MMM - Comp Breakdown pt. 1 + chi
BTS of the compilation and 2 BANGERS from chi
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, you can follow along on spotify and please be sure to absolute smash that dang subscribe button! tysm :) Your paid subscriptions go towards supporting the artists you read about here too!! That’s right(!!), the artists who made This Weeks Songs are getting paid!! <3
The Compilation Vol. 1 is out and I couldn’t be more proud. So grateful for everyone’s support. It feels like such an exciting new chapter for the newsletter and for me and I’m so stoked to keep chasing this and see where it takes us <3
If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet - please check it out!
The thing is, I can yell - OMG THESE SONGS ARE SO GOOD - until the cows come home but I have so much more to say about each one. About the songs, the artists, how they came to be a part of this release. So, over the next two weeks I’ll write more about it all. And I hope the full stories will help you fall more in love with each song.
It’s maybe the project I’m most proud of… ever? So yeah, we’ll be talking about it a lot… but for good reason, these songs are so good and lol ok I’m doing it again. Anyways, please listen and please enjoy.
^^ check the bandcamp page for some subscription discounts too!!!
I’ve been a fan of Nathan Bajar’s for a while. I wrote about his song Daydreamer back in the fall of ‘21. That summer he had put out Big Body too, and I was hooked. Such a unique voice, and I just love the energy of his songs. Beautiful melodies, so wonderfully produced, just the kind of music that scratches some necessary itch. It parlayed into ‘22s Joyride EP which I haven’t stopped coming back to.
With all this in tow, I’ve been eager to find more ways to write and work with Nathan. This felt like a no brainer. He was one of the first artists I thought of as I started to put this project together. And because Nathan is also just a kind person who really gets the aim of MMM, he graciously accepted and sent me this demo immediately.
I’m gonna be as honest as I can here - this demo changed EVERYTHING for me. Not only is it so incredible as a piece of art, it filled my damn sails. Showed me just how special a project like this could be, and opened my imagination to what kind of demos and music I could be seeking out in the future. So, thank you Nathan!!
The song itself is stunning. Somehow capturing the raw energy of creating a song. Him and his collaborator searching for their footing within a gorgeous chord progression. Bajar feeling for lyrics and letting the emotional guitar guide his way. It’s such a simple recording, but that moment there at like 0:36 and onward is so special, that perfect reaction from them both, a laugh, a damn, two people finally turning a corner and knowing when they’ve arrived. It feels so special to witness. A moment, a process, normally hidden from the listener. But here on full display, it feels like a magic trick. How did that happen? I really don’t know, but damn what a treat to hear.
I knew it had to be the intro to the comp, such a vulnerable and pure way to kick things off and set the tone for what this project is all about. So grateful for this one, a beautiful song that gives me chills every time, and genuinely changed my life!!! for real!!
I wrote about this on famed app, Instagram.com, but a while back I caught a clip Adriana posted of her on guitar - a quick cover of this Dijon song. Obviously, I lost it. In the throws of putting this compilation together I shot her a note wondering if there was a world in which she blew this out into a full cover. And boy oh boy am I so glad that world exists and we’re actually living in it rn.
Made to tape, the whole thing feels so intimate and warm. The gentle acoustic, the far-off percussion. The first couple lines pour out smooth, I’m convinced pulling out more raw emotion, the song falling into its signature groove. The bass, the tambourine, the drums, all teamed up, pushing and pulling me around.
McCassim’s new approach to the lyrics creates these moments of levity that feels so sincere and give the song a whole new dimension. I’m convinced that there’s a meanness in me seeming to drift off, as though she is reflecting on it, genuinely worried by it. It’s beautiful. The song itself is a trip - Dijon writing on these feelings building inside him, trying to get a handle on if/how he shares, how he can move through them. Pushing the feelings down, wanting to be enough for his partner, scared that showing this side of him will ruin(?) things. An emotional song, a powerful one, and this cover does it justice and then some.
The chorus is so fantastic, and I love what McCassim did in this version. The first half If it pleases is so warm and sweet. Like she’s cuddling up to her love, so much desire to do right by them. The I’ll do my best like a soldier saluting, knowing the work ahead is hard and scary but that she’s gotta do what she’s gotta do. The release so visceral. She’s up for the challenge. We ride the wave into the next verse. A great chance to admire and appreciate the whole arrangement here. The big supportive chords from a piano, another guitar dancing around the edges, the bass holding firm, those drums rolling around, in and out like the tide. The whole thing seeming to grow up and around McCassim, still sitting right there in the middle, with her guitar.
