Fluxblog 432: the cosmic noir / 1990 mixtape
Plus new songs by Rose of the West, Tinashe, and The Alchemist
This week’s playlist is THE COSMIC NOIR, a two hour soundtrack style mix with a dark funky jazzy aesthetic, groovy but a little otherworldly - maybe you can "see" the movie when you listen? I like this one a lot. [Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
As a bonus, I also made a playlist called TO JEFF FROM SCOTT based on the description of a mix tape in this 1990 Fuji blank cassettes ad. Side A is all interesting radio songs from 1989, Side B features an Australian band, mid 80s blues, and circa 89/90 “new garage rock sound.” [Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
The part at the end here screams “we got a note asking us to make it clear these guys are totally straight,” doesn’t it?
This is the second time I’ve made a playlist based on one of these Fuji tape ads, here’s the previous one NEUROTIC 80s WOMAN PARTY MIX.
See What You Put Me Through
Rose of the West “Come and Find Me”
“Come and Find Me” makes lyrical nods to Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” but musically the reference points are all late 80s goth and the darker edges of dance pop. Gina Marie Barrington and her collaborators inhabit a very familiar vibe here without aping any song in particular, emulating specific tones and settings but bending it all into something with a distinctive shape. Barrington’s lyrics deliberately blur the lines between love song and political song, presenting any variation on human relationships as a question of love and respect – ie, if you’re not getting the respect, is it really the love at all?
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Only One Try
Tinashe “Talk to Me Nice”
“You got options, I got options” Tinashe sings in “Talk to Me Nice,” a song about what sounds like a very pleasant situationship that nevertheless has a tension running through it that suggests that there’s more angst and unresolved feelings expressed in this music than she’s letting on in the lyrics. Nosaj Thing and Scoop DeVille’s track centers a tranquil keyboard tone but frames it with syncopated beats that signal both sexiness and mild anxiety, not exactly undermining the vibe but definitely complicating the mood of it. My favorite musical move in this song comes after the chorus, when the chords shift up for an overtly melancholic bridge sequence in which Tinashe drops the carefree NSA front for a moment to get into what she truly values – loyalty, realness, feelings money can’t buy. She’s not negating anything she’s said there, but you do get the impression she’s wanting more than she’s getting and trying to smooth out some cognitive dissonance.
Buy it from Amazon.
Music That Makes Me Cry
The Alchemist featuring Earl Sweatshirt and Billy Woods “RIP Tracy”
Earl Sweatshirt’s voice is deep, his cadence is precise, and he often writes in odd meters that disrupt expectations. He tends to use this as a distancing device – he frequently sounds cold, or dismissive, or fully misanthropic to the point of shutting everyone out. This is interesting, but what makes him compelling is the way he slips in little moments of vulnerability or warmth that break up the flat affect. This approach casts every feeling in sharp relief – he sounds more wounded, more angry, more depressed when the feelings are exposed through the vocal armor. He’s very well suited to The Alchemist’s production style, particularly on “RIP Tracy,” which conveys a similar mix of feelings but contrasts Sweatshirt’s bitter tone with a sentimentality, even if that’s only coming through between scare quotes in a sample. Billy Woods also shines here, wrapping the song on a verse that’s more nakedly emotional in the performance but goes even darker in the lyrics.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
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• Jude Ellison Doyle is asking the important questions: why did every 90s alt-rock woman want to fuck an angel? They’ve included a Spotify playlist supporting their case featuring songs by Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple, Sarah McLachlan, and Garbage.
• Jacqueline aka DJ Horsejeans has shared a really fun playlist celebrating trashy 90s Euro dance pop, which I promise goes deeper than you probably expect.
• The fantastic rap blog No Bells has done the homework necessary to prove that the new Travis Scott album is comprised mainly comprised of scrapped Kanye songs going back a decade.
• Sean T Collins wrote beautiful tributes to Paul Reubens and Angus Cloud this week, the latter doubling as a very thoughtful read on Euphoria, a show that rarely attracts thoughtful critical takes.
• Lil Wayne has the right idea about AI in this Billboard interview:
