24/03/25
The Eris Castys media ranking that no one asked for…
Media is incredibly important. Music and film shape and divide people. They spark conversation, they are a source of comfort, instill emotion, and bring people together. I spend at least half of my 15 waking hours with either music or a good movie/show playing in the background.
I have spent all 20 years of my life obsessing over the media I enjoy. If I'm into it, I have to know everything about it.
I was going to make a long, long list of my top 5 albums and my top 5 movies, but I decided to split it in two. That being said here’s my top 5 albums…
Fake World Wonderland
#5
Starting from #5 my fifth favorite album is Fake World Wonderland by Kinoko Teikoku.
Truthfully, my absolute favorite piece of work by them is their EP The Long Goodbye, but it’s not an album, and I wanted to keep it consistent…
All of the albums on my list are not only amazing but bring me to a specific time. I discovered Kinoko Teikoku in 2019, just a few months after they disbanded, following bassist Taniguchi Shigeaki’s departure to work at his family’s Buddhist temple.
When I think about Japanese shoe-gaze, I think about them immediately. Every single song on the band’s discography is absolute perfection and I knew I needed one of their albums on my top 5, but I had a hard time picking which one.
Fake World Wonderland wasn’t well received—it didn’t even chart—while all of their other albums hit at least the top 20 on the Oricon Album Chart. Their most popular album, Time Lapse, peaked at #14.
Kinoko Teikoku creates beautiful songs that evoke a sense of longing and nostalgia, and when paired with their vocalist Satō Chiaki’s distinct and unique voice, it results in an unforgettable listening experience.
Japanese shoegaze is one of my favorite genres of music, so here are some of my top Japanese shoegaze bands as an honorable mention:
Hitsujibungaku, Mass of the Fermenting Dreggs, Plastic Girl in Closet and Shishamo.
Frank
#4
I initially considered including Because of the Internet by Childish Gambino on this list, but I don’t really listen to rap as much anymore. While I have a lot of love for the album and for Childish Gambino, it’s not something I listen to regularly these days. It’s more of an honorable mention for me now. Instead, I decided to put Frank by Amy Winehouse as my #4
To me, the songs on this album capture the 20-something female experience. The album is dynamic—one track resonates with my personal heartbreaks, while another speaks to my grievances with men. She writes so well about the young, inflated ego, while also touching on the insecurity that often hides behind it.
She was incredibly raw and ahead of her time, and her tragic loss took an extraordinary artist from us far too soon. Her voice and style are unmatched, something that can never be replicated by another artist.
The Great Escape
#3
I wish I could say this is an exaggeration, but I listened to this album nearly all day, every day, during my freshman and junior years of high school. I’d listen to it on the train ride to school, during class, on the way home, while doing homework, hanging out with friends, in the car.
My point is, if you saw me with headphones on between the ages of 14 and 16, this is probably what I was listening to.
I was so obsessed with 90s Britpop culture at the time, and despite my bias from already loving Damon Albarn through Gorillaz, Blur always stood out to me the most among all the shoegaze bands of that period, both stylistically and musically.
The songs on this album are dramatic and theatrical, telling third-person stories of eclectic characters. Their track Country House became their first #1 single, beating Oasis, whos rivally refined Britpop during those years. Oasis would then take them off the charts with their album (Whats the Story) Morning Glory? and Blur would become coined as an "inauthentic middle-class pop band" in while Oasis was referred to as "working class heroes"
To this day, their documentary Starshaped, which chronicles the promotion of their first two albums, Leisure and Modern Life is Rubbish, remains my favorite musical documentary of all time. Shot as a fly-on-the-wall style documentary, it truly makes you feel like you're on tour with them. It’s raw and unfiltered, something you don’t see much of anymore. I would get in trouble watching this in class over and over instead of paying attention to the lectures.
I have a lot of love in my heart for Blur and their discography in general but I definitely love this album the most. I love a piece of work that tells a story and not only does each song have its own story but so does the album as a whole.
Memo Rex Commander y el Corazón Atómico de la Vía Láctea
#2
The next two albums have the most sentimental meaning to me.
My mom grew up surrounded by interesting and creative people, among those interesting and creative people was the band Zoé. So, of course, I hold this band very closely to my heart, not only because of my familiarity with them, my mom’s stories of the band members, or the fact that they come from my hometown in Mexico, but also of my connection of listening to the music with my mom all throughout my childhood.
I love all of Zoés’ discography but Memo Rex Commander y el Corazón Atómico de la Vía Láctea has to be my favorite solely for how deeply I love the fifth track, Corazón Atómico, which gun to my head has to be one of my favorite songs ever
Memo Rex Commander y el Corazón Atómico de la Vía Láctea debuted at #1 on the Mexican music charts, and the album achieved gold record status within just four weeks of its release. In 2012, the band performed on MTV Unplugged, and their album from the show earned them a Grammy nomination. This fills me with so much pride, especially since they come from the same town as my family. I used to stay up late watching that performance with my mom, and that connection will always hold a special place for me.
This is another pick that comes straight from my mom.
My mom loves George Michael very much, and most days, she plays his music in the background. She has played me to every song, every interview, every movie, and every documentary. I was pretty much groomed to love George Michael from a young age because of this.
George Michael was an incredible musician. From his journey from Wham! to his solo career he was just an all-around amazing and inspiring musician and person. He is another whose voice and talent will never be replicated. I could talk about George Michael forever. I could talk about his story forever. I could talk about this album forever.
After a six-year gap from his previous album due to a legal battle with Sony Music and two years of work, George Michael released Older which was not only very experimental for the time but also for him as a composer/musician.
While the album was a commercial success, it was torn apart by critics who labeled it "uninspired" and "joyless." With that in mind, the album is dedicated to George Michaels' lover who had died of AIDS while the album was in production, this I think completely changes the tone of many of the songs.
While I do love this album on its own, the memories of listening to it with my mother definitely strengthen my connection to it, pushing it to #1.
Older
#1