Fluxblog 448: Vampire Weekend + Rostam Universe
Plus new songs by Dora Jar, Actress, a.s.o., and Boldy James
This week’s playlist is VAMPIRE WEEKEND + ROSTAM UNIVERSE, a career retrospective of all four founding members of the band and the extended VW/Time Crisis family with an emphasis on Rostam’s prolific career as a writer-producer. I feel like this makes a good case for Rostam Batmanglij and Ezra Koenig in particular being very significant figures whose influence extends far beyond what people may have expected from them when they first emerged in the late 2000s. You can see the full annotated track listing below, which includes collaborations with artists including Haim, Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Major Lazer, Clairo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maggie Rogers, Steve Lacy, Phoenix, Santigold, Charli XCX, Hamilton Leithauser, and many more.
Every Moment Always Hanging By A Thread
Dora Jar “Puppet”
The arrangement of “Puppet” is very dynamic, with news sounds and ideas arriving every few measures in a way that gathers momentum and keeps the ear entertained, but not in a way that makes the music too busy or incoherent. (Having the song anchored by a groove that’s a cousin to the classic Krautrock motorik beat is a great way to glue it all together.) Dora Jar is singing about feeling untethered and in imminent danger, but the playfulness of her lyrical scenarios and the rush of energy in the chorus make it clear that the risk-taking is thrilling rather than fully terrifying. I’m particularly fond of how she stutters the first line of each verse, and the way she stops the song cold for a moment in the third verse as both a punchline and yet another way to get a fun bit into the song.
Buy it from Amazon.
Actress “Its Me (G 8)”
If you’ve been reading this site for some time you know that I’m a sucker for chopped up vocal samples that carry melody and emotion, but scramble the lyrics beyond comprehension. “Its Me (g 8)” is an extremely good example of this approach, particularly in how the vocal samples seem to expand and contract without ever becoming fully intelligible. I don’t recognize the sample sources but there are elements here that remind me a lot of what No I.D. did with Jay-Z’s “The Story of OJ.” It’s in the way a few bass notes unintentionally cohere into a minimalist bass line, and the way the music feels like it’s rewinding at points rather than looping.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Always Putting Up A Fight
a.s.o. “My Baby’s Got It Out for Me”
“My Baby’s Got It Out for Me” is an expertly crafted trip-hop pastiche made by a duo of musicians so attuned to the details that the music feels a little uncanny in how accurately it replicates a specific mid-90s palette. I’ve seen a lot of people compare this to Portishead, which isn’t wrong in the broadest sense, but I think it’s closer to sounding like if Sneaker Pimps ever managed to make another song on par with “6 Underground.” (But like, 30% more stoned.) This is to say that I think this is music that is borne of extremely nerdy trainspotter/mood board impulses, but is executed so well that any trace of neediness is lost in the music’s extremely sexy atmosphere. All you really hear is the lust, the fantasy, and the surrender to darkness.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
On The Hell Block
Boldy James and ChanHays “Trust Issues”
“Trust Issues” has the same effect as the classic film trope of playing nostalgic pop music over a scene depicting violence or some other grim reality – the innocence and sentimentality of the music adding a layer of irony, but also making the brutality seem sort of cozy and banal. ChanHays’ track is built around a soul sample that feels particularly romantic and gentle, the sort of thing you’d likely hear as the soundtrack to young love in the mid-20th century. Boldy James’ lyrics sketch out the life of a young criminal with a particular emphasis on guns, to the point that it does sort of play out as young love, albeit with one’s firearms.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• I recommend checking out Rob Harvilla’s new book version of his podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. Rob’s an outstanding critic with a gift for writing imaginative metaphors, and I like the way he essentially wrote each chapter with a medley structure tying together his thoughts about related and semi-related songs. It’s like he remixed everything he previously wrote for the show and mades a series of seamless DJ mixed out of it. It’s technically impressive and makes me feel like I’ve been super lazy about my own writing. Also do whatever you want but know that you're a fool if you don't get the audio version - it's absurd to want this without hearing Harvilla’s voice, like preferring Mariah Carey sheet music over her recordings.
• Natalie Weiner wrote about Zach Bryan and “the never-ending search for authenticity” on her Don’t Rock the Inbox newsletter.
• Josh Terry wrote about the value of being wrong as a critic and how he came to love live albums over on No Expectations.