Max's Music Mondays with Alex Banin
been WAITING to write this one up...
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, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) Your paid subscriptions go towards supporting the artists you read about here too!! That’s right(!!), the artists who made This Weeks Songs are getting paid!! <3
As I drove to drop off my compost on Sunday morning, I passed a billboard celebrating The White Stripes’ Elephant. Earlier this month we hit the record’s 20-year anniversary. A crucial record in the ‘Max Discovering What Music Is and Can Be’ journey, it instantly made me nostalgic. There was a time when I knew the Little Acorns monologue word-for-word. A time when I pictured myself, dreamt of myself doing It’s True That We Love One Another in the school talent show with my crush. I can so clearly picture the places and moments this album found me. There’s No Home For You Here is still as massive and mystifying as ever. The guitar solo’s littering Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine. Damn I could go on forever, this thing is juicy. And maybe I will some other time *scribbling some notes down….*
But as I drove yesterday, I couldn’t help but think about how one of the endearing parts of my relationship to the White Stripes was Jack being from Detroit. This is a very unfinished thought, but this idea of hometown pride is so much mushier to me now. On the one hand, yes, I think the representation - knowing someone from the same area was a rock star - was inspiring? Or at least connective? But to have pride in my hometown as a child, feeling indebted to a place that I simply began existing in, is so funny to me now. And yes, as someone who has left his hometown I guess I’m a little biased. But as a kid, I loved it. Because that’s where my life was. Only there because that’s where my parents lives were. And their’s before them. There was no selection process, no alignment to their values let alone mine, but yet somehow it stood for us and we stood for it. It’s funny to think of all the places my life has brought me and still may yet, and think of having a child there and them having this deep connection their hometown. IDK!!! Maybe there’s more to it, and I’m not giving it a fair shake. Or maybe I was just flying through LA BLASTING the new Feist album and feeling incredibly vulnerable and raw! Either way, I also have a great new song for you to hear this week and notes on both these records I mentioned after that. I hope you enjoy.
This Week’s Songs
We did it, we broke 700 followers on the playlist… which means we’re basically at 1,000?? Listen, enjoy, and send to a dang friend why don’t you.
Alex Banin - Doc Whiler
Listen… this thing is taking off, so get on board before it’s too late. Alex Banin (and this song, for that matter) just appeared in my life, again the tiktok gods blessing me endlessly. This little thing ended up on my timeline a couple weeks ago and the chorus has NOT LEFT MY HEAD YET.
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If you’re going to be brave enough to throw a “dijon, bon iver, and frank ocean” reference in there, you better deliver, and my oh my did Banin deliver. This shit rocks sm I can hardly stand it.
The song opening, swirling instantly, slightly off-kilter guitar on either side of you. Some magic synth (I think??) dancing in the background. Sounding just like it looks in that clip above. The colors of dusk, the chill in the air, and the expansive world around you. A little breezy too. Banin sits so beautifully amidst it all. Her vocals feeling full and wide, reaching for the edges of the song. The humble drums holding us steady right down the middle. The first verse is quick, Banin finding the undeniable melody, her delivery calm even with some pace in the lyrics. Some of those early chords seem to be heavier now, some kind of muted piano keeping this whole thing together. The moment flies by, spilling into the pre-chorus. The bass and drums hold it down, while every one else takes a breather and it really lightens this one up. Banin continues reflecting on this story, the repetitive lyrics feeling like the emotions finally getting out. Moments of spiraling breaking open to move forward. Some wild vocals find their way to the forefront, some harmonies and falsetto’s. Taking a simple moment and filling it with talent and beauty. It ends with a reveal. All this talk about I don’t like you finally gets punctuated with too much. That lingering pain, lingering desire still present. Even if she’s reluctant to admit it. But she does, and it frees us to fly into this chorus. Sparkles of synth shooting out as the bass pulls itself up, everyone ready to lose it.
