Fluxblog Weekly #95: Very Fresh, Cassandra Jenkins, Anna Wise, Ivy Sole
As of this week, I've been doing Fluxblog for 15 years. Crazy, huh? Thanks for reading, whether you've been here for a long time, or just came on recently.
February 13th, 2017
Fuck The Glass Ceiling
Very Fresh “Cool Kids”
“Cool Kids” is basically a litany of social pressures, and the joke is that as Cindy Lou Gooden moves up the timeline from being a teenager into adulthood, it only gets more anxious and manic. She sings it all with a snide Jello Biafra-ish affect, broadly signaling contempt and dark humor, but not necessarily dismissing the actual feelings underneath the frenzied need to fit in and do what is expected. It’s presented as a joke because it is funny, but also because feeling like you need to do everything just right by a certain time or you’re an uncool failure is 100% ridiculous. Gooden is giving everyone permission to admit it and laugh at it and, hopefully, break free from it.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
February 14th, 2017
Lights Danced On The Concrete
Cassandra Jenkins “Candy Crane”
This is a lovely track all around, but please take note of the lead guitar, which has the low-key melodic elegance of peak George Harrison. It’s a fabulous complement to Cassandra Jenkins’ vocal performance, bringing out the warmth in her voice without compromising the steady, deliberately calm cadences of her melody. Her voice implies a very adult perspective – what’s done is done, but there’s more to do, so let’s do it. The refrain of “play till you win” is the most resonant bit, coming off both optimistic and bitter, but above all, pragmatic.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
February 15th, 2017
Ignore The Disapproval
Anna Wise “Coconuts”
Anna Wise’s previous EP was like an awakening – reckoning with sexism and body image, turning against societal bullshit holding her back. “Coconuts,” from her second EP, is further along: Less dogmatic and aggressive, but coming at the same ideas from a far stronger and more assured perspective. The song is relaxed and meditative, with muted horns framing her chill delivery of lyrics that lay out hard truths. Like, say, you don’t have to beholden to other people’s vision of you. And, on a larger scale, the “rules” will change over time. But in the meantime, stick with the good people, and support them. “Coconuts” is low key and not totally obvious, but I think it’s a lot more powerful than what Wise was doing last year. It sounds like the love she wants to encourage.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
February 16th, 2017
The Forest Through The Trees
Ivy Sole “East”
Ivy Sole’s voice comes off rugged and tough at the start of this track, matching the tone of the track, which is forceful and abrasive from the first seconds. She’s announcing who she is, she’s situating herself in rap, she’s recontextualizing tropes. (She’s right, a trap is basically a startup.) But as she moves along, the front drops a bit, and the defenses come down, and the words get increasingly vulnerable and sincere. Sole is just telling her story here – nothing too dramatic, so she focuses on the details that made her who she is today. The chorus comes out of the song quite naturally, but its soft, sentimental tone is quite a shift from where this song begins. I don’t think either part is more real – it’s just a very honest snapshot of a fully formed person.
Buy it from Bandcamp.