https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog daily 0.75 2026-10-21 https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/listening-2-in-october monthly 0.5 2026-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/f337d135-85e5-4917-afd3-d82ead46b0f7/Spiritinthedarkcover.jpeg Late2theParty - Listening 2: October sounds - I recently wrote about the connections between the late great divas Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, and Aretha Franklin. As with any music essay, I listened to copious amounts of their songs to familiarize myself with the totality of their discographies. Of the many stand-outs was 1970's Spirit in the Dark, an eclectic album comprised of Aretha's standard output of energized covers and original music (five of the twelve tracks were written by Franklin herself). After the pop success of I Ain't Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You and Lady Soul the record shows Aretha fully at home in her gospel and blues roots. Spirit employs a cast of savvy collaborators including Duane Allman on guitar for "When the Battle is Over." Album highlights include opener "Don't Play that Song," a piano-forward ballad that recalls Sam Cooke's cover of "Frankie & Johnny" and the uplifting gospel title track. Track highlights: "Don't Play that Song;" "Spirit in the Sky;" "Pullin" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/2036e116-0959-49e5-b3ff-bb0b4642858e/Who_Loves_the_Sun_%28Chat_Pile_album%29.jpeg Late2theParty - Listening 2: October sounds - The world is burning. The world is on fire. The world is ending. You know, with everything going on in the world right now…gestures broadly. The general consensus I've found from offhand comments like the above which I've heard in conversations or read as asides in articles under Arts + Culture tabs, is that life right now is uniquely bad for most everyone. It's a sentiment that I can't object given the confluence of atrocities in recent years: the Palestinian genocide, the rising price to survive often attributed to "inflation" though I wonder if it could be simplified as greed (businesses charge more for less and worse because they can), proliferation of far-right fascist governments including the United States' own Trump Administration, the amplification of Content which is, in part, a result of Big Tech companies that have now funneled billions into resource-draining and mind-numbing generative AI, the global pandemic that ushered much of this in, and many many more horrors. Yet, often whenever I hear a retread of the "world ending in fire and brimstone" creed I think of Franny Choi's 2019 poem, "The World Keeps on Ending, and the World Goes On." “By the time the apocalypse began, the world had already ended. It ended every day for a century or two. It ended, and another ending world spun in its place.” The world is now ending but for whom? And from what vantage point do you stand? Are you overlooking the wreckage, at the foot of the trash mound, in the muck of shit? For the long overlooked, disenfranchised, and poor, the world is at a constant halt. Since 2019 Oklahoma City natives Chat Pile—whose name is taken from the mounds of toxic waste that surround mining cities—have shed light on the depravity of modern social alienation and stratification. Over the course of a slew of EPs and four records, the band have dissected the world's so-called yet unrelenting end with their rageful sludge-rock. "Why do people have to live outside?" singer Raygun Busch's asks then screams on "Why" from their 2022 debut God's Country. Busch paints the cruelty of people living on the streets despite a bounty of resources that could prevent it over a barrage of clamoring drums and heavy guitars, daring listeners to remain nonchalant in the face of the song's boiling indignation. Here Comes the Sun, continues the thematic through-line of previous efforts such as the brutal disaffection of social media scrolling through tragedy ("Influence"). The dissociation and psychological torment of "Deep Blue" recalls earlier songs, "Masks," "The Masks," and "Masc." But on Here Comes the Sun, Chat Pile scales back their noise-rock elements in favor of a more euphonious and, at times, post-rock style. The result isn't a loss of their frenetic energy but a tightening of sound and softer edge. This change is most pronounced on album standout and closer "October All Time." "Everything will be fine / the sun will continue to shine." With a hint of optimism the song reminds, that as this world falls away something must be built in its place. Track highlights: "Intruder;" "PEN I S MALL;" "October All the Time" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/0a7dcba8-14b3-4148-8800-c0409a60592f/Tinashe_-_Popstar.png Late2theParty - Listening 2: October sounds - Like many people, my understanding of Tinashe's brilliance was belated. And like even more people I have been in the practice of uplifting the singer after the release of her eighth album, Popstar. An unstudied ear could assume that Tinashe is following pop trends with club and dance music made friendly for streaming waves. In actuality, its her influence that can be heard on recent and popular artists including PinkPantheress, Charli XCX, and Addison Rae. With Popstar, Tinashe announces her rightful claim to the title. She's discussed the issue of being marketed solely as R&B, owing to the racial history of the genre marker that often silos black artists. It's an ironic predicament since the "pop" distinction owes its foundations to rock and R&B, pioneered by black musicians. Much can be (and has been) said about the marginalization that black artists—women especially—endure as they wait for the world to catch up. Right now it may suffice to just dance and say "thank you Tinashe for your patience." Track highlights: "Sunglasses;" "Cloud 9;" "Flashbacks." https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/8f8b7dff-a5aa-40bc-b3d8-023968b5e78a/Ibeyi+offering.png Late2theParty - Listening 2: October sounds - My mother once recounted a