Best Ever Albums

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Sat, 6 Jun 2026 00:23:23 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/06/2026 04:23

Two surprise drops today in rock 'n' pop land — there's apparently a new album of children's music by Laura Marling called Laura Sings Raffi, and sure enough all the songs are Raffi covers. So I guess it's more of a "tribute album," actually. She has a nice voice. There, I said it.

There's also a new Osees album called Off Course, their 30th (I think), which is pretty good, I guess... their fans should like it well enough, though the cover art isn't great, and music-wise I don't think it's going to win them a lot of new ones. (Fans, that is.) I could be wrong! 🤔

Another one that might be worth a mention, which will be coming out tomorrow (June 6), is the new LP by Daily Worker called Sound Sickness. "Daily Worker" is the nom de plume of Harold "Whit" Williams, who used to play guitar in Cotton Mather, another one of my favorite power-pop bands from the 90s. There's only one preview track at the moment ("Anymore"), and it sounds like his usual Beatlesque bedroom pop, but that's not a bad thing and hopefully more will be available in the next hour or three, at which point I can confirm that it is, in fact, worth a mention. Even though I've just mentioned it already.

As for the previously-mentioned stuff, having now heard both albums in full I stand by my ranking of Deaf Star's Sunset Overdrive over the Overpass album — though some people might think I've passed over the Overpass album just because I like overdrive. It's true that I have an overdrive pedal (though I've been using the fuzzbox more lately), but at least I didn't pass over it during Passover, which was back in early April. I went ahead and added the Overpass album to my fully-annotated 2026 BEA year chart!!!, because it really does sound quite "epic," even though it's mostly just for Coldplay and U2 fans who are used to that sort of thing by now. Also, when I listened to it on Amazon Music a little while ago, the AI in charge of keeping me "engaged" started autoplaying The 1975 when it ended, and I could barely tell the difference with them, either.

Overpass
Elsewhere, Always (2026)

Finally, I liked the new Widowspeak album, Roses, more than I thought I would. I've sort of dismissed them in the past because they've consistently tagged themselves as "shoegaze" and "dreampop" when they're really not, they're more like heavily-reverberated Americana, sort of like what Mazzy Star and Cat Power used to do. Also, their guitar player is a little sloppy, which may be intentional, but I personally find it a bit distracting, and occasionally even grating. Nevertheless, it's a good record as it turns out, and I should have mentioned it up above. Another one, actually, is the self-titled debut LP by Bad Stuff, a band from Dallas who used to be members of True Widow, not to be confused with Widowspeak who are (or were), like, almost exactly the same despite being a totally different band who also have the word "widow" in their name. I would describe Bad Stuff as "electrogothabilly," so it's not really in my so-called wheelhouse, but it's good for what it is.

Good luck and happy listening, bruthas and sistas! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 23:47:22 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/05/2026 03:47

Repo already mentioned two of the four big pop/rock releases this week — the other two are the new Modest Mouse LP, An Eraser And A Maze, which (based on the three preview tracks) sounds like Isaac Brock and the gang have put a fair amount of effort into it but aren't trying to change their formula all that much (which is probably good); and as Cheddar mentioned just now, the new Evanescence album, Sanctuary, which isn't bad either, at least if you like goth-metal. After all, they're probably the best goth-metal act operating today, not that I would really know... 🤔

In addition to those, there's supposedly a new one from (The) Dwarves called Jenkem, though I haven't seen it anywhere but on their own website, and another entry in the "Year Of..." series from Fucked Up entitled Grass Can Move Stones Part 2: Year of the Monkey. FU has certainly come a long way stylistically over the years, but they're still reasonably thrashy, despite each track being about 25 minutes long. And it's true, grass can move stones, it just takes a while.

In the "TV and movie stars who make records" department, there's new smoky-lounge material from Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra (Still Blooming: Night Blooms), not to be confused with Jeff Goldblum Near Death Experience who are considerably more... experimental (and free to download on Bandcamp, I might add). There's also an overly-dramatic (but somehow still sort-of interesting) blue-eyed soul/pop LP from Damian Lewis called Sweet Chaos. Ooh, hold me back!

Just as an aside, don't confuse Norwegian 70s-influenced indie-popsters Goofy Geese with the less-goofy US-based Geese, as I suspect they might like you to do. Goofy Geese have a new album out called I Don’t Feel Like Speaking Now, which I'm only mentioning because I think I might just like it more than the last Geese album that everyone else really liked a LOT.

Two more that were released earlier in the week but I felt deserve a mention:

Clockwork Animals: Fantastic Future Dream
This is a lo-fi guitar-based male-female duo from Liverpool who do shoegaze psychedelia. It's a 5-song debut EP, and I'm not sold on the vocals, but aside from that, probably worth keeping an eye on. (If you're me, at least.)

