Fluxblog Weekly #70: Slow Club, Angel Olsen, Frank Ocean, Noname, Vince Staples
Welcome to new subscribers, all of whom I imagine came to this via Dan Kois' very kind endorsement of the 1980s survey set on this week's episode of Slate's Culture Gabfest podcast. I hope you enjoy new songs as much as old songs. If you enjoy this site/newsletter and the survey mixes, pass it on to a friend. This is not a commercial endeavor so I don't care that much about audience size, but it's nice to have people who might like the site find out about it.
August 22nd, 2016
As Toxic As Ever
Slow Club “Give Me Some Peace”
It’s been a pleasure watching Slow Club evolve from tuneful but cutesy folk pop into one of the most sophisticated indie bands of their generation, but it’d be even more satisfying if I didn’t feel like I was observing this growth all on my own. It is frustrated to think of how many people would love their songs if only they had some way of knowing they exist. This is the trouble with acts with somewhat broad appeal who work in an indie context – the indie people end up thinking they’re sorta square and ignore them, and the audience who would cherish them are totally unaware because the money required to reach a mainstream crowd is beyond their budget.
“Give Me Some Peace” is Rebecca Taylor in sentimental waltz ballad mode, which has become a major strength for the band over the past two records. Taylor’s voice can be quite brassy and powerful, but even when she’s belting out her lines she conveys a lot of vulnerability and insecurity. She always sounds like someone who is bravely trying to get over a relationship but has a hard time muting any of her feelings, so she occasionally is like “fuck it” and lets her emotions loose. There’s tears, there’s anger, there’s self recrimination and exhaustion. It all sounds very lived-in and true.
Buy it from Amazon.
August 23rd, 2016
This Heart Still Beats For You
Angel Olsen “Shut Up Kiss Me”
I like the way Angel Olsen sings this with a sort of pouty affect, and how the chorus sounds a bit like a tantrum with its demanding language and clipped phrasing: Shutupkissmeholdmetight! Shutupkissmeholdmetight! It adds a bit of humor to a song that is otherwise pretty sad, and is basically a plea to keep a relationship going despite some resistance on the other end. Olsen is stubborn and tough, and that’s just as much in her language as in her guitar playing and vocal effect, which nudges a melancholy melody into the red without fuzzing it up so much that it obscures the fragility in her performance. It’s just enough to sound like a bit of armor.
Buy it from Amazon.
August 24th, 2016
When The Sun Is Ruined
Frank Ocean “Pink + White”
A very large portion of Frank Ocean’s Blonde has no percussion, or at least none in the form of traditional physical percussion or drum programming. Things like organ vamps or palm muted guitar will keep the tempo in some places, but in others, it’s just this free-floating ambience and Frank’s voice. I’m a bit conflicted about this: It is very interesting and bold, but the absence can scream “ARTISTIC DECISION!” in a way that drowns out the actual songs. It’s good for vibe and theme, but some songs sound like they would be improved by the shape and dynamics that good drumming can provide. It is often quite boring. It certainly doesn’t help that most of the best cuts on the record actually do have percussion.
“Pink + White” is one of the few songs with full percussion on Blonde, and it is not coincidentally the best song on the album. It’s an exceptionally elegant Pharrell Williams production, and frames Ocean’s voice with piano chords that ripple and pulse like small waves on the shore. He’s singing about having no control over life, at least in the sense that you can’t just linger forever in the prettiest moments. Ocean is known for obsessing on nostalgia, but this song is a bit more complicated than reckoning with memories or fearing that the good times are about to dry up. This is more about finding peace in perspective and the passage of time, while still joking “bitch, I might like immortality!” in a way that suggests he doesn’t care too much about dying but can’t bear to stop experiencing life.
Buy it from iTunes.
August 25th, 2016
I Used To Dream In Parables
Noname featuring theMIND “Sunny Duet”
There’s something in the sing-song lilt of Noname’s voice that makes her verses feel both playful and a bit sad at the same time. She always sounds like she’s making an effort to stay optimistic and kind, and that effort is wearing on her more than she’d like you to notice. In “Sunny Duet” she plays the part of the woman trying to be patient with a man who’s trying to get his act together and be on his best behavior for her, but the surest sign this isn’t going to work is the complexity of her thoughts in comparison to his. Noname’s two verses touch on vulnerable confessions, nostalgic recollections, philosophical musings, while theMIND’s parts plead in such a low-key way that you wonder how much he’s invested. That’s the thing they both have in common, I guess – there’s a yearning for connection on both sides of this song, but also a vague ambivalence that’s hard to get around.
Get it from Bandcamp.
August 26th, 2016
Keep Breathing Slowly Slowly
Vince Staples featuring Kilo Kush “Loco”
Vince Staples’ lyrics have an incredible density – verbose and highly detailed, sure, but he has a talent for layering meaning in his verses so his songs are like narrative high rises. There’s a lot going on in “Loca,” enough that it’s hard to keep the “plot” straight, in as much as this song could be taken as a linear series of events. It’s more about the accumulation of moments – frenzied hookups, hustling for money, bouts of panic and depression, racial tensions, good memories tied to mom, bad memories tied to dad. DJ Dahi’s track signals paranoia, but also traces of lust and rage, and it frames Staples’ vocal performance without getting too matchy-matchy. Kilo Kush’s vocals are what really pop here – she’s so relaxed and playful compared to Vince, and she seems like a tether to softer feelings, or just sanity in general.
Buy it from Amazon.