albums i listened to all the way through

posted this week and every week (43)

Jan 11, 2026

Hello, lovely listeners, and Happy Sunday!

I hope you all had a good week, all things considered. Personally, I find it more and more difficult not to let the anger and sadness I feel about the greater world control my day-to-day life. I find myself saying “We live in hell” anytime something truly horrific happens. These days, it happens practically every day—sometimes more than once.

I lean on the music I listen to to get me through, even when the music leans into it too. Listening to Dry Cleaning’s Secret Love this week was an interesting swim into a socially conscious album full of scathing spoken word lines like “The objects outside the head control the mind / To arrange them is to control people's thinking” and “But I don't like to clean, I find cleaning demeaning / But that's kind of a problem of mine / I'm a woman and I think if I clean then I feel resentment in my soul.”

I too find cleaning demeaning and have to get over that.

Anyway, I’ve been rewatching the Harry Potter films recently (fuck JK though, I ~~pirated~~ that shit) and honestly? I am cringing at how absurdly everyone treats this poor kid. I think when I was a kid, I didn’t really grasp the immensity of the trauma Harry suffered time and time and time again. It’s wholly insane that he quite literally loses almost every major authority figure and meaningful friend in his life, one by one, and people are still like “Yeah, well, Harry you’ve still got to fight Voldy and save the wizarding world. It’s up to you!” Okay…

As a kid with a dead parent, I’m offended for him 99.9% of the time. Also—I know what pitiful condolences look like from children and adults alike. It’s not fun! To show up to school, year after year, having just spent a shitty summer with your abusive aunt and uncle, and suddenly everyone is looking at you sideways, talking shit left and right because the parents you never met were famously murdered, you killed a basilisk in the basement, or fought Voldemort in a graveyard, or whatever…what the actual fuck?

When my dad died, I lived through six months of abject torture at the hands of a few immature 13-year-olds before hightailing it out of there and going to high school early. I can’t imagine doing that for seven years, much less ~~dying~~ and coming back to life at the end of it. That’s crazy work, JK. (Not apologizing for spoilers. That shit has been out in the world for decades.)

Anyway, on a more positive note, here is a non-exhaustive list of some upcoming albums I’m stoked for this Winter & Spring :)

My Days of 58 by Bill Callahan
They Keep Trying to Find You by Bonnie Prince Billy
Running With Scissors by Cavetown
You Wish by Dream Nails
Nat & Alex Wolff by Nat & Alex Wolff (They’re good, don’t come for me!)
Death in the Business of Whaling by Searows

Here are the albums I listened to all the way through this past week…

Nada Surf—High/Low (1996)X

Overall Vibe: You’re seventeen and sitting in your best friend’s parents’ basement, fucking around on guitar like you know what you’re doing. Actually, you kind of do.

Why I like it and you might too: “Popular” is great as far as 90s summer anthems go, but the rest of the album is worth the full listen. A Mid-90s Classic™️

Favorite Tracks: “Deeper Well,” “Psychic Caramel,” and “Hollywood”

Dry Cleaning—Secret Love (2026)

Overall Vibe: You walk down a big city street, wearing a total fit, and just know you’re the shit. Then, while crossing the street, you almost get run over by a honking SUV.

Why I like it and you might too: Searing spoken word poetry laid over killer bass lines and righteous classic rock-inspired guitar riffs.

Favorite Tracks: “Secret Love (Concealed in a Drawing of a Boy)” and “Evil, Evil Idiot”

Dario Marianelli & Jean-Yves Thibaudet— Pride & Prejudice OST (2005)**

Overall Vibe: You wake up early on a Sunday with no aches or pains. You feel the energetic urge to take a walk. Once you get to the park, you meander like you’ve nowhere else to be, letting the breeze blow you in whatever direction it wants.

Why I like it and you might too: This is my perfect focus and/or writing album. It calms me down in the best way and the lack of lyrics allows my brain to keep track of my own words. Also—if you’re ever in the mood for a perfect period piece soundtrack, this is the crème de la crème.

Favorite Tracks: “Darcy’s Letter,” “The Secret Life of Daydreams,” and “Your Hands Are Cold”