Music After the Fall: Modern Composition and Culture since 1989 by Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Book, 2017
This incredible book surveys art music since 1989, through the lens of global forces and issues. Each page is amazingly dense with insights and details about creators, artistic movements, and pioneers who are trailblazing expressive paths and media. Though the book is slightly older and does not include most recent events since its publication, I believe it is a must-read to understand how we got through the turn of the millennium to where we are.
“Apocalypse” by Ludicia
Music Video, released January 1, 2023
I recommend this Balinese death metal band because of their integration of Balinese cosmology and aesthetics of gamelan within metal musics. They toe the line of blending contemporary musical sensibilities with an affinity for traditional ways of being. Ludicia’s music, performance, and artistry exemplify the contentions of Balineseness that are confronted daily, through nuanced sonic extremes.
Mississippi Burning by Alan Parker
Film, 1988
In a landscape littered with simplistic, naive, or dullheaded tales of catharsis achieved through vigilante violence, Mississippi Burning dared to undertake these themes with brutal and unrelenting reality. This masterwork makes viewers demand anarchistic justice, without ever simplifying the price of that de-evolution. In the era of Black Lives Matter, it’s a film I find myself thinking about a lot. The logic of the creator’s intent is undeniably persuasive: systematic injustice might at times be the only solution to systemic injustice.
Stay Proud of Me by NoSo (Baek Hwong)
Album (CD), 2022
An album that’s sustained me since it came out last year, Stay Proud of Me is all the more impressive for being a debut. With sharply pointed meditations on the complexities of identity in the current moment, wrapped up in music that successfully juxtaposes the dreamy and the anthemic, Hwong has really gone and released the music for our time.
Prisoner of Love #1 by Glenn Ligon
Oil painting, 1992
This piece is from a larger collection that features two additional pieces. Ligon’s interpretation of the Genet manuscript of the same name is breathtaking. It’s raw and audacious but also vulnerable, and that’s what makes it so powerful.
The Journey by Francesca Sanna
Illustrated Children’s Book, 2016
This is a heartbreaking and imaginatively illustrated children’s book, also for adults (not suitable for very young children). This sobering read conveys the hard decisions and unimaginable circumstances that refugees are forced into. The artwork and text promote empathy and compassion that will stay with you long after reading it.
