The new music that I remember the best from 2020…

Francesca Amati – Shelters

I discovered the Italian duo Comaneci at the Fanø Free Folk Festival in 2010 (here’s my video from that) where their soft intensity struck an instant chord with me. Got to meet them back then and once more in Aarhus later to experience these wonderful people a bit outside their music. At the tenth Fanø Free Folk Festival in 2019 the band returned to the small Danish island of Fanø to play two great concerts at the festival – now as a trio with a drummer.

Then in 2020 corona happened and the band’s singer Francesca Amati (also part of the band Amycanbe) posted on her Facebook page that she had recorded an album of cover songs at home. The only way to get it was by sending an e-mail to akamerecords@gmail.com and then pay 10 euro. A great way to support an amazing artist. But no streaming. Not even a download via Bandcamp. She wanted to “preserve the idea of a limited sharing”. I only knew a few of the original songs before-hand (like “Come Wander” and “The Last Kind Words”). But Francesca manages to make the songs her own, so they feel more like original songs. 

The titles are: Ain’t No Lie, Come Wander, Dead Flowers, Halfway To A Threeway, I’m Satisfied, If I Could Only Be Sure, L’Appuntamento, Little Boxes, May This Be Love, Sunshine Girl, Surrounded By Diamonds, The Last Kind Words, Turn Me On, Worry, You Have To Be Joking. Do they ring a bell?

All recorded in an intimate setting which is clearly felt when listening. Kudos to recordist and fellow musician Mattia Coletti who managed to capture these songs perfectly. If you like quiet, acoustic songs with a soft voice that somehow at the same time contains a certain intensity, you should not hesitate to check out this album. And the only way is to send that e-mail. No window shopping.

Stick In The Wheel – Hold Fast

Yet another discovery from the Fanø Free Folk Festival. This time in 2019. Stick In The Wheel is a British folk group that manages to find a perfect balance between the traditional and the contemporary. They feel like they come from a different place than most in that genre. At Fanø they played a great gig with both melodic and repetitive songs with perfect looping folk-bluesy riffs.

The day after they took part in a talk where Nicola Kearey and Ian Carter of the band presented their “English Folk Field Recordings” project. Here it was sort of confirmed that they were not like most “folk musicians”. Ian – who I had a nice chat with afterwards – revealed that his musical origins actually were in the British electronic rave scene. A fact making plenty of sense hearing “Hold Fast”, released in 2020, which besides acoustic guitar etc. also includes four-on-the-floor beats, synths and even autotune/vocoder vocals (and hallelujah, the vocals don’t suck because of it! A rare event). Yet… it does not sound like “techno”. They have hit the mark with their own flavour and I see they also deservedly have the raving (ha!) album reviews to prove it. I don’t understand the album cover, I must admit, but it doesn’t take away from the music. Stream and/or buy it at Bandcamp or any good music vendor.

Aphty Khéa – Alerta (Digital Single)

In 2020 I for a short moment revived my bluetooth radio Libratone Zipp Mini (possibly the single most incessantly frustrating piece of technology I have ever owned). Exploring the seemingly infinite number of radio stations around the world. Tuning into some small station in deep Africa or far Asia for a laugh, but then remembering the UK urban dance station Rinse FM.

In one of their programmes one track made me stop in my tracks. Completely. Berlin-based female Greek electronic artist Aphty Khéa’s “Alerta”. A beat that went in all the other directions than the usual tired electronica traits and with a ghostly melody. Felt very unique. Couldn’t make out the words. Soon discovered it was a political track – as is very evident in the music video for it (but I suggest experiencing the sound first without the imagery, because it colors it). For some reason it got me thinking of German-Venezualan musician Niobe because of the worldly flavours weaved in.

The proceeds made from the track sold on Bandcamp goes to the Legal Aid Team, “a solidarity collective of pro-bono activist lawyers based in Athens, who take on the court cases of detained protesters and victims of police repression.”

