WEEKLY ALBUM RECAP #22 -- i guess we postin on mondays now

YOU'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE TOWN PLAY!

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eurovision 2025

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i swear i'm not intentionally shifting to posting on mondays it's just kind of happening

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

Confío En Tus Amigos conoce a Estoy Bien - Confío En Tus Amigos / Estoy Bien | 2021

post-hardcore | pop punk | garage rock

★★★½

a collection of explosive pop punk tunes from confío en tus amigos and estoy bien with one band offering much stronger songs than the other. the first half of this album, the confío en tus amigos half, i liked way more because they're where the post-hardcore tag comes from. in comparison, the estoy bien offerings are generic pop punk, though i suppose it's more fun cause it's in spanish. the album cover is also fantastic

i'm learning that chile is really good at post-hardcore

      tracklist

1. ¡Extra, extra!
2. Con el poder del Kung-Fu
3. Mata al facho ★
4. Mr. Chispa
5. Mientras tanto...
6. No hace falta
7. Ya no hay nada que hacer ×
8. Gracias por preguntar

Saya - Saya Gray | 2025

indie folk | art pop

★★½

seems to be trying really hard to be quirky, especially in the vocals. i appreciate that she tries to play with her vocals a bit and she does have a nice voice but it doesn't always land. it doesn't start strong at all, it only begins to pick up with Puddle (Of Me) and How Long Can You Keep Up a Lie?, just to crash and burn again when songs start approaching the 5 minute (!) mark. none of these songs need to be 5 minutes. Exhaust the Topic kind of tries a magbay Tunnel Vision moment and erupts into a completely unearned and out of nowhere breakdown towards the end. trying so hard to be quirky enough for teenage girls to be able to like without feeling basic that you circle back to being millennial coffee shop music.

for a 14 year old girl who is devastated by the end of her one week long relationship

      tracklist

1. ..Thus Is Why (I Don't Spring 4 Love) ×
2. Shell (Of a Man)
   
3. Line Back 22
4. Puddle (Of Me)
5. How Long Can You Keep Up a Lie? ★
6. Cats Cradle!
7. 10 Ways (To Lose a Crown)
8. H.B.W
9. Exhaust the Topic
10. Lie Down

Loveless - My Bloody Valentine | 1991

shoegaze | noise pop

★★½

yeah, it's pretty! but.. what else?

for not me

 

      tracklist

1. Only Shallow
2. Loomer
3. Touched ×
4. To Here Knows When
5. When You Sleep ★
6. I Only Said
7. Come In Alone
8. Sometimes
9. Blown a Wish
10. What You Want
11. Soon

Day of Reckoning - Pentagram | 1987

traditional doom metal | doom metal

★★★½

apparently traditional doom might be my favorite metal genre? or at least pentagram specifically tickles my brain the right way. every metal band will always suffer from "everything sounds the same" syndrome at least a little bit but this is sonically the most pleasant metal i've ever heard

for ancient metalheads

      tracklist

1. Day of Reckoning
2. Broken Vows
3. Madman
4. When the Screams Come
5. Burning Saivor
6. Evil Seed ★
7. Wartime

Sundays - Tanukichan | 2018

shoegaze | dream pop | indie pop

★★★½

this is a quite cute album, especially her vocals, though her vocals and the instrumentals at times feel like they're trying to set different atmospheres. the instrumentals are cute with just the right amount of noise to keep it from being too sugary sweet, but her voice feels distant and cold and kind of dreary in comparison. i think this actually does work sometimes, on Natural and This Time specifically, but it usually makes these songs feel much duller

for fans of 800 cherries (wow, the thing i actually intended to use these lines for)

      tracklist

1. Lazy Love
   
2. The Best
3. Like the Sun
4. Bitter Medicine
5. Hunned Bandz
6. Natural ★
7. The Blue Sky ×
8. Sundays
9. Perfect
10. This Time

Before It Might Be Gone - The Vices | 2025

indie rock | post-rock revival

★★★

i have nothing to say. read the genres you know what this sounds like

      tracklist

1. Before It Might Be Gone ★
2. Gold
3. Guess We're All the Same
4. How Does It Feel
5. Only for a While
6. Lovers Eyes
7. Wrong Ones
8. Shaking Shoulder
9. Hope You Know ×
10. Still They Might Not Like It

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who up pulpin it
pulp announced a new album and i love different class and i've never heard any of their other ones so i'm pulpin it

It - Pulp | 1983

indie pop

★★★½

jarvis cocker puts on his best morrissey impression for a decent-at-best-but-mostly-mediocre jangle pop album. Love Love is weirdly good though

for pulp completionists only

      tracklist

1. My Lighthouse
2. Wishful Thinking
3. Joking Aside
4. Boats and Trains
5. Blue Girls ×
6. Love Love ★
7. In Many Ways
   bonus track
8. Looking for Life

Freaks - Pulp | 1987

post-punk | indie pop

★★★½

i'm shocked how much i liked this. this is pulp in their edgy goth phase, but i don't think i can wholeheartedly call it goth. it's still bleeding smiths influences, especially with jarvis cocker's vocals. the big change here is that there's multiple vocalists, though the non-cocker songs are not nearly as good - russel senior has zero business being on lead vocals - but there's also their best songs from this era in I Want You and Being Followed Home. on the other side of that, there's also some of theur most perplexing in songs like Fairground, a spooky carnival soundtrack(?), and The Never-Ending Story, which i don't think i have words for. Freaks is an eclectic mix of some of pulp's most underrated and their most middling

for a quarter life crisis

      tracklist

1. Fairground ×
2. I Want You
3. Being Followed Home ★
4. Master of the Universe
5. Life Must Be So Wonderful
6. There's No Emotion
7. Anorexic Beauty
8. The Never-Ending Story
9. Don't You Know
10. They Suffocate at Night

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EPs Fe3O4: FORWARD - NMIXX | 2025

k-pop | contemporary r&b | alt-pop | electronic

★★★

i know nothing about kpop but this was fun. High Horse is one of the least kpop sounding kpop songs i've ever heard, which is probably why it is good

kpop for people who don't like kpop

      tracklist

1. High Horse ★
2. Know About Me
3. Slingshot (<★)
4. Golden Recipe ×
5. Papillon
6. Ocean

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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 `♡)