Switched on Pop - Switches Brew: blink-182, Kate Bush, BewhY, The Pointer Sisters, Saint Levant

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Another installment of Switches Brew the show where you get to hear from the larger team Switched On Pop team and community about what we're listening to old and new. With recommendations from editor Jolie Myers, producer Reanna Cruz, and listeners Micah Salkind and JT. Songs Discussed Saint Levant - Nails BewhY - Adaptation The Pointer Sisters - Dare Me, I'm So Excited, Jump Junior Jack - Stupidisco blink-182 - Man Overboard, What's My Age Again? All The Small THings White Poppy - Orchid Child Odyssey - Native New Yorker Kate Bush - The Morning Fog Spencer Zahn, Dave Harrington, Jeremy Gustin - A Visit To Harry's House Cicada Ensemble - Murmuration Clip Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It's free for iOS users. Welcome to Switchdown Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Today we're doing another installment of Switch's Brew, where you get to hear from the larger team and community about what we're listening to old and new. And today we're joined by our producer, Rihanna Cruz.

Howdy. And esteemed editor, Julie Myers. Welcome. Hey. All right, let's dive right in. Nate, what are you listening to? I'm listening to the track Nails. by Saint-Levant.

San Levant is a rapper who was born in Jerusalem and raised in Gaza and I'm a sucker for his trilingual flow moving between English, Arabic and Arabic and French. And I love the way that he merges this kind of classic hip-hop braggadocio with very personal and real concerns about things like going through customs and trying to get a visa. Listen, to keep it a hundred, the only thing stressing me out in this life is a visa. And also the fact that my girl doesn't like that I'm followed by me a Khalifa. He does it all with this flow that in a weird way reminds me a little bit of how Rihanna

once described ice spice. Do you remember that, Rihanna? Unbothered. Yeah. That's a new paradigm in the hip-hop world, the unbothered flow. He's like, even though he's sometimes rapping about some pretty heavy stuff, it's always in this way that he's like, I'm just attached. It's not bothering me.

I also think similarly, not to the extent of Ice Spice, of course, but St. Levant did go viral on Twitter for a moment for his trilingual flow, like you said. But I think a part of it is like the virality can stem from this sort of easygoing, unbothered, like smooth flow. When you say that it's unbothered, there's a clarity in the lyricism there. There's no obfuscation. There's no metaphor, or at least in English there didn't seem to be. He's saying what he means. It's very clear what he means and message delivered.

I didn't know about his viral moment. This track suggests to me that this story. artist is going places. I'm curious to see what Sant Levant does next. For now, I'm going to be digging on nails. All right, Jolie Myers. What are you listening to? It's funny that you pick me next because I also have an international rapper for everybody today. Great. It's a guy named B. Y. He's from South Korea. And the track I picked is called Adaptation from an album called The Movie Star. I think we should just start with actually just the opening moments of the track, which are also the opening moments of the album. Let's just hear just a couple seconds of that.

We're getting in tune. So you're hearing an orchestra warming up. Yeah. And I think that that's actually like a really good indication of what's to come on this track and the album. All right. So you get a sense of B-Y's flow there, propulsive. Not unbothered. Bothered.

Another unbothered. This is bothered. This is bothered. Definitely bothered. Yeah. He's got a little edge, little edge in his vocal flow. What you're getting here from his flow, propulsion, bothered. You're not getting much of the orchestra yet, but you heard a little bit of taste of it there.

But I think what he is doing here is coming out very cinematic. you're getting him kind of throwing you into the song, throwing you into kind of a car chase moment of the cinematic quality of this song. You're getting into the flow. And then something really interesting happens in this song about halfway through and I think we should listen to it.

Orchestra's back. That is hot. I feel like the time of the orchestra. That is hot. You know what that was? That was a scene change. Yeah. I feel like there's like a time signature shift

and there's a mash-up of the orchestra at the beginning but also the electronic elements and yet we're going into a new scene. Yeah. And so something that I think is just really interesting about this song and some of these themes follow throughout the album is there's no really like traditional song structure. You feel more like you're watching a movie. You have like act one, act two, act three. You're moving through scenes.

