i’m getting stuck in algo-hell where i don’t even know what i listen to, so i wanted to intentionally listen to music for 2025. i also link to my favorite songs :)

february

february 2

• album: 第一集 – yourboyfriendsucks!
• favorite songs: intro (just like honey); 波兰首都是上海; all your secrets
• notes: i love that it opens with a jesus and mary chain cover. it mixes three languages together so well, but it’s the music/instrumentation that sticks out for me. like a bedroom pop shoegazy emo

january

january 28

• album: it’s yours to keep – loquat
• favorite songs: swingset chain; serial mess
• notes: slow dreamy pop. maybe a little too dreamy for me, but swingset chain is catchy

january 23

• album: when i said i wanted to be your dog – jens lekman
• favorite songs: you are the light; if you ever need a stranger; a higher power
• notes: going back to him. same as before, very hopelessly romantic. obsessed with ‘a higher power’

january 19

• album: underachievers please try harder – camera obscura
• favorite songs: suspended from class; a sisters social agony; teenager
• notes: this is new to me! i actually like this more than i like most belle and sebastian albums

january 18

• album: give up – the postal service
• favorite songs: the district sleeps alone tonight; such great heights; brand new colony
• notes: it’s iconic. i also used to listen to it all the time. this list is ending up to just be my favorite albums in high school. going to try to listen to newer music

january 16

• album: spine adagio – joplin rice
• favorite songs: jelly prince; glasscatche; coda
• notes: i remember listening to this album in high school and being obsessed with it. this album crossed my mind randomly and i spent so long trying to find this album. this is so heavily inspired by neural milk hotel and maybe jordaan mason it’s actually kind of funny. i’ve never cared much about originality so i don’t care. the songs i mentioned i like

january 12

• album: twin fantasy – car seat headrest
• favorite songs: really everything. but if i had to choose: my boy; famous prophets; twin fantasy
• notes: occasionally i’ll meet someone who i feel like reflects who i think i am in such a way i think “you’re me in another life”. this album captures the feeling of falling in that infinite mirror , with the reverb and noise. also this is in general so teenagery with it’s messiness/desperation, and i’m v into stuff like that

january 11

• album: the boy with the arab strap – belle and sebastian
• favorite songs: sleep the clock around; is it wicked not to care; the boy with the arab strap
• notes: feels like school really, at least mine. taking latin class, skipping lunch to explore the different areas of the building i’ve never been in. very aimless and a calm feeling of boredom. i mean this in a good way, to be clear

january 10

• album: home, like noplace is there – hotelier
• favorite songs: an introduction to the album; in framing; dendron
• notes: this album feels like digging through old photos. it’s hard to know if it’s the album or my relationship to it. it’s so memorable and melancholic.

january 5

• album: friendo – the book club
• favorite songs: the sword of michael; spiderpig joke
• notes: i feel so conflicted. i’ve been subscribed to his youtube channel where he posts funny but problematic videos discussing theorists like deleuze, baudrillard, byung-chul han, and so on. they there was always dense irony in everything he did. but this is so sincere and touching

january 3

• album: beware of the dogs – stella donnelly
• favorite songs: mosquito; beware of the dogs; face it
• notes: very warm indie pop brimming with wit and touches on serious political issues

january 2

• album: just got back from the discomfort – we’re alright – brave little abacus
• favorite songs: pile! no pile! pile!; can’t run away; orange, blue with stripes
• notes: another album i used to listen to a lot when i was younger. it’s so chaotic and anxious in an unraveling “stream of consciousness” way. i love the verbose lyricism, especially in the opening track:
  • “conscious expansion cultivated / the books' ideas, songs' polyphony / texture, content danced around me”

january 1

• album: the linden trees are still in blossom – jens lekman
• favorite songs: the opposite of hallelujah; your arms around me; it was a strange time in my life; the linden trees are still in blossom
• notes: i listened to night falls over kortedala back in high school and was surprised there was a reissue relatively recently. it still has the same christmasy charm (filled with love and friends and family, twinkling jingles, melodic, sincere, introspective, and “simple”). and listening to the reissue it’s even more nostalgic