New Monday #132

Happy Monday!

Is there a better way to spend the weekend than listening to new music and mixing? Even if the thing you're mixing is needing a lot of work?

Maybe that makes mixing better—that challenge. Otherwise, mixing might become, "MixBot, do something about the overheads because the crash cymbals make me want to drone strike the Zildjian factory." Not that it's Zildjian's fault that smashing a crash cymbal on quarter notes for the entirety of the chorus is the sonic equivalent of being waterboarded.

Speaking of water and being bored, let's discuss Oasis.

Oasis

Briefly. I never liked those guys as much as those guys liked themselves, but there are some killer tunes scattered across their albums (Shock of the Lightning is my personal favorite), and I always enjoy a bit of Noel Gallagher because he's got a big mouth and he's funny.

Here's a quick interview with Noel, slagging on his brother, talking about drugs, drinking and bad decisions, and the early days of Oasis. It's short, fun, and worth a read.

https://paulreesuk.substack.com/p/noel-gallagher-does-looks-back?r=n2vwz&utm_medium=ios

Munan

Real name: Peter Lee. Of Korean descent but based in Australia. Or maybe he's back in South Korea, I do not know. His music is coming out of the Australian Neo-Psychedelic scene, spearheaded by Tame Impala, Pond, The Psychedelic Porn Crumpets and all the nifty weirdness that emerged from Perth in the 2010s.

The records from the scene are sonically really interesting, with all sorts of pedals and effects, and a ton of drums that sound like there's a Level-Loc on them. And bass driven. There's always big bass sounds taking a lead role. Motown meets Level-Loc meets Molly in some warehouse rehearsal space.

I first heard Munan this weekend—he's rather niche with about 2k followers on both YouTube and Instagram. He's tiny. How do I wind up finding him?

He cropped up in the background music of a scene in the Neo-Noir detective from outer space series Sugar on Apple TV.

Sugar and Gabe Hilfer

Sugar stars Colin Farrell as private dick John Sugar, an alien from another world, left behind after his people fled Earth to prowl Los Angeles in gorgeous bespoke suits, driving a 1961 Corvette and solving mysteries that are intercut with scenes from classic Film Noirs from the 40s and 50s. When Sugar remembers, sometimes he remembers Glen Ford and Rita Hayworth. The show is full of stunning images.

And it's full of excellent music. Music supervisor Gabe Hilfer has WIDE EARS. Sugar ranges from Duke Ellington to rap, from Billy Joel to Rosalìa, from UFO to Daft Punk to Munan... from huge to tiny.

If there's a rock star music supervisor, it's Gabe Hilfer. His CV is a list of hip shows: White Lotus, Euphoria, Marty Supreme, Ozark, Blue Eyed Samurai, The Walking Dead, Mare of Easttown and most recently, Lanterns. If it's cool, Gabe is providing the mix tape for it. What a great gig!

Back to Munan

Here's a link to a Munan EP---> here's the EP.

The guy can write. There's something modern and something vintage and classic going on here. He's not the strongest vocalist, but his voice is perfect for the songs. He makes me want to make music—can there be a better compliment?

Below is the song I heard on Sugar, featuring Munan changing his clothes:

Same chords as Wicked Games. But who cares? This is GOOD STUFF. Check out the melodies and how interesting they are, and how the texture shifts, and how it grooves like a mutha.

Here's Munan and his group rehearsing a bit. From his Instagram @munanisaverage.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK8fProSM0U/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsi=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Actually, Munan in Korean means 'easy.' Or that's what Munan says. I ran it through Google Translate and it didn't translate. Whatevs. My new favorite guy.

Will Peter Munan Lee get as big as Angine de Poitrine? It remains to be seen. But maybe ya heard it here first!

And here's a thing to think about: how do you get your music heard by Gabe Hilfer? How do you get your work on a TV show?

More Sugar

Here's a Sugar Season 2 Soundtrack playlist. So damn good, and it all works together.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEVH-6-s-tVUqiFg8Qn0nTUK3Q5WWTZIn&si=hfuiJ2hTKz9F8r4Q

And here it is on Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/music-from-sugar/pl.4cf5ec665bab487092768c5979738a4d

Level-Loc Lesson

The third and last of my written lessons on the Shure Level-Loc. This one is on using it for noises and effects. On the mix that is Aurel waterboarding I'm three hours in and the Level-Loc is already on two tracks, neither drums. It's adding its own weirdness to a guitar and a keyboard part. The link for the lesson is below.

Level-Loc 03 - Noise and Effects with the Level-Loc

The Level-Loc is on sale until the end of the month. At least try a demo and screw around with it a bit.

That's all for today... back to mixing and those smoked baby backs out back.

Warm regards,

Luke