Fluxblog 487: Alt-Crunchy
Plus new music by Fake Fruit, Muni Long, and Sophie Hunter
Early September brings back-to-school vibes at any age, and a yearning for the autumn even if it’s not really coming for another month or so. With that in mind, this week I’m resurfacing a playlist that’s ideal for that state of mind: ALT-CRUNCHY: NEO-HIPPIE, JAM BAND, AND FOLKY VIBES 1992-1998. This playlist is probably the best representation of the general musical milieu I grew up around in the Hudson Valley of New York in the mid-1990s, so a lot of this has a very warm nostalgic quality to me now. If you haven’t heard this one before I think you might have a similar feeling for it, or you may find that a lot of music you may have thought was an abomination at the time is now sort of delightful. If you’re younger, you may just be like “why would anyone have fraught feelings about music this chill?”
[Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube]
No Bandwidth
Fake Fruit “Well Song”
The guitar parts in “Well Song” are frazzled but not quite frantic, which is well suited to lyrics about feeling exhausted and uninspired. I like how in the verses the higher-pitched and faster guitar part on the left side of the stereo image seems like it’s in conversation with the descending lower-pitched part on the right side, which gives off a very “yeah, I guess, whatever” response. The higher notes here feel a little too bright, like fluorescent lights that give you a headache at an office job. The energy picks up towards the end, but only to resolve in screaming panic that comes across as a very temporary catharsis.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Speak To The Queen In Me
Muni Long “Make Me Forget”
Muni Long opens “Make Me Forget” by singing “when the one that I’m with ain’t the one that I want,” which sets up an expectation that you’re about to hear a song about unrequited love or being generally romantically dissatisfied. But no. As it moves along it becomes clear that she’s addressing someone she loves who’s not giving her exactly what she’s looking for and she’s essentially trying to talk him up to her level. (“I’m an alpha and I need an alpha man.”) It’s an interesting emotional balancing act – she’s mostly singing about what she wants and how this guy is falling short of that, but she’s also conveying genuine love and lust for him. The song interpolates D’Angelo’s classic “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” which definitely helps get across the sexiness, but I like that in working off those chords and rhythm she seemed to click into how that song emphasizes vulnerability and anticipation.
Buy it from Amazon.
I Need Some Commas Like A Run-On Sentence
Sophie Hunter “Cha Cha”
Last night I saw Sophie Hunter perform as an opening act for Madelline at the Sultan Room in Bushwick with zero awareness of who she was or what kind of music she’d be performing. I kinda figured it would be a singer-songwriter sort of thing, but no – she’s kinda like if Natasha Lyonne was an early 2000s rapper. There’s a lot of Eminem in her style, but also some Def Jux/Rawkus indie rap vibes, a dash of Missy Elliott, and some Blu Cantrell/Mary J Blige when she leans a little more R&B. She even dropped a Neptunes beat at one point. It wouldn’t say she’s going for a retro thing, but the early 00s-ness of the music was very noticeable to me, in a “the gum you like is coming back in style” sort of way.
“Cha Cha,” Hunter’s newest single, was an immediate ear-grabber and encapsulates her aesthetic and lyrical POV. She’s rapping about being fucked up, about being broke, about feeling like a total loser, and playing it for laughs. A lot of people can do self-deprecating humor, but not everyone can do that while making it sound sort of glamorous and cool. Maybe that’s just the charisma coming through, but the Lyonne comparison isn’t just about how she looks. It’s that “hey, I may be a fuck-up, but I’m way, way cooler than you” affect.
Buy it from Amazon.
LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS LINKS
• Emily Gould profiled Chloe Sevigny for The Cut fall edition cover story! Living the dream. You can bet there’s some very dismissive things said about Los Angeles!
• Rob Sheffield wrote about the return of The Softies for Rolling Stone.
• Graphic Policy Radio has a really good interview with Kieron Gillen that gets into the influence of The History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs on his new project The Power Fantasy and how John Cale’s “Paris 1919” inspired key elements of his recently completed Immortal X-Men series.