stuff tagged with "current vibes"
Current Vibes - May 2026
I jumped head first into the punk/metal pool this month. Here's what's been bumping on repeat for me lately:
Less Than Jake - Anthem
I remember a friend of mine (whose birthday is today, ironically) playing this album in his basement on repeat as we tried to 100% Super Mario 64. Good, clean ska fun. Most of the albums on this list contain songs that I haven’t really listened to, but while chopping up the tree in the back yard these last couple weeks, I’ve had time to immerse myself. And I gotta say, listening to the lyrics of “She’s Gonna Break Soon,” I found myself with a literal lol.
Neck Deep - Life’s Not Out to Get You
I was working out of a Starbucks near my parents house this week and listened to this album the entire day while coding. I reached out to them in the morning to see if they wanted to grab lunch, and sure enough, an hour later, we were at Snuffy’s Malt Shop where my dad peer pressured me into eating a malt. The album whales too.
Mumford and Sons - Prizefighter
My Current Vibes playlist contains albums for every mood, and this album fills the mood for “Sunday morning.” There are a couple of songs that hit right when I need them: Alleycat asks: “’Is this all there is?’ What do you mean, is this not enough for you?” Clover reminds me to “slow down.” Cannot wait to see them again this summer!
The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation
I Just Want to Sell Out My Funeral came across KTIM while I was cleaning out my garage1, and I fell over myself to add this album to current vibes. It turns out that particular song combines elements from several other songs on the album. I dunno, I used to dog on myself for enjoying emo, but 38 year old Tim ain’t got time to dog on hisself anymore. I’m in my emo era.
Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance
I played an unreal amount of Madden ’04 as a kid, and that’s how I discovered Thrice. I think this album is classified as “post-hardcore”, but there’s hints of emo and pop-punk in there as well. So many of these songs bring me back to high school.
System of a Down - Toxicity
Again, brings me right back to high school. We’re working towards converting the garage into a music zone; as soon as that’s good to go, I’m gonna fill it with a drum kit and play this album front to back. Terribly, but enthusiastically.
The Rezillos - Can’t Stand the Rezillos
If I had to pick a number one album right now, it’s this one. Still makes me chuckle thinking about discovering this one from a “What’s in your Bag” segment at Amoeba Records with Tony Hawk. My favorite song right now is (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures, which makes me think of my wife every time I hear it.
Pynch - Howling at a Concrete Moon
Another one that’s been on the Current Vibes rotation for a couple years now. 2009 is how I discovered this band, but there’s really not a bad song on this album. Some of these albums are useful for processing how depressing our world can be, and Pynch has a natural ability to write lyrics that speak to finding your way in spite of the hardship. Put another way: listening to this album makes me feel less lonely.
Pynch - Beautiful Noise
This album is less cynical than its predecessor Howling at a Concrete Moon while maintaining the relatable storytelling. I get Post-Punk / New-Wave stuck in my head a lot.
New Found Flory - Listen Up!
I’m so glad these boys are still rocking as hard as they were back in high school. The lyrics in this album are chock full of uplifting messages (Laugh It Off reminds us to not take life so seriously, You Got This is self evident, 100% reminds me of the ‘Do The Thing’ theme of this summer).
Kisses - The Heart of the Nightlife
I burned this album to a CD-R back in college and listened to it constantly. It was another one that came across KTIM and it’s filled in the spot for “music to groove to while doing housework”.
I Prevail - Lifelines
I got to see my nephew play baseball last weekend. These 10/11 year olds have walk up music. Can you believe that? The high school one town over just got a jumbotron. Freaking wild. Anyway, someone’s walkup song was Chaos and I had to Shazam it. This album reminds me of Hybrid Theory: a genre-blurring record with screaming and melody, metal and electronic. I guess it’s “metalcore”.
The Cords - The Cords
Music that sounds upbeat and positive with depressing and hopeless lyrics is extremely compelling to me. I know I’ve said this about this album in the past, but I was hooked on this jangle pop album from the first 8 bars. October is my current favorite jam (“It’s not that it’s gone, it’s just not the same as it was” hits hard).
Cheekface - It’s Sorted
Similar to Pynch, I listen to this album and feel less lonely. Popular 2’s observations about everyone being the unwitting stars of several Ring camera movies makes me snort laugh every time I think about it. I also frequently get I Am Continuing to Do my Thing stuck in my head. Excited to see these guys in October!
blink-182 - ONE MORE TIME...
Everything I wrote about New Found Glory’s new album applies to this one. ANTHEM PART 3 continues to be the theme for 2026.
The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie
Everything I wrote about The Cords and Pynch applies to this gang as well. I saw them perform around my birthday last year, and I still often think about how the backing vocals aren’t actually Elizabeth, but rather the boys singing falsetto. If I were going to be in a band, I’d want to be a drummer for a band like this. Or The Rezillos. Or Cheekface. Or The Cords. Or System of a Down. Maybe blink, if I practice a lot.
If any of these albums or descriptions remind you of other albums, shoot them my way!
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KTIM is what I’ve decided to call “shuffle all tracks” on Plex. Turns out when you spend several years curating a music collection, you don’t need a big tech algorithm to surface new music: “shuffle all” works pretty dang well. And I call it KTIM because I have always wanted to be a radio DJ, and if I were to file for an FCC license, my radio station would start with a K instead of a W because of where I live. The more you know! ↩
Current Vibes - March 2026
Around the beginning of every month, I try to journal about the albums I've been bumping on repeat recently.
