Noots Letter: Cherry Blossom Coloured Funk

March - May 2023

Hi! I’m so happy we’re both here. Especially considering [blah blah blah it’s been a really busy spring lalala excuse excuse**].

**March was swallowed up by my anticipation of the Boygenius record and subsequent scouring of the internet from top to bottom in search of every single possible Boygenius meme. Like this one. And this one. And this one. In April, I learned a lot of Jason Robert Brown music for a production and helped write a whole ass musical for a sold-out concert (follow along for clips and development at @AtTheBarreMusical)! Then in May, I was in a spooky silly play about cults and made music for a virtual play with Ars Nova’s ANTFest this summer. Now, I am reliving my 8th grade fantasy by studying the score of Rent, coming up in July.

But luckily for you, this newsletter is not about musicals. It is about COOL stuff that COOL people (you) will like. Speaking of cool stuff, my current favorite app is one called Kiwi, which is like BeReal but for your Spotify. It’s a great way to share music with your friends (something I miss about stalking the live feed Spotify used to feature), AND it holds me accountable to keep listening to one album per day. Which I am still doing, regardless of whether or not this newsletter demonstrates it!

Here are some handpicked highlights for your specific needs (do note that my favorites are all the way at the bottom, so you have to read the whole thing to get there <3) :

If you’re wondering what massive music superstars sound like these days…

Miley Cyrus’s Endless Summer Vacation (2023) hit harder than any breakup album I’ve heard recently. She’s had many questionable eras and I’ve never been a true fan, mostly because I did not have Disney Channel to watch Hannah Montana growing up. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by her long-awaited self-awareness, nod to folk roots, and a “Flowers” demo that sounded like it could have been the final number of A Star Is Born.

People praising Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (2023) felt like those guys in high school who claimed to actually enjoy Kerouac’s The Road. Bruhhhh I was bored. Even the Bleachers one was like the least eventful musical number Jack has ever created. Speaking of Jack & massive music superstars, I will leave this here if you love parasocial lore, then I will not be discussing any of these characters further.

T-Pain randomly dropped On Top Of The Covers (2023) on St. Patrick’s Day. Famously I don’t count EPs as albums in my one-a-day, but he deserves a mention because I never thought I would hear T-Pain cover “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Also because not a day goes by where I don’t think about the episode of This Is Pop where Usher told him he ruined music… Justice for T!

And for the rest of every pop star ever, stay tuned for the Barbie soundtrack, the true album of the 2023 summer. Or, in the meantime, Adam’s playlist to get you in the mood.

If you ever saw Avatar: Way of Water…

I did not. But listening to M83’s Fantasy (2023) is what I imagine it felt like. M83 was from this era of the early 2010s when indie pop became mainstream and every band seemingly received what I would call The Lumineers Treatment. Awolnation, Empire of Sun, Grouplove, Walk the Moon, etc. had incredible discographies that were overshadowed–and even tainted by–singular uber massive hits. Looking forward to the resurgence of this, which will hopefully start whenever we emerge from the indie-sleaze slump of this year!

If you have taken a new lover…

Congrats! Listen to Kali Uchis, Red Moon in Venus (2023) for making out, thank me later. If you feel like you are in your non-toxic relationship era, so is Emily King in Special Occasion (2023). Arlo Parks’s My Soft Machine (2023) is a poppier follow-up to breakout record Collapsed In Sunbeams (2021), but “Pegasus” has been on repeat in my household. These wholesome themes are echoed in Begonia’s Powder Blue (2023), namely “Married by Elvis”.

If you want an album that feels like springtime sunsets at the park…

‘Tis the season for lemonade, spiked lemonade, jorts, tall grass, block parties, ice cream trucks. After a long day biking around, try Masego’s MASEGO (2023). Coming off of viral fame with an FKJ collaboration that remains one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen, this self-titled album is a brilliant confluence of layers in a style he refers to as “trap house jazz.”

And if you want more jazz now…  

Yazmin Lacey, Voice Notes (2023). Eloise, Drunk On A Flight (2023). ​​Cécile McLorin Salvant, Mélusine (2023). Easily three favorite vocalists of late. 

One of the only albums NOT from 2023 that I listened to this spring but loved so much…

Soft Blue Shimmer, Heaven Inches Away (2020). Anyone who knows me knows I am feral for a set of shoegazers! And what a name for a genre right? I love imagining this tradition of bands creating the fullest, most reverberant, electrifying sound ever, and then giving us the shyest possible vocals. The Hope Sandoval effect! Slay.

If you wanted to know what album I was listening when my new nephew (!!) was born…

The Tallest Man on Earth, Henry St. (2023). What’s crazy ironic is that I was walking past Henry St. listening to Henry St. while my sister gave birth and then she named him Henry. I swear I did not know this pre-birth. Please contact me if, upon hearing this story, you feel I may be a psychic medium.

