#kiss yr frenemies by illuminati hotties

[discoidal]

albums for ur valentines day needs ❤️❣️✨

[kitnapz]

some albums ive really enjoyed this year. little to no skips

english grafitti - the vaccines invitation to her's - her's the record - boygenius good morning it's now tomorrow - matt maltese give it to me - SISTAR untourable album - men i trust first band on the moon - the cardigans CINEMA - the marias superclean vol. 1 - the marias SMITHEREENS - joji Kiss Yr Frenemies - illuminati hotties Gunzo no Hoshi - Koji Tamaki fantasies - metric ceres and calypso in the deep time - candy claws

the ones i bolded r my absolute favorites like. truly 10/10

[albumsivelistenedto]

Illuminati hotties - Kiss Yr Frenemies (2018)

[reckonslepoisson]

Kiss Yr Frenemies, Illuminati Hotties (2018)

People might rave more about the mixtape that followed, but Illuminati Hotties’ debut still stuck out from the indie crowd. Kiss Yr Frenemies is tender, loved-up, filled with early 20s angst about poverty and relationships. But most importantly, it’s sincere – and I think its punkish edges help that sincerity, giving Frenemies a roughness that disarms listeners. This isn’t revolutionary but it’s powerful and versatile – an easy and (still) promising highlight of late 2010s indie.

Pick: ‘(You’re Better) Than Ever’

[bitchdeactivated]

you only like me when i’m sad you only want me when i’m feeling bad

[sadhoglet]

This feels like a trauma song. There's something so unsettling but warm about it, a bittersweet nostalgia for something you've escaped

[thesingalongsong]

“You only like me when I'm sad

You only want me when I'm feelin' bad,”

[lstanley]

Are you still thinking about me? I know you are but I still wonder

[soundsferal]

'Cause I was fallin' when you caught me Was crawlin' and you brushed the gravel from my knees Said, "Listen now if ever, please Nothin's written in bold or stone So confidence will keep you pointed towards your goals That's what matters, after all Sarah, please, keep in mind everything's temporary"

[juniper-jam]

It's my twenty-fourth birthday

It's the morning after my twenty-fourth birthday party

And I been sleepin' in my car

Cheez, I, I'm so glad you called

'Cause I haven't been honest

Well, I haven't been thinkin' honestly

I need somebody promising me

Facts aren't my fault

'Cause I was fallin' when you caught me

Was crawlin' and you brushed the gravel from my knees

Said, "Listen now if ever, please

Nothin's written in bold or stone

Some confidence will keep you pointed towards your goals

That's what matters, after all

Sarah, please, keep in mind everything's temporary"

[sinceileftyoublog]

illuminati hotties Album Review: Let Me Do One More

(Snack Shack Tracks/Hopeless Records)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

In the liner notes for Let Me Do One More, the latest studio album from illuminati hotties, poet (and newly minter MacArthur Fellow) Hanif Abdurraqib describes frontwoman Sarah Tudzin as “a writer who takes their craft seriously, but refuses to take themselves seriously.” For Tudzin, such an attitude is not only exemplary of illuminati hotties’ ethos but necessary to stay afloat. Though Let Me Do One More was slated to be the follow-up to the band’s breakout “tenderpunk” debut Kiss Yr Frenemies, their then label home, Tiny Engines, was facing well-publicized financial troubles. As a way to buy out their contract, the band released a cheekily titled, wild mixtape, Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For. Going from “not the one you’ve been waiting for” to “one more,” words that suggest a sense of finality, Tudzin, pool hopping while heartbroken, constantly considering the stranglehold of capitalism and consumer culture, gives it all she’s got.

The interplay between Tudzin’s words and singing style highlights her simultaneous artistic mania and human vulnerability. Immediate highlight “Threatening Each Other re: Capitalism”, a fitting bedfellow to Free I.H.’s “will i get cancelled if i write a song called, "if you were a man you'd be so cancelled"”, sees two people in a relationship competing over progressive ideas, “practicing our death threats / hold-your-breath contest.” Early single “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA” sports a similar tone, Tudzin’s absurd musings on turmoil internal and external mirroring the song’s zany math rock-pop-punk hybridization. “Love me, fight me, choke me, bit me/The DNC is playing dirty/Text me, touch me, call me daddy/I’m so sad I can’t do laundry!” she shouts, her voice jumping across different vocal registers like she’s in a one-woman play. 

Like Abdurraqib hints at, Tudzin is aware of the inherent contradictions within her writing. For instance, she decries consumerism but mentions specific brands in her songs, from Topo Chico to Pop Tarts. Really, they’re less like contradictions and more like multitudes. Tudzin is reminiscent of post-punks from Gang of Four to Ought in her ability to mock efficiency culture: “Abbreviate when you’re running late / I’ve found that shortening the phrase can save you hours in the day,” she quips on “u v v p”. At the same time, she’s frank about measuring herself against it. “I sit around like an old tortilla,” she chants on “MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA”. She sings about “when every day is the same” on “Kickflip”. And some of the album’s most exposed songs, like the fuzzed out power pop jam “Knead” and acoustic ballads “The Sway” and “Growth” reveal a more earnest side of the songwriter. 

