Author Archive

Kate Bollinger “Shadows”

“Shadows” is a song existing in the angst-ridden limbo of some kind of managed break-up in which both sides gradually remove themselves from each other orbit. Kate Bollinger sings in a gentle high register and sounds even-handed on the surface, but pretty much every line in this song is basically saying “this is a really dumb idea.” She’s an emotional fatalist and knows her patterns well enough to recognize where she’ll be too soft and when she’ll be too cold. She essentially flips the famous Aimee Mann line “you look like a perfect fit for a girl in need of a tourniquet” into a warning that she stop the metaphorical bleeding only so much before she’s going to have to untie it. The first portion of the song feels like deliberately dulling anxiety through a stoner haze, but there’s more clarity in the second half in which some ambiance lifts and the music shifts to slow acoustic chords and she sings about the inevitability of them eventually aligning to hate each other in the sweetest tone possible.

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Facs “Strawberry Cough”

The lyrics of “Strawberry Cough” come across like phrases and ideas jotted down into a notebook in the midst of a paranoid depression wedged into a loose, shouty melody. The music itself manifests the misery in a plodding mechanical rhythm, eerie synthesizer ambiance, and sudden interjections of noise that feel like bits of infrastructure suddenly breaking down and falling apart. Despite all this ambivalence about form, musical chaos, and heavy goth atmosphere there’s a proper song at the core of this, a punchy anthemic thing with a chorus that could cut right through an arena should this band ever get the opportunity to play one.

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Maston & L’éclair “Ghost”

On the surface “Ghost” is all placid kitsch, gently grooving with an array of vintage keyboards as if part of the goal was to soundtrack a Hollywood pool party. But just as Hollywood is famous for dressing up misery in mellow luxury, the lyrics sketch out a character who’s just barely getting by while regularly chasing highs and burning out. There’s some judgment in the lyrics but not so much in the way the soft and empathetic way they’re sung, or the way it leaves off on a sentiment that suggests this person’s being viewed with some awe, as if the way they’ve escaped from themselves is an aspirational state – “the lonely all want to know / how’d you fight it off for a year?”

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Chvrches “California”

“California” expresses a sort of existential buyer’s remorse, in which a move to California doesn’t quite deliver on all its promises and leaves a person unmoored, lonely, and feeling trapped by their own quest for success. Lauren Mayberry’s vocal conveys a bittersweet melodrama without getting too maudlin, partly because the arrangement does a good job of presenting a sense of stasis despite a pop dynamic that nudges the chorus towards an anthemic quality. They achieve a very smart balance here, honoring the emotion at the core of it while recognizing it as small and personal and rooted in some degree of privilege.

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Sprints “How Does the Story Go?”

Karla Chubb’s voice is conversational through much of “How Does the Story Go?,” hashing out her neuroses and relationship troubles in an Irish accent that makes her irritable and exhausted tone seem rather funny and charming. She seems bored by her own story as she speak-sings over a guitar riff that’s compressed enough to sound like an accidentally musical piece of machinery. Chubb basically scraps her own narrative to shift gears on the chorus, cutting away all the bullshit to scream “I’M NOT FINE!!!” in an effort to say what she really is thinking, and to maybe get a “hey, I’m not fine either” from someone else in earshot.

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Anz featuring George Riley “You Could Be”

“You Could Be” sounds like Anz was deliberately trying to write something that could go in some kind of Pop Crush Song Hall of Fame. I think she nails her target here, mainly in how her arrangement nails the proper ratio of effervescent energy and neurotic mania. Lean too far in the former direction and it comes out sounding too ditzy and childish, go too far in the latter direction and you get…well, a lot of the last decade of pop music. But this comes closer to the ideal – “How Will I Know,” “Call Me Maybe” – and taps into the way the low-level anxiety of having a big dumb crush is what makes it suspenseful and fun.

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Men I Trust “Serenade of Water”

Given that Men I Trust have been so good with mellow, sensual, and stoned music it’s hardly a surprise that they would pivot into the trip hop lane, or that they’d pull it off with such grace. “Serenade of Water” reminds me of two specific songs that I closely associate with a move towards a very “expensive hotel lobby” sort of sophistication in the late ‘90s – “Sugar Water” by Cibo Matto, and “La Femme D’argent” by Air. It’s all in the feel of it, mixing the hazy physicality of the former with the elegant keyboard noodling of the latter into something that feels relaxed and evokes a sort of low-key luxury. Jessy Caron’s vocals are exceptionally wispy and delicate, almost blending into the keyboard drones at some points but clear enough for the important lyrical sentiments – go slow on me, be my love, I’m where I belong – to guide your conscious mind through the pure feeling of it all.

