x shinbangumi
x this album singlehandedly created a love for indie-synth music as well as the 80's Japanese soul aesthetic. i feel this album has changed me in ways i didn't think an album was capable of. it's true that i did discover this album in a dramatic change in my life, however i don't think i would be who i am today without this album.

favorite song from this album: giddy up
x The jester
x this album came out shortly after my 4 year relationship breakup. previously, and still to this day, je detese listening to sad music. i never got the appeal. i personally use music to daydream, to imagine things that could never happen irl. sad songs are just, sad, who would want that? but during this time, i found that listening to songs that had lyrics i could personally relate to helped me process my thoughts and emotions and understand them better.

favorite song from this album:
i want you yesterday
x 半斤八兩 (電影) (the private eyes)
x i discovered this album in a ginger root interview where cameron lew (ginger root) listed his top 5 most influential albums; this was the only one i remembered to take note of. this style of music is completely different than my normal style that i lean towards/frequent, yet it still remains as one of my most loved albums. not much to say about this, you just have to listen for yourself.

favorite song from this album:
#4梨渦淺笑
x cowboy bebop soundtrack
x cowboy bebop was the first anime i watched (that wasn't a ghibli movie) and it was during the time when i performed at 'first fridays' as a jazz opener for the first time in 2019. during a crucial period of my music development, this album ultimately had a massive impact on my playing style as a saxophone player. it helped me get over my extremely crippling fear of live improvisation.

favorite song from this album:rush
x merry christmas pdc
as opposed to the others on this list, this is just a single release. i heard this song in a small sad period of my life. when i personally get to a level of not awesomeness as rare as this, it tends to take me awhile until i recover from it. but i personally think that because of this song (as well as others) i was able to quickly "recover" LOL!!!! as mentioned previously, i tend to hate listening to sad/slow music because it puts me in a bad mood, and isn't my intention for listening to music. but this is so pretty!!

x
specifically i really cling onto this section

"but don't tell them what you told me
don't even tell 'em that you know me
i would rather burn forever
but you should know that i died slow
running through the halls of your haunted home"

so far, this is the second only song to make me cry
x variety pack x andy
anyways back to fun!!!!!!!!! this album is SO CUTE i love love love it. little inside joke for you; i found this album during the first few weeks of the fall semester of my first year of college when a friend of mine, guitar in hand, asked me to make a song off of the top of my head.
the only lyrics i could think of were "your cat ate my shorts"
(sooo many recording labels reached out to me but,,,it was just too good to sell to the public, i know)
i looked up the genius lyrics to see if i had heard it previously, and found the song "your cat dont stand a chance"

favorite song from this album:
the dominoesx		 mention #6969 of i don't like listening to slow or emotional music; but for some reason i like this one. this album is a blend of r'n'b with some indie-pop, but it also includes more vintage-style synths that i enjoy. i'm including this album in here, not as a favoite, but a substantial item. it's a very personal, honest, and vulnerable album that generally, is a style i would never listen to. i'm a selfish music enjoyer, i listen to music to get lost in my own thoughts. i don't even particularly like some of the songs, (sorry to the friend who has this as their fav album, it's nothing personal i promise!!!!) yet i still listen to them.

but i honestly relate to the song squares where the artist talks about being a "square" that never broke rules or misbehaved, which is basically all i did growing up. always wanted to impress my parents with my grades, drempt of being a meteorologist; sometimes i wonder if i wasted my years as a youth. maybe i should've broken more rules like my sister and got in trouble more often. sometimes i feel like im compensating for it now that i'm older. torn between feeling like that, but also realizing it's okay that i did that. i'm living my life the way i want, not how the media or others believe i should.
that's not the point of the song, there is an entire component of love that i personally forget about when listneing to it LOL imma interpret it how i wanna!!!

favorite song from this album (surprise!!!! it's not squares):
big and scaredx
x dear diz
x
second semester of sohpmore year of highschool, i had a jazz studies class that had 8 total students. all of these students were seniors who were well aquainted with the teacher; who did not like the fact that i was in this class being that i was a sophmore. i had years of previous experience, but i had nowhere near the same level of music theory as the rest of the others. this class became hell as the teacher made it his goal to get me to drop the class, which i inevitably did.

regardless of the evil experience that was that class; i was able to discover this album by overhearing the teacher mention that this was his favorite jazz album of all time. he has incredible taste, that ryan. there is not one "skip" on this album. i was able to live out one of my dreams eventually; playing one of these songs at the same venue my favorite artist Jhariah had played at previously. we played the song things to come, which is my second favorite in the album. i have a strong love/hate relationship with this album. i love it due to its incredible solos and nasty key changes, however this album will always haunt me and forever keep a burning desire for musical perfection that will never be achieved from the viewpoint of a forever unsatisfied music teacher.

favorite song from this album: birks works