diSKOAver weekly: week of May 3, 2023

Heya cute lil disco babies ✨🪩

Given that we are in the middle of one hell of a Mercury Retrograde (😮‍💨) and also about to have a major lunar eclipse in Scorpio on Friday that’s all about releasing what doesn’t serve you, I thought it would be helpful to offer the collective some amulets of protection and strength to navigate any particularly prickly moments of reflection that you may experience over the next few days. 

I won’t front, it’s been pretty prickly the last few months. As I mentioned previously, I’ve felt stuck in this transitional phase that I’ve been in for awhile and decided to do some digging to see if there was anything that I was missing that was preventing my progress. What I finally allowed myself to see had been in front of me the whole time. If I may be so vulnerable to the void, I will bravely admit that I was toting around some really heartbreaking self limiting beliefs. I was allowing myself believe that: 

• I am a disposable person 😔

• Connection with me is something people can easily let go of 😞

• My full authenticity is *too much* and pointless to offer anyone because people will abruptly leave you no matter what anyway 🫥

• A relationship with me isn’t worth fighting for 🫠

I’ve been essentially wearing these self limiting beliefs as a pair of prescription lenses that are VERY MUCH NOT YOUR PRESCRIPTION ANYMORE. 👓 For people who have privileged eyesight and have never experienced what happens when the prescription is off on your corrective lenses, it fuckin SUCKS. 😩 You get headaches from the eye strain and all sorts of other micro annoyances until you can rectify the issue and go back to full clarity. 

Happy to report that those metaphorical contact lenses have been chucked into the fuckin bin, y’all. 🚮

As a result, I’ve been carefully setting some new boundaries to reflect my restored vision. This morning after meditation I drew the Nine of Wands, of which Jessica Dore’s reflections on that particular card in her book, Tarot For Change: Using The Cards For Self-Care, Acceptance, and Growth just so happen to be about boundaries. 😎

She writes that, 

“Ideally what we want is a boundary that’s firm, visible from a mile away but not unwelcoming. There’s a doorway through the wall, but the gatekeeper is discerning and has a zero-tolerance policy for nonsense.” 

I liken this line of thinking to that of all things, a bubble. 🫧

Think about it. Visible from a good distance and completely transparent but something that you know if you were to penetrate it you would literally wreck the whole vibe. Furthermore, bubbles are adaptive in more ways than just floating around making Ozzy Osbourne feel less like the Prince of Fucking Darkness. Bubbles can freeze and be rigid and seemingly impenetrable, which while looking kinda cool aren’t as fun as regular bubbles because they’re too heavy to be all floaty and cute. They can also bump into other bubbles and subsequently stick together and float around together in fun new shapes as a result. 🫧

To me, this last lil bitty bit here is ✨the goal✨. Right? I’ve had to learn the hard way that having good boundaries with yourself means only sticking to people who wouldn’t want to burst your bubble, and a good indictor of that is whether or not you actually see a bubble when you encounter anyone outside of your own. 🧐

On communicating boundaries, Dore offers the following (my flair added),

“I often think of communicating a boundary as a bit like getting informed consent from someone. 🫧It’s right to let others know the terms of engagement before they get involved. This keeps you safe, and it also keeps the other person safe from the possibility of your exploding in a fit of rage because you said yes too many times when you should’ve said no. 🫧 It’s scary to be close with people who give indiscriminately without a sense of their own limits.” 

Apparently I’ve been in the energy of this bubble metaphor for boundaries for awhile now, because I just remembered this little nugget of wisdom from my chat with Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac that I’ll leave you with (and obvi my flair again): 

"It is what you make it," he said, "It's your bubble man. You're in a bubble when you're out here [on tour] but it's your bubble. Like we say 'life's good in the bubble, man'. You know, for a lot you get to choose what's there and what's not, you know? So we just kind of keep it sane back there, […].”

So much love to all of you. Now go blow some beautiful bubbles already!