“Growth”, the closer, is really the only moment on the album where Tudzin sounds defeated. Her voice cracking, she sings, “I guess being an adult is just being alone / I’ll go back to the couch, let you stare at your phone / We’ll pretend this is normal / We’ll pretend this is growth.” While the concept of “growth” seems inherently positive, whether as an individual or as a couple, it’s often used in corporate settings as a constantly moving goalpost in order to deny fair treatment to folks. Whether a coincidental double connotation or intentional on the part of Tudzin, it’s a fitting end to Let Me Do One More. She finally has some economic control in the form of her own label imprint. She’s “grown,” as a person and as an artist. But she’s also fucking exhausted. No wonder she sounds most energized when caroling about window shopping and breakfast takeout.

[itsokay-youre-okay]

All my jeans and hoodies smell like parliaments All I wanna do is skate back to your bed I heard that you got better Better than ever, than ever

[little-things-matter-most]

This song is brought to you by day drinking tequila and because I’ve been working my ass off all week, keeping extra busy, avoiding thoughts.

Enjoy! It’s such a fun song.

[vagabondbabbler]

My Top 5 Albums of 2020

Yeah, 5 not 10. Sue me. It’s long so click through and buckle up.

Honorable Mentions: Doomed Heavy Metal by Khemmis - Missed the list mainly because as good as it is, it’s a rarities/covers/live collection, not new original music.

Forever Black by Cirith Ungol - New music by a band whose last release is older than me, and honestly, fucking great stuff, it just didn’t grab me personally for long enough to rate one of the top spots. Still worth mentioning.

#5: Free IH: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For by Illuminati Hotties - The self-described Tenderpunk pioneers are back with a fantastic follow up to Kiss Yr Frenemies. This one sees them exploring the punk side of their heritage a little more, although there’s still plenty of tender emotionality to go around. While I think I enjoyed their first release a little bit more, this one is still an excellent album and definitely worth a listen. https://illuminatihotties.bandcamp.com/album/free-i-h-this-is-not-the-one-youve-been-waiting-for

#4: Dream Quest Ends by Smoulder - A fantastic EP by relatively new trad-doom metallers Smoulder, featuring two original tracks and a Manilla Road cover. The vinyl version comes with this EP on one side and their 2018 Sword Woman EP on the other. Honestly this one would rate higher if it weren’t for the fact that there’s only two new songs on it, but those two are probably the best tracks on the whole thing. Dream Quest Ends is an incredible track and frankly worth the price of admission on it’s own, and Warrior Witch of Hel is a crunchingly heavy song for when you feel like drinking bloodwine from the skulls of your enemies. https://smoulder.bandcamp.com/

#3: Stay Alive by Laura Jane Grace - As a trans woman, I feel like I’m contractually obligated to love LJG’s stuff, and this one’s a very solid release. While Free IH had some songs that were pandemic-influenced, this album feels like a deep-dive into the solitude and trauma of the quarantine and the sickness that’s been sweeping the world this past year. The album steeps in the feelings of hopelessness and loneliness without getting lost in them, and comes out with a message that is, if not hopeful, at least determined - stay alive, and get through this. Something we could all use right about now.  https://laurajanegrace.bandcamp.com/album/stay-alive #2: Hypnotized by Midnight Dice - I discovered Midnight Dice progenitor band Satan’s Hallow too late to support them so when I discovered most of the band had reformed under Midnight Dice, I was over the moon to say the least. This EP is both their longest and their strongest to date under the new moniker. The songs are fast and punchy, paying homage to trad metal greats of the past, while giving the genre their own spin driven by a truly excellent vocal performance. Starblind is a particularly excellent track and has been playing in my head on repeat for large portions of this year. While some albums on this list delve emotionally into the current zeitgeist of 2020, Hypnotized is escapism at its finest, raising a defiant fist and refusing to give up hope. https://midnightdice.bandcamp.com/

#1: Endarkenment by Anaal Nathrakh - The critical reception on this album seems pretty split between “AN has gotten formulaic” and “AN has honed their formula to a razor’s edge of brutality”. As you might expect given that it’s my #1, I fall in the latter camp - this album fucking kills. I’ve always appreciated that Anaal Nathrakh pulls no punches with their furious lyrics, but doesn’t descend into the normal blood and gore splattered brainlessness that a lot of death metal does. This isn’t anger for anger’s sake, it’s a defiantly nihilistic thrust at the heart of the ignorance and evil of the world, one that acknowledges its own futility but strikes out anyway. All the elements of the album, from the guitars and the drum machine to the screams, growls, and clean vocals come together in a brutal package, an auditory embodiment of apocalypse to spit in the eyes of god. https://anaalnathrakh.bandcamp.com/album/endarkenment

So, there you are. We’re not quite done this hellscape of a year yet, and there’s definitely some great albums that dropped this year that I haven’t listened to yet (Dark Tranquility, Spirit Adrift, and Pallbearer’s albums all come to mind), but these are the ones I’ve been jamming to all year long.

[beccasavage]

like a sucker punch       a playlist for Becca Savage

savage remix - megan thee stallion ft. beyoncé / boss bitch - doja cat / birth in reverse - st. vincent / don’t kill my vibe - sigrid / i eat boys like you for breakfast - ida maria / watch me -  the pom poms / like a girl - lizzo / woman - kesha ft. the  dap-kings horns / champion - bishop briggs / mother’s daughter - miley cyrus / warrior - aurora / sucker punch - sigrid / circle the drain - soccer mommy / remember my name - mitski / kiss yr frenemies - illuminati hotties