Max's Music Mondays with Haich Ber Na and Moontype
If you're looking for new music clap your hands (and open this please)
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays - a ~music discovery newsletter~ where I get too excited about songs I love. I hope you’ll 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 custom meme or maybe even a book off my shelf (running out of room).
Happy almost Earth Day everyone! Yeah I know, of the holidays available to shout out this week, Earth Day might not be the ~cool~ option here. BUT Earth Day is the cool option when it comes to segueing into what’s on my mind this week (it also makes the photoshop pretty easy…). There was a good investigative report from Blackbird Spyplane recently (the no.1 source for unbeatable recon in the fashion world) on the world of Earth Day t-shirts. Stylistically and conceptually, it reminds me of some of my favorite Depop search terms: 5k run, 10k race, fun run. All of these searches land you dozens of random shirts made for one day. Most of them handed out as part of fundraising efforts, or a gift for run/walking, but all of them are interesting to me. There’s just endless tees out there, all connected to specific events. Days, I’d imagine, few participants even remember. Something so charming about commemorating that. I’m now feeling like I already wrote more about my tees-with-dates obsession before… so instead of belaboring the point, I’ll use this moment to share some real beauties I just found.
Welp, a great Earth Day celebration here at Max’s Music Mondays HQ (my bedroom). Buy ur clothes used! Better for mother earth (i think?) (and good for a unique wardrobe)!! But now, we simply must listen to some music.
What’s New:
New additions to Max’s Music All The Other Days:
Remi x Sylvan Esso…. I mean. Grateful for this smash hit, giving Rufufus new life, can’t stop playing, can’t stop dancing.
Beyond taken by this new Wilby tune. Her songwriting is so simple, but the more I hear it, the more devastating it gets.
A new one from BXB LOVE!! The new project, from the artist fka Phé, a favorite of mine via sofar and this new track absolutely delivers, a hit!!!!!
The new single from Boyish is haunting and beautiful and heartbreaking and so good, I really can’t get enough, a one of a kind voice. Your friends are shitty and it’s starting to show
More new heat from Bantug, Olivia Dean, and Sam Gellaitry all knocking around the playlist too. Hit shuffle and enjoy!!
In case you missed it:
If you’ve got a few mins, here’s Arch Digest x Troye Sivan
If you’ve got an hour, here’s NPR Listening Party for Sharon Van Etten’s epic Ten
Max’s Music Mondays Songs of the Week:
Listen to these and all previous picks here ^^ or follow along below :)
0594 Help - Haich Ber Na
No easing into this one. We are all the the whack-a-moles cautiously popping out of the hole, Haich Ber Na mallet in hand smashing our heads with that synth - channeling me, age 7, at Caesarland (a place I am only now remembering, and only now realizing how weird it was to even exist…). Yeah, it is an abrasive start, the synth dead center, those fried cymbals banging from side to side. All the while the drums feel a bit underwatery, bubbling as they power on. But promise me you’ll stick it out, because this is a special song. If you’ve lasted until the 0:15 second mark, HBN makes it worth your while. Easing back, their gentle and warm vocals shine effortlessly against some James Blake style chords. Heartbroken and vulnerable lyricism lands as a perfect contrast to the intense, almost impenetrable production. The two play nice for a while before the minute mark, where the bass player can’t help but show off a little. These snaps like a group of friends eagerly egging them on. The energy starts building again, an urgency in the harmonies that really brings more life to this moment. HBN with some masterful arrangement, building up and breaking down the band perfectly at every turn. I’m loving this. This time when the harsh synth hits, so do some vocal samples, trying to breathe some positivity into us, but there’s still a layer of darkness. Might not be the end of the world to them, but in this moment it’s hard to see that as true. As the bass n’ snaps return, the song finds another new lane. The arpeggiated synth growing out like vines across a home, but in this case the home is the song(? or is it me?? not 100% on this metaphor but dang it’s a good bit of music). The repeated ‘so long’ reminding me of my favorite dance moments from the Caribou’s of the world, and I find myself eyes-closed, swaying side to side, I can feel the sun on my face (metaphorically, but it is beautiful out today). The arpeggios come to a head here, tripping, rolling, avalanching forward back to the originally abrasive synth line. Which, now, familiar and recognizable, feels so much more sure of itself, the gravity that holds this one together. I wonder if that’s how HBN experienced these feelings of heartbreak and loneliness too - intense and unique at first, but over time becomes something they can recognize and appreciate, they can use to stay grounded. I’m admittedly VERY late on this one, but my goodness I cannot get enough and am so stoked to be sharing. The EP dropped in Feb and it is so creative and incredible.
About You - Moontype
Ok before we get going, I think we should all take a few deep breathes on our own. Really sit in the calm, because the second this starts there will be NO breaks, not even for emergencies I’m sorry. Two minutes and ten seconds of energy and momentum and passion. It’s instantly hot, the songwriting putting it all out there from line one. The entire verse carries that perfect balance between relatable/real human experiences and poetic wisdom, “We can't touch each other cause we'd never stop / And that if we did, we'd be lifeless rocks / Mountains waiting blankly for the rain to run out”. It’s so beautiful and with such a relentless pace, I find myself tripping over the lyrics, impressed and in awe of each one, working hard just to keep up. We switch up for a quick chorus, the mystique of a new lover drawing them deeper and deeper into the situation. I gotta say, these melodies are wild. They’re so contained and steady, it feels really in control, so sure of the feelings, of the story. While contained and steady might read as boring and that is NOT what I mean. So transfixing, the steadiness refusing to let you free from their hold. Even in heavier moments, like as the second verse starts to hammer on with “Then we saw our friendship through a stranger's teeth” (another flat out bonkers lyric). The vocals aren’t phased by the band’s growing power, the consistency pulling me deeper into the moment - searching for singer, desperate to hold them closer and hear them more. The momentum builds to a new scene, a quick change in the groove before the guitar descends. A little run (1:15ish) that reminds me so viscerally of The Shins’ So Says I. It’s only in that moment that I start to feel the songs true beauty - the songwriting feeling so modern, the sound feeling new too, but still feels nostalgic in some way. Whether it’s the themes or the pace, it feels familiar. But back to the song, we’re somehow only 1:20 into this one. The third(?) verse now feels stronger than before. Learning from and harnessing past love. Another fun little breakdown and I’m clapping along with those punctuating drums. Throws us into one last chorus, and I love it. A whirlwind, a beautiful fucking whirlwind. Moontype’s album Bodies of Water just dropped and it’s really lovely. I’m also fond of the closing track, Me and My Body, but couldn’t stomach the thought of making you read me digest nearly eight minutes of tender rock.
Mhm, ok, that’s it! But I have a weird idea… what if we all… had a good week??? Wild I know, but I think it’d be cool if we did. Ok second weird idea… what if you sent this newsletter to a friend?? A little love goes a long way <3
Going to try something new this week too, so keep you eyes open for that :)
Yours,
Max