Songbook Xtended: Tears Can Be So Soft

Christine and The Queens - Tears Can Be So Soft (2023) [Original Post]

Actively looking for new music and not being immediately revolted, so that's nice. Nostalgia continues to push through the eighties into familiar territory of the nineteen nineties and new millennium. There's an obvious debt to Massive Attack and Teardrop here, as well as feeling like a fusion of a catalogue of influences from 1990 to 1992. There's enough here to be satisfied, but it's hard not to be distracted by the prickly creep of nostalgia for a time that was exciting for its experimentation and sense of discovery. A reasonably comfortable fit, but one that's been worn before.

Songbook Xtended: 5 Dollars

Christine and The Queens - 5 Dollars (2018) [Original Post]

Francophiles and perverts rejoice! 5 Dollars is an eminently listenable single from Christine and the Queens, who emerges as a discernible face in the post-popstar crowd. My mother pointed out a superficial similarity to Crispin Glover, which inevitably makes me think Crispin and The Queens, but lets not get distracted karate chopping and kicking the air. I say "perverts" because the video artfully edits a wordless sequence of getting ready for a big day (or night) on the town, with bondage straps only he/she/they will know you're wearing. Of course, that's not really the interesting part. The real fun is discovering there's an (original?) French version that doesn't have nearly as many views on YouTube. 5 dols, baby blues. 5 dols, baby.