What I'm Listening To in July 2020
In July, 100 gecs got some welcome assistance, Open Mike Eagle cast a powerful spell, and Taylor Swift revived my 2012 indie phase.
Every month, I keep an ongoing playlist of songs that I want to keep in my listening rotation. These could be singles, loosies, album standouts, or just songs I can’t get out of my head, but they often have some significance to my own life or the state of the world. This month, stuff got a little weird, and also my playlist had some weird songs on it. Also, I recommend a song by a great local artist! If you want to get monthly updates on music and other (non-scheduled) things that I’m writing, subscribe to my newsletter.
Here’s what I’m listening to:
100 gecs
xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx (Remix) (ft Tommy Cash and Hannah Diamond)
If you’ve never heard of 100 gecs, well, I’m honestly not quite sure what to tell you about them. The duo comprised of eccentric experimental pop artists/general weirdos Laura Les and Dylan Brady is one of those acts that you either really like, you really hate, or you don’t even think they’re worth the time of day. Me, you ask? I’m solidly in the first camp. My first experience with the two was when their first studio album, 1000 gecs, came out last summer. I can’t say I was instantly hooked—at first glance the act can be a bit offputting—but I was intrigued enough by 100 gecs’s unique blend of genres and their tongue-in-cheek (but not ironic) appropriation of pop tropes, and I eventually became enamored by them. I still listen to the album somewhat regularly, but there always seems to be something missing; 1000 gecs creates an itch that it doesn’t quite scratch.
1000 gecs and The Tree of Clues, the recent remix album, however, delivers on that itch. Where the original seemed perhaps like a concept album—what if we made pop music but blew it out at every possible instance, it asks—the remix album often pushes these concepts into the territory of more fleshed-out songs. I try to limit myself to just 2 songs off of each album, but many of the remixes have been knocking around in my little head—honorable mention is Fallout Boy’s breakneck remix of “hand crushed by a mallet,” one of my favorite songs off of the original album, and Count Baldor and GFOTY’s offbeat and strangely charming collaboration on “stupid horse (remix);” all of these take the originals’ plays on genre and songwriting and realize them in a more whole work.
Case in point is the remix of "xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx" featuring Estonian rapper Tommy Diamond and PC Music mainstay Hannah Diamond, not a duo I would’ve put together but one I was excited to see in the tracklist. The song, which interpolates Soulja Boy’s seminal “Kiss Me Thru The Phone,” is a prime example of 100 gecs’s affinity for pop nostalgia, and Hannah Diamond’s version of the hook is a more polished, less scratchy (not that anything’s wrong with unpolished and scratchy) version of the original. Tommy Cash, whose previous collaboration with Dylan Brady on Charli XCX’s “Click” was so good that I literally own a whole sweatshirt dedicated to the song, channels a Pitbull brand of party rap to contrast Hannah Diamond’s heavenly vocals. All of that to say that the song makes me feel like I’m in 2005 and 2105 simultaneously.
Biig Piig
Switch
I was turned onto this song by Lindsay Jordan of Snail Mail via her Instagram story (one of many ways in which I am indebted to Snail Mail). What hooked me was the driving bassline and percussion. Biig Piig seems to walk a tightrope of intensity on this song; one of the standout aspects is the shouted backing vocals (muffled and slightly distorted), which contrast Jessica Smyth’s soft, almost Clairo-esque main vocals. It’s a push-and-pull arrangement and a good transitional song for the playlist.
Open Mike Eagle
Neighborhood Protection Spell (Lana Del Biden Nem)
People really don’t seem to take Open Mike Eagle seriously enough; sometimes it feels like even Open Mike Eagle doesn’t take Open Mike Eagle seriously enough. Most of his social media is dedicated to his new podcast network (not to say that isn’t necessarily serious—podcasting is notoriously white), and since his last project, it has almost seemed like he has been more active in the wrestling scene than the music scene. I was worried that this lack of focus on music was a bad sign for future songs, but apparently not.
Mike’s latest single, “Neighborhood Protection Spell (Lana Del Biden Nem),” is a reflective, pre-June critique of anti-Blackness in pop culture. The title even calls the detractors out by name: Lana Del [Rey], Biden, ‘nem. The pace and tone of the song aren’t too far off from his 2017 album Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, his best work to date. “Ghetto in the way I talk […] Ghetto in the way I slide […] Ghetto in the way I'm dumb […] Ghetto in the way I move,” he says on the hook. The entire track seems to use this ghetto-ness as a defense against the gentrifiers and liberals who, despite their performances of acceptance, practice anti-Blackness in their critiques of certain Black artists (cc: Lana Del Rey) or Black voters (cc: Joe Biden). No people are a monolith, Mike reminds us, but you can’t dismiss the history, the societal forces, that work to make you think otherwise.
Cochise
Hatchback
This playlist can have a bit of TikTok music. When I first heard “Hatchback,” I thought the TikTok Teens had just found another Playboi Carti leak for their little videos. Cochise wears his Carti influence on his sleeve so boldly that it’s hard not to be immediately reminded of Carti’s signature delivery. Cochise does it well, though, and with just enough spin that “Hatchback,” at least, is a fun listen. Is it the real thing? Maybe not. Enjoyable? Uh-huh.
Ty Dolla $ign
Ego Death (feat. Kanye West, FKA twigs, and Skrillex)
This song, without one contributor, would be an awesome collaboration. Ty Dolla $ign does well enough for himself, but what really shines is the production (thank you, Skrillex?), and also FKA twigs’s house-friendly lyrics and serpentwithfeet, who is, barring the small illustration on the cover, uncredited—an injustice, as his layered vocals are maybe the catchiest part of “Ego Death.” The song is danceable and an earworm, and notably similar to Kanye West’s “Fade,” another Ty Dolla and Kanye collaboration, and whatever that song that Casey Frey dances to in that one video (I refuse to research any more for this reference).
