Fluxblog 344: Aminé • Blonder • Eulajay • Lady Wray
Plus a playlist of the egregiously filthy hipster novelty bangers of the 2000s
This week’s playlist is MOTHERFUCKERS & FATHERFUCKERS: HORNY HIPSTERS 2000-2010, a celebration of cartoonish vulgarity and novelty bangers from the American Apparel era. This fully XXX set of tunes includes favorites by Peaches, DJ Assault, Avenue D, Spank Rock, Thunderheist, Uffie, and more. [Spotify | Apple]
Now They Overlap
Aminé “Van Gogh”
The keyboards in “Van Gogh” are pitched up to the point that it has the cartoonish plasticy tinkle of children’s music, making the song feel a bit like a perverted lullabye that involves bragging about fucking a girl on a Van Gogh painting. Like a lot of artists in the recent past Aminé is basically singing with rap cadences but unlike fellow travelers like Lil Uzi Vert or Playboi Carti, there’s a pleasing softness in his voice that really sells the flirtatiousness in this particular song. There’s a real himbo energy to this one, just the perspective of a silly dude who wants to party and get laid and he makes it all sound kinda sweet.
Stream it via Aminé.
Light Green Shirt
Blonder “Ice Cream Girl”
Constantine Anastasakis is very good at a very ‘90s alt-rock move of contrasting bright notes with a heavy and burbling low end that makes the whole song feel a bit nauseous. It’s an underrated way of expressing anxiety – a more jittery rhythm feels right for a more high-strung personality, but the sounds in “Ice Cream Girl” are more particular to someone with lower expectations in life and less inclination to want to control everything. Despite the sickly tone the song really works as pop, particularly as Anastasakis’ voices drifts up into falsetto on the sing-songy bridge into the slam-the-fuzzbox chorus.
Buy it from Amazon.
Don’t Cut Me Loose
Eulajay and Serpentwithfeet “Luvaroq”
As the title suggests “Luvaroq” is heavily indebted to the Lover’s Rock subgenre of reggae, to such an extent that I swear I’ve heard some version of this before but I can’t quite place it. The track is all warm, womb-like bass and tastefully applied bits of treble, like the lead organ part that in context has an effect roughly equivalent to a loosely strung line of Christmas lights. Elujay and Serpentwithfeet trade off vocals, each of them pleading to their love interest to not to dump them. They’re not exactly offering the best arguments for this in their lyrics – Serpentwithfeet in particular seems like he’s kind of a dick to his boyfriend here – but there’s an earnestness in their singing and a gentle purity to the music that makes a strong case in their favor.
Buy it from Amazon.
Get Lost In Someone
Lady Wray “Games People Play”
Lady Wray sings “Games People Play” from a bit of a remove, looking on at someone else making the same mistakes she’s already made in youthful relationships with a feeling of resignation – this is just what people do, the “silly shit you do when you’re young.” There’s empathy in the song and warmth in her voice, but more than anything you hear lingering pain in her phrasing and a determination that she won’t be repeating any of this as an adult. The arrangement is full of classic soul moves but there’s a chilliness to the tone, mainly in the trebly lead guitar part that runs through the center of the composition. The reverb is lovely ambiance but emphasizes the aloofness of the song, suggesting a physical and emotional distance between Wray and the music.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
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• Here’s Emma Madden at NPR with a very interesting piece on the “limitations of the sapphic anthem” and the way the marketing of lesbian identity narrows it all down to a very specific look and feeling.
• Kory Grow and Jason Newman of Rolling Stone’s investigation into the many, many allegations against Marilyn Manson reveals the man to be even more disturbed, violent, cruel, and unhinged than expected.