I was intrigued that even with its liberal spray of sugar, Cerro is adamant it is not hyperpop. However, it is clearly inspired by the genre. Maybe what Montaigne is not is simple and straight-forward. That I found interesting is that although the album is not very long, its frenetic nature means that there is so much to dig into.
Montaigne has provided the stories behind the tracks.
Stepping comfortably into somewhat new territory for the-artist-also-known-as Jess Cerro, leaning more to a kind of burbling, low impact electronica intersecting with shiny floor pop that doesn’t so much sprinkle the sugar as spray it liberally (in other words, a kind of hyperpop), these songs have the kind of in-built momentum that make actual tempos secondary.
Where on Cerro’s previous records, the music would serve to uplift their vaudevillian prose, here it’s just as crucial. The bitcrushed percussion and wonky keys on ‘SickCryDie’ let the listener feel the pangs of anxiety Cerro depicts in their lyrics, reckoning with the impact trauma has on a blossoming relationship. And without its angular collision of wonky tropical house beats and garish brightness, ‘JC Ultra’ – a biting critique of major label ethics in the form of an instructional guide on becoming a “vessel for the pro-alien agenda” – would just feel cheesy.
Cerro has called making it! “neurotic computer music”. In fact, they were largely inspired by their beloved video games. “I really wanted to have that influence the sounds that were chosen on the record.” But, working closely with producer Dave Hammer (Lime Cordiale), Cerro similarly latched onto the exploding hyperpop genre, citing SOPHIE, Charlie XCX and Caroline Polachek. “Both of us were really excited by those sounds and found them really addictive and really good to listen to.”
Place between Charli XCX and Architecture in Helsinki.
Another month and another change to the team at work. Why is it that everyone seems to have had such amazing lives? The new manager at work ran a 10 hour charity music conference in his spare time. I am often happy if I have done the washing and got food on the table, I clearly need to work harder on my pitch.
On the family front, we went on our first holiday post-COVID to country Victoria. It was interesting returning to various places with children. I think it is fair to say wine tasting and children do not always match.
Personally, I finally got around to loading Linux on my old Macbook Pro and Chromebook. Other than the ability to run music applications, I am pretty happy and not missing a think. I continued my dive back into books listening to Thomas More’s Utopia, Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. I also nostalgically binged The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. (Was this really made for children?) In regards to music, Montaigne’s Making It has been on repeat.
Here then are some of the other dots that have had me thinking:
Education
The Tricky Ethics of Being a Teacher on TikTok
Amelia Tate considers the place of TikTok in the classroom. She discusses the trend of content created about and even with students.
The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books
Leslie Jamison dives back into the world of the Choose Your Own Adventure book series.
Unbeaching the whale – The education revolution failed — and so did its way of thinking
Dean Ashenden reflects on the failure of Gonski and the education revolution.
Timetable Absurdity
Cameron Paterson discusses the way in which schools are still held hostage by the timetable.
I want, I wish, I hope, I dream
David Truss shares an activity where he creates a portrait wall with a want, a wish, a hope or a dream underneath it.
Technology
After Self-Hosting My Email for Twenty-Three Years, I have Thrown In the Towel. The Oligopoloy has Won.
Carlos Fenollosa reflects on the demise of self-hosted email. One of the main reasons he argues for the failure is the crude blacklisting of large swaths of email, rather than a penalty process.
We Spoke With the Last Person Standing in the Floppy Disk Business
Niek Hilkmann and Thomas Walskaar interview Tom Persky about the dying art of maintaining floppy disks.
Interoperable Facebook
Cory Doctorow unpacks how an interoperable Facebook might work.
Tech Fear-Mongering Isn’t New—But It’s Time to Break the Cycle
Jason Feifer provides insight into Amy Orben’s four-step Sisyphean cycle of technology panics.
We need to deal with data privacy in our classrooms
Bonnie Stewart reflects upon the online learning with the return to the classroom in a post-COVID world.
AI’s dark arts come into their own
Alex Hern discusses the dark-side to the magic of artificial intelligence.
General
Electric Bike, Stupid Love of My Life
Craig Mod shares his passion for electric bikes.
After Queen Elizabeth II’s death, Indigenous Australia can’t be expected to shut up. Our sorry business is without end
With the passing of Queen Elizabeth, Stan Grant considers legacy of colonisation for indigenous people around the world.
Music on the brain: Listening can influence our brain’s activity
Abdullah Iqbal unpacks some of the research into the benefits of music on the brain.
Ark Head
In order to survived the battered psyche, Venkatesh Rao explains that way have resorted to the ‘ark head’ mental model. This involves giving up on solving the world’s ills and simply hiding in our ark.
The credibility of science is damaged when universities brag about themselves
Adrian Lenardic and Johnny Seales argue that the rewarding of attention economy has corrupted scientific research.
Florence Nightingale Was Born 197 Years Ago, and Her Infographics Were Better Than Most of the Internet’s
Celebrating the birth of , Cara Giaimo discusses Florence Nightingale’s impact in regards to the spread of ideas, not just as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’.
Read Write Respond #080
So that was September for me, how about you? As always, hope you are safe and well.
Image by Bryan Mathers
I was not sure what to expect from seeing Montaigne live at the Corner Hotel. Personally, I was interested in how Making It! would translate to the stage. Although it was the Making It! tour, I did not expect the album to be played straight-through. The point made was that was how it was meant to be appreciated as an album, therefore this is how it was to be played.
In regards to the intricacies of the album or guest performances, these were covered by pre-recorded tracks, something that has become common in the evolution of music performance, or substitutes, with Montgomery stepping in for David Byrne in always be you. The set also closed with ‘the hits’.
The official set time was to finish at 11:20, but Montaigne provided a track-by-track breakdown in-between each track. This included discussions of Pat, failed concept album and the music industry. This blew the set out to 12:00.
One of the other things that I was looking forward to seeing were the support acts. Both Montgomery and Molly Millington were solo acts, supported by pre-recorded tracks, sequencers or guitar. I remember seeing Twinkle Digitz thinking that the all-in-one setup was somewhat quaint. However, it now occurs to me that the support gig comes with certain conditions. I have been at the Corner before where they utilise both the main stage and the smaller stage, but there are challenges which changing over. It made me wonder about the impact on what is possible. For example, I could imagine Montgomery being a band experience, similar to say Chvrches. I feel that I now appreciate Sylvan Esso’s WITH tour. It also makes me think about the way in which Jake Webb reimagines Methyl Ethel for different contexts.
Inspired by Daði Freyr’s collaboration with Montaigne, I took a dive into his music. I really enjoyed Welcome, but wanted more. This led me to watching quite a few live clips, including Jam in the Van, performance for Vogue, live at Lowlands and performance of Eurovision Songs.
Other than the fact that the music is infectious, I think I like Freyr’s humour and humble nature the most.
Place between Calvin Harris and Twinkle Digitz.
Montaigne’s first fully independent album it’s hard to be a fish is a strange, tender epic – a record about family, survival, disconnection, and the…