Tag: smashing pumpkins

Geekly Tunes: January 2026

Published on by Kyra1 Comment

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.

Geekly Tunes (Whatcha Listening To?): July 2025

Published on by Kyra1 Comment

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. We’re back with another Geekly Tunes post for July 2025. This post is where our writers share the music they’ve listened to over the past month. You’re part of the Geekly Gang, too, so feel free to share what music you’ve been listening to over the last month. I’ll kick off this month’s tunes.

Kyra’s Tunes

I view The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in a similar light to The Beatles’ White Album. To be fair, The Smashing Pumpkins were partially inspired by The Beatles’ Self-Titled (White) Album. Both albums are bloated. The bands could’ve trimmed some of the songs to create a tighter album, but we’d be deprived of more music. The Smashing Pumpkins, and more specifically, Billy Corgan, had to get the songs out, and the firehose of music that is Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness oddly works. And Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness works within the context of The Smashing Pumpkins’ early catalogue.

Gish has plenty of moody soundscapes interdicted with killer guitar solos and crashing percussion. “Rhinoceros” would feel right at home with an extended Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness set list. The Smashing Pumpkins famously experimented with orchestral accompaniment in Siamese Dream’s “Disarm.” And “Soma,” also from Siamese Dream, featured the layering of hundreds of guitar tracks. Talk about commitment.

No wonder The Smashing Pumpkins kicked off a massive double LP with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’ title track and “Tonight, Tonight.” The title track is a somber piano solo, and it leads perfectly into “Tonight, Tonight.” Even when I don’t listen to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness in its entirety, I still listen to those two tracks back-to-back. They go together like peanut butter and chocolate.

I’m not going to go into all of the album’s twenty-eight-plus tracks (some versions include extra songs). Needless to say, the singles are brilliant. “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Zero,” “Tonight, Tonight,” and “Thirty-Three” show Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’s range. For years, I thought “Thirty-Three” would’ve made a great single, not knowing it was the album’s final single, released over a year after Mellon Collie’s original release. Compared to previous Smashing Pumpkins albums, Mellon Collie had a democratic way of songwriting, and it shows in its eclectic musical arrangements.

Some of my other personal favorites (that aren’t also singles) include “Jellybelly,” “Love,” “Galapagos,” and “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans” from the first LP, and “Tales of a Scorched Earth,” “We Only Come Out at Night,” “Beautiful,” and “Lily (My One and Only)” from the second LP. Yep. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness has a ton of great songs. Thank you for the extra music, Pumpkins.

Wet Leg is the most exciting rock band of the past five years. Fun fact: Wet Leg is slang for someone who crossed the Solent and relocated to the Isle of Wight; they still have a “wet leg” from crossing the strait. Wet Leg combines various influences like The Strokes, The White Stripes, and especially PJ Harvey. I love PJ Harvey. She has an eclectic sound that refuses classification. Wet Leg continues that tradition.

Wet Leg’s 2022 self-titled debut album was a shot of adrenaline. It modernized many of Wet Leg’s influences’ sounds. I’ve listened to Wet Leg numerous times, so when the group released their follow-up album, Moisturizer, on July 11, 2025, I gave it a similar treatment. Moisturizer builds off the success of the previous album, and it makes sense. During the debut, Wet Leg’s only full-time members were Rhian Teasdale (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Hester Chambers (lead guitar, backing vocals). Henry Holmes (drums, backing vocals), Josh Mobaraki (rhythm guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals), and Ellis Durand (bass, backing vocals) became full-fledged members with this album, and it shows. Wet Leg is a completely different band. These songs have more texture.

I recommend listening to Moisturizer with a set of good headphones. “CPR’s” bassline is far more intricate than most of the debut’s tracks, and it sounds great live. I’ve caught a handful of live videos for “CPR.” The band nails each performance. The lead single, “Catch These Fists,” showcases the band’s new attitude. Wet Leg became overnight indie darlings; “Catch These Fists” is them owning the label. The third single, “Davina McCall,” is gorgeous, featuring layered swaying guitars and vocals, and driving percussion. Moisturizer has many other highlights.

“Mangetout” is another great live song. If you’re interested in Wet Leg, check out their NPR Tiny Desk Concert from July 9, 2025. Get ready to headbang to “Mangetout.” Since the NPR Tiny Desk Concert was released a couple of days before Moisturizer’s release, it marked my first time hearing “11:21,” and this live performance does the haunting song justice. “Don’t Speak” is one of the rare tracks that features Hester on vocals, and it’s another joy of a listen. In short, Wet Leg didn’t rest after their debut. They blazed a different path with Moisturizer, while still sticking to their roots. I can’t wait to hear more.

That’s all I have for this month. Let’s see what Season and Skye have been listening to.

Season’s Tunes

What can I say? I’m a soundtrack girl. Lately, I’ve been listening to the entire Spyro the Dragon soundtrack on repeat, mentally playing through the levels tied to each score in my mind. I’ve listened to it so much that I like to guess which level each song is from without looking at the title. “Magma Cone” has been my jam. Seriously. The sounds in the original “Magma Cone” track were never recreated for the Spyro Reignited Trilogy variant.

Stewart Copeland composed all three Insomniac Spyro the Dragon games. He played through each level to get a sense of what the music should sound like. Insomniac reused some tracks across multiple levels, such as the “Idol Springs” track being used in “Colossus,” but most of them had unique tracks.

That’s all from me. Skye, what have you been listening to?

Skye’s Tunes

My mother grew up with Jim Croce and suggested Croce’s Photographs and Memories: His Greatest Hits. At first, I didn’t think I’d be that interested in Photographs and Memories. I enjoyed it. Photographs and Memories saw repeated plays this month. There are several songs that I recognized on both sides. Several more got stuck in my head for days, even weeks. I feel at home listening to these songs. Croce’s style has a down-home feeling. Even though I didn’t personally grow up with Jim Croce, my nostalgia kicks in every time I play Photographs and Memories.

The Beatles were always going to show up. I knew that as soon as I started doing this Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band would make one of these lists. Sgt. Pepper’s is an album I’ve become familiar with in a roundabout way over my childhood. I’ve never owned the vinyl (until now), so I wasn’t familiar with the song order and deeper cuts on the album. Now that I own Sgt. Pepper’s, I’m more connected with the music. I’ve been humming some of these songs since I was a kid like the title track “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite,” “Fixing a Hole,” “Getting Better,” and “A Day in the Life.”

I never had any intention of owning Room on the Porch. In fact, I had never heard of Room on the Porch or Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ until I took a trip to Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago. The store was having a sale on specific kinds of vinyl, so I thought, “Why not?” After hearing Room on the Porch for the first time, I’m a fan. It’s a low-key jazz/blues album, which I needed more of in my collection. Room on the Porch gave me the need to dance on several occasions, which is a great music quality.

Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle again. Those are our writers’ music highlights over the past month. Feel free to share your music highlights, too, because we’re all part of the Geekly Gang. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.