Happy August everyone. It’s the hottest month of the year, but it’s also that time of the year where everything (for us students) is about to get back to normal as we return to school. With the flip of the calendar page, it’s time for a new chart from yours truly. July is over, and I’m very happy about the music I listened to in July.
This chart is a showcase of the albums I listened to the most this month. To create it, I used Topsters 3 alongside the .fmbot application Discord to see my most listened to albums for the month (as Last.fm does not allow you to see your monthly report without Premium). The ranking of each album is determined by how many track plays I got for it within the month; or, the amount of tracks I individually played from the album.
July was a good follow-up from June, and was definitely a month of a lot of exploration for myself, but also a lot of cementing of music I like. I listened to a lot of artists I hadn’t listened to yet, like Frost Children, Elxnce, Gazecloud, and Psychoangel, but I also kept up with a lot of artists like Jane Remover and Slayr and Danny Brown. I also relistened to some artists I hadn’t heard in a while, like Computerwife and Black Dresses.
For the next part, I’m going to talk about each album that showed up here and why it’s on the chart.
“Revengeseekerz” – Jane Remover
“Revengeseekerz” is certainly my high point for Jane Remover, and is an album that has kind of had a hold on my feelings of music for the past 2 months. In the time between this chart and my June chart, I made a purchase of the CD for “Revengeseekerz,” something which I’m now proud to display on my shelf. As I said with this album last month it’s just a fun album which I can keep coming back to over and over again.
The truth about my style of music is that I really enjoy a lot of noise, and “Revengeseekerz” just hits the right spot in my ear whenever I listen to it. I scrobbled tracks from this album 145 times, over twice the amount I got for even the other highest albums on my chart. I love “Revengeseekerz,” and it won’t be leaving my brain anytime soon.
“Tweaker Poem” – Frost Children
“Tweaker Poem” is one of the latest releases by Frost Children (the other one is the “FrostFest Mixtape”), and it certainly is one of my favorite EPs of the year. I’ve known about Frost Children for a while, but “Sister” was my introduction to the hyperpop duo, and my feelings about “Tweaker Poem” are stronger than the previous album, which is why it appears so high on this list. I got 42 total plays for the EP in its first month of release.
“Tweaker Poem” is a really fun album that’s short but sweet, which is something I look for from time to time. It’s so easy to tune in for 20 minutes at a time and just enjoy and vibe to the music and colorful sound at play from Frost Children, who already have such a strong lineup.
“Half Blood (Bloodluxe)” – Slayr
For whatever reason a part of me feels like this was on a previous chart, but I know for a fact it wasn’t. “Half Blood” was rap artist Slayr’s seventh full-length project, and the “Bloodluxe” edition is the follow-up deluxe release that I personally have chosen to select as my preferred release of the original project. I totalled 42 plays of the project this month.
This album has been stuck in my brain for a while now; it has such a strong presence that genuinely makes me feel something special every time I tune in. I haven’t been a Slayr fan for a long time, but “Half Blood (Bloodluxe)” really helped me become a fan of the artist, and I’ve been excited to see what he puts out and where he keeps going.
“Stardust” – Danny Brown
Danny Brown’s “Stardust” is his latest album, following up “Quaranta.” In my opinion, this album is very different from the rest of his work, but for some reason I really like it. It pulls heavy inspiration from genres like drum ‘n bass, hyperpop, pop, breakcore, and other genres, and creates a sound that I really enjoy. I’m also a big fan of Danny Brown’s music, so I’ll always enjoy what he creates, but “Stardust” has been scratching an itch in my brain recently.
I’d say overall that one of my biggest reasons for enjoying “Stardust” is all of the collabs. My favorite song on the album is “Copycats,” a track that features Underscores, one of my favorite artists of all time. I totalled 28 total plays for the album this month, so I think I probably listened to it once or twice, which certainly isn’t enough times for how strong this album is.
