THE REPORT: 8/16/2024
THE BALLAD OF THE MUSIC BLOGGER
Quick Note: I have a new band with my old friend Willy. It’s called Gem Fumigation Spa. Damaged rock with electronics. The first song is out now. (Listen: Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Nina)
RBE (Feat. Chicken P, PartyAt4, & Pape) “Come On”
It would be much harder for me to justify my social media habits if I didn’t do a twice-weekly music blog. But maybe the only reason I do a music blog in the first place is to justify all the time I waste on the internet. Recently, I was scrolling through Twitter and the great rap writer Alphonse Pierre posted a YouTube link and I clicked on it and I am glad I did because it sent me straight to a Milwaukee tune I had never heard before. “RBE” takes honorary Olympian Snoop Dogg’s Pharrell collab “Let’s Get Blown” and turns it into the perfect thing to play at a party that is somewhere in between a kickback and a rager. You know what I’m saying?
Guiding Light “Lost In Voices”
One of the many tags at the bottom of the Bandcamp page of this new EP by Austin band Guiding Light refers to the music as “bumpkin d-beat.” There is a minor hoedown feel here, especially on “Lost In Voices.” It might sound like a gang of Texans trying to make UK DIY, or it might sound like a band from London trying to do cow punk. It’s a fine rock and roll tune!
Summer is not over yet, so let’s rock with a jungle remix of the eternal Atlanta bass classic “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJ’s. Is the flip a bit of a layup? For sure. Is it satisfying? No doubt. Washy synth pads; helium-fried vox flips; breakbeats. The 4/4 ragga outro had me marching in place while scrunching my face. Blogging will make you slowly lose your mind.
More deep south bass pressure. The track title should provide a clue. Co-produced by So Drove and Ash Nerve, “Slip N Slide” is electro-rocking R&B suited for blue-sky hijinks from coast to coast. Somehow I’m picturing a slow motion limbo contest. It’s the kind of song made for The Box, a pay-per-view music video network completely lost to time. If you had told me it was a legit ‘90s freestyle bass hit, I would’ve probably believed you.
On “FEFE,” Atlanta rapper Hardrock drops the rage and comes through with a candy-coated cut whose vocals remind me of early Young Thug or, I don’t know, Sicko Mobb (the squeaky version). Its chorus is undeniably catchy—it sounds like a dolphin leaping into a rainbow, as depicted on a three-ring binder. Come to think of it, are those dolphin noises at the start of the track? Maybe sea punk is coming back.
MIX OF THE WEEK: Juliana Huxtable “Crack Mix 588”
I’ve written about Juliana Huxtable’s work within the contemporary art sphere for my day job, but she’s also one of the better DJs currently rocking. There is a lot to say about her multifaceted practice—she also plays in a cool digital punk band called Tongue In The Mind—but for the purpose of the blog, we must stay focused on her new one-hour mix for Crack. Huxtable has a nice way of establishing her bonafides and then fucking with them. That means 20 minutes of relatively straightforward and relatively populist techno before a burst of distortion envelops everything and sends the mix into dimensions unknown. When a breakbeat drops more than halfway through, it feels earned. This is a DJ with many gears to play with.