🎶 All The Other Days - A July Recap
July more like Cool Guy (writing about the best music of the month) am I right?!
Happy Monday, happy end of July (?). Thanks for reading <3
First off, I need to give a special hello to all the new friends who have joined us thanks to Meiwei (THANK YOU MEIWEI!!!). The incredible artist who contributed to the last MMM compilation just launched her own substack here:
I’m so excited to follow along. I appreciate all of you who wanted to give this ‘sletter a read too and hope you enjoy my favorites of July!
This is our monthly All The Other Days post. Beyond Max’s Music Mondays, the weekly discoveries, I am listening to a lot of music. This is the place where I get to talk about it all. A little bit of everything this month. Bigger artists, smaller artists, happy songs, sad songs, everything in between. Music is so good and it’s a dang joy to share these songs with you today.
My Favorites of July
Oh my goodness. Every month I do this and every month I am floored by just how much good stuff there is to talk about. Feels like this post gets longer and longAnyways, a little something here for everyone I reckon!!! Let me know what you think <3
Albums:
Clairo - Charm
recommended if you like: Dancing to vinyl records while you cook dinner, intimate confessions, perfect bands, buying a new dress, slipping off the new dress, the first sip of a cold drink on a hot day.
Absolutely jaw-dropping IMO!!! It’s fun, it’s hot, it’s timeless. Clairo & Leon Michaels went absolutely off here. Every instrument sounds perfect, every song beautiful and unique. Moments that feel like pure Motown and then Glory of the Snow hits and feels entirely new. Yet it all works so wonderfully together.
I can’t wait to keep getting deeper and deeper into this record. I really love it.
Favs: Sexy to Someone, Terrapin, Juna, Pier 4
Remi Wolf - Big Ideas
recommended if you like: dancing in your underwear, being sexy, having a crush, having friends, screaming, frogs, anthems, lyricism that flips between deeply personal, deeply sexual, and deeply funny.
MY KING HAS RETURNED. I cannot describe how fun it is to see Remi become bigger and bigger and bigger. To hear so many people talking about her the way I (and many of you) have been for years… it makes me so happy. The number of times I’ve said “oh but you have to see her live, her voice is INSANE” and now to see that littering the tiktok comments of every remi video… god bless, it’s so nice to see it really happening for such a special and talented artist.
The record is a triumph - the first half is full of singles, capped off with the addition of Soup. You can hear the influence of these massive arena tours she’s been doing (Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo, her own festival slots) but it still feels quintessentially Remi Wolf.
The back half is a delightful run, twists and turns through so many genres/sounds, her writing so damn good throughout.
Favs: Toro, Wave, When I Thought Of You
So fun that these two chatted with each other for interview mag too, I’d highly recommend.
Songs:
Mal Not Bad - Life
There are few artists working right now who are crafting such deliberate, specific sounds and universes than Mal Not Bad. Life is the latest single from one of my new favorite artists. Everything about it is special - the tone of every instrument, the way the digital hi hat skips all around us, MNB’s stunning writing, their smooth and personal vocals. I just love it all.
The art, the visuals, it all feels cohesive, Mal Not Bad building a special world around their album (dropping Aug 9!!!)
As the band breaks through the swelling repetition at the 2min mark, it dissolves into this sparse and intimate moment that I adore. It’s all so thoughtful and unique and I’m obsessed quite frankly!! The writing on this one is soooo good, approaching death with such meaningful perspective, it’s a special song.
Olivia Dean - Time
Lucky to have born witness to the Olivia Dean takeover. Thanks to my pals AJ and Grace who have been riding for Dean for years, I got clued in early on such a massive talent.
Time is the latest single, and maybe my favorite yet. A smooth, jazzy little tune, Dean trying to make sense of the moment and live how she wants. Her voice is stunning, changing pace, taking on ridiculous runs. Then we hit the minute mark and split the song wide open, an anthem for the ages. Big big big sound meant for festival fields.
But it just as easily fades back into an intimate section, covered with a crazy band elevating it all.
Oscillating between the two scenes, the song is undeniable and a showstopper.
Adriana McCassim - Pretend
She’s back!! The first single of Adriana McCassim’s record is here, and it’s a big one.
Heavy guitars strumming, the song feels like dawn before the sun comes. up. Earth shattering drums pounding, but they’re miles away so it doesn’t overwhelm us here. McCassim is vulnerable but clear, hoping this moment makes more sense, becomes what she’d hoped in the daylight.
The drums arrive, with a really sick piano riff cutting through everything and pulling us into the next scene. McCassim, and the whole band for that matter, is full of emotion, and feel ready to explode at any moment. Taking us right up to that edge time and time again, but walking it back before it gets out of hand. Sweetheart you just bled right out of me, has us there again, but with a smirk we settle back in.
The chorus feels genuine and sweet even if it feels unlikely? I adore it. It takes us to a perfect bridge. So so much texture and beauty before the sirens send us back to that wild little piano. Another powerful outro washes over us and we ride a big ol chord and some bass noodling out to the end. This one rocks and I can’t wait for more.
Bartees Strange - Lie 95
I love this guy so much. His writing is so tender, his production hits hard every time, and I can’t get enough of his voice either. So to open his newest single with (frequent collaborator) Kacy Hill you know I was about to pass out.
Steady guitar plucks ahead, bits of synths, little guitars, pops of background vocals, it all feels simple but the details give it so much life and shape. Meanwhile Bartees Strange sits in the middle of it all just trying to Figure It All Out. Maybe I could grow / know that I won’t is a dagger of self-reflection.
Adding more production, the whole thing elevates for this second verse. Hill’s I wanna survive but I know the price a haunting constant throughout. We float in the mess for just a minute before the chorus erupts. Strange just searching for love.
