Fluxblog Weekly #219: Thom Yorke, Thee Oh Sees, Little Simz,Rosalia, EXID
July 7th, 2019
No Room For Mess
Thom Yorke “Impossible Knots”
Thom Yorke’s non-Radiohead work is often quite good, but has a way of demystifying his assumed genius and reminding us all that every member of Radiohead is crucial in achieving what they have over the past three decades. When Yorke is left to his own devices he tends to stray from straightforward melody and concise structure in favor of pulsing, gradually building electronic compositions that could easily pass for music released on labels like Border Community, Kompakt, and Hyperdub. To my ears, it always sounds like music that the other members of Radiohead might reject for being too derivative of contemporary artists, or aim to edit into tighter and/or more dynamic songs that would move far away from the apparent emotional and compositional goals of the work. It’s music that exists because Yorke is alone and he’s free to let go of familiar strengths and explore less developed elements of his skill set without having to compromise.
Anima, his fifth solo album including his record as Atoms for Peace and his score for the remake of Suspiria, is the point at which working in electronic music is no longer a “less developed element of his skill set.” It’s been 13 years since The Eraser, and nearly 20 years since he first started seriously working within this tradition on Kid A. Whereas The Eraser now feels somewhat tentative in hindsight and still fairly rooted in Radiohead-ness and both Amok and Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes often felt slightly tossed off, Animasounds like it comes from a place of full confidence. It doesn’t have a “side project” air about it; it feels like a major career statement that is meant to be taken as seriously as any of his Radiohead work.
And yet I am not terribly moved by it. For the most part this is art I appreciate far more than I actively like it, and the song I enjoy the most – “Impossible Knots” – sounds like a late period Radiohead song that just happened to find its way to this record rather than whatever the band does next. To some extent this is purely a matter of what musical ideas get me going at this point in time: I prefer a busier composition, I want more harmony, I would rather a song move between distinct dynamics than subtly build upon small grooves. “Impossible Knots” has wonderfully jittery groove to it, starting with rattling high-hat sounds and the slow thud of its bass drum and moving into a bass line that seems like a line moving through a series of mazes. Yorke sings in his airiest falsetto, but that’s the only part of the composition that feels loose and free, as the synth drones feel weighty and oppressive like excessive humidity on a hot day. The song doesn’t allow for much in the way of cathartic release, but in the larger context of the rigid and dour Anima, it actually does serve as the climax of the record as the penultimate track. And maybe that’s part of why Anima doesn’t fully connect with me at the moment – this is quite enough claustrophobia for me, thank you.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 8th, 2019
Too Much Information Maybe
Thee Oh Sees “Henchlock”
John Dwyer approaches songwriting in terms of iteration within constraints. There’s a clear dynamic template in place for Thee Oh Sees songs, and while that can seem very specific and limiting, Dwyer somehow finds room for endless variation. “Henchlock” is one of his boldest excursions yet – it’s a song that extends beyond the 20 minute mark with a groove that nods to Can in their Tago Mago phase, but is filled out with horns that sound as though they’ve been yanked out of a James Brown record and a series of organ and synthesizer solos that have more of a ’70s jazz aesthetic. This song could go over simply on the scale of its ambitions, but it’s also one of Dwyer’s finest compositions, packed with enough top-shelf melodies and riffs to keep it interesting well beyond the point where it should probably get a little boring.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
July 9th, 2019
Never Tried Suicide
Little Simz “Venom”
“Venom” opens with a discordant string part that sounds like it’s pulled from a horror film score – trilling, agitated, menacing. Little Simz begins her rapid-fire rap within 8 seconds, but the music has already spiked your anxiety levels. Simz’ verses start at a high level of tension and she only amps that up as she goes along, spitting out syllables with dazzling speed and startling precision. Imagine a ninja hurling a handful of throwing stars and each one hitting a specific target at exactly the right spot. Simz’ rage in this song is perfectly calibrated, with each point landing with a deliberate balance of clear-eyed authority and poisonous spite. The most brilliant moment comes about 40 seconds in as her first verse winds up to the key line – “Never giving credit where it’s due ‘cause you don’t like pussy in power…VENOM” – and the strings drop out on the last word, replaced by heavy, crushing percussion.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 10th, 2019
God Save Us From Money
Rosalía “Milionària”
“Milionària” is the more joyful half of a pop diptych in which the Spanish singer Rosalía parodies materialism and denounces capitalism in a mix of lyrics sung in Catalan, Spanish, and English. This is the parody half, in which she daydreams about outrageous wealth over a joyful beat, and declares that she knows that it is her birthright to become a millionaire. On its own, it would actually be hard to tell that this is actually an anti-capitalist song – this sort of wealth fantasy is so baked into popular music now that it always just seems earnest, and the English refrain “fucking money, man” signals frustration more than bitterness. “Dio$ No$ Libre del Dinero,” the flip of the double-A side single and second half of the music video, is the full reveal of her perspective – translated to English, it’s “may God save us from money.” From dreaming about it, from needing it, from having it. She likens it to poison, and in this context, “Milionària” can be heard as both seduction and intoxication.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 11th, 2019
Because We’re Star
EXID “We Are…”
Half the sounds in “We Are” seem like they’ve been slightly smudged or blotted out, as if the purely digital tones have been altered by physical conditions. It gives the song a soft, hazy sound – very summery, but the part of summer where the air feels heavy and the sun is more glare than shine. The underlying groove feels right for this atmosphere. It’s a very ‘90s sort of R&B/rap hybrid that is only slightly updated to sound contemporary, and there’s enough English being sung that it can mostly pass for a lost TLC song that just happened to be mostly performed in Korean.
Buy it from Amazon.