Best Ever Albums

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

Cheddar — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:59:56 GMT

Author: Cheddar

Posted: 07/10/2026 04:59

I'm pretty excited for the new Jack White album after how great No Name was.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Thu, 9 Jul 2026 23:33:21 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 07/10/2026 03:33

What July 10, 2026 releases do you, blah blah blah, etc., etc?

Obviously, any time there's a new Rolling Stones album, like this week's Foreign Tongues, the music media (or what's left of it) has to take notice. I don't, though, so I'm just going to ignore it. Meanwhile, we've got new albums from Jack White (Frozen Charlotte, which I'm guessing is not a reference to Charlotte, North Carolina or its hockey team) and Suki Waterhouse (Loveland), who is not as famous or as well-regarded musically as the Rolling Stones or Jack White, but who has to be mentioned because her name reminds me of Price Waterhouse, one of the Big Four global accounting firms who secretly control the entire world. (I'm kidding! It's probably only about 90 percent.)

Also, I'm afraid we have to talk about Finn Wolfhard. Most of us know him from his role as nerdy-kid "Mike Wheeler" on Netflix's Stranger Things, but it turns out he also sings and makes records, and his new LP, Fire From the Hip, comes out tomorrow too. It would be easy to dismiss this as just another actor-vanity project, but I haven't gotten to where I am today by doing the "easy" thing. (Indeed, I've gotten here by never doing anything whatsoever.) The fact is, this isn't a bad album — I haven't heard all of it, but the preview tracks clearly show a deliberate attempt to get that sort of spiky, lo-fi "DIY bedroom" sound reminiscent of 60s-era Beatlesque twangy-Rickenbacker guitar pop that we all love so much. Maybe a bit too much... So I checked who the (co-)producer was, and sure enough, it's Kai Slater of Chicago's Sharp Pins. "Big whoop," you say, but Sharp Pins were critic's darlings last year, and that choice is going to give Wolfhard a lot more musical credibility than he might have had otherwise as just another stupid actor.

As for my "serious" picks, I've got six:

Sundayclub, Sundayclub
It's the debut LP from a dreampopgazer duo from Canada with a female singer who sounds just like Sabrina "Blondshell" Teitelbaum. How can this not be my pick of the week? It's practically automatic.
She's Green, Swallowtail
I posted about this one earlier — the screwups with the release date and the tracklist on Bandcamp (where it's still a 4-song EP) still haven't been corrected. Maybe tomorrow, but it's not a good sign, as it shows that whoever's responsible for the business side of this band isn't getting the job done, and when that happens, the bands often don't last. That said, my opinion of the record hasn't changed, either — as much as I like them, if the three tracks I haven't heard yet aren't significantly better than the four I have, this is going to be my least-favorite release of theirs. (That still puts it above a whole lot of other stuff, though.)
Luke Haines, Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Bizzy
You all remember him from The Auteurs and Black Box Recorder, but he also makes a lot of these "tribute to an era" solo albums. Apparently this one is about English TV magic shows for kids during the 1960s and 70s (the title is a quote from The Sooty Show, used by Sooty the Bear in place of "abracadabra"), and how they might have influenced an entire generation of kids in the UK to become weirdos, drug addicts, and... OMG, Britpop fans! So, pretty much the usual sort of thing you'd expect from a Luke Haines album — it's a good record, but it helps if you've heard some of the previous ones and know what to expect going in.
Parts & Labor, Set of All Sets
Here's an interesting band from (where else?) Brooklyn, who sound like what you'd get if a post-punk, almost-noisepop, almost-nugaze band from 2005 hired a pair of symphonic prog-rock singers from 1975 and tried to make a go of it, because... why not? At least it's different, which is something most bands can't claim for themselves these days. (Or ever, really.) This is their first album after a 15-year hiatus — the last one, 2011's Constant Future, was produced by Dave Fridmann who was famous for records like the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin and The Delgados' Hate, where he had a habit of overdriving the low end and generally making things sound more bombastic than may have been strictly necessary. This album sounds both less psychedelic and less bombastic, which seems to suit them better.
Sad13, 1331
Sad13 is the solo project of Speedy Ortiz singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis, from Philadelphia. She injured her elbow in a bike accident a couple of years ago and had to undergo extensive rehab in order to play the guitar again, but she assures us that she's fine now and that the significant increase in the use of electronic instruments on this, her third solo effort, has nothing at all to do with the injury. (Mind you, I'm not complaining or anything.) She calls this a "mixtape" though, so maybe it's not a real album either — it's 13 tracks, but the whole thing runs only about 16 minutes. Frankly, the whole thing is very suspicious. We might want to keep an eye out, in case Tiktok videos start to appear.
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom, A ? of WHEN
Apparently this one is available as a 10-track download on Bandcamp and pandabearofficial.com, or you can buy it at record stores or on Amazon.com as a 5-track EP... but it won't be available for streaming anywhere, even on Bandcamp. (This is probably not a good way to maximize the album's BEA ranking points.) I'm guessing the vinyl and CD versions come with download codes for the other five tracks, but with these guys, who knows. And since I'm not going to be able to actually hear it, I'm left with just saying that most of it is supposedly centered around "harp loops" provided by Mary Halvorson, and the title track is probably a cover of track 2 from In Living Colour's Collideoscope LP, which in turn was presumably named after track 5 from the Psonic Psunspot album by the Dukes of Stratosphear, aka XTC. This is not enough of an XTC connection to get me to buy the record (sorry), but other XTC fans reading this thread might still still want to know.

