Max's Music Mondays with Anderson Hao & Kudos To
wait a second... these songs are... perfect??? what the hell????
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. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3
Thank you to everyone who came to the dang show!! What a night!! Seriously felt so overjoyed and grateful (and anxious) all night. Each artist absolutely brought it, and felt like such a special collection of talent. Seeing them all and knowing we’ll look back at that one wondering how the hell they were all on a bill together. I feel lucky to witness it myself.
Don’t forget!!! You can pre-order the first Mendel release - Brigid’s Cradle from redbrd, on Cassette!! A pre-order goes a long way in supporting an incredible musician and helping me get this label off the ground. I really think you’ll love it.
Otherwise lets get to the tunes!!! Fun one next week, so these are our ~last picks of October~ oooOOooOoO spooky!! jk! Just great!!
Anderson Hao - ruin july / 7_21
Ugh, yes, I’m doing it again!!! I’m refusing to stick to my own rules (pick one song from an artist), and instead rebelling and sharing two songs. Take that!!! Ok I know this is fun, but this first song is serious so lets cut straight to it.
ruin july -
Light keys over drums with so much pop. There’s endless texture here, like you can hear the release of the keys as much as the notes they play. We get sucked into the next scene, meeting Hao at the mic. Even more texture added to the moment, a ‘simple’ arrangement made to feel so full.
I don’t think I’ll ever get to explain / takes too much to sit with my side of this.
What a lyric, come on. This opening scene shows Hao, vulnerable, writing to someone from her past. Things fell apart and now this song serving as Hao’s “side of this”, generously trying to sort it out and find some peace. One resolving chord brings us into the chorus. Drums and keys mostly consistent while a bass joins and really rounds out everything. So lush.
The titular lyric really hits hard. The idea of someone ruining a month for you is so efficient. There are epic poems that can’t express the emotions, the complexities, the wholeness of that pain better than this. Simple and to the dang point. The words pour out, delivered with this sense of like, “do you even know what you did?”, finally getting to share the pain, hoping to find some sort of justice. But Hao knows it isn’t that easy, I’d wage a war but I’d just be fight memories. So so good and so wise. Life moves on, whether we’re ready for it or not, and at a certain point it begs us to just let go. This whole moment just feels so intoxicating, it’s really immersive, just feeling like I’m sitting inside the song, inside the scene.
It pushes on, more production magic, some insane harmonies, and more chances to find acceptance in the situation. A quick verse but a showcase of how special these songs are. Every little piece working so well together. We fall back into the chorus, those harmonies sticking around and standing out. The song gets washed away in the cloud of dust, only for it to spit us out in the next song.
7_21 -
And out comes a perfect next tune. It’s title surely a reference to the date, hard to ignore the 7 right after a July song. But also, all through elementary school and onward, my lucky numbers were 7 and 21 so this one was always calling my name.
That Aw mannn warms my heart every time. There’s a synth steady underneath, the clean drums, the distant keys. Connected to the last song but still entirely its own thing. Really though, I’m won over by the writing.
I’m sure you’ve got your reasons / I’m not quite ready to / see them. The last two words stretched out, like finishing the thought in real time, but also laying them so tastefully in the groove.
What comes next is brilliant. At 0:39, the moment shifts. New synths creating new textures. Playing what could be a doorbell, we get a new lead line, descending through this scene as that synth spins around the track. When Anderson rejoins at 0:47, she sings over piano, then bass, then drums - the song building back with patience and restraint.
The doorbell sticks around for the verse, finishing out with a chilling but genuine lyric, studying the things that scare us most. We mention death and the song is instantly haunted, this new synth giving the spookiest solo over this warm and lovely band. A special song, and really delightful pair.
If you dig these, I hope you’ll go listen to the rest of the project. Great songs up and down, all just as exciting, interesting, and thoughtful.
Follow Anderson Hao on Instagram // on Spotify
Kudos To - Jackie
Thank god thank god thank god. I have been dying to write about this one and feels so good to finally get to ramble about what a delight this song is. A relief to get it out of my brain and into your ears.
Opening with VHS-esque nostalgia, the band thrown beneath a filter with some life happening above it, feels like we’re at a playground. I think I hear someone say “put the stick down” which makes me smile. The tape ejects, the quick hit of static, before the song finds this new channel - the same band but now in focus, loud and clear. It doesn’t lose any of the ambience though, the voices and field recordings filling the track as the band tracks through this scene.
