Welcome to OPE!, the ranch dressing of music blogs by Brady Gerber. OPE! is a daily blog, but this weekly newsletter includes more song reviews, my favorite links of the week, and exclusive essays. All typos are intentional.
Well, hello there. How are you?
And gah!! My one-week break turned into a two-week break suddenly (everything is OK now) so I feel a little behind. Happy Spring. Luckily this newsletter is stacked with really quality music and also Justin Timberlake. Look at me being so brave in criticizing Justin Timberlake.
Anyway, let’s get to the dang thing. Here are this week’s links and songs.
MY FAVORITE LINKS OF THE WEEK
AI can help us do a lot of things. AI can’t give us good taste.
Speaking of AI, this may be the best thing I’ve read yet on how AI is affecting various job markets today and not just “in the future.” (It’s a sobering but good read that feels more nuanced than most lazy doomsday posts.)
I’m pretty eh about the new Beyoncé album—I like “BODYGUARD” and “II MOST WANTED” but once again, I don’t want my pop music to feel like homework if it also doesn’t make me feel any other emotion—and it’s inspired a lot of bad writing that tiptoes around Beyonce’s obsessive fanbase. Except for this deep dive into how Beyoncé likes to hijack different genres and sometimes does more harm than good to her peers. (Playing devil’s advocate against this article, genres are also silly and restrictive and musicians can do whatever they want, and if Beyoncé fans are discovering new artists through this album, that’s a nice thing.) (This all also reminds me of the only bad review I remember reading about RENAISSANCE, which is quite a good review too.)
An investigation into Pitchfork’s most notorious “review.” (I’m actually friends with Nate and I still happily contribute to Pitchfork, but I have no problems in saying that he crushed this assignment.)
The Atlantic updated its list of Great American Novels. (Overall I think this is a solid list! No list is perfect and the point is to treat this as a starting point rather than a definitive guide. The only personal glaring omission was Gravity’s Rainbow, a pretentious book that has aged incredibly well, but otherwise, I think these books cover a lot of great ground; I’d gladly recommend any of these books to anyone wanting to expand their reading lists.)
The decaying digital movie and TV show crisis. (Netflix, a company I use a lot, and its competitors are not in the preservation business, and we’re already seeing the effects.)
Death and typos: a career in screening online obituary comments.
As extreme heat becomes a more consistent national threat, who will be protected?
I didn’t realize that Tolkien didn’t like Dune.
I’ve been obsessed with Unicorn Overlord, a video game that unfortunately may be too good. (A Final Fantasy Tactics remake would sell nine million copies in two minutes!!!)
THIS WEEK’S MIXTAPE
Tommy Boys – “College Radio”
3.5/4
Tommy Boys are new to me and apparently to most of us. Their lone 2015 self-titled album is their only Bandcamp release other than a few demos, and their new release Tommy Boys Remix is a “light” remix (as in “very” light) of …. you guessed it. I bring this up because I first heard “College Radio” and felt like it was a throwback to the earliest, less self-righteous days of the most recent big emo revival wave … until I realized that the original version of “College Radio” is literally from those early days! No matter. “College Radio” feels light on its feet and very much in line with that more math rock-ish emo era before it was swallowed up by shoegaze, hardcore, and I Think You Should Leave TikTok memes. Give me a good drummer and fun riffs and I’ll never be bored, even from a genre that’s all about finding the profound in stylish boredom.
Truman Black – “Loads of Crisps”
3.5/4
As a member of the unpopular “I like electronic music when it’s made by rock dudes” club, of course, I like Matt Healy’s Diet Coke take on introvert club music, where the club is in my room at night watching YouTube Dark Souls recaps by strangers I’d probably not like in person. I like the Truman Black persona more than Thom Yorke’s impression of a solo singer-songwriter who sold off his one guitar, though “Loads Of Crisps” immediately reminded me of Yorke’s wonderful cover of Mark Mulcahy’s “All for the Best,” which some lonely nights make me think that this is my favorite solo Yorke performance. That or “Dawn Chorus.” Oh yeah, Truman Black. I’m sure a proper new solo album will sound close enough to The 1975 for me to enjoy it. Isn’t all music solo even when it’s with people.
Susan Bear – “Drift”
3.5/4
I literally reviewed Truman Black the day before so Susan Bear must have bought a Home Goods walkie-talkie (ordered from The Grove of course) and has a hotline with the Milky Way’s underpaid intern and was like “Oh BOY do I have a song for you that’ll make you want to lick a cloud.” Licking is not very electrocool, but “Drift” does make me want to go outside. Bear’s new EP is great. Check out “Shake (Say Yes)” next. Passion Pit is rolling in his self-care grave and we all get to benefit.
