Fluxblog Weekly #151: Lake Ruth, Yo La Tengo, Zizi Raimondi, Soccer Mommy
March 11th, 2018
What Is This Force
Lake Ruth “Julia’s Call”
Lake Ruth work in a relatively straight forward rock-pop paradigm, but their songs rarely if ever include choruses. It’s as if the shape of their compositions reject the convention – any time one of their songs feels like it could shift gears into chorus mode, the music moves in another direction, though not necessarily in a jarring or musically unsatisfying way. It’s more like they’ve always got a different idea of how to resolve a sound or build on a rhythm. The songs are always in motion, and the consistently prefer melodic instrumental motifs to vocal hooks.
This has an interesting impact on the lyrics. Since there’s no structure forcing Allison Brice to reiterate phrases, the words scan as actual poetry and convey complete thoughts. In the case of “Julia’s Call,” it’s a meditation on someone’s restlessness and eagerness to give up on their life and start again with people who aren’t aware of their baggage. Brice sees this as a delusional and self-destructive impulse, but has some empathy for her character. Or maybe it’s just pity?
Buy it from Bandcamp.
March 12th, 2018
At My Leisure
Yo La Tengo “Polynesia #1”
The new Yo La Tengo record is full of negative space, which makes it feel loose and airy, but also empty and hollow. The sounds they choose feel deliberate but instinctive, the way a cartoonist can suggest a great deal of character and detail with carefully place lines on a white page. The lead guitar part in “Polynesia #1” sounds like a line curving through the song, angular but not jagged. Georgia Hubley’s vocal is typically soft and gentle, but not in way that signals passivity. She sounds forthright and purposeful, like someone doing what they have to do to maintain a peaceful and relaxed state of mind. Her tone is like a bit of gestural shading that casts the clean lines of the guitar in relief.
Buy it from Amazon.
March 14th, 2018
Took Me For A Ride
Zizi Raimondi “SUPAfresh”
The last time I featured Zizi Raimondi on this site just two months ago, she was doing a sleepy indie rock tune called “Folly Dolly” in which she was somehow both Lou Reed and Nico, and everyone else in The Velvet Underground for that matter. This time around it’s a completely different thing. “SUPAfresh” is a spacey funk song that falls somewhere in the space between the aesthetics of Grimes on her Visions album and the weirder edge of early 1980s New York art disco, like Arthur Russell, ZE Records stuff, and Madonna’s first few singles. It’s a major stylistic leap, but also the same thing in a different way – there’s this drowsy sexy vibe in both, and a high level of craft that feels very casual.
“SUPAfresh” is from an entire 19 track album called Bye Bye Club that’s all in the same aesthetic territory – groovy and zonked out and horny and vaguely sad. Her lyrics fixate on lust and intimacy, and how both feed into emotional mind games. It’s a very evocative and engaging record, and the feeling of her compositions conveys a lot more than her words. “SUPAfresh” is particularly sensual – the bass groove is incredible, and she layers on vocal harmonies and bright keyboard parts with remarkable grace. Everything seems to float elegantly in the negative space above that bass part.
Buy it from Amazon.
March 16th, 2018
The Sun In Your Cold World
Soccer Mommy “Last Girl”
“Last Girl” is an essentially self-deprecating song about feeling insecure because you feel like you’re vastly inferior to your boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, but I like that it doesn’t quite tip over into self-loathing. It’s never really about this guy, or even herself so much as it’s about how much she admires this other girl. The way she sings about her – and the way the song has this bright, springy melody – it sounds a lot more like a crush song about her than this guy they’ve both dated. Envy is a theme that runs through nearly all of the songs on Soccer Mommy’s Clean, but it’s never this petty sort of jealousy. It’s more about her trying to figure out what she wants to be. This song reminds me a bit of when Thom Yorke sings “I want to be someone else or I’ll explode” in “Talk Show Host.” It’s the same sort of feeling, but Sophie Allison just has a really specific person in mind.
Buy it from Amazon.