Fluxblog 365: Bruce Hornsby • Supershy • Banks • Vince Staples
Plus a playlist of a lot of bands that sound like The Smiths
This week’s playlist is THESE CHARMING MEN: LITERARY INDIE 1983-1986, in which bookish jangly rock music emerges and thrives in the UK and Ireland in the Thatcher era. To sell this one another way – this is basically "hey, wanna hear 45 bands that sounded somewhat or a lot like The Smiths and existed at the same time?" [Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
My new Fluxpod Patreon miniseries about Pavement featuring Abraham Riesman will launch this weekend. We’ll be talking about the discography in reverse chronological order, so the first one will be about the recently reissued Terror Twilight. This is for subscribers at the $5 or more tier level, and that subscription will include access to the full archives with all the other paywalled episodes and miniseries.
A Shapeless Creeping Growing Thing
Bruce Horsnby, Ezra Koenig, and Blake Mills “Sidelines”
The lyrics of “Sidelines” make some direct references to life in the early phase of the pandemic but even if Bruce Hornsby’s words stayed focused on the opening images of a judge heading to Salem it would sound very much like a quarantine song. It’s in the odd stillness, the cautious twitch in the rhythms, a stunned and dazed feeling that permeates the track. Hornsby’s lyrics are a scatter of images and ideas that suggest a mind trying to piece together a situation through stress and distraction, and then through some filter of vague paranoia. Hornsby and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig find some grace and beauty in this odd moment, singing a slightly jagged melody that pushes upward like a prayer at the end of the chorus. We’re far enough away from this moment in time to recognize what this grace and beauty actually is – it’s the sudden authentic humility of truly having no idea what’s about to happen and allowing yourself to feel that scary but sort of freeing feeling.
Buy it from Amazon.
Deep In A Love Affair
Supershy “Happy Music”
Tom Misch’s debut as Supershy is a lush disco track that superficially resembles The Avalanches’ classic “Since I Left You,” at least in as much as both song expertly evoke the idea of some glamorous 20th century party you can imagine but never attend. The song bangs and thumps in all the ways you’d want it to but the main attraction is definitely in the more delicate aspects of Misch’s arrangement, particularly in his deftly harmonic use of vocal samples. This works as a straightforward piece of…well, happy music… but there’s just enough melancholy lingering in the atmosphere of the mix to emphasize that this is, for most of us, an impossible nostalgia.
Buy it from Beatport.
Get To Know Me Once More
Banks “I Still Love You”
“I Still Love You” is a song that explores the cognitive dissonance that comes from when you go from extreme intimacy with someone to becoming total strangers. She’s yearning to reconnect with them but seems mainly interested in the small details – what’s their current favorite song, do they still smoke weed, do they have any bruises on their body right now? Banks sings in a fragile tone at the top of her register, sounding as though she could break into tears at any moment. But she’s more nostalgic than sad here, and the piano figure at the center of the piece signals a touch of brightness and optimism. She’s just looking for a similar level of connection and this relationship is simply the last time she felt something she craves. She acknowledges the “issues” with this other person, and I think that’s her way of reminding herself that she might be better seeking out what she actually needs with someone else. The song sort of knows that it’s a momentary indulgence.
Buy it from Amazon.
How You Illuminate My Thoughts
Vince Staples “When Sparks Fly”
I’ll admit that it took me a while to get that this isn’t a regular love song, but rather Vince Staples doing his own take on Nas’ “I Gave You Power” – the lyrics are from the perspective of a personified gun, and this time around it’s a romance. Staples is clever enough to make this work perfectly well as a single entendre but his lyricism really shines in the double meanings, particularly in the extended protection/glove metaphor midway through the first verse. Frano’s track is all atmospheric sensuality and sex though, so I wonder if Staples felt a little too self-conscious about writing a straight-up love song. It’s more interesting and certainly more macho as the gun thing, but I feel like the song is actually more resonant without that layer of ironic distance.
Buy it from Amazon.
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• The Matador Records Revisionist History podcast returned this week with Chavez’s Matt Sweeney interviewing Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs about Slanted & Enchanted and the early days of Pavement. It’s actually pretty rare to hear SM and Spiral talking to each other, so it’s a treat if just for that. If you’re a gearhead, the last 20 minutes will be rather thrilling too.
• The New York Times has a nice tribute to Charles Mingus on the 100th anniversary of his birth with ten contemporary jazz musicians reflecting on key tracks from his incredible body of work.
• The Dan Vault has released a fabulous recording of Steely Dan rehearsing for their 1996 tour on YouTube. The audio is perfect soundboard quality and it offers some insight into band dynamic and process, a lot of Donald Fagen goofing around, and fun loose versions of "Hey Nineteen," "Bad Sneakers," "My Old School," “Kid Charlemagne,” and more.
