Max's Music Mondays with Kizzy Cobain and Caleb Peters
Happy new year :) My resolution? Sharing more incredible music!!!!!!
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, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) paid subscriptions go towards directly supporting the artists you read about here!!
Happy New Year everyone. So grateful to start a year off getting to write about music I love for all of you (who i love to ofc) :) I hope everyone’s got great resolutions and they’re all going perfectly thus far.
I’m writing from London - what a treat!!! I’ve been here for a few days now and feeling really wonderful about it. Just a place I feel good in. This is the third city I’ve been in since leaving LA for the holidays in mid-December. Plus a 30min pitstop in DC to see the Lincoln Memorial (which i hadn’t seen before and wow it’s so big!!! I mean, I knew it would be, but I was shocked lol). It’s such a relief to find a place that feels comfortable and cozy, if essentially new, at the end of this long stretch of busy busy travel. It’s been rejuvenating. I’ll be soaking in my last few days here before setting sail back to LA - ANY AND ALL LONDON RECS WELCOME!!!! But in the meantime, I’ve got TWO emails coming this week :) Today’s email with our songs. Tomorrow’s email with… some Big News. I am so excited I can barely stand it. Which is funny because I’m also the one in charge of when I tell you, so it’s really just me torturing myself. But still. Enjoy the music, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
This Week’s Songs
We’re nearing 700 followers on the playlist, inching closer by the day - I can barely believe it myself <3 if you’re feeling wild, it’d be amazing if you sent to a friend :)
Kizzy Cobain - It’s Love
Sunny, warm, Mac Demarco guitars shower this intro, slowly descending, feeling like the end of a long day. Sitting down, taking those shoes off, the first moments of relief. The drums sound so clean, so punchy without stealing shine. The bass soft and complete, rounding out the sound of the whole track. Cobain slowly enters, some little riffs and melodies wondering around as we settle in. It’s all so beautiful and lovely and just something I want to hear endlessly forever. Familiar, new. Vintage, contemporary. Straddling so many of these contradictions and sounding stunning while doing it. Edit: it’s now Monday morning, I’m back doing some editing and touching up, and I can’t stop listening to this intro. So heavenly and sweet, Cobain’s vocals giving it so much life. Obsessed.
At 0:26 Cobain kicks off in earnest. Her voice so rich and full with pops of rasp giving it an entirely new dimension. Gentle and strong at the same time. When Cobain reaches out with ‘how you hold me’ a second subtle layer sings on underneath, the two passes fluttering alongside one another, weaving together to create something special. And it better be something special because this is a special feeling!!! Cobain announcing this love could last forever - pulling on holy matrimony, stretching those words out, as if they were investigating every last letter. And the investigation must’ve gone well because it leaves Cobain exalting their love time and time again. Dancing through this back half of the song, the vocals are on FULL DISPLAY. Outrageous runs and melodies cover this whole thing, it’s jaw-dropping. There’s sparing other lyrics added, Cobain making the point even clearer. Each bit perfect, but as Cobain pushes the limit of the song at 1:14, almost sounding like it peaks in there (a passion that just can’t be contained!!), that extended Loooooooove coming at 1:18 is a magical one, seeming to reach the moon and back, a love forever extending.
It’s pretty remarkable what Cobain has done here - this is a love song. But it’s not an overly intimate one, no personal details, no inside jokes or long-winded stories. But the emotions are still there, and still communicated so wonderfully. There’s no doubting this love, those moments in the back half where the word gets repeated, I can feel Kizzy stomping with each ‘love’, or banging her chest, the emotion and repetition ready to explode from inside her. Paired with the soothing and wavy production, it might be efficient in structure but the substance is there, and the message gets across clearly.
It was hard to choose which Cobain song to write about. Her latest project, Beginning of The End, is a great 15-track project, this the closing track. Borrowed Time is getting a lot of love elsewhere too, a timeless R&B beat. I loved the gorgeously sampled, Elephant In The Room. Cobain going wild on Praying For Rain. I could’ve written about any song on the record, they’re all special and Kizzy Cobain is up to something exciting here. PLZ TAP IN!!!!!
Follow Kizzy Cobain on IG / Spotify
Caleb Peters - HOLD
Pray to god I get this shit right.
Some bass to tease us and I’m already sold. This vocal processing has a chokehold on me. Twisted and filtered and off-kilter but somehow still so human and perfect. Wobbling over the simple synth bass and it’s a chance to admire how sick it sounds. As it starts to explore the track left to right, the kick drum starts getting impatient, building up under some high pitched vocal layers. And folks, it’s at this point (0:13) that i’m starting to freak out. Shit is swirling all over the place, a tornado of Good Music about to hit, I’m seeking shelter!!!
