Menu Three: May 2024
Eyes bigger than my appetite
As if my first two rounds of this creative consumption challenge weren’t filling enough, I approached May as if I was training for a hot-dog eating contest. Only instead of processed meat tubes, I was inhaling music, movies, and media like my literal life depended on it.
This month’s lineup called for a sweeping selection of styles including OG goth rock, funk and soul, 80’s post-punk, 90’s indie rock, ambient soundscapes, psychedelic fuzz, introspective lyrics, smokey and sultry vocals, and a handful of country classics.
Of the mix, I found myself immediately wanting another serving of Irish indie-rockers The Cranberries’ perfect first two records; some early 90’s shoegazy dream-pop by Lush; the devastatingly beautiful musical legacy of Sinead O’Connor; Leonard Cohen’s rumbling voice and poetic folk-ish songwriting; Grouper’s distant and delicate vocals echoing in cosmic soundscapes; and a little LA punk by T.S.O.L. to pick the energy back up.
And though it may not ever be my go-to, I found a soft spot for something with a little twang and was immediately taken by Patsy Cline’s clear and sincere country ballads, and John Fahey’s unparalleled fingerpicking folk-blues.
Despite devouring five weeks of wholly fulfilling courses, I still had room for more and sprinkled in some bonus albums. Of the bunch, I was especially excited about SAVED! by the uniquely haunting and powerful Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter in her first release since retiring Lingua Ignota — and wow, she did not disappoint.
I also made a point to quickly get drink up Charlotte Day Wilson’s latest R&B masterpiece, Cyan Blue, before going to witness the magic of her live performance. And The Lemon Twigs’ newest power-pop release, A Dream Is All We Know, was the perfect thing to brighten up the heavier notes.
Along the way I also did a deep dive of Amoeba’s “What’s In My Bag?” artist interview series in search of more bands I’d missed to add to the list, which quickly added another 75+ names. But at some point I was reminded of my original intention for this challenge and wanted to be careful not to become overly indulgent or frivolous in how I spend my time, regardless of the form of media. So I turned my attention back to the learning more about the reality of the occupation in Palestine with Palestinian-American historian, Rashid Khalidi, and American political scientist, John Mearsheimer — both of whom are very well worth listening to.
My cravings definitely leaned more towards music this month, but I did get into a few movies and took myself on a date to see Civil War, which blew me away both in storytelling and decibels.
And after burning through a reread of The Alchemist in 3 or 4 days, I decided to re-start the highly praised The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle for probably the fourth time, which seems to have called me back at exactly the right time.
May was another month of testing my limits for consumption and biting off more than I can ordinarily chew. But so long as my creative appetite is still there, I’m more than willing to try to satiate it, and I still have plenty of new dishes to dig into.
Check out my May Menu Playlist, and follow along for next month’s menu and review!