BONUS ALBUM RECAP -- pretend i posted this two weeks ago

YOU'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE TOWN PLAY!

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when i physically have it in me to write again

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this was supposed to be posted a couple weeks ago but then it got deleted by spacehey while i was writing three separate times and lowkey i gave up. and then i went on spring break and i had zero motivation to do anything. so just take it now before i end up never posting it

as a refresher - italicized tracks are interludes, bolded tracks are my standouts (a.k.a. a 4.5 or higher),  a ★ indicates my favorite song, and an × indicates my least favorite song

(p.s. clicking on an album cover it'll take you to some more info about the album on rateyourmusic)

i present my rating system, THE SANDWICH SCALE

★★★★★ - toasted meatball sub / all-timer

★★★★½ - taylor ham egg and cheese / love

★★★★ - loaded with toppings / great

★★★½ - a nice flatbread / might order again if i'm in the mood

★★★ - a little soggy / average + good moments

★★½ - a little dry / average + boring

★★ - untoasted subway flatbread / pretty bad, mediocre at best

★½ - where are my toppings / quite bad

★ - finding an onion when i ordered no onion / all-time stinker

½ - peppers / i really fucking hate peppers

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DA WEEK Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club | 1997

son cubano | bolero

★★★½

i won't pretend to be a big fan of latin music, but i can appreciate this album for what it is, and that's a celebration of traditional cuban music. buena vista social club was a conglomerate of important lost-to-time cuban musicians, to create what ended up being most of the world's introduction to cuban music.. i find it kind of funny that this album was way more popular outside of cuba idk. i recognize that the emotional value is almost entirely lost on me so grain of salt whatever

for white girls getting lost in hispanic culture

      tracklist

1. Chan Chan
2. De camino a la vereda
3. El cuatro de Tula
4. Pueblo nuevo ★
5. Dos gardenias
6. ¿Y tú qué has hecho?
7. Veinte años
8. El carretero
9. Candela
10. Amor de loca juventud
11. Orgullecida ×
12. Murmullo
13. Buena Vista Social Club
14. La Bayamesa

Forever Is a Feeling - Lucy Dacus | 2025

indie folk | singer-songwriter

★★★

Forever Is a Feeling is frustrating. not because it's egregiously terrible or not well put together or anything, but because i just know that she's better than this. lucy dacus has never been an artist with much wow factor to me, but the existence of Night Shift and her work with boygenius proves to me that she can make great music, but she's always just left me wanting more. i think i just feel it more this time since i hadn't heard boygenius when i listened to her other albums last year.

for the worst gay person you know

 

      tracklist

1. Calliope Prelude
2. Ankles ×
   
3. Big Deal
4. Limerance
5. Modigliani
6. Talk
7. For Keeps
8. Forever Is a Feeling
9. Come Out
10. Best Guess
11. Bullseye
12. Most Wanted Man
13. Lost Time ★

frog song - Fish Narc | 2025

emo | indie rock

★★★★

most underrated album of 2025 so far? i'm on a pretty mediocre streak with emo and a 3.24 score didn't excite me but i'm pleasantly surprised how much i like this. most of the songs get kind of boring by the time they end, but otherwise it's engaging emo pop/rock. the vocals aren't overly whiny, which is a big reason i tend to have relatively bad luck with emo.

for being the band playing at a local bar and everyone lowkey wants you to stop but you don't take the hint

 

      tracklist

1. my ceiling
2. old band
3. boxy volvo ×
4. return in flames
5. crystal ball
6. can you ever really know?
7. cluefinder
8. interstate
9. never better
10. gas station
11. blueberry ★
12. disregulated

Ginkgo - Panchiko | 2025

indie rock | neo-psychedelia

★★★

listen i'm not expecting panchiko to make D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L 2, i just want them to make something good. their last album was just overwhelmingly ok and so is Ginkgo, though there is noticeable improvement. there's actually some pretty good songs on here - Shandy in the Graveyard, Chapel of Salt, Vinegar, and Rise and Fall stand out among a sea of Meh. just don't ask me to describe them to you because i already forgot. most 3★ album ever?

for really hardcore panchiko fans

      tracklist

1. Florida
2. Ginkgo
3. Shandy In the Graveyard ★
4. Honeycomb
5. Shelled and Cooked ×
6. Lifestyle Trainers
7. Chapel of Salt
8. Vinegar
9. Mac's Omlette
10. Subtitles
11. Formula
12. Rise and Fall
13. Innocent

Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains | 2019

alt-country | singer-songwriter | indie rock

★★★★

dying a month after releasing an album that is basically a suicide note/chronicling your depression is obviously going to paint those songs in a certain light, but this isn't a particularly heavy album to listen to. it's actually pretty fun and airy at parts in sharp contrast to the lyrical content, a gimmick i'm always fond of. i'm not sure if listening to this album when i'm not doing great would help or make it worse but if i said Purple Mountains wasn't oddly comforting i'd be lying

for my dad i think

      tracklist

1. That's Just the Way I Feel
2. All My Happiness Is Gone ★
3. Darkness and Cold
4. Snow Is Falling in Manhattan ×
5. Margaritas at the Mall
6. She's Making Friends, I'm Turning Stranger
7. I Loved Being My Mother's Son
8. Nights That Won't Happen
9. Storyline Fever
10. Maybe I'm the Only One for Me

The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of - Starlight Mints | 2000

indie pop | indie folk

★★★★

it's only natural that in such an oversaturated market some great albums are inevitably just going to get lost to time and it's unfortunate that this was a victim because if this came out today people would eat it up

for hearing a small snippet of on your tiktok fyp and thinking wow i should listen to this and then not

 

      tracklist

1. Submarine #3
2. The Bandit
3. Sir Prize ★
4. Blinded By You ×
5. Valerie Flames
6. Sugar Blaster
7. Cracker Jack
8. Matador
9. The Twilight Showdown
10. Margarita
11. Pulling Out My Hair

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I FUCKING LOVE TOM WAITS (cont.)
when you look at these tracklists i want you to remember that i typed this whole thing out three times

Franks Wild Years - Tom Waits | 1987

singer-songwriter | dark cabaret

★★★½

a lesser but perhaps more atmospherically cohesive Swordfishtrombones, though doesn't have the same wow factor

for the end of the line

      tracklist

1. Hang On St. Christopher
2. Straight to the Top (Rhumba)
3. Blow Wind Blow
4. Temptation ★
5. Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
   
6. I'll Be Gone
7. Yesterday Is Here
8. Please Wake Me Up ×
9. Franks Theme
10. More Than Rain
11. Way Down in the Hole
12. Straight to the Top (Vegas)
    
13. I'll Take New York
14. Telephone Call From Istanbul
15. Cold Cold Ground
16. Train Song
17. Innocent When You Dream (78)

Bone Machine - Tom Waits | 1992

experimental rock | singer-songwriter

★★★★½

my favorite tom waits album without a single question. there's some return to the late jazzy/bluesy era on songs like Dirt in the Ground and Jesus Gonna Be Here, but frankly done exponentially better. the use of so much different percussion from bongos to pots and wooden spoons gives the feeling of bones rattling together and it's just such a cool detail. most of Bone Machine is dealing with the subject of death in some way, but tom's charisma and humor peek through, and i'd argue that this is his most fleshed out and realized vision, managing to cover perhaps his widest array of genres on any one album while also being distinctly tom waits. i feel like a female bird being courted

album everybody needs to listen to before they die

      tracklist

1. Earth Died Screaming
2. Dirt in the Ground
3. Such a Scream 
4. All Stripped Down
5. Who Are You ★
6. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
8. A Little Rain
9. In the Colosseum
10. Goin' Out West
11. Murder in the Red Barn
12. Black Wings
13. Whistle Down the Wind ×
14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15. Let Me Get Up on It
16. That Feel

The Black Rider - Tom Waits | 1993

dark cabaret | experimental rock

★★★

the most evil carnival hobo album in the evil carnival hobo catalog, and also maybe the most challenging. a lot more instrumentals and not as much that stands out, The Black Rider is an album you'll probably have to develop a taste for, and while there are some individually great songs, there isn't really anything that makes me want to come back and listen to the whole thing again. i can't say it's bad because i don't think tom waits has ever made a truly bad album, but like i said this album is one of his more difficult and i just wasn't as into it.

for evil fucked up carnival

      tracklist

1. Lucky Day Overture
2. The Black Rider
3. November
4. Just the Right Bullets ★
5. Black Box Theme
6. 'T'Ain't No Sine ×
7. Flash Pan Hunter / Intro
8. That's the Way
9. The Briar and the Rose
10. Russian Dance
11. Gospel Train / Orchestra
12. I'll Shoot the Moon
13. Flash Pan Hunter
14. Crossroads
15. Gospel Train
16. Interlude
17. Oily Night
18. Lucky Day
19. The Last Rose of Summer
20. Carnival

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remember that if you have any suggestions for albums i should check out, you can leave them here!

thanks for reading (´ ω `♡)