Katie Wade Knows Nothing About Music

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Februaryyyy

February was SO SHORT and with it I listened to a mere 28 albums, in accordance with the number of days I survived in February. 🥇
This month since I have more time and significantly less albums, I will go into more depth about the albums I explored recently.

Without further ado, ze list:

  1. Grace – Jeff Buckley
  2. Angles – The Strokes
  3. Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – Lewis Capaldi
  4. The First Two Pages of Frankenstein – The National 
  5. Movement – New Order
  6. The Greatest Generation – The Wonder Years 
  7. Self Titled – Alvvays 
  8. Thx – Lomelda 
  9. Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We – The Cranberries
  10. Swim Inside the Moon – Angelo De Augustine 
  11. Lush – Snail Mail 
  12. Pablo Honey – Radiohead
  13. Power, Corruption, and Lies – New Order
  14. Party Favors – Sir Chloe 
  15. Wuthering Heights – Charli XCX
  16. GRP Live In Session – Lee Ritenour, Diane Shuur, Dave Grusin, Dave Valentin
  17. Antisocialites – Alvvays 
  18. Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish 
  19. When We Were Friends – Backseat Lovers
  20. KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Kanye and Kid Cudi 
  21. Slow Blink – In the Pines
  22. Gish – Smashing Pumpkins 
  23. Messy – Olivia Dean 
  24. Plans – Death Cab For Cutie 
  25. Close to the Sun – Fortune Child 
  26. Memento Mori – Flyleaf
  27. Ear Candy – King’s X 
  28. Songs For The Deaf – Queens Of The Stone Age 


First album of the first week: Grace by Jeff Buckley. It blew me away, and I am so sad that it’s his only album. Hallelujah was just the tip of the iceberg. Angles by The Strokes: very, very nice; “You’re So Right” stuck out to me especially. Lewis Capaldi’s album did not agree with me so much. I am fine sticking with his popular stuff. The National is lovely lovely lovely and I loved their album First Two Pages of Frankenstein. “Your Mind is Not Your Friend” is the one I return to. NEW ORDERRRR!! I loved this one as well. I’m learning to love their synth pop style; it is different than what I am used to. I like it. The Wonder Year’s emo alt/rock sound honestly reminded me of Disney show intros at times…I survived that album. Emo vocal styles may not be my thing. Next was Alvvay’s first and self-titled album. Every song on here had some part that cut to my soul and it was very, very nice dreamy, endearing indie type stuffs.

WEEK DOS ✌️starting strong with Thx by Lomelda… PEAK crafting music. Genuinely has helped me sleep lately, too. I like the Cranberries more than I thought I would! I knew I liked their popular songs, such as Dream and Linger, but Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We was a very strong album overall. The first half as well as “Pretty” stood out to me as favorites. Swim Inside The Moon by Angelo De Augustine is so so beautiful, and also it’s good sleepy folk music. Highly recommend. Snail Mail has a cool indie/alt vibe; I loved the way her album Lush sounded like it was all recorded live (not sure how it was arranged, that’s just the way my brain interpreted her style). “Stick” and “Full Control” are the ones I would recommend if you are curious. I am reigniting my Radiohead obsession with their first album Pablo Honey. I also have a newfound appreciation for “Creep,” hearing it in its context. As a whole, it was little heavier on the rock than I am used to thinking about Radiohead, but this is their first album so I guess as I continue to explore, I might see their stylistic shifts more smoothly. Another New Order album!!!!! So so great…”Age of Consent,” “The Village,” and “Ecstasy” were my favorites. Party Favors by Sir Chloe didn’t stick out to me; but I’m glad I listened. t sounds counterintuitive, but it felt like clichĂ© Indie music and I didn’t get much from it that would make it feel special. I do really appreciate her visual vibe, though – how she styles her hair, her clothing choices, colors, etc.

