Best Ever Albums

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 17:39:34 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/19/2026 21:39

musicoed wrote:

The first coincidence is that The Exbats’ album also flew under the radar last week; at any rate, I didn’t come across any mentions of it on the forums I frequent.
This is a very sensitive topic that I’m really keen to discuss. On the other hand, it borders closely on the issue of information sources and immediately intertwines with the reasons behind popularity—reasons that, in my view, have become far too toxic these days.

I can really only speak in terms of English-speaking countries, and the USA in particular, but as far as the US/UK/etc. market is concerned, the Exbats really have three problems:

First, all their previous albums have a common musical approach, which they themselves have described as "a dystopian garage version of the Shangri-Las, or pre-Velvet Underground Lou Reed doo-wop." That's almost an anti-commercial approach here these days, but now they're moving away from that approach — and that might alienate their existing fan base.
Second, their marketing and visual image is not good. Their album covers are misleading and unattractive, making you think they're much more punk-ish than they actually are. Also, their band name contains the word "bats," and nobody likes bats, since they get into your house and then you're not supposed to kill them because they eat disease-spreading bugs, but if you capture them and release them outside they just fly back in and it can cost a fortune to finally get rid of them.
Third (and last), they're a father-daughter act. There's a reason why you don't see a lot of those around, and I won't go into it in detail, but it's a huge disadvantage for them in terms of breaking through into "mainstream" success, and that's before either of the aforementioned other two things are factored in.

So... while I totally agree that it's a good album, and the best one they've ever recorded, I just don't think they're going to overcome these issues to achieve general popularity. I'm happy to help you (or anyone else) discuss and promote them, of course (for whatever that's worth)... but that's another thing too, their last album was on Goner Records, and the new one is self-released. So maybe they're not used to doing their own marketing campaigns, which could easily become problem #4 for them.

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 05:31:52 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/19/2026 09:31

MadhattanJack wrote:

musicoed wrote:

For me, the standout album this week will likely be the release from a band that managed to put out three singles, all of which made my weekly lists. That’s a 100% success rate—something that happens quite rarely. Unfortunately, all these songs are sequenced back-to-back at the very end of the album's first half, which once again leaves almost no chance for a strong finish.
Both Hands - Be Like A Mountain In A Moonlit Way (18/IX-2026/38) (Album)

I didn't see that announced anywhere. Did you just accidentally see it somewhere, maybe just clicking around on Bandcamp? Pretty good record, actually! 😄 ...

This once again showed just how different our tastes are. What surprises me most is that one of my most revered bands—Cocteau Twins—might have played a part in this; they are the ones usually cited for actively championing shoegaze and dream pop.))

I don’t really like getting into genre distinctions, but here it’s unavoidable. After all, as attuned as I am to the sound of dream pop, I am equally far removed from everything labeled "shoegaze."
And the difference is quite simple: one genre is rooted in atmosphere, the other in melody.
In the case of this release, two other subgenres collide: synth-pop and ambient pop.
On one hand, for me, the music evokes the likes of Vince Clarke; on the other, it brings to mind Cassandra Jenkins.

All three singles certainly had ambient undertones, yet the focus remained on rhythm and melody. For me, the standout—and most melodic—track is "Lips Parted," which closes out the first side of the record. The entire second half, however, is pure ambient pop.
Still, the fact that the band chose the more melodic tracks as singles bodes well for the future!))
So, I recommend that fans of Vince Clarke listen to the album starting with Side B and finishing with Side A. By the way, that’s the second coincidence involving The Exbats’ album!))

The first coincidence is that The Exbats’ album also flew under the radar last week; at any rate, I didn’t come across any mentions of it on the forums I frequent.
This is a very sensitive topic that I’m really keen to discuss. On the other hand, it borders closely on the issue of information sources and immediately intertwines with the reasons behind popularity—reasons that, in my view, have become far too toxic these days.

I find all my music through singles and video clips, literally digging through musical junk heaps every day. That’s because shops where music is neatly arranged on shelves simply don’t exist anymore.
And they don’t exist because no one intends to pay for music—after all, for some time now, you haven't had to.
It seems to me that these contradictions could be resolved quite easily. But whether those in power have any interest in doing so is a big question. On the other hand, if this problem were solved, I wouldn't have the same drive to search and keep moving. At my age, that would practically mean losing my reason for living.))

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 05:18:35 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/19/2026 09:18

SUPPLEMENTAL

Okay, so in addition to not noticing that Dragonflies LP, I also missed this new thingy from Drake, called Fear of Missing Out — it's actually a short "surrealist" film accompanied by a short album, and while I'm not entirely clear on this yet (nor do I really intend to be), the album was originally going to be the "soundtrack" to the short film but he decided to include at least a few (maybe most of them?) that aren't used in the film. I'm sure it's fabulous.

Meanwhile, the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart has a new album called The Way It Was Back Then, except that the album doesn't have Annie Lennox on it, so it isn't really the way it was back then, is it? And in Nashville, also-fabulous "pop-noir" singer Nicole Atkins is back with her 7th really good LP, Drama — I think it might be her best one yet. Plus there's even a new collection of (mostly, I think) "lost," or maybe just "shelved," David Bowie tracks from 1965 entitled The Shel Talmy Recordings. There are 22 tracks on it, 10 of which are previously unreleased, supposedly comprising all known recordings of the act then known as Davie Jones & The Lower Third. My problem with it is that I consider Talmy to be one of the worst music producers of that era, as he practically ruined the early Kinks recordings with deliberately bad mixing and equalization (assuming he even knew what the latter even was). He got better eventually, and these tracks have been "fixed up" somewhat, but I can't really recommend this LP to anyone who isn't a Bowie completist (and good luck with that, by the way).

But there's more!

