July 30, 2026 — Weekly Bullet Reviews
As always, some ground rules:
- These songs are listed in no particular order.
- Basically these blurbs are our rough first impressions of these tracks, so our reviews will be a lot more relaxed!
- Anything released from the past 3 weeks/month is eligible for a bullet review.
- Songs with new, recent music video releases will also be considered for a weekly bullet review.
Mya: I can just imagine myself pulling this out of the record bins and giving it a test spin; the album cover is delightfully retro. Fun head-bopper.
Justin: Drum and bass driven 80s kick dancing ensues. For fans of the Go-Go’s and Blondie. Neon sweat dripping through your fishnets. Really sticky tune. The way the vocals are mixed on this sends it back four decades.
Li-Wei: Feels very 80s new wave, and definitely indebted to the Talking Heads. Cool dads are probably sat for this. I can’t get that bassline out of my head!
Notes From Under Ground – “Names In Blue”
Mya: A critique of the industry plant and most of all the industry that plants them. For once, I do recommend you watch the MV—a playful lyric video set in ‘Eryngii Wiki’. The song is casual and laid-back. Feels like a rant you hear while passing a blunt around.
Justin: “Names in Blue” is a clever, soft-rocky corporate for-profit lament flavored by Elton John piano melodies. Incisive lyrics like “Waiting for your love to trickle down” providing stark commentary on the stock sniffing oligarchs. Very interesting music video with the Wikipedia links. Someone sneak this on the billionaire brain fog playlist. Well done. Intelligently conceived.
Li-Wei: First listen: “Ooh, what a groovy jam!” Second listen while watching the video: “Oh… dang!” There’s some curtain lifting frustration of the music industry as a whole in between the lines here, and I’d take some time to watch and read the footnotes.
Mya: “bibiboobiboo” is a light-hearted song sonically until you get to the second lyric. The grand, Disney-esque segments only heighten that sense of wrongness. I do LOVE the bell segments. This song joins the storied history of slightly twisted sapphic MVs on YouTube.
Justin: A sandshifting track strewn between orchestral sweeps, bells, tectonic bass, and bilingual sing-songwriter-ing about love memories. Mixol is definitely flexing their musical celestiality on this. I have never heard a song put together quite like this before. Very impressed. Can we get a cover of “bibiboobiboo” by beabadoobee.
Li-Wei: Somehow this highly stylized “Bibbity Bobbity Boo”-esque charmer doesn’t lose its whimsical theatricality even though it feels like three songs in one. Sapphic Kishi Bashi, I salute you.
Daine – “Love Love (Love Love)”
Mya: I’m charmed by the lyrics, which are full of that ordinary, self-conscious posturing we use as the odd one out. “I’m convinced they’re all playing along with things that feel wrong / But they’re not gonna tell you that.”
Justin: Zippy crispy synth electronic pop reminiscent of The Naked and Famous and notes of Carly Rae Jepsen. daine’s vocal chops are well placed on “Love Love (Love Love)”. Solid, replayable, summer playlist worthy bop. Happy 2010!
Li-Wei: This is the kind of 2010s optimism pop that you would find plastered all over Hype Machine back in the day (anyone remember that site???). Fits snugly next to MGMT, M83, Porter Robinson and other neon-streaked bubbling-under pop songs that defined that era.
Mya: I have always loved Lee Emi’s vocals—dry and strong as brittle rope. Her lyricism is like tarot with its spare, beautiful symbols. “There’s a stitch missing from your sleeve.” “My heart is an empty cup / Nobody can fill it up.” I’m looking forward to the new solo album!
Justin: Toe-tapping folk soaked escape anthem. Wow, that “thinking about, thinking about, thinking about” pre-chorus is soooo hooky. The song you will play deciding whether or not to cut your bangs (you will). Nice to see Lee Emi striking it out to try some new stuff. Would not be out of place against Thao. In fact, I definitely want a collab or co-tour situation to happen.
Li-Wei: Lots of things are on Lee Emi’s mind on “Clean Slate,” and those thoughts come bursting at the seams on this indie rock track. I love the snarl on the repeated calls on “cutting my hair” when she really gets into it.
Mya: “Heritage” reminds me a little of Leo Xia’s earlier work, which I loved. Tender, tender lyricism. I like the layered cacophony, it’s noisy but still peaceful?
Justin: Feels like a Rostam produced joint?? Regardless, Chuey showing off an epic, sentimental, crowdpleasing banger. How does the brain put the sounds of coming home, block party bass, symphonic band, and a delicious piano run like that altogether?? Major major props to Chuey on this brain tickling song.
Li-Wei: The last Chuey song I heard had pretty major city pop influences, but “Heritage” jumps into the present and switches it up completely. It’s a very lived-in alt-pop track that features gorgeous strings, a bustling atmosphere and epic grandeur – someone link him up with Congee! I’d love to see what happens.
Linda Lindas – “Closer (ft. Hayley Williams)”
Mya: A satisfying, propulsive song. The sort I’d put on at some point during the road trip.
Justin: Each Linda Lindas song I hear becomes heavier. Happy to see them accumulate and explore their sound more. Hayley Williams vocals on this definitely reminds me of “Decode”. Does that mean The Linda Lindas are heirs apparent on the Twilight reboot?
Li-Wei: Was kind of nervous hearing that Linda Lindas signed to a major recently, but they haven’t lost their rock edge. Hayley Williams being featured on this track is a true baton pass from one generation to the next – can’t wait for the album come the end of the month.
Mya: My favorite portion is the beginning where the song feels like an empty, echoing concrete room. I do like some of the smaller touches, like the vocal distortions and the audio briefly panning left and right on beat.
Justin: Big booty bass, chest heaving, warehouse wavemaker type hip hop. I want to hear this in the wild somewhere. Already pre-gaming, pre-sweating.
Li-Wei: “clear out the room” is a track that is just begging for an impromptu freestyle battle. There’s a lot of empty space here that accent the sparse plinky, keys that dot it… maybe it’s not doing this recorded version justice but it would probably kill in a live setting.
Mya: This song is a little dark and codependent, isn’t it? It’s got that dangerous ne’er-do-well malaise. I think that fans of Hannibal and Half Man would like this song on Tumblr…
Justin: James Ivy’s vocals on “Lima” evoke Thom Yorke. The instrumentation and lyrics are breezier, driving, and wanderlusting. A song for your 20s. A song to look at skyscrapers to.
Li-Wei: Absolutely insane Radiohead/alt-rock 90s influence on full display here. If the rest of this album is gonna sound like this, James Ivy is seriously going after many a teenager’s (and my) forever playlists.
Mya: “Switchblade” reminds me of the classmates who’d get into knife fights in middle school—with a shinier gloss of course. Even the rhyming calls to mind schoolyard taunts. Fun!
Justin: “Sun Has Set” was a really good appetizer for the badoobs’ upcoming album. More grit, more grain, more heat. “Switchblade” is a desert-combing, sunglasses on track with bouncy bass riffs and math rock cameos. It’s a dry heat, browbeaten summer jam searching for the air conditioner. Album anticipation intensifies.
Li-Wei: I’ve been listening to a lot of Beatopia-era beabadoobee and I love how her musicianship has morphed over the years. “Switchblade” is alt-rock bliss that draw from her 90s era, Pavement-loving roots, and it suits her well.
Header photo taken from daine – “Love Love (Love Love)”.
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