Notes From The Week #11

Week 39: 26 September - 2 October

Welcome back. Happy new month! It’s been an eventful week to say the least. Hope you’ve managed to get through it well. I have an interesting dilemma this week as there’s quite a few things I wanted to speak about but I’m heavy on cultivating joy and want to use two (of the three) notes this week to discuss art and music—the things we stay alive for. Word to Robin Williams. I was meaning to discuss the Porsche IPO but I think I’ll save that for next week.

Dead Poets Society Movie Quotes - EscapeMatter

Dollar Milkshake Theory

This week the pound hit an all time low against the dollar with £1 falling to $1.03 on September 26. This drop wasn’t unique to just the dollar as the pound actually weakened against most major currencies. This came as a result of Britain's newly appointed chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, announcing a range of tax cuts and other measures on the 23rd September. With the measures expected to increase the UK government’s borrowing by an extra £411bn over the next 5 years. Financial markets demonstrated their doubts about the UK’s ability to repay this debt, hence putting immense pressure on the pound and sending its value toppling down. While the pound has stabilised to $1.11 this will not be the last of the issues we will see with the currency particularly as Britain enters into its first winter in recent times no longer being subsidised by cheap Russian gas.

The decline of the pound in relation to the dollar is not an isolated event—in fact the dollar has risen against most currencies. Interestingly, the Fed have been just as hands-on with their monetary policy as most other central banks but have seem to received a much more positive response from the market. On September 21st, the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by another three-quarters of a percentage point and indicated it will keep hiking well above the current level. There are strong indicators that point to the fact that Jerome Powell (Chair of the Federal Reserve) will increase rates further before the end of the year.

Why this is particularly interesting comes as a result of the relationship between the US dollar and most major currencies. Continual US inflation and the accompanying rate hikes in an effort to tame the inflation have a spillover effect into the global economy. As central banks and governments in developed countries loosened the reins of their monetary and fiscal policies over the last few years to combat Covid—the tightening of monetary policy from the Fed is inevitably going to prove difficult to manage for the global economy. As the dollar strengthens it seems it will sap any remaining liquidity left from fellow major currencies in what is being dubbed the Dollar Milkshake Theory.

The theory first put forward by Brent Johnson, CEO of Santiago Capital, metaphorically compares the US dollar to the strongest flavour in a milkshake. As a particular flavour of a milkshake is topped up it inevitably will overwhelm any other flavour in the milkshake. In a similar vein as the US Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy faster than the other major central banks’ liquidity will flow into the US shoring up the dollar. In a time where risks are rising, investors will feel more comfortable investing in the world’s strongest economy as opposed to other developed economies—inevitably increasing the strength of the dollar at the expense of other currencies.

Black Romanticism: The Sugar Shack

Why Ernie Barnes' 'Sugar Shack' has museum-goers lined up in L.A. - Los Angeles Times

For me, there’s no one that captures movement and rhythm more imaginatively than the late Ernie Barnes. A former college athlete at North Carolina Central University—while studying there his sculpting professor taught him to feel his movements while playing football and to then express that feeling in his work. A lesson which would come to characterise so much of his work.

Barnes’s paintings are populated with elongated figures that echo the work of Parmigianino and Michelangelo’s later work. His work has been described as Neo-Mannerist. Other scholars have pointed to his use of visual rhythm to sublimate physical tension as evidence of Black Romanticism. Barnes explained that he painted his expressive, gesturing figures with their eyes closed in reference to society’s preoccupation with skin colour and general blindness to the inner essence of the individual. He didn’t shy away from the discussion of race in his work but rather so used his figures to depict the accentuated and varying body types of black people.

“It’s not about trying to hide the curves of your body or the facial features that you have. It’s about showing them, even exaggerating them and making it not even just OK but something to really be celebrated.”

Barnes was born into a working-class family in segregated Durham, N.C., in 1938. He painted “The Sugar Shack” from a childhood memory — sneaking into the Durham Armory, a venue that hosted segregated dances and that still exists today. One central figure in the painting is a woman in a yellow dress and white shoes, dancing at the front of the tall stage, her back to the viewer. She’s a character who appears in artworks throughout Barnes’ career, a notable other painting she features in is Shakedown.

Ernie Barnes and Marvin Gaye shared a mutual affection for the work of one another. After playing a game of basketball—Gaye caught a brief look of the painting in Barnes’ car. On seeing it he was ecstatic and said he needed to have it. Barnes supplemented the painting to include references to Gaye’s work. The completed work then became the cover art for Gaye’s 1976 ‘I Want You’ album. I wonder who won the basketball game.

Palmwine Express 3

All aboard, as the Palmwine Express makes its third journey across the soundscape. I’m sure you can tell that I was particularly excited for the release of this tape. I’ve been a palm wine tapper for a while since I heard their first Palmwine tape a few years back and have followed their works quite closely. Show Dem Camp’s latest instalment doesn’t disappoint.

The tape delivers beyond expectation and provides a modern spin on the original sounds of Palm-wine music. Palm-wine music evolved from the Kru people of Liberia and Sierra Leone, who used Portugese guitars brought by sailors. The music was a fusion of local and foreign sailors, dock workers, and local working-class people who would go to palm-wine bars to drink and listen to music. If you want to get a taste of sound feel free to acquaint yourself with the music of Ebenezer Calendar & His Maringa Band.

The sweltering sounds of the fado guitar playing against the backdrop of the waves from the Atlantic Ocean influences the sounds across the tape. But the Nigerian alte OGs pay homage to the sound that they have helped to grow over the past few years with excellent features from the old school (Boj) and the new school (Oxlade) of Nigerian Afrobeats and alte music. Perfect vibes for a weekday evening inside or a relaxing long evening weekend drive.

Favourite songs from the tape and some thoughts from the artist1:

  • “Head Over Heels” [Show Dem Camp & Victony]

  • “Your Love” [Show Dem Camp & Lojay]

Until next week. Peace.