Forté #21

A few things that have inspired me lately and what I've been working on..

Hey you, how’s everyone’s weeks been? I’ve been spending the past few weekends doing a bunch of renovations on the narrowboat and finding it incredibly stressful (because I’m pretty bad at DIY!) but ultimately rewarding when I learn something new or become just a tiny bit better at sawing... I’m going to be writing a bit more about this in my next letter here on Substack coming soon! Please consider subscribing now to read it as soon as it drops.

And now here's another fortnightly collection of things that have caught my attention:

🍃 I’m really enjoying this band TEKE::TEKE after discovering their music this week. This track Doppelganger is so much fun but the whole band’s aesthetic is wonderful and I particularly love the energy of lead singer, Maya Kuroki, in their performance on KEXP!

🍃 Vocal Fry: what it is, who does it, and why people hate it. Never heard of the term vocal fry? You’ll know exactly what it is even if you don’t know the term. Please do yourself a favour and watch linguist Dr Geoff Linsey break vocal fry down in this incredibly well-researched video.

🍃 The Wonders of Street View. Okay so this is a fun way to spend 30 minutes. Teleport yourself through a bunch of interesting things people have found on Google Street View. This overhead view of Yanshuo County in China is particularly stunning.

🍃 The Do Lectures are a series of talks given by the world’s doers. The kind of people who are breaking the mould, leaders in their field — these are all full of fascinating insight. Jump right into any of them that pique your interest. They also have a series of lovely books that are written by previous Do lecturers.

🍃 This wonderfully quirky article from

Max Read

that looks at the history of those fake SMS message threads that are found in Apple’s marketing material. An example of something that absolutely didn’t need to be written, but I’m so so happy that it was.

Thank you for being here, let me know what’s inspiring you recently. Hitting subscribe is always welcome and please do share with someone who might enjoy. If you'd like to support this newsletter please buy one of my albums over on Bandcamp, or consider becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack.

SJF