sam's very tasteful music

Gurr is a band from Berlin consisting of Andreya Casablanca and Laura Lee. They met while going to school for their undergrad, and began making music together. They released their first EP after spending a year abroad in the States and immediately started touring with money they'd saved up. In My Head is titled such because the topics of these songs are all thoughts that went through Laura and Andreya's heads. I heard In My Head for the first time in 2020. The first song that I knew from this album was Moby Dick, and because I'm a fiend for clean electric guitar with a basic beat under small-plate-reverbed vocals, I had to give the entire album a listen, and boy, was it worth it. Each song from this 30 minute album is so memorable and I can confidently it's a skipless album.

Moby Dick begins with catchy rhythm guitar, a solid beat, and a simple bass line. It's not much, which works in its favor because this song is just flow-y and distant, so it doesn't need a lot. This song feels like it would play in a movie at a moment where the main character decides they need to get their life back on track after going through an extremely low point and they start working their ass off to achieve that goal. When the lead guitar comes in with a short and sweet solo towards the end, it feels like the song just pushed on the accelerator and is going 20 miles above the speed limit while still managing to not be "too much".

Diamonds resembles a rock song more than most other songs on the album. It also begins with catchy yet simple guitar. The dynamics of the vocals are perfect. They expand exactly where they should (on the third and fourth "never, never, never cry up") and are soft where they should be (on the third "my baby's mad I never, never, never, cry up"). The transition from the verses to the chorus and vice versa is small but effective. The fuzzy guitar plays two steps leading into the chords while the drums play the beat on the two steps. The album title is sang in this song; "In my head, I never cry up". Gurr stated in an interview with New Noise Magazine that they didn't want to have a title track because the title should be applicable to all the songs on the album, so they mention the phrase "in my head" throughout the album. Towards the end of Diamonds, "Don't trust the snake" is whispered. I wonder if the snake is supposed to be your mind.

#1985 is also a bop. This is about the life of an old man who fantasizes about living the stereotypical "rockstar" life, according to Gurr. You understand from the song that the guy's name is Carlos. I absolutely adore the lyric "Underage drinking, fucking around, I had to turn thirty before I could be so cool". I like the effect that the really subtle bass line has on the chorus. It makes the chorus pop out just slightly more.

This is the debut from one of my most favorite artists ever, my little airport. It was released on August 1st, 2004. My little airport is a duo from Hong Kong and sing in Cantonese and English. The album title is officially 在動物園散步才是正經事, and is translated to 'the ok thing to do on sunday afternoon is to toddle in the zoo'. I used to listen to this album and many others by my little airport when biking in the neighborhood in 2022. I was living in Houston with some family friends and didn't know the area well, so it was always an adventure to be biking around and exploring the neighborhood.

My favorite off this album, even though I love all the songs dearly, is 'Victor, Fly Me to Stafford'. The lyrics depict a girl from Singapore singing to a man named Victor Ching and telling him she misses him as he's on his way to Stafford. I love the use of synths in the chorus that swell. The vocals of Nicole (lead singer of my little airport) are almost haze-y in this song, probably to portray the lust that the narrator of the song feels for Victor Ching.

My second favorite is 'Dee, It May All End Tomorrow'. The piano in the beginning sounds so beautiful. This isn't a heavily produced song, but it's so so so gorgeous. Nicole's vocals mesh with the piano incredibly well, and the melody gives the sense of yearning. The narrator is reminiscing over someone named Dee and thinks about them meeting again someday. It's a pretty short song, but the piano drew me in so much.

There's also 'You Don't Wanna Be My Girlfriend, Phoebe'. I wonder if Nicole herself is supposed to be the narrator of the song, and if so, queer yearning song???? This song is pretty simple but sweet.

'王菲，關於你的眉' ('Faye Wong, About Your Eyebrows' in English) has keys that I really like. From what I translated using Google Translate (not reliable, I know), this is a love song for Faye Wong. I fully support that. Faye Wong deserves one million billion love songs. I was a Faye Wong fan before I got into my little airport so it was fate that I fell in love with a band who also adores Faye Wong. Faye Wong introduced me to the wonderful world of canto-pop and I will forever be grateful.

