music

I’m always on the hunt for new music I tend to overplay a lot of music once I find something I like so I get sick of it pretty frequently. You all know I’m a huge Djo fan, I have Apple Music so every time I listen to a Djo album, it shows me a list of “You Might Like” albums at the bottom of the screen. Every time I scroll through the suggested albums, this band Psychedelic Porn Crumpets comes up. Quite the name, but I decided it was time to take a listen and I wish I had done this much sooner. 

They have such a unique blend of sounds, I checked out some of their music videos too and I really enjoyed them all. I started by listening to Carpe Diem, Moonman and fell in love with the songs “March on for Pax Ramona” and “Scapegoat”, really though, the entire album is great. 

The night I discovered them, I also took a listen to their most recent album “Pogo Rodeo” and the song that REALLY sold me on this band was their song “Japan”. It reminds me of a song that’d be in a video game or something and I absolutely love the lyrics of this song too. “Salsa Verde” is also a really good one, I love the bit where they played a snippet of “Come Together” by The Beatles. 

Another Apple Music recommendation based on my listening of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets was Frankie & The Witch Fingers. I’d heard of this band previously, I actually think my dad listened to them and mentioned them to me a while ago (sorry father!!). Anyways, I listened to their latest album “Trash Classic”. I really enjoyed the sound of this entire album, it’s very new wave. “Total Recall” is a favorite of mine. 

Next is something that kind of blew my mind; a duo from Mexico City called Malcriada. I am a frequent visitor of the KEXP YouTube page and stumbled upon their performance, truthfully, I clicked on it because I saw the clown-esque makeup they were wearing. Their sound is unique and I think the radio host at KEXP said it best “a blend of dream core, alternative, and hyper pop sounds”. The duo also spoke on inspirations of theirs with Crystal Castles being a huge one which you can really hear shining through in their music.

I highly recommend going and watching the KEXP performance before listening to any of their music. It’s a great introduction to the band. The singer has amazing vocals and their using very affordable and minimal music gear, which I always appreciate seeing. There are 2 unreleased songs they play in this performance, “Under” and “Mienteme”, they were both my favorites of their set and I cannot wait for them to be out. 

I also listened to their most recent EP that was released “Teoria de Conspiracion” which is also great. I’ve really been on the hunt for this mix of genres so I’m so glad they came across my YouTube algorithm. It’s been interesting dipping my toes in the pool of electronic and hyper pop music and Malcriada is the perfect blend of these genres. 

Here’s a link to the KEXP performance if you’re curious: https://youtu.be/jnm2Lf1TiB4?si=rSvOhP7AVROWCAUV

concerts

Jonas Brothers: The Burnin’ Up Tour All Over Again

I once again found myself at TD Garden, I’ve become a frequent flyer here this year specifically. This is the 4th concert I’ve attended here this year.

I grew up loving the Jonas Brothers, me and my older sister were obsessed (my older sister was way more obsessed than me though…hehehe). So of course when I heard that JB was actually touring with the Burnin’ Up tour, I had to get tickets. My two little sisters and I ended up going and it happened to be the opening night of the tour, at TD Garden in Boston. 

The portion of the show where they perform the Burnin’ Up setlist was amazing and I wouldn’t have asked for anything different. Big Rob came out for Burnin’ Up and they brought out 2 of the OG band members, Garbo and John Taylor, to play Lovebug with them! From a really early Jonas fan, it was so special to see them come back. I admittedly teared up 3 or 4 times throughout this setlist. My sisters and I have watched the concert experience movie of this specific show more times than I can count. We never got to experience it in real life though, so seeing it finally in real life was really special and emotional because I have such vivid, and sentimental sister-related memories with these songs and just with the Jonas Brothers in general. It also fulfilled my childhood heart to hear songs from the first Camp Rock live. Especially Play my Music, that was one of many highlights of the night for me. 

The second portion of the show was a mix of their new music, and solo music. To be candid, I don’t quite keep up with the Jonas Brothers’ new music, it’s not really my cup of tea. Happiness Begins was the last album of theirs that I enjoyed, and it’s really only a handful of songs that I like. So, while the second half of the show was still fun and entertaining, I didn’t know some of the songs and they sound like very generic radio music to me. I loved hearing Cake by the Ocean and Jealous though!

Regardless, we had a wonderful, memorable night, we were just missing one sister that we all wish could’ve been there with us (she lives about 8 hrs. away). ❤

movies & tv

I didn’t do movies or TV last month cause I couldn’t remember for the life of me what I had watched in July and August. September was a great month for movies and TV for me. Of course, I had to start my Halloween movie watchlist, which was just posted on my socials if you’re interested.

posession (1983)

This movie has been on my watchlist for years now. This film was very unique and it really kind of felt like a whirlwind the entire time to be completely honest. It felt like I was following the plot at one point and then I got confused again and it really ebbed and flowed for me like that the entire movie. Basically, you’re watching a crumbling marriage and you, as the viewer, are lead to believe that the wife is currently having an affair until you find out what is really happening.

