Fluxblog Weekly #144: The Fall, The Shins, Bell's Roar, Car Seat Headrest, Domo Genesis
Here is a really smart Pazz & Jop essay by Carl Wilson about the way "the narrative" (or "the conversation") has been a big problem for people who write about music, especially last year. This is a HUGE reason why I'm glad to only write about music on my own site now, where I can do things entirely on my own terms and focus 100% on music and not on having to engage with any of this. I was doing this a lot while I was doing music full time at BuzzFeed, and it ended up driving me crazy to realize that the only way to write about music for a mass audience was to steadily remove music from the equation and focus on celebrity and social issues. And this was in 2012-2014... things have become far worse since then. This is depressing to me because I genuinely want to write and read about music itself, and particularly want to read the thoughts of people who actually like and care about the music they're writing about. When everything is guided by "the narrative" and "the conversation," the shape of that ends up being determined more by people in the audience who don't actually like or care about the music in question very much or at all. It's a way to score points, or a convenient Trojan horse to write about some other topic. It's something to complain about or react against, or in the best case scenario lately, it's something to defend. In a lot of cases, the music itself is completely besides the point. I want no part in this.
________
Mark E. Smith from The Fall died earlier this week at the age of 60. I've been a fan most of my life, and have written about The Fall several times in the history of the site. This post from 2010 is a neat summary of what made the man such a compelling and oddly inspiring figure.
May 7th, 2010
Ninety-Five Percent
The Fall “Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor”
It can seem like Mark E. Smith has the best gig in all of rock music. He hires musicians, pushes them to come up with suitably sinister grooves, he shows up to rant and growl. When he gets bored of the musicians, he fires them and brings on a new set of players. Over and over and over again, for decades on end. Unlike most rock singers, his shtick is not diminished by age. In fact, he’s only just becoming the angry, inscrutable old man he’s always been. He’s got a great thing going, but it is entirely because he created the perfect vehicle for his distinct voice and highly specific talent. No one else could just turn up on a track like this and utter nonsense and be anywhere near as compelling. Who else could make complaining about a SLIPPY FLOOR-ah! sound so brilliant over some violent punk thrashing? He’s a treasure. If only we could all find a way to ideally package our most extreme eccentricities.
Buy it from Amazon.
January 22nd, 2018
Elegant Hands Unemployed
The Shins “Painting A Hole (Flipped)”
The new Shins record is exactly the same as the last Shins record, at least in terms of the songs on it. James Mercer approached The Worm’s Heart as a formal challenge, to take the material he wrote for Heartworms and rearrange them to the point that they feel like substantially different songs while retaining their melodies and structure. I appreciate this concept, especially since a lot of artists now tend to think of their songs as being entirely tied to arrangement and production decisions. (I’ve seen far too many acts go through tedious lengths to replicate or replay studio sounds and programming in concert rather than just play a revised arrangement that makes sense on stage.)
I find that my favorites on The Worm’s Heart are also my favorites on Heartworms, and the alternate arrangements haven’t made me enjoy songs I wasn’t super into the first time around. The songs are the songs are the songs. The interesting difference between these two records is that the arrangements on Heartworms are far more consistent with what anyone would expect of The Shins, but the Worm’s Heart versions push in less familiar directions while still essentially sounding like a Shins record. I’m particularly fond of the way the new arrangements for “Painting A Hole” and “Name for You” nod in the direction of synth-heavy goth music, and swaps the band’s default twee psychedelia for a cold, melancholy moodiness. “Painting A Hole” is particularly interesting, as it cycles from bleak folk to channeling The Cure to ending on a spacey instrumental section that wouldn’t be out of place on a Pink Floyd record.
Buy it from Amazon.
January 23rd, 2018
Is There Another Way
Bell’s Roar “You Call Me Cold”
Sean Desiree has a rather exquisite and elegant sense of melody, particularly on “You Call Me Cold.” The lyrics touch on anxiety and struggle, but the gentle curves of the tune and Desiree’s vocal delivery conveys a contrasting strength and serenity. Some of this comes down to some very confident decisions in the arrangement – it’s harmonically rich but totally uncluttered, so there’s space in the track to take in the crispness of each snare hit and plucked guitar note. Desiree’s voice is central to the song, but is presented in a slightly softer focus, which adds to the atmosphere of the production.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
January 24th, 2018
Mixed Media And Poorly Written Reviews
Car Seat Headrest “Cute Thing”
The key moment in “Cute Thing” comes arrives right near the start of it, as Will Toledo extends an offer to “come visit Kansas for a week of debauchery, songs, and high fives and… weird sex.” He mumbles that last part and deliberately buries it in the mix so that it trails off. It’s awkward and honest and earnest and embarrassing, and sets up a song that’s all about fumbling around trying to figure out how to be confident and sexy in a way that doesn’t make you feel like a fool or a fraud. The song is like a “Louie Louie” style garage rock anthem stuffed full of digressions and rambling interludes, which is sort of hilariously self-defeating but also an ideal way of conveying this gawky, nerdy teenage state of mind. How nerdy, you may be wondering? Well, nerdy enough to go on a tangent about trying to work the name of his crush into They Might Be Giants’ “Ana Ng” and name-checking John Linnell with great reverence before ending the song on a supremely angsty section in which he vows to sleep naked next to this guy. What a glorious mess of a song!
Buy it from Amazon.
January 25th, 2018
Flirting With That Euthanasia
Domo Genesis & Evidence featuring Phonte “Shaq Carried Kobe”
Evidence’s production on this track is extremely smooth and low-key funky, to the point that it sounds like it could plausibly be a lost Dr. Dre loop from the early ’90s. Domo Genesis’ verse slips comfortably into the groove – relaxed in tone, if a bit neurotic and paranoid in sentiment. I’m particularly fond of Phonte’s performance here, and the way he enunciates with a sober clarity that lends resonance to his pointedly political lines and a touch of “no, I’m really not kidding” menace to his boasts. It’s a strong, well-crafted verse from a perennially underrated rap lifer.
Get the full mixtape from Datpiff.