I've known Some Cats Live, Some Cats Die by Covey since 2021. The first song I heard from it was Cloudy Eyes. I then realized that was exactly the kind of sound I needed in my life in that time, so I gave the entire album a listen and boy oh boy did I not regret it one bit. It's just so far-away-y and it makes you feel like you live in the album cover. The color grading on the album cover is so perfect. It's exactly how the songs feel. The sunset in the windows, the symmetry of the house, the two people standing far enough that you know they're close but not close enough. The heads that I always thought were pumpkins until this moment when I zoomed in and realized I had to update the image description. This album is filled with clean acoustic guitar and light background synths. You'll probably like this if you're a fan of indie-folk.

Cloudy Eyes starts off with guitar that sounds like you're missing your hometown and it's fall season. The first verse has a line that goes, "Remember when I almost killed us both? / I could not let it go, I wrote it down in my notes / Just two more inches left, and there's be nothing left." This established the nostalgic, regretful tone of the song in my mind when I first heard it. In the pre-chorus, there's a mention of a fox. This fox is brought up two more times in the album, in You Can Eat Me and Bile of the Beast. This fox symbolizes hopelessness and fear, in my opinion. The outro goes, "Fractured brain, what do you see? / It's just us laying there, a happy memory / I don't want these thoughts, they're eating me." The only background vocals in that part are repeating the lyrics, "You've got nothing on me," so it feels extremely raw. There's simple guitar chords and nothing else. The song ends with synths building up. These lyrics contain possible references to two other tracks on the album, Fractured Brain and You Can Eat Me.

Fractured Brain has a gorgeous instrumental outro. It has trumpets and guitars and drums. I also love the background vocals in this track, which are (probably) multiplied and reverbed to sound like a crowd. The song starts off simple with one guitar and one lead vocal. The first verse talks about fixing a fractured brain with a sewing kit. Make of that what you will, there is a plethora of interpretations that could be made from that. This song also references the aforementioned track, Cloudy Eyes.

Pink Songs is an album by Sipper released in December of 2020 on Bandcamp and added to streaming a month later. The most enjoyable part of this album is Sipper's voice—a voice that's soothing but can also carry strong emotions through. The use of guitar throughout this album is so gorgeous. I heard Dance In Room Song in 2022 and I fell in love. The melody of the chorus is so haunting but so groovy. Like how do you manage to make a song groovily haunting. What kind of superpower is that. When I moved countries in 2022, I think I decided to give the entire album a listen on the drive from the airport to my aunt's house. It was 2 or 3 am and I experienced this album for the first time.

Dance In Room Song has a very catchy guitar lead and begins with a strong "Fuck you!" which is always fun to hear, especially since it's the album opener. I couldn't find any interviews or statements made by Sipper, also known as Joey Beerman, about anything related to Pink Songs. Which means this is solely about my thoughts and my interpretations. Anyway, the notes of the lyrics "every joke" in the chorus really get me. It makes me feel like getting revenge. For what, you ask? Who knows! I just know that I need to get revenge after hearing Dance In Room Song. Also the lyric, "I don't wanna be a freak, I don't" adds to the vengeance plot. This song is something you play in a club full of people who hate everyone. Sipper's voice in the chorus is so dragged out and almost desperate? But not exactly. I think the word I'm looking for is drowsy. Yeah, Sipper sounds drowsy but in a purposeful manner. You'll only understand what I'm saying if you listen to the song.

The next song I want to talk about is K8. It's such a sweet song. "You know I got you / Sometimes more than I've got me," followed by short and sweet piano notes. This song is a very simple song, but I think the piano really ties it all together and makes me love it.

Paimon Prom Dress's main instrumental melody that plays in the beginning is almost spooky. It's a song that would act as background music for a funeral where the deceased's killer is present but no one knows they killed the deceased. The theme of the narrator being a freak continues in this song. Maybe this album is for freaks.

