Max's Music Mondays with Mei Semones and Diz
Plus new favs from Dora Jar, Bartees Strange, and Superorganism... music rules so much lol
I’m back and better than ever. And by that I mostly just mean I’m back. I’ve been in NY for nearly a week now, quietly pretending I live here. I’m enjoying it, of course, always excited for a change of scenery. But it’s also humbling experience to feel like a stranger again.
Of course, coming to new york twice just a few months apart, everyone and their mom has been asking me if I’m moving here. I talked to my sister (hi jenna!!) about it this weekend. Because, short answer is no. It doesn’t ~feel like home~ here in the same way that LA does for me. But it’s been fun to feel why.
There’s the obvious - the people, the stuff, the routines - that I miss. But I’m in NY now with some of my best friends, more coworkers than I can count, and plenty of new wrinkles to my routines (different pb for my oats, new routes for my runs), all of which I’m really enjoying.
I think what I’ve been most happy to miss, or maybe happy to realize I miss, is the familiarity. The friendly faces I see and know in my neighborhood, the places that all feel so comfortable and welcoming. Places and people that haven’t always felt like that, but now read as a testimony to my being there. A sense I’ve earned for sticking around. I know that’s not some unique feeling, one I had in other places, surely would find here, and one you probably feel wherever you’re reading from (or at least I hope you do). But it’s still really fulfilling to feel, to know there’s a place I feel so a part of.
And these songs have kind of done the same, offered worlds to step into and worlds to be a part of. Each listen spent rewarded with that familiarity, a chance to hear things again with a different ear.
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!!
Mei Semones - Kodoku
This song is such a gem. It’s rare you can drop 6+ mins and have me engrossed in every last beat. Mei Semones voice is stunning it pours out over this dancing guitar. In Japanese, Semones kicks us off singing longingly. Still feeling the pain from the end of some relationship. You can hear the eyes watering as each line begs for answers. The band growing beautifully. A flower blooming in front of our ears. The drums and bass offering such soft encouragement to the guitar and vocals. Then those strings. Those strings!!!! Appearing out of thin air as they slide in at 0:39, unassuming as they join. But so quickly proving to be stars themselves, shining with every note, sparkling as they slide around the room together. One minute in and yet it feels like nothing. So beautiful I get lost in it with every listen. Then 1:10 hits, everyone eager to push a bit faster, a groove emerging. Semones still stunning as ever, finding and channeling more emotion - it’s a wonderful to feel it all elevate. And those subtle background vocals/harmonies are sweet as could be. It’s all so soothing, even in the pain.
Just passed two minutes and Semones presents that pain again, now away from the band - the lyrics simple, their desires and fears generously offered bare. With the band at bay, her performance really stands out. The song has built and built and built, so for it to clear the lane like this and drop, “I don’t wanna be another thing that you forget about” is impactful as hell. Memorable since the very first listen. I adore the plucked strings, running with the melody alongside Semones too. The band comes back quick, unwilling to let her go through the moment alone. That “I’ll stay” stretching out viscerally, I really love it. The instrumental section breaks free of all the tension. Exploring new chords and moods, scoring the scenes we’ve been watching. So effortless as it brings in new characters and sounds from moment to moment. And just like that we’re back to a familiar loneliness, such a palpable sadness brought to life with the strings this time around too. When we flip back to English again, it’s a devastating moment - the orchestra almost shuddering at the thought. The moment feels so intimate with this sparse instrumentation and I am savoring every last drop. The band does come back to life, Semones once again filling the space with more emotion and size. The final minute soldiers on, the drums finding fills to shine too. Those last couple “I’ll stay” leaving it all on the court. Just such a beautiful and unique song. Gonna go ahead and be obsessed with it, sorry!!
