Fluxblog Weekly #104: Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, Casey Dienel, Depeche Mode
April 17th, 2017
Why God, Why God
Kendrick Lamar “Fear.”
The flashiest bits Kendrick Lamar’s new album Damn. are confrontational and menacing, but in context, that’s all a defensive front. As bold as he can get, Kendrick is introverted and introspective above all other things, and the majority of these songs are paranoid ruminations on a world where even a best case scenario like becoming one of the world’s most popular rappers feels like the losing end of a game that’s been rigged against you from the start. Lamar borrows the narrative structure of Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight in “Fear.” to reflect on his anxieties at three stages of his life – childhood, teenage, young adult. The teen sequence is the most bleak, with him running down a litany of ways he’ll probably die in the near future, every one of them very plausible and entirely senseless. Alchemist’s track is sparse and melancholy, and subtly moves between clipped minimalism and cinematic melodrama like RZA at his mid-‘90s peak. The music feels like a depressive loop, and emphasizes Kendrick’s words about feeling trapped and isolated. His vocal tone shifts with each age jump – defiant as a child, dejected as a teen, frustrated as a man – but the track implies a world that remains static as he keeps changing.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 18th, 2017
Carbon Copies Get Declined
2 Chainz featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhené Aiko “It’s A Vibe”
I can’t say I’ve given a lot of thought to 2 Chainz over the years despite liking a lot of songs he’s on, but I’m still vaguely surprised he’s so great on a genuinely sexy slow jam like this. But I guess any talented rapper would rise to the occasion of a track as gorgeous and elegant as this G Koop and Murda production. 2 Chainz’s lyrics are blunt and occasionally sorta clumsy, but his delivery is smooth and the ample negative space in the music and lets your ears linger on the slurred curves of his Atlanta accent. I spend more time focusing on the guitar, though, and the way the chords hover over a beat that’s two parts reggae, one part trap. The vibe is incredibly strong, so I’m not shocked that 2 Chainz and company heard the music and decided the best thing to do would be to nod their heads and mutter “it’s a vibe” over and over.
Buy it from Amazon.
April 19th, 2017
You’ll Only Want Cake
Casey Dienel “High Times”
“High Times” is a story about a woman having a one night stand with a hot dude at a hotel in Palm Springs, and it plays out lyrically and musically like a hazy memory of something you’re vaguely surprised actually happened. Casey Dienel sounds bemused throughout, and describes the encounter with a droll, critical tone. “He said some things that seemed borderline basic, but when he took off his shirt, I acquit him,” she sings, striking a perfect tonal balance of humor and sexiness. It’s kinda Prince-esque that way; this isn’t far off from the sort of witty erotic fantasies he shared in a lot of his best ‘80s material. The difference is that while Prince always presented himself as an intensely desirable person, the subtext of “High Times” is that the character is slightly confused that she’s hooking up with this tan, clean cut, all-American hunk, but is going along with it because, hey, why not? She compares the situation to splurging on cake after a juice cleanse, and it’s hard not to root for her as you listen: Get that cake, girl!
The most immediately striking musical element of “High Times” is the bent, sped-up string part that opens the track and loops throughout. It sets the tone for the piece very nicely – graceful and confident, but also a bit warped. That feeling gets twisted at the song’s climax, when Dienel’s character hands the dude her key and invites him back to her room. At this point, the bass shifts so it feels as though it’s moving against the tide of the song, and the cathartic vocal hook – “in 103, in 103, if you wanna get lost find me in 103” – sounds slurred and psychedelic. The reality of the song changes in this moment, snapping out of a sunny fantasy and into a scene that’s more grounded in physical reality but distorted by lust and booze. It’s “this is really happening!” and “what the fuck is happening?” at the same time.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
April 21st, 2017
The Desire Causes Pain
Depeche Mode “So Much Love”
It is fun to think about how at one point in their career Depeche Mode could be dismissed as a faddish thing for teenagers. They were so far ahead of the curve of mainstream music culture that even their corniest early stuff now sounds like it could be contemporary, if sorta deliberately retro ‘80s. The band essentially found its final form in the early ‘90s and have been in something of a creative holding pattern ever since – some elements shift, the technology advances, but a Depeche Mode record sounds like Depeche Mode. And this time around, Depeche Mode sounds very current.
It certainly helps that Spirit is largely a record about political anxieties and disillusionment, and the harsh electronic ambience of their default sound feels very right in this dreadful historical moment. Some of Martin Gore’s more obviously political lyrics come off a bit clumsy, but when he merges a defiant socially conscious message with classic Depeche Mode themes of guilt, compulsion, and desire on a song like “So Much Love,” it’s rather compelling. I like the way this takes the self-involvement of their usual music and says to the audience “yeah, this is me, this is the damage I’m dealing with, but that doesn’t get in the way of feeling empathy and love for others. So what’s your excuse?”
Buy it from Amazon.