Tuesday 9/8: Cartalk—"Las Manos"
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the grungey alt-country songwriter Cartalk.
Welcome to Endless Scroll, the brainchild of Eli Enis (he/him) and Eric Bennett (they/them). Since Feb. 2019, we’ve been a weekly podcast about music, the internet, and where those two things intersect. Now we’re, also a M-F newsletter about songs. Our format is simple: a link to a song and a short take from each of us about what we think of it. Each day of the week has a corresponding genre: Monday is indie, Tuesday is punk, Wednesday is hip-hop, Thursday is pop, and Friday is misc.
Today, we share our thoughts on a new song by the L.A. songwriter Cartalk.
Cartalk—"Las Manos"
Eric Bennett:
Cartalk, the project of LA musician Chuck Moore, spent last year teasing out their talents with a few singles. Their most recent,“Las Manos,” is an epic, coaxing the listener to let their guard down, only to hit them over the head with wailing guitar when they feel safest, and with the heft of a steel chair. The swelling riffs are freewheeling and wild, contrasting nicely with Moore’s calm voice. As it goes on, though, that contrast falls away, and their voice is just as emotional as the sea of fuzz they’ve conjured. The repeated refrain of “did my honesty scare you?” feels potent and hugely affecting. The way the guitars are used to stir up melodrama is genius. It’s instantly a contender for my favorite song of the year.
Eli Enis:
There’s not much else I can say about the guitars on this song that Eric didn’t already above, but yes, they sound huge and they’re executed perfectly. Instead, I’m going to zero in on the lyrics, which are also stunning. “Las Manos” is about Moore’s pastime of “vulnerable introductions”, as they state directly in the opening lines. It’s a song about being too honest for their own good, but it’s much more than that. Moore uses beautifully poetic imagery to capture how they felt after that bean-spilling interaction, specifically how their eyes were glued to that person’s hand and jaw movements throughout the night.
“Speaking slow it’s a leisure I try to practice/ Exhale to the hardwood/ You’re dancing out of your jacket/ and you talk about your sister and the things the matter/ Attention cuts to your jaw/ Dancing in and out of laughter,” they sing during its standout verse. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but those lines are just so packed with the visceral nerviness of feeling like you came on too strong with someone and then finding yourself watching their mannerisms for the rest of the evening to try and gauge if it was wise to unload on them like that. I can feel the tension in the room through their delivery in the booth, and speaking as someone who’s extremely observant of the way people talk and act when I first meet them, this track really resonated with me. I’d never listened to Cartalk before this but goddamn, I’m sold.