Roomer, Staircase Made of Rope
The second album by this trio from Berlin, it's kind of like sadgaze/slowcore post-rock with occasional bursts of heavy guitar noise and fewer crescendoes, but there are also vocals, mostly provided by a female singer (Ronja Schößler) who has that whispery, half-asleep, barely-present style I like so much. On their quieter songs, I wouldn't make a direct comparison to a band like Mazzy Star, but they can produce a very similar "vibe" when they want to. It's... kind of nice, actually.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Hopium
You'll remember Roger as a member of Jellyfish, one of my 40 (or so) favorite bands ever, and various other projects such as the Moog Cookbook and Imperial Drag. He's amassed a small-but-interesting discography over the years, but this album seems to be a "back to the start" record, almost like it's fan service for Jellyfish fans and other power-poppers. Great! I'm all for fan-service when it's done as well as this, but unfortunately there are only 5 new studio tracks here (along with 5 live tunes recorded at the International Pop Overthrow in Los Angeles, including two Jellyfish songs, "That Is Why" and "The King is Half-Undressed"). More would be better.
Carrousel, Memphis, Again
I loved the very first album by this Los Angeles husband-and-wife duo (aka Sharon & Joel Piedt), 2012's 27 Rue de Mi'chelle — I thought it was one of the best examples of American chamber-pop I'd heard up to that point — but they've gotten progressively more trip-hop-oriented, bigger-sounding, and psychedelia-tinged since then, and while there are still elements of the earlier sound that pop up now and again, I think I still just prefer the older stuff. Carrousel is hugely underrated in my opinion, as they write beautiful tunes, put enormous amounts of effort into their recordings, and spare no expense to hire large numbers of backing musicians, this time including the London Strings (at Abbey Road, no less) and even the Czech National Symphony to do real instruments and orchestra parts when they could easily settle for digital samplers and drum machines. I'm not sure how they manage all that, but the fact remains, hardly anyone else seems to have heard of them. Anyway, they're saying this is the fourth album in their four-part "Memphis cycle," which I guess means they've been mentioning Memphis a lot in their lyrics recently, and now maybe they'll... stop doing that? (That might be for the best. Memphis has been taken over by ICE, and there are other cities they could mention that haven't.)
The Bernadette Maries, Soft
Here's a nice-sounding debut LP by a "shoegaze-adjacent" post-punk sort of band, with occasional twee-ish overtones, from Brussels. Obviously that's in Belgium, so they have to be good, and they are, but the album cover on this thing is... let's just say "unimpressive." (I guess I've seen worse, though. Actually no, I don't think I have...)
Outer World, Home
I can't really tell how many people are in this band, but they're from Richmond, Virginia and they bill themselves as "retro-future, crate digger delights, French freakbeats, psychedelic garage-pop, Bond spy themes, space-age post-punk, and '80s NYC disco punk." That's a lot, and of course I still think "disco punk" is a contradiction in terms, but aside from that it's not an inaccurate description. I'm particularly fond of the "Bond spy themes," which they seem to throw in there at nearly every possible opportunity.
Machinery of the Human Heart, The Grand Scream
This surprisingly wacky and fun album comes from Marvin Allister, a trans cabaret singer from New Jersey with a real penchant for early 20th-century musical theatre. It also kind of reminds me of an old Amanda Palmer album — not one of the ukelele ones, I'm thinking of the ones she did that had decent production budgets. I never really liked Amanda Palmer's albums... I did sort of like Amanda Palmer herself, though!
ELM, The Midnight Zone
Maybe it's just the album title, or the singer's voice, or what-I-don't-know, but this post-punkish quartet from Cuneo, Italy reminds me a lot of Australia's Midnight Oil, though they're rougher around the edges. Most of the songs seem to be in the same key, which I think is E-flat, so that would mean they're probably tuning everything down a half-step... Minor quibble! There are elements of math rock, goth and post-hardcore here too, and overall it's not bad, just be aware that there's a fair amount of snarly aggression involved.
Roger Clark Miller, The Green Man
Miller used to be the singer/guitarist for Mission of Burma. More recently he's been in a lo-fi indie-rock band called Trinary System, but apparently when he records under just his own name, it's just him and a guitar (usually an acoustic or a clean electric), with some vocal overdubs and that's pretty much it. It's not folk music though, it's more like solo-acoustic post-punk, so I personally hear it as "unfinished." But that's just me, YMMV!
Thisquietarmy, Erosion
Thisquietarmy is basically the solo ambient-distorted-feedback drone guitar project of Eric Quach. He's made albums that were more musical and less droney than this, so maybe this isn't the ideal introduction to his work, but since he's also considered a shoegaze act I guess I had to mention it.
Winter (Samira Winter, originally from Brazil), Romantix Mixtape
Adult Romantix was one of my favorite albums from last year, but I assumed this "mixtape" was just another one of those "reimagined" albums that people insist on making these days. It's a bit more interesting than that; there are two completely new tracks and four remixes, including one by Soccer Mommy and another by Peel Dream Magazine. And yes, I like at least two of the remixes better than the originals. Still, not a "new album" by most definitions.
The Bends, If You Insist
I'd have to call this group from Louisiana a "standard rock" band, meaning it would fit into the "modern rock" radio format and sounds like the typical sort of upbeat, major-key stuff they play when they go to commercial during football games. I'm just mentioning it in case you saw the band name and thought it might be some sort of Radiohead pastiche.
Post Sex Nachos, Big Bad
If you're a regular listener to The Tony Kornheiser Show, you'll have heard of these guys. They're kind of a multi-genre, but mostly alt-rock/alt-pop band from Missouri (though they're currently based in Nashville). They bill themselves as "your second-favorite boyband," so they must think you have a first-favorite boyband, which to me would be a grievous insult since I don't like any boybands whatsoever. (Unless you count the Beatles as a boyband, which most people don't.)

There are probably still more out there, but I guess I have to stop somewhere. Ciao!

