Fluxblog Weekly #222: Chance the Rapper, Goldroom, Pieces of a Man, Haim
That's "FLUXBLOG" in Krakoan, the mutant language devised by Jonathan Hickman for House of X and Powers of X. I wrote about the debut of Powers of X this week! I strongly recommend jumping in on this stuff while it's starting now. It will be available in book form by the end of the year but this is SO FUN to follow on a week to week basis.
July 28th, 2019
It’s America, Right?
Chance the Rapper featuring DaBaby and MadeinTYO “Hot Shower”
A lot of Chance the Rapper’s fourth record – actually his debut album if you ask him, but that’s just a discography combover if you ask me – is heavy and soulful, signaling maturity and stability. But “Hot Shower,” the record’s standout track, is a total goof that gives him space to be silly and extra playful with his always expressive voice. The song owes a lot to the cadences of Valee and Jeremih’s hit “Womp Womp” from last year, but the tone is different – less hypnotic and aloof, and way more overtly comedic as Chance shouts out DUDE and NUDES with cartoonish over-emphasis in the second verse. MadeinTYO’s verse is significantly more chill, but it’s just a palette cleanser before getting to DaBaby’s verse, which is dazzles with low-key confidence as it tips from bragging about cars to a section about going to court that’s both defiant of and paranoid about the racist legal system.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 29th, 2019
Velvet Chains
Goldroom featuring Mereki “You’re Incredible”
Goldroom’s track is built around a repeated groove of what sounds like a chopped up sample of mallet percussion – maybe a marimba? It sounds very clear and “live” but just off enough to feel uncanny, so the metallic clangs sound lovely enough to have a lovely, luxurious feeling but also communicate a slight unease. Mereki’s vocal doesn’t get too deep into lyrical details. She sketches out a scene of being at a show and watching a performer with awe and affection, but wisely keeps things focused on a gorgeous repeated vocal hook: “I think you’re incredible, oh oh.” She sounds like someone in love with someone who isn’t fully real, someone who is more beautiful and idealized because you can’t get up close to them. Goldroom deepens the sound of the track with a painterly sort of guitar noise and beachy synth tones, but never takes focus off that mesmerizing percussive chord vamp. If you let it go for just a moment it would break the spell.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 30th, 2019
Hold Your Flashlight Up
Pieces of A Man “Nothing to Lose”
“Nothing to Lose” is a gospel pop song with a slightly tilted arrangement – not enough that it disrupts the grace and beauty of the harmonies or subverts the gospel-ness of the music, but in the way the electronic production and vaguely trap-ish drum programming shift expectations in subtle ways. It’s a gorgeous piece of music from the chord progression on up to the particular vocal inflections of the singers, which shift from joyous moments of unity to smaller, more personal declarations of love and faith. There’s an odd sort of gravity to this song – it feels so rooted to the earth, but it some moments the music seems to levitate.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
August 1st, 2019
Under The Freeway Overpasses
Haim “Summer Girl”
“Summer Girl” sounds a bit like Haim trying to figure out how to play Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” but ending up somewhere else entirely. The feeling of it is extremely LA in the way Reed’s song is extremely NYC – a little more slack to the rhythm, a lot more implied space and sunlight in the mix. It’s also a lot more hopeful than cynical, as Danielle Haim wrote this an expression of love and empathy for her partner Ariel Rechtshaid when he was being treated for cancer. A lot of the lyrics are just her observing him in his lowest moments of fear and anxiety, and doing her best to be strong and selfless. She references Joni Mitchell at one point, calling back to her old line “laughter and crying, you know it’s the same release,” but putting it into a new context where it’s no longer coming from a place of isolation and insecurity. The saxophone part, written by Rostam Batmanglij, adds to the atmosphere without dipping into kitsch or pushing the song too far into retro pastiche. As much as the song is indebted to the past, it’s firmly present in the moment and focused on its message of unconditional love.
Buy it from Amazon.