time in her childhood when she prayed to God for long hair. She prayed with all her might, knowing the transformative power of the Lord could overcome things like biology and genetics. She awoke the next day with no notable changes to her coils. The moment, she said, ruptured her faith. While she wouldn't renounce a belief in God she admits that it was never quite the same. When I heard the story as a kid, then also a believer in Christ, I understood. I could recall the prayers I'd elevated that had went unanswered. A prayer is similar to an incantation. Both are attempts to exert a will with assistance from a force outside of oneself be it a deity, a saint, a cluster of trees, or the ocean. "I don't make spells anymore, now I make offerings," sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz declare on the eponymous track of their fourth album as the duo Ibeyi (the Yoruba word for twins). As the daughters of Buena Social Vista Club member Miguel "Angá" Díaz and singer Maya Dagino, music performance seemed their destiny. Beginning with their 2015 self-titled debut, Ibeyi have released R&B records anchored with Cuban percussion (in the lineage of their father, Naomi learned and plays the cajón). Lyrics are sung in French, English, Spanish and Yoruba. The latter arrives in relation to the religious systems of Yoruba, a West African tradition and Santería, which arose in Cuba and delineated from Yoruba. On Ibeyi, the orishas Oya and Oshun are evoked as is Okolun on Offerings. Many of Ibeyi's songs, such as "River" from their debut, contain prayers that lend an affective ethereal quality. But with previous album Spell 31 (2022), I began to wonder if the sister-singer-musicians were hemmed in by the expectations of spiritual posturing and witchery. On Offering Ibeyi are at their most intimate. Previous albums explored the grief and loss of their father and older sister. Now we hear them also grieving the losses of their own identities as they grapple with self-doubt and a fear of change. While on "Made of Gold" (Spell 31) they declared victory over enemies who challenged their magic, with songs like "Focus" they give themselves over to humility of uncertainty. Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé have learned "they can't manifest for shit" and instead of an exertion of will they give themselves over in offering. Which is not to say the duo's usual sense of celestial confidence is absent (look to the propulsive "Moshpit") but more encompassing of its human totality that includes stretches of questioning and insecurity. Track highlights: "Moshpit;" "Offerings;" "I Know You Loved Me;" "Baba" https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/on-dolly-amp-divas monthly 0.5 2026-09-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/084208e4-770d-40be-ad0b-cda28b4be704/Porter_Wagoner_and_Dolly_Parton_1969.jpeg Late2theParty - DOLLY, DIVAS, & DIVINITY - Dolly and Porter Wagoner in 1969. Credit: Moeller Talent, Inc. via Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/4d1c9dd0-1c1a-4a82-9abb-57136c3244e9/Whitney_Houston_-_How_Will_I_Know.png Late2theParty - DOLLY, DIVAS, & DIVINITY - Make it stand out Credit: Steve Prezant, 1985, via Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/e14ee8db-37a9-4e66-b58e-de7436d7c114/500px-Aretha_Franklin_1968.jpg Late2theParty - DOLLY, DIVAS, & DIVINITY - Aretha in 1968, a year after the release of I’ve Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You. Credit: Atlantic Records via Wikimedia Commons https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/da71bd86-028b-4538-8d78-892407235c1d/Dolly_Parton_performing_at_Cordell_Hull_Dam_dedication%2C_1973_%28cropped%29.jpg Late2theParty - DOLLY, DIVAS, & DIVINITY - Make it stand out Dolly Parton performing at the dedication of Cordell Hull Dam in Carthage, Tennessee, on October 13, 1973. Sourced via Wikimedia Commons https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/one-discourse-after-another monthly 0.5 2026-09-02 https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/sentimental-ruminations monthly 0.5 2026-09-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1764908043936-UOKANPUR7MUQ1LC8WJI3/20251129_143016.jpg Late2theParty - SENTIMENTAL RUMINATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1764908053455-KWAAWYACEUK2S22ZY5DO/20251129_143108.jpg Late2theParty - SENTIMENTAL RUMINATIONS https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1764908058908-2W6EUHBWH8D063QCM4IF/20251129_143112.jpg Late2theParty - SENTIMENTAL RUMINATIONS https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/as-if monthly 0.5 2025-11-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/47450645-cd53-4a35-b76f-297667aeef0f/usa-stacey-dash-and-alicia-silverstone-in-a-scene-from-paramount-pictures-film-clueless-1995-plot-shallow-rich-and-socially-successful-cher-is-at-the-top-of-her-beverly-hills-high-schools-pecking-scale-seeing-her.jpg Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! - This is how I prefer to remember Stacey Dash: waist length braids covered by a white church hat that holds a patent red flower bow in its center. The hat’s vinyl brim matches the shiny lapels of her black and white plaid jacket and accompanying skirt. Though she is not Stacey Dash in this memory but Dionne, best friend to Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/8900797d-b59d-427b-8ef5-716b08b95d64/Clueless_%281995_film%29_logo.svg.png Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! - Make it stand out The film’s official logo. