Weekly Recap (April 29th - May 5th, 2024)

Discover weekly

- Life After Youth - 4MYLOVE

- Pryma - Dead To Me (Very versatile vocals - she's a great screamer, and a just as good singer.)

- Notions - WOODGUTS (It's a banger, can't help but to bop my head to it.)

- Memorist - Second Sequence

- Grimzlee - Break In Me (I like how the mix is very clear and simple, and then when he sings "break in me" it slowly breaks before and during it.)

- KNIFE BRIDE - sacrifice/surrender (Nice screams! A metal banger!)

- Saint Mesa - Specter (Pretty nice. I like the versatility and juxtaposition.)

- Unlike Pluto - Intoxicate Me (8/10)

- Max Madly - Worship Me (Today's list has been great overall, but this is the first song that's The Vibe.)

- Glass Bridges - Intention

SlipKnoT's new drummer is apparently Eloy Casagrande from Sepultura (not officially confirmed, but there's quite a lot of credible evidence pointing that way - my source is TankTheTech's YouTube video). This ought to be interesting.

Saw Ren's Chapter 1 on Thursday, a couple of hours after the premiere. It seemed like another hard-hitting video, so going to a premiere with thousands of other people hyping it up just felt... wrong. To get all excited and pumped about it because of the energy, and a little overwhelmed because there's so many people, to be then thrown in the middle of something so personal and touching is just... No. I need to experience this alone.

And I did. And I can relate to some of it. (Content warning for self harm and suicidal behavior!) I have a friend who tried to jump off a bridge, and two other of our friends were with him and stopped him. Later that same night, I stopped him from setting his jacket on fire. I have (gently) taken a sharp object from him in the middle of cutting and hugged it out, and he has done the same for me. A few years later, when I was standing on the wrong side of a bridge railing, considering jumping, he was the one I called. He talked me out of it. I consider that to be my first suicide attempt, out of three in total. All within a few months of each other. I do still struggle with my mental health at least monthly, but I am so proud of how far I've come in the past 13 years.

I do want to talk about my mental health openly, as I think it's important to remove the stigma around it, normalize talking about mental health like you would about physical health, but I also recognize the risk in it, so I don't share everything. The risk being that there are bad people out there. People who want to harm me specifically, and people who just want to harm other people for the heck of it, for funsies. And I don't want to give them tools to do that. So, I spare even this blog, which to me is like personal notes or a diary even, of my deepest, darkest secrets that I just do not want being out there for people to exploit.

One of my ways of doing that is writing this on a Weekly Recap instead of a separate post, so fewer people will see it in the first place. Secondly, this being here instead of me doing an Initial Thoughts about it and posting it right away gives me the opportunity to read this through with fresh eyes a few days later and reconsider if I want to post this or not.

Saw Chapter 2 on Friday. Seasonal affective disorder is real, Ren just didn't have that. I take vitamin D ~9 months out of the year, because otherwise I get tired from the lack of sunlight. (It's also recommended by the Finnish government to take during the winter months when we see the sun so little one doesn't get enough from it.) Some work places I've been to have those lamps in break rooms. And in my experience, both do help. With mild seasonal depression, that is. It feels like constant fatigue and tiredness, problems with sleep, feeling generally crappy and low energy and lack of motivation to do anything. Kinda like being on your period minus the cramps, or you know that state when you're kind of sick but not really? Kinda like that. Or if you've had mild depression, this is apparently very similar to that, this just occurs only during certain months of the year.

Can 100% relate to music being life. I mean, look at me. I spend approximately 100% of my current free time listening to it or writing about it, usually both.

I've never thought about Trick the Fox's Runaway in this context. I like it, though. So much deeper than how I initially took the song when I listened to all Ren's song early last year, before starting this blog.

