Recommended Reading #1: Hi, Hello & Guten Tag
Recommendations, musings, and your next weekend's recommended reading, lovingly curated by Aida Baghernejad.
Hello and Hallo dear reader,
does the world need another newsletter? Surely not. But here we are, because, well, I can’t help myself. I’m Aida Baghernejad, a music journalist (yes this job still somehow exists? Sort of?!), film-, literature- and food critic, and when I’m excited about something – which happens quite regularly – I can’t shut up about it. And don’t we all need a bit excitement in these dire times? I certainly do.
So in this newsletter, I’ll try to somewhat regularly curate my favourite reads, podcasts, films, series, books, art, events in Berlin and beyond, and more – plus links to my own work, such as my regular column at Musikexpress, and other projects for your reading/listening pleasure. There will be mini-reviews and musings, and maybe eventually even more, who knows? As I’m getting ready to move into the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles in June 2024 as a Thomas Mann fellow, you can certainly expect some dispatches from the Sunshine state and my research on popular culture and its handling of the fall of democracy here, too.
Despite its English name (and this first post), Recommended Reading will be written in both English and German, probably according to what I feel like and the topic. Please feel free to let me know which language works better for you!
I’ll try to keep it short and sweet, especially as I personally prefer newsletters that do not overwhelm me. This first issue however might be a bit longer than intended, sorry about that!
But now, without further ado: here’s your Recommended Reading for the week.
Journalism vs Creator Economy vs Advertisers
In the past few weeks, we’ve all seen the downfall of (once beloved) media platforms like Vice and Pitchfork, Vice News and Buzzfeed News have been folded for a while now, and traditional media companies are scrambling to adapt to the ever-changing media environment, finding themselves in competition with social media creators. I’ve found this essay by Tori West of Bricks Magazine through Marcus Bösch’s great newsletter Understanding TikTok. West delivers a very lucid analysis of the current mediascape, and while I may disagree in some points, it’s a great and illuminating read: Tori West: Keeping Up with the Creator Economy on Burn After Reading
If you want to know more about the downfall of Vice Media, this Guardian Podcast gives a solid overview (although I think they could’ve talked a bit more about the self-serving waste of funds by upper management): The rise and fall of Vice Media
The horror that is Guantánamo
Serial, the podcast that started the hype for real (thank you Sarah Koenig, both sincerely and ironically), is back, and this time, Koenig and team are diving into the history of Guantánamo. It’s brutal, it’s sobering, it’s infuriating – but also funny? And personable? The first two episodes landed in my podcast feed mere hours ago and I’m almost done with the first one – I had to take breaks in between.
I fell in love with a song and then into a rabbit hole
In lighter news, I recently watched the wonderfully campy queer cult film But I’m a Cheerleader (as per usual, the German title is beyond shitty: Weil ich ein Mädchen bin) from 1999 with the very young, but already inimitable Natasha Lyonne. She’s playing a teenager who’s family and friends suspect she’s queer, so they force her into a “conversion therapy” camp. Hilarity and romance and empowerment ensues. While some of the comedy did not age too well (or at all…), it’s still a joy to watch – and unfortunately, also still extremely timely, considering that so-called “conversion therapy” (it’s not a therapy and it won’t convert anyone to anything) is still a thing, let alone restrictive gender roles, queerphobia, or heteronormativity.
But one of the very many highlights of the film was the soundtrack, particularly this track:
Oddly, my partner and I couldn’t find the song on Shazam, nor did we immediately find it on streaming platforms. Of course, this piques my interest as a music nerd and writer, duh. Turns out, the two members of Tattle Tale, Jen Wood and Madigan Shive, were 15 and 17 respectively when they founded the band in 1992. I mean look at these baby rockstars:
Their first demo album and an EP were published through the legendary label Kill Rock Stars – which is still around! And still releases great music! But Sew True, their proper full-length debut from 1995 was released on St. Francis, a label I couldn’t find much of a trace of online. I suspect it’s defunct, and the rights to the record lie with someone who has either no ties to the music industry, or left it and hasn’t really cared to follow up and make the music available on streaming services. Some poor soul has uploaded Glass Vase Cello Case as a podcast on Spotify, but honestly people, this ain’t it – if any of you have more intel on St. Francis, do please hmu, won’t you?
Wood and Shive themselves, however, have not left the industry – they’re both still musicians. And you can bet I’ll try to reach out to them to solve the mystery of Sew True! I’ll keep you posted.
More music:
By the time you’re reading this, I’m probably already writing my review of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter for Musikexpress– and judging from the singles I’m not sure what to think. Her style of singing and voice are pretty unique, so every song she sings simply sounds like Beyoncé. But I did like Texas Hold ‘Em, it’s fun country-pop – I’m more intrigued however by the use of a horse as the record’s core visual, again. After the last record’s glass horse, we’re now seeing her riding a show horse. Is she telling us in a rather complicated way that she’s really into Patti Smith’s Horses and into horsegiirl420? I assume this will be a trilogy: after disco, she’s taking on country – so, what’s coming next? Gabber? Opera? K-Pop? Send me your thoughts!
Shabazz Palaces, the alternative hiphop outfit from Seattle, also release their new EP Exotic Birds of Prey today. If you’re into a dark jazz-ambient-industrial-inspired soundscape where the smoke flowing through the room is almost palpable combined with cryptic and often political/critical bars, this one is for you. I'm not sure I ever met a Shabazz Palaces release I didn’t like, so there’s that.
