MMM with Leyla Ebrahimi & blue diner.
get ready to rock... plus new stuff from Saya Gray, Bartees Strange, chrysalis, and more!
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
Howdy y’all! Sending love and light and hope in these ever-trying times. Thank you as always for being here with me, and listening to these songs. It’s a beautiful thing to get to share the love and glad I’ve got such good folks to share it with.
We’re back with two great picks this week - and later this week, the first paid piece of the year. I’m exploring the ever infuriating desire to “hear it all”. A Sisyphean task in today’s music world. If you want to read that piece now’s a great time to upgrade your subscription :) The money goes straight to the artists I write about - like Leyla and blue diner. this week!
Hope you have a great week. With love,
Max
Leyla Ebrahimi - planet you forgot me
Hard to describe how excited I was to hear this one for the first time. We’re talking eye brows raised, we’re talking mouth agape, we’re talking an audible okayyyyyyyy. Just click play you’ll hear it too.
We open to laughs, because they know just how much this is about to rock us. We’re so naive. A duo of guitars launch into this riff, immediately intergalactic, it feels like arena rock, lights exploding, pyrotechnics everywhere. The feeling only amplified when the band joins. Big drums, that rough bass just loose enough, the new layers of the riff laid down right on top. A crazy start to a song. The band falls into a great groove, the drummer marching us forward, the riff persisting. Then all of the sudden, it comes to an abrupt ending and Leyla Ebrahimi grabs the mic.
I’m chasing a feeling / only you can give me lands with such ease, her voice a surprising warmth to fall into after that intro. Unexpected and perfect. Through this sad and lonely verse, Ebrahimi’s vocals are balanced by another layer underneath. These inner thoughts, these past conversations, giving more context to her lyrics.
One drum hit there at 1:12 and suddenly the two worlds we’ve heard, blend into a powerful sound. The guitars carrying the momentum underneath Ebrahimi. Her voice coming alive, filled with emotion and urgency. The lyrics are big and clear, When I wanna drink / I think about the feeling / I get when you kiss me / nothing really hits me like you. There’s so much here, it’s full of acceptance but with an edge that makes it feel like a challenge. Searching for something that can hit more, but honest about the results.
This person has left an impact, for better or worse. Up till now I’d probably wager, ‘better’, as they raise their standards and would prefer a life alone if they can’t find someone to meet them. But as the next section arrives, Ebrahimi’s mind becomes even more clear, it’s not about finding something better it’s really about wanting what she’s lost.
The delivery is spectacular. Her voice becoming more raw with every new scene. With stellar production, the vocals feel so big. Widening, almost rippling out, with that gentle synth on the right seeming to stretch things higher and wider. Each line punctuated by that anthemic guitar just shredding.
We get pulled off the edge, settled back into a cozy lounge, just Ebrahimi and this restrained band. The moment doesn’t last long, the anger eager to show itself again. The title appears, different than I had imagined, Stuck on Planet You-Forgot-Me is so good, holy moly. Ripped so impossibly far away from herself by this other person, it’s isolating.
Then there’s the I’m so crazy moment. And yeah, it blew my fucking mind. Just let that thing rip. The bass is SHINING here and so is Ebrahimi, a moment I really need to see live. So so sick. We replay the Maybe in another life section before the song comes to a momentary end. But with a minute and a half to go, we're lucky there’s more. Ebrahimi’s voice sounding so vulnerable here, that inhale/exhale at 5:04 is damning. So much taken out of her to get us to this point. In the song and in life. It’s beautiful. The song remains mellow and we finally reach the end. It’s an epic.
So stoked about this one, and really love the sound this NYC artist is exploring. Full of captivating and unexpected moments.
Follow Leyla Ebrahimi on Instagram // on Spotify
blue diner. - Mezzanine
Man, I’ve been really taken by this one. A step outside my typical genres, this song is heavy and loud and beautiful. So much to savor within its haziness, I just can’t stop coming back to it.
Feedback blaring in, the first sound we hear. Abrasive but intoxicating as it disappears into the band, who is already trucking at full speed. The focus is the guitars and bass, dancing around each other, each with their own way to get to the next chord. Laying into that chord relentlessly. The tones are heavy and smokey and sick. But for me, the early star is the drums. The cymbals crash all around the mix, the snare so thick right down the middle, while I’m most taken by the kick. It’s so big, bringing so much bass in its impact, just not something you usually can feel as much as I’m feeling this.
We lose no steam sliding into this verse. blue diner. with two vocalists, trading back and forth. The contrast between the two voices is delightful, the first airy with an edge, the second softening those edges. They work so well together. But as a pair, deliver even more contrast to the band’s power, the two gentle and light as they balance each other’s melody.
