Fluxblog
December 11th, 2023 10:33pm

Shivers And Butterflies


Kylie Minogue “Padam Padam”

You have to be in the right mindset for some songs. “Padam Padam” was a big deal this summer in mostly queer circles, but despite being a long term Kylie fan I just didn’t really have space for it in my mind or my heart at the time. That changed a week ago for no particular reason, and now it’s just padam padam padam padam looping in my head all day. Sometimes you just hear it and you know, y’know? Ina Wroldsen and Lostboy wrote the song for no one in particular, but it turned out to be a brilliant vehicle for Minogue that brings her back to the mix of elation and tension in her early 00s hits “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” and “Come Into My World.” There’s always something so pure and earnest in the way Minogue sings about lust, like she’s investing a lot of spirituality and romance in even the most fleeting of flings. Other singers might do that but indicate some disappointment, but in a song like “Padam Padam” it’s all thrilling adventure and starry eyes.

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December 7th, 2023 12:20am

Quiero Un Hombre Femenine


MIKE feat. Lila Ramani “Should Be”

MIKE typically raps on the tracks he produces but in the case of “Should Be” he’s silent, keeping the focus on a vocal sample that’s mostly pitched up to the point that it’s unintelligible and a live vocal from Crumb’s Lila Ramani that’s so distant in the mix that it’s also pretty much unintelligible. The magic of this song is in the way MIKE triggers the vocal sample in uneven intervals, which gives it a “live” feel and makes your ear hang expectantly on moments of absence. The arrangement is filled out with fragments of piano, harp, and strings that fall into place just enough to cohere musically, but loose enough that you focus on the abstraction. Beyond mentioning the details, what does this sound like? Basically, it sounds like ghosts in two different heavens singing to each other from across the divide.

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Empress Of “Femenine”

Lorely Rodriguez doesn’t always sing in Spanish on Empress Of tracks, but in the case of “Femenine” it would have been counterintuitive and absurd to do anything else since the key lyric of the chorus translates to “I want a feminine man, a Latin who dances for me and only for me.” (Fingers crossed for you, Lorely!) She sings this like she’s manifesting her desires, but I think it’s the music that’s more likely to do the trick. It sounds sweaty and lusty, but also very deliberate and controlled. I was not surprised to learn this is a Nick Sylvester production – you can hear his immaculate taste in keyboard tones all over this, the way the bass guitar subtly creeps around in the background whenever the synth bass isn’t carrying the low end, and the particular crispness of the claps on the breakdown.

Buy it from Amazon.



December 4th, 2023 10:01pm

Sharp Sounds Swim Around


Peter Gabriel “Road to Joy (Bright-Side Mix)”

Peter Gabriel’s first album of new material in 21 years, i/o, was released last week after a very long roll out in which a majority of the tracks were issued separately with each full moon, and alternate mixes of those songs issued on the following new moon. I can appreciate the concept from a “hey, the moon is cool” perspective, but I feel like this strategy didn’t do Gabriel a lot of favors in terms of presenting this record as a prestige event from a major artist. The slow drip of material and multiple mixes made his return seem hesitant and tedious, and I personally don’t think it suits an elder statesman like this to approach streaming like a baby act signed to a major label throwing single tracks at the wall to see what gets enough traction to justify a full album.

It could be that Gabriel fully intended to deflate expectations for a record that’s been cooking for so long. Maybe he wanted to be less precious about it, and to embrace the more casual aspects of the streaming economy. I respect that, but I think this record would have benefited more from seeming like a big comeback. I would have pushed “Road to Joy” as the primary lead single, and let people get excited about a song that has a similar combination of ecstatic energy and brute force as classics like “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time.” Let people go “wow, he’s still got it,” because truly, he really does.

“Road to Joy” is a collaboration with Brian Eno, and it’s something of an outlier on i/o, which is generally low on energy and long on atmosphere. But that’s not too surprising – Gabriel’s body of work is light on bangers even if those tend to be among his most inspired tracks. I didn’t realize Eno was involved until after I’d heard the song at least a dozen times but his input is noticeable – it’s in the particular tonality and mix placement of the keyboards, it’s in the detailed but not cluttered approach to percussion. The general feel is not far off from his collaboration with Karl Hyde a decade ago, or what he did with David Byrne a few years before that.

