eat the rich, honk honk.
What does a goose and LCD Soundsystem have in common? Late-stage capitalism.
Hey ya’ll, this baby is back and ready for a rebrand! Thanks for tuning into the b-side. . If you’re here for the music, scroll down for the playlist. Also, RIP hot girl summer so here’s a playlist I made (and forced people to play at parties) that got me through.
I’ve been listening to LCD Soundsystem’s recently released “Electric Lady Session,” a live album that features tons of great covers and fan favorites—including “call the police” (originally from their 2017 album american dream) and the closing line “eat the rich.”
Really, a lot of the american dream album critiques capitalistic ideas (just look at the lyrics for the title song) and the songs in Electric Lady Sessions are no different. You know who also (literally) flies in the face of capitalistic systems? This not-so-friendly neighborhood goose which I am certain is either an anarchist or a Marxist. Or just an asshole.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, recently the internet has been obsessed with the Untitled Goose Game and the dozens of memes that have spawned from it (I’m also not the only one.) My favorite is this one referencing Kate McKinnon’s controversial SNL sketch about cats:
The premise of the game is simple: you’re a goose and you wreak havoc in a middle-class, quintessentially English neighborhood. You bully, honk, and nip your way through the game ruining neighborly relationships and creating lasting trauma in the process. The chaotic nature of this game makes the goose a stand-in for anything, well, chaotic. Politics? A god-less world? You name it and it’s probably been goose meme-ed. LCD Soundsystem says it well:
The old guys are frightened and frightening to behold
Their heads come out fighting and still doing what they're told
But you're waking a monster that will drive you from your orioles of gold
And your body will get cold
I’ve also noticed the use of the goose as an anti-capitalist meme figure—which is hilarious and makes a lot of sense. There is no way this goose isn’t an anarchist. It pillages and steals and even throws a bra into a neighbor’s yard. Does it care about social contract theory and neoliberalism (it shouldn’t, it’s a goose?) At the very least, it’s utterly lawless. You think this goose cares about profit? This goose does not give a FUCK. This goose is here fighting the bourgeoise (a rich man who grows roses!) and leading the revolution (break the broom of the militaristic shopkeeper!) on its own, serving as a constant reminder that your value is not tied to your productivity. Unless, ironically, you are this goose whose entire gameplay subsists on completing a chaotic to-do list and utterly destroying these townspeople’s sense of self.
also a bonus meme for media folks.
Really, what is there not to like about an evil goose whose sole purpose is to make the lives of others miserable? Go play this game if you can because soon the world as we know it will crumble. Take it from LCD Soundsystem: we’re in late-stage capitalism now and lawlessness is inevitable.
Yeah, call the police [editors note: I guess these people haven’t tried?]
Just chase the cops [this goose chases everyone]
Yeah, call the police [seriously, why does no one call the cops on this goose]
You're crazy, man [yeah, this goose is out here]
Yeah, call 'em up [the goose probably threw your phone in a well by now]
Just call the police [wait, is the goose the police??]
The first in line [this goose is antifa, destroying it from the inside]
They're gonna eat the rich [honk honk]
Now, on to the music.
the playlist this time:
Anyway, it’s October now. Cue the seasonal depression! Cue being dumped on Halloween (happened to me!) Cue frenetic weather that changes faster than the Trump administration! October is always an angst-filled time for me, so I’ve included post-punk, step on my neck r&b, good ol’ fashioned riot grrrl, and some electric guitar with a ton of reverb. Keeping with the lawless theme, screw order. Hit shuffle and enjoy. Preferably while reading the Communist Manifesto SparkNotes for the seventeenth time because all your liberal social circles keep talking about it at parties and you just desperately want to fit in.
Below are some highlights, for those of you too lazy to look up the tracklist/apple music users:
what i’ve been smashing on repeat:
Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow - Freddie Mercury
Did I ask to cry this month? Absolutely not, but this reissued audio and new music video for “Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow” had me in tears. A queer, interracial love story! A gripping musical plotline in the form of a cute cartoon! AIDS awareness! I ugly cried all seven times I watched this. Visuals aside, the melody is simple and nostalgic—which good classic rock should do. It also lifts a lot of progressions used in Classical music which bands like The Beatles are famous for. Mercury’s theatrical voice is charged with both power and pain, making the listener (or me) unsure if the song ends in triumph or tragedy. I love me some minor chord progressions, especially alongside lyrics like:
“Got caught in love and stepped in sinking sand
You had to go and ruin all our plans”
which is a great (Shakespearian, because the iambs here are a little loose) heroic couplet. Daddy Shakespeare would be proud.
feeling destructive? listen to this:
A Thing You Call Joy - Sinead O’Brien
Last month, Irish poet and songwriter Sinead O’Brien released her latest single A “Thing You Call Joy.” With verses set in Limerick, O’Brien’s voice undulates perfectly in rhythm against a post-punk inspired backing. While the vocals hold little to no pitch, O’Brien manages to create melody through metric verse and pure scansion. The verse itself is driven by powerful imagery that simply flows forward—like liquid, like time.
