Dua Lipa

November 24, 2017

November 24, 2017 in Newsletter, Music

While a handful of you reading this are likely nursing a hangover from a few too many glasses of wine and slices of pie over Thanksgiving last night, I’m here, prying my eyes open after living in front of an oven door for the past two days, trying to feast my ears on as much New Music Friday content as possible. It’s a daunting task as I wade through the faint chimes of sweet carol bells looming in the background, beckoning me to usher in the Christmas season. So far the tempting Black Friday sales have benefited nobody but the company wallets I’m filling, my personal wardrobe and skincare routine.

This week I’ve got SIX crazy good tracks, and a grip of bonus content because it’s Black Friday and some artists are doing the abso-fucking-lute MOST.

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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“Bom Bom” - Tkay Maidza x Danny L. Harle | I’m already kicking my own ass for even bringing this up, but I know this thought is lingering in the back of many people’s minds: you ever think about what we could have had in music if Azealia Banks had her shit together??? Tkay has her own flow and sound, but this was my first thought when I heard the opening notes on this FIRE collab. Azealia fucked with this head-spinning, heavy 90s house vibe. Throw in PC Music producer Danny L. Harle to wonk things up a bit and you got a monster track. “Bom Bom” sounds like that threat of nausea and the rush of adrenaline after a rollercoaster ride on a full stomach. Big, big tune this one Listen here

“Feel the Same” - Bully | Sounding straight up like a long-lost Hole track, “Feel the Same” is a jittery, frantic ode to lethargy – or rather the anxieties of struggling to maintain relationships with people, fearing those friendships are crumbling, all the while dealing with the fact you feel nothing and everything all at once. And it fucking slaps. Go figure. I’ve declared it the depressives club anthem. Listen here

“Stonewall Frank” - Nelson Can | Nelson Can have adopted the “no guitars but still gonna belt out a chooooon” approach to their music, a la The White Stripes’ claim to fame. Armed with nothing but a drum kit, a juicy bassline, and killer vocals, “Stonewall Frank” is a bop, banger, AND a jam all at once. What an honor, to be honest. I wouldn’t use such strong qualifiers if it wasn’t true Listen here

“Get These Things Out of My Head” - Pale Honey | Swedish duo Pale Honey dropped their sophomore album Devotion last month. Diving into the 10-track album completely submerged me into a liminal space, hovering over this sense of unease in the lyrics mixed with an unexplainable tension of nostalgia. “Get These Things Out of My Head” sounds exactly like a song I’ve heard a million times before I heard it for the first time last week. It felt I had listened to it many a times walking through a ghostly supermarket at midnight Listen here

“Big Girls Cry” - Mimoza | I had to slip this monster tune in this week because I couldn’t have you wait another week for it. Mimoza is another case of a hit making songwriter testing the waters as a solo artist. While the instrumentals echo some Kygo-esque vibes, the vocals punch through a Sia-grade pre-chorus. Quality pop tune. Listen here

“Collect” - Matthew Young | Huge thanks to my pal Ana who provided me with a couple rising artists in her homeland of New Zealand. The world currently only knows New Zealand for three things: kiwis, Lord of the Rings, and Lorde. The rest of the world has slept on the fact that the Oceanic plate, particularly New Zealand, is a hotbed of fresh talent. The entire region is churning out perhaps (actually clearly) the best left-of-center pop music in the world right now. While that may be a bold ass statement, I’d advise you to sit down and have a moment with this week’s pick Matthew Young. RnB pop may be oversaturated with male solo artists, but Matthew’s got the gravely yet velvety smooth vocals and wicked clever lyrics to set him apart. “Collect” is an earworm. Listen here

