The grounded-rather-than-comfort-thought is new to me, I never thought about it that way. Keith Jarret comes to mind, his younger pieces like "La Fenice" or Munich. Köln would go well with drinking a single-origin pour-over while writing in a Moleskine notebook. I always enjoy your posts. This has a ring to it that makes it stand out. Hartelijk dank, ik waardeer het enorm.
I write about this topic often, since it’s the basis of my publication. I ground in several ways. Meditation, photography on impulse, writing and making music are top of the list. However, lately I am given to practicing art as a way of expressing myself in the midst of chaos—as a way of embracing mystery, not knowing, accepting uncertainty. The results have been interesting. Relevant post, Wesley!
I do the opposite of trying to get grounded, I'm an eclectic in everything... So I guess Jojo bizarre adventure 😂, Hirohiko Araki has such a cool philosophy
> I created a personal standard for judging things as I live my life.
They're either 'cool or uncool'.
When I go to my studio, I pass by a residential area where I can see laundry drying on the verandas from the street. I don't know if the people who live there are young or old, but they dry their laundry by running a clothesline directly through the sleeves of their shirts and the legs of their pants and such. You don't see that too often, do ya...? When they wash shoes, they always have them laid out drying on the hand rails of the veranda. If I'm judging this as 'cool' or 'uncool', I go with "cool"!
In my case it's not one musician or one specific song that grounds me, but rather a collection of them. For many years now i create yearly spotify lists in which i keep adding new music i find (sometimes if i like a lot some of the previous ones i may save them on the new list as well). So each year i get sort of a new life soundtrack and whenever i need "musical grounding" or a reminder of past times, i choose one of the playlists based on what feeling i want to remember and it takes me back there: the year i was living abroad, the year i travelled a lot with my friends, the year i started uni, and so on! It's always nice to remember old times through music
The more I dive into arts, the more I believe it's a single "art" for every person and time and medium, it just different ways to express itself in diverse contexts, but all arts are the same art, channeled through someone's lens on creation (and your own when interacting with it).
You ask really great questions, Wesley! This post brought back a short lived "favorite place" from when I lived in Delft for 6 months in the early 90's or thereabouts. There was a bar called the BeeBop Cafe where there was live music and where I learned about Witbier with a slice of orange. The whole jazz thing was completely new to me, to the point I couldn't even tell you the kinds of music the live bands played. I didn't have the vocabulary, yet. I just really loved the place! I also didn't have the vocabulary to describe being a sensorialist. The feeling of the damp brick and stone under my hands, the smell of the rookworst that I'd buy from the Blokker on the square and the oliebollen stands. The excitement and anticipation from when the apple pie would come out of the oven, the hour of which was written on the blackboard in from of the cafe. The sound of the language, the smoked eel, the flowers in the market. The bicycles.
Somehow for me, music ties all of it together. Last night I went to see the Orchestre Metropolitain playing Baroque with Fabio Biondi conducting and Kerson Leong as guest soloist. I need to sit right up front. I have fallen in love with symphonic music and it changes me every time I go to a concert. Life just makes sense, somehow.
In 2018, life had turned upside down for me and I tried a new choir. We were singing Bach's Mass in B minor. Something happened within that piece of music. I've been in choirs for 53 years (!), I've taken years of classical voice lessons and my voice somehow is better than it's ever been. Within that piece of music all of my passions came together. So, I do love music and all kinds of music, I'd have to say the classical repertoire for me feeds me like nothing else does.
That is cool when things that seemed disconnected converge in a meaningful way. Good to see the COBRA artists represented and interesting to think about the time they were creating and how it shaped their art.
For me, music has been a companion for most my life. There are definitely albums that help me get into different states of mind. Like Ozric Tentacles Arborescence gets me in a flow mode to code or create. Radiohead OK Computer has been looping freely through many of my creations as well.
Oddly though, as I think about it, when I'm stressed or ungrounded, I don't have a solid go to like you describe. I guess it depends on what is stressing me and sometimes just being in quiet, nature, or meditation is better to me.
