Fluxblog #329: Jungle • Yola • Zella Day • Isaiah Rashad
Plus a playlist of mostly obscure gems from the New Wave era
This week’s playlist is NEW WAVE GF PREPPY BF, an imaginary mixtape/rom-com soundtrack inspired by this image from a Wild Watch ad from the mid-80s. There’s a few big hits on it but it’s mostly lesser known songs by new wave-era artists such as Squeeze, The Waitresses, Romeo Void, Martha and the Muffins, Missing Persons, Elvis Costello, and Lindsey Buckingham. [Spotify | Apple Music]
The Start Of Something New
Jungle “Talk About It”
Oh, just imagine my incredible surprise upon learning that this excellent bass-heavy groover from the UK was created in collaboration with Inflo, the producer of Sault. I could’ve just fell over! Jungle have a much brighter and optimistic vibe than anything else I’ve heard from Inflo but the approach to bass and percussion is so distinctive – I’m sure there’s something technical about it, something in the mic’ing or mixing or EQing, but that’s beyond me. “Talk About It” hits on a purely physical level – bass that instantly shakes you, drum breaks that slam like Big Beat but with a more organic sound that bypasses the deliberate tackiness of that genre. The shift towards psychedelia feels very Chemical Brothers to me, but the grounding in gospel keeps it closer in tone to Inflo’s usual work and makes it feel like a spiritual successor to The Joubert Singers’ classic “Stand on the Word.”
Buy it from Bandcamp.
We Know It Isn’t
Yola “Diamond Studded Shoes”
“Diamond Studded Shoes” is an overtly political song about pushing for improvements despite knowing that your efforts will likely be in vain, but despite that tense and dreary lyrical perspective the music has a loose and relaxed feel. Yola is working at a very ‘70s intersection of country and rock, and while there’s also some gospel and soul in the mix she’s calling back to an era where those elements hadn’t quite been bred out of rock music just yet. The balance of vibe and message really works here – it deflates some potential preachiness or self-seriousness, lures the listener in with some musical honey, and places the emphasis on the notion that a life of activism and righteousness isn’t about big moments so much as being aware and vigilant on a daily basis. The looseness of the track and the relatively chill tone isn’t a contradiction so much as communicating an informal every day feeling.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Drunk Off Sunshine
Zella Day “Girls”
Zella Day sounds like a very big fan of Lana Del Rey. You can’t get around the Lana in her – it’s in her vocal delivery, it’s in her wry Pinterest-board lyrics, it’s in her melodic phrasing. It’s not a big surprise given that Day has collaborated directly with her in the past, she’s clearly more of a simpatico fellow traveler than a deliberate clone. The interesting thing about “Girls” is that Day takes the LDR aesthetic to a different place by applying it to the sort of chill summer fun song Del Rey often gestures in the general direction of but is too committed to dramatic gloom to ever actually do. “Girls” is very breezy but also slightly off-kilter, just enough to make it clear that the vision of comfort, success, and uncomplicated sexuality communicated in the lyrics is a fantasy or a facade. Of course, the aspirational part of the song is foregrounded right there in the chorus – “girls / I want to be / girls.”
Buy it from Bandcamp.
You Are Now A Human Being
Isaiah Rashad “HB2U”
“HB2U” is a type of rap song I’m always going to be partial to, the kind where sentimentality and nostalgia is conveyed musically through somewhat syrupy vintage soul samples and a slow, nodding beat. Isaiah Rashad is certainly reminiscing in his lyrics but he’s at best ambivalent about the memories he’s conjuring, and the real focus in the song is on taking note of old patterns in himself and his family and using it as motivation to move on. The song is split into two parts – the first section centered specifically on memories, the second serving more as a conclusion to the broader themes of the album as Rashad struggles with sobriety and acclimates to living outside his comfort zone both literally and figuratively. The second section is what really gets me, particularly the way Rashad repeats the line “you are now a human being” is his soulful but defeated rasp. He sounds like he knows he should feel more jubilant about surviving and getting to start over again, but more than anything he just seems exhausted by the effort and knowing how much work is ahead of him.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• I really liked this Last Donut of the Night post by Larry Fitzmaurice about the shift towards a new type of emotionalism in pop music that arguably started around 2017.
• Rebecca Alter actually went out to a fancy restaurant and got “sloppy steaks” for Vulture.
• Here’s pretty much the entire Rolling Stone all-star team of writers with their 100 favorite music videos ever, pegged to the 40th anniversary of MTV.