Boy oh boy does it ever hit. At 0:18, the filter ripped off the top, the drums and synth bass landing all raw and nasty! The vocals get even more manipulated, tuned down another octave. Sounding less real but just as right. They quickly become an instrument in this orchestra of chaos, all arranged as it is meant to be. It’s maximalism but not in some overwhelming way - instead it all connects and feels together - one big wave of sound crashing over and over. So at 0:33, when we hear Peters step to the mic again, back in a more human way, it’s exciting. Drums holding steady, as we run through the verse. The tiniest little flute synth pops on in to arpeggiate as Peters sings ‘I’m in water, I pedal’. The kick drum holds off for a brief single beat, and it’s enough to make the whole song feel like it’s breaking down. Stumbling forward with all this momentum as Peters says he’s falling. Incredible how many movements and moments this song has had and we’re barely hitting the minute mark.
It throws us back to the chorus, the vocals pitched back down and stuttering in new ways, every beat an exciting reveal. It’s relentless, but an adventure I’m dying to continue. The second verse starts with Peters singing coming to terms with this relationship, whatever it might be, leaving him wanting more. Even in this moment where the vocals stand forward, the drums still bang, the synths still swell, the whole thing not willing to let you get too comfortable or too dialed into any one sound, constantly pushing you back with more interesting and big things to hear. Before you know it, we’re thrown back to that pre-chorus, just vocals and bass, but so much texture and life, it’s enough just the two. And a moment without the drums just makes them smash that much harder when they hop back in for the final chorus. One last vicious synth starts up here, slicing it’s way higher and higher before it fades out. This whole song is just so damn fun and exciting and unexpected. I read my own writing here, and even as I want to write more, I’m reaching for words like aggressive and sharp and crushing, but none of it touches on just how warm and inviting this one feels. All these harsh words, but it’s still a really sweet tune <3 Can’t wait to see what comes next.
Follow Caleb Peters on IG / Spotify
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
Yeah, I’ve got another playlist…^^
SZA - Ghost in the Machine (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)
Ooooo baby this one has been getting rinsed to the ground these past few weeks for me. SZA’s performance is electric, the production haunting, and it all sets up a gorgeous and unexpected Phoebe verse. I think the song stands strong without the feature - cut to me in the car SCREAMING ‘Let's talk about A.I., robot got more heart than I / Robot got future, I don't’ - but her verse really takes this one to another level. The song collapses to leave things stripped for Bridgers, but builds back quick to make it all feel natural together. The two a stunning pairing and I want more!!!!
TiaCorine - Chaka Khan (feat. Kenny Beats)
Spent a lot of time digging through year-end lists, and I think TiaCorine was my big “how did i not know about this sooner” artist this time around. This one is a hit, the beat feels like it’s ripped off a VHS and updated with killer drums. A POWERFUL opening line, the DJ cutting it off before things gets too wild, instead, swaying with angelic but still menacing melodies. The verse kicks off hard, TiaCorine relentless and ruthless, dropping that ‘opening line’ again here to kick things up a notch. Verse two goes absolutely nuts… a hoot and half I love this one.
ella jane ft. Charlie Hickey - Sore Loser
I cannot stop listening to this song and I cannot get it out of my head. ella jane’s voice is full of such heart and offers so many little details to enjoy with every note. She makes it all feel effortless as she bends and soars in every direction. Hickey steps in for the second verse, the two voices feeling so at home on the same song, ella offering some quiet background vocals, just teasing how great they’ll sound together. It all pays off in the second chorus, big and beautiful and catchy as all hell. I can’t get enough. ella jane gets a moment in the sun before this final chorus, Hickey eager to offer his support too, the two dancing around the final moments together, swirling side by side for something beautiful. The guitar tone is crazy here at the end too, just so much to love about this song.
That’s all for now, see you soon :) Some spoilers below…
Chat tomorrow, happy new year,
Max
Hiya Max,
Here's a recommendation for London:
https://www.dellasposa.com/exhibitions/bailey-vision-and-sound/
It looks fantastic! I'm so jealous. I'd love to be in London now!
Hiya Max,
Here's a recommendation for London:
https://www.dellasposa.com/exhibitions/bailey-vision-and-sound/
It looks fantastic! I'm so jealous. I'd love to be in London now!