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 05:55:18 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/18/2026 09:55

musicoed wrote:

I didn't see that announced anywhere. Did you just accidentally see it somewhere, maybe just clicking around on Bandcamp? Pretty good record, actually! 😄

There are actually a whole bunch of late announcements this week — I guess I'll have to make another "supplementary" list, since some of them are definitely worth a listen. One in particular: BEA's #1-ranked album ever is Radiohead's OK Computer, and it just so happens the producer of that album, Nigel Godrich, got together with Dhani Harrison, son of George Harrison from the Beatles, to form a project called Dragonflies, whose debut LP is coming out... today! Practically no advance promotion whatsoever, that I could detect. Maybe people just don't believe in that anymore? Nothing about them on Discogs, but they're on Spotify at least, and here's an Amazon Music page that just appeared within the last few days. I'm not saying it's a great record, it's more like "very well put-together," also very trip-hoppy, and they've got female guest vocalists on the first two tracks... when he's singing (on the other six), Dhani Harrison operates (no doubt intentionally) in the same vocal range as Thom Yorke, but doesn't really sound much like him at all if you ask me, he really sounds more like his Dad. (Harrison's, not Thom Yorke's.) Anyway, I'm just surprised that they didn't do advance PR on this thing.

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:08:07 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/18/2026 01:08

Thanks, MadhattanJack - as always, this is fascinating and informative!
For me, the standout album this week will likely be the release from a band that managed to put out three singles, all of which made my weekly lists. That’s a 100% success rate—something that happens quite rarely. Unfortunately, all these songs are sequenced back-to-back at the very end of the album's first half, which once again leaves almost no chance for a strong finish.
Both Hands - Be Like A Mountain In A Moonlit Way (18/IX-2026/38) (Album)

The second album of the week that caught my interest was recorded by a band that also released three singles. However, so far, only two of those songs have appealed to me. And most disappointingly, I remained indifferent to the album's very last track. But I do like the minimalist cover.))
Son Lux - Out Into (18/IX-2026/38) (Album)

Out Into (2026) by Son Lux

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:55:16 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/17/2026 23:55

What September 18, 2026 releases make YOU want to review a long list of them that seemingly goes on forever and forces you to apologize for the length of the review post in advance?

Obviously the only release this week that matters to me personally is the new single from XTC's Colin Moulding, entitled "Want It Bad." Apparently Colin has been trying to write positive, uplifting tunes to help counteract all the negativity and down-pushing that's been going on in the world lately, so that's nice, but it's also unfortunate that he still hasn't managed to produce a full-length solo LP after all these years. But hope springs eternal, as Colin himself would incredulously seem to believe!

As for this week's actual albums, the new Echo & the Bunnymen LP, Apples for Isaac, is getting some great reviews and sounds like it's going to be at least as good as anything they've done since the 80s. In other words, it still doesn't quite surpass what they did during the 80s, but it's clearly worth checking out, even if it's basically an Ian McCulloch solo project at this point. Guitarist Will Sergeant is still there, and still contributes, but doesn't play most of the guitar parts and doesn't seem to be in on writing the songs much now, either. Original bass-guy Les Pattinson is apparently out of the picture. As an interesting (though sad) side-note, this album might be the last recorded work of Blondie drummer Clem Burke, before his death last year from cancer. (He played on 10 of the album's 11 tracks.)

So I guess this is probably my personal pick-of-the-week, but is it the week's best album... possibly, not sure, maybe not? And yes, the album cover is... not great, but it's still better than the one for 1990's Reverberation. (Bleah!)

Age Before Beauty Dept.

In terms of name-recognition, the biggest thing this week is probably Second Song, the new 7-track mini-album from Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts. I haven't been able to hear much of it, but apparently it's his usual acoustic folk-rock/Americana stuff, with five new tunes and two new versions of old ones ("Casting Me Away From You" and "I Will Love You Forever"). Probably nothing to get excited about, but who can say? At #2 on the name-recognition scale, Beck has a new one called Ride Lonesome, which he's calling a "heartbreak album," and which he described as "slow motion, twilight, Mojave, acoustic, a trance of sound and emotion.” Frankly it borders on easy-listening, but at least he's willing to supply tags for us. What a guy!

The much-beloved Chaka Khan has a new one called Chakzilla, so that's obviously cool, and Queen's drummer Roger Taylor (no relation to the one from Duran Duran) is releasing his seventh solo album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World. It, too, borders on easy-listening, but I can't criticize its lyrical content because Colin Moulding is doing essentially the same thing. (Dang!) So if you don't want easy listening (or Chaka Khan), there's a new LP from Anthrax, Cursum Perficio (Latin for "your journey ends here"), which I'm pretty sure won't be. (There's also a new Ozric Tentacles album called Harmonic Mind, but if you're still buying new Ozric Tentacles albums thinking this one is finally gonna be the one where they do something that's contrary to their usual jazzy-prog psychedelic space-rock formula, I don't know what to tell you, man. Just keep on keepin' on...)

Finally, Will Bonnie “Prince” Billy Oldham has a new live LP out called Ghosts of American Psychonauts, apparently recorded in Los Angeles (aka the "City of Ghosts," though I personally have never seen a ghost there). I might have preferred an album consisting of "Arrest Warrants for American Psychonauts," but anyone who knows anything about Bonnie “Prince” Billy will tell you he tends to "follow his own muse."

New Albums by Awesomely Talented Women Dept.

There have been few, if any, weeks that I can recall featuring this many new albums from so many of my favorite famous female solo singer/songwriters. It's a cascading cornucopia of cool new stuff!

