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Dangerous Compassions

folk punk

Hello, reader.  How are you doing?  Do you like folk punk?  I loved it, before.  I was a fiend for it.  But then I got less enchanted. *

I made this art: sacred objects.  Thank you for being patient with me as everything I make needs to be orange and yellow.

sacred objects

I like how it turned out and sent the pic to my good friend.  They liked it and punted back the link to this song they love of the same name.

The beginning part lasts a while.  I hear some banjo and maybe accordion.

Then it has an amazing manifesto spoken.  I love the part that sounds like disability justice:

Our bodies are not broken, but our bodies have requirements, unmet in a state ceaselessly robbing each individual, vandalously robbing each community

The manifesto lasts longer than my attention span, but I love the vibe.  The part about drinking till puking as a way of purging dominant violent culture is wild.  And I enjoy the mention of chosen family and trash magic.

Yes, I agree.  It speaks to me.  And folk punk can be really good for that.  Idealistic truth laid down right before us.

downtown Seoul

I get this song in my head a lot.  It’s Downtown Seoul by the Mountain Goats off the album Sweden.

I find it moving, gorgeous, and so real.  “You had your cardigan on,” feels wistful and sweet.  I get it in my head a lot for that part, and also when the speaker mentions a white bird.  That’s where I get therapy here in town: White Bird.

Lo-fi Mountain Goats is my favorite.  Why is that?  My friends like the crisp studio stuff.  I favor the simple lo-fi.  The rawness is refreshing.  It feels like an intimate message from a friend.  My friend recorded this on an old tech machine and sent it to me, with love.

But today I realized the sparse guitar, the message being so important, the yelling vocals at times–wow!  I think lo-fi Mountain Goats is folk punk.  No wonder.

ah hah

Thank you for sharing my ah hah moment.  I love connecting dots.

Today I feel lonely.  But many people love me and pray for my well-being.  I’ll take care of my health as well as I can and look forward to a kinder day.

__________________________

* I got less enchanted mostly because

content warning: mention of sexual violence

my favorite folk punk band, the front man was accused of sexually violating people, and I soured on the genre.  The bright visionary realness I loved so much left me feeling kicked in the teeth.  Yeah, white men are going to sing in a heartfelt way about freedom and the beauty of community, then sexually violate whoever they want to.  I give up.

Sorry about the downer, reader.  Thank you for holding me in your heart today.  PS, I still love Chencho, which no one can take away from me.

https://chencho.bandcamp.com/track/borders-crossed-us

By Laura-Marie

Good at listening to the noise until it makes sense.

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