Inspir | §250427
Ancient secrets, convenience stores, gnar riffs, and some yogurt.
Substack’s going through some kinda growing pains, methinks. Or maybe I’m just using the Notes aspect of the platform more than actually writing my thoughts down. Granted, I am steadily releasing Kaala Music posts about upcoming concerts and my thoughts on the scene pretty much weekly, but that’s not particularly analytical or introspective; Above & Below is supposed to be, and that’s the hard part haha.
But there’re levels to this newsletter, and I think this one’s the easiest to sit down with and get out quickly. No need to engage my brain too hard, at least for this task. I’ve got other things going on at the moment I need to focus on, serious contemplation about the meaning of life can come once those are tackled.
Orrrr, well… read on.
Stacks: Dispatches from Post-Growth Japan
Sam’s been around for a bit. We corresponded back in the early Corona days, inevitably something about akiya and city planning. His project Sento to Machi does some great work with revitalizing devitalized public baths (sento is a man-made bathing facility in the city; onsen is a natural one usually out of the city) that’s caught the attention of a good friend of mine, Manami, who’s all about that. I think I’m a member of it actually but I don’t think I get updates so maybe my membership has lapsed.
Reading: The Kybalion
More esotericism! It’s way more interesting than contemporary politics.
Tech: The Traveling Salesman Problem Visits Japan’s Many Convenience Stores
The University of Waterloo has thankfully mapped out the most efficient route to visiting 40,426 convenience stores across Japan. It’ll take some time, but its doable.
Music: Daemoncula
Well I’ll be goddamned if this isn’t the best, most aggressive, hard rockin’ psychedelia I’ve heard in sometime. There’s not too much info about these guys out there yet - it seems like this is off their first EP, Occult Melodies Always Rated X, released last month. Interestingly, they throw an almost Black Metal-y spin on the genre, and that paired with the extremely lo-fi recording quality makes this sound like what Power from Hell would put out if they did an Uncle Acid tribute album.
Very nice.
Wellness: Viili Yogurt
My fermentation game is getting better and better with each passing day. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve got going, this one included. I actually started “making” yogurt when I finally decided to just throw some milk into an empty yogurt package I had mostly finished to see if it did indeed give me more yogurt overnight, which it did.
But that bacteria culture’s relatively weak and you can only do it so many times, so while it is free yogurt, it is not infinite yogurt, and we all know that infinite yogurt is far superior. So I picked up a viili culture (similar to yogurt but not the same), and started down that path. So far, so good.
That’s It For Now
Alright, there we go! Got a new one done, feels good. Hope you enjoyed reading, now off to bed.
Oh, but if you’ve got anything to say - tips, suggestions, requests, etc. - pop them in the comments below and I’ll get back to you on it.