Emma Ruth Rundle, These Killing Times
Probably the week's best album, not to mention one of her most... powerful? I usually don't like to use that word to describe albums, but this may be an exception. Unfortunately I haven't been able to hear the whole thing yet, so I can't report on whether or not there's any screamo involved (doesn't sound like it based on the preview tracks), but at least we know she could do it if she had to.
Kristin Hersh, Sugar on Blackstone
Kristin Hersh used to be the leader and lead singer of the Throwing Muses, and I'm going to say this is her... 14th solo studio album? (I'm not counting 2016's Wyatt at the Coyote Palace.) Hard to say where this will rank among her solo discography, but I'd put it in the Top Five, I think. It's darker and a little harsher than her last few albums, but I see that as a good thing, and frankly, it sounds more like a Throwing Muses album than anything she's done in the last dozen years or so. Just a little less frenetic.
Frankie Rose, HILA
You might remember her from the Vivian Girls or Crystal Stilts, but this is her sixth solo album, and this one is more commercial and pop-oriented than her previous stuff. But that's not really a bad thing in her case. Her voice is perfect for this material, with just enough of a dark edge to (hopefully) satisfy all those people like me who might never have discovered her if it hadn't been for that song-for-song remake of The Cure's Seventeen Seconds she did back in 2017.
Susanna Hoffs, The List
The 80s It-Girl and superstar lead singer of The Bangles is back with another album of sweet-sounding Americana-style love songs with just a dash of 60s pop and "California rock" in them. This LP is significantly better than her previous one, 2024's (appropriately-titled) The Lost Record, and while it won't make anybody forget "Hero Takes a Fall" or the video for "Walk Like an Egyptian," she still has a great voice and it's a nice album. It would've been even nicer to have gotten a rave-up or three, but ehh, maybe next time.
Carly Rae Jepsen, Day And Night
Jepsen is more of a "pop diva" than the four others above, and this album doesn't deviate from her usual glossy dance-oriented approach. A couple of these tracks are just straight-up disco even, so I probably shouldn't even mention the album at all, but still... her songs are infectious (and not in a bad way), and there's more craft and sophistication in them than most of what you hear from her Top 40 dancepop and girlpop peers. (Besides, five is a better number than four when you're making a list.)

And Now, the "Cool" Stuff

Again, there's a lot of stuff this week, so I'm going to leave some things out, but I already mentioned that Colin Moulding single so nobody has any right to complain.

The Drin, I Lost My Way For Centuries
A somewhat hypnotic, if not actually droney, genre-bending post-punk band From Cincinnati, Ohio, this is The Drin's 5th album (if you include their 2021 self-released cassette, Engines Sing for the Pale Moon). I'd have to say that they're getting progressively more "accessible" as they go, as this is almost certainly their most listenable release so far. I like it, but they're still likely to be an acquired taste for most (if not all) people.
Scarves, Strays Forever
This "dream punk" band from Seattle is led by singer Niko Stathakopoulos, and they're not bad, except they're not particularly dreamy or punky. They're a bit quirky, somewhat psychedelic, and occasionally chaotic, and they sound like they might be a lot of fun as a live band. They're less lo-fi than they have been in the past. We'll see what happens, but they're probably a bit too loose around the edges to have much hit potential.
Cor de Lux, Year of the Horse
The third album from an interesting, slightly weird post-punk quartet with occasional spacegaze from Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, who I guess I noticed because my parents used to take us to Kill Devil Hills (which is near Kitty Hawk) for vacations fairly often so that I could have fun running out of control down the steep sand dunes. (I think they might have closed them off since then, to save them from people like me.) They seem to put a fair amount of effort into sounding good, and I'd have to say they have a lot of panache for such an obscure band. There, I said it — "panache." You probably thought I didn't even know what that word meant! (I'm probably still misusing it, of course.)
Slow Pulp, Melodie
Here's a pretty cool 4-piece band from Madison, Wisconsin with occasional folk-rock overtones that has a really good female singer-guitarist named Emily Massey, and could be just one decent recording budget away from being a big-time indie-rock success story. Or, maybe I just like them. I don't know! I just post here!
LEILA, 20 Something is a F*Cking Strange Place
A punkier-than-most electro-girlpop singer from — let's see, she sort of semi-randomly divides her time between Bern, Sarajevo, and New York City. That could get tiring... Unfortunately, there are a lot of acts named "Leila" so she's going to get buried in amongst them, but this album has considerable merit. (There's some auto-tune being used, but I don't get the impression it's to hide a lack of singing ability.)
Beabadoobee, Pylon
Bea "Beabadoobee" Kristi Ilejay Laus, who was born in the Philippines but moved to London at age 3, makes a kind of "soft-grunge"/girtlpop hybrid pop music for Gen Z'ers and anybody else who spends a lot of time on Tiktok. Looks like this is her fourth album... Honestly, I'd never heard of her before now. But apparently she's a fairly big deal in younger circles, and I have to admit, that aforementioned hybridization strategy of hers seems to work better than I would have expected.

Masked Band Dept.

I got a little excited when I saw that there was a new album from Big Trouble called On Elephant Hill, but hopes were dashed when I learned this was the digital-only debut (and not bad at all, actually) from a new, slightly-retro Los Angeles alt-folk/indie-rock duo, and not another LP from the masked Athens, GA hardcore punk band. (Nothing fancy, they just wear balaclavas.) The latter, one of at least 15 bands to have called themselves "Big Trouble" throughout rock history, did release a 5-song EP less than a month ago — which I completely missed — called 5 Final Songs. So based on that title, I suppose we might never find out who they actually are.

Rescheduled Due to Artist (Mis)behavior Dept.

Those of you who were looking forward to the new album from Wavves with Say Anything, entitled Cherry Soda and originally scheduled for tomorrow, will have to wait until October 30 because of this whole situation.

