Guest post: An introduction to Semipop Life

So it's come to this: a Luen clip show

Christian Iszchak writes the biweekly column An Acute Case, which is like this one but with British spelling and actual class analysis sometimes. His column about riding a bike around Norfolk while listening to Yard Act got me to both listen to Yard Act and visit his cottage in Norfolk, where I did not ride a bike. At the end of this guest post (since I don’t know how to add it here) there’s a nice big Subscribe To His Newsletter button that you should hit. More traveloguing next week.

CMAT in a large religious building in Northern Europe.

The story behind quirky Irish pop singer CMAT’s quirky album title If My Wife New I’d Be Dead goes like this:

While she was riding the bus on her way to “an intervention”, a book on the emergency exit shelf fell and hit her on the head. It was a hardback from the 1970s called The Dreamers Dictionary. She opened it and found an inscription on the inside cover that said, “To Mary, I will never forget you, God bless you always, your undercover lover, Mark Carol.” On the other side, it said, “PS, if my wife new I’d be dead.” The book was a guide to dream interpretation. As she flicked through, she noticed that anything vaguely sexual had been underlined and highlighted. She found this so hilarious that when she arrived at her intervention, she insisted that the Difficult Conversation should be shelved and they talk about the book instead. Which they did. For two hours. I hope it helped.

I discovered Semipop Life through a Facebook group of Robert Christgau superfans; an origin story so dull that even those twelve words are too many. I’ve included Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson’s simply to give you a more interesting alternative. I hope it helped.

It took me a while to properly appreciate Semipop Life. Brad’s a demanding writer. He expects a high level of prior knowledge and a predisposition for thinking around music rather than just about it. But once I got it, it gave me the confidence to start writing about music, too. Which isn’t supposed to be as “if he can do it, anyone can” as it sounds. My thinking was more that if a hobbyist could write some of the best music crit to be found anywhere, whatever I produced might not be disastrous. So when he asked me for a guest post while he pretends to be Kenneth Clark and admires large religious buildings in northern Europe, the only subject matter I could think of was Semipop Life itself.

All the usual hobbyist blogger caveats apply. Because I spent too long reading the archives and too little time writing the post, I had to limit myself to the Substack Era. I also had to skimp on the Odds & Ends and Video & Audio columns in order to read all the way through 2022 by the deadline. Still, I’ve ended up with something that documents what makes this blog tick for me. And while I’m pleased to say it isn’t just a compilation of his archest asides, it’d be disingenuous to suggest that isn’t mostly what it is.

GAG MAN

Anyone who’s read this column with at least one eye open knows that jokes abound. Sometimes they’re catty.

by any reasonable measure the biggest English-language hit of the century unless children’s music like “Baby Shark” or Ed Sheeran counts. – The Weeknd: The Highlights

Sometimes they’re instructive.

…the ballads are well-sung too, and more importantly they’re at the end. – Loona: [&] EP

And sometimes they’re simply puns.

On the opener, he mashes up “Love and Happiness” with (I think) his own vocals to bemoan the perfidy of moodywomann. – Moodymann: Taken Away

BACKHANDED COMPLIMENTS

While many of these could fall into the gag category, they turned up so consistently in my trawling that they deserve one of their own. Very few artists are immune. While there are plenty of examples in the Odds & Ends columns, just as many are to be found amongst the letter grade reviews. Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage’s Bad Wiring, for example, was awarded a full A but also received the following dis.

…his logorrheic vocals, always good for momentum, have a modulation to them that’s almost musical.

In fact, all these come from A- reviews. It’s to Brad’s credit that despite his sharpness, not one of the complete reviews feels anything other than admiring.

This is probably a concept album or something, but I liked their last one until I found out it was about a chimp going to high school so I’m not going to look it up this time. – The Lemon Twigs: Songs For The General Public

…if her initial foray into self-production is a qualified success, imagine how good she'll be when she learns to play the piano with two fingers. – Megan Thee Stallion: Something for Thee Hotties

…you get the whole spectrum from folk-rock to rock-folk. – Big Thief: Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

As a subcategory, anything suspected of being too dutifully traditional has a high bar to clear, with American singer songwriters getting a particularly spiky reception.

…his almost whispered low end makes you pay attention to the words, which, shock of shocks, are often the point. – Joe Fahey: February On Ice

Womack delegates most of the melody to guitar and writes to ensure the not-many notes of his range encompass a celebration of lives lived. – Tommy Womack: I Thought I Was Fine

And on an even more micro level, he gets two digs in on Tom Verlaine for the lyrics to “Marquee Moon”.

The writing is years-tears basic, but wasn’t that good enough for Marquee Moon? – John Anderson: Years

It feels so much less silly singing “life in the hive puckered up my night” when everyone else is singing along too. – The Jeffrey Lewis & Peter Stampfel Band: Both Ways

Other acts of iconoclasm are directed at old favourites working towards lower standards and current greats being held to higher ones.

I think I’m getting accustomed to a force of nature becoming a polished, professional pair of artists worthy of support. But I still need to say the Serenity Prayer a few more times. – Sleater-Kinney: Path of Wellness

“…every Beyoncé is a policy failure.” – Beyoncé: RENAISSANCE

WHOLE REVIEW IN A LINE

That Beyonce line could also fit in here. I can only imagine how writing something like that must feel—on the one hand, deeply satisfying; but on the other, surely a little discomposing. You’ve possibly said it all, yet you’re compelled to say more. In each instance, whatever extra Brad had to say was worth it, but it’s still fun to take these as standalones.

