is set, it’s predetermined by the rails that are set down for us to trundle along, and the only question is do we want more or less growth [...] that’s the dimension in which the debate takes place. I’m saying that actually a far better metaphor is a nautical one. We are sitting in a boat and we can put up our masts and go faster, or we can put them down and go slower. But also, the direction of travel is far more open. There are many possibly directions our economy can take. The choice is not simply do we want more or less growth, but it’s also do we want a different type of growth as well [...] I think there are ways for us to pursue growth without destroying those other valuable things we care about. Whether it’s the environment, the level of equality in society, the health of local places and communities etc.

In some ways what he’s saying seems like common sense, like it’s obvious. But sometimes the obvious things need saying, because at some point in time, believe it or not the obvious things weren’t all that obvious. This feels like one of those things.

The rest of the discussion is super interesting too, worth listening to.

JD Vance who is running as the vice president pick for the Republicans in the US elections, was on Rogan’s podcast a few days ago. Putting aside political party preferences for a second, I thought this observation was kind of spot on:

Vance: The only way I can describe it is that she talks in circles.

Rogan: Tim Dillon says it’s like she does gypsy curses. She speaks in gypsy curses.

Vance: [Big Lol] That’s very good. [...] There is actually a skill to this. I think that she is the Michael Jordan of using as many words as possible to say as little as possible. There’s actually a certain gift that she has because you listen to her talk, and you are 100 - 200 words into it, you’re 500 words into it, and you are like what the hell did she just say? She didn’t say anything.

So yeah there’s a certain political skill in saying a lot without actually saying anything. But it actually worries me about her being president [...] what does she do when she’s in a meeting with a world leader, and she has to know the details of public policy to negotiate with Vladimir Putin or Xi Jin Pin? [...] and I don’t know that she has an ounce of curiosity about public policy. That’s what scares the hell out of me.

It’s both a funny bit but also, it’s true! I’m not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing. I could certainly see her way of speaking be used to frustrate opponents and as a stalling tactic. But it’s worth noting because if it’s her only 'mode' then she might not be so great at getting things done. It’s worth listening to the whole bit as they do some impersonations which are kind of hilarious.

Of course Trump has his own unique way of talking, now being refered to as "the weave", which some would argue can be quite difficult to deal with, so perhaps it comes down to preference. One thing I will say about Trump, based on his recent appearance on Rogan, is that he’s willing to sit down for long unscripted interviews, and though his style does definitely get in the way sometimes, he seems to be aware of this, and I thought he does show curiosity and empathy in the people he talks with. He listens. He’s prepared to learn in public. At least there’s a chance of getting a message through to him. I’m not so sure about Kamala, could be her talking in circles thing makes her impenetrable.

It was an interesting interview with Vance. The two biggest things that stood out to me is that he’s very smart, knows his stuff, very well spoken on so many things, but he’s also clearly from a different generation to Trump. His dynamic with Rogan was totally different. Could be a great combo with Trump if they get on well.