Danpilled is back! I recently made a guest appearance on Jesse Hawken’s Junk Filter podcast to talk about Steely Dan collaborator Michael McDonald. Jesse and I discussed McDonald’s distinctive voice, his prolific guest appearances on a wide range of records from the 70s and 80s, his work with Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, and his fantastic new memoir What A Fool Believes. There’s some fun stories in this one, like he and Walter Becker’s ill-fated plan to become cocaine dealers at the height of their fame in the late 70s, and his surreal experience seeing the famous SCTV sketch about him for the first time.
This was a premium Patreon episode, but it’s here for you free of charge. That said, I highly recommend subscribing to Junk Filter!
Washed Up On The Shores Of Silver Lake
Maren Morris “Push Me Over”
I didn’t realize this until I looked at the credits, but this is basically a Muna song with Maren Morris on vocals. They wrote it, they’re the musicians on the track, but the lyrics are specific to Morris’ recent experience of getting divorced and coming out as bisexual. Were it not for the last bit, I’d question why they’d give away a pop song as strong as this. Morris sounds flirty, charming, and confident on the track, but in the context of the lyrics it’s kind of a fake-it-til-you-make it thing. She’s singing about trying to figure out how to seduce a woman she’s into, but is unsure of how to make it happen – she’s out of her comfort zone, she feels like she has no map for this. But this isn’t a song about frustration, it’s about the excitement of doing something new. The lyrics get overtly sexual; the choruses feel a little triumphant. It’s a bright and positive song verging on a wholesome energy – Muna always seem to err on the side of late 90s/early 00s VH1 vibes – but not so much that it makes the sexy parts feel corny.
Buy it from Amazon.
Jhené Aiko “Guidance”
This is a real “happy ending” sort of break-up song, one in which the singer is relieved to get out of a bad relationship but seems to have minimal lingering anger about it. Which is not to say there’s no trace of negative feeling – she gives you some concrete examples of why this person was wrong for her and one verse ends on the evocative line “you were the match that lit up my path to show me what bridge to burn.” But the emotional focus is on feeling grateful and literally blessed by God, and you can sense Jhené Aiko nudging herself away from her darker feelings as she deliberately pushes herself towards the light.
Buy it from Amazon.
Try Not To Romanticize
Fousheé “Still Around”
Here’s a song with an usual set of tensions – busy percussion, an even busier bass line taking up most of the space, minimal keyboard accents, and a relatively mellow acoustic guitar groove by Steve Lacy that’s so Steve Lacy it made me go “is this Steve Lacy?” the first time I heard it. The mood is fairly placid and meditative, but that aggressive and chunky bass line puts the whole track on edge. It’s almost like transplanting a post-punk bass part into a fairly chill Marvin Gaye song. Fousheé’s vocals stay on the more relaxed side of the composition, emotive in her R&B inflections but still a little reserved. The lyrics suggest a situation where she’s reaching out to someone she loves but is unclear where they stand with her, and whether or not they want to stay in her life. She sounds optimistic and open-hearted, but once you key into the words it’s hard not to hear that bass rumble as her barely concealed angst.
Buy it from Amazon.
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• Ryan Antiart, once a devoted and obsessive Kanye West fan, is now begging the guy to retire. I saw one guy on Twitter describe the new West record Vultures 2 as sounding like a posthumous release while he’s still alive, and I think that’s a very accurate review.
• Laura Holliday wrote about why some corners of the internet have become fixated on “lostwave” for Dazed.
• Here’s a recent extended interview with Michael McDonald, conducted by Rick Beato.
Fluxblog 483: DANPILLED Michael McDonald special feat. Jesse Hawken