The energy of last month’s solar eclipse has come down like the morning after being at Warped Tour - just an amalgamation of intensely surprising, surreal events cropped up one after the other. I’ll let this out of the way first: Harry Styles and MUNA lived up to my expectations at the Greek Theatre on Wednesday night. What an experience.
Now, for the fact that I use this letter as a bit like a weekly diary entry, it’d be silly of me to not mention this happening Monday night, and it showed no signs of slowing down thru Wednesday afternoon. Was a bit surreal linking my mother to a Teen Vogue article and having to explain how Twitter works. Also, it’d be too soon if I ever see another Malfoy joke.
As you might have noticed, this week’s been a doozy going onto Twitter. Please excuse me if I haven’t replied to some of your tweets sent my way; I’ve had my mentions restricted greatly… because, well, duh. How can you feasibly sort through 50k+ notifications?!
In this economy, you’ve gotta strike while the iron’s hot. This is the first time I’ve been awarded the opportunity to be an opportunist, so I seized it, and now dear readers, we have a whole new extension to the cmd+f family. Hello to the new subscribers, and thanks for finding cmd+f!
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get ready to dig into new music.
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 [note: my notifications are just now starting to peeter out… so…. I’ll see ya on the flip side]. 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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“Not Done” - Bloody Knees | Honestly, it’s been ages since I’ve heard a grungy tune and fell in love with it. Blood Knees reignite the spirit of early 90s rock that swamped out of the Pacific Northwest (with the most notable comparison being, you guessed it, Nirvana) - but also a tad of the heavy bits of early 90s shoegaze. Whilst “Not Done” is riddled with wavering, grainy guitars, it’s got an invigorating, melodic chorus you cannot help headbanging away to and screaming out the lyrics. I stumbled across this tune listening to Dork magazine’s new radio stream and could only find a music video for the tune online. Head over to YouTube to watch and keep your eyes out for Bloody Knees’ new EP dropping next month. Watch here
“Long Time Coming” - TOMI | What a breath of fresh air. “Long Time Coming” is a song that builds on layers of itself, twisting and slapping on more reverb, harmonies, and bits of instrumentals that ultimately explode in the final chorus and fizzle out as quickly as it built up. If you dig this, check out the rest of TOMI’s new Used To EP. Listen here
“Versus Game” - Blue Hawaii | From the first note of “Versus Game,” I had the wind knocked out of me. I immediately scrambled to send the song to my pal Agnes to see if it wasn’t weird to be having such a visceral reaction to a song, and it turns out it was completely warranted. Fused with pop sensibilities of low key late 90s trip hop (re: Olive’s “You’re Not Alone”) and dreamy vocals by Raphaelle Standell-Preston of the hazy art rock band BRAIDS, “Versus Game” is an mellow, seductive sugar high. I’d give anything to find a way to live in this song. Listen here
“French Becky” - Grace Mitchell | For a solid month I held Grace’s single “Capital Letters” in my secret cmd+f arsenal, but never shared it - but here’s “French Becky,” an upbeat, brazen, hilarious tune about those pesky butterflies fluttering around your stomach over a TOTAL LOSER. I honestly snorted the first time I looked up the lyrics. If you’re in Los Angeles, you can check out Grace opening for MUNA (who opened for Harry freakin’ Styles at the Greek Theatre!) next month at the Fonda. Listen here
“Play God” - Sam Fender | Whilst Sam’s new single he dropped today, “Millennial,” is the sonic equivalent of scrolling through an endless Instagram feed of photos of avocado toast – a massive “fuck you” to the media portraying hard working youths as “young and dumb” lazy free loaders – I have to step back and introduce you “Play God.” It’s a sexy, soulful tune about a heavily surveillanced society. Nothing like swaying your hips to a little Foucault theory, innit? Listen here
BONUS
New The Killers album Wonderful Wonderful is inspiring as hell. Personal fav off this one is “Out Of My Mind” Listen here
In the mood for a bit of New Order-esque vibes? Australian’s finest neo-disco indie rockers Cut Copy have released their new album Haiku From Zero – and that should tide you over. Listen here
I’d like to thank the universe for delivering an entire new The Horrors album today, too Listen here
Good ol’ Morrissey is back making bops for depressed queers. His comeback single “Spent the Day in Bed” discusses the harms of over consuming news and to remember to take care of your damn self. High key relatable. Cheers, Moz Listen here
My bellowing cherub George Ezra’s gone and done another BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. Mans too good, y’all. He performed his new single “Don’t Matter Now,” but also covered Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry Be Happy” to keep with the whole ‘you’re gonna love life a lot more if you just chill the eff out’ vibe Watch here
Calling all emos: CIRCA SURVIVE HAVE AN ENTIRE ALBUM OUT TODAY - and I had no idea until I was putting this letter together. I’ve been listening to the CS/Anthony Green catalogue a lot the past month, so maybe the universe was inadvertently reminding me to not forget about them. Listen here
Fergie is really and truly back, y’all - Double Duchess is out (and includes singles she dropped in 2015 and 2016??? How long y’all be sitting on this album?) 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!