Max's Music Mondays with Lane Webber and sticktype
Plus songs from Remi, Maggie, and so much more. What a week!!!!
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 :)
I got really sleepy last night and couldn’t finish ok!??! I’ve been watching so much Sherlock and those cases wear me out, what can I say.
But we’re here and so is the music. SO stoked to share these two songs today :) I hope you enjoy them too.
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!!
Lane Webber - Mum I Made a Friend
Just the first lyric alone is enough. So damn charming and sweet, earnest and excited over that playful organ sound. And I love the first thing they’ve found in common with their new friend, connected to nature and eager to create weird art as memories. The second pass through shows there’s a little more than friendship to all of this, or at least the potential for more. 0:25 lands the hardest piano chord hit I’ve ever heard?? Smashing down and rippling out while Webber opens up a little more, a vulnerable admission sending us soaring forward, a whole band rising up from no where to carry us on. The trumpets guide the way, bright and sunny. That bass catching the bottom, so wet but warm. Each piece in between a perfect compliment to one another. The whole thing is gorgeous and bouncy and loving and a dang delight.
Webber’s voice is infectious. His tone easy and interesting, pulling me in and holding me tight. Plenty of tender moments that prove that point. As we cross the minute mark, flowing easy well into the second verse, that voice is undeniable. Especially as the scene changes there at 1:08, the way he glides so smooth across lovely and tummy. Ah!! It’s just sweet as hell I’m sorry!!!! But hold on a sec back to the verse. This whole thing is a joy, our narrator getting closer to his new friend (and maybe love?!), spending time together, impressing each other, those butterflies growing. So as that pre-chorus dances and flutters, that final line is such a generous feeling. Recognizing how beautiful and special their connection has already been even if it isn’t love - it’s still hope and a reminder that these people, our people, exist out there somewhere :)
And the band agrees with the optimism, smiles on their faces you can just hear it. Those trumpets bellowing out with so much joy, the whole thing falling into a patient and comfy groove. Ugh I’m so moved by this one!! As the moment repeats, it finally wanders into a new direction, a new chord and progression there at 1:39, continuing to forge a new path for a brief moment. The whole thing intoxicating and so well made. But right as it starts to get wild, Webber pulls it all out from under us. Standing alone with the organ again, ripping off some more memories. And they’re giving me chills!!! Love in so many new ways, remembering the exact day and date, it’s the tearing up emoji in song form. This bridge offering more fertile territory for Webber to go tf off, his voice again just so stunning across that far away line. The oooh’s the claps the scats it’s all a really joy. The song ends with Webber and all of us, skipping into the sunset, fearless and present and grateful. A feel good song.
Follow Lane Webber on IG / Spotify
sticktype - Hand Me Down
Listen to that first dissonant chord, the rhythm impeccable. Hear the finger scraping down the string, the humanity so palpable. The fuzz from the mic, the squeak of a chair, the entire first 14 seconds full of tiny and perfect choices. The kind of song that sucks me deeper and deeper, cranking the volume until it refuses to go any higher (me and volume up button are on good terms but they can be stubborn sometimes), and so when that kick lands, holy shit I am floored. Literally, knocked out of my chair, on the ground. Booming and strong, it’s the foundation for a drum pattern that has now left the station and will not be stopping any time soon. But once again these tiny and perfect choices (TAPC) are evident and create so much depth in this song. The whole thing feels left of center - the hi-hat doubled and pan to either edge, the kick and snare sitting sitting front left, in a big warm room. Their sounds reverberating out but still so clearly in control. And the sounds themselves are TAPC’s too, full-bodied kick, a flat and crisp hi-hat, and a snare that almost feels asleep? Like it’s just a moment late to react - like watching the drum stick hit it in super slow motion, the whole surface rippling out. The whole moment is magical, each piece just slightly off but utterly perfect.
