It hasn’t been easy finding the right vibe this morning but that may have more to do with my own headspace than a lack of choices. Russian Post Punk rarely misses the mark though so it works for now. There were some other discoveries, 12 hours of old radio shows complete with advertisements for example, that are lined up for other moments. Other right moments. Everything has its place.

The image accompanying the music is Vilnius, Lithuania from 1944. The war wasn’t over yet and of course it shows but the shadow of World War II seems to have hung over Eastern Europe for decades. It makes sense. Where do you go with tens of millions lost? Where do the feelings about that go? It’s not like here where all our fighting has been done overseas for more than a century. Here from the relative safety of the US, some families were impacted more than others and some not really at all. The same can’t be said for Europe where entire cities were destroyed and their populations displaced. The architecture of the rebuilding itself changed how people live and each structure stood as a reminder of the loss. Maybe that’s why so much of our music and art here was so sunshiney, beachy, flower power bright, and there… Maybe it’s because their society and culture is so much older and it’s reflected in the art and music. There’s a reason though that the photo fits the music recorded some four or five decades later. It’s not an accident.

What will our cities look like in a hundred years? What will our music sound like? What will we sound like? There are a lot of factors already in play. Europe was different. Every region and culture was founded with more homogenous groups of people. People and cultures didn’t blend as readily as they do now with travel, and virtual travel and media. America is diverse until perhaps at some point an event or a series of events binds us as one in some way that transcends our origins. There are a lot of different things that can accurately be described as uniquely American, but there is no short answer on what it means to be American. Not yet, but maybe in a hundred years. Until then you can ask a hundred people and get a hundred different answers and none of them will be entirely accurate, and that’s putting aside all the mythology of America… land of the free and home of the brave and all that. There are those who might tell you that freedom and liberty are American. I don’t have to tell you what i would say to those people.

Time will tell. I won’t be around to witness what we do or don’t become. I’m pretty sure that it will take some novel, cataclysmic nationwide event to unite us under one umbrella definition. What we have in the meantime is the hoarder’s apartment of ideas and arguments. And I’m still pretty certain that at least one very heavy boot is going to drop on us sooner rather than later. Something bigger than Covid-19. I’m not running around with a sandwich board proclaiming that the end is near. Quite the opposite I do believe that it’s the beginning of something that’s near.

Something.

00:00 Июльские Дни – Спутник (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) 03:00 Черная Pечка – Друг (Kirov, Russia) 06:14 Дом Моделей – Полёт (Krasnoyarsk, Russia) 09:55 Конец Электроники – Ночь (Ryazan, Russia) 12:50 Ploho – Власть (Novosibirsk, Russia) 16:22 Super Besse – Nasilie (Minsk, Belarus) 19:33 Воллны – Тебя Нет Рядом (St. Petersburg, Russia) 23:36 Группа Хмурый – Зачем? (Moscow, Russia) 27:06 Утро – Что-то не то творится (Rostov On Don, Russia) 30:49 Sierpien – Сигнал (Moscow, Russia) 35:53 Июльские Дни – Мой город будет стоять (Nizhny Novgorod, Russia) 39:38 Молчат Дома – Танцевать (Minsk, Belarus) 43:00 Ploho – Закладка (Novosibirsk, Russia) 46:30 Сруб – Оклики (Novosibirsk, Russia) 50:44 Утро – Лечу (Rostov On Don, Russia) 53:56 Buerak – Спортивные Очки (Novosibirsk, Russia) 56:13 Черная Pечка – Прощание (Kirov, Russia) 59:21 Перемотка – Просвет (Yekaterinburg, Russia)