Every Friday
Good, weird, thoughtful stuff - no algo required.
Howdy from the Relay crew. Nashville and NYC are heating up — in temperature, chaos, and general nonsense. We hope you’ve managed to sidestep falling planes, ICE raids, and whatever fresh hell the news cycle is serving. If you’re here for takes on all that - welcome! You’ve wandered into the wrong corner of the internet. Bari’s got it covered over at The Free Press.
We’re focused on smaller stories this week. Good, weird, thoughtful stuff that stuck with us. We’re talking:
A podcast about muni golf courses that manages to reflect on place and community without veering too far into easy nostalgia.
A photo essay that actually earns your attention, taking you through a small Italian town and its scrappy football club.
Kevin Abstract is back with a new project and somehow it has more members than Brockhampton.
It’s a good one - lots of Substack standouts and group chat updates. Here’s your weekly proof that there are still people out there doing interesting, small, sometimes beautiful things - no algo required.
Let’s get into it.
Self dedication is a spiritual experience.
— Caesar Chavez
To see that your life is a story while you're in the middle of living it may help you live it well.
— Ursala Le Guin
Top of Mind
1017: NLU Presents: KVV’s Favorite Muni (No Laying Up)
off the beaten path, where you have friendly greens keepers, limited budgets, quirky holes, and an understanding that every lie might not be pristine
This podcast listen felt like how any good walk (or golf round) should. Easy, pleasant, with a general feeling of well-being when you’re done. The No Laying Up production quality is a pleasure to listen to, especially the endearing audio clips from locals on the courses. To take Macke’s words straight from the Relay group chat, “even if you’re not a golfer, this is a cool episode about the value of local community things, and the people that make them special.”
Kevin Abstract announces his new project, Blush (clifford73.com)
When I went to jail over some bullshit out in Conroe, I realized how much I care about my work and my audience. And also how I’ve taken so many things for granted for so long. Not only did I feel guilty. I felt small. I believe God finds their way into my thoughts more often than less &&&& I know that I am beyond lucky to be able to have a shot at this thing. This career, this industry, the art-form. My life. Thanks. I care a lot. I’m strong. I got us. Blush is the way. June 2025
Kevin Abstract is back with another unusual project. He’s inviting artists to join a Discord channel to submit music for his new album, Blush. It’s not a fixed group with~26,000 members and counting.
The alt music icon has done something like this before. He once posted on /r/Kanye asking if anyone wanted to join his band. After 30 users responded, he formed a large group that went on to become the famous boy band Brockhampton — Texas boys moving out to LA, holding group therapy sessions every Friday (sometimes lasting 12 hours), and turning around to make music about it. Many amazing albums and tours came out of it.
Blush is not Brockhampton but this project might be just as exciting, if not more. He’s released a handful of demos called NOT ON BLUSH that I (Ian) have been listening to on repeat this week. But if you don’t want to listen to the rogue demo files on Discord, you can check out the first single off Blush. The music video is an ode to where we all fell in love with music — in the car with our friends.
Photo Essay double feature
GH: I love to photograph everyday moments, especially ones that I would like to look back on in the future. I tend to be a very nostalgic person, and a lot of my work acts as a personal diary.
Photo essays are all the rage these days, (some are saying it is because Relay recently dropped a format of their own: Relay Shared Album: Nashville), but Drake’s being ahead of the curve with cultural trends is not a surprise. While admittedly I (Macke) didn’t love the interview, the photos out to the Hamptons and the idea are a nice touch that I enjoyed quickly scrolling through in-place of mindlessly swiping Instagram stories.
Away Game: Lecce, Italy (Mr. Flood's Party, Substack)
There’s an easygoing energy and a youthful spirit in Lecce — not in an Indiana University study-abroad kind of way, but more like a counter-culture-esque escape for Italians who want a change of pace from the bigger cities.
This photo essay, in contrast to Drake’s, does a much better job of telling a story. It takes you on a walk through a small Italian town in Puglia, using the intricacies of its underfunded local football club as a through line. It’s got beautiful photography strewn throughout and makes me cannot wait to get back to Italy this summer.
Best of Substack this Week
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Palantir’s CTO, Meta’s CTO, and OpenAI’s CPO joins the Army.
Outdoor Voices Founder Ty Haney Raises 11 mil for Her New Tech Start-up (Jack’s girlfriend @christina was an early hire and is running their community strategy)
It’s Not That Deep, Randy
Thanks for reading — or for mega scrolling all the way down here.
The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.
We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.
You might like it. Tag along.
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Muni golf
Thanks for including me🥹