Max's Weekly Music Roundup
What I've Been Playing ft. Remi, Dora, Dorian, and more :)
Another celebratory week for me (life is good!!!!). Got to see Remi Wolf live again for the first time in ages. And also it was my birthday. A lot of great music that helped soundtrack it all. Because of the show/birthday, I’ve been a little busy… so no major intro this week, just getting straight to the music. <3 <3
What I’ve Been Listening To This Week
playlist #2, every song is so good, this really is what i’m listening to most hours of most days.
The New Stuff:
Front Tooth & Anthony Kiedis - Remi Wolf
This mf just won’t stop huh? Two songs, loaded with all the fun and groove and joy and weird that we’ve come to expect. Anthony Kiedis is the biggest and most delightful sad song I’ve ever heard. That nanana section is so catchy and sparkles in the sun. So to quickly turn from nanana’s to, “Put my mind at ease, oh, please / I'm begging, make it stop” feels like a trick? Both in how she pulls it off and in how I’m singing along with a smile on face??
Front Tooth is a certified hit - hard pressed for me to find a Kenny Beats song I don’t adore. So toss Remi in the mix and I’m not going to not like it… Crazy guitar tone over fight sound effects and some really impressive whistling. These drums hit so hard. The whole song is like this, bits and pieces all around that make it special. Weird sounds, vocal layers, it all comes together. All centering around Remi going through it, that famous realization - getting the things we strive for and realizing they’re still not bringing the happiness we had hoped. “So I lay down in the shower let the water wake my body up” that wake my body up repeated like it’s exploding out of her. So dang powerful. Whew another two songs another two hits.
Scab Song - Dora Jar
Dora Jar is one of the coolest songwriters cooking right now. Verses like the ones we get here make me believe she really is a wizard. Who else do you know can include the words scab, Einstein, and spaghetti all in the same song, and have each be a part of their own breathtaking poetic imagery.
I've got a scab on my leg / And it looks like an island on the water / Come swim on me / My skin is the sea
I've got a brain in my head / And it thinks as hard as Einstein ever did
You have green and blue veins / Loopin' like spaghetti through your body's traffic lanes
And all of this gets wrapped up by layers of vocals, held center stage among bright, warm, sweet summer production. Sliding so easily from woodblocks and twisted vocal samples to an acoustic guitar with a friendly supportive cello, the song feeling natural in every light. And then we flip the switch and rock tf out.
Buggin Out - R.I.Pablo
Well well well, look who it is! I wrote about this one for The Maxies last year (winner of Favorite Soundcloud Discovery) and it’s finally made the jump to Spotify. Here’s what I said then (and what I still believe now):
That vocal is so damn catchy, so intoxicating, I’m the bee this song is the damn flower. All the nature sounds filling out the world. “And it’s trueoooohhhh / hanging in the corner of your roooOOOoom”, it’s like Post Malone hopped on a Still Woozy track? But then like Charli XCX wrote the melody? Such a playful feel, familiar and new. Then the drums hit, and I have no doubt if a bug made a song it would sound and feel like this. Past the 1min mark, and we’re really living large. Those vocals floating as we fly through the sunlight. The I’m buggin out I’m buggin section is perfect, I love it. The whole song is just a beautiful weird joy and has since led (with the algorithm as my new friend) to 4 or 5 more MMM picks from this year. Grateful for this tune and excited to write about r.i.pablo again whenever I get that chance. Also the vid hits.
Gentleman (feat. Danny Brown) [d0llywood1 Remix] - Dorian Electra
I think this was on my Release Radar last week? Or something like that. Where ever it was, on sight got the add to my running playlist and when it came up the first time I nearly lost my mind. Just spooky enough for October 1st too. I love the saxophone so much, it sounds so cheap? but in a really good way?? The perfect contrast to the heaviest, thickest drums imaginable. Dorian’s verse is sexy, mysterious, cool. Making you lean in just a little more. And the drums punish you for it, knocking you back even harder than they had before. At 50 seconds we flip the rhythm completely, the sax going wild. It’s the perfect ear catching moment to disrupt everything. The kind of entrance Danny Brown always makes. This guy… he’s 40 years old(??), and sounds just as natural leaving a verse on a Dorian Electra song as he does with BROCKHAMPTON as he did over 2012 MPC beats. The versatility!!! What a career. Anyways, by the time you think about all this the song almost over. Time to run it back I guess.
Risky - Jordan Hawkins
Whew. A sexy intro, this guitar feels like a fireplace. The song hits, adding Jordan Hawkins’ incredible falsetto, a bold bold start!!! Bass and drums holding us in the song’s arms as Hawkins rolls through the verse. The chorus finds a way to fill out the song further - the bass taking an edge, background vocals filling the corners. Out of the chorus we get these massive hits of strings/horns/energy. You can just feel Hawkins with the mic stand in his hand, owning the spotlight. He’s got such a moving voice, really coming through around 1:20 as the band steps back. His presence!! A rockstar forming before our eyes, putting his stamp on it with another slick guitar solo.
The Old Stuff:
Many Times - Dijon
You really thought we we're done with this one?? I have MORE to say. Mostly that Remi did in fact cover this at her show on Wednesday and it did in fact give me full on looking-around-”no way no way”-hands-on-my-face levels of freakout. A moment so fully speaking to me i thought i was dreaming. Remi slowed it down, ditched the drums, and just let it rip (with Dijon on stage for moments of it, plz reach out if you’d like vids). Reminding me just how heartbreaking this one really is. It’s got me banging on my heart Future Islands style.
Fit N Full - Samia
I’ve got a nice “Samia Mix” sitting on my spotify, and it never fails. No matter my mood, there’s always a gem sitting there for me. This one caught me this week, a soaring and breezy and also sad rock song. “All I want's to give you what I had / I'm generous and vacant” it gets me every time. A song that begs to be sung along with, it rocks! I love this album and always find something special when I dive back in.
Loretta - Ginger Root
GINGER ROOT RULES AND THIS SONG IS SO GOOD AND NOT NEARLY ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT IT. LOREETTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAA. A smile of a song, so bubbly and groovy, it’s a masterpiece.
Thank you as always for reading and listening. Don’t look now, it’s almost MMM’s 4th birthday… (but actually don’t look i haven’t planned anything yet. stop looking!!!)
Hope you all have a great weekend, welcome to spooky month, stay strong.
See you on Monday,
Max