You're switching feeling. And I just think it's a really interesting approach to songwriting. And it's also just kind of fun to listen to. It's an interesting way to engage with a song. Takes you on a journey. Cinematic. I feel like this is continuing in the tradition of the K-pop that you have shared with us so much on the show, where there doesn't have to be one single vibe through a song that mashing up different feelings, going in all kinds of different directions, is a lot of the pleasure of listening to the music.

I really enjoy, as you put it, the cinematic quality here. Like, it really does feel like we are starting a film. It was a James Bond chase scene at the beginning, and then, like, scene shifts, and we're seeing the next thing. I imagine there's got to be some amazing videos that go along to it because it's so often multimedia, multivisual. Yeah, I think what you say about the sort of K-pop vibe of it in that it takes all the rules, mashes them together and makes new rules, is absolutely right.

It fits in that tradition. Okay, let's move to a listener recommendation. This comes from friend of the show and house music scholar, Micah Salkind. Right now, I'm listening to the Pointer Sisters Dare Me from 1985. What I love about this song is that, The hook is just like infectious and saccharine and wonderful. And it's got this great lyric about stepping across the line. Baby make a move, step across the line.

And it's been sampled by a lot of people, including Junior Jack, famously with Stupid Disco in 2004. But the original is just such a bop and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't heard it. I have to be honest, I hadn't heard this point or sister song. It did go to number 11 when it came out. I'm much more familiar with like, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. And jump.

But I really like this. This is a fun energy. First of all, thank you for your honesty, Charlie. This is a safe space here at Switches Brew. So we always want you to be candid about your shortcomings. The vocal harmonies on this are the first thing that grabbed me. You can't hit harmonies like that unless you're sisters. They're so perfect and they have so much intensity.

I love listening to a group that's clearly done this so many times. It's like second nature to them. He said that a lot of people have sampled it, and it reminds me of how fun it is to follow the sample. If you hear something cool in a song that you're listening to now, go sample spulunking. Like, go back and find what that original song was, and you're going to find amazing gems. Sample skulunking. I feel like this is a whole new format. I love it, Julie, yes.

I'm revealing my hobbies here on Switch on Pop this week. Sampleunking. T.M. Yeah, TM. You can find some really, really, really cool stuff, some amazing gems, both obscure and not. Speaking of spulunking or going back in time, maybe we can go a few decades into the past, Rihanna. I know you have been digging on some music that was kind of of my youth. I'm excited for your recommendation.

What are you hearing? Yeah, so my recommendation is the song Man Overboard by Blink 182, and it's crazy that you qualify by being a few decades ago because it feels so timeless in a way, I think. I saw Blink 182 like last week in concert with, you know, their best lineup, what I think is their best lineup at least. Mark Hoppish, Travis Barker, and Tom DeLong, who rejoined the band in 2022 after a seven-year absence. And they dropped this track in the middle of their set, and I had forgotten how much I love this song. Like, I'd put it in, like, my top three Blink 182 tracks. That's a riff.

Absolutely. I mean, the whole song is essentially, like, hook after hook, after hook. And I think it has everything that makes Blink 182 great as a trio, right? Like, there's extremely catchy melodies. there's callbacks to other really big pop punk songs. Like the beginning sounds like blister in the sun by Violent Fems to me. Wait, hold on, we got to hear that. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just missing the snare hits, you know? Da-da! Yeah. But it's great. Like, every moment in the song is something to celebrate. And there's parts where every member in the trio is allowed to shine. You know, there's Travis's drumming in the chorus,

which like just goes stupid. It does, it does. And the reason why the Mark Tom and Travis lineup of Blink 182 is so great to me, because they've had, you know, other people, they just recently had Matt Skiba in the band for a few years. The reason why this lineup is so great because you have these vocalists that sing very differently, where Mark has a lower, more tempered register.