The Dreamtoday: We Won't Survive the Comet
I've checked out this band before and wasn't super-impressed (there's no Discogs page!), but they've improved their sound and their songwriting quite a lot since they started. They're a classic-shoegaze outfit from Massachussetts, whose defining aspect seems to be the visual of their one female member, Violet Nowak, who (pardon my obvious sexism here) can't even be called a "tambourine girl" because she doesn't play a tambourine — she mostly sings backup vocals while wearing a white dress, and is also the focal point of their music videos (again, always in the white dress). Don't misunderstand, I'm OK with the white dress; I just wish these guys would find someone who could take over the lead vocals on all their material while wearing it. The guy who sings most of their songs now, Nicky Russo, is... just okay. A better singer could really put this band in the stratosphere, or at least somewhere higher than they are now.

That leaves just two albums: First, this weeks' runner-up, Elsewhere, Always by a new band from Birmingham (UK, not Alabama) called Overpass. This appears to be a fairly high-energy Britrock band who sound like they're straight out of the 90s, reminiscent of first-name bands of that era like Travis, James, Keane, Gene, Ash, and possibly Moose (though "Moose" is more of a nickname, really). Or even Muse, who are like Moose but not spelled phonetically. So why call themselves "Overpass"? I suspect this will be their Achilles' heel. Even "Achilles" would have been a better name, if you ask me. Still, the album sounds like it could have hit potential, but maybe I'm just saying that because I was alive in the 90s and was quite fond of bands like this at the time.

And my pick-of-the-week:

Deaf Star
Sunset Overdrive (2026)

This is the debut LP by Deaf Star, an electrogaze solo act from... I'm not totally certain, actually! The guy's name is Ivan Zoloto, born in Petrozavodsk, Karelia (which is in Russia, about 100km from their border with Finland — not far from where the Russians keep most of their nuclear weapons, at least according to Google Earth). At some point he moved to San Francisco and recorded this album, but since then he's moved to Barcelona, and frankly I don't blame him. Electrogazers aren't really welcome in Russia or San Francisco these days because none of them seem to have much hair, whereas Barcelona is a really nice town, with fantastic cuisine and top-notch soccer teams on both the men's and women's sides. Albummaster is from Spain so I'll let him decide where to put him, but anyway, this album is a real mind-blowing experience — which is pretty impressive for a first try! Most people probably won't like it, and I didn't even want to like it myself, but I can't help but be impressed with what he's doing here. It's noisy, experimental, kinda avant-garde... but still shoegazey at heart. And that's what really matters!

Anyway, next week there's the big new LP from Joan as Police Woman, Real Life Evolution, and a new album from Yes called Aurora. (Apparently Steve Howe is still involved, so they haven't gone completely "generational"... yet. Steve's definitely showing his age a little bit though.)

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Cheddar — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 22:08:14 GMT

Author: Cheddar

Posted: 06/05/2026 02:08

The new Evanescence and Vince Staples albums both have my attention.

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 21:50:57 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/05/2026 01:50

Hayden wrote:

Paradise Metal (2026) by Π. Διον�...́σιος Ταμπάκης [P. Dionysios Tampakis]

Came out a few weeks ago now. Unlike anything else, swear—

I'd be curious as to what his pedalboard/amp setup is (it doesn't sound like he's got anything fancy), but that's a Cort KX707 EverTune 7-string guitar he's playing, or at least that's what's in all the photos. (I've always wanted a 7-string myself, actually.) The album's Bandcamp page is here, but I wouldn't call this "metal," or even "Byzantine" necessarily — it's basically Pontic Greek-Orthodox liturgical pieces and folk chants played on a $1,400 electric guitar instead of the usual bouzouki. Which is totally cool, don't get me wrong, but they don't even turn on the drum machine until track 7, and by track 9 the guitar is practically gone completely. Still, I kinda like it! This is a good way to bring "early music" to modern audiences (Tanya Donelly & Chris Brokaw did something similar with their The Undone is Done Again EP that was mentioned here back on April 18, only they used a digital-delay instead of a distortion pedal). I guess what it really needs is a Rick Rubin or Bob Rock behind the desk to put it over the top, metal-wise.

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Hayden — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 18:38:18 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 06/04/2026 22:38

MadhattanJack wrote:

Paul McCartney (the real one), The Boys of Dungeon Lane
People in the music media (or what's left of it) are already saying this is his best album in years, at least as good as (if not better than) Chaos And Creation in the Backyard, Flaming Pie, or Flowers in the Dirt, and so on. Personally, I agree.

