MMM - January in Review
my favs of the month + february's anticipated releases and shows
Hey there, everyone!! Happy February, happy Monday, happy day after the Grammys. I hope you are having a good day and even month so far.
Trying something a little different with the monthly wrap up post. I hope you enjoy. A few thoughts, a whole lot of music. I hope you like it.
Last reminder, TOMORROW is my Big Show at Scribble in Highland Park. If you’re in LA, it’d mean the world to see you there. I hope this show can be a discovery platform much like the newsletter, bringing artists to the stage in new ways. It’s tough to get these shows up and running, so your support now makes a massive impact on this show and all shows to come.
All The Other Days - My Favorite Releases of the Month
In case you don’t know, I keep a second playlist updated all the time. This is what I’m listening to all the time most days. You can find everything I loved this month in here somewhere. Click around, I’m sure you’ll find something you love.
chrysalis - do you?
Written about it already so I’ll keep it short. This is the most ‘max’ song I heard this month. Scratches an itch and makes me wanna scream along. Lucky to have this in our ears.
Maddie Jay - I Can Change Your Mind
It’s a great record. Gorgeous production, Jay finding new ways to meld the digital and the human together. Her writing is diary-entry-esque, a peek into private thoughts as she tries to work through fears, relationships, and figuring out who she is. The songs are bouncy and bright, even heavy ideas can’t stop Maddie Jay from making us dance.
Standout moments everywhere you look, but I’m particularly fond of the sweet sweet Hot Suburban and the messy and proud 11th Avenue. But also Please Hold is so brilliant and fun, and the lovelost swirl is just so cool. Really stoked about this record.
lavender - lowlight:slowlight
The boys are BACK. the UK duo’s long awaited return is here, a sweet sunset of a opening minute. The guitar is breezy, the vocals so gentle as they sway. The vocals are loving, stacked and layered to feel like we’re having a little singalong with friends. In classic lavender fashion, there’s more than meets the eye. That dilla drum led switch-up offers a new tempo and feel, other familiar elements recast in this new perspective. Since I started writing this, the sun has disappeared and it’s night now, and that’s what the song is like too. Thank you mother nature for beating me at my own game. A little autotune as we reach 2:30 and the whole song takes off from there. A chopped up outro that puts a smile on my face. my goodness these two are good.
Lutalo - I Figured
Picked up Lutalo’s The Academy on cassette this month, and having fun with that one. This new single shows off their magic voice. Rich in the deeper register, so warm as they reach up higher. The way the lyrics are strewn across these chords feels so unexpected and so mesmerizing. Heck of a return post-album. This was the encore song at their LA gig on the 25th, like so many of Lutalo’s songs, it really comes alive on stage.
Daffo - Winter Hat / Get a Life
Oh god, I’m scared to see the play count on Winter Hat. The first Daffo song to really break through to me, I was (am) OBSESSED. There’s an insatiable momentum propelling this thing from the first second. Daffo’s vocals are sick - sharp and soft, floating and exacting. Writing is unmatched too. Had to add Get a Life just to force myself to listen to something other than Winter Hat, and wouldn’t you know it, I loved this one all the same. A real knack for an earworm, these songs all know just when and how to bend and break. Love it. Saw Daffo at Makeoutmusic’s fire relief show and heard a new one, Bad Dog. If that gets released… it’ll be over for me.
Petey USA - Model Train Town
This song made me cry on first listen. Threatens to do it every time I listen, if it hits me just right. Is there anything more devastating than loving something and having someone close to you not understand? My goodness. I felt embarrassed that I ever liked the town. Poor Petey USA. Maybe the only thing ‘USA’ to enjoy these days. Launches into a massive back half, a dystopian dream resolved with gentle love.
coco smith - sumac
Yo!!!! coco shared a great demo of this song on last year’s MMM Compilation but wow did they find something special in this new, full-band version. Complete with a big and raucous band, a gorgeous guitar solo, I love it. So so excited for more of coco’s music to reach the world, and delighted to be a teeny tiny part of this song’s story.
Renny Conti - Renny Conti
Everyone’s talking about this mf’er!! Like last week’s post mentioned, Renny Conti solved for x when x = how to get me to listen to something new. A No Expectations mention, a bunch of IG stories (about his music and about the release show) from artists I love, and a personal text asking if I had listened yet (thank you, Grace).
And now I have, and now I’m in. A clean 10-track LP, full of creative melodies, stunning guitars (stunning instrumentation all around tbh), and perfectly specific songwriting. His delivery is sick, everything just feels right. When he says “two thousand and ten” in Formspring it feels like no one has ever mentioned the year before, like he made up the words? It just feels like a friend telling stories. Great record.
Dora Jar - Ragdoll
This whole petition thing is one of the craziest things I’ve ever witnessed…. Dora Jar’s performance is so fucking electric and brilliant and creative and anyone who gets to see her play is lucky as hell. So glad she can take it in stride, can’t wait for more people to fall in love with these songs.