Then Charli’s new album Wuthering Heights came out, and it is SO GOOD. I wrote a thingy on it; I think you can still find it on here. Favorites now that I’ve known it a little longer would be “Seeing Things” and “Dying For You.” GRP Live In Session was suggested to me: it is pure jazz, and it was an unfamiliar genre to me. At times, it felt like I was playing an old version of Mario Kart; but then again, maybe a calm solo hike wasn’t the right setting to give it a first listen. I continued working through Alvvay’s albums, and I loved Antisocialites. I feel like if I had the skills to make my own music, it’d feel like this. It made me realize how many ideas I have for songs that I just don’t have the opportunity or materials to elaborate on and complete. I’m obsessed with Alvvay’s fuzzy, homey feel. Also, as an artist, I really appreciate their color scheme and consistency. Although I knew a few songs on Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, I did not know the whole thing and took the opportunity to listen. I made a lot of notes as I listened, but the main idea is that I appreciate her lyricism and how she and Finneas manipulate her voice; it’s so pretty the way they layer and distort it. It adds to the messaging of her songs for sure. Favorites were “Goldwing” and “Not My Responsibility.” When We Were Friends by the Backseat Lovers did not impress me as much as their latest album (Waiting to Spill), but “Kilby Girl” reminded me of one of my favorite indie/rock bands, Two Door Cinema Club. KIDS SEE GHOSTS was recommended to me by my brother as a part of my intro to hip hop. I actually really liked it, to my great surprise (thank you, Nathan). Not every element pleased me, but the vocal layering, the driving beat, the seeming ease in the conveyance of emotion impressed and moved me. In the Pines is a band I am about to see live, along with Fortune Child (a growing favorite in my circles). Loved the album. They will both be GREAT live; I can’t wait!

Okay, I know I’m getting long winded, but whatever. Gish by The Smashing Pumpkins was an impulsive listen; it is such a nice blend of every genre ever and reminds me of something my sister would recommend. “I Am One” and “Daydream” stuck out to me. Messy by Olivia Dean was a great choice for the time at which I first listened. I really enjoyed “UFO” and “Dive,” but in my notes, I wrote that it seemed to fall off toward the end of the album. But the way her vocals are layered adds a whole new dimension, and it keeps it very interesting.
PLEASE, if you listen to nothing else because of this, you gotta check out Death Cab For Cutie. They have been a longtime favorite of mine, but Plans I had not been previously familiar with. There is a unique emotion throughout all of their music that I feel is so distinct and unusually successful . Their storytelling is the kinda stuff that can’t help but reek of sadness and makes your chest hurt and ache, but I love it. I love it so much. Again, I grew up listening to Flyleaf’s first album, but I wanted to listen to more of their stuff, and I really enjoyed their second album, Memento Mori. Not as show-stopping, I’d say, as their first album, but 100% worth the listen and reminder that I do indeed vibe with the harder stuff… a bit more than I give myself credit for. Ear Candy by King’s X was another genre introduction for me – funk rock. I didn’t love ALL of it, but I had some faves and a good laugh from the song “Fathers”. I remember particularly liking the first three songs. It reminded me of my sister, so I recommended a song or two to her. She loved it and went on to listen to the rest of the album, so hey, that’s a compliment! And finally, (still on the Hannah strain) she recommended Queens of the Stone Age to me. I devoured their album Songs For The Deaf. I told her it felt like how eyeliner feels. Drums were incredible, and I LOVED the recurring radio theme. It is so ingenious and quite iconic of them. Another reminder of how much I can not just endure but truly enjoy the harder stuff…you know. Loud guitars, repetitive riffs, the occasional guttural scream. I really really liked that one.

This month: My top albums that I simply *enjoyed* the most (and by default recommend to you, my faithful reader, thank you) were Angles, Swim Inside The Moon, Plans, and Songs For the Deaf.
The albums I listened to that stretched me genre/style-wise were The Greatest Generation, GRP Live In Session, KIDS SEE GHOSTS, and Ear Candy. What surprised me most was the KIDS SEE GHOSTS one (With Kid Cudi and Kanye West; two characters I am known to dislike). I have been biased against anything that smells of hip hop forever. But that’s why I’m doing this right? It’s all new and exciting, and it takes EFFORT to try to appreciate something unfamiliar, but hey, if I do this my whole life, things won’t seem as hard anymore because I’ve practiced trying to see things in a new way so many times. Woah, got a little too wise there for a second. I’m back to earth now. Haha. GO LISTEN TO SOME NEW TUNES TODAY, PEACE OUT HOMIES

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