Video & Audio: Nerdplay

the memory degrades

Rosie Tucker: “All My Exes Live in Vortexes”

Analogical thinking is kind of what I do around here, but is it actually useful? Is drawing a comparison between capitalism’s mass production of waste and one’s own inability to sustain a lasting connection within the relationship-industrial complex helpful for getting oneself laid, let alone for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Does a descending chorus riff further emphasize that individual efforts at sustainability inevitably degrade, or is it just catchy? Now, you can argue that whatever the utility, it’s clever, and since this is art, that’s enough. But analogical thinking is set to be the first thing genuinely valued by puny humans that Pandora’s latest box, artificial intelligence, can surpass us at—it’s easier to reduce to a statistical problem than, say, narrative or pro wrestling are. One day the Great Internet Garbage Patch might be filled with extended metaphors and fragments of Master’s theses that broke off when someone mashed the Derrida button too hard. Still, progress towards AGI hasn’t been as fast as some predicted—there’s a lot of junk to maneuver around—so barring a 2024 computational breakthrough, this is a song of the year contender.

Baby Queen: “Dream Girl”

Maybe her sweetest chorus ever over lyrics that veer from perverse to just sad; the carefully spoken “If I kissed him and he kissed you/It’s almost like I’ve kissed you too” is both. (The music video is worthwhile, but note that it has ACTING and you should listen to the song first.)

Smokey Robinson: “Gasms”

Everyone, me included, had a good giggle about the title when they heard it (people still have sex after turning 40, LOL and all that.) No one told me the title track contained not just a whole taxonomy of gasms, but a rhyming dictionary for them as well, e.g. “eyegams”/“my gasms”. The construction is impeccable, and Smokey sounds almost relieved at being able to make what he had to leave as subtext for longer than I’ve been alive into text at last.

Underscores: “Old Money Bitch”

Within the context of Wallsocket, this tells you as much about the narrator as it does about the object of her scorn. As a standalone, it’s a roast of the “daughter of a billionaire” in question that’s about a 7 out of 10 on the “Common People” scale. “She’s stolen from the CVS but her daddy’s on the board”—ouch. Empathy? That’s for album listeners.

Les Amazones d’Afrique: “Flaws”

Formerly a supergroup, most of the Kidjo/Oumou-level names have moved on or never moved in in the first place, leaving Mamani Keïta to boss a bunch of comparative youngsters around. And it’s been to the benefit of all parties: Keïta gets to play around over Europop synths; the forty-somethings get to learn some goddamn professionalism.

Ashley Cooke: “Your Place”

As in “It ain’t your place”—a country chorus with more than one meaning, will wonders never cease? It’s the second-most streamed title on her 24-track album Shot in the Dark after “Running Back”, and you know, I haven’t listened to that one, but I’m going to bet it’s not entirely about football.

Nia Archives: “Baianá”

I got excited by the title before learning that the Brazilian sample was from cheeseball “body percussionists” Barbatuques, only… it works (speeding it up helps a lot.) The body is a drum, the computer is a drum, the cheeseball? You bet it’s a drum.

André Roligheten: “Twin Bliss”

From a good Nordijazz album by saxist Roligheten, who’s married to the 1000 times more famous Susanne Sundfør; this is the track that most screams “I played with Motorpsycho once.” If you do want your small jazz combo to rock, the more immediately useful personal relationship is to be best buddies with drummer extraordinaire Gard Nilssen.

Mah Kouyaté N° 2: “Soso”

Since this is mostly a Dave Moore fact-checking and contextualization column now: this is Mah Kouyaté N° 2 (no relation to N° 1), a major star in Mali in the 2000s who passed away prematurely a couple of years ago. Dave says it’s 2011 and doesn’t believe that; Sterns says it’s 2001 and the synths sound consistent with that.

Kashh Mir: “Nightmare”

If women must exercise their right to do horror rap, it seems like a better use of talent for a credible emcee with under 10k YouTube subscribers and beats that are ominous and a little cheap than it is for Doja.

Connie, Matt Ox, RXKNephew: “GRFX88”

Recall how my New Year’s resolution was to get into more music that makes people go “ooh, I hate this”? Well wubwubwub to you too.

P1 Harmony: “Fall in Love Again”

It’s been a lyrics-heavy column, so here’s an unusually well-constructed song (Tricky Stewart co-wrote and produced!) by some unusually well-constructed Korean boys to thank those of you stuck it out.