Fluxblog 475: THIS IS (digital) HARDCORE
Plus new songs by Magdalena Bay, Crumb, and Apifera
This week's playlist is WHAT IS DIGITAL HARDCORE?, an introduction to abrasive electronic punk, past and present. This one was inspired by the Lip Critic song I wrote about recently, and realizing that my sense of context for it was a little hazy in terms of chronology. This is probably the most aggressive and deliberately harsh playlist I've ever posted, and I think if you're looking for some interesting aggro up-tempo rock you're in for a good time.
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
Streetlights Like Halos
Magdalena Bay “Death & Romance”
Magdalena Bay started off as a pop duo with darkly humorous lyrics that subverted their form, but with time they’ve become far more comfortable with sincerity. I don’t necessarily see that as an improvement as I’m fine with either approach, but I do think they avoided falling into the trap of every song needing some clever lyrical twist or joke premise. “Death & Romance” is a very dramatic and bombastic composition and they play it as straight as they can, leaning into the white hot emotion evoked by the music rather than pushing against it. A lot of that feeling is conveyed by the fill-heavy live drums, which dials the energy way up and approaches the aesthetic Rich Harrison was going for in the early 00s with songs like “1 Thing” and “Crazy In Love.” Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals are particularly strong – she sings with conviction even in ironic joke mode, but this time around she’s convincingly selling the passion of a love that feels like a matter of life or death.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
We Made This Thing A Mess
Crumb “Side by Side”
The lyrics of “Side by Side” are sung from the perspective of someone who’s changed their life to suit someone else regardless of its negative impact on them. It’s very clear and direct, but the music complicates the sentiment by making the song very emotionally ambiguous. I think a lot of the point here is that we’re listening to a person who hasn’t decided how they feel about the situation they’re in, and any simmering resentment in the lyrics is clouded by their affection for the person they’re addressing and maybe a little bit of self-loathing and guilt. Lila Ramani’s vocal performance mostly conveys ambivalence, but you can hear stronger feelings rise up to the surface through the song. The arrangement and structure is pure Crumb – hazy and zoned out but very brisk and dynamic, all building towards a musical refrain that provides a catharsis that doesn’t contradict the indecisive feeling of the song.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Awkward Moments With Strangers In The Dark
Apifera “Theodor Marmalade”
The lyrics of “Theodor Marmalade” boil down to a story about a guy who yearns to get away from people, so he embraces a life of isolation that makes him want to be among people again. The grass is always greener, and so on. The character overcorrects to extremes while the music sounds like it’s trying to find balance and equilibrium. The main guitar groove sounds like it’s cautiously tip-toeing through the song, the vocals are just above a whisper, and the percussion moves without any clutter or clatter. This strikes me as the work of a band where everyone involved was probably obsessed with Radiohead’s In Rainbows as a teenager – you get that same sense of space and restraint, but with the drama dialed down a lot.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Dan Charnas wrote about Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and its roots in a style of post-disco early 80s R&B that was essentially purged from the mainstream by the mid 80s.
• Mike Barthel has resurfaced his deep dives into The Fiery Furnaces’ Blueberry Boat from the mid 00s, some of the best music writing of the era about one of the most distinctive and imaginative records of the 21st century.