Season 2 Episode 3: Du Blonde's Sniff More Gritty (2024)

In this episode, Noey tells us how the alt rock/pop punk/power punk goodness of Du Blonde's Sniff More Gritty makes her feel. 

The Moods by Noey theme tune, "Intro to Moods" was graciously created for the podcast by Links Deity. 

Transcript

 Hello, my little flip phones. This is Moods with Noey, and this is a podcast journal for me to talk about what I think is magic and mystifying and memeable about the music I listen to. So let's get started. For today's episode, the album is, drumroll please, I'm not adding in a Sniff More Gritty by Du Blonde.

Du Blonde, of course. Being the musical moniker of Beth Jeans Houghton. Beth Jeans Houghton is a UK artist. They are an illustrator, an animator, a director, they do it all, which is like, so cool. So I was made aware of Du Blonde from the single Take One for the Team, which is from the Homecoming album from 2021.

The album Sniff More Gritty, which is an amazing name, that might mean getting your fingernails dirty, just like, you know, rolling around in the proverbial mud a little bit more. And the album came out on November 15th, 2024. So honestly, it's been like the blink of an eye since this one came out. I'm gonna say the thing that really drew me to it were the aesthetics.

I did see some people online saying that the look of the album might scare people away. I'm the complete opposite. I saw this and thought, I wanna know more. Why are their teeth blacked out? I want to know about this, like, Y2K influence I see here. Which led me to discover that Beth Jeans Houghton is pretty much my exact age.

Obviously, we didn't grow up in the same country. We've had very different lives. But, they're an artist. Born around the same time? I thought that was fascinating. But, Beth Jeans Houghton was part of the group, or one of their past music projects was called Hooves of Destiny. I swear I've seen that name before.

Okay, so, let's look at the credits, let's look at the personnel here. On drums, we have Chris McManus. Mastered by Christian Wright, Fred St-Gelais, Mixed by, I'm saying multiple people mixed the album, so Beth Jeans Houghton themselves, then Chris McManus, and then also Sam Grant. Written by, Performer, Engineer, Producer, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Samples, Programmed by, Artwork, Graphic Design, Beth Jeans Houghton.

That's pretty freakin cool!

Also, it looks like all tracks but one were mastered at Abbey Road Studios. Before we get into the album, I want to talk about this strange phenomenon that happened to me. Okay, so I first listened to the whole album all the way through one, I don't know, Saturday night recently.

And I thought, I don't know, nothing's really standing out to me, do I really like it? And then I swear the next day And everything just clicked, like, some albums are just like this, where I felt like, I get where Beth is coming from, I get it, it just took a little bit of time, so let's really get into it, shall we?

Shall we get into sniffing the gritty here? First song, Perfect. Perfect starts out with this beautiful, soft choral piece. By Beth. It starts out really slow and gentle, very angelic, and I love the line, it's actually in my head right now, I'm as happy as I can pretend to be under the laws of your gravity.

The song is about the pressure to be perfect. I think a lot of us, you have an insane pressure to be perfect in every way. You can say, okay, I didn't feel that pressure, maybe it wasn't as strong for you, but I think a lot of people would say they felt that, especially if you were assigned female at birth.

I do want to say that there's a phone text buzz sound that makes me want to check my phone every single time, but I absolutely love the chorus of this one. Get your heart right. Get the coffee in the pot right. Don't get up to pee in the middle of the night. I don't know why getting up to pee in the middle of the night makes you not perfect.

Maybe I've just accepted I'm not perfect. Around the time that my cats started waking me up every few hours. Maybe it's my bladder, but if you gotta pee, you gotta pee, you know? It really works lyrically. The song is speaking to that entity who's demanding perfection. Maybe it's to themselves. That line, if it weren't for me, you'd be back on the roadside.

That line, if it weren't for me, you'd be back on the roadside. That warning. There's this force wanting, wanting them to be quiet, simple, pretty, and better. Kind of nailed that right there. I felt that for sure. And of course, fuck all of that shit, right? But that's hard to do, I think it's easier said than done.

So with that being said, this is such a fun start, such a catchy start to the whole album. So the first track, Perfect, I give it a Magic. The next song is Dollar Coffee. This one's just one of my favorites on the album. It is so glam. I love the valley girl backing vocals, or like the, the chat in the background.

Uh, I think this song is, well, it's handling a lot of things, and I do think it is hinting at gender norms, identity, and I think it's a fun anthem, kind of to the rap race, and the 9 to 5s, maybe even. Music biz, you know, show biz, could be a toxic partner. It really evokes feelings of the mess and the rush of life, you know, if you figure it out, give me a taste, I love that.

You know, maybe this character is speaking to someone saying, that's life. It's hard. I love the bridge. It's just, it's dripping with drama. And that glam rock flamboyance that I'm constantly seeking. That I'm just always looking for. This track just has such a big sound. So for me, Dollar Coffee gets a magic.

The next track is Solitary Individual, and this one features Laura Jane Grace of Against Me, and also I think a self titled music project as well. I'm not familiar with Laura Jane Grace, I'm not familiar with Against Me. I was looking up against me and it looks like they were going strong in the early to mid 2000s.