BONUS

Top album to dive into this weekend is Sufjan Stevens’ The Greatest Gift—Outtakes, Remixes, & Demos from Carrie & Lowell. Stacked with unreleased tracks, remixes, and raw demos for tracks on 2015’s Carrie & Lowell, I must admit Sufjan has bestowed the greatest gift of the week upon us Listen here
Sleigh bells ring, deck the halls, fa-la-la-la-la, et cetera, et cetera, it’s Black Friday, bitches, AKA the first official day of The Holiday Season. Every kind of person has dropped a damn Christmas album/EP/song today. We have your garden variety artists, Gwen Stefani and People’s “”“Sexiest Man of the Year””” Blake Shelton, who’ve have unleashed their joint Christmas music revue, from Why Don’t We’s classic Christmas boyband ballads, to yet another fucking Glee-tastic cover of “Last Christmas” by Stanaj that nobody asked for, in contrast with Phoebe Bridgers’ tender cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” we don’t deserve, to DRAM throwing down a bit of holiday cheer with the help of BigBabyMom. Between this and the cobwebs collecting in my wallet, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Beyonce got the best Christmas-themed merch I ever seen. This holiday season, she’s got Beyonce ornaments, onesies, and WRAPPING PAPER. SHOP HERE
Meanwhile Frank Ocean’s out here selling ugly ass hoodies to throw approximately five hundred Hypebeast’s off their game as they queue up to cop the new Nike Air Max 97s on Black Friday
Rihanna, Queen of Selling Me Anything and I Will Actually Buy It Because Yes Of Course, has developed a UNIVERSAL red liquid lipstick that allegedly matches with any skin tone for Fenty Beauty, and while that sounds fake, if you do end up copping one, let me know how it works out for you
Little Mix have re-released a platinum edition of their latest album Glory Days which includes (I believe) four unreleased new tracks and a few acoustic versions of original tracks. The greatest crime of this album is allowing the “feat. Kid Ink” version of “Touch” on there Listen here
Bjork has a new album out today, and I’m shocked as hell. Fans of her work are familiar with the extremely long hours and attention to detail she pours into her craft, so frankly I’m stunned she has managed to crank out an entire new album two years after her last. During those two years since her last album, she’s managed to tour VR experiences/art installations across the globe in support of the previous album on top of recording Utopia Listen here
It’s a surprisingly quiet day for new music releases, so please enjoy yourself to a helping of this mid-80s soaked Initial Talk remix of Dua Lipa’s “New Rules” Listen here
Can’t forget to tell you Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have a new album too Listen here
My personal fav pop acts of the year, Rae Morris, has dropped “Atletico,” yet another incredible, frantic, fresh pop tune I am going to be spinning for months and months on end Listen here

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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 November 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!

September 15, 2017

September 15, 2017 in Newsletter, Music

The coming week is going to be exciting for me. After many moons, the day has nearly arrived in which I will be seeing a concert lineup of my fever dreams: MUNA and Harry Styles live at the Greek Theater. Somebody pinch me, please! I’ve been working very hard at day-job stuff so I’ve been neglecting actual live concert coverage for the past month, so I’m very much looking forward to this one, so much so I’ve requested the day after the show off from my day job. It’s serious.

We’ve already got fourth quarter heating up - artists are coming forward with album release announcements and new singles. Considering 2017 has been the wildest year of Madlibs and nostalgia comeback tours, who do you think is going to come out of left field with a new album? After seeing that Cher and Future GAP ad, oh what I’d give for another Cher single.

Anyhow, I’ve harvested five sweet tracks for you to enjoy throughout your week.

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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“Where’s the Bass Amp?” - Superfood | When you say “a-boom chicka boom,” and you chk chk boom to boom biddy bumbombrrapp skeetybeep pap pap - well, you get the gist. This little earworm is the opening track from Superfood’s new album Bambino. I’ve tested this extensively throughout the past week with the general public (re: my co workers) by playing it aloud (at my desk during work hours), and 100% of my subjects responded with a hip sway, a hop-skip-jump jump, or even a verbal response of delight. With findings like that, “Where’s the Bass Amp?” allows for guaranteed satisfaction. Listen here

“Victoria Falls” - Flyte | Phew! I’ve been gabbing on and on to a handful of friends this week about Flyte. I stumbled across their sonically light-hearted Beatles-esque tune “Cathy Come Home” (which is lyrically about a loved one begging Cathy to get out of an abusive relationship), and in turn dove head first into Flyte’s debut album The Loved Ones. While definitely soaked in 60s/70s rock vibes, their sound varies across a massive span of influences. With a guitar solo slick enough to make Blue Oyster Cult proud, “Victoria Falls” shines bright with a breadth of lush harmonies woven throughout the tune. Truly my most warming find I’ve stumbled upon this week. Listen here

“Soft power” - Ayla | Holy moly… Ayla is onto something. I was unsure about “Soft power” when it first started playing, but as the song builds on itself, it beefs up with a handful of plot twists - from the instrumental chorus, the politically charged lyrics. It took me ages to dig up info on Ayla herself, and I finally found a single blog post about her on a Swedish entertainment blog. Through the power of Google Translate, it turns out Ayla is yet another Swedish genius. If you enjoy unconventional pop (re: Grimes, Charli XCX, Lykke Li, etc.), “Soft power” is right up your alley. Listen here

