June 7: Metaphorical Music - Nujabes
(2003)

lofi hip hop beats to relax/study to! it’s taken me a while to get to this landmark instrumental/jazz rap album but i’m so glad it finally happened (obligatory RIP to nujabes also). such genuinely fantastic production, it just melts into your ears. the atmosphere is an early 2000s walk through the city on a crisp mid-autumn morning. soothing, but just the right amount of energetic to keep you engrossed in the sounds. each instrument ... read more

June 6: META - PinocchioP
(2023)

today a more quirky, electropop-focused vocaloid album. it brings this ipod touch-esque modernity and a level of energy that *weather station* didn’t have, but i wouldn’t call it bubbly in the sense a lot of that type of music is—and reminds me that unfortunately i’m probably missing a lot by both not being able to understand a ton of japanese and not viewing the music videos alongside this. eventually i’ll come back to these ... read more

June 5: WHAT HAVE WE DONE - pH-1
(2025)

happy friend rec friday (from @flabby4327)! she brings some decent K-R&B/hiphop. the songs all have a great flow to them, good features as well—above all else i think the intended emotion here is fun. the production was cool too, but nothing i haven’t heard already in other places. that same-y feeling (maybe unfounded, i don’t know) made this a bit hard to want to choose over whatever else i’ve done, but that being said, i ... read more

June 3: WEATHER STATION - INABAKUMORI
(2022)

this album begins our new vocaloid week, made up almost exclusively of recs from the expert, @lavvenderr! after a long couple years generally turning up my nose to it i figured it’s time to drop the act. instrumentally we have groovy J-rock here (both the guitar and bass all over this is crazy) contrasted with quite soft vocals in front of it. i found that made the robotic side more prominent but used it very much to the music’s ... read more

June 2: 11 Tracks of Whack - Walter Becker
(1994)

with this being 12 songs long, i wonder which one he thought wasn’t whack enough to mention. it understandably is pretty reminiscent of the sleazy jazz rock of later steely dan, it’s laid back and it knows that. his sly vocals are a strong point… the only thing that might fit better over this is donald fagen’s voice, oddly enough. his own specialty, the guitar, is also worth listening to. the album doesn’t ... read more

June 1: melanchole - salvia palth
(2013)

freaky (but pretty) sound! the lofi vocals and the really spaced out instrumentals create this atmosphere of dismal longing that is as discomforting as it is oddly the exact opposite. the slowness of it all burns at you the entire time and gives off this pop-infused *everywhere at the end of time* vibe. it never exactly blew my mind and the singing could use some work, maybe i’m not used to slowcore yet, but who am i to judge, when all i did at ... read more

May 31: WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA - Slayyyter
(2026)

in all my years… NEVER has an album ever made me want to turn to the young ho life more than this. me impressing volume up button trade. she’s filthy, loud, harsh, and has all the perfect ingredients for an album to force a chokehold on the clubs, like i’m sure this has already. her sound is genuinely electrifying, a down-to-the-cell split between bubbly and trashy. imagine ninajirachi on crack. not like turned up to the ... read more

May 18: The Visitors - ABBA
(1981)

my all new euro pop week begins with a familiar face—only this time, being made after both couples divorced, it’s a lot more serious than i’m used to from such a bubbly foursome like ABBA. the wonky opening title track and the *mamma mia!* numbers, “one of us” and the tearjerking “slipping through my fingers,” were the standouts, everything else just pretty good. even then, i couldn’t imagine a better, more ... read more

May 17: Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan
(1965)

after a decent vacation-induced break from reviewing i am #back. the first bob dylan album to incorporate electric instruments and thus the first to piss a whole genre's fanbase off. it's pretty awesome, and imo brings sounds that the folk genre very much needed at the time to stay cool. that being said, the more acoustic second half is great too, prob even better than the first. i fw opener "subterranean homesick blues" ... read more

May 11: Excursions - C418
(2018)

i’m choosing to believe this is what that third minecraft album was gonna be like. absolutely serene and a perfect evolution of his most well-known work into a cooler, more house-y sound

Favs: excursions, cold summer, tingle, beton, thunderbird, aviva, figure 8, nest, leak, the president is dead, hope

