from Matthew Perpetua’s fluxblog.org:

This is a collection of the finest non-hit pop songs from the 16 year history of this site. (Well, actually, one legit hit made it through because it fit in nicely.) It’s basically nothing but world-class bangers. You can experience it as an Apple Music playlist, a Spotify playlist, or as an expanded download version featuring 16 extra songs that are not available on streaming platforms. I’ve marked the bonus songs in the track listing for the download set below. DOWNLOAD PART 1 Scissor Sisters “Paul McCartney” / In Flagranti “Genital Blue Room” / Spektrum “Don’t Be Shy” / Goldfrapp “Ride A White Horse” / The Silures “21 Ghosts” / Basement Jaxx “Cish Cash” / Rachel Stevens “Some Girls” / Klanguage “Never Over” / Kylie Minogue “Sweet Music” / Annie “Chewing Gum” / Pleasure “Out of Love” * / Architecture in Helsinki “That Beep” / Out Hud “It’s For You” * / Matthew Dear “Don and Sherri” / Bossanova “Rare Brazil” / Enon “Daughter in the House of Fools” / Katy Rose “Rosemary” * / Fox N’ Wolf “Youth Alcoholic” / The Knife “Heartbeats” / Revl9n “Walking Machine” / AG Cook feat. Hannah Diamond “Keri Baby” / GFOTY “Don’t Wanna/Let’s Do It” / Poppy “My Style” / Grimes “Artangels” / White Hinterland “Chill and Natural” / Von Sudenfed “Fledermaus Can’t Get It” / Björk “Innocence” / Justice “DVNO” / Kate Nash “Pumpkin Soup” / Yelle “Tristesse/Joie” / Girls Aloud “Black Jacks” / Veronica Maggio “Gammal Sång” * / Kimbra “Madhouse” / Hemme Fatale “Animal Lover” * / Alphabeat “Heatwave” / Ellie Goulding “Anything Could Happen” / Sissy Wish “Float” / Fight Like Apes “Pop Itch” / Carly Rae Jepsen “Tiny Little Bows” / Brown Eyed Girls “날아갈래” / Junior Senior “We R the Handclaps” / Gameboy/Gamegirl “Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp” / Muscles “Chocolate, Raspberry, Lemon, and Lime” / Crossover “Extensive Care” DOWNLOAD PART 2 Sleigh Bells “Crown on the Ground” / Maria Magdalena “CVMC (Cada Vez Mas Cerca)” / Friendly Fires “Hurting” / The Rapture “Whoo! Alright – Yeah… Uh-Huh” / M.I.A. “URAQT” / Ce’cile “Rude Bwoy Thug Life” / Redinho “Playing with Fire” / CSS “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” / Spank Rock “Sweet Talk” / Stazi “Love Is Lethal” * / Yellow Note vs. Pukka “Naked, Drunk, and Horny” / Armand Van Helden feat. Spalding Rockwell “Hear My Name” / Cut Copy “Saturdays” / Quarks “I Walk” + / QT “Hey QT” / Peaches “Dumb Fuck” / Heloise and the Savoir Faire Dancers “Odyle” / Tracy and the Plastics “Henrietta” * / Junesex “Gets Close to Mine” / Mouse on Mars “Mine Is In Yours” / LCD Soundsystem “Yeah (Crass Version)” / Ladytron “Destroy Everything You Touch” / Of Montreal “The Party’s Crashing Us (I Am the World Trade Center Remix)” / Futon “Gay Boy” + / Dog Ruff “Jon E Storm” * / Chicks on Speed “Shick Shaving” * / Avenue D feat. Cazwell “The Sex That I Need” / Gene Serene “Electric Dreams” / Vanessinha & Alessandra “Gira” * / United State of Electronica “La Discoteca” * / Planningtorock “I Wanna Bite Ya” / Nouveau Riche “Take Me Home” * / Hilary Duff “Danger” / SEVENTEEN “Change Up” / Britney Spears “How I Roll” / MNDR “Cut Me Out” / Skrillex “Stranger” / Sophie “Lemonade” / Saint Pepsi “Better” / Sky Ferreira “I Blame Myself” / Lolita Storm “Dancing with the Ibiza Dogs” * / Chairlift “I Belong In Your Arms” / Au Revoir Simone “Through the Backyards” / La Big Vic “All That Heaven Allows” / Rework “Not Quite Like Any Other” * = Not on either Spotify or Apple

+ = On Apple, but not Spotify

My friend Matthew pioneered music blogging waaaaaaaaay back when, and for over a decade and a half he’s brought his vision of pop music to the masses. This two-disc retrospective is Matthew’s Mirror Mirror II, basically — it sums up the Fluxblog aesthetic and declares it worthy of consideration the same way me and Julia’s anthology did for our aesthetic. I think you’re going to see more and more of these kinds of efforts from people with singular visions (or double visions in our case, I guess), as a combination of factors — media contraction, layoffs and job insecurity, and the ongoing transformation of entertainment journalism and criticism into boosterism for the products of the world’s largest corporations — drives veteran critics and writers toward the same kinds of independent expression that helped them get their start in the first place. It’s a bit like what our mutual friend Chris Ott encouraged in one of his very earliest Shallow Rewards video podcasts/jeremiads: “Declare victory and leave the playing field.” When the work you value can’t find purchase, be confident in what it and you have to offer and plant your flag on your own.



(FWIW those playlists really are full of bangers. That opening run on Disc 1 will kick your ass)