selects from san francisco, the purgatory to LA's shitty heaven
Cola! Jessie Buckley! Kevin Morby! Kieran Hebden! 070 Shake!
Hello! Welcome back to the Unskippables, your weekly missive on the opinions I would yell at you about if we were at a bar together.
I’m writing this from San Francisco, the purgatorial midpoint between New York’s fun hell and Los Angeles’ shitty heaven. Even the light has a speculative feel, an eternity of light jacket weather. I lived in the Bay for years before moving to Brooklyn in 2010, and each time I come back I’m shocked at how beautiful and strange the city is.
But if you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to put these Good Links in your tabs:
Happiness is just a Flaming Moe away: Brian Van Hooker’s oral history of the best Simpsons episode includes the deeply unhinged and depressing Cheers theme parody made for the episode.
Except for the part about drinking a lot of milk: Julianne Escobedo Shepherd’s interview with Rosalía about her creative process is fascinating, especially around the origins of “Hentai” and “Saoko.”
That’s Him/Wild Consideration: Alexandra Molotkow went long on entering the graceful world of Arthur Russell, with a brief summary of his life and critical reconsideration after his death
And now, on to this week’s tracks - as always, you can follow along on our playlist on Spotify and Apple Music, which update every Tuesday along with the newsletter.
UNSKIPPABLES #37
Cola - Met Resistance
I wrote about these ex-Ought post punkers before for their debut single “Blank Curtain,” and their album Deep In View doesn’t disappoint. It’s a muted, concrete grey affair that expertly delivers equal parts nervous noodling and motorik chug around consistently memorable songs. “Met Resistance” opens with glimmering planks of chords before moving to a deadpan shimmy. The album continually finds glimmers of light in its sharp, neurotic playing, and delivers an understated optimism you rarely find in post-punk this sharp and exploratory.
Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler - For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
I am forever wary of “cool actor paired with musician” projects, having come to age during peak She & Him, but Jessie Buckley (star of the new movie “Men”) and ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler deliver an absolutely heart-wrenching ballad with “For All Our Days That Tear The Heart.” There’s a little Jeff Buckley, a little National, a little Led Zeppelin 3, and it winds up to a satisfying end via a massive, orchestral swell. I had to listen to it three times in a row when I found it, frozen in my tracks.
Kevin Morby - This Is A Photograph
The title track from Kevin Morby’s “Memphis” album feels like a bar band covering a lost Curtis Mayfield song. It builds tension gradually and with skill, Morby’s half-spoken vocal sitting at the middle of a growing mix of horns, “na na nas,” 12 string guitars and drums - you can feel the influence of the city’s Stax and Sun sounds all at once in the song’s four minutes. It’s a surprisingly confident opening hand for the album, and the song’s assured session player vibe suits him.
KH - Looking at Your Pager
Kieran Hebden’s flip of 3LW’s “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)” is barely more than a DJ Tool - it doesn’t even clock past three minutes. However, it’s an effective flip of the song’s verse, pairing its playful charm with a glitchy, shifting arrangement. It’s like an alternate universe where Autechre were brought in to work on a new TLC album, a vision from a cool future that dissipates before it firms up.
070 Shake feat. Christine and the Queens - Body
This track, with production from Mike Dean and Dave Sitek, finally finds a lane for 070 Shake that brings her into focus by burying her in noise. The track is a slab of industrial, hissing R&B that builds up a lecherous gait as sounds pile on 070 Shake's loping refrain. The drum drop at the minute mark recalls the sinister spirit of Yeezus, with horror movie synths creeping in around the edges even as the vocal line retains a childlike, sing-song charm. The song rides out on a huge synth solo, somehow recalling Zapp and John Carpenter as it dissolves into shrieks of noise.
THROWBACK CORNER
Gina X - No G.D.M.
This is the debut 1978 single from the Colombe synth-punk duo of Gina Kikoine and Zeus B. Held. They’d go on to make four albums of weird, icy synth pop, but nothing quite captured the rubbery, silly energy of their debut record. I found this on a Daniele Baldelli playlist of 777 songs Baldelli played at Cosmic Disco, his iconic club in Italy. Imagine someone playing these for you in a DJ booth shaped like a space helmet and you’re close - but the song’s seductive, winking bassline and Kikoine’s earnest and strange vocals would hit no matter where the DJ is sitting.
And that’s all for this week, folks! Please subscribe if you’d like these opinions straight in your inbox. See you next week!