Into the last chorus, she really goes for it and it’s perfect. The emotion on her sleeve, the moment breaking through, that little growl/scream finding its way out. I’ll do my best repeated, feeling like such a genuine cry. The song closes as we come back to ourselves, a gradual grounding after getting all this off our chest. It’s just so beautiful, so well done, and feels so right to have a Dijon cover in a MMM project.
chi - Jane & Belly Ache
Two for one this week. Which is to say, I love both of these songs and no matter how long I spend trying to pick which to write about, I can’t choose. Ya! I’m a Libra!!! Anyways strap in for two huge tunes. chi’s mixtape just dropped and these first two tracks are crazy.
Jane
WHAT an intro to a project. Some beeps, a scream, the riser, it’s boiling up and it’s only been a few seconds. We drop in, immediately going 100mph. The darkest jersey beat you’ll ever hear bursting underneath a raging synth and angry guitar lead. 22 seconds in and there’s a breath of relief. Hi hats moving at impossible speeds, tires screeching, chi composed - moving gracefully through the chaos. Cross thirty seconds and thinks get WILD.
The Jersey beat gets more pronounced, that kick driving forward the band can barely keep up. The way chi finds their place in this groove is really crazy. Almost jarring on first listen, but jarring in a way that hooked me DEEP. And now that I’ve heard it so many times, it’s clear there’s no other way to pull it off as good as this. The song feels dark and twisted, so adding this new bubbly melody as we lead up to the minute mark is exciting. A total surprise and has me antsy about what could be around the corner. That Do you still wanna fuck?! rings out in a major way. A few repetitions linger and you can feel the earth crumbling around us. The drums go tf off, the guitar shredding like it’s on fire. It could end right there, a clear climax and wild ride. But chi decides to somehow crank it up even more, Dom Toretto revealing he had one more can of NOS to deploy. The original beat is back, a nasty and dystopic chord progression drilling down over and over, chi dialing it up and laying into whoever they’re talking to. I’m so wicked but it’s sexy, high key, I bet you miss it all. If that doesn’t sum it all up… Devilish shit!!! The song takes another 180, like it fell of a cliff now just soaring on a cloud through the clear blue sky. We pass by a whip, we hear a gun unloaded, so maybe this isn’t heaven but a welcome respite anyways. Then diving right back into the heat for one last wild chorus. Such a trip, so sick.
Belly Ache
This intro reminds me of twig twig’s Only One (still an iconic record imo), so I was instantly in. chi’s vocals angelic as they fall around the sides of the track. This first section is beautiful, the gentlest vocal rolling along the thin percussion. Just go along with it bringing it back to earth with the lower vocals and heavy kick. It’s a hard section in the lyrics - just go along with it, this time wont be like the last, forget all that - trying to hype themselves up but also losing some trust in themselves, putting themselves down. Something just doesn’t feel right, a hard balance to grapple with.
The kick breaks through in the next verse. Loud and crunchy and bold, while chi continues to float across the melody. A needed softness to balance that kick’s presence. Another chorus comes and goes, giving way to this stunning orchestral slice of heaven. All glistening and welcoming, maybe chi was right, it won’t be like last time after all. A little break beat with a some rain stick texture starts up, clearing ramping up toward something bigger and it’s coming fast.
It swirls and swirls, that vocal pitched down over this beat, like we’re dancing the night away. A sweaty club and we’re just keeping that mantra close to our heart. We get another breath of fresh air, before stepping back for the chorus again.
A beautiful song, dark but sparkling, full of life and impossible not to dance to.
As a pair, these songs kick off chi’s new project and my oh my what a welcome. The rest is packed with all this and more - every genre imaginable, no limits on what chi can explore and can deliver on. A really exciting project, hope you enjoy these two <3
Thanks for being a part of this. We’ll do the same next week too - another pick and another couple breakdowns off the compilation. And later this month we’ve got a special surprise for paid subscribers too. Really stoked about this one. hint hint wink wink what a great time to get involved……………………….
Back Friday,
Max