Turned And Flipped The Page

Melody’s Echo Chamber “Eyes Closed”

Many years ago a musician pointed out to me that a lot of 90s indie and alt music is built on a crude and funk-less variation of a funk breakbeat, and it comes up in a lot of bands you wouldn’t immediately think of, like Pavement. But the more obvious variation on this sound – which in many cases was derived from samples or drum machines – was all over the late 90s, and has come back in a big way over the past couple years.

“Eyes Closed” is a great example of this aesthetic, to the point that it very plausibly sounds like it could have dropped around 1999 or 2000. In this sense it’s a chronal head-spinner – the 2020s version of the late 90s version of mid 60s psychedelic rock. But this is how musical tradition works, right? You cycle through iterations through generations, collecting signifiers along the way, and eventually you end up with a weird combination that feels perfect. Like, this basically sounds like if Broadcast has made their own “Tomorrow Never Knows” but with a more aggressively funky bass player. What’s not to love?

Buy it from Bandcamp.

St. Panther “The Deal”

“The Deal” was surely written and recorded well before D’Angelo passed away, but it’s hard to listen to it without sensing his ghost lurking in the ample negative space on this track. It’s hard to imagine he’s not a direct reference point for this particular song – there’s an obvious melodic and rhythmic debt to “Untitled,” but it’s also just that general loose feel and overwhelming sensuality. St Panther get some of that D’Angelo feel but they’re playing in a tighter pocket. I think that’s mainly because the sentiment of this song needs a tiny bit of nervous energy. As the title suggests, there’s a negotiation going on here, and the emotional stakes are very, very high.

Buy it from Bandcamp.