Slaves — Weekly Finds

It’s been another productive week here in sunny Southern California. Last weekend I moseyed about downtown for the annual KCON LA event and had a total blast. I was so psyched to snatch up some good deals on skincare (which, lemme tell you, surpassed my expectations! I came home with bags of goodies), but the panels were incredible. I learnt so much about the songwriting process for the Korean and Japanese music markets, sat in on a panel with Korean hip-hop and R&B producers from Jay Park’s label H1gher Music, picked the brains of American music journalists covering K-pop music, and got to speak with academic scholars who study Hallyu. Perhaps the most interesting panel they hosted this weekend was Black American music’s influence on Korean hip-hop and pop music. Phew!

By the end of the weekend I was a little overwhelmed and sad for it to be over, but I’m glad I went. 12/10 recommend hitting up KCON even if you only plan to pop in to buy boxes of sheet masks. It’s a must stop for pop culture nerds.

Now, let’s just talk music! I’ve got a handful of songs to share this week, all by artists I’ve never featured before. I have a feeling you’ll like at least one of them!

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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“He’s Good” - Kate Stewart | Once upon a time there was a rising powerhouse vocalist featured on a ton of pop tracks by UK producers name KStewart. KStewart’s label tightened their grip on her creative freedom, so one day she said “bye, bitch,” and rebranded her music identity as Kate Stewart. She went on to release an early 00s-esque R&B bop about confronting her ex’s new partner about her being better than her ex. She named it “He’s Good,” and it was featured on a cmd+f letter. The song was noted for being best listened to via any method of hearing, but was enjoyed being blasted through speakers in a car in the morning/mid-day. Listen here

“Language” - Moodoïd feat. Wednesday Campanella | Moodoïd is one of the most fascinating finds to fall into my lap this month. I have to thank my pal Agnes for sharing Wednesday Campanella with me many moon cycles ago. I spinned some of their records ad nauseum for a while, thus triggering the Spotify algorithm to log “she really likes this artist.” All of that has lead straight up to his magical union of frenetic Franco-Japanese psychedelic pop. Moodoïd was founded by former Melody’s Echo Chamber guitarist Pablo Padovani, and Wednesday Campanella are a Japanese experimental pop group fronted by vocalist KOM_I. “Language” sounds like an early 80s Italo disco fever dream. Listen here

“Any Other Way” - Tomberlin | Sarah Beth Tomberlin: if you’re reading this, thank you. There is an art to writing a song with only your acoustic guitar and your voice–and making it interesting. The production (done by Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy!!) on “Any Other Way” is divine. Driven by a single, repetitive chord plucked on an acoustic guitar and melody, the song sporadically fractures into reverberations under feathery vocal harmonies and muted piano chords. “Any Other Way” is stunning. Listen here

“Showgirl” - Sorry | Rock may be dead on Top 40 radio, but for those who know what the hell is going on in the scene, we’ve seen a massive influx of gut-churning, sweat-drenched in seven-feet high ceiling club bands fronted by women. From Wolf Alice to Sunflower Bean, Sorry are flourishing across the pond and tearing it up on stage. Their latest single “Showgirl” is, as quoted by the group, a song about “awkwardness, lusting from afar, desire and disgust,” but the real reason why it’s on here is because the guitars are cool as fuck. Listen here

“These Are Not Your Memories” - TVAM | I had a real “Holy balls” moment the first time I listened to TVAM. While the gag is I saw Joe Oxley (the self-produced mastermind behind TVAM) say he’s sick of our culture being focused on nostalgia (I may be embellishing his thoughts a bit here -- he actually said “The song is about taking society aside and having a quiet word about its shared identity crisis.”), TVAM’s music and visuals are drowning in it. I was immediately spiked with similarities to Suicide, CAN, Ride, The Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, and bits of Kraftwerk on acid. If you like this joint, listen to the rest of his music; it’s soaked in delicious layers of sound. Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

Y’all: there’s, like, too much new music this week. BRACE YOURSELVES!
Rina Sawayama’s new single “Cherry” is a BOP Listen here
Cherryade, a bratpop-y outfit from London I’ve been following for a couple years now have dropped their debut EP, Fractured Fairytales - CONGRATS!!!! Listen here
UK emcee Stefflon Don’s album SECURE is packed with pure heeeeeat and packed with top tier features. Must listen. Listen here
Wasn’t so sure about the new The 1975 single “TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME” but I’ve logged at least 32 listens by the time this is officially published and I don’t think I’m stopping anytime soon. Listen here
Portland rapper Aminé dropped his new mixtape ONEPOINTFIVE and honestly the greatest part of it is Instagram sensation Rickey Thompson’s inspiring opening monologue for “STFU2” Listen here
Cat Power invited Lana Del Taco to lend some vocals for her new single “Woman” Listen here
Pop banger songwriter of the decade MNEK has officially announced his debut album Language is FINALLY dropping September 7th! AAAH! Check out his latest single “Crazy World” Listen here
cmd+f alum Sam Fender has a new single out called “Dead Boys” Listen here
Slaves are back with yet another amazing album, Acts of Fear and Love Listen here
Ariana Grande’s highly anticipated new album Sweetener is here and, well, it’s here Listen here
Baauer collaborated with Instagram computer simulation Miquela??? It basically sounds like a Terror Jr. joint. Listen here
Liam Payne of 1D acclaim has announced he’s not going to release a debut album but a debut EP of four songs next Friday, August 24, aptly titled First Time. Can’t wait, tbh.

