Fluxblog Weekly #252: Mazzy Star, Real Estate, Hyukoh, Hanni El Khatib
February 27th, 2020
Close Your Eyes And Look At Me
Mazzy Star “Disappear”
David Roback, the man who composed all the music for Mazzy Star, passed away earlier this week at the age of 61. He’d been a figure in the L.A. neo-psychedelic scene for years before forming Mazzy Star at the very end of the ‘80s, but his work in that band in collaboration with singer Hope Sandoval is his most inspired and historically crucial, particularly as their song “Fade Into You” became a crossover hit in the mid ‘90s. The sound of Mazzy Star, and of that song in particular, was not unprecedented, but it was rare and distinctive in a mainstream context. It was overwhelmingly romantic and unmistakably sexual; erotic in ways that were heightened in dramatic terms but not sensationalized or prurient. Gen Xers greeted the song as the perfect thing for their crush tapes and make-out mixes, and it’s never really gone away. There’s an entire lane of indie music built upon the foundation of what Roback and Sandoval accomplished on their first three records, and even Taylor Swift draws on their influence – what is her recent hit “Lover” if not “Fade Into You II”?
Mazzy Star was the synthesis of two perfectly simpatico romantics. Sandoval seemed mysterious and aloof, and sang everything like an old soul trapped in the role of the ingenue. She always sounded like she’s overcome with feelings, but too shy to express it outside of the implied hyper-intimacy of their songs, and even then, only just scratching the surface of everything in her heart. Roback played often simple parts with a poetic feel. He could make a churning drone sound remarkably sensual, and bent the notes of his leads in ways that suggested a depth of feeling beyond the expressive range of words.
“Disappear,” one of his finest compositions, displays most of his finest moves and is an especially good example of how effectively he could build a potent atmosphere. The song opens their third album Among My Swan, and within ten seconds you’re just fully transported into their world. The sound makes the air feel different, it makes time feel like it’s slowing down. You put these records on to enter Roback and Sandoval’s world, and hope to feel more like how they feel, and if you’re lucky, absorb some of their sentimentality and romanticism into your own life.
Buy it from Amazon.
February 26th, 2020
Wondering Where The Next Step Is
Real Estate “Friday”
One risk of hearing a song performed live before it is released as a studio recording is that you can end up being disappointed by the decisions the artist made when finalizing the arrangement. This is somewhat the case for my relationship with “Friday,” the outstanding opening song from Real Estate’s fifth album that is nevertheless a bit of a let down for me in that the version I’ve seen them play on stage is far more bass-centric, and much closer to the vibe of Air’s “La Femme D’Argent” from Moon Safari. The bass part is still there and quite good, but more subtle in the mix as the more recognizable elements of Real Estate’s aesthetics – jangling guitar treble and Martin Courtney’s soft, sensitive voice – are foregrounded. And I get it, I do – this is what Real Estate do! This is their entire thing, and this mix is very good on its own terms. But I think it could still use more warmth, and it wouldn’t hurt to lean harder on its most remarkable melodic element. I don’t think that would have taken the focus off of Courtney’s melancholy tone and lyrics about searching for a new path, but rather just cast it in relief as the music subtly shifted away from the band’s comfort zone.
Buy it from Amazon.
February 25th, 2020
My Heart Is Like Yesterday
Hyukoh “Flat Dog”
“Flat Dog” starts off sounding like a chugging but glossy blues rock number along the lines of The Black Keys but with Korean lyrics but by the time the first verse is through the implied scale of the piece seems to expand exponentially. It sounds cosmic but also very Beatlesque, like something a young George Harrison might have come up with if he had swapped places with Eric Clapton in Cream. Oh Hyuk’s sensibility may be a lot more rock and retro than his colleagues in the K-Pop world but there’s still a sort formal kinship here in the way he’s scrambling decades of pop music history, cherry-picking the coolest moves, and putting it all back together in a way that feels just a bit off. It’s a funny balance of studio nerd obsessive reverence and a total irreverent approach to the context of it all.
Buy it from Amazon.
February 24th, 2020
Let The Smoke Fill My Lungs
Hanni El Khatib “Stressy”
“Stressy” is built around the sort of processed breakbeat that was just about the coolest thing in the world in the late ‘90s but is hard to come by now – hard and fast and full of clattering cymbal ambiance, like “Tomorrow Never Knows” but more shambling. Hanni El Khatib uses this as the basis for a garage rock song with the psychedelic sample aesthetics of The Chemical Brothers and The Dust Brothers. “Stressy” expresses a teeth-gritting angst and has a rather dark tonal palette but it sounds like catharsis to me, with all the shifts in rhythm relieving a physical tension rather than tightening up. It feels more like “and now I don’t fucking care!” than freaking out.
Buy it from Bandcamp.