MMM - Comp Breakdown pt. 3 & 13th LAW
more compilation musings & a massive new tune from 13th LAW
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
Hey idk if you heard yet but I released a compilation last month….. it’s been such a thrill and I’m so stoked and grateful. Eternal love to everyone involved and everyone who has supported this project. Just as a reminder… you can find discounts on substack subscriptions on the bandcamp page too :) An amazing way to directly financially support these artists and also to help make this newsletter flourish even more!! If you can even believe!!
This week before our MMM Pick, I’m breaking down another two tracks off the project. I hope you give them a listen. Every stream counts I’ll tell ya what!!
It feels beautifully full circle to be sharing a Soft Streak song like this. When I first found their 2018 single, Ride, MMM wasn’t even a newsletter. It was still three or four giant iMessage group chats. I think I found it on soundcloud? Either way, hearing it now sends me right back there. Writing from the table in my Chicago apartment. Immediately upon moving to LA, these two were some of the kindest most welcoming people I met. I love their music more and more with every release, and am always inspired by the music videos they put out too. The kind of artists I want to work with however I can - so this felt like an obvious way to do just that. And they came THROUGH with this cover.
Tackling Porches’ massive tune, rangerover, it opens with this tremendous piano line. This elegance and emotion pouring out. Vocals following the original melody, softly moving forward, a new context folded into the piano like this. The bass joins, filling the song and driving it forward. Another layer of vocals, a new voice filtered for so much texture that put Soft Streak’s vocals in the forefront. Adding shape and highlighting what’s already there, masterful production imo! At 0:45 we take off in the I wanna live section. The guitar joining, the piano in a dizzying display, I feel stuck in this moment. But not like stuck like a moment that could easily go on for hours. A mesmerizing feeling. It falls back out a simpler arrangement - back to the basics. It’s a short moment, a return to the I wanna live bringing with it this sick groove, a jazzy bounce through these new chords. It’s building quickly, drums beginning to show their face for the first time, a squealing guitar threatening to dive in. Where last time it felt like it could go on forever, this time I can hardly stand it knowing it’s about to explode into something fantastic.
And it really does. Perfectly executing the drop, drums teeing up a vocal solo, the whole band falling right in to place, soaring on. This drop gives me chills every time I listen. So big, so wild, so well done. It’s a really fun cover, and shows off so much of what makes Soft Streak special. A stunning vocal performance, incredible instruments throughout, and the ability to play with new and different sounds, get the most out of them, and make a beautiful tune.
Purser first came into my life via the fates of the tiktok algorithm. Looks like sometime in May/Spring of 2022?? I was immediately taken by their songwriting, epic storytelling with filled such intimate details. And of course a voice for the ages, a perfect sound to deliver such great writing. Purser recorded a wild Sofar video that June, moving throughout the house, singing three songs in three rooms (one was the bathtub). I loved it, so perfectly balancing the power of the music and the lightness/joy in how they move through the world. It was a kind and welcoming and stunning performance. We’ve gotten to be internet friends in the time since, and I’m still in awe with every song I hear. I didn’t know what to expect from Purser’s submission, but I knew it’d be special. And boy oh boy is it ever.
Starting with 5 perfect seconds, just Purser in the spotlight, offering a vulnerable admission like we’re hearing the internal monologue. Returning us gently with sparkling guitars and low strings pushing and pulling. In thick laughter we bite down on terrible truths. Come on!! Poetry!!! The pattern breaks after 0:45, opening into warmer chords, Purser feeling a change coming. We return to that previous structure, the string section coming more and more alive. At 1:28 Purser goes tf off, a run that digs down then pops back up jumping from note to note. Almost Dirty Projectors-y in it’s ability to feel so out of left field but also fit so snugly into the song. It’s a thrill to hear something exciting like this, a reminder that no matter how calming and warm this song feels, it could change course at any moment. And it starts to soon after, moving towards the two min mark, the chords stretching forward to reach it.
Then at 2:05 comes the new chapter. A jazzy groove, short strummed guitar chords, plucked strings dancing around us. Turns her off when I miss her which just makes me miss her more. Ugh </3 this is so so good. But just strap yourself in for this DEVASTATING final verse. Gorgeous melodies, gorgeous arrangement, this one is just so special. An honor to share it as part of this compilation. I could listen to this all day and it still wouldn’t be enough.
13th LAW - Light Run
It feels so good to press play on a song and just instantly know you’re going to love it. Big love to Nathan Bajar for sending this my way. Immediately fell into it, by way of the full EP exclusively on bandcamp. Flipping through the EP you get a sense of how fun this song will be - 13th LAW, bouncing from genre to genre, unafraid to be bold and push things further and harder than you’d expect. But in each mode, he delivers. Creative and unique and good as hell.
Light Run is the lead track of that EP, just the single available on Spotify right now. It opens with drums and bass trucking, ripping forward with pace. Meanwhile that a breeze of vocals blows from side to side. A couple synths find space to dance in between. But as we head to the first verse, everything but the drums and bass get sucked up and out of sight. In their place, 13th LAW sings with a smile on their face. I’m hooked with the first lyric along - a memory of the future is so damn genius, and would have me singing with a smile on my face too. Some synths join here, almost like shooting stars the notes reversing into place. At 50 seconds you get our first jaw-dropper, the layers and layers of layers of harmonies, elevating this one to the dang clouds. Rising up out of nowhere and disappearing just as fast. Hammering home that it’s been a while making it feels more conversational almost(?), the dozens of times 13th has said that, the dozens of times we’ve all said it, making it feel more real. The band still pushing hard as that rising sound sweeps us off our feet for the first shift in scenery.
The bass gets a little wild with it, exploring further and further. The drums giving it some more juice too. We hit this moment, with vocals covering every side of the track - a steady lead down the middle, gentle harmonies on our left, some bonus vocals doing their own thing down to the right. But coming together seamlessly and making it a comprehensive and groovy moment. As the guitar tip toes in, the vocals start to shift around. A big kick drum drops, the song rippling back out before it shifts again right near 1:38. This delay on the vocals reminding me of a Caroline Rose song. A genuine plea for the other person to keep on going, keep on growing. Meanwhile the guitar is shredding!!! Go off!!! The drums going in half time to emphasize the rest of the band.
Right at 2:00 we fall back to a new verse. A little guitar riff carrying us through and keeping things new and exciting. I could write this / super nice riff / but it won’t make a difference in the fact you’re not here. The riff is really good though… even if it doesn’t change this sad reality. But no time to wallow quite yet, we’re thrust back into another chorus. Everything swirling around us. As it repeats on and on, the filter comes in heavy, quieting everything down for a second before unveiling another jaw-dropper. Back with a vengeance the guitars come back heavy and rocking, the whole song wrapped in a new lens, the band truly rock tf out. The bass still sneaking around back there going wild too. Some reversed vocals to punctuate a wild one. Really a ride and so glad to take it with y’all.
Follow 13th LAW on IG / Spotify
My weekly reminder that paid subscriptions get distributed back to the artists I write about!! So 13th LAW is getting paid this week!! It’s really an amazing way to support artists and hope you’ll trust me and spend a little cash to help make this a reality <3
Back Friday with the last two songs from the comp :)
Max