Music I Adore!!

Pure Unadulterated FUN!!!: On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System by The Bug Club [REVIEW]

Call me unoriginal- a butterfly following a band called The Bug Club?? Who would’ve EVER thought of such a ~novel~ idea! But ever since I listened to The Bug Club’s song ‘Marriage’ I was HOOKED. I kept a close watch on this oddball band, compromised of two members, Sam Wilmett and Tilly Harris, both lead vocalists- Sam rocking the guitar, and Tilly strumming the bass. And oh, how I was not disappointed upon the release of their 2024 album “On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System”. This album is pure joy injected directly into your brain, with catchy rock-candy riffs and phrases perfect to hum when your mind wanders. The albums mischievous, and wry tone could carry a bus with lyrics like ‘Those conifers are louder than my ten-gallon hat’ and ‘Everybody thinks they’re a bit like James Bond’. The album goes from a good outing on the town, to the unappealing fashion of British shoes, and even has some pretty harmonious moments strewn about between the playful, and dry. I will be a-humming ‘come on put your londsdale slip-ons and MOVE!’ forevermore!!! If you listen to the album and enjoy it I would also suggest the live recording they did on one of my favorite radio shows, WFMU. WHAT A RIDE!

It’s Kind of Everything?: Blond by Frank Ocean [REVIEW]

This album is quite hard for me to articulate in a concise manner, and I think I should share some history before diving into it. Blond was recommended to me by one of my very close friends, after he raved about how amazing it was. And boy was he right (he usually is, he has pretty good music taste)- Now me- I’ve never been particularly drawn to R&B as a genre- I know, I knoww :’)) Even so I’ve wanted to listen to a larger variety of genres, and I’d like to call this album my first fully REALLY attempted introduction to the genre!!
Now, I don’t hold anything against R&B; but due to lack of exposure to it, my music taste has gone in a drastically different direction. I’ve dabbled with it here and there, but I am not well acquainted. This poses a challenge, I fear, for the reviewer. I feel I am missing so, so much history condensed into one beautiful album- When you listen to a genre for a long time you start to recognize stylistic patterns, and where they’re being broken, which can give you a new found appreciation for the music you listen to; which is why I always like to return to old albums of my younger years periodically.
But I do think there is something here for everyone in Frank Ocean’s ‘Blond’. From the polished vocals found throughout, lovingly hand-crafted, to the intricate lyricism and emotional introspection that can bring a soul to tears if they’re open to the experience- Blond is really a wonder that I will continue to come back to, and that I would recommend to any listener

A Religious Experience: Ghost/Spirit by Jules Reidy [REVIEW]

This album is nothing short of ecclesiastical- it is, truly is a religious, or, well, a spiritual experience- I discovered this album in The QuietUs’ ‘album of the week’ and was immediately intrigued by the description.. mysticism? Spirituality? Jules Reidy was not an artist I knew of beforehand; this being my first introduction to them, I find they have an incredibly special talent to make such a familiar sound out of the din of electronic guitar strumming and synth. The album feels like holding your breath and releasing a deep sigh in the same moment. It feels familiar, like a prayer. Like someone’s beside you, not a malicious presence but a presence nonetheless. It is folky. It is electronic. It is eery. It is grief.
My particular musical history is what makes me love this album so much- I grew up on folk, indie, and odd synths on car rides home, watching evergreens flit past windows. I used to listen to Mumford and Sons' ‘Sigh No More’ over, over, and over yet again because it was the only (9 year old child friendly) album my parents had bought at the time, before Spotify was more widely used. While that seems like an odd comparison, as these two albums contrast starkly, there is something deeply folk-spirited about ‘Ghost/Spirit’. It reminds me of the Church, or communal singing.
I have a complicated relationship with Christianity; It has hurt me a lot more than it has helped, to the point I abandoned my faith completely, and had to rebuild it from the ground up. A painful process full of social exclusion, when your only community is a deeply religious and faithful one. I think now I have a much more healthy relationship with faith. A belief in God, maybe not God of the Bible, but I find teachings and stories of Christianity important. I miss being able to sing with people and feel the connection I did before the rug was pulled from underneath my feet. This album brings that solace and comfort lost souls like mine needed when those communities who were meant to be there for us failed.
I find it a little humorous then, that Jules Reidy wrote this album after a breakup- a topic so thoroughly explored in music to become trifling, and exhaustive. Nonetheless, Jules Reidy struck gold here- and I hope if you have the time to give it a chance