This Is The Kit – Off Off On

My own discovery of UK folk band This Is The Kit is a bit of a peculiar journey. I blame the band name. I remember reading an interesting description of them on the Aarhus venue Atlas’ website in the spring of 2018 and went to check them out. Great gig. Sounded a little familiar in places. Then it dawned on me that I had already seen them at the Haven Festival in Copenhagen in the summer of 2017. Was the name too odd to stick in my head? Or maybe I just experienced too many festival bands at once. At Atlas I also felt that the backing vocalist and bass player seemed familiar. The reason was that I had seen her solo at the wonderful Down By The River Festival in Berlin in the summer of 2014. Rozi Plain. It’s all connected, ha-ha!

This Is The Kit’s new album “Off Off On” continues to finetune the bands recognizable sound. Electric guitar, banjo, occasional repetitive rhythms that border on krautrock while still keeping it somewhat folky based around Kate Stables great voice (and Rozi to back her up). Their previous album “Moonshine Freeze” from 2017 is still my favourite of theirs, but there are plenty of reasons to check out their new one. Stream and/or get it at Bandcamp.

PJ Harvey – Various demo releases

2020 was a retrospective year for Polly Jean Harvey and her fans. We finally, finally saw the much needed vinyl reissue of “Rid Of Me”. We are currently somewhere in the middle of this ongoing reissue project that seems to follow the model of releasing the regular album (apparently not remastered?) and then an extra album of demos. Offering such extra insight into an artist of this caliber is always interesting. Intimate treasures well worth checking out. Also, I’m a sucker for things less polished and more immediate.
What we could wish for now is a collection of all her b-sides (I already have three collections of those on bootleg vinyl, because I cannot get the originals without going broke).

David Bowie – ChangesNowBowie

This came out officially in 2020 as part of Record Store Day, but actually I have been listening to this one since 1997. I remember taping it off the radio on my ghettoblaster when I lived in London for six months in 1996-1997 hence catching his 50th birthday which was celebrated in various ways. One such event was this wonderful acoustic session. Bootlegs of this have circulated for years. Some of which I already have. None with the great interviews between the songs, though. But those can be found online fairly easy. This official release does not have those either, but the sound is a bit better than the bootlegs, so worth getting your hands on.

2020 was also the year I finally got my big “Lazarus” bus stop-size theater poster framed and hung on the wall. So now Uncle David is watching over us.

Jan Sneum – Sneums Kalejdoskop

2020 was the year that we lost one of the most important champions of new talent – radio broadcaster Jan Sneum. For anyone outside Denmark the easy explanation is quoting whoever said that he was “the Danish John Peel”. Even though it was no surprise when it happened, as he had been battling terminal cancer for a while, I was saddened by his passing. Many were. In a superficial music and media business he was the real deal. The kindest person you can imagine and always genuinely curious about new music – including things from my small record label SOPA.

We crossed paths several times over the years and I fondly remember one such encounter at the Spot Festival one year where he had missed an off-festival gig with Sister Chain & Brother John the previous year, but he then told me that he had saved one of the nice posters we had put up and hung it on his wall at home. How sweet. More than once I saw him walking around the Spot Festival – crate diggin’ at the Route 66 / Black Light record store – with his fellow music journalist pal David Fricke of Rolling Stone Magazine.

Before he left he managed to produce a mammoth memoir – “Sneums Kalejdoskop” – chronicling his life with music since the early days interviewing rock stars and discovering new talent. Shooting lots of photos along the way as well. Documenting the early punk days in Denmark and much more.

I missed out on the first printing of the book which included a double LP with interviews chosen by himself mixed with newer Danish experimental music. Interesting chats with Lydia Lynch, Iggy Pop and many more. Luckily a second printing of the book was made after the first sold out. It only includes a download instead of LPs, but still a great piece of work. The warmth of both the analogue tape interviews (recorded in grassy corners of the Roskilde Festival) and Jan’s personality oozes from this release. A legend.

Thank you, Jan!

