MMM with cootie catcher & a bonnaroo preview (prevroo?)
Packing up for my favorite festival, but still time for one new find.
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I’m finally back from NY with just enough time to unpack and repack before I head to Tennessee for the week. Bonnaroo is really a special place and I’m so excited to get back on the farm. But more on that later.
Last Thursday, Hudson Freeman sold out Brooklyn’s Purgatory and my goodness was it a triumph. Just an amazing album release show. Fantastic sets from Farrah Hanna and Helenor, and a really warm crowd. Felt special to witness.
Hudson’s record has been out for a week and a half now, and as Mendel’s first official album release, I don’t know I could’ve imagined it better. Thank you to everyone who has been listening and posting and saying such kind things. It all means the world.
I’m also in LA long enough to witness thousands of incredible people showing up for our neighbors. The cruelty, the pain, the terror of these ICE raids is immeasurable. We once again see unprovoked violence from the LAPD, protecting and serving no one in this city. It’s devastating and heartbreaking. But, I am buoyed and inspired by my friends and my neighbors who show up for each other, show up for what is right time and time again. Inspired by an unrelenting willingness to do what it takes to create a better, safer, and more just city & world. Grateful and proud.
If you want to stay informed with ongoing actions, on-the-ground reporting, and updated needs (plus just regularly great information) I’d suggest you give People’s City Council a follow.
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. Crazy to be creeping up on 1k! Thank you <3
cootie catcher - Friend of a friend
I’ve been working on booking some touring dates (eyeballs emoji) and my favorite part, besides thinking about how cool these shows are going to be, is having a genuine need to find amazing music in each city. It’s led me down rabbit hole after rabbit hole of new scenes and new sounds.
That’s how cootie catcher ends up here. The Toronto-based band is so exciting, songs that feel instantly nostalgic, songs that unfold with a thrilling urgency. The tracks off their recent album ‘Shy at first’ are all worth a listen, full of twists and turns through great production, fun arrangements, and writing that lends a contemporary vocabulary to an elementary classroom-like sensibility, in terms of aesthetics.
By that, I mean it feels like it holds a real ~child-like~ energy. A silliness, a fearlessness. Of course I want to reference things like Girlpool’s first record as a touch point - similarly pulling these gentle but devastating lyrics across playful sounds. cootie catcher builds on that, injecting these songs with new life. It feels futuristic, it feels retro, it feels modern, somehow it’s all these things at once? Above all, it really works.
Friend of a friend is a great showcase of all of this. It opens with the title spilling out from some kind warm filtered mic. Inviting, but as soon as you dip one toe in the band appears and shoves you in the deep end. Great work from the guitar, bass, drum trio. This synth bubbling and floating across the track, dancing through this infectious riff.
The energy is really entrancing. There’s so much pressure building in the song’s pace, the relentless drums, the constant strumming, it feels like the train is CHUGGING and I feel lucky to be along for the ride.
We breath space into the track for the first verse. As we reach the clearing, we immediately get a taste of the band’s great writing:
orchestral the way you sung
my name like we've both known
each other for 10 years
These lines spilling into each other, keeping that momentum moving and pulling me in deep. I can barely get my bearings at first, especially with the synth running rampant as each knob gets turned and turned again. But even in the chaos, I feel at peace? Everything is so warm.
We jump into a chorus, two voices stacked so effectively. As if we’re hearing both people saying the same thing to their own respective friends. Montage sequence vibes. (editor’s note: this was before i saw the music video where friends of friends of friends play an extending game of ‘telephone’ between cuts of cootie catcher rocking out)
After a couple repetitions another new voice appears, yelling from the other room. Somehow more energy, more excitement. Post-chorus, that synth really goes wild, leading the way over the incredible drums. Such sick tone on those.
A second great verse flies by - our vocalist playing it cool i’ll catch you at the next one even though they can spot this other person by their ears. This strange new intimacy forged between the two, no matter how indirect their connection is. This early connection experience, where we don’t really know what will come of it next, but have thought through all one million possibilities in our head.
The song keeps pushing, keeps building, keeps swirling. The second chorus really so much fun. We ditch the drums and let the vocals carry us home. What a joy this one is. I hope you love it too.
Follow cootie catcher on Instagram // on Spotify
Bonnaroo Preview (I will not do the prevroo joke again, I won’t!)
From Wednesday until next Monday, I will be out in Manchester, Tennessee for Bonnaroo. I think this is my 6th time going (7th if you count the year it was rained out…), and I’m just as excited as the first time.
In the headliner world, there’s a lot to be excited about - Tyler, the Creator, Justice, Olivia Rodrigo, Remi Wolf. It’ll be a stellar weekend. But of course, it wouldn’t be Max’s Music Mondays if I didn’t look a little further down the lineup.
Some lesser known names that I think you’d love - whether you’re going or not, I’d give these folks a listen.
hey, nothing - emo-folk duo, they’re so damn cute idk!! very honest and open songwriting, a lot more insight and wisdom than you’d expect from a couple 20 year olds (no offense to 20yo’s).
Die Spitz - let’s absolutely rock. the clips of the live shows look ELECTRIC. Not always my scene, but damn I really admire what they’re doing.
Ginger Root - I talk about him all the time, but one of the most creative and kind people doing it. A tremendous songwriter and thoughtful performer. Can’t wait for this one.
Rachel Chinouriri - Another that seems silly to note since she’s already pretty well known, but put out a great record last year. Still love this one and excited to see it in the Tennessee sun.
Cameron Winter - again, I know most, if not all, of you already know this record front to back. But Winter will be playing solo at the ~new~ Infinity Stage. Pitched as “world’s most immersive 360° live sound” I am ready to ascend.
Hot Mulligan - The kind of thing I would’ve been OBSESSED with as a teenager, and guess what, it still rocks and I still love it hahaha it’s just so much fun. Excited to see it IRL.
Arooj Aftab - Again… ofc we know! But Aftab will also be on this new Infinity Stage and it’s going to change my life I already know it.
Outside of the main festival stages, among the campsites, you’ll find the Who Stage. Programmed with a stellar lineup of emerging talent, it’s where I’ve seen so many favs. Like Mk.gee in 2017 lol. Anyways, here’s some favs off this year’s lineup.
The Takes - a band out of Portland that sounds like they’re out of another era. The west coast rockers are absolute road dogs, and have the stage presence of a band twice their age. Really great songwriters, it’s a great show.
Timmy Skelly - MMM Approved, Skelly is on fire rn. The LA-based singer-songwriter makes every song feel like a backyard bonfire. Really excited to start my Saturday on a high note with this one.
Jon Muq - new to me until I started prepping for Roo, but this Austin-based artist has a familiar feel. Mixed with writing/production from The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, it’s just an easy, beautiful listen.
The Army, The Navy - Another MMM favorite, these two are plenty big already but to hear their harmonies IRL is a whole other thing. I will be front row, I will be beaming ear to ear, and I can’t wait to see you there.
All The Other Days!!
Incomprehensible by Big Thief. God bless.
That’s pretty much all I have to say… Well, not really. LOVING the new Hand Habits, crazy new one from Hollis Howard & Finnish Postcard. New Medium Build obviously I’m a fool for it. New Dora Jar is stunning as ever, forever inspired by her creativity. Loving new King Princess too!! A lot to love this week.
See you next time,
Max