Max's Weekly Music Roundup
Mitski, Maddie Jay, Jim-E Stack, and a so many more incredible songs.
Friday!! Mitski-day!! Let’s go!!!
But I can’t get ahead of myself. It’s been a WEEK for good music. So, I collect these songs as they drop, spending moments throughout the week assembling this roundup. And when we get this many hits so early in the week I start to get very very excited. These Friday posts are so fun to make, littered with so many different artists I love. Which was definitely the feeling this week. And then Mitski showed up and stole the show and my dang heart.
Anyways, hope you enjoy <3
What I’ve Been Listening To This Week
playlist #2, that’s right, there’s another playlist. every song is so good, this really is what i’m listening to most hours of most days. If you like what you hear (very likely) or read (less likely, but hopefully still likely?!) please share it all with your nearest and dearest.
The New Stuff:
Mitski - That’s Our Lamp
Goodness gracious, I love Mitski. The album is out and I’ve listened twice through before noon. Just one of those special artists who articulates things with such elegant specificity and devastating writing. I am really enjoying it top to bottom, the production is clearly outstanding and I always find more to love over time with Mitski’s music, so I can’t wait to spend the time with it.
That’s Our Lamp has stolen my heart and my day as I replay it over and over and over. That synth is so playful with a bright bounce, those strings swirling into ABBA-esque glory, opening up and launching us into this big dance anthem while Mitski, in classic fashion, finds the simplest sentence that will make you sob. This time, “‘cause you just don’t love me / not like you used to”. Cowbell knocking in the second verse, one of my favorite verses in recent memory. A massive instrumental with a powerful outro to match, that final line really getting me good.
Maddie Jay - Gutterball
Maddie Jay is a dang legend in the making (already a legend to me fwiw). The new single, Gutterball, is a true treat. The drums simple and grooving, those wavy chords slowly pulsing underneath. It’s such a Maddie Jay sound, even so, still feeling so fresh and new. Her voice is gentle and smooth, like it’s slowing down time when put alongside those drums. The production is wonderful through this first minute, sounds and effects that keep things fascinating in every moment. Ever so naturally (and a complete surprise), the guitar comes plucking away, a welcoming bed for Maddie Jay’s vulnerable pre-chorus. That growing pains line is just so good. The chorus picks the band back up at full steam, that arpeggio/random(?) synth falling all around us like it’s raining but the rain is skittles? Just rainbows everywhere you look. The second verse is incredible, I don’t think I’ve ever heard such perfect harmonies sing, “cigarettes and energy drinks” before, but I’m glad I have now. The rest is marvelous - Maddie Jay just a magician with the way she puts together such beautiful songs. We close on a little singy/synthy solo that is equal parts Wii Sports-y and Caroline Polachek-y. The perfect cherry on top. Fun and thoughtful.
Jim-E Stack ft. Lucky Daye - Next To Me
Jim-E Stack has it figured out. This one, another entry into the “songs made just the way my brain likes ‘em” category. He’s dialed into his signature sound, managing to leaning further, digging deeper into what makes him special. For one, it’s drums. The way these drums hit and squeak and bang and yet leave so much space for the synths and the vocals. Unique and bold. Then that synth, starting as the bass line at 0:23, small hits, quickly unfurling out and growing nastier by the moment. It just sucks me in, and as they get dirtier in that instrumental break, it scratches a sonic itch for me that very few others can. And it’s a wonderful collaboration. Lucky Daye fitting so well in this puzzle, a gorgeous performance that holds your attention. Drawing me in so much that as all these little changes develop naturally over the song, they can hit like a surprise, arriving while you weren’t looking. Plus he somehow manages to sound good even when pitched/warped/dunked into the effects bucket. Each instrumental break feels like such a massive release, I can’t stop listening and loving.
Meernaa - On My Line
The kind of intro that just makes you say, “wheeeewwwwww”. That guitar twang, the drums picking up momentum, the whole thing oozing this mysterious coolness. Much of which comes from Meernaa’s vocals - a great tone, and darting across the melody with power and ease. Really shining when those background vocals come and lift everyone up. And when that organ joins in, it’s beyond funky, come on. This thing keeps growing, the strings stepping up next as Meernaa picks up some more intensity on the vocals. The whole moment elevating together. Just beyond the two min mark, we slide into an entirely new place. Guitar and synth so beautiful in this Noir scene. I can hear the narrator now. The tension builds, and when the band kicks back in, the vocals ascend to another level again, a stunning display and one heck of a finale.
Ravyn Lenae ft. Steve Lacy - Skin Tight
What a combo. Ravyn Lenae, one of the smoothest voices imaginable. Steve Lacy with an unmistakable tone, smooth as could be on guitar and on the mic. Slow and easy, I’m really taken by the raw chords, laying breezy on an inflatable as the beat carries it down a lazy river. Lenae is just mesmerizing, pulling the ends of these lines out forever. Each coated with such warmth and the perfect amount of breath. Lacy, by contrast, pushing things a bit faster, offering his own call and own response line by line. It’s still soft, but against Lenae’s vocals, he feels so forward. The two coming together for some magic at the end of his section. The background vocals shine in the second verse, taking new approaches and angles to their support. They keep shining in the next section, the band paired back, Lenae letting go, letting life do its thing, and accepting whatever might come. That last ‘hold me while you can’ bubbling up to a climactic declaration. Lacy ready to soothe us right after, swaying all the way home.
The Less New Stuff:
Tochi Bedford - outside
I was doing some digging for work and I struck gold stumbling across Tochi Bedford. This one had me hooked from first listen. The drums sparse yet have such a big effect. You can hear the outside coming in, the seagulls calling to each other as they soar by the studio. Bedford steady and smooth even as the flow switches up, so charming as he swings up high for that upper register in the chorus. A collection of background vocals joining to hold him up. Infectious energy. If you dig it, check the rest of the album, some really bold production and fun features.
Barrie - Quarry
Barrie really won me over last year. Dig is such a good song, still have it in frequent rotation. Quarry is the latest single. An equally unique and addictive release. A quiet, unassuming intro swirls, giving way to expanding band notes reverbed to the edges of its world and then some. As the arrangement fills out, it feels like a jungle come alive. Sounding muddy and wet in the best ways possible, still crisp and clean too. The whole ecosystem waking up. It gets wilder as it goes, a synth standing out and breaking all convention as it clicks through the 100-second mark. A release into the outro, Barrie’s signature vocals stepping up one last time.
Sampha - Kora Sings
Happy 5yr Anniversary to Process. An album I can never shake, that still holds such a power to me. I have so many visceral memories of being in Chicago associated with this album. Each song holding different moments. And a few live shows to match. But beyond my ties to it, it’s a fucking incredible album. Still holds up today, no one sounds like Sampha and no one is making anything that sounds like any of these songs. Kora Sings is a personal favorite, a special moment in the live show from that era, and I’ve loved revisiting it again. Still as mind-blowing as ever.
Like what you heard!? Tell a friend!! The more the merrier in here, and it’s such a thrill every time a new person joins the club. Hope some of these songs catch your ear, let me know what you thought.
As always - back on Monday with two great tunes.
Yours,
Max
That new Mitski is fantastic.