Jaded Shit I Love: Dwellings, Music, and the Promise of Greatness

by Noor van Asseldonk Chen

“Just a reminder that when Shakespeare was quarantined because of the plague, he wrote King Lear.”

I saw this tweet at the beginning of corona and it stressed me out immediately because while I am typically a bit of an underachiever, I still have this twisted tendency to want to overachieve. What this meant in this case specifically was that I started thinking about all the ways in which I could be working on something great and then did none of it. It made me feel weird because while I hate the concept of ‘rise and grind’ with the burning passion of a thousand suns, I couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of the people who still seemed to be thriving and Doing Things. But then when I really think about it, I don’t think anybody is really thriving. We might have found ways to distract ourselves or make the day-to-day more bearable, but life is still not what it used to be and let’s be honest, adjusting is hard.

So what I’ve recently been thinking more about is how I can get going for real. Because I’ve done the freakout, breakdown, depression, and whipped TikTok coffees (in that order) and what I’ve come to realize is that being able to care about things is really the key to getting going. And for the record, when I say ‘getting going’ I’m not talking about ‘getting more work done’ or ‘subjecting myself to neocapitalist ideals of productivity’, but rather the kind of getting going where you’re doing work that you don’t actually mind doing. Doing, making, or creating things that matter to you.

Last edition I wrote about escapism, but where do we go when we’re fully in the moment? Call it jaded, corny, tacky, whatever… but after a long day of staring at screens doing one menial task after the other, sometimes it helps to find sources of inspiration that seem to give your days a little more purpose or meaning.

So, dear campus dwellers, this week I bring you my own small collection of great albums made in little dwellings in the hope that maybe, just maybe, they’ll help you get going.

Jacob Collier - In My Room

Some think he sounds like a robot, others reckon he’s the literal son of God. Either way, this album is something special. Jacob’s debut album is a mix of original pieces and covers where he not only arranges everything but also does all the instrumentals and vocals himself. There’s no questioning his technical skills, but more inspiring is arguably the exuberance of music making which you hear in every track. He made the whole album in his childhood music room, but the joy of making music stretched far beyond those four walls. His enthusiasm is frankly, for lack of a better word, contagious.

Noname

- Telefone

This is an album that has stuck with me ever since I first listened to it. With features from the likes of theMIND, Ravyn Lenae, Smino, Xavier Omär and Eryn Allen Kane, Noname manages to capture the joys and losses of growing up and into yourself, love, heartbreak, and all the little idiosyncrasies in between. The album was finalized in two Airbnb rentals and has the recognizable warm sounds of a Saba, Cam O’bi, and Phoelix production. It’s an album that sounds like homecoming, and one that I come back to whenever I need reminding that sometimes greatness is just honesty and the ability to capture nuance.

The Streets - Original Pirate Material

A UK hip hop classic recorded mostly in lead vocalist Mike Skinner’s Brixton home. When it comes to getting the sound right, Skinner talks about how he cleared out a wardrobe in his house to create a makeshift vocal booth, using duvets, pillows, and mattresses to soundproof. This album is full of vivid imagery delivered over a banging collage of beats sure to get your head nodding. The sound is raw, singular, and inimitable, with at its heart an unrelenting demand to be heard.