Everything is on fire: Northern California, Southern California, André Leon Talley roasting Paul Manafort’s wardrobe, and these five smokin’ hot tunes by emerging artists! I’ve been sitting on a couple of this week’s picks for a while now, so I’m really excited to finally share them with you (if you haven’t heard them yet!). Kick up your feet, grab a mojito, and let’s dig in to the newest cmd+f letter.
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.
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“One of the Girls” - Otha | Dubbed as “Robyn on downers,” Norwegian wunderkind Otha dropped her debut single at the start of June. I’ve been playing this song endlessly for the past two months and I’ve yet to be tired of it. “One of the Girls” is a ghoulish, foot-stomping club track that punches through layers upon layers of sound. I’m obsessed! Listen here
“Night’s A Bitch” - SuperKnova | I can proudly announce this particular song came to me by a direct recommendation from a cmd+f listener (thanks, Sam!)! SuperKnova is a Chicago-based transgender artist churning out some really, really dope music. While Spotify says her mini-album Splendor Dysphoria was released this year, SuperKnova’s bandcamp reveals the tunes are over a year old. I’m ashamed I’ve been in the dark on her music for so long, but better late than never, right? Per Sam’s recommendation, I’ve chosen to highlight “Night’s A Bitch,” a wavy little number doused with trip-hop influence. Listen here
“Laconic” - Rosemoor | The power of sharing new music is it leads you to more new music! I put on a SuperKnova radio station and Rosemoor just landed in my lap. “Laconic” is a melodic, lo-fi bop that reminds me a ton of Say Anything’s first album meets the swarm of Pacific Northwest DIY bands I listened to in college. Listen here
“Target” - HANNIE feat. Ralph | Time to rev it up! “Target” has been queued up on my radar for a minute. This song is so damn adorable! HANNIE are a rising duo from East London slapping down some pseudo-disco pop bops. Listen here
“Moment To Myself” - Diana Gordon | Remember Wynter Gordon? She’s stripped back the hyper-sexualized club pop persona and has been reborn as Diana Gordon. “Moment To Myself” is a raw, unfiltered ballad, unveiling a new side of Ms. Gordon I’m excited to hear more from. If you dig this, check out the rest of her Pure EP. Listen here
New Music Friday Selects
- Jai Wolf has linked up with rising Kiwi singer Chelsea Jade for “Lost” and it’s AMAZING Listen here
- We’re officially in countdown mode for Troye Sivan’s sophomore album Bloom. Today he’s released another haunting teaser single, “Animal” Listen here
- UK producer Kolabeech has linked up with my number 1 gal BETSY, aka the Second Coming of Cher, for a stunning cover of Rozalla’s 1991 smash club hit “Everybody’s Free” Listen here
- Ciara once again coming for our necks with her new single “Freak Me” featuring Tekno Listen here
- Rejoice; new Mitski! Listen here
- Producers Riton and Kah-Lo have remixed Selena Gomez’s “Back To You” and it’s A+ (can we get Kah-Lo featured on every song, please???) Listen here
- Fresh shoegaze bliss from Wild Nothing; listen to “Shallow Water” Listen here
- Tkay Maidza dropped a music video for her new single “Flexin’” featuring Duckwrth – and she announced a new EP is dropping at the end of this month! Watch here
- New Aphex Twin for the IDM heads! Listen here
- Oh my giddy aunt – Cher’s officially released her cover of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” as a single? 2018 is too blessed. Listen here
- The Why Don’t We boys continue to impress; their new single “8 Letters” is gorgeous 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 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 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!