I haven't listened to a new McCartney album in... well, decades— but I'm going to give this one a go, I'm finding it more intriguing than usual—

As for today? Can't say I have to much to offer. My chart hasn't actually moved too much for almost an entire month now. BUT. You gotta check this out—

Paradise Metal (2026) by Π. Διον�...́σιος Ταμπάκης [P. Dionysios Tampakis]

Came out a few weeks ago now. Unlike anything else, swear—

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Thu, 4 Jun 2026 15:40:41 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 06/04/2026 19:40

RELEASE DAY EVE: June 5th, 2026.

The Daddy-Daughter Dance! �'�🕺

I Built You A Tower (2026) by Death Cab For Cutie

vs.

Aethermead (2026) by of Montreal

As a Dad of TWO daughters, it's vitally important to NEVER play favorites. Everything needs to be carefully balanced and proportioned. Or, they will be sure to remind you of the accounting. And trust me, they never forget!

My oldest, Tilly, loves Of Montreal! My youngest, Genni, loves Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service! Both of whom have new albums dropping tomorrow. So obviously I'm looking forward to both of these releases equally! 😇 😈

What June 5th, 2026 release(s) do YOU have your ears & heart set on when midnight strikes?! 🔭�'�

Bonus: Can anyone guess what their favorite colors are?! 🎨 �...

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Sat, 30 May 2026 03:04:39 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/30/2026 07:04

The rest of 'em:

Francis of Delirium, Run, Run Pure Beauty
This is what I would call a "grungegaze angelic" act, with awesome (not sexy or especially emotive, but definitely awesome) vocals by Jana Bahrich, who has lived in Luxembourg since she was 13. (Her parents were Canadian.) She's also now a solo act — Chris Hewett, originally from Seattle, is still the producer (and plays drums for the studio recordings) but is no longer an "official" band member. I can find little or nothing to criticize about this album musically; it really is fantastic in practically every respect, and frankly better than all but maybe one Weyes Blood album as well (that's who she's been most commonly compared with). All of the record's problems are extrinsic, specifically an inappropriate band name, terrible cover art, and in this case even a not-so-good album title (her 2024 debut LP's title, "Lighthouse," wasn't great either but at least it didn't sound pretentious). These are first-impression turnoffs, but hopefully not crippling ones. A record like this deserves to be huge, and she's developed enough of a following (at least in Europe) for it to not be ignored, but she'll still have to improve on the packaging to get to the next level.

Paul McCartney (the real one), The Boys of Dungeon Lane
People in the music media (or what's left of it) are already saying this is his best album in years, at least as good as (if not better than) Chaos And Creation in the Backyard, Flaming Pie, or Flowers in the Dirt, and so on. Personally, I agree.

Violet Grohl, Be Sweet To Me
I didn't know that Dave Grohl has four daughters. (Apparently one of them was "born outside of the marriage," so I'll just skip the details on that.) Violet here is the eldest, so this debut LP of hers could just be the start of an ongoing avalanche of Grohl-offspring material. Hopefully it will all sound like this too, because it's a very well-made record and she has a great voice (though I personally think it can sound uncomfortably similar to Courtney Love's, at least on some tracks). The songs are... good, none of the tracks are distinctly bad, and one or two are great, and (if you ask me) as good as anything the Foo Fighters have recorded. I was particularly impressed with how well she handles the quieter passages in tracks like "Mobile Star," the pre-release single "Applefish," and the closer (my personal favorite), "Plastic Couch." I guess Dave will now have to "up his game" in the face of new-generational female competition. Sucks to be him, eh.

Guided By Voices, Crawlspace of the Pantheon
Every once in a while, I'll listen to the latest GbV album (there have been more than 40 of them at this point) just to see if I like it as much as their mid-90s stuff, and my reaction is almost always the same: "Pretty good, actually!" and then I never listen to the album again. I know there are lots of people who are lifetime fans of this band and I salute them for their loyalty and perseverance, as these guys are practically the definition of "indie" and the refusal to sell out... but I've just never gotten into them. (Bandcamp has a nice rundown of their discography, if you haven't seen it yet.) Fans should like this LP, as it's one of their better recent ones (that I've heard). It actually gets more interesting in the middle — there's a really cool short track called "A Grand Ceremonial Jester," which is followed by a song whose title is a Lovecraft reference ("Dagon's Plunger"), so I had to mention that in case anybody thought I hadn't noticed. (Also, I've actually visited the Pantheon, and it has a full basement.)

