#IDKHow has been slowly releasing an album

[beveragenightmare]

what the fuck is with everybody releasing music in Jan and Feb this year??? I feel like its never happened at the beginning of the year before,,,

[oh-cramity-its-amity]

OMG OKAY!! i didnt do this sooner cause i fell asleep but here is my rambling :))))!!!

so something i dont get to talk abt/dont talk abt much with people is my love for physical media and collecting physical media- especially music!! i have a stereo that ive had since i was in 8th grade and not to sidetrack the convo much but my dad and i found it way back when in the high school that id go to's football field dumpster. the speakers had come unhooked so they had thrown them out, i guess? anyway we brought it home and while ive gone through a different receiver and many different disk changers, i love this sm.

well the problem is, most of the music i own is from when i was an early teen and not that i dont like that music- i feel like my taste has changed a bunch!! so im slowly trying to get more albums i love now. my taste tho is kinda not mainstream so its not super simple tho 💀.

ANYWAY!!! YESTERDAY I BOUGHT 6 CDS!!! AND IM SUPER EXCITED ABT THEM CAUSE NEW MUSIC!!

phantom planet - self titled

clancy - tøp

coldplay - parachutes

a skylit drive - adelphia

phantom planet - raise the dead

phantom planet - phantom planet is missing

now ur asking probably why im so ecstatic abt them??? (maybe??)

well i had gotten clancy on a whim cause i didnt own it yet and had been meaning to get it. i have all of tøp's albums on cd apart from their earlier albums (self titled and rab) at walmart. it was an album i really loved jst cause it was just- REALLY GOOD. billie's album had dropped the week before and literally may 2024 i was eating SOOOO good with album releases 😭.

anyway this is where i named my cat from lol. this band is important to me and my life.

BUT PHANTOM PLANET'S SELF TITLED ALBUM!!!! THATS THE REASON IM FREAKING OUT OVER IT

i didnt even expect to find it!!! my dad had let me go to my favorite video game store thats got like- games, vinyl, cds, all sorts of collectables and card games and ttrpgs. i truly LOVEE this store, okay?? ive been going here since i was uhhh- a young kid.

anyway they dont always have the best selection of cds jst cause my taste isnt what they have so i rarely pick up anything AND I WASNT GONNA GET ANYTHING EITHER!!! i originally was gonna get resident evil 4 for the wii cause i havent gotten or played that yet and their ps4 selection was trash that day :(. BUT i decided "hey, might as well??" so i got to work scanning everything... and when i got to the p's OH my eyes couldnt believe it!!!

because THAT ALBUM??? I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN TALKING ABT THAT ALBUM FOR A FEW WEEKS NOW AND I LOVE IT??? i have this list on my phone jst cause i consume a lot of different albums to take note on what albums i wouldnt mind owning physically and this one was one of them!!!! i didnt expect to find it either????

originally id found it through dallon weeks- whom was in panic! for a short while way back when and then split off to do his idkhow stuff- as most people have seen me yap abt how much i loveeee idkhow on here- this is no suprise.

i follow the idkhow tag on here just bc why not?? and a while back someone had posted a video about dallon where he actually had filled or played bass for phantom planet- i forget which. but it was for the song "big brat" - which is on this album!! and i heard the bit of it and though "hey! this sounds... very influential on dallon's work?? its actually good??" so i opened my spotify and added the album for myself.

little side tangent but if i see an album or an artist that even seems remotely interesting ill just add the album for later. i have a whole backlog of music i still have yet to get to but i felt like i should give this one a chance- ALSO THE COVER??? the cover looks so cool. GOOD ALBUM ART. anyway i added the album just because i loved big brat.

and i was playing kh1 a while back- i remember, before id gotten clancy- so like i believe it was june-ish?? i decided "hey. why not?" so i put the self titled album on and played through kh a bit and realized... HEY THE ALBUM IS ACTUALLY REALLY MF GOOD TOO???? so i liked the album lol. BUT THATS NOT WHERE THE STORY ENDS EITHERRRR. bc at work sometimes i blast music on my bluetooth speaker (its not being rude cause its a loud warehouse) and i decided to put this album on like last week- LITERALLY LAST MF WEEK.

