MMM with Aniwa & helly
Two perfect tunes, you better listen!! Please!!
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. Your subscriptions go such a long way. Free subscribers help these artists get the audience they deserve, paid subscriptions help keep this thing running and also PAY THE ARTISTS!!! 2/3 of every subscription goes right back to the artists I write about. Please consider supporting independent music and music journalism(?) here today <3
Coachella!!! How are you feeling?!?!?! Let’s freaking listen and write!!
That’s just a little of taste of when they finally book me at Coachella for my big performance of “Writing a Newsletter (Live)”. A lot of pyrotechnics, working on some wild stage design, and no, it’s not all one big distraction because I’m simply sitting at a desk, typing on my macbook air, noise-cancelling headphones on. It’s not!! I swear! It’s going to be amazing.
Anyways, I hope that happens soon, but if not at least now you can picture how beautiful it’d be.
In the meantime… I’ve been staying busy! Really proud and excited to share these two songs this week. I know you’ll love them.
Also… while I’ve got you here, Mendel’s next release - Hudson Freeman’s incredible new single, ‘Dean’ - drops tomorrow (well tonight at midnight but who’s counting (me, I am very much counting the minutes at this point (506))). There’s still time for you to pre-save!!! It’d mean a lot. I cannot wait for you to hear this song.
Please follow the playlist if you haven’t already! It’s where I put all these songs, and every follow helps the music that much more. 1 like - 1 dream coming true for me. Thank you <3
Aniwa - Anything
Ok let’s absoLUTELY go!!!
I really loved Aniwa’s last single, Home, a big ol’ rocker to kick off the year. Big drums, bigger guitars, Aniwa soaring over these heavy, fuzzy chords. The song really caught my ear and I have been tuned tf in to see what was to come. And what has arrived is a stellar single.
The circular intro riff runs around with some almost-ghostly synths shifting around in the background. It’s a captivating intro.
Aniwa’s vocals instantly make a mark. I’m sad alone in my house again is an undeniable dagger to kick things off. This entire opening verse pouring out in this one-long-sentence-brain-can’t-stop way, thoughts and feelings rattling off beyond a ‘typical’ verse structure. Love how naturally she can flip up to/down from that falsetto, it’s lovely. We hear the spiraling continue, and as she repeats the final line, the band matches the intensity.
Firing off into a massive chorus - drums pushing the limit, guitar and bass powering on as they slide around to fill the track, Aniwa tip-toeing to the edge of screaming. The moment hits so hard musically, and Aniwa’s writing really delivers too. I love the mess with my head / get fucked. And just sitting with this aggravating feeling that she can never be enough, even when she’s literally everything. Brutal!!! It’s an emotional section, but Aniwa settles back and eases through everything / oh, everything. It’s such a smooth, cool delivery. Smile on her face.
The band softens and we slide back into another verse. Again, I really love the structure of this verse, as one lyric spills into the next, it’s fun and intoxicating. Not only is she trying to navigate these feelings, we’re also getting the layer of guilt and shame in that getting too old to feel this way bit. And that’s enough to bring the band back with some added anger, the feelings even more intense now that we’ve gotten context. This second chorus explodes off the back of the drums. Really kicking things off with force.
It feels like such a capital-M moment, but it’s over quick. Luckily, there’s no whiplash, when the new scene is a floating-underwater-dream-sequence. The tasteful guitar runs down the sides of the track while Aniwa floats through some melody.
Then, stripping back even further, we get Aniwa and guitar only, a peek at the bare bones of the chorus. And it really works. Feels so personal. Then it kicks off again - the bass ready for more, the drums building. Her own voice sampled as the ‘Yeah!’s fire off. I LOVE the fill back into the chorus every time, so killer. This time around Aniwa is getting sick of this shit, the chorus taking a new turn, revealing our title as she grapples with well what’s the point???
The guitar takes it from there to lead us home, Aniwa with a real like, WTF!! acceptance in these final repetitions. Beautiful song. Can’t wait for more from this London-based rockstar.