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Halsey “You Asked For This”

When it was announced that Halsey had made a full album in collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross I had expected something that was mostly electronic and heavy on dark atmosphere, mainly because I figured this was the lane she’d want to stay in. As it turned out I totally underestimated the extent to which Halsey would make the most of a Nine Inch Nails collaboration – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power is a varied set of songs that contrast sharply but click together perfectly in sequence. It’s ostensibly a pivot-to-rock album but I think Halsey has actually made better pop music with Nine Inch Nails than she has in the past, mainly because the dynamics of Reznor and Ross’ arrangements and song structures have pushed her to sing bolder, stronger melodies.

We were already in the process of gradually reorienting a lot of mainstream pop back towards rock structures but this Halsey record along with Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour push everything towards more overtly dramatic balladry and the high energy dynamics of alt-rock. It’s like a rebuke of Jack Antonoff’s neurotic half measures, in which rock and folk music is laundered through “modern” production styles so it might fit in better on radio or in the wilds of the algorithms. Halsey is certainly going hard in the other direction, fully embracing musical extremes in the interest of ear-catching, soul-bearing songs.

“You Asked For This” sets a plaintive vocal melody to a track that sounds like a more commercially-minded and drum-heavy variation on My Bloody Valentine’s “When You Sleep.” Reznor and Ross hit just the right balance of driving rhythm and soft-focus noise here, evoking a romantic feeling that’s being warped and corroded through the sheer volume of the guitars on the track. Halsey’s lyrics describe a state of uncomfortable ambivalence about domesticity and being a woman who “has it all,” bored by the trappings of comfort but not quite enough to give it up. In this context the last verse, in which she lists off a new list of things she wants, hits like a cathartic declaration of desire and just some more things she could be bored with once it’s within her grasp.

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U2 featuring the Sun Ra Arkestra “When Love Comes to Town” (Live at the Apollo)

The original version of “When Love Comes to Town” was written entirely by U2 but performed as a duet with B.B. King, a move that displayed the band’s incredible clout at the time as well as their good sense to realize that they’d written a legit blues rock song that might sound like a cheap affectation if they’d recorded it by themselves. It’s not just that King lended authenticity to the sound, but that his voice – and his co-sign – made it easier to hear what U2 had written. Nothing was going to stop anyone from thinking U2 were indulgent and hubristic in this moment of their career, but anyone with generous ears would hear a song with fully realized potential that made the most of Bono’s earthy poet sensibility and King’s soulful howl.

This version of “When Love Comes to Town,” recorded live with the Sun Ra Arkestra at the Apollo in Manhattan thirty years after the release of Rattle & Hum, maintains the core of the song while taking it to another place entirely. U2 bring the temperature of the song down a bit, letting Bono’s voice simmer at the lower end of his register before letting him cut loose a bit more towards the end. This decision probably came from Bono’s vocal range diminishing a bit with age, but it does the song a lot of favors in terms of dramatic tension and emphasizing the more sensual qualities of his voice. It also gives a lot of space for the Arkestra to carry a lot of the expressive weight of the song, punctuating the song with strutting fanfare, trilling leads, and unexpected bursts of treble. The Sun Arkestra was an inspired choice for this occasion – it’s easy to imagine a more pedestrian horn arrangement for this song, but their accompaniment is more colorful and sophisticated than it strictly needs to be and brings out a character in the song beyond what U2 or King ever had in mind.

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Sleigh Bells “Justine Go Genesis”

Sleigh Bells is a band, but they’re also a blueprint and a prototype of what rock music could become. In this way “Justine Go Genesis” – a glorious hybrid of Slayer riffs and Spice Girls pop decked out with breakneck drum & bass beats and a stray organ parts straight out of ? And the Mysterians – is both classic Sleigh Bells and next-level Sleigh Bells, pushing everything to a new degree of ultra-hype frenzy. It’s faster, harder, catchier, brighter. It’s a thing that’s made to jolt you, to make you feel more alive and in the moment. I hear it as a rejection of the world as it is, a refusal to live on anyone else’s dreary terms even if doing so means attempting to force your fantasy into reality. The point of view in the lyrics certainly presents dodging boredom and misery as a life-or-death prospect, and every beat and twist and turn in the song feels like you’re right there with her outrunning some awful fate.

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Italia 90 “Borderline”

Italia 90 fit into the ongoing wave of bands from the UK and Ireland mixing half-spoken vocals with post-punk derived aesthetics, but vocalist Les Miserable’s approach is noticeably less wry or literary than a lot of his peers. In “Borderline” he sounds abrasive and hectoring as he repeats lines about making cowardly and lazy decisions that lead one to a misery that just gets deeper. Is he talking to you? Is he talking to himself? Is he talking about society, man? Could be all of the above! I like that lyrics as blunt as this could still come across as ambiguous – it’s not even clear whether this is meant to be a show of tough love or just rubbing salt in someone’s wounds.

