THE REPORT: 9/1/23
TACO BELL: PATRONS OF ROCK
Scowl is a California hardcore punk band that recently put a song in a Taco Bell ad. I swear I am not doing a bit here: I had nothing to say about "Opening Night" when it came out six months ago; ever since it’s been playing nonstop in that Taco Bell ad, though, I’ve kind of been fucking with it. 25 years ago, this song would’ve grown on me via incessant burn on alternative rock radio. It’s Veruca Salt, decked out in streetwear, two-stepping at a hardcore festival. Nowadays, if you want to break out of your cultural silo, the forum to rock is a Taco Bell ad. I don’t make the rules. Who is going to whip up a fan edit with footage of Gena Rowlands?
Fredo Bang caught one here, and I keep running it back. Over a bed of bluesy Baton Rouge bounce, the rapper goes full earworm for three full minutes. Each verse is a chorus; the actual chorus is so timeless it makes me dizzy. It’s 2004 and I’m watching the "Slow Motion" video on Rap City: Tha Basement. You know: Real Hip Hop.
It’s nice to hear some of that signature Marine Stern rainbow rock shredding for the first time in a decade. I have a theory that the entire Sleigh Bells sound is built on the back of this mashup of Marnie Stern and “Lip Gloss” by Lil Mama. But I’ll never be able to prove it.
Fat Tony & Taydex “Make a Baby”
The new Fat Tony & Taydex record is called I Will Make a Baby in this Damn Economy. That’s a great name for a record. The title track is Tony at his finest: An almost scholarly command of the tropes of narrative rap, reconfigured with honesty and a smile. If you haven’t already, go read the interview we did about his time on the road supporting Wheatus.
Zach Bryan “Fear and Friday’s”
What if Conor Oberst was a U.S. Navy vet and dated a Barstool Sports podcaster? Zach Bryan is actually a vet and actually does date a Barstool Sports podcaster, at least as of July, at least according to Wikipedia. His new record is some of the more distinctive middlebrow country I’ve heard in a minute. If there is going to be a new artist that bridges the gap between NPR and Barstool, it might be Zach Bryan.
Here is a punk song that won’t make it into a Taco Bell ad… If that’s more of your “thing.” I’ve never said that subculture wasn’t absurd. The recording quality of “Deady” sounds like it was pickled in a West Philly basement and then left to rot. Sick!
MIX OF THE WEEK: “Ghost Notes Worldwide w/ billdiffern: Funk Special”
Billdiffern is one of my favorite Twitter users. The account is a nice mix of shit talk, NASCAR and new music—in particular, ultra-contemporary Brazilian baile funk, which, to my ears, is some of the most exciting electronic music in the world right now. It’s more intuitively radical than a good portion of self-serious experimental styles, but it wasn’t made with that intention. It was made to be blasted out of crazy systems on the street and in the club. When I listen to these new funk permutations, I picture a half-human, half-cyborg hero cruising through the streets of Rio, protected by a suit of armor made out of discarded car audio parts. I am grateful that there are people out there doing the work to sort through it all.
I support your Marnie/Lil Mama theory