It’s Unskippable Tuesday, where we all have an Irish accent for no apparent reason!
I *could* share with you my thoughts on everything happening in culture this week, but instead I’d like to just highlight this video of a skier getting hit in the balls during an Olympic event.
It may not be a song, but every sound in it is truly incredible - especially the announcer yelling MONSIEUR!! - clearly making the video this week’s Best New Music.
Annnnyway, here’s the Good Links of the week:
Someone found and uploaded the “lost” 1994 cassette-only debut of Godspeed! You Black Emperor and it’s…really weird!
Luke Winkie on what it feels like to cover the Internet and have your takes pulled out of a hat by the algorithm aka Becoming Wordle Man
Miles Klee tempts fate with the stan armies via a joke about BTS saving a woman from QAnon
Now for this week’s tracks - you can follow along on our playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, which will update every week along with the newsletter.
THE UNSKIPPABLES #24
SASAMI - Call Me Home
“Call Me Home” leads with a lowkey singer-songwriter verse - described by Sasami as “Sheryl Crow-inspired” - that performs an excellent bait-and-switch in the song’s dramatic drop into the chorus a minute in. The song breaks open with giant reverbs, tom fills, and a menacing guitar chugging in counterpoint. It’s a move that recalls the high drama of St. Vincent’s Strange Mercy more than Sheryl Crow - but either way, it’s a slo-mo rollercoaster, down to the song’s closing key change.
yuele - Electric
Everything in this track feels like its colors are inverted, an x-ray version of a normal pop ballad. Every production choice feels like its taken to its most extreme - the reverb, the giant chorus drop, the chirpy wordless coo tying the verses to the hook. Its a dessicated, stripped-out pop ballad reconstituted with mechanical parts. Somehow it finds the uncanny valley through sounding deeply human. “Eyes,” also from yeule’s new LP, nails a similar vibe, with waves of 8 bit distortion chipping away at a sparse, wandering ballad.
Blue Hawaii - My Bestfriend’s House
Blue Hawaii’s skill at mining classic house moves without feeling like “lo fi house” remains strong on “My Bestfriend’s House,” which features one of Raphaelle "Ra" Standell-Preston’s most convincing vocals to date. The chopped vocal drop at 0:47 is pure joy, especially on a bleak February morning.
Prophecy - Betcha Can’t Guess My Sign
This is a slice of Parliament-indebted funk from a reissue of tracks from producer Bob Shad’s Mainstream Records. You should read Andy Beta’s writeup on Bandcamp for the label and Shad’s story, but the silly funk on “Betcha Can’t Guess My Sign” also stands alone thanks to sped-up chipmunk backing vocals in the chorus and breezy groove.
Kamasi Washington - The Garden Path
If you have the time, this song is also delightful to experience via Kamasi Washington’s TV debut (s/o to linking to Jazz Times!!), if only to see his huge ensemble absolutely go for it on air. “The Garden Path” builds on a constantly revving vamp and a beautiful group vocal refrain - by anchoring the track with this exuberant chorus, Washington’s solos pay off with a rewarding, explosive landing.
THROWBACK CORNER
Fantastic Four - Got To Have Your Love
This bot that tweets out links to tracks Larry Levan played at Paradise Garage from 1977-1987 is one of my favorite follows. It offers no insightful commentary, its tweets are completely unrelated to what’s happening, but at least a few times a week it pushes me to a track I’ve never heard before. It’s curation with absolutely no context, and for some reason that makes the discoveries more surprising and fun, especially when it’s a disco banger driven by a huge piano riff.
Thanks for reading - and if you haven’t already, please subscribe!