And three more:

Wynona Bleach, Animal Style
This is a female-fronted shoegaze-pop-punk band from Belfast, so in some weeks this would be my pick-of-the-week without my even having to think about it. But there are clunkers here, like "Not Cool With It" and "Scrab," and also the Bandcamp page says it "features...songs about cats," but that page contains all the lyrics too and none of them are about cats. For their last album, Moonsoake, I commented that they sounded like what a Taylor Swift or Katy Perry pop-punk album might sound like, but this one is noisier and a bit nastier, too. They kind of remind me of The Primitives this time, but much more aggressive. Or, maybe this is what No Doubt would have sounded like if they hadn't become huge rock stars and had kept making punk records. (The album-closer, "One in a Million," sounds more like a would-be Taylor Swift pop-punk track in case you just want to skip to that.)

One the Juggler, Imperial Way
These guys made an almost-great album in 1984 (Nearly a Sin) that nobody bought (except me), a not-so-great one in 1985 (Some Strange Fashion) that wasn't released in the US at all, and since then they've made three more LPs (not including this one) that nobody even noticed (including me). I don't think anyone is going to notice this one either. I wouldn't have noticed it myself if I hadn't been contributing to this thread. The thing is, they write good songs, but the vocals just aren't up to snuff — it sounds like the singer, Sham Morris, is trying to do an early-70s David Bowie impression, or maybe an Ian Hunter impression... which would be great if he did it right, and if the producers recorded it right, but he doesn't, and they don't. He was better at it during the 80s, so I guess it's an age thing. I feel bad writing this, but it's the defining aspect of this band so I can't just ignore it.

Walras, Future Is Near
Here's an interesting one — a solo act (i.e., a guy named Denys) from Ukraine who does 80s-style AOR retro-synthwave music. It's not entirely electronic (there are occasional guitars being played), but with the exception of the leadoff title track, it's all instrumentals. So if you're having an 80's-themed dance party, just put this on, turn it up and you're all set! And be sure to buy the download, because the folks in Ukraine need (and deserve!) the money, dammit.

Next week, it's Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, and Of Montreal, among others. It's like an Oughties' smorgasbord! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Fri, 29 May 2026 04:08:12 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 05/29/2026 08:08

MadhattanJack wrote:

I never really tagged the Posies as a power-pop band, actually — many will disagree, but I saw them more as a 90s "indie rock" band with catchier songs than most. (They also spoiled their discography a bit with the ironically-titled Success album, and then the three later (post-2000) albums they did which were... just okay, really. I have the first two of those, but I don't listen to 'em.) Big Star were the most influential and are certainly "in the conversation," greatest-wise, but I always thought the dBs were a bit overrated, to be honest. I did like them, but not enough to buy any of their records.

The only other American power-pop acts I would put on the same level as Splitsville would be someone like Jason Falkner (who was also in Jellyfish, The Grays, and the Three O'Clock) and maybe The Shoes. (And were Sugar a power-pop band? if so, then them too, though I always considered them more punk-ish.)

Hmmm... Interesting takes! Don't know The Grays so will have to check them out!

And yeah, Sugar were a bit too punkish despite the hooks to really be considered Power Pop.

Now I might have to go on a Power Pop tear! �...

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Fri, 29 May 2026 03:53:52 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/29/2026 07:53

Repo wrote:

So just the Posies. And Big Star! And the dBs!

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Fri, 29 May 2026 02:56:56 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 05/29/2026 06:56

MadhattanJack wrote:

Never mind all that though — it turns out the album I'm most keen on this week is from the not-quite-but-almost-geriatric set: It's the new comeback LP after 30 years by The Greenberry Woods, It's All Good, Sugar...

The Greenberry Woods
It's All Good, Sugar... (2026)

I don't love the album cover, but putting that aside for the moment, The Greenberry Woods were the early-90s American power-pop band started by Brandt and Matt Huseman, from Baltimore. (Where else?) They split up in 1995 after two albums, after which Brandt and Matt formed Splitsville, which I consider to be the quintessential greatest American power-pop band, like, of all time. They managed to get Splitsville back together for a reunion album last year called Mobtown, which was fantastic, but this album, released on the same label, might actually be better. (That's just a first impression, I'll have to listen to them both a couple more times and do an A/B comparison.)

Not a single track over 4 minutes, I might add! Honestly, these guys sound just as good as they did in the 90s, and I guess they've been saving up tunes for this because many of them are great, especially "The One That Makes You Happy" (track 9), which just happens to be the one that makes me happy, too.

Wow! That's high praise! Like better than Teenage Fanclub? And The Posies? And Sloan? All of whom I LOVE! If so, they go to the front of my queue immediately starting when I wake up the morning. (Right now I'm sorta sleeping! lol.)

edit: Oh! American! I told u I was still sleeping! lol. So just the Posies. And Big Star! And the dBs!