Ragdoll is back in rotation for me. If I wanna go, I go hard. If I wanna go, I go far. I go, I go, I go. This section has burrowed it’s way into my subconscious, I keep catching myself singing it under my breath. This song is weird and sexy and a true delight.
Japanese Breakfast - Orlando in Love
Hard to believe this came out in January. A welcomed return from one of the coolest to ever do it. The production is outrageous, the lack of a “drum kit” is so cool, the strings go so hard. It’s so undeniably Japanese Breakfast - that melody, “An Ideal Woman / She came to him from the water like Venus from a shell” is a melody only she sings. It’s so delightful and a thrilling preview of what might be coming from ol’ JB.
Ethel Cain - Perverts
Folks. NO ONE is doing it like this. If you are going to title your record Perverts, you have to deliver. And offering four tracks over 11mins long, these songs blurring the lines between ambient, drone, folk, it’s a stunning project. The vocals are sparse, but when they’re there, they’re gorgeous. Very few people are able to pull something like this off, and I’m so glad Cain is brave enough to try and skilled enough to succeed. And what is that “this”? Well, pitchfork says “It’s 89 minutes of claustrophobia and dread attenuated by gentle clearings. What scant relief it offers comes in whispers,” but I think what I mean is more making the art that you want to make no matter what. Chilling. Impressive.
Perfume Genius - It’s a Mirror
Oh thank god. One of my favorite artists. We are so back. It’s got that Blake Mills juice and I’m in heaven. It feels western but in an almost mad max kind of way? Like, it feels beyond reality in some way that I can’t quite articulate. Hadreas is an unreal writer and performer. What do I get out of being established? pours out, that ‘establish’ shared with a mocking bend that rolls its eyes and changes the meaning entirely. These tiny touches that add up to a magical song.
1:18 unleashes that area-sized Perfume Genius genius and I’m literally floating. As I listen, I hear someone so desperate to move on, to move forward, to get out of their own way. It hits. The song only gets better as it goes, really a beautiful one.
Miya Folick - Fist
I! punch! myself! in! the! face! with! my! only! fist! - Folick as powerful as ever. Man, oh man.
Alex Ivy - Ted
I just love these guys. A sweet sweet song about our dads. This one really rocks, like Springsteen and Dijon got together for a quick banger. I really appreciate the vision they have in all the music they’re putting out and cannot wait to see them blow up so soon.
February’s Most Anticipated Releases
A bunch to look forward to this month, we’ll see how much I can actually manage to hear. But I’ll need your help covering the rest. Anything I’m missing here??
Feb 7 - Sharon Van Etten - SVE & the Attachment Theory
Feb 14 - Bartees Strange - Horror, Mereba - The Breeze Grew a Fire, Morgan Saint - Out Of The Blue
Feb 21 - Saya Gray - Saya, Porridge Radio - The Machine Starts to Sing (EP), Nao - Jupiter
Feb 28 - Miya Folick - Erotica Veronica, Mdou Moctar - Tears of Injustice, Shygirl - Club Shy Room 2 (EP), Hope Tala - Hope Handwritten, serpentwithfeet - GRIP SEQUEL
Upcoming Shows
I love live music like nothing else. Some of the LA shows on my radar. Let me know what else you’re going to?
Feb 4 - Again… LA PLEASE COME SUPPORT!!! This is my new show, and I’m trying hard to get some traction and make it a frequent thing :)
Feb 8 - Deloyd Elze & Adrianna McCassim at Healing Force of the Universe. No one is making country music like Deloyd and no one is making rock and roll like McCassim. Going to be a night to remember. Love these two - hope to see you there. tix on dice
Feb 13 - Bartees Strange at The Paramount - I’ve never gotten to see Mr. Strange play at such a small venue. So so geeked to feel the energy of these songs live. His audiences have always been so kind, so queer, and so ready to rock. Thrilled to be a part of this one. sold out - resale avail!
Feb 19 - Video Age / Why Bonnie / Uni Boys at Zebulon. Any chance I have to see Why Bonnie - I’m gonna take. This band just gets better and better, years of tours really showing in their performance and in their new record. tix on dice
Feb 20 - Daffo/Ally Evanson at El Cid. Two of the coolest doing it. Daffo is shooting up the “my fav artists” power rankings, and Ally Evanson dropped a beautiful record in November that I know will come ALIVE on stage. tix on dice
Feb 21/22 - Soulection 14 year party at The Vermont Hollywood. Soulection was one of my major music influences back in 2012/2013. Really lucky to see what community means, what discovery and support looks like, and how to shape the sounds we love. Sure to be a great night of dancing. tix on dice
Feb 24 - Mui Zyu at El Cid. Adventurous, experimental, beautiful. These songs are heavy and complex but still carry a gentleness that I adore. I’m sure this will be one to remember. tix on dice
See you tomorrow at Scribble, or next Monday in your inbox <3 <3
Until then,
Max