“Ultrakill: Fraud” – Heaven Pierce Her
I’m going to restrain myself from talking about “Ultrakill” for too long here, as it’s a game I really enjoy. The soundtrack for the “Fraud” layer of “Ultrakill,” the first person shooter slash “Doom-like” slash “Devil May Cry-like” slash “Quake-like” is one of the greatest video game soundtracks I have ever heard. As a big enjoyer of the works of Hakita (also known as Heaven Pierce Her), I of course listen to the “Fraud” soundtrack all the time.
“Fraud” is the eighth big chapter of the game “Ultrakill,” and its soundtrack features all of the high notes of the best part of this game. I can just turn it on, tune out everything else, and imagine I’m playing the game. The experimental digital metal on play combined with the heavy melodic sounds and the clever instrumentation hits differently in a way I cannot describe with. I only played tracks from this album 28 times, but that’s because I have this desire to listen to more than just one type of music.
“Avant Nova” – Slayr
I already told you about Slayr, so we’ll keep this one brief. “Avant Nova” is Slayr’s most recent EP, followed up by the “Keep It Going (Birdbrain)” single featuring Jamie Paige. This EP is not too long, but it’s such a good piece of media that I can listen to over and over again, especially with tracks like “Promise” and “Having Anxiety is Annoying” being included on the mixtape. I totalled 28 plays for the EP this month.
“Mercurial World (Deluxe)” – Magdalena Bay
“Mercurial World” is the first full length album by Magdalena Bay, and the deluxe edition was released almost a year later. If I’m being completely honest, my preferred version of this album is the original LP, but I like the deluxe edition enough (though I actually only listened to it once this month). It’s a really good pop album by the duo, and, although I’m a recent fan, I think “Mercurial World” is one of those albums that I’ll keep in my head for a long time.
With 27 plays on this album for the month, I’m kind of shocked its on my chart at all, but I guess my chart was mostly “Revengeseekerz” anyway. I will admit that I’m a bigger fan of “Imaginal Disk” than “Mercurial World,” as something about the first feels more like my type of music. But I enjoy the sound landscape that “Mercurial World” produces, and I like some of the additions made by the deluxe edition, even if they are just rehashes or covers of tracks from the main album.
“Wasteisolation” – Black Dresses
For one reason or another, I have not listened to the discography of Black Dresses in over a year or longer, so in June I decided to download a few of their albums and relisten. Unintentionally, I listened twice to “Wasteisolation,” an album which I really liked back when I originally discovered the noise pop duo. For the month of July, I scrobbled tracks from this album 26 times.
On a relisten, this album is still as great as the first day I heard it. Black Dresses, which was the duo of Devi McCallion and Ada Rook, had such a unique sound that I still cannot get over, and I’ve been looking for something like it beyond Devi McCallion’s own work and still have not found anything yet. I mostly relistened as I recently became a fan of Devi McCallion’s solo work and wanted to hear Black Dresses from a new ear, and I’m glad I did.
“Computerwife” – Computerwife
“Computerwife” is the debut album of shoegaze artist Computerwife. The album is self-titled, and shares the same name as their first EP. Confusing? Not at all. What’s even less confusing is that I enjoy the album, because of course, I like shoegaze. My enjoyment of this album was actually reignited following the Feeble Little Horse show that I attended at Motorco Music Hall in June.
Believe it or not, I’m a really big fan of Computerwife. Though I only got 24 plays for the album this month, I’m a huge fan of the noisy shoegaze sound that Computerwife presents. In fact, I’m a really big fan of all noisy shoegaze, but Computerwife has always been one that I not-so-secretly will always appreciate, as their sound is so overly digital in production that it feels like, well, a computer. And, if you know me, I have a fascination of this “computer-like” sound profile, so I win.
Keep spinning
Thanks for checking out my chart for the month. I love writing on the albums that I enjoy, and I hope you’re able to take away some of these as recommendations for music you should listen to. I’m very excited to post about my chart in August as I’m exploring some fifth wave emo, so I’m very confident I’ll see my chart change some for the next month. That’s all from me now, though.
Keep spinning,
dj starburst