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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 August 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!

P.S. Are you interested in contributing to cmd+f? Read more details below!

Last December I launched the cmd+vent calendar: an ambitious project that consisted of releasing a daily newsletter for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. I asked a handful friends to reflect on how music impacted their lives throughout 2017. It was much more exciting to share these reflections than compiling yet another end of the year “Best of…” list.

I’ve been thinking of ways to expand cmd+f’s potential over the last 6 months. To foster a more communal atmosphere all year round in this (mostly) weekly newsletter, I’m now inviting one reader per month to share their music discoveries by emerging artists, or artists likely flying under our radars.

To the readers currently subscribed to this letter via email, I’d like to encourage you to reply to this letter (really, just hit “reply” at the top of your box and I promise I’ll get your message), give me a hello, and let me know if you’d be interested in taking over cmd+f one week. You’ll get to write an opening monologue, introduce yourself, and gush about five songs really hitting at your heartstrings. If you’re unsure how this is going to go down, you can anticipate the first guest feature letter is coming out later this month!

For now this invitation is only open to email subscribers — so if you have a friend with a vibrant musical palette that isn’t currently subscribed, please have them head over to this link right here!

Can I get a hallelujah? It’s Friday, an entirely new month, and the greatest pop act of the last quarter-century released their first solo single in eight years the other day.

Of course I’m talking about Robyn. How could I be talking about anything else this week? In fact, I’m still shocked music outlets were talking about anything other than Robyn’s return.

Robyn hasn’t actually been totally removed limelight for 8 years; in fact, she’s put out a lot of damn music – there’ve been covers, guest vocal features, and collaborative mini albums stemmed out of writing sessions. From the start of her career, she’s been involved in the songwriting process, and even worked with pop genius Max Martin on her 1997 global smash “Show Me Love,” over one year before Martin penned even bigger hits for Britney Spears and The Backstreet Boys in the late 90s.

Spanning her 25+ years long career (she was formally signed to a record label when she was just 14 years old….now she’s her own boss and runs her own label, Konichiwa Records), Robyn’s set the bar high while she continually pushes the envelope as to what the f*%k we consider dance pop music.

While many readers may already be familiar with Robyn’s music, most of the general public knows her as the chick wilding out in a cropped angora sweater in the “Call Your Girlfriend” music video (that SNL’s Taran Killam reenacted and elevated it to a viral sensation in 2010).

For this week’s cmd+f I’m switching things up. Rather than looking into the future and highlighting emerging talent, we’re going to Bill & Ted this bitch and listen to some deep cuts from Robyn’s back catalogue. Her legacy deserves to be celebrated!

Comments? Questions? 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.

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“Roll With Me” - Blacknuss feat. Robyn, Joshua & Abel | Before Robyn paved the way for the likes of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, et. al. on western pop radio, Robyn lent her vocals on the quintessentially 1996 jam “Roll With Me.” At 16 years old, you can hear the power in her delivery, and the remarkable control over her tone that she’s maintained with impressive care to this day. Listen here

“Keep This Fire Burning” - Robyn | After writing a few songs over the guilt of her secret abortion for her second album My Truth in 1999, Robyn refused to re-record the bits for her US labels. The album was never distributed out of Scandinavia, and neither was her third studio album, Don’t Stop the Music. “Keep this Fire Burning” was written in 2002 by Robyn in partnership with Swedish songwriting and production duo Ghost. The song found somewhat commercial success within continental Europe and down under in Australia, but was never officially released in the United Kingdom. Instead, the song was given its time to shine and was passed along to of-the-moment sensation Beverly Knight where it became top twenty hit… in 2005! In Robyn’s original rendition, she sells the song wholly with her undiluted promise loving you with all she’s got. For those who have seen the show Mozart In the Jungle, the zany Mexican conductor Rodrigo, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, continuously states throughout the series that all music must be performed with “the blood,” and is typically followed with a passionate shake of his fist to emphasize this claim. Robyn? Has “the blood.” All music she puts out under her name is brimming with “the blood.” Her ability to connect with the listener through her organic passion woven through her lyrics and vocal delivery is what’s helped harvest her expansive legion of dedicated fans. Listen here

