I went on a road trip through the mid west of America and accidentally got in touch with my rocker side. Sure, I visited the mgk mural and ate some not-as-bad-as-expected-but-still-pretty-bad dinner at Eminem’s spaghetti restaurant, but the real star of the show was rock ‘n’ roll. I’m talking a wonderful trek through the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame (where even I was shocked at the amount of non-rock music at the start of the tour), a journey through the Third Man Records shop in Detroit (which is, unfortunately, sooo cool), and even a trek to Billy Corgan’s tea shop outside of Chicago (which is great but also seems like a megachurch’s youth room). Yep, rock music is in my blood, and it will never die. I’m even thinking about forcing myself to get into the Black Keys as my bit for Q3.
Here’s some stuff we’re listening to this week.
Scene Queen “Girls Gone Wild”
Sam: My first exposure to Scene Queen came via the very viral, very terrible “Barbie & Ken” song with “Set it Off,” expertly formulated to generate millions of views from lovers and haters alike. It turns out that something inside me was stirred by this atrocity, because when I saw a new Scene Queen album on my daily scroll, I felt compelled to click. Clearly indebted to the absolute worst era of Alternative Press bands, I can’t help myself, I love this, it rocks. The presence of Wargasm at least gives this track a nouveau-metal sheen, but honestly the whole album is this dumb (not pejorative) but in wildly different ways. The very next song is just “Black Skinhead” but about the aforementioned haters; “18+” is about how all those Alt Press bands are sexual predators and I think contains a censored reference to All Time Low? Proud to be a subject of the Queen.
Jos: I think liking this artist puts you on some kinda list. There was a time, around the time I knew the pod needed to end, where I was thinking about inviting this lady and the “State of the Scene” people onto the pod to talk about like MySpace music or something. Thank the good Lord he saved me from myself. I love that you’re branching out from orgcore stuff, opening your mind to music that is technically more diverse and yet somehow so much more awful than anything you’ve ever made me sit through before.
Infectious Jelqing and Arseny “Nuclear Thuggery”
Sam: Just realized Infectious Jelqing are from Bloomington so maybe Josiah’s Indiana crew can let me know if it’s okay to be including this, and maybe I should have had him checked FIRST, but I am nothing if not a fearless musical scribe (I WILL delete later if I’m told to do so). I did do a sensitivity check with Josiah yesterday to see if it would be a mistake to write about “w-word slam” and he was appropriately non-committal to avoid blowback (not brave like me). This is a totally new genre to me, but I was listening to this Gridiron album and longing for more rap in my slam when I discovered that a lot of people have also desired this in past, going so far as to use a slur-adjacent term to bring their dreams to life with a host of albums and song titles that I’m not going to copy here. Some furious searching has led me to believe that these people are just metal and not racist so it’s cool. And honestly this sounds so sick??
Jos: It’s funny that we’re still worried about slurs or or slur portmanteaus so much when the rest of the world is just back to saying most of the main ones. And the funny thing is when you mention the “w-word” then it makes people try to strain and think about what that might be, running through the slur rolodex in their minds to figure it out. Anyway, begrudgingly clicking on this one. Cute that it has like FACTOR-grant graphic novel artwork. Like this would be a shitty comic about two guys from the Prairies who found each other — and themselves — on a metal messageboard. I do technically like this, even though it feels a bit too self-aware.
Nettspend “That One Song”
Jos: Annoying in a different way, Nettspend is the kind of disrespectful little brat who sucks at rapping and everything else in a way that I personally find intriguing. And this one might appeal to Sam because it samples a Deftones song, a band that I’ve never given the time of day and never will unless they’re in a Nettspend song. This is also the most high-budget Nettspend video I’ve seen, and it fully just rips off The Curse finale. All in all, this is annoying in all the right ways so I’m sharing it even though I’m pretty sure it’s some industry plant music designed to try and convince the kids loitering outside of Zumiez to actually go inside and buy something.
Sam: I love how all the comments are about how the Deftones subreddit got the original video taken down. You’re right, though, it does appeal to me. Although it mostly made me just want to listen to Deftones, which I’m doing to do as soon as we’re done here. I apologize for asking this but how old is Nettsy? Some people seem to think the video was taken down because they were showing underage smoking which is also funny. Wow, 17! You shouldn’t be smoking!
Mica Levi “slob air”
Jos: As time goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that Under the Skin is one of the best movies of the 2000s so far, and possibly one of the only good A24 movies. I never listened to Micachu and the Shapes, because one time my annoying fringe fest ass boss who loved to say “huzzah” was playing it for me in his stupid SUV and telling me I’d like it because of how fucked up it is. But Mica’s soundtracks on Under the Skin and The Zone of Interest are undeniably fantastic. They just have a way of getting creepy without being so obvious about it. This new 12-minute track “slob air,” which is Mica’s first for Hyperdub, has that exact feel. It’s so simple but so hypnotic.
Sam: Yeah this is so sick. I think about Under the Skin a lot and you’re probably right about most of that EXCEPT the thing about A24 is many of the movies ARE good. I’m looking at the full list now and you LOVE some of these movies - Everything Everywhere All at Once, Mid90s, Tusk (honestly I assumed this was a different Tusk but they made the Kevin Smith / Justin Long walrus movie?). I am vibing nicely to this, thinking about all of Josiah’s favourite films.
sparkling Caleb “Picture prison”
Jos: There are two more deegie songs today, but as much as I want to talk about deegie every week, I must take a break. Although I can’t stop talking about sparkling Caleb…. He’s got a new single for “The Grudge” coming out (yes, that’s my song, which he masterfully covered), but it’s also got a B-side or accompanying track or something called “Picture prison.” This was recorded around the same time as the deegie covers, and it’s got more of the disarming and charming sparkling Caleb pop rock vibes that were on his album The ghost doctor earlier this year, albeit with some new, more intentionally cheesy tones. It sounds both familiar and kinda unlike anything I’ve heard. I’m a little biased tho — I even hung out with Caleb on my rock ‘n’ roll tour of middle America.
Sam: WOW how lucky. This is so good. So dreamy. I even like the cat and that’s not usually for me. I like how driving it is in the context of this ethereal moodiness. Now I’m thinking about you two hanging out WITH deegie. Too powerful!!