WEEKLY ALBUM RECAP #21 -- is tom waits god? is kali uchis jesus?

YOU'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE TOWN PLAY!

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kali uchis

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sorry this one's late i was out of town all weekend without a computer X__X

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

11100011 - Asian Glow | 2025

noise pop | indietronica | shoegaze

★★★★

this kind of lofi-shoegaze-emo sound seems to be a new trend, and it's hit or miss. parannoul is the best example i can think of, and i personally find parannoul to be sluggish and boring. why do i like 11100011? what makes this different? it's one thing - diversity in sound. i still think this suffers from the parannoul problem of "everything sounds exactly the same" but to a much lesser extent. each song has juuust enough to set it apart from the last that i could actually identify when the song changed even when i was kind of zoning out a little bit

for a killer pintrest board

      tracklist

1. m0numental
2. Feel All the Time
3. The Worst Way to Start an End
4. Out of Time
5. 11100011
6. Camel8strike ★
7. Untitled *3 ×
8. Jitnunkebi (Winter's Song)
9. Dorothee Thines

Only Dust Remains - Backxwash | 2025

conscious hip hop | abstract hip hop | experimental hip hop

★★★½

i don't have a lot to say about this. it's visceral and raw and it does an excellent job at crafting a unique sound. good messages. i thought it was pretty good

for jpegmafia fans who actually have a spine

      tracklist

1. Black Lazarus ×
2. Wake Up ★
3. Undesirable
4. 9th Gate
5. 9th Heaven
6. Dissociation
7. History of Violence
8. Stairway to Heaven
9. Love After Death
10. Only Dust Remains

Gut - Baths | 2025

indietronica | indie rock | glitch pop

★★½

i thought this was really annoying and a total slog to get through. no lack of personality but total lack of charm, just not at all captivating. a review by rateyourmusic user Wasabi02 describes this album as "Sitting somewhere between a homosexual The 1975 and a homosexual Everything Everything", who are two bands that i hate, so i guess this checks out.

for that one friend that's too woke

 

      tracklist

1. Eyewall
2. Sea of Men
3. Peacocking
4. Eden
5. Homosexuals
6. Cedar Stariwell ×
7. American Mythos
8. Chaos ★
9. Governed
10. Verity
11. The Sound of a Blooming Flower

Chinese Football - Chinese Football | 2015

midwest emo | math pop

★★★½

imagine you're in a big stadium watching a soccer game and also american football is there. now imagine everyone was chinese. you'd probably be like wow i'm watching a soccer game and american football is here and also everybody is chinese.

midwest emo in the great chinese century

      tracklist

1. 游戏开始 (Intro) [Game Start]
2. 守门员 [Goalkeeper]
3. 飞鱼转身 [Flying Fish]
4. 400米 [400 metres] ×
5. 不是人人都能穿十号球衣 [No.10 Jersey ~Not for Anybody~]
6. 世界悲 [World Cup Fantasy]
7. 游戏暂停 (Interlude) [Game Pause]
8. 地球上最后一个EMO男孩 [The Last Emo Boy on Earth]
9. 红牌罚下 [Red Card Penalty] ★
10. 帽子戏法 [Hat-Trick]
11. 再见米卢 [Goodbye Milu]
12. 盲人摸象 [Blind Men and an Elephant]
13. 游戏结束 (Outro) [Game Over]

Tomahawk - Tomahawk | 2001

alternative rock | post-hardcore

★★★½

sorting through mike patton's side projects is so overwhelming and terrible that this was sitting in my backlog for months and i had no idea it was mike patton until a few days ago. much more reminiscent of late faith no more than anything else, and late stage fnm is... not my favorite. the first two songs are great and the rest is also there. not bad, not even really boring, everything has good moments but those moments tend not to lead anywhere. 

for people who really like the mediocre faith no more albums

      tracklist

1. Flashback
2. 101 North ★
3. Point and Click
4. God Hates a Coward
5. POP 1 ×
6. Sweet Smell of Success
7. Sir Yes Sir
8. Jockstrap
9. Cul de Sac
10. Malocchio
11. Honeymoon
12. Laredo
13. Narcosis

Stage Four - Touché Amoré | 2016

post-hardcore | emo

★★★

these guys are apparently the screamo goats, which i did not know that until i was reading reviews while i was listening. my thing with screamo is that it just feels corny and i can't get over it and this, as any screamo album does to me, sounds corny. the instrumentation on this album is actually beautiful, it's just the vocals. the songs where there isn't constant screaming and the singer actually leans into, yknow, singing, are great. unfortunately there's only like 2 of them. the second half is also way better

for the night that i will fall for you over again

      tracklist

1. Flowers and You
2. New Halloween
3. Rapture
4. Displacement ×
5. Benediction
6. Eight Seconds
7. Palm Dreams
8. Softer Spoken
9. Posing Holy
10. Water Damage
11. Skyscraper ★