Also, something weird happened with the new Soft Palms album, In Echo (though I haven't done anything about this on BEA yet) — apparently they pre-announced that tomorrow would be the release date, but then they just went ahead and uploaded the album to the streaming services three months ago (!) with a release date of either June 12 or June 19. It's a fairly good album, kind of a surf/garage-punk affair with a cute-sounding retro-girlpop singer and minimal instrumentation but lots of reverb... Anyway, I think the problem here was that it was supposed to be released in conjunction with a book entitled How to Be Self-Reliant in the Music Business, except the book actually came out on May 18, two months before the album. So, my guess would be that tomorrow is the release date for the bundle, whereby you can get both in order-item for less than the price of both separately? I dunno, but maybe they didn't want to make a big deal out of this because failing to accurately coordinate your actual release dates with your announced release dates is a good way to fail badly in the music business, regardless of how self-reliant you supposedly are.

Next Week...

If anything, next week is looking even bigger than this week. There's even a new Robin Trower album, if you can believe that... I'll probably be falling all over myself singing the praises of the new Blondshell LP, but who knows — she could surprise me and put out a total dud. Anything can happen! (Hopefully not that.) 😐

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:40:07 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/12/2026 04:40

MadhattanJack wrote:

musicoed wrote:

The Exbats managed to give the public a preview of most of the tracks from their album beforehand. What’s more, these tracks usually appeared without any fanfare or announcements. In terms of hit songs, this album is definitely in the lead so far; I’ve already counted three. I’m sure that’s enough to make it the Album of the Week.
The Exbats - My Dinner With Crumar (11/IX-2026/37) (Album)

As it happens, the sound of the band XTC isn't something deeply ingrained in my subconscious. However, the synthesizer sound used in the album's opening track immediately reminded me of Röyksopp. And that outweighs the drawbacks of the lyrics, which, of course, I didn't catch by ear.
That said, I don't consider the opening track particularly outstanding. It’s just that the first and last tracks don’t spoil the overall picture, and that’s important.
Unfortunately, the band followed a pattern common among musicians—especially those lacking confidence—by placing the tracks released as official singles and music videos right at the start of the album. Consequently, the first half is more engaging than the second, making it a bit of a challenge to listen to the release in its entirety—unless, perhaps, you were to at least swap the order of the sides.))
Of course, I’m willing to concede that the lyrics might be fascinating or provocative.
But some tracks, with their repetitive nature, feel overly monotonous and long-winded.
And yet, the band has a melodic quality, and that’s cool.

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:32:12 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/11/2026 23:32

Repo wrote:

Huh. I've never heard of Killer. As an old school metal head, I'll have to check out a few of their early releases. I wonder what Dihansse thinks of them. 🤔

They're kind of a Motorhead-style band. And if I'm being (brutally) honest, Belgium hasn't really produced a lot of metal bands, at least not famous ones — I just looked at the Wikipedia category for Belgian heavy metal musical groups and while it's far from exhaustive, there was only one band on it (other than Killer) that I'd heard of, namely Channel Zero. They've got 8 albums listed here on BEA, but their highest album ranking is 38,424, so... I dunno, maybe they're the most commercially successful Belgian metal band? Even if they're not the "best-known." (Killer has only two albums on BEA, and neither of them have enough ranking points here to even make a dent.)

Of course, the English would say something derisive like "must be something in the waffles," but personally I think it's just the overall culture, similar to France, Spain, and Italy — they all like to dress nice and not smell bad there, so that makes it pretty hard for them to be proper metalheads.

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 19:10:47 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/11/2026 23:10

musicoed wrote:

I liked that one; I thought it was a bit too loose and lo-fi, and in particular their singer isn't recorded properly at all, but I can certainly see how people might recommend it. Still, with the lyrical refrain on track 1 being what it is (she repeats "just like a little bitch" about two dozen times), that could reduce the hit potential quite a bit, at least in the English-speaking world. I was also disappointed by the fact that you never hear any sort of classic Crumar™ organ sound anywhere on the album — Barry Andrews used a Crumar organ extensively on XTC's Go 2, which I currently have ranked as my #1 album ever, so of course I'm listening to this thing and wondering "where's that frickin' Crumar?" literally the whole time. But that's more of a "me problem."

There were actually nine new albums I considered listing this week but decided not to — I heard at least two tracks from each of them, but they all seemed to have some sort of pesky flaw or weakness going on. I'm beginning to suspect that reviewing all these new releases each week is making me more "picky" and selective than I have been in the past.

Just for the record, though, here's the list (not including the ExBats), in roughly the order I'd probably rank them. To be clear, I'm not recommending these or advising anyone to check them out, but all of them are at least interesting in their own way. (Most of them are now fully available for streaming on Bandcamp, and as of now none of them have been added to BEA.)

ODAE, MOIREMOIREMOIRE: Experimental electro-tweepop from Texas with lots of noise effects and what-not
Pretty Sick, Anarchy: Indie/post-punk female solo act from NYC
Curbside Lambsear, Put Rings On All My Fingers To Weigh Down My Hands: 5-song EP, dark/noisy post-punk from London
Beans, Less Louder: Fun (but conventional) rock band from Melbourne
The Meffs, Business (Apple Music link): Old-school British punk with a great female singer
TsuShiMaMiRe, The Greatest World: Long-running (27 years) Japanese girlpunk trio
Dead Horse, Caught The Nonsense: Quirky, slightly-silly post-punk from London (but not enough for an XTC comparison)
Modern Apartments, Light on Water: Somewhat Kraftwerk-ish instrumental electronica from London

Obviously one (or more) of these could unexpectedly take off and become hugely successful, in which case I'll look dumb for calling them an "also-ran," but that's the nature of the game, I guess! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve

Repo — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:25:10 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 09/11/2026 14:25

MadhattanJack wrote:

As for bands with name recognition that I'm not interested in, NWOBHM stalwarts Tygers Of Pan Tang have a new one called Electrifyed, which seems like an odd choice for a title because (putting aside the misspelling) it implies that their earlier albums were somehow not electrified, which is clearly not the case at all. Regardless, it sounds just like their other stuff (which is to say, highly electrified), so fans won't be disappointed. And if you're from Belgium — as you really should be — Killer, perhaps Belgium's best-known heavy metal band whose first LP was released in 1979, is putting out their "farewell album," The Grand Finale. Good title! No confusion there.

