As some of you—too many, no doubt—are aware, things in Akron, OH, are...not great right now, especially if you're young, unarmed, severely depressed, and Black.
A week ago, as I write this, eight members of the Akron Police Department shot at a fleeing Jayland Walker. In total, they discharged ninety rounds (at least), hitting Walker sixty times. To say it is not surprising that Walker was found dead at the scene is something of an understatement. Body cam footage released yesterday shows that many of those shots were fired after Walker was already down—possibly after he was already dead. The cops just. kept. firing.
We should pause here to note for the record that Jayland Walker was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the first young, unarmed Black man killed by Akron police this year. This murder, by dint of the egregious number of rounds fired and the number of officers involved in the incident, just happens to be the highest-profile. But make no mistake, mah dude, Indiana ain't got nothing on Akron. The difference is that, in general, when you hear about people dying by gunfire in places like Indiana, it's usually one civilian pulling the trigger on another. Here, when you hear about gun violence, you're conditioned to wait to hear the nearly inevitable revelation that the perp carries a badge.
The streets have been tense this week, for obvious reasons, and there have been protest marches daily in different parts of town organized by Serve the People Akron and The Freedom Bloc, two local activist organizations I highly recommend following on social media if you're local (and maybe even if you're not). Being the chronically disabled, but not yet wheelchair bound (which would make it a lot easier, tbh) roustabout that I am, I'm not a big one for marching. So I turned around and did something I normally do. Any proceeds from the sale of this work between its release date and the end of 2022 will be split 50-50 between Serve the People Akron and The Freedom Bloc.
Two powerelectronics legends (both of whom are over a decade younger than I am and have gone farther than I ever will in this game) come together for their quietest, most ominous outing. Pristine. XTerminal
Cavernous electronic music that is pitch black and terrifically unsettling, this is the kind of thing that would score a xenomorph rave. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 22, 2022
Acclaimed ambient artist Lawrence English and Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart plumb the liminal zone between sleep and waking. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 19, 2021
The latest from the aptly-named bleak lives in the dark valley between musique concrete & power electronics, stark and harrowing. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 19, 2021