Fluxblog Weekly #241: Lee Ranaldo • Pink Shabab • Guerilla Toss • Kaytranada
• If you missed me mentioning this the past couple weeks, I have a Ko-Fi account set up for donations – if you'd like to support the site, which is just me, this is the best possible time for that! Major thanks to everyone who has already donated, it means quite a bit to me.
• The Fluxblog 2019 survey will hit next week! It'll be presented a little differently than in the past. There's also a big Fluxblog project on the horizon in January that I think you'll all like quite a bit.
• Also, just a reminder that I have also been writing House of X, a site where I write about the new and very very good era of X-Men comics led by the brilliant author Jonathan Hickman. The first big collection of this run that introduces all the new big ideas and (fairly drastic) changes to the franchise, House of X/Powers of X, is in stores now. If you decide to jump in now, you can go back through my posts for each of the chapters here – but ONLY do that after reading! HOX/POX is my favorite pop culture thing from this year; I cannot recommend it highly enough.
December 9th, 2019 2:45pm
Body Burning Like A Blast Furnace
Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree “Names of North End Women”
Lee Ranaldo’s new collaborative album with Raül Refree moves about as far away as any former member of Sonic Youth has away from the aesthetics of Sonic Youth. So far, indeed, that guitars are not even part of the palette: “Names of North End Women” is all vocal and polyrhythmic percussion. Ranaldo’s voice is in excellent form here, leaning on his usual rhythmic poetry but allowing for more purely melodic and soulful moments along the way. The percussion is busy but there’s a lot of silence on the track and that negative space feels distinctly cold, like crisp winter air at a high elevation. This makes the movement of the track feel necessary, like it’s doing what must be done to get along and survive.
Buy it from Amazon.
December 10th, 2019
What You Already Knew
Pink Shabab “If Only I Could Hold You One More Time”
It was not at all surprising to learn after having heard this song a few times that the primary instrument of the composer, Joseph Carvell, is the bass guitar. The bass line is prominent in the mix and central to the song, driving it along with a slow-burn urgency. The surface of the song is glossy and chill, but the tone is more like the inadvertent creepiness of someone who doesn’t understand their feelings are coming off more intense than sweet. The atmosphere of this song is excellent – the gentle drones, the chords that seem to pop in for a moment just to sound like a sparkle, and that synth flute sound which shifts abruptly from ambiance to a busy, slightly winded melodic flourish.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
December 11th, 2019
Modern Life Under A Hex
Guerilla Toss “Future Doesn’t Know”
“Future Doesn’t Know” has a bright and hyper sound to it that signals an energetic optimism, but the lyrics by Kassie Carlson are mostly about confronting the future with total confusion. These aren’t mutually exclusive things, of course – the sentiment here isn’t far off from Björk declaring “I don’t know the future after this weekend, and I don’t want to” in “Big Time Sensuality” – but her choice of words leans heavily on anxiety triggers. It’s an expression of indecision that vacillates from second to second between “now what???” and “NOW WHAT!!!” She may seem lost and humbled by bad experiences, but there is a joy and sense of adventure here that overrides the worst of it.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
December 13th, 2019
Ego Is Not Your Friend
Kaytranada featuring Kali Uchis “10%”
It’s slightly odd to me that when given this prime Katranada groove – so densely programmed but somehow quite airy! – Kali Uchis wrote a song about behind-the-scenes music industry shenanigans and haggling for cuts, but I guess you gotta write what you know. But still, it’s very incongruous to have this very sensuous composition as the backdrop for a sentiment so sour and score-settling even if she’s probably correct to be demanding her fair share and, of course, there’s more than enough love and sex songs in the world. In this context Uchis’ words start to fit into a more romantic narrative, with “where’s my 10%?” seeming like a more interpersonal audit for attention, effort, and emotional investment.
Buy it from Amazon.