#and my favorite song from the new 100 gecs album

[muunne]

I wasn't tagged but 😳 @zicko said I could if I wanted to so

post your: lock screen, home screen, last image saved, last song listened to

I'll tag @louyook @ishizusv @reddidh @dandelion-snow @lizzy0305

#hello my lovely friends #im so sorry for tagging you zicko i hope thats okay 🥺👉👈 #blease ignore that both my lock and home screen are nge in the year 2023 #instead appreciate the jagermeister x monster baby food #and my favorite song from the new 100 gecs album #as always is okay if you dont do it but 🥺 #i jus wanted yall to know im thinking of u 🥺💕 #and even if i didnt tag you and you want to !! pls go ahead n u can tag me back ! #pls pls pls appreciate my home screen #every time i look at her i feel like im looking at a picture of my son #look at how happey she is with her fish :>

[taste-in-music]

My Top 30 Songs of 2023

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my annual countdown of my 30 favorite songs of the year. 2023 had a lot of great music releases, and I’m so excited to recount the songs I returned to this year. And now, let us commence with the list!

Here are 10 additional honorable mentions: "Wide Eyes" by Loviet, "I Cry When You Sleep" by Pearly Drops, "Dreamgirl" by Father Koi, "My Love Mine All Mine" by Mitski, "Batman Song" by Cat Missal, "The Neighborhood" by Grace Enger, "I Been Young" by George Clanton, "Bright Red" by Ryan Beatty, "Dumbest Girl Alive" by 100 Gecs, and "The Narcissist" by Blur.

30. Angora Hills by Doja Cat: “Angora Hills,” a hit off Doja Cat's latest album Scarlet, is airy yet effortlessly self-assured, trading between quick-spit rap verses and a chorus of kitteny coos. But don’t get too lost in the sparkling keys and cutesy voicemails. There’s a spark, an edge, a darkness lurking in the murky bass and ominous synths which lends the song a greater intensity. “'Cause love is pain but I need this shit,” Doja Cat raps on the second verse, playing out cleverly rhymes romantic fantasies with an exhibitionist spin. “I wanna show you off,” she suggests on the song’s chorus, the red-hot desire roiling just beneath the surface.

29. Slut! by Taylor Swift: I think everyone was a little surprised hearing “Slut!,” the first vault track on 1989 (Taylor’s Version). When I first saw that title, I thought I was in for a catchy package of sassy one-lines and circa-2014 pop feminism. Instead, we got a tenderhearted ballad of wispy synths and Swift’s insightful musings on love in the limelight. Commentary does creep in (“Everyone wants him, that was my crime,”) but Swift focuses more on choice imagery of a love worth risking it all for: aquamarine swimming pools, thorny roses, and lovedrunk confessions. Sometimes, the most defiant thing is knowing that no matter how people might try to strip you of dignity, they’ll never be able to take your love away from you.

28. Nothing Matters by The Last Dinner Party: All-female British rock outlet The Last Dinner Party made a splash in 2023 with their confrontational yet exuberant debut single “Nothing Matters.” For a song with such a nihilistic title, it packs a punch of gravitas and a wry sense of humor. Lead vocalist Abigail Morris knows just when to heighten the melodrama, stretching the word “sailor” into “say-lahr” and belting the final refrain to the high heavens: “You can hold me like you held her / And I will fuck you like nothing matters.” In the music video, the group stomps around a gothic mansion in frilly petticoats and leather boots, tearing up feather mattresses and lip synching down to a camera positioned six feet deep in a grave. It all exhibits a keen ability to balance out the toughness with a cheeky wink, making it clear the group is only just getting started.

27. Running Out Of Time by Paramore: Much of Paramore’s sixth album This Is Why tears into the absurdity and stress of modern life. On “Running Out Of Time,” Hayley Williams captures the breakneck speed of life accelerated by packed schedules and the 24 hour news cycle, describing a self-destructive ouroboros of trying to catch up with the clock, doing her best to do good and always coming up short. “Intentions only get you so far,” she sings, “What if I’m just a selfish prick…?” It captures the stress and self-doubt, but also the conviction to keep moving forward despite it all. Williams provides a spirited performance as always, her vocals cutting through a pop rock groove that provides just enough energy to keep you from falling down the doom spiral completely.

26. Designated Driver by Taylor Janzen: Taylor Janzen’s debut album I Live In Patterns offered up several tracks which balanced heartfelt lyrics with propulsive pop flourishes, but it was “Designated Driver” that maintained the most momentum for me throughout this year. Atop a steady thrum of shimmering synths, Janzen unpacks her mixed feelings on being the "dependable friend," cracking under the pressure like a windshield. As the song builds, Janzen unveils the self-doubt eating away at her, where the raw emotions draw the other person in to detrimental effect: “you put your trust in a daydream / ’cause you love this dying part of me.” Janzen has the acute ability to put language to even the most obscure shades of anguish and giving them a more anthemic spin. “Designated Driver” is the song you can blast to get you through the grief, even as the toxicity shrinks away in the rearview.

25. One Of Your Girls by Troye Sivan: “One Of Your Girls” is a song so smooth that it’s easy to miss the melancholy which saturates its sparkling chords and clever lyrics. Troye Sivan taps into unrequited desire atop a lush, bassy thrum, describing a love interest who “everybody wants,” but who needs to keep their queerness covert. Sivan ushers in the song’s sing-along chorus with a languid sigh, glazing his voice in vocoder to keep the ache at bay: “Give me a call if you ever get desperate," he relents, "I'll be like one of your girls.” Pair it with a gender-bending music video, and you’ve got a song that delves into just how far a person might go obscure the hurt and save face.

24. I Need A New Boyfriend by Charly Bliss: It’s been four years since Charly Bliss’s last album Young Enough, and in 2023 they blasted back onto my radar with the scuzzy, snarky single “I Need A New Boyfriend.” This time, Charly Bliss sprinkle their anthemic rock sound with a touch of hyperpopping, bleep-blorping synths and churning electric guitars. Frontwoman Eva Hendricks laments her loser lover who grouches through parties and gives backhanded compliments, her observations both witty and scathing: “It took me three years but I finally figured it out / I’m just too fun for him,” “’Cause even though we had a five year plan / I couldn’t stay with him another minute.” By the song’s riotous end, you’ll also have the conviction to kick such soul suckers to the curb.

23. Feather by Sabrina Carpenter: It’s rare that a bonus track from a deluxe edition from an album is the source of a pop artist’s ascent to stardom. Rare, but not impossible. Case and point: “Feather,” the floaty bonus track from the deluxe edition of Sabrina Carpenter’s fifth album emails I can’t send. A downy kiss-off about leaving an ex in the past, Carpenter dreamily narrates the steps to her ghosting process over a softly strut beat of key glissandos and memorable ad-libs. It’s the humorous side of “Feather” that makes it a notable hit in Carpenter’s catalogue, the touches of sarcasm cut through the sweetness and showcase her multifaceted charisma as a performer. That little chuckle she lets out as she says “I’m so sorry for your loss” is the stuff superstars are made of.

22. LEFT RIGHT by XG: There was a handful of weeks back in the spring where every iota of my brain space was taken up by XG. The global girl group broke through with videos of the group’s rappers adding their own verses onto iconic modern beats, (group leader Jurin’s verse over ROSALÍA’s “SAOKO” is a bop and a half.) In a departure from the bombastic samples and in-your-face performances of those videos, XG takes a subtler approach on “LEFT RIGHT,” an ebullient blend of R&B and pop that goes down easy but has the same insidious ability to get stuck in my head. The lyrics are goofy yet earnest enough to make up for it. This boy has the narrator’s heart “Spinnin’ round and round / Just like my Pirellis, burning on the ground.” When a love is so strong it can pull you any direction, you’ve got no choice but to kick into gear and let the vibes carry you away.

21. Hummingbird by Metro Boomin ft. James Blake: When I took my seat in the theater to watch Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse, the second installment in Sony’s stunning animated superhero franchise, I knew the music was going to slap, (the needle drop for “What’s Up Danger” from the first movie is one of my all-time favorites.) While the soundtrack has many a banger, it was ultimately the tender hearted “Hummingbird” that I latched onto. James Blake lends his silky soft vocals to wistfully pine for a love that always remains just out of reach. Metro Boomin elevates the distance Blake describes with spacious and spacey production, dappled with piano and a chirpy sample of Patience & Prudence's "Tonight You Belong to Me." It’s a love song that spans time and space, across the Spider-Verse and well beyond.

20. Patty's Diner by Upstate: “Patty’s Diner” by Upstate came to me via a recommendation from a friend, (shoutout @bellamysgriffin) and I don’t know whether to thank or throttle her for it, because it’s one of the most potent tearjerkers I’ve heard in recent memory. Upon my first listen, I found the song to be starkly understated, nothing but a plucked guitar and traded verses from both lead vocalists. The central character is Patty, a diner owner who passed away from cancer. Now, her memory lives on in late-night radio commercials and fading recollections of her kindness, all recounted with a melancholy shrug. In its staggering simplicity, “Patty’s Diner” captures something potent about the grief we hold for loved ones: it can come with a smile as well as tears. Take a page from Patty’s book and keep pushing forward. What else are we supposed to do?

19. There It Goes by Maisie Peters: On her sophomore album The Good Witch, Maisie Peters writes a lot about the breakup experience. A whole number of spunky kiss-offs from that record could’ve landed on this list, but as the autumn chill locked in for the final months of the year, I found myself more and more drawn to the album’s penultimate moment of reprieve. “There It Goes” shows Peters letting go of the relationship by pivoting towards self-improvement. Atop a warm strummed guitar groove, she lists off the steps to reconnecting with her friends and herself: going to yoga class, reading novels, stumbling through the streets of Stockholm. Much of The Good Witch focuses on the thunder of emotions which come from heartbreak. “There It Goes” is the calm after the storm. It demonstrates the much harder to describe but no less essential development that happens after growing apart: growing up.

18. Only Love Can Save Us Now by Kesha: On her latest album Gag Order, Kesha pivoted from the party anthems that put her on the map in favor of a sparer, darker sound. Then halfway through the album, “Only Love Can Save Us Now” swings in to prove that Kesha can still serve up a barn-burning banger if she wants, and thank god she does. On “Only Love Can Save Us Now,” Kesha unloads a list of unapologetic declarations over a typewriter-clack beat, each line wry and searing: “Yeah, I'm possessive / Maybe I'm possessed, bitch / Fuck yeah, I'm selfish / Shut up, eat your breakfast.” The chorus kicks in with a rollicking guitar, gospel choir, stomping drums, and jangly pianos which all lend a folksy intensity. “I don’t got no shame left,” Kesha sings in the song’s final moments, “Baby, that’s my freedom.” It’s a moment of deft catharsis on an album so heavily defined by what it holds back, a defiant invitation to exorcise your regrets and then invite your demons to come and join the dance party.