“Who’s That Girl?” - Robyn | After the domestic success of Don’t Stop the Music, Robyn decided to work with imaginative Swedish producers for her next album. Circa 2004, “Who’s That Girl?” was born under the production of The Knife, then just a rising brother/sister duo of Karin and Olof Dreijer, who at the time gained international acclaim from the release of their 2003 album Deep Cuts. Robyn’s label, BMG, wasn’t into the song, so Robyn threw deuces, paid out her contract, then said “fuck it; I’mma do it myself.” Konichiwa Records was started, and Robyn became an independent pop artist. Steeled with a gut-punching drum machine and a chorus of erratic synthesizers, “Who’s That Girl?” marked the turning point in which Robyn flipped from bonafide pop prodigy to taking the helm to carve out a new path for pop. Robyn’s pop was no longer composed to serve the general public via the radio; instead it served quiet ballads for your daily shower, hip-shaking break-up anthems for walking your dog, and for times of celestial introspection with your arms open wide, head thrown back, in the middle of the crowded dance floor. Listen here

“Sensual Seduction” - Snoop Dogg feat. Robyn | Perhaps my favorite Robyn guest drop to this date is her 2007 feature on the remix of Snoop Dogg’s corny ode to 70s porno funk “Sensual Seduction.” I’ve intentionally linked the “radio friendly” version to spare y’all. I feel like listening to listening to Snoop croon “sexual eruption” is on par with thinking of family having sex, and we’ll just leave it at that. Back to Robyn: she pairs as a fine bottle of Merlot to Snoop’s cheesefest, adding a touch of sensuality and seriousness to such a fun jam. The union led to Uncle Snoop hopping on Robyn’s track “U Should Know Better” for her critically acclaimed 2010 album Body Talk. Listen here

“Monument” - Röyksopp & Robyn | With the success of 2010’s Body Talk under her belt, Robyn set out to once again working with producers shattering the electronic music landscape for her next album. Robyn booked some studio sessions with Norwegian duo Röyksopp, and the sessions were fruitful. In 2014, the three decided to scrape up and polish their recordings for the mini album Do It Again. They went on a global tour, making a stop at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles for one of the greatest concert experiences I’ve attended to date. They closed out the set (before returning for the encore) with a rendition of “Monument,” an epic, 9 and a half minute saga of ghostly instrumentals stretched over booming, MC Escher-esque synths that build horizontally and fizzle into a free jazz frenzy. Listen here and Watch here

“Missing U” - Robyn | This week Robyn released her first official, purely solo single in eight years. Robyn’s declared the track as partly inspired by her fans who’ve amassed her cultish following over the years:”I haven't made an album in eight years, so I haven't seen my fans for a long time either," she said, "I think getting back to them is important.” While fans have craved a new album from Robyn for a better part of the decade, her rarefied repertoire of songwriting and music releases has imprinted its way into the foundation of their music listening experience. In “Missing U,” she sings of love, of loss, of recognizing the void is never truly barren. “There’s an empty space you’ve left behind,” she croons over a bubbling synth, “All the love you gave / it still defines me.” Thanks for coming back to us, Robyn. Listen here

New Music Friday Selects

This week NPR dropped a comprehensive, exciting survey of the top 200 songs by female artists of the 21st century (which, of course, includes Robyn!) Read here
Mura Masa has dropped a new groovy little number with Nao titled “Complicated” Listen here
Rising pop muse Alice Chater, who was featured in last week’s cmd+f has dropped a stripped down rendition of her fire new single “Heartbreak Hotel.” LeAnn Rimes who??? Listen here
Travis Scott’s new album ASTROWORLD is out and it appears to not have a single feature on it??? Beats are sick Listen here
UK punk duo Slaves have a new joint out titled “Chokehold” Listen here
MUNA have remixed Fickle Friends’ tune “Bite” Listen here
God damn! Each release from cmd+f alum Jade Bird strays further from her Americana roots, and more into her own aura. Her latest release “Uh Huh” kicks SERIOUS ASS Listen here
Following the same formula as Ariana Grande and The Weeknd’s collab for “Love Me Harder,” The Labels have paired up Bazzi and Carnitas Cabezza for a song and hope it sticks 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.

NEW MONTH, NEW TUNES! If you’re interested in listening to what I’m rinsing this month, you can follow my August 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!

P.S. Are you interested in contributing to cmd+f? Read more details below!

For now this invitation only open to email subscribers — so if you have a friend with a vibrant musical palette that isn’t currently subscribed, please have them head over to this link right here!