"Oceanside (Monkey Safari Remix) by Eli & Fur

Hazy, trippy, trancey. This is the Monkey Safari remix of Eli & Fur's song "Oceanside."

https://www.eliandfur.com/

R.I.P William Orbit

William Orbit, 2022 | Photo: Eva Pentel

R.I.P. William. Thanks for the amazing sounds.

https://www.williamorbit.com/

"Buzz and Tommy" by Mantaraybryn

English singer-songwriter Mantaraybryn has released "Buzz and Tommy," a joyous, thrilling song celebrating authenticity in the name of those who came before us. Called "Buzz and Tommy," he says the song "started as a list of advice to my younger self, but soon became me trying to throw a lifeline to those stuck in a deep dark closet, and also an homage to the real Buzz and Tommy." The sense of the song and the powerful words make me quite emotional ... and that coupled with a powerful, anthem-sounding banger of a tune makes me soar up high and want to dance like a man possessed. Amazing work, Mantaraybryn!

And here are the real Buzz and Tommy. This photo first showed up on internet at least as early as May 25, 2016 on the IG account lgbt_history. It shows two lifeguards, presumably from 1949, Buzz and Tommy. The inscription on the reverse is heartbreaking not for what it says but for the avalanche of things it doesn't--can't--say, all the things they couldn't at the time. Of course we don't know the actual story of this photo and who these two young men were (or still are? they could be alive in their 80s-90s) but the intimacy of the insciption indicates the strong possibility that they were secret lovers.

Tell me now, what do you dread
Are there monsters under your bed
You’re in the closet and they can’t see you,
So why are you scared

Scrolling through topless men
Reminding yourself again and again
They are paid to look like that
We all age and that’s a fact

And yes some of them hate you
But they’re dying off
So go out dancing
Get with someone hot

Do it for those who wouldn’t
And those who couldn’t
For Buzz and Tommy
Writing letters when they shouldn’t

Wallflower crawling off the wall
Sunflower standing nice and tall
Big Buster, now muster
All the nerve you lost before

Get yourself into a good book
Remember how those words took
All the pain that you felt away
Now it’s all the just the same

Are you a tired Atlas?
Are you holding up the world?
Stop, drop, and roll
And it’s a disco ball

And yes some of them like you
But that’ll wear off
Do you like who you are
Do you like what you’re not

Have you done the work?
Have you put in the time?
Broken the cycle
And the family line?

Wallflower crawling off the wall
Sunflower standing nice and tall
Big Buster, now muster
All the nerve you lost before

Could be a lover boy and Casanova
An overflowing supernova
I want you to escape
Be a know-who Houdini
Got chains for days
Are you even breathing

All the nerve you lost before

Wallflower crawling off the wall
Sunflower standing nice and tall
Big Buster, now muster
All the nerve you lost before

Here are what Mantaraybryn calls the main points of his list:

1. Do the things you did fearlessly as a child before you cared about external opinions.

2. Come out sooner.

3. Go out and dance like a man possessed.

4. Even though the future seems dark, you must keep dancing.

5. Feel lucky that you are hopefully in a better situation / timeline than these secret lover lifeguards [Buzz and Tommy] from 1949.

6. Remain kind despite the closet being painful.

7. Time and youth are fleeting. You must act now.

Thanks Big Buster! I've got the dance down now...

https://www.instagram.com/mantaraybryn

BEAUTYY: Clothing--Simone Rocha

For her SS '25 collection at London Fashion Week, Simone Rocha looked to legendary choreographers Pina Bausch and Michael Clark as inspiration for a runway full of dancers in their off-time, getting ready for a show or just coming off stage. This was a co-ed collection and the women sported lots of tulle but so did the men! And as a reference to Bausch's piece "Nelken (Carnations)" in which dancers perform on a stage blooming with 8,000 carnations, Rocha embellishes tops and jackets with embroidered or jeweled carnations. The entire affair feels calculatedly romantic, but the appearance on a tee shirt of a grotesque reimagining of Edouard Manet's "Olympia" by artist Genieve Figgis intriguingly skews the sense of the collection to something slightly darker...

https://simonerocha.com

"Remedy" by Durante feat. Running Touch

Ah, this is how I like my dance music...sopping with melancholy and emotion. Here is the yearning, tugging symphonic swirl of "Remedy" by Durante with breathy, tender vocals by Running Touch.

