Shawn Mendes — Weekly Finds

As promised, I AM BACK! Boom, baby!

I’ll be jetting off out of town for the (American) holiday weekend, so I’m making sure you are STACKED with new music. Impress your friends at the barbecue this weekend with these sweet new tunes.

There are an armful of artists who have been featured in cmd+f in the past who have released new music today, so please be sure to dig through the New Music Friday Selects section at the bottom and support emerging artists.

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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“Simple Luv” - Oscar Key Sung | I’ve seen Oscar’s name floating about on my Twitter timeline for a couple years now, and all of the Australian artist’s releases have been nothing short of thrilling. With the release of his No Disguise EP today, I’ve plucked “Simple Luv” to help segue into your latest obsession. Perhaps his most accessible release with a throbbing R&B beat looming in the background, the tune sounds almost familiar yet unlike any other tune you can put your finger on. If you dig “Simple Luv,” I highly recommend digging into his entire back catalogue. Fans of Years & Years, How To Dress Well, and Kelela in particular will thoroughly enjoy his music. Listen here

“Want U So Bad” - Gilligan Moss | I genuinely cannot stop listening to this song. That sticky, watery bassline wavering over a funky disco-dunked groove is so damn good, you can’t help but knock this on repeat. Listen here

“Four Winds” - Opia | From one groove to the next, “Four Winds” is a bonafide bop! The production and vocals on “Four Winds” are electrifying. Opia met while attending Yale a few years ago, packed up and moved to LA to “do this whole music thing,” and have since found their songs cropping up on music playlists around the web. With a few million streams under their belt, Opia are refining their sound and preparing to headline their summer US tour. Listen here

“The Other Day” - Foliage | From the first note I knew I was going to fall head over heels for this song. It sounds like a B-side to the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack, a ding-y 80s-inspired jaunt through the streets on a sunny day. The hazy bedroom pop sounds like early Wild Nothing, a unique blend of feigned hopefulness shrouded in daydreams. When I found out the person behind Foliage, Manuel Joseph Walker, is from San Bernardino, it all made sense. In fact, it kinda blew my mind, but San Bernardino is definitely the kind of environment to inspire a project like Foliage. For context, SB is a suburban wasteland about 50 miles east of Los Angeles that’s saturated with dudes who never got out of their skater phase driving raised trucks, with extremely disgusting desert heat in the summer, and a trip to Target is the most exciting thing to do there. Listen here

“I Go” - KWAYE | My initial reaction when first hearing this song was: “B I T C H!! GO OFF!” Swaddled in brocade jackets and high collared shirts, KWAYE is superstar in the making. He was discovered by giving his demo to an Uber driver (who happened to be a former A&R rep) that hooked him up with a connection at Mind of a Genius. “I Go” is a summer-dusted R&B jam ready to soundtrack your months ahead. Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

The ultimate summer album is here! J Balvin’s Vibras is so, so good. It’s got features from the biggest names in the Latinx musicsphere -- even a reunited Wisin & Yandel! Listen here
Shawn Mendes has released his self-titled album and, dang. DANG. Listen here
James Blake has shared a stunning new track, “Don’t Miss It.” It’s his best vocal delivery and highlights his true artistry. Listen here
Jay Park is out here taking leaps to crossover and climb his way up the Western charts. The Seattle native turned K-pop megastar has dropped his first single release under Jay-Z’s ROC NATION, “SOJU” feat. 2Chainz. Listen here
SO MANY FORMER cmd+f FEATURED ARTISTS HAVE NEW RELEASES TODAY!!!! Please listen to their projects and support emerging talent!
cmd+f alums HAERTS have a soaring new single, “New Compassion” Listen here
Matthew Young (another former cmd+f feature) has released a 7-track mini album titled Fruit Listen here
Hatchie’s (who is, you guessed it, a form cmd+f feature!) got a full on EP! It sounds like you’re dancing on a cotton candy cloud Listen here
Americana queen on the rise Jade Bird’s (wow, look, another cmd+f alum!) got a new song, “Furious” Listen here
Clairo’s (who’s been mentioned in the last two cmd+f letters) dropped diary 001, a brand new EP, and it’s got features from Rejjie Snow and Danny L Harle Listen here
A$AP Rocky got a new album, TESTING, and it’s stacked with a lot of features (as must rap albums do), but the most notable feature is he managed to drag FKA Twigs out of a dance studio for “Fukk Sleep” Listen here
CHVRCHES return with their new album Love is Dead Listen here
Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters acclaim) has a new solo release and it’s as much campy deliciousness as you’d expect Listen here
I CAN FINALLY TASTE SUMMER!!! Diplo and Mark Ronson have linked up to forge a new house music track featuring Daniel Merriweather under the name Silk City, and it’s a FULL ON FACE MELTER. Listen here and listen to their hour long Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1 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.