Buy the book and listen to the interviews at Bandcamp. 
Here is a nice review in Danish of the project.

The music I most remember listening to in 2020 was not made in that year…

There was a lot of material in Underworld‘s “Drift Series” 8-disc box set released in November of 2019 so it took a while for me to get through. And their batting average was pretty good on this one, so I kept listening to many of these tracks. From there on I zipped back and forth through their discography all the way back to “Dubnobasswithmyheadman”. But finally deciding that “Second Toughest In The Infants” is probably my favourite album with the band. That’s when I started listening to them and I was blown away by them at the Roskilde Festival in 1996.

I always listen to the Beastie Boys, but 2020 was the year where I dug even deeper in their full discography and rediscovered nice nuggets in the forgotten corners and found lots of inspiration.

In 2020 I also revisited some of Goldie, checked out that old grungy “Purple” by Stone Temple Pilots again, discovered Arab Strap-frontman Aidan Moffat’s Bandcamp page full of weird little releases as well as seeking out more 80s synth sounds from Mark Isham (like “Vapor Drawings“).

In 2020 David Byrne also went to Broadway with his “American Utopia” show – which I saw live at the Roskilde Festival in 2018 – and then brought a movie version to HBO and blu-ray. I have yet to sit down and watch the whole thing, but I am really looking forward.

Stuff that I probably will start digging more in 2021, because I came late to it in 2020…

Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage – Bad Wiring (2019)
Discovered his hilarious and spot-on song “LPs” (I can relate!) on a Rough Trade compilation I bought to get a track by Sinéad O’Brien which I couldn’t get anywhere else by now. Jeffrey has a nice direct and humorous style which goes a bit against a lot of what I listen to. Nice with some good vibes and energy for once.

Sinéad O’Brien – Drowning In Blessings EP (2020/2021)
Only a few limited vinyl EPs and singles released so far. I have discovered her one year too late to get my hands on them. I hope some of those tracks will show up on an eventual album release (but I bet they won’t). Was intrigued by the title track of the current EP. I do fear that I might tire of her quickly, as the style seems a bit one-trick sonically (yes, I know, she’s presented as a poet, so I should listen more to the words) and I have a problem with too much self-importance… and “poets” often land in that box quicker than most. But let’s see. Yet another discovery through the Norman Records newsletter. Music video.

Alabaster dePlume – To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 (2020)
Has the same saxophone sound as the Ethiopian jazz of the 60s and a smidge of those melody as well, but overall it’s more like instrumental folk music – yet, not really. I believe I came to the label behind this release via an EP project involving Rozi Plain. The album can be streamed and bought through Bandcamp – still the best place to get interesting new music and support artists properly.

Takashi Inagaki – Music for the Films of Takashi Ito (2020)
Discovered this through the Norman Records newsletter and I had to buy it fast as it was limited to 250 copies (and no digital release, it seems). First I checked out Ito’s short analogue art films and they blew my mind (check out “Thunder” and “Wall”). Quickly ordered a dvd of them and then the double LP of the soundtracks from Bandcamp. A double discovery!

David Bowie: Ouvrez Le Chien (Live Dallas 95) (2020)
David Bowie: No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95) (2020)
At least some good is coming out of the somewhat shameless pillaging of Bowie’s remains and flogging them at inflated prices. I thought he had prepared it all, so Iman could take care of his legacy to preserve it with dignity – but the minute his ashes (to ashes) were scattered in Bali the madness started. Did not expect that. Luckily a few (very few!) of the releases have been interesting enough to buy. As “Outside” is a criminally overlooked masterpiece in my humble opinion, I welcome more material from that time. But will we ever get the full improvised sessions? Tracklists: “Dallas” and “Birmingham” at Discogs.