“Lifted Away” - Joseph | Once again, shout out to my pal Agnes for throwing this gem down in front of me yesterday. Before I dip into the song itself, I feel very obligated to know my friend Brittany is likely reading this with her fist pumping in the air with delight knowing she’s heard of a music artist from this list before reading the letter. Joseph are her GIRLS, her Oregonian kin. While Joseph already have a strong following, I’ve plucked “Lifted Away” to share as it sounds completely different to their usual “White Winter Hymnal” / Power ‘Muricana sound. “Lifted Away” has a fate fit for a major motion picture trailer/soundtrack, potential for bubbling under the radar on local rock radio, and hell, even a nice life on all of the playlists you’re throwing together to slog your way through the next few months. Listen here

“Flags” - Shoffy feat. Yuna | A year ago, I watched this guy perform on the pool deck of the rooftop bar at the Mondrian on Sunset in West Hollywood. It was a private event for press and label execs, and he really impressed me. I lost touch with his manager to set up an interview in the future about his forthcoming projects (so if you’re reading this right now...hit me up), and now he’s got a full on album. That night I learnt Shoffy (named Alex) is (or now likely WAS) a suit-and-tie professional by day working in finance who comes home to write sexy R&B jams at night. He’s had some explosive success on streaming services over the years, racking up literal MILLIONS (one has over 40 million!!) of streams on his tunes (seriously, his songs have cropped up in every major pop curated playlist I’ve stumbled upon since 2015). Now his new single and opening track from his debut self-titled LP ”Flags” features Malaysian pop goddess Yuna. Despite all the online success with his songs, Shoffy’s career is only starting to simmer. “Flags” is the ultimate soft bop. Listen here

BONUS

MUNA, one of my absolute favorite bands and Album of the Year contenders, are about to kick off their tour opening for Harry Styles next week and have finally released a studio recording of their tune “In My Way” Listen here
Your favorite Norwegian more-punk-than-pop band Sløtface have dropped their debut album Try Not to Freak Out. While half the album’s already been released via singles/previous EPs, it’s a delight to imagine it as an entire LP filled with songs for an imaginary teen movie soundtrack. Listen here
Queen of Behind the Scenes Footage Cut Music Videos Carly Rae Jepsen has shared a really cute video cut with behind the scenes footage leading up to actual choreographed music video footage for her splash summer single “Cut to the Feeling.” It’s directed by Gia Coppola, because why not??? Watch here
LORDE FEAT. KHALID, SZA (er, and Post Malone) - HOMEMADE DYNAMITE REMIX Listen here
BURIAL - “RODENT” Listen here
It was the late Amy Winehouse’s birthday yesterday. Dua Lipa and Gallant paid a touching tribute with an absolutely incredible cover of Amy’s “Tears Dry On Their Own” Watch here
Niall Horan has announced his debut album Flicker will be released (a week before my birthday!) on October 20, and has gifted us with a world of pain with his new single “Too Much To Ask.” With the lyric “my shadow’s dancing without you for the first time,” I got three words for young Niall: WHO HURT YOU???? Listen here
Following up about Nadine Coyle’s new single “Go to Work,” and it’s available on streaming services in the States now. I’m not saying this little gay club BOP has helped me get through 15 hours of overtime in the past week, but then again, you’ll never really know Listen here

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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 September 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!

June 2, 2017

June 02, 2017 in Music, Newsletter

Welcome to the midway mark of 2017!… Can you believe we’re starting the second half of the year already? Summer festival season is in full swing. A boatload of major albums are about to drop over the next few months or be announced for quarter 4 (praying Years & Years has some answers for us soon). On the other hand, summertime approaching here in the Northern Hemisphere means I’m crippled with embarrassment to go out in public in sandals because I need a post Spring pedicure.

While the earth is going up in flames, do know I’ve got a nice selection of five songs this week for you to enjoy, and an armada of bonus content this week. Take your mind off some things, kick your feet up - enjoy!

Please reach out to me via the handy dandy contact page on the cmd+f website, or at the brand new cmd+f Twitter at @cmdf_me with your thoughts about any of the tracks I’ve selected this week. I love chatting about music. Let me in on your new favorite band; they’re looking for new fans, too.

