Signals In My Head, Belly of the Beast, and Severance
Featuring an interview with Sylvie Weber.
Welcome to the fifty-eighth installation of The Q : your one-stop weekly newsletter of culture recommendations.
Album
Signals In My Head by DJ Manny
The mainstream music press tends to engage with Black electronic music genres in cycles. In 2014 you could hear footwork music everywhere from major music festivals to car commercials, by 2016 you would think people just stopped making the music. This way of engaging with genres is explicitly built not to allow for creative evolution. It’s looking at genre as a commodity to be studied rather than a living, ever-changing construct. DJ Manny’s newest album Signals In My Head forces introspection about what genre is and why evolution is important. Signals In My Head makes you think about how we consume music and interact with genre.
Film
Belly of the Beast directed by Erika Cohn
The documentary eschews neat narratives or simple resolutions and instead focuses on the complex humanity of Chandler and Gibson. Chandler, a white woman who grew up in punk subcultures and recognized her class and racial privilege early on, is an accomplice through and through, eventually to the detriment of her own personal well-being. Gibson shows immense strength and willingness to fight and makes clear how the eugenic underpinnings of sterilizations were the basis for misguided claims that prevented her from living the full life she envisioned for herself after leaving the carceral system.
Book
Severance by Ling Ma
Like many great American works, Ling Ma’s Severance (2018) has taken on more meaning and cultural relevance with time. That may seem like a strange thing to say about a three-year-old novel, but in this case, the effect is acute. A book about an apocalyptic pandemic, millennial malaise, and the soul-crushing ramifications of international capitalism mirrors much of the 21st century — but it captures the conditions of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic far more specifically. The details of Severance’s apocalypse sometimes align eerily with our own; more often, they differ.
Playlist
Flo’s “sinking into the sofa” features TENDER, FKJ, and Myles Morgan
Flo’s favorite track: “stay sane” by Pink Siifu
Description: “Great for winding down at the end of a long day <3”
Podcast
Episode #53: Espresso and an Interview with Sylvie Weber
On this week’s episode, Sam and Teresa interview Sylvie Weber over a cup of espresso. Sylvie Weber is a German-Dominican film director who has created fashion shorts like The Art of Value, short films like The Prophetess, and has worked with brands such as Depop and Nike. Weber talks to Teresa and Sam about breaking into the film space, curating her color palette, as well as her drive for telling stories from a young age.