I took her out. It was a Friday night. And Tom, in contrast, is very whiny. And very loud and much more classic pop punk in his vocals. On this song, they blend together so perfectly in the chorus, where they kind of like do this back and forth duet. And it highlights what makes both of their vocals so alluring. You know, when I think Blink 182, I think Counterpoint,

I think interwoven melodies. This is so cool. As you should. Never recognize this. As you should. I mean, it came out in the year 2000, so I guess over two decades ago. But it's right at the point

that I consider like peak blink, which is between Enema of the State in 99 and take off your pants and jacket in 2001. This song is firmly in the middle and it was a bonus track off their live album. It stands on its own. really indicative of this pivotal time in the group where they're switching away from the sort of heavy pop punk sound that defined their earlier records like Cheshire Cat and going into this more

polished poppy, hooky, melodic sound. It's one of my favorite Blink 182 tracks and I heard it and immediately went, oh my God, I forgot how much I love this song. So that's a testament to how great the melody is. What are the lyrics at the beginning again? Can we listen that one more time? There's a dissonance between those catchy, bright melodies that you're talking about, Rihanna, and how dark the lyrics are at the beginning. It's like, it's all going to be over, soon will all be gone, and you're just like smiling and bobby. It's like, that's a clever compositional tactic they use here. Yeah, I think Blick 182 has a tendency to get very dark. And this is something that they did on their later records.

But this track specifically is about their old drummer from the 90s before Travis, who was an alcoholic and got kind of kicked out of the band because of such alcoholism. So the song is essentially their letter to him in a way, which is dark, you know. And it follows in the tradition of later blink songs that, you know, skew more personal and more intense and less like, you know, toilet humor. But that's why I think this is great. It's like timeless and it fits in the blink tradition in any year. Did you?

Nate stole my point. I was going to say that. Basically, there's an extremely sophisticated thing that they're doing here where they're singing a song about how we're all going to die, but it makes you want to jump for joy. That's better than what I said. You should use that. Yeah, unfortunately, this is Jeopardy rules.

You do have to hit the buzzer first. What is? I want to jump for joy. While contemplating as essential dread, if you had told middle school me that pop punk was going to sound timeless, I would have been stunned. I think there are certain genres where, like, you hear it and it puts you in a particular place in time. But this sound, I think especially because of Travis Barker's endless production credits on contemporary popular music, like this still just sounds like it could have been produced today. You can't see this, but Charlie literally just gave himself a lip ring. It's very tomdalong of you.

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Discoveringlao and let you emvolver for susentia. Let's move to another listener recommendation. This comes from, I think, Switchdown Pop's very first listener. Grandma? Or certainly fan anyway. Hi, I'm J.T. and the song I'd like to share is Orchid Child by White Poppy. The song came out in 2020, but I've been revisiting it a lot lately since coming out as trans and presenting myself in my true gender.

I listen to it almost every day when I walk through the train because it acts as both armor and an affirmation. Well, that's freaking beautiful. I feel like I'm dreaming. I've not like a sonic force field. It does feel like a cloud of music that you can see yourself walking in and through. And it's really beautiful to hear JT's reflection on how powerful it's been and affirming their identity. I am curious, do you all have songs that have sort of served as an important guide at pivotal moments in your life? I got really into Kate Bush, I think my sophomore year of college.

Quick pause. It's an important thing for everybody to know is that Rihanna Cruz listens to the very awesome thing way before anyone else is doing. So, like, when you were listening to Blink 182 in middle school, that was the nadir of Blank 1.82, and you were way, I mean, Kate Bush never went away, but Kate Bush is very popular right now. You had Kate Push tattoos before anybody else. I just want to give you credit. I'm sorry to interrupt you.

Ahead of the curve. No, I appreciate that. I love being a trendsetter. But similar to J.T. and this song, I think, like, I gravitated towards Kate Bush at a time in my life. when I felt very lost and finding her music and listening to Hounds of Love, which has, you know, at times very similar sonic qualities, I think, to this track. The sort of ethereal nature of this song speaks to a lot of deep cuts of Miss Bush. Do you want to give us a track?

The Morning Fog, for example. That almost occupies the same Gossamer Sonic World as JT's pick. That's really cool. I listen to Native New Yorker by Odyssey in times of trouble to remind myself where I come from. Nate, can you relate to this? Running pretty, New York City girl? Oh, yeah. Taking the subways, all the people.

