June 1, 2018

My oh my -- we’ve officially eclipsed the mid-way mark of the year.

In the northern hemisphere, this is that sweet spot in the year when all the summer jams start cropping up at breakneck speed. This week I’ve mixed things up a bit, pumpin’ the brakes on the bubble gum pop bangers and instead dishing up a variety of vibrant tunes.

As always, I hope these songs inspire you to check out more music by these particular artists, or lead to introducing you to another artist you’ve never heard before!

Remember: if you like what you hear, spread the cheer. Tell your friends about these artists and share the love.

You can contact me by replying directly to the newsletter that is mailed to your inbox every Friday, via my Twitter account, or using the contact page on the cmd+f website.

P.S. If you would like to have this letter sent to your email every Friday, please head over to this link right here to subscribe to never miss a weekly roundup!

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“Cold Fire” - PREP feat. DEAN | “Cold Fire” is in fact actually pure heat. London outfit PREP is comprised of a classical music composer, a house producer, and masterminds behind some of the UKs dopest pop R&B acts (RAY BLK, AlunaGeorge). Featuring DEAN, one of the top (okay, the KING) pop songwriters in Korea (who’s also worked with Anderson.Paak, The Internet’s Syd, and Mila J), “Cold Fire” is a groovy, retro-future dance bop dusted in handclaps and punchy chords hinged over a neo-disco instrumental. If this doesn’t inspire you to hit the dance floor to pull out the hokey finger guns to help liven up your Electric Slide… then you really need to loosen up. Listen here

“Blink” - Bad Gyal (prod. DJ Florentino) | Hailing from Catalonia, Bad Gyal is OUT HERE. Working with some top notch producers (Jam City, El Guincho, Dubbel Dutch, et. al.), Bad Gyal is making waves in the Spanish urban scene. Raised on a musical diet of dancehall and reggaeton, Bad Gyal weaves lyrics between Spanish, Catalan, and English. Listen here

“Street Fighter Mas” - Kamasi Washington | If you’re lookin’ for something wavy, look no further. As one of the leading and most progressive soul/jazz-adjacent artists of the moment, Kamasi Washington is a far more familiar name than you may realize. Having performed with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Lauryn Hill, the multi-instrumentalist really hit his stride after the release of his 2015 debut solo album The Epic, and laying the groundwork with his saxophone on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly. Washington has an eagerly anticipated (amongst the circle who knows about his work, obv) sophomore album Heaven and Earth coming out at the end of this month. “Street Fighter Mas” is Washington’s theme song he’s imagined over the years to play prior to his personal entrance into a round of the video game Street Fighter. Listen here

“Us Vs Them” - Spring King | Heeeeeeeeell yeaaaaaaaah. Listen here

“a.t.w. (against the wall)” - Ben Khan | I’ve been waiting years for Ben Khan to release a new music, and boy has he DELIVERT. “a.t.w.” is the third single released from his hotly anticipated debut album (I’m still searching for a release date, but it’s been thrown around as ‘this summer,’ meaning in the coming months) after disappearing sometime around 2015. WELCOME BACK, BEN! Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

• For the first time in my life I cannot be assed to give a single fuck about a new Kanye West album. I’m sad about it. For those who want to expend the energy, a Ye listening party in Jackson Hole, Wyoming went down yesterday with a live stream. Big shrug.

• Continuing with the “too big to ignore” news for this week: K-pop group BTS became the first South Korean music act to have a number 1 album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week -- with over 100,000 pure sales of the album alone. While the album was still heavily streamed, these sales numbers show they’re a forced to be reckoned with. Sorry to nerd out with top 40 chart stats, but in the age of streaming, declining album sales, and labels buying out ridiculous radio contracts as if the radio were indeed an advert space, it’s impressive when there’s a clear, new shift made by some dedicated fans. Like I said above: this is “too big to ignore.” Where does K-pop in the Western world go from here? For a start: Listen here

• K-pop veterans SHINee honored their 10th anniversary as a group this week with the release of a house-rattled The Story of Light EP, all the while remembering their late member Kim Jonghyun who died by suicide last year. The lead single “Good Evening” is a glossy club bop paired with a highly aesthetically pleasing music video Watch here and Listen here

