mY eARS bELONG To mE oNLY

"Everything we do is music." ~ John Cage

I haven't had a phone for like two months, so I could only listen to music through a laptop (and usually only in my living space). I could have walked around with my laptop and listened to music on the go, but I didn't want to be that person. I mean, I did it 1.5 times, but I just felt awkward. Anyways, I got a phone today. It felt so weird to have this portable device, and so I spent the entire day listening to music through my earbuds and looking down at my phone as I scrolled through Spotify. I was no longer walking around forcefully listening to nature or my thoughts, or simply engaging in some form of conversation with others. It was all about my phone and I no longer had to publicize my music in order to enjoy it.

McLuhan states, "the ear favors no particular 'point of view'. We are enveloped by sound" (111). However, for the first time, I had power over my ears (enough).  All I wanted to hear was my music and that was all the sound my ears were picking up. Then I realized, for the first time in a long time I didn't have to converse with anyone about the music I was listening to because only I could hear it, and even if they wanted to talk I couldn't hear them. It's such a beautifully, weird thing when you are the only one who hears a certain sound. It's such a weird headspace.

With that said, instead of reflecting on the period in which I did not have a phone and how my relationship with sound and my ears changed, I decided to do my sound project on the notion of private sound and how it is preserved through technologies such as earbuds and headphones. McLuhan is right, "the ear favors no particular 'point of view'," however, people do.

I wanted to construct my own sound. I wanted to penetrate and engross the ear space of whoever would choose to listen to this sound. And as a result of that dream Dutty Fucka was born. The beat was made by me, and it was mixed by my good friend Adrian. Hope you enjoy. Listen through headphones or earbuds!!!!

Here's a list of the artists I spent the day listening to (in this order too):

SZA, Kraftwerk, Kelela, Willow Smith, Vulfpeck, The Internet, Frank Ocean, Yaegi, Die Antwoord, Peaches, and A Tribe Called Quest. Look them up on Spotify or whatever!!