kings of convenience — parallel lines

paramore — hallelujah

what the fuck, this song crushes. her voice on that chorus!!! I never thought about it before, but on this album specifically, Paramore has some shades of Circa Survive. also, why does the word “hallelujah” appear in this and one of Fall Out Boy’s best-sounding songs? OOPS, ALL CHRISTIANS!

Anyway, I’ve been hitting repeat on this all weekend!

one of the perfect albums

Becky Hansmeyer, putting some of this moment very well:

In various regions of the United States, the coronavirus’s progress has been stymied and the phrase “back to normal” is bandied about as if it’s a sure thing, as if “normal” is something we have managed to recover, rather than something new being slowly born from the ashes of a horrible year.

While some have learned absolutely nothing from this experience, others are finding a renewed understanding of what’s most important to them. A country obsessed with work is toying with the idea that the way we do and view work might not always be the best way. And amidst all of this, an absolute reckoning involving the way we treat one another, and the way our entire society is structured to, consciously or unconsciously, treat some worse than others.

There is palpable anger toward so many in authority, whether in government, or at companies like Apple, for a failure to listen and a refusal to even consider change.

"Saved by a Waif" — Alvvays

twinge of desire to open the phone, forage twitter (forbidden mechanically for most of most days), forage the feeds, open myself to nutrients and flavors. I think about opening my phone because maybe I’ll see something interesting. but instead, despite I’m sure there being some interesting things blooming, the forests themselves are dead and smoking, so that instead of any pleasant shade as respite from the heat of my own thoughts, the sun hisses down and the soft bottoms of my shoes melt to the asphalt. There’s no pleasure in it. We can be hungry and learn to eat trash. We can crave the sweet juice of the firefly and instead try to sip from the sawblade’s sparks. I’m moved by impulses I never wanted. Parasites inside steer me toward their food. I wanted to live deeply, obnoxiously in the pleasures of complex thought. To a fault. “I thought I wasn’t allowed to have my own thoughts. Or enjoy them, anyway.” Instead all the wrong things are complicated. I have a useful mind. Sharp. Curse the world that turns our blades against us. Desperate to sell us out. I am not my parasites. I am not the vast emptiness. “The obligation of memory and a large number of grave questions.” But whose do I have to ask?

The answer is: A lot of them!!!

i dunno, but i just realized that angry birds’ popularity coincides with the post-9/11 world. birds flying into buildings to take revenge on pigs. 8 years after 2001. godzilla appeared 9 years after the bombs. 2 very different pop culture responses to violence incited by the united states

Lo Talker — No Champagne

"An idyllic setting on an open plain, where the sun shines down on your lover's face. The universe will hiss when you lean in for the kiss, and the house lights... blow out."

Paerish — "Then People Forget"

I want to play guitar like this