Welcome back to Melissa Recommends Music, and happy spring equinox! To my subscribers in the U.S., I hope the longer days from Daylight Savings have been as mood-boosting for you as they have been for me.
First things first, I’m thrilled to unveil my new logo, courtesy of the amazing Ellie Schiltz!! She’s a close friend and a super talented designer, illustrator, photographer, and all-around creative; you can check out her work on her IG at @ellies.ketch.
I’m also excited to roll out some graphics I made for my posts — now, instead of seeing a blurry screencap of the Spotify-generated preview image, you’ll get to see hot pink bubble letters! Fair tradeoff IMO, but as always, I’d love to hear any feedback you may have, especially if you have a suggestion for how I can improve. I’m still in the process of uploading all the graphics, but they should be finalized by the next newsletter.
And now, back to business: this week’s Latest Roundup brings you ten of my most liked and most listened-to songs of the past month. Honorable mentions that didn’t make it onto the playlist include new albums from Yo La Tengo, 100 Gecs, and Caroline Polachek, and new singles from Yves Tumor (new album out now), Lana Del Rey, and JPEGMAFIA/Danny Brown. I’ve also been listening to a soul compilation album, and I am very excited to dive into Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s newest album, which just came out last Friday. Plus, I’m always listening to what my friends post on IG, and this week’s playlist is full of recommendations from friends and tracks I’ve harvested from IG stories.
Read on for an overview of library music, a “zoo wee mama” moment, and a sampling of lyrics that make my heart ache.
Track Listing
“Hip Bounce” - ScubaZ
“La Piscine (L’Impératrice Remix)” - Hypnolove, L’Impératrice
“Trix” - Slater, Enjoy
“Rinsed” - Dean Blunt, TYSON
“First Balloon to Nice” - Moose
“La notte muore (orchestra)” - Sandro Brugnolini
“Didn’t Want To Have To Do It (Ver. 1)” - Cass Elliot
“I’m This” - Peter Cat Recording Co.
“Nothing to Lose” - Tanukichan
“If Not For You” - Shakey Graves
1. “Hip Bounce” by ScubaZ
In the last newsletter, I wrote about the title track on ScubaZ’s only full-length release, The Vanishing American Family. While Spotify Wrapped claims that track was my top-played song of 2021, it wasn’t until I revisited it for DFGAS2 that I finally explored the rest of the album. I haven’t stopped listening since — the whole thing is a “joyride of breakbeat and rock that sounds like the best of Fatboy Slim” (quoting myself here), but “Hip Bounce” might be the catchiest song on the album.
2. “La Piscine (L’Impératrice Remix)” Hypnolove, L’Impératrice
Opening with an amazing flute that reminds me of the “Sledgehammer” intro, this is just one of four remixes that French trio Hypnolove put out alongside their 2016 single “La Piscine.”
The prominence of the flute is one reason why I chose to feature L’Impératrice’s remix over the other three and even the original song; another is because the alternate versions feature the vocals more heavily, and the instrumentals are the real draw for me. The punchy guitars bring Vulfpeck’s “Disco Ulysses (Instrumental),” to mind, a highly danceable song I think of with the fondness of an old friend (I first heard it at a frat party in college, LOL). That said, all the versions are great, especially the Voilaaa remix, which as I was making this week’s playlist came neck-and-neck with the L’Impératrice version.
3. “Trix” by Slater, Enjoy
I Shazamed this song (site of Shazam: unknown) because I recognized Wyatt Shear’s, AKA Enjoy’s, voice, and was unsurprised to see that it was actually a Slater track. Slater is signed to Vada Vada, a record label founded and run by the twins behind The Garden, Wyatt and Fletcher Shears. I’m a big fan of Enjoy, The Garden, and Puzzle (Fletcher’s solo project), so it makes sense that I would like Slater. All three musicians are from Southern California, and allegedly they all went to high school together.
“Trix” comes off of Slater’s 2022 release “ESI.” Is it PC of me to (lovingly) call it glitchy white boy music? My favorite line is “I go so fast / Big toe on the gas,” which instantly recalls the below still from SpongeBob episode “Boating School.”
4. “Rinsed” by Dean Blunt, TYSON
I KNOW I recommended a Dean Blunt/TYSON single in LR2, but this one came out two weeks ago and it’s also crazy good. It’s also moody, mysterious, and concise, in typical Dean Blunt fashion.
5. “First Balloon to Nice” by Moose
Moose was a British band formed in 1990 that, despite critical acclaim and strong roots in the indie scene of the day, never quite got its moment in the sun. They came together as “part of that initial UK wave of bands that formed right after My Bloody Valentine and Ride blew up in '88/'89,” according to an article from Brooklyn Vegan.
It was also apparently in a Sounds review of an early Moose gig that the term “shoegaze” first arose: “They said singer Russell Yates spent more time looking at the lyric sheet taped to the floor than the audience.” While they may have spawned the term, Moose soon moved away from the shoegaze sound, exchanging fuzzy distortion for clean, jangly acoustics like the kind on “First Balloon to Nice.”
Shoutout my friend Andy for sharing this song on IG! It was the catalyst for a term I dubbed the Instant Melissa Classic (self-explanatory). Other Instant Melissa Classics that are adjacent to “First Balloon to Nice” include “Gruesome Castle” by The Wake and “All for the Best” by Miracle Legion — if you listen to all three, you might pick up on some of the elements I’m drawn to. The tone of the vocals and the bass in particular are huge here.
