Fluxblog #318: St. Vincent • Beginners • Horsey/King Krule • Shelley FKA DRAM
Plus the perfect pool party soundtrack!
This week’s playlist is PLACE SERIES #2: THE POOL PARTY, a six hour collection of songs intended to be played on random to provide a relaxed and groovy pool party vibe. This is one of my favorite playlists I’ve made, and you don’t need to be so literal about the “pool” thing - it’s just generally great for sunny summer weather. Let me know if you enjoy it, particularly if you played it in a pool/beach setting! [Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
There is no free Fluxpod episode this week – I’m taking a little break while I set up a new set of episodes, I figured it was better to focus on those than rush out some just to fill the time – but there are still premium episodes coming regularly for Patreon subscribers. The one for last Saturday was a monologue on the topic of the gradual re-emergence of snobbishness as a cultural value.
If you ever wanted to support Fluxblog right now would be a particularly helpful moment in my life to do so – if you don’t want to subscribe to the Patreon, you can always donate either one-time or recurring payments on Ko-Fi. Thank you if you already have done this! It means a lot.
Your Gucci Purse A Pharmacy
St. Vincent “…At the Holiday Party”
Jack Antonoff plays the drums on “…At the Holiday Party” with a gentle hesitation, as though he’s trying to give the song a support structure while tiptoeing around Annie Clark’s guitar and vocal performance. It adds a lot to the loose, easygoing feel of the song while also mirroring the lyrical conceit in which Clark sings about talking to someone at a party and noticing that beneath their facade of material success they are entirely miserable. The song is so focused on Clark observing and empathizing with this other person that it doesn’t get into her own feelings but I think the arrangement does a lot to fill that in, starting with Antonoff’s percussion conveying some caution and the eventual presence of horns, backing vocals, tambourine, and clavinet projecting love and generosity.
Clark has compared this song to The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and that’s very apt – it’s hardly a clone, but it’s a very similar set of tools and tricks used to get across a reassuring message for someone who’s looking to get out of a hopeless feeling. Jagger and Clark aren’t the type to provide false hope, and unlike the Stones song “Holiday Party” isn’t even offering advice. Clark is just offering some solidarity in letting someone feel seen, understood, and most of all, not judged in a moment of despair.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Don’t Make Me Beg
Beginners “Can’t Get Enough”
“Can’t Get Enough” starts off feeling like it’s going to play out like a more scuzzy version of The Ting Tings’ perky but bratty late ‘00s pop but once it gets to where the chorus should hit the song switches gears. Beginners don’t necessarily refuse to give you the chorus you’re set up to hear, but they do put it off while letting the song stumble and grind up before picking up tempo and getting back into another verse. Subverting expectations like this will probably wreck the song’s commercial chances but conceptually it works very well in establishing a song about addiction by showing you upfront what happens when the protagonist song doesn’t get what they’re craving. Once the song kicks back into normal mode Sam Barbera sounds a little manic and messy, like she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. A lot of pop songs are based on the premise of “I’m addicted!” but even in a metaphorical sense, this takes the notion seriously. The song is ultimately pretty fun, but Barbera doesn’t make the mindset she’s inhabiting seem like a great time.
Buy it from Amazon.
Xylophone Ribcage
Horsey featuring King Krule “Seahorse”
Horsey have not released very much music but going on what they have put out in the past few years it’s safe to say that this collaboration with King Krule is far more like him than it is like them. Krule’s voice and aesthetic is so distinct that it’s like an overpowering ingredient in a dish – you have to adjust everything to suit his presence. In the case of “Seahorse” this means setting a mellow melancholic mood and getting out of his way as he does his usual move of muttered half-spoken lines that gradually build in intensity until it boils over into howling, distraught catharsis. The lyrics seem rooted in the particular claustrophobia, panic, and unrest of 2020 without announcing themselves as topical, favoring abstraction and the sort of raw emotion that doesn’t really need much context. Krule conveys a powerful feeling of disgust in the climax, utterly repulsed by police violence that seems unnecessary in the abstract, but central to the premise of their existence in the first place. But still, there’s a trace of optimism in here – a sense that in this bleak world he’s sketched out, life is still precious and worthwhile.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
In Loving Memory
Shelley FKA DRAM “Remedies”
“Remedies” sounds like it could just be a straight-ahead “baby, I miss you” break up ballad but Shelley’s lyrics layer in comedic details that make the whole situation funny and vivid without undermining the hurt at the core of it. It’s played pretty straight from the start, as the opening verse has him earnestly worrying about how his ex is going to talk about him now that they’re through, but the second verse starts making him seem more silly or pathetic as he commemorates what would’ve been their sixth-month anniversary by getting dinner alone at their “favorite place.” Like, hold on…six months? That’s it? It totally changes how the chorus about “memories” hits the next time it comes around. The best bit is Shelley singing about a rebound date – “she’s nothing like you, and she’s not my type, but she’s a stone-cold dime…or at least tonight!” He delivers that last part as a musical punchline, putting on a loverman bravado he’s already totally deflated.
Buy it from Amazon.
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• Here’s a very good article by Amanda Hess about Sinead O’Connor setting the record straight about her life and career in the New York Times.
• A couple weeks ago I recommended Nymphet Alumni, one of the best new podcasts of any kind. One of the hosts, Biz Sherbert, has an excellent Instagram account @markfisherquotes which is full of sharp critical writing in the captions.