Fluxblog #324: Grunge 88-96 | Laura Mvula • Sault • Pareja & Lupe • Navy
Plus Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz plays "jukebox jury" on the podcast
This week’s episode of Fluxpod features Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13 playing the old “jukebox jury” game, in which we judge a selection of recent trending hits on Spotify. Some of the artists we talk about include Willow, Olivia Rodrigo, Foo Fighters, Lovejoy, Aespa, STAYC, Justin Bieber, Go_A, and Billie Eilish. It’s a fun one, particularly if you’re feeling a little out of step with what’s going on in the mainstream right now. You can find the episode on all the podcast platforms. Also, subscribers to the Fluxblog Patreon will get the final installment of the Sonic Youth audio essay series this weekend, covering the band’s last two records with Mark Ibold. Subscribe now and you can binge the whole damn series!
This week’s playlist is WHAT WAS GRUNGE? 1988-1996, a broad overview of the grunge moment from early origins to commercial saturation point. You can expect all the major figures – Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Mudhoney – plus some fellow travelers, simpatico outliers, and bandwagon-jumpers. [Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
Trembling In The Palm Of Your Hand
Laura Mvula “Got Me”
Laura Mvula holds back on the verses of this song, singing at the low end of her register in a rhythmic monotone that slips right into the groove but conveys a slightly deadened feeling. She’s waking up, she’s remembering being with this other person, and now just feels a lack. It sets the scene, but mostly is just to provide contrast for when she sings in her fullest, most passionate voice in the chorus, back up by a very ‘80s R&B horn fanfare. It’s like the movie trick of changing color saturation or film stock to signal a drastic mood shift – the verses here are too rich and Michael Jackson-ish to come across as black and white, but think of it like cutting from a muted palette to bold, bright, super saturated colors. She sounds confident and joyful on the chorus, expressing absolute pleasure in submission – “I’m a slave to the sound of your command.” As Trent Reznor put it years ago, happiness in slavery.
Buy it from Amazon.
Tomorrow We Will See
Sault “Bitter Streets”
You could create a conspiracy theorist pinboard for Sault where you can connect the names of everyone involved, from the primary producer Inflo to regular singer Cleo Sol to an extended network of collaborators including Little Simz and Jack Peñate on the new record. You could try to crack the code of their oblique album titles and minimalist art, or speculate as to the politics that drive their lyrics and distribution models. But despite them creating a natural curiosity gap with their deliberately mysterious shtick, thinking about this misses the obvious point that they clearly want this music to be faceless and to speak for itself.
“Bitter Streets,” a song credited to Inflo, Cleo Sol, and Jack Peñate, is Sault in mellow and meditative mode. The arrangement is straight-up stunning – womb-warm bass gliding around a crisp pocket beat, a choral part that sounds like it’s being played on an old Melotron, and a string section part that’s almost but not quite understated. The music nods in the direction of melodrama but doesn’t go there, evoking a very movie mood without straining for a “cinematic” feel. Sol’s vocal performance is similarly low-key, investing her lament for a friend who “fell in love with the streets” with a world-weariness but not a heavy grief. She’s not singing like someone who is surprised by anything that’s happened. If anything, she sounds bored by the same story, over and over.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Solo Es Natural
DJs Pareja & Lupe “Nuestra Forma (Beats Version)”
Pareja & Lupe, an Argentinian duo who began their collaboration during the pandemic without ever having met in person, specialize in energetic dance music with a heavy, drowsy atmosphere. It’s an odd contrast that totally works for them as both aspects of the tracks emphasize sensuality and physicality. My grasp of Spanish isn’t great but as far as I can glean, the lyrics are specifically about physicality – the body in motion, dancing as an expression that doesn’t require an audience. “Nuestra Forma” makes sense as dance music made during lockdown, a moody and slightly spaced out banger that’s built for solitude but would nevertheless feel complete in a crowded room.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Compel And Beseech
Navy “LMK”
I’ve heard so many songs over the years that are about someone getting mixed signals from someone they’re attracted to and just wanting clarity on the matter and it’s interesting how such a basic idea can be interated in so many ways, this nuanced spectrum of experiencing the same thing. Navy’s “LMK” falls on the more relaxed end of things, and not just for its supremely chill Caribbean vibes and a central keyboard part that’s like a sonic command to loosen up one’s muscles. Navy seems concerned about her situation in as much as she’d much rather skip to uncomplicated romance, but she comes off as self-assured and not especially overeager to force something that’s not meant to be. She’s singing as a person with a very clear idea of what she wants, but is wise enough to not want a compromised version of that. There’s versions of this song where it’s like the singer could explode with anxiety at any moment, but here’s Navy just patiently singing “if you want me, let me know…”
Buy it from Traxsource.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Here’s a very nice conversation between Michael Stipe and Jim McKay about their long term collaboration on their film company C-Hundred on the Talkhouse Podcast.
• Tom Scharpling’s memoir It Never Ends comes out in a few days and I highly recommend it, even if you’re not a longtime fan like myself. It really distills everything that’s made him one of the funniest and most compelling broadcasters of the past 20 years.