Sincerely, - Kali Uchis | 2025

pop soul | smooth soul

★★★★½

normally i'd be pretty jazzed when kali uchis announces a new album but i was kind of scared that Sincerely, was gonna be ORQUÍDEAS 2 and spoiler i did not like ORQUÍDEAS but WOW what a treat this was. the production builds such a lush and warm and ethereal atmosphere, notably more psychedelic than her previous albums. kali has one of the most buttery smooth voices in music and she glides so elegantly over the instrumentals i could actually cry thinking about it rn. to me kali uchis' niche has always been how sexy her music makes me feel and this cranks that up to 11, but Sincerely, is also her most sensual and intimate feeling album. i feel sexy but i also feel appreciated for being sexy. i wrote this off when it was announced out of fear and it's turned into a sleeper aoty contender. kali uchis might be an angel. what a woman

for me time

      tracklist

1. Heaven Is a Home...
2. Sugar! Honey! Love!
3. Lose My Cool...
4. It's Just Us
5. For: You
6. Silk Lingere, ×
7. Territorial
8. Fall Apart,
9. All I Can Say
10. Daggers!
11. Angels All Around Me... ★
12. Breeze!
13. Sunshine & Rain...
14. ILYSMIH

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I FUCKING LOVE TOM WAITS (the end)
when you read this i want you to remember i type this all out by hand

Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards - Tom Waits | 2002

singer-songwriter | blues rock | folk rock

★★★★

Orphans is a celebration of everything tom waits. its three phases showcase the three central sides of tom waits: Brawlers = blues rock, Bawlers = jazz/folk ballads, and Bastards = Weird. if you're willing to waste 3 hours, Orphans would honestly be a pretty solid introduction to tom waits, but it's just way too much for one sitting. i managed to get through the first two in one day and then had to save the last disc for later. however, a double album let alone a triple album is not an easy feat, and yet Orphans manages to be incredibly consistent through all 3 hours, even if i think the ballad-focused Bawlers is noticeably weaker than the other two. Brawlers >  Bastards > Bawlers btw

for the guy that is absolutely not allowed on aux

      tracklist

          Brawlers

1. Lie to Me
2. Lowdown ★
3. 2:19
4. Fish in the Jailhouse
5. Bottom of the World
6. Lucinda
7. Ain't Goin' Down to the Well
8. Lord I've Been Changed
9. Puttin' Down the Dog
10. Road to Peace
11. All the Time
12. The Return of Jackie and Judy ×
13. Walk Away
14. Sea of Love
15. Buzz Fledderjohn
16. Rains on Me
    Bawlers
17. Bend Down the Branches
18. You Can Never Hold Back Spring
19. Long Way Home
20. Widow's Grove
21. Little Drop of Poison
22. Shiny Things ×
23. World Keeps Turning
24. Tell It to Me
25. Never Let Go ★
26. Fannin Street
27. Little Man
28. It's Over
29. If I Have to Go
    
30. Goodnight Irene
31. The Fall of Troy
32. Take Care of All My Children
33. Down by the Train
34. Danny Says
35. Jayne's Blue Wish
36. Young At Heart
    Bastards
37. What Keeps Mankind Alive
38. Children's Story
39. Heigh Ho ★
40. Army Ants
41. Books of Moses
42. Bone Chain
43. Two Sisters
44. First Kiss
45. Dog Door
46. Redrum ×
47. Nirvana
48. Home I'll Never Be
49. Poor Little Lamb
50. Altar Boy
51. The Pontiac
52. Spidey's Wild Ride
53. King Kong
54. On the Road
55. Dog Treat [unlisted]
56. Missing My Son [unlisted]

Bad as Me - Tom Waits | 2011

singer-songwriter

★★★★½

i think i've said this a lot but i think this would be a great starting point to get into waits. Bad as Me is criminally overlooked, but who can really blame people? with 18 albums and probably over half of them being all-timers, something has to slip through the cracks and it just so happened to be this one. this album has managed to land itself in my top 5 waits albums, and considering this was released when he was in his ealy 60s, that is insanely impressive. easily the most notable thing about going through the waits albums was just how undeniably consistent he is and this and orphans are maybe the best examples of that.

for a strong case in favor of the eternal argument - Is Tom Waits God?

      tracklist

1. Chicago
2. Raised Right Men
3. Talking at the Same Time
4. Get Lost
5. Face to the Highway
6. Pay Me ×
7. Back in the Crowd
8. Bad as Me ★
9. Kiss Me
10. Satisfied
11. Last Leaf
12. Hell Broke Luce
13. New Year's Eve

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MIXTAPE Fancy That - Pinkpantheress | 2025

dance-pop | uk garage

★★★★

ate

mhm

      tracklist

1. Illegal
2. Girl Like Me ★
3. Tonight
4. Stars
5. Intermission
6. Noises ×
7. Nice to Know You
8. Stateside
9. Romeo

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much to think about this week

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

thanks for reading (´ ω `♡)