Jonny's Weekly Musings - Feb 5 - 11
What a massive week for music news and tomfoolery. We begin the week counter-intuitively on Saturday night when Phoebe Bridgers made her SNL debut. Bridger’s performed fan favorites “Kyoto” and “I Know the End.” At the end of the latter song, Bridgers partook in a time honored rock and roll tradition and destroyed her guitar on stage. Boomers were absolutely irate my god. They took it somehow as a personal attack on whatever holy ground rock and roll stands on and there was so much misogynistic bologna conversations about whether this display was really “necessary.” It is so ridiculous the ridicule that Bridger’s faced in doing something so smole in the scheme of things. The bottom line is that Bridgers went sicko mode at the end of that song and if it were Jimi Hendrix or Bon Jovi or whoever, they wouldn’t have gotten any flack. Just actually insane that this was a major story. Here is her performance in all its glory.
There were a couple of smaller releases I wanted to talk about. The first was Cardi B’s first single since the earthquake that was “WAP.” The single is titled “Up” and it kinda slaps but also makes me think that she is talking about the great Pixar movie of the same name. Maybe Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar (her real name lol) was just thinking about what happens when a plane takes off or the opposite of gravity or even stonks? The craziest shit to come out this week though was a remix of Rebecca Black’s “Friday.” The song celebrated its ten year anniversary and Black released a remix featuring *checks notes* 3OH!3 and Dorian Electra. Any kid who was in middle school ten years ago knows the power that “Friday” and 3OH!3 had on our cultural landscape. “DONT TRUST ME” was nothing short of a cultural reset and I just believe that in this dark time we should look back and honor the heroes that shaped us. This remix also a hyperpop version and it goes hard. You can fight me on that one. Rebecca Black has been making a comeback and the momentum continues to roll. The most exciting part of the week came just yesterday when Arcade Fire announced that they would finally release the soundtrack from the movie Her on streaming and vinyl. I have been waiting probably since I feel in love with this soundtrack in 2014 for even a non-youtube streaming release. The cover art they chose is kind of bizarre and I wish they took a frame from the movie or something that looks less like Taylor Swift mixed with the ring. I am still hyped as fuck.
HER by Arcade Fire with Owen Pallett. Original score to Spike Jonze’s 2013 film available for the first time digitally and on vinyl & cassette 3/19. Pre-order 2/12 ❤️@MilanRecLabel pic.twitter.com/CWcRtAJcLR
— Arcade Fire (@arcadefire) February 10, 2021
In larger album news Hayley Williams came out with a surprise sophomore (solo) album, "FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. The album’s title implies it is a companion of sorts to Petals for Armor, her solo debut but gives quite a different tone. While Petals for Armor definitely felt like a traditional commercial indie album with sprinkling of commercially viable singles, this new album feels much more down to earth. There are no peppy upbeat pop songs like “Simmer” and is truly sad and personal the more you listen to it. It’s an interesting direction for the former Paramore singer to take. I am not immediately hooked by the album as it is kinda a barn burner but at the same time there are a bunch of beautiful moments. I hope that Williams could combine these two styles to create a more cohesive piece.
Personally this last week I have been continuing on my dad-rock journey by going to the next album in Wilco’s catalogue. The second installment in the Mermaid Avenue series is next and more importantly the last album Wilco made before releasing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. These installments are albums that Wilco made with Billy Bragg and are comprised of songs that Woody Guthrie wrote. Because of this, these albums have a true Americana/folk/Bob Dylan vibe that is incredible. The first Mermaid Avenue has one of the best Wilco songs on it, “California Stars.” That song is pure bliss but the rest of that first album is more average than anything. Because of this, I didn’t have huge expectations for this second Mermaid Avenue. I was pleasantly surprised when I absolutely feel in love with it. That first one had the songwriting (from Guthrie) but Wilco wasn’t as seasoned as they were for this album. The instrumentation is so much fuller and more interesting. The songs that they chose to record are also way more interesting and politically juicy than the first album. “Airline to Heaven” is on that level of “California Stars” in that it is just a solid Wilco styled song and has huge replayability. The juice though is “Aginst th’ Law” and “All You Fascists.” Two pretty spicy political boys that ooze Guthrie’s signature playfully deep songwriting. The former song can maybe be construed as a libertarian anthem (ew) as it is about a man in the south angry about how everything is against the law. It gives me similar vibes to a commercial that the UK made when they wanted to leave the European Union. They were like DO YOU WANT LAWS FOR YOUR PILLOW. “All You Fascists” is pretty self explanatory as Guthrie famously had a guitar that said “this guitar kills fascists.” It is very powerful in a time that a bunch of fascists stormed the capital. It made me think how sad Guthrie would be to see how the same problems that he faces in the 50’s/60’s are nowhere near being solved. All in all the album is upbeat and fun and makes me appreciate Guthrie’s music even further.
Happy Jamming :)