The Birthday Party – various releases
I came to Nick Cave late. Knew him and some songs, but didn’t see a full concert with him until his “Push The Sky Away” tour. Then I got him. Bought most of it, but never made it all the way back to The Birthday Party days, because what little I had heard just sounded like a badly recorded punk band. Cut to: Seeing the “Stranger Than Kindness” exhibition in Copenhagen. And me going… Oooh, it’s actually not that noisy. And picking up some needed context from the exhibition on the way. So now I’ve got some early Cave to catch up on in 2021.

Brian Eno – Film Music 1976-2020 (2020)
Got a lot of his stuff which I have been into since discovering “Nerve Net” back in 1992. But it’s a bit hit and miss with his discography from them on. But nice with a collection from his actual soundtracks (and not just imaginary ones). I’ve always liked his “Prophecy Theme” from Dune (and yes, I like the movie too. Shoot me). 

Field Music – Making a New World (2020)
The name rang a bell. Maybe I had checked them out years ago without doing it properly. Stumbled on their latest album and thought it was interesting. Pop plus kraut? Don’t know if it’s a grower. Only time will tell. Have a listen at Bandcamp.

Albums released in 2020 that I thought I’d listen more to, but didn’t for some reason…
Too much music, too little time, I guess. And the time and mood has to be right for the music too.

Idles – Ultra Mono
Run The Jewels – RTJ4
Nihiloxica – Kaloli
Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Brams – Aporia 

Albums I thought were released in 2020, but weren’t…
Time sure flies.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen (October 2019)
Iggy Pop – Free (September 2019) 
Idles – A Beautiful Thing: Live at Le Bataclan (December 2019)

A challenging year for concerts…

Denmark was officially shut down by corona restrictions on March 11th. In the late summer restrictions were eased and smaller events with safe distance etc. were allowed. And then we had our second total shutdown in early December.

In that brief summer/fall moment some crafty folks tried drive-in concerts and “sit-down-nicely” concerts, but those concepts didn’t really interest me. Luckily my focus is usually concerts that are already small enough to work within the restrictions. And for some reason most of the ones attended within that window had relation to Aarhus-based songwriter and rock musician Andreas Hansn. The first concert I attended was the ironically named Rådne Lunger (Rotten Lungs) outside on the harbour. Other shows in that period were – besides more Rådne Lunger in gig space that felt a bit too tight for “corona comfort” – also a one-off A.K. Hansn / Per Hoier gig and a couple with his main band Singvogel. All great shows.

One other concert I attended was Katrine Stochholm. I released her first album on my label a few years ago and this year she signed with Hun Solo Records – the perfect place for her and her music. And then me and my girlfriend went to the island of Fanø where the cancelled Fanø Free Folk Festival was supposed to have happened. A small garden party was held there instead featuring amongst others Per Hoier (synth wizard on acoustic guitar) and Cecilie Illemann.

The postponed concerts with Underworld and Nick Cave (which I had tickets for) were ultimately cancelled. I did get a taste of Nick Cave this year with the amazing “Stranger Than Kindness” exhibition in Copenhagen – after first having that cancelled as well during the first lockdown, but luckily later rebooking it.

Not quite concerts, but nevertheless…

While not concerts as such I – via my job – attended several dance performances this year. Movement on stage is live, but the music is usually playback. I mention these as they have also been the source of musical discovery for me this year.
From Fabio Liberti’s “We Are Present” which used tracks from Thom Yorke’s “Anima” album (among them “Traffic“) as well as tracks submitted by the audience before. The performance made me finally check out Stars Of The Lid more – specifically their “And Their Refinement Of The Decline” album.
Igor & Moreno’s performance “BEAT” was a set-up with a dancer, a light designer and a DJ all more or less improvising to the movement. Once track stood out in a DJ set (by DJ Martha) that was great all the way through: “Rubble” by Pearson Sound.
HIMHERANDIT Productions’ “Mass Effect” made really good use of The Knife’s “Full of Fire” in a high energy and utterly captivating performance (I made a video teaser for the performance – but from the parts without music).
In Fabio Liberti and Emanuele Rosa’s “As If, I Have Missed Myself” the sound was original and made for the piece by Per-Henrik Mäenpää. Great stuff, which per my suggestion was made available for download at Bandcamp. Very nice!

