January 6, 2021

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I’ve had something slated to go out for a couple weeks now, but kept putting it off while working on ye olde spreadsheet (my annual accounting of the best music I heard in the year that was). It was mostly re-run This American Life episodes, and while I stand by the recs it feels a little stale for the moment. One episode, however, resonates with this moment and deserves a re-listen - Still Processing’s “Sweet, Sweet Fantasies, Baby.” It dropped in mid-November 2020, but it could have come out any time in the last four years. The main takeaway? We talk about the American myth, but it's really an American fantasy. I can’t say that listening to this made me understand the people on the other side of the disconnect between two Americas, but it provides a helpful framing device. Maybe, especially, now that democracy is passé and we can all just break into the capitol if we aren’t happy and be told we’re special. Perhaps in the coming weeks I'll put together some sort of year in review, but honestly I'm not sure. Feeling pretty burnt out on list making and maybe I've missed my window for 2020. I did listen to 2,733 episodes this year, absolutely demolishing my 1,898 episode total from last year. But that's for next time, or maybe never. Listen to that Still Processing episode. Or just listen to that RTJ album.

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