17. Mother Nature by MGMT: It’s been five years since MGMT’s last album Little Dark Age, and it feels like I’ve lived a whole lifetime since then. “Mother Nature,” the lead single off their fifth album Loss of Life, shows that MGMT have seemingly grown as much as I have. The song is warm and welcoming, built from sunshiny strummed guitars I’d usually expect from Alex G or Big Thief. But the stargazing, larger-than-life scope of the group’s past work remains, merging the mundane with the magical. “I wrote the fairytale on the midnight drive,” Andrew VanWyngarden sings in the song’s opening moments, “Wanting to know if I'm more than alive.” The rest of the song walks this line between enchantment and ennui, alluding to a greater darkness looming just beyond the horizon. The bridge makes a swing for the anthemic, describing a castle siege over scuzzy wails of distorted synth, a last swipe for hope “before the fantasy is cast into the fire.” I can’t wait to hear how “Mother Nature” fits into Loss of Life, but it’s a song that is determined to live life to the fullest, even in the most barren of landscapes.

16. brrr by Kim Petras: Over the past few years, Kim Petras has become one of the pop landscape’s most audacious players, knowing when to wallop her listeners with unrestrained discussions of sexuality and when to play it coy. She finds a perfect balance between these realms on “brrr.” Built off a beat of squelchy synths and throbbing bass, “brrr” is equal parts daring and alluring. Petras addresses a love interest who puts up thick walls of ice around their heart and makes it clear that she sees right through the charade. “I’m not one to be afraid,” she lilts teasingly on the pre-chorus. Instead of being put off, she buys in, the implication clear as she delivers the title line with a wink and a smirk: “...you think you’re so cold, brrr.” Leave it up to Petras to make even the iciest of imagery steamy as hell.

15. labour by Paris Paloma: It starts with a low male voice, way back in the mix, counting her in on four. Then, the storm clouds roll in. On social media, “labour” by Paris Paloma has been deemed an anthem of female rage, but unlike the immediate, memetic quality of its viral peers, “labour” understands that rage needs time to simmer before it explodes. Paloma airs out every grievance of how this women’s work batters us in body, mind, and spirit, ruthlessly recounting bursting capillaries, cracked skin, every bullshit archetype and patriarchy-serving expectation thrown our way. Paloma knows that at the end of the day, no amount of spectacle could hit harder than the all-too-simple truth at the song’s core: “It’s not an act of love if you make her / you make me do too much labour.” Her vocals layer and layer until the final chorus slams into you like a tidal wave of anger, and by the song's final moments, Paloma has made the narratives made to hold us back into something wholly her own.

14. Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus by Nicole Dollanganger: Of all the tales Nicole Dollanganger spins on her album Married In Mount Airy, “Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus” is by far one of the most elusive. Dollanganger offers up a foreboding atmosphere of feather-light strings and dark ambient reverb. The imagery centers on rebirth, the baptismal potential of a tepid pool, bodies reclaimed by nature. It has little to do with the gory bacchanal of the mythical moment in the title, but the insinuation remains, seeping in at the seams to suggest violence and regeneration as potentially interconnected. On an album so concerned with all the evils of men, perhaps the most terrifying thing of all is what lies beyond our standard perception of human actions, of nature locked in shadow. On "Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus," Dollanganger offers a glimpse of this disembodied face in the darkness, one  we’ll never be able to truly know.

13. Sandrail Silhouette by Avalon Emerson: "Sandrail Silhouette" opens DJ Avalon Emerson's album & The Charm, reintroducing a new side of her craft. A departure from the electronic spin of her past work, the song feels organic yet gleaming, constructed of a move-and-shaker groove of rich strings, shuffleboard keys, and gloaming skids of bass. Emerson’s vocals waft over the landscape with the calming timbre of someone telling a bedtime story, stringing lyrics together like beads on a friendship bracelet. It’s an environment that’s easy to get lost in, so much so that it hit November before I even bothered to ask, what even is a "sandrail silhouette?" I have no clue, but it’s not so much about the words themselves as it is about the feelings they evoke, a wistful nostalgia that is aching yet hopeful. This feeling comes across in obtuse details (“Go ask a sequoia”) and stunning clarity alike (“Tell me I got more time / When all my friends are having daughters.”) Like the yearning for the past Emerson describes, my love for this song is hard to put into words. It’s easier to just sit back and let myself feel it.

12. WHAT A MAN by DEBBY FRIDAY: “WHAT A MAN” by DEBBY FRIDAY simply slams so fucking hard. I don’t know what else to say. From the very first listen I came to immediate conclusion that it slammed into oblivion and was one of my favorite songs of 2023. "WHAT A MAN" unfurls like an erotic noir thriller, all churning bass and musings on a love that’s slipped the narrator’s fingers. DEBBY FRIDAY’s lyrics are obtuse yet evocative, contributing to the seductive atmosphere: “I held a heart / It wasn’t mine / When he came looking / I wasn’t kind.” Stacks of escalating synths ratchet up the tension until all hell breaks loose on the back of a scorching electric guitar solo that’d make Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Phantom of the Opera jealous he didn’t come up with it first. It’s the kind of song that rips loose and is over all too fast, asking for forgiveness in the aftermath of ruin, and never, ever permission.

11. Top Dog by Magdalena Bay: Hands down the best pop song of the year to reference Laura Dern, a race that should by all means be a lot more competitive than it is. From its opening references to the actress, synth pop duo Magdalena Bay make it clear that this isn't a song where they're going to be taking themselves too seriously. Everything about "Top Dog" oozes lackadaisical confidence, all with a cheeky wink to the listener. Against a backdrop of strummed guitars, they pepper in samples of cameras snapping and, fittingly, dogs woofing. Not only that, but they also add in a healthy dose of aughts nostalgia with a synth palette that feels directly pulled from dial-up bleeps, Motorola ringtones, and 8-bit power-ups. Mica Tenenbaum’s vocals are a pitch-perfect balance of airy nonchalance and self-satisfaction, traversing through the goofy canine metaphors without once sounding like she’s forcing a punchline to land. It makes for a song that’s loopy, loping, and effortlessly fun.

10. Honey by Samia: It’s hard to pin down what makes the title track of Samia’s sophomore album so special. “Honey” is subtle yet anthemic, an ever-growing conviction coming into fruition over the song’s duration. “I’m not scared of sharks / I’m not scared to be naked / I’m not scared of anything,” Samia sings in the song’s opening moments, going on to narrate a continual climb towards self-confidence and determination. My favorite detail is the gradually growing backing chorus which appears and reappears with more intensity with each new iteration of the song’s main refrain. “It’s all honey,” Samia repeats, over and over at the song’s close. All the times I’ve listened to this song, and I still haven’t pinned down an exact meaning for that line, but maybe that’s the point. The nonchalance, the uncertainty, the acceptance that no matter where life takes us, it's sure to be sweet.

9. Welcome To My Island by Caroline Polachek: In the opening moment of Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, Caroline Polachek shows off the titanic potential of her voice, letting out a dexterous, breathtaking belt that warps and careens into the stratosphere. Even if the song was just comprised of its first thirty seconds, it’d probably still be on this list. But then, of course, there’s the rest of “Welcome To My Island,” a facetious introduction to the sonic space Caroline Polachek will go on to explore over the rest of the album. Over a glimmering, twitchy beat, Polachek half-raps, half-belts a series of pitches for her personal paradise of waving palm trees and placid oceans. On the song’s bridge, she gets more vulnerable, revealing the pathos amongst the phthalo blues: “I am my father’s daughter in the end,” she sings like she’s on the brink of tears, “no nothing’s gonna be the same again.” But when the groove snaps back over an outro of brassily tuned guitars and defiantly chanted “hey hey hey”s, it’s clear that Polachek’s island is worth booking an extended stay, self-doubt be damned.

8. bad idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo: “bad idea right?,” the second single on Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album GUTS, followed on the heels of operatic ballad “vampire” by not following it at all. Like the preceding sophomore single “deja vu,” it’s snarkier, wonkier, and (in my opinion,) way more engaging. While Rodrigo undeniably knows how to pen and pull off a dramatic power ballad, her comedic chops deserve recognition too. On “bad idea, right?” she chattily recounts a night of terrible decision making, tossing out hilarious, memorable one-liners at a dizzying rate: “…you're callin' my phone, you're all alone / And I'm sensing some undertones,” “I only see him as a friend / (The biggest lie I ever said,)” “I just tripped and fell into his bed.” The production ups the ante with a strutting bassline, ad-libs which drive every line home like Rodrigo’s inner monologue coming to life, and a squealing guitar solo in the song’s back end. " All in all, "bad idea right?" captures the tumultuous clownery that having a crush conjures up, self-aware embarrassment colliding with lovesick horniness that makes you look a wealth of poor choices the eye and brush it off with a “fuck it, it’s fine.”

7. Echolalia by Yves Tumor: Echolalia is baby babble, the sounds humans make when they don’t have a grasp on language, but still need to communicate some innate need. On their latest album Praise A Lord Who Chews, But Which Does Not Consume (Or, Simply, Hot Between World,) Yves Tumor taps into these primal urges, transmogrifying them to a cosmic level through the medium of phychedelic rock. Such is the case on slow burning second single “Echolalia,” a hazy whirlwind of devotion and desperation. “Looked up to god,” they sing in the first verse, “You looked so good.” Tumor’s voice stays in their husky lower register, gritted out with hushed intensity over an alluring blend of gleaming synths, burning bass, and heaving breaths. “The way I’m thinking, is this unnatural?” they inquire in the song’s final moments, then lay their hesitations to waste in the heat of the moment, “you look so magical." At its most intense, “Echoloalia” strips away the set dressing of pretty words and veneers, unveiling the desire, hunger, and everything that simmers just below the surface, begging to break free.

6. Casual by Chappell Roan: I’ve long bemoaned how many a great pop album has been brought to a screeching halt by a ballad haphazardly thrown in to make things more “emotional.” A pop artist holds genuine promise to me when they’re able to clear this hurdle and make an album’s slower moments just as compelling as the bops. I'm glad to announce that Chappell Roan pasts this test with “Casual,” a mid-album on her debut album The Rise and Fall Of A Midwest Princess. On "Casual," slower pace of the song provides space to let Roan's simmering frustrations with a one-sided situationship reach a breathtaking boiling point. Roan pines for something more official with a girl who insist on having “no connections,” pointing to front seat cunnilingus sessions and dinner dates with her maybe-belle’s parents as proof that they're much more than a casual fling. Eventually, Roan just can’t take it anymore. “I hate that I let this drag on so long,” she confesses at the top of her lungs, “you can go to hell.” It’s testament to Roan’s promise as an emergent pop force that she can establish compelling stakes which make the emotions of her ballads tangible, never skippable.