At that point in time, you know, I was finishing middle school, starting high school, was really busy with, uh, Bowie forums and, you know, Lord of the Rings fan fiction. But I like that this is like a pop punk anthem to being a homebody. I think that's so cool. I can't think of another song like that, but when I do, I'm going to add it to a playlist about being a homebody.

I think it's a fun perspective. So, while I like the topic and the lyrics, I'm not really a fan of the song itself. It's just kind of too upbeat for me. I don't know, something about the opening. annoys me. It feels like music that is on the outskirts of what I like. I kind of feel like with a different arrangement, I would actually really get into this song, but as a result, it's mystifying for me.

I'm bordering on magic. The music video is really cool. It's using that bedroom scene that shows up in another video. And I love the voodoo doll. If mouths make you uncomfortable, definitely don't watch this one, but it's really cool. So, this one's getting amystifying. Respectfully. Complete and full respect.

The next track is TV Star. I love this song. It really seems to be about fame and youth and comparing yourself to your younger self. I believe I read that the video, like the video shots of Beth in that motel room are from a decade ago. So now they're being used as juxtaposition. In this video, as far as the song goes, I love the grungy verses.

I really like that soft lead up to a high energy chorus that's really rebellious. Rebellion is one of those themes, freedom and rebellion. Of course, it could easily be read as a friend or a partner who made it big, or a self reflection on themselves and who they were, what they've learned over time, what they've been through.

It's so worth a listen. I'm gonna jump back to the video for a minute. Bat's look with the spiky punk hair, the red fur coat, out in the field with the platform boots, utter delight for me personally. Totally in love with it. Beth is reading So, Cynthia from Rugrats, which is truly a high honor. I will say about the old footage, the roughhousing, man, I can't stand roughhousing, but really gives an interesting energy to the video and to the song itself.

For TV Star, I give it a magic. That's right. So the next track is Out of a Million. It is this really gorgeous, simplified You know, stripped down ballad. I love Beth's whispery, breathy vocals. And I'm using the word soft again for an album that I don't think could be described overall as soft, but it has its moods, it has its ebbs and its flows.

This song also has these barely there strings. I think it's gorgeous. I think the message is bittersweet, which I love. Personally, I think it goes on a little too long. Without a payoff. I'd like to see it at 2 minutes and 30 seconds. I could just not say that. I've decided I'm saying that. And Out of a Million gets Magic.

It is a sad love song, and I think most albums could do to have a sad love song. Okay, next track is I See You. So with I See You, we're, we're tossing an extra little dose of grunge in here. Alright? I love the bass on this track. The lyrics definitely seem just a little too real to be fake, and they do start off with true story, so I think that's good enough for me.

I don't know, man, this is an angry winter song. I love the line, death is coming for me in forms that I don't understand. And then of course, I could have used a little empathy this time. The lyrics here are raw, and We get really vivid visuals of this event or this occurrence or this period of time, you know, baby sucks and doesn't believe the character's pain.

So this is a real sort of rugged jam for me. I think it's cool. I think it's real. This is what you would listen to if you're really pissed off and you just want to chill out. And you're just kind of jaded about the world right now. Oh, I'm, I'm just lost in thought about how I'm jaded about the world right now.

So, ICU? ICU gets a magic. That's right. Next track is Blame. Blame is A raucous conglomeration of a lot of genres. I think if you just say alternative rock or pop rock, you can probably cover it all. But this is another pop punk sort of piece. Shall we say a bit of power punk? You know, it's kind of a simple song, but it's angry, which I really like.

The vocals are great, even though they kind of seem to lag. I don't really like the chorus that much. But, it's a nice F. U. song, and it's catchy. I really like the harmonies in the chorus. I like the ending. It's punchy. We get more visceral, raw lyrics here. And this is definitely the song you sing after you get in, like, a fight with your parents.

And you slam your bedroom door closed, and it's like the video for TV Star, you're jumping up and down on your bed because you're so angry. The video for Blame is really fun. Beth is getting surgery from a person in A bunny mascot mask, and Beth is like, a monster on the table. I really like Beth's long green acid nails, and the gauze wrapped just so, so you can still see the pigtails.

You know what? By the end of this video I was starting to think that bunny is not even a surgeon. So this is a cool one, it doesn't totally work for me. I give it a magic bordering on mystifying. Surely, that works. So the next song is Lucky, and this is potentially another autobiographical song. Beth is really awesome about telling you the stories behind all of their songs, which I'm in complete admiration of as someone who just wants to study these things.

So Lucky has references to, you know, kind of messing up, maybe relying on drugs and drinking, that's just how it is. Um, a little nod to rejecting religion, which is legitimate, personally. It's messy. I wonder about this lyric all the time. Cut me off if I'm about to make a good impression. I like thinking about this.

I think this is one of those, you know, I'm changing myself for you songs. I think all passionate people have experienced their own brand of custom aggression. I really like that. Absolutely love. I've been working on my demons, and then you'll hear that growling sound. Although the mention to aggression might just be the outcome of being a sensitive person in this very insensitive world we live in.

