Fluxblog 468 PUNK/ROCK/RAP
Plus new songs by Nia Archives, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bad Hats, and Fred Again
This week's playlist is PUNK/ROCK/RAP 1980-1987, a 30 track compilation covering aesthetic intersections of punk and rap near the beginning of both genres. It's a very exciting period, mostly centered on New York City. I know some people are weird about listening to old school rap, but I think most of you will have a good time. This one features songs by The Clash, Grandmaster Flash, Blondie, Tom Tom Club, Sonic Youth, Cold Crush Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa, Beastie Boys, ESG, and more.
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
I recently made a guest appearance on Fortune Kit, one of my favorite music podcasts. I was mainly there to talk about Pavement, but we also got into some other things including the weirdness of the son of the guy from Sublime taking over the band and having to perform the music of the father he never knew. It’s a paywalled episode on Patreon, but again - I highly recommend this show, Alex and Charles are extremely smart and funny.
I Brand-New’d It For Ya
Nia Archives “Cards on the Table”
Nia Archives has been a crucial figure in bringing breakbeats and drum and bass programming back into pop over the past few years, and her new record Silence Is Loud is her boldest move yet in that she’s going waaaay more pop without compromising her commitment to ultra-fast beats at all. “Cards on the Table” is simultaneously her most normal and weirdest song, a straightforward acoustic pop tune about falling in love set accompanied by zooming busy beats that probably shouldn’t work, but actually do. The lyrics are basically about making it clear to someone that you’re way into them, and the arrangement manifests the emotional state of trying to put on a chill, laid back front while your anxiety and fear of rejection kicks into overdrive. A lot of songs aim to evoke that “butterflies” feeling, but this one is like swarms of butterflies flying around chaotically while you try to play it cool.
Buy it from Amazon.
Sabrina Carpenter “Espresso”
The first few times I heard “Espresso” I was trying to figure out why it felt so familiar and then it hit me: this song is remarkably similar to late-period Phoenix, right on down to the melody in the chorus sounding extremely Thomas Mars to me. I’m not sure if this is something anyone involved was shooting for but it’s a great aesthetic. Sunny and fresh and clean and overtly relaxed, but tightly wound in more subtle ways. Sabrina Carpenter isn’t a very distinct vocalist but she has a big personality that comes through in her lyrics – funny and flirty and a little camp, as though she’s trying to bring a Kim Cattrall energy to pop. “Espresso” is basically a song about being impressed by one’s own skill in attracting men, with her telling us up top “I can’t relate to desperation” because so many guys get obsessed with her that it’s mostly become amusing to her. The light and breezy feel of the song is key in making this sentiment work. It’s just not that serious, so it doesn’t come off as either annoyingly arrogant or like she’s trying to prove something to the listener. It’s mostly just “ooh, isn’t this fun?,” and so it is.
Buy it from Amazon.
When I Die, I Want You To Have My CDs
Bad Bad Hats “Your Heart My Heart”
I don’t know a lot about Bad Bad Hats’ Kerry Alexander, but the impression I get from most of her lyrics is that she’s generally working through tensions in relationships in her songs. And that’s a lot of lyricists, particularly in the pop lane, but it’s never really big dramatic moments or spiteful jabs. It’s more about navigating the day to day of stable situations, where little annoyances pile up and you end up sighing “God, it’s always something with you” at the end of a verse. “My Heart, Your Heart” has a soft spikiness to it, a little agitated but ultimately warm and affectionate. I like the way the chorus arrives at no conclusion besides acknowledging that she’s tied tightly with the person she’s addressing. I think it’s Alexander’s way of putting all the little conflicts in perspective – none of this would matter if they weren’t so committed to one another.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
In Everything I Feel
Fred Again… featuring Duoteque and Orion Sun “ItsNotREEAALLLLLLLL”
“ItsNotREEAALLLLLLLL” is built around a sample of Orion Sun’s “Mirage,” a little sketch of a song from the singer’s 2020 record. That recording is loose and tentative, like a quick demo that stuck in its abbreviated and minimal form because the woozy, elliptical nature was exactly right for the lyrical sentiment about dissociation. Fred Again takes that vocal and lyrical idea and pushes into a more nightmarish direction, resulting in the EDM equivalent of a A24 horror movie. The music feels like it’s stalking her, her voice sounds warped and inhuman. It’s a sick paranoid vibe, but it goes hard enough that it works as dynamic dance music.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Here’s Miranda Reinert on Chappell Roan and Gen Z pop, and how a lot of young artists with viral hits are getting tripped up by major labels who are weirdly slow in rolling out proper albums.
• I definitely do not agree that Dark Matter is the best Pearl Jam record in a long time – the previous record Gigaton is significantly better – but it’s always a good time reading Steven Hyden on Eddie and the boys.
• A very topical joke this week:
Check out Carpenter's guest verse on girl in red's 'You Need Me Now?' That exact energy you describe is captured in a few seconds.