Sofi Tukker (2022)

One Liner: Electronic dance music for the dumbing down of America

Wikipedia Genre: House, EDM
Home: NYC

Poster Position: 6
Both Weekends.  Saturday.

Thoughts: Last here in 2018, and I freaking hated everything about it.  Here is what I said back then, with a few adjustments, and then we can talk about their new music too.

"I've got my rude britches on today or something.  Listen to this tune, "Batshit," with their third-most streams (11.5 million, now up to 39.2 million in 2022, and no long #3 in their catalog), and let me know the words that involuntarily came out of your mouth at 0:45:

Because if you said "Oh Dear God, that sucks," then you and I are special spirit animals and you should Venmo me your money.  I get it, this isn't being made to challenge Bob Dylan for lyrical superiority, but it feels more like two kids were raised on nothing but Right Said Fred b-sides (not even the good shit) and grew up to make this song as their dance music anthem.  And don't get me wrong, I'm well aware that this stage will likely be packed with loads of Adderall-addled kiddies yelling the delicious curse word, but it doesn't mean I have to sign up for this shit.

She was born in Germany and went to college in Italy.  He was born in Massachusetts and went to Brown University to play basketball.  They met at Brown at an art show, where Tucker was DJing the show, and after that the mashed up group here was born.  During the COVID-19 outbreak, they plowed through hundreds of DJ performances from home, streaming on Twitch, Facebook, Dischord, and Instagram

A 2016 EP (Soft Animals), then a 2018 album Treehouse, with a million remixes and singles in the middle.  The band name comes from the two members' first names, Sophie and Tucker.  I'm gonna give you two more songs, because these each have something about them that is slightly interesting.  First, "Drinkee," was somehow nominated for a 2017 Grammy for Best Dance Recording.  Which is terrifying.  53.2 million streams.  110.8 million streams, somehow, in 2022.

Hard to imagine how I would like "Batshit" better than something else in their catalog, but its true.  Also, Wikipedia claims that this was "adapted from a poem written by the Brazilian poet, Chacal," and "sung sensually."  The video may be a little sensuous, with her handling of that guitar and dancing, but the singing is more like a jibberish rap by someone who is choking on a marble.  

Final track is called "Best Friend," and it was featured in an Apple commercial for the iPhone X.  47.9 million streams - now up to 112.9 million in 2022.

Yeah, OK, that sounds sorta familiar.  It was also featured in the 2018 version of the FIFA video game.  The best ever use of a song in a FIFA game was the one they had in like 1998 or so, where the intro to the game was Blur's "Song #2" and it made me want to chew through a steel girder with excitement.

Dance party?  Yes.  I can definitely see this show being a fun ass dance party.  Lyrically interesting?  Negative.  Nothing on here appears to be serious at all, just built for a good time.  Is that so wrong?"  Not at all, now let's see what they have done in the years since 2018.  2019 EP called DANCING ON THE PEOPLE, with "Purple Hat" as the hit from that one at 113 million streams.

Yeah, no.  Sounds like they have not advanced in any way since their prior stuff.  Still an inane chanted chorus and goofy shit made to get people dancing.  Makes me annoyed to see how big that crowd is. This is the kind of band where their laptop is going to break when they are playing and then they won't be able to play their set - wait, did that happen the last time they were here?  Or was that another bad group with a guy and a gal who don't really make music.  What is that one called?  Oh right, Sylvan Esso.  After that 2019 EP, they released loads of singles and remixes until 2022's WET TENNIS, which doesn't yet have any huge hits, but still has two tracks with over 20 million.  Here is "Sun Came Up" with 24.9 million streams.

It is still an EDM track, but I like it better than those other dumb tracks.  That James Bond-ish guitar lick and the buildup is kind of fun.  Still super don't want to waste my team watching this, but I get the attraction for those who want to snort mushrooms and then dance all over each other.