NEW MUSIC FOR OLDS #4
Schrodinger's newsletter
Hallo en goedemiddig!
As I mentioned last time ‘round, NMFO will be truncated this week, given that I am currently on vacation. I say “currently”, even though I haven’t actually left yet. At the same time, I am already there. So are you reading this in the future, or am I writing this in the past? AM I BLOWING MY OWN MIND? Either way, rest assured that as your eyes scan these words I am traipsing around Amsterdam in my lucky travel hat.
I have a backlog of cool songs I’d like to bring to your attention, so I’ll be killing two birds with one stone: Instead of the standard three, today’s GOOD STUFF features a super schizophrenic collection of FIVE songs! I’ll be (mostly) skipping FOR FANS OF… this week and tacking on just a teensy bit of SOME BULLSHIT.
AMSTERDAM UPDATE: I’m finally about to hit send on this and it’s really not much shorter than the “normal” newsletters. Blame it on the Boogshafilijnn!
GOOD STUFF
Five is a lot of songs. Possibly too many. One of the silliest things about music blogs is when they post something like, “10 Songs you need to hear this week” or “50 World Music Slow Jams You Are Required to Be Obsessed With By 10pm!!!”
Still, I hope will indulge me these five.
Fun fact: when you search the phrase “world music slow jams”, Google completely ignores “world music” and gives you results about slow jams and only slow jams. See for yourself. Basically, the Algorithm is like, “Nope, sorry. Nobody wants that.”
As always, a Glossary of Terms.
Ibibio Sound Machine, “Protection from Evil”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Electricity
Nutshell: Afrofunk electronica
Voltage: 8
Thoughts: I was never much of a dance club guy (shocker!), but this is the kind of music that would theoretically get me out on the floor. Not dancing, necessarily—just strutting around like King Shit. Like a world music LCD Soundsystem, Ibibio Sound Machine specializes in a vibrant mix of electronic and organic sounds. It’s like a fruit salad for your ears. And not one of those airport fruit salads where they throw a few blueberries on a sad pile of melon—this one is berries all the way through, baby. Highly recommended if you need Spiritual! Invisible! Protection! From Evil!
Pairing Suggestion: Walking in like you fucking own the place
Ulrich Schnauss, Mark Peters (feat. Jan Phillip Janzen), “Hindsight is 20/20 [Count Two Four Version]”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Destiny Waiving (Koln Versionen EP)
Nutshell: Ambient “writing music” with rhythm and structure
Voltage: 3
Thoughts: Ulrich Schnauss has long been my go-to artist for “writing music”. Of course, I do very little writing, so take that with a grain of salt. I find most ambient music too shapeless to inspire productivity—my brain needs a beat to lock onto. At the same time, it needs to be unobtrusive. As Brian Eno said, ambient music “must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” That’s this song, to a tee. Plus, it’s fun to say “Ulrich Schnauss.” It sounds like something Nieztsche would cry in a moment of existential despair. Go ahead and try it—shake your fist at Heaven and shout “ULRICH SCHNAUSS!” Doesn’t work as well with “Mark Peters,” but you’re welcome to give it a whirl.
Pairing Suggestion: Staring at a Final Draft doc, rewriting the same sentence for the 12th time.
Guerilla Toss, “Cannibal Capital”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Famously Alive
Nutshell: Peppy art rock
Voltage: 6
Thoughts: This whole album is one big happy pill. There’s at least four songs I could have chosen to highlight and they’re all delightful in their own way. I love how this song feels polyrhythmic and sing-songy at the same time. And the big guitar splashes remind me “Booger Presley on the mean guitar,” which is always a positive in my book. I haven’t seen this band written about much, which is odd—they seem very blogger-friendly. Usually I’d mean that as an insult, but I guess it just shows how little I understand what the cool kids are listening to these days [SFX: ROCKING CHAIR].
Pairing Suggestion: Doing jumping jacks whilst grinding your teeth
Denison Witmer, “American Foursquare”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: American Foursquare
Nutshell: An acoustic midlife rumination
Voltage: 2
Thoughts: I’d never heard of Denison Witmer before and I know nothing about him—this was one of those random-click discoveries. But this one hooked me pretty quickly. I love this acoustic guitar tone and the mandolin-and-strings backing is really evocative. I think a lot of post-youngs will relate to this song, lyrically. I have no interest in “moving back to the place I grew”, but the notion of embracing a quieter, simpler life feels very resonant, especially post-Covid.