• Happy Pride Month! MNEK has blessed this month with a vibrant collab with Hailee Steinfeld aptly titled “Colour” Listen here

• The Internet have announced their new album Hive Mind drops July 20, and have shared a new single “Come Over” Listen here

• Welcome to a new era of The 1975. While the music is still wildly saccharine and soaked in cliche lyrics about growing up and finding yourself in your late 20s… “Give Yourself a Try” is rather enjoyable Listen here

• Allie X continues to highlight WHY she is one of the best pop acts and songwriters out right now with her ethereal new single “Focus” Listen here

• Drake released a boring track (“I’m Upset”) and got bodied by Pusha T this week. Things aren’t looking too good for Aubrey.

• Cardi B released the video for our future song of the summer, “I Like It” feat. Bad Bunny and J Balvin. Her outfits are cute as hell! Watch here

• Charli XCX has a new song, “5 In the Morning” Listen here

• cmd+f alum Rex Orange County linked up with Randy Newman to record a new cover of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” Listen here

• Holy Balls: Gorillaz not only dropped a new single and music video featuring Jack Black and a swarm of Powerpuff Girls references for it, but also have an entire album dropping at the end of this month. PHEW! Watch here

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A(lmost a)ll of the tracks I have shared in this week’s letter are archived into a single playlist on Spotify for you to follow here.

Subscribe to that playlist, share it with friends, or take some inspiration from the ever growing list to compile some of your own.

NEW MONTH, NEW PLAYLIST! If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my June 2018 playlist here. There I will dump a hodgepodge of new and old songs that fit my mood and the trends of the month. Having a personal monthly playlist makes a year in review so easy. Share your playlists with me!

See you next week!

April 13, 2018

Wahoo! We’re back in action, folks. Please accept my apologies for the unannounced spring break last week, but I think not having an update last week is going to make the letter this week that much sweeter to enjoy.
I’ve got five incredible tracks that’re gonna knock your socks off. Not to set your expectations too high or anything… but you should brace yourself. I'm not accepting responsibility for any burnt eyebrows.
Oh, and the New Music Friday Selects this week is a laundry list of tunes for you to check out from the past two weeks. Grab your headphones – it looks like Friday the 13th is going to be a wild ride.

As always, I hope these songs inspire you to check out more music by these artists, or lead to introducing you to another artist you’ve never heard before!

Remember: if you like what you hear, spread the cheer. Tell your friends about these artists and share the love.

You can contact me by replying directly to the newsletter that is mailed to your inbox every Friday, via my Twitter account, or using the contact page on the cmd+f website.

P.S. If you would like to have this letter sent to your email every Friday, please head over to this link right here to subscribe to never miss a weekly roundup!

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“Just A Stranger” - Kali Uchis feat. Steve Lacy | It’s with great delight to share the absolute best song to be released this month. Columbian-American singer Kali Uchis has a steadily growing, devoted fan base and a Latin Grammy nod under her belt, and her debut album Isolation dropped last Friday. Her vibe is heavily influenced by doowop, reggae,  and R&B, and she’s already worked with music heavyweights: Snoop Dogg, Gorillaz, Juanes, Lana Del Rey, Major Lazer, and a handful of other recognizable artists. For “Just A Stranger,” Kali links up with Steve Lacy (of The Internet acclaim) for a deliciously funky bop. Not to get totally obnoxious music blogger on y’all, but it sounds a bit like Billie Holiday with a blunt on the way to the beach riding down the 10 freeway with the convertible top down.This song sounds especially good over car speakers. Listen here

“Evil” - Ruthven | [checks calendar] Well, well, well. Look at the month -- it’s JAIPRIL, aka the month in which musicheads tiptoe around the idea of reclusive music producer Jai Paul actually releasing a debut album after an unfinished (but absolutely solid and highly influential) album informally leaked on the internet. The album was promised in April 2014, nearly 4 years ago to the date, but the entire project was scrapped, and Jai Paul has since kept under the radar – until late last year. “Evil” is one of two songs first released from the Paul Institute, an experimental music project based in London started by Jai and his brother, fellow megaproducer A.K. Paul. I slipped “Evil” into the new music Friday selects section in December, but my pal Amanda brought this back to my attention a couple weeks ago and I’ve fallen in love with it all over again. The throwback production is insane, hoisting a tinny two-step hi-hat. Ruthven is allegedly a firefighter from Lewisham, but deep down I want to believe the Paul Bros have actually broken the Jaipril void and quietly released a bop under the guise of a fictional vampire’s name. Listen here