They come together as they hit the chorus, And I— rings out, the voices stacked. It feels like the longer they hold I the more it expands. There’s some sound from the right that feels like a harmony but seems to actually be a guitar(?). Great production throughout. The structure of this chorus is so nice, each phrase has a sick rhythm to it, creating a mesmerizing shape to the whole thing. New places to land these words, as the band continues to push. It expands and builds and the drums push us to the absolute edge.
We fall back, some little reverberations hang in the air as the guitar chugs again. One line offered Something else / nothing more. It’s a thrilling moment, the feeling that there’s more to come, the excitement of the suspense. Everyone starts creeping up and the release is fantastic!! The heaviness now familiar but more impactful with a slight breath away.
The two voices immediately fall back to their give-and-take pattern. A quietness to the first voice that has me sending up the volume and savoring the wave of this band even more. The writing is creative, full of great words and imagery but still remaining simple and letting the music do the talking. Refrigerate what you mean to me / take it out and it thaws is a gem.
Back to the chorus, the drums again sound so damn good. You can really feel vocals growing as they hold the I— like a giant inhale, the lungs of the song expanding out. Filling more of the track, noticeable when they pull away. The guitars are sharper here, cutting through just a little more. It’s an easy moment to get lost in. Whiplash when it ends, leaving us with just a shaker and bass. Something else / nothing more returns, and it’s doubly thrilling. Knowing for certain this soft landing spot won’t last, no matter how good it feels. Now’s a great time to stretch, a quick toe touch, maybe open up those arms with some circles. You’re gonna need every thing you can get in just a few more seconds.
By 1:40 the drums have already started, the whole thing aimed up at the sky. A new voice at 1:47 rounds out the sound and starts the launch. Everyone sprinting towards the final climax. And it delivers.
A guitar takes the lead, just nasty as it shreds through this riff. One second to itself there at 2:05, before the chorus returns, bigger and better than ever.
We tail off into this new lyric, Care about what could’ve been, the whole band circling, waiting to dive in again. A look in their eyes that screams “Don’t tempt us”. They flirt with it, but in the end decide to relax, the song trailing off over muffled voices and we can finally breathe.
The Meanjin-based band is an absolute force. Cannot wait to hear whatever is to come.
Follow blue diner. on Instagram // on Spotify
Last Week on All The Other Days:
Saya Gray - LIE DOWN..
A fresh take on familiar sonic themes - you can feel the album beginning to form in front of our eyes. Fun to hear Gray with a different sound. Just as beautiful of course. The harmonies and message are so sweet my god.
To re-imagine her song, PRAYING MANTIS !, what a fucking gift to fans. This second half somehow reading like a precursor to the first half. Great sound, great structure.
Meagre Martin - In the Room
My favorite rockers slow it down for a second. Their sound is becoming more and more distinct, and love the new shape it takes here. Simple lyrics pack an absolute punch, the guitars doing a lot of talking too. Really love this band and love this song. It gets bigger and bigger and dreamier and whew a great ride. Something to lose yourself in.
Bartees Strange - Wants Needs
Ooooooo baby my heart started racing the second I pressed play. That guitar is moving at unthinkable speeds and I’m head over heals. Is this the best Jack Antonoff-produced song ever made?? The two seem to get the best out of each other.
How are you feeling? Fucking fantastic what a way to return to a verse. The Need ya to myself is big and amazing. The third act giving Strange more space to be himself, an R&B melody with rapping underneath while a math-rock riff gets tapped out on guitar. No one else can do this!! So, thank god he is. Closes with a gut punch.
Elora - Control Me Now
This has quickly become my favorite Elora song. Her voice is magnetic, some quality in it that just pulls me. The production is dialed in from the jump, great sounds all around. The punchy drums, the sharp but sparkling synth. I love it. As we approach the minute mark, the harmonies really give it depth. A sick chorus - heavy and spinning, I’m loving it.
She gets off the tea cup ride and the song nearly implodes. Such a surprise and holy moly it’s thrilling. Settling right back like nothing ever happened. It’s our little secret. I love the melody through Spinning out of control / control me now—. In the back half the there’s that great call and response between the vocalizing, dropping us back into the chorus and it goes. There’s such an epic-ness to the closing minute or so, a real Sharon Van Etten/Sasmi kind of energy. Great one.
chrysalis - do you?
The melodies on this thing are WILD. The writing so thoughtful and wise, chrysalis’ performance is full of heart and full of magic. Then the banjo comes in?? Good god. The drop at 2:05 - the wave cresting and crashing over us all. Holy moly wowowow. Obsessed with this one. <3 <3 <3 <3
With love,
Max