he destroyed disco, but understood the assignment

the dare, quebec no wave, four tet, and prince

Yoooo hello welcome to the Unskippables where we really want to see the noise show with mid-set tattoos.

Hi to all the new subscribers – welcome! Hope you’re ready for my impeccable taste and lukewarm takes! You can follow along on Spotify and Apple Music if “reading” isn’t really your thing.

First up, you might be here because of the recommendation with my pal/bandmate Kareem – we have a new song out today called “Baby I Could Never Win” and it’s maybe one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. We recorded it as part of a one-day marathon to record our EP, as 4/5s of the band has a child under 3, so we got it all done in eight hours. Hope you enjoy!

And now for some additional Good Links

• Every bad review should attempt to be more fun than the record it’s panning– regardless of your feelings on the harmless fun of the Fcukers debut EP, Sophie Kemp’s review is THICK with zingers.

• O R They – recommendations from Phantom Planet drummer extraordinare Jason Schwartzman

• Another type of Darkness – Of course Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are into “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”

• In the end, will it even matter? Vulture explains what’s happening with Linkin Park’s new singer

• It’s got the juice – If I was the Royal Family, I simply wouldn’t release a video that could fit perfectly over the Succession theme.

As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!

The Dare – I Destroyed Disco

Heavy is the quirked up head that wears the white boy crown. The raves and pans are in for the Dare’s much-hyped debut LP What’s Wrong With New York, and scores aside, the amount of critics that seem to miss the point of the album’s assignment (and, imo, success) is surprising to me. Simplicity begets repetition which begets success: when you have one point to make, it’s much easier to drill it in. To complain of the album’s narrow-mindedness is to reveal a weak stomach for the act of becoming a star – and why Harrison is one of the few true breakouts of NYC. That said, on “I Destroyed Disco,” the albums’s dance-rock aperture opens just a bit more to allow in an Egyptian Lover bass burble, Prodigy-style breakdown, and a chorus not unlike the Midnite Vultures-era quirked-up king himself, Beck Hansen. This is the track that has me truly excited for what’s next, and has me convinced that what’s wrong with New York is the artists not willing to commit this hard to the bit.

Web Rumors – Blithe Echo

You may think you’ve heard the most charming moves of “Blithe Echo” when you’ve heard the darkwave opening arp riff, or maybe the echoed tubular bells that play counterpoint in the verse, but then a warped sax solo comes in at the minute mark like you’re on an endless synth pop escalator. The chorus is good, but the verse’s endless mood is such a strong pull you can’t wait to get back.

VICTIME – Résonne encore

VICTIME make tight, punishing no wave in Quebec City, and “Résonne encore” is the latest track from their upcoming new album En conversation avec on October 25 via Mothland. What hooked me most was the way the track’s vocals feel like a haunting piano ballad floating over a nasty, distorted drum circle – the tension never resolves, the haunting never fades, but the song is deeply addicting because of it.

Four Tet feat. Ellie Goulding’s voice memos – In My Dreams

I was super annoyed when I heard this track – wtf is this voice memo ass vocal??? But then I read the description, and indeed, Four Tet made a song out of a bunch of random voice doodles sent to him by Ellie Goulding on voice memo! “At the end of last year Ellie texted me with a couple of voice notes for a song idea,” Four Tet said. “Words and melodies she was singing into her phone and she asked me if I could use them to make something.” The song finds a surprisingly epic arc out of the chopped-and-tuned vocals, and ends up with something far more intimate and affecting than Goulding’s big pop records.

Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn – Diets

I’m always thrilled to hear what Dawn Richard is up to – no pop/R&B singer has zigged more zags with their creative endeavors, or tried on as many sounds across their discography. “Diets” is the third track from her upcoming collaborative LP with Spencer Zahn, Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, and it’s a spaced out ballad built on piano and arpeggiator. The star, as always, is Richard's presence in the track, talking about “dropping fake friends like calories.”

throwback

Prince – The Future

I was enthralled, and infuriated, by Sasha Weiss’ piece on Ezra Edelman’s stalled nine-hour Prince doc – just the descriptions of what Edelman captured on film and in interviews gave me goosebumps! If there’s any justice in this world, the Prince estate will give the go-ahead for what sounds like an essential take on his legacy. Furthermore, I hope the 7th hour of the doc is just about why Prince went so insanely hard on the Batman soundtrack, including this incredibly underrated album opener that’s in my top 20 Prince tracks.