Kesha Sebert came off of her
third EP, Rainbow, gently. The 2017
release was a work that Sebert had
spent nearly five years writing
and recording, all while engaged
in a legal struggle with her record
producer — the now disgraced Dr.
Luke — over sexual misconduct and
emotional abuse. The album was
finally released at just a time when
the early-2010s sensual, bubblegum
pop crowd was officially stepping
back into the curtain, rescinding
domination of the music industry
to either newcomers or their few
compatriots
who
had
evolved
enough to fit the day. On Rainbow,
Kesha best engaged the latter
action, pointedly changing her
tone and style, though less out
of necessity than some of her
colleagues.
Rainbow
emerged
as a soft-pop triumph, with the
dial ratcheted toward a country
ambiance and toward a raw, open
vulnerability that somehow —
party girls have emotions, too? —
shocked critics. “I used to live in
the darkness,” Kesha sings on the
album’s eponymous track. “Dress in
black, act so heartless. But now / I
see the colors are everything.”
Cognizant of her fans and of
the tonal shift she applied in 2017,
then, Sebert branded her new EP,
High Road, as a return to the wild,
carefree strength of her first album.
The lead single, “Raising Hell,”
recalled the heavy production
and bass of earlier albums. It
re-rehearsed the “fuck it” attitude
that framed Kesha for success
in the first place. Kesha sampled
champagne in magazine interviews
and brought back her hair dye. In
November, she said that it was the
album where “Kesha got her balls
back.”
On the first listen, too, it feels this
way. She’s back, the album shouts.
It’s ferocious. “I’m getting so drunk
/ Haven’t seen my boyfriend in a few
months / Oh, don’t know if it’s weed
or if it’s a skunk,” Kesha sings on
“Tonight.” Even her voice, it seems,
has returned to its low, brooding
rap-growl so indicative of her early
work. The electropop has dulled,
but the relentless bass and rhythm
typical of radio pop is as strong as
ever. It’s dirty, ungovernable and
most of all, fun.
The
problem
with
Sebert’s
assessment of the album — “Kesha
got her balls back” — is that
Kesha never lost them to begin
with. Sure, Rainbow was a shift
in genre, turning slowly to low-fi
pop and guitar-laden tracks. But
the vulnerability and authentic
dialogue that Rainbow opened
up — on emotional abuse, self-
healing and forgiveness — were not
symptoms of weakness. If anything,
they were testaments to Kesha’s
resilience. They exemplified her
balls-to-the-wall
gallantry
that
enabled her to face her abuser when
the system left her behind, and what
allowed her to, largely before music
and politics were as wedded as they
are today, speak out on contentious
social issues. The notion that a
definite dichotomy exists between
the sex-positive, alcohol-glugging
party girl and the forgiving, love-
struck one that emerged in Sebert’s
later career is asinine. The two are
not mutually exclusive.
For Kesha, the ‘High Road’
doesn’t mean weakness
RCA RECORDS/KEMOSABE RECORDS
ALBUM REVIEW
ALBUM REVIEW
JOHN DECKER
Managing Arts Editor
I can’t think of a better way
to describe Italo Disco than
Ishkur in his infamous book,
“Guide to Electronic Music.”
Considering this mysterious
figure’s hatred for seemingly
half the genres he writes about,
he has effusive praise for Italo,
describing it as “what happens
when creativity, inspiration
and raw ambition vastly exceed
technical limitations.”
Before
getting
into
the specifics of how that
description rings true, listen
to this. Or this. This? Does
any of this even seem real?
Is it even possible to make
music this … sincerely joyful
yet also dumb and campy?
It’s impossible to look away at
the sheer absurdity. I suppose
many people would label it
(rightfully so?) as unbearably
cheesy,
the
polar
opposite
of what anybody, anywhere
would consider “cool.” Is this
the depravity our generation
is meant to rebel against? All
questions to ponder.
Note that all the descriptions
above are not meant to broadly
apply to the entire genre of
disco itself, despite a multi-
generational
anathema
stemming from the 1979 Disco
Demolition Night in Chicago.
For heaven’s sake, listen to
this. There were tremendously
gifted
musicians
making
disco
all
over
the
world,
incorporating technical skills
with
experimentation
with
the latest synths and drum
machines.
However,
when
America
decided to collectively shun the
entire genre in the ’80s, some
creative Europeans bemoaned
the lack of quality releases to
play at clubs. Inspired by the
Giorgio Moroders and Patrick
Crowleys of the world, as well
as by a flood of cheaper tech,
they decided to carry its mantle
themselves, production quality
be
damned.
Their
drums
would sound incredibly tinny,
they would abuse the ARP
Odyssey synthesizer and they
would sing in English like all
their favorite artists from the
genre’s birthplace (no matter
how comfortable they were
with the language). DJs at clubs
in resort towns like Rimini in
the northeast of Italy would
spin the continuous deluge of
new records to great acclaim to
the dancers who appreciated
the genre’s catchiness despite
the lack of high musicianship
or “sophistication.”