This was one of my favorite reads. Thanks for writing this Wesley. I love seeing the connections between your inspirations. My grounding creatives forces are Earth Wind & Fire, Matisse (specifically his experiments with paper cut outs), and the Art Nouveau artistic movement.
One of my favorite grounding artists is Armando Iannucci. His political commentary and sense of humor is so delicious, and it honestly helps me keep perspective on how fallible people in power often really are.
He's a Scottish-Italian film director, writer, producer. He does mostly satirical comedies, like Veep (US) and The Thick of It (UK), The Death of Stalin. Really clever writing, genuinely funny.
Music is the only creative force that grounds me, calms me, pushes and motivates me. It’s responsible for all of those things and I use it as such for most of what I do. To get more specific, like you it’s also 90s hip hop. I’ve been drafting a post for my Substack around that and how it’s influenced my photography over the years. More recently I’ve rediscovered Japanese hip hop from the 90s and that’s all I’ve been listening to for weeks now. Particularly the groups Soul Scream and Rhymester. It’s so good and truly ahead of its time. On par with American hip hop of that era, maybe even better in some cases…
For me, it's Nirvana. Maybe that sounds cliché, but I don’t mind. Their music has been with me for years, a steady voice through the noise. When the world feels too loud, I find my own kind of peace—my own Nirvana—through their sound."
The grounded-rather-than-comfort-thought is new to me, I never thought about it that way. Keith Jarret comes to mind, his younger pieces like "La Fenice" or Munich. Köln would go well with drinking a single-origin pour-over while writing in a Moleskine notebook. I always enjoy your posts. This has a ring to it that makes it stand out. Hartelijk dank, ik waardeer het enorm.
Ingo, you nailed it for me.. Jarret’s Koln is one of my favorites for creative time vibes.
Great minds :)
Huuuuuge fan of Jarrett myself as well!
I write about this topic often, since it’s the basis of my publication. I ground in several ways. Meditation, photography on impulse, writing and making music are top of the list. However, lately I am given to practicing art as a way of expressing myself in the midst of chaos—as a way of embracing mystery, not knowing, accepting uncertainty. The results have been interesting. Relevant post, Wesley!
Thank you Juliette!
I do the opposite of trying to get grounded, I'm an eclectic in everything... So I guess Jojo bizarre adventure 😂, Hirohiko Araki has such a cool philosophy
> I created a personal standard for judging things as I live my life.
They're either 'cool or uncool'.
When I go to my studio, I pass by a residential area where I can see laundry drying on the verandas from the street. I don't know if the people who live there are young or old, but they dry their laundry by running a clothesline directly through the sleeves of their shirts and the legs of their pants and such. You don't see that too often, do ya...? When they wash shoes, they always have them laid out drying on the hand rails of the veranda. If I'm judging this as 'cool' or 'uncool', I go with "cool"!
- Hirohiko Araki
haha i love that!
pink floyd - soothing, raging and philosophical
fantastic!
In my case it's not one musician or one specific song that grounds me, but rather a collection of them. For many years now i create yearly spotify lists in which i keep adding new music i find (sometimes if i like a lot some of the previous ones i may save them on the new list as well). So each year i get sort of a new life soundtrack and whenever i need "musical grounding" or a reminder of past times, i choose one of the playlists based on what feeling i want to remember and it takes me back there: the year i was living abroad, the year i travelled a lot with my friends, the year i started uni, and so on! It's always nice to remember old times through music
I like this!
For me, it’s a walk in nature (with or without my camera), someplace I can hear the birds sing.
Never fails!
The more I dive into arts, the more I believe it's a single "art" for every person and time and medium, it just different ways to express itself in diverse contexts, but all arts are the same art, channeled through someone's lens on creation (and your own when interacting with it).
I think there is a case to be made!
I am a process.
