Fluxblog Weekly #41: Eleanor Friedberger, Milk, Wild Nothing, Lou E
Did you know that this week marks the 14th anniversary of Fluxblog? Not a flashy anniversary, but certainly one that makes me think "wow, that's a lot of my life." One thing I've learned in doing this for so long as that the first quarter tends to drag a lot, and around this time every year it's kinda slim pickings for decent new music to cover. So unless I change my mind, I think I'm going to focus my energy in the next week or so on writing about older music for a change.
In the meantime, here's some fairly obscure new indie rock.
February 9th, 2016
Treat Me Like A Tennis Pro
Eleanor Friedberger “Because I Asked You”
“Because I Asked You” has a very loose, casual, and friendly tone, which makes sense for a song in which Eleanor Friedberger is basically listing off a bunch of things that her boyfriend does at her request. She’s not asking for any major sacrifices or significant personality changes, and some of it is kinda silly. There’s a bit of tension, but not much – it’s really just about an adult person knowing they can ask for things, and that there’s a give and take in healthy relationships. It’s pretty easy to go through life accommodating other people without ever realizing that you can ask for things too without seeming needy or demanding. A lot of the time it’s just kinda chill, like in this song.
Buy it from Amazon.
February 10th, 2016
Before The World Was Strange
Milk “‘No Evil’ Oil”
I love the way Milk songs can have this lazy, laid back and spacious feeling to them while also being weirdly overstuffed with sound. There’s bit of guitar and piano overdubbed all over this track like clothes and papers cluttering the floor of a messy room, but it never quite gets in the way of the main vocal melody and guitar hook. All these extra sounds are fairly subtle in the mix, and come together to make this otherwise straight forward indie rock ballad feel off-balance and disorienting. It sounds kinda like walking around drunk in broad daylight, but in “pleasantly stumbling around” way and not a “about to puke or do something embarrassing” way.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
February 11th, 2016
A New Face For Now
Wild Nothing “Reichpop”
I love the way the mallet instrument being played in this song – marimba, I think? – immediately creates this feeling that you’ve entered some strange and heavily atmospheric place. The rest of the instruments seem to react against that sound and its hypnotizing repetitive beat – the drums fill in the rhythm, and the guitar and keyboard parts kinda bounce off it, like there’s some implied force field. The vocal melody is lovely, and makes great use of Jack Tatum’s wispy, airy voice. There are other Wild Nothing songs where his voice can seem a bit too nondescript, but here it clicks into place rather nicely and fills out a tonal range rather than blending into a haze of treble.
Buy it from Amazon.
February 12th, 2016
Talking So Vague
Lou E “What Do You Do It For?”
A lot of indie acts think they know how to write a jangly, melodic pop tune like this, but focus too much on the jangle and only give you the most basic effort with the melody. Not so with Lou E! There’s a richness to the vocal melody and bass line in “What Do You Do It For?” that could pass as vintage British Invasion – maybe not Lennon/McCartney level, but certainly on par with your better Hollies and Kinks songs. There’s never too much going on at any point in this song, but every moment has some variation on a melodic theme that’s just, well…very pleasing. Everything in this track is aiming for maximum pleasantness, and it achieves that goal with style and grace. Frankly, if this guy is going to be this good, he ought to consider a better name than “Lou E.”
Buy it from Bandcamp.