Follow Aniwa on Instagram // on Spotify
helly - Wishful Thinking
Last week, in the second writeup, I featured that gnarly new Sam Cope song, Two Hands. Really love it, geez. I opened that piece saying If you just listen until 0:05 you’ll immediately recognize this as “Shit Max Loves”. And folks, the statement remains true again right here.
The guitar finding it’s footing, the tone of the electric lead, the heft of that bass. It’s a magical start, feels like the song is forming around us in this really organic way. Not to be that guy or whatever, but in a world of algorithms etc. etc. it’s nice to feel something real, you know!!!?? Here we are, sitting in front of a gorgeous band putting this song together beautifully.
And that’s just the first five seconds!! There’s so much more to come! Like at the 0:07 mark!! The guitar harmonies have me losing my mind. The tone is so incredible, and the riff rocks. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t stop every two seconds… (don’t quote me on that).
As helly opens the verse, she sings with the nylon guitar beside her, the rest of the band dropping out. It feels tender and intimate and warm. It suits the writing well, I still don’t know what’s gonna happen. helly trying, like all of us, to just figure it out, to keep her head up. The way the guitar picks her up as she hits the end of you must understand… is amazing to me. It sounds like helly goes from having her head in her hands to looking up at us, the chord progression lifting, pleading with us to really understand and support her. Hearing the guitar in there, it just feels so meaningful? Not just playing alongside helly but truly ‘at her side’ in this loyal way that I don’t often hear in this way.
And now another voice joins the mix, an ethereal layer on top that offers this gentle harmony. Fun to add a new voice as you sing about being alone. As we keep the guitar consistent, there’s this overarching sense of tension, of suspense, like this song could erupt at any moment. Which, again, matches the writing perfectly. These feelings are honest, and helly is learning to deal with them, and that too could lead to pain or more intense moments. That’s just life! But that tension makes me such an eager listener through this section. You’re holding my heart / You’re holding my soul offers some time-warping winds, that feel like a change - but helly breathes and stays calm through the titular lyric.
Then we get a little something… the bass returning, helly vocalizing through some lovely melodies, with the perfect production to give such a sweet performance a little edge. The moment is heavy and massive, overwhelming but in a let-it-rain-over-you kind of way. My favorite little guitar riff comes back, now partnered with helly it sounds stunning.
One more wishful thinking laid out with some autotune, a final strum, the metronome clicking, it’s just a magnificent little song. What can I say. Big shout out to viet who produced this song. Another musician I’ve been following for a while, who’s got his own artist project too. The two are a great match on this one.
Follow helly on Instagram // on Spotify
All The Other Days!!
Plenty of new gems filling this one up^
Bon Iver album is awesome (who would’ve guessed I love a song that Dijon is on). New Seylu is so special!!!!!! Great album from Neu Blume. Sick new single from nokio. Really loving the new marlon amon singles too!
Also the IH tiny desk rules. this version of mmmoooaaayaya is brilliant.
*Mendel News*
All the same updates as last week but now they’re all one week closer!! For those in LA, shoot me a message, I’d love to see you at either show and still have a couple guest list spots available!
Hudson Freeman’s new single, Dean, drops on 4/15. TOMORROW!! I’m so excited, it really rocks. Pre-save here.
April 22nd - Two by Two no. 3!!! Back at Scribble in Highland Park is just a couple weeks away!! Incredible lineup of artists - YaSi x Gayathri Krishnan and HUNJIYA x Maddee Ritter. Come have your mind blown. A special format, and supporting IRL really goes a long way for Mendel and the newsletter. Tickets Here
May 8th (Early Show) at Permanent Records Roadhouse - Honored to put together a fun one with Hollis Howard featuring friends of the ‘sletter mer marcum and Farrah Hanna in from NY. Always a privilege to have my pals Farrah and mer in town. Tickets Here
Cheers,
Max