5. A&W by Lana Del Rey: I already gushed about “A&W” back in March for how it showcases Lana Del Rey’s versatility as a performer, her veracity as a lyricist, and her astuteness in curating her personal history. As the year progressed, “A&W” kept pulling me back into its tumultuous depths, trying to parse its meaning and always falling just a bit short. Over the course of the song’s two-part structure, Lana Del Rey deftly maps a trajectory from childhood innocence to reckoning with how the world will wolf women down without mercy, their physical bodies exploited as their humanity goes unseen. “It's not about havin' someone to love me anymore,” Del Rey states, “No, this is the experience of bein' an American whore.” Lana Del Rey has grappled with these themes of for her whole career, walking the line between nostalgic recollection and ironic deconstruction, but on “A&W” they sharpen into focus and hit both the heart and gut like never before. That switch up into the second half of the song still sends a chill down my spine every time it’s ushered in on the back of those skittering trap drums and roiling bass. “A&W” is everything that makes Lana Del Rey Lana Del Rey, it's alluring, eerie, it’s Venice, bitch, and it’s one of her best songs, period.

4. Boy's a Liar Pt. 2 by Pinkpantheress ft. Ice Spice: When I listen to “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” by Pinkpantheress featuring Ice Spice, I feel the popular music landscape shifting beneath my feet. A strange thought to have about a song that’s so pointedly small in scope. Even with the Ice Spice verse extending the length of “Boy’s a Liar,” the song just barely exceeds two minutes. Given such restrictions, the amount of detail both artists manage to cram in is nothing short of impressive. Pinkpantheress jam-packs the beat with bouncy synths and a drum pad which races like a fluttering pulse. Ice Spice spends most of her verse telling off the useless titular liar, but adds in a one-two punch of vulnerability near the end with a heartened confession: “…I don't sleep enough without you / And I can't eat enough without you / If you don't speak, does that mean we're through?” “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” is more than just a rare remix that exceeds the quality of the first installment. It’s the bona-fide hit of the TikTok generation that feels fully born of the app’s tendencies, it’s mile-a-minute pacing, nostalgic skew, casual intimacy, and brutal honesty all rolled up into an inescapable earworm. I’d take part three in a heartbeat.

3. Psychedelic Switch by Carly Rae Jepsen: Throughout her career, Canadian pop connoisseur Carly Rae Jepsen has captured love from all angles, rendered its scope of e•mo•tion in a slew of shades. “Psychedelic Switch” off her latest album The Loveliest Time shows her setting the disco ball to spin, covering the entire spectrum of light and color in one go. Over a pulsing, dance-floor ready beat, she swirls together metaphors with the precision of a gourmet mixologist, taking odds and ends of all things dreamy to capture the onset of a whirlwind romance. This love is like a psychedelic trip. It’s like lucid dreaming. It’s like meditating. It’s sunsets and paradise and coming home. It's the all-encompassing rush of euphoria that only pop music can capture. Jepsen finishes off the concoction with a dash of sighing violins, a twist of bass throbbing like a heartbeat, and a couple drops of reverb-washed ad-libs. Every one of Jepsen’s album cycles has the fan-favorite standout to add to her growing canon, and from the very first listen I knew “Psychedelic Switch” had cemented itself within her ranks of cult classics.

2. Not Strong Enough by boygenius: When Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers, and Julien Baker announced their first full-length project as the singer-songwriter supergroup boygenius, the record, (the record,) had the aura of something larger than life, a culmination of three generational talents celebrating their chemistry as collaborators. If there is any song on the album that captures this magic, it’s “Not Strong Enough,” a song which burst out of the gate sounding like an instant classic. “Not Strong Enough” chronicles the search for identity amidst uncertainty, the line “I don’t know why I am / The way I am” may just be its driving force. And boy does it drive, as the singers search for clues listening to The Cure while drag racing down canyon highways, skipping old exits, roving out in search of a meaning that may never materialize. This freedom and frustration culminate on the bridge, where Dacus’s mastery of vocal dynamics takes center stage. “Always an angel / Never a god,” she sings, starting off with a whiff of timidity before escalating to belt it up to the heavens, backed up with stunning harmonies from her peers. An angel may only ever be second-best, only ever identified through its relation to a higher power, but that just makes the journey towards self-actualization more transcendent.

1. Sepsis by Blondshell: For the longest time, I was determined to put any other song but “Sepsis” at the number one spot on this list. Initially, my pick from Blondshell’s self-titled debut was “Kiss City,” an amazing song, but sadly not the one I played over and over, screaming along because the lyrics hit too damn close to home. Much of Blondshell grapples with addiction, and on “Sepsis,” Sabrina Teitelbaum explores how the validation one gets through situational flings is one hell of a drug. Atop the ebb and flow of electric guitar, she interrogates the tendency to keep returning to a man she should be avoiding, a dick with a front-facing cap who’s bad in bed. Still, she keeps coming back, pissed therapist be damned, because “if I’m in love, nothing hurts.” Teitelbaum hones these observations through the metaphor of curing ailments and fast-acting sickness, “he’s going to start infecting my life / it’ll hit all at once like sepsis.” It’s a metaphor which exposes how self-destructive these habits are. “What if I’m down to let this kills me?” she howls at the apex of the bridge before, the sentence slurring into a frustrated scream as the entire song tumbles back into a cavalcade of fiery chords. If there’s anything “Sepsis” and my relationship to it proves, it’s that confronting these unhealthy habits is difficult, but essential. Sometimes, you’ve got to recognize that these coping mechanisms aren’t a “cure” and are only “making it worse.” It’s only then that true healing can begin.

Thank you so much to anyone who has interacted with this blog over the past year. I hope you all are having a happy holiday season!. My top 10 albums list should be out soon. See you then!

#music #songs #song recommendation #mitski #doja cat #taylor swift #paramore #troye sivan #sabrina carpenter #maisie peters #samia #caroline polachek #olivia rodrigo #yves tumor #chappell roan #lana del rey #pinkpantheress #ice spice #carly rae jepsen #boygenius #blondshell #taste in music 2023 faves #taste in music

[carrionkid]

Here's my monthly music roundup for February!

Let Go - KMFDM

Circuits and Curses - Firewerk

Azoic - Specimen

An Indifferent Beat - Oizone

Beers, Steers, & Queers - Revolting Cocks

Pins and Needles - The Birthday Massacre

Voltage 2.3: Remixed and Revisited - Left Spine Down

The Used - The Used

It Screams Disease - Carfax Abbey

Candy - PIG

Is A Real Boy - Say Anything (literally so sorry this is one of my favorite albums in the world)

The Ugly Organ - Cursive

Don't Blow Your Cover - Various (kmfdm tribute album from 1999)

Filth - Swans

Wanda Jackson in Person - Wanda Jackson

Leader of the Pack - The Shangri-La's

The Last Temptation of Reid - Lard (what's better than this, Jello Biafra and Al Jourgenson)

Surgical Meth Machine - Surgical Meth Machine (got jumpscared bc I didn't realize jello also featured on a song here)

db9d9 - db9d9

Yours Until the War is Over - Amigo the Devil

The Other Side of Fate - Team Cybergeist

Pigmata - PIG

The Same Old Blood Rush With a New Touch - Cute is What We Aim For

¡Viva La Cobra! - Cobra Starship

Andiamo - Authority Zero

1000 Gecs - 100 Gecs

I'm going to bed, so here's my February list. It is a deeply unhinged list I think BANSJSBNDJFB

#from hq #monthly music roundup

[johannesviii]

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2023

What a weird year for pop music, full of strange trends, confusing garbage and unexpected hits. Once again, even if the charts don’t always reflect it, music as a whole is currently very interesting to follow closely.

Disclaimers / Rules:

I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these lists. There’s songs that charted in my country way higher than they did in the US, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

No song that I already put on a previous list is elligible.

No old hit song that is re-charting due to a holiday or a trend is elligible either.

Of course there will probably be stuff in French somewhere on this post. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible.

I have sound-to-color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

A lot of bad stuff happened to me this year (several accidents in a row, and also my cat died) but some good stuff too, thank goodness. I only went to two concerts this year (Bloodywood and BMTH), but they were both absolutely amazing. Pretty sure the Bring Me The Horizon one was the best concert I ever went to, actually, and there's a lot of competition considering all the great ones I went to in 2022. I'm just sad 100 gecs had to cancel theirs, I was really looking forward to it. Oh well.

Let’s start with the good or interesting albums that came out in 2023, and oh my, that's a long list already.

Albums

Starting as usual with stuff that disappointed me: Depeche Mode's Memento Mori was... actually it was all right, but I miss the days when I could get excited about a new Depeche Mode album, I really do.

Pink Tape by Lil Uzi Vert was a giant fucking mess. There's some absolute bangers on it, and then you get to the next track and it's the worst thing you've ever heard. Which makes for an interesting listening experience, for sure, but one I'm in no hurry to repeat. At least it's never boring.

After the Magic by Parannoul isn't exactly my cup of tea, but you should definitely listen to it once, I think. It's something special. It might grow on me, though, because I only listened to it for the first time last month.

On the other hand, I listened to Scaring the hoes by Jpegmafia and Danny Brown a while ago, and while this one is definitely not my cup of tea, it's also a ton of fun and I don't feel like a single second of my time was wasted on it. You should listen to it for the samples alone, and just out of sheer curiosity if nothing else.

A kiss for the whole world by Enter Shikari is a weird beast, because the singles are absolutely incredible, but then the rest is a big pile of nothing (at least in my opinion). But the singles, man. I really don't know how to judge it as a whole, the quality is on a rollercoaster.

Kind of the same thing happened with Electric Sun by VNV Nation, one of my favorite bands of all times if not my favorite, if you recall. Some tracks completely floored me, the rest was meh. Oh well. Noire was so incredibly good that I can live with an average VNV album dropping after it.

Fanfare by Dorian Electra was full of absolute bangers but... I don't know, there's some of the madness of the previous record missing. And yes, I'm saying the album containing the minion line (you know the one) is more serious than My Agenda. Go figure. But it's still very good!

Two different friends told me to listen to 4D by Blank Banshee, so I did, obviously. Great electro album. Send tweet

I'm not entirely sure what to think of Atta by Sigur Rós. I cried several times while listening to it for the first time and it's a genuinely impressive series of tracks, but it's also so devastating I've only relistened to it twice since then.

