Max's Music Mondays with Chrissy and Qazi & Qazi
Two hits + new gems from Remi Wolf, BEL, and more :)
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 :)
We are flying through the NBA playoffs. A joy as always. Especially when it felt so sure and expected as they kicked off. Assumptions that, of course, have left me looking silly as the Mavs keep winning…
It’s nice to have basketball as a reprieve from the world. A chance to fall so deeply and passionately into something that is, at its core, nice and fun and good. But sometimes even that can be too much for me and I need something even lighter, even less tense. And for that, I share with you an incredible video from famed internet website, youtube dot com:
Anyways, music also a great place to turn to help process and feel and so much more. And these two songs offer true homes for so many of these feelings.
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!!
Chrissy - Socks
Ok I’ve been waiting for this one!!!! It’s everything I had hoped for and more. Chrissy has been teasing this song and its unbelievably thrilling drop on tiktok for a while now and holy moly I am GRATEFUL to have it in full now. Chrissy’s voice is tender and clean as we tip toe our way in. Naturally finding stunning textures and tones, the way she hits ‘holding on’ at 0:07 is has so much character for such a simple phrase. The guitar plucks away some muted chords slowly making their way in too. At 25 seconds the whole thing swells effortlessly, dreamy keys way off in the distance, more plucked strings maybe?? it all just feels more. Big and spacey and dreamy and soft all while Chrissy delivers devastating lyrics. So why you moving on / I’ll be right back / You got some new love, who gave you that? / Why you moving on and how’d you do it so fast? OOF LETS GO!!! Pain in heartbreak. Pain in comparison.
And then, with that pain, the song unleashes its true power. Chrissy’s question floating out there for just a second, before she comes bursting through the track. Her dreamy patience and questioning flips to visceral release, a demand to know more. Those drums firing off like no one’s business, such great sounds for each drum. You can’t hear this and not want to just take off sprinting - pedal to the metaphorical metal. It’s so powerful, so emotional, and so human. Even as the production comes alive, it all adds to the picture so well, never once feeling overdone or overwhelming. I love the layering here too as we fly passed the one minute mark - our lead vocal singing calm and centered, an angry layer shouting out from underneath, and that third layer of faaaaaaast bouncing as it gets all sliced up. Feels like we’re being pulled in so many directions at so many speeds and I love it.
It fades back to the verse, the drums sticking around to keep the energy up. And only now do I hear the sampled chords being pumped out beat after beat. Another gorgeous texture that helps it all come together. The second verse is another doozy, the pain of seeing someone continue to live without you by their side. Chrissy having the realization, processing in real time through the verse. The pre-chorus arrives again, (unfortunately on the emotional level) offering no relief in this hard journey. But some sonic relief as Chrissy’s performance is fucking sick here. And more stunning vocal layers, subtle as they might be. But at this point I’m getting excited again - knowing the chance to take off at full speed is just a line away. But brilliantly we are all kept waiting. That record skipping effect holding us in this last line for a few last moments. So jarring but executed so so well. A juicy move. It’s a difficult level of patience being asked of us, but feels like how Chrissy must’ve too - stuck in this impossible loop, hurt, sad, wanting answers she just cant get, wanting to move forward but held back by something out of her control. The emotions bubbling and bubbling and bubbling, until the third repetition launches us in the damn stratosphere. The pure relief feeling so magnificent, so special. It’s a damn triumph what can I say!!!!
The song rolls home from here, one last gorgeous run from Chrissy before it all comes to a halt. Fuck, it’s a good one. Let it rip!!!! Can’t wait to see what’s next to come for Chrissy :)
Follow Chrissy on IG / Spotify
Qazi & Qazi - Weight of Your Bones
Warm and worn piano chords ring out. Heavy and full. Seven seconds of just one instrument, but I am hooked and content with this song already. One heck of a foundation, one that (spoiler alert) will hold steady all the way through. Our first addition is an unbelievable vocal - elegant control as it twists and turns through the melody. Expanding and contracting. Making the most, and then just a little bit more, of each lyric. Could this be the ending a perfect example - the way ending seems to swirl endlessly. It’s almost unbearable in its beauty. But let’s bear it, because immediately after, things get even more lush. The second vocal arrives, an awe-inspiring harmony filling out so much more of the mix. The two sisters going toe-to-toe without breaking a sweat. Believe in matches the same swirling melody from a moment ago. It’s blowing my mind really, this run that moves so much without moving too far at all. Like a floating buoy, masterfully bobbing just below and above the water. But somehow this buoy controls the water and not vice-versa. The harmonies continue to call and respond with the solo vocal - now left alone but clearly not fragile. It feels like the song is growing right in front of us, each moment bigger and bigger than the last. A balloon expanding further and further and further with every breathe.
