Fluxblog 380: Syreeta • Moon Boots • Scout Niblett • Nilüfer Yanya
Plus I'll take you back to the summer of 1988
I’ve got one more summer throwback playlist for you this week – THIS WAS SUMMER 1988, which I made a few weeks ago but initially scrapped because I felt I’d done too many of these in a row and cover this particular era a lot. But it’s such a good era! I figured, hey why not. This is a very formative childhood radio period for me, and I suspect this will be true of a lot of my readership. [Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
They Don’t Know What You’ve Done For Me
Syreeta “I Love Every Little Thing About You”
“I Love Every Little Thing About You” is a Stevie Wonder song, a cover produced by Wonder himself and released only a few months after his own recording of the song on Music of My Mind in 1972. Syreeta was married to Wonder at the time the song was written and recorded, but their marriage had ended before either recording was released. This is tremendously ironic, as both versions radiate such a pure feeling of warmth and love that it’s very hard to imagine the spell these two people were under would break so soon after making this music together.
I strongly prefer Syreeta’s version of “I Love Every Little Thing About You.” Wonder’s is fine but for my taste the arrangement is a little too airy and the hooks don’t land quite as well. The Syreeta recording has a funkier groove and sounds very grounded, which works well for the song when her vocal is the part of the song that feels lighter. The contrast makes her sound like she’s rising up and transcending her physical being through this love, or at least feeling the intoxicating rush of chemicals that go along with love. The other major difference between the two recordings is that the Syreeta version sounds far more modern, to the point that it’s actually kind of amazing to think this was released 50 years ago. Some of it is in Wonder’s relatively minimal arrangement and tonal palette, but a lot of it is just that this music feels like it’s staking out a middle ground between traditional R&B sounds and more electronic textures that simply became a default territory for this music down the line.
Buy it from Amazon.
I Think You’re In Luck
Moon Boots featuring Cherry Glazerr “Come Back Around”
Clementine Creevy’s voice is typically paired with crunchy alt guitars in her band Cherry Glazerr but more recently she’s been singing in more of a pop context – newer Cherry Glazerr originals that lean more on synths, covers of “Steal My Sunshine” and “Call Me,” and this perky bop with dance producer Moon Boots. A lot of the older Cherry Glazerr songs were good but I think Creevy just sounds better in these sort of songs – her vocal timbre and breathy delivery just sits well with keyboards, so it’s a little like someone figuring out what kinds of outfits suit their form and coloring. She’s perfect for this particular Moon Boots arrangement, keying into something essentially flirtatious about the groove and singing lines “had a daydream that would make you blush” and “stay with me boy, if you know what’s up” with a coy, teasing tone. It’s a very playful and cute song, but there’s just enough intensity to it and light tensions layered into the groove that it feels like there’s some real emotional stakes.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Reasons I Don’t Need
Scout Niblett “Duke of Anxiety”
“Duke of Anxiety” is a cover of a Swearing At Motorists song from the mid-90s, but if you’ve heard this recording by Scout Niblett I do not recommend seeking it out as everything about it will sound totally wrong and half-assed in comparison to what she did with it. Niblett clearly heard the diamond in the rough and basically edited their song into something tighter and more refined, mostly cutting out all the ways Swearing At Motorists were sabotaging their own work. Crucially she removed everything about the original recording that served as a protective barrier for the singer and sang it with an unguarded, unapologetically wounded intensity that makes sense for a song sung from the perspective of an alcoholic at a low. Niblett sounds raw in her frustration and self-pity, see-sawing between defensiveness over her vices and eagerness to succumb to them. She sings like someone who’s lost hope in herself but is singing with some vague and possibly vain hope that in communicating all this to someone else they may intervene. It’s a rock bottom, and she sounds like she’s raising her hand up half-heartedly and waiting for someone to lift her up.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Cadence Set In Stone
Nilüfer Yanya “The Dealer”
“The Dealer” sounds like trying to feel calm and rational in a chaotic situation and mostly succeeding on a mental front but not really accounting for the body still feeling the effects of anxiety. Nilüfer Yanya sings from the perspective of someone attempting to make sense of a relationship that’s suddenly become confusing – why are they seemingly acting out of character? What happened to the person I could rely on? She’s rethinking everything she knows about them and recalibrating her expectations in the moment. I like that this song is set in a moment where it’s unclear whether or not the relationship is actually doomed, the possibility that this is something that can be dealt with reasonably gives the music interesting emotional stakes. Can this be fixed, and if so, is it worth it?
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Here’s Maggie Serota in her newsletter writing about that time she pissed off Morrissey so much he threatened a libel suit.
• In case you didn’t know Tom Scharpling pulled off an incredible stunt this week with a 24 hour marathon episode of The Best Show which featured a cavalcade of stars including Jarvis Cocker, Peter Buck, Conan O’Brien, The Gorch, Sudan Archives, Ty Segall, Mike Watt, Kurt Vile, Mike from Baybridge, Patricia Arquette, John Oliver, Adam McKay, Philly Boy Roy, Julie Klausner, and many many more. It’s getting broken up into several podcast-sized chunks now so you can catch up at your leisure.