I might post a few more later, depending on circumstances... but if not, next week looks a bit less interesting — to me, at least — despite, or perhaps because of, new LPs from Steve Lacy, Tricky, and Foreigner (yes, that Foreigner). I'll probably ignore all those in favor of Australia's Swapmeet and their new album Mount Zero, but hopefully more stuff will pop up in the meantime. 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Wed, 8 Jul 2026 04:47:19 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 07/08/2026 08:47

albummaster wrote:

Just to say always love your write-ups and enjoy this thread very much 8)

Thanks! 😄

We're just past the midpoint of the year, so I figured this would be as good a time as any to post this list of six releases that somehow got overlooked during the past 6 months.

Jesca Hoop, Long Wave Home:
I'm a little surprised nobody else picked this one up since she's a fairly big name, but in any event, it's another fine album (her seventh, I think) from Hoop, the somewhat quirky folk-rock singer from Santa Rosa, California who has apparently relocated to Manchester, England, at least for now. (I should probably do that too, though I doubt most Mancunians would go for the idea.)
Keep Shelly in Athens, V:
This is a nice-sounding dream-pop/electrogaze duo from Athens, Greece, who since 2016 have had a singer named Jessica Bell as one of their two members. She sings in English, making it easy to mistake them for a UK or American band. The "V" refers to this being their fifth album, so it's also easy to mistake them for a band that likes Roman numerals. I've been on the fence about them because they sound like they could have greatness potential (track 4 on this album, "Better Said," is a good example), but too much of their material is just standard folk-tinged guitar pop. Still, not bad.
Radhika, Cine-Pop:
This is the first album by Radhika Meera Dade, from Glasgow, whose father, Sushil "Future Pilot AKA" Dade, used to play bass for the Soup Dragons. He was also in the BMX Bandits for a while, as well as The Burns Unit (along with criminally-underrated Delgados singer Emma Pollock), so I suppose Radhika could be accused of being a "nepo-baby" — but it's a very good guitar-based atmospheric pop album nonetheless, and she does have a lovely (if somewhat waifish) voice. The LP features appearances from many well-known Glasgow scenesters, including members of the Pastels, Teenage Fanclub, and Camera Obscura, and since all of them are friends of her dad, that probably won't do much to dispel those "nepo-baby" allegations.
The Sheila Divine, The Middle Ages:
These guys are (or rather, "this guy is") from Boston, and they started out as more of a shoegaze act but are now a more conventional anthemic alternative-rock band. Also, they seem to have become less of a "band" and more of a solo act with just the original bandleader, Aaron Perrino. They (or Aaron, at least) call themselves "the Buffalo Bills of Music," presumably because they keep losing in the Championship game. I've never actually seen any evidence of this band having played in a Championship game, though I could have easily missed that too if it was for one of those "filler" sports they show on ESPN2 sometimes, like Belt Sander Racing.
The Jack Rubies, Visions In The Bowling Alley:
This is the second Jack Rubies "comeback album," the first being 2024's Clocks Are Out of Time. I was one of the very few people on Earth who bought not one, but two of their three albums from the 1986-90 period and liked them, so I now consider myself uniquely qualified to say that this new one is pretty much in the same vein as their previous stuff. Good tunes, but unfortunately the production sound seems a little flat this time around, like they had the studio monitors turned too far up and failed to check what it sounded like at normal volume. Sounds okay if you play it really loud, but why would you? It's not like it's metalcore or anything like that.
Midrift, Silhouette (Amazon link):
This one, I'm a little dubious on. They're what I would call a "grungegaze" band with emo tendencies from San Francisco, this is their first album (after having released several EPs), and they apparently think of themselves as a shoegaze act influenced by My Bloody Valentine. Um, no, they don't sound like that at all, but they're also not bad if you like your grunge with a certain amount of reverb and limited guitar-solo activity. The singer's sense of melody is rather limited, but that never stopped grunge bands in the past... All in all, there might be some hit potential for these guys, and indeed their streaming numbers are fairly impressive. Personally I think they should stick to making EPs, though — after more than 4 tracks, they start to sound too repetitive. That, or maybe throw in an acoustic or orchestral number just to break up any perceived monotony.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

albummaster — Fri, 3 Jul 2026 04:34:53 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 07/03/2026 08:34

Just to say always love your write-ups and enjoy this thread very much 😎

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Thu, 2 Jul 2026 20:30:28 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 07/03/2026 00:30

What July 3rd, 2026 releases do YOU wish were real, and not just some fake thing I made up for cheap laughs because I'm hopelessly insecure and strongly suspect that nobody is reading this thread anymore?

