Fluxblog 455: late sunset cocktails
Plus new songs by Emily Allan, Gelli Haha, Yaya Bey, and Erika de Casier
This week’s playlist is PLACE SERIES #10: LATE SUNSET COCKTAILS. Two hours of chill, sophisticated, sexy, summery selections from the 60s and 70s, including songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Sly and the Family Stone, Bobbie Gentry, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Funkadelic, Roy Ayers, Shuggie Otis, The Beatles, and The Meters. Have a drink...relax.
🍹 Spotify
🌇 Apple Music
🍸 YouTube
This issue of the newsletter from March collects all of the previous volumes in the Place Series playlist series!
Why Want It Me Next?
Emily Allan “Driving”
Emily Allan’s debut album Clanging is best heard in its entirety, if just to bring the scope of her project in focus. A variety pack of electroclash flavors, different angles on a distinctly 2020s sort of absurdist nihilism, multiple explorations of a specifically feminine version of spite and evil, all delivered in an ice cold deadpan. The spiky digital aesthetics and ultra bleak humor remind me of Chicks On Speed in particular, but there’s also something very Mark E. Smith about the way she leans into odd quasi sci-fi imagery (“I wanna be the sex robot in the meatplex”) and intentionally obnoxious percussive language. “Driving” is a good example of this: I immediately loved the broken robot repetition of “next,” but paying close attention reveals some clever wordplay in the blunt force vocal delivery.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Get Up And Do It Again
Gelli Haha “Normalize”
I was thinking about why it is my brain instinctively characterizes “Normalize” as “heat wave music” and I think it’s mainly because it somewhat resembles Nu Shooz’s freestyle classic “I Can’t Wait.” That song has signified “sweltering urban summer” in a very satisfying way to me since early childhood, when I heard it constantly on New York City radio stations from my home an hour or so away in the suburbs. My brain connects the songs, and so Gelli Haha picks up some of the lazy groovy glamour I’ve long associated with Nu Shooz. It makes me want to walk around the Lower East Side blasting it from a boom box.
It’s easy to focus on the sound of “Normalize” because Haha’s vocals are almost entirely incomprehensible to my ear, though I know it’s all sung in English. She’s conveying a lot of emotion in her performance and that’s just as powerful as the way the song swings, but I try to focus on the words and mostly I’m like “cornucopia???” But still, I think I get exactly what she’s feeling here.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Stealing All My Nights With You
Yaya Bey “Spin Cycle”
Most of our modern rom-coms are more about wealth than they are about romance or comedy, and a lot of our modern R&B songs aren’t that different, with an overt fixation on luxury. And I get it – it’s a fantasy, and material concerns aren’t irrelevant to love or sex. But it’s great to hear a song like “Spin Cycle,” which is specifically about how hard it can be to maintain a loving sexual relationship when one or both people involved is constantly working just to get by.
I didn’t notice the lyrics of “Spin Cycle” right away because I was mostly focusing on the gentle sensuality of its lovers rock groove and Yaya Bey’s beyond-silky vocal tone. The music and lyrics place all emphasis on sexiness and affection, the work situation is presented as an obstacle that can and will be overcome because their love is so strong. After all, people do this all the time. Being stuck on the losing end of capitalism can crush your soul, but love can help you through it.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
I Hope You’re Like You Described
Erika de Casier “Delusional”
“Delusional” is an online dating song that sounds like a love song. Erika de Casier is singing from the perspective of someone approaching a match with a lot of optimism, but also a sensible degree of caution: “I think I’m ready for a new boo / I saw your pictures, is that really you?” The beautiful thing about this song is that even though de Casier expresses skepticism pretty much every step of the way, she’s presenting the point of view of someone who is genuinely hoping to find love. Is she just imagining things, projecting on strangers? Maybe, probably. But you’ve got to visualize success, right?
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LIVE LIVE LIVE LIVE
I saw Crumb at Forest Hills Stadium over the weekend. They’re always very good live, this time around I was focused on Jesse Brotter’s excellent bass lines, and how essential they are to the band’s sound. I decided to see this show sorta last minute – my original plans for the weekend changed, but the weather was kinda perfect for this very vibey venue and ticket prices dropped a bit because the show was a little undersold. I didn’t commit to this show at first mainly because Crumb were the second opener on a bill featuring two bands I feel totally neutral about, Wild Pink and Dr. Dog. They were both fine, though I only stayed for about 20 minutes of Dr. Dog’s two and a half hour headlining show. They were pleasant, but 20 minutes was more than enough for me.