We slide right on into the chorus, haunting and charming at the same time. That first question is so visceral - when you lay down, can you feel the weight of your bones? Able to dial in such a specific feeling as they look for validation and community in their pain and this heaviness. It’s followed up with a line about struggle, delivered with a perfect performance. You can feel the effort in each breathe, in each syllable. The struggle to rise feeling real and feeling all too familiar. But with Qazi & Qazi, Naadirah and Rukaiyah, singing together at our side, it at least feels possible.
The second verse is the one that broke me.
If this is where the sun will set
Tell me there’s a moon rise
Light my body with your love
At least let my soul survive
It’s a planetary attempt at describing heartbreak, romantic or otherwise, so massive it really does feel just as a big as the sun or moon. The pair feeling something slipping away, begging for something else. Let there be something to cling to, some light at the end of the tunnel to look for and trust. It hurts and it gives me chills - looking to whatever is ending, whoever it’s ending with to help you find your footing one last time. I’m glad the two singers have each other’s back musically in this moment. Any one single voice might’ve been too much hurt for me to take. Another layer of vocals soaring out in the distance, reaching, searching for more, joins in the chorus this time around. Once again a magnificent moment. The control they both offer in these closing moments, the humming turning to light, it’s really something to behold. This one went ahead and knocked me off my feet and I’m so thrilled about whatever is still to come.
Follow Qazi & Qazi on IG / Spotify
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
(click this ^^ for the other full playlist lol)
Remi Wolf - Michael
I mean… come the heck on!!! I’m obsessed with Remi Wolf - you know this, I know this, we all KNOW THIS!!! But somehow someway she manages to impress me and subvert expectations with every single release. This one is a heavier entry into the catalogue - thick guitars raining down over those punchy drums. Remi smooth and stunning over it all. A quick verse outlining Michael’s power before a heavy thundering synth falls over the scene. It’s a moment to savor, big and loud and calming. We slide back to another verse, Remi still shining asking Michael for more. The synth hits again, this time with Remi in tow, bringing the chorus together. Complete with the perfect Remi lyric of the song - Yeah, I want a scab today / Put it in my favorite placе / Kinda hurts, but that's okay. A third verse that gets a little more aggressive and direct, some piercing synths making themselves heard. The final chorus adds in a scream and it just feels right. SHUT THE FUCK UP punctuating the moment and the song, a smile on my face even in the harshness. Love it. Of course.
BEL - Cake
A new BEL single you know I can’t resist. This first verse full of self-conscious questioning and worrying. The idea of a breakdown in the middle of the street does sound kinda nice if i’m honest. Just for fun, ya know? BEL delivers another perfect chorus - the way ‘refrigerator’ dances across the melody with a surprising shape is just so delightful. And we go so naturally from that fun moment to a harsh one, “I think I love you but I’m too shy / I’ve been trying hard to keep it inside”. BEL delivering both with ease and care. Some supportive harmonies guiding us through the pain. A beautiful memory-filled verse follows it up, BEL trying to make sense of it all, to shed the embarrassment and to just enjoy the moments to come. Easier said than done of course. It allows the chorus to hit that much harder this time, that bridge really bringing it all home. It’s a beautiful one, per usual from BEL.
Bobbing & Maddie Jay - Marie
Ayyyyyy what a vibe. Instantly hitting a tight but flowing groove. The drums clean and on time. The guitar not afraid to be a little loose. As Maddie Jay kicks off the verse, the synth has me speechless. Those chords plucking around the edges. So charming and so beautiful. Classic Maddie Jay, warming you with the production, and devastating lyrics as her room and her thoughts close in around her, unable to give up what she doesn’t need. Maddie Jay reaching out to the legend herself, Marie Kondo, for help, but finding her support and guidance just not enough to fix the problems beyond the room. A truly sick guitar riff mirroring and then mirrored by Maddie in these funky moments just beyond the minute mark. This sultry little breakdown follows for verse two. Maddie comparing and contrasting her and Marie as she floats between these claps and cymbal kisses. It’s so beautiful. Another chorus with Maddie bringing some bold and wonderful melodies to life, before a fuzzy friend riffs all the way home, transitioning into a sick piano sound to round it out. Any Maddie Jay is excuse to celebrate and this one really is a treat.
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale
Whew. There’s already a lot of controversy and conspiracy around this album and I’m still trying to soak it all in. Obviously Auntie Diaries is hard to take and feels almost half-baked, conceptually. While other moments like, Father Time, feel like Kendrick at his best, beautiful collaborations (I mean Sampha, my god…) and ear catching production. That’s true on Mr. Morale too. That haunting intro only getting more haunting as the production kicks in. Kendrick panting trying to find escape. The Pharrell production is iconic and unmistakable, Kendrick feeling his influence into the pre-chorus too. The second verse is hard and relentless and heavy, begging for the floating of the chorus again. A desire Kendrick refuses to give into. It’s well done, it’s a ride.
Sea Otter Slam Dunk!!!
Max
Loved the Chrissy tune! And although I haven’t gone through the whole album yet, the Sampha feature is my favorite part of Kendrick’s new album so far!