If there was ever a week to take off and forget all about this stuff, this is it. We're looking at an almost-historic dearth (I always liked that word) of new releases this week, with just two new studio albums by acts most people have heard of — Madonna and Deep Purple. The sad thing is that there are people will see the new Madonna album and think, "wow, what a great week for new releases!" without actually checking how many there actually are.

Earlier I mentioned a new Robyn Hitchcock "live" album, Live at Acheron, which I would normally be pretty excited about. It's not really a live album though, it's a live in studio album, which is to say he walked into the Acheron Recording Studio in East Nashville with an acoustic guitar and just recorded a bunch of his 80s favorites — along with two covers, of Syd Barrett's "Gigolo Aunt" and the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" — with no audience, no overdubs and no backing musicians. All well and good, I suppose, but he'll have a new full-band studio album called The Confuser out at the end of the month, and I'm not going to pretend I'm as excited to hear this one as i am to hear that one.

I should also say that the new Deep Purple album (Splat!) isn't bad. It's true that the three members who are still around from the classic "Mark II" lineup are 80 years old now, but apparently they can still play, it has a pretty cool album cover, the keyboardist (Don Airey) uses organ synth patches to sound just like Jon Lord, and Ian Gillan still sounds like... Ian Gillan! His vocal cords have barely aged a day! (The guitarist, though, I'm not so sure about — he seems to prefer "textures" to outright riffage for some reason.) All in all, they really don't sound that different from the band that made Machine Head, though I wouldn't expect another "Smoke on the Water" or "Highway Star."

There's also a new record from Adam "Low Cut Connie" Weiner called Livin in the USA, which I'm going to say is the pick-of-the-week purely for political reasons. Musically it reminds me of straight-up 70s/80s AOR, like some of Billy Joel's or Huey Lewis's more upbeat singles, complete with saxophones and everything. Supposedly they put on a pretty good live show... Hopefully this one gets some media attention, if only for the lyrical content — otherwise, it's probably a little too old-school Dad-rockish for mainstream commercial success.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

I'm tempted to not even mention the rest, but here they are anyway:

Wax Minds, Funatic Asylum: In addition to having the most impressively hideous album cover I've seen this year, this "weird-punk" outfit from Bremen, Germany, is actually a lot of fun. I think the word "weird" is used here to try to prepare you for how the guitars sound, but it probably won't be enough.
Smirk, Speculative Fiction: A more conventional all-guitars punk record, by a solo act from Connecticut, or maybe Brooklyn. There's some promise here, but I actually think a more bigger, more post-punk sound would benefit the material. (I'm just sayin'.)
Hey Thanks., Avoidance: Here's an 80s-retro synthwave band with "New Romantic" (which is also retro) leanings, from New Orleans, Louisiana of all places. They write some good tunes, and this is their second album — I should note that on their first (2022's Start/Living), they called themselves "Hey Thanks!" with an exclamation mark. That could cause some confusion. My guess is that whoever owns the copyright on the exclamation mark must have complained.
Miko, Petals and Marbles: Miko is the nom de plume of Rie Mitsutake, an avant-poptronica singer (at least that's what I call it) from Tokyo. (Not to be confused with Young Miko, who is actually from Puerto Rico.) For most Western ears this stuff is probably a little too repetitive and maybe a little too "bloopy" too, but if you like Japanese music in general, especially of the electronic variety, I'd say it actually has a pleasing hypnotic effect to it. (For me, it's a nice change from all that hyperpop stuff so many Japanese musicians have been producing lately.)
Wash, Wash (released on June 30th): Wash were a group of 90s OG shoegazers from Perth, Australia, and if you've ever been to Perth it won't surprise you that they were the only shoegaze band there at the time. These recordings of them are mostly demo-quality and a little harsh-sounding, despite being cleaned up for this release... but I thought I'd mention them anyway because I'm kind of a "history buff."

Finally, there's the self-titled album from Ondanaconda. Most of you have heard the expression "it's turtles all the way down"; this band from Geneva, Switzerland is just like that, only it's jaw harps all the way down. Yup, a four-piece band, all four playing jaw harps. And it's not bad, either! I like it more than your typical Eurodisco/EDM record, at least.

