Fluxblog 478 CLUB CLASSICS SUMMER 2024
Plus new songs by Jamie xx/Robyn, Salute/Piri, Roddy Ricch, and Suki Waterhouse
This week’s playlist is CLUB CLASSICS SUMMER 2024, a two hour set of dance pop and house bangers from this year for the floor, the party, the gym. If you’re using Spotify, I recommend setting the crossfade to a second or two to get an approximation of a continuous DJ set. This features new music by Charli XCX, Peggy Gou, Tinashe, Sophie, Shygirl, Robyn, Piri, L'Impératrice, Disclosure, Chappell Roan, Dom Dolla, and more. I’ve been listening to this one a lot and I hope you get a lot of use out of it this summer!
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
About To Have A Nice Time
Jamie xx featuring Robyn “Life”
As far as features and collabs go, this is a remarkably even merger of aesthetics that really goes give you the very best of Jamie xx in DJ mode and Robyn in euro diva mode. It’s a real best case scenario for a team up that makes me hope they do some more music together, as I think this is most definitely the best thing Robyn in particular has done in something like 14 years. This isn’t to say I think she’s sucked in the time between but when I think of what made me fall for her music in the mid 2000s, this is basically it – a lot of sass and unguarded emotion, a playful spirit and a low key soulfulness, a boldness that tastefully avoids cheap bombast. But there is plenty of bombast on this track, mainly in the blaring horn fanfare riff that’s a perfect tonal contrast with the timbre of Robyn’s voice.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Salute featuring Piri “Luv Stuck”
Piri has worked with enough producers at this point that it’s clear that the through line in her body of work is a natural gift for writing lovely and unfussy topline melodies. Melody is probably my favorite aspect of music, but it’s not easy to write about it – it often feels like trying to explain why one curved line in more beautiful than another, or why some faces are more beautiful to you than others. And of course, a lot of us just like different versions of the same over and over, and I think that’s the case with a song like “Luv Stuck.” It’s not as though Piri is reinventing the wheel here, it’s just that she’s tapping into melodic turns that I’m always going to find beautiful. Especially when the song makes its way around the curve in the “something almost finds me in the nighttime, oh baby, stop hiding from me” line, and she sounds a little bit sad before resolving in the more joyful sentiment of the chorus.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Still Solid, Still Here
Roddy Ricch “Survivor’s Remorse”
Sometimes you can find very interesting things in the credits of modern music. Like, for example – the choir sample that lends so much pathos and drama to this Roddy Ricch song? The element of the track that roots Ricch’s lyrics about a personal struggle in something much older and much bigger than himself? It’s not from an old gospel record; it’s from a Kelly Clarkson song that came out last year. That fact doesn’t change anything about the record, but it does suggest the song’s producer Turbo has an excellent ear for samples from unexpected sources.
Ricch’s vocal delivery is casual and conversational as he tries to explain his absence to his fans, but you don’t really need to know much about that to be moved by the song. His frustration and pain is apparent in the nuances, and his humor and charisma comes through in his more flamboyant phrasing. I particularly love the way he half-sings the phrase “I’d be a billionaire” on the second verse – you can hear the grin on his face.
Buy it from Amazon.
Spiralling Is What I Do
Suki Waterhouse “Supersad”
I was a little wary of the title “Supersad” because I’m exhausted by young musicians fetishizing depression or making it sort of cutesy, but as it turns out Suki Waterhouse is sprinting in the opposite direction in this song. She’s basically talking herself out of panic and catastrophic thinking, pushing herself to gain perspective, and declaring in the chorus “there’s no point in being supersad.” It’s mental health pop, sure, but it doesn’t have the stink of someone trying to be relatable. It’s more about catharsis, and probably on Waterhouse’s end of things, realizing that if she sings these words enough times over a driving New Order type beat, she might fully internalize the sentiment.
Buy it from Amazon.
I saw Ethel Cain perform in Central Park on Thursday night. She’s fantastic live, and I think her live arrangements are much better than the rather cold studio recordings. Click through for a clip of her singing a really strong cover of Kim Carnes’ classic “Bette Davis Eyes.”
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• Todd in the Shadows is back with a new video about Justin Timberlake’s famous flop Man of the Woods for his consistently excellent Trainwreckords series.
• The new episode of Broken Record featuring an interview with Camila Cabello is interesting – I didn’t really know much about her, but I got the impression she’s a person who’s very earnest and eager to learn about cool things. It does make her seem a little try-hard, but I think in a generally positive way?
• I enjoyed Search Engine’s two-part episode about the famously exclusive nightclub Berghain and the history of techno in Berlin.
Hi! I'm with you about the glorification of sadness. Thanks for recommending Suki Waterhouse, I'm discovering her and she's great.
Can I make a suggestion? I would *love* a playlist around My love all mine by Mitski.... that wasn't desperately sad. Yesterday I played it alongside Fade into you and I thought.... there's something here but it's too intense.