2026 Best Albums So Far (Jan-June)

I try my best not to talk too much about the actual act of writing this blog and the intersections with my personal life and mental health because, well, (A) it’s not really fun to write about and, b (B) it really can’t be fun to read about in a space that’s meant for music recommendations. That said, an astute reader can certainly compare the last six months worth of writing here with any previous 6 month time period and see that I’ve slowed down significantly and I skipped doing a quarter one (and now) a quarter two round-up. Suffice it to say, I’ve been in a bit of a dark tunnel for a while and it’s been hard to motivate myself to write anything down. Fortunately, I haven’t reached any severe levels of music anhedonia yet, so, despite a few troughs, I’ve mostly been able to still engage with quite a few awesome new releases so far this year. I really, really, really want to get back in the habit of posting here but I don’t want to leave too much behind either. I feel kind of daunted to try to “catch up” from here, but sometimes, you just need to give yourself a goal and go for it. Plus, this can hopefully reset the template here and get back to the “post 3 to 4 times a week” schedule with single item posts in the 250-1000 word range with occasional longer form posts here and there and a quarterly round up. I can’t promise the quarterly this year, but I think I can at least plant a flag right here and run down all the new albums this year that have had an impact on me. I must confess, I feel kind of helpless (and still intimidated) at the amount of music and with my own self-doubt I can only summon a kind of resolve to just allow myself my worst writerly instincts and also let myself off the hook, length-wise.

So reader, if you’ll indulge me, this will be as fast and dirty a list as I can make it. I really want to just get this out there and move forward with a lot of good music to come (and a lot I’ve certainly missed). So, some of these might only be one word. Some will have prose as purple as a certain 90’s children’s TV dinosaur. Some will be the dreaded comparisons to and mashups between other bands and or/genres. Some will be the even more dreaded food similes. I’ll certainly mix up my similes with my metaphors, definitely end some phrases with a few propositions and possibly have more than one run-on sentence. Also, no particular order, just going down a big list I made (so, roughly, in some kind of order from the beginning of the year but, you know, mostly just in the order I added to the list). With all that out of the way. Here we go!

(Tidal Playlist here if you want to follow along and most links go to Bandcamp pages which allow free preview streams so it's easy to listen.)

I’m hiding the rest below the fold for easy scrolling, click here or “read as single post” to read more…

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore - Tragic Magic (Jan)

Two of our most incredible modern/ambient composers working together? It’s filled with as much hypnotically enchanting music as you could hope for. 

Recommended Track: “The Four Sleeping Princesses”  

Zu - Ferrum Sidereum (Jan)

Pummeling instrumental jazz-flected hard rock. It’s much more fun than that probably sounds but it will 100% knock your socks off.

Recommended Track: “Kether”

Imarhan - Essam (Jan)

Groovy Algerian desert rock that’s both timeless and catchy. 

Recommended Track: “Tellalt”

Wormy - Shark River (Jan)

Sincerely insincere bedroom indie-pop. Could have easily soundtracked a bunch of mumblecore movies from the late 2000’s (complimentary). 

Recommended Track: “I Am Here”

Marcel Sletten - Psycho Narcissus (Jan)

I wrote about it a bit more eloquently here, but suffice it to say that my description about this record existing somewhere between Sunn O)))’s bleak walls of noise and Fuck Button’s technicolor sonic exuberance still stands. 

Recommended Track: “Steps”

Ace of Spit - II (Jan)

Catchy, scuzzy garage rock that occasionally drifts into ecstatic synthwave krautrock.
Recommended Track: “Parts List”

Craven Faults - Sidings (Jan)

Moody, earthy, hypnotic modular synth work from one of the best in the game.

Recommended Track: “Far Closes”

PVA - No More Like This (Jan)

Groovy trip-hop with modern and retro touches, gritty where it needs to be and unexpectedly lush throughout.

Recommended Track: “Boyface”

Place Position - Went Silent (Jan)

I wrote more about this one here, but it’s just fantastically bare-bones (and bare-knuckled) rock with an airy production that makes for super compelling listening. 

Recommended Track: “Chaos Herder Pt. 2”

Lucha Luna - BRILLA BRILLA (Jan)

I also wrote about this one here. Reggaeton forward, genre-bending, heavy-hitting and without an ounce of fat.

