Words by Jason Lee
As most would probably agree, the key political conflict of our time is (wait for it..) the ongoing pitched battle between “rockists” and “poptimists” that’s divided this nation over the preceding couple decades thus leading to a deeply-entrenched two-party popular musico-political system marked by stark levels of polarization between contingents except for the few remaining independently-minded popular music fans out there most of whom place an “R” or a “P” after their name these days…
…and while we can all take comfort that at least this state of affairs hasn’t led to the imposing of any steep, inflationary tariffs or to a sudden collapse of the post-WWII geopolitical order, it’s still a pretty big freakin’ deal to the many who care and who’ve become invested in the question of whether “authenticity” or “artifice” is the main criteria in seeking worthwhile and meaningful musical experience in aesthetic and sociocultural terms thus leading to many an awkward silence at Thanksgiving gatherings in recent years with adherents of either camp sharing a single gravy bowl…
…which is exactly why IT’S SUCH A BIG FREAKIN’ DEAL when an artist like Charli xcx happens along who’s able to occupy the otherwise shrinking musical middle-ground between poptimists and rockists in appealing equally to both or even going so far as to mediate between the two camps thus making at artist like Charli xcx the musical equivalent to Switzerland, Malta, or Costa Rica…
…in being able to speak to and transcend the deep musico-political divides between rock vs. pop, punk vs. disco, artifice vs. authenticity, elitism vs. inclusivity etc. etc. which have collectively torn this once great nation apart much as Lisa once tore poor Tommy Wiseau apart in the notorious cinematic disasterpiece, The Room…
…with xcx earning deserved praise as a pop auteur extraordinaire equally at ease being a behind-the-scenes songwriting hitmaker as she is being a front-and-center pop tart type artist who’s more than fine applying artifice as freely and liberally as glitters or with being the pop phenom of the summer in 2024 with brat which was soon to be re-branded as a standalone typographical font, color palette, season of the year, and presidential candidate thanks to its massive crossover appeal as “a blend of indie sleaze hedonism and confessional songwriting that took her popularity to new heights” even if it didn’t do the same for Kamala’s…
…but what good is a “movement” of one person you may ask and that’s where our musical profilees of the day Skeeter de Milo come into play with SdM being a down ‘n’ dirty scuzz-rock trio (our appellation not theirs, their hygiene is likewise perfectly adequate) from Brooklyn who’ve taken the if-not-quite-provocative-then-most-definitely-proactive step of building on Ms. Charli’s efforts by covering the entirely of brat in its entirety, but in their own inimitable style, as a first step towards healing the rift that torments our body politic and musique…
… with the salient point here being that SdM is about as far away from the type of artist you’d expect to cover Charli xcx songs as one can imagine which isn’t to cast any shade at the highly worthy likes of Caroline Polachek or Ariana Grande or Lorde for Lord’s sake but still even they’re all recently “covered” Charli, none of ‘em are likely to describe themselves as purveyors of “ripping, mosh compelling, stage diving, middle finger raising, naughty behavior inducing, hard-core punk rock and roll” anytime soon…
…which is exactly how Skeeter de Milo describe themselves and yet here they are rolling out their tribute to brat (or about half of it anyway) dropping one new track per day over the course of a few days last week and this week which’ll then all be joined together and released as the EP brat but it’s skeeter de milo so it’s weird you see what they did there (note to all aspiring pop artist: make your music highly meme-able)…
…and what’s more the avowed hard rockers known for songs like “Um Duh” and “Knife to the Gun School” are taking an unabashedly not huckster-shaming pop promotional strategy to marketing the EP with an original music video dropping alongside each song with today’s new song/video release being “Apple” which while not a single is a noted viral-dance-inspiring fan favourite from Charli’s brat summer…
…and what’s more it’s literally a song about healing rifts, namely familial rifts, or trying to anyway, rifts that likely stem from generations of intergenerational trauma going back who knows how long as in apples never falling too far from the tree and all that or as Charli herself puts it, “[It] feels like you never understand me / so I just wanna drive…to the airport, the airport, the airport, the airport” which damn this lady’s a literal flight risk but it’s a valid coping mechanism so it’s cool…
…and here’s the thing about the Skeeter version or “Apple” as we see it—if one imagines a scenario where Charli xcx were to drive out to the airport in one of her efforts to escape her family but then thought better of it seeing as she’s an international pop star and likely to get mobbed at the gate then one can likewise imagine a scenario where she’d end up at one of the many seedy strip clubs dotting the landscape around most airports cuz xcx is “indie sleaze” after all and who’s gonna expect to see Charli xcx tucking into the lunch buffet at Runway’s Boobie Trap before ordering at lapdance…
…and what kinda music would you expect to hear at such an establishment you may ask (assuming yr lucky enough to find a gentlemen’s club willing to spring for a live band and not just a DJ which admittedly are a rarity) well you’d expect to see a band like Skeeter de Milo is what we’d say made up of journeymen musicians looking for nothing more than to make a small pile of sawbacks while having a good time and seriously just the name alone don’t they sound like a band who’d seek out gigs at airport adjacent ti**y emporium and no we’re not just saying this cuz they got “skeet” in their name…
…and then once you actually give the band’s version of “Apple” a close listen you’ll come to realize that it sounds just downright sleazy, but glamorously sleazy, which is crucial, like if the song was somehow covered by Slade in the ‘70s or the an Alternative Tentacles band in the ‘80s and ‘90s or even by someone on the golden-era Sunset Strip scene whether leaning more towards glam or glitter rock or hair metal or grunge what with all those crunchy power chords, throbbing/piledriving bass lines, in-the-pocket style Phil Rudd-ish skin-beating, and vocalizing going from Lou Reed in the low register to more like Layne Staley up top even tho’ KdM come off like pretty unassuming guys who’d really hit it off with Steve Albini given the chance (RIP)…
And then the video while it’s the icing on the cake cause it looks like it was actually shot in the private rooms back area of an exotic dancing establishment with neon lit streamers dividing up the rooms and then when the lead singer puts a hollowed-out Apple computer monitor on his head and does the “Apple” dance challenge that was all over TikTok this past summer well that’s just the icing on the cake of the whole thing innit…