Phew! Today is quite the day, eh? It’s the most frightening day of the decade - Friday the 13th, in the blessed patron month of all things creepy, October.
On this special day, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross have gifted us with a re-working of John Carpenter’s iconic Halloween theme, more houses in my neighborhood are starting to slap up their decorations, and I have approximately 40 pounds of candy corn I somehow need to import into England by Monday. In the coming weeks, I’ll be putting together a proper Halloween-themed playlist in hopes to make the rest of your month spooktacular. To tide you over, here’s a link to a list I made in 2012 titled oooOooOOOOoo – it’s still rather good.
In the meantime, hang tight and make sure you have everything you need for your costume (because everyone should always dress up).
Pals in London reading this: cmd+f is coming to London! I would be grateful for any leads about exciting gigs happening in London between 16-28 October. If your band is playing, I’d love to come see/hear you and shoot your show, too. Give me a tweet, and maybe we can “have a cheeky one” (did I do that right?)
Please reach out to me via the handy dandy contact page on the cmd+f website, or on Twitter with your thoughts about any of the tracks I’ve selected this week. As you already know, I love chatting about music. Let me in on your new favorite band; they’re looking for new fans, too!
As always, you know the drill: if you like what you hear, spread the cheer. Tell your friends about the songs you liked in this letter, but most importantly, let the artists know. There’s a good chance they’ll see your comments. Let them know how good their tunes are, and they’ll crank out even more magic.
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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“Body” - LÉON | Hands down one of my favorite artists to watch right now. I would have said this before Monday night, but it was definitely solidified by Tuesday morning. On Monday night, I witnessed this song with my own ears at the El Rey Theatre, and it was far bouncier and groovier compared to most of LÉON’s discography. While the Swedish singer knows how to lay it down thick and made you sniffle up buckets of snot with her gut wrenching ballads about regret and heartbreak, “Body” is a lighter introduction. Also: the pseudo-distorted harpsichord in the pre-chorus is top notch – gives it the barest Fleetwood Mac vibe. Listen here
“Are You Down” - Oddnesse | The levels of this song are charming as heck: lyrically, it’s a straightforward song about asking someone if they’re down with hookin’ up with you, possibly more. What’s delicious are the instrumentals, as they literally drag along cautiously in bits, all the while sounding like a seductive candle flickering in the moonlight. The tone gets a bit bashful in the chorus as Rebeca Arango sings “Do you want go slow? / Are you feeling heavy? / Would you ever get high? / Would you ever make out?” and ultimately, “Do you think it’s possible? / Are you down?” The closer swirls out on a confident, hypnotic flare, and by the end of it I too am drunk at the thought of being down for anything. What a fucking brilliant, intoxicating track. I’m OBSESSED. Listen here
“I’ll Be There” - King Henry feat. Sasha Sloan | This song immediately got dumped into my Halsey Imposters playlist, then proceeded to get stuck in my head all week. Spotify is really pushing this King Henry bop as I’ve heard the song crop up in at least three separate Pop playlists I skimmed through at work this week. As for King Henry’s credentials, he’s worked under Diplo for the past few years, making tracks for artists like Beyonce, Justin Bieber, and most notably Major Lazer’s “Cold Water.” Meanwhile Sasha Sloan, aka our buttered down Halsey-lite vocalist, is a rising songwriter who helped write Louis Tomlinson’s debut solo single “Just Hold On” with Steve Aoki. “I’ll Be There” is an earworm buffed with the smoothest production. Love the subtle UK Garage energy flowing through the track. Listen here
“Boomerang” - Why Don’t We | Now that all members of 1D have released their own solo efforts and we approach nearly two years since 1D’s last performance together, new boy bands are starting to crop up. With the rise of popularity in K-Pop outside of East Asia, purely pop-driven Western boy bands are giving it a shot. Luckily for them, TRL is back on MTV (without Carson Daly, so, like???? The point, y’all??). Anyway, I’d heard there are about four boy new American boy bands on the market, and it appears Why Don’t We are the first to pique my interest. To be blunt, the reason I enjoy “Boomerang” so much is it high key sounds like a Majid Jordan track, although I feel Majid Jordan would flourish it a bit more and chop up the song to not be as repetitive. It falls just under 3 minutes, meaning I had it on repeat for seven hours straight this week to really get a feel for it. I sent some of their tracks to some friends this week, and while some enjoyed it and others found it a bit too “Early Bieber,” I think I hear the beginnings of a group who could push some boundaries. Listen here
“I’ll Never Want a BF” - Bec Sandridge | Werq @ artists smashing heteronormativity one song at a time! This one goes out to all my single ladies and gents who are okay with being single – and of course, a shout out to lesbians who definitely will not want a boyfriend. OUT magazine notes it as a “relatable anthem rejecting social pressures to be in relationships altogether,” which, finally??? That aside, Australia is currently having a massive public vote to decide if the country should acknowledge same sex marriages (Bec's an Australian artist!). The video for “I’ll Never Want a BF” features two women shamelessly kissing each other despite being surveillanced. The tune has a very campy 80s vibe - Bec could easily be described as a silver-haired Siouxsie Sioux. Listen here
BONUS
Ready to get extra funky with Beck’s new album Colors this weekend Listen here
About damn time: King Krule’s dropped his latest album The OOZ Listen here
The family of the late Chester Bennington, lead singer of Linkin Park who died by suicide this summer, have gifted us with an episode of Apple Music’s “Carpool Karaoke” that was recorded 6 days before his death. I made it through about 1/3rd of the episode before I couldn’t stop sobbing… proceed with caution and a box of Kleenex Watch here
What a time to be alive: one week after Liam Gallagher dropped his debut solo album, Noel’s gone and dropped a new song. The brothers are back to publicly feuding each other, and like that, suddenly we’re reminded who really was the sound and soul of Oasis. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ “Holy Mountain” is a jam Listen here
Louis Tomlinson keeps releasing solo music. This time he reminds the listener he is human; lyrical content v. fitting for an audience of Alternative Press readers circa 2010. Listen here
A teaser clip from the upcoming film Call Me By Your Name dropped this week featuring Armie Hammer dancing to The Psychedelic Furs. Within minutes of the clip dropping, a Twitter account was set up and began to upload clips of Armie dancing to virtually every song. Personal favorites are “What’s Up?” - 4 Non Blondes, “Gasolina” - Daddy Yankee, then for ultra-pain factor/[SPOILER]Marissa dying on The OC levels of dramatic, “Futile Devices” - Sufjan Stevens. For more, follow @armiedancingto on Twitter.
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If you’re interested in hearing what else I’ve been rinsing this month (aside from the tracks listed above), peep my personal October 2017 playlist. There I will be dumping in new (and occasionally throw back) tracks as the month carries on. You can dive into the cmd+f archive to hear what I’ve been listening to in previous months this year.
A(lmost a)ll of the tracks I’ve shared this week and past cmd+f newsletters are archived into a single playlist on Spotify for you to follow here. You’re welcome.
See you next week!