What a year, eh? But music of course is still here. Always will be. It’s as natural to humans as breathing. So let’s hope we can keep on doing that.

Here’s to a 2021 full of more music!

Lars

A lyric from U2 to fit the first photos shot in 2021. A walk around town on the 1st of January in dense, frosty fog. The sun fighting to get through, but never quite making it. No sounds. A few people also out for a breath of cold air. And then a quick dash into the forest on the way before heading home. Feels like walking in the clouds – in Denmark’s highest located village (although that is only about 140 meters above sea level in a country without mountains).

My dayjob is being the PR Manager at the dance and performance theater Bora Bora in Aarhus. And I’ve been busy. For the whole month of October we presented the Move Your Mind festival with dance performances, talks, documentary film, workshops, conversation events and more. 

As the PR Manager I among other things write press releases for the media, do graphic design, make print and online ads, edit videos, film videos, run the social media channels and the Bora Bora website.

I made the festival video trailer using footage from very different sources. It can be tricky. I also worked with the graphics agency Vulkan Bureau who did the visual profile for the festival. I used those designs to create various postcards, web-banners, LED signs and so on. 

It was some long days and long nights, as I was also documenting the festival events. But the pay-off was experiencing the performances, the artists and how the audience reacted to their work. 

Contemporary dance and performance is a wonderful artform. It melts together so many artistic disciplines, so the variations on it seems endless. It’s global, it crosses language barriers. It is as open to interpretation as a piece of music or an abstract painting. What I see and feel is not the same as the person sitting next to me. It makes for some interesting conversations on art and life afterwards.

This artform challenges me on several levels. As well as my expectations. It broadens my horizons and makes me think. Not bad for a bit of movement, light and sound in a black box.

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, November 10, 2020

So this time I was determined to bring my Canon 200D and shot the hell out of them. “Spray and pray”, he-he. Probably got about 400-500 shots in the can, but the whole venue was difficult to manouvre around in and it was a bit chaotic (punk!), so most shots were not usable. But got some nice ones.

The video here is a little slideshow introduced with with a bit of “fast forward” editing of one of the images.

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, September 10, 2020

Tried more things with lights and long shutter times on the camera. 

There is still a bit of light pollution from the neighbouring cities, but it’s okay for watching stars here in our village. There are better places in Denmark, but most places have some degree of light pollution. Yeah, Denmark is a tight space. Not much so-called wild nature at all. Our national parks are not big. Our biggest only has a coastline of about 70 kilometers (43 miles).

This summer I tried a few quick and improvised shots on the island of Fanø on the deep dark westcoast of Denmark. I tried afterwards to bring out the milky way in the photos. You can’t see it as such with the naked eye. It feels a bit like a thin white-ish cloud if you CAN see it. But cameras can make it clearer. And I did manage bring it out. But this time I suppose there was too much light, because it did not stand out as clear. Luckily there are other things to shoot in the dark.

Once again we tried doing things with the flashlight. Actually a small keyhole-finder lamp as well as a string of lights. I was more focused this time, but it was still difficult. Still, it is a thing I want to explore more. It’s just too much fun. Of course, this is not a new thing at all. Picasso did this stuff in 1949. There is just so much to try out that can’t be a 100% controlled by all this digital camera stuff. The lack of control is freeing. 

I shot with my Canon 200D with regular allround 18 to 135 mm lense on it. Goes down to F-stop 3.5, which is not really perfect for low light conditions. I don’t know how much of a difference it makes when it’s so dark. The lower the F-stop, the harder it is to focus. And it was difficult enough with this one. Had to do it manually.

But it was a nice evening. Got some nice shots.

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, September 1, 2020

I’ve never really been much of a runner. Tried in the city and the gym. It’s hard on the knees even with the right shoes. I’ve walked. It helps me clear my head.