🫧💖✨

1. Fischerspooner - “Amuse Bouche” 

2. KAMAUU - “the vibe — A COLORS SHOW” 

3. Chris-n-Teeb - “First”

4. Lily Allen “Trigger Bang (feat. Giggs)”

5. Yves Tumor - “Purified By Fire” 

6. Joshwa - “Magalenha”

7. Pat Lok - “Set Me Free (feat. Kiinjo)” 

8. Mont Duamel - “Young” 

9. Moullinex - “Break Me In Pieces (feat. GPU Panic)” 

10. Qveen Herby - “NAH” 

11. Courtney Govan - “stay still” 

12. Posie Pocket - “Peace>Pleasure”

13. Aaron Taylor - “Patience (feat. Madison Ryann Ward)” 

14. NAMIRÉ - “Let Go” 

15. Bayonne - “Solo” 

16. Sego - “SURRENDER” 

[SONG OF THE DAY] BOOTS - "Full Of Stars"

It’s been exactly 2 years to the day since we had an official release from one of music’s stealthiest producer virtuosos, BOOTS (born Jordan Asher Cruz). Instead of a releasing a full body of music as he did on his birthday in 2018 with #DARKDAZE, today we see the birth of not just one but three different projects from the Brooklyn-based beat master. So technically today you’re getting three songs for today’s SOTD instead of just one.

Strap in - we have a range of feels to cover in just one post!

The focal point of today’s post is definitely “Full Of Stars”, which comes from an album called XENOPOP. As the Emperor of Tweet and Deletes shared via Twitter, XENOPOP will be the final full-length album under the BOOTS moniker. I can’t help but fixate on his choice of words for this portion of the announcement.

“Spoiler: he gets killed off.”

Throughout the song he’s incredibly transparent about the seemingly tumultuous relationship he’s had with the BOOTS persona, so the idea of it not just fading away or, to be more synonymous with the language used here, dying out, is such a striking distinction that eager does not begin to describe how badly I need to hear the rest of this album.

These are three different songs from three different albums. I'll be releasing this year.

XENOPOP
My third full-length LP and final ever as BOOTS. (Spoiler: he gets killed off.)

NIGHTDEATH
The dreaded existential club LP.

DAYLIFE
A meditation.

— -|---|- (@B00TS) February 13, 2020

The song itself is such a breathtaking evolution to his artistry, combining his signature production style along with these symphonic swells that leave you feeling like you’re actively wandering through a lucid dream, completely love stoned, and moments away from being in arms of your lover. The kind of dream that waking up from would be frustrating and take at least a full day to completely decipher.

Next up is the track “Language” from an album called NIGHTDEATH, which Jordan describes as “the dreaded existential club LP”. The track features Raye and Deradoorian and clocks in at just a few seconds shy of seven minutes, all of which are packed with so much intensity that movement isn’t an option, it is simply the appropriate response for what the song commands your body to do.

Last but certainly not least is an ethereal ambient cut titled, “Primordial”, which is a track from “a meditation” that Jordan is calling DAYLIFE. It’s lush and full of an almost mystical kind of magic. It’s one of those tracks that sucks any lingering darkness everywhere it goes. Given the range of songs that he’s shared with us today, specifically in the order that he chose to call them out, I can only assume that whatever he was working through when he was finishing up XENOPOP has left him in a much lighter and brighter state of being, and as a longtime champion of his artistic endeavors I cannot be happier for him.

So the only thing this update is lacing is TIMING. No idea if these projects are going to continue to roll out as simultaneously as the announcement was, if this will be a year-long endeavor, or if there’s a way to release three separate projects that I haven’t considered yet. Obviously as updates are made available I will be relaying them accordingly. Regardless, I am more than excited for what’s next.

[SONG OF THE DAY] Fischerspooner (feat. Caroline Polachek) - "Togetherness"

When last we met, Fischerspooner was reportedly dropping SIR on September 22nd. It would appear that they felt like they needed more time to roll this record out, unfortunately. That said, if the rest of the record continues to be as uncontrollably hot as "Have Fun Tonight" and today's song of the day, "Togetherness", then obviously it's going to be worth waiting until February 16th now. 

If you haven't seen the video yet and are into perfectly sculpted bodies then it is an absolutely must see. Also really into Caroline Polachek's addition to the track. Very nice touch. 

NYC fam PLEASE go to Brooklyn Steel tonight because I ran off on tour and cannot. I am trying not to punch myself in the face for missing their first NYC show in like 10 fucking years. Go go go. Please go. Oh my god please go. 

[Video] Fischerspooner - "Have Fun Tonight" (Official Video)

Photo by Asger Carlsen

I TOLD YOU SOMETHING WAS COMING SUPER SOON. 

I THOUGHT I WAS READY FOR THIS DAY TO COME. 

