All The Other Days - A May Recap 🎶
so many songs, all of them amazing, if you can even believe it <3
Happy Tuesday, hope you had a nice long weekend. I swear it was just the April recap… how does the time fly like this??
Life is hard and the world can be awful and I’m so grateful for the music here that helps get me through it. Grateful for this space to get to share. And grateful for you, who come to find special music. Thanks for being here, sending love and light.
I’m also grateful to Alex Banin for trusting me this past week with a new piece/profile/interview/chat. If you haven’t read it yet, please give it a read. I’m really proud and hope you enjoy.
Anyways, on to my favorite albums and songs of the month. What have you been listening to?
My Favorites of May
Albums of the Month
Kacy Hill - BUG
No one has a voice like Hill. So sweet and gentle, but never overshadowed by beautiful, full-of-heart production. The first half of the record includes some singles I had already fallen in love with, while the second half stretches out into this beautiful Ryan Beatty Calico-esque story telling over a sweet collection of instruments and sounds. Hill adding her unique twists, these bouncy synths, moments of warped sounds pushing and pulling around her. An album of love and heartbreak and hope. I’ve loved every listen and can’t wait to savor it more.
Favorite songs - Poquito Mas, My Day Off, Damn
Hovvdy - Hovvdy
Another one of those bands that were always in my periphery but had never broken through into FULLY OBSESSED mode, but I fear that day is nearer than ever. Listened through this double LP a few times now. Beautiful, sprawling, warm.
Big Blue hooked me deep instantly - If you ask me, coming up on 31
All my friends are on my phone. My 30 and a half year old ass got a little paranoid… These fellas know how to write a good ass song and I’m happy to soak in nearly 20 of them on this record.
Favorite songs - Big Blue, Jean, Song for Pete
Of course I’ve been loving Billie Eilish’s new album, Dua Lipa’s too. Also I returned to my ways, and listened to Dijon’s Absolutely at least three times through, sorry! Oh!! And WILLOW’s album is NUTS NUTS NUTS. The opening song with Jon Baptiste?? Holy moly.
Ok now for the Songs of the Month
Tenci - Bubblegum
Oh baby. Simple guitar plucked over bubbling sounds, woodwinds squawking to open the song. The drums roll in as part of this parade nearly 45 seconds in but it feels like it just started. With insanely good and unique vocals (see 1:00’s I hope I dooooon’t forget my life), this song is full of signature flourishes that I adore.
The weird triplets at 1:24ish, evolving with their second repetition. The gorgeous writing - How do I focus more on living?. The song slowing to nearly a halt. This whole section is magic.
Then, 2:00 hits and you better buckle up. 15 seconds till lift off. WE ARE GOING TO ROCK!!!!
The band able to hit so many different emotions and sounds, in such quick succession, but they all feel right together. I don’t know how they do it but boy am I glad they do. One of the most unique and exciting songs of the year, this one has rocked me. Trying to live, trying to enjoy a life that is so brutally hard at all turns. Grateful to have this tune.
Clairo - Sexy to Someone
I don’t know that any song has been more “for me”. The production on this is sooooo crazy, full of all the things I love. Great instruments, fun/weird flute synths, perfect drums, Clairo in the middle of it all - smooth as could be.
I have found myself listening to this more often than not, just such a lovely thing to be hearing.
Sexy to somebody, it would help me out
Oh I need a reason to get out of the house
Cheeky and sexy and fun and feels like a damn golden hour of a song. Warm, breezy, and like life is in slow motion (good).
Remi Wolf - Toro (SONG OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE)
YES YES YES YES YES
I cannot take this one. SO fucking good, Remi Wolf crushes this hot and heavy hotel song. It’s absolutely addictive. When Spotify Wrapped is like “max you listened to this song more times in one day than the math actually allows for?” I will respond “yes i did because i had to play it on my phone and laptop and tv all at the same time because I couldn’t get enough”.
Maybe my favorite moment in music yet this year hits from 0:48 to 0:53. Spotlight on Wolf with those signature twisted harmonies, an engine/bull roar that opens up the drums and it all sprints right back to the groove. It’s perfect and electric and thrilling.
Ginger Root - No Problems
I can never say enough about Ginger Root. So deeply creative and willing to try anything. All backed up with absolute hits.
My gullible ass thought he was serious when he announced the anime he was working on:
A second post revealing his anime had already been cancelled, but instead it was all a ploy for his new single/project on the way. Made me laugh, gotta give it up to a brilliant idea and perfect execution!! No Problems is the first single off his coming-this-September album, and it is one HELL of a start.
Full of the grandiose showmanship, distinct funky sound, delightful songwriting, and sick performance that you’d expect from a Ginger Root song. 1:11 kicks off a gnaaaarly guitar solo, new sounds adding to the GR universe. It sounds so fresh and new but fits his sound perfectly. Love this song.
Mulherin - Blue Moon
Oh wow. Crazy production to open, bouncing back and forth, dark keys, a sharp synth, that eerie flute flickering. The mood is set. The drums giving it a wild bounce underneath the smooth vocals.
This whole first verse is able to cut in quick hits of silence that really give the song a captivating shape, sucking me into the groove. As we slide into the chorus, I in love with the vocals, the two showing off their breathtaking harmonies across the back half of the moment, around the minute mark.
The drums get their moment in the moon after the chorus, pushing a little harder, giving the song a meaner edge. When they drop out for the next chorus, it really lightens the song, like it’s slowly floating upward. Their return coming just at the right moment, a grounding balance.
A sexy little song about those early moments of romance, overwhelmed with the feeling, trying to make sense of it all. It’s hot and fun. The feeling and the song. So glad Mulherin is back and can’t wait for more.
All these songs and soooooo many more like 200 as of this moment but that’s bound to change. Share this playlist and this newsletter with anyone you know who might also like good music <3 Please, it really means a lot!!
big love, big news soon *eye emoji*
Max