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but first, the news

yes that’s right, news time! a short selection of links to all things going on in the music biz:

• cmat beats sabrina carpenter and bertie ahern

• the vma’s happened

• doja cat getting a bit max headroom with it

more i’ve been listening to

rat pakk / sunneh

this is about as heavy as a dumbtruck full of bricks landing on your head and it’s got a heart of gold tucked somewhere inside of all there

jerskin fendrix / together again

this song is kinda batshit and i really dig it

mr. fantasy / mr. fantasy

what is uhm, what is happening here, exactly

genre: indie / pop
release date: 30/05/25
runtime: 2:50
video: yes :)

contents

• but first, the news

• more i’ve been listening to

  • jerskin fendrix / together again

  • mr. fantasy / mr. fantasy

    • what i like

    • what i don't like

    • my drunk opinion

    • for fans of

    • should you listen to more

• next edition out next tuesday!

okay i have a confession to make, i have already shared this one a few weeks ago. not as a full review, but as a wee sampler one of the others i’ve been listening to. and i’d disqualified it from a full review because the artist had too many listeners, however, unfortunately they’ve kinda slipped off. and that’s made me a lil upset actually because this song has been in my head the entire time. i have genuinely been a bit obsessed with it, and watching it slide down below the cut off line for artists i review instead of going meteoric like i think it should annoyed me to no end. so to rectify that, we’re featuring it this week and giving it more than the 6 words i gave it last time because honestly it deserves it. so go listen one and all, to don’t forget your gun by land of valen.

this song is so gosh darn clever. there’s a lot happening hiding behind the image of a rather run of the mill indie track. the liberal use of hooks feels almost like a throw at the wall type strategy, but it if you sit with it it really isn’t. all of the catchy melodies being employed here have a purpose and work their way into different parts of the song with different intent and it lands. let’s take the main chorus vocal, where the backing vocals come in to echo the main vocal in such a way that doesn’t take away from the main vocalists performance, but with just enough harmonic difference to add weight and strnegth to the line. it works both off the back of the contrast to what’s come before, but also with the additional impact of a 3 then 1 structure, where a melody is repeated 3 times and then broken with a different melody on the fourth repeat. it’s a classic structure but what makes it land is the detail of the hey hey hey’s on the run in and out of the chorus. this has the effect of smoothing out the transition of verse to chorus. this allows the energy to jump up making that extra vocal pallatte feel earned, but it also contextualises that new element. this all comes together in that final bridge when we get a repeat of the vocal but now sans the backing vocal. in this instance, it feels empty and like the energy has dropped which is exactly what you want from a middle 8 allowing the final chorus to land in, shaking things up a lil with those hey hey heys now serving a backing purpose.

i really wish this song leaned heavier into the folky percussive elements. in the back half of the choruses for example, there’s this really fun thing they do with the kick drum where they synchopate the main beat to introduce a wee bunny hop just at the end of the chorus. it has this effect of making the whole song feel like it’s just like, strapped in raring to go, but is unable to break free justtttt yet. it’s really cool and i really rate it. i want more elements like that, basically.

now, i know that this is not, in fact, yeehaw. however, if there ever were someone who embodies just a bit of that yeehaw spirit, then i think, this might be them.

actually another artist i’ve been a bit obsessed with, empress of, who i think is again someone who is just going to go crazy soon. very much on the poppy end of thigns where this is more indie, but i thinkt here’s a lot of decent parallels there and i think if you liked this then give empress of a shot.

this artist has some really big and really cool tracks. this is definitely a highlight for me, but there’s enough there i think people can really sink their teeth into if they like it. it’s also a pretty brand new track and i really hope it’s a sign of what’s to come because if so then, damn.

or better yet, reply to this email! what did you think of this song? have you been listening to anything good lately? any gems i’ve missed?

next edition out next tuesday!