Fluxblog #349: Madelline • Big Thief • Khruangbin / Leon Bridges
Plus a history of '80s pop in 11 artists
This week’s playlist is A HISTORY OF 80s POP IN 11 ARTISTS, a little experiment in examining the pop music of the era entirely through the music of a few crucial acts – Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Huey Lewis and the News, Phil Collins, U2, Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson. I wanted to track their parallel progress by placing all their major hits in as close to exact chronological order as I could get. I chose these 11 artists based on their stature as pop legends, volume of hits spread over the time period, ubiquity on MTV, and how much they are generally considered paragons of 80s-ness. This playlist also includes a few songs written by Bruce Springsteen and Prince that were hits for other artists, plus three hit songs featuring Michael Jackson as a non-headlining singer. [Spotify | Apple Music]
How Could I Love Any Other?
Madelline “Daffodils”
“Daffodils” starts off as a sort of Lana Del Rey-ish postmodern ballad but within 20 seconds the song starts shifting into very different gears – a bit of Eilish-ish bubblegum industrial, a fair amount of hip-hop through the distorted aesthetic gloss of hyperpop. The song and its arrangement are gleefully chaotic, and Madelline’s lyrics conveys a volatile sense of self that’s swinging wildly between paranoid anger and unapologetic egomania. I’m particularly fond of the way she’s playfully engaging with narcissism in this song, embracing the swaggy highs of genuine self-love while also projecting a coked-up delusional mindset.
Buy it from iTunes.
Just Some Linear Perception
Big Thief “Spud Infinity”
Big Thief is a band that has always thrived in capturing a live sound on record. “Spud Infinity” arrives at a point in the group’s trajectory where the sophistication of their songwriting and the casual chemistry of the band members have intersected so that the composition sounds as though it’s magically manifesting in real time. It’s an illusion of spontaneity, sure, but their playing is breezy and loose enough that the ease of it all isn’t the lie. “Spud Infinity” sounds like the band started from the notion of taking the term “cosmic country music” very literally, and writing a country rock song pondering philosophical matters like “what’s it gonna take to free the celestial body?” Adrianne Lenker’s voice and lyrics are playful and thoughtful, grounding questions about one’s significance in the greater scheme of things in colloquialisms and quirky metaphors while soberly advising anyone listening to throw themselves into the moment and express their love plainly to anyone they care about. She’s considering everything that can possibly be on the grandest possible scale, but arriving at the conclusion that what matters most is what’s immediately in front of us.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Deeply Miss Your Love
Khruangbin & Leon Bridges “B-Side”
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges are very good on their own but complement each other perfectly in collaboration, as though they’re completing an aesthetic circuit. Khruangbin are extraordinary mimics and conjure an Afrobeat sound so expertly that “B-Side” could pass as a lost Fela instrumental, but while they play it straight within that musical template Bridges veers closer to American soul. This is only a minor deviation but is enough to open up the sound to feel more like the center of a Venn diagram where Afrobeat, disco, and Curtis Mayfield could overlap.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Anti-Art has launched a proper website in addition to their Instagram and podcast presences – welcome to the blog world, boys!
• The JMC is another new blog covering music, podcasts, and assorted pop culture. It’s very nice to see new music blogs pop up!
• Here’s an interesting essay about Hole’s Celebrity Skin by Madison Jamar over on Sixtyeight2Ohfive.