May 9: Bangarang - Skrillex
(2011)

doritos and mountain dew music. the overwhelming cool factor is the real draw in dubstep. it’s a lot on the ears! heavy chaos all over the place, and it even has a doors collab. i can’t say it’s my fav but it certainly gets you pumped. the big one here is the insanely tuff title track, which no one who lived through the early 2010s does not know. shout out to all my boss boys? i’m eating fun dip rn not giving a fuck? sirah says it all ... read more

May 8: Circus - Argent
(1975)

today's friend rec is from @diamondbootz! this is the second zombies off-shoot i've listened to this year (and second recommended by him) and still i haven't made the time to check out the main event. funny how that works. it's a prog rock album using the circus as a metaphor for life, with an evangelion-esque cover. some particularly amazing piano and keyboard work on this. the zombies guys are clearly cut from the same cloth as i sense a lot ... read more

May 7: Parklife - Blur
(1994)

one of two of the great 90s britpop craze's heads. my second round with them is better than the first! turns out i'm a sucker for blokes bumbling about on the bguitar. energy (and beatles influence) is what it's all about here. the opener "girls & boys" is one of their biggest hits and for damn good reason. infectiously catchy, a tongue twister of a chorus hook, a slap in the face of a riff. a song that sounds aggressively bi and ... read more

May 6: …I Care Because You Do - Aphex Twin
(1995)

twelve sets of straight gloopin on that beat. i can’t find many words to say as this is one of those types of music that i feel i can only appreciate from a distance and not adequately review, being all instrumental and all electronic, as well as kinda long. “ventolin” hurts my ears and “alberto balsalm” is nice on them. that being said, i liked what i heard on the whole, though i’ve heard better from ... read more

May 4: Dig Your Own Hole - The Chemical Brothers
(1997)

i'm hearing the chemical brothers are known as the face of an electronic style called big beat. which is just heavy emphasis on breakbeats i think. and that tracks, bc every drum or bass sample on this album slaps me in the face and i need more and more as it goes. the album gives a feeling like so: i'm being visited by aliens and it turns out they're chill asf. the opener "block rockin' beats" does exactly ... read more

May 3: Aqualung - Jethro Tull
(1971)

once upon a time, a couple years ago, i almost listened to this album and vividly remember being like "nahhh i'm not in the mood." something something the circle of life. imagine if led zeppelin made some solid prog and you've got *aqualung* by jethro tull. folk-influenced hard rock truly is a gift from god. it has these little songs in between the "main" ones and i enjoy that, they're functional interludes. also the flute ... read more

May 2: U - underscores
(2026)

as time passes i’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of electronic music. so starting today is a week all about that big umbrella! every trans girl in my mutuals (i hope there are a lot) get in FL studio RIGHT NOW and i guarantee you could do great things, as our friend april harper grey aka underscores very much has here today. she loves her computer i think (lil ninajirachi reference for you). and i can draw a lot of parallels between this and that. ... read more

May 1: Flight Patterns - Flight Patterns
(2022)

so i found out the other day a friend from my japanese class is or was in this band and played lead guitar... i will never pass up an opportunity to check out things people i know have made themselves! especially since they're like... not even a small artist?? emo is a genre i haven't gone too deep into but am always fascinated by for the depth of sound and genuinity (is that a word) of performance. the guitar parts are great and ... read more

April 29: The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
(1982)

classic heavy metal, come on. this album is seriously epic. every instrument has its chance to shine on basically every song. powerful ass guitar. it’s their first album with the lovely bruce dickerson also, and what a range this guy has! it’s almost over the top how good it is. coupled with their very portrait-painting lyrics and we have a fantastic experience on our hands. “children of the damned” is insane. the ... read more

April 28: Exmilitary - Death Grips
(2011)

capping off pretentious guy week with the “freakiest shit you’ve ever heard.” this predates my only other experience with them, *the money store*, by a year—but it gives the same feeling. like my adrenaline's pumping a mile a second, and i have the urge to go shoot heroin in a public park with a dirty needle. industrial hip hop is just one of those, like you've never heard anything like this. "beware" opens ... read more