Hello friends,
Hope you’re well. I’d like to ask a favor: If you enjoy these newsletters, share it with someone you know. Just one person. It helps the newsletter to grow and improve. As always, thanks for reading.
Here are this week’s four things:
music:
My favorite record of 2022 so far is Danger Mouse and Black Thought's Cheat Codes. When they announced this album a few months back I knew it was going to be a stunner, and I was right. Listen: hip hop is way better than you know. This is not a controversial statement. This is cold hard fact. All genres have their crap artists and their cream artists. Hip hop is no different. This album is crème de la crème. Gelato, not ice cream. Taking samples from 60’s soul, jazz, classical and mixing with hard-hitting rhythms. At times delicate and others in-your-face, it’s truly a work of sonic art. I won’t give a stand out track. It’s to be experienced as a whole.1
podcast episode:
Rich Roll Podcast: Brad Stulburg: Ditch the Hedonic Treadmill for Sustainable Success. Brad is a writer who write books about sustainable success and well-being. His latest, the Practice of Groundedness is about how to create a foundation for success without burning yourself out. This conversation is an extension of his book. He was very explicit with some mental health struggles he experienced a few years back. Conversations like these are important because we can learn from other people's struggles. There were times during this episode where I had to pause. His struggles were relatable. It wasn't an easy listen, but I am glad I did.
recording gear:
Zoom H6 Recorder: This thing is incredible. It records high quality audio on-the-go. Most of my most recent (the last 5 or so) in-person podcasts were recorded using this thing. It has three main functions:
1) Modular mic setup for different kinds of recording.
2) 4-6 track stand-alone recorder with the ability to mix on-the-fly.
3) Audio interface so you can record direct to your computer.
It’s small enough to fit in a backpack. Runs on batteries or via wall plugin. It’s a perfect tool for any musician, podcaster, or journalist. I don’t know what more one could ask for in a recording tool.
coffee:
Counter Culture Coffee Big Trouble. Imagine you were granted a wish to have a cuppa joe in the cosmos with any entity ever. Fictional or real. Who would you pick? For me it would be Neil Peart or John Bonham. Bowie, Jesus, or the Buddha. Maybe Eve (from the Garden of Eden incident) or Cleopatra. Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. The meeting would already be incredible, but the coffee has to be up-to-par with such an occurrence. Counter Culture Coffee’s Big Trouble blend is a hard contender in this category. I’ll let their website talk about notes and all that fancy stuff. But trust me. This is an incredible cup of coffee. If I were to ever run my own coffee shop this would be forever on tap.
Until next time.
Take care of yourselves and others.
Much love.
-Tyler
Danger Mouse is a living legend. He's multi-instrumentalist/ producer with a unique signature sound. He has worked with Jack White, Black Keys. He's half of Gnarls Barkley and Broken Bells. Karen-O, Norah Jones, Michael Kiwanuka, MF Doom. The list keeps going. Check out his Wikipedia page. He became famous in the early 2000's for creating a mash-up of the Beatles' White Album with Jay-Z's Black Album. The Grey Album . It was brilliant. Black Thought is the lead vocalist and rapper for the Roots, one of my favorite bands. Known for his prolific songwriting skills, constructing intricate and meaningful wordplay. His raps are powerful and poetic. Like a boxer.