Hi, again. Trying stuff out. I don’t know if that name is sticking. Probably not. I’m open to suggestions. Also, it’s about time this Substack got a logo.
CCL - “Plot Twist”
You've got to read the Resident Advisor bio: "CCL specializes in the liquefaction of rhythmic and melodic matter — combustive phase transitions through cowgirl-breaks, trip-funk, wiggle steppers." Does my writing read like this? Or am I not talking about "cowgirl-breaks" enough? Anyway, if CCL is the cowgirl-breaks ambassador, sign me up. "Plot Twist," the first song on an EP of the same name, one which plays like a triple-A-side plus some remixes, is a banger, updating early- to mid-'90s "electronica" and by applying a blendercore aesthetic. Look, I can do genre names, too. Indeed, the appeal here is the confluence of so many elements that cohere into a whole that could only be made now. The reason I say “now” is because one needs 30 years of hindsight to understand which active ingredients are the ones worth picking out of the big proverbial LEGO bucket. In this case, smoothing the techno out with something closer to liquid is a killer effect — the rolling bass wobbles alone whip. Few would've done that then. Works great now.
Rhona Macfarlane - “Return to the East”
Scotland's Rhona Macfarlane had an ideal folk music upbringing. "Her early years were spent immersed in music, whether that was through Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell or Rickie Lee Jones on the record player, or the sounds of family playing piano, violin, guitar, bagpipes or clarsach," the bio on her website reads. "With ancestors from St Kilda and the Outer Hebrides, Rhona's childhood included frequent trips to Harris where she was surrounded by folk music and her Grandmother's Gaelic songs."
If this were a folk version of the NFL Combine, many folk coaches would be salivating over that background. "Wow, what intangibles," they'd say before making Macfarlane take the Wonderlic and asking her Voight-Kampff-ass questions like, Why aren't you helping a turtle version of Rickie Lee Jones?
But it's not the combine, and I find that "x must mean y" line of faux-insight irritating, so let's not. Let's focus on "Return to the East," one of the singles from the forthcoming As the Chaos Unfolds, an album that, as my bud Captain put it, sure doesn't sound chaotic. (Hi, we listen to Defeated Sanity in this house.) Still, the sweep of the song is pleasing, and the string arrangement gives it a wonderful pastoral feeling, like wind blowing through tall grass. Michfarlane is in the middle, holding things down with a graceful earthiness.
Güner Künier - “Cash Cash Exercise”
I've been meaning to dig into Güner Künier's Aşk for ages. On "Cash Cash Exercise," the Berlin actor and musician hits a nice middle point between Cosey Mueller-esque minimal wave punk and Brutalismus 3000's aggressive thump. Catchy.
Parkland - “Factory Settings”
This song samples, or at least interpolates, a melody from Chrono Trigger, right? I'm not making that up? A calcified deposit of leftover LSD didn't get dislodged and enter my brain via a blood vessel? OK. Someone let me know. Anyway, what a smooth track. I'm not sure "Factory Settings" requires a deep listen, but it definitely bangs as a background filler. Consider it the matte painting of life, making things more interesting. If someone shot a video of me looking pensive on a train while it rained outside, this would be the soundtrack.
Estuarine - “Hematophagous Hunger”
lol. What if Jonas Hellborg joined Hella and that new battalion took over Steve Tucker Morbid Angel? Welcome to Estuarine, a one-person project helmed by a metaller who looks either like a Venture Brothers henchman or the figure you see before a bridge collapses. Really, this one is for my bass freaks who like it fiddly and widdly. My podmate Dave Fonseca called the tone "floppy," which is also a good descriptor. It does sound like how the ears on a Bassett hound look when it's running at full speed. Anyway, more on this one soon. Don't mean to play my cards close to the vest, but I want to keep some bullets in the chamber.
Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - “Chopstick”
I'm so bad at keeping up with hip-hop news that I didn't know this was coming out. From a squad perspective, The Skeleton Key is kind of a reprise of The Elephant Man's Bones, although Alchemist was all over this year's Marciology, too. This short album does what all Marciano albums need to do, which is to allow the best MC in the game to talk his shit over noirish beats. I don't know if this skeleton key really unlocks anything — these cuts sound like leftovers from the last two albums, if I'm being honest. But any excuse to hear Marciano spit poet laureate shit is a good one.
Xeno & Oaklander - “Via Negativa (In the Doorway Light)”
I can't get the title track from Viva Negativa out of my head since I saw Xeno & Oaklander live this week. I love this stuff, which takes Euro wave and applies a sneakily darker edge in the same way a rogue does with poison to a blade. Interested? Check out my show report below. And have a great weekend!
Show Report: Xeno & Oaklander/Plague Drone @ Joshua Tree, 12/10/2024
U2 was wrong about a lot of things, including that the streets in Joshua Tree do, in fact, have names. And if you head 15 miles down one towards the middle of nowhere and survive the five additional miles of washboard off-roading, you will happen upon a DIY venue that looks like a Mendel splice between a truck depot and a church. Once yo…
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I don't think it's a straight up quote of it, but "factory settings" does use a few passages similar to "Secret of the Forest"