July 16, 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.
Haruomi Hosono – “Note of Mothership”
Mya: Calls to mind the old-fashioned charm of vintage children’s books.
Justin: A childlike cotton swab on the brainstem. Gentle, circuitous, acoustic, with child vocals. Reminds me so much of the everyday acoustic and toyish qualities of Lullatone or a menu in Katamari Damacy.
C: I love the representation the visuals give to the song. Cyclical, transforming, but also warm and reminiscent. “Not of Mothership” isn’t overwhelming; like a good question, the thought it stirs in you is more telling than the song itself.
Mya: An energized, depressed, layabout song. “Stay with me, lay with me.”
Justin: Surface sweat glazed indie garage rock swaying in a converted warehouse with a crispy NA beer in hand. Flying high spirited melodies cast off “Poison Tree” into the skyline. Love how the vocals rocket into an upward gravel in the last chorus.
C: You can feel the feelings explode outward from “Poison Tree”. It’s as though the restless thoughts and turmoil from laying about was distilled until it self-ignited. Makeout Reef’s begging is so painful and cloying while portrayed in few words.
Silica Gel – “Molecular Gastronomy”
Mya: Jaunty! Strange! Nya nya nya chorus!
Justin: Silica Gel’s vocals in this make me feel I’m sitting on the lump of their throat, bouncing to the bass drum. Starts innocuous and dramas all the way up. These lyrics. What is a Kiwi-down smell? What is an insect handler? But I know what a high power bill feels like. Sentiments I can’t fully understand, but I know it’s true. Scalies stay for the music video.
C: A thrumming sense of anxiety permeates “Molecular Gastronomy”, only accelerating as the song continues. It bounces along, almost in a Beatles-esque manner while at every moment adding another layer until it breaks into a raucous guitar riff. I can’t help but love Silica Gel’s wild, disorienting, absurdist rock.
Mya: I like the buzzy instrumentation which accentuates the smoky-ish vocals.
Justin: The first image I got while listening to “stop this flight” was the episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty where Belly is in the airport. If I could get that part of my brain to work, I would make a fan edit of the show with this song in the background. Great pop romantic sensibilities from Ava Ro.
Li-Wei: Inspirational 2010’s Internet pop that is tailor made for a will-they-won’t they running-through-the-airport-at-the-last-second rom-com climax. I can see it now!
Bonobo – “Fire on the Water (ft. Arooj Aftab)”
Mya: I mean, just gorgeous. Primordial, especially with those scratchy, bubbly textures lightly layered under Arooj Aftab’s rich vocals.
Justin: Captivating spider silk spinning. That light recurring acoustic guitar offers a thrum that calls to natural processes occurring like solar flares, or lava flows, or digestion. Arooj Aftab’s vocals float like shedding leaves. Feels really good on the ears. Somber. Reflective. Evocative.
Li-Wei: On paper this was such a weird collaboration, but it just works so well for me. Arooj Aftab’s vocals are cosmic, while Bonobo’s minimalist, buzzing production gives her vocals a lot of space. Absolutely wonderful.
Hakushi Hasegawa, HaHa and the Hairpins – “The Owner Of Sweetness”
Mya: Really rolling those r’s in the beginning! This song provokes anxiety. Wait that sax solo outro though?!
Justin: J-rock with the texture of compressed ultra tang coffee tonic. Excellently unhinged energy severely bursting out the temples expressing rage for the love that can’t be. The metaphors are so wild. The lyrics are so heartbreaking. “It’d be nice if you’re thinking the same right now. You don’t want me to say anything anymore do you?” DEVASTATION. That saxophone at the end. Incredible. The music video is cute as hell beyond comprehension. So well realized. My track of the week.
C: I’ve just been assaulted by fuzzy idol-ish J-rock. Not simply the abundance of elements, but the audacity and density of fuzz employed by “The Owner Of Sweetness” is both unique and insane. Everything happens all at once and yet it never ceases — there is always, always more. Listening feels like being swept away in a river of pedals with nothing to grasp onto while the vocals lull you into cyberpsychosis.
Mya: God I want to hear this at the club…
Justin: What it must feel like to be a scratched disc. Skippy, warping, hypnotic club banger. “Carrie Bradshaw main girl energy” is an all-timer lyric. The chorus says “my life is niu bi 牛逼” but I keep hearing “my life is snow pea”. What a vibe.
Li-Wei: The line “你会认为我是一个服务员 / I serve 每天24小时” has not left my head ever since this winding earworm tunneled its way into my brain. Demented electronic party music??? slayyy
Mya: An anthem for the ‘soft living’ aesthetic. Cutesy to the point of nausea.
Justin: Okay I already made a Katamari Damacy plug for one of the songs this week, but actually sonically and subject-matter wise “otukare” is actually very appropriate for the game. Coated in sugar, cozy production choices, sound effects, and lyrics– you gotta go to the dentist after listening to this one.
C: This song is so cute but… this production is so complex despite the aesthetic. This song passes through so many genres, the instrumental changes every 20 seconds!
Babebee, blissfully – “Shelter”
Mya: Fuzz you could hide away in.
Justin: I imagined a lone sock spinning in the dryer. Shoegaze standard. Longing for some other element. A little too long for me.
Li-Wei: Dizzying and lovely, not unlike the other music that Babebee is known for releasing but with an added shoegaze kick. If the rest of their album is anything like this, it’ll be the perfect soundtrack for fall.
Mya: Alright, Harry Teardrop is nailing that 2010’s era of lyricism. “It’s like I fell in love in slow motion.” I’ll admit, I’m charmed.
Justin: Livelier than I’m used to from Harry Teardrop. The narrative and writing is so much clearer. It’s an emo scene kid banger. Wow the dedication to the fans and album announcement at the end of the music video is so 2010s YouTube broooo. Really excited for the album.
Li-Wei: Maybe the most MySpace music video I’ve seen this year… wow this takes me back! I definitely would’ve found this secretly downloaded onto my sister’s iPod back in the day. Emo/scene kids your time is now.
Header photo taken from Hakushi Hasegawa, HaHa and the Hairpins – “The Owner Of Sweetness”
Check out our other Weekly Bullet Reviews here.