MMM - The August Recap
Mk.gee, Madeline, Lutalo and more! What a month, what a month.
What a month it’s been!! Time is flying!! Embarassing to be surprised by the most consistent thing about the world we live in??? Maybe a little but hey, it happens!
Anyways sick month. In case you forgot, earlier in August I wrote about:
As always, the incredibly generous folks who are paying subscribers helped me pay out $17 and change to each of them as a small thank you for their incredible music. Such a privilege to have your trust and get to support artists in such a beautiful way.
We’re just 10 subscribers shy of that payment being over $20, which feels like a real step up in ~legitimacy~ whatever that means. $20 just feels substantial!! If the mission speaks to you, please consider subscribing today.
Plus there’s some really incredible projects coming down the pipe and paid subscribers will get early/full access to all of it!
Including a little teaser (or big reveal, idk) on maybe the biggest MMM project to date at the end of today’s newsletter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August in Review
SO many Certified Tunes this month, hope you find a new favorite song.
^^ yep :/
This one is so unbelievably perfect. The production is mesmerizing, he’s got such a sound and doing better than I ever dreamed. The sounds are otherwordly, the synths, the guitar, the drums, everything. His vocal performance is crazy too, fitting into the song so naturally, holding this calm center while the song swirls around him.
This instrumental section at 1:20 filled with a guitar growling launching into a vintage solo, fantastic. The main riff is unforgettable and I just love everything about it if you can’t tell. Listen on repeat plz and thank you.
I wish I had Smart Thoughts about this song, but i don’t it just rocks.
I am a Madeline stan so it probably goes without saying, but I was SO excited for this song. Just through TikTok teasers alone I had it stuck in my head, lyrics to the chorus memorized. So I’m thrilled to be listening in full now and loving every moment.
From the very first line, I was sold. Madeline’s voice so smooth with that gentle filter giving it some texture. Drums off to the races, these calm chords that are welcoming and haunting all at once. That first lyric sets the mood, and by the time we get to kitchen I’m already feeling for her. The song blossoms into a beautiful chorus, heart wrenching but beautiful. With new production surprises sprinkled through out, there’s just so much to savor. And it’s catchy as hell.
Idk where the hell this came from but I’m so glad it did. The synth is absolutely stunning, Swank Mami’s voice is so soft, warm and floating across those chords riding the rhythm so well. Toss in the Jersey Club drum pattern with that lush kit, it’s unexpected and beautiful. The crazy vocal display after 1:30 is so ridiculous, really a masterpiece here, no notes!!!!!!!!!
It’s shocking to me that this album isn’t absolutely massive, but who cares I know it and you know it so lets enjoy it. Shell is a smash - complete with catchy chorus and Remi Wolf background vocals.
The whole album is full of songs like this. heartfelt and personal, written with a sense of humor that feels so familiar to me. The humor I reach for when I just have to laugh as anxiety after anxiety, frustration after frustration stack up. Put your ear up to me, you might hear the ocean, depending on how far away, we are from the beach. Ok silly!
Tasch trying to get back in touch with himself, find himself again, and break from what he doesn’t need. It’s a touching tune and a really delightful chorus. The bridge goes absolutely OFF - the tongue twister turned self reflection sprinkled with seagulls and punctuated with a Remi Wolf shout, this shit was made fore me!! I really love it and hope you take a listen to all of his new record, Got Him!, it really rocks.
A late summer doozy, as soon as it gets too hot for me, this seems to be the song I reach for. Farrah Hanna is so sick and I cannot get enough. This one is crushing, painting the picture of a relationship so one sided, a person trying so hard to be someone they aren’t for someone else, and still (of course) not being enough. I asked you again and again and again, do you wish I was somebody else? Good god!!!!!!
The writing is really wonderful throughout. Hanna’s vocals too: emotional, serious, focused. The second verse goes wild, the writing is fantastic, plus cresting waves of clarinets, so obvi I am so in (maybe some vocals tracking alongside the boucing clar too???).
The chorus has really stuck with me - as the relationship dissapeared those thoughts and heart-skipping-a-beat-when-you-see-someone-driving-a-car-like-theirs moments stick around, you can’t help but wonder if they feel the same. Love this tune and so excited about more Farrah Hanna to come!!!
We are team Lutalo over here. Such an exciting artist making music I love, music that feels cozy but edgy, a voice that I cannot get enough of. Both in their writing and in their tone. A gorgeous 7-track project just dropped, called AGAIN, and I can’t stop playing it. Adding 5 new tracks alongside PLPH and Push Back Baby, two of my favorite songs this year.
Adventurous in so many ways - exciting chords and progressions, time signatures, sick production - it’s really a wonderful project and I really think it deserves more ears. From Hold My Head’s crazy momentum, chugging on with that tambourine rattling just right, to Strange Folks winding road of a song that really locks in for one final powerful minute.
So much to enjoy, I hope you do.
Becca Mancari is back!! And I am so stoked. Her new record Left Hand just dropped and I’ve listened/loved through a few times already. I think my heart is pulled to this song most of all (so far).
A really gorgeous love song, one whose specifics make it feel so personal and intimate. It’s really exciting for me, Mancari’s last record The Greatest Part was a monumental one for me. An album exploring so much pain and trauma, healing and growing from all those experiences. It’s continued to be a record I hold close, whether through heartbreak, through my own insecurities and anxieties, through it all TGP has been a staple. So to hear stories from this version of Mancari, only a few years removed, it’s got wind in my sails.
Even in the tough moments there’s such a sense of calm and certainty. A confidence that better is always ahead. Mexican Queen too - not knowing if parents will understand her queer relationship, if they’ll ever come around, realizing that her loving relationship is heaven, so it’s ok if they don’t. Ugh, fills my heart. Even in the hurt. And so incredibly produced, the horns, the drums, Mancari really dialing in a special sound.
TYSM to my partner Nat for the genius suggestion to just shuffle my liked songs the other day. I’m a playlist head (duh) and normally live in a few playlists depending on my mood. But thanks to Nat, I shuffled my way into Blake’s 2019 Assume Form and holy shit I forgot how much I loved this album. My annual “lol James Blake rocks sm” moment.
I’ll Come Too has always been a favorite. A nighttime drive, a charming love song, stunning production. His vocal performance is wild and weird and such a delight. Melodies I’ve never heard anywhere else. I’ll never get over the “Oh you’re going New York? I’m going there. Why don’t I come with you. Oh you’ve changed to LA? I’m going there, I could go there too” It’s so damn fun, an I’ll-Drop-Everything-For-You kind of love. Beautifully flipped in those final verse, turning destinations into attitudes, it’s a gem. The strings come alive, I’m floating on clouds.
That’s my month in music, and now it’s time for the little teaser/big reveal!!!!
let’s get into it.