Fluxblog 454: up-tempo soul music!
Plus new music by Automatic, Samplelov, Sofia Kourtesis, and Pangaea
This week’s playlist is 50 Up-Tempo Soul Shakers, a little over 2 hours of danceable R&B from the 60s through the early 70s including a few big Motown and Stax hits sprinkled in among some more obscure bops. It’s a really good time, and I can tell you from experience that it plays very nicely on a car trip.
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
Shopping Malls Make You Vicious
Automatic “Is It Now?”
With only a few minor tweaks, Automatic have shifted from minimalist ESG vibes to icy romantic early New Order vibes, and the aesthetic shift suits them well. Like a lot of their material, “Is It Now?” is overtly leftist in its POV but a little unsure of how strident it wants to be about it. That tension moves from subtext to text in this song, which is about struggling to find the right balance between being angry about the status quo and trying to live a happy, fun life. As with some of their other songs, the core anxiety seems to be a fear of getting sucked into the black hole of consumer conformity. They know it’s seductive, they know how easily they could be sucked into it, they know how much they already are, but they’re still resisting the urge to give in to comfortable complacency.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Can’t Believe I Wasted So Much Time Living In Fear
Samplelov “Don’t You Know My Name”
Samplelov’s The Look of Adoration is essentially a meta neo-soul record: entirely earnest in its emotion and almost fetishistically rooted in an organic sound, but built from samples and dotted with just enough ironic winking to openly acknowledge its artifice and relative inauthenticity. It’s so consistently lovely and engaging that picking one song from the album wasn’t easy but I landed on “Don’t You Know My Name” because I love the rhythm guitar part and am always a sucker for the way a busy soul bass line sounds when it gets pitched up a little in the sampling process. That sort of James Jamerson bass is always flashy, but in context is more of a subliminal force guiding the movement of the music, but like this it’s more foregrounded as a flamboyant melodic flourish.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
You Never Let Them Get You Down
Sofia Kourtesis featuring Daphni “Unidos”
Dan Snaith – who you’d know as both Caribou and Daphni – is a class act. One way I know this is because in the press release for this collaboration with Sofia Kourtesis he makes a point of saying “to be clear, all the good ideas in this track are Sofia’s, I just added some drums and pumped up the arrangement.” I’ll take his word for it, which is pretty easy because I already knew Kourtesis has a brilliant ear for samples and dynamics. “Unidos” is a feel-good track, and in a very pointed and political way. It’s not a subtle piece. It’s designed to spike your endorphins and urge you to fight back against oppressors. It’s encouraging and empowering, and it works even if it’s not strictly meant for your ears.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Pangaea featuring Jazz Alonso “Manía”
I’m sure the seemingly ineffable and intangible thing I love about Pangaea’s production aesthetic can be easily explained by some very technical decision made in some piece of software, but I can try to explain it: Everything bounces just a little ~too~ hard, but there’s grace in that extra bit of force. If you imagine it in terms of color, every color is a bit ~too~ saturated, but not so much that it gets messy and distorted. Everything in a Pangaea track is hyper-real and ultra-vibrant, like it’s dialed into the frequency of a better, more fun universe.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LIVE LIVE LIVE LIVE
I saw Billy Corgan & The Machines of God at Irving Plaza on Sunday night. This was basically a Smashing Pumpkins show under a different name to appease Jimmy and James. a special show focused entirely on Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, the Machina records, and the new album from last year. When I found out that the set would include "Where Boys Fear to Tread," "Porcelina," "Bodies," "Muzzle," "Heavy Metal Machine," "Glass + the Ghost Children," "Atom Bomb," and "Aeroplane Flies High" I HAD to get a ticket. And I’m glad I did – a fantastic and generous show, and it was a thrill to finally get to see some songs I’ve loved for 30 years.
Last three clips are the opener Return to Dust, a group of early 90s style hunks who sound like they are exclusively inspired by Alice In Chains' Facelift.
LINKS LINKS LINKS
🏥 Dan Reilly reports on the health-insurance horror stories of 7 musicians in Vulture, including Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!, Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo, and Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz.
⭐ Tobias Hess asks a good question: Why are all the pop star interviews like that?
Let’s call it “The Girls and Gays Pop Star Sit Down.”
Of this category there are a few prime purveyors.
Therapuss with Jake Shane
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper
Honorary Mention: Zane Lowe on Apple Music (straight man but the affect is the same)
What unites all of these pieces of media is a giddy sensibility where the host has the affect and enthusiasm of a super fan.
The pop star, in turn, acts bashful and pleased and at least appears to model a sense of safety and comfort, which in turn, makes the viewer feel as if they’re part of this intimate gabfest with their fav.
These types of interviews, now so central to the pop ecosystem, essentially codify stan culture’s uber-emotional tone, making the weepy sentimentality of super fan discourse the official company line.
The normalization of this screaming, crying affect makes it harder for all of us to discuss art as art. It implies that if you’re not weeping, you’re soulless.