And now we’ve made it like thirty seconds in and haven’t even seen the vocals. And boy oh boy they only make this thing more special. In this first verse, sticktype feels just out of reach. The fuzz draped around his vocals like a phone call, still warm and intimate but not in the room with us. Meanwhile, the lyrics are so beautiful. So many textures and colors and emotions referenced. As the chorus slides in:
I wanna feel, the loving comfort in knowing
I wanna feel, the naughty comfort of loving
Verse two and sticktype’s back in the city now feels honest, his vocals cleaner and crisper than before, returned from wherever he was. The ups and the downs, a cold loneliness, that gorgeous run on Summertime, the echoed adlibs reverberating in the background, the gentle piano, this moment is a sick one. Spilling again to the chorus, this desire, this need to feel. Lingering on that desire until the scene closes. It’s a powerful silence.
Back for another verse, sticktype’s vocals again a little distant, this time like they’re tuned down just a little too. It has a stumbling effect, the lines bleeding into each other and it’s rather mesmerizing. Handing off to the cleaned vocals half way through, the two also starting to blend together as the moment goes on. It’s exciting to use these vocals as the main evolution of the song at this point, really creative and done so well. It’s all chugging along until this final moment. The vocals over the guitar, until it fades and the pleas are strong and on their own. Whew, a banger.
Follow sticktype on IG / Spotify
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
(click this ^^ for the full playlist lol)
Remi Wolf - Cake
feeling absolutely BLESSED this week and Juno (Deluxe) is a big reason why. Team Remi has really nailed every single moment of this album release, only releasing hits and giving this thing such a (well earned, welcomed, and necessary) long life.
With the deluxe version, we get three new songs and a live version of Street You Live On (to pair with the latest two post-album singles). The new tunes are all WILD and come complete with major credits. The opening track, Fired, is co-written and co-produced by my musical hero Rostam Batmanglij. Continuing his streak of working with all of my favorite musicians and bringing the best out of them. Sugar gets a great co-write from Cautious Clay. And Cake, my early fav, gets some writing/singing love from the one and only PinkPanthress. The beat is insane, relentless, and glimmering with every new turn. Remi and team making the breakbeat her own and elevating it to an arena-sized banger. It’s a wild ride. Cannot understate how much I love Remi and every single song she drops. She just rules so much <3 <3 <3
Maggie Rogers - Want Want
Maggie Rogers is back again, a hot, dark, steamy, passionate, and booming tune. As has become tradition, she paired the release with a little backstory and info about the song, and of course I’m taken by her view on life, saying this song is about “A way of being in relationship with the world that is about full bodied experience”
As the song powers on, and has the hairs on my arm standing up straight, she lands a dagger when we hit the second chorus - Might die if you can't live just to taste it.
Come on...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Spitting Off the Edge of the World (ft. Perfume Genius)
What a combo omg. Opening with reverbed-to-hell synths, that truly embody this spitting off the edge of the world feeling. It collapses down to give the vocals more shine. Of course immediately blown away by Karen O’s performance. But she’s not alone, Perfume Genius coming waltzing into frame, the two creating such a nice give and take. That release into the chorus is fucked up, it’s so big and so good and so obvious that YYY’s just get it. of course they do. But still a treat to feel and to remember. The song is so juicy, the harmonies in the second chorus really the cherry on top. The guitar solo??? Too generous. Love this one, feels like real dog days of summer. A song to melt to.
AUDREY NUNA & Deb Never - sardines
Another dangerous duo. The beat hitting in a real Missy Elliot/Neptunes style. Heavy and dirty but popping HARD. AUDREY NUNA comes in hot, high energy and pace and when she stage dives into those okayyyyyy’s it feels so good. Quick cut to Deb Never’s verse, daring you to underestimate her ever again. Naturally floating into a sick pre-chorus, and we’re back to NUNA’s chorus again. Post-chorus, NUNA dives in, taking on this fun long-o rhyme scheme, it’s really fun and weird and wild. And keeps being that way the whole way home. These two are hit machines.
Icona Pop, Charli XCX, ellis - I Love It [I Don’t Care 2022 Re-Edit]
I mean… what needs to be said. A modern refresh on a TRUE CLASSIC. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew, what a week.
until next time!
Max