In the interest of de-centering myself (holding space etc) and more earnestly as a means to have a place to put my interests that maybe fall outside of the exact purview of the pod (which I assume is how most of you landed here) this letter will now be my lazy (but gorgeous) version of what I miss most in music and culture writing and - dare I say it - content. I don’t know how to describe what that is exactly but much like porn, I knew it when I saw it.
I wanted to become a music writer because I read the British weeklies as a precocious pre-teen (long been an anglophile babe) and they just had this cunty je ne sais quoi that really lit me up. I’ve talked at length about Gina Arnold’s Route 666: On The Road To Nirvana as another major tome in my psychological development (not killing it at de-centering myself so far actually) but the point is that before I charmed life my way into being a music podcaster (as a job even), I dreamt of other lives. By the time I became a writer™ this level of (sometimes bitchy, always fun) winking wasn’t really a thing anymore (I think you every day, Sassy Magazine) and then writing as a career was also much, much less of a thing. Do you know they (unnamed magazine) once paid their hungover interns $1 a word to write about sneakers and Japanese selvedge denim! Can you even.
Those that can’t do blog, so I tried my hand at a few versions of this, most notably (amongst like 30 devoted readers) was Cultist, my online zine. I have done my best to scrub it from the web but here is a screen shot of a video we did in 2012 where I played fuck marry kill with Charli at SXSW (journalism):
I like to think my sense of culture content has been refined since then but I guess only time will tell.
So anyway, Fast & Loose will be a letter that deals with music (new songs I think you should know about, interviews and other media I enjoyed, occasional interviews, etc) plus other topics and subjects that interest me and hopefully you (defunct magazines of the 90s, the vintage band t-shirt market, “wellness,” books, cinema, and more).
We’ll start now with abbreviated list of things I think you’ll enjoy, and the next one will be a probably too late but still enjoyable gift guide, which will be 70% music books and 30% other things. Probably Monday.
I hope you like it.
Sky Ferreira put out “Leash,” her first new song in a long while, off the forthcoming Babygirl film soundtrack (are soundtracks back? god I hope so) and it’s fucking good.
A few weeks ago pop music editor of the New York Times and beloved former Bandsplain guest Caryn Ganz did this excellent profile of Kim Deal. I didn’t think I could love her more but then I learned that one of her best friends is her ex weed dealer who is also her ex-boyfriend. That’s queen shit sorry! (It also made me desperate for a photo tour of Deal’s Ohio home, namely the “pink-tiled bathroom with a sky-blue tub”).
MJ Lenderman joined Dinosaur Jr on stage in Los Angeles last night to do my favorite Dino song “In A Jar” and though I have transcended fomo I do a little bit wish I had been there. A source told me it was J’s idea for Lenderman to sing and not just play guitar and another source told me that members of the crowd yelled “It’s John Mayer!” when he took the stage. We love to see a girl boss winning.
Not to be like me? I’m ahead of the trends, but the leader of a popular contemporary hardcore band recently sent me a demo of a new song they did with another contemporary band that is full baggy energy and it does in fact slap. Baggy revival 2025?
Also thank you to those of you who sent messages of concern re: the bird flu/raw milk panic. I did return the half gal I had to my local Erewhon promptly for a refund. Also just saw the CEO of Raw Farm, the company who issued the recall of their product, was apparently encouraged by RFK to apply for an advisory position in the FDA? My faith is being tested…something feels sus about this whole situation…something in the milk ain’t clean if you will. Anyway I’ll be sticking to A2 milk for now….
My friend and the only beauty expert I trust Alexis Page lent her to wisdom to Kaitlin Phillips’ Gift Guide substack (truly the best of the best of gift guides, every letter is more interesting and delightful than the last, worth every penny of the sub, I really want this bauble garland for my tree ). I feel honored that Alexis included one of my go-to skin recs, a very reasonably priced anti-aging beef tallow for the face. I’ll probably never start a wellness or skincare letter but just know I have about 95 other recs where this came from babe (the fringe edge of sanity).
Til next time xx