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“Jinx” - IDA KUDO | I have to admit: when this song first came on, I almost switched it. I was trying to focus on a project at work, and luckily for the song, I couldn’t touch my phone in that moment and had to ride the song out. Good rule of thumb is to give a song at least 30 seconds– and if you’re patient, give it the whole damn song.It was worth sitting through because this chorus BANGS. For fans of Grimes and Little Dragon, “Jinx” is by far my most exciting song I’ve dug up this week. Not much literature floating around about IDA KUDO, but what I have found out she’s a Denmark-based Danish/Japanese artist making incredible experimental electropop pretty consistently over the last few years. Listen here

“Techno Parties” - Lustgas | The Swedes strike AGAIN! Even LESS information out there about this artist. This is the only song I’ve found by Lustgas (though to be honest I haven’t tried too hard). “Techno Parties” sounds a bit like a cross between Peter Bjorn and John at their campiest meets The Von Bondies (aaah, remember them?) forged together during the rise of peak early 80s Blondie. Sounds like a lot happening? Well, it’s ultimately a bangin pop tune. Listen here

“Further” - TOPS | Every music journalism outlet is losing their minds over the new TOPS tunes. I’ve fallen for it, too. Pitchfork describes their sound as “honey-dipped guitars and twinkling keyboards,” and “paint a picture as stark as heartbreak” with this track “Further.” When you hear the track, these descriptions will make a whole lotta sense. Listen here

“Fire Sign” - Sensible J feat. REMI and Sampa the Great | Australia got bars. Like, serious ass – Iggy Azelea has managed to make herself the face of Australian hip-hop, meanwhile they’re down there hiding REMI, Sensible J, and Sampa the Great!!! “Fire Sign” is fucking dope. Honest, groovy, funky, free. This got that pure 90s New York vibe. Listen here

“Theresa May (Bullshit)” - Cherryade | My babes Cherryade have bust out an anti-Conservative club ANTHEM. Never in my life did I think I’d want to shake my ass to “hide your shit like Theresa May.” The production on this is crazy as hell, and would go the hell AWF in a club. Speaking of Theresa May: the UK election is next week. I’m here to remind y’all if you are reading this and live in the UK, please remember to cast a vote for your local PM!! Listen here

BONUS

Those who are close to me know one of my faaaavorite genre’s of music to listen to is house music. NPR’s podcast Code Switch, which explores race and identity in American (and sometimes global) culture, have released an incredible episode on house and techno music. The episode highlight its origins in black/Latinx/queer communities in Chicago and Detroit in the early 80s, and explore dance music has devolved into yet another music culture imperialised and dominated by white male musicians in Europe. For music nerds like yours truly, those who aren’t familiar with the origins of dance music, or if you’ve got 20 minutes to spare, it’s imperative you give this a listen (and share with your friends). Listen here
LOTS OF NEW MUSIC THIS FRIDAY- BEAR WITH ME, BUT WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS
Feeling stressed about the state of the world? Arcade Fire will make it sound slightly more optimistic for at least 5:03 consecutive minutes. Listen here
Dua Lipa’s debut album is finally here! Don’t get too worked up though as half of the tracks have been released as singles……………………………………………. Nevertheless, I assure you’re still gonna bop till you drop. Listen here
NEW! BETSY! SECOND COMING OF CHER IS TOO REAL!! Listen here
Haven’t listened yet, but Halsey’s hopeless fountain kingdom dropped today. I can assure you it’s more a pop album than an alternative album. “Strangers” is the best song on it. Yep, I have determined “Strangers” is peak Halsey. Can't tell me otherwise Listen here
Liam Gallagher has gone solo. Like, purely solo - no Beady Eye bullshit. Still not as good as anything Noel’s written for him to sing, but it’s still a fucking belter. 9/10. Listen here
Oh, and have you had the chance to follow the official cmd+f Twitter and Instagram?
Once more, with feeling: IF YOU LIVE IN THE UK, PLEASE VOTE NEXT THURSDAY, 8 JUNE!!! REMIND YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!

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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 June 2017 playlist. 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!

April 28, 2017

April 27, 2017 in Music, Newsletter

This is an archived post originally sent out via the cmd+f weekly newsletter

Harry Styles announced a world tour this morning and I ceremoniously apologized to my credit card nearly ten times this morning between my wiping the sleep crust out of my eyes. I’m so used to 1D pulling that kind of shit, I figured the tickets would go on sale at 10am this morning, but it turns out I have a week to mentally prepare for this bloodbath for tickets to The Greek.

This isn’t the reason cmd+f was sent out late today; it’s just there was TOO MUCH NEW MUSIC unleashed today that I couldn’t keep my brain together. Well, I managed to wiggle the list for today down to SIX tracks and a bounty of bonus content.