But since I’ve moved to the countryside, running has been doable for me. I go out the front door and there I go. Fields and forests are there in minutes. I am alone with myself and there is practically zero traffic. I love it!

No music in the ears. I want attention to be on the body, my surroundings and the present moment. Music – however lovely – diverts the attention by triggering moods and memories.

I read somewhere that we all have about 15-20 events in our life that can push us in new directions. It could be a move to a new location, a new job, a break-up, health issues with family or yourself or… you name it. A moment ripe for change. A clean – or cleaner – slate on which you can erase old habits and more easily introduce new ones.

My girlfriend and I managed to do this without an overly conscious effort when we moved in together. We rented a house in a small village somewhere between the two cities where we work and used to live. In our new place we have a new kitchen and a new environment for our habits.

We already knew what was good and less good. We put the better habits on the table. Food choices first and foremost as well as doing some walking to check out our new surroundings.

I’ve always had a tough time with running. But the scenery helps me. It is actually nice being out there. I found short routes around town that I could run in different ways. 

I also try to eat fewer carbohydrates. To get the body to burn more fat. And most days I also try to do the 16/8 hour fast. Only eating between 12 noon and 8 in the evening. That way I can sleep half of the fasting time.

I have always been the ”I can’t leave the house without breakfast” kind of guy. So it was strange. I do feel hungry. But I thought: It is also strange to never feel a bit hungry. I’m sure that is healthy too. 

The results were there from the start. Losing weight, feeling more energetic, more focused and getting better sleep. 

But I started it during my holidays. Great first two weeks. Then we did two trips away from home. Sticking to the fasting and low carb food proved rather difficult.

Having the holiday time was good to get started, but it is not a good time to start creating an everyday habit. It needs to fit the working day. I hope this will get easier once the rhythm of work comes back.

I combine all this with doing ”The Plank” every day. This has really helped my posture.

It’s a lot to start on at the same time, but for me it works to actually feel the decision clearly. Even though I know I have to take small steps for things to stick.

Wish me luck!

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, August 21, 2020

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, August 12, 2020

I have decided to launch a video blog digging into creativity and life. Hopefully making each day here more interesting. Looking for inspiration and maybe even providing some. Let’s see.

Anyways, welcome to what I have decided to call Lars and the Real World. Stay tuned for more.

This text and video originally written and produced for Lars and the Real World, August 11, 2020

How much freedom – or what kinds of freedom – do artists enjoy? Do us regular Joes have a rosy view of that self-employed existence?

In May 2018 I interviewed singer, songwriter, poet and writer Sister Chain in Berlin. She is part of the duo Sister Chain & Brother John as well as the bands Spinster Sister and The Hunters.

Artist freedoms for everyone?
After attending a night of poetry reading at the Curious Fox Bookshop in the Neukölln part of Berlin – where Sister Chain had read some of her poetry – we walked back to her home in Kreuzberg and talked all the way.

I among other things brought up the obvious issue of enjoying a livelihood without a boss. Must be the ultimate freedom, right? Not necessarily.

There are more important freedoms. Some that arise from friendship, from honesty as well as not all the time adhering to the gender roles that society is lining up for us.

Freedoms that are definitely not specifically tied to the life of the artist.

We also talked about her life in Berlin and a bit about her origins in Tel Aviv and how things change or don’t change when returning to one’s hometown.

A practical note: Experiment
As the first podcast this second one is also an experiment. Recorded a few days after the first one. Unlike most podcasts which are recorded in studios I recorded this outside while walking. It presented some practical issues regarding both sound and keeping one’s focus on the interview. The conversation strayed a bit. But on the other hand allowed for a laid back exchange and the surrounding ambience colours the listening experience. As far as we know we both asked about drugs along the way as well as experience both traffic and bird noise.

I have uploaded the podcast to Mixcloud, so I could include some music in it as well.

The first seven minutes of the interview I filmed as well to give you a sense of the place and situation. But for obvious reasons I couldn’t hold a camera like that for an hour or more. So see below.

