Select Frequency #19
American Civil War 2
So… how about America?
I’m sorry, this isn’t a venue where I will talk about politics this directly often, but my music listening reflects my mood, and my mood lately has been one of irrevocable sadness. I, and 300 million others, are ruled by a tyrant, a tyrant who is threatening countries we have been allies of for nearly a century. Countries with citizens I am friends of, countries who never wanted nor asked for this. Masked henchmen are roaming our streets ripping brown people from their vehicles and their homes and asking for their papers before whisking them off to concentration camps. My country is dying before my eyes, to a man who eats the Filet-O-Fish at McDonalds and shits it into a golden plated toilet. It’s poetic, in a sickening way.
Consequently, I’ve redirected my shame with a good ol’ shot of what I love about America. From twangly diddies about America’s natural beauties, to ballads consecrating the outlaw violence wielded by the makers of our culture and the substances consumed to quiet considerations of this violence — the ceaseless, teaming violence that surrounds us and eats itself and everyone in the way and is eating us once more from inside out. The beauty of an American is that they are a contradictory thing and always have been. These contradictions are merely surfacing once again. Are we a free people, or a people forever divided by class and race? Are we courageous in the face of tyranny, or will we bend the knee like so many have before in this situation? I believe that our good principles, our liberality, our solidarity, our empathy, and our tenacity still exist and will rise in this moment. They already are, as my patriotic brothers and sisters hounding ICE in Minneapolis attest to as I write this. I am no longer afraid of losing, but merely of the loss that will now necessarily follow along the path to victory. I’ll need my patriotism for the times ahead, but for now all I can do is jam the quintessentially American: tunes for the belligerent, proud, and brave individual who will stand up for their neighbors and their country when needed.
Okay, so this was also a lot of hedging to justify this mostly-country playlist, sue me. The playlist is:
Dolly Parton - “Jolene”
The Osbourne Brothers - “Rocky Top”
Animal Collective - “Summertime Clothes”
Bad Bunny - “Moscow Mule”
Andre Nickitina - “Ayo For Yayo”
Cody Jinks - “Must Be The Whisky”
Mobb Deep - “Temperatures Rising”
Highwaymen - “Highwayman”
No Age - “Sleeper Hold”
Panopticon - “Snow Burdened Branches”
Note: Panopticon have completely removed their discography from Spotify — I have accordingly linked to Panopticon's Bandcamp. Go buy their music!
Dolly Parton - “Jolene”
from Jolene // 1973 // Country
Dolly Parton is my Country icon. Whether Nashville is capable of producing as ubiquitous of a star as Dolly was ever again seems unlikely at this point, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Beyond her staunch feminism and constant charity work, along with her titular Dollywood theme park down in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which I went to as a child, her discography is well worth plucking for the delightful slice-of-American-life songs that made her such a presence in Country. Of course, “Jolene” has always been my favorite; a predictable choice to be sure, but a deserved one regardless. Its plucky little riff and effortless jaunt juxtaposes strongly against Dolly’s impotent desperation. You feel the real life anxiety and longing behind her desperate begging to Jolene, an anxiety so real Dolly struggles to play the song live and rarely does. A masterclass of the depths of human emotion, if the most saddened and heartbroken ones.
The Osbourne Brothers - “Rocky Top”
released as a single in 1967 // Bluegrass
Speaking of Tennessee, the spirit of Appalachia lives in its Bluegrass. A seminal Bluegrass hit, “Rocky Top” went through several iterations after being originally written by husband and wife duo Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in 1967. The first recording by the Osbourne Brothers, which I’ve included here, became a live staple for the group, but wouldn’t gain national recognition until 1970 when Lynn Johnson recorded his own version. Since then it’s been covered by countless artists (even the aforementioned Dolly Parton) and even been ratified as the Official Song of the State of Tennessee. A harsh irony when “Rocky Top” itself laments the loss of an old way of life to the ever-mischievous future.
Animal Collective - “Summertime Clothes”
from Merriweather Post Pavilion // 2009 // Hipstertronica
Animal Collective are a band for placating the Russian Liberal lurking within me, and Merriweather Post Pavilion emanates the most noxious of these traits. A sonic dreamstate quality slips Merriweather Post Pavilion effortlessly by, an effervescent experience that doesn’t mean much of anything without direct involvement, that yet also becomes increasingly unpleasant with direct listening. It is most comfortably experienced in dissociation, broadly subsumed as a flavor of music that finds comfort not in what is or can be, but what it leaves behind and the maximization of comfortable feelings once it is all over. The very quality of itself that makes the album — and thus the selected ethereal pop banger “Summertime Clothes” — rewarding is exclusive to inaction. Woe to those who learn to live like this.