Pairing Suggestion: Gazing out the window on a rainy afternoon
Animals as Leaders, “Monomyth”
Listen on Apple Music // Listen on Amazon Music
Album: Parrhesia
Nutshell: Technical progressive metal (Wait, come back!)
Voltage: 8
Thoughts: Okay, this is where I lose some of you. If you’re turned off by weird time signatures and virtuosic musicianship, beware: here there be monsters. But if you can handle a bit of wankery, this may be extremely your shit. Give it a chance! First off, it’s purely instrumental, so you won’t have to contend with a bunch of shrieking or growling or burping of whatever. And even though Animals as Leaders is classified as ‘metal,’ they probably have just as much in common with jazz fusion. Oh wait, that makes you want to hear it even less? Oh well… If you can’t stand this, console yourself in the knowledge that you are firmly in the mainstream of public opinion. But ten of you will love this.
Pairing Suggestion: Counting, I guess…?
So…thoughts?
FOR FANS OF…[your mother]
As mentioned, I won’t be giving this the full treatment today.
In the meantime, you might enjoy wasting time on Music-Map, an algorithm-y version of this general concept. Just enter any band you like and it will generate a concentric batch of suggestions for you. Most of the associations are contemporaneous, so you won’t get my cross-generational special sauce. And a lot of the suggestions seem based on radio formats and market research more than actual music (What do Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers have in common, really, other getting popular around roughly the same time?). But it’s a fun site to dink around on, so…dink away!
SOME (minor) BULLSHIT
A few thoughts on virtuosity and its discontents.
If you’re someone who already enjoys “challenging” music (prog, jazz, classical), everything I’m about to say will max out your DUH meter. But if you struggle to find the appeal in hyper technical music, I would advise running it through what you might call your Simone Biles Filter.
When you watch Simone Biles (or any world class gymnast) do her thing, it’s impossible not to marvel. How does she make the impossible seem so effortless? It’s a joy to behold. But you never forget that you’re watching gymnastics, not dance. Sure, there are dance elements, but all the prancing and sassy hip thrusts are window dressing—we’re here for the Reverse Triple Whatchamacallit.
Maybe try thinking of a guy like Animals as Leaders’ Tobin Abasi like you might an Olympic athlete. Holy shit, how’d he do that? Is the person even human? Will he stick the landing…? You can admire sheer ability for its own sake, even if your toe ain’t quite a-tappin’.
It seems unnatural, misguided even, to listen to music that way. We expect to be enchanted by a piece of music, almost involuntarily. We want to fall hopelessly, madly in love at first listen and we want that love to overwhelm us. We want every song to be Anna friggin’ Scott.
And yeah, that’s the way it goes, like 95% of the time. But a funny thing can happen when you make a conscious decision to put a piece of “challenging” music through your Simone Biles Filter—that is, to appreciate it purely as a display of technical mastery. It’s admittedly rare, but when you remove the pressure of instant seduction, a piece of music eventually may begin to seduce you in spite of itself. Hooks start to bubble up from the murky depths and what once sounded bloodless and chaotic starts to take on shape and beauty. It starts feeling akin to modern dance—complicated and occasionally unsettling, but definitely not gymnastics.
And wouldn’t you know it, the video for “Monomyth” is exactly that:
And since it also rules, here’s its companion video:
Even after applying your Simone Biles Filter, music like this may do zilch for you, and that’s fine—this is the first Animals as Leaders album that’s clicked for me, honestly. If forced to choose, I’ll take a simple pop somersault over ten minutes on the Prog Rock uneven bars just about every time. But there’s something to be said for occasionally testing the elasticity of your listening habits.
Remember, not every song needs to be Anna Scott. Some songs are Boof.
That’s all for now, mijn kleine schatjes. Comment and share? DON’T MIND IF YOU DO!
I think that the Boof is the most fascinating thing in music. A song that you overlooked (really you hated it, but that ruins the Boof analogy) and now you love it. Can't remember what it was like not to love it. Big Log was like that for me. Who names a song BIG LOG? It's worse than Wet Leg. And Everybody Wants To Rule The World - an instant classic to everybody except this idiot - was like that, too. I can rememebr not liking those songs, but I can't remember what it was like not to love them. For you it's Tenderness.
Great newsletter, a definite subscribe, also, please bring back Audio Spackle (or something similar). One of the best music podcasts I've ever listened to despite its oh so short life and incomprehensible title.