Flotsam and Jetsam: August 30, 2025

Chuquimamani-Condori - Edits

This hit the timeline like a nuke. After the career-defining DJ E in 2023 and the fried-decibel alien transmission Los Thuthanaka from earlier this year, Chuquimamani-Condori returns with a hard drive dump of DJ edits spanning from 2019 to 2025. Edits follows the similarly plaintively-titled Selected Demos & DJ Edits [2007-2019]. Chuquimamani-Condori has spent decades building up a unique, consistent sonic landscape, fusing traditional Andean rhythms and traditions with modern electronic music. You can even see melting pot approach with your eyes: witness the DJ E cover merging Valentine's Day kitsch with Pen & Pixel's winking opulence, throwing in a shade of Lift to Experience for good measure.

The DJ edit compilation serves a unique function--more than any other form of music release, it allows you inside the head of the artist-as-listener, simultaneously trafficking in curation, contextualization, and interpretation*. If you find their original works impenetrable? Edits situates those same musical ideas in familiar settings. Only two songs in, Chuquimamani-Condori is melding Faith Hill's "Breathe" with their own "Breathing", also interpolating a pitched-down Spanish-language vocal. The resulting track has an almost uncanny valley quality to it, their signature polyrhythms teetering on the edge of chaos but giving way to something transcendent.

*DJ mixes and cover songs exist in this realm too. But DJ mixes don't inherently require the interpretative hand of the DJ and are often about reframing a static existing work by changing its context (or, in situ, dancing). Covers do require interpretation but, because they rarely engage directly with the original material, they become more about imagination at the expense of the act of listening. An exception to this would be something like Sonic Youth's "Into the Groovey".

One of the most affecting cuts, however, is one of the least edited. They remix "Handle on You" by Parker McCollum, but just barely. Rather than deploy their usual stampeding drums, Chuquimamani-Condori fat-washes the booze soaked original in a layer of guitar noise, adding an ethereal quality to a pretty straightforward pop country tune. It's a sharp contrast with most of the other flips here, and it speaks as much to their interests as a listener as the more maximal fare.

A fun aside: this whole post sat in the drafts long enough that this awesome interview with Joshua Chuquimia Crampton (brother of Chuquimamani-Condori and 1/2 of Los Thuthanaka) came out in the interim. He explains this exact phenomenon in his own words: "It’s more like, what gets me excited about music is when I can hear more from it. I explain that to people and they don’t always understand, but Elly [Chuquimamani-Condori] does, because they think about music that way too.”

Mrs. Hopewell - "Like That"

Tributary favorite mrs. hopewell is back with a new heater (loosely phrased, it's been out for months) that is a true masterpiece of baseball songwriting. Chris is a consummate indie pop tunesmith and this is no exception. Come for the Carlos Beltran mention, stay for the tasteful falsetto harmonies and the deliciously fuzzed outro.

Expiry Date - "session 0777777777777r21qffffffff jkopüswedxywy w333333r"

During my most recent stint in Bushwick I Shazamed this at a bar that was otherwise playing pretty standard punk and/or new wave fare, and was instantly pretty obsessed. I used to dislike how it faded into ambient soundscapes for half the runtime but have come to appreciate the decision. It was recently removed from streaming and is thus ripe for Tributary. For the Swifties and the Heads alike.

CFCF - memoryedits

My ex-girlfriend got super in Memoryland when it dropped and would play it around the house a lot. I mostly just liked "Punksong" (which, in hindsight, kind of sounds like a glitchier Hotline TNT?) but generally couldn't match her enthusiasm. This three song EP of mashups, on the other hand, is a pure fucking sugar rush. Always remember the adage: not all bangers are mashups, but all mashups are bangers.

Recommendation Corner:

READ:

Tim Weiner "The Mission" - shoutout to friend-of-the-blog Eli who slid me an advance of this well-researched accounting of the workings of the CIA in the 21st century. I'm about halfway through and this shit rips. Hit up your favorite local bookstore whenever it releases

Daniel Kolitz "Paul Wolfowitz" - a corollary to the above: a mention of Mr. Wolfowitz in The Mission prompted an acid-flashback style memory of this article my friend Dan wrote for a now-defunct online publication. I revisited it and it's as funny as I remembered. Dan rarely responds to my texts but I do think he reads the newsletter sometimes, if you're reading this what's up dude

WATCH:

Weapons (dir. Zach Cregger 2025) - in a theater, with as many people as possible, before it leaves

Mo' Better Blues (dir. Spike Lee 1990) - wanted to bang out an unseen Spike x Denzel collaboration before I caught "Highest 2 Lowest" in theaters. Didn't love the latter but this was one of the most gorgeously shot movies I've ever seen. Big Spike guy, big jazz guy