One
record
label
in
particular decided to collect
and distribute this burgeoning
genre across the European
mainland. Called ZYX Records
and based out of Germany, its
founder Bernhard Mikuliski
actually
coined
the
term
“italo.” In terms of spreading
the infectiously catchy, yet
amateurish
sound
of
the
multitudes of Italians making
this type of music at the time,
no label was more influential.
A recurring theme I noticed
while perusing the genre’s
extensive catalogs and playlists
is that for a lot of artists, it was
quite difficult to find more
than one or two truly listenable
tracks. But it would be a
disservice to label these tracks
merely as “listenable” because
they were still marvelous. It
begs the question, who exactly
were these people making
Italo? Were they just amateurs
who stumbled upon gold then
eventually gave it all up to
become doctors?
Despite the vitriol, many
held against the genre even
during its peak, its glorious
triumphs have had a lasting
impact on the world of dance
music. The genre evolved into
genres like Hi-NRG, which
continued the production of
catchy, futuristic music with
no shortage of camp. The early
sounds of house and techno
in the late 1980s and early
1990s took inspiration from
the genre’s sounds, and more
importantly, the ethos of just
going out there and purchasing
synths and drum machines to
make innovative tunes.
Surprisingly,
the
genre
survives to this day, with
enterprising
DJs
digging
through its extensive back
catalog as well as through labels
like Johnny Jewel’s Italians
Do It Better. No matter how
critically panned it was during
its heyday, there’s no denying
that Italo helped change the
culture
surrounding
dance
music and pave the way for
even more talented, influential
musicians.
SAYAN GHOSH
Daily World Music Columnist
The timless charm of
Italo Disco
DAILY WORLD MUSIC COLUMN
High Road
Kesha
RCA Records,
Is it even possible
to make music
this ... sincerely
joyful yet also
dumb and campy?
It’s impossible to
look away at the
sheer absurdity.
WHISPER
SUBMIT A
WHISPER
By David Poole
©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
02/03/20
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
02/03/20
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Monday, February 3, 2020
ACROSS
1 Actor Beatty
4 Spirited horse
8 Cold-weather
omen on
Groundhog Day
14 Prefix with Pen
15 Leisurely pace
16 Dwell
17 Getaway car
driver
19 Flowery van
Gogh painting
20 Superficially
highbrow
21 Play segments
23 Cheese go-with
24 Injured in the
bullring
26 Golfer’s dream
30 Put inside
32 German “east”
33 Dead __ Scrolls
34 Bank acct.
addition
35 Little trickster
36 One of 50 on the
U.S. flag
37 You can’t go
back after
passing it
42 Went up
43 35-Down relative
44 Land in the
Seine
45 Lennon’s love
Yoko
46 Chinese
chairman
47 Everlasting
51 Kit and caboodle
54 Hundred Acre
Wood creator
55 Help
56 Lab safety org.?
58 Clinton and
Obama,
astrologically
59 Escape
62 Tops of sewing
fasteners ... and
what the starts of
17-, 26-, 37- and
51-Across can
have
64 In a fair way
65 Ivan or Nicholas
66 Observe
67 Common people,
with “the”
68 “Family
Guy” creator
MacFarlane
69 “Cats”
monogram
DOWN
1 Genre for Enya
2 Screenwriter Nora
3 Low-calorie cola,
familiarly
4 100 percent
5 Most populous
città in Italia
6 Geronimo’s tribe
7 Japanese box
lunch
8 __ Lanka
9 Hardly a social
butterfly
10 From China, say
11 “The Simpsons”
character named
for a dance era
12 Keats’ “__ on a
Grecian Urn”
13 Director Craven
18 Face sketcher’s
horizontal
reference
22 NFL replay
review aid
25 “Please stop!”
27 __ de corps:
camaraderie
28 Not at all far
29 Pull down, as a
salary
31 Minn. college
named for a
Norwegian king
35 Business name
abbr.
36 Squeaky clean,
as an operating
room
37 “No __!”: “Easy!”
38 Charlie Chaplin’s
actress
granddaughter
39 Quarantines
40 Runs smoothly
41 K thru 6
46 The “M” in LEM
47 Type of tax
48 Phillies’ div.
49 Voltaic cell
terminals
50 Tenant
52 Detroit NFL
team
53 Dr. visits
57 Med. school
subject
59 Diamond, for one
60 Sister of Zsa Zsa
61 TV’s Burrell and
Pennington
63 Princely title: Abbr.
CLASSIFIEDS
734-418-4115 option 2
dailydisplay@gmail.com
WORK ON MACKINAC
Island
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WHISPER
60 Characters.
Bare your soul.
Introducing
“I drunk
texted my
dad my IM
basketball
stats at
2am”
“Mingi has
moister
hands than
Kevin”
“Rachel is
my favorite
person!”
puzzle by sudokusnydictation.com
SUDOKU
Read more online at
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6A — Monday, February 3, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com