6. “La notte muore (orchestra)” by Sandro Brugnolini
This lovely instrumental also came to me through IG, thanks to my friend Aldo posting it on his story. A cursory search for Sandro Brugnolini introduced me to the term “library music,” which, as someone who loves categorizing music, I immediately pounced on. “Library music,” AKA production or stock music, refers to non-commercial releases originally recorded as background tracks for radio, TV, or ad placement, tasked with evoking a specific mood or emotion. It’s utilitarian in nature, but it seems that ‘60s and ‘70s Italian library music in particular lent itself to rampant experimentalism. Classically trained composers would blend jazz, funk, and disco with the more traditional elements of their training for wild results.
I unknowingly recommended Italian library music on LR2 with a track from Piero Umiliani, a well-known name in the genre; likewise, Sandro Brugnolini is a legend of library music, credited with helping to record “likely the most beloved library effort ever with 1974’s Feelings,” according to an article by Exclaim!. There’s plenty of fun reading on the genre at large, which has blown up in the last ten years — if you’re interested, you can check out articles from The NYT, Pitchfork, or The Vinyl Factory.
7. “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It (Ver. 1)” by Cass Elliot
You may recognize Cass Elliot as one of the powerhouse vocalists of The Mamas and The Papas; here, she lends her distinctive voice to a wistful track perfectly suited to her range. The simple backing instrumentals allow her gorgeous voice to come to the forefront, ebbing and flowing with subdued emotion. Regretful yet unapologetic, throughout the song she moves from husky restraint into a crescendo of delicate, expressive vibrato, her voice soaring for just a moment before coming back down to earth. In my mind the melody of the song mirrors the sentiment she sings about: “Was a time I thought that we could fly / And never never fall.” While most of the song is grounded in her lower range, it’s punctuated by those moments of soaring emotion that never seem to last.
The grainy quality of the recording and the slight reverb on Elliot’s vocals add to the element of nostalgia here, while the waltz time signature adds some romance for me. Thanks to my sister Marina for showing me this song!
8. “I’m This” by Peter Cat Recording Co.
Based in New Delhi, Peter Cat Recording Co. is a five-piece headed by singer and primary songwriter Suryakant Sawhney, whose Dean Martin-esque tone and expressive delivery is absolutely captivating. Blending big band elements with indie rock sounds and synths, PCRC’s music is innovative, usually catchy, and always rewarding. I can’t recommend them enough, but today’s recommendation comes off their 2019 album Bismallah.
“I’m This,” like “Didn’t Want To Have To Do It,” has strains of regret that come through in the lyrics, the sparse notes of the guitar strums, and the bubbling and sustained synths throughout. The lyrics are a real highlight for me, poetic and thought-provoking and weaving together an ambivalent story of troubled love and self-growth.
I worship the wave
And turn into song
And who I am
Is not measured by
What I become
But I know enough
I won't make the same mistakes
Cause I don't know what it is
I don't care what it is
I'm this
Wow… they slow my step and bring an ache to my heart!
9. “Nothing to Lose” by Tanukichan
This track comes off of GIZMO, Hannah van Loon AKA Tanukichan’s latest release and the follow-up to her 2018 full-length debut Sundays. Both albums were produced by fellow Bay Area-native Chaz Bear of Toro Y Moi, who signed her to his Company Records label and remains her primary creative partner. “Nothing to Lose” scratches my indie rock/dream pop itch in the same way that Hovvdy and James Ivy do, with a certain unnamable quality that’s the perfect fodder for daydreams or gazing out the window. Credit goes to my sister Michelle for showing me this one!
10. “If Not For You” by Shakey Graves
I first came to know Shakey Graves through my older sister Raquel, who Dropboxed me the iTunes file to “Roll the Bones” in 2011. A few weeks ago I saw someone listening to “If Not For You” on Spotify and gave it a listen on a whim — I hadn’t listened to Shakey Graves in months if not years, and I was curious about what it might sound like beyond my limited familiarity. What I heard absolutely rocked my shit. This song has propelled me down the streets of New York with an intensity I can only attribute to the sheer power of Alejandro Rose-Garcia’s gloriously raspy vocals and the overdrive on that guitar. Oh boy that GUITAR! It’s absolutely electrifying. It sends bolts of lightning through my veins and takes my breath away. It makes me go ZOO WEE MAMA! This song is so powerful that when it ends you can feel its absence, like it’s left behind a void. I had to end the playlist with it because I simply couldn’t think of anything that could follow it up.
We made it to the end! Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed it. Some questions for you: What song makes you go “zoo wee mama?” What lyrics make your heart ache? If you care to share, let me know in the comments :)
The next newsletter is a super special collaborative installment outside of my typical LR and DFGAS themes, and it goes out in three weeks. Let’s just say I’m cookin’ up something good… wink wink.
Wow I forgot about shakey graves! Great tunes loved the dean blunt track
Wow!!! Love the new logo & so cool to see a Peter Cat song on here too. One of the oldest restaurants in Kolkata (India’s old imperial capital) is a Persian restaurant called Peter Cat, which I think is where this group got its name!