Hivemind Times Issue #62

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

Top of the morning for most of you lazy bastards. I’m just joking I’m probably not even up yet myself. Hope all is ok for each of you dear reader. I know it’s fucked up out there but hey I like to imgaine you all trying your very best. 

Hope Bits Bracket 4 provided some amount of solace and if those four hours weren’t enough there was a little desert over on Unlimited in the form of Guess the Album From the Rate Your Music Review. How Did It Age will also be returning this Sunday for all my film heads. 

Also this week we had the very special moment of attending the Quadecca tour that is being opened up by the one and only Rozey. This was just an amazing experience to see those great men grace the legendary stage of El Club here in the southwest of Detroit, Copes was nice enough to share some silly photos of the start of tour with us. If they are swinging through your city please be sure to go see them. 

Anywho have a great weekend readers and enjoy the slop!

- Riley & Graydon

MOVIE REVIEW

Messiah of Evil directed by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz (1974)

This is just a straight up recommendation for everyone looking for something a little outside the regular spooky season films. This shit is 70s to the core and the aesthetic alone is worth the watch.

But if you watched and loved Weapons this year like I did, I would definitely tune into this asap. It is a whole town going bonkers off some sort of undefined evil that has some of the most insane scenes I’ve ever done seen. Really awesome and truly fucking freaky.

- Graydon

WHAT’S THE BEST WEAPON FOR A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?

ALBUM RECS

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POEM OF THE WEEK

T.S Elliot 
The Hippoptomus

The broad-backed hippopotamus
Rests on his belly in the mud;
Although he seems so firm to us
He is merely flesh and blood.

Flesh-and-blood is weak and frail,
Susceptible to nervous shock;
While the True Church can never fail
For it is based upon a rock.

The hippo's feeble steps may err
In compassing material ends,
While the True Church need never stir
To gather in its dividends.

The 'potamus can never reach
The mango on the mango-tree;
But fruits of pomegranate and peach
Refresh the Church from over sea.

At mating time the hippo's voice
Betrays inliexions hoarse and odd,
But every week we hear rejoice
The Church, at being one with God.

The hippopotamus's day
Is passed in sleep; at night he hunts;
God works in a mysterious way-
The Church can sleep and feed at once.

I saw the 'potamus take wing
Ascending from the damp savannas,
And quiring angels round him sing
The praise of God, in loud hosannas.

Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold.

He shall be washed as white as snow,
By all the martyr'd virgins kiss,
While the True Church remains below
Wrapt in the old miasmal mist.

LIVE SHOW REVIEW

Shots of the Rozey tour by Copes

THIS WEEK IN MUSIC

Hey y’all it’s Ro!

D’Angelo passed away this week at the age of 51 after a private battle with pancreatic cancer. This is one of the biggest losses we could’ve faced. 

If you’re not familiar with D’Angelo, he was regarded as a key figure in the Neo-Soul movement and a founding member of the Soulquarians, though both of those terms are just broad categorizations used to group certain artists that were operating in similar genres and/or vibes in the same studios. 

He was his own thing. 

D’Angelo was a vocalist, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and all around artistic genius. His music entered my life around half a decade ago thanks to the recommendation of my friend Grady, and hasn’t left since. It’s scored many moments of my life - containing multitudes of emotion, collapsing thoughts and worlds into grooves and pockets.

The key word with D’Angelo was feel. His music felt like no other recordings - there’s a loose, slippery quality to his work, like all of the pieces are locking into place just in time. Sort of like there’s a cosmic party going on, and you’ve arrived at the perfect moment. There’s nothing else like it, truly. No other recording artist since has captured the same sonic atmospheres - it was a feat of musical heroism in the truest sense.

If you’re looking for a seminal album to introduce yourself to his work, look no further than Voodoo. Featuring a murderer’s row of collaborators (Questlove, Roy Hargrove, Charlie Hunter, Rafael Saadiq, Pino Palladino, DJ Premiere, Q-Tip, Method Man) and a synthesis of seminal black American music - from the delta blues to jazz to soul to gospel to hip-hop to the harmonic acrobatics of Stevie Wonder and the vocal virtuosity of Prince - Voodoo is one of the all time “headphones” albums: a complete audial universe unto itself. Every mix is fine tuned, each element perfectly placed in the sonic world, pumping the musical engine with sloppy, groovy fuel. 

A delicate house of cards, with each track holding its timbre and harmonic role like a structural duty. It’s one of the greatest albums of all time, up there for me with Songs in the Key of Life and To Pimp a Butterfly. A tremendous feat of cultural, artistic, and personal accomplishment wrapped in an approachable package that resonated with popular culture.

It’s hard to size up the loss in front of us - D’Angelo was one of music’s great elusive masterminds, with a career launched at 21 years old with Brown Sugar and closed in 2014 with the sublime Black Messiah, on paper his three album discography doesn’t communicate the breadth of his influence. Almost nothing can, though. The only thing that can is turning on his music, cranking it all the way up, and listening close. 

Rest in peace to one of the true geniuses of my lifetime, and one of the greatest musicians to ever walk this earth. 

With all the love and respect I could ever muster: Long live D’Angelo.

- Ro Ramdin

MERCH