07.13.2025
Good Morning,
This is Beach Sloth. Below are this week’s albums:
· Editor’s Note – Moving forward, anything that is abnormally loud and noisy beyond what a ‘reasonable person**’ would subject themselves to will be prefaced with a *Volume Warning*. Thank you.
Jasmine Guffond – Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity
Unproductivity is treated as a bad thing. It isn’t. Out of curiosity, I searched for 'productivity' and 'unproductivity' on multiple search engines. I wanted to see what the accumulated knowledge of people online had to say about it. Think of it as a “man on the street interview,” but I am online because nobody goes outside anymore.
Productivity had nothing but positive results. A Reddit thread, a discussion about various hacks, and ways to regain productivity. Regardless of the context, productivity was always intended to be achieved. Nothing else mattered. Suggestions given on how to improve it. Unable to be productive one day – how to overcome it and become more productive the next. I reviewed statistical evidence from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as consulting groups such as McKinsey & Company. Formulas to calculate productivity were available to be shared on social media. Guides to be downloaded for free. Seminars to pay for, to get more productive, to get more money, to spend more to get more productive in a virtuous cycle. I observed repeated instances of these cycles. Everything was positive, and it took a few pages’ worth of results before I got anything resembling a critique – a statement that the gap between productivity and a typical worker’s compensation has increased dramatically since 1979 (there is that year again, an ongoing theme in my life for some reason).
Unproductivity needs a marketing campaign. Definitions abounded. A few things stated that “yes, this is a word” for anybody playing Scrabble. If anyone wants to play me in Scrabble, I welcome it, but I know I'll win. I have no confidence in any aspect of my life, except for my Scrabble-playing abilities. Vicious cycles of unproductivity (oh no), how to reset, and feeling guilty about a lack of productivity. Usually, the sites advise on how to handle such an unproductive day, with a multi-step process. This is a problem to be fixed. Some of the issues contributing to unproductivity include emotions, and by conquering them, productivity can reign supreme. I hate how my emotions keep getting in the way of further productivity! Only later results brought up positives – the psychology of unproductivity. Another positive mention of unproductivity - an artist date, which is a date where you focus on the person you are dating without running errands. I thought these were called dates, but maybe I am old-fashioned? If this is the current dating scene, I understand why so many people choose to remain single. Can’t say I blame them. Romance has been dead for a while, but I did not think it was this level of dead, like cremated levels. Not even a rotting corpse buried in the ground. So deep is the hatred of unproductivity that even things that were considered fun (art, music, literature) have been commodified for decades. Even artists command too much leeway – now, capital demands that the middleman be cut out to create Artificial Intelligence-produced content, to avoid payment, royalties, a living wage, and even basic acknowledgment of an idea. Nope, not artists anymore – machine learning off artists’ work.
Jasmine Guffond’s Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity promotes the idea of unproductivity. I like that it first came to her in 2021 and took four years to refine – a great example of the idea of being unproductive. Honestly, though, I like the concept getting retested, reconfigured, etc., until it is perfect. Editing is essential, and not rushing things is also important. As someone who listens to music that people deem “slow” and “boring,” I enjoy taking time out to listen to it. The slowcore aesthetic is something I am proud to be a fan of, and I try to recommend it to anyone who will listen (quite literally). Even among some of my most unconventional friends, they do not like the concept of spending a whole hour listening to one single song, saying there isn't enough time. The real skill is to make the time and try to avoid giving it to something else. I attribute my ability to appreciate something like Guffond's work to the fact that I am not exposed to a lot of external stimuli, which allows me to enjoy it in a way I was unprepared for. Quite literally, I put it on at random, by chance, having heard only a little of her work previously, and the bonus of seeing it on my beloved Line Label, headed by the careful curator Richard Chartier. Despite the digital nature of Line as a whole, this album, while steeped in digital, has a natural, almost organic quality thanks to the horns and woodwinds utilized throughout (trumpets, tuba, clarinet).
Concepts of productivity are shockingly modern. It is profoundly depressing that we have created a world that our ancestors would not recognize. Sure, the technology is excellent, but we work for it. We have less free time, on average, than a typical medieval peasant. Despite this supposed progress and the hyper-productive aspect of our lives, we have sacrificed a great deal for these alleged conveniences. Even those from the strictest of religious backgrounds, those of the “idle hands make the devil’s plans” variety, would be in shock at how little of our lives we get. So, there is that level of utter madness behind the thing - this driving notion to constantly be better, to improve everything around us, including taking care of lawns that are not native, and full monocultures that eradicate native plants. I am not necessarily an anarchist, but when Zerzan spoke of how words describing nature like “elderberry (an example, I can’t find the exact word he used)” are removed from dictionaries to make way for words like “iPad,” which quite literally limits our ability to document the beauty of the natural world, that struck a chord in me. I did not grow up in nature, I grew up in a huge noisy city, one of the largest on the planet, and, even there, I made sure to implement the next of “aimlessly walking” just to explore my neighborhood, something I embrace in my newfound location in a smaller less noisy area, though still plenty loud. Maybe, in some future version of the dictionary, the word “unproductivity” will be struck from language, to eliminate the choice even further, to strike a stake through its heart in one final blow. For those who think “well no we always refer to nature, we even have streets named after them” well, in plenty of parts of the world, there are places named for groups of people who have long since died off, so I do not think I am being overly alarmist in this concern. We could, as a society, become entirely disconnected from the idea that life is meant to be lived slowly, not fast. We are probably closer to that ethos than I would like to admit.
Muzak for the Encouragement of Unproductivity is a melancholy work. It feels like a requiem for a more idyllic form of existence, as we endlessly compete against each other. Of course, I am not immune to this competition – I have a job, a home, and obligations. Yet my rebellion is tiny – I make the deliberate, concerted effort (always have) to live well below my means. Coworkers say I could have a bigger house – family tells me the same thing. If that makes a difference between regular retirement versus five years early, I will gladly take the five years early. Perhaps that is why Guffond’s music strikes me as profoundly beautiful and deeply sad – because it tries to encourage others to slow down, to stop, to know it is time to stop. The music ultimately is fighting a losing battle against centuries of indoctrination that productivity is the most valuable thing, but what if it isn’t, and generations have wasted their lives toiling away for nothing?
Guffond’s music at least manages to ask the question, and does so in this seemingly timeless, classic, and unidentifiable yet strangely alluring way.
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**Your idea of a reasonable person, music-wise, I'm sure, differs from mine. **Still, if you’re already here, you’re already unreasonable by sheer virtue of your attendance, and I thank you for that. **
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