I was going to write a whole thing about Kanye’s verse—about his political career, about his hypocrisy, about his optics, all of it—but I’ve decided against it. The guy simply needs help, and writing a scathing paragraph (in which I would certainly blow everyone’s minds with my originality and wit) would only play on that. There needs to be a change in the way we talk about him and celebrity in general.
Disclosure, Aminé, Slowthai
My High
Another dancey track, “My High” sees Aminé leading a Disclosure-produced club banger. Breathy and frantic in his delivery, Aminé sounds better than he has on his recent singles, complementing the pounding, restless beat. And then there’s Slowthai, who flourishes on tracks like this. The beat drops away for a second as he enters the fray: “Are you mad?” Cue the beat: “Must be out of your mind.” He delivers an excellent verse, and then, as quickly as he appears, he’s gone, leaving the listener wondering if he was even there (or why he wasn’t more present on the track).
James Blake
Are You Even Real?
Whatever Jameela Jamil is doing, she’s doing it right—her boyfriend, James Blake (you might have heard of him, I think he was on a Travis Scott track), is head over heels. “There’s no five years/ There’s no ten years/ Only this/ Queen of queen of queen of queens,” he croons on “Are You Even Real?”. Heavenly, descending synths (plucked strings later in the song) soundtrack an apparent psychedelic trip with Blake’s unnamed-but-obvious subject; he sings of “acid rain” and “strawberry fields” over orchestra and 808s. The Beatles influence is more apparent here than usual—this song could be on a 21st-century remix album of Sergeant Pepper’s and it’s glorious.
Joey Bada$$
Shine
If we lived in a normal universe where the world wasn’t absolutely coming apart at the seams, I would have been finishing up a summer course at NYU in mid-July, just as Joey Bada$$ released The Light Pack. I imagine myself walking to a bodega or corner store to pick up a mid-priced bottle of wine and taking it back to my small dorm while listening to “Shine.” The track stands out on The Light Pack as a return-to-form for Joey, more similar to 1999 or Summer Knights than his last couple of albums. It also stands out as, by far, the best and least pretentious song on his latest project—no talk of “mumble rap extermination” here, just a nice Summer song. What a world it would be if I was sauntering onto campus with takeout and booze. Well, que sera, sera.
Solomon, Ishmael Nehemiah, Faze 1, King Shotta
Freedom
This is a playlist entry that is a little closer to home than the others—literally. A cut off of Johnson City rapper Solomon’s latest album, “Freedom” sees both halves of the 3sunz duo reunited along with Defy Culture associates Faze 1 and King Shotta. 3sunz is an act that I’ve been following for a few years; it’s one of those local groups that is criminally overlooked. Conscious, occasionally backpack-y, with very obvious Outkast influence, Solomon and Ishmael Nehemiah exhibit more talent than your average hometown rapper, sounding polished and professional.
This jazzy posse cut is a bit The Infamous meets Soul Food, revolving around a laid-back sung hook. While every contributor brings a noteworthy verse, Solomon shines on the track: “This a picture I’m painting/ I’m patiently stroking every line/ If you black in America, better keep a nine/ But if you bust back at twelve then you probably dyin’/ and if you ain’t/ then they throw you in that six-by-eight.” The chemistry between him and Ishmael Nehemiah is apparent, as is that between the bar-trading Faze 1 and King Shotta. All in all, “Freedom” puts East Tennessee’s talent on full display.
Flo Milli
Weak
What do you call flipping an enamored love song into a fella-scamming anthem? Flo Milli Shit!
100 gecs
gecgecgec (remix) (feat. Lil West and Tony Velour)
I can’t believe I am devoting this much time to writing about 100 gecs (actually, yes I can, I love 100 gecs). One of my favorite aspects of the experimental group is when they break into genuine ardor. On the original album, these instances were few and far between; the second half of the original 1000 gecs featured a few tracks that, again, I wish were more fleshed out. The second part of “gecgecgec” is a microcosm of this. Amongst ironic genre-switches, the duo finds a heartfelt pop sentiment: “You can call on me/ Anytime/ And I'm runnin' home to you/ Please remember/ Baby, I'm not stronger than /Stronger than you".”
The remix functionally works in the same way. Deleware rapper Lil West starts off with a fairly vapid (but, honestly, solid) verse about girls, cars, getting head, etc. After this, however, he immediately begins his second, autotuned verse, which is slightly more lovelorn. And then, in the second half of the song, the refrain returns: “You can call on me…” The production on this part, which is now simple acoustic guitar that eventually incorporates hi-hats and bass, drives home 100 gecs’s earnestness. It’s compelling and catchy, showing that the duo is capable of more than honks, beeps, et al.
Taylor Swift
Exile (feat. Bon Iver)
The new Taylor Swift album is, without any trace of irony or pandering, really, really good. I have historically not been a huge Swiftie (past Red, at least), but this is a good one. Sure, it’s not super original and leans somewhat on the production of The National’s Aaron Dessner. Sure, it has some songs that I don’t even like. But there is something incredibly compelling about this album, more so than even her best works. Case in point: “Exile.” It’s not even the best song on the album (“Betty,” obviously), but it’s emotional and it has Bon Iver on it. Maybe I’m biased (he’s one of my favorite artists of all time), but Justin Vernon’s gravelly delivery on this song is special. It’s evocative of his older work, just as much of folklore is evocative of 2010s indie, and it contrasts nicely to Taylor’s voice. The song gives some “Shallow” vibes; it’s a ballad, and a good one at that. “Exile” is a great way to leave off July: melancholy, forlorn, but also with some great contributions by Taylor Swift.
You can listen to the entire playlist for July 2020 here