Fluxblog #259: 2003/04 Surveys + Car Seat Headrest | Twice | Hamilton Leithauser | The Strokes
This week I put the 2003 and 2004 survey mixes on Spotify, resequenced and substantially expanded from the original versions I made in 2012. There's some stuff missing – a depressing amount of music I care about from the 2000s is completely absent from all digital platforms – but it's still a good time capsule. Also, just mentioning this again, but if you like my playlists and everything else I do on Fluxblog, you should consider donating via Ko-Fi. These days every bit of money helps.
April 16th, 2020
Oppressed By These Energies
Car Seat Headrest “Hollywood”
“Hollywood” is blunt and bratty in a way Car Seat Headrest haven’t been before, it’s like Sum 41/Blink-182 energy filtered through Will Toledo’s usual dry deadpan tone and indie rock aesthetics. The song is a duet with drummer Andrew Katz, who delivers his parts with a borderline obnoxious punk shout that is in deliberate sharp contrast with Toledo’s low-key cool guy monotone. The lyrics of the song play off this contrast in different directions – in some cases, Toledo is the chill introverted guy forced to respond to the attention-seeking extrovert Katz, and in others Toledo plays the cold, detached realist puncturing Katz’s delusional dreams of fame and success. It’s the id/ego dynamic of classic Sleater-Kinney blasted out to an extreme, and it comes out feeling like two guys suffering different forms of poisoning from the same source.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
April 15th, 2020
Stupidly Good-Hearted
Twice “Sweet Talker”
When I write about songs sung in languages I cannot understand I generally try to find an English translation. This is helpful in getting the idea of the song, but it can do a weird thing in my brain where my understanding of the song is at a remove from my experience of it – in this case, it’s also in knowing the translation has some really interesting phrases but not being sure if it’s accurate. “They say I’ve been tricked because I’m stupidly good-hearted” naturally goes along with the title, which is sung in English, but I like the implication that being “good-hearted” is linked with stupidity, and how that makes the overwhelming sugary tone of the song seem a bit hectoring. Later in the song she sings something to the effect of “I feel like I’m the protagonist in a movie,” and I like the way that reinforces the notion that the “Sweet Talker” is a straight-up villain. There’s a real teen emotional logic to this song, where a relatively minor drama is blown out in scale, and results in an extreme shift from naiveté to cynicism.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 14th, 2020
The Rainbow’s In The Gasoline
Hamilton Leithauser “The Garbage Men”
“The Garbage Men” has a sort of shabby grandeur to it, particularly in the contrast of the unrestrained clattering percussion and a sampled horn loop that’s like a very rough approximation of a sentimental string arrangement from an old Hollywood film. It sounds like a guy stumbling around drunk through a big melodramatic moment, and maybe it’s only melodramatic in his own mind. Hamilton Leithauser’s voice is perfect for this vibe, especially when he really leans into his yowl, and his lyrics sketch out the perspective of a guy who’s down on his luck but wisely sticks to evocative details over laying out a specific plot. The main thing here is just understanding his feeling – unwilling to surrender too much pride, resentful of the haves, and fearing he’s on the edge of fully becoming a have-not.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 13th, 2020
Climbing Up Your Wall
The Strokes “The Adults Are Talking”
The Strokes is the type of act where the aesthetic premise is always the same – electronic music but played with rock instruments as rock songs – but the approach and execution changes. The interesting thing about their new record The New Abnormal is how that high concept, which was fairly subtle at the start of their career, has become foregrounded to the point where some of the songs just sound like techno without rock and roll obfuscation. “The Adults Are Talking” doesn’t go quite that far, but the precise click of the percussion and clacking of the trebly guitar notes is exaggeratedly robotic, even for them. The more notable shift in this song is in Julian Casablancas’ vocal, which sound remarkably relaxed and smooth for a guy who sounds somewhat distressed most of the time. The more subtle and seductive tone suits him well, particularly in a song that simmers rather than burns.
Buy it from Amazon.