Forget You - Park Ji Yoon
The singer of one of my favorite songs, Park Ji Yoon returns with a new single that showcases her growth as a songwriter and perhaps her experience that only comes with time. Roughly translated (no official English translation yet), the song is about not being able to let go of a former lover and wondering if it is easier to forget or remember. On a personal note, October is the month my seasonal depression moves in, my past love lives have fallen apart, and different types of grief have gripped my life. Explains why I often turn to songs like this at this time. Park’s soft, but powerful vocals always sound full of longing and beautifully complement these lyrics of regret and buried pain [editors note: I’ve provided a liberal translation below to account nuance and feel]:
그때 왜 우리는 이런 것 하나도 몰랐을까 [Then why didn’t we know a single thing back then]
너의 그 작은 숨이 가장 큰 상처였단 걸 [That it would be your breath that would leave the biggest scar]
더는 불안하지 마요 [From now on, don’t worry anymore]
때로는 그리워 마음이 아파도 [Even if my lonely heart sometimes hurts]
이게 나아요 [This is better]
이젠 잊어요 [Now, forget]
The track is still classically Korean. At some point, Twitter went wild over the idea of “han” which is sort of generational anger and almost piercing sadness that binds all Korean people by blood. Koreans, for some reason, love to be sad. Their ballads are unparalleled at achieving this and come fully packaged with popular chord progressions and climax points. Park Ji Yoon’s music often steers away from this, but the feel of this song—something I want to reach out and touch—is still uniquely Korean.
Couch Combover - Girl Band [can’t find it on youtube]
TW: If you suffer from anxiety or are prone to panic attacks, I would avoid this album and this song due to the distortive sounds and potential triggers in the lyrics.
Distorted electric guitar galore! Dublin post-punk group Girl Band spent their 2012 with what Pitchfork calls a distortion-filled but unremarkable debut. It’s 2019 now, and I’m here to tell you that Girl Band’s return is not unremarkable. This album is devastating in the best ways. When I listen to this, I hear the concept of sound being disassembled and put together over and over again. The lyrics to “Couch Combover”, which depict a grotesque recollection of public masturbation, are layered over buzzing guitars that sound like a swarm of bees rushing directly into your head and reaches climax around 2:19. Suddenly, the bees drop dead; a single snare beats like a heart; the words tumble into moans and nothingness.
Side note: If you want to know what it’s like in my head, listen to Amygdela off the same album or see the lyrics here.
I’ll Kill You - Summer Walker (feat. Jhene Aiko)
Summer Walker’s new album is a departure from her slow, groovy singles and previous EPs. “I’ll Kill You” is an ode to love, but perhaps the Shakespearian kind where wives plot murder and lovers choose death over the prospect of loneliness. Walker’s voice is still as smooth as ever as she croons about how “I’ve been waiting so long for a love like this” in this classic r&b track (complete with a T-Pain inspired auto-tuned flair) to really emphasize a dreamy, matter-of-fact vibe. She doesn’t need it—trust me I’ve seen her live—and neither does Jhene Aiko who joins in with honey-toned vocals telling her man that “You better tell them hoes fall in line/I do not play about mine” an added twist of the knife in this complex and possessive track.
Girls! Girls! Girls! - Liz Phair
“Girls! Girls! Girls!”, off the iconic album Exile in Guyville is a short track. Two verses, both the same and a chorus repeated after each verse. Some context: Liz Phair was part of the second coming of riot grrl, a wholly feminist music movement that produced famous punk bands Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill (both are in this playlist). The album Exile in Guyville is not only a commentary on women in society but is also a song-by-song response to The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Phair says
“What I love about this song that very few people comment on is the obnoxious sort of stand-up comic in the back that I’m being. I’m being second vocal where I’m imitating the narrator, which is also me.”
The grainy sound of the first verse does feel more like backing vocals. Why repeat a single verse, twice, and make that the entire song? Later, she says
“We try to live a certain way, but when it gets really hard we sometimes flip the tables. We use it to our advantage, and then we go back to trying to make the world the way it ought to be. ”
Certainly, the stripped-down guitar and vocals remind me of a Nirvana demo and Phair’s cadence even gives off hints of The Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan. Simplicity is key—a statement in a track all about deception.
Chance - Angel Olsen
Angel Olsen is back with a freshly released album and the order is definitely intentional. The final track, “Chance”, doesn’t have a fancy production. But, it is a perfect ending filled with ghostly falsetto, step-harmony key changes, and a BPM to slow enough to sway eye-to-eye in the living room. Olsen’s voice not only croons—it mourns and flutters across a flurry of self-realization with lyrics like
I've had a love
Worst feeling I've ever had is gone
It's gone
I know how it all comes back, I know too well……I'm not looking for the answer
Or anything that lasts
I just want to see some beauty
Try and understand
If we got to know each other
How rare is that?
The nostalgia is intentional here, with a sweeping orchestral landscape that ebbs and flows like the ocean at night. Intentional key-changes and bandstand-era rhythm keeping whisk the listener away to a sepia-colored memory; the sound of glass cracking the moment you felt a flame burn out; a final slow dance at senior prom with a boy you wouldn’t admit you were in love with. Sometimes, nostalgia is grounding. It’s a reminder that the past may be gone but you—you are still here.
here I rate the things you send me:
A subscriber requested that I feature this song. Here is proof so you don’t think I’ve lost my mind:
I don’t have much to say about this, but the beat is not bad. Then again, I’m a sucker for anything between 80-115 BPM (that is the ideal “bumpin’” beat). I’ve also gotten a number of requests to do a k-pop edit. If anybody is interested, drop a line and I promise I will deliver.
Overall: 7/10. -2 points for being cursed, -1 point for not spitting sicker rhymes. +3 for a classic hip-hop beat. +4 for Yoshi dismantling the systems that bind them.
Thanks for listening to my October ranting, and if you have any weird playlists or songs that give off some chaotic goose energy make sure to reply and let me know.
-jb.