Fluxblog #341: Animal Collective • Crystal Murray • St. Panther • Spoon
Plus a recap of some recent festivals by And Introducing
This week’s episode of Fluxpod features returning guests Molly O’Brien and Chris Wade of And Introducing for a fun recap of their recent experiences at Riot Fest and Governors Ball, which is basically a vehicle for discussing the current state of festival vibes and talking about artists including The Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey, Post Malone, Carly Rae Jepsen, Devo, Machine Gun Kelly, Andrew WK, Les Savy Fav, Young Thug, and more. You can find the episode on all the podcast platforms and the Fluxpod Patreon, where the fourth and final episode of POPTOBER – my miniseries with Chris Conroy delving into U2’s 1997 flop Pop – will drop this weekend. I’m really proud of this series, I think it’s turned out to be one of my best critical projects.
To The End Of It
Animal Collective “Prester John”
The most striking sound in “Prester John” is the element of it that sounds the least like Animal Collective as we’ve known them for the past 20 years – a central keyboard riff that’s crisp, clean, and traditionally groovy. It’s one of the most normal sounds I can remember showing up on any of their records but it ends up feeling like the weirdest part of a song that’s otherwise working with very classic Animal Collective approaches to musical textures, ambiance, and vocal harmonies. The vocal parts – mainly sung by Panda Bear – are lovely in a way that feels very casual and lived-in, which I suppose is a result of this song having been mutating through various live incarnations over the past few years. Revision through live iteration has been a big part of the group’s process all along but at this stage where the final studio rendition can feel confident and organic rather than tight and overworked, which I think happened on a lot of their last two proper Animal Collective albums. With this they’ve circled back to the earnest loveliness of the Merriweather Post Pavilion era but with far less reliance on the haziness of heavily processed sounds and extreme reverb.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Crystal Murray “Too Much to Taste”
“Too Much to Taste” is so exuberantly horny that Crystal Murray actually just sings the phrase “I’m horny” mid-song because hey, why bother being coy about it? There’s no shame in this music, just huge flirty vibes and ecstatic R&B melodies grafted on to sleek electro pop. There’s no friction to the groove, but there is some tension in the lyrics and Murray’s vocal in the form of a mild angst about being so overcome with lust that you’re giving over too much of yourself. The thrill of the song is that it’s not too hung up on that thought – if anything, it sounds like Murray is just daring herself to take this even further.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
These Grey Blue Skies
St. Panther “Problems”
Daniela Bojorges-Giraldo is responsible for making and engineering every sound on this recording so it’s hard to single out what to praise her for – the low-key loveliness of her melodies, the warmth and presence she captures in her engineering, the elegant restraint of how she plays bass, the crispness of her drumming, the sweet rasp of her voice? “Problems” is a sophisticated song with a clear and direct feeling that’s more urgent than the formal elements that make it go down so smooth. Bojorges-Giraldo sounds incredibly frustrated here, almost resentful of having a love that she can’t bring herself to honor with clear communication. She can’t quite articulate what’s going on to herself or the other person, but it’s clear enough it’s all self-destructive.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
World Wars In Your Mind
Spoon “The Hardest Cut”
“The Hardest Cut” has the aesthetics you’d expect from Spoon – the tight rhythms, the stylized but controlled chaos, Britt Daniel’s distinctive rasp – but it’s at the service of a brawnier type of rock than they usually play, a little closer to something like Queens of the Stone Age or The Black Keys. The synthesis works out well, particularly as it’s ultimately just a different type of blunt minimalism to run through the filters of their style and taste. The bluesy central riff is so taut it sounds like it could be used as a garrote, and Alex Fischel’s parts on the refrains are all blunt force rendered in the mix to sound like the distorted chords are punching out through the speakers. This is probably the most commercial and straight forward rock song they’ve done but the relative normalcy of the composition is a perfect vehicle for proving out their aesthetic concerns – this sort of song is usually produced with a certain flatness, but in their hands it’s so consistently dynamic that the studio image feels like 3D.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
I wrote quite a bit about the second issue of Inferno, the finale of Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men story over the past few years. This entry focuses a lot on the question of whether Mystique and Destiny are actually the protagonists of the story, and some speculation into the question of what Omega Sentinel really is.
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• Here’s David Turner at Penny Fractions on the question of whether people actually want virtual concerts.
• Here’s Terry Nguyen at Vox on the “ghost stores” of Instagram.