Recommended Track: “Manzana Prohibida”

T. Gold - Live is a Wonder and It’s Cruel (Jan) 

Probably the best album title of the year so far, this one is packed with Americana-tinged breezy rockers with insightfully sharp lyrics. I wrote more here.

Recommended Track: “Getting to Know the End”

Geologist - Can I Get a Pack of Camel Lights (Jan)

I can’t help but quote myself on this one: “[it] locks into a loopy, psych-rock tinged kind of krautrock that seems beamed in from an adjacent universe where the hurdy-gurdy gained as much prominence as the electric guitar.” 

Recommended Track: “Sonora”

Rostro Del Sol - Universo 25 (Jan)

Gonzo, fuzzy, psych jazz rock. It’s awesome. 

Recommended Track: “Bicephalus”

jeune Oji - Clausura (Jan)

If you miss some of the open-hearted woozy pastoralism of early Bibio, then have I got a great listen for you!

Recommended Track: “the lighthouse.”

Daphni - Butterfly (Jan)

This Caribou sideproject, usually focused on more straightforwardly upbeat danceable tracks, never fails to disappoint with its technicolor aural acrobatics. 

Recommended Tracks: “Good Night Baby”

Yin Yin - Yatta! (Jan)

More great psychedelic grooves (with some occasional experimental legstretching) from Yin Yin that I wrote more about here. 

Recommended Track: “Golden Lion”

Lande Hekt - Lucky Now (Jan)

Sparkling jangle rock that’s often charmingly bittersweet. 

Recommend Track: “Lucky Now”

Gondwana - TAKOMA (Jan)

Blistering garage psych rock with feet firmly planted in Nonagon’s soil. 

Recommended Track: “Wha Ghena Ghenno”

Hemlocke Springs - the apple tree under the sea (Feb)

Indie pop’s best-kept secret, Hemlocke Springs is back with a stunning set of gothwave inflected tracks. 

Recommended Track: “sever the blight”

36 - Night Language (Feb)

As the title implies, this album is full of nocturnal neon vibes. The prolific 36 is one of the masters of this kind of “active ambient” that seems so simple if described but is entirely enthralling and unique when listened to. 

Recommended Track: “A Bright and Tranquil Light”

Nathan Fake - Evaporator (Feb)

Lush, hypnotic and kind of like staring at a flaring incandescent blub: it gets brighter and brighter before sparking into darkness. 

Recommended Track: “Slow Yamaha”

Tomu DJ - Extended Play (Feb)

Another album with a perfectly descriptive title. Lighthearted, bouncy, roiling bedroom-electronic tunes that are just plain fun!

Recommended Track: “Despondent Despot” 

Mitski - Nothing’s About to Happen to Me (Feb)

Mitski reigns in a bit of the explosive cathartic highs (and sometimes, correspondent lows) from the last few albums but to great effect. It’s intimate and easy-going, but in that nervy anxious way that only she can make sound so appealing. 

Recommended Track: “Instead of Here”

The Olympians - In Search of a Revival (Feb)

I wrote more here but suffice it to say that no album has as yet been so able to brighten my mood this year as this one. 

Recommended Track: “California”

Shane Parish - Autechre Guitar (Feb)

Probably the most formally meticulous albums on this list guitarist Shane Parish takes 10 tracks from English electronic duo Autechre’s massive (albeit all pre-’00 and mostly pre-’95 tracks) catalog and reinterprets them in a captivating and fairly radical reimagining. Small background synth lines, for example, in the original piece can sometimes arise as a singular picked line, throwing the song into a brand new focus. If you’re an Autechre head, like me, I can also recommend a great interview with Parish conducted by the hosts from Autechre-obsessed podcast Gonkcast, here. 

Recommend Track: “Bike”

Aleksi Perälä - Dream (Feb)

While many of Perälä’s truly prodigious output features beats, I always appreciate when he stretches into more ambient territory. And with Dream he’s given us maybe his warmest and most vulnerable project yet.