AND MY COWORKER CAME UP TO ME AND ASKED ME ABT IT CAUSE SHE LIKED IT AND WAS INTERESTED AND WE HAD A FULL CONVO ABT PHANTOM PLANET AND MUSIC IN GENERAL AND I WAS SO EXCITED TO YAP ABT IT CAUSE LITERALLY NO ONE EVER ASKS IRL LIKE THAT 😭. I FELT SO EXCITED ABOUT GETTING TO SHOW HER THE MUSIC I FOUND.

WHICH- is why i was so excited for finding this!!! bc its literally an album i wanted and had on my list that i wanted to get!!!

and they had two of their other albums there??? id never heard them but i decided ill probably like them too and wanted to take a chance on them.

coldplay was bc they have a buy 3 get the 4th free and ykw i think parachutes is underlooked bc its actually a nice sounding album. i don't listen to coldplay much but this and x & y are good albums. and i figured why not?? itd be nice to just throw on.

a skylit drive- i found at goodwill. ive heard of them but haven't listened to their stuff but it seems promising of a metal album. i didn't even except to FIND a good cd at goodwill either lmao. i had found some the black eyed peas but i put them back cause i didn't need them tbh even though i think their music is chill at times.

uhh- but??? i haven't heard this album yet but it seemed neat so i decided why not. i did pull it up on my phone before i bought it just to see what it sounded like and it wasn't bad!! im gonna have to give it a listen later omg.

but i really really want to get balance and composure's albums rn and deja entendu by brand new. later thooooo.

anyway im v excited abt finding that phantom planet's self titled album????

oh!! i got clairo's charm through my work but it hasnt shown up yet along w my headphone extension cable for my stereo so i can listen to my stereo on my couchhhh. i was gonna order more cds soon w them cause free lol but also i just want to get more music and use my stereo againnnnn

also @sapphosdickandballs , i saw ur ask but heres me rambling :)

hey!!!! i bought some cds today!!!! does anyone want to see or hear me talk about them??? i bought one album id been looking for!!!! completely by surprise i found it!!! rly happy abt it omg cause it was on my list of albums i wanted to own physically!!!! :]

[starf]

StarF’s Top Ten Albums of 2020

Another year, another list. Let’s not even bother with the preamble this time around, you get what it is.

10. I DON'T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME - RAZZMATAZZ

Let me tell you right now, I struggled with this tenth spot. There were about four albums that were pretty much tied once I narrowed it down this far because it was a jam-packed year. Ultimately though I had to give it to iDKHOW for their smooth brand of piano rock-pop. This is their debut album and it brought the heat. While it didn't dazzle me immediately, with every subsequent listen I feel a little more of that promised razzmatazz from the title. I also absolutely love the ballad "Nobody Likes The Opening Band," which will certainly be a fun song to hear them perform some day whether they're the opener or not.

9. The Front Bottoms - In Sickness & In Flames

The last offering from The Front Bottoms, Going Gray, left me feeling a little lukewarm. In Sickness & In Flames, however, is a much stronger return to form for the band in my opinion. Some people say all of The Front Bottoms' albums sound the same, and maybe that's a little bit true. But maybe 2020 is the year that we needed to hear some new Front Bottoms material. It was a strange time for all of us, and in these times this kind of album just hits different. From the optimistic opening of "everyone blooms" to the infectious singalong moments of "Fairbanks, Alaska," this album is a good time all around.

8. The Used - Heartwork

Did you know The Used is still around? Not only still around, but apaprently they never went away! When I saw that they had released a new album early in the year I assumed it was a comeback, but I was wrong! For me there was a 12 year gap since I had personally listened to a new Used album, and this one blew me away in a big way. They're still going big, going hard, and rocking their signature sound - but updated for the modern age. This is a band that has managed to hold on to their roots while successfully adapting and progressing into the future.

7. Oliver Tree - Ugly Is Beautiful

Where do you even start with an artist like Oliver Tree? An absolute master of internet marketing, the release of this album was a tortured and dragged out experience, like a person chasing a 20 dollar bill on a string and having it constantly pulled away over and over again. By the time it came out it was a little disheartening that an entire half of the album had already been released via single, but overall it is undeniably a powerhouse of a pop album and a strong showing from Oliver Tree. A strange character, but an impossibly catchy album with earworm after earworm.