I only discovered Svalbard a couple of years ago, and this year they dropped The weight of the mask, which might be even better than their previous album. It's mostly about depression and trying to fake normality while being depressed. Not a very pleasant topic, and yet this is full of energy and... hope? Everything sounds unbearably bright and between the screams, you feel like everything will be better eventually. Great stuff.

Speaking of depression, there's also No joy by Spanish Love Songs. If you recall their previous album was my album of the year a few lists ago. Their sound changed slightly, and at times it almost sounds like The Killers, but not in a bad way. There's a couple of tracks I don't like very much, but the writing is still on point, and some tracks are among my faves I put in the "unelligible songs" part.

Census Designated by Jane Remover, on the other hand, came out of nowhere just to kick me in the face. I don't even know what to say about that one. Go listen to it.

I found Gunship almost by accident a few months ago, and they immediately dropped a new album, called Unicorn. It's just a huge pile of great synthpop through and through - if you don't mind a couple of really stupid lines (godddd that third track is full of them). The other downside is that it's way too long (more than an hour), and if it was up to me, I'd remove at least four tracks from it. Unlike...

...10000 gecs by, who else, 100 gecs. It's less than half an hour long and it's so fun and so varied in its sounds and so stupid while still being incredibly well produced. For the longest time I couldn't decide which one of the last five albums on this list was my favorite, and then I relistened to all of them in a row and felt compelled to play this one a second time after I was done. Definitely worth the wait.

Unelligible Songs

This is kind of a non-hits rec list of sorts, but you know the drill. I also have to mention that two songs from previous lists (The Magic Key by One-T and Dernière Danse by Kyo 2003 represents) recharted this year for some unfathomable reason.

Gonna start with my fave tracks on some of the albums I already mentioned. Because why not.

The only song I consider great on the Depeche Mode album was People are good which sounds like character development considering People are people also exists

Speaking of Depeche Mode, one band arguably out-depeche-moded them this year so let me introduce you to ††† (Crosses) with Ghost ride, Invisible hand and Holier

Lil Uzi Vert is next with Suicide doors and its deranged intro immediately followed by FUCK YOU, AND FUCK YOUR BITCH then Uzi following that by stating they're the Crow. Yes, really. Also there's Werewolf, literally a Bring Me The Horizon song with Lil Uzi Vert on it, and if I had a nickel every time that happened this year I'd have two nickels, which isn't much but-

Wait let me interrupt this list with another song called Werewolf which I've listened to WAY too much this year. It's the kind of song you listen to ironically at first but after the tenth time that happens you realise it's no longer ironic and you love it for real. Seeing Motionless In White live kinda helped, not gonna lie, but still

For Enter Shikari, we have A kiss for the whole world, Bloodshot, and especially [pls] set me on fire, which might be one of my most listened to tracks of 2023, actually

VNV Nation had Wait, Invictus, and Artifice, which are all absolute bangers in my opinion. Ronan is angry and we love to hear it

By the way this year Pink released an extremely VNV-like song called Trustfall and it's very good but also uncanny

Kylie Minogue is also doing something vaguely similar with Hold on to now but in a more mainstream normal way btw

And then for something completely different, we have Dorian Electra singing about obsessive fans on Symphony, fame on Wanna be a star, and most importantly writing anon hate and immediately deleting it on anon

Run is the first track of the Blank Banshee album I rec'd and it's only one minute long so listen to it maybe

Technically I can recommend Gold if you want some taste of the Sigur Rós album but you need to listen to the entire album to get the full crushing effect

Svalbard isn't going to lighten up the mood with How to Swim Down and Faking it

Neither is Spanish Long Songs with Clean-up crew, Marvel, Here you are and Lifers, the last one being notable for having what's possibly my fave bridge of the entire year, and all of them for being endlessly quotable. Stay alive out of spite everyone

Also not lightening up the mood is Jane Remover with Census Designated on the album also called Census Designated

But what's this? It's Gunship with a steel chair trying to punch some joy into this list with Holographic heart, Nuclear Date Night, Taste like venom and Monster in paradise!!

And the gecs with a second steel ch- wait no it's a plastic chair shaped like a frog. Anyway here's Dumbest girl alive and Hollywood baby, and both of them go wayyy harder than they have any rights to

ok that was a lot of songs already. Here's Everything goes on by Porter Robinson as a palate cleanser

Also the first reggaeton song to ever end on one of my playlists, Sci-fi by Tainy and Rauw Alejandro

Also I'm gonna put a gif here otherwise Tumblr won't let me post something with such a long uninterrupted list in it

Ok back to the list of recs

Let's get the humiliation out of the way and say that this year I listened to Raining blood but it's super emo more than I ever listened to Raining blood in all my years combined

Oh yeah and Linkin Park released some old (finished and unfinished) tracks from the Meteora era and I'm kinda pissed off cause Lost missed the year end list. Fighting myself is excellent too, and if you want a really heartwrenching unfinished track, Resolution has a giant Chester-shaped hole where its chorus should be and the lyrics make it even worse. You're welcome

Possibly the most mainstream song on this entire rec list but I'm also pissed off Bad Idea right? by Olivia Rodrigo didn't chart enough to count for my top ten hit songs

I can offer you Eat the acid by Kesha if you want an awesome but mildly disturbing listening experience

For some electro/future pop here's Head over heels by Solitary Experiments

Wait there's also Bring the noise by Neuroticfish

Over is there if you need some Chvrches doing some Chvrching

Justice for Gladiator by Jann

Pointing at Even Jesus got the blues by Gabe Lee and saying I would listen to more country if it sounded half as good as that song, not like anyone cares

Holding on to nothing by Sierra. Send tweet

Northwind + Sky-colored dream by Strawberry Hospital and Parasite Heart is just seven minutes of cool pastel screams

And for an absolute goth banger everyone collectively decided to ignore here's Train to Harlem by Korine

I can't get enough of Nosebleeder by Lil Lotus and that's probably mildly embarrassing at my age but I've decided to stay mildly embarrassing forever

kisses by Slowdive if you want vibes and vibes only

Blood and sugar by Boys Like Girls if, like me, you want something that sounds exactly like The 1975

Choose your fighter by Ava Max if you want something that sounds exactly like Barbie Girl

I really wish I could explain what my feelings are every time I listen to The King by Anjimile but the only thing I'm sure about is that I'm feeling something a LOT and that it's terrifying

On a lighter note here's Mall rat by Durry, a very upbeat pop punk song about mall goth teenagers having fun and it's extremely good, listen to it immediately if you're having a bad day

And as some of you might have expected because of that previous gif, we're gonna finish with some Bring Me The Horizon, who have joined my list of favorite bands alarmingly quickly (that new album can't drop soon enough), and let's just say LosT and especially AmEN! were some of my absolute fave non-hit songs this year. Seriously. What the fuck was that.

And now, some elligible hits that didn't make the list.

Honorable Mentions

Tiki Taka (Vacra) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years.

Shining Light (Aime Simone) - I wish I liked that artist more.

Unholy (Sam Smith & Kim Petras) - At first I didn't like this one, and then I headcanoned Kim Petras as a girl in a confessional and Sam Smith as the priest on the other side looking concerned but also weirdly into it, and suddenly it was a really funny song.

Dance the night away (Dua Lipa) - I'm pretty sure that's the song Chained to the Rhythm by Katy Perry is talking about

Casanova (Soolking) - This is a borderline guilty pleasure, and also it sounds like Magic System. Which is a bonus, by the way.

Calm Down (Rema) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years 2: the sequel

Rush (Ayra Starr) - Afrobeats is the best thing that happened to the charts in recent years 3: the sequel to the sequel

Strangers (Kenya Grace) - Very good low-key track to play when you're driving at night

Bloody Mary (Lady Gaga) - What can I say. It's Lady Gaga. It's good.

I remember everything (Zach Bryan) - And for "songs that would be on the list if I had good taste-"

Going going gone (Luke Combs) - The last cut from the list. Great earworm, good writing.

THE ACTUAL TOP TEN LIST

This is a very solid list, actually. All of these things are still on some of my playlists to this day.

10 - Bad Habit (Steve Lacy)

US: #39 / FR: Not on the list

This was the last cut from my 2022 top 10 and it was a painful one, so imagine my joy when I saw it was elligible for this year's list too! Welcome back, Steve Lacy, your little song is still an earworm and a half even after all this time.

9 - Cruel Summer (Taylor Swift)

US: #18 / FR: Not on the list

I have no idea how a song that rhymes "oh woah oh" with "summer" can sound so good. Well played, madam. Well played.

8 - Star Walkin' (Lil Nas X)

US: Not on the list / FR: #67

Not the best Lil Nas X song by a mile, and still quite good! It plays a lot at the gym for some reason. The hype is real, even after hearing it pretty much every hour on the hour. And despite that weird, weird line about his dad.

Very surprised it's not on the US year-end list, by the way.

7 - Vois sur ton chemin (Bennett)

US: Not on the list / FR: #69

If you're creeped out by the AI-generated kids in the music video, I think that's kind of the point, which is why I can tolerate it for once.

Anyway, this is a remix of a choir song about lost kids, originally from a retro movie called Les Choristes which came out back when I was a teenager. And now it's been turned into a somewhat creepy techno remix of itself, and you know what's bad about that? Not a single thing actually. Play it again.

6 - Fast Car (covered by Luke Combs)

US: #8 / FR: Not on the list

If you remember correctly, Fast Car was the number one song of the very first list I made in this series (1988). And since this cover is so similar to the original song, I considered making it non-elligible for this list. I counted it in the end but put it kinda low compared to the original. It's only fair.

5 - Anti-hero (Taylor Swift)

US: #4 / FR: Not on the list

I was pretty indifferent to this one at the beginning of the year, but it slowly but surely grew on me. Everything has already been said about this song. So yeah, it's very good. I like it. It's on the list.

Moving on!

4 - Substitution (Purple Disco Machine x Kungs)

US: Not on the list / FR: #56

Some songs just make you want to move every single time you hear them, without fail. The thing is, this one plays a LOT on the radio in public settings, so catch me dancing in the aisles of the local supermarket every time it's on. It's like some memetic SCP bullshit.

At this point, it should be possible to make a great playlist with all the best retro-sounding hits we got in the past five years or so - and yeah, put this one on it too, for sure.

3 - Miracle (Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris)

US: Not on the list / FR: #51

At some point this was my number one, and can you really blame me? An Ellie Goulding song with a drop that sounds exactly like a Robert Miles track? Really?

Then I realised I loved Robert Miles' tracks because of that dreamy piano/synth melody they all have, and that this song only had a drop/musical chorus that sounded like that, so something was missing. Oh well. Still a fantastic dance track, though.

