There's a few things to say about the background to this mix from back in 2019. The first thing to say is I've updated the cover. The original cover portrayed a particular aspect of the back story, one which isn't quite reflecting where things are now that a few years have passed. Also, I'm breaking from the normal blog post layout by putting the player and tracklist ahead of the main blog post. Why? Well, the post is likely going to be quite long, even though next to nobody will read it, it's just a case of me wanting to have some things written down to share thoughts and meanings on things, in my own corner of the internet. So, this post will continue below.
One more point before the music and the further part of the post... if you listen to this mix, please pay attention to the tracks used. These were picked out very purposefully, to convey a message or a story. It could be the titles, or the words within the tracks or indeed the general vibe of the music. This was done to reflect the points I'll try and make later in the post.
Tracklist
01. Slow Meadow - Everything Is A Memory (Hammock Music)
02. Umber - It Just Fills The Hollow Spaces (Sound In Silence) (w/ extracts from Sean Parker interview)
03. The Green Kingdom - The Largest Creature That Ever Existed (Home Assembly Music)
04. Thomas Méreur - Moving On (Preserved Sound)
05. Antonymes - Strains Of Doubt (Facture)
06. David Shrigley - Questions (Late Night Tales)
07. Selffish - I Came To Leave (Serein)
08. Kutiman ft. Adam Scheflan - Dangerous (Siyal Music)
09. The Greatest Hoax - Left You Behind (Serein)
10. Hoshiko Yamane & Mikael Lind - Getting The Message Across (Time Released Sound)
11. Kate Tempest - Hold Your Own (American Recordings)
12. Kate Tempest - Lessons (American Recordings)
13. Penelope Trappes - Puppets (Optimo Music)
14. London Grammar - Truth Is A Beautiful Thing (Metal & Dust)
15. Cass. - Leaving (Into The Light Records)
16. Oubys + Monolyth & Cobalt - Parallax Review (eilean Records) (w/ extracts from Carole Cadwalladr Ted Talk)
17. Penelope Trappes - Farewell (Houndstooth)
18. Gigi Masin & Jonny Nash - Postcards From Nowhere (Melody As Truth)
19. Kryshe - Underlying Reality (Serein)
20. Matthew Halsall - Ai (Gondwana Records)
21. Seahawks - Didn't Know I Was Lost (Land Of Shadows Dancing Mix) (Ocean Moon)
22. 4 Hero ft. Ursula Rucker - The Awakening (Raw Canvas Records)
23. Kutiman - And Out (Melting Pot Music)
24. Nina Simone - Isn't It A Pity? (RCA Victor)
25. Air - Realize (Be With Records)
26. Soundstory - Rainstorm (Self Released)
27. Earth, Wind & Fire - Evil (CBS)
28. Greg Foat - Not That It Makes Any Difference (Athens Of The North)
29. William Ryan Fritch - Our Thirsting World (Lost Tribe Sound)
30. Jason Van Wyk - Away (Home Normal)
31. Channelers - A Quiet Invitation (Inner Islands)
32. Slow Meadow - Artificial Algorithm (Hammock Music)
33. Beanfield - To Be Alienated (Street Beat) (w/ extracts from Krishnan Guru-Murthy & Jaron Lanier Interview)
34. Portico Quartet - Ways Of Seeing (Gondwana Records)
35. Up, Bustle & Out - Clandestine Operations (Ninja Tune) (w/ extracts from Chamath Palihapitiya Interview)
36. Saint Petersburg Spin Disco Club - Simple Customers (Emotional Response)
37. Breathers - Don't It Make You Feel (Numero Group)
38. Evadney - Anchor Me (Self Released)
39. Perth County Conspiracy - If You Can Wait (Anthology Recordings)
40. Colorama - Anytime (Music For Dreams)
41. Dennis Stoner - Maybe Someday / Maybe Never (Anthology Recordings)
As ever, I've opened downloads on Hearthis
Right, so back to the backstory and main blog post.
The main thinking for me behind this mix was about deleting all of my 'Meta' accounts, so Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. I really did a thorough job on that, downloading my data, going through the official process of removing personal data stored by them, manually deleting all the content and connections. I hit a hurdle when I realised that you could not delete the app from a Samsung Galaxy phone, merely 'disable' it. Having said that, the 'Farewell' wasn't just a nod towards ditching social media platforms to some extent, it was also about how I felt we were losing certain things that we may have taken for granted.
