Fluxblog Weekly #127: Lee Ranaldo, The Clientele, Curtis Harding, Kamasi Washington
September 26th, 2017
Between The Window And The World
Lee Ranaldo “Morroccan Mountains”
Lee Ranaldo’s first two post-Sonic Youth solo albums are good but felt oddly ordinary, perhaps because I’d been waiting literally half of my life with the fantasy of hearing an all-Lee rock album. A lot of the songs on those records felt like Sonic Youth but without Kim or Thurston’s presence – that’s sort of exactly what they are, given that Steve Shelley is still his drummer – but the best tracks on the new Electric Trim have an ambitious prog-folk sound that feels like more of a clean break from SY aesthetics.
“Moroccan Mountains” sounds like the soundtrack to a journey, with Ranaldo’s voice like a sherpa guiding us as the song moves along an eccentric upward trajectory. I love Ranaldo’s tuning on this track – I’m not knowledgeable enough to identify it, but there’s a tinny sitar-like effect that’s crisp and bright, but slightly off-kilter. I’m also into the way the drama shifts between different passages, with some segments that are a bit ambiguous in tone moving seamlessly into others that are more overtly melancholy or aggressive. The drama peaks with a directly confrontational section that’s as close as this piece gets to traditional rock, but that’s about halfway through. The rest of it meanders into lovelier, more peaceful moments before reaching its conclusion.
Buy it from Amazon.
September 27th, 2017
The Face Of God Is Smiling
The Clientele “The Neighbour”
Alasdair MacLean’s voice is dry and understated, but in a way that never betrays the romance in his music. The best songs by The Clientele have a way of making urban life seem both incredibly magical and crushingly sad, and make true human connection and intimacy seem glorious, but against all odds. That’s pretty much what’s going on in “The Neighbour” – no one’s talking to each other, nobody is touching, but everyone is feeling. A guy dreams of following someone home on the chance they might speak to each other, but it doesn’t happen. Someone plays violin in his home at night, and the music is felt strongly by another on the other side of the wall, but they do not speak. The music makes it all sound so lovely and full of possibility, even as MacLean’s words make it clear that these people aren’t seizing the opportunities.
Buy it from Amazon.
September 28th, 2017
There Comes A Time In Every Man’s Life
Curtis Harding “Need Your Love”
What’s more familiar and nostalgic: The sort of ‘70s soul music Curtis Harding writes and performs, or the crisp, airtight sound of Danger Mouse’s production aesthetic? The latter makes the former sound slightly more modern, but leaves the music in a strange uncanny valley of pastiche – flagrantly retro yet subtly yanked out of time. Danger Mouse’s mix foregrounds the beat and bass so it nearly sounds programmed, but Harding’s warm, throaty vocals keep the song grounded in a messy humanity. He sounds like the real deal, even when he seems to be self-consciously emulating his heroes.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
September 29th, 2017
Beside The Spiral Staircase
Kamasi Washington “Humility”
All of the songs on Kamasi Washington’s new record are named for virtues, but it’s funny to me that this one is called “Humility” when it’s so grandiose and swaggering. It sounds expensive somehow, as though Washington’s main saxophone hook was made of elegant golden spirals. Cameron Graves’ piano part contrasts this with a wild, trebly blast of notes that seem to bounce and ricochet off the rhythm. This is a very busy piece of music, but despite all the clatter the emphasis is always placed on the melody, and the composition essentially clicks together like a pop song. This is perhaps Washington’s greatest gift as a composer – to be heavily indebted to decades worth of jazz history, but for that context to not matter so much in how the music is actually heard.
Buy it from Amazon.