“Bittersweet” - Only Girl | South London’s Only Girl first released “Bittersweet” in 2014, but has since grown into her voice, and re-released the serene track last week. The song builds on waves of her harmonies, gently rolling through waves in a a bay. Listen here

“911” - Mt. Si | A little over a year ago I plucked a Mt. Si track onto the weekly picks. Like the previous Mt. Si track, "911" ignites a luminous, glistening mood best served for night drives. I'm a sucker for mountains of reverb and a dope saxophone solo. Listen here

“Ride With Me” - Thutmose | Theeeeee hottest record out there you haven’t bumped yet. Holy, holy, holy -- “Ride With Me” is fucking perfect. After two spins, you'll already be humming along to the hook. If iHeartRadio didn't control Top 40 radio, "Ride With Me" would already be rolled out and destined to be a summertime hit. Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

• For those of you reading and consider yourself a pop music fan and happen to not be indulging in K-Pop, I must ask: what the hell is stopping you? How are you ignoring an entire market that is flushed with enough cash to produce excessive, elaborate music videos and promotional photo shoots with ten different wardrobes… and the pop stars themselves? Trained literally as if they are Olympic athletes, and paired up with the most left field, experimental pop producers in the industry. For a while a lot of the K-pop machine sounded a little too off kilter, but with the rise of alt-pop pioneers Robyn, Grimes, Charli XCX, and more, it’s clear western pop is starting to be heavily influenced by Eastern pop’s saccharine hyper-reality, the obsession with commodify-ing every aspect of popular culture to the point they’re labeling their stars as Idols…. Okay, so maybe I’ve freaked you the hell out. But there is a point I’m getting to here, but I have to start a new bullet:
• This week CBX, a sub-unit made up of three members from K-pop super group EXO, released a new mini-album, Blooming Days. Each of the 7 songs are based around a day of the week. Visually: it’s soft boys with pastel hair, swimming in flower petals and Dior Homme, but still managing to look very Lost Boys-esque with the choppy haircuts and dangling earrings. I can’t imagine the amount of youths having a sexual awakening with this content. Anyhow: I’ve been waxing poetic with one particular friend of mine all damn week about it, spending nearly every moment not at work looping this album, and we've both declared it the EMOTION (yes, Jeppo's 2015 critically acclaimed pop masterpiece) of K-pop. It’s a sizzling summer album laced with neo-80s inspired hooks and beats. Blooming Days is just campy enough, just sweet enough, and still manages to not be ridiculously juvenile. While all 7 tracks are great, my top two favorite tracks are “Vroom Vroom” (Friday) and “Lazy” (Sunday). Readers who consider themselves pop purists have got to pencil in some time to listen to this album. Listen here and feast your eyes on the soft grunge “Blooming Day” music video right here
• Janelle Monae has released another pop masterpiece, this time a pussy power anthem aptly titled “Pynk” and featuring dulcet harmonies with Grimes. The video has unleashed a second wave of questioning young women to come forward and declare “wow, I’m gay as hell,” after seeing Janelle gently caress Tessa Thompson’s face that’s very clearly between two lips–anyway, you get the gist Watch here
• RCA threw Tinashe a bone and finally let her release her second album Joyride Listen here
• Drake sampled Lauryn Hill who sampled Wu Tang who sampled Gladys Knight to foster one of the greatest onions of music history in decades for his latest single “Nice For What” Listen here
• Lord help us: Gallant’s beautiful ass has shared a new song and video for "Gentleman" Watch here
• Other K-Pop legends Super Junior released an entire album, but the highlight here is their lead single “Lo Siento” featuring the delightful Domincan-American Latin pop star Leslie Grace. It’s in Korean! Then it’s in Spanish! Then it’s in English! Then it’s in Spanglish! “Lo Siento” is fire Watch here and listen here
• Princess Nokia got a whole ass EP out! Listen here
• The new 5 Seconds of Summer single “Youngblood” somehow passed by my ears and since they’ve dropped the pop punk sound for more mature rock songs, I was pleasantly surprised. You will feel that, too Listen here
• cmd+f alumnus Hatchie released a sinfully sweet new single, “Sugar & Spice”  Listen here
• Nicki Minaj is back with two new songs: “Barbie Tingsz” and “Chun-Li” Listen here and listen here
• CHVRCHES share the desperately lonely, crowd stomper “Miracle” Listen here
• ALMA has remixed Years & Years’ “Sanctify” meaning she’s jumped on the track to add a verse Listen here
• Kylie Minogue served us an entire album last Friday, and it’s perfectly fun Listen here
• Everyone has been bumping Cardi B’s debut album Invasion of Privacy all week, so if you haven’t yet: GET ON IT Listen here
• Billie Eilish recorded a new COLORS session last week Watch here

