Fluxblog Weekly #196: Maren Morris, Snail's House, MADMADMAD, Future Punx
I started the week by announcing that I was laid off from my job at BuzzFeed in this post, which has...uhhh...gotten around. The other posts this week are kinda slight – I'm sure you might understand that my mind has been sorta preoccupied by other things over the past several days!
January 30th, 2019
Don’t You Lose Your Halo
Maren Morris “Girl”
Maren Morris sings with a confident, bold voice that fits comfortably in a range of mainstream styles – country, EDM pop, rock – the way a good vanilla ice cream pairs well with most any dessert. There’s a little bit of twang in her voice, and a dash of soulfulness, and a trace of attitude. She doesn’t have a lot of character, but she can sell a big feeling. “Girl,” a country rock power ballad she wrote with the increasingly prolific producer Greg Kurstin, is a pep-talk anthem that makes the most of vocal gifts. The contours of the song show off different aspects of her voice – grit on the verses, warmth on the bridge, and a go-for-broke passion on the chorus. It would not be surprising if this was deliberately written as a vocal showcase, and as such, I’m pretty sure this will eventually be a karaoke hit. It’s got all the right dynamics, and the utility of lyrics that express a genuine love and concern for a woman who’s down on her luck.
Buy it from Amazon.
January 31st, 2019
Planet Girl
Snail’s House “プラネット・ガール”
The best elevator pitch I could give you for Snail’s House is that it’s like Discovery-era Daft Punk filtered through the aesthetics of J-Pop. It’s a big, bright, bouncy sound that sounds like pure, earnest optimism. There’s something so wholesome about this – it’s music that sounds like it’s from a world where everything is fun and nothing is creepy.
Buy it from Amazon.
MADMADMAD “Gwarn”
And this one is just the opposite. “Gwarn” has very ‘00s aesthetics, like the DFA and Ed Banger discographies colliding at top speed into a Misshapes party. It’s seedy but glamorous, like a pretty rich kid who’s filthy and gross in designer clothes. It’s fun, but largely because it evokes a world where everything is creepy.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
February 1st, 2019
The Riddle Itself
Future Punx “Want to Be Wanted”
The lyrical conceit of “Want to Be Wanted” is approaching the basics of human interaction from a scientific standpoint – research, trials, data. It’s a lot of work to explain something very obvious, which is that people need to feel useful and desired. Future Punx play the song in a way that flips the uptight, severe seriousness of Wire-derived punk into a low-key campiness. It’s knowingly silly, but still quite earnest in its thoughts about what motivates people. They’re trying to think clearly and rationally, but can only conclude that desires are inconsistent and confusing. Even in understanding the root of feelings doesn’t make them predictable or sensible.
Buy it from Bandcamp.