Noots Letter: Good Night Moo Deng
September 2024
I’ve long said that September is the best month, but I am only just now looking around and seeing that some of the hottest, coolest, smartest, most creative, best people I know are quietly Virgos (I am also a Virgo)! ‘Tis the season of Beyoncé, Kobe, Zendaya, Keanu, Idris, Shania, and many others with iconic one-word names (for instance, Noots). I’d like to also give an honorary Virgo shoutout to my sister Moo Deng, who is technically a Cancer sun but also a Virgo moon, and whose existence we became aware of, and perhaps too obsessed with, this month.
And the best news? What a month it was for fantastic tunes!!!!
If you want a perfect 10!!!!
We’re ¾ of the way through the year, so I’m finally handing out tens. Dora Jar, No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire (2024) was the first for me. From satisfying guitar riffs to wacky existential to entrancing vocals, this is a dynamic and mad entertaining debut album from someone beyond her years.
If you’re wondering if I take suggestions…
Please God yes. Do you know how hard this is to do on my own? Thankfully someone reminded me about the existence of Melt, whose breakout hit “Sour Candy” had me by the neck in 2017. Their lead singer, Veronica Stewart-Frommer, has one of the most insane ranges I’ve ever heard from a regular person. Melt sounds like the baby of Lake Street Dive and Remi Wolf, and I do not understand how they’re not as famous as either of those two yet. Their debut album, If There's Heaven (2024), was an instant 10 for Noots.
If you’re wondering which 2000s Pop Queens With Numerical Album Titles Associated With Problematic Producers still got it…
Nelly Furtado, 7 (2024)? Got it. Katy Perry, 143 (2024)? Definitively does not got it.
If you’re into “Going” “Out”...
Congrats on attending the Sweat Tour, I’m not jealous at all ha ha. It’s not news that we’re hearing and seeing resurgences of Recession Pop, Indie Sleaze, and Obama-era positivity: Gen Z is grasping at 2000s themes, nostalgia, and a pre-phone, pre-pandemic, pre-commercialized era that they will never experience. No one embodies this more than The Dare, What's Wrong With New York (2024). I feel like this man and this album embodies everything I can’t stand, and yet I found this to be an ironically catchy and, frankly, refreshing listen?? Even more, I really enjoyed Jamie xx, In Waves (2024), a joyful collab to wrap up summer.
If you want to channel your misunderstood teenage rage…
There are a couple times per year where I hear an album, and I wish so terribly I had heard it when I was younger and moodier and more unsure. This is not because I want to feel any of those things again, yikes, but because Honeyglaze nails these feelings and more on Real Deal (2024). This is a tremendous album that takes you on a journey of longing from start to finish, sonically maturing as you listen. I wish I did not have to listen to a new album everyday (I am literally choosing to do this, no one is forcing me lol) so that I could just sit and listen to this one over and over.
If you wish more indie rock bands were made up of less boring midwestern guys and more iconic Spanish women…
Great news, listen to Hinds, VIVA HINDS (2024). This album is triumphant: overcoming industry challenges, surviving breakups, finding joy, and most importantly, celebrating their love for each other. I love friendship and love songs about friendship!!!
If you’re into being all Fun & Dumb on the surface but secretly hold the truth that teenage girls’ thoughts should be studied by scientists…
Coco & Clair Clair, Girl (2024). They’re so silly yet so brilliant. Following up on their iconic remix of the “Sims 2” theme (2017), this time they take on CSN&Y’s “Our House”. It’s literally so brave of them.
If you got a taste for some TWANG…
I know people are obsessed with Billy Strings, so I gave Highway Prayers (2024) a chance, and I’m impressed! This boy’s got some dexterity! If you’ve got an Americana road trip coming up, I can also recommend Johnny Blue Skies & Sturgill Simpson’s Passage Du Desir (2024) and Grace Potter’s Mother Road (2023).
If you enjoyed Daisy Jones & the Six…
Then I’m once again mentioning Suki Waterhouse, who played Karen in the TV show and just released the delightful Memoir of a Sparklemuffin (2024) ~ an absolutely bonkers title. You’ll probably also enjoy Stereophonic, Stereophonic Original Cast Recording (2024), which I finally saw on Broadway this month, followed by more time reading the extraordinarily lengthy Fleetwood Mac Wikipedia page.
For a bit more retro-inspired rock…
The Heavy Heavy, One of a Kind (2024), has a real Jefferson Airplane-era thing going on with that bright guitar and The Mamas & The Papas-style vocal harmonies.
If you own twinkle lights and are into soup…
There’s a good chance you’ll love the bouncy warmth of Kate Bollinger, Songs From A Thousand Frames of Mind (2024). This is yet AGAIN a long-awaited debut album from Miss Bollinger, whose vintage singer-songwriter tunes echo those of Clairo’s Charm.
If you like musical theatre and also the film Joker…
Then you’ll love Lady Gaga, Harlequin (2024). Eerie. This is an image of you.
If you’re re-entering Sad Boy season…
Porches, Shirt (2024)--oof. Christian Lee Hutson, Paradise Pop. 10 (2024) if you’re into Phoebe Bridgers features. Saw Renny Conti live last week and loved his tender songwriting on might.bail (2022). And NPR is shoving MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks (2024), down my throat so I guess I’ll recommend him too.
I use the phrase “Sad Boy” ironically, cheekily, of course, but I do want to note that there are so many legitimate reasons to be feeling the weight of the world right now, especially as we come up on an entire year of attacks on and countless deaths in Gaza. Aptly, Mustafa, Dunya (2024) uses his poetic sensibilities to sing and write so beautifully about “the world and its flaws.” It’s also a fitting opportunity to return to his summer single, “Gaza Is Calling”, whose proceeds go to Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
If you want to know what falling in love sounds like…
When I look back on my teenage self, I am not proud of much, but I am proud of having music taste that aged well (many thanks to my older sisters whose CDs I inherited). My first and most eternal love was Snow Patrol, Eyes Open (2006). While The Forest Is The Path is wholesome for sure (2024), I’m so glad they haven’t fallen into the trap of their corny counterparts (cough cough The Script). Their sound is consistent–it still rocks me, still makes me feel like I’m in a movie, still makes me love them after all these years.