Hi!! It's my first album review!!! How exciting!!!! Lately I've been really into the Blue Album by Weezer (you can laugh at me all you want), and so I thought I'd write my first review on it. The standard version has 10 songs. My favorites are Only In Dreams, No One Else, Undone - The Sweater Song, Buddy Holly, and In The Garage in that order!

Only In Dreams starts off with a super catchy and memorable bassline, which is probably what captivated me the most. Any song with a sick bassline is bound to capture my interest. When the guitars kick in, you *know* this is going to be a song you listen to on repeat. I also really enjoy the lyrics of the first verse. "You can't avoid her, she's in the air / In between molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide," is such a great hyperbole because it takes one step further from just saying "she's in the air," which is used commonly. The exaggeration of her being IN BETWEEN molecules and co2 is really helpful to understand the narrator's constant state of mind about this girl. The layering of an electric guitar playing the same riff as the bass after the second chorus makes the song come crashing down (in a good way). Like the reality that you have this relationship only in a dream is suddenly hitting and it's making you more and more upset by the second. Then, there's the buildup with the bass and the ride and the guitar to the solo. Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer and guitarist, said this was one of his favorite solos, and I can definitely see why. This entire song encapsulates teenage yearning in my opinion. And the key resolution at the end of the song???? Perfection!!! Since this is a closer and I'm a sucker for closers that sound like closers, I have to point that out.

No One Else is a song from the perspective of an obsessive, controlling partner. I mostly just like this song because the chorus is hella catchy. If I go to a Weezer concert sometime in my lifetime and they play this song, I will burst the entire crowd's eardrums by screaming "I WANT A GIRL WHO WILL LAUGH FOR NO ONE ELSE" so loudly that they'll have to sue me for causing them bodily harm. Also they might think I'm screaming so loudly because I relate to this song, which would stink. Anyway. Weezer is just so brilliant at finding the most coming-of-age movie-like guitar chords and making songs that make me feel like *a teenager*. Like a proper, stereotypical teenager. But in a good way.

As for Undone, the main riff is so suave. Apparently Rivers wrote it about depression but it quickly and unexpectedly became a song people found funny. Nonetheless, Undone is a song I would walk in the middle of hallways to. It makes me feel like it's me against the world, and I've got everything under control. The lyrics of the verses feel like repetition of thoughts that eventually lead to destruction. "Oh no, it go, it gone, bye-bye, who I, I think, I sink, and I die." Also, I can see why people thought it was funny, because the line "it's good to see you lying there in your superman skivvies" always makes me smile. Also, the fact that this was their debut song. They were off to a great start.

Ah, Buddy Holly. Reaching critical acclaim to being one of Weezer's defining songs. Also having one of the most iconic licks of all time that people play and say "you just got weezered!" to. I think the reason this song is so good for me is because of solid 90s nerd-defending-his-friend-that-he-loves-oh-so-dearly-against-all-odds vibes I get from it. The "ooh-wee-ooh I look just Buddy Holly, oh oh and you're Mary Tyler Moore" is a line that solidifies the relationship the narrator has with their friend or partner or whomever the song is meant for. It's something you'd say to your best friend as a kid, and then we get hit with the "I don't care what they say about us anyway" which just gives anyone listening that surge of confidence and child-like joy. I also go feral when I hear the song start to play because "What's with these homies dissing my girl?" is such a monumental way to start a song off with.

I love how In The Garage transitions from a harmonica and acoustic guitar to punchy electric guitar. The verses' rhythm force you to move some body part along with the song. It's trancing but in a goofy way. The crunchy bass in the second verse is also very enticing. As for the meaning of the song, it's about someone who feels like their safe space is their garage (shocker!) and that's literally it. How Rivers Cuomo manages to make such timeless songs about such mundane things is beyond me. In The Garage is almost an anthem of sorts. It's for all the dance-like-no-one's-looking people, the I-have-a-million-figurines-of-geeky-stuff-that-I-would-probably-get-made-fun-of-for people, the I-do-silly-little-guitar-moves-when-playing-air-guitar people.