ON REPEAT: The Avalanches, Daryl Johns, LCD Soundsystem, Kendrick Lamar, eat-girls, Clairo, Jamie xx, Ginger Root, Doechii, Astrid Sonne
Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, baby rockin' it
Happy Thanksgiving! Buncha longtime faves and some new discoveries in this selection. Here is the big ass playlist where I keep these.
Kendrick Lamar “squabble up”
I have a lot of love for this song for so many reasons, from the freestyle sound, Kendrick’s always-fun lyrics, and the perfect music video directed by longtime collaborator turned big-time movie director, with references to Isaac Hayes, Soul Train and if this all feels familiar…this Roots classic:
Daryl Johns “I’m So Serious”
A terrific song. Daryl Johns has been playing a lot of shows around LA and has worked with jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and The Lemon Twigs.
If you’re gonna do something so intentionally retro, do it like this! To an untrained eye, you could totally believe this is something from the early 80’s. A lazier move would be to throw a video filter over something but they went out and shot this on tape, and I appreciate that.
Ginger Root “There Was A Time”
See above.
From Ginger Root:
Was listening to a lot of Ram. Was watching a lot of Sukeban.
Doechii “DENIAL IS A RIVER”
If those dudes in A Tribe Called Quest went to therapy we wouldn’t have that trash documentary made by the shouting man, and it would probably sound something like this.
Astrid Sonne “Boost”
Another song by the Danish composer I’ve been listening to a lot, that I talked about last week!
eat-girls “Omens”
Some spooky post-punk from a group from Lyon, France. I put this on the Halloween mix but unlike “The Crypt Jam,” this one stuck around longer. Lockdown roomies Amélie Guillon and Elisa Artero formed the band in isolation and continues to thread that unease through mimimal synth and krautrock sounds.
Clairo “Love Songs”
Match made in heaven pairing Clairo and her merry band of studio musicians with the music of the great Margo Guryan, one of my all-time favorite songwriters. This is off a complilation of covers of Guryans work with features a number of faves, including Munya, Rahill, TOPS and Frankie Cosmos.
Jamie xx “Breather”
This songs starts out with something that sounds like Suicide, but evolves into Four Tet-esque techno, then gets into a house beat deeper into the song. There’s also a running narration throughout taken from this YouTube video, as Jamie got into yoga via YouTube. I listen to music from my TV a lot and it hurts my eyes when this album cover pops up.
LCD Soundsystem “x-ray eyes”
They played a week of shows in LA that I missed out on despite every single person I spoke to that week having gone. But I WAS THERE. I was there when “Losing My Edge” hit the blogosphere, I googled all the bands he named. I WAS THERE, listening to the early EP releases long before a self-titled album was even out there. I WAS THERE, watching their farewell show at MSG, in an attic with my friends who were eager to watch their Toy Story 3 DVD.
LCD Soundsystem has been a band for a long time now, and a band that seemed to be a chubby record nerd’s sarcastic ode to his punk and disco records has evolved into something much more, the likely band people will look to when thinking about Brooklyn in the 2000s (sorry, Radio 4). And while I’ve liked those records, it’s those early EPs, or the 2nd disc of their debut record, that spoke to me the most. Heavy influences from The Fall, Can, Gang of Four and Suicide were found there, and this song hits that same sweet spot.
THE GOLD STANDARD
The Avalanches “Run DNA”
This is cool as shit. The Avalanches are known for the seminal 2000 record, Since I Left You record, and their collages of plundered sounds from the 1930's to today and collaboration-heavy later records with an all-star list that reads like a Millenial version “Losing My Edge”: (James Murphy voice) MF DOOM, Toro Y Moi, David Berman, Biz Markie, Rye Rye, Camp Lo, Blood Orange, MGMT, Johnny Marr, Leon Bridges, Cola Boyy, Neneh Cherry, Pink Siifu, Kurt Vile, Rivers Cuomo, Karen O, Wayne Coyne, Denzel Curry, Cornelius, Sampa the Great, Tricky and so many more.
But before all that they were this. Originally a Fall-inspired noise punk group with a rotation of names that don’t age too well (Swinging Monkey Cocks, Whoops Downs Syndrome) but landed on The Avalanches as they finessed their sound as a Beastie-esque group incorporating samples into recordings made with vintage instrumentation and boxes of records they could toss smash.
A somewhat overlooked entry into a discography with a monolithic masterpiece obstructing it, their 1997 El Producto features more fun tracks like this and is worth a spin.