Fluxblog Weekly #8: D'Angelo, Leon Bridges, Vince Staples, Bed Rugs, Janet Jackson, Astronauts Etc
Hey there everybody. In addition to this week's set of posts, I published a long Q&A with Felix Buxton of Basement Jaxx over at BuzzFeed. Please do go check it out, if just because it is my least successful post on the site in a few years and it's doing so poorly that it's almost kinda funny.
June 22nd, 2015
Take A Note From My Philosophy
D’Angelo and The Vanguard @ Forest Hills Tennis Stadium 6/21/2015
Ain’t That Easy -> jam / Betray My Heart / Spanish Joint / Really Love / The Charade / Brown Sugar / Sugah Daddy -> extended funk jam // Till It’s Done (Tutu) / Untitled (How Does It Feel?)
D’Angelo and The Vanguard “Sugah Daddy”
Due to a rain delay during Gary Clark Jr.’s opening set and the fact that all shows at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium must be over by 10 p.m., D’Angelo had to cut the entire second set of his show on this tour from this gig. And while it breaks my heart a bit that he had to skip “Another Life” and “Back to the Future,” two of my favorite songs he’s ever done, this show was so generous it hardly mattered. Maybe not generous in terms of song quantity – there were only 9 proper songs in a 100 minute performance – but certainly in terms of extended grooves and D’Angelo’s considerable showmanship. After the show my friend Sean pointed out that it’s hard to imagine that the guy up there on stage leading a band through these showstopping funk jams is any kind of recluse, and yeah, it kinda is. But even when D’Angelo is tapping into the most over the top elements of James Brown, Prince, and Sly, he seems a bit aloof and unknowable. I think that’s a big part of his appeal, really – he’s the introvert with a sexy mystique, and the sort of person who doesn’t speak up until he’s fully digested a idea and is ready to express a fully considered thought.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 23rd, 2015
Voice Like A Symphony
Leon Bridges “Lisa Sawyer”
This is a doo-wop song in the style of The Flamingos, and it’s performed and recorded so faithfully that it wouldn’t be hard to convince someone that it’s actually from the late ‘50s or early ‘60s. It certainly has that wonderful, hyper-romantic shimmering moonlight quality to it, and this casual gentlemanly sweetness that’s very seductive in a low-key way. “Lisa Sawyer” isn’t quite what it seems, though. Leon Bridges channels the nostalgic sound of this music as a way of connecting with the past, and telling the story of his mother, who was born around the time this style of music went out of fashion. Bridges’ lyrics loosely sketch out his mother’s biographical details, but his voice fills in the rest with a tone of reverence and pride. It’s a lovely tribute, and I think it’s really powerful as a song in the way it implies that everyone’s life story is interesting and notable and worthy of being sung about.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 25th, 2015
Love Is A Brawl
Vince Staples featuring Jhené Aiko & DJ Dahi “Lemme Know”
“Lemme Know” has a strange, just-slightly-off feeling to it, partly because Jhené Aiko and Vince Staples rap all the verses in unison. The effect is pretty similar to when Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird did this trick back in the ‘90s – there’s an implication that the two voices are at odds even if they’re saying exactly the same thing. Aiko’s voice is stronger and more expressive than Staples, who raps with a cold, aloof tone. At different points in the song, the overlap of their performances implies different things – mockery, flirtation, intimacy, a struggle for dominance. It’s all very hazy and ambiguous, but it’s a very seductive sound.
Buy it from Amazon.
Bed Rugs “Drift”
There’s so much beautiful treble in this song – the soft clatter of the cymbals, the vaguely dizzy melody of the lead guitar, that ghostly tenor vocal. It’s held together by a gentle but sturdy bass line, but for the most part the music just drifts on by. (Accurate title, then.) The song reminds me of that strangely pleasurable feeling of light-headedness when you get a head rush, or when you’re sick enough to feel a bit out of it but not enough that you’re in any sort of pain.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
June 26th, 2015
The Queen Of Insomnia
Janet Jackson “No Sleeep”
It’s a bit of a relief that Janet Jackson’s first single in seven years doesn’t make it look as though she’s straining to seem young or trying to conform to the sound of whatever was popular on the radio a year ago. “No Sleeep” is just Janet doing one of her core Janet things – ultra-languid down-tempo R&B that conveys an overt yet understated sexuality. This is a song that definitely would’ve fit in pretty well on either janet. or The Velvet Rope, but is clearly coming from the perspective of someone a bit older and more self-assured. There was always a trace of nerves and self-doubt on those old records, but “No Sleeep” is notable in how it seems utterly devoid of anxiety. It’s the sound of feeling truly comfortable in your own skin with someone else, which makes this sort of an aspirational song.
Buy it from Amazon.
Astronauts, etc. “No Justice”
“No Justice” is somewhere in the middle of the continuum between ‘70s quiet storm R&B and ’00s post-Beach House indie music: It’s all rather sultry and tonally rich, but the romance is expressed mainly in a guitar tone that’s derived from ‘80s new wave. It’s a very romantic sound, and implies a lot of heavy emotions while taking up very little space in the mix. The power of the guitar in a song like this is how it rings out in the negative space, and floats over a subtle Fender Rhodes groove and mingles with a very earnest falsetto.
Buy it from Bandcamp.