May 2025 Recs

V Woolf, Stereolab, Gang of Four, and more :P

Hello friends, comrades.

May was a very busy month for me, which is why this is coming to you a little late. Bella and I will be relocating to Brooklyn in August, so I was doing a lot of job hunting, but I finally got one! I will be assistant teaching 7th grade English at a school for students with learning differences, and I’m pretty stoked. Anyways, lots of good music was released this month, so let’s get into it!

Favorite Album That Came Out This Month: “Instant Holograms on Metal Film” by Stereolab

Stereolab is probably up there in my top 5 or 10 bands of all time, so it should come as no surprise that their latest album was my AOTM, especially if you’ve been following how much I enjoyed the singles. They just don’t miss!! An epic album and return after 15 years. Great array of more dancey tunes and jazzy tunes and fun ones in here, so a little something for everyone. There’s a reason I find so many contemporary bands feel derivative of their sound, and it’s because they’ve pioneered such a unique one.

Full review here.

Favorite Album That Didn’t Come Out This Month: “The Execution of All Things” by Rilo Kiley

Decades late to the party, here I am, a huge fan of this huge 2002 album by Rilo Kiley. I wasn’t a big Rilo Kiley fan back in high school when I probably should’ve been, but I only really knew “Portions of Foxes” and “With Arms Outstretched,” and while I liked both, I wasn’t super into either. I had no idea Jenny Lewis could get so rock-y!!! And I love it!!! I’m a big Liz Phair fan, and there are times when she really channels that sound.

Favorite Live Performance I Saw This Month: Gang of Four at The Chapel

This month I saw three excellent shows: Yo La Tengo at The Chapel, Dead & Co. at The Sphere, and Gang of Four back at The Chapel. It was hard to pick my favorite as each of the shows had their pros and cons, but ultimately I’m landing on Gang of Four, which was an epic blast from the past and really made me think I have some very British personality traits (thanks dad). While 2/4 of the original members have passed, we got Jon King (lead singer) and Hugo Burnham (drummer) as well as two quite talented subs on guitar and bass. Tho they were definitely old and it is impossible to recreate what it must have been like to see them in their prime, they still brought as much energy as they could, and it was cool to get to see some of my favorite dance songs performed live. XD

Favorite Book I Read This Month: Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Borrowed this gem from dear Anatole, so thank you Anatole. Woolf is someone I’ve wanted to love forever but just haven’t been able to get into. I’ve read Mrs. Dalloway and have tried The Waves and To the Lighthouse several times but my attention span just can’t hold. Anatole told me Orlando was easier prose to digest as well as transexual, and as it’s been one on my list forever, I decided to borrow his copy and dig in. It took me a while to get into it, but I feel like around the halfway mark it really clicked for me and I just loved it. I feel like very rarely does a book so completely take you through the total and utter transformation of a person in the way this one does, and I found that really magical. There’s also just great writing about the life of a writer in all of its several thousand nuances and complexities which I found resonant and still very apt.

Monthly Reviews Wrap-Up

Planet Popstar (EP), Wishy (7/10), indie pop

Live at Top Note Theatre, Squirrel Flower (5/10), live, indie rock

Iris Silver Mist, Jenny Hval (6/10), experimental, art pop

find my friends (EP), Find My Friends (5/10), noise pop

The IRS No Longer Has My Address, And Neither Do I, thanks for coming (5/10), indie rock

Sounds Like…, Florry (7/10), country, indie rock

Evangelic Girl is a Gun, yeule (6/10), electronic, indie pop

Live in Seattle, Knifeplay (7/10), live, slowcore

featherweight at the pearly gates (EP), D.A. Crimson (7/10), noise pop

MONTHLY PLAYLIST!!!

Xoxo, SW