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Deep Tan “Deepfake”

“Deepfake” feels both zoned out and twitchy with paranoia, contrasting but not exactly contradictory states of mind that suit a song about learning your image has been altered without your consent. There’s a feeling of powerful alienation in this music, not just from one’s sense of identity and autonomy, but from anyone else. Singing half the song in French emphasizes the sense of detachment here, as though making statements like “my body is no longer mine” in a language besides English might keep the feeling more private. The song simmers in anger but never boils over into rage, settling more into a feeling of shell-shocked alienation as the English lyrics offer a harsh judgment along with a bitter shrug.

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David Crosby “Rodriguez for a Night”

David Crosby has been extremely successful as a musician for well over 50 years now but here he is, truly living his dream as one of the most supremely Danpilled humans on the planet by recording a song with lyrics written by his hero Donald Fagen. Fagen only contributed lyrics to “Rodriguez for a Night,” the composition itself is Crosby and his son James Raymond doing their best to emulate a Steely Dan vibe. I think they were probably aiming for a Gaucho feel but actually landed a little closer to the airtight funk of Two Against Nature, but that works out just fine as Fagen’s lyrics about a guy fantasizing about being the guy who stole his girlfriend feels closer to the hapless post-midlife crisis caricatures on that record. The song works very well, particularly as a showcase for the more soulful end of Crosby’s silky vocal style, but also serves as proof that Fagen’s lyrical aesthetic is unmistakably recognizable even outside the context of his own songwriting.

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Denzel Curry “The Game”

Denzel Curry is blessed with a perfect voice for rap, this perfect blend of a booming and commanding Chuck D tone with the nimble vocal dexterity of a Raekwon or Ghostface, and the raw energy of a young LL Cool J or Lil Wayne. He pulls this all together without sounding too much like a throwback, and with a persona that’s all his own. Charlie Heat’s track for “The Game” allows Curry to flex his chops and charisma over an aggressive but very bouncy synth bass part that has the energy of cartoon violence. The details are what really make this work – eerie hums dropping in and out of the mix, distant background shouts in the chorus, percussion accents that sound like clacking screwdrivers on metal pipes. It’s just enough for the song to feel vibrant and dynamic, but not too much to make it feel choked and top-heavy.

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Modest Mouse “The Sun Hasn’t Left”

Modest Mouse is not a band known for optimistic lyrics, but on “The Sun Hasn’t Left” Isaac Brock plays against type by taking stock of the world as we’ve known it in the recent past and offering a sentiment that boils down to “yeah, things are fucked but the world is still going.” It’s the kind of positivity that comes from a mind that’s predisposed to negativity, enough so to be able to tell the difference between problems and absolute catastrophes. There’s no promise that things will always be okay or that collective luck won’t eventually run out, just that it hasn’t happened yet and so you need to embrace what’s still good. Brock’s tone is weary but thoroughly kind, his voice poking through an arrangement of dense beats and a very artificial mirimba hook like a little flower growing through cracks in concrete. He never sounds preachy or like anyone but a guy who at bare minimum knows enough to tell you that a life spent doom scrolling is no life at all.

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10,000 Maniacs “Hey Jack Keruoac” (Live in Los Angeles 1993)

“Hey Jack Kerouac” was written in an era when the Beats were most revered, since by the mid 1980s they had transcended mere personhood to become mythic figures representing ideals of artistry and freedom. Natalie Merchant approaches Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg in this song from a place of sympathetic critique – she does not seek to diminish their works, but she’s not blind to their ego and destructive tendencies or how that tended to impact people in their orbit more than themselves. Her goal here is simply to look at these writers as just men – to demystify them, to reveal their flaws, and in doing that, to approach them with empathy rather than awe. Merchant’s lyrics directly address them as though she’s a concerned peer asking difficult questions about what they took from others and what debts they’ve left unpaid.

Merchant’s vocal is bold and strident but has a touch of softness, a little tough love mixed with some joyful abandon at the end of the chorus when she evokes Ginsberg’s “Howl.” The music sounds as though 10,000 Maniacs were attempting to merge the strengths of The Smiths and R.E.M., like they were specifically trying to merge the best elements of “This Charming Man” and “Life and How to Live It.” It can be hard not to see this band as essentially the precocious younger sibling of those two, but a song like “Hey Jack Kerouac” works in part for the way it approaches their sensibilities and dynamics from a different angle. In a sense, Merchant and her band are examining their contemporary influences in the music as much as the lyrics reexamine influences from the not-too-distant past.

