Cutting through the noise
Greetings,
A list of seven things:
There was a time when I was deliberate about finding new music because, beyond being borderline obsessed with music, I wrote about it on my site and for various publications. I started a short-lived feature called Digital Crates on my blog where I shared music and artists that I came across. As we transitioned into the streaming era, I have used Spotify quite a bit to find new music, looking at ‘Fans also like’ related to musicians whose music I enjoy. More recently, I have, honestly, become set in my ways and listen to ‘nostalgia’ more, music that I grew up on. Finding New Music In The Algorithm Age has me open to exploring again, even if it is just to see what comes up.
Substack is working very hard to launch features that encourage greater exploration of the newsletters produced on the platform. I lean towards email newsletters because it is easier to curate what I consume. Substack Reader is useful, if you subscribe to a couple of Substack newsletters because it puts all your newsletters in one place. They have also recently launched an app as well.
The most recent episode of my podcast Listen To Your Footsteps is with Ralph “Stagga Don Dada’ Williams III
One of the many hats I wear is that of editor of Ogojiii, initially a design focused magazine with stories on African current affairs, culture, business and design from all over the continent and now “a pro-bono, progressive innovation and design media platform with an African focus, dedicated to inside-out perspectives from all 54 African nations.” The person behind it is Danish designer, entrepreneur and author Jens Martin Skibsted. I just started reading his new book, Expand: Stretching the Future by Design which he co-authored with Christian Bason.
The story behind music has always appealed to me. I just listened to the Fresh Era podcast with C.L. Smooth
I am getting into Haruki Murakami’s writing and found this dope playlist of his vinyl collection by Masamaro Fujiki “based on his comments on his limited-period website Murakami San No Tokoro in 2015.
I have always believed that Africa’s culture and history has more than enough inspiration for fictionalised stories that are both insightful and entertaining. I got to attend the premiere of Netflix’s new South African film Silverton Siege which reinforced my view. It is rooted in history but shot in a way that is entertaining, if one doesn’t have context.
That’s it for today. If you enjoy receiving the Zebra Culture By Kojo Baffoe newsletter but are not subscribed, please do subscribe.
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I also welcome comments, thoughts, etc. A big thank you to those of you who have sent me messages.
Easy
Kojo