6. The World/Inferno Friendship Society - All Borders Are Porous To Cats

I pretty much always enjoy any offering from this band, but to varying degrees. Their last few albums have certainly been good to my ears, but for whatever reason just didn't resonate enough with me to earn a spot in my top ten. This album is clearly different though, and keeps me enthralled the entire way. With their unique brand of punk-jazz-cabaret, All Borders Are Porous To Cats tells the story of one Mr. Cat In The Hat, and it's a wild ride that you're going to want to hear.

5. Run The Jewels - RTJ4

One of the most biting and necessary releases of the year, RTJ4 dropped right when we needed to hear it most, and for free no less. It's my personal opinion that Run The Jewels continue to get better with every release they put out, and their fourth showing is easily my favorite so far. El-P and Killer Mike come through with some of their sharpest bars and heaviest beats yet. It's just a shame that for how much history repeats we as society still haven't learned some of the lessons that an album like this continues to attempt to teach us.

4. Aesop Rock - Spirit World Field Guide

Spirit World Field Guide is not a typical Aesop Rock album, but then again what is? Back in 2016 I fell in love with the album The Impossible Kid, an accessible (by Aes standards) album that hooked me in immediately. Spirit World is a different beast that took me off guard the first time I heard it, and left me a little bit lost - but that almost seems to be the intent. An absolute monster of an album coming in at 21 tracks and over an hour, this thing wasn't necessarily meant to be ingested all at once, or even in the order presented. The more I revisit it the more I put the pieces together and enjoy it more and more.

3. Poppy - I Disagree

Let's take a journey all the way back to January before the world entirely fell apart. I discovered Poppy for the first time through this album and was quickly intrigued. Going back through her older music, and then her YouTube, and slowly unraveling the mystery that is Poppy was perhaps some of the most fun I've had experiencing an artist's work in years - all topped off with seeing her perform live that month, the last large live music show I've been to. I Disagree is an eclectic blend of pop, metal, and strange curiosity. It starts off right away with the oddball banger Concrete and promises to weed out those who aren't prepared to take the mental trip through this album right away. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely for me.

2. Jeff Rosenstock - N O  D R E A M

Well here we are! The number one spot! You guessed it, it's Jeff Rose- what? This isn't number one? Well that can't be right, hold on. Nope, I guess that's correct. The new Jeff Rosenstock album, N O  D R E A M comes in at number two this year, a fact that will probably shock and confuse anyone who knows me. This is the proof that Jeff doesn't automatically get my number one spot if he releases an album, but with all of that out of the way, let's talk about the album.

In a Post-Post- world we see Jeff returning to a more traditional take on putting together an album, rather than simply rushing through it to get the feelings out of his head (both perfectly valid approaches). N O  D R E A M continues to explore themes of being lost and confused in such a soul-crushing and increasingly overwhelming world - all while attempting to find the silver linings and be optimistic about where we're headed. Whether it's the world at large or a personal journey, this album is an anthem to a year that saw most people holding their head in their hands and saying "please, just, let's all get through this, okay?"

1. Will Wood - The Normal Album

Wow. Just wow. Okay, where to begin? I was listening to a random Spotify radio when it started playing a song by Will Wood & The Tapeworms called "Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In!" Intrigued by the style of the song, as well as the title, I clicked through and listened to their most recent album which was 2016's "Self-Ish." I thought it was really good! I enjoyed it a lot and continued to listen to it for about a week. At that point when I started digging further into the band I learned that there was actually an even newer album entitled The Normal Album, categorized on Spotify under just Will Wood, which is why I hadn't previously found it.

I enjoyed Self-Ish, but hearing The Normal Album took it to an entirely new album and blew me away in a way that I haven't experienced in years. This wasn't just a great album, this was one of those musical discoveries where you think "oh wow, this is something I can't live without going forward." Will Wood is exactly what I needed in the back half of 2020 to keep my sanity, and even now I still listen to this album usually at least once a day. It's perfectly crafted in every sense of the world. Not a single second is wasted or out of place. The technical skill is in full display without muddling the pure enjoyment of the melodies or taking away from the overall vibe of the songs. The writing is some of the sharpest and dense I've ever seen, without being undecipherable or inaccessible. This is an album that truly does it all.

The feeling I have when I listen to this album and attempt to get people to listen to it is identical to how I felt about Jeff Rosenstock in the late 2000's, back before he had sort of blown up. Will Wood certainly has a following, but his music is definitely niche at the moment and somewhat obscure. Much in the same way that eventually people listened to me about Jeff, I hope they will find out about Will. Everyone should hear this album. It's breath-takingly perfect.