WHAT A TIME
I’m starting to wonder if any of this makes sense anymore as we hurdle towards oblivion. COVID-19 is mutating but we stay the same (McConaughey voice). Our lizard brains are craving some kind of normal that doesn’t exist currently, or anymore for that matter. Maybe that’s why this playlist thing has been so comforting—it’s a small amount of control over an uncontrollable reality.
Title Fight - Murder Your Memory
100 gecs - money machine (A.G. Cook Remix)
Future - Stick Talk
Shabazz Palaces - Dawn in Luxor
My Morning Jacket - Magic Bullet
Carly Rae Jepsen - I Really Like You
illuminati hotties - Wattbl
PUP - Bloody Mary, Kate and Ashley
Baroness - Twinkler
William Tyler - Parliament of Birds
Let the record reflect that this zine has entered the Title Fight discourse. You’ll hear me say this often—I was late to the party with these guys. However, I do remember the buzz surrounding Hyperview in 2015 and the general consensus appeared to be one of eventual disappointment—people wanted something closer to the band’s punk roots instead of flange soaked shoegaze. Personally, I think there’s room for both and it’s not like the rest of the album is particularly quiet or calm (“Mrahc’s” slicing distortion comes to mind). In fact, “Murder Your Memory” is something of an outlier for the album with its almost trip-hop back beat, glacial pace, and lilting guitar chimes. It’s the sound of falling into yourself and disappearing, reliving things and feelings you thought you lost, or maybe, are in the process of letting go.
“money machine” is the most bulletproof flex of all time: “You talk a lotta / Big game for someone with such a / Small truck.” In fact, you’re devastated right now. I’m not ordinarily one for remixes but what makes A.G. Cook’s version must-listen is how many peaks and valleys it pulls you through. There’s the whispered intro, the twinkling electronics, and the strange acoustic interludes, all tied together with snotty warble and blasted static. There are two ways to take 100 gecs: either as demented pop alchemists or as my wife says, “This is terrible, Michael.” The choice is yours.
DS2 is 5 years old and some how that seems strange. It actually feels like this album has been in the collective zeitgeist for much longer, though maybe that’s because of Future’s compulsive output. Regardless, it’s hard to argue that anything other than DS2 is the definitive Future album. “Stick Talk” captures the stylish menace that Future made his career on, and unlike later albums where things devolve into repetition, there’s an economy to his story telling that is surreal and sinister. Signature trap synth, bars about guns, and a liquid robotic flow—this is Future in his purest present.
Listening to “Dawn in Luxor” is to be surrounded by a warm cathedral made of light. I remember hearing this track for the first time in my friend’s apartment near Golden Gate Park, fog creeping through the open window. There’s something about the blissed out bass that’s truly ethereal. Hip-hop doesn’t always feature beats that drift or glide but this one is on another astral plane.
There’s some really molten stuff happening on “Magic Bullet”: pulsing funk, twisted blues, and precision horns all swirling around Jim James’ elastic falsetto. The song isn’t new, debuting back in 2016, but its inclusion on the recently released The Waterfall II has breathed new life into it. My Morning Jacket’s evolution is fascinating to behold—they are now at the point where they can genre hop at will, while remaining remarkably smooth. Arcade Fire could never.
“Late night watching / Television / How’d we get in / This position?” is an all-time verse. It might be scientifically impossible to listen to this Carly Rae song (or any Carly Rae song) without smiling at the joy it flirts with. It’s breathy, effortless, and fun—just like the queen herself.
A few weeks back, illumanti hotties dropped the a secret album on Soundcloud under the self-titled moniker “Occult Classic.” The raucous album was pulled within few hours, but a few weeks later we learned that surprise drop was a teaser for FREE I.H: This is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For, Sarah Tudzin’s kiss off to the Tiny Engines label. The mixtape flies by under 30 minutes but it’s the punk statement 2020 has been sorely missing. I’ve been blasting this all weekend but the track I keep coming back to is “Wattbl,” an adrenaline rush of Ramones-charged space punk that rants about UFOs and the unnamed powers that be. Whether you think it’s about Tiny Engines or your enemies, again, the choice is yours.
Weird dissonant Pinkerton riffs? Check. Dumb and busted low-end? Check. Twisted seance and Mary Kate and Ashely reference? Check, check. I’ve been itching to fit this PUP track onto a playlist for quite some time, mostly because I’ve become more witchy in my old age. Aside from the laughs, I’ve always thought “Bloody Mary, Kate and Ashley” was a wonderful portrait of getting exactly what you want while trudging through some severe reaping. Our intentions often betray us but that betrayal somehow seems more fun with a flaming pentagram and some drugs.
“Twinkler” is an underrated attempt at a metal band being their best Simon & Garfunkel. Unsurprisingly, Baroness knocked it out of the park such that I’m always waiting for their next version of this song when they drop a new album. The song is an earthy, open picked ballad that seems to stretch for miles. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have time stand still, give this one a try.
We’re playing the week out with an 11+ minute William Tyler cut. I discovered Tyler last year with the marvelous Goes West, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon 2016’s Modern Country that I became obsessed with his instrumental work. “Parliament of Birds” is taken from Tyler’s 2008 effort Deseret Canyon, so it’s starker than most of his more recent material but no less arresting. There’s a deeply calm and meditative quality to this music—almost psychedelic in some respects. If you close your eyes, Tyler’s solo guitar piece melts and drones into a stately bird meeting on an abandoned desert plane. I’m not going to tell you what to do with your quarantine but a scene like that demands that you take a walk and see where it leads you.
Originally published July 18, 2020 as part of Hella Vibes.