May 5, 2025 — Weekly Bullet Reviews
Happy AANHPI month! It’s May which means that things are finally starting to heat up, and we’re starting to see a lot of Asian American events in the Los Angeles area. Good time to listen to some new music to celebrate! We’ve got some good ones for you this week.
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.
EASHA – “Stunning”
Mya: The off-kilter opening synths really make this song. It starts to lose me when the harmonies kick-in and drown it all out. “Stunning” begins like a cliff’s edge on Mars, and sadly, winds up back on Earth.
Justin: “frus-ter-a-tion… Lobbying for your attention in the hotel.” Great writing. Notes of NIKI energy. I love how playful, cute, and atmospheric this track is. Tonally, it’s sending me back to all my chill wave playlists circa 2016.
Li-Wei: Apocalyptic, like there’s a storm brewing. At the same time, “stunning” feels alive with its details, using audio to create a 3D space (one of the reasons why corner club captured my attention with their approach to sound effects) – hear the clock ticking, the hotel lobby bell, and the crowd of people clamoring over the song’s devotion. This song is probably begging for an EDM remix, since that chorus is dangerously close to a beat-drop chorus (“Oh just like a storm / You come in like a hurricane I can’t figure out”).
Jianbo, Skydaddy – “Cradle 2 The Sky”
Mya: Jianbo’s almost rubbery vocals contrasts deliciously with the plucked strings and feathery instrumentals. Clocking out at 1:41, this is a lovely little hors d’oeuvre.
Justin: Did not expect UK drill and woodwinds. The lack of aggressive percussion that drill is known for allows the salty and sweet contrast of this quick, lavish, and fanged out track to do its thing. Precision in lyricism and instrumentation. You won’t hear anything like it this week.
Li-Wei: The fit!!! The location!!! The melodic wind instruments??? Jianbo’s got flow. This song tricks you into thinking it’s gonna be a pleasant indie pop song before Jianbo hits you with a barrage of cascading verses that transfix you. The fact that this song is less than 2 minutes long is an actual TRAGEDY.
Mya: I just want to close my eyes and float away into this song. It’s crunchy and delicate and refreshing, like biting into quick-pickled cabbage.
Justin: Twilight soaked dream pop glimmering like turn signal lights. Best to listen to on the road to love, reflecting on it, and freshly leaving it behind. If you like the Tanukichan, you will like this Sea Lemon.
Li-Wei: Sea Lemon’s new album Diving For A Prize is fast approaching (June 13), and it’s already achieved the rare feat of having each single be better than the last. Time seems to slow down when you’re listening to the gorgeous “Give In,” and I just want to swim in those moments. Fazerdaze and Tanukichan fans, take note.
CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIE PIE – “Donkey Song”
Mya: Ok, this song woke me up. I just saw some little freak of an alien rush around a corner, tailed by five or six wild hogs and a distraught clown. This should accompany a bizarre chase sequence or an alien rodeo. Or both.
Justin: Janky, groovular Donkey-Kong tribute J-pop fit for stomping the city streets. The wobbling beat feels like it’s trying to catch you slipping and push you on the ground. Don’t let it. STEP THROUGH IT. YOU ARE DONKEY KONG. Could be on Yo Gabba Gabba.
Li-Wei: If this song doesn’t show up in Donkey Kong Bonanza in some way then I’m gonna be rightfully upset. CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE does pop songs with a hip-hop flair, and you wouldn’t be too far off comparing her quirky style with that of ATARASHII GAKKO. I’ve seen her play at SXSW a few years ago, and I can only imagine how bananas the crowd would go for this one.
Flawed Mangoes – “Butterfly Effect”
Mya: I feel like I could decipher the flight path of an insect with this song, if I concentrated hard enough. “Butterfly Effect” makes a gnat’s jittering flight feel beautiful: a strange choreography of shivering lines and dots.
Justin: Three or four songs latching themselves onto each other creating a musical panorama. Makes me feel like a coin being danced through knuckles with dexterity. With graduating midwest emo tones and spatial similarities, listening to this makes me feel like I’m on the verge of remembering something consequential. Similar to The Album Leaf in its expansive grandiosity.
Li-Wei: Flawed Mangoes is most closely aligned with the Hopecore genre that’s undoubtedly been flooding the Internet, but I can see why he’s continuing to be such a phenomenon for instrumental fans. “Butterfly Effect” off of his recent album Anomaly III is at once inspiring and lovely – injecting some distorted wonder into your otherwise mundane life. Someone get them to soundtrack something soon!