Anyway... that's all I've got! "Five and eleven," as they say...

Next week looks a lot better — apparently the full 7-track LP version of the She's Green album is coming out, plus we've got the Rolling Stones, Jack White, Luke Haines, Xiu Xiu, Sad13, and Sundayclub, plus a compilation of live tracks from Rain Parade.

Until then! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 22:30:40 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/27/2026 02:30

No surprise drops today, really. There's a new LP called This Charming Life by Communist Sex Magic that I'm pretty sure wasn't pre-announced, but that doesn't make it a "surprise," does it. The communists have been trying to use magic to force me to have sex with them for months, and I just won't do it. I've got standards, dammit! 😐

In other updates, the Temples' Bliss album has gotten some good reviews, but also a couple of pretty bad ones — Tim Sendra at AllMusic.com called it a "near total misfire," and Ruben Cross at FarOutMagazine.co.uk really trashed it, saying the album "is, unfortunately, so proud of its obnoxiousness that it bellows out its most abject qualities." So... I guess that's not good. (I still like it, though.)

I also mentioned that "expectations are a bit low" for the Telescopes' new album, and that the one preview track hadn't been "all that great." Having now heard the whole thing, I can say that expectations should have been much lower, since virtually all the tracks on it are "not that great," and I really shouldn't have added it to the BEA database in the first place. (Sorry!) Still, some people do like this sort of thing, I think? Kind-of? That's if you take enough drugs, obviously.

There was also supposed to be a new album from The 5.6.7.8.'s today called Run Run Run, and it looks like it did come out, but it's physical-media-only — at least for now, and also Japan-only. (You might remember them as the band playing "Woo Hoo" during that big fight scene in the movie Kill Bill Part II.) Apparently they're celebrating their 40th anniversary, or something to that effect. Congrats to them!

Finally, the Georgia Gets By album, Heavy Meadow, did make it onto Amazon Music and some of the other streaming services (still not Bandcamp though), so now that I've heard that, I have to say it's one of the prettiest records I've heard in quite some time — but it's even slower and quieter than I'd thought, and it gets slower and quieter as it goes along. It's a good album for sitting on your porch at your backwoods home in October and watching the leaves turn their Fall colors, I'l say that for it. (October's just over three months away, so you'll probably want to get on this right now so you'll be prepared.)

So until next week, stay safe, and avoid communist sex magicians unless you're sure your insurance portfolio covers that stuff.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 02:33:40 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/26/2026 06:33

One more:

Chanel Beads
Your Day Will Come (2026)

Sharp-eyed avant-pop fans with good memories might recall that Chanel Beads (aka Shane Lavers from New York, New York, "the city so nice they named it twice") released an album in 2024 that was also entitled Your Day Will Come. Apparently Shane here has little or no regard for the logistical and organizational problems of informational websites that attempt to catalogue album releases and make sense of people's discographies in the face of their insistence on clever "stunts" to draw more attention to their musical output. That said, it's an interesting little art-pop/art-rock record, mostly 4/4 and guitar-based but definitely a bit "leftfield," as they say. I hope I'm not being too offensive by stating that his voice sounds like it didn't quite "change" when he hit puberty, but that said, he does a good job with the vocals and I tend to be too offensive most of the time anyway. All in all, not up there with Temples and Beth Orton this week for me, but certainly on par with the other stuff I mentioned.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:52:44 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/25/2026 20:52

June 26 Albums

What June 19th, 2026 releases do YOU intend to use in YOUR campaign to conquer the galaxy and crush a million worlds under your mighty boot-heel? (Tomorrow?)

This is a ridiculously big new-releases week, with some people counting as many as 400 of the things, all in one go. And to make things worse, next week there's a new Madonna album, so a lot of the media attention is being hoovered up by that already while this week's stuff gets the short shrift. Shame on you, Madonna!

If we put Madonna aside for the moment though (and who hasn't?), I guess the big album this week is the new one from Muse, The Wow! Signal. Now, I'm not a big fan of these guys, and this album isn't going to change that, but I'm actually more concerned about the title since there are at least two bands named "The Wow Signal" out there as well as at least ten albums called that by other bands. Don't they have Google? This is a major act! And what's wrong with, I dunno, "The Holy Shit Signal"? Anyway, I think this is album #12 for them.

Then there's the "new" album by the Butthole Surfers, After the Astronaut. This is actually a "lost" album that was recorded in 1997, slated to be released as The Last Astronaut in 1998, but then shelved by Capitol Records for about, oh, 29 years or so. Now it has been unearthed, cleaned up, properly mixed and mastered, etc., etc., with the correct artwork and the original title and everything, coming out on digital and white vinyl, just in time for most of their original fans to play at their retirement parties. Nice work! Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of these guys either, but I guess I never did learn how to surf.

