Max's Music Mondays with brian mantra and DEADLETTER
Two hits, and fresh gems from Skullcrusher, Confidence Man & CHAI, and Fievel is Glauque
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 :)
Wednesday night!! That’s when I publish right??? (please say yes) Anyways, better late than never! Re-committed to consistency. Gotta say - this one was a joy to write (spoiler I wrote this intro last). It all came pouring out, an experience I really enjoyed, and one I haven’t experienced in a little while here in MMM land. I love these songs and am so excited to share so maybe we can just chalk up the whole being late of it all to labor day or something? idk. just please enjoy the music!!!
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!!
brian mantra - BUGS R US
Ever since r.i.pablo’s 2020 smash hit that I still can’t stop listening to and loving, Buggin Out (DEMO), I’ve been eager to find the next bug-adjacent MMM song. And boy oh boy do we have a good one here. It starts feeling big and mysterious, those echoing notes seeming to tower over us - like we’re actually little bugs!! fun!! But if you were at all nervous about being a bug or something, don’t be. brian mantra joins with some silky, warm, and welcoming vocals. A voice to comfort any and even all of your fears.
That first lyric, How did you know that I love green?, delivered with a tiny smile peaking out from the corner of his mouth. It’s undeniable, you can’t not hear it. The format of this first verse is a delight - a mantra line stretching out before a filtered chorus of yeah’s drift into frame and hold our hands until we reach the next line. A call and response that feels flirty and playful. The vocal stack coming in when you’re on screen is magnificent and stopped me in my tracks. Until then, this song just flows naturally, this wave of harmony the first sign that there’s so much more left to discover and it’s all going to be special. Drums start chugging over that last line, threatening to unleash something powerful and massive. But before the volcano erupts, the heat fizzles, settling us back down into a second verse. And while it feels the same in concept, that adrenaline rush leaves this second scene with that much more tension. Certain that run will return and take us somewhere intense. Until then though, there’s so much to enjoy. Cheeky writing gives mantra a chance to yell fuck the one percent in an entirely new context, before dropping the gorgeous our love’s in the cloud so back it up. Ridiculous and great.
The drum rips forward again, big shot-out-of-a-cannon vibes. And we do reach somewhere new. It’s just not where I expected. Slipping into this daydream of a guitar picking its way through a sunny field. It’s a lush chorus, with a truly impressive vocal performance over great production. The melodies and falsetto layer do make me think of JT a little bit, but that’s probably because I did just listen to The 20/20 Experience top to bottom recently. Anyways.
Post-chorus, we’re all chanting Love! with some auto-tuned to hell vocals keeping us afloat. Weird and twisted and new and cool. We hit the next verse, finally getting that release that felt like this song was crescendoing towards before. Drums!! Driving hard and really bringing this verse to life. It almost feels like an entirely new song. mantra feels stronger in this moment too, sick melodies through out, and feels like the layers are getting more bold here. The whole song just growing and elevating. The repeated lyric just naming names is so fun to me. Something about it just really works, it’s charming!!! Makes that practically family now feel incredibly earnest and sweet. The transition to the next chorus feels like we’ve been warped through some portal, that whoosh + big bell combo really having an impact. Have no fear, the chorus still holds the same warmth and dreaminess, even in this new dimension. It spills out to let those guitars run on some more, such a great tone to close it out. With some sliding vocals to bring it all home. I adore this one. And the video is a trip too.
Follow brian mantra on IG / Spotify
DEADLETTER - Binge
I just can’t get enough of shit like this. Drums? Infectious!! Guitar? Infectious!! Bass? Infectious!! Little pop from a saxophone(I think??)??? FUCKING TWISTED AND SURPRISING AND PERFECT and of course, infectious. It’s all got me on my feet and bopping my dang head!!
The vocals start next, rattling off lyric after lyric. It’s intricate and unique and charming but still able to hold enough of an edge to make them cut through. Fill the basket up with fruits galore no need to try / to ascertain which one is foul, which one is ripe, will come with time. What fun. I love baskets of fruit and I love songs that can toss in an ol’ ~ascertain~ and make it look easy. The whole band throws their support, yelling back Narrowing the line! More dancing, more sax honking, more gorgeous writing, the moment carrying on. Feels like the band really hitting their stride as we strut towards the chorus.