2 - Escapism (Raye)

US: #48 / FR: Not on the list

Welcome to the other side of most of The Weeknd songs, I guess, but that's also what makes this track so compelling. The intro sounds like anxiety, and even when the song gets more pleasant to listen to it just never goes completely away - just like in the lyrics, in fact. Well written, well produced, everything is on point and if I had better taste it would probably be number one on this list.

Alas, I am what I am.

1 - Just wanna rock (Lil Uzi Vert)

US: #28 / FR: Not on the list

At some point, this was the third song on the list. Why shouldn't it be? It's so brainless compared to Escapism, and laughably short compared to Miracle. It's just a fragment of a song. It sounds like the intro of a track that will never start.

It's also by far my most replayed hit song on this entire top ten list and I can't justify that in any way. So yeah, putting anything else here felt like lying to myself. The fact it never really starts also means the hype never really ends. Going "daaaaaaaaaaaamn" along with Uzi's distorted vocals is so satisfying.

I just wanna rock, man. What a vibe. See you next year!

#Johannes’ bad not good pretty terrible music lists #music #flashing lights tw #eye contact tw #god that one took ages

[ghost-texture]

I’ll always share my Spotify wrapped because I think it’s neat as hell to see what everyone listened to this year. I didn’t get L to the OG to the top like I wanted, my commitment to the bit waned unfortunately.

2023 my music listening habits were very different than they normally are, I spent less time keeping up with new releases and wayyy more time exploring artists and genres that I previously hadn’t really listened to.

That being said there were still a few projects from this year that I really loved that I figured I’d take the time to write a little about now.

5. Actual Life 3 Piano EP (January 1-September 9,2022)- Fred again..

Really inspiring EP for me, it’s a quiet reflective audio journal featuring some ambient sounds, some really cool samples, and some pretty piano playing throughout it’s a lot more lowkey than his album last year but I really enjoy that.

Favorite track: Nathan (Varner Road)

4. Quaranta by Danny Brown.

While I really enjoyed Danny’s work with JPEGMafia this year, I ultimately prefer this solo release from him this year. It’s a follow up to his album XXX, on that album Danny was a 30 year old struggling to make it as a rapper, now a decade later he’s obtained the success he once wanted so badly and he finds himself reflecting on where he was and where he is now. While financially Danny is better off than he was a decade ago,mentally he is still hurting and struggling as much as he was then. It’s a raw and vulnerable album with some excellent production throughout and some of the best verses of Danny’s career in my opinion.

Favorite Track: Down Wit It

3. Census Designated by Jane Remover

On Census Designated Jane Remover moves away from the hyperpop and digicore influences of her last album and leans more into rock and shoegaze, although there a certainly still a ton of fun little glitchy and stuttering effects throughout. If you like Ethel Cain I’d highly recommend this album.

Favorite Track: Cage Girl/ Camgirl

2. Wallsocket by underscores

A really wonderful pop rock concept album filled to the brim with infectious hooks, creative sampling and a lot of fun vocal manipulation throughout. There are no skips on this thing, every song is bursting with this really great creative energy. There are only few songs that I fell in love with this year more than You don’t know who I am.

Favorite track: You don’t know who I am.

1. 10,000 gecs by 100 gecs

The second I hit play on this album and I heard the THX logo sound followed by gunshots and the sick main riff on Dumbest Girl Alive, I knew this was going to be my favorite album of the year.

Here the gecs expand on their sound from the first album, refining it and fine tuning it, while still maintaining the playful energy that made the first album so exciting. Every song on the album has at least one or two lines that have permanently burrowed their way into my brain like the best ear worms do.

This album really flexes the duos skills at genre blending as they take from nu-metal, rap, pop, rock and ska and fuse them all into this wild album. It’s an unpredictable and fun listen one second they’ll be singing about struggling to make it in Hollywood, and little later you’ll get a song about having a tooth removed.

There’s a playful rebelliousness to all of their songs that I just can’t get enough of.

Favorite track: Dumbest Girl Alive (duh it’s my most listened to song this year) but I also wanna shoutout Most Wanted Person in The United States, that song fucking rules.

What’d you like this year?

#spotify wrapped #2023 music #danny brown #100 gecs #underscores #jane remover #fred again

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

top five albums?

even better--i made a new topsters. because narrowing it down to 5 is hard.

i didn't let myself repeat artists otherwise there would be more goats (tallahassee especially but beat the champ is also up there lol) on here

album listing under the cut:

hospice - the antlers (ultimate crying album)

all hail west texas - the mountain goats (combines classic goats lo-fi with their more contemporary lyrical sensibilities. great to yell along with)

the money store - death grips (it's as good as every annoying music critic says it is)

dragon new warm mountain i believe in you - big thief (one of two very recent albums on here. adrienne lenker is a god.)

the age of adz - sufjan stevens (maybe not his best album objectively, but the subject matter hits hard.)

bury me at makeout creek - mitski (my first mitski album back in 2014, and still my favorite. defined my teenage years.)

igor - tyler, the creator (no one does it like tyler)

nebraska - bruce springsteen (along with purple rain, the two albums my mom played for me as a kid that have stuck around the longest. sorry prince i just have atlantic city stuck in my head rn!)

twin fantasy - car seat headrest (either version. will toledo and i are from the same general area so i'm automatically biased towards him and then he makes this fucking. gay opus.)

burn pymalion!!! a better guide to romance - the scary jokes (did things to my head when i was 18/19/20 and does things to my head still.)

comfort eagle - cake (GOOD ASS ALBUM WITH HORNS ON IT)

fetch the bolt cutters - fiona apple (c'mon)

the glow pt 2 - the microphones (other ultimate crying album)

dirty computer - janelle monáe (insane album. cohesive and beautiful. i love janelle's older stuff and i love age of pleasure but dirty computer is just fucking out of this world.)

e•mo•tion - carly rae jepsen (see my comment about death grips)

69 love songs - the magnetic fields (kind of cheating bc it's so long but. what can i say. it's a good album.)

10,000 gecs - 100 gecs (the newest album on here. i don't remember an album i've had as much fun listening to as this one. fuck all gec haters.)

depression cherry - beach house (best album to get high on the substance of your choice (including life if you don't partake in anything) to)

trick - alex g (alex g good)

my cute fiend sweet princess - kimya dawson (who else had their world rocked by the juno soundtrack at a young age)

remain in light - talking heads (along with stop making sense, which felt like cheating, the talking heads record we had in the house)

flood - they might be giants (tmbg is just plain good at what they do)

the crane wife - the decemberists (C'MON)

reddishness - girls rituals (not for everyone, but it hits for me. it might hit for you.)

pet sounds - the beach boys (it came down to this or blond by frank ocean lol. but i feel like you don't get blond without pet sounds. so.)

#jams

[colorisbyshe]

👀 so did you isten to any good and new music in april

i was gonna hold off and wait until jessie ware's album released tonight to make this post but i THINK im gonna want to do a mini live-blog of that album and this post is already massive enough as is sooo

April Faves!

Newly Released:

"High Life" by Bloc Party. Fun vibes. Very relaxed and I think is quite great for the warmer weather and driving with the windows down. Great riffs in this song.

"Dead Wood" by Enter Shikari. Enter Shikari is a weird band for me because I was SUUUPER into their original demos that you could download off like... mypace? And then I forgot they existed. Until this album? So that's CRAZY that they're still here it's been 15 years since I cared about them. Anyways, this song is like... kinda theatrical and WEIRD but not in a theatrical way. It has a bunch of string instruments and a sense of foreboding, I like it. One of the more "for beginners" track on a fairly experimental album. Need to listen to the album more cause I'm unsure if this is my favorite. "Bloodshot" is a great combo of more high speed electronic influences crashing their more hardcore influences. Dubstep energy without the dubstep.

"Be the One" by Bree Runway and Khalid. Radio friendly song of the summer. Vocal chemistry off the charts. Just sweet and soothing.

"GLBTM (Studio Outtakes)" by Daft Punk. Made me cry. I miss Daft Punk so fucking much. Beautiful instrumental.

"冷たい風 (30 Universe Ver)" by Penicillin. Jrock, if you couldn't tell by the Japanese title. It's okay if you don't like listening to non-English music but plEASE listen to the guitar shredding at ~2:27.

"Angel" by Shygirl and Fatima Al Qadiri. ETHEREAL AND HAUNTING.

"Coup" by Frost Children. Earlier, I made a post about how my music taste is getting worse... this album and this song inspired that post. The Medic Droid meets 100 Gecs. Just stupid electronic music it's EMBARRASSING. "Angel's Thoughts" is also an electro banger.

Choosing a song off the new Buck-Tick album is hard. It's all a banger to me but I suppose I really love Namonaki Watashi and the contrast between the way the instrumental feeling like it's sparkling and the strong emphasis of his vocals. Scarecrow is also great, just has a nice intensity throughout the whole thing.

"Midnight Dreams" by Ellie Goulding. Putting out a disco-inspired dance album in the same month as Jessie Ware was BRAVE but I think this album is pretty refreshing. It's just extremely proficient at being... a dance album Ellie Goulding would make, y'unno?

"I'll Remember for Me, I'll Remember for You" by Yaeji. An odd choice from this album, since it's more an interlude than a full song. But I just love that it's this moment of calm on an experimental, erratic and yet there's a creeping sense of... wariness over it all.

"D N D" by Apink. The only Kpop on the list so far?? Grown women showing off vocals while feeling like cotton candy.

"Vinglevingle" by Heize. More kpop except it has more a 2010s eurodance vibe but like... matured.

Came out 3/30 but that is April to me. "Zodiac Killa" by Jean Deaux. This is the type of song to play during a montage of a woman driving across the country, running over men, stopping to ransack jewelry stores, before reuniting with her lover, another woman on horseback.

Honorary Mentions:

"Say it to Me" by Otto Knows. It's a dance track. You know how it is.

"She Don't Mind" by Karencici. I could see Tinashe doing this song except it's largely in mandarin, so like... if Tinashe could sing in mandarin. Talking about Tinashe, it's not her best track, but "Who's Taking You Home" with Kyle is solid enough and also from this month.

"Isumad (Lakim Remix)" by Cookiee Kawaii. I liked this entire album but I choose this one just for having a run time over 3 minutes, a rarity for her! Funky remix. Another take on a nostalgia sound but modernized perfectly.

De De Mouse put out multiple releases, they're good. Check out De De Mouse in generic if you want like... annime OPs/EDs ramped up by funk and other more experimental influences.

Technically came out 3/31 but WHATEVER. "Vampire" by Kvi Baba, the Trigun Stampede OP guy.

Not Released in April:

"Writhe" by Daine. 100 gecs but more emo.

