Work Success Doesn't Mean Everything Is Rosy
Last one for the year...
Welcome back (at last) to Music Is The Answer, a newsletter written by myself, Marcus Barnes. All being well, I shall revive this newsletter in the new year after a loonnnng break. I had planned to take a month out when I moved house back in September but that turned into a few months due to a combination of stress, work and various complications and distractions that broke my stride. Seeing as the year is about to draw to a close I thought I’d make some time to put together one last edition before 2021 kicks in…
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The Year
It’s been brutal and savage at times, as it has for most people who aren’t billionaires, and I have to say the amount of work I’ve managed to put out belies the anguish and trauma that has been going on behind the scenes. In other words, don’t think that just because I’ve done a lot of great work this year that I haven’t had a ton of bad luck and intensely challenging situations going on in my personal life. It might look like rainbows and unicorns on my social media platforms but my work successes are not an accurate portrayal of my actual life.
That said, work has been one of the few things that kept me afloat these past nine months or so. If I’d never had all of the amazing commissions that came my way in 2020 I wonder if I’d still be here. April in particular was a ferociously difficult month and I was probably the most depressed I’ve been since my teens; wishing I was dead and thinking about how I could make that happen on an almost daily basis. All of this came off the back of a serious bout of depression after the birth of my daughter in June 2019, so it’s actually been 18 months in total. Talking therapy helped a lot (twice), and thankfully I haven’t felt as bad as that since, though it’s still been a daily battle to keep my mental health (just about) in shape for most of the year.
When I sit down and think about it, I can’t believe how much work I actually managed to get done. As well as all of the articles, virtual panels, podcasts and so on, I also did quite a lot of copywriting and behind-the-scenes work (plus I was doing fortnightly newsletters for a while, and being a dad and all that normal life stuff). I guess channeling my angst into my work was a way of coping with all of the uncertainty, the almost constant bad news, the stress, the feelings of being trapped and suffocated, the series of massive blows that myself and my family were dealt from March to June, and the repercussions of those unfortunate incidents. For some people it was all too much and they couldn’t focus on work at all, for me it was the catalyst behind a highly productive year, both ideas and graft-wise.
None of this would have been possible without all of the people who commissioned me (I’ll list them below, along with some of the other people who got me through the year) and I’m acutely aware that some of work I got this year was due to what happened with George Floyd and the subsequent BLM ‘awakening’. I’ll save my thoughts on that for another day, but I am genuinely very grateful that the resulting increase in awareness meant that more work was sent my way. It’s nice that people thought of me and I was able to put all my years of experience into some really meaty journalism, which I’ve always dreamed of doing.
I’ll finish here, and say a big big THANKYOU to everyone who signed up to my newsletter, every person who emailed me with feedback, everyone who commented on my socials and everyone I’ve interacted with throughout the year (even the trolls).
Special thanks to:
R.O.S.H.
Chandler Shortlidge
Ben Beaumont-Thomas & Laura Snapes
Seb Wheeler & Patrick Hinton
Jeremy Abbot
Aaron Coultate
Anja Madhvani
Isabelle Aron
Katie Bain & Alexei Barrionuevo
Ursula Kenny
Catherine Gray
Cherie Hu
Rhiannon Edwards
Rachael Francis
Colin Steven
What Got Me Through The Year
I thought I’d share some links to a few of the things that got me through the year; from comedians to mixes, there were quite a lot of things (and people) that had a positive influence on my state of mind and kept me trudging through the darkness.
