February 13, 2026 — Weekly Bullet Reviews
We’re back with the first Weekly Bullet Review column of the new year! Hope you’re looking for some new tunes…
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: Genuinely unsettling. Can I set this as my Find My Phone ringtone?
Justin: This is probably the funniest Mitski song to me since “Nobody”. Adequately channels modern ferality to a rocking production that reminds me of earlier St. Vincent. The chanting and discord and music video make me feel like I’m going a bit mad. Delicious. How will Mitski invade my personal space this year?
Chinese American Bear – “No No Yeah Yeah”
Mya: Oh this is fun. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Yeah!
Justin: It’s my favorite Chinese American Bear song so far. Giving major 2010s indie pop to me, personally. Shake your head to this and let the technicolor run through you. Send this as a response song to everyone. Also is anyone else getting the Ting Tings from this with that clipping drum and synth waver?
Mya: The brass feels like a human audience, at times playful, reverent, and lamenting. The sinking and rising tones of the song are also lovely.
Li-Wei: I don’t think I recall brass horns having such a big presence in a Thao song, but I dig it! “Remember Me” is a snippet from the Amongst the Disquiet film that somehow flew under my radar, but it’s about a multigenerational Vietnamese family based in New Orleans, according to a summary posted on director Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s website. If anything, I’ll take Dixieland-jazz Thao any day just to hear how the cultural landscape of the south and the marshes have influenced her style. “Remember Me” feels like a promising teaser.
OHYUNG – “all dolls go to heaven”
Mya: An ode to trans women. Really hauntingly beautiful. The static fading in and out sounds like ocean waves hitting the shore.
Li-Wei: OHYUNG has been on fire recently, scoring films left and right (perhaps you’ve heard of a few of them?) and she’s not slowing down anytime soon. “All dolls go to heaven” sounds fresh off of a film score, ushering in a haunted, ethereal coda that evokes the feeling of melancholia. I love how staticky the noise is! This one is off their upcoming album IOWA, and it feels transformative.
Mya: Hey, shout out to a song about colorism. Sweet and a little corny (as all sweet things should be).
Li-Wei: This is a song that sounds like healing. The Australian musician Darien doesn’t have many songs to his name as of yet, but “bronze baby” sounds like a great start to the musician’s brand of 88Rising-influenced R&B pop. Dig a little deeper into this one and you’ll find that he doesn’t just have a smooth singing voice, but also a gorgeous gift for writing emotive, descriptive lyrics.
Mya: I’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men lately and Bruno kind of talks like one of the guys. Catchy ditty.
Justin: Really really really sounds like “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” by Leo Sayer. It’s a fine song, but I wish it was more different than the past ten years of disco-funky-soul Bruno Mars. Hoping that the rest of the album has more variety. Please, I need it to be different because all the Filipinos are going to repeat these songs regardless.
Mya: Harsh, angry. Tire treads against concrete.
Li-Wei: I picked a song at random off DACEY’s latest album BEFORE I LEAVE YOUR MIND just to give it a shoutout, and my question is… do all the songs off the project rock as hard as “VULTURE”? This grungy sound is not what I expected for a band that at one point released the vibrant stoner R&B of SATIN PLAYGROUND or the upbeat shenanigans of “STEPMOM,” but I actually love this unrestrained change in direction. It’s loud, echoey, and is just fun experimental rock overall. I’m sold.
Lydia Hahm – “The Place Where We Were Bored”
Mya: Soft, depressed. A song for anyone who left their hometown, for the better, but still looks back.
Justin: This song is giving 2000s teen drama somewhere between MTV and Teen Nick. I hear inspiration from Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait” and The Sundays’ “Summertime” with more of an acoustic focus. Incredibly full of spirit calling in a more analog Americana. Really love how the strings open upward and expand with the electric guitar play in the second half of the song.
Mya: “Welcome to my world / To my world, take the metro.” Yes you’re right KiiiKiii, let’s all take the metro together!!!
Justin: Housey, light flickered lobby banger. Makes me want to be in a high speed montage downtown. Production is giving Peggy Gou. Laughing at “Isn’t this fake?… I love it.”
Mya: Smooth.
Justin: Fits Toonami late nights. A nice piece of uptempo rap from Japanese rap duo Ziproom. I really enjoy Arich’s gravelly voice on this one. Digging that sustained sax.
Header photo taken from the press material for Chinese American Bear – “No No Yeah Yeah”.
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