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Fri, 29 May 2026 02:33:30 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/29/2026 06:33

I'm really sorry folks, I got held up on a personal matter and now it's already the 29th. And I rather wastefully spent an hour last night on a comment describing the differences between the original version of Car Seat Headrest's Teens of Denial and the new version, subtitled Joe's Story. (TL/DR version: I shouldn't have bothered. Why did I do that? No idea.) So half the albums on my list are already fully-streamable now on Bandcamp... I've got 8 albums listed, and I haven't even started formatting them, so I guess the best thing to do is to post the ol' pick-of-the-week now and see how far I get on the others over the next couple of hours — they might have to wait until tomorrow, actually.

I'd never heard of Feeble Little Horse (the album is called bitknot) — it's fine, really, but it was released on Tuesday. Earlier I mentioned the new Teary mini-album, Your Way In, but somehow that got mixed up on the Tinnitist list and it isn't being released on the 29th after all — the Bandcamp page is saying it was released all the way back on May 1st, and I just never bothered to check back on it until yesterday. I guess they wanted to get theirs in between the Bleary and Deary albums, not bring up the rear (I'd actually thought shoegaze-pop bands were better than most at coordinating these things). It's a fine little record, but it's not quite as good as I thought it would be. Also, and I'm not sure I should mention this, but their lead singer is a guy. You'd never know it just to hear him, but I guess he's one of those alto-voice fellas, he has a beard and everything. So at least that distinguishes Teary from Bleary and Deary (both of whom have female lead singers). For some odd reason I'm vaguely disappointed by this.

Never mind all that though — it turns out the album I'm most keen on this week is from the not-quite-but-almost-geriatric set: It's the new comeback LP after 30 years by The Greenberry Woods, It's All Good, Sugar...

The Greenberry Woods
It's All Good, Sugar... (2026)

I don't love the album cover, but putting that aside for the moment, The Greenberry Woods were the early-90s American power-pop band started by Brandt and Matt Huseman, from Baltimore. (Where else?) They split up in 1995 after two albums, after which Brandt and Matt formed Splitsville, which I consider to be the quintessential greatest American power-pop band, like, of all time. They managed to get Splitsville back together for a reunion album last year called Mobtown, which was fantastic, but this album, released on the same label, might actually be better. (That's just a first impression, I'll have to listen to them both a couple more times and do an A/B comparison.)

Not a single track over 4 minutes, I might add! Honestly, these guys sound just as good as they did in the 90s, and I guess they've been saving up tunes for this because many of them are great, especially "The One That Makes You Happy" (track 9), which just happens to be the one that makes me happy, too.

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:13:41 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 05/29/2026 00:13

RELEASE DAY EVE: May 29th, 2026.

Choices! Choices! Choices! 🫠 🫠 🫠

Inferno (2026) by Boards Of Canada

Honestly, tomorrow is just positively STACKED with stuff I want to check out. Kurt Vile! Iceage! Turnover! Greg Mendez! And even a band that I think is just slightly adjacent to MJ-core - Feeble Little Horse! But the impending release that has me positively wobbly-kneed is Board of Canada's Inferno. They've only teased one track so far -"Prophecy at 1420 MHz", but it SLAYS and has me SLAVERING for more. 🫠

What May 29th, 2026 release(s) do YOU have your ears & heart set on when midnight strikes?! 🔭�'�

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Thu, 21 May 2026 22:43:10 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/22/2026 02:43

I'm listening to the new Bleachers album right now — I think they made the whole thing streamable on Bandcamp a little early, actually. It's pretty good! They remind me of somebody from the 70s... maybe everybody from the 70s... 🤔

Putting all that aside though, I'm afraid this is another one of those weeks where nothing is super-exciting, and the only big-name release is obviously the new Bill Kirchen LP, Cat Out Of The Bag (Amazon link, sorry). He is, as you know, the Titan of the Telecaster. So assuming you've already pre-ordered that, and the Bleachers LP, and maybe the new LP from Bill Orcutt and Mabe Fratti (Almost Waking) that I have to mention just to maintain my "hipster cred," it's hard to decide on just one record from what's left.

But it's really down to four of them, and if I'm being completely honest, the Ed O'Brien album really is the obvious choice for pick-of-the-week even though it probably should have been a 4-song EP instead. (Also, with names like "Ed O'Brien," "Bill Kirchen," and "Bill Orcutt," these guys could easily be in the same bowling league.)