Follow Mei Semones on IG / Spotify
Diz - Fair Weather
The storm approaches, the beat too, the moment immediately feeling big and important. And it is. Yet, when the beat finds its way forward, there’s no disappointment. On the other end of the spectrum - cramming a year’s worth of good music into just two minutes, it’s almost overwhelming, trying to catch it all as it flies by. The drums are so good - hitting hard with out being harsh. That bass ballooning out, such a wide and warm sound. And the sample, the cherry on top, breaking any expectation with how it’s come to life. The way it stutters and sputters as it reaches the end of the bar, it’s gorgeous. The whole thing makes for a hypnotizing beat. The beat feels timeless, familiar, and completely new. I love Diz’s voice, totally unique and cuts through the production so easily. His delivery managing to be both just as hypnotizing and also snapping me out of it and holding my attention more present than ever. A true feat. Production and vocals working as perfect compliments to each other. It’s really fun to feel the heavy emotions of the lyrics, but shared with such a laid back energy. You can tell these words are real, these stories and feelings mean so much. But the intensity of it hits more in his, almost, resignation to it all? Like he’s really feeling it, and it’s wearing him down. The writing making that feel true to me too -
and I don't know what to say cause I hate to see you cry
soon after -
I been complacent now I'm sick of acting like it's fine
It all comes together to make for a powerful opening minute or so. And the immensity and truth in his words just make the beat hit even harder. Then, at 1:23 everything changes. A completely unexpected changeup, the bass disappearing, drums and sample almost levitating. Glitching and bouncing in wild new ways. It’s really a delightful surprise. That last verse with more killer writing:
Know it's hard to admit just that I miss you
got a lot going on, know you got your hands full
Part of growing up, growing apart, we in tune
Pretty devastating stuff and to deliver it so plainly like this, no sugar coating, it’s really moving. This clear pain shared, Diz seeming to be figuring it all out in real time right here with us. It’s touching!!! And at the end of the day it’s big, it bangs, and warms my heart all at the same time.
Here’s what else I’ve been listening to.
(click this ^^ for the full playlist lol)
Dora Jar - Hill.
Dora Jar is a MMM magnet. Her voice is so special, and willingness to take a song anywhere and everywhere has me eager to ride the ride of any song she releases. Hill is the closing track off the latest EP, a soft-hearted, gentle-flute ballad with exceptionally loving writing draped all over it. I fall for her writing always. So striking in two ways - 1) the specifics are stunning, so small but the emotions so clear and 2) the shapes she creates with an unending and unexpected vocabulary is just the best. Respective examples:
He likes / riding on a skateboard down the hill /
And I like / watching from the top, yeah what a thrillMotionless / reaching across an ocean /And my telepathic hunger keeps on growling / for you
I love Dora Jar and you should too, I’ll tell ya what!
Bartees Strange - Heavy Heart
The production on this song is fucking remarkable. It’s so beautiful. A perfect band, swelling up at all the right moments. Bartees Strange’s vocals perfect too, such a warm tone, able to work his way around changing melodies and rhythms. He’s incredible at every turn - the gentle intro, a verse, urgent as it changes shape, strong and sure in the chorus. I really love this one, a special song, and when the horns hit… good god. Chills every time. It all feels so massive, but holds us all close nevertheless, intimate from top to bottom. And the songwriting is so damn tender. “there’s reasons for heavy hearts / this past year i thought i was broken / you look so nice in the cherry scarf / we should go to Toronto more often.”. mhm. good. fine. not on the verge of tears it’s ok!!! I’m ok!!!!
Superorganism - Teenager.
One of the coolest, weirdest, most mesmerizing bands in the entire universe (trust me I’ve looked everywhere) is back and I couldn’t be happier. Their live show is always ~an experience~ and new music means we’re that much closer to witnessing it again. This single is a trip and half and I am falling for it hard. And it’s barely been out a day. So many wild vocals setting things up, I’m already sold. The synth that dominates the verse is so good. Tone-wise it sounds like it could be from like the ‘10’s but it’s mixed with technology that doesn’t exist yet? Classic Superorganism for me - feels like everything is ripped from the future yet feels totally natural at the same time. The ‘grow up and be a teenager’ is so playful and sneakily wise??? And the visual rules, of course.
Another week another two songs that I’m so thrilled exist and even more thrilled to get to share. I hope you love ‘em as much as I do. And if you do? Please share, please subscribe, you know the damn vibe!!!!!!!!!
Talk soon,
Max