Chapter 239

I woke up at 7:30 and took the dog out. Then I wanted to compile a bunch of songs in a video, but since I updated to Windows 10, I didn’t have Windows Movie Maker anymore. I had some other dogshit program, and a Windows-sponsored link to download a video editor that seemed pretty cool until it came time to press Save and they said I have to pay for the full version. Goddamnit. Why fix things that are nearly perfect? They did the same thing with MS Paint, nuking the old, user-friendly one to replace it with some piece of shit.

So I went on Google, and after a few unfruitful tries, quickly found a link to install the original Movie Maker. I compiled the tracks from the two EPs of a cult electronic music producer who goes by DJ JadPuntage and uploaded them on YouTube for the world to enjoy.

Then I listened to Arghoslent. Now that’s a band I’m very conflicted about, and hesitate to even mention their name, because of their seriously stinky political views and lyrical content. I’m not talking about “Hey that Trump guy’s got some good points uh?” but straight up talking about Jews and blacks in ways that make you raise your eyebrows. But... their music slays, and not only is it fucking good, it’s also unique and unlike anything I know. They play a mixture of melodic death metal and NWOBHM, with beats that make me want to air drum, galloping guitar leads, and a superb death growl that ties it together, when they don’t just make instrumental tracks. “Separating the art from the artist” is a common dilemma that usually applies to musicians who commit heinous acts, and while as far as I know the Arghoslent guys haven’t committed any crimes, I can’t say I’m really down with track titles like “Flogging The Cargo” or “Fodder For The Shoah”.

Then I clicked on a link to an album by Indonesian grindcore band Noxa, in a very Napalm Death vein. It was decent. The vocals were also very Napalmdeathesque, which is not always a good thing.

I did the calisthenics routine, ate kebab rolls, and watched two more episodes of the Hip-Hop Evolution documentary series. Chronologically, they were making their way from the 80s to the 90s, after covering the early days of the genre in NYC, then exploring the burgeoning of the Miami, Texas, Los Angeles and Bay Area scenes, and were now back in the Big Apple (god that sounds dumb and cliché to say that!) to document the second wave. That’s where and when hip-hop reached its highest point as far as I’m concerned, and became the best musical genre in history (alongside death metal and grindcore, of course). Gone are the old-school cheesy beats and monosyllabic rhymes, now DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, RZA and their contemporaries laid a musical foundation that still sounds fresh nearly thirty years later, and rappers like Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, Mobb Deep and Biggie hit their stride and dropped some of the greatest albums of all time.

So I felt a bit hip-hop after that, and started an album by Kool G Rap before I had to go. He’s a great rapper from the latter part of the first wave, one that showed talent and innovation, but like is the case with Rakim and others, I can’t help but feel his music has aged poorly, hamstrung by the late 80s beats. Then I rode my longboard to the girlfriend’s workplace, with the dog happily trotting along.

At night I made falafel, and it was an epic fail. Either I didn’t drain the beans properly, or added too much lemon juice, because the mixture was way too wet and even after an hour in the freezer I couldn’t make balls that stuck together. I still pan-fried the gobs and it tasted OK. The oven-baked potatoes were a great success though, especially with a big dollop of the white garlic sauce.

We watched The Office, and then I rewatched a short series of documentaries from Internet Historian called The Triggering Of Shia. It’s about some kind of political virtue signaling masquerading as “modern art” put together by actor Shia Laboof or whatever, and the successful sabotage attempts by trolls from 4chan. Absolutely hilarious.