This chorus…. holy moly. It’s the real deal. It’s actually a true accomplishment that I made it this far without saying anything about it or skipping straight to it. It’s the star of the song and the section I can’t stop singing, yelling, thinking about. The drums come back a little punchier than before, Banin back a little punchier too, singing beautifully, right there on the verge of screaming too. And those first few lyrics are daggers. I got used to it / I don’t cry, I don’t cry / I got used to it. Off the back of admitting there’s still a flicker of feeling here? OOOOF I love it, it hits so hard. That kick does too, my god. The kind of chorus that has me going Sam Herring mode in my bedroom. But it’s a generous chorus too - just telling this person, it’s all good. Yeah it sucks, but don’t let it stop you now, I’m doing fine.
That sparking sound returns, like a bunch of fish swimming, swirling all around you, the scene changing in a blink of an eye. The second verse settles back a bit from the chorus, but this thing is still MOVING. Waiting for someone else to make a move, the time it takes allowing so much room to reflect and tell stories to yourself. Love that painting pictures in my mind of what you looked like lyric so much. Banin pulls off such a cool move in the back half of the verse. A lyric or two pulling up short, leaving more unsaid, it’s so human and so like… conversational? Argumentative? Is that the argument version of conversational? You can feel the intensity, feeling like she’s getting cut off when she repeats already on my —, the same effect in the next line too. It gives the verse this interesting shape, almost like it’s sputtering out emotionally. Trying to ramp up and say what needs be said but getting stopped short and slowly giving up hope. Musically, there’s no sputtering, this shit is sick. Some warped vocals shooting up to pull us into the pre-chorus again.
The song, stripped of drums for the first time in a while, starts to fill with atmosphere instead, rumblings of conversation, instruments and sounds hanging around in the reverb. It feels spacey and airy and open. That acoustic guitar a sweet little touch. The whole thing growing outward before the chorus hits and it all gets sucked right back in, the magnetic pull of that I got used to it too strong for anything to evade. This time, with some additional vocal layers, new people appearing and helping guide it home. The instrumental moment at the end is trippy and gorgeous and the perfect otherworldly-meets-angelic vibe to wrap up a stellar song. Can’t stop playing it. I hope you love it too.
Follow Alex Banin on IG / Spotify
Here’s everything else I’ve been listening to.
Yeah, I’ve got another playlist…^^ a live look at the songs I can’t get enough of beyond our weekly picks. It’s a mix of everything. Old, new, big, small, mainstream, weird as hell. Give it a listen :)
Forever Before - Feist
I’m gonna have a lot more to say about this album soon, but DAMN it’s so good!!! It feels so personal and honest. It feels like a solo album, without drums on so many songs, it really could be just her. But then these wild moments that feel so big and full and surprising. It’s exciting and mesmerizing, I spent all weekend getting lost in it. Albums don’t catch me like this often, but relishing this one.
Forever Before makes me wanna cry just thinking about it. A song about her daughter. I’ve never begun a forever before. Goodness gracious. So generous and loving and exciting to think that your life’s forevers are still undiscovered ahead of you. This one, Borrow Trouble, and I Took All Of My Rings Off have been holding me close.
There’s No Home For You Here - The White Stripes
As mentioned up top - 20 years of Elephant, and this one still stands the fuck up. Holy moly. The chorus thrashes and catapulting from intellectual conversation to head knocking catharsis. That breakthrough at 1:53 is just as mind melting now as it was then.
Got a lot more to share in my monthly recap next week - but for now, I’ll leave you with this. After seeing the Coachella clips, I have been back to the well again… Jai Paul really one of the greats. This album/project/whatever really means so much to me and if you’ve never treated yourself, please, strap in.
That’s all for this week!! You know the damn vibe!! Alex Banin is getting paid by all of us thanks to our generous paid subscribers!!! What a damn world. The response to this news is so amazing every time, it really feels special to be a part of something special!
Grateful to you all, free or paid, just appreciate everyone of you.
Hope everyone has a great week. If you were at Coachella, drop me a line, I wanna know who else rocked.
As always,
Max
Alex Banin „Doc Whiler” - what a vibe! 🔥🔥🔥