Recommended Track: “FI3AC2613607”

James Blake - Trying Times (March)

If not a return to the highs of his still-peak debut self-titled, James Blake’s latest is definitely his best longform project, front-to-back, in years. There’s a startling self-critical sincerity here, as if he decided to take the vibe and theme from “Say What You Will,” the standout track from 2021’s otherwise disappointing Friends That Break Your Heart, and blows it up to an entire album. It’s maybe not something you put on repeat (unless you’re in that mood, you know the one), but each listen is memorable. 

Recommended Track: “Trying Times”

Avalon Emerson & The Charm - Written into Changes (March)

Sparkling 80’s-inflected indie pop with catchy melodies, singable choruses and just enough surprising production touches (that little synth solo in “Country Mouse”!) to keep things interesting.

Recommended Track: “Jupiter and Mars” 

The Doomed Bird of Providence - Meteoric Heralds of Danger (March)

Instrumental, occasionally psychedelic, dark Australian folk that takes inspiration from 1800’s sea stories. 

Recommended Track: “ A Long Low Line on the Distant Horizon”

Drum & Lace - Terra (March)

Some good old-fashioned IDM that would have fit right in alongside early Clark efforts on Warp, they somehow also managed to choose a name that perfectly fits their sound. 

Recommended Track: “Terra (Right Here Do This)”

Giant Claw & Galen Tipton - Mobile Suite Gym Rat (March)

Probably my early pick for album of the year so far, this project from Giant Claw & Galen Tipton is kind of the definition of mind-melting. Maybe this particular vibe is familiar to fans of the Death’s Dynamic Cloud “cinematic universe,” but to me, this combination of hyperpop, experimental noise, retro synths and, to quote their own Bandcamp tag, “jock jams,” has been absolutely exhilarating. The mashup of so many off-kilter subwoofer crunching beats, stratosphere-scratching synths, hauntingly familiar yet bitcrushed vocal samples, and an absolute commitment to forward motion always leaves my ear-drums scorched, my body bruised and my heartrate sky-high. And I can’t wait to listen again. 

Recommended Track: “Gungan Motion”

Xylitol - Blumenfantasie (March)

Deliciously hypnotic classic bedroom electronic music. This is the kind of stuff you’d pick up on a whim in the “techno” section of a 2000’s era Sam Goodie and become obsessed with.

Recommended Track: “Melancholia”

Sunn O))) - Sunn O))) (April)

Over on Bluesky I made what I thought was a great joke about Sunn O)))’s new “angular guitars” now that they’ve joined Sub Pop. No one laughed. Anyway, this self-titled 10th album from the black metal gods is as approachable an entry point into their singular oeuvre of gigantically hypnotic downtuned guitar noise. 

Recommended Track: “Glory Black”

Bon Iver - Volumes: One (April)

I’m a sucker for a good live recording and, in the first of what looks like will be an ongoing project, indie stalwarts Bon Iver treat us to some truly lightning-in-a-bottle live moments. 

Recommend Track: “WE”

Angine de Poitrine - Vol. II (April)

Look, I got as obsessed with that viral KEXP video as everyone else. And for good reason. Despite the gimmicks, (and maybe because of them) this stuff just fucking rips. Front to back this loop-gutiar and drum microtonal duo earn their name. In English, more or less, it means “heart pains.” Wait for that unbelievable nu-metal bounce that kicks in during the last third of “Yor Zarad,” you’ll be converted too. 

Recommended Track: “Sarniezz” 

Fur Trader - Amen, Pioneer (April)

If these guys didn’t mean to evoke those bearded americana rockers Blitzen Trapper (whose 2008 Furr remains the highpoint of this style of music and the closest touchstone to our album at hand), then I’ll eat my hat. Opening track sets the stage for a great set of rollicking, yet somehow still wooden front porch bound tunes.

Recommend Track: “Amen Pioneer (Or Hard Livin’ in the age of Aquarius)” 

WU LYF - A Wave That Will Never Break (April)

You can only find it via Bandcamp or their website but those iconic indie rockers from the early 2010’s are back with a fantastic set of new heartbreaking tracks. 

Recommended Track: “Love Your Fate”

CAVS - Sojourn (April)

Just immaculately accomplished, lounge-inflected, groovy instrumentals from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s true ironman of a drummer, Michael Cavanaugh. 

