Sippin’ Coffee
Editor’s Note
Well, it seems that another glorious Bandcamp Friday is among us. Last month when I did this I was thinking along the lines of the release for Mixtape Menage post scheduling, planning on creating a more concrete posting schedule where it would be a monthly clump of posts with Sippin’ Coffee as the introduction to the month’s issue and Sippin’ Whisky(probably expanding that into Sippin’ Drink) as the outro. Feeling like there should be more for May I decided to hold off and keep to a somewhat Bi-Monthly release schedule, so expect more next month š
This past month was a bit of a long one for many I believe emotionally. Having to feel the relief of Derek Chauvin being sentenced, but also that being coupled with the anxiety while awaiting a verdict. I personally did not watch any of the trial in an active effort of prioritizing my own sanity. It may seem absurd to most to wonder if he would be judged guilty, but unfortunately, experience has taught us about the distance between what should be and what is. This apprehension is also not helped by the fact that another cop killed another child the same day as that verdict and that the cop that was fired last year for killing Rayshard Brooks just got his job back last week.
The Mietandeckel, or rent cap, of Berlin being judged unconstitutional, was a bit of a weird outcome. Not only that, the rollout seemed to be in the denial of the people here in Berlin and not in the best interest of the people. At all. There was no rollout schedule or time for people to prepare. Overnight countless people owed thousands of euros and rent rose by the hundreds. Literally overnight, in the same week that they are imposing stricter lockdown measuresā¦. Well, not going to keep going on about it, but itās a very side-eye worthy caliber of odd.
On the lighter side, Iām really enjoying that new Alchemist EP, This Thing of Ours, at the moment. And one of my plans this weekend betwixt Motherās Day and work is to listen to that Diamond D and Talib Kweli album, Gotham. Maybe this is a good time to shot out Norient who mentioned our Mixtape Menage episode with Radical Sounds Latin America and Personal Advisory where I will be writing occasional music reviews(Along with copping some gear!).
Sound as a medium relies on feedback, reverberations, space and time to communicate its message. We know that Derek Killed George so we donāt need that confirmation of whether heās guilty or not, only some sort of assurance that itās not them against us. There isnāt a concern of the rent cap as much as it is a concern of whether us the actual people that it affects are considered and represented, which doesnāt feel like it in a city where individuals are typically underpaid. The feedback is the response to each of these incidents. The reverberations are the ways in how it is felt among the people, the communities involved and affected. Space and time is where those reverberations spread and seep into, and thankfully where it meets and melds with other reverberations, factors some combined, some separate. And through that there are the facts that the summer is coming, the corona numbers are going down, thereās great music coming, and last but not least, that MFās guilty!
As always like, share, add and subscribe.
Most importantly, love yourselves and love each other!
Love,
Eiliyas
