The CEO with a 1000 mile commute
Crayons, data centres and fishy paints.
Hello,
There’s always been something quite nostalgic about lots of electronic music. It’s at least in part all the sampling, what’s more euphoric in a house song than a disco sample from twenty years earlier? See Stardust’s Music Sounds Better with You which samples Chaka Khan’s Fate.
But one does get the sense we have reached the end of music history. I mean where were we supposed to go after dubstep? Yeah sure, there’s weird dystopian 150 BPM techno that sounds futuristic but that’s been around since the 90s. The music that speaks to people these days is deeply rooted in nostalgia.
Take Brat, the album of the moment by Charlie XCX. I think so much of its appeal and indeed why I’m a fan is it has so many nods to sounds of the past 20 years. Sympathy is a knife has the chaotic energy of a Hadouken and cider-fuelled house party. Von Dutch blends Far East Movement-esque vocals with a Bodyrox-style synth. There’s a hint of Kesha throughout and whilst I would never classify myself as a Kesha fan, it does send one back to underage club nights of a certain era.
Likewise, Fred Again’s whole set-up seems to be reminiscing (we’ve lost dancing etc.). People love to hate but beyond the weepy vocals, plundered from his voicemail, it’s hard to complain about artists like Flowdan and Joy Orbison being brought back to the fore.
Nostalgia is a weird emotion and one we all like to indulge in. It’s certainly not limited to electronic music (see Taylor Swift) or music full stop. Literal nostalgia, like wishing for the good old days, is usually misguided. What you thought was the case probably wasn’t and even if it was, there were definitely some bad bits as well. The sensory nostalgia we feel when we see, hear, taste, smell (not so sure about touch) the past however, I’m all here for.
Let it be,
Hugo
Chief Rememberer
The Business of Stuff
The Stuff
Crayola is getting ready for everyone to go back to school 🖍️ - I never really got crayons. As someone with a lack of artistic capability (or maybe it was just fine motor skills) a stick of brightly coloured wax didn’t feel like I was being set up for success. This hasn’t stopped them, however. The summer is their busiest time as they pump out 13 million a day, ready for children to have a go at impressionist art.
At this rate, we’ve only got a hundred years of neodymium left ⛏️ - not to alarm you but the rare metal is needed for things like wind turbines. Fortunately ‘rare’ means an estimated 12.8 million tonnes and these estimates fall short as more is discovered. Demand for these sorts of metals is growing as non-carbon technologies tend to be more complex so there is a move to increase the amount of recycling that’s done in these supply chains.
Making the machines that make the machines is a profitable business 🐿️ - a Dutch company called ASML is responsible for a huge number of semiconductors globally. This isn’t because they make them but because they make the machines that companies like Nvidia use to make chips. This has put them at the centre of the global battle between China and the US and tripled their revenue in the past eight years.
Push notifications are up almost 300% from 2015 ⛔ - it’s no surprise that companies love them because they dramatically increase engagement with their apps. If you’ve ever made the mistake of downloading Nextdoor you’ll know how hard they work to reel you back in. People are beginning to rebel in an attempt to build back some resemblance of an attention span.
New Starbucks CEO getting grief for 1000-mile commute 🛬 - Brian Niccol has been offered a private jet by the company to transport him from Newport, California to their head offices in Seattle rather than relocating. Some people have pointed out that it seems a bit hypocritical to ban plastic straws and then pummel the stratosphere with aviation exhaust. It does rain a lot in Seattle though, apparently.
East Grinstead’s high street is struggling 🛒 - the West Sussex town has seen closure after closure, which has left locals unable to buy their essentials. They just need to have a rethink really, as a place it’s sort of fine and it’s within striking distance of London so with a bit of good marketing they could make it a bit more happening. Either that or just plonk a massive Amazon warehouse in the middle and get straight to the dystopian future.
Lidl has started providing data services 💽 - the German grocer built its own IT system in 2021 and has become a standalone operating unit with customers like Bayern Munich and SAP, generating €1.9billion in annual sales. It is appealing to European companies as all of the data is processed in Germany and Austria which have particularly strict regimes.
Big tech looks to convert old power stations to data centres 🏭 - in other data centre news companies like Microsoft are looking for locations to power cloud computing and AI. Industrial sites are usually a good option as they’re big and designed for high power usage.
PETA demand Fallow & Ball change the names of their paints 🖌️ - the offending paints are called things like ‘Smoked Trout’ and ‘Potted Shrimp’ which apparently normalises exploiting animals. They’ve also suggested that ‘Skimmed Milk White’ should become ‘Vegan Skimmed Milk White’. You’d think they’d have bigger fish, I mean tofu, to fry.
The Bahamas is the fourth largest tax haven in the world 🇧🇸 - $25.7 trillion is thought to be parked in the Caribbean island which is a quarter of all the wealth produced each year. It was all started by a con man called Wallace Groves who persuaded the colonial government in the 50s to essentially give him free reign of vast swathes of the islands.
Quote of the week
“I don’t like nostalgia unless it’s mine” - Lou Reed