It’s a great sounding record, but what really makes it is the inimitable sound of Gabriel’s voice. After all this time it’s still a very sleek tone with a slightly rough texture, a distinct bright timbre rounded out with warmth and depth. He sounds so certain and steady in contrast with Tony Levin’s rubbery bass, and heroic as he belts out the chorus alongside a choir that’s mixed so tastefully that the maximalism becomes a little bit minimalist. Like I said, he’s still got it.

Buy it from Amazon.



November 30th, 2023 7:58pm

On The Hell Block


Boldy James and ChanHays “Trust Issues”

“Trust Issues” has the same effect as the classic film trope of playing nostalgic pop music over a scene depicting violence or some other grim reality – the innocence and sentimentality of the music adding a layer of irony, but also making the brutality seem sort of cozy and banal. ChanHays’ track is built around a soul sample that feels particularly romantic and gentle, the sort of thing you’d likely hear as the soundtrack to young love in the mid-20th century. Boldy James’ lyrics sketch out the life of a young criminal with a particular emphasis on guns, to the point that it does sort of play out as young love, albeit with one’s firearms.

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November 29th, 2023 8:50pm

Always Putting Up A Fight


a.s.o. “My Baby’s Got It Out for Me”

“My Baby’s Got It Out for Me” is an expertly crafted trip-hop pastiche made by a duo of musicians so attuned to the details that the music feels a little uncanny in how accurately it replicates a specific mid-90s palette. I’ve seen a lot of people compare this to Portishead, which isn’t wrong in the broadest sense, but I think it’s closer to sounding like if Sneaker Pimps ever managed to make another song on par with “6 Underground.” (But like, 30% more stoned.) This is to say that I think this is music that is borne of extremely nerdy trainspotter/mood board impulses, but is executed so well that any trace of neediness is lost in the music’s extremely sexy atmosphere. All you really hear is the lust, the fantasy, and the surrender to darkness.

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November 28th, 2023 8:41pm

Every Moment Always Hanging By A Thread


Dora Jar “Puppet”

The arrangement of “Puppet” is very dynamic, with news sounds and ideas arriving every few measures in a way that gathers momentum and keeps the ear entertained, but not in a way that makes the music too busy or incoherent. (Having the song anchored by a groove that’s a cousin to the classic Krautrock motorik beat is a great way to glue it all together.) Dora Jar is singing about feeling untethered and in imminent danger, but the playfulness of her lyrical scenarios and the rush of energy in the chorus make it clear that the risk-taking is thrilling rather than fully terrifying. I’m particularly fond of how she stutters the first line of each verse, and the way she stops the song cold for a moment in the third verse as both a punchline and yet another way to get a fun bit into the song.

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Actress “Its Me (G 8)”

If you’ve been reading this site for some time you know that I’m a sucker for chopped up vocal samples that carry melody and emotion, but scramble the lyrics beyond comprehension. “Its Me (g 8)” is an extremely good example of this approach, particularly in how the vocal samples seem to expand and contract without ever becoming fully intelligible. I don’t recognize the sample sources but there are elements here that remind me a lot of what No I.D. did with Jay-Z’s “The Story of OJ.” It’s in the way a few bass notes unintentionally cohere into a minimalist bass line, and the way the music feels like it’s rewinding at points rather than looping.

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November 24th, 2023 2:13pm

One Degree Of Separation These Days


Mick Jenkins featuring Freddie Gibbs “Show and Tell”

“Show and Tell” is built around a common rap trope – “people are talking shit, but I’m for real and I must show them” – but there’s an added layer on poignancy in the way Mick Jenkins spits out the phrase “ImaHAVEto” in the chorus. He sounds impatient and irritated, so stressed out by the urgency of his need that he regresses a bit and sounds kinda like a petulant kid. I like the way this little bit of childishness contrasts with every other part of the song, which conveys a grim and foreboding atmosphere and an adult pragmatism. And then there’s Freddie Gibbs, who hops on the second half of the song and seems stoic and self-possessed to the point that he doesn’t seem concerned about proving much of anything.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



November 22nd, 2023 10:20pm

The Sun Goes Up And Comes Down


H31R “Rotation”

The vast majority of rap qualifies as “electronic music” these days, so when I say H31R’s second album HeadSpace is a hybrid electronic/rap record I mean it in the sense that JWords’ production aesthetic is very Warp Records. Or Big Dada, which is the actual label releasing this music. “Rotation” is one of the more disorienting and clattering tracks on the record but it’s smoothed out somewhat by the presence of Maassai, who raps in a precise yet conversational cadence similar to that of Noname. She seems very calm at the center of this, but also very intense, so maybe it’s more “calm like a bomb,” as Zack de la Rocha would say.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Westside Gunn featuring DJ Drama “Suicide in Selfridges”