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/a4658650-3b22-45a0-b202-81da3e53d3b3/8715164184_aafe024f7f_b.jpg Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! - Make it stand out Photo credit: Bob Jagendorf via Flickr https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/4474dbb5-48b3-45c7-a6c8-ad953b164c54/nowhere-eine-reise-am-abgrund-usa-1997-regie-gregg-araki-darsteller-J0K4GM.jpg Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! - Nowhere In a conversation with Senses of Cinema Araki said, “I’m not so interested in plain old reality… Reality to me is boring. What’s interesting is taking that reality and creating this hyper-reality. That’s where my films exist, in this controlled and created world.” His remarks echo Hecklering's, who did not seek to create a “real Beverly Hills,” but a hyperbolic adolescent experience. The straightforward tale of a straight kid becoming more open-minded may seem juvenile in comparison to the themes of homophobia, the AIDS crisis, and sexuality that frequent Araki’s work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/b447b978-fcf5-4cb0-a338-16d19d18d491/5090755871_619c534638_z.jpg Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! Doom Generation. Photo credit: chewohin's watchlist via Flickr https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/8f0c8ad3-46d6-4d2d-aff5-20f05bae14bf/6675031185_018dd439be_c.jpg Late2theParty - UGH, AS IF! - Make it stand out Photo credit: VentureBeats via Flickr https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/the-gospel-according-to-flo-milli monthly 0.5 2026-01-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/6339f5f7-988b-41ba-b422-5aa0aef65cf0/Nicki+credit+Madonna+live+at+San+Siro%2C+Milan+in+2012+during+her+MDNA+Tour..jpg Late2theParty - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FLO MILLI Photo Credit: Aristotele Strobbe, “Madonna live at San Siro, Milan in 2012 during her MDNA Tour.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/13a402a4-8f19-4d5e-a58b-de1cad0934d1/VH1_2003_logo.svg.png Late2theParty - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FLO MILLI - Make it stand out Credit: Viacom Media Networks https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/celebrity-skins monthly 0.5 2026-09-18 https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/the-first-hot-day-in-new-york-city monthly 0.5 2025-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/2683887f-c495-49b8-bea9-dcdf78be824b/The_Replacements_-_Let_It_Be_cover.jpg Late2theParty - THE FIRST HOT DAY IN NEW YORK (CITY) - With their association of my east coast friends I assumed The Replacements were from somewhere in New England, likely Boston like their peers Mission of Burma. Yet learning they are from Minneapolis is intelligible when listening to Let It Be, with songs reflecting a small town malaise found even in mid-size cities of the midwest. This restlessness can be heard in Cleveland natives Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s “1st of tha Month” which rejoices the arrival of public assistance checks, though as Wish Bone reminds, for most people, the money will have to stretch uncomfortably to the fifteenth of the month. And in Cloud Nothings’ (also from Cleveland) “Wasted Days” with Dylan Baldi lamenting how he thought there’d be more to the stretches of days. There are ways things could be worse but the sense that something could be better unsettles the mind. https://www.late2theparty.net/late-2-the-party-blog/dead-on-arrival monthly 0.5 2025-04-27 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts daily 0.75 2025-08-04 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/i-was-never-really-here monthly 0.5 2025-03-23 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/syndicated monthly 0.5 2025-03-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/b1453b1f-d7d4-43fa-a80d-2b270df77c01/Screenshot+2023-06-24+174916.png First Drafts - SYNDICATED - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/cd03235e-29d2-48d0-b5a2-563872c9c93b/Screenshot+2023-06-24+175351.png First Drafts - SYNDICATED - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171324660-SAIAFXUI3MKSZ71CCRK3/angela+bmw+1.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171324662-2611Q7F9G3FMYLOWGU2C/angela+bmw+2.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171325290-4F52C317LODBEL7U9JV8/angela+bmw+3.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171325395-PY7OWLOFUP4JYFK7PUNK/angela+bmw+4.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171652070-7CPVGOZXQFTIZ4YOBDE5/trina+1.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/1723171652080-B9QPGWI593Y30C4B7Z59/trina+2.jpg First Drafts - SYNDICATED https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/dirty-with-a-twist monthly 0.5 2025-03-22 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/a70dc509-242d-4651-9c80-28098d7e6222/1000005892.gif First Drafts - Dirty with a twist - Make it stand out Animation by John Irving https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/doll-parts monthly 0.5 2025-03-22 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/category/Televison monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/category/First+Drafts monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/blackness monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/race monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/surburbs monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/televison monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/culture monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/boy+meets+world monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/90s monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/first-drafts/tag/class monthly 0.5 https://www.late2theparty.net/home daily 1.0 2025-12-21 https://www.late2theparty.net/work daily 0.75 2026-07-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/74bdcd81-66c2-4fa5-8264-c0da9dc48e05/martini+2.gif https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/d220402b-d1d2-4a69-8d3f-6aada526b6c4/1000005890.gif https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/23e6ea51-90a2-4c68-a101-ecc5f27b6888/1000005891.gif https://www.late2theparty.net/contact daily 0.75 2026-05-18 https://www.late2theparty.net/about daily 0.75 2025-06-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/f4341415-d733-4e61-be08-d7105ed7b25f/20241021_175842.jpg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/66ae8dbc264e8107ef3c9672/304fa21c-0788-4571-9e32-2303725b1ddc/tv2+%281%29.gif