Bad Bunny - “Moscow Mule”
from Un Verano Sin Ti // 2022 // Reggaeton
I’d normally ignore the culture war, but with the escalation of ICE violence and their previous threats to stalk Super Bowl LX, I’m feeling certain that we’ll see Bad Bunny in headlines again very soon. There is no denying that the current moment is defined by the boundaries between Americans and nonAmericans, a boundary of friend and foe politics stressed to undermine liberalism and legitimize authoritarianism, and that Bad Bunny lives on this boundary as a Latin American and that his halftime show at Super Bowl LX will have certain political connotations because of the regime Americans now live under. This is all supererogatory to the actual point, which is that Bad Bunny’s Latin Trap sound is sharpened to a razors edge and possesses obvious mass-appeal. The production is tropical and warm, a soundscape of a suffocating and vivid beach for the fatigued listener to recharge upon. I can practically feel the Moscow Mule in my hands, the sun warming my skin, and the serene sea lapping at the shore. A tide lapping ever closer.
Andre Nickatina - “Ayo For Yayo (feat. San Quinn)”
from Conversation With A Devil // 2003 // Hip-Hop
“Ayo For Yayo” has a slick guitar lick that is fiercely undeniable, a catchy hook that plays the ecstasies of drug use against verses that explore its darker side, and a party-ready rhythm. It’s essentially “Swimming Pools (Drank)” but ten years older and with a stronger hook. In particular, San Quinn’s flow is second-to-none, effortlessly skipping along the beat and concealing introspection beneath the purest of party vibes.
Cody Jinks - “Must Be The Whiskey”
from Lifers // 2018 // Country
Self-medicating is at the heart of addiction, and liquor is at the heart of Country. Europe’s sins—beer and Christianity—spread easily through the colonial settlement of the United States and have remained staples of folksy ballading from the salt of the Earth. “Must Be The Whiskey” isn’t a particularly unique song then, but I have yet to find a song I like drinking to more. Cody Jinks smuggles his struggles with alcoholism under a simple and effective country jaunt, with a particularly effective wailing guitar lick driving the chorus. There’s a darkness lurking beneath the joviality of “Must Be the Whiskey,” the darkness of unending 9-to-5s and the easy way out into easy escapism.
Mobb Deep - “Temperature’s Rising (feat. Crystal Johnson)”
from The Infamous // 1995 // Hip-Hop
Mobb Deep’s gritty East Coast sound has few equals, and has supplemented a lot of my rage over the last year. In a way, the gangster was the outlaw of the 90s, a transformative figure who, through violence, staked their claim in a harsh and cruel world. The paranoia seeping from Temperature’s Rising is only one taste of The Infamous’s violent sound, but its tense atmosphere and mounting sense of dread (not to mention Crystal Johnson’s sanguine hook) speak perfectly to my little white suburban ass as I cook like a frog in a pot.
The Highwaymen - “Highwayman”
from Highwayman // 1985 // Country
Country supergroup The Highwaymen had a hit & miss career, like most supergroups, but their self-referential rerecording of Jimmy Webb’s “Highwayman” is just an all-timer. The spirit of Outlaw Country breathes through the story, which is only enhanced by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson each taking a separate voice in the narrative, stressing the unique thread that connects each American — our shared heritage — through the passing of history. Pure Americana.
No Age - “Sleeper Hold”
from Nouns // 2008 // Noise Rock
I’ve always loved a good alt-rock freakout track, no matter how gauche my fellow snobs my find them. Necessary components include: a brainworm of a guitar riff, a catchy ass chorus, and a whole lot of freaking out. No Age’s “Sleeper Hold” is pretty much two minutes of just these components and I can’t help but eat it up. Add in some discordant Noise Rock influences and you have a track tailor-made for my faltering cred and rising angst.
Panopticon - Snow Burdened Branches
from The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness (Part I) // 2018 // Black Metal
Again, visit Panopticon’s Bandcamp to buy this for yourself.
The opening monologue to Snow Burdened Branches gives me chills. Panopticon have long filled that cold little corner of my heart that craves the frigid and lonely, isolation with myself and my goddess the Earth, covered by a heavy blanket of pure snow. “Snow Burdened Branches” reminds me that this serenity is not a given, but is protected every day by my actions. It reminds me that freedom is never free, but instead must be actively chosen by each subsequent generation. As an American, I now live amongst people who would sell my freedoms for a quick buck and a minute in the spotlight, who have mortgaged my rights for their personal power and affluence, on the gamble that I, along with the rest of us, would not notice and one-day stand up for ourselves. Friends, that day is here. It will not sunset soon, nor easily, but there is no hiding from what is coming, and it can only be overcome by all of us. An overwrought thought for a playlist perhaps, but where else is the angst to go?
Maybe the real culture war was the friends we made along the way 😌 that Nickatina song is infectious damn
The genre-hopping here works better than it should. What I find intresting is how the playlist uses escapism (Moscow Mule, Summertime Clothes) alongside outlaw imagery (Highwayman, Nickatina) to capture that American contradiction between freedom as ideal versus freedom as lived experience. Had a similar reactoin to Panopticon's opening monologue recently.