ON REPEAT: East End X Yuri, Ashanti, Institute, Sakanaction, Bergsonist, El Guincho, Camila Cabello & Playboy Carti, NewJeans, KNOWER
that arpeggiation!
Hello my baby hello my lover hello my ragtime gaaaaaaal,
Before I get into the picks of songs, here is an obligatory plug for the latest episode of The John Gentle Show, with the genius Bridey Elliott playing John’s best friend. Multiple people have commented that it’s the “bleakest” one yet, which means I’m doing my job as a comedian.
Here is da playlist. Now let’s go with the songs:
KNOWER “It’s All Nothing Until It’s Everything”
I’ve been singing the praises of KNOWER for a few months now, but I have not enjoyed them as much as I’ve enjoyed this man enjoying them. The way he oscillates between appreciation and frustration is so funny to me. Like he’s getting mad at it. He even seems to give up on it at certain points, because he’s in such awe. This is the ultimate version of this song—with this guy going “that arpeggiation!” and “that is UNREAL” and chomping on veggie straws all over it.
NewJeans “Attention” (250 Remix)
I came into listening to NewJeans via their collaborations with Erika De Casier, but alas I played the fool in assuming their talent came from the lesser-known indie artist they’ve worked with and not the genius scientists in Seoul who spent decades perfecting these androids into the perfect K-pop girl group. While the original version of the song is good, the remix adds a bit more hip-hop swagger, that kinda reminds me of…
East End X Yuri “Da-Yo-Ne”
Yuri Ichii was a model and a J-pop star, who had performed in a group called Tokyo Performance Doll. Wanting to try rap she linked up with Gaku, ROCK-Tee and Yoggy, who were originally known as [drumroll] Funky New Style, but transitioned to the name East End after high school. Despite their skepticism about joining up with a bubblegum pop star, this track sent them to the top of the charts as a one-hit wonder after a failed first record. The song contains samples of “Turn Your Love Around” by George Benson and “The Show” by Doug E. Fresh.
Bergsonist “Underwater”
Bergsonist “uses multiple mediums to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, music concrete to name a few). Her practice utilizes her trained design sensibility to filter the objects of intuitive exploration, guided by an impulse to detach subjective meaning from found sonic fragments. Notions of identity, memory, social politics and the ambiguous long-term reliability/stability of our digital networks drive this process.”
I’m…not smart, you see
Institute “Dopamine For My Baby”
I’ve been a fan of Institute for a few years but hadn’t heard them in a bit, until a recent recommendation from Simple Town’s Will Niedmann that was not personal but instead on a blog. Simple Town is really great, too here’s one of their sketches even though this is a music blog:
haha very funny by the way have you ever heard of this artist called Camila Cabello?
Sakanaction “Wasurerarenaino”
Possibly the best music video of all time.
Camila Cabello feat. Playboy Carti “I LUV IT”
Look, I probably don’t need to tell you who this is, but in case you’re old or something she’s very famous for broadly appealing songs like “Havana” and “Never Be The Same” that you either absorb via direct listen or osmosis, like in a bodega or H&M or something. But when I heard there was an “indie sleaze” element, your boy had to watch and well, the song has been stuck in my head for a week.
A big part of that is the chaotic Spring Breakers-y video made by CANADA, who make really trendy good-looking commercials but others may remember from iconic music videos that made you feel simultaneously horny and scared and a third thing, like…
THE GOLD STANDARD
El Guincho “Bombay”
Hack: if you’re DJ’ing a living room dance party in 2010, like, at Rutgers or something…put this song and people will lose their shit. With all of these music videos, there is SO MUCH going on, and it’s all guns and boobs and fire and skeletons and skateboards.
I’m learning they’ve done a lot in the interim, making other really good music videos for the likes of Tame Impala and Dua Lipa, who I sat next to recently at a restaurant 😏. (I told this to a group of teenagers in New Jersey this weekend and they thought that was really cool—I hope you do too.)
[Khaled voice] Another one!
THE GOLD STANDARD
Ashanti “Foolish”
First off, what a horrible thumbnail up there!
Secondly, it’s getting warmer out there, time to break out the jams.
Thirdly, I’ll never see this guy and not remember how he said:
“If they’re using dry paper, they aren’t washing all of themselves. It’s just unclean. So if I go in a woman’s house and see the toilet paper there, I’ll explain this. And if she doesn’t make the adjustment to baby wipes, I’ll know she’s not completely clean.”
Fourthly, I fear as a millennial, I’ll never be able to afford to roll up to my girl’s house with stacks of hundreds lining my pants.
Fifthly, the dramatic freeze as she grips her fedora in rage.
Sixthly, you gotta go home.