"Over You" by Daddy DJ. Sorry... Daddy DJ really is just like... comfort music at this point. Peak 2000s dance music.

"Mercurial" by Silica Gel, a korean rock band. Love the vocal effect for this song. Just love the resonating nature.

"Wings of Time" by Tame Impala, the song they did for Dungeons and Dragons. Throwback roooooock sound. Blare it with the windows down while driving past a beach at sunset. Trust me it's a vibe.

Revisited a looot of Utada this month. "Michi" remains a bop that stuck with me this month. Just good, mature jpop. Not alone not alone not alone!

Rest in Peace Ryuichi Sakamato. There's many songs to really attribute to such an influential figure but sometimes all you need is a straightforward song like Rain.

"Broken Mirror" by Boom Boom Satelittes is some Jrock tha tFUCKS

[brukismusicblog]

10,000 gecs Review

Hi hi hi! Very excited to start my blog back up hehe.

Anyways, for my first post I wanted to talk about my favorite release of the 2020's so far: 10,000 gecs

I don't believe in rating music with numbers because I feel like that's stupid and takes away the fun! If you're looking for that you might wanna find another blog <3. Here's what I think is important for the readers to know about this album, general thoughts, etc.

Well first I have to acknowledge: Laura and Dylan took their sweet time with this album. But, it payed off. Slated for release a calendar year before actually seeing the light of day, this album absolutely fucks. Anyone in any 100 gecs online forums (especially r/100gecs) recalls the absolute torture of waiting for this album before any clarification on what exactly happened to the promised release date (and now inside joke between fans) of early 2022. Rumors spread of issues with record production - ironic considering the CD's for both this album and its predecessor 1000 gecs, sold out within 12 hours of being available for sale while it's vinyl counterparts are still in stock. Not for long, though, if my friend group and I - who now have a combined total of six (6) copies of this album between five (5) of us - have anything to say about it.

In their third big release, the duo finds themselves shifting from their iconic sound of glitchy, computerized, autotuned hodgepodges of notes. They spend a lot more time with their guitars in this album. While I do miss the mania of songs like stupid horse or 800 db cloud, I still love how it sounds. 100 gecs is a band with a musical progression that's pretty satisfying to follow. Every one of their releases is easily followed from their last, and the Snake Eyes EP (their first release to break the form of the 10^n gecs nomenclature) serves as a great in-between to 1000 gecs and 10000 gecs. I have to say, I was a bit sad to see the synths take the back seat on this album, but: as badly as I wanted is is as happy I was I didn't get it. Like Robin and Steve.

The interesting thing about this album is that you swear you've heard it before. One Million Dollars comes to mind. 1000 gecs is unlike anything you've ever heard, but at least it doesn't sound so familiar. 10000 gecs is like the dude in your stats class who looks just like the guy you saw at the library yesterday, who you can't shake the uncanny similarity to, despite the fact that they're clearly not the same person.

The SFX soundboard, luckily, isn't eradicated entirely this time around. 757 and mememe defibrillate it especially.

But enough about what wasn't on it, I really ought to get to the good stuff (I'm already how many paragraphs in?)

Firstly, there's some great polkas on here. Frog On The Floor and I Got My Tooth Removed will bring out anyone's inner slav.

It's equally as difficult to make guitars sound so annoying as it is to make annoying sound so good; both things the duo succeeds at. My personal favorite track on the record is The Most Wanted Person In The United States. 100 gecs must have laced these basslines with something. Slap bass is a surprisingly important characteristic on this album, which I love. I mean, who doesn't love slap bass?

1000 gecs tended to show Laura and Dylan's more sensitive sides, dripping with details about Laura's love life. While it did take its time to delve into some out of character topics (like race horse bets, money, and ovens), ultimately a decent amount of the lyrics resonate with the tuning forks of love.

The new album focuses a bit more on the artists themselves. As an STL native, finding out the two members of one of my favorite bands of all time come from my hometown was fucking awesome, and it's interesting to hear about their journeys in growing up there as artists. Hollywood Baby provides a euphoric insight into the glorious escape of the negativity of the midwest. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but this place is less than friendly to those of us who are maybe more inclined to write and be sensitive.

All around though, a grunge rock album from 100 gecs is exactly what the world needed right now. After foreshadowing the pandemic, 1000 gecs becomes a little exhausting, even to those of us who have secretly (or if you're cool, not secretly) loved it from our first rendezvous with stupid horse. What we needed, after years of journaling and whipped coffee, surprisingly wasn't a renaissance (which is not a Beyoncé reference, although I should talk about Renaissance). What we need isn't a return to where we were. It's a moving forward. An acceptance of new spirits, which is exactly what this album is. A metal infused baring of the soul to anyone who's willing to listen.

Now I need to ask, what happened to what's that smell and fallen 4 Ü? 100 gecs made the decision to tour this album before releasing it, which ended with them touring songs that never ended up getting released. Very sad for those of us who spent hour scrolling through gecs on the internet, impatiently bumping our heads waiting for the day our favorite tunes would end up on streaming services.

I also deep down think that 757 might be an allusion to 745 sticky. Could just be me.

🦎🦎🦎

#100 gecs #music #hyperpop #gecgecgec #gec #10000 gecs #gecs #frog on the floor #I got my tooth removed #one million dollars

[nauticalmate]

Tried to listen to more albums that came out last year and I found a lot of cool stuff. Here’s my top 10 favorite albums that came out last year.

Gezan with Million Wish Collective - Anochi

Peggy x Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes

Ukandanz- Kemekem

Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips

Mutant Strain - Murder of Crows

DJ Deadhorses - Ghost Gun

Chini.png - El Día libre de Polux

McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?

Andre 3k - New Blue Sun

Portrayal of Guilt - Portrayal of Guilt

Honorable mentions Oral by Björk and Rosalía, incredible song well worth the wait. Dealers From God made a very interesting plunderphonics album that was really good when it wasn’t annoying. Kara Jackson came out with a very beautiful folk record. Nice to see all 100 gecs release this year as well.

Music is awesome, may next year bring more bangers.

#music #aoty 2023 #watch mojo #damn peggy

[thegenderdruid]

Took me a bit longer than I planned but I got there eventually. 2023 music awards time! As always disclaimer, this is awards for the music I personally listened to this year, if your favorite song or album isn't here it might be because I don't like it but much more likely I didn't know about or listen to it, this is a very self indulgent project about reflecting on the music I listened to this year.

With that said, I have been told by multiple different people that I have great taste in music and I truly stand by everything mentioned here being great music so I highly recommend checking it all out.

Also I will be providing minimal to no commentary because I'm bad at that sort of thing.

For album categories I've included each album's JAMS score which is a system I use to rank my favorite albums based loosely on the baseball JAWS statistic, currently the highest JAMS score for any of the 47 rated albums is 2.84, the lowest is 1.40, and the average is 2.07. Bear in mind that this is out of the albums I like enough to bother rating so a lower ranking within the rated albums is by no means a condemnation, all 48 albums are albums I like.

Standard categories:

Non-metal song of the year (songs that came out in 2023):

Winner:

Madeon - Gonna Be Good

Honorable mentions:

Gorillaz - Cracker Island

Dirty Heads - Rescue Me

100 gecs - Hollywood Baby

Tessa Violet - You Are Not My Friend

Portugal. The Man - Dummy

Dizzy - Close

Dizzy - Knock the Wind

Quite frankly this category was stacked as fuck, any of these songs could have won in a different year, there were multiple songs that could be here but I left off to keep this from being too long, absolutely great year for non-metal music I like. Speaking of which:

Non-metal album of the year:

Winner:

Dizzy - Dizzy (4/47, 2.6)

Honorable mentions:

Gorillaz - Cracker Island (10/48, 2.23)

Tessa Violet - My God! (23/48, 2.13)

Portugal. The Man - Chris Black Changed My Life (27/48, 2.04)

Metal song of the year:

Winner:

Gloryhammer - Holy Flaming Hammer of Unholy Cosmic Frost

Honorable mentions:

Gloryhammer - Keeper of the Celestial Flame of Abernethy

Within Temptation - We Go To War

Delain - The Quest and the Curse

Angus MCSIX - Master of the Universe

Metal album of the year:

Winner:

Gloryhammer - Return to the Kingdom of Fife (2/48, 2.84)

Honorable mentions:

Within Temptation - Bleed Out (19/48, 2.16)

Delain - Dark Waters (13/48, 2.20)

Gloryhammer sweep, new album is GOATed

Music discovery categories:

2022 album I missed:

Winner:

Alec Benjamin - (Un)Commentary (20/48, 2.16)

I loved this guy's first album but was not into his second album and kinda forgot about him but one of his songs came on the radio and I gave him another look and it turns out he released this absolute banger of an album last year and now I'm a fan again

2022 song I missed:

Winner:

Alec Benjamin - Older

Honorable mention:

Lil Nas X - STAR WALKIN'

It turns out League of Legends released 2 all-timers last year instead of 1 like I originally thought 😅

Pre-2022 discovered album of the year:

Winner:

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (16/48, 2.19)

Honorable mentions:

Lorde - Pure Heroine (22/48, 2.13)

Gorillaz - The Now Now (25/48, 2.08)

Pre-2022 discovered song of the year:

Winner:

Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes

Honorable mentions:

Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication

Phil Ochs - The Bells

Bonus categories:

Best concert I saw live:

Winner:

Tessa Violet

Honorable mentions:

Dizzy

Gloryhammer

Bloodywood

Disappointment of the year:

'Winner':

ANGUS MCSIX - Angus McSIX and the Sword of Power (35/48, 1.88)

I had such high hopes for the former singer of my favorite band starting his own band in the same style and the singles were good but the rest of the album was such a disappointment, hopefully he keeps going and can improve though.

Top 10 albums by JAMS on this date:

Gloryhammer - Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terrorvortex (2.84)

Gloryhammer - Return to the Kingdom of Fife (2.84)

Gloryhammer - Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards (2.69)

Dizzy - Dizzy (2.60)

Dizzy - Baby Teeth (2.58)

Porter Robinson - Nurture (2.38)

Alec Benjamin - Narrated For You (2.36)

Blackmore's Night - Ghost of a Rose (2.33)

Batte Beast - Circus of Doom (2.24)

Gorillaz - Cracker Island (2.23)

Link to last year's edition:

#artemis's music awards

[plenilune]

was tagged by @sandovers to do this meme; when u get this u have to put 5 songs 🎵 u actually listen to, publicly. then, send this to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool) ✨ LIKE JACQUI I am baffled by the wording of the meme -- are you trying to suss out Musik Sekrits and not the cool stuff everyone says they listen to all the time? alas, I am always happy to prove I'm the living fulfillment of the old don't-hand-the-trans-folk-the-aux-under-any-circumstances stereotype. anyway here's five songs I've been listening to a lot lately, some new to me, some old.

