Fluxblog 470: POST-PUNK REVIVAL!
Plus new music from Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Justice, and Anitta
This week’s playlist is PEAK ANGLES: POST-PUNK REVIVAL 2001-2006, looking back on the period at the start of this century when post-punk aesthetics returned after a long period of dormancy and in some cases hit the mainstream. This one is sure to be a nostalgia bomb for a lot of you and features songs by Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture, Bloc Party, Gossip, Interpol, The Futureheads, LCD Soundsystem, Liars, The Strokes, Les Save Fav, Radio 4, Long Blondes, The Rakes, Test Icicles, Editors, CSS, Kasabian, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, TV on the Radio, The Cribs, and more. This playlist is a companion to LACERATING ANGLES: THE POST-PUNK GUITAR SOUND, which covered the first wave of this from 1977-1984.
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The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross “Yeah x10”
We can always expect Trent Reznor to give a project his all, but who would’ve guessed a movie about a love triangle between three tennis players would inspire him to create some of the best music of his long and impressive career? Reznor and his creative partner Atticus Ross’ score for Luca Gaudagnino’s Challengers is a collection of techno pop bangers that plays up the intense physicality of the film, whether the players are facing each other on the court or entangled in a fraught hotel threesome. The tone is fun and sexy and, crucially, very intense while not particularly serious.
One of my favorite things about Challengers is that at least 15 minutes of the runtime is devoted to the two male leads losing their minds with lust while ogling Zendaya. It’s silly and cartoonish but very effective in showing us that these guys are ultra-horny and bonding over their shared lust for this woman, which turns out to be a step towards openly expressing lust for each other. Reznor and Ross’ score plays up this energy, a musical manifestation of all the adrenaline and pheromones.
“Yeah x10” is to Zendaya’s character what “The Imperial March” is to Darth Vader, a musical theme that immediately conveys everything you need to know about their power and physicality. It’s bombastic, but graceful. It’s flirty, it’s forceful, it’s hyper-focused, it’s meditative. Just as a piece of music, it makes sense that this could fry a dude’s brain and reduce him to nothing but base urges.
Buy it from Amazon.
Time Painted All Our Pages
Justice featuring Rimon “Afterimage”
The beauty of Justice’s early material was that it was elegantly crude. They were big and loud and dumb, but also rather thoughtful in their craft. They were masters of artful clipping. Their new record still has some of that going for it, but it’s all much more…tasteful? A little more refined? Or just a little more normal? In any case, a lot of the record sounds like a tribute to the past 25 years or so of French house in general and Alan Braxe in particular. The vibe suits them, especially on a song as ecstatic as “Afterimage.” You know how baking websites will show you how to make a mass produced thing like a Hostess cupcake, and maybe they’ll “elevate” it with fresh ingredients? “Afterimage” is sort of like that, but for filter disco. You get the form, you get the thrill, but that custom vocal instead of a sample? That’s the fancy ganache.
Buy it from Amazon.
Anitta “Savage Funk”
It can be so difficult to write about music like this without sounding like a dork. You can play amateur musicologist, but being a nerd about baile funk gets in the way of making it clear that this music is waaaaay more physical than cerebral. Writing about how aggressively horny the song is just makes you sound like a dweeb, a prude, or a lame perv. Just trust me that this one rules, OK? It’s very fun.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Samantha Cole at 404 Media wrote about the conclusion of a three-year crowdsourced search for the origin of a snippet of an unknown pop song. Turns out it was from an 80s porno!
• Pop Matters’ Brian Stout wrote a retrospective about Shudder to Think’s 1994 masterpiece Pony Express Record.
• Ryan Antiart and Big Bundas ponder The Fall of Drake.