This week's pick-of-the-week will have to be another toss-up (sorry!) between Temples and Beth Orton.

Temples, Bliss:
You might remember these guys from their highly-regarded 2014 debut album, Sun Structures, one of the best non-Dukes-of-Stratosphear 1966-68-era British psychedelic pop pastiches, like, ever — good enough to make it into the BEA Overall Top 1,500, even. Of course, you can't keep making the same pastiche over and over again, so during the past 12 years they've gradually modernized their approach with lots of synthesizers and drum machines and stuff like that. I still really like their songs though, and their singer still has that clear high tenor while refusing to sing into a clear-sounding microphone with proper EQ applied, so that's... good? Probably.

Beth Orton, The Ground Above:
If I were a music critic, I'd recommend this over the Temples LP because it's just a better album in terms of lyricism, sound/vocal quality, and general craftsmanship. I haven't heard all the others she's done, but I'd say this is just as good as Central Reservation and Sugaring Season (the two I'm most familiar with), and it may even be better — I'll know when I hear the whole thing (she didn't pre-announce this until just last week). Just a really well made LP, but definitely not as fun 'n' catchy as the Temples album.

As for the (best of the) rest...

The Telescopes, Static Charge
Normally I'd get reasonably excited about a new Telescopes album — this is their 19th LP though (in 38 years) so it's not like there's a shortage. Also, the release dates got all mixed up, and they only put up one preview track, which frankly isn't all that great. So, expectations are a bit low for this one.
Georgia Gets By, Heavy Meadow
Here's the full-length debut LP from New Zealand's Georgia Nott, who also sings for The Broods. The Broods are more of an electropop act though, whereas this is more folksy and acoustic, and though it often veers into "Americana" territory, the songs are much more real and memorable, and her vocals are fantastic. Again I'm concerned about the title though, since "Heavy Meadow" has been used already by multiple bands and albums (not to mention that it's a pun), and I'm also concerned that it only seems to exist on Spotify at the moment. Sometimes people just need extra time, I guess.
Las Robertas, All We Need is Now
This six-piece band from Costa Rica does psychedelic guitar-oriented dreampop, sort of, with all the lyrics in English. Pretty good, overall — the only problem I have with this one is that they shouldn't need six people to sound like they do. At least one person is probably in there just to play tambourine or something. Also, the vocals could be better.
Proun, Maybe Luck
Proun is a fairly interesting trio from Austin, TX, who I'd describe as "folkie-post-punk." It's another debut album where the instrumentation is minimal so that the songs will be recognizable when played live by just the three of them, but there's some fairly intricate guitar work in there that helps make up for it. The name "Proun" refers to a Russian art movement that popped up around the time of the Bolshevik revolution, so maybe they're Communists or whatever, but it might also be an oblique reference to the word "pronoun." We just don't know.
The Pretty Reckless, Dear God
Holy smokes, this is some high-energy bad-girl hard-drivin' rock 'n' roll, straight from New Yawk City. Why can't I meet women like Taylor Momsen where I live? It's so unfair... It's their 7th album, and I'm guessing the title track is not a cover of the XTC song from 1986. Maybe that's for the best.
LOWREV, It's Hard to Lie to Strangers
Nice, somewhat-twee indie-pop/rock debut album by what appears to be a solo act, from Pittsburgh, PA. The singer, Joshua Fiedler, reminds me of The Auteurs' Luke Haines a little bit — because I'm sitting there thinking, "okay, the vocal fry is pretty accurate, but how does he keep it going the whole time?" Pretty good guitar work too, actually.
Cate Kennan, Shadows
She's from Los Angeles and makes a kind of ambient southwestern dreampop, like Julee Cruise used to do for David Lynch movies, only with fewer synthesizers. I like it, it's her second album, but it's not a revelation or anything.
Daydreamers, Have You Tried Screaming?
This is a fairly commercial four-piece Britpop/Britrock band from London, and I believe this is their debut album. There's a fairly clear Coldplay influence, and that's probably all you need to know going in, really. Earlier this month we had that album from Overpass that was in the same vein, so maybe Britpoprock is making some sort of comeback. Woo-hoo.
Some Velvet Sidewalk, Critters Encore
They're back after 30 years, and they sound pretty much the same, which is to say "energetic, but not very tight or meticulous in their musical approach." But hey, if you liked them before, you'll like them now, right? Of course! Why not.

Finally, there's this new album called Escape From God, by a solo artist named Bella from Alberta, Canada who goes by the stage name bea bea. It's almost-unlistenable lo-fi emo garage-o-rama, and she might even be a "furry" (not that there's anything wrong with that). Whether or not she actually succeeded in her escape attempt is anyone's guess (God has a pretty tight security system), but if you ask me she probably double-named herself "bea bea" just to get our attention here on BestEverAlbums.com. Well, guess what — it worked! I fell for it! Nice job, Bella.

