Fluxblog 442: autumnal jazz vibes
Plus new music by Geese, Earl Sweatshirt, and Armand Hammer
This week’s playlist is AUTUMN NOCTURNES: ROMANTIC MID-CENTURY JAZZ SELECTIONS, two hours of 50s/60s piano-centric jazz with a wistful fall/early winter vibe. This one is pretty chill and has a lot of utilities, but as I was putting this together I kept imagining scenes in movies with a new couple strolling through the park. The playlist features many jazz legends, including Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan, and McCoy Tyner.
[Spotify | Apple | YouTube]
Make A Dead Man Die
Geese “4D Country”
What makes a song relatable? There’s a lot of music now that people connect to quite deeply with very literal and direct lyrics, all expressing sentiments that people can point to and go “that’s me.” This makes sense, and pop music has always had this sort of utility. It clicks with me sometimes, but I find what really resonates for me the most is music that conveys a feeling that’s immediately understood but hard to explain, and with that I only really need a few lines that get under my skin.
“3D Country” – aka “4D Country” in its extended version – is one of those for me. Something about this particular blend of low-key grooviness, wounded soul, and wistful tone sounds like my life feels these days. It’s a little hard to follow the lyrical threads, which include lines about cowboys and soldiers in Rome, but the gist of it is clear enough as Cameron Winter belts out lines about needing to leave the life he’s known behind and lamenting how difficult it is to live life on your own. It’s a song about loneliness and loss and knowing you’ve made mistakes, but in the context of feeling stuck in some nowhere zone of your life. The guy in this song has made a decision to move on to his “second life,” but isn’t sure where his path is headed. There’s no resolution, just the understanding that he couldn’t keep going on as he was.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Cut Off The Coattails
Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist featuring Vince Staples “Mancala”
A few months ago I wrote this about Earl Sweatshirt’s style and I stand by it:
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.
Sweatshirt is in fine form on “Mancala,” as is The Alchemist, who spins a whole track out a piano sample that signals “holding on to one’s dignity and humanity in the face of adversity.” Earl’s verse is meticulously composed but written to sound very raw, to the point that he maintains meter at one point by almost saying a word but then immediately doubling back to restart the sentence like he’s backspacing and editing in real time. Vince Staples’ verse is a sharp contrast with Earl, the temperature of his voice much closer to the warmth of the chopped up gospel chords, though not as warm as the actual gospel choir that enters the song at the very end.
Buy it from Amazon.
The Gardens In Lefferts
Armand Hammer “Landlines”
“Landlines” opens the new Armand Hammer with a bold gambit – a rap track with no beat whatsoever, and Elucid and Billy Woods’ free floating verses providing the only discernible rhythm in what is otherwise a grooveless sound collage by JPEGMAFIA. And it works! It’s basically the opposite of a regular rap song, with the rappers creating a musical shape and the “music” such as it is responds to their rhythm and vocal texture. It’s also just very evocative, making these two men sound extremely disconnected and displaced, like they’re just spinning around in a void.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• This 404 Media article by Jason Koebler about tons of scalpers screwing themselves over by wildly overestimating demand for Travis Scott’s first tour after the Astroworld disaster is a feast of schadenfreude. But hey, if you can now go see Scott for under $20, go for it! Someone besides Ticketmaster should win in this situation.
• Molly Mary O’Brien wrote a really lovely tribute to our friend Alan Hanson, which I strongly recommend reading especially if you have loved ones who have struggled with addiction.
• Alexander Zaitchik of Truthdig wrote a great piece about the genius of Matt Christman’s Cush Vlog series, which truthfully has been the closest thing I’ve had to church in my adult life. Matt is currently in the middle of a pretty serious medical crisis and I hope he comes out of it OK – he’s a profound thinker who’s helped broaden the perspective of many people including myself, and I hope he can get back to this again before too long.