I've listened to Helena an embarrassing number of times and I have no doubt it's going to be my #1 song on my Spotify Wrapped for the year. Now that I've listened to the full album... it was just alright. It's weird, on paper it's a winning combination for me. I love the album cover, the horror theme, everything. The songs feel, I don't know... TOO polished? There's no grit and it's too clean somehow. Definitely not a whole album I will revisit anytime soon, but I'm going to continue to listen to my favorite song. Besides Helena, I also like Saturday Night, Living Hell, and Descending Angel. Also, I totally thought this band was British for some reason before I started listening to them.

I saw this new release pop up on Spotify and I was very excited to listen to it! I'm a big fan of cosmic themes, but the cover is hideous and looks generated. I'm a fan of 80s music and synth pop, so this was right up my alley. It starts off with The Light which I enjoyed, it had an energetic tone to it, but in a restrained way somehow. My favorite however, is Starlight Dreams! It sounds very Genesis/Megadrive-like, a unique sound that I can never get enough of. It's such a nice change of pace after three upbeat songs in a row and makes me want to slow dance with someone. Besides those two songs, my other favorites are Sumikko Disco and Time Capsule. I recommend you check out Plastic Dino's review of this album! She has very different opinions from me so I really enjoyed reading from a different perspective.

Another throwback thanks to Bree's passion! Rammstein was a band I often listened to during the peak of my SOAD phase in middle school. I listened to a few of my old favorites like Engel and of course Amerika and it was like visiting an old friend again. When I saw there was a new release as recently as 2022, I knew I had to give it a try. I gave the album a couple of listens to truly sink it in as I usually have to do, and now I can say for certain that Zick Zack is my favorite track on Zeit. She wasn't kidding about Lügen though... I went halfway through the track thinking it wasn't so bad, until the autotune hit. Oh.

A few years ago, I went to a convention that had a J-Pop panel, where I was introduced to Wink. I really liked their sound and made a mental note to remember them and listen to their discography later. Surprise, I didn't write it down and I completely forgot about them for years, until I encountered Bree's Wink shrine. Wait a minute, this is the duo I was supposed to listen to all those years ago! If Sky So Blue by Hot Flash Heat Wave was the song that I started Summer 2023 listening to, Lonely Tropical Fish (淋しい熱帯魚) is the one I'm greeting Summer 2024 with.

I've been listening to a lot of Misfits lately and London Dungeon is the song that started it all, yet another song I found myself listening to on repeat for a week! I'm only surprised it took me this long to finally give them a try. I'm sure one of their albums is going to end up on my favorite albums page, I just need to listen to more and pick one out...

Flonne made me not one, but TWO Vocaloid playlists full of new songs I had never heard before!! Among my some of my favorites from them are Hungry Nicole, Darling Dance, and Unaware Dunkard. However, by far the one that stuck out to me the most was Beaver! It has an electro-swing feel to it and the MV accompanied with the lyrics really sealed the deal for me. 群れたいのか？褒めたいのか？売れたいのか？

Had a Cytube party with friends for the first time in a while and a friend queued this, "Moon Girl" by Ha Vay. I was totally in love with this song within the first few seconds, enchanted by the music video and my friend also told me the song reminded her of me!! Ha Vay has such a bewitching, otherwordly style and I can't wait to see what music she releases in the future! Her voice is so dreamy and gorgeous.

The weather was cool and grey yesterday, the perfect weather for some darker music. I got a video recommended to me for Molchat Doma lovers. The playlist was great, but I found myself playing the last two songs over again, and finally the final one, "Durdu Dunya" by She Past Away, a Turkish darkwave band. This is what I'm in the mood for!! I'm going to tear into the rest of their discography now.

"Oddloop" by Frederic pops up all the time on drives with Bear and I love it but didn't catch the name until a couple of weeks ago. It's so catchy! I like that the name is a play on the Japanese word to dance (odoru/踊る) and the girls in the MV were really captivating. Definitely a song that makes me want to dance too! I'll have to check out the rest of their music.

A new single by Peggy Gou!! I absolutely adore her music and am a big fan of her other singles, "Itgehane", "Starry Night", and "I Go". Catchy and energetic as ever, this new song doesn't disappoint. I don't know if I'll be replaying it as long as I did for Itgehane or I Go, but "(It Goes Like) Nanana" is an earworm for sure.

A friend put on "GALisMIND" during a watch party by softboiledegg (半熟卵っち) and I couldn't help but love it, both the song and the energy of the girls in the video. She then put on "Bad Gals" which was even better!! I love the ridiculous and catchy lyrics... Barbie... Bad gal. I'm going to be singing this for the next week and definitely annoy Bear (he did not appreciate them like I do sadly).

"Defunk" by Billyrrom popped up on Bear's Spotify playlist while we were having a drive. I thought "I love this, they remind me of Scoobie Do!". I really love Japanese Funk. Their discography isn't wide yet, as they were only formed in 2020 but every single song they've released is wonderful. I listened to all of them several times before settling on my favorite, "Narrator". I can't wait to see you release more music, Billyrrom!

What a surprise!! A new EP by Aural Vampire, WANI, which I just found out about this morning. I excitedly put it on, and I liked all of the songs except for the one the EP is named after unfortunately. Still a great EP! I particularly liked "Cardigan Angel" and "KUMO NO ITO", the first and last songs of the EP respectively. Love it!

Why do I keep discovering new music while mopping specifically? "Trust" by Hot Flash Heat Wave came on and I stopped to like the song as usual and not even 5 minutes later, I heard "Sky So Blue" on the same recommended playlist for me. It was amazing! Two songs I love from the same artist in a row had me intrigued, so I checked out their discography and realized I had heard their hits "Gutter Girl" and "Glo Ride" before. I just finished listening to their album Neapolitan in full and while I do like surf rock, it was good but didn't stand out as much to me as the other songs I listened to (my favorite out of the album was "Dirty Dreamer (XXX)" by the way). I'm currently listening to their 2017 album Soaked and it's really good so far! I'm looking forward to combing through the rest of discography, but "Sky So Blue" is the song I can't get enough of.

"Солнце" by Peremotka played automatically on Spotify after I had been on a new wave kick while doing my morning cleaning at work. It was so good I had to stop mopping and make sure I saved the song to my liked list. Just now I got to listen to the album the song was from, Улица Мира. It was fantastic! I think the sound is a little lighter than Molchat Doma, but if you like them, you'll love this as well.

A few nights ago a friend played the song "Bésame Mucho" during a listening party by Lisa Ono. I was immediately enamored with her gentle voice and the bossa nova style of the melody. The next day I decided to listen to the whole album the song was from, Romance Latino Vol.3 ~Cuba Caliente Y Su Ritmo Sabroso~ What a wonderful discovery! I still like "Bésame Mucho" the most but I highly recommend the album overall.