"So Pale It Shone In The Night" - The Stranger. this is from his album Watching Dead Empires in Decay which I see as a sort of urban mirror to the unsettling rural soundscapes of prior album Bleaklow. you may also know the Stranger from his work as the Caretaker, where he plays a lot with memory and sense of place. I've been cycling around on a lot of half-formed thoughts about dying empires (huh, wonder why) and industry towns after the industry's left and cities and memory lately and this track sounds like -- waking up, or trying to fall asleep, in a thin-walled apartment in a massive apartment block, and the sounds of furnaces, of neighbours moving about, doing dishes, putting the kettle on, radio static, the traffic and the trains outside, all these sounds blur together, the sounds of life, but weary and a little melancholy. anyway I'm obsessed with this entire album but this vivid and tactile little soundscape is one of my chief delights at the moment.

"Are You Going to Leave Me?" - Isobel Campbell. old favourite song from an old favourite album, this arrangement of a traditional ballad that's zigzagged back and forth from the UK to Appalachia for centuries builds layer upon layer, verse after verse, in a way that's incredibly driving and haunting.

"gec 2 Ü" - 100 gecs. feels like every six months a different 100 gecs song I hadn't paid individual attention to before completely takes over my psyche and I listen to it on repeat for hours. love the way this plays with melodramatic glittery early 2000s style ballad format, like Angels and Airwaves crossed with a 90s chanteuse, similar to "xXXi_wud_nvrstøp_ÜXXx" but less eerie, warping and toying with the sound, just detached enough to be a little arch and playful, and then breaks into one of the most wrenchingly sincere and tender refrains I've ever heard. "you're sitting all alone / and you call me on the phone / and you say, I need love / can you get to me now?" I get shivers and my chest aches. yeah. that's what it's like.

"Walk Like A Motherfucker" - Ghost Funk Orchestra. I listen to this a lot on the walk to work, even though it is about being a sleazy con man who is maybe beginning to weary of the grift, and all I do is sell groceries for Jeff Be-- WAIT A MINUTE. anyway, Ghost Funk Orchestra is one of my favourite recent discoveries -- for one, they actually deliver on the vibes promise inherent in the name, and I've been burned by so many bands with cool names promising a specific weird and chewy atmosphere they don't bother to actually create. absolutely great spectral, jammable funk. also while the band is not local, their record label is run out of an old favourite record shop in Loveland, Ohio, whose catalogue Corey and I have been plumbing excitedly since we found out about them last month.

"Myth" - Julie Feeney. I rediscovered this album I used to listen to a lot in 2011 last year when I was going through my old last.fm stats (YEAH BABY) trying to find a couple of obscure lost favourites. it is! so infectious! anyway this song came up on shuffle recently and reminded me about Julie Feeney once again and now I keep returning to it. this feels like watching a creek bubble up, wildly playful and inventive, skipping stones, spinning dizzily, whispering secrets.

#memery #musicblogging #musicposting #WELP. I THINK I DID THE MEME WRONG. GOODBYE.

[macgyvertape]

people you want to know better!

thanks for tagging me @friendshipgun !!

last song i listened to: I'm cycling between my favorite songs on the 100 gecs album 10,000 gecs so: 757, Dumbest Girl Alive, Hollywood Baby, mememe.

currently watching: slowly working my way through Black Sails (still in season 1) and thats mainly because it's not a show I really find relaxing to watch. Resident Evil Damnation is queued up in my list to watch next time as a nice break. I'm also still in the midst of my "watch any vampire movie someone recommends me" project, and I'm currently putting together a watchlist of swasbuckling and western vampire movies.

currently reading: I have a few books I'm in the middle of. Angel Mage by Garth Nix which I started reading on my way back from Pennisc, Pariah book 1 in the Bequin series (40k) which I didn't finish reading before I left. Multiple fanfics which I need to reread the chapters because I'm behind on commenting.

current obsession: really trying to make the most of the zeal Pennsic reignited in me for my Arts & Science project of Peloponnesian War era men's Greek garb. But I'm about to start playing Baldur's Gate 3 so that will be my new obsession. Also see vampire movie project above.

tagging (no pressure tho, just if u feel like it c:) - @skippermoose, @kvarenje and who ever wants to consider themselves tagged.

#it me #personal #tag game

[qualapi]

Tagged by @thesongzebrabyonehtrixpointnever thx 💜

Rules: Tag 10 people you want to get to know better!!! >///<

Relationship status: I want to date eventually but i want to get some personal stuff sorted out first

Favorite color: can't really choose between purple, pink and black

(* ￣︿￣)

Song stuck in my head: The Most Wanted Person In the United States from 100 gecs' new album!!

Last song I listened to: Howl's Moving Castle Theme Song

Three favorite foods: I love sweets in general but brigadeiro is just too good. Also ice cream and cake. srry can't think of anything non sweet ≧ ﹏ ≦

Last thing I googled: Shuppet, the Pokémon, it is really cute and i wanted to know more about it

Dream trip: Anywhere as long as it has good natural attractions

Anything I want right now: To have lots of new experiences. also to get hrt

I don't really have anyone to tag or that i want to so: thx again for tagging me 💖

#qualapost

[itsallhoney]

My Top 48 Albums of 2023 (So Far)

We’re just past the halfway point of the year and I wanted to share my favorite albums of the year so far. I've been listening to a lot of new releases as a sort of personal project but I've found a lot of albums that I really connect to and feel passionate about that I would like to share with other people that might like them as well.

Every album has a short review or description, of varying quality. I touch on themes where I feel they are relevant and try to describe the sound where I could and where I felt that the genre is maybe too broad. This isn't something I've done before so it was mostly an exercise in getting any thoughts down at all.

The list is in alphabetical order (by artist) and the album covers are also arranged in that order so if there’s a cover that stands out to you it should be relatively easy to find.

titles + descriptions below

100 Gecs – 10,000 Gecs (hyperpop)

I expect hyperpop to be very electronic but this album brings in elements of ska and hardcore that I just thought were a lot of fun.

2. Alice Longyu Gao – Let’s Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, and Retire (hyperpop)

This is absolutely wild, and a masterpiece. It perfectly captures what it feels like to be in your 20s in America right now. If you already like the 100 Gecs album then you should check this out.

3. Aly & AJ – With Love From (pop)

This is a 70s pop/soft-rock inspired album and probably their best album to date.

4. Andy Shauf – Norm (indie pop)

It’s a concept album about God losing faith in humanity, but seeing a glimmer of hope in a man called Norm who is stalking an unnamed woman because his faith in God is pure. Sonically it’s very dreamy, but grows more discordant as the story goes on.  Shout out to the clarinet.

5. Anna B Savage – in|FLUX (art pop)

Haunting and beautiful (alto) vocals -- seriously her voice is impressive. Emotionally poignant and poetic lyrics. Masterful composition, it’s not the main focus but it’s still really intricate.

6. Blondshell – Blondshell (indie rock)

This is a 90s alternative inspired album. It’s raw and witty and real.

7. boygenius – the record (indie rock)

I’m not describing this because all of you sad tumblr gays know what it is already. I listen to all three of the boys, but Lucy is my boy. So, I do prefer the groups songs + Lucy songs, but I truly love all most of the songs on this album and if this were a ranked list it would be in the top ten.

8. Braids – Euphoric Recall (experimental pop)

This one is ethereal in a way that sounds like it comes from space (I feel like I often use ethereal in a spritely way).

9. Caroline Rose – The Art of Forgetting (indie rock)

At it’s core this is a breakup album. It’s about completely breaking down and building yourself back up again. It’s a piece of art that is meant to be experienced whole.

10. Cusp – You Can Do It All (indie rock)

It’s got that sort of 90s indie rock sound. A little shoegazey, some twinkly guitars. And it’s a no skip album.

11. Emilíana Torrini & the Colorist Orchestra– Racing the Storm (chamber pop)

This is one of the most unique albums I’ve ever heard. Torrini’s voice has a haunting/ethereal effect. I want to call it otherworldy, but I also want to say that it’s very organic and feels like nature so do with that what you will. If you like Secret by The Pierces, I don’t know if you’ll like the whole album but I think you’ll like the opening track.

12. Emma Tricca – Aspirin Sun (chamber folk)

I’m worried that people might get confused and think I understand art when I merely appreciate it. I just let this album wash over me and it is an experience.

13. Falso Nove – Horta da Luz (indie rock)

This is a concept album and it’s probably really strong thematically, it’s about the search for light. But I liked it fully based on the music (because I don’t understand Portuguese). The arrangements are really full and they swell with emotion, you get a story even without the words. The vibes on Cacos are immaculate. But I can be swayed by any song with a saxophone.

14. Fran – Leaving (indie folk)

Climate anxiety and isolation. It’s mostly folk but occasionally veers into ethereal.

15. Gretel Hänlyn – Head of The Love Club (indie rock)

What this album is, is an artist on their second album trying to discover their sound. But what she achieves is an album that effortlessly blends a lot of different styles and eras of music into something that feels both cohesive and modern. It sounds like a lot of different things but every song sounds like it goes together. Also a great vocalist.

16. Indigo de Souza – All of This Will End (indie rock)

It’s an album about mortality, loneliness, and self doubt. It feels like she captures some deep truths about humanity, but maybe she just perfectly captures what it’s like to feel bad all the time.

17. Innerlove. – Roscoe (emo)

They’ve got that 4th wave emo/Midwest emo sound. It perfectly captures that mid-twenties malaise and it came out at the perfect time in my life.

18. Janelle Monáe – The Age of Pleasure (pop)

Words cannot express how much it means to the 19-year-old me, writing queer analyses of the Metropolis series and listening to “Q.U.E.E.N.” every day, to see Janelle Monáe be so loudly and unapologetically queer. They are hot and this is good pop music.

19. Jess Williamson – Time Ain’t Accidental (country)

This is a break up album and it's about finding yourself again after losing yourself in another person. There are so many lines that cut me to the core. The twang is strong and that’s a bonus.

20. José James – On & On (jazz)

This is a jazz reimagining of Erykah Badu songs and it is so good.

21. Joseph – The Sun (folk pop)

A vulnerable album about the mental health struggles that the sisters have gone through in recent years, but it’s more about the recovery. About seeing the light again.

22. Joy Oladokun – Proof of Life (folk pop)

A little more pop than I was expecting, but in the Americana revival way that seems to be having its moment right now. It just radiates positivity and feels like a much needed album right now.

23. Kara Jackson – Why Does The Earth Give Us People to Love? (folk)

This is Bob Dylan shit. Great poet and lyricist.