I hope you enjoy it!

Links:
Sister Chain & Brother John (website)

Podcast video intro

Sister Chain & Brother John – On The Roof (Live In Copenhagen)

This text and podcast originally written and produced for Easy Being Free, October 22, 2018.

It’s all in plain view. Despite people having a seemingly eternal craving for consumer goods there is a cultural change going on. We still want to consume more and more, but there’s a shift happening: From ownership to access.

Our forms of media have shorter and shorter life spans. From VHS over DVD to blu-ray. The latter being outgunned by the likes of Netflix, HBO and Amazon even before it got off the ground. The same with vinyl LPs followed by cds and then music streaming.

Now we rent.

And we pay for it with either our money or with exposing ourselves to advertising. With both options we most likely also pay plenty with information on our every move, our preferences, our connections etc.

It’s fantastic not to have that many material possessions. It’s freeing! No wonder that various minimalists (whose podcasts and essays I do enjoy from time to time) champion streaming services. It makes perfect sense. The things you own end up owning you, as the saying goes.

But with this freedom comes certain dangers that are less freeing. Maybe even a problem for democracy, if taken to its extreme.

As with everything: It’s a question of creating a balance.

Curation monopoly
The major players – actual gatekeepers – such as Amazon, Apple, Spotify and Netflix (as well as Facebook and Google) give you access to a whole world of digital content. But at the same time they can also deny you that access. Sometimes you might notice, but most times you will not. They are curating. Which means they show you want they want you to see. And cut you off from the rest.

There have been reports of Amazon deleting books on people’s Kindles. Books they have paid for (which means: Kindle is basically now just a machine for rentable content decided solely by Amazon).
Apple censors e-books if they contain nudity even if it is for factual historical reference. Netflix subscribers wishing to watch the Star Wars, Marvel or Disney movies suddenly saw all these movies disappear, because Disney owns them all and have plans for their own streaming service and then removed them.

So in the “access economy” you can never know if you can keep what you paid for. And you will maybe never know what the services decided you should not see: Independent and perhaps critical books, music, films, media content etc.

This monopolistic curation leaves us users and subscribers prone to outright censorship. Libraries would (and should) stock controversial things. Otherwise, how are we to learn from them? But libraries are sadly in danger. You will not get any contrary points of view in your social media feeds as you are curated into a “filter bubble” of similar opinions. And because the tech giants are American the rest of the world suffers from stringent US censorship – which among other things is scared of a natural thing such as the nude human body (no problem with guns, though).

The tech and media giants will keep fighting. And there’s always a winner. Right now we have these big winners: Google, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook. With so much power that politicians bend over backwards for them.

Yet, still we get told about the “free market”. That it means plenty of choice. But it’s artificial. There’s nothing free about the market. There hasn’t been for many years. If ever.

It’s about the ability to silence voices. And that should be cause for alarm – if our ambition is to maintain democracy.

What to do?

My aim at Easy Being Free is to keep it positive. So this post should not be griping or even conspiracy theory territory. Just pointing out challenges. And hopefully look at some solutions.

So what to do? The obvious one: Seek out independent alternatives to the big players. I hope to try and map out some of them in a future blog post.

It’s easy to say: Don’t give them your money. It’s not easy to do, because the big players own our main sources for all these things. But with a little research it’s possible to at least help keep our access more controlled by ourselves. And Amazon can’t call back the paperback I bought, if they suddenly feel the need to censor something.

Again, it’s about maintaining a healthy balance.

You might not have many books, movies or cds on your shelves anymore. But please consider whose shelf space it is that you rent digitally and what power they have over what you can put on it.

It seems fitting to end this entry with the classic line from George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four”:

Freedom is slavery.

Further reading:
From Ownership To Access: What Behavioural Economists Teach Us About Sharing
Access vs. Ownership
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle (N.Y. Times)
Amazon Censors Kindle eBook Offerings, Again

This text originally written for Easy Being Free, August 18, 2018.