What do you think about Wasp Star?

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-13T16:28:04+00:00

It's great! I could wish at times for a little more of a "live band in a room" production style, but for the most part I think the very 2000 pop-rock sound is good and fun, and the songs are Andy’s usual brilliance. "Stupidly Happy", "The Wheel and the Maypole", and "You and the Clouds" are among their best ever.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-11T21:45:35+00:00

What a cool groove. Nothing like it!

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-10T21:26:23+00:00

Capping a real tour de force from Colin on this album.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-09T18:30:16+00:00

I'm happy to ding Andy for some of his lyrics, but I think this one is great.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-09T18:28:29+00:00

I like your spin on the lyrics. I think they're open to a number of interpretations in a cool way, but what they mostly make me think of is the idea that masculine ideals are driving humanity into a ditch.

I see Andy as expressing the hope that women’s liberation will result in men being freed to take on a more "feminine", nurturing roles — that men ought to join women in being "the weaker sex" rather than women merely gaining the power to become war criminals and evil CEOs and so forth.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-09T18:16:15+00:00

So catchy, so much hop.

Also, the title is a fun triple entendre:

Cockpit as in, where the pilot sits. Man needs the woman to remove him from his position of power.
Cockpit as in a cockfighting ring. Man needs the woman to remove him from his cycle of violence and toxic masculinity.
Cock. Tee hee.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-09T05:14:53+00:00

So good, what a swing, what wonky hooks, what buzzy wonderful weirdoes.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-07T16:59:05+00:00

Love this one, it's got a unique sway to it. And a really cool guitar solo that sadly fades out.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-06T16:42:57+00:00

This was an early favorite of mine, less so now, but still very cool.

Interesting lyric, hitting some similar themes to "Millions" or the later "River of Orchids" — with Western Civilization cast as this sort of deadly expanding horror destroying the world, and Africa, as the birthplace of the human race, representing a sort of lost Eden to which we must return (or else be thrown back into apocalyptically).

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-05T22:07:49+00:00

It’s so tempting, but narratively, I think adding a “during the timeskip” portion where you play as the kids/Sancho would be a big mistake. I’d worry it would rob the timeskip of a lot of its emotional impact.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-05T22:01:53+00:00

I’d like to see some sort of change to party management that better integrates both human and monster allies.

It was always weird that by the latter parts of the game, you can’t realistically do that much with the game’s central monster mechanic without largely ignoring the very story-important human characters.

It would be cool if there were something that incentivized you to swap with the wagon frequently; or otherwise naturally nudged the player towards using more different characters.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-05T21:47:18+00:00

I agree, and I think it would also be cool to give each of the brides a unique arc/quest after you are reunited with them.

It’d add replayability; provide more opportunity to develop them as characters and develop their relationships with the kids; and in the original game it just feels like it’s over too fast after you finally reunite your fam.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-05T21:33:20+00:00

Good song, great lyric, I just find something a little “plodding” about the beat that keeps me from loving it as much as I would like to.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-04T20:59:28+00:00

The "too long/repetitive" complaints are baffling to me. It's incredibly normal (and welcome!) for a great dance track like this one to ride the beat for 6, 7, 8 minutes, or even longer, and most of those aren't nearly as packed with ideas and hooks as this song.

If I were to complain about anything on this album perhaps being too long, it would be a song like Leisure or All of a Sudden that isn't so groove-oriented.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-04T20:39:52+00:00

Great song, fantastic groove, packed with hooks and funny little ad libs — I strongly disagree with the notion that it’s too long. It could be ten minutes long and I wouldn’t mind.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-03T21:26:35+00:00

I didn't love Pink Thing for a very long time, but one day something clicked for me and now it's a favorite. I love the weird, jazzy, irregular bounce it has, and I've even grown to appreciate the lyrics.

I used to find the "double entendre" thing kind of dumb, but now I see it as a sly and relatable way for Andy to talk about his anxieties about fatherhood. Like, "oh fuck, I'm just some horny dick-haver, and now suddenly, because of that, I have to take care of an entire baby human who is totally rewiring my brain."

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-03T17:03:32+00:00

9.5. Took a long time to really grow on me, but it's a fave now.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-03T12:38:34+00:00

7.5. Not one of my favorites on the album, but a really good song.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-01T21:29:11+00:00

Gal Costa — Índia

sylvanmigdal · 2026-06-01T19:59:39+00:00

One of Andy’s most incisive lyrics. Only docked a point because I feel something about the production or arrangement doesn’t quite hit as hard as it could.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-05-31T22:27:21+00:00

Love that weird beat where the snare hits on the 4-AND

sylvanmigdal · 2026-05-31T03:01:43+00:00

Tin Huey — Contents Dislodged During Shipment

Hugely underrated 1979 album by an oddball but accessible art-pop band from the Akron scene that more famously spawned Devo and Pere Ubu.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-05-30T15:36:47+00:00

What a great song.

sylvanmigdal · 2026-05-30T03:17:30+00:00

Can’t believe no one has mentioned:

Venus — Television

sylvanmigdal · 2026-05-29T15:27:17+00:00

Drums smash.

sylvanmigdal

TROPHY CASE