"Some day soon..."

https://durantemusic.com/

R.I.P. Ushio Amagatsu

The news was just released today of the March 25th, 2024 death of Ushio Amagatsu, legendary choreographer and founder of the Butoh dance troupe Sankai Juku. Butoh is the singular Japanese dance form developed after the horrors of World War II characterized by extremely expressive and often frightening or grotesque gestures (like the "Silent Scream"), white full-body paint, and very slow movements.

Amagatsu founded Sankai Juku in 1975 and introduced Butoh to the Western world, using highly otherworldly costumes, sets, and original music. Since 1982 all of Sankai Juku's works were premiered at and co-produced by Théâtre de la Ville, Paris. Over the years, I had the honor of seeing two, incredible, haunting full productions in which they performed, among other pieces, Kagemi, Hibiki, and Yuragi. I was utterly mesmerized and shaken for many days after.

R.I.P. Ushio Amagatsu. Thank you for manifesting such a profound and ferocious physical expression into this world.

https://www.sankaijuku.com/?lang=en

"Needed You" by DJ Aaron Kennedy

I heard this track last week as part of a mix and can't get it out of my head..."Needed You" by DJ Aaron Kennedy. LOVE the old school house sound.

https://djaaronkennedy.bandzoogle.com/home

"Let's Be Young" by Quentin Harris

Absolutely hypnotized by this Neo-Disco track "Let's Be Young" by Quentin Harris... percolating, propulsive, relentless... with kick-ass horns and a sleek, silky string section. It starts out at 9, goes to 10 and keeps me there, spinning and moving...

https://soundcloud.com/quentin-harris-official

"Innerlight" by Elderbrook with Bob Moses

I am hypnotized by this video for "Innerlight" by Elderbrook with Bob Moses...the spinning monotone of the sound, the spinning of the dais, the spinning of the dancers...everything is a circle and we all move within it...

http://www.elderbrookofficial.com/
https://bobmosesmusic.com/

Currently listening to...

...David Byrne's miraculous score for Twyla Tharps' production of "The Catherine Wheel." Unexpected, polyrhythmic, pan-cultural, oddly expressive, disturbing, calming, haunting. I bought this when it came out in 1981 and was quite struck by it. It has stayed with me, in my mind, my imagination, my emotional memory, ever since. Here are a selection of some of my favorite tracks.

My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)

Well it ain't my fault
My fault that things gone wrong
And it ain't my fault,
Some things are sticking out.
My big hands
Keep my big hand to myself.
Tip toe too
Tip toe around the house

Come, Come on in
It's not, it's not like that
Down, down we go
Fall through, fall through the cracks.

Well I help myself
Help myself to what I want.
Side by side
Get stupid in the dark.
Didn't get home
Things broke down
No sense
Not at all.

Come, Come on in
It's not, it's not like that
Down, down we go
Fall through, fall through the cracks.

https://davidbyrne.com/

https://www.twylatharp.org/

"Meguro" by BLOW

I am grooving on the retro-futurist funk of "Meguro" by French band BLOW. Filmed at the Palais de Tokyo, where Rick Owens shows all his collections (when not on the Lido in Venice)...and the styling here feels very fashion-forward like Rick!

https://www.instagram.com/blow_band_/

"Please" by Jessie Ware...LIVE!

Regular readers may recall that I posted this song, "Please" by Jessie Ware last month here and I still love the glorious, nostalgic, disco sound tinged with a 90s club vibe. Here she is performing her song on The One Show in the UK...and for those requiring proof that she can actually sing, take note that her voice sounds fantastic live.

https://www.jessieware.com/

"Grains" by Yotto & Cassian and "X-Ray" by Raphael Mader

Great dance tracks from label Odd One Out:

"Grains" by Yotto and Cassian. I love the gauzy start which gives way to a driving, percolating sound highlighted by a sample of a distorted, plaintive voice...in fact, there seems to be a sort of pervasive, yearning sadness in the entire song structure itself.