You ask really great questions, Wesley! This post brought back a short lived "favorite place" from when I lived in Delft for 6 months in the early 90's or thereabouts. There was a bar called the BeeBop Cafe where there was live music and where I learned about Witbier with a slice of orange. The whole jazz thing was completely new to me, to the point I couldn't even tell you the kinds of music the live bands played. I didn't have the vocabulary, yet. I just really loved the place! I also didn't have the vocabulary to describe being a sensorialist. The feeling of the damp brick and stone under my hands, the smell of the rookworst that I'd buy from the Blokker on the square and the oliebollen stands. The excitement and anticipation from when the apple pie would come out of the oven, the hour of which was written on the blackboard in from of the cafe. The sound of the language, the smoked eel, the flowers in the market. The bicycles.
Somehow for me, music ties all of it together. Last night I went to see the Orchestre Metropolitain playing Baroque with Fabio Biondi conducting and Kerson Leong as guest soloist. I need to sit right up front. I have fallen in love with symphonic music and it changes me every time I go to a concert. Life just makes sense, somehow.
In 2018, life had turned upside down for me and I tried a new choir. We were singing Bach's Mass in B minor. Something happened within that piece of music. I've been in choirs for 53 years (!), I've taken years of classical voice lessons and my voice somehow is better than it's ever been. Within that piece of music all of my passions came together. So, I do love music and all kinds of music, I'd have to say the classical repertoire for me feeds me like nothing else does.
I am a process.
Hope this makes sense!
Not only does it make sense, I loved reading it! I could see it all in my mind's eye, and that rookworst I could smell!
That is cool when things that seemed disconnected converge in a meaningful way. Good to see the COBRA artists represented and interesting to think about the time they were creating and how it shaped their art.
For me, music has been a companion for most my life. There are definitely albums that help me get into different states of mind. Like Ozric Tentacles Arborescence gets me in a flow mode to code or create. Radiohead OK Computer has been looping freely through many of my creations as well.
Oddly though, as I think about it, when I'm stressed or ungrounded, I don't have a solid go to like you describe. I guess it depends on what is stressing me and sometimes just being in quiet, nature, or meditation is better to me.
Nature always wins :)
This was one of my favorite reads. Thanks for writing this Wesley. I love seeing the connections between your inspirations. My grounding creatives forces are Earth Wind & Fire, Matisse (specifically his experiments with paper cut outs), and the Art Nouveau artistic movement.
Love those too!
Tom Misch’s music will always remember me to keep my mind at ease, take things slow and enjoy being in the present. :)
ooh a name new to me, thanks for sharing Xannah!
One of my favorite grounding artists is Armando Iannucci. His political commentary and sense of humor is so delicious, and it honestly helps me keep perspective on how fallible people in power often really are.
I'm not familiar, will check him out!
He's a Scottish-Italian film director, writer, producer. He does mostly satirical comedies, like Veep (US) and The Thick of It (UK), The Death of Stalin. Really clever writing, genuinely funny.
I loooooove Veep!
Hell yeah! It's so funny. Definitely helps keep me chill when the world gets weird.
I'll say the album Hvarf/Heim by Sigur Rós. That Soundwall / Soundscape calm me down, almost to a meditational level
https://sigurros.com/music/hvarf-heim/
https://open.spotify.com/album/28WGXFGJNfTHxUoIsnIYVn?si=PG5y_vRPRoyQ0t9Ac6rS-Q
MASSIVE fan myself, saw them in concert a few times and wow
Music is the only creative force that grounds me, calms me, pushes and motivates me. It’s responsible for all of those things and I use it as such for most of what I do. To get more specific, like you it’s also 90s hip hop. I’ve been drafting a post for my Substack around that and how it’s influenced my photography over the years. More recently I’ve rediscovered Japanese hip hop from the 90s and that’s all I’ve been listening to for weeks now. Particularly the groups Soul Scream and Rhymester. It’s so good and truly ahead of its time. On par with American hip hop of that era, maybe even better in some cases…
I will have to check out the Japanese wing!
For me, it's Nirvana. Maybe that sounds cliché, but I don’t mind. Their music has been with me for years, a steady voice through the noise. When the world feels too loud, I find my own kind of peace—my own Nirvana—through their sound."
Can't ever hate on Nirvana! Also worked with one of my favorite photographers a lot in Anton Corbijn!
Neko Case! Her voice—literal and figurative as in her writing—never gives up.
like an angel!