Huh. I've never heard of Killer. As an old school metal head, I'll have to check out a few of their early releases. I wonder what Dihansse thinks of them. 🤔

Tygers of Pan Tang! Nice shout out! I really dig their first couple of albums, especially...

Wild Cat (1980) by Tygers Of Pan Tang

One of the most important NWOBHM releases of 1980 imo. 🤓

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:53:45 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/10/2026 23:53

MadhattanJack wrote:

Well... okay, but I'd probably replace the word "might" there with "should absolutely." ....

Thank you. It’s wonderful to always have someone to bring you back down to earth!))

I’m now living literally on virtual wheels, and my exploration of new releases is significantly delayed.
And I don't get hung up on genres or the artists' nationalities. I either like the music or I don't.

The Exbats managed to give the public a preview of most of the tracks from their album beforehand. What’s more, these tracks usually appeared without any fanfare or announcements. In terms of hit songs, this album is definitely in the lead so far; I’ve already counted three. I’m sure that’s enough to make it the Album of the Week.
The Exbats - My Dinner With Crumar (11/IX-2026/37) (Album)

An album by the musicians whose only single also made it onto my playlist of the week:
Wrong Man - Here's That Feeling (11/IX-2026/37) (Album)

This is the second installment of an album by iconic Russian musicians who are also keen on immersing the listener in solving puzzles. Fortunately, they chose the absolute best time for it.)) The first part hasn't lived up to my expectations so far; I'm pinning my hopes on the second. For now, there is only a link to the single from this part.
Хадн Дадн [Hadn Dadn] - Эжен. Часть 2 (11/IX-2026/37) (EP)

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:47:29 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/10/2026 22:47

What September 11, 2026 releases will YOU? Hear? Eventually?

I decided not to go on vacation after all, but this will be a relatively short one nevertheless, as explained earlier. Sept. 11 isn't a popular release date, especially when it's the 25th Anniversary. Obviously everyone remembers what happened with Nick Lowe's The Convincer, which was poised to be his most popular LP ever and perhaps one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, easily surpassing Michael Jackson's Thriller, AC/DC's Back in Black, and The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World. Unfortunately, al Qaeda had other plans, having been notorious fans of the Bay City Rollers and who never forgave him for his 1976 single "Bay City Rollers We Love You." As soon as they found out about The Convincer's Sept. 11, 2001 release date, they set their plans in motion — and, well, the album ended up not selling so good. (Among other things that happened.)

Perhaps not coincidentally, The Proclaimers have moved the release date for their new LP, You May Offend, to Sept. 25 (maybe they were worried the original 9/11 release date might "offend" people), where they'll be competing head-to-head with Blondshell, M83, Protomartyr, Soft Cell, Penelope Isles, and The Wolfgang Press, as well as the long-awaited (40 years!) debut LP by The Catburgers. With them out of the picture, that just leaves Bloc Party as the only band with significant name recognition who have new material out this week that's of any real interest to me, though to be honest I've never been a big fan of theirs either. The album is called Anatomy of a Brief Romance, and they've got Trevor Horn back as their producer. It's slickly commercial pop-rock to be sure, but at least it should sound pretty good though a pair of speakers.

As for bands with name recognition that I'm not interested in, NWOBHM stalwarts Tygers Of Pan Tang have a new one called Electrifyed, which seems like an odd choice for a title because (putting aside the misspelling) it implies that their earlier albums were somehow not electrified, which is clearly not the case at all. Regardless, it sounds just like their other stuff (which is to say, highly electrified), so fans won't be disappointed. And if you're from Belgium — as you really should be — Killer, perhaps Belgium's best-known heavy metal band whose first LP was released in 1979, is putting out their "farewell album," The Grand Finale. Good title! No confusion there.

Other than those, we have...

Sylvan Esso, Ow ∞
I'm going to say this album is my pick-of-the-week because it's a good listen, but it suffers from the same really basic surface issues as the Francis of Delirium album from May 29. The band name sounds like the name of an efféte 1960s French pop singer, the album's title is something Elon Musk might have named one of his illegitimate kids, and the album cover — which might be a nod to the prism effect on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon — is mediocre at best (though admittedly, it's not as bad as Francis of Delirium's, and it's better than most of Sylvan Esso's previous album covers... still, I'd rather just see the nicely-dressed woman with the sledgehammer, without the prism effect or whatever it is). So instead of what you're expecting, you get the fifth album by a husband-&-wife post-punkish duo (with occasional electropop/tripgaze) from Durham, North Carolina. It's well-recorded, somewhat fun, and has some cool songs with titles like "Hot Blob" and "Good at Pain" (track 4, "Concrete Glen," samples Sigur Ros's "Svefn-g-englar" — somewhat artlessly, but it's still sort of cool I guess, in an "it's yoo-woooo" sort of way). Simply put, I like this LP, quite a bit actually, but this band needs serious marketing help.
Angela Autumn, Believer
"Believer? I barely know her!" Here's an almost (but crucially, not quite) straight-up pop-Americana album (her second) and while this clearly isn't the sort of thing I usually go for, I'm still a sucker for women who have waifish, sometimes-plaintive voices like this. (I don't know why, I just am, okay?) And though she's based in Nashville, this is more of an Appalachian-style indie/folk-rock LP than anything that could be described as "country." The songs don't strike me as entirely "traditional," either — she has the singing style for it, but there are some decent rock tunes on this LP, and occasional, and subtle, electropop and even psych-pop "flourishes" that add to the charm. Nicely done!
This Is Lorelei, The Singer In My Band
Nate Amos is the guy who handles most of the instrument-playing for Water From Your Eyes (WFYE), but doesn't get to sing because he's not as good at that as lead singer Rachel Brown (not to be confused with the even-better Rachel Browne from Field Mouse). And that's really the problem with this, his fourth album as This is Lorelei: The vocals are "just okay," dynamics are lacking, and the nom de plume he's chosen would have you think you're going to hear a female singer named "Lorelei" (or even just Rachel Brown) instead of what you actually get. The music here is somewhat tepid — a bit quirky-sounding at times, and maybe catchy if you give it enough listens, but ultimately I don't think it's up to the standard set by WFYE's last two or three albums.
Asia Menor, Vaho (released today)
This band from Santiago, Chile bills itself as an art-punk/noise act (with all lyrics in Spanish), but I would almost describe it as "primitive horrorcore" with a strong Captain Beefheart influence. It's pretty chaotic, but with unexpected moments of brilliance that crop up once in a while to keep you interested. Definitely not a pop album, by any objective standard, but it does occasionally use pop-like sonic approaches to lull you into a false sense of security before trying to kill you or whatever.
The Tubs, Hard Life
From London, the Tubs strike me as a blue-eyed-soul/R&B outfit that thinks it's a power-pop group, or perhaps vice-versa. That's not a criticism, though... the album is upbeat and has a fair amount of energy to it, and it's also sometimes quite danceable, but their cover art is consistently terrible and they seem to reject any sort of musical or visual sophistication to the point of being practically retro. Those things aren't enough to torpedo the album, though. (Most torpedoes are too big to fit into tubs anyway.)

