A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD VOL. I

Thanks for following me here on Substack. I intend to send out these blasts every now and then to communicate, inspire, and just share the stuff that I find groovy. Music, art, film, etc have always been what drives me and these are some of the things I’ve been delving into lately that I think you all reading this may also appreciate.

MUSIC

LAURENCE VANAY Self-Titled LP

I cannot express how much I adore this album. I discovered it through my friends at Light In The Attic a few years back. In order to give a very simplified reference point, think Alain Goraguer’s ominious La Planete Sauvage soundtrack mixed with the divine refined airiness of Françoise Hardy. Vanay’s self-titled album was released in 1974 and seems to have remained in obscurity until 2013 when the Lion Productions label reissued it. I feel like a lot of reissued “lost” music can be overhyped but doesn’t often live up to that hype for me. This is not at all the case here. This album is a masterpiece from beginning to end and the bonus material is just as heavenly.

This record has everything I want from a record…. It is its own little world… and most importantly it feels so honest. Really this record has been on steady rotation ever since I first got into it. It amazes me that this hasn’t caught on with more people.

LAURENCE VANAY Self Titled

KEVIN McCORMICK “Sticklebacks”

80’s home recordings of minimal, dreamy, guitar music. Heavy atmosphere. As Tony Wilson says about The Durutti Column in the film 24 Hour Party People. “It’s good music to chill out to.” Recently released by a great label called Smiling C who also reissued Kevin McCormick and David Horridge’s “Light Patterns” (another favorite of mine!). You can track it down below at Smiling C’s Bandcamp.

SMILING C Bandcamp

I highly recommend this album.

BOOKS

JAN MORRIS “Destinations”

I can’t remember who turned me on to Jan Morris. I feel like Joan Didion once mentioned her essay on Los Angeles and that led me to track down her work. She is one of the first writers I’ve explored whose writing is often categorized under the travel genre. I love this collection of essays she wrote for Rolling Stone back in the 1970’s and 80’s titled “Destinations.” Morris writes with a voluptuous use of language that can take a little bit of getting used to but once I’m able to ride along with it, I’m carried off to another place. Make sure to keep your thesaurus handy. On my reading list is another one of Morris’s book from the 70’s “Conundrum” about her transition from being a James to a Jan. It’s overwhelming thinking of the bravery it must’ve taken to share her own story of transitioning, IN THE 1970s!!! Stop and think about that for a moment with all the anti-trans bigotry rife in our world in 2023. I’ll have to report back once I’ve read that one.

YOUTUBE

I don’t get to around to watching much television or movies. Instead I’ll watch youtube for interviews with authors, musicians, or actors I admire, or live performances by groups I love. I was recently talking to my friend Aaron and was reminded of how amazing this performance of Suicide performing “Surrender” on French television is. You can fake a lot of things in this world. But you can’t fake being a real freak… R.I.P. Alan Vega

Here is a link to the performance:

AND IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

DUBLAB 

I was recently a guest DJ on Dublab’s “Tipping Point” program. I had so much fun putting together an hour long mix for the show. A lot of the tracks I put in the mix you won’t find out there on streaming sadly, but I’m happy to share them with the world because I believe they need to be heard. I’m certain some of you reading this will adore some of this music as much as I do. It’s all from my vinyl library.

Here’s a LINK to the archived Dublab DJ set:

KEXP INTERVIEW

KEXP just archived my interview with the lovely Sharlese Metcalf from December 2022 about the early days of Chromatics and my experiences in the Seattle music scene. Right before the culture and landscape of Seattle changed drastically from the roots of big tech burrowing themselves deeper into the quiddity of the emerald city. Unfortunately some salacious details from those memories had to be removed to make the broadcast a more family friendly affair, but I’ve been told by friends and family it was still a fun listen. I’ll save those salacious details for my autobiography one day.

Here’s a LINK to the archived KEXP interview:

GATEWAY T-SHIRTS

Super psyched to announce that GATEWAY T-Shirts have wrapped at the printers and will premiere on my Bandcamp page next Bandcamp Friday. Here’s a preview of the artwork…

Gateway T-Shirts will be available at my Bandcamp page on May 5th, 2023

SPUNK

Some of the imaginary horror film posters I created back in 2007/2008 are featured in the latest issue of Spunk literary arts journal. To accommodate the pieces, I wrote a short essay explaining how the imaginary horror film concept originally appeared to me. There will be a gallery exhibition in Los Angeles this summer showcasing some of the posters and many of the other hyper cool artists featured in the issue. I will announce the details once I have the full info. This will be very exciting! In the meantime, if you’re looking to order a copy of the latest issue of Spunk….

SPUNK IS AVAILABLE HERE

Thanks for reading this and thank you for subscribing. I hope you found it interesting and inspiring. As my great-aunt Lou (who lived to be 99 years old) used to say…. “I’ll catch your act later.” Hope you all continue to catch mine.

Sincerely, Adam

P.S. I had a wonderful time DJ-ing the grand opening of The Overland Hi-Fi Bar in Redlands, California the other week. The place definitely gave me old school Portland vibes. If you were there and you’re reading this, thank you for coming out. I hope to do more events like this in the future.

P.S.S. Bonus points if you can name the album I’m holding below in this pic.