And what a chorus it is. A real thing to behold. A perfect call and response with a brilliant lyric as a cherry on top. Everybody now, “LIFE’S A BINGE!”. I mean come on… that’s a winner. The guitars really crushing it here too. Some added percussion, bongo drums and cowbell delight. And from behind it all, a chorus of ahhhhhhhhs rise up, eerie and fun and all-consuming. Even with the drums at their back, it’s the first taste of relief this song has offered. Don’t get too comfortable, we’re immediately thrown back into another verse, this time sounds like we’ve got a plucked violin holding us steady. That violin does turn out to be a guitar, it’s sound becoming less refined and more loose as the verse carries on. A verse that shows a world slowly falling apart too. This feeling of bad ahead, struggle ahead, and an acknowledgement of the role all humanity plays part in.
It breaks into another chorus - thank god, because I LOVE this chorus. Just so well done, don’t you agree? I just cannot get over life’s a binge. fuck!!! But anyways, off the back of the chorus and some swelling/blaring horns, we get to something new. Just drums, bass, and vocals - lower now than they were before. Feels like it’s just the two of us, as he catches us up on some of the tempting indulgences that surround us. It flips back to the original shouting register, dropping a God lyric, feeling like he’s preaching to his congregation. And I’m happy to be a part of that. It throws us into the final chorus, the nastiest of them all. The horn section stepping up and building out some dark and disgruntled chords, really puts an evil little exclamation point on this one. And just when you can’t take the tension any more, DEADLETTER relents, offering the smirking cowbell and a chant through the chorus. Relenting in sound, of course, but his tone suggests relenting to the world too. It’s a hoot and a half and I can’t get enough of this one.
Follow DEADLETTER on IG / Spotify
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
(click this ^^ for the full playlist lol)
Skullcrusher - Quiet the Room
LMAO you really thought I wasn’t going to talk about a new Skullcrusher song???? Please!!!
This release is haunting and breathtaking at the same time - two takes on the same song, two different ambiences/arrangements entirely, it’s magnificent. I find myself drawn to Quiet the Room. A simpler approach. One that really gives Skillcrusher the spotlight. Her vocals are engrossing and just generally unbelievable. Holy moly. I know you had more to say. Each line bending and breaking, twisting and turning, more than I knew one lyric could manage. These door hinge squeaks the only thing that break my undivided attention. A normally annoying, pain-of-a-sound, used perfectly to add more beauty to this song. The writing is moving, the entire song stretching out these few lines for all they are worth. And on their own, just perfect poetry.
Where do you want to be?
Someplace you cannot see
I know you had more to say
Did you feel afraid to tell me?
The words still sit on your tongue
They quiet the room
Gently devastating. I love it.
Confidence Man & CHAI - Angry Girl
If you know me, you know I love this band. I will wedge ConMan into any conversation I can, and am QUICK to be that guy and force you to watch a video of them performing because it’s fucking electric!!!! plz watch the first forty five seconds, that’s all you need to know.
So to get a CHAI remix just makes so much sense and makes me so happy. It takes a really wild tune, Angry Girl, and gives it a new life. CHAI is maybe the only other band out there that can match ConMan levels of energy, so the two groups feel right at home together. To and through the climatic scream and surprise ‘not!’ reveal.
Fievel Is Glauque - Go Down Softly
I got to see FIG live in NY last month and while I nearly melted in the heat, it was worth it to hear this one live. A magical little number with incredible performances from every member of the band. The vocals are featured a bit more than other FIG songs, a tender and warm voice holding steady in the groove and the song’s sharp turns. At the 1:15 mark, we get a gorgeous little sax solo, organ underneath matching step for step, before you know it the guitar cuts in, lush as it dance across the scene. Another sax steps in to solo, calm in its low register, ending with a yearning reach forward. The baton gets handed off again, keys hopping all around. You might be thinking - there couldn’t be another solo after this… who could possibly be left?!?! And while it’s fair to ask, you’re dead wrong, the dang flute has been PATIENTLY waiting their turn and oh baby it is time. So fresh and light, it’s a perfect end. FIG seems to cook up these entirely unique structures and every one is an adventure to enjoy. Hope you enjoy this one too.
Another week of great music, what more could you ask for?!?!?! Well!! I can think of something - it’s you sharing this playlist and/or substack with someone else who likes music. But I swear that’s it!! The more the merrier over here, thank you for your support.
Wax’s Wusic Wondays just doesn’t have the same ring, so I’ll be back on Monday :)
Yours,
Max