Ed O'Brien
Blue Morpho (2026)

The first four songs on Blue Morpho are, to my ears, the best and most Radiohead-like thing to come out of the Radiohead collective/diaspora since... the last Radiohead album (that would be 2016's A Moon Shaped Pool). Maybe even since In Rainbows. I even like his singing voice better! The problem is that the last three songs are filler — "Solfeggio" and "Thin Places" are just relaxing ambient-electronica, and "Obrigado" starts out as a world-music-style hypno-jam that kind of stops in the middle and lapses into more ambient electronica before ending as a Pink Floyd pastiche. A lot of people will say, "Wait, what? Pink Floyd pastiche? That sounds great!" and maybe it does, and is, but to me it just sounds a little tacked-on. So while it's still the obvious choice, it's really more like the "Captain Obvious choice," if ya know what I'm sayin'. (Hopefully you don't.)

Sungaze, I'm No Longer Afraid of Heights
Don't be confused by the name — there are about 5 bands called "Sungazer," and 2 or 3 more called "The Sungazers," but this is the only one just called "Sungaze," and they're better than all the rest combined if you ask me. They're a shoegaze act from Cincinnati with a female singer, this is their fourth album, and they sound awesome. Their previous LPs had a Southwestern-Americana sort of vibe to them, which they seem to have toned down this time around. To me, that's a good thing, but YMMV.

My Precious Bunny, A Moment in My Eyes
Now, when I say that My Precious Bunny is Lily Wolter, the singer for Brighton's Penelope Isles, I'm not actually suggesting that Ms. Wolter is a rabbit or that she's precious to me personally. I'm just doing the best I can with the limited language skills I have. Regardless, this is a very good melodic-pop, and occasionally dreampop, record with some fine vocal arranging going on. (Just FYI, she also recorded an EP about 12 years ago under the name KookieLou, and appeared on Bella Union's Lost Horizons In Quiet Moments project album, so presumably everyone has heard of her and you don't need me to tell you how wonderfully talented she is.)

Annie Taylor, Out of Scale
This is a kind of garagey-sounding heavy psych-rock quartet from Zurich who have yet another talented female singer, but her name isn't "Annie Taylor," it's "Gini Jungi." Nobody in the band is named "Annie" or "Taylor." But now that's out of the way, they do have a certain... something. They're not punky enough to be called "punk," nor shoegazey enough to be called "shoegaze," and I wouldn't call them "hard rock" or "grunge" or "post-punk" either, though they're "adjacent" to all those genres... basically, they just rock out. If you're looking for bangers, then of the four LPs I've mentioned here, this is the one you'll probably want to check out. (Or, you could just check out the metal.)

There are at least a dozen other fine (or fine-ish) albums coming out tomorrow that didn't make my personal cut here, so maybe I'll post those later. Next week looks to be a lot bigger, with Paul McCartney, Guided By Voices, Wynona Bleach, the Greenberry Woods, Boards of Canada, and even Kurt Vile all releasing new albums, among many others, most of which I'll probably ignore in favor of the new Teary LP. 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:28:06 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 05/22/2026 00:28

RELEASE DAY EVE: May 22nd, 2026.

Pop Positive! 🌈🦄

Everyone For Ten Minutes (2026) by Bleachers

I don't know about you, BUT I could use a bit more sunshine rn. And I don't mean literal sunshine. Luckily, just in time for the beach season, Bleachers is back with what I'm hearing is his best stuff since his amazing debut Strange Desire. I've been listening to four of his latest tracks on repeat for the past couple of days, and I'm happy to report that all signs are positive without a cloud in sight. Sometimes, despite my punk & metal upbringing, I just need some rainbows and unicorns, if you know what I mean.

What May 22nd, 2026 release(s) do YOU have your ears & heart set on when midnight strikes?! 🔭�'�

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Sat, 16 May 2026 01:47:36 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/16/2026 05:47

Hayden wrote:

I, personally, am looking forward to listening to all this new Drake music. I'm glad Drake has overcome his biggest flaw, finally realizing music is not about quality over quantity, but about releasing absolutely whatever in such a large mass amount that nobody wants to bother listening to any of it to pan out the okayish stuff... wait, what, where is this going—

Obviously that was the big news today, Drake's two-thirds-surprise "triple drop," where we were all expecting just the one album but got three — prompting folks in the media to speculate as to who asked for this much Drake? The implication seems to be that three albums in one day is excessive, but I agree with you, and personally I think it's very considerate of him since it allows cost-conscious music buyers to choose the album that best matches the decor of their garage or utility closet.

I think I like the black one with the OK sign the best! It matches my tires.