Comedians:
Mo Gilligan
Elsa Majimbo
Bob Mortimer
Munya Chawawa
Jordan Firstman
Dog accounts on Instagram:
lnstagrampuppy
Doggothingz
Doggos Addiction
Mixes:
Mr G’s Podcast Series (Sadly most of these aren’t online anymore)
VBX #14 - Podcast by Dj Masda
Ghostcast 005: Gene On Earth
Leighton Moody b2b Cassiem Latief for Boiler Room
Nicolas Lutz at Phonotheque Nov 2019
Nick Martinelli Tribute Mix (One of my FAVOURITE producers of all time)
Omar for My Own Jupiter
Angela Rose: Saturn Return
90s Dancehall Mix by DJ Easy
Kleeer YouTube Mix (Absolutely amazing mix of soul and funk grooves)
Dwson for Hallo Montag
Lady Sakhe @ Deep Soul Sensation
DJ Inter’s Kwaito Mix
Sef Kombo & Kitty Amor Live - July 2020
Sef Kombo & Kitty Amor Live - June 2020
Hernan Catteneo Sunset Strip Buenos Aires seven-hour (I spent about a month listening to every Hernan Cattaneo mix I could find!)
Total Science Vol 2 (Tons of great 90s DnB mixes on this channel)
Fabio (Liquid Set) D&BTV: Locked In
Hak Baker - Misfits (Unplugged)
Russ SMG Cypher | BL@CKBOX [4k] | Russ X Taze X LR X Oboy
Tunes:
2Pac & Snoop Dogg - Gangsta Party
Fellowship - Coming On Strong
The Jones Girls - Nights Over Egypt
Mala - Alicia
Nicole - Runnin’ Away (E-Smoove House Dub)
G Club Presents Banda Sonora - Guitarra G
The Other People Place - Let Me Be Me
Wayne Wonder - Informer
24 Hour Experience - Not Gonna Let Ya
The Revolutionaries - Kunta Kinte
Dwson - WTYSL (with IDEH)
51 Days - Paper Moon
Jerk House Connection - Each & Every Day (Rocco Deep Mix)
Aril Brikha - Room 337
Aux88 - My Aux Mind
Yazoo - Don’t Go
Drexciya - Black Sea
Bad Company UK - Rush Hour (Sonic & Silver Remix)
Luke Hess & Jeff Hess - Most High
Hak Baker - Tom
BIG SHOUT to the 2trancentral, Ambiance, UKGARAGECLASSIC, Progressive and MrW00d YouTube channels.
I spent the first few months of the year with Aril Brikha’s albums on repeat, as well as the playlists below, which I made when I was still using Spotify… AND THIS —> Erykah Badu x Jill Scott Verzuz
Bukem Style DnB
My Eighties Jams
Freestyle
Electro Electro Electroooo
Funk, Soul & Disco Grooves
That’s a mere fraction of the vast, vast amount of music that got me through the year, some of which I shared in previous newsletters…
Celebrating Maselfs
Following on from what I said above, I’d like to celebrate myself for having such a ridiculously productive year. Here’s a run down of my work, in case you’d like to read, listen to or watch anything.
"We come to dance": Motherland is the epicentre of London’s afro house movement
'It's a tough island to live on': why coronavirus spells doom for Ibiza
From Germany to Detroit and back: how Kraftwerk forged an industrial exchange
VIDEO: (Panel) Impact, Innovation + Action for the Experience Economy
Beirut's destroyed clubbing district: 'I don't know how we will recover'
Pandemic Parties - A comprehensive look into the legal raves held during the summer
How Drexicya reimagined slavery to create an afrofuturist utopia
The Beneficiaries: "We are resistance artists, techno is resistance music"
Ibiza's Empty Dance Floors & Secret Parties: In Europe's Clubbing Capitol, The Summer That Wasn't - This one’s behind a paywall I’m afraid…
I also did a fair amount of work in the sober community…
VIDEO: (Panel) Working with the whole person: alcohol, mental health and complex needs (This is behind a paywall, but you get access to all of the conference content)
Aaaaand I contributed to a few books:
The Unexpected Joy Of The Ordinary (Did a little piece on parenting for this one)
Knowledge Magazine 25th anniversary book (Hosted a panel, which became a feature in this one)
Junior Tomlin: Flyer & Cover Art (Wrote 98% of the words for this one)
Bedroom Beats & B-Sides (Edited this one)
Radio: Plus you can listen back to all my radio shows via this link —> Netil Radio
There’s a lot more to come next year, so watch this space…
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In the meantime, tell your friends!