A friend built Oobleck the other night.
Oobleck is an homage to the Oblique Strategies card deck by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, originally from 1975.
Oobleck is “a non-Newtonian fluid made from a mixture of cornstarch and water”. I had to search it up to find out, even though our house had its obligatory oobleck occasion when the youngest were in elementary.
You enter your musical preferences, which influence the output (generated by an LLM).
I thought 20-30 artists was so many to think of off the top of my head, so I just scrolled through my “library” on my streaming app of choice. I ended up entering 38.
“Producers and engineers” suggested a shorter number. I entered my friend and collaborator Rip Rowan, famous for coining the term “Loudness Wars”.1 Having put Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens in the artists section, I thought, “Didn’t Sufjan produce Denison’s latest record?” Yes, yes he did.
I hadn’t really followed Sufjan closely in a while.
🤿 🐰 🕳️
I know relationships can be very difficult sometimes, but it’s always worth it to put in the hard work and care for the ones you love, especially the beautiful ones, who are few and far between. If you happen to find that kind of love, hold it close, hold it tight, savor it, tend to it, and give it everything you’ve got, especially in times of trouble. Be kind, be strong, be patient, be forgiving, be vigorous, be wise, and be yourself. Live every day as if it is your last, with fullness and grace, with reverence and love, with gratitude and joy. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
– 2023, on the release of Javelin
Whether Stevens’s songs are ‘gay or about God’ is a trick question. Inadvertently or not, Stevens’s expression of Christianity mirrors the way many of his listeners experience their sexuality: in a confluence of joy, shame and renewal.
Stevens’s relationship to Christianity is one of personal connection strained under institutional religion. While there’s plenty of biblical metaphors and allusions in his music, Stevens prefers an ambiguous, esoteric expression of his beliefs, avoiding the didacticism that turns most non-believers off faith focused music.
– We Can’t Stop Wondering if Sufjan Stevens Sings About God or Being Gay