#but I heard new ep and the return of stuff packs??? hm.

[plumdale]

okay, but can we talk about how good galia looks pregnant? she is so cute, and pregnancy suits her well <3

It feels odd saying thank you when someone compliments my sims cause it’s not me or anything but lol thank you!! I do agree. I looove her <33

[starf]

StarF’s 2020 Top Five EPs & HMs

Here we are, another year, another new format! The top ten album list is coming shortly, but first we gotta cover some other stuff that came out because 2020 was WEIRD and jam-packed full of music. What started with a lot of album delays while we waited for everything to “blow over” soon became a swell of frustrated outpouring from many artists as they realized this was not about to go away so fast. Some of these releases are clearly related to the events of 2020, and some may just be coincidentally in the theme of the year. In any case, everything here is cool for one reason or another. LET’S GOOO!

TOP FIVE EPS OF 2020

5. NOBRO - Sick Hustle

I was made aware of this band from listening to the Punknews podcast, where they recommended checking out the music video for the band's new single "Don't Die." The video was fantastic and the song was an instant earworm. This four song EP may be pretty short, but it's a powerhouse of a miniature album and a sure sign of good things to come from this band.

4. PUP - This Place Sucks Ass

Is there a more fitting name for a release from 2020? This EP is PUP doing what PUP does best, rockin' out with catchy riffs, infectious hooks, and their own special brand of self-loathing humor. Did you enjoy Morbid Stuff? I did, and this certainly feels like a little extension of that album, which easily lands it on this list.

3. Tkay Maidza - Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2

This came out at the tail end of 2020, so I'd like to think the title very much has to do with what a weird ass year it was. I had never heard of this artist before this EP dropped, but listening to it I was instantly hooked. Her blend of smooth and chill and aggressively in-your-face across the runtime of this EP should be enough to provide enjoyment to any listener.

2. nelward - Eat Your Dreams

I truly don't remember how I found out about nelward, except that it was from the song Ghost. How I ended up on that song? No clue. But I was immediately intrigued by the style. Unfortunately that song doesn't appear on this EP, but what this EP does provide is some of the smoothest, weirdest funk-pop I think I've ever heard. It hits just right with healthy doses of fat bass, sprinklings of glitch, and sharply written yet smoothly delivered lyrics. I would also like to mention just how much I love the cover art for this project, maybe my favorite art to come out of the whole year, honestly.

1. Marian Call - Swears!

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I absolutely love Marian Call. Her brand of music ticks all of my personal boxes for what I look for in an enjoyable listening experience. So imagine my excitement when she announced she would be releasing a new EP on my birthday in 2020. And it did not disappoint. Marian Call takes a whole new approach to her music and reinvents herself in what feels like a bit of pop-punk therapy. Previously having never sworn in her music, she cranks it up to 10 in this EP, expressing frustration for the world and backed up with more energetic instrumental tracks than we've ever seen from her before. I've listened to this EP so much since it came out that I was half-tempted to just make an exception and put it on my top ten albums list. There are times when I have multiple songs from this thing stuck in my head at once. Truly its only fault is that it's not longer, because I crave more music from this side of Marian Call.

HONORABLE MENTIONS 2020

And here we have a few albums I’d just like to shout out for whatever reason. They either just didn’t make my top lists or didn’t fit in for one reason or another. In any case, here’s some cool stuff!

Neil Cicierega - Mouth Dreams

Prolific and eccentric internet creator Neil Cicierega returns in 2020 with another installment of the “Mouth” mash-up series. The third in the run features perhaps some of the most interesting and ambitious mashups yet, with a fittingly dreamy aesthetic throughout. If you want to get weird, this is a good place to start.

Mac Miller - Circles

I owe Mac Miller an apology, because ever since I found out about him when he broke onto the scene so many years ago I incorrectly judged his music. I never gave his tunes a fair chance, and I assumed that I wouldn’t like his music based on what I had heard about him. I don’t know how I got the impression that I did, but I decided recently to check out his final posthumous album Circles and I was immediately impressed. Apparently I had the dude all wrong, and I have to work my way back through his discography now because I was a fool.

Liquid Death - Greatest Hates, Vol. 2

Hey this is an oddball. Are you familiar with the water brand Liquid Death? If not then boy do I have a story for you. It goes something like this: a few years ago some people decided to create a brand of canned water that was going to be WAY EXTREME BABY. They called themselves Liquid Death and were henceforth extremely aggressive in their marketing. Naturally a bunch of people (the kind some may refer to as “normies”) were upset about this, and instead of moving on in their life they had to e-mail the company to complain. So what did Liquid Death do? They commissioned a bunch of punk bands to record short songs where the lyrics were the contents of their hate-mail. Enjoy!

Black Dresses - Peaceful As Hell

This is an honorable mention just in the fact that it’s a great album that I really should have listened to more. My journey to discovering Black Dresses was odd in that I listened to this album first, loved it, but then over the course of the year got completely side-tracked by listening to their 2019 release Love And Affection For Stupid Little Bitches way more. Peaceful As Hell is a great album that surely would have made my top ten if I would have dedicated more time to it, but for some reason I just didn’t. Go  check it out!

Amnesia Scanner - Tearless

Look let me be completely honest here: the music on this album is fine. Good even. I enjoyed it. It’s a far cry from a top ten pick though. So why did I include it here? It’s that album art baby. It’s that album art. Just look at it. This thing stuck with me, if only because the cover haunts me. Listen to it if you want, but know that you are now forever stuck with that image in your head.