Got any questions? Tips? Please reach out to me via Twitter at @hellogoodbritt (or any other way you may know how to contact me) with your thoughts about any of the tracks I’ve selected this week. I love chatting about music. Let me know what you’re listening to that everyone else should be listening to, too.

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“Nights With You” - MØ | Nights With You,” a so conspicuously obvious sapphic proposal to ditch the D for a weekend of lady love was so BLATANTLY dusted over by a number of music outlets when it dropped last week, and, well, it’s the most important part of this damn song. So I’m including it in cmd+f this week because it’s a culturally important song!! When’s the last time you’ve hear a female pop singer propose getting down with some lady love? Huh? Also, the track was produced by Cashmere Cat (who has a highly anticipated [by like inter-label standards and general hype] debut album that dropped today if you feel like listening), and PC Music affiliate SOPHIE, who’s dabbled in a few of Charli XCX’s recent projects to help map out a demented pop landscape I yearn to hear more of in the coming years. Give me all the wonky, saw-seared synth cuts. I also wanted to throw this bop in here for my lady loving friends in lieu of lesbian visibility day that happened this week. Listen here

“Thinking of a Place” - The War On Drugs | I know it’s considered pretentious as hell these days to make a song longer than 5 minutes. With our brains hardwired to twiddle between Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp, Snapchat, and out email apps every two minutes, it’s kind of hard to get a grip on how to focus our attention for longer than a handful of minutes. The War on Drugs consistently recall on the days when rock gave zero fucks, took up a whole B-side on one track. “Thinking of a Place” is a song that you actually want to never end from the second it starts, and it travels so many moods, it’s four songs in one, all oozing with the essence of the Golden Hour at sunset. If you can handle a song over 10 minutes, please take sometime and plug in for “Thinking of a Place.” Listen here

“Regrets” - Zipper Club | Lissy Trullie has a side project! And gosh, is “Regrets” insanely good. I’m in love with this composition, starting out as a bumbling, shy track that swoops and sways between the hesitant verses, and then eventually sputters out to an aggressive, punked out headbanger. Listen here

“Up All Night” - David Archuleta | Yes, that David Archuleta from American Idol. For those who refuse to get down from your high horse, may I remind you this whole newsletter is about digging up songs that may have flown under your radar or you may have likely glossed over. This track came to me last week whilst listening to the New Music Friday Latin music list, and I was confused because it was the only song that popped up not in Spanish. I then noticed it was none other than David Archuleta. Serious, serious shock, y’all. “Up All Night” is a great, beautifully crafted pop song that could easily get lost on the current trop-house saturated radio market, but what really did it for me was the cinematic quality to the track. It sounds ripe and ready to score a film trailer. David’s got a new EP coming out in a few weeks, and this song has definitely piqued my interests. Listen here

“Lover’s Letdown” - Goldmyth | I wasn’t sure about this song until I got at least 30 seconds into it. And that may happen to you, too, so just wait for it to really juice up and kick in, because the payoff is delicious. What a fantastic hook. Listen here

“Your Love” - HAERTS | Calling all my Stevie Knicks loving sad girls (and boys): this one is especially for you. Go forth and prosper. Listen here

BONUS

Hailee! Steinfeld’s! New! Single! “Most Girls” !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen here
Wale dropped his album a week early and he made sure to tuck in a rip roaring summertime banger called “My Love” featuring none other than Major Lazer (requisite for establishing summerygoodness, duh), WizKid, and Dua Lipa Listen here
Lady Leshurr dropped an entire EP yesterday, and it is fiiiiire. Listen here
Will link you to Ryan Tedder’s Newsweek interview for posteriority in which he gloriously reveals Liam Payne is ready to eat my soul and churn out a pop career. Read here

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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 April 2017 playlist. 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!

April 21, 2017

April 20, 2017 in Newsletter, Music

This is an archived post originally sent out via the cmd+f weekly newsletter

This is where I usually write a quirky intro about what’s happening in music while vaguely referencing my week in music exploration, but my brain has turned to oatmeal. I will note: remember how last week I had 12 songs stashed in my cmd+f arsenal? Well, I sat on the tunes that didn’t make it into the letter last week, and they’re not so fresh anymore. Only one of the five songs listed this week survived the lot of leftovers from last week.

As for the Anchor recordings, those are definitely on hiatus indefinitely. I’m working on adding new features to take cmd+f to a whole ‘nother level. It’s all under wraps, but it’ll roll out soon enough.

