Fluxblog #375: Doechii • Tim Bernardes • Jockstrap • Sophia Scott
Plus a playlist going back to summer of 1994
My series of playlists revisiting memorable summers in pop music history continues with THIS WAS SUMMER 1994, a fantastic voyage back to one of the all-time best years for popular music – especially if you happen to be a fan of rap, alt-rock, and house pop. I’m particularly fond of this one, but of course I would be for biographical reasons. [Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
She’s So Flirtatious
Doechii “Persuasive”
“Persuasive” is basically a love song about weed, and not even in a “if you really pay attention…” sort of way as the chorus starts “she’s so persuasive, that marijuana.” It sounds like the sort of music that you’d typically pair with lyrics about obsessive lust, though lust is still very much on the table if they’re willing to be a third. The core of the sentiment here is really about someone feeling as though some elements of themselves are being unlocked – sensuality, hedonism, grace – while every bit of anxiety and awkwardness is at least temporarily locked away. And if our hope for romantic love is to find someone who brings out the best in us and mitigates the worst in us, who’s to say this isn’t truly love for Doechii?
Buy it from Amazon.
More Than The Dream Itself
Tim Bernardes “Mistificar”
Tim Bernardes’ string arrangement for “Mistificar” sounds a bit uncanny to me, clearly indebted to lush and melodramatic mid 20th century aesthetics but somehow just off-kilter enough to make it feel deliberately anachronistic in the present moment. This is a song about embracing a sort of magical thinking as an essential part of romance, to let down one’s guard and just be corny and starry-eyed. Bernardes pushes against cynicism in his lyrics here but not so much that he’s trying to bury some part of his nature. It’s more that he’s allowing himself to appreciate things he on some level understands to be an illusion because it’s fun and because it’s part of what brings you to set the foundation for satisfying romantic partnership.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
The Space Behind The Sky
Jockstrap “Concrete Over Water”
“Concrete Over Water” is a tricky song to write about in as much as a lot of the initial thrill of it is being genuinely surprised by the musical choices made along the way and I’d really rather not spoil that for you. But the arrangement is an ever-shifting thing in which the sections of the song feel like different physical locations, as though we’re following Georgia Ellery’s voice through some elaborate house or varied landscape. Another way of looking at this is that the music responds to her voice, which sticks to a coherent and steady melodic structure and is quite stunning in its natural beauty in a way that’s at odds with some of the more eccentric sounds that pass through the composition. When it comes down to it, this is a case where a band had a very lovely song that could have been played in a normal style but they went a few steps further and made something more strange, beautiful, and theatrical.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Jet Black And Smooth
Sophia Scott “Leather Skirt”
Contemporary country music absorbed the aesthetics of ‘80s mainstream rock some time ago as part of an ongoing cycle of country pulling in sounds once they feel old enough to seem like classic Americana. This manifestation of arena rock can be hit or miss but “Leather Skirt” is definitely in the first category and basically sounds like a woman who’d be objectified in a Def Leppard or Mötley Crüe song deciding to do it herself and make her own rock anthem about how hot she is. There’s a bit of twang in Sophia Scott’s voice to make it scan as “country,” but I think that comes through more in the lyrics which lean on that genre’s conventions of performing femininity with a heavy wink and openly transactional attitude. Scott’s lyrics are straightforward – she’s singing about how great and useful it is to have a good leather skirt, and how she feels wearing it, and what she gets from wearing it. There’s no twist to this, and the endorsement is so strong that it feels like a song that should somehow contain affiliate links to online retailers of leather skirts.
Buy it from Amazon.
I got back to my sporadically updated House Of X blog this week to write about Immortal X-Men #2 and #3 by Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck, the second of which was especially good.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• I really enjoyed Sophy Ziss’ review of the new Soccer Mommy album for the recently revived Creem.
• Rich Juzwiak wrote a very thoughtful essay about the new George Michael documentary Freedom: Uncut for Jezebel.
• I enjoy all of Tom Breihan’s The Number Ones columns every week at Stereogum but I was especially excited for him to finally get to Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and he did not disappoint.