A Tactile Creature Comfort: Animaru by Mei Semones [REVIEW]

A wonderful mix of bossa nova, Japanese pop, math rock riffs, and a pure light-hearted delight, Mei Semones’ Animaru is perfect to listen to after a hard day. Animaru delights in swift genre changes without ever losing its pacing or breezy tone. Mei Semones’ lilting voice strikes a perfect harmony with the instrumentation. It is undoubtedly an album of spring time, and a creature comfort with many animal allegories woven into the album. The album summed up in a word is ‘pleasant’, but it doesn’t really detract from it- it is not meant to be a rough-and-tumble ride with abrasive sudden tone shifts. Rather, Animaru is meant to be a down to earth, relatable journey, like holding a friend’s hand on a walk.
A lot of the tracks on Animaru are written as non-romantic love letters, like a love for life or family (something lacking in a lot of music). Other themes include the struggle to express things on your own terms, feeling trapped in others perceptions of you, and learning to let words come naturally ‘[Translated roughly from Japanese] If you have nothing to say/Don’t force yourself to speak/Listening to other’s words/Is more enjoyable/Than hearing my own’. I love this album, and find it not only deeply compelling but applicable to my own life and personal struggles.
I’ve always been a sucker for animal imagery whether used allegorically, metaphorically, or literally to express things. Animaru is no different. The track ‘Rat with wings’ is about a wind-blown pigeon and its hopeless pursuit chasing cloud shadows. The track Dangomushi is named after isopods. Tora Moyo after ‘tiger patterns’, and so on so forth. All around, a lovely album

My Go-To Comfort Album: ‘The First Glass Beach Album’ by Glass Beach [REVIEW~more biased/personal]

This album is quite on theme for the month- and for me to be honest. This is gonna be a more personal review, and a little rant more than anything, about the symbolism, lyrics, and what this album means to me.

Before I ever listened to this album I saw it reviewed extensively. I would spot it on lists of the best albums of 2019, emo inspired music lists, and the album art always just had the kind of spark I felt drawn to. I learned latter that it has a very large online following- Something I’ve only really seen with Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’, or Will Woods ‘The Normal Album’ (one of which was more widespread, and the other having a more small but very passionate fanbase). After listening it’s really no wonder because ‘The First Glass Beach Album’ is both wonderfully sincere and also so very thespian, inspired by indie rock, emo, new wave, and jazz.

Its theatrical nature reminds me of Bear Ghost’s album ‘Jiminy’, but also can take time to slow down for moments like its 3rd, 4th and 9th tracks ‘(forever???)’ ‘bone skull’ and ‘(blood rivers). Its heavy emo influence is not for everyone; the cultural understanding of emo tends to fall into trite and teenage angst- Especially for those who have not grown along the genre. But even with those connotations (which actually can work in the musics' favor, if you extend an open heart and stop disparaging your childhood) I really love this album.

My personal favorite track is ‘calico’ because it immediately resonated with me and now I break down at least once a week to it. For those who don’t know cat genetics, calicos are generally almost always female 99.9% of the time- but the track genders the titular calico using ‘he’. At first glance this doesn’t seem intentional but on a second look considering the rest of the album it is very clear what it is meant to imply.

There’s a lot of queer elements in this album, both subtle and blunt, ‘yoshi’s island’ probably being the most obvious with references to HRT and unaccepting family ‘spiro and estro from Vanuatu/What the hell do you think that’ll do to you?!’. But ‘calico’ is such a tender love letter to a trans man finding his place with someone that it just makes me tear up every time, even though it’s one of the shorter and less ambitious tracks ‘you’ll pick him up off the ground/and hold him in your arms/and kiss him on the head/and tell him he’s a lucky boy’ FUCKKKK… I just want to be loved like that by someone someday. And honestly it makes me feel better about the traits of myself that are read as femme- a calico can’t hide its fur, and not all of us can hide ours, but there’s still people who will kiss us and tell us it's ok, or even love us as men and still love those parts of us. A more silly reason I like this track: One of the first cats my family adopted was a calico, and calicos are my favorite color of cat.