Max's Music Mondays - New Release Celebration Week

maggie rogers, beyoncé, dora jar, and me losing my mind with joy

Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays. My ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you love them too. If you do, follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :)

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This Week’s Songs

Please please follow along here ^^ for this week’s and every week’s songs. They’re all really good I swear!!! <3 Please like and enjoy and send to someone you like and enjoy!!

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Okay… soooooo there aren’t any??? I have a few songs that I adore and am so excited to write about, in big and fun MMM style. Some true Max’s Music Mondays CERTIFIED heat. But unfortunately, life has said “sorry you do not have time to do that this week!!” and I have said, “ok life, I accept that and will just share everything else I’ve been listening to instead because there’s been some incredible music released this week!!!!”

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Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.

(click this ^^ for the full playlist lol)

Maggie Rogers - Shatter

CHRISTMAS IN JULY AND NOW AUGUST WHEN YOU READ THIS.

The Maggie album is here and I am ecstatic. First listens have been wonderful, there’s some real beauty, wisdom, love, passion here. And yes I DID spend my Sunday afternoon walking around the neighborhood crying to this album!!! Five different times to five different songs!!!! And at the end of the day am just grateful to have an artist like Maggie Rogers in my life, who sees the world the way I do, exists in it in a way I admire, and distills wisdom in a way that lights up my damn tear ducts.

While I can’t pick a fav just yet… Shatter has been a tune for me. From the intro, that nasty guitar stumbling, chaos, over the perfect drums. That big juicy synth scratching my LCD Soundsystem itch. It’s big and rough and urgent, but Rogers enters with poise. Her voice is so smooth through this first verse. The pre-chorus sees some vocal flairs that just rope me right in. Her voice with so much texture and shape as it ramps up to the chorus. And what a chorus. It’s full of love that’s flying out, like Maggie is about to explode, she can’t get it out fast enough. The band rocking out as she offers “I’ll do anything just to feel with you” sprinkling “alright” with such a casual charm. Some cheeky shit!!! A second verse dotted with a new synth casting fun shapes around the edges. We’re back to the chorus before we know it. Building quick, Rogers’ plea getting stronger by the second. Willing to offer the world to this new love, those ad-libs giving away her eager passion, her voice betraying any chance of ~playing it cool~ but why would you want to when you feel this strongly. The bridge starts to climb, Rogers revealing more pain and anger under the surface, energy you can feel bursting through in the final chorus. As it closes, her voice gets more and more raw, less worried about hitting a perfect note, more worried that the message gets heard. Until this 3:14 mark where she’s sure you’ve heard it. Feeling almost like she’s stepped right up to you, walking out of a bustling bar, music still rocking, but she’s standing clear ahead of it all. Reminding you one last time the message is true. It’s a raucous and loving tune, full of so much energy, feels like Maggie at her best to me.

Beyoncé - ENERGY

What a week for music… RENAISSANCE is rich. A true album, a big & full & incredible piece of work. What can I say that hasn’t already been said about what a feat this is, what a feat everything Beyoncé does is. Jaw-dropping to see someone this far into their career manage to not just stay contemporary but continuing to push the edges of genre. ENERGY was an instant ear-worm for me, the synth bass beyond fat, Beam lending his vocals to set the scene. Across ENERGY she does it all. Some timeless Beyoncé melodies, vocals smooth as possible. Some verses that blur into rap, confident energy pouring out. Sharing the stage with Beam and taking some gritty synths screaming around the edges. It feels like a classic. It feels like the future. And it’s only 2mins long. And bleeding effortlessly right into BREAK MY SOUL. I am dancing and I cannot stop.

Elsewhere on the album, everyone is in love with PLASTIC OFF THE COUCH. And for good reason. Pairing beautifully with VIRGO’S GROOVE too. I’ve been hooked on ALL UP IN YOUR MIND too, if AG Cook is involved, I’m tapping in. More on the whole record coming, that is for sure.