Verse three is a gem… wanting that love, wanting to offer such deep loyalty and support right back. The moment simmers before SHES SO GOOD IM DYING NOW IM CRYING, it hits so hard and sends me reeeeeling right back to the chorus now feeling bigger and better than ever. No one does it like Bartees Strange!!!
Merce Lemon - Backyard Lover
The Merce Lemon takeover is just beginning. I am soooo beyond excited for this album to come out. This is the first official single, with just a couple months before it’s out (Sep 27th, happy early birthday to me).
Opening with a couple perfect acoustic guitars over some leftover feedback. An electric on lead, that steel guitar sliding just right. The whole intro is warm and charming. A wonderful place for Lemon to join, her voice so unique. Naturally moving across the melody, she sounds amazing in this intimate start.
The drums drop in, the band slowly picks up steam as Lemon’s emotional writing pours out. An instrumental break where every single sound is right, down to the tambourine, it just feels like a band is meant to.
It’s exciting as the song builds, you just know there’s another level here, something we still haven’t quite touched. You feel it too, right? Like at 3:00, A wooden spoon tossed in the fire putting a little more pressure on those final syllables, her voice pushing harder than before. The band loosens up, the whole song opens to showcase you fucking liar, before a gnarly guitar solo, Lemon choosing to reach this new level with the band. No need to do it just herself.
We settle back to one guitar & vocals, for this haunting poem before launching into another big and beautiful jam to ride off into the sunset. Cannot wait for everyone to fall in love with this record.
Ginger Root - There Was A Time
Speechless honestly. Ginger Root is one of a kind. The music is so technical and yet still entirely accessible and just flat out fun. An orchestra of perfect performances, I can’t get enough of this one. This song is full of surprises and little bits of magic. As is every GR song if we’re honest. Strap in and enjoy the ride.
Sampha & Little Simz - Satellite Business 2.0
You know those memes/genuine posts about what song you were listening to when you got in a car crash?? This is one of those songs.
I love Sampha so damn much. He’s able to do so much with that unbelievable voice. One of a kind tone and he’s really defined a sound to match. This song is all of that on 10. Satellite Business (1.0) was a mid-record cut off his ‘23 album, Lahai. At just 1:24 it’s obviously begging to be more. And he’s really done it justice.
This time, the little breakdown after the 2:00 mark feels much more alive, the piano adding a gorgeous live element. Sampha is going off, I’m loving it. And he breaks things down as we roll towards the 3:00 mark. The drums roll off and Little Simz steps up, her voice too, unmistakeable. The verse gives me chills tbh!!!
Then the bridge of all bridge, the whole song swirling and evolving and I am breathing deep to stay calm. Then a stunner of an outro that’ll help us do just that.
EFÉ - 2000SEVEN
EFÉ nation rise up, what a follow up to Truth*Truth. This one is also a 2.0 in a sense, a 00’s-inspired rock reimagining of EFÉ’s song Seven from 2020. This one is big and heavy and beautiful.
The bass holds it down for this entire first verse, but please let it ride to the 0:50 mark where things start to go crazy. Those big hazy chords ringing out, the drums picking up steam, this thing rocks so much. The band sounds so epic I really love it.
EFÉ sounds amazing too, and the song really shines in the final section, everything going wilder and wonkier than before. Been loving this. Great video too <3
Kississippi - Jesus Freak
This EP is so so juicy, and I had the joy of seeing it live last week, thank god. I’ve been bouncing between all four tracks, but today, Jesus Freak is the one catching my ear most.
The songwriting is… nasty!!! In the best possible way. Unfiltered and tender snapshots. Opening with the gentle keys over drum machine, the song immediately strikes a light, almost silly, tone — but jokes on you this one absolutely rocks my god. The chorus is thick and fuzzy and loud and still so catchy and fun. The contrast back to the verse puts a smile on my face, a smile that only grows with "I’m eating candy cigarettes / while your hands are in my jeans”. Frame that lyric, please!!!
We rock through another massive chorus, take a quick bridge, before breaking it all down with a disco-soaked moment. All of it swirling together for one final scene bigger than ever before. It leaves me breathless honestly, a true ripper. Whole EP too - go check it out!!
tg.blk - petty change
New tg.blk EP and I’ll keep it short, petty change delivers a classic noir-y beat, tg.blk bringing insane writing from top to bottom. Just sit back and enjoy a pro doing their thing.
Moses Sumney - Gold Coast
Not sure if any song has ever had a sexier start. I guess Sumney’s voice will always do that to me, but here specifically, with the drums it just has me in love. Adding the sultriest synth to ever exist, the breathes, the writing, the nylon guitar, it’s just all so hot!!
Yeah ok the writing has a lot to do with it too. Love it all and really delighted by the breakdown that ends the song, these chords rising and falling, the whole thing slowing into a blur. Marvelous.
James Blake & Lil Yachty - Midnight
If you are online at all you’ve probably seen clips of these two talking. I really love them both. Lil Yachty seems like the coolest guy that’s ever lived?
I love Midnight, off their collaborative album. It feels like a real collaboration too. It has the bones of a classic James Blake song. His vocals over soft, interesting chords and unending drums. But where he cedes a verse to Yachty around 1:30, it doesn’t feel like Yachty on a James Blake song, it sounds like something entirely different for both of them and it’s cool as hell.
Just over halfway through the song upends itself, and I love Yachty’s adlibs over the repeated James Blake vocals. The synth solo is mesmerizing, Blake’s voice here is my favorite sound of his. Sick.
Genuine Question for the crowd: Am I allowed to get into Role Model or is that too dangerous for me? Please help me out here.
Whew, what a month. Thank you for reading, I hope you found a new favorite song. Let me know what I missed in the comments, I’d love to check out what you’ve been loving too.
I love music!!!! Sincerely,
Max