A tale of gentrification, rebellion, and identity
Imagine you have a long train ride in ahead of you, probably no wifi or data to speak of, and no book in your pocket to kill time with – ugh, right? I found myself in deep down in Brooklyn the other week (sorry to be obnoxious for a second), with that very scenario – so my partner hauled me into the wonderful Molasses Books in Bushwick. While I used to almost exclusively read 2nd hand books growing up because I was a ridiculously voracious reader, I often tend to struggle navigating used books stores today. Not this one though. They have a truly great curation of nonfiction, fiction and poetry, serve coffee, good wine, and lovely talk. But I don’t want to go on about this store (although I could and I regret not buying their shirt). Rather, I want to tell you about the book I bought:
Olga Dies Dreaming was Xochitl Gonzalez first novel, published in 2022. It’s been described as a “coming of age story for middle-aged adults”. It’s truly a beautifully written novel dealing with loss and trauma, politics local and international, and what it means to be an adult in this world – and Gonzalez manages to weave these different topics into a very convincing narrative. We see how Olga and her brother Prieto, two Nuyoricans (New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent), grapple with the trauma of loosing bother their parents, a changing neighbourhood, racism, family, and questions of belonging – all while hurricane Maria is descending upon Puerto Rico. It’s quite an easy read, yet never compromises on having an important story to tell.
I was actually thinking about reading Gonzalez’ new novel after this positive review in the New York Times – and now I’m even more keen! Fun fact: apparently, Gonzalez was a wedding planner before pivoting to writing (she’s a graduate of the very prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop of Girls’ fame for those who remember) – and now guess what Olga does for a living in the novel?
Tradwives are at it again
Dear reader, I was really unsure whether I would tell you about this essay – but it’s the wild internet scandal of the minute, how could I keep it from you? A young writer wants to make The Case for Marrying an Older Man: A woman’s life is all work and little rest. An age gap relationship can help. And it’s a truly bizarre mix of self-awareness and lack thereof. I suppose it’s another version of the current of antifeminist/tradwife propaganda that’s unfortunately quite popular rn on Tiktok and Insta, dressed in a bit more pseudo-intellectual vernacular. But it’s truly batshit crazy because the author comes so so so very close to realising the faults in her arguments: she will eventually also get older (I know, we all felt invincible and forever young at 27…), she has given up on having an independent personality (she openly admits to this! wild!), and she will not have a career to fall back on if things go South. The piece has obviously gone viral basically immediately after it hit the internet on Wednesday, and the jokes on the page formerly known as Twitter are, of course, stellar.
Some Current Work by Yours Truly:
In the current issue of my bi-weekly column for Musikexpress, I’m remembering the great artist and activist Cola Boyy from Oxnard, California, and how his song “Don’t Forget the Neighbourhood” holds truth for all of us, and how artists in Chemnitz are fighting for their neighbourhoods on the precipice of the six year anniversary of the riots of Chemnitz and the city’s turn as European Capital of Culture next year. Don’t forget… Cola Boyy
I recently wrote a review of Ilona Hartmann’s sophomore novel klarkommen (Park x Ullstein, 01.02.2024) for Tagesspiegel. I’ve known Ilona for a few years now and I usually do not review books by friends and acquaintances, not even on Goodreads, unless they really excite me – and this one truly, absolutely did. It’s a tender coming of age story that manages to steer clear of all the clichés that come with the territory, providing a very honest look at the pain, and frankly, boredom of growing into an self-sufficient adult. But I don’t want to reiterate what I already wrote for the newspaper, but rather invite you to join us speaking about the book on April 2nd at Heimathafen in Berlin-Neukölln.
On April 7th, Sasha Salzmann and Ofer Waldman will talk about their new book Gleichzeit (Suhrkamp, 15.04.2024), born out of an eponymous blog, at Gorki Theater Berlin, and I will ask a few questions on stage. Sasha is truly one of my most favourite people on Earth and this book is a lesson in empathy and compassion, in humanism and universalism. I think there’s still tickets available. Come! Make it an afternoon date! Let’s have a piece of cake afterwards and be humans together, it’s rare these days.
For last month’s tipBerlin I dove head-first into the death of music stores, as in selling actual musical instruments, in Berlin. What does that tell us about our city and our society? I promise you, it’s a juicier topic than you might expect. And if you bump into me IRL, I’ll tell you some of the stuff I found out that I couldn’t put in print just yet. Aus für JustMusic: Das Musikgeschäft am Moritzplatz schließt für immer. Obviously I also recommend this month’s tipBerlin, where I’ve written a bit about Altın Gün and the renaissance of Anadolu-Rock.
In mid-March I was one of the critics again at RadioEins’ legendary show Soundcheck, and dove into the world of Tierra Whack’s World Wide Whack. We also discussed Kacey Musgraves’ lowkey esoteric new record Deeper Well, the pretty blah Black Crowes comeback (sorry!) – and talked some smack about Justin Timberlake and his new record. You can listen to it here, in your preferred podcast player, or on the ARD Mediathek.
And this month’s Missy Magazine is still on the magazine stands! For the cover story, I profiled the German-Iranian entertainer Parshad whom younger ones know from Tiktok and Youtube, and older ones from ZDF Magazin Royal. Parshad was incredibly open, which made the conversation extremely intimate and gave insight into the darker sides of suddenly having a huge platform, and coming of age in public. I was also really excited about a piece on the Palestinian organisation Women of the Sun Movement! Alle lieben Parshad: Kein Bock auf Nettsein.
Hiiii Parshi! Also: subscribe to Missy, lovely humans creating an important publication. Not really work nor current, but: if you have some money to spare, I’ve compiled a list of organisations active in Israel-Palestine, as well as in Germany, that you can and should donate to if you can.
This is it for the first issue of Recommended Reading. I’ll see you again in two weeks or so. Feel free to send me feedback on this first issue, let me know what you’d like to read about, and tell your friends about it if you’ve liked what you’ve seen here.
Speak soon!