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GFOTY “Brand New Bra”

GFOTY is no longer affiliated with PC Music but her style remains garish and gleefully artificial in the grand PC Music tradition, complete with funhouse mirror versions of mainstream pop dynamics and gender performance. “Brand New Bra” is all vulgar camp, with her singing exclusively about having huge tits in ways that start off fairly run-of-the-mill but end up in more overtly goofy territory like proclaiming they make car honk sounds when you squeeze them. At the beginning it sounds like a song that’s going for “body positivity” but as it moves along it feels more like presenting the body as something inherently silly and weird, particularly in a world where some body parts end up being wildly commercialized and fetishized. I don’t think this song is pushing back on that so much as just having a laugh about it, like a horny cartoon turned into a song.

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Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist featuring Kofi Stone “Check the Pulse”

The English duo Barney Artist and Mr. Jukes are unabashedly retro on their record The Locket, which is so devoid of recent trends in hip-hop that it sounds like it could have plausibly been released around the late ‘90s alongside The Love Movement, Things Fall Apart, and Black Star, or maybe a little further up the timeline with Dilla and early Kanye West. No one should take this as anything but a compliment from me – novelty and innovation is nice, but so is working extremely well within established traditions. “Check the Pulse” is exceptionally warm and easy going, and the vocal performances keep up the kind vibe, particularly in the final third when the mic gets passed every line with the casual coolness of vintage Beastie Boys or A Tribe Called Quest.

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Marcey Yates & XOBOI featuring Mars Black “Ghosttown District”

Marcey Yates and XOBOI are on a similar wavelength, but their reference points are a bit up the timeline – Outkast, Kanye, Dilla/Slum Village. “Ghosttown District” glides by on a lush, slightly zonked-out groove, with a vocal sample that seems to blow by like puffs of smoke. Yates and Mars Black fit snuggly into the pocket in their verses, coming off like steady constants in an arrangement that’s very dynamic for something that feels so much like lying down.

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Interpol “Mammoth”

The sections of “Mammoth” sound as though they’re being played out of order, as though all the standard parts of a rock song – verses, choruses, refrains, instrumental breaks – were shuffled around in a bag and then tossed out, with the parts played in the order that they hit the floor. But despite the scrambled feeling, there’s an internal logic here and it’s all based on momentum. The song bursts forward at top speed from the start before seeming to crash into a wall, then stumble around in a daze, and then go back into a full sprint. The music feels drunk and belligerent, forceful and unrelenting. It seems lacking in grace, but only a band with a strong command of their own dynamics could pull this off without it sounding like a mess.

Paul Banks always sounds cranky and surly to some extent but on “Mammoth” he sounds incredibly peevish, which is kind of a funny thing to express in music. He doesn’t come across as angry, just very impatient and annoyed and aggrieved as he whines “spare me the suspense” or spits out the line “enough with this fucking incense.” He sounds like a goth dandy throwing a fit, and it’s hard to get a sense of the actual scale of his negative feelings here.

“Mammoth” is a very pure example of Banks’ lyrical aesthetics in that you get emotionally charged lines without any sense of context contrasted with weirdly specific lines that will make you wonder “…why would anyone sing that??” In this case you get the seemingly disconnected aside “there are seven ancient pawn shops along the road / and I know seven aching daddies you may want to know,” sung in a softer tone of voice in the delirious post-wall-crash refrains. It’s hard to piece together any kind of narrative here but the way the bits and pieces of this song do and do not click together seems to be the larger point of the piece, like it’s meant to be this thing that confounds your mind while compelling your body to move. You know you’re not supposed to know about the aching daddies, but you’re always going to want to try to figure it out anyway.

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Isaiah Rashad “HB2U”

“HB2U” is a type of rap song I’m always going to be partial to, the kind where sentimentality and nostalgia is conveyed musically through somewhat syrupy vintage soul samples and a slow, nodding beat. Isaiah Rashad is certainly reminiscing in his lyrics but he’s at best ambivalent about the memories he’s conjuring, and the real focus in the song is on taking note of old patterns in himself and his family and using it as motivation to move on. The song is split into two parts – the first section centered specifically on memories, the second serving more as a conclusion to the broader themes of the album as Rashad struggles with sobriety and acclimates to living outside his comfort zone both literally and figuratively. The second section is what really gets me, particularly the way Rashad repeats the line “you are now a human being” is his soulful but defeated rasp. He sounds like he knows he should feel more jubilant about surviving and getting to start over again, but more than anything he just seems exhausted by the effort and knowing how much work is ahead of him.

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