READER MAILBAG VOLUME TWO

ALL CHOONS CONSIDERED

Welcome back to the second edition of the John’s Music Blog Reader Mailbag. The first edition was “open format,” as they say, but today it’s all about songs. I asked you to submit some, and a few of you actually did. So let’s get into it. 

Ezra O. Suggests: Spank Rock (Feat. Amanda Blank) “Bump”

When I was young, I played a lot of shows with Spank Rock. At its height, the Spank Rock Live Experience, with Pace Rock working as a hypeman and the turntablist duo Devlin & Darko running through tunes, was as good as any live rap act. It was the perfect storm of timing and cultural inputs: Naeem was a backpack-tested rapper working beyond genre constraints, wearing skinny jeans and copping James Brown moves, rhyming over a series of fast-moving targets—Baltimore club, new wave, Southern rap. The 2006 debut Spank Rock LP sounds less like a document of club rap or bloghouse and more like the transitional recording that it is. There’s shades of everything from Antipop Consortium to The Rapture. “Bump” is emblematic of a moment in East Coast party music when it seemed like anything was possible—Amanda Blank’s verse alone has its own lore attached to it—though that energy would ultimately lead to bad Black Eyed Peas songs and a Diplo country record. 

Jeff S. Suggests: Noah Kahan & Sam Fender “Homesick”

Jeff asked me if Sam Fender is “the UK's answer to Bruce Springsteen, as others have posited?” To get to the bottom of that question, I had to listen to one other Sam Fender song, and my snap conclusion was that Fender, while having some surface musical similarities with The Boss, has more in common with a faux-genre of 2000s-era British guitar pop that some have deemed “landfill indie." Or maybe he just sort of sounds like The Killers with a Geordie lean. Whatever the case, whatever there is for me to like about him is not present in his duet with Noah Kahan. 

Willy D. Suggests: Gabry Ponte, Marnik, Roberto Mlinaro “Ameno (Techno Mix)”

Willy heard this song at the gym and had to Shazam it. It’s a pop-techno remix of “Ameno” by the French project Era, a tune that sounds like an ancient hymn but was in fact written in the 1990s, with lyrics in meaningless cod latin. As expected, there are many different dance remixes of “Ameno,” and I listened to a lot of them: There’s a psy-trance remix; there’s a hard techno remix; there’s a drum and bass remix, which slows down the chant to a glacial pace; there’s a hardstyle remix with re-sung vocals. I haven’t heard much about hipsters converting to Catholicism lately. Is that still going on? Sound off in the comments… 

Errol K. Suggests: Frankenfinger “Why Did You Steal Our Flannel?”

My friend Errol wanted me to write about Frankenfinger, but never gave me a specific song, so I picked one at random. From the title alone, it’s clear here that Frankenfinger existed at some point in the ‘90s. Knowing what I know about Errol, I suspect that these are friends. Could be wrong. What’s interesting about the choon, though, is that it is a bit smoother and funkier than certain other Pavement-damaged bands of the era. I could see zoomers and Alex G worshippers fucking with it.

Suze W. Suggests: 4batz (Feat. Drake) “act ii: date @ 8 (Remix)”

4batz. Where to start? The “viral R&B star” has gone from zero to 100 million streams in less than a year, no small thanks to TikTok. 4batz is often masked—select readers of John’s Music Blog might remember the aughts-era underground rock microgenre known as mysterious guy hardcore; maybe 4batz is mysterious guy R&B—and his branding is somewhat incongruent with the music he makes. The songs are tepid, but the creative direction is fine (anything shot with a fisheye lens looks cool). If you want my thoughts on “industry plant” discourse (there’s that word again), you are going to have to subscribe to the Ultra Premium Tier of John's Music Blog, which can only be accessed by buying me a meal at Ruth’s Chris in Jersey City. I forgot to mention Drake. Sorry, Suze!

Joshua R. Suggests: KNEECAP “Get Your Brits Out”

KNEECAP is a rap trio from Northern Ireland that I had never heard of until today. And that’s what it’s all about, people: music discovery. I have a soft spot for novelty-leaning rave rap, especially if it’s being made by heads from “across the pond,” and “Get Your Brits Out” ticks all the damn boxes. I want to listen to it while watching an episode of Come Dine With Me. The group’s Fallon performance a few weeks ago was interesting. They sounded like the Gaelic Beastie Boys. It’s music made for European people to pogo in a massive field, and if you don’t understand that, I don’t know what to tell you.

Joel W. Suggests: BLP Kosher “Dreidel Bop”

There’s a whole new generation of wacky rappers out there, many of whom are connected by Family Guy references. If you are a rap fan and you hate all of this stuff, it might be time to look inward. Not that there’s not plenty to be critical of—I already hit on it in a previous edition of The Mailbox, but the only song by BLP Kosher that I’ve been able to get into is “IRL,” one of his collaborations with BabyTron. In the time since I wrote that, “Dreidel Bop” was released. It does have a fairly undeniable chorus. What can I say? I like music.

Adam F. Suggests: Zinoleesky “Sunny Ade”

Outside of a few key records and songs, I know little about Afrobeats. But I do know that it almost always sounds good when I hear it. Again: I like music. And I like that this tune is named after Zinoleesky’s fellow Nigerian countryman, the legendary King Sunny Adé. There is something stirring about the way sparkly guitar works with subby bass.

John K. Suggests: juice “invisible”

Speaking of sparkles, “invisible” sounds like a glitter gif of an anarchy logo. For sure, bedroom pop-punk in the Myspace mold will always hold a place in my heart, and John chucked a good one straight at my skullcap. I guess it got recommended to him after listening to my pop band. Go figure. John also hit me with a bit of obnoxious noise taken from a time when the genre sat in culture a little differently than it does today. But we don’t have to get into that right now. Thank you, John! I can’t wait to read your novel.

Steven C. Suggests: steve’s literal demise “crossroads” 

So Steven submitted a song from one of his own projects. I’m not sure if I want to encourage that behavior, but I will say that he shot over an inspiring email to Music Blog HQ that made me want to make an exception to a rule that I hadn’t even made in the first place. Like many people, Steven told me that he’s often had trouble working up the strength to share his work with the world. But he’s doing it now, and that’s an act of bravery I support. And guess what? “crossroads” is a great ‘90s-style heavy power pop song that, whether purposefully or not, quotes Bone Thugs. Tip!

RJ C. Suggests: MSPAINT “Hardwired”

RJ wanted me to write about the band MSPAINT. He didn’t specify anything in particular, so I chose “Hardwired,” which is one of the few songs from the band that I can confidently say is John’s Music Blog Certified. MSPAINT is from Hattiesburg, Mississippi—it’s the reason their name gets a pass—but, over the past few years, they have moved beyond their town’s legendary micropunk community and the living room circuit it is connected to. The band is currently managed by the same company that handles both Turnstile and Show Me The Body, which makes sense because “Hardwired” sounds like a poppy take on the kind of neo-rap rock language that both have been perfecting for the past decade. I could hear it in a Taco Bell ad, and that is a 100 percent value-neutral statement.