lemony miso gochujang brown butter hyperpop
plus baby billy freeman, sarah register, roi turbo and more
Are we flavormaxing in music? Reading Marie Solis’ extremely fun piece on flavormaxxing in the New York Times, I couldn't help but think about the corollaries in pop music as she asks about how our desire for maximum flavor changes our expectations as eaters:
I just happened to be another person alive in our overdetermined era of hyperflavor, in which many of us seek out increasingly elaborate combinations of ingredients and spices to satisfy — what exactly? A drive toward indulgence? An anxious need to project a certain worldliness to our peers? Maybe, like a hojicha maple miso cookie, it’s many things at once.
I recently read Liz Pelly’s Mood Machine, which makes a convincing case for the ways Spotify (and a metrics-focused streaming economy) slowly mold music into easily-digestible content built for an audio version of an infinite scroll. Reading Marie's piece about food, though, I realized the inverse might be true – the algorithmic age rewards music that jams in maximum pan-genre signifiers of cool into something that feels instantaneously understood. Like how a matcha-dusted pistachio lemon cronut is built for Instagram shareability, designed for one stunning bite that requires a post to the timeline.
Solis does a great job tracing some of our current tastes in food to COVID-era cooking in isolation – and likewise, the same happened with pop music with the rise of hyperpop as musicians made strange tracks built primarily for online reaction. Suddenly, the future of pop swayed towards post-genre maximalists who saw no difference between shiny Y2K R&B and limiter-bashing redlined trap music. Every moment needed to explode with surreal fun, and major label music tried to follow suit – it's easy to think of every Lorem-aspiring new act as focusing on every tastebud at once, the musical approach to a single viral bite.
But as the Times piece asks: what has this done to our listening palettes? Are we now inured to the truly surprising? Is a one-note flavor now limited or uninteresting when you could have Lo-Fi chill trap bounce country vibes at all times?
Maybe the future of food can be seen in what’s happening in music – pop may be flavormaxing, but the comforting return of genre in 2024 and 2025, from the hype of “indie sleaze” to even Beyoncé going country, may mean that every flavor all at once may be enticing, but our ears may burn out faster than our tongues when it comes to maximum flavor.
Anyway, plenty of umami to be found in this week’s Good Links:
Honestly, “Fervid Medicants”!! – In honor of Voice reporter/editor Karen Durbin’s death, the Village Voice republished Durbin’s June 1975 profile of the Rolling Stones’ tour. The piece is dense with insight – her paragraphs capturing Mick Jagger’s mannerism offstage is an early highlight – and the prose feels like a time machine, casually throwing “fervid mendicants” into a description of groupies trying to get backstage.
Perpetual Emotion In Motion – Avalon Emerson keeps dropping DJ tool bangers in her Perpetual Emotion Machine series, this time with the Storm Queen-sampling “On It Goes”
If you’ve ever God Only Wondered – Reverb shows how the Beach Boys used a hairpin on a piano for the haunting intro for “God Only Knows”
#1 List Of All Time – Mamalarky talk about their formative influences with Josh Terry in No Expectations.
Capturing (Reunion) Moods – If you’re curious how the upcoming Rilo Kiley reunion came together, Reggie Ugwu has you covered in the Grey Lady.
Anyways here’s the best of the week. As always, you can follow along on our playlists on Spotify and Apple Music, which update (usually) every Tuesday along with the newsletter. Enjoy!
Baby Billy Freeman – Turn The Other Cheek
I was going to have this as merely a fun link up top, but honestly “Turn The Other Cheek” deserves its place as one of the week’s strongest earworms. I am truly bummed that we’re about to lose Walton Goggins’ legendary performance as Baby Billy Freeman with the series finale of The Righteous Gemstones, but of course they had to drop one last Baby Billy banger on the way out. Goggins’ slurred “Teenjus” has been my go-to vocal stim for weeks, but he outdid himself with his impassioned performance for the Boney M-esque set piece “Turn The Other Cheek.” I GOT YOUR MIRACLE RIGHT HERE, NERD.
Sarah Register – Right
I’ve always admired Sarah Register’s amazing work as a musician and artist –in her incredibly nuanced and musical mastering work, her band Talk Normal and playing in Kim Gordon’s live band and now, finally, her solo debut on Smartdumb. "Right" shares some DNA with her work backing up Gordon, especially the balance of massive kicks and slashing guitars, but Register finds new shadowy corners to emerge from. Thhe whole track embraces a bob-and-weave structure that defies easy resolve, from a slippery vocal to the noisy climax that slithers back into eerie quiet.
Roi Turbo– Super Hands
If you’re peddling forever-ascending Italo-derived disco I will always line up for a listen. Roi Turbo are South African brothers who started making music together during COVID, and “Super Hands” comes from their 2nd EP Bazooka. There’s nothing subtle here, but that’s the fun – it’s neon-lit, wiggling good times that sounds as fun to make as it is to spin.
Young Thug ft. Future – Money On Money
Including this mostly for the massive chorus – and that it's just really great to hear Young Thug back on the mic after being released from prison last year.
Stereolab – Melodie Is A Wound
Yes, it’s exactly what you want from a Stereolab song, as the band continues to roll out the advance singles ahead of their new album Instant Holograms on Metal Film. But make sure you stick for the cut to a slightly meaner motorik mode at 3:08, as the song’s pop instincts give away to a (for Stereolab at least) heavier riffing.
throwback
Phreek – Much Too Much
Two straight days of sunshine in the 70s here and pretty much the entire world sounds like this perfect disco bassline to me.