But honestly I wasn't ready for how hard the first *official* single from Fischerspooner would hit me.

I am truly blown away by "Have Fun Tonight". There's seriously so much going on here that with every spin I find Casey Spooner doing a number on my #feels as he delivers each lyrical blow. The song is described as, "a queer dance ballad about polyamory (...or polyagony) encouraging your lover to go out and have fun without you". It was co-written by a Michael Stipe and BOOTS and comes from their forthcoming album, Sir, which will be out on September 22nd courtesy of Ultra. That's right, fam. We FINALLY have a release date. Let the countdown begin!

What's interesting about the performance that Spooner gives on "Have Fun Tonight" is that it can lead you into interpreting the song a slightly different way each time you listen to it. By the end of my first listen I was convinced that this was the perspective of someone feeling trapped in a poly relationship that they didn't really want to be in. Another time I thought this could be taken as a brief moment of insecurity as all long term relationships have. Then in a different instance I considered the lyric, "I can't imagine anyone can love you like I can" to be the hint that the perspective is actually a lot more confident than previously though.  The words are all chosen so carefully that in spite of it being written with a polyamorous relationship in mind that it can speak to people in all walks of life because every intimate relationship has a certain level of complexity to it as this particular one has. 

Another thing I am loving about "Have Fun Tonight" is the context that it has provided to the first Sir-related song that was quietly half-released last year, "Everything Is Just Alright". As previously reported by yours truly, Spooner has said that this record was going to be "unabashedly homosexual". At the time with just "Everything Is Just Alright" as a reference point I wasn't sure where Fischerspooner was planning to take us, but with side by side listens of both EIJA and HFT it sounds like it could be anywhere - from the booze soaked dance floor of a gay bar to bedroom of longtime lovers and everywhere in between. 

In addition to the news about Sir, Fischerspooner have revealed that there will also be a museum show called SIR at MUMOK in Vienna, which will run June 29 to October 29, and that an art book will be released along with the exhibit.

The Future Is Looking Bright: A New Fischerspooner Album Appears To Be Coming Very Soon....FINALLY

Fischerspooner gonna Fischerspooner. 📷: Vincent Urbani

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this Instagram Story since I saw it two days ago. 

Thank the lorde I recently decided to split my attention between Snapchat and Instagram Stories otherwise I would have missed out on this VERY interesting hint of awesome things to come: 

from Casey Spooner's IG story

Do you guys remember almost a year ago TO THE DAY when the heavens briefly parted and sent down a Fischerspooner track in the form of a NICOPANDA video with some really stellar choreography because I sure as hell do!

Definitely haven't played this video an embarrassing number of times since it came out. That would be crazy. 😳

So yeah that video dropped

and

then

nothing

happened. :( 

Well actually that's not true.

If you're just catching up like admittedly I am, a little bit of news started to leak out near the end of last year.

To bring you up to speed, these are the things that we know:

• A Fischerspooner album titled SIR is coming.

• It supposedly has been done since February 2016.

• It is "unabashedly homosexual" #respect

• Michael Stipe both co-wrote and produced it.

• There is a song on said album that is apparently so good that it made Casey Spooner CRY (!!!)

• Things are trending towards a release date existing because contracts have been signed.

Are we on the same page yet? Do you understand why I legit had trouble going to sleep the other night after I saw this? It was already enough of a challenge to prepare myself for having Fischerspooner back, but then you factor in BOOTS and newcomers (to my ears) Crush Club in the mix with them, knowing all the while that Michael Stipe has been carefully keeping watch over this project.... 

the future is actually starting to look bright, you guys. 

Are you excited? 

I'm so excited! 

(btw you need to read the entire NICOPANDA interview with Casey Spooner. Bless that man)

Steve Aoki, Fischerspooner, Hervé, Kid Sister, To Perform 'Together' Season Finale

There are times that I wish I lived in London. This is one of those times. 

Closing out season one of as series of "16 special events" at the Corocet Theater in London called Together, hipster godSteve Aoki and friends/roster members of his label DIM MAK will be performing/DJing all night long on Friday (6/18). This includes (but does not limit to) performances by Aoki himself, Fischerspooner, Hervé, Kid Sister, Scanners, Motor, Don Diablo and more. 

London, please do me this service by attending this event. I would kill to go to this. 

Pick up tickets here. They're only £15.