It's my, it's, it's, it's almost autobiographical. Talk about Sonic Force Field. I feel empowered to do anything. Oh, man. Nate, have you heard the Wendy Williams mass singer version? No, because that will change your life. I'm ready to have my life change. Okay, so just to clarify, this is coming from the masked singer lips, Wendy Williams, Native New Yorker.

Sometimes a cover so transcends the original that you forget any element that the original ever existed. And I think we have a case of that here. I heard this before I ever heard the Odyssey version of Native New Yorker. And I think that really says a lot. Julie, what do you got? This will surprise no one on the call, but it's a BTS song. Insane Clown Posse. I've lived many lives over the course of my life, but my most recent life is one of being fully devoted to BTS. And the song On from a few years ago, I think, is something that brings me, it brings me a lot of comfort, but it also helps me kind of move through issues, problems, adversity when I come up against it. And I think the chorus is kind of the place for that. happens. So it's pretty literal. Bring the pain on, but sometimes literal works. That's powerful. There's something about the communal singing of bringing the pain on. It's like there's the way through the

pain is together, fight through it. I can totally see how that song works in that way for you. Absolutely. Rather than share my deep emotional truths, sorry, tricked you all into doing so, I'm going to share my pick for the end of Switches brew. I'm having trouble picking because the thing I've been listening to the most. Are you going to do another, like three selections like you did last time again? Because that was way out of pocket. I just have to be, I'm trying to be emotionally honest in the way that I can. And the thing that I'm listening to most is our friend of the show, Dave Harrington made a full instrumental cover version of Harry's house. And that has been in rotation in my house nonstop. But the thing that I really want to share today,

is a song that my friend Ezra shared with me yesterday, which I've probably played a dozen times since, that is in a genre and place that I don't quite know how to name. It's murmuration clip by Cicada Ensemble. It's got these, like, soft synths. Sounds like cicadas. This weird, bouncing marble glass texture and some wild, skittering breakbeats

and super deep bass. It's like what they play at the planetarium before the laser show starts. It's pretty trippy. Well, a murmuration is a flock of birds flying together, moving one direction and another in perfect synchronicity. This feels like it could be a soundtrack to watching a giant flock of starlings move together, perhaps. Oh, I like that. It reminds me a lot of the work of somebody like burial. Yeah, it definitely has that vibe.

This is coming from a London label, so definitely influenced by those scenes. It's contemporary songs just came out. It does this thing with texture that I really enjoy. Like, it had that little bouncy marble thing at the beginning. Wow. Actually, I realized now there was almost like a little bird call, but then there's, it sounds like a glass marble. And it's obviously not in time. It's got this exponential, like, it's bouncing like with gravity.

There's something about how these sounds elicit imagery and feeling and texture. Like I can actually truly touch the music. And it does this thing and sort of crosses my brain into this other sense space that is getting very psychedelic. It's just very compelling instrumental music that on the one hand could sound like background music. It's to the laser show that you're about to go to. But it pulls me in very closely. I want to listen to every little texture. I think it does sound like a soundtrack.

And I think it's really interesting because it connects it to the B.Y. track that I brought today as well. I think we're feeling super cinematic today. I think the B.Y track is more like a film noir or a psychological thriller, and this feels more like an intense emotional documentary kind of space. So we're at a film festival today. Maybe this is my way of not communicating my emotions instead to play some very emotionally intense instrumental music without any, you know, clear lyrical meaning.

I mean, quit describing my life, Charlie. Get out of my head. This has been a delightful time getting to hear what we're all doing, what we're all listening to. Thanks for another fun time doing Switch is Brew. That's a blast. Love here in everyone's picks. Switch on Pop is produced by Raina Cruz, edited by Julie Myers, engineered by Brandon McFarland, illustrations by Arras Gottlie, community management by Abby Barr.

Our executive producer is Nishon Kerwa, or member of the Vox Media Podcast. podcast network and a production of Vulture. You can find more Switched On Pop at Switchedonpop.com or on social media at Switched On Pop. We would love to hear what you were listening to. We'll be back next week on Tuesday. And until then, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.