Fluxblog 407: Fluxblog 21st anniversary playlist
Plus new songs from Yo La Tengo and Kimbra
This week marks the 21st anniversary of Fluxblog, which means it will now become increasingly common for me to cover artists born after the site was founded. Unfortunately this anniversary hits at a point in time when I’m dealing with some serious writers block, so I don’t have a lot to share this week. I’ve done this long enough to know there’s just gonna be times when I’m burned out, and that right now there’s a lot of stress and money anxiety in my life that’s getting in the way of this. But whether you’ve been following Fluxblog for a little while or if you go way back, I appreciate you checking out what I’ve been doing. It’s a big part of my life, and I can’t imagine what my life would even be like if I didn’t do it.
This week’s playlist is FLUXBLOG: UNPOPULAR POP 2018-2022, a collection of A+ songs by less famous and more obscure artists I’ve covered in the past 5 years and is a follow up to a similar playlist I made for the site’s 16th anniversary. This is the kind of music the site has always existed to cover, so when I think of “Fluxblog music” this is what comes to mind. I hope you listen and find something new to care about. [Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
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Til We All Break
Yo La Tengo “Sinatra Drive Breakdown”
A lot of guitarists let their guitar speak for them in solos but everything Ira Kaplan gets out of his instrument in “Sinatra Drive Breakdown” is like the result of a brutal interrogation. He slaps, slams, batters, and scrapes the thing up. A lot of the sound is just impact, but then he starts to coax more coherent melodies out of the thing. All of this is in contrast with a sedate but slightly tense groove and a demure vocal performance that makes Kaplan’s playing seem all the more unhinged and violent. The overall effect is an odd mix of soothing and abrasive, and the chaos in the guitar becoming a pleasant or at least interesting localized sensation while everything else in the mix numbs you out. It’s thrilling music to zone out to. Yo La Tengo have existed for four decades and this has long been a part of Kaplan’s style but what they achieve here feels special and new, like different aspects of their sound were always on course to finally converge like this.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Chateau Marmont Moments
Kimbra feat. Pink Siifu and Tommy Raps “LA Type”
Kimbra doesn’t work in a funk mode all the time but my favorite music she’s done is almost always in this lane. There’s a fair number of groovy songs on her new record A Reckoning but “LA Type” is the big funk number, louder and heavier than anything else around it. It reminds me a bit of Nikka Costa’s music from the very early 00s – glossy and a little twitchy, essentially a showcase for the biggest and sassiest aspects of her voice. There’s a lot of songs about not being into Los Angeles but I think the tone of this song makes the lyrics click, since there’s a bit of a wink to it that keeps it from being too judgy as she explains to someone she can’t really get into the Hollywood lifestyle. The lyrics are more about the dynamic she has with the person she’s addressing – she doesn’t want to let them down, but she’s still basically rejecting them and their world. The two rap verses at the end are basically rebuttals, with Tommy Raps playing it defensively while Pink Siifu doubles down on exactly the kind of seduction she’s passing up.
Buy it from Amazon.
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• I loved reading Dan Charnas’ Dilla Time book about the life and music of J Dilla, and so I was thrilled to see him back on the Dilla beat with this essay on Pitchfork about the beat tape Charnas believes to be the producer’s masterwork, which happens to be something unlikely to ever be officially released. Kinda aggravating to read such a persuasive argument in favor of a work that one can only hear if they’re willing to jump through some hoops, but it’s a testament to his skill as a critic.
• I’ve been having a great time catching up on Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene’s King for a Day series in which he tells the story of various obscure musicians who stepped in to famous bands to replace a missing member, usually the lead singer. This is such an incredible use of Greene’s distinct skills and fascinations, and I particularly recommend the stories about JD Fortune and INXS, Billy Burnette and Fleetwood Mac, and Chris Shinn and Live.