019! Mini Digest: Doechii, Thai Pop, Billboard Rules

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Kraftwerk live

Last week I went to see the Kraftwerk audiovisual spectacular, “50 Years of Autobahn.” The theatre (King’s Theatre in Brooklyn, extremely ornate, very cool), was packed out, and was some of the best people-watching I’ve done in some time. Special shout out to the one guy with the meter-high mohawk.

As expected, the show was very meticulous, the visuals very bauhaus and the crowd were absolutely pumped. Everything sounded as fresh as ever.

I found myself yearning, though, for things I was never going to get from the Man/Machine: some chat on the mic, a live feed of their hands behind the boards, or a lil dance? Heck, I couldn’t even work out which one was doing the vocals. But I came to realize, perhaps I should be applying Mel Robbins’ viral “let them” theory here: this is who they are, just accept it and adjust your expectations. (Just kidding, Mel Robbins is annoying, and I’d still love to see a live feed). I still don’t understand why they used Tony Hawk in their promo video, but some things are better left misunderstood.

I also spent the weekend in Buffalo, a gem of the Rust Belt, playing a DIY party called Groupwork. I knew nothing of Buffalo, and have since learned it was home to both Rick James and The Goo Goo Dolls, and the chicken wings do live up to the standards you’d expect from a founding city. The party I played was impeccably put together by loving promoters - in a warehouse, with a huge system, amazing lighting, and a doting crowd. I love these kinds of reminders that DIY music communities and scenes are truly where it’s at, and to give your time and money to those things where you can.

Before the recommendations, a quick side mention that I also wrote this cover story on ATL artist Faye Webster for print tennis magazine BAGEL!

Sound

• I’m always interested to watch what happens to dancehall acts when they go to the majors. One of the biggest tracks in Jamaica right now is Masicka’s “Whites”, and #majorwatch shows that French Montana is now on the remix.

• Another Jamaican track doing numbers is Silent Addy & Moliy’s “Shake It To The Max” - it looks set for a summer takeover.

• People love to talk about the White Lotus theme song, but I’m out here listening to some of the fire Thai pop music they’re playing in the episode instead.

• I can always count on NYC radio station Hot97 to give me the hot Jersey club remixes of big local radio songs. Lately, it’s been ManMade’s remix of Yailin La Man Viral’s “Bing Bong”. Fire.

• Corbin (fka Spooky Black) is back and has a new album coming.

• Playboi Carti’s new album broke some streaming records on Spotify (the most plays in a day this year, the bar may be low), and all the charts are being dommed by this *30 TRACK* album. We don’t need 30 tracks, and we probably don’t need 30 tracks of what is basically ad-libs. But the beats are sounding good? And rap is back?

• Doechii’s new single “Anxiety” is doing numbers right now. It’s a strange one: built around sample of Gotye’s “Somebody that I Used to Know”, it was originally released in 2019 to YouTube. A rapper Sleepy Hallow then sampled the Doechii track, had her as a featured artist, and released it in 2023. The song then started to go viral on TikTok earlier this year, and Doechii then released her own original version five years after it was first out on YouTube. Now, both songs are charting.

• A recommended dosage of IDM from Dutch producer upsammy.

Vision

• Jeremy Corbyn is on film recommendation app Letterboxd. It’s a great PR idea honestly, but it did make me think of The Thick of It, to see his review of a Ken Loach film saying “made me think about the refugees I have met throughout my life.” Ok, Jez but we wanted to know what you thought of Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.

• Björk takes the cover of National Geographic magazine.

• I think (/hope) Oklou will be only getting bigger, after the release of her record choke enough. Here she performs on an ice rink for a live performance for NTS. Better than an official video, imo.

• Weird video number one: Provoker.

• Weird video number two: Paris/Texas.

• The Dare stage dived (dove?) in my hometown of Bristol and no-one caught him. Is that extremely rock and roll, or not at all?

• Supermarkets look pretty good, and very dystopian, in a washed-out color grade. Don Toliver agrees. This is a well done soft horror music video.

Thought

• I’ve written at length before about gaming the system in music, and now Billboard have announced that they are changing the rules of the charts to curb album variants counting. Only 4 versions will be allowed for the life of an album. That still seems like a lot? In any case, Taylor may need some new tactics.

• Kyle Chayka on conversations being the “new unit of culture.”

• More depressing takes: have we reached peak brain power?

• Spotify is now showing the text “new release” above…new releases.

• I’m usually pretty skeptical of pieces about industry revenue that don’t take many important factors into account in their analysis, but still - worth seeing that music streaming revenue grew at pretty much the same rate as inflation this past year.

• Mat Dryhurst and Mkay World on Twitter discussing if / why there’s “no good music” anymore. It’s a nuanced argument that I can’t weigh on in this small section alone, but I have to say I both agree and disagree.