Dear reader,
Hi! It’s Derrick.
How are you?
Some of you are new subscribers (welcome), most of you are from my past super essay days (those were the days…) - to one and all, welcome!
If I may start with this - I value your time and your inbox so this edition is going to be MEATY (or mushroomy, depending on your preferences). I paused on my long essays a while back because I was doing a bit too much, but I wanted to send a newsletter to update you on everything that’s going on in my world, and things I think you’ll be interested to check out. Including:
Newsletter exclusive: revealing all the guests coming up on my podcast
Albums I recommend you check out
Updates from my radio show
A recap of some videos, articles and interviews you might have missed
Shall we? We shall.
Speaks Volumes
On the 16th of May I relaunched my podcast, renaming it Speaks Volumes (FKA Derrick Gee Speaks Volumes), rebranded it and introduced my audience to a ten part interview series, speaking to the creatives and world builders who make a unique contribution to music culture. It was rebranded by follower and now friend Jonny Sikov.
The series is half way through. I’m really proud of the series thus far - the depth of conversation and the diversity of the guests. You can listen to them all here or via YouTube. Here’s who I’ve spoken to so far:
A beautiful human who offered to play me unreleased Aphex Twin and Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) if I ever visited him at his studio. Brian is a composer and music supervisor who’s most well known for supervising and composing Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides, Hannibal and Friday Night Lights. I loved hearing his stories of how he constructed each soundscape, and the intriguing realities of sourcing music for an 18th century period piece.
The 23-year-old singer-songwriter-producer from London who has been tapped by Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Coldplay to be the next big thing. I opened the podcast by saying that I’m a huge fan of her music - a version of pop that is beautiful, mature and complex. I wanted to dig into the mind of a young person teetering on the edges of superstardom, on how she thinks, writes and feels her music. She’s wise beyond her years and was a pleasure to get to know her.
More inspiring young people! Tinzo and Jojo are siblings who launched their YouTube channel Book Club Radio just over a year ago to broadcast their New York house parties and practice DJing. A year later, they’ve built a global community of music lovers who love to party in an unpretentious, escapist fashion. Their goals are pure and have evolved the stage set by Boiler Room, taking it to a new and more inclusive place.
A few months ago I had the hypothesis that the LA producer Machinedrum innovated a style of electronic hip hop that is now heard the world over. That hypothesis connected me with him, and we sat down at Ace Hotel Sydney to explore his journey, the 2010’s New York electronic scene and his now 20 year discography.
The most popular and resonant of the episodes thus far - Harry Styles’ creative director and formerly that of FKA Twigs, The XX (via label Young Turks). I sat down with her in her home in Pasadena, where she opened up about artistry, expression and connection, and how she works tirelessly to help realise the vision of some of the world’s most influential artists.
Aaaand - revealing to newsletter subscribers only - the forthcoming guests on Speaks Volumes!
Episode 6: Kyle Chayka (20 June)
New Yorker staff writer and author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. As someone who obsessively analyses culture on the internet, and me, someone who contributes to it - we had a fun conversation about the golden years of the internet and being swept in and out on the algorithmic tide.
Episode 7: Alexandra Streliski (27 June)
I sat down with Canadian neo-classical pianist and composer Alexandra Streliski to unpack and understand the new wave of classical music, the nuances of touring and turning up to a new piano at every venue, and the necessity and absurdity of sub-genres.
Episode 8: Nick Dwyer (4 July)
Director and documentarian, Nick Dwyer is currently doing the festival runs with his documentary A Century in Sound - a series dedicated to documenting the people behind some of Japan’s most iconic kissa cafes aka listening bars. A student and fan of the subculture, we spoke about the nuances of the culture and the rise of “Japanese inspired” listening bars in the west.
Episode 9: Nicholas Daley (11 July)
I’ll be 100% honest with you - this one hasn’t been recorded yet, so if it’s a nine episode series you’ll know why haha. The British fashion design sits between the intersection of fashion, British diaspora and music cultures, I’m excited to chat to Nicholas about how he expresses sound through fabric.
Episode 10: Willo Perron (18 July)
One of the design icons of the music industry - Willo is a creative and design director who has worked with everyone from Rihanna to Kanye to Drake on their immersive and expansive stage designs. With a long history in music and design, Willo tells the most inspiring and fun stories about some of the biggest artist projects of his career.
An all star cast if I say so myself!!! I hope you like (or have been enjoying) the conversations so far.
Four Albums to Get Into
For your consideration, here are a few albums worth your time (and that I’ve spent time with recently).
musclecars: Sugar Honey Iced Tea! (2024) [Apple / Spotify / Tidal]
A combination of spiritual neo-soul and jazzy house - the debut album from New York DJ/producer duo musclecars.
Mk.gee - Two Star & The Dream Police (2024) [Apple / Spotify / Tidal]
This album is going to be considered important in years to come - believe me. A fusion of Arthur Russell, Phil Collins, Jai Paul, James Blake, Sting and Frank Ocean - Mk.gee (pronounced McGee) has made an immediate impact on the alternative art-rock scene - with every budding guitarist desperately attempting to emulate his baritone electric guitar sound.
Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio/Pharaoh Sanders - Africa N’da Blues (2000) [Apple / Spotify / Tidal]
A lesser known jazz record that pairs up drummer Kahil El’Zabar with late icon Pharaoh Sanders. The resulting album is a dance of rhythms and cultures - covering standards and solos oh so effortlessly.
a.s.o - a.s.o (2023) [Apple / Spotify / Tidal]
Likely a one-and-done record from Berlin based Australian duo a.s.o, comprised of DJ/producer Tornado Wallace and singer Alias Error. Throwback and lofi trip hop (a genre very much on the rise), this one is an easy recommendation to those wanting something underground and vibey.
Air, Solid
Did you know I host a weekly video radio show called Solid Air? So far this year I’ve done themed episodes (house, international covers, new wave, Habibi Funk, jazz, International Women’s Day, J Dilla) and spent a lot of time tinkering and improving the set up of it. I really think it has come a long way and I’m proud to bring this to a dedicated community of music lovers - people pay for this show so I put in a lot of work to make it as high quality as possible! Check out the progression from August last year (launch) til now.
If you like, you can sign up for a free trial via Patreon here. You get:
A weekly video radio show (also available as an audio/podcast app stream)
Added to my close friends feed on Instagram
Speaks Volumes 24hrs before everyone else
And finally - ICYMI
I put out a lot of things so I wouldn’t blame you if you missed a few of them. Here are some of my highlighted picks!
Short video: Dua Lipa and her digital marketing strategy
Short video: 91 year old Meg and the fotoplayer
DJ Set: The Lot Radio Brooklyn (and highlights video)
Interview: Fun with Dumb podcast
Article: The New Yorker - The New Generation of Online Culture Curators
That’s everything! Appreciate you reading and don’t worry - I haven’t forgot about this newsletter! I’ve been mulling over how to come back to this in a way that doesn’t take me days and tens of thousands of words to write haha. Miss you. But hey, as you can tell - I’ve been busy!
Much love and all that.
Derrick
yessss derrick UPDATES! so many i’m sweating 😅! oh so glad i found this on a friday. i’ll need the next 50+ hrs to catch up on the goodies i missed. every episode blurb is so compelling. wow, book club radio sounds inspiring! their manifesto 💯 thanks for mk.gee! (yet to dig into the rest)
always love passion and finesse in all that you do!