Tanlines – “Barefoot”
3/4
One second in and I’m hooked with a glistening trio of keys, Nashville guitars (sure, why not Nashville), and a drummer who at least knows how to YouTube “how to have soul and a soul patch while attempting a disco beat in 2024.” “Barefoot” only has one good idea but at least Tanlines has the good sense to not fudge up that groove. Do LA stores sell cowboy hats and boots anymore? Dance music for nerds who are too self-conscious to go to a line dance. Maybe 2024 really is the year of pop stars confusing David Berman as a country star.
Adrianne Lenker – “Fool”
3/4
What beautiful nonsense. I’m a recovering Big Thief fan—I enjoyed their first album and quickly fell off when I realized that they can only rewrite the same three songs—but even I have to admit that I was struck by “Fool.” What a hook. “Fool” makes me remember that Lenker is a creative guitar player, despite seemingly having no sense of humor or human emotion in her songwriting (I’m sure she’s seen an Adam Sandler film) and having an unbearable sense of preciousness that Big Thief fans seem happy to indulge in. (Big “I’d vote for Obama a third term” Thief.) None of this is my business, of course; some music fans want this otherworldly preciousness that feels unattainable in life. Otherwise, what’s the point of art? Nothing wrong with suspense of disbelief or pretending that Karen Dalton doesn’t exist. “Fool” is the moment on Lenker’s new album that put my Big Thief eh-ness on ice and focus on what sounds like the inner workings of homesick birds gossiping at each other.
Yoko Kanno – “Blue” (Feat. Maya)
2.5/4
Yoko Kanno’s original “Blue” plays out over the surreal finale of Cowboy Bebop, an anime that has aged better than most shows that have since been reduced to your high school’s ex-boyfriend’s Hot Topic trash pile. (Remember when Creed the band sucked?) The Cowboy Bebop soundtrack (still great) might still be what most people know Yoko Kanno by. Now she’s rereleased “Blue” with Maya, someone I had to Google only to learn that she is big on TikTok. Good for her. Too bad her bland Billie Eillish impression immediately dates this new version of “Blue” to the early 2020s when teenagers could whisper their way to pop stardom. I get that “Blue” was rewritten for a Honda commercial, but still: Why does this need to exist? The original “Blue,” ironically, sounds more relevant to today’s modern music fan who read that one Pitchfork Parannoul review and is too busy getting into Ozu to bother with rockism or poptimism. Lofi hip hop anime yawns to meh/bleh to.
Justin Timberlake – “No Angels”
2.5/4
I’m delayed in talking about Justin Timberlake because 1) I was out on vacation throughout most of March and 2) I never felt compelled to form a thought to think about thinking about a new Justin Timberlake album. This doesn’t mean I hate the guy or his music. Timberlake reminds me of my younger days when I was the target audience for pop music, and I still weirdly think fondly of *NSYNC’s better-than-drinking-warm-eggs-out-of-Max-Martin’s-flip-flop Christmas album. Mindful of my lazy inclination to “Remember when?” the past decades of popular music in order to dismiss any modern music I don’t like (I’m in my 30s, obviously), I’m nostalgic for a time when pop stars could get away with being vaguer in their music and lyrics and their jobs were to present fun and the “idea” of fun for the sake of just being fun and not trying to fit themselves into some larger grand narrative. This is why the whole flailing indie sleaze movement makes me roll my eyes. Everyone wants sleazy music but no one wants to be or will accept actual sleaziness; self-righteousness is the one thing that unites modern rock, indie, and pop fans in the United States. As Popcast rightfully points out, Usher was Timberlake’s musical twin, and, though both performers are still big enough to headline a Super Bowl halftime show, User was able to navigate celebrity much more smoothly. The MCU-ification of pop continues to slog along and poor Justin (and even Usher) only knows how to perform the music that first made him famous. Only one of the two has embraced being washed. Growing up is hard. Still, “No Angels” is underwhelming. After all these words, I have nothing interesting to say about the music itself except that the bass sounds better than average. At least it doesn’t try to act deep.
And that’s it!
Until next Wednesday, as always.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
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Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. Stock photos by Substack unless credited. Animations made using FlipaClip and EZGIF. All typos are intentional.