SWEEP FREQUENCY #406: Ghosts 'n Garbage
New tunes from Evan Greer, Oh My Sun, Arthi, vegas water taxi, H.A.N.K. and more....
OPENING RIFF: "Affection is the mortal illness of lonely people." -- Gary Indiana, Horse Crazy
SMALL TALK: It’s been a busy month of traveling to extremely non-exotic locations, which means I haven’t had much time to do my millennial duty of watching a couple tasteful horrors movies to commemorate Halloween. Instead, I’ve been looking backwards for spooky music, because the over-saturation of Halloween culture hasn’t really produced a ton of cool records or songs lately in my opinion. The mixes I’ve always gone back to this time of year are courtesy of CFCF, whose Night Bus mixes feel like a perfect time capsule for an era when music had a darker tint, when witch house, post-dubstep, and chopped and screwed music converged to soundtrack Four Loko binges. It’s also never a bad time to look back at Fever Ray’s iconic Halloween mix for Resident Advisor from that same era, which is impossibly 15 years ago. Yo La Tengo somehow mixed with Shackleton and Suicide, and the result is definitely a vibe as you prep to give candy to kids or get weird at a costumed rave somewhere cooler than I can fathom. Beyond that, with my anxiety at a fever pitch for a variety of reasons at the moment, a new season of Shrinking is just what the doctor ordered. I do feel like I’ve become manipulated by the Bill Lawrence industrial complex to an embarrassing degree at this point, but we could all use a little soft corniness and some reminders of mortality looking at an adorably grouchy Harrison Ford on screen. Let’s get to this week’s new music.
Nearly Every Song From Every 2024 Newsletter Will Be Available in Playlist Form: SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC
1. EVAN GREER FEAT. VICTORIA RUIZ - "PINKWASHING": I think quite often about a prescient web comic that showed bombs being dropped as someone says "they say the next ones will be sent by a woman," which almost feels like the Harris campaign in a nutshell. In this week of doom and gloom, this new track from leftist heroes in Fight for the Future's Evan Greer and Victoria Ruiz of Downtown Boys is a righteous banger lampooning this very idea. The phrase "rainbow-colored fighter jet" will live rent-free in my head for a while, and proceeds from the track benefit the Palestine Youth Movement.
2. OH MY SUN - "5 PIECES": On a very different tip, Oh My Sun are a new duo comprised of Carmody and Tal Janes, and they've got a very joyful vibe even while singing about a breakup. Despite adhering to the '70s singer-songwriter format in some ways, "5 Pieces" really sets itself apart thanks to some swirling, experimental production flourishes and plenty of fun references to nature and astrology.
3. ARTHI FEAT. RAZOR - "RUN IT FOR ME": Arthi has a pretty impressive background as a dancer, which makes it unsurprising that her productions will get your body moving in unique ways. For this banger, she recruited Razor, and "Run It for Me" has a bit of a spooky undercurrent that still has all the makings clubby hip-hop perfection.
4. VEGAS WATER TAXI - "BIRKENSTOCKS": After putting out a promising debut album last year, vegas water taxi are back with a new member in Molly Shields and a new song in "birkenstocks." With a country twang and a pedal steel to boot, this track has a pretty dark edge to it, with the ubiquitous throwback footwear getting mentioned alongside aging post-punks and natural wine.
5. H.A.N.K. - "JAG ÄR JAG": For something a bit soothing as we gear up for the hell of election week, we've got a very cool new track from Alex Kassian and Nick Höppner’s H.A.N.K. project. While both producers dabble in the dance floor side of things, "Jag Är Jag" slows things down with dreamy, intricate instrumentals and the kind of Swedish vocals that you'll want to wash over you. As a bonus on the dance side, I always like to tell people about Alex Kassian's absolutely incredible flip of "Owner of a Lonely Heart" he put out during the pandemic.
PARTING SHOTS: Like everything else, it really is crazy and sad to think about Halloween costumes being solely meant to post on the Internet later than make sense to the average passerby. If you are having anxiety about Tuesday's election (couldn't be me, ha ha ha), maybe you should give this a read and try to stop doomscrolling til Wednesday. I really liked this two part essay by Magdalene J. Taylor about whether men and women have given up on the basic premise of liking one another. Dale Peck beautifully remembers Gary Indiana.