SWEEP FREQUENCY #237: The Old Normal
OPENING RIFF: "I am aware that, every time I have a conversation with a book, I benefit from someone's decision against silence." -- Yiyun Li, Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life
SMALL TALK: Those new variants are nice and close to home and a return to normalcy means more shootings, so let's stay inside and stay sane. As someone who grew up as an outcast and still played hockey for some dumb reason, a pillar of my childhood is the Mighty Ducks trilogy. I'm a sucker for redemption arcs these days, and so I am revisiting these movies to get ready for the sure-to-be-terrible revival series premiering this Friday, though I probably can't bring myself to watch D3. Speaking of ham-fisted redemption arcs doled out by a large soulless corporation, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is oddly capturing those vibes for me, all while dabbling in the minutiae that comes with being a mid-level superhero like bills and the everyday. To prove that I'm not 100% a mindless bro, I've also been enjoying the engrossing depression that is Tove Ditlevsen's Copenhagen Trilogy, which poignantly captures a very sad and tragic life while laying a blueprint for modern autofiction stalwarts like Ferrante, Knausgård, and Cusk. As always, there's a lot of music to keep us going. Stay safe out there, everyone.
Nearly Every Song From Every 2021 Newsletter is Available in Playlist Form: SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC
1. OPUS KINK - "WILD BILL": Where most of the UK's exciting rock bands zig, Opus Kink decide to zag to delightful results. Recalling everything from spaghetti Western to psych-rock to even afro-pop, "Wild Billy" is a furious, sprawling number that relies just as much on keys and horns as shredding guitar riffs, and it somehow all feels cohesive.
2. ENUMCLAW - "FREE DROP BILLY": Our second song with Bill in the title comes from Washington's Enumclaw, and they're tapping into everything interesting and despairing of the moment with their grungy sound. I've personally had lots of moments in the past 6 months confirming that I am in fact a total loser, and the chorus on "Free Drop Billy" feels cathartic to scream, all while reinventing every alt-rock sound of the '90s to meet this present moment where we're perpetually taking Ls.
3. BABY KEEM - "NO SENSE": Whether you've heard "Orange Soda" or know him as King Kendrick's cousin, Baby Keem is definitely ready to become a household name soon. With a sparse, piano-laden beat, "No Sense" captures the bleakness that many of us have gone through in the past year, with his flow capturing a sort of bleary-eyed sorrow that will sound familiar to everyone.
4. MIA JOY - "FREAK": From the opening seconds of "Freak," you can tell that it's going to be special and maybe even make you cry. With that simply beautiful, reverb-laden riff, Mia Joy tenderly waxes poetic on the sudden catharsis of leaving the pain of a toxic relationship behind, all while slyly quoting Korn in the process.
5. MUSEUM OF LOVE - "CLUTTERED WORLD": It's been a minute since we've heard from the project of LCD Soundsystem's Pat Mahoney and Jee Day's Dennis McNany, but Museum of Love are back in a big way. "Cluttered World" is a paranoid, woozy track that you won't know whether to dance or feel anxious to in the best way possible, with the duo's chants taking on a bit of a hypnotic, noir feel to ring in their comeback.
PARTING SHOTS: Choire Sicha's take on Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts is one of the most savage "positive" reviews I've ever seen, all while perfectly diagnosing the self-care generation. Oral Roberts is the opposite of a feel-good March Madness story, as this amazing piece will remind you. The situation going on with the once-great Teen Vogue is terrible, and the wrong people will inevitably get punished because that's how power works. I'll still feel embarrassed for caring even a little bit about clothes and fashion as a socialist, but maybe that's not the worst thing in the world. Mel Magazine was one of my favorite daily reads over the years, and I'm really bummed that it's stopped publishing amid layoffs. The new Brockhampton single with Danny Brown is pure fire.
ENCORE: "EVERY KINDA PEOPLE"