Preface: I thought I had posted this entry before the Cheap Trick entry. Apparently, I had not. So, even though the listening experience and the writing experience (for me) was out of alphabetical order, for you (dear reader) it appears to be accurate. My entry on The Cars, however, is still to come!
C is for Chicano Batman and Childish Gambino
I
The kids call this
psychedelic rock.
I don’t know what
that means, but I
can tell you that
Chicano Batman
makes noisy soul
music, dance pop
against weird
production choices,
lo-fi drum sounds,
over-the- top
synthesizers,
funky guitar, and
easy going, one
might say “chill”
vocals and happy,
romantic lyrics.
You can dance
if you want to.
It’s appealing,
groovy–I like this
music, but as I
listen for the first
time in what might
be a few years, it
sounds pretty new
to me, like I listened
maybe four or five
times and just
filed it away.
It was a record
by a band that
intrigued me, that
I sincerely liked
but with which I
did not fall in love.
II
In contrast, Awaken, My Love
by Childish Gambino is kind
of a revelation. Along some
of the same lines, a kind of
psychedelic soul music, but from
the first note this record is just
on fire with weirdness and
musical surprises and wild
vocal performances. It feels
like a classic already, a kind
of devotional celebration of
what’s come before while
firmly planted within the here
and now. That melodic refrain
in “Redbone,” I swear I’ve
heard it before somewhere
else, and Glover’s vocal on
this one and on “California,”
strange, comedic, over the top.
I realize I am in the presence
of a funny man, an actor,
a tremendous presence, a true
renaissance man.
Notes on the vinyl editions: Invisible People, ATO Records, 2020, white vinyl. Awaken, My Love, Glassnote Records, 2016, black vinyl.
If you are joining me for the first time, I am attempting to listen to all of my records in alphabetical order and then to write a poem-like-thing for each artist represented there. This is the first time I have written about two different artists in the same post. It may become a thing.
.
michael jarmer 