ROSALIA - DESPECHA

WOWWWWWW. What a trio to kick off this week’s HWEIBLT section. Those keys are so pure. Bouncing in the street on a hot summer day, even on the hottest day this thing feels so cool. These first few lyrics feel all the same Rosalía with such a voice, such a delivery, and the effortless cool of telling someone “don’t call i’m too busy forgetting your bullshit, i’m going to the club with the girls” just fucking rocks. One of the coolest people on the planet right now, and pulling off moments like this so easily. Even with the drums and light bass, this one is simple, dancing from chord to chord. Some more rhythm section added in, to round out this first section. The groove contagious. After the chorus, the strings swell over filtered keys. It sounds so sick and so is Rosalía’s flow. Using the second verse to step into the club, outlining things as she gets ready. In the back half of the verse that new synth delivers the familiar chords. Sounding like some twisted PVC pipes, the blue man group on their best day imaginable, as Rosalía tells her ex just how easy it is to move from them. ABC. 123. Intense, sure, but sonically so light and breezy. A quiet and tender moment fades in, but as soon as we get comfortable, Rosalía goes flying by us, a cheeky wink as she rides on by. It’s such a fun one and I can’t stop running it back. It’s a song that’s come to life during her current tour, and feels so exciting to see music debut like that at such a massive scale.

Dora Jar - Bumblebee

Are you kidding??? This week keeps getting better and better. Dora Jar is one of the most exciting artists around, her writing so tender and wise and sweet and also fun!?!?! All delivered, time and time again, over gorgeous and bold production. Bumblebee fits right in.

Obviously, you’re already over me

Off to a heart-stopping start, Jar’s vocals sound incredible in this opening scene, fluttering through a fun melody. Show tf off through that Stupid, overjoyed section. Making it look easy. We head towards 1min, a new acoustic strumming so clean. Jar laying down some textbook weird gibberish scatting that offers a record scratching effect but make it playful. Add in the La La La’s and it has this Sesame Street, drawn in crayon, kind of feel. It drops back into the full band, that bass and drum combo coming alive and Jar goes for some great runs. The second verse, insane. So damn good. Sonically, it’s amazing. The way Jar reaches down for unbearable FEEeeellLING. So special. Songwriting both delightful and devastating as we barrel towards one last chorus. The track really comes alive, led by the drums and Jar going wild underneath it all. No other songs feel like Jar’s. Even as it fades it evolves, that phased outro going to outer space. Such a sick one.

A.O. Gerber - Hunger

One of my favorite songwriters comes to play yet again. Gerber’s music feeling more and more full, bigger and better and more special with every release. A steady synth lines the track, a guitar pushing on, gentle but certain. A perfect foundation for Gerber’s vocals. Her voice is so intimate and near, all together creating a coziness early in this one. Even in her stronger moments, belting out Turn myself into your doorway, picks up effects that make me feel like the voice is almost filling up inside my head. Thoughts rattling around, banging about, strong, but her voice coming out smooth still. And what a voice it is. Just stunning.

The rest of the band joins as the world burns. Filling out the track with such thoughtful elegance as Gerber hits more poetic perfection:

Wish that I could pay attention
Write it down so I don’t speak
Be the person you imagine
Cardboard cutout of the week

You can feel it building now, and even as the band fades away, you can feel the cliff’s edge approaching. Giving Gerber the space to consider a heavy question. Almost as if she’s jumping out into it, into the unknown, her whole band catching her and floating alongside as they all fly on. A beautiful moment. This Lonely Hunger section rocks so much *tearing up emoji* The emotion just pouring out. Peel it all back to a haunting final verse, and final line, a jaw-dropping finish to one heck of a song. Cannot wait for this album.

Ginger Root - Holy Hell

New Ginger Root! New Ginger Root! New Ginger Root! New Ginger Root! Sparking synths welcome us in, a mesmerizing guitar dances on by, the whole thing a whirlwind of disco dance club energy. The instrumental break between verses explodes out and makes the reset feel brand new again. Feels classic and fresh all at the same time. The shape of the verses are fun, the slow stretched lyric, the quick and quiet follow up, with room for the band to groove at every turn. The whole song is hustling, pushing on with so much joy, and I’m dying to see what’s to come with each new section. All of it is masterfully written, arranged, produced, just feels like Ginger Root is nailing everything he does. As we push through 2:30, the strings blossom once again, a quick jump to a new key above will draw you deep. The band slowly to a crawl as a saxophone appears out of nowhere, a sensual surprise. The drums and bass kick right back in, a thrilling end to great one.

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Picks again next week i stg.

plz forgive me and spin Renaissance another time.

Max