Max's Music Mondays with Nana Lourdes and V.C.R.
Different city, same result. It's monday and it's music and it's me, max.
Welcome to Max’s Music Mondays - a ~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 respectfully smash that subscribe button. Let me know if you do, I’ll send you my favorite plane snacks or send you a thank you playlist or something.
Many of you know I’ve got a playlist of songs to write about here (mostly because I mention it in these intros too(?) often). Sometimes songs live on there a day before I write about them, sometimes a month, and sometimes they never make the leap (and that’s ok! we still love them!). I never quite know why a song stands out one week, demanding my attention, sounding more necessary than I realized before. But this week it really checks out. I’ve spent the past week back in Chicago, and it’s felt a bit surreal for so many reasons (available via request). So no real surprise I picked a song that includes an airplane and another that feels detached from reality. Hmm incredibly weird and wild how that happened.
Anyways, it’s just another moment in the laundry list of reasons music is good and rules and also rocks. Always something there to help you and I connect to the moments and places we are in. I think so at least. To stay grounded or help understand. Or also just to friggin enjoy and dance a bit. I’ve been doing all the above to these two, give them a try and let me know what you think.
This Week’s Songs
Follow along here ^ for this week’s and every week’s songs, each song is perfect and that is a objective fact and in no way my biased opinion i promise.
WDWG - Nana Lourdes
A delicious smoothie of a song, a bunch of perfect ingredients all poking through at just the right moments. It’s a nonstop thrill ride and truly anything could happen at any moment, but all together it’s a blast and it goes down so easy. We open with Nana Lourdes urgently ripping through a message for someone, the light fuzz over the vocals matching the bass line perfectly. That same line mellows just a touch as the song expands out into this psychedelic scene - Lourdes’ vocals floating out further and further. The way she hits that possibili…tteeyyy is magical, just a dreamy moment. Some funky layers asking where do we go, our narrator just trying to navigate a messy relationship. It gives more context for splash of chaos, their mind racing with every possibility and reflexively reacting to each thought, calling for new sounds and styles. Wedding bells ring over some subtle arpeggios, it’s the most tender moment yet, but also some ingredients that bring us closer to the hyperpop world. Still just a minute into the song, I feel like it’s been five already, this thing packs a punch. Another verse another voicemail, still trying to connect and figure out what’s going on. Love this next moment so much, a barrage of perfect little touches. In chronological order: the warped harmonies descending into it, the gentle echo, the ‘ooo’ after it hit me, the delayed return of the synth chords, the shimmering synth descending down, and if I say anymore it’ll have been everything so I’ll stop there. This time the bells/synths return with some generous autotune on the vocals, the synth stepping forward more too. It creates an exciting tension - the lyrics the most intimate and direct yet, the sound getting less and less human, more and more distant. I can’t explain it quite right, but different words are hitting from different angles and it’s really a captivating moment. The band comes back hard, and the where do we go turns to why don’t we go imagining a beautiful wedding and life with this partner. I am here for an optimistic twist!! But, this dream seems to burst with the sign off of a voicemail, pleading for a call back. The plane takes off, and I’m pleased with the cliffhanger………. WAIT there is more??!!! We love a surprise outro, especially when it’s something entirely new - dark, angry, just overflowing with emotion. Lourdes is stating a simple hope but dang does it feel more and more like a demand. This shit hits hard, the perfect cherry on top, even if it’s a little sour. Ok look at me, that also kind of works with this smoothie metaphor??? What a ride, what a song. So dang infectious, I just can’t stop running it back. Feeling for this singer’s situation but also feeling so good because the song rocks.
Follow Nana Lourdes on IG / Spotify
TRiP - V.C.R.
What a nice start to my week. Birds chirping over this guitar, it’s a bit too perfect, but voices of friends sound a little skeptical of this fairy tale warmth. V.C.R. matches that energy too, grateful and dreamy. Just an incredible voice too, smooth with just the right bit of edge when the emotion pushes through. It’s powerful enough on its own, but add in these massive harmonies from the choir and it’s enough to knock me out. I think I could listen to that golly gee at 0:24 one hundred times in a row. The beautiful verse feels full of love, taking a dark turn to demand this person will stay by their side. I love the friendly voice responding (honestly and fairly) to each line, and as our narrator loses touch with reality and opts for these angelic and peaceful la’s, they desperately try to keep them grounded. It gives so much more context to the story, and I just adore how the song delivers a genuine feel without taking itself too seriously. To pull off that balance, to access both sides of this feeling, of earnestly losing oneself in the ‘what-ifs’ while someone else is trying to protect their friend before it’s too late. Throughout this whole section, the vocals really are the focus, the band laying back and letting them all shine. The occasional Dramatic Violin Sweep (DVS, a very technical term that I definitely did not make up) continues to strike that balance, both elegant and playful. There are so many voices drifting in from every direction and together feel so big and so loving. Even as the friend underneath asks the tough questions. We push on, drums and claps supporting the ride now. The DVS’s turn to DVP’s (p=plucks), it’s a cheerful addition. Even as V.C.R. pledges to hunt your ass down. Angry with a smile on their face and heart emojis in their eyes. The la-la sections continue to soar, shining down on the situation. Even with the drums rounding out the sound, the vocals still hold the spotlight and do it well. It’s just all so beautiful, even if this is an all-that-glitters story, it still feels good as it’s happening. The bridge shows our hopeless romantic letting it all out for this man, singing passed their friend and leaning into these feelings of love. And even though we never hear from him, our friend’s more and more desperate/direct efforts to cool this off leaves me sure this isn’t the best relationship. It’s a tough place to end this song. Half because I could listen to the la’s all day long (and very well might) and half because there’s an ominous and obvious next step to this story. If this narrator is singing about hunting him down while she feels so great about him, I’m scared and selfishly excited, to hear the music when things aren’t so sweet. As long as this is a character and not actually V.C.R. Because in that case we love love and I hope this lasts forever because it does sound kind of nice.
Follow V.C.R. on IG / Spotify
Another two good songs, huh? Mhm, yep, I definitely agree. Loved these two and hope you did too. RUN THE DANG NUMBERS UP. Can’t wait for whatever is next from them both.
Business time: Please follow the playlist and please please pass it along to anyone you know who might be in need of new music!! The more people here, the more people hearing these amazing songs. We got a bunch of new faces this week, I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I enjoyed seeing you all here, this shit really does make my day!!!
See you Friday, your friend,
Max