Justin: What an awesome track dude. As the song says, there’s little bottles of “everything” in here if you can focus your ears onto it. Bedroom pop, electronic jumpiness, sweet singer-songwriting, like a lazy susan spinning incredible side dishes you want more bites of. For fans of Janani K. Jha and Tiffany Day. I’m now a hugeeeee fan of Camp Kona.
Li-Wei: I’ve known Camp Kona from back when they first released “Homesick,” so it was a surprise seeing them pop up again on my radar with “Everything” four years later! “Everything” is not too unlike the songs of other alt-pop girlies blowing up the scene right now (Mina Okabe, Juliet Ivy), and it’s a solid entry into a topic that feels close to home for people who are figuring themselves out in their mid-20s and hoping not to burn out. I’m definitely going to be using this song to inspire me while I look up the event details for the nearest local book club or writing meetup. Thanks, Camp Kona!
Mya: I want to DANCE. This song is too damn short! What a tease…
Justin: Make some room Yeek. Make some room Tim Atlas. Nafeesisboujee is on with a hyperconcentrated disco-soul-rap club hit. Definition of short and sweet, but way too short and sweeter, more magnetic than you can ever expect. A short king anthem. Rise up.
Li-Wei: Another short song on this list (bring back 3 minute songs please, maybe it’s the old man in me talking), but it’s still a bop. Nafeesisboujee is pretty popular with what I’d assume would be the next gen of music lovers and I can see why – he’s got a fun demeanor, grooves like Tim Atlas, and leans into some of the starry-eyed wonder of being a kid. Excited to see where he goes.
Mya: “buzzkill” is for the listeners who are not at the club. “I’m such a buzzkill… Sad, but it’s nothing new.” It’s a concept that can get pretty self-pitying and blasé. Here, it’s simply charming. There’s this little moment towards the end where the song takes a beat and Lyn Lapid clears her throat before resuming? I can’t explain it, but again – I’m charmed!
Justin: A wallflower-bedroom bop. Lyn Lapid stays steady delivering social folklore being the disengaged friend at a party. Is this a byproduct of just getting older? We all get overstimmed like this at some point. Don’t worry friends. Sidebar: are kids still having house parties like this or is this just an aesthetic? Love the dancing alone with headphones bit in the music video, super cute and well thought out, and actually a good idea. Bring over ear headphones everywhere, they don’t need to know your business!
Li-Wei: Speaking of the next generation of artists (ahem, see above), Lyn Lapid’s buzzkill just came out two weeks ago as well and I’m expecting to hear more of it all throughout the summer. The title track of that album, though, is a confessional pop song about not wanting to be a buzzkill at a party – not too topically removed from Alessia Cara’s “Here” or even the noremi song that we covered last week. This one’s pleasant and streaked in melancholy purples and blues, but it has a simple, catchy earworm that sticks. I haven’t used the term buzzkill in a long time but I’m gonna start now. Also, shoutout to the fun fake throat clearing transition between verses!
yeemz – “I’ll Go Anywhere With You”
Mya: The kind of tune I want to sing along to in the car. A light, catchy ditty.
Justin: Twee as hell. Folk as hell! It’s giving Nep. 2012 Justin is alllllll over this. A marching, scouty, woodsy verve throughout. Whoever thought of the drums and violin going in like that deserves a big ol’ high five. Good job yeemz teamz!
Li-Wei: Each song on the upcoming yeemz album, Blame The Gods, seems to showcase what she can do with a ton of different stringed instruments (I’m still thinking about the wonderfully plucky “Beta Paradox” she released a few weeks ago) and “I’ll Go Anywhere With You” adds another to the roster. When those additional instruments come in on the second verse, I truly feel like dancing. “Warmer, warmer warmer”!!! If this less-than-two-minute-song doesn’t transition into a full-on hoedown at the live show, I’ll be sorely disappointed.
Arc De Soleil – “Midnight In Saqqara”
Mya: A leisurely stroll down sun-hot pavement. But where are we going?
Justin: Kind of reminds me of Animal Crossing sunset themes with that drum pattern and guitar twang. An entrancing, reliable, guitar driven tune perfect to clock out to and meet your friends at that local thing you do every week. Cozy and laid-back, while still technical. I feel like Nintendo would value your musicality, Arc De Soleil, just an idea. Also the visualizer is giving Neon Genesis Evangelion hahaha.
Li-Wei: Here’s another one for the cosmic instrumental-heads: “Midnight In Saqqara” feels like a little bit of The War On Drugs-sans vocals, Khruangbin, and Glass Beams in their expert instrumentation. Arc De Soleil plays the mysterious guitarist bit well, but if your musical skills are as good as his I don’t blame him for just letting your notes do the talking.
Header photo taken from Sea Lemon – “Give In”.
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