This week in music - Vol. 2

Sean

Two whole weeks, yahooo! I really didn’t have much faith I’d continue this from last week, but here I am a week later and feeling well enough to write down my thoughts for a few minutes, so I consider that a win 1 .

I’ve had a really up and down week. We can start with the bad first because I feel like it. Most notably, I fainted Wednesday morning. I was just getting up from petting Birdie (my cutie patootie pet rabbit) and my vision slowly faded to a black tunnel. This happens quite a bit when I change positions, so I didn’t think much of it until the next thing I remember is waking up on a floor. I’d only been out for a few seconds, but it was certainly jarring. That hasn’t happened since high school. I was going to try going to a small Buck Meek gig in Santa Cruz Thursday night, but I skipped because I didn’t really feel like I had reached equilibrium again. Not that my equilibrium is all that good, but it’s at least predictable.

On the flip side, I’ve had some glimpses of my symptoms improving for short stretches of time. The last thing this blog needs to turn into is a log of my medical situation and explanations for it all, so I won’t delve into the why or how behind these glimpses. They’re nothing major, but it’s nice for daily life to be a bit more tolerable sometimes. It reminds me what it’s like to somewhat of a human.

Anyways, music. I broke with my listening habits of the last several months and enjoyed a couple electronic albums this week. I think that’s a result of the moments when I felt a bit better. My musical habits definitely follow my physical health. OK, review time :)

I Love My Computer - Ninajirachi (Electro House - NLV - 2025)

This album got a ton of buzz last year, but I was too busy listening to various flavors of crunchy analog guitar music and shitting on AI to care about an album that wanted to fuck a computer (see track #3). However, I was listening to Charli XCX (we love Charli over here) earlier this week when it dawned on me that the vibes of How I’m Feeling Now were probably pretty similar to I Love My Computer . I put it on and I was right. It’s great. I don’t really have an ear for this kind of music at all, but there’s an undeniable late 2000s, early 2010s nostalgia to this that is really endearing. It’s clurb music, but also has an awkward and honest coming of age aura to it. To me, it recalls lots of the poppish EDM tracks that were so popular on the Sirius XM channels I used to listen to on the way to elementary school. In a time when I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of becoming an crusty old anti-technology boomer, it’s refreshing to connect with an album that’s is, at the very least, accepting of technology. Oh, and this album cover is an all-time great. Check it out. 4/5 - best song: iPod Touch

Wallsocket - underscores (Indietronica - Mom + Pop - 2023)

After enjoying I Love My Computer , I figured I may like some similar electronic, chronically online stuff. I have a very short mental list of hyperpop-adjacent music, but underscores is first. I’ve been tangentially aware of her for a long time, dating all the way back to like 2021 when my brother showed me a six impala song. She blew up a couple years, but I’ve never really listened until now. The best way I can sum this album up is a far more tasteful 100 gecs. Contrary to most opinions I’ve heard, I really like 100 gecs, so a less juvenile and more refined 100 gecs is right up my alley. There are still all the hallmark elements of hyperpop (weird samples, absurd production, sugary melodies, internet references), but the songs have real structure and a more serious tone. It’s genuinely a really good indie rock album. I was initially surprised to learn that most of these songs started out as country tunes and that Bruce Springsteen was a big influence. I think Townes Van Zandt would have an aneurysm if he heard this. Upon reflection, that straightforward and honest storytelling is definitely reflected in many songs. I also think it’s a concept album, but I totally missed the concept. Shoutout trans femme hyperpop artists, though. Gotta be one of my favorite genres. 4/5 - best song: Johnny Johnny Johnny

My Days of 58 - Bill Callahan (Singer-Songwriter - Drag City - 2026)

Bill Callahan is better known by the name Smog. Not that that means much anyways cause neither persona is really known at all. He’s part of a cadre of late 90s, early 2000s deadpan slacker dirtbag desert-dwelling stoned-out grimy alt-country storytellers, think David Berman, Jason Molina, and Mark Linkous, but unlike those listed, he didn’t commit suicide. In fact, Mr. Callahan has even survived long enough to write an album about being 58 years old. At times it comes off clunky and out of touch (“Computer”), while other times it comes off poignant and heartfelt (“Empathy”), but overall, it’s authentic. And in this line of music, that’s all you can really ask for. My enjoyment of this album was greatly increased by resonating very strongly with “Pathol O.G.” Billy C talks about relying on his guitar as a crutch during times of loneliness and confusion instead of other people. While I barely know how to play the G chord, this dynamic starkly mirrored my old relationship to mountaineering and outdoor activities. “It’s important to not treat your lifeboat like a yacht,” muses Billy Boy Cal several times throughout the song. I think I’ll stick that line in my brain somewhere. 3.5/5 - best song: Pathol O.G.

You’d Prefer an Astronaut - Hum (Shoegaze, Post-hardcore, Alternative Metal - RCA - 1995)

Ahhhh, Hum. It was only a matter of time before they came up in here. I started listening to Hum last fall and have gotten pretty obsessed pretty quickly. They just do everything right. It’s like early Smashing Pumpkins, Sunny Day Real Estate (the good parts), and the Melvins had a baby. Except not entirely, because they are way better than all of those bands combined. You’d Prefer an Astronaut , their most commercial album, combines gorgeous melodies and sensitive emo-esque lyrics with with crushing, blow-your-brains-out levels of distortion and noise that’ll have you gasping for air. That is all happening under the careful guise of Matt Talbott, the lead singer/guitarist and producer, who has created some of the most orgasmic guitar tones in all of human history. I have so much more to say about Hum, but all of their albums will inevitably cycle through here at some point, so I’ll save my comments for later. In the meantime, check out this great clip of them playing “Stars” on the Howard Stern show . Howard Stern is a dickhead and makes fun of them for being scrawny and taking a long time to setup, but then they immediately shake the room with a thundering, face-melting riff. The drummer is also in the hallway. Funny stuff. One of my favorite albums ever. Play it out loud!! 5/5 - best song: I’d Like Your Hair Long

I was going write about 5 albums, but I couldn’t think of a fifth that I had an emotional connection with this week. To be honest, I kind of just played I Love My Computer on repeat. That’s OK, because I survived another week. Sending love to the homies in Iran and the Middle East <3

I started this on Sunday night, but didn’t finish because I started feeling pretty horrible about halfway through. Putting this out on Tuesday is better than not at all, right? I think I’m talking into the void here.