Fluxblog 440: classic R&B does classic rock
Plus new songs by Mitski, Laurel Halo, Animal Collective, and Cleo Sol
This week’s playlist is WHOLE LOTTA LOVE: R&B X CLASSIC ROCK, a selection of classic rock songs by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Cream, The Doors, and more performed by R&B and funk acts from the late 60s through the late 70s. You can see the full track listing below! This one is a follow up to previous playlists collecting R&B covers of songs by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. [Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
An Inconvenient Christmas
Mitski “I Don’t Like My Mind”
The first several times I heard “I Don’t Like My Mind” I didn’t pay very close attention to the lyrics and just took in the sound of it, which feels essentially like Mitski doing her own variation of Angel Olsen in reverb-heavy country ballad mode. The mix is incredible – her voice loud and clear, the accompaniment slightly blurred into abstraction. I was so taken by the emotion of it all that I just did not notice that the chorus is about eating an entire cake alone. This is funny and unexpected, but also a level of specificity that makes her lyrics about struggling with impulse control and general misery feel a lot more grounded and real. It’s a punchline at her own expense, but also, like, a genuinely concerning detail that suggests some things a lot darker than she’s willing to spell out in the song.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Laurel Halo “Belleville”
“Belleville,” like the rest of Laurel Halo’s excellent new record Atlas, sounds like a very specific kind of nowhere. It’s mostly a piano instrumental but the piano part sounds semi-improvised, as though someone was passing through a house, spotted a piano, and sat down to play for a few minutes. But this is really more of an ambient track so you hear the room as much as the music, making it sort of like an installation art piece that you can only hear and infer what else is in that space. There’s vague traces of violin, non-musical sounds made by the body as the instrument is played, some hint of weather outside. A minute and a half in there’s a sudden burst of layered vocals that brightens the sound considerably and adds implied depth as it sounds like it’s in “focus” while everything before it and around it is considerably hazier.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
We Got Into A Holy Sound
Animal Collective “Gem and I”
Sometimes the more “normal” Animal Collective gets the more their essential eccentricity comes through. “Gem and I” feels somewhat familiar with its cocktail vibe and somewhat kitschy vocal harmonies but the distinctive tics and jumbled reference points of the AnCo players push it firmly into oddball territory. Panda Bear shines the brightest on this one – he’s the one laying down the beat and giving the song an odd sort of swing, and he’s the lead vocalist carrying one of the best melodies the band has written for a while. The lyrics seem to be about Animal Collective as a unit, both in terms of the pleasure of playing together and the challenge of finding new things to say and do while working with the same guys. “Another tip to the golden years,” he sings, more than two decades into this collaboration. “We’re probably in it.”
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Holy Spirit Through My Veins
Cleo Sol “Heaven”
If there is a “Heaven” I suppose everything there would sound like it’s in “Dilla time,” as it does in this song. The exceptionally loose groove suits Cleo Sol’s voice rather well, with more than enough space for her to go low-key and nuanced in her phrasing and have you hanging on every syllable she sings. I’m sure Sol and Inflo put a lot of thought and labor into making this song sound totally off-the-cuff, like they just improvised their way into this pure expression of romantic gratitude. The song is all feel – the comfy warmth of the groove, the brightly toned and perfectly understated organ and guitar lines, Sol singing like her heart is overwhelmed by totally undiluted love.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Larry Fitzmaurice interviewed The Geologist of Animal Collective for his newsletter Last Donut of the Night. My favorite part is early on when he explains the very pragmatic reason why their new album Isn’t It Now was recorded separately from last year’s Time Skiffs despite being written at the same time.
• Alan Siegel put together an oral history of Talking Heads’ recently reissued live film Stop Making Sense for The Ringer. I saw the new version made for IMAX last weekend and I strongly recommend seeing that version if you can. The sound design is incredible and I had a great experience with it.
• Emma Madden of Vulture conducted a very thoughtful interview with PJ Harvey mainly focused on her return to live performance.
• Keith Harris of Racket wrote an essay with a very simple question - why do we still pretend The Replacements should’ve been huge rock stars?
• Natalie Marlin wrote a piece for Stereogum marking the 20th anniversary of The Fiery Furnaces’ Gallowsbirds Bark, easily one of my favorite records of that entire decade.
