L sent me this a couple of weeks back. It took me a while to get around to it but since first playing, it's been on repeat. He's in Bethlehem, holding out, in prison in his own land. Strength to you

A and I both remarked at how long it had been since we sat with a friend and actively listened to music. Actively listening to music feels like exercise sometimes in that one tends to avoid doing it. But once you do it feels beautiful, you are helping your body to align with the frequencies. We had a beautiful meal, fattoush, kufte in tray, and kibbe nayeh.

First thing these days when hanging out with friends is trying and failing to comprehend the disaster that continues to unfold in Palestine and Lebanon, the barbarity of the Israeli Occupation Forces and the tragedy of death and trauma on a scale and in a detail that just dismays. Learning to live whilst these events unfold is not easy, but we both appreciated sharing the time, eating good food, relating with one another and listening.

Recently with L we remembered how good Dawn Of Midi were, then they showed me Goat, from Japan. Simillarly A is really into the wild polyrhythmic patterns and showed me Dream Theatre and Archive. We went through a lot of different music showing each other things with the polyrhythmic appreciation in mind.

We ended the night on with Dhafer Youssef, then Promises, by Pharoah Sanders, Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra. We listened in silence and the piece demands of you when you listen. a last prayer.

i remember when mike showed us this piece, we were sat in vidas apartment on a cold floor staring into the walls, the lights. must have been nine or ten years ago. the piece stayed with me. it was something i only ever could turn to in memory, the orginial YT upload being no-longer findable.

today it just appered again. so wierd. there must have been countless occasions where i've looked for this piece. i've cried to this piece, found solace, rejoiced. gazed

'the hardest thing i've ever done thingi'veeverdone thingi'veeverdone

is keep beleiving keepbeleivingbeleiving

theres someone beleivingkeeptheressomeone

beleivingin this crazy world thiscrazyworldthiscrazywolrdthiscrasyworld

for me e e e e

I came across a a phone video of Dj olive spinning two duplicates of this piece by the 'Carpenters - I Need To Be In Love'. Olive spins them over and over creating this hypnotic phrase. I can't find the video any more since years, but luckily I have a rip of the track on my PC, otherwise it would be lost to me . Here's the rip :

here's the original track by (the?) Carpenters: