Rewilding Your AttentionI feel that the apex predator reintroduced as a part of this rewilding exercise is the question of time and productivity. We worry so much about demands and deadlines, that we fail to celebrate the things we have already done? Is the problem with doom scrolling actually the doom of the algorithmic nature of the feed, rather than the serendipity of dipping in? Or are the two forever intertwined? Is the answer ‘Twitter social distancing‘ or a reimagining of how we consume and create?
As Thompson himself attests, one answer is building up your own feeds. This is something that I have discussed here:
I like how Doug Belshaw frames the challenge as being in part about extending your serendpity surface. For Belshaw, the question is whether you curate your feeds or are instead curated:
Beyond feeds, books and searches, I am also interested in sites like The Forest which add a touch of the unknown too.
However, at the end of the day, the missing piece in the rewilding exercise is people actually writing in a public square together to somehow celebrate the collective weirdness. I guess I still live in hope.
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Some terrific thoughts by Aaron here on “rewilding your attention”
Ooo @dajbelshaw’s concept of a “serendipity surface” is very cool
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Thanks Aaron, and here’s some more reflections: thoughtshrapnel.com/2021/09/09/mic…
It’s ironic that the source of this discussion on “going beyond the ‘inner ring of the internet‘” is “a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine, a columnist for Wired and Smithsonian magazines, and a regular contributor to Mother Jones.” This – and the Medium blog it comes from – is exactly the opposite of “stepping away from the algorithmic feeds of Big Tech.” Here’s the thing: most people think their internet community of such-and-such is the internet community of such-and-such, especially when it contains well-read journalists, MIT fellows, and other Persons of Interest. They rarely look beyond their immediate circles of Twitter friends and news sources. Actually rewilding your attention means eschewing the popular, getting your hands dirty with real work, and reading the people nobody else reads. Image: photo by me. 152 views.
I don’t think that the bog standard algorithm is bereft of inner circle wildness. I don’t think it means eschewing the popular, but instead in finding the priceless coin in a jar and recognizing it as such. I don’t want to be rewilding my attention in a perpetual loop. Sometimes I just want to find the YouTube vid that explains how to replace the heating element in my dryer. Irony is a form of rewilding.
Responding to Clive Thompson’s discussion of rewilding your feeds, Rob Walker suggests some analog strategies, including engaging the senses, look out the window, keep a sound diary and appreciate a random person. This reminds me of something I wrote about PLN a few years ago.
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#SerendipitySurface
Continuing the investigation in rewilding our attention, Clive Thompson has created a custom search engine using Glitch for finding weird books in the public domain
Although a little late, here is the music that soundtracked 2021 for me and how it kept me surprised.
Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land – Marina
I always love serendipitous discoveries. Bored one day, I created a set of arbitrary rules on Spotify to decide what I would listen to. It was something like clicking on the fifth artist in the ‘Fans Also Liked’ three times. Doing this, I came upon Muna’s remix of Marina’s track Man’s World and I went from there.
I feel like this album has a bit of everything. There are aspects of slick pop production, balanced with a mix of punk, all done with a touch of melodrama. Overall, it is shouty without actually shouting. As Damian Morris explains:
Sixty Summers – Julia Stone
It is interesting how there are some artists that you overlook because you presume you already know what they are about only to discover a whole other side that you were unaware of. In 2020 it was Sufjan Stevens, while in 2021 it was Julia Stone.
It is easy to imagine another version of Sixty Summers at the hand of somebody like Stuart Price. Although it always threatens, it is always held back. Whether it be the tempo or the particular mix. Overall, I really liked the delicate and sparse nature of this album. In part this is a product of Stone’s voice, but I also feel it is result of Thomas Bartlett and Annie Clark production.
Deep States – TFS
There is a quote from Peter Goldsworthy that I come back to again and again, “cartoon descriptions, how else to describe a cartoon world.” I think that there is something to be said about TFS being the soundtrack for the current crisis. As Gareth Liddiard suggests, maybe the world has just caught up with a perspective they have been plying for years.
I must admit, there are times when I listen to TFS and I just feel kind of stupid for not following all the references littered within the music. Maybe that it how it is meant to be, not sure. Overall though there is something compelling about it that just keeps me there. There are moments where the clouds clear and clarity shines through, such as in GAFF.
Divine Intervention – Client Liaison
I remember seeing Client Liaison perform for the first time for ABC’s New Years Eve This Night is Yours concert. One cannot help be transfixed. Are they for real? I guess artifice comes in many shapes and sizes.
Divine Intervention is an album in search of higher power. There is something about their slick sound that leaves me both full and yet wanting more. In some ways, just as Roger and Brian Eno’s album felt like the perfect album for the start of the pandemic and the world wide lockdown, Divine Intervention seems the right album to shake out the blues and get out on the dancefloor again and the new normal, even if that dancefloor still may be alone in a kitchen with headphones.
Only the Shit You Love – Damian Cowell’s Disco Machine
Damian Cowell has a knack of taking a morsel of an idea to its nth degree. In the age where bands release a series of singles prior to the album launch, Cowell took this a step further releasing his who album on a weekly basis as a YouTube series, until finally release the album as a whole.
Only the Shit You Love is a snapshot of the modern world.
As always, it contains Cowell’s usual witty observations on the world. However, one of the changes to the first two Disco Machine albums was exploration of different dynamics and tempos. The usual upbeat tracks are still present, but they are contrasted by a number of slower numbers. Overall, coupled with a weekly podcast, this album was the perfect ailment for what felt like a perpetual lock-down.
One of the things that music offered me in 2021 was a sense of surprise. With so much of life in lockdown somewhat mundane, these albums each in their own was offered something new, unexpected and seemingly novel.
So what about you? What albums soundtracked your 2021? Were there any themes that tied things together? As always, comments welcome.
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Music of 2021 in Review, or the Year of Serendipity and Surprise by Aaron Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Also on:
Clive Thompson shares some Library of Congress serendipity tools:
Old books
Old Vinyl
Old Radio Plays