Anyway, on to the Honorable Mentions:

For Breakfast, Longer Than Spring: This is an art-rock band from London who have been around for about 8 years, but haven't managed to put out a full-length LP until now. Their music is basically dreamy chamber-pop with occasional crescendoes, while the singer, Maya Harrison, sings nearly every line like she's riding an emotional rollercoaster with no safety bar. She reminds me of Toyah a little bit, actually. I guess the word is "melodramatic" (they call it "yearncore"), but if you like melodramatic pop records, this one is very well put-together.
Maia and the Squires, Sinking Into the Ocean: I think I prefer this spelling over "Maya," but regardless, this is more of a darkgaze act with psychedelic overtones (but also "yearncore" too, because of the way Maia emotes). They're from Berlin, and this is their 5-track debut EP — a good effort, I like it, but the production is a bit off. (Also, the cover art isn't great.)
Dead Pony, Eat My Dust!: They're calling this an EP (six tracks), which would make it their third (they did make a full-length LP called Ignore This in 2024). It's not quite straight-up emo, so I guess I would call them "pop-punk with riffage and occasional screamo." Is there a special name for that? Anyway, it's not bad, and it's mostly bangers, and while they're not trying to do anything unique here, fans of bands like Garbage and Paramore should like this. Also, this is the Dead Pony from Scotland, not the power-violence metalcore Dead Pony from Chicago, but losing a pony (or any horse) is difficult and sad no matter where you're from.
Kelley Stoltz, If You Don't Know Me, Buy Now: Stoltz is a highly-prolific psychedelic-pop guy from San Francisco who has now made at least 17 studio albums (his Bandcamp page says this is #19, but I only counted 17 non-live ones, including one under the name "Willy Weird"). He claims to have once played guitar with Echo & the Bunnymen, though he isn't credited on any of their live albums — he did do a full-album covers LP of Crocodiles once though, entitled Crockodials, back in 2006, so maybe he just got a little confused there. I think the reason he isn't better-known is that until recently, he couldn't sing so good, a problem he seems to have now corrected somewhat (did he take lessons? I'm not hearing much auto-tune on this LP). Also, he doesn't tour much. He's planning to tour behind this album though, so we'll see if that helps.
Touch Girl Apple Blossom, Graceful: Jangly twee-pop from Austin, TX that I assume is deliberately intended to pay homage to the Sarah Records catalogue as directly as possible. They don't do a bad job of it either, I guess? I have the same question for this band as I do for Lauren Lakis (see above): Why Texas? Do you have a deathwish or something? I still don't get it.
Deafkids, Cicatrizes Do Futuro: Deafkids are an electro-hypnopunk band from Brazil whose sound verges on "horrorcore," but — according to them, at least — it's still danceable. I suspect you'd have to be taking some pretty heavy drugs to be able to dance to this, but let's be frank, there are definitely drugs out there that are pretty heavy — not that I would recommend that you take them.
Schizo Fun Addict, Desolate Ecstasy: This is the tenth album from this droney psych-rock band from New Jersey who have yet to get an album listed here on BEA. I've been researching this, and I've come to the conclusion that they don't have an album listed here because... they're a droney psych-rock band from New Jersey! (You'd be surprised at how many bands have this exact same problem.) This one might have a legitimate shot, though. It has the word "ecstasy" in the title!

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Sat, 16 May 2026 01:40:10 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/16/2026 05:40

Tap wrote:

Anadol & Marie Klock - Manivelles
https://anadol.bandcamp.com/album/manivelles

Best album cover of the year, really nice cute synth sax and speaksung bits, and then the last track goes hard.

I rather like this, actually! 😄 I'm not so sure about "best album cover of the year," but both of them already have solo albums listed on BEA, so if someone adds this one before I get to it, be sure to enter them both as collaboration members.

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Hayden — Fri, 15 May 2026 21:37:42 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 05/16/2026 01:37

I, personally, am looking forward to listening to all this new Drake music. I'm glad Drake has overcome his biggest flaw, finally realizing music is not about quality over quantity, but about releasing absolutely whatever in such a large mass amount that nobody wants to bother listening to any of it to pan out the okayish stuff... wait, what, where is this going—

🙄

Anyhow, being real, there's some solid looking stuff this week— looking forward to spinning the following—
Where Light Settles (2026) by Jasmine Myra
Assikel (2026) by Tamikrest
Redstar Wu & The Worldwide Scourge (2026) by Genesis Owusu
III (2026) by Khun Narin

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Tap — Fri, 15 May 2026 18:05:50 GMT

Author: Tap

Posted: 05/15/2026 22:05

Oh yeah Basta is cool, her old stuff is worth checking

I'm gonna be checked out for a few weeks most likely but you all should check out

Anadol & Marie Klock - Manivelles
https://anadol.bandcamp.com/album/manivelles

Best album cover of the year, really nice cute synth sax and speaksung bits, and then the last track goes hard.