DJ Drama opens this song describing with two pithy lines that are better than anything I could come up – “this that Purple Tape mixed with codeine vibes, imagine “Murder Was the Case” in the Slum Village.” Yeah, pretty much! The Purple Tape of it all is what pulled me in, as Conductor Williams’ production evokes the particular abrasive minimalism and drunken rhythmic quality of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. This feels like a loving tribute to Wu-Tang to me, right on down to Westside Gunn emulating Ghostface’s tone and cadence, but not quite to the egregious extreme of Action Bronson.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



November 20th, 2023 1:54pm

Like A Lily Upon My Thumb


Ari Lennox “Get Close”

Ari Lennox is very good at working humor and mundane details into music that is otherwise extremely sensual and sexual, and in doing so grounding that eroticism in regular life rather than idealized screen romance. In the case of “Get Close” she sets the scene with the opening line “New York pizza, my Coke Zero,” suggests an interesting personality dynamic with “you like Tupac, I like Janet,” and then gets a little juvenile by singing “I laugh at it, boobies grab it.” It’s vivid language that strips away the glamor implied by the slick slow-burning R&B arrangement, but the lusty atmosphere of the music is strong enough that it’s more of an interesting contrast than a vibe-killer. “Get Close” sounds like a song about two specific people in a particular moment, and I think that makes it sound a lot sexier than something more vague – it’s a window into actual intimacy.

Buy it from Amazon.



November 16th, 2023 10:23pm

Every Song Is About You


PinkPantheress “True Romance”

I’ve had a hard time understanding people who’ve been dismissive about PinkPantheress because her songs are mostly very short, as if that actually means they’re all unfinished or rushed despite the obviously high level of songwriting craft. Like, I can’t imagine people today listening to, say, the first Ramones or Wire records and being like “yeah, ‘Three Girl Rhumba’ is nice, but it should be two minutes longer to count as a real song.” But yet…

“True Romance” is a collaboration with Greg Kurstin, a producer who’s just as ubiquitous as Jack Antonoff but nowhere near as famous, maybe because his resume is almost absurdly varied. It was a surprise to me that he was involved in this song given that it’s so firmly in PinkPantheress’ wheelhouse, but I can see the song’s fairly ambitious structure and tonal shifts coming out of his skill and influence. As with all of her best songs the appeal here is mainly in the low-key elegance of her melodic style, a highly dynamic arrangement, and a vocal that’s so crisp and clear that it borders on uncanny. There’s also an interesting lyrical conceit – she’s singing about being a pop fan in love with her favorite musician, and wondering what she could be to them besides a stranger. The clever thing is that when she sings “tell me, do you view me the same?” she’s still in character as a fan, but it also plays as a question to her own fans now that she’s attained stardom.

Buy it from Amazon.



November 15th, 2023 9:22pm

Make It Top Five


Arin Ray “Moonlight”

“Moonlight” is an example of a song with one somewhat counterintuitive songwriting/production choice that elevates it from very good to great. In this case, it’s the screwed vocal refrain that drops into the mix, especially when that part is contrasted with a few bright and ascending keyboard notes. Arin Ray’s vocal through the song conveys a paradoxical cocky vulnerability similar to that of The Weeknd, but that slowed down part feels like a moment of ego death where he lets go of his anxieties and lets instinct take over. And of course, that’s the part that sounds the most druggy, suggesting what he’s got to do to quiet his mind down and switch over to full sensuality.

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November 14th, 2023 11:01pm

All The Perversions Of Someone Who Could Cut You Off, Surgical


Poppy “Flicker”

“Flicker” sounds more like Poppy’s earlier playfully mystifying version of pop after an excursion into playfully mystifying nu-metal, but with a more direct and aggressive lyrical approach. The melody and cadence remind me a lot of “My Style,” but whereas the confrontational qualities of that song were mixed in with extreme ironic distance – “Poppy is an object, Poppy is your best friend, Poppy will break your neck” – in this song she’s unambiguously tearing into a controlling ex that she’s cut out of her life. To some extent this song seems less about catharsis than sending a clear message to them and a warning to anyone else. And maybe there’s a warning to herself too in the chorus – “I flicker between fear and a vision of forever,” naming the two internal forces that kept her in this situation for too long.

