Happy Friday, everybody!
Figured I'd try something new this week that I can (hopefully) keep going on the regular. What you'll see below is pretty simple: a quote, a link to something interesting, a good tweet, something good to listen to, and something worth watching.
I'll still periodically share the longer-form or more thematic newsletters, but this might be a fun way to show up in your inbox every week (every Friday?) and keep that good content coming.
If you like this format, drop me a line or, better yet, click the title that takes you to the Substack page and hit the "like" button because that somehow juices the content algorithm. Or something.
I'm not sure yet if I'll do audio versions of these—for example, describing a tweet is possible the worst type of audio content possible. But there might be a way.
OK: to the content!
LINK
How Going Home Helped Inspire Leon Bridges's New Album—And Saved His Life [Texas Monthly]
I love Leon Bridges, in large part because of how he and his sound evolved after the dusty retro soul of his debut album. (That’s not an easy task when you’ve been pigeonholed from day one, and so thoroughly.) This is a lengthy and personal profile of he man—and his new album Gold-Diggers Sound, which is out today!
TWEET
LISTEN
CDW is the Toronto singer-songwriter who's had a fantastic run of singles and EPs, while collaborating with the likes of Kaytranada, Daniel Ceasar, BADBADNOTGOOD, and others. Now she's here with her full-length debut, and it's been on constant rotation for me since it dropped last week. Equal parts soulful, poignant, but it all comes down to her deep, brooding voice.
WATCH
Investigation: How TikTok's Algorithm Figures Out Your Deepest Desires [Wall Street Journal]
WSJ does a deep dive on TikTok's algorithm. If you think the platform serves you up content as if it's straight from your inner-monologue, boyyyyyyyy you have no idea. In sometimes as little as 45 minutes, TikTok "knows" you. Your deep deep interests and insecurities. TikTok does not tap into your mic or your browser history. And it doesn't need to. Give this 13-minute deep dive a watch.
QUOTE
“The leader will lean into one of his close aides and whisper, ‘Who is this fella again? Who is this guy?’ And the aide will go, ‘He’s the guy we’ve been talking about, he wrote all the tunes.’ Then I’ll say, ‘Anyway, what are you after? Do you want to buy some records?’”