Speaking of sons, if you were wondering if Bono has any famous sons…

He does! His name is Elijah Hewson and he is the lead singer/guitarist of Inhaler. While I was listening to Cuts & Bruises (2023), I was like “Wow, they kind of sound like U2.” Boy, was I in for a nepo-flavored treat upon opening www.wikipedia.com! 

If you are ready to be happy and wanna walk in your room without looking for them!!!!!!

Boygenius, The Record (2023). Hmu if you’re also going to be crying in the club to this soon, or also in-person on June 17 in NYC.

If you want French vibes but want to understand what they’re saying…

En Attendant Ana, Principia (2023). I have no idea how I came across them but do not sleep on these vibes! Order a skin-contact wine and frolic across the city to “Wonder”—easily one of my favo(u)rite tracks of the year.

If you’re ready to dance… 

Aminé & Kaytranada, Kaytraminé (2023) are the obvious answers. But Yaeji, With a Hammer (2023) brought me back to 2017’s iconique “Raingurl”. Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good! (2023) was actually so upbeat that I had to turn it off once because I wanted to stay in a grumpy mood. Felicita, Spalarkle (2023) was a wacky neon journey that made me wonder, “Should I try more drugs?” In Kari Faux’s Real B*tches Don’t Die! (2023), she said “gangsta bitches need forehead kisses” and I’ve actually never heard something more truthful. 

If you’re out in the countryside…

In April, I had a big week in farmland revisiting Adrianne Lenker, songs (2020), and also connected with the following folk records:  Jen Cloher, I Am the River, The River is Me (2023); Feist, Multitudes (2023); Fenne Lily, Big Picture (2023); Billie Marten, Drop Cherries (2023); Fruit Bats, A River Running to Your Heart (2023); and Kara Jackson, Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? (2023). Special shoutout to friend & NL reader Louis DeFelice, who released Domestic (2023) this spring—listen real close, I sing one harmony on one chorus one time. Search and find, heaux!

If you work listening to instrumental music… 

Harrison, Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees (2023) if you’re into lofi beats. Gia Margaret, Romantic Piano (2023) if you’re into, well, romantic piano.

If you’re seeking joy… 

Simply put, Joy Oladokun’s Proof of Life (2023) feels like she’s making music for a younger self. Or at least music I wish I had when I was younger. Featuring collaborations with Noah Kahan, Mt. Joy, Chris Stapleton, Proof of Life is a lovely album for the curious observers and the questioning believers. 

If you listened to Aurora by Daisy Jones & The Six and were underwhelmed…

Try The Lemon Twigs, Everything Harmony (2023). Formerly somehow child Broadway stars, these guys sound like they stepped straight out of the 1970s. But not in the plagiaristic/rip-off way of worser former theatre kids GVF. The Lemon Twigs pay such careful and tender homage that you should definitely introduce them to your dad.

On a similar note, I find it funny that older bands who became famous for their distinct sound are currently making music that could not be more unalike (not to name names but it rhymes with Shmepeche Shmode’s Shmemento Shmori). A record that maintains some of the band’s original feeling is The Zombies, Different Game (2023). Love their tune “Love You While I Can”. 

For further retro vibes… 

Durand Jones, Wait Til I Get Over (2023) is a soulful celebration with a big band feel and soaring vocals that “smells like zesty magnolias on a hot July day in Louisiana” (his words, not mine!). Q’s SoulPRESENT (2023) has notably contemporary feel–he is, after all, 23 years young–but infuses so many synth grooves and such ‘80s funk that it is reminiscent of Prince, MJ, George Michael, etc. Listen to “Stereo Driver” and tell me that wouldn’t absolutely slap at your mom’s 1984 prom. 

More wildly 2023 vibes… 

With i heart the internet (2023), Harriette has solidified her place among the wry contemporary indie folk girlies like Faye Webster and Haley Blais. With her quippy takes about the internet, married exes, girlhood, and Texas roots, she bittersweetly navigates her place as a young person in the post-9/11 / fourth-wave feminist digital / mass media age. 

If you want to know my favorites (you better) this spring, and probably this whole year...

Caroline Rose, The Art of Forgetting (2023). In my increasingly old age (nearing death everyday!), I am rarely so bewitched by a singular album. This one makes me want to run through the middle of the streets and whilst crying out of both heartache and triumph, simultaneously. The builds, storytelling, everything–makes me feel just like Carol’s dad once said: in a few years, people are going to look back and realize this is a classic.

Further 100% no-skip albums are Indigo De Souza, All of This Will End (2023) and Miya Folick, Roach (2023). This is long so I won’t say more. Just listen to these three if you do nothing else.

And for all 500~ favorites this year so far…

That’s all. Love you! See you soon :)