Instead of keeping that locked up in my journal, why not post about it here?
If you're looking for something new to listen to, here's what I would recommend right now1:
The Rezillos - Can’t Stand the Rezillos
Probably a top 5 favorite album at the moment, been on the list for a while, it's so great. It's great British punk/new wave.
The B-52s - Time Capsule
Heh, I threw this greatest hits album on as a lark, and I couldn't believe it. Turns out I'm a B-52s fan? They remind me of A Flock of Seagulls and The Rezillos; a bit new wave-y/punk-y in their early years, eventually landing on a delightful early 90s alternative rock sound. They've also got some of the weirdest lyrics and riffs I've ever heard ("Where's my umbrella? Where's my umbrella?").
System of a Down - Toxicity
I’ve been jonesing for some music to be angry at authority with, and this fits the bill.
Nirvana - Nirvana
I came across a last.fm stats website the other day and played with the race chart for a solid 15 minutes. Watching Nirvana climb the charts as it approached current time made me so happy. I love this band. It’s okay to like basic things, right?
Movements - Feel Something
This came across shuffle the other day and it scratched my recent itch for emo music.
Emapea - Dreaming Zone
Still the GOAT for helping me get into flow. Sort of lo-fi, but also sort of jazzy instrumental?
The Beths - Expert in a Dying Field
Another top 5 favorite album, slotting into the spot that at one point in my life was dominated by Rilo Kiley. It's smart and emotionally-rich indie rock.
Pynch - Howling at a Concrete Moon
Also a top 5 album. Whenever I'm feeling lonely, this album puts its arm around my shoulder and tells me it's gonna be alright.
NewJeans - Get Up
More music to get into flow. A great backing track when cleaning the house.
Blink-182 - One More Time
Sometimes, you need some pop punk, man. Anthem Pt. 3 is my anthem for 2026.
Bonny Light Horseman - Keep Me On Your Mind / See You Free
Another top 5 album. I learned this week that Anais wrote Hadestown, and I also learned our local high school is performing it in the spring. I can't begin to express how pumped this makes me.
The Linda Lindas - No Obligation
Moar good punk. Makes me so happy to hear such excellent music from the youths.
Kupla - Dragonfly
I’m not 100% sold on this one, but I do like having it come across shuffle when I'm working. If anyone has any recommendations for lo-fi artists, I’m all ears.
Mumford & Sons - Rushmere
When we went to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children this past week, Shan threw on Mumford & Sons’ essential tracks, and both of the kids said they loved this band. That really made our week. We also got tickets to see them in the summer, which means my wife gets to see her favorite band twice in a single year!
The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie
New albums from bands I love always worry me because it takes me multiple listens to get used to them doing new stuff. I’m officially past that phase with this album; it’s incredible and perhaps even better than Expert in a Dying Field.
The Cords - The Cords
Within the first 15 seconds of hearing this album, I bought it on Bandcamp. Totally brings me to happy times around my college years. It’s an instant jangly indie rock classic.
Pynch - Beautiful Noise
Much like Straight Line Was A Lie, there was a moment this past month where this Pynch album finally clicked for me. I still prefer Howling at a Concrete Moon, but I am sold. I dig this album.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - February 2026 Double A Side
I came across this two-track release and felt like Ted Leo was speaking directly to me at the moment, so I picked this one up from Bandcamp as well. Definitely looking forward to hearing more from him in the coming year.
Mumford & Sons - Prizefighter
Still need to bump this a bit more, but there are several songs on here that the kids absolutely love, which makes me happy that we’ve got an album we all agree on that isn’t by Huntrix.
New Found Glory - Listen Up!
Brand new release from these dudes. You know what? They still slap.
Oh, and in case anyone's curious: I'm still working on Lunara. I tried building a custom crossfade engine to replicate how songs transition in Plexamp, and it's causing way more issues than I anticipated.
But on the plus side, I didn't write any of this damn code so I am totally on board with having multiple conversations with Claude to get it whipped into shape for me.
My favorite feature that I added since I last posted is a digital gardening assistant. From any album or artist, I can tap a "🌱" button and it pops up a new screen. On this screen, I can type in a quick description or tap a button with preset actions ("Delete", "Fix album art", etc.). This information, along with the album and artist, get sent up to an admin section that I can use to prune my library when I'm back at my laptop.
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I'm not gonna link to these albums on any specific platform because they all are pretty terrible and y'all probably use a bunch of different ones. So I guess I'll say if any of these look interesting, listen to 'em first on your streaming platform of choice and if you end up liking it, look 'em up on Bandcamp and buy it. Don't feel obligated to keep paying $15/mo to rent music. ↩
Current Vibes
🔗 a linked post to
albumwhale.com »
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originally shared here on
I've been wanting to make a blog post that I keep updated with what albums I'm currently bumping, and then I saw this website get linked the other day and figured it would actually force me to do this.
For now, head over to Album Whale if you wanna see what albums I'd recommend you check out. Many of these are from 2024, so go ahead and call it my "best of" list even if it includes Dookie and Nevermind lmao
