Fluxblog Weekly #9: Metric, The Last Hurrah!, Shania Twain, Basement Jaxx
June 29th, 2015
The Way We Always Will
Metric “Cascades”
The sound of “Cascades” is heavily indebted to Kraftwerk, which is typically a sign that This Is A Song About The Future And Technology. Thankfully, that is not the case for this song. Emily Haines is instead using a cold, precise, robotic sound to convey the feeling of stoic repression of emotion. This is basically about trying to power through your feelings and keep moving and functioning, and knowing full well that you can only bottle up so much before it spills out one way or another. This is a very melancholy piece of music, but the saddest part to me is the phrase “keep whatever it is that’s compelling you on.” There’s something about the word “compelling” that feels so hopeless, like the singer can’t think of any motivation to stay alive aside from biological imperatives and objective goals.
Buy it from Amazon.
June 30th, 2015
We Are Just Animals And Don’t You Forget It
The Last Hurrah “Can’t Wait No More”
The Last Hurrah’s first two albums bent and stretched a Norwegian take on traditional British and American folk music into odd shapes, with a particular emphasis on contrasting harmony with drones. Their third record,Mudflowers, pushes in a very different direction, with the duo of HP Gunderson and Maesa Pullman going for a more straight forward blend of classic country pop and blue-eyed soul. It’s not as unusual or distinctive as what they had going on their first album, but it suits them rather well. Pullman’s vocal performance is very impressive on “Can’t Wait No More” in particular, with her conveying a wounded cynicism on the verses that shifts into earnest yearning on the chorus.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 1st, 2015
Gol’ Darn Gone And Done it
Shania Twain @ Madison Square Garden 6/30/2015
Rock This Country! / Honey, I’m Home / You Win My Love / Whose Boots Have Your Boots Been Under? / I Ain’t No Quitter / Love Gets Me Every Time / Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) / Any Man Of Mine / Ka-Ching! (instrumental) / I’m Gonna Getcha Good! / Come On Over / Party for Two (with Gavin DeGraw) / Up! / Today Is Your Day / No One Needs To Know / You’re Still the One / From This Moment On / That Don’t Impress Me Much / (If You’re Not In It For Love) I’m Outta Here! // Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
Shania Twain “Love Gets Me Every Time”
Shania Twain was way ahead of her time in many ways, particularly in how she and Mutt Lange brought the aesthetics of ‘80s arena rock into country music. Smuggling that type of rock into country was a brilliant move – not just in that it brought a different edge and accessibility to country, but because those aesthetics weren’t really welcome in mainstream rock at the time, and had to go somewhere. The best possible haven for it was a genre mainly loved by working class people who weren’t too cool for big spectacle, sledgehammer hooks, and earnest emoting. It’s an extroverted, populist aesthetic, and when you do it right, it’s always huge.
Shania Twain’s show leans heavily on the rock side of things, and it’s big on crowd-pleasing spectacle like fireworks and pyro. She puts a lot of effort in connecting with her fans, and does whatever she can to get in physical proximity with the audience. (I was particularly fond of her being wheeled around on a trolley around the edge of the arena during “Any Man Of Mine,” which is such a great, inexpensive way to make a LOT of people very happy.) The main thing I got out of seeing this show is just marveling at how well-written all her hits are. She and Lange were remarkably disciplined in their song craft, and while each song is made up of strong, immediate hooks, they never make it feel overwhelming or relentless. I think that’s where the “country” really comes through – it’s very focused music, but she makes it seem relaxed and easy going.
Buy it from Amazon.
July 2nd, 2015
Take Me 2 The Jungle
Basement Jaxx @ Central Park 7/1/2015
Good Luck / Unicorn / Power 2 The People / Red Alert / Taiko / Back 2 The Wild / What’s The News? / Oh My Gosh / Everybody / Never Say Never / Romeo / Jump N Shout / Buffalo / Raindrops / Do Your Thing / Rock This Road / Where’s Your Head At? / Rendez-Vu / Bingo Bango
Basement Jaxx “Back 2 the Wild (Jaxx Extended Mix)”
The problem with seeing shows in Central Park these days is that the volume of the music is so low that it doesn’t totally register as actual live music. This is a problem for any music that’s designed to physically move you – the bass frequencies are buried, and the snap of beats have little to no impact. When I saw Spoon a few weeks ago, Britt Daniel apologized to the audience for the quiet sound at their Central Park gig last year, and said that he was furious about it. I was at that show, and yeah, it was by far the weakest Spoon show I’ve ever seen, and that had nothing to do with their actual performance. It just barely felt like they were there.
I’ve seen Basement Jaxx once before, and it was one of the most transcendental live gigs I’ve ever witnessed. It was at Webster Hall, and it was very loud and everyone was dancing like maniacs in close quarters. I distinctly remember the floor shaking most of the time. Basement Jaxx’s live band show is a huge spectacle, with lots of singers and dancers and guys in gorilla suits. It’s the ideal manifestation of their musical aesthetic – joyful, soulful, hyper-physical, over-the-top. Their show last night in Central Park was all of these things, but definitely far too quiet. But despite that, the audience went crazy anyway, because how do you respond to all that stimulation without surrendering to it? How do you hear songs like “Red Alert,” “Back 2 the Wild,” “Do Your Thing” and “Where’s Your Head At” without flipping out? Why on earth would you go to a Basement Jaxx show if you didn’t come to dance? The Jaxx machine is so relentless and powerful that being a bit too quiet is not going to stop it.
Buy it from Amazon.