Hello from the Unskippables, where we’re waiting for Steve Albini to enter the Dolly Parton Cinematic Universe
Like many other people who think too much about pop music, I spent the weekend reading the New York Times Magazine’s music issue. The headline was “The Songs That Get Us Through,” and the prompt itself made me wonder if we were asking too much of music during these (sigh) …trying times.
A song is a small unit of culture and information. It’s only a few minutes long, a few megabytes of storage, a tight, compact piece of machinery to tell you a story. The NYT Mag issue wanted to talk about songs in a big way - how they got us through fame, through aging, through talking about Bruno - which feels especially strange during. a year where narrative and “what it all means” kept falling apart. Even if many of the write-ups were lovely (esp. Lindsay Zoladz’s Mitski profile), it left me feeling fatigued by narrative, hanging meaning on small moments like too much frosting on very little cake.
If anything, it made me appreciate the wonderful smallness of songs, and that they can succeed even if they got us through nothing at all.
Anyway, here are this week’s Good Links:
What In LGBTarnation? Rachel Cholst on the sound & signifiers of queer country
“The Jazz of Clowns” by Zack O’Malley Greenberg is just too good of a title not to share, even for the coulrophobes out there
State of the Haaanh-ion: Craig S. Jenkins takes stock of everything Ye in his Donda 2 review, which is exacting but the opposite of merciless
Not NOT Named After His Large Cats: friend of the Unskippables Adam Moerder (prod. for PawPawRod & more) has a new project Needy Beast that’s out 4/15 and available to pre-order now
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 #28
Shenseea (ft. Offset) - Bouncy
This song is a breath of fresh (and horny) air after being force-fed the audio bed death of Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Sweetest Pie,” which has the same sexual energy as a 9 year old googling 'does the man pee inside the woman'. Shenseea’s collaboration with Offset, a trap-inflected offering from the reggae artist’s debut album ALPHA, is a perfect antidote - it’s dimly lit body talk, all sweat and coy come-ons. The rest of her album is as confident as it shifts from genre to genre - the dancehall offering “Henkel Glue” with Beenie Man is just as charming and evocative.
Oliver Sim - Romance With A Memory
The XX’s sleek sonics always felt pixel-perfect, as if designed by Jony Ive instead of made by humans in a room. That legacy makes the gritty bounce of XX bassist Oliver Sim’s solo debut even more surprising - and delightfully human. Launching into a burbled, punchdrunk chorus that recalls the multitracked lurch of Fever Ray and Matthew Dear, Sim delivers a slight, nuanced ode to missed connections that might be even better than the real thing. Ebullient piano in the verse and insistent hi hats and synth bass give the song an unkempt edge and pastiched feel that feels fresh coming from Sims and producer/bandmate Jamie XX. If this sound is what was underneath their main project’s erudite calm the whole time, I hope Sim keeps digging out more gems like this.
Lucky Daye - Feels Like
Lucky Daye’s second LP as a solo artist builds on his 2019 album Painted and his extensive work writing for the likes of Boyz II Men, Mary J. Blige and Trey Songz, resulting in a technicolor R&B album that feels like Shuggie Otis by way of the Neptunes and Miguel. The album’s textures are vivid and surprising, and most importantly, tons of fun to explore, like the acoustic guitar mashed up with a Kraftwerk synth dribble on “Cherry Forest.” “Feels Like” was the first track to jump out at me thanks to the almost xylophone-like piano line and bass bounce, but the whole album is an impressive showcase of an artist’s grasp matching their reach.
Wah Together - I’m A Swimmer
If you can imagine Tago Mago-era Can if they came up playing late sets at the Mercury Lounge, you’re pretty close to the vibe of Wah Together’s groove-heavy debut LP. The latter part of that description is likely care of its members’ NYC bona fides, with members hailing from The Rapture, Longwave, ex-LCD Soundsystem and Electroputas. However, the sum of their parts add up to something more joyful and primal than you’d expect, the tracks splitting the difference between a mosh pit and a group hug.
tobi lou (feat. T-Pain) - 2hrs+
T-Pain’s verse in the middle of tobi lou’s “2hrs+” feels like the sky cracked open, revealing a VIP booth in the ether, all of T-Pain’s 2000’s mixtape energy slicing through the song’s sauntering melancholy. It’s easy to forget amidst the cooing sound of post-Drake autotune and hyperpop mumbles how AutoTune used to be the weapon of choice for huge, searing vocal runs, and it’s amazing hearing the all-time champ come back and show the kids how it’s done.
THROWBACK CORNER
Phương Tâm - Buon 18
Ifyou found out that your mother had a secret life in the 60’s as a pop star, what would you do? Hannah Hà, reportedly by chance, found out her mother, Phương Tâm, was a pop star in the 60’s before leaving Vietnam for America, and Hà then worked with Sublime Frequencies and music archivist Mark Gergis for a retrospective of her mother’s musical output from 1964-1966. I’m barely doing the story justice - this piece from Bay Area outlet KQED goes into the details - but it’s incredible listening to the resulting album Phương Tâm: Magical Nights – Saigon Surf, Twist & Soul (1964-1966) knowing that this is the result of years of work spanning generations - writing, recording, and recovering these funky bits of Saigon soul.
Thanks for reading, as always! See you next week!