the stupid wheel
Hello. I meant to write sooner, at the end of last year, but things got hairy again, the way they’ve felt for the last twelve months or so. I’ll come right out and say that I am not feeling too great; having your ancestral homeland bombed will do that. Thankfully my people are okay, but I have tried to be as absent from the social internet as possible. People suddenly have a lot to say about a country they’ve never been to; they want to position all of the figures involved in these events as “good” or “bad” like some kind of western or Marvel movie. I appreciate the soothing energy of my close friends checking in, of their concern and well-wishes for my family members who are living through uncertainty once again, for those of us not there who must wait and watch. The additional onslaught of ICE brutality in Minneapolis and across America has also been difficult to see and process, and I imagine many of us are feeling very scared and carrying a lot. I hoped you are able to reach for something grounding, something energizing, and something joyful. Hold fast to them.
I have a personal update, a show announcement, and a few favorites from this past year I wanted to highlight.
i quit streaming
Yep, I canceled my Apple Music subscription, and I’m saying I’m taking a year off, though I’d like it to be a more permanent change. I have a few reasons for doing this, the main one being that reading Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine last year really challenged me to think about what streaming has done to my relationship with music as a listener. When I announced I was removing most of the Half Gringa catalog from Spotify, many people reached out and asked what service they should switch to, what would benefit me more as an artist. And while there are other services that pay slightly more and aren’t as logical to target as Spotify is for a boycott, my main takeaway from Pelly’s book is that over the span of a decade, streaming in general has completely changed the way we consume and value music, and it is not the positive force that I think many people (including independent musicians like me) hoped it would be in terms of democratizing music distribution.
So! I am seeing what it’s like to not use streaming for a year. My general listening habits are such that I’m not worried about making a big change like this. I’m not inclined to have music constantly on in the background of my day-to-day life and I’m not big on letting the algorithm choose for me; as a musician I tend to be vigilant about listening fatigue. I anticipate more friction when I want to listen to something specific, but I am excited to listen to more of the radio.
You don’t have to quit streaming tomorrow to reconsider your relationship to music. I think finding a good local radio show in a genre you like and adding that to your rotation would do a lot, mostly in terms of getting real recommendations from people who care a lot about music. CHIRP Radio and WLUW are two of my favorite independent/college radio stations in Chicago, I listen to them online and riding around in the car. Even if there isn’t one in your town, you can listen to most of them online from anywhere. If you have a favorite station or show, let me know.
an evening at The Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture
So, so excited for this show. No opener, 1.5 hour set, $20 ticket, and free parking! Full band: Quin, Victoria, Brenden, Ivan - and Julia Mendiolea will be playing guitar with us for the first time. I met Julia last year when I subbed in as a backing vocalist for Y La Bamba, she is an absolute shredder and I’m so excited to have her join us for this set! We’re playing songs from all over the HG catalog as well as some new stuff before I hit the studio again (!!!), don’t miss it!
three favorites of 2025
Book: Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
Record: Haley Hendrickx and Max García Conover - What of Our Nature
Song: Sudan Archives - A BUG’S LIFE
take good care of each other,
HG