Music really is my fuel. I don’t have anyone to really talk to about this stuff so I’m putting it here. If you have any recommendations that kind of fit these vibes (hell even if they don’t I’ll try just about anything once). Hit me up wherever else you can find me.
DREAM MACHINE (LUCID EDITION) – Des Rocs*
This album makes me absolutely fucking insane. Most of his stuff does. There’s a lot of really sharp old rock feel to his music, everything feels crisp and energetic. That guitar is so fucking dirty and crunchy. I also am just a sucker for Range. This album’s songs are just really flexible and change vibes while somehow all still feeling cohesive? Incredible. Well done.
TOP 3 TRACKS: The Way It Has To Be / In The Night / Dream Machine
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LET THE VULTURES IN EP – Des Rocs
I’m in love with this EP. It’s got a moodier vibe to it, still keeps the high energy you’ll find in his later work but there’s a lot more snarky-shit energy to it.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Maybe, I / HVY MTL DRMR / Let Me Live (Let Me Die)
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“&” (AMPERSAND) – Bastille
Quick vibe-check. Yeah I wasn’t sure about this album at first, it feels a bit one-note to start with but something about its melodic tunes really kept me coming back for more. The music is beautiful, lilting and sad… maybe nostalgic even? It really got me looking into the historical figures the songs bring to light. I fell in love with it <3 It had, honestly, huge shoes to fill after their GIVE ME THE FUTURE album.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Seasons & Narcissus / Drawbridge & The Baroness / Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her
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RITUALS ON THE BANK OF A FAMILIAR RIVER – Kiki Rockwell
Oh… yeah I’ve got feral queer babes in the woods energy. Woman scorned through time, over and over again but what if she also got to get her just desserts for it too? There’s a LOT of really fun raw energy in this album. Again, lots of really fun variation going on in this tracklist but they all just really work together.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Rise Up O Flame / Cup Runneth Over / Same Old Energy
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THE KITE MACHINE – The Kite Machine
Found these guys looking for some chill tunes to fit with one of my tabletop characters and wound up falling for the really fun deep bass tracks and the funky vibes of this entire album. Just feels like what I’d might listen to on a sunny day walkin’ down the street. Jammin’.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Charlotte / Makeshifter / Sinister Sound
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1981 – I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME
IDKHow but yeah they fucking got my ass. I really like this EP. It’s honestly got a really fun sarcastic flair. It really hits fun 80s pop-nostalgia with lyrics that will really gut you… my favourite <3
TOP 3 TRACKS: Choke / Bleed Magic / Absinthe
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RAZZMATAZZ – I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME
This one is a bit more low-key than their 1981 EP but there are a lot of good vibes here that I keep going back to and sneaking onto playlists here and there. This album’s vibe plays a lot with really dark humour in the lyrics, but there’s a lot of sincerity in here that kinda hits? Compels me.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Leave Me Alone / From The Gallows / Kiss Goodnight
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ROCKISDEAD – Dorothy
Women. Am I right? Ugh this album has all kinds of guttural guitar and Dorothy’s voice is just… phenomenal. I love the scratch. I love how fun this album is. It’s just a real good time through and through.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Kiss It / Raise Hell / Whiskey Fever
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THE BITTER TRUTH – Evanescence
I peeked in on my babe, Evanescence on a whim because, of course she was my #1 in high school and I hadn’t heard much from her since. Her voice? Still gorgeous as ever, her music still captures a lot of the old magic she had from Fallen, in my opinion. It’s a fun & moody dark listen.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Yeah Right / / **
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LANTERNS (SPECIAL EDITION) – Son Lux
This guy’s… Weird. I think Unhinged is about the best I can explain it. There’s a lot of quiet murmurings and cacophonous unsettling moments. It’s not an album I can necessarily sit through on a whim but there are a LOT of mental tracks on this thing I keep going back for and picking at.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Easy / Pyre (both versions) / Lanterns Lit
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CITIZEN SLEEPER OST – Amos Roddy
I got into this game because a friend of mine played its music for our Starfinder game as mood-setting, played the game, fell absolutely head over heels for this quiet electronic track set. The mood in these ones just ranges from thoughtful to hopeful to absolutely heartbreaking while managing to keep to the same Vibe.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Matsutake / Among Ruins / Possible Futures
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STRAY GODS – Austin Wintory
I’m not a musicals-type bitch– (at least not always but sometimes… wow okay. Kick my ass). This is a game that’s a musical with variant options to pick from. I can’t even explain the mental gymnastics Austin was playing with planing musical motifs & alternate endings to songs and somehow EVERY VERSION of SEVERAL SONGS hits so hard I don’t even know what to do with myself.
TOP 3 TRACKS: Challenging A Queen / The Ritual / It’s Time
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MODERN VINTAGE – SIXX:A.M.
Definitely not NEW this year, not even for me, but this guy is a real crutch & comes in clutch when I’m feeling really down. I love this album. Its fun, its really got an emotional core that keeps me coming back. I have both a glue movie… and a glue-album (this is p much my glue album).
TOP 3 TRACKS: Stars / Drive / High on the Music
SONGS ON LOOP
I don’t know if I can fully grasp the SCOPE of music I listen to with just a slap-full of albums pasted above so here’s a slew of this year’s songs that wont stop worming in my brain:
- Supernatural – World’s First Cinema
- Monolith – Twin Pumpkin
- The Dismemberment Song – Blue Kid
- BAD BITCH – Tessa Violet
- YES MOM – Tessa Violet
- Sleepwalk – Forrest Day
- Villain – Bella Poarch
- Choke – I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME (acoustic)
- Golden Boy – Bryce Fox
- DEVIL – Shinedown
- MONSTERS – Shinedown
- Planet Zero – Shinedown
- HONEY – Luna Aura
- Another New World – Punch Brothers
- White Whale – Everything Everything
- Pathetic – Blame Candy
- JEKYLL & HIDE – Bishop Briggs
- Bathroom Bitch – HOLYCHILD
- Son of Nyx – Hozier
- Eat Your Young – Hozier (og & Bekon’s Choral)
- The Fold – Wickerbird
- That Unwanted Animal – The Amazing Devil
- Whisper – Martin Rev
- Gold Guns Girls – Metric
- Love, Me Normally – Will Wood
- Lampshades on Fire – Modest Mouse
- Dangerous – Big Data, Joywave
- Grenadine – Dreadlight
- Dirty King – The Cliks
- I Created A Monster – Hello Operator
I think I’ve got to move on from this post here, for now. But I’m leaving this as an open-ended section I’ll link back to if folks are interested in my insane musical tastes.
Cheers~
* DES ROCS is a bit of a new find for me this year. I’d be lying if he wasn’t like my entire jam. If i could put my brain energy into music this would be it 24/7. So you might imagine how fucking devastated I was that he was playing in TORONTO while I was in CALGARY visiting family. Absolutely ruined. Touring one of my current favourite albums in existence. Fate pls bring this tour back for me and me only kthnx.
** This EVANESCENCE album still catches me by surprise. I haven’t listened to it solo enough to really pin-point favourite tracks aside from Yeah Right but listening through the whole album is easy and really nice idk! Felt right to include it in the list anyway~