This is perhaps my favorite album of all time, by my favorite band of all time. I listened to this album on repeat pushing carts full of plants through 100 degree + greenhouses during summer of 2021. I remember getting into the album first around finals season, and likely listened to their track "Hitch" for 6 hours straight while reviewing and taking my Chemistry final online. What do I like about this? The ruthless, grimy, poetry Sadie pens. The repetitive, trance-like, odd riffs. Every single track is so unique and has expanded my conception of what music can and should sound like.

I started listening to Car Seat Headrest in 2022, when my friend asked me if I'd be interested in going with him to see CSH for free, as he had an extra ticket. Well, I was an idiot! And said ahhh I think I've heard of them, do you recommend any songs by them? Then I said ehh I have work Friday, I don't think I can get out earlier than 5. Well, fuck, they left at 4. The following week, some part in my brain switched super-hyper-ON for CSH and I was hooked. Now I have a CSH tattoo that some people have bullied me about (don't tell my mom). ANYWAY!At first I got into a few songs off ToD and Twin Fantasy: Face to Face, and eventually bought those two albums. I enjoy both of them very much, but the pure, self-isolating angst of the former scratches an itch in my most terrible moments.

Y La Bamba is one of the first indie artists I've listened to who primarily makes music in Spanish. I reviewed their album Entre Los Dos during my first full semester as a college radio DJ, and was enamored by the compositional beauty. As a Latinx person, I appreciate Y La Bamba's music on another level, as invoking the Spanish language and elements of Mexican music from Luz's (they/them) culture inspires me to search for ways in which I can bring my mixed Puerto Rican experience to my art. Aside from this, the record is vibrant, triumphant, and yet subtle in it's sublimely blissful success.

poolblood's album mole was an alluring, bedroom indie release that I very much welcomed into my life as flowers began to bloom around me in the spring. Maryam, a non-binary singer-songwriter from Canada, knows just how to craft tender, crackling tunes for the soul. Their track "voyager" is my favorite, due to the dense, looming sounds that perfectly cradle's Maryam's voice. "twinkie" and "in my little room" are other highlights from this record, which I feel is underappreciated.

This is incredible. Alynda Segarra's (they/them) latest album adopts a cowboy hat-shaded, western front to frame their nostalgia, chronicaling a markedly tough life as a tender queer person, self-proclaimed Nuyorican (New York Puerto Rican), and artist. The record's seemingly effortless weaving of grief, undying love, young and dumb moments, defiance, and vibrant memory, has me in awe. There are overaching narratives and themes, one that touched me personally as a NB person, lyrics from two tracks continuing to elaborate upon Segarra's struggles with identity: "I'm becoming the girl you warned me about" & "I was born with a baby boy's soul". There are heart-wrenching, gorgeous moments on "Hourglass" such as"I used to be a dirty kid/I used to eat out of the garbage/I know I should get over it" and "You hold my hand so patient" that together stop me in my tracks. The last track is a voice memo from Segarra's father, who recently passed away. Definitely check out this release, it may be one of my favorites ever.