Fluxblog Weekly #113: Orielles, Lorde, DJDS, Bedouine, Radiohead
June 19th, 2017
Something Nice And Refreshing
The Orielles “I Only Bought It for the Bottle”
The first time I featured The Orielles on this site was last year, when they were a tuneful but rather scrappy garage band. They’ve evolved a bit since then – a little glossier, a bit sassier in a very British sort of way, and a lot more focused on rhythm and bass. I’m into the way Andrew Weatherall has remixed them into quasi-DFA punk-funk territory in his versions of their song “Sugar Tastes Like Salt,” but I’m even more fond of the winding melodies in their more recent single “I Only Bought It for the Bottle.” The groove feels off-kilter from the start, and the lead guitar parts spiral around the beat as if they’re trying to induce vertigo. The lyrics are sharp too, implicating themselves in a consumerist obsession with style over substance, but without getting overly righteous about it.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 20th, 2017
A Rush At The Beginning
Lorde “The Louvre”
I envy the emotional connection people have with this new Lorde record, not necessarily because I feel a deep need to like this particular album more than I do, but because I wish the intense feelings in the music didn’t feel so removed from my life. When I see people talk about how vivid and urgent these lyrics about passionate infatuation and its bitter aftermath feel for them, there’s a part of me that quietly mutters “…must be nice.”
So at this moment in my life, I can only really approach Lorde’s new music in formalist terms. This means I get frustrated with some of the melodies being a bit slight for my taste, and feel actively annoyed that the catchiest song on the record by far – “Loveless” – is reduced to an unfinished sketch tacked to the end of another song. But it also means that I’m intrigued by her unconventional song structures and impressed by her inspired turns of phrase. I’m particularly fond of the pithy, self-effacing way she says “we’re the greatest / they’ll hang us in the Louvre / down the back, but who cares / still the Louvre” – a great punchline in a song that is otherwise no joke at all.
The structure of “The Louvre” feels inverted, with all the momentum and catchy bits happening in the verses, leading up to relatively inert elliptical moments that are technically pre-choruses and choruses on a purely structural level. The lyrics reflect that inversion too, with the chorus “broadcast the boom boom boom and make em all dance to it” completing a poetic thought about anticipation while also feeling like “hey, that’s where this feeling should go, but I need to focus on the moment right now.”
Buy it from Amazon.
June 21st, 2017
Flames Get Higher
DJDS featuring Amber Mark and Marco McKinnis “Trees On Fire”
There is a serious glut of “minimalist” music, to the point that the seemingly endless amount of negative space between clicky beats and thin vocals in a wide range of contemporary pop, rap, and indie music has come to feel oppressive and dull. DJDS’ single “Trees On Fire” feels like a step away from this status quo – it’s essentially a euphoric R&S/quasi-house song in the vein of Basement Jaxx – but there’s enough empty air in the arrangement to feel like a half-step removed from 2017 pop rather than a full leap. The song is very much about Marco McKinnis and Amber Mark’s vocals, and they’re big and bold enough to occupy most of the space in the music and direct its momentum. The beat and keyboard parts mostly just frame the vocal and reinforce the shape of the melody. There’s a cool, refreshing feeling to this music, like a blast of air conditioning through hot, humid air. It’s like getting a taste of relief, and the grasping desperately for more.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 22nd, 2017
New Shades Of Blue
Bedouine “One of These Days”
Azniv Korkejian’s voice has a warm, calm tone that suggests perspective, serenity, and wisdom. Everything in “One of These Days” feels measured, even, and tidy, and I suppose that makes a lot of sense given that the lyrics are about patiently waiting for someone to fully return her romantic interest. There’s no trace of anxiety or fear in this, she sings every word as though she knows that this love is meant to be, and will inevitably fall into place. “If it’s true that I feel more for you than you do for me, it’s funny honey how love has some delay,” she sings, seemingly unshakable in her faith. It’s a beautiful sentiment, and somehow in the moment never seems delusional or creepy, just earnest and pure.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 23rd, 2017
What A Nasty Surprise
Radiohead “Man of War”
I suppose that when you’re in the middle of a creative hot streak as impressive as Radiohead’s in the mid to late ‘90s, you learn to follow your instincts when a good song isn’t quite working they way you’d want it to. But I listen to “Man of War” – this fully fleshed-out, gorgeously produced version recorded circa OK Computer that is featured on the new reissue, or really any other version of the song that’s leaked out over the years, and I’m just baffled as to what the problem could’ve been. It seems to have been mostly an issue of arrangement, as the structure of the song never shifts. And as much as I love this recording, I can understand that restlessness – I’m not crazy about the particular tone on the intro guitar part, for example. But it comes together as one of Radiohead’s darkest, most majestic pieces of music, and features a few of the best melodies the group has ever written. How is that big Jonny Greenwood guitar lick, followed by an orchestral iteration of the same motif, not one of his finest moments? How is Thom Yorke’s strange balance of sexuality, dread, menace, and morbidity in this song not a perfect example of his peculiar and potent charisma as a singer? It’s just incredibly hard to imagine what could have motivated them to keep this song locked up for 20 years, aside from perhaps some bad memories attached to the process of making it. Either way, as a person who rewinded that bit with this song in Meeting People Is Easy many times over, I’m very grateful to finally have this.
Buy it from Amazon.