Haven't heard Chapter 3 yet (is Chapter 4 out? either way, haven't seen that one either), I'll write about it in next week's Weekly Recap. It's my birthday today and I don't want to get all deep in thought about mental health stuff. I got chores, and in the evening I'm gonna do whatever (we'll see if I want to catch up on Tähdet tähdet even, I'm like three episodes behind and they're 1,5-2h each). 😬

The new albums bands have dropped can wait as well, I got time in the middle of the week for them, I think. Thursday's a national holiday (Helatorstai), so then, if not on Tuesday or Wednesday. On Monday I listen to Discover Weekly and probably The Vibe playlist, 'cause I got an important work thing that's stressing me out. And I'm working on a Deep Dive of Unlike Pluto's music, I still have some older independent single releases to go, so that's what's up on Tuesday, will probs finish it then. Wednesday's a bit of a different day, we'll see if I listen to much anything. Thursday I got time to catch up. Friday's a normal work day, so I'll be listening to Release Radar on my way to work and when I come back, either rest of Unlike Pluto or one of the albums or starting a new Deep Dive if I still got energy, or The Vibe if I don't got energy.

If Linkin Park is really starting to tour again - what did I tell you, about them releasing new songs like an active band, huh? Cash grab. Hate it. RIP Chester.

Release Radar

- Bliooz, Savage Ga$p, SPONTIC & HZK - CRAZY! (The faster verses sounded so good! <3)

- Anthony Ray - Alleen Gaan (I don't understand half the lyrics cause I don't speak the language, but this sounds great 🖤 And I like the English lyrics.)

- Tech N9ne Collabos - Boomer Rang (Idk which one of these collaborators it is, but the second verse! Love it!)

- Derivakat - Bounty Hunter (The rap <3!)

- Wheel - Submission (I'm still not sure how I feel about this band... I keep imagining listening to their new album will help me make my mind up, but I don't think it will. Spotify is giving me songs from the album but idk man... Maybe I should just give up? This song is 10min and it's... fine. But I can't be out here, doing Deep Dives of bands that are just fine. There's too much music out there. Ain't nobody got time for music they don't really vibe with. -- Did end up listening to the album after all and Submission hit me much better the second time around.)

- messier - Yee-Haw (xD This was fun! Chaotic punk rock energy! I know one of the band members personally, we were childhood friends. When I found out he has a band and they got signed, I listened to three songs and followed them for more. My ruthless opinion as a consumer is that the music's ok. It's not great, but it's fine, and definitely has potential to be better in the future. I truly look forward to what their future holds. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't have followed them. -- And now that I think about the reasoning why I thought that it was just ok and not great - because it was maybe a bit too complex for it's own good, like, I could see the artistic value and the talent in it, but there wasn't enough catchy elements etc for the listener to latch onto, you know? - Punk rock elements are a great idea! -- As a childhood friend, though: I'm never unsubscribing, you got my undying support! You're great! Go you!)

- Kendrick Lamar - euphoria (First heard this on Cliff's channel, then on Knox's. I like Kendrick. I hate Drake. The song's great. Everyone wins, except Drake. Works for me.)

- Tiësto - Mockingbird

- Meghan Trainor - To The Moon (Meghan Trainor's close to being The Vibe? What has the world come to?? 😂)

- Will Ramos x Nik Nocturnal - Rain (The official song finally?! Yey! The Vibe!)

- RAEGAN - 101 DALMATIANS (Wow. That falsetto is so pretty 💕)

- Dawn of Ashes - One Shot Kill (This is so... menacing. My body is scared AND enthralled at the same time :D Also, so many switch-ups! It's like an entire movie soundtrack, but in under 6min.)

- Azahriah - kapu (I'm speechless... The mix of genres is so.. seamless. 10/10)

- Void Chapter - The Sky Is Falling (The electronic elements sort of "refresh" the rock sound. Make it that more interesting and different.)

- The Vision Bleak - Chapter X: The Witch with Eyes of Amber (Melody is a bit repetitive. Not my favorite from them.)

- Lindsey Stirling x Royal & The Serpent - Inner Gold (I remember Lindsey! She's a violinist, she was in a talent show on tv years ago! Very good song!)

- Dust in Mind - No Way Out - Instrumental Version

- Don Johnson Big Band ft. Bentality & Jay L - The Grid (Very weird beat, sounds very challenging to rap to! Getting back to their jazz roots a little bit? Also, third week in row with a new song - did they put out an album? I gotta get on that! THE RHYME SCHEMES OF THAT ONE VERSE, OMFG!! ALL CAPS, SORRY NOT SORRY, SMALL LETTERS DON'T CUT IT!!)

- Merta - Tahto (Yeah, sure. I'll translate it if the lyrics are out there.)

Heard the other 2-3 disses Kendrick dropped as well. (I lost count, lol.) Facts. Fire.