Got any questions? Tips? Please reach out to me via Twitter at @hellogoodbritt (or any other way you may know how to contact me) with your thoughts about any of the tracks I’ve selected this week. I love chatting about music – it's why I started this letter! Let me know what you’re listening to so that I can let everyone else know they should be listening to that too.

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“Shell” - Charlotte OC | “Shell” is stacked with melodic surprises: opening as a thrumming, melancholic power ballad, the pensive verse bursts through as a hopeful, dazzling chorus. It literally echoes the emotions of gently basking in the freedom that comes with letting go of a bad past relationship, and recognizing that void inside you is left behind for you to fill up with something fresh. I could honestly listen to the transition from the verse to chorus on loop for hours on end; it’s just that perfect. If you can get out of looping “Shell” endlessly, please do give a listen to Charlotte’s new album Careless People. Listen here

“Mo(u)rning” - Anne Dereaux | “Mo(u)rning” is Anne Dereaux’s debut single, and consider me scalpt. I can tell you right now, she’s destined to be a music journo’s DREAM to gas up. She’s got sick production, incredible vocals and tone, an entire look to go with her vibe. The journo’s are already foaming at the mouth, lurking in the shadows awaiting her debut Book of Lolita EP to drop. And to continue to blatantly hyping her up so more, Rick fucking Rubin emailed her the day after this song dropped, so needless to say her career trajectory is only going exponentially upward. Consider this your notice: all aboard the Anne Dereaux train. While I’ve seen a few write ups dub her sound similar to BANKS and FKA Twigs, I’d say Anne sounds much more like Kelela, Jorja Smith, and Tinashe when she's on her slow jam R&B tip. Listen here

“Minimum” - Charlie Cunningham | Before I even get into the music: if you stare at Charlie’s profile picture on Spotify long enough, your brain will start to confuse him for Chris Martin. I wonder how often he’s told this…. As for the music, “Minimum” has racked up a whopping 8+ million spins on Spotify. Most places with comment sections enabled that claim the song’s cropped up on a lot of people’s Spotify playlists and it's moved them. The song certainly stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, leaving me slack-jawed and immediately filing it away into my cmd+f playlist queue. With the airy production overlaid in moving Cathedral-level reverb, “Minimum” is haunting, soothing, and absolutely stunning. It almost makes you wonder what the song would sound like performed in a church (definitely click that previous link to satisfy your curiosity; it’s as good as the studio version). Listen here

“Drum Machine” - Lao Ra | While I initially had Lao Ra’s new Pablo Escobar inspired track “Bala,” I found myself looping her bop “Drum Machine,” and it was only fair to share it with you, too. Early interviews with the Colombian-born London-based artist labeled her music as “pineapple pop,” dubbing her a Latinx M.I.A. The comparisons are fair when you see her boldly colored and collaged album covers – but the sound is still so clearly deeply rooted in Latin American musical influences. “Drum Machine” dropped last July, and I can assure you my ass will still be dancing to it this coming July. Listen here (and listen to it in Spanish here)

“It’s Cool” - Exit Kid | Emre Turkmen of Years & Years launched a new music project with Years & Years’ tour drummer Dylan Bell this week called Exit Kid. I never thought I’d see the day when Emre’d get behind the mic, but it is here, and it’s… fucking great. After spending months of obsessively scrubbing every inch of YouTube to watch every Years & Years live performance and interview ever recorded, I recall Emre living in a battered Elastica tee for approximately 78% of them whilst continuously listing Radiohead as a major musical influence. “It’s Cool” is dripping in Brit Pop vibes, but then again the Brit Pop "genre" was so nuanced and varied over the years that it was more a movement in rock music than a true sound. That history lesson can be saved for another day. Anywho, Emre and Dylan absolutely crush it with their first song for this project. Exit Kid’s debut EP drops next month on May 25. Listen here

BONUS

Pop’s current darling without a debut album Dua Lipa dropped a new single with Miguel and it’s rather good. Listen here
Pop’s other current darling Sigrid officially has a second single to her name for people to gas up. Listen here
While not exactly music, this is very much sound-oriented: stress is inevitable, but for those who have a difficult time falling asleep or trying to calm/sooth your brain, ambient/white noise simulations may help you tune out and relax. I use myNoise.net, and my personal favorite is the fireplace noise. You can calibrate the volume levels to your own liking so your ears can hear the noise even at a low volume.

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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!