I've always felt quite uneasy about social media. Let's take the corporate, data scraping and feed manipulation to one side and just focus on the human aspect. Being of an age where I grew up without the internet, but then seeing and experiencing the social, cultural and commercial shifts in society as a result of the growing capacity and functionality of the internet, perhaps gives people of my age bracket (and thereabouts) quite a unique perspective. We're old enough to know life before it, we're perhaps young enough and (generally) tech aware enough to be able to adopt things that have developed over the last 25 years better than the previous generation are generally able to. I think with that perspective in mind, we've seen the toxicity in society, the polarisation and entrenchment of viewpoints, the ability of individuals to hide behind a moniker and express things in ways and to people they never would have been able to previously, and on a scale that is difficult to get your head around. For every positive aspect of the connectivity and function the internet has given, there is without doubt an equal proportion of negative implications that comes hand in hand. So, my general unease about social media stems from that, but is far from limited to that. I think it's also very hard to discern truth, sincerity and quality of connection or interaction because of the impersonal nature of it and I've certainly felt and experienced a massive drop off in genuine real life connections too. That latter part is perhaps a personal thing, I don't know.
With regards to how the social media companies operate, I think we're seeing things play out even more clearly now than when this mix was put together, and we now have another big player on the field in Tik Tok. It was only a few years ago that many people were shouting very loudly about this. Algorithms being manipulated, the addictive nature of receiving dopamine hits for likes, comments and shares, the scraping of data, the monitoring of movements, the fact that if you aren't paying to use a product - then you are the product. Then we have the bullying, the gaslighting, the pile on's to people with differing opinions, the cancel culture, false and misleading information and the bots that amplify those messages, the lack of transparency, the normalising of extreme content, the restriction of growth outwith the social media platforms (people don't leave these sites and visit very many websites outwith the platform). The list really could go on and on and on.
We have a handful of men controlling the largest parts of the online world and they are pretty much free to operate as they wish, they aren't elected, they don't answer to anyone, they have the means to access the highest levels of legal experts, they can hire and fire as they choose, and circumvent rules and laws by exploiting loopholes or passing the buck to someone they view as dispensable.
When I opted to ditch Meta a few years ago, it was clear in my mind that it, and Zuckerberg, were by far the most dangerous and damaging pairing on the scene. The scale, the reach, the lack of transparency and the documented evidence was clear and overwhelming. Although Twitter was viewed as a cesspit, you could still find navigate your way around it, make it useful and ensure your feed was accurate and trustworthy. For me the biggest problem was the anonymous trolls that would often inhabit the replies. However, since Musk took control it has become an incredible mess of misinformation, gaslighting and a manipulated propaganda hell hole. The amplifying of misinformation has gone off the scale with the 'free speech' given as the regular fall back from his bootlickers, when in reality it's pushing agendas that suit him and his own goals. My feed has become pretty useless, the people who I trust and would like to see on my feed are throttled and demoted in prominence because they don't pay for the 'verified' status, which no longer means what it should and simply serves to diminish the clarity and trust of the original intent of the blue tick.
I suppose the tl:dr (too long, didn't read) of all that is that social media has never been more dangerous, more manipulated and more impactful on society than it is now. I intend to step back from it as much as possible, without fully disconnecting myself because despite the overwhelming negativity I feel about it, there are some things that are useful to me.
So, I think, for the most part moving forward, unless it changes, I'll be a lurking reader of Twitter and no longer posting though I haven't for a few months anyway. On top of that I'm going to delete all content on there. I don't feel happy to have things hosted on there when Musk is pushing the extremes and giving a safe haven to very extreme views and content. Free speech shouldn't mean free from responsibility, especially when the ramifications can be extreme.
I have reopened a Mixamorphosis account on Facebook, very reluctantly, and it still appears that news feeds are as useless as they were a few years ago. Really, I wanted a reliable source for music news on artists and labels I follow, and since Twitter has gone so far downhill, I'd hoped that the alternative would be better. I also think I need a presence to some extent, though I very much doubt it will be much use. At the time of writing, I've had the page open for a couple of months and only gained a couple of connections. I guess I'll just see how it goes, though I won't be having a Facebook presence of my own in a personal sense. Follow or don't follow, I'll just keep doing what I think is right for me and block out the external noise as much as I can. I've thought about trying to utilise Tik Tok, but it's really not likely. There's so much utter mind melting drivel on there, though there are a few good and informative accounts, they're few and far between. You know, maybe I'm just not cut out for it all. I can't help but feel we're too far down the rabbit hole now; the genie has been let out the bottle, it's unlikely to be put back. I've got a Bluesky account, but I'm not sure if that will become as useful as Twitter once was, it's certainly missing a lot of the key accounts that I'd like to see.
I've waffled on long enough. I'll leave you with a couple of points of reference, things that are useful to be aware of -
The Social Dilemma - This is a link to a Netflix documentary. It gives a good overview of what I've tried to go into, far better than I could. It's worth watching, it's definitely worth being aware.
The Great Hack - This is another link to a Netflix documentary. This one is about the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Facebook specifically.
I could go on. In reality, not many people care or pay attention to these things. Similarly with the issues going on around the world, people don't care until it arrives on their doorstep, or the algorithm triggers enough outrage.