Buy it from Amazon.



November 13th, 2023 1:33am

The Wild Blazing Nighttime


Cat Power “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)”

Cat Power covering the entirety of Bob Dylan’s famous 1966 concert at the Royal Albert Hall live at the Royal Albert Hall seems like a weird stunt at first but the recording makes it clear that this an ideal vehicle for Chan Marshall’s voice, so much so that it’s like she was born specifically to do this. Marshall is a fine songwriter but her greatest gift is her gorgeous, warm, and vividly human voice, and she’s always shined brightest as an interpreter of other artists’ material.

Many of Marshall’s best covers are so radically reinterpreted that they only half resemble the source material, but her approach to the Dylan songs is extremely faithful to the arrangements Dylan and The Band played in the original show. This isn’t some kind of elaborate karaoke though – she’s very aware that the appeal of this music is largely in its feel and ambiance, and her trick here is immersing herself totally in this aesthetic and inhabiting the atmosphere as well as the words. The sound is basically the same but her presence transforms the music, her voice bringing a specifically feminine earthiness and soulful vulnerability to songs Dylan played as aloof or with some degree of ironic distance. She comes across a lot more earnest but also twice as weary.

“I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like A We Never Have Met)” in particular is a revelation with Marshall on vocals, with her bringing a sultry sensuality that emphasizes the sexiness in the song rather than its more petulant aspects. I don’t think it’s quite that the song is being sung from the perspective of the She in the lyrics, but I do think the likelihood that Marshall relates to both sides of this story adds a lot of depth to how she sings it.

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November 9th, 2023 6:52pm

Does Every Decade Have This Feeling?


Low Hummer “Connected”

There’s no shortage of people attempting to write about how social media has impacted our lives, and a lot of the time it doesn’t fully work – too serious, too didactic, too overblown, too generally cringe, take your pick. Low Hummer make it work in this song by focusing on a central paradox – “I’ve never felt so connected, and alone” – and mostly just asking a lot of questions with no answers. Both singers sound bitter and confused and overwhelmed, and true to the conceit, like they’re singing at but not with each other.

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Jadasea & Laron “The Corner”

Laron’s production on The Corner is mostly quite disorienting, often suggesting the audio equivalent of extreme depth of field by contrasting super filtered bass with pitched-up vocal samples that blare over Jadasea’s rapping. There are moments in the title song that feel like they’re deliberately designed to knock the listener off balance, but despite the perverse mixing choices, it still holds together as this mutated version of, say, early Kanye.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



November 8th, 2023 2:56pm

From Zero To In Love


Freak Slug “Sleepover Mood”

I know nothing about the creation of this song but it would not surprise me if the way Freak Slug sings the phrase “sleepover mood” started as one of those things where you click into a phrase and start singing it to amuse yourself. It’s in the way it feels loose and informal, and how the soul in the delivery comes from a slight ironic remove that allows for some plausible deniability in case the other person isn’t in a sleepover mood. The song is very vulnerable but that little bit of protectiveness feels so real and human, and makes the boldness of singing “you’ll go from zero to in love” later in the song hit with the right combination of flirty confidence and bashful sweetness.

Buy it from Bandcamp.

Andrew Ashong featuring Lex Amor “Washed In You (Wu-Lu Remix)”

The original version of “Washed In You” from three years ago sounds unfinished relative to this new Wu-Lu remix that takes the very strong bones of the melody and structure but dials up the ambiance way up. I particularly like the metallic clattering percussion parts contrasted with guitar and keyboard parts that surface in the mix for brief moments, and the way Lex Amor’s weary and uncertain voice serves as a counterpoint to Andrew Ashong’s earnest soulfulness.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



November 3rd, 2023 4:32pm

Glistening And Gleaming


Goya Gumbani “Cloth & Polish”

August Fanon’s track for “Cloth & Polish” signals sexiness and relaxation, but also a vague, nagging sense of danger and dread. I’m not sure whether or not the main keyboard and bass parts are sampled or composed by Fanon, but in either case the atmosphere is thick, the core melody is strong, and the laid back yet bugged out tone suits Goya Gumbani’s sleepy but conversational rap style. This is an exceptionally evocative piece of music – I can envision the setting very clearly in my mind, I get the sense this will likely be the case for you too.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



