Submissions from 2020-05-14 to 2020-05-15 (1 total)

6/10??????
if i didn't know who this song / remix were by i would probably have passed pretty quickly, but because i am a branding simp (did i use that right??) i listened and enjoyed, but i think that giving more than 6 would be to go against that initial impulse, and that feels impure, but it all feels impure. read on for variations on that nonsense theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS7GstfXPwg

IDK

I kept seeing this photo of Four Tet n Caribou on my news feed. We get it, yes, we are collectively bought in and far far farbeitfromme to say otherwise: yes four tet is an Authentic Genre Expanding/Defining/Transcending Musician / Genius. Fine, yes, we know -- but MAN this picture really does hit you over the head with it -- when is this from? Poor Caribou, manspreading with glee as he looks so so longlingly and simp-like (did i use THAT right?) at kieran's computer, while kieran just looks...simultaneously inconvenienced and indifferent to the beholder, his eyes deadpan, with just a smidgiest of smidges of a smirky smile gathering in the corner of his mouth. This is a completely normal photo, and they do truly seem to be adorable, cute friends. But it still feels so much like branding. Four Tet is commanding, Four Tet arresting. THat, and this is from the Four Tet's' early days (cannot be Truer Self than in Early Days). This is a person with supreme integrity, and this image will be on this news article to remind you of this. <<< side note, I looked up the photographer listed on that P4K article, to see if maybe his agent had dug up an old photo to provide feed the image of Authentic Genius, and it came back as someone who does "Artist Management" for Maverick Management -- but then I also see that Kieran's last name is Hebden, so maybe they are related, and this actually is a Real Photo, and not one that was dug up by an agent to send to a P4K article.>>>Anyway, this photo says: It's Caribou's song but Kieran's remix is what makes it genius, because he's the genius here. (((all indications say that this is true re: kieran ---- I just want to harp on what is essentially a brand image of (earned) genius and (earned) authenticity that makes me, causal listener, casual fan, consume anything put out or touched by four tet with a different lens. I like caribou as well, don't get me wrong -- but I would not take the same lens to his music. If Four Tet makes something mediocre (I haven't fully listened to 16 oceans but what i have so far, i can't really get into it), it is me missing his artistic vision, or just being out of line with what he is putting out. If caribou puts out "Never Come Back," which is -- really, really, mediocre, at first listen, I can pretty easily dismiss it without a second listen. It just feels extremely done to a formula. It didn't create any sort of landscape for me that has happened with some previous caribou songs (the forward motion momentum of bees, the underwater whippet of can't do without, etc) -- and I feel fine saying "no this is not for me" or just bucket it into the dismissive Coachellacore heap of mundane e d m (pop? i don't even know where the lines blur, with pop essentially being... this). But if Four Tet had put out that same song (even without any remix) I would give it more listens, more chances, and feel like there is something that I am missing if I wanted to dismiss the song. Because Four Tet is a genius. It doesn't make the song any better, really, but Four tet just really highlights, for me, how much the persona and reputation of the artist (+the location of the artist in the cultural milieu) impacts the experience and enjoyment of their music. This is nothing profound or new to point out. But it doesn't feel good. I would like to get better at approaching music for what it is -- but there is just so much known and unknown baggage in building preference that this seems impossible. It's such a game of branding -- as with all good branding, it drives preference and identity / tying the (cultural) product to identity. And it's so strong in four tet, in this goddam photo, that when i think of what kind of person exists today who could be this sort of thing, this Impure approach to music, the second person who comes to mind is Kieran.

Anyway, the remix is fine -- it's strange to listen to in isolation, because the long break with the modulation is clearly a club mix to allow some more experimentation in the context of a dance floor, and belongs in a set, and this is just a youtube video in a world without clubs. It works better in four tet's boiler room set - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXQi77eOdEY (33:00ish) ------- The :and ya never come back: still feels tacky, but the mixing gives it more of a physicality and depth that does an OK job pulling the vocal overlay into more of an emotional depth with it. But who even knows!