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

MadhattanJack — Fri, 15 May 2026 00:41:40 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 05/15/2026 04:41

Ehh... I guess most of the bands out there didn't want to compete for clicks, likes, column-inches or whatever with the new albums this week from Drake (Iceman), Peter Frampton (Carry the Light, his first in 16 years), Ziggy Marley (Brightside), and Lady Gaga, who has jumped head-first onto the "reimagined album" train with a new version of last year's Mayhem LP that's supposed to be much more scary and depressing than the original. Sounds great! Fans of modern prog-rock might also be semi-happy to learn there's another Bruce Soord solo LP, Ghosts in the Park (he's the frontman for Pineapple Thief).

Also, for those of us who were miffed about the 3-month postponement of the upcoming new album by The Church (supposedly still entitled Lacuna), there's a new Kilbey/Kennedy album called Things We Did on Earth. I've been mostly skipping these (this is actually the ninth K/K album), but I'm listening to it now and I think it's better than any of the other ones from them that I've heard. (I guess they still don't want anyone to know about all the questionable stuff they did on other planets.)

Aside from that, there are really only four albums I'm interested in this week, and while I can't say I'm "excited" about any of them, one does seem to be the clear pick-of-the-week: Mad Honey.

Mad Honey
Bridge Over Cumberland (2026)

Bridge Over Cumberland is the second proper LP from this shoegaze-pop band from Oklahoma City (go Thunder?) that made my 2023 BEA year chart with their first one, Satellite Aphrodite. Unfortunately, nobody else seemed to notice it, but this new one sounds a lot better and could conceivably even double the debut album's BEA Rank Score. Musically, it starts out with a really slow/sad number entitled "I am a Wall, I am a House," but I assume they're only doing that (along with the cover art) to lull you into a false sense of security, or else to try to get people like me to drop the "shoegaze-pop" tag and take them more seriously as artists (which is silly, because what could possibly be more artistic than shoegaze pop? NOTHING, THAT'S WHAT). Anyway, don't worry, it picks up in the middle of track 2 and pretty much keeps it going from there.

The other three:

Bleary, Little Brain: This one's sort of a debut album (they did a six-song mini-album back in 2019), and it's by another shoegaze-pop band, this time from Nashville, TN. Their singer sounds a little like Kim Deal, and the band sounds (to me) like Sad Day for Puppets, which is good except not many people remember Sad Day for Puppets. Except maybe the puppets... The other problem here is that we've already had the new Deary album from a month ago, and the new Teary album is coming out two weeks from now, so this could get a little confusing because all three of these bands sound very similar to each other — it's not just the band names. (There's also a solo folk-singer from Canada who goes by the name "Weary," but I'm not super-worried about her at the moment.)
The City Gates, Chimera: This is the fourth album from a Montreal band who used to be a shoegaze act but have now seemingly moved in a more darkwave/coldwave/whateverwave direction. (I'm guessing they accidentally turned the house lights on during a gig at some point and found out what most of their fans were wearing.) That's not necessarily a bad thing, nor is this a bad album, and if you like Editors and Interpol you might very well like this too. But either way, I'm afraid this is another band that only appears on BEA charts made by me personally. So yeah, sure, maybe I'm the problem.
Martyna Basta, Winged in Collapse: This is sort of a "discovery" from my own perspective, as I hadn't heard of her before (this is her fourth album). She's an avant-garde neo-classical singer from Poland, whose style could be tagged as "spookypop" by people who don't take tags very seriously — but let's face it, this stuff does sound very spooky, and yet somewhat pop-oriented at the same time. I guess that's why I like it. She doesn't really sound like Marissa Nadler, but if you like Marissa Nadler, you might like this.

I've got eight, maybe nine Honorable Mentions for this week, but next week is looking even thinner than this week did, to be honest. Still, Radiohead fans (I know there are still a few of you around here) might like the new Ed O'Brien solo album, Blue Morpho, on which there do seem to be guitars and real drums being played. Yay! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: June 5th!!! �'�🕺

Repo — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:56:32 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 05/14/2026 23:56

RELEASE DAY EVE: May 15th, 2026.

Personal Best: Outrunning Your Influences. 🎶 🏃🏿‍♂️

Little Wide Open (2026) by Kevin Morby

Kevin Morby is arguably one of the finest singer-songwriters of the past ten years, BUT you can STILL hear the records he listens to late at night in his songs. Luckily Mr. Morby has got a badass record collection stacked with the likes of TVZ, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. BUT, to get to that next level he needs to remind us of just one person - himself. And I heard from a little birdie ( ok, a Pitchfork record review. lol) that this just may be the record in which he outruns those influences and scores a personal best. And I may just stay up to midnight to find out!

What May 15th, 2026 release(s) do YOU have your ears & heart set on when midnight strikes?! 🔭�'