November 1st, 2023 2:50pm

A Risk I’ll Take


Bombay Bicycle Club featuring Damon Albarn “Heaven”

“Heaven” sounds like Bombay Bicycle Club and Damon Albarn set out to write their own take on the structural conceit of “A Day in the Life,” but with the aesthetics shifted to, roughly, the Beta Band era of UK indie music. The song is very elegantly paced and arranged as it moves towards a triumphant conclusion, but the thing I find most interesting is the disconnect between the lyrical perspectives of Albarn and Jack Steadman. While Steadman’s words support the vaguely grandiose quality of his parts of the song with him swearing “heaven is a risk I’ll take,” Albarn sings from the POV of a very religious gold miner. He sounds ragged and exhausted in these verses, suggesting the mindset of a man willing to break his body while guided by his faith to some great reward. Albarn’s character sounds genuine in his belief, but driven by base concerns, while Steadman seems earnest in his yearning but directionless in his pursuit.

Buy it from Amazon.



October 30th, 2023 8:37pm

Last Days In LA


The Kills “103”

Fifteen years ago The Kills released a song called “What New York Used to Be,” a rather intense track I once described as sounding like the band trying to will a grimier, more dangerous version of the city back into existence. “103” is like that song in reverse, with Alison Mosshart sensing Los Angeles gradually becoming more inhospitable through climate change and looking around like “oh, yeah, this might actually be fun.” The Kills thrive on romance and drama, and what’s more dramatic than a city on fire? What’s more romantic than embracing beneath the “last palm tree”? Jamie Hince’s arrangement sounds sun bleached and hazy; the vibe would suggest sweat and lust regardless of what Mosshart sang. Sure, there’s impending doom on the horizon in this song, but for The Kills impending doom is on the menu in nearly everything they write. Leave it to them to take the worst vision of our future and make it sexy and exciting.

Buy it from Amazon.



October 26th, 2023 8:27pm

Finally Quenching My Thirst


The Rolling Stones featuring Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”

The Rolling Stones have not set expectations for new material very high since the 90s, so “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” being as great as it is comes as something of a pleasant surprise for me. It’s a bluesy R&B ballad in the mode of “Loving Cup,” which helps as their rockers over the past few decades tend to be uncomfortably formulaic, like slightly off-the-mark simulations of themselves. But this actually sounds like the Stones at their best, and it feels a little loose and ragged despite the cosmetic “corrections” of modern studio technology. If you’re attracted to this band more for Mick Jagger’s quirked-up and distinctive version of soul singing more than Keith Richards’ riffing, this is right in the sweet spot. It’s the most present and engaged Jagger has sounded in quite some time, which I suppose makes a lot of sense as this song seems like it was written as a tribute to Charlie Watts.

Besides just nailing the vibe, the beauty of this song is in how eagerly the band swings for the fences and keep pushing it towards predictable but totally thrilling musical excesses. In other words, this is a song that is huge and campy enough in its sentimentality to justify the presence of Lady Gaga. Gaga seems thrilled to occupy the Merry Clayton role in this song – expressive to the max, but off to the side in the mix. I like how the implied distance between Gaga and Jagger makes it sound as though they’re singing at each other from across a great chasm, or from the realm of the living to the dead. Stevie Wonder’s presence on piano in the second half elevates the material further, his parts feel purely instinctive in a way that makes the rest of the song feel as though they might have just written it all in one very lucky improvisational jam.

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October 24th, 2023 7:14pm

A Gentler Redesign


Nation of Language “Too Much, Enough”

Nation of Language are essentially like if Kraftwerk had pivoted into early new wave around 1982, with their particular synthesizer aesthetics applied to a distinctly early 80s melodic and lyrical sensibility. It’s clear to me that the band’s songwriter and singer Ian Devaney has internalized all this old music to the point that it’s all natural impulses rather than a contrived concept or rote pastiche. It certainly helps that his songwriting craft is strong, enough so that the band’s best songs sound as though they’re on par with their inspirations. “Too Much, Enough” is particularly great in the way its keyboard parts imply a widescreen cinematic scale and in how Devaney’s handsome vocal tone lends warmth and drama to lyrics that seem coldly analytical on the page. There’s some incredible turns of phrase in the lyrics, though – I’m especially fond of the “swimming in sweat, television sweat” hook in the chorus.

Buy it from Bandcamp.




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