If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my May 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!

It couldn’t be a better time for it to be Friday than right now, dear reader. This week has been filled with many hours of planning budgets and orchestrating a massive, two-day photo shoot for my day job - and it all went way, way better than anticipated. Los Angeles has been raining non-stop for the past 48 hours – and it’s Florida rain, not that insufferably light Pacific Northwest mist that spits down on your enough to make your hair frizz up as soon as you step indoors.

I’ve slimmed down the selections to five songs again this week, and each one of them is a true gem. Some weeks I am so nervous I won’t find enough songs to muster up the enthusiasm to share them with you, but there is so much exciting music waiting to be heard out there.

To completely gas myself up (everyone needs to give themselves a pat on the back time to time) I can’t tell if I’m getting better at this, or if new artists are stepping up their game, but the picks for the past month have been ridiculously good.

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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“Set It Off” - JessB | It’s the third week in a row I’m opening the letter with a track by a female MC! How could I not when ladies are killing the fucking game right now. JessB was brought to my attention via my dear friend Ana (who tips me off about what’s happening in New Zealand), and I completely lost my mind from the moment I heard “Set It Off.” She’s an exciting rising rapper from Auckland, making big wakes in the Kiwi hip-hop scene. Her EP Bloom packs pure HEAT, y’all. Keep your ears open for JessB; she’s only just getting started. Listen here

“Falling Into Me” - Let’s Eat Grandma | The best way I could describe the vibe of UK duo Let’s Eat Grandma is a cross between the brutal honesty and organic listlessness of MUNA meets the brutally calculated and left field-ness of Björk. “Falling Into Me” sounds like Lorde channeling CAN and Stevie Nicks all at once. It’s maddeningly fresh. Listen here

“Duck Hunting” - Gundelach | This week’s wouldn’t be complete without a song about melancholic nostalgia. Norway’s Gundelache has you aching with nostalgia in your chest. Between the analog synths and his sweet falsetto, “Duck Hunting” paints a vivid memory of beckoning for hopefulness when you’re on the brink of giving up on everything. It’s beautiful. If you dig “Duck Hunting,” give the rest of his new album Baltus a spin - it’s chock full of glossed up Tangerine Dream-esque vibes. Listen here

“Sure” - Hatchie | Back on my shoegaze bullshit. With swirling guitars stick in a My So Called Life-esque daze, “Sure” is a long lost Cocteau Twins daydream. Hymns to fractured relationships never sounded so gauzy. The Australian singer has garnered a lot of buzz, and I can't wait to hear more from her. Listen here

“Bedroom” - Litany | Alright, y’all. This song turns one year in a handful of months – but that aside, “Bedroom” is that song. "Bedroom" is a simmering, two-step lite, atmospheric pop bop. It's the audible nervously biting your finger and trying not to look at that person across the room. Their 4 Track EP is stacked with cottony jams and has steadily been raking in new fans over the past year. They're allegedly working on an album that's set to drop this year, and I hope the hooks stick as hard as the seductively sing-songy "Bedroom." Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

Hallelujah! Old boy George Ezra has done it! He’s released his sophomore album Staying at Tamara’s. Stand out track that wasn’t a pre-released single has to be “Shotgun” Listen here
Neo John Mayer Shawn Mendes has returned with not one but two new singles. One sounds very retro-James Bay, while the other sounds like a pseudo Mayer Hawthorne bop. Both are good each in their own ways. Listen to In My Blood here and Listen to Lost in Japan here
A collab I never could have foreseen… but Thirty Seconds to Mars and A$AP Rocky???? It doesn’t even slap. Listen here
Drake is back on his bullshit and gearing up for a comeback. This time brother Aubrey has dropped a “remix” (aka slipped a verse onto) N.E.R.D.’s “Lemonade” featuring Rihanna (which DUH) Listen here
Superorganism have covered Carnitas Cabezza “Havana” and now THAT really slaps Listen here
Queen Nadine, the only surviving member of Girls Aloud, has a new EP out Listen here
cmd+f alumn FINNEAS hs a new song, and it’s gorgeous Listen here
Sunflower Bean’s sophomore album Twentytwo in Blue is out today Listen here
Resident brat pop cmd+f alum GIRLI has a new single called “Play It Cool” Listen 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.

If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my March 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!