When the Earth Was Round 🌎
When the Earth Was Round 🌎
Shuffle Sundays #59 • Supercombo, Florence + The Machine, Future Islands, Ted Gioia, Dave Grohl, Jess Stone, & more.
Greetings from New York City!
🇺🇦 Shout out to fellow Substacker Stygi, who writes Midweek Crisis, and put together this whole issue featuring music straight from Ukraine. So check out her newsletter and play some of the artists as another way to show support to those brave people!
💌 Last week this beloved newsletter spent another week as a “featured publication” at Substack’s own homepage. If you are one of the many new subscribers who found me there, a special welcome to you! I hope you enjoy the content from now on!
🎧 Soundtrack: Corn Wave - Philosophy of Structures
💽 » Supercombo - Ao Vivo Quando A Terra Era Redonda
alternative-rock, pop-rock • 38 songs • 134 minutes
I may have mentioned this here before, but I’m a real sucker for live music, ever since I went to a concert for the first time in my teens. But more than enjoying watching (and for the past decade photographing) talented musicians doing what they do best on stage, what I love more is those concerts where the audience sings loudly every piece of the lyric of every single song back to the band. There’s something so cathartic about that cult-like experience that never ceases o amaze me. And when it comes to energetic audiences, few places on earth are better than my home country Brazil.
All that being said, when Supercombo announced that their 2-hour long, 38-song live concert was being released on the streaming platforms, I knew it was going to be love at first listen. In its essence, they can be labeled as a simple pop-rock band, but what I always loved about them was their ease to switch tempo (and sometimes genre) within the same songs, similar to bands like the Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro.
On top of that, the lyrical content always got my attention with witty and sarcastic commentaries on modern living, mental health, day-to-day life, all with fun and admirable wordplay. I know that the language will be a barrier for most o my English-speaking readers, but I hope you’ll give them a chance, especially if you’re an alternative-rock enthusiastic. And if you rather have a visual taste, check out some of the videos they’ve released from the concert so far: Bonsai, Maremotos, Todo Dia é Dia de Comemorar.
📺 » Florence + The Machine - King
Florence Welch is back with her art-pop project known as Florence + The Machine. While lots of mainstream artists are focusing on short songs, it’s great to see some big names still experimenting with 5+ minutes long tracks. King is the first single of what appears to be an upcoming album (her last one was 2018’s High As Hope), and got an enigmatic and ritualistic music video. The music continues in the same style that Welch continues to deliver and perfect algum after album.
🎶 » Future Islands - King of Sweden
And speaking of live music, good luck on trying not to get impressed by Future Island’s lead singer Samuel Herring’s stage performance! They recently released a new single called King of Sweeden and took over Late Show’s stage to perform the song live. And what a performance!!
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🧩 » Random Bits
💽 • Whether you continue to buy music physically, or adopted the digital world 100%, this essay from Ted Gioia on the current state of the music industry is eye-opening.
📚 • I’m halfway through Dave Grohl’s memoir The Storyteller and it’s reminding me how much I enjoy reading musician/artists biographies. If you have any recent favorites to recommend, please drop them in the comments!
💌 • Throughout February I participated in Substack Go, an initiative from the platform to connect like-minded writers and create a space to support our journeys. Here’s a shout out to some fellow writers (and their publications) that formed our small crew throughout the event, if you’re looking for more music-related newsletters to subscribe to: Fog Chaser, Brad Kyle’s Front Row & Backstage, Belle Plaine's Weather Report, Max's Music Mondays, Mitchell Stirling’s The Run Out Grooves, Hal Walker’s Living in a Body.
⚡️ » Visual Inspiration
Jesse Stone is a graphic designer based in Gibraltar, who fuses multicolored illustrations with digital collages to create countryside landscapes full of a dreamy atmosphere. Check out his Instagram for more. Here are some favorites:
🎶 » New Music
this week’s new albums I'm curious to check out
Also, new singles from Haim, Bartees Strange, Mars Motel, Robyn, Terno Rei, and many more. If you’re curious to hear some of these songs and more, make sure to follow my 2022 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new releases:
Future Islands! The first time I saw Herring perform I was floored. Glad he's back on the Late Night stage.
Another highly entertaining and relaxing way to spend Sunday morning.
If anyone is interested in Rock bands of the 70s and 80s the Professor of Rock is an interesting you tube channel. Great historian of that period.
Thanks Leo for a great way to start my Sunday !