Charli XCX at Storm King. Kirsty MacColl. Arooj Aftab w/ Khruangbin & Cécile McLorin Salvant.
Charli XCX stays brat. Remembering Kirsty MacColl. Arooj Aftab's tour surprises.
Charli XCX at Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New York, Thursday 10 October 2024
Since I’ve moved out of the city, I’ve become resigned to a life of low-simmering FOMO (Fear of Missing Out — a term celebrating its 20th birthday this year). So I was both stunned and stoked when I discovered Charli XCX would be doing her album launch event for the Brat remix LP at Storm King, a sculpture park in a fairly remote spot just 30 minutes from where I live.
The giant LP replica felt a bit like the 2001: A Space Odyssey obelisk — perfectly fitting on a lot of levels. As a technically over-the-hill raver who doesn’t believe in over-the-hill-ness, I fully endorse events that promote weekday afternoon hooky w/ outdoor dancing to respectably avant-garde club-pop, which the remix LP (& the original) certainly is. And while I tend to be a pessimistic poptimist at best, Charli has remained pretty much my favorite pop artist of the past decade, Robyn notwithstanding (who in fact turns up on the remix LP). The fact that Charli has repeatedly threatened to make a Lou Reed record has only strengthened my convictions.
Thursday’s event wasn’t a performance per se, which I suppose disappointed some. But I thought the fact that Charli flew in from wherethefuckever to basically play the remixes off her iPhone, while talking about them and shimmying on a table, just made it more hilariously perfect — ie: very brat. And you couldn’t complain about the glorious autumn day, or the setting, surrounded by outsized work by Roy Lichtenstein and Arlene Shechet, or the fat-bottomed sound system, or the high class food truck/ craft beer setup.
The event was livestreamed, and there was no shortage of journalists. There was entertaining coverage in the NY Times and Pitchfork, the latter by Kieran Press-Reynolds, son of esteemed journalists Joy Press and Simon Reynolds, a chip-off-the-old-block who observed sagely that after all the Brat-iness of this album’s marketing campaign, “we should be sick of it by now.” But clearly many of us aren’t; mea culpa. The music itself has generated a wealth of smart and funny writing, particularly from fellow Substacker Meaghan Garvey and my man Rob Sheffield, who reviewed the remix album for Rolling Stone.
It dropped Friday, and it’s quite fun; I especially dig the flip of “Everything Is Romantic” with Caroline Polachek, who is gilding everything she touches these days. Stream the album below (Apple Music users click here):
The big-ass album jacket & sound system remains up & bumpin’ at Storm King through Monday (sans Charli, who jetted off after the event to rejoin her tour in Denver). And while Pantone green 3750-C was the color of the day, I was feeling the autumnal reds, tbh. With all due respect, I’m glad that Brooklyn and London don’t always get all the goodies.
Speaking of London, the wonderful Walk On The Wild Side Substack devoted a recent newsletter (link below) to a reverie centered on the late great Kirsty MacColl. She’s probably best known as the female singer on The Pogues’ Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York,” but her own recordings are no less extraordinary. The post reminded me of seeing her back in the ‘90s, when I was living in Minneapolis. So I dug up a wonderful bootleg recording (link below) of a short acoustic set she did in that fine city in ‘95.
Finally, Arooj Aftab — the magnificent Pakistani-American singer — has, along with Charli, made one of the year’s best albums, and like Charli, has a very strong Instagram game. Arooj has been touring with Khruangbin, a band I’ve loved for a very long time and who have reached a remarkable level of fame considering the largely-instrumental music they make. After listening to the goosebumpin’ clip below, I’ve begun fervently hoping that they make a record together. The following clip shows Arooj trading verses on her song “Last Night” with Cécile McLorin Salvant, who is arguably the greatest jazz singer of her generation. Two master improvisers doing their thing — glorious stuff.
Enjoy, and I’ll catch ya soon.
Many thanks for linking to our post, and for all your recommendations on some great music!