Fluxblog Weekly #10: Wolf Alice, The Internet, Bilal, Veruca Salt
Before we get into this week's posts, I just want to urge you all to go read Tom Ewing's essay about Eminem's "Stan" over on his long-running blog Popular. If you like that, you should just go ahead and read anything else that strikes you over there. It's one of the best music blogs of all time.
July 6th, 2015
I Could Only Love You More
Wolf Alice “Your Love’s Whore”
“Your Love’s Whore” is kind of a harsh and provocative title, but this is actually a rather earnest and romantic song about love. The lyrics escalate as it moves along – at first, she’s talking about taking things slow and the possibility of being someone’s “perfect girl,” and then she’s imagining getting older and having a mature but still sexy relationship. She’s getting ahead of herself. When the song reaches its climax, she’s entirely in the moment – overcome with lust, and declaring “I could only love you more!” The whole song is about building and relieving tension, but that moment is so powerful in how it shoves fantasy aside for the passion of the moment.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 7th, 2015
Just Know That I Tried
The Internet “Just Sayin’/I Tried”
This composition is a diptych made up of two very distinct sections, but it’s remarkable how seamlessly they flow together. It’s very easy to not even really notice the shift from the more rhythmic and emotionally sour part into the second half, which has a jazzy, airy style and is far more vulnerable and contrite. It’s the second half that really gets me – the chords are just lovely, and the sentimentality and generosity on display is a lot more potent than the anger and defensiveness of the first section. But I think the point in this song is that all these feelings exist in a continuum, and both parts are equally true in emotional terms.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 8th, 2015
No Real Place To Go
Bilal “Open Up the Door”
Bilal is the kind of artist who expresses himself more in his ability to successfully perform in a range of styles than claiming one of his own, and so he can be sort of hit-or-miss depending on what vibe he’s getting across. But this sort of Stevie Wonder vibe suits him very, very well, and flatters his keyboard playing as well as his voice. “Open Up the Door” is easily one of the best Stevie Wonder pastiches I’ve ever heard – it nails the way Wonder’s melodies often curl into these loose circles, and his world weary but genuinely optimistic world view. Bilal fits so well into this that the song comes across more as him channeling Stevie’s positive vibes than just playing dress-up.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 9th, 2015
Rearrange The Clouds In The Sky For You
Veruca Salt “Eyes On You”
Last year I saw the original lineup of Veruca Salt play together on their first tour since 1997 and was amazed by how much power and chemistry they have together after so much time apart. This year I’m amazed by Ghost Notes, the new album they made once they got back together, which is just as good and sometimes even better than they were in their heyday. It makes me so happy that Veruca Salt have returned at exactly the point in time when their influence would be most apparent in younger bands, and when enough time has passed that people who were around in the ’90s can really understand how painfully underrated and pointlessly mocked they were back then. Rocking well is the best revenge.
Ghost Notes is a great record in large part because the band aren’t trying to reinvent themselves, but instead tried to reconnect with the things that made them special in the first place. Chief among those things is the rapport of Louise Post and Nina Gordon, and their ability to alternate between sharply contrasting one another and blurring together like this Cool Girl hive mind. But there’s also the core of their aesthetic, which boils down to “write highly melodic pop songs, and play them with the raw power of metal.” I’ve written before about how they more than any other band epitomized the aesthetics of alt-rock, and it’s still true now. The genre is all about melody and dynamics, and in giving you the raw thrill of ROCKING OUT. The heavy parts of the best alt-rock songs aren’t just cathartic – they feel liberating, like you’re just stomping on a pedal and immediately feeling free of tension and overloaded with joy.
“Eyes On You” is my favorite song on Ghost Notes, and in another time and another place, it’d be a huge hit. The hooks are amazing, but the feeling of it is even more potent. This is basically a song about figuring out exactly where you stand with someone, and trying to make the difficult decision of whether or not it’s worth holding on to them. It’s an emotional cost-benefit analysis, and I don’t think it comes to a real conclusion. The song just lives in that moment of being totally unsure whether your passion leans more towards anger or love.
Buy it from Amazon.