Music Molly

SCINTILLATING MUSICAL MOMENTS MEGAMIX PART 4

Hello, it's me. I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to read...my blog.

Hello to the blog readers and the newsletter subscribers. It seems like a good time to hit you with a Musical Moments Megamix...last time I wrote about enjoying bro EDM and the savage sadness of David Bowie's "Five Years," today...we have...

a hype song from 24 years ago that is about a cow

a quick dip into Post Malone's new country album

a new track from Small Jesters

Blog Posts of the Recent Past

...and quickly before we get into all that, I'm doing a live podcast show in Los Angeles on September 30th: a Pop Pantheon panel on Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the millennial diva conundrum, at Dynasty Typewriter. Get yr tickets here...okay, back to our blog business...

La Vaca

First, a musical gift from the universe, specifically from our neighbors. They were throwing a backyard party when we returned home from a visit to the exciting neighborhood of Hollywood, and the music was bumpin, and the song they were playing was so hype that I had to Shazam it..."La Vaca," a song from the year 2000 by the Dominican artist Mala Fe.

I liked the fast pace, the vocalist's gruff delivery, and the fact that I could understand that the chorus of the song pretty much goes "the cow...moo!" in Spanish over and over. 19 years before Doja Cat released her breakthrough single "Mooo!", Mala Fe found bovine inspiration for his own tune. A bit of clicking around revealed a 2018 live version somehow even faster than the original, with Mala Fe in a superb business on top, party on bottom outfit. ¡LA VACA!

Posty Goes Country

On yesterday morning's Ambulatory August walk, I listened to Post Malone's new country album, F-1 Trillion. It is as loaded with dazzling blue chip country stars—Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, not one but TWO Luke Combs guest slots—as a good baked potato is loaded with cheese, sour cream and chives. I found it a pleasant listen, and I think between the lonesome ballads and the stomp-clap party rock, there's going to be some absolutely mondo chartbusters in here. If you don't mind, I will write down some highlights with a strict blog criteria to keep things zippy.

Song title: "Wrong Ones"
Guest star: Tim McGraw
Central lyrical conceit: I'm lookin' for the right one, but them wrong ones keep lookin' at me
Molly's notes: Sinister banjo. McGraw brags about his farmer's tan and "six-pack"—I assumed he was talking about having six beers at the handy, but then I gave it a moment of extra thought, bit the bullet, googled "shirtless Tim McGraw" and lord a'mighty, he's actually talking about his abs. Congratulations to Tim McGraw on the six-pack.

Song title: "Finer Things"
Guest star: Hank Williams, Jr.
Central lyrical conceit: I got a thing for the finer things
Molly's notes: Love that the album title "F-1 Trillion" isn't a song title, but instead just one of the laundry list of luxury country items this song celebrates, along with a camo-green Lamborghini, a Solo cup of Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve ($2,079 for 750ml on rarebourbonshop.com, you can add a gift message for just $9.95), and "wagyu on my grill." Now real Wagyu beef is some delicate stuff, and I just have to hope Post is paying attention while manning the grill, lest all that gorgeous marbling ends up a charred wreck.

Song title: "Pour Me A Drink"
Guest star: Blake Shelton
Central lyrical conceit: Somebody pour me a drink
Molly's notes: A touch of fiddle, a Gulf Coast lightness that suggests the great Jimmy Buffett (who is a role model I wish more artists would look to as they age, because the older you get, the more you want to relax, and Relaxation Music is like liquor—even in recessions, we're always gonna need it), and a theme almost genius in its simplicity: pour me a drink. Why? Because I want one. Near the end, Post says "Pour me a drink" and Blake goes "I'm on it, buddy." I wonder if Post and Blake are aware of the Korean etiquette for drinking soju, where you never pour your own glass, and the glass should always be full. I would like to go to Korean BBQ with Post Malone.

Song title: "Losers"
Guest star: Jelly Roll
Central lyrical conceit: Let's hear it for the losers
Molly's notes: Barely a country song, this sounds more like British landfill indie, or even a subtle boy band ballad. I'm happy this song exists because we need to keep up the musical tradition of celebrating the loser, from Steely Dan to Beck. And we need to be explicit about it too, subtext is for cowards. One of the songwriters on this track is named Charlie Handsome.

Song title: "Hide My Gun"
Guest star: HARDY
Central lyrical conceit: I'd kill a man for ya...would you hide my gun?
Molly's notes: Okay this one made me laugh. We get a dreamy, beachy guitar soundscape and Post cooing about buying an interesting chica a $38 coconut rum (jeezum crow, $38 for a Malibu? Are you in Monaco?) and it all sounds very sweet, and then Post says "I ain't sayin' I'm a killer or if I'll ever be, but hypothetically...would you hide my gun?" I guess it's a classic monogamous parlor game, you can't watch The Sopranos with your sig O without eventually asking them how much mob business they could stomach going on in your household, but it really cracked me up to see Post Malone go from a charming date to a soft pitch of murderous vengeance / incriminating collusion. True romance, babe.

Black Toyota

When I see that there is new music from Sun Kin, I just get excited, is all. "Black Toyota" is a killer new collab between Sun Kin (aka Kabir Kumar) and J Lebow from Guppy (have you heard "Texting & Driving"? A banger), who together are Small Jesters (good name).

The song, released thru Lauren Records, is fractured and weird yet vibrant and super catchy, in the maximalist manner of an Animal Collective or Dirty Projectors tune from back in the day. The staccato synth breakdown that chains together the lyrics about errant tomatoes and poorly parked cars is quite invigorating. Also they rhyme "Toyota" with "iota" so you know I'm all in.