Fluxblog Weekly #58: Corinne Bailey Rae, King, ASAP Ferg, School '94, Bat for Lashes
May 30th, 2016
Our Movements Are Elliptical
Corinne Baily Rae “Been to the Moon”
The lyrics of “Been to the Moon” are about feeling frustrated, but the sound is relaxed and groovy. And that makes sense, because Corinne Bailey Rae is singing from the perspective of someone who has a lot of clarity on her situation, and knows that if this person she’s into isn’t willing to meet her halfway and put forth some effort, she’s ready to cut them loose. She doesn’t want that, and the tension between knowing what’s best for her and what her heart desires is the root of all the feeling in the song. But there’s a confidence and healthy self-esteem at the core of this that is inspiring, and when I hear it I just hope that whoever she’s singing to appreciates her effort and can match it.
Buy it from Amazon.
May 31st, 2016
Disappear Into Enternity
King “Supernatural (Extended Mix)”
“Supernatural” follows a slightly odd trajectory, but the song is so heavy on atmosphere and texture that’s it easy to ignore the underlying structure of it. It’s a bit too much to say that this is like shoegaze R&B – it doesn’t go too far into that territory to make sense – but it’s just hazy and psychedelic enough to suggest an introverted and ultra-stoned version of modern R&B. The song is about a crush, and starts with starry-eyed infatuation and ends with an ecstatic declaration of love. The use of horns is excellent in that finale section, highlighting the singer’s joy with brief melodic runs, but not undermining the song’s expression of romantic bliss and casual vulernability.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 1st, 2016
The Whole Building Was Burning
ASAP Ferg featuring Skrillex and Crystal Caines “Hungry Ham”
It’s been gratifying to see Skrillex gradually transition from the punchline of dumb EDM jokes to high-profile producer, especially since taking himself out of the spotlight has a way of highlighting the musicality that’s been at the core of his work all along. It’s vindicating! His hyperactive sound works really well in hip-hop, or at least when it’s matched with a bold, high energy rapper like Ferg who doesn’t have to adjust at all to fit in with aggressive beats and blaring treble. “Hungry Ham” feels a bit like the Public Enemy/Bomb Squad aesthetic reimagined as trap music – the business and grime is largely stripped out or implied, but the punch of it is somehow just as hard.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 2nd, 2016
Maybe This Is All In My Head
School ’94 “Common Sense”
The name of this band is School ’94, but the sound of it is a lot more indie ’84, so when I first heard it I was ready for the vocals to be fairly thin and twee, as that’s generally who gravitates to this aesthetic over the past 15 years or so. But nope! The vocals on “Common Sense” are full-throated and passionate, and really sell this state of being entirely unsure of yourself and fighting your own mind to get a handle on facts and feelings. A lot of lesser acts will try to get by entirely on the glimmery sound of the keyboards and the propulsion of the bass, but in the case of this song, it’s all supporting the drama of the vocal. Or should I say melodrama – this feels very “teen soap opera” in the best way.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
June 3rd, 2016
Nightmares Come And They Don’t Go
Bat for Lashes @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 6/2/2016
I Do / Joe’s Dream / In God’s House / Honeymooning Alone / Sunday Love / Never Forgive the Angels / Close Encounters / If I Knew / I Will Love Again // Laura / We’ve Only Just Begun / What’s A Girl to Do? / Horse & I / Marilyn / Sleep Alone / Daniel
Natasha Khan is one of the world’s best living singers, and as beautiful as her voice is on record, you need to witness her sing in person to fully understand that. Her technical skill is extraordinary; her control over her voice is so precise yet totally natural that it can seem unreal. But the technical qualities of her singing are trumped by the soul and overwhelming emotion in her voice, and how it’s all at the service of Khan’s hyper-romantic songs. Khan is fascinated by love and romance, nearly her entire body of work is focused on variations on this theme. And it’s never mundane. Her songs are rooted in the details of common life, but the romance is heightened and melodramatic in a way that often feels mythic. Khan sings about idealized passion and grand love, and when she sings of pain and failure, it’s always a tragedy. Listening to the records gets this across, but there is a fussiness to the production that can obscure the intensity and presence of her performances. Seeing her live, there’s no ignoring the stakes of her music, or how much of her body and soul she puts into the songs. There’s no half measures here.
Bat for Lashes “Never Forgive the Angels”
The Bride is about a woman who is struggling with the sudden loss of the man she was about to marry. You hear her move through different stages of grief in the tracks just before “Never Forgive the Angels” – she’s in denial, she runs away – but this is the song where the reality of his death fully sets in. It’s a nightmare that does not end, and she sounds truly broken by understanding the permanence of it all. The aspect of grief that this captures so well is the feeling that your own life cannot move beyond this horrible thing, like there’s this block you can’t move beyond and you’re doomed to be stuck in this moment forever. Even as the song builds towards a catharsis, it feels cold and still. And that catharsis isn’t so much about letting the feeling go so much as exhausting it for the time being.
Buy it from Amazon.