Fluxblog Weekly #61: Beck,Mitski, Sleigh Bells, Angelic Milk, Amy O
June 20th, 2016
Just Another Perfect Night
Beck “Wow”
“Wow” slots into the Odelay/Midnite Vultures/Guero wing of the Beck discography, but it doesn’t feel quite like anything from those records. This song, along with last year’s “Dreams,” finds Beck exploring a vibe that’s so chill that it’s nearly vapid. There’s a void at the center of most of his late period material, and while the sadder songs stare into that void, “Wow” is like diving gracefully into it while wearing comfortable but extremely expensive clothes. A lot of the lyrics here are intentional cliches – “it’s your life / you gotta try to get it right” – but there’s a lot of old school absurdist Beck-isms in the mix too. “Girl in a bikini with the Lamborghini shih tzu” is a silly yet vivid line worthy of Midnite Vultures, but my favorite bit is when he raps “my demon’s on the cell phone to YOUR demons.” It’s a funny image, but it suggests an alienation from his own negative feelings so intense they’re removed from himself. This is Beck’s version of “YOLO” – live your life, do it right, have fun, and distance yourself from all bad vibes.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 21st, 2016
We Do Have Reputations
Mitski “Once More To See You”
“Once More to See You” is built upon the “Be My Baby” beat, an easy signifier of aching romance in pop music. But it’s slowed just enough that you hang on every hit, anticipating something that you know is coming but still somehow feels slightly too far away. That theme carries over to Mitski’s words as she sings about a passionate love that’s being kept secret, and the agony of biding time until they can be alone together again. It’s a very melodramatic sentiment, but the song is rather understated overall, with the strongest feelings expressed in the spaces between words and sounds.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 22nd, 2016
Ripping Down Stars
Sleigh Bells “Rule Number One”
Casey Kasem used to end his Top 40 broadcasts by telling listeners to “keep your feet on the ground, but keep reaching for the stars.” In other words, be ambitious, but also pragmatic. Alexis Krauss offers a more impatient and aggressive version of that thought in “Rule Number One,” belting out “RIPPING DOWN STARS WHILE I STAND ON MY TOES!!!” over a Derek Miller riff so severely processed that it sounds more like it’s being played on grinding gears instead of guitar strings. I can’t understate how much this moment of the song thrills me – I rewind the bit and play it back all the time, just trying to tap directly into this extraordinary willpower and self-belief.
No contemporary rock band has devoted as much of their energy towards making their music sound AS HYPE AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, but “Rule Number One” is a new peak for this duo. Krauss used to rely mostly on head voice, but here she’s as brassy and bold as En Vogue circa “Free Your Mind.” Miller’s riffs and beats have the raw energy they’ve always had, but they’re refined and reinforced. They’re both pushing themselves to their limits, and seem defiant in a way they haven’t seen before Treats came out. And that makes sense, right? They’re the underdogs again, and this is a song about breaking yourself, reinventing yourself, and willing yourself into greatness. It’s inspirational as fuck and I can’t get enough of it.
Buy it from iTunes.
June 23rd, 2016
Lips And Nails
Angelic Milk “Rebel Black”
Angelic Milk is music made by a Russian teen who seems to be obsessed with a romanticized concept of the angst-ridden American teenager. There’s several layers of irony to their project, but it’s not enough to obscure a genuine feeling. “Rebel Black” is built out of references, but they’re largely gestures to feelings in other songs and movies, not direct swipes from anything in particular. It’s more about what it’s like to imagine moments in your life the way they might be told in a movie, and willing your life to be more like that grander, more sentimental version of the experience. Edit out the boring parts, punch up the dramatic bits, and make everyone and everything much prettier, but keep things just raw enough to feel convincing.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
June 24th, 2016
Incredible Thunder
Amy O “Canteen”
“Canteen” sounds cheerful but also a bit nervous, as though every beat and melodic turn in it is guided by a quiet ever-present anxiety. Amy O’s lyrics call back to childhood – the very first line is “elementary school was a breeze” – but that sentimental imagery is laced through a song that otherwise deals with some ill-defined relationship that’s both enticing and terrifying. She sings about how “love is a spider,” and she’s getting stuck in this person’s web, and while that metaphor isn’t exactly obscure, the way she uses it makes everything about having a body and emotions seem icky and alien. But it is kinda weird to just be passive, right? To just give yourself over to someone else’s whims, and not really know what to expect from moment to moment.
Buy it from Bandcamp.