24. Kari Faux – Real B*tches Don’t Die (rap)

It’s an album about grief, but not in the way you would expect. Grief is a thing that permeates every part of life, but life continues and that’s how it’s reflected on the album. There are songs where she fully reflects on loss right next to songs about going out with friends, or dating, that feel like a celebration of life.

25. Kesha – Gag Order (pop)

Gago Order captures every emotion at once. It feels like you’ve just passed through the eye of the hurricane and now you’re right back in the storm.

26. Khamari – A Brief Nirvana (r&b)

If you’ve been waiting for a new Frank Ocean album, try this.

27. Labrador – Hold the Door for Strangers (alt country)

This feels like middle-aged man divorce music, and definitely sounds like something my dad would like. There are a few lines on this album that absolutely took me out and I go back to these songs frequently.

28. lusillón – Pensado mucho y mal (indie pop)

This is just really sweet indie pop.

29. Marlody – I’m Not Sure At All (art folk)

This is a really gorgeous album. It’s piano-driven, very emotional, and she has a very ethereal voice. I think fans of Weyes Blood will probably enjoy this.

30. McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (jazz rap)

A prolific album that is in part an ode to Toni Morrison, hence the title. It is just as much a portrait of life in America today, in a way that highlights the ways in which Morrison’s writing is still relevant. There are also some really good beats on this one. Shout out to the flute.

31. M(h)aol – Attachment Styles (post-punk)

Queer and feminist punk rock.

32. Miss Grit – Follow the Cyborg (alt pop)

If you like sci-fi pop using robots as a metaphor for queerness, like Janelle Monáe’s early albums, then you’ll like this.

33. Miya Folick – ROACH (indie pop)

Another one about grief, isolation, losing yourself/finding yourself, and resilience. Everyone is going through it these days but I’m a fucking cockroach and you can’t kill me.

34. PACKS – Crispy Crunchy Nothing (indie rock)

A series of vignettes with a kind of dirty lo-fi sound. The songs are a little on the short side but they leave you feeling satisfied.

35. Petite Noir – MotherFather (noirwave/experimental)

Petite Noir created a new genre, and cultural movement, known as Noirwave when they began their first project and this album is a continuation of that.  It uses punk aesthetics, mixed with jazz, R&B, afrobeats to create something new and explore the identities of the African diaspora and Pan-Africanism. And it sounds damn good.

36. quinnie – flounder (indie pop)

This is an album for the sad queer girls. It’s sweet and vulnerable and a really great debut.

37. Rebecca Black – Let Her Burn (dance pop)

Whatever you think you know about Rebecca Black, forget it and just listen to this album (or better yet go watch her perform it live). This is fun dance music.

38. Samia – Honey (indie pop)

This is literally a Samia stan account. I truly think Samia is one of the best lyricists in the game right now. The girl can paint a picture with her words. The album is beautiful, and vulnerable, but also fun, and everything I needed this year.

39. Shalom – Sublimation (indie pop)

This is perfect indie pop. It’s fun and danceable with lyrics that are clever, honest, and emotional.

40. Shego – SUERTE, CHICA (indie rock)

This is a fun album. I will admit that my Spanish is rusty (that’s an understatement), I can tell you that some of the songs deal with mental health but in general I listen to this for the vibes. The album is a little punky, although the single with Natalie Lacunza has a slightly dreamy indie pop feel and “Steak Tar Tar” is a dance track (and absolute masterpiece).

41. Steady Holiday – Newfound Oxygen (indie pop)

Another case of this being exactly what I needed to hear in the moment. Another album about recovery and finding yourself again.

42. Tiny Microphone – Other Cities (indie pop)

If I could only recommend one album from this year it would be this one. If you just moved to a new city or you’re still getting over a break up -- and you’re struggling -- this one is for you.

43. Transviolet – Body (indie pop)

The first half is light and, dare I say, happy. The back half is a little darker and cathartic. The whole thing is danceable and fun.

44. Twin XL – H Y P E R F A N T A S I A (synthpop)

I was emo in the MySpace/neon pop punk era and the natural progression for a lot of those bands was to move into synthpop in the 2010s. If you enjoyed those vibes, if you’re an After Laughter enjoyer, check this out. Be emo and dance about it.

45. Wednesday – Rat Saw God (alt country)

This album is a collection of Southern Gothic stories, some personal, some observational. The music goes hard but the band doesn’t shy away from their country roots.

46. Y La Bamba – Lucha (psychedelic rock)

This is an album about embracing queerness as an adult. About what it means to be a queer and nonbinary as a Chincanx person and what it means to be Chincanx in Mexico. It’s about processing trauma and struggling with PTSD. And it’s about trying to take up space as a person with all of those identities in the music industry, and the world.

47. Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy (experimental rock)

This album radiates joy and positivity and it will make you want to dance.

48. Yves Tumor – Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) [experimental rock]

The first time I heard "Echolalia" I thought, this shit fucks. I would say the same about the rest of the album.

#mid-year favorites #new music #new releases #indie music #indie rock #indie pop #indie folk #pop #rap #r&b #country #alt country #alt pop #experimental music #experimental rock #experimental pop #punk rock #folk #folk pop #hyperpop #chamber pop #emo #2023 albums #100 gecs #boygenius #joy oladokun #wednesday band #young fathers #miya folick #samia

[numetaljackdog]

what i'm listening to 12/5/2022 (song notes under cut)

spot. link//yt link

Laura Les - Haunted: haunted. by laura les.

100 gecs - Hey Big Man: rapidly becoming a contender for my favorite gecs song ever. so many great lines, great sounds, plus the fucking. SNAKE EYES.

100 gecs - Torture Me (feat. Skrillex): i might have preferred the demo of this a tiny bit but this one's still great. the lyrics themselves feel a little bit more adjacent to laura's solo stuff which is cool with me, if you couldn't guess

100 gecs - Runaway: probably my least favorite on the ep but that's not saying much because i'm fuckin w it. the vocals on this are particularly *chefs kiss*

Fontaines D.C. - Jackie Down The Line: i thiiiink this is one of the first tracks to ever appear in more than one WILT... i heard this one on the radio by chance over the summer and it really stuck with me. when wrapped came out, i relistened and have had it on repeat again since. i didn't love this album when it came out, but maybe i'll give it another shot...

Insane Clown Posse - Southwest Voodoo: still on my bullshit, folks. this one has some questionable material but it's a lot of fun and has a surprisingly really great guitar riff. this month i came to the long overdue realization that i have sort of a weird transbutch faggender type attachment to goofy-ass tryhard aggro rap music, so there's gonna be a good deal of that in here

whoTF - Wendy Carlos (feat. Folie, Forget Basement, Fraxiom): i can't really say much about this one other than that frax is a genius. that's not to ignore the others on the track, just that frax is the only one i've had prolonged exposure to

Orgy - Fiction - Dream in Digital: i finally got around to listening to this album after picking it up from the thrift store months ago, and upon hearing this track i realized i had heard it a fair few times before. i lovvve this type of overdramatic cyberpunky industrial shit from the 00s, it's basically what generated my "synthetic solution" tag. good for lain fans btw

CAKE - Never There: heard it on the radio. it's got bitchin horns and a goofy catchy chorus... what more do you want

Deli Girls - It Must Be So nice: this type of digital hardcore or whatever you call it is right up my alley because it's like the perfect midpoint between crazy goth metal shit (love it) and freaky electronic shit (love it). owns. shoutout violet for making good playlists <3

Lil Uzi Vert - Just Wanna Rock: like all the lil uzi material i've enjoyed, this one took a fair few listens to click. it's good though! i'm legally not allowed to say anymore about this song.

White Town - Your Woman: found this from the newest todd video (#toddgirl) and got super interested in hearing more of this guy's stuff. haven't gotten to it yet but this one still goes off

Worthikids - Pinned My Dreams On A Shooting Star: i'll be real when i heard this in the new episode, i thought it was going to be a lot more minor key and edgy. little bit disappointed, frankly, BUT. still a good jam. bubger

Harry Styles - Late Night Talking: i'm as surprised as you are. these top 40 rankings are doing things to me, man. this week's coming later today btw. but yeah this was a way better single than as it was, it's got really nice harmonies and speaks to the theme of change much better. i'm legally not allowed to say anymore about this song.

House Of Pain - Top O' The Morning to Ya: remember what i said about shitty tryhard aggro rap? yeah

Fuel - Hemorrhage (In My Hands): same kinda thing as the orgy song where i realized i had heard this a million times, except this time i didn't buy the album i just heard this on the radio. i do love my post grunge!

Kris Kross - I Missed The Bus: another todd find, he used this as the interstitial in his 90's bus ranking video. it's just so fucking funny to me, these kids having to act all tough and cool while rapping a chorus that just goes "i missed the bus" again and again lmaooo

Mudvayne - Happy?: mudvayne had some genuinely good songs but also mostly chad gray's voice is just really funny because of how shitty it is. like bro you can barely scream please stop trying to clean sing. except don't because again. very funny

Eminem - Without Me: LOOK. i'm allowed to enjoy a few eminem songs, both because of the aforementioned weird gender crisis i've been having for the past month or possibly several years AND because some of them are not that bad!! the hook on this one is really good!! fuck you! still, the amusement i get from ripping on eminem will always always always outweigh any level of genuine enjoyment i might be able to get from his music

#*char noises* #talking pop

[fangsup-cobrastyle]

10,000 Gecs by 100 Gecs - Personal Ranking

Another one of my favorite albums of the year so far. Listed from favorite to least favorite, along with my favorite line from each song.

mememe I tried on your lipstick, I thought it looked pretty / But you didn't care though 'cause you're always busy

Hollywood Baby You'll never make it in Hollywood, baby

Dumbest Girl Alive Text, text, text, text like you're trying to start a fight / Yeah, I'll fucking text you back / I'm the dumbest girl alive

Doritos & Fritos And the TV's turned to cable / And I'm sleeping when I'm able / But the TV's on so loud, it hurts my brain

The Most Wanted Person In The United States Queen of California, hot like the heat is / Got Anthony Kiedis sucking on my penis

Frog On The Floor I heard that he was telling croaks at the party

Billy Knows Jamie Jamie kinda scary when he looking at you

757 Live in dog years, and I feel 26 / Yeah, I'm old, bitch, but I learn new tricks

I Got My Tooth Removed I fuck with fire, burn my dick / Play violin on sinking ships

One Million Dollars One million dollars / One million dollars / One million dollars

#this is proving to me that i can appreciate music without poetic lyrics #though frog on the floor is utter poetry #if the anthony kiedis line isn't your favorite on the whole album i don't believe you #it genuinely has become a vocal stim for me #100 gecs #10000 gecs