Fluxblog #280: Shoegaze / Alt-Crunchy Playlists + Blackpink | Dua Lipa | Natalie Slade | Sharada Shashidhar
Two new playlists this week!
Celebrates Itself: Shoegaze 1988-1995
Exploring the first wave of the genre, including some rather obscure bands and a few outliers by artists not commonly slotted in with shoegaze.
[Spotify | Apple]
Alt-Crunchy: Neo-Hippie, Jam Band, and Folky Vibes 1992-1998
The crunchy/neo-hippie end of alternative music in the '90s. Imagine vegan cafes and health food stores, hacky sack on the quad... You'll either love or hate this one!
[Spotify | Apple]
You can find all my recent compilation playlists in both Spotify and Apple formats here.
And now for some regular posts...
August 31st, 2020 2:11am
Catch Me In The Fridge
Blackpink & Selena Gomez “Ice Cream”
“Ice Cream” has a very mid-’00s feel to it – most specifically it reminds me of Beyoncé’s melodies in her 2005 hit “Check On It” and the particular bounce of Swizz Beatz productions from the period. But it’s also just the general vibe of that era, that hyper-glossy hedonistic rap-adjacent bubblegum as deliberate counter-programming to a more pervasive bleakness in the culture. I can see how this could grate on people with a full-time commitment to doom but I think songs like this, which deliver joy and escapism with impeccable craft, are a necessary part of the arts ecosystem. I would be dazzled by this song if just on a melodic level under any conditions, but it coming at this time emphasizes all its sass and sparkle.
This song is Blackpink’s most blatant attempt at an American crossover hit to date, and I think it’s handled very well as an introduction to the group even with Selena Gomez taking center stage in the hook and the video. Rosé, who sings the highest part of the chorus, and Lisa, who does all the rapping, are the ones who really announce themselves as stars in this song and its music video. Like CL from 2NE1 before her, Lisa is a very convincing and aggressive rapper – to some extent they both come across as people who have fully internalized the cadences of mainstream female rappers like Cardi B and Nicki Minaj the way an actor would master an accent with a dialect coach, but the performances have a real spirit to them rather than just seeming studied and rote. Lisa is certainly compelling enough to get away with lyrical references to Michael Jackson and Free Willy, or opening her solo verse with the phrase “chillin’ like a villain.”
Buy it from Amazon.
September 2nd, 2020
Love And Lose A Hundred Million Times
Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna “Break My Heart (Moodymann Remix)”
Club Future Nostalgia has the feel of a club DJ set broadcast over the radio on a Saturday night – all the joy of the music is there, but the physical sensations of being in a room full of people with flashing lights is left to the imagination. Dua Lipa and The Blessed Madonna made this full album remix album as a tribute to those sort of broadcasts and classic DJ mix CDs, but also a simulation of an experience intended for all the people around the world who can’t just go to a club night during a pandemic.
It’s also a way of putting Lipa’s disco aesthetics in its proper context. The songs on Future Nostalgia are all finely crafted dance pop bangers, but in some ways the disco-ness of the music is hemmed in by the pop-ness. The remixes on this record allow the grooves to loosen up, mutate, or merge with other tunes. “Break My Heart,” so tightly composed on the album, is far more fluid here – first as a mash-up with Jamiroquai’s “Cosmic Girl,” and at the end as a longer, airier funk track reworked by Moodymann. He places all emphasis on the bass line – which interpolates INXS’s “Need You Tonight” – and clears out most of the negative space. The song retains its hooks but its vibe is completely changed, pushing it away from the angsty throb of the original towards a more relaxed and elegant aesthetic.
Buy it from Amazon.
September 3rd, 2020
Collecting Pieces
Natalie Slade “Humidity”
Natalie Slade’s voice is soulful but very controlled and understated – she emotes just enough to indicate her power and range, but keeps her focus on storytelling in her verses and conveying a soul-searching introspection in the choruses. Pretty much everything else in the arrangement of “Humidity” displays a similar balance of warmth and restraint. The bass is funky but unobtrusive; the drums have a nice feel but keep to a clean, tight pocket. My favorite thing here is the keyboards by Simon Mavin, whose chords seem like softly glowing lights just behind the groove. His parts get a bit higher in the mix near the end of the song, or maybe it’s more that other parts clear out to give those lovely chords some more space to be heard.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
September 3rd, 2020
Waiting For Something To Happen
Sharada Shashidhar “Loose Ends”
“Loose Ends” is a jazz vocal ballad but its textures are digitally warped to the point of disorienting abstraction. Sharada Shashidhar’s vocal is clear and precise, conveying patience and thoughtfulness in the midst of a track that feels more uncertain and chaotic. Jamael Dean’s music seems to move with and against her flow at different points, almost as if the sound is a storm moving around her stable, meditative presence. There are moments where it feels as though she’s moving against a powerful tide, but as she gets through it the chords settle into a more placid groove in harmony with her. It’s hard to imagine this is not a deliberate metaphor.
Buy it from Bandcamp.