Helloooo welcome to the Unskippables, where we are also preparing our Pete Robinson diss track.
As always, let’s start with the week’s Good Links:
I released a new song this week with NY bon vivant Kareem Rahma - New Year New York, featuring a meme-filled video. Check it out!
I really loved John Cutler’s loving remembrance of making demos, and how it applies broadly to the creative process.
Matthew Perpetua put together a playlist of Black artists interpreting Bob Dylan via Fluxblog
Crypto corner: What if 2022 isn’t the year of music NFTs?
Jenny Hval is on 4AD now! And she has a new record coming!
Now for the tracks - you can follow along on our playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, which will update every week along with the newsletter.
THE UNSKIPPABLES #21
Lilblackkids - Oct 31
Get through the first 30 seconds of ambient noise and you’ll be rewarded with this week’s swampiest, nastiest groove! Finding a deep pocket akin to SAULT or Tascam-era Black Keys, Lilblackkids do not rest on the groove; where lesser bands might let this song be merely a vibe, Georgia Anne Muldrow & Keith Rice pack in as many melodic and rhythmic ideas as possible through their verses. It’s a bold debut for the new collaborative duo, and the rest of their EP Planet of the Blues: Part One is worth a spin.
FKA Twigs - oh my love
FKA Twigs seemingly has swept aside her normal art-pop stances for a more casual vibe on Caprisongs - and I was totally surprised by how much she benefits from it. Working with El Guincho as executive producer for the whole album, Caprisongs benefits greatly from a tightened sonic palette and intimate, almost offhand performances. “oh my love” is a great example of how Twigs’ direct writing and the song’s unassuming yet effective production arc ground her performance, and make her as approachable as she’s ever been.
Tyondai Braxton - Multiplay
Full of the anxious skittering rhythms one might expect from the artist and former Battles singer/guitarist, Tyondai Braxton’s first track is his second new track after a five year hiatus from releasing music. The song builds increasingly ominous drones over choppy chord stabs, opening up to a droning plateau adorned with bird noises before descending into a marimba-driven outro. A pop song it isn’t, but the song seems to be searching the entire time, giving it a longing energy underneath the hyperactive playing.
Mitski - Love Me More
Mitski continues to roll out pre-release singles for her upcoming album Laurel Hell, and this and b-side “Heat Lightning” capture her brand of widescreen melodrama perfectly. It’s a perfect training montage song built for heartbreak, galloping towards devastation.
Sky Diving Penguins - This Is Breaking Me Apart
Sky Diving Penguin’s debut comes 20 years after their buzzy debut EP. What happened in between? According to the writeups, Gia Iashvili (aka Sky Diving Penguins) may have spent time in Japan, living as a hermit in a cave for years before a run-in with a major Georgian football star convinced him to get back into music. The resulting album is perfect for any Super Furry Animals/Bob Pollard/Emitt Rhodes superfan, with strong bedroom pop vibes with touches of baroque flourish.
THROWBACK CORNER
Bobby Charles - Small Town Talk
This surprisingly funky slice of country music is an unassuming cowrite with the Band’s Rick Danko from 1972, when Charles went to meet with the Band to produce his record. It’s a small but mighty track wedged somewhere between Glen Campbell and Too Slow To Disco that almost sounds like a Woodstock version of Bill Withers, with strummed guitar locking in with the drum groove.
Thanks for reading - see you next week!