Masked Band Dept.

Nothing this week, at least nothing I could find. (And yes, I did check the metal releases.) I'm disappointed, but I can see why masked bands would think it's disrespectful to release albums on a big 9/11 anniversary, since Osama bin Laden and his boys used to wear those weird "Howard the Duck" masks pretty much all the time.

Next week...

As you'd expect, next week is going to be big, because people who might have released their new stuff tomorrow decided to wait a week. It may be the biggest week of the entire second half of the year, with new LPs from Echo & the Bunnymen (I guess they're back?); a bevy of female solo artists including Frankie Rose, Emma Ruth Rundle, Kristin Hersh, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Susanna Hoffs; and last but probably not least, Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts. Until then, etc. 😄

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:34:42 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/10/2026 08:34

musicoed wrote:

You might dismiss this as a wild flight of fancy on my part.

Well... okay, but I'd probably replace the word "might" there with "should absolutely." Aldous Harding's lyrics aren't supposed to mean anything, they're supposed to be "enigmatic" and mildly surrealistic. It's actually one of the (few) things that makes her music distinctive. Trying to apply specific meanings to her stream-of-consciousness mind wanderings effectively cheapens the work and implies a direct philosophical/ideological agenda that just doesn't exist in her case. Instead she wants you, the listener, to feel like the philosopher as you ponder the "profound meaninglessness" of what she's singing.

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 20:35:04 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/09/2026 00:35

With your permission, I will continue to use artificial intelligence prompts in quotation marks when looking for generally accepted definitions and viewpoints.

Quote:

The principle of a magic trick (illusion) lies in manipulating the spectator's attention and performing actions hidden from view.

For example, some manipulate the public while wearing bright masks, whereas others employ the same tactics without masks—covertly and on a much larger scale.

I don't think the Aldous Harding album appeared in this thread by accident. You might not believe me, but I’ve only just realized that this cover features a mask, too. Except this mask isn't meant to draw attention—quite the opposite, in fact. I’m amazed by what I’ve learned about this artist over the last few hours. It’s like an encrypted code, a puzzle of sorts.

Quote:

Aldous Harding makes a point of refusing to explain the meaning of her songs and music videos. She believes that the music should speak for itself. Makeup and masks serve as a barrier, preventing the listener from looking for the "real," autobiographical Aldous in the songs.

I might surmise that the cover is linked in some way to the rejection not only of masks but also of makeup. The blue color acts as a form of rear projection, allowing the listener to mentally fill in whatever facial features they choose.

But through the translation, I simultaneously learned of two key themes in the title track:
Anxiety about the fate of the "island," and a warning against equating success with money.

All of this taken together might suggest more than just the artist's creative intent.
It could also point to a mission the stars themselves may have entrusted to the performer.
You might dismiss this as a wild flight of fancy on my part.
But the release might contain a message to a hypothetical Prince of Darkness.
And this time, it is an appeal to the Demon Lord—specifically in his female form.))

Re: Release Day Eve

MadhattanJack — Tue, 8 Sep 2026 04:02:58 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 09/08/2026 08:02

musicoed wrote:

The trick was that the band's leader didn't even need to wear a mask. Even without the mask, fans saw him as the Prince of Darkness, which, I hope, he was not.

Trump was in a band?

Re: Release Day Eve

Cheddar — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 23:55:14 GMT

Author: Cheddar

Posted: 09/08/2026 03:55

musicoed wrote:

Cheddar wrote:

...
This might go against your rule you defined below, but I think maybe you could broaden "masked artists" to "artists with concealed identities" or something along those lines. He's definitely in the Doom lineage even if he doesn't use a mask I'd say.
...

I must apologize again if I misinterpret what is written, as I do not speak English.
But my understanding of your words coincided with my thoughts on masks in music and everything that lies behind them.
First of all, it's important to clarify that I try to approach this impartially, as if it were the laws of dialectics—the contradictions without which movement and life itself are impossible.

When I was a child around 1980, there was virtually no information about Western music. Not on TV, not in newspapers or magazines. Although all my friends had, for example, Pink Floyd tapes.
However, there was a band I never listened to, but I had a good idea of its members. The thing is, magnetic tape was a fairly expensive medium. To record something, you had to erase something. Apparently, this band's albums rarely lasted long in the record libraries of thrifty Soviet music lovers. But homemade photographs were easier to come by. I personally spent countless hours creating a high-quality photocopy of an amateur photo of this cover.

Destroyer (1976) by Kiss

There was another band that I not only didn't listen to, but also had no idea what it looked like. But everyone knew its catchy name. Years or even decades passed, and completely unexpectedly for myself I learned that this group has a cult status. And in my opinion, it didn't become a cult following because of the colorful masks the musicians might wear. The trick was that the band's leader didn't even need to wear a mask. Even without the mask, fans saw him as the Prince of Darkness, which, I hope, he was not.))

Both of those are great examples. I think there is a mystique to a hidden identity that is inherently interesting.

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 21:57:19 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/08/2026 01:57

MadhattanJack wrote:

Hayden wrote:

Also, I'm going to work on a smidge of a shuffle on this somepoint soon, but maybe just give it a skim and pluck 2-3 releases you haven't heard—
Top 100 Music Albums of 2026 by Hayden

I counted 91 that I didn't even know existed. Of the remaining 9, I'd only listened to four of them all the way through (Gorillaz, Angine de Poitrine, Aldous Harding, and Kiss Facility)...

Okay. I've slightly modified the statistics and applied a suitable mask. But only to highlight and add contrast to the facts.
In reality, besides the two album covers, which I hope everyone is familiar with by now, I also noticed a third.

Train On The Island (2026) by Aldous Harding

Now the situation has changed dramatically. It's now possible to talk about coincidences that aren't programmed, but miraculous. Which, you'll agree, is much more interesting.

So, three music lovers with, to put it mildly, different preferences chose just one album out of a hundred.
Why? I think I could devote an entire scientific paper to this; I've been thinking about it for so long.
I fully admit that we perceive music through different sensors in the cerebral cortex, if these sensors are located in the human body itself, and not outside of it.

In any case, I'm simply certain that we hear music completely differently and, accordingly, derive satisfaction from different reactions or transformations. But in this case, something coincided. Some elusive additional frequency modulation.

For example, I liked the three album covers Hayden posted earlier.
I also really appreciate the artistic flourishes that are so abundant in Aldous Harding's videos.
I think it's the visual spectrum of her work that somehow mingles with the music.

On the other hand, I'm not the only one who likes MadhattanJack's annotation style.
It's likely that some subtle lyrical quirk sparked our shared interest.

As for my personal opinion of the album,
I haven't compared it, but it seems weaker than the previous one. I especially miss her stunning videos.
As usual, I find it lacking in melody. There are only two tracks that I'd highlight on the entire release.
But it was a pleasant surprise that the album's main hit, the song of the same name, wasn't released as a single.

Re: Release Day Eve

musicoed — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 21:27:38 GMT

Author: musicoed

Posted: 09/08/2026 01:27

Cheddar wrote:

Re: Release Day Eve

Hayden — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 05:17:18 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 09/07/2026 09:17

MadhattanJack wrote:

Hayden wrote:

Also, I'm going to work on a smidge of a shuffle on this somepoint soon, but maybe just give it a skim and pluck 2-3 releases you haven't heard—
Top 100 Music Albums of 2026 by Hayden

I counted 91 that I didn't even know existed. Of the remaining 9, I'd only listened to four of them all the way through (Gorillaz, Angine de Poitrine, Aldous Harding, and Kiss Facility), and I only had Kiss Facility on my own chart. (Which remains fully-annotated, of course. Just thought I'd mention that...)

I guess I should expand my horizons a bit more, so to speak! Also, "Smidge, Shuffle, Skim and Pluck" would be a good name for a new "Annual Overspill" chart. So I might have to steal that one.

Steal all you want, just never borrow— 😉

Your chart is a whole bunch of new names for me as well— think I'm in somewhat similar shoes, I've heard four of them, and had only come across maybe eight—
I get recs from everywhere, but more and more I'm just doing the digging myself—
Bit more fun that way, less biased, less expectations—
(Bandcamp's been my go-to the last decade or so, but recs come from all over, including BEA, course)—
I do find I'm getting recs less and less from publications though—

musicoed wrote:

Hayden wrote:

Anyway, haven't heard any of the following, but looking forward to these releases this week—...

Thanks, Hayden! What a fantastic selection of highly artistic album art!

Hayden wrote:

Also, I'm going to work on a smidge of a shuffle on this somepoint soon, but maybe just give it a skim and pluck 2-3 releases you haven't heard—
Top 100 Music Albums of 2026 by Hayden

And as always, a list of 100 rare releases of 2026. Actually, I've seen a couple of those covers before. I think they were Gorillaz and Angine De Poitrine!!!
Last year, my list changed dramatically in just December. And now it's only September 2026!!!

And course, September's still young, over a quarter the year left in the tank—
Looking forward to whatever's ahead—

Popularity-wise, the new Gorillaz album is probably a slight outlier compared to everything else, but I really enjoyed it— easily my favourite release from the outfit since Plastic Beach— wouldn't be too surprised if nothing usurps it as BEA's #1 for the year— great vibe on the project, and I love the (literal) reincarnation and afterlife themes throughout with the deceased featured musicians — I'm stopping by Rajasthan for a bit later this month, where a lot of the record was recorded and conceptualized — might give it another spin once I'm there—

Re: Release Day Eve

Cheddar — Mon, 7 Sep 2026 00:09:32 GMT

Author: Cheddar

Posted: 09/07/2026 04:09

Hayden wrote:

Not a mask per se, but Billy Woods and Mach-Hommey can still go to a McDonalds or 3-Michelin Star restaurant in any city without a second thought— any park, sports game, community event, parade, bar, club, hotel, airplane seat—

Anonymity has perks—

I imagine DOOM was the same—
The members of Daft Punk, during their peak, etc—

Ah, I see you beat me to the punch with this thought. Great minds think alike.