THE REPORT: 1/26/2024
ICE LIKE WINNIPEG
I don’t know much about Winnipeg, Manitoba. I do know that Venetian Snares once released a record called Winnipeg Is A Frozen Shithole. I also know that there is a new hardcore punk band from Winnipeg called Nuclear Man, and that their fourth quarter 2023 demo tape is ideal music to pair with standing outside and waiting for transportation in brick conditions. I’ve only played one show in Winnipeg. It was on a tour, if you people can believe it, supporting Public Enemy. Subscribe to my “washed musician relives his pathetic glory days” premium Substack for more information.
Here is a winning mix of “Fuck the Pain Away” drums and cheeky studio jargon. “Shoegaze, baby / I’m just a little shy.” That’s a bar. A fine slice of neo-electroclash, indeed. Something about it makes me want to re-watch that Ashlee Simpson reality show from 2003.
It looks like I slipped and fell into a good new Bay Area rap cut from an artist I had never heard of. Let’s get regional: Flint lyrical silliness collides, bumper-car style, with Oakland slap jubilance. That last sentence makes things very clear. I’m writing about music right now. I’ve also considered writing about writing about music, but that seems to be fairly covered at the moment, so I’m going to stick to just writing about music. On my music blog. John’s Music Blog.
Anycia (Feat. Latto) “BACK OUTSIDE”
JetsonMade came through with the beat: Those touchdown horns make me feel like the mascot at the Pop-Tarts Bowl—you see that shit?—sliding down a giant toaster oven and coming out the other end ready to get devoured by the champions. Both rappers respond with winning performances, hooks, and big energy. The spirit of DJ Toomp is still alive in Atlanta.
I just realized that, until now, I’ve been writing “2023” on all of my blog posts. (Hits head) stupid, stupid, stupid! Anyway, new Squarepusher. This one is six minutes long and sees the man himself throwing all the classic braindancer tricks at the wall: there’s the frazzled acid, there’s the nutty jungle callbacks, there’s the downright evil hoover synths. There’s a grainy tempo deceleration passage that raves to the cosmos before dropping back down to the Bangface Weekender at 3 a.m. on a Sunday.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Mark Leckey “NTS 1/23/2024”
Not many contemporary artists really, truly understand how to make work about subculture. Mark Leckey is on that short list, along with the late Dan Graham. When it comes to the study of British people taking uppers and dressing cool and dancing into the sunrise, Leckey’s 1999 found footage video Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore is an abstract masterclass. The inzane compositional touch he displays in that work is present in this mix: He moves quickly through audio, both musical and not, and he even plays some Milwaukee rap. He even plays some Wolf Eyes.
Hi! Thank you for this and the John Mackk rec... really good! My friend Cam is from Winnipeg, plays in the hardcore band Age of Self, and also writes a music blog you might like: https://camscott.substack.com/