Things do start to dissipate as the vocals kick in. Still little bits of joy, like the triangle ringing out, the bass sliding in, it’s all beautiful and never boring. Meanwhile, the vocals are amazing. Smooth and light, even doubled they feel easy. Lifting the song up with those high notes. We hear the story of Jackie, it feels like someone talking about their friend. They speak with love, even if they’re seeming a little lost right now.
At 0:33, new guitars come in and give the song a bump of something new. That momentum keeps up into the rest of the verse. Our narrator offering so much support and generous friendship.
But I love her so / even when she’s feeling low
I wanna take her hand / and tell her I’m the one who understands.
Warms my heart, we all need someone who can see us in these moments and know what’s going on. But no time to get emotional, Max! We got more to hear.
It slides into this nighttime vibe, bass-forward, guitars on pause. Sounds like we stepped outside the club. We see Jackie again, another day, an exhaustion turned day dream that hits her in the heart. I love the harmonies here, still so angelic, but landing a punch nevertheless.
We wake up back into the familiar verse, with a deeeeeeply killer lyric about Jackie’s heart: Everyone she knows / holds it in their hands till it implodes. My goodness!!!! Brutal imagery but the emotions and the situation could not be more clearly expressed, whew. Pulling for you Jackie.
Back to the other mode, walking early in the morning. This time we add guitars, and the moment feels more propulsive. The walk is turning to a strut. The self awareness and heart behind that human thought - Jackie doesn’t want to go unseen. So good. An instrumental break that starts to cycle and build while our second vocalist gently repeats Jackie wants fun. In these moments of hurt - no matter how short or long - that simple desire to smile and have fun is so relatable and really wraps the song nicely. Such a fun, breezy tune with a lot to say. Loved this one, one heck of a first single, can’t wait to hear more <3
Follow Kudos To on Instagram // on Spotify
Last Week on All The Other Days:
The Crowd - Twig Twig
Real ones know, I was a Twig Twig stan back when I was living in Chicago. Darkworld Gleaming is still a perfect record to me. A moment of discovery, realizing that music I loved could feel like this, sound like this. It pulled my taste further left of center.
I didn’t know if there’d ever be more Twig Twig tunes, so this project is really a delight. The songs are so often surreal and deeply human at the same time. Love the vocals, love the beautiful then blabbering trumpet that arrives in the back half of this one. Savoring these songs.
Darlin’ - Jean Dawson
Another fav from my chicago days, I will never forget hearing Dawson’s Bull Fighter for the first time on my walk home from work one day. Another person teaching me my taste. This new song is the opener off the new album. Kicking things off with a massive Hendrix-esque solo, bending and burning. Unfolds into a sweet little groove. Darlin’, if I died would you bring me flowers often? His voice has never sounded better. The song really evolves with the symphony, so so magic to me. Loving this one.
AWARDS SEASON - Bon Iver
Never turning down a 5+ min Bon Iver song. I have a hard time trying to craft my thoughts around music like this. So human and vulnerable, just him singing there. Blossoming, as he’s wont to do, into unthinkably lush instrumental moments. Why do things gotta change? We were on our way. </3 cmon…
Throw on the noise cancelling headphones, turn this up as loud as you can bear it, and let it wash over you.
i am baby keem - jaythehomie
93 seconds of the best beat I could imagine. Chaotic and funky and the drums are so damn good. jaythehomie brings easy and fun bars over that peanuts piano, the whole song feels so hazy and beautiful.
That switch up at 0:45? Gnarly little groove, my goodness. He’s so good, amazing flow, fun writing, just finding the best delivery across every moment. And the little singing outro. Sick one wow.
letter - Vayda & Amindi
I’m just so excited to see Vayda on the rise. Cozy guitar riff, over teeny drums punching well above their weight. Going line for line with Amindi here, both of them sounding so damn sweet. A timeless feel. Pair it with the Zelooperz collab on tahiti to balance some of this sweetness with some weirdness, ok versatile!!!
Nintendo Morning - Ramsey Thornton
Ramsey Thornton is getting such a special sound out of his damn banjo. There’s something about his vocals and melodies that seem to mesh so perfectly with his instrumentation. Really special.
The guitar really gets some shine in the first minute too. His writing is specific and slice-of-lifey while still so clear and relatable. Final minute is ghostly and hard to ignore. Maybe that means I’ve won / pretty sure I don’t feel like a winner. Feels like something is brewing in Ramsey-world and I’m so excited to hear whatever is to come.
Come Crashing - Mia Lorelei
Hit play and enjoy. Mia Lorelei pushing into harder, fuller sounds with every release. It’s just getting better and better. The oscillation is crazy, the writing is so good, and the chorus is massive and all encompassing. So sick <3
XOXO, until next week,
Max