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A(lmost a)ll of the tracks I have shared in this week’s letter are archived into a single playlist on Spotify for you to follow here.

Subscribe to that playlist, share it with friends, or take some inspiration from the ever growing list to compile some of your own.

New month, new playlist! If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my April 2018 playlist here. There I will dump a hodgepodge of new and old songs that fit my mood and the trends of the month. Having a personal monthly playlist makes a year in review so easy. Share your playlists with me!

See you next week!

February 9, 2018

So, my sinking into a K-Pop hole has only gotten more dire this week. I’ve resolved into a zombie, just watching dance routine after dance routine on autoplay on YouTube, feeling very much like those hazy college days when I’d pound 3 Benadryl to help me sleep after drinking a pot of coffee – except this feeling I get from watching these videos is disgustingly enjoyable. It’s the whole “your body needs sleep to function AND you have a day job you gotta stay awake for” that’s tripping me up. Fortunately, es Viernes y estoy ready 2 partaaaay.

As noted last week, it’s been brought to my attention that a few readers haven’t realized there is a NEW cmd+f 2018 playlist. This is the playlist where I dump in all of the songs I mention in the letter (that are available for streaming) into a single Spotify playlist. You can find that specific playlist here in which I’ll be updating regularly with the weekly cmd+f picks. Please feel free to subscribe to the list so you’ll have one central place for you to listen to nearly every song I post every week, and share with your friends!

Back to our regularly scheduled newslettering: please go forth and enjoy these five fantastic songs I’ve hand-harvested for you to enjoy this week! Hopefully these inspire you to check out more from that artist, or lead to introducing you to another artist you’ve never heard of before!

Remember: if you like what you hear, spread the cheer. Tell your friends about these artists and share the love.

You can contact me by replying directly to the newsletter that is mailed to your inbox every Friday, via my Twitter account, or using the contact page on the cmd+f website.

P.S. If you would like to have this letter sent to your email every Friday, please head over to this link right here to subscribe to never miss a weekly roundup!

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“Pumper” - MAI LAN | To quote my pal Richard, “Bloghaus is back, baby!” For those unfamiliar with the “bloghaus” genre, it was a very unique grade of electro-clash pop music that blew up during the short-lived but much loved Music Blog Dynasty circa 2004-2010 (around those years I’d say). Labels filing takedowns of music uploads and the creation of music streaming essentially MURDERED the era of music blogging, though a couple giants remain (a la Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, and Pitchfork) and have turned into full blown music news outlets. As for MAI LAN’s “Pumper”, it’s a high energy, repetitive BOP channeling French pop queen Yelle and early M.I.A. “Pumper” has inspired maaaany moments of dancing in my kitchen this week. It’s wicked fun and infectious. Listen here

“It’s Alright” - Sam Valdez | Once again I’m pulled into this pseudo-Americana music vibe that’d just been grabbing at my ears the past year. Sam Valdez sounds much less like Jade Bird but more like Trespassers William singing over a Ride instrumental. “It’s Alright” is raw, moving, and dreamy. Listen here