Go into this blind, cause it was not at all what I was expecting. I am giving this movie a 3/5 stars. I probably would’ve given it 2 if it weren’t for the scene of Anna in the tunnel, that was insane, and really her acting throughout the movie was great. I’m also very eager to see how the remake with Margaret Qualley will be as a certified Margaret Qualley stan. While I was watching this movie I could actually already picture her performance, I think she is the perfect casting for Anna. I am not the biggest fan of remakes or this current push in the film industry of making sequels of perfectly fine movies years later (@ Practical Magic 2, Hocus Pocus 2, etc.). But, with horror, I think that remakes tend to be okay at the very least. With updated technology and practical effects, a remake can bring an entire new life to a horror movie that has clearly outdated effects. It really all depends though.

red dragon (2002)

My family and I watched this on a Sunday morning. If you don’t know, this is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs. It follows a murderer who calls himself the “Red Dragon” based off of a William Blake painting called “The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun”.

This was a great movie and Ralph Fiennes plays the character a little too well…..he’s really great at playing a psycho/insane man. Like his character in The Menu (I still often think about his performance in that movie).

I’d recommend watching Silence of the Lambs first, not only because it’s a classic and a great movie, but I do think it helped a little to know the basic plot, characters, and Hannibal Lector’s persona, before watching this prequel. My dad kind of sold me and my mom on watching it when he told us the Red Dragon character ends up breaking into a museum to literally eat the William Blake painting. So there’s that, and hopefully I have now sold you on watching this movie. 

I give this movie 4/5 stars.

paranorman (2012)

We all love and adore Coraline, produced by Laika Studios, and if you’re a fan of Coraline and haven’t watched Paranorman, I HIGHLY recommend you do. Paranorman is also produced by Laika Studios, with it’s charming claymation characters and witty dialogue, it is the perfect family halloween movie. There’s something for the kids and for the parents. 

You follow Norman Babcock, a young boy who sees dead people, he finds out about a witch’s curse that his own uncle, who his entire family has shunned basically, has been keeping at bay for years on end. 

The story is set in a town in Massachusetts called Blithe Hollow, which is very obviously a take on Salem. Lots of jokes about tourists in this movie too, which I thought was really clever. This movie, like Coraline, has that whimsical ad strange animation style that Laika studios is known for. This will 100% be a rewatch for me every fall/halloween season from now on.

I gave this movie 4/5 stars.

IT: Welcome to derry (2025)

As a big horror lover, I’m surprised at myself for just now getting around to watching this series. I watched episode 1 the night it premiered and ended up watching the 2nd episode too. I just never went back to it for no particular reason. So, I continued my watch of this series this month and I’m so happy that I did as I ended up really enjoying it. 

I love The Shining and thought it was really cool that Dick Hallorann was in this series and played a key role. I know that Stephen King series are known for weaving in characters from the Stephen King universe but admittedly I haven’t watched a ton of Stephen King series. Another thing I really enjoyed was the backstory on Pennywise before he became known solely as Pennywise. The looks that they gave Pennywise in this series really wowed me. There is a part of the story that I won’t spoil but Pennywise is covered in blood from his mouth down to his toes and it looked so insanely cool. It breathed a new life into Pennywise for me, where I’m not super scared of him, this specific look mostly made me enjoy his character even more.

If you’re a fan of the IT story, horror, clowns, or Stephen King, I highly recommend giving this series a chance. It was really great acting and Bill Skarsgard coming back to replay his role of Pennywise alone is worth the watch. We love Bill. 

I give this series a 4/5 stars.

bOOKs

No books this month. 😦 

I am unfortunately in a reading slump. I am in the middle of Lasher (The Mayfair Witches Book #2) and also reading the first Dune novel. I have been reading a little bit of Dune before bed every night and I am enjoying it but I keep getting sleepy so I only get maybe 15-20 pages in. I’ve been in a reading mood lately, so I promise to have books for you next month.

If you don’t already follow me on my social media, I am very active on them! Here’s a link to them all plus my YouTube channel which I am hoping to revamp and really start posting there a lot more. I just got a new camera and it’s been really fun to use. 🙂

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kruxleescrafttable/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kruxlee

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kruxleescrafttable

As always with my monthly media dumps, here’s a link to my September playlist on Apple Music!: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/september-2026/pl.u-mJy8WARuDWY8RJ

Talk to you soon!

Love,

Kruxlee