Rambling Fox

July 2025 Music Roundup

Time for another one of these again!

New Music Immediate Impressions

Bałtyk - Self-Help Pt.3 (Bandcamp)
This actually came out at the very very very last days of June, but I didn't end up listening to it until early July and so it made sense to include it here. Bałtyk's last album under his current moniker is meant to be a full stop to all the strands and thoughts that had been running under the Bałtyk discography - composed in some parts out previously written fragments now finally fleshed out, with the lyrics touching upon the various personal matters he'd been nervous to speak about directly but which he's finally ready to bring into the open (he's already spoken about his new project as well, restarting under a new name to signify his growth as a person). It's also pretty guaranteed Bałtyk as expected following the last two records: melancholy, quiet, stripped down but subtly intricate underneath, with Bałtyk's powerfully fragile voice immediately tying a connection with the listener. Not really summer music, but looking forward to spending time with the CD (once it arrives) when dark autumn and winter nights fall.

Carter C - There Is Always a Goodbye (Bandcamp)
Carter C's previous album, 2023's Northern Songs, is a particular personal favourite from the abundantly wealthy furry singer/songwriter scene of the 2020s, so it's nice to hear more from them. There Is Always a Goodbye is a little perkier and extroverted - opening with a dang near skater punk track - and given it was only released a week back I'm still getting used to it, but I can definitely see this growing a lot. Carter hasn't taken too many steps away from their previously established sound, but they've expanded it and taken it out of the bedroom and onto bigger spaces: lot more raucous volume in their whimsical mix of fun and introspection.

Goon - Dream 3
Not really sure how I feel about Goon. They still have that really good core sound - noisy guitar rock meets ambient textures - but nothing's really hit me as hard the debut album did. This goes for Dream 3 too: it's enjoyable, familiar territory for fans of the band, but it mainly just makes me want to return to the debut. I feel a little bad about just shrugging this off a little but... just not really being captured by this even though I can't pinpoint there to be anything wrong about it either. That's on me then, I guess.

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters (Deluxe Edition)
The 20th anniversary reissue of the debut arrives a year late (I guess something happened in the background given all the celebration efforts were delayed by a year). I love the self-titled first album, it's one of the greatest debut albums of the 2000s and it was such a pivotal album for me as a young gay teen still realising things about myself and getting used to who I am - and I discovered it so haphazardly too that it really felt like something personal, long before it became a (deserved) hit. The reissue is pretty barebones in its presentation (a perfunctory blurb in the booklet before just repeating the original liner notes, an awfully cheap gatefold packaging that's bound to break one day), but you can't fault the bonus material. All the b-sides and bonus tracks are here (some of which I'm very familiar with and love dearly), there's one brand new recording (of a song they regularly performed live back in the day but never recorded) and a whole load of polished-up originals from the demo compilation that hit the bootleg circuits shortly afterwards: the second disc is a real joy full of hidden goodies. One major surprise too, as I've learned 20 years late that what I thought was "Backwoods Discoteque Pt. II" has actually been a mistagged demo version, so expecting to hear it on the second disc and instead finding myself listening to something completely different was a shock... Oh and there's a third disc of remixes that will probably not get an outing again; could've just had more of the demos instead. A little undecorated but nonetheless worthwhile reissue for the fans.

Hoard Updates

I went to America and took advantage of US record shops. Also some other random things.

CD

Digital

Everender, Flower.Puppy, Alex Gråey and Monday9 were all Anthrocon purchases; same with June LaLone and Deerxing, whose latest albums I purchased after their excellent live sets during the mini-festival at Anthrocon. The rest have either been random US record shop purchases, or complete whim orders (I just fancied some mid-00s Nordic female-fronted pop, so in goes Robyn and Annie into the shopping cart).

The most exciting snag of the month is Youth Group's Australian Halloween, which is my favourite of the band's albums and which I got mildly obsessed about in 2021 - but it was also a small distro Aussie-only release, so I've never had the chance to buy it physically. But, someone on eBay was finally selling it for a reasonable price and now I'm a happy collector. And I'm also a less happy collector that my Sonic soundtrack collection has grown, in the form of the really middling soundtrack for the worst mainline Sonic game. But it had to make its way in my shelf one day, and at least the liner notes are pretty expansive...

Music reviews in May

Not many reviews in July, courtesy of the US trip. After that, I just decided to finish the PSB discography binge, so the reviews are a bit one-note this month.

Most played song of the month according to Last.FM

Loads of songs tied up as my #1 of the month, mostly from a few specific releases. But there's one song that's been a legitimate repeat, as none of the other songs from the album have had as many scrobbles during the month. That's Robyn's immortal "With Every Heartbeat", one of her signature songs and a real gorgeously wistful gem of a dancefloor heartbreaker.

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