Happy Wednesday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. During today’s post, our writers share what they’ve been listening to over the past month. Feel free to share what you’ve been listening to over the past month. We’re all part of the Geekly Gang. I’ll get things started with what I’ve been listening to over the past month.
Kyra’s Tunes
Gorillaz made one of my lists from last year, but I’ve been relistening to the band’s catalog. I’m getting hyped for Gorillaz’s upcoming release this year, The Mountain. March 2026 can’t come soon enough. I won’t go into too much detail with Gorillaz’s music. I did that in my previous post. But I absolutely adore “Désolé.” It’s a vibe, and I love the featured artist, Fatoumata Diawara’s, voice. Slay!
I sense a trend, because my next band is another one I covered last year: The Smashing Pumpkins. While I delved more into Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in the previous post, I’ll concentrate more on Siamese Dream in this one. “Today,” “Disarm,” and “Cherub Rock” received a heap of praise when Siamese Dream first released, and I love these tracks. They’re classics. But I can’t get over “Soma’s” hundreds of layered guitar tracks. It’s haunting, and so is “Mayonaise.”
Yep. I’m going down the “Mayonaise” rabbit hole. “Mayonaise” exists through a series of flaws. This song proves that imperfections can make something beautiful.
First, you’ll notice mayonnaise is misspelled. This is intentional. The title comes from a Japanese rock magazine that translated a Billy Corgan lyric (from the Pumpkins’ first album, Gish) as mayonnaise seas, as in a sea of mayonnaise. The Japanese writer had omitted one of mayonnaise’s Ns. The writer blamed the mistranslation on Corgan’s enunciation. To his credit, Corgan agreed, and the Pumpkins would joke that they needed to write a song named “Mayonaise.”
Next, Billy Corgan and the Pumpkins struggled to complete Siamese Dream. “Today” is about the day Billy Corgan chose not to attempt suicide. Yikes! The Smashing Pumpkins were not in a good headspace. It doesn’t stop with Corgan. Due to his heroin addiction, Drummer Chamberlain was in and out of rehab. Bassist Wretzky and lead guitarist Iha were going through a brutal breakup. And the Pumpkins were over time and over budget with the album. “Cherub Rock” goes into the “joys” of deadlines and corporate ultimatums.
Finally, “Mayonaise” derives from a guitar demo Iha had made during the Pumpkins’ Japanese Gish tour. With his cheap rhythm guitar that whistled whenever he stopped playing, Billy Corgan did his best to accompany Iha’s gorgeous guitar riff that begins and ends the track. In fact, Corgan’s problematic guitar was part of why Siamese Dream required so many guitar tracks. I’m looking at you, “Soma.” Corgan would cut and splice out his whistling guitar. During “Mayonaise,” he leaned into the flaw.
“Mayonaise’s” lyrics lay out several of Corgan’s insecurities, but in the end, it retains a defiant optimism. I love the repeated line, “When I can, I will.” “Mayonaise” reminds us to be kind to ourselves. Give ourselves grace. Who knows? A flaw–even a collection of flaws–can become great art.
I have one final entry for this past month: The Mill Brothers. I’ve listened to many tunes from the Fallout series’ soundtrack, but “You Always Hurt the One You Love” holds a special place for me. Sure. Originally, I heard this song covered by Spike Jones & His City Slickers. That version has plenty of belches and gunshots, but underneath the cacophony lies a beautiful voice. And The Mills Brothers sang the original. Gorgeous. “You Always Hurt the One You Love” is a lovely song that I’ll gladly listen to on repeat.
Okay. I may need to skip my podcasts this month; I’ll share them next month, I’m sure. Let’s check in with Season.
Season’s Tune
I’m kicking off this year with Rick James’ “Super Freak.” I’d heard snippets of it before, but never the full song. I’m also ashamed to say I wasn’t familiar with Rick James at all before listening to “Super Freak” and watching the music video. I’ve heard Motown Records music before, but only bands like The Temptations. I’m not used to overtly racy Motown music. I enjoyed seeing many women of different backgrounds featured in the music video. I’m not sure if that meant he was an equal opportunity ladies’ man, or if he wanted to attract a wider audience. Regardless, Rick James was R&B Shaft.
I haven’t branched out too much so far this year. I’ve listened to predominantly comfort tunes. I’m always down for recommendations, Geekly Gang.
Skye’s Tunes
Out of the Blue is an album I’ve been wanting to add to my collection for a long time. Given that this is the album with “Mr. Blue Sky,” it’s not hard to see why. Ever since I was a kid, I loved listening to “Mr. Blue Sky,” and it’s fantastic that I finally have the pleasure of owning it on vinyl. Thanks to my family for making that dream a reality this past holiday. While my primary reason for wanting Out of the Blue was for the sake of owning “Mr. Blue Sky,” I’ve been having an amazing time getting more familiar with each of the other tracks as well. That’s easily one of my favorite things about vinyl. The fact that I can discover all sorts of great new songs just by owning an album. Thanks, Out of the Blue.
The general theme of last Christmas was acquiring classic albums from my childhood. Enter Monkey Business. Of course, Monkey Business is an album my parents imposed strict rules on, considering specific tracks (I’m sure you can guess which ones), but each of the other songs quickly became staples. I’ll even say that Monkey Business played a role in helping me realize my love for dancing. Nearly all these tracks are bangers, but some of my favorites include “Pump It,” “Don’t Phunk With My Heart,” “They Don’t Want Music,” and “Gone Going.” Even now, I still remember the glory days in our old base housing quadruplex while getting certifiably down to this album in my sister’s room. Great stuff.
There aren’t many albums (or even bands) I would consider “musical comfort food,” but CAKE easily fits that bill for me. Across several years of my childhood, my parents had a way of steadily introducing my sister and I to CAKE during road trips. It was never the plan to consistently listen to them in the car on our way to or from vacation spots; it just so happened to be how it worked. Eventually, CAKE became the band I associated with long car rides, and they always made the trip more pleasant. Out of all their albums, my favorites had always been Comfort Eagle and Fashion Nugget due to how many of my favorite tracks were on them. To this day, you can still catch me humming songs like “Opera Singer,” “Long Line of Cars,” “Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps,” “Short Skirt, Long Jacket,” “Comfort Eagle,” “Frank Sinatra,” and so many more completely at random. So much nostalgia.
Hey, hey! Kyra Kyle here again. Those are all the Geekly Tunes our writers have for this past month. What have you been listening to over the past month. Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.
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