"X Ray" by Raphael Mader, with its plaintive vocal sample sounds just as sad but in a deeper, even slightly ominous way.

https://yottomusic.com/
https://cassianmusic.com/
https://soundcloud.com/raphael-mader

"Please" by Jessie Ware

Oh, I just love Jessie Ware (previously here) and her glorious, nostalgic, disco sound tinged with a 90s club vibe, but perfect for right now. Listen to this dance fantasia "Please" from the Platinum Pleasure version of her album "What's Your Pleasure?" So much fun.

https://www.jessieware.com/

"Zero" by Ólafur Arnalds

Wowsa, just take a look at this video for "Zero" by modern composer Ólafur Arnalds. I have been so interested in what drones can do for film, from a photography perspective, and did not even think of what drones can do for lighting! As the dancers move through the forest in this video, they are lit by some local stationary lights, but the motion and atmosphere come from the shifting lights overhead on a drone, making the shadows of the branches swirl around them. UTTERLY MAGICAL.

https://olafurarnalds.com/

"Stupid Love" by Lady Gaga

I do love me some Gaga and boy, do I love this song and video for "Stupid Love." It's simply exhilarating.

And the entire thing was filmed on an iPhone 11 Pro. Amazing.

One of the things I love about Gaga is that she came from pop roots, but then studied performance art with Marina Abramović, then starred on “American Horror Story: Hotel” as a vampire, then sang standards and torch songs with Tony Bennett (and did so phenomenally I might add), then turned in a stunning film performance in “A Star Is Born.” Seems like any other pop star would be just one thing. Even Madonna in all her different incarnations has only ever been Madonna. But somehow Gaga has managed to not only reinvent herself in different incarnations, she has done so across barriers and completely different mediums. Anyone else would have decided, after her film success, to be “an actress” now but as evidenced here, she said instead, “I’m going to dye my hair pink, sing a kick-ass pop song, and just dance.” She is The Lady Gaga.

https://www.ladygaga.com/

"Listen To Their No" by Underworld

Wow, what an explosive, joyous song from Underworld (Karl Hyde and Rick Smith). "Listen To Their No" is just released on "DRIFT Series 1," a collection of songs they recorded weekly over the period of the last year. They set about creating a new piece of music and an accompanying video experiment to be published every week. The album features highlights from this ambitious, prolific, and fruitful endeavor.

Say it: magic's never broken.

https://underworldlive.com/

"Purple Line" by Ben Böhmer

Loving this thick, chunky, dance-y track "Purple Line" by Ben Böhmer that features a lyric from the glorious song "The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)" by Snow Patrol.

https://soundcloud.com/ben-bohmer

"Send To Robin Immediately" by Robyn

Robyn's (previously here, here, and here) video for her newest song "Send To Robin Immediately" is a lovely, inclusive glimpse of a group of young, accepting, optimistic men and women enjoying life...and it is also a commercial for a line of club wear and athletic clothing she created in collaboration with Björn Borg's apparel company. I really love how her clothing logo "RBN" looks like the old RCA record label!

And her message is simple, concise, and urgent. It might seem cliché, but if you don't know it yet, you really don't have any time to waste. Your time is short and so it is for the people around you. Do it now.

If you got something to say, say it right away
If you got something to do, do what's right for you
If you got somebody to love, give that love today
Know you got nothing to lose

There's no time to waste
If you got a letter for me, send it right away
If you know that you really care, don't hold your breath
If you want the gold and the honey, come get it right away

http://robyn.com/
https://www.bjornborg.com/us/rbn

"ekki hugsa" by Ólafur Arnalds

Icelandic composer and musician Ólafur Arnalds created this glorious track, "ekki hugsa." He says, "'ekki hugsa' means 'don’t think' and it's about letting go in order to express yourself creatively."

Sometimes the concept of movement boggles my mind. Not dance. Movement. Like "walking meditation"--your neurons firing, directing your flesh, your blood, your atoms to move through space, through oxygen, through other atoms, and that you can feel it all, the swing, the yaw...

http://olafurarnalds.com/