The best tunes are on “I Can Wait” and “More”, and if it’s predictable from the titles alone which of those two I prefer, I appreciate that they make a decent aesthetic case for the former. – Low: Hey What

…the songs not on other albums deserve to be here, and the songs on other albums deserve to be there. – Wussy: Ghosts

I kind of liked her better when she was boring—it seemed principled. – Jessie Ware: What’s Your Pleasure?

All three of those were final lines, with respectful description leading up to the zinger. By the time Brad got to this one, however, he was done with the respectful bit.

Good title for an album that spares us James Blake until track 13. – Kehlani: It Was Good Until It Wasn’t

That turned out to be such a good punchline that it popper up later the same year.

The other great musical idea is on “Both Sides of a Smile”, when Dave’s rap gradually transforms into ShaSimone’s, forcing a woman’s perspective into a first-person role. It’s a breathtaking trick. Then James Blake sings for five more minutes. – Dave: We’re All Alone In This Together

GOD SAVE THE ZING

On the subject of Dave, Brad has a special line in dressing down Brit crits for constantly overhyping their compatriots. As someone still reeling from Raye stealing three stars from 100 gecs* in the Financial Times, it’s a furrow I hope he continues to plough.

*This was written prior to Brad writing something deeply objectionable about 10,000 gecs.

The most cerebral of the current Brithop insurgency, often compared to Kendrick by the UK press, presumably some of whom have heard more than two rappers. – Dave: Psychodrama

Maybe the best thing I’ve heard out of the mildly overhyped current London jazz scene (hey, that’s what the British music press is for.) – Ill Considered

Elsewhere, the music press at large (or possibly just at [REDACTED]) get pulled up on their shortcomings.

I know that everybody hates jokes now, but you’d think reviewers would pay a little attention to how funny she is. – Sudan Archives: Natural Brown Prom Queen

Other quibbles concern modern hip-hop, which took me by surprise, as I’ve long considered Brad one of the few generalists to champion contemporary rap/trap/whatever. But it turns out that he has some trad preferences of his own.

Huh, a 2021 rap album that sounds good. – Isaiah Rashad: The House Is Burning

It helps that 7L’s and Todd Spadafore’s beats are what we old school indieheads used to call “actually good” – Czarface & MF Doom: Super What?

BREADTH

Other special interests in Semipop Life’s remit include metal, modern classical, modern jazz, sometimes both of the latter simultaneously, but, as far as I can tell, not yet all three at once. Lyrics, not ordinarily a deciding factor, appear to matter more in metal. For obvious reasons, they matter less for jazz and classical picks. Instead, those contain some of Brad’s most helpful listening notes; no doubt because he knows they’ll be the most challenging to readers (though perhaps also because they’re most challenging to him?)

Trombonist Jacob Garchik, one of Illusionary Sea’s stars, returns, often hovering between lead and support with apropos harmonies and borderline inapropos honking. - Mary Halvorson: Amaryllis

The gimmick, as math Ph.D. Thelen describes it, is “a rhythmic delay with a very high feedback level that creates cascading delay patterns in odd time signatures such as 3/8, 5/8 or 7/8.” To my philistine ears it just sounds like he’s mashing his Boss pedal, which is cool enough. – Stephan Thelen: Fractal Guitar

The helpful listening notes also extend to his savviness on music biz economics.

…if she writes an ending where she sails off with her best friend from high school, the ending where she becomes someone who can make a living out of music in 2021 is at least as incredible. – Lucy Dacus: Home Video

My only complaint is that it seems counterproductive to break the title piece into three fragments, though I estimate this may have earned him up to sixteen dollars in additional streaming revenue: enough to buy a CD. – Eric Revis: Slipknots Through a Looking Glass

Curry’s rapping remains fierce at lower intensities, ensuring that it always feels like something’s at stake—if not his soul, then at least his chances of ever getting another nine-digit streaming hit. Denzel Curry: Melt My Eyez See Your Future

STRUGGLING WITH HIS MEANING

Occasionally the notes prove difficult, which doesn’t mean they’re not astute. The first column I ever re-read contained this snippet from a review of SAWAYAMA. I’ve been re-reading it ever since and I’m still not convinced I understand it.

This takes a form not unlike a flashing neon Sonic the Hedgehog Saying There Is No Such Thing As Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism sticker, maybe with But That Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Going to Feel Guilty in smaller print.

The ambiguous line most embedded in my brain, however, was probably far easier to write, yet I’m convinced it contains just as much substance, even if I can’t lay my finger on what it is.

…if I’m not so enamored with the Moog, these are Moogy times. – Oumou Sangare: Timbuktu

AND GETTING IT JUST FINE

That brings me to the final category, which probably should have been the first one: the writing that reveals the depth of Brad’s perceptiveness and his gift for putting it into words that can be taut or dense, expansive or subatomic, acid or empathic. All of he following (and many of the above) have taught me something new about Brad’s taste. But as is the mark of the best music writing, they’ve also taught me something new about my own.

Apple asserts total control of her space, and if you enter, you do so on her terms: she gives “you raped me in the same bed your daughter was born” the most singalongable tunelet on the record, whereas you might have to practice “ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies” to sing it right. You don’t have to sing it right. – Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Freedom remains his major topic: while it may not be any closer, his vision of it has become clearer, more detailed, more humane. The spectre of mass death may be everywhere, but there’s freedom in being able to stare it in the face and chant “we’ll die, we’ll die”. – Emperor X: The Lakes of Zones B and C

Merrill Garbus has often sounded prophetic because she acts high-millennial while being marginally older, so she gets to Big Life Choices first, whether she’s gentrifying Oakland or, on this album, making a final decision not to have children. What makes her “annoying” besides her typography is her compulsion to explain all these choices. Giving sociological justifications for irreducibly personal preferences? What is she, a critic? – Tune-Yards: sketchy.