“Let’s Make Out” - Dream Wife | Looking for a last minute Valentine? Maybe this’ll give you a boost - next time you’re out, bump “Let’s Make Out” at full volume, and it’ll convert any room into the Troubadour, and every single person in the room’ll have no choice but to start rocking out. Dream Wife are brash, bold, and FIERCE. You can’t get more in your face than opening a track kicking and screaming, “LET’S MAKE OUT!!!” Listen here

“Come Through” -  The Regrettes | I can’t get enough of this second wave evolution of brat pop - The Regrettes are The Runaways incarnate, oh, and did I mention they’re fronted by a cool AF high school teen? Frontwoman Lydia Night formed The Regrettes a couple years ago while taking music lessons in Burbank, and they’ve been churning out smart, Grade A rock hooks ever since. Their newest single “Come Through” is a delight. Listen here

“Never the Right Time” - Janine | Listen to New Zealand pull through AGAIN with another wickedly talented artist! Janine delivers solid, honey smooth R&B vocals for the sensuous slow jam “Never the Right Time.” After an over stimulating week, this tune pairs perfectly with a hot bath (extra bubbles) and a bottle of red. Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

• The New Gospel has arrived: Kendrick Lamar’s tightly curated album of tracks inspired by Marvel’s Black Panther dropped today. Staaaaaaaaaaaacked. Can take a 90% guess it’s all you’ll be rinsing this weekend. Listen here
• Everyone’s favorite bellowing cherub, George Ezra, is coming out with a podcast!! It’s cleverly called George Ezra & Friends, and that is the entire premise - just a conversation with friends. The podcast debuts on Monday, February 12 with his first guest Ed Sheeran. Pre-subscribe via Apple Podcasts: Subscribe here
• George Ezra’s little bro, commonly known as Ten Tonnes, has a new single out today called “Lay It On Me” and it’s a bop. It’s a must listen for fans of early The Kooks and The Cribs. Listen here
• The one, the only, the legendary Franz Ferdinand have dropped their fifth studio album Always Ascending today. I’ve listened to a good chunk of it, and it’s lived up to my early 80s disco/new wave expectations. Listen here
• Pop-purist leaning friends will be pleased to know the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack is now available - new tracks from Dua Lipa, Ellie Goulding, Sabrina Claudio, Julia Michaels, and many more. Listen here
• Whenever The Wombats drop an album, they consistently surprise the hell out of me. It’s better than I’m expecting it to be, and I’m so grateful they’re still putting out tunes, let alone entire albums. Highly recommend listening to their new album Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life Listen here
• James Bay has cut off his hair, thrown in the hat, and released a new song, “Wild Love,” that is rather good Listen here
• Not to be melodramatic, but MGMT have just dropped one of the best albums of the last decade, just over 10 years after their debut album Oracular Spectacular. The production on Little Dark Age is retro, yet timeless, but still reflective of this present cultural crossroads we’re at in the 2018 identity. LEVELS. Listen here
• Calvin Harris is allegedly tryna re-invent the dance wheel post Funk Wave Bounce Vol 1 last year, but instead has put out a watered down Major Lazer track fit for airtime on Rinse.FM featuring PARTYNEXTDOOR. I mean, go off. IHEARTRADIO is gonna beat this one to death if it gets a radio deal. Listen here
• Looks like Drake is really making sure we don’t totally forget his ass - this week he paid for $50,000 worth of groceries for a community in Miami, and today he’s done more charitable work laying down opening bars AND the hook for BlocBoy JB’s new track “Look Alive.” BRING THIS TYPE OF ENERGY ON YA OWN ALBUM, AUBREY. Listen here
• [Jay Sean is back klaxon] Mmmm, yes, love me VOCALS. “Emergency” is beautiful Listen here
• EZRA FURMAN’S ALBUM TRANSANGELIC EXODUS IS OUT TODAY!!!! Ezra self described it as a “queer outlaw saga.” Listen here

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As I mentioned above, a(lmost a)ll of the tracks I have shared in this week’s letter are archived into a single playlist on Spotify for you to follow here.

Subscribe to that playlist, share it with friends, or take some inspiration from the ever growing list to compile some of your own.

New month, new playlist! If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my February 2018 playlist here. There I will dump a hodgepodge of new and old songs that fit my mood and the trends of the month. Having a personal monthly playlist makes a year in review so easy. Share your playlists with me!

See you next week!