Max's Music Mondays with BAD and Otis Saint Carter
We're back :) I missed you so much!!!
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays - a ~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 respectfully smash that subscribe button. Let me know if you do, I’ll send you a thank you playlist or something. We’re almost at 300 likes on the playlist, my heart is about to burst (in a safe and good way)!!!!
Ugh, I forgot how fun these stunning, revelatory, dumb little pieces of art are to think of/make.
Anyways, I’m back!! Yeah, I went on safari and yeah, it was cool as hell. That’s a dramatic undersell, mainly because I (someone who is a ‘writer’?) cannot cook up words to do the experience justice. The whole thing was a dream and continues to be unbelievable. But enough about me making friends with giraffes et. al. (well, not enough really, if you wanna chat about Tanzania or Uganda, you know where to find me). The trip also offered some well needed time and space to reset. T&S that gave entirely new context to the thoughts banging about in my head. It was a powerful experience!!! And some of those thoughts were about MMM! how fun :)
It’s fun to have this project to fall into every week, but it’s easy for it to become a bit robotic. The discovery and writing are always different, but the general process builds such momentum it can be hard to break out of. So I’m grateful for the aforementioned T&S to see MMM from outside of the weekly routine. Grateful to remember that this thing can be whatever we want, and think about how it can change. Grateful to remember how much I love listening to an album all the way through, and think about how I’d love to find a way to write about them. Grateful to remember how much fun those artist performances were, and think about how I can make them more special for everyone involved in the future. And above all grateful to know I could stop, take a moment, and trust you’d all continue to be so generous with your eyes, ears, and inboxes. We're closing in on FOUR YEARS of MMM, and I’m ready and excited about how it’ll continue to evolve and grow. TYSM for letting me have a damn blast.
I’m a little rusty on this whole ~writing~ thing, so cut me some slack this week (and every week after tbh, the music will be great though, i promise).
This Week’s Songs
Please please follow along here ^^ for this week’s and every week’s songs. Each song is perfect and that is an objective fact and in no way my biased opinion i promise.
Bubblebath - BAD
Let’s have some fun!!! I’ve been riding the BAD train since their debut back in 2018 (unthinkably long ago… Refresher still hits - can’t recommend it enough), a non-stop string of groovy, catchy, fun, dance-y, funky music. At times they feel pulled out of another era, but brightened and refreshed for a modern release. The other consistent trait is incredible vocals. And lucky for us we get all the above on this one. That bouncy chord caught my attention immediately, a unique and delightful sound. But we’ve only got a second or two to appreciate it before one heck of a first lyric, our narrator showing us the work as they push passed a breakup. At 0:17 as the vocals reach for new heights the band (and background vocals) come running to lift them even higher. That funky guitar makes it hard not to smile, but if you managed to fend off that grin, the waves of vocals should finish the job :) And then we soar towards one innovative gem of a chorus. That nonchalant ‘bubblebath bubblebath bubblebath’? That rocks. Poised and perfect. A laid back balance to the otherwise punchy production. Obviously the harmonies running down ‘pour a glass, kick it back, and relax’ is a stunning moment, the band generous enough to drop out and just appreciate the talent with us. We clap on back to the verse, the songwriting pushing some pace over ever-expanding chords. The chorus is just so dang catchy, I’m itching for it to return, so eager to try and be cool enough to sing along believably. That might be a fool’s errand but hey, I’m a fool for a song this delightful. Post-chorus we’re in for a(nother) treat - tongue-twister levels of bubblebaths over some shimmering strings that seem to bridge the timeless music back to today. Then in a surprise twist at 1:55 we get some massive, arena-sized chords exploding out on some NSYNC-taking-the-stage type energy. You can feel the lights shining out from behind them. It is building and building, those two notes from the vocals offering plenty of tension. So when that wave breaks and reveals the familiar chorus, I’m simply in heaven. Somehow finding another way to deliver the chorus and beat expectations. It takes this larger-than-life feeling and effortlessly drops right back into the much more intimate and cool singalong. Some more strings going off before the song abruptly ends. What a joy. Love to start a week off with a party.
Otherwise - Otis Saint Carter
Back on my bullshit, and that means I’m deep in the soundcloud trenches. Who knows how but I found this one a few months back:
Creative, unique, catchy in so many ways. But not on Spotify!! So we had to wait. But the patience was worth it for Otherwise. And I think you’ll agree.
Mmmmmmmm and this intro has me already. That warm bass, guitar stinging as it breaks through. The band sounding like it’s coming from the back of a saloon. Otis Saint Carter comes bursting through those swinging doors, hand in hand with these drums. Rattling off hard over the band, it all feels a liiiiittle angry. Carter holding calm even while the momentum builds. But that energy really comes through at 0:30 as that fuzzy, distorted guitar leads the way, our drummer getting even more life out of each beat. It’s a relentless moment, everything chugging along with Carter offering thoughtful lyrics and steady delivery, a wise anchor in this chaos. I’m grateful when the moment breaks, beautiful as it was I was scared the song might explode if it lasted any longer. However, the bassist and drummer refuse to quit, the guitarist finding space for bluesy ideas to shine. But Carter is the one who picks things up here - brief as the verse might be. It throws us back to the harsh wall of sound. Its darkness lightened with that guitar riff sparkling around the edges. Carter comes out the other side still on fire. His lyrics landing almost like proclamations, easing some storytelling in there too. It does feel personal, vulnerable as he repeats how he hasn’t felt like himself in years. It seems to inspire the drums, still finding new levels of intensity. I honestly don’t know how the drums haven’t broken yet, they’re hitting SO hard as we approach the two min mark. The song flipping that switch between groovy lightness and heavy darkness with no problem at all. Each switch giving more and more power and energy to the lyrics too. This final forty seconds maxing out as the song closes, emotion pouring out from Carter and from every member of the band. A journey in its own form, and a lyrical feat from top to bottom. This one seems to show more small details and beauty with every listen and I’m eager to savor it again and again. And let’s get some water for the band huh? Putting the work in on this one, sheesh. This is one of two songs on a recent release and the other song also goes wild.
Follow Otis Saint Carter on IG / Spotify
Ok ok well that felt pretty good!! So nice to see you all again. Hope you enjoyed :)
Max
Business time: Please follow the playlist and please please pass it along to anyone you know who might be in need of new music!! WE ARE SO CLOSE TO 300 LIKES ON THE PLAYLIST PLEASE HELP HIT THE MILESTONE!!! The more people here, the more people hearing these amazing songs. We got a bunch of new faces this week, I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I enjoyed seeing you all here, this shit really does make my day!!!