Recommend Track: “Candiru” 

City of the Sun - Under the Moon (April)

Equal parts Explosions in the Sky style post-rock and Khruangbin's dusty psychedelic rockers, this project from City of the Sun hits unexpectedly hard and showcases some really impressive musicianship. 

Recommend Track: “Cinderella Man”

The Lives of Famous Men - End Times Elevator Music (April)

Just some great emo-tinged indie rock as if nothing changed after 2015 (sigh). 

Recommended Track: “Lost In the Branches”

KNEECAP - FENIAN (May)

Tiocfaidh ár lá! Irish iconoclast rappers Kneecap are back! And to, once again, quote my own Bluesky from back when they first dropped the album: “Fucking hell the new Kneecap record slaps! Every track is a banger and the production is top notch. I think Fine Art had maybe a 30/70 split on political themes vs. partying/drugs/gangster shit. FENIAN inverses that ratio and it makes for an ever stronger project.”

Recommended Track: “Carnival”

Grave Ives - Girlfriend (May)

Can you base an entire album recommendation on a single moment from one song buried three-deep in the tracklist? I guess since this is my list the answer is yes, so, for your consideration: from about 1:44 to 1:52 in the song “Fire 2.” It’s partly the key change and partly the way the beat kicks back in after those underwater synths solo for a minute, but it’s mostly the way she sings “Well honey, I…got…that…one…wrong…now didn’t I?” that activates all those nerve receptors those ASMR people always go on about.

Recommended Track: “Fire 2” (of course)

Speedy J - Walkman (May)

A truly massive slab of a full range of masterful electro that jumps from IDM to D&B to ambient to dub and all points in between. 

Recommended Track: “303 Template Refract”

Boards of Canada - Inferno (May)

A staggering achievement and worth every minute of the long 13 year wait since 2013’s Tomorrow’s Harvest. Inferno is somehow both retro and incredibly forward thinking, something of a BOC speciality, really. There so so much so say about this record, but, really, your time is better spent just sinking into this world. 

Recommended Track: “Father and Son”

Kim Petras - Detour (May)

Perfect hyperop that’s sunny, sexy and crystalline, like a diamond frozen in glacial ice inside a 24-hour neon-lit retro video game themed disco. 

Recommended Track: “I Like Ur Look”  

KÁRYYN - PHYSICS UNIVERSAL LOVE LANGUAGE (PULL) (May)

This music seems so easy to describe when you’re listening to it but when trying to actually articulate the sound in writing it’s extremely challenging. It’s pop, yes, but also darkwave-coded electronic, but it also has huge bangers, but it also has diva moments, but it also has it’s extremely out-there experimental moments too. It’s…just awesome, allright? Give it a listen. 

Recommended Track: “FWD”

Khun Narin - III (May)

A long running, freeform psychedelic rock collective hailing from Thailand, Khun Narin’s III is a warm and buttery set of hypnotic tunes.

Recommended Track: “Siang Ta Noi”

Elder - Through Zero (May)

Do you dig quite a bit of Blood Incantation’s work (the heavy stuff, yes, but the super astral spacey stuff especially) but have to draw the line at the black metal screams? Then have I got the album for you! I don’t mean to be as reductive as that since Elder’s new album, Through Zero, is entirely its own creative beast; but that should at least get you in the headspace. Not afraid to get too heavy nor too atmospherically stoner-rocky, the entire record is a blast from start to finish.

Recommended Track: “Capture/Release”

Poliça - Better Live (June)

A new project from Poliça is always welcome but this project in particular is quite the delightful surprise. Made under a tight timeframe during a brief residency, Better Live is part live album, part high-pressure musical performance art and the results are electrifying. 

Recommended Track: “Sticks and Stones”

Rone - Megaptera (OST) (June)

A soundtrack to a French documentary about a DJ making music with a humpback whale (titled, appropriately enough, The Musician and the Whale) and while that sounds corny as hell, the results are delicately, startlingly beautiful. 

Recommended Track: “Breach”

M. Geddes Gengras - Guest List (June)

Active ambient wunderkind M. Geddes Gengras makes his most expansive album yet by way of an incredibly atypical collaboration process. Allowing a huge cast of musicians to tackle his usually synth-based compositions, the results are lush, beautiful and, ultimately, comforting.