The line, I've been working on my demons and my personality is an illustration. If Beth hasn't already done that, I'm gonna do that. So Lucky gets a magic from me. The next track is Yesterday, which I did not expect to like so much, but it, it just gets into your head, and I didn't notice until really recently, maybe the last time I listened to the whole thing, that there is the sound of maybe like a door opening, closing, and then that fly buzzing right at the beginning.

I love Beth's vocals here, they're so dreamy. I think I sang the line, Gotta spot a fly and swat it, to myself, a million times, in and out of my parking garage, for a week and a half. Yeah, a million times. Give or take. It's just so catchy and lyrical. Again, absolutely love the bass in this one. And to me, this is definitely about a shitty ex.

You know, bye bye. So Yesterday Gets a Magic. The next song is Next Big Thing. And Next Big Thing features Skin, who is the singer of Skunk Anansi, who I understand Really influenced bath when they were young, but I think this one was my first favorite track on the album for sure So this song features lines from things that bath heard in the music industry over the course of their career over Uh, I think maybe a span of like 15 years.

And some of this stuff is, as you can imagine, pretty vile. Sexual assault, just being waved off, like why are you complaining? Just some real bullshit. Be less sensitive. Uh, I love, sometimes you gotta give yourself to God, but I don't wanna kneel for no man. I'm paraphrasing. But I love it. And in the video.

Beth is dressed as a nun with just a full face of makeup on. It's very good. And in the video, I feel like Beth gets to take out all of that pent up aggression from being mistreated by the industry on that dude in the tank top, which must feel pretty good as an outlet. I also love when Beth is outside with the vacuum.

So next big thing, it's a memeable. OK, so next track is Radio Jesus. And this song features some additional artists. So we've got Paul Smith from Maximo Park and Ross Millard from Future Heads. And this is a bit of a sadder, more slow paced song. We have references to just kind of isolating yourself in front of the TV.

But in in actuality. It's for other kids, like Beth, who went home and listened to the radio and watched the same afternoon, evening shows on the TV. And Beth says it has sing along energy, which I think is cool. And it really does have a sing along energy. But I totally get the sing along part because the chorus reminds me of the end of time from the Ziggy Stardust motion picture, like the concert film.

So Radio Jesus gets a magic, definitely. Stamping the magic stamp on this one. Okay, we're, we're almost to the end of the album. The last track we have to talk about here is Metal Detector. And Metal Detector is an interesting end, because it feels like a comforting, happy ending after a bunch of crazy stuff just happened.

We have the line, I'm a metal detector, and you're a coin, or, baby, you're a coin in a field. You know, we just attract each other. A lot of mundane daily life observations. Which is one reason I really like this album. I like daily life observations, you know, the quickie marked coffee and bacon and eggs at a restaurant.

You're in the ICU, you're just watching TV, and Once you get to the end of this track, it flows so perfectly into the first track, perfect, you just want to start the whole album over again, and oftentimes, I do, so that's really beautiful. I think in terms of themes for the album, that I noted, I would say the TV star video really sums it up nicely.

We have reflecting on your life and your career and maybe being younger in the industry, growing up in the nineties in the UK, I said freedom and rebelliousness life being hard as life does mental health, the reality of being a grownup, trying to change yourself for others. So maybe a bit of compliance there, and I'm certain a dash of Beth's experience of their own gender being trans and non binary.

So those are the themes I picked up on, and I kind of wish I could go back in time and give this album to my 13 year old self and say, I know you just bought that No Doubt album, but Gwen Stefani is going to let you down. She is going to disappoint you. So, uh, watch out for Du Blonde. Shall we pass out some awards?

The song most likely to get stuck in your head award goes to TV Star. And, wait a minute, the producers are in my ear and they're telling me it's a tie between TV Star and Yesterday. That's incredible. They both have to come up and receive their award at the same time. The next award is If I had to explain glam rock as a genre for someone, but I could only choose a modern song award, and that goes to dollar coffee.

I know that sweet is still around, but sweet might listen to this and say, I'm loving it. Actually, what I wrote was sweet would piss themselves. I just love the angelic bridge. And then we're back to the grittiness. Then we're back to sniffing the gritty. Okay. Overall, this album was so fun to cover. So fun to spend.

That time with. So, thank you, Dublond. Now, let's get to the moods portion of this podcast journal. How have I been feeling? Honestly, I'm doing really well right now. I've been creative. I've been working to improve some things that I've really wanted to work on. I recently got some good news. So, I'm feeling pretty good.

I would say happy. I am in a happy mood. I'm gonna take it. This was a rough winter. I mentioned all the illnesses. I'm hoping that's behind us now. Of course, spring brings its own challenges, but I'm feeling good. I hope if you're listening to this, you're doing all right too. You're taking care of yourself and wow, if you made it to the end, thank you so much.

I appreciate you. I would love it if you shared this podcast with someone who you think would like it. Or someone you don't like, who you think would hate it. Because you're trying to get back at them for something they did to you in the past. Either one, I would just love. Please follow me on Instagram, on Facebook.

The episodes I'll also post on YouTube. You might be listening on YouTube. Hi! So, thank you so much. This is Noey. We'll talk soon. Bye!