Next week there's the aforementioned Madonna record, plus a new Robyn Hitchcock live LP, and... a new Deep Purple album! You can never get enough of those, I guess.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 21:44:26 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/20/2026 01:44

imacgill wrote:

FYI...The Strokes album has been delayed to July 24th https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-strokes/the-strokes-new-album-is-delayed

However, based on the two preview tracks they have released for the album,I am in no rush to listen to it..

Dang, that sucks — that's the same week as the new Robyn Hitchcock album! Bastards! 😠

Still, I guess it's not surprising... Julian Casablancas is 47 now, and when you get older it just takes longer for strokes to get the job done.

Anyway, no surprise drops today (or at least none that I'm interested in). There's an apparent screwup this week though, with the new LP from Soft Palms, In Echo — BEA member Davy added it here today (thanks, man!) with a release date of Sept. 16, but there it is on Bandcamp right now with all tracks available, saying it was released last week, with the "album release" today, whatever that means. I don't know what's going on there, but it's a fun little record, especially if you like upbeat post-punk bands with waifish-sounding female singers (i.e., if you're like me).

Soft Palms
In Echo (2026)

There's also a new LP that I hadn't noticed from Swim Deep called Hum, which I'm only seeing on Spotify and Soundcloud at the moment, but it's not bad — they're in the Belle & Sebastian, Go-Betweens, Lightning Seeds, Beach Fossils kind of dreamy/jangly, somewhere between soft-rock and post-punk sort of mold, based on just a first impression at least. (Also, they're not to be confused with Swim School, which I guess is who you'd want to listen to first before trying any of the Swim Deep stuff.)

Lastly, I neglected to mention the new album from a new-ish band, Chainlacing, entitled Messuage — because of course you can't just spell the word "message" correctly if you want to use it as an album title, that would just be absurd. I think this might be their debut LP; they're from Boston and they call themselves a "dungeon dream pop" band, which is pretty accurate, as it turns out — I didn't mention them earlier because the preview tracks were kind of, you know, just okay, but now that I'm hearing the whole thing, I'm a little more impressed. Not for fans of upbeat pop music, though — they're slowcore and a bit goth, maybe a lot goth on two or three tracks, but the vocals are mixed pretty low so if they're singing about demons or blood-drinking or whatever, you'll probably never know they're doing it. They actually remind me of Clan of Xymox a little bit, except the drums and/or drum machines are mixed lower, presumably to give them more shoegazer credibility.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

imacgill — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 19:18:17 GMT

Author: imacgill

Posted: 06/19/2026 23:18

So... slim pickin's, right? Summer can often be a lull period for new releases, but next week we've got The Strokes, Muse, and The Butthole Surfers, among others, so maybe this is just a one-week thing.

FYI...The Strokes album has been delayed to July 24th https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-strokes/the-strokes-new-album-is-delayed

However, based on the two preview tracks they have released for the album,I am in no rush to listen to it..

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 01:02:20 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/19/2026 05:02

What June 19th, 2026 releases are coming out tomorrow for which YOU have a diabolical master plan in the final implementation stage that would allow you to hear them as soon as possible? (Or just stream them from the usual places, starting... right about now, actually?)

This week we've got a new Chris Stamey album called Modernism; it's mostly a covers album, but there are three originals on it, so that's something. No preview tracks, so I have no idea what it sounds like, but I'm sure it's fine. He doesn't make bad records, but I can't say I've ever been a huge fan or anything... There's also a new one from Daniel Lanois, Belladonna Nocturne, which carries on nicely from most of what he's done in recent years — jazzy, dreamy, pleasant, a few interesting moments, and as far as I can tell, all instrumentals. Very nice. And as if that wasn't enough, there's another new Pye Corner Audio (aka Martin Jenkins) album called More Songs About The Sun, which probably isn't something to get too excited about since he's quite prolific and most of his stuff sounds pretty much the same, really. (Not a bad thing, I hasten to add.) On this one he's collaborating with Andy Bell though, of Oasis and Ride fame, so maybe that will get people to check it out.

There are also three new albums this week from three different generations of UK popsters:

Haircut One Hundred, Boxing the Compass: They're claiming this is "the real follow-up to Pelican West!" except that in all likelihood nobody who's still alive remembers Pelican West. (I was alive when it came out, in fact I almost bought a copy, but that doesn't mean I remember it.) Based on their recent teaser singles, I'm not all that excited about this new one either, though I've been impressed with some of Nick Heyward's solo albums, starting with North of a Miracle — which is actually a really nice pop record.

Graham Coxon, Castle Park: I believe this is his 11th solo album, and it's definitely one of his better ones, though he still isn't much of a singer. This one sounds more like 60s-era Merseybeat than most of his solo records, though admittedly I haven't heard all of them. Personally, I might have preferred another Waeve album, since both of those so far have been really good, but I guess the guy's gotta follow his muse or whatever...

The Veils, Fragile World: They only announced this a couple of days ago and they've kept a lid on it with no preview tracks, but supposedly it's not quite as "quiet and introspective" as the last one (Asphodels), it's closer to the one before that, And Out Of The Void Came Love, which was still pretty quiet and introspective. I'm not going to give up on them because of this quiet-and-introspective thing, but I'm also not getting my hopes up, to be honest.

So... slim pickin's, right? Summer can often be a lull period for new releases, but next week we've got The Strokes, Muse, and The Butthole Surfers, among others, so maybe this is just a one-week thing.

Because Repo says he's on vacation, and because Olivia Rodrigo got everyone interested in The Cure again, my pick-of-the-week will just have to be The Foreign Resort's new album, Endurance. (You know, vacation, "foreign resort"... okay, it's not funny, but I had to try.)

The Foreign Resort
Endurance (2026)

In case you're unfamiliar with them, well, they're from Denmark and they sound like The Cure during their 1983-87 period. A lot. Not on every track, and they might be a little more coldwave-ish than The Cure were in general, and not super-gothy, but still... it takes me back, y'know? What can I say, I'm old and full of nostalgia.

Happy listening, everybody! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:43:50 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/12/2026 22:43

Cheddar wrote:

I'll highlight the new Jesse Welles album Masks Off, which I still need to add to the site once I rate it. He is the definitive folk voice of our time in my opinion, and he continues to blow me away with the music that he releases regularly in a stripped down, acoustic form on YouTube. I've been listening to Masks Off for most of the day and it is excellent! I'm not sure if I like more than Devil's Den or Middle from last year, but it's up there for sure. Early highlights for me are Red (one of my favorites of his for a while, honestly), Masks Off, and Siddhartha. I'm so glad we have a voice like his for this current generation.

Oh yeah, I like him! "The modern-day Woody Guthrie"... He's the guy who did the Join ICE song, too. �'�

If you have a Discogs account, you could probably do him an even bigger favor by consolidating the page with his "Jeh Sea Wells" albums with the page that has all his "Jesse Welles" albums, along with the page with all the albums he did as just "Welles." It's confusing, though arguably it's his own doing, using all those names... BEA doesn't have any of the Jeh Sea Wells stuff in the database either, but I just went ahead and made Jesse a member of "Welles" (that's how Discogs has it currently — it should be an alias, right? Those are basically solo albums).

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

Cheddar — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:08:40 GMT

Author: Cheddar

Posted: 06/12/2026 22:08

I'll highlight the new Jesse Welles album Masks Off, which I still need to add to the site once I rate it. He is the definitive folk voice of our time in my opinion, and he continues to blow me away with the music that he releases regularly in a stripped down, acoustic form on YouTube. I've been listening to Masks Off for most of the day and it is excellent! I'm not sure if I like more than Devil's Den or Middle from last year, but it's up there for sure. Early highlights for me are Red (one of my favorites of his for a while, honestly), Masks Off, and Siddhartha. I'm so glad we have a voice like his for this current generation.

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

Repo — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:12:36 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 06/12/2026 18:12

MadhattanJack wrote:

Repo wrote:

I clearly got nothing!

I hate to say it (again), but you're not alone — this isn't a good new-albums week at all.

As for this week's actual releases, obviously everyone is talking about the new Olivia Rodrigo album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, and the various references to The Cure that are on it, but let's face it, it doesn't really sound like The Cure at all, at least not in any meaningful way. (I don't dislike the preview tracks though, they're fine, but it's still basically girlpop.)

Link

This track is actually A LOT of fun! Love the Gary Numan/ New Wave vibe!

The duet with Robert Smith is decent too on first listen.

Olivia Rodrigo. She's just like us! �...

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

MadhattanJack — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:43:37 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 06/12/2026 02:43

Repo wrote:

I clearly got nothing!

I hate to say it (again), but you're not alone — this isn't a good new-albums week at all.

For me, it started with the screwed-up release of Swallowtail by She's Green, a very nice dreampop band from Minneapolis. They pre-announced it as an album called Swallowtail (Amazon link, sorry) with a release date of July 10, but then they put up a 4-track digital EP called Swallowtail earlier this week with the same release date (but all four tracks available), and now there's a separate Swallowtail album with 7 tracks showing on all the streaming services too with three of the EP's four tracks on it, so nobody knows which one to buy or whether or not you're going to end up with all 7 tracks if you buy "Swallowtail" now instead of waiting for July 10. I know it's stupid to care about things like this, but I just don't like to see it, at least not with bands I like. (That said, it's also not as good as their last record.)

As for this week's actual releases, obviously everyone is talking about the new Olivia Rodrigo album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, and the various references to The Cure that are on it, but let's face it, it doesn't really sound like The Cure at all, at least not in any meaningful way. (I don't dislike the preview tracks though, they're fine, but it's still basically girlpop.) And speaking of "sad," and bands who actually do sound sort of like The Cure, there's supposed to be a new Sad Lovers and Giants album called The Weight Of Forgotten Dreams tomorrow but... so far, it's vaporware, I'm not seeing preview tracks on any of the streamers, and it isn't even mentioned on their own website. I'll listen to it if and when it appears, but their last album (2018's Mission Creep) was... um, just okay. And for yet another disappointment, I forgot that Joan As Police Woman's debut album was called Real Life, so sure enough, her new album Real Life Evolution is just another one of those "reimagined" albums that so many people are doing these days. (I blame Taylor Swift for this, of course.) It's also not even close to being an improvement, if you ask me.

There's a new album from Yes (Aurora) that's supposed to be good because it's the first time they've had the same lineup for more than two albums, except that the only personnel change during the Fragile to Tales From Topographic Oceans three-album run involved drummers (i.e., Alan White replaced Bill Bruford). Drummers don't count, right? (I'm kidding...) Anyways, if they're playing that up, that tells me that maybe they're even less excited about this LP than I am.

Then there's the new album from Goose, a funky indie-pop act from Norwalk, CT, entitled Big Modern!. Goose are not to be confused with Goofy Geese, whose new album (as I mentioned earlier) was released last week, and neither are to be confused with the Brooklyn-based Geese, whose last LP is still the #1-ranked album of 2025 here on BEA. Still, I can't help but think Big Modern! might have had a real shot at that #1 slot if it had been released last year instead of this year, just by taking advantage of the brand-confusion.

That leaves just three albums I'm really interested in, and even then, none of them are really "up my alley."

Pussy Riot, CYKA: If I could be a member of any band in the world, it would be this one, and I'm not even female. Or Russian. I don't even like their music! Still, this is considered to be their debut full-length LP, so I'm definitely going to want to hear it, and you should too. (TBH though, it's not unlike their 2022 collabs-compilation, Matriarchy Now — this time, the single, if it can be called that, is called "Candy Dopamine" and the collaborator is Avenged Sevenfold.) Musically, it's electro-girlpunk with riffage, but that's just a minor detail in their case.
Klimt 1918, Àmor: These fellers are an Italian post-metal/shoegaze band, and while I've always liked them, this album sounds like it's going to be their best yet, and the production sound is fantastic. Interestingly, this is one of the few bands I like for whom the Wikipedia description of their musical style is almost completely accurate. It's their 7th album (assuming you don't count Sentimentale and jugend, both released on the same day in 2016, as one). Bellissimo!
MONO, Snowdrop: This is (Japanese) MONO's 13th (give or take) studio album, and their first with Brad Wood as producer, replacing the late Steve Albini (but still recording in Albini's Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago). They're billing it as a kind of tribute to Albini, though you probably wouldn't know that if they didn't tell you. Like most, if not all of MONO's albums, it's pretty much all-instrumental post-rock, with lots of dynamics and crescendoes and a general air of magnificence throughout. Steve would be proud, and rightly so.

I guess I couldn't really name a "pick-of-the-week" without having explained all that rigamarole first. If this thread is about what we're most interested to hear and not what we think is likely to be the best album, musically-speaking, then it has to be CYKA, even though I'm far more interested in it as a political statement than as music. But if we're putting politics aside, which I would completely understand, then it's Àmor, by a nose over Snowdrop, and even that's mostly just because Àmor has vocals (which are pretty decent in this case) and Snowdrop doesn't.

Next week — in fact, the next five weeks — don't look any better than this one did, but hopefully someone will come along and surprise us.

Good time to go on vacation! 😄

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

Repo — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 21:32:14 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 06/12/2026 01:32

I'm taking the Summer off! My kids & I are headed to Canada fairly soon. I'm hoping MJ (and perhaps Tap!) can keep the good ship afloat for the next couple of months.

I was toying with highlighting two Metal releases that r coming out tomorrow - Kemmis by Kemmis and Epoch Inhumane by Nuclear Tomb but neither are blowing me away.

Anyways, as always, feel free to highlight new releases that YOU r